Chapter 15: Broken Boundaries
(This section will focus on Aeris as the speaker) I returned to my palace inside the JENOVA Lifestream to oversee the activities and events in JENOVA's Kingdom. The positive news was that Cloud was doing his best to start anew with the children of JENOVA, but the bad news was they continued to lack trust in him, only showing any hint of trust during combat or an important mission. But what I had discovered today was far worse than that: the Divine Vortex, often called the cell vortex, was active. For countless years after my awakening in this place, it hadn't existed or been triggered in any way. But after the recent downfall of Shinra during the previous war, an unusual distortion took place in the JENOVA Lifestream, giving birth to the Divine Vortex. Both me and JENOVA had worried for young Master Sephiroth during that war since we knew Rufus was targeting him and focusing the heat of the fight on him as much as he could. Rufus knew Sephiroth was the biggest threat to his agenda and that was why he was set on him at the time, and used Sephiroth's feelings as a weapon in order to generate the necessary energies for bringing the Shinra Company itself back into physical form and existence. Fortunately, Loz broke in and rescued him, but Sephiroth was in bad shape when he was freed from the terrible machines that were used to torture him. He ended up surviving, but the energies that were generated from this horrid experiment that Rufus did were so great, it also awakened the Divine Vortex later on. Shinra was once again defeated, but at the present we have a much greater threat among the legacy. And the only person who can stop it this time... is Cloud. The Divine Vortex has complete immunity to damage caused by the powers of JENOVA cells. Only the life energy of a human has any potential to obliterate it. As I gazed at the images of the vortex, I felt myself beginning to worry for the fate of JENOVA Kingdom "No... it can't be..! JENOVA SOLDIER is no match for this thing! Even Sephiroth can't do anything..." I felt a signal in my mind that seemed to be JENOVA "Aeris, can you hear me?" I answered "Loud and clear, your Majesty." JENOVA explained "I need you to keep strong eyes on Cloud. Keep him out of trouble and guide him as much as you can. Due to the current situation we are facing, I cannot have him killed. If he dies, my Planet is out of hope. Something has aroused the Divine Vortex, and I expect you know all about it." I agreed "I do, your Majesty. But at the rate things are going, we may not have enough time to stop it. He is the only one who can do any damage to it... except Hojo. But Hojo isn't equipped with any combat abilities, which leaves Cloud as our best option. We don't have enough time to battle train Hojo..." JENOVA sighed "You're right. Even if we did have to battle train him, I doubt he would cooperate. That man has a one-track mind, you know that, Aeris." I nodded "I know, but we don't have any others with enough scientific ability to run the foundation... we will just have to deal with him appropriately. Back to Cloud though, Kadaj and her Brothers don't trust him at all... I've been watching them every step, and there's no sign of trust between Cloud and Kadaj's gang... they're still too far apart psychologically." JENOVA added "Can't say I'm surprised... the incident at Meteor Monument when Yazoo and Loz were raising her scarred them all. It's impossible to easily recover from such a tragedy. Cloud himself probably knows this, but being as stubborn as he is, he rarely shows the understanding... And since this Kadaj is of an elevated generation of remnant cetra, her emotional weakness is also expected..." I was confused "Elevated generation? What do you mean?" JENOVA explained "During the birth of the three remnants, I had to perform more thorough editing on Kadaj in order to keep from drawing excess attention of the enemy. As you know, the original Kadaj was similar in appearance as her. However, I had to change the original during this rebirth in order to protect my three younglings here. The enemy Shinra authorities already knew well about him, along with Yazoo and Loz, but he was the most notable of my three to the enemy, and the greatest threat to them at the time. To keep things from being too predictable, I had to make changes to him that the enemy would be less likely to anticipate. Since reducing his power was too risky, I decided to make this one a woman packed with more combat abilities and changed the reunion rate as well. By altering the course of Kadaj's reunion rate, I changed the process of her becoming a female twin to Sephiroth. So instead of needing external remains, she would transform slowly over time. This threw the enemy's guard off, as many of them denied her being the same Kadaj that was in Shinra before, and in addition, they had no recon on her abilities or powers. This gave her and her Brothers more time to finish the mission, and made it easier for her to evade premature death. Her overall potential at the current time is on a much greater scale than the original's was. Of course, by giving her great combat abilities, I ended up reducing her emotional stability. This especially contributed to her hatred for Cloud and all of his friends. In simpler terms, elevated generation means she's on a much greater level in overall power. Kadaj is a second generation remnant cetra, while Sephiroth is final generation, packed with powerful combat abilities and intense self-control. Self-control is where Kadaj is more lacking, but her emotion can also be one of her greatest weapons in battle, acting as a powerful motive that can bring her powers to a whole new level. Though she may be weak emotionally in some cases, she is unstoppable during a fight." I understood now "So that's why she transforms so much... but anyway, how are we supposed to bring the vortex down at this rate? We can't just sit down and watch when the boundary between this Planet and the Reverse World has been broken apart. Whats more, the Reunion Prince has been forced into this world and out of his true home. If he tries to go back, he will get sealed between the boundary and locked away forever!" JENOVA seemed concerned "So that was him... If he doesn't go back to the Reverse World where he belongs, the Divine Vortex could swallow up my entire kingdom. The Reunion Prince has a crucial role in the Reverse World. The Reverse World is the dark side of this one, a place with no light from anything but the countless stars of the cosmos, and is necessary for sustaining the life of my Planet. The Reunion Prince is the overlord of the Reverse World, and his duty is to keep my Infinite Reunion in check and keep my lifestream strong and vibrant. But if he is pulled out of his world by the vortex, and he doesn't return on time..." I felt heavy fear rush through me "Oh no... you don't mean..?" JENOVA finished "Yes... we will all die and be forced into oblivion. Even me." I panicked "No, your Majesty! There must be some way we can get him back!" JENOVA drifted "We can, if only Cloud learned how to use his new power..." then I heard static and her voice faded "Ohh, no! I can't have her breaking up at a time like this..." I turned away from my screens and took some steps elsewhere "I have to intervene and return to JENOVA Kingdom. Fortunately I was granted the power to travel from the JENOVA Lifestream to the kingdom during JENOVA's previous revival. If I couldn't, I'd be stuck here no matter what."
Meanwhile, at the Forgotten City...
(This section will focus on Cloud as the speaker) After we finally finished cleaning up the monument, I decided to go back to the Forgotten City with Kadaj and Yazoo. Loz had gone somewhere else with Tifa, and it was just us and Seffi at the time "That was crazy... what a mess. I'm tired." Seffi yawned "Me too... I wanna go to bed..." Kadaj sighed "You sure don't hesitate to complain, do you Brother?" I decided to ignore her. I didn't feel like bickering with her. Yazoo added "It figures someone stubborn like him would dare complain about fixing something so sacred. That's very rude of you, Brother. I am only letting you off because you helped us clean up. Next time you won't have such leniency." I grumbled "Geeze, just put me down some more, why don't you. Do you have anything better to do with your time?" Kadaj drew closer to me and pulled her souba "How is the way we're acting any different than the way you've been? You've been refusing to help as much as you possibly can, so shut up!" Yazoo grabbed her arm "Don't attack him. I get why you're frustrated, Sister, but you know we aren't supposed to kill him without permission." She obeyed and sheathed her souba reluctantly. Yazoo approached me "Cloud, please listen to me this once. Kadaj is our boss and the lead of JENOVA SOLDIER. She has a lot of work on her hands as the leader of our guard, so please stand down and at least try to cooperate. She does everything she can to keep me, Loz, Mother AND Sephiroth happy, so I ask that you show more respect." I grumbled again. I couldn't get over that they refused to see how they've been being difficult for me, but would only acknowledge how I've been difficult. It was beginning to make me angry. I have had enough of that. Seffi noticed my anger and seemed worried "Cloud, are you ok?" I shook my head, feeling discouraged "Not really, but I'll just have to get over it. I don't have much other choice." I started to walk away and got ready to leave, but Seffi flew in front of me and blocked my way "No! Don't go away... please." He seemed desperate, and I agreed "Ah, alright... I'll stay a bit longer, if it means that much to you." Yazoo came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder "Hey, Cloud... you're awfully good with kids, aren't you?" I turned to him and shrugged "I guess I am... why do you ask?" He shrugged "I don't know, but when you're around the little ones in our kingdom, they always seem so happy... I wondered what your secret is. Especially if the Reunion Prince took a shine to you so easily." I shook my head "I don't really have a secret, honestly. But, maybe it's my past in Shinra with those two that made it easy for me to make children happy..." I suddenly remembered something "Oh no, I forgot! That place that Hojo's dimensional device sent me to! I have to go now!" I turned and ran without speaking further, picking up Seffi on my way. He seemed worried "Cloud, what's wrong?" I answered "I don't know, but I have to ask JENOVA about something. Its very important to me!" All I could feel now was panic, and I couldn't control it; all I could think about was the moment I appeared in that strange world, where I saw a child open her eyes, one of them like JENOVA's, the other an empty black. I remembered my scurrying to Tifa's house, before I transformed from getting too scared and temporarily took form of one of JENOVA's children. I heard Yazoo shout something from behind me, but he was too far away for me to hear his words clearly. Seffi cried "Cloud, your forehead--the stigma!" I realized what he was talking about and stopped, trying to force myself to calm down. I was gasping for air, and it felt impossible to relax completely "But.. I have to go back to that world... I have to help my friends and tell them everything I saw, and those two..!" My body began wracking with pain, and I was out of time to stop the process. I fell down, unable to get up from the intense pain. Seffi cried out in worry when I began screaming and fell down. My vision flickered in and out several times, and then sometime later the pain lightened up, and my vision went back to normal. I heard JENOVA's voice in my head "Control, Cloud--you must learn to control, or you will never stop suffering." I managed to get up, and realized I turned into one of JENOVA's children again "Not again..." Seffi went in front of me "Cloud, are you ok? You changed somehow." I nodded and took the boy into my arms "I think so... but that hurts really bad. Why did she have to make it so painful..? My muscles are a little weak, but I think I can still walk. Let's get out of here so I can find out about the place I saw during Hojo's dimension experiment." Seffi nodded silently, and I focused on finding JENOVA to get the answers about what I saw out there.
To be Continued...
(This section will focus on Aeris as the speaker) I returned to my palace inside the JENOVA Lifestream to oversee the activities and events in JENOVA's Kingdom. The positive news was that Cloud was doing his best to start anew with the children of JENOVA, but the bad news was they continued to lack trust in him, only showing any hint of trust during combat or an important mission. But what I had discovered today was far worse than that: the Divine Vortex, often called the cell vortex, was active. For countless years after my awakening in this place, it hadn't existed or been triggered in any way. But after the recent downfall of Shinra during the previous war, an unusual distortion took place in the JENOVA Lifestream, giving birth to the Divine Vortex. Both me and JENOVA had worried for young Master Sephiroth during that war since we knew Rufus was targeting him and focusing the heat of the fight on him as much as he could. Rufus knew Sephiroth was the biggest threat to his agenda and that was why he was set on him at the time, and used Sephiroth's feelings as a weapon in order to generate the necessary energies for bringing the Shinra Company itself back into physical form and existence. Fortunately, Loz broke in and rescued him, but Sephiroth was in bad shape when he was freed from the terrible machines that were used to torture him. He ended up surviving, but the energies that were generated from this horrid experiment that Rufus did were so great, it also awakened the Divine Vortex later on. Shinra was once again defeated, but at the present we have a much greater threat among the legacy. And the only person who can stop it this time... is Cloud. The Divine Vortex has complete immunity to damage caused by the powers of JENOVA cells. Only the life energy of a human has any potential to obliterate it. As I gazed at the images of the vortex, I felt myself beginning to worry for the fate of JENOVA Kingdom "No... it can't be..! JENOVA SOLDIER is no match for this thing! Even Sephiroth can't do anything..." I felt a signal in my mind that seemed to be JENOVA "Aeris, can you hear me?" I answered "Loud and clear, your Majesty." JENOVA explained "I need you to keep strong eyes on Cloud. Keep him out of trouble and guide him as much as you can. Due to the current situation we are facing, I cannot have him killed. If he dies, my Planet is out of hope. Something has aroused the Divine Vortex, and I expect you know all about it." I agreed "I do, your Majesty. But at the rate things are going, we may not have enough time to stop it. He is the only one who can do any damage to it... except Hojo. But Hojo isn't equipped with any combat abilities, which leaves Cloud as our best option. We don't have enough time to battle train Hojo..." JENOVA sighed "You're right. Even if we did have to battle train him, I doubt he would cooperate. That man has a one-track mind, you know that, Aeris." I nodded "I know, but we don't have any others with enough scientific ability to run the foundation... we will just have to deal with him appropriately. Back to Cloud though, Kadaj and her Brothers don't trust him at all... I've been watching them every step, and there's no sign of trust between Cloud and Kadaj's gang... they're still too far apart psychologically." JENOVA added "Can't say I'm surprised... the incident at Meteor Monument when Yazoo and Loz were raising her scarred them all. It's impossible to easily recover from such a tragedy. Cloud himself probably knows this, but being as stubborn as he is, he rarely shows the understanding... And since this Kadaj is of an elevated generation of remnant cetra, her emotional weakness is also expected..." I was confused "Elevated generation? What do you mean?" JENOVA explained "During the birth of the three remnants, I had to perform more thorough editing on Kadaj in order to keep from drawing excess attention of the enemy. As you know, the original Kadaj was similar in appearance as her. However, I had to change the original during this rebirth in order to protect my three younglings here. The enemy Shinra authorities already knew well about him, along with Yazoo and Loz, but he was the most notable of my three to the enemy, and the greatest threat to them at the time. To keep things from being too predictable, I had to make changes to him that the enemy would be less likely to anticipate. Since reducing his power was too risky, I decided to make this one a woman packed with more combat abilities and changed the reunion rate as well. By altering the course of Kadaj's reunion rate, I changed the process of her becoming a female twin to Sephiroth. So instead of needing external remains, she would transform slowly over time. This threw the enemy's guard off, as many of them denied her being the same Kadaj that was in Shinra before, and in addition, they had no recon on her abilities or powers. This gave her and her Brothers more time to finish the mission, and made it easier for her to evade premature death. Her overall potential at the current time is on a much greater scale than the original's was. Of course, by giving her great combat abilities, I ended up reducing her emotional stability. This especially contributed to her hatred for Cloud and all of his friends. In simpler terms, elevated generation means she's on a much greater level in overall power. Kadaj is a second generation remnant cetra, while Sephiroth is final generation, packed with powerful combat abilities and intense self-control. Self-control is where Kadaj is more lacking, but her emotion can also be one of her greatest weapons in battle, acting as a powerful motive that can bring her powers to a whole new level. Though she may be weak emotionally in some cases, she is unstoppable during a fight." I understood now "So that's why she transforms so much... but anyway, how are we supposed to bring the vortex down at this rate? We can't just sit down and watch when the boundary between this Planet and the Reverse World has been broken apart. Whats more, the Reunion Prince has been forced into this world and out of his true home. If he tries to go back, he will get sealed between the boundary and locked away forever!" JENOVA seemed concerned "So that was him... If he doesn't go back to the Reverse World where he belongs, the Divine Vortex could swallow up my entire kingdom. The Reunion Prince has a crucial role in the Reverse World. The Reverse World is the dark side of this one, a place with no light from anything but the countless stars of the cosmos, and is necessary for sustaining the life of my Planet. The Reunion Prince is the overlord of the Reverse World, and his duty is to keep my Infinite Reunion in check and keep my lifestream strong and vibrant. But if he is pulled out of his world by the vortex, and he doesn't return on time..." I felt heavy fear rush through me "Oh no... you don't mean..?" JENOVA finished "Yes... we will all die and be forced into oblivion. Even me." I panicked "No, your Majesty! There must be some way we can get him back!" JENOVA drifted "We can, if only Cloud learned how to use his new power..." then I heard static and her voice faded "Ohh, no! I can't have her breaking up at a time like this..." I turned away from my screens and took some steps elsewhere "I have to intervene and return to JENOVA Kingdom. Fortunately I was granted the power to travel from the JENOVA Lifestream to the kingdom during JENOVA's previous revival. If I couldn't, I'd be stuck here no matter what."
Meanwhile, at the Forgotten City...
(This section will focus on Cloud as the speaker) After we finally finished cleaning up the monument, I decided to go back to the Forgotten City with Kadaj and Yazoo. Loz had gone somewhere else with Tifa, and it was just us and Seffi at the time "That was crazy... what a mess. I'm tired." Seffi yawned "Me too... I wanna go to bed..." Kadaj sighed "You sure don't hesitate to complain, do you Brother?" I decided to ignore her. I didn't feel like bickering with her. Yazoo added "It figures someone stubborn like him would dare complain about fixing something so sacred. That's very rude of you, Brother. I am only letting you off because you helped us clean up. Next time you won't have such leniency." I grumbled "Geeze, just put me down some more, why don't you. Do you have anything better to do with your time?" Kadaj drew closer to me and pulled her souba "How is the way we're acting any different than the way you've been? You've been refusing to help as much as you possibly can, so shut up!" Yazoo grabbed her arm "Don't attack him. I get why you're frustrated, Sister, but you know we aren't supposed to kill him without permission." She obeyed and sheathed her souba reluctantly. Yazoo approached me "Cloud, please listen to me this once. Kadaj is our boss and the lead of JENOVA SOLDIER. She has a lot of work on her hands as the leader of our guard, so please stand down and at least try to cooperate. She does everything she can to keep me, Loz, Mother AND Sephiroth happy, so I ask that you show more respect." I grumbled again. I couldn't get over that they refused to see how they've been being difficult for me, but would only acknowledge how I've been difficult. It was beginning to make me angry. I have had enough of that. Seffi noticed my anger and seemed worried "Cloud, are you ok?" I shook my head, feeling discouraged "Not really, but I'll just have to get over it. I don't have much other choice." I started to walk away and got ready to leave, but Seffi flew in front of me and blocked my way "No! Don't go away... please." He seemed desperate, and I agreed "Ah, alright... I'll stay a bit longer, if it means that much to you." Yazoo came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder "Hey, Cloud... you're awfully good with kids, aren't you?" I turned to him and shrugged "I guess I am... why do you ask?" He shrugged "I don't know, but when you're around the little ones in our kingdom, they always seem so happy... I wondered what your secret is. Especially if the Reunion Prince took a shine to you so easily." I shook my head "I don't really have a secret, honestly. But, maybe it's my past in Shinra with those two that made it easy for me to make children happy..." I suddenly remembered something "Oh no, I forgot! That place that Hojo's dimensional device sent me to! I have to go now!" I turned and ran without speaking further, picking up Seffi on my way. He seemed worried "Cloud, what's wrong?" I answered "I don't know, but I have to ask JENOVA about something. Its very important to me!" All I could feel now was panic, and I couldn't control it; all I could think about was the moment I appeared in that strange world, where I saw a child open her eyes, one of them like JENOVA's, the other an empty black. I remembered my scurrying to Tifa's house, before I transformed from getting too scared and temporarily took form of one of JENOVA's children. I heard Yazoo shout something from behind me, but he was too far away for me to hear his words clearly. Seffi cried "Cloud, your forehead--the stigma!" I realized what he was talking about and stopped, trying to force myself to calm down. I was gasping for air, and it felt impossible to relax completely "But.. I have to go back to that world... I have to help my friends and tell them everything I saw, and those two..!" My body began wracking with pain, and I was out of time to stop the process. I fell down, unable to get up from the intense pain. Seffi cried out in worry when I began screaming and fell down. My vision flickered in and out several times, and then sometime later the pain lightened up, and my vision went back to normal. I heard JENOVA's voice in my head "Control, Cloud--you must learn to control, or you will never stop suffering." I managed to get up, and realized I turned into one of JENOVA's children again "Not again..." Seffi went in front of me "Cloud, are you ok? You changed somehow." I nodded and took the boy into my arms "I think so... but that hurts really bad. Why did she have to make it so painful..? My muscles are a little weak, but I think I can still walk. Let's get out of here so I can find out about the place I saw during Hojo's dimension experiment." Seffi nodded silently, and I focused on finding JENOVA to get the answers about what I saw out there.
To be Continued...
