Chapter 13: Revelations
Squall winced as the sword pierced his chest. This horrible scene was all too familiar to him. He breathed in the thinning air slowly, not knowing if each passing breath would be his last. He looked behind Sephiroth again and saw the collapsed form of Cloud, fell by horrible, gaping wounds. They were inflicted by his friends in hopes that it would free his torn, tattered soul, but in the end all it caused was the death of his mortal body.
Sephiroth looked right into Squall's eyes, enrapturing himself in Squall's pain and at what he had accomplished in such a short amount of time. He had managed to kill both heroes again in the same way he had done before, and history had repeated itself. Cloud and Squall's plan had failed . . . changing only minor details. Dimension Compression was rapidly occurring, being drawn to the focal point of universal disruption, Sephiroth.
Gasping, Squall looked up into his killer's eyes, "Looks like your lapdog isn't going to be joining us, "Squall heaved, speaking of Griever whom he had faced the first time. The success of everyone had greatly weakened the total power given to Sephiroth, but with the final hero clinging to a shred of hope and his own life there was nobody left to stand in his way. It wouldn't stop the brave SeeD leader though . . . Squall fight until his last breath.
The comment he made left a puzzled look on Sephiroth's face, but after a moment's contemplation the tyrant lifted his sword and pointed it at Squall's face, "No more talking nonsense. Die with honor . . . fool," his sword swung swiftly downwards, directly where the shoulder meets the neck.
Squall could feel the blade arching towards him, knowing it would cleave his head clean off. The Masamune fell faster and cut through the air and stopped less than a few inches from Squall's neck. Sephiroth's blade was grasped between Squall's hands, unable to finish the job, "You're going down," Squall said as his brow tightened in anticipation. He looked to Sephiroth with his teeth bared and eyes glowing, his sneer cutting through the evil demi-god's superiority.
Sephiroth clenched his jaw and pushed down harder, but the Masamune wouldn't budge. Squall's muscles bulged as he stood back up and threw back his opponent with great strength. He was shocked, taken aback at the sudden turn of the tide, "Hmph, you think you have what it takes to beat me now?" Sephiroth taunted.
"NO, I won't beat you . . . I WILL DESTROY YOU!" Squall screamed as he stood up defiantly. His bleeding worsened when he staggered forward, but it didn't matter. He tore off his jacket and threw it to the ground, revealing his blood soaked shirt and sliced flesh which still spilled out blood from his chest. Wound. There was renewed power in his stance, defiant to the last. Sephiroth was clearly angered by his comments and grabbed his hilt tighter, the leather bounds squeaking under his grip. But Squall was fearless. He looked on, watching the angel of death dash forward with lightning speed. His eyes flickered aqua blue as he tensed up his entire body, gritting his teeth. Pulling in all his remaining power and delving into deep reserves he never knew he had. Blood flowed faster and faster throughout his entire body, sending a rush of adrenaline to his pain receptors. Squall's hair suddenly flew upwards on its own, flying about without any wind and blew backwards with a flash of lightning far off behind him. The hair on Squall's head whipped around violently, flashing white and then blue. Sephiroth neared even closer, mere seconds away from unleashing his attack. Squall's transformation suddenly quickened and his hair turned silver green, the color of Holy Materia. His body grew stronger, his wounds healing up as new muscles grew all over his body. He threw open his arms as Sephiroth was upon him, screaming at the top of his lungs and knocking back the attacker with merely a show of newfound power.
Looking into Squall's eyes, now sputtering with electricity and jumping over his hair, Sephiroth regained his composure, "M . . . M, Mako? What is the meaning of this!" he glanced over quickly to where Cloud had lain slain, but the corpse was no longer there. The body had vanished into thin air, leaving only one explanation to what had just happened. By the time Sephiroth turned back around, there stood a totally new entity before. He kneeled down, his fists on the ground and head bowed as well. This new warrior, dressed in simple navy pants and a white cloak caused Sephiroth to shiver in both anxiety and fear. Xanien, the ultimate hero, had taken the place of Squall and Cloud. He outstretched his hands, pulling the blades of his former selves into his palm. In one hand, he held the Lionheart, a sword forged from bravery and passion. In the other the Ultima Sword, a weapon with cosmic origins, brought to the world by a giant, living weapon. He brought them together just as last time, and a surge of light radiated from his palms, energy blasting outwards as they merged into one; the Heimdall.
"Sephiroth, I have returned to pass judgment on you. I will punish those that destroy life and purge you from the universe," Xanien mentioned in a cold tone.
"You act as though you are some kind of god," Sephiroth scoffed, growing perturbed by this new being's arrogance "Just because you changed your hair and raised your strength don't even think you are even in the same league as I am!"
"I've had enough of your braggart behavior Sephiroth," Xanien spoke calmly closing his eyes. He raised the Heimdall towards its enemy, "We end this now! Haste . . . times three!" he screamed, a Blue aura instantly surrounding his body. The flow of time poured into Xanien, giving him its speed and swiftness. The pent up energy surged inside him then exploded as he jumped forward. A vortex swirled around his body as he moved in front of Sephiroth, gaining the advantage. Heimdall rang against the Masamune as it was parried aside, and then struck again with Xanien's lightning quick reflexes.
Sephiroth jumped back and quickly sheathed his sword, "So it's come to this . . ." he said, narrowing his eyes as he started to raise his hands towards the sky. His body was totally open to attack, leaving Xanien no choice but to act on instinct. The vengeful hero disappeared from across the vast field and instantaneously reappeared in front of the wicked body of Sephiroth. With a quick slice, the Heimdall cleaved Sephiroth's left arm straight off and it fell from his body, slowly landing on the ground.
"Your tricks won't work anymore" Xanien said without another attack, assured that he had stopped Sephiroth for good.
He was greeted with a cocky smirk as Sephiroth's eyes glowed red. "How weak you really are, thinking I would be defeated that easily!" Sephiroth screamed back, casting a regenerative spell over his body. Having been junctioned to the Black Materia, its potency was multiplied a hundred fold. The radical power of the spell regenerated his arm, his muscles and bone growing back in mere seconds before being covered again by skin, "You will know my power soon enough!" he said while casting a Fire 3 spell between their bodies. A ball of flame flickered momentarily and then exploded into a hellish firestorm, leaving Xanien no choice but to shield himself, "Lunatic Weapon, ARISE!"
In the midst of a hundred thunderclaps and bolts of lightning directly behind Sephiroth, Lunatic Weapon appeared, just as nasty and horrid as before. Leviathan snapped at the air from the left arm screaming in pain while Sapphire Weapon reared its ugly head and began to charge up its deadly beam from the right arm. Diamond Weapon seethed and struggled, opening up its chest and shoulders, trying to blast its way out. Eden composed the backside, the power it contained being siphoned away into the core of this vile creature. The summons which didn't have the size such as Shiva and Ifrit served as joints along the body, their powers drained away even quicker. Finishing up the monster was both the Ruby and Emerald weapons, their bodies contorted and twisted in order to form each leg. At the head of the beast, the energy of the beasts began to collect.
"Luna Nova!" Sephiroth commanded the monster, screaming into the heavens above. The melded Bahamuts all flapped their wings together, bellowing in agony as they tried to free themselves from this hell. The entire mass of monsters slowly raised itself into the atmosphere.
"No!" Xanien screamed out, jumping off the ground and soaring up into the air, " I won't let it happen again!" His sword was held behind him as he flew upwards, ready to strike down the abomination in the sky. With less than a hundred yards to go, a mass of summons saw him and unleashed their painful fury unto him. Golden beams of light shot out from Diamond Weapon's silver exterior, pelting the hero with its horrible power. Raising his arms, Xanien was able to deflect and absorb the shots, but then Emerald Weapon opened its eyes and unleashed four distinct beams downward, converging at the same time against the merged entity. It was too much for him, and his body burned from the heat. He ceased his flight and fell back towards the planet, and the Lunatic Weapon reached the upper atmosphere. The sun peaked over the horizon, above all the darkened clouds below. Dozens of eyes squinted and looked upwards, toward the moon.
From there it unleashed a hell worse than the Big Bang. Each Weapon, summon, and Guardian Force died and released their energies at the same time, collecting it into a beam attack that shot through their exterior. The shaft of light discharged with such intensity that it caused even Sephiroth to shy away and close his eyes. The ray of divine energy burned quickly through the last layer of the atmosphere and impacted against the Moon, tearing a large hole through the middle. Xanien looked on, shaking his head and giving up, falling downward like an asteroid.
After the beam gutted the celestial object, it spilt back into a rainbow of lights, veering away and collecting into a great ball of fire behind the body or lunar rock. It grew wildly and surged until the thin energy membrane binding each light hemorrhaged, spilling out the contents to the moons surface. The power of it all disrupted the orbit around the planet and forced its imminent descent towards the planet. Chunks of the lunar body fell ahead of the moon, burning up as it entered the atmosphere, just as the rotting bodies which composed the Lunatic Weapon were now doing.
Xanien looked up and saw the moon heading towards the planet for a second time, he had to act fast. He dropped to the earth below him, a depression in the ground spider-webbing and creating a crater as he came to stop. Even though his heart dropped in his chest from despair, Xanien would not let this scenario draw out again. He would not just sit around and watch it happen.
"Haste . . ." he breathed, sheathing his sword and outstretching his arms. He pulled in lines of energy, screaming at the top of his lungs as he searched in his body for some forgotten power. His eyes snapped open when it came to him. His memories, his happiness . . . he wanted to see life returned to this planet, things growing, people breathing, his friends smiling . . . The ones that were now dead and had no chance of returning unless he managed a miracle . . . " HASTE TIMES SIX!!!!"
A red aura shot out of the ground around Xanien, blowing out like a geyser and ripping apart the crater, blending with his blue haste aura from before. The purple energy licked around his body like flames, too much for his body to handle. It wanted to escape and leave his body, but somehow he managed to keep it contained. Pushing off the ground, Xanien split the ground apart where he had been standing, a fissure cracking along the crust of the earth. Xanien had become so fast that his body now blurred when he moved. He ran up to Sephiroth, catching him totally off-guard and stunning him with a blast to the face. The impact of his fist on Sephiroth's nose sent a shockwave backwards, stirring up dust and blowing rocks away. The evil man slid along the dirt, still standing but clutching his battered face. He looked up with amazement when Xanien bent his own magical sword around his body. The Heimdall sealed away Sephiroth's movements, keeping him out of the picture while Squall and Cloud got their chance inside the body of Xanien.
Sephiroth gritted his teeth and struggled, trying to bend the weapon off his body but it got him nowhere. The mighty hero Xanien picked up his body, clutching the bent saber and threw him with all his strength in front of the moon. The sky was darkening, but soon lit up again as the lunar surface burned away, creating a red glow over the entire planet. At the current rate of speed, the moon would hit Earth in less than a minute.
Faster than light itself, Xanien appeared on the ground directly beneath the moon's path. He took in an awesome sight, the burning object taking his breath away as he hesitantly watched it fall directly towards him. Now inside the atmosphere, it swallowed up the sky like an eclipse and cast an endless shadow over the vast horizons. Xanien had to close his eyes to blank out all of the chaos around him. Focus was what he needed right now, only then would he have a chance at stopping this event. The ultimate hero had become the planet's new guardian at its greatest time of need.
He began to meditate, concentrating as hard as he could while blocking out everything else, searching for an answer to this looming apocalypse. Neon green particles began to encircle his upper body, creating a beautiful armor around his body. He had the power to stop Sephiroth, but utterly helpless against something such as a falling moon.
"Planet, please give me the power to bring all of this suffering to an end!" He pleaded. He waited for a few seconds, the object of his demise drawing ever closer and got no response. He tried again, trying to communicate with the planet just as Aeris had so long ago and nothing happened once more. In the face of failure, Xanien would not give up, not after coming so far. The moon had to be reversed back into space. "Planet . . . please . . . let me save you."
Xanien's psyche, the combined minds of Cloud and Squall, eagerly sought for the answer as clouds of lunar dust billowed off behind the moon, creating a tail of smoke as it fell faster and faster, being pulled closer by the gravity of the planet..
'Why isn't anything happening?' Cloud asked his other half..
'I don't know,' Squall replied to him, still concentrating from within their combined form 'maybe it doesn't want to be saved . . .'
'No! I won't believe that. There must be something we missed then, something we forgot to do now. Why won't the planet help us?' Cloud screamed inside Xanien's head.
'We both want to help . . .' they thought in unison. In that brief second of unity, their souls combined and the universe seemed to open up to them. Their sudden passion and need to succeed brought them in touch with the planet. They suddenly understood all the answers to the questions that had plagued man for so long. They saw the start of their own universe, and countless other dimensions that were parallel to their own. They saw the past, present, and future as though it were one . . . and suddenly everything was clear to them. They saw the birth of gods, and the war they brought upon themselves. They saw their children, man, spread across the heavens and grow, unaware of each other's existence. They thought they had been alone all this time, but now . . . suddenly their visions cut off, and Xanien opened his eyes.
'It has begun,' the voice calmly said, embedding its words deep inside their beings.
Green energy started to spill out of the ground around the feet of Xanien, slowly at first but then much faster. His body stood silently in the wake of the moon and began to absorb the energy flowing directly from the planet. It swirled all around him, creating a cloud of green mist that was poured all over his body. The moon was seconds away from obliterating all life on the planet and Xanien had still not yet made his move.
"Just a few seconds more . . ." he anxiously breathed. He could feel the warm substance all around him, comforting his wounds and his body with a green light, "Come on . . . Come ON!"
A small burst of power came from Xanien as he concentrated even harder, his will pulling him into the ground, creating a depression right beneath his feet. The green energy had stopped flowing around Xanien and now converged entirely into his body. Green pillars of energy launched upwards from the ground, lending their power to the hero and pushing against the moon. With a last thought of how things could turn out if he failed, Xanien balled his hands into a fist and shut his eyes. The moon and Earth pulled on each other, a vortex from the extreme gravity pulling chunks of rock off the surface of both, turning them into projectiles and throwing them everywhere. The ethereal pillars spread across the lunar surface, pushing against it with all it had, and when he felt it to be right, the hero opened his eyes and the energy gathered into his open palms. Pure energy flowed out of his hands in a thunderous avalanche of light and shot upwards, blasting apart layers of the moon. Screaming, Xanien braced himself for the fight of his life and let it all go.
Somewhere in the upper atmosphere
A scream echoed through the sky like a passing thunderclap. Sephiroth struggled to free himself from his bindings, knowing he would break free soon enough. He wasn't so much as worried as he was angry that he had let this happen. With a final effort he turned his hands towards the Heimdall and cast a Freeze spell over it. The molecules of the blade quickly tightened and the weapon became brittle. Sephiroth flexed his muscles outward from his body and the sword shattered, sending its pieces out into space, gleaming from the ice as though they were brand new stars.
He looked down towards the planet and saw its color had changed. It suddenly glowed, shining with a luminescent green which seemed to radiate from all directions . . . and this unnerved him. The moon had long ago passed Sephiroth and was far underneath his current position. Powder sprayed outward in a storm cloud of white dust, and cracks sprung up around the surface of the moon. It looked as though it was impacting on the surface, yet the Earth remained completely intact.
"No! He couldn't!" Sephiroth shouted as the green energy centered itself under the moon. His rage exploded and he flew towards the action as fast as he could, trying to stop what he knew would happen if he didn't.
On the Ground
"NOW!!" Xanien yelled. His cry echoing over the moon with sound waves now infused with the green life energy of the planet. His voice bounced back to the ground, hitting the earth and shattering the crust of the planet much as a quake would. More and more energy poured from his hands, he raised them upwards in the same fashion Sephiroth had done many times before and shot out a massive beam of green energy. It collided with the moon and the unbridled energy swelled around the front side of the lunar body, slowing it down, but the moon's shear kinetic energy kept it hurtling downward onto Xanien.
"AAAHHHHH!!!!!" Xanien screamed as he drained all remaining energy given to him by the planet from his body. The ground around him broke apart as he dug his feet in, and his final blast broke his arms. He was unable to stand the recoil of his actions as a tsunami of Lifestream shout out of his hands. The moon was stopping and moving backwards, but it needed just one more push to send it away. His body was broken and weak, but Xanien knew he had the ability to do it. If his physical body couldn't do it . . . then he'd will it to happen.
All the energy from the planet beamed through him, using his body as a medium as it was transformed it into a destructive wave. It flowed through him, concentrated Lifestream, filling his mind with the thoughts of the planet. The thoughts of ancient people long gone, the memories of loved ones trying to hold onto their mortality . . . Their hopes, their dreams flowed through Xanien. He shot his chest forward and endless streams of energy came out of it, enveloping the moon and giving him complete control of it.
"To Sephiroth," sweat fell from his forehead as he felt the weight of a world on his hands. He pulled one of his broken arm backwards in pain, "and to the settling of everything!" Xanien cried out as he thrust the celestial body back towards its sender.
Not to far above, Sephiroth saw the moon coming back at him with twice the speed that it had fallen.
"No," Sephiroth took the black materia out of his armor and gleefully stared into its empty light. He would not be beaten a second time, he would return to his place in the heavens. His body began to mutate, his right arm changing into blood-red wing as a distant star flickered off in the distance. Meteor was cast, and the rock blazed through the solar system, ripping apart Jupiter and Saturn as it re-directed itself to Earth instead of the Sun.
Watching the two gas giants explode in cosmic eruptions, Xanien flew out of the deepening fissure of the planet, and came up behind the roaring mass of the moon. He watched the moon get bigger the faster he flew towards it and right before he was upon it, Xanien readied his fist, holding it backwards to build up power. His right arm shone red and green with the power from the planet, swirling around his fingers. The moon was about to pass through the atmosphere once again when Xanien punched it. It was pounded with such incredible force that it almost broke in half, instead creating a sonic boom that spread around the whole planet and rumbled through the mountains.
Sephiroth heard that noise and instead of gleefully watching Meteor, he turned around and saw a hunk of rock five times that size aimed right at him. Sephiroth also saw the upper atmosphere around the planet rumble. It shook violently as the moon sent waves of air from the exit point to encompass the globe. His mouth dropped as he stared death in the eye, and his body tightened, expecting the impact. The wicked man managed a nervous laugh as both rocks approached him. On one side a burning fusion of metal, ice and rock, and on the other, the moon. He had faced death before and overcome its adversity, but he knew that there would be no coming back from it this time.
"So this is how it ends, hmph,"
The moon slammed into Sephiroth and carried his body along with it into outer space. Meteor slammed into the moon seconds afterward, sending the upper layer of rock shattering in all directions. Both exploded outwards across the ozone layer, a bright orange fire covering them as they broke upon themselves like water against stone.
Squall winced as the sword pierced his chest. This horrible scene was all too familiar to him. He breathed in the thinning air slowly, not knowing if each passing breath would be his last. He looked behind Sephiroth again and saw the collapsed form of Cloud, fell by horrible, gaping wounds. They were inflicted by his friends in hopes that it would free his torn, tattered soul, but in the end all it caused was the death of his mortal body.
Sephiroth looked right into Squall's eyes, enrapturing himself in Squall's pain and at what he had accomplished in such a short amount of time. He had managed to kill both heroes again in the same way he had done before, and history had repeated itself. Cloud and Squall's plan had failed . . . changing only minor details. Dimension Compression was rapidly occurring, being drawn to the focal point of universal disruption, Sephiroth.
Gasping, Squall looked up into his killer's eyes, "Looks like your lapdog isn't going to be joining us, "Squall heaved, speaking of Griever whom he had faced the first time. The success of everyone had greatly weakened the total power given to Sephiroth, but with the final hero clinging to a shred of hope and his own life there was nobody left to stand in his way. It wouldn't stop the brave SeeD leader though . . . Squall fight until his last breath.
The comment he made left a puzzled look on Sephiroth's face, but after a moment's contemplation the tyrant lifted his sword and pointed it at Squall's face, "No more talking nonsense. Die with honor . . . fool," his sword swung swiftly downwards, directly where the shoulder meets the neck.
Squall could feel the blade arching towards him, knowing it would cleave his head clean off. The Masamune fell faster and cut through the air and stopped less than a few inches from Squall's neck. Sephiroth's blade was grasped between Squall's hands, unable to finish the job, "You're going down," Squall said as his brow tightened in anticipation. He looked to Sephiroth with his teeth bared and eyes glowing, his sneer cutting through the evil demi-god's superiority.
Sephiroth clenched his jaw and pushed down harder, but the Masamune wouldn't budge. Squall's muscles bulged as he stood back up and threw back his opponent with great strength. He was shocked, taken aback at the sudden turn of the tide, "Hmph, you think you have what it takes to beat me now?" Sephiroth taunted.
"NO, I won't beat you . . . I WILL DESTROY YOU!" Squall screamed as he stood up defiantly. His bleeding worsened when he staggered forward, but it didn't matter. He tore off his jacket and threw it to the ground, revealing his blood soaked shirt and sliced flesh which still spilled out blood from his chest. Wound. There was renewed power in his stance, defiant to the last. Sephiroth was clearly angered by his comments and grabbed his hilt tighter, the leather bounds squeaking under his grip. But Squall was fearless. He looked on, watching the angel of death dash forward with lightning speed. His eyes flickered aqua blue as he tensed up his entire body, gritting his teeth. Pulling in all his remaining power and delving into deep reserves he never knew he had. Blood flowed faster and faster throughout his entire body, sending a rush of adrenaline to his pain receptors. Squall's hair suddenly flew upwards on its own, flying about without any wind and blew backwards with a flash of lightning far off behind him. The hair on Squall's head whipped around violently, flashing white and then blue. Sephiroth neared even closer, mere seconds away from unleashing his attack. Squall's transformation suddenly quickened and his hair turned silver green, the color of Holy Materia. His body grew stronger, his wounds healing up as new muscles grew all over his body. He threw open his arms as Sephiroth was upon him, screaming at the top of his lungs and knocking back the attacker with merely a show of newfound power.
Looking into Squall's eyes, now sputtering with electricity and jumping over his hair, Sephiroth regained his composure, "M . . . M, Mako? What is the meaning of this!" he glanced over quickly to where Cloud had lain slain, but the corpse was no longer there. The body had vanished into thin air, leaving only one explanation to what had just happened. By the time Sephiroth turned back around, there stood a totally new entity before. He kneeled down, his fists on the ground and head bowed as well. This new warrior, dressed in simple navy pants and a white cloak caused Sephiroth to shiver in both anxiety and fear. Xanien, the ultimate hero, had taken the place of Squall and Cloud. He outstretched his hands, pulling the blades of his former selves into his palm. In one hand, he held the Lionheart, a sword forged from bravery and passion. In the other the Ultima Sword, a weapon with cosmic origins, brought to the world by a giant, living weapon. He brought them together just as last time, and a surge of light radiated from his palms, energy blasting outwards as they merged into one; the Heimdall.
"Sephiroth, I have returned to pass judgment on you. I will punish those that destroy life and purge you from the universe," Xanien mentioned in a cold tone.
"You act as though you are some kind of god," Sephiroth scoffed, growing perturbed by this new being's arrogance "Just because you changed your hair and raised your strength don't even think you are even in the same league as I am!"
"I've had enough of your braggart behavior Sephiroth," Xanien spoke calmly closing his eyes. He raised the Heimdall towards its enemy, "We end this now! Haste . . . times three!" he screamed, a Blue aura instantly surrounding his body. The flow of time poured into Xanien, giving him its speed and swiftness. The pent up energy surged inside him then exploded as he jumped forward. A vortex swirled around his body as he moved in front of Sephiroth, gaining the advantage. Heimdall rang against the Masamune as it was parried aside, and then struck again with Xanien's lightning quick reflexes.
Sephiroth jumped back and quickly sheathed his sword, "So it's come to this . . ." he said, narrowing his eyes as he started to raise his hands towards the sky. His body was totally open to attack, leaving Xanien no choice but to act on instinct. The vengeful hero disappeared from across the vast field and instantaneously reappeared in front of the wicked body of Sephiroth. With a quick slice, the Heimdall cleaved Sephiroth's left arm straight off and it fell from his body, slowly landing on the ground.
"Your tricks won't work anymore" Xanien said without another attack, assured that he had stopped Sephiroth for good.
He was greeted with a cocky smirk as Sephiroth's eyes glowed red. "How weak you really are, thinking I would be defeated that easily!" Sephiroth screamed back, casting a regenerative spell over his body. Having been junctioned to the Black Materia, its potency was multiplied a hundred fold. The radical power of the spell regenerated his arm, his muscles and bone growing back in mere seconds before being covered again by skin, "You will know my power soon enough!" he said while casting a Fire 3 spell between their bodies. A ball of flame flickered momentarily and then exploded into a hellish firestorm, leaving Xanien no choice but to shield himself, "Lunatic Weapon, ARISE!"
In the midst of a hundred thunderclaps and bolts of lightning directly behind Sephiroth, Lunatic Weapon appeared, just as nasty and horrid as before. Leviathan snapped at the air from the left arm screaming in pain while Sapphire Weapon reared its ugly head and began to charge up its deadly beam from the right arm. Diamond Weapon seethed and struggled, opening up its chest and shoulders, trying to blast its way out. Eden composed the backside, the power it contained being siphoned away into the core of this vile creature. The summons which didn't have the size such as Shiva and Ifrit served as joints along the body, their powers drained away even quicker. Finishing up the monster was both the Ruby and Emerald weapons, their bodies contorted and twisted in order to form each leg. At the head of the beast, the energy of the beasts began to collect.
"Luna Nova!" Sephiroth commanded the monster, screaming into the heavens above. The melded Bahamuts all flapped their wings together, bellowing in agony as they tried to free themselves from this hell. The entire mass of monsters slowly raised itself into the atmosphere.
"No!" Xanien screamed out, jumping off the ground and soaring up into the air, " I won't let it happen again!" His sword was held behind him as he flew upwards, ready to strike down the abomination in the sky. With less than a hundred yards to go, a mass of summons saw him and unleashed their painful fury unto him. Golden beams of light shot out from Diamond Weapon's silver exterior, pelting the hero with its horrible power. Raising his arms, Xanien was able to deflect and absorb the shots, but then Emerald Weapon opened its eyes and unleashed four distinct beams downward, converging at the same time against the merged entity. It was too much for him, and his body burned from the heat. He ceased his flight and fell back towards the planet, and the Lunatic Weapon reached the upper atmosphere. The sun peaked over the horizon, above all the darkened clouds below. Dozens of eyes squinted and looked upwards, toward the moon.
From there it unleashed a hell worse than the Big Bang. Each Weapon, summon, and Guardian Force died and released their energies at the same time, collecting it into a beam attack that shot through their exterior. The shaft of light discharged with such intensity that it caused even Sephiroth to shy away and close his eyes. The ray of divine energy burned quickly through the last layer of the atmosphere and impacted against the Moon, tearing a large hole through the middle. Xanien looked on, shaking his head and giving up, falling downward like an asteroid.
After the beam gutted the celestial object, it spilt back into a rainbow of lights, veering away and collecting into a great ball of fire behind the body or lunar rock. It grew wildly and surged until the thin energy membrane binding each light hemorrhaged, spilling out the contents to the moons surface. The power of it all disrupted the orbit around the planet and forced its imminent descent towards the planet. Chunks of the lunar body fell ahead of the moon, burning up as it entered the atmosphere, just as the rotting bodies which composed the Lunatic Weapon were now doing.
Xanien looked up and saw the moon heading towards the planet for a second time, he had to act fast. He dropped to the earth below him, a depression in the ground spider-webbing and creating a crater as he came to stop. Even though his heart dropped in his chest from despair, Xanien would not let this scenario draw out again. He would not just sit around and watch it happen.
"Haste . . ." he breathed, sheathing his sword and outstretching his arms. He pulled in lines of energy, screaming at the top of his lungs as he searched in his body for some forgotten power. His eyes snapped open when it came to him. His memories, his happiness . . . he wanted to see life returned to this planet, things growing, people breathing, his friends smiling . . . The ones that were now dead and had no chance of returning unless he managed a miracle . . . " HASTE TIMES SIX!!!!"
A red aura shot out of the ground around Xanien, blowing out like a geyser and ripping apart the crater, blending with his blue haste aura from before. The purple energy licked around his body like flames, too much for his body to handle. It wanted to escape and leave his body, but somehow he managed to keep it contained. Pushing off the ground, Xanien split the ground apart where he had been standing, a fissure cracking along the crust of the earth. Xanien had become so fast that his body now blurred when he moved. He ran up to Sephiroth, catching him totally off-guard and stunning him with a blast to the face. The impact of his fist on Sephiroth's nose sent a shockwave backwards, stirring up dust and blowing rocks away. The evil man slid along the dirt, still standing but clutching his battered face. He looked up with amazement when Xanien bent his own magical sword around his body. The Heimdall sealed away Sephiroth's movements, keeping him out of the picture while Squall and Cloud got their chance inside the body of Xanien.
Sephiroth gritted his teeth and struggled, trying to bend the weapon off his body but it got him nowhere. The mighty hero Xanien picked up his body, clutching the bent saber and threw him with all his strength in front of the moon. The sky was darkening, but soon lit up again as the lunar surface burned away, creating a red glow over the entire planet. At the current rate of speed, the moon would hit Earth in less than a minute.
Faster than light itself, Xanien appeared on the ground directly beneath the moon's path. He took in an awesome sight, the burning object taking his breath away as he hesitantly watched it fall directly towards him. Now inside the atmosphere, it swallowed up the sky like an eclipse and cast an endless shadow over the vast horizons. Xanien had to close his eyes to blank out all of the chaos around him. Focus was what he needed right now, only then would he have a chance at stopping this event. The ultimate hero had become the planet's new guardian at its greatest time of need.
He began to meditate, concentrating as hard as he could while blocking out everything else, searching for an answer to this looming apocalypse. Neon green particles began to encircle his upper body, creating a beautiful armor around his body. He had the power to stop Sephiroth, but utterly helpless against something such as a falling moon.
"Planet, please give me the power to bring all of this suffering to an end!" He pleaded. He waited for a few seconds, the object of his demise drawing ever closer and got no response. He tried again, trying to communicate with the planet just as Aeris had so long ago and nothing happened once more. In the face of failure, Xanien would not give up, not after coming so far. The moon had to be reversed back into space. "Planet . . . please . . . let me save you."
Xanien's psyche, the combined minds of Cloud and Squall, eagerly sought for the answer as clouds of lunar dust billowed off behind the moon, creating a tail of smoke as it fell faster and faster, being pulled closer by the gravity of the planet..
'Why isn't anything happening?' Cloud asked his other half..
'I don't know,' Squall replied to him, still concentrating from within their combined form 'maybe it doesn't want to be saved . . .'
'No! I won't believe that. There must be something we missed then, something we forgot to do now. Why won't the planet help us?' Cloud screamed inside Xanien's head.
'We both want to help . . .' they thought in unison. In that brief second of unity, their souls combined and the universe seemed to open up to them. Their sudden passion and need to succeed brought them in touch with the planet. They suddenly understood all the answers to the questions that had plagued man for so long. They saw the start of their own universe, and countless other dimensions that were parallel to their own. They saw the past, present, and future as though it were one . . . and suddenly everything was clear to them. They saw the birth of gods, and the war they brought upon themselves. They saw their children, man, spread across the heavens and grow, unaware of each other's existence. They thought they had been alone all this time, but now . . . suddenly their visions cut off, and Xanien opened his eyes.
'It has begun,' the voice calmly said, embedding its words deep inside their beings.
Green energy started to spill out of the ground around the feet of Xanien, slowly at first but then much faster. His body stood silently in the wake of the moon and began to absorb the energy flowing directly from the planet. It swirled all around him, creating a cloud of green mist that was poured all over his body. The moon was seconds away from obliterating all life on the planet and Xanien had still not yet made his move.
"Just a few seconds more . . ." he anxiously breathed. He could feel the warm substance all around him, comforting his wounds and his body with a green light, "Come on . . . Come ON!"
A small burst of power came from Xanien as he concentrated even harder, his will pulling him into the ground, creating a depression right beneath his feet. The green energy had stopped flowing around Xanien and now converged entirely into his body. Green pillars of energy launched upwards from the ground, lending their power to the hero and pushing against the moon. With a last thought of how things could turn out if he failed, Xanien balled his hands into a fist and shut his eyes. The moon and Earth pulled on each other, a vortex from the extreme gravity pulling chunks of rock off the surface of both, turning them into projectiles and throwing them everywhere. The ethereal pillars spread across the lunar surface, pushing against it with all it had, and when he felt it to be right, the hero opened his eyes and the energy gathered into his open palms. Pure energy flowed out of his hands in a thunderous avalanche of light and shot upwards, blasting apart layers of the moon. Screaming, Xanien braced himself for the fight of his life and let it all go.
Somewhere in the upper atmosphere
A scream echoed through the sky like a passing thunderclap. Sephiroth struggled to free himself from his bindings, knowing he would break free soon enough. He wasn't so much as worried as he was angry that he had let this happen. With a final effort he turned his hands towards the Heimdall and cast a Freeze spell over it. The molecules of the blade quickly tightened and the weapon became brittle. Sephiroth flexed his muscles outward from his body and the sword shattered, sending its pieces out into space, gleaming from the ice as though they were brand new stars.
He looked down towards the planet and saw its color had changed. It suddenly glowed, shining with a luminescent green which seemed to radiate from all directions . . . and this unnerved him. The moon had long ago passed Sephiroth and was far underneath his current position. Powder sprayed outward in a storm cloud of white dust, and cracks sprung up around the surface of the moon. It looked as though it was impacting on the surface, yet the Earth remained completely intact.
"No! He couldn't!" Sephiroth shouted as the green energy centered itself under the moon. His rage exploded and he flew towards the action as fast as he could, trying to stop what he knew would happen if he didn't.
On the Ground
"NOW!!" Xanien yelled. His cry echoing over the moon with sound waves now infused with the green life energy of the planet. His voice bounced back to the ground, hitting the earth and shattering the crust of the planet much as a quake would. More and more energy poured from his hands, he raised them upwards in the same fashion Sephiroth had done many times before and shot out a massive beam of green energy. It collided with the moon and the unbridled energy swelled around the front side of the lunar body, slowing it down, but the moon's shear kinetic energy kept it hurtling downward onto Xanien.
"AAAHHHHH!!!!!" Xanien screamed as he drained all remaining energy given to him by the planet from his body. The ground around him broke apart as he dug his feet in, and his final blast broke his arms. He was unable to stand the recoil of his actions as a tsunami of Lifestream shout out of his hands. The moon was stopping and moving backwards, but it needed just one more push to send it away. His body was broken and weak, but Xanien knew he had the ability to do it. If his physical body couldn't do it . . . then he'd will it to happen.
All the energy from the planet beamed through him, using his body as a medium as it was transformed it into a destructive wave. It flowed through him, concentrated Lifestream, filling his mind with the thoughts of the planet. The thoughts of ancient people long gone, the memories of loved ones trying to hold onto their mortality . . . Their hopes, their dreams flowed through Xanien. He shot his chest forward and endless streams of energy came out of it, enveloping the moon and giving him complete control of it.
"To Sephiroth," sweat fell from his forehead as he felt the weight of a world on his hands. He pulled one of his broken arm backwards in pain, "and to the settling of everything!" Xanien cried out as he thrust the celestial body back towards its sender.
Not to far above, Sephiroth saw the moon coming back at him with twice the speed that it had fallen.
"No," Sephiroth took the black materia out of his armor and gleefully stared into its empty light. He would not be beaten a second time, he would return to his place in the heavens. His body began to mutate, his right arm changing into blood-red wing as a distant star flickered off in the distance. Meteor was cast, and the rock blazed through the solar system, ripping apart Jupiter and Saturn as it re-directed itself to Earth instead of the Sun.
Watching the two gas giants explode in cosmic eruptions, Xanien flew out of the deepening fissure of the planet, and came up behind the roaring mass of the moon. He watched the moon get bigger the faster he flew towards it and right before he was upon it, Xanien readied his fist, holding it backwards to build up power. His right arm shone red and green with the power from the planet, swirling around his fingers. The moon was about to pass through the atmosphere once again when Xanien punched it. It was pounded with such incredible force that it almost broke in half, instead creating a sonic boom that spread around the whole planet and rumbled through the mountains.
Sephiroth heard that noise and instead of gleefully watching Meteor, he turned around and saw a hunk of rock five times that size aimed right at him. Sephiroth also saw the upper atmosphere around the planet rumble. It shook violently as the moon sent waves of air from the exit point to encompass the globe. His mouth dropped as he stared death in the eye, and his body tightened, expecting the impact. The wicked man managed a nervous laugh as both rocks approached him. On one side a burning fusion of metal, ice and rock, and on the other, the moon. He had faced death before and overcome its adversity, but he knew that there would be no coming back from it this time.
"So this is how it ends, hmph,"
The moon slammed into Sephiroth and carried his body along with it into outer space. Meteor slammed into the moon seconds afterward, sending the upper layer of rock shattering in all directions. Both exploded outwards across the ozone layer, a bright orange fire covering them as they broke upon themselves like water against stone.
