Chapter 9
Plans within plans
Someone was sitting in a dark room with a TV set turned on as the man sitting on a chair was watching the news as a woman reporter was seen standing outside of NERV's private hospital.
"This is Lisa May from channel seven news, and I'm standing outside of NERV's private hospital where an hour ago an attack was staged on the complex and on the hospital itself. Three men with sliver hair staged the attack. We have no new information at this time." The man turned off the TV as he got up from his chair and he started walking over to a window. He was laughing as he spoke to himself.
"The two boys born from my blood and the one with the blood of the angels are going against NERV, as I had hoped they would. NERV, what will you do now? I will be watching from here on out." The man smiled. "Cloud, even if you find me, you can stop my plans. No one can stop me this time!" the original Sephiroth said as he stood in front of a window, laughing all the while.
Meanwhile at NERV, Cloud was sitting down at a table while Maya, Misato, and Fuyutski, while Asuka and Shinji were sitting near by. Misato was the first to speak. "Ok, we're all here so spill it. What do you know?"
"Well what do you want me to tell you about?" Cloud asked.
"Tell me what you know about Jenova cells." Asuka asked.
Cloud turned to face Asuka before speaking. "I am by no means an expert on Jenova, but from what I know about her, she isn't an ancient or a Certa. I discovered this fact while looking through the scientific recordings left by Professor Gast one of the founders of the Jenova project on my world. The report said that about two thousand years ago the Certa heard the cries of the planet. The first ones to discover the planet's wound were at the Knowlespole, which I think was the city of the ancients. The Certa had the power to communicate with nature and they discovered that something fell from the sky and made a large wound in the planet. Thousands of Certa pulled together trying to heal the planet. The wound was healed over many years."
"How could they heal their planet?" Shinji asked, "Did the Certa possess some kind of special power?"
"No, it wasn't any kind of special power. The life force of all living creatures on this planet is essentially energy, and they used that to heal the planet. The Certa tired desperately to cultivate the land for the need energy, but the planet was withering away. First the land and then the planet began growing weak. The planet tried to convince the people to leave the Knowlespole. The Certa were hesitant to leave at first, but the Certa were convinced. When the Certa were preparing to part with the land they loved, that was when Jenova first appeared. Jenova assumed the forms of the Certa's dead mothers and brothers. It was like Jenova was showing them specters of their past. That was when the Certa learned that the one who injured the planet, or the 'crisis from the skies' as they called it, came before them. If first approached as a friend then it gave the Certa a virus. The Certa who were attacked by the virus went mad and were transformed into monsters. It attacked the other Certa clans and gave them the virus until a few surviving Certa were able to imprison Jenova. However, the virus wiped out so many members of the Certa population that Certa were practically wiped out. There were some members of the Certa race who chose to stay away from the battle with Jenova. Those Certa became the humans on my planet."
"Wow that much happened. Then if Jenova isn't a Certa, then what is she?" Asuka asked.
"I don't know, but she was referred to as 'crisis from the skies'. So I think she was some kind of alien." Cloud answered.
"Now there is something I want to know. You're from another planet aren't you? How did you get here?" Maya asked.
"Well, I am not entirely sure. The last thing I remembered was that I was with my friends deep within the planet, and we had just defeated Sephiroth. Suddenly we are all killed when the lifestream rose up and engulfed us all while it was unleashing Holy. The next thing I know, I was waking up on a beach with my sword on this world. I was told that year was 2005. I noticed that there was materia stuck on my body, so I think the Mako from my world had made its way here somehow and I was reborn or brought back to life through it. When I was awake, I felt Sephiroth's presence and then I heard the voice of my friend saying find Sephiroth and stop him. 'Please don't let this world suffer the same fate our world suffered', it said to me." Cloud said.
"So who is this Sephiroth guy?" Maya asked.
"Sephiroth was a general of the Shinra army on my world, and the greatest warrior as well. He was the best at everything. Military tactics, swordsman skills, and the use of materia. Sephiroth had taken command of the army as general when he was fourteen years old, and he ended a war that was going on at the time in a few years. Sephiroth was indeed the most powerful man on earth in terms of power and intelligence. Hell, people said that he was more powerful than the President. The people loved him and he was the greatest hero who had ever lived." Cloud heaved a light sigh as he finished.
"So what happened?" Asuka asked.
"I joined the Shinra army hoping to become like Sephiroth. Many men wanted the kind of power Sephiroth had. Hell, he had so many fan girls that they were throwing themselves at his feet! He was worshipped by them." Cloud said.
"Wow. He really had it all, didn't he?" Maya said.
"I know. I was a normal solider at the time. By the time I had joined the war had ended. Men like Sephiroth were assigned to lesser duties and one of them was to put down any resistance against Shinra. When I was sixteen Sephiroth and I, along with a few others, were sent to my hometown to investigate a Mako reactor that was creating monsters. While Sephiroth and I were on route to the reactor we encounter a monster. I watched Sephiroth take the monster down, and let me tell you Sephiroth's strength is unreal. He is far stronger in reality than any story you could hear about him. I was completely mesmerized by the way Sephiroth fought. Once the monster was dead we reached Nibelheim, my hometown..." Cloud paused for a second, remembering his hometown. A discreet cough brought him back to reality, and he continued.
"Sephiroth said that his mother was called Jenova, but he didn't really say anything about his father. Anyway, after we settled down at town for the night, the next morning we went to the Mako reactor high on Mt. Nibel. When we reached it we found something very disturbing. After Sephiroth and Zack repaired the damaged to the reactor, they discovered one of Shinra's secrets of the Jenova project. There were pods full of people who were human. People in Shinra exposed others to light amounts of Mako energy, giving them superhuman abilities. That is what Soldier was; Soldier was Shinra's elite for those who possessed super human abilities like Sephiroth." Cloud would have continued, but was interrupted by Shinji.
"So Shinra used this Mako stuff to make super soldiers?" Shinji asked.
"That's right, but Shinra did something else to those people in the pods. Hojo, who had taken over the Jenova project since he was one of its founders, had Shinra captured some humans and he exposed them to high doses of Mako energy. He also fed Jenova's cells to them, which turned them into monsters. The monsters were mutated living organisms produced by Mako energy and Jenova's cells. From what me and my friends learned years later, I think Hojo was trying to recreate an Ancient using the subjects of the Jenova project."
Once more, Cloud was interrupted by Asuka asking, "What is Mako energy?"
"Mako energy is an unlimited energy source that we call Mako. There were rumors that Mako energy is like the life-force energy of the planet, and it is made out the other life-force energies of living creatures. To put it simply, Mako or the Lifestream is made of the souls of all living things on the planet. When a living creature dies on your world, what happens to them after they die? The body decomposes, and returns to the Planet. Their consciousness, the heart and souls of both humans and all other living things return to the planet and join with the Lifestream. The spirits that return to the Planet merge with one another and roam the Planet. They roam, converge, and divide, becoming a swell, called the Lifestream. The Lifestream in other words is a path of energy or souls roaming the Planet. Mako in simple terms is also known as Spirit Energy." Amazingly, it was Misato who spoke.
"How did you know that?" Cloud asked.
"Those were Hojo's exact words when he told my father about the lifestream after they found him in Antarctica." Misato said.
Cloud jumped up from his seat. "Hojo is alive? But how?"
"Finish your story and I'll tell you!"
"Alright..." Cloud sat back down. "After Sephiroth and Zack fixed the reactor, he disappeared and was found inside the Shinra mansion in a secret lab and library. He was reading the reports and records on the Jenova project. In the end, what Sephiroth learned drove him mad, so burned down my hometown and he killed everyone, including my mother. After the incident, Sephiroth went up to the reactor to free Jenova, who was kept inside the reactor. Zack tried to confront Sephiroth, but he was badly injured by him. Then while Sephiroth was reaching for his mother I sneaked up on him and stabbed him in the back with Zack's sword. When I was done, I left Jenova's chamber to see how Zack and my other friend Tifa was doing. Then Sephiroth emerged from Jenova's chamber with Jenova's head. I guess stabbing him in the back with a big sword wasn't enough to take him down. So, as he was walking across the catwalk that went over the lifestream that was below it, I came at him with the sword again. Sephiroth turned around and stabbed me with his sword. Sephiroth thought I was finished, but I grabbed his sword and threw him over the catwalk. He was sent plummeting into the lifestream below. There was no way Sephiroth could have survived that fall. It was two hundred feet to the bottom." Cloud said as he stopped to take a break.
"Then Sephiroth was killed then, right?" Shinji asked.
"No he wasn't it. Sephiroth's body died, but his mind forced his Jenova cells to revive him and the Lifestream cocooned him in materia. His body was kept up inside the northern crater for five years. Sephiroth was somehow able to control clones of him and he used them to search the planet for a way to punish the humans, who in Sephiroth's view had betrayed the Certa to their fate. Zack and I survived the events at Nibelheim, but Hojo had injected us with Jenova's cells and placed us in tanks filled with Mako. Zack woke up and he busted us out. I was comatose at the time, but when we reached Midgar we were attacked by Shinra soldiers and they killed Zack. I was left for dead. Five years later, I was with an environmental group called Avalanche that was bent on putting an end to Shinra's Mako reactors that were damaging the planet. During our time together, Shinra captured us. However, we were freed and we discovered that Sephiroth attacked the Shinra and freed Jenova, who was moved there at the time. He killed President Shinra, allowing his son Rufus to take over. After chasing him across the planet, we learned that Sephiroth planned to use something called 'Black materia' to summon the most destructive force known to the Certa." Cloud stopped to breath.
"Meteor." Misato said, finishing Cloud's statements.
"That's right. We were able to get our hand on the black materia first, but Sephiroth forced me to hand it over to him. Like I said, Sephiroth was able to not only control his clones, but he apparently had power over those who had Jenova's cells. Lucky, he wasn't able to control me for very long, but the damage was already done. After he acquired the black materia, one of my friends said that she had a way to stop Sephiroth. She disappeared from our group and went to the city of the ancients to pray for Holy using her White materia. Holy was the only thing that could counter meteor's power. She was calling Holy, but Sephiroth knew what Aeris was doing, and he tried to force me to kill her. I was able to prevent him from forcing me to carry out his wishes, but as Aeris and I were looking at one another... Sephiroth, he..." Cloud stopped as he started crying and he slowly. "He...jumped down from the ceiling and he...he killed her. He stabbed through her spine and her stomach, killing her almost instantly."
Maya gasped. "That monster! So you and Aeris were in love?"
"Sort of, but we didn't have a serious relationship or anything like that." Cloud slowly calmed down and dried his tears.
"I am sorry for bringing it up, but please go on Cloud..." Maya said.
"Its alright. After we laid Aeris to rest, we continued after Sephiroth and we chased him to the Northern Crater where all of his other clones were gathering. We learned that the Sephiroth we have been chasing was a clone, so we fought it and defeated the clone, reclaiming the Black materia. But when we reached the center of the crater, we found the real Sephiroth. I think the closer we were to Sephiroth, the stronger his hold is on his clones or those who had Jenova's cells became. He forced me to hand the black materia over to him, and thus Sephiroth called Meteor. Sephiroth's plan was to injure the planet so badly that it would call on the power of the Lifestream to save itself. Sephiroth would merge himself with the Lifestream energy and would be reborn as some kind of god-like entity. After we encounter Sephiroth at the center of the crater, we learned that Sephiroth has been using all of his clones to carry out his plans while the real Sephiroth was still cocooned in the northern crater. We also found Weapon there." Cloud said, but he stopped to take a break.
"Weapon? What the heck is that?" Asuka asked.
"Weapon. Monsters created by the Planet. It appears when the Planet is in danger, reducing everything to nothingness including all threats to the planet. I would say that they are kinda like the angels that you guys are fighting."
Maya shook her head. "Sephiroth, Meteor, and now Weapon. Damn, and I thought we had it bad!"
"Well, after Sephiroth forced me to hand over the black materia to him, all hell broke lose. When Meteor was summoned, it awoke the weapons. For one week while Weapon was wreaking havoc on the planet, meteor was getting closer and closer. Sephiroth had somehow used the part of my body that was manipulated by Jenova to call Meteor. After Meteor started, I was left in a comatose state until the damage done by both Sephiroth and Hojo was undone. Afterwards, we began looking for a way to combat Meteor and we ended up fighting some of the weapons. As big as the Weapons were, they didn't possess an AT field like the Angels you people fight. So with the combined use of materia, which granted us magical abilities, we were able to defeat all of the weapons. That is, except for two of them which were taken out by Shinra. During our search for a way to beat Meteor, Shinra fired a rocket into space loaded with large materia that possessed enough explosive yields to be far more powerful than an N2 bomb. The missile hit, but Meteor pulled itself back together. It seemed like all hope was lost until we discovered that Aeris had called Holy, which was the only thing that could stop Sephiroth and Meteor. We learned that the reason why Holy hadn't moved was because Sephiroth was holding Holy back. So the only way to free Holy so it could combat Meteor was to kill Sephiroth. We tired to break through the barrier that protected Sephiroth, but Shinra did the job for us and fired a weapon that broke the barrier. After an encounter with Hojo, we made our way to the Crater to face Sephiroth. We traveled deep into the planet to face him, but when we got close to him, Jenova attacked. We defeated her, and then we came face to face with Sephiroth himself. Sephiroth was powerful, but we were able to hold our ground as he transformed into a larger monster. It was tough battle, but we prevailed in the end. However, Sephiroth wasn't finished yet. He pulled me and a few others into the lifestream, where he transformed into another form, which had seven angel wings. This new form of Sephiroth's was far more powerful than anything we had ever faced. We were almost killed, but thanks to the support of my friends we defeated him, or so we were led to believe. After the battle, we were all about to leave the crater when the lifestream killed us. I don't know what happened after that. I think when Sephiroth used the Lifestream to cocoon himself; I was put in there as well so I could fight him when Sephiroth landed on another planet. I don't know how it happened, but here I am." Cloud said as his story ended.
"I think I can answer what happened after Cloud and his friends fought Sephiroth." Misato said.
"Then please inform us." Fuyutski issued the statement coldly.
"Hojo told my father that Sephiroth remerged from the lifestream and he positioned himself over Midgar, waiting for the lifestream to move against Meteor. Holy rose up instead and attacked Meteor, but something must have gone wrong. Holy failed to destroy Meteor."
"But wasn't Holy suppose to destroy Meteor?" Shinji asked.
"I think I can answer what happened. A friend told me that Holy does what the planet commands it to do. He said that it is up to the planet to decide. What is best for the planet and what is bad for the planet? All that is bad will disappear. I think the planet wanted to be destroy since humans were killing it with the Mako reactors." Cloud replied.
"Well, that sucks." Asuka said the phrase with distaste.
"How did Hojo appear on this planet?" Fuyutski asked.
"When the lifestream energy emerged to stop Meteor, Sephiroth started absorbing it. If the planet wanted to be destroyed or not, I think another force was trying to stop meteor, but since Sephiroth absorbed all of the energy the Lifestream couldn't stop meteor. But something went wrong, and Sephiroth wasn't able to fully absorb the lifestream energy. Hojo said that Sephiroth's body wasn't able to take in all of that energy, so he had no choice but to move away or be killed by Meteor. While Sephiroth was escaping, Hojo probably grabbed onto Sephiroth as he was flying away from Midgar. Sephiroth used his power to cocoon himself in Materia, and then launched himself into space just before Meteor destroyed the planet. Then, many years later, Sephiroth landed on our world." Misato finish her part of the story.
"So Sephiroth destroyed our world and landed on yours after he escaped... What else happened?" Cloud asked.
"I never told anyone the full details of what happened, but Hojo was discovered by my father's associates and that was when he showed us the meteor where Sephiroth was imprisoned in. Jenova's remains were also with him. After Hojo told my father everything about Sephiroth and Jenova, a bunch of helicopters came to pick up Jenova since her remains were in another part of the meteor that had broken off from the rest of it, and it was much easier to transport. Hojo was supposed to go with them so he could meet with my father's benefactors for a job offering. After Hojo left with Jenova, we found Adam and that was when the second impact was started, but during Adam's attack, Sephiroth must have woken up and must have assumed human form. He went on a killing spree. After my father put me in a capsule, he was killed by Sephiroth." Misato continued speaking as tear fell down her face. "His insane smile and his face burned its way into my mind. I will never forget what Sephiroth did to my father! After Sephiroth killed my father, he changed into another form that Cloud and his friends might have fought, but it was big as the angel itself. The last thing I saw was Sephiroth and Adam fighting one another. A few moments later, Adam must have self-destructed in an attempt to destroy Sephiroth."
"I hope Adam killed Sephiroth!" Asuka shouted.
Cloud glared at Asuka. "I don't think Sephiroth was killed."
"Say what? Adam self-destructed in his face, so there is no way that he could have survived!" Maya said.
"Sephiroth has cheated death twice. He can't be killed so easily. For ten long years I have wandered this planet. Every time I went to bed at night, I can hear Sephiroth in my mind, laughing at me. I am sure Sephiroth is alive and well, and he's out there somewhere."
Shinji grimaced. "That's scary thought"
"If Sephiroth is out there what do you think he is up to?" Asuka asked.
"I don't know, but I'm more worried about Hojo right now. If he's around, then there's no telling what kind of damage he has already caused." Cloud replied.
"I met Hojo earlier today. He was visiting Asuka, saying he had given her something that would help her." Shinji said.
"He did what to me?!" Asuka yelled.
"He probably injected you with Jenova's cells." Cloud said.
"That bastard! I'll break every bone in his body if I see him again!" Asuka yelled as her fist tightened with anger.
Shinji was a bit worried about the fact that there was something far more dangerous than the Angels out there. Shinji hoped he didn't have to fight him. The situation was looking grave for the others. When Cloud had told his story, Fuyutski got up from where he was sitting and he walked away with a tape recorder in his hand. He had recorded their entire conversation for Gendo to hear later.
"The situation has become far more complex." Fuyutski thought as he walked off. When Fuyutski left the cafeteria, he passed Rei who seemed to be standing near the door. Rei seemed to have been eavesdropping on their conversation the whole time. Fuyutski didn't care about that as he walked off.
Plans within plans
Someone was sitting in a dark room with a TV set turned on as the man sitting on a chair was watching the news as a woman reporter was seen standing outside of NERV's private hospital.
"This is Lisa May from channel seven news, and I'm standing outside of NERV's private hospital where an hour ago an attack was staged on the complex and on the hospital itself. Three men with sliver hair staged the attack. We have no new information at this time." The man turned off the TV as he got up from his chair and he started walking over to a window. He was laughing as he spoke to himself.
"The two boys born from my blood and the one with the blood of the angels are going against NERV, as I had hoped they would. NERV, what will you do now? I will be watching from here on out." The man smiled. "Cloud, even if you find me, you can stop my plans. No one can stop me this time!" the original Sephiroth said as he stood in front of a window, laughing all the while.
Meanwhile at NERV, Cloud was sitting down at a table while Maya, Misato, and Fuyutski, while Asuka and Shinji were sitting near by. Misato was the first to speak. "Ok, we're all here so spill it. What do you know?"
"Well what do you want me to tell you about?" Cloud asked.
"Tell me what you know about Jenova cells." Asuka asked.
Cloud turned to face Asuka before speaking. "I am by no means an expert on Jenova, but from what I know about her, she isn't an ancient or a Certa. I discovered this fact while looking through the scientific recordings left by Professor Gast one of the founders of the Jenova project on my world. The report said that about two thousand years ago the Certa heard the cries of the planet. The first ones to discover the planet's wound were at the Knowlespole, which I think was the city of the ancients. The Certa had the power to communicate with nature and they discovered that something fell from the sky and made a large wound in the planet. Thousands of Certa pulled together trying to heal the planet. The wound was healed over many years."
"How could they heal their planet?" Shinji asked, "Did the Certa possess some kind of special power?"
"No, it wasn't any kind of special power. The life force of all living creatures on this planet is essentially energy, and they used that to heal the planet. The Certa tired desperately to cultivate the land for the need energy, but the planet was withering away. First the land and then the planet began growing weak. The planet tried to convince the people to leave the Knowlespole. The Certa were hesitant to leave at first, but the Certa were convinced. When the Certa were preparing to part with the land they loved, that was when Jenova first appeared. Jenova assumed the forms of the Certa's dead mothers and brothers. It was like Jenova was showing them specters of their past. That was when the Certa learned that the one who injured the planet, or the 'crisis from the skies' as they called it, came before them. If first approached as a friend then it gave the Certa a virus. The Certa who were attacked by the virus went mad and were transformed into monsters. It attacked the other Certa clans and gave them the virus until a few surviving Certa were able to imprison Jenova. However, the virus wiped out so many members of the Certa population that Certa were practically wiped out. There were some members of the Certa race who chose to stay away from the battle with Jenova. Those Certa became the humans on my planet."
"Wow that much happened. Then if Jenova isn't a Certa, then what is she?" Asuka asked.
"I don't know, but she was referred to as 'crisis from the skies'. So I think she was some kind of alien." Cloud answered.
"Now there is something I want to know. You're from another planet aren't you? How did you get here?" Maya asked.
"Well, I am not entirely sure. The last thing I remembered was that I was with my friends deep within the planet, and we had just defeated Sephiroth. Suddenly we are all killed when the lifestream rose up and engulfed us all while it was unleashing Holy. The next thing I know, I was waking up on a beach with my sword on this world. I was told that year was 2005. I noticed that there was materia stuck on my body, so I think the Mako from my world had made its way here somehow and I was reborn or brought back to life through it. When I was awake, I felt Sephiroth's presence and then I heard the voice of my friend saying find Sephiroth and stop him. 'Please don't let this world suffer the same fate our world suffered', it said to me." Cloud said.
"So who is this Sephiroth guy?" Maya asked.
"Sephiroth was a general of the Shinra army on my world, and the greatest warrior as well. He was the best at everything. Military tactics, swordsman skills, and the use of materia. Sephiroth had taken command of the army as general when he was fourteen years old, and he ended a war that was going on at the time in a few years. Sephiroth was indeed the most powerful man on earth in terms of power and intelligence. Hell, people said that he was more powerful than the President. The people loved him and he was the greatest hero who had ever lived." Cloud heaved a light sigh as he finished.
"So what happened?" Asuka asked.
"I joined the Shinra army hoping to become like Sephiroth. Many men wanted the kind of power Sephiroth had. Hell, he had so many fan girls that they were throwing themselves at his feet! He was worshipped by them." Cloud said.
"Wow. He really had it all, didn't he?" Maya said.
"I know. I was a normal solider at the time. By the time I had joined the war had ended. Men like Sephiroth were assigned to lesser duties and one of them was to put down any resistance against Shinra. When I was sixteen Sephiroth and I, along with a few others, were sent to my hometown to investigate a Mako reactor that was creating monsters. While Sephiroth and I were on route to the reactor we encounter a monster. I watched Sephiroth take the monster down, and let me tell you Sephiroth's strength is unreal. He is far stronger in reality than any story you could hear about him. I was completely mesmerized by the way Sephiroth fought. Once the monster was dead we reached Nibelheim, my hometown..." Cloud paused for a second, remembering his hometown. A discreet cough brought him back to reality, and he continued.
"Sephiroth said that his mother was called Jenova, but he didn't really say anything about his father. Anyway, after we settled down at town for the night, the next morning we went to the Mako reactor high on Mt. Nibel. When we reached it we found something very disturbing. After Sephiroth and Zack repaired the damaged to the reactor, they discovered one of Shinra's secrets of the Jenova project. There were pods full of people who were human. People in Shinra exposed others to light amounts of Mako energy, giving them superhuman abilities. That is what Soldier was; Soldier was Shinra's elite for those who possessed super human abilities like Sephiroth." Cloud would have continued, but was interrupted by Shinji.
"So Shinra used this Mako stuff to make super soldiers?" Shinji asked.
"That's right, but Shinra did something else to those people in the pods. Hojo, who had taken over the Jenova project since he was one of its founders, had Shinra captured some humans and he exposed them to high doses of Mako energy. He also fed Jenova's cells to them, which turned them into monsters. The monsters were mutated living organisms produced by Mako energy and Jenova's cells. From what me and my friends learned years later, I think Hojo was trying to recreate an Ancient using the subjects of the Jenova project."
Once more, Cloud was interrupted by Asuka asking, "What is Mako energy?"
"Mako energy is an unlimited energy source that we call Mako. There were rumors that Mako energy is like the life-force energy of the planet, and it is made out the other life-force energies of living creatures. To put it simply, Mako or the Lifestream is made of the souls of all living things on the planet. When a living creature dies on your world, what happens to them after they die? The body decomposes, and returns to the Planet. Their consciousness, the heart and souls of both humans and all other living things return to the planet and join with the Lifestream. The spirits that return to the Planet merge with one another and roam the Planet. They roam, converge, and divide, becoming a swell, called the Lifestream. The Lifestream in other words is a path of energy or souls roaming the Planet. Mako in simple terms is also known as Spirit Energy." Amazingly, it was Misato who spoke.
"How did you know that?" Cloud asked.
"Those were Hojo's exact words when he told my father about the lifestream after they found him in Antarctica." Misato said.
Cloud jumped up from his seat. "Hojo is alive? But how?"
"Finish your story and I'll tell you!"
"Alright..." Cloud sat back down. "After Sephiroth and Zack fixed the reactor, he disappeared and was found inside the Shinra mansion in a secret lab and library. He was reading the reports and records on the Jenova project. In the end, what Sephiroth learned drove him mad, so burned down my hometown and he killed everyone, including my mother. After the incident, Sephiroth went up to the reactor to free Jenova, who was kept inside the reactor. Zack tried to confront Sephiroth, but he was badly injured by him. Then while Sephiroth was reaching for his mother I sneaked up on him and stabbed him in the back with Zack's sword. When I was done, I left Jenova's chamber to see how Zack and my other friend Tifa was doing. Then Sephiroth emerged from Jenova's chamber with Jenova's head. I guess stabbing him in the back with a big sword wasn't enough to take him down. So, as he was walking across the catwalk that went over the lifestream that was below it, I came at him with the sword again. Sephiroth turned around and stabbed me with his sword. Sephiroth thought I was finished, but I grabbed his sword and threw him over the catwalk. He was sent plummeting into the lifestream below. There was no way Sephiroth could have survived that fall. It was two hundred feet to the bottom." Cloud said as he stopped to take a break.
"Then Sephiroth was killed then, right?" Shinji asked.
"No he wasn't it. Sephiroth's body died, but his mind forced his Jenova cells to revive him and the Lifestream cocooned him in materia. His body was kept up inside the northern crater for five years. Sephiroth was somehow able to control clones of him and he used them to search the planet for a way to punish the humans, who in Sephiroth's view had betrayed the Certa to their fate. Zack and I survived the events at Nibelheim, but Hojo had injected us with Jenova's cells and placed us in tanks filled with Mako. Zack woke up and he busted us out. I was comatose at the time, but when we reached Midgar we were attacked by Shinra soldiers and they killed Zack. I was left for dead. Five years later, I was with an environmental group called Avalanche that was bent on putting an end to Shinra's Mako reactors that were damaging the planet. During our time together, Shinra captured us. However, we were freed and we discovered that Sephiroth attacked the Shinra and freed Jenova, who was moved there at the time. He killed President Shinra, allowing his son Rufus to take over. After chasing him across the planet, we learned that Sephiroth planned to use something called 'Black materia' to summon the most destructive force known to the Certa." Cloud stopped to breath.
"Meteor." Misato said, finishing Cloud's statements.
"That's right. We were able to get our hand on the black materia first, but Sephiroth forced me to hand it over to him. Like I said, Sephiroth was able to not only control his clones, but he apparently had power over those who had Jenova's cells. Lucky, he wasn't able to control me for very long, but the damage was already done. After he acquired the black materia, one of my friends said that she had a way to stop Sephiroth. She disappeared from our group and went to the city of the ancients to pray for Holy using her White materia. Holy was the only thing that could counter meteor's power. She was calling Holy, but Sephiroth knew what Aeris was doing, and he tried to force me to kill her. I was able to prevent him from forcing me to carry out his wishes, but as Aeris and I were looking at one another... Sephiroth, he..." Cloud stopped as he started crying and he slowly. "He...jumped down from the ceiling and he...he killed her. He stabbed through her spine and her stomach, killing her almost instantly."
Maya gasped. "That monster! So you and Aeris were in love?"
"Sort of, but we didn't have a serious relationship or anything like that." Cloud slowly calmed down and dried his tears.
"I am sorry for bringing it up, but please go on Cloud..." Maya said.
"Its alright. After we laid Aeris to rest, we continued after Sephiroth and we chased him to the Northern Crater where all of his other clones were gathering. We learned that the Sephiroth we have been chasing was a clone, so we fought it and defeated the clone, reclaiming the Black materia. But when we reached the center of the crater, we found the real Sephiroth. I think the closer we were to Sephiroth, the stronger his hold is on his clones or those who had Jenova's cells became. He forced me to hand the black materia over to him, and thus Sephiroth called Meteor. Sephiroth's plan was to injure the planet so badly that it would call on the power of the Lifestream to save itself. Sephiroth would merge himself with the Lifestream energy and would be reborn as some kind of god-like entity. After we encounter Sephiroth at the center of the crater, we learned that Sephiroth has been using all of his clones to carry out his plans while the real Sephiroth was still cocooned in the northern crater. We also found Weapon there." Cloud said, but he stopped to take a break.
"Weapon? What the heck is that?" Asuka asked.
"Weapon. Monsters created by the Planet. It appears when the Planet is in danger, reducing everything to nothingness including all threats to the planet. I would say that they are kinda like the angels that you guys are fighting."
Maya shook her head. "Sephiroth, Meteor, and now Weapon. Damn, and I thought we had it bad!"
"Well, after Sephiroth forced me to hand over the black materia to him, all hell broke lose. When Meteor was summoned, it awoke the weapons. For one week while Weapon was wreaking havoc on the planet, meteor was getting closer and closer. Sephiroth had somehow used the part of my body that was manipulated by Jenova to call Meteor. After Meteor started, I was left in a comatose state until the damage done by both Sephiroth and Hojo was undone. Afterwards, we began looking for a way to combat Meteor and we ended up fighting some of the weapons. As big as the Weapons were, they didn't possess an AT field like the Angels you people fight. So with the combined use of materia, which granted us magical abilities, we were able to defeat all of the weapons. That is, except for two of them which were taken out by Shinra. During our search for a way to beat Meteor, Shinra fired a rocket into space loaded with large materia that possessed enough explosive yields to be far more powerful than an N2 bomb. The missile hit, but Meteor pulled itself back together. It seemed like all hope was lost until we discovered that Aeris had called Holy, which was the only thing that could stop Sephiroth and Meteor. We learned that the reason why Holy hadn't moved was because Sephiroth was holding Holy back. So the only way to free Holy so it could combat Meteor was to kill Sephiroth. We tired to break through the barrier that protected Sephiroth, but Shinra did the job for us and fired a weapon that broke the barrier. After an encounter with Hojo, we made our way to the Crater to face Sephiroth. We traveled deep into the planet to face him, but when we got close to him, Jenova attacked. We defeated her, and then we came face to face with Sephiroth himself. Sephiroth was powerful, but we were able to hold our ground as he transformed into a larger monster. It was tough battle, but we prevailed in the end. However, Sephiroth wasn't finished yet. He pulled me and a few others into the lifestream, where he transformed into another form, which had seven angel wings. This new form of Sephiroth's was far more powerful than anything we had ever faced. We were almost killed, but thanks to the support of my friends we defeated him, or so we were led to believe. After the battle, we were all about to leave the crater when the lifestream killed us. I don't know what happened after that. I think when Sephiroth used the Lifestream to cocoon himself; I was put in there as well so I could fight him when Sephiroth landed on another planet. I don't know how it happened, but here I am." Cloud said as his story ended.
"I think I can answer what happened after Cloud and his friends fought Sephiroth." Misato said.
"Then please inform us." Fuyutski issued the statement coldly.
"Hojo told my father that Sephiroth remerged from the lifestream and he positioned himself over Midgar, waiting for the lifestream to move against Meteor. Holy rose up instead and attacked Meteor, but something must have gone wrong. Holy failed to destroy Meteor."
"But wasn't Holy suppose to destroy Meteor?" Shinji asked.
"I think I can answer what happened. A friend told me that Holy does what the planet commands it to do. He said that it is up to the planet to decide. What is best for the planet and what is bad for the planet? All that is bad will disappear. I think the planet wanted to be destroy since humans were killing it with the Mako reactors." Cloud replied.
"Well, that sucks." Asuka said the phrase with distaste.
"How did Hojo appear on this planet?" Fuyutski asked.
"When the lifestream energy emerged to stop Meteor, Sephiroth started absorbing it. If the planet wanted to be destroyed or not, I think another force was trying to stop meteor, but since Sephiroth absorbed all of the energy the Lifestream couldn't stop meteor. But something went wrong, and Sephiroth wasn't able to fully absorb the lifestream energy. Hojo said that Sephiroth's body wasn't able to take in all of that energy, so he had no choice but to move away or be killed by Meteor. While Sephiroth was escaping, Hojo probably grabbed onto Sephiroth as he was flying away from Midgar. Sephiroth used his power to cocoon himself in Materia, and then launched himself into space just before Meteor destroyed the planet. Then, many years later, Sephiroth landed on our world." Misato finish her part of the story.
"So Sephiroth destroyed our world and landed on yours after he escaped... What else happened?" Cloud asked.
"I never told anyone the full details of what happened, but Hojo was discovered by my father's associates and that was when he showed us the meteor where Sephiroth was imprisoned in. Jenova's remains were also with him. After Hojo told my father everything about Sephiroth and Jenova, a bunch of helicopters came to pick up Jenova since her remains were in another part of the meteor that had broken off from the rest of it, and it was much easier to transport. Hojo was supposed to go with them so he could meet with my father's benefactors for a job offering. After Hojo left with Jenova, we found Adam and that was when the second impact was started, but during Adam's attack, Sephiroth must have woken up and must have assumed human form. He went on a killing spree. After my father put me in a capsule, he was killed by Sephiroth." Misato continued speaking as tear fell down her face. "His insane smile and his face burned its way into my mind. I will never forget what Sephiroth did to my father! After Sephiroth killed my father, he changed into another form that Cloud and his friends might have fought, but it was big as the angel itself. The last thing I saw was Sephiroth and Adam fighting one another. A few moments later, Adam must have self-destructed in an attempt to destroy Sephiroth."
"I hope Adam killed Sephiroth!" Asuka shouted.
Cloud glared at Asuka. "I don't think Sephiroth was killed."
"Say what? Adam self-destructed in his face, so there is no way that he could have survived!" Maya said.
"Sephiroth has cheated death twice. He can't be killed so easily. For ten long years I have wandered this planet. Every time I went to bed at night, I can hear Sephiroth in my mind, laughing at me. I am sure Sephiroth is alive and well, and he's out there somewhere."
Shinji grimaced. "That's scary thought"
"If Sephiroth is out there what do you think he is up to?" Asuka asked.
"I don't know, but I'm more worried about Hojo right now. If he's around, then there's no telling what kind of damage he has already caused." Cloud replied.
"I met Hojo earlier today. He was visiting Asuka, saying he had given her something that would help her." Shinji said.
"He did what to me?!" Asuka yelled.
"He probably injected you with Jenova's cells." Cloud said.
"That bastard! I'll break every bone in his body if I see him again!" Asuka yelled as her fist tightened with anger.
Shinji was a bit worried about the fact that there was something far more dangerous than the Angels out there. Shinji hoped he didn't have to fight him. The situation was looking grave for the others. When Cloud had told his story, Fuyutski got up from where he was sitting and he walked away with a tape recorder in his hand. He had recorded their entire conversation for Gendo to hear later.
"The situation has become far more complex." Fuyutski thought as he walked off. When Fuyutski left the cafeteria, he passed Rei who seemed to be standing near the door. Rei seemed to have been eavesdropping on their conversation the whole time. Fuyutski didn't care about that as he walked off.