Chapter 20: Reunion's Eve
(This section will focus on Loz as the speaker) I was laying still in an infinite space of green and black, and slowly got to my feet "Ungh... where am I?" I looked around to study where I was. There was no sign of anyone being here. I wondered "Am I... dead..? Oh no... what about Sephiroth? I promised Mother I'd protect him! Did I fail..?" I heard Mother's voice "No, my son. Slow down." I followed where her voice seemed to come from, and saw Mother enveloped in bright green and white. I ran towards her worriedly "Mother! What happened to you?!" She replied "Nothing is wrong, my son. I am well. However, Shinra's desperate retaliation is a different story... they won't stop rampaging my Planet. I need you to band with the rest of JENOVA SOLDIER and stop them once and for all--before I fully regain life and return home." Now I was worried "What..? But that's only 3 hours away... how could we possibly--" Mother turned firm, reaching her hand towards me and hushing me with her finger. After she gently let go, I apologized "Sorry, Mother..." She continued "If the situation escalates any further, nearly my entire family will be gone. You have to stop them, Loz." I couldn't believe what she just said "What?! Almost everyone is dead..?!" Mother slowly nodded, and began to cry. I moaned "No way..." I also began to cry. I didn't wanna believe what she said; but I just couldn't deny it anymore. I wanted to go back to where it all began and stop them before anything got out of control. But I knew it was impossible. I tried to force my tears aside "No... No! I won't let it end this way! This is as far as they're going, Mother!" Mother smiled at me "I can unleash my deadliest attack upon being revived, but it's a special power I am only able to use once in this situation. Technically, there are two possible variations of it: the first and most dangerous to my Planet itself is Armageddon, which would use the power of my lifestream to swallow the enemy whole, completely erasing them all at once while leaving a widespread mess from its destruction. The other variation is New Reunion Order, which would revive any of my fallen children simultaneously--all of them would regain life. This power uses too much energy to be used under normal circumstances, which is why I can only use it immediately after rebirth when I am at my strongest from Infinite Reunion." I was amazed "Whoa! You can do that? Why not just do both, Mother?" She sighed "I'm afraid even I can't do that... not only would I drain myself, but using too much of my lifestream's powers would leave it weak. If it gets too weak, none of us could survive. We would all perish, Loz." I grumbled "Aww what? So now what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to bring them down on time, Mother?" Mother started to fade "You'll know what to do, Loz. I know you can figure this out with Sephiroth and everyone else." She faded even more, disappearing into the white light "Mother! Don't go!" She started to say something else, but everything started to go dark and disappear. I felt someone shake me, and I opened my eyes. Sephiroth was looking down at me with a smile. I felt embarrassed but tried to hide it "Umm... Big Brother, why are you looking at me that way?" Sephiroth laughed under his breath "You've already forgotten? Today's the most special time of the year.... or close to it. All we've gotta do is defeat Shinra, and Mother will save our fallen family members when she returns. However, we only have 2 hours left to do it all... and for that to work, we need serious cooperation among JENOVA SOLDIER. And we also need obvious muscle, Brother." I cried "What about Cloud? He's probably still out there doing who knows what... we can't let him roam free." Sephiroth replied "Do not worry for his threat; it's no more. SEPHIROVA has him. He can't beat her, even if he's stupid enough to try." I agreed "Yeah, maybe he beat us, but he's no match for her. She inherited nearly all of Mother's powers and immortality. Only a true idiot would try to fight her." Sephiroth replied "Right, but if Shinra is really that desperate, they're going to have to challenge her, whether they want to or not. If they don't beat her, the Planet remains in Mother's hands. Even if they do know how strong she is, they won't be turning the other cheek when they've gotten this far. It's time we stop them once and for all before we're the only survivors." I added "Right, uhh... about that, any idea how we plan to defeat Perfect WEAPON? If Vincent knows we're coming, he'll set that thing loose. And if that monster roams free, its the end for sure." Sephiroth's expression hardened "But if Perfect WEAPON is freed... it could destroy the Planet itself if he does that. There's no telling what would happen if he did that!" Sephiroth turned around and stepped some ways ahead of me "I can't let him do that... I promised Mother I'd do everything right this time! I can't afford such a disaster!" I approached him "Big Brother... I promised Mother something, too. I promised her I'd protect you no matter how bad this got.... and I'm afraid to fail, too. But we can't give up. Even if we fall, Brother... we would fall doing what we promised. As long as our hearts are true, I think that's what matters most..." He turned around "You... what? A mere remnant like you protecting someone complete like me?" I protested "I, uhhh... I can explain. You see, uhh... Mother told me this and that, and then she told me to..." I was interrupted by Sephiroth hugging me, then letting go and resting his hands on my shoulders "Hahaha, stop it, Brother. If Mother asked you to protect someone above you in strength, that means you have a lot of potential. Mother doesn't ask us to do this sort of thing for no reason." I felt strange when he said that "What do you mean..?" He let go of me and continued "Well, look at the history of JENOVA Legacy. Yazoo was ordered to protect SEPHIROVA when she was only a larva, later to be a female lookalike to me with an entirely different personality... Though he fell in battle against Cloud with you, she managed to escape before further harm could reach her. Cloud had defeated you and Yazoo, but our Young Sister got away before he could kill her. She wound up being what saved JENOVA Legacy from extinction. During the war that followed, Mother entrusted her with the task of encouraging me and showing me its never too late to clean up a mess you were responsible for, or may have contributed to in any way. She taught me that it's only too late when none of us are left to stop what threatens us... stressed the importance of never giving up, even if your enemy is too powerful. That flame she had inside herself... it breathed life back into Mother's legacy. Even into me." I asked "So... you're saying Mother has an important job for me too?" Sephiroth nodded "It's very likely. Mother has the power to foretell of any incoming crisis or threats to her legacy. However, gleaning every last detail is near impossible. Even for her. For that reason, she gives important duties to whoever she sees fit to avert said incoming danger." I began to panic "Wh-what? I can't beat Shinra by myself! I don't know how!" Sephiroth smiled "You dont have to fight them by yourself, Loz. We can help each other. Given the seriousness of the current situation, we don't have much choice. But enough talking... we have to head for the enemy's base in Nibelheim before they overrun the kingdom! Loz, come with me. Everyone else is going there as we speak." I quickly agreed "Uhhh, right..!" He lead me outside, then slowly revealed his black wing; a golden halo also appeared above his head. He quickly turned back to me, and I felt myself being lifted higher and higher. I was shocked "What's going on?!" I realized it was Sephiroth who had carried me this high and calmed down. I complained "Brother! Don't scare me like that! I thought Vincent got me that time!" He laughed "Don't be so ridiculous. He wouldn't dream of coming near me by himself." I argued "But, what about...?" Something kept me from finishing. He was flying fast: the abandoned Nibelheim site was coming into view within seconds. I was beyond words "Wow..." Something was making Sephiroth stronger than he normally was. I could feel his JENOVA cells overflowing with power, almost as if they were my own. I took notice to a blinding mix of green and black that was so overwhelming, it felt like it was right above us. Hang on, Mother... We'll save your kingdom, I thought. Sephiroth began to descend, and at our destination within seconds. He gently released me, and I turned around to face him "Thanks, Big Brother... but why did you fly me here with you?" He replied "No time to explain. We don't have time to chat. Just keep your eyes peeled for Vincent. He's our biggest threat right now." I said "Right..." I armed my dual hound, and thought out loud "Do you think he caught any more dangerous beasts?" Sephiroth replied "We'd better hope not. The first one he got is powerful enough." I heard a man laugh from somewhere "Looking for someone?" Vincent ambushed me, appearing directly in front of me in a split second. I was knocked back, off guard "What the..?!" Quickly recovering, I cried "How in the world did you do that?!" Sephiroth was also in disbelief "Impossible! That kind of speed only runs in Mother's family!" Vincent replied "Hah, yeah... unless you have Shinra, who organized the experiment you are, Sephiroth. You guys can fight all you like, but I can use your strengths against you now. And guess what? You can't do a thing about it." I panicked "What?!! You mean, Rufus...?!" Sephiroth pulled his masamume "I should've known he would resort to this... he knows he can't beat us without that monster." Vincent went on "I dont know what you're blabbing about, Sephiroth, but it's game over. Not only do I have your precious Perfect WEAPON, but I have all of your powers now, too. None of you can beat me this time." Vincent revealed a souba, preparing to fight. Sephiroth warned "Get ready, Loz! Here he comes!" I agreed "I've got this, Big Brother!" Then the fight began. Sephiroth attacked first, Vincent's sword meeting his; their strength matched each others, each of them pushed away at equal distance. Sephiroth was angry "Impossible! No one's ever matched me like that except Cloud!" Sephiroth went at him again, and I joined in, but Vincent swept us both back with one swing. I got back to my feet "Gah..! It's no good! We'll run out of strength at this rate!" Sephiroth also got back up "I can't believe this..." Vincent laughed "What's the matter? Are you giving up? You sure would be wise to." I replied "No, Vincent... You would be wise to give up! Even if you do outlast us, all you can do is wait for your end--and Shinra's!" Vincent was confused "Hm?" I continued "Reunion Day is coming... in 2 hours. When midnight comes, the game is up no matter how much you and Shinra resist! But if you all die, you're saving Mother the great energy needed to unleash Armageddon on all of you. You can fight us all you want, but youre all dead no matter what. This is the true power of Mother's Infinite Reunion!!" Sephiroth seemed to light up "Loz..." Vincent laughed nervously "That's another dumb joke, right?" Sephiroth came by my side, returning to his fighting stance "I'm happy to tell you it isn't. What Loz just told you is the truth. However, the power of that attack is so devastating, even the Planet isn't immune to its damaging effects.... And that is why we will strike you down here and now: where you stand." Vincent seemed like he was in a tight spot; he didn't respond, only gasped under his breath. Without another word, he came at us once again, me and Sephiroth going against him in close combat. We had outnumbered him, but he had no trouble dealing with both of us; every attack, we matched each other's strength, neither side taking any hits. He knocked us back once again, and I slowly recovered "It's no good! We can't beat him!" Sephiroth recovered quickly "We have to keep fighting, Brother! Somehow, we have to beat him... for Mother!" Vincent laughed "See? I told you already: you can't win. Fight me all you like, but it's pointless." Vincent turned around and seemed to shout to someone "Hey, you! Get out here and help me finish them off!" Several men in blue suits appeared and went to Vincent's side. I was frustrated "Gimme a break already!" Sephiroth sighed "Great, more guests... just what we needed." I saw Reno, Rude, Cissnei, and Veld all alongside Vincent. Reno laughed "What's wrong? Chicken?" I groaned under my breath. Vincent said "Just skip the teasing already and kill them..." Reno replied "What? Not gonna let us have fun first?" Vincent sighed but didn't speak. Cissnei revealed her large shuriken and stepped ahead "Well, my idea of fun would be to give these sickos a fight to remember. And snatch their precious Mother away too." I groaned angrily "I won't let you do that!" Sephiroth added "Make that both of us, Loz." Veld said "Hmph... So king stupid plans to beat us? That'll be interesting enough." He readied his gun arm. Rude added "Five of us against you two. What do you think is going to happen? Answer me that, Loz." I protested "Urrgh!! Why do you people always have to pick on me?!! I'll show you what I can do and prove you all wrong!" I started to go at them, but Sephiroth grabbed my arm and stopped me "Loz, don't do it! There's too many of them!" I argued "But what else are we supposed to do?! If we try to escape, we will get stopped for sure!" Sephiroth replied "Brother, just trust me on this one. Stay put." I wanted to argue but chose not to. Sephiroth let me go, and went ahead of me. I whispered to him "Brother, what are you doing? Even they are too strong for you to face by yourself..." Sephiroth didn't respond, but stood still without speaking. Vincent said "Hah, not gonna try to run? Awfully brave, if not stupid." Veld sighed "Let's just end this charade. Talking to them will accomplish nothing." The others replied in agreement, and Vincent said "Alright, get Sephiroth first. Loz will be easy enough on his own." They all went at Sephiroth. I panicked, but was too afraid to move. I cried "No... no!!" Sephiroth didn't move from his place. Out of nowhere, a large ball of molten lava appeared directly in front of him, and each of them struck it, swept away by the explosion. There was dust and dirt all over after that, and I began coughing. I heard everyone else coughing too, and our enemies seemed to be shouting some things in shock and disbelief, but they were too loud over each other to be understood. Sephiroth bolted his black wing again, and the air cleared spontaneously. Veld cried "What the..?!" Reno said "Woo, dusty!" Veld punched him and seemed angry "Can you not make a joke out of things just for once?" Reno smiled at him "Yo, calm down." Rude wouldn't take his eyes off Sephiroth "Whatever we hit, he is the one who did it." They turned back to Sephiroth, finally managing to recover. I saw two more large lava spheres, one on either side of Sephiroth, and he had his arms aimed at them as though controlling it. They seemed to gradually grow hotter and expand. Vincent warned "This is bad... He's going to use meteor! Retreat, everyone!" Vincent and his group fled after that, and Sephiroth ceased his attack, lowering his arms. I laughed "Not so tough now, are they? I guess they weren't serious about playing after all." Sephiroth, held his arm across me as though preventing me from going "Wait, something's not right... The sky..." I followed his gaze and saw a massive golden pillar with the Shinra insignia inside, and an earthquake followed. I gasped "That light! N-no way..!" Sephiroth's expression hardened "Looks like our friend really did set Perfect WEAPON loose... Loz, get out of here right now!" I protested "But, you...!" Sephiroth interrupted "Brother, go! You're no match for it!" I panicked "But what about you, Sephiroth?! What if you can't beat it either?!" Sephiroth seemed to be hesitant "I will be fine... just go before it's too late. If the beast sees you, it won't let you get away. Without black materia, beating this thing is near impossible." He turned around and glanced at me "I know why you're scared to leave me here, Loz.... but, if I run away too, the rest of JENOVA SOLDIER is doomed. This is a battle only I can face, Brother. I won't lose; I'll find you after its defeated, and we can happily witness Mother's rebirth at JENOVA Stratos Tower... together." I didn't know what to say "Sephiroth... are you sure you want to challenge WEAPON by yourself?" He nodded, and I said "Ok... I'll go to JENOVA Stratos Tower's peak and wait for you to come back. Just please be careful... Perfect WEAPON is horrendously strong... I don't want you to die, Big Brother." Then I ran and left the area.
(This part will focus on Sephiroth as the speaker) After Loz safely escaped, I wielded my masamume and slowly bolted my wing, making careful liftoff to find and defeat Perfect WEAPON. I approached the massive golden pillar, and heard it roar viciously. It was so loud it felt like it was right in front of my face, almost deafening. The beast began to descend, slowly coming into my view. I had a vision: Mother took my hand at my side and asked "Are you ready, my son?" I looked her and agreed "I'm am, Mother... With you, I can take down any foe... no matter how powerful... Our love will triumph over them." The vision faded, and the beast spotted me before it could make land on the ground. It roared "You! Why you again?!" As always, its voice was very distorted and deep. I clashed against it with my katana, keeping my expression hard "You are a menace to Mother's legacy, WEAPON! Of course I came after you!" We attacked each other numerous times, the beasts arms matching my blade and strength. WEAPON angrily replied "You are nothing! I'm the greatest WEAPON existing! I am destructive perfection! I'm never going to fall to an insect like you!" I remained firm "Say whatever you like, WEAPON. I live to serve and protect Mother, no matter how strong my enemy is. That's the greatest strength of a JENOVA SOLDIER 1st Class: the power to fight even the worst of enemies! Mother gives me a strength a destroyer like you can't imagine: the strength to take down whatever stands in my way!" After another physical clash, we both flew backwards a bit. Perfect WEAPON's red core began charging a beam in front of him, and I began preparing supernova to counter his attack, a massive sun expanding quickly behind me. It cackled "Let's see how you handle this!" The beast released his attack, and I released my attack to block it; the end result was a massive explosion between both sides, each of us taking damage. WEAPON roared angrily, and I also winced from pain. I wasn't knocked to the ground that was far below us though, fortunately. When the explosion cleared, WEAPON roared "Not bad... but I'm only starting! You haven't seen anything!" WEAPON revealed two large silver wings, exposing three red cores on each of them. He began to repeat his previous attack, only this time using his six extra cores to make the red beam even stronger. He was charging power at a frightening rate now. I summoned meteor, hoping for him to take the hit before he could get me. The sky turned an eerie red, and flames rained from it; a large molten sphere appeared above him, and descended gradually. I tried to speed its descent, but it was too heavy and big for it to work. WEAPON unleashed his red beam, and I flew out of the way, landing atop the descending sphere and steering it directly at him, making hard impact. I flew off just in time to avoid hurting myself, and remained in midair, gasping from exhaustion. My vision began to blur, and the sky returned to normal. I tried to see Perfect WEAPON, and he seemed in rough shape: his metal body seemed very damaged and slightly rusted. His red cores were still lit, however. I felt my consciousness begin to slip, but I desperately tried to fight it. I barely made out my own words "He's too... strong..." WEAPON tried to cackle, but his voice sounded like he was getting weak and fluctuated in a way that indicated weakness. He said "No..! Impossible..." I heard static, and saw WEAPON's red cores go dark as though dead. His central core also died and went dark. On the verge of death, WEAPON's voice seemed to malfunction "No... I am invincible.. ! I'm... destructive... perfection..! I won't... fall..!" Its eyes dimmed, and the beast fell straight down without moving any further. The golden light also disappeared upon Perfect WEAPON's death. My vision kept fading in and out "Mother... I did it... it's dead..." I felt very weak, and tried to make out my last few words "Reunion Day... Mother will cometh to us... in peace... smiling..." I then blacked out, and felt myself fall for what seemed like forever, before my consciousness slipped completely.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Nibelheim site...
(This part will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) Me and the rest of JENOVA SOLDIER had just barely finished off Vincent and Cissnei. All of us were exhausted, SEPHIROVA was somewhere else dealing with something important, and our Father, JENBU, was on the other side of the area neutralizing Shinra forces. Sulbio tried to act tough, forcing a smile "We got anymore company on the way?" I was also gasping for air "Let's hope not... Those two were tough cookies... tougher than I expected." I took my phone from my pocket and checked the time "Oh great... we only have ten minutes left." Kadaj grumbled "I never knew Dad was so strong... it was like he had all of Big Brother's powers! But why? Why was he working for Shinra now..?" I turned to him and saw him beginning to cry. I approached him, and placed my hand on his shoulder "Kadaj... I'm really sorry. I know the feeling of losing something important and precious, but... I just don't know what to say..." Kaibu approached me and said "Brother.... me and Kadaj, we left home to make sure our parents were ok, and then we knew about the Shinra problem... and the entire time we've been at it, Kadaj insisted he'd get Vincent back to himself. But... it was useless... he was so far gone, there was just no more reasoning with him... and it came to this. I found you, and Big Sister SEPHIROVA too, but he only found his mom." I sighed "I'm sorry, Brother... But if we didn't fight him, he would bring eternal ruin to the kingdom." Kadaj forced his tears away and replied "I know... and if mom hadn't made it, I..." Yuffie approached him, and said "Kadaj, it's ok. It's over now, alright? No more being sad. Yeah, I'm not happy about this ending either... but we have to keep going. This isn't over yet, even if we do only have ten minutes before we're out of time." He looked up at her and they hugged each other. Kadaj said "Big Sister... thank you..." Kaibu turned to me and asked "How far away is our next target?" I stepped away from them, glancing at my phone once again "We're not gonna make it that long... only five minutes left until midnight exactly. And Shinra Headquarters is all the way over there--" I didn't finish; i saw Shinra HQ bathed in flames, looking like it was on the verge of collapse. Yuffie asked "Hey, is something wrong? You don't look so good, Brother." I said "The tower... it's...!" I got on my motorbike without finishing, and signalled everyone else to do the same and follow me. Yuffie sounded like she was further behind, yelling for us to slow down "Hey! You didn't answer my question! Get back here!" Of course, I didn't. I kept leading us towards Shinra HQ as fast as I could. However, we didn't get very far; I slammed the brakes, stopping in front of what looked like a volcanic wasteland. All of us got off after stopping, looking around for another possible route, but it was no good; there was lava and brimstone everywhere. Yuffie caught up with us, Kadaj also with her "Whoa! What happened here?" I replied "The only thing that could do this is Big Brother's meteor. Whatever happened, it's likely he was in trouble and unleashed the attack to defend himself. Sephiroth only summons meteor when he knows he's in danger, under extreme stress. Which would mean he had an intense battle that is still recent." Sulbio asked "Did he make it through?" I replied "I hope so... everyone, look around and see if you can find him. If he isn't here, he probably made a last-minute escape." Everyone obeyed and went separate ways. I also went my own way, following an endless path of brimstone I stopped at a large lava crater, locking my attention on Sephiroth who was laying motionless on the other side of it. I hurried around, and got down to help him. I panicked "Sephiroth, are you ok? Can you hear me?" He wouldn't move; he was barely breathing. I tried again "Sephiroth, what happened? Which way did they go?" I shook him, trying to wake him up "Come on, say something!" Still no response; he didn't even moan. I carefully picked him up, holding him in my arms. "What am I gonna do...? If he dies, Mother will never get over this... I have to hurry to JENOVA Stratos Tower before he dies! There's no time for me to tell the others... I'll just have to go now... somehow." I knew it was too far away and too high for me to possibly reach on time. And it was the only way I could save his life. I worried "This can't be it... I can't let it end like this!" Out of nowhere, I heard Loz shout "Hey, Yazoo! Give him to me!" Loz ran to me, and I turned to see him. He said "Give Sephiroth to me. I can still make it!" I argued "No, you can't. One, you can't fly. And two, it's too long to climb and too far away from here." Loz insisted "Just give me a chance! I can do this, Brother!" Out of nowhere, a wing appeared from Loz's left, and he gently floated above ground before landing again. I said "Loz, your wing.. how did you..?" He replied "I don't know, but there's no time to talk about it! I have to help Sephiroth!" I sighed "Fine... just make sure you don't fail this, ok? This is no time for foolish blunders." He took Sephiroth from me and flew off without arguing. I had never seen Loz do that; he left without arguing with me or complaining. At least he was being serious for once, though.
Sometime ago, atop JENOVA Stratos Tower...
(This section will focus on Cloud as the speaker) I woke up, finding myself in SEPHIROVA's arms. I didn't know or recognize where I was "Unnngh... where am I..? And why are you still here?" Without looking at me, she threw me at the ground below without responding. I landed harsh, feeling a rush of pain all over my body on impact. I slowly got back to my feet, drawing my sword and looking her way "Hey, what was that all about? And why didn't kill me while I was sleeping?" She landed gently, her expression remaining as blank as JENOVA's normally was. I thought I heard a hint of laughter come from her, but it was so faint I wasn't sure it was real. Pain wracked up my arm, accelerating to the rest of my body quickly, and I dropped my sword. My vision faded in and out, but I managed to stay awake and keep my eyes on SEPHIROVA who still wouldn't move from her place; she just stood there blankly staring at me. I glanced at my arm, and realized the stigma was getting to its late stages now. I gasped "I'm running out of time..." I got back my sword, and SEPHIROVA slowly approached me. She stopped in front of me, and I asked "What do you want, SEPHIROVA?" She put her hands on my shoulder in a long silent pause. I waited for her to respond. She put her hand to the side of my face "I'll tell you what I want, Cloud..." she raised her other hand to my face, and I felt my face begin to fluster. I wanted to pull away, but it was impossible; something pinned me down and kept me from resisting. She finished "Cloud... be my Brother." She flew away from me, drawing her masamume and entering her fighting stance "But first, prove yourself worthy of it. I won't let you in unless you can truly stand up to even the greatest of enemies." I was confused "What..? What are you talking about?" SEPHIROVA replied "Hmph... you know you have little options at this point. You can either live and help us, or die trying to defy Mother... that is obviously foolish to the bone. Even you should be able to see that by now. Accept my offer, or die where you stand." I had a flashback, remembering when she obliterated me with the JENOVA Lifestream. I had barely survived that. I could already see she was threatening to do the same thing here if I refused. I sighed "Fine... what do you want to do?" She replied "Stop acting as if you don't know. I'm challenging you to a fight, Cloud. Fortunately for you, you don't have to kill me to win. However, there is a catch: you must survive against me in three phases. You will see me like you never have before, Cloud. If you don't last through all three of my forms, you already know what that means." I couldn't believe what she just told me "Are you nuts? I'll die from the stigma before that would be over!" SEPHIROVA laughed "Sorry, too late for second thoughts. You bought in, and there's no buying out." She floated above the ground, and a black shadowy matter enveloped her entire being. When it began to dissipate, her appearance came back into view: she looked exactly like Kadaj--the same Kadaj I fought before. She held a souba, and angrily looked my way. She began "And this time, you won't have it so easy. The larva you're looking at now is plenty times stronger and more capable than the one you remember." I realized what I had to do and sighed "Oh great... so I have to fight Kadaj, Sephieroth, and a second JENOVA? Lovely." She came at me without waiting for me to react, and another familiar battle began all over again. My sword hit hers, and hers hit mine; neither of us taking any hits for what seemed like forever. She laughed "I hope you're pumped for intense battles! You've got precisely 30 minutes until the stigma claims your life, and Mother returns to us!" I didn't bother to respond to her; she wanted to see me get frustrated with her attitude and react to her display. I ignored her comment instead "What are you, Kadaj?" She giggled "What am I? Why, I'm nothing less than Mother's greatest weapon! I live and exist to defend her legacy, and better yet, I'm designed to destroy and eradicate anything that threatens her! So, you can think I'm the same guy you saw before me all you like, but I'm on a completely different level than the first larva. I could've just finished you off with the Reunion System, but I was generous enough to give you one more chance to earn a worthy place." She was as arrogant as I remembered. All she would ever do in front of me is brag about her abilities and how powerful JENOVA's legacy made her. We clashed one more time, but this time her strength outweighed mine and sent me to the ground, barely away from the edge. She landed in front of me and laughed "See the cliff? It's a long way down, Brother. I wouldn't hang around there if I were you. This peak is the closest you can get to the JENOVA Lifestream without flying." I got back up attacked her, catching her off guard and sending her to the other side. She held her stomach with one hand, heavily bleeding where I had apparently struck her. She smiled "Very good... not bad, Brother. But it is pointless." She lifted her arm from her stomach, a light shining inside her wrist. She laughed "I hope youre ready for round 2!" The wound on her stomach vanished within seconds, and she regained perfect health. I cried "No way! How did you...?!" She simply stayed put "Mother left me with a very special gift upon her Ultimate Sacrifice. When she died, she left me a very special materia... one that only works on a peak this high. As long as her lifestream is right above us, I can regenerate indefinitely. The materia I have uses the power of her lifestream and the Infinite Reunion to allow me to heal even the worst of wounds. You can struggle all you like, but on this peak, I'm nearly invincible." I argued "How do I know you didn't lie about me not having to kill you to win?!" She smiled, gently lowering her arm, the light coming from it also going dark "Don't worry, I was serious about that. I know you can't beat me up here. Not even Shinra's massive army could do that." I realized why she wanted to fight me up here: to make sure I can't kill her. What a move. She giggled "Time for phase 2!" She was wrapped in more shadows again, most likely changing her form. When the shadows cleared, she took the form of the same Sephieroth I saw years ago; looked almost exactly like Sephiroth, but noticeably feminine. She revealed a black wing, and a golden halo above her head. She also held a masamume. Now I was nervous. I fought Sephiroth twice and won, but her powers could be completely different from his. We began clashing each other's swords once again, nonstop. She laughed "I've always wanted to fight the man who killed my Brothers.... and make sure he can't win a second time!" Her strength seemed to exceed Sephiroth's; I was barely fending her off. She knocked me back with another hit to my sword. I hurried to retrieve it, but the stigma hurt me again; now my whole body was wracking with pain from it. I heard her speak "What's wrong, Cloud? Not tough enough for the challenge?" She sighed "I grow bored... I expected more resistance from you than this." I managed to retrieve my sword and get back up, but my whole body felt weak. I glanced up at her in silence. I barely made out my words "It's no good... she's immortal..!" My vision blurred again, and I tried to shake myself awake "Unngh... it's getting bad... not feeling well--" I was stopped by a long sword being pushed through my body, being lifted off the ground. She smiled up at me, and my expression hardened. She laughed "I've always wanted to do that to you. You did it to me when I was a teenager, still a mere larva... a young remnant. But now it's onto you: the helplessness." I choked up some blood, and did my best to speak "I'm... sorry... Kadaj, please... forgive me..." My words were very choked and blotted out from blood rushing up my throat. She didn't move her sword. Out of nowhere, a woman's voice said "Sephie, enough. Let him go." She immediately reacted and cried "Mother?!" The woman continued "He is no longer a menace. Release him, my youngest." She reluctantly said "Yes... Mother..." Then she pulled her masamume from my body, and I fell down, barely awake. I couldn't even get up; I was already weak from Geostigma, and the brutal hit from her masamume made it worse. I didn't hear her walk or even speak. I managed to roll onto my side, remembering I was holding the JENOVA remains Yazoo gave me during the Shinra infiltration to help Suufi regain his powers. I kept awake as best I could, and saw the box beginning to glow "Huh..?" Sephieroth approached me and took it from me, then walked away without a word. I kept my gaze on her, confused "Sephiroth? What are you doing?" She ignored me, holding the box to her chest and whimpered under her breath "Oh, Mother..." The glow seemed to grow brighter from her front, and she revealed a black wing from her right. Green drops seemed to hit the ground from in front of her that I thought might be her tears. I felt a rush of guilt inside, and I couldn't take my eyes off what I was seeing "What have I done..?" All of a sudden, my consciousness stopped slipping, and my vision returned to normal. Still weak, I tried to reach for her black leather clothing, managing to grab her cape in back "Sephieroth... I'm so sorry... Please, forgive me..." She turned her head a bit, but didn't turn around. I waited, but she didn't respond. I expected her to attack me and deny I was being serious, but she wouldn't even walk away or move at all. I felt another rush of pain, this time it wracked my entire body; then more images of her crying in her larval form, helplessly stuck to my blade in midair, JENOVA glancing at me with pure anger, and the last of them showed Kadaj weeping over her Brothers I had killed that same day, before she lashed out at me. When the images stopped, I felt dizzy and my vision got blurry again. But this time, I was seeing double which meant it was getting worse. When the pain finally stopped again, my hand slipped from her cape and I rolled onto my back "Why won't it go away..? I thought all I had to do was show her I'm sorry..." I realized my stigma was tied to her anguish and sorrow, along with whatever else she was feeling about Yazoo and Loz's deaths and what I did to her that day. I coughed and mumbled "I'm not gonna... make it... it's too late, I'm out of time..."
Meanwhile, Yazoo was leading the other members of JENOVA SOLDIER...
(This part will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) We finally arrived at JENOVA Stratos Tower, and were close to the peak. Sulbio was moaning and groaning the entire way, and I was starting to lose patience "Would you just be quiet and bear it already? You're driving the gang nuts!" Sulbio kept complaining, ignoring my words "Unngh... I'm tired... I wanna go home and sleep..." Kadaj and Kaibu also seemed out of sorts but weren't complaining. Yuffie decided to come along but didn't seem as worn out "Are we almost there yet? This place is too long!" I sighed "We're almost there, everyone... stop whining. Please." We reached the final staircase, and hurried to the top. I stopped abruptly, and saw Little Sister holding Mother's remains, drops of green falling from her face. Cloud just barely behind her, struggling to remain conscious. I hurried to her, concerned "Sister! What happened?" She looked at me, holding the remains to her chest and her eyes wet with tears, but she didn't speak. I also noticed her masamume wasn't strapped to her back the way it usually was, but ahead and soaked with blood. Immediately blaming Cloud, I pulled my gun and got down, pointing it at his head "What did you do to her?" He choked, then replied "I didn't do anything." I refused to believe him, and threatened "Tell me the truth or I'll finish you right now! What did you do to her?" He showed faint anger "I am! I didn't do a thing to her!" I put my gun to his head and decided I'd never get the truth out of him. However, before I could pull the trigger, I heard someone land directly behind me and say "Stop, Yazoo." It sounded like Mother, and I dropped my weapon and turned around to see who it was: Mother was back! I cried "Mother? But, what about Loz and Sephiroth? They should've beaten us here..." She helped me up, and I retrieved my gun. Mother explained "Loz took Sephiroth to the Forgotten City. I ordered him to go there instead of here. As for our little friend there, I will take care of him. All enemy forces have been annihilated except for Rufus himself and his HQ. That is all that remains of enemy forces." I asked "What do we do about all of our fallen brothers and sisters, though? They killed so many of us..." Mother answered "I will reverse those deaths and also have Rufus captured. Normally, he would be exiled and locked away in my lifestream for what he tried to do, but he is the only person capable of getting the foundation back on its feet. I have no other choice but to let him live for this reason. But I can assure you and the rest of my guard that the mistakes of this war will never be repeated." I nodded in understanding "Yes, Mother...." I turned back to Little Sister, and asked "Are you ok?" She turned to me nodded "I'll be alright, but there's a lot of cleaning up we have to do yet. Even with Mother back, we've still gotta clean up the kingdom after the mess that Shinra made." She seemed to remember something turned to Mother "But, what about Perfect WEAPON? If Vincent sets it loose, everyone is in danger." Mother answered "Don't worry. Sephiroth defeated it when Vincent and his lackeys escaped. Fortunately, he was able to get the beast's attention before it could wreak havoc across the kingdom or run wild in any way. Had he not been there, it could've done Loz in and made a nasty mess." Mother bolted two metallic silver wings, and said "I will tend to Shinra HQ and dealing with Cloud. I trust the rest of you with everything else." Then she picked up Cloud flew away. I smiled, feeling inner peace at her return "Mother came back... she actually returned..." I felt a tear fall from my face, and Yuffie hurried to me "Hey, are you ok?" I nodded "I'm fine. I'm just so happy she came back. This Planet, our kingdom... it's just not the same without Mother." Yuffie agreed "Yeah, but we've still got cleanup to do! Let's get a move on already!" She laughed and pulled my leather sleeve, leading me out of here with everyone following. I heard Little Sister laugh behind us, and felt relief sweep over me. Everything was going to be ok. Mother returned, our fallen family members would come back, and the war-torn kingdom would once again be cleaned up and fixed with enough time and work. What I wasn't sure about was Sephiroth's life. Would he make it or die from using too much of his JENOVA cells? I hoped he would be ok too.
To be Continued...
(This section will focus on Loz as the speaker) I was laying still in an infinite space of green and black, and slowly got to my feet "Ungh... where am I?" I looked around to study where I was. There was no sign of anyone being here. I wondered "Am I... dead..? Oh no... what about Sephiroth? I promised Mother I'd protect him! Did I fail..?" I heard Mother's voice "No, my son. Slow down." I followed where her voice seemed to come from, and saw Mother enveloped in bright green and white. I ran towards her worriedly "Mother! What happened to you?!" She replied "Nothing is wrong, my son. I am well. However, Shinra's desperate retaliation is a different story... they won't stop rampaging my Planet. I need you to band with the rest of JENOVA SOLDIER and stop them once and for all--before I fully regain life and return home." Now I was worried "What..? But that's only 3 hours away... how could we possibly--" Mother turned firm, reaching her hand towards me and hushing me with her finger. After she gently let go, I apologized "Sorry, Mother..." She continued "If the situation escalates any further, nearly my entire family will be gone. You have to stop them, Loz." I couldn't believe what she just said "What?! Almost everyone is dead..?!" Mother slowly nodded, and began to cry. I moaned "No way..." I also began to cry. I didn't wanna believe what she said; but I just couldn't deny it anymore. I wanted to go back to where it all began and stop them before anything got out of control. But I knew it was impossible. I tried to force my tears aside "No... No! I won't let it end this way! This is as far as they're going, Mother!" Mother smiled at me "I can unleash my deadliest attack upon being revived, but it's a special power I am only able to use once in this situation. Technically, there are two possible variations of it: the first and most dangerous to my Planet itself is Armageddon, which would use the power of my lifestream to swallow the enemy whole, completely erasing them all at once while leaving a widespread mess from its destruction. The other variation is New Reunion Order, which would revive any of my fallen children simultaneously--all of them would regain life. This power uses too much energy to be used under normal circumstances, which is why I can only use it immediately after rebirth when I am at my strongest from Infinite Reunion." I was amazed "Whoa! You can do that? Why not just do both, Mother?" She sighed "I'm afraid even I can't do that... not only would I drain myself, but using too much of my lifestream's powers would leave it weak. If it gets too weak, none of us could survive. We would all perish, Loz." I grumbled "Aww what? So now what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to bring them down on time, Mother?" Mother started to fade "You'll know what to do, Loz. I know you can figure this out with Sephiroth and everyone else." She faded even more, disappearing into the white light "Mother! Don't go!" She started to say something else, but everything started to go dark and disappear. I felt someone shake me, and I opened my eyes. Sephiroth was looking down at me with a smile. I felt embarrassed but tried to hide it "Umm... Big Brother, why are you looking at me that way?" Sephiroth laughed under his breath "You've already forgotten? Today's the most special time of the year.... or close to it. All we've gotta do is defeat Shinra, and Mother will save our fallen family members when she returns. However, we only have 2 hours left to do it all... and for that to work, we need serious cooperation among JENOVA SOLDIER. And we also need obvious muscle, Brother." I cried "What about Cloud? He's probably still out there doing who knows what... we can't let him roam free." Sephiroth replied "Do not worry for his threat; it's no more. SEPHIROVA has him. He can't beat her, even if he's stupid enough to try." I agreed "Yeah, maybe he beat us, but he's no match for her. She inherited nearly all of Mother's powers and immortality. Only a true idiot would try to fight her." Sephiroth replied "Right, but if Shinra is really that desperate, they're going to have to challenge her, whether they want to or not. If they don't beat her, the Planet remains in Mother's hands. Even if they do know how strong she is, they won't be turning the other cheek when they've gotten this far. It's time we stop them once and for all before we're the only survivors." I added "Right, uhh... about that, any idea how we plan to defeat Perfect WEAPON? If Vincent knows we're coming, he'll set that thing loose. And if that monster roams free, its the end for sure." Sephiroth's expression hardened "But if Perfect WEAPON is freed... it could destroy the Planet itself if he does that. There's no telling what would happen if he did that!" Sephiroth turned around and stepped some ways ahead of me "I can't let him do that... I promised Mother I'd do everything right this time! I can't afford such a disaster!" I approached him "Big Brother... I promised Mother something, too. I promised her I'd protect you no matter how bad this got.... and I'm afraid to fail, too. But we can't give up. Even if we fall, Brother... we would fall doing what we promised. As long as our hearts are true, I think that's what matters most..." He turned around "You... what? A mere remnant like you protecting someone complete like me?" I protested "I, uhhh... I can explain. You see, uhh... Mother told me this and that, and then she told me to..." I was interrupted by Sephiroth hugging me, then letting go and resting his hands on my shoulders "Hahaha, stop it, Brother. If Mother asked you to protect someone above you in strength, that means you have a lot of potential. Mother doesn't ask us to do this sort of thing for no reason." I felt strange when he said that "What do you mean..?" He let go of me and continued "Well, look at the history of JENOVA Legacy. Yazoo was ordered to protect SEPHIROVA when she was only a larva, later to be a female lookalike to me with an entirely different personality... Though he fell in battle against Cloud with you, she managed to escape before further harm could reach her. Cloud had defeated you and Yazoo, but our Young Sister got away before he could kill her. She wound up being what saved JENOVA Legacy from extinction. During the war that followed, Mother entrusted her with the task of encouraging me and showing me its never too late to clean up a mess you were responsible for, or may have contributed to in any way. She taught me that it's only too late when none of us are left to stop what threatens us... stressed the importance of never giving up, even if your enemy is too powerful. That flame she had inside herself... it breathed life back into Mother's legacy. Even into me." I asked "So... you're saying Mother has an important job for me too?" Sephiroth nodded "It's very likely. Mother has the power to foretell of any incoming crisis or threats to her legacy. However, gleaning every last detail is near impossible. Even for her. For that reason, she gives important duties to whoever she sees fit to avert said incoming danger." I began to panic "Wh-what? I can't beat Shinra by myself! I don't know how!" Sephiroth smiled "You dont have to fight them by yourself, Loz. We can help each other. Given the seriousness of the current situation, we don't have much choice. But enough talking... we have to head for the enemy's base in Nibelheim before they overrun the kingdom! Loz, come with me. Everyone else is going there as we speak." I quickly agreed "Uhhh, right..!" He lead me outside, then slowly revealed his black wing; a golden halo also appeared above his head. He quickly turned back to me, and I felt myself being lifted higher and higher. I was shocked "What's going on?!" I realized it was Sephiroth who had carried me this high and calmed down. I complained "Brother! Don't scare me like that! I thought Vincent got me that time!" He laughed "Don't be so ridiculous. He wouldn't dream of coming near me by himself." I argued "But, what about...?" Something kept me from finishing. He was flying fast: the abandoned Nibelheim site was coming into view within seconds. I was beyond words "Wow..." Something was making Sephiroth stronger than he normally was. I could feel his JENOVA cells overflowing with power, almost as if they were my own. I took notice to a blinding mix of green and black that was so overwhelming, it felt like it was right above us. Hang on, Mother... We'll save your kingdom, I thought. Sephiroth began to descend, and at our destination within seconds. He gently released me, and I turned around to face him "Thanks, Big Brother... but why did you fly me here with you?" He replied "No time to explain. We don't have time to chat. Just keep your eyes peeled for Vincent. He's our biggest threat right now." I said "Right..." I armed my dual hound, and thought out loud "Do you think he caught any more dangerous beasts?" Sephiroth replied "We'd better hope not. The first one he got is powerful enough." I heard a man laugh from somewhere "Looking for someone?" Vincent ambushed me, appearing directly in front of me in a split second. I was knocked back, off guard "What the..?!" Quickly recovering, I cried "How in the world did you do that?!" Sephiroth was also in disbelief "Impossible! That kind of speed only runs in Mother's family!" Vincent replied "Hah, yeah... unless you have Shinra, who organized the experiment you are, Sephiroth. You guys can fight all you like, but I can use your strengths against you now. And guess what? You can't do a thing about it." I panicked "What?!! You mean, Rufus...?!" Sephiroth pulled his masamume "I should've known he would resort to this... he knows he can't beat us without that monster." Vincent went on "I dont know what you're blabbing about, Sephiroth, but it's game over. Not only do I have your precious Perfect WEAPON, but I have all of your powers now, too. None of you can beat me this time." Vincent revealed a souba, preparing to fight. Sephiroth warned "Get ready, Loz! Here he comes!" I agreed "I've got this, Big Brother!" Then the fight began. Sephiroth attacked first, Vincent's sword meeting his; their strength matched each others, each of them pushed away at equal distance. Sephiroth was angry "Impossible! No one's ever matched me like that except Cloud!" Sephiroth went at him again, and I joined in, but Vincent swept us both back with one swing. I got back to my feet "Gah..! It's no good! We'll run out of strength at this rate!" Sephiroth also got back up "I can't believe this..." Vincent laughed "What's the matter? Are you giving up? You sure would be wise to." I replied "No, Vincent... You would be wise to give up! Even if you do outlast us, all you can do is wait for your end--and Shinra's!" Vincent was confused "Hm?" I continued "Reunion Day is coming... in 2 hours. When midnight comes, the game is up no matter how much you and Shinra resist! But if you all die, you're saving Mother the great energy needed to unleash Armageddon on all of you. You can fight us all you want, but youre all dead no matter what. This is the true power of Mother's Infinite Reunion!!" Sephiroth seemed to light up "Loz..." Vincent laughed nervously "That's another dumb joke, right?" Sephiroth came by my side, returning to his fighting stance "I'm happy to tell you it isn't. What Loz just told you is the truth. However, the power of that attack is so devastating, even the Planet isn't immune to its damaging effects.... And that is why we will strike you down here and now: where you stand." Vincent seemed like he was in a tight spot; he didn't respond, only gasped under his breath. Without another word, he came at us once again, me and Sephiroth going against him in close combat. We had outnumbered him, but he had no trouble dealing with both of us; every attack, we matched each other's strength, neither side taking any hits. He knocked us back once again, and I slowly recovered "It's no good! We can't beat him!" Sephiroth recovered quickly "We have to keep fighting, Brother! Somehow, we have to beat him... for Mother!" Vincent laughed "See? I told you already: you can't win. Fight me all you like, but it's pointless." Vincent turned around and seemed to shout to someone "Hey, you! Get out here and help me finish them off!" Several men in blue suits appeared and went to Vincent's side. I was frustrated "Gimme a break already!" Sephiroth sighed "Great, more guests... just what we needed." I saw Reno, Rude, Cissnei, and Veld all alongside Vincent. Reno laughed "What's wrong? Chicken?" I groaned under my breath. Vincent said "Just skip the teasing already and kill them..." Reno replied "What? Not gonna let us have fun first?" Vincent sighed but didn't speak. Cissnei revealed her large shuriken and stepped ahead "Well, my idea of fun would be to give these sickos a fight to remember. And snatch their precious Mother away too." I groaned angrily "I won't let you do that!" Sephiroth added "Make that both of us, Loz." Veld said "Hmph... So king stupid plans to beat us? That'll be interesting enough." He readied his gun arm. Rude added "Five of us against you two. What do you think is going to happen? Answer me that, Loz." I protested "Urrgh!! Why do you people always have to pick on me?!! I'll show you what I can do and prove you all wrong!" I started to go at them, but Sephiroth grabbed my arm and stopped me "Loz, don't do it! There's too many of them!" I argued "But what else are we supposed to do?! If we try to escape, we will get stopped for sure!" Sephiroth replied "Brother, just trust me on this one. Stay put." I wanted to argue but chose not to. Sephiroth let me go, and went ahead of me. I whispered to him "Brother, what are you doing? Even they are too strong for you to face by yourself..." Sephiroth didn't respond, but stood still without speaking. Vincent said "Hah, not gonna try to run? Awfully brave, if not stupid." Veld sighed "Let's just end this charade. Talking to them will accomplish nothing." The others replied in agreement, and Vincent said "Alright, get Sephiroth first. Loz will be easy enough on his own." They all went at Sephiroth. I panicked, but was too afraid to move. I cried "No... no!!" Sephiroth didn't move from his place. Out of nowhere, a large ball of molten lava appeared directly in front of him, and each of them struck it, swept away by the explosion. There was dust and dirt all over after that, and I began coughing. I heard everyone else coughing too, and our enemies seemed to be shouting some things in shock and disbelief, but they were too loud over each other to be understood. Sephiroth bolted his black wing again, and the air cleared spontaneously. Veld cried "What the..?!" Reno said "Woo, dusty!" Veld punched him and seemed angry "Can you not make a joke out of things just for once?" Reno smiled at him "Yo, calm down." Rude wouldn't take his eyes off Sephiroth "Whatever we hit, he is the one who did it." They turned back to Sephiroth, finally managing to recover. I saw two more large lava spheres, one on either side of Sephiroth, and he had his arms aimed at them as though controlling it. They seemed to gradually grow hotter and expand. Vincent warned "This is bad... He's going to use meteor! Retreat, everyone!" Vincent and his group fled after that, and Sephiroth ceased his attack, lowering his arms. I laughed "Not so tough now, are they? I guess they weren't serious about playing after all." Sephiroth, held his arm across me as though preventing me from going "Wait, something's not right... The sky..." I followed his gaze and saw a massive golden pillar with the Shinra insignia inside, and an earthquake followed. I gasped "That light! N-no way..!" Sephiroth's expression hardened "Looks like our friend really did set Perfect WEAPON loose... Loz, get out of here right now!" I protested "But, you...!" Sephiroth interrupted "Brother, go! You're no match for it!" I panicked "But what about you, Sephiroth?! What if you can't beat it either?!" Sephiroth seemed to be hesitant "I will be fine... just go before it's too late. If the beast sees you, it won't let you get away. Without black materia, beating this thing is near impossible." He turned around and glanced at me "I know why you're scared to leave me here, Loz.... but, if I run away too, the rest of JENOVA SOLDIER is doomed. This is a battle only I can face, Brother. I won't lose; I'll find you after its defeated, and we can happily witness Mother's rebirth at JENOVA Stratos Tower... together." I didn't know what to say "Sephiroth... are you sure you want to challenge WEAPON by yourself?" He nodded, and I said "Ok... I'll go to JENOVA Stratos Tower's peak and wait for you to come back. Just please be careful... Perfect WEAPON is horrendously strong... I don't want you to die, Big Brother." Then I ran and left the area.
(This part will focus on Sephiroth as the speaker) After Loz safely escaped, I wielded my masamume and slowly bolted my wing, making careful liftoff to find and defeat Perfect WEAPON. I approached the massive golden pillar, and heard it roar viciously. It was so loud it felt like it was right in front of my face, almost deafening. The beast began to descend, slowly coming into my view. I had a vision: Mother took my hand at my side and asked "Are you ready, my son?" I looked her and agreed "I'm am, Mother... With you, I can take down any foe... no matter how powerful... Our love will triumph over them." The vision faded, and the beast spotted me before it could make land on the ground. It roared "You! Why you again?!" As always, its voice was very distorted and deep. I clashed against it with my katana, keeping my expression hard "You are a menace to Mother's legacy, WEAPON! Of course I came after you!" We attacked each other numerous times, the beasts arms matching my blade and strength. WEAPON angrily replied "You are nothing! I'm the greatest WEAPON existing! I am destructive perfection! I'm never going to fall to an insect like you!" I remained firm "Say whatever you like, WEAPON. I live to serve and protect Mother, no matter how strong my enemy is. That's the greatest strength of a JENOVA SOLDIER 1st Class: the power to fight even the worst of enemies! Mother gives me a strength a destroyer like you can't imagine: the strength to take down whatever stands in my way!" After another physical clash, we both flew backwards a bit. Perfect WEAPON's red core began charging a beam in front of him, and I began preparing supernova to counter his attack, a massive sun expanding quickly behind me. It cackled "Let's see how you handle this!" The beast released his attack, and I released my attack to block it; the end result was a massive explosion between both sides, each of us taking damage. WEAPON roared angrily, and I also winced from pain. I wasn't knocked to the ground that was far below us though, fortunately. When the explosion cleared, WEAPON roared "Not bad... but I'm only starting! You haven't seen anything!" WEAPON revealed two large silver wings, exposing three red cores on each of them. He began to repeat his previous attack, only this time using his six extra cores to make the red beam even stronger. He was charging power at a frightening rate now. I summoned meteor, hoping for him to take the hit before he could get me. The sky turned an eerie red, and flames rained from it; a large molten sphere appeared above him, and descended gradually. I tried to speed its descent, but it was too heavy and big for it to work. WEAPON unleashed his red beam, and I flew out of the way, landing atop the descending sphere and steering it directly at him, making hard impact. I flew off just in time to avoid hurting myself, and remained in midair, gasping from exhaustion. My vision began to blur, and the sky returned to normal. I tried to see Perfect WEAPON, and he seemed in rough shape: his metal body seemed very damaged and slightly rusted. His red cores were still lit, however. I felt my consciousness begin to slip, but I desperately tried to fight it. I barely made out my own words "He's too... strong..." WEAPON tried to cackle, but his voice sounded like he was getting weak and fluctuated in a way that indicated weakness. He said "No..! Impossible..." I heard static, and saw WEAPON's red cores go dark as though dead. His central core also died and went dark. On the verge of death, WEAPON's voice seemed to malfunction "No... I am invincible.. ! I'm... destructive... perfection..! I won't... fall..!" Its eyes dimmed, and the beast fell straight down without moving any further. The golden light also disappeared upon Perfect WEAPON's death. My vision kept fading in and out "Mother... I did it... it's dead..." I felt very weak, and tried to make out my last few words "Reunion Day... Mother will cometh to us... in peace... smiling..." I then blacked out, and felt myself fall for what seemed like forever, before my consciousness slipped completely.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Nibelheim site...
(This part will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) Me and the rest of JENOVA SOLDIER had just barely finished off Vincent and Cissnei. All of us were exhausted, SEPHIROVA was somewhere else dealing with something important, and our Father, JENBU, was on the other side of the area neutralizing Shinra forces. Sulbio tried to act tough, forcing a smile "We got anymore company on the way?" I was also gasping for air "Let's hope not... Those two were tough cookies... tougher than I expected." I took my phone from my pocket and checked the time "Oh great... we only have ten minutes left." Kadaj grumbled "I never knew Dad was so strong... it was like he had all of Big Brother's powers! But why? Why was he working for Shinra now..?" I turned to him and saw him beginning to cry. I approached him, and placed my hand on his shoulder "Kadaj... I'm really sorry. I know the feeling of losing something important and precious, but... I just don't know what to say..." Kaibu approached me and said "Brother.... me and Kadaj, we left home to make sure our parents were ok, and then we knew about the Shinra problem... and the entire time we've been at it, Kadaj insisted he'd get Vincent back to himself. But... it was useless... he was so far gone, there was just no more reasoning with him... and it came to this. I found you, and Big Sister SEPHIROVA too, but he only found his mom." I sighed "I'm sorry, Brother... But if we didn't fight him, he would bring eternal ruin to the kingdom." Kadaj forced his tears away and replied "I know... and if mom hadn't made it, I..." Yuffie approached him, and said "Kadaj, it's ok. It's over now, alright? No more being sad. Yeah, I'm not happy about this ending either... but we have to keep going. This isn't over yet, even if we do only have ten minutes before we're out of time." He looked up at her and they hugged each other. Kadaj said "Big Sister... thank you..." Kaibu turned to me and asked "How far away is our next target?" I stepped away from them, glancing at my phone once again "We're not gonna make it that long... only five minutes left until midnight exactly. And Shinra Headquarters is all the way over there--" I didn't finish; i saw Shinra HQ bathed in flames, looking like it was on the verge of collapse. Yuffie asked "Hey, is something wrong? You don't look so good, Brother." I said "The tower... it's...!" I got on my motorbike without finishing, and signalled everyone else to do the same and follow me. Yuffie sounded like she was further behind, yelling for us to slow down "Hey! You didn't answer my question! Get back here!" Of course, I didn't. I kept leading us towards Shinra HQ as fast as I could. However, we didn't get very far; I slammed the brakes, stopping in front of what looked like a volcanic wasteland. All of us got off after stopping, looking around for another possible route, but it was no good; there was lava and brimstone everywhere. Yuffie caught up with us, Kadaj also with her "Whoa! What happened here?" I replied "The only thing that could do this is Big Brother's meteor. Whatever happened, it's likely he was in trouble and unleashed the attack to defend himself. Sephiroth only summons meteor when he knows he's in danger, under extreme stress. Which would mean he had an intense battle that is still recent." Sulbio asked "Did he make it through?" I replied "I hope so... everyone, look around and see if you can find him. If he isn't here, he probably made a last-minute escape." Everyone obeyed and went separate ways. I also went my own way, following an endless path of brimstone I stopped at a large lava crater, locking my attention on Sephiroth who was laying motionless on the other side of it. I hurried around, and got down to help him. I panicked "Sephiroth, are you ok? Can you hear me?" He wouldn't move; he was barely breathing. I tried again "Sephiroth, what happened? Which way did they go?" I shook him, trying to wake him up "Come on, say something!" Still no response; he didn't even moan. I carefully picked him up, holding him in my arms. "What am I gonna do...? If he dies, Mother will never get over this... I have to hurry to JENOVA Stratos Tower before he dies! There's no time for me to tell the others... I'll just have to go now... somehow." I knew it was too far away and too high for me to possibly reach on time. And it was the only way I could save his life. I worried "This can't be it... I can't let it end like this!" Out of nowhere, I heard Loz shout "Hey, Yazoo! Give him to me!" Loz ran to me, and I turned to see him. He said "Give Sephiroth to me. I can still make it!" I argued "No, you can't. One, you can't fly. And two, it's too long to climb and too far away from here." Loz insisted "Just give me a chance! I can do this, Brother!" Out of nowhere, a wing appeared from Loz's left, and he gently floated above ground before landing again. I said "Loz, your wing.. how did you..?" He replied "I don't know, but there's no time to talk about it! I have to help Sephiroth!" I sighed "Fine... just make sure you don't fail this, ok? This is no time for foolish blunders." He took Sephiroth from me and flew off without arguing. I had never seen Loz do that; he left without arguing with me or complaining. At least he was being serious for once, though.
Sometime ago, atop JENOVA Stratos Tower...
(This section will focus on Cloud as the speaker) I woke up, finding myself in SEPHIROVA's arms. I didn't know or recognize where I was "Unnngh... where am I..? And why are you still here?" Without looking at me, she threw me at the ground below without responding. I landed harsh, feeling a rush of pain all over my body on impact. I slowly got back to my feet, drawing my sword and looking her way "Hey, what was that all about? And why didn't kill me while I was sleeping?" She landed gently, her expression remaining as blank as JENOVA's normally was. I thought I heard a hint of laughter come from her, but it was so faint I wasn't sure it was real. Pain wracked up my arm, accelerating to the rest of my body quickly, and I dropped my sword. My vision faded in and out, but I managed to stay awake and keep my eyes on SEPHIROVA who still wouldn't move from her place; she just stood there blankly staring at me. I glanced at my arm, and realized the stigma was getting to its late stages now. I gasped "I'm running out of time..." I got back my sword, and SEPHIROVA slowly approached me. She stopped in front of me, and I asked "What do you want, SEPHIROVA?" She put her hands on my shoulder in a long silent pause. I waited for her to respond. She put her hand to the side of my face "I'll tell you what I want, Cloud..." she raised her other hand to my face, and I felt my face begin to fluster. I wanted to pull away, but it was impossible; something pinned me down and kept me from resisting. She finished "Cloud... be my Brother." She flew away from me, drawing her masamume and entering her fighting stance "But first, prove yourself worthy of it. I won't let you in unless you can truly stand up to even the greatest of enemies." I was confused "What..? What are you talking about?" SEPHIROVA replied "Hmph... you know you have little options at this point. You can either live and help us, or die trying to defy Mother... that is obviously foolish to the bone. Even you should be able to see that by now. Accept my offer, or die where you stand." I had a flashback, remembering when she obliterated me with the JENOVA Lifestream. I had barely survived that. I could already see she was threatening to do the same thing here if I refused. I sighed "Fine... what do you want to do?" She replied "Stop acting as if you don't know. I'm challenging you to a fight, Cloud. Fortunately for you, you don't have to kill me to win. However, there is a catch: you must survive against me in three phases. You will see me like you never have before, Cloud. If you don't last through all three of my forms, you already know what that means." I couldn't believe what she just told me "Are you nuts? I'll die from the stigma before that would be over!" SEPHIROVA laughed "Sorry, too late for second thoughts. You bought in, and there's no buying out." She floated above the ground, and a black shadowy matter enveloped her entire being. When it began to dissipate, her appearance came back into view: she looked exactly like Kadaj--the same Kadaj I fought before. She held a souba, and angrily looked my way. She began "And this time, you won't have it so easy. The larva you're looking at now is plenty times stronger and more capable than the one you remember." I realized what I had to do and sighed "Oh great... so I have to fight Kadaj, Sephieroth, and a second JENOVA? Lovely." She came at me without waiting for me to react, and another familiar battle began all over again. My sword hit hers, and hers hit mine; neither of us taking any hits for what seemed like forever. She laughed "I hope you're pumped for intense battles! You've got precisely 30 minutes until the stigma claims your life, and Mother returns to us!" I didn't bother to respond to her; she wanted to see me get frustrated with her attitude and react to her display. I ignored her comment instead "What are you, Kadaj?" She giggled "What am I? Why, I'm nothing less than Mother's greatest weapon! I live and exist to defend her legacy, and better yet, I'm designed to destroy and eradicate anything that threatens her! So, you can think I'm the same guy you saw before me all you like, but I'm on a completely different level than the first larva. I could've just finished you off with the Reunion System, but I was generous enough to give you one more chance to earn a worthy place." She was as arrogant as I remembered. All she would ever do in front of me is brag about her abilities and how powerful JENOVA's legacy made her. We clashed one more time, but this time her strength outweighed mine and sent me to the ground, barely away from the edge. She landed in front of me and laughed "See the cliff? It's a long way down, Brother. I wouldn't hang around there if I were you. This peak is the closest you can get to the JENOVA Lifestream without flying." I got back up attacked her, catching her off guard and sending her to the other side. She held her stomach with one hand, heavily bleeding where I had apparently struck her. She smiled "Very good... not bad, Brother. But it is pointless." She lifted her arm from her stomach, a light shining inside her wrist. She laughed "I hope youre ready for round 2!" The wound on her stomach vanished within seconds, and she regained perfect health. I cried "No way! How did you...?!" She simply stayed put "Mother left me with a very special gift upon her Ultimate Sacrifice. When she died, she left me a very special materia... one that only works on a peak this high. As long as her lifestream is right above us, I can regenerate indefinitely. The materia I have uses the power of her lifestream and the Infinite Reunion to allow me to heal even the worst of wounds. You can struggle all you like, but on this peak, I'm nearly invincible." I argued "How do I know you didn't lie about me not having to kill you to win?!" She smiled, gently lowering her arm, the light coming from it also going dark "Don't worry, I was serious about that. I know you can't beat me up here. Not even Shinra's massive army could do that." I realized why she wanted to fight me up here: to make sure I can't kill her. What a move. She giggled "Time for phase 2!" She was wrapped in more shadows again, most likely changing her form. When the shadows cleared, she took the form of the same Sephieroth I saw years ago; looked almost exactly like Sephiroth, but noticeably feminine. She revealed a black wing, and a golden halo above her head. She also held a masamume. Now I was nervous. I fought Sephiroth twice and won, but her powers could be completely different from his. We began clashing each other's swords once again, nonstop. She laughed "I've always wanted to fight the man who killed my Brothers.... and make sure he can't win a second time!" Her strength seemed to exceed Sephiroth's; I was barely fending her off. She knocked me back with another hit to my sword. I hurried to retrieve it, but the stigma hurt me again; now my whole body was wracking with pain from it. I heard her speak "What's wrong, Cloud? Not tough enough for the challenge?" She sighed "I grow bored... I expected more resistance from you than this." I managed to retrieve my sword and get back up, but my whole body felt weak. I glanced up at her in silence. I barely made out my words "It's no good... she's immortal..!" My vision blurred again, and I tried to shake myself awake "Unngh... it's getting bad... not feeling well--" I was stopped by a long sword being pushed through my body, being lifted off the ground. She smiled up at me, and my expression hardened. She laughed "I've always wanted to do that to you. You did it to me when I was a teenager, still a mere larva... a young remnant. But now it's onto you: the helplessness." I choked up some blood, and did my best to speak "I'm... sorry... Kadaj, please... forgive me..." My words were very choked and blotted out from blood rushing up my throat. She didn't move her sword. Out of nowhere, a woman's voice said "Sephie, enough. Let him go." She immediately reacted and cried "Mother?!" The woman continued "He is no longer a menace. Release him, my youngest." She reluctantly said "Yes... Mother..." Then she pulled her masamume from my body, and I fell down, barely awake. I couldn't even get up; I was already weak from Geostigma, and the brutal hit from her masamume made it worse. I didn't hear her walk or even speak. I managed to roll onto my side, remembering I was holding the JENOVA remains Yazoo gave me during the Shinra infiltration to help Suufi regain his powers. I kept awake as best I could, and saw the box beginning to glow "Huh..?" Sephieroth approached me and took it from me, then walked away without a word. I kept my gaze on her, confused "Sephiroth? What are you doing?" She ignored me, holding the box to her chest and whimpered under her breath "Oh, Mother..." The glow seemed to grow brighter from her front, and she revealed a black wing from her right. Green drops seemed to hit the ground from in front of her that I thought might be her tears. I felt a rush of guilt inside, and I couldn't take my eyes off what I was seeing "What have I done..?" All of a sudden, my consciousness stopped slipping, and my vision returned to normal. Still weak, I tried to reach for her black leather clothing, managing to grab her cape in back "Sephieroth... I'm so sorry... Please, forgive me..." She turned her head a bit, but didn't turn around. I waited, but she didn't respond. I expected her to attack me and deny I was being serious, but she wouldn't even walk away or move at all. I felt another rush of pain, this time it wracked my entire body; then more images of her crying in her larval form, helplessly stuck to my blade in midair, JENOVA glancing at me with pure anger, and the last of them showed Kadaj weeping over her Brothers I had killed that same day, before she lashed out at me. When the images stopped, I felt dizzy and my vision got blurry again. But this time, I was seeing double which meant it was getting worse. When the pain finally stopped again, my hand slipped from her cape and I rolled onto my back "Why won't it go away..? I thought all I had to do was show her I'm sorry..." I realized my stigma was tied to her anguish and sorrow, along with whatever else she was feeling about Yazoo and Loz's deaths and what I did to her that day. I coughed and mumbled "I'm not gonna... make it... it's too late, I'm out of time..."
Meanwhile, Yazoo was leading the other members of JENOVA SOLDIER...
(This part will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) We finally arrived at JENOVA Stratos Tower, and were close to the peak. Sulbio was moaning and groaning the entire way, and I was starting to lose patience "Would you just be quiet and bear it already? You're driving the gang nuts!" Sulbio kept complaining, ignoring my words "Unngh... I'm tired... I wanna go home and sleep..." Kadaj and Kaibu also seemed out of sorts but weren't complaining. Yuffie decided to come along but didn't seem as worn out "Are we almost there yet? This place is too long!" I sighed "We're almost there, everyone... stop whining. Please." We reached the final staircase, and hurried to the top. I stopped abruptly, and saw Little Sister holding Mother's remains, drops of green falling from her face. Cloud just barely behind her, struggling to remain conscious. I hurried to her, concerned "Sister! What happened?" She looked at me, holding the remains to her chest and her eyes wet with tears, but she didn't speak. I also noticed her masamume wasn't strapped to her back the way it usually was, but ahead and soaked with blood. Immediately blaming Cloud, I pulled my gun and got down, pointing it at his head "What did you do to her?" He choked, then replied "I didn't do anything." I refused to believe him, and threatened "Tell me the truth or I'll finish you right now! What did you do to her?" He showed faint anger "I am! I didn't do a thing to her!" I put my gun to his head and decided I'd never get the truth out of him. However, before I could pull the trigger, I heard someone land directly behind me and say "Stop, Yazoo." It sounded like Mother, and I dropped my weapon and turned around to see who it was: Mother was back! I cried "Mother? But, what about Loz and Sephiroth? They should've beaten us here..." She helped me up, and I retrieved my gun. Mother explained "Loz took Sephiroth to the Forgotten City. I ordered him to go there instead of here. As for our little friend there, I will take care of him. All enemy forces have been annihilated except for Rufus himself and his HQ. That is all that remains of enemy forces." I asked "What do we do about all of our fallen brothers and sisters, though? They killed so many of us..." Mother answered "I will reverse those deaths and also have Rufus captured. Normally, he would be exiled and locked away in my lifestream for what he tried to do, but he is the only person capable of getting the foundation back on its feet. I have no other choice but to let him live for this reason. But I can assure you and the rest of my guard that the mistakes of this war will never be repeated." I nodded in understanding "Yes, Mother...." I turned back to Little Sister, and asked "Are you ok?" She turned to me nodded "I'll be alright, but there's a lot of cleaning up we have to do yet. Even with Mother back, we've still gotta clean up the kingdom after the mess that Shinra made." She seemed to remember something turned to Mother "But, what about Perfect WEAPON? If Vincent sets it loose, everyone is in danger." Mother answered "Don't worry. Sephiroth defeated it when Vincent and his lackeys escaped. Fortunately, he was able to get the beast's attention before it could wreak havoc across the kingdom or run wild in any way. Had he not been there, it could've done Loz in and made a nasty mess." Mother bolted two metallic silver wings, and said "I will tend to Shinra HQ and dealing with Cloud. I trust the rest of you with everything else." Then she picked up Cloud flew away. I smiled, feeling inner peace at her return "Mother came back... she actually returned..." I felt a tear fall from my face, and Yuffie hurried to me "Hey, are you ok?" I nodded "I'm fine. I'm just so happy she came back. This Planet, our kingdom... it's just not the same without Mother." Yuffie agreed "Yeah, but we've still got cleanup to do! Let's get a move on already!" She laughed and pulled my leather sleeve, leading me out of here with everyone following. I heard Little Sister laugh behind us, and felt relief sweep over me. Everything was going to be ok. Mother returned, our fallen family members would come back, and the war-torn kingdom would once again be cleaned up and fixed with enough time and work. What I wasn't sure about was Sephiroth's life. Would he make it or die from using too much of his JENOVA cells? I hoped he would be ok too.
To be Continued...
