Seto had been leading the way for several hours now, always sniffing the ground and looking for clues so as to find the trail. After hiking hard the entire night we finally walked out over a hill and found ourselves overlooking a small area of flat land. In the middle of the grove sat the Formula and Lance. He noticed us almost immediately and motioned us forward. As we got closer he came to meet us, although he welcomed me warmly he seemed a little apprehensive around Seto. "Welcome back Zack," he greeted me with a smile on his face. "You made it back just in time, I fixed the Formula and was just about ready to leave without you...coffee?"
"Yes please," I replied, "and it's a good thing you didn't leave, I found our friend." I motioned towards Seto and Lance looked a little confused.
"So this is our companion hu?" He reached down to pet Seto on the head but fell down on his back when Seto reproved him.
"Please refrain from petting me human. You are I take it, Zack's friend, therefore I will forgive your horrible rudeness and introduce myself...I am the warrior Seto and am the chief guardian of Cosmo Canyon," stated Seto with a frankness that made me grin. When I saw the surprise on Lance's face my grin grew to a full-blown smile.
"Ah..." stuttered Lance, "y...you can talk?"
"Of course I can talk, did you think I was just some sort of animal?" replied Seto.
"Of course not," managed Lance as he got to his feet, "I'm Lance, expert pilot and recent friend of Zack."
Seto nodded his head, "it is good to meet you Lance. Now the three of us should be thinking about leaving soon, before the specters find us."
"Specters?!" shouted Lance, "you mean like ghosts!?"
"Something like that," replied Seto, "Zack and I were followed last night and I have no doubt that the ghosts will soon be alerted to our presence."
"Followed?" I asked, "I didn't see anyone following us."
Seto shook his head, "they were much too clever to let us see them, but I could still smell them, whoever they were. Out this deep in the canyon nothing can survive that hasn't allied itself with the Gi specters. I was the Gi's best-kept secret and I am sure they will put a high price out for the head of the one who freed me."
Lance began stuffing supplies into the plane and shouted back at us, "come on, come on, come on lets get moving! I don't want to meet no ghosts!" We began helping him to pack up when an ear-piercing scream flew through the canyon.
"That would be the specters," said Seto, the calm expression on his face giving way to a flicker of anger and ferocity. We doubled our efforts but there was no way we'd be able to outrace the oncoming specters so Seto and I took up defensive posts in front of the Formula while Lance continued to prep the plane for launch. We stood there awaiting the enemy, I looked over and watched as a change seemed to come over Seto. Before he had appeared cold, calm, and collected but now his eyes were glowing red and his long tail whipped fiercely back and forth. His lips curled back and revealed a row of long, sharp, serrated teeth.
"What kind of materia do you have?" I asked him.
He didn't even turn his head, "a Fire, Sense, Time, Shield, and Mega-all...and they're all mastered." The power staggered me, he must have been one of the best in his day to have materia that strong. As I was contemplating this the ground around seemed to vibrate and I could see small pebbles bouncing around. A deep drone filled my ears and at first I thought it was the oncoming specters, but then I realized the sound was coming from Seto. The growl was primeval to the core, it seemed to awaken the feral spirit that had been trapped for so long in solid rock. With wild howl Seto cast Haste on himself and charged the dark shape that loomed out of the valley in front of us. I ran after him to meet the monstrosity that was attacking us. It loomed into the air clutching a huge cruel looking spear, it wore the colorful garb that I had seen Ger'adu wearing, and its face was obscured by shadows. As I rushed forward I could hear high-pitched laughing from above me on the canyon wall. I looked up to see the annoying little creature Ger'adu jumping up and down and laughing to himself. He began to shout encouragement to the specter, I heard something that sounded like great leader and then got fed up with the creature.
"Hello Ger'adu!" I shouted up at him. He turned his face towards me and a look of surprise crossed his darkened face.
"You cannot harm us little man! Great Leader will destroy you and bad beast and there nothing you can do about it!" He began to leap about again mocking me in another language that sounded more like hissing than speech.
"Do something about this worm!" I yelled at it as I focused my mind on my Contain Materia and unleashed a tornado attack. The winds swirled around Ger'adu drowning out his screams and calls for help. The little monster was lifted off of his perch and thrown high into the air, right out of the canyon, his high pitched scream growing more and more faint until it stopped all together. I twisted around, cast Haste on myself, and raced back to help Seto. He was perched on top of the Gi and had his jaws firmly clamped around the monsters throat. I sprinted directly towards them and used a large rock to springboard myself directly at the specter. I raised my sword up over my head to deliver a slashing blow that could have cut the ghost in half, but just as I brought the blade down the thing flung its huge spear out in front of itself to block the blow. My sword went right through the thick wood shaft of the spear, leaving nothing but a long cut along the things chest instead of killing it. The front of the spear fell to the ground and was instantly consumed by green flames, a green fire was eating at the slash as well. The specter howled in rage and pain and knocked me to the ground with one of its giant hands. It then literally tore Seto from its neck, leaving some of its undead flesh in Seto's mouth, and flung him across the canyon. I thought that Seto would be splattered on the valley wall but with a graceful twist he hit the cliff with all four feet and easily bounded off. With a roar he cast Fire 3 on the beast while I followed up with a Flare. Both attacks hit dead on and more green flame began to eat at the creature. I took the small reprieve to see what Lance was doing, I did this just in time to see the plane begin to take off. I couldn't believe it...Lance was abandoning us. I couldn't run and let Seto fight the monster by himself so I rushed after the beast as he launched himself at the creature once again, hoping that I was wrong about Lance. The monster was ready for Seto this time and grabbed him in midair with its right hand. I could hear something that reminded me of deep-throated laughter as the monster lifted Seto up in the air. With another howl Seto sunk his teeth into the thing's arm and pulled his head back with all his strength. I heard a horrible ripping sound and saw that Seto had torn the creature's whole lower arm off. Seto fell to the ground, landing on all four feet as little bits of green fire drifted about him. The specter roared in pain and its eyes burned with an unholy glare that would have halted a demon in midstride. It lifted up its taloned fist and prepared to smite the beast that had possessed the guts to harm it. I could see that Seto could not dodge the blow and that would likely tear him in half, yet he stood there calmly, accepting his fate with dignity. Suddenly the monsters chest disappeared in a flash of green light as sound blared from behind me. I turned around to see Lance piloting the Formula, the mini-guns unsheathed and unleashing their wrath on their target. I turned around to see the monster writhing in pain, its body becoming a green bonfire. Finally the guns stopped and the valley became deathly silent, nothing remained of our adversary but a pile of ash that was quickly being scattered by the wind. Seto and I fell to the ground in exhaustion as Lance set the plane back down.
He jumped from the cockpit with a wild grin on his face, "we got that bugger good didn't we! Ya we sure did! Turned that bugger into a bonfire we did!" I nodded and a short laugh escaped my lips.
"So Lance," I asked, "you ever going to get me that coffee I asked for?"
About and hour and 4 cups of coffee later we got ready to go. There happened to be a storage space right behind the gunners seat and below the pilots that was big enough for Seto to fit into. It was still a tight fit and his head poked out into the gunner's cockpit. The entrance was off to the side and so I was still able to fit in rather comfortably with Seto's head resting on my shoulder. "We ready to go?" Lance asked over the comm. link.
"We're set up here," I replied as Seto growled nervously. "First time flying?" I asked him, he nodded his head. "Don't worry," I tried to encourage him, "flying is nothing compared to fighting a giant, man-eating specter with a really big spear." He grinned at that and closed his eyes in resignation.
"Hey Zack," Lance called over the comm. link, "you have any idea where we're going?"
I hadn't thought about that yet, as I pondered this question a dark mist seemed to drift into my vision, obscuring my sight. I tried to speak but only moaned as the darkness wrapped itself around me. My head hit the back of my seat and then there was nothing. I was floating in shadows as a familiar sick feeling crept up my spine. It was the prison for my soul, it was back. I screamed and screamed and screamed, I vented my rage in one mighty volcanic eruption. Already the pain was taking hold and I could feel myself drifting into the depression and suffering that I had escaped from not so long ago. Then Aeris appeared, but now she was only a shadow of herself. Her eyes were downcast and she looked so sad standing there as I was pulled further down into my illness. Then she disappeared as the face of Sephiroth obscured her body. His lips were pulled up at the corners in a cruel grin.
"Foolish mortal!" he cried. "You defeated me once but now you must face the full force of mother's power! You will be crushed, you will be dragged back down into the pit she had you tapped in for so long. You will submit!!!" He started to laugh and all I could do was scream. I was shaking in rage, I wanted to destroy that face, to rip it from my mind and throw into the abyss from whence it came. I began to tear at my clothes I was so angry and it was then that I noticed something in my pocket. I reached in and pulled out a single, lonely flower. It was crumpled and wilting but I still recognized it as the flower Aeris had given to me when I defeated the sickness the first time. It was all I had and so I clung to it with all my might, praying that I might find a way out of the nightmare. As I floated there with my eyes closed I noticed that my hands were tingling. I looked at them to see that the flower was glowing once again. I clung all the tighter, but this time with hope that I would escape. A blinding flash covered my vision in seething white light. The pain was truly beyond anything I had ever experienced before but I endured it as best I could. However to my disappointment I did not see the inside of the cockpit when the light cleared but instead a single lonely column of stone and ivy reaching out of the mist to rise into the sky of stars. On top of the column sat a forlorn figure that I approached with caution. Suddenly I recognized the figure, it was me! The vision of myself sat on the hard stone floor, chains and shackles holding him down while blood flowed freely from his many wounds. The eyes were sunken and stared at me pleading for help, pleading for salvation. I ran forward to break the chains, to free myself but was stopped as a dark shadow fell over the two of us. I looked up and saw a monster descending towards us. It looked like a woman, at least to a point, but it was blue and its skin smooth like cold steel. Its eyes were even colder, they were black wells of darkness that seemed to infect the light around them with an evil tint.
"What are you doing puppet?" it asked in the coldest voice I had ever heard before.
"I'm freeing myself from you!" I yelled back. It began to laugh, a sound that reminded me of tinkling glass.
"Do you know who I am puppet?" it asked me.
"No, and I don't care," I replied, "It doesn't matter who you are because you're about to leave."
"I don't think I'm going anywhere," it calmly retorted, "this body will make a useful instrument...once its old occupant is properly expelled." With that by spine arched in pain, it felt like it was getting pulled right out of my body. At the same time the vision of myself in chains began to writhe on the ground. It beat itself and clawed at its chains, its mouth opening in silent screams while I filled in the silence with real ones. All the time the creature stood over me, watching me as a child watches a bug its about to squash. There was nothing I could do and the pain began to take an even stronger hold. As I began to loose consciousness a picture of Aeris flashed through my brain, she was holding her flower basket and was laughing. She looked so vulnerable standing there and I knew then that this creature standing over me was what had destroyed her, Sephiroth might have been its tool but it had been the one in charge. I also realized that if I didn't do something I would end up just like Sephiroth, the pawn of this evil monster. I looked at the prostrate form of myself on the ground and was filled with a will to live, a want to survive that bypassed the pain and gave me the strength to stand. As I did so my twin stood beside me, his chains beginning to drop off to shatter on the stone. The monster looked confused, "what do you think you're doing?" it asked.
"Kicking you out of my mind," I replied in a strong voice that visibly shocked it.
"No!" it screamed, "the girl is not here, she cannot help you! You can't be this strong! You will submit!!!" The pain increased tenfold but I was beyond pain by now. My life was pain, suffering was all that I could remember and a little bit more wasn't going to hurt me. I knew that I should be dying...that any normal person would have already died from the pain...knew that I probably was dying, but I no longer cared. I stood before the monster and mocked it with my simple unwillingness to sit down and die. It screamed at me again, "you cannot defeat me mortal! I am the mother, the one you fools named JENOVA! I am all powerful!"
"No..." I replied, "You're nothing." As I said this I could feel the power rise up in me that I remembered from the helicopter attack. My Limit Break was filled and ready to be used, and in this I did not hesitate. This time was different though, I knew I had reached a new power level but I had not realized it had affected my Limit Break. I held out my sword and flower petals began to swirl around it in a dizzying ballet. The dance grew faster and faster as my sword began to glow a bright red.
"What are you doing!" it screeched.
"It should be obvious," I replied with a smile as I unleashed the full force of my attack.
I leapt into the air and spun around and around until I ran into JENOVA head on, delivering blow after deadly blow as flower petals spun around the two of us, preventing any escape. The creature began to claw at itself in torment as it screamed for mercy, but none was given. Finally the attack was over and I fell back onto the ground totally exhausted. I lay there sucking in breath and wondering how I had survived when a shadow fell over me. I opened my eyes to see my alter-self standing over me, the chains were gone and for all appearances he looked like nothing had ever happened to him. He nodded his head and with a simple smile vanished. He wasn't the only thing that vanished either, everything was gone, the pillar, the stars, the plants, they were all gone and all that was left was the darkness. I don't know how long I floated in that void, but I do remember the wonderful cool bliss that washed over me as I plunged into it. It was like diving into a cool pool of water after a long hard journey, but like a pool of water I was beginning to surface and before me light began to shine. As I approached the light I saw someone standing in front of it, someone I recognized...Aeris.