XXV
Chapter 25
Cornered

Sephiroth stumbled as one of the weaker floorboards of Aeris' Church gave way

under his weight, his foot going through the wood . He caught himself before he fell, yanking

his foot back, and pausing to eye the hole he'd made in mild irritation.
"You alright, Seph?" Zack called from behind him. Sephiroth turned to look back

at his friend. It had been utterly silent until Zack had spoken up.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just expected something a little more stable under my step."

Sephiroth replied, grateful for the excuse to talk. Ahead of him, Cloud glanced back at them,

but kept walking. Sephiroth didn't fail to notice this. Cloud had been fine until they'd gotten

about a block from the church. Then his eyes had gone empty again and he'd withdrawn into

himself. Alarm bells were screaming in Sephiroth's head with every step.
Zack wasn't much better. He fought back the temptation to sneeze, afraid to

make any sound. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, his palms tingled, and he felt

jumpy. He quickened his step to inch closer to Sephiroth.
Barret did sneeze. A loud, echoing holler that made everyone jump through the

tattered ceiling. Cloud stopped, turning an icy glare on his ex-employer. The huge man

seemed to shrink to a third of his normal size. Tifa hovered at his shoulder with Yuffie, feeling

like they could hide behind his bulk.
Cid felt sick. His head was swimming, his nerves were tingling, and he wouldn't let

Vincent get more than an arm's length away from him. He needed a cigarette.
Cloud reached the flower patch, and knelt again, head bowed.
"I came back…" He whispered. Zack, standing with Sephiroth nearby, shivered.
Are you out there, Aeris…? He thought, looking around.
/You should not be here!/ Zack jumped, having not exactly expected any sort of

answer, especially one that was clearly in his own head, in somebody /else's/ voice. He

turned to look at Sephiroth, whose eyes were wild, and darting around. Cloud sat up

excitedly.
"Aeris!" Sephiroth frowned, feeling that same voice not so much speaking as

/pushing/ on his mind.
/LEAVE!/ He gagged at the feeling, feeling dizzy. Wrong, wrong! There's

something wrong! Sephiroth's brain screamed. Cloud was smiling as if he'd just reached

heaven. Zack looked ill, eyes glazing over.
"Cloud." Sephiroth said firmly, his voice rattling slightly along with his nerves.

Cloud didn't look up, but stood, and started walking towards the single shaft of light that

shone through the ceiling. The was the ghost of a figure there, reaching out to him. "Cloud,"

Sephiroth repeated.
/GIVE UP!/ A searing pain flashed between Sephiroth's eyes. Beside him, Zack

let out a strangled cry and collapsed. Cloud failed to notice at all. Sephiroth caught his own

wavering balance, and steeled himself, moving after the blond.
"CLOUD!" He snapped. Cloud froze, hand nearly touching the now solidifying

figure's, and turned slowly, arm still outstretched the other way, to look at him hollowly.
"Give up." He said, voice hollow. Sephiroth froze a moment, stunned. Its not

Cloud… He shivered as something seemed to ooze up his spine, sinking into the base of his

brain, making his head swim and his stomach churn. It was cold and greasy and plain evil.
And very familiar.
Green eyes flashed in anger.
"NO!" He dashed foreword to Cloud, grabbing the smaller man around the

shoulders just as his hand closed around that of the young girl reaching out to him. It was

Aeris, still clad in pink, her hair tied up in a pink ribbon, long braid cascading down to her

knees. Sephiroth frowned as he pulled Cloud away. Her eyes were green. He remembered

that. Almost as green as his own. They weren't green anymore.
They were gold, flecked in black. And she wasn't relinquishing her hold on Cloud

either.
/GO AWAY!/ Sephiroth let a smirk curl up his lips at the mental shriek.
"Let him go and I will." Aeris' eyes narrowed angrily. She held onto Cloud,

fingernails cutting into his wrists. Cloud seemed to have gone limp, eyes open and hazed,

unseeing, unhearing, unfeeling. Sephiroth snarled. "I SAID LET GO!" His shout started

Cloud back to reality, and stunned the flower girl. "Leave us the hell alone!" Sephiroth

continued. Something flickered across her face, and Cloud gasped, having seen it. He

recoiled slightly towards Sephiroth.

Behind them, the rest of Avalanche stared on in horror, not completely

comprehending what was happening. Zack was completely unconscious with Tifa trying to

revive him. Vincent was sagging limply in Cid's arms, having picked up on the same mental

barrage that Zack and Sephiroth had.

Aeris smiled darkly, her face changing as she did so: skin paling to a blue-silver,

eyes loosing their pupils, lips darkening to almost black. She licked her lips, eyes darting to

Cloud, who was struggling from her grip weakly, scared.
"That's no way to talk to your mother…." She hissed at Sephiroth. Long lines of

blood were seeping from Cloud's arms where her black fingernails had sunk deeply into pale

flesh. Sephiroth gave Cloud a light squeeze in his grip to reassure him some, and straightened

up, smiling.
"You're not my mother." He said flatly.
"WHAT?!" Jenova shrieked angrily, eyes flashing. She seemed to forget about

Cloud. Sephiroth smirked, noticing, and contented his dangerous game of egging the alien on.
"My mother was a /beautiful/ woman named Lucrecia!" Sephiroth announced

proudly. Jenova growled, dropping Cloud into a heap in the flowers, and stalked towards

Sephiroth angrily.
"Say that again, WEAKLING!" She snarled. Sephiroth stopped, and smiled.
"You are not my mother. Lucrecia is. Nor was Hojo my father! You have no

control of me now, you bitch!" He snarled.

Vincent, who'd been alert just enough to hear this, felt himself smile as he sank

against Cid more heavily. He wished that he'd had such emotional strength all his life. He was

very proud of Sephiroth, his heart warming.

Sephiroth felt his head spin as Jenova tried another mental attack, but he held firm,

not letting a shred of his discomfort show. Jenova took another step towards him, and they

were within arm's reach of each other, glaring down with venomous eyes. The alien still wore

Aeris' classic garb, and it was unnerving for Sephiroth. Of course it was. It was meant to be

unnerving: to weaken his and everyone else's will.
"You're so weak… look at you!" She hissed. "You were once a true man, a

GOD! What possessed you to fall so low?!" To Jenova's sincere surprise, Sephiroth's smile

grew. He shrugged.
"Dunno, but it was worth it." He said offhandedly.
"YOU WERE MINE!" Jenova screamed. Sephiroth's eyes narrowed, and in a

swift movement, he slapped her firmly across the face. The blue skin across her cheek

darkened to black, and in her anger, she dropped her disguise completely. "You will PAY!"

She lunged, tackling Sephiroth to the ground, clawing at his throat.
Sephiroth winced as he fought the monster off. He had no weapons, no materia,

and no greater means of armor than the heavy clothing he wore. He kicked Jenova off of him,

glancing back in hopes of help. Most of the others stood staring in horror, frozen. He saw

Zack collapsed, Vincent nearly out… Cloud was unconscious as well. He snarled, holding

Jenova back physically, hoping she didn't turn to other means of attack.
"Either throw me a weapon or help, damnit! This IS'NT YOUR FLOWER

GIRL!" He yelled back at the group. He was relieved to see at least Cid and Yuffie jump to

action. Yuffie dashed into the fray, fighting back the alien with her Conformer as she managed

to toss Sephiroth several materia. Cid was a little slower to hit the battle, having eased

Vincent into a safe spot before lunging foreword. Sephiroth saw a blur of blue and green, and

sat back as Jenova was pinned clean into the floor by Cid's spear. Jenova screamed,

thrashing and pulling at Cid's spear, no where near dead.
"Shit!" Cid leapt back, withdrawing his weapon in surprise.

Behind them, Barret shifted, uncertain. He could probably blow that thing all to

hell with his gunarm, but then again, he'd take Sephiroth, Cid and Yuffie, and most likely

Cloud as well, with it. He swore, and hung back, waiting for the moment of opportunity.

Sephiroth looked down at the materia that had been pressed into his palm. Fire 3.

He could torch this entire side of town with it, if he wanted to. He could also very easily focus

all of that energy into one point… He began to channel his energy, and then yelped, dropping

the small orb, as it began to burn and arc electricity. He looked down to see it turn black

before his eyes, dead. Around where it sat on the floor, wispy tendrils of some opalescent

green light through every gap in the floor, writing and slowly reaching up to wrap around his

ankles, pulling. Sephiroth stumbled back, kicking at the bits of Lifestream, feeling a wave of

panic hit him. It burned through the leather of his boots, made him feel sick and dizzy,

disoriented. He continued to stumble back. No! Leave me alone!He cried to the Planet.

It heard him: He knew it would. He felt the tendrils of mako tighten their grip on him, the

message coming through to him in the screaming voice of the planet, clear as day: you /cannot/

kill. He shivered, and let himself relax a moment, thinking instead of killing Jenova, of merely

escaping, and the Planet released its hold on him, driving him back into reality like a firm kick

in the ass.
Sephiroth gasped, not having realized just how out of it he really was until the

endless green had dissipated from his vision, leaving the Church and the fight going on around

him. He heard Jenova cackle.
"See! Even the /Planet/ is on my side! Give in!" She cried triumphantly. He

looked around, saw Yuffie limping badly but still fighting, though weakly: Cid was clutching a

huge gash in his side, and Tifa and Barret had leapt into the fray. Out of the corner of his eye,

he saw even Vincent propping himself up weakly, aiming his gun, bracing it and himself with

his claw-arm. He turned back to face Jenova, and saw with horror that she had moved back

to Cloud, and had his still form propped against her breast, one hand on his jaw, the other on

his forehead, his head tilted dangerously. Sephiroth's heart stopped. Around him, everyone

had frozen as well. "One move and he'll come back in two separate pieces…" She warned.
"No…" Sephiroth whispered, feeling his soul sag in dismay. "What the hell do

you want, damnit!?" He cried angrily. Jenova smiled. She stroked Cloud's cheek with a sharp

fingertip, slicing the delicate skin there.
"Not the Failure, actually…" she said smugly. "Which is why I have no problems

with killing him here and now. "No… You know perfectly well what I want, my son…" She

hissed. Sephiroth felt his head swim. He saw Cid looking hastily between himself and Cloud,

azure eyes wild. The pilot's breathing was ragged, and he was beginning to sag where he

stood. "Give in, Boy!" Jenova cried. "Give in and I'll put your precious Failure on a pedestal

for you! Give me what /I/ want and I'll give you the world!" Sephiroth nearly shook with his

anger and frustration. He opened his mouth several times, speechless in his churning emotions.

He had to make a choice, and he had to do it now. Behind him, Zack gasped and sat up

suddenly, looking around strangely.
"Sephiroth-" Sephiroth turned carefully to face Vincent, who'd called out to him.

Vincent's eyes were more intense than he'd ever seen the man's before. The pale man

looked healthier now, but hadn't moved from his seat against the wall. "Don't worry about

us, Sephiroth." He said firmly, eyes flashing some sort of message. Sephiroth narrowed his

eyes, searching for the stoic man's hidden message. "We'll be fine." He went on. His eyes

darted over Jenova's shoulder for a moment, then met his own again. Trust me. "Save

Cloud." Sephiroth felt the surge of alarm go through the others. He saw Cid turn around to

gaze at Vincent in alarm, and he saw Vincent make that same silent eye contact with Cid. Cid

blinked, relaxed momentarily, then as Sephiroth watched, Cid put on a fantastic mask of

anger.
"Oh great, fucking give up all of us and the whole fucking world! Vince, you

jackass!" Cid snarled. He still held Vincent's eyes, his back to Jenova. Sephiroth nodded, and

turned back.
"Fine…Mother…Come to me, then." He said, voice hollow. "leave the Failure."

Jenova /smiled/ sending a shiver down Sephiroth's spine. She moved toward him, arms

outstretched, and he stood, mostly frozen, but firm, and waited her approach.

AN: (sniggers) haha.. I'm getting good at cliffies... hehe. dont' worry, the next chapter is

already going. I thought about posting them together...but... eh heh. :) I figure I better draw

this out, lol.