Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 3: Pursuit

TWENTY-THREE

The ship's engine room was a high, enclosed place with an elevated catwalk along the walls. It was lined with pipes, dials, and levers, and at the far end on either side of a large control panel, two huge, cylindrical fuel drums stretched for almost half the length of the room. And there, in front of the control panel, was Sephiroth.

"Is it really you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Sephiroth..." Jessie growled.

But he didn't say anything, not at first. He just stood there, his cold green eyes on us. Then he seemed to shimmer and ripple, flitting back and forth between himself and something else, something alien. Jessie and I both winced in pain, and I felt my head throb like it had done on the deck when I'd first sensed Sephiroth was on board. And as I stared at him, or what seemed to be him, I suddenly remembered the strange vision I'd had in the marshes when I'd watched him kill the giant snake. The shape I'd seen then was the same as now.

"Jenova..." Red breathed.

"The source of... everything," Aerith added, tightening her grip on her bladed staff. "The calamity from the skies..."

Still shifting between two forms, Jenova spoke in both Sephiroth's voice and her own harsh, feminine whisper. "My slumber has ended... the time has come... the time... is now..."

"Cloud!" Jessie gasped.

"And you..." Jenova's gaze turned on her. "A new factor... one that does not belong. I will have your strength."

I hefted my swords. "Not a chance! Sephiroth!"

He sneered at me, alone again within a swirling black vapor. "I am here, Cloud. As I always have been."

"What the hell do you want?" I demanded.

"To set you on the path," he taunted from within the dark mist. His eyes slid over to Jessie. "Both of you."

"No..." she breathed. "It won't happen!"

Sephiroth just laughed softly. "You know it will."

Jessie shook her head. "Shut up!"

"Back off, asshole!" I added, glaring darkly at Sephiroth as I hefted Buster and the Force Stealer. "And leave her out of it!"

Sephiroth pointed coldly at me with his katana. "No. The wheels of destiny are turning. And both of you will help me break this planet free from the shackles of fate. No longer will we be bound to an endless and unchanging cycle of conflict and death, doomed to repeat this journey over and over again. We will forge a new path."

"What path?" I growled.

He gave Jessie a cruel smile. "One soaked with blood."

Her face went pale. "You can't... I won't...!"

"The ripple grows larger, Jessie," Sephiroth said with a soft, wicked laugh. "And with each passing moment, we diverge further and further from what once was. All thanks to you..."

"Enough!" Aerith yelled.

I gaped at her in spite of myself as she swept quickly past Jessie and I and stood firmly in between us and Sephiroth, her green eyes blazing. She gripped her bladed staff tightly in both hands, and if her stare had been able to kill, he'd have been dead ten times over. I'd never seen her so pissed before. And neither had Jessie, it seemed. Her jaw hung open as if it had become completely unhinged.

Aerith stared Sephiroth down. "I told you before, you're wrong! All you are, everything you're trying to do. Our will is our own! It's not for you to decide which way the world goes!"