Sister of the Last Days

Nanaki managed to vacate Nibelheim of its residents before the sphere had settled over town, and from a safe distance, observed the thing devastate the land. The light came down upon Nibelheim, followed by a blinding flash and sonic boom, then the scorching fire that leveled nearly everything. Nanaki deliberated. This thing was a floating ball of murder, and when it wasn't attacking towns, it still dealt damage to the land with its grand attraction.

"Grr… What is that thing? If I don't find a way to stop it, then... Hmph," Nanaki grunted unhappily and turned back to Cosmo Canyon. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something so slight, he would've never heeded it all looking at it straight. The sphere was veering ever so slightly to the west. It was peculiar. Taking note of this change in course, Nanaki went home.

Vincent stared into the flame of Cosmo Candle, cleansing guardian of the people. He could almost hear a voice whisper pleasantly to him, to walk into it and let it burn away all the sin and befouled flesh and memories of his horrors. Burn it all. Hypnotized by Cosmo Candle, he put his claw to the fire. Flame licked at the shiny golden surface. He felt neither felt the heat, pain nor pleasure. Then he thought…even though the fire may consume his flesh and turn his bones to ash, this claw might still exist thereafter. And his guilt would live on. But he could enter the cleansing flame and end it all. He would die at last. Such a fitting end for him. Just walk in and…

"Hey, where's Nanaki?" a voice yelled out. Vincent glanced over his shoulder. Three boys and two men came running up from the entrance of the settlement. They approached him. "Hey, you, do you know where Nanaki is?"

He shook his head.

"Oh… We have something really important to tell him," said one of the boys with a bandanna round his brow.

"Yeah, there's something coming across the sea to the west," said another boy.

"…like what?" Vincent queried.

"A big thing like a comet, but moving really kinda slow."

One of Vincent's eyebrows crept up in curious wonder. A comet-like object from across the sea?

"Nanaki!" exclaimed one of the two men. Nanaki appeared at the entrance. All of them save for Vincent ran to him. "Nanaki, we have news."

"News? Of what sort?" he asked.

"There's a thing that looks like a comet traveling over the sea in this direction."

"A comet? From where?"

"We were making a stop at Gold Saucer when we saw it. Some people say that it probably came from Junon, but others think it came from farther away than that."

"Ugh, what now? Has any damage been reported?" Nanaki questioned.

"Uh-uh," answered one of the boys.

"Well, I suppose that's okay, but now we have another thing to worry about." Nanaki flicked his ears as though he heard something strange. He switched round to Vincent. "Right, I almost forgot. Vincent, that giant green sphere seems to be changing course. Oh… It might be moving to meet the other thing that's coming. What do you think?"

"…Perhaps."

"But…" Nanaki paused. "There's still a chance Cosmo Canyon might come under attack. I don't want to abandon my home to ruin but… Or maybe I could gather everyone down into the Caves of the Gi. It's considerably deep in the cliffs, which might provide good protection. And my father… He promised that he would always protect Cosmo Canyon. Maybe, just maybe… Yes, that's what I'll do. I'll gather everyone into the Caves."

--

The emerald moon neared Cosmo Canyon as it headed west to presumably converge upon the other advancing over the sea. And, as per Nanaki's plans, he herded his people alongside the refugees from Nibelheim into the Caves of the Gi to wait out the possible obliteration of their home. They settled in the cavern before the altar where Nanaki's father, Seto, would forever look over Cosmo Canyon.

When the sphere crossed over the west side of the canyon, its bright green glow showered expectantly upon everything. Then came the succeeding sonic boom that rattled the walls of the cave. It seemed as if bombs rained down in Cosmo Canyon, for repeated shocks made everything quake and shudder, even dislodging stalactites from the ceiling. The frightened people huddled close to the walls to avoid the falling rock.

"Hold on, everybody! It'll be over soon," Nanaki voiced as loud he could over the quaking.

"Nanaki!" a child cried.

"What?!"

A little girl had strayed from the likely safety of being against the wall. She had fallen, in obvious peril if she couldn't be saved quickly enough. Nanaki broke away from the wall in attempt to save her. He dodged the falling rock as he made his way to the girl. Just as he was only five feet from her…

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Nanaki assured.

"Help, Nanaki!"

A sound, like a peal of lightning resonated from above. Everyone fell victim to a blind confusion, even Nanaki himself. But not Vincent. He knew not why but didn't care. He went for the girl and drove her to his red maned companion before another thunderous noise filled the cavern. Several great beams of luminous green light shot down through the ceiling. While all the other people were out of harm's way, Vincent found himself struck.

"Aah!"

"Vincent!"

Vincent experienced a familiar pain, the pain of being torn apart. This was when his thresholds of agony and anger reached and broken their limits. The Jenova within would tear out of his belly, out of his skin, consume him, become him, and he become it. This was when he could no longer control himself and the demon came out.

But this was a little different than other instances.

The demon's shackles were shattered. His claw. The light destroyed it and now the demon was totally released. But…

It was only the Beast of Galian. The horned purple one. It roared, wildly casting its darkly burning flares of energy into the air. They exploded, though impeding the descent of the falling rocks, they turning to dust by the swelling volatile orbs of fire.

The bombarding of the green light soon died down, signaling that the sphere had moved on. But the monster had yet to be quieted. Flares flew, endangering the people.

"Vincent!" Nanaki called out. But Vincent was unreachable.

He had to calm him down, somehow, or at least stop him from his rampantly aimless attack. He made a dash for the metamorphosed Vincent while his back was turned. He lunged, knocking it over and pinning it to the ground as best he could. It snarled and thrashed. "Vincent! Can you hear me? Calm down!"

It, he didn't listen.

Nanaki tried again.

"Vincent," he said with a little purr into the pointed ear of the beast. "Calm yourself. Calm, calm…" The Galian Beast growled and squirmed but its thrashing had been pacified. It groaned and exhaled a long loud breath. The Beast was calm. He was calm.

What remained was Nanaki sitting atop a naked Vincent, his true arm once hidden by the golden claw now uncovered. It was a dark and livid, veiny limb with squamous skin and long black nails. Nanaki finally witnessed the disfigurement done him by Hojo's twisted experiments with Jenova's cells. He looked away from the abominable limb to the shaken but unharmed people.

"Father, let's hope that there's still something left up there to live in…"

--

Author's note: Whew. This chapter was actually kind of tiring. See, I make up the storyline as I go along, based only on small ideas that might pop into my head along the way. For some reason, not many people can do that. I think that's weird. Others have to make out an outline of some sort to get a bearing on how their story is going to unfurl before they start writing. That's a big imagination for ya. And I have a big one, a big whopping creative imagination.