2 - Welcome To Hell

[Sephiroth X]

((OOC: This is the continuation of the situation between Sephiroth X being imprisoned by Valtiel were it last left off))

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*This time upon awakening from his sleep, X shot forward as if he awoke from a nightmare. The fleshy confines of his “cocoon” within the room only allowed his head to shoot a few inches forward until stopping X’s abrupt motion. Sephiroth X momentarily thought about the symbol he saw and the links he just made.

Sephiroth X- It’s all making sense now…

*Then X thought about the monsters he encountered and the strength they possessed.

Sephiroth X- It’s getting harder and harder to fight these things when I slip back into whatever realm Valtiel keeps shoving me into…

*X looked over to the caged Masamune still lying on the coffee table with the key next to it.

Sephiroth X- …If only I had the Masamune.

*Sephiroth X looked at his trusty katana for a moment, it has served him so well in the past and up until now X realized how much he took the Masamune for granted. Sure X was a very gifted fighter in his own respects, any normal person would have been dead long ago… but that sword was special…

*Then X slipped into his own dream, not something forced upon him by Valtiel…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*The snowflakes fell heavily over the snowfield, and in the very far distance a few gunshots fired and echoed eventually on the mountains that ended the flat snowy field. The snow itself formed a smooth white blanket over the ground, all seemed innocent in this small area of the polar world.

*The white snowy blanket was disrupted by three heavily clothed people with the Senate emblem on them shot out from the tree’s that marked the beginning of the field making a mad dash across it, all three of them seemed armed and clothed in unique military clothing. Upon sprinting roughly across the halfway point of the snowy field, one of the three soldiers pulled something out from inside his heavy coat and started punching into a numeric keypad that was on it. The device was shaped like a hand grenade, and was set up like a timed bomb. Before hitting the ‘execute’ button that started the timer, the soldier carrying the bomb looked up again and surveyed the other end of the field. He saw an opening in one of the bases of a mountain, a large cave. The man gave visual instructions to the other two and pointed towards that very opening, then quickly turned around to catch a glance at the woods they just came out of.

*The bomb carrier quickly saw the shape of another soldier emerge from the woods, not of the same uniform as he. Immediately upon seeing this pursuer, the man quickly hit the ‘execute’ button and tossed the grenade device into the snow behind him as the snow muffled the ticking.

*The new soldier pursuing the other three quickly looked back into the woods, pointing out into the field.

Enemy Soldier- They’re over here!

*And not even before he completed the word ‘here’ the grenade device exploded sending a giant wall of snow, smoke, and fire up into the air. Hearing the explosion, about 14 more soldiers with uniforms matching that of the pursuing soldier came out from the woods to look for those three. But as the impromptu snow wall fell down to the earth again, there was no sign of the three they were after.

*Pressed against the dark wall of the cave’s mouth, the soldier who dropped that grenade smiled to himself.

Soldier 1- It worked… they didn’t see us come in here.

*The first soldier reached up and pulled back the thick hood that covered his face, revealing an in-shape looking male soldier with typical length brown hair. The second of the three soldiers talked softly to the other two this time.

Soldier 2- That was a good idea of using that grenade to mask our escape, Kernigan. But don’t speak to loudly or get overconfident about the safety of our position. We don’t want to give away our position.

Kernigan (Soldier 1)- I know the drill Jenkins, keep low until you know the threat has passed. But I mean c’mon they never even saw us come near here not to mention this place could suffice in case of attack.

*Jenkins, the second soldier, lifted his snow-hood revealing someone who looked very strict to the military, crew cut and all. Kernigan then looked over to the third soldier who had been rather quiet this whole time.

Kernigan- What do you think?

*The third soldier reached up and pulled back his hood revealing a man with just longer then shoulder length hair that was held in a ponytail fashion with a piece of cloth so the hair wouldn’t get in his way. The man looked more youthful then the other two and had average brown eyes, but had the gaze of a determined fighter.

Kernigan- Well, Seph? What do you think?

*Sephiroth X looked around the cave for a small while.

Sephiroth X- If they find us… the close quarters of this cave should easily compensate for their larger numbers.

Jenkins- But one explosion from one of their grenades could bring this whole place down around us.

*Sephiroth X reached behind him and pulled something from a harness he had on, when his arm came back around he was holding an impressive looking sniper rifle that held a very predominant bayonet on it.

Sephiroth X- I see someone reach for a grenade… they’ll be down before they even touch it.

Kernigan- Awfully confident in your skills… aren’t you?

Jenkins- Hey pal, I’d much rather trust him with one of those things then you… the way you shoot you’d need a banana clip for that thing, and sniper rifles don’t get those.

Sephiroth X- …I’d much rather let them get up close, to tell you the truth.

*Jenkins raised an eyebrow.

Jenkins- Close quarters with a sniper rifle? Why on earth would you want that?

*Seph eyed up and down the bayonet.

Sephiroth X- As ‘dead eye’ as I am, I don’t like guns…

Kernigan- There’s a first… a sniper saying he doesn’t like guns. Standard infantry I can understand saying that since they have gunfire around them every which way till Sunday. But a sniper? A person who’s usually alone with his weapon?

Sephiroth X- Anybody out there can pull a trigger… and therefore anyone can kill anyone… there’s no honor in that and those who are truly skilled and respectable can be killed by even the most disrespectful who can get off a lucky shot… That’s why I snipe, because otherwise I could die by someone whom I know honestly shouldn’t defeat me, this way I prevent that…

Jenkins- Well I hate to burst your bubble but those days went away a long time ago, like it or not you better like that weapon your holding cuz it’s the only thing that’s gonna keep you alive.

*Sephiroth X smirked a smirk now familiar to many.

Sephiroth X- We’ll see about that one… And I’m sorry to burst your bubble Jenkins… but they WILL be here…

*Jenkins and Kernigan both cocked their heads slightly.

Kernigan- We lost them though they didn’t see us come in here…

Sephiroth X- Look outside… snow… open field… your magic grenade trick couldn’t erase the nice perfect trail of footprints leading right up to here you know.

*Kernigan stood there feeling stupid momentarily, and Jenkins meanwhile frowned realizing what should have been obvious.

Jenkins- Well you seem to have all this thought out… what do you suggest?

Sephiroth X- …We should wait it out, there’s a very slim chance that they wont pick up our trail. But once they do pick up the footprints they’ll haul it right to were we are now. So there will be no point in hiding our position after that.

Jenkins- So you gonna try to snipe em down?

Sephiroth X- There were… 14… no 15 of those guys all together. But there’s good news and bad news.

Kernigan- And that might be what?

Sephiroth X- The good news is I know I can snipe them all, the bad news is I don’t have enough bullets to kill them all.

Jenkins- How many shots do you have left.

Sephiroth X- Well I have 4 shots in my rifle right now along with 2 more shells in my pocket..

Jenkins- So you can only cap off 6 of them… that leaves 9 of them for us.

Sephiroth X- That’s if I can take them all out in one shot per bad guy.

Kernigan- That shouldn’t be a problem should it?

Sephiroth X- The weather’s been erratic all day, the changing wind speeds will mess up my shots. And since I’ll be in this cave shooting, I wont be able to judge the winds.

Jenkins- So what’s your estimate on how many you’ll take out.

Sephiroth X- Ideal estimate would be 6 shots 6 kills. A more logical estimate would probably be 3 or 4.

Kernigan- Ok so we gotta cap off 11 baddies.

*Seph eyed up his bayonet again.

Sephiroth X- …They shouldn’t be a problem.

Kernigan- Well I don’t know about you but I think 11 to 3 odds are- -

*The thunderous sound of a rifle’s blast echoed through the cave causing Kernigan and Jenkins to cover their ears.

Kernigan- Damnit warn us before you do that..

Sephiroth X- …One down.

Jenkins- Well that’s good to know… I’ll keep my ears covered until your done ok?

*Sephiroth X fired off two more shots.

Sephiroth X- …Two down.

Kernigan- They’re probably all scattering like rabbits aren’t they?

Sephiroth X- If you classify scattering like rabbits as heading right for us, then yes.

*Kernigan’s face went a little more flush white as Sephiroth X fired off his fourth shot.

Sephiroth X- That’s three down, I need to reload quickly.

*Seph quickly opened his gun up and slipped in his two remaining shells into it before prepping his gun to shoot again.

Jenkins- They close enough for me to shoot at them yet?

Sephiroth X- …No.

Jenkins- How far away then?

Sephiroth X- Bout a hundred yards, maybe two hundred.

Jenkins- My rifles out of ammo, all that’s left is my sidearm.

*Sephiroth X suddenly fired off one more shot.

Sephiroth X- … Five.

Kernigan- Wait.. you were just at three kills

Sephiroth X- …I know.

*Kernigan looked over to Jenkins, nodding his head slightly in approval of X’s marksmanship. Then Sephiroth X fired off his final shot.

Jenkins- Is that six?

Sephiroth X- No, wounded him though. Hit him in his right shoulder and he was right handed, so he wont be able to shoot that gun of his anymore with any good aim.

*There was a few moments of silence after Sephiroth fired his last shot. Then after the enemy had determined that Seph was out of ammo, bullets from their weapons began chipping away at some of the rock that made up the mouth of the cave.

Sephiroth X- Now the fun starts…

Jenkins- We should move back into the cave more so a ricochet bullet doesn’t hit us.

*The three of them moved away from the mouth of the cave and then headed deeper into the cave. The mouth of the cave essentially was one tunnel from what the three of them could see, which was kind of strange. And after about a minute of jogging, the tunnel opened up into an expansive cavern that was dimly lit through some small crevasses in the mountain around them.

Kernigan- Well this is interesting. Cave, close quarters, and yeah play to our advantage alright. Then we find this big open piece of crap, just get the blindfolds and the firing squad ready right now.

Sephiroth X- There’s some small nooks and alcoves here in the tunnel before it reaches this opening. We could bottleneck them here, they’ll be distracted by the sudden expansion of the cave to see us here.

*The sounds of others running into the cave along with muffled communications could be heard now as the enemy entered the cave. Jenkins spoke in a whisper.

Jenkins- Sounds like a plan. Take cover.

*The three of them took cover hiding in small nooks within the wall of the tunnel just before the vast expansion. The sound of the enemy closing in grew louder every passing second. Judging by the rapid pace the sound was increasing at, they were running with haste right into their trap.

*Then they all came dashing down the hallway, 10 of them just like X had pointed out… one with a badly wounded arm in the middle of the pack with one other enemy soldier helping him out. It would be that soldier assisting the wounded one that X would take out, eliminating the crutch to the wounded one would be like taking out 2 soldiers at once. The soldiers came barreling down the small cavern hallway at full speed never seeing the three of them hiding in the darkness, and as the pack came to them Sephiroth X spun out swinging the bayonet of his sniper rifle slicing into the soldier helping the wounded one. He went down the ground immediately and the wounded enemy staggered back. X didn’t hesitate a bit before swinging his sniper rifle sword-like again this time slicing into the calf of the soldier he already wounded sending him down to the ground.

*The enemy soldiers behind them stood stunned in their tracks while the soldiers that ran past already looked back in a startled amazement. As they all began to reach for their weapons, Jenkins came out from the darkness and slammed the butt of his gun into the head of one of the enemies still in the cave hallway. Kernigan ambushed the group that was coming in from the expansive cavern to help their allies, and from that point on guns began firing and a full fight was on.

*Jenkins strafed in and out of some of the small alcoves for cover from enemy fire, and Kernigan was sprinting back and forth in the initial entrance to the cavern expansion in his own gunfight. Sephiroth was taking on two soldiers in close range by himself, deflecting the occasional bullet shot at him with the stock of his rifle. But X knew he couldn’t keep this up for long, even if he had a massive bayonet on his weapon for close range fighting… this sniper rifle wasn’t a true melee weapon, it was off weight for him and ever swing threw of his balance significantly. Eventually he would have a very exposed weakness that would be exploited.

*As X contemplated his odds of survival with a lacking weapon, he kept attention to the battles around him. Jenkins had capped one soldier himself, Kernigan shot down two more… with the one X slashed down and the crippled soldier that left 6 soldiers left to go.

*X heard the echoing sound of a rifle hitting the ground in the cavern, Kernigan must have taken down another… that left 5 left. Momentarily thereafter, Seph caught an opening in one of the soldiers he was in close range combat with and slammed the butt of his rifle into the enemies jaw followed by a killing stab from the bayonet… 4 left. X quickly looked back to Jenkins who was still shooting but X knew something was wrong. Jenkins didn’t shoot so erratically, he was in a panic and must have lost count of his shots after reloading his last clip. Jenkins got another shot off at one of his enemies and connected square in the chest sending the enemy down, but as he went down he continued to shoot blindly and a ricochet bullet caught X in the back of his shoulder.

*There were only 3 left, one shooting at Jenkins, one shooting at Kern, and one in a melee fight with X. Sephiroth X gritted his teeth painfully as he fought through the pain of the bullet wound. But it still had its effects on him, now X definitely couldn’t swing the bayonet sniper rifle in any smooth manner therefore his opponent was holding his own when he should be dead.

*Then X heard a bad sound coming from the cavern hallway, the clicking of an empty weapon. In the corner of his eye, Seph saw Jenkins shooting nothing but air at his opponent… and X saw Jenkins’ face turn pale as he was caught with an empty gun and no cover to reload it in.

Jenkins- …Damnit.

*The last soldier he was in a gunfight in… shot him down brutally.

Sephiroth X- JENKINS!

*There was no response from Jenkins, and as X continued swinging his sniper rifle bayonet at his current adversary he could see the man who gunned down Jenkins walk past the body and start walking up behind X raising his pistol. Sephiroth X knew there was nothing he could do at this point… if he turned to the man who killed Jenkins, the guy X was currently fighting would take him down for sure… and obviously if he stayed in close range combat he would be gunned down. In the corner of his eye X could see the man walking closer and his pistol now raised at Sephiroth X’s head. X managed to deliver a punch to the jaw of the man he was currently fighting and quickly spun around only to see the new enemy ready to shoot him… so X stood staring at him, ready to die.

*The gunman enemy smiled a little as he reveled in the moment, but then a sound echoed through the hallway behind him… the sound of a bullet clicking into the chamber… the gunman enemy’s face lost all expression for a second as he heard the sound, and from behind him a very bloody Jenkins shot one bullet into the back of the gunman’s head. As the enemy soldier fell down in front of Sephiroth X… X could see Jenkins clearly now as he made his last eye contact with X before finally dieing…

*Seph gave the now deceased Jenkins a quick and quite nod before spinning around to see his previous adversary coming at him swinging his rifle like a baseball bat at X. Seph held his sniper rifle sword-style again blocking the incoming attack and using what strength he had left to try and push the enemy backwards a little and was succeeding in doing so until he heard another bad sound reach his ears, this time from the cavern’s opening.

Kernigan- Seph! Help!

*An echoing gunshot rattled from the cavern down into the hall as X looked over the shoulder of his opponent quickly to see Kernigan’s body fall dead to the ground.

*His allies were dead when they were both so close to living to fight on… Now there were just two enemies left, and Seph himself. Knowing now that Kernigan and Jenkins were both dead seemed to spark some primitive last form of survival from within X… he wouldn’t die… he wouldn’t give up yet.

*Sephiroth X let out a loud battle cry and used his adrenaline to drive his shoulder into the enemy he was fighting, scooping him up off the ground a little and X used him as a human shield as he charged towards the enemy who killed Kernigan. That enemy held up his gun but tried to aim his gun were he wouldn’t endanger the other soldier that X was carrying towards him. The gunfighter never got a shot off, and Seph rammed into him full speed using the enemy over his shoulder as a battering ram. The second enemy went airborne onto the back of the other enemy, and X went to drive them both into the floor of the expansive cavern they were all now in.

*When X slammed the two other soldiers onto the cave floor along with himself, he saw a massive crack spread in all directions from underneath them. And not a split second later, the cavern floor gave out from under them and all three of them went into a free fall that lasted around five seconds. All three landed a few feet apart landing on the very solid ground with an emphatic thud. X lifted his head in pain to see were he was, this looked almost like a room within the cavern, illegible inscriptions in the wall and a floor that looked like it was made of large stone bricks. He turned his head to see something in the very center of this new cavernous room, one of the small beams of light that came down from a crevasse high above beamed down directly onto what looked almost like a very small shrine.

*Standing in a square stone stood a sword, the blade was imbedded into the stone but it couldn’t be that far into it. So the blade looked like it was of average length with a hilt and handle at the top of it. X muttered to himself in pain.

Sephiroth X- Why.. the hell… is something like this here…?

*X staggered to his feet, never breaking his glance at this sword for some reason… it felt like he couldn’t break the glare… like he didn’t want to. Something then flashed into his mind though that very quickly broke his attention from the sword… the two other soldiers who fell down with him.

*Sephiroth X spun his head towards the direction of were the two others landed and as he did he saw one of the two enemies raise his rifle at X. Seph stood still staring down the barrel of the gun, in the corner of his eye he could see the other soldier staggering towards the sword.

Enemy Gunman- Time… for you… to finally… fucking die…

*X stared with anger in his eyes at the man who was about to shoot him… but the attention of both X and the gunman were broken by words of the other enemy.

Enemy #2- Why is there a sword?

*The enemy reached out to touch the handle of the sword, and as X saw the enemy’s fingers come closer then an inch to the swords handle… some force very emphatically threw him back all the way slamming into the cavern wall almost like two magnets when they repel each other.

*But then X saw the gunman’s eyes look back to X, and X looked back to him as well.

Enemy Gunman- Die…

*He pulled the trigger…

*Click… click-click… click…

Sephiroth X- Oh how sad… you forgot bullets… that breaks my heart, really.

*Sephiroth X eyed around the floor quickly, no sign of his sniper rifle. This was bad, X knew he wasn’t in a physical state to fight anybody hand to hand… Then X’s eyes met the sword… he saw what happened to the other guy… but it was the only choice… and even though he saw the invisible resistance the sword gave to the other guy, X still felt compelled to want to grab the sword… it was almost as if… he felt it calling to him… Sephiroth X looked back to the gunman quickly, the gun that he had held no bayonet therefore it was a useless chunk of metal to him now. And X saw him look to the mysterious sword quickly too… so this is how it would be… a gunfight ending with two people running for a sword… how ironic.

*Both he and the gun-less gunman were equal distance from the mysterious sword, and both could now tell their mutual intentions of getting the sword… and then the dash was on. They both ran at pretty even speeds, neither seeming to pull ahead of the other due to the physical conditions of the body. As X got closer and closer, he could feel the sword call out to him more and more it felt like… the sword seemed so focused on him… Closer and closer they came and neither had pulled away. And in a last second desperation attempt for one of them to get to the sword before the other, they both dived towards the sword with an arm extending out to the handle of the blade. X only hoped that the sword wouldn’t repel him like it did the other…

*In that moment before he could touch the sword… Seph looked at the blade of the mysterious sword… he saw his reflection… or was it… He saw a physical shape that resembled him… but in the reflection he was in black clothing with silver shoulder guards… and his hair was a very long version of his current silver hair… and his eyes… his eyes were a vivid green…

*Then in the wonder of what he saw… Sephiroth X saw the soldier next to him stop in mid air… and fly back to the wall of the cavern just like what happened to his friend. But… X kept going forward, and he felt his hand touch the handle of the sword before landing on the ground finishing his dive.

*The soldier who was repelled by the sword earlier was back on his feet and looked at X and the sword in astonishment… and the soldier who was just repelled away shook off the pain of slamming into the wall and stood back up looking to X in wonder as well. Sephiroth X stood back on his feet, looking down at the hand of the sword that was stuck into its rock shrine. Sephiroth X gripped the handle tightly, it felt so comfortable around his hand… as he gripped it he could feel something flow through him… almost like ghosts telling him a story of good and evil… life and death… was this the history of this sword?… the power it held?… how it could be used to bring justice or sorrow?… Sephiroth X figured he was about to find out, and he pulled the sword from the rock below. It flowed from the rock so easily in his hand, but what astonished him was that as he removed the sword from its rock preserve the blade continued to grow… and then X stood there holding a sword with a very solid feeling and very long blade… about 5 or 6 feet long it could have been… but it felt so light and so balanced… almost like it was crafted for him…

*Sephiroth X turned around holding this new weapon, looking back at the two enemies who were still hurt but alive… Then he felt one more thing come to him from this sword… a single word…

…Masamune…

*Sephiroth X heard the name and repeated it in his mind… then he looked at the inscriptions on the walls around him… suddenly they all began changing, and then looked perfectly legible to him… all referencing to the Masamune… It was the sword’s name…

[Sephiroth X]

Enemy #2- H-h-h-how did you do that?

Enemy Gunman- You got any bullets left?

*The second enemy dug through his pockets, pulled out two bullets, and tossed them to the gunman enemy who had managed to pick up the rifle he initially discarded. Meanwhile, Sephiroth X slowly began walking towards the two with the Masamune in hand. X looked at the man with the rifle as he loaded it up with the two last shells and aimed at Seph.

Enemy Gunman- I don’t know how you did that… but that thing wont stop you from feeling this that’s for sure.

*The gunman shot one of the two bullets at Sephiroth X, the Masamune’s blade moved elegantly in X’s hand and got directly in the path of the bullet, deflecting it away with a sharp ‘ping’ noise.

Enemy Gunman- What the…

*X continued walking at the gunman with his steady pace, in a panic the gunman shot his last bullet with haste at X… only to have it deflected away as well. X never broke the pace he was at towards the enemy with the rifle… the other enemy tried sneaking up behind him to take him out, but something told X that he was coming… and X relentlessly spun around swinging his new sword taking down one of the last two soldiers. As he completed his spin he would end up facing the gunman again, who swung his empty rifle at him as a weapon… This would be X’s test of the sharpness of the Masamune, and as X counter attacked he felt the Masamune slice through the enemies rifle like butter cleaving it clear in two. After completing the follow through motion from destroying the enemy’s gun, Sephiroth X went into a low spin extending one of his legs to trip his now weaponless enemy sending him down onto his back on the floor. X used his momentum to quickly stand himself back up as he stood above the last enemy that could hurt him… and without a second though X held the Masamune in a reverse fashion, raised it up and drove the blade down into the final soldier…

*Minutes later… Sephiroth X scaled the wall that led back up to the original cavern chamber and the hallway that led back out of the cave. His body was exhausted, but with this new sword… the Masamune… he felt so much more confident that he ignored his ailing body for this moment in time. Sephiroth X began walking down the cave’s hallway back outside when he heard something… he looked into one of the black nooks that he used to hide in and as he focused he saw who was hiding there... the wounded soldier whom he sniped in the arm and then sliced in the calf… he was still alive… Seph contemplated killing him to… but it would be irrelevant as it was anyway… So X spared him and continued walking out of the cave with the Masamune.

*After making a few turns within the cave structure he reached the opening of the cave and looked out into the snowfield. As he listened he only heard the occasional whisper of wind. There were no gunshots, no explosions, nothing… the battle had passed and nobody in sight… X was alone.

*Sephiroth X was never pleased with his stay in the Senate… And as the mental wheels turned in his head he put things together… Jenkins and Kernigan were gone, the only people he really associated with in the Senate’s service.. he was broken up from his platoon of soldiers, they probably assume he was dead… and anyone who would even find this cave could assume he was dead with them… This was his chance to leave them and be free… With the Masamune, he felt invincible… he felt free, he felt like with this sword he could do so much more then what he could do with any projectile weapon… Sephiroth X began tearing the Senate emblems off of his clothing and his ammo belt, leaving them in the cave and began to step out into the field… but he remembered one thing… there would be one person who could say that he was still alive… the wounded one… Sephiroth X gripped the Masamune tightly again and stood still, with his right arm he slashed at the cave wall sending a loud echoing ping through the cave.

*And as he walked out…the sound vibrations caused an avalanche and a cave in… and the wounded one was gone… along with all evidence of Sephiroth X surviving the battle that occurred in there… Sephiroth X walked into the snowfield holding the Masamune… And then he would return to a the only thing he had in his life… the girl named Catrina..

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*Sephiroth X snapped back to reality from a sound within the room Valtiel imprisoned him in… it was the sound of something unlocking… X’s eyes darted around the room from his fleshy cocoon, nobody here and the locks on the door were still in place… so his eyes instead looked to the coffee table.. and as he looked at it… he saw the cage that held the Masamune inside… it somehow had been unlocked, and the door of the cage was open… as if somehow telling Sephiroth X that the Masamune truly felt like it was his again…

[The Waffle King]

His exhilaration was short lived as his attention was as turned onto a soft, patting noise above him. He couldn’t move his head far enough to see but he could tell it was getting closer. Something descended into view, an inverted head with a familiar face, so to speak. Valtiel loomed over X from the wall on his hands and knees. He simply stared at his captive for a few moments. Sephiroth X’s brow furrowed at the sight of his enemy. Valtiel simply cocked his head and proceeded to slowly smother X’s face with his hands. Sephiroth X let out a muffled grunt as he fell into the void once again. He could barely make out a raspy voice in his stark solitude. “I have a gift for you. Giving pain or receiving it, I’ll let you have the one you hate the most.” He drifted for a few moments, but suddenly jarred back to though by a wholly unexpected feeling. It was like he was being jerked upward with a rope. He could see a point of light in the distance rushing towards him. It got bigger and bigger until it enveloped his entire body. His back settled on something relatively soft, but it was in a rushed sort of movement. His vision came back into focus. He saw the outlines of people dressed in white with quickly passing lights above them. There was calamity all around him. He was being rushed down the hallway of an emergency room by the hospital staff. He felt exhausted, his body heavy as lead. A nurse bent down to him and said something to him before he passed out. “Hang in there!” In what seemed like the very next moment he awoke in a soft bed. The room he was in was a sterile white, the door was to his front-right and a large picture window directly to his left. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, birds were perched on the window sill and proceeded to hop about playfully. The sun was warm on his face, the rest of his body covered by a warm sheet. He noticed the rhythmic beep of the heart monitor to his right. He let his head settle into the pillow, even with his previous circumstances he was in total bliss. After a long moment of relaxation the door opened, a rather cute nurse entered the room with a clipboard. She walked up to the foot of his bed with a pleasant smile and held the clipboard to her chest.

Nurse: “You’re going to be just fine, sir. In fact you seem to be recovering extraordinarily quickly.”

A grin passed over X’s face, something that hadn’t happened in a long time. The nurse then went about checking his heart monitor and other miscellaneous hospital equipment. All was right in the world at that moment.

But X’s rational brain couldn’t be suppressed for long. He turned his head to face the window and studied the environment in detail. None of the buildings looked familiar to him. His grin diminished a bit. He turned to the nurse.

Sephiroth X: “Miss, where is this hospital located?”

The nurse just pivoted around on her heel, gave her head an odd little tilt, and continued to smile that same smile.

Nurse: “No need to worry about that, sir. Everything is taken care of.”

His smile faded even more into a bit of a scowl.

Sephiroth X: “But I’d rather know where I am.”

She turned and started toward the door, replying as she went.

Nurse: “No need to worry about that, sir. Everything is ta…”

She was interrupted by a now angered X.

Sephiroth X: “I want to know where the hell I am!”

He tried to sit up but found he could barely move. His strength had returned but he was restrained to the bed. He could feel the leather straps wrapped around his wrists and ankles. The nurse stopped in mid step but did not face him, she spoke in a very shaky tone.

Nurse: “Now sir, the more you struggle the more you’ll suffer.”

X froze in place, stunned by her words. She slowly turned, the sweet smile now twisted with ill intent. A dribble of blood crept from the corner of her mouth followed by another drop emanating from her eye that divided her pale cheek with a crimson border. The blood oozed from her pores as she slipped a scalpel out of her pocket. The clipboard dropped to the floor as she began to stumble towards X. The fluorescent lights overheard began to flicker and buzz. The singular window fogged over with a red mist until all outside light was blocked off. Every time the dim luminescent tubes flashed on for a moment, the hellish creature drew nearer. X struggled against the restraints but couldn’t break free. The nurse reached the foot of the hospital bed and began to crawl over X on her hands and knees. He could hear her gargled, uneven breath clearly. She lifted the scalpel over her head like a dagger with both hands and prepared for the kill. X clenched his eyes closed as he thrashed against the, expecting the thin blade to pierce his heart. That moment of complete despair seemed to last an eternity.

In an instant the weight of the creature was thrown from his body with a wet thunk, a metallic sound from the opposite wall soon followed. X snapped his eyes open to see the nurse pinned to the far side of the room, the Masamune driven through its chest. It writhed and screeched before finally dying. X was stunned to see the blade in this world, even more so that it just seemed to appear out of nowhere. The nurse had shifted she sheet down quite a bit when it had attacked him. He was still wearing his usual shoulder armor and leather coat. The scalpel had fallen near his right hand, just barely close enough to grip. He awkwardly sawed away at the straps, constantly checking the door for more enemies. When he finally got one hand free, he made short work of the other restraints. He pulled himself off the bed and wiped away a few dribbles of blood. His gaze turned toward the sword, he stared at it as he slowly moved towards it. He didn’t know how it got here but that wasn’t important, his companion saved him once again. His hand gripped the handle, a sweet reunion indeed. He closed his eyes as a slight smile crossed his face.

Sephiroth X: Thank you…old friend…we have much work to do.

He pulled the sword from the wall and creature in one smooth movement. He stood only for a moment before turning to the door. He turned the knob and slowly opened the door. It made a quiet squeak as it swung open. What presented itself before X was worse than anything he had seen before. Parts of the walls pulsed and twitched like huge muscles feasting on blood. A rancid smell filled his lungs with the first breath he took. The fluorescent lights on the ceilings were like glass veins transporting strange fluids throughout the hospital, but still managed to throw out a miniscule amount of dingy light through the liquid. The sound of scuffling feet wafted down from his right, a group of four filled the hall in the only direction he could go. Four armed nurses impeded progress to that side. Of course his room had to be at the end of the wing. One of them took a deep breath and spewed out a horrendous scream at X. He took a wild guess and decided that they were a little more active than the other creatures he had encountered. The loud one in front took the initiative and broke into a full sprint at X. He simply smiled and watched it approach. It lifted up the pipe and brought it down at X’s head. There was a flash, a metallic ringing, and all was quiet. X and his attacker stood facing away from each other, neither of them moving. The silence was broken by half of the nurse’s pipe falling to the dirty, tiled floor. There was only a brief pause before upper half of the nurse followed its rusty counterpart.

After seeing their comrade cut down, two more of the nurses didn’t hesitate to rush X. They attacked with their pipes simultaneously, the narrow hallway stopping X from performing an efficient slice on either of the assailants without leaving himself wide open. He did the only thing he could do, dodged backwards. Both weapons connected only with air. Just as X rebalanced himself there was a loud bang. A bullet whizzed by his face causing his platinum hair to move slightly. The singular nurse that had stayed behind brought it’s revolver back down to eye level and began to line up another shot as the other enemies readied their weapons again. X had his back to a wall with nowhere to dodge to anymore. “This is a very bad situation.” X thought to himself. He had to act quickly. He readied the sword directly in front of him, staring intently past the two enemies and at the barrel of the gun. Her accuracy was dead on, she wasn’t going to miss this time. He had to time this just right, any mistakes and he would be dead. They raised their weapons, its finger began to squeeze the trigger. Their raised arms gave him just enough room to dart between them. He raised the sword over his head and squeezed between the enemies. The gun fired, the blade swung, metal collided with metal. X could see it happening, like a replay in slow motion. The bullet not 3 feet away from his forehead connected with the masamune, it split down the middle, the two halves peeled away from each other and narrowly cleared his head. The two halves continued on behind him and lodged themselves in the back of the two assailant’s brains. They fell forward and landed face down as X continued to sprint towards the gunner, the sword now at his side. Before it could squeeze off another shot, X’s blade passed cleanly through its neck.

The last enemy fell as X let out a sigh or relief. He flicked the blood off the sword and sheathed it at his side. He walked down the oppressive corridor, the living walls moving almost like a throat swallowing him down. He neared an intersection in the hall, something was there. X’s eyes narrowed. The lights began to flicker as he approached the junction. Near an open door loomed Valtiel, his feet firmly planted on the ceiling. X gripped the masamune and broke out into a sprint, but Valtiel dashed into the open door and closed it behind him. X reached the door, it had the word STAIRS printed in big letters on it, and kicked it in to see Valtiel skittering across the wall leading down to the basement. He followed, but was unable to catch up. The stairs ended with a single door, he opened it slowly in case his enemy was waiting to ambush him. The basement of the hospital was the morgue. The stench of rotting meat was almost unbearable. Occupied stretchers filled the room, their residents sealed up in bags with the Senate seal stitched to it. Lockers hung open, some stuffed with multiple cadavers. The room was long and fairly narrow, the lockers on each side and a wide double door at the end. This room seemed to only be mildly effected by the monstrosity's craft. Streaks of blood ran from X's feet to the other door. There was utter silence as he slowly wove through the crowded death house, his concentration only broken by what sounded like heavy footsteps elsewhere in the building. As he neared the other side of the room he noticed that the bodies surrounding him gradually became increasingly distorted and monstrous. By the time he got to the end they didn't even look human anymore. He popped the latch on the double doors, the lock spitting out a dead clack. This echoed out behind him, masking the sound of another latch being opened. He pushed open the doors, the room on the other side was a plain concrete room. About twelve feet each way with a six foot square hole in the center. The incandescent lights were placed in the lower corners of the room rather than the ceiling, making the hole look like a dense pit of shadows. The trail of blood led directly into it. He shuffled to the edge of the chasm to peer down into it. There was a loud crash behind him, he spun around to see a familiar beast with dual blades extending from it's arms. Before he could do more, a hand strangled his ankle and yanked it down into the abyss. X smashed his chin in the edge and flopped down into the hole. He saw the masamune's shine tumble down into the concealing shadows. He hung there in the dark by the foot, slightly dazed from the impact. His anchor to the rough wall was Valtiel, hand wrapped around X's ankle.

Valtiel: “This pit would have been my destiny if not for finding my master. But for you it is different, the darkness still calls for your flawed soul.”

Valtiel the broke his grip with X, allowing him to fall into the bowels of this cursed place. It wasn't long before his back collided with something hard, but it wasn't ground, instead it was slopped and wet. He slid further down into the hole, but a faint light presented itself at it's lowest recess.

As he exited the chute he found himself sailing for another thirty or so feet down. He landed in a three point stance, the sword lying not 5 feet away. He was in what looked like the inside of an immense cavern, a strange mineral in the rocks gave out a faint blue light. More of the same body bags littered the cave, most of which had split open from the fall revealing their mutant inhabitants. He took a step and picked up his blade, pausing for a moment in the middle of lifting it from the dirty ground as a gravely sound grew louder overhead. He turned in time to see a hulking form falling from the opening. It landed on its two feet and reared to its full height. Its long red gloves and razor sharp blades glistened in the low light, it let out a raspy sigh as it walked toward his foe.

Sephiroth X: “No, not this time...”

X readied the masamune and took a defensive stance. The creature lunged forward with one of its blades, but X easily deflected it and countered with a lateral slice. The blade caught it in the side and tore a deep gash. It staggered a few steps away and turned to face X once again. A smirk crossed X's face.

Sephiroth X: “I am not the same as I was before, demon.”

The creature bellows forth a muffle roar of rage and ran full speed at X, both blades at the ready. He simply smiled and, in one fluid motion, spun out of the way and brought the large blade down on its forearms. The keen edge glided smoothly through the tissues and exited the other side without slowing. He continued on with the circle and redirected his attack at his enemy's neck. It passed though its spine as easily as it did its arms. Small debris fell from the cavern ceiling when the mammoth of a foe was felled. There was only a moment of silence before a sound drew X's attention upwards. Valtiel was perched at the top of the cavern, giving X a metronome like applause. There was a growing rustling building around X, he looked down to see his once thought deceased inmates rising to their misshapen feet. They quickly surrounded him, countless forms in the dim light. X smiled, confident in his abilities. But that confidence wouldn't be put to the test quite yet, his head felt light and his vision began to blur. He faded from this world yet again.

[Sephiroth X]

*The next thing X saw was the blurred view that he had of The Room he was held captive in, and saw everything slowly sharpen into picture. On the inside, confidence flowed through him once more, on the outside however his body was definitely taking a toll from everything he has gone through in Valtiel’s captivity. His body had been through hell, quite literally and any simple flinches his muscles made while in his cocoon hurt badly. He eyed around the room again, making sure he didn’t have any unexpected demon guests. Everything was like it was, the chains on the doors, the musty air, the silence. As he looked around he found nothing, he smirked to himself and thought…

Sephiroth X- After what I just showed some of those things… no demon’s going to want to come here.

*X looked down at the coffee table again, there laid the Masamune right were it was left before X slipped into Valtiel’s horrific world again. He let out a small sigh of relief as he saw it was still there, and then within the confines of his cocoon like prison he let his body relax. Sephiroth X let his head sag down looking at the floor as he closed his eyes, but his hard earned nap was quickly interrupted by a faint sound he heard. A small sound that not many other people would pick up on, sounding almost like a single chain link moving once.

*He didn’t look up right away to address what he heard, if something was in here X wouldn’t want to give away his consciousness immediately. After a few moments of eerie silence, X slowly raised his head to see whatever he might have heard.

*Sephiroth X’s face turned a curious kind of concerned at what he saw, all of the chains and locks that held the door exiting the room had been completely removed and were on the floor with basically no sound. X observed the door quickly, and it didn’t appear like there was any sort of forced entry either. Sephiroth X’s eyes slowly eyed all over everything he could see in the room trying to pick up anything that might be in there, once again there was nothing but total eerie silence. But something was here… X’s eyes found their way back to the mysteriously unlocked door and then Sephiroth X let out a slow quiet exhale.

Sephiroth X- …

*And in that very moment, X saw a hand shoot out at him from thin air and wrap its fingers around his throat. Sephiroth X gasped for air momentarily as he looked to see were in the hell this hand came from, and as X made eye contact with the disembodied appendage he slowly began to see the arm visually reform. It started to reform at the wrist, and work its way up to the elbow, then to the shoulder. And as it began to take shape it took on an grimly familiar shape and color… and as the entities entire body reformed… the gold eye of Dark Crono was all Sephiroth X saw.

*X’s eyes widened in an innate terror that even Valtiel couldn’t recreate, then his eyes frowned in anger and slight pain as the fingers of Dark Crono wrapped tighter around X’s throat. And as the grip tightened, Crono slowly pulled X closer to him and Crono as well leaned his head forward a little. Just enough to were X could see the smirk on Dark Crono’s face.

Dark Crono- I believe you’ve been with Azriel’s devil long enough…

*X couldn’t respond, he was struggling enough to get air as it was. X then felt the grip on this throat tighten again momentarily as Dark Crono pulled Sephiroth X from the cocoon that held him captive. Dark Crono let go of X completely this time as X’s body landed on the wooden floor with a modest thud. That was when the physical exhaustion really kicked in, every movement X tried to make was like trying to lift a cinder block with an index finger. X crawled no more then a half foot as Dark Crono calmly walked over to the coffee table that held The Masamune upon it. Crono placed the palm of his hand on the bottom of the Masamune’s handle, and nonchalantly nudge X’s coveted sword off of the table down towards Sephiroth X whom managed to have enough strength left within him to wrap one hand around the handle and nothing more. As Sephiroth X saw his own hand grip the Masamune’s handle, he saw the feet and cloak of Dark Crono step over his arm towards the door.

*The dark one quietly put his hand on the rusted doorknob that led out of the room, and turned the handle. Sephiroth X had turned his head to see Dark Crono open the door entirely, and the entire doorframe was temporarily illuminated with a bright white light that blurred Dark Crono’s silhouette. But as the light faded away quickly, X could see the light turn into a dark brick and concrete surface just outside the door… almost like a Midgar alleyway. Dark Crono turned around, reached down slightly, and dragged X to the door by the metal shoulder guard that X wore. Dark Crono walked to the edge of were this apparent gateway transformed from Valtiel’s world to the human world, and with little effort Dark Crono lightly tossed Sephiroth X onto the cold damp concrete of the Midgar alleyway. And as Dark Crono smiled to himself at the sight of X's hurting pathetic human body, he slowly pulled the door shut behind him as quietly as he first entered... severing the connection from Valtiel's hell and Midgar... leaving Sephiroth X alone in that alleyway with Dark Crono...

And as complex and unlogical as it was for X to comprehend... Dark Crono had... saved him?...