Premonitions II: Crisis Core

Chapter 89: The Chase

The chase was on.

Sephiroth quickly ran through the room with all of the statues and climbed down the columns. He ran through the room with the altar. He ran through the room with the waterfalls. He ran through the foyer. Every time he looked back, Zack Fair was visible, hot on his tail.

"You're not getting away!" Zack angrily shouted, his sword aimed at its target. "Four years! Four long fucking years!"

Sephiroth darted outside Xenara. Ahead of him, the path forked. He could go straight, and return to Ra-Da. He could also go straight and hide in the Emerald Cave.

But, instead, he turned left. Sephiroth continued to dash through the canyon, with Zack never more than a few yards behind him.

A few yards behind Zack were Barret, Yuffie, Red XIII, Jessie, and Vincent.

"Zack, no!" shouted Vincent. "He needs to live!"

But the pleas fell on deaf ears.

"If I can just get a little closer," Zack said to himself. "Just a little closer."

It now almost seemed as if the gap between Sephiroth and Vincent was shrinking.

And then, Sephiroth suddenly turned left, and seemingly disappeared into the canyon wall.

Zack quickly followed him. As it turned out, there was an opening in the wall. Sephiroth was no longer visible, but Zack could see a set of metal stairs descending.

They apparently led to some kind of room.

"You won't be able to hide for long!" Zack hissed.

A room that, being embedded in a canyon wall, could only have one way in or out.

"You're trapped!" Zack shouted.

He eagerly ran down the stairs.

And then, he was in a medium-sized room. The floors, walls, and ceiling were all made of a dark metal.

There was no sign of Sephiroth.

"You can't hide from me, asshole!" Zack snarled.

Zack scanned the room. There was nothing to hide behind.

He had to have come down here.

And then, Zack noticed the glows.

Three blue glows.

All were distorted.

There was one blue glow on each side of the room, except for the side he had come from.

One could only define such a blue glow as a portal.

As Zack scanned the portals, he noticed that each of them had a letter above it. The one straight ahead read N. The one to the left read W. The one to the right read E.

Realizing that he was wasting time, Zack charged through the portal with the W above it, just as he heard Yuffie charging down the stairs, pleading for him to stop.

Zack heard a feedback-like sound. Then, he was suddenly in another room.

This room was identical to the room he had just been in. Only now, he was facing a portal with an N above it. To the right was a portal with an E above it. To the left was a stairwell leading up.

With no time to think, Zack charged up the stairs. A moment later, he found himself in a thicket of boreal trees and bushes.

Quickly darting out of the thicket, Zack ran down a grassy knoll and a hundred yards through an empty field before he came upon a path. Knowing he had to pick a direction, Zack ran to the left.

He did not stop as he continued to run down the path.

He would not stop until Sephiroth was dead.

Gradually, a house began to appear in the distance. As Zack drew closer, he could see that the house was fenced in.

"You're in there, aren't you, motherfucker?" Zack hissed.

He stopped, and prepared to leap the fence.

And then, he was suddenly forced back.

He hit the ground hard.

He looked up, and quickly saw the cause of his fall.

Yuffie had caught up to him, and pulled him down.

"Hey!" Zack angrily exclaimed. "What gives?"

"You're going to get yourself killed!" Yuffie exclaimed. "This needs to stop! Now!"

"Oh no!" Zack dismissed. "How would a house get me killed anyway?"

"That's Tobias Ryan's house!" she cried.

"Bullshit!" Zack retorted. "Tobias Ryan's house is on the Western Continent."

"Zack," Vincent replied calmly as he approached, "this is the Western Continent."

Zack gasped in silence.

The Western Continent? You're full of shit! The star patterns were different and everything!

"It can't be!" Zack insisted.

"Look!" Yuffie demanded as she pointed to the proof.

The sign was still to the left of the gate: THE TRANSLATOR'S HOUSE-ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.

"Can't you see the sign?!" Yuffie pleaded. "I can't loose you!"

I've seen that sign before, Zack thought. But if this is indeed the Western Continent...

And, curiously, Zack began to regain his composure.

"How did we get back?" he asked.

"Not important right now!" Yuffie insisted. "You were so bent on killing Sephiroth that you almost got killed yourself!"

"Zack," the panting Red XIII began, "Sephiroth could have gone through any one of those portals."

"His chances of coming through the one we went through were one in three," Lucrecia added. "And even if he did, he could have gone in any direction."

"So you're saying he...got away?" Zack inquired.

"For now," Barret replied.

"Dammit!" Zack shouted.

"Easy!" pleaded Jessie. "He has to remain alive."

"You don't become a hero by murdering anyone," Vincent added. "Anybody can take a life. You become a hero by doing what's right."

"But he got away!" Zack protested.

"Maybe this was for the best," Yuffie suggested.

"For the best?!" Zack exclaimed. "Dream on!"

"You still want to kill him, don't you?" she asked.

"Maybe," Zack replied. "Four years!"

"Killing Sephiroth won't get you those years back," Vincent said. "Hojo died. Twice. Am I back to normal?"

Zack shook his head.

He's got a point.

"I guess it's out of personal satisfaction," he admitted.

"It's not the first time," Yuffie replied. "I haven't forgotten about poor Mary Ellen."

She still remembers that?

"There was no way to save her," Zack insisted.

"What about Genesis?" she then asked. "You haven't seen him in years. He screwed you over. You still want to kill him?"

"Not really, no," Zack admitted.

"Zack," Red XIII warned, "Sephiroth has to live. We'd all prefer him imprisoned somehow. But on the loose is better than dead."

"The Black Materia's gone," Barret added. "He can't summon another Meteor."

Zack sighed.

He has screwed us all over in some way, hasn't he?

"All right," Zack agreed. "He gets away this time. But I'm keeping my eyes peeled."

"We all are," Jessie added.

"So how did we get back here, anyway?" Zack asked as he put his buster sword away.

LATER...

Vincent stepped back into the chamber. He scanned the three portals with the N, E, and S.

"So what is this place, anyway?" Zack asked aloud.

"My guess is," suggested Vincent, "that this is a teleportation system."

"A teleportation system?" Yuffie exclaimed.

Vincent pointed to the portal with the E above it.

"Eastern Continent."

He then pointed to the portal with the N above it.

"Northern Continent."

Finally, he pointed to the portal with the S above it.

"Southern Continent. Where we just came from."

Lucrecia scanned the chamber.

"This is amazing!" she exclaimed. "Of all the technology I've seen!"

"Did Hojo build this?" Zack asked.

"I have no idea," Vincent replied. "It would seem likely."

"So we didn't have to go through the Storm Belt," sighed Zack. "Or Welsanlai. Or the Dark Forest. Or the Emerald Cave."

"We won't ever have to again, at least," Vincent said. "But now we know what's on the Southern Continent."

"Some of it," Red XIII added. "That canyon continued. There's a lot more of the Southern Continent that we haven't seen yet."

"I think we've seen enough for now," Barret suggested.

"I'll admit I'll agree," Jessie said. "I think it's time we all go home for now."

Go home, thought Vincent. If only it was that simple.

"North Corel's not too far," Barret said. "I'll head back." He then turned to Jessie. "Care to join me?"

"You bet your ass!" Jessie replied with a smile as she took his hand.

Barret and Jessie said their good-byes and departed the chamber.

"I think this is my cue to head home myself," Red XIII announced. "For now."

He wants to see Giva again, Vincent thought. He'll get a happy ending.

But that won't be true for everyone here. Lucrecia has been restored to normal. But...I'm still the same.

Red XIII said his good-byes and departed for Cosmo Canyon.

"Hey!" Lucrecia began. "Is Nibelheim still standing?"

"It's still standing," Vincent replied. "It was burnt down, but they rebuilt it exactly as it was."

"I'd like to go there," she requested. "To start life again."

I can't start life again, Vincent realized. Destroying Hojo's consciousness doesn't change what he did to me.

My work is done.

There's only one thing left for me to do.

"Sure," Vincent replied. He then turned to Zack. "You live in Nibelheim as well, don't you?"

"I guess," Zack replied. "I don't really have anywhere else to go."

"Then come," Vincent commanded.

Zack nodded.

Vincent, Lucrecia, and Zack began to make their way to the exit.

Yuffie did not follow.

"Coming, Yuffie?" Zack asked.

"Actually," Yuffie replied, "I think I'll head back to Wutai. By myself."

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"No...nothing," she said softly, making minimal eye contact.

"Well, okay, then," Zack said, but with concern in his voice. "I guess I'll see you later."

Yuffie silently nodded.

Zack, Vincent, and Lucrecia ascended the steps to the great outdoors.

Yuffie remained alone in the teleportation chamber.

And then, Yuffie began to cry softly to herself.

"Maybe I should stop stealing," she muttered.