THE NEW CETRA HERITAGE: IMAGO

CHAPTER 3:

J-E-N-O-V-A: C-H-R-Y-S-A-L-I-S

Although he projected an outwardly calm demeanour, Sephiroth felt both frustration and surprise. He had expected Cloud to falter. Unfortunately, that loathsome parody of his mother had thwarted him. Even now, she stood there, glaring at him with a raised, chiding eyebrow. And to make matters worse, he had been thwarted in an attempt to do his dirty work himself, albeit via one of his 'copies' that he had controlled. Sephiroth thanked no deity other than himself that Hojo had that experimentation fetish. The man was a pathetic scientist, but he had his uses.

But to have Aerith pulled away at the last second by a scarecrow of a young man, dressed in ragged clothes Sephiroth was annoyed. But he was also surprised, and this didn't happen often. The last time was when Cloud, as a teenaged Shinra trooper, had managed to attack Sephiroth from behind.

At least this time, it was merely a frustrating setback to an admittedly optional part of the plan. He knew, judging by the glowing Materia on Aerith's head, that Holy had been activated. But that meant little. He had enough knowledge pilfered from the Lifestream to know how to block it. His intention for killing Aerith was more to attack the group psychologically anyway, leaving them less capable of fighting back against him. Removing the last Ancient was a bonus.

It was funny. He used to think he was an Ancient, one of the rightful heirs to the Planet. Well, he was half-right, anyway. But he was far better than they ever were. The Ancients were mere humans with an extra ability. Whereas he was far more than just a mere human.

He hefted his sword, Masamune, into a casual position. The sword was laced with a poison that prevented Phoenix Downs or Life magic from being used. He smiled, inwardly, remembering skewering that pig of a Shinra President, and leaving a facsimile of the sword behind to sow the seeds of fear in those who found the corpse. A fitting marker to his advent(1).

He appraised the newcomers carefully. The young man, struggling out from underneath Aerith, had old eyes, the same colour as Aerith's, but filled with a darkness and cynicism. Even now, he glared at Sephiroth defiantly, despite his fear. The glare was matched by that parody of his mother, the silver-haired harpy who seemed to look at him like he was a naughty child.

Maintaining his composure, even given his annoyance, was easy. This was merely a small annoyance.

"You found another ally, it seems, Cloud. Two, in fact."

"I've never seen them before," Cloud retorted, and he seemed to be telling the truth.

"I'm Harry Potter. That's Luna Lovegood. And I'm guessing you're Sephiroth, right?" the young man asked.

"Indeed." Sephiroth turned his gaze back to Cloud. The young man and that parody of his mother was less of a threat than even his pursuers, and they were little more than flies. Bothersome and dirty, but easily swatted.

And then, there was the other issue. Sephiroth wasn't going to deal with it now, but there was a small part of the Jenova consciousness within him that dissented with him, if only because it wanted to remain independent from him. Ludicrous. Jenova's cells and its consciousness sought unity at all times, and Sephiroth WAS that consciousness, now and forever. Perhaps he could deal with that issue now, by implanting that consciousness into the Jenova organism he intended to leave with them. He knew that those present could deal with it easily enough. And it would weaken them further. Win, win, as the masses said so wearily often.

Time to inject some discord to hasten Cloud's breakdown. "Well, you came to save the fair maiden," Sephiroth remarked sardonically. "But she has found her own protectors, it seems. How does it feel, Cloud, to know how readily replaceable you are?"

"Shut up!" Cloud snarled.

"Oh, is that anger? But it can't be. You do not have real feelings, Cloud, for you see…"

Sephiroth shot into the air, ready to leave them to their battle. As a parting gift, he threw down the Jenova organism, and shouted(2), "You're nothing more than a puppet!"


It all happened so fast. As Sephiroth shouted his last words, something hit the platform, a grotesque, wriggling thing, like part of an alien body. Suddenly, it sprouted, growing with ridiculous speed, into…

…a monster.

It towered over the rest of them, easily. It was the purple of a bruise and the red of an open wound. It had a vaguely feminine outline, but it wasn't even remotely human, with thick wings of grotesque flesh splayed out in a parody of an angel. The head was long with deep-set eyes and a muzzle filled with fangs. A heart, or perhaps some other organ, pulsated macabrely on its side.

Four of those present recognised it immediately. A Jenova monster, similar to the creature they fought on the ship from Junon.

Luna made a face. "Oh, the Nargles haven't been kind to you, have they?" she asked.

The creature, by way of a response, fired a beam of energy at Luna, sending her crashing into a wall. As she got to her feet, she said, "That was very rude!" She took one of the Materia from her bangle, and tossed it to Harry. "Harry, use Ixion!"

Harry nodded, and concentrated on the orb. Almost immediately, a massive unicorn-like beast appeared, and said, "Well met again, Harry. Now, let us teach this creature a lesson, hmm?" It was the voice of Flamel, but echoing and ethereal.

"Okay, unleash hell on it," Harry said.

"Oh, I intend to unleash something more interesting than mere hell," Flamel, or Ixion, replied. Electricity gathered around his horn, and then smashed into the creature. "THOR'S HAMMER!" he bellowed.

That seemed to be the cue for the others to enter the fray. Cloud and the buxom young woman, presumably Tifa, launched themselves at the monster, Cloud swinging his enormous sword at the creature, while Tifa used her fists, covered in a special armoured glove. The huge black man, presumably Barrett, roared as he fired round after round from the machine gun mounted on the end of his right arm (where was his hand?). Aerith called down bolts of lightning upon the creature, which shrieked, and lashed out, sending Tifa flying.

Tifa hit the wall hard, but she became briefly surrounded by a glow. "You just volunteered for my Limit Break, bitch," she snarled at Jenova. Suddenly, she leapt at the creature, her fists flying in a blur, dancing around the creature.

"Omnislash!" Cloud bellowed after being hit by a burst of cyan energy, before leaping at the creature and slashing it repeatedly with his sword in a series of blindingly rapid blows.

The battle was soon over, the creature leaking green blood from a hundred different wounds. But as it lurched Harry's way, Luna stepped in front of it, and said, "No. Not him. Me. We are the same. We will have a Reunion."

The creature seemed to consider her words, before suddenly exploding into a shower of green slime, which paused mid-explosion, and then sped into Luna's body. After a moment, when the green slime disappeared, Luna murmured, "Mother…it is time to let go of your madness. We weren't always this way. I don't want to cage you…but I don't want you to hurt my friends, either." She convulsed briefly, before she sagged to her knees, panting.

Barrett looked over at Harry, crossing his arms. "Who're you?"

"Harry Potter, formerly the Boy Who Lived, currently tired and a little pissed off. That's Luna Lovegood, who I thought died in front of my eyes, but turned out to be part-alien entity. Jenova or something? Anyway, we both come from another world. I was broken out of prison by Luna, and brought here. And that's about as far as I will go for the moment," Harry said. His stomach growled loudly, as if to emphasise the point.

"Damn, but you're little more than skin and bones. I'd say you were from Corel Desert Prison, but you're too pale."

Cloud stepped forward, looking Harry up and down, before deciding that, despite appearing with a Jenova creature, he had helped save Aerith's life. "Thanks," Cloud said. "For saving her."

"'S no problem," Harry slurred, tiredness catching up to him. "Can we…can we rest somewhere for a moment?" Then, he swooned, darkness consuming him as he slumped to the ground…


Barrett caught the young man as he collapsed. "Poor bastard's worn out."

"He only just escaped from a jail that sucks the very life, magic, and happiness from one's soul," Luna observed. "That, plus a pretty big battle, well…" She turned to Cloud. "Oh, and by the way…" She skipped over to him, and, grasping his head, kissed him deeply. The lot of them were too stunned to do anything, until Luna released him.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Tifa asked.

"Removed the Jenova cells within him," Luna said. "Well, they're more like my cells now. I am…well, will be Jenova. The true Jenova, as she was before she became the Calamity from the Skies. Before the wrackspurts took her mind from her. Anyway, you now won't fall under Sephiroth's mind control anymore. Isn't that nice?"

Cloud was blinking, his mouth open in astonishment, before he growled, "Never do that again."

"Save your life?"

"At least tell me what you're doing before you do it!" Cloud snapped.

"You would have said no," Luna pouted. "Wrackspurts will do that to you."

"What the fuck are wrackspurts?!" Barrett demanded.

"I don't think we want to know," Tifa remarked. "If you did remove those things from Cloud, then thanks, Luna." Her eyes flickered over to Aerith. "What were you doing here?"

"Preparing a countermeasure. Sephiroth has the Black Materia, and he can summon Meteor any time. I think he'll wait until he's ready to do so, though. But there is the White Materia, the Ultimate White Magic. Holy."

Cloud's eyes widened as he made the connection. "Your so-called 'useless Materia'! It was Holy?!"

Aerith nodded. "Mother told me after the whole Temple fiasco. I came here to use it. Holy is perhaps the only thing capable of stopping Meteor before it destroys the Planet. Even so, Sephiroth probably knew that I've already activated it."

"Then why did he try to kill you?" Tifa asked.

"It's obvious," Cloud said. "He's attacking us psychologically, sowing discord, just as he did by taking control of me. Killing you could very well have broken us. What about these two?"

"Oh, we come from another world where magic exists but is hidden. There were natural mages before, but a mass exodus of Cetra to that world bulked up the magical population," Luna said with a cheerful grin. "Harry and I are descendants of that Cetra Exodus. And I was the culmination of a secret society's attempt at giving Jenova new form. Long story short, Harry got chucked into prison, I learned more than a few things about Jenova, well, myself, and I set to busting Harry out of here, and, well, coming home."

"And he saved your life, Aerith," Cloud said, flatly. He didn't sound disappointed, but almost offended, like he didn't quite get the chance himself. Then again, he didn't look up at the right time. Maybe Aerith would have died if Harry hadn't been there.

"And hurt my dignity into the bargain," Aerith said ruefully. "He can use magic without Materia, or even using a Limit Break. I can do the same, but it's very tiring." Then, suddenly very serious and solemn, she turned to face them both. "Tifa, Cloud, once Harry is awake, we will head to Icicle Inn. And I think we need to have a discussion about something. Or rather, someone…"


As they climbed the steps out of the chamber, Luna heard the voice of her mother, or even herself, speak to her. Why do you cage me, child? You are no better than Sephiroth.

I won't let you harm my friends, Jenova, Luna sent back. And I am not just your child. I am you. I am close to what you should be, a chrysalis of your true self, soon to become an imago. Your so-called son sent you to die. Would you prefer dispersal and death to life?

I would prefer freedom even more. I have merely exchanged one cage for another. And you are a chrysalis of my true self? Don't make me laugh. You are but a child, and an insolent and insane one at that. Whereas I am ancient, and powerful, and experienced in far more than you.

Really? Then answer me this, Mother, Luna retorted. Where do we come from? What are we? Why are we on this Planet? You think you know. But I suspect an even greater, and more horrifying truth. But you don't want to listen to reason. I'm sorry, but it's all the wrackspurts.

…What the FUCK are wrackspurts?! You are even more insane than that prodigal son of mine!

You still do not see, Mother. But in time, you will. You will see what I have. Only then will this be a true Reunion…

CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:

Things turn out similar to the original story, except Luna absorbs Jenova's consciousness here.

The following annotations are copied and pasted from Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage…

1. My explanation as to why Aerith (or President Shinra, for that matter) couldn't simply be revived with Life magic or a Phoenix Down. It would be like Sephiroth to lace his weapons with such a substance. At least in Final Fantasy V, the party does try to use such items to save a certain party member after a fatal fight against Exdeath. Presumably either Cloud didn't need revival with such things at Nibelheim, or else Sephiroth hadn't used the substance on the Masamune yet. In addition, I believe Sephiroth merely left a facsimile of his sword in President Shinra's back.

2. Sephiroth in the main game is capable of shouting, but in most works where he is voiced, he is supernaturally calm (George Newbern as Sephiroth is bloody scary). I decided to mix in him suddenly shouting for emphasis. Think a little like similar scenes in fiction. One I had in mind was Moriarty in Sherlock: The Great Game, responding to Sherlock's pointing out that people had died in their game. Moriarty says, initially calmly, "That's what people DO!" Some scenes with the Doctor, particularly the Ninth Doctor rebuking the Daleks for interrupting him in Doctor Who: The Parting of the Ways, also come to mind. And, of course, there is Kadaj's rebuke to Cloud's assertion that he is a puppet. "Once upon a time…YOU WERE TOO!"

CHAPTER 3 SOUNDTRACK:

Sephiroth Staredown: Those Chosen By The Planet (FTG).

Kill Jenova!: J-E-N-O-V-A (FTG).

Harry, Unconscious: Anxious Heart (FTG).