I'm baaaaccccckkk! gosh this was by far the longest chapter update yet. This last week has been the busiest week of my life, despite being off work the entire time. I've just moved into my new home and spent all week with no internet, assembling cuboards, tables, drawers, units and half my wall fell down when I buggered up a curtain rail :D... god I suck at DIY. Oh and my plumbing all went to shiat and the toilet would only flush ever hour, never had to write a timetable for toilet breaks before lol... herp derp.
ANNNNYYWWAYYY, big thanks again to Turk4Life, the most painful thing about not having internet was not being able to read HER awesome reviews for a few days. That and missing the League of Legends rift update :(, been playing shadows of Mordor and FF13 instead though which is cool. Anyway, enough about me.
I'm so poor, I can't even pay a compliment.. and therefore do not own any FF7 material belonging to Square Enix.
Enjoy!
Chapter 29 Part 1- Flames and shadows
Heart thundering in her chest and though it was pointless, Aerith continued running towards the blue abyss ahead of her as the stretch of platform beneath her feet slowly started to run out.
From this height jumping would probably kill her, but what choice did she really have left?
Running recklessly for the end of the line in her torn dress, the frigid strong winds whipping at her bare legs, it was surreal the feeling of calm that washed over Aerith. She had been petrified that the troopers had shot at her and were still shooting at her, but now as she approached what logic could only reason was her death, she no longer felt afraid. This wasn't going to be the end, she wasn't destined to die this way as every part of her just knew that the planet had a plan for her and it wasn't to fall here.
When the wind picked up even further and the loud whir of what sounded like five or six helicopter blades pummeled the sky, Aerith had no clue who or what it was but knew it had to be rescue.
As the sound approached closer and the gale picked up Aerith began to find it difficult to keep running. A face full of long chestnut curls billowing across her face and a dangerously close twang of a bullet ricocheting off the platform close at her ankle and the flower girl lost balance. Tripping forward onto both hands Aerith winced as her arms jarred painfully, though her soft grunt was completely drowned out by the hurricane of loud engines.
"AERITH!, AERITH GET ON! GET UP! RUN!"
Seeing Tifa aboard the colossal airship labeled 'Highwind' as it rose up on the horizon was the blessing Aerith had been praying for. Where or how Tifa, Jessie and Cissnei had acquired such a machine was not something she could think about right now.
"JESSIE STOP!" she heard Tifa cry.
Next thing Aerith knew before she could climb back to her feet was the second youngest member of their group at eighteen was by her side. Jessie grabbed the underside of Aerith's arm and pulled her to her feet.
"Close your eyes!"
Aerith obeyed the redhead's order, however she was slightly too late and a stunning white light from a flash-bang grenade thrown at the troopers closing in on them made her see stars.
"Come on! it's time to go!" Jessie insisted urgently.
Blindly following after the arm pulling her Aerith tried to vocalize that they needed to ensure Zack and Yuffie had escaped but she was hardly able to breathe from the merciless sprint she had been through, let alone speak.
"Aerith! jump!"
Whether Jessie was unaware that she couldn't see or just failed to tell her in time, the platform disappeared from beneath Aerith's feet, missing the gap between the cannon and the Highwind. A pair of small hands snatched at the red cardigan around her shoulders and she was pulled roughly across the void, falling straight forward onto a combination of hard metal floor and something soft and distinctly human shaped. With her hands Aerith reached out to the form trapped beneath her, inappropriately groping an obviously female face with blurry eyes slowly focusing in on deep flame orange hair.
"Cissnei?"
"In trouble again I see missy" the Turk replied with a grin through slightly crushed lungs.
"Sorry" she giggled bashfully in return.
"Aerith... you can let go of my face now"
Rapidly removing her hands molesting Cissnei's face she quickly climbed off the Turk and was on her feet for approximately two seconds before the airship lurched forward planting Aerith straight back down onto her rear.
"Where's Zack and Yuffie!?" Tifa asked hurriedly, offering out her hand and pulling Aerith to her feet, all of them unsteady on the turbulent craft.
"Rufus captured them, I got them out but I don't know for sure if they escaped, we need to wait for them!"
Of course nothing could ever be that simple and a series of loud cannon and gunfire shots from the port of Junon tore into the side of the Highwind. The impact sent Jessie toppling to the floor with only the expertly trained Cissnei and Tifa staying on their feet. Luckily Tifa still had a hold of Aerith preventing her from hitting the deck again who was beginning to feel about as balanced as a baby giraffe.
"I don't think waiting is going to be an option" Jessie yelled above the blitz, dragging herself up and clutching onto the nearby railing.
"We have to.."
"We have to get out of the open is what we need to do" Tifa cut Aerith off as a storm of bullets swarmed the deck they were stood on. Grabbing Aerith and Jessie with Cissnei in tow, Tifa pulled them below deck and through the impressive ship to the main controls room.
"Oh I've missed you baby!... FUCK! STOP SHOOTIN' AT ME FUCKING SHIP!"
"Who's that?" Aerith gasped, hearing the gruff blonde captain before seeing him.
"This is Cid" Jessie explained with a chuckle.
The man frantically maneuvering the large wheel turned to Aerith, his teeth coming on display in his wide signature grin.
"Howdy treacle. Well I'll be, been a while since the Highwind had a crew this good lookin', got anymore pretty little things need a pick up? GODAMMIT! QUIT FIRING YOU COCK SUCKERS!"
"Yes, yes I do sir, I have some friends that need help" Aerith pleaded, making the captain's nose wrinkle in distaste at the girls formal address.
"That was rhetorical sweetheart, we're hauling ass pronto"
"Zack and Yuffie, they'll be ok. I also got a message from Red, Kunsel and Barret, they've already stowed away" Tifa tried to encourage Aerith by putting an arm across her shoulders, though with the amount of rocking and juddering the airship was under it came off as clunky and awkward.
"We can meet them in Costa Del Sol as per the original plan" Cissnei stated logically, climbing behind a flight controls monitor with Jessie close behind.
"Hey, hey, hey, hands off the equipment ladies!" Cid barked down at them from the drivers platform.
"You wanna make it out of Junon in one piece!?" Cissnei huffed back.
Cid eyed Cissnei and Jessie with a look that was somewhere between annoyance, intrigue and then defeat after wincing as a hostile shot further damaged the airships hull with a loud screech.
"Why do I jus' know I'mma regret runnin' into you broads?..."
Chapter 29 Part 2- Flames and shadows
"I can't connect" Zack muttered, smacking his PHS multiple times into the palm of his hand after every attempt at messaging and calling Aerith failed.
"See, told you ya fancy toys weren't all they're cracked up to be" Yuffie remarked, perched swinging her legs on a low wall beside a secluded section of the Junon docks.
"If she isn't getting any signal she must have found a way to get out over the ocean" Zack thought hopefully out loud, looking out across the water.
"...or under it" Yuffie commented before freezing and pretending to find something interesting in the distance as Zack gave her a scalding stare
.
"Argh! what do we do!? we can't just leave, what if Aerith didn't make it out of there?" Zack raged in torn frenzy, pacing back and forth.
"We don't know for sure it was even her who let us out" the teenager pointed out needlessly, even though they both knew it must have been.
"That ship is about to leave any minute, if we don't get on it now we're stuck here for an extra day and we become separated from the others"
Yuffie nodded unenthusiastically at the ship Zack was referring to, turning green just at the sight of a boat.
"What's up? don't like sailing?" Zack asked, giving up and returning the PHS to his pocket. At the mere mention of the word 'sailing' Yuffie gagged and closed her eyes.
"...I... came from Wutai... by boat... I wanted... to kill myself"
"Oh I see.." Zack mumbled scratching the back of his head. "Well hey, I know tons of people who got sea or flight sickness the first time and got over it straight away" he lied meekly.
"Hmmmm... I think I'll stay here thanks"
Zack raised his eyebrow at the princess, not needing to verbally remind Yuffie of the deal they had struck that Zack had relinquished his 'all' materia for.
Yuffie rolled her eyes with a sigh and kicked herself off the wall, "fine, guess someones gotta be the reasonable one around here and compromise"
"Very good of you, now let's go before we lose our chance to board"
"And how exactly do you suppose we're gonna do that genius?"
Zack flicked his eyes and inclined his head down the length of the dock towards the two patrolling troopers in the distance carrying rifles. Yuffie's eyes widened as she looked at Zack, then at the troopers, then back to Zack.
"You've got to be kidding me"
Chapter 29 Part 3- Flames and shadows
"Oh Jesus Yuffie..."
Zack patted the little ninja on the back sympathetically as she continued to violently hurl over the side of the moving ship with the trooper helmet she had been disguised in tucked under his arm.
"Tell Sephiroth he's won... I'm done" Yuffie eventually gurgled during a brief break in throwing up that didn't last long.
"Really? you mean to tell me the legendary white rose of Wutai who single-handedly defeated an entire unit of SOLDIER on the slopes of Condor has been beaten by a couple of small waves?"
"... urrr jus' go away and let me die... in a bloody Shinra uniform... of all things... go find... Red and the others"
"They're on this ship somewhere, we should go look for them" Zack agreed.
"Go right ahead... I ain't moving"
"You sure?"
Yuffie weakly waved him away.
"Right, well don't leave this spot... seriously Yuff, stay here and stay out of trouble"
"Do I look..." she retched over the side of the ship before finishing, "... like I'm going anywhere?"
"Point taken, you do look pretty awful" Zack tried to joke, receiving the middle finger of the princess in return as she hung over the rail.
Zack gave her one last pat on the back and pressed Yuffie's trooper helmet into her hand.
"I won't be long"
Zack left and Yuffie continued to wallow in her dizzy ill misery, if she had known the experience was going to feel even worse than the last time, she would have told Zack where he could shove his 'all' materia. She mused that the sickness was worse this time around because of the speed they were moving at, when she had first run away from home she had stowed aboard an old steam engine boat. This mako fuelled military ship however had only been travelling for half an hour and Junon was already a speck on the horizon.
She remained slumped over the side for a long time, not remaining as alert as she should have and therefore failed to hear the stranger who approached her from behind.
"Peculiar is it not, the way fate directs our paths like actors to a stage? So that we may amuse her at a whim, be it with love or friendship, hate or conflict. we play along with impassioned emotions while she mocks us like the amusing children she finds us to be"
Yuffie froze, she had no clue who or what the guy was talking about but decided just to play it cool and remain staring out across the ocean.
"Yuh huh, peculiar... sure"
There was a silent pause and after a while Yuffie began to think the weird guy had just walked off but she wasn't so lucky.
"So where is he Miss Kisaragi?"
Yuffie gasped and whirled around quickly, adrenaline seeming to pump away the extreme nausea she had been feeling.
"How did... who are... do I know you!?"
The tall slender man before her chuckled lightly, his laugh sounding just as defined and articulate as his speech.
"This is quite refreshing, there are few who see me and still remain clueless as to my identity, a curse I sincerely wish could be lifted"
"Are you gonna answer the question or keep spilling a bunch'a mumbo jumbo that don't make any sense?"
"Doesn't or does not make any sense" the man corrected, cringing at the girls sloppy grammar. "My name is irrelevant child, what I seek however is not"
"And what's that?" Yuffie pressed quietly, feeling oddly frightened by this person and the dangerously menacing aura he had about him despite having an exceptionally well-groomed and calm exterior.
"Revenge"
Yuffie took a retreating step away from the pure malevolence with which he growled the word, her back coming into contact with the side of the ship.
"Revenge? against who? I don't even know you"
The man clad in a long red leather coat took step after step towards Yuffie who remained pressed against the railing in motionless fear.
"Against an old friend and a false deity, against the ones who betrayed me, against the ones who threw me to the darkness and proclaimed themselves the light"
The controlled rage in the auburn haired SOLDIER's voice had rendered her completely speechless, at least she guessed he must have been a SOLDIER. His eyes glowed but they were unlike any she had seen before, they were a golden red without the faintest trace of blue that every SOLDIER she had ever seen had to some degree. The mysterious person continued stalking towards her like a lion cornering a deer until he was towering directly over her.
"You seem frightened my dear, do you see something that scares you? do you see a monster Yuffie?"
If it was even possible, her eyes widened even further in horror as his features switched and morphed, eyes becoming redder, complexion becoming paler and becoming more predatory in appearance.
"...wh-wh-what are you?..."
Her voice was hardly above a squeak, few things scared Yuffie, not even stuck in the midst of the battlefield at Condor had she been this afraid. The mans glowing crimson eyes intensified from her question making them burn fiercer than raging pits of fire.
"My soul, corrupted by vengeance hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey. In my own salvation and your eternal slumber"
"What? wh-what are you talking about?"
"Legend shall speak of sacrifice at world's end. The wind sails over the water's surface quietly but surely"
Yuffie's skin crawled at the confusing yet deeply resonating words, just like the man before her they seemed undeniably beautiful yet deadly at the same time. Rarely had she recognised when she was out of her depths and when he slowly began to draw a long steel blade while reciting the poem an audible whimper escaped her throat.
"There are no dreams, no honor remains. The arrow has left the bow of the goddess"
With a slow focused swipe of his hand the sword emblazoned in runic symbols burst into flames and what courage Yuffie had left escaped her and she fled to the sound of his demonic voice.
"Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return"
Chapter 29 Part 24- Flames and shadows
"Hey you! trooper! where'd you think you're going!?"
Zack paused, acting casual as a patrolling third class SOLDIER caught him in the corridor and decided to give him grief on his way to the lower levels of the ship. Third's always did have a habit of going on a huge ego trip after getting into SOLDIER and gaining their enhancements for the first time.
"I'm heading to the cargo hold to do a sweep of the area sir!" Zack played along, trying not to appear awkward in the trooper uniform and helmet he was disguised in.
"What's your name boy?"
"Errr.. Francis sir!" Zack grimaced, it was the first name that sprung to mind.
"You don't seem too sure kid, need me to call mommy for you and double-check?" he sneered mockingly, "HA! Francis, what kind of stupid name is that?"
Zack grit his teeth as the SOLDIER jabbed him in the shoulder, he had climbed through the ranks of the Shinra army so long ago that he had almost forgotten what assholes thirds could be.
"My orders are urgent..."
"Orders from who!?" the third class SOLDIER acting like a first class prick cut him off snappily, offended that he was implying that there could be anyone on this universe more important than he.
"... the commander in charge" Zack fumbled, slowly getting verbally backed into a corner and realizing he needed to deflect the attention from himself less his cover be blown.
"Which one?" the third demanded, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
"Well... you know uh... both of them?... it was kind of just shouted at me hurriedly, they were in the middle of discussing candidates for promotion to second and seemed pretty busy"
The story didn't seem to wash too well but never the less the thirds eyes ballooned and with an intentional shove as he passed the man rushed away to the upper level, fixing his uniform as he went.
Zack released a sigh and continued down to said cargo hold, his instinct telling him if Red, Kunsel and Barret were hiding on this ship it would be down there. Moving quietly through the labyrinth of wall high crates and containers, Zack listened out carefully for any sign of his companions. It was only once he got closer to the back of the hold that he faintly picked up the familiar voice he was searching for.
"Get yer damn leg off me!"
"You ever considered that as your taking up eighty percent of this flipping crate that it's your leg that's touching mine?"
"I think perhaps we should stay quiet, I can smell someo..."
"You the one tha' suggested we hide in this bloody box ya' damn nancy"
"Only because you wouldn't wear the sailors uniform"
"Hey guys! It's Zack I smell!"
"Thank christ fer' tha'"
The front panel of the crate was kicked opened and the three of Zack's companions clambered out with Red yelping angrily as Barret stood on his tail.
"Sorry furball"
"Loving the outfit" Kunsel chuckled, spotting Zack and his attire, "where's Yuffie and Aerith?"
"We got caught up with Rufus and got separated from Aerith, Yuffie's up on deck hurling her guts up"
"Ya' tellin' me ya jus' left Aerith behind!?" Barret growled.
"We didn't have much choice, I couldn't connect to her PHS so I figured she must have found a way to cross the ocean"
Barret shot him a dubious look and Zack groaned in despair, removing the trooper helmet and casting it to the side, "Oh god... I shouldn't have left her..."
"Personally I think it was a very logical and rational decision to make" Red remarked.
"Perhaps she met up with Tifa and the others?" Kunsel suggested.
"You seen them?" Zack asked.
Kunsel shook his head, "Didn't get a message from them either"
The statement forced another groan from Zack.
"Well don't jus' stand there foo', they could be on this ship, get lookin'"
Suddenly Red's head reared which was never a good sign, sniffing the air.
"What is it?" Kunsel pressed as everyone turned to Red.
"... blood"
"Yuffie!" Zack didn't wait a second as they all dashed for the exit in unison.
Rushing from the cargo hold towards the upper deck where he left the princess they made it half way to where they were greeted by an engine room covered in the blood Red was talking about and littered with the lifeless bodies of multiple crew members.
"Bugger me" Barret breathed.
"Someone sure did a number over here" Kunsel continued.
"They've all been killed with a sword, do you think Sephiroth did this?" Red called, bounding between bodies and inspecting them closely.
"It can't be, I'm not sensing anything, are you?" Zack asked his fellow SOLDIER.
"Nothing" Kunsel replied, the look on his face telling Zack his intelligent brain was furiously ticking away.
"We need to find Yuffie, now!"
Zack's panicked statement was rendered instantly pointless as said girl came stumbling frantically through the engine room door in terror, her eyes darting around the walls and ceiling in every direction. With a mixture of alarm and relief Zack put out his arm to stop her and Yuffie crashed into him, instantly beginning to scream and lash out hysterically.
"GET OFF ME! LET ME GO! GET OFF ME!"
"Woah! woah! woah, Yuffie it's me, it's Zack, you're safe"
Yuffie's shoving and fighting instantly stopped and transitioned into a tight desperate embrace as she realized it was him and clung to him shakily.
"Shhhh, you're ok now, tell us who did this" he soothed, stroking a comforting hand down the back of her shoulder length jet-black hair.
"He's crazy Zack, he's everywhere, he's not human" Yuffie trembled, looking around again erratically.
"Who is? what does he look like?" Zack urged strongly.
He was answered by a deep almost demonic like voice that resonated throughout the entire room as if he or it was indeed everywhere.
"You'll find out soon enough"
Drawing their weapons the group closed quarters making the voice break into a booming laugh. Sticking together they turned frantically in every direction as noises, bangs and movement darted across different points of the room, staying hidden in the shadows.
"Show yourself!" Zack yelled angrily into the air.
A bang in the corner, a box tumbling to the floor, a flicker in the corner of their eye, Barret firing off a round as footsteps ran along the metal platform above and hitting nothing. The voice quit laughing and began speaking again in that unnatural tone that almost sounded like it was coming from inside your own head.
"There is no hate, only joy. For you are beloved by the goddess... You know there was a time pup I truly believed in those words"
Zack's eyes widened and he ducked as a heavy metal drum came at him from nowhere, smashing against the far wall and spilling dark orange acid along the surface.
"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. We seek it thus, and take it to the sky... I dedicated my entire existence to that fairytale, to discover that alas, the only 'gift' that lying bitch Minerva could offer... WAS DEATH"
A powerful loud explosion broke into the heavy metal beams overhead and rocked the entire ship. Responding to the attack, the five of them dove out of the way in time to avoid being crushed by a cascading shower of fire and steel.
"A DEATH ZACHARY, THAT YOU GAVE TO ME"
Upon the furious scream of the inhuman voice, every single light in the room shattered instantaneously, plunging the room into fire lit darkness.
"It can't be..." Zack whispered in total disbelief and shock at the faintly familiar sound of the voice and the style of language they were using. Climbing to his feet amidst the smoking fiery destruction, Zack tried to spot whether the impossible had indeed become possible.
"Oh but it can" came the intimidating reply.
The flickering embers illuminating the walls of the engine room gave form to a long dark silhouette in the shape of a tall slender man in a long coat wielding the outline of a sword.
"...Genesis?" Zack and Kunsel almost spoke in unison.
There was a long dark chuckle that bounced off the walls of the room that began to darken as if the fire itself even feared the man.
"What remains"
A gruesome black mass began to slowly extend from the back of the silhouette, finally unfurling into the shape of a single huge angel like wing.
"This.. this can't be happening" Zack gasped, staggering on the spot as the weight of the never-ending nightmare bared down on him relentlessly.
Leaving the shadows and stepping through the smoke the face and form of Genesis Rhapsodos appeared but looking colder and more monstrous than when Zack had last seen him. With close to red eyes, an almost visible aura of crimson darkness around him and grinning with two sharp vampire like teeth on display, Genesis looked all together like horror incarnate.
"..how?... Genesis how are you alive?"
"My hatred for you Zachary. You should have died long ago but the goddess saw it fit to alter the course of events and bless your undeserving soul with her gift and favor while forsaking her loyal son. Desire for revenge brought me back pup, my hunger to watch you and Minerva burn"
"No... no don't do this Gen"
In a flash of red, Genesis raced at Zack and smashed his sword against Zack's mythril saber which was raised just in time to stop his head being removed from his shoulders.
"DO NOT CALL ME GEN BOY!" Genesis snarled in fury, "you relinquished that privilege when you ripped away everything from me!"
"STAY BACK" Zack roared at the others as they made to intervene, "... Genesis you left me no choice"
Their blades remained locked and Zack could feel his strength buckling under the incredible power that Genesis some how possessed. Any sign or hint of the degradation that the man had suffered was completely gone.
"For so long I sought the truth of her message, sought for the missing chapters, believing they would reveal the answers"
Genesis overpowered Zack and drove him back, hacking and slashing with such force you could physically see pulses of dark crimson energy in the air.
"But the answer was there the entire time, among the pretentious slew of falsity's the only verity of the piece was contained on the very first word on the very first page"
Genesis' attacks raged on violently, appearing effortless as he spoke in the riddles that Genesis always did. When Zack started losing ground Yuffie's shuriken came hurtling from the side but was swatted from the air with a flick of Genesis' blade.
"Where are my manners, please accept my deepest apologies" Genesis snarled, turning to Yuffie, Barret, Kunsel and Red, "allow me to give you some company, courtesy of Kadaj"
With Zack's sword locked firmly down in a defensive position by his blade, Genesis channeled an inferno in the palm of his free hand. Hitting the flat of Zack's blade the strike went off like fire touching dynamite, punching Zack's body across the room, giving Genesis the time he needed as the others rushed in to attack. Channeling a deep red materia, black smoke rose from the floor around them, materializing into a pack of black hound like creatures.
Zack rushed back in to attack Genesis while the rest of his team engaged the black phantom monstrosities and the room erupted into chaos.
"As I was saying" Genesis continued as their blades danced and sang ferociously, "the answer that was right there on the first page, the answer to the truth of the goddess, to her perception of us, to our existence, to the world that we live in... loveless. Our makers and our world is nothing more than a cold, empty, barren shell, filled with deceit and void of integrity"
Falling onto bad footing as Genesis' attacks pummeled and buckled Zack's defense, the ex-SOLDIER kicked away from the engagement with full force onto one of the platforms that hadn't been decimated above. With a simple flick of his incredible black wing Genesis followed after him.
"That's not true! I know it's not true!" Zack stated adamantly.
"You think just because you've fallen for the ancient that you know a single whit about love! Perhaps I should take her away from you and open your eyes to the world around you as I have had mine"
If there was one thing that did not sit well with Zack, it was threats against Aerith. Mako burning in his veins Zack slammed both their entwined blades with a bolt two attack, biting hard through the agony as he was struck with the spell as well as Genesis. Slightly more prepared for it then Genesis had been, Zack had his opening. Dragging the point of Genesis' blade to the floor and locking it under his boot, the mythril saber arched around in a deadly horizontal slash, cutting a line across Genesis' abdomen which he followed with a swift slam with the reverse of his fist across the mans face.
Breaking the surprise attack, Genesis powered a heavy boot into Zack's chest and kicked him away onto his back before he could do anymore damage. Genesis fell to one knee clutching at the deep but non-fatal wound across his stomach.
"Sephiroth was right, the pup is finally bearing teeth" Genesis heaved, smirking and flashing those fangs that made Zack shudder while he wiped the blood from the side of his mouth where Zack had struck him.
"You spoke to Sephiroth!?" Zack panted in disbelief, climbing breathlessly onto one knee in a position that mirrored Genesis.
"Never did I think it would be so, but for once Sephiroth and I have the same interests in mind"
"Gen, you have to give this obsession with Loveless and the goddess up! don't you see you have a second chance as well!? a chance to set things right!? Sephiroth wants to destroy the world!"
Genesis growled again at the personal address but was in no position to make another attack.
"Oh I am fully aware Zachary of Sephiroth and the calamity's plans, I've seen it all from the lifestream. Everything that was, everything that should have been"
"Should have been?... look I know you're angry, and you can take it out on me, you can take it out on the goddess, but Gen... surely you don't want to see the whole world destroyed for your own revenge? Surely not even you're that cruel?"
Zack searched Genesis' face desperately for any sign of humanity left, his spirit crumbling when the man began to laugh.
"How else did you think I was going to get revenge on Minerva? I'm going to destroy everyone and everything she claims to be 'beloved' to her, I'm going to expose her for the heartless, loveless witch she is, right before I take her head"
Zack had believed his hope for Genesis long dead, but to see him again, to see how far he had fallen along with Sephiroth and how twisted they had both become was painful. Closing his eyes in despair a single long tear raced down the side of his face.
"Then you know I'm going to have to stop you again old friend"
Genesis climbed unsteadily to his feet, the hand across his abdomen dripping in blood and his sword in the other hanging limply at his side.
"We're counting on it"
Driving his wing, Genesis took off into the air through the exposed hole in the roof and out of sight. Dropping onto his back again Zack hit the platform and lay staring up at the sky, feeling broken in more ways than just the bones in his hands and arms from the sheer force of Genesis' strikes.
I should have died long ago? Altered the course of events? What should have been?
