Previously...
Cloud had managed to pass stage 1 of what my brothers and i decided to call Mother's Trials, which both Yazoo and Loz were very surprised about. However, when Yazoo had glanced where that mysterious mark once was and saw it gone, i had a feeling he did not approve of Cloud despite him doing me no harm. Yazoo was my closest brother ever since my early years before Cloud had killed both him and Brother Loz. Regardless though, i led us back to territory like normal and spoke nothing of my suspicions here. The three of us preparing to report to Mother with Cloud also with us, we continued our day like normal and focused on the mission Mother assigned us for the time being.
Chapter 8: Mother's Jewel
After arriving back to territory, all of us made way for the top level to meet up with Mother for the report. Once we reached her, i had immediately noticed she glanced at me in surprise, noticing my form had changed. After what felt like five minutes, she said "Sephie, or... Kadaj--who freed you?" She was clearly very surprised at this. We all stood silent for several minutes, not sure what to say since we all knew the answer to that question. After some time of silence, i saw Cloud slowly step forward in front of us three and stand in silence. Using my powers, i tapped into his head and said if you fear Mother, you wont earn her trust. He had seemed to feel my input, and i watched him look up towards Mother and he said "I did it... I freed her..." Mother gazed at him in surprise, but i could see she knew it was true. You cant tell lies to Mother without being caught for it; she can always see through lies and attempted deceit which has always been reassuring to me and my brothers. Shortly after, i saw her smile at him and she giggled briefly. I couldn't help but resonate with her and smile myself. I also noticed Yazoo and Loz smiled too. Mother then spoke and said "Thats not something you see every day in my family... To free my youngest child of all the scars and abuse she suffered for many years within just a few days--that takes serious skill. Skill that few if any others on this planet have for certain...." Yazoo then said "But what skill is that, Mother?" She had gently shut her eye briefly and said "Its something rather difficult to describe with human words, but the best way to say it is a big heart... I cant believe im saying that, especially since he was a traitor for many, many years to us..." I heard Cloud moan as though he felt discouraged and saw him turn around to my direction. He had been looking downwards, clearly feeling very guilty since he knew what Mother was talking about. Yazoo grew angry and slapped Cloud in the face. Cloud immediately turned to his attention, and Yazoo said "Don't turn your back on Mother! Show some respect!" Cloud immediately obeyed and turned back to Mother and said "Im sorry..." Mother then said "I cant confirm how pure at heart you are at this point, Cloud... However, if you earned enough of Kadaj's trust or even her affection to free her like you did, you may be whats needed for her to awaken my jewel and finish the mission..." Cloud then replied as though confused "Your jewel? Whats that?" Mother then said "My jewel, or what Shinra Conpany called JENOVA's Diamond, is a very powerful gift i had left young Kadaj with at birth in hopes she could use it to activate the Infinite Reunion... If she were to awaken it and learn how to use its power effectively, she could carry my stone tablet and fly above the planet and use its power to trigger my stone tablet which would successfully activate the Infinite Reunion. In order for this to work however, she will need a very powerful bond with another bearer of my cells..." Then Yazoo said "Wait, so youre saying Cloud might be capable of earning her love?" Mother nodded gently and said "Correct, my son." Then Loz said "But how does that awaken your jewel, Mother?" Mother then said "a powerful and pure bond with another bearer of my cells is required for her to awaken it. The love must be on both sides--she must love the other person and the other person must also love her in return, the intentions on both sides must be strong and pure or it will not awaken and be activated." I could feel Yazoo not liking the idea of Cloud being the one to do what Mother spoke of here. Even though he tried to hide it physically, i could sense he did not trust Cloud at all and thought he would once again betray Mother and try to kill each of us again so we would have to start all over again. But if that was really true, Mother wouldve exiled him again right here. You cant lie to our Mother. After a while Yazoo said "But we still need Big Brother to activate the Infinite Reunion, right Mother?" Mother replied and said "If Kadaj fully awakens my jewel and flies high enough above this planet to reach the lifestream, it is still possible for her to activate the Infinite Reunion. Even though Sephiroth is not in physical form, his energy remains in the lifestream which is why the activation is still possible by doing this. The biggest problem with this is the immense amount of energy that lies there which could possibly kill young Kadaj if she doesn't act quickly enough performing the activation... Even though she has a much higher dominance of my cells than you and Loz combined, the energy in the lifestream is exceptionally dangerous to her since too much of it outweighs her JENOVA cells... and if it destroys all of hers, you all know what that means." We all stood in silent disbelief, and i noticed Cloud stared straight ahead and he said "Kadaj..." I sensed he felt very troubled. Yazoo seemed very sad hearing all of this and said "Is there any way to give her more time if she did that so she doesn't die as easily?" Mother then seemed sad also, and she closed her eye and said "There... is not..." I saw tears fall from Mother's eye as she said that. Yazoo then said with worry "No... Im not losing Little Sister like that! I cant! There must be another way.... There has to be!" Mother then said "I wish there was, but the only thing that would give her a considerable amount of time here is a massive infection of Geostigma in the entire lifestream itself. That would ultimately make this quite a cinch, but that is extremely difficult to cause without Sephiroth's help.... Only he has enough of my cells to make that happen." We all stood in silence, each of us feeling rather discouraged by all of this. Suddenly, i heard Cloud say with pure confidence "Then we'll need him to do all of this. Lets find a way to bring him back!" My brothers shouted out in shock, and i also felt surprised. I turned back to Mother, and she also seemed surprised by his burst of confidence. But she quickly grew happy and smiled, then said "Wow, arent you something? You have no idea how to revive my oldest son, yet you insist we do it?" Cloud seemed a bit unsure, worried he said something he shouldn't have. Mother giggled and gazed at him with a powerful smile then said "I like that! I never would've expected you to step up like that here... but you still did. Let me see you..." Cloud then said "What do you mean..?" I watched Mother change form a bit as she penetrated the glass of her resting place and gently land directly in front of Cloud. She smiled directly at him, then said "This is what i mean, my child." Mother giggled, then pushed her first two fingers against Cloud's forehead and looked directly into his eye. Cloud didn't make any attempt to resist, but stood very still and seemed to look Mother directly into her red eye. Her eye gave off a powerful red flash which seemed to fill the entire room. Even though none of us could see for a while, i heard Yazoo say "What are you doing?!" He seemed a bit nervous. After some time had passed, everything slowly returned to normal and the flash Mother's eye made vanished. It took me a while to make out the surroundings since the flash was extremely bright and a bit blinding. Once my vision returned to normal, i looked elsewhere trying to see Mother and Cloud Strife. I easily spotted Mother, and noticed what i thought was Cloud still in front of her but looked so different i wasnt so sure. I felt very confused now as to what had just happened. I approached Mother and said "What just happened, Mother?" She turned to me and smiled, then said "You have a new brother, Kadaj... Thats what happened." Then i paused and said "But how? And where is Cloud Strife?" Mother kept smiling and gestured to someone next to her. I followed her signal and found myself gazing at someone with silver hair just like me and brothers had who was dressed in black just like us. I also noticed he had the same sword as Cloud did. He turned to face me and i quickly noticed his eyes were exactly like mine and my brothers--green and cat-like. He smiled at me in a way that was extremely familiar in a strange way. I tried to think about who else in Mother's family smiled like that. Before long, i found myself seeing Big Brother in my mind smiling in the exact same way. But even so, there was no way this guy was him. He had the same traits all of Mother's children did: silver hair and green cat like eyes. But it still wasnt him which i knew. Then i said "Cloud?" He nodded and said "Yeah, it's me." Again he seemed strangely familiar: he spoke with the same tone that Big Brother always did. Of course, his voice wasnt exactly the same but it was so much like it. Yazoo then said "You made him one of us, didn't you Mother?" Mother then said "I sure did, my children. I think he also needs a more suitable name, dont you, my children?" We each nodded in agreement. Mother then said "I think so too. I will name him Sulbio." I glanced at him and carefully studied his appearance, and then nodded in agreement and said "Its perfect for him!" Then i heard Loz say "Youre sure he wont betray us again, right Mother?" Sulbio grew angry and drew his sword, lashing out against Loz with his sword inches from him and yelled "What did you say?!" Yazoo backed away and said with shock "Whoa... This guy's hard--harder than all three of us... I dont think we have to worry about that, Loz..." Loz appeared ready to defend himself and said "Clearly... He already answered that question..." Mother then said "Even though he is purely strong in me now, he's still got a mind of his own, my children.... Im sensing he wont be an easy one, either. But don't worry, i know you all can cooperate just fine." Mother smiled and giggled, and i heard Yazoo and Loz groan in exasperation. I also knew Mother was right. But at least we had a mahor threat out of the way now...
To be continued....
Cloud had managed to pass stage 1 of what my brothers and i decided to call Mother's Trials, which both Yazoo and Loz were very surprised about. However, when Yazoo had glanced where that mysterious mark once was and saw it gone, i had a feeling he did not approve of Cloud despite him doing me no harm. Yazoo was my closest brother ever since my early years before Cloud had killed both him and Brother Loz. Regardless though, i led us back to territory like normal and spoke nothing of my suspicions here. The three of us preparing to report to Mother with Cloud also with us, we continued our day like normal and focused on the mission Mother assigned us for the time being.
Chapter 8: Mother's Jewel
After arriving back to territory, all of us made way for the top level to meet up with Mother for the report. Once we reached her, i had immediately noticed she glanced at me in surprise, noticing my form had changed. After what felt like five minutes, she said "Sephie, or... Kadaj--who freed you?" She was clearly very surprised at this. We all stood silent for several minutes, not sure what to say since we all knew the answer to that question. After some time of silence, i saw Cloud slowly step forward in front of us three and stand in silence. Using my powers, i tapped into his head and said if you fear Mother, you wont earn her trust. He had seemed to feel my input, and i watched him look up towards Mother and he said "I did it... I freed her..." Mother gazed at him in surprise, but i could see she knew it was true. You cant tell lies to Mother without being caught for it; she can always see through lies and attempted deceit which has always been reassuring to me and my brothers. Shortly after, i saw her smile at him and she giggled briefly. I couldn't help but resonate with her and smile myself. I also noticed Yazoo and Loz smiled too. Mother then spoke and said "Thats not something you see every day in my family... To free my youngest child of all the scars and abuse she suffered for many years within just a few days--that takes serious skill. Skill that few if any others on this planet have for certain...." Yazoo then said "But what skill is that, Mother?" She had gently shut her eye briefly and said "Its something rather difficult to describe with human words, but the best way to say it is a big heart... I cant believe im saying that, especially since he was a traitor for many, many years to us..." I heard Cloud moan as though he felt discouraged and saw him turn around to my direction. He had been looking downwards, clearly feeling very guilty since he knew what Mother was talking about. Yazoo grew angry and slapped Cloud in the face. Cloud immediately turned to his attention, and Yazoo said "Don't turn your back on Mother! Show some respect!" Cloud immediately obeyed and turned back to Mother and said "Im sorry..." Mother then said "I cant confirm how pure at heart you are at this point, Cloud... However, if you earned enough of Kadaj's trust or even her affection to free her like you did, you may be whats needed for her to awaken my jewel and finish the mission..." Cloud then replied as though confused "Your jewel? Whats that?" Mother then said "My jewel, or what Shinra Conpany called JENOVA's Diamond, is a very powerful gift i had left young Kadaj with at birth in hopes she could use it to activate the Infinite Reunion... If she were to awaken it and learn how to use its power effectively, she could carry my stone tablet and fly above the planet and use its power to trigger my stone tablet which would successfully activate the Infinite Reunion. In order for this to work however, she will need a very powerful bond with another bearer of my cells..." Then Yazoo said "Wait, so youre saying Cloud might be capable of earning her love?" Mother nodded gently and said "Correct, my son." Then Loz said "But how does that awaken your jewel, Mother?" Mother then said "a powerful and pure bond with another bearer of my cells is required for her to awaken it. The love must be on both sides--she must love the other person and the other person must also love her in return, the intentions on both sides must be strong and pure or it will not awaken and be activated." I could feel Yazoo not liking the idea of Cloud being the one to do what Mother spoke of here. Even though he tried to hide it physically, i could sense he did not trust Cloud at all and thought he would once again betray Mother and try to kill each of us again so we would have to start all over again. But if that was really true, Mother wouldve exiled him again right here. You cant lie to our Mother. After a while Yazoo said "But we still need Big Brother to activate the Infinite Reunion, right Mother?" Mother replied and said "If Kadaj fully awakens my jewel and flies high enough above this planet to reach the lifestream, it is still possible for her to activate the Infinite Reunion. Even though Sephiroth is not in physical form, his energy remains in the lifestream which is why the activation is still possible by doing this. The biggest problem with this is the immense amount of energy that lies there which could possibly kill young Kadaj if she doesn't act quickly enough performing the activation... Even though she has a much higher dominance of my cells than you and Loz combined, the energy in the lifestream is exceptionally dangerous to her since too much of it outweighs her JENOVA cells... and if it destroys all of hers, you all know what that means." We all stood in silent disbelief, and i noticed Cloud stared straight ahead and he said "Kadaj..." I sensed he felt very troubled. Yazoo seemed very sad hearing all of this and said "Is there any way to give her more time if she did that so she doesn't die as easily?" Mother then seemed sad also, and she closed her eye and said "There... is not..." I saw tears fall from Mother's eye as she said that. Yazoo then said with worry "No... Im not losing Little Sister like that! I cant! There must be another way.... There has to be!" Mother then said "I wish there was, but the only thing that would give her a considerable amount of time here is a massive infection of Geostigma in the entire lifestream itself. That would ultimately make this quite a cinch, but that is extremely difficult to cause without Sephiroth's help.... Only he has enough of my cells to make that happen." We all stood in silence, each of us feeling rather discouraged by all of this. Suddenly, i heard Cloud say with pure confidence "Then we'll need him to do all of this. Lets find a way to bring him back!" My brothers shouted out in shock, and i also felt surprised. I turned back to Mother, and she also seemed surprised by his burst of confidence. But she quickly grew happy and smiled, then said "Wow, arent you something? You have no idea how to revive my oldest son, yet you insist we do it?" Cloud seemed a bit unsure, worried he said something he shouldn't have. Mother giggled and gazed at him with a powerful smile then said "I like that! I never would've expected you to step up like that here... but you still did. Let me see you..." Cloud then said "What do you mean..?" I watched Mother change form a bit as she penetrated the glass of her resting place and gently land directly in front of Cloud. She smiled directly at him, then said "This is what i mean, my child." Mother giggled, then pushed her first two fingers against Cloud's forehead and looked directly into his eye. Cloud didn't make any attempt to resist, but stood very still and seemed to look Mother directly into her red eye. Her eye gave off a powerful red flash which seemed to fill the entire room. Even though none of us could see for a while, i heard Yazoo say "What are you doing?!" He seemed a bit nervous. After some time had passed, everything slowly returned to normal and the flash Mother's eye made vanished. It took me a while to make out the surroundings since the flash was extremely bright and a bit blinding. Once my vision returned to normal, i looked elsewhere trying to see Mother and Cloud Strife. I easily spotted Mother, and noticed what i thought was Cloud still in front of her but looked so different i wasnt so sure. I felt very confused now as to what had just happened. I approached Mother and said "What just happened, Mother?" She turned to me and smiled, then said "You have a new brother, Kadaj... Thats what happened." Then i paused and said "But how? And where is Cloud Strife?" Mother kept smiling and gestured to someone next to her. I followed her signal and found myself gazing at someone with silver hair just like me and brothers had who was dressed in black just like us. I also noticed he had the same sword as Cloud did. He turned to face me and i quickly noticed his eyes were exactly like mine and my brothers--green and cat-like. He smiled at me in a way that was extremely familiar in a strange way. I tried to think about who else in Mother's family smiled like that. Before long, i found myself seeing Big Brother in my mind smiling in the exact same way. But even so, there was no way this guy was him. He had the same traits all of Mother's children did: silver hair and green cat like eyes. But it still wasnt him which i knew. Then i said "Cloud?" He nodded and said "Yeah, it's me." Again he seemed strangely familiar: he spoke with the same tone that Big Brother always did. Of course, his voice wasnt exactly the same but it was so much like it. Yazoo then said "You made him one of us, didn't you Mother?" Mother then said "I sure did, my children. I think he also needs a more suitable name, dont you, my children?" We each nodded in agreement. Mother then said "I think so too. I will name him Sulbio." I glanced at him and carefully studied his appearance, and then nodded in agreement and said "Its perfect for him!" Then i heard Loz say "Youre sure he wont betray us again, right Mother?" Sulbio grew angry and drew his sword, lashing out against Loz with his sword inches from him and yelled "What did you say?!" Yazoo backed away and said with shock "Whoa... This guy's hard--harder than all three of us... I dont think we have to worry about that, Loz..." Loz appeared ready to defend himself and said "Clearly... He already answered that question..." Mother then said "Even though he is purely strong in me now, he's still got a mind of his own, my children.... Im sensing he wont be an easy one, either. But don't worry, i know you all can cooperate just fine." Mother smiled and giggled, and i heard Yazoo and Loz groan in exasperation. I also knew Mother was right. But at least we had a mahor threat out of the way now...
To be continued....
