【SC】Endless Journey

Immediately after the call with White was over, the three at Cosmic Canyon set off for Nibelheim.Several people in the basement of the Shinra mansion learned the possible truth from Vincent, and watched Claude anxiously.The latter was silent all the way, but suddenly spoke during dinner.

"I have to go to Peking University to take a look in person."

He had recovered from his initial breakdown and rage, and was now unsettlingly calm.So everyone at the table turned their eyes to him at the same time, and everyone showed a somewhat worried look.

Vincent pondered for a moment, and finally voted in favor: "The last time I went to Peking University, it had already spread outside the mountain, and the situation inside must be more serious. Even if there is no way to clean it up, we still need to collect samples and come back for further analysis. "

Except for Angel and Pete who haven't understood the principle of S cells, everyone else nodded.

"But we can't take White with us," he added. "He is the only researcher here who can do cell and biochemical analysis, and he has no self-protection ability. If we take him to the scene, we may not have time to consider his safety. I It is recommended to let him stay here, and at the same time leave a few more people to protect him."

"I can. I often work as a security guard in the army, and I am very familiar with this process." Angel introduced himself first.

He thought that Pete would follow up, but found that Pete was looking at Claude hesitantly, as if he had other plans.

"I can do it too." Nanaki flicked his tail lightly, "My sense of hearing and smell are sharper than yours, and it is easier to detect when an enemy is approaching."

Vincent nodded: "Then Claude and I will go to the Big Hollow. We are very familiar with the terrain there, and it will be easier to evacuate if something happens. You and Angel stay here to protect White."

After the former Turks made the arrangements, he looked back at Claude, who did not object.

Until then, the only black-haired young man who didn't participate in the discussion raised his hand hesitantly: "Well, can I go together?"

Claude froze for a moment: "Why?"

Pete rubbed his nose with a very complicated expression.

"A kind of... intuition?" He looked at Cloud uncertainly, "I seem to remember something about the last cycle. Something about you, about Sephiroth, right here in Nibelheim. Maybe My soul thinks these things are important, so it tries to show me something... I think I should follow you, maybe I can recall more important details."

"No." Claude categorically refused.

Although he promised that Pete would tell the other party all the truth, he did not want the other party to be involved in these disputes again in this life.Zack should live on, not pay for his or Sephiroth's mistakes.

"Claude." Vincent reminded at the right time.

Claude knew that the other party felt that he was overprotective, so he tightened his lower lip and signaled Vincent to go out with him.

The two walked all the way to the square outside the house, and Claude finally turned around and said in a very low voice: "He is in the big void."

Vincent froze for a second, then realized: "Sephiroth?"

Claude nodded slightly: "Recently, I can often feel the call of that thing. Sometimes this call makes me feel spiritually with him...so I saw the scenery in his eyes."

Vincent was silent.They all understand what this means, and if Sephiroth is in the big hole, it means that the other party probably already knows about it.

Regardless of whether the appearance of the original S-type has anything to do with Sephiroth, as the mother body, his contact with it will pose a great risk to the planet.

Vincent thought for a long time, and looked at him again: "But you know, once the memory starts to recover, this process cannot be stopped, whether it is Sephiroth or Zacks. You make the decision for him now, yes It might not be a good thing for him.”

When Claude heard this, he suddenly fell into a dead silence.

Vincent is right.He had arbitrarily decided for Sephiroth what the other party should know and what he should not know, so when the other party's memory began to recover, he was forced to experience a collapse of worldview.He'd never know how his well-intentioned decisions would affect another person's life, and if he persisted, it might hurt Zack as well.

In the end, the two returned to the house, and Claude looked at Pete, who was nervous, and lowered his eyes slightly.

"If you want to go together, then set off with us tomorrow morning." He sighed, trying to suppress the expression of disapproval on his face, "But the situation in the Northern Continent may be very complicated. Once we find out that it is dangerous there, You must evacuate first."

Pete's eyes lit up immediately: "Understood!"

Nibelheim is located in the northwest of the Western Continent. Considering the transportation issues across the sea and on the ice sheet, they plan to arrive at the Beida Hollow in about a week.

It was impossible to buy outdoor equipment in Nibelheim, and the three of them had no time to purchase in North Collier, so they decided to go directly to the Ice and Snow Village.There has been Gaia's famous ski resort since 200 years ago, and it is easy to buy warm clothes and climbing equipment, so that Pete, the only one of them who is still human, can move with the other two.

It has been 140 years since Claude came to the Ice and Snow Village last time. Although the buildings in the village have been completely renewed, most of them have maintained their original style.The thick concrete walls are decorated with thermal insulation and logs, and the roof is still made with a 45-degree slant to prevent snow accumulation. The exterior looks almost the same as the wooden house 200 years ago, which makes people feel a little nostalgic.

Claude looked at the warm light from the window, as if he had returned to the time when he first went to Peking University.

He still remembers his companions at that time—Barrett, Tifa, Nanaki, Liv, Sid, Yuffie, and Vincent, sitting around the fireplace in the hotel, the flickering firelight illuminating everyone's faces .

Although the situation was very tense at the time, there was still hope in everyone's heart.Alice was killed in front of him, and he was controlled by Sephiroth and handed over the Black Magic Stone to the other party. Everyone is still willing to believe in every decision he makes, and believes that he will always have a way to stop Sephiroth...

But after 200 long years, he can no longer even believe in himself.

Claude clenched the communication terminal in his hand, took a deep breath, and stepped into the snow-covered town again.

They entered the hotel and booked two rooms at the front desk.For some reason, Claude chose the small single room in the attic, allowing Vincent and Pete to live in a double room with better facilities.Several people took a rest in the room, and then the soldiers divided into three groups to purchase equipment and food.

It wasn't until the other two disappeared from sight that Claude's expression became gloomy.He reassembled the several swords inserted behind him into one, and walked towards the entrance of the village.

When he was about to go out of the range that the lights could illuminate, he finally saw the figure standing in the middle of the road in the swirling snowflakes.

The tall figure was wrapped in a black leather jacket that reached down to the ankles, outlining the plump muscular curves.The silver hair was scattered behind the shoulder armor like a waterfall, with a strange metallic luster.

The man slowly turned his face to him, his deep facial features seemed to be carved out of marble, exuding the divinity of an icon.However, the pair of snake-like bright green pupils showed the other party's nature as a heterogeneous species, and they were looking at him with an elusive gaze at this moment.

Claude immediately noticed the giant sword over two meters long in the opponent's hand, and closed his eyes in pain.After a few seconds, he looked at the other party again, with cold anger welling up in his pupils.

"Sephiroth." He clenched the handle of the six-style knife, with bulging veins on his arm, "How much do you remember?"

He had already sensed the existence of the other party since he was hundreds of kilometers away from the Ice and Snow Village. He knew that Sephiroth could also sense him, so they chose to meet here tacitly.

The man moved the corners of his lips imperceptibly, and made an elegant low voice from his throat: "I thought you would be moved by our reunion, Claude."

The moment the other party pronounced his name, Claude's pupils constricted suddenly, and a strong killing intent erupted from his body.

This tone, this tone, he will never forget for life——

"Sephiroth!"

He squeezed the syllable through his jaw.

The Sephiroth whom I grew up watching and had nostalgia for myself has completely disappeared from this world. The man in front of me is the real Sephiroth, the one who gave me and the planet despair. , Sephiroth, who hates everything and takes pleasure in his pain.

It was his mistake and he had to right it himself, so he would kill Sephiroth.

After feeling his killing intent, the man's expression became a little subtle for a moment, but in the end he stopped talking, turned around and walked into the depths of the darkness.

The two walked one after the other on the snow-covered ice field, leaving two strings of footprints in the snow.I don't know when the wind and snow stopped, and the clouds covering the extreme north were pushed far away by the wind, and the moonlight fell on this land again, reflecting the endless snowfields brightly.

Sephiroth didn't stop until he walked out of the range where he could see the ice and snow village.Claude also stopped ten meters away from the opponent, raised the Six Styles, and pointed the tip of the sword at the man's back.

"Before I killed you, do you have anything to say about Peking University Hollow and Carter Holm." Claude's tone was unusually cold.

Sephiroth turned around, stared at him meaningfully, and then slowly raised Zhengzong: "If I say, I didn't do what happened in the void of Peking University?"

"So what happened to Carterholm was indeed done by you." Claude twisted the Six Styles on his head twice, and the blue flames of Moko ignited on his body, "Why?"

Sephiroth was silent for a second, and unexpectedly answered frankly: "I need to be resurrected."

"—and you chose Hojo!" Claude almost growled, "I thought you would remember what he did to you and what he did to me, but I still sympathize with what happened to you—— Is everything I do ridiculous in your eyes? In the resurrection plan you arranged for yourself, worry about you, do those experiments for you, hope you can live the life of an ordinary child, and these are just you No. Now that you are satisfied, and I do regret it very much, will it make you happier?"

An indescribably complicated expression flashed across Sephiroth's face, but he did not refute.

"I'll kill you, and then I'll kill that thing in the hole in Peking University. After that, I'll find a way to completely disappear from Gaia, so that you can no longer be resurrected through me in any way." Claude waved Make a fighting move, "Come on."

Hearing this, Sephiroth's face finally sank.

"That's impossible," he raised Zhengzong over his shoulders, "As long as the planet is alive, you can't die. Besides, if you dare to do this, I can still be resurrected through other people's memories. You really intend to escape your responsibility huh? You know no one else on this planet can beat me."

Claude seemed deeply irritated by his words.

"You think I'm voluntary?!"

In an instant, the Six Styles waved towards Sephiroth's eyes with the blue flame, and was blocked by the latter with a knife.

"I never thought of living until now! It's because of your cells that I can't die naturally, so I have to turn myself into a crystal like Lucrecia!"

In just a few seconds, the two weapons collided dozens of times, and sparks splashed everywhere where the blades met, which was particularly dazzling in the night.

"I never wanted to be a savior. If the planet had to go through the natural process from birth to death like other life, I would die with it. But you are different. You never care about other life, you only care about yourself , you can do anything to prolong your own life, so I have to stop you. No one remembers you more completely than I remember you, since killing me means that there will be no more you on the planet cells and your entire memory, let someone who can do it do it!"

Just as Sephiroth jumped back to avoid a heavy blow, he saw three flames of demons attacking him with the momentum of tearing the ground.He had to spread his wings and fly high into the sky, and summoned several groups of black shadow balls to trap Claude's movements.

"However, life is such a process. Every life has to experience pain in order to survive." Sephiroth raised Zhengzong, and several sharp sword lights instantly enveloped Claude. Destined to experience more.”

As the shadow ball exploded, a cloud of smoke and dust mixed with mist filled the snow.The smoke and dust dissipated, and there was no trace of Claude in sight, only a few glaring bloodstains on the ground.

"But that's not for you to decide!"

Sephiroth felt a violent sword pressure from his back, so he immediately turned to defend.Claude did not know when he had moved behind him, and he was raising the six poses and chopping down on him.

At this moment, Sephiroth noticed the slight incoordination in the opponent's movements, but before the brain reacted, the body had already swung the authenticity spontaneously, and bounced off the blow that should have shattered him.

Claude was shocked to his internal organs by the backlash, and fell straight down like a kite with a broken string.Sephiroth followed and landed on the snow, piercing the opponent's shoulder socket when Claude got up to reach the six poses, nailing the youth to the ground.

Claude snorted, and blood quickly gushed out from the wound, staining the ground under the opponent's body red.

"What makes you weak, Claude." Sephiroth pushed the opponent's legs with the toe of his boot, and saw that Claude's inner thigh was scratched with eight knives. Wound, can't help frowning.

He knew what happened to the incoordination in the opponent's movements just now.Under normal circumstances, with Claude's recovery speed, that scratch should not affect the subsequent battle at all.But at present, the wound shows no sign of healing, and may even damage the artery, so Claude's blood is losing rapidly.

This reminded him of what happened in the institute at that time. Claude, who was still a child, needed several weeks to recover from the surgical incision, and his self-healing ability was once worse than that of ordinary humans.He thought that this situation would get better with the return of the opponent's strength, but the fact is that Claude's body has never reached the self-healing level before his death.

Sephiroth's heart sank.He hadn't seen Claude suffer trauma for many years, and almost forgot about the other party's physical condition.

He squatted down, picked up the cloth on the inner side of Claude's thigh, and checked the situation around the wound inch by inch.Claude began to resist violently the moment he felt his fingers, so he pressed hard on the wound on the opponent's shoulder, causing the young man to cry out in pain.

"Don't move around." Sephiroth carefully observed the scratch, and took out the recovery magic stone that he left to Claude from Claude's waist.He healed with magic for a while, and when he saw that the wound had almost healed, he stood up again.

"You can't go to Peking University like this." Sephiroth told the other party the result of the inspection, and there was rarely any sarcasm in his tone.

Claude ignored him, grabbing the authentic blade and trying to pull it out from his shoulder, but he thrust it a little further down as if warned.

"...Pull it out." Claude gasped in pain.

"You can't fight me like this. With your current physical condition, once you receive damage that cannot be healed by magic, you will really die." Sephiroth looked at him condescendingly.

"It's ridiculous to say this from your mouth." Claude tried a few times, and finally gave up struggling in the dizziness of blood loss. "Unless you kill me now, I will definitely pass."

"Do you know what the big void has become now?" Sephiroth pulled out the authentic, and squatted down again to touch Cloud's wound.

He tilted his head to avoid the fist that could crack his bones, used magic to trap the opponent's movements, and then half embraced the young man in his arms for treatment.

The wound on the shoulder was left by him deliberately avoiding bones and blood vessels, and the recovery speed was much faster than the wound on the leg.Claude groaned, closed his eyes and stopped looking at him.

"You're a bastard, Sephiroth." Cloud cursed weakly, "From before to now."

The bastard sighed regretfully, cast a sleeping spell on him, picked him up horizontally, and flew towards the Ice and Snow Village.

It was not difficult to find the hotel where Claude was staying, but when Sephiroth entered the room together with a sword, a man with black hair and red pupils and a young man with unusually uneven hairstyle were guarding the door, one of them was holding a gun Pointing to his head.

Pete-Sephiroth knew the latter, his colleague in Midgar, and according to Cloud's memory, this person was Zack Phil in his previous life.

"Vincent Valentine." Another man realized that he had forgotten who he was, so he introduced himself, and then looked at the sleeping Claude, "What did you do to him?"

"A little injury, and some treatment." Sephiroth looked down at the blood stains on Claude's body, put him on the sofa temporarily, and then went into the bathroom to turn on the water.

He turned a blind eye to the muzzle aimed at him, took off Claude's blood-stained coat, and glanced at the two people at the door displeased when he was about to untie the other's belt.

"If you're not going to help, get out first."

Vincent didn't move at all, but Pete's expression suddenly became very strange.

Seeing this, Sephiroth carried Claude into the bathroom, took off his clothes, and put the young man into warm water.After doing all this, he walked out of the bathroom again and looked at the two people in the room.

"When he wakes up, advise him to get rid of the idea of ​​going to the big hole as soon as possible."

Sephiroth just explored Cloud's memory for a while, and remembered that the man with black hair and red eyes was the former host of Chaos.He understands Claude's temper very well. Once the other party decides something, it is difficult to be swayed by other people's opinions, but he can still listen to the words of his companion.

Vincent frowned and lowered his gun slightly: "What happened in the big hole?"

"It has evolved, and now it has spread to about [-] kilometers outside the big cavity." Sephiroth said lightly, "And it wants to absorb all creatures with Jenova cells in order to obtain Jenova cells and abilities on them .”

Vincent pondered for a moment, his face changed: "You mean, it wants to absorb you and Claude?"

"To be precise, the first target is us." Sephiroth's gaze turned to the bathroom, and Claude's spirit was fluctuating rapidly, which was a sign that he was about to wake up. "In short, that is not something you can handle now. Let Claude The farther away Germany is from it, the better, if it acquires Claude's ability, you know what the consequences will be."

"But someone has to deal with it," Vincent said.

He saw Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, with a somewhat dangerous look in his pupils, and patiently explained: "The original S type - this is what Carter Holm named it, and it is a return to the ancestors of Jenova. Product. According to what you said, it evolved after absorbing the stream of life, so we need to re-analyze the sample in order to find its weakness."

"It has no weakness." Sephiroth corrected coldly, "It will be resistant to magic damage. If it can't be solved at once, it means that it will be difficult for magic of the same attribute to cause too much damage to it in the future, and you can inflict The range of physical damage is limited and cannot cover thousands of square kilometers."

"Is this the result of your test?" Vincent frowned again, "Does Claude know?"

Sephiroth didn't answer.

After a minute of silence in the room, Vincent suddenly sighed and asked the long-standing question in his heart: "Sephiroth, what are you thinking? Are you going to be his enemy or a temporary ally?"

Pete also cast his gaze at him, with the same question in his gaze.

Sephiroth snorted softly, showing a disdainful smile: "I can't have the same position as you."

Vincent nodded, but calmly pointed out another fact: "If you hate him, don't let him have hope in you. If you want him to live, don't hurt him repeatedly like this. Although he and you are The same kind, but his spirit is still a human being after all, and there is a limit to the emotions that human beings can bear."

Hearing these words, Sephiroth finally narrowed his green vertical pupils slightly.

"You don't know him at all." He took out the recovery magic stone given to Claude from his arms, looked at it for a moment through the light on the roof, and left it on Claude's bedside, "He needs me, just as I need him."

Sephiroth spread out his black wings, and the room was instantly eroded by a strange darkness.He walked to the window and stood under the scattered moonlight, like a god from another planet.

"The long years will wear down a person's will to survive, and eventually his spirit will die before his body. But love and hate are both intense emotions, and they are both poison and antidote to him. So he can hate me, but he will never Can't leave me."

Sephiroth finally cast an inexplicable glance at the young man in the bathroom, and scattered away in feathers.

Vincent looked at the back of the other party leaving, and crossed his arms thoughtfully.Pete stood there in a daze, as if remembering something, with a look of pain in his eyes.