-Chapter Twenty-Six-
Apocalypse
"What happened to Reeve?" Vincent asked the company present.
"Summon died, he's gone comatose…" Alex explained. She happened to be feet away from him at the time, "…where do we go from here, Sephiroth has the black materia."
Everybody went silent for a few moments in defeat. What was there that they could do now? There was no way to stop him once he had summoned meteor using the materia, and when that happened the world was doomed.
"We stop him from using it, if he could use it anywhere he would have done it as soon as he got his hands on the damn thing…" Cloud speculated. Everyone thought that this was slightly wishful thinking, "…he is going to have to summon it somewhere similar to where he did on Gaia, that is my theory."
"We can only hope you are right…" Vincent said, "I have an idea where that might be but he will beat us there easily…"
"We'll be at Cairo in a few minutes…" Cid informed them, looking at the city which was slowly appearing on the horizon, "…I'm assuming you have a plan when we get there Vincent?"
"Reeve already has a jet there waiting for us, he is prepared I'll give him that, it is a shame to have him out of action…" He looked over at the unconscious form of his ally, "we need to keep focused though."
Cid touched the helicopter down on the helipad and they all got out, quickly changing back into their host forms before they did so. There was a swift transition of vehicles and before they knew it they were airborne once more, changing back to parasites.
"Want to know something interesting?" Yuffie said to Cloud, "we were only in the pyramid for ten minutes…" She indicated the time on her watch.
"It felt like we were in there for days!" He replied.
"I know, not really sure how it works either…" She admitted, watching Vincent as he walked over to the television and turned it on.
Instead of proceeding to do a briefing however as he normally would, he flipped it onto a UK news channel.
Our top story; The Prime Minister was found dead in number ten downing street earlier this morning. Police described the scene as an onslaught, all of the staff had been murdered and the minister himself was found with multiple stab wounds in his office. Authorities are currently denying any truth that this is the work of the earlier named 'Parasites' which have recently come into light, Anita Franklyn reports live from number ten…
There was a silence amongst them as the report went on. So this was the state of the world, the leader of the UK now dead, the one politician whom Vincent had managed to get on their side. This would surely plunge the world into chaos, if world leaders could be so easily killed by Sephiroth there was no telling what he was going to do next…
"This could cause uncertainty…" Vincent said aloud, looking round at everyone, "the sooner we stop him the better, we can't let him continue any longer."
"From what it sounds like Elena is also dead…" Tifa pointed out, remember what Rufus had said about giving their regards to her, "Rufus must have found out she was the informant after all."
"So now we don't know Shinra's movements either…" Cloud sounded defeated, "can things get any worse?"
"Don't look at things like that…" Tifa encouraged, "we need to stop him summoning meteor with the black materia, that is our goal. We do that and then we kill him, simple."
Cloud couldn't help but scoff. "Yeah, because our attempt to kill him back in our world was so successful…that's why we are here anyway."
Tifa looked at him. "What do you mean that is why we are here?" She asked curiously.
"…Did you not hear it?" He asked, looking around at all the confused faces he was now in the company of.
"Hear what?" Vincent asked, joining in the conversation.
Cloud looked at them as though they were joking. "The voice, the voice when we were defeated?" Everybody's faces looked if possible even more bewildered.
"Can't say I did…" Cid was the first to say anything.
"Nor me…" Vincent added.
"Me neither!" Yuffie chirped.
"Can't say I heard anything of the sort…" Tifa admitted.
"Sure you weren't hearing things spikey?" Barret laughed.
"Nothing here either." Red concluded.
It was at this moment that all of them seemed to realise something. The whole team was back together at last, even though one of them was not currently conscious, this seemed to boost morale somewhat. The entire team together hunting down and stopping the most evil person on the planet.
"Must have been hearing things…" Cloud decided, not going into any further detail, "Where are we headed anyway?"
"America, to the gulf of Mexico." Vincent informed them, everybody looked slightly puzzled. "Allow me to explain. Thousands of years ago, scientists believe that the planet was struck by a meteorite, wiping out all life on the surface of the planet and plunging it into nuclear winter. If Sephiroth needs to go to an area where the planet has been scarred, that will be his number one choice."
Everybody looked at him, impressed by his extensive knowledge of the planet he had gained from travelling through so many hosts. This after all must be the reason he had decided not to stay in one host for too long, the power gained from the knowledge he now held was very valuable indeed.
He brought up a map of the world on the TV monitor and began zooming into the gulf. "This entire area here is the gulf." He highlighted a huge area of an ocean. "best bet is that Sephiroth will go to the middle of it to use the materia, that is where it is likely to be most responsive. There is of course a chance he won't pick this location, but these are slim, I managed to briefly sense his intentions whilst he stole the materia."
"How did he do that shadow like thing?" Cloud asked, wondering if anybody would manage to think of any input on this.
"It would appear he has magic beyond materia now, his relationship with his host has reached an extraordinary level, they seem to be working off each other brilliantly." He looked over at Tifa and began to speak to Alex, "I am sorry, but it looks as though Josh's mind is lost now…"
Tifa chose not to let Alex take over and give her some privacy. Alex did not know how to react, her best friend was now merciless, working with enthusiasm to summon a deadly meteor.
"Surely all of us combined can easily take down Sephiroth!" Cid almost shouted at them all. "We have more materia than he could dream of and summons to boot!"
He touched his materia arm and made not one but two red orbs appear in it. He showed them off proudly to the cabin, Yuffie as always was the first to react. "What are they!"
"Ramuh, the thunder god, and Ifrit the fire demon. Considerin' how these summons react in this world I'd say all of them combined gives us a pretty good chance!"
"It is also a handicap though, if one of them dies we are in trouble." Cloud pointed at Reeve who was still unconscious on the sofa. "We need to make sure we take care of them just like we would any other ally in battle."
"Here here!" Yuffie agreed, she then turned to Cid. "Where have you been anyway?"
Cid and Vincent both began to laugh at this point. "You really are all clueless! I've been piloting your jet's everywhere you've been flying!" He replied, Vincent also chuckling along.
"We found him relatively early on, wanted to keep him secret from Sephiroth though, didn't want him to know we had just as much unity as we did." Vincent smiled.
"If we didn't know though where was the unity?" Tifa pointed out.
"Well there was unity between me Cid and Reeve at any rate. Rest assured this is the only thing you didn't know, all is out in the open now." He assured them.
"Reeve knew as well?" Tifa asked.
"Of course!" Cid replied, "It was Reeve who found me, pure luck, but then everything in this world seems to be pure luck." He looked back down at his materia arm, "I don't think I will ever understand how these things are thinking… Especially the black one…"
"It didn't want to be obtained though…" Vincent pointed out, then suddenly realised an alternative, "…or whoever put it there didn't want it to be obtained, that's always a possibility."
"You think someone is orchestrating this whole thing?" Cloud asked, "If that's the case, why put the black materia into the world at all, why not just leave it in Gaia?"
"It is only an alternate theory." Vincent replied simply. "The thought that someone is controlling this whole situation is very unnerving…"
"Let us hope it is not the case then." Tifa chipped in.
X
Josh walked confidently along the sunny dock, looking at all the impressive vessels which had made berth there. He was not particularly fussed about which one he chose, any of them would do perfectly for the plan.
It was fortunate that the news of the Parasites was not yet widely known in America, as fast as news travelled this was very lucky indeed. Nobody seemed to know that Josh was now the most wanted person in Britain. No doubt authorities would know that it was he who had killed the prime minister, they would attempt to keep this from the public of course.
He walked along to the end of the docks to what looked like the most impressive warship. It bore the name 'Valiant' on its hull. There were many crew members aboard already, this did not faze Josh however, he strode confidently aboard the ship onto the deck.
It was odd, but nobody on deck seemed to pay him much attention, it was as though Josh's lack of deliberate conspicuousness was keeping him out of site. Indeed, several of the crew walked within two feet of him and seemed not to register that he even existed.
This was magic working in ways Sephiroth himself had not thought possible; a disguise that was keeping him and Josh at the 'corner of your eye' part of people's perception. It was not as though he was invisible, people were moving deliberately round him to avoid collision still.
Josh manipulated the mind of one of the nearby sailors in order to determine the way to the bridge, then released him from the magic. He strode confidently towards one of the large bulkhead doors and turned the huge wheel upon it. Pushing it open, Josh began to explore the ships interior.
It did not take him long before he reached the bridge of the ship, where three crew members and the captain stood, apparently checking over all the apparatus. Josh moved quietly over to the captain and manipulated him.
"Ready to set sail?" He asked the crew members, to Josh's delight they all nodded, he must have got there just as they were finishing their checks.
The captain then began to set the baring's on the ships computer. A few minutes later they were off, setting sail in a southbound direction. Josh, seeing that his job was done, took his leave from the bridge, sealed the door behind him, and headed back down towards the deck.
"Right, just need to dispose of the crew…" Sephiroth said to Josh, "…you want this one or shall I take it?"
"You can have this one, I need to rest…" Josh replied, closing his eyes and allowing Sephiroth to take control. Again nobody seemed to notice this at all.
"I was starting to miss this, letting you have all the fun isn't normally my style…"
X
They touched down at an airfield on the south coast of Louisiana. Knowing that they were going to be far behind Sephiroth was already lowering the party's morale.
"Someone is going to have to stay with Reeve, make sure that he stays safe…" Vincent instructed before any of them got off of the plane, most of them had already reverted back to their host forms.
"I'll do it…" Shaun volunteered, walking back towards the chair he had been sat in, "…you just want us to stay in the jet?"
"Yes, if we could borrow your materia as well that would be brilliant." Shaun extracted all of his materia from his arm and handed it over to Vincent, who began handing it out between everyone. Much to Yuffie's annoyance she did not receive any of it.
Alex walked over to Shaun and wrapped her arms around him. "See you in a few hours mate." She then did something she had never done before and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek before turning round and getting off the Jet.
The hosts walked out into the blinding sunlight, Vincent still choosing to keep in parasite form. "There should be a chopper waiting for us down by the docks, it will take us an hour from there to get to the centre of the gulf."
All of them could see the docks within walking distance of the airfield. Vincent had obviously chosen this location very carefully. Approaching the docks however, they noticed that something seemed to be wrong. People seemed to be in a very low state of panic.
Alex took advantage of this and walked up to one of the nearby civilians. "What's going on, what is everyone getting so excited about?"
"You not heard darlin'?" The woman replied in a thick American accent, "The Valiant has gone AWOL, took off without a word, got everyone round here talkin'."
They all looked at each other, a silent understanding passing between each of them. So he had beaten them to it after all. No matter though, travelling by ship to the centre of the gulf would be a slow process, they still had time to catch up.
"We can't waste any more time," Vincent reminded them all as the woman went away, "the chopper is just over here, we must make haste!"
They all ran as fast as they could over to the waiting chopper, Cid getting into the pilots section. They took off and began to fly southbound towards the centre of the gulf. It would take some time, but they had much to discuss on the way.
"How the hell is he travelling so fast!" Tifa asked having just taken over Alex, "It makes no sense!"
"No way of knowing," Cloud replied looking at her, "he can't make the ship go any faster though, we may just catch up with him!"
They were all constantly on the lookout for the Valiant. Nothing for the first half of the journey however. Everyone was talking tactics, discussing the best way to take down their nemesis.
"…There!" Cloud shouted, looking out the side of the chopper at a ship in the distance, "That has to be it!"
The ship was not moving, and on approach they could not see anyone on the deck. Cid hovered the chopper next to the ship on the same level. The deck was currently deserted, a ghost ship.
"Are we too late?" Tifa asked, looking at the ship.
A figure suddenly walked out into the centre of the deck at that very moment. It was Sephiroth alright, he must have killed everyone aboard. He looked straight at them all in the chopping with an expression of amusement set on his face.
"My friends!" He shouted, and his voice was surprisingly clear considering the noise being made by the rotary blades, "So glad you could make it!"
Vincent took aim with his gun, Tifa stopped him however. "No point, he will only reflect it back at us."
At that moment from the distance came another chopper, this one bearing Rufus Shinra, Tseng, Reno and Rude. Tseng was piloting. Sephiroth looked round at the new arrivals, his smile growing even wider.
"And Mr President as well, this is turning into quite the party, I shall endeavour to be a good host!" He laughed at his own ironic use of the word.
Sephiroth then raised his materia arm, and everybody knew what was coming next. Tifa sent spell after spell at him, but whatever magic he was using had encased the entire ship in an incredible barrier. Nothing got within twenty feet of him, it seemed hopeless.
"Have to try something different!" Yuffie shouted, then without warning jumped out of the chopper and started hurtling towards the water.
The phoenix rose from the waves and caught Yuffie with ease. She was using it as a mount, flying round the exterior of the ship, looking for a weak spot in the barrier. The phoenix then spread its wings, and from the tips of its feathers burst golden flames. They passed through the barrier and hit the ship, causing minor damage.
Sephiroth had begun to use the black materia however, he had taken it from his arm to do so. It hovered ten feet above the deck emitting the same black glow the mysterious light did back in the pyramid. The phoenix fired more golden flames, all missed the materia and continued to cause minor damage to the ship.
"Reno!" Rufus called over the noise of the chopped, "Go!"
Reno, just as Yuffie had done, jumped from their chopper and began to fall towards the ocean. Before impact however, the huge sea serpent Leviathan rose from it and he landed gracefully on the beasts back. Leviathan began to swim round the exterior of the ship, firing jets of water at incredible speed at it. This pierced several holes in the ship's hull, yet it did not begin to sink.
Whatever the black materia was doing, it seemed to be creating its own gravitational pull. The water around the ship and the ship itself began to rise up majestically, spectacularly, a good twenty feet up to begin with.
Yuffie's phoenix fired again trying to hit the materia in order to disable it, yet no matter how close the golden flames got they seemed unable to hit it. Then quite suddenly, a pure beam of black light shot from the materia straight at the phoenix, making it vanish instantly. Yuffie fell fifty feet and landed on the back of the sea serpent.
"Do you mind!" Reno shouted at her, attempting to kick her off.
Yuffie was surprised that she was still conscious, whatever the materia had done it seemed merely to have dismissed the phoenix. The chopper containing her allies circled round and Yuffie made a swift retreat from Leviathans back.
The ship continued to gain in height, it must have reached about a hundred feet above sea level by now, the deck was completely shrouded by the water around it. Then from the pillar of water burst a beam of white light which shot straight into the heavens. The beam was the same size as the pillar of water, it was blinding to look at.
Leviathan then did what it was known for. It created a tsunami the size of which nobody had ever seen. It collided with the pillar, causing the beam of light to vanish. The damage however had already been done. There was an almighty CRASH as the ship hit the water, and then from nowhere came the dragon form of Bahamut ZERO, astride it none other than Sephiroth.
They caught a brief glimpse of him, before suddenly, he had vanished towards the horizon. So that was how he was getting everywhere so quickly. The water calmed, the two remaining choppers hovered in place and as one, all of the parasites looked towards the sky. The purple aura that was meteor could be seen in the distance.
Three days to impact.