“A Saquri?” Edmund asked, and eyebrow raised as he looked at the struggling
Christina with renewed interest. He had always heard tales of the Cetra
as far back as he could remember, and sometimes they had mentioned a perhaps
secret race which had fascinated Edmund as much as the thought of the Promised
Land. Now that race had a name. Saquri. Had a nice ring to it, like Cetra
did.
“Yes, a Saquri. Surely you know a little about the secret race.” Jenova
said, a small smirk on her pink lips, Edmund still not being over the fact
that she looked human now. Edmund nodded nonchalantly, eyeing his ex-employee
with a calculating eye. To think that such an ancient race was working
right under his nose!
“You should take her to Koji. He’ll inject her.” Edmund stated, and
Christina straightened in fear at the mention of the evil scientist. Jenova
nodded, snapping her fingers again as she disappeared with the Saquri.
“I’m so bored!” Blade complained to Lucy, who rolled her eyes and stared
at Chris with a semi worried expression. Chris hadn’t spoken much since
Natalia’s death, and when he did, all he could talk about was Natalia and
how sweet it would be to get his revenge. In other words, it meant they
had a second James on their hands. Don’t get her wrong, she held nothing
against their leader, but now that he revealed he thought his ‘mother’
was that evil alien Jenova, she wasn’t sure. Especially after he had ordered
them all to be injected with her cells, a very painful process mind you,
as if swearing them loyal to his ‘mother’. Lucy looked at Malanda, who
seemed to have nerves of steel. Nothing seemed to faze the quiet, brown
eyed girl in the least, and Lucy wished more than ever she could be a little
like Malanda. It would certainly help with her to ignore Blade’s complaining.
“Would you be quiet!” Brad’s angry hiss snapped Lucy out of her musings
as she noticed Brad looking irritated at Blade over his half shining sword,
which he had been in the middle of polishing. Blade stood up, ready for
a good fist fight. That’s Blade, Lucy thought to herself, fight first,
think later.
“You wanna make me?” Blade snapped, and Brad also stood, brandishing
Tenku, the weird name for his short sword.
“Gentlemen, no need to fight over silly matters.” The familiar haunting
voice of Jenova called, and the very air around her shimmered with something
Lucy couldn’t quite place, but the closet word she had for it was ‘pure
evil’.
“Listen to her, children.” A second voice called, just as coldly and
sweetly as Jenova had, and they looked up surprised to see a Jenova look
alike, except her hair had a yellow tinge to it and black eyes with no
pupils. At least Jenova had the decency not to look so freaky.
“Children, this is my eldest sister, Moniva.” Jenova said, an identical
evil smirk on both of their lovely faces, now twisted with malevolence.
“Stop pacing! It won’t help anything!” Cloud snapped, him and Sephiroth
both on the edge since Christy had been kidnapped. Reno just hoped they
wouldn’t try to kill each other again this time. Even he had learned not
to settle arguments. It was a waste of time and often he was sore for a
week.
“It isn’t good to argue together just because more Jenova has arrived.”
Yuffie said, and every looked at her, more than a little surprised. Yuffie
had made it a great show to let everyone know how smart she was now just
because the Saquri had lent her their knowledge.
“More…Jenova? What do you mean?” Elena asked, curiosity getting the
best of her. Reno smirked knowingly. Elena had always been big on gossip,
and as a result, was an excellent spy and information gathering.
“Her family is beginning to arrive.” Tifa said softly, startling everyone
for a moment. She hadn’t spoken in quiet some time, and would get silent
whenever somebody said ‘Saquri’. Reno sensed some kind of story behind
it, but wasn’t sure when to ask her. After all, he didn’t want to disturb
her private thoughts.
“So I take it its up to us to be the good guys again and defeat Jenova.”
Reno said, leaning against a wall, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Yes.” Sephiroth said simply, but so much urgency were hidden behind
those words.
“Then let’s go now! What are we waiting for?” Yuffie asked, jumping
up, always ready for action.
“For the last sister to arrive.” Cloud explained calmly, his arms folded
across his chest as his eyes flashed with mako and fire. Seems he was just
as impatient about this as Yuffie.
“Alright… I guess.” Yuffie said, and after that, the room was silent,
then sudden explosion threw everyone off their confortable seating arrangements
and onto the floor.
“Jenova!” Sephiroth hissed angrily. No love for the evil alien in that
guy. Another presence tugged at the back of Yuffie’s mind, one that gave
her an immense headache and made her feel sick.
“Moniva…” Tifa stated softly, her now golden eyes narrowed in hostility
and anger. Oh goody, a battle with your typical evil aliens, how fun. Yuffie
thought sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
“Jenova!” Cloud and Sephiroth hissed angrily, and Tifa sighed. It didn’t
take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going to happen next. With
battle cries, they were rushing forward, already slashing at the two ‘women’,
who didn’t seem affected at all.
“Obviously that’s not the way.” Reno said dryly, looking at the two
aliens who were still cackling.
“We’re not here for you, children, we’re here for her!” the Jenova
look alike cackled, waving a hand at Tifa. The wind began to color, the
materia on Tifa’s necklace making its presence known by glowing with a
blinding light, obviously on the verge of the Cetra limit break. Instead,
the two forms grinned, and then clasped each other’s hands, staring straight
at each other.
“Ready, Moniva, sister dear?” Jenova asked, and Moniva nodded, cackling.
Together, energy formed, a darker one, making the air sizzle and crackle,
turning the deepest black that Yuffie had ever seen, and she felt something
gnaw at the pit of her stomach. Something horrible was going to happen,
she could taste it in the air.
“Evil be gone!” Tifa cried, the colored wind swooping around the two
women, seeming to form a serpent like dragon in its multicolor. Instead
of going straight through them like last time, the wind stopped, and died
suddenly. Everyone was silent for a moment in shock. What had just happened
here?
“Foolish Cetra! The same trick shan’t best us twice!” Moniva and Jenova
shrieked in high pitched voices, making everyone flinch in pain, especially
Cloud and Sephiroth, though they tried not to show it.
“What do we do? It worked last time…” Elena said, for once allowing
some emotion in her voice, and Yuffie looked at her silently. Maybe Elena
wasn’t so cold after all, and besides, now that she thought of it, she
had been harsh on Elena.
“Don’t worry; I’m sure the Saquri can tell me something.” Yuffie said
cheerfully, and the two aliens turned their attention from Tifa to Yuffie,
amusement on their faces.
“Saquri huh? Well little girl, you have a lot to learn. Your heritage
won’t help you now!” Jenova snapped, her fingers curling wickedly as she
grinned evilly, and Yuffie gasped in pain, falling to her knees. Sephiroth
and Cloud assumed similar stances, gritting their teeth in pain. A gunshot
rang clear in the air, and Moniva’s scream in pain brought the ones on
their knees back to their feet shakily.
“T-T-Thanks.” Yuffie whispered softly to Elena, whose gun barrel was
smoking as she smirked confidently at the two, giving Yuffie a quick wink.
“Obviously we’re not wanted. Let’s go, sister. Koshinee will be waiting
for us.” Jenova said snottily, disappearing in a thick cloud of mist along
with a wailing Moniva.
“That was one of the weirdest encounters I’ve ever had.” Reno stated
calmly, eyeing the spot where Jenova and Moniva had just been. He had a
bad feeling about this, and his bad feelings were instinct, and you best
follow your instincts, or you could wind up dead.