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Post by Kidd Strife on Jun 28, 2007 5:10:55 GMT
Walking with Cloud he was deep in thought. So... this is you Cloud is it? "No I don't recall ever meeting you. What happened?"
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Jun 28, 2007 6:01:03 GMT
Cloud sighed heavily and tapped his hand uncomfortably on the table. "Maybe I should just begin... at the beginning. About nine years ago, I confronted Sephiroth for the first time." He shook his head. "In those days, he was a hero. My idol, even. Back then, I was a nobody. Just another scrap of Shinra cannon fodder. I thought I'd never measure up to him, ever-- that I'd be stuck under that anonymous helmet forever. But then, he lost his mind. And knowing what I know today... I'm finally starting to think I can't blame him." An ironic laugh came out of his body, from where it had been buried for nine years. "He's a monster. Of that there is no doubt whatsoever. But then, he was made to be one. They should have seen it coming." He sighed. "But for you to understand all that would take hours of talking. The point is, I had to stop him, no matter how you look at it. And when Shinra realized there was someone out there who COULD stop him... well, they had to have a piece of that. And then was when my life really became living hell." His eyes darkened at the memories. "I can never remember what happened. For a long time, I could barely remember anything at all. All I ever remember is the pain. Ami might have taken away the feeling, but she never could have removed the memory." He waited a moment to gather his words. "I'm not certain exactly what they did to me. But I know this for certain now... they took away pieces of me. Pieces of my body, and my mind, both literally and figuratively. Pieces that I never got back... that they could play with however they pleased. Then, nine years later, I got a phone call."
He paused and threw away the remains of his fruit. "I got the call a little over six-seven months ago, right before I dropped off the map. It came from Reno, who until then I had always assumed was one of THEM. I thought he was loyal to the same people taking this world down a one-way road to hell. When that phone call came, suddenly my view of him turned upside down, despite all his best efforts to convince me he was still scum. He said he'd found a kid, wandering around in Old Midgar. That's what the ruins are called now-- you've been out of town for a while, so I figured it might help to bring you up to date. Some boy who looked lost and confused-- no, make that delusional. A boy who seemed to have my face, and some of my memories to go with it." Cloud leaned forward on the table. "He knew what you were, even though I had yet to find out. And he knew that meant an immediate death sentence. Instead of carrying it out, he did something that could have gotten him killed in your place. He tried handing you over to me. Even now, I don't know why he risked himself for you like that. We agreed to meet at the Forgotten City, where nobody could follow us. You were there, but your mind seemed a million miles away. You could barely even remember your name. For all I know, maybe then you had no name. I almost agreed to take you back with me. Then something went wrong. Somehow, Shinra knew what Reno had tried to do. We were cornered. I couldn't fight them off-- I was on my own, and there were too many of them. They tried hauling me back to their labs. I got away from them, and for a long time, I thought you were not as lucky. In fact, I came to believe you were killed. After that, exposing the company's return became more important than anything else. I was afraid what they did to you would spread to everyone else I cared about, if I wasted any time. And in that time, I learned why they were so afraid to let you live."
He looked Kidd in the eye. "But I'm not sure you're ready to learn any more about that. A lot of things that never made sense to me came together in that time. It took my entire life to be ready for what I found. Kidd, if you think you can't handle it, say so. But whether you know it or not, what I know is still going to affect your entire life... as long as it might last."
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Post by Kidd Strife on Jun 28, 2007 7:41:26 GMT
"So your saying, I was a experiment? More than half of my memories are planted? Wait... if all this is in fact true then why did Reno himself not tell. me!?!" Kidd slammed his fist into the table and stood up. "Oh well, it doesn't matter now that I know the truth. All I need to know now is, why does Shinra want me? And I expect you to answer me Cloud."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Jun 28, 2007 9:13:09 GMT
"It's not obvious?" Cloud countered. "The project was a failure, Kidd. There were... miscalculations involved..." He trailed off. "Kidd, look at you. The sample tissue was taken from me when I was barely seventeen. The project that created you, the Elysian Project... it was started in response to AVALANCHE, two years after Nibelheim." Cloud sighed. "They thought if they could clone us, maybe even enhance the clones with other strains they had on hand, we could be neutralized. But there wasn't enough time to let you mature naturally. Kidd, you are growing at least twice as fast as a normal teenager. I've heard rumors of a suppressant that can reduce your growth rate back to normal, but only Shinra makes it, and they are less than happy to share with me. And your memories... they tried copying mine into you. But the signals weakened over time." He got up with a considerable amount of effort and went for a drink. He wasn't used to talking so much. "Shinra has had enough dirty little secrets to bear recently. And if they are up to their old tricks again, the last thing they need right now is someone like you showing just how low they are capable of sinking. If you want that all in a nutshell, Kidd... they're afraid of you."
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Post by Kidd Strife on Jun 28, 2007 9:34:17 GMT
"Shinra.. afraid of... a kid named Kidd?!?" He stood there astonished then looking behind him. "That means I'll have to watch my back from here on out." Kidd looked at his arms, and his legs. He WAS growing fast. His age of 13 and he looked almost 15. With a dtermined looke= he turned to face Cloud. "How do we get that suppresant?"
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Post by Sin on Jun 28, 2007 20:32:47 GMT
Sin eyed him back studying him. "I survived because I was made after you. Kidd is Cloud's son, and I am more or less yours. I survived because of that. You ability, you demon, I have one as well. It saved me, but I can not control it. A hard enough blow to the skull and it breakes free. It broke free when I saved you in the water. I was trying ot fight it, and it was trying to kill you. When I came back to, I was covered in wounds it inflicted." He sighed and stopped for a moment, and started to retall all he could remember. "There were at least a good dozen of them, including me, that I met. We were all different, made from the genes of something called AVALANCHE. I was selected with almost nine others to receive a groth enhancer, and I as well as the three others who lived were given the supressor. They told us there was different squads of us, and that mine was to be a melee group. The four of us were trained to use weapons, and when the orders came we were outside of the lab, doing a demonstration. I do not remember much else, except I managed to get free. I became a Jack, and wandered. I eventually found myself heading to Midgar. I was attacked by a monster, and managed to gain this sword." He said, rubbing the hilt of the sword. "I didn't go to Midgar, instead I headed back towards Junon and went to sail across the ocean. I was thrown overboard in an accident, when the Lifestream erupted. I went through it, and was washed ashore in Wutai, where Kidd found me. That is when I joined up with him to heal me of the MAKO Poisoning and to be able to meet the originals."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Jun 29, 2007 4:25:59 GMT
Cloud shook his head. "I don't know. The files I'm drawing my concolusions from were fragmented. The location of their chemical manufacture plant wasn't given. For all I know, they might not even make it anymore. Their cloning programs have all been cancelled-- at least, so the records say. It's hard to believe anything their records tell you."
He paused and looked away, not wanting to see the disappointment that he knew would cross Kidd's face. "But... if there is any to be got... I think I know who could tell us how to get it."
****
Vincent mulled over this information for a moment before replying. "Quite a story," he mused. "It seems you've achieved your goal to encounter your template. But unfortunately, that will make your survival still more difficult, if anything."
He gave it still more thought. "I know of only one person who could possibly remove your mako poisoning. Unfortunately, he is not the type one should rely on in any circumstance. But when there is no alternative..."
He turned back towards the infirmary to check on Amnesty and Samson. He stopped for a moment. "Sin... you should know, my development thus far as a parent has been less than impressive. If you wish yourself any kind of desirable future, you will not call yourself my son. This is not a rejection. It is the one way I can protect you."
****
Amnesty kept her head bowed as Samson lay silent. "The readouts say you're going to be OK. But I know... you miss Carissa so much, I can't be sure. Yeah, so I read your letters. Whoo-de-doo. You can bawl me out for it later. But if I know her well enough from what I read, I know she wouldn't want this, Samson. And... I don't either."
A flash jumped into her mind. G**!
Ami?
Kadaj!
FINALLY, she comes into range! Where the h**l have you BEEN?!
Name it, I've been there! Where are you?
Right now, outer Junon. We've been at the Junon Inn for two days. Meet us there before check-out time tomorrow morning. Sooner, if possible. I've been receiving vibrations from Yazoo...
He's not with you?
No. He split off from the group yesterday, to help one of Kamen's former colleagues. Ami, the vibrations I'm getting worry me. Hurry.
Vincent arrived at the infirmary just in time to meet Ami blasting out. "Abel! Set a course for Junon!"
"What's in Junon?" Vincent calmly inquired.
"My brothers. I just got word from Kadaj. Something's wrong... we have to move!"
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Post by Kidd Strife on Jun 29, 2007 4:51:44 GMT
"Well then I guess that leaves us one option eh Cloud. Find this person, get the information, and get me a normal life."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Jun 29, 2007 4:58:48 GMT
"Exactly. But... that may be tougher than it seems. You see..."
The ship suddenly lurched. Cloud almost fell from his seat. "What the h**l..."
Ami poked herhead into the galley. "Buckle up, boys. We're going to Junon. And we got to be there to pick up my brothers before eleven in the morning!"
She scampered off. Cloud sighed. "Yeah... exactly. They're the ones we'll need to go to. I'm not sure about your relationship with them... but we don't work together so well."
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Post by Sin on Jun 29, 2007 19:43:34 GMT
Sin nodded as he followed Vincent. "I don't even think I can have a father. I mean... I spent most of my life as a living machine. I won't call you father, and I don't want to be called son. What I do want, is to learn who you are and I want to hope you can help me with this demon problem of mine. How did you manage to control yours?"
Saint got tot he bar but no one was there. He looked around for a while, before heading back and putting his cross away. He headed off to buy food and supplies to fix the church... again.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Jun 30, 2007 5:15:46 GMT
Who I am... good luck with that. Do me a favor and tell me what you find.
Vincent proceeded into the Infirmary, gazing on his severed appendages with an unfathomable look on his face.
"I've struggled with my demons, both literal and metaphorical, for more than half my life," Vincent replied. "There is no instant cure, Sin. It will take you years to learn how to control it fully. The protomateria was, for years, my one avenue of control. But more than a year ago, it was lost to us. Put out of your mind any thoughts of finding it-- to recover it now would be next to impossible." Even though my entire life has been nothing if not one long string of impossibilities. "But if I can spare you my suffering, I will teach you what to do."
He turned to Sin. "The first concept you must understand is, the darkness cannot control you, because you were born to it. It has always been part of you. Answer me a simple question: if you keep two dogs, and feed one but not the other, which will win a fight?"
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Post by Sin on Jun 30, 2007 5:41:28 GMT
Sin stared at him for a moment. "It would be the obvious answer of the abused dog who was scorned and unfed, however at the same time it could always be the goodly treated dog for the mistreatmentrto the other dog. It is the same as asking if the blade which is always sharpened and set in a sheath and kept good will cut you less quickly than the one abandoned and left in the corner. The abandoned one will seek the blood more, but both will cut you for the mistreatment of one." Sin loked down for a moment. "I no it can not control me, but it can kill me. I spent so much time as the demon when you were injured it nearly killed me, not including the blood that flowed from my body after I became human again."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Jun 30, 2007 5:47:38 GMT
Vincent shook his head. "As carefully thought out as your answer is, you're missing the point, Sin. If you don't feed the darkness inside you, it will weaken. Something inside you has always known how to keep it under control. That part is what you must lend your greater strength to, if you can. Do you understand?"
Before he could answer, Ami returned to the galley. "Any movement?"
Vincent took a moment to realize she was referring to Samson. "No change yet."
He edged towards the door. "Let us give her some room, Sin."
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Post by Sin on Jun 30, 2007 5:52:45 GMT
He nodded and moved over. He continued tp think on whar Vincent was telling him, finally sitting down when they stopped moving. "Vincent, I am not sure what I do to control it, but I do know that when it takes over it grows stronger as I bleed. It seeks to cut me more and more, and I strive to stop him. Yet even when I strike him and he bleeds, he grows neither weaker nor I stronger. He does however, feel the pain."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Jun 30, 2007 6:01:16 GMT
Vincent's look, as he sat in the corridor, was as impassive as ever. But turbulence was stirring within him at Sin's words. "Sin, I have never shared the experiences you are describing. In fact... I've never heard of anything even remotely like this before. I'm beginning to wonder if you and I are afflicted by the same problem at all."
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