Another chapter is here!
Kazeshuriken: True true!
Enjoy!
The door of the shipping container had been wrenched loose by the fall, while other parts had caved in and buckled under the impact. It was natural then that it would yield entirely as Cloud and Red XIII threw their respective strength against it. They hurried and moved aside the broken doors before helping the rest of their comrades out.
Tifa staggered out under her own power, though she tenderly nursed her broken arm with her good one. Aerith was on her back, arms slouching over and a wound to her forehead causing blood to stream down in rivulets. Crimson had to be carried out in Cloud's arms, while Yuffie was placed upon Red XIII's back.
Cloud set Crimson against a wall gently as the ruined shipping container rumbled from something beneath it stirring. He could feel in his body what—no, who it was. He drew his sword from the magnetic holster on his back and left it to Tifa and Red XIII to wake and heal the others.
There was a tug in Cloud's body as Sephiroth rose from where he had been entombed. Somehow, he phased through the bottom and emerged looking no worse for wear. He locked eyes with Cloud, and something passed between the two of them.
Cloud screamed as he charged the man with murderous intent, blade at the ready. He crossed the space between them in a matter of excited heartbeats and swung to take off Sephiroth's head. It missed as the former ace of all SOLDIERs tilted his head to the side, stepped in diagonally, and then pushed Cloud forward as he passed by, sending him staggering in that direction.
Cloud righted himself and tried again. He jumped into the air and brought the blade crashing down hard enough to cleave into the metal hull of the floor. Sephiroth merely side-stepped while keeping an innocently placid expression on his face, as though he didn't murder the entire crew of the ship and caused most of the tragedies in Cloud's life. It only served to fuel his anger even more as he swung his blade over and over. Finally, after a number of slashes failed to reach their target, Sephiroth levitated beyond his reach and stared down at him.
Embarrassed—that was the only way to describe what Cloud felt. Despite being as strong as SOLDIER, despite having borrowed memories, and despite wanting to seek revenge against the man who had burned his hometown down and injured his best friend, he couldn't so much as scratch his clothes.
It was then Sephiroth deigned to finally speak. "Who are you?"
"You… don't remember me?" Somehow, that seemed even worse to Cloud. His life and everything attached to him was taken by this man and Shinra. And he couldn't even remember him. "I'm Cloud! One of the lives you've ruined!"
"Cloud…." Hearing his name didn't seem to change anything, only leaving Sephiroth to vacantly stare upwards. It was as if he was seeing something in the distance, far beyond the dank ceiling of rusted metal and pipes. "After a long sleep… The time has come."
Cloud's anger reached its boiling point at being ignored. Was his life and everything attached to it no different than stepping on an ant to Sephiroth? He roared as he tapped into the power of his Limit Break, releasing a Beam Blade that punched through the upper-side of the hull of the ship.
The attack barely ripped his coat as he floated above it and something plopped down, hitting the ground with a wet noise that drew Cloud's attention. Sephiroth seemed to pay it no mind as he continued to rise upwards through the ceiling absentmindedly but, the moment Cloud's mako-shaded eyes fell upon it, a connection tugged on his mind and filled it with white-noise. He fell to his knees, dropping his sword with a loud clank to grab his head from the presence and sight of Jenova's arm.
"Aeri… he's… something!" he heard through the blanks in the grating noise, eating away at his mind with a piercing shriek that wouldn't be silenced.
Seconds later the pain eased as a sense of warm relief and comfort spread. The Anicent's power called forth through the materia. He turned to see Aerith had been roused from unconsciousness, wielding her staff that housed the materia needed to spread the healing spell around using an All Materia.
"You're all right," Crimson told him as she helped him to his feet. "Come on."
It was just in time as the bit of flesh that Sephiroth left behind began to bulge erratically. It ruptured from the inside out and swelled into an abomination, a mass of cancerous-looking grey meat made to rise and take on a vaguely alien form. Its top-half swayed in an abnormally sinuous manner, the extended tentacle dragging along the floor while it peered down at the gathering party beneath it.
"Eww…." Yuffie said from behind him somewhere. "What is that thing?"
"It doesn't matter right now." Cloud picked up his sword again and shook his head to clear it. He took up a fighting stance and readied himself. "Kill it."
A suddenly bloom of cold could be felt nearby as Tifa took the initiative and gathered ice, readying a spell. The spawn born of Jenova's flesh spun around and fixed the protrusion that served as its head in her direction. The cold abruptly disappeared.
Cloud turned to see that a phantasmal clock had appeared in front of Tifa. The hands that were speeding around its face came to an abrupt stop, and so did she. His childhood friend was fixed in her position before she could even finish the spell, frozen in relation to time as they perceived it.
A flash of sapphire light was all the warning they had as the abomination fired a laser from its head at Cloud, who turned back in time to see it coming. The laser was concussive in nature, condensed energy fired in a single beam weak enough that Cloud's blade could withstand it as he used it in place of a shield. The laser fired a second time, slightly stronger and capable of pushing him back a foot. The third laser then ignored him entirely and flew towards Yuffie, who had been perched on some boxes lining up the side of the ship's hull.
"Whoa!" She jumped off for cover and came to a roll on the floor as the beam punched through the boxes and scattered splinters and cargo. She righted herself just as there was a flash of red from Red XIII circling around the thing, lobbing Fire spells to see what stuck. "Hit it with that big spell you used before!"
"He'd kill us all if he did it in this confined hull!" That would be Crimson, distancing herself from him if Cloud heard right. A serpentine bolt of lightning flung itself at the massive arms of the abomination, whatever composing it managing to soak the damage without being grounded through the metal of the ship. Either the ship was non-conductive or Jenova's spawn absorbed it, but she was no doubt using Sense to tell. "And don't bother with the Bio spell! Poison and debilitating spells won't work—its bodily functions are too alien!"
"Aww…" Yuffie placed the materia she had been going for back into her pouch and reached for another. "I suppose I can't use Quake either inside of a ship."
Cloud turned his attention back to the abomination and rushed forward, sword in hand. He swung it across, using the tip of the blade to cleave open a gash in its flesh. Alien ichor flowed from the wound, purple in hue and noxious in scent.
The spawn of Jenova responded by spilling forth an acrid and ominous looking green gas. The moment in came into contact with Cloud's flesh, yellowish tongues of electricity rippled across the surface of his skin. They dug into him like voracious worms, a pain that grated at him and only continued to build within the gas.
He managed to bear with it long enough to cleave into the abomination again and then retreated in a single bound of his mako-enhanced legs. He broke free of the cloud of gas and grabbed hold of one of the pipes perched against the hull, halfway between the ceiling and floor. From there he could oversee the rest of his companions as they stumbled out of the gas.
Aerith was the furthest back and safe against the wall, while Red XIII emerged with a chuff as he started coughing and shaking his head. Crimson hopped back, her eyes somewhat glazed brightly and a strained expression on her face. Tifa was still frozen, so that left—
"That stings!" Yuffie cried as she ran out, small jolts dancing over her arms and legs. She pulled out a new materia and aimed it at the center of the cloud of gas. "Burn!"
Crimson's eyes widened and she extended a hand towards the girl. "Don't! The gas is—"
It was too late. A tongue of flame spat out of the materia, and the gas flared into a blindingly bright flash. The wave of heat and force that followed knocked those closest to it away, and briefly blinded Cloud and Aerith.
Through the veil of lingering smoke a pair of beams struck Red XIII as he was rising to his feet. They converged and slammed him hard, sending him flying backwards until he crashed against the wall with a loud, gong-like ring coming from the metal. His body trembled in place as it struggled to get back up, but he buckled under his own weight and grunted in pain.
Cloud dropped down before the second volley, using his body and sword as a shield to cover for him. The second converging shots hit hard and he feared his sword would break from the stress of the impact. But it held as Red XIII got up and into the fight, despite his injuries.
Jenova's spawn fired a third pair of converging laser fire. They targeted and hit Yuffie, who let out a pained cry before being thrown through the jarred door leading to the engine room. Aerith went to tend to her after releasing a Cure 2 spell combined with an All Materia, leaving the rest to hold the line against the monstrosity.
She never reached. A radiant sphere of light formed above the abomination's head at the point of its tail and fired a spread shot of lasers. They erupted on impact with the metal surface of the floor, throwing her back along with the others as the ship rocked and metal screeched from the explosions.
Cloud was caught amidst one of the blasts and smoldered, left on his knees and covered with patches of seared skin as he looked up defiantly to see the monster spinning around a second time. It swiveled its head in Red XIII's direction and he was caught mid-lunge by the Stop spell not a second after, frozen in time like Tifa.
"THAT TEARS IT!" Crimson screamed as she emerged from the smoke somewhat slouched over. Her hair was disheveled, her breathing heavy, and lips curled back. There was something burning in her eyes—unmitigated anger unlike the controlled power of a Limit Break.
Zack's memories gave Cloud the answer before the question came up: Fury.
Repressed anger elevated to the point of near-madness, a berserker whose blood boiled with rage and seethed with indignation. Did the gas do this to her? In her current state, her anger would blind her to everything.
Crimson allowed her lightning spells to fly, but her rage cost her control over it. The bolts went wide and struck nearby cargo and the walls, only a stray bolt occasionally hitting the abomination. It seemed the ship was lightning-resistant after all, or they'd be feeling the pain as well.
It got worse when Jenova's spawn retaliated with a laser attack that struck her in the chest. It knocked her into a steel drum, causing her to dent the metal on impact. She screamed in unbridled rage and was encompassed by the light of the Limit Break.
Rather than wrapping their weapons in aurate light, enabling them to strike vital points easier, the energy deepened in color until it was blood-red. It completely warped her Rekka into something demonic. Had she been on the verge of learning a new Limit Break only to have her present state of mind shape it in a form fitting enough to kill the target of her rage?
It didn't matter. The moment she flung it, the empowered weapon cut through the abomination's left arm protrusion at the shoulder, leaving the appendage to flounder on the floor while the weapon circled back to its owner. The energy of the attack had been expended in delivering the wound and returned her Rekka back to normal, but Crimson was still in the throes of Fury.
Missing an arm, the spawn born from Jenova's arm maneuvered to perform the Stop spell a third time. It targeted Crimson as she was getting ready to fling her Rekka again. The spell caught her before the weapon could leave her grasp.
Just like that half of their party was out of the fight.
Cloud's anger finally took form after what he expended against Sephiroth and gave him strength. He plunged the blade up to the hilt inside of Jenova's spawn and then held it tight as he leapt upwards with the power of his own Limit Break, compounding the damage Crimson had done. The blade dragged through its body, opening a long rift skyward before the abomination writhed and slammed its head downwards. Cloud was knocked back down to the floor, his blade torn from his grip.
"Hey! Tall, gooey, and ugly!" called the kunoichi from above. "Look what I found!"
Yuffie had returned, looking fresh as a daisy. In her hands was what looked to be a fan of some kind, metal and painted green. The monstrosity warbled as she raked it across the protrusion that served as its head and drew ichor.
Cloud picked up his blade and hopped back, sparing her a glance. "You're okay?"
"My second Limit Break is a technique to calm the mind and spread the energy into a healing force," she proudly said while using her new weapon to leave thin cuts in the abomination's flesh as she deftly darted through the laser fire.
The ticking of a clock reached his ears and Cloud turned towards the source. The phantasmal clock that was in front of Tifa had started moving again. The ticking increased in volume with the movement of the hands until the spell wore off and the clock vanished.
Tifa emerged from her temporal stasis, casting the Ice spell. As the spell hit home, covering Jenova's spawn in a thin layer of hoarfrost that it quickly shook off, her eyes took in the destruction. She seemed mildly confused by the scale when the battle had just started from her perspective.
"Look out!" Aerith abruptly called out. "Above it!"
Tifa saw what she meant as the sphere of energy hovered above the spawn of Jenova's flesh. She crossed her arms to cover her head and jumped back as the spread fire left the floor around her glowing orange before erupting. Her hop turned to a tumble, but she righted herself and retook her fighting stance despite the burns on her skin.
The ticking of a clock sounded again. Red XIII continued his lunge forward as time moved again for him. The bound was followed by a Fire 2 spell that erupted into a column as it hit the base of the abomination, a sickening stench filling the air as it burned.
"My turn to help," Aerith said, wreathed in the subtle fury of her own Limit Break at seeing her companions suffer. It became a gentle breeze that spread throughout the hull of the ship. Flesh mended and the agony they suffered through to this point faded as the ticking of the final clock began.
Crimson snarled as the spell ended and her weapon was thrown. It dug into the abomination and drew another gash in its body before she pulled it back. Lightning crackled in the palm of her other hand and she prepared to fire a Bolt 2 spell that would have likely hit Yuffie, who was still attacking it up-close.
Cloud grabbed her from behind before she could. "You'll hit her!"
"Let go of me, damn it!" She struggled with primal rage to get free, burning hatred still in her eyes. "I'll kill it! I'LL KILL IT!"
Seeing her like this left them all unnerved, tense at her mere presence as she made threats of violence that grew increasingly horrific. It was too much of a contrast to her typical state. The spawn of Jenova itself seemed to be indecisive about its next move, but there was no telling how long that would last.
"We need to calm her down!" Cloud stated, taking charge. "Aerith, the Heal Materia from Kalm! Now!"
"Ri-Right…." Aerith shifted her grip on the staff and pointed it at Crimson. "Esuna!"
"I'LL—" Crimson stopped struggling as the spell wrapped around her. The burning hatred in her eyes quelled, her hair tamed itself, and her breathing leveled out. She brought her hand to her forehead. "Ah…"
"Have you calmed down now?" Cloud asked. He released her when she silently nodded her head. Then he caught sight of the charging laser and pushed her aside.
The beam crashed into his unprotected chest. The concussive force sent him sailing in the air once more. The blade he had been using to that point was wrenched out of his hand and sent spiraling into a stack of cargo, while he slammed into the hull.
"Cloud!" Tifa called as a second beam hammered him back into the metal hull when he tried to pull himself out. She clenched her teeth and pulled out her summoning materia when it fired a third time and embedded him further into it. Enough was enough. "SHIVA!"
A localized blizzard seemed to emerge from the materia. The blinding white flurry and raging winds gave birth to the empress of ice and snow. She loitered just off the ground in front of Tifa. "How may I be of use?"
Tifa was panting. It seemed the strain of the summoning was more immense that she expected. She pointed to the spawn of Jenova. "Kill it!"
"Understood," said the summoning as she extended a finger towards it.
The moisture in the air around Jenova's spawn instant crystallized into a shell of ice that rapidly thickened, until it became a tomb. The abomination writhed as the invasive frost glacially froze it inside out, rupturing the cells within. Then it went still as the ice finished invading its body entirely.
Shiva snapped her fingers. The ice and Jenova's spawn shattered into pieces that broke apart over and over. Soon all that was left were glittering motes—like diamonds turned to dust.
The battle was over at last.