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Cloud and the others entered the reactor, cringing slightly at the sound of the metal
door scraping. Aeris peered into the darkness, moving past Cloud as she called
out,”Mym?”
After receiving no response Cloud sighed tiredly and started to speak,”Tifa, you
and Barret come with me, Vincent Aeris and Red, you three are a team as well. You three
go look for Mym and we’ll check the reactor for anything else.”
Aeris nodded and Cloud and his team moved off to go exploring. Aeris then
turned to Red.
“Can you pick up her trail in here Red?” She asked quietly, trying to make it seem
like less of a degrading act for him.
After taking a sniff he nodded in the affirmative and they were off. They carefully
walked across the grating and the metal soles of Vincent’s shoes clicked rather noisilly.
Eventually they came across the rooms Hojo had used so long ago and the desk. Vincent
and Red looked over the things and Red opted to stay behind and try and read some of the
papers as Vincent and Aeris would be the best ones to go talk to her and he knew she was
nearby. As they moved over towards the room that had once been her cell they saw the
table in there with the upturned tray of various medical tools near it, all covered with dry
blood that was slowly flaking away with age. Vincent clenched his fist and they kept
moving, Aeris looking away from the sight so as not to be upset. Finally they came upon
the room where Mym was, kneeling on the floor, head in her hands.
“Mym?” Aeris called out softly, trying to bring the older woman out of her ‘shell.’
“Hm?” Came the soft quiet reply and she turned slightly, spotting them for the first
time.
As her eyes fell on both of them she let out a quiet shriek and turned quickly,
sitting on the ground.
“No.. no.....” She murmured quietly and inched back a bit.
“What’s wrong?” Aeris asked as she took a small step forward, her hand reaching
out towards Mym.
“No.... Ifalna.... Vincent....” Her voice trailed off to a whisper for a second and as
she took another step back her voice grew to a loud scream of anger and irritation.
“Damn you Hojo for haunting my cursed life with those I couldn’t protect!”
As she moved backwards suddenly she crashed into the crates and they smashed to
small chips and dust upon impact. Small trickles of blood slid down her arms from where
the splinters cut her and she paused for a second, ignoring the pain. After a silent
moment, in which time Red XIII had come to the door to see what was wrong, with a
wild shriek Mym launched herself out past them all and towards the main room of the
reactor. The three of them followed, Vincent heading first and watched as she launched
herself onto the spanse of bridge between the entrance and the chamber which had held
Jenova. In the middle of the bridge she had stopped, Cloud and his party to one side,
Vincent and the others to the other.
“No...” she murmured, holding her head and kneeling on the bridge.
“Dammit Hojo... You cursed me to fail them.....”
As Cloud went to take a step towards her to try and see what was bothering her
she slammed a fist off the bridge causing it to groan and shudder. Cloud took a step back
and Aeris let out a gasp.
“Dammit Hojo,”she cursed again as she slammed her fist down again. Again the
bridge responded with a groan and a shudder only larger this time. It was at this point that
Cloud and the others decided to make a run for it seeing as the more Mym pounded on the
bridge the greater the chances of it falling and them becoming stuck on the other side.
With a determined look the three of them dashed across and past Mym who shrank back
against the railing with a quiet cry of alarm. When they got to the other side they turned
and looked back at her, clinging to the railing and, now, looking down at the mako pool
beneath it. Vincent quietly edged over to her on the now less than steady bridge as she
stared at the mako pool.
“Mym,” he quietly uttered as he neared her side.
Swiftly her head turned and her eyes locked on to him.
“Vincent.....?” As she half asked half stated his identity he saw a flicker of
recognition and her old self in her eyes.
He merely nodded in response and as she collapsed to the ground again she
murmured,”I’m sorry. I’m myself again. Just so many damned memories.”
After a moment of silence a groan broke through the quiet and the bridge
shuddered again. As the shudder went on Mym looked up and Vincent slowly edged back
towards the platform where everyone waited.
“The bridge is going to collapse Mym. Take my hand,”he said as he held his hand
out towards her. Slowly she got to her feet and moved towards him, the bridge
shuddering more and more with each step they took. As Vincent neared the platform the
bridge gave one final shudder and suddenly lurched downwards. As it did Mym dove at
Vincent knocking him back onto the platform and leaving herself hanging barely off the
edge of the platform as the bridge spashed into the mako. Hanging there, she heard feet
moving over towards her and saw Vincent and Cloud there to help pull her up, Aeris
hanging in the background, chewing on her lower lip. With their help Mym got up onto
the platform and sat there for a moment, lost in thought until Vincent spoke up.
“Are you allright?”
She nodded once and stood and walked through the group, keeping her face
hidden from them all as she said,”Well we better get going.”
With that she walked out of the reactor, leaving the entire party in shock. It was
silent until Barret mumbled,”Freaky ass ex ShinRa people. Be better off without you
weirdoes.”
Vincent and the others all heard this earning Barret reprimanding glares from
Cloud and a few others as Vincent merely brushed past the man following Mym out.
After a minute the whole group left the reactor, Barret going last. Once they were outside
they stopped where Mym and Vincent were standing and Aeris spoke up.
“So Cloud... What did you find?”
“Nothing,”he replied, with a slight shrug,”Jenova wasn’t there but we all know it
was last in Midgar. We should keep pressing on to the next town. I think it’s called
Rocket Town but I could be mistaken.”
“Right,” Red XIII agreed and so the party set off again, down towards the passage
that would take them out of the Nibel Mountains and to the next town along the way. As
they neared the passage they saw something large blocking the way. Stopping just out of
it’s range of sight they observed it for a minute before Tifa stated with a quiet tone as she
readied her gloves,”It’s a monster.”
