The ground of the clearing still pulsed, the roots spread out like sleeping snakes, the distant lake now calm, as if nothing had happened. But Vergil wasn't calm.
Lying on his back on the energy-soaked earth, he began to laugh. At first low, almost a whisper, a suppressed laugh that seemed to rise from deep in his throat. But within seconds, the sound exploded.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" His voice echoed throughout the clearing, piercing the trees, rising into the sky, mingling with the sound of the birds that fled in a stampede.
It was a ferocious laugh, charged with something no one there could immediately decipher: relief, insanity, power, or perhaps all at once. Vergil rolled on the ground as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in existence.
Sepphirothy, her long black hair rippling, immediately narrowed her eyes. She said nothing, just watched. Her calm expression hid a glint in her eyes that betrayed her: she had understood something none of the others had.
