CHAPTER 9:

JENOVA: DEATH AND REBIRTH

Rufus Shinra watched the spray of green glowing liquid as it surged and roiled around the central peak of the crater. It was beautiful, and to a man who usually appraised beauty with a cold and keen eye, it was beautiful enough that he was actually overwhelmed with awe. But all too soon, the avarice that suffused his soul came crashing in.

"I've found you," he murmured gently, referring to the crater.

The moment was spoiler by that stupid bitch Scarlet's braying laugh. If Heidegger was like a horse, then Scarlet was like a castrated donkey. He knew all too well that she paid for the top cosmetic surgeons to keep her face like that. The woman held onto her looks like a limpet on a rock. "This is incredible," she purred, after she finished laughing, her eyes glittering.

For a moment, Rufus considered luring the woman to the observation deck on a pretence, and then shoving her over the edge. He dismissed it almost as swiftly. For all Scarlet's faults, she was at least competent, more so than Heidegger, and she didn't make as much a pretence of sucking up. Besides, Rufus rarely did that sort of thing himself, not when there were plenty of others who could do it for him.

The technological marvels of the Highwind surrounded Rufus, and crew members busied themselves at the various control panels. He remembered his argument with Cid at Rocket Town. Cid had designed and built the Highwind, partly as a favour to Shinra, though he was allowed to pilot it himself. It was because of his decision to abort the rocket launch that Cid had the Highwind taken away from him. Rufus wondered whether Cid knew that it was Rufus who had cancelled the space program(1)?

That fat bastard Heidegger strutted up. Thankfully, the idiot wasn't laughing. Instead, he exclaimed, "This has to be the Promised Land your father was searching for!"

"But I got here first. Sorry, old man, but no prizes for second place," Rufus sneered quietly.

A soft chuckle emanated from behind them. Rufus knew who was the offending party. "Do you have something to contribute, Hojo? Something meaningful? You are meant to be a scientist, and one of my advisors."

"Advice is freely given, but not always taken," came the distinctive whine of Hojo's voice. "Such is the prerogative of kings." The insolent, hunched-over scientist shuffled forward, Rude following him closely. "And you are a king of the modern age, Rufus."

"Then advise me, don't patronise me," Rufus snapped.

"Very well. That," he said, indicating the view of the crater in front of them, "is NOT the Promised Land. The Promised Land is a legend, an old wives' tale that your father and his lackeys have latched onto. Any decently fertile land, abundant with Mako, could be used to create Neo-Midgar. No…this is where the Reunion begins."

Rufus sneered. "Are you still talking about the Jenova Reunion Theory? The theory you wasted millions of my father's money on to prove? You call it a theory, but I believe it is little more than an unsubstantiated hypothesis. And if there is no Promised Land, what is that?" He indicated the crater and its Mako fountaining around it.

"An old wound. Where the Planet is struggling to heal itself. It may never do so. But it is using Lifestream to try and heal itself, hence the Mako sprays. Rich in Mako and Materia, but no Promised Land. It's a trifle cold place to build a city, in any case, and the heating bills might be too much for any resident."

Before Rufus could retort, a technician manning surveillance equipment shouted, "President Rufus, sir! We've found a number of people approaching the crater. Most of them seem to be wearing black cloaks…"

"You see?!" Hojo yelped triumphantly. "Those are the Sephiroth Copies(2) I made! They're gathering for the Reunion!"

"Shut up," Rufus snapped, before turning back to the technician. "You said most of them. What of the others?"

"A party of eleven people have begun the trek down into the Crater caldera. Eight are the members of AVALANCHE. Two are Shinra operatives Elena of the Turks and Cait Sith. The eleventh is a boy with dark hair."

"That's probably the Potter brat Cait Sith mentioned," Heidegger said with a frown. "One who may be another Ancient."

Rufus nodded. He had read the reports during the journey from Midgar to this area, and he found himself curious. Aerith, after the death of her mother Ifalna, was considered to be the last Ancient. And yet, the boy was here. Aerith had apparently given some story about a goddess telling her that he came from another world the Cetra left for, but Rufus found that preposterous. The boy had probably been in hiding, perhaps at that Forgotten City.

Once they had dealt with Sephiroth, Aerith and the Potter boy would be recaptured. Rufus, however, had no desire to put them under Hojo's aegis again. He needed to find a better scientific mind than that. I mean, trying to get Aerith and that Red XIII creature to breed. That was ludicrous. He needed a decent scientist. Hollander was dead, Gast was dead, Lucrezia Crescent was missing…perhaps Professor Rayleigh(3)? In any case, the Cetra heritage needed to be studied.

And what of the other members of that motley group, excluding, obviously, Cait Sith and Elena? The three core members of AVALANCHE could be tried and executed, the ones who had actually orchestrated the bombings. The Wutai ninja, Yuffie, could be held hostage to extract even more concessions from Lord Godo. However, what of the remaining three? Vincent could potentially be useful intelligence on the earlier days of the Jenova Project, as Hojo seemed reluctant to divulge secrets. Cid was still useful enough as a pilot, if his less salutary habits could be reined in. And Red XIII could also be used as leverage against Bugenhagen, if necessary. The old man had a lot of knowledge. Yes, perhaps it might be more interesting to consult him about the Ancients, if the old fool could get over his scruples.

Rufus looked down at the image of AVALANCHE and its associates. Yes…soon, he would be unopposed, as long as this motley crew stopped Sephiroth…

Harry looked up in awe at the large flying machine passing overhead. He couldn't exactly call it an aeroplane, or a helicopter. It seemed to be a hybrid of both, long and elegant with spinning rotors and a gondola-like control area.

"That's the Highwind, kid," Cid said, with a both proud and melancholy air to his voice. "An airship. I designed her, even had a hand in building her."

"How does it stay up? It doesn't look like anything I ever saw back…in my world." He very nearly said 'home', until he realised, it didn't feel like it any more. As much as he missed a relatively boring life, the Dursleys' house was never his home, and that world had never welcomed him. Here…he felt at home.

"Well, the exact process is a trade secret, but it involves specialised Materia(4). That, along with specialised VTOL engines help it." Cid's face darkened. "And Shinra took it from me, after I aborted the rocket launch. Damn Shera…"

Harry had learned something of Cid's past by now during the journey. Aerith had also told him about Cid's bullying attitude towards Shera while they were traversing the Great Glacier. Harry gave Cid a dirty look. "She wants to help you. And you treat her like dirt. What are you going to do, lock her in a cupboard?"

"You little…" Cid snarled, before he realised what Harry was saying. Aerith had told them about what Harry's life had been like. He could probably see a little of himself in Shera. Eventually, his face softened. "I had to choose between my dreams and her life," he said quietly. "Even now, I don't know whether I made the right choice."

"To save a life, Cid?" Aerith asked, walking over. "It was the right choice. And what IF the oxygen tank exploded?"

"Feh. It'd be worth it, if only I reached space," Cid muttered. But there was something there, some doubt.

"It was Shinra who stopped the program," Aerith pointed out. "The rocket's still ready to go, isn't it?"

"Pretty much. Needs the fuel replenished and a bit of a clean, but…oh, never mind." Cid stomped off, filled with conflicting emotions.

Harry himself was filled with conflicting emotions. Cid was a nice guy to him, if somewhat foul-mouthed, but how could he treat Shera so badly? Still, despite his implication, Cid was better than the Dursleys. His friendly nature was genuine, and his coarseness made it all the more so, as Harry had observed that whenever Petunia and Vernon tried to be friendly to others, it was so polished and glossy, it wasn't funny. Harry wondered if the other residents of Privet Drive saw through it. The only one he even knew much was that old cat lady, Mrs Figg. The Dursleys sometimes fobbed Harry onto her when they needed a babysitter, and she, well, was fine, but there were too many cats.

In retrospect, Harry realised that there was a scrutiny in Mrs Figg that was strange. Like she knew of him, and not just knew him. And there were some incidents here and there that made him wonder who she really was. Maybe she knew who he was. Had Dumbledore a spy in Privet Drive the entire time? If so, either she failed in her duty, or else he disregarded what she said. Either way, Harry wasn't feeling too well-inclined towards Dumbledore at the moment.

Tifa and Elena were gazing around the Crater. The climb up the sides had been long and hard, but now they were here… "This must be where Jenova landed all those years ago," Tifa murmured.

"It is," Aerith said, pointing at the central peak, with the Mako surging around it. "Even now, the Planet struggles to heal the wound." Had she known she would unwittingly echo Hojo, Aerith would have been mortified.

In the distance, they saw fallen figures clad in black cloaks. When Yuffie checked one, her eyes widened, and her mouth stretched into a rather evil grin. "Oh WOW! I've heard of this!" She put a red Materia on her shuriken.

"What was that?" Elena asked, hurrying over to the teenaged kunoichi.

"Neo-Bahamut Summon Materia," Yuffie said with a smile. "I heard Shinra had this in their arsenal. I guess this guy stole it. Finders, keepers."

"That's the property of Shinra, you little brat!" Elena snapped.

"I'm sixteen!" Yuffie retorted. "And I am the designated Materia Acquisition Officer of Wutai."

"Designated by yourself, you mean," Tifa said with a smile. "Just don't forget to use it when we need it." She indicated, in the distance, the small line of black-cloaked figures. "The Sephiroth Fan Club(5) is on their way to their idol, and we don't want to miss his big appearance."

"Doesn't he scare you?" Elena said, as she followed.

Tifa went quiet, even though they kept walking along the rocky ground of the Crater. Eventually, she said, "He terrifies me. Every step closer to him is an effort. Five years ago, he nearly killed me. He murdered my father, my friends, and burned my village to the ground. He's trying to make my oldest friend a puppet. But…" Tifa clenched a fist. "…I will go on. One, if we don't stop him, he will use the Black Materia to call Meteor. Two, he's well overdue some payback for what he did to me and Cloud."

"…I understand." Elena straightened slightly. "Well, if he did mess up Tseng at the Temple, then I want a piece of him too."

"And it was thanks to Sephiroth that Wutai lost," Yuffie said, a little quieter than usual. Tifa knew that this wasn't quite true. Sephiroth, from what she had heard, was one of the factors Shinra had in its favour against Wutai, but he was not the only one.

"Some of us here have been affected by Sephiroth even before he returned," Tifa said. "Cloud and I lost our hometown thanks to him. Yuffie blames him for Wutai's defeat. Vincent saw the love of his life give birth to Sephiroth, and suffer the consequences. Aerith's boyfriend was nearly murdered by Sephiroth, before being killed by Shinra. We're bound to him by threads of fate. I guess that's what Aerith would say."

They made their way through the rocky outcrops, past walls of howling winds, before coming upon a strange scene. Sephiroth, surrounded by the bodies of many black-cloaked people, and staring down the last two, his sword in hand. "This is the end for you," he said quietly. Then, he struck them down, blood spraying as his Masamune flashed.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud yelled, reaching for his sword as they ran up.

"This ends here!" Tifa shouted.

"No," Sephiroth said, his quiet, calm voice reaching them even over the sound of the howling wind. "Not yet. But this body is nearing the end of its usefulness."

"This body?!" Barrett demanded, confused, even as he kept his gun-arm trained on Sephiroth.

"Indeed. This isn't my original body. Rather, it is that of what Hojo calls a Sephiroth Copy, or Clone. Not an actual clone, but someone who has been infused with both Mako and Jenova cells. I was able to transform this one into something like my own body. You should know what it's like, Cloud. You've been through that very process. I know you know the truth, thanks to the Jenova cells in your body. I was planning on breaking you with the truth about Zack, but now that you know…I'm afraid I'll have to find another way for you to amuse me."

"That's enough!" Cloud yelled, before leaping at Sephiroth. His impulsiveness cost him, though, as he was sent flying by a blast of energy, slamming into Tifa. They found themselves sliding over the edge of the rocky path they were on, and dangling over a Mako-filled abyss, hanging on for dear life.

Sephiroth, meanwhile, raised his hands in a gesture that seemed like a perversion of a benediction. Dark clouds seemed to erupt from the black-cloaked figures. "Don't die yet," he sneered. "I want you all to see my triumph. But all the players need to be present."

Suddenly, the dark clouds coalesced right in front of Sephiroth, and something suddenly formed. Something very large, and very ugly.

Harry's eyes widened in recognition, a recognition shared by everyone else present, save perhaps for Elena. It was another Jenova monster! Barrett and Aerith were trying to help Cloud and Tifa up, so it was up to them.

Cid took charge. "Elena, Vincent, Cait Sith, Nanaki, we hit it with everything we have. Yuffie, Harry, hold back and pummel it with Summons."

"You betcha!" Yuffie said with a smile.

The battle that followed was fierce and intense. To her credit, Elena fought very well alongside AVALANCHE, and once Cloud and Tifa were helped up by Barrett and Aerith, they too joined the fray.

Harry managed to summon Alexander first. A gigantic machine, with the appearance of a vast living citadel, emerged. "What is thy bidding?" it asked in a deep, but gentle voice(6).

"Please, stop that thing," Harry said, indicating the Jenova creature.

"It shall know my Judgement," Alexander intoned, before it gazed at it. The Jenova creature was hit by a beam of energy, that caused an explosion that caused the creature to scream. It lashed out, sending the others flying. Only Yuffie, Harry, and Aerith, who had been standing away while using her magic, were left standing.

As the creature approached, Yuffie finally managed to summon Neo-Bahamut. The multi-winged dragon was impressive, and Harry smiled. He had seen a dragon, and what was more, it was on their side. "Who shall I smite?" it bellowed.

"That one there!" Yuffie said, pointing. "The fugly one."

Neo-Bahamut turned, and said nothing more. Instead, light gathered at its mouth, before lancing down at the Jenova creature. It screamed as it began to disintegrate under the force of the Giga-Flare attack.

The scream seemed to tear at Harry, plucking at his mind. And then, he heard a dark chuckle. Now's my chance, came the sound of a familiar voice.

As the light from Neo-Bahamut's attack faded away, the others picked themselves off the ground, or just stared at the molten remains of the Jenova creature. But they soon found something more to stare at, when Harry fell to his knees and screamed in pain, clutching at his head. Green purulent liquid gushed from the scar on his forehead, and rushed over to the remains of the Jenova creature.

A sickly green light seemed to emanate from the mass, before finally, it strobed, forcing everyone to look away, save for Harry, who was still kneeling on the ground, groaning in pain. They blinked away the afterimages seared on their retinas, only to find something new standing there.

It was like a woman, blue-skinned and silvery-haired. Completely naked, tall and elegant, with a thin, beautiful, but cruel face.

It was Cloud who recognised her first, his face twisting into a mask of fury and hatred. "Jenova," he hissed.

"In the flesh, as it were, puppet," Jenova said, her orange eyes glinting cruelly. "I am reborn. And I will not tolerate any obstacles in my path. You will die, puppet…"

CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:

Holy shit, Jenova, or at least the independent Jenova inside Harry, has just regained a body. And Cloud, understandably, isn't too pleased to see her. He recognises her from what she looked like in the tank at Nibelheim, although she lacks the eyeball on her breast and the other accoutrements of that form.

1. This is apparently mentioned in Before Crisis.

2. The term 'clone' is used rather willy-nilly throughout the game. They're just normal people who had Jenova cells and Mako infusion. I've decided to use the two interchangeably, but emphasise copy (as in copying some of the process to make Sephiroth, rather than copying Sephiroth himself).

3. A minor character in Before Crisis.

4. I'm not convinced it's just standard engineering keeping the Highwind aloft. I suspect that Materia is involved somewhere. There is precedent: in the original Final Fantasy, you have to find a key component for an airship that is a sort of floating rock, and in Final Fantasy XII, Magicite is a key component of airships of all kinds. I presume the Materia gives the Highwind a sort of 'neutral buoyancy' against gravity, and the rotors on top can be used to raise or lower it. I'm speculating, of course, and frankly, it doesn't matter.

5. I made up this joke when captioning a screenshot of this sequence on my Steam account. I thought it too good not to include here.

6. When I wrote Alexander's dialogue, I actually had a flash of inspiration: imagine him voiced by Peter Cullen.

CHAPTER 9 SOUNDTRACK:

A Wound in the Planet: The Great Northern Crater (FTG). What else?

Sephiroth Gloats: Those Chosen By The Planet (FTG).

The Final Jenova Beast (or is it?): J-E-N-O-V-A (FTG).

Jenova, Reborn: Premonition, from Final Fantasy VIII, composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Given how I chose Succession of Witches as Jenova's theme in her 'human' form, why not use the boss theme for Edea and other witches, who use the prior theme in-game.