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The Path to Redemption	By : Nakkinomiko Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1095 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don’t own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. SquareEnix does. I make no money from this…I just like to play with them.

Chapter List
- 20
- 21
- 22
Disclaimer: I don’t own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. SquareEnix does. I make no money from this…I just like to play with them.
A/N: Warnings for this chapter . . . more crazy Jenova stuff! Kayla, I see that you share my hatred of Jenova. Seriously, the only other character I hate more than her is Hojo. Any person that would experiment on their own child is truly a special kind of sick. Muci, thanks for your review! I’ve never actually written any Sephiroth/Zack smut (well, nothing worth sharing, anyway). I’ll take that challenge, thanks. :D Daydreamer, thank you for your review! I never cared for obnoxious Reno, either, because he’s really not. In fact, I think he’s a lot more intelligent than people give him credit for!
On with the chapter!
*****
Chapter 21
Sephiroth wanted to fight. Rufus could see it in the set of the man’s shoulders and by the way he kept glancing at the door to the room. Outside, they could hear the sounds of the battle, and so far it sounded as if Kadaj and Cloud were okay.
“We should be helping them!” Sephiroth hissed.
“I’m with him,” Yuffie huffed. “I hate hiding like this!”
“In time,” Vincent murmured. “We need to play this right, or she could win.”
“It’s not like she could infect me again,” Sephiroth said.
“No, but she could kill you,” Vincent said bluntly. “I don’t like that option much.”
“Neither do I!” Maggie exclaimed. She was sitting on the bed with Tifa and the children.
Marlene and Denzel were watching the door with fearful eyes. Rufus had really wanted to get them out of the hospital before Jenova’s arrival, but time had not permitted, and Tifa had been reluctant to let them out of her sight.
Rufus jumped when the sound of shattering glass suddenly sounded from beyond the door, and his eyes grew wide when he heard Kadaj scream.
“CLOUD!”
On the bed, Marlene made a distressed sound, and before anyone realized what the girl was about, she ran to the door and flung it wide open. Marlene froze at the sight that awaited them. The waiting room was almost completely destroyed, and the plate glass on the back wall was completely gone. Shards of glass littered the floor, and Kadaj was staring at the gaping hole with a horrified expression on his face.
“Where’s Cloud?” Marlene demanded of him.
Rufus watched, horrified, as Jenova’s head snapped around and she honed in on Marlene. Marlene emitted a frightened squeak just before a tentacle whipped out and wrapped around her tiny waist. Rufus blinked, and Marlene was gone.
*****
Jenova lifted Marlene from the floor with deadly speed, and before Kadaj could stop her, she was dangling the girl out the shattered window. The room grew very quiet as they all seemed to hold their breath. Marlene was too frightened to even scream as Jenova held her poised three stories above the hard concrete below.
“Well, it seems as if I have the upper hand,” Jenova hissed. Her lips turned up in a malevolent smile.
“What do you want?” Kadaj ground out.
“I already told you, Kadaj,” Jenova cooed. “You.”
“No!” Marlene cried out. “You can’t, Kadaj!” Her words were cut off in a sharp scream when Jenova loosened her grip just enough to let the girl drop sharply a few inches before tightening her hold again.
“If you do not come to me, I will drop this child to her death.”
“Kadaj.” Rufus stepped into the hallway and met his lover’s gaze. “Don’t forget, earlier today. . .” Rufus let his words trail off, and his blue eyes bored into Kadaj’s.
Kadaj gasped softly as understanding dawned. The vaccine. She can’t absorb me anymore! Kadaj realized. Relief washed over him as he realized that even if he gave himself over to her, there was nothing that would come of it. She could kill him, yes, but she could no longer do anything else. And it would save Marlene’s life.
“Choose, Kadaj,” Jenova said. “I grow impatient!”
“You will release her,” Kadaj stated. He took a few tentative steps towards the creature and sent a silent prayer to the Ancients and the Planet that someone would save him after Marlene was safe again. He wanted to live, the Planet help him, and the thought of dying nearly debilitated him.
Jenova reached for him greedily, and a dark smile stretched across her lips. “Of course I will.” She laughed, and allowed Marlene to drop from her grasp.
“NO!” Kadaj watched in horror as the girl disappeared below, just as Cloud had moments ago.
“Foolish, gullible Kadaj!” Jenova hissed.
Kadaj could only watch her come. His sudden grief was debilitating, and he couldn’t find the will to defend himself. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain. She would surely kill him when she discovered his blood was tainted with the vaccine, and then it would be over, and the hurt he felt in his heart over Marlene’s fate would be gone forever.
The pain never came. Instead, he felt arms wrap around his waist, and he was bodily removed from where he stood. He opened his eyes in shock, and found that his brother had him. Sephiroth landed in front of the ruined windows and set Kadaj on his feet.
Jenova’s breath hitched audibly as she turned to face them. Kadaj could see the excitement grow in her expression, and she hissed and slid towards them a few feet.
“Sephiroth! My beloved son!”
Sephiroth’s green eyes narrowed slightly, and there was a ring of steel as he withdrew his blade from the scabbard strapped to his back. When he spoke, his tone was cold as a winter night.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Sephiroth, come to me!”
Sephiroth smirked and shook his head once. “No. If you want me, infernal beast, you will have to catch me.”
Kadaj barely had time to register Sephiroth’s intentions before the taller man’s arm was around his waist again and they were leaping from the window.
*****
Cloud was aware that Marlene was in trouble, but he was having a hard time getting off the ground. His skin stung in a hundred places from imbedded glass shards, and he was more than a little certain that he’d cracked a second rib when he’d hit the concrete. He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, groaning as stabbing pain lanced through his chest and nearly made him dizzy.
Come on, get up! he groused at himself. Get up, get up, get up! He maneuvered himself into a kneeling position and clenched his teeth against the pain. Oh, he was going to make that bitch pay! But first, you have to get up! Cloud tried again, and this time made it to his feet, only to be overcome by a debilitating nausea. He went to his knees with a grunt of pain, and leaned forward to empty the contents of his stomach on the cold concrete.
“My, but you are in a state.” He felt someone crouch next to him, and a moment later hands were running over his ribcage.
Cloud jerked away reflexively, but the hands were insistent, if not gentle.
“Hold still, idiot. I’m trying to heal you,” the voice informed him, and then the voice softly uttered, “Cure.”
Cloud felt the familiar warm sensation that a cure materia brought as it did its work, and then the sensation passed, leaving behind a pain free ribcage. The hands helped him to his feet, and only then did Cloud open his eyes to see who his benefactor was.
Familiar green eyes gazed back at him, and lips curled into an ironic smirk. “Hello, Cloud. Loz and I thought that things were starting to get out of hand and decided it was time to come out of hiding.”
Cloud opened his mouth to reply, but Marlene’s shrill scream cut through the night. Cloud snapped his gaze upwards, and felt his heart stop as she started to fall. He would have moved to catch her, but Yazoo placed a hand on his shoulder and pointed to the roof.
“You’ll spoil Loz’s moment of glory, brother, and he so wants to impress that little girl. He’s got a soft spot for her, you know. . .”
Cloud looked upward just in time to watch Loz dive off the roof. Loz’s form, aided by a haste spell, seemed to warp into a streak. His reappeared again, level with Marlene’s falling body, and he reached out and wrapped his arms around Marlene and pulled her close to his body. He rolled in the air once, and landed on his feet, Marlene safe in his grasp.
Cloud found himself cracking a rare grin as a realization settled in. “You’re on our side.”
Yazoo made an amused sound. “It would appear so. We tracked Jenova across the city and followed her here. We figured she was after Kadaj.”
“Why didn’t you try to stop her?” Cloud asked.
“Because if she got her claws into us, the nightmare would start again,” Yazoo said. “We couldn’t risk that.”
Cloud gave them a slow smile. “It doesn’t have to be a risk,” he said. He flipped open his cell phone and dialed Tseng’s number. When the Turk answered, he spoke. “Tseng, is Elena still with you?”
“Yes, why?”
“Look out the front entrance,” Cloud said. His eyes searched out the Turk’s form in the hospital, and he found him just in time to see Tseng’s surprise as he spotted Yazoo and Loz.
“That’s . . .”
“Kadaj’s brothers, yes,” Cloud confirmed. “They’re on our side, Tseng.”
A moment later there were two rifle cracks, in quick succession, and Yazoo and Loz cursed softly as darts appeared in their thighs. Yazoo’s eyes narrowed with anger, but Marlene’s voice made him pause.
“It’s not what you think!” Marlene exclaimed from Loz’s arms. “It’s a vaccine!”
Confusion crossed Yazoo’s expression. “Vaccine?”
“Anti-Jenova,” Cloud said slowly.
“You see?” Marlene asked. She wrapped her arms around Loz’s neck and hugged him hard. “She can’t hurt you anymore!”
Cloud watched the relief cross their expressions, and it was closely followed by grim determination.
“We will fight with you, brother,” Yazoo said. The smile that crossed his lips was dark and promised much pain for Jenova.
Cloud nodded and looked at Marlene. “Marlene, go and stay with Elena and Tseng. They’re right inside the front entrance. You’ll be safe with them.”
Marlene nodded as Loz set her on her feet. She turned and hugged Loz again before she ran towards the front entrance. She had just disappeared inside the building when they heard Jenova give an enraged scream. Cloud looked up just in time to see Sephiroth, with Kadaj tucked under his arm, leap from the window.
*****
Sephiroth was quick to put Kadaj on his feet once they had landed, and then he glanced up at the window and prayed that Jenova would follow instead of attacking the others. He was not disappointed. Her form appeared at the edge, and then it sprouted great demon-like wings before it took to the air and circled the hospital. She screamed her anger to the night sky before she folded her wings and dove straight for them.
“Move!” Sephiroth barked at Kadaj. They jumped in opposite directions as Jenova rocketed towards them. She impacted hard, sending chunks of dirt and concrete up and outwards, like a miniature mushroom cloud. Dust filled the air around the impact sight, momentarily blocking everything from view.
“Sephiroth!” He heard Kadaj call form him somewhere on the opposite side of the dust cloud.
“I’m here!” he called back.
“So am . . .huh?” Kadaj’s words trailed off in an exclamation of surprise.
“Kadaj? What is it?” Sephiroth called. “Kadaj!”
“It’s okay!” Kadaj answered after a moment.
The dust was starting to settle now, and gradually the crater between them was revealed, and then moments later Sephiroth was able to make out Kadaj’s form beyond it. The sudden relief he felt when he saw Cloud standing with him nearly made his knees weak. He had feared the worst when Jenova had tossed him out that window! But, they were not alone. Sephiroth gasped as he made out the details of the others, and realized that he was staring at more of his cloned family. They could be nothing else, and one of them was a mirror image of himself ten years ago, complete with long silver hair.
“Kadaj, who are they?” Sephiroth asked, needlessly.
“Our brothers,” Kadaj said with a grin. “Loz and Yazoo.”
His twin smirked at him across the crater. “You must be Sephiroth. I must say, that after hearing so much about you, it’s nice to finally have a face to go with the name. . .although, it’s rather like looking in a mirror.”
“For you, maybe,” the other said. He nodded in Sephiroth’s direction. “I’m Loz, he’s Yazoo.”
Sephiroth opened his mouth to reply, but a sudden tremor beneath his feet made him pause. He hissed in displeasure as he backed away from the crater. The family reunion would have to wait until later.
“Be careful,” Yazoo called out. “Loz and I tracked her across the city, and she’s been gobbling up everything that crosses her path. She’s going to come out of that crater much bigger than she was when she dove in there.”
“And probably twice as ugly,” Cloud said. His expression was grim. “It was kind of obvious that something was up when she started to sprout extra limbs.”
“Be ready for anything,” Sephiroth warned. “I remember how she thinks, and it is neither sane nor logical.”
“Duly noted,” Yazoo said with a smirk.
Another tremor shook the ground, and then a tentacle with the circumference of a small tree trunk shot straight up into the air before it was followed by another. They slammed down hard on either side of the crater and sent them all scurrying away from the crater’s edge.
“Oh, fuck,” Loz said with no little emphasis.
Sephiroth found himself agreeing with the sentiment as he watched the tentacles find purchase and give a mighty heave. The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, and Jenova exploded out of the ground. She towered at least one hundred feet above them, and her black wings hid the stars and moon from their sight. She opened her mouth and emitted a deafening screech. Windows on surrounding buildings vibrated and then shattered. Sephiroth and the others were forced to duck their heads to protect themselves from the rain of glass.
“Now what?” Yazoo demanded.
Cloud and Sephiroth exchanged a grim look. He wondered if his eyes echoed the despair in Cloud’s azure gaze. They might have had a chance, before she had grown so large, but the odds in their favor had lessened considerably. Sephiroth’s gaze went from Cloud to where Kadaj stood with Loz and Yazoo. His family. He thought of Maggie and the others, and realized that the moment of his atonement had finally come. He would protect those he loved, at any cost. Sephiroth felt calm settle over him as he made the decision and me met Cloud’s gaze again. There was a similar peace in that gaze, and Cloud offered him a slight smile before he nodded.
“We fight,” Sephiroth finally said. He turned and looked up at the impossible odds facing them. “It is all that we have left.”
*****
TBC
- 20
- 21
- 22
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The Path to Redemption