Chapter 25: The Manor of Despair

June 30, 0011

In another sewer, Reeve's feline avatar emerged from a drainpipe. He was deep under Midgar.

"This has got to be the place," Cait Sith said to himself.

He jumped down onto the grating and made his way through the sewer, jumping over pipes as he went.

And then, without warning, he spotted Deepground soldiers patrolling the area.

"I can't let anybody find me!" he said aloud.

Cait Sith approached the first soldier, hiding behind a box until he passed him.

He then jumped down to a platform where two soldiers were patrolling. He followed one of them while his back was turned, and hid behind another box.

While hiding, Cait Sith spotted the entrance to another drainpipe on a lower platform.

"I could probably make it in there," he realized.

He jumped down to the platform, where he saw another Deepground soldier. Before him was a large canister on its side, with the word "Danger" printed on it.

"Hmmm," said Cait Sith. "Maybe I can…"

He pushed the canister. It went rolling until it hit the soldier, exploding on contact.

He then rounded the corner, and saw another soldier, and another canister. He rolled it, with the same results.

Cait Sith then saw his chance, and disappeared into the tunnel.

As soon as he reached the other side of the tunnel, Cait Sith could see a container moving across a railing near the ceiling. Voices could be heard inside.

"That's the same container I saw in Kalm!" he exclaimed.

Noticing two Deepground soldiers, he dispatched of them with another explosive canister. He then ran down the stairwell and jumped into another tunnel.

Cait Sith reached the other side of the tunnel just in time to see the same container drop from the ceiling.

"What?" he exclaimed.

The voices inside were now screaming.

Below was a light, green fluid.

"Good gracious me!"

The container continued to fall. Then, suddenly, a huge green hand reached out of the abyss, grabbed the container, and pulled it below, never to be seen again.

"What in the blazes is growing down there?" the cat exclaimed.

"Usher of souls," replied a low voice.

Cait Sith turned around to see a tall, winged figure glowing with dark energy. Tape covered most of his face.

"My brother," continued the figure. "Omega."

"It's Nero the Sable!" Cait Sith exclaimed. "Oh dear!"

Black energy surrounded the poor cat. A moment later, Cait Sith was reduced to a lifeless moogle doll.

Curiosity had killed the cat.

MEANWHILE….

After crossing the catwalk, Vincent and Lucrecia made their way up a flight of stairs and took an old-fashioned elevator up.

Once they got off, they could no longer smell the sewer. They saw a door at the other end of the room.

"Vincent," Lucrecia began, "you know where we are, right? You know what's behind that door?"

Vincent nodded.

"I'll be alright," he assured her.

Without another word, he went to the door and opened it.

Vincent's eyes were greeted by bookshelves.

They were in the laboratory under the President's Mansion.

Lucrecia began to scan the library.

"What are you looking for?" Vincent inquired.

"Recent events remind me of something," she replied. "The appearance of Meteor. The coming of the Weapons. The moving of Holy."

"I was there," Vincent reminded her.

Lucrecia then pulled out a book.

"The Chronicles of Yore?" Vincent asked.

"It contains the scriptures of the ancients," she informed him as she opened the book. "Including the ones pertaining to the end of the world."

"The end of the world?" he asked skeptically.

"Omega may be awakening," Lucrecia said.

"Aren't you a scientist?" he inquired.

"Even I have to take off my lab coat," she replied. "'Soul wrought of terra corrupt, quelling impurity, purging the stream to beckon forth an ultimate fate. Behold mighty Chaos, Omega's squire to the lofty heavens.' Omega. The end."

"Who's Omega, anyway?"

"Just as all other sentient beings, he too, is born of the Lifestream," Lucrecia replied.

"So he's a Weapon?"

"Not exactly," she informed him. "His only purpose is to cleanse the planet of all things living and lead their immortal souls through the abyssal aether to a new beginning far, far beyond the never-ending sea of stars."

"I don't see what that has to do with the end of the world," Vincent admitted.

"Just as life circulates through our planet," she said, "so too, does our planet through the universe. Or at least in theory. However, what I can be certain of is, if Omega awakens, then all life as we know it will end. And when Omega has embarked on his journey to the cosmos, our planet will wither and die."

She paused.

Then, her eyes widened.

"My floppy disk!" she exclaimed.

Vincent turned his attention to an orange floppy diskette on the table.

"This contains my records," Lucrecia explained. "This should tell us everything we need to know."

To Vincent's surprise and partial amusement, she put the disk down her shirt and in between her cleavage.

"Well," she shrugged, "I can't put it in my pockets, or it could get crushed."

In the next room, they were attacked by three more Deepground soldiers. Vincent and Lucrecia quickly took them out.

In the next room, they encountered the infamous table.

"Is this where they….where they…?"

"Yes," Vincent replied.

Lucrecia wrapped her arms around her boyfriend for support.

"I love you," she whispered as she kissed him on the cheek.

She took his hand and they made their way through the room with the coffins, followed by the room with the body bags.

Finally, they got to the cave passage.

It was there that Lucrecia noticed the walls lined with circular objects with clocks counting down.

"Mines!" Lucrecia announced.

"Is that bad?" Vincent asked.

"They need to be destroyed in three minutes or the President's Mansion goes up in smoke," she replied.

Vincent and Lucrecia took their guns and destroyed them all, one by one.

At the end of the passage was the spiral staircase.

"This is going to either lead to the mansion, or a dead end," Lucrecia announced.

"One way to find out," Vincent replied as he began to lead her up the stairs.

At the top of the spiral steps stood another Deepground soldier; Vincent quickly shot him in the back of the head.

The bricks were gone; a mine had blasted a hole through the wall; the mansion was visible beyond.

"There may be more Deepground soldiers up here," Lucrecia warned.

They stepped into the mansion and made their way to the hall at the top of the grand staircase.

And then, a buzzing sound game from Lucrecia's pocket.

She pulled out her phone and checked it.

"Perfect timing," she said.

"What?" the perplexed Vincent asked.

"You'll know when you see them," Lucrecia replied with a wink. "Stay there; I'll be right back."

With that, she went to the stairs and descended them.

Vincent waited patiently. He wondered who was behind the raid; the Presidential Mansion had not been broken into since the storming after the election.

And then, the sound of footsteps ascending the stairwell began.

"She's back already," he whispered to himself.

But it was not Lucrecia.

It was someone far less friendly.

Vincent had foolishly let his guard down.

"Well, well," taunted Rosso. "We meet again."

She kneed Vincent in the stomach, causing him to collapse to the floor.

"The pain!" he managed to choke out.

"This is perfect," Rosso taunted. "I so wanted to see you, my love."

"Deepground," Vincent whispered as he rose to his feet. "What are they attempting to do with Omega?"

"I don't know," Rosso answered. "And to be honest, I don't care."

"What?" demanded Vincent.

"But this is what Weiss desires," Rosso continued. "Hail Weiss. And what Weiss orders, we do. It is very simple. If he desires the awakening of Omega, then that is what all of Deepground desires. We could care less what happens to the planet. But all this matters little to me. It is not every day you are granted the chance to cleanse the world of all life. Just the thought sends a chill of excitement through my body. The Deepground soldiers were born and bred to kill. We were chained to a destiny of servitude."

Vincent cringed.

"But then," Rosso continued, "three years ago, we were freed from our chains, though waiting for us was darkness lit only by the faint glow of Mako. And what do you think we did when we gained our freedom? We killed. That is how we were raised. That is all we knew. And so I bathed in the blood of a thousand soldiers. And I enjoyed it. I reveled in it. And when I finally stepped out of the abyss, I craved for more. You understand, right?"

"I don't think so," Vincent dismissed as he aimed his gun.

"How can you say that, darling?" Rosso sighed. "We're one and the same."

Just then, a four-legged robot emerged from the stairs. It had two arms, with the right longer than the left.

Suddenly, the right arm began to glow.

"I had a premonition you destroyed this," Rosso taunted. "So I had to make sure you were cornered. Now, there will be no escape. It will all be over soon."

Suddenly, a large buster sword struck the robot. Sparks began to fly in all directions.

A moment later, the robot exploded.

"My Black Widow!" Rosso exclaimed. "Sukin syn!"

Suddenly, two gloved hands grabbed her left arm.

"I know what that means!" Zack retorted.

And then, two hands grabbed her right arm as well.

"I gotcha," Lucrecia muttered with clenched teeth. "You disgusting bitch."

Vincent knocked Rosso's sword from her hands.

A moment later, Yuffie appeared on the stairs, sporting her khaki shorts and purple crop top.

"Gee," she said. "I guess you didn't need my help after all."

She then scanned the captive Rosso.

"Funny," she said. "I knew someone would be in here, but I was expecting Captain Mast. You haven't seen her, have you?"

"Poshel ty, devochka Wutai!" Rosso snapped.