Chapter Thirty

An Allied Traitor

Yuffie's eyes widened as the blue light headed for her then bounced back towards Sean. She blinked in surprise before remembering that her shield was still up. She broke into a grin and stuck her tongue out at Sean.

"Hojo must have forgotten to put a brain in that thick skull of yours, whatever you cast on me is reflected back to you."

"I'm well aware how materia works." Sean smiled as he closed his eyes and began to concentrate; green light surrounded him before drifting over to the young Ninja and surrounded her. She looked down in shock when she felt her barrier disappear.

"What! How did you…where did my barrier go?"

"My gift," Sean raised his right hand, "is not just this energy blast. I have the power to cast magic without materia. You know what that means?"

They all looked at him with a mixture of shock and disappointment; they understood completely what it meant.

"It means you think we're all royally &#$, but you're wrong." Cid swore.

"We'll see about that, get rid of these pests!"

Sean's monsters stopped attacking the village and flew over above him.

"No problem, we'd love to." Yuffie held out the Leviathan orb and summoned him. After the dragon did his attack the jellyfish began to glow and spin rapidly, Sean laughed.

"That's it, make them do their special attack. You are all goners now."

Cid pulled out his PHS, "Fire the missiles now!"

The Cannons on the side of the Highwind opened up and fired three missiles at each monster. They stopped spinning and two disappeared as Sean yelled, "What!" The one that was left began to lower to the ground; Cloud jerked his head to the monster.

"Now! Attack it while it's weak!"

Sean leaped on top of his creature and healed it just enough so it could fly.

"Come on, fly over the water where they can't reach!" He yelled.

The Jellyfish began to rise away from Avalanche and headed for the water, Sean yelled down at Krissy and Alex. "Keep them entertained a bit!"

They nodded and went to help Jessi fight off Avalanche.

"Oh no you don't, get back here!" Vincent transformed into Chaos and flew towards Sean.

Jessi turned to follow him but Sephiroth grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Let me go Sephiroth." She said slowly and he shook his head.

"No, stop this Jessi. We aren't your enemies!"

"…I'm sorry then."

She transformed and slashed his arm with her claw; he let go of her and squeezed his arm tightly. He watched her, not understanding why she didn't try to inflict him with her poison attack. She flew towards Vincent and ignored anyone trying to stop her, but Krissy and Alex prevented anyone from chasing her anyway.

"Let's play with their minds a little shall we?" Krissy asked deviously.

"Oh yes, let's." Alex agreed.

Sean stood protectively on his monster while it absorbed the sunlight and regained its energy; when it recovered, it started back towards the town. He turned when he heard a ferocious roar then yelled when something sharp pierced his shoulder. He gripped it then turned and glared at Chaos.

"You'll have to do better than that to stop me!" Sean taunted.

Vincent roared again before diving to attack Sean, the Harpy beast appeared in front of him and slashed at him. He stopped just above Sean and narrowed his eyes at Jessi.

"Must we go through this again, you know you stand no chance against me."

Jessi smirked and flew down in front of Sean then reverted back to normal.

"You're awfully brave in that form Vincent, I think you need an attitude adjustment."

She pulled out Jenova's materia and concentrated on it, Vincent wondered what she was trying to do when he felt searing pain shoot through his head. He screamed and put his hands over his ears. Jessi furrowed her eyebrow as a bead of sweat formed on her temple.

Sean watched as Vincent began to drop slowly out of the air, then land on his monster. He looked at Jessi and she had her eyes shut tightly, she was either concentrating too much or was in a great deal of pain. Vincent transformed back to normal and collapsed in front of them. Jessi exhaled and bent over, she was breathing heavily like she had just run fifteen miles. Sean turned his back on Vincent and looked at her concerned.

"Are you allright?" He asked her and she nodded.

"That materia… takes a lot out of you."

"Yea, but now you really are one of us, and connected with Jenova."

She straightened up and looked past the town, "Yes, I know."

And so does she…gotta hurry… she thought, paying no attention to Jenova' s death threats.

"If you think you're going to get away with this you're wrong!"

"Oh I'll get away with it, you can count on it..." She thought back.

"We will destroy you!" Jenova screamed

"…Sure you will…keep up the positive attitude."

Jessi saw Vincent raise his gun at Sean so she ignored Jenova then walked over and kicked it out of his hand. He looked up at her, an angry gaze fixed on his face; their eyes locked a moment before Jessi winked as green light surrounded her. Vincent yelled then stopped moving Jessi kicked him off the jellyfish and he hit the ground with a loud thud.

"Aw, he didn't land in the water…oh well, thanks anyway."

"…Don't thank me just yet." She said quietly.

He looked at her absentmindedly and she averted his gaze.

"What's that supposed to…"

He was cut off when they heard a piercing scream; it belonged to Krissy. He turned away from Jessi and noticed that Sephiroth was standing above Krissy, a long wound cut into her back. Sephiroth looked up at Sean and smiled coldly. Sean felt his blood boil as he raised his hand to shoot that smartass grin off his face. But when he felt cool metal slice across his neck he choked and lowered his hand. Sephiroth looked shocked and so did the others as they joined his side, weary of the battle with Krissy and Alex, but still strong enough to fight.

"I'm sorry Sean…" Jessi whispered in his ear.

He turned around slowly to face her then dropped to his knees; he fell into her arms and rested his head on her shoulder.

"…Jessi…" He choked out.

"I'm so sorry…I didn't want it to come to this."

As her tears spilled on his face he put his hand on her chest, over her heart.

"I'm sorry too." He said fiercely.

Jessi looked down, stunned by the tone of his voice.

"Wha…ah!"

A burst of white-hot pain shot through her, it felt like she had been hit by a cannon ball…just like her dream. She opened and closed her mouth as Sean put his hand across his neck; his blood was sticky and beginning to clot. She took a step backward, nearing the edge of the monster; Sean glared at her.

"Oh, just thought you should know, I didn't remember anything."

Jessi's eyes widened as she took another step back, Sean continued.

"I just pretended I did to make you trust us, Jenova ordered it."

When she stepped back, there was nothing but air; she lost her balance and began to fall backward. There was a deafening roar and she didn't care where it came from, she reached for Sean and for a brief second, she seen fear cross his face as he reached for her as well. But it was too late; she began to fall down to the Ocean.

"This is going to be a problem." Jenova said as she watched a WEAPON rise out of the sea.

"You're damn right! Haven't you wondered why I only threatened to kill Meadows? It's because she…"

"That's not the problem Hojo, only one of our warriors is still standing; it's surprising that he is still alive…"

"Oh, he won't be much longer. We've got to get out of here while we can."

"We're not going anywhere until that village is destroyed."

"Then you will be the end of us all." Hojo said bitterly as he watched Jessi plummet towards her watery grave and the WEAPON cross the ocean towards the village.