It all happened so fast. They walked into the cave they found Cloud just outside of and found their target. Sephiroth was there waiting for them. Two of him in fact which stunned them all for a moment until they recalled that both groups had been encountering Sephiroth regularly before Icicle Inn. The two Sephiroth's looked up at a web like structure of plant life and raw materia suspending a large crystal; within the large crystal was yet another Sephiroth but very different from the other two. It's right arm was only half present and there is nothing below his navel. Then the two Sephiroth's smiled at the group and began to melt. Skin, hair, clothes, muscle, and bone sagged and liquified until both men were no more than black sludge on the ground which quickly seeped into the earth.
Cloud moved forward whispering "Reunion." repeatedly.
Claire followed him holding the Black Materia and then Sanctum and Shinra troops came flooding into the area, all directing their weapons on the group of fugitives. All at once Zack, Hope, Fang, and Claire feel to their knees crying out in pain and clutching their heads. The soldiers were beyond confused and started passing looks to each other when Claire lifted off the ground. She kept rising until she was level with the giant crystal and held out the Black Materia, Serah could see her sister was trying to fight the action. Claire's hand and the materia slid into the crystal as easily as it would water and she released the sinister orb.
Black electricity arched over the crystal and through the web structure. The ground shook and cracked, rocks and massive materia crystals fell from the walls, pure lifestream began pouring in and the soldiers started retreating. They pushed, pulled, and carried the fugitives out besides Claire and Cloud. Claire was still levitating high above them and Cloud killed the soldier that tried to move him. There was no choice but to leave the two in the collapsing cave. The fugitives were herded into the Shinra airship and they watched the ground fracture and fall away as they lifted off. Serah and Tifa prayed that Claire and Cloud would survive the collapse. All hope was lost when the geyser of lifestream erupted and a torrent of the mystical liquid obliterated the area. The sound caught up to the ship very fast and it was a deafening explosion of shattering stone. A moment later the shockwave made the airship pitch dangerously forward.
That night, there was an unusual red star in the night sky. Over the next few days the red star grew larger. A week after the northern cave, the star was clearly a massive meteor headed straight at Gran Pulse and still getting larger.
"Unrest continues to spread as more begin to believe this is the end of days. Astronomers all over the world have stated that there is very little chance the meteor will actually collide with Gran Pulse." the female news anchor said as calmly as she could "However, it could cause weather disturbances as it passes near our planet."
"Bullshit." Barret said from his place in the corner of the room "We all know what's gonna happen and who's fuckin' fault it is."
Tifa looked out the window and saw the impending doom of the world hanging above the horizon. Her and Barret had been confined to this room in Junon since they were apprehended by Shinra troops after the Northern Cave event. A week of confinement, average quality food, and no word about the others. But at least they had a television and a great view of the meteor. She sigh and punched the wall for the umpteenth time that week, all their efforts to prevent this were merely the carefully calculated movements of an impossibly more intelligent being. Tifa was starting to wish Shinra would cut the kind behavior and just kill her already instead of leaving her to stew in her dark thoughts and stare at her failure.
The heavy steel door to the room opened fully for the first time in a week and Tseng was revealed. Barret grunted his distaste for the Turk but made no other move. When they were arrested, the soldiers made sure to disable Barret's gun but the man was still huge and could easily kill someone though without the machine gun he, Tifa, and Tseng knew the Turk would easily takedown Barret. Not to mention attacking a Shinra lacky in the heart of one of their military bases would be a phenomenally terrible idea.
"The president would like to speak with you." Tseng stated, making eye contact with both Tifa and Barret before turning on his heel and walking away.
It was strange for the two fugitives to be walking through a Shinra facility and having the all the personnel not paying them any mind. They were lead to an elevator and Tseng swiped his ID card then pushed the button for the top floor. Alone in the elevator with the Turk, both Tifa and Barret thought about attacking him but then what? They'd still be stuck in a Shinra base. So it was merely a silent and awkward ride up. When the doors opened they were on the executive level and the first thing they saw were guards and officers. They were lead beyond the soldiers to the executive offices and just beyond that security door they got to see Reno flirting with a receptionist, on the operations side of the thick plate glass. Continuing through they came face to face with Scarlet and Heidegger.
"Well well," Scarlet started "If it isn't the eco terrorists. Couldn't blow up any more reactors so you decided to end the world. Yeah, that'll teach us for having electricity." Neither Avalanche member could form a retort.
"If your weapons were actually useful, Scarlet, we could have stopped them." Tseng, of all people, reply and the raw anger that showed in the blonde's face was priceless "Now get out of our way and take your flunky with you." Heidegger was beyond insulted but neither executive retorted and moved out of the way. Tifa never thought anyone besides the president could control those two but apparently Tseng had something besides physical power to repel them. Once they reached the double wooden doors of the president's office Tseng spoke a soft "Stay calm." over his shoulder and opened the doors.
"-that's the last time I saw them." Tifa heard Serah say and caught sight of the head of pink hair peeking over the back of one of the two chairs facing Rufus' desk.
Rufus is sitting at his desk listening to Serah but looked away as the doors opened and turned his attention back to Serah "Thank you for the report. You're dismissed."
Serah stood and rounded the chair allowing a full view of her. She is wearing a Turk suit with a new compound bow and quiver of arrows hanging from her hip. Tifa felt a spike of pure rage flood her being and so did Barret but unlike him, she did not move. He made it one step before, in an instant, Serah had her bow drawn and an arrow nocked, Rufus had his shotgun drawn, and Tseng had his pistol to the back of Barret's head.
"I recommend you choose your next action very carefully, Wallace." Rufus said calmly.
Barret hesitantly fell into a passive stance "Little bitch was a Turk the whole time… sister is a SOLDIER… Can't trust anyone with a connection to you bastards."
"Tseng, Serah. Dismissed." Rufus reiterated and the two Turks left "Please, sit." He requested once the doors shut. Cautiously the two sat in the very luxurious chairs "Now its obvious to everyone that the world is on a very short clock and we here know that its not some random cosmic occurrence that's bearing down on us. Tell me there is a way to stop this." Tifa and Barret were taken aback by Rufus' sincerity.
Tifa nodded "There is. The White Materia."
"And where is that?"
"Aerith has it."
"Aerith?"
"You know her as the Cetra." Barret spat.
"Ah, right. Where is she?"
"We don't know." Tifa answered.
"Even if we did, why would we tell you?" Barret shot at the president.
"Because everything is at stake. I'm not looking for her for Hojo, I want to prevent the end of the world." Rufus' true face came to the surface and they could tell he was as stressed and frightened as anyone else "So please. For the sake of literally everybody on the planet, where is Aerith?"
"We seriously don't know. After the forgotten city Snow's friends took her somewhere." Tifa explained. The president stood from his desk and faced away from them.
"Then we'll have to find her and fast. But you had better find her first." Tifa felt her skin crawl at the tone Rufus had with the second sentence. Barret had the same feeling but stood up and Rufus turned to them, blue iris' now shining green "If I find her first, I will rip her apart piece by piece. Now run along mortals. You have no time to waste if you wish to save your sad little world."
"Sephiroth?" Tifa whispered. Rufus laughed.
"I am everywhere and always watching. Now go seek out your friends, I look forward to meeting you in combat." Rufus spoke proud and in a voice not entirely his.
Tifa stood and slowly backed away towards the doors. Rufus watched her and Barret leave, never looking away or even blinking. As they left the office Rufus' eyes changed back his normal blues and the two Turks, Reno and Rude, greeted them. The odd duo lead Tifa and Barret back through the executive floor to the elevator and Reno hit the button for the top floor, the airfield. The two suited men entered first taking up positions in the corners to keep watch on the two Avalanche members.
"What? Don't want anyone to see you execute us?" Barret said to them. Reno shushed him.
"You really think the worst of everyone, don't you?" Reno asked "If Shinra wanted you dead, we wouldn't have kept you comfortable for a week."
The elevator doors opened and the turks lead the rebels out onto the tarmac of the VIP helipad. The large airship was visible and still gently hovering where it had been the last time they came through Junon. Though standing together and looking to be gazing out at the sea were the other Turks Avalanche knew; Tseng, Elena, Serah, and a redhead young woman they had not seen before. As they approached, the Turks stopped their conversation and turned to the two Avalanche members.
"Miss Lockheart, mister Wallace." Tseng said as he nodded to them "There is much we need to discuss."
"Your boss is a monster." Barret said strangely calmly "And I don't mean in a metaphorical way." No responded right away so Barret explained "His eyes turned green and talked like Sephiroth, called us mortals." There was minimal reaction from the Turks, their training helping to hide most of it. Tseng looked to be deep in thought.
"That would explain a few things." Tseng mused "But now is not the time for that. Come this way." He waved for the others to follow him to the edge of the helipad, granting an amazing view of the ocean and Junon below. Resting peacuflly at the main dock of Junon swayed the Palamecia, the world famous enormous floating military base. "Your allies from Cocoon are aboard that ship. The current crisis has encouraged Primarch Dysley to work with Shinra to develop something that can at least damage the meteor."
"So you Shinra are actually trying to help the planet?" Barret sounded like he was trying to hold back a laugh. Tseng turned and glared at him.
"Many of us Shinra folk are good people limited by our situation, mister Wallace. However, I don't like this combined development effort." Tifa found it beyond strange Tseng was sharing with them "The other nations of the world assembled multiple teams and dumped funds into the effort two days ago. Shinra and Cocoon are only now doing something and its just these two forces that are going to use mako and whatever PSICOM has been working on." Tifa and Barret immediately picked up on what Tseng was saying. Now that it was revealed Rufus was being controlled and with Hojo at the head of the Science Department… something bad was coming.
"What does Cocoon have to do with this?" Barret asked for them.
"Years ago, Hojo and Hollander were competing to create super soldiers with Jenova cells. Hojo's Project S was the success but to get back at Shinra Hollander sold his records, Project S records, and a sample of Jenova cells to Cocoon." Tseng explained.
It would take an especially thick and oblivious person to not see the connection between all these factors. Jenova cells were everywhere and Sephiroth was at the top. He was going to use the two nations to do… something. Tifa and Barret were not able to think of what but they were sure it was going to be something to aid meteor in its mission of doom. They had to find their friends. They had to find Aerith and then use the White Materia. They had only a handful of days to do this. The world was counting on them to stop Sephiroth.
"In two hours the Lindblum will arrive in Junon waters and then we're going to help you rescue your fr-" Tseng was interrupted but a loud speaker.
"Mako cannon preparing to fire. Everyone seek shelter immediately." The male voice announced calmly "Repeat, seek shelter immediately."
"Why are they firing?" Tifa called to Tseng as they all started running for the lounge.
"I have no idea!" Tseng called back.
"Would they shoot at the Lindblum?" Serah asked as they reached the doors.
"Not with the big gun." Reno answered as they filed inside
"Mako cannon firing in 20 seconds." The announcer stated. The group of Turks and former fugitives gathered at the window to try to see what the cannon is shooting at, Tseng was looking at his phone.
"Something that dwarfs the Palamecia is quickly approaching Junon." Tseng said in his usual tone "Nothing natural is that big and that fast." He said answering questions he knew were coming.
They all watched the horizon and barely heard the announcer give the countdown for the cannon. When the titanic weapon fired, the entire city shook and a deafening explosion sound rolled over the city. The projectile of condensed mako flew out over the sea, only visible from its size. A moment of peace passed and then the bright flash of impact, followed by a large wave that raced back towards Junon and rocked the Palamecia. There was no way anything could survive a direct hit from the mako cannon. The entire city seemed to hold its breath for several seconds.
"Well whatever it was-" Reno was interrupted by a loud alarm.
"Red alert!" The announcer from before yelled over the speakers "All personnel to combat stations! Red alert! Target approaching!"
"Shit!" Tseng spat and he turned to everyone "Captain Highwind is heading for the airship you saw earlier. Reno, Rude, Cissnei, you three cover our tracks. Serah, Elana, you two go with Tifa and Barret to extract Vincent and Nanaki." The head Turk barked out as they piled into the elevator and hit several floor buttons. Serah dropped her compound bow and the quiver paired with it and quickly revealed the pink jewel in her pocket.
Not too much later Tifa, Barret, Serah and Elana came racing out of a door to the thunderous cacophony of heavy cannons, turrets, and hand held heavy weapons. The Palamecia and the PSICOM fleet had joined in attacking the thing that was approaching the port city. With a look out to the water the group of four finally saw the purple form splitting the surface and being peppered with all manner of explosives. The purple thing kept getting closer and bigger seeming to not even notice the rockets and large bullets pounding it. Junon is a one sided warzone. When the beast reached the city, stopping in front of it instead of plowing into Junon like many thought it would, the wave of its wake washed over the docks sweeping a number of soldiers into the sea and Tifa silently prayed for those in the lower city. The purple thing tilted and reared up revealing a far larger thing than any were expecting, its head was level with the mako cannon's barrel. Serah called out the moogle.
"What is that thing?" Serah had to shout over the gunfire.
"Its Sapphire!" The moogle called back "Its a Fal'Cie!" It explained, clarifying nothing.
Shinra soldiers began dropping their weapons and running away from their positions. Many stood strong to defend the city but many more left the heavy weapons and attempted to escape. Serah did not look down on them. Whatever Sapphire was, it seemed like a drastically one sided fight in its favor and so far all it had done was present itself.
Massive tentacles shot up out of the water and slammed down onto the lowest reaches of the port fortress, cleaving through the bottom tier. The incredible sound of crashing reminded the group of the fall of sector seven, Serah could tell the tentacles were strictly for holding the city-sized monster steady. Sapphire's chest plates shifted revealing the brightly shining mouth of the monster and with a scream ripping through the air a laser fired at the central structure behind the cannon, at Junon's mako reactor. The intensely bright laser sliced through the structure and caused unknown but undoubtedly immense damage. The group continued running, they had to find Vincent and Nanaki.
"What's a Fal'Cie?" Barret shouted at the moogle as they ran.
"Guardian beasts of Gran Pulse!" The little fluffy creature cried back "They are meant to fight the monster, kupo!"
"Then-" Tifa started to ask but was cut off by another laser screaming through the air and slicing through the road several yards ahead of them.
The laser sliced through one of the auto turrets that deploy from the roadway, causing the ammo reserves to detonate. The explosion tossed several soldiers and fatally burned only two, the shrapnel pierced many more. When their vision cleared, the group saw the laser had traveled beyond the turret and cut right through the heavy shutter that shielded the civilian building, thick black smoke and flames now spewing from the gouge in the thick steel. Regretfully the turks and former fugitives had to ignore the burning civilian structure in favor of escaping.
They had to jump across the now present trench in the road, where they could see burning machinery and spilling mako down below. Just ahead of them was one of Junon's support structures which also housed the section of road joining together the tiers, thankfully no active vehicles were on the road. As they entered and turned to head downwards they spotted a dozen PSICOM soldiers racing up the road. From underneath the foreign soldiers an explosion shattered the concrete, like a high powered land mine. Barret moved to shield Tifa, Elana, and Serah from the rain of burning asphalt and concrete pebbles. Through the dust they saw none of the PSICOM soldiers survived (thankfully because none of them had made it with intact legs) and Nanaki leaping out of the hole followed by a large wolf like beast with Vincent's cape around its waist.
"Nanaki!" Tifa shouted drawing his and the beast's attention. Elana drew her pistol, Serah had her magic bow nocked, and Tifa was in a fighting stance.
"Wait!" The red guardian of Cosmo Canyon called back "It's Vincent!"
"Good 'nuff for me." Barret said and resumed heading down the ramp.
"You serious!?" Tifa shouted at him.
"We got a meteor aiming to destroy us, a giant monster shooting lasers at Junon, and a magic moogle bow!" Barret called back "I give up trying' to figure out this crazy shit!" the loud speakers around the city cut in with sharp static.
"Preparing to fire mako cannon!" the announcer from earlier shouted "Firing in twenty seconds!"
The group of six, two Turks, two Avalanche, and two beasts finished heading down the road to the lower tier and exited the structure. The troops and turrets were continuing to uselessly fire on the giant creature. A loud whine and hissing ripped through the air and green hued steam poured into the air from the massive hole in the upper reactor. Light shone from the creature's mouth as it charged another laser. It leaned back ready to fire, the mako cannon shifted to keep aim, a bright flash, a thunderous explosion that left ears ringing and sent a strong but brief wind through the city. Smoke from the immense barrel cleared to reveal Sapphire no longer had a head. The titanic azure body began to lean, mangled steel groaned and broke as the giant tentacles slid off the city. Unknowable tons of weight started the free fall towards the water but between it and the ocean rested the Palamecia. No amount of military pride or fame could prevent the carrier from being smashed like an insect under a boot.
"Your friends weren't on the Palamecia." Elana stated before Tifa's heart had a chance to drop.
Everyone was expecting a crushing post battle silence but the sound of propellers interrupted. A look up to the sky and a sigh of relief from the turks as the Highwind drifted down towards them, a long rope ladder hanging from the side. Vincent, as the large wolf-like beast, grabbed Nanaki and hefted the quadruped over his shoulder then grabbed the rope ladder, ascending it much faster than any thought he was capable of. Tifa was the last up the ladder, watching the smoke rise from the damaged city and the wreckage of the Palamecia sink into the depths as the Highwind lifted into the air and flew away from Junon to rendezvous with the Lindblum.
I hope you all like this chapter. Please leave a Review.
