Whisper

A/N: the Final Chapter!

Chaos's breathing was harsh and ragged, that foolish human! He thought angrily and snarled, dragging his claws through the floor. Why did they always resort murder to get their point across? Not the Sephiroth was dead, though it would have been better for him if he had. Chaos was amazed by the endurance of the SOLDIER until he realised that half of his strength was coming from the parasite in his mind. The one Genesis had called Jenova.

He felt a cold chill run down his spine, he'd heard of her kind before, but had never expected to encounter one of them. They were an old race, their only goal to destroy all other life until they were the only species left alive. This Jenova according to the stories was the matriarch of a particular group who had another goal, to eliminate others of their species so that they could rule.

He shuddered and looked down, pulling his claws out from the metal. How much more pain and death would there be? How much more could Sephiroth take before he finally gave up? If the stories his kind had told were correct, she would never let him go until either she or her host died, and although Sephiroth had slaughtered and destroyed the whole town, he was determined to see the parasite die.

He looked back towards Zack and was relieved to see him starting to wake up; it had hurt him more than he cared to admit to see Zack in pain. Maybe he'd finally started to grow attached to these humans.

He flinched as he heard footsteps and turned to face the stairs, meeting Sephiroth's icy gaze briefly before shuffling back and raising his wings protectively in front of Zack.

Sephiroth ignored the display and glared at Cloud, raising his head proudly "how dare you!"

The thick scent of Sephiroth's blood reached Chaos and again he was both amazed and slightly fearful that Sephiroth still had the ability to stand until he saw it. A head was clasped tightly in his right hand and the scent of it made Chaos want to turn tail and run.

"Cloud…finish Sephiroth off"

Chaos looked at Zack in surprise "Zack…" his gaze went back to Cloud who nodded and set the girl he'd been cradling back down on the floor with a tenderness Chaos had rarely seen. "Cloud" he called "would your mother want you to do this?"

Cloud picked up Zack's sword "I have to do this, it's because of her I'm doing this"

"It'll kill me" Chaos said quietly "she'll tear my soul to pieces, if one of you is killed"

Cloud paused then looked up at Sephiroth seeming to see him clearly for the first time; he hesitated then hardened his heart "I'm sorry Chaos"

"Cloud no!"

"Sephiroth!"

Chaos winced as Cloud was easily knocked aside then lay down and curled up into a tight ball. "Goodbye Vincent" he whispered and closed his eyes

Genesis watched as Sephiroth impaled Cloud viciously through his chest and lifted him up into the air, payback he thought grimly and tilted his head. Wincing as his injures throbbed

"Don't test me!" Sephiroth growled and Genesis decided he had to do something. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and aimed with his sword.

Cloud took a firm hold of Masamune and managed to lift Sephiroth into the air.

"Impossible" Sephiroth stared down at Cloud, a flicker of fear in his eyes. Genesis watched carefully waiting for his moment and just when Cloud was bracing himself, he threw his sword.

Sephiroth gasped with surprise as the pommel of the sword stuck his hand and he fell back to floor losing his grip on Jenova's head. Cloud also fell to his knees pulling Masamune out of his chest.

A scream escaped Sephiroth's lips as he watched his Mother's head fall into the Mako and he stiffened gritting his teeth as he felt Jenova's influence leave his mind.

Genesis sighed with relief as he also felt her disappear and smirked "I guess I'm the hero here" he purred and got shakily to his feet, thinking quickly.

Zack, Cloud and Sephiroth were injured badly and by now Shinra would have been alerted and Hojo probably would be first to arrive. Hojo he thought with a snarl he would be happy to find new test subjects.

Moving forward quickly, he picked up his sword and gently nudged Sephiroth "Seph?"

"Genesis"

Genesis relaxed, Sephiroth's voice no longer sounded cold and cruel just weary . "Can you stand?" it was a stupid question since they both knew he was only standing before because of Jenova but he had to ask, it would make things easier if he could.

Sephiroth slowly got to his feet using Masamune as a crutch and lowered his gaze "I…"

"Don't say anything" Genesis said smoothly, lifting Cloud easily and calling "Chaos!"

The demon looked awful and his eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at Sephiroth "are you?"

"Myself again?" Sephiroth finished the question for him and nodded tiredly.

"Good otherwise I wouldn't do this" Chaos leaned forward and rested his hand on Sephiroth's wound; the bleeding slowed and gradually stopped altogether, the very edges of the wound knitting together slightly. Chaos looked up at him apologetically "it's all I can do to help you, Jenova left traces of her control around it so I am limited to what I can do help you" he walked over to Cloud and this time managed to completely seal his wound.

"I understand" Sephiroth said quietly "it's more than I deserve"

Chaos hesitated than rolled his eyes "you humans and your self-pitying, it's just pointless"

Zack could hardly remember how they managed to get out of the town alive, in the end it was all just luck. Lucky that Chaos and Genesis found the strength to fly and lucky that Sephiroth felt recovered enough to go on foot. Even so when they all met up again they were all at their limits end.

Lucky that we found shelter too he reflected and watched the rain fall silently outside the cave splashing onto the rocks and hitting the small flowers that grew there. Flowers…Aerith!

He sat up quickly then slumped back down, he couldn't call her just yet, the others were asleep and waking them now seemed cruel. His Cure worked fine on Genesis and Cloud but failed to have any effect on Chaos or Sephiroth. Chaos had sort of explained it to him earlier on.

"I only felt your pain Zack it was more mental than physical"

"But that doesn't explain why it won't work on Seph"

"Jenova's influence still infects his wound, magic won't work on it"

Trust Chaos to go from complicated to blunt in the space of a few sentences he thought with a grin and rested his head against the wall turning to look back at his friends.

What would they do now? It would be hard to go back to Shinra since they now knew what terrible things had been done in the company's name, but he still felt a trace of loyalty towards it…he would go back for sure, no questions asked. It would be harder to persuade Genesis and Sephiroth but maybe they'd come around in time.

The question that was really pressing on his mind was where they could they go? They needed somewhere to recover even if it was for a short time.

He found his eyes resting on the flowers again Aerith…

Would she let them stay though? If she learnt about what happened maybe she wouldn't want Sephiroth or Genesis to stay and Gaia knew what she'd say about Chaos.

With a sigh he got out his phone and dialled her number, what choice did he have? And anyway he'd buy her another present to make up for it, maybe a bigger flower wagon would suffice.

Please review, i may later write a sequel