Chapter Twelve: Limit Break
The unknown attacker had flattened the surface level. Only charred rubble remained, burying what was left of the twitching, shorted out, misfiring security system. A few weak monsters pawed, chewed, and picked through the remains, but Shelke knew they couldn't have been responsible for this kind of total destruction. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and stood on end as she surveyed the damage: The earth and grass surrounding the lab grounds were scorched in an almost perfectly circular pattern.
"Rhapsodos…" she murmured, before turning and retreating below ground. He had to be lingering nearby.
Shelke knew only a little of Genesis aside from Deepground's attempt to induct their genetic foundation into their official numbers. The Worldwide Network held sketchy information at best; he was one of ShinRa's loose ends that had never quite been tied up. He'd been declared killed in action on both a cover-up and factual basis, but the latter ultimately had to be rescinded when Deepground tried to take him in. He'd refused. That much was unsurprising to her; Genesis' defection had come as the result of his resentment toward ShinRa for being made into a major subject of the Jenova Project. That had led to his falling out with another, more notorious subject SOLDIER First, Sephiroth.
Clenching her back teeth as she fast-walked back down the Stasis Center hallways, Shelke discerned that Genesis' intentions here couldn't possibly be benign. Here, in the presence of Jenova's storage and Eden, it was entirely possible he was here to exact his revenge to the utmost. Eden wasn't biologically any different from the previous Remants of two years ago; it was that he was more than a mere puppet in spirit. He was the infused not with just any suitable life, but with Sephiroth's own childhood memories. The relationship between the two was similar to the relationship between one's hand and pinky finger. It was something that deeply concerned her, but the fully-grown, complete SOLDIER playing around above ground was more dangerous at the moment.
"Reeve, I think we need to initiate Scatter Protocol," she said flatly, although her bursting entrance told him how gravely serious she was.
Scatter Protocol was an emergency evacuation procedure in which all but a few key defenders of the Stasis System were to flee the lab in different directions. It was meant to reduce casualties in the face of a powerful pursuer, especially one looking for a particularly sensitive specimen. Sadly, this place was nothing but sensitive, hazardous specimens.
"Scatter Protocol?" he questioned, standing at attention. "What in the world did you find out there?" He wanted to believe Shelke was overreacting, but that had never been in her nature. She was exceedingly precise.
"The top floor was leveled by what appeared to be an Apocalypse attack. The ground was still burning," she explained.
"I see…that must mean that Genesis is still alive. I was wondering if he'd eventually turn up. Go ahead and start the evacuation. I need to get in touch with Vincent and the others," Reeve replied.
Shelke left without another word. She was one of the staff charged with staying and defending the place. A small, minuscule, naïve corner of her mind hoped she did wind up meeting the infamous ex-SOLDIER, whether in battle or on more agreeable terms. He was supposed to have been dead from degradation, she'd recently found, but somehow, he'd found a way to reverse it. Maybe he could lead her to a cure for her stunted growth. She'd been spliced with his genes just like everyone else in Deepground and was beginning to suspect her indefinite developmental delay was a condition related to his degradation.
"Scatter Protocol has been enacted…Attention all staff…"
Somewhere in the lab's complex network of hallways, Tifa had managed to get lost, but as she wandered, Yuffie and Vincent caught up with her quickly enough. Carrying Cloud's First Tsurugi on her back slowed her down considerably. The weapon was meant for someone who intended to stand his ground and fight, not one who needed to make a quick get-away. She was relieved to see them, not knowing what the sudden, urgent announcement meant.
Hanging up his phone, Vincent explained, "The lab is under attack. Reeve is taking the children to his escape route…"
Above, the roof trembled. "Who is it?" Tifa asked, looking nervously overhead. "Or…what?"
"Former SOLDIER First Class, Genesis Rhapsodos, someone who believes it's his purpose to destroy Jenova, or so it appears."
Yuffie wrinkled her nose in disgust. That was a name she hadn't heard since childhood. Before he turned against ShinRa, he'd done nothing less than raise Hell in Wutai, right alongside the Demon. "What is it with these SOLDIER guys and their head problems? Haven't they ever heard of retirement?!"
Tifa avoided eye contact with the other two, guilty. She didn't need to have it spelled out for her: Eden was probably what had lured this Genesis person out of hiding. Didn't he understand that it could get so much worse with the kind of havoc he was wreaking? Eden was now at a much greater risk of being exposed to Jenova.
But at the same time, Tifa accepted that this was her mess to clean up, at least in part. "I'm going up. I don't want him to get to Eden."
Vincent started off again, leading Tifa to a rubble obstructed exit. It wasn't completely blocked but climbing out normally would present a small challenge. It might have been easier to use one of the escape routes, but he didn't want her to draw attention to the evacuees. "We'll meet with you later, but…Don't treat this as a fight to the death."
"Yeah, yeah. Just because he's a melodramatic ass doesn't mean he's insane," Yuffie scoffed. She'd lost a good playmate or two in that stupid war, during Genesis' last few ShinRa-loyal attacks.
"I won't get carried away, but if he goes after Eden, I'm not backing down," Tifa tersely agreed.
As she took a step forward, Vincent grabbed her arm with his good hand, stopping her. "Tifa, we don't know enough about him yet. Genesis may be a misunderstood ally."
She looked back at him, doubtful and cockeyed. The roof shook again, this time sending a small spray of dust down on them, and the lights flickered.
"Yup! The kind that blows up and caves in your lab. Vincent, are you sure you haven't been reading those old ShinRa science papers too late at night again?" Yuffie questioned.
Tifa decided that she just needed to get moving, and gently pried her arm out of Vincent's grasp. This was getting too complicated, and there wasn't enough time to figure everything out. Eden and Marlene's safe escape was her first priority. After that, everything would have to sort itself out, whether that meant fighting Genesis to a bloody end, or agreeing to hear what everyone had to say. "He'll have to decide how the fight will go."
Once they'd pushed a few large chunks of rubble out of the way, Tifa was able to worm her way through to the surface. It felt more like emerging from a darkened cave than exiting a man-made, high-security facility. There was nothing left on the ground level to indicate it even existed, only the flattened, smoldering leftovers of wood, stone, and twisted metal that comprised the inconspicuous top level. And it was unexpectedly quiet.
Tifa shielded her eyes as a breeze picked up, blowing a fine mist of dark soot into her face.
"'Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul,'" a voice spoke from the center of the ruins.
A man sat on top of a pile of burnt rubble, regarding the deep purple-colored, rare Banora White apple in his hand with excessive concentration. Tifa drew Cloud's sword, backing away from the mound a few steps, reluctant to approach the eccentric arsonist.
"Who are you?" she demanded, although she already knew. Her voice came out more curious than perturbed. Something about him seemed familiar, as though she may have passed by him at some important juncture in her life years ago, but she brushed the thought aside. This man, his past, and his agenda meant nothing to her, except for his intentions for Eden, if he had any.
"A hero; a prisoner? One and the same in the end, I suppose," Genesis answered wryly. "Perhaps we should be more interested in who you are, no?" Rising from his spot, he casually brushed the charcoal marks from his red leather coat and trotted down from the pile in two bounds.
The long, red, rune-coated rapier he held in his right hand didn't escape Tifa' s attention. He was no doubt the one who'd demolished the surface. But he didn't seem poised to attack; not yet, anyway. In response to his casual carriage, she lowered First Tsurugi, but instinctively gripped the handle tighter. He looked dangerous enough.
"I'm no one special," Tifa replied, feeling rather awkward and out of the loop. Everyone else seemed to have a small clue or two about him, but here she was, taking it upon herself to deal with him. "I don't know you. Why are you here? Why did you do this?"
"It seems you know nothing. Allow me to assist. Tifa Lockhart, you are the unwitting guardian of a perfect monster. A monster who hides behind a veil of false youthful innocence. I have come to free Gaia of her monsters, and the Goddess will know freedom! 'Wings of light and dark spread afar, She guides us to bliss, Her gift everlasting,'" Genesis raised one hand as he spoke, an almost mirthful look on his face.
Tifa swallowed hard and narrowed her eyes as he ranted. This man was patented lunatic, and he was pissing her off. What kind of person more or less carried out a single-handed terrorist attack on a sensitive locale like the lab, and then hardly bothered giving an explanation for it but to quote famous poetry and speak in frilly, vague terms? "Monsters? What are you talking about? Jenova?"
"Jenova is a mere memory, but every monster has a legacy. Within your precious Garden of Eden grows a corrupted Tree of Life, he who would take upon himself the very wings of the Goddess." Genesis seemed to grow embittered; infuriated as he spoke, and then paused before continuing, "This world…it will find its salvation, but it has fallen to you to decide whether it is through an all-consuming destruction, or the 'gift everlasting'."
Tifa gasped the moment Genesis spoke Eden's name. She still didn't really understand what he was trying to say. He might be claiming to fight for the Planet, she gathered, but how could the hurt or slaughter of a child ever rightfully be a part of that? "I won't let you near him," she warned.
Genesis paced in longer strides, a disappointed smirk forming on his face. "You and I should have been allies, but I am not surprised. You are, after all, Sephiroth's chosen, the heart of the mother he so desired. 'Pride is lost…'"
Tifa raised her sword again, as Genesis ran his red-gloved hand along the length of his rapier, igniting the runes in an efflorescent glow. "But Eden is going into stasis. Shouldn't we talk about this?" she tried to sway him, albeit at the last minute.
"Two thousand years ago, the Ancients likewise confined Jenova. Whatever hopeful ideas you have about whom or what Eden is or could be, forget them. He's a monster. 'Wings stripped away…'"
"No! He's not…he's become like a son to me…" Tifa trailed off, quickly seeing that Genesis' mind was made up.
A huge, black wing burst from his left shoulder, and Tifa wanted nothing more than to run once she saw it. "Indeed. '…the end is nigh!'"
Whatever Genesis was, it was something in the same vein as Sephiroth. He was a ranting, raving megalomaniac sporting one wing. Worse, if he was once in SOLDIER as Vincent had said, he was probably way out of her league. But if she didn't stand and fight, he'd go straight for Eden.
Questions about Genesis' true intentions for the Planet would have to be looked into later. In that instant, Tifa was too preoccupied by said megalomaniac's dive in her direction. She had to resist the instinct to duck or cringe, instead swinging First Tsurugi out to meet his rapier in a painful clash. The ground beneath her feet caved inward slightly from the force of his initial attack.
Her wrists ached, painfully protesting the harsh reverberation of their crossed swords, and her wobbly knees were all but begging to buckle beneath her. Tifa was a good fighter; some had even called her talented and exceptional. Yet, no amount of talent and fighting sense ever seemed to win out in an unfair fight against the genetically modified. For that, strength in numbers or the added help of heavy weaponry always came in handy. Gaia, five years ago, they'd all barely crawled their way back to the Highwind after fighting Sephiroth in that damned crater!
This man's power was far too reminiscent of his; even the smallest maneuver was a mighty blow intended to crush and kill. Tifa hopped back, trying to put distance between herself and Genesis. She had no hopes of victory at this point. She merely wanted to delay him long enough that Eden and the others could get away.
But he landed right in front of her again, this time making softer, faster cuts at her upper torso. Tifa thought he might be testing her, possibly toying with her to see how fast she could react to him. Maybe she'd even caught him off guard by withstanding his first strike? Biting the inside of her lip, Tifa fended him off as much as she could, parrying most of his swift blows. It was hard to ignore the little cuts on her arms and sides that had formed from the ones she couldn't quite stave off, though. They stung and bled out slowly, reminding her of how this battle was probably going to end.
Behind her, and out in the distance ahead, Tifa finally noticed small dust trails starting to rise in the air, speeding further away. The evacuees had reached the ends of their escape routes and were moving out. Each group would take different, convoluted paths, and rendezvous in Kalm at the end of the day. She only had to keep Genesis busy until those trails disappeared-only a few more minutes.
"'My soul…'"Genesis began to pronounce, lifting off from the scorched ground.
Fearful of what the man's next attack might bring, Tifa began to make a run for her own escape, but quickly found that Genesis' spell had imprisoned her in a rune-covered perimeter.
"'…corrupted by vengeance,
Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey
In my own salvation…'"
Tifa crouched down, assuming the most defensive, frightened stance she could manage. The illusion of an unnatural, bruised, dark, and stormy sky played out over the space of the runic emblem in which he'd entrapped her. With a raised hand, he called down rapid-firing bolts of lightning from those clouds, illuminating the emblem until she could feel it burning.
"Ahhh…!" Tifa recoiled at the foreign sound of her voice, overflowing with immeasurable pain.
"'…And your eternal slumber.'" Genesis finished his death sentence, pouring out the full wrath of his Apocalypse on the human figure below.
He took no joy in it; did not try to prolong it as he'd done in the past to true foes. In a way, Genesis pitied Tifa. This woman truly could have been an invaluable ally to him. But she was like a rabid animal-something good and natural that had been tainted with a virus and needed to be put down for her own good. As Sephiroth had manipulated her maternal compassion, he'd bent it to his will, using it to move and twist her as he pleased. The only solution left now was to end her, quickly.
She lay flat on her face, every nerve fried but firing, twitching and agonizing. Phantom burns cried out from unmarred patches of skin, while smoke still rose from the actual wounds. Under her throbbing limbs and trembling body, the earth had cracked slightly open from the force of the attack.
Yet, Tifa's heart was racing. She had no strength left in her; she was so beaten and broken that it hurt to move in the slightest. But the aquamarine shimmer of spirit energy that surrounded her signaled that her resolve hadn't died. Intermingling with it, a dark haze misted up from the newly formed fissures in the ground. She felt like someone was pulling her, quite forcefully, to her feet. Everywhere she'd been burned felt suddenly icy cold, caressed and healed by the rising darkness.
Before she could consider why her hands were reaching for her sword without her will or permission, she was jolted outside of herself.
The battlefield and her miraculously recovering body stood yards in front of her, prepared to resume without her. Then, a strong, gentle hand touched her shoulder, startling her.
"Tifa, don't watch it," Cloud's voice spoke.
She turned on one heel when she heard him, looking around desperately, but saw no one. The atmosphere had taken on a foggy, ethereal feeling, and something about the light was off. "Cloud…?" she called, hoping above hope she wasn't merely hallucinating again.
"He'll try to wear you down, until you think it's what you're supposed to do. I know…it's tempting to give in," his voice came again, right behind her, but there was no physical presence.
"You mean…Sephiroth, don't you?" Tifa asked, unsure of what was happening to her.
"Yeah. Tifa, I'm sorry I left you with this."
"No, you didn't do anything wrong, Cloud."
Unbearable silence answered her this time. Tifa shivered, feeling as though someone had just dipped her incorporeal form in ice water. Longer, leaner fingers ghosted along the back of her neck, and down through the length of her hair, intimate and uninvited. It wasn't Cloud.
Cloud had been torn away without warning, replaced by this imposing, fixated, chilly specter. Tifa held her breath, hugging herself. "Do not fear, Tifa. I am with you now," Sephiroth's breath wafted into her ear, cool and nonthreatening, bordering on caring and benevolent, but still carrying the malicious essence of its owner.
She refused to answer; only a cold tear trailing down her cheek replied. The battle continued only feet away from her now. Her body fought, soaring through the air after Genesis, attacking him with a power and technique neither her own nor Cloud's. Tifa was transfixed; she couldn't bring herself to heed Cloud's warning not to watch it. She needed to see this. She needed to.
Genesis, the man who'd only moments ago been prepared to take her down in two or three moves, was back-tracking and dodging wildly as her physical body pursued. He couldn't keep up when he was forced to land, back-flipping only to find her on him again, bearing down with another vicious slash. A full-powered shove sent her body skidding back on its feet, and he prepared to reclaim the offensive.
Tifa hardly blinked, and her body had countered his attempt to overcome her. She was throttling him with several precision cuts, eight in all. Genesis stumbled, bleeding and struggling to regain his bearings, while she vaulted up into the air again, holding First Tsurugi in front of her, pointing it downward at his back. Her body lingered there in suspended animation, until Genesis stopped in his tracks, panting for air, grunting for the multiple stab wounds leaking all over his body. Then, gracefully, she descended upon him, sinking the blade in through his coat, biting down through his flesh, and exiting through his chest, dripping in gore.
There was no emotion on her physical self's face; it was just an empty shell taking orders from the one who'd possessed it. The body stared forward blankly as it retracted Cloud's sword from its victim's corpse, and both collapsed on the blood-stained ground.
Tifa squirmed and cried out, sensing that she was being drawn back into her body. She didn't want to feel like this again, like the killer she'd been when she'd played the part of an eco-terrorist with AVALANCHE. She didn't want to rejoin with the physical part of her that had been manipulated into taking yet another human life.
"Cloud? Cloud?!" she called out for him, searching the hazy realm frantically, but it was coated in a thick, dark mist, and there was no one. No one could save her from this.
She'd have done anything for someone to tell her that this wasn't her fault, but she couldn't shake the dreadful, pointed feeling that she'd just made a horrific mistake. Genesis was aggressive, but she could have kept him talking a little longer, if only she hadn't come up with such a defensive, fighting mindset. If only she'd been just a bit more patient, a little more willing to hear out his cryptic words, and had questioned him politely, maybe it wouldn't have ended like this.
Sephiroth obviously wanted him out of the picture; his spirit had intervened extensively in that battle, using her mediocre, human body as his medium. That alone probably meant that Genesis was someone they'd regret not having around, dead as he was now. Why, oh why, hadn't she listened to what he'd said about being allies? About protecting Gaia? Why hadn't that given her even the slightest pause; the tiniest clue that he wasn't a real enemy?
Tifa blinked, finding her back nestled snugly against the grainy, ashen ground, staring up at a partly cloudy, pink sky. That shouldn't be right, should it? It had been mid-morning when she'd climbed out of the lab. The sun had been nearly overhead then, but it was beginning to set now, receding into the western horizon as she craned her aching neck to see it.
She'd only witnessed brief fragments of the real fight, apparently. While she'd been ousted from her body, a whole day had transpired and passed, doing battle in the hands of another.
Accepting that, the next thing Tifa noticed was the slimy, damp feeling above the gloved portion of her wrists. When she'd cut into Genesis, the impact of the huge blade had coated her arms and chest in blood, splattering some of it on her face as well. First Tsurugi was still loosely set in her left hand, dripping crimson fluid. Tifa heaved in a shaky, sickened breath.
She was excruciatingly sore, but she couldn't feel any of the cuts or burns she'd received from Genesis. Tifa didn't want to move from where she lay, as gory and unsanitary as it was. The list of potential sins she'd just committed were stacking higher and higher in her mind's eye.
She'd failed to listen to Cloud the one time he'd finally been able to reach her. If she had listened, he probably would have provided her with a much-need mental and emotional reprieve, she knew. Everything could have been so much clearer. She'd allowed her body and Cloud's weapons to be used by their mutual nemesis, dishonoring herself and desecrating the swords. She'd fought and brutally killed the man who might have been Gaia's last major defense.
Where did all of that leave her? What was she supposed to do now? Could she possibly hope to fix any of those wrongs? No one was there to see her; no children were present to be worried or scared, so Tifa cried. She let herself go, wailing and screaming, rubbing dirt on her arms and face to scrape the blood away, but digging into her skin and drawing more of her own to add to the mess. If someone had witnessed her from afar, they might have mistaken her for a wild beast, tearing into its prey.
The world was rotting from the inside out. She was still charged with caring for Sephiroth's child Remnant, a morbid task that even now, she didn't feel right forsaking. There were no able fighters strong enough left to counter him if he returned. So, why did Sephiroth seem so damn adamant about breaking her mind and spirit? What would it prove? As he took the world as his own, who would even be left to be awed or terrified by it? Tifa wondered why he didn't simply do whatever it was he had planned. Nothing could stop him now. Nothing.
What did he want from her?