Gift of the Goddess
Everyone had more-or-less gone their own ways that evening, though somehow Weiss found himself in Sephiroth's company, Genesis had a chat with Kariya while Shalua watched on, and Vincent sat with Ed for awhile. Rude had disappeared and Tseng hadn't come back inside until both returned together quite late. Angeal had also gone out, but had come back much earlier than the other two men, and had been carrying a few small plants in pots he could tend.
Morning had seen Genesis sitting up, just opening a book as Ed crashed on the couch next to him, apparently unable to sleep or woken by nightmares. As such, the red haired man began reading LOVELESS out loud—and the blond found himself drifting into sleep to the melodic way the other man read, especially when he was focused on the poem specifically. Oddly, it was soothing Ed to listen to it, even though he wasn't much one for poetry or fiction stories and understood next to none of it as he was drifting.
By the time he was coming back to wakefulness, the rest of the group was watching in some amusement as Genesis started the poem over again from the beginning, intending to stop once he finished.
"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end
The Goddess descends from the sky
Wings of light and dark spread afar
She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting.
"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess
We seek it thus, and take to the sky
Ripples form on the water's surface
The wandering soul knows no rest.
"There is no hate, only joy
For you are beloved by the Goddess
Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds.
"Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul
Pride is lost
Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.
"My friend, do you fly away now?
To a world that abhors you and I?
All that awaits you is a somber morrow
No matter where the winds may blow.
"My friend, your desire
Is the bringer of life, the gift of the Goddess.
"Even if the morrow is barren of promises
Nothing shall forestall my return.
"My friend, the fates are cruel
There are no dreams, no honor remains
The arrow has left the bow of the Goddess.
"My soul, corrupted by vengeance
Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey
In my own salvation
And your eternal slumber.
"Legend shall speak
Of sacrifice at world's end
The wind sails over the water's surface
Quietly, but surely.
"Even if the morrow is barren of promises
Nothing shall forestall my return
To become the dew that quenches the land
To spare the sands, the seas, the skies
I offer thee this silent sacrifice." (1)
Suddenly, Ed pushed himself up and turned to look at Genesis as the man was about to close his book, and said sharply, "Read that again.
Blinking, the red haired man said, "I know it's an incredible work of poetry, but—"
"Not even close," the blond snorted, swinging his legs around to put his feet on the floor and sitting up. "No, it's not poetry I'm thinking about right now. Just read it again, this time maybe with a little less mysticism. If you can manage that, anyway."
Everyone else was watching with curious interest now, wondering what was going through Eden's mind as he listened to Genesis read the poem again and ticked something off on his fingers along the way.
"Well?" Rude asked after the red haired SOLDIER had read through it again.
"Chaos and Omega Theory—that's what the bloody poem is about (2)," the teen announced, and almost all the others in the room sagged and nearly fell over in shock at the announcement.
"How do you figure that?" Kariya finally asked, shaking his head. The rest looked as confused as him, especially Genesis, who looked like he'd been set adrift at sea without a raft, let alone a paddle.
"Right from the very first line—'when the war of the beasts brings about the world's end.' The beasts are Chaos, possibly other Weapons, and any forces trying to destroy the world like monsters, beasts. They herald the world's end. The Goddess descending from the sky and spreading wings of light is directly referencing Omega preparing to leave the Planet. Her guiding us to bliss with a gift everlasting is the continuation of life elsewhere in a repeated, endless cycle. And that's just the first few lines! It's so obvious," Eden replied.
"But the meaning is only valid if you can continue it right through the poem, and no world would abhor a Lifestream bringing it life," Genesis jumped in.
Ed's shrewd, golden eyes met his as he challenged, "Oh really? Do you seriously believe this world is the only one with life on it? How do you think another Lifestream would react to an interloper from some other, destroyed world? I can't imagine the existing Lifestream would be too happy with the newcomer." Everyone else paled at the thought, but Ed paused and blinked before straightening and adding, "In that case...Maybe Jenova was another world's Lifestream which was 'abhorred' here, couldn't make new life because there already was life here, and went off the deep end..."
That produced choking from Genesis, Angeal, and Sephiroth as the last gasped out, "Are you saying we are carrying another world's Lifestream inside us?"
"Well, Jenova cells do seem to be remarkably adaptable, parasitic in nature—but wouldn't that be an initial necessity to begin establishing life on a world without life until the arrival of the Lifestream from a dead world?" Ed asked. "Maybe if things had gone differently, Jenova could have been a natural part of the Planet, rather than the destructive parasite it became. I'm sure 'Lifestream' is the wrong word for it, though, because Mako isn't genetic, but Jenova's cells are."
"...Meaning what?" Tseng asked, moving over to sit beside Eden, his gaze intense.
"Omega becomes a vessel, a compilation of all of the Lifestream energy, the 'Goddess' or sentience of the Planet, and the genetic data of everything existing on the world it came from. Omega, being a physical form, stores all of that genetic data, and its consciousness becomes one and the same as the Goddess, while the energy is contained within it much the way our existing blood veins do our blood. When Omega lands on another potentially habitable world, it retains its form until life is established on that world, seeping out Lifestream and releasing bits of genetic data to begin development and growth. If all there is on another world is rock, the genetic data it begins releasing has to be powerful enough to create life, either to manipulate the rock into other objects or to start up life out of air—or, I guess what it would be releasing as genetic data would be equivalent to bacteria. Omega, in the meantime, has become the Goddess and is directing all that development, so is both the consciousness and genetic data of an entire world.
"If we assume that to be true, which there is a strong likelihood of, that would mean 'Jeh-nova' was also an Omega, and all of the genetic data of a planet is stored in its cells; cells which have been transferred to people like Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal. It means they are effectively shapeshifters, but their forms aren't those of this world, they're the forms of another one we know nothing about. The cells have to be exceptionally durable to survive, which transfers that same durability to their hosts—hence the reason the three of them are so damned strong. In their case, it's not even the Mako doing it, and it would be almost impossible to actually kill them even if they didn't have the enhancements because Jenova's cells won't willingly let their host die.
"Jenova herself, if she was once a world consciousness like the Goddess Minerva, probably had a race similar to humans on her world, which is how people can take her cells into their bodies and still remain human. The monsters we have here were probably her cells back when she first landed infecting existing plants and animals, which is why they're all so strange. Now, if she had humans—or even another sentient race—on her world, don't you suppose they could have made the same damned mistakes we're making right now? If they drove her to the state of releasing Chaos and Omega, especially through the kind of wanton destruction caused by Mako Reactors and torture and murder and weapons of mass destruction—how much Lifestream would have been left for her to take with her?" At that, Ed paused and drew in a deep breath, and everyone else in the room looked stunned and horrified, even as they looked puzzled by where he was going.
Until Genesis said quietly, "Omega wouldn't have had enough Lifestream energy to be stable, and she would have left her world—and arrived on ours—badly damaged. She would not only have found no place to begin again as it was already populated, but if it's true and she found a race existing here which was similar to her own destroyers, she would have retaliated...in defense of what remained of her life. She would have been driven to insanity and become exactly the kind of 'Calamity' she was named by the Ancients. And unless we do something for Minerva, our world and its consciousness stands to go the same way and re-create the same disaster."
"Then Reeve's work to refine the Reactors for efficiency becomes especially important," Angeal said quietly, drawing in a deep breath. "As well as Eden's thought that we have to find a new power source and a way to return energy to the Planet."
"Will Shinra just let a new power source exist?" Kariya asked in a dry tone. "I think not. Though, they may actually consent to finding a way to put energy back into the Planet if it means there's going to be that much more to take from it."
"We don't have to tell them we're looking for a new energy source until it's time to switch over to it. More than anything, I want the transition to be smooth for people—that they may experience thirty seconds or a minute of power loss before the power comes back on," the blond teen explained. "Done the right way, I'm sure that's possible, but if you really think Reeve is trustworthy, he would be the one to ask. Either way, whatever we do or don't start with that, the immediate requirements are making the Reactors more efficient and returning energy to the Planet."
"To do this, we truly need as many people as we can get," Tseng commented. His gaze then went to Vincent and he asked, "Would you consider rejoining the Turks? Your original identity would remain hidden, as Veld would assign you a code name to work under, and I'm sure your looks can be modified just enough for anyone you used to know to no longer recognize you."
"I wouldn't count on that where Hojo is concerned," Vincent replied. "I'm one of his experiments—he knows my eyes turned red and is—intimately knowledgeable—of my other features, long hair or not."
"What are you going to do with Weiss?" Shalua asked as she frowned deeply. "If all of you are going back to Shinra, that would leave me to take care of him by myself, and I don't like my odds."
"Am I that frightening to you?" Weiss asked curiously, looking a little amused.
"You almost killed my brother, thanks," she replied acidly.
"We'll need to hide him, and it's best to hide him in plain sight," Tseng answered. "I've already talked to Veld about claiming 'Weiss' also died in that attack, so hiding him should be a lot easier, since no one will be looking. Speaking of which, we could do the same with Shalua. Before anyone gets up in arms, let me explain." His added words made Genesis, Angeal, and Kariya calm down and wait silently for him to go on. "We have a very useful function alongside the Shinra Military Academy, the Shinra Scholastic Academy, which actually share space with designated areas for each. (3) It's essentially a school based on the fourth and fifth floors of the Shinra Building in Midgar. Employees' children and siblings attend, along with other random students, such as occasional orphans or Slum children who have shown a desire to better their living situations through hard work. While Turks can't openly have family, there's a notation said family can use to be given automatic acceptance to either or both."
Pausing, the Wutain man took a look around at the younger people in the room. "Our forces—Turks and SOLDIERs, as well as most other departments—take on rookies in their fields beginning at age fourteen with a few exceptions, most of those chosen from the Academy. Academy students often live in their own homes and commute to the Shinra building to attend classes, and are guaranteed a job somewhere in the company when they officially graduate at eighteen, assuming they weren't chosen to join a department sooner. The classes include combat, Materia use, and all fields of academia—you're free to choose a focus or take general courses, even to specify your registration with a particular Academy, which changes the Departments keeping the greatest eye on the individual's progress."
"That's assuming we want to join Shinra," Shalua glared.
Tseng's eyes went to her and he said, "It's a quick and easy way to get an excellent education, and you're free to turn down offers from anyone who asks. You're even welcome to go elsewhere after graduation, and there are independent people in most fields who vie for graduates of Shinra Academy, both forms. You also have the option of choosing both academia and various combat lessons. One of the Turks has a sister who is aiming to be a Turk as well, so she's registered with the Military Academy and takes multiple combat and investigative academic courses with a Materia course. She has other courses she takes just out of personal interest as well, which fall under the Scholastic Academy's list. You could do the opposite and register with the Scholastic Academy while taking a few combat or Materia courses."
After a silence, Genesis said, "While I can understand the justification for Shalua's attendance—myself and Kariya both—what about Weiss'?"
At that question, Tseng's gaze moved first to an amused Eden, then to Sephiroth, to Weiss, and finally landed on Vincent. "Technically, we only know you through Eden, and you won't be registered in our database under your real name at any point, so it's actually a very easy thing for us to claim Weiss as your son—it wouldn't be safe to form a familial connection openly between you and Sephiroth. As a Turk's relative, Weiss would be granted approval to attend the Academy, no questions asked and no justification needed. No one who knows either of you would connect that with your real pasts. Also, for both your sakes, changing your looks would be a good thing, especially with how obvious white hair is. Black is easy to hide—even red is easier to hide than white."
"Er...You're giving me a fake family? I don't even know if we'll get along," Weiss commented in confusion.
"Family doesn't always get along at the best of times," Ed answered dryly, gaze amused as he looked at the younger teen. "Hell, I had a good relationship with my brother, and we still sometimes got angry enough to beat the crap out of each other."
"Same here with me and Shelke!" Shalua added in mild amusement.
"Even your best friend you'll sometimes have disagreements with," Angeal added, his amused gaze finding Genesis' equally amused one.
"Also, we may well turn out to be a very good family," Sephiroth added, making Weiss look at him in some surprise. "Given the Turks' rules about 'family', you are entirely correct to say it is better not to open the connection between myself and...my father, just as he could not have an obvious link to Weiss. Due to Hojo's knowledge of both of us, showing such a connection would literally give it away to him. However, there is no reason I cannot be friendly with Weiss for no reason in particular. Especially if his goal is SOLDIER. Perhaps we may choose to share some information of a hinted family connection at some point, just to confuse Hojo, though I would be tempted to play on the connection to my human mother rather than my father."
Genesis snorted at that as several others looked amused. "That's possible. So, if we go with that, Vincent has to join the Turks, and Weiss needs a new name."
"Also, where will I live?" Weiss added.
"I can put up with you part-time, I guess," Shalua huffed. "If we're spending most of our days at school, that doesn't leave much home time outside of doing homework."
"You can also stay at the Academy to do homework," Tseng informed her. "The Academy doors open at six in the morning and close at ten at night. There's a cafeteria where you get your food and drinks for free whenever you like, and all of the facilities on both the fourth and fifth floors are open to you between six in the morning and ten at night. Technically, there's also a few floors for Academy students to stay in, but I think they're full-up right now, otherwise the Turk's sister would be living there."
"Weiss will need black hair," Vincent said suddenly, then sighed as the others looked at him. "I obviously never got to name Sephiroth, but if Weiss is supposed to be 'my son', by all rights, he'd have a name I would actually have given a child of mine. It would also deflect Hojo's attention from my appearance, as the person he experimented on isn't physically capable of reproducing anymore—for me to have a son, I couldn't be that same person. As for a name, Anthony Valentine (4)."
"Wouldn't that give the game away to Hojo?" Angeal asked in concern. "Look up the name 'Valentine' in the Shinra database," Vincent replied evenly.
Tseng tapped his chin thoughtfully with one finger, then pulled out his phone and dialed a number. When it was answered, he said, "Check the Shinra database for hits on the name 'Valentine'." A silence followed, then the man blinked in surprise and said, "Thanks. Also, tell Veld we now have Vant. He'll know what you mean." He then hung up and looked at the red eyed man to say, "We have forty-three past and present employees with that name. Your code name is Vant."
"Vant..." the man blinked, then nodded at Weiss. "What do you need to do for him to apply to the Academy, assuming Anthony is a name he doesn't mind using?"
"I don't mind it," Weiss agreed.
"That's no problem—Genesis can take both Anthony and Shalua to register when we arrive back in Midgar," Tseng nodded.
"I wonder if I could make Mirage give him permanently black hair so he won't have to keep dying the roots," Ed asked thoughtfully, looking down at his glove, where his Mirage Materia was slotted. "If it works on Weiss—sorry, Anthony—it'll probably also work on Vi—Vant's eyes, only leaving us the question of which color we want them to be. Maybe we'll see what Anthony looks like with black hair, and if his looks are a fair match to Vant's, we'll make Vant's eyes a different color so Anthony can say they're his mother's eyes."
Tseng chuckled and Kariya smirked as the others stared at Eden, and Shalua asked, "But can you even change 'the arrays' enough to do that?"
"I should be able to. Just give me a minute," the blond teen said, closing his eyes and opening his connection to the Materia through the slots. He looked at the various arrays for the two, then considered how he'd change another's appearance—which resulted in the Materia imprinting a new series of arrays into itself based on the arrays he was already considering. His eyes opened wide in shock and he said, "Holy—score one for the intelligence and adaptability of Materia."
"Why, what happened?" Genesis asked with a frown.
"Have you ever found one of your Materia adding a command to it when you went looking for a new usage array?" Ed asked him in return.
At first, the red haired man frowned in puzzlement, then his eyes widened and he said, "Yes—I have a 'homing' feature on my Elemental, and the spell 'Flash' (5) between Fire and Fire 2 on my Fire. I hadn't thought of it much before. What did yours do?"
"Spell called 'Change' (6) between Multi and Invis on my Mirage. When your Fire or Elemental Mastered and reproduced, did the baby Materia have Flash or homing?"
"...Elemental isn't quite at Mastered, but—yes, I believe that new Fire Materia off mine has the same list of spells."
"Okay—we'll have to talk more about that later, but for now—Yes, it appears there is a function to change appearance. For how long, I don't know, but let me give this a try..." Ed said as he gazed at Weiss—Anthony now, he reminded himself—and activated the Change spell arrays with the intent to make the boy's hair raven black like Vincent's.
"Nice," Shalua commented as the boy's flyaway, white hair turned shiny black.
Just the one color-changed feature completely changed his looks, and the girl looked very much impressed by the change. The others also looked impressed, which prompted Vincent to ask for green-hazel eyes, which only a little red shone through—and the pair did look like father and son that way.
Notes:
(1) Yes, I quoted the entire English translation of the LOVELESS poem.
(2) I did a lot of research into that stupid poem and LOVELESS because what little bits of it I kept hearing Genesis spout didn't make sense to me for what it was 'supposed' to be. Yes, I know about the story of the three friends and one's romance and a war and all that—but as much as the play and the novel may be about that, THIS POEM IS NOT. I'm using Ed to vent my take on the poem, because I've never actually seen this variation before in fanfics or any other online FFVII resources.
If someone actually knows another place where this connection is made, I'd sure like to hear about it, because otherwise, there's only a few people who start to make the connection and drop the ball in the middle.
(3) I decided to play a bit with the whole Shinra Military School/Academy system, since I can't actually see Shinra having a school for military lessons and not having one for things like sciences and engineering, which they also rely heavily on. As such, this is my setup for their Academy—I'm not calling it the 'Military School' because I like the term 'Academy' better and it's used interchangeably with 'School' in a few sources, anyway.
(4) Anthony is a Latin name (like Grimoire and Vincent), so it's in keeping with the family name system. It means 'praiseworthy'. Also, I liked it or I wouldn't have used it. His last name being Valentine at only 14 would make Hojo look the other way, because he knows Vincent can't have kids.
(5) Some of Genesis' skills noted on the wikia are magical homing and a spell called Flash, which they never actually defined the effect of (I'm assuming it causes blindness and potential burns). This was how I chose to resolve the blanks in where they came from, when they're literally unique to him.
(6) Change: Yes, a completely new spell I added to my created 'Mirage' Materia. How ELSE would I be able to hide Vincent and Weiss effectively?