Heyya Minna!
Once again, sorry for the long frelling silence. This chapter kicked my ass for the longest time, not to mention Internet troubles. Hope you find it worth the wait.
And as always, thanks for the wonderful comments!
It was an ugly morning, thick with inky black clouds and balls numbing rain.
It suited Rude's mood perfectly.
"Reno won't like this, Ramuh. I don't like this."
"Objection noted."
Treading the icy quagmire Junon Cemetery had become, Rude stopped at one particular tombstone.
Lucy Tartarean
Beloved mother and friend
Rest well
"You can't deny the facts, my friend."
"Unproven suspicions, you mean."
"We shall see."
Rude stared at the grave a moment longer, expressionless and silent.
Raised a hand and blasted away the soil, the metallic coffin gleaming as he gently lifted it with gesture to lie at his feet.
Thunder bellowed in the distance.
The coffin wasn't empty...Rude immensely relived at that. Her remains were right where they were supposed to be.
"Satisfied?"
Ramuh snorted in the back of his mind in annoyance.
The body was surprisingly intact however...very little decay or smell...Something that bothered Rude.
Ether the mortician was damn good, or...
Rude tapped the corpse on the chest. Hard.
It crumbled.
"...A shell." Ramuh was too smug for Rude's liking. "Faked her death and left a shell of flesh and bone to fool all of us. Clever."
"This doesn't prove that Tartarean is Jenova. Smells like Hojo, though."
"It's touching that you are attempting to protect your friend from the truth, Rude."
"I want to be damn sure, Ramuh." He replied.
"Then let us speak to a certain horse, comrade."
Rude didn't know what was worse: The situation...or the melodramatic monkey on his back.
"I heard that..."
##
Premium Spirit Productions Presents
In association with Square Pictures
OBSIDIAN
A Final Fantasy VII fanfiction by Sentora
Final Fantasy and its characters belong to Square. Just borrowing them for this crazy fic. The new ones belong to me, so ask nicely if ya wanna use 'em ok?
Oh, U2 wrote Elevation, not me. You knew that, right?
##
Chapter 5: Liar, Liar....
"I humbly apologize for my actions last night...nonono...please forgive me for-oh hell no...Look I'm sorry for being a prick...no don't give her any ideas..."
Finding Elena was the easy part, Reno mused. She always arrived early enough to abuse the weight room upstairs for an hour or two before work and today was no different.
Now the apologizing part...that's another story...
"Come on, Elle..." Reno paused in the hallway, practicing his best Bambi eyes routine. "you can't stay mad forever....oh yes she can..." He ignored the odd look the janitor threw his way and tried his best authoritative voice. "See here, woman...as your superior officer I order you to forgive me!" He grinned. "Yeah, that's it."
Maybe it was the very out of character swearing he heard when he walked in. Maybe it was the fact that each word was echoed by a viscous punch or kick to the long-suffering punching bag, complete with a childish scrawl of him taped to it. Most likely it was sports bra, sweaty T-shirt and tiny biker shorts.
Ether way, Reno's nerve took an ill-timed vacation.
No doubt about it, Elena was pissed. She was more animated than usual, dancing around like a professional as each blow nailed his effigy perfectly. *Her hand to hand's improving, must be taking lessons from Rude. ...Forgot how cute she is when angry...*
And that one stray thought broke the dam he so carefully erected, and that one stray thought became a hundred more, complete with stereo surround sound equipped memories. He became very aware of the slender curves usually masked by the Turk uniform...curves he knew by heart-
Don't. go. there.
"You forgot 'pain in the ass.' " He said meekly.
She paused, the punching bag's chains crying out in relief. Refused to look at him.
"Go away, Reno."
He almost did. Words failed him and that annoying sting in his chest he identified as guilt grew stronger by the minute. He knew she was pissed about more than last night but he...he couldn't deal with that now.
Then...one rebellious memory surfaced...gave him the answer...
Carefully, he walked up to her...and 'lightly' punched her in shoulder. Just enough to sting.
"Truce?" he nearly whispered.
She went ramrod stiff in shock for a moment. Then she relaxed...the snort of amusement that escaped her almost too faint for Reno to hear.
Then she turned and floored him with one to the jaw. Smiled at him.
"Truce."
And walked into the locker room, leaving Reno nursing his jaw with an indulgent grin.
*Wuss.*
*Shut up.*
Her conscience had a point though. She shouldn't have forgiven him so easily.
...But he remembered.
She couldn't help a smile of her own.
He remembered.
##
"You look like shit, Daywalker. Bad dreams?"
Two hours later found everyone back in the infirmary, awaiting the blood test results and Rude to return. 'Checking a hunch' he said. The fact that Rude didn't explain where and what bothered Reno, knowing he wasn't gonna like whatever it was.
Vincent merely glared at him from his corner.
"Why must you insist on calling Vincent a Vampire?"
Elena watched Reno smirk at the scowling little ninja. That flirty smirk of his she had come to loathe.
Definitely forgave him too quick. Grrr...
"Oh, I'm sorry..." he remarked. "I thought the cape, the eyes, the pale skin, and the whole Anne Rice motif gave it away!"
"It's bad taste to insult a client, Reno." She said smugly. "Not that you can help yourself."
"And stealing from them isn't?"
Just stop it Elena. One half-assed apology isn't enough for...this.
"His remarks don't affect me, Yuffie."
"Shaddup." Yuffie snapped at Vincent, eyes never leaving Reno's. "Reno shouldn't disrespect his father."
His eyes narrowed. "That was a low blow, Klepto!"
"I'm surprised I hit something so small!"
Vincent didn't miss the look that flickered in Elena's eyes as Reno and Yuffie started snarling at each other.
But it's like he doesn't even care that I'm sitting here while he flirts with her!
...Just like we...
What are you smirking about, Carrot top?
Thinking 'bout a girl of mine...
Oh really?
She's very smart...sexy too...
Mmmm...Anything else?
I love running my fingers through her...silky red hair...
Oh shut up!
Gotcha...
"....What do you mean inconclusive?!"
And Elena allowed herself to be dragged from Memory back to Reality, alarmed at what she heard.
...Inconclusive...
The doctor gulped.
"W-We're still unable to decipher the complexities of Valentine's cellular structure, so an accurate test cannot be made. I'm sorry." If possible, he looked even more nervous. "But that is the least of your problems, S-sir."
"Explain." Reno bit out. "Fast."
"Your DNA is being rewritten from within, sir, by means we can't identify. If this continues your cellular structure may mirror or even surpass Valentine's. Even now there are remarkable similarities." Another nervous gulp. "We need more tests before we are certain what changes you will undergo."
A blast of ill timed lighting made Yuffie squeak in terror, flushing in embarrassment. Vincent suddenly looked more brooding and forbidding, obviously lost in thought. Reno had this scary look in his eye that so worried Elena she almost forgot her newfound anger and hurt in the need to comfort him...
"Thank you, doctor."
Rude suddenly walked in, another bolt of lightning heralding his arrival. The doctor nodded and scurried away in relief.
To anyone who didn't know the big, silent but scary Turk, he appeared 'normal'. But Elena wasn't fooled. Rude was edgy and disturbed by something, and if she didn't know better, he looked...guilty.
Then she noticed the reddish mud on his boots and pants leg.
Only one place in Junon had that type of mud.
*Tellmeyoudidn'tohSHIT...*
Reno barely acknowledged him at first...until he noticed the same thing Elena did. Shellshock quickly gave way to anger, eyes flashing madly as his fingers twitched for his Nightstick.
"It was my idea, Reno." One eye was that electric blue, faintly glowing behind the shades. "Rude wanted no part of it."
"Of course he didn't! If I could reach in and yank your dried up ass out..."He had gotten up as if to physically try, Elena holding him back. Yuffie looked alarmed at seeing Reno so angry.
"What's going on?!"
"It was nessacary...."
"NESSACARY?!" Reno practically foamed at the mouth.
"...to investigate the remains of Lucy Tartarean, because I have reason to believe she was a clone."
Dead silence followed. Not even the thunder dared to speak.
It was as if someone cut Reno's strings...Elena having to help him sit down on the bed. Vincent's eyes widened slightly but that was all the emotion he would betray. Yuffie just stared at Ramuh/Rude.
"You…You exhumed his mother's body?!!" The disgust was plain in her voice. "How could you disrespect..."
"Drastic times call for drastic measures, child." he said as if that made it right. "And I regret to say that I have found evidence to prove my theory...for we found a cleverly designed shell instead of a body."
He looked at Reno. Reno stared back.
"Which leaves us two possibilities: Someone replaced the original body to hide something, or you and your mother faked her death to escape something chasing you." He cocked his head. "Which is closer to the truth, Reno?"
"*&^% you, Esper."
"It would be in your best interests to cooperate, Reno, if you have any information that will aid us."
"You heard me the first time." Reno's voice was a snarl as he rose again. "Don't get in my face unless you can back it up."
"With all due respect, Ramuh..." Elena angrily stood up between the two of them. "But Reno doesn't know anything about this and now you're pissing me off!" The fact that she was mouthing off at a thunder god didn't quite register yet. "Disrespect Misses T or Reno anymore y'hear, and I'll shove that staff up your ghost ass sideways!"
"Whoa," Yuffie muttered. "PMS does wonders, doesn't it?"
Vincent raised an eyebrow at that remark. Chaos laughed its ass off.
Ramuh's expression on Rude's face was priceless. He nodded and stepped back like a scolded child. "I apologize for upsetting you, Elena. I easily tend to become quite overzealous." A wry smile. "I hoped Reno knew something so I wouldn't have to do something I'd regret."
"Like what?"
"This."
Without looking, he extended his arm and blasted Vincent.
##
As heir to Shinra, Bannon Industries had quite a lot to live up to in the beginning. More importantly, it had to prove that it wouldn't repeat the mistakes as its predecessor.
This was something Reeve took very seriously as its president. So much that he was about to take a great risk...one that some thought insane...
So far it had produced a great deal of good. Technology that mankind was years from even thinking of was now at his fingertips, they just had to master it. Hell, some of it was now tested, approved and making lives easier around the world...
To think that it came from weapons of mass destruction...it often boggled his mind even as he enjoyed the thrill of unlocking their secrets. Even now he was arriving at the Junon branch, a monstrous revival of the old Shinra undersea research facility that rivaled the former Shinra HQ, his techs there were supposedly on to something big...
"Good morning, Dr. Micheals. Big Red coughed up another secret?"
"We've been getting some odd messages from her central core, our linguist isn't sure, but it consists of one word and resembles Cetran dialect...
"...Cetran dialect?!"
"So far she's been behaving, save for these little episodes. It may just be old, random data, but I just wanted to inform you."
"Thank you. Go ahead and set Cain protocols just in case and inform me of any developments."
From the catwalk overlooking the massive storage hanger, Reeve looked down at the disassembled remains of the Weapons.
"Hope its good news."
From his height, he missed the red flicker in the eyes of Ruby Weapon...just as a female scientist with dark hair walked past it and smirked...
##
"...what the hell you did..."
"Vincent!!!"
"...Don't &^%*ing move..."
Snakes of electricity writhed all over him then faded, Vincent stumbling against the wall, limbs refusing to cooperate, his mind a deafening blank. Everyone had drawn on Ramuh, who calmly ignored them to focus on Vincent as he spoke.
"If Reno cannot provide me with answers, then I shall seek them from the source, so to speak."
Yuffie was about to beat him down for hurting her Vincent...
"Getting cocky... Ash..."
...when he started speaking.
"Not again..." Yuffie muttered.
Vincent-Hojo managed a sneer. "......manipulating the energies of my host... I don't like being summoned like some...common servant..."
"Spare me your complaints, Hojo...or whatever you are. Answer a few questions and you can go back to whatever pathetic imitations do. Refuse..." Ramuh's voice was ice. "And I will wipe your stain of a program out of existence."
Vincent-Hojo leaned against the wall, so much like a petulant child it was almost funny. "Don't you threaten me, Ash. I hold the cards here, not you. Or have you forgotten that?"
"Enough. Did you clone Lucrecia or was there another...'test subject'?"
The bastard had the gall to laugh.
"Seems someone did a little digging. How was mommy, Turk?" Reno twitched. "She seemed a shell of herself last time I saw her."
Reno stayed put, mostly because Elena and Yuffie made him. "So you knew..."
"What she was is unimportant now. All you need to know is that she escaped my loving embrace years ago, causing quite a mess. I wasn't really concerned then, since she wouldn't live long on her own without her medicine."
No one saw the subtle look that passed between Reno and Elena.
"A design flaw to keep her in line?"
"Without daily injections of fresh Jenovan DNA, her body would slowly resemble tomato soup. But somehow she managed to last quite awhile..."
Elena swore he looked at her as if he knew...
"...Until she managed to cure her problem seven years ago with a little help. Leaving behind that effigy as a 'Kiss my ass, Hojo' sign. At first I was upset...until I realized what it actually meant..."
*Seven years ago?* The comment stuck in Yuffie's brain for some reason. *Why does that bother me?*
"Now I have a question for you, children."
Vincent-Hojo popped his back again. KA-kRAK! cRACK! Even Ramuh winced.
"Couple thousand years ago, the planet, in its vast and infinite wisdom, created the Weapons to destroy Jenova. Instead, they went on a rampage upon awakening two years ago. Attacked Junon, Mideel, and Midgar if I remember. Can someone tell me why such advanced technology could not find one single creature?"
From their expressions, it was something they didn't ponder until now. He almost snickered at how unobservant they'd been.
"Are you saying that the Weapons weren't created to seek out Jenova?" Elena demanded. If that was true, then a certain Esper had some explaining to do...
"You misunderstand me. I meant that the Weapons could not find Jenova because there were too many Jenova signatures to decipher...It was as if I'd given you a metal detector, scattered a dump truck of nickels and told you to find the hidden penny." He smirked. "Was that easier to understand?"
Ignoring the insult, Yuffie suddenly remembered Cloud's explanation of what made a SOILDER...
"...A person isn't simply exposed to Mako...they are actually injected with Jenova cells..."
Vincent-Hojo giggled at everyone's darkening expressions. "You have to admire the simplicity of it all: Offer the stupid humans all the power they desire, and all they got to do is paint a genetic bull's eye on their ass for the Weapons to shoot at. Course they didn't know, but who cared?" Another burst of giggles. "Junon was the first in line because most of SOILDER was stationed there. Mideel was next, simply because the Failure and Valentine were there as Ultima Weapon flew over..."
"And Diamond attacked Midgar because of your skinny ass, right?"
"Rude but correct as usual, Kisaragi-Dono." Vincent-Hojo remarked caustically. "Ruby was obviously tunneling toward Nibelihem when you destroyed it, And Emerald was searching underwater for some reason I can't recall at the moment..." Though anyone could see he obviously did. "...Leaving Jenova free to do as she pleased."
He actually sighed. "I admire a woman with ambition..."
Obviously disgusted but trying to learn more, Elena switched gears. "I don't trust you, Hojo...but you obviously want some payback." She walked halfway to him, in full 'shy dumb blonde' mode. "Doesn't matter why...but can't you give us more to work with? We'll both get what we want that way."
Funny how a second can stretch into an ugly eternity. He looked at her in obvious amusement, a wicked Cheshire Cat grin that sent a chill racketing up her spine. It couldn't be more obvious that he knew her 'dirty little secret' than if he ran naked through the streets screaming it.
Then he glided toward her with a grace that was never his...placing his human hand atop her shoulder as he speared her with that horrible look. She forced herself not to wince or even move, meeting him head on.
Time began.
"Elena...Wasn't it?" He was trying to sound fatherly. It sounded more like snake trying to hum. "I always thought you had the potential to join the Shinra Elite. Never, for the life of me could I understand..." A mocking glare at Reno, who bristled. "...why you'd waste yourself as a common hired thug. Must be a girl thing, I guess..."
...Leaned in closer as if confiding a huge secret...
"Look to the Weapons, child. That's all I can say for now, as well as this bonus: If you rely on Ash here..." A cocky wink and grin. "You have my sympathies..."
And he was suddenly thrown into the wall by another blast of electricity...one so close Elena's hair stood on ended as she screamed. Jerked once and slumped to the floor, utterly still.
"What the hell is your malfunction?!"
"He was about to stab you with that claw." Ramuh stated. "Vincent will return and recover."
And like that, Vincent slowly staggered to his feet without a sound. Although something flickered in his eyes that would have had most men pissing themselves. Ramuh didn't even look apologetic, already speaking again.
"I must leave you now and report to Leviathan. I'm sure you have a plan of action to discuss while I'm away. Fare thee well."
And the glow faded, Rude sagging onto a bed. "I'll...be fine..." He murmured. "Reno..."
Reno waved him off. "It was that wrinkled shiteater, not you. It's cool." Then to Vincent. "Okay over there Night Flier?"
"...I will be."
"If you don't mind, Elena..." Rude massaged his aching head. "Could you and Reno get my usual from the Cafeteria? Damn Esper wouldn't let me even get coffee..."
Elena nodded, grateful for the excuse to leave. Reno couldn't resist one last remark.
"You two want anything? Can get your steak bloody rare if ya want, Vince..."
He got a pillow in his face and a scowl for his efforts, grinning as Elena dragged him off. Rude chuckled softly, stretching out and not giving a damn about the sheets.
##
"The bastard knew, didn't he?"
"...Yeah."
Their trip to the cafeteria detoured into the stairwell, where they could talk undisturbed. Both leaned against the door, careful not to stand too close to each other.
"Course that freak knew about me...But how did he figure you were involved?"
Involved...she wanted to laugh. What a dipshit way of saying what they'd been...'Involved.'
"Maybe cause he knew you were too stupid to pull it off alone." Reno smirked at that one. "Maybe he just got lucky, hell if I know!"
She scratched her head in frustration, ignoring his amused look. Bastard.
"Like it matters. We got another problem..."
"No we don't."
"Reno!"
"I said the subject is closed!"
Elena growled in frustration. "You can't ignore this! Hojo..."
"...Is a lying shit! So's that damn Esper! I refuse to believe that my mother was...what he said she was!"
"You think I want to believe it?!" She nearly screamed. "You, Mom and Misses T were the most important people in my life! I'd be dead if it wasn't for you two!"
She'd said more than she'd wanted to. Surprise along with something else flickered in his eyes, Stubborn anger melting into...something else.
Damn.
It was gone as quickly as it came, however.
"Medicine."
With that single word he sat down on the steps. As world-weary as Elena had never seen...with an expression she could only describe as lost.
"For something as simple as medicine...two kids became wanted criminals." A bark of laughter. "Two kids stealing from the almighty Shinra for years. Gave them a hell of a run, didn't we?"
Elena allowed herself to smile at the memory. "We were quite a team back then. Eight year old Elena Seraphim and Ten year old Reno Tartarean, knew more about Shinra security than SOILDER. Stole them blind every week to help Misses T..."
The laugh they shared was brief, banishing that hated look from his face for a moment.
"Those memories...they're the last thing I have left of her. I can't...won't have that freak tell me that I've been...been..." He could barely even say it. "...Been injecting my mother with that Jenova shit all along..."
But it was possible, as much as Elena wished otherwise: If Hojo wasn't lying...then the illness that claimed his mother's life was actually Jenova taking over...Reno would be forced to fight her...
But she didn't voice this traitorous thought. She couldn't.
"Ramuh can't find out about this." He raised an eyebrow as she paced. "We can't trust the Espers, not after what he pulled today. Vincent and Yuffie don't seem to trust them either, and as long as Rude keeps Ramuh out his memories, your ass won't wind up on a petri dish." She paused as he chuckled. "What?"
"Still as bossy as ever." She flushed angrily and was about to go off when he added sadly. "I...really miss those times."
That was the last thing Elena expected to hear.
No! Don't you dare! You spent five years tracking him down after he disappeared and he pretends he's never met you before for two years! He certainly didn't 'miss' you whenever he flirted with whatever flavor of the week in front of you!
"We all have something we regret."
She immediately wished to take back those bitter words. To spare them both the pain that briefly flashed in his eyes. Wanted to forgive him so much but she just couldn't...
Instead she watched those beautiful eyes of his harden, the Reno she knew replaced by the Reno he'd become.
"Yeah," he stood up, avoiding her eyes. "We all do."
Without another word, they left for the Cafeteria. The air around them thick with guilt and regret.
##
Two hours later.
Separating was the last action Elena expected them to take, yet here she was, escorting Yuffie to the Forgotten City to 'check a hunch' while the guys were going to pay the Junon branch of Bannon Industries a visit. If Hojo wasn't jerking their chain, the ancient beasts might show them a way of tracking Jenova.
But they both knew the real reason why Reno stuck her babysitting the brat, and it didn't have a damn thing to do with protecting the client. That had been painfully clear in the angry silence they wallowed in since leaving the stairwell.
Still...she welcomed being Reno free for a while so she could... think. Or something like that.
The helicopter had taken them directly inside the city, just outside the gates. Yuffie wanting to avoid the Ancient Forest with good reason. Elena's earlier fascination with the Ancient's world was muted now, something Yuffie obviously noticed but kept her mouth shut.
"Reeve's boys have been through this place already and didn't leave a single book." She snapped irritably. "So why are we really here, girl?"
"You'll see."
She knew she was being a bitch but she didn't care. Not much, anyway. Yuffie simply pissed her off, and it wasn't just the way she'd look at Reno sometimes. It was something Elena realized the night the whole mess began and nagged her ever since.
Looking at Yuffie...was like looking back in time at herself.
Irrational as it was, Elena almost hated Yuffie for this. Hated her for reminding her how much she'd lost seven years ago...
##
"Fighting again! What am I going to do with you two?"
"They started it!"
Mrs. Seraphim had trouble keeping a straight face at the pair. Her seven year old daughter's dress was dirty and torn, her ponytails in utter disarray, her cheeks bruised and her lip swelling. Her nine-year partner in crime was equally torn up, sporting a bloody nose and what would be a beautiful shiner on his right eye.
And they wore them proudly, like badges.
"Yeah! Those ass-" A dark look from her mother made Elena pause. "-Jerks were calling us names!"
"A proper lady ignores rude eleven year old boys," She tended to Elena's wounds as she squirmed. "And does not headbutt them below the belt."
"I didn't hit him below the belt Mama, I hit him in the nuts!"
Mrs. Tartarean was trying her hardest not to fall out her wheelchair with laughter at her friend's darkening expression, raising an eyebrow at her son as she polished her glasses.
"I didn't teach her that one." Reno blurted.
Mrs. Seraphim mock-glared at her dark haired friend. "You're calling the parents this time, Lucy...I had to handle the shaved cat incident... "
##
"What's so funny?"
Yuffie's words dragged Elena, kicking and screaming, from the safety of childhood memories. Her smile faded. "Nothing."
Yuffie gave her a funny look, shrugged and continued leading her.
'A gangly smartass Tomboy with more mouth than hips and a temper shorter than Shinra's wiener.' Reno called her that once and Elena found herself applying it to the younger Ninja girl because it fit. It saddened her as much as it angered her.
*I've seen the way he flirts with her, how protective he is of her when it comes to Vincent. It's the same way he's been for me, since we were kids...when we were...were...* Her chest ached at the word 'Lovers.' *...If he's trying to replace me I don't care! He deserves the fickle bitch! Who needs him?!*
"...I do." she said miserably under her breath.
"We're here."
Snapped out her self-pity, Elena looked up in surprised awe at what Yuffie had led her to.
It was similar to the Holoprojecter on the Cetran ship, with a collection of ornately carved crystals. But this one was on a grander scale, and as Yuffie placed her hands on the crystal, had a damn near waterfall drop down as a large projection screen.
"Reeve and Shera spent a week figuring this out..." She explained. "And I didn't want Ramuh to see it cause like you, I don't trust the Espers either."
"...Guess we have something in common after all." Elena said begrudgingly...before curiosity won over. "What's it do?"
"It shows you what you want to see, anywhere in the world..."
The crystal pulsed a warm red/pink...Elena's jaw dropping at the familiar image that appeared.
"...Even in the Lifestream."
Yuffie waved at the young woman on the screen with a rueful grin.
"Hey Aeris! How's Lifestream?"
##
Reeve himself had greeted them when they arrived, playing the perfect host to the hilt. Giving Ramuh the wrong impression of him as Vincent hoped. He immediately allowed the Esper and Reno to tour the Facility, while he and Vincent chatted on 'old times' in his office.
"Let me get this straight: You're a male Jenova with the ghost of Hojo in your head. What little we knew about the Ancients is a well-crafted lie by these creatures called 'Espers' who created Jenova in the first place. A Cetran spacecraft was sitting below Nibelihem all along before you blew it up. Chaos is threatening to take over your body, Yuffie's a descendant of these Espers AND you may be Reno's father?!!" Reeve took a moment to breathe. "Is that everything?"
"We didn't blow up the ship." Vincent said calmly. "The new Jenova did."
Reeve's eye twitched.
"Vincent, this wasn't what I meant about you needing more excitement in your life." He remarked, reaching inside a desk for a Whiskey bottle labeled 'For emergencies only.' "At what point were you going to consider letting the rest of us know? Or at least come to me when this started? Coulda gotten the best scientists on the planet..." He immediately took a large swallow at the thought of all that lovely tech destroyed. "Or at least saved the ship..."
"Because if Chaos gains control..." He said grimly. "AVALANCHE are the only ones who can stop me. It's as simple as that."
"So you're keeping us on the sidelines in case the shit hits the fan?"
"Exactly. I want the Espers to ignore you guys in case they're more than they seem. Especially Cloud, for Tifa's sake." Reeve nodded in understanding. Soon to be a mother, Tifa didn't need some ancient assholes thinking her husband was like Vincent, a Male Jenova...
"This is what I get for saying I was bored." Reeve remarked, sounding more like his Alter ego Cait Sith in his excitement. "But what an opportunity this will be if the Espers are the good guys! They're obviously loaded with knowledge about the Planet's history, and this Magitek business sound intriguing..."
"We'll see." Vincent interrupted, knowing how the idea of new 'toys' reduced Reeve to a babbling idiot. "I also need your scientists to take a blood test for Reno and myself, have them compare notes with the Turks' doctors."
"Right, Right." Reeve then grinned evilly. "By the way, how's Yuffie? She seems to be making an honest man out of you..."
"Didn't you mention something about your Weapon research?" Vincent changed the subject, his voice glacial.
"Good answer." Reeve smirked at Vincent's pointed glare. So the beauty was taming the beast, eh? Just wait till he told the guys. "Recently Ruby's been 'speaking' to us, and-"
Whatever he was going to say was lost as the entire building shook violently, Alarms going off as smaller rumbles echoed below their feet. "Reeve to Research!" Reeve pounced on the intercom. "What the hell was that?!"
".... The Weapons..."
Then it smashed through the floor...Reeve leaping out his chair as his desk was hurled across the room...a metallic parody of a human hand and arm pouncing on Vincent before he could react and dragged him down and down...stopping only when they'd reached the Weapon storage hangar...
...And into a nightmare.
The disassembled parts of the Weapons had come to freakish life...altering before Vincent's very eyes...
Spiderwebs of alien circuitry and wiring connecting them and spreading like a plague across the walls and floor. Invading and transforming whatever they touched to rebuild themselves…The techs were rushing for whatever cover they could find as Emerald, Ruby, Ultima and Diamond's eyes flickered on and they roared.
Vincent glimpsed Rude and Reno in the center of it all, falling into a defensive stance as the energy weaponry of the great creatures powered up with an ominous hum…Their broken rumble of voice even more deafening as they actually spoke…
"JE…NO…VA…."
"Oh…" Vincent's eyes widened as Ultima's chest blaster locked on him. "…Shit."
##
Multiple personality lab rats. Secret conspiracies. Invasion of the body snatchers. The Love Misconnection and now Crossing Over with Yuffie Kisaragi with special dead guest of the week, Aeris Gainsborough.
I'll need a vacation after this, Elena thought. Or a damn good psychologist.
"Hold up…wait one minute here!" she squawked. "This thing lets you talk to dead people?"
"More or less, Elena Seraphim." Aeris said with a smile. "And to answer your next question, yes I was also Desdemona Myrtar in my former life. I only became aware of it myself when I died."
Elena's eyes widened at that, her mouth a wide O of surprise.
"Easy with the Jedi mind trick, Aeris," Yuffie remarked. "Hers is kinda overloaded at the moment."
Aeris smiled sadly while Elena scowled. "Yes, Time is most certainly not on our side. I can't explain why I can't sense this incarnation of Jenova, but I fear that she is more dangerous now than ever before…and that dear Vincent is the focus of her plans."
"Not if I can help it." Yuffie said defiantly. "Are the Espers truly on our side, Aeris? I don't trust them, even if they are family…"
"I warn you not to judge too quickly, Yuffie. The Espers' methods may be extreme, but they are as dedicated to the planet as we are. At the same time I urge you to be wary for Vincent's sake…they would not hesitate to destroy him if they consider him a threat."
"What a half-assed answer." Elena remarked. "You're Guardian of the planet or something and this is the best you can do?"
The sad smile remained, but Aeris' voice grew an edge. "It is the least of what I will do, Elena Seraphim, so don't make light of my efforts. You have more pressing concerns to deal with, remember?"
Elena's eyes narrowed at the obvious threat: I know all about you and Reno so don't *&% with me.
Aeris continued before Elena could give the Ancient a piece of her mind. "There's something else, Yuffie…I attempted to seek out Lucrecia, for any information that could possibly help us." She sighed. "I found no trace of her in the Lifestream or on the planet. I hope I'm wrong for Vincent's sake but…"
There was no need to finish the thought. Yuffie had already suspected this and hearing it from Aeris was much worse.
A sudden thought crossed Elena's mind. "Wait." She swallowed her indignation. "…Speak with a Lucy Tartarean. If Hojo was telling the truth, she may be able to help you."
Aeris nodded. "I'll find her if she hasn't been reborn already, and I'll do what I can on my end, give me a day or two. Take care of Vincent till then, Yuffie. He needs you more now than ever."
"…I will, Aeris."
After their good-byes, Yuffie shut off the projector, leaving Aeris alone with her thoughts and a growing headache.
She should be enjoying her afterlife, her ancient debt to the planet paid in full. Couldn't Jenova have the good taste to just die?!
Ranting a little till she felt better, Aeris considered her options: Not telling Yuffie and Elena the whole truth, she'd bought them all some time. She felt a little guilty about it of course, but Yuffie wasn't strong enough face her 'grandmother' just yet. Not mention that she had to figure out what part Vincent and Reno played in the blue assed bitch's latest plot before it was too late.
More importantly, she had to find out how Jenova survived in the first place…and there was one person who could answer that…
She sighed. Even dead she couldn't get a break.
##
When renovating the undersea lab, Reeve had the foresight to strengthen the walls, add reflective shielding and energy absorbers in case an energy weapon went off and struck them.
*At least we don't have to worry about drowning…* Reno thought sourly as he dodged Sapphire's tendrils, blasting the joints to the 'body' with a Turk light and immediately casting Wall against the return fire as he kept moving. Rude was protecting the scientists with Ramuh's power, disrupting the Weapons' attempt to infest the entire building with constant bolt spells. He could barely keep up with the purple blur that was Vincent now was, his Gaian Beast form wreaking havoc on it's defenses with it's smaller size and maneuverability. Smashing the multiple cannons and attacking tendrils the Weapons cannibalized the building and themselves to create as fast as they produced them.
They were barely holding them back…when things got worse.
The ugly mass the weapons had become had begun to shudder, the lights dimming as they powered their main energy weapons at once…From Diamond's battery of shoulder cannons to The Ultima beam…
"Shit!" Thunder god or not, Reno was sure the Esper couldn't defend them against that…
Caught napping, He didn't see Ruby's fisted claws until they flattened him… feeling his healing ribs break again…helpless as it slowly grinding him into the floor…
Not helpless, Renoyld…Never helpless…
Was it the haze of intense pain? Or did he really hear…!
You have the strength needed…
Fire…painful yet welcome…it screamed through his veins with a vengeance…Reno barely having time to ponder why it felt so familiar…
…Before his fingers crunched Ruby's 'flesh' beneath them like paper…no longer fingers but claws…
…The combined wail of the Weapons nearly shattering his eardrums as the claw and tendril was boiled inside out…flailing about as it fell apart...
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Weapons of all ages…The Calvary has aaarrrrriiiiivvveeeedddd!"
Reno stopped staring at his now normal hands in recognition of that annoying high pitched whine that could only be Cait Sith from the freight elevator. Great, what was a fat ass moogle and a rusty excuse of a cat was gonna do against Weapons?!!!
Said question was asked before he stomped into the room…not riding his trademark moogle but a what could only be described as a mobile gun platform in shape of a giant metal Chocobo…the sight of more chain guns and missile launchers than one could count silencing any laughter. Crown replaced by a white Fighter pilot's helmet emblazoned with meteors and 'SEX MACHINE', Eyes glinting insanely as he cackled maniacally.
"PEACE BAY-BAY!"
Reno and Vincent ran for their lives with a curse as Cait unloaded everything he had, The Weapons and half the room vanishing under a miniature sun of explosions and shrapnel…The scientists booking for the Elevator and safety from both Weapon and their whack-job of a Savior…
"Jeez, Fuzzball!" Reno panted for breath as he, Rude and Vincent reached Cait. "Does the word 'Overkill' mean anything to you?!"
"Job well done in my Thesaurus!" Cait finally stopped firing, typing away at the Mech's computer. "Or will be when I reactivate the Cain Protocols and shut these puppies down!"
"How long will that take?" Vincent asked as he reverted to normal.
"An hour if it ain't Lady Luck's time of the month." Cait replied flippantly. "The Weapons are taking over the mainframe and sabotaging my hard work. Make yourself useful by keeping them busy willya?"
Reno was about to retort when he heard a howl of outrage from the smoke…actually heard the crawl of circuitry and wires as the Weapons repaired themselves rapidly from Cait's assault…The smoke clearing as their main weaponry resumed charging…
"It was a joke!" Cait shouted at the sky.
The cannons reached their maximum…preparing to fire…The Weapons seeming to actually sneer at them…
…And nothing happened.
Reno carefully opened an eye.
"Are we dead?" he asked lamely.
The Weapons powered down. Half collapsed against the wall, all four pairs of eyes glowing faintly. Still staring at their prey.
"Cain protocols reactivated, all power save for memory support is deactivated." Cait announced. "But I didn't do it…"
The intercom buzzed to life. "Is everyone ok down there?"
Yuffie…which meant…Damn. "Still in one piece." Reno remarked. "Cut it kinda close though."
"Humph, next time I'll let them shoot you then!" Elena retorted, lacking her usual bite and sounding strained. *You shouldn't have done that, Elle…* Reno thought guiltily. *Sparky will get nosy…*
"…You're damn lucky the girls got here when they did." Reeve scolded. "Never seen a hacker with Elena's talent…"
"Why…protect…?"
"Whoa!" Cait squawked. "It speaks!"
There was an obvious hatred in those soulless eyes. Hate…and Confusion.
"Why…Espers…protect…Jenova…"
"That is incorrect." Ramuh put in his two cents. "Your mission is ours as well…"
"You…protect Hosts of Jenova…As long as host lives…Jenova lives…" Their voices grew stronger. "Kill Jenova…and she possesses another host. Destroy all hosts…and destroy Jenova…"
A look of alarm crossed Vincent's face. *That would mean-!*
"Aw come on!" Cait whined. "More than one way to skin a Jenova, right?"
"Secondary option details…destruction of all life on planet to prevent assimilation of new hosts, then exterminate those remaining and Jenova herself."
"That would ruin my weekend, thank you." Reno muttered.
"Must allow reconstruction…Primary target identified and located within building…"
The Weapons suddenly jerked violently…the light dying within their eyes as they slumped over. Lifeless.
"Elena-!"
"Wasn't me…" she replied. "Whoever disabled the C.P.s earlier just pulled the plug. Auxiliary power is restored and maintaining their memory. I can try to trace-"
"Don't bother, She'll be long gone before you do." Reeve swore viscously for a moment. "Just get the injured to sickbay and we'll go from there."
Before piling in the Elevator, Reno gave Cait a look. "The Mog was bad enough, but a Chocobo?"
"What would you suggest, Reno? A Turkey?"
##
Lucrecia withdrew her tendrils from the computer, smirking as it died a molten death from the abuse.
"That was a pointless risk."
"Was it?" Lucrecia turned her chair to face the other occupant of the dimly lit room. "Renoyld is progressing quite nicely, as you saw for yourself. The Weapons are still functional as I hoped and Dear Elena proved she hasn't lost it. I'd say it was worth it, my dear Terminus."
There was no mistaking the icy contempt in those red eyes, glowing within the shadows their owner sought refuge within.
"You call yourself a mother…endangering your child so…"
"I'm doing what any mother would do…" Lucrecia replied flippantly. "Prepare her son for the world. The one I shall create, that is." She cocked her head as Terminus' eyes narrowed, a feral growl rising from his throat. "But it isn't your place to disapprove of me, no matter your…attachment to my son or Elena."
"Wasn't it enough you did this to me?" The red orbs flared brilliantly. Fangs glistened.
"Ever the father figure, how quaint." Lucrecia's eyes glowed, a hiss of pain escaping her 'partner'. "Don't forget, Terminus…You'll never claim the death you seek until I'm finished with you. Is this loyalty and compassion worth the hell I'll make your afterlife?"
A glare was her only reply.
"I'm glad we've reached an agreement. Now don't you have something to do?"
A glimpse of long white hair…and he was gone.
Lucrecia twirled lazily in her chair, giggling to herself.
"That just leaves you, dear Vincent…"
##
"No wonder Ruby was going berserk, Jenova was right under her nose. But why disable Cain and endanger herself?"
They had retreated to what was left of Reeve's office to discuss options. Different stage but same script,
Yuffie thought sourly: Wondering what the hell was going to happen next while Jenova laughed her ass off somewhere. Strung out and ready to snap from this latest little fling, her own nerves frayed from how close they cut this one…
That wasn't counting the case of paranoia she was catching, and not just around Ramuh. Maybe it was just her imagination, but Elena had been acting weird ever since Hojo's little speech. Hell, if Yuffie didn't know better, she'd thought the Turk had something to hide. And something nagged her about Elena's little trick with the computer that saved them all, something she couldn't quite put her finger on…
Then there was Reno.
Yuffie scowled. It annoyed her that she even cared, but the almost wounded silence he'd adopted lately was disturbing. He'd even refused to go to the infirmary to retape his ribs until they worked out a plan or something. Reno being so serious was like Cid forming a sentence without swearing, too freaky for Yuffie's taste. Then again, after the shit Ramuh pulled earlier and Hojo's little revelation, she was tempted to hug him and tell him it would be all right.
…Gawd! I'm turning into Tifa!
Well, at least she count on Vincent…to brood in a corner like his life depended on it. Comforting that some things never changed…
"Data." Ramuh said calmly. "Or rather, the data we can use to track her down. Just like Hojo implied."
Ok…that was a bit quick-chill Yuffie Aeris said to trust him….
"Which means one of the Weapons was close to her location before their destruction, maybe even identified her current host." He gave Cait a pointed stare. "Hoped we destroy them to save our own skin."
"Yeah sure…" Cait remarked, standing on his Moogle so he could look Rude in the eye. "Complain after I save yer ass!"
"Which means she's hiding among a couple hundred employees." Elena groaned. "She could slip out of here and we'll never know..."
"She won't run just yet." Ramuh said. "Not while the Weapons still function. She'll wait until she gets another chance, no matter how long it takes…or how many suffer."
Reeve was doing an excellent imitation of Vincent until now. "Tonight's the two year anniversary party of the Junon branch's opening…" He scowled. "I can't risk my people getting hurt in whatever crackpot plan you're about to suggest."
"Actually, it's my crackpot plan." Yuffie surprised everyone. "And no one will get hurt."
"Should I just throw myself out the window now and save Jenova the trouble?" Elena remarked.
Yuffie ignored her with an effort. "I'll bet anything you want that Jenova's gonna try wacking you, Reeve. So we dangle your cute ass like a piñata and drop her first."
Reeve didn't look too comfortable with that so she explained her plan. He was even more skeptical afterward.
"I'm a dead man."
"Have I ever let you down before?" She said sweetly…before glaring at Cait. "One word and you'll wish Reeve never rebuilt you, Furball."
Cait listened, mainly because he wanted to remain functional.
"A…commendable plan." Ramuh commented. "But won't the Weapons be left unguarded?"
"Already on it. Rude can support Elena while she hacks the Weapons' brains." She looked smugly at the surprised Turk. "Shouldn't be too hard for the 'prodigy'. Can you separate from Rude for a while to back us up?"
"I can manifest a temporary physical shell, but I won't be as effective in battle due to the effort of keeping it together…"
"You'll be our bird dog then." She beamed at Reeve. "See? What could go wrong?"
"Famous last words." Reno muttered.
##
The rest of the day was a blur for everyone. Reeve had spared no expense for what would be one hell of a party, allowing Cait and Yuffie free reign to transform the huge lobby and most of the building into a miniature Gold Saucer. This move had quite a few of employees doubting his sanity, but wisely kept their mouths shut.
At least it kept them out of my hair, Elena thought.
She had spent the last few hours familiarizing herself with Reeve's mainframe. Pretending to listen to the techs explain how the Weapons worked and all, how to operate the linguistic programs for translating Cetran into English, etc, etc…stuff she really had no need for her task.
Not with her special…'talent.'
As a child, Elena learned she could 'charm' things, control them just like a manipulate materia. Machines were the easiest; people took a bit more effort. She never questioned it, or ever told her mother. Only Reno and Misses T knew, because she used it to aid Reno by reprogramming Shinra's security system. She smirked. Planet only knew how many of Shinra's techs were fired or had nervous breakdowns because of her, constantly confusing the security drones and cameras...
She glanced over at the snoring Rude in the corner, obviously enjoying the break from Sparky. At least she wouldn't be interrupted.
Laptop jacked into the system, she spread her influence through it as she typed. Eyes nearly unfocused as she quite literally became one with maelstrom of data that was the Weapons' minds. Gently soothed the violence and turmoil until it became clear and focused and she could understand…
"You."
Elena grinned. If she only wanted the data she'd just force them to give it to her, just like she forced them to reestablish Cain protocols. This time she wanted to talk.
"I wish to talk." She typed.
"Talk?"
"We have a common goal."
"…Do we…traitor?"
"Traitor?"
"You prevent reconstruction." The voice was nearly a roar in her skull even as it typed across the screen
"You tried to absorb the entire complex."
"The materials were needed for full reconstruction."
"You also attempted to kill innocent bystanders."
"Sacrifices for the greater good."
"How noble of you."
There was a pause. A soft rumble of…laughter.
"You protect HIM."
"Vincent?"
"Not the male Jenova…the one you call Reno..."
Elena nearly fainted.
"His blood…his power…it reeks of her foul stench…he could only be a spawn of the original and her mate!"
"But that's impossible! Vincent was in stasis for thirty years!" She'd never really believed Vincent's theory because of that one fact. "How could he have sired Reno?"
"Then explain this…"
An image of Reno destroying Ruby's claw flooded her mind. Replayed to show the dark eyes, the abnormal strength and the brief claws.
"He is a threat to all that exist…the same as the male…He would turn on you if Jenova wished so…"
"He wouldn't!"
"You betray the planet to protect him, human…"
Angrily she cut the link, hearing their mocking laughter in her mind.
He wouldn't…
She tapped into the Security system to distract herself, double-check this mess Yuffie called a plan. Starting with Reeve's office…
"…We aren't having this conversation, Reeve."
"Don't make me cast Stop on you, Vincent."
Something told Elena not to eavesdrop. She ignored it.
Vincent raised an eyebrow.
"Try me." Reeve threatened. "I know what you're thinking. I read the files and I heard the Weapons, I understand…"
"You understand nothing."
"I understand how Yuffie would feel."
Vincent actually winced.
"I'm your friend, Vincent…I'll support you no matter what. But what if you're right? Can you really pull the trigger if it's really her?"
Silence.
"And if this contraption works and it kills the Jenova cells, what then? You'll ride into the sunset like some damn fairy tale ending?"
"What do you want me to say?" He hissed. "To have a second chance after all these years to save her, I can't turn my back on that! I have to try!" The anger suddenly bled out of him. "But to do so will betray Yuffie…To…disrespect all she has done for me…"
Reeve sighed, scratching his hair ruefully. "Dad had a saying: One can't slave for two masters, for he shall love one and hate the other. I'm living proof of that, Vincent." He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "That girl loves you more than she loves herself, which shows you've changed her as much as she's changed you. Don't throw that away."
Vincent's reply was lost to Elena, more interested on what the hallway camera had told her.
Yuffie listening at the door, slipping away after hearing the 'second chance' speech.
Elena groaned and went to work for real.
"That's gonna come back and bite me, I just know it…"
##
Sometimes Aeris joked that the Planet was the ultimate packrat, and the Lifestream the biggest salvage yard in existence. It welcomed all spirits within its fold, no matter their deeds among the living, allowing them to rent a small slice of eternal bliss until their eventual rebirth.
But what if one refused this? What if there was a spirit of such destructive hatred that it would poison the entire Lifestream?
Her search for both Lucrecia and Lucy Tartarean had come up nil even before Elena and Yuffie had asked. It was as if both women had never even existed, or rather, both were one and the same…A theory that sent more chills down her spine thinking about than the…man…she now sought.
Down here…in the darkest depths of the Lifestream she called…The basement.
Taking a deep breath, Aeris placed her hands on the translucent 'wall' that separated their world from his. 'Pushed' through, nerves tingling from its energy. Energy that would sear the flesh from his bones before allowing him to do the same, feeding on the same hatred that imprisoned him. Releasing that breath she looked around at the bamboo forest she found herself in, complete with a beautiful night sky.
"How romantic." Aeris muttered.
She glimpsed a flicker of green glowing eyes. Heard the familiar rasp of metal on metal…An involuntary shudder rippling through her at the memory that sound awoke…
Stop it, Gainsborough.
Fairy Tale was in her hands seconds before the attack came…managing to deflect the rapid fire, almost playful strikes that drove her across the field…Aeris ducking under a strike by a hair and lashing out at his face…
…Stopping an instant from pulverizing his face as his sword paused across her throat.
He had the gall to smile. The sinuous whisper of his voice raking over her like coals.
"Stubborn as always, milady."
"You're one to talk."
He withdrew the sword and started walking away. "Go away. I'm in no mood for sacrificial lamb tonight."
"How about a home cooked meal like your mother used to make?" She said softly. "Your real mother?" He paused. "Of course you remember Lucrecia…Sephiroth?"
He seemed to shed the darkness like a second skin, his silvery mane framing his face like a shroud as he turned to face her with the most feral of smiles.
"What son could forget his mother, Milady?"
##
By seven the party was in full swing, nearly all of Junon tearing the place down.
*If Jenova can find me in the middle of this madness,* Vincent thought as he sipped his wine at the bar, idly wondering where the hell Cait found a Moogle band. *I commend her.*
Anyone would be hard pressed to find Vincent in this crowd, since he was literally wearing a new face and the body of a young blond Turk in his prime. Another 'gift' of the good doctor, the ability to alter his looks as 'easily' as he changed into his other selves. It was something he loathed to use unless vital. Even Yuffie had been impressed, teasing him about getting in touch with his 'blond side'…
Yuffie. He scratched his now short blond hair in frustration, wishing he could shut off his conscience just for a moment.
"You know, Toymaker's got a point."
Vincent groaned. "I'm in no mood, Chaos."
The huge demon daintily rested its chin on his palms, an almost laughable sight. The party hat and beads didn't help either.
"Since when are you ever, Vinnie?" He goosed a passing female, who immediately slapped the nearest sucker. "At least you abandoned the grave clothes for once."
"And you chose the toilet seat cover. No wait, that's your fur."
"My we're hitting below the belt today! But I'd be cranky too if my balls were shrinking from Celibacy, feeling guilty because I want a sex sandwich with my ex and current squeeze." A cigar appeared from nowhere, Chaos striking a match on Vincent's check to light it. "But while I wouldn't mind such liaisons, I find Reeve's argument to be quite sound."
Alarms went off in Vincent's head at that. "W-What?"
"She distracts you…" Chaos said simply. "…From more important things. Even now, when you have a second chance to play hero, you think of how you'll hurt her." Chaos chuckled nastily. "Of course I'm not telling if you're right about dear Lucrecia, but I will say that you don't even have a choice in the matter. Not that you ever did anyway…"
"Not playing this game tonight, Chaos." Vincent said tiredly. "If you really had anything I can use…you'd be using it against me first. That's the way it's always been between us."
Chaos smiled.
"Who said I wasn't?"
And he was gone…leaving one final shot at his host with a laugh.
"And between you and us…I think Yuffie has Turkish Delight on her menu tonight…"
No mistaking that innuendo.
Jealousy, bright and seductive, seized his heart…looking around for Reno before he knew what he was doing…found him mingling on the dance floor. Surrounded by women, to no one's surprise. No Yuffie in sight.
Jealous of the man that could be my son! Vincent snatched up a bottle of something and stalked away from the bar, seeking the impromptu sniper's nest he established on the second floor balcony. How could the situation get any more ludicrous? Reeve's life is on the line and I'm more worried about keeping one woman all to myself!
That's the problem, his conscience retorted. You don't know what you really want and you're stringing her along till you finally figure it out, Asshole! Make up your mind!
"Nosferatu, you in position?"
Vincent was somewhat grateful for the distraction. "Yes."
"Damn, I should talk to Reeve about these 'fingerless PHS' thingies." He could see Reno tap the small, nearly invisible device outside his ear. "I can hear you perfectly."
"Cait, Reeve and Ramuh are in position. But I don't see Yuffie…"
"Her idea. Said it was a surprise." Vincent could hear the smirk in his voice. "Stop worrying, she's in good hands."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Vincent growled before he could catch himself.
"Don't pretend you give a damn." Reno retorted. "Go have a neck, have three."
"Save the pissing contest for later guys," Cait thankfully interrupted. "Ramuh's tagged her."
"Confirm?"
"The brunette at the bar in the white strapless number, Just slapped Sparky for coping a feel." Vincent spotted her as she ordered another drink, keeping her back to him. Ramuh, looking like a Sean Connery having 70's flashback, stumbled off 'drunkenly'. "The transmitter he planted is working perfectly."
"Now we wait and see if Legs' plan works." Reno commented.
Vincent remained silent, finding this too easy for his liking. Not to mention how the woman kept her back on him, as if she knew he was watching her…
The lights dimmed, Cait and his Mog stepping onstage with a mike.
"Everybody having a good time?!" A roar of an approval nearly flattened him. "Cause we're just getting' started! Got a little number I'd like to dedicate to the best boss of all time! Hit it boys!"
The Moogles started the opening riff to Elevation, fireworks going off and several scantily clad dancers spilling out on the stage around Cait from somewhere as he hopped around…WAS THAT YUFFIE LEADING THEM?!!!!
Reno whistled. Vincent vainly tried to pick his jaw off the ground. A blond Yuffie. In one of those Tiny… Red…glittering…Things…
Cait proved to have a golden voice as the girls formed a loose formation around him, swaying seductively to the music…
High, higher than the sun (Does that disco fever dance John Travolta is famous for.)
You shoot me from a gun (Girls, Cait and Mog forms a make believe gun at the audience with fingers.)
I need you to elevate me here
At corner of your lips (pressing a finger to their lips…)
As the orbit of your hips(To a hip with a hissing sound.)
Eclipse (Slowly rocks hips 'Shakira style')
You elevate my soul (places hands on hearts)
I've got no self control (hands on forehead as if about to faint.)
Been living like a mole now (Pinches nose and 'dives')
Going down, excavation (Rises and shakes 'em at the crowd)
I and I in the sky ('Raises the roof')
You make me feel like I can fly (spread arms like wings)
So high
Elevation (Every one hopping up and down to the beat.)
And to the amazement of the crowd the girls literally flew with the aid of float spells…swimming and dancing through the air…a trick Reno was quite impressed with…especially since you could look right up their…
A star (The girls form a star like synchronized swimmers.)
Lit up like a cigar
Strung out like a guitar (Cait stretches out in a 'sexy' pose on Mog.)
Maybe you can educate my mind
Explain all these controls (The girls split off and dance/swim around)
Can't sing but I've got soul
The goal is elevation
Vincent managed to tear his eyes off the spectacle long enough to notice that their target was moving through the crowd…unable to track her due to the hectic lighting…
A mole
Digging in a hole
Digging up my soul now
Going down, excavation
…But obviously heading toward the stage…
I and I in the sky
You make me feel like I can fly
So high
Elevation
He had seen Ramuh slip into the crowd to shadow her…when he was distracted by something more unpleasant: Yuffie had dipped low to look Reno in his eyes…running her hands through his hair almost wantonly…
Love
Lift me up out of these blues
Leaning in oh so closely…Vincent crunching the railing beneath his fingers…
Won't you tell me something true
Reno leaning in to kiss her as she did the same…
I believe in you
…Seconds before she flipped him into the air to be caught by the girls…a float spell later allowing him to join them in midair as they formed a can-can line…
A mole
Digging in a hole
Digging up my soul now (all Turn and shakes butts at crowd)
Going down, excavation (Pinches nose and 'dives')
Higher now (Rises and shakes 'em at the crowd)
In the sky ('Raises the roof' as they rock back and forth)
You make me feel like I can fly
So high
Elevation
Just when Vincent thought it couldn't get worse it did: The girls spread out and circled Reno and Yuffie, who paired up for the dirtiest dancing Vincent had ever seen while the girls did the Shakira around them.
"I'll kill him…" He growled, especially when Reno got on all fours in front of Yuffie and shook it doggy style, Yuffie mock swatting him as she ground against him. "…Slowly…"
"Mad cause you didn't think off it…"
"Get your skinny butt up here, boss!" Cait yelled, the Mog pulling Reeve up out of the crowd and onto stage…the three performing the Robot while Reno and the girls did a conga line above.
Elevation
Elevation
Elevation
Elevation
The Moogles slowly wound down…the crowd going crazy…
…and Lucrecia launched herself from the crowd…claws extended…
"Now!"
The massive disco ball they'd hung from the ceiling suddenly flared…The reality distorting ripples of an Exit spell splashing through the room and slowing time to a crawl…then everything shattered and several hundred partygoers vanished without a trace…
Leaving only Ramuh, Vincent, Reeve, Reno, Yuffie…and Lucrecia.
Lucrecia slammed her claws into Reeve's chest.
Vincent stepped forward…assembling the two pieces of the special sniper rifle that slid out from beneath his sleeves with a cross of his arms…raising it to his shoulder and aimed in one smooth motion…
Yuffie's plan had worked to the letter: Draw out Jenova with the party, use the huge materia within the Disco ball to teleport everyone who didn't have a special transmitter after Jenova made her move. Simple as hell but effective.
Her laughter died in her throat as she looked at the slain robot of Reeve. "A double?!"
Now all Vincent had to pull the trigger…
When she whirled on Reno and Yuffie as they dropped down…and he finally saw her face.
"Lucrecia!" Oh god, he had been right!
Reno's cocky smirk sank with his jaw. "Mama?"
Lucrecia then looked straight at him, Vincent hearing her voice in his mind.
"Help me Vincent…"
"Shoot her!" Cait screamed in his ear.
Vincent's body rebelled…Chaos' laughter roaring through his skull…
"…I can't!"
Lucrecia smiled…energy gathering in her fist…
Yuffie swore. "Plan *&^%ing B!"
The Reeve android suddenly grabbed Jenova…throwing off her shot…One obliterating the balcony and nearly Vincent, dropping him in a rain of rubble to the floor. Cait and his Mog leapt from the stage as 'Reeve' self destructed, Yuffie having to drag down the shell-shocked Reno to shield him from the debris.
*Shit! I shoulda known…*
Corrosive laughter interrupted her thoughts. The fire and smoke extinguished with a sweep of Jenova's claw as she stepped through: Bones snapping and rekniting horribly under her bulging skin as it darkened to blue and sprouted a pair of what appeared to be wings…the sucker-like openings covering them blinking opening like tiny mouths. Muscle and sinew stretching as she gained height, her limbs grotesquely overlong but adding unnatural agility. Her face remained the same yet not, eyes now black pits flecked with red…
Her wings unfolded with a bone-rattling hum…glass cracking and shattering everywhere as she unleashed a sonic pulse that liquefied everything in it's path, only a quick Big Guard spell from Ramuh protecting everyone…
…But himself as Jenova pounced faster than he could react, shattering his temporary body with a single viscous thrust. Next was Cait as he and his Moogle rushed forward with a punch…a backhand bouncing both off a wall.
Slowly turned to face Reno and Yuffie with a smile.
"Hello Renoyld, Granddaughter…" Reno stepped in front of Yuffie, glaring at the monstrosity with his mother's face. "Does my heart good to see my favorite children together."
*Children…?* Yuffie nearly lost the spell she focusing.
"Don't call me that." He hissed, nightstick out. "And get the hell out of my mother!"
"I know you're confused now, Renoyld…" Jenova slowly advanced. "…But soon you'll realize this is for the best…"
A close range Turk Light staggered her, Yuffie immediately unleashing Comet…
##
"Sounds like all hell broke loose up there…"
Rude made no comment as usual, Elena noticing that he was edgier than usual. Not that she blamed him. Must've been crazy to trust that brat's plan…
Click
Rude was in front of Elena in an instant, catching the grenade and flinging it back seconds before it blew, cracking Diamond's eyes. A white blur ducked back among the maze of Weapon parts.
"Don't stop." Sawed off, lever action shotgun in one hand, Ten millimeter in the other, Rude carefully stepped forward…Elena swallowing nervously but doing as she was told.
Terminus sprang out of nowhere behind Rude, wielding twin Desert Eagle magnums…Rude turning and firing the shotgun in one smooth motion…
…Terminus calmly firing at the buckshot itself…sparks flying from each perfect deflection…Rude hopping back as the assassin landed and dashed right at him…
…Guns screaming as they literally dueled with them like daggers…stabbing forward to shoot close range with one hand while deflecting with the other before attempting another shot…
…A freakish ballet that ended as Rude lashed out with his fist in an uppercut as Terminus kicked out at the same time…Rude slamming his feet down to control his spin and raised his guns…
…Terminus controlling his fall with a perfect somersault and landing in a crouch with his right leg extended to the side…head bowed so his hair hung in his face and left arm tucked behind his back…
…Spinning to his feet and twirling his guns as he raised them over his head…pausing to allow two spare clips to perfectly drop out the air and into their chambers before twirling them back into their hostlers.
Rude's eyes widened behind his shades.
Tossing two clips in the air and catching them in the chamber…Only one man used that trick…
Terminus smiled at Rude's recognition…the hideous skull mask painted across his face rendering him unrecognizable…inhuman.
Until Rude mentally replaced it with smooth pale flesh…painted the dead white hair black and imagined his eyes a golden brown instead of black…
Terminus seemed to flicker from sight, Rude barely managing to block the flurry of blows Terminus almost playfully rained on him…Returning a punch of his own that Terminus caught and threw the larger man like a toy across the room. Slowly stalking toward him as he drew his guns.
"Say goodbye, old friend."
Rude sat up and looked at him. Raised a closed fist.
Opened it to drop grenade pins.
"Goodbye."
Terminus looked at the armed grenades within his coat…and smiled.
Rude had started running the moment he dropped the pins, sent on another short flight into the wall as multiple explosions shook the room…The Weapons shrieking in pain as their power support lines were shredded…
Before passing out…Rude glimpsed Terminus…seemingly unhurt save for tattered suit…saluting him before walking into the smoke and flames…
##
Ramuh was gone, temporarily banished back to the planet. Cait was out of the battle, Him and Mog littering the floor in pieces but still functional, pulling himself together. Vincent was still buried underneath the rubble, Yuffie frantically trying to dig him out while Reno held off with Lucrecia…
"Why do you fight me, Renoyld?"
"Shut up!"
The nightstick nearly shorted out from the constant Turk lights he was pumping into the creature, Lucrecia calmly taking each in stride as she stalked toward him.
"I have not invaded your mother, Renoyld." She slapped aside the nightstick and rammed his head into the floor. Scooped the dazed Reno into her arms as if he were a child…Reno grunting at the sound of his bones popping. "Merely restored her to the true self she'd forgotten…" Stroked his hair lovingly.
"As I will do with you, my child…"
A bullet just whistled by her ear, flicking an annoyed glance at the advancing Vincent. The gunslinger was barely on his feet, Yuffie half dragging him.
"Do you mind, Vincent?" She said acidly. "We're bonding here. You'll have to wait your turn."
Vincent fired again and missed.
"You're wasting ammo anyway. You can't shoot your precious Lucrecia no more than you could my Granddaughter…the Jenova within you won't let you…"
He suddenly stood straighter, Yuffie firmly supporting his shaking gun arm as she aimed for him.
"But I can!"
This time the shot flew straight and true…striking Jenova in the shoulder a hairsbreadth above Reno's skull and flinging her to the floor. Reno crawled away from her convulsing body, watching in amazement as the experimental bullet pumped Jenova consuming antibodies through her, reverting her back to human.
"Lucrecia…"
She suddenly arched upwards like an angry cat, screaming nonsense…then collapsed bonelessly to the floor.
Reno screamed, immediately at her side as he glared at the shell shocked Vincent. "You killed her!"
"No he didn't." Cait reattached his legs and scampered over. "I've been scanning her all this time…and her readings don't match the ones I got from the other Jenovas we've fought." The body cracked and dissolved into foul smelling ashes, Reno recoiling in disgust. "A Doppelganger."
"Hold on, back up here…Are you saying we got our asses kicked by a fake?" Yuffie rudely dropped Vincent as she screeched. "Then the real one's somewhere else in this building?"
"No…" Vincent said softly, picking himself up with an effort. "Probably miles away from here…stalking her real target…"
##
Another relaxing night in Costa de Sol…its residents blissfully unaware of the chaos unleashed leagues away…
*Maybe Tifa won't mind another week here.* Cloud grinned. *I sure wouldn't.*
They were having a wonderful time here, reluctant to return back to dreary old Nibelheim. Just him and his very pregnant, very beautiful wife, with no responsibilities than late night raids for Tifa's strange cravings and foot massages. Most of all…Cloud felt truly at peace.
"Not bad for a failure." He remarked.
Precariously balancing the grocery bags on one hand and foot while opening the door to Villa Strife, Cloud felt a particular itch at the back of his neck. A familiar itch from the old days.
*Relax, Strife. Sephiroth's dead. You're no one's puppet.* He grinned evilly. *Well…maybe Tifa's…*
It intensified though…with every step he took.
"Tifa! I'm home!" he called.
"In the living room!"
She met him halfway though, surprisingly spry and mobile for nine months, about to drop any moment. Practically tackled him as she kissed him. "Hey lover!"
"I bet you say that to everyone who brings you food."
"True." She teased, laughing as she kissed him again. Pregnancy agreed with her, Cloud thought in his own humble opinion. She'd scowled at him when he told her so, saying he better not get any ideas about keeping her 'barefoot and pregnant'.
"We have a guest, Cloud." She murmured, as their kisses grew more heated.
"Send them home."
She laughed and punched him lightly in the shoulder, Cloud mock pouting as she dragged him into the living room. "Cloud, This is Lu, an old friend of mine."
The itch flared painfully at the sight of the dark haired, bespectacled woman rising to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you." He said calmly.
"The pleasure is mine," she cooed. "To meet the legendary Cloud Strife."
"Legendary." Tifa chuckled as she lowered herself into her easy chair. "For his gravity defying hair maybe."
He playfully flung a pillow at her to mask his nerves. Why did this woman seem so familiar? "Where you guys met? Midgar?"
"Seven years ago…in Nibelheim."
Cloud's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
"You remember, don't you?" She smiled viscously at Cloud. "The lovely fire, the smell of cooked flesh…such fond memories we've shared..."
Tifa blinked as if waking from a dream…looking at 'Lu' as if seeing her for the first time. "Who…"
It happened so fast: Cloud had drawn his Ultima Sword faster than he'd ever done in his life…a wicked sweep that should have cut the woman in two if she had not been even faster…twirling over to Tifa to hold a claw to her throat.
He recognized that itch her power inflicted. That hated face...A face that used to haunt his dreams and every waking moment.
"Let her go. I killed Sephiroth, remember?"
"I remember…" She carefully stroked Tifa's belly…the young woman gasping as her claws drew blood. "But don't worry, my former puppet. I'm not here for revenge, merely to take back what you stole from my son…a gift you did not deserve…"
Tifa rammed her head into Lucrecia's nose…lifting the chair and spinning…Lucrecia's claws tearing into it instead of her back…Cloud catching her as she stumbled into his arms.
Lucrecia readjusted her nose, grinning as Cloud stood protectively in front of his wife.
"Guess we do this the hard way."
##
"What a night…"
Elena and Rude had better luck than they did: She'd recovered the data before the power failure wiped out the Weapons' memory banks. Reeve hadn't been particularly happy about that, mumbling something about going drink himself into a coma. Yuffie, sore from both battle and her near failure, was almost tempted to join him…if only to keep from thinking about a certain dark haired former Turk.
"Damn you, Vincent."
She'd heard his little talk with Reeve, wishing he'd just ripped out her heart and got it over with. Worst of all she wasn't as angry as she should have been, just…hurt.
Everything was finally going her way for once: Wutai was prospering, she had plenty of Materia, and Vincent was actually living his life and maybe even noticed she was in love with his vampire self. And who decides come back? That ball breaking bitch that &^%$ed up her poor Vincent in the first place…
She sighed. Deep down she couldn't blame him. As much as she wanted to. If Lucrecia was still alive, under Jenova's control, She couldn't stand in Vincent's way. If he wanted to be with her…
Yuffie bit back the urge to scream and curse Hojo and that bitch Lucrecia until she could scream no more. She hated her! Hated her selfish ass more than she could stand!
She found herself walking onto the rooftop of Bannon Industries…where she knew he'd be. He always did his best brooding in high places, a habit they'd shared.
"Heyya, Vinnie."
He stopped polishing the gun to look at her with this…expression. That one that always made Yuffie think of an oncoming storm, violent with emotion. Noticed he was polishing Quicksilver.
The gun she gave him so long ago…that he carried in memory…
"I know you're thinking about her Vinnie, that you got a second chance to make everything right." His eyes widened slightly in that cute way they did when she surprised him-Don't go there! "And I want you to know that I…understand."
"Yuffie…"
She cut him off with a guesture. Don't allow him to speak, she couldn't if she was going to say this…
"I know what you're gonna say and you don't need to. I understand…and I won't stand in your way, no matter how I feel about…how I feel."
"But…"
"Even if it means you'll leave me…I understand." She attempted a smile. "Wutai will always be your home, Vincent Valentine…and I'll always be there for you…no matter what…"
She turned and walked away before he saw her cry…never seeing him reach for her…and let his hand drop in resignation.
"That wasn't what I was going to say…"
##
"…Wake up, Cloud…please wake up!"
Put simply…Cloud hurt like hell. Hurt everywhere…
…What did she do to me…
"Cloud!"
Tifa!
It was a viscous battle that nearly leveled the Villa…Tifa KO'd within moments due to her condition-oh shit!
Half blinded by the pain, limbs refusing to work he managed to crawl in the direction of her voice until he was enveloped by her arms and kisses.
"Thank planet you're alright…" she whispered feverishly. "I was so…AHH!"
Cloud forgot his own pain at her scream of pain…the warmth pooling onto the floor around them…
"You're bleeding-! Where-!"
"I'm not bleeding Cloud…" She hissed through clenched teeth. "My water just broke…"
TBC!
Author's notes.
*Winces at the homicidal looks from readers.*
I know I know! How dare I end it like that after such a long wait! And what the hell was all that with Elena?
First, I had to end the chapter here or it'll go on forever. Sorry excuse I know but better finished here than getting it a year later at the rate I was going.
Second, Elena's newfound ability isn't new. It's the Charm attack she uses when you fight the Turks for the last time, and lets just say it gave me an idea about our favorite female Turk. That's all I'm saying for now. ^_^
And yes, the Love Triangle is still on…Just adding a little more flavor. ^_^
Additions to the cast.
Reeve/Cait: Jim Carrey. He just fits.
Sephiroth: Gerald Butler…Dracula from Dracula 2000. At first I was thinking Kevin Conroy, Batman from the animated series, until I saw that scene where Drac 'confesses' about his creation at the cross…and had a flashback of When Sephiroth visited Mother. He has the look and the walk and mannerisms (watch the movie again and picture him with white hair, especially during that .) and the voice and attitude I wanted for my portrayal of Seph.
Terminus: Chow Yun Fat. Who is perfect once you figure out who Terminus really is. *wink* Think his performance in Replacement Killers.
The Weapons: Frank Welker in his Megatron Voice from transformers or any one he wants *lol*
Next chapter? Expect a lighter tone as Avalanche is reunited, Yuffie has a talk with her family, and Vincent and Reno have a few…words. And we finally hear the "Jenova/Lucrecia theory"!
Seeya next time! Sooner I hope!