Chapter 7 - Preparations
The Highwind landed outside Corel half an hour after it had left Cosmo Canyon, Barret was the first one off the airship almost climbing down the ladder before the airship had landed. Once he was on the ground he ran towards his house where Elmyra looked after his daughter. Tifa, Cid, and Aeris followed him, Tifa and Cid so then they could help Elmyra calm down, Aeris so then she could be reunited with her adopted mother. Cloud waited at the bottom of the ladder for the rest of the group to disembark, even though he wanted to hurry to the house as well to find out everything about the abduction. "Yuffie, I want you and Reeve to stay here, Elmyra doesn't really know you two and we want to calm her down. Angel, Sephiroth you're staying cause I don't want to scare her. She already thinks that you're evil Sephiroth, even though we know you've reformed, she doesn't. Red, when the Turks show up I want you to tell them what happened and go through the files they're bringing. We'll be back as soon as we can." Cloud ordered, entering the village.
"That's just great" Yuffie moaned "Waiting for that bunch of losers" She brought out her shuriken and started to practice throwing it and catching it, it gave her something to do other that think of waiting.
"I heard that!" Reno said from behind the Highwind, "You didn't notice that we've been here for five minutes at least. Some ninja you are."
Yuffie turned round and went glared at him. She was about to retort when Red stepped between them both. "That's enough" Red said "We're allies in this. Reno do you have the files?"
Reno moved away from Yuffie, that kid was going to get it one of these days he thought as he handed the files over to Reeve. "Yes, but I don't see what help they're going to be."
"I know some things about Jenova, I'll be able to see if anything Hojo wrote was accurate" Sephiroth said as he walked past Elena. Elena moved well out of his way, still slightly scared of the tall warrior.
Further round the Highwind Angel stood looking up at Meteor which was now clearly visible. She could see it was getting closer by the second, she sighed and began listening to the others arguing about what was in the files. All of them were trying to find some weakness of Jenova, but none of them were considering how to stop Meteor. She wondered how they were going to stop it, she knew that Holy and the Lifestream had destroyed the last one, but that was only because Aeris had sacrificed herself. Angel knew that that she wouldn't allow that to happen again. Then she felt something calling her, after puzzling over it for a few seconds, she realised that the Holy Materia was glowing, as she held it she could feel the warmth coming from it.
* Angel, you must use Holy to stop Meteor before you confront Jenova * the Planet said inside her mind. Angel almost dropped the Materia in shock. "How?" she asked silently.
*You will know when you get to Midgar, there is a Chocobo not to far away, use that to get to the shore then fly to Midgar. Holy will show you what to do* came the response.
Angel knew that Meteor had to be destroyed first. That way it wouldn't become a problem when they stopped Jenova. She silently left the place she had been standing and made her way over to a low ridge, where she could circle round and find the Chocobo, without her brother or friends knowing she had gone.
After a few minutes Reeve called out "Hey Angel, what's your opinion of this?" trying to get her into the discussion, but when he got no answer he frowned and began looking round where he had last seen her "Where's your sister?" he asked Sephiroth "I can't seem to find her"
Sephiroth looked at Reeve and started to look for signs of any sort of fight that they may not have heard. "I've no idea; she was here a minute ago…" He replied.
Red followed the Angel's scent until he found the Chocobo track. Knowing he'd never be able to track the Chocobo he went back to the small group "She's gone, on Chocobo… That's as far as I could follow"
"Aeris, you're alive?" Elmyra stared at Aeris in wonder "I was told Sephiroth killed you?" she walked up to Aeris and hugged her, tears running down her face. Aeris returned the hug as the others went red.
"Yes mom, I was killed, but things have happened, Sephiroth's sister, Angel restored me to life" Aeris replied. "It's a long tale, and we don't have time, we need to help Marlene. How did Jenova take her?"
"Cloud sit down" Elmyra said to Cloud, who had been pacing up and down the room "It happened when I turned my back for a minute; Marlene was playing out the back on her own when I heard a scream. A horrible creature had appeared in the garden and picked her up in one of its tentacles. I ran outside but it was to late, the creature. . . . . and Marlene had vanished" she explained breaking down into tears as Tifa moved to comfort her.
" Elmyra, there ain't nothin you could have done" Barret said, "At least she didn't harm you"
"Elmyra, did Jenova say anything?" Cid asked, "It might help us find Marlene faster"
"No, she just looked at Marlene and took her"
Aeris looked up towards Barret "We will get her back, don't worry." She said "Sephiroth told us that Jenova probably wouldn't harm her, that she was bait for us"
Elmyra looked at her in amazement "Sephiroth's still alive?"
Cloud looked away, and Cid walked out of the room not looking Elmyra in the eye. Tifa edged away from the woman, knowing that what she was about to hear might upset her a little "I'll leave you to explain that Aeris" she said.
Barret agreed as Aeris looked at her adopted mother "Yes, Sephiroth's still alive"
"How, why?? Did the one who brought you back, bring him as well" Elmyra demanded outraged.
"No, Angel brought me back, and only just stopped me from being impaled by Sephiroth again, that's how we found out he was still alive. Sephiroth though, he's on our side now…"
"What, that.. murderer… how could you trust him?" Elmyra asked, highly distressed.
"It wasn't entirely our idea" Cloud replied "His sister broke Jenova's hold, and before you ask.. yes I trust her."
Without warning Yuffie entered the room and stopped, she was breathless from running from the Highwind. Sephiroth entered just after her, after he had checked up on Red's findings.
"Cloud, we have a small problem" Sephiroth stated ignoring the look Elmyra gave him. "My sister has run off, I'm not sure why!"
" What is he doing here?" Elmyra hissed in fury. "I won't have that murderer anywhere near my girl again"
Sephiroth looked at Elmyra "I don't know if you'll ever forgive me what I've done at the will of Jenova, but I hope you'll take Aeris' word that I'm doing everything I can to destroy her!"
"Mom, please, Sephiroth's helping us" Aeris replied at the same time as Sephiroth attempted to explain.
"I don't care.. I want him out of my house… now!" Elymra continued to glare at him.
Sephiroth sighed, "Fine, I'll be outside. Cloud, we have to hurry. I don't know what my sister's up to now"
"Let's hope she hasn't been seduded by Jenova!" Tifa replied as she walked out of the house with Sephiroth.
"She hasn't. She's gone to destroy Meteor. There was a choice between me doing that and her. Angel refused to let me." Aeris said as they all followed.
"WHAT!" everyone looked at Aeris in horror.
"She'll be killed!" Sephiroth looked very worried.
"No, she's found another way.. She's gone to Midgar to destroy Meteor with Holy, I didn't say she was going to do it the same way I did" Aeris corrected.
"She could've waited, lets move out!" Cloud led them all to the Highwind at a dead run.
Angel looked down from the cliff she had landed on. The Chocobo had done well to get her to Costa Del Sol, but it wasn't a Gold one, the poor creature wouldn't have been able to cross the ocean. She had made the second part of her journey by flying, and revelling in the freedom of being able to travel in the air. However once she reached Midgar, she could see the ruins of the city below her; above she could see the glaring Meteor. She knew there was only a few hours left before it would hit.
"Angel, what in &^%&^%$&^ are you doing" Cid called from the deck of the Highwind, once they had all returned to the Airship, they had followed Angel. When they had neared Midgar, they had caught sight of her flying towards it, and had cranked the airship past it's normal top speed to catch up to her. Next to him the rest of Avalanche and the Turks watched wondering what she was up to. Only Aeris watched unconcerned. "Be careful Angel, if Jenova senses what you are doing she'll retaliate." she told her.
Angel looked back towards the Highwind "I know Aeris! If I do this right though, it'll buy us some time" She called back "Keep the Highwind at a distance, I know what the Planet needs of me" Angel concentrated on Holy keeping an eye on the ship, to make sure she wouldn't catch it in what she was about to do. Once she judged the Highwind to be far enough away, she flew higher than she normally would. Cloud watched as her wings seemed to lock their position.
"In the name of Holy, shine your light, dispel all shadows and destroy Meteor" Angel called as the entire world turned white for her. All of Avalanche could see the white pulse of energy that leapt from Angel's hands. Once their eyes cleared they saw Angel send a beam of white energy directly at the Meteor, but it seemed that nothing was happening. Then Cloud noticed a faint green light emerge from the ground as the Lifestream answered the call as well. Without warning a huge blast of the Lifestream connected to Angel and combined with the Holy that she had called. The combination was strong enough to shatter Meteor into billions of tiny fragments, which would do no damage to the Planet.
"How??" Reeve exclaimed in awe as silence reigned, no-one could believe the force that Angel had just unleashed as the Lifestream returned to the Planet and Holy faded.
"Look!" Reno exclaimed as he saw Angel's wings fold and her plunge to the ground. Sephiroth had also seen this, and acted. He glided down and caught his sister before she could hit the rocks below. He could see that she was out cold, and hurried to get her back to the Highwind.
"No use I can't wake her" Tifa told the group. "She's in a coma and I don't know how to snap her out of it. I don't know why she isn't responding to the healing Materia"
"She used most of her strength to destroy Meteor, she'll recover eventually, but we can't wait. If we do.. Jenova will retaliate for the destruction of Meteor." Aeris said.
"But what about my Sister? Isn't there anything we can do?" Sephiroth asked.
"No, she needs rest. We'll have to stop Jenova without her." Aeris replied "No-one has ever been able to call upon Holy and the Lifestream whilst they were still alive. That's why I had to die, before, to save the planet. Angel is the only one who's ever stayed alive. I wish I knew how it'll affect her, it could be she'll be out for a few months.. who knows. The Planet doesn't know either." Aeris was worried as she watched everyone walk towards the control room. "I'll stay with her until we get to the crater"
"What made her do a stupid &^$%& thing like that?" Cid asked as everyone else sat down in the control room.
"Like Aeris the planet talks to her, I know that for Jenova to be destroyed the Black Materia has to be destroyed first." Sephiroth said. "From the reports I saw on the Jenova project, Hojo noticed that nothing could harm Jenova, so I assume that the Materia is the key to destroying her."
"What does that mean" Cloud asked "If the Black Materia was destroyed Meteor would vanish, wouldn't it?"
" No" Red replied " I understand, Meteor would blow up, destroying the planet in the process, because it's linked to the Materia. Angel prevented that possibility by using Holy before Meteor could get close enough."
Reeve scratched his head "We should be thankful for miracles then" he said.
" North crater ahead" One of the crewmembers entered the room.
"Alright, let's take her right in!" Cid told him as he got up "I'm goin' to pilot us in"
"Ok Cid" Cloud replied "We'll make plans"
The Highwind entered the Crater and began to descend slowly, so it would not collide with the walls, after the last eruption of Holy, the crater had been made larger, but the Highwind still could only just fit. Once it had landed the Turks got out first with Cloud and Sephiroth behind them closely followed by the rest of the group. Cid, Barret and Vincent walked towards an opening in the wall that looked to lead deeper into the crater. She silvery walls didn't help much, as they constantly reflected light back towards them and distorted the vision of everyone.
"I don't like the look of this place" Reeve said behind them. "It's too quiet"
"Stop tryin to jinx us" Barret said nervously looking around.
"Shush everyone, I thought I heard something" Red said, looking around trying to see what was there and being unsuccessful as the nature of the walls prevented him from seeing what was going on. However he wasn't wrong, as a large dragon appeared from what appeared to be nowhere. In reality the walls had hidden the dragon, and made it look to be an unbroken surface.
" Shit, I told ya that you would jinx us" Barret told Reeve in disgust, aiming at the creature.
" Shut up" Reeve replied raising his gun and shooting the dragon.
" Turk Light" Reno called hitting the dragon with energy from his nightstick as Sephiroth moved in to slash the monster with his sword. The dragon hit him with a very powerful lightning spell which caused Sephiroth to fall back. He lifted a small green Materia orb and yelled "Ultima" which triggered the ultima magic attack. However this attack didn't harm the creature in the slightest.
"Bolt 3" Aeris called
"Freeze" Red shouted
"Comet" Vincent said
All three spells stuck the creature at the same time as the entire group began to attack. The combination of spells hurt the dragon slightly because, although it had a high defence against magical attack, the three spells working together had broken through.
" This isn't working" Yuffie called out as her magic spell bounced back towards her. Cloud took the rebounded magical attack, pushing Yuffie out of the way. Elena decided that magic wasn't going to be the answer, and started to pummel the dragons hide as Rude healed everyone that it had hurt. Barret began firing when he had a clear shot, but most of the time he helped Rude heal everyone. Cid on the other hand attempted to impale the dragon on his staff. He went flying as the dragon retaliated, sending him crashing into Sephiroth.
"That didn't work" Sephiroth told him as he shielded both of them from a lightning attack. Then there was a strange noise, everyone moved away from the dragon as Tifa began her limit break attack. They knew that to get in her way would result in them getting attacked as well as she went berserk during it. All seven hits of the linked combo attack hit the dragon as Tifa put magic behind her blows as everyone kept out of the way, hoping that this would kill the dragon.
Once Tifa had finished the attack, it became obvious that the dragon was still alive and not inconvenienced with all they had done. Cloud sighed and held up a red materia orb "Ultimate end" he called summoning the 13 knights of the round to attack the creature. Once this attack had ended, the dragon collapsed in a heap, dead.
"Come on before any more show up" Cloud said to them as he ran through a small opening in the wall. Without argument everyone followed him into the chamber beyond. The chamber was a huge dome, in the centre there was a slightly raised platform. They couldn't see anything else, but a small sob could be heard, echoing round the cave.
"Marlene?" Cloud called out hoping that it was her he could hear.
"Uncle Cloud? Daddy?" Marlene's' voice floated around them until Red traced the source of her voice and led them to her.
"Marlene, are ya alright?" Barret attempted to free his child by pulling at the bars of her prison. The bars didn't move.
"Daddy, that nasty thing is here, waiting" Marlene wailed looking up, her eyes were wet with tears.
"Red, keep an eye out for Jenova" Cloud said as he inspected the bars.
"Alright Cloud" Red replied as he walked back out into the main chamber.
Cloud attempted to pull the bars apart with the same luck as Barret. "I can't budge them." he said giving up "These are too strong to bend, maybe hitting then with our swords will work" he continued as he unsheathed his sword. Marlene moved away before Cloud struck the bars with his weapon. He didn't like the results, the sword vibrated in his hand, almost making him drop it. The bars showed no marks from where the sword had hit.
Aeris inspected the bars "I think I can break them" she said as she touched the strange substance.
"How?" Sephiroth asked watching what was going on, outside the small area they were in. Without warning, the substance under Aeris' hand glowed white and turned into a powder.
"How'd you do that?" Reno asked as Marlene stepped out of her prison.
"Simple, I used Holy. This metal was created by evil, Holy can destroy it" Aeris replied as she looked at the young girl.
"Flower lady? You came back?" Marlene asked as she hugged her father.
"Yes Marlene I did." Aeris replied with a smile.
"INCOMING!" Red yelled from the chamber "Jenova's here!"
"Damn!" Cloud looked at the Turks in frustration "Will you three get Marlene back to the Highwind whilst we deal with Jenova?"
"Sure thing Cloud, do you want us to return?" Reno asked.
"No, if we don't come back it'll be up to you three to stop Jenova." Cloud replied.
"Ok then, let's get moving" Sephiroth broke up the discussion as he ran past to attack Jenova.