【SC】Endless Journey

Claude made a silent gesture to Sephiroth, keeping him in bed reading, while he went into the bathroom to remove the protective cover of the ventilation pipe.

Since he had a "heart-to-heart talk" with Sephiroth in the training room last week, Sephiroth has treated him with a lot of respect.Claude couldn't help feeling a little bit, if the last Sephiroth could learn the lesson after every loss in this way, they wouldn't have to hurt each other for a long time—or maybe it was just a one-sided injury.He sometimes felt that the man was having fun.

Young Sephiroth didn't know what he wanted to do, but Cloud knew they were running out of time.On the one hand, he didn't expect that he would lose consciousness for eight months due to Moko poisoning, on the other hand, he was also unprepared for Sephiroth's re-entering the army.

Joining the army means that Sephiroth will be valued by the Midgar military, and the opponent's every move in the army will be monitored by both the military and the research institute, so Claude must complete their escape plan while Sephiroth is on vacation , otherwise the next opportunity may have to wait until the distant future.

Claude climbed from the ventilation pipe to the power distribution room at the bottom, took out a homemade remote control breaker, found the switch of the high-risk items management area, and installed the small breaker under the main switch of the area.

In the past two and a half years, he has memorized the map of the institute by heart, even if he walks in the dark, he will not bump into any obstacles.This is all thanks to Shinra's extremely complex design of the internal structure of various facilities. As long as the magic furnace has been blown up a few times, anyone can practice the ability to memorize the floor plan of the building within 1 minute.

Claude once followed the maintenance workers of the research institute to check the entire facility, and generally knew where the power distribution rooms and backup generators in each district were, and where the gates would be locked directly in an emergency.The ventilation pipes here extend in all directions. In fact, it would be easier to escape if he was the only one, but Sephiroth's figure would definitely not be able to climb in, so Claude could only consider using some more direct and violent ways to open the passage.

His plan is this - first, he will cut off the power to the high-risk item management area in the middle of the night, and then remotely blow up the backup generator set, so that the gates of the high-risk item management area may be locked due to the power outage, even if he You don't have to worry about being discovered by outsiders if you climb in through the ventilation pipe and walk around at will.

Immediately afterwards, he wanted to obtain something belonging to Claude Strife from the high-risk item management area, which was the key to their escape.Usually it is surrounded by special glass and a protective cover in the center, and cannot be accessed without an ID card with authorization.But Claude knows that there is a manual system for maintenance workers under the display stand, which does not require a permission ID. This thing originally existed to prevent electronic functions from failing when the power is cut off, and now it just happens to be used by him.

After getting that thing, he will join Sephiroth and let that thing help them break through the gates.Then they have to go to the parking lot to grab a car and drive straight out of the institute.

The plan seems simple, but there are many details and uncertainties in the operation.For example, they may not be able to steal the keys of a car, and they can only find the car by luck in the parking lot; or they fell into a trap unknown to Claude during their escape, and one or both of them Both got caught and so on.

What's more important is to dig out the chips on their bodies before they leave, otherwise the institute can locate them at any time.Claude took advantage of the previous physical examination to see his X-ray film, so he roughly knew where the thing was, but Sephiroth didn't know it yet, so the other party had to find it in this way.

Sephiroth found out that Claude was messing around with some shady things recently, but he never asked.

After the education in the training room last week, he realized that his younger brother was much more mature than he knew in terms of his real age and sword skills—or, in other words, a lot.He simply suspected that his younger brother's ten-year-old body lived with a 30-year-old soul.

Based on this new cognition, Sephiroth had to put away part of his desire for control.Everything Claude does has a certain reason. If the other party wants to say it, he will naturally say it. If he doesn't say it, he probably won't be able to ask.As for his worries about Claude, it also proved to be unnecessary. The other party has always been able to resist, but in order to protect him, he has to endure the life of the research institute.

But just asking does not mean that he is not curious. Sephiroth always uses his peripheral vision to find out what Claude is doing. Although the other party does not deliberately avoid him, he never explains it.

Until one morning during the second week, Claude woke him up and asked him to go for a medical examination.

Sleepy-eyed, Sephiroth pressed the terminal on the bedside, swiped it twice, and was a little puzzled: "Is this check on my schedule?"

"No. But I need to see your x-rays," Cloud said.

Except for asking him to go to the training room last time, Crowder rarely "asked" him to do anything.Sephiroth felt that this must be very important, so he stopped asking, changed his clothes and went out with Claude.

White who gave him a physical examination was also called by Claude alone, so some unnecessary links were skipped, and the process was much faster than usual.After thanking the other party, Cloud sent his data to his communication terminal, and then returned to the living area with Sephiroth.

When they were almost out of the experimental area, Claude suddenly stopped him.

"Safie."

Sephiroth slowed down, signaling that he was listening.

The other party asked in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Do you want to escape from here?"

Sephiroth almost thought he heard it wrong, until he lowered his head and saw a certain kind of firm light in those blue pupils, and realized that the other party was serious.

1 questions flashed through his mind, such as "why never mentioned it to me before", "how long have you planned this".In the end he opened his mouth and only asked an irrelevant question: "What are you going to do?"

Claude showed his completely unfamiliar calm and thoughtful expression, which made him look more than 20 years older than his actual age.

"There are two things left by Claude Strife. One is the combination sword you used, and a magic spar. The research institute has never known what the magic spar is for. It's because they haven't been able to inject enough magic to activate it, but your words should do the trick."

Sephiroth looked at his younger brother calmly: "So what is that magic spar?"

Claude waited for them to come to a corner that avoided all surveillance and stopped, tugging at the ends of his silver hair, forcing him to bend close to his face.Then Sephiroth saw the lips that were very similar to his mother make a mouth shape.

——It's Bahamut's summoning magic stone.

Sephiroth was shocked again.

Claude has brought him more "surprises" in the past two weeks than in the past two and a half years combined. Even though he has gradually become accustomed to it, he still suspects that they are not even living in the same world.

"This is what your mother told you?" Sephiroth blurted out, suddenly remembering that Claude always resisted answering such questions, so he added: "You don't have to worry about—"

"Yes." Claude affirmed him for the first time, "Anyway, go back to the room first."

Five minutes later, Sephiroth sat on his bed, and Claude looked at each other.

Their room has surveillance cameras, but no radio equipment, so Claude motioned him to lie down with his eyes, and then lifted the quilt and drilled in skillfully.

"Pretend we're going back to sleep," Cloud reminded.

"It's reasonable to tell a bedtime story in that case." Sephiroth raised the corners of his lips slightly.

After thinking for a few seconds, Claude decided to get straight to the point: "If you have anything to ask, you can ask first, because I have a lot to say next, and it's best not to interrupt me in the middle."

Sephiroth thought for a long time, and found that there were too many things he wanted to ask, and none of them were the current focus.He knew that Claude had a detailed plan, so he decided to listen to what the other party had to say first.

"Maybe I'll think of it after you've finished."

Claude nodded and began to describe his plan: "First of all, the access control system of the research institute is very complicated, and the authority level of each area is different. A researcher's ID card may not be able to open the doors of all areas, and it is also easy to be Surveillance cameras found it, so we can't leave here by stealing ID cards for safety reasons, which is about as risky as breaking in directly."

Sephiroth agrees.

"In this case, we need to break through all the access control head-on. There are many institutions in the institute, and I haven't mastered them all, so speed is the key. Although we can destroy the past one by one, this speed is too slow and will increase the risk of being arrested , so we need something that can quickly destroy all gates and organs—that is, Bahamut.”

Simple and crude, but not reckless.Sephiroth liked the idea.

"The root of this plan is that we need to get Bahamut's summoning magic stone, which is kept in the high-risk item management area. This place usually requires special permissions to enter, but the ventilation pipes of the research facility are connected. I once climbed I have been to that area, so the gate is not a problem. I also know the location of the summoning magic stone, and I can turn off the protection system of that display stand."

Oh...that's why Claude usually disappears in the bathroom for so long.

"The next thing I want to talk about is the steps of the whole plan." Claude's tone became very serious, and his expression became serious, "On the night of our escape, I will first go to the high-risk item management area to steal Baham Special Summoning Magic Stone, during this period, I need you to do something to attract the attention of the entire research institute... such as wrecking some damage in the central area, the bigger the noise, the better."

Sephiroth nodded, a feint attack was an all-too-familiar tactic to him.

"After I get the Bahamut magic stone, I will go to you. My magic power may not be enough to activate it. I need you to do this. Bahamut will open all the gates in front for us, and then we will go to Go to the parking lot, get a working car and get out of here. By the way, did you ever learn to drive in the military?"

"I have learned." Seeing that the other party was obviously relieved, Sephiroth asked, "If I can't, what are you going to do?"

"Then I'll drive, although the vision will be a bit poor." Claude said surprisingly without changing his expression.

Sephiroth has given up exploring how his younger brother learned to drive. After all, he himself is not old enough to get a driver's license. He just thought of another question: "Do you have a car key?"

"No." Claude blinked, "But I know who has it. So when you and Bahamut are messing around, I'm going to get a key."

"Very good." Sephiroth thought, Claude's plan was almost exhaustive, and they could discuss some details later.

They set the combat time at midnight four days later, because Sephiroth's vacation was almost over in a week.

During this period, Claude tested their escape route seven times, and Sephiroth hid their luggage in the utility room of the parking lot, so that when Claude found a usable car, they could take their luggage and go straight Walk.

Sephiroth figured out one thing a little bit, that is, Claude had planned to escape very early, but they were not able to use Bahamut back then, so the other party never mentioned it.And the reason why Claude was so opposed to him joining the army was because the other party didn't need his connection with the army to get them out of the institute.

Judging from the current situation, Claude's idea is not wrong.If the military knew that he had such a powerful younger brother, they would definitely try their best to send Claude to the battlefield, which would be the opposite of his wish for his younger brother to live well.

On the night of the escape, Claude called him into the bathroom and performed minor operations on the two to remove the chips in their arms.

Sephiroth did not let the other party sew him up, but pinched both sides of the wound, and the wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"So that's why you asked me for a physical examination?" Sephiroth wiped off the blood near the wound with an alcohol swab, moved his right arm, and felt that it had little effect on swinging the knife, since he was left-handed anyway.

"Well. From now on, they will realize that we have lost our position, so you have to start to act." Claude's wound was temporarily wrapped in gauze, and after more than a year of injections, his self-healing ability was better than before. There has been a great improvement, but it has not returned to the level before his death.

Sephiroth picked up Cloud, helped him climb in through the vent, and handed him the six-style.Claude couldn't turn around with the sword on his back, so he could only lower his head and say "be careful on the road" under the ventilation pipe, and then quickly left the room.

It wasn't until the sound of Claude crawling in the ventilation pipe completely disappeared that Sephiroth picked up the village rain and walked towards the central area.Although his wound has healed, the pain still faintly lingers in his body, which makes him feel a strange sense of excitement, as if only exercising this pain can relieve the trembling of excitement.

——This is what he has been looking forward to since his birth, destroying the Institute, and taking revenge on all those who tried to play and use him.Now that he finally had the opportunity to unwrap his big gift, he had to enjoy the remorseful expressions of these people.

There were very few people in the central area at midnight, and the overtime researchers were surprised when they saw Sephiroth, but they were not too prepared.So Sephiroth walked to the training cabin where he and Claude had been bred, pulled out Murasame, and instantly chopped the source of all the pain into scrap iron.

"Sephiroth?? What are you doing?!"

Finally, a researcher realized his abnormality and rushed to the training cabin to check the situation.Sephiroth raised his hand and released a large flame, completely smashing the wreckage of the training cabin that was sparkling with electric sparks. The huge explosion lit up the entire space, and the shock even spread to the experimental area hundreds of meters away.

"Sephiroth! Are you crazy?!"

The alarm sounded immediately, and the fire-fighting facilities began to spray water automatically. The researchers fled in all directions screaming, and the central area became chaotic.Someone tried to press the SOS button, and Sephiroth's knife sank into the console with the tip of his nose, causing him to fall to the ground in fright.

He squatted down, grabbed the researcher's neckline, and the corner of his lips curled up in a dangerous arc: "Let Carter Holm come over."

The man wearing glasses nodded frantically, took out the communicator and dialed Carter Holm's number.

While waiting for Katterholm to answer, Sephiroth got up again, and swung his knife around a few times, and the facilities collapsed wherever the knife light went.The central area was quickly plunged into a sea of ​​flames, and even the fire hydrants were unable to recover. At this time, several mechanical guards were late.

Sephiroth turned his head and saw that the researcher had fled near the gate, so he swung his knife from a distance, cutting off the opponent's lower limbs instantly.

"Don't play these little tricks on me, send Catholm over here."

The man let out a miserable scream, and the mechanical guard took the opportunity to rush towards him, and was hit by the lightning magic released by Sephiroth.Sephiroth stepped forward, piercing through the core of every mechanical guard in an instant, and then kicked the pile of scrap metal towards the door, jamming the closing gate.

"Crack, crack, crack."

There was a weird applause in the air.

Sephiroth turned his head and saw Katterholm walking slowly through the passage in the experimental area.

"What is this? A demonstration against me?" Carterholm pushed his glasses, but there was no fear on his face, and even his usual creepy smile was still on his face.

"Hmm..." Sephiroth turned his head slightly, "Is it a reward for the kindness of nurturing these years?"

"Oh? So you're finally going to leave?" Carterholm seemed very interested in his motives, folded his arms and looked him up and down, "And then you want to kill me?"

Sephiroth shrugged noncommittally: "Although Claude will be angry, we can hurry up, he shouldn't have time to get here."

The point of Murasame's knife touched the ground, making a slow and menacing scratching sound as he approached Carterhome.

"It's a pity, you didn't have the chance to see his experimental records." Katterholm smiled grimly, "Ah, you don't know what experiments Claude has participated in for you, do you? His data is very good, Whether it is taking spinal fluid, liver tissue slices, or directly cutting nerves, as well as tests for extreme voltage, hypoxia, high temperature and extreme cold, and tolerance to cyanide, he is very—”

"Shut up!" Sephiroth swung the knife violently, and the sword wind cut off half of Katterholm's right ear, and blood gushed out instantly.

However, the man continued as if he could not feel the pain: "...perfect. Have you seen how his abdominal cavity was cut open? Even during this process, the wound was slowly healing, and we had to use a retainer to close his incision. Pulling it to both sides, even if his organs are taken out, they will spontaneously move to their original positions, as if the cells are consciously gathering together—"

"I tell you to shut up!" Another slash of knife light pierced Catholm's left shoulder, cutting a horrible hole in it.

Catholm shook, spit out a mouthful of blood, and quickly raised his head again: "Aren't you curious about Cloud, Sephiroth, aren't you curious about yourself? You want to know about Cloud Strife ——Oh, what is your so-called 'mother'? If you miss this opportunity, you may never know the truth."

"You are a lunatic, and I never believe what a lunatic says." Sephiroth's vertical pupils were extremely cold, and the air around him seemed to be frozen by his anger, "You are playing with your mother's genes, playing with me and Claude , everything you do can be accused of being anti-human. I will find out the truth myself, not through your inhuman stupid experiments and data-"

Carter Holm suddenly laughed hysterically.His voice was so dry and harsh, like torturing a stump with a rusty saw blade, that Sephiroth couldn't help frowning.

Carter Holm finally stopped before he was almost suffocated by his own blood, and the shattered lens flickered with an almost crazy light: "Who do you think you are, Sephiroth? Have you seen how extraordinary your own cells are under the microscope?" Is it different? Why do you think Cloud Strife is so powerful that he was able to defeat Calamity and save the planet 200 years ago?"

This is indeed Sephiroth's long-standing doubt. He vaguely knew that he would hear some very important information next, and Murasame involuntarily froze in mid-air.

"You are perfect creatures, Sephiroth, but you are not human. That is the truth!"

The bright green vertical pupils suddenly narrowed into slits.

Sephiroth growled instinctively: "You're talking nonsense!"

"You don't believe it? Forget it." Catholm opened his arms towards him, held his head high, and made a sacrificial gesture, "Come on, Sephiroth. Kill me and abandon your so-called 'humanity'. You can Kill all life forms lower than you, because you are a superior creation than them! You and Claude are destined to become 'saviors', but you are not the ones who save the planet, but the ones who rule the planet!"

Sephiroth's hand was shaking.

Emotionally, he didn't want to believe a single word Katterholm said, but intellectually he knew that the other party's theory answered most of the questions he had ever had since his birth.

——Mother is not human, he is not human, and neither is Claude.

That's why they have superior self-healing ability, faster growth rate, stronger muscle strength and magic power than humans—

If so, if so...

So why has he endured the pain that humans have inflicted on him all these years? ?Why put up with everything in the Institute?

Claude's so-called "don't kill people" may be meaningless at all!

Before Sephiroth's eyes, the world disintegrated, restructured, and became blood-red.He opened his eyes again, and Murasame had penetrated Catholm's chest.

The man's limbs were shattered, but he leaned towards Sephiroth with his last strength, his eyes revealed some kind of strange fanaticism, as if possessed by a demon: "The last...the last thing you need to know. Sephiroth , you're not a clone of Cloud Strife at all."

"—And your brother has always known about this."

As of getting Bahamut's Summoning Magic Stone, everything went well.But just when Claude was about to return from the ventilation pipe, a huge explosion occurred in the research institute. The shock spread to the entire high-risk item management area, and a part of the exposed ventilation pipe fell down, blocking Claude's way.

Claude was taken aback for a moment, he didn't expect Sephiroth to make such a big fuss.

It is impossible to go back the same way, but he has cut off the power in this area, and all the gates cannot be opened until the power is restored.Although Six Forms can split the gate, but the speed is very slow all the way through. During this period, Sephiroth may be in danger. The only way is to try to use Bahamut himself.

Claude has not used magic for more than 140 years, so he doesn't know what the body's magic power reserves are.He took a deep breath, felt the trajectory of the flow of life in his body, and guided them little by little to the red summoning magic stone.

Soon, Bahamut's spirit responded to him and sucked his magic like a black hole began.Claude has never felt this way. He used to pay a one-time payment for summoning a certain creature, and he was rarely asked for it continuously.This was a dangerous signal, he could not interrupt this process, Bahamut might eventually exhaust his magic power completely, and at that time he would not be able to guarantee his own safety.

"I know who you are."

A voice came from somewhere, and Claude immediately realized that it was Bahamut's consciousness.

"Because I know who you are, I allow you to sacrifice to me."

As if a drifter caught a piece of life-saving driftwood, Claude hurriedly replied: "I am willing to pay all the price."

"Fine. Remember your promise."

At that time, Claude didn't know what he had paid, but after a burst of dazzling light, the huge black dragon burst out of the air, and the red flash of its claws tore the gate into pieces.

Claude ran out following Bahamut's trajectory, hesitated for a few seconds between going directly to the central area and going to White first, and decided to let Bahamut go to the central area to support Sephiroth, while he went to White's The dormitory ran.

The purple dragon flame pierced through everything in front of him. Claude looked back for the last time to confirm that their escape route had been opened, and then dialed White's phone amidst the panicked running crowd.

The phone was picked up after only one ring, and White sounded terrified: "Claude?! What happened to the explosion just now? What happened in the Central District?"

"I don't have time to explain. You take the car keys, pack your important things, and go to the parking lot immediately, the sooner the better." Claude said while searching for White's figure in the crowd, and soon saw the retrograde direction towards the dormitory the other side.He quickly caught up, pushed White into the room, and immediately locked the door.

At this time, there was another loud explosion outside the door, and the shock wave even shook White's desk and chair.Then something entered the area, and the fleeing crowd began to scream one after another.

The two people in the room suddenly turned pale, and Claude's expression was particularly frightened.

This was completely different from what he had expected. The order he gave Bahamut was only to open all the passages blocked by the gates, and he did not take the initiative to attack this item. Something must have happened outside the gate that he did not know.

"I'll give you 1 minute, let's go!"

White believed his words, and immediately picked up the keys and computer and ran to the parking lot with him.Claude made sure that White put their luggage in the trunk, told the other party to wait for him here for a while, and turned back to the explosion site.

As Cloud gradually penetrated into the core area of ​​the institute, he saw more and more broken or charred corpses.The blood of the death researcher stained the ground red, and every passageway showed signs of being destroyed, and the blood-stained cracks that went deep into the iron wall were obviously not made by Bahamut.

It was Murasame's knife mark.

Claude's heart sank gradually, and an ominous premonition spread from the depths of his soul, suffocating him.

"Sephiroth!"

He ran and shouted in the research institute, but apart from the crackling sound of mechanical combustion, there was only a dead silence around.

At last he remembered Carter Holm, the man he had forgotten at all stages of his plan.He knew that with Carter Holm's personality, he might seize the last chance to say something to Sephiroth that shouldn't be said, so he ran more and more anxiously.

It wasn't until he returned to the central area and saw Sephiroth sitting next to Bahamut with Katterholm's dismembered body at his feet that he realized that his premonition had come true in the worst possible way.

Sephiroth killed everyone here.

Claude's heart was clenched tightly.

Seeing him stand up instinctively, Sephiroth seemed to want to walk towards him, but for some reason he froze and took another step back.

It was only then that Claude could clearly see that the opponent's face was stained with scarlet, and the normally supple silver hair was now dangling from his waist in strands soaked in blood, and his slender silhouette was illuminated by the firelight behind him.

"Have I let you down, Claude?"

For a moment, many thoughts flashed through Cloud's mind, anger, guilt, self-blame, about Sephiroth, about himself...

The reason that finally stopped him from exporting those words was that he saw an imperceptible trace of fear in those mighty green vertical pupils.

——Sephiroth was afraid that he would be disappointed.

This discovery shocked Claude.

He never knew that Sephiroth cared about him so much, he thought he was just a substitute for "mother" in the eyes of the other party, or even Sephiroth himself hadn't noticed that they had become so caring about each other over the years.

He couldn't push the opponent away at this juncture, he was Sephiroth's only straw, and Sephiroth was indeed a victim in this matter.

This thought made Claude feel an indescribable emotion, more like a kind of sympathy than sympathy.

So he shook his head, walked up to Sephiroth, and gently wiped the blood on the other side's face with his cuff. "let's go."

He saw the silver-haired boy's eyes seemed to be lit up, as if everything in the world was no longer important, as long as he had him was enough.

From this moment on, all they have is each other.