Their stay at Costa del Sol didn´t last long though. It was unexpectedly interrupted by the call of a very troubled sounding Director Lazard who ordered them back to HQ for a top priority meeting in the briefing room as fast as possible.

They made it back there by aircraft within the next few hours.

The transfer wasn´t a nice one. The mood was tense and there was that slight nervousness creeping it´s way into all their hearts.

That call from the director didn´t bode well.

Upon arrival at HQ they learned that President Shin-Ra had apparently set up an emergency meeting involving only high ranked operatives to be informed about the serious developments they´d been completely left in the dark about until then.

It seemed that only a few days ago Shin-Ra scientists had spotted an astronomical celestial body speeding towards Gaia at incredible speed, big enough to wipe out the entire planet should it come to an impact.

It felt kind of nice to be informed...

The news just left them speechless.

After only shortly having defeated the Wutai it seemed fate was eager to crush them. Rooted to the spot, her hand wound tightly around Zack Fair´s, Lightning couldn´t think of anything they could possibly do to evade this.

"How much time do we have?" one of the Turks asked. The pink haired female didn´t even care to check who had spoken. It didn´t really matter anyway.

"Our scientist have calculated the body´s course again and again, but all results point towards one conclusion: we are left with about two weeks to save our necks." the President informed.

Zack´s hand suddenly turned limp inside her´s.

"The most!" came the voice of one of the scientists.

Lightning´s eyes widening involuntarily, swallowing hard, she looked up just to find Sephiroth´s gaze trained on her.

Only two weeks...

Why the fuck had she beed so angry with him?!

They exchanged insecure glances before her eyes darted back to the fatso that was their big boss.

The arrival of Meteor, at this time not connected to the test runs of the black materia yet, it changed everything.

Suddenly it didn´t matter anymore that she was a monster, that she had been experimented on against her will or on whose side she had fought in that ridiculous war. All of this nonsense was suddenly turned insignificant and stupid in the face of the fact that this planet, the world as they knew it, with all the people on it, was going to cease to exist only about two weeks from then.

Suddenly she regretted her actions in Costa del Sol. Suddenly she felt stupid and childish at her antics.

Only two weeks...

"But, don´t worry!" Heidegger suddenly piped up from behind his produding belly, excitedly adjusting the sleeves of his forest green suit.

"For the Public Safety Department has already come up with a plan to escape this cruel fate the gods have bestowed upon us!"

There was a murmur going through the crowd. Gasps of surprise and sighs of relieve.

Lightning was not one of those to think themselves safe that easily.

"And in order to accomplish this, we need you guys to help us!" he added. Looking over the crowd his gaze lingered on the gathered members of SOLDIER and the Turks.

Of course.Who else would do the nasty work.

"We need you to obtain something called huge materia, extremely large and very powerful materia, that are only produced in the core of a mako reactor, high density materia that have 330 times the power of a regular materia."

Great. Materia it was again.

"Once we´ve gathered all four huge materia we will load them into rocket No. 26, one of the successful rockets developed by Shin-Ra´s space exploration department and launch it at that meteorite! The huge materia have enough power to blast that damn thing out of the sky in no time... No big deal really!"

Although Claire Farron understood nothing of meteorites and rockets and huge materia, this sounded like a plausible strategy to her.

Bomb that thing out of the sky.

That definitely sounded like something Shin-Ra would do.

Whatever her opinion, it wouldn´t matter anyway. This was probably the only plan they had.

"I guess I don´t need to emphasize that this affair has to be dealt with under utmost secrecy. We cannot allow any information to leak to the public, not at this stage of the operation. As you surely understand the company is in a very precarious situation right now. We can´t risk a full-blown mass panic to break out." Director Lazard stressed.

"We´re counting on all of you to help together in this." President Shin-Ra said, dismissing the crowd with those words.

People filing out of the briefing room Lightning and Zack made towards the exit too, but Lazard stopped them with a hand on the pink haired female´s shoulder.

"Please wait up a bit guys. I need a word with you." the Director said, looking up at Sephiroth and herself in particular, but also at Zack, Genesis and Angeal.

"You may leave." he said dismissively to Cloud who only reluctantly followed this order. With him not being a First Class this was really none of his business.

"There is something else that is causing us trouble." the director began.

Lightning only stared at him.

Something else?!

He had to be kidding. What else could there be?!

Waiting until everybody had left the room, the director closed the door and switched on the flatscreen at the far back wall.

The picture of a map came into focus.

"I know they want you to go and retrieve the huge materia together with the Turks but there might be an even more pressing issue right now." he said.

More pressing issue?!

What could possibly be a more pressing problem than a meteorite going to crush the planet in merely 2 weeks time from then?!

"Only shortly after the discovery of meteor, scientists recorded this somewhere near the cave of north crater." the Director revealed.

Hitting the keyboard of his computer he directed their attention to the map displayed on the screen. Zooming in on the area where said signal had been detected, strange red colored dots appeared, moving around the map over the icicle area on the northern continent of the planet.

"Recordings from thermographic cameras taken around the area of north crater." Lazard explained.

"What is that?" Sephiroth asked, his forehead in wrinkles.

Lightning had never seen him look so clueless.

"We don´t know for sure. It might be nothing. But we need you guys to make sure." Lazard said.

It didn´t sound very convincing.

Her blue eyes following the movements of the red and purple blotches on the video screen, Lightning couldn´t tell what it was either.

But one thing was for sure: Whatever it was, it was something big. And it was moving.

An uneasy feeling stirring in the pitch of her stomach she instantly knew whatever it was, it didn´t mean anything good.


With the Turks taking care of gathering the huge materia, the rest of them were sent off to north crater to inspect where the strange signals the scientists had recorded were coming from.

Shin-Ra had been able to spare Rude to fly them as close to north crater as possible. Some strange force field coming from the area around the crater was messing with the heli´s instruments, making it impossible to fly over and scan the region from out of the air, so it was on them to examine the territory.

They were a recon unit. And they were going in there blind.

Rude watching over the current thermographic recordings from the heli had promised to keep them informed in case the device detected anything strange but so far there was no movement or other sign indicating the presence of something to be discovered whatsoever. Whatever it had been that had generated those recordings, it was apparently gone. Maybe the device that had detected it had been malfunctioning after all.

They could only hope as alert and a bit nervous they ventured further, securing the area.

Being in this strange place, with the knowledge that that crater had been created by the meteorite that had brought the alien she shared her body with creeped Lightning out to no end.

Of course Jenova wasn´t there anymore. She was aware. They had found her decades ago and her physical remains were most likely stored away in some freezer back at the Science Department or something, but still...

It took them hours until they made it down to the bottom of the crater, to the path leading to the entries of the mysterious northern cave, that exact cave where they had found her in, the long and winding path laying ahead of them stirring a great nervousness inside her.

Lightning didn´t have a good feeling about all of this.

She really didn´t.

And it was when they were about to round another corner, the rest of the path hidden from their view by some huge rocks, that suddenly there came Rude´s voice over the walkie-talkie Sephiroth was carrying in his right hand.

"Guys, be careful there is something huge out there." the Turk warned.

His words doing nothing to make her feel any better, Lightning exchanged anxious glances with the others before carefully they carried on.

Advancing further down the path and around another bend, that feeling of foreboding intensifying, Lightning´s heart suddenly skipped a beat as she perceived a deep rumble from infront of them. The ground slightly shaking, she sensed something huge moving, making it´s way towards them.

"Abort mission! Do you hear me!?" Rude´s panicked voice carried over from the portable two-way radio transceiver, everybody´s eyes darting towards Sephiroth who was holding the device in his right hand.

„Abort mission! Return to the hel-"

The silver haired first class intently staring back at them, he quickly moved to switch it off.

Narrowing his eyes, he looked over at his former student questioningly.

Their gazes locking, Lightning could hear that rumble again, felt the earth vibrate beneath her feet.

She was about to piss her pants.

"Did you hear that?" she asked fearfully, already dreading what was about to come.

The general just gave one of his tight nods.

The others staring at them as though they´d both gone crazy, the pink haired first class realized they couldn´t hear a thing. Not yet.

Signaling the rest of them to stay quiet, the silver haired general carefully made to round the next corner. Following him as silently as possible, it was after rounding the next bend in the path that they finally got their first glimpse at it, that thing that later on would be described as "Ultimate Weapon".

A gigantic draconian monster, black and purple in color, equipped with a pair of powerful wings as well as arms, it approached them on it´s four legs wagging it´s ugly long tail.

Claire Farron had never seen a monster that big. Not even in the simulation training room.

She definitely couldn´t put a name to it. Had no idea what it was or where it had come from. Only one thing was for sure, it was intent on killing them. Now.

"Shit, what is that thing?!" she heard Genesis mutter under his breath.

The intimidating creature monitoring their every move, it threateningly took a step in their direction.

"Maybe you guys should leave." Sephiroth suddenly said to no one in particular it seemed.

Lightning looked up at him in bewilderment.

Leave?!

"I became commander to lead you into battle, not to your death. From here on everybody continues at their own discretion. I´m not taking responsibility for this." he said. Looking in the eyes of every single one of them in turn he took out the walkie-talkie and threw it over for Zack to catch.

"Go." he advised.

Zack´s eyes huge as saucers, he gave his pink haired friend a puzzled look.

Lightning only shrugged her shoulders.

If Sephiroth advised you to leave, it definitely was time to get your ass out of there.

Silently she watched the legendary war hero draw his Masamune, slowly, carefully, as if not to annoy that thing. The others were watching with wide eyes too as signaling them to stay back he carefully approached the beast.

Her eyes never leaving their target, Lightning took out Blaze Edge too. Just in case.

She could see Angeal get the Buster Sword from behind his back.

She had never actually seen him wield it. This could only mean one thing: Shit was about to get real.

She didn´t know how she´d gotten there or why she did it, but suddenly the pink haired female found herself next to Sephiroth, her gun blade drawn, ready and in fighting stance.

Looking over her shoulder she found his beautiful mako green eyes again.

There was a small smile ghosting over his pale lips.

No. Angry or not. She wouldn´t let him go against that thing alone.

Readying herself she nodded at him.

Now or never.

The silver haired legend returned the gesture. And then they went for it.

Acting on instinct Claire Farron put Blaze Edge into gun mode and aiming straight at the red round shaped opening in the creature´s chest she´d taken as it´s weak spot, she fired away.

It didn´t seem to have the desired effect though as instead of doing any harm, the bullets merely seemed to aggravate the creature, as immediately it began it´s assault.

Bombarding them with a range of fire elemental attacks it barely gave them time to dodge.

Lightning didn´t know what the others were doing, she just focused hard on not getting slaughtered by that thing. Sephiroth and her going at it simultaneously, their combined strength didn´t seem to make much difference against that damn thing whatsoever.

It happened in the blink of an eye, the second Sephiroth and her chose to attack again, the beast suddenly charged forward. Launching itself at them at full speed it attacked them in a powerful assault once more.

There was nothing she could do.

Losing the ground beneath her feet she felt her body hurled up into the air and landing with her head on a nearby rock she passed out for a moment.

"Lightning!" It was Zack´s voice, worried, panicky.

His face looming above her, she realized she had to have been out.

Getting up immediately she managed to look up in time to witness Sephiroth being attacked by that beast again.

"Sephiroth!" she cried. She suddenly wanted to get up and fight by his side again, but Zack held her back.

"Don´t!" he yelled.

It was only seconds later that Sephiroth was hurled through the air as well, coming to land a few meters away from them with a heavy thud.

The beast now having no one to stand in it´s way, it quickly approached their small unit, readying itself for it´s final blow.

"Hurry up guys! Make sure you get out of here!" Genesis ordered.

Placing himself in front of them right into the beast´s way he took out a tiny red orb, a materia Lightning had never seen him use before.

She couldn´t believe her eyes when suddenly he called out to summon Bahamut, the massive dragon like creature blasting out of the orb and soaring through the air to recklessly throw itself at their opponent.

Seizing the opportunity, the rest of them just ran for it.

It was only a few steps down the path that Lightning realized Sephiroth wasn´t with them.

Scanning the area behind her for the silver haired first class she quickly found him in the exact same spot he had landed after Ultimate Weapons last attack.

Sure, that thing had gotten him for good.

The two beasts fighting above them in a storm of flames, Lightning so didn´t feel like going anywhere near them ever again.

But shit. Bastard or not, she couldn´t possibly leave the general to die, could she?! No. No way!

Crawling over to where he was still lying on the floor, Lightning prayed the damn beasts would be too occupied with themselves to notice them.

Reaching the spot where the general lay sprawled on the ground, for the first time in her life the pink haired female found her former mentor helpless, volnurable. The silver haired first class lying infront of her unconscious, despite the danger of the situation, Claire Farron couldn´t help but notice how peaceful he looked, how handsome.

No. No matter what had happened between them she could never possibly leave him there.

Extending a hand she quickly nudged his shoulder.

It was no use.

„Come on wake up..." she murmured as she gave him a tentative shake.

Nothing.

Fuck.

She needed him to wake up. She couldn´t possibly carry him all the way back.

Risking a look at the beasts above them going at each other to kill she quickly inched closer to cup her comrade´s lifeless face.

Concentrating hard on making the man infront of her wake up she tried to focus her Jenova cells to connect with his just like he had done when he had healed her wrists.

„Wake up you idiot!" she pleaded with him, gently slapping his cheek in an attempt to bring him back.

Oh, he was so going to kill her...

The battle above them getting worse and worse by the second, ashes and debries raining down on them hard, Lightning found their time running short. It was a wonder none of the beasts had noticed them yet. And if they did, they sure were done for.

„Wake up! Wake up!" she urged, shaking and slapping the man in front of her.

The giant beast above them turned it´s ugly head.

„WAKE UP!" she yelled, hitting her former mentor straight in the face.

Mako green eyes shot open with a start.

They stared at her completely perplexed, surprise written all over the handsome face that had looked so peaceful only seconds ago.

„Thanks Etro, there you are." she murmured while the silver haired first class´ hand went to his no doubt stinging cheek.

„We need to get out of here!" the pink haired female urged, grabbing his hand and hauling her comrade up to his feel.

„Fast!"

The general leaning on her shoulder for support, the two of them quickly managed to get themselves around the next bend and out of the beasts´ immidiate range of attack.

They sagged against the blank rock wall for the pink haired female to catch her breath and the silver haired first class to take care of his injuries.

Caire Farron watched in fascination as her former mentor closed his eyes to heal the wounds he had received in the battle

Oh, how much she wished that she could do that too...

Shit, her alien powers had to be good for something!

General Sephiroth Crescent opened his eyes again to curious icy blue ones.

„I wish I could do that too." Lightning said at the same time as he said: „Thank you."

The man infront of her still looking surprised that she had actually saved him instead of feeding him to the monsters, the pink haired female felt her cheeks blush slightly.

Why hadn´t she fed him to the beasts exactly?! Wasn´t that what he deserved? Wasn´t it exactly what she would have wanted only hours ago?!

There was no time to dwell on any of it now.

„Are you okay?" she asked somewhat carefully.

The man infront her only gave a nod.

„Okay good, let´s get out of here."

They needed to get out of there indeed.

Nobody knew for sure how long Genesis´ Bahamut would manage to hold that beast off.

It was from a safe seat in the heli, Rude getting them out of there in no time, that they watched Ultimate Weapon rip Genesis´ Dragon King to shreds before kicking off from the ground hard, it stretched it´s wings and bolted skywards.


The second the helicopter hit the HQ helideck they directly headed to the briefing room. And they were not the only ones to have gathered there it seemed.

A bunch of scientists as well as Heidegger and some other people from the Public Safety Department and the Weapon Development Department were already inside, heatedly discussing the latest developements.

They all looked up when they noticed who had entered.

Their eyes immediately falling on Lightning and Sephiroth, their best operatives, both their clothes singed from the massive beast´s fire attacks and their faces bruised and cut in various places, the pink haired female guessed they didn´t make for a very comforting sight.

There was silence for a bit, then Lazard finally spoke up:

"And? What did you guys find?" he asked carefully, hesitantly, discouraged at the state of their clothes and the grim expression on their faces.

Neither the general nor the pink haired female seemed eager to answer. It was Angeal Hewley who took a step forward and described what they had encountered there, Genesis describing how that monster had crushed his Bahamut within minutes.

General Sephiroth Crescent didn´t say a single word, he just presented Lazard with one of his death glares.

Zack keeping to the background all the while, Lightning didn´t really listen until they were over with explaining and there were murmurs and conversations breaking out all over the room again.

Unable to catch a word in the ensuing noise of everybody talking at once she quickly felt out of place again.

"Sir?! Thermographic cameras have detected a huge flying object approaching Junon! Also there has been detected movement under the surface of the ocean near the Junon Underwater Reactor..." one of the scientists suddenly piped up. All the heads turning into his direction, silence suddenly befell the room once more.

"We are actually provided with video footage to support this information..." the guy clad in white robes informed.

"Video Material?" Lazard asked, his eyebrows riding up. "Project it onto the video screen, please."

Everybody´s heads turning to the back wall there came the low quality recording of the giant dragon shaped beast they´d been attempting to fight earlier, soaring through the air.

Lightning heard people gasp in horror as discussion broke out around them yet again.

She didn´t bother to catch on.

Turning to face the others, she heard Sephiroth ask what everybody else was thinking: "What is that thing...?"

"They are Weapons of course." came a voice from behind their backs. An eerie high pitched male voice, causing the hair on the back of Lightning´s neck to stand on end.

That voice, it sounded strangely familiar...

She slowly turned around to find herself face to face with Professor Hojo and felt her knees go weak. The sight of him, it creeped her out to no end.

He must have sensed her fear for looking at her he gave a little snigger before quickly he elaborated:

"They are monsters created by the planet itself. Massive bio-mechanical engines of destruction designed to protect the planet. They appear whenever the planet is in danger, reducing everything to nothingness." Giving another snigger at this as if enjoying some crazy private joke, the man in the lab coat took a short pause before he carried on.

"They were apparently created 2000 years ago when the extraterrestrial life form Jenova fell on the planet to destroy us all..." he said looking over at Sephiroth and Lightning, a cynical smirk forming on his pale thin lips.

"The planet autonomously spawned the Weapons to fight Jenova but they ended up on not being needed as the Cetra sealed her away anyway, luckily that was, for us to find her so many years afterwards..." the professor gave an excited giggle at the thought.

"With the threat to the planet contained, the Weapons crystallized into Mako at the north crater awaiting the day when the planet would be endangered again and they would be needed to protect it once more. What a pity that now they are seeking to destroy us..." Hojo concluded.

"Destroy us? But why would they want that?!" Zack asked obviously confused.

"Hm... Nobody knows for sure..." the Professor said shrugging his shoulders.

"Maybe because that fat incompetent fool over there and the red clad beauty were eager to use things they had no clue about, trying to convert something into a weapon they had no control over. Something that unbeknownst to them was actually a weapon already..." he added derisively.

"What? Are you talking about the black materia?!" Sephiroth suddenly threw in.

Professor Hojo looking over at him appreciatively, he just gave his creepy smirk.

"Hahaha... You fools! Did you think that meteorite decided to come and erase the planet of it´s own accord?!" The head of science department said cryptically.

Lightning couldn´t help but stare.

The black materia had caused all of this?!

That damn thing they had risked their lives to extract from the temple of the ancients?!

But... No... That couldn´t be... Or could it?

None of them able to say a word, the crowd around them still engrossed in conversation, the crazy scientist turned his attention back to the pink haired woman infront of him.

Eying her curiously he turned to talk to her this time:

"How are you doing, my dear?" he asked, to then lean forward to whisper into her ear.

"You seem to have developed exceptionally well..."

The closeness of his voice made icy shivers run down her spine.

She could feel the bespectacled man´s foul breath on her cheek, on her neck, on her ear.

"A full success I might say..." he added, her eyes widening in horror as he extended a spidery hand to touch her forearm.

"You should come and visit me in the science department some time... We could conduct some tests... Your own little contribution to science if you´d like..." the professor bribed, his eyes sparkling with malicious interest.

She could sense he wanted to say more, a lot more, but she was saved the trouble of actually hearing it by Sephiroth who, pushing the creepy bastard away from her, inserted his body between her and the head of science department, protecting her from the Professor´s creepy advances.

Yes. She was grateful, infinitely grateful, to have the General´s broad shoulder´s shield her from the madman´s view.

She had felt naked under the weird man´s scrutinizing stare. She had felt weak.

Yes. She couldn´t deny that the presence of that scientist was unnerving to her. He scared her. It was weird. Although she could probably have killed him with her left hand pinky finger in the blink of an eye, the professor´s presence somehow made her feel helpless and volnurable. Desperate.

"Keep your hands off her, Hojo!" the silver haired General hissed threateningly.

"Ah Sephiroth... You look like you could need a little make shot." the Professor said. A freaky smile making it´s way onto his ugly features he gave an insane cackle that made the blood in both their veins run cold.

The silver haired man tensing, Lightning heard him swallow audibly.

Of course he knew.

Hojo always knew...


Over the course of the next days, more and more of those Weapons emerged to attack cities and military facilities all over Gaia. If things continued at this rate, there wouldn´t be much left of the world to get destroyed by that meteorite anymore.

With that thing in the sky that only visible under the telescope at first was now close enough to be made out with the naked eye (and it was growing bigger with every day) Shin-Ra wasn´t able to keep it´s approach a secret for long.

The Turks having managed to gather the four huge materia, they had been loaded into that rocked and launched off into the sky. Nobody knew for sure how long it would take for it to reach it´s target or whether the mission would actually be a success at all.

People´s faces were directed skywards, tinged in Meteor´s alien pinkish sheen, as silently they prayed for Shin-Ra to set things right.

Ironically as it was that meteorite wasn´t the worst of their problems though and as the Weapons went on their rampage, wreaking havoc all over the world, Shin-Ra wanted them, SOLDIER, to put an end to them.

An impossible task if one might have said so.

Lazard sending them to Junon to get rid of the Ultimate Weapon, which they had faced before, as well as Sapphire Weapon, as they had baptized the beast aquatic in nature that had begun to destroy the Junon underwater reactor, General Sephiroth Crescent simply refused to lead this mission.

He wouldn´t endanger his comrades like that. He wouldn´t lead them to their deaths.

What they asked of them this time was a task impossible to accomplish, that much was for sure.

They were sending them on a suicide mission.

He wasn´t going to do it.

Also he had other issues with the company as well.

How they treated them as their employees...

What they were doing to the planet...

How they had accidentally summoned Meteor with the black materia, playing with fire like that and provoking the extermination of all mankind...

The list was endless.

And he so wasn´t intent on being a part of this anymore. Not any longer.

He was just so angry.

He was so disappointed.

They had sent them to get themselves killed without batting an eyelid and now, now he had received instructions to take his best operatives and fight against those beasts again. Two of them!

That was enough.

He was so fed up with them.

He felt backstabbed and abandoned by that company he had called home for all of his life, realizing he had only called it home because they had taken his chances of having a real home away from him in the first place, before he´d even been born. The thought of it made his anger flare up even worse.

But worst of all were Lightning´s words.

Those words that had left her lips when she had been sitting next to that creek, crying her eyes out. Those words that, no matter what he did, he couldn´t get out of his head anymore.

We are monsters Sephiroth... I don´t want to be a monster."

And he figured that he didn´t want to be a monster either. Not anymore.

It was already late in the evening when he made his way up to Lazard´s office. Entering without knocking he found the director perched behind his computer, as usual.

"I quit." he said, his voice strong, determined.

Lazard only raised an amused eyebrow before chuckling slightly he abandoned his work to look up into the general´s angry mako eyes.

"Interesting... How come?" the Director asked.

Where should he start?

"You can´t quit..." Lazard said after a moment of silence, causing the general´s eyebrows to ride up in return.

"You are not an employee. You are property of the company. A lot of research funds ran into your creation." he informed, a smug expresion plastered on his face.

His words cut into the silver haired man like the sharp edge of a knife.

General Sephiroth Crescent felt his body go numb.

"You aren´t like the other SOLDIER operatives, Sephiroth. You are merely a tool. A tool we created to fight for us. A weapon if you like and you will do as instructed." Lazard said, getting up from his chair and presenting the man infront of him with a complacent smirk.

Feeling the rage inside him rise, threatening to boil over any second, the silver haired first class didn´t dare to speak. Afraid he might lose his self-control, he concentrated very hard not to snap and rip that insolent bastard´s head off with his bare hands.

He felt his hands shake as he balled them into fists, the nails of his fingers digging into his palms so hard they left small crescent shaped marks, he fought hard to keep his temper under control.

"Also it might interest you to hear that the rocket mission failed." the director added at an afterthought, his demeanor suddenly serious.

"It failed?!"

"Yes" Lazard confirmed.

"The explosion fragmented the meteorite´s surface, but it wasn´t destroyed as we had hoped."

For a few seconds the general just stared at him, trying hard to understand, to grasp the meaning of all of this.

"It will reach Gaia just a few days from now." he added. "You see... Quitting will not make much of a difference for you anymore... Why not die a hero?"

Resisting the desire to kill Lazard in a very painful way, the general directed his rage at the wall next to his head instead.

His fist slammed into it hard, creating a deep hole where just seconds ago his superior´s face had been.

Cracks formed from the impact, blemishing the once smooth surface.

He could see the shock on the bespectacled man´s face, trepidation, understanding, as slowly he realized the general had just spared his life, a life that would be taken in merely days anyway.

What did it matter anymore.

That jerk wasn´t worth spending the few remaining days of his life under arrest.

Fighting hard to regain his composure, the general glared at him for another few seconds before finally he turned to exit.

He knew he needed to get out of there, fast.

Hurrying out of that fag´s office, not looking where he was going, his eyes trained on his feet, he ran straight into Lightning.

Knocking the files she´d been carrying right out of her hands, he opted to ignore her protests as brushing past her, he headed straight for the elevators.

"Sephiroth?! What´s wrong?!" he heard her voice trailing after him.

Not annoyed.

Just concerned.

Either way he couldn´t bring himself to confront her. He didn´t want her to witness his rage. Didn´t want to loose control around her.

He didn´t want to hurt her. Ever again.


Claire Farron was on her way to Director Lazard´s office to hand in her report, when suddenly her former mentor came storming out of the room, obviously infuriated.

Running straight into her and knocking her folder out of her hands, the neatly sorted papers sailing to the floor in a mess, the silver haired man hurried away and out of sight without even as much as an appology.

Great. Now she had to sort through all of it again.

Thank you, General Asshole!

But for some reason, she couldn´t help but worry.

Sephiroth losing his temper like this, it was never a good sign. She wondered what had upset him like that.

Entering the office to report to Lazard, she found the director cowering against the back wall, looking slightly disheveled, beneath a fist sized hole in the concrete.

It didn´t take long for her to reconstruct the scene in front of her inner eye.

She wondered what Lazard had done that had angered Sephiroth so much.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, her voice emotionless, cold. She really could care less.

The man on the floor didn´t answer, but got up into a standing position instead. Looking her straight in the eye she found a funny glint in them, as if he had just come up with some crazy idea.

"Farron... What would you say if I offered you the position of General..." he began.

Her eyes almost bulged out of her head..

General?! But... Sephiroth...

What the hell was going on here?!

"You know... Take Sephiroth´s place..." the director added cautiously, his eyes, wary, monitoring her carefully.

"Why... What about Sephiroth?" she asked, not getting where this conversation was supposed to lead.

"Sephiroth is refusing to carry out Shin-Ra´s orders... So..." the Director trailed off.

"So?" she prompted.

"So I thought it was time for a more skilled operative to take the lead." Lazard explained, his voice smooth.

Lightning couldn´t help but wonder what orders Sephiroth had rejected.

He wasn´t one to reject orders like ever.

"Shin-Ra needs somebody to lead the war against those Weapons. You, as one of SOLDIER´s most gifted operatives... With your abilities... Leading an elite squad of First Class members... Victory will be your´s." Lazard tried to pursuade her but it was no use.

Shaking her head, the pink haired female only gave a snort.

Thinking to emerge from a battle like this victorious would be stupid. There was no hope to win a war such as this. Going to fight against those beasts meant suicide.

After all the company had done to her, had taken from her, she wasn´t willing to sacrifice her life for them.

No way.

Thinking about Sephiroth she quickly turned to leave for the exit. She suddenly felt like she needed to talk to him and she had a sense she knew exactly where she´d find him.

"Think about all those people... Those civilians out there... Families... Children... They need to be protected... They need to be saved... They need your help!" Lazard tried once more, his voice a desperate undertone to it now.

Claire Farron stopped dead in her tracks.

Right in the doorway she turned around to look at the Director one last time.

"I am not a hero, Director. I am a monster."


The pink haired warrior left without looking back even once. Sighing deeply, director Lazard let his body drop into the business chair behind his desk.

"Father forgive us, for we don´t know what we´re doing..."

The words fell from his lips without him even realizing, a low whisper in the empty silence of the room.

He wondered whether they´d been doing the right thing. Tempering with nature like they had. Playing gods. They had had no idea what they´d been doing, hadn´t given much of it a second thought.

Processing the lifestream like they had, gradually killing the planet a tiny bit more and more everyday just so they could lead comfortable lives...

Stealing artifacts belonging to an ancient life form. Trying to use them for their own purposes. Using them without even knowing what they´d do...

Creating powerful creatures, genetically modified fighters, weapons. Weapons having their own minds, their own freewill, unable for them to control...

Maybe there was a limit to what they could ask of them. To what they could do to them. To the whole planet.

A limit they had crossed a while ago now.

He hadn´t been able to shake off that feeling before.

That maybe one day their creations would turn against them. Their revenge singing them, burning them. Tormenting them, just as they had done to them.

Maybe the time had come they finally paid for their sins. Maybe it was what they deserved after all.

But they hadn´t known better! They hadn´t been thinking! They had believed the world was theirs to rule, that it was for them to decide about it´s fate, it´s future.

And in some way they had, having bestowed that apocalypse upon themselves.

But now that the time to pay the price for their ignorance had finally arrived, there was no way for them to get out of it.

Still, they hadn´t known what they´d been doing. They hadn´t know anything. Those guys from the weapon development department... All those scientists... Everyone...

They´d thought they´d stand above, above everything.

But they had been mistaken.

People were only animals after all. Animals, pretending to be gods.