The Song of Eternity
Canto 3
The Return of Sephiroth
Verse 5
The Lifestream
Sent together to stop a plant of monstrosities,
Tied together by fate and circumstance,
They face their first challenge,
And are taken by surprise.
Keep, Vincent, and Red XII sat on the top of the grassy area above Junon. "This is not gonna work," he said pessimistically.
"Sure it will. Now that we've split the materia we have up, things should be a lot easier," Red replied to the newcomer.
"First of all, I don't even think we'll get off the ground here. SOLDIERs will be all over us before we can take off. Second of all, do you really think we can pull this off?" He looked at Vincent as he asked the question.
"Take it easy Keep. I'll be able to shoot any SOLDIERs before they get close. And we have to try. With the materia and our combined skills, we should be able to pull this off as long as there are no surprises," Vincent said before he looked up as if he heard a noise. "Here's our ride," he stated as what looked like a modified Tiny Bronco flew close to the ground and hovered above them, dropping down a ladder.
"Get you're asses up here, we ain't gonna be able to stay here all day!" The voice of a lifelong smoker shouted at them from the cockpit. They quickly ascended the ladder and took seats in the Tiny Bronco. "Where the hell have you been?" Cid questioned Vincent as the Tiny Bronco sped away from Junon through the sky.
"Sleeping. What did you do to the Tiny Bronco?" Vincent asked Cid as he examined the strange machinery attached to the plane.
"Had to fix it up enough to get spike and the others wherever they've wanted. It was a bitch to get it to hover," Cid explained as he expelled smoke through his nose. "I've been hiding the thing near what's left of Nibelheim. It's getting risky, you people better get your asses in gear and kill Sephiroth. Now sit back while I crank it up to full power," Cid ordered as he tossed his cigarette out the window and closed it. He hit a red button on the control panel causing the Tiny Bronco to lurch forward at an incredible rate of speed.
"What did you do!?" Vincent shouted over the roar of the engines.
"I worked on building a new rocket before Sephiroth attacked. I had a lot of the fuel stashed away, so I use it to give this baby some kick!" Cid shouted back as the landscape went by below them. "And, there we go!" Cid shouted as he cut off the rocket power and the Tiny Bronco slowed down. "Grab the chutes under your seats and don't get yourself killed. Radio me when you need picked up," Cid ordered as he pressed another button and a door in the back of the plane opened.
"See you in an hour Cid," Vincent replied before he fell from the plane.
Red XIII followed closely behind him, pulling at the ripcord with his mouth. Keep looked out the back of the plane, then back up at Cid. "You have got to be kidding me!" Keep shouted over the roar of the wind.
"Get your ass outta the plane," Cid said as he pulled up causing Keep to lose his balance and fall out the back of the plane.
"This suuuuuucks!" Keep screamed as the ground rushed up at him. He rolled when he hit the ground, getting twisted up in his parachute. "I'm getting too old for this," he laughed to himself as Nanaki and Vincent helped him out.
"You okay?" Vincent asked as Keep finally got free of his parachute.
"Super. Let's get this over with," he said sarcastically. Vincent and Nanaki ran off in front of Keep towards the building by the edge of a cliff near the ocean. Keep saw the huge plumes of smoke pouring from the smokestacks and figured the building as the robotics plant. He came to a stop beside the others as they stopped at the corner of the building.
Vincent looked at the main entrance to the factory and pulled out a gun and carefully sighted it at a camera above the entrance. He squeezed off a single shot, shattering the camera in junk. "Let's go, quickly," he ordered as they ran together to the door with weapons drawn. "Keep, door," Vincent ordered as he scouted the area for enemies.
"Gotcha," Keep replied as he kicked the door open and Vincent fired half a dozen shots into the darkness. "Clear!" Keep shouted as he stuck his head in the door. They entered quickly and made their way deeper towards the center of the factory. "There it is," Keep pointed at the mako reactor powering the assembly line for Sephiroth's machine warriors.
"We've been spotted," Nanaki pointed out as several machines began to come to life and move towards them. "Vincent, go plant the bomb, then call Cid for pickup," Nanaki ordered as Vincent dashed to the reactor leaving Nanaki and Keep alone with several robots. "Time to go to work," Nanaki laughed as he charged into battle against the robots.
"Just what I've been waiting for," Keep replied as he faced off with a few machines. Nanaki was making short work of his opponents, but more and more were awakening and they could hear Vincent shooting at some down by the reactor. Keep was demolishing the half dozen closest to him, finally jumping over the rail to go help Vincent.
"Valentine, we gotta go! These tin men are waking up!" Keep shouted as he sliced through several robots with a single swing. He was sweating profusely. Not because of exertion, because he was liking what he was doing. He finally made his way to Vincent and covered his back while Vincent armed the bomb.
"There, time to go," Vincent replied as he finished arming the bomb. Keep looked at the device, looking past it where some parts of the lifestream the reactor ran on could be seen though the floor.
"Should that be doing that?" he asked Vincent who turned back to him after blasting a dozen machines with Bolt3.
Vincent's eyes got wide as the lifestream started to seep upwards through the floor. "Run! Now!" He shouted as he and Keep took off at a dead sprint to where they could hear Nanaki fighting. "Nanaki! Run now, the lifestream is bubbling up like in Mideel!" Nanaki heard Vincent and immediately unleashed a Bahamut summon, destroying several machines near him.
The three of them ran to the door with Nanaki in front, followed by Vincent and Keep. Nanaki continually kept blast machines out of their way with what little materia he had, while Vincent kept shooting with one hand and shouted at Cid through the radio in his other hand. "Cid! Get down here now!" All Keep and the others could hear was intense swearing as a response.
Finally they came to the door and burst out of it into the daylight to find themselves surrounded. No less than three dozen SOLDIERs circled around them, with Sephiroth himself standing there looking at them in amusement. "Brilliant work, you almost got away…pitiful creatures. You, Vincent Valentine, what was it you said about killing me for good?" Sephiroth laughed as he pulled out his masamune.
Vincent noticed the dark spot of the Tiny Bronco coming closer and closer from the west with it's ladder dangling from the back and hoped no one else did. "You are my greatest mistake Sephiroth. The son of the woman I loved, gone mad, killing innocent people. You are my son. I will stop you," Vincent said as he quickly pulled up and took a single shot at Sephiroth's head.
The bullet stopped in the air an inch from his head and did not move until Sephiroth plucked it from the air and threw it to the ground. "Nice try. Too bad I am too far above you mere mortals now," Sephiroth laughed as he studied his enemies. His eyes rested on Keep and froze. "The bartender…there is something about him…agghh," Sephiroth howled in pain as he fell to his knees and clutched his head.
"Hit them and let's get out of here," Nanaki said as he and Vincent unleashed spells at Sephiroth and his forces, stunning them.
"There's the ladder, grab it and hurry," Keep shouted as the building behind them began to explode and sink into the lifestream. Nanaki ran up the ladder quickly as Vincent and Keep hung on for dear life as the tiny Bronco slowly flew over the emerging lifestream away from the SOLDIERs.
"Kill them!" Keep and Vincent looked back in time to see a barrage of bullets and magic spells coming their way.
"Shit!" Keep shouted as the blast impacted both of them, not killing them. Keep realized he suddenly felt very light and looked up as the Tiny Bronco sailed away though the air. The ladder had been severed by the attack. Keep looked down in time to see the lifestream swallow him and Vincent.