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WHO: Ashelia, Jade and Sephiroth
WHAT: Getting to the bottom of Cid's letter.
WHEN: September 15th
WHERE: Ashelia's office in the Observatory
WARNINGS: Probs none.

The letter had been short and to the point.

Sephiroth,

I believe it is in your best interest to come and see me at your earliest convenience regarding our conversation in the Void.

Respectfully,
Lady Ashelia

Though she went outside often enough in order to meet with trade partners as part of her bid to rebuild the Aqurean economy, Ashelia did spent most of her time in her office reading over proposals and missives and signing her name on any number of trade agreements. So, whenever Sephiroth enters, Ashelia will be sitting at her rickety desk, back straight as an arrow, reading through yet another rejection from a merchant family in Flence.

She didn't blame them - the situation on the continent was still volatile as ever, despite the Heroes' miraculous victory, disappearance and return - or perhaps, because of it. Restoring confidence in the people of Crystallis' investments - especially in and around Aqures Ixen proper - was a difficult, complicated yet necessary task. With Queen Sarah still missing, it seemed to Ashe that it fell to her.

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He could be forgiven, perhaps, for not being entirely certain to what exact conversation Ashelia were referring to in her letter. The Void - he certainly doesn't recall labeling any of their previous conversations as being set somewhere so ominous...but she could mean...

Of course, by the time Sephiroth got the letter late afternoon was turning into early evening; he'd spent most of the afternoon studying Palitutu's file on himself before locking it down, but still he figured Ashelia might well still be at the Observatory. The dots connected for him somewhere on the way there when he considered the letter that Cid had sent. He suspected that Cid only had referred to him lightly, to spur them all into action but it'd be a while before those words would fade from his surface thoughts. After all, it wasn't the first time he'd met with such a notion; it felt bitter though, this notion of godhood, just like the hatred that had burned fiercely through his doppelganger.

A double knock on the door herald his entrance into the office where -just as expected- he found Ashelia still working when most might have already retired for the day.

"My apologies-" He glanced up at her directly, but quickly away and around the room. Not in such a way that might indicate trying to hide something but his tone told of his distraction. Sephiroth's mind was once again pulled in several different directions at once and he couldn't order his thoughts into which was the most important -or dire- to consider first. A small, illogical part of him yearned to redo the last 12 hours so that he hadn't read any of it...but he also knew that it was his right to know the information that he'd read. Some of which might be spewed by any small moogle or careless Hero who might have gotten to it first.

"-for the delay."

It was not long after Sephiroth's arrival that Jade, too, pushed open the door to the observatory, a thin file carried under the other arm. Said arm had thankfully healed well after their time travel mess, though he still had to consciously ignore the throbbing.

For the most part, however, his mind was on Jessie's lab. Despite having spent a good deal of time there even before Cid had called for help, Jade had barely made a dent in the sheer volume of information there. Palitutu had been cautious when it came securing her work, as expected -- and it didn't help that they could barely navigate the place at all, not without knowing how she had organized her research. They could only hope that Cid's staff knew what they were doing.

There was little news he could bring Ashelia, but she had asked for a report. At least the visit probably wouldn't take very long... At least, that was what he had thought until he knocked on the door of her office and opened it to find Sephiroth already there.

Jade paused at the doorway, gaze lingering on his fellow soldier briefly before shifting to Ashelia. "Oh, pardon me. Bad timing?"

"Not at all, Sephiroth. Please do have a seat, Merlose will be along with the tea in just a moment," Ashelia answered, keeping the majority of her attention on the documents in front of her. "Pardon my impoliteness, I simply must have these signed by this evening. Any delay could give our erstwhile partners reason to abandon - "

The Queen looked quickly from Sephiroth back to Jade, narrowing her eyes. This was an unwelcome surprise - but perhaps not. Jade was a pragmatic sort, and very articulate, and the two men served in the Esdham military together. This could be just what I need.

"Not at all, Jade," Ashelia started again after clearing her throat. "Please come in, both of you. Merlose will be along in a moment with - "

"Tea," came the moogle's small voice from the doorway. She darted around the two soldiers, not spilling a drop of tea, before setting her tray on Ashelia's desk.

"Perfect timing," Ashelia commented, waving Sephiroth and Jade inside. "We will, however, need another cup - " Except there was already a third cup, lined up perfectly beside the other two. "Merlose, you continue to astound. Just a moment." One more flourish with her quill, and Ashelia hands over her stack of papers to the moogle. "For Demetri and Rudolph respectively, yes? If you would send these on their way, and then please do rest for the night, Merlose."

"As you say, Lady," the moogle answered, disappearing as quickly as she'd arrived.

Ashelia began pouring the tea before she spoke again. "Sephiroth, I do hope you are comfortable enough with Jade here?"

As Ashelia greeted him and urged him to sit, Sephiroth nodded and carefully approached one of the seats facing the desk -the rickety desk which didn't seem fit to be holding on it so much responsibility- watching as she continued to work at the first of a stack of papers. He was just about ready to sit when another presence appeared at the door.

He both turned and looked over Jade as he paused in the doorway. Assessing the other man, his comrade, noting in particular the file under his arm and the rather stiff way he still held his arm; injured still from a battle that still weighed heavy on the back of Sephiroth's mind. Somewhat outshone though, by the details he'd just a while ago read of himself at Palitutu's lab which now burned at the front of his concern.

Sephiroth barely heard Ashelia invite the other to join them and was then distracted as Merlose flitted around them and settled a tray onto the desk. Atop some papers, but most had already been gathered up for handing to her moogle. He continued to watch, in silence and with a slight sense of admiration at how they were both so well suited to each other; no small surprise though, considering how long they'd been together.

However, as he looked back to Jade again and peered over the other man almost suspiciously in the wake of Ashelia's question, he suddenly felt frozen to the spot and incapable of even sitting as she had bid him. If they were to discuss such matters now, as what he suspected this summons was regarding, and Jade were present, how would that impact on his future in Crystallis? Within the military where, for sure, his reputation was on tenterhooks as it was? It's a bitter knot that forms in the base of his throat as finally Sephiroth shifts the vast mane of his hair to one side and takes the seat offered.

"I doubt there is going to be much of this discussion which is going to be comfortable." Typically blunt and precisely to the point, as always. Though he does then drop his eyes from Ashelia, from the desk entirely, and seeks out a point on the floor. An unwelcome, anxious tension instantly ripping it's way up his spine.

Jade caught Sephiroth's gaze for a second or two before stepping fully inside the office and closing the door behind him once the Merlose had left. The situation seemed to demand privacy.

Though his comrade was by no means someone who could be easily read, Jade didn't take long to notice how distracted he appeared. It wasn't often that Sephiroth's eyes wandered quite that erratically -- from Jade to the moogle, to Jade again, to Ashelia, to the floor; normal enough behavior for most people, perhaps, but for the SOLDIER? Something had clearly shaken him, and Jade could easily guess what it was.

After all, he had read Sephiroth's file in the short hours before it was locked. It hadn't been the most considerate thing to do, invading someone's privacy that way. Even so... Jade had decided that filling in the blanks had taken priority over what was morally correct. It wasn't that he distrusted Sephiroth per se, but he also wasn't naive enough to think there was no risk in letting him go completely unchecked.

Besides, what he had learned from the file hadn't changed his opinion all that much. He had already known most of the important bits, either from speaking with Genesis or putting things together on his own.

"This has something to do with Cid's letter, I take it?" Jade took a seat beside Sephiroth, setting the file he had been carrying on the desk for the time being, and steepled his hands. If Sephiroth was unusually tense, Jade appeared just as calm and controlled as ever as he watched Ashelia expectantly.

"Fair point," Ashelia replied to Sephiroth, nodding slowly before turning to Jade. "Precisely that, yes."

She turned back to Sephiroth and fixed him in her sights, eyebrows furrowed. "Sephiroth, you may be interested to know that I spoke with Genesis previously about the situation in your homeland - briefly, and there were many holes in the story, but I do believe that coupled with our conversation in the Void filled in some of those holes." She raised a finger here. "Some. I imagine your filed has filled them all, for all who cared to know. I would as well."

She sighed, pouring her guests some tea. "I'll preface your explanation by saying I am not overly concerned about what you may or may not do in the future of your own world, so long as you do not follow some misguided path in this one. Now, if you would be so kind?"

Sephiroth's eyes snapped up to Ashelia's, instantly as soon as she spoke Genesis' name. He quickly scanned her face as she continued, eyes a little wider than was usually the case as he tried to read some into her expression. It had been a while now since his once-friend had passed into crystal stasis; surely he should be able to temper mention of the man a little better than he did? Like so many things that churned around in Sephiroth's mind it was just another bump that hadn't had even a chance to be smoothed out. He couldn't help but wonder, exactly what -and to whom else- Genesis might have mentioned something.

A quick glance to Jade was made, fancying that he already knew that the other man in the room had spoken to Genesis about him as well. Restless, though, dimly-glowing green eyes turned back to Ashelia again; the slits within them as small as they could go...before looking to the teacup nearest to him as it was filled. Matching hers, his eyebrows furrowed at the end and he looked to be lightly chewing on a small spot of the inside corner of his bottom lip. It almost made him look as if he were pouting.

At the end, eyes closed, Sephiroth swallowed and took in a deep breath through his nose as he tried to form words. At the very least, Ashelia had commented that she wasn't concerned with his future on his home world but the question at the very front of Sephiroth's own mind rested bitterly as 'Shouldn't you be?' - Kalki, for one, had thought it more than relevant to refer to. Not to mention the actions of his doppelganger in the previous cycle.

"That depends, very much on what exactly you are expecting me to explain at this point."

It sounded about as stubborn as he could possibly make it; clearly, Sephiroth was unsure what exactly he felt sure enough -in himself- to discuss. Or, indeed, what was relevant to bring up to one of the more prominent leader-types within the Heroes of Light. It was all still very fresh to him, and had brought on something of a migraine from all of the deep consideration it had triggered in him.

So Ashelia knew about Sephiroth's "future" as well... or at least parts of it. Fortunately, and unsurprisingly, she seemed to be taking it calmly. The Queen was rational enough to refrain from making hasty judgments, as expected.

Not that this was making Sephiroth any less anxious, by the looks of it.

"I'm guessing Lady Ashelia is referring to Cid's comment about your supposed godhood." Jade's tone was light as he accepted his teacup with a gracious nod, making it sound like he didn't think very much of the implications himself. It was difficult to associate someone with gods when you knew they had to hog the showers every morning and spend entire bottles of shampoo while they were at it. Cleaning out the drains had become a common cause for grumbling among the Esdham military -- not helped by the fact that Jade, in his time as a sergeant, had rather enjoyed using it as a punishment for some unfortunate privates.

"When you say Void, you are referring to the interdimensional rift, correct?" That was the only possibility he could think of. "It sounds like all three of us witnessed one another's worst memories. I don't think there is much sense in keeping secrets at this point."

"Precisely so," Ashelia replied to Jade, nodding. "You were both there the night of the coup. You both saw the events that made me who I am today. I've little and less to hide from either of you." She then looked to Sephiroth, one eyebrow raised. "I cannot force you to expound on Cid's claims, but I do think it is in your best interest, and I doubt you'd find a more objective audience."

It was only polite to look between the two of them as they conversed and so Sephiroth did so, doing quite well in his attempts not to seem so distracted by the whirling tempest of concerns going on just behind his eyes. He was lucky, for once, in the fact that the after effects of mako-infusion had subsided finally; though the green to his eyes still held a faint gleam it wasn't as if they flared with his emotions as much as they otherwise would have done.

"Not quite." He felt compelled to correct Jade, being as it seemed as good a starting point as any. "The majority of events that I witnessed or was thrust into were indeed memories; as far as I could tell. But as for myself-"

"-it wasn't a memory for me, at that point."

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed, his brows falling as he sought out a random point on Ashelia's desk before him. Disliking how little sense he thought he was making. Why did it feel like the tallest mountain now, to try and choose the correct words?

"Though it was to become a memory. I passed into Crystal Stasis within a day of returning from that place. When I came back, I'm to believe it was two weeks later, but I remembered then."

"That's right, I recall you saying as much while I was there. Regardless, my point stands." Jade glanced at Ashelia before turning to look at Sephiroth. "I think we both know enough by now to understand your side of it -- more or less -- should you choose to discuss it with us."

Jade sipped his tea, wondering how much he should interject with the conversation. He thought he had a fairly good grasp of what was troubling Sephiroth, but flaunting that wouldn't accomplish anything if Sephiroth himself didn't want to talk about it.

For the time being, perhaps it was best to let Ashelia ask the questions.

"And I do think you should," Ashelia added, turning to Sephiroth after nodding at Jade. She ran a finger around the rim of her tea cup, head tilted to the side as she took stock of the silver-haired man. Perhaps it was a little much to just ask him to explain - Sephiroth was an articulate man, and even he was having trouble getting started.

"Let us start, then, with that room from your now-recent past." She paused for a second, giving the other men a chance to cast their thoughts back. "JENOVA. Who is she?"

Sephiroth hadn't even moved to take his cup which was still rested on the desk before Ashelia. If it weren't for the way that he just refused to allow himself to slump in the chair, it was easy to imagine him leaning back into it as if it might swallow him up. The signs that he were anxious was obvious and the fact that he knew as such just seemed to make him more tense.

Articulate and well spoken had melted into something of a pool of goop which didn't much know how to reconstruct itself just yet. Once more, Sephiroth swept his gaze from Jade to Ashelia and locked eye contact with her directly as she took the conversation in a very clear direction. It was a good idea, to tackle this perhaps one thing at a time where there were so many things lingering across Sephiroth's immediate thoughts.

"JENOVA...is exactly what Genesis said then. A monster. The Calamity from the Skies-" A breath was huffed out at the uncomfortable thought he landed on, information from his future burning freshly somewhere in the bottom of his throat. "-my Mother. Or at least...I will come to think such."

"Genesis told me about your world's Calamity. A creature that devours the energy of all living beings, then uses the dead planet as a vessel to move through space and look for new planets to feed off of. Almost like a parasite..."

And very much like the Calamity they were dealing with here in Crystallis. Perhaps they were even of the same species.

"I understand JENOVA was used in a number of experiments by the company you worked for."

Ashelia nodded along with the men's words. "I see." She didn't, not exactly, but she was starting to get the bigger picture. "You will see this JENOVA as your mother because...you were part of these experiments, yes?"

Cat-like green eyes flexed their inner-pupils as Sephiroth blinked and looked to Jade as he made his comment, and then returned the gesture back to Ashelia as she made to draw the conversation along. For sure, it was all that they could do between the two of them, if they so wished for him to lay all of his secrets on the table like they indicated he should do. Perhaps they weren't half wrong, and Sephiroth more noticeably chewed on a part of the inside corner of his mouth; perhaps he shouldn't have been trying to solve the puzzle of himself all alone for so long.

"I'm afraid it's not quite so simple as all that." Of course, if it had been an easy thing to comprehend, they wouldn't be sat in the office now picking at a corner of the cracked shield that Sephiroth hid himself behind permanently.

"You must understand, that at the time the nature of JENOVA had been...misidentified." Sephiroth's arms just weren't slackening, not a single twitch as he tried to find words with which he might be able to communicate the facts as he now had pieced them together. Bitter truths which hadn't had much time to settle at all yet.

"Similar to here, there was a race of Ancients which pre-dated civilization as it was recorded. They had mystical power, and a personal connection with the Planet. ShinRa wanted access to that resource, in their quest for the Promised Land; which would be so rich in Mako energy that it could be secured for generations to come.

"JENOVA, when it was found sealed in a 2000 year old stratum, was presumed to be an Ancient. Thus started a set of experiments to attempt to harness the Ancients' power."

The more that Sephiroth continued, the more his throat seemed to want to dry out. He swallowed roughly, unfolded his arms and coughed out where the anxiety had made it harder for him to talk. He tried to put on a colder tone, stating the next part as if he were reading it from a textbook as he tried to detach how much his feelings churned not so far behind his face; his gaze sought out a part of the desk which was near to the floor.

"So understand, when I say Mother, that I mean quite literally; biologically. I was deemed the success of the JENOVA project by being the only...product which had bonded seamlessly with the then-believed-to-be Ancients' DNA.

"With regard to the mindset of my future self..." He shook his head, unable to find words where he lacked the comprehension. The revelation with regards to his true parents, shone a different light on the reasons that he might have had for adopting JENOVA as more of a parent than it ever could be. But it still didn't feel right...there was something that still didn't add up.

"...I suppose, perhaps, it might have had to do with the Reunion instinct that JENOVA has. All those cells are forever destined to come back together again, eventually..."

There was a scowl, that even though Sephiroth still turned his head down away from them both, which could not be ignored. It was almost -too- coincidental, considering what they had already been told via Kalki about the Calamity on Crystallis.

The way Sephiroth referred to himself didn't go unnoticed. Product. Although it didn't show on his face, Jade felt an uncomfortable tug at his conscience. It certainly seemed like no matter what the world, scientists were prone to creating life for little more than their own satisfaction... with little thought of their creation's humanity.

Jade shook off the thought. Projecting his guilt on Sephiroth would be a useless endeavor.

"...And that would have made the other you a perfect catalyst for JENOVA's goals." He didn't care to use the words 'future self'. They were, when you really thought about it, rather misleading.

"The Reunion..." Ashelia, lowered her head in thought for a moment. "There are those, are there not, whose crystals have been drained of colour? Did Kalki not herself say that their pieces of the Calamity had been returned?" The more she heard, the more she realized Sephiroth's situation at home was too similar to their own here on Crystallis to overlook - and the potential danger Sephiroth could pose to them all. By the same token, though, the silver-haired general could provide invaluable insight and perhaps, even...

She cleared her throat, taking a sip of tea to moisten the area before continuing. "The perfect catalyst indeed," she replied, nodding along with Jade's words. She kept her gaze on Sephiroth's downturned head, squinting in thought. "But for JENOVA's goals, or your own?"

"Quite." It was a response to Ashelia and was all that he had to say considering that, as high-intelligence on its own had made the quick step in that particular correlation. A correlation Sephiroth had found reflected in the few thoughts he could glean from his doppelganger while plotting and indeed enacting his plan to usurp the will of the Calamity in the previous cycle 2000 years ago. Something to be kept always to himself and never uttered; as if it might go away if intently ignored.

But really, that one word worked well as a reply to Jade as well, as Sephiroth flicked his gaze up momentarily and then back down towards one leg of the great desk again. His tea was most likely going cold but now more than ever he didn't want to drink it.

"That's just the thing. That question..." Sephiroth swallowed dryly and then finally sat back and raised his shoulders up, back and then looking directly at them both in the eye. There was a world of hidden meanings, other questions and revelations that might still come written subliminally throughout his green gaze.

"...I don't know the answer, truly. At Nibelheim-"

He now knew how he would turn the life of a certain blonde-haired hero upside down when he'd been of such little consequence before. Also, well and painfully, why Tifa had reacted when the crystalline figure of Zack's girlfriend had appeared in the square.

"-within a few days, from that encounter with Genesis in the reactor, my existence becomes changed irreparably. I take JENOVA's head and assimilate with that root of her being...within the Lifestream."

His tone was set with a edge of finality that suggested the obvious; that it would be Sephiroth's literal death. He sounded almost-confused though, as he spoke of those events which clearly marked them as a set of consequences Sephiroth didn't understand the how -or more importantly- the why of, based on what he remembered of his time before Crystallis. How did it all go so horribly wrong? Genesis had baited him, for sure, but surely those records in the ShinRa Manor would contain even less than he had now read in his archive?

"So I suppose you might suggest that, from that point onwards, there is not a difference."

Jade nodded to Ashelia's first question. "That was the reason she wanted us in the Research Facility. To reunite the Calamity's fragments." He brought his crystal out of his pocket, turning it idly in his hand. Its colorless state hadn't changed in the past six months. "She also told Zelda that a white crystal is a sign of being connected to the Calamity, even after it has reclaimed its missing fragment."

Which meant Jade had one more reason to pay close attention to what Sephiroth said next. For all he knew, being connected to the Calamity could be equivalent to carrying JENOVA's cells.

"Hm. I don't envy your position." He met Sephiroth's gaze steadily, frowning in thought. "Yet here you are, still quite sane despite now possessing the same knowledge he did."

Relatively sane, at least. Jade hadn't forgotten the day in Esdham when Sephiroth had assaulted his doppelganger in broad daylight. Though the incident hasn't repeated and they'd spoken no more of it, it was difficult to forget that moment of instability.

"Jade is correct," Ashelia said, nodding along with her bespectacled companion's words. "If the revelation of your connection," for lack of a better term, "with JENOVA is what drove you over the edge previously - well, you have clearly come further than that already." Even trying to stay as calm, logical and objective as possible, more than a hint of encouragement sneaked into her tone of voice.

"Perhaps there is some information in Palitutu's lab that might aid us," she continued on. "I daresay those tests she ran had an ulterior motive. She knows all this about you, and Crystallis' Calamity is more than passing similar to your JENOVA."

Jade was right. They both were right about that. But the ever-logical thought over the fact that he now knew all of it and so it couldn't hurt him after this was like someone trying to scream for his attention in a crowded room currently. Sephiroth looked between the two of them, almost desperately wanting to believe that to be the case in the wake of Ashelia's encouragement especially, but at that moment he was sat before them with the overload of information shining brightly behind every inch of his body language.

He delivered a long look over Jade, almost questioningly as thoughts were drawn to the state of his own sanity. Wondering how his comrade could very well sit there and say that, knowing what he knew about the reaction he'd taken to a certain 8 year old innocent boy. Partly grateful, however silent about it, that Jade had chosen not to bring that event up in this meeting. It had been months ago, and more importantly it had been a single occurrence of something that Sephiroth regretted; the complete lack of respect and self-control he'd demonstrated.

"It certainly sheds more light on the results we were presented. How I had an greater 'anomaly' within my crystal when compared to the others. To me at least, it seems that Palitutu-" His expression dropped into a grimace again and shoulders seemed to huddle up tighter as Sephiroth landed on the set of uncomfortable facts that he'd encouraged so many to go for the testing that she'd offered.

"-it's obvious that she knew a lot more than she let on."

"Indeed. There were plans to run more tests on our crystals before the invasion, but Palitutu claimed she was too busy at the time."

Jade shook his head with a small sigh, setting his now empty teacup back on the desk. They had fallen for it too, hook, line and sinker.

"Well, it's clear she didn't want to share her thoughts on the matter, but with any luck she might have left her notes on it at the lab." He briefly inclined his head at the file he had brought along. "We're still just getting organized, so I can't say what we'll find yet. Still, the fact Palitutu tried to destroy the facility means she likely left behind things that weren't intended for our eyes."

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