Chapter Ten
'Our Lifestream, Our Sacrifice'
"How are you guys doing?" Sephiroth asked into his mouthpiece as he slowed down. He knew where exactly he was, and he knew he was very close to the center, but he didn't want to move in until he heard from the others. He lowered to a crouch in a darker corner of the maze, waiting for reply.
There was a slight pause as he heard the static noise clearing.
"Our backup is here, but we're still fighting against the Emerald Weapon," Tseng informed him. "He's one stubborn asshole, but …we're getting there. Somehow."
"We've got all the four borders covered again, with the dispatched soldiers. Not quite reliable, but it'll do for the time being. Where you at?" Reno asked.
"Pretty close," Sephiroth replied in a low voice. "You guys hang in there, alright?"
"Yeah, you too, man. Catch ya later," Tseng said, then disengaged the connection so the static wouldn't bother the others.
"I didn't know the Emerald Weapon could come out from underwater," Lynx remarked.
"Well, obviously this is an exception. We didn't know the Weapons were going to attack," Seifer replied.
"We're going to have to hurry. Seph, how close are you to the center?" Cloud asked. He was speaking in a low, quiet voice as if trying not to attract any attention to themselves.
Sephiroth glanced around. "Um, close enough. Where are you guys?"
"Not too far away. Are you going to give us the cue later?"
"Yeah, once you're all in place. Seif, Rane, what's your position?" Sephiroth asked.
"We're lagged behind a bit. I'm fine, but Rane, on the other hand …she just threw up before," Seifer informed everyone. "Right now as I speak, I'm dragging her with one hand because she can barely stand."
"Seif! I didn't – I mean, I –"
"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Cloud asked, his voice tinged with concern.
"I'm alright! It's not as bad as it sounds, and Seifer isn't dragging me. I'm walking fine now," Rane protested.
"Are you sure, Rane? Maybe …it's because of this place here, that's why you felt sick," Lynx said.
"I – I don't know. I just felt – nauseated and dizzy before …and ..." Rane trailed off.
"Thank God you weren't behind me, or else I would've killed you if you'd threw up all over my coat," Seifer said.
"Go away, Seif."
"Can you handle yourself now?" Sephiroth asked.
"Yeah, I can. Don't worry, you guys; it's nothing," Rane reassured. "Listen, Sephy, we'll let you know when we get there, okay? Just don't start anything without us."
There was a pause. "I'll hold off for a while and wait for you guys, but I can't do that for long. If I stay in one position for longer than probably five minutes, they'll find me. On the other hand, I'm sure they already know that we're here. So …I'll see what I can do."
"Be careful, dude. I don't wanna get up to the center and find that they've taken another hostage," Seifer warned. "At any cost now, we can't afford for one more of us to get captured."
"Don't worry. I can handle myself," Sephiroth replied with a hint of smile in his voice. "You guys take care. Ciao." He clicked off his communicator, then straightened up from his crouching position. He could already see the ominous-looking green cylindrical glass tanks from where he was standing. But before he could take another step, he glimpsed a glint of reflection, and then the unmistakable swoosh of a sword slicing through the thin air.
"You even so much as blink, your precious little girlfriend will be vaporized," a voice behind him said quietly.
Sephiroth stood still, waiting, lowering his green eyes to the long, thin sword poised in front of him, the sharp edge of it facing him menacingly.
"Let her go. You know you're not getting the sphere from us," he said.
"Is that so?" Kadaj slowly stepped out in front of Sephiroth, his left hand still holding up the sword steadily. He stopped and stared at him. "The Great Sephiroth. How great are you exactly? I want to know. Ironic, huh? I hate your guts, but …I look just like you."
Sephiroth stared back at him. "What do you want?" he asked finally.
"What do I want? I want your bleeding heart in my hands so I can squash it with hatred." Kadaj cast a mean grin. "That's what I want. But …the Master wants the Ultimate Sphere. So I can't do that. Just yet." He took a step forward, bringing the edge of the sword closer to Sephiroth's neckline.
"I told you; you're not getting the sphere from us. You're just wasting time," Sephiroth said calmly.
"Really? You sound pretty sure of yourself. I wouldn't if I were you. Because one thing I know for sure …" Kadaj pressed the edge of the sword against Sephiroth's throat. " …none of you are getting out of here alive. No one escapes the Underworld."
Rynn didn't know how long she had been sitting there, with her knees pulled up to her chest tightly as if to protect herself from any evil in the place. She was trying to calm down, constantly pushing away her fears, so she could think. Think of a way to escape. She stood up, this time examining the inner structure of the glass tank. The glass was thick, about an inch or an inch and a half thick, so it would be impossible for her to try and break the glass with her bare hands. She wished she was superhuman, but she wasn't.
She looked up at the top of the glass tank, and saw tubes running in and out through the metal cap of the tank. Just looking at it made her shudder with fear. She glanced away. No way out there. Then she lowered to a crouch, examining the base of the tank. It was made of metal, but she couldn't see anything that she could pry open or something.
Straightening up, Rynn exhaled in frustration as she pushed back a lock of her hair. It was infuriating. How the hell did they get her in here if she can't even find something that could possible lead to the way out?
There has to be a way out, Rynn thought in exasperation. I can't be stuck in here.
Outside the realm, in the midst of the battle with the Emerald Weapon, the gigantic monster turned red after Rude's umpteenth KOTR attack on him.
"This – he's dying, isn't he? Please tell me he's dying!" Elena cried in anticipation.
"Uh – um, I think so. He doesn't look too good, though, I think –" Reno broke off when the Weapon unleashed a deafening roar and, instead of disappearing or dying, it leapt into the air suddenly, startling everyone.
"What the f*** is happening?" Rude yelled, stumbling backwards, partly from exhaustion, but mostly from getting all pumped up to run away as fast as he could.
"Everybody f**kin' run for your life!" someone screamed. "It's gonna blow!"
"It's not gonna blow! Nobody move!" Tseng shouted at the soldiers, holding up his hand to stop them.
Reno could only stare at the Weapon. As everyone watched in horror, the massive monster cast its laser attack on the Underworld realm, splitting it into two right down the middle, then, with a ferocious roar, hurled itself into the realm.
"No!" Elena screamed as she ran towards the realm, with the borders now ripped apart. "No! He's going to kill them!"
"Elena, don't!" Rude shouted, running after her.
Reno's face was ashen, and he felt dizzy. He couldn't believe this was happening. All their efforts of trying to keep the Weapons from attacking the realm went down the drain just like that.
"Tseng, what – ?" he could barely croak out the words.
Even Tseng, who usually had a knack of finding a way out of messy situations, was stunned. There was despair on his expression, clearly defined. "I don't know, Reno. We've lost connection with them."
"Rane – and all of them – they're still in there," Reno said in a rough voice, his voice cracking.
Tseng turned to the rest of the Turks, the anguish etched in his grave expression. "We did our best, guys. We tried. There's nothing else we can do."
"Say hello to your little friends," Kadaj said to Sephiroth as he forced him towards the center of the realm. It was a huge clearing encircled by six tanks, with a row of panels and machinery in the middle.
To Sephiroth's horror, Rane and Seifer emerged from the south side of the clearing with Loz, whilst Lynx and Cloud appeared from the west side with Yazoo.
"Well, well, well. Talk about a reunion," a vaguely familiar voice smirked at them.
"Hojo," Sephiroth said flatly as his gaze followed to the center of the clearing, where a man slowly rose from his seat behind the row of panels. He wasn't the least bit surprised to see the ex-Shin-Ra scientist.
"Did you say hello to your girlfriend? She's just right there," Hojo said, gesturing at one of the tanks. As Sephiroth followed his gaze, he heard a gasp from one of the girls.
"Oh my God! Rynn!" It sounded like Lynx.
"Let me out of here!" Rynn screamed, slamming her fists against the glass. "Sephy! Don't let them get you!"
Kadaj laughed mirthlessly. "A little too late for that, isn't it, honey? We've already got them. All six of them."
"Let her go," Sephiroth snapped at Hojo harshly.
"Let her go? Dear Sephiroth, do you know what it takes for me to find the Ultimate Sphere? You have no idea," Hojo replied, his voice turning serious. "Now I've got the six of you right in front of me, the six of you who stole the Ultimate Sphere, and you want me to let you go?" He threw his head back and let out a wild cackle that made Lynx and Rane grimace. "Keep on dreaming." Then he turned to his three minions, and smiled at them. "You three have done a great job. I couldn't ask for a better hunter. Not only you found the Ultimate Sphere …but you also brought Sephiroth back."
"You're not getting the Ultimate sphere from us!" Lynx cried. "It's not going to be as easy as you think!"
"Shut up!" Hojo shouted. He walked over and glared at each one of them. "Gast created the sphere, but he's dead. I want it back because the six of you don't have the right to possess this sphere."
"There was no such rule about the sphere," Cloud interrupted calmly. "Anyone is entitled to the possession of this sphere as long as he's powerful enough to withdraw it from the peak of Mount Gaea. That someone was Sephiroth."
Hojo stared stonily at him, then raised a hand showing a remote device. "Enough of this bullshit. I want to get down to work." He shook the device, a little smile playing on his lips. "Once I press this little button, your friend in there will be doused with cyanide gas. Then, our good old Lifestream will fill the tank, slowly dissolving any solid particles in it with the help of cyanide. Sounds good so far? The radioactive material in the sphere that had been initially infused in her body will then be separated, and gathered. The same will be done to the rest of you people. Once I get the leftover substances from each of you, I can have the full sphere again." He signaled to three of his men. "Get them in the tanks."
"No! You're not getting me anywhere!" Rane screamed as Loz grabbed her arm and began dragging her. "You're not –" Before she could finish, an earsplitting explosion shook the entire realm beneath her and threw everyone off guard. She felt herself losing balance as the ground beneath her tilted and quavered violently, and reached out to grab hold of something solid. An earth shattering creaking sound grabbed her attention, and when she glanced over her shoulder, she realized that the ground was splitting into two, and the six glass tanks were cracking and breaking into pieces. She struggled to her feet and attempted to run over the crack in the ground to get to the other side where everyone – Sephiroth, Lynx, Seifer, and Cloud – were helping Rynn out of the broken tank, but she screeched to a halt and gasped when she saw the hole that the split had caused. It seemed to go on forever, and as she stared, horrified, she could see the green glint of Lifestream in the base of the hole.
"Rynn!" Rane screamed. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but what about you? You have to get back on this side!" Rynn shouted back, her eyes wide with panic.
"I'm trying – look out!" Rane cried when she saw Kadaj and Yazoo, angered by the disruption, leaping towards them. Before she could think of finding a way to get across the crack in the ground which was gradually increasing in width, someone grabbed her arm roughly from behind.
"Where do you think you're going?" Hojo snarled at her. "This isn't over yet!"
"Go to hell!" Rane yelled, her voice full of hatred as she yanked her laser blade out, and launched into a furious battle with Hojo in his true form. She cast MBarrier on herself and then attacked him with her limit break, Heartless. He didn't hesitate to attack back, but she counterattacked, and this time, she summoned KOTR and prepared herself for the next attack. His next attack was more powerful than she had expected, and she readied herself to attack with W-Summon, Mime, and KOTR, but before she could do that, she heard a thunderous roar coming from somewhere very close to them, and the next thing she knew, something enormous slammed into the center of the realm, and disappeared into the pit, taking with it half of the ground in the realm center.
At that moment, all battles were disrupted and ceased. Rane grabbed onto one of the machinery as she felt the ground tilting steeper towards the opening, her heart beating furiously.
"Oh God! That was – that was Emerald Weapon!" she heard Lynx cried from the other side. "What – didn't the Turks stop it?"
"Rane!" Rynn shouted as she stretched out an arm over the edge. "Jump over here, I'll grab you!" The tremor in the ground was getting more severe by the second. "Hurry, we don't have time!"
"Rynn, it's eight feet apart! You guys go ahead, I'll find a way out!" Rane told her urgently.
"No!" Rynn hollered. "I'm not leaving you here! Please, just jump! We'll grab you!"
"Come on, Rane! This place is going to crash!" Cloud shouted.
Rane took a deep breath as she looked down at the pit, at the shimmering Lifestream seemingly a thousand miles down, and her heart lurched. Then, without any further thoughts, she released her grip on the machine, started running, and leapt across the eight feet wide gap. Before her fingers could grasp on the loose rocks on the edge of the crack, Rynn and Cloud reached out and grabbed her arms.
"Thank God!" Rynn breathed in relief, her cheeks flushed from panic. She pulled Rane up, then hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Come on, we gotta split!" Seifer shouted. "You okay, dude?"
Rane nodded, catching her breath, her heart thumping so fast, her anxiety levels skyrocketing. She barely even noticed that he had called her 'dude'. "Is everyone alright?" she asked. "Where did those guys go?"
"Hojo fell into the gap when Emerald went smashing into the ground," Cloud filled her in as they started running out. "We defeated Kadaj and Yazoo, but I don't know if they're dead. I didn't see Loz, so I think he fell into the gap too. Either way, it doesn't matter. They're not going to make it alive."
The cracks in the ground were rapidly increasing, stretching out in every different direction like spider webs. A large piece of rock fell and crashed into the gap, sending shock vibrations throughout the whole place. With Sephiroth and Cloud leading them, the others followed loosely, darting from side to side to avoid the falling rocks.
"How the hell are we gonna get out of here?" Lynx cried as they ran.
"We've got to get as far away from the gap as possible," Sephiroth instructed, glancing over his shoulder back at her.
"This whole place is falling apart! There're gaps and holes everywhere you look," Rynn pointed out.
"Here! I found a clear passage that doesn't look as bad. Come on, hurry up!" Seifer called out to them, gesturing wildly. He was standing at the entrance of a pathway a little higher than where the rest of them were standing.
Before they could move one step, a web of blue bolts shot through and split them apart from one another, shocking them.
"What –" Lynx gasped, her eyes wide.
Rane whipped her head around and her heart sank to the bottom when she saw Loz standing behind them, his eyes fiery and filled with rage.
"You're not going anywhere!" he shouted, then without warning, fired two shots at Rane, who was within the closest range, with his Velvet Nightmare. The impact slammed her against the crumbling rocky walls, and half of the rocks on the wall crashed onto the ground.
"Rane!" Rynn shrieked, starting towards her sister
Cloud came running out of one of the tunnels. "No! Rynn, you guys go ahead! I'll deal with this," he shouted, gesturing for them to move on. Rynn was staring at him, uncertain. "Go ahead!" he urged. "I'll take care of this!"
While the rest moved towards the path that led upwards and around the realm to a possible exit, Cloud brandished his sword and faced Loz. He was standing between Loz and Rane, who was struggling to her feet.
"Rane, are you alright?" Cloud shouted, his voice tinged with concern.
"You killed my brothers, now you're going to get killed," Loz snarled. Before Rane could react, he unleashed the powerful Ultima and blasted it at them. The blow only threw Rane off her feet, but as Cloud was within a much closer range, he fell backwards onto the edge of a gap that was rapidly widening, the bottom of it gurgling with Lifestream.
"Cloud!" Rane screamed, her hand reaching out to grab him just as he was slipping off the crumbly rocks. The instant her fingers grazed his arm a jolt, like an electricity shock, triggered up her arm and throughout her entire body. She felt herself starting to fall in a vast speed, and the next thing she knew, she was crashing onto Cloud in a strangely familiar place. Disoriented, Rane clambered to her feet shakily and stumbled back, taking in her surroundings. It seemed as though she was standing in the middle of space – the platform of broken black rock underneath her was the only thing in the vast, black space; there was nothing else. It wasn't until she saw Cloud slowly rising to his feet, that she realized with a deadly thud in her heart what was really happening.
As she watched in stunned, sheer horror, the blond hair gradually transformed into silver, the Mako eyes to two angry slits of emerald green, the blue-edged sword to a long, thin sliver of weapon.
Kadaj. The leader of the silver-haired men.
Not Cloud.
Rane couldn't breathe. Her mind was racing so fast she couldn't stop to think. These spirits can form into anything and anyone you know, and they're powerful …They weren't spirits. They were the silver-haired guys, trying to lure them, trick them; trying to weaken them somehow.
"Enough of thinking." Kadaj smiled furtively as he stepped one leg back and raised his sword slightly. "Now …it's revenge time."
Rane pulled out her sword, her breathing rapidly increasing. "What do you want? You know it's over. You're not getting anything from me," she snapped.
"What do I want? Funny you should ask." Kadaj slowly stepped to his side, his green eyes fiery. "You killed my brothers, you killed the Master, and now you're standing there acting like nothing happened?"
"Your brothers –?" Rane didn't know what he was talking about. Loz had been the one who attacked them; and then, Kadaj, disguised as Cloud, pretended to save her, but …
"You're pretty slow, aren't you? It amazes me that up until now, you still don't understand the true powers that we possess. Because of you, Loz and Yazoo are dead. They were my brothers." They were facing each other, moving in slow circles tentatively.
"I didn't kill your brothers, or Hojo," Rane shouted heatedly, her palms starting to become clammy.
"Oh, you didn't? Well, I guess – then I should be punishing your little friends instead," Kadaj said mockingly.
"No!" Rane burst out, taking a step forward. "No! Leave them alone!"
Kadaj tsk-tsked. "How touching. You're going to sacrifice yourself for the sake of your friends."
"I'm not sacrificing myself for anyone. You're the one who's going to join your brothers!" Rane shot back, then leapt forward and attacked him.
Kadaj wielded his own sword to halt her attacks, and the second their swords clanged against one another, Rane felt that same, electricity shock jolting through her body, and the next thing she knew, they were back where they were, where the fake Loz had attacked them.
"There she is!"
"Rane!"
Rane glanced up and saw her sister and her friends, almost at the top of the path on the other side leading out of the realm. She didn't have the opportunity to say anything to them as Kadaj jumped towards her and slashed his sword at her. The sounds of their swords clashing with one another were drowned by the roaring of Lifestream in the gap next to them. With each slash she felt her strength rapidly draining, but she couldn't give up now.
"Rane, hang in there!" Cloud shouted as he was running back towards them.
"Cloud, be careful!" Lynx cried.
As Rane stumbled back to cure herself quickly, Kadaj summoned Supernova – a summon that only Sephiroth ever used – on her. The impact of Supernova reduced her strength to almost nothing, and before she could even so much as lift a finger, he began charging a massive bolt of green-blue light with his left hand, and, aiming his hand downward into the opening that split the rocky ground, blasted the bolt of energy into the gap.
The blast shook up everyone, literally. The impact of the blast was so powerful that as it hit directly the surface of Lifestream at the base of the gap, the already-cracking earth started to split and crack violently, whilst a massive jet of Lifestream erupted and spurted out through the gap. Rane felt herself losing balance, and this time, there was nothing she could hold on to. Everything happened so quickly; she felt herself falling, her hands grasping the loose rocks on the edge of the gap.
"Let's see how you get yourself out of this mess!" Kadaj shouted, and to everyone's shock, he leapt straight into the gap, into the Lifestream.
"Rane, give me your hand!"
Rane looked up and saw Cloud reaching down towards her with one arm. Just as she was about to tighten her grasp on the rocks to lift one hand up, something tugged at her left foot, yanking her down. She screamed as she felt herself sliding down the steep surface.
"Rane! Grab my hand!"
"I can't!" Rane screamed, the weight on her left foot increasing. "Something is –" She turned her head and forced herself to look down, and to her ultimate terror, she saw Kadaj, still alive and uninjured, hovering just above the surface of the gushing Lifestream, his left hand raised, with a web of bolt-like element shooting out of it, the bolt of which was slowly tugging at her foot, dragging her downwards.
Cloud had somehow reached forward and managed to grasp her fingers. "Rane, come on!" he shouted. "You can do it, just a little bit higher!"
Rane felt as if her left foot was about to be ripped apart. If she fell into the Lifestream, the overwhelming energy in there would definitely kill her. "No, I can't!" she cried, shaking her head. "Cloud, just go! He'll kill us all!"
"No!" Cloud yelled, his Mako eyes burning with mixed emotions. "I'm not leaving you here!"
"Rane, please! Grab his hand!" Rynn was yelling.
Tears gathered in her eyes as she stared up at him, at her friends. She felt a sense of hopelessness; that told her, she knew it was the end.
"Cloud, If you don't go, Rynn and everyone else will die!" she cried, her voice breaking. "You have to go. Do this for me, please! Get them out of here!"
Cloud's grasp on her fingers tightened, and his voice was hoarse when he spoke. "If you fall, I'll jump in with you. I don't care, Rane, I'm not leaving you like this," he uttered, his eyes glistening with tears. "This is not …how we're supposed to end."
"No, it's not," Rane sobbed, feeling her fingers gradually slipping loose. "But –" She didn't finish her sentence. A sudden, hard tug on her left foot ripped her away from Cloud's grasp and the next thing she knew, she was crashing into the gigantic opening.
"Rane!" Cloud yelled. Without any hesitation he dove in after her.
"No!" Lynx and Rynn screamed in unison from where they were standing, being held back by Sephiroth and Seifer.
"No! Rane! Cloud!" Rynn screamed wildly, trying to struggle free from Sephiroth's grasp. "Let me go! I have to get them!"
"You're just going to get yourself killed, Rynn!" Sephiroth shouted. "We have to go! This place is going to blow up!"
Time seemed to slow down. Cloud summoned all his strength into KOTR, and, as he was falling in, he blasted it at Kadaj. Kadaj, weakened and taken aback by Cloud's attack, then fell into the Lifestream.
Scarcely a split second later, Cloud and Rane both tumbled into the gurgling green Lifestream, their hands intertwined, and the second that their bodies hit the energy stream, everything suddenly came to a halt. The realm stopped quivering, the rocks stopped falling apart, and the cracks in the ground stopped splitting and widening up.
Then, once again, everything turned silent as death.