Chapter 18: Thirdfall
Tifa sorely missed the days when Jen couldn't move. In the months following Aerith's first visit, Jen started crawling around with fierce determination. The restlessness had since faded since she gained her mobility, but in its place was an insatiable curiosity to study everything the baby could get her tiny hands on. It was similar to a normal infant's desire, but... not the same. There was intent to learn, rather than explore and play. She'd pick up items, turn them this way and that, as if memorizing them and their purpose, before leaving them (often just laying around all over the floor). Of course, Tifa should have realized there were only so many things her child could find in the house.
Without apparent concern at all for her surroundings, they had found her having crawled out of the open door (stupid of them to leave it open), butt planted a few yards away simply looking up at the sky, eyebrows furrowed. Tifa huffed a little, fears alleviated of her child going missing, and walked over, crouching down.
"Jen, you shouldn't scare me going off on your own like that," scolded Tifa.
The child paid her no attention at all, which was slightly unusual, she generally at least tilted her head in her direction whenever she spoke.
"She seems absorbed today," mused Sephiroth from the porch.
Tifa shot him an amused look and was about to reply before a wave of hostility rippled through the air. She turned her head to see Jen hissing and clawing towards the sky. Her wing extended and retracted over and over, shaking with agitation. It flapped, as if trying to take Jen into the sky to chase after something. Tifa stared at the bizarre sight, she had never seen her baby such a state. What had her feather's so ruffled?
She looked at Sephiroth and mouthed, "Any idea?"
He looked as baffled as she was and merely shook his head. She stared at her child, feeling the hostility rise steadily, an odd sensation of hate and hunger with it. What in the world was-
She paused as the air began to tremble, and the ground started to rattle. Sephiroth surprised her in his speed, coming off the porch to pick Jen up protectively off the ground before Tifa even took a step. An earthquake...? No, wait a minute, this was...
A roar filled the air, and the clouds parted as a burning meteor surged from the skies, heading westward. The moment it had come into view, a tingling sensation had run up her spine, a sense of loathing filled her, a hiss escaping her lips before she could even begin to understand what it meant. But understand she did when she focused in on an alien presence riding on the back of the hunk of rock.
"It's another of our sire's kin," she growled dangerously, tracking the meteor as it zoomed off into the distance.
"Hmph," spat out Sephiroth, eyes narrowed in the meteor's direction, "Roughly a year between your father's arrival and this one. I wonder, the start of a pattern? Or was this one simply close?"
"Who knows," she said, "We can figure it out after we kill it."
BOOM
Despite the vast distance between wherever it hit and their current location, they both heard and felt it when the meteor hit. The ground quaked, their enhanced eardrums popped, and they staggered slightly as the quakes subsided. Tifa glanced down the hill at the churning waters off in the distance.
"Is our house safe from the tidal waves that's bound to cause?" she growled.
"I suppose we'll find out when they hit," he said, lips pursed in equal displeasure, before he refocused, "We should arm ourselves and be ready to move."
"Agreed," she muttered, running inside as she fished out her PHS and speed-dialed Cloud, cupping it between her neck and her shoulder as she put it on speaker, "C'mon pick up!"
He did a moment later and didn't waste time, "We're aware, Aerith and Minerva gave us a heads up as it entered the atmosphere. Aerith said it touched down in the Wutai area."
Tifa frowned for a moment before her eyes widened. "Please tell me Yuffie isn't actually there for once."
There was only a grim silence.
"Son of a bitch, the one time she's actually home," said Tifa, rushing to her room and pulling her gloves out of her dressed, equipping them and then rushing for her sword, strapping it across her back, "We're leaving shortly, what's your ETA?"
"Umm, not sure, I'm kind of being flown by Angeal," he admitted, "Zack's got Aerith and were on our way. Cid's going to hook up with us with the Highwind half way there and take us the rest of the way to conserve energy. Aerith said Minerva is in the process of waking up all the Materia."
"Good. Any clue on Vincent?" she asked.
"No, we don't know where he is," said Cloud.
"Damn," said Tifa, rushing back to the main room, glancing at Sephiroth who had Masamune in one hand, Jen in the other, "Umm, shit, we can't take Jen with us, can't leave her alone either though..."
"We'll make a stop by your house on the way in," said Cloud, "No more than half an hour, Zack will fly down and grab her then leave her with Cid. Go. You have to get there now."
Jen nodded. "Alright, tell him to careful with my baby or there will be hell to pay."
"He heard you," said Cloud, "We'll meet you in Wutai."
Click
Sephiroth set Jen down in a chair and knelt in front of her, pointing a stern finger in her face. "You will not move from this spot until Zackery Fair arrives, are we clear my child?"
Jen squirmed, her body turning in the direction of Wutai, hissing, her hands raking the air like claws.
"Jen!" shouted Tifa, "Listen!"
The infant glared in her direction, hissing violently.
"Boy, I think she hates these things worse than we do," said Tifa.
Sephiroth reached forward and pinched a nerve on the back of the child's neck, and she was out like a light. "That will have to do, we move."
They were both out of the house, wings stretched, and taking off in seconds, heading west.
"Hmph, thirty minutes to get here, and then however long to Wutai, I doubt the fight will still be going by then," mused Sephiroth, "While neither of us is close to as strong as your pest of a father was after he bathed in Mako, this shouldn't be a problem so long as this one doesn't get the same opportunity."
Tifa glanced over at him. "Sephiroth, I'll be honest, arrogance has always been your weakness. It's not mine though, I'm not underestimating a Calamity, and neither should you."
"Hmph," was the only reply he cared to give.
Tifa shook her head. "Whatever, your wounds are your own if you get cocky and get flayed."
Sephiroth gave her a raised eyebrow and shook his head. "And I thought you were the caring one of your little group."
Tifa scowled. "Not really my little group anymore is it?"
"No, I suppose not," he mused, "I suppose not..."
"Why do I always have to deal with this stuff," whined Yuffie to herself as she rushed alongside the recently reformed Crescent Unit towards the impact zone.
There were people covered in ash, dirt, dust, bruises, and burns, rushing away from a burning village and forest. Yuffie, for the one time she had actually been home to take command in her father's stead, had scrambled Wutai's reforming army to rush in and help her people. It was... bad.
The entire village was basically flattened, and on fire. Trees were ripped right out of the ground, or were snapped, and oh, also on fire.
Fire everywhere.
"Stand back!" she cried out in Wutian, gripping her home's treasured summon materia.
It was time for Leviathan to safeguard her people, and that she did as the Great Serpent appeared and with a mighty roar unleashed a wave of water, dousing the entire landscape...
Oh wait...
Now they had a drowning problem for people buried.
This is why she didn't like to lead, to many things to think about. "Lets go!"
Yuffie began to cast her Sense Materia, directing her Unit and the regular forces that began to arrive on the scene. The began to pick out survivors, and those who didn't make it, at a quick pace. It continued on for half an hour, until the screaming started. And not your normal everyday 'my village was destroyed, my family is gone' kind of scream, but the 'what the hell is THAT' kind of scream of horror.
Yuffie whirled, and saw a crawling mass of green and gray sickly flesh and tentacles rushing into the ruined village on sharp spiderlike legs and swore to herself. "RUN! RETREAT!"
Okay, so every meteor from now on she was going to treat like it had a Calamity on it. She watched grimly as it overtook the first few soldiers and Crescent Unit before they could react, stabbing them with it's tentacles, pulses of black ichor shooting down into the wounds before it withdrew and rushed for the new victim. Those infected began to scream and claw at their heads, but only for a moment, before black tears rushed down their faces, and they began to run after and attack those still pure.
Yuffie gripped her Leviathan materia tightly, the urge to fight it and save her people warring with her instincts to get the hell out of there. There was no way she could take on a Calamity, she sure as hell wasn't a suped up SOLDIER or a WEAPON of the planet...
Yet it was the sight of a wounded mother running with her child with the infected on her heels that spurned Yuffie into action. She summoned Levithan once more, the great Serpant roaring with primal fury at the sight of the Calamity, and unleashed a mighty wave that blasted away the infected and gave the Calamity pause.
In hindsight, summoning a giant snake was a great way to get both the Calamity's attention, and piss it off. It hissed at her and started forward. Yuffie turned, grabbed the woman who had fallen in the wake of Levithan and hauled her to her feet. "C'mon! We have to..."
Yuffie staggered a bit as the woman slashed her hands like a claw, ripping at Yuffie's face, black ichor bleeding out of the woman's eyes, the baby in her arms howling in distress. Yuffie blinked, a black spot dropping into her eyes, before she growled and elbowed forward, running the woman to the ground while taking the child from her hands and bolting.
Stop
Yuffie's running hitched for a moment as a voice echoed in her head, like a high pitched screeching sound with an undertone of hunger. Yuffie shook her head and kept running.
You will obey
Yuffie's running began to slow, a shiver running down her spine. There was a heavy throb in the back of her mind.
Stop
And Yuffie stopped, a bewildered look crossing her face, she could feel tears running down her face. She shifted the baby to one arm and reached a hand up to wipe at the tears... her fingers came away black...
Turn
Yuffie's body turned against her will, her eyes locking fearfully on the Calamity that was now leisurely approaching.
My my my, the first of this planets defenders. You summon a Guardian and then flee? I am disappointed... oh... were you trying to save the infant?
Yuffie tensed.
Give it to me.
Yuffie shook, trying to resist, but couldn't, holding out the infant, unable to stop herself. She could feel it's dark amusement (why could she feel it?!), before a tentacle lashed out and stabbed the baby through its stomach, an awful scream ripping from the infant's lips. It pulled the baby from Yuffie's hands, into it's gaping maw, and crunched down, a spray of blood washing over Yuffie.
She couldn't even scream.
There was a high pitched whine in the back of her head, she could hardly think...
You're soul will be consumed, and I will parade your walking corpse around like a puppet and use it against all that you have ever cherished.
Yuffie felt an awful fire ignite inside of her, burning and consuming her from the inside out.
The Calamity was the only thing that could hear her scream inside her head, and it only laughed in response...
Tifa could feel the new Calmity's presence expanding rapidly. Unlike her father, it was infecting and spreading fast. She flapped her wings harder, picking up speed. A feeling of dread was washing over her. If it couldn't be contained, they could spend years trying to hunt down and stamp out infestations. It's presence was moving north-east, towards the capital, most likely feeling the large population.
By the time they arrived over the capital area, it was already to late. Like a tide, hordes of infected were swarming into the city. Tifa pursed her lips, furious, and turned her attention towards the Calamity itself. Large and Green, it looked more like her father after he had dove into the mako pool, a centipede, but with a large pulsing sack on it's back, churning and creating more of it's cells to infect with. It had a mass of tentacles flailing around it's body, dripping black ichor everywhere, plaguing even the ground at it's feet.
It's presence wasn't as strong as her father's had been, even when he had only first arrived, but it was different, and she could see and feel why. It's power was in it's virulence. If it got off the Wutai continent, the entire world would probably be done for in a week, two at most.
Best to stamp it out now and...
She froze, sighting a figure shambling next to the Calamity. "Yuffie..."
No... no no no no no! She reached out with her senses, trying to see what it had done to her. Had it turned Yuffie like her father had done her? No... wait... she could hardly feel anything of her friend in her! It had FED on her!
Tifa's vision turned red. "YUFFIE!"
She had never moved so fast in her life, blitzing down at the Calamity and barreling into it, not even drawing her blade. They rolled on the ground, Tifa screaming in rage, raining blows as hard and fast as she could. She drove her fist right through it's shell like body, ripping out innards, before it managed to recover, lashing it with it's tentacles and swatting her away.
It hissed at her. "What are you? You feel like kin, yet you are not."
"I am your END!" she roared at it, bum rushing forward and slamming into it, raining down blows again and again...
Until a tide of infected swarmed over her, ripping her off the Calamity and clawing at her. She booted them off one by one, striking fatally, at least until she had Yuffie on the ground, her fist inches from caving in her friend's head. She froze up for a moment, only for 'Yuffie' to screech at her and claw at her face. Tifa growled, lifted Yuffie up, and slammed her down into the ground, hard. She grabbed and twisted her legs and arms, breaking them while offering a silent apology. She lifted Yuffie up, spun around several times, and then threw Yuffie far away from the battlefield where she wouldn't be able to return from. She hoped and prayed they could do something for her afterwords, but she despairingly doubted it.
"Lockheart, move!" came Sephiroth's voice.
Tifa threw herself to a side just as tentacles speared right through where she had been, the Calamity bearing forward with a hiss.
"I will entertain the masses," called down Sephiroth, his blade gleaming in the sun, "Deal with the new pest as you see fit."
Tifa's blood was boiling, roiling with hate and rage. Orange and red energy cackles around her as she moves like a blur, her limit breaks ripping from her one after the other, battering and knocking the Calamity across the capital area of Wutai like a rag doll.
"HOW DARE YOU!" screamed Tifa as she finished her limit breaks, stabbing her fingers into the monster and pulling, ripping out a chunk of its life energy, "She was MY FRIEND!"
The Calamity howled in pain, lashing out with it's tentacles and battered Tifa away. It staggered along the ground, floundering. Tifa grinned savagely at that, and drew her blade, charging forward to butcher it. She stabbed and slashed again and again until it was nothing more than a writhing pile of flesh and carapace.
She sheathed her sword and stared down at the mess, grinding her teeth. It's body was butchered, yet its presence hadn't diminished at all. What was-
She froze as the mass suddenly tensed and then died, decaying rapidly before her very eyes. But instead of the Calamity's presence dying, it moved. Right into the nearest infected Wutian. Immediately, the infected began to scream and claw at itself as it's body began to mutate and expand gruesomely. Tifa's stomach did a flip as fleshed ripped away, blood sprayed, body parts burst, and the Calamity erupted out of it in, reborn, in seconds, from one of it's infected slaves.
Nervous beads of sweat rolled down Tifa's forhead. She had known a Calamity couldn't be properly killed unless all of it's cells were killed, or as with her father, changed and controlled by Tifa into 'T-Cells'. But this was on a whole other level. This wasn't Jenova where a few cells could slowly infect and spread her influence, bidding her time. This was an active infestation. A single infected person, or even a single cell, could cause a rapid outbreak...
"Sephiroth!" she called out, "Destroy them completely!"
"I saw," he called back, his blade singing through the air in rapid strokes, fire streaming from his hands, green materia glowing brightly.
Tifa on the other hand made it her business to keep the Calamity busy, rushing at it, ducking and weaving through it's attacks. "No matter how many times you get up, I'm going to keep putting you down!"
Aerith knelt at the forefront of the Highwind, eyes closed, working with Minerva to shift the flow of the lifestream away from Wutai while they waited for Zack to grab Jen. It would have damaging effects on nature in the area, but, if they could prevent anymore of the Calamity's cells and it's soul from spilling into the lifestream, it would be worth it in the long run. Minerva, Aerith could feel, was beginning to divert her attention to chopping out infected bits of souls from those Tifa and Sephiroth had killed in Wutai, dissipating them rather than allow them into the lifestream to try to cleanse them.
It was a cruel fate, but necessary in order to safeguard the planet.
"Can you or Minerva tell us anything about what's going on in Wutai?" Cloud asked from behind.
Aerith did not open her eyes nor turn, she spoke with a duel voice, that of her own and the Goddess; "This Calamity is different. It's taint spreads with a virulence never before seen in any virus, or even the other Calamities. The Children of the Calamity are attempting containment, but two cannot hold back such a tide alone. None save for you and the other WEAPONs should leave this ship, lest you lose them to the Calamity's thrall."
"Fuck'n hell, that voice shit is weird," muttered Cid.
Aerith smiled softly before refocusing. She briefly turned her senses-the planet's senses to Wutai, feeling Tifa's rage, and had the unsettling sensation that it was more than just her hate of the Calamity...
Zack flew up a second later, holding an unconscious baby in his arms, an oddly amused look on his face. "So... does knocking out their own kid count as child abuse?"
Cloud snorted. "What makes you think they knocked her out?"
"There's a nasty pinch mark on the back of her neck," said Zack, setting down on the Highwind and motioning for Cid to take off.
Cloud muttered under his breath and cast a quick Cure on the child. Aerith briefly diverted her attention as she felt the child's presence stir and unconsciously stretch itself out, probing the area. It was rigid for a moment, eyes snapping open to take in everyone around her-
-and then the child's head turned in Wutai's direction; hate and rage and hunger filling the air as it hissed and clawed at the air, struggling in Zack's arms.
"Woah there kiddo, what's up with you?" said Zack.
"I assume that's why they knocked her out," said Angeal.
"The Child of Calamity appears to harbor the same desire to confront other Calamities that its Father mentioned having," murmured Minerva in her mind.
Aerith briefly nodded in agreement with the Goddess. "That's a good thing for us."
"Perhaps, but the hunger concerns me," said Minerva warily, "It is always the same with the Calamity and their offspring. They hunger and hunger for more, never satisfied nor sated."
Aerith pursed her lips. "Give Jen a chance, she could be a valuable ally."
"Or a dangerous enemy," countered Minerva.
Aerith huffed a little to herself. "Not that you can do anything about her unless you want to cross her family, and the rest of us."
"Your faith may be all of our undoing, the child unsettles me, it is not like her sires," warned the Goddess, "There is something strange about it, familiar and yet different."
"We've got bigger fish to fry at the moment," answered Aerith.
Minerva went silent, but Aerith knew the argument wasn't over. It was never over. Minerva wanted all traces of the Calamity gone, their children included. But so long as they were peaceful, Aerith didn't much mind them. Tifa was-and still is, her friend. Sephiroth? He was always dangerous, even before he went 'insane', but so long as he had something to live for, to keep him stable, he wasn't a problem, she could see that. She only hoped that Minerva could see that to, because if the Goddess, the planet, or it's WEAPONS took unprovoked action against them, it could be a disaster. And besides, they needed their help against any future Calamities that were to come.
It was also important to note, Sephiroth, Tifa, and Jen did not need the Planet. Sephiroth had intended to ride it's corpse through the stars at one point to a new world. So it was safe to assume they could withstand the vacuum of space, and extremely long periods without food and water (maybe hibernation of some kind?). If the world died, those three could survive just fine and move on. Alienating them was an absolutely terrible idea.
She tried to refocus, but Jen's hissing was rather distracting. "Can you take her inside?"
"Genesis! Baby duty!" called Zack singsong.
The redhead poked his head out of the bridge and scowled. "I am not a babysitter! Give her to the Captain, he'll be the one watching her when we take off."
"You fuckers are all children," grumbled Cid, walking over and taking Jen, glancing down at her, "Honestly kiddo, don't grow up to be like any of these good for nothing bastards."
Jen didn't pay him any attention, still hissing and clawing in Wutai's general direction, little wing beating rapidly to no avail. Thankfully, he went back inside and-
Aerith gave a startled yelp when a dark blur blew past the ship at such speeds it created a gust that sent them all staggering, their clothes and hair flapping wildly. "Well... there's Vincent, or well, Chaos."
Cloud moved to stand next to her at the front. "Good, they'll need all the help they can get until we arrive. We're still a good ten minutes out, more depending on where in Wutai the Calamity is."
"The capital area," murmured Aerith unhappily.
"Fifteen then," said Cloud with a scowl, "Far to long in a battle against that kind of monster."
He glanced at her. "What about our Materia?"
"Minerva already revitalized them," said Aerith.
"Alright then," said Cloud turning to address the others, "Check your gear and check your materia, ETA is fifteen minutes..."
Sephiroth growled under his breath. No matter how many he slew and burned, more and more kept coming. They were nothing to him, but it was irritating. He regretted letting Lockheart have at the Calamity, he would have enjoyed the challenge rather than cleaning up the trash. Still, best to be considerate since her friend was all but dead to her. Not that he had ever really paid attention to the thieving little Ninja, but it was still appropriate for him to allow her vengeance.
He dove into a horde of infected, spinning Masamune in a wide arc, the blade ignited with fire from his materia, leaving a molten burning slash through their bodies...
ENOUGH!
Sephiroth flew into the air at the sound of the Calamity's rage, glancing down towards it and Lockheart. His eyebrows furrowed as his cells began to tingle...
Damn, not this again.
He flinched and growled as he felt Reunion's pull from the Calamity. Immediately, the Hordes of infected, surged at it from everywhere, knocking Lockheart away and throwing themselves on their destroyer. He watched, resisting the urge for his stomach to turn, at the sight of their bodies and flesh melding into the Calamity. It began to ripple and grow as it absorbed one after the other. Body parts stuck out everywhere, faces embedded into it's skin gaped out with soulless dead black eyes. A tingle ran down Sephiroth's neck, and he narrowed his eyes, calculating and judging against the steady increase in power it was exhibiting.
It was roughly as strong as Lockheart's sire had been at the start...
He let out a soft chuckle. Which meant it still wasn't strong enough to...
The Calamity let out a roar, bubbles and boiled beginning to form and burst, releasing a putrid haze into the air. The infected hordes that came in contact with the haze stopped trying to be absorbed, and instead, began to mutate. They grew extra appendixes in gory rapidity, extra arms, legs, bat-like wings, and other changes. One in particular caught his eye, a former human that had bloated into a glowing green mass. He watched as it charged at Lockheart, who glared at it, met its charge, and slammed a fist into...
BOOM!
It exploded in a spray of green and gray ichor, sending Lockheart flying, and cells of the Calamity all over the battlefield, which in turn began to evaporate and turn into more haze.
Sephiroth pursed his lips tightly. "So, this is what a full-fledged Calamity invasion looks like."
He had no more time to contemplate, as the infected began to fly after him, faster and stronger than before. That only made Sephiroth smile savagely, perhaps he might have to exert himself a little now. One could only hope...
...and then he froze as the green and gray haze from the Calamity reached him. He let out a gag, feeling dizzy and disoriented, and then pained. It felt like the air itself was attacking him! No, it wasn't the air, it was the Calamity's cells, it had turned them airborne! He was taken offguard as a horde of flying infected came at him, latching on and clawing and biting and stabbing, taking him down to the ground with a heavy 'thud'. He activated the highest level of his fire materia and incinerated the area around him, burning away the infected and the haze alike...
His head turned sharply at the sound of Lockheart's pained cry. The tables had turned, and the Calamity was battering her to the ground, slashing and stabbing and clawing with it's hordes of tentacles. Lockheart struggled to maneuver, being so close to the Calamity, the haze of it's cells were more concentrated, attacking and hindering her relentlessly.
And then a howl filled the air moments before a dark blur slammed into the Calamity, driving it away from Lockheart. Sephiroth blinked once, took in the sight of Vincent Valentine in the form of Chaos, and let his lips peel into a smug smile. "I was wondering if we were going to have to clean this up ourselves or not."
Sephiroth took a step, only for something to latch onto his leg. He glanced down to see a putrid vine emerging from the ground to wrap around his leg. He swung his blade and severed it, only to go wide eyed and take off into the air as more burst from the ground. He flew higher and took a moment to survey the battlefield. The first thing he noted that the haze was still spreading, further and further out, away from the immediate area. He narrowed his eyes in understanding. It's taint wasn't going to stop. It was going to keep on spreading, and considering it went into the ground...
He paused as a grim realization struck him. It was already to late, wasn't it? It's cells were everywhere already. Even if they killed all the infected humans and destroyed it's main host, its cells were still continually spreading. This was never about fighting, it was about containment. Sephiroth immediately flew to the edge of the battlefield and began casting Fire again and again and again; into the air, into the ground, trying to leave a ring of fire around the entire area as his energy reserve slowly began to drain...
BOOM BOOOM BOOM!
Fireballs rained from the sky, igniting large swaths of the battlefield and infected Hordes. Sephiroth glanced up to see Genesis flying ahead of the Highwind that was still a dot in the distance. "What took you so long?"
"We had to pick up your brat," said Genesis without breaking his rain of magic, "Where do you need me?"
"Keep the haze contained, and do not go into it," warned Sephiroth, "It is the Calamities Cells, if you touch it, they will attack your body."
"I'm on cleanup duty again," said Genesis dryly, "Great."
The Highwind drew closer, but came to a stop a ways from the battlefield, moving to hover just off the ground. Angeal carrying Cloud, and Zackery carrying the Ancient, flew out, charging for the battlefield. He opened his mouth to speak a warning, but they blew by without waiting. He sighed and shook his head, let them find out the hard way then...
Aerith let out a shrill scream, they all did, the moment they flew into this weird green and gray haze. She felt like sharp needles were being stabbed into every part of her body. They struggled for a moment, trying to force through the pain, before they were taken to the ground. Hordes of infected Wutains surged at them. Cloud, Angeal, and Zack struggled to fight, attacked both on the outside and the inside.
Aerith's legs buckled and she fell her knees, feeling nauseous. "What IS this?"
"The taint of the Calamity," growled Minerva with hate, "Unleash your power and banish this plague!"
Aerith glowed her eyes and reached inside, for her heart, for Holy. White light engulfed her body, banishing the pain. She stood up, gave a cry of power, and thrust her arms into the sky and then to the sides. A nova of white light erupted from her body, disintegrating the haze where it met, and burning the infected around them. The aura of light extended a few yards, but no further, as it was already a drain to maintain it around them.
"Fight within the light!" cried out Aerith.
The trio of enhanced formed a triangle around her as they began to move towards the Calamity. She focused on supporting them, healing, enhancement materia like Haste and Barrier. She did nothing further, as to not burn through her energy reserved to fast. She let her gaze drift towards the monstrous Calamity as it battled with Chaos and Tifa. Chaos seemed immune, or was ignoring, the haze of the Calamity, clawing and ripping into it with abandon. Tifa was visibly struggling, blood was seeping out of her from seemingly everywhere, exhaustion clear across her face. Her friend took a few pot shots against the monster, but mostly focused on keeping the infected off of Chaos.
They needed to destroy the Calamity now! "Pick up the pace!"
The burst into a run, barrelling through the infected to join the main battle. The closer they got however, the smaller the aura of light became, it was becoming a struggle to cleanse the area around them and keep it cleansed. The moment they drew close enough, and the light touched the Calamity, it shrieked and staggered away, turning to hiss at them in rage.
"Cloud, Angeal, go join them, I'll keep Aerith safe," said Zack.
The two of them nodded and rushed out at the Calamity, wincing as they entered the haze, but pushing through.
"Tifa!" called out Aerith, "Take a breather."
The woman needed no further prompting, she staggered away, into the light, and all but collapsed to the ground. "Uhnn..."
Aerith knelt down, casting Cure and Regen on her friend, helping her to her feet. "You did good Tifa, take a minute to rest and recover, then lets destroy that thing."
Tifa shook her head. "I... I don't know how. If you destroy it's body, it just reforms itself out of an infected person almost instantly."
Aerith's heart skipped a beat. "It does what now?!"
Tifa nodded, taking deep breaths. "It... it spread and infected so fast. It was already swarming over the capital area. We couldn't stop it. We tried to fight it. Trashed it pretty hard, but it just absorbed some of it's infected and took things to the next level. Doing what you did against Father, sending it into the Sun, isn't going to work here. I... I don't know what to do, fighting it does nothing."
Aerith licked her lips nervously. Neither did she. "Minerva? Any ideas?"
The Goddess was unusually silent, not even a sound in the back of her mind.
"The Planet's Avatar cannot reach you anymore little girl," came a horrific screeching voice in Aerith's head, a howling laughter ringing through her ears, "So foolishly you came to confront me head on, knowing naught what you faced. Brute force has never stopped me before, and it shall not now. You have made a grave mistake in coming here..."
Aerith screamed and clutched her head as blood gushed out of her nose, collapsing to her knees as the Calamity viciously assaulted her mind...
Jen was howling with rage and hunger, so much hunger, far worse than anything she had experienced before. Nothing in all her eons as Jenova, as the Firstborn, could have prepared her for the endless desire to feed and devour her kin. It was all consuming, so difficult to think straight. She hated and yet craved for her kin with such yearning. She had to get down there, had to FEED!
But this fool wouldn't let her!
The man with a spear and a vulgar mouth, Cid if she had heard right, had her in a tight grip, pressed to his chest as he leaned against the railing of the ship he was on. "Fucking mess down there kiddo. Wish I could help, but I can't do a fuckin thing but drive people around anymore. Getting to god damn old for this shit. Aint no fancy SOLDIER boy or a WEAPON."
Jen beat against his chest with her tiny hands. Why couldn't he just shut up and take her down there? She could feel what was going on. The kin was spreading and growing stronger despite the efforts of the fools facing it. They were ignorant and inexperienced. They thought just because they had defeated her Mother's sire they were fit to face a true Calamity? They knew nothing of Jenova's original Planetfall and powers; such strength that would make this seem like child's-play. They did not know how to disrupt the web of cells and souls connecting her kin to it's slaves. The Ancients had learned, had been the only ones who had ever stumbled into the solution to seal a Calamity away and kill its connection to it's network. But this generation either didn't know how, or was so idiotically focused on fighting it head on they weren't considering it.
"Probably a good think we didn't go pick up Barret or Red, just get themselves killed, not a lick of self-preservation between those two numbskulls," said Cid, taking a moment to spit over the edge of the railing.
Jen saw her chance, and shot her wing up, slamming it into his eye. He gave a horse cry and lost his grip, staggering back as he did. Jen thrust herself forward as much as she could, beating her tiny wing, before she hit the railing, and went over the side of the ship. Her triumph turned into panic and fear as the ground rapidly rose to meet her. She flapped her wing sporadically, but it did little to...
CRUNCH
She hit the ground hard, screaming and wailing in pain as she felt her legs break, and many different bones shatter and snap. If the ship had been high in the air rather than close to the ground, she'd have perhaps foolishly killed herself. But the pain faded quickly, overcome with the rising hunger. She was so close, so very close. She reached her little broken hands forward and clawed into the ground, flapping her wing as she did, slowly crawling forward towards the feast...
Tifa's heart stopped for a moment as a wave of pain overcame her, followed by ravenous hunger. But it wasn't from her, it was... "Jen...?"
She whirled towards the Highwind, her eyes narrowing as she focused in.
"Tifa? What is it?" asked Aerith shakily, looking pained.
She droned her out and focused her enhanced vision, sighting Cid scrambling down the ladder to the ground. She turned her attention downward...
Her eyes went wide to see her baby on the ground a great distance away, crawling towards the battle. "JEN!"
She broke into a run, barreling through the infected and the haze in a mad dash for her child. "Sephiroth!"
The man paused his rain of fire from above, following her gaze to their child, and suckering in a breath. For the first time in her life, she swore she saw unrestrained panic on his face. He dove, flying towards Jen as fast as he could.
She felt the eyes of the Calamity on them, curious and baffled as to what they was doing. Then, there was understanding, and dark glee. Infected stopped rushing towards them... and instead turned towards Jen!
"NO!" she screamed as they poured out of the haze towards her child.
One of them drew close and reached down for the baby, only to take Cid's spear through it's face as the man barreled into it, driving his shoulder in and shoving it away. Another infected closed the distance, Cid swung his spear, slashing at it, only for a third to slam an arm into him, knocking him away. It bent down and picked up the hissing child, turning to face them and holding a sharp claw next to the child's head,
"Another move, and your offspring dies," echoed through Tifa's head.
Both Tifa and Sephiroth froze, and a moment later, the entire battle came to a halt. The others appeared to have heard, and since the infected had stopped attacking, they had grown still.
The Calamity's main body began to move leisurely and smugly moving across the battlefield towards Jen. Tifa shook with rage and hate and fear as it passed her. "I swear, if you lay a hand on her..."
"I'll never understand mortals and their overwhelming desires for their young," mused the Calamity, not bothering to turn to face her, "You would be surprised how many worlds have accelerated their own destruction on the foolish urge to save their spawn. They sneak their young into their cities as my cells churn inside of them to try to find a 'cure', vectors of contagion that serve as the harbingers of their own demise. Or, they stupidly sacrifice their own lives, offering themselves in their place."
Mocking laughter erupted from its maw. "It never ceases to amaze me."
It drew close and peered down at the hissing child, who looked fanatically at the Calamity, reached for it with broken hands. A tentacle reached out and wrapped around Jen's middle, picking her up from the infected carrying her and holding it close to the Calamity. "Now, what shall I do with this one, hmm? My kin but not kin?"
Before Tifa could respond, a wave of triumph erupted from Jen. She opened her tiny mouth with glee, her small teeth barely poking through her gums almost shining, and bit down on the tentacle wrapped around her. Her head ripping back and forth before she managed to bite a chunk out and swallow.
Tifa's eyes went wide with panic. "Jen! Spit it out! Spit it out!"
Jen ignored her and went in for another bite. The Calamity peered at the child, dark amusement rippling through the air. "Vicious little thing isn't it? It takes after her kin, her hunger is apparent, but what does it think it can..."
The Calamity trailed off for a moment, confusion rippling from it, then pain as it screamed...
Jen closed her eyes and savored the delicious morsel. She focused inwardly at her kin's foolish attempt to subvert her body. She allowed it to progress, studying the cells, it's powers, it's identity, before she struck. She reached into it's hive-like-mind and paralyzed it's entire network of cells and hosts with pinpoint accuracy practiced and used over the eons whenever she had encountered her kin as Jenova, ordering them to stop. It obviously had never faced off against another of it's kin if it couldn't fend her off, the little parasite probably fed rapidly then fled whatever planet it was on. Effective against it's inhabitents who couldn't figure out a quick way to stop it, utterly useless against her. So, with her pray helpless, she fed. She gorged on it's soul, sucking it in through each connected host and cell. She broke apart it's DNA piece by piece, identifying and incorporating what she thought would be useful into her own and tossing out everything else.
Her kin's strength was in it's survivability, its speed, its virulence. While Jen could not infect and spread, she could use such things within her own body. To spread any change she wanted to incorporate from future kin at lightning speed. She could vastly increase her regeneration rate, not to mention allow her body to recover from what would be assured fatal wounds such as being ripped into pieces or having her head severed. Already she could feel her broken bones knitting together, her damaged internal organs mending with renewed strength even without the Planet's lifeblood surging through her veins like her sires.
She could feel her body subtly changing, absorbing and adapting as was the strength of what she was. THIS was the power of being a Child of Calamity, the ability to adapt like nothing before. Calamities could adapt and change, but they were always the same at their core, a network of cells controlled by a hive-like-mind. This new existence was concentrated and focused, its strength in its singularity. So unknowingly greater, so vastly superior, filled with limitless potential.
She gorged and gorged until she was sated, and then killed her kin with a single mental strike, disintegrating its connection between its mind and its cells. It's core body collapsed to the ground in an oozing mess. Infected humans following suit. The air began to bleed black as it's cells in the air burst and died, pooling to the ground. Jen landed with a mushy gross splash into the mess of dying cells, a delighted giggle of laughter escaping her lips. She felt so strong, so powerful, so alive. This was a better high than having gorged on the soul and goddess of a planet!
There was a rapid splashing sound before Mother-Tifa picked her up and checked her over in a panic, pausing at her eyes. "What...?"
Father-Son landed next to her. "Is she harmed?"
"Not that I can see, but her eyes... they're red and green AND gray now, it's like she took in some of the Calamity's...," said Mother-Tifa, worry etched across her face.
Jen didn't pay any particular attention to the concern and instead nestled into her mother's arms, well fed and content. Though, there was a disgusting amount of her kin's dead cells on her. She refocused on her Mother-Tifa and projected an image of their bathtub at her.
Mother-Tifa snorted in amusement. "Apparently she wants a bath."
Father-Son ran a hand through his hear, an odd nervous/relieved chuckle escaping his lips. Honestly, she didn't know why they were worried, she had this completely under control. If they had just taken her with them to begin with, this would have been child's-play...
Tifa narrowed her eyes as Cid's ragged form approached. "Cid, would you mind telling me why my child was on the ground?"
"Uh... she kind of whacked me in the eye with her wing and got loose while I was watching the fight," muttered Cid sheepishly.
'I will not kill my friends, I will not kill my friends', Tifa repeated in her head over and over again.
"What... did she just do?" came Aerith's baffled voice.
She turned to see all the others converging on them, pausing a little ways away, Chaos kept further distance, not yet reverting to Vincent, studying Jen intently. "Umm... she killed it?"
"How?" asked Aerith in disbelief.
"A good question," mused Sephiroth, glancing at his child in thought, "One I don't think she's going to be able to answer anytime soon..."
Both Tifa and Sephiroth froze as an image was thrust into their mind, of a spiderweb like structure, a tiny fist ripping away its center, and watching it all fall away as a result. "Or not..."
"What?" asked Aerith.
Tifa gave her a quick run down of what Jen had shown them.
"Umm... that explains things how?" asked Zack.
"More than you would think," mused Sephiroth, crossing his arms, head tilted in thought, "When I journeyed with Mother all those years ago, I observed what kind of being she was. Through her, I could tap into anything that bore her cells, like a network, and control them. Jen, as I understand it, killed the network by taking out its source and disconnecting it to its cells. Effectively, she killed its mind and soul with a single strike."
There was dead silence for a minute, before a cracking and splintering sound was heard. Tifa turned her head to see Chaos turning back into Vincent. She wrinkled her nose at the transformation, that had to hurt like hell. Vincent approached when he was done. "It makes sense except for one problem. The Calamity was far stronger than the Child. How could she possibly kill it like that? How could she even know to kill it like that?"
No one said anything, uncertainty in the air.
Tifa pressed Jen tightly to her, worried, yet immensely proud, and furious all at once.
Then a thought struck that washed away her current focus. "Oh god, I forgot, Yuffie!"
She rushed passed the group in the direction she had thrown Yuffie in at the start of the fight. She hoped and prayed it had been far enough to not get touched and mutated by the haze. The group followed her as she ran, and eventually, she came across Yuffie's body, or rather, what was left of it, and let out a despairing wail.
"Oh Yuffie," she whispered in horror.
The young woman's body was half melted in a mush of decaying green and gray cells. Her body twitched and spasmed, her eyes hazy and rolling around. A whine escaped her throat, pained and tormented. There was hardly and life left in her. Tifa chocked back a sob and stood there, shaking. There was a collection of gasps and grimaces as the others approached. Aerith knelt down next to Yuffie in the puddle of dead cells, sorrow etched into her face. She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together as if in prayer.
They all watched in silence, hoping Aerith could do something for their friend. Finally, Aerith held a hand, glowing with light, and placed it on Yuffie's chest. The woman whined in pain as her body was wrapped in light and lifted up, dead cells spilling out of her. Now out of the mass of cells, the damage was readily apparent. One arm gone, the other half melted, both legs gone, her lower body half dissolved, half her face missing... it was all Tifa could do but look away. How was she even still alive?
"Damn it," growled Cloud in fury, "Damn it! Damn these monsters!"
"Easy Cloudy," said Zack, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Rith', can you do anything for her?"
"The kinder thing would be to simply let what is left of her go into the Promised Land," murmured Aerith before steel entered her voice, "But... I think we've lost enough to the Calamities, and I don't give a damn if Minerva is unwilling to expend anymore of the Planet's energy. I'll keep her stabilized, Cid, bring the ship, we're going to the Northern Crater."
Tifa blinked a few times, confused. "What can we do for her there?"
"With the both Midgar closed up, and the Mideel Mako lake sealed, the Northern Crater is the only way to really get physically close to the lifestream anymore," said Aerith, "This is beyond us to heal, only the Planet can do anything for her..."
Cloud brooded silently as they descended into the crater hours later. He was still fuming, still felt the sense of loss and failure. He knew it was impossible to have done anything for Yuffie, he was on another continent when the Calamity came down. Yet... it still felt like he had failed a friend. It always came down to failing. Failure to save his mother and Nibelheim, failure to save Zack, failure to save Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge, failure to save Aerith, failure to save so many others over the years, and of course failure to save Tifa from Morbunova; save Marlene and Densel from a warped Tifa...
Always failing to save those who mattered to him.
He and Yuffie had never particularly been close; she was really annoying to be honest. But she was still a friend, still someone he had fought alongside for so long. To see her broken like this... was awful. It wasn't right to see her so lifeless and still when she was usually so full of energy; baring being motion sick of course. He sighed and rubbed his eyes before moving to take point as they entered the underground portion of the crater.
Wisely, no monsters approached. Any they came across took one look at the collected mass of former SOLDIERs and WEAPONs and fled. It was eerie, in a way, to walk down these winding tunnels that they had come down so long ago chasing after Sephiroth. Especially since the man walked with them. He didn't particularly know why he was, maybe to simply stay next to his child and Tifa. Eventually, they came to the final room prior to the core of the crater and gathered in a circle around it, so similar to the group that had come her so long ago.
"So...," said Cid, "Last time there were a bunch of floating rocks we hopped down. Kind of don't see that here this time."
Aerith sighed and aimed a hand towards the hole, a soft glow illuminating her. A minute later, a large flat rock floated up, and they got onto it. Aerith lowered them further and further down until they finally reached where they had originally fought Sephiroth. He couldn't help but to sneak a glance at the man. He showed no reaction to being in this place, not that Cloud really expected him to. The area hadn't changed much, red rocks everywhere, a few raised platforms of them that he recalled fighting that weird first form of Sephiroth on. A single hole in it's center where Holy had once been trapped. Now, it was filled with the green glow of Mako.
Aerith levitated Yuffie into the hole and set her down inside the Mako. Tendrils of green energy reached up and surrounded Yuffie, slowly wrapping her into a cocoon of Mako, forming a crystal around her like the one Sephiroth's body had been in way back when.
"Minerva is grudgingly willing to help," said Aerith slowly, "But not to expend the energy to make it happen quickly. The Lifestream will mend her slowly, it will be awhile, a few years at least, before she's anywhere close to being ready to wake up. Even then... I'm not sure what state she will be in. The Calamity devoured a large part of her soul and mind. We can't get that back. The most that can be done is infuse new lifestream into her to give her a full soul, and dig out as many memories of her life as we can from those departed who knew her in life. With how many Wutains fell to the Calamity however... I'm not sure we can give her anywhere near as complete a picture as we could Tifa."
Tifa shifted Jen to her other arm, looking uncomfortable. "Well... we'll do what we can to help fill in the gaps when she wakes up, as best we can. She's going to need our help either way."
Sephiroth crossed his arms. "There is also the status of her nation to consider."
Heads turned to stare at him.
The man raised an eyebrow, giving them a look that said 'did none of you honestly think about this?'. "A large chunk of their population lived in the capital area. The Calamity cut a swath to there, infecting everything along the way. Wutai had already lost an extreme amount of it's population in the Wutai War. How much of their people, their nation, even remains anymore after this?"
Cloud was having an awful reminder of what it felt like to be one of the only survivors of Nibelheim all the sudden. He wouldn't wish that on anyone, let alone a friend.
"Fuck," muttered Cid, "Better contact that damn moogle then and have him send out his people."
"Reeve," corrected Aerith.
"Whatever," said Cid, waving a hand before lighting a cigarette, "Though, knowing that bastard, he's already mobilizing."
Tifa reached over, grabbed his cig, and yanked it from his mouth, dropping it on the ground and smushed it under her boot. "There is a child present, watch your mouth and don't smoke that crap around her."
Cid's jaw dropped for a moment before he glared at her, huffing and turning to Aerith. "Alright, can we get the hell out of here?"
"Language Cid!"
"Ah go to hell Lockheart."
Cloud rolled his eyes, bemused, before he turned to Yuffie's Mako Crystal. He hesitatingly walked over and placed a hand on it.
"I'm sorry Yuffie," he muttered before he turned and slowly walked away with the others...
Author's Notes: Been a long while since this was last updated, thought I'd return with a bang.
Poor poor Yuffie.
Guest: Maybe I'll keep some of her naming convention, but not the full drawn out one, its kind of a hassle.