Costa Del Sol was beautiful this time of year, as it always
was in the summer. Hot, too. The black cloak, leggings, and knee-high
boots were uncomfortable enough; his silver hair, which hung
straight down his back to his waist, made it nearly unbearable.
There had not been many times in his life when he wished his hair
was shorter, but now was definitely one of them. He dared not
comment, however, for as Sephiroth, leader of the ShinRa army, he
was expected not to. And he certainly dared not remove his cloak,
for he wore no shirt underneath. True, that would have made the
heat more bearable, but everyone, especially the women, would
have stared at him. As if I were on some sort of menu,
he thought.
A blonde-haired young man with spiky hair walked out of the crowd,
stopped in front of Sephiroth and saluted. After returning the
salute, Sephiroth said, "We will be leaving shortly, Cloud.
Make sure you have all your things in order when we depart."
The young man replied, "Yes, sir, General. Preparations have
already been made." He indicated his knapsack, which was
full. "I just wanted to check something out. Yesterday, that
tent right there--" he pointed at a small, tattered tent on
the outskirts of town-- "wasn't there, and I'm curious as to
what it is. I won't be a minute, sir."
"All right, Cloud," Sephiroth told the young man. With
that, Cloud saluted again and walked to the tent.
As he approached the tent, he saw that no one else was about. He
looked all around inside the small, dark structure, finding no
one. As he turned to leave, a soft, quiet voice spoke from the
corner. "Are you here to learn your destiny?"
Even as soft as it was, the voice startled him, coming out of the
pitch-darkness of the tent. He saw the flash of a small flame, as
though someone had struck a match, before a bright light flared
to life. Cloud was forced to close his eyes momentarily. When he
was again able to open them, he saw a strange woman turning the
wick of an oil lamp that she held in her hand to make the light
bearable. Then she placed the lamp on a shelf beside a table with
a large, glass sphere in the center. Suddenly, she turned her
eyes on him, pinning him with her gaze.
He blinked in surprise as his mind went completely blank. His
only thought was that if Sephiroth was fair, she was dark. The
woman was dressed in a black dress which went past her ankles,
almost completely hiding her black, high-heeled ankle boots of
soft suede leather. The dress--black silk with a billowing, black
gossamer overlay--floated around her dimintuive frame.; the long,
sheer sleeves reached well beyond her hands. Over her shoulders
was a golden, fringed shawl.
Her hair, which reached well beyond her waist, almost to her
waist, was as black as her dress. She looked into his eyes and he
simply stood, transfixed, as if his mind had been taken over by
some unknown force. The woman's eyes appeared to be an unearthly
combination of blue, green, and grey. The thought to flee tried
to surface, but it was pushed back into the recesses of his mind.
She smiled.
"If you are here, then you must be interested in your
destiny," she continued after his lengthy silence. "You
are wise. Not many people even believe their destinies can be
foreseen, much less revealed to them." She extended her hand.
He watched his arm raise and his hand clasp around hers as if of
their own volition. "A ShinRa uniform. You are a guard, are
you not?"
To which Cloud nodded. "Y-yeah, that's right. I'm here with
. . .
"General Sephiroth," she finished as she let go of his
hand.
He looked stunned. "How did you know?" He noticed that
the words felt as if they were coming from miles away, though he
knew his own voice was making the sound.
The woman's smile broadened. "It is my job to know. I am
Angelique." She curtsied gracefully, then took a seat at the
small, round table. As he made no move to follow her, she
gestured toward the chair opposite her and said, "Please,
sit."
When he did, she smiled amicably. Then she turned her attention
to the transparent sphere in the middle of the table. Cloud
watched as she placed her hands around the sphere, not touching
it, and began chanting in a language he'd never heard before. He
noticed with astonishment that the crystal was beginning to glow
an eerie green. His first thought was, Just like Sephiroth's
eyes. Or were her hands glowing and the crystal was a cover
to disguise her powers?
He finally felt his mind beginning to return, and he entertained
the thought of fleeing once again, but decided that she meant him
no harm. Why do I keep having this urge to run before it's
too late? Too late for what? he thought. He shook the
thoughts away as her eyes again trapped his in their gaze. This
time, however, there was an intensity there that hadn't been
there before. "Cloud Strife. Your past . . . . do you know
someone named Tiffany--or Tifa?"
Cloud's eyes grew round as dinner plates. "Oh, Gods! How did
you--she's my childhood friend!" He lowered his voice.
"What has she got to do with it?" he asked suspiciously.
"A tragedy will bring you closer together, while at the same
time tearing your world--no, your soul--apart. I see--" here
her eyes took on a farawy expression, as if she were looking into
the soul of the light inside the crystal-- "fire. A large
fire. There is anger in the flames."
What is she talking about? Cloud wondered. Fire?
Anger in the flames? What the Hell--
His thoughts were interrupted by the continuation of her quiet
soliloquy. "I sense a terrible evil. And you know its
presence well. A demented presence, which you will meet with
hatred. I see heartbreak, fear, pain, in your future. Death is
omnipresent in your future. The soul of a friend will join with
the LifeStream."
Angelique's words were beginning to frighten Cloud, and he ached
to take to his heels and run, but he stayed where he was,
overcome by curiosity. "Where--" the words stuck in his
throat. "Where is this fire?"
"A familiar place. That is all I can see. You know the place
well. Everything you know is there," she replied.
Cloud gasped. "Is it Nibelheim?" he whispered.
"I do not know," she said. "I just know that you
are familiar with the place."
"What--what about Tifa? Tell me about the tragedy. Will she
. . . die?" Cloud questioned.
Angelique looked harder into the glass. "Tifa . . . . Is she
much older than you?" She looked at him long enough to see
him shake his head. Then she continued, "I see her crying
over someone's body. A man. She cries out in the hate she feels
for his killer. Anger, terror, hatred--" Her eyes pinched
shut, almost as if she were trying to convey the feelings she'd
just named.
She continued once again, "The LifeStream flows below. Its
power washes away the evil once. But it will reappear, and you
must release the soul of the man from this great evil. His flesh
in controlled by an even greater evil than the man himself. You
will hate him with all your heart, but do not allow that hate to
poison you mind, as his own hate will have poisoned his." At
this, here eyes met his with such force that his questions were
silenced until she shut her eyes again, attempting to look deeper
into the darkness from which her answers came.
He was glad to be spared her penetrating gaze, and he wondered if
Angelique could see into his soul. "Who is this evil man,
and what's the 'greater evil' that's controlling him? Can he be
stopped?"
Angelique whispered, "Jenova--" Then she shook her head
and met his gaze once again. "I can see no more than what I
have told you. The spirits in the LifeStream have become dormant,
and cannot speak any further." Her hands came from around
the glass to fold in her lap.
Cloud had been about to ask another question when Sephiroth
walked into the tent. "Cloud?" he called, his eyes not
quite adjusted to the light. When they did, he saw Angelique and
bowed his head briefly. "Excuse me, miss, I was unaware that
anyone else was in here."
Angelique smiled, then stood up and sauntered over to the
entrance to the tent, where Sephiroth stood. She didn't appear to
move her legs at all. "Please, General, do not stand on
ceremony only for me. My name is Angelique." She extended
her hand, and he took it for a moment, but she refused to
relinquish her grip when he attempted to pull away. "A
strong individual. You have had to be, have you not?"
For a moment, Sephiroth was perplexed, until he realized what she
was talking about. He didn't know exactly what to say, so he
decided to feign ignorance. "I--What are you talking about,
Miss Angelique?" Another attempt to get her to let go of his
hand proved as futile as the first.
"You know of what I speak," she replied softly, her
mysterious smile widening. "Your past. And your present and
future, if you will allow it." She closed her eyes for a
moment, then met Sephiroth's eyes squarely. "Separating you
from the other children was very humiliating, was it not?"
Sephiroth's usually calm, deadpan face now held a look of
surprise similar to Cloud's own when she revealed such as
intimate detail of his life. Cloud watched the exchange with
interest. Sephiroth knew that she had no way of knowing his past.
Angelique's eyes trained on Sephiroth, pinning and silencing him.
For a moment, his mind went as blank as Cloud's had done when he
first entered. Then he managed to compose his thoughts.
"I would appreciate it if you would not speak of me in such
a way in front of my subordinates," Sephiroth said, finally
finding his tongue and retrieving his hand from her iron grip.
"My past is my business."
She eyed him suspiciously. "General Sephiroth, there is
nothing wrong with your past. It cannot be changed. A man's
experiences make his what he is and what he will be. You grew up
with encouragement to fight. your experiences made you a warrior.
You joined SOLDIER because that was what everyone else wanted.
But was that what you wanted? Follow your own path, and do not be
misguided by the whims and desires of others."
Sephiroth had evidently had enough of Angelique's advice. "Young
lady," he warned, "I do think that, for now, you have
said enough."
Angelique's smile never wavered. "You are frightened by my
perceptiveness Many people are, as was your subordinate,"
She indicated Cloud with a gesture of her hand in his direction.
"You two know each other well. Better than either of you
might think," she finished cryptically.
"What do you mean by that?" Cloud hedged.
"You will both find out soon enough," she replied.
"I meant to ask you," Cloud continued, "who is
Jenova?"
At the mention of this name, Sephiroth blanched. He cut off
Angelique's reply, "It is time we were back at Midgar; the
other companies will worry if we are too late. You have conducted
your investigation, now let us depart." Cloud acquiesced
immediately, albeit reluctantly. After he'd left, Sephiroth
turned around to face Angelique to say, "I have no idea how
you know these things about me. But I will say this: your powers
of perception are remarkable."
"Jenova is your mother?" Angelique inquired.
Without knowing why, Sephiroth replied, "Yes. I am told that
she died in childbirth with me."
She nodded. "I will give you this small piece of advice:
never believe what is said. Only what you know."
"What do you mean by that?" Sephiroth queried.
"Never mind, General," Angelique returned. "Rejoin
Cloud and travel back to Midgar. Put out of your mind what I have
said. Only, do remember this: you are human, and you do have a
heart. Just try to find it, and you will. That said, she gestured
toward the oil lamp, and the tent was plunged into darkness.
Sephiroth's attempts to find her in the blackness with a
flashlight proved futile, even when he looked under the table.
She was nowhere to be seen.
Sephiroth was unnaturally quiet as he and Cloud walked out of
Costa Del Sol. At the edge of town, Sephiroth turned around to
look at the tent . . .
But it wasn't there anymore. It was gone, as if it had simply
vanished into thin air. He shook his head. Of course, he
thought, if she is a gypsy, as her coloring suggests, they
travel quite frequently. She simply packed up her tent and left,
that is all. But he couldn't quite supress the notion that
someone with irridescent blue-grey eyes was watching them as they
made the long trek back to Midgar.
* * *
Why didn't I listen? Cloud thought as he watched
Sephiroth's lifeless body fade into the LifeStream. Angelique,
you were right. I should have listened. None of this would have
happened. He hung his head, then walked away, his party
silently following him. They all knew what had happened that day.
Yes, Cloud, I did warn you. And you didn't listen.
Or you didn't understand. Either way, the chain of events would
have progressed as they did, even if you'd heeded my words. There
was nothing you could do but fulfill the destiny given you. You
have released Sephiroth's soul, and now he is at peace in the
LifeStream. That was all you could have done.
Fin