Am I... dead?
Cid floated surreally in the green glow of the Lifestream. Everywhere he felt the overwhelming glow of serenity.
Yep. I’m dead.
He laughed britterly.
I wonder how many of them bastards I took with me?
There was a sudden bright light and Cid was falling. Falling... falling...
He landed on the ground with a bump.
Swearing, Cid got up and looked about, totally bewildered. It was Mideel.
“Where are all the goddamn monsters?” he cried.
A man came up to him. Through bleary eyes Cid recognised who it was.
“Hi, Cid.”
“Shit! Cloud, where are all the Jenova monsters?”
Cloud shook his head. “They’re gone. Come and see for yourself.”
“Cloud?”
“Yeah?”
“How did you get here?”
“Long story.”
Cid grunted. “Don’t bother tryin’ to tell it. I hate long stories. Where are we going?”
“To see Grissom.”
There was a short laugh. “I suppose Wonder Boy has something to do with this?”
“You could say that.” grinned Cloud.
-

Grissom sat on the floor, eyes closed, as if deep in thought. Around him was the remains of a Jenova baby.
There was the sound of soft footsteps behind him, and Grissom turned.
Cid laughed out loud and ran up to congratulate him.
“Wonder Boy! Nice goin’! Listen kid, you saved my ass. Thanks.”
Grissom nodded. “Cloud,” he began sadly. “We need to go back to Fort Condor. There is nothing left here. For anyone.”
Cloud looked at him, puzzled. “Grissom, don’t be so hard on yourself. You did a great thing here. These babies: you freed them, Grissom. Now they can live in the Lifestream instead of being condemned to murder and kill.”
“No!” cried Grissom angrily. “You do not understand! These are our children. These babies are our flesh and blood-”
“No, they’re not, Grissom. They were Jenova. It wasn’t there fault, but they were nothing but mutated killing machines.”
Grissom regarded him morbidly for a moment. “Cloud, if all we do is cleanse and purify...”
He walked away.
“Grissom!” called Cloud. “Grissom come back! Don’t you want to be someone?”
Suddenly, Grissom turned, his eyes flashing.
“I am someone, Cloud. And I hate who I am.”
“Grissom!” called Cid. “Grissom, think of all the kids who will be turned in to monsters like those babies if we don’t do something! Think about it, Grissom. Think!”
Grissom answered him. “I need time.” he said quietly. “I need time to be alone.”
Cloud and Cid stood in silence as Grissom teleported away from Mideel.
The hatch of the Highwind cargo bay opened and Hamilton came out.
“What is happening?” he asked.
“Long story.” answered Cloud.
-

Junon Hive Room. 1.40
Sephiroth laughed bitterly when he saw the Lifestream tearing the baby Jenova’s apart.
Am I fated to be forever tormented by Cloud?
He turned his attention elsewhere. The infection of Junon was proceeding as he expected. He glanced in to the streets: saw the confused people slowly falling victim to the Cancer. All ready, more than three quarters of the population were slowly changing. Slowly becoming beautiful, beautiful Jenova’s.
But the plague had not yet reached everyone. Not yet. Somewhere, below the city in the Underwater Reactor, a group of uninfected soldiers had regrouped and were now striking against the infected populace. Sephiroth saw a few scientists in deserted rooms working desperatly for a cure, whilst the will of Jenova grew inside them daily.
He contacted some fully infected hybrids, ordered them to exterminate the rebel soldiers in the Reactor.
The defeat in Mideel was only a minor setback.
In the end, victory would be his.
-

Underwater Reactor, Junon. 1:56
O’Neill galnced at his watch. Nearly two.
He rumaged through the deserted office, and pressed his rifle close to his chest. There hadn’t been any monsters around here lately, but that wouldn’t last.
O’Neill had been one of the security guards on patrol at the hospital when the monsters were let loose. He escaped through the ventialtion and came here.
They had lost quite a few people at the beginning, when they hadn’t known what to expect.
He picked up a diary that lay strewn on the floor. Several pages were missing, but he could just about make out the writing:

June 30th.
The President of Junon came to an inspect the Reactor today. Hope all went well. Sall went to the Hospital. She should give birth soon. Doctor says it’s going to be a boy. Can’t wait!

July 5th.
Going to the Hospital. I’ll write back soon.

There was a page missing. Then:

July 12th.
Wife gave birth. Baby wasn’t nice so I killed her. She tasted nice. Someone ran away from me when they saw me. Chased them and killed them too. Didn’t eat them ‘cause I was full up. My skin hurts.
O’Neill shut the book, a look of disgust on his face.
There was a noise behind him, and then gun-fire. He turned round sharply. His friend, Halo, was there.
“You gotta come!” he gasped. “The... the monsters... they’re huge.”
He looked down to the massive purple gash on his arm. “They got me... O’Neill.”
With a cry, O’Neill came towards Halo, but the man pointed his gun towards him.
“Stayback, O’Neill!” he hissed through clenched teeth. “The Jenova has me. It’s too late.”
“No! There’s still time!”
Halo shook his head sadly. “You know the procedure. O’Neill, you don’t know the feeling... you don’t know how much an effort I’m making to keep myself from killing you...”
“Halo, no!”
Halo placed the gun to his head. “It was... an honor... to know you, O’Neill.” he said hoarsely.
He pulled the trigger. Halo fell to the ground, dead.
With a cry of dismay, O’Neill picked up his rifle and ran outside.
The scene was one of absolute carnage. A nine-foot high monster towered in between the soldiers, knocking them down one after the other. Bursts of sporadic gunfire shot all over the place. Somewhere a grenade exploded.
Someone ran up to him.
“My team is dead!” he screamed. “They’re all dead! What shall we do?”
O’Neill regarded him coldly for a minute before answering. Then, he shouldered his weapon and ran in to the fray.
“We shall die.” he answered as he fired his rifle at the large monster.
In one fluid movement, the creature swung it’s arms and sliced O’Neill down the arm. The gash turned purple instantly.
Smiling, O’Neill unclipped a grenade from his belt and pulled out the pin.
A second later he exploded, taking the Jenova-hybrid with him.
-

Junon Hive Room 2:05
The battle had lasted for six furious minutes. When the dust settled not a single human was left alive.
Sephiroth ordered the underling Jenova-hybrids to round up the survivors. He would need fresh bodies for the ones destroyed.
He sniffed. The humans had put up an excellant fight. He could remember one man pulling a Jenova hybrid from his face and then shooting himself, depriving Sephiroth of his body to infest.
But that would change. His sweet creatures were all most unstoppable. It had taken a mere three fully developed hybrids and a small amount of lesser developed Jenova's to bring the resistance movement to it's knees. And soon he would get out of this place and conquer new bodies for his mother.
And then...
-

Underwater Reactor, Junon 12:57
Dimly, O'Neill remembered dying.
But he wasn't dead, so it couldn't have happened.
Could it?
Through damaged and fuzzy eyes he saw something moving in front on him. He couldn't quite tell what it was, so he reached out his hand...
His eyes suddenly cleared and he saw his arm.
Purple blisters stared out from his ripped and blood stained tunic. The hand shaked uncontrollably, swollen with purple veins.
"No!" he screamed in anguish. The Jenova baby that had infected him stopped for a moment and looked up, then moved on to another body. O'Neill swore that he saw it grin.
A strange sensation overpowered him and he stood up. Looking down he saw that no more of his body had been infected.
It wouldn't be long.
"O'Neill." someone hissed behind him.
He turned abruptly round, coming face to face with Halo. For some reason he wasn't surprised that his friend had survived a gunshot wound to the head. In fact, he probably hadn't. The Jenova cells inside him would just grow another brain, just like they had grown O'Neill another arm.
"How long hassss it... been. Since... since the battle?" he asked. His voice was a harsh slur.
"A day, a weekkkk, I don't knoww."
Resolution surfaced in O'Neill's head.
"We musttt destroy ourselvess, Halo. Otherwise the Jenova willl get ussss..."
A silence. "It all ready has ussss, O'Neilll. And you know whattt? I do not care."
"Whattt?"
Halo giggled and looked at his body. It was pulsating, shifting, bending to Jenova's will.
"I like thiss, O'Neilll. I like... the powerr." he purred softly. "Why don't we justtt... lett it happen?"
O'Neill was stunned. "I... can't believeee what you are sayinggg." he cried.
"Willll you comme?" Halo asked.
He unclipped the last grenade from his belt and prepared to pull the pin.
Something stopped him.
From deep inside his body, the iron will of another intercepted the command his brain gave to his hand.
Pull the pin. he said to his body.
And there was an answer. No.
Pull the pin! he cried.
NO.
Pull the fucking pin! he shrieked.
His mind screaming at his body to obey, O'Neill slowly clipped the grenade back on his belt. He felt his conciousness spiralling away in to darkness as another being took hold of him.
Halo walked down the path with O'Neill and stepped in to the lift that would carry them to the city.
He wept silently, feeling hollow all over.

-
Highwind Airship 2:23
Hamilton was quiet for a long, long time before he said anything.
"Does the rest of the world know about this?" he asked quietly.
Cloud stood facing the viewpoint.
"I'm pretty sure they do." he answered.
"Hmmm."
Cloud turned. "What?"
"How did the Jenova hybrids get to Mideel?"
"I don't know." he shrugged. "Maybe through the lifestream."
"Hmmm."
"What is it?" said Cloud, rather irritated.
"Well..." began Hamilton. "In theory... why don't they just go to Wutai? That's where all of the civilians are."
A dull lump settled suddenly in Cloud's stomach. Hamilton seemed to sense this, looked up.
"You are protecting Wutai, aren't you, Cloud?"
"Cloud?"
"Cloud, tell me you're protecting Wutai."
There was a silence as Cloud stood in horror.
"We've got a problem." he said as he picked up the phone.
-

Wutai 2.29
What was all the commotion outside?
Shera raised herself sleepily from the bed and looked outside with tired eyes.
Wutai was in chaos. Shera opened the window and grabbed her glasses to see what was going on.
Three people lay dead in the street below her. Further bodies littered the road. A car zoomed through the town and careered in to a house.
There was a huge explosion, the shockwave threw Shera off her feet. Her ears  were ringing loudly. She touched them with one hand. Blood. She picked herself up from the floor and staggered to her feet. The glasses lay smashed and broken a few feet away. She went to the door, locked it and picked up the phone.
"Fry!" she shouted."Fry, what's going on?"
A man with a strong Cosmo Canyon accent answered.
"Shera! Thank god you're Ok! Look, I don't have much time... the whole city's overrun with creatures. I don't know how, but Jenova is here."
The ringing in her ears became louder, she felt thin streams of blood leaking from them.
"Fry!" she screamed. "Fry, I can't hear you! There was an explosion and my ears, I can't hear a thing."
"Shera, listen to me!" came the answer. "You have to get out! Get out of the house! Shera! Shera!"
There was an almighty crack and the door split in two. Shera screamed in terror as the Jenova-hybrid came through.
"Fry!" she shrieked. "Help me!"
Fry heard the bump as she fell to the floor, dead. He cried out in anguish before slamming the phone back on the hook.
-
Wutai Civilian Co-Ordination Centre 4.28
The doors of the ancient building held, but for how long, Fry could not tell.
He helped some people, probably the last survivors in Wutai, move more chairs and furniture on to the massive oak entrance before sitting down and wiping his brow on his hand.
Since all of the young men and most of the young women had departed for Fort Condor, Fry, an ageing bank clerk, had been left in charge of the rest of the civilian populace. The children, the old, the sick. Some women who had stayed to look after the children. Now, he estimated at least eleven thousand were dead or infected. All that was left was a small band of around three-thousand men and women who had made it to the Centre before he had shut the doors.
The attack had been overwhelming and totally devastating. Massive numbers of fully developed hybrids had taken most of the people in their sleep. The civilians left had panicked. They had been easy prey.
An old man from Wutai approached him. He was accompanied by a odd group of people.
"Are you Fry?" he asked.
"Who' asking?" said Fry suspiciously. He had never seen these people before.
"My name is Godo. These... these are my friends. I have an idea, Mr Fry."
"Well, I'm willing to listen to just about anything, so go on."
Godo smiled. "Excellent. This building was once used in the old war. It has numerous defence systems that we could, in theory, activate."
Fry perked up. "Security systems?"
"Yes. There is one small problem..."
"What?"
"The activator panel is located in the Recon building. It's next door."
The trace of hope Fry had had vanished without a trace.
"Oh."
"However..."
"Yes?"
"Me and my colleagues would be willing to try-"
"What?" cried Fry, astonished. "You'd die! Even if you did go over there  you'd never get back alive!"
Godo looked over to his friends. One by one they all nodded.
"We're going to do it."
Fry looked at them with amazement. "I only spoke to you for a short time, sir. But it was an honor. If these systems are any good we might be able to get a few people out."
Godo smiled. "There is one thing..."
"Anything."
"I have a daughter. You may know her."
"Who?"
"Her name is Yuffie. Yuffie Kisaragi."
There was a  short silence. "You're kidding."
"Is this a time for jokes?" asked Godo.
"Well, I guess not."
"Good. I want you to get out, Fry. Go to Fort Condor. Give this to her." he handed Fry a small box. Something rattled inside.
"I will. I give you my word." said Fry tearfully.
With another nod and a grin, Godo beckoned to Gorky, Shake, Checkov and Staniv.
"Come, my friends!" he cried. "No longer are we confined to the walls of the Pagoda! Show no mercy to these creatures!"
Shake shouted "For Wutai!" and punched his fist in the air.
They moved out silently.
-

They left through the back door. Outside it was hushed, dead bodies littered the street. Some were alive, and moving feebly. Godo made no attempt to rescue them.
"The virus has them." he muttered to himself.
They crossed the road and went down an alley. All around there was an uneasy silence. Shake talked to Staniv in hushed tones.
There was a rustle in the bushes to the left of them, and without warning three Jenova babies sprang out. Checkov could see from the rotting flesh on their faces that they were dying. The virus had finally taken it's toll.
Gorky shouted to the others. "There will be many of them, now. I will hold them back, my friends! Go!"
Godo moved the others forward without a word. Gorky was alone with the hybrids.
The babies moved sluggishly and snarled weakly at him. One of them was missing an arm.
"Come, Sephiroth!" shouted Gorky. "Give me the best you've got."
As if in answer two six foot monsters burst through the bush on the left. Gorky shouted out "Power Change!" and disappeared. In his place was a huge ogre.
Gorky brought his giant fists smashing down on the babies, but he was too slow. They jumped up and on to his arm, screeching. With a rumbling cry, Gorky pawed them off with his left hand. They fell to the floor, dead.
The larger hybrids jumoped on to him with lightening speed. He fell on a house, ripping a head off as he went down. It did not matter, the Jenova had three of them.
He twisted as he fell and impaled himself on a post. This was too much. Nothing could be this strong. Not even jenova.
But it was. With a triumphant cry it ripped his arm off with a tentacle and threw it down. The other hybrid jumped onto him and began tearing up his chest.
With a last effort, Gorky used his magic.
"Gill Suicide." he gasped out.
At that moment every single cell in Gorky's body ruptured and exploded. The blast took out the whole house and both the hybrids.
As his entire body was engulfed in flame, Gorky muttered out his last words.
"Da-chao, carry me to your heavens."
His mind was incinerated and he knew no more.
-

Godo saw the explosion from far off. He moved on remorselessly and reached the house a few minuted later.
In his way stood at least a hundred Jenova. All were fully grown. He turned desperatly and saw them move around in a tight circle that had him and his friends trapped. Like rats.
"How did they do this?" asked Staniv. "They are not capable of such thought, killing is the only thing they know."
From behind them, there came a steady clapping. Godo turned to see a man in a dark cape. Long silver hair hung at his waist, a sword in his hand.
"Sephiroth." chuckled Shake. "I mighthave known."
With a cold stare Sephiroth drew his sword. Then he smiled.
"I understand that your daughter killed me five years ago." he said, turning to Godo. "In return, I will make you a Jenova and have you kill her personally."
Godo laughed. "You think you can scare me, Sephiroth? My daughter will kill you, and me if she has to."
With a cruel smile, Sephiroth looked upon Godo scornfully. "Is she your little girl, Godo?" he asked mockingly.
Godo laughter faltered. "Yes." he answered uncertainly.
"No, Godo. She is not a little girl anymore." said Sephiroth slyly.
"What do you mean?"
"Ha!" laughed Sephiroth. "You poor fool! Has she not told even you? Old man, Yuffie is pregnant."
Godo stood still in total silence. "You lie."
"I speak the truth, Godo. Your precious baby is a whore."
"You lie!" screamed Godo.
Sephiroth raised his hands. "But you know it, Godo. You know it to be true."
Godo sobbed on the floor uncontrollably while Staniv, Shake and Checkov stood in horror.
Sephiroth turned to the monsters.
"Kill them."
-

Wutai Civilian Co-Oridination Centre 4.40
Fry watched the carnage from the building. The creatures descended on Godo first, ripping him apart as he wept on the floor. He did not see the deaths of Checkov and Staniv. But he knew that they were dead.
Slowly, he picked up his gun from the floor and siganlled to the others to get ready.
This would be their final stand.
-

They burst through the door without warning. Fry froze as he saw the size of the hybrids. There was sporadic fire as one or two men got up and ran, but Fry stayed put. The Jenova moved with lightening speed towards the blockade. Men fell like ripened corn across the huge hall. Fry gestured for his party to regroup. Out of the hundred or so there to start with, only eighty remained. A Jenova was yet to be killed.
In despair, Fry took his men up to the stairs. The concentrated fire on one hybrid. After a full ten seconds of shooting it fell to the ground and did not get up. Meanwhile, the other monsters had broked through the barricade on the stairs and were moving up the hall.
And still more Jenova piled in to the room. The floor was slippery with purple blood.
-

Recon House 4.43
Shake stirred.
He rolled over to find his arm gone, great gushes of blood poured from the wound.
They were dead, he realised. Everyone but him was dead.
The mission came back to him and he staggered up. He would be dead in a few minutes from loss of blood.
Quickly, he ran up to the house. No monster paid any attention, they were too busy rushing through the door of the Civilian Centre.
He reached the door, holding the bloody stump of his arm with his right arm. Blood dribbled and spurted though his fingers.
He opened the door and rushed down to the basement. A huge nausea took hold of him, he threw up, sick spewing from his mouth.
Black spots appeared around his eyes. He gasped for air, but it made no difference. Frantically, Shake searched for the activator panel. He found it, collapsed on the floor.
"Get.. up... Shake." he panted.
He was too weak now.
"Get... up."
Too weak.
His hand lifted up for the button.
Too... weak.
"Get..."
Weak.
His hand touched the button, and the lights flared up. A sign appeared on the panel that Shake didn't see.
System Active.
Shake died at that moment. Godo would have been proud.
-

Fry was resigned to his fate when the security systems activated.
From nowhere a dozen chain-guns popped out from the wall and opened fire on the hybrids. Confused and frightened, they began to flee.
Fry stood dumbstruck for a moment before rallying the men and ordering them to run upstairs. From there they picked off the bewildered monsters one by one. The broken oak door were replaced by thick steel ones, stopping any more monsters from coming in. After two-minutes of slaughter, the chain-guns retracted, their ammunition spent. Fry let out a great cheer and ran upstairs to tell the rest of the survivors.
-

Sephiroth screamed in rage as he saw the destruction of his precious soldiers.
Never mind. There were plenty more.
He called upon every single creature in Wutai to come to his command.
They would destroy this flimsy building.
Let the humans enjoy their shallow victory, he thought. For they will pay for it very soon.
-

"The whole towns on the move!" shouted Fry to the survivors. "Get up to the roof!"
Two thousand people began to move up the old building.
Fry stayed behind with his band of men and started to barricade the door again.
"Let's hope the defence systems don't just lay on the doorstep." he muttered.
-

Sephiroth stood at the building, an army of a thousand hybrids behind him.
It was strange, he thought. A long, long time ago he had stood here at the end of the Junon-Wutai war.
But was that him,or someone else? Was it just another Sephiroth clone?
He disimissed such thoughts with a wave of his hand. Slowly, he withdrew a dark purple materia orb from his cloak.
"Sommonius Jenova."
There was a dark red fissure in the door and strands of purple began to spread through the heavy steel. There was a sound of rending metal and the doors bent in on themselves. He ran forward, gripping his katana and jumping swiftly in to the main hall.
There was wild shouting from above as Fry's Militia saw him enter. All at once there was wild shooting as Sephiroth moved quickly up the stairs.
A old man stared at him with wide eyes as he approached him. He raised his gun just as Sephiroth cut his head from his body.
Stay back, he told the hybrids. They were eager for the spill of blood. Stay back, this is my fight.
He threw himself on to a balcony and thrust his sword down upon another soldier. The man crumpled to the floor with a strangled cry.
A glimpse of movement down below caught his eye. Sephiroth glanced down to see the walls of the hall open and several robotic figures emerge. One aimed a grenade launcher at him and fired.
Sephiroth jumped off the balcony just as the explosive hit. He was thrown half-way across the building and landed on the marble floor. Coming up in a roll, Sephiroth sliced his Musarme across the robot's belly, cutting him in two.
Regroupong, the robots formed a tight circle and shouldered their heavy weapons. From up above, a smaller, human shaped robot appeared. He was holding a sword.
Sephiroth smiled and jumped about in a full circle.
He enjoyed a challenge.
The robot jumped deftly behind him and sliced at his legs. With a nimble twist Sephiroth moved and sliced off the robot's arm at the same time.
Electricity crawled over the robot and it started to move around in a sluggish manner. With a cruel laugh, Sephiroth moved to finish it off.
The robot, it seemed, had other plans.
With a last effort it flipped itself up and dodged his surprised swipe. In a second it was behind him and the blade was racing towards his heart.
Turning a full circle, in a desperate movement to escape the fatal blow, Sephiroth cried out as the sword struck the armored plate on his shoulder. There was a jolt of pain as the weapon hit, but the shoulder blade held firm. But the force was more than enough to knock him to the ground. His Musarme clattered and lay still a few feet away.
He could have sworn the one-armed robot laughed as he scrabbled desperatly for his weapon. It kicked the katana far across the hall and moved towards Sephiroth slowly staggered to his feet.
"Gallian Bolt." he cried.
The robot regarded him coldly and with a look of pure surprise as the lightening streaked towards it. It screamed as the electricity flowed over it before collapsing in a crumpled heap at his feet.
He returned his attention to the heavily armed robots across to his left. Scooping up his beloved Marsume, he ran swiftly towards them. closing the gap from twenty metres to ten in a few seconds.
The robots were caught on surprise and began to retract their grenade launchers. From another set of arms came massive chainsaws.Sephiroth dispatched another quickly with a slash of his blade.
The remaining robots lumbered slowly forward. One swiped clumsily at him, before Sephiroth’s sword cut off it’s hand. It stood still for a brief second before Sephiroth slashed again and the body clattered to the ground in two pieces.
-
TARGET SIGHTED.
The robotic Juggernaut E-112 locked on to the intruder, a tall man with long silver hair.
TARGET LOCK ESTABLISHED.
Not that it mattered to E-112. Soon the chainsaw of E-112 would cut effortlessly through the man’s flesh. And then he would die.
CHAINSAW ACTIVATED.
In front of him Juggernaut E-7 exploded. Shrapnel from the robot peppered the armor of E-112. Briefly it lost control of its sensors. The screens filled with static.
TARGET LOST.
The man had gone. Frantically, E-112 spun around looking for the intruder.
There was a rending sound of metal and the sensors in its arm went dead. The chainsaw was not responding.
Suddenly the man was in front of him, smiling. There was a flash as the sword sheared through  his circuits. Dimly, E-112 felt anger, but he suppressed it. Such emotions were beneath him.
As his metallic body shut down section by section,  E-112 saw Sephiroth spinning like a hurricane, his eyes full of hellfire he smote down robot after robot.
SYSTEM FAILURE.

-
Sephiroth pulled his sword out of the robot. The blade was thick with oil.
Wiping it clean on his cloak, Sephiroth moved upstairs.
He beckoned the hybrids to follow him.

-
Fry glanced in horror at the security monitor as Sephiroth wrought destruction on the enormous robots.
It was impossible. How could one man, with just a sword, wipe out a squad of armoured Juggernauts?
He wiped his brow and moved up the stairs. Above, the dimly lit corridors hid all of his militia. The civilians were on the roof.
A young boy, his eyes full of fear, looked at Fry pleadingly.
“What do we do know, Mr. Fry?” he asked imploringly.
“I don’t know, son.” said Fry gently. “We wait. That’s all.”
He moved up the corridor and to the next flight of stairs. Opening a hatch he walked up on the roof and looked at the sight before him.
The two-thousand survivors of the attack were bundled up on the roof. They turned to face him. Cold, weary, desperate faces. Faces without hope.
Fry moved forward to a young woman who clutched a baby.
“Excuse me. My name is Fry.”
She looked up to him. Her face was pallid and grey, like she was dead.
“I know.” she said softly. “You’ve saved all of us, if only for a while. Thank you.”
He took out the box that Godo had given him. Then he dug into his pocket and brought out a shiny materia orb.
“I have an escape materia here. You can... you can escape with your child to Fort Condor. But you must take this package and give it to Yuffie. Yuffie Kisaragi.”
She looked at him for a moment.
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why? Why don’t you save yourself?”
He smiled. “I’m not a hero. I have thought about it. But my place is here. I am too old, my time on the planet grows short. Save yourself, please. And the child. But you must give this to Yuffie Kisaragi. It is from her father, Godo.”
Tears welled up in her eyes and she hugged him tightly.
“Thank you.” she whispered. “Fry...”
He nodded. “I know.”
She took out the orb, muttered the incantation, and vanished.
Fry wept then. He hadn’t even known her name.

-
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Some one was knocking on the door very, very slowly.
Fry rushed downstairs and formed his militia in to a triangle. He turned solemnly towards them.
“The security defences have gone. There is one line of defence for the people on the roof. Us.”
Glancing back to the door, Fry called out: “Who is it? Is it Sephiroth?”
There was a laugh. A cold, chill laugh that sent a shiver down Fry’s neck.
“It is Sephiroth. Remeber that name, old man. For it will be me who cuts your ageing head from your frail body.”
Fry tried to laugh back, but the end result was more like a strangled scream. He managed to cry out “You don’t scare me.”
Another laugh.
“Ah, Fry. I do. You know I do.”
There was an explosion. The doors bent inwards. Jenova were suddenly everywhere.

-
As the hybrids mercilessly wiped out his militia, Fry knew that the end was at hand. When Sephiroth strode up to him, katana brandished, Fry closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
What happened next was a bit of a blur.
From behind him there was a shout and then the entire ceiling collapsed. Over a hundred Jenova were crushed beneath countless tons of rubble and plaster. From above, twenty men clothed in black calmbered down from the roof and started firing at the remaining hybrids. A man in a blue suit was suddenly behind Fry.
“Hey Sephiroth!” cried Reno. “Get ready for a spectacular kicking of ass.”

-
Sephiroth was stunned. But more than that he was very angry. In one second he had gone from victory to crushing defeat. The minds of the Jenova screamed out as there unholy lives were cleansed from the Planet. The other thousands of hybrids around the city started to panic, running about and even fighting with each other.
He saw the old man, Fry, look about next to him, amazed.  He smiled at Sephiroth triumphantly.
In a rage Sephiroth cut the old man down. With a scream of anguish Fry died.
Elena appeared from behind him. Rude was with her.
“You should not have done that, Sephiroth.” cried Rude. “Now, I’m not only gonna kick your ass, but I’m gonna kill you as well.”
Wiping his blade clean, Sephiroth readied himself in a fighting stance.
“Try me.”
Elena smiled. “Okay.”
She lunged forward.

-
Once again, Sephiroth was amazed.
As soon as Elena moved, there was a blinding flash of white light. Sephiroth screamed and fell to the floor, clawing at his eyes.
What was puzzling was that the Turks did exactly the same thing.
In a brief second Sephiroth was puzzled. This was not one of the Turks tricks.
Then who the hell was it?
He became aware of a man floating in the white light. The light faded and the man dropped to the floor. He held a large steel sword.
“My name,” said a voice, “is Grissom. You do not know me, but I will not allow you to corrupt the flesh of innocents with the Jenova cancer.”
Illiac flamed a pure white as Grissom moved forward.
Brotherrr...
Grissom stopped, his eyes transfixed on a small black vortex opening a meter away.
Brotherrr...
Sephiroth was fascinated. What exactly was transcending here, he did not know, but whatever it was, it was interesting. Momentraily, he forgot his current predicament and just watched. Elena, Rude and Reno seemed to be doing the same.
The black hole was widening, and something came out.
“Gross.” muttered Elena.

-
Anthony had recieved Cloud’s message that Wutai was under attack several hours ago. He had flown with the newly put together Elite Squad on the Highwind. And now he was here, he was puzzled at what to do.
They had not expected the Jenova to take over Wutai so quickly. And it was clear they could not airlift all two thousand of the survivors to safety. They were in quite a predicament.
That was when Grissom had showed up.
Anthony beckoned to the rest of the Elites to set up position round the entrance.
From there, they watched the blaack vortex open.
They saw Duane come out.

-
“Duane?”
Grissom turned to face his brother.
“Duane, is it... you?”
Duane regarded him for a moment, and then cackled loudly.
“Brotherrr.” he muttered.
Grissom shook his head in disgust as Duane floated toward him.
“Is this what you call power?” cried Grissom. “Brother, do you not remember me? What has the will of Jenova done to you?”
For a moment there was a hint of the old Duane. In one decisive movement he raised his head and spoke.
“Brotherrr... help...” he choked out. “I havee... gone toooo... tooo... farr in to Jenovaaa. Help me... settt mee free.”
Then he changed back: back to the screeching and howling. He lumbered forward. In his hand lay his now twisted and warped staff.
The brothers flew high above the Civilian Co-ordination Centre, each trying to out-turn the other and place a fatal blow.
Illiac flamed brightly as Grissom sent it crashing down on to Duane’s staff. For a moment the Universe seemed split between light and dark. Then Duane swept back the staff in a fluid movement and brought the tip up and around. Grissom cried out as his legs were hooked away. He stopped floating in the air and fell to the ground.
Duane laughed and sent a bolt of purple lightning down on to the tattered civilian building. Grissom stood resolutely and raised his hand. Spurting out from his fingertips grew a wall of flame that surrounded the single lightning bolt. It hit the wall of white fire and vanished.
Duane screeched and howled a curse. He flew up in the air and beckoned for Grissom to follow. Bracing his body and readying his sword, Grissom went up to meet him.
A huge swirling black and white cloud was gathering above Grissom and Duane as they battled. Everyone on the building stood transfixed as Duane sent blow after blow against Grissom. And all the time Grissom parried, parried, parried. Never pressed on in attack or took the advantage.
They fought on.
-

Anthony stood looking up at Grissom.
Sephiroth stood a few meters away. Anthony had told the men to move around in a circle. Now he was trapped: not even Sephiroth could survive the combined fire of fifty elite soldiers. But he seemed not to notice them. He just stood and watched the battle unfolding above.
-

Girssom was tired, and Duane slowed no sign of relenting.
Again he blocked, parried, blocked, parried. He coudl not keep this up for much longer.
Suddenly Illiac was knocked from his hand and the evil staff smote down on him. In less than a millisecond, the falling Illiac dissappeared and reappeared in Grissom’s hand. He moved and blocked the staff just in time.
Duane’s underbelly was fatally exposed, and Grissom sent a flying kick in to his stomach. Slicing up with his sword he cut Duane’s staff in two.
There was a huge thunderclap and Duane screamed. Grissom seized the oppurtunity. Gathering up every single bit of magic in him, he sent a tidal wave of light a hundred miles high over Wutai.
-

What had Grissom done this time?
Anthony remembered some sort of light... and then he was here.
He could not see anything, but he had the strong feeling that he was moving very fast.
With a sickening jolt his senses returned and he found he was standing on a grassy plain. Above him was a large mountain. He recognised it instantly.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned. To his great shock he saw two-thousand civilians spread out before him like a rug.
Grissom had moved all of them, thought Anthony. He moved all the survivors from Wutai to Fort Condor.
How?
Someone tapped him on the shoulder again. An old woman with a walking stick looked at him suspiciously.
“What happened? Where are we? I remember this young lad up in the air-”
Anthony cut her off. “You’ll know all about it soon enough. As for where we are?”
He laughed and gestured around him.
“As for where we are? Welcome to Fort Condor: human-kind’s last hope.”
 

To Chapter 7