-Disclaimer.-


Okay, Hazza, I don't remember Vincent ever shooting the crystal, but I could just be drawing a blank. And, anyways, it was a mako crystal, and although I never say it directly, I was using the bow Minerva uses. It's not really a bow, more of a spell, but I picked up the skill by watching her. That's why I could break the mako so easily; because I was using the Lifestream's spell.

A/N: Mm-hmm. And don't worry; Lucrecia being freed doesn't mean it's almost over… If nothing else, the final battle itself + the epilogue is a total of five chapters so far, so there's that right there. Plus, you guys don't know who's working with Chaos yet, do you? So that's another chapter at least. Plus, we still have the Remnants. Oh, and you guys haven't even met Aya yet! Not really, at least. So there's still a while to go. Also can I say that the CW made a mistake in killing Sean. Oh, and also, though it's late, I'm sorry to everyone involved in the Boston bombings, as well as all other tragedies around the world. Okay, to the story!


Sick of It

By the time the small party arrived back at 7th Heaven, just about everyone had attempted to kill Jenova. Since she couldn't teleport without her abilities – and, by extent, couldn't teleport Elena or the dog – she had ridden in the back of the truck with most of the others, and had taken up trying to drive them all insane by annoying them in various ways, including randomly singing 'the wheels on the truck go round and round' over and over and continuously asking Cloud if they were there yet. Somehow, though, they all made it back alive and sane – more or less.

Cloud stopped the truck quickly and let everyone off, including himself. Genesis had flown back, so he was nowhere in sight; not like he needed to be, of course. It was dark out by now, unfortunately, which Jenova seemed to like, but she finally kept quiet, looking around. The five of them – six, including the dog – all headed into 7th Heaven. Tifa looked up at them all.

"What the… Where have you guys been?! And… Lucrecia?! What's going on here?!"

Jenova shrugged. "Ah, they can explain that. I should get going…"

"Or not," Cloud said. "You're not going anywhere just yet."

She glared at him and sat down at one of the booths, putting her face on the desk and muttering something in a different language that probably included at least one swear.

Elena sighed, sitting down across from her. "I guess I'm stuck here as well, then…"

Tifa looked over at her. "Why are you stuck here…?"

She shrugged. "I've been helping Jenova, and Shinra thinks she's controlling me. If I leave now, he'll think that she let me go, and he'll find it suspicious if I help her again…"

Zack looked confused. "And you're helping an evil alien bent on destroying this world… why, exactly?"

"Hey, hey," Jenova said. "Extraterrestrial Eastern Continentican. We've been through this."

Elena ignored her. "I don't really know… I just feel like I'm supposed to."

Zack shook his head. "Maybe she is controlling you, then. Ever think of that?"

"I'm not," Jenova growled. "I have no reason to be. Gah, I'm sick of you guys always thinking I immediately do what I can to win. I'm not stupid; I know when and where to take chances, and right now there's no reason to."

Aerith nodded. "And, I think it would be more obvious… wouldn't it?"

"Cetra girl has a point," Jenova said. "And, I'd let you guys know it, too. So…"

Cloud shook his head. "Anyways, that's not important right now. Lucrecia… what are you going to do now…? You've been trapped for so long…"

Lucrecia nodded. "Yes, I… I know. And I'm glad that I'm finally free. I don't know if I'll ever be able to die now, thanks to being in that mako for so long, but… we'll see, I guess. For now, though… I just don't know. I don't really have anywhere to return to…"

Tifa paused. "Wait… Isn't the WRO coming through Edge again soon?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, why…?"

"Well, ever since Shalua's death, they haven't really found a new scientist that could replace her, right…? So what if Lucrecia joins them? She'd fit right in! Plus, Vincent can fill her in on everything that's happened lately."

Cloud nodded. "Oh yeah, I didn't even think of that…" He looked over at Lucrecia. "So? You think that'll work? I mean, you've never met the WRO, but…"

Lucrecia nodded. "Oh, yeah! And… Vincent's there? I… still feel guilty, but… Well, I think I can face him, now. When are they coming through here?"

They all kind of looked over at Jenova for answers, since she was the one who always knew everything. She still had her head down on the table, but after a moment she simply sighed. "You're all looking at me, aren't you…?" She lifted her head, glaring at all of them. "I'm cut off from the Planet! How could I possibly know what's going on?!" When they all just kept staring at her, she sighed, putting her head back down on the table. "Tomorrow, probably around 12 p.m. or so. Happy?"

Cloud shrugged. "Enough, yes. Now, what I just realized… Where are Marlene and Denzel…? Especially Marlene… With Jenova here, I'm surprised that Marlene isn't down here with us…"

Tifa nodded. "Yeah, S-…" She paused, glancing at Lucrecia.

"She knows," Jenova said, and Tifa looked over at her.

"Oh, alright… Well, yeah, Sephiroth came here and told us about what had happened, although he seemed quite annoyed that Jenova hadn't told him who you were, Lucrecia. I put everything together, though. I didn't tell him who you were, just in case there was a reason that nobody told him. He left not long after. Anyways, I told Marlene and Denzel to go to bed about an hour ago."

Zack shook his head. "Isn't Marlene a kid…? Why are you worried about her…?"

Cloud sighed, glancing at Jenova, who he realized was watching him. "Marlene has… friends. We're not sure, but-"

"One of them is this Planet's Guardian… and my enemy," Jenova finished, sitting up for a moment. She pulled out the black knife that she had nearly killed Lucrecia with, apparently having hidden it when they had taken her katanas away. How had Cloud not noticed it, though…? She just held it in her hand, not threatening anyone; she just seemed to want it for emphasis. "I'll get her, eventually… But not yet. I'll wait. I assume she hasn't been hanging around lately, because of what Chaos did to her, but… Well, I assume we'll see her soon."

Cloud paused. "I thought Chaos still had her captive…?"

"Yeah, she got away. Let's just say that, at one point, Chaos was a bit… focused on me, and she got away. We've got a universe to take over, you know? But he didn't care. It's up to me to take care of her, now, which I'll gladly do…"

"Not when you're here you won't…"

She sighed. "I'll get my powers back eventually, Strife, and you don't have any more of that mako stuff. So good luck keeping me down when I can fight back…"

"Jenova, you're not leaving. Just get that through your mind, alright? Now, what are we all going to do…? There isn't room here for all of us…"

Jenova sighed. "Well, Lucrecia can use Marlene's room, seeing as how little missy's not intending on sleeping anyways…"

Tifa sighed. "She's not…"

"She is," she said, motioning at the staircase. "Come, little one. Your timing is actually impeccable."

Marlene, still completely dressed in her casual outfit, cautiously walked down.

Jenova nodded. "Okay, then, that's settled. But now, what about girly and I…? Honestly, it's not like you're going to be able to keep us here; we come and go as we please, anyways. So, seriously…"

Cloud shook his head. "Jenova, you aren't leaving. I'm sick of your casual attitude; this is war, not a game. Don't you understand that?!"

"I honestly don't care. I'm just waiting, Strife. If you're sick of it, then why don't you just get rid of me now?"

The room became silent for a moment, because Jenova seemed incredibly serious. But Cloud shook his head. "No. We're taking control, now. Not you, Jenova. Getting rid of you would do nothing."

The alien smirked, seeming slightly more comfortable, yet it was obvious that she didn't have her abilities yet. "Keeping me here will do nothing, you know? You always think you have the upper hand; you never will. But, now that you might, just take control. Because if you don't, I will."

Lucrecia finally spoke up again. "But… there's no way you'd just allow yourself to be killed…"

"No, she's got an angle…" Zack said, thinking. "I have absolutely no idea what it is, but she has it."

Jenova shrugged. "Do I look like I have a plan? I can't do anything. I could try calling in Cthulhu, but I don't think that'll work here. I'm just waiting until my abilities come back, so I suppose I'm stalling."

"Stalling…?" Aerith asked. "Why? How long is it until you get your abilities back?"

Jenova shrugged. "Not sure. What's important is that none of you are doing anything. Are you honestly going to sit back until your world gets destroyed?"

Cloud glared at her. "Not at all."

Marlene, though, jumped in. "No, Cloud, she can't stay here. She needs to be gone by tomorrow, because…"

Jenova glanced over at her. "Because…?"

"Well, because… the Guardian's going to be here, and it wouldn't be good if they were in the same place…"

Jenova looked confused. "She… is? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm very sure. She told me, a few minutes ago; that's why I came down. She needs to tell me about what's been going on lately."

"Eh? Oh, alright…" Jenova shrugged. "Maybe I should stay here, then…"

Tifa jumped in. "No, now I agree with Marlene. Cloud told me about this person… Cloud, if they're in the same room, things could get bad…"

Cloud sighed. "Great… No, you're right; we need to meet this person, and Jenova can't be here."

"Why?!" Jenova and Marlene said at the same time, although most likely because of different parts of the sentence.

Cloud shrugged. "Anyways, she can't be here. But, before she gets her powers back, we should probably-"

"No, no," Jenova said, stabbing her knife into the table. "You can't control me, Strife, so don't try. I know what you were going to say and do… imprison me back at that lab again, right? Well, nope. Here's what I'm sick of: all of you treating me as a thing, and not a person. Yes, I've had a horrible past. Yes, I've done things and endured things that would make even the most hardened, vicious beings cringe. But that's just it: everything I've done, I've felt a thousand times over. But nobody cares! Nobody ever even tries to understand my side of all of this. I've tried, you know, to be nice to all of you. You may not have noticed it, but it's the truth. Over these last few weeks, have I hurt any of you? I could have, and I was undoubtedly supposed to, but I didn't, and I'm the one who paid the price for it all. None of you even know what I've had to do for you all already! You don't care.

"You want to know why I almost killed Lucrecia earlier?! Because I'm sick of all of you thinking of me as you do! You would never help me, so why should I help you? And if you want me to be the enemy, then I will be! No matter what I'll ever do, I'll never be the 'good guy' again; you've all made that clear to me! That's why I've been holding myself back less and less; I'm sick of all of you blaming me for the universe's mistakes. I'm sick of being the outcast, and of bearing the scars – both literal and not – of my past. I'm sick of all of the experiments I've had to go through, and of nobody caring. But most of all, I'm just simply sick of all of you!"

She slammed her fist on the table, and everything went flying at everyone. She immediately raised her hand, stopping every object that she had just telepathically thrown before everyone was killed and dropping it all to the ground. She grinned, her entire demeanor changing. "Oh, looks like my abilities are back."

She jumped backwards, but everyone that had a weapon already had it out. Even Elena had her gun by her side, just in case.

Jenova had grabbed her knife when she had jumped up, and was holding it in her hand, looking around at all of them. Cloud noticed for the first time that it wasn't some kitchen knife; it was actually a slightly ornate athame, and Cloud assumed that it had once been more of a ritual knife than a fighting one. And, because of that – and because of the fact that it was only about eight or nine inches total, versus all of the huge weapons in the room – Cloud wasn't quite sure why Jenova thought she had a chance with such a weapon…

Jenova smirked. "Keep in mind that I control half of you… you can't stop me. I'm leaving. See you guys later, maybe…" And with that, she walked off, as everyone knew that she was right. Plus, she was obviously ticked off right then; there was a chance that she actually might control them if they went after her. Her dog slipped out after her, and Elena looked confused.

"Well, what do I do now…?" the Turk asked.

Cloud shrugged. "You'll be fine. I called Tseng; he should be by at any time." At seeing how panicked Elena was, Cloud quickly added, "Don't worry; I assumed you didn't want him to know about Jenova, so I just said that we found you by yourself. You can fill in the rest."

She nodded. "Oh, alright…"

Sure enough, not long later, Tseng showed up. What surprised everyone, though, was that he was by himself.

Tseng sighed with relief, looking around at everyone. "Alright… Where's…?"

Cloud shrugged. "We don't know. She left a few minutes ago."

Now – again, much to everyone's surprise – he grabbed Elena and hugged her tightly. "Thank the goddess…" He quickly let her go, and she looked slightly startled, but still smiled.

"Y-yeah, I'm alright. Where are the others?"

He sighed. "I came alone, just in case something went wrong."

"Oh… Well, thanks for coming… But, Tseng…"

He smiled gently at her. "I know she wasn't controlling you, Elena. You really think I would have just left you alone? But it's fine. I don't know why you helped that… thing, but you obviously had your reasons. And, at any rate, she's gone now. So… will you come back with me?"

Elena, again, looked quite surprised, but nodded. "Yes, of course!"

He smiled at her. Then, they both thanked everyone else in the room, and quickly left. Marlene watched after them. "I wonder if he'll tell the others… I doubt it."

Cloud shrugged. "Yeah, you're probably right. At any rate… Marlene… were you telling the truth? About the Guardian showing up tomorrow? And… you're not denying that one of your friends really is the Guardian…?"

Marlene nodded. "Yes, I was telling the truth. And yes, she really is the Planet's defender… more or less, now. Why?"

Cloud looked around at everyone else in the room, and then looked back at her. "Because I think it's about time we talk to this person… and find out what's really going on."


Don't worry; the next chapter is more important. Oh, also, Guen got bored and used this program called IMVU to model some random pictures - mostly me - so if you ever get bored, the link's in her FanFiction profile. Review!