The Heretic
We walked into the room as Nero was thrown across the room, blood seeping from a wound in his chest. I gasped out of the shock but Vincent took a hold of my arm comfortingly, calming me down.
Before us stood Weiss, hand covered in his brother's blood. He was laughing but it soon stopped as he noticed us. Vincent pulled out his gun and started to fire but Weiss easily deflected the bullets by brandishing his swords and snickering sinisterly.
"How useless," He said to Vincent. "My body is one with Omega, just yours is with Chaos," He laughed as I ran towards him and tried to hit him with my sword but he threw me back into the doors and I banged my head badly. "As always so eager to lose Angevale. Now that I have joined with Omega nothing can stop me. Nothing!" He smirked and tiled his head to the side as I stood, narrowing my eyes at him. "Angevale Rhapsodos and Vincent Valentine... so here we all are. At last we meet again."
Again?
"What?" Vincent was just as shocked as I. Weiss scoffed and put his swords away, folding his arms.
"Still in the dark?" He asked, getting no reply. "It doesn't matter, neither of you were very bright to begin with..." He gave a sigh and looked at me. "Very well: three years ago when I was running around looking for Sephiroth as a precaution I uploaded my mind into the World Wide Network," I stared at Weiss, trying click everything in place slowly. "Even though the world had been shattered I survived in a virtual reality and once the Network was restored my scattered data regrouped and so I was reborn," My eyes widened and I started trembling, my eyes watering in terror. Weiss noticed this and grinned, continuing to speak. "A Neo-Reuinion... you could say." Vincent realised the truth as did I.
"You..." He didn't believe it but it was true. His voice then dripped with venom as he glared at Weiss. "You..."
Weiss began laughing and a figure flickered like a hologram beside Weiss. Soon his voice became distorted and it... it didn't belong to him. I was shaking uncontrollably and tears streamed down my face out of pure fear. I screamed and whimpered as the laughter became twisted and horribly familiar.
"That's right! It's me! Hojo!" Hojo's holographic figure controlled Weiss and the Tsviet mimicked Hojo's actions exactly. He laughed as he looked at me. He knew I was afraid of him. "Still scared Angevale? Some things never change do they?"
"What do you want!" I screamed in terror. Vincent held my arm and moved me behind him. He kept his hand holding my arm as I cried. I was so scared of Hojo I thought... I thought he was dead...
"Now, now, that's no way to greet someone," Hojo sneered. "I thought Fina and Oblivion taught you some manners," Hojo stared at Vincent and narrowed his eyes. "So, Valentine, it's been too long, hasn't it? Personally I could care less if the little girl was here but it's always enjoyable to see her cower before me. Never did I think we would be standing in this situation, ready to sail the cosmos as Omega," He paced around the room and Vincent tightened the grip around my wrist.
"Vincent why is he here?" I whimpered quietly. He hushed me, keeping his eyes on Hojo and Weiss.
"You should be grateful you two. If I hadn't done those experiments and given you a nearly indestructible body you wouldn't be standing here today," Hojo continued, pointing at Vincent. "Ah but I digress. Three years ago when you transformed into Chaos, I got to thinking about Dr. Crescent's thesis. If Chaos exists then so too must Omega. I thought her ramblings were nothing more than pure nonsense until that day. I found myself quite fortunate that before I took control of the Sister Ray I uploaded my neurodata into the World Wide Network beforehand. However I ran into a problem when I attempted to strengthen my body with Jenova's Cells: I didn't consider that the Cells would attempt to take over my mind. I did acknowledge that I needed a more durable body as I suspected my own would be destroyed by both Avalanche and Jenova."
I shut my eyes and felt so scared. I wanted him to shut up. I just wanted him to stop talking. To die like he was meant to three years ago.
"Well you know what I did. I remembered Deepground was home to spiecimens on par, if not stronger, than my son. Weiss' body was perfect for this experiment and so once I took control of his mind I manipulated Nero into killing people untainted by Jenova," Hojo continued, clearly sounding proud of his work. "I concluded that if Chaos was born from a tainted Lifestream then Omega must be of a pure one, thus I made Deepground hunt and kill all those unaffected by Jenova and Geostigma to create a stream of pure refined Mako and thus start my journey into the stars in a blaze of glory! Pure genius I tell you! Pure genius!"
"That's it Hojo, I've heard enough," Vincent fired his gun at Weiss. Hojo's image vanished and Weiss effortlessly blocked the bullets with his weapons. Vincent had to reload his gun so Weiss ran towards him, making Vincent stop what he was doing, grab me and get me out of the way in time but Weiss threw him to the ground. Hojo reappeared again and laughed at Vincent, who was on the ground in agony.
"You're getting old, Vincent Valentine," He mocked. "Ah you just can't leave me alone can you? It doesn't matter. Neither of you can do anything to stop me so you can both sit back and watch." Weiss turned his back on Vincent, who got up weakly, shaken by the attack.
"No. I won't let you... this isn't over," He said, pointing his gun at Weiss.
"Oooh, so eager to die aren't we?" Hojo sneered, taking control of Weiss. "Very well, I wanted to test out this body before I began my journey anyway."
I crawled away to the side and shook Nero's body, seeing that he was still alive somehow. He stared up at me with weak eyes.
"Weiss... why...?" He mumbled.
"Professor Hojo has control of your brother," I told him, sounding desperate already. "I need to know how to stop him. Please how do I stop your brother."
"No... you don't..." Nero faded into his darkness. I screamed and crouched under falling debris before hiding behind it in terror, not wanting to watch the fight. Weiss was strong and Hojo's hatred for Vincent was stronger. Vincent was strong as well but he was losing control of Chaos and I didn't know how that would affect him.
Soon I heard a loud thump and I looked up, seeing Vincent on the ground. I gasped but was unable to move as Vincent stood, swaying back and forth as though he was about to go unconscious. Hojo laughed at Vincent as he stood triumphantly.
"Oh Vincent you've always humoured me so," He raised one of Weiss' swords and this was the first time I realised that there were guns grafted into them. No... not again... "I suppose this will be the last time I get to enjoy this. Goodbye Vincent Valentine."
"No!" I screamed, running to them as Weiss squeezed the trigger.
I got in front of Vincent and took the bullet, spreading my wings and using them to shield myself. My middle left wing took the hit, which interested Hojo.
"Have we finally grown a spine, Angevale?" I notied behind me that Vincent's body was glowing red. Chaos.
"Vincent please... I don't want you to die..." I pleaded quietly. Without warning something flickered to the side of us. Another hologram. This time of Lucrecia. I felt my stomach churn in digust as she appeared.
"Vincent please take control! You can't defeat this enemy by simply overpowering him!" She exclaimed. "You can't let Chaos rule you! You must rule Chaos! Please Vincent!" The hologram froze and Hojo grimaced in disgust.
"Enough of this charade!" He yelled. "She won't be able to help you now. It's just as Angevale said: The woman you love is just a corpse." Vincent stared at me and I looked away. Now he knew... how I felt about her.
Weiss laughed and without warning he ran towards me, choking me painfully. I felt my breath leave quickly and was losing consciousness.
Vincent grabbed Weiss' arm and dug his clawed hand deep into his skin, tossing Weiss to the other side of the room. He was using Chaos' power in his human form. I put my hand against my neck and watched as Vincent and Weiss battled again. This time Vincent was winning.
I still felt scared and was now ignoring the tears that fell down my face. But Vincent would beat Hojo. I know he will.
I ran out of the way when Weiss was slammed against the wall, dying once again. Hojo's hologram seem shocked and panicked by the outcome of the battle.
"No! I won't let Omega's power fade! This can't be!" He screamed. A pool of darkness appeared in front of Weiss' body, which shocked Hojo more. "No! No Nero stop this! Omega's host must be pure! Stop this madness now!"
"Silence," Nero ordered, immediantly shutting the scientist up. "I am speaking to my brother..." Nero knew we couldn't stop Hojo on our own. He had to use his own darkness to taint Weiss as a host for Omega, make him unsuitable. "Weiss... let us go... it is time we reclaim our freedom." Weiss stared at his brother, a small smile on his face.
"Yes Nero... let us..." Nero hugged his brother which made Hojo scream in agony.
"No! You can't! This is my body now!" It was useless. When Nero and Weiss' bodies vanished Hojo's neurodata couldn't control it. He flickered and faded, finally losing himself to his own experimentation once more.
Vincent and I stood in silence and I wiped my tears, avoiding eye contact. I knew what he would ask.
"Angevale..." My heart stopped in my chest and I prepared myself for what he could possibly say.
"Hey you guys!" I breathed a sigh of relief as Yuffie ran into the room with a grin on her face. "We did it! Let's get out of here." Sadly Yuffie's idea was wrecked by the Mako bursting up and rapidly breaking through to the surface.
A stray blast went towards us but Vincent shove both Yuffie and I out of the way and took the blast himself, disappearing when it cleared.
"Vincent!" I called out, realising what was happening. I clenched my fists and breathed deeply. My wings were still spread and I knew what I had to... what I wanted to do. "No... no you're not dying again!" I flew up and followed the Lifestream up to the surface, flying above Midgar. This is my battle too. This is my choice.
