Chapter 23: Apotheosis
"Holy shit...!" Reno exclaimed as he stared at the sight before him.
A humongous, grayish creature hovered in the air off in the distance. Several ninjas and Wutaian soldiers stood in the city, ready to defend against any sudden attacks. Zack and Tseng were right next to Reno.
Sephiroth and Vincent arrived on the scene, fully armed.
"Get the children somewhere safe!" someone screamed.
Several of the adults were already leading many frightened children off to the Da Chao caves.
"Yuffie- go with them!" Godo ordered as they both ran outside the house.
Yuffie obeyed and ran over to the group, following them into the mountains.
Without warning, Diamond WEAPON lurched forward, bearing down into the main part of the city.
"THUNDAJA!"
Several large bolts struck the large creature, stopping it in its path. Sephiroth smirked as he lowered his fist, containing a mastered bolt materia inside the silver bangle he wore on his wrist.
"Looks like lightning is the way to go!" Sephiroth shouted to everyone, "Use it as much as you all can!"
"Shit!" Reno cursed, "Mine's not mastered!"
Sephiroth immediately popped his lightning materia out of the silver bangle, and tossed it over to Reno. He likely wouldn't need it anyway, seeing as Reidmar had given him his Ultima materia before he'd left the city of the Ancients.
Having recovered from the shock of the attack somewhat, WEAPON regained its bearings and continued to swoop down. However, the small army had heeded Sephiroth's words, and began casting their own lightning spells on the monster.
As the monster continued to hover, stunned once again, Sephiroth made his move. Concentrating hard, he soared up into the air and stabbed at Diamond WEAPON. His eyes widened in horror as the blade snapped right off the hilt.
Before he could do anything to stop it, WEAPON dove to the ground, crashing into the Turtle's Paradise. Sephiroth dropped the hilt and flew after it, raising his other arm, the bangle on which held Reidmar's Ultima materia. He then unleashed the fury of the materia on the creature, taking the rest of the building down with it.
After a minute, the dust cleared, and the Planet's misguided guardian got to its feet. One of its arms had been severed.
Sephiroth landed on top of the rubble that was once a two-story building. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he spotted what looked to be a sword jutting out of the top of the pile. The blade seemed to be about three feet long. Perfect…he thought as he went over to the sword and pulled it out. To his surprise though, the weapon turned out to be at least six feet in length. A menacing grin appeared on his face as he turned to face the creature.
"You're in the way…" he hissed, brandishing the new sword.
Floating up into the air, he stabbed the blade into the monster's bloody stump. Howling in pain, WEAPON swiped at Sephiroth with its other arm, only for the swordsman to gracefully dodge the attack.
Sensing that it had met its match, the creature spread its wings and flew off toward the Da Chao mountains.
"The children!" a woman screamed, horrified.
You're not getting away just yet…Sephiroth thought as his eyes narrowed dangerously.
He flew off after the monster.
"I'm scared!" a little boy whined.
"Suck it up, Shake!" Yuffie snapped at him. "You're supposed to be training to become one of the Five Mighty Gods! The Planet knows why, if you're gonna be a little crybaby over this!"
Shake ran over to Yuffie and kicked her in the shins.
"OW! YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Yuffie took off after him.
The two sped into the maze-like tunnels before the adults could follow them.
Sephiroth smirked maliciously as he flew after the creature. Never before had the heat of battle fired him up the way it was now. Never before did he have the chance to lose himself the way he was now.
As he soared through the air, a memory long forgotten flashed through his mind...
"You don't belong here, you grey-haired freak!"
Eighteen-year-old Sephiroth regarded the two other teenagers calmly as the three stood in an isolated area of the beach.
"Just get the hell out of Costa Del Sol!" the taller of the two boys growled.
"Who says I don't belong here?" Sephiroth replied coolly.
"We do!" the shorter boy answered.
"I beg your pardon," Sephiroth said sarcastically, "I didn't know that you two were the leaders of this province."
The taller boy threw a punch aimed at Sephiroth's face. The silver-haired youth caught the boy's fist effortlessly.
"Oh, you think you're so hot, huh?" the tall boy sneered.
"Maybe you should tell your kid sister not to go wandering around by herself, huh?" the shorter boy taunted.
Sephiroth's eyes narrowed upon hearing the boy's subtle threat. Still holding the taller boy's fist, he threw the kid to the ground and tackled his companion. He quickly grabbed his victim's arm and twisted it behind his back.
"You can threaten me all you like," Sephiroth hissed into the boy's ear, "But if you ever touch Aeris, I'll kill you both!"
The taller boy then jumped on Sephiroth, who quickly flung him into the trunk of a nearby palm tree. Sephiroth then began slowly twisting the other boy's arm even more, and found himself enjoying the youth's agonized screaming.
After half a minute, Sephiroth felt a snap a split-second before the kid finally passed out from the pain. No sooner than that, a hard leather boot kicked Sephiroth hard in the ribs. The force of the unexpected blow sent him rolling a few feet from the helpless boy. Before he could look up at his assailant, a strong hand jerked him to his feet, where he found himself looking into the furious eyes of his father.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Vincent growled, "Are you trying to attract unwanted attention?!"
"But they were-!"
"I don't care what they were doing!" Vincent interrupted his son, "They're a couple of punks! What can they possibly do to you?!"
"Not me- they were threatening Aeris!"
Vincent's expression only softened just a little bit. "You can't stay here anymore," he decided, "You've done too much damage. We're going back to your house to start packing right now."
Sephiroth nodded miserably.
Vincent looked around before his gaze returned to the two unconscious teenagers. "As far as Aeris is concerned," he said, "Costa Del Sol is a popular vacationing spot for Turks this time of year. For her to know the real reason we're leaving may very well damage your relationship with her. That child adores you. Don't ruin things between the two of you just because you can't control your temper. Let's go…"
Sephiroth pushed the thought out of his mind as he caught up to Diamond WEAPON. The creature was now hovering near one of the many caves on the mountain.
No one will interfere this time…he thought as he raised his arm to cast another Ultima spell.
Just then, the sound of two children screaming stopped him. Sephiroth cursed as he remembered this was where the children were supposed to be hiding. Had he cast that spell, they might very well have been hit.
What the hell has gotten into me? It's as if the sight of that creature's blood…it's as if it really does something to me…
Seeing Sephiroth distracted, WEAPON took the opportunity to open its mouth. A light began to emanate from inside, and before Sephiroth could react, he was hit with a large beam.
The swordsman slammed into the edge of the mountain, where he bounced off the rocks, and tumbled down the steep slope before crashing to the ground below.
Satisfied that its opponent was finally done for, the wounded creature turned its attention back to the two children who were now trapped in the cave.
"Holy shit!" Reno exclaimed watching the spectacle from a distance, "That thing freaking took out Sephiroth!"
I wouldn't bet on it…Vincent thought smugly.
"Why are we just standing here?" Zack asked impatiently, "We should be helping him!"
"We'd be better off seeing if one of Scarlet's crazy cannons will actually blast that thing," Reno said uncertainly.
"Not a bad idea," Tseng remarked, "We must really be in bad shape if we're relying on that harpy though..."
"The hell?!" Zack exclaimed as he pointed at a strange light coming from the bottom of the mountain.
Vincent turned to Godo. "What is that?" he asked.
Godo scowled. "I thought it was one of your tricks."
The light grew larger and brighter until everyone watching found themselves forced to shield their eyes.
Zack was the first to open his eyes after a minute. What he saw made his mouth drop open in shock.
The light had disappeared. Hovering in front of WEAPON was a being that looked exactly like Sephiroth. However, the being was twice the size of Sephiroth, with six white wings instead of legs flapping below its waist. One large black wing protruded from its shoulder.
"Dear Planet…" Vincent whispered, having opened his eyes as well.
"What is that thing?" Godo asked.
"…My son," Vincent replied simply.
Is this my true form? Sephiroth wondered as he looked over at the black wing that had replaced his arm. Or perhaps this is my ultimate limit break...
WEAPON roared again.
"So be it…" Sephiroth growled as he unleashed the strongest lightning spell he'd ever cast, devastating the monster.
My materia slots all fell off…he noted after the fact. This was all him...
The monster was still just barely flying. Sephiroth smirked as he raised his arms, casting an Ultima spell. That one sent the creature plummeting to the ground.
"Wow!" Yuffie exclaimed as she crawled closer to the opening to get a better view of the fight.
"What are you doing?!" Shake exclaimed, "That grey-haired monster is still out there!"
"You're such an idiot!" Yuffie snapped, "That guy isn't the enemy! He just creamed the monster! I wanna see him finish it off! C'mon! Be a man!"
Shake gulped before he crawled to the opening next to Yuffie. The two looked down at the ground where Sephiroth had flown down to the fallen WEAPON.
They watched as Sephiroth cast one last spell on the creature before two hands grabbed them each and yanked them to their feet. One of the adults dragged them both back into the tunnels while angrily reprimanding them.
Vincent, Zack, Reno and Tseng warily made their way toward the Da Chao mountains together. They hadn't seen or heard anything for a few minutes, deciding it was safe to approach the area and round up the refugees.
Upon approaching the base of the mountains, the four stopped in utter shock at the sight before them.
The creature formerly known as Diamond Weapon lay sprawled across the rocks. There were several lacerations all over its body. Its head was missing. After looking around, the missing part was found impaled on top of a dead tree trunk sticking out of the ground.
"What in blazes...?" Tseng whispered at the sight.
"Guy's got some major bloodlust," Reno remarked.
Vincent ignored them and looked around until he finally found Sephiroth, back to his normal human form. The swordsman lay unconscious underneath a tree, the Masamune not three feet away from him.
He went over to his son and nudged him with his foot. "Sephiroth?"
The swordsman groaned, but only stirred a little before not moving again.
"I just don't know what the hell's going on anymore," Reno muttered as he looked up at the sky in vain.
"Ah, you're all recovered?" Godo asked as Sephiroth stepped out of the inn and approached the impromptu celebration later that evening.
Sephiroth nodded and held up the Masamune. "Whose sword is this anyway? I wanted to return it to its owner...and thank them."
An old man standing next to Godo stepped forward. "That would be my creation," he said, "My name is Masamune. Twenty years ago, I forged that sword as a prototype for Shinra's army. However, I got carried away in my quest for glory. No one was ever able to use that sword. At least not until you came along. It's good to know that my namesake isn't a complete failure. That sword is yours now."
Sephiroth looked at the long blade. "Thank you," he said, bowing politely, "I'm honored to receive such a gift."
Zack went up to Sephiroth and began eyeing the sword. "You lucky bastard," he commented appreciatively.
"Hey!"
Sephiroth looked to see Yuffie running over to him.
"You're like, so amazing!" the girl exclaimed, "How did you do that? Where did those wings come from? How did you grow like that?"
"I'm still trying to figure the details of that out for myself," Sephiroth admitted, "I'm just relieved that no one was injured."
"Yes, Yuffie owes you her life," Godo said smiling. "Don't you?" he asked his daughter pointedly.
Yuffie briefly made a face before humbly bowing before Sephiroth. "I offer my deepest gratitude to you," she said, as if reading from a script.
Reno and Tseng walked up to the group.
"So what's next?" Tseng asked Vincent.
"The others are on standby in the Corel Desert," Vincent told him, "They're trying to figure out a way to flush Ruby WEAPON out into the open. So far, it's still burrowed in the quicksand around the prison."
"In the meantime," Godo said brightly, "You're all welcome to stay as Wutai's honored guests. It's the least we can do after all you've done for us. Anything you need tonight, just ask."
"You have our gratitude," Vincent said.
BRRATTTT! Reno blew a loud fart.
"Oh, GROSSNESS!" Yuffie squawked, "Gawd- you've gotta be from Midgar if you're that crude!"
"Yuffie!" Lord Godo was horrified, "These men just helped save our country from what could have been a complete disaster! How can you be that impertinent?!"
"But he just farted! Couldn't you hear it?"
"Shut up right this instant!"
"Make me! OW- LET GO!"
"So help me, Yuffie- I will find a branch and-!"
"And what?! Whoop me right in front of these people?! Oh, I'm sure the newspapers will love that!"
"You ungrateful little-!"
Reno leaned back and sighed. "They remind me of my own family, y'know? Maybe I'll visit them next time I'm back in Junon…"
A/N: Thank you to all my new subscribers!
Not much changed in this chapter. We won't have a major change until the Gold Saucer.