TO DEFINE EVIL
CHAPTER SIX: THE HEIWA MONESTARY
Disclaimer: Square Soft and lots of other people own Final Fantasy, not me.
I'm just temporarily enjoying the playground they outgrew and left behind. . . no sense in letting it go to waste!
By the way, I love C&C on my writing. Short comments make me happy, but
if you want to spend the time telling me what I should change, I'd be delighted! Thanks
for reading.
Inarae
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CHAPTER SIX: THE HEIWA MONESTARY
Tifa shifted slightly, the gravel under her cutting uncomfortably into her bare waist. She tightened the resolution on the binoculars she was using to spy on the Heiwa monastery, wriggling deeper into the dirt so the leaves from the bush she was lying under didn't get into her view. Not exactly a beehive of activity, but no lack of people either. There were a large number of black clothed people standing still around the perimeter, half invisible in the niches and shadows they seemed to prefer. Too many to be anything but guards. Of course, the guns they were carrying were a good sign too. She pulled her radio awkwardly out of the pouch at her waist, careful not to rustle the branches around her.
"Barrett?" she whispered.
"Here. What've you got?"
She winced and turned down the volume hastily, lying still as she tried to determine if anyone had heard. It seemed pretty unlikely; the nearest guard was a half-mile away. However, that was just the nearest guard she'd seen. It was always possible there was another one closer to her that was just better hidden. After a few seconds of stillness, she relaxed and replied softly.
"It's a fortress all right. Five stories of concrete, an inner and outer wall surrounding it. Guards on the inner wall about every two hundred feet. Cameras on the outer wall, spikes and barbed wire at the base. Only one gate, barred with a steel door that I've never seen opened. It's possible they never open it except once a month when supplies come in. They have a 'copter on the roof- they can get in and out through that. But there's at least two machine gun nests up there too- I'm not sure Cid could safely fly us in."
Barrett was silent for a moment. "I'm glad Reeve told us to do reconnaissance first. That's more than I was expecting. Why the hell did they name it the Peace monastery?"
"Because people would be less suspicious? Because they wanted to insult our intelligence? Because they like making bad jokes? Who knows?"
Barrett sighed, audible as static over the radio. "We don't have time to wait for the next supply caravan and try to sneak in with it. Suggestions?"
"It looks like they're expanding on the west side; both the inner and outer walls are torn down and being rebuilt in to include what looks like a large new building. The ground's dug up and there's a bunch of walls, anyhow. I can't see in too well. I'm sure they've got it well guarded, but we could use the walls as cover as well as them, and it would be more like fighting indoors- the half built corridors will prevent them from arranging too many people against us at a time, which would be to our advantage. They also wouldn't be as used to new construction. I trust our abilities against humans more than physical obstacles in any case. We'd still have to find a way into the main building though."
"We can manage that when we get there. Come on back and let's get going."
"I'm still not sure why we needed him." Calson commented to his commander, staring into the security monitor display at the unconscious man strapped down to an operating table.
"We don't, not now anyhow." General Falstor, who had once ran the entire Shinra military behind Heidigger's foolish fat back, snorted softly as he leaned his lanky frame against a wall near the communications station. "But in a few years, all the major opposition to our revolt will be destroyed, and only splinter groups will remain. We could either waste our time trying to catch them, or leave it to someone designed for killing, like this fellow. After all, the little toy Nibro made for us is great for blowing up entire cities, but not so good for the little stuff. Destroying the metropolitan areas would damage the economy and cut into the amount of taxes we could gather to support our operations in any case."
The younger man blinked. "Designed for killing, sir?"
"Ah, you didn't hear that report, did you? This pretty little boy is apparently the clone of Hojo's dear homemade killer." He paused, looking at his confused subordinate. "You don't remember how deadly the General was? Or perhaps no one ever told you that General Sephiroth was built by Hojo in a lab somewhere, not born?" Calson shook his head mutely. His commander smiled coldly. "Now you know. In any case, rumor has it that this kid is the more advanced version, and that he defeated Sephiroth one on one. Can you just imagine it? An army of millions, all as strong and violent as him, all genetically modified to be absolutely loyal to us."
"Genetically modified to be loyal?"
"Hojo seems to have installed a mental control system on all his creations, perhaps seeing the value of having an army totally loyal to him. Of course, his goal was apparently to have himself in power, so he linked Sephiroth to himself, and then all the rest of his creations to the general. But I'm sure we can figure out a way to rewrite the program so all new versions will be loyal to us first."
"Ah. Yes, Sir." Calson shifted uncomfortably. If the army had genetically engineered perfect warriors, what place would the normal soldiers like himself have? He followed General Falstor for the same reason as most of the rest of the men here. The new president had disbanded a good two thirds of the Shinra army, and they had suddenly found themselves without purpose in a world where people who were associated with Shinra were suddenly no longer respected, but looked down upon as the idiots who caused Meteor's arrival and the Weapons, and then lost their entire empire to a tiny force of nobodies. Not that anyone could explain why Meteor and the Weapons were Shinra's fault, but they had been in charge, so they took the blame. So Falstor had gathered the discontented elite of the army, summoning them here under the promise of a future Shinra under his command, where they would once again be respected as they deserved.
But these were stupid thoughts. It would be foolish to waste men's lives when such a simple solution as using super soldiers existed.
He shook the disturbing thoughts from his mind and noticed that there was a red light blinking frantically near one of the com channels.
"What's that, Sir?" He asked, pointing.
"It appears we're being invaded," General Falstor replied, smiling distantly. "Don't worry though, it's already been taken care of."
"Everyone run!" Tifa yelled, yanking the fuse out of a S-bomb and throwing it at the black-garbed soldiers rushing down the narrow stone corridor at them. 10, 9, 8, 7. . . she grabbed Barrett's arm and yanked him into a side passage as the rush of fire boiled down the hallway they had been standing in.
"Come on," Barrett panted. "The others are down the other way."
Tifa nodded, too exhausted to reply as she pushed off from the wall she was slumped against and started jogging down the hall she had seen Cid run into, wincing as her legs protested. There had been way too many desperate sprints in the last fifteen minutes. Barrett had to be worse off though, carrying all his bulk as well as the huge gun attached to his amputated arm. What the hell had happened? Entering the complex through the broken down wall had been easy, but once they had been too far in to retreat, the area had suddenly turned into a labyrinth of booby trapped corridors that lead to dead ends and squadrons of soldiers waiting in ambush. They had managed to stay alive so far, but only because Barrett kept blasting holes in the walls to form new escape routes that their opponents couldn't predict. But he was running out of ammo.
Falstor was drumming his fingers against the wall, almost as if he was nervous, Calstor noted with unease. That was impossible, wasn't it? Abruptly the General turned to him.
"It's taken too long to subdue the invaders. Call up the labyrinth security cameras."
Calstor did as his commander ordered, and the screens changed. "Avalanche," he breathed in disbelief and a touch of fear as he recognized the attackers.
"Of course it's Avalanche," his commander snorted. "We kidnapped their commander. And it's not like they could have gotten the Shinra army to come, even though Reeve is loyal to Avalanche. The military barely acknowledges Reeve's existence, and rarely follows his orders. They certainly wouldn't move in opposition to me. But I'm wondering why they're still alive."
The lieutenant swallowed and adjusted the screen to get a better view. "It looks like they're blowing holes in the wall to defeat the labyrinth's traps, Sir."
"Hmph. I didn't expect them to have heavy enough firepower to do that more than once or twice. But I prepared for a much larger assault party; we still shouldn't be having any trouble with them. Ah, here we go. They're about to fight squadron four."
The two men watched silently as bullets rained down on the invaders. Avalanche pulled back for a few seconds and then charged the thick of the ambush. There was bloody chaos for a few seconds, and then Avalanche had broken through, the white shirted girl with suspenders tossing a bomb back over her shoulder that collapsed the wall, preventing the squadron's survivors from following them.
"Ahh." Falstor leaned back, crossing his long legs as he clasped his hands in mock applause. "They've just got the endurance and guts to force their way through, regardless of the odds. No great intelligence or secret weapon, just the ability to keep going despite opposition and injuries that would cause others to hesitate or give up. I wonder how they came by that much confidence and endurance though. It's usually only found in people with many more hours of battle experience than I expected them to have." His eyes narrowed. "If they have had that much experience, how come no member of Avalanche has ever been killed? The possibility of an entire group surviving that much combat is almost non-existent. His influence, perhaps?" The general glanced speculatively at the monitor showing the spiky haired blond, still unconscious and unaware that his friends were risking their lives to rescue him. "Perhaps. In any case, place the entire complex on red alert, and prepare for an invasion. It looks like they might actually make it inside."
"Yes sir." Calson breathed a sigh of relief. Had it been him, they would have been on alert ever since the invaders arrived. Of course, Falstor's ability to foretell the outcomes of battles was the reason he was a general, and Calson was only a lieutenant.
"Shit!" Cid wiped blood off his forehead, cursing even more as the effort off talking robbed him of the air he was gasping in. "We gotta get out of this maze, people. This is a bloody trap!"
"Not. . . without. . . Cloud. . ." Tifa murmured, slouched against a wall for a few precious moments of rest before the black-garbed soldiers found them again, trying to get up the gumption to keep going despite her exhaustion. But if they weren't going to survive, maybe they should retreat. It wouldn't do Cloud any good if they all died. .
"You got that right, Tifa," Barrett found the energy to grin at her from somewhere. "Spike head's in here somewhere, and we're gonna get him out. That's what AVALANCH does, right?"
"I hate to say this, but how?" Red asked. "They're obviously expecting us, and we're out numbered rather significantly."
"The same way we always do it," Barrett pushed off from the wall, face set with a fierce smile of determination. "We blow them all to hell." He got a curious look on his face as he looked around them. "Hey, Yuffie?"
"Yeah?" The girl asked listlessly, collapsed on the cool stone floor. Barrett's lip twisted in pity. She obviously hadn't been keeping up on her warrior skills ever since she decided she wanted to be a proper lady, and it was showing. But they needed her now. . .
"If I blow a hole in the roof, can you get up there by yourself? And then find something to tie a rope onto so the rest of us can get up there?"
Yuffie perked up in interest, studying the nondescript walls. The ceiling was a good fifteen feet up, and there weren't any handholds, but. . . "If I can stand on your shoulders, I think I can make it.
"Got ya. Everyone stand back.. ." Barrett raised his gun arm as everyone scrambled tiredly out of the way. A blast of yellow light roared out of it, the backlash almost knocking him over despite his bulk. The rock of the ceiling evaporated and tore apart in a cascade of dust and stones.
"Gotta. . . get going." Barrett murmured, coughing in the dust and rubbing his eyes to get the grit out of them. "They'll know where we are now. . . Yuffie?"
"Yeah?" The girl stumbled out of the cloud of dust. "All right, don't move. . ." She backed up a step and tensed.
"Wha. . ." Barrett opened his mouth to ask what she was doing, and then she was sprinting forwards, leaping, her hands on his shoulders providing the momentum to push her up until she crouched for a moment atop his head, ignoring his grunt, and then she leaped again, flipping up to disappear into the dust and shards of stone still hanging in the air above them.
"Ow. . ." Barrett grumbled, rubbing his cranium where one of her feet had pushed off from. A rope tumbled down and hit him on the same place. Yuffie's laughter drifted down.
"You guys coming or not?"
Calson winced as the ceiling came down, a large stone smashing the security camera and turning the monitor into static.
"They're going onto the roof. . ." General Falstor murmured. "Intelligent of them. They'll be inside the main complex in a minute or two. We didn't put any guards on the roof, so there's only the few men manning the upper walls who could shoot at them. All right, cancel the red alert and tell the men to only oppose Avalanche if they start heading towards Nibro's weapon. Empty the corridors everywhere else."
"Sir??"
"If they're looking for their commander, they'll find their way to his cell eventually. Considering his unknown but no doubt exceptional skills, I had that room double reinforced with titanium. They won't be able to blast down the walls with the type of weaponry they've got, and the door is unopenable except from the outside. Once they're inside, all we have to do is shut the door and flood the room with gas. There's no escape. I don't want to risk our men's lives unless it's absolutely necessary."
Calstor smiled and saluted. This was the General he admired so much. "With pleasure, sir," he replied, and turned to the intercom to begin giving orders.
The difference between the main building and the labyrinth was almost comical. Instead of cold, dimly lit stone hallways, they walked on carpet under industrial strength florescent bulbs, and the white walls were plastered with posters every few feet describing everything from how evil Reeve was to the correct way to stretch before exercise. And it was absolutely empty, except a few guard robots they had easily dispatched.
"Where the fuck are they?" Cid murmured, wide eyed as he gripped his spear with sweaty palms, pulse thudding as he waited for the attack they were all sure would come in just a second.
"No kidding," Yuffie muttered. "Could they still think that we're in the labyrinth?"
"After all the noise we made, and the big hole in the roof, I doubt there's much chance of that," Tifa replied, glancing around.
"I don't like it." Red's fire tipped tail twitched nervously.
"None of us do," Tifa smiled back at the large cat reassuringly, although to be honest, she wished someone would reassure her instead. Ok, to be absolutely honest, the person she wanted there to reassure her was Cloud, but she'd have him back soon, she was sure. "So where do we go from here?"
"Down." Yuffie put in promptly. Everyone blinked at her.
"Prisons are always in the basement, cuz the only way out is up the stairs then, and it's easy to block those off," she explained, looking at them like they were stupid.
"The detention cells in the Shinra building were upstairs. . ." Barrett muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, well, the Shinra building was so tall that you couldn't escape out a window, so putting it up top was just as effective as putting it underground." Yuffie rolled her eyes. "This place is only what, five stories at the most? He'll be underground."
"That sounds logical. . ." Red nodded thoughtfully.
"I don't have any better plan." Tifa acknowledged, feeling odd about taking advice from a mildly untrustworthy girl half her age.
"Right then," Cid thumped his spear on the floor for emphasis, smoke curling out of his ever-present cigar. Tifa idly wondered how he had kept it lit and between his lips through all the fighting. "Down we go!"
Yuffie was right, surprise, surprise, for it wasn't long before they found themselves in a block of high security cells. But they were all empty, or full of scientific equipment. Finally they re-gathered in the main room, staring in dismay at all the locked corridors leading off from it.
"If he isn't here, then . . ." Barrett complained dejectedly. "This complex is too dang huge, we'll never find 'em."
Red had been sniffing the floor, and suddenly looked up triumphantly. "Cloud was here!" He panted, grinning. "And they took him through that door that looks like a closet!"
"Yes!" Cid raised his spear in triumph. "We got him now. Come on!" He hurried over and began yanking on the door. "Dang, it's locked. What are you idiots all hesitating for? Come help me!"
"There hasn't been any opposition," Vincent said quietly from the shadows, and everyone jumped, having almost forgotten he was with them. "It can't be because they're too stupid to find us. That labyrinth was a work of genius. They probably know where we're going, and have the majority of their forces waiting with Cloud."
Everyone was silent, stomachs twisting as they pondered that.
"Fuck that." Cid said. "We've come this far. We'll just barrel our way through like we always do."
"What about the weapon?" Tifa asked. "It's taken us way too long to get this far. If he wants to use it, he's had the time."
"Who's he gonna use it on?" Cid protested. "We're all inside his complex, he can't use it on us. And everyone knows that Avalanche is separate from Shinra, he ain't gonna attack Midgar to punish us. He might attack Midgar later to take over from Reeve, but he'll wait until he's completely ready; he won't act just because we're here. There'd be no point to it, except as a threat to make us surrender, but he'd give us warning first then."
"Unless he thinks that Reeve will attack now that it's confirmed that this is where the bad guys are." Barrett suggested.
"Wutai. . ." Yuffie breathed wide-eyed. "If he knows I'm helping you. . ."
"This is a waste of time!" Red snapped, the fire at the end of his tail flaring with irritation. "We haven't seen any sign of the weapon, so we can't dismantle it at the moment. We do know where Cloud is though. Let's get him, and then go searching for the weapon. That means that our opposition is halved here as well; they'll have guards and traps both surrounding Cloud and surrounding the weapon, so there'll be less at each location. Let's just hurry and accomplish our mission and get out! Hesitating never accomplishes anything!"
"Furball's got a point." Cid muttered thoughtfully around his cigarette.
"Indeed." Vincent replied.
"Then let's get the hell going!" Barrett bellowed and opened fire on the door. The door exploded in a shower of melted metal, and they entered a featureless hall cautiously. There was an airlock at the other end, wide open.
"An invitation. . ." Vincent murmured.
"The hall looks like a great place for an ambush." Barrett acknowledged.
"Hesitation accomplishes nothing." Tifa took a deep breath and darted down the hallway.
"Tifa!" Barrett yelled, and sprinted after her, everyone else barely a step behind.
Tifa closed her eyes, her feet pounding down the hall in machine-like precision guaranteed to carry her as fast as her exhausted body could go. Blood throbbed in her chest as she expected to feel a bullet enter her pale skin at any moment. But the hallway never changed, and in a few seconds she had reached the airlock at the far end. She skidded to a stop just inside the door.
"Cloud. . ." Her beloved's face was barely visible through a Plexiglas window in some sort of machine full of liquid that reminded her uncomfortably of the cages where Hojo grew monsters in the Nibelheim reactor. She hurried to his side and began to search for some way to open it up. The others spread out behind her, weapons ready for any sort of attack. Tifa found the control release and almost bruised her fingers in her hurry to hit it. A thirty second countdown started. The liquid slowly began to drain from around Cloud's slackly unconscious face, gurgling as it flowed into the rubber tubes that were scattered all over the floor. He stirred slightly, unfocused eyes opening slowly.
29, 28, 27. .
CRASH!!
The airlock slammed shut, the bolts engaging with a mechanical whine.
"Shit!!" Barrett opened fire on it without being asked.
23, 22, 21, 20. . .
"The door's too strong!" Red yelled. "Try the walls!"
Barrett obeyed, spraying the ceiling, walls and floors with his highest gauge explosive bullets. They didn't even dent the metal. "I'm out of ammo except for the small stuff for the machine gun. Use your bombs Tifa!"
17, 16. . .
Something hissed quietly, and an odd smell wafted through the air. Tifa pulled herself away from Cloud and grabbed a fire fang bomb, the strongest she had left. She threw it at the wall near the airlock.
"Shit! They're poisoning the air through the ventilation." Cid yelled
"Can we escape through the ventilation?" Red asked quickly.
The fire fang exploded with as little effect as Barrett's bullets.
"Impossible." Vincent had already knelt down by a vent. They are far too small, and full of lasers, besides the gas." He began to cough and stumbled away, falling to his knees. Cloud's eyes focused.
"Tifa. . .?" His mouth moved, but she couldn't hear him through the steel walls of his cage. He began to bang on the walls, desperately trying to get out. There concentration of gas in the room had increased till it was visible as a swirling orange fog. Everyone was coughing. Tifa grasped her throat and her eyes rolled back as she collapsed to the floor. Cid fell next.
13, 12, 11. . . Everyone was on the
ground, unmoving.
Cloud screamed in anguish, his hands bleeding as he attacked the featureless walls confining him.
10, 9, . . . The numbers suddenly disappeared. 'Operation Cancelled Authorization of General Falstor' flashed on the screen. The liquid stopped draining, and puddled slimy and cold around his feet.
"Tifa!" Cloud screamed in frustration, beating at the glass separating them, but she didn't move. The concentration of gas kept increasing.
"Mission accomplished." Calson reported quietly, pride vying with awe at how easily his commander had captured such powerful opponents.
"Naturally," General Falstor leaned back in his chair and relaxed. "Drug the clone again. I don't want him damaging himself too badly."
Calson called up the appropriate controls on his computer. He frowned. "The drugs that woke him up have severe and generally fatal reactions with all types of sedatives. Of course, not being human, it may not react the same in his system, but. . ."
"It's not worth the risk." Falstor waved his hand dismissively. "Send an electric current through the walls and shock him into unconsciousness. The scientists have already assured me that his system is capable of recovering from burns and nerve damage with incredible rapidity."
"Yes sir."
On the screen, Cloud convulsed and slumped against the wall, mouth open in a soundless scream as the energy overran his body.
"TITAN."
The quiet voice, somehow echoed through the entire complex, emotionless like a piece of metal buried under snow, ready to freeze anything alive that touched it. Soldiers who had been bandaging wounds or celebrating their victory fell silent and shivered, glancing around uncomfortably for the source of the words. Even General Falstor frowned.
Calson blinked. Had he actually heard it? There was something familiar about the voice. . .
The entire southern wall of the complex exploded in a agonized roar as the ground buckled upward. The radio erupted with static and the screams of men caught under the fallen rock. Calson grabbed his desk as the room shook warningly. Cracks shot up the walls. Ceiling tiles crashed to the floor and shattered, white dust filling the air.
A sick feeling settled in Calson's stomach as he realized that the earthquake's epicenter was directly above the clone's prison. A quick check of the monitors showed that the titanium ceiling there had been torn off, sunlight filtering through the heavy dust.
"Who. . ." Falstor whispered, uncharacteristically wide eyed in shock. "Even a fully mastered Titan summon couldn't do half that damage."
"The clone. . ." Calson whispered, suddenly feeling that this whole plan had been a very very bad idea. After all, this was the creature who had destroyed Shinra at its height. How could a few pitiful remnants of the army hope to stand against it?
"Impossible," Falstor snapped, recovering a bit of his poise. "We made sure he didn't have any materia. . ."
On the monitors, a tall silhouette dropped to the floor, barely visible in the dust and poison filled atmosphere of the room. Calson stared, something about the blurry figure tickling the back of his mind. Surely the man wasn't hovering. He fiddled with the security camera controls, trying to get a better view.
"WIND."
The dusty orange gas exploded away from the man in a boiling, chaotic mass, as if some instinct existed in even such an inanimate object to flee the man's presence. When the walls impeded its path, it boiled upward in a rush to escape into the atmosphere. The now clear air calmed, revealing the figure.
Tall, impossibly tall. Silver hair that didn't belong on anything human, hanging loose to the man's waist. Glowing green eyes, narrowed in concentration, missing nothing. Sephiroth.
Behind him Calson could hear Falstor whisper something that sounded suspiciously like, "My General. . ." in a choked, disbelieving voice, but Calson barely acknowledged it, all his attention on the man in the monitor screen before him.
Sephiroth slowly floated to the ground, his hair and black leather coat billowing around him. A tiny cloud of dust puffed up around the bottom of his coat to mark his landing. He slowly lifted his right arm and stared intently at his palm. The skin bulged. A slit opened, parting to reveal a narrow blade that slid out as if it had been sheathed in the muscle of his forearm, like a cat's claw that emerges when it flexes its paws. The blade grew till it stretched as long as Sephiroth was tall, a deadly, shining curve like the sliver of silver moon visible seconds after a lunar eclipse. The skin twisted around the blade, crawling up the metal with stomach churning eagerness till it formed a hilt and guard. It separated from Sephiroth's palm, and he closed his hand around it in satisfaction.
The man picked his way among the bodies scattered around the floor with inhuman grace, ignoring their slight movements as the clean air began to revive them, heading towards the machine-cage Cloud slumped inside. The young man hadn't even registered the earthquake or Sephiroth's arrival, barely conscious due to the electric shock. Sephiroth touched Plexiglas window, an odd expression on his face. He stepped back and slashed Masamune at the cage, the layers of steel parting like fragile flesh, viscous liquid spilling out to wash over the floor. He flicked the slime off his sword and caught Cloud's limp body with his free hand as the young man fell forward, deprived of the walls that had been holding him upright. Green eyes stared curiously at the limp body slumped over his arm. He ran the hand holding Masamune through the spiky golden hair in an oddly possessive manner, the back of his hand brushing across Cloud's forehead and cheek gently. He smiled coldly and looked up, directly at the security cameras as if directly addressing the watchers. His eyes burned: arrogant, deadly, amused.
"Cloud is mine." The voice was quieter than when he had summoned Titan and the Wind, but it still carried clearly, despite the walls and distance between him and those he addressed. "Mine to control, mine to imprison, mine to hurt. He is as much a part of me, as this sword or the arm the wields it. He is me. Admittedly he is flawed and often acts against my desires, but in that he is like a limb with damaged nerves that twitches without conscious control. I and I alone have the right and responsibility to cure him of it. I and I alone will punish him for it. Actions against him are actions against me, and I will destroy those who oppose me. So do not." Sephiroth slung Cloud over one shoulder, turning away as if, warning given, he had no further interest in them. "LEVITATION." His feet slowly lifted from the ground, and he floated upward, towards the hole in the ceiling and the empty skies beyond.
". . . FIRE . . .Level THREE!!" A huge ball of flame slammed into Sephiroth's chest, causing him to drop Cloud. Tifa tottered to her feet. "You. . . aren't . . .taking. . .Cloud!" she gasped. On the ground, Cloud frowned confusedly and reached up to touch his forehead, which had thudded against a wall. The rest of Avalanche was grimly trying to stand.
"LEVANTHIAN!" Yuffie yelled desperately, holding the red materia orb high even though she still lay on the ground. The giant water dragon appeared, sending a wave of high pressure water at Sephiroth.
"REFLECT ALL," Red whispered, coughing up blood as he sat up. The golden shield shimmered around Avalanche, reflecting any magical attack Sephiroth tried. They were carrying enough healing potions that it didn't matter that the shield would reflect the healing spells they usually used during battle.
Sephiroth turned, smiling distantly. "I had planned on waiting to kill you, waiting till he was more aware and could suffer from your deaths, but perhaps I shall at least hurt you now." His sword began to glow with swirls of purple. "I've been thinking a lot since we last met. I relied too heavily on raw power then, not bothering with tactics since I didn't think you could possibly survive long enough against it to damage me. A mistake I intend to correct." The purple brightened. "My mother- perhaps I should no longer call her that, now that I know I had a human mother as well-" he mused, "Jenova is not some new odd species from outer space. She is the living incarnation of the antithesis of the planet's Mako power. As such, Jenova energy cancels Mako energy." He lazily drew Masamune along the curved space that was the outer edge of the shield, leaving a line of sparks. He pressed a little deeper, and the shield shattered with a flash of purple-gold light. "With proper use, my Jenova powers will negate any materia attacks you try, but I can attack you with both, and you have no defense without Cloud."
"My general. . ." The voice was barely above a whisper. "Why didn't you tell me you lived?"
Calson finally managed to jerk his attention away from the monitor to stare at General Falstor in shock. His commander ignored his questioning gaze, eyes glued to the screen, pleading in a shocked monotone. "I was always loyal to you, even when you turned against Shinra. I reorganized the troops so only the most incompetent were in your path to oppose you. I gave Hojo the key code to the reactor control room so he could send you the power you needed. I was sure you'd save us, save us from the corrupt, money-hungry dynasty Shinra had become, save us from the Meteor coming to destroy us, save us from the huge monsters we called WEAPONS. And sure enough, Shinra fell, power from your location repelled the Meteor, and the WEAPONS disappeared. But you disappeared too, leaving those bastards in Avalanche to take the credit, leaving that incompetent Reeve to destroy everything we'd fought for. Perhaps you thought that your role was done, that you had done enough. But it all fell apart! Didn't you care? And now this. . ."
Lt. Calson turned away, breathing hard to calm himself down. He was disturbed to notice that his hands were shaking.
Avalanche froze in shock as their highest level shield broke easily under Sephiroth's sword. Barrett lifted his gun arm and began to pepper Sephiroth's body with machine gun bullets, but the silver haired man only laughed and began to walk towards them, his body healing almost as soon as the injuries were made.
"Sephiroth?. . ." Cloud murmured tiredly, trying to push himself to a sitting position. "Leave them alone. I'm over here. . . Gonna attack you."
Sephiroth glanced back at him, smiling coldly. "Don't bother hurrying things, failure. I'll come play with you soon."
"ODIN." Vincent called softly from the shadows. The silver blade, half hidden in darkness, half glimmering with lunar light, slashed through the barrier between dimensions, tearing space-time in the area where Sephiroth stood. The leather and steel wrapping his left arm parted. Blood dribbled down to drip from his hand.
Sephiroth turned back to face Avalanche, green eyes narrowed in anger, the lazy smile disappearing to be replaced by an ugly glare. He raised his arm slowly to lick the crimson liquid off his palm. "Stupid of you, dead man, for I will destroy you now. Destroy you for the power you possess but are too cowardly to learn to use. And because you are as much an abomination as I, I will destroy you without wasting time playing games!" He suddenly closed his bloody hand into a fist. "NEO BAHUMUT."
Tifa's eyes widened. Neo Bahumut was the strongest summon. It killed almost any opponent instantly. And when you considered that every time Sephiroth used a spell it was two to three times stronger than when anyone else used it. . . She flung herself at Vincent, trying to knock him out of the path of the beam of energy that shot down from outer space.
She wasn't quite fast enough. They were out of the direct line of fire, but the explosion as the energy pounded into the ground created a strong enough wind to throw them into the air. Vincent careened into Cid and they both fell to the ground. Tifa slammed into the steel wall with a brutal crack that tore through her friend's hearts, and then fell to lay still.
"Tifa!!!!!" Cloud screamed, weakly reaching towards her from where he lay limply on the floor.
"Hmm? I didn't think you were conscious enough to be paying attention." Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow at him. "How delightful. I truly didn't intend to kill her until you were awake enough for the pain of your lover's death to begin to break you. I'm glad my miscalculation didn't destroy things."
"Tifa. . ." Cloud closed his eyes tightly, pushing himself to his feet. He looked too ill to even be alive, his face pale with pain, angry red welts and bloody blisters covering any part of his skin that had been in contact with the walls of his cage. Most of them were already half healed and peeling. "Why, Sephiroth? Why are you here? What are you planning? Why are you still alive?"
"Asking questions to play for time while your body heals?" One elegant silver eyebrow arched upward in cold amusement. "It's useless; it will take hours for those injuries to heal." He shrugged. "But I am in no hurry, so I will answer." He strolled over to kneel down in front of Cloud, grasping the small man's blistered chin and tilting it upward so Cloud was forced to look at him. Sephiroth smiled. "I'm here for you. Because you are powerful, and I intend to make you learn that you are a part of me till it is seared into your soul and you no longer comprehend the idea of attacking me." His voice whispered in the air, but echoes screamed against the walls of Cloud's mind, demanding entrance. "After that," a steel clad shoulder shrugged, "you and I will ensure that the world can no longer oppose me. My victory is inevitable, foolish boy. I am immortal; I am eternal. Neither you nor the entire world can destroy me."
"Nothing is eternal," Cloud whispered. "Not you, not even this planet. Fate's shears are too sharp."
"Haven't you figured it out yet? I am her shears. Enough talk." His blade began to sink into his palm, reabsorbing into his flesh. "If none of you have the will to fight anymore, then I have no purpose here."
Sephiroth deliberately turned his back on the shell-shocked Avalanche members who were desperately using every magic they had to try and reincarnate Tifa. He stood, looking down at Cloud, still smiling. Then he punched Cloud in the stomach. The shorter man collapsed around his fist, the breath driven from his lungs and his still weak muscles going limp. Sephiroth scooped him up and flung him over his shoulder like a hunter might carry a dead carcass. "LEVITATION."
The wind began to swirl around him again and he rose into the sky, Cloud limply carried along as a splash of pale skin and golden hair against Sephiroth's black and silver.
Cloud felt himself being lifted up into the sky. He tried to fight, to kick his captor or bite him or anything, but none of his muscles would respond, the nerves still damaged by the electric shock. Tifa. . . He thought of the beautiful, strong willed girl, remembering her blush when she said they were, "just friends." He'd never get the chance to disprove that now, even if they managed to resurrect her. He suspected they would; she was strong, and wearing a lot of magical aids, and they had been able to get to her almost immediately after she had been injured, which always helped. Gods, he hoped they would. Of course, if Sephiroth succeeded in taking over the world, she was probably better off dead. So, he'd just have to make sure that didn't happen, wouldn't he? Whatever the cost. . . If he was going to do it, he'd better do it now though, while Sephiroth was busy controlling the levitation spell and couldn't spare the energy to listen in on Cloud's thoughts. He let himself relax. He couldn't exactly say it had been a wonderful life, but the last few years had certainly made up for the bad times before, even if they had been very very bad times. He realized with surprise that he didn't feel cheated at dying now. He had done good things with his life, he felt like his existence had had a purpose and been worthwhile. He had friends who cared about him and a woman he loved. He had known happiness. Cloud closed his eyes and smiled.
"SUICIDE," he whispered.
Hojo had infused both his and Sephiroth's bodies with mako drained from hundreds of materia. That sea of energy throbbing through their bodies was what made their magic so much more powerful than any normal human's. Due to Hojo's training, Sephiroth could access that energy at will, summoning it in whatever form he needed without having to find the correct type of materia orb to focus it through. Cloud normally used materia, having trained himself, and therefore lacking much of the knowledge Sephiroth possessed. But he had called on his internal mako power once before. It had been when Sephiroth had summoned him, right after Reeve had told them about Nibro's weapon. He had lit the campfire without fire materia. Sephiroth had been deep in Cloud's mind at that point, and probably Cloud had unconsciously absorbed the skill from him. In any case, he thought he knew how to work it now, or at least how to work a simple spell like this one. It wasn't summoning power from another dimension of reality like Fire or a demi-god summon. All the energy it used came from him.
With a sudden rush, he felt the spell start. The mako inside him began to congeal, drawing together into a dense mass in preparation for use. As the raw mako drained away, the spell began drawing on the life energy that was a purified form of Mako, taking the energy that fed his lungs and heart. Cloud smiled slightly, sadly, as the familiar cold darkness of unconsciousness enveloped him. I hope you're alive, Tifa.
Tifa coughed and Barrett hugged her gently in his strong arms.
"Cloud. . ?" She whispered. Barrett shook his head sadly, his heart twisting at the sudden horror in her eyes.
An explosion rocked the sky and everyone jerked, staring up at the fiery maelstrom in the direction Sephiroth had flown with Cloud. A black figure fell from the heart of the glow, growing in size as it rapidly approached the ground.
"It's Sephiroth! And he's still carrying Cloud," Red gasped, his eyes being sharper than anyone else's.
"If we hurry, we might be able to save Cloud," Vincent pointed out. He knelt down by Tifa, who was struggling to move, but still too weak. "May I carry you there?"
"Yes, please," she whispered in relief. He scooped her up, careful to avoid cutting her skin with the knives on the end of his mechanical arm.
"What the hell are we waiting for?" Cid whooped. "Let's get outa here!"
"Sir?" Calson asked hesitantly. "They're escaping. Do you want me to stop them?"
His commander glanced at him and noticed how upset he was. Falstor smiled thinly. "Don't bother. We don't have the capability of going against either Sephiroth or Cloud. While it's true that they might be injured from their fall, it's equally likely that they could still slaughter our men. It would be a waste of life."
"Yes sir." Calson swallowed and moved his hand away from the intercom.
"I apologize for disturbing you with my mumblings earlier. I was just surprised."
"Yes, sir."
Falstor snorted and looked back at the displays. "Sephiroth was a genius. If you haven't met him, you won't understand, but anyone who did believed that he could do anything. He was our God. Men who served under him during the Wutai wars worshipped him. He'd sacrifice men without qualms to win, but overall, his command had over three fourths less casualties than the rest of the military. He convinced people to do things that should have been humanly impossible, and then they succeeded. I have only met one person in my life who I believe to be my superior, and that was him."
"Are you going to offer us to his command, sir?"
Falstor shook his head. "No, he would have asked for it if he wanted it."
"He seemed rather. . ." Lt. Calstor searched for the right word, ". . . angry at us. If you wish to serve him, perhaps we should discard our current plan."
"He didn't want us keeping the boy, that is true. That's logical; the boy is his clone. His feelings of personal offense are perfectly logical. Moreover, the boy is a deadly weapon. Perhaps he did not think that we have the skill and knowledge necessary to wield him without destroying ourselves." The general shrugged. "Perhaps he is correct. But he didn't mention anything about Nibro's rocket. I assume that means that he approves."
"If he knew about the rocket, sir."
"It's General Sephiroth. He probably knows what you ate for breakfast." Falstor waved it off.
"Yes, sir."
General Falstor sighed and stared at the wall. "We'll go forward as planned. In fact, switch all available resources to building the rocket. Once Avalanche gets back to Midgar, Reeve is going to send some sort of force against us. We have to have it finished by then. We have to be able to hold Midgar hostage for his surrender."
It took Avalanche about ten minutes to exit the complex it had taken them two hours to enter.
"Where's all the bad guys. . ." Yuffie muttered, glancing around unhappily.
"Who gives a damn!" Cid snapped. "Just as long as they ain't in our way."
"What about the weapon?" She asked. "We just gonna leave it here?"
"The chance of negating Sephiroth's danger while he's weak is more important, and I think we can safely assume that if he was falling from the sky like that, something is wrong with hi," Red said quietly but firmly, eyes narrowed with battle fury.
"Yeah, think about it," Barrett put in. "What's more dangerous, Sephiroth, or a mere human with a bomb that probably doesn't work?"
". . ." Yuffie shook her head uncomfortably.
"That's probably where all the soldiers are," Red pointed out. "They withdrew to guard it. We're all injured and tired, and they're fully prepared for us now. We wouldn't have a chance. Our best option now is to get back and raise an army as quickly as possible."
"We might be able to fight through. . ." Yuffie's shoulder's slumped. "We couldn't, could we. But if he decides to attack Wutai with it. . ."
"It probably doesn't work," Tifa whispered hoarsely from where she was huddled in Vincent's arms. "And I don't think he'll attack anywhere till he's had time to give us demands of some sort. It'd be a waste otherwise."
"I hope you're right. . ."
The sun was bright after the electric lighting inside the complex. Sephiroth and Cloud lay in bloody heaps about twenty feet from each other, each enveloped in a purple glow.
"Jenova. . ." Vincent murmured. "Jenova protected them. They're still alive."
"I can take care of that," Cid replied, and strode boldly over to Sephiroth. He swung his spear down, slicing off Sephiroth's head. The body shimmered with a red light and faded away into nothingness. "That's that," he said in satisfaction. "Someone start healing Cloud and then pick him up and let's get going. We got a lot to do."
Everyone stared at him. "What?"
"You killed Sephiroth. . ." Barrett shook his head unbelievingly.
"Yesss, . . that was what we were here to do, wasn't it?"
"I think he is surprised that it ended this quickly," Red explained. "It does seem rather odd that we fought so long for such an non-flashy ending."
Cid looked at them and shook his head in disgust. "His body was reabsorbed into the life stream. That means he's dead, and no magic's gonna heal him. You guys just can't believe that I was the one to do it. Well, live with it. I am just that good. Now stop staring and get going."
Vincent had already set Tifa down and started casting Cure on Cloud's injuries. "I think he is stable enough to move. The physical injuries are easily fixable by magic."
"The physical injuries?"
"Yes. . . I'm sensing something odd from him. Normally Cloud is difficult for me to be near, as the Jenova in me is repulsed the amount of Mako in his body, even as it is attracted to the Jenova in him. But now I don't feel any repulsion at all. Quite the opposite, actually. It's as if the mako is gone, and only Jenova remains. And normally he'd be awake after I healed him to this extent."
"That don't sound like a good thing. Cloud being taken over by Jenova. . ." Barrett shook his head slowly. "Maybe we should. . ."
"I don't care! We can deal with that once we get somewhere safe. Come on guys!" Yuffie stamped her foot in irritation.
"She's right, we should get going. You can ride me, Tifa." Red offered, laying down so she could get on. "You still look to weak to walk on your own."
"Thanks. You'll take Cloud, Vincent?"
The tall man nodded, scooping the injured man up and carefully laying him over his shoulder in an odd imitation of how Sephiroth had carried him.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES (warning: they're long. It was a long chapter)
Don't worry, Seph isn't dead. . . at least not permanently. . .
Deus et machina was fun to play with in this chapter! Me bad, sorry. Actually, I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't rename this story God in the Machine. . . you'll figure out why later.
Guess what? The Turks finally get involved next chapter!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!! Well, either the next chapter or the one after that. This is the same timeline as my story Entering the Turks, which I need to work on some more at some point. (sweat drop) But you don't have to read that one first.
Yes, I'm inventing materia attacks just because it's fun and because I'm too lazy to go look some of them up. And I invented the idea of Jenova canceling Materia energy - Materia attacks work just fine against Jenova attacks in the game. It seems to be a common idea in fanfic though-um, that is to say, I think I saw it a couple of places that I can't find now. The idea of the sword coming out of Sephiroth's hand is a 100% copy of Kishu Arashi's sword in the manga X by CLAMP. I just couldn't figure out how else to give Seph his sword back, and Seph without Masamune just does not work. Oh, and I'm having some issues with trying to remember how to spell the original character's names. I think I have it all corrected, but if there are some mistakes, please forgive me.
I just realized there are more people to give credit to for inspiration. Falstor's and Calson's personalities have a lot in common with Grand Admiral Thrawn's and Captain Pellon's in Timothy Zahn's Star Wars novels. And in hindsight, I'm sure I got the names Falstor and Allen from Folkin and Allen in Escaflone, for all that my characters are pretty dissimilar from their namesakes in personality.
I also just realized how long I worked on this today. Looking at it from number of pages per hour, I write essays for school just about two times faster than I write fiction. Gulp. I think it's supposed to be the other way around. . . I would also like to announce that this was the hardest chapter to write of the entire dang story so far. But it's done! See ya all in the next chapter!
Inarae
ginabrae@aol.com
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