A deadly little game of Marco-Polo
Who: Elena | Sephiroth | Remnants (?)
When: Day 60 - afternoon
Location: Shinra Manor, Nibelheim
Rating: PG-13 / R (depending on the level of gore)
Summary: Elena finally makes it to Nibelheim and her first stop in her search is Shinra Manor.
( Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. )
Not here to kill me huh? What the hell, therefore is a Turk doing here and unaccompanied. Surely they wouldn't be so stupid...but then, they did send a small army...
The thought train was interuppted as Elena mocked Yazoo. His green eyes narrowed at her and he set his jaw; controlled anger for now. How DARE she talk about his family like that. He took a step back towards her, threateningly.
"While I was away? Elena I was less away than you ever could understand. Through my brothers I saw many things...and through the stigma" There was a pause as Sephiroth tried to remember exactly what he had saw then. Memories while he was disemodied were hard to come by thesedays.
"Fear is just a by product of the processes necessary to pull the inhabitants of this Planet into line. As for Yazoo," Sephiroth pulled a slight smirk at the thought of his brother that subconsiciously he knew was not too far away. "The Planet saw it fit to restore him, undoubtedly through Mother's will. You are a bully for taking advantage..."
Reply
Elena's body recoiled, her back arching away as Sephiroth moved forward. She would have preferred that he hit her, kick her, cause any sort of physical pain. But the blow she took instead was much, much worse. It was the way he said her name, the matter-of-fact tone as he explained that he saw all that the Remnants had done. The people they killed, the luring of Edge's children sick with the Geostigma, the torture of -
Stop it! STOP it! JUST SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!
Elena would have screamed, a piercing and heart-wrenching howl, if it would have brought down the whole manor on top of their heads. Anything to shut him up and drown out the images that flashed, stained red with blood red and pain, in her mind's eye. She'd worked so hard to repress the memories, with the much appreciated help of several bottles of various alcohols, and vowed to keep what happened secret and silent. The fact that Sephiroth knew - having seen it, as he said, through the eyes of his 'brothers' - was like Elena was standing naked and exposed in front of him despite the suit she wore.
"Me? A bully?! For taking advantage? Doesn't that sound rather hypocritical? Or is it that you don’t have the full picture yet," Elena growled, tears threatening to betray her strong façade. "Unless you only think it right and fair that nobody is allowed revenge unless they're part of your little 'family'. Oh no, Shiva forbid I want revenge for what he did to me!"
Reply
"So the world is a bullies playground now, I shall have to keep that in mind. Bigger bullies picking on those lower on their pecking order, deciding what is right and wrong for the world. Those outcast for appearing, thinking and generally being different from everyone else...well maybe someone needs to put a stop to it" Sephiroth responded to Elena. Thoughts rushing through his mind quicker than they should in this state, giving a surreal tinge to everything around him down here. It bordered on dizziness.
Revenge. ShinRa...no, this WHOLE PLANET deserve my vengence but everytime something gets in the way...is that through my own failings? Mother would know but I can't ask her...but it's fine, that particular thorn won't be sticking in my side anymore...
"It's a harsh lesson to learn, little Turk" Sephiroth near-purred at Elena, coming to a stop a few feet away from Elena and looking over her; something was bugging him as not adding up. Perhaps his injuries and the healing process was making him miss something obvious.
"Do not talk to me of your petty childish revenge. It's very much a which came first argument and it's not relevant" Sephiroth allowed his gaze to rest at Elena's feet before rising up her slowly and narrowing on her face.
"Fact is, your company ended up sticking it's nose in where it wasn't wanted. You and your beloved Turks had it coming, just as all of ShinRa do." Sephiroth began again to walk Elena back into the bookshelf directly behind her. "I suggest, you stay out of MY way..."
Reply
"Hi there Mister Pot. My name's Kettle. Fancy meeting you here," she finished with a full-on smile, faking naive innocence. Fucking hypocrite...
Behind the mask of her weak sarcasm, Elena was listening. And listening hard. In fact, she could almost hear Hojo in the way that he spoke. And there was that gaze of assessment as he sized her up - and it took a great amount of inner strength to not visibly shiver under his scrutinizing gaze. Her hand, still extended in a mock handshake, turned so her palm faced his incoming figure as she matched him step by step backwards.
"Well forgive us if preventing you from destroying the planet was 'sticking our nose where it wasn't wanted.' How could we have been so selfish? And in case you forgot-"
Elena stopped moving. In fact, if she could have, every arm and leg would have stretched out to block his passage and prevent him from passing by her.
"I'm a Turk. It's my job to get in people's way. And that includes you."
Reply
Don't start what you can't finish In this case meaning that a fight with Elena probably wouldn't be to smartest thing to jump into right now.
"Alas the victors write the history books so it will always be that I tried to destroy the Planet. It works for ShinRa to file that nicely into their cover stories. Everyone seems to forget that the aim was to make the Planet better but obviously ShinRa forget that as they are not to be part of it...but then I guess there is too much knowledge involved for you to understand..."
Sephiroth reached out and rested his right hand on a bookshelf behind Elena as she finished talking. To block her exit down the corridor she came down in the first place.
"That it is." Sephiroth's voice took on that sarcastic tone that rarely has chance to be used, a tad patronizing too. "And I do say you are doing a very nice job about it...however where is your partner?"
Reply
He was close. Too close. She could smell the encroaching infection of his wounds and the bitter rust smell of blood. Her nose crinkled up again, an infringement on the seriousness in her face. Really, as long as she kept him talking the longer she had time to plan, to hopefully tire him out. Such philosophical conversations were - when not in the right mindset - exhausting on both body and mind.
"You talk about old ShinRa. You know nothing of the new one, or its goals and ambitions. Really, you're falling right into your own verbage and casting yourself in the role of the fallen anti-hero. You had fought for your version of a better planet, and you lost. Now we - and I don't mean just ShinRa - are fighting for a better planet as well. We nearly lost her twice, and we've suffered for our mistakes. But we have learned." Elena paused. "But I guess there is just too much knowledge involved for you to understand."
Elena's body shifted, moving away from the arm that now blocked her path as if it were surrounded by an invisible shield. She would have laughed at the irony of it all. Many times she had a daydream much like this one, where she was caught unawares in deep concentration in a fantastic library in some fantastically large building by a particular male companion. It was not always the same man - though there were always a few that were recurring - but he would come in, surprise her, converse with her with subtle language that hinted at repressed feelings for the fair-haired Turk. Which would eventually lead to Elena being caught with her back to the bookcase, her companion's arms creating a cage on either side of her, moving in so closely that she could smell the faint scent of sandlewood/lilac/gunpowder/vanilla on his collar. A little trick of a smile and then - then she would awaken, red with embarrassment, grumbling a few half-hearted obscenities.
Yup. This would be the last time she'd enjoy that little fantasy.
"Why thank you. I'll be sure to put down your compliment on my resume. My higher ups will be impressed."
This was a bit unexpected. Was he...toying with her? No, perhaps he was doing what she was doing. Prolonging a situation until back-up arrived. Except...she had no back-up. Yet.
"Oh, my partner? Here, let me introduce you to him."
Shiva bless her for being so short and for Sephiroth being so damn tall. It wasn't difficult at all to pick her mark. Even in the small amount of space, Elena had enough room to put all her weight behind her uppercut into the middle of his stomach, just below his solar plexus. Shiva, let this work.
Reply
It all seemed to blur into noise rather than speech as she continued. Half way through, Sephiroth's world decided to sway and half spin around him. It was starting to wear on him, all this damn slow healing. By all rights he probably shouldn't even be up and walking around yet. What hurt more was the fact that if Mother hadn't vanished like she had, there would not be a need to wait. All of these wounds would be gone by now, just like she healed him after that fight with Cl-
Thump, squelch came out of no where as in the near delirious haze Sephiroth was unable to focus on Elena.
He didn't just hear the blow connect but felt it in places he shouldn't be able to. The movement of her punch seemed to carry on up and through him, it tore the breath from his lungs in a ragged noise and forced him a couple of steps back. Sephiroth rapidly pressed his left hand hard into the impact place as if it would soothe it. That in turn increased the grinding pain in that shoulder from the nearly shattered joint that hadn't even begun to fix yet.
"Bitch..." He breathed in response, as he fought not to attempt to spill whatever contents an empty stomach possessed. It left burning right up his throat inside and an icky over-wet feeling generated itself in his mouth.
Two bullets still lodged in mid-torso burned with new ferocity as Elena's punch had forced the metal slugs a fraction deeper. The room they were in swayed dramatically one way, and then the other and for a moment there was double vision before Sephiroth got up from a knee (which he didn't even realize he'd fallen to) in an attempt to refocus and not black out.
He looked around for where Elena could have gone. (if she had moved at all?)
Reply
Elena had hoped, and not really expected, to be successful with her hit. She had anticipated hitting hardened flesh, bruising her knuckles with their impact, and leaving little to no mark of her own. But, as the front of her fist hit flesh, her expectation was replaced with surprise as her punch continued inward into soft flesh, the weight behind her punch pushing through her shoulder and arm into his stomach.
Taking the opening provided as Sephiroth stumbled back, Elena darted past him towards where her gun had landed. Like a track-star practicing pivots, her body swooped downward as she came to an immediate halt as her toes dug firmly into the ground, hands snatching up the discarded firearm. Tucking it back into its holster, she used the rocking of her body as inertia and pushed herself forward towards the way she came in.
Oh, if she only had enough time to take a photo. Just a quick snap of her camera phone would be the source bragging rights for several years. How many people on the whole planet could say they knocked Sephiroth down onto his knee with just one punch? One, maybe two? Nobody would believe her without the proof, but Elena wasn’t about to stop. Darting pass the downed swordsman, her mouth quirked up into a smile. So what if people didn’t know. She knew. Sephiroth knew. And, for now, that’d be enough satisfaction.
Running past the series of halls, Elena finally made her way back to the underground library, jumping over the hurdles of books with ease. She was almost out. Just up the decaying spiral staircase, past the rotting bodies of WRO militants, and through the half-collapsed entryway with nothing blocking her path. Her steps wobbled slightly, leaning left, as she reached into her jacket and pulled out her cell phone. Now was as good of time as ever to call Tseng, let him know what she found, and get some backup. There was no telling how long she’d have before Sephiroth would have recovered and - if he had the strength - came after her.
((ooc: Call to Tseng will occur in private log. Will anticipate being found by Yazoo at mid/end of call.))
Reply
Leave a comment