Author's Note: The punctuation problem in chapters one and two has been fixed. Chapters will continue to be relatively short; hopefully this story will be completed, unlike a lot of my previous work.
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ShinRa soldiers pressed up against a huge piece of machinery on giant caterpillar wheels to shift it across the edge of the oilfield, and voiced notifications of confirmation when the giant metal contraption was in place. At the base of the metallic foot was a control console, and a man in a navy blue suit approached, punching in some commands which came up on a monitor before him.
"Our target can be monitored through each spectrum of light. This time, we're prepared" Tseng said to a ShinRa commander. The trooper nodded and approached the console to investigate the piece of equipment himself. Tseng looked away, and to the white-coated President ShinRa who made his way across the oilfield to Elena. Tseng joined them both in conversation.
"And you found no trace of Wallace, or any of his companions?" Rufus asked firmly.
"We've searched the whole area."
"Not just the oilfield" Tseng added as he came to Rufus's side. "We even checked the town of Kalm, we couldn't find Wallace there, either. Maybe he's up to something."
"I'd at least like to know where he is before I initiate this operation. That man is a militant; he holds a grudge against the company just because he can."
Tseng and Elena both nodded in agreement, Barret Wallace had indeed had his fair share of activist achievements. Rufus raised his head and narrowed his eyes and glanced at the orange flaming sunset which matched the shade of his hair. "But our good friend Sephiroth isn't going to wait…"
Tseng and Elena eyed each other suspiciously, hoping the President would be taking the right precautions this time. Rufus bit his lower lip as he scanned the oilfield with his eyes. "I could certainly use Hojo right now."
Tseng's memory flashed a day back, with the face of a traumatized woman frozen in the overhead crimson light of the interior of the ShinRa hovercraft.
"Do you think she'll come back?" Tseng asked curiously, with his own estimations already wedged in his mind. Rufus's fringe swayed as he looked at Tseng oddly.
"Lacarste shouldn't have been exposed to that, it wasn't meant to happen, but I told her the risks" the President sighed. He then sprouted a predatory smirk. "… Of course, she'll be back. Her life has changed, and she's not a woman to back down."
Rufus brought a double-barreled shotgun up from his side and rested it on his shoulder, Tseng didn't know how hadn't managed to spot it previously. "We end that monster's journey tonight, but I'm never one to miss out on a window of opportunity."
Tseng narrowed his eyes and shot a look at Elena, studying her face for any sent of information. A blank shake of her head told him she knew nothing. Rufus offered them both a smile as he swirled around and approached the main mining drill situated in the middle of the oilfield. He raised his arm in the air, and with his fingers signaled for a group of inactive ShinRa soldiers to pull it down. "Get this thing pulled down, we'll need the oilfield as flat as possible."
Tseng and Elena caught up with Rufus with concerned thoughts as he carried on with preparations.
"Mister President, what exactly do you mean by… 'Window of opportunity'?" Tseng asked hastily.
"Sephiroth has proved a formidable foe, I doubt you'd disagree" Rufus said, keeping his eyes on the ground ahead as he walked across the field. Elena noticed his expression wasn't overconfident, but fixed in the future, planning ahead. "We can't kill him. I've strived to make his end the very cause of my life, when possibly I should instead adapt to the situation."
"I'm not understanding you, Rufus" Elena spoke up with a hint of disrespect. Rufus never cared for formality, and growing up he always had a problem with it, so he spared Elena the exercise of discipline and stopped in his tracks, grabbing her by the shoulder and looking her in the eye.
"It is my belief Sephiroth can't necessarily be killed, and therefore we need another method of stopping him. We can also benefit from the result of what happens here tonight."
"What method did you have in mind?" Tseng asked. He released Elena, and she shrugged off the tension. Rufus continued walking toward a large crane-like structure ShinRa had only recently assembled on the northern edge of the oilfield, facing the coast.
"We're going to catch him."
Tseng and Elena watched Rufus proceed toward the structure, as the cool air assisted in sending prickles across Tseng's back. Elena was less sure about the extremities Rufus would take, but then again she was less informed. Tseng swung around, considering what Rufus's words could mean.
"I hope he knows what he's doing" he said grimly. Elena looked at Tseng not as a love interest, but as her partner, and a Turk. A comment wouldn't have been necessary even if Elena wasn't the strong silent type she had become. She wasn't completely conscious of it, but Elena was a different person than she was a year and a half ago. Back then, Tseng and the others would be lucky if they could get five minutes silence out of her, enduring her unnecessary and somewhat clumsy comments all the time. With the realization that being a Turk wasn't an excuse to have a needless craving for the higher ranks, Elena had slowly become a different person, and the severe torture she had suffered in the Forgotten Capital had been a major influence toward that. In that time, she had also realized that the President came to obscene verdicts with the opportunities he had, and usually, they were not safe. She looked at Tseng, suddenly seeing him in a different light, fearing what could potentially happen.
"Capturing Sephiroth… is that possible?"
Tseng swallowed hard and slowly shook his head from side to side.
"There's only one man I know who can defeat Sephiroth… and he disappeared a long time ago."
Rufus ShinRa felt a surge of power overlooking the oilfield, packed with ShinRa soldiers. Although his company had been damaged after the ShinRa capital building came crashing down against the might of a diamond giant stomping across the land, it was reforming. He stroked his hair back, and chuckled quietly to himself as he watched his troops mobilize.
"What's so funny?" a female pitch asked. Rufus swung around, jolting at the woman's voice. "Thought you were alone?" Lacarste asked as she leaned against the platform railing.
"Officer Lacarste…" Rufus said, caught off-guard. "Most surprising."
"I'm not here to challenge you again Rufus, but I can't back out now that I've seen the impossible."
"You've made an unusually quick recovery" he said, eyeing her suspiciously. "It's only been a day since you saw a ShinRa team fall down in pieces in front of you… And yet you're here, the one place you by all means should want to stay away from. What's going on?"
"Don't be so surprised, you knew I'd return."
"Yes, but not no soon, I must admit. You're not in shock, are you?"
"No. Of all people, I think I'd know when I was facing shock."
Rufus narrowed his eyes, and turned back to the view below him.
"So then, what are you here for?" he asked, starting to lose interest in her presence, being more occupied with the situation at hand.
"To learn."
"It's not right; you should be enjoying your company apartment back in Midgar."
"After seeing what I did? Rufus, I have studied the Lifestream, and its effects, in the footsteps of Bugenhagen, but never have I seen anything like that."
"Then what are you doing here? The company my father stood for and the company I stand for was dedicated to taking that energy away from the planet, and utilizing it for a common power source. Any environmentalist would fight ShinRa to the death… so why are you standing here with me now?"
"What's been done is irreversible, you can't take that back, but the Mako Reactors are disabled now…"
"Or maybe I'm talking to a woman interested in nothing more than money and power, who'd turn on me the moment she had the chance. ShinRa had a woman like that once."
"Preposterous! The reason I'm here is because I share with you an interest in the planet, and the wellbeing of ShinRa."
"Denial is the first sign of guilt, Jane" Rufus smiled, turning to her. "But then again it's easy to accuse someone of being guilty when they deny anything."
"What's your point?" she asked, not quite knowing her stance.
"Oh there's no point. I don't bother with points, just results" he said in a slightly louder voice, as if he had become fed up with her. "You've got the job, Jane. However, remember… my eyes and ears are everywhere. Understood?"
"You're crystal clear, Mister President." she said hesitantly after a moment of silence.
"Good" he nodded firmly, turning away. "Now leave."
Rufus listened to Lacarste step onto the elevator platform, and it lowered out of his hearing range. He must have been so wrapped up in his own thoughts before that the sound of the elevator ascending had gone unnoticed. Rufus sighed in an irritable manner; he wasn't as exultant as he had been two minutes ago. A muffled voice and static came through a radio attached to a console to the left of the President, and he listened without moving a muscle.
"Mister President, everything is ready."
Rufus recognized the voice of Tseng, and brought his left hand to cover a right broken one, wrapped up in white bandages.
"Excellent" Rufus murmured.
Waiting was an unpleasant game for the ShinRa soldiers surrounding the oilfield, as the wraith may have struck at any time. The very name of 'Sephiroth' made them shiver in their boots, even though the night wasn't particularly cold. The two Turks seemed to have an aura of safety, as the soldiers closer to Tseng and Elena felt somewhat safer. The Turks were based near the main facility, facing the oilfield from the front of the building. Tseng reached for his radio, pressed down a red button and spoke into it.
"All southern groups, report."
He had to wait for a moment for the reply.
"This is Alpha; we've got nothing, over."
"Beta here, nothing, over."
Tseng awaited the reply of Charlie team, and worried stirred when the radio replied only with static.
"Charlie team this is Tseng, do you copy?"
It wasn't until Elena's electric whip slashed outward that Tseng realized Charlie team wasn't going to reply. He looked at her, and then up at Rufus's high position. The President's eyes were wide and anxious.
"Let's have some light to the south!" Rufus shouted at his soldiers below. A giant beam of whiteness arced through the air, and then fixed onto a small hilltop behind the main facility. The Turks walked into the light, already on their way, but ordering other units to stay put. They reached the hill where Charlie team was supposed to be positioned in just over a minute, but there was no sign of them.
"Take that side" Tseng ordered, tilting his head to the left. Elena nodded, and treaded down the side of the hill. Tseng walked in the opposite direction, widening his eyes to see through the darkness. There was a flash of movement, and instantly the Turk had his arced silver blade in hand.
Elena froze as the vertical column of bodies came into view, all stuck together by a long sword, which she recognized as the Masamune. She quickened her pace to investigate the area, but stopped again as the sword dislodged itself with an oozy noise, and floated in mid air, supported by nothing. Suddenly, it whipped in the oilfield's direction, over the hill and toward Rufus's structure. The sword was returning to its wielder. Elena grasped her radio and brought it up to her mouth.
"It's a trick. It's heading in the President's direction" she said promptly and furiously. In the distance, she could see Tseng start a sprint for the northern edge of the oilfield.
Rufus narrowed his eyes and turned around slowly, facing the edge of the scaffold platform, and with a broken right hand, brought the shotgun barrels down to face the ground below him. He approached the end of the platform slowly and cautiously. Black robes were undistinguished against the dark background, but Rufus knew he had met his attacker as the figure lunged higher than the scaffold and directly above the President's head. When Rufus saw the blade thrusting toward his forehead, he fired a blast from his shotgun, hitting the attacker square in the chest. The wraith uttered no noise, but rocketed through the air on an unplanned trajectory, crashing down into the center of the oilfield. As Rufus regained his breath, he looked down at the isolated figure.
"Fire the cannons!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. From all four corners of the oilfield, the attacker was pounded by four shimmering blue beams, enveloping him in a glowing sludge which pinned the mighty Sephiroth to the ground. Instead of awaiting the arrival of the elevator, Rufus descended down the side of the scaffolding by climbing down and dropping the last few meters. He headed toward the immobilized body lying in the middle of the field. Tseng was at the President's side in just a few moments, and the two watched the black robed wanderer shuffle and struggle against the hardened substance, but he was trapped. Rufus allowed a delighted smile spread across his face.
"We have him" he chuckled, leaning down to the man's head. He placed his fingers around the edge of the hood, but he halted. The trapped attacker had an opened hand with fingers extended – raised as far as they could go, and instantly the President backed away. He had seen that gesture before. Tseng frowned confusedly.
"What is it?"
"I don't know…" Rufus said wearily as ShinRa soldiers came rushing to surround the captured subject. The ground beneath them began to rattle consistently, and frustrated and worried soldiers exchanged looks. Rufus grimaced. "No… No! This can't happen!"
Tseng backed around in a circle, staring at the brown, dug-up field shaking like a mountain would before an avalanche. The soil below them burst upward in a roaring explosion, and a set of jaws, gargantuan in size swallowed a handful of ShinRa soldiers whole. Rufus and Tseng backed away just inches from the emerging monstrosity's outer surface. A green and grey serpent the length of the oilfield itself slithered out of a colossal opening in the field, ravaged and torn by what looked like giant bites taken out of the creature's scaly skin. As a winged tail sliced into the air, Tseng gazed at the skeletal makeup of the creature through a missing portion of exterior skin. In seconds, the beast was airborne, soaring through the sky, high above the oilfield, wrapping around itself and screeching an ear-piercing shriek. Rufus stared at the flying snake in awe, until he brought his eyes down to glare at the original tyrant. His hand was still stretched.
"I've got a problem here!" Elena's voice came through the radio. Tseng stared in the hill direction, but he stopped short with his eyes when he found her outside the main facility, surrounded by people in overalls…
Rufus wasn't stupid, and was quick to make the connection.
"They're Undead" he muttered. The workers that had been slaughtered in Barret's oilfield had risen from their places. Tseng was already charging toward his partner, leaving Rufus alone with frantic soldiers, firing entire rounds into the sky at the serpent. A mass of zombified soldiers armored with the standard blue ShinRa vests and padding, stampeded across the oilfield with their arms dangling by their sides and their shoulders forward. Rufus nodded slightly. "He killed them to use them…"
Healthy ShinRa soldiers rushed to Rufus's defense, firing a wall of bullets at the group. As the shots blew away modicums of skin and bone, spraying the air behind them with blood and specks of matter of all kinds, the zombies refused to let this hinder them. The two sides came together in a chaotic and bloody mess, with some of the zombies near the back of the group hacking away at the coating pinning their summoner to the ground. Rufus sneered and charged between two occupied Undead that had almost been decimated to skeletons, and brought up his shotgun from his waist, taking aim and blasting one of the zombies trying to set the wraith free. The body was blown back a few meters, and another hollow-point shot to the legs and the zombie was unable to get to his feet. The twin barrels of the shotgun blasted with a magnificent force when they were pressed against another's head, but shortly afterward Rufus was struck from behind, and he yelled as he fell to the ground.
"Mister President!" someone yelled. Whoever it was, they were maimed by a convoy of new zombies rising from the ground immediately afterward. Once the solid coating around the downed summoner's wrist was hacked away, he was able to cut himself loose with the Masamune. The figure rose above Rufus, sticking the sword close to the man's chin. Rufus stared into the eyes of his destined opponent, Sephiroth, and just like a night ago, something was very wrong. But those marble green eyes had Rufus captivated, he was frozen stiff. Nothing was said, Sephiroth was going to murder the President and there was nothing that could be done.
Tseng and Elena once again found themselves staring death in the face. But the zombies' attacks were slow, and for the most part avoidable. But they were gathering like a virus around the outside, slashing their way to the inside of the circle.
"It's been a pleasure working with you" Elena smiled faintly as she arched back from a skeletal arm swinging toward her jaw.
"We're not dead yet" Tseng snarled as he swiped at an opponent's ribcage. For an incredibly short moment, Elena thought it humorous that their roles had suddenly reversed, right near the end. It was then when a huge body thudded on the ground between them, landing in the middle of the circle. As Barret's mechanical arm formed into a rotating volley of firepower, the zombies were blasted into clouds of dust. Triple cannons targeted the onslaught of bodies, and Barret didn't hesitate for a second to demolish all he could. The roaring of the gunfire throbbed in Elena's ears, but over the noise she heard Barret yell.
"Bet you're glad I'm here now, huh?" the big man bellowed.
"You continue to surprise me, Mister Wallace" Tseng announced with a hint of respect over the thrashing cannons rolling around Barret's arm. Another body swooped down from the top of the building; this one was much thinner and agile. Elena caught her face as the woman launched a spinning roundhouse at an approaching Undead. Tifa Lockheart.
"This is sickening" Elena muttered.
Rufus ShinRa screamed as the blade pierced his left shoulder, slowly digging through the top of his lung as Sephiroth forced it through slowly. Amidst the excruciating cries, Rufus knew that his killer would be taking pleasure, no doubt. The Masamune finally emerged through the other side of his body, drenched in the President's blood.
"You lose, Mister President" the man spoke with a raspy voice. Rufus's eyes widened as he tried to breathe. He had finally spoken. The fiend withdrew his sword from the helpless and dying President. Rufus let out another yell when the tip of the blade hooked his skin. Two black buckled boots placed themselves behind the would-be killer, not so much different from the tyrant's, but in a much more wearable condition.
"Is it true?" the new entrant asked, causing the cloaked warrior to swing around in surprise. Rufus felt some temporary relief as he lied back against the soil. Suddenly the oppressor had become the dwarfed figure amongst the crowd, in spite of the Undead ravaging through Rufus's troops only a few meters away. The man labeled as Sephiroth noticed the attributes of this man instantly. Golden hair, dreamy blue eyes, and the indigo uniform of a SOLDIER operative.
"What a small world" he said, swiping the Masamune backward with a quick flick of his wrist. The long sword trailed behind him, as the wraith took a few steps forward to examine his new enemy. "Cloud Strife."
When the man came too close, Cloud unsheathed a magnificent blade three times the width of the Masamune, and twice as thick. Aligned with gaps and a red stripe running from the tip of the blade to the base, Cloud had the buster sword at his enemy's throat before Sephiroth could even bring up his blade. Cloud frowned suspiciously.
"Not like you" he said quietly. Anything behind the hood, Cloud was unable to see, except for those familiar marble eyes. They seemed to glow against the blackness, but Cloud hadn't been in the presence of his old foe for quite some time. Suddenly, ShinRa zombies were lunging for Cloud's side, and with a powerful sword stroke, the buster sword sliced one right through the middle. Sephiroth was given time to leap backward, and from under his feet came a massive set of boney trapezoid draws, snapping for Cloud as he leapt back to safety. The serpent whooshed past him, shooting up into the air and flicking its tail at the ground wherever possible. Trying to jolt at Cloud, the serpent did nothing but take out the summoner's own devilry. Cloud moved around the pincer of the winged tail graciously, his every movement fluid and precisely calculated. Rolling and jumping wherever he had to, the serpent was soon too high to reach him. Looking down at Cloud was the hooded fiend, sitting atop the lengthy beast, anticipating his next move.
As the ShinRa soldiers fell, the Undead became numerous. Pinned against the ridged wall of the facility, Barret Wallace fired at anything his gyrating cannons would lock onto. Spraying the assault of zombies with a hail of gunfire, the ex-ShinRa soldiers were quick to become wading sticks of bone, dangling with flesh and clothing. Inside the facility, standing on the main staircase facing Undead left, right and center, were three ill-prepared fighters, not equipped to take on a horde of massing, blood-thirsty puppets. Tifa took a step forward to balance on top of the hand railing of the two-way staircase, and then lunged forward into the air, flipping, and diving into the catastrophe below. Limbs flying in all directions, Tifa crushed zombies mainly with her legs as they poured in through the flattened doorway. As the zombies closed in on the Turks above, Barret suddenly appeared behind the gathered Undead, his cannons forming a green ray between each other, sizzling with energy, producing a glowing emerald ball around the center mechanism that acted as an arm.
"Get out of there!" Barret yelled furiously. Tifa hopped back when she had some clear space, placing her hands on both the Turks shoulders, pulling them backward with her. They were marginally out of range when Barret released the orb of energy, and it impacted into the center of the Undead making their way slowly up the steps. Naturally, there was a brilliant explosion, and a cluttered collection of body parts soared from the blast, leaving nothing but charred remains of disfigured ShinRa soldiers. Tifa crashed through an office window as the might of the detonation threw her forward, with the Turks rolling through subsequently. She hopped up to her feet, and wiped her forehead with a victorious smile. As the Turks stood up, both wiping themselves down of dust and debris, Tifa noticed they looked markedly unhappier.
"The President" Elena said to Tseng, as she rushed back toward the facility entrance, which had been partially torn down from Barret's blast. She shouldered her way past the man she had no respect for, and he looked after her. Tseng was next, hurrying after her.
"That woman has issues" he said to Tifa as she joined his side.
"Cloud!" Tifa gasped as she scurried after them.
"That's the last damn time I save your life" Barret grumbled discontentedly.
Cloud Strife speedily made his way up the scaffolding, with amazingly quick foot work and using his sword to catch in between the bones of the structure and propel him upward. He flipped to land on his feet on top of the scaffold where Rufus had stood not long ago. As the serpent tossed and turned through the air, it gradually made its way toward the scaffold under its summoner's command, fluidly bobbing up and down through the air to increase speed. From a hefty collection of armaments stored in a rack hanging from his shoulders, Cloud reached for a smaller blade, and jammed it into place to fit on the underside of his buster sword. It fitted together with a satisfying click, and he brought the duo-sword combination up to his right shoulder with both hands. As the snapping maulers took a crunch into the side of the scaffolding, Cloud jabbed the sword into the side of the serpent's lower jaw, using it as a hoist to drive him up and over the disk-shaped cranium, dislodging and bringing his sword with him. When he slashed downward, the Masamune was there to greet him, and blocked his strike with a metal on metal shriek.
"Impressive" the daunting voice complimented. Cloud's boots pressed against the snake skin as he landed, and took a low swipe at the wraith's legs. The Masamune was an easy blade to control, and the long sword obstructed the buster sword from reaching the summoner once again.
"How is it you were able return, Sephiroth?" Cloud asked stringently as he pressed his body weight against his enemy's weapon, attempting to throw it out of range to come back quick enough to defense.
"The answers are coming, Cloud. You'll understand soon enough, if you're still alive."
A pointed boot jarred Cloud's open shin, causing him to collapse momentarily. Making the mistake of thinking he had won, Sephiroth left himself open long enough to be cut along the stomach, creating a large crimson graze amongst the black robes. He stumbled backward, as did Cloud, and the two rested on the bobbing serpent's head. Holding his sword high in the air, a blue and purple hue crackled and hissed as it intensified and expanded, then surged along the snake's wavering neck, leaving a black engraving trail along the creature as it charged forward. A stream of the force shattered apart as it hit the downed Sephiroth, and the black robes fluttered about as the man arced through the air. The serpent jolted in an upward spiral as it tried to shake off the pain Cloud had sent dispersing through it. A tail whipped toward the head, and Cloud strafed slightly to avoid the jagged wings striking for him. The serpent tilted, and Cloud lost his balance, falling backward and then started a drop toward the oilfield. The jaws came back seeking him out, nipping anywhere they could to try and catch him. They did, and Cloud found himself holding the serpent's teeth apart with his buster sword, doing all they could to clench together. Cloud disconnected the lower half of his sword, separating the two pieces, and stabbed them both into the gums of the creature. His arms extended, Cloud flipped himself backward, severing the sides of the serpent's jaws as he did, and departed gracefully from the zombified monster. As he landed somewhere on the outskirts of the oilfield, the snake came crashing down in a pile of bones and jade scales, causing a tremor to stretch right to the coast. Cloud emerged from the dust cloud, seemingly unscathed, and slotted his weapons into place behind his shoulders.
A blissful smile covered Tifa's face when she saw him emerge unhurt. She ran toward him, almost in a skip, and stopped in front of him, offering a relieved and caring face. He avoided eye contact, gave her a nod, and continued toward the wounded President. Tifa disappointedly watched after him, hurt and shocked that he'd pay more attention to the head of ShinRa Corporation than to his best childhood friend. Barret was relatively surprised himself, and that didn't happen often. Cloud leaned down to the President with glazed eyes and examined his injury.
"So he's left the mark on you too" Cloud commented as the President wriggled in pain. Tseng was already situated on the other side of Rufus, and looked up at Cloud.
"Sephiroth disappeared, there's no trace of him" the Turk affirmed. He looked down at the President. "He needs medical attention, obviously, but he'll be alright."
Cloud kept an expressionless face and rose from the ground, scanning the horizon toward the coast. He straightened his mouth as a bothering thought crawled into his head.
"I'll need to talk to Rufus as soon as possible" he declared.