The warriors stepped through the gate. Each one was ready for battle. But when they arrived in at the end of time, all seemed normal.

Gasper walked up to Chrono. "So, you and your friends are back? Why?"

"We were told that the ones we seek were here…"

"Well, besides you and them, I haven't seen anyone. How about you, Nu?"

"Nope. No one at all…"

They all turned to look at Shadow. But Shadow wasn't paying them any attention. Her attention was elsewhere… "They're here…"

Chrono was getting angry. "Are you saying Gasper lied! Let me tell you, he wouldn't lie. It's just not him!"

But Shadow looked beyond him, and Gasper. She looked beyond everyone in that room. She looked into the void beyond. "She's out there…"

Shadow roared a challenge, which vanished into the void beyond. For what seemed like an eternity everyone was still, listing. But no sound answered the challenge.

Chrono opened his mouth to say something, when a cry echoed back to them from across the void. Without even seeing the sender, Shadow knew who it was. "So, your choice is made…"

The others looked at her, not really understanding the comment, until a huge dragon became visible from deep within the void. Another dragon soon came into sight, along with Jenova and Lavos. The time of reckoning had come. Both sides had everything to lose, and much to gain from this battle…


CENTER* * * * */CENTER


Jenova looked at those who dared oppose her. Although they had the advantage of numbers, they did not have the same strength. "You fools cannot win! Surrender! You deaths shall be quick and painless…"

"Not this time Jenova! You may have fooled me once, and used me to kill my brother. But never again! I shall destroy you!"

Jenova was amazed that Sephiroth defied her. "My son. Why do you resist me? Together we could rule this world! As is my right!"

"You're wrong. You're not my mother! And you have no right to rule this world! Your ideal world would lead to countless deaths! And ten times as much suffering. You're right? Who, what gave you that right? The only thing you have is power. And you wield it to do harm. You have no right to rule, only the desire. All these years you treated me, whom you believed to be your own son, as nothing more than a slave. If you treat your child this way, what would you do to those not related to you…?"

"You claim I am not your mother. Yet within you, calling to me, are my cells. All who carry them are mine! I made a foolish mistake before. All those who carry my cells are mine!"

"You're wrong Jenova! How many times have I defied you? I who carry your cells! I Cloud Strife, the same one you called a slave, and puppet. I can still remember those words you spoke to me at the hidden city…'IYou do not need to act. You cannot cry because you are…A puppet…'/I How often those words haunted me. But no more! Today we shall end this!"

"And I. How many years? Pain, suffering, torture. All to break me. And in the end, for what? I survived your torment. And I am my own warrior still! And I freed my brother. Jenova, you have ruined your last life!"

Zack stepped up beside Sefiroth. "How many of us? How many times have you tried, and failed. You cannot break us because we are not yours to be broken!"

"For Lucrecia's sake, I cannot allow you to live. You ruined her name, and that of her sons. I shall avenge them, for their mother's sake. The woman I loved!"

"I of all people here have the least knowledge of any of this. But I know what I've seen. You have destroyed countless lives, including my own. And more dreams, hopes and fantasies of many more. You have caused hate, mistrust, and despair to spread. You claim that you shall kill us, yet even that is not truth! I know truth! The truth is that you are a creature of death, and destruction! You thrive on chaos, and hatred! You live to created sorrow! True, I may not know what else you caused, but I know enough. I know enough to know you must be stopped. Not just for what you did to me, and many here. Not for the threat you pose to this world, and others. Not even for the lives you destroyed. You must be stopped for the future. For many worlds, you may destroy the only chance of a future they have! I cannot allow that! Even now, I know of three more victims to your evil. And should we submit to your will, here and now, some of us shall become prisoners. Prisoners who shall suffer because of you, and live lives of hell. You made me a dragon, but you gave me a gift you never thought of. You gave me the ability to understand what I had, and what I lost. But I shall not allow others to learn this lesson the same way!"

Shadow and Jenova stared at each other. They were the strongest warriors of their respective sides. And although Shadow wasn't as strong as Jenova, she had the gift of materia. The only warrior on this world to have such control. And although alone she was weak, she knew her powers would grow with the allies beside her. She drew strength from them, and she knew that when the time for battle came that it would not be a one on one fight like before. This time, Shadow would fight beside her friends.

For that is what she had come to think of them. Even those whom she had once wanted to kill. Cloud and Vincent. Sephiroth and his brother. Chrono and Nadia. Frog and Magnus. All these, and more. Shadow knew that they would all battle beside her, and that she would be stronger for this…/FONT/BODY