melodiesoflife | #16 | Can't undo the past

Characters: Sephiroth [OPEN]
When/Where: 16th June - Aqures Ixen. Set at Palitutu's laboratory but can run-in around the City.
Summary: About a week ago, a certain file containing highly-sensitive and potentially damaging information regarding a particular Hero of Light was made available publicly while it's owner was off working at Esdham. Now that Sephiroth is back in Aqures Ixen, this is a matter (ie. locking it back up) that takes priority. However, there might be a few individuals who take the opportunity to address it, for good or ill.
Warning(s): The usual; in particular there is a potential for abrasive words completely intended to divert the subject.

When he'd requisitioned the urgent shuttle back to Aqures, Sephiroth had made a point for an early morning arrival. However, it was more like late afternoon by the time he arrived at the airport. Little for him to complain, given as resources were as stretched as they were. Still, even with his military pack still strapped to his shoulders, there was no slowing to the pace at which he urgently marched through the streets with naught but his destination in mind - it had been a long time since it had been so important to get to that certain premises.

Perhaps coming at late afternoon might actually be a blessing in disguise; there couldn't be all that many people working at the laboratory at that hour. Less people to risk drawing eye contact with, even less that might stop him - with idle chit-chat or otherwise. Even Terra, she should be at home already and even if she wasn't yet, she disliked the laboratory just as much as he did.

His backpack was already half off a shoulder even before Sephiroth entered one of the empty rooms that held a lone terminal, and it was quickly crashed atop the table while at the same time he reached into an inside pocket to retrieve his crystal and placed it next to the terminal where Sephiroth pretty much slid into the seat before. One of the many tails of it's meteor-shape had been chipped at a little -his contribution towards Jade's work in the previous month- but otherwise the glinting blue gem hadn't changed it's hue hardly at all in recent months --still sitting at around the 80% that anyone might have been able to discover about it over the last week.

Long fingertips tapped away at the computer as he quickly found his path through the various screens -having done this a handful of times since they'd first been leaked in the wake of Palitutu's escape- and pulled up the index page which held all of his particulars. Sephiroth scowled to himself and ran a hand back through his hair, separating strands out where it had been tied up for most of the journey he'd taken.

Of course, there was no way of knowing how many times this might have been opened in the last week, and he wasn't about to go and find a hacker who might be able to find out either.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ellie's face was young, but hard. She didn't carry the pity or compassion that so many others did, nor could she feign such emotions. "Calamity spawn? Interesting. No, I do not think we've reached this level just yet." In fact, to her, it seemed more than a touch melodramatic.

But who was she to talk, throwing her sword at her Moogle in a fit of impotent rage?

"But it is true; we lack direction, and find only hardships that serve to further break us down. At this point, there is little left to lose." She turned her head to look back at the monitor and nodded at it. "I do not think keeping secrets will serve you well, if you want my opinion. But that's all it is. An opinion."

She wouldn't mind taking a crack at her own file. Hell, as honest and forthright as so many heroes were, she wouldn't be surprised if opening her file resulted in nothing more than a group hug.

It was the clearest way that Sephiroth could put it, to anyone who was not already familiar with how his world worked. One time long ago, he'd spent an evening describing it to Mordecai, at length, and remained convinced that what he had said to the man that time had colored all the dealings with the man since. He'd never even mentioned the circumstances around how he came into being, either.

A certain air of tension seemed to release a little as Ellie made another point. Another fair one, at that. They really were running out of things to lose, yet, Sephiroth still felt it was his right to defend that which he didn't want to be known publicly about him. Regardless of the fact that any moogle, or science worker could have logged in over the last week and read all the dirty laundry for themselves.

"I see your point of view, yet I'm sure everyone has secrets that they'd rather keep close. Even if just for their own well being...or a stubborn refusal to accept them."

Sephiroth's eyes meet the power button to the screen again. Toying with the thought of letting Ellie see what he was hiding still, and blast the consequences. Who knows, sometimes outside eyes didn't always end up hostile.

"This is true," she shrugged, her gaze straying back to the empty screen.

And sometimes people had secrets locked away about themselves that they'd give anything to regain. But that was neither here nor there. She had her own secrets that were worth keeping, so in a sense, she was a hypocrite. It was a small price to pay for curiosity, though.

She looked at Sephiroth, then followed his gaze before glancing back at him again. Was he having second thoughts? She arched a brow inquisitively, but didn't push, as she had a feeling that would definitely ensure he kept his file far, far away from her.

"...I'll read it if you wish," she offered. "The choice is yours." It wasn't as if she were going to glean anything useful from it. Her plans for upsetting the balance of Heroes were already scrapped. It was simply too late to force them to organize at this point, and it was meaningless besides if her world was already doomed to the rift due to her very presence.

Perhaps he was thinking about this all wrong. Maybe Ellie was right in this instance. He'd come back here so urgently after having learned that his file had been left open that Sephiroth hadn't stopped for much more than a beat to really -think- about the reasons he felt such a need to. He's always been a private person and would defend that right until the end; that had been enough of a reason?

There were a handful of others that he'd willingly brought in here and divulged the secrets of his life-to-be to, trust where he once had doubted there could ever be any. Not to mention the reactions he'd gotten; not one of them had been repulsed, nor thought anything shockingly different of him, knowing what he would be in the future of his world. After all, he wasn't that man now.

Maybe it really was all in his head. The weight of the secret never releasing.

After a long pause Sephiroth blew out a long sigh of tension releasing and leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees as he crunched forwards and joined his hands. half in, half out at this point.

"Here goes..." He said finally and then reached up to turn the monitor back on, scooting his chair even a little further back from the desktop so she could see what he'd been reading.

"...though I'm still certain it's best if the majority of this remains locked away."

"The ones who would abuse this information likely read it long ago before you ever arrived," Ellie pointed out. As for her? She simply wanted to know. It might be useful if she ever needed leverage against him, but the way things stood now? It seemed unlikely that such an event would ever arise. The Calamity was moving too fast, and there was no point to ruling Aqures Ixen in order to better organize and mobilize its forces when everything was just a mad and desperate scramble. If anything, that would serve to do little more than distract them from stopping the Calamity if they were too busy trying to stop her.

It was all very pointless.

So she read in silence. Her opinions remained undisclosed, though occasionally she raised an eyebrow before continuing on. Identity crisis. An insanely powerful alien mother that could exist without a head. Ruthlessly impaling a flower girl (though if she was an Ancient like the ones of this world, could he truly be blamed?). Well. That explained the stained glass window to be sure.

When she'd finished, she respectfully closed the file window and stood back, touching her chin in silent contemplation. "Interesting, if a bit convoluted." Ellie dropped her hand and looked back at Sephiroth. "I assume you were drawn here from a point fairly early on in this...history."

Also a true enough fact that Sephiroth had stuck right at the front of his mind all the way from the airship dock to the laboratory. But to think there might be individuals so inclined as to react in such a way, presuming the rumor had somehow gotten around, makes a vast hollowness quickly swell from somewhere in the back of his conscious thoughts. How people could use the information that was within his file, and what it might be interpreted to imply, to somehow gain an edge over him --or worse potentially manipulate him-- Sephiroth didn't want to think about.

As Ellie read, Sephiroth's eyes flicked intermittently from her face to the screen and back again more than a few times. Trying to get a read on which parts were triggering a reaction, what reaction exactly and what she's thinking. Of course, Ellis was perfectly in control of her own expression, so he only picked up on the brief spikes to her eyebrows on occasion.

He didn't want to seem like he was watching too intently, and so was able to judge -just about- when she was coming to the end and so averted his gaze down towards the floor. Arms had crept up into being folded over his chest again, in the meantime. Sephiroth didn't want to seem impatient, but habits die hard.

"That's correct." He answered her query cleanly, sitting back up straight in the chair and reaching with his hand nearest the desk for the blue crystal that he'd left nearby. History indeed, as far as his own reckoning, with regards to all of the events in all of their worlds being chronologically behind Crystallis. The smooth orb-half of it's shape always did sit smoothly in his hand. Sephiroth brought it in closer to his middle.

"I'd always known that I was a more...complicated than most." His eyes drop to his crystal as he turned it idly around in his hands. "Not by any stretch of my imagination could I have imagined the truth as it stands."

"Of course," she agreed, crooking her finger to touch a knuckle to her chin instead, which she tapped a few times as she studied the crystal he held. It was dangerous to leave it so exposed, far more dangerous than exposing his file. Did he know this? Or was he simply testing her, to see what she would do if he held his very life in the palm of his hand...vulnerable, and exposed? "I would harbor doubts if it were me. But you have witnesses from a future point in your world who can verify this truth. Their names. I recognized them."

Some of them, at least. Others she'd only noted as having been previously summoned; beyond that, she hadn't read too deeply into the identities of Angeal, Genesis, Tifa, or Aerith, nor any of the others, beyond what Sephiroth's personal file contained.

A few more taps, then she dropped her hand to her side as she regarded him with a shrewd sort of half-squint. "What changed your mind? Why did you choose to show me this?"

#16 | Can't undo the past

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