[Appearing suddenly in the maze, a silver-haired child watches Jessica with wide green eyes.] Hello. [She is sympathetic. Sometimes tests don't seem to make any sense, and she often dislikes them.]
Perhaps this experiment is to determine how well you can withstand pain. Your professor will be pleased if you remain still and calm.
The professor always stops in the end. [She pauses, feeling the need to be fully truthful.] It might take a while. It depends on your performance.
You are not a dog. You can reason. You will know. [She comes forward, curious, her hand brushing Jessica's arms experimentally.] I do not see what is causing your distress.
[She agrees with this.] There are always more tests, but they don't last as long if you do well. What's your professor's name? [Hojo, Hollander, Gast--those names run through her head.]
I want to. I must identify the source of a problem before I can find a solution.
Oh god... [She rubs her face] I guess it's... a metaphor.
[How do you explain to the child version of the person you have a crush on that they're going to grow up to be the awesomest person ever and then you get forced to admit romantic feelings for them and they obviously wouldn't feel that way about you and there's no way to fix things because it's there in the open now? Also some other stuff that's not helping right now but isn't quite related to the central issue.]
A metaphor. [She nods, solemnly. She understands this.] I'm pleased your physical heart is healthy.
This experiment is irrational. I can cut the wires, or try to remove them individually by hand, but I don't wish to injure you. [Jessica is her friend. She has to do whatever she can to help.]
[Sephiroth's expression changes. For once, she seems genuinely alarmed and upset. Her appearance, too, alters for just an instant, her hair and eyes turning brown, her eyes losing their glow. The change is very temporary, but the emotion is not.]
No, you can't, it isn't right!
[Then her sword is in her hands, and she swings it at the wires.]
[They sever easily, twisting and retracting into the ceiling. Jessica shrieks and curls up in pain. And the maze- walls, floor, everything- shatters.
[A field, overgrown and dry. A large, old house. A hazy yellow sky. And figures, twisted and gray and vaguely human, that mill around, wandering unconsciously, not even shifting the grass with their passage.
[Jessica is standing now, face bearing less expression than usual. She looks to the house, glassy-eyed.]
[Sephiroth is breathing hard. She turns toward the house. Her hair turns brown again, though her eyes remain bright green. She stares at the strange figures.]
Perhaps this experiment is to determine how well you can withstand pain. Your professor will be pleased if you remain still and calm.
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I don't know why I want to please this professor. It's not going to stop this. [She still doesn't move, in spite of this.]
You know, if you put a dog in a cage with an electrified floor, it'll stop moving, and it won't even leave if you open the door later.
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You are not a dog. You can reason. You will know. [She comes forward, curious, her hand brushing Jessica's arms experimentally.] I do not see what is causing your distress.
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Nobody does. Do you want to?
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I want to. I must identify the source of a problem before I can find a solution.
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[She sighs and leans forward. Wires just out of her back, twisting up into the ceiling. They were always there, in the way of dream objects.]
There's no solution, though.
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There is always a solution. [Sephiroth says this confidently. She leans around to study the wires.] Let me think.
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If you take out someone's heart, they die.
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There is a problem with your heart? [She touches one of the wires with a gloved hand, experimentally.] Explain.
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Oh god... [She rubs her face] I guess it's... a metaphor.
[How do you explain to the child version of the person you have a crush on that they're going to grow up to be the awesomest person ever and then you get forced to admit romantic feelings for them and they obviously wouldn't feel that way about you and there's no way to fix things because it's there in the open now? Also some other stuff that's not helping right now but isn't quite related to the central issue.]
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This experiment is irrational. I can cut the wires, or try to remove them individually by hand, but I don't wish to injure you. [Jessica is her friend. She has to do whatever she can to help.]
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[She hugs her knees] At least... I'd probably get new ones, anyway.
[Being Jessica is suffering.]
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No, you can't, it isn't right!
[Then her sword is in her hands, and she swings it at the wires.]
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[They sever easily, twisting and retracting into the ceiling. Jessica shrieks and curls up in pain. And the maze- walls, floor, everything- shatters.
[A field, overgrown and dry. A large, old house. A hazy yellow sky. And figures, twisted and gray and vaguely human, that mill around, wandering unconsciously, not even shifting the grass with their passage.
[Jessica is standing now, face bearing less expression than usual. She looks to the house, glassy-eyed.]
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Where are we? What are they?
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home....
[She takes an unfocused step toward the house. Blood drips down her back.]
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