(Cloud is lying on a bed on the first floor of the Shinra Mansion. He awakens, and goes down to the library, passing the guard in the bedroom.)
"Sephiroth seems different."
(He continues down the stairs to the library. When he arrives, Sephiroth laughs from offscreen.)
Sephiroth
"Ha, ha, ha..."
(Cloud runs down the hallway of books, to the inner reading room.)
Sephiroth
"Who is it!?"
(Sephiroth is seated at a large desk, surrounded by books. The shelves that line the walls are in several places bare of books, and a couple of the shelves have fallen down.)
Sephiroth
"Hmph... traitor."
Cloud
"Traitor?"
Sephiroth
"You ignorant traitor.
I'll tell you."
(He faces the wall.)
Sephiroth
"This Planet originally
belonged to the Cetra. Cetra was a itinerant race. They would migrate in,
settle the Planet, then move on..."
"At the end of their
harsh, hard journey, they would find the Promised Land and supreme happiness."
(He turns to Cloud.)
Sephiroth
"But, those that disliked
the journey appeared. Those who stopped their migrations built shelters
and elected to lead an easier life."
"They took that which
the Cetra and the planet had made without giving one whit in return!"
(He looks down.)
Sephiroth
"Those are your ancestors."
Cloud
"Sephiroth..."
Sephiroth
"Long ago, disaster
struck this planet."
(He looks up and walks to another spot, facing the wall.)
Sephiroth
"Your ancestors escaped...
They survived because they hid."
"The Planet was saved
by sacrificing the Cetra. After that, your ancestors continued to increase."
(He looks at Cloud.)
Sephiroth
"Now all that's left
of the Cetra is in these reports."
Cloud
"What does that have
to do with you?"
Sephiroth
"Don't you get it?"
(He stands next to Cloud, not facing him, but facing down the hallway.)
Sephiroth
"An Ancient named
Jenova was found in the geological stratum of 2000 years ago."
"The Jenova Project."
(He holds his face.)
Sephiroth
"The Jenova Project
wanted to produce people with the powers of the Ancients..... no, the Cetra."
(He looks up and straightens.)
Sephiroth
"...I am the one that
was produced."
(Cloud turns to face him. Sephiroth does not turn.)
Cloud
"Pr... produced!?"
(The camera is now looking at Cloud and Sephiroth from down the narrow hallway.)
Sephiroth
"Yes."
"Professor Gast, leader
of the Jenova Project and genius scientist, produced me."
(Sephiroth walks down the hallway, then stops and stands motionless at the end.)
Cloud
"How... how did he...?"
(He runs after Sephiroth, then stops.)
Cloud
"Se... Sephiroth?"
Sephiroth
"Out of my way. I'm
going to see my mother."
(He walks, determinedly, out of the library. Cloud follows, out of the
mansion.)
phoenixgenesis@game-developer.com
Continue to Part 4 Scene 44