Weak Interaction

Sephiroth wanted to scream in frustration. He also wanted to swear a blue streak using all those Wutai curses he'd picked up during the war and kill someone, preferably the entire Shin-Ra Science Department. However none of those things were possible right now: he couldn't move a muscle. Couldn't twitch a finger, couldn't even open his eyes. He was imprisoned within his own body and completely at the mercy of his caretaker.

Fortunately his caretaker was Cloud. Less fortunately, Cloud definitely was not himself.

The Silver General had absolutely zero voluntary muscle control, but that didn't mean his brain had stopped working and he was perfectly capable of sensing the Mako signatures of nearby monsters and SOLDIERs. Cloud felt distinctly different to how he used to: much wilder for one, much stronger and more intense for another which suggested the levels of Mako in his blood had somehow increased. There was also nothing wrong with Sephiroth's ears and what he could hear supported the evidence of his other senses, such as his sense of touch and perception of taste and smell. The combination of hearing, touch, smell and the less easily defined Mako-sense had over the past few weeks given him a good idea of what was going on around him, but there wasn't a single thing he could do about any of it! It was all so frustrating!

Helpless immobility also meant he had no way of escaping his own thoughts. All his life he had sought strength to fill the aching void within his heart, to protect himself as best he could from Hojo's displeasure and to validate his existence through surpassing the expectations of others. Now however his strength was beyond his grasp and he had been reduced to dead weight, a burden on his student. Vi had insisted she would always love him, but Sephiroth was terrified of how she'd react when she found out he was completely paralysed. Or worse, how she'd react to the rampage he'd been dragged on through Nibelheim.

Sephiroth felt terrible about what had happened in the village. He'd killed helpless civilians, set the town on fire and attacked his student. Fortunately Cloud had been able to take advantage of the fact that the, the thing controlling his body didn't think like a SOLDIER and had been arrogant enough to believe it was the focus of his student's attention.

Looking back at events with a dispassionate eye, Sephiroth was certain the disgusting monstrosity floating in that cylinder had been JENOVA, the Calamity itself. Despite Chaos' actions to denature the J-cells and genetic material in Sephiroth's body, the Herald of OMEGA had not considered it appropriate to purge them from his system; the Calamity had been part of him from before he was born so removing it would kill him. However Chaos' alterations had meant that, in time, his body would gradually be able to replace the alien parasite with structures that carried out the same functions without making him vulnerable to mind control.

Unfortunately for Sephiroth, Cloud and all of Nibelheim, the process was a slow one that the Silver General was only two years into. However it seemed that having been used as a puppet and forced to watch as his body slew innocents and children –just like he had in Wutai and sworn to never do again– had apparently kicked the biological systems purging the JENOVA infection into overdrive. Sephiroth knew his body was very busy despite his lack of conscious control over it: he could feel his elevated heartbeat, see the greenish glow illuminating the inside of his eyelids, feel the deep ache in his muscles indicating elevated activity levels. Were it not for Cloud's efforts to keep him clean and well-fed Sephiroth knew he'd be emaciated and filthy by now, his body recklessly burning his reserves to purge the invader from his cells and oozing contaminated slime from every orifice. He was even sweating out some kind of stinging fluid that made his brain itch for a hot shower with real soap.

More fortunately, Cloud found the various fluids just as offensive as Sephiroth did: his apprentice bathed him every morning and evening and cleared up the messes a lack of voluntary muscle control ensured the silver-haired SOLDIER couldn't help making almost as soon as they happened. It was still the most humiliating and demeaning experience of Sephiroth's life though.

When not wallowing in the indignity of his own helplessness, Sephiroth worried about Cloud. Cloud was most certainly not the same as he had been before Nibelheim and Sephiroth was fairly certain that was his fault. Shock did strange things to SOLDIERs whose Mako sensitivity was in the upper half of the scale and Cloud Strife was firmly in the middle of the upper quartile. That Cloud had been placed under severe stress by the situation was obvious: the short blond was Sephiroth's closest friend as well as his student and the younger SOLDIER worried about him even on normal days. Nibelheim had not been remotely normal.

Then there was the fact that Sephiroth was fairly certain he'd killed his student's mother while under JENOVA's control. Despite Cloud clearly not understanding why his mother refused to leave Nibelheim, Sephiroth was certain the teenager did not love her any less for her obstinacy despite not having seen her since he was eight or so. Sephiroth didn't even know whether or not Cloud realised his mother was dead and was not enjoying the uncertainty.

Fen-Wolf hunts with Pack.

Pack kills.

Pack feeds.

Pack hunts for sick Brother.

Pack kills.

Fen-Wolf gorges.

Fen-Wolf returns to Den.

Fen-Wolf regurgitates meat for Brother.

Fen-Wolf feeds Brother.

Fen-Wolf cleans Brother.

Pack returns.

Pack sleeps around Brother.

Fen-Wolf sleeps.

Fen-Wolf dreams of Pack-Mother, who carries Father within herself.

Fen-Wolf dreams of Brother, the Great Serpent, and Sister, the Cold One.

Fen-Wolf dreams of Golden-Wolf, in whose body he runs and who Fen-Wolf will someday become one with. Fen-Wolf likes Golden-Wolf, who is brother-in-soul.

Fen-Wolf dreams of death. Golden-Wolf's dam is dead: the Pack sang for her loss the night after they found the Den.

The Calamity is not dead.

Fen-Wolf dreams of hunting.

And that's the end! If my muse obliges I may write a sequel or two to continue the storyline, but if not I'm quite happy with this ending here.