Chapter 14

Sephiroth crossed his arms and glared at the cellar floor. He'd just found his mother and now she was gone again! Really, did she hate him that much? "She might be mad at us," Loz said.

Sephiroth shook his head; there was no way his mother was mad at him. "She doesn't seem angry..." he mumbled. But he wasn't used to seeing her in human form; maybe that's why he couldn't tell. "But what if she is?" he asked. A wave of worry washed over him as he thought about the nights of endless headaches he'd be put through if she really was angry with him.

"We should make her a pizza," Loz suggested. Sephiroth rolled his eyes; Loz was just hungry.

"She doesn't like pizza," Sephiroth sighed.

"She's never had it! How do we know if she don't like it if she's never had it?" Loz questioned.

"Doesn't. How do we know if she doesn't like it," Sephiroth corrected.

"Don't you correct me! I said it like that on purpose," Loz snapped. Sephiroth shook his head. He was not going to fight with Loz today. Right now, Mother was in danger fighting huge monsters, and he needed to help her.

"Stay here Loz. I'm going to find mother," he commanded.

"You can't tell me what to do! I want to come to," Loz protested.

"And what about Yazoo and Kadaj? Who will watch them?" Sephiroth asked, "They can't watch themselves."

"Why do you always get to find Mommy?" Loz asked. He dipped his head and crossed his arms, "It's not fair," he whined. Sephiroth rolled his eyes at the boy. This was not a time for crying!

"Shut up, Loz." Sephiroth sat down and started to think. Maybe he could wait for Loz to fall asleep and sneak out. He could hurry and find mother like he did before and rescue her. Then again, she was fighting a WEAPON. He remembered seeing them when he had manifested in the Northern Crater. They were large and without a doubt, strong. He couldn't save her. Not in this small body.

"You know, I like our house. I never had a house before, but that's okay," Loz said suddenly.

"This is an apartment, Loz," Sephiroth said. "And I've never had a house either." Sephiroth's head ached as soon as he thought about his past. He couldn't remember most of it and whenever he tried to dig through his memory, he started to get a headache. He didn't like headaches; they just reminded him of all the times he had failed his mother. 'She isn't your mother...'

Sephiroth jumped. It was Mothers' voice, the one he'd heard before. She sounded nothing like the mother he was worrying over now, "Mother?" he gulped and closed his eyes.

'My son, she is not your mother. She fights with the humans and has forgotten about you.'

Sephiroth shook his head; his mother did not forget him. She was fighting those monsters to keep him safe. She was only working with Cloud because she couldn't fight the monsters by herself. Once they were done, she was going to take them all and live somewhere far away where Cloud couldn't get to them.

'How do you know she won't just let you die again?'

Fear rippled through him as he thought of all three times he had died. He didn't want to die again; it would hurt too much. "Hey, Sephiroth! What's wrong?" Loz shook him roughly, "Are you hearing voices again?"

"No..." Sephiroth lied, but Loz wasn't convinced. He'd known Sephiroth for a few months and he knew when that woman was speaking to his older brother.

"She's not our mother Sephiroth; we found our mom," Loz said.

Sephiroth nodded. He knew that this voice was the alien Jenova's lingering thoughts and nothing more. His mother was the teenage girl outside who was fighting with Cloud.

'No!' the alien screeched in his ears and he fell down. She was doing it to him again. It felt as if someone was hitting him with a sledge hammer in the head constantly. He covered his ears as if that would make the screeching stop, but that only made it louder.

"Please! Stop!" he cried. He felt Loz take his shoulders and shake him.

"Leave my brother alone!" the younger boy screamed.

Sephiroth bit his lip and rolled away from his little brother; he didn't know how much longer he was going be in pain, but he did know that when his mother came home, she was going to make sure that the alien Jenova would leave them alone.

0.o.0.o.0

Jenova frowned as she found herself standing in darkness again. She was supposed to be watching Minerva while she attempted to talk with Brianna but no, she had to be sucked into darkness at the last minute.

When she came too, she was back in her mind. This time, she was alone. Her only thought was, "Oh shit," and that was seriously the only thing that she could think.

"Give it back!" a voice screamed. Jenova flinched and looked around. She was sure Bri was here somewhere, but she still couldn't see her.

"No way," she answered. The dying spirit of Brianna manifested in front of her and she stepped back. "Gross." She wrinkled her nose at the sight of the girl. She was skin and bone. Her very being seemed to be fading away. Jenova curled her hands into fists and narrowed her eyes. She was waiting for some sort of attack.

"Please! Give it back to me," Brianna shouted. It didn't sound like she was begging. More like she was demanding it. "I want to see Gary again! I want to see my mom!" Brianna cried out and stepped forward. Jenova felt a small pang of guilt for the girl. But that was instantly overshadowed by fierce jealousy. She wanted a family to go home to. She wanted a mom, a dad, and maybe even some little brothers, too.

"What if I took away your body? What would you do?" Brianna asked.

"Find another one. I've had several hosts, you know," she shrugged.

A familiar presence was felt and Jenova shuddered. "Minerva?" she called out.

"I'm almost there," her voice called back. Jenova looked around for any sign of Minerva, but she found none. A few seconds later, her image dimly flickered into existence. "I made it!" she said triumphantly, "But how did you get here before me?"

"I don't know," Jenova shrugged. "This stuff just happens."

Minerva nodded and turned to Brianna. Her eyes went soft and she looked down. "Oh my," she whispered. "Your soul is dying."

"Yes," Brianna answered. "Because of her." Brianna raised a skinny arm to Jenova. "She did this."

"I know," Minerva said sadly. "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes." Brianna nodded. "I've seen you in our books at church." Minerva nodded; she knew the representations of her were different everywhere, but she could tell that Brianna could feel who she was.

"I can help you," she said. "But you have to stop this."

"I can't; I want my body back!" Brianna roared angrily.

"But I could never allow you to have it back if you continue to kill so many," Minerva countered.

"I've killed no one," Brianna said.

"But you have; you commanded the weapons, a task that is usually left to me, to find Jenova and kill her. In their wake, they've killed several people," Minerva argued. Brianna frowned and she looked to Jenova.

"I can't make them stop unless I get my body back," she said.

"And what happens if her soul dies before that?" Jenova asked.

"Then I guess this would end," Minerva said thoughtfully. "But I don't want her soul to die."

Jenova rolled her eyes; of course not! Minerva still cared for the people of the Planet. "Then what are you going to do?" Jenova asked.

"I don't know." Minerva shrugged. "But Brianna, if you don't stop this, I'll have to put a stop to it myself." Jenova shuddered at the tone of Minerva's voice. It was cold and unforgiving, "Let's go, Jenova."

0.o.0.o.0

When she returned to the real world she found herself to be in deep trouble. She was standing, holding Minerva while a beam of fire came hurtling her way. "Shit!" she jumped out of the way and tumbled to the ground. "Minerva?" She shook her friend as she stared up at the Weapon. "We made it angry."

Minerva opened her eyes and looked up at the giant red monster, "I was hoping that we wouldn't have to fight. I wanted to send her to the life stream," Minerva said. "Why wouldn't she go?"

"She doesn't want to die," Jenova shrugged. "Don't you understand? She's too scared to let go."

Minerva was silent as she sat up and dusted her shoulders. "No, I really don't. I've never been close to dying." She sighed. "But that's no excuse for what she's doing. I have to do my job. I need to help her get into the life stream."

"But you can't do that as a human," Jenova reminded her. She stood slowly and began to walk behind Ruby Weapon; she wanted to be out of its sights. Minerva followed quickly and looked up at its back. "Why are we alone? Where's Cloud?" she asked.

"He's on his way!" Jenova jumped at the voice and turned around. "Don't look so scared; it's just me!"

"Shut up Zack!" Jenova snapped. "I wasn't scared."

"Enough talking. I want you two to stay back there with Aerith; she'll tell you what to do." Zack pointed back to a set of jagged rocks where Aerith was standing. Jenova swallowed and walked towards them. She was a little nervous to be talking to Aerith, especially knowing the role she'd had in the girl's death. And now… Aerith was stronger than her and could get revenge…

"Hurry up; we need to get out of sight," Minerva said. She grabbed her hand and sped towards the rocks.

"Hello." Aerith waved to them and smiled sweetly. Jenova narrowed her eyes and waved back slowly. "Don't look so scared; I'm not going to bite your head off."

"I'm not scared," she said. "Just a little nervous."

"I understand; Ruby Weapon isn't a joke." Aerith nodded. Jenova nodded back, though she had a feeling Aerith knew what she was really nervous about. "Now, Zack doesn't want me to fight right now. Usually, I would object, but not this time."

"Why not?" Jenova asked.

"Because, someone needs to make sure you two do your job," Aerith said. "And who better than me?"

"Minerva?" Jenova suggested.

"She has kept you on a tight leash, hasn't she?" Aerith giggled. "But that's not the point." Jenova crouched down and glared up at Aerith. "Zack believes that I'm the only one who can teach you to use materia."

"We know how to use materia," Minerva said. "We just don't have any."

"And I can fix that." Aerith held out her hands. "Here; you'll need these." Jenova took one of the orbs in her hand and examined it.

"What is it?" she asked

"Cloud doesn't want to trust you with materia, but we came to the agreement that you can have Restore," Aerith said. "He wants you to heal them during the fight."

"Aw, really? That's it?" Jenova asked. "Can't we freeze it?" That usually worked with fire based enemies. You could freeze them or something and the battle would be over like that!

"No, Ruby Weapon absorbs Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth; it's also immune to Water and Gravity," Minerva explained. "If I remember correctly, the most they can do is paralyze it with Dazers and attack. But if they bring their own materia, they could do more damage. I don't know what they have with them, so I can't really tell them a strategy."

"Right, so we sit back and heal them?" Jenova glanced towards the monster. "Sounds simple."

"Don't relax too much. Ruby Weapon will aim a few attacks at you. It's better if you stay on guard the entire time," Aerith warned. Jenova stood up straight and nodded. "And don't be so afraid of me, I'm not that mad at you."

"Huh?" Jenova blinked. "Why not?"

"Because, unlike somebody, Aerith doesn't hold grudges," Minerva mumbled. Jenova glared at the blonde girl; she knew what she was referring to.

"Shut up," she snapped. "That's totally different."

"How?" Minerva asked.

Jenova remained silent; their situations were only slightly the same. Both of their lives had been ruined, but Aerith had been murdered while she got to live. "Shut up," she mumbled.

Aerith chuckled. "You two are so different when you're human," she observed. "I remember when you barely smiled at all, Minerva."

"She barely smiles now," Jenova said. "She just tells people what to do and tricks them into signing contracts."'

"I didn't trick you! You signed it yourself," Minerva protested. "You just didn't read what you were signing." Jenova rolled her eyes, but Minerva had a point. At the time, she had been desperate for survival and was ready to do anything.

"So what? You should have waited until I was in the right state of mind before you forced your contract on me," she said.

"You wouldn't have signed it if you knew what it said," Minerva shrugged.

"I still don't know what it says…" Jenova mumbled. "Am I ever going to get to read it?"

"I suppose so," Minerva agreed. "Maybe when we get back to the apartment."

"Really?" Jenova found herself getting far too excited than was actually necessary. "Just like that? You'll let me read it?"

"Well, you've already signed it and you can't destroy it," Minerva pointed out. "So why not?"

"Alright, after we put the boys to sleep you'll let me read it," she decided.

"Why after?" Aerith asked.

"Because Sephiroth will ask too many questions. He'll want to know why I would sign a contract with someone who was my enemy. He'll want to know why I didn't just run away when I had the chance and all that gumbo."

"Gumbo?" Aerith repeated. "That's like soup."

"Yeah, I think I tasted it once before," Jenova said. "But I don't know where. It was a long time ago."

She heard a shout from behind her and she looked back towards the battle. Cloud and Zack had Ruby Weapon's attention, but they didn't seem to be doing very well. They were being shot at with several blasts of concentrated heat, and it was obviously taking its toll on them.

"At least it isn't using Whirlsand," Minerva said. "I bet that would shoot them so far away that whoever was left wouldn't have a chance."

"It can't; there's no sand," Jenova observed. "Just rock."

"Which is good I suppose," Minerva said. "I think we should heal them now." Jenova nodded and pressed the Restore materia into her arm.

"How… does that feel?" Aerith asked, "Does it hurt?"

"Hm?" Jenova looked up at her. She mentally noted that Aerith was three inches taller then her; maybe it was her shoes, but either way, she didn't like having to look up to her. "It doesn't hurt at all. It's a little strange, but that's it."

"So it goes into your bone?" She asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "I've never really thought much about it."

"Can you take it out?" Aerith asked, "Or is it stuck?"

"Yeah, I can." She pulled the green orb out of her arm and watched as Aerith's eyes widened in curiosity.

"Kadaj and the other…children could do it too," she said. She cast a spell towards Zack and Cloud. "But I never really asked them about it."

"Why not? Kadaj looked happy enough when you helped him into the life stream," Jenova said. "I'm sure he would have told you."

"No." Aerith shook her head. "He thought I was you; he only let himself be absorbed because he thought he could be with you." She smiled sadly. "He was also angry that I hadn't saved his brothers as well."

"So how did he return as a baby?" Jenova asked, "If he was already in the life stream… How did he get into my head? I don't understand."

"What don't you understand?" Minerva asked.

"Sephiroth said he was in my head with the remnants," she explained. "He said they heard me screaming earlier today and he'd come to help me. But how? How could they have been in my head?"

"I don't know. The reason Sephiroth was able to come back before was because of the hate in Cloud's memories. Once Cloud let himself forget, Sephiroth began to disappear…" Aerith said. "But when you found another body, you started thinking of him. I think the only way they were able to come back was because you thought of them."

"Yeah, but only a little," Jenova mumbled. "I really didn't want them to come here."

"But why? Now you aren't alone," Aerith said. "It's hard to be alone..." she added softly. Jenova turned away guiltily. She was alone because she had killed the rest of the Cetra. Sure, all of her loneliness wasn't her fault but… most of it was.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Huh?" Minerva gasped. "What was that?"

"You heard me!" she snapped. "And I won't repeat myself." She felt her face heating up, "I never thought I'd see anyone directly affected by what I did," she admitted.

"Was the urge for revenge really that great?" Aerith asked. "Did you really have to kill so much?"

"Yes!" she replied, and the fierceness of it shocked her. "I don't understand why I needed to, but I did and I wouldn't stop until they were all gone." She felt herself getting angry. "I wanted her to regret what she caused…"

"But I did! Even before you came, I regretted it," Minerva said.

"Then why didn't you warn me?" Jenova curled her fists angrily. "Why did you let me go there? Why didn't you help me? You claim that I was your friend, but you let me go to that place…" Her knees wobbled and she felt she was about to fall. She leaned back against the rock and felt her anger melt into sadness. "At one point, I believed that you were just like the rest of them. You only pretended to be my friend and you went off and made fun of me with everyone else…" she breathed.

"But I didn't," Minerva said. "You were my friend, Jenova. My best friend."

"But you lied," she reminded her bitterly. "Like everyone else."

"I was…" Minerva stopped. "I can't make excuses for what I did. I know I was wrong. But I've been trying to make it right."

"I know," Jenova whispered. "But it's hard… to forgive you."

"I don't get it," Aerith spoke up. "What's happening?" Jenova looked her way and shrugged. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Like… therapy?" she asked.

"Oh yes!" Aerith's eyes lit up with excitement. "I'd love to help you two."

"Why?" Jenova looked away.

"Because you look like you're about to cry," Aerith shrugged. "And I bet Sephiroth wouldn't like it if you were sad."

"Yeah but, what do you get out of it?" she asked.

"Nothing, I suppose," Aerith said. "I don't always expect things for helping people." Jenova bit her lip. She didn't want to reveal anything that Aerith could use against her. That was the point, wasn't it? She was just trying to get information to send to Cloud…

"No thank you." She shook her head. "Now isn't the time." She looked to Minerva. "I'm sorry for freaking out like that."

"Don't worry about it. I-" She stopped and looked towards Ruby Weapon. "We should move. He's aiming at us now." Jenova sniffled and nodded. She stood up and followed her away from their hiding place to another group of jagged rocks. This new spot was a little closer to the battle.

"Is it almost dead?" Jenova asked Minerva, "Can you tell?"

"Give me a moment." Minerva kneeled down and closed her eyes. "I'm going to try and find out. I haven't been able to sense them that much, but maybe if I try… Look out for me?"

"Yeah, no problem." Jenova nodded. She watched Minerva's face go from strained to calm in mere seconds. "Do you know what she's doing?" she asked Aerith.

"Connecting with the planet? She looks like she'd praying but we'll never know unless we ask," Aerith smiled. Jenova shivered and looked away.

"Stop it," she hissed.

"Stop what?" Aerith asked innocently.

"Being so nice. We both know that I don't deserve it," Jenova said.

"Why not? Everyone deserves a second chance," Aerith replied.

"But I don't deserve one," Jenova said. "I wiped out an entire race of people!"

"Not the entire race," Aerith observed. "I'm still here. Minerva's still here. There are two Cetra left alive."

"I guess," Jenova mumbled. "But still, I don't deserve one."

"Does Sephiroth? Or the rest of them?" Aerith asked.

"Well, yeah," she answered automatically.

"Why?"

"Because they haven't done anything wrong," she replied. "I used them to get back at Minerva and that's not their fault."

"I see," Aerith said. Minerva stood up and shook her head.

"Brianna's life force is going out. I… need to help her somehow," she announced.

"Then do it," Jenova said, "Do whatever you have to do for her." She sat down and kept her eyes away from Aerith.

"What can we do for them?" Aerith asked.

"I tried to convince her to let go, but that wouldn't matter because her soul can't return to the planet until I return," Minerva said.

"So you have to kill yourself to become a goddess again?" Jenova asked.

"Unless I can find another way…" Minerva said. Jenova frowned; what would she do without Minerva? She couldn't raise those kids alone. She would ruin them again if she didn't have help. "I might have to let her soul go…"

"That wouldn't be very fair," Jenova found herself saying. "Can't you help her at all?"

"Feeling guilty?" Minerva asked.

"No," she answered quickly. "Never. I mean, I wouldn't have thought about it before. This planet would have been gone before I even had the chance to think about it." But then her memories had come and halted everything. She almost wondered what would have happened if she hadn't signed the contract. Minerva would have left her alone and… she would have survived. She wouldn't have made it to the ancient forest or had a meal that night, but she would have survived somehow. There were a lot of things that wouldn't have happened if Minerva hadn't let her sign the contract…

"I know what I can do!" Minerva said suddenly, and just as quickly as she finished the sentence, she had disappeared. Jenova scrambled to her feet and looked around. "What the hell happened?" she asked.

Aerith shrugged and stared at the spot where Minerva had been. "But I'm more then sure she knows what she's doing."

Jenova nodded and glanced towards the fight. Ruby weapon was gone… and so was everybody else. "Where did everyone go?" she asked. She looked to Aerith and was surprised when she didn't find her. "Aerith?" she called. "Guys?"

She twisted around and searched for someone, but there was no one there. "Minerva?" she whispered. She walked away from her hiding place and continued to call out for Minerva and the others. After a minute of walking she stopped; there was no one around. She turned back towards Edge; she would just go back there. But once she took a step forward, her vision went white and she felt nothing but pain.

0.o.0.o.0

Whoop, I is done! Huzzah! And i'm so sorry Sephiroth but this is only the beginning of your pain! Muahahahahaha! I hate writing battle scenes, I really do. I don't know how to describe anybodies skills or limits and it makes me angry. So I'm putting it off for as long as I can.(Which isn't long)