Yay, a chapter not months into the making! Told ya guys it would be done quicker and longer than the others. It also contains the horror and supernatural genre that I was neglecting in the earlier chapters. Enjoy!
The time until the mission passed like a blur for Zack and he soon found himself in the back of a military truck with several infantrymen, Genesis, Angeal, Sephiroth, and Evalia, whom the silver-haired man persuaded Shinra to be able to bring with them, possibly involving threats of dismemberment in the persuasion. Angeal and Sephiroth where sitting quietly in two separate corners of the truck. Sephiroth's corner was so dark that he could only see his face, looking very much annoyed due to Genesis trying to engage him in conversation about Loveless, when the area above the canvas of the truck was bathed in full sunlight. Evalia spent the trip like the two in the corners, but she glared in Zack's direction a few times, most likely still peeved about him bringing his girlfriend to the tower.
He headed over to one of the infantrymen who had his head buried in his hands and whole body tensed up. "Hey Cloud," He began, placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder, "you alright?"
The cadet lifted his head to look up at him, but immediately lowered it back down with a groan as it made his already horrible car sickness become worse. "No. Feel horrible." He mumbled softly.
He patted him on his back, moving the top half of his body forward each time due to the force he used. "Aw, you'll be fine, you little chocobo." Before the blond could object to the nickname, Zack had already walked away from him and began to do squats away from both Sephiroth and Evalia, which both looked like they may start murdering people at any moment.
Zack noticed that Sephiroth had been getting more and more agitated and aggravated the closer they got to Nibelheim, even getting up to pace in the small amount of space he had in the truck when they got close to the outskirts. He just chalked it up to Genesis' continued drawling on about Loveless. His anxiety reached a peak so far when they parked just a bit outside the village, so much so that he hopped out of the truck before the car-sick Cloud, who was eagerly scrambling out of the back as fast as he could. Zack and Evalia exited after them, then Angeal, and finally Genesis. Zack watched as Sephiroth glanced around the village before seeming to relax momentarily as he shrugged to himself.
"Hey Sephiroth," He said in a worried tone, coming up behind him. "You okay?"
The silver-haired man shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Hm, yes. I just could have sworn I've seen this place before, but I have not been stationed here for a mission in all the time I have been in Shinra."
Zack patted him on the shoulder, or at least as close to his shoulder as he could due to the height difference. "You're probably just confusing it with another town you've been to. I know I would."
Sephiroth shook his head lightly at this, but changed the subject so the annoying puppy would stop making him think about this place. "Come. We're off to the inn to rest up, then off to the mako reactor to investigate these monsters Shinra told us about."
Zack was about to continue asking about the subject that Sephiroth wished to avoid, clearly not taking the clue that he did not want to talk about it, but noticed that Cloud still seemed queasy and figured it would be good to give the younger man some time to rest. He shrugged and followed Sephiroth off to the inn with the rest of their party trailing behind.
After resting for the night, they headed off to the reactor with a guide whose name was Tifa. Upon meeting her, Sephiroth gave her a disapproving look due to the skimpy outfit she had on. The whole outfit was cowboy-themed with a short skirt that appeared to barely cover her legs just enough to be out in public in, a sleeveless brown vest over a white button-up shirt, neither of which covered her midriff, and a cowboy hat completed her ensemble. Zack noticed Cloud seemed a little skittish around her throughout the trip and shrugged to himself, thinking it was just due to him not seeing many women dressed like that before.
They soon arrived at the reactor and after looking around the perimeter warily for any monsters, went inside, Sephiroth ordering Cloud to make sure Tifa did not enter due to Shinra's secrets possibly being revealed. After entering the main room in the reactor which contained pods around the size of a human, they fanned out around the room, searching for anything that may have produced the monsters in the dim crimson light supplied by overhead lighting.
Zack climbed the staircase in the middle of the room and examined the door on the far side. "Hey Sephiroth," He called out to the silver-haired man, "this door says Jenova. Do you think it might have something to do with the monsters?" Before he could answer, he tried to pry it open, but without success. "Well, whatever it means, the door's not budging."
Sephiroth jerked his head up from examining one of the pods when he heard the name Zack mentioned. "Jenova..." He trailed off in thought as he walked up to where the spiky-haired man was. "Could it be?"
"Hm? What's up Seph?" Angeal asked from where he was inspecting a rust-colored pipe.
"Jenova is, I mean was, my mother's name." He said as he stared at the letters forming his mother's name placed above the thick steel door.
"Was?" Zack inquired as he turned his head to him. "What happened to her?"
"She died after she gave birth to me; at least that's what the scientists told me." He muttered softly as he placed a hand on the door.
Evalia came up behind the two of them and placed her hand on Sephiroth's shoulder comfortingly. "Allow me to try." After a nod from him before he moved out of the way along with Zack, she placed both of her hands on the door. Suddenly, she plunged her hands into the metal on the sides of the door before ripping it straight from the wall and throwing it across the room, nearly hitting Genesis with the hunk of metal in the process. She ignored him yelling at her as she entered the now-open door with Sephiroth trailing close behind her like a child and Zack warily following a few feet behind them. Angeal went in after Zack and after checking he had no wounds from getting a giant piece of metal thrown at him, Genesis walked in last.
Zack stayed back in the doorway with Genesis and Angeal while Evalia walked across a thick red wire up to what appeared to be a metal statue as Sephiroth still followed behind her. Despite being worried about how odd those two have acted throughout this mission, he kept his distance from them since his instinct was sending him warning signals, though something else in him was telling him to follow them.
Evalia approached the statue and examined it. Her lips curled up into a snarl as she looked at it before grabbing it and violently ripping it straight from the many wires holding it in place. She tossed it into the pit beside the wire she was on and straightened back up before smiling at the sight before her. In front of her was a tube filled with a blue liquid with an alien figure floating inside it. The body, obviously female due to it being completely nude, had skin the same color as the fluid around it, silver hair going down to its shoulder blades, a single glowing purple eye with the other one being hidden by the hair, and a metal plate bolted into its forehead that read 'Jenova'.
She closed her eyes and her body fell to a side to land on a metal ring around the tube.
Sephiroth hurriedly dashed to her side and knelt beside her to see what happened to her. As he was examining her, he noticed movement in the top of his vision. He saw the alien figure moving now, trying to break the glass of the tube around it, and sighed. "Now, now." He said despite it not being able to hear him through the glass as he stood up. "You're going to hurt yourself. Just let me open this thing for you." He strolled over to the control panel attached to the tube and pressed a few buttons on it. After a last button press, the glass making up the tube lowered into the floor, making the liquid it once contained spill everywhere.
The alien being known as Jenova stood up gingerly. She coughed up any liquid that remained in her lungs as she flexed her hands and feet. "Hmm." She hummed to herself as she continued running a self-examination of her body. "It has been quite a while since I have been back in this body. I've almost forgotten what it was like." She said in a slightly raspy, but flowing and somewhat ethereal, voice due to disuse. "Though I must say," She glanced down at the body laying on the floor. "That last host was quite resilient. She even held out past the hair and eye color change."
Sephiroth chuckled lightly as though hearing a joke. "Glad to have your own body back, Mother?" He asked her like a child tending to its wounded parent.
"Yes." She replied. "I did not enjoy leaving it so it could regain its power, but it was necessary nonetheless. Though," She began, pulling a tube out of her head and looking at it in disgust before closing the wound where it was with healing magic. "I do not appreciate what the humans have done with my body in my absence."
"Don't worry, Mother. We'll make them pay for what they've done." He said as he wrapped his arms around her tightly.
She smiled down at him and patted his back. "Yes we will, as soon as I recover from what they did to me and remember how to use my powers again." She moved her hands up to grab the bolts keeping the metal plate on her head and slowly began to unscrew them, wincing at the pain it caused, but not stopping either. She let out a sigh of relief as they finally came out before throwing them and the metal plate away from her and healing her skull and flesh.
Zack was watching this as though it showed that the whole world had gone insane. "Um.. Hey, Angeal," He whispered to his mentor to avoid drawing the attention of the two people on the far side of the room. "I think Sephiroth has finally lost it."
"Indeed." The older man agreed with him. "He released what appears to be an alien, is treating it like his mother, hugged it, and is now talking about destroying all of humanity with it. He has lost all sense of honor and sanity as far as I can tell."
"Oh you and your honor." Genesis whined softly. "Nevermind the fact that he wants to kill everyone, probably starting with us first, but heaven forbid if he does something dishonorable."
Zack held his mentor back from starting a fight with the redhead then and there. "As much as I hate to admit it, Genesis is somewhat right. Sephiroth is talking about destroying humanity, which we are a part of. We have to take him down now if we don't want to die here."
Genesis nodded and Angeal reluctantly did so too after a few moments before all three of them drew their swords and began approaching the two other people quietly.
Jenova was focused on testing out her powers by levitating a loose piece of metal with her magic while Sephiroth watched her like a wide-eyed child. She looked up, dropping the metal in the process, when she heard footsteps approaching them. "Ah, I forgot about you all." She said as she scanned the three armed warriors in front of them. "Too bad I have to kill you all, seeing as how you've grown on me from the times I was with you." She tapped her chin with a finger. "Tell you what, I'll spare you all if you join my side."
"Nonsense." Angeal barked at her. "Joining you to kill friends, relatives, everything, is utterly preposterous and completely against my code of honor." He raised his Buster Sword in defiance. "And I shall use my honor to destroy you, you honorless beast!"
"Do you really think we're that naive?" Genesis asked, leveling his rapier at her head. "I've heard of many villains that pulled that trick right before the protagonist ended up dead. I refuse to be a mere cliche from a book!"
"Killing everyone on the planet...including Aerith...that's what monsters do." Zack said, clutching his chest as he talked. "And it is SOLDIER's job to rid the world of monsters like you!" He yelled as he pointed his sword at the two of them.
Jenova merely laughed at this last stand from the three of them. "Child, come here." She said to Sephiroth. When he obeyed, she placed her hands on his cheeks. "Here is a taste of my power for my chosen son." She whispered gently before she transferred some of her power to him.
He nearly fell to his knees due to the foreign feeling of the massive power flowing into his body. He scrunched his eyes shut as he felt bones in his back reforming to create more places for the power to settle down in evenly. He bit his tongue to keep himself from crying out in pain from a bone ripping through his skin. It was over as soon as it began, though, and when it was done, he felt off balance as he could feel new additions to his back. He opened his eyes and looked back to see a raven-colored angelic wing jutting out from his shoulder blade as well as several tentacles the same color as Jenova's skin coming out of the flesh on either side of his spinal cord. He smirked at his new appendages before drawing Masamune. "I will not let you down, Mother." He vowed.
"Do not kill them." She ordered. "Just hold them off until I get the hang of my powers again."
He nodded then turns his cat-like eyes to the ones who pose as a troublesome threat to him. "You pathetic traitors will pay for standing against Mother." He said menacingly before moving his sword back and slashing at them, creating a blue shock wave from it that headed right towards them.
Genesis and Angeal were used to it due to the time they spent fighting him in the past and hopped out of the way in time. Zack, meanwhile, had to block it due to not being used to giant glowing waves of energy being sent at him.
They landed back beside him when the wave had passed and Angeal glanced up at his former friend. "Sephiroth, come to your senses!" He yelled at him. "We have been your friends since those visits to Shinra when we were little and you're willing to throw all that away for this thing?"
The silver-haired man let out a loud snarl at the label he gave his mother. "She gave you the chance to join us, yet you refused. That is not my problem."
"Hey guys," Zack said, switching his view as he talked to Genesis and Angeal who were on either side of him. "What are we going to do? You two can't take him on by yourselves, we don't know how strong this alien is, and I'm not sure of how much help I'll be here."
"We fight, that's what we're going to do." Angeal said determinedly. "My honor will not allow me to just allow them to do what they want." He turned his head to Genesis as he heard a derisive snort come from the redhead. "Fighting for something other than honor, are we?"
"I am fighting for my Goddess, of course." His comrade replied as he took a few glowing orbs from a pocket and tossed an ice materia to Angeal. "Catch, Puppy." He said before tossing a thunder materia at him and putting a fire one into a slot in his own sword.
Zack put the thunder materia into a slot available on his weapon as Angeal did the same with his ice one. "As for me, I'm fighting for Aerith and all those people that'll die if we don't stop them here."
Sephiroth let out a snort. "I suppose Genesis' flair for the dramatic has leaked out into all of us." He raised his sword with both hands so it was level with his face. "No matter though. Your fates will end up the same regardless." He kicked off the metal ring he was on and slashed at the three of them.
Angeal managed to roll out of the way and Zack held his blade up to block it, but the sword still ended up slicing his cheek.
Genesis, seeing an opening, plunged his sword into Sephiroth's leg, however, he pulled away before it got too deep, so it only made a minor wound.
In return, Sephiroth sliced into the redhead's sword arm, causing him to yelp in pain and drop his sword before beginning to look through his pocket for a potion or cure materia. A second slash by him detached Genesis' pocket of supplies from the rest of his clothing and sent it hurtling into the abyss below them all. A third and final attack had Sephiroth slashing into his stomach, blocked just enough by the victim's arms to prevent any permanent damage from being done, but sent him smashing into a wall, leaving him too badly injured to continue fighting. He managed to pick up his sword with his uninjured arm from where he lay, however, and used the fire materia he had placed in it to send a fireball at Sephiroth's face as he had turned to fight the other two, temporarily blinding him.
While Sephiroth was clutching his face due to the unexpected attack, Angeal used his ice materia to freeze his sword hand and hilt, creating a block of ice that encased the area from his wrist to the end of the hilt.
Zack used the momentary decrease in chance of death to attempt to slash across Sephiroth's chest, but the new tentacles coming from his back appeared to have minds of their own as they wrapped tightly around his arms and refused to release him. He gasped as they tightened their grip enough so he could no longer move his arms no matter how hard he tried.
As Zack was occupied with the tentacles, his attacker recovered from the fireball and snarled as he ripped the ice away from his skin with his free hand. Sephiroth managed to stab through Angeal's shoulder before he could react, pinning him against a wall. He smirked down at his former friend before punching him in the chest using his new power, feeling the ribs he hit break under his might along with hearing a snapping sound as they broke. He pulled his sword back to his side, allowing Angeal to slump to the floor while gingerly hugging his chest, and licked at the two different kinds of blood that now coated his sword.
Just as he was about to turn his attention to Zack, Jenova caught his attention with a cry of glee.
"I remembered how to do what I wanted!" She cried out joyfully.
He chuckled lightly at his Mother's happiness. "Go ahead and do it."
Zack saw her eagerly nod before an odd sensation filled his body. It felt as though his muscles stopped obeying his brain's electrical impulses to move and instead fell limp in the tentacles' grip. He managed to look over to Genesis and Angeal and noticed they were clutching their heads with their teeth clenched as though in agony. After a few moments, their bodies seemed to relax as neutral looks came across their faces despite their wounds.
"Hm..." Jenova mused to herself. "Zack's harder to control compared to the other two since he doesn't have as many of my cells in him. Though," She continued muttering, a wicked look forming in her eyes. "That's an easy fix." A tentacle identical to Sephiroth's formed from her body and wrapped around most of Zack's body, starting at his stomach with the end forcing itself into his lips.
Zack struggled against the tentacle and tried to move his head to either side to dislodge it, but to no avail. He saw a small stream of liquid moving through the tentacle, right towards his mouth. As his struggles reached a peak, the sickly-sweet liquid filled his mouth and he was forced to swallow it or else choke to death. As the liquid flowed down his throat, his struggles grew weaker and weaker until they eventually stopped altogether, at which point the fluid stopped flowing into him. Sephiroth released him from his grip upon seeing this before he went to tend to his former comrades' wounds.
"Since you refused to join Mother when given the chance, you all will only be allowed control over your bodies when we deem it alright." He said while using a cure materia to treat himself before focusing on Genesis and Angeal. "And because of your bad behaviors, you will be forced to kill others until we feel that your behavior is sufficiently good to be given privileges. Now then," He picked his sword back up from where he had lain it down while he was healing his new comrades. "If you'll excuse me, I must go deal with the other fools who accompanied us on this mission." He cackled softly to himself as he left the room while thinking of what he would do to the girl and cadet they had left outside.
"Rise my new soldiers." Jenova commanded from the metal ring where she sat. She smirked as their bodies made them obey the command due to her cells within them manipulating their bodies, probably with their minds yelling at their muscles to work without response. "All of Shinra's best soldiers, now on my side and not-so eagerly following my every order. First I will take Shinra down with the creatures they produced, then I will hunt down that pathetic Ancient that holds the White Materia in her grasp, finally," She grinned, a glint of an ancient, feral pleasure entering her eyes. "I will make the world and its foolish inhabitants bow down to my will."
Depending on how many people want a sequel for this, I may consider writing one.