Cloud snatched his sword and yelled to the others.
“Follow me!”
He ran out of the door, the rest behind him.
Almost immediately several Jenova ran toward him. Cloud cleaved one
in two with his sword before spinning around and slicing anothers head
off.
“Getralium Meteor.” he bellowed.
For a moment, all was still. Then, from above, a tiny star began to
move.
“Get out of here!” screamed Reeve. “Everyone, move!”
For a second both humans and Jenova froze where they were. Then, one
by one, the Elites began to run.
Another star fell down from the sky, and then it seemed as if the heavens
themselves were raining down upon the Planet. Hybrids froze in terror as
massive chunks of rock fell down to cause flaming destruction. Jenova after
Jenova was obliterated by the fiery balls.
The Elites were not without losses, though. Almost a third of the men
were cornered by hybrids, and were unable to escape. Many more were cut
down as they retreated. Cloud’s action had caused almost fifty deaths.
Anthony rounded the rest up in a tight formation.
“Stick together!” he shouted, turning to Cloud. “Can you get us away
now?”
Cloud shook his head. “I can’t find Reeve and Yuffie.” He looked about
him. “Or Cid.”
Vincent placed his hand on Cloud’s shoulder. “I fear they are already
dead.”
“No!” shouted Cloud. He pointed a finger toward three figures running
toward them. “There they are!”
The trio were less than a hundred metres away when three things that
Cloud couldn’t even begin to describe came out of the woods.
-
It was Yuffie.
Godo saw her as he walked out of the woods. Screaming, she threw herself
to one side as his massive fist smashed down on the ground.
He found himself roaring in anger as something small and sharp flew
through the air and sliced open his ribcage. Blood gushing from the wound,
Godo stood to his full height of thirty-five feet and looked for what had
caused his pain.
Yuffie’s shuriken whistled as it cut through an arm. Godo looked over
in surprise at the bloody stump. She stood, battered but defiant, on the
top of a stone a hundred metres away.
“Gawd, you are a total freak.” she cried fiercely. She prepared for
another attack.
“Do you always talk to your father like that?” asked a voice.
Whirling around, Yuffie found herself face to face with Sephiroth.
Yelping, she jumped away just as his katana sliced through her leather
armor and cut into the soft flesh of her leg.
Sephiroth’s triumphant smirk vanished. His eyes widened in surprise
as the small throwing knife embedded itself in his left knee. He roared
out loud before turning toward her, his eyes full of malice.
“You pathetic vermin!” he spat venemously. “Do you really think that
you can defeat me?”
He laughed hysterically as he slowly plucked the knife from his kneecap
and tossed it to one side. Yuffie found herself being beaten back as Sephiroth
attacked with unprecedented fury. She held her shuriken defiantly as another
swing from the deadly Masamune fell upon her like an anvil. There was a
wrenching sound of metal as her shuriken snapped. She fell to the floor,
dazed.
Sephiroth laughed. “Will I kill you? No.”
He turned his back to her as she jumped to her feet.
Glancing back, and smiling cruelly.
“No,” he said. “I shall leave the job of your death to your father.”
He dissappeared into the steam just as Godo came out.
-
Cid hurled his spear at the giant creature attacking him, before realising
what a stupid thing he had just done.
The spear impaled itself in the hybrids left head, impacting around
the bridge of the nose. The creature paid it no attention, instead focusing
it’s attention on a defenceless Cid.
“Shit.” He began to run.
-
Despair began to overwhelm Yuffie. It became clear from the beginning
that she hadn’t a hope against the creature.
Her shuriken ruined, she had no choice but to try and make it to where
Cloud and the Elites lay helpless. Picking up the battered weapon, she
began to run as fast as her legs could carry her.
Towards Cloud. The only guy who could get her out of this mess.
-
Reeve saw Cid start to run. And Yuffie.
Then he realised that it wasn’t such a bad idea.
Priscilla hissed at him as he broke in to a full sprint. With a defeaning
scream she launched her titanic body tawards him in pursuit.
There was a rustle in the trees next to him as he plunged into the
woods. He figured that this was perhaps the best way to avoid the hybrid,
and with a bit of luck he might just make it.
Yuffie, it seemed, had the same idea. She looked at him with wild eyes
before gasping out a few words.
“You running too, huh?”
He nodded furiously. “It saw me go in here: it’s just a matter of time
before it follows.”
She shurgged. “I figure we’ve got about a minute. My guess is that
it’ll wait for us to come out first.”
“Uh-huh. So what do we do?”
She answered him by taking off into the undergrowth.
“Hey!” he cried. “Yuffie! Wait fer me?”
-
“Where are they?” shouted Cloud. “Tell me where they are!”
The soldier swept his binoculars nervously across the battlefield.
“I can’t see them, sir.”
Cloud swore. “Damn! Is it possible they went back into the city?”
The Elite shook his head. “No, sir.”
“Why not?”
The man shrugged and handed the binoculars over. “Why don’t you look
for yourself, sir.”
Cloud’s Meteor spell had ripped the ground apart. Massive craters had
torn the clearing to shreds, causing the entire area to collapse in on
itself. Faintly, he could see the thin tendrils of Lifestream gathering
to heal the Planet’s wound.
“The Lifestream...” he muttered.
His thoughts were cut short by a shout from Anthony.
“Cloud! Cloud, it’s Cid!”
Cid was running to the Lifestream.
But something was hot on his tail.
-
Cid had a plan. It was crazy, he admitted, but at least it was a plan.
The hybrid had come after him almost the second he had come out of
the undergrowth. It had closed the gap between them from one hundred metres
to seventy-five in a few seconds.
Grunting, he put on an extra burst of speed: willed his legs to go
that bit furthur.
The ridge was close now. He could see the Lifestream that was gushing
out from the wound in the Planet’s crust.
He stopped.
And turned to see Shera, his beautiful Shera, staring him in the face.
-
NO!!!
The mental scream reverberated around her skull as she saw Cid lying
helpless below her.
DON’T DO IT!!! she pleaded. YOU CAN’T KILL HIM!!
The Jenova only laughed cruelly as she sank deeper into despair.
The terror quickly subided, and Shera felt fury. A deep, fine fury
that flowed through her veins like a drug.
Her mind soared like an eagle from the prison deep within her body,
and she spread upwards to take control of herself once more. The hybrid
was confused at first, but quickly recovered, crushing her back down with
it’s conciousness. But Shera fought on. Her mind was tearing up through
her body towards the brain. Fear gripped the Jenova as it lost cell after
cell to Shera, it’s power vanishing with each second.
She reached the mind, and all at once she was alive again. She breathed
deeply and looked about with her eyes. So many eyes...
“Cid...” she croaked. The voice was not her own.
He looked up to her, his eyes streaming tears.
“Oh, Shera, god what has he done?”
“Cid...” she whispered. “I... love you.”
The Jenova screamed as it started to vanish. In one final act of fury,
it ripped apart every single cell it could find.
-
Shera’s heart stopped.
She gasped out loud, wanting to scream in frustration, as she fell
from the cliff to the Lifestream below.
She had not lost, she told herself. She had won.
Crashing into the oblivion below, she managed one last smile as her
body was consumed by the Lifestream.
There was no pain. No searing agony.
Just a deep, prolonged silence.
-
Reeve rushed from the bushes to find Yuffie and Cid ahead of him. Spraining
muscles he didn’t even know he had, Reeve bolted for Cloud as the Jenova
came rushing towards him.
He saw Yuffie swerve to his right, and then stop by a large ridge jutting
over the Lifestream. Skidding to a halt, Reeve leapt over to help her carry
a weeping Cid to the hilltop.
He had never seen Cid cry before.
Cloud and the others were not far away now, but the hybrids were closing
with each second. Reeve turned angrily towards Cid, slapped him hard across
the face.
“God dammit, Cid! Run! Run, you bastard!” He turned to Yuffie. “Go.
I’ll catch up.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he silenced her.
“Get going! And take Cid! Maybe... maybe I’ll be able to wipe the slate
clean.”
Thrusting Cid into her arms, he reached into his pocket and withdrew
a materia orb. One that he had kept for a long, long time.
“Gerrilium Armonisti Phoenix.” he shouted. The red summon shone brightly.
A single sphere fell done from the sky to ripple across the land. The
hybrid stopped a few metres short of him, puzzled by the strange glow Reeve
held in his hand.
There was a blast of Phoenix-flame as the legendary bird rose from
the ashes to destroy the Jenova. A vivid spectrum of burning reds spread
like wildfire across his vision as the Phoenix spread his golden wings.
Reeve felt his skin shrivel as the astronomical heat engulfed the screaming
hybrid in a brief second. In a brilliant flash, the Jenova was gone and
all was silent.
Reeve laughed softly as Yuffie reached Cloud and the Elites. Even from
here he could make out her desperate pleads.
“Run, Reeve! Run!”
He shurgged at her, and bellowed back.
“It’s too late for me.”
There was a whisper of air from behind him and Sephiroth laughed.
“You are right. It is far, far too late.”
END OF BOOK TWO