Chapter 10: JENOVA’s Fury
Tifa came back shortly after Sephiroth and his siblings came, and saw Cloud badly injured, sitting on the floor in a corner. She rushed to him “Cloud, what happened?” He shook his head without speaking. Tifa saw him badly bruised in the face and his stomach appeared to have bleeded heavily “Cloud, who did this to you? Say something.” Cloud wouldn’t look at her but answered “Sephiroth and those kids… they barged in and Sephiroth attacked me. I wanted to fight back and stop him, but I couldn’t… I don’t know why. I just couldn’t do it…” Tifa shook her head slowly “Cloud… so you just let him do whatever he wanted to you? Why?” Cloud replied “I couldn’t help it… I couldn’t move. He just pinned me down with that long sword he carries around and then he beat me when I said he was being a bad example for his siblings. I don’t know why… but I was powerless.” Tifa reminded “Just like when JENOVA landed out there the other time… you couldn’t move then either. But why didn’t he kill you? That surprises me even more.” Cloud answered “I don’t know that, either. But he hurt me badly enough that I cant stand on my own.” Tifa was confused “I don’t get it either, but I’m going to get help. You need some healing.” Cloud nodded slowly “Thanks. You don’t have to do this, you know…” Tifa laughed “I know. But I’m doing it anyway. You know I wont just stand here and watch.” Then she went outside to find someone who could heal him.
Meanwhile, at Shinra Headquarters…
Reno reported to Rufus with a group of Shinra soldiers behind him, and explained “No good. We cant find them anywhere. I’ve been searching for days and havent found a trace of any of em.” Rufus replied “That’s a bit odd, don’t you think? Surely there must be something you missed. People don’t go from place to place completely unseen like that. Especially since our subjects are a violent group. Your orders are not changing; continue the search until you’ve caught all three of them.” Reno grumbled “Ohh fine! I’ll go back out and try again!” He began to turn around and prepare to leave, but Rufus spoke and he stopped “How did they get away from you so easily last time? They are mere children, are they not?” Reno protested “Look, I don’t know either. But the girl just bolted metal wings and her left eye went all crazy, and if we didn’t run we’d be barbecued.” Rufus grew curious “Girl? You never said word there was a girl on their side. Tell me more.” Reno turned back to Rufus and explained “She’s the same person we fought several weeks ago, the same Kadaj—except she’s a girl. I don’t know anymore than that about her.” Rufus shrugged gently “Another larva, but in the form of a young girl… Bring her to me, and take Yazoo and Loz and lock them up. I want the girl thoroughly evaluated so we can learn more of her new prowess. However, I’m afraid I cant praise any of you for failure on a rather simple job. You each fled from mere children thinking your lives were threatened, and I have little choice but to reduce your pay for this.” Reno complained “Aww what? Come on!” Rufus finished “Get out there and find them—all three of them. Don’t let them get away this time. I expect good performance from elites like you, Reno. Stay focused this time.” Then they left to go back to finding Kadaj and her brothers. However, there was a loud crashing sound that seemed to come from downstairs, and the entire area shaked. Reno cried “Whoa, what’s that? Something’s not right.” The Shinra soldiers held their guns up, prepared to shoot anything that came into view, and Reno was glancing around in silence. Rufus also got out of his chair and came out from behind his desk “If this has to do with those three again, prepare for heavy impact.” Reno disagreed “No way! The security system was doubled up after we caught that kid hacking in!” Rufus argued “I don’t think he unlocked the specimen tank upstairs again. In fact, I highly doubt it. I set it so only a Shinra executive can access that and free anything kept inside. Even if Yazoo is far above an average boy’s IQ, even he shouldn’t be able to breach that.”
Downstairs, some ways below where Reno and Rufus were…
JENOVA had broken into the Shinra HQ, and already slaughtered countless employees. Everyone in the room was screaming and scrambling about in panic, desperately trying to avoid being killed by her. JENOVA wielded a large metal stick that looked to be a broken part of an old spacecraft, both ends of it looking as if torn from something. She killed everyone in sight, desperately searching for her lost children. She slashed through another several employees, and threatened another cowering before her “Where are my children?! What have you done with them?!” The woman panicked “I-I don’t know!” JENOVA threatened further “Liar! Confess, or suffer the consequences! The long-haired boy who had silver hair, the one who hacked into Shinra security 10 days ago—where is he?!” The woman screamed “No! Someone, heelp!!” Reno ran towards JENOVA and attacked her from behind. She immediately noticed him and kept her expression hard. Reno said “Leave the employees alone! They have no idea who your kids are.” JENOVA refused to believe him “Hmph! As if! Tell me where my children are, or you’re next!” Reno shook his head “Fine, then we’ll just have to take you out. Not like anything else would work on you.” The Shinra soldiers attacked her, and JENOVA cut through all of them with her metal stick; they died with one strike. Reno backed away fearfully “No way! How did you get so tough?!” JENOVA didn’t respond, and began closing in on him. Reno kept his distance, backing away from her. He ended up running before she had a chance to hit him, and JENOVA flew upward, busting through the ceiling with little effort. Seconds later, Rufus set off the emergency security system, and a computerized voice began to say “Warning. Initiating specimen containment protocols, phase 1. Locking down of the entire facility will begin immediately. If you are currently situated in an affected area, please remain calm.”
(Back to Sephiroth and remnants scenario)
(This part will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) I woke up suddenly, breathing heavily. Sephiroth rushed to me to make sure I was ok “Yazoo, what’s wrong?” I quickly sat up and shook my head “I don’t know, but something is wrong… I think Mother’s in trouble…” Sephiroth asked “What kind of trouble?” I shook my head “Really bad… at Shinra’s HQ… we’ve gotta help her!” Sephiroth shook Loz and Kadaj awake and Kadaj asked “Ungh… what’s going on?” Sephiroth answered “There’s no time to talk about it. We’ve gotta hurry! Now. Follow my lead, I’ll get us there as fast I can.” We all climbed out of bed, and ran behind Sephiroth who was also in a hurry. We went the entire trip in silence, and focused on following Sephiroth in hopes of making it on time. When we arrived outside of the Shinra building, I gasped “Whoa, no way! Look at it!” Sephiroth looked up and followed my gaze. The upper levels looked very ravaged, as if something really powerful had run amok upstairs. The front doors were also destroyed, making it obvious that someone forced their way inside. Kadaj was also shocked “Who could possibly be strong enough to do all this damage?” Sephiroth rubbed the wreckage with his hand and grew fearful “No… no! Mother!” He ran inside without going further. I cried “Wait!” I led us inside after Sephiroth, and glanced around hastily “Oh my goodness… this place is a disaster! What happened here?” It was completely dark, and what little could be seen was nothing but rubble. Whatever went on appeared to be recent. Loz was scared “Oh my god… who did this? Everything’s destroyed! This place is ruined!” Kadaj turned serious “I’ll bet Mother was the one who did it. Think about it… who else could be capable of this kind of destruction?” I understood “Yes, but Mother would only rampage a place if she’s looking for something. So what did they have that she wanted?” Loz was crying “No, its worse… someone bombed this place! What if she didn’t make it out…?” I believed him “That explains why the lights don’t work. Mother must’ve been awfully angry to make a mess like this… Sephiroth, where are you?” No response. It was too dark to see if he was here. I ran around, struggling to make out what was hiding in the darkness. Loz and Kadaj were following my lead. I tried to find stairs, and came to what appeared to be a set of them, but they were ravaged, missing almost half of the flight. Loz asked “Think we can use them? They wont give out on us?” I replied “We don’t have much choice. Let’s try them.” We went up the stairs, and made it to the next floor without them breaking. I gasped at what was in the center of the room: there was a lit-up cell filled with a clear fluid, and Mother was inside of it, motionless. Her eye wasn’t open, either. I shouted “Mother! Are you ok?” We hurried to her, and Sephiroth was beside us. He looked like he was crying “Mother… why did they do this to you..?” Loz was also sad “We’re too late..?” Sephiroth shook his head and lowered his hands, letting go of the cell she was in “I don’t know… I don’t want it to be that way, but… she seems so weak. They must have confined her at the last second and fled before we arrived. The energy readings I felt at her abandoned ship near the cliff were incredibly high, but what I’m getting now is the exact opposite.” I shook my head “Oh no… you arent saying she’s…?” Loz began crying, leaning on the cell “Dang it! Goddang it, stupid Shinra! I hate you, I hate you..! I hate you!! Stupid, stupid company! Why?!!” I had never seen him ball so heavily like this. Kadaj wanted to calm him, but she knew she couldn’t. She shook her head sadly. I realized I was crying too “This is terrible… too terrible…” I sniffled. Kadaj turned serious “No! We cant let them win! Isnt there some way we can help her?” Sephiroth sighed and shook his head “There’s only one way to breathe new life into a powerful being like Mother: great sacrifice. The enemy is already on edge from being attacked by her. They even evacuated their headquarters this time. You three arent strong enough to pull sacrifice jobs yet.” Loz continued weeping but tried to hold it in “No, I’m not letting it end like this..! They’re dead! I’m gonna kill them all..!” He couldn’t hold back his tears. We all grew silent all of a sudden, and heard a man laughing somewhere nearby. I turned around, and saw the same man who caught us the first time we were at Shinra HQ “Not you again… what did you do to Mother?!” The man smiled and shrugged “Ohh, don’t mind me. I didn’t do anything. You can thank President Rufus for setting off the specimen containment protocols, I had nothing to do with that part. But, I did take backup measurements in case she was still alive and happened to pay us a visit… you can thank me for that.” Sephiroth looked really angry “You monster… you poisoned her?!” The man laughed and shook his head “Oh ho ho, far from it. I left a little present in there that allowed her to survive the fatalities the specimen containment protocols were designed to leave her with.” Sephiroth quickly turned back to our still Mother “So she’s alive..? Hojo…” I turned to the man who answered Sephiroth “You saved her? But why did a freak like you want to save Mother?” Sephiroth looked at me “It doesn’t matter why he did it. The important thing is that she’s not dead… for now. But you… if you lay even a finger on Mother, I’ll kill you where you stand. No more experiments.” Sephiroth began feeling around the device, looking for a way to free her. Hojo interrupted him “Oh, I wouldn’t let her out, if I were you. She needs those fluids in order to fully recover. If you free her too early, she will die.” Sephiroth approached him and asked “Tell me what these protocols you described did to her. I need to know.” Hojo answered “Oh, I will answer you on that one. That mechanism means nothing to me, anyway. The specimen containment protocols have a total of 3 phases. By the time they reach phase 3, a powerful device is ejected from the surrounding walls, revealing numerous and rather large blades and needles that are designed to drain the life force of the target. In this case, the device drained JENOVA of almost all her cells, forcing her into sleeping. After the power is drained from the specimen, this same device confines it into a secure cell. Take the one JENOVA is in for example. If not for the JENOVA cells I secretly placed in there, she would have died from that. However, I’m afraid I couldn’t sustain her enough for her to grow a new pair of wings. The device destroyed her original set. I am terribly sorry.” Sephiroth turned away from Hojo “So that’s the machine they were working on… I knew it. Hojo, I want you to heal her for me. So my young Brothers and Sister don’t have to see me sacrificed for her sake… please.” Hojo shrugged “I might as well. Shinra is moving their location somewhere else in the city due to the wreckage her attack caused. I wont have any work until the new location is fully established.” He approached Mother’s cell and examined it. We went to Sephiroth, and Loz asked “Is she gonna be ok?” Sephiroth answered “Let’s hope so… I may not trust the man completely, but he’s our only hope if we want Mother’s life saved. We have to bet on Hojo this time.” I felt suspicious “You don’t think he’ll kill her, do you?” He shook his head “No, I don’t think that’s likely. But him doing the job right is another matter… the man lacks experience.” Kadaj asked “And we’re going to gamble on Mother’s life like that?” Sephiroth sighed “We don’t have a choice. The man was right when he warned us about moving her or getting her out. I don’t like it either, but there’s no alternative this time. We’ll have to hope for the best…” Loz worried “Oh man… I’ll kill him if he messes up! I mean it!” Sephiroth calmed him down, and led us into a corner to sit down. We ended up falling asleep before long, and Sephiroth was sitting in front of us to keep us safe.
The Next Morning…
I woke up first again, and noticed Sephiroth wasn’t nearby. I also saw that Mother was missing from the cell we found her in yesterday. I sighed and stood up, preparing to look for her and Sephiroth “Great. Here we go again. Can humans do anything right? This world is crazy.” I drew my revolver and sneaked away from Kadaj and Loz, hoping to avoid waking either of them. I didn’t want them to get worked up since both Mother and Sephiroth were missing, so I decided to keep my voice down and tread as quietly as possible. The area was still very dark, the cell where Mother was yesterday being the only thing lighting the area besides a few small lights on weird machinery all around. After studying the area carefully, I headed for the stairs. I managed to make it up without them collapsing, and for some reason the floor I found myself on was lit up and seemed unscathed, as though nothing happened here. I looked around, and saw Mother unconscious on some kind of adjustable bed, and Hojo appeared to be doing something on her. Sephiroth wasn’t near him, but I saw him sitting in a corner on the other side of the area, as if trying to hide from Hojo. I guessed he was away from Hojo because he was too nervous to watch him work on Mother. I decided to approach Hojo and asked “Is she gonna be ok..?” Hojo replied but was too busy to look at me “She’s well, but I don’t think she will wake for quite some time. The specimen will be fine, I can assure you that.” I got angry at that and wanted to kick him, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to interfere with what he was doing to help Mother. I decided to speak instead of hitting or kicking him “Don’t talk about Mother like that! Mother’s a she, stupid. She has feelings just like anyone does!” He ignored me, but I wasn’t surprised. After a long silence, Hojo said “Is that how you treat me after I was so kind as to help your Mother survive? Imagine what would have happened if I decided to leave instead of sticking around. What would have become of her then?” I sighed, and shook my head “It’s true I cant be angry with you for saving her life, Hojo… but if she’s that precious to you too, why do you insist on calling her a specimen? Isnt that rude?” Hojo laughed “My oh my, you do know little about my ways as a scientist. And for your information, saying she’s important to me isnt entirely correct. Yes, she is important to you, I can see that. The kind of importance she is to me is a bit different, than what she means to you. To a scientist like myself, JENOVA is an ideal test subject capable of granting me a glorious opportunity concerning experiments. She has the power I seek for my scientific ambitions. That, my dear friend, is how she is important to me. But for you, it’s a more affectionate and emotional type of important.” I wanted to stand here and scream at him for that. But instead, I replied “You idiot… is that all living things mean to you? Just an opportunity for successful experiments, only for your own selfish profit? You’re worse than that blonde guy we saw in New Nibelheim. Even if that is how you really feel, Hojo… It would be wrong of me not to thank you for keeping Mother alive. But that doesn’t mean we’re friends, either, so don’t get any ideas. I don’t like that approach you have. And if you so much as try to capture Mother later on, you’re in for an ugly surprise. The same goes for my Brother Loz and Sister Kadaj. I wont let you get away with hurting Sephiroth, either.” He laughed “As if mere children like you could bring me disaster… even if you are Sephiroth’s younglings, I doubt you are strong enough or smart enough to outrank me. I know all about your Mother and that legacy you and your siblings always talked about, child.” I asked “Always? What do you mean always? Sephiroth, maybe… but us? We’re not even teenagers yet. What are you talking about?” Hojo ignored me “Hmm… so you have forgotten. You’re back, but your memories have died with your older body… interesting.” I sighed and decided to give up. This man just wouldn’t listen to a word I said. I wasn’t even sure if he was making sense anymore. I heard a woman cough, and gasped, snapped out of everything we just discussed. I carefully climbed atop the bed Mother laid in, and looked at her face, hoping to see her open her eye “Mother..? You’re ok..?!” She moaned but wouldn’t open her eye, and she reached for my face, carefully resting her hand on the side of my face. She spoke softly, as if not fully awake “Yazoo, my son… you’re safe… thank goodness…” She stroked my hair, and then her arm fell back to her side. I realized she was alive, and still breathing. I began crying again, but this time out of joy and relief “Mother, you’re ok! Mother..!” I gently hugged her, and she giggled in her sleep. Hojo said “All finished. She will be fine now.” I carefully slipped off the bed, and forced myself to calm down. Sephiroth came up beside me and glanced at our sleeping Mother “Good, she’s breathing again. Is it safe to move or carry her?” Hojo replied “Well, you will have to if you want to take her wherever you and your children are going. I don’t think she will wake up for a bit, though. Tranquilizers.” Sephiroth sighed “Alright, well as long as her life isnt endangered anymore, that’s what matters most to me. I can carry her and keep her safe. But before I do anything else, keep silent about seeing all of us. If you tell even a single soul, you’re done for. And speak nothing of the operations you did on Mother to protect her. I want the enemy to assume she died even though she is still alive.” Hojo shrugged “Very well. What they want with all of you means nothing to me, anyway. I could care less about telling them.” Hojo started to leave, and Sephiroth carefully lifted Mother and carried her in his arms. He turned around to face Hojo “Hojo… thank you. For what you did for Mother.” Hojo laughed “Don’t mention it. I cant let a rare specimen like her perish like that, can I? That would be such a waste.” He laughed and waved at us without turning around, then left, disappearing downstairs. Sephiroth smiled and glanced at Mother, who was sleeping in his arms “At last… our whole family is together. I never thought I’d get to see this day…” I said “Let’s go wake up Kadaj and Loz. I sneaked away without waking them because I didn’t want them to get worked up again.” Sephiroth understood “No problem. I understand your thinking. This place is too ruined for the enemy to use it anymore, so safety shouldn’t be too problematic. But to think they already perfected that machine, and named it specimen containment protocols phase 3… I don’t like that at all. The very fact that they did this, and set it up the way they did, is a sign they were expecting to end up in shambles from being targeted by Mother. The awful thing is much bigger than I imagined, to make it worse. Whatever the machine was, it’s clearly designed to kill instantly. Mother even lost her wings because of the horrid thing.” I agreed “That’s really scary… how did they know she would come?” Sephiroth replied “I cant say they knew, but it’s likely they were preparing for the possibility. If we must infiltrate their new headquarters, we’d better be extra cautious. If we get trapped because of specimen containment protocols, we’re done for. I can only imagine how painful that must’ve been for our beloved Mother… how horrible…” When we got downstairs, Loz and Kadaj were already awake and ran towards us. They both saw Sephiroth holding Mother, and he nodded silently, signalling them that she would be ok. Loz asked “Now what do we do? Find a way to get to the Northern Cave?” Sephiroth replied “Well, those were our previous orders, so I suppose we should find a way there. The biggest problem is, walking there is impossible. We need to cross the ocean to get there. If I still had my wing, that would be easy… but we’ll just have to find a way to steal an airship. There’s no other way to get there. There arent any boats that have a course set for the target location, so making off with an airship is our only choice.” I asked “But what about Mother? It’s too dangerous to fight people off when she’s sleeping like that.” Sephiroth looked elsewhere “You are correct, but the walk to the nearest coast should be long enough that we will be able to tend to our objective by the time we get to where I’m thinking of. After that, it’s a matter of finding a way to climb up… without getting electrocuted. That will be the real challenge… since I don’t have my wing anymore. Hopefully someone left an airship docked at the top… if not, we’ll just have to find another one.” Loz was confused “Aww, what? You mean we cant jump that high?” Kadaj laughed and I shook my head “Of course we cant. What do you think?” Loz complained “Ugh! Then how else are we supposed to get way up there?” I replied “Just calm down. We’ll figure something out when we get there. For now, just take it easy.” Sephiroth said “And since we’re going outside of Midgar now, we wont have as much hiding and sneaking about to do. Less people outside know of us than the populace in Midgar, so going about peacefully should be easier. Regardless, I need the three of you to back me up if we have to fight anything off. I cant fight while holding Mother or I could put her in danger.” We nodded in understanding, and then we left the building, ending up outside. I asked “You don’t think we’ll have to break through that barrier again, do you? The Shinra people came after us with haste the last time we did that.” Sephiroth answered “I don’t think that will be necessary, even if they did fix the damage.” Loz seemed confused “Huh?” Sephiroth replied “You’ll see. Just follow my lead for now. I’ll get us outside.” Sephiroth began walking, but I placed my hand on his arm to stop him “Wait, Big Brother… let me lead us outside. It’s safer for Mother that way.” Sephiroth agreed “Very well. I’ll stay with my young siblings and you will lead the way, then.” I then led us back downstairs, and led the entire walk back to the barrier blocking the outside. Realizing I forgot about it, I sighed “Oh, great. Looks like we gotta play wild goose chase again.” Sephiroth said “Don’t worry about that. Hold on.” I stepped away from the barrier, and Sephiroth went in front of me, carefully holding Mother. He shut his eyes and out of nowhere, a large red light appeared and shattered a large hole in the glass, disappearing from sight; all of it happened within seconds, and I felt speechless “Whoa! How did you..?” Mother moaned in her sleep, and Sephiroth answered “I didn’t do that; Mother’s powers did.” Loz was amazed “Wow… so cool…” I smiled and continued leading the way. I remembered all the wreckage in the Shinra HQ we went to, and had a flashback of Mother’s powers breaking the barrier’s glass like it was nothing. Unbelievable… I never knew Mother’s strength was this great. It’s unreal… I thought, feeling speechless. I felt happy at the thought of her waking up, and knew we would win this war for certain when that happened. I laughed and happily led the way in silence, realizing that the enemy was doomed when Mother awakens and regains her strength. I knew without that machine of theirs, they were powerless against her.
To Be Continued…
Tifa came back shortly after Sephiroth and his siblings came, and saw Cloud badly injured, sitting on the floor in a corner. She rushed to him “Cloud, what happened?” He shook his head without speaking. Tifa saw him badly bruised in the face and his stomach appeared to have bleeded heavily “Cloud, who did this to you? Say something.” Cloud wouldn’t look at her but answered “Sephiroth and those kids… they barged in and Sephiroth attacked me. I wanted to fight back and stop him, but I couldn’t… I don’t know why. I just couldn’t do it…” Tifa shook her head slowly “Cloud… so you just let him do whatever he wanted to you? Why?” Cloud replied “I couldn’t help it… I couldn’t move. He just pinned me down with that long sword he carries around and then he beat me when I said he was being a bad example for his siblings. I don’t know why… but I was powerless.” Tifa reminded “Just like when JENOVA landed out there the other time… you couldn’t move then either. But why didn’t he kill you? That surprises me even more.” Cloud answered “I don’t know that, either. But he hurt me badly enough that I cant stand on my own.” Tifa was confused “I don’t get it either, but I’m going to get help. You need some healing.” Cloud nodded slowly “Thanks. You don’t have to do this, you know…” Tifa laughed “I know. But I’m doing it anyway. You know I wont just stand here and watch.” Then she went outside to find someone who could heal him.
Meanwhile, at Shinra Headquarters…
Reno reported to Rufus with a group of Shinra soldiers behind him, and explained “No good. We cant find them anywhere. I’ve been searching for days and havent found a trace of any of em.” Rufus replied “That’s a bit odd, don’t you think? Surely there must be something you missed. People don’t go from place to place completely unseen like that. Especially since our subjects are a violent group. Your orders are not changing; continue the search until you’ve caught all three of them.” Reno grumbled “Ohh fine! I’ll go back out and try again!” He began to turn around and prepare to leave, but Rufus spoke and he stopped “How did they get away from you so easily last time? They are mere children, are they not?” Reno protested “Look, I don’t know either. But the girl just bolted metal wings and her left eye went all crazy, and if we didn’t run we’d be barbecued.” Rufus grew curious “Girl? You never said word there was a girl on their side. Tell me more.” Reno turned back to Rufus and explained “She’s the same person we fought several weeks ago, the same Kadaj—except she’s a girl. I don’t know anymore than that about her.” Rufus shrugged gently “Another larva, but in the form of a young girl… Bring her to me, and take Yazoo and Loz and lock them up. I want the girl thoroughly evaluated so we can learn more of her new prowess. However, I’m afraid I cant praise any of you for failure on a rather simple job. You each fled from mere children thinking your lives were threatened, and I have little choice but to reduce your pay for this.” Reno complained “Aww what? Come on!” Rufus finished “Get out there and find them—all three of them. Don’t let them get away this time. I expect good performance from elites like you, Reno. Stay focused this time.” Then they left to go back to finding Kadaj and her brothers. However, there was a loud crashing sound that seemed to come from downstairs, and the entire area shaked. Reno cried “Whoa, what’s that? Something’s not right.” The Shinra soldiers held their guns up, prepared to shoot anything that came into view, and Reno was glancing around in silence. Rufus also got out of his chair and came out from behind his desk “If this has to do with those three again, prepare for heavy impact.” Reno disagreed “No way! The security system was doubled up after we caught that kid hacking in!” Rufus argued “I don’t think he unlocked the specimen tank upstairs again. In fact, I highly doubt it. I set it so only a Shinra executive can access that and free anything kept inside. Even if Yazoo is far above an average boy’s IQ, even he shouldn’t be able to breach that.”
Downstairs, some ways below where Reno and Rufus were…
JENOVA had broken into the Shinra HQ, and already slaughtered countless employees. Everyone in the room was screaming and scrambling about in panic, desperately trying to avoid being killed by her. JENOVA wielded a large metal stick that looked to be a broken part of an old spacecraft, both ends of it looking as if torn from something. She killed everyone in sight, desperately searching for her lost children. She slashed through another several employees, and threatened another cowering before her “Where are my children?! What have you done with them?!” The woman panicked “I-I don’t know!” JENOVA threatened further “Liar! Confess, or suffer the consequences! The long-haired boy who had silver hair, the one who hacked into Shinra security 10 days ago—where is he?!” The woman screamed “No! Someone, heelp!!” Reno ran towards JENOVA and attacked her from behind. She immediately noticed him and kept her expression hard. Reno said “Leave the employees alone! They have no idea who your kids are.” JENOVA refused to believe him “Hmph! As if! Tell me where my children are, or you’re next!” Reno shook his head “Fine, then we’ll just have to take you out. Not like anything else would work on you.” The Shinra soldiers attacked her, and JENOVA cut through all of them with her metal stick; they died with one strike. Reno backed away fearfully “No way! How did you get so tough?!” JENOVA didn’t respond, and began closing in on him. Reno kept his distance, backing away from her. He ended up running before she had a chance to hit him, and JENOVA flew upward, busting through the ceiling with little effort. Seconds later, Rufus set off the emergency security system, and a computerized voice began to say “Warning. Initiating specimen containment protocols, phase 1. Locking down of the entire facility will begin immediately. If you are currently situated in an affected area, please remain calm.”
(Back to Sephiroth and remnants scenario)
(This part will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) I woke up suddenly, breathing heavily. Sephiroth rushed to me to make sure I was ok “Yazoo, what’s wrong?” I quickly sat up and shook my head “I don’t know, but something is wrong… I think Mother’s in trouble…” Sephiroth asked “What kind of trouble?” I shook my head “Really bad… at Shinra’s HQ… we’ve gotta help her!” Sephiroth shook Loz and Kadaj awake and Kadaj asked “Ungh… what’s going on?” Sephiroth answered “There’s no time to talk about it. We’ve gotta hurry! Now. Follow my lead, I’ll get us there as fast I can.” We all climbed out of bed, and ran behind Sephiroth who was also in a hurry. We went the entire trip in silence, and focused on following Sephiroth in hopes of making it on time. When we arrived outside of the Shinra building, I gasped “Whoa, no way! Look at it!” Sephiroth looked up and followed my gaze. The upper levels looked very ravaged, as if something really powerful had run amok upstairs. The front doors were also destroyed, making it obvious that someone forced their way inside. Kadaj was also shocked “Who could possibly be strong enough to do all this damage?” Sephiroth rubbed the wreckage with his hand and grew fearful “No… no! Mother!” He ran inside without going further. I cried “Wait!” I led us inside after Sephiroth, and glanced around hastily “Oh my goodness… this place is a disaster! What happened here?” It was completely dark, and what little could be seen was nothing but rubble. Whatever went on appeared to be recent. Loz was scared “Oh my god… who did this? Everything’s destroyed! This place is ruined!” Kadaj turned serious “I’ll bet Mother was the one who did it. Think about it… who else could be capable of this kind of destruction?” I understood “Yes, but Mother would only rampage a place if she’s looking for something. So what did they have that she wanted?” Loz was crying “No, its worse… someone bombed this place! What if she didn’t make it out…?” I believed him “That explains why the lights don’t work. Mother must’ve been awfully angry to make a mess like this… Sephiroth, where are you?” No response. It was too dark to see if he was here. I ran around, struggling to make out what was hiding in the darkness. Loz and Kadaj were following my lead. I tried to find stairs, and came to what appeared to be a set of them, but they were ravaged, missing almost half of the flight. Loz asked “Think we can use them? They wont give out on us?” I replied “We don’t have much choice. Let’s try them.” We went up the stairs, and made it to the next floor without them breaking. I gasped at what was in the center of the room: there was a lit-up cell filled with a clear fluid, and Mother was inside of it, motionless. Her eye wasn’t open, either. I shouted “Mother! Are you ok?” We hurried to her, and Sephiroth was beside us. He looked like he was crying “Mother… why did they do this to you..?” Loz was also sad “We’re too late..?” Sephiroth shook his head and lowered his hands, letting go of the cell she was in “I don’t know… I don’t want it to be that way, but… she seems so weak. They must have confined her at the last second and fled before we arrived. The energy readings I felt at her abandoned ship near the cliff were incredibly high, but what I’m getting now is the exact opposite.” I shook my head “Oh no… you arent saying she’s…?” Loz began crying, leaning on the cell “Dang it! Goddang it, stupid Shinra! I hate you, I hate you..! I hate you!! Stupid, stupid company! Why?!!” I had never seen him ball so heavily like this. Kadaj wanted to calm him, but she knew she couldn’t. She shook her head sadly. I realized I was crying too “This is terrible… too terrible…” I sniffled. Kadaj turned serious “No! We cant let them win! Isnt there some way we can help her?” Sephiroth sighed and shook his head “There’s only one way to breathe new life into a powerful being like Mother: great sacrifice. The enemy is already on edge from being attacked by her. They even evacuated their headquarters this time. You three arent strong enough to pull sacrifice jobs yet.” Loz continued weeping but tried to hold it in “No, I’m not letting it end like this..! They’re dead! I’m gonna kill them all..!” He couldn’t hold back his tears. We all grew silent all of a sudden, and heard a man laughing somewhere nearby. I turned around, and saw the same man who caught us the first time we were at Shinra HQ “Not you again… what did you do to Mother?!” The man smiled and shrugged “Ohh, don’t mind me. I didn’t do anything. You can thank President Rufus for setting off the specimen containment protocols, I had nothing to do with that part. But, I did take backup measurements in case she was still alive and happened to pay us a visit… you can thank me for that.” Sephiroth looked really angry “You monster… you poisoned her?!” The man laughed and shook his head “Oh ho ho, far from it. I left a little present in there that allowed her to survive the fatalities the specimen containment protocols were designed to leave her with.” Sephiroth quickly turned back to our still Mother “So she’s alive..? Hojo…” I turned to the man who answered Sephiroth “You saved her? But why did a freak like you want to save Mother?” Sephiroth looked at me “It doesn’t matter why he did it. The important thing is that she’s not dead… for now. But you… if you lay even a finger on Mother, I’ll kill you where you stand. No more experiments.” Sephiroth began feeling around the device, looking for a way to free her. Hojo interrupted him “Oh, I wouldn’t let her out, if I were you. She needs those fluids in order to fully recover. If you free her too early, she will die.” Sephiroth approached him and asked “Tell me what these protocols you described did to her. I need to know.” Hojo answered “Oh, I will answer you on that one. That mechanism means nothing to me, anyway. The specimen containment protocols have a total of 3 phases. By the time they reach phase 3, a powerful device is ejected from the surrounding walls, revealing numerous and rather large blades and needles that are designed to drain the life force of the target. In this case, the device drained JENOVA of almost all her cells, forcing her into sleeping. After the power is drained from the specimen, this same device confines it into a secure cell. Take the one JENOVA is in for example. If not for the JENOVA cells I secretly placed in there, she would have died from that. However, I’m afraid I couldn’t sustain her enough for her to grow a new pair of wings. The device destroyed her original set. I am terribly sorry.” Sephiroth turned away from Hojo “So that’s the machine they were working on… I knew it. Hojo, I want you to heal her for me. So my young Brothers and Sister don’t have to see me sacrificed for her sake… please.” Hojo shrugged “I might as well. Shinra is moving their location somewhere else in the city due to the wreckage her attack caused. I wont have any work until the new location is fully established.” He approached Mother’s cell and examined it. We went to Sephiroth, and Loz asked “Is she gonna be ok?” Sephiroth answered “Let’s hope so… I may not trust the man completely, but he’s our only hope if we want Mother’s life saved. We have to bet on Hojo this time.” I felt suspicious “You don’t think he’ll kill her, do you?” He shook his head “No, I don’t think that’s likely. But him doing the job right is another matter… the man lacks experience.” Kadaj asked “And we’re going to gamble on Mother’s life like that?” Sephiroth sighed “We don’t have a choice. The man was right when he warned us about moving her or getting her out. I don’t like it either, but there’s no alternative this time. We’ll have to hope for the best…” Loz worried “Oh man… I’ll kill him if he messes up! I mean it!” Sephiroth calmed him down, and led us into a corner to sit down. We ended up falling asleep before long, and Sephiroth was sitting in front of us to keep us safe.
The Next Morning…
I woke up first again, and noticed Sephiroth wasn’t nearby. I also saw that Mother was missing from the cell we found her in yesterday. I sighed and stood up, preparing to look for her and Sephiroth “Great. Here we go again. Can humans do anything right? This world is crazy.” I drew my revolver and sneaked away from Kadaj and Loz, hoping to avoid waking either of them. I didn’t want them to get worked up since both Mother and Sephiroth were missing, so I decided to keep my voice down and tread as quietly as possible. The area was still very dark, the cell where Mother was yesterday being the only thing lighting the area besides a few small lights on weird machinery all around. After studying the area carefully, I headed for the stairs. I managed to make it up without them collapsing, and for some reason the floor I found myself on was lit up and seemed unscathed, as though nothing happened here. I looked around, and saw Mother unconscious on some kind of adjustable bed, and Hojo appeared to be doing something on her. Sephiroth wasn’t near him, but I saw him sitting in a corner on the other side of the area, as if trying to hide from Hojo. I guessed he was away from Hojo because he was too nervous to watch him work on Mother. I decided to approach Hojo and asked “Is she gonna be ok..?” Hojo replied but was too busy to look at me “She’s well, but I don’t think she will wake for quite some time. The specimen will be fine, I can assure you that.” I got angry at that and wanted to kick him, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to interfere with what he was doing to help Mother. I decided to speak instead of hitting or kicking him “Don’t talk about Mother like that! Mother’s a she, stupid. She has feelings just like anyone does!” He ignored me, but I wasn’t surprised. After a long silence, Hojo said “Is that how you treat me after I was so kind as to help your Mother survive? Imagine what would have happened if I decided to leave instead of sticking around. What would have become of her then?” I sighed, and shook my head “It’s true I cant be angry with you for saving her life, Hojo… but if she’s that precious to you too, why do you insist on calling her a specimen? Isnt that rude?” Hojo laughed “My oh my, you do know little about my ways as a scientist. And for your information, saying she’s important to me isnt entirely correct. Yes, she is important to you, I can see that. The kind of importance she is to me is a bit different, than what she means to you. To a scientist like myself, JENOVA is an ideal test subject capable of granting me a glorious opportunity concerning experiments. She has the power I seek for my scientific ambitions. That, my dear friend, is how she is important to me. But for you, it’s a more affectionate and emotional type of important.” I wanted to stand here and scream at him for that. But instead, I replied “You idiot… is that all living things mean to you? Just an opportunity for successful experiments, only for your own selfish profit? You’re worse than that blonde guy we saw in New Nibelheim. Even if that is how you really feel, Hojo… It would be wrong of me not to thank you for keeping Mother alive. But that doesn’t mean we’re friends, either, so don’t get any ideas. I don’t like that approach you have. And if you so much as try to capture Mother later on, you’re in for an ugly surprise. The same goes for my Brother Loz and Sister Kadaj. I wont let you get away with hurting Sephiroth, either.” He laughed “As if mere children like you could bring me disaster… even if you are Sephiroth’s younglings, I doubt you are strong enough or smart enough to outrank me. I know all about your Mother and that legacy you and your siblings always talked about, child.” I asked “Always? What do you mean always? Sephiroth, maybe… but us? We’re not even teenagers yet. What are you talking about?” Hojo ignored me “Hmm… so you have forgotten. You’re back, but your memories have died with your older body… interesting.” I sighed and decided to give up. This man just wouldn’t listen to a word I said. I wasn’t even sure if he was making sense anymore. I heard a woman cough, and gasped, snapped out of everything we just discussed. I carefully climbed atop the bed Mother laid in, and looked at her face, hoping to see her open her eye “Mother..? You’re ok..?!” She moaned but wouldn’t open her eye, and she reached for my face, carefully resting her hand on the side of my face. She spoke softly, as if not fully awake “Yazoo, my son… you’re safe… thank goodness…” She stroked my hair, and then her arm fell back to her side. I realized she was alive, and still breathing. I began crying again, but this time out of joy and relief “Mother, you’re ok! Mother..!” I gently hugged her, and she giggled in her sleep. Hojo said “All finished. She will be fine now.” I carefully slipped off the bed, and forced myself to calm down. Sephiroth came up beside me and glanced at our sleeping Mother “Good, she’s breathing again. Is it safe to move or carry her?” Hojo replied “Well, you will have to if you want to take her wherever you and your children are going. I don’t think she will wake up for a bit, though. Tranquilizers.” Sephiroth sighed “Alright, well as long as her life isnt endangered anymore, that’s what matters most to me. I can carry her and keep her safe. But before I do anything else, keep silent about seeing all of us. If you tell even a single soul, you’re done for. And speak nothing of the operations you did on Mother to protect her. I want the enemy to assume she died even though she is still alive.” Hojo shrugged “Very well. What they want with all of you means nothing to me, anyway. I could care less about telling them.” Hojo started to leave, and Sephiroth carefully lifted Mother and carried her in his arms. He turned around to face Hojo “Hojo… thank you. For what you did for Mother.” Hojo laughed “Don’t mention it. I cant let a rare specimen like her perish like that, can I? That would be such a waste.” He laughed and waved at us without turning around, then left, disappearing downstairs. Sephiroth smiled and glanced at Mother, who was sleeping in his arms “At last… our whole family is together. I never thought I’d get to see this day…” I said “Let’s go wake up Kadaj and Loz. I sneaked away without waking them because I didn’t want them to get worked up again.” Sephiroth understood “No problem. I understand your thinking. This place is too ruined for the enemy to use it anymore, so safety shouldn’t be too problematic. But to think they already perfected that machine, and named it specimen containment protocols phase 3… I don’t like that at all. The very fact that they did this, and set it up the way they did, is a sign they were expecting to end up in shambles from being targeted by Mother. The awful thing is much bigger than I imagined, to make it worse. Whatever the machine was, it’s clearly designed to kill instantly. Mother even lost her wings because of the horrid thing.” I agreed “That’s really scary… how did they know she would come?” Sephiroth replied “I cant say they knew, but it’s likely they were preparing for the possibility. If we must infiltrate their new headquarters, we’d better be extra cautious. If we get trapped because of specimen containment protocols, we’re done for. I can only imagine how painful that must’ve been for our beloved Mother… how horrible…” When we got downstairs, Loz and Kadaj were already awake and ran towards us. They both saw Sephiroth holding Mother, and he nodded silently, signalling them that she would be ok. Loz asked “Now what do we do? Find a way to get to the Northern Cave?” Sephiroth replied “Well, those were our previous orders, so I suppose we should find a way there. The biggest problem is, walking there is impossible. We need to cross the ocean to get there. If I still had my wing, that would be easy… but we’ll just have to find a way to steal an airship. There’s no other way to get there. There arent any boats that have a course set for the target location, so making off with an airship is our only choice.” I asked “But what about Mother? It’s too dangerous to fight people off when she’s sleeping like that.” Sephiroth looked elsewhere “You are correct, but the walk to the nearest coast should be long enough that we will be able to tend to our objective by the time we get to where I’m thinking of. After that, it’s a matter of finding a way to climb up… without getting electrocuted. That will be the real challenge… since I don’t have my wing anymore. Hopefully someone left an airship docked at the top… if not, we’ll just have to find another one.” Loz was confused “Aww, what? You mean we cant jump that high?” Kadaj laughed and I shook my head “Of course we cant. What do you think?” Loz complained “Ugh! Then how else are we supposed to get way up there?” I replied “Just calm down. We’ll figure something out when we get there. For now, just take it easy.” Sephiroth said “And since we’re going outside of Midgar now, we wont have as much hiding and sneaking about to do. Less people outside know of us than the populace in Midgar, so going about peacefully should be easier. Regardless, I need the three of you to back me up if we have to fight anything off. I cant fight while holding Mother or I could put her in danger.” We nodded in understanding, and then we left the building, ending up outside. I asked “You don’t think we’ll have to break through that barrier again, do you? The Shinra people came after us with haste the last time we did that.” Sephiroth answered “I don’t think that will be necessary, even if they did fix the damage.” Loz seemed confused “Huh?” Sephiroth replied “You’ll see. Just follow my lead for now. I’ll get us outside.” Sephiroth began walking, but I placed my hand on his arm to stop him “Wait, Big Brother… let me lead us outside. It’s safer for Mother that way.” Sephiroth agreed “Very well. I’ll stay with my young siblings and you will lead the way, then.” I then led us back downstairs, and led the entire walk back to the barrier blocking the outside. Realizing I forgot about it, I sighed “Oh, great. Looks like we gotta play wild goose chase again.” Sephiroth said “Don’t worry about that. Hold on.” I stepped away from the barrier, and Sephiroth went in front of me, carefully holding Mother. He shut his eyes and out of nowhere, a large red light appeared and shattered a large hole in the glass, disappearing from sight; all of it happened within seconds, and I felt speechless “Whoa! How did you..?” Mother moaned in her sleep, and Sephiroth answered “I didn’t do that; Mother’s powers did.” Loz was amazed “Wow… so cool…” I smiled and continued leading the way. I remembered all the wreckage in the Shinra HQ we went to, and had a flashback of Mother’s powers breaking the barrier’s glass like it was nothing. Unbelievable… I never knew Mother’s strength was this great. It’s unreal… I thought, feeling speechless. I felt happy at the thought of her waking up, and knew we would win this war for certain when that happened. I laughed and happily led the way in silence, realizing that the enemy was doomed when Mother awakens and regains her strength. I knew without that machine of theirs, they were powerless against her.
To Be Continued…
