Chapter 87: A Chaotic Finale
Vincent and DiStefano stood facing the newly-resurrected Omega, preparing to defend themselves at all costs.
Yuffie immediately darted for the nearest house and began to climb, intending to enter Omega the same way she did previously.
"This girl can climb," Captain Mast observed.
She pulled out her handgun, and aimed it at the climbing Yuffie, but did not fire.
"Put the gun down," Vincent demanded as he drew Cerberus, aiming it at the Captain.
"You wouldn't really shoot me dead with Rufus as my boyfriend, would you?" Captain Mast taunted. "He wouldn't be too happy about that."
"Fuck Rufus," Vincent grunted as he pulled the trigger.
A split second later, a forcefield suddenly appeared around both Captain Mast and Omega, destroying the bullet.
"You really thought it would be that easy?" Captain Mast taunted. "I'm insulted."
Meanwhile, Yuffie had managed to climb her way up to the top of the building, and was preparing to lift herself onto the roof.
"Okay," Captain Mast announced. "Time to put a stop to that."
She fired her handgun at the roof, causing it to explode, with shingles and pieces of wood flying everywhere.
Yuffie was now dangling from the ledge, hanging on for dear life with one hand.
Vincent began to run toward her aid.
Captain Mast again pointed her gun at Yuffie.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned.
"You're going to shoot us with explosive rounds?" Vincent demanded.
Captain Mast shook her head and put her gun away.
"Took quick," she dismissed. "I want you to suffer."
FLASHBACK….
The labcoat-clad Lucrecia stared at the still-suited Vincent as the helpless Turk floated in the stasis tube in the basement of Shinra Manor.
"No," she said to herself. "It's still not enough. I have to hurry or the tissue will continue to decay."
She looked up again at Vincent. Although the monitors informed her otherwise, he seemed quite dead.
Behind her, she heard the door open. She knew right away that it was her husband entering the room.
"I see," Hojo said as he glared at his wife. "Another experiment?"
He then turned to face the unfortunate Vincent.
"You're using this fine specimen to-"
"No!" Lucrecia interrupted. "You're wrong! You're wrong! You're wrong! I…..experiment?"
….END FLASHBACK….
"I probably forgot to mention," Captain Mast continued, "I can control what I summon."
She then raised her arms into the air, and Omega did the same.
She then scanned her three adversaries.
Yuffie was still hanging from the ledge, struggling not to fall to her death.
DiStefano still stood, unsure of what to do.
"You really believed I was going to destroy the world?" Captain Mast taunted. "Fat chance. I'm just going to kill everyone on the island. This includes Sephiroth. And then, tomorrow, I will be the one absorbing the Lifestream."
"This idea is getting old!" Yuffie shouted as she adjusted herself.
She managed to grasp the ledge with both of her hands, but it was a temporary salvation. Her palms were becoming sweaty; she would not last much longer. A fall would prove fatal for sure.
"I will be the goddess," Captain Mast declared. "Omega will be my avatar!"
Vincent was no longer paying attention; he was now concentrating.
Lucrecia loved me, he thought. She would never treat me like an experiment.
FLASHBACK….
Hojo stood over Vincent's lifeless body, laughing maniacally.
"Hojo!" Lucrecia cried in horror. "What have you...?"
"Lucrecia," Vincent struggled to whisper.
Lucrecia placed her hands on her mouth, and began to sob.
LATER...
As Vincent floated in stasis, Lucrecia continued to cry. She was on her knees, a yard from the tank that sustained her former lover's life.
"You had his eyes," she sobbed. "I didn't...I didn't want to remember. I pushed you away, but...now I realize...I never wanted to lose you. Not again. Not today."
She stood up, and turned toward the man she truly loved.
"Vincent," she said, "did you know that your eyes are exactly like your father's?"
LATER...
Vincent, having slowly regained consciousness, could still not yet perceive sight again.
Yet, he still heard the kind, soothing voice of someone he loved.
"I've done it," Lucrecia said. "Born of the Lifestream. Bringing all together. Stopping the imminent decay of tissue."
Suddenly, Vincent felt a sudden rage inside of him. He began to angry pound on the tube walls.
"But instead," Lucrecia continued, "born was...the chaos that took him...away from me."
….END FLASHBACK…
It has to be there.
It's infused in my DNA.
I was dipped in the Lifestream. I can't age or die, but I can still be killed.
That's it! I can still be killed!
Suddenly, Vincent grinned.
He stepped forward, and aimed Cerberus at the redhead.
"So you want to be killed by me?" Captain Mast demanded as she aimed her firearm at Vincent. "I said I was going to make you suffer and not kill you, but maybe I can do both."
The dipping doesn't destroy things. It just makes them harder to get to.
Grinning more, Vincent took another step forward.
"That's it," his adversary announced. "You've asked for it!"
Captain Mast pulled the trigger.
The bullet struck Vincent in the chest.
Blood and flesh flew in all directions.
"Goodbye," Captain Mast announced as she swung her hand.
Upon command, Omega did the same. It struck Vincent with such force that he soared into the air toward a house next to the one Yuffie was dangling from.
Vincent crashed loudly, disappearing into the house.
"Vincent!" Yuffie cried out.
Her left hand then slipped.
Yuffie quickly wiped it dry on her shorts, and resumed holding the ledge with both hands.
She could not go on like this forever, though.
Her arms were beginning to ache.
Soon, they would give way.
FLASHBACK….
Chaos thrashed violently in the stasis tube, desperate to break the walls.
"Stop!" Lucrecia pleaded. "Stop!"
And then, the Materia began to glow on the floor.
LATER...
Lucrecia stared at the glowing orb that lay alone on the floor, just a few feet from the transformed, but imprisoned, chaos.
"This...the materia," Lucrecia began. "I found...we found together."
LATER...
The computer screen flashed red as Lucrecia typed frantically.
Finally, everything froze.
"No!" cried Lucrecia as she slammed the keyboard.
She turned around to see Chaos had reverted to Vincent once more.
Exhausted, she collapsed to the floor.
"What am I doing?" she sighed.
LATER...
The first thing Vincent managed to see was an unpleasant scene.
Lucrecia angrily shook her husband by the shoulders.
"Give him back!" she exclaimed. "Give my son back!"
Realizing that it was no use, she stepped back, and turned away.
"And how is your experiment proceeding?" the unphased Hojo inquired.
"I don't know!" Lucrecia screamed. "I don't care! Let me see him! Just once!"
Lucrecia sat with her back turned to Vincent's stasis tube. Her glasses were not adjusted, and her hair and makeup were a mess.
"I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "I can't...I'm sorry. I can't take it anymore. My body. My mind."
She was no longer thinking coherently.
"Before I go...Jenova's cells...Vincent...stored as data...must leave...thought...I loved...record..memory copy...for him...it was wrong...wait...disperse...so sorry...apply...but I...for...fragment...survive...hope...who...?"
….END FLASHBACK….
"Now," Captain Mast continued as she flaunted her handgun, "look how small Miss Kisaragi is. I'll bet if I hit the small of her back with the explosive ammo, I'll blow her in half."
"Stop!" pleaded DiStefano.
"Don't worry," Captain Mast continued. "You'll join her soon, too. So tell me. Do you think she'll blast in half?"
The beaten DiStefano simply glared. She knew that if she tried to run, she would be shot. And if she tried to save Yuffie, Yuffie would be shot.
There was no way to win.
"Not answering, huh?" Captain Mast continued. "Well, I suppose there's only one way to find out!"
She aimed her handgun at the small of Yuffie's back, and placed her finger on the trigger.
Suddenly, the area began to rumble.
Captain Mast fell to the ground, dropping her handgun in the process.
DiStefano lost her balance, but quickly regained it.
Yuffie held onto the ledge she was dangling from with all her might as her body began to jerk from side to side.
"What's happening?!" Captain Mast exclaimed as she quickly rose to her feet.
"What is happening?" DiStefano echoed.
And then, Vincent burst through the building he was in once more.
Only he was no longer Vincent.
He was dark gray, with a light gray face, and had dark red wings.
He was Chaos.
Only now, he was twice the size he had been in the original timeline.
He approached his adversaries, creating loud thuds as he did so. He stopped at his former position, and began to bear down on them.
"What the hell is this?!" Captain Mast demanded.
But Chaos did not talk.
Omega began to glow green.
"Let's get out of here!" Captain Mast demanded. "Take me away! We'll destroy the world and rule a new one!"
And then, Captain Mast rose off the ground, ascending until she set down on Omega's shoulder.
The green-glowing Omega began to ascend off the ground.
The dangling Yuffie gasped in horror, realizing the danger.
"Vincent!" she exclaimed. "You have to stop them!"
Chaos closed his eyes.
"I guess I have no choice," he said. "It's time to save the world."
With that, he skyrocketed into the sky.
Suddenly, glowing green wings appeared on Omega.
"It's ascending?" DiStefano exclaimed. "But that would mean..."
"Time to die!" shouted Captain Mast, in a voice that almost sounded inhuman.
Up, up, and up Omega went.
Chaos, as soon as he was high enough, looked down to see the ascending Omega hurling toward him.
It's now or never, he thought to himself.
Chaos descended as fast as he could.
Down, down, and down Chaos went.
Captain Mast looked up to see the approaching Chaos.
She gasped in horror.
She instinctively covered her face with her arm, though she knew it would do her no good.
Even Omega seemed frightened. It had no time to attack.
Chaos let out a screech.
And then, in an instant, Chaos struck Omega with such force that he sent it crashing down to the ground, impacting outside of the ruins and creating a blinding white explosion, destroying both Omega and the Eastern Continent commander that summoned it.
Chaos, fortunately, managed to jump away at the last moment.
Unfortunately, Yuffie had exhausted the strength in her arms. Involuntarily, she let go of the ledge, and began to fall.
So this is how it ends, she thought as she closed her eyes.
And then, she felt her fall break, and she knew Chaos had grabbed her.
Yuffie opened her eyes just in time to see Chaos gently setting her down on the ground.
Whew! she thought. I thought that was it.
A smoldering pit was all that remained of Omega and Captain Mast.
LATER THAT EVENING…
Vincent returned to normal after two hours, with his injuries healed. After that, Vincent, Yuffie, and DiStefano began to make their way back to the hotel. It was dusk now, and the sky had changed from blue to orange. Eros Nova was on the edge of the time zone, and, as a result, it got dark early.
"Thanks for saving my butt," Yuffie said. "Again."
"Don't mention it," Vincent assured her.
"But how did you know you would turn into Chaos if she nearly killed you?" DiStefano asked.
"I didn't," Vincent admitted. "Based on my memories, I made a guess."
"Well, that was one incredible guess!" Yuffie said.
They drew closer to the hotel as the sun set slowly in the west. Omega was gone for good now. Only one thing seemed to remain.
"What did she mean Sephiroth was planning?" asked DiStefano.
Yuffie rolled her shoulders.
"Beats me," she replied. "There's certainly no Meteor in the sky. But whatever it is, he won't get too far. This island will be swarming with security. They definitely won't let him ruin the wedding."
"I almost forgot there's a wedding in two days!" DiStefano laughed. "After all that happened!"
"Me, too," Yuffie added. "You think Cid and Shera will last?"
"You know them better than I do," DiStefano replied.
"Cid's a hothead," Yuffie said. "But Shera seems tolerant."
Before they got close to the hotel, Yuffie turned to Vincent.
"Thanks again," she said. "I really do owe you."
Vincent looked at her, very solemnly.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"It's nothing," he assured her. "Nothing at all."
Yuffie and DiStefano took his word for it, but, somehow, it did not ring true.
And they were right.
Something in Vincent's mind…bothered him.
By the time they got back to the hotel, the sun was completely down, and the stars were coming out.
But that was the least noticed change.
There were police cars with flashers on all surrounding the hotel. Their radios were communicating mumbo jumbo, and several officers were walking about.
"Shit!" whispered Yuffie. "What happened?!"
Both Vincent and DiStefano shrugged in unison.
"This is all news to me," DiStefano said.
"We definitely missed something!" Yuffie said.
They began to circumvent the police cars, trying to figure out what was happening. There was tape preventing anyone from entering-or leaving-the premises.
Finally, they saw someone they knew; it was Zack.
Yuffie immediately ran to her boyfriend and kissed him.
"Where were you?" he exclaimed as he lifted her off the ground.
"She's dead," Yuffie replied as she kissed him again.
"Who?" Zack asked.
"Captain Mast," she clarified. "Vincent finally awoke Chaos and killed her."
She paused as Zack set her down.
"Wait a minute," she continued. "They're not here to arrest him, are they? It was self-defense. And that's an understatement!"
Zack looked at her solemnly and shook his head.
"Oh wait," Yuffie concluded. "Cloud and Tifa are back! Presidential protection!"
Zack shook his head again.
"We still haven't seen hide nor hair of them," he replied.
"I really hope they're okay," Yuffie said. "It would be sad if they miss the wedding."
"I know," Zack said. "But it doesn't look like there's going to be a wedding anyway. Not anymore. Something….happened while you were gone."
Yuffie suddenly began to feel goosebumps.
"What was it?" she asked nervously.
"Tobin and Cissnei found out who freed Sephiroth," Zack replied. "It wasn't Jessie. It was Shera. Sephiroth didn't steal her Regenerator. She gave it to him."
"Shera's the traitor?!" Yuffie exclaimed. "What happens now?"
"They've got the hotel surrounded," Zack informed her. "They're going to send a SWAT team in to get her at minute now."
MEANWHILE…
Further up along the barricade, Tobin and Cissnei stood amongst the police, handing out pictures of Shera.
"This is the traitor," Cissnei explained. "She's the one who freed Sephiroth and put the blame on Jessie Raspberry."
Nearby, Elena was embraced with Tseng, resting her head on his chest.
Cid sat alone, silent and dejected.
Nobody had any idea of what was on his mind.
MEANWHILE…
Shera, in a tee shirt and capris khakis, stood in the bridal suite, staring out the window, looking on as Cissnei continued to hand out the flyers.
How could they have possibly figured out it was me? she thought to herself.
She began to pace around the room, glancing at the neatly hung up wedding dress that she would obviously no longer wear.
She thought about how Cissnei left the bachelorette party suddenly, and knew there had to be a connection.
Was it something I said?
Of course, she had a bigger problem on her hands. She needed to escape the hotel before the SWAT team captured her.
But the exits were all blocked off.
Think, Shera, think. You're a smart girl.
She continued to pace around. Outside, the SWAT team began to head for the hotel entrance.
Of course! she realized. The basement! If I can just get into the air ducts, they'll inevitably connect to the sewer system. I'll escape through the sewers on the other side of the island, and then hire a boat to the Eastern Continent, and get asylum.
It seemed all too easy.
Wasting no time, Shera opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
On one end, there was the stairwell.
On the other end, there was an elevator.
If the SWAT team comes in, thought Shera, they'll take the stairs for sure.
She then made her way to the elevator.
She glanced back at the stairs, to see if anyone was coming up, or to hear any commotion there, but she perceived neither.
The elevator was now just a few feet in front of her.
All she had to do was make it to the basement, and she would escape.
She reached the elevator.
She pressed the button.
She heard the car moving.
Shera turned around, still keeping an eye on the other end of the hallway.
Then, the faint sound of commotion began.
Shera knew the SWAT team was charging up the stairs.
She hoped the elevator would arrive on time.
The commotion slowly grew louder.
The elevator dinged.
And then, the elevator door slid open.
Shera turned around, and stopped in surprise.
Sephiroth was standing there.
Before she could say anything, he thrust his sword into her.
She had indeed freed him. But she was now useless to him, and would only give away her location.
Sephiroth slowly withdrew his sword from Shera's abdomen.
She fell motionless to the ground.
The elevator door closed again.
A moment later, the SWAT team stormed into the hallway.
"Freeze!" one of them shouted.
But that no longer mattered.
Shera was dead.