Journey Two – Jehovah
Somewhere dark
"I found him," said that crimson stranger "as expected."
"Yes, but he has gone from the Olympus Coliseum." Replied the blue stranger. "Now he is with the others, somewhere in the Nimbus Galaxy."
"Pfft." Sarcastically said the green stranger with a female voice. "The Nimbus Galaxy is just a small place. Why can't we just obliterate him and everyone!"
"Patient young one." Coldly said the black stranger. "We already know he and that girl are with Bach and his crew and left the Heart Star System."
"What!" exclaimed the green stranger. "You mean that the son of the Archangel Michael left the Heart Star System! Then, how do we find him?"
"You do not need to worry." Remarked the white stranger, to which every stranger was surprised to see him appearing from nowhere. "My subordinates tell me that the son of the Archangel Michael and his acquaintances are heading towards the Ishtar Solar System."
"But isn't the Ishtar Solar System has planets full of foul air!" exclaimed the crimson stranger.
"Yes," replied the white stranger calmly "but we shall wait and see how he and his acquaintances can survive the other Star and Solar Systems. And hopefully, he will enter into the path and unlock the key to Lost Eden that has left untouched for thousands of years."
"Will he be alright?" asked one calmly sweet female voice.
"Don't worry." Replied the voice with a rough female voice. "That bloke is one heck of tough nut to crack. Besides, he did rescue you from being a feast to those strange monsters."
Where am I? And why can I hear voices? No wait, I'm still alive.
"Hey, I can hear his groaning voice."
"Yep, what did I tell you? He is a tough nut to crack. Sephy's going to be all right!"
"Would you please stop calling me 'Sephy'?" remarked Sephiroth with a groan voice. He opened his eyes slowly and saw that familiar girl he rescued in Olympus Coliseum and that woman with he dark brown skin and her dirty blonde hair. "Where am I, exactly?"
"My my," explained the dark brown woman, "you've sure got a nice long sleep that lasts for three days or so. You're in Bach's huge ship, the Vatican and when I say huge ship, I mean somewhere in space."
"What!" Sephiroth exclaimed, as he sat up slowly. He observed that he was definitely not in the Olympus Coliseum, but somewhere in that futuristic room that looks similar to the Gummi ship. "Wait. Let me get this straight. I've been in a coma for three days, so why does this woman I've saved here is still here?"
"That woman you saved is Aerith Gainsborough and I'm Eliza Kinja by the way." Recalled Eliza. "I don't know what the heck's going on, since I'm so cooped up fixing Bach's MA so I let Aerith's do the gap stuff."
"Well Sephiroth," explained Aerith calmly, "you see…"
Earlier at the Olympus Coliseum
"What!" exclaimed Phil. "You mean the star of the attraction is nothing, but a curse!"
"Hey!" remarked Bach as he shrugged. "Don't blame me! That One Winged Angel prophecy crap is just a superstition to me, yet he's still injured and saved your reputation from being a junk of corpses."
"Yeah," remarked Hercules "but that still doesn't mean he's still going to keep his title, if some people said he brings destruction to the world!"
"So how do you supposed to take him to?" Bach suggested.
"Take him with you and go somewhere really far away!" Phil exclaimed as he was suffering from a major headache. "I don't care if he's going to keep the Champion title or if you and him are going for a rematch at my arena!"
"You've got to be kidding me!" exclaimed Bach with an expression that could only described as shocking. "There is no way that Sephiroth is taking with me to the Vatican and go somewhere outside your world!"
"Maybe I can take care of him." Suggested Aerith as she ran towards the two men and a faun. "Since my childhood dream was to explore the stars beyond the worlds here and I want to watch over Sephiroth, since he saved my life."
"WHAT!" exclaimed everyone, including Leon, Yuffie and Cid.
"But if you are going with Bach," cried Yuffie "that means you won't be with us!"
"Yeah and how am I supposed to take care of the Accessories shop over at Traverse Town?" asked Cid.
"Great!" exclaimed Leon with a first-time frustration. "Now, how the heck am I supposed to re-fix Hollow Bastion all by myself?"
"Cid," remarked Aerith with a smile "I'm sure those moogles will help you and Leon, you have Yuffie for company, right? I'm sure you can take care of Hollow Bastion without me."
"Yeah that's great, but why do you want me to take Sephiroth and you to go further?" asked Bach with a confused look. "You know you won't be able to see your friends for a long time, once my ship, Vatican would be a distant object."
"I know I'm going to have many sacrifices, like leaving my friends I knew from these worlds behind. However, I want to explore the worlds that have yet to discover and prove that there must be more than I've been in."
"All right, I'll take you and Sephiroth to the Vatican, but I don't promise about your health. Once we're out, who knows what our fortunes bring."
"And that's how both you and I wound up here." Explained Aerith as she caught her breath finally and sat down on a chair.
"So if I'm not in the Olympus Coliseum, where am I?" Sephiroth asked in a confused expression.
"You're halfway between the Heart Star System and the Ishtar Solar System." Called a voice that would be familiar as Bach came through the sliding automatic door. "Take Aerith with you and meet me at the meeting room. There's a lot of explaining to do about the worlds we're live in."
Meeting room
The room that Aerith and Sephiroth first stepped into looked like they have entered into looked like they've entered into the library in Hollow Bastion, though saved for the round Victorian-style chestnut brown table with matching chairs and the windows that showed nothing, but stars. Around the Victorian-style table, there was Eliza, to which both of them knew, but then next to her as a girl, aged somewhere around twelve cleaning her smaller guns. Then, there was this blonde-haired male adult, who was stroking his weird-looking shotgun, a person with brown mid-long hair and rimmed half-glasses, sleeping and finally a male teenager whose eyes and hair are similar to Sephiroth, except his body was full of technology. Bach came to the centre of the table and put his arm out, like it was ordering Aerith and Sephiroth to sit down and they did, well, uncomfortably next to each other.
"Well guys, we have new arrivals." Bach explained "The chick with brown hair is Aerith Gainsborough and the bloke with the black wing is Sephiroth."
The bloke with a black wing? Thought Sephiroth with a bit of disgust. That's not a good way to introduce myself.
"Aerith and Sephiroth, I'll like you to meet my crew. I'm sure you've already met Eliza Kinja, so the girl with guns is an artificial humanoid, Alda. This shotgun lover is Rufus Shinra, the bloke who's sleeping like a baby is Adrian Hausen and finally, this is a cyborg named YESHUA or Yeager Enterprises Strategic Hyper Ultimate Android for the long version.
If you've got any questions before moving on to the main objective, raise your hand now." Aerith raised her quickly. "Yes, Aerith?"
"What on earth are the Heart Star System and the Ishtar Solar System?"
"Well, uh…"
"Let me explain to you, since Bach has no knowledge about the Nimbus Galaxy." Replied Adrian as he woke up, pressed some buttons to show a projection of the planets. "Hollow Bastion, Olympus Coliseum and other planets that surround is known as the Heart Star System. This is the Vatican's current position, i.e. we are there as it is entering hyperspace mode to cross between this and the Ishtar Solar System. Technically, we're not outside the Heart Star System and not that far into the borders of the Ishtar Solar System. So, we'll be entering into the I.S.S in about an hour."
"Uh, thanks Adrian. Well, since both the Ishtar Solar System and the Heart Star System are part of the Nimbus Galaxy, let's just move on to the main objective." He pressed a few buttons to show a map of the Nimbus Galaxy. "Well Aerith and Sephiroth, I'm sure Adrian gave you enough info about this, so I'll just skip to the best part. Apparently, according to the Martyrs 100 Observation models, there was this artefact that match as Rufus described in one of the planets in the Ishtar Solar System."
"Yeah and it took a few books and astrometry crap that you want me to take a look." Mockingly said Rufus.
"So what on earth is that artefact that made everyone, except Aerith and me, so excited?" asked Sephiroth with a confused look that only Bach and his crew would know.
"Hmm," replied Bach with a smile "that's a good question. According to some prophecies and some crap, some artefacts belong to the Archangel Michael, who once defeated evil, locked the path to Lost Eden after some incident occurred around thousand of years ago. I wanted to find them, so that I can uncover the truth about the myth of Lost Eden. A myth that tells the destruction of the technology shrouded in mystery, resulted humans, such as ours, forcing to flee into the unknown."
"That seems to make sense, but what I don't get is why does that crimson stranger seem to be mocking at you?" curiously asked Aerith. "I mean, he said that you were taking a break, when you're supposed to unlock Lost Eden?"
"Well, all explorers, such as myself, needed to take a break. Besides, that crimson stranger is nothing, but an annoying person that wanted to gatecrash my break."
"Though, there is one problem to the artefacts." Explained YESHUA in an expressionless face. "According to some journals and the Yeager Enterprises data bank, the artefacts that were scattered all over the Nimbus Galaxy have no effects on humans. Unless, as prophecies and some speculations are told, the son of the Archangel Michael will contact each artefact to unlock the path to Lost Eden.
" At the moment, we have found only one artefact that its mechanism is similar to the Mobile Armours or M.A.s Dominion, Anima and Lakia used. According to the findings that Rufus has found, this artefact was once belonged to the Archangel Michael and he named it – Jehovah."
The word 'Jehovah' brought Sephiroth to his head as he clutched his hand onto his head, feeling as he got a headache.
No. Not now, I don't want that memory coming back! Please, go away! That person, please go away! Please!
"Sephiroth, are you all right?" asked Aerith, as she touched his back. He looked at her, seeing her sad, yet innocent look that was filled with concern.
"Yeah, just a slight headache, that's all."
"Right, that's one problem, let's just see what Alda has to say about the location of the artefact." Rudely explained Bach as he just wanted to get on with the current objective.
Alda began to speak with a smile. "Well we all know that the artefact is found at somewhere in the third planet Mateel in the Ishtar Solar System, though there's one catch. The atmosphere in Mateel is very poisonous to humans and humanoids, except YESHUA obviously, since he's a robot, due to a shocking a hundred percent carbon monoxide gas. Well, no choice but to use MAs. And Aerith and Sephiroth can come along too, if they want to."
"Oh, please." Smiled Aerith "Since this was my childhood dream is to explore new worlds, I want to see what the new worlds look like on surface."
"I might as well come with her, than being bored inside this Gummi ship." Regrettably remarked Sephiroth as he had to put up with Aerith on her childhood child. Yet at the same time, he felt relieved that at least he had one person that was from the Heart Star System or whatever. "Though I have one question, Bach if I may."
"Sure, fire away." Replied Bach with a happy expression. "And this isn't a Gummi ship by the way. This is different technology from the world you live in."
"YESHUA explained that there were three MAs – Dominion, Anima and Lakia. Then how come Jehovah is different to those three?"
"Well, uh…you see…the thing is…"
"Bach, why don't I take over the complicated parts and concentrate on the bounty?" rudely suggested Adrian as he woke up again from the sleep that lasted for at least five minutes.
"Oh, fine. Adrian take over, while I check over the bridge section and see how progress is doing." And so Bach left, leaving the others behind.
"Well, Master Sephiroth, as you may want to know about the MA question, MA Jehovah is made from Lost Eden technology that only the Archangel Michael knows about it. Plus ever since we have obtained that artefact, we've tried to unlock its power, but so far there's no luck on actually activating the MA. The only clue that Eliza and Rufus found is that slot that fits only to according to some books, 'the sword of the Archangel Michael can only breaks its shell of Jehovah' or so they say."
"So, where does this 'Jehovah' lie within?"
"Apparently, the egg that MA Jehovah has yet to be 'born' is in the MA decking section below the floors of the Vatican. Let me show about this."
MA Decking Area
After a surprising quick trip to the auto-transport network, Bach's crew, along with Aerith and Sephiroth arrived at the MA docking, where the three MAs and a very large egg appear in front of them, as Adrian stepped out and cleaned his glasses before making a speech.
"Well, as you can see. This is where Jehovah is and somewhere, there is a small, thin slot. We've tried many types of sword, from Ancients to rapiers and none of them are activating the MA. We know it said 'the sword of the Archangel Michael', but we can't find the exact description."
"So," remarked Aerith as she knew how to solve this puzzle "if you tried many swords, why not use Sephiroth's Masamune?"
"What!" exclaimed everyone in the absence of Bach.
"Why do you want Masamune to fit into that hole?" asked Sephiroth. "Besides, this is just a weapon that I've been using to defeat the opponents."
"Who knows. Maybe that could be the description as told by some prophecy."
"Sigh. If you insist, but if this is the wrong sword, I'm blaming you for not hatching the egg."
And so, Sephiroth summoned Masamune onto his hands and proceeded to face with the Jehovah egg as he placed his long katana into the slot. At first, it didn't seemed excited, but then Masamune began to glow as very a bright light that would have blinded everyone, though thankfully they shielded their eyes using their arms. Even the One Winged Angel was surprised that Masamune fitted perfectly and then a voice was heard. A girl's voice inside his head.
So, you've come to release me from the womb. I thank you for breaking the shell, son of Archangel Michael.
As Masamune was absorbed into the shell, cracks appear to show and then after the light disappeared and as everyone lowered their arms, Jehovah was born. 'Her' torso, limbs and head were all covered in jet-black, crimson and silver. What amazes Sephiroth and Aerith is that there is one special feature on Jehovah's back – the black wing, only the mechanized version of the One Winged Angel. Everyone was surprised at her appearance, only to be interrupted by Bach's surprising entrance along with his Martyrs 100 Observation models that looked like little girls cosplaying as Elegant Gothic Lolita with purple hair.
"Okay, I'm back from the bridge section and they con- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" coolly said, then screamed Bach as he shocked that someone hatch Jehovah."
"Bach," explained Adrian as he smacked his captain on the head "that 'What the hell is that?' is the Lost Eden MA, Jehovah."
"Wha? You mean someone just solve the puzzle?"
"Hey, Bach!" exclaimed Rufus, as he was tired of being waited for outbursts. "Hurry up! I want to get on my Dominion, before waiting for a hour bore on arugements!"
"Fine! But first, better explain to Aerith and Sephiroth about the controls of the MAs.
Well, as you can see, the Martyrs have confirmed that Jehovah is in fact a MA made with Lost Eden technology, but like the other MAs, this requires two pilots to control this huge one! Sadly, you two are left with Jehovah, since I pilot Anima with Adrian, Rufus and Alda pilot Dominion and finally, YESHUA and Eliza pilot Lakia."
"Wait, you mean I'm the pilot of the MA Jehovah, along with Aerith! Are you insane?" exclaimed Sephiroth as he was in protest about her abilities. "She and I don't know about controlling this huge monster, not to mention this is way beyond Gummi technology!"
"Don't worry, Sephiroth! These MAs are controlled by using your thought and a few buttons that Aerith controls are a bunch of weapon uses. Anyways, we're are out of the Heart Star System and entered into the Ishtar Solar System. So, guys get ready for position! We're heading to Mateel!"
"Yeah, but still…"
The cockpit inside the MA Jehovah
"That Bach never answered my question." Sephiroth moaned as he put his hands on his head.
"Don't worry, Sephiroth." Aerith mildly smiled as she was below Sephiroth, since he pilots the huge mecha. "I'm sure Bach is a nice person. You just need to be patient."
"Yes, but still. I'm not a person that would like waiting for at least half hour to hear his complaints."
He looked at the surroundings that although he can see Aerith from below, there was a screen surrounding them as if they were literally floating in the area. Though thankfully, they were at a hybrid of sitting and standing positions and that the projection had screens of text, showing the location of the current position, as well as the planets' names. Then, a screen came out of nowhere appear both on Aerith and Sephiroth showing, Bach inside the cockpit of Anima.
"I guess you're comfortable with Jehovah, huh?" was Bach's first question to them, well since it was their first time controlling Jehovah.
"Well, when you say comfortable, you mean with Aerith right?" was Sephiroth's first reply to Bach on-screen. "I mean, she's not capable of fighting a few monsters or so."
"Yeah, but she'll be with you, since you're strong enough to protect her fragile body."
"Inside the cockpit! You've got to be kidding me!"
"Oh well." Bach had completely ignored the One Winged Angel's complaint, much to his discharge and after a few buttons, he spoke again, only to everyone. "Right, are the MAs in position?"
"Yes." Replied Sephiroth as he tried to hide his anger towards the aloof guitarist.
The cockpit inside the MA Dominion
"Yep, all done and dusted." Rufus replied happily. Alda just smiled below Rufus's position.
The cockpit inside the MA Lakia
"Affirmative." That was all YESHUA could say, since robots do not have emotions.
"We're ready for departure." replied Eliza happily as she did a little tinkering with a few buttons on a holographic keyboard.
"So, when can leave this ship?" asked Sephiroth as his anger has been risen slightly.
"About thirty seconds and Zack over at the bridge would tell you the sequence, though he's a bit slow on counting down the numbers." And then another screen appeared out of nowhere, though it was Zack, looking a bit disgust about Bach's comment.
"Excuse me, but a bit slow? I think you've just misheard me." Smirked Zack with his spiky dark brown-black-ish hair "Well, anyway. Aerith and Sephiroth, you'd be better if you sit back, as this is will be a roller coaster."
The female voice that was just the computer have started the announcement of a countdown and once it reached to 'zero', Aerith and Sephiroth were thrusted into the unknown and suddenly, they were in space, in a metaphorical sense. No wonder, the blanket of stars looked so wonderful, yet at the same time, melancholic as there was no life. Near at the Jehovah's position, was the planet – Mateel – where the atmosphere is deadly, despite being covered in a pure white cover.
"Beautiful." Aerith could only say one word, as she amazed this pretty new world.
"Yet, at the same time, deadly. Like me." That was Sephiroth's only reply.
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
"…"
Somewhere on the surface of Mateel
First, it was Jehovah landing at this strange new world, next Dominion, who looked like a cross in-between a red Chinese dragon with some strange sensors at the front. Next it was Anima, with its wings like an eagle and an model like a person, only a hybrid, mecha form of it And finally, Lakia, a blue and silver of a cat-like model with a tail attached to it, though only it is floating slightly.
Then through the communication from Anima, Bach made a happy announcement, though only Sephiroth thought it was more of a torture, than a happy one.
"Right, according to our locations, the artefact should be found near approximately five kilometres away. Let's move everyone."
Author's Notes: Yes, I have deliberately put Rufus Shinra and Aeris/Aerith's old boyfriend, Zack into the Kingdom Hearts universe. But then, this is in the FF7 category, so better to put two of my three favourite male FF7 characters, besides Sephiroth himself and give them different roles, since they don't remember their roles in the FF7 universe.
And I've also made some video games references to it, can you guess who is it mainly largely to? And don't really complain about Sephiroth being the son of the Archangel Michael, because I haven't even told you about that yet. And just be patient on the love side of the Aeriseph stuff, it will be some time until either of them have finally confessed their love.
Right, keep those reviews coming and any anti-Aeriseph ones can be used as Doctor von Hagen's latest autopsy.