Start Date: March 11, 2023
Windwillow
Author's Note: I finished writing Chapter 42 in mid-January. This is not that chapter. I'm rewriting some of the chapters I've finished, so what was originally going to be published has been overwritten by this new chapter. I've finished 43-50, which is the buildup to the North Crater expedition. I'm not sure how frequently I'll be releasing chapters, but I want to try and finish this before the end of the year. So, basically, the fic ends in Chapter 51. I hope I can make it a good finale...
Final Fantasy VII
It had been a long, long journey. Across fields, rivers, mountains and oceans AVALANCHE persisted in their pursuit of Sephiroth all throughout the world of Gaia. Finally they've reached Jenova's impact crater, the epicenter of its descent to the Planet and Sephiroth's final resting place... Assuming things go smoothly which, of course, they won't.
Chapter Forty-Two: The Reunion
Scene One
There was neither flora nor fauna. Nothing living had graced the crater for the last two millennia, save the wretched being that created it. As AVALANCHE advanced down into the epicenter of the Planet's disaster, they encountered nothing but dreary devastation. With Tifa taking point, the team advanced further into the wastelands until they reached the sight of one of Sephiroth's wretched minions, writhing in pain on the ground. Just as Tifa moved to jump, she felt Cloud's hand clasp her wrist. With a furious scowl, Tifa angrily pointed at the wretch and shoved Cloud away. "If I can save it," she declared, "I will!" Once Cloud directed her attention to the sky, she quickly realized why he'd stopped her: a set of black bombs - Grenades - now swarmed towards them. Tifa snarled a word that can't be printed, stomped her foot, and pointed at the Grenades. "Barret... Take 'em out."
Before Barret could even open his Gun-arm's hatches, he realized that the Grenades were too close to safely detonate. Tifa nodded and slammed her hand to the withered ground, a series of blue and white runes shone, and the Ice Eidolon Shiva burst from the ground. Shiva clapped her hands together, creating a slight, snowy breeze between her fingers. She leaned back and swung her arms forward, and the breeze hardened into ice that froze the Grenades solid. Even as Shiva was recalled, however, Tifa realized that the explosion would still engulf them. Red XIII lunged forward and slid to a stop in front of the team, his paws tightly digging into the ruined earth, and as his eyes started to shine the earth below began to rumble. From beneath him the ground cracked open and a huge wall of rock burst from the earth, creating a barrier strong enough to contain the Grenades' detonation. Once he'd finished, however, he drooped low to the ground and meekly laid his head down.
That took a hell of a lot of mana. Can't be doing that again, or I'll run out...
With the path clear Tifa vaulted forward, darting from crag to crag towards the creature. She cradled it in her arms and turned it over. To her horror and disgust, the unfortunate being's face began to dissolve and Tifa was forced to leap back as the wretch's entire body dissolved into a pool of acid. Once safe, she quietly turned her head to Cloud and scowled. "It said something before it... died..." she groaned," and it said that he is here..."
To Tifa's shock, Cloud remained undaunted. As he adjusted his neck and worked out a kink in his leg, Cloud quietly stretched his limbs for a moment and began to walk towards Tifa and then past her. "Yeah..." he muttered softly. "That's what we're counting on."
Scene Two
Past where Sephiroth's drone died, AVALANCHE entered what seemed to be a forest, though not of trees but stalagmites. They could feel the ruin of the earth and smell the stench of its decay. Each of them remained quiet, but inside they struggled with their feelings for the upcoming battle. The strain showed on their faces, but they said nothing.
Barret's feelings were muddled; Sephiroth had never done anything to him until he'd killed Aerith, and if you took away that he had no reason to fight. He'd heard back at Kalm that Sephiroth had bifurcated a Dragon, and had no illusions as to what it could do to him. But with Aerith's murder he'd taken a personal oath to end this, as well as to protect the one thing he had left from the demon.
Even if it wasn't for Aerith... The bastard might hurt Marlene. I'll be damned if I let him lay a finger on that girl.
His fight had begun at Midgar, but against what - Shinra or Sephiroth? Red XIII's grudge was narrowed at the former, and it was only as time passed that he came to see the latter as a threat. Bugenhagen's doubts that the Planet could be saved weighed on him, and the idea that he was fighting for nothing briefly occurred before he swat it down.
Grandpa thinks the world will end. I intend to show and prove to him that it won't.
What the hell was she doing? She'd met Sephiroth once for a few seconds, wet herself, and then ran away. The thought that she was opposing him directly seemed suicidal. The fate of the world was something she'd never considered, but now she had people who believed in her. She'd double-crossed Cloud at Wutai and he'd given her another chance, and Aerith's death gave her the reason she needed to fight. Sort of.
Gawd, I'm an idiot! Do I want to do this? No, I don't want to do this! Why am I doing this? Hell if I know! The way he made them pout back in Nibelheim... I wanna kick the crap out of him. But what if I die?! Oh, my Gawd!
Shinra had sent him in to shut down AVALANCHE, and now he found himself fighting against both his own company and his own morals. Reeve's involvement had started as an infiltration, but had now blossomed into a full-on fight against the people who'd sent him there. The screams of the Planet at Cosmo Canyon had shook him, and Aerith's death shoved him over the edge. There was no turning back.
Orders, orders... I've been following them for years, and look where I am now. If I want even a slim chance of meeting my maker on good terms, then I have a lot to make up for.
However you cut it, his fight had begun with Shinra, and with Hojo. Vincent had been drawn into the conflict against Sephiroth much against his will, and it was Sephiroth himself that troubled him. Even if he had become evil, he was still Lucrecia's blood. Killing him now might betray all the good Lucrecia had shown him.
If I'm lucky... They won't force me to make that choice.
So he was an all-powerful lunatic out to destroy the world, so what. He'd only been roped in when Shinra tried to steal his plane, and now somehow he was charging head long into the bowels of hell. Cid's mind wandered, fought with itself, but the single thought that cinched it for him was one he never thought he'd have.
He hurt Aerith... If he wants to hurt Shera, it'll be over my cold, dead body. I'm the only one that gets to screw with her.
She had every reason to hate him. Sephiroth had murdered her loved ones, razed her home town to the ground, and slaughtered countless innocents on his journey here. But would she even be able to fight? Staring into his eyes at Nibelheim had rendered her catatonic. This was different, though; Aerith had died to protect her. There was no chance in hell she'd let that sacrifice be in vain.
No matter what, I'll see this through. He's hurt too many people I care about to let the son of a bitch keep breathing.
He had to do it, but could he? If Sephiroth took control of him again he could harm the others, even kill them. Even that thought paled in comparison to the hatred he felt towards that man, and so long as Sephiroth died, Cloud didn't care if he did as well.
This ends here and now. I'll kill him... for everyone, for Tifa... for Aerith... I'm coming, you piece of garbage. You're going to feel what it's like to have your guts cut out.
Suddenly Cait Sith came to a firm halt, which prompted the others to turn to face him. There was a grimace on his face that quickly turned into a scowl as he pointed up towards the sky. What they saw incoming wrinkled Cid's glove and ground his teeth, a deep fury building inside him.
Break that ship and I'll break your backs with it... You jackasses.
Scene Three
It was an executive level operation, one known only to the top echelon of Shinra Inc. Repairing the Highwind had been a long and costly process, but with the Gelnika as horribly unreliable as it was, there wasn't much choice. The crew had been gathered from Cid's top students, and they were sufficiently threatened with torture so that they'd agree to come along.
He stepped lightly aboard the bridge, his white coat swaying with the artificial winds of the engine. As Rufus stared down through the whirlwind of energy, he felt a sense of exhilaration that his father could only envy. "Remarkable... the Promised Land is swelling with Mako..." he breathed.
Stepping forward on her stilettos, Scarlet stared down at the scene below with a sense of despicable glee. The more she saw, the more her wicked heart swelled. "Kya-ha-ha-ha! Such a monstrous amount of Mako!" she cackled. "What kind of weapons can I create with this?! Neo-Midgar can now be constructed!"
Unlike Scarlet his clunky boots made stiff, clattering noises as he stepped up beside her. As he adjusted his medals and brushed off his suit, Heidegger cracked a smile. "Gya-ha-ha-ha! Neo-Midgar will be amazing... but..." Pausing, Heidegger turned a skeptical eye to Scarlet. "This place is in the middle of nowhere. Settling here is just insane! How the devil will we construct the damn thing?!"
Scarlet lashed out at Heidegger and smacked him hard on the cheek. As he turned in rage, she haughtily adjusted her golden hair and glared at him fiercely. "Imbecile! We create a reactor and funnel it all to Midgar, idiot!" Scarlet snapped. "We don't need Neo-Midgar if we can improve the actual Midgar!"
Guarded carefully by Rude, Hojo stared silently at the scene before him with a wry smile. He had no illusions of what would come next, things that would chill Rufus to the bone if he knew about the Reunion.
Let's see if my theory is correct. If it is, I'm curious how many of us will die... Perhaps to a man? That would be fascinating.
Scene Four
Past the forest of stalagmites lay a new impediment, a hurricane of energy that surrounded one end of the road from the other. It seemed impossible to get past, no matter how you looked at it. Vincent's eyes narrowed as he carefully examined the whirlwind. "Pay close attention... For a few seconds, it waxes and wanes," he said cautiously. "We'll need to time it right, but we ought to be able to move through it."
As Yuffie approached the hurricane, she scoffed and stared into the winds. "We're supposed to do what?!" she screeched, her fists balling. "Y'know the more I look at it, you're right... We can do it!" Yuffie cheered. The sudden gust of wind that struck her quickly ruined her enthusiasm, and as Yuffie lifted her head she screamed out an expletive and frantically skittered away.
From behind the hurricane, the Dragon Rider burst through. It was a unique chimera created by Sephiroth to protect the crater. Although it had the torso and spear of a man, it also rode on the back of a large black dragon. Cid confidently stepped forward and drew his spear. "We spear users are called dragoons!" he said cockily. "What else do we do? Kill dragons!"
Cid paused briefly then quickly bounded high into the air, though not high enough to reach the Dragon Rider. As he fell he thrust his legs down and bounced off of a cushion of air, jumping back and forth until he'd gone over the Dragon Rider. He grappled his spear with both hands and flew towards the beast with his spear glowing blue, and swiftly pierced the Dragon Rider's head clean through, causing it to drop dead to the ground. Before he could celebrate Cid realized he was nearing the whirlwind, forcing him to bounce back from it and land next to his friends, his boots digging deep into the earth. Even so, he had a smirk on his face. Which didn't last long. Tifa's fist knocked into Cid's head hard, and as he fell she caught him by the shoulders and whirled her around to face her. "Jackass! You could've killed yourself!" she scolded. "Never do that again!"
Although he tried to stare her down, Cid failed and petulantly pushed her away. "Oh, stuff it! I got it done, right?!" Cid boasted cockily. As he adjusted his glove, however, he sighed deeply. "Can't do it again, though... I used up too much mana..."
"Y-Y-You have got to be kidding me! Show me you can't!" Yuffie screeched madly. When Cid lifted his palm and created a ball of gravity that quickly fizzled, Yuffie furiously grabbed him and drew him in close. "You... You stupid..." she rasped.
"Void materia lets me move high into the air by pushing off of the air..." Cid groaned, much to Yuffie's fury. "Turns out I used too much power and went kerplooey... But I looked cool," he boasted.
"What do you mean, 'I looked cool'?!" hissed Yuffie, the mania in her eyes continuing to build. "Stop overcompensating and start doing things right!" she growled. After shoving Cid away, she shakily dropped to her knees and gasped out a desperate breath. "But I could barely breathe... What am I supposed to contribute to this whole mess?!" When Vincent clapped a hand on her shoulder Yuffie jolted, though when she looked up and saw his smile, her face hardened. She staggered to her feet, gave a war cry, and drew her weapon furiously, much to Vincent's amusement. His smile prompted a blush, but she couldn't help but whimper a bit.
If even he thinks I got what it takes, then I guess I can... God damn it, this is terrifying!
Scene Five
Crossing the streaming whirlwind took a few tries and a couple of near misses, but eventually everyone was able to pass through it. The party continued on through a series of rocky roads, encountering a series of Sephiroth's victims stumbling towards the center of the crater. Even if she was sympathetic, Tifa ordered the others to keep going, to move past them. After leaving several of Sephiroth's creatures behind, they reached another whirlwind wall, one with a hitch in the plan: In between the waxing and waning stages, a large pulse of electricity shocked the area for a brief instant.
"We have to proceed carefully. One hit from the lightning and we'll be ripped in half," Vincent said coolly. Yuffie immediately screeched out an expletive and fell to her seat, but Vincent caught her before she hit the ground. At first she remained terrified, but a smile from Vincent reinvigorated her and she - as well as the others - made it through the barrier safely after a few minutes of trial and error.
Up ahead there were no traps or monster attacks, but a short way ahead they spied Sephiroth standing upon a large circular platform, seemingly waiting for them. As his followers stumbled towards Sephiroth, he simply flicked his wrist and beheaded the lot of them with a single slash. With each successive slash the carnage escalated until finally Cloud charged forward and came to a halt right across from Sephiroth, his boot scraping against the dead soil as he did so.
"You're killing your own followers?! These crazy bastards crossed the whole damn world to get here, and now you're slaughtering them?!" Cloud snarled. Slowly he reached behind his back and reluctantly brandished his blade. He tried with all he had not to show how afraid he really was, and put on a brave face as he lifted the Buster Sword in front of himself.
"You want me to leave them alone, eh? Fine," Sephiroth said smilingly. He quietly lifted his hand and his sword shattered into motes of light, and as he lifted into the air Sephiroth became encased in a sort of black cocoon. Once the cocoon shattered, one of his followers fell limply to the ground from it, lifeless, and slowly began to dissolve once it hit the ground with a sickening thud.
Barret barely managed to hold back the contents of his stomach as he watched the unfortunate soul fall to the ground. "What in the high holy..." he choked. Watching it dissolve like the other had nearly cost him his lunch again. From behind, Vincent quietly stepped forward and examined the creature. It had assumed Sephiroth's shape, but now seemed like...
We've been chasing a red herring for all this time... Damn.
Distracted, they only vaguely noticed the sparkle drop from above, but as it struck the ground it shattered to reveal Sephiroth himself, his blade driven deep into the earth. The sword cracked open the rock and sent ripples of energy that knocked everyone to their seats, and at the point of impact the real deal stood gripping the Masamune with both hands. Cloud was the first to recover and snatched up his weapon. He never reached Sephiroth, however, as his strike was repelled by a large, circular barrier that expanded from Sephiroth, a barrier that slowly began to contract upon itself.
While the shimmering barrier continued to contract upon Sephiroth, he dug his sword deep into the ground with a sharp thud. "Nameless... but not numberless," Sephiroth sneered. "All of my clones share a single purpose: to bring me the Black Materia!" Sephiroth turned towards Cloud and folded his arms quietly. "All of them," he repeated coldly. Cloud dropped to his knees in agony as he finished speaking and slammed his fist into the ground with enough strength to crack it open. His pulse quickened as mania took over, sweat dripping from his brow, and he let out a loud scream.
As he continued to hyperventilate Tifa rushed to his side, gripping her shoulders in both hands. "Cloud... Cloud! Get a grip!" Tifa begged. When shaking him did nothing she threw her arms around Cloud in a tight embrace, something that seemed to bring him back to his senses. Although Tifa smiled at first, she turned to face Sephiroth and froze solid. The barrier around Sephiroth had tightened around his body, and as it cracked into shards and shattered the true terror was ready to begin.
Scene Six
To say what emerged was the stuff of nightmares was technically correct, although depending on who you were asking it was more like a manifestation of the devil that had been twisted into pure evil. The demon was huge, nearly the size of a whole building, with warped facial features and an anatomy that seemed to defy all reason. It was vaguely human in that it had a torso, but its arms seemed to be bound above the creature as if it were shackled by dark chains. Slowly the bonds began to break and, with a sickening sound, the demon's arms disconnected and ripped into independent limbs, floating in the air connected only by sinew and muscle.
"It-It's even more revolting than last time!" Tifa choked. She noticed that her foot slowly inched backwards, a natural reaction of fear. She scowled and lifted her limbs into a fighting posture as well as hardening her fists. Cloud similarly hesitated in rising to his feet, but he too lifted his sword in front of him with a new resolve. He gave Tifa a quick nod, and the two of them ran forward to attack. Jenova-DEATH, however, had no intention of a fair fight. What passed as its head started to twist and warp, and it finally ripped open to reveal a cavernous maw that, oddly, lacked teeth. Rather than anything solid, a massive black mass slowly emerged from its mouth and it expelled the darkness onto the ground. As Cloud and Tifa approached, they were forced to stop as the shadows took form into the same kind of wretches as Sephiroth's minions had been, with a few notable exceptions: First, they were made entirely of shadow. Second, there were eight of them, they were all armed with blades, and they all quickly rushed forward to meet Cloud and Tifa head on.
Before they could reach, however, they were riddled with bullets from Barret's Gun-arm as he charged forward, but a sickening slurping sound signaled their return to their original states before they again lunged. One of them was thrown back with a supersonic blast of air, another pierced by coiling tendrils of multicolored light. Tifa turned her attention behind her, and found that Cait Sith and Red XIII had joined the fray, charging forward along with the others. Yuffie took her weapon in both hands and swung it, decapitating two of the shadows at once, and Barret delivered two successive air cannon blasts that dispersed them entirely. The rest of the shadows charged forward, and nearly reached the warriors, but Cid's spear and Vincent's revolver ripped two of them open, the bullets shooting through each in three places and a single stab wound that struck the shadow's face that ripped it open. A follow up swing of the spear cut the sucker in twain as Cid skidded to a halt with his weapon drawn.
Vincent quickly reloaded his weapon and cocked it. Three rounds of three shells ripped through three of them and dispelled them into shadows, leaving only a single shadow between AVALANCHE and Jenova. "Cloud! Tifa! You're with me!" he snapped. "Let the others take out the last one! We'll deal with the main body!"
While the final shadow was engaged by the remainder of the party, Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent dashed forward towards Jenova's gnarled torso. Vincent narrowed his claws and fired a thin line of energy that expanded, soared towards Jenova, and ripped open a hole in its throat. The hole remained, but a mass of flesh formed around it that coiled into a ring of muscle and sinew that formed into a vaguely cannon-like shape. From the mouth of the cannon a ring of fire formed before a huge, roaring maelstrom of fire and lightning burst from it as if a tornado had been turned horizontally and it was hurled like an oncoming tsunami.
Both Cloud and Tifa took their left arms and slammed them to the ground, and from two circles of runes their Eidolons appeared, Shiva to the left, Ifrit to the right. The two Eidolons clapped their palms together and drew them apart, two masses of colored light forming between their fingers that expanded to match Jenova's attack as they hurled their arms forward. Both fire and ice combined into a massive tornado that rivaled the one Jenova had created and together their attack dispersed Jenova's, although the Eidolons dropped to their knees from exhaustion and returned to their masters' summoning stones with a brilliant flash of light.
With Jenova's main body twisting itself into an amorphous mass of flesh, Cait Sith and Barret prepared to join forces. Barret took aim and fired a full strength air bullet, and Cait Sith screamed into his megaphone with enough force to strengthen Barret's shock wave and break part of the main body to shreds. Yuffie stepped in next and, using all the mana she could muster, made several slashing motions with her shuriken that literally shredded Jenova into bits. As the bits flowed back together into a single mass, Cloud and Tifa lunged forward together, Cloud swinging his sword with all the power he had and Tifa releasing all the energy she could muster from her Materia Fusion. The resulting explosion incinerated Jenova-DEATH entirely, and from its remains the Black Materia dropped to the ground as the party dropped to the ground, totally exhausted.
Scene Seven
There were no words and only faint breaths. Everyone had given their all and another twenty percent in the battle against Jenova-DEATH and now most lay on their backs, panting desperately for breath. Meanwhite, the Black Materia reposed in its sealed column of light, floating silently in the dank, dirty air. At first only one of her fingers twitched, but after some strain Yuffie managed to stagger to her feet. Her pulse was quickened and her body drenched in sweat, but somehow she remained standing. The strain was for nothing, however, as she dropped onto her back, drained of mana. "God damn... I never want to see anything like that again..." she moaned. She turned her head to Vincent, the only one with any stamina left, and gave him a thumbs up. "You're up, big guy!" Yuffie chirped. When Vincent failed to respond, however, Yuffie clenched her fist and stuck her tongue out at him. "You chickening out now?!" shrieked Yuffie.
Vincent propped himself up against one of the few boulders left standing and, to Yuffie's fury, he shook his head. "This isn't my fight," he said resolutely. "It isn't mine to finish... I have no intention of dealing the mortal blow."
Slamming her hands to the ground, Yuffie furiously dragged herself to her feet, shaky as they were, and stared Vincent down. For once, she seemed to have won the fight, as he averted his eyes. "You have got to be kidding me... You jerk!" Yuffie snarled. "If you ain't doing jack, then I'm stepping up!" she heaved. "I ain't got enough power to cut through a freaking dandelion, but if you won't help them, then leave it to me!"
Tifa stepped between her two friends with her hands raised, signalling them both to back down. "Vincent's right... This fight is mine and Cloud's. You guys don't need to get involved," she said plainly. Yuffie briefly attempted to say something, but Tifa's glare silenced her. As she shakily adjusted her gloves, Tifa stretched her neck and turned her head to Cloud, who nodded. Beneath her breath, however, she whispered: "What do we do? The two of us can't kill him."
As Cloud returned his sword to his back, he turned back to Tifa with narrowed eyes. "I've made up my mind..." he whispered to her. "I don't care if I die, but don't you dare try to follow me," Cloud stated resolutely. Her fists clenching, Tifa shot back a vicious glare at Cloud that made him twitch with fear.
I'd rather die with you than lose you again, you lousy jerk.
After taking in a sharp breath, Cloud stepped towards the Black Materia and grabbed it tight before tossing it into Cid's hands, much to his amazement. As Cid moved to speak, Cloud raised his hand to silence him. "If I carry the Black Materia, Sephiroth will just control me and make me give it to him," Cloud said firmly. "You'll have to take care of it for me."
"Now, wait just a God damned minute!" choked Cid. Although he attempted to speak, the resolve in Cloud's eyes convinced him, and he plopped down to his seat while holding the Black Materia. "You said it. Even if you say to give it to you, I won't," he said firmly.
Cloud exhaled sharply and moved with Tifa towards the next whirlwind, one which was laced with lightning. Although Vincent followed behind, Cloud silently shot him a fierce glare. "I expect you to do what you have to do..." said Cloud softly.
Vincent folded his arms and sighed. Although he didn't react at first, he silently nodded and walked forward towards Cloud and Tifa. "I'll need my answer, first," he said coldly. "He's still Lucrecia's blood."
"I won't ask you to do anything," Tifa sighed as she closed her eyes. As she opened them and began to walk towards the lightning-tinged whirlwind, Tifa stretched her neck and patted Vincent on the shoulder. "You don't need to kill him. We do."
Scene Eight
Crossing the second whirlwind took more acute timing than the first, given that volts of electric energy were mixed in that would rip the three of them to shreds. Once they did, though, the first step they took transported them to a blank, colorless realm. Their second step hit cobblestones, and the smell of freshly baked bread filled their nostrils. The third, fourth, and fifth revealed that they had reached the gates of Nibelheim once again. Passing through the void into Nibelheim's streets shocked Tifa to the core. As she darted her eyes around, searching for anyone else, she saw only Cloud and Vincent. She stepped forward a few paces, then felt an overwhelming presence that revealed itself to be Sephiroth, who stood between her and her friends. Although she attempted to raise her fist her body ceased to move, as time seemed to stand still and Sephiroth advanced ahead of her. Turning her head to the side, she saw three men - two Shinra infantrymen and another, black-haired man. The third man carried on his back something that chilled her soul: Cloud's sword. Now realizing what was about to happen, Tifa grit her teeth and shut her eyes tight.
Even paralyzed, Cloud seemed unaffected by the scene. As the black-haired man strode forward he turned to Tifa with a smile. "Sephiroth's creating some kind of lame illusions," he said confidently. "You can't take them at face value... Right?" Seeing the emotions in Tifa's eyes, however, began to shake him. "Right...?" Cloud choked. He could feel a deep burning and the scene shattered into motes of light, which reformed to reveal the burning of Nibelheim. As he found that he could move again he lifted to grab his blade, but stopped when he realized that Sephiroth had his own drawn and narrowed at his neck.
Sephiroth cracked a sinister smile as he withdrew his weapon, which dissolved into sparks of white light. Cloud turned his attention to the Shinra Mansion and saw, as expected, the black-haired man run out of its doors and towards another vision of Sephiroth that stood wreathed in flames. Once he turned to Tifa, however, the sight of her trembling body shook him just as she was. "We're back... Or are we?" Sephiroth murmured darkly. "Some of us remember, but do you... Cloud?"
"Don't toy with me, you bastard!" Cloud snarled. "Of course I remember that day! I remember the heat, the stench... I can hear your disgusting voice, and I remember what you said!" he said fiercely. "You aren't anything but a liar and a beast! Stop messing with us!"
Tilting his head slightly, Sephiroth's grin widened. Turning to a quaking Tifa, he folded his arms over his chest and looked deeply into Cloud's eyes. "I've shown you reality. You're looking at the memories of Nibelheim as it was five years ago, when I slaughtered everyone in town," he said sinisterly. "But are these your memories? Considering that you're a failure, it's remarkable that you made it this far. Hojo will have a nice laugh... The puppet he created has finally reached its final dance."
He'd seen all he needed to see. The child he thought Sephiroth once was never existed. The creature lacked Lucrecia's humanity, and as Vincent stared into Sephiroth's cat-like eyes he realized that the child Lucrecia had birthed never existed as a human being in the first place. Slowly, carefully, his hand inched towards his sidearm, his fingers tensed.
Now I have my answer. I can put a bullet between your eyes without a shred of remorse.
"Hojo... Puppet?! What kind of crap are you spouting now?!" choked Cloud. The mere mention of Hojo's name, however, seemed to trigger something in the back of his head. Somehow, something was... off.
Sephiroth's sneer widened even further as he tapped two fingers to his head. "You don't get it yet? Hojo created you. He constructed you, piece by agonizing piece, in the aftermath of Nibelheim's destruction," he said softly. "SOLDIERs are infused with both Mako and Jenova's cells. Hojo's experiments used both, and so when you were created, you had the strength of a SOLDIER... even if you never were one. In fact, the memories of Jenova from the Nibelheim Incident could even be used to create a clone of someone who may or may not have ever-"
"You God damned freak!" Tifa shrieked. Now she realized the meaning behind the tattoos and understood what he was about to say next. With all the strength in her body she reared back and lunged for Sephiroth, but her fist never connected. Instead her body became frozen in time, unable to move, however much she struggled. "Cloud..." she croaked. "Close your eyes and cover your ears... You are not a puppet! Don't listen to him!"
"Jenova's cells are a two-way conduit, capable of both absorbing and injecting its DNA into anything it touches. And not just memories... but flesh," Sephiroth sneered. "Maybe there was a boy named Cloud Strife from Nibelheim, maybe not. Consider the possibility that Jenova's cells reconstructed someone long dead. In fact..." he said smilingly. "Take a look at the picture at your feet. The photographer took it, remember?"
Cloud's trembling hands moved away from his sword and towards the charred corpse of a nearby photographer, in whose hands was a developed photograph that had somehow survived the flames. The sight of Sephiroth, Tifa, and the black-haired man who carried the Buster Sword caused him to quake, forcing the beginning of tears to form in his eyes.
SOLDIER... first class. I made it... when did I make it? Everything's blank all of a sudden. If it's true that Hojo made me... if it's true that I'm just Sephiroth's puppet... is anything about me real?
Finally Tifa broke free from her paralysis, but rather than maim Sephiroth she threw her arms over Cloud instead. Her fingers tightened around him, felt the warmth drain from his skin, as tears began to overwhelm her as well.
Please... Don't leave me again...
Scene Nine
Though he'd expected to find materia, what Rufus now stared at was clearly more than that. Rather than hold a shimmer inside a colored sphere, the things he saw now were more solid than that. There seemed to be three of them; massive, colossal beasts of some sort that he couldn't describe or perceive. Even though they were frozen in solidified Mako, Rufus could feel the life behind their blank eyes, and it chilled him to the bone. His eyes narrowing, Rufus stared deeply at the sight before him. He was appalled at what he saw, something beyond his imagination. "The Promised Land..." he croaked. "What the devil are these things?!"
Scarlet seemed unaffected by his fear, though her eyes did glaze over with joy at the sight of the massive crystals of materia that lay before her. "The Promised Land..." she croaked. "It's filled with materia as well as Mako! What kind of weapons can I create from this?!"
Stepping forward, Hojo's smile began to widen as he watched the materia crystals slumber. "Materia? Idiot. Promised Land? Fool. The Promised Land existed in Ancient legends and nothing more..." Hojo crooned.
"It never existed?!" Rufus choked. "Then what... where in God's name are we?! What are these things?!"
"WEAPON. The Planet autonomously spawned them to combat Jenova... But when the Ancients contained it, they were put into stasis. Gast's theory, audacious as it seemed..." Hojo gasped in amazement, "is true. Certainly, I destroyed the report... and I never thought that its contents could ever come true. The Calamity from the Skies has been at the core of it all. The entirety of the Jenova Project was meant to supply Sephiroth with the Black Materia... Fascinating. My Reunion Theory was true all along."
Rufus grabbed Hojo by the collar and shook him hard, drawing him in close to his own face. "Reunion Theory?! What the hell are you talking about?!" Rufus snarled. Before he could force the answer from Hojo, a brilliant flash of light separated the two of them. Once his vision cleared Rufus saw that Cloud and Tifa had appeared in front of his eyes, and though he briefly turned them to Hojo, Rufus deftly withdrew his shotgun and aimed it at Cloud's head. "I don't know what's going on... but I do know that I can finally exterminate you, you pest."
The shotgun fell back in two pieces and Rufus went down with it as he was thrown to the ground. Cloud returned his sword to his back after slicing off the shotgun's barrels and turned towards Hojo. "The Reunion is the beginning and the end..." he said darkly. "The circle closes and the final bell is rung... But there is one remaining wrinkle in the scenario."
Another flash of light revealed the remainder of AVALANCHE, including Cid, who held the Black Materia in his hands. "Cloud, we're here!" Cid shouted. "You needed the Black Materia to save Tifa, right?!" he gasped. To Cid's horror, however, Cloud snatched the Black Materia from him. "Y-You gotta be kidding me..." Cid choked. "That wasn't..."
"Cid... everyone... forgive me," Cloud begged. "Especially you, Tifa. I never wanted things to turn out like this..." As he turned towards Hojo, Cloud cracked a bitter smile. "The puppet without a number ends up fulfilling your stupid theory..." he said wryly. "You really are nothing but a hack."
With a huff, Hojo folded his arms over his chest. "I must admit that I miscalculated. But the truth of my Reunion Theory has come true," Hojo said smilingly. "Even when dismembered, Jenova's cells yearn to return to their origin. I originally speculated that the origin would be Midgar, but I was wrong. When Jenova broke free and assumed Sephiroth's likeness, my hypothesis changed quite radically... Jenova wasn't the source of the call. Sephiroth was."
"You madman! What is wrong with you?!" Rufus snarled as he grabbed Hojo by the collar and violently shook him. "What do you know about this? Tell me, now! I want to hear everything, you stupid fool!"
"It's quite simple, really. The Jenova Project had its origins in creating him, so naturally he would override Jenova itself one day..." Hojo smirked. "It has been my hypothesis all along that Sephiroth's clones were being drawn here. He's surpassed Jenova's will, and now has brought us all here to-"
Rufus reared back and slugged Hojo, then drew the battered scientist in close. "Stop this! Now!" Rufus snarled. "I don't know what you're talking about, but this has to end here!" To the surprise of Rufus and all present save Hojo, a deep quaking revealed the crystallized body of Sephiroth, dropping from the ceiling in a mass of stone that seemed like blood veins coiled around him. His eyes widening, Rufus slapped Hojo again. "You... fool!" he screeched.
"Five years ago, he died. But his will was too great to be absorbed by the Lifestream, so his battered body drifted here and he began to exact his scheme..." Hojo said darkly. "Everything... the carnage... the slaughter... has led us to this very moment. The moment when the Calamity from the Skies is reborn anew."
Tifa tried to fight back her emotions, but she couldn't restrain her rage when she stared at Hojo. She remembered Midgar, when he'd tried to breed Aerith. And now he was going to take Cloud from her as well? It was all just too much for her to take. "You disgusting freak!" snarled Tifa, taking Hojo's throat in both hands and lifting him into the air. As he struggled to breathe, she furiously stared into his clouded eyes as the darkness began to overtake him. Before she could finish the job, however, her eyes drifted towards the slumbering Sephiroth and the man now striding on air to deliver his parcel of death. Trembling, she dropped Hojo to the ground, leaving him to choke and reached out to Cloud. "Don't do it!" she screeched. "Please, don't do it..."
As Hojo massaged his burning throat, he vaguely realized that a revolver was aimed at his head. He fell back in terror as Vincent, quaking, cocked the gun. "How many lives will you ruin until you're satisfied?" he snarled, choking back his disgust. "I ought to blast the teeth right out of your miserable face..."
Despite Tifa's pleas, Cloud silently slid the Black Materia inside Sephiroth's cocoon. The demon's eyes opened slowly, and a mad sneer crossed his face as the entire chamber began to rumble. By this time Heidegger and Scarlet had long since retreated to the Highwind, and though Tifa wished to get to Cloud she felt the harsh tug of Rufus' wrist on her arm. The desperation in his eyes said it all, so she and everyone present hurried to the Highwind. They arrived too late, however. From inside the crystallized Mako an eye cracked open, followed by another, until all three WEAPONs had awoken. They shattered their cages and let out a vicious roar, rising up into the air towards the prone airship.
As the airship lifted off, waves of energy burst from within the crater and blew them high into the air. The three WEAPONs rose up from their slumber and paused briefly before zooming off in three separate directions. In the aftermath the Highwind was struck with such violent force that it shattered its windows and rocked the inhabitants of the bridge wildly back and forth. Tifa suddenly lost her grip and slammed her head into the wall, and as the darkness took her she croaked out a single name before everything faded to black.
Author's Notes
I'd started Chapter 42 in mid-January, actually, but this is actually quite different. There are a few corrections and alterations, but much of it has been modified and in some cases even rewritten. Not sure how many people will read either these notes or this chapter altogether, but for the folks that have been with me and still want to keep reading... Thank you. Maybe no one will? It's my hope that someone will get something out of this fic, and if not, well... I'll still keep writing. It gives me something to do I suppose... But I do want to make an impact on someone. Please stick with me, and I'm hoping to deliver something better than what you've seen already. Or no one reads this and I'm talking to myself, whichever. I can't blame anyone who's given up by now.
Couple notes about the chapter itself. When I neutered the Sand Worm fight several chapters back, I thought I wouldn't be able to create a Jenova fight to match it. While it isn't as apocalyptic as my original Sand Worm battle was, I guess I'm satisfied.
Note that I said there are three WEAPONs. Sapphire WEAPON, Diamond WEAPON, and Ultimate WEAPON. I decided against including the American exclusive bosses because I couldn't justify not only fighting them, but winning.
Depending on how you want to interpret things, this could also be called the end to Part Two. But I figured that ending the way I did in Chapter 40 would have more emotional impact. If you want to? Feel free to say that this is the start of Part Three: Destruction or Deliverance.