The VOICE, Hojo, was angry. Mad, FUMING.
He should have known it was too perfect, his triumphant return to life, the ULTIMATE UNFINISHED PLAN, would take more than calculated. This body was invincible, but his mind...it still needed rest!
One Ultima and one spiritual limit break...such weak magic could not break him before! It was this child; he was her demon. As long as he stayed inside her, he would be weak to such attacks.
Perhaps it was time for backup. Hojo had not wanted to come to plan B, but it seemed appropriate. He did not want to fail again; failures such as the previous were fatal. Perhaps it was the right time to tell his beloved what he had been up to. She would want to know; she had a right to know, and she would help.
All she needed was a sacrifice. The promise of something bloody and powerful that she could devour to gain back the strength she lost. It has to be no normal mortal, for she does not eat such things. No... her sacrifice has to be grand, to be JUICY.
But that part was easy...was it not, Vincent Valentine?
~
SHADOWBODY ~ By Crimson Sun
Chapter Six
~
Oblivious to everything, everything but the concentration needed for work and the input of effort, Reeve Sith was busying himself with another day in Midgar's damaged terrain. One might think he would have liked to go on vacation with the rest of Avalanche and get a decent break from working, but the man loved Midgar and hated to see its people despair.
It had started to rain sometime yesterday, Reeve thought, but he couldn't be sure. In fact, he had only noticed the rain when it was starting to obscure his vision of the people working beside him. The thunder was ignored totally, for loud sounds were common now with the excavating team from Bone Village and their bombs, hired and shipped here to uncover lost treasure and buried valuables. Money, potions, that sort of thing that was found, was then distributed amongst the team and the people of Midgar, who have, literally, nothing left. Most of the citizens had abandoned their homes with only a small amount of gil given by Reeve, who sold all the mastered All materia he could get to have enough to support them. So far, he had gone through the wreckage of Sector Eight, taking with him the group of workers from nearby villages who had put aside their differences to try and mend the wounds that Meteor had torn through Midgar's flesh.
The ex-president of Shinra's Urban Development Department stood on the remains of the Golden Building now, resting for a brief moment and surveying the rain-blurred view from his place, higher than the rest of the ruins. Under normal circumstances, there would be no way to climb to the top of Shinra Building unless you were an important member of its society, and you wanted to catch a helicopter. But that was all far behind Shinra's history and was going to stay there. For Reeve was not standing in the spectacular hundred-floored centre of Midgar any longer; instead, he was merely perched on another crumpled structure, fallen from grace.
When Meteor fell, Shinra Building was the first to feel its fiery anger, and the first to tumble. Then the upper plates, not built to endure more force than the trampling of its people, bent from its weight and collapsed into itself. The whole of Midgar would have gone next, if not for Aeris and her Lifestream, but the lower part of the plate survived, surprisingly, with six of its eight sectors intact and almost alright. It seemed that, once Reeve had gotten over his grief for his job (which was not very hard) and the death of those in the upper plates, that Meteor and Holy had done a good thing by getting rid of Shinra, to free the people from eternal compression underneath its power. In fact, Meteor had wiped out the organisation so completely that Shinra Building was nothing more than the overwhelmingly large garbage dump that he was currently standing on, and its best weapon, the Sister Ray, was warped and contorted beyond shape, its cannon twisted and burnt black like the discarded skin of a snake.
Reeve, and the other citizens of Midgar, had given up blaming the deaths on someone else. Sure, some could say it was Sephiroth's fault, but most did not have the full knowledge of Meteor's origination, nor the will left to push the guilt. The people of the Floating City were tired; they had endured enough from the days of Shinra. And that not only went for those who suffered an endless dayless and nightless existence, suffocating on pollution in the slums, but also the richer above the plates, whose lives were just cycles that insisted of nothing but work, pay, work, pay...
"It's all over." Reeve Sith muttered to himself as he hopped off from his perch and continued to work, with the rain battering his tired back. "Shinra's all gone."
If only it was...
A wailing almost inaudible reached his ears, but from the moment he heard it, Reeve was sure it was a wail. He walked backwards a few steps, for the sounds seemed to come from below his very feet, but it didn't help. There it was still, getting louder and louder, magnified enough to turn a few more heads from the workers behind the stunned man. Then, as the cry went from just barely heard to an unbearable volume, IT appeared.
Bursting from the rocks that were Shinra's foundation, its hideous body covered in blood and other substances unidentifiable, the huge monster's force combined with its sudden appearance struck Reeve off his feet. But somehow, he could not pick himself up, could do nothing but stare at the ghastly beast that was starting to take appearance. A headless body...what looked horribly like a brain attached by massive lumps of tissue to a stub of neck...a woman's figure just recognizable under layers of ragged skin, covered with blue and purple, bloody veins. Still it grew in size, its grotesque form twisting to get out from the ruins of Shinra that had buried it ALIVE.
"Holy...CRAP!" Reeve seemed to have found his voice at last. He could distinguish the creature, now that it had burst into the open air, its body shining, its life fluid mixing with the rain. His brain protested, his conscience screamed, but his mind was clear and his body numb with terror. He knew what that was...there was no mistaking the thing that he and Avalanche fought so hard to defeat, the mother of all monsters that they had thought dead after all this time...
"It's...JENOVA!"
And so it was. But the tiny sound he issued from his tiny mouth could not match that of Jenova's wailing, threatening to burst his eardrums. He could not see where the horrible noise was coming from; Jenova didn't seem to have a mouth. That didn't stop the siren though; the screeching that seemed to go on for eternity. Reeve was paralysed as he desperately stuffed his fingers in his ears, trying hopelessly to prevent deafness.
~It's like she's trying to call someone...to reach something...~
What seemed like forever later, Jenova's screaming ceased so suddenly that a ringing silence followed. Then, as the monster started to move, trampling over the citizens and the wreckage of Midgar, screams of the people rose higher. Panic swallowed the city as the promised peace vanished like a dream.
Jenova, now just under half the size of a Weapon, continued her slow, destructive rampage through Midgar. She crawled like a snail through the cracked and broken streets, leaving behind her a trail of acid-like liquid. Nothing seemed to be an obstacle for her as she continued, dead straight ahead, crashing into everything in her path and destroying all that Reeve had worked so hard to repair.
The destruction seemed to finally reach Reeve. He grabbed the nearest hunk of metal that seemed a good size for throwing, and chased after Jenova, hurling it as far as he could at the back of her ugly body.
"Take that, you-"
But shock took the rest of his sentence. Jenova's skin devoured the metal, but her mind, or brain, or whatever it was, was not even interested in counter-attacking. There was no stopping her; somehow, she was intent on getting to where ever she was going. West of Midgar...she wants to cross the ocean to the New Continent? Weren't Cloud and the rest of them on vacation there?
But anger and despair had taken Reeve's body for themselves. He tried grenades, bullets, magic, and every other weapon he could get his hands on, but to no avail. Jenova seemed stronger...more desperate...HUNGRIER than she did in their other battles. Exhaustion finally settled in some time later, and Reeve's mind returned. Summoning his trusted Cait Sith with one hand, he took his PHS in the other and dialled Cloud's number with frantic speed.
~I've got to warn them! Jenova is alive! ~
~
"This is blimmin' stupid. Blimmin' stupid and !@#$in' hopeless!"
"Cid, sit still, and if you have to say something, call Tifa and ask for Bugenhagen's condition."
"You tryin' to tell me what to do now, punk?"
Cloud Strife chose smartly to ignore Cid Highwind's last remark. He was not normally a person easy to insult, and right now, he had much more important things to worry about. It was bad enough to be stuck in a tiny car for several long hours with the pilot, and if he also had to argue with him, well, then the trip may just as well as be !@#$in' hopeless like Cid so kindly stated.
The rain, for one, that refused to cease, was beginning to hinder the buggy's wheels with muddy grounds. It had not been so bad a few hours ago when they were still in the wide dry planes of Cosmo Canyon, but now, over Nibel River, they had a hard time squelching through the grass with the buggy's low body and small wheels. One look out the window at the rain brushes that wouldn't go faster than the pace of a snail was enough to tell Cloud that THIS was just another piece of junk from the Golden Saucer prison that nobody would miss. Still, one buggy was all they had to cross the Nibel River. Both the black and golden Chocobos were gone, they would not be able to spot anything from the Highwind in this weather without specific location, and the Tiny Bronco was never made for land. But even with that in mind, riding this stupid machine on the edge of braking down made Cloud reconsider his decision to come out with it so frequently that it was giving him a constant headache.
Were they wasting their time trying to find Vincent and Yuffie?
After all, the only hint they had was the communication device between Flare and Cloud. Vincent's PHS seemed to have entered static country and Yuffie's one was unhelpfully tucked in her bed. The tracking device showed Cloud's Chocobo to be inanimate, constantly staying in the middle of the grasslands of the Nibel area. Blowing on his whistle didn't seem to help; the bird just wouldn't come home. For what reason, Cloud wondered? He sincerely hoped that Yuffie hadn't killed it...
Cloud glanced at his watch and noticed they had travelled for four long hours since midnight, when they had first started. He guessed he should be tired, but also considered that since the beginning of last year, he had not gotten any proper sleep and was probably already used to sleepless nights. Sephiroth had always been a problem in the last year or so, and now, when they should be resting up and recovering from all their bad memories, THIS had to come and happen. But then again, this may be the perfect time for an enemy to plan something like this; Avalanche were relaxing and way off their guard.
But why had they gone for Bugenhagen, of all people? In fact, why was Bugenhagen out in the middle of the night by himself anyway? The old Wiseman might have wanted to go for a short walk; according to Nanaki, he did it all the time. And the creature that harmed him might have been conveniently there, looking for anyone to slaughter, right? It may just have been another hungry Nibel Wolf that wandered too far, right?
No. Nibel Wolves don't inflict that kind of damage. And of course, a mere Nibel Wolf would not have been chased so far by Cloud's two comrades.
So what does that mean, exactly? Was there a new evil they should be aware of? Was history repeating itself now?
Cloud's eyebrows knotted as he felt a fresh headache make its way into his brain. These questions that had been circling in his mind again and again did nothing to help him figure out the answer. He had to concentrate on something else... If all he thought about were monsters and bad dreams, he would collapse into a state of self-pity when that was the last thing they all needed.
Something happier...
Something happier...
Tifa...
As usual, the first real glad thought to creep into his system was his lovely fiancé, Tifa Lockhart. Has there ever been anyone else that was ever able to bring him back to good spirits as effective as her? Maybe Aeris's happiness and flowers made him feel good once, but Aeris is dead, and dead people don't come back. Besides, Cloud knew that, despite all that his mother advised about getting an older girlfriend, and all that Cait Sith had predicted about his and Aeris's wonderful future if only they were together, he had just not loved her as much as he did Tifa. Sure, he did once adore the innocent flower girl, and he still hurts for what happened to her, but he had become what he is today for TIFA. He had gone to the other side of the world to become a SOLDIER, and in the end, no matter how much he said that that action was due to Sephiroth's influence, he knew that it was really to prove himself to her. And when he became nothing more than a Shinra Guard, wasn't he too embarrassed to go back and see her? He knew he would disappoint her, and Tifa's disappointment was something Cloud still could not bear.
But even though he turned out to be nothing more than a slum working for Shinra, Tifa Lockhart was still always there for him. She opened up her heart to him, cheered him up when he was down. She had stayed by his side every second through the horrible ordeal mako-poisoning put him through, and she had thrown herself fearlessly into the burning coldness of the Lifestream just to help him through his confusion...
Cloud Strife had a history with Tifa Lockhart. If Cloud were a fatalist, he would say they were destined for one another. With Tifa, somehow everything just works out. She was always so caring, so selfless, so cheerful...and so beautiful... Her smile so pure and sweet, as if created by an artist with nothing but happiness in his veins...
A bump in the road jolted Cloud unhappily away from his visions of Tifa, and all the coldness and unfairness of his situation returned. The raindrops outside his window were throwing themselves on the glass like kamikaze pilots on a mission, and the wind continued its screaming competition with the thunder.
~I've finally asked her to marry me...and now this happens...~ Cloud thought bitterly. ~As if someone is trying very hard to tell me something. ~
Beside him, the PHS rang shrilly. Even though the mobile belonged to Cloud, Cid snatched it up before he had a chance. The old pilot must be as worried as he was, despite his temper and impatience. Cloud wished to the Gods that the caller was Vincent with good news.
"Yeah, whadayouwant?" Cid spoke gruffly into the receiver. Then after a second: "Reeve, eh? If this's to ask about our blimmin' holiday, now is not the time!"
Cloud tried to mask his disappointment. Reeve, the only Avalanche member not present in their 'vacation', was away in Midgar, situating the surviving citizens in new homes in other towns and trying to find anything valuable in the junk of a city. The battle between the meteor and the Lifestream had left it almost nothing more than a metal scrap yard. One that is eight times the size of a village like Nibelheim.
Reeve, though having to leave his 'Cait Sith' personality behind to gather enough responsibility for this task, was doing surprisingly well. He had assembled groups of people from Kalm, Junon, and other towns alike, and had started to heal the injuries that Midgar left. Even though some people still have grudges against Shinra, they were willing to help Reeve try and mend the organisation's wrongs. Cloud had felt guilty for not being there to help the guy out; after all, Reeve had been an important member of Avalanche as well, and he must also be tired. But the older man would hear nothing of it.
"This is what I really want to do. This is my holiday, Cloud." He had said. "I'll call you if I need you, kid, and there will be a time, don't you worry."
~So maybe he needs our help? ~ Cloud wondered, and his heart sank. ~This is definitely not the time to go saving other people's lives when we have more than enough to worry about. ~
"Issat...screaming I hear behind you?" Cid's question alarmed Cloud, though he tried hard to shake it off. He wished he could hear whatever it was Reeve was saying; the PHS was built to be listened to by the receiver only, and any stander-bys would not catch a word.
Cid stayed quiet for a few moments, obviously listening intently to what Reeve was saying. Through the corner of his eye, Cloud saw the pilot's expression first turn from angry to shocked, then from shocked to dark.
~Please...~ Cloud begged mentally. ~Please, not more bad news... We only had two months of rest and we don't need more to worry about...~
"Whaddaya mean BAD NEWS?" Cid finally erupted, all his emotions fuelling a great ball of frustration and madness. "Do you always call situations like that BAD NEWS, fur-face? How long has this been !@#$in' goin' on?"
"Cid, what is it?" Cloud asked impatiently, defeated. Yes, someone once told him to always look on the dark side so he wouldn't get his hopes up, and in this case, that someone was right.
"Shuddap, asswipe." Cid snapped to him, and continued to listen to Reeve, muttering the occasional 'Shit' when appropriate. When the older blonde finally put down the phone, Cloud was glad. There were about a million things going through his head on what the situation could be, and none of them were pretty.
"So?" He pursued anxiously as soon as Cid dropped the PHS on the seat again. But judging by the pilot's face, with his eyebrows so low they were almost covering his eyes, Cloud was about to bet that something else has happened, not less terrible than the attack on Bugenhagen the night before.
"I'm afraid Midgar got itself into deep shit again." Cid's answer was not comforting. "Jenova is back."
"What!?"
~
Yuffie Kisaragi was not happy. In fact, she couldn't think of a single bloody moment she had been happy in the past...what, eight hours or so?
The line 'Stupid !@#$in' Valentine!' was repeating itself again and again in her head, but was steadily being replaced by thoughts such as 'I hope he's alright' and 'Is this all my fault?' that were annoying her to the brink of annoyance. After all, she didn't ASK to be saved heroically, did she now?
~Is he okay? ~
~Damn him to hell! ~
~How would he get out? ~
~He may not even be alive! ~
~Aren't you even grateful? ~
"Stupid !@#$in' Valentine!" Yuffie screamed out loud, scaring the already exhausted black Chocobo she rode on. Lucia was more than tired; its back was sagging with only Yuffie and her shuriken, when it could have carried two to three average-weighted people under normal circumstances. Not only was Lucia tired, but also it was also reluctant to leave its owner behind. Yuffie went to a lot of convincing to get it moving away from the falls. But the young ninja couldn't spare the mind to worry about the bird's stupid loyalty; after all, she was too tired! There had been no time to recover after the battle, and she was too busy worrying about, or cursing, Vincent.
She had never known he would do that for her, but then again, she never thought she had enough courage to try and drag him out of that cave. She had been alone most of her life, travelling, and she liked it that way. When it came to desperate situations, she would escape selfishly before even THINKING about trying to help others. It may be because that all of her life, she had had no friends good enough to abandon their lives for her, so she developed the same way. Everything she knew before Meteor revolved around herself...leaving Wutai was a such an act; she couldn't bear the thought of being the next Lady Wutai, caring for so many people when she couldn't even care enough about her family and friends. In fact, the only person she remembered vaguely that had some emotional value to her was her mother...and she had died so early.
But after meeting Cloud, Vincent, and the rest of Avalanche, everything started to change. Before, all she wanted out of them was their materia. A rebellious group had to have good, strong materia, right? But soon, she discovered that not only were their magic good and strong, so were their bonds with each other. It was so obvious to see that any one of them would give up their life for another, and that was friendship to an extent Yuffie had not even imagined possible. Soon, she started to gravitate towards the warmth too...and was that altogether a good thing? Not really. If it weren't for stupid 'feelings', she wouldn't be so frustrated about Vincent right now.
She was so ashamed with the way she behaved back at the cave. If she had done something else other than stare in shocked horror at the beast, then Vincent might've stood a chance with it. After all, what had she done to help him? Nothing. It was only when the guy got stabbed and it was almost too late did she come to her senses and use her limit break, but that did hardly any good, did it?
It was just that...for some strange reason...she was so damn AFRAID. It wasn't the grotesqueness of the creature that had paralysed her like some helpless rabbit facing the speed of a car on collision course. Hell, she's seen some much, MUCH uglier creatures. Jenova...Sephiroth...zombies...Sephiroth...ghost dragons...Sephiroth, to name a few. But it was the name of the demon, HOJO, and the aura...or chi, as they called it in Wutai, he was giving out that was horrifying. So evil, so damn twisted, and so...terrifyingly familiar.
She had heard the name a couple of times before, yes, but had never faced Hojo. For all she knew, he was some guy working for Shinra that Cloud, Cid, and Vincent had run into atop the Sister Ray. From what she'd heard, he was well capable of turning himself into an eight-year-old girl, as she and Vincent had seen. His unnatural ways had never influenced her in the past... Why would it frighten her so now, when she was about to turn seventeen?
Why could she swear she'd been scared of him before, not only in this life, but also in the memory of another?
~This is stupid. Telepathic mumble-jumble again. ~ She cursed herself mentally. ~Remember, you said you wouldn't believe this junk even with dad trying to force it onto you every time you meet? ~
But still...
A shimmer of gold blinked in front of her, and Yuffie stopped thinking. It was pointless to go on, she was just going to find a whole heap of lameness with her name on it. So instead, she ushered Lucia in the direction of the gold, sure that she knew exactly what it was.
"Flare!" She called, rain getting in her mouth as she shouted (Damn this GOD FORSAKEN ANNOYINGLY COLD GROSS RAIN!). The bird stayed in exactly the same position, its eyes bulging, refusing to move. It seemed in shock or something, but Yuffie couldn't be bothered to care. She got off Lucia tiredly and swung a boot in the general direction of Flare, kicking the male weakly on one of its wings.
Flare stayed put.
"Oh come on, you stupid bird!" Yuffie grumbled as she nudged it again. "I've endured enough, and I don't wanna go back and tell your stupid owner that you froze to death in my care!"
After a few more attempts at getting Flare to move, Yuffie gave up and hopped back onto Lucia. Fine, the dumb Chocobo could stay there and die for all she cared. She still had a message of help to deliver to Cloud and the others. She still had Vincent, stuck in that cave, waiting for her to come back and rescue him...
~He's not dead...is he? ~
~Damned if I care! Cloud can take care of it. ~
And as if the Gods had heard what Yuffie had been thinking, another golden shimmer appeared in front of Yuffie. A much more powerful one, blinding her for a moment before she could realize exactly where the light came from.
"Cloud!" She cried happily, relieved beyond words as she recognized the familiar shape of the buggy. "Oh thank Leviathan!"
Then all the unnatural strength given to her by willpower disappeared, and Yuffie Kisaragi gave in completely to blackness, collapsing in a limp heap on the muddy ground by the two Chocobos' feet.
~
Chapter Six ~ Fin
AN: I...do not know what to say. So many reviewers told me 'Don't let Vincent die!' and I must admit, I felt good because this means the readers are connecting with the characters, correct?
Anyway, thank you for your reviews, and sorry for the delay. I also wanted to apologise to those particular reviewers, because this chapter does not state what exactly happened to Vincent, though it does give a nasty hint...
Keep reading this, please. I just worked out some sort of plot and I do not want to lose your lovely support.
~Vegg
He should have known it was too perfect, his triumphant return to life, the ULTIMATE UNFINISHED PLAN, would take more than calculated. This body was invincible, but his mind...it still needed rest!
One Ultima and one spiritual limit break...such weak magic could not break him before! It was this child; he was her demon. As long as he stayed inside her, he would be weak to such attacks.
Perhaps it was time for backup. Hojo had not wanted to come to plan B, but it seemed appropriate. He did not want to fail again; failures such as the previous were fatal. Perhaps it was the right time to tell his beloved what he had been up to. She would want to know; she had a right to know, and she would help.
All she needed was a sacrifice. The promise of something bloody and powerful that she could devour to gain back the strength she lost. It has to be no normal mortal, for she does not eat such things. No... her sacrifice has to be grand, to be JUICY.
But that part was easy...was it not, Vincent Valentine?
~
SHADOWBODY ~ By Crimson Sun
Chapter Six
~
Oblivious to everything, everything but the concentration needed for work and the input of effort, Reeve Sith was busying himself with another day in Midgar's damaged terrain. One might think he would have liked to go on vacation with the rest of Avalanche and get a decent break from working, but the man loved Midgar and hated to see its people despair.
It had started to rain sometime yesterday, Reeve thought, but he couldn't be sure. In fact, he had only noticed the rain when it was starting to obscure his vision of the people working beside him. The thunder was ignored totally, for loud sounds were common now with the excavating team from Bone Village and their bombs, hired and shipped here to uncover lost treasure and buried valuables. Money, potions, that sort of thing that was found, was then distributed amongst the team and the people of Midgar, who have, literally, nothing left. Most of the citizens had abandoned their homes with only a small amount of gil given by Reeve, who sold all the mastered All materia he could get to have enough to support them. So far, he had gone through the wreckage of Sector Eight, taking with him the group of workers from nearby villages who had put aside their differences to try and mend the wounds that Meteor had torn through Midgar's flesh.
The ex-president of Shinra's Urban Development Department stood on the remains of the Golden Building now, resting for a brief moment and surveying the rain-blurred view from his place, higher than the rest of the ruins. Under normal circumstances, there would be no way to climb to the top of Shinra Building unless you were an important member of its society, and you wanted to catch a helicopter. But that was all far behind Shinra's history and was going to stay there. For Reeve was not standing in the spectacular hundred-floored centre of Midgar any longer; instead, he was merely perched on another crumpled structure, fallen from grace.
When Meteor fell, Shinra Building was the first to feel its fiery anger, and the first to tumble. Then the upper plates, not built to endure more force than the trampling of its people, bent from its weight and collapsed into itself. The whole of Midgar would have gone next, if not for Aeris and her Lifestream, but the lower part of the plate survived, surprisingly, with six of its eight sectors intact and almost alright. It seemed that, once Reeve had gotten over his grief for his job (which was not very hard) and the death of those in the upper plates, that Meteor and Holy had done a good thing by getting rid of Shinra, to free the people from eternal compression underneath its power. In fact, Meteor had wiped out the organisation so completely that Shinra Building was nothing more than the overwhelmingly large garbage dump that he was currently standing on, and its best weapon, the Sister Ray, was warped and contorted beyond shape, its cannon twisted and burnt black like the discarded skin of a snake.
Reeve, and the other citizens of Midgar, had given up blaming the deaths on someone else. Sure, some could say it was Sephiroth's fault, but most did not have the full knowledge of Meteor's origination, nor the will left to push the guilt. The people of the Floating City were tired; they had endured enough from the days of Shinra. And that not only went for those who suffered an endless dayless and nightless existence, suffocating on pollution in the slums, but also the richer above the plates, whose lives were just cycles that insisted of nothing but work, pay, work, pay...
"It's all over." Reeve Sith muttered to himself as he hopped off from his perch and continued to work, with the rain battering his tired back. "Shinra's all gone."
If only it was...
A wailing almost inaudible reached his ears, but from the moment he heard it, Reeve was sure it was a wail. He walked backwards a few steps, for the sounds seemed to come from below his very feet, but it didn't help. There it was still, getting louder and louder, magnified enough to turn a few more heads from the workers behind the stunned man. Then, as the cry went from just barely heard to an unbearable volume, IT appeared.
Bursting from the rocks that were Shinra's foundation, its hideous body covered in blood and other substances unidentifiable, the huge monster's force combined with its sudden appearance struck Reeve off his feet. But somehow, he could not pick himself up, could do nothing but stare at the ghastly beast that was starting to take appearance. A headless body...what looked horribly like a brain attached by massive lumps of tissue to a stub of neck...a woman's figure just recognizable under layers of ragged skin, covered with blue and purple, bloody veins. Still it grew in size, its grotesque form twisting to get out from the ruins of Shinra that had buried it ALIVE.
"Holy...CRAP!" Reeve seemed to have found his voice at last. He could distinguish the creature, now that it had burst into the open air, its body shining, its life fluid mixing with the rain. His brain protested, his conscience screamed, but his mind was clear and his body numb with terror. He knew what that was...there was no mistaking the thing that he and Avalanche fought so hard to defeat, the mother of all monsters that they had thought dead after all this time...
"It's...JENOVA!"
And so it was. But the tiny sound he issued from his tiny mouth could not match that of Jenova's wailing, threatening to burst his eardrums. He could not see where the horrible noise was coming from; Jenova didn't seem to have a mouth. That didn't stop the siren though; the screeching that seemed to go on for eternity. Reeve was paralysed as he desperately stuffed his fingers in his ears, trying hopelessly to prevent deafness.
~It's like she's trying to call someone...to reach something...~
What seemed like forever later, Jenova's screaming ceased so suddenly that a ringing silence followed. Then, as the monster started to move, trampling over the citizens and the wreckage of Midgar, screams of the people rose higher. Panic swallowed the city as the promised peace vanished like a dream.
Jenova, now just under half the size of a Weapon, continued her slow, destructive rampage through Midgar. She crawled like a snail through the cracked and broken streets, leaving behind her a trail of acid-like liquid. Nothing seemed to be an obstacle for her as she continued, dead straight ahead, crashing into everything in her path and destroying all that Reeve had worked so hard to repair.
The destruction seemed to finally reach Reeve. He grabbed the nearest hunk of metal that seemed a good size for throwing, and chased after Jenova, hurling it as far as he could at the back of her ugly body.
"Take that, you-"
But shock took the rest of his sentence. Jenova's skin devoured the metal, but her mind, or brain, or whatever it was, was not even interested in counter-attacking. There was no stopping her; somehow, she was intent on getting to where ever she was going. West of Midgar...she wants to cross the ocean to the New Continent? Weren't Cloud and the rest of them on vacation there?
But anger and despair had taken Reeve's body for themselves. He tried grenades, bullets, magic, and every other weapon he could get his hands on, but to no avail. Jenova seemed stronger...more desperate...HUNGRIER than she did in their other battles. Exhaustion finally settled in some time later, and Reeve's mind returned. Summoning his trusted Cait Sith with one hand, he took his PHS in the other and dialled Cloud's number with frantic speed.
~I've got to warn them! Jenova is alive! ~
~
"This is blimmin' stupid. Blimmin' stupid and !@#$in' hopeless!"
"Cid, sit still, and if you have to say something, call Tifa and ask for Bugenhagen's condition."
"You tryin' to tell me what to do now, punk?"
Cloud Strife chose smartly to ignore Cid Highwind's last remark. He was not normally a person easy to insult, and right now, he had much more important things to worry about. It was bad enough to be stuck in a tiny car for several long hours with the pilot, and if he also had to argue with him, well, then the trip may just as well as be !@#$in' hopeless like Cid so kindly stated.
The rain, for one, that refused to cease, was beginning to hinder the buggy's wheels with muddy grounds. It had not been so bad a few hours ago when they were still in the wide dry planes of Cosmo Canyon, but now, over Nibel River, they had a hard time squelching through the grass with the buggy's low body and small wheels. One look out the window at the rain brushes that wouldn't go faster than the pace of a snail was enough to tell Cloud that THIS was just another piece of junk from the Golden Saucer prison that nobody would miss. Still, one buggy was all they had to cross the Nibel River. Both the black and golden Chocobos were gone, they would not be able to spot anything from the Highwind in this weather without specific location, and the Tiny Bronco was never made for land. But even with that in mind, riding this stupid machine on the edge of braking down made Cloud reconsider his decision to come out with it so frequently that it was giving him a constant headache.
Were they wasting their time trying to find Vincent and Yuffie?
After all, the only hint they had was the communication device between Flare and Cloud. Vincent's PHS seemed to have entered static country and Yuffie's one was unhelpfully tucked in her bed. The tracking device showed Cloud's Chocobo to be inanimate, constantly staying in the middle of the grasslands of the Nibel area. Blowing on his whistle didn't seem to help; the bird just wouldn't come home. For what reason, Cloud wondered? He sincerely hoped that Yuffie hadn't killed it...
Cloud glanced at his watch and noticed they had travelled for four long hours since midnight, when they had first started. He guessed he should be tired, but also considered that since the beginning of last year, he had not gotten any proper sleep and was probably already used to sleepless nights. Sephiroth had always been a problem in the last year or so, and now, when they should be resting up and recovering from all their bad memories, THIS had to come and happen. But then again, this may be the perfect time for an enemy to plan something like this; Avalanche were relaxing and way off their guard.
But why had they gone for Bugenhagen, of all people? In fact, why was Bugenhagen out in the middle of the night by himself anyway? The old Wiseman might have wanted to go for a short walk; according to Nanaki, he did it all the time. And the creature that harmed him might have been conveniently there, looking for anyone to slaughter, right? It may just have been another hungry Nibel Wolf that wandered too far, right?
No. Nibel Wolves don't inflict that kind of damage. And of course, a mere Nibel Wolf would not have been chased so far by Cloud's two comrades.
So what does that mean, exactly? Was there a new evil they should be aware of? Was history repeating itself now?
Cloud's eyebrows knotted as he felt a fresh headache make its way into his brain. These questions that had been circling in his mind again and again did nothing to help him figure out the answer. He had to concentrate on something else... If all he thought about were monsters and bad dreams, he would collapse into a state of self-pity when that was the last thing they all needed.
Something happier...
Something happier...
Tifa...
As usual, the first real glad thought to creep into his system was his lovely fiancé, Tifa Lockhart. Has there ever been anyone else that was ever able to bring him back to good spirits as effective as her? Maybe Aeris's happiness and flowers made him feel good once, but Aeris is dead, and dead people don't come back. Besides, Cloud knew that, despite all that his mother advised about getting an older girlfriend, and all that Cait Sith had predicted about his and Aeris's wonderful future if only they were together, he had just not loved her as much as he did Tifa. Sure, he did once adore the innocent flower girl, and he still hurts for what happened to her, but he had become what he is today for TIFA. He had gone to the other side of the world to become a SOLDIER, and in the end, no matter how much he said that that action was due to Sephiroth's influence, he knew that it was really to prove himself to her. And when he became nothing more than a Shinra Guard, wasn't he too embarrassed to go back and see her? He knew he would disappoint her, and Tifa's disappointment was something Cloud still could not bear.
But even though he turned out to be nothing more than a slum working for Shinra, Tifa Lockhart was still always there for him. She opened up her heart to him, cheered him up when he was down. She had stayed by his side every second through the horrible ordeal mako-poisoning put him through, and she had thrown herself fearlessly into the burning coldness of the Lifestream just to help him through his confusion...
Cloud Strife had a history with Tifa Lockhart. If Cloud were a fatalist, he would say they were destined for one another. With Tifa, somehow everything just works out. She was always so caring, so selfless, so cheerful...and so beautiful... Her smile so pure and sweet, as if created by an artist with nothing but happiness in his veins...
A bump in the road jolted Cloud unhappily away from his visions of Tifa, and all the coldness and unfairness of his situation returned. The raindrops outside his window were throwing themselves on the glass like kamikaze pilots on a mission, and the wind continued its screaming competition with the thunder.
~I've finally asked her to marry me...and now this happens...~ Cloud thought bitterly. ~As if someone is trying very hard to tell me something. ~
Beside him, the PHS rang shrilly. Even though the mobile belonged to Cloud, Cid snatched it up before he had a chance. The old pilot must be as worried as he was, despite his temper and impatience. Cloud wished to the Gods that the caller was Vincent with good news.
"Yeah, whadayouwant?" Cid spoke gruffly into the receiver. Then after a second: "Reeve, eh? If this's to ask about our blimmin' holiday, now is not the time!"
Cloud tried to mask his disappointment. Reeve, the only Avalanche member not present in their 'vacation', was away in Midgar, situating the surviving citizens in new homes in other towns and trying to find anything valuable in the junk of a city. The battle between the meteor and the Lifestream had left it almost nothing more than a metal scrap yard. One that is eight times the size of a village like Nibelheim.
Reeve, though having to leave his 'Cait Sith' personality behind to gather enough responsibility for this task, was doing surprisingly well. He had assembled groups of people from Kalm, Junon, and other towns alike, and had started to heal the injuries that Midgar left. Even though some people still have grudges against Shinra, they were willing to help Reeve try and mend the organisation's wrongs. Cloud had felt guilty for not being there to help the guy out; after all, Reeve had been an important member of Avalanche as well, and he must also be tired. But the older man would hear nothing of it.
"This is what I really want to do. This is my holiday, Cloud." He had said. "I'll call you if I need you, kid, and there will be a time, don't you worry."
~So maybe he needs our help? ~ Cloud wondered, and his heart sank. ~This is definitely not the time to go saving other people's lives when we have more than enough to worry about. ~
"Issat...screaming I hear behind you?" Cid's question alarmed Cloud, though he tried hard to shake it off. He wished he could hear whatever it was Reeve was saying; the PHS was built to be listened to by the receiver only, and any stander-bys would not catch a word.
Cid stayed quiet for a few moments, obviously listening intently to what Reeve was saying. Through the corner of his eye, Cloud saw the pilot's expression first turn from angry to shocked, then from shocked to dark.
~Please...~ Cloud begged mentally. ~Please, not more bad news... We only had two months of rest and we don't need more to worry about...~
"Whaddaya mean BAD NEWS?" Cid finally erupted, all his emotions fuelling a great ball of frustration and madness. "Do you always call situations like that BAD NEWS, fur-face? How long has this been !@#$in' goin' on?"
"Cid, what is it?" Cloud asked impatiently, defeated. Yes, someone once told him to always look on the dark side so he wouldn't get his hopes up, and in this case, that someone was right.
"Shuddap, asswipe." Cid snapped to him, and continued to listen to Reeve, muttering the occasional 'Shit' when appropriate. When the older blonde finally put down the phone, Cloud was glad. There were about a million things going through his head on what the situation could be, and none of them were pretty.
"So?" He pursued anxiously as soon as Cid dropped the PHS on the seat again. But judging by the pilot's face, with his eyebrows so low they were almost covering his eyes, Cloud was about to bet that something else has happened, not less terrible than the attack on Bugenhagen the night before.
"I'm afraid Midgar got itself into deep shit again." Cid's answer was not comforting. "Jenova is back."
"What!?"
~
Yuffie Kisaragi was not happy. In fact, she couldn't think of a single bloody moment she had been happy in the past...what, eight hours or so?
The line 'Stupid !@#$in' Valentine!' was repeating itself again and again in her head, but was steadily being replaced by thoughts such as 'I hope he's alright' and 'Is this all my fault?' that were annoying her to the brink of annoyance. After all, she didn't ASK to be saved heroically, did she now?
~Is he okay? ~
~Damn him to hell! ~
~How would he get out? ~
~He may not even be alive! ~
~Aren't you even grateful? ~
"Stupid !@#$in' Valentine!" Yuffie screamed out loud, scaring the already exhausted black Chocobo she rode on. Lucia was more than tired; its back was sagging with only Yuffie and her shuriken, when it could have carried two to three average-weighted people under normal circumstances. Not only was Lucia tired, but also it was also reluctant to leave its owner behind. Yuffie went to a lot of convincing to get it moving away from the falls. But the young ninja couldn't spare the mind to worry about the bird's stupid loyalty; after all, she was too tired! There had been no time to recover after the battle, and she was too busy worrying about, or cursing, Vincent.
She had never known he would do that for her, but then again, she never thought she had enough courage to try and drag him out of that cave. She had been alone most of her life, travelling, and she liked it that way. When it came to desperate situations, she would escape selfishly before even THINKING about trying to help others. It may be because that all of her life, she had had no friends good enough to abandon their lives for her, so she developed the same way. Everything she knew before Meteor revolved around herself...leaving Wutai was a such an act; she couldn't bear the thought of being the next Lady Wutai, caring for so many people when she couldn't even care enough about her family and friends. In fact, the only person she remembered vaguely that had some emotional value to her was her mother...and she had died so early.
But after meeting Cloud, Vincent, and the rest of Avalanche, everything started to change. Before, all she wanted out of them was their materia. A rebellious group had to have good, strong materia, right? But soon, she discovered that not only were their magic good and strong, so were their bonds with each other. It was so obvious to see that any one of them would give up their life for another, and that was friendship to an extent Yuffie had not even imagined possible. Soon, she started to gravitate towards the warmth too...and was that altogether a good thing? Not really. If it weren't for stupid 'feelings', she wouldn't be so frustrated about Vincent right now.
She was so ashamed with the way she behaved back at the cave. If she had done something else other than stare in shocked horror at the beast, then Vincent might've stood a chance with it. After all, what had she done to help him? Nothing. It was only when the guy got stabbed and it was almost too late did she come to her senses and use her limit break, but that did hardly any good, did it?
It was just that...for some strange reason...she was so damn AFRAID. It wasn't the grotesqueness of the creature that had paralysed her like some helpless rabbit facing the speed of a car on collision course. Hell, she's seen some much, MUCH uglier creatures. Jenova...Sephiroth...zombies...Sephiroth...ghost dragons...Sephiroth, to name a few. But it was the name of the demon, HOJO, and the aura...or chi, as they called it in Wutai, he was giving out that was horrifying. So evil, so damn twisted, and so...terrifyingly familiar.
She had heard the name a couple of times before, yes, but had never faced Hojo. For all she knew, he was some guy working for Shinra that Cloud, Cid, and Vincent had run into atop the Sister Ray. From what she'd heard, he was well capable of turning himself into an eight-year-old girl, as she and Vincent had seen. His unnatural ways had never influenced her in the past... Why would it frighten her so now, when she was about to turn seventeen?
Why could she swear she'd been scared of him before, not only in this life, but also in the memory of another?
~This is stupid. Telepathic mumble-jumble again. ~ She cursed herself mentally. ~Remember, you said you wouldn't believe this junk even with dad trying to force it onto you every time you meet? ~
But still...
A shimmer of gold blinked in front of her, and Yuffie stopped thinking. It was pointless to go on, she was just going to find a whole heap of lameness with her name on it. So instead, she ushered Lucia in the direction of the gold, sure that she knew exactly what it was.
"Flare!" She called, rain getting in her mouth as she shouted (Damn this GOD FORSAKEN ANNOYINGLY COLD GROSS RAIN!). The bird stayed in exactly the same position, its eyes bulging, refusing to move. It seemed in shock or something, but Yuffie couldn't be bothered to care. She got off Lucia tiredly and swung a boot in the general direction of Flare, kicking the male weakly on one of its wings.
Flare stayed put.
"Oh come on, you stupid bird!" Yuffie grumbled as she nudged it again. "I've endured enough, and I don't wanna go back and tell your stupid owner that you froze to death in my care!"
After a few more attempts at getting Flare to move, Yuffie gave up and hopped back onto Lucia. Fine, the dumb Chocobo could stay there and die for all she cared. She still had a message of help to deliver to Cloud and the others. She still had Vincent, stuck in that cave, waiting for her to come back and rescue him...
~He's not dead...is he? ~
~Damned if I care! Cloud can take care of it. ~
And as if the Gods had heard what Yuffie had been thinking, another golden shimmer appeared in front of Yuffie. A much more powerful one, blinding her for a moment before she could realize exactly where the light came from.
"Cloud!" She cried happily, relieved beyond words as she recognized the familiar shape of the buggy. "Oh thank Leviathan!"
Then all the unnatural strength given to her by willpower disappeared, and Yuffie Kisaragi gave in completely to blackness, collapsing in a limp heap on the muddy ground by the two Chocobos' feet.
~
Chapter Six ~ Fin
AN: I...do not know what to say. So many reviewers told me 'Don't let Vincent die!' and I must admit, I felt good because this means the readers are connecting with the characters, correct?
Anyway, thank you for your reviews, and sorry for the delay. I also wanted to apologise to those particular reviewers, because this chapter does not state what exactly happened to Vincent, though it does give a nasty hint...
Keep reading this, please. I just worked out some sort of plot and I do not want to lose your lovely support.
~Vegg