Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII. I depend on my daughter, Angeal Valentine, and on Bjanik for all my information on the subject.
A/N—We're still "real time" in New Banora.
(12 pm, Mideel; 10 pm, Midgar; 6 pm, Gongaga; 2 pm, Wutai)
"There he is!" Zack's eyes followed Hewley. Sephiroth had kicked Hewley into a tree when both he and Rhapsodos had attacked Seph. "My turn… Damn it!" He didn't want this confrontation.
At the tree, Zack leveled the Buster Sword at Hewley's throat. "Remember this sword?! You told me that it was your family's pride! You told me that I was even more important than this! You told me I was important to you! What happened to that, Angeal?!"
Hewley looked at his sword in Zack's hands. He slid down the tree holding his claymore above his head in one hand with his other in a pocket. To Zack, Angeal looked completely unconcerned with the situation—relaxed, even casual. Angeal shook his head. "You've been using it, I see. I suppose that was your way of 'honoring my memory'?"
Zack's eyes widened. "Yes!" Zack stepped back and made ready to stab Hewley in the heart. The former Soldier easily blocked the attack with his claymore force-to-force. Yes, that was right. Angeal only ever passed attacks from Sephiroth. He had been stronger, more overpowering, than every other man in Soldier—except Seph. Rotating the huge blade, Zack turned the stab into a slash for Hewley's knee. Instead of blocking this attack force-to-force, however, Hewley did something Zack had never seen him do—he stepped to Zack's right—his outside!—and pushed the huge blade away. Zack, not ready for Hewley's passing move, was thrown off balance for just an instant, and Hewley grabbed Zack about his waist, pulled him close, and pinned both Zack's arms. Zack squirmed. This was so wrong!
"I would have thought you'd have learned not to be thrown around by it," Hewley commented.
"You are not Angeal!" Zack snarled.
"Za-ack," Hewley said with a smile in his voice. "It's okay. It's really me. I promise."
"No… Promise me, you won't make me do it… I won't do it again!"
"I won't make you do it again." Hewley rolled his eyes. "I promise. I won't make you—Bio2." Against Zack's lower back, hidden in his left hand, Hewley held a mastered bio materia, "because you won't live long enough to do it."
"Angeal… why?" Zack muttered as the poison coursed through his system. He could already feel the initial dizziness.
"Because, Genesis needs me." Hewley glared coldly at Zack then whispered. "My brother needs me." He dropped Zack, turned, and walked away.
"Brother?!"
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Tseng glanced at Elena under his shoulder. She was staggering with exhaustion. While healed of the terrible wound in her abdomen, she was tired. The deaths of Jayna and Richard had hurt her more deeply than had the grunt. Elena looked up at him. The trust and the hurt in her eyes were more terrifying to him than their current situation. He pulled her tighter to his side. Many of his other people were hurt just as badly as she, but they were now nearing the location of Verdot's signal. Hopefully, close to the Soldiers there would be some measure of safety for the exhausted Turks.
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Kamui had finally set Rufus Shinra down. Her shoulder was bothering her, and her passenger was heavy—none of which put a pause to their argument.
"In fact, you look just like General Sephiroth. Since my company made him, we must have made you as well; therefore, you belong to me!" Rufus Shinra never saw it coming. As soon as the words left his mouth, Kamui's fist became a close acquaintance of his face. "Why'd you do that?!" Rufus clutched his jaw against the swelling.
"Bastard! I don't belong to anyone! Much less you!"
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Every bone in Genesis Rhapsodos' body hurt, especially his crushed and electrocuted left hand! "Damn you, Sephiroth! I will have Jenova tissue!" Rhapsodos still lay on the broken bits of the Banora monument. He gazed at the now-revealed body of the old woman. "I will have it, Lynette!" He brought his finger to his mouth and sucked desperately on the hair wrapped around it. Rhapsodos felt the healing effect of the Jenova cells in the hair. He came to his knees and pulled a few more hairs from his pocket, wound them, then swallowed them—more Jenova cells.
Dreams of the morrow hath shattered soul
Pride is Lost.
Wings stripped away, the end is nigh
Loveless, Act V.
From the corner of his eye, Genesis could see the two Turks he'd tried to dispose of approaching him with handcuffs. No! They wouldn't take him! Rhapsodos stood and raised a hand over his head, and a summoning trigram appeared in the sky. With a glance at each other, the Turks scrambled away to the safety of their earlier position. Overhead clouds funneled downward, and a golden beam of light descended from above.
On his knees with Tessa, Sephiroth stiffened. That ripple. There was magic—big magic!—behind him. Of the people in this fight that were capable of such strong magic, only Genesis was close by. It had to be him, but how could he have recovered? Sephiroth glanced at Tessa and felt the mask slip back over his features. She gazed back at him sadly and wrapped her fingers around the snack. Sephiroth's hand that had so recently held her Tessa bar now returned to the hilt of his sword. He stood and took one last look at his family then turned to see a metallic, gold dragon descending from a summoning portal. Sephiroth momentarily closed his eyes; as he had gathered electric charges to Masamune, now he soaked in spirit energy. He would need it to fight a dragon. Vincent. Don't stop me again. This has to end.
A mental sigh came from Valentine. Fine. I'll take care of everything.
"Summons, Genesis? Honestly! I thought you had outgrown such childish maneuvers." Sephiroth shook his head and moved at an angle away from his wife, getting Tessa out of the direct line of fire, as the monster swooped to the ground to land on the fallen monument. The dragon's jaws opened, and it roared a challenge. "Bahamut Fury…" Sephiroth brought Masamune into his familiar thrust position and prepared to attack. Before he could do so, however, Bahamut Fury launched three massive fireballs that scorched everything in their paths—trees, grass, even evaporating dead bodies. Sephiroth leaped toward the monster then swung for its shoulder. The Masamune met plated armor that deflected the attack. The Bahamut's clawed paw swatted Sephiroth away as though he were a bug and shredded his battle coat. The General hit the ground skidding then flipped and landed on his feet. Sephiroth wiped his chin on the back of his glove as he studied the dragon, eyes searching for gaps in the armor. He didn't have long to look though—the summoned dragon roared furiously. Most of the spines on the dragon's wings fired off like missiles, all aimed for Sephiroth.
Sephiroth sprinted forward and avoided most of the spines as they overshot. One, however, pinned his coat to the ground tripping him. Sephiroth hit the ground face first, and blood gushed from his nose. Damn, this thing was a pain in the neck. Just then, all the spines returned to the dragon's wings. Sephiroth stood and wiped the blood from his face. He studied the creature while he continued to gather spirit energy. There were no gaps in Bahamut Fury's frontal defenses! Maybe behind... Sephiroth jumped into the air and over the gold dragon. Yes. There. Neither of the wing joints nor the back of the neck had protection. Sephiroth landed. No! The dragon's tail hit him and sent him flying toward the remains of a burning, broken tree. Sephiroth rotated and hit the burning trunk feet first, pushed off, and then landed crouched on the ground.
Bahamut Fury howled and launched itself into the air. Higher and higher the dragon climbed. From his crouched position, the General's eyebrows furrowed. What was it doing at that height? Exaflare!! At that instant he caught a glimpse of Genesis leaning casually against a tree, well away from the battle.
As a massive, superheated, plasma beam engulfed where he had crouched moments before, Sephiroth launched himself skyward. Bahamut Fury landed. Focusing on the massive beast, Sephiroth gathered his accumulated spirit energy, raised a hand, and declared, "Descend, Heartless Angel!" The dragon collapsed. He had used one of his most powerful attacks to destroy the creature, but 'heartless angel,' had drawbacks. It had required a long charge period and now came the recovery time—there would be no more magic for a while. Sephiroth landed near the defeated dragon and stabbed the back of its neck, finishing it. Bahamut Fury's body faded into small green bits.
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It was a magnificent sight—Sephiroth in mid-air declaring, "Descend, Heartless Angel!" above a gold dragon—that greeted Tseng and his people on their arrival at Verdot's position. "Gaia, look at it, Elena! We may never see such a thing again." Elena nodded her head, her mouth in an "O," and her blond hair still escaping from its hood. With the defeat of the dragon, the remaining Turks' attention returned to their commander. Tseng circled a finger. Elena and her fellow Turks fanned out to enlarge and secure their position. All had acquired weapons and ammo from their dead enemies as they'd approached. Tseng didn't like the weapons, but he didn't have much choice in the matter.
"Situation?" Tseng knelt near Verdot and Valentine. Tseng noted that Dr. Caperton immediately turned his attention to Dr. Romera, a stethoscope on her abdomen, and shook his head. Tseng grimaced—something else potentially not going well.
"Not bad here, all things considered." Verdot paused. "But I think you'd better talk to Reno and Rude. We'll have to clean out the facilities underground."
"Right."
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"You are the world's biggest asshole." Kamui rubbed her shoulder while keeping a fist ready to beat in Rufus Shinra's face.
"I am not!" Rufus was aghast. No one, with the exception of his father, had ever spoken to him like this.
"You are, and I'll prove it to you… Tell me, do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend back home?"
"What?! Of course. The women fall all over me!"
"Have you ever had a second date with any of them?"
"Of course I have!"
"Recently?"
"Er… no…"
"Ha! You see, you're a pain in the ass!"
"Well, maybe you wouldn't think that if you went out with me!"
"What?! Are you offering?"
"Are you accepting?"
"If we live through this… maybe!"
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"What was that?" Argento peered through the darkness. So far, getting rid of the Turk infestation had only proven to be grunt work. The Deep Ground Tsviet turned and was leaving the New Banoran clone army to deal with their problem, when loud voices a short way off caught her attention. Moving cautiously, Argento spotted a silver-haired girl, probably in her late teens, and a blond Turk. Both were yelling at the tops of their lungs. Argento raised an eyebrow. Was it the Sephiroth clone and the shot-gun toting Turk? Yes. Had to be. Genesis hadn't said how alive the clone needed to be. Argento closed her eyes and concentrated her spirit energy--glad once again that Tsviets didn't need materia for their specialty attacks. "Sonic Impulse."
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Cloud Strife blocked another attack from the huge blue monster he had engaged alongside Major Niven. As he blocked, Cloud saw Angeal Hewley walking away. As Hewley moved, Zack was revealed lying on the ground, unmoving, his skin turning a sick shade of green.
"Stay focused, Strife!" Niven ordered.
"But Zack!" the blond protested as he ducked a sweep of the monster's claws.
Niven spotted Zack. Green! Damn—Bio spell! "Strife, I can handle this. Go help Zack!" Cloud's eyes widened as Niven passed a swipe of the clone's scimitar. "Get going! That's an order!"
The Third Class nodded and avoided another claw swipe. He broke away from the fight and ran for the First Class. "Zack! ZACK!" Cloud knelt next to Zack, but Zack's hand seemed to be pointing somewhere. "What is it, Zack?"
"Ant…" Zack muttered. He knew he shouldn't have moved when poisoned. "Angeal. D-Don't… Spike… You're no… match…" The black-haired man muttered, his eyes watching Cloud.
"Just rest a little, Zack. I've got this one." Cloud stood, saluted, then charged after Hewley.
Hewley was standing watching Sephiroth battle the dragon in the distance, his back to Zack. Suddenly his precog pinged. Someone was charging him from behind! Hewley spun and easily blocked the Third Class' attack. "Hmm. Well, you wish to fight?"
"You're gonna pay for what you did to my friend!" Cloud shouted.
"So… It would seem the Puppy has picked up a puppy of his own," Hewley calmly deflected another slash from Cloud. The blond lifted his sword and attempted an overhead slash. Hewley easily blocked it and pushed Cloud's sword away. "Your strength is good, but you need to work on speed."
"Speed? Fine." Cloud let go of the Baby Buster's handle with one hand and pushed its release trigger. The now-released half sword flew into the air. As it flew, Hewley swept aside Cloud's original sword. Hewley pushed it down before his left arm wrapped around Cloud's, the blade against his shoulder guard. Hewley lifted his elbow and sent the first sword into the air. Cloud's mind screamed in recognition of the move—snake disarm!—and he wanted to kick himself for falling victim to such an elementary move! The "disarmed" sword collided with its brother in mid-air. Both flew away from Cloud. Hewley brought his knee into Cloud's groin, and the Third Class choked as the air rushed from his lungs. He collapsed coughing to the ground on his knees. Hewley placed his claymore along the blond's chin.
"You still have a lot to learn," Hewley shook his head.
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Precog! Kamui leaped away from Rufus Shinra. A wave of air pressure scythed around her, turning branches and leaves into blades and knives. Pain! Her right ear hurt! She fell to the ground clutching her ear and felt moisture. The ear was bleeding—her eardrum was probably shattered! Her balance was probably going to be garbage—have to use empty-hand techniques instead of weapons. The swords would only worsen her coordination.
"I don't see how you caused Genesis so much trouble." Kamui looked up. A beautiful, dark-haired woman was standing over her with a sword! Kamui kicked herself around to her right side and slammed her foot into the woman's knee. The woman staggered back.
Kamui struggled to her feet. "Who are you?!"
"I am Argento the Silver. You, on the other hand, are the clone Genesis has ordered captured, so be a good clone and surrender." She pointed her sword at Kamui.
"No way! Call me a 'clone' again, and I'll kick your ass!" Kamui snarled, pupils thinning.
"If you're eager to die, so be it." Argento swung for Kamui's head. Kamui leaned back, avoiding the attack, then palm-heeled Argento in the solar plexus, fracturing her body armor. The Tsviet flew back a few feet coughing, then charged forward and slashed for Kamui's injured shoulder.
Kamui stepped to the outside of the attack and grasped Argento's outstretched arm with her left hand. Simultaneously she pulled with left hand toward her while her right hand pushed hard outward and upward on the flat of the Tsviet's blade sending the long sword flying. Landing thirty feet away, it then skittered further on the ground. While Kamui held the Tsviet in place with her left, she lifted her leg then drove her foot into the older woman's cheek. She let go, and Argento was thrown to the ground.
"A capable falcon hides its talons," Kamui smirked at the stunned Tsviet, then turned to leave. Suddenly Kamui was thrown forward and hit the ground face down. What?! A large, horizontal gash appeared in her back, and along her elbows. More pain! Argento had launched another of those air pressure attacks! Damn! Kamui had turned her back to her enemy. Idiot!
Argento stood up. "As you said, a capable falcon hides its talons. My position as Tsviet doesn't permit me to be defeated so easily—especially by a measly clone." Argento hastily dashed for her sword as the teenager staggered to her feet. Retrieving the sword, Argento swung for the silver-haired girl in a feint then punched her in the left eye. The teenager recoiled, clutched her eye, and howled in pain. Argento slammed her knee into the girl's stomach, then kicked her into a pile of debris on the ground. "It's a pity I can't kill you now, but Genesis needs you alive, and I need Genesis."
"Why?" Kamui muttered, still nursing her injured eye. "Why would you need anyone?"
"Hmph. Apart from the fact I love him, he's promised to free Deep Ground from the Restrictors." Bitterness coated Argento's voice when she said 'Restrictors.' "This is the only way to get Genesis' help. Tell me, did you ever hear of the Lost Squad of the Terra Soldiers?"
"Hm." Kamui paused. "Didn't they disappear during the war with Wutai?"
"Exactly. After proving their worth wiping out the Ragnarok core, they became the overlords of Deep Ground. The oppressors of Deep Ground, I should say. Recently, however, Genesis appeared and promised Weiss, our leader, he would rid us of the Restrictors."
"So that's why…" Kamui nodded. "It would seem I've been going about this the wrong way." She removed her hand from her swollen-shut left eye. "Forgive me. I can see you have an honorable intent. From now on I'm coming at you with everything I've got."
Argento nodded and pointed her sword at the girl. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
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"What are we likely to face below ground?" Tseng questioned his two, long-missing Turks.
"Yo, bossman, you have no idea." Reno took an elbow from Rude.
Rude took over the report. "The place is filled with tubes and clones, and a huge, natural pool of mako—about five times bigger than the Nibelheim reactor pool. We always heard that Mideel was geologically unstable. Well, if that pool goes, it'd probably take the whole island with it."
Vincent barely heard the rest of Rude's report. Chaos had mentally kicked him again. Can't let the pool explode; something bigger than the island sinking could well happen.
"Chief, that is Vanessa-7." Rude indicated a worried-looking, pig-tailed woman in tee-shirt and jeans who was hovering between Tessa and Dr. Caperton. "She is one of the New Banora clones, but she helped us get out of the underground complex. She would probably lead us back through, but she's upset that so many of her fellow clones are being destroyed. Honestly, I think that if Genesis Rhapsodos and Vester Hollander weren't here, the clones would probably live quietly and farm apples." He glanced about looking for something, then spotted the silver bag. "Also, that bag contains Vester Hollander." Rude moved to the bag that had proved a comfortable seat for Reno. "Seven, have you checked on Hollander lately?"
Tseng watched as the woman started, shook her head a bit sheepishly, then pushed Reno's leg aside to read some control panels. "He's okay. We need to let his head out though, so he can get some air."
"Reno." Tseng ordered, "You're in charge of keeping the prisoner quiet." Reno smirked.
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Kamui didn't charge; instead, she set into a fighting stance and simply waited. Argento paused wondering what the girl was doing; so far the teenager hadn't drawn her swords. Why was she waiting? Seconds turned into minutes. Argento shook her head, raised her right arm, and sent another wind blade at the teen, who barely rolled out of the way. Argento tried again and again missed by a slight margin. This was strange. With her eye uninjured, the girl had been vulnerable to the attack, but she still had a perfectly good eye… unless… The Tsviet leaped into the air and crashed her foot onto Kamui's right shoulder. Aha! That proved it; the girl was blind in her right eye. The girl rolled again. As she stood, Argento thrust her sword into the girl's stomach, and it broke through her back covered in crimson.
"It would seem that Deep Ground may yet be strong enough to overcome the Restrictors…" Argento muttered as Kamui hacked up blood.
"D-Don't underestimate me…" the girl coughed. Kamui grabbed the guard of Argento's sword with her left hand, then pulled herself further on to it. Electricity arced between the fingers of her right hand while the air throbbed with the build-up of power. She grabbed Argento's face and poured in the electricity, sunk a finger into Argento's eye destroying it, then pulled her hand back and punched Argento as hard as she could in the chest. Argento's broken chest armor shattered, and Kamui's hand broke ribs.
Argento fell over clutching her chest—her right lung had collapsed! "M-maybe… not… but…" She coughed. Her still functioning lung had started into overdrive to oxygenate her blood. "Y-You… What's your name?!"
"Kamui."
A/N—Why is it every character wants his/her big moment in the climatic fight scene? Angeal Valentine tells me, "Because they're awesome like that." Arg!