Spoiled Yet Selfless
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy characters are owned by Squaresoft and not by me yadda, yadda, yadda. I you are reading this, then I pity you.
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"No…" He moaned, backing away. "This isn't real, this can't be real…"
"It is Cloud. I know it must be a shock, but calm down for a minute so we can explain…" Zack started to advance.
"Stop it!" Aeris ran to Cloud, wrapping her arms around him. Zack stopped, shocked. "Hasn't he been through enough already?! He deserves to see the light!"
"Get away from him, Cetran," Sephiroth growled dangerously, sword still in hand. "Stop clouding his mind with lies..." Zack softly held a hand up to his chest, stopping him, though his blue eyes were still locked on the two. He began his approach. "Aeris, step aside." His voice was solid and cold, though his eyes held sadness.
"No." Determination etched on her features, she stood front of Cloud, who seemed lost in his own mind. She stepped closer toward Zack, standing tall, looking up at him with defiance.
"I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you make me. Step aside."
"No."
He made a move to put his hand of her shoulder, but she knocked it aside. With that, she took a step closer, their faces close.
"He's mine," her voice whispered dangerously, barely audible to Zack alone, deaf to Cloud and Sephiroth. "And I'll be damned if I let you take him away from me."
"You can't threaten me, Aeris. The Planet knows what you're trying to do."
"And so it sent you and Sephiroth to stop me?" she started laughing, her voice loud enough for all to hear this time. "It's using you, Zack, when will you see the light?"
"It's you who are still in the dark, Aeris." With that, he pushed her aside, forcefully, causing her to stumble and fall back. Zack continued toward Cloud, as Aeris rubbed her head. She went to stand, but felt a sword at her throat.
"Don't move."
She looked up, Sephiroth holding the Masumune at her throat.
"Cloud…" Zack, held a hand out toward Cloud, who was kneeling on the ground, holding his head.
"No…"
"Cloud, you can trust me…"
"I don't know…"
"We were friends Cloud, I've never led you astray before, right?" Zack's voice had lost its cutting edge, and was much more gently.
"I…" Cloud stopped to think, gaping slightly.
"Cloud…" Aeris started, before feeling the Masumune press itself harder on her throat, silencing her.
Cloud looked up at Zack, the looked at Sephiroth, then Aeris.
That look… In her eyes… It's different…
He made his decision.
Zack grasped his hand, and helped him to his feet, smiling.
"No…" Aeris cried softly.
"Face it Aeris, he did see the truth, just not yours," Zack said.
"Well, then, it will just take longer than I expected," she hissed. Looking at Sephiroth, she held out her hand, and a blast of wind knocked him off his feet away from her. Sephiroth slid on the ground, stopping before hitting the wall, shaking his head as he stood back up again. All three watched her anxiously as she rose slowly, a look of hatred in her eyes. She turned to Cloud, and he could see the betrayal in her eyes.
"So, you made your choice. Throwing away an eternity of joy and freedom to be a pawn here." She turned, and started up the stairs, her dress flowing lightly behind her.
"This isn't over, Aeris!" Zack yelled up to her.
"On the contrary, my beloved Zack," she said darkly, looking over her shoulder. Reaching the top of the stairs, she turned around again; an odd wind began to pick up, blowing through everyone's hair. "It has yet to begin." She held up her hand over her head, a ball of electricity started to form. The bottom of her dress began to flap, and shots of lightening began to spark around the capsules. She suddenly clenched her hand, the energy in her palm dispersing into nothing, and all of the capsules sudden exploding with energy. All of the machinery shorted out, and the lights erupted, the room darkening. The only light visible was from the room behind Aeris and the light from the Mako in the capsules.
"What did she just do?!" Zack cried out, trying to see.
Cloud didn't bother to look around. He kept staring up at Aeris's silhouette. The wind had died, so she was standing there looking down at them. He stared into her eyes, which were entirely green, an eerie glow shining down from them.
"The capsules…" Sephiroth whispered. "They're opening."
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"The hell!?" Cursed Barret, as Vincent, himself, and Cait watched the bridge fall to the other side.
Vincent kneed by the edge. "It's a long drop from here…"
"Well, there's gotta be someway around!" Cait shouted hopelessly.
"Maybe, the question is, can you find it?" Ranez's voice sounded behind them.
"The hell are you doing here? Where's your friend?" Barret shouted, readying his gun.
Ranez landed on the ground. "They're with your other friends."
"Let me guess, you cut the rope." Vincent stated, not a question. "Why putting so much work into splitting us up?"
Ranez turned to him. "It's nice to know someone in the group has brains. Simple. We're buying our lady some time to talk to your leader."
"Yeah, and who is 'your lady'?" asked Cait. "I never caught her name before."
"She'll reveal herself when she pleases, you pathetic robot," Ranez scolded.
A click was heard from Barret's gun as he prepared to fire, but Ranez chided "Uh, uh, uuuh" and powering up, he sent a strong blast of energized wind, that tore through the three painfully, knocking them off the mountain side to the ground below.
"Problem solved. Now to find the others," he smirked.
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"Can't you people just bug OFF for once!" whined Yuffie.
"Naw, it's so much fun picking on you shrimp," barked Avian, causing Yuffie to redden.
"Why you!!!"
"Don't let him get to you Yuf," Cid told. "He obviously can't $%%&*( take on the big boys, so he sticks to the kiddies."
"SHUT UP CID!" At this, Cid smirked.
"Not now, you guys," Tifa scolded giving a look at Lodia. "We've got problems."
"Oh, you don't even know the half of it," laughed Lodia. "A war is about to begin, and all you can worry about are your pathetic friends. Why don't we make it easy for you and rid you of them?" She twirled one of her hoops around her finger.
"If you have touched them in any way…" Tifa's threat let the end open for suggestions.
"Oooo, touchy aren't we? I guess he really is all worth that." Now, everyone was pushed away, it was only the two of them. They stepped so close to each other, you could almost see the electricity between their eyes.
"Of course, more than your precious Mistress." She whispered, dangerously low.
"Don't push your luck, Tifa." The smirk gone, she hissed it.
"There wasn't any luck to begin with. Now open the door."
"Make me."
Tifa didn't even bother to wait. In a flash, she rammed her fist into Lodia's gut. With wide eyes, she doubled over in pain. Springing into action, Avian fired a shot of green energy at Tifa. Being to busy taking out Lodia, she didn't see it coming, and it slammed into her, throwing her into the wall and knocking her out as she hit the floor. Cid grabbed his spear as Cait charged and the battle was on.
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Roars filled the room as the first monster started to pull itself free. One by one they began to exit their Mako chambers, the years of torment and anguish expressing itself as scream. The whole time, Aeris stood at the top of the steps, gazing down, smiling victoriously.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cloud could see Sephiroth looking uncomfortable, and he knew why.
When we visited… No… When Zack and Sephiroth visited the reactor. He winced. It still stung when he messed his memories with Zack's. It must be déjà vu all over again for him… He felt no sympathy, simply an understanding. Hopefully, he wouldn't lose it though….
More screams were heard from the Jenova room, and he knew they were running out of time.
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"Dolphin Blow!"
"Hyper Jump!"
"UGH!"
Thump.
Lodia crashed to the ground after hitting the wall, dust and water raining onto the ground. The strength from the combined limit breaks from Cid and Tifa was enough to knock her out from the explosion. Tifa kneeled to the ground, her breath ragged as she calmed down. Cid cursed, running his hand through his hair. Lodia didn't move.
Meanwhile, Yuffie was facing off Avian.
"It's just you and me, honeybunch," Avian mocked.
"Shut your mouth!" Yuffie shouted. "And stop calling me that! It's pissing me off!"
"But you're so cute when you're angry," he teased.
"ARGH!!" She threw her Conformer at him. "GAWD! You're so lame!"
Avian side stepped, then charged forward, a long, dark blue and purple staff made of peacock ore and adorned with diamonds. He swiped at Yuffie, who hopped out of the way. She caught her Conformer as it returned, and easily landed. She almost fell over from her laughing fit though.
"BWA HA HA HA!!!"
"The hell?" Avian stood, confused. "The hell's wrong with you?"
She doubled over, laughing ever harder, only able to point at him.
"….What?" He checked himself over. "What's wrong with me?!"
"St…..Staff…."
"…." He looked at it, then her, then it, then shook his head. "Shut your mouth you stupid brood! For your information, this staff was given to me by a Cetran princess!!"
"What…. Ha ha ha… Whatever you say… Girly man!!"
He growled, and started to chase after her, swinging his staff madly. She began crying through her laughing, barely able to breathe as she bounded away. He brought his staff down as she hopped up onto a ledge. He tried hitting her with it, but she was up too high.
"Dammit! I need a longer stick..." he mumbled, but she overheard.
"HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Avian blushed for a moment. "SHUT!!! UP!!!!!!!!" He powered up, sending a blast of earth magic at her ledge, which crumbled. The ninja, caught off guard, fell with the rocks, dust kicking up. She didn't care though, as she was still trying to regain her breath.
"Ow…" she moaned, her sides aching.
Foot steps in front of her, and Avian had his staff above his head, ready to bring it down on her head.
"Game over, you ninja whore," he smirked.
"Say what you want, compensation boy!"
Smirk wiped off his face, he began bringing his staff down. He didn't make it, as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, just to meet a white fist hit his face as he went sliding backward. Yuffie looked up to see Cait and his moogle plus Barret there, as well as Vincent, who was running off to help Tifa with her wounds while Cid made sure Lodia didn't move.
"Bout time…" Yuffie wheezed as Cait's moogle grabbed her hand to help her off her knees.
"Better late than never, you little thief," Barret grinned.
Avian shook his head as he started to get up. "Damn moogles…"
The sound of a gun clicking made him stop.
"I wouldn't move if I were you, foo'." Avian looked up hatefully at Barret, who had his gun arm aimed at him.
The battle over, AVALANCHE reformed, minus two members. They turned to they're captives, Barret guarding Avian, Lodia off to the side unconscious.
"Cloud and Red should've been back by now," Tifa muttered, worried. "What could be taking them?"
"Don't worry, Teef," Barret comforted. "Let's get some answers from this dope and get him to open the door." The entire team turned to look at Avian, who was grinning.
"Sorry, but I've got a strict don't-ask-don't-tell thing going on-" He didn't talk much until Barret grabbed him by the throat.
"Shut yer mouth unless we tell you to talk," he hissed.
"Where are they?!" shouted Cait.
"Where are who?" Avian grinned innocently.
"Don't start with that, where are Cloud and Red?" Vincent's voice was dangerously low.
His grin didn't falter. "They're dead."
Tifa gasped inwardly. "No… you lie!"
Avian barked a laugh. "Yep, I'm such a bad lier! Heh, heh…" Tifa didn't bother holding back, he ran forward and delivered a strong punch to his stomach. Barret dropped him, and he doubled over in pain. She grabbed him by his shirt.
"Stop with the BS! Forget the answers, just open the door!" She twitched slightly in anger.
"I… c…can't…."
"And why not!?"
"Because we didn't lock it." Ranez's cool voice came form behind them. They turned, and tifa dropped Avian, who gasped for air.
"Then who %$^*&( did!?" Cid demanded.
Ranez just gave a small smile with a 'hmph' and walked to the door, taping on it to check the metal type.
"You gonna answer, ya fruit!" Yuffie whined.
Ranez looked over his shoulder. "You know, you people sure are dense. There are four of us."
"Our apologies, we've only seen three," Vincent said coldly.
"Well, you can see her as soon as she is done with her business between Cloud and her. It was quite the private matter, so it's no wonder she blocked you off. But with that dog-"
"His name is Red!" Cait yelled.
"Right, whatever," Ranez rolled his eyes. "Who knows what she did to him."
"If you people hurt either of them in any way, I swear I'll rip off your arm and beat you with it!!" Tifa screeched.
"Ha! Funny. Your kind always makes me laugh."
Tifa and Cid began approaching him, but stopped short when howls echoed through the mountains. More met to greet the earlier, all of them bone-chilling.
"What the $#%$( hell…." Barret and Cid whispered at the same time. The mountain began to shake, and some of the ceiling began to fall.
"That would be our queue," Ranez stated matter-of-factly. Avian kicked Barret down who cried "****!!!" as he fell, and hopped up. Ranez moved to Lodia, who was beginning to stir. "Wake up Lodia, we're leaving." She rubbed her head and nodded, getting up, and the three ran. Barret went to give chase but Tifa stopped him. "Later, Barret! We gotta find Cloud!" He nodded reluctantly, and the team took off.
They reached the reactor where the screams seemed to be rising from. Randomly, icicles would form and fires would start, as well as bolts of lightening would slam into the ground, and the earth would shake.
"What's going on!?" Yuffie cried.
"We need to keep going!" told Vincent. They charged to the steps, but Tifa stopped them, shaking her head.
"There's not enough room for all of us inside. Three of us should go in, the rest hold the entrance."
"I'll go!" Yuffie volunteered then grabbed Vincent. "Come on Vinny!" Vincent simply sweat dropped, muttering how his name wasn't 'Vinny', and the three headed in.
They ran inside, Tifa then Yuffie then Vincent, and the two girls headed straight to the chain to climb down.
"There's Red!" Vincent shouted over the noise, and Tifa turned, seeing the unconscious creature outside the closed doors that led to Jenova's room. Tifa swallowed and slid down the chain.
"He's not.. Dead, is he?" Yuffie whimpered, following Tifa's lead. Vincent simply hopped down to the catwalk below, beating the girls, and ran to Red's side, kneeling as the two approached from behind.
"He's alright," Vincent claimed, checking is pulse. "He's only stunned." With that, he reached for his Restore materia. Letting the energy flow through him, he called out. "Cure!!" As a purple light surrounded Red, he opened his eyes.
"Ugh.. What happened…?"
"We'll figure that out later," told Yuffie and Tifa ran to the door, pulling on the handles.
"It won't open!" She cried, frustrated. Yuffie approached, pulling out her Lightening materia. "Stand back, Tifa!" She concentrated, as the materia gave off a green glow. She picked the 3rd level spell.
"BOLT!!!" Lightening began to slam into the door, but right when it touched the door, the door began glowing green, and the lightening shot back at Yuffie, who was forced to duck.
"ACK!! What happened!?" She shouted.
"The door seems to have a resist spell on it," Red stated, starting to stand.
Losing hope, Tifa turned to the door, heartbroken. "Cloud…"
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"We could use a plan about now!" Zack shouted through the monsters' cries. They were beginning to approach them. The three were backed against the wall, weapons out.
"There's only 11," mumbled Sephiroth.
"Only 11!?!" hissed Cloud. "Well, sorry, Mr. I-used-to-be-a-demi-God, but you're not all powerful anymore!" Sephiroth turned, giving him a look, and Cloud caught it returning one of his own.
"Not now, you two!" Zack shouted, as he charged the first one coming down the stairs. He swung his Buster Sword at the creature, but it knocked the downward cut off course, then turned to slash at him. Zack, stopped it with his sword, and while they were fighting for the better, the SOLDIER kicked the monster back into on of its friends. He backed up to join the two.
"We can't fight take 'em right now! There're too many!" Sephiroth ran and tried the door, but it was still locked.
"No good! It's still stuck!" He backed up and got out his Earth materia.
"QUAKE!!!"
No effect.
"The hell?!" Zack cursed as he pushed another one back. "Why isn't it working!"
"It's got a resist spell on it…" Sephiroth mused.
"Resist…?" muttered Cloud, turning away from a monster to look at him. He turned back to Zack. "Hold them off for a moment!"
"What!? You gotta be kidding!"
Cloud searched his armor and weapons for a certain materia. "Come on… Where is it…."
"Hurry Cloud!!" Shouted Zack and Sephiroth ran to help him.
"Here it is!" Cloud grinned, finding the Destruct materia in his sword. He concentrated. "DeBarrier!"
The resist charm around the door seemed to appear, just to shatter, and the door swung open.
"Come on!" He signaled to the others, as the room began to fill with more icicles and flames.
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Tifa looked up, hearing the door open, and Cloud ran out.
"Cloud?" She grinned, but it disappeared when she saw who was behind him.
"Sephiroth?!" Red, Vincent, her, and Yuffie got into a fighting stance, but Cloud shook his head.
"No! There's no time to explain, but we gotta hurry!"
Everyone nodded, and Tifa, Yuffie, Cloud, and Zack ran to the chain, Red, bounding up some ledges to reach the platform, and Sephiroth and Vincent jumped up.
Tifa cringed as she heard more roars behind her.
They exited the reactor, and everyone outside stared at them, shocked, but Tifa shook her head. "Just run!" They headed out the back door, into the room where the materia keeper was at, and heading through the path outside, they exited the Nibel Mountains.
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Aeris watched them leave, emotionless. She looked down at the tormented creatures, more ice and fire kept appearing. She waved her hand, and they seemed to calm down, turning silent, and the shaking stopped.
Just then, the trio teleported in. Each bowed as they arrived.
"Welcome back, you three," he voice, like her face, was void of emotion.
"Thank, Lady Aeris. I pray that it was a success?" Ranez asked respectfully.
She shook her head, almost sorrowfully. "No. Sephiroth showed up. The Planet must have sent him. And Zack too… It doesn't matter, he'll come to sooner or later.
They nodded. It wasn't until then Lodia looked down the stairs to see the creatures below, who were calmly standing around, doing nothing. "Er… Milady…"
Aeris turned to her, eyebrow raised. "Yes?"
"Well… What are those?"
This time, they all turned to look down at them. Aeris started down the steps.
"They… Were once human."
Lodia gave a small gasp.
"Woah…" muttered Avian.
"Years and years of painful experimentation and injections of both Mako and Jenova cells. I'd be surprised if they were anything more than that. The only thing human about them is their appearance, and who knows how long that'll last."
"Then the shaking…. The ice and fire…" mumbled Lodia.
"The creatures, or Jenovains as Hojo preferred to call them, have abilities that even we can't attain with materia. Of course, they have little control over it, especially when angered, hence the magic attacks. Now come on, let's get out of here. This place is already a haven for bad memories."
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There! Plot twist! I'm so evil….
I'm trying to speed this up a bit, but this'll probably be the last chapter for a while, until Christmas. I have guard stuff to do..
Also, if you hadn't noticed yet, I stopped doing the music. It seemed pointless in my opinion. :/
KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS! I NEED QUESTIONS BY NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!
Still need couples
Current couples: SheraxCid, CloudxAeris, LodiaxRanez (for now)
People that can be picked for possible couples (and remember, this isn't yaoi, so keep it straight and possible, ^_^)
Tifa
Lodia
Avian
Vincent
Zack
Sephiroth
Rules: couples that I DON'T want: LodiaxRanez, LodiaxAvian, TifaxSephiroth
Make it possible ^_^
Also, go check out Jenova Cells by Neo-Sephiroth89 . It's kinda of graphic, so be forewarned, but I think Sephy fans will enjoy it.
Thanks to:
Neo-Sephiroth89: Yeah, I already mention the grammar errors. Ok, so I said spelling, close enough! Lol
Ah-Choo: lol yeah, I don't mind the coupling, but I dunno, it wouldn't work in my story.