By: Mags

Malcolm’s world went black as Sephiroth’s sword came crashing down towards him. He toppled backwards and hit his head against a file cabinet, causing him to regain consciousness. Sephiroth’ sword just cleaved air.

"Wait…" Malcolm cried, "Why are you doing this?"

Sephiroth gave an evil cackle.

"Your megalomaniacal plans have been interfering with my own megalomaniacal plans, so I’m going to get rid of you."

"But… but… I brought you back from the void… from death. Surely you wold at least like to know why first…" Malcolm stammered.

"Not in the least. Besides, death was actually more relaxing than living anyway. As just a sphere of spirit energy, I was truly immortal. I must steal energy from the planet to make this body immortal. As we speak I can feel my body dying all around me, such an unsuitable vessel for such a powerful soul, wouldn’t you say?"

"But why go to so much trouble for godly power? You are already a god to the masses!" Malcolm protested.

"Masses will come and go, but godlike power is forever," Sephiroth replied.

Sephiroth raised his sword again.

"Wait…" Malcolm pleaded, "Let me first explain to why I did what I did. Your human side must have at least some curiosity as to why I resurrected you of all people!"

Sephiroth lowered his sword.

"You have my attention… if just for the moment."

"Thank you."

Malcolm gave a heave of relief and regained his composure.

"You are not the only one who I saved from the Great Beyond," Malcolm stated.

Sephiroth bore no face of shock but there was a glint of surprise and interest in his eyes.

"The Cetra girl Aeris was my first," Malcolm grinned.

Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed.

"You tamper with forces you cannot possibly hope to control."

"Boy have I heard that before," Malcolm grumbled, "But anyway, as I am sure you have already realized, I couldn’t resurrect someone so pure with the Black Materia."

Sephiroth nodded.

"Although she isn’t that pure now," Malcolm added with a grin.

Sephiroth gave him a cold glare and tightened the grip on his sword.

"Anyway…" Malcolm continued quickly, "Based on my research, I have concluded that she and you are the two most perfect specimens of humanity ever created. Despite the fact that the girl is only half-Cetra, with some more tampering on a genetic level, she is now not only a complete Cetra but several times more powerful."

Sephiroth just glared at him.

"She can, should I so choose to, easily destroy Meteor. She follows my orders blindly, figuratively, and mutely, literally. She is the perfect woman in existence. And of course, all women need the perfect mate. Which brings me to you…"

Sephiroth’s facial expressions remained unchanged.

"I have determined that since you and her are both the most physically and mentally powerful beings ever, that the child that you would sire would combine the best of both of your powers and abilities. I intend to wipe out the human race and reconstruct it with the race of super-beings that you two would produce."
"There are many flaws to such a plan, scientist," Sephiroth stated.

"Oh?" Malcolm replied. "Such as?"
Sephiroth grumbled something under his breath and turned back to face Malcolm.

"First of all, what makes you think that the girl would take to me or that I would take to her?"

"That’s simple. I can’t force you to take her but she will devote herself to you on my whim."

"What about inbreeding?"
Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

"What about it?"
"Do you intend to have our children screwing each other to procreate? How else would the line continue past our offspring?"

Malcolm bit his lip, but then had a flash of brilliance.

"There is one other pair that I will set up to live beside you," Malcolm replied.

"Oh?" Sephiroth replied.

"The clone of Rufus ShinRa and the descendant of Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart-Strife, Karen Strife."

For the first time, Sephiroth bore a look of shock.
"His line yet lives…" he growled. "The house of strife… I cannot let it come to pass!"

Malcolm just looked confused.

Sephiroth turned to look at the contents of the room, his eyes finally falling on the large machine in the corner with the long tubes filled with glowing green liquid.

"What is that?" he demanded.

"That is what I used to…ah… power up the Aeris clone, so to speak."

Sephiroth walked over to it and gave it a quick once over. His head snapped over to Malcolm’s direction.

"This is a Mako Reactor!" he growled.

"In a sense…" Malcolm replied.

"You are draining the planet with this… this… machine!" Sephiroth screamed.

"But what do you care? You’re going to kill the planet anyway!" Malcolm cried.

"By stealing it’s power, you idiot! You’re stealing my own power by even having this goddamned machine turned on!"

Sephiroth raised his sword and with one powerful slash, cleaved the entire machine in twine, sparks flying everywhere, providing the only means of light in the room as the green glow of Lifestream faded from the machine as it returned to the planet.

Sephiroth stormed over to Malcolm, looming over him like impending doom.

"There is something about your plan that doesn’t quite fit," Sephiroth declared.

"Wh…what?"

"Your plan is too unselfish, for lack of a better word. You wouldn’t be going to all this work if there wasn’t something in it for you!"

"I only wish to see the strong survive!" Malcolm cried.

"We will. You won’t but we will."
Sephiroth’s hands shot out and enveloped Malcolm’s face.

Malcolm screamed in agony as Sephiroth invaded his mind, darting in and out of the dark recesses of Malcolm’s twisted labyrinth of a mind.

"So that is it, little one," Sephiroth finally declared. "I knew there must be something in it for you."
Malcolm just screamed.

"You wish to attain immortality by injecting your own DNA into the womb of the child that we would sire. A child born with all of your memories, all of your knowledge, only outfitted with the body of the most perfect physical and mental properties, not to mention my dashing good looks! And people say that I’m egotistical and megalomaniacal…" Sephiroth snorted.

He paused.

"Well, I am," Sephiroth declared. "And I am also the main villain here, so that means I can get away with …this!"

Sephiroth’s grip increased on Malcolm’s head. Malcolm screamed in pain as Sephiroth’s thumbs gouged out his eyes and his fingers shattered the hinges of his lower jaw, severing the tendons that attached it to his skull. Malcolm’s eyes rolled back into his head as the shattered shards of bone were pushed up into his brain, killing him instantly.

Sephiroth let the lifeless body drop to the floor with a sickeningly wet flop. A pool of blood began to form around the head and upper body, staining his white lab coat a deep magenta, then as it dried, a dark brown.

Sephiroth laughed.

"Now there is nothing to impede my goals."

His laughter was cut short by a disturbance in one of the many energy fields of the planet.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, producing an image of a man forming from the earth of the planet itself.

"So the planet is finally making its move…"

Sephiroth grinned as the image of the WEAPON disposing of the gang of ruffians near the newly freed city of Nibelheim. It had been a while since this had occurred. The disturbances in the energy field would have taken a while to reach him on this continent.

He paid close attention to which direction the WEAPON was headed. He knew that the bio-weapons that had struck his cities had killed all life, but they would be useless against the WEAPON. He would have to deal with it himself.

"Finally," he thought as he flew off, "A challenge."

The WEAPON slowly made its way across the mountains, finally stopping to rest at a small clearing.

It was still adjusting to its new body. This body was not what it was used to. It was used to a cumbersome, slow-moving body comprised of raw power. Instead it got a nimble, powerful body that got tired and dehydrated quickly.

It walked over to a nearby pool of water and stooped down and took a sip.

After it had quenched its thirst it stared at its reflection in the pool’s surface.

It had never seen itself before. As a regular WEAPON, it probably had while flying over the ocean but it did not have the brainpower to comprehend such things as a simple reflection. That was why the planet chose this kind of body.

The human species had a very powerful brain, making things that had at one time seemed odd or unattainable simple tasks. It had never been able to run before. Never been able to stop and think about a situation before jumping into it. It had never been able to smell or taste.

It stopped.

The Cloud Strife in it was warning it about something.

He leaped to the right just as the sword came down upon the spot he had been standing on.

He rolled a few times upon landing and slid to a stop and spun to face his assailant.

It was a man with long silver hair and a black trenchcoat.

It did not recognize him, but the Cloud in it did. The anger of Cloud overwhelmed the WEAPON and it relinquished control of the body to him.

Cloud held out a fist and quickly summoned Comet, sending a large boulder crashing down from the skies towards Sephiroth.

Sephiroth held out his hand and the comet spun towards Cloud, who quickly jumped over it before it collided with him.

He used the momentum to launch himself at Sephiroth, slashing viciously with his sword.

The blade went right through Sephiroth, cleaving him in two as the lifeless body of Sephiroth fell to the earth.

The body vanished just before contact with the earth and Cloud spun around in time to see Sephiroth behind him lash out with his fist, landing a blow that sent him flying into the mountain wall.

From the other side of the mountain, Vincent heard the crash and went to investigate, the Death Penalty ready at his side.

Cloud groaned as he pried himself from the crater his impact had created. He quickly cast Full Cure on himself and jumped back to his feet.

Sephiroth was ready with a vicious combo of punches that sent Cloud reeling backwards. Caught off-guard and off-balance by the assault, he fell backwards, blood flowing freely from his split lip.

Cloud’s eyes flared, and so did the materia in his fist.

A second later, Sephiroth was summoned to a black void, the realm of the Knights of the Round.

The first knight attacked viciously, but Sephiroth was ready for him. He had met defeat at these knights several hundred years ago and he did not intend to do so again. Especially not now when he was so close to victory.

He lashed out with his own sword, parrying the knight’s blow. While the knight was off-balance, Sephiroth reared back and sliced the astral knight in half.

He watched as the knight dissipated into nothingness just as the second knight arrived. It met the same fate as the first.

And so it was for each. They were simply no match. Each met their gruesome fate at the end of Sephiroth’s sword as their brethren had moments before.

Soon only Arthur loomed over him. He reared back his giant battle-axe as Sephiroth brought his sword up, piercing armor and flesh, puncturing Arthur’s heart. The knight gave a hollow cry and diffused into the blackness as the spell ended.

A second later, Sephiroth was back where he had stood not a minute before. He looked over at Cloud, who bore a look of shock. The glow in the Knights of the Round materia in his glove slowly faded, and a second later the materia crumbled to dust.

Sephiroth had just defeated the most powerful force in existence.

Save one.

Sword in hand, a red ring of fire began to envelope Cloud as his body began to burn the raw fury that dwelled in his heart. With an ear-shattering battlecry, he launched himself at Sephiroth at an incredible speed.

Sephiroth didn’t have a chance to react before Cloud was upon him.

Blow after blow, slash after slash landed upon Sephiroth’s body, blood flying. The wind was knocked out of the villain as he staggered backwards in pain, propping himself up on his sword.

Cloud was not finished yet.

He raised the sword above his head as he leapt into the air, channeling all his energy into this final blow, preparing to reunite Sephiroth with the planet permanently.

But Sephiroth knew what was coming this time. As Cloud plummeted towards him, preparing to slice him in two, Sephiroth raised his own sword and ran Cloud through.

Cloud’s attack immediately stopped.

He did not die; Sephiroth had not had time to perfectly aim his defensive attack, but had still managed to run him through the torso.

A pool of red began to stain his clothes around the wound, spreading outwards as the heavy bleeding continued.

Sephiroth lowered his sword and Cloud slid off, leaving red streaks on the blade as Cloud passed.

Cloud’s face bore a look of shock; Sephiroth’s a look of exasperation.

Vincent arrived just in time to see the grim outcome of the stranger’s attack on Sephiroth, which to him bore an uncanny resemblance to Cloud’s Omnislash attack.

Sephiroth propped himself up on a boulder nearby. He raised his sword, preparing to reunite the WEAPON with the planet permanently.

Vincent saw this and opened fire on the area where Sephiroth stood.

Several bullets hit their target, ripping through Sephiroth’s legs and lower body. He yelped in pain as his legs gave out. He looked up to see the stranger who had attacked him running down from the cliff into view.

He gasped.

It was another one, Vincent Valentine.

"So he’s alive too," Sephiroth thought. "I wonder if Malcolm had cloned him, too."

The thought escaped his mind quickly as he used his last reserves of strength to take to the air.

He considered it a strategic retreat but deep down he knew it was really just tucking his tail under his legs and running away. He would have to take some time to recuperate. It was odd not having Jenova around to heal him as quickly anymore, but he was making due without her.

Despite leaving Rachwell IM president-less, Malcolm’s death had a small side effect that even Malcolm himself would not have expected.

Seth Voder, the Rufus clone, and the clone of Aeris Gainsborough were both programmed by Malcolm to obey only him. Upon his death that programming was corrupted, shattered, leaving the clones by themselves to act upon their own accord. Malcolm wouldn’t have believed what that meant was going to happen.

Ever so slowly, their memories of their previous lives began to grow in their minds as the programming ebbed.

Soon, Seth was completely replaced by Rufus ShinRa. He sat up in bed quickly and stared at his surroundings. Slowly he began to recall the events that had led up to his being here, including the memory of killing Minerva Rachwell.

He looked down at his hand to find a small golden ring.

He sneered and ripped it off of his hand and threw it to the ground.

He wandered over to the bathroom and took a good long look in the mirror.

What stared back looked like him, or at least the face did. He would never leave his hair so unkempt. He removed a comb from the medicine cabinet beside him and fixed his hair.

"Perfect," he muttered, tucking the comb into his pocket.

He walked over to the closet outside the bathroom and found his white scientists suit and black collar shirt.

"It would appear that the people of the future still have good taste in clothes," he thought as he threw the outfit on. They weren’t quite his old clothes but they were the best that he had.

Without another word, he walked over to the elevator to reclaim his kingdom. After all… he was the President.

The aborting of Malcolm’s programming had the same effect on Aeris. She woke with a start in Malcolm’s bed. She sat up with a start and looked around her. The entire room was filthy.

She felt odd.

She looked down and discovered she was naked.

With a yelp, she raced around the room to find her scattered clothes and threw them on hastily. She could remember clearly all of the degrading acts that Malcolm had her do for him, but that was over. She was herself again.

She stopped in her tracks.

She was more than herself.

She could hear the planet from the room, but never as she could before.

Before, it had always been a jumbled of loud voices and random sounds.

Now, she could finally hear it clearly. She could pinpoint each voice or noise; she could finally understand the planet.

It was telling her to look out the window.

She raced over to the window and threw open the blinds.

Meteor glared back at her, making her shield her eyes from the intense glow it emitted.

She was horrified.

Meteor was back, bigger than it had ever been.

The planet told her more.

The color slowly drained from her face.

Sephiroth was back, as well.

The planet told her what Malcolm had done to her and what needed to be done.

She nodded.

She was a complete Cetra now; she was more powerful than ever before.

She held her hand out and followed it where it led her.

It led her to the small white gem that Malcolm had salvaged from the Forgotten Capital under a week ago.

The White Materia.

She tucked the tiny jewel into her pocket and exited the room.

She hurried her way up to the airport on the roof and with a quick demand and a flash of credentials that Malcolm had given her former self, she was on her way to the Ancient City to save the planet once again.

Sephiroth grinned.

Through his mental link with the planet he had gained so long ago when he had become one with the planet.

So the true Aeris was back, then. This truly was an interesting period of time when those long dead could be reanimated by the powers of science. Hojo himself would have been amazed.

He cackled as his one-time father crossed his mind.

Hojo had been a fool but at the last possible minute seen the light. He had seen how useless science was in the face of true power. He had attempted to aid his son, give him the energy that he needed to conquer the world but had been stopped by the meddling heroes AVALANCHE. Well, they were gone now and he was victorious. His wounds were healed and he was ready to finish what he’d started with the WEAPON.

He knew what Malcolm’s scientists were doing in Midgar, attempting to repair the Mako Cannon that rested on the ShinRa Tower.

He hadn’t saved his remaining legions at Kalm for nothing. They were the ones in the best position to get to the small group at the center of the Midgar ruins. He had just recently dispatched them to abort the project, as well as the lives of those who worked on it. They would probably all kill each other, he figured. Not a real waste.

He had bigger fishes to fry.

Namely Aeris, who was attempting to hinder his plans yet again.

"Ugh," he thought, smashing a wall of the cave with his bare fist, "Is it too much to ask to be able to conquer a goddamned world every now and then without little people trying to be heroes attempting to stop you?"

He shrugged.

It didn’t really matter. He had enough power as it was to kill them all without breaking a sweat. After he sapped the planet of it’s juices, he’d have enough power to continually resurrect and annihilate those who had hindered his plans in the past over and over again for all eternity. Of course that would be counterproductive to his plans, not to mention a really big waste of power. He had better things to do.

All the power of the universe would be his.

He flew off.

It was time to kill this game.

Rufus ShinRa, under the guise of one Seth Voder, rummaged through a collection of artifacts in musty, old boxes in cellar closet.

After throwing around several pounds of packaging material, as well as many rare or priceless artifacts, he finally produced the object of his desire.

A dusty, old shotgun.

Further rummaging produced several shells. He shoved them into his pocket and returned to the elevator, racing himself to the President’s office.

He walked over to the seat and spun it around and lowered himself into it, propping his gun against the desk.

He picked it up and pressed the button marked ‘Secretary’. It rang for a minute, before the whiny voice of Lisa Gabriel, the secretary Malcolm had just appointed the other day, picked up.

"Hello?" she asked, her voice sounding like a car alarm. Rufus held the phone at a distance from his ear.

"This is…" he hesitated for a second, catching himself before he said Rufus ShinRa, "Seth Voder. Malcolm’s dead and I’m taking over."

"Uh… yes sir, I’ll make a memo. Is there anything else?"
Rufus thought for a minute.

"Hmm… yes actually. Inform the staff that I’m changing the name of the company to ShinRa Enterprises."

"Excuse me sir?"

"You heard me. I have my reasons, now do it!" he roared.

He slammed the phone down.

From somewhere within the room clapped.

Rufus’ head shot up and rested on Xendel ShinRa, who stood at the door applauding enthusiastically.

"Well played, ancestor," Xendel proclaimed.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Rufus replied, looking away.

"Bullshit, Rufus, we both know who you really are so stop with the innocence act. No one’s buying it."

"Well then, Sherlock, what can I do for you?"

"I came for my company!"

"What?" Rufus growled, his blue eyes narrowing into azure daggers.

"You heard me," Xendel replied.

"It’s mine," Rufus replied coldly.

"Not for long, ancestor, I’m next in line and once you’re out of the way and back six feet under like you should be, I’ll truly make this the ShinRa Enterprise Empire!"

"In a cold day in hell…" Rufus shot back, sweeping up his shotgun and pointing it at Xendel.

"Oh I’m scared, are you going to…"

Xendel’s words were cut short by the blast from the gun. It threw Xendel several feet back, as he landed on his back, a blank expression on his face.

"See you…" Rufus grinned, walking out the side door up to the airport above.

If Rufus had stuck around, he would have watched in amazement, or at the very least watched, as Xendel slowly climbed to his feet.

"Ha hah ha," Xendel chuckled as he raced to catch up with Rufus.

But by the time he got up to the airport, the helicopter with Rufus was already taking off. He ran up to a nearby flight attendant.

"Hey," he yelled over the noise of the propellers, "Where’s that chopper going?"

"To Midgar," the flight attendant yelled back, running off the takeoff ramp and back to his job.

Xendel couldn’t let him get away, but the other choppers were already taken. Without a second thought, he ran up to the chopper and jumped onto the leg as it was taking off.

He would not let him get away from him. He would have what was his!

Rufus looked anxiously as Midgar came into view. He knew that he couldn’t possibly expect things to be as they had when he had died, but it was still home all the same.

"Too bad," he thought, "I’m gonna miss having Heiddegar to kick around."

He snickered and the pilot turned around to inform him that they would be landing in a minute.

Xendel lifted himself back into a semi-sitting position as the ground closed in on him. He hadn’t followed the imposter all the way here just to be crushed by the chopper at the last minute. He readied himself and jumped off of the chopper right before it touched ground.

He somersaulted a few times before rolling to a stop right in front of one of the project guards who stood in front of him, his gun primed and ready in his hands.

Xendel cursed his carelessness.

The guard leaned in closer for a better look.

"Dr. ShinRa?" the guard asked, scrutinizing the trespasser’s face.

Xendel breathed a sigh of relief. The guard knew him, or at least of him. He had a chance at escaping.

"Yes, it’s me," Xendel replied, getting to his feet.

The butt of the guard’s gun shoved him back down.

"I’m sorry, but I’ll have to hold you until the President arrives. This is a black-ops project and only authorized personnel are allowed here. I’m afraid you’re not on the list."

"What?" Xendel roared, "I’m the damn Vice President!"

"You are? Since when?"
"What? Haven’t you been paying attention? Dr. Malcolm appointed my VP just the other day? Where the hell have you been?"

"Here, sir. I’m sorry, but we’ve been going through Presidents and Vice Presidents so quickly these days, ever since that Dr. Morrigan brought back Sephiroth. I just can’t keep track anymore. But the one thing I do know is that you aren’t on the list!"

Xendel muttered a long chain of obscenities and kicked a small pebble on the ground.

"What seems to be the problem here?" Rufus demanded, walking up to the guard.

The guard immediately straightened up and saluted him.

"Mr. President, sir, Dr. Xendel ShinRa has requested permission to enter the restricted area. What is your decision, sir?"

"Arrest him. He made an attempt on my life earlier!" Rufus declared.

"What… but I…" Xendel protested as he was dragged away by the guard. "Hey!"

Rufus grinned.

That was one minor annoyance out of the way.

He proceeded into the restricted area without any further diversions. What greeted him was the beautiful view of the horizon from atop the barrel of the largest gun the world ever had and ever would know: the Sister Ray.

But it was no longer the Sister Ray. It was modified past such an antiquated piece of garbage. From the ashes of the Sister Ray stood the powerful and advanced piece of anti-Sephiroth weaponry ever created under the wing of the eternal reign of ShinRa Enterprises: the Apollo!

He walked up to a nearby technician.

"How goes the construction?" he asked.

The tech immediately saluted him then returned to normal composure.

"All goes well, sir. The old president, Dr. Malcolm put us on 24/7 work hours. We have over 2,000 people crawling all over here working on this… thing. We’ve only been working a day or so and we’re almost done, too. Incredible, eh?"

"When do you expect the Apollo to be finished?"

"You mean that it has a name? Well I would expect within the next day or so," the tech guessed, rubbing the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

"You have one half-hour," Rufus replied, walking away.

The remaining masses of Sephiroth’s followers were already clearing through the last of the jungle area. They would be here very soon. He would need to make sure that the cannon was mostly finished so that the workers could fight instead of have to work.

A tech ran up to Rufus.

"Sir, we’ve just received word that some sort of powerful energy barrier has formed over a large area of the Northern Continent."

"Sephiroth…" Rufus growled. His return to this planet would be so much nicer if he hadn’t shown up as well. "Then that will be the first target for the Apollo. Ready the cannon to be fired."

"But sir, the cannon is not complete yet. If we fire it now then it might overheat and explode! We’d never have a chance to destroy the meteor if it did that. It would reach NEO-Junon before we had a chance to build it again. The only reason we were able to build this one so quickly was because the frame of it was relatively intact. If something happened to this one, who knows how long it would take to reconstruct it."

"Very well, but see to it that the very first target is the Northern Barrier."

"Yes, Mr. President, sir!"

The tech ran off, lost to his watchful eye amidst a throng of workers, scientists, and technicians.

Xendel sat silently in his holding cell outside the airport, watching as the first of the throngs of Sephiroth-worshippers emerged from the jungle. They would be here in an hour or so.

He watched as the first several were overcome by a swarm of Hoppers. They jumped out of the trees and crumbling buildings, overcoming the scouts before they even knew it.

Xendel smiled.

Perhaps they wouldn’t make it here after all.

But deep down he knew they would. And as if to assure him of his deepest fear, a roar ripped apart the silence of the jungle as the entire swarm of Hoppers were engulfed in green fire.

Xendel groaned.

That was it, they were in. If the Hoppers couldn’t get them then the Gate Sentries were screwed.

He looked around and found that no one was watching his cell. He realized that they were probably all trying to finish the cannon before the attack. This gave him an opportunity to escape.

He reached down into his pants and removed a small shiny metal device.

He grinned.

The search the guards had given him had been extremely light. They had barely bothered to check for concealed weapons.

"Novices…" he sneered as he hit a button on the machine, causing it to release a large metal spike and a blinking light. He quickly stuck the small machine into the door and ran to the opposite end of the room.

A few seconds later, the door was engulfed in super-hot plasma that reduced the large metal door to a bubbling pool of molten steel in under a minute.

He lifted up the small wire-frame bed that rested beside him and placed it over the pool of molten steel and walked on top of it to escape the room.

He heard footsteps coming towards him but then the Klaxons began blaring. Three guards ran right by him.

"Hurry up, the base is under attack!" he heard one guard yell.

Xendel raced down the hall and ducked into a corner just as the soldiers in front of him were engulfed in flames. He ran past their charred bodies and out into the open base.

He made a V-line for the large barrel of the Apollo.

Rufus spied Xendel and raced after him, paying no attention to the charred and dying bodies all around him. A Flare spell was set off where he had been standing not a second ago, but he paid the caster no heed.

Bullets raced past him, missing him by inches, but he paid the assailant no heed. He just had one thing on his mind right now. Spilling Xendel’s blood.

He raced up the long barrel of the Apollo, slamming the butt of his shotgun into Xendel’s head, making him fall to the floor in a cry of pain.

Blood spilled everywhere, running down both sides of the Apollo’s titanic barrel.

Slowly, Xendel rose to his feet.

Rufus gave a small gasp of surprise.

Instead of a gaping wide hole and crushed bone where Rufus had bashed Xendel, stood a large panel of circuits stained red with the blood plasma that lay beneath it’s pseudo-skin.

Xendel laughed.

"So now you know… my secret…" Xendel laughed.

"It explains a lot, actually," Rufus replied.

"Oh?"

"Yes, after all I never sired a child so my line stopped with me. I knew you couldn’t possibly be who you claimed to be."

"Oh but you’re wrong, dear ancestor. You see, I am your descendant, but I’m also a cyborg. You see, after you died, Scarlet and Palmer in collaboration with several former ShinRa scientists, took semen samples from you and impregnated a young girl I believe that you know as Elena of the Turks."

Rufus gasped.
"You mean that the ShinRa line now has that airhead as an ancestor?" Rufus groaned.

Xendel just nodded.

"She died during the conception, and out of anger the other Turks came after the others involved with the project. ‘You’ I should say, were left parentless. The Turks just left you to die until you were discovered by…"

Xendel stopped and just started laughing hysterically.

"What’s so damn funny?" Rufus demanded.

"You’re going to hate yourself when you hear this…" Xendel snickered.

"Tell me," Rufus cried.

"Very well," Xendel replied, straightening up, "You were found and raised by Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart as their son Magus Strife along with your sister, their only child, Terra Strife!"

Rufus looked as though his own grandmother had stabbed him through the heart.

"Mommy…?" Rufus murmured, prompting a renewed round of laughter from Xendel.

"You see? I told you that you’d hate yourself when you heard it," Xendel laughed.

Rufus’ eyes narrowed.

"You lie," he replied with cold confidence.

"Do I?" Xendel posed.

"You have to!" Rufus insisted.

"Well I don’t Rufus, or should I call you Magus?" Xendel teased.

"Shut up!" Rufus demanded, raising his shotgun and firing both rounds point blank into Xendel’s face.

Xendel went down like a rock.

Rufus took the time to reload.

"You pathetic lout!" Xendel cried, a mechanical tinge to his voice now, as he rose up from the ground.

Rufus grimaced.

Xendel’s face a twisted mass of flesh, blood, and circuits. There were sparks flying out of his right cheek and the area around where his left ear would be.

"So you are a robot," Rufus finalized.

"Ha, not even. I am both human and robotics. I’m a cyborg, thanks to both an explosion in a college lab gone wrong and the brilliance of Dr. Malcolm."

Rufus grimaced again.

"The more I hear about Dr. Malcolm, the more he sounds like the reincarnation of that quack Hojo!"

He fired again, this time at his torso.

Again it ripped away fake flesh, but managed to hit real flesh, as well.

Xendel cried out in pain and clutched his right rib cage and stomach area.

"First blood to you, Rufy," Xendel laughed, holding out his arm and releasing an entire magazine of bullets at Rufus, who quickly ran behind a large metal box that rested behind him. The bullets easily penetrated the thin sheet metal, but the innards of the box provided suitable protection and Rufus only suffered a slight scratch in his shoulder and side.

He quickly ran out from behind the box and fired at Xendel, hitting him in the leg. He struck flesh once again and Xendel went down.

Rufus walked up to him and gave him a swift kick in the face, sending him flying towards the far edge of the barrel.

"Even been pistol whipped before?" Rufus asked. "How about shotgun-whipped?"

Xendel began reloading his handgun but Rufus attacked too quickly. He landed a solid hit to Xendel’s chin with the butt of his shotgun.

"That was for trying to kill me. This is for giving me that bullshit lineage story!"

He smacked him in the head again.

"This is for trying to kill me!"

Rufus landed yet another blow to Xendel’s head. Xendel teetered on the edge of the barrel.

"AND THIS IS FOR CALLING ME RUFY!" Rufus roared deafeningly, muting even the explosions of Flare and Ultima that were finishing off the last of their men. The day was lost and he was most likely next, but Rufus didn’t care. He was going to finish this, sate his bloodlust, if it killed him.

The last swing was like slow motion to Xendel, even with his enhanced cybernetic features.

It ripped an entire side of his face off, sending it falling off the cannon barrel into the streets below, its landing muted by the distance.

Xendel stared up at Rufus in horror as he reared back again.

"W…wait… you don’t want to accidentally push me off the edge… do you?" Xendel pleaded, raising his arms in defense.

Rufus put his hands down.

"No…" he stated.

A look of relief passed over Xendel’s features.

Then Rufus nudged Xendel off the edge with the toe of his boot.

As Xendel watched Rufus disappear out of sight he heard Rufus finish "… not accidentally"

Rufus turned around, completely satisfied with himself, when he found himself face to face with an angry mob.

Rufus sighed.

"What do you want?" he demanded icily.

"Your blood," a voice from behind him replied, and suddenly a hand shot up from below the barrel of the Apollo and grabbed Rufus by the head, pulling him over the edge.

Rufus screamed as he felt himself plummeting. He fell for what seemed like forever, and when he finally landed, the last thing he heard was an evil cackle before his whole world went black…