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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
- 21
- 22
- 23
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 . . . a little bit of gore as our heroes try to put the bitch ... er, I mean Jenova down. Muci thanks for your review. Glad you are still enjoying it! :D
Only one more chapter to go after this one!!
*****
Chapter 22
Vincent stood at the edge of the roof and watched the scene unfolding below with a strange sense of detachment. He could not quite get past the fact that he now had four sons. Four strong, proud and beautiful sons. He had four sons.
“Old man, are you going to stand there forever, or join in the fight? They’re going to need help.”
“I have four sons, Yuffie,” he murmured. He lifted his gun and made sure that the chambers were loaded before he cocked it and turned his attention below.
“Yes, I caught that,” Yuffie said with a smirk. “I’m not sure I’m going to like that, being a stepmother to four grown men.”
Vincent made a surprised sound and looked down at her. He’d asked her to marry him nearly two months ago, and she had yet to give him her answer. But, now . . .
“Yuffie, what are you saying?” he managed.
Her smile was brilliant. “I’m saying that when this is over, you and I are going to get married.” She unhooked her shiruken from her belt and engaged the blades. “Now, are we going to fight that bitch or what? It’s way past my bed time, and I’m getting a tad cranky.”
Vincent’s lips quirked upward in a rare smile. “I love you.”
She beamed. “Idiot, I know that,” she said. She stood on her toes and pecked him on the cheek. “Love you too, old man. Now, let’s go already!” And with that, she was gone, running down the side of the building in a manner that made Vincent’s heart leap into his throat, even though he’d seen her do it a million times over and never get hurt.
“Crazy,” Vincent muttered under his breath with no little affection, and then he dove over the edge to join the battle.
*****
Rufus ordered the stairwells unsealed and descended the stairs two at time in his haste to reach the ground floor. He was barely aware of the others following him, so intent he was. He had to make sure that Kadaj was still alive. He banged open the door on the first floor and sprinted into the lobby and skidded to a halt at the front doors. His mouth went dry at the sight of Jenova, all one-hundred feet of her. His eyes frantically searched the base of the creature, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted Kadaj, alive, and standing on his own two feet.
“Sir, we’ve got a problem,” Tseng said.
“Oh, yeah?” Rufus laughed with no humor. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with that one hundred foot monstrosity ruining the front yard of my hospital, would it?” He watched, holding his breath, as Kadaj barely dodged a strike meant for him.
“You think?” Tseng sighed. “The darts have no effect now. Her skin is too thick for the vaccine to make it into her bloodstream.”
“Damn it,” Rufus hissed. “How many darts left?”
“A dozen sir,” Elena said. “It would probably be enough, but only if we can get it into her blood stream.”
“Directly into her heart would be best,” Maggie said. “If that could be managed, then just six darts might be enough.”
Rufus looked up at Jenova and shook his head. “Right.” He looked around at his Turks. “It’s about time you all prove your marksmanship,” he told them. “Four of you, two darts each. That’s eight.”
“There’s still the problem of her thick skin . . . and everything else that lies between the surface and her heart,” Tseng said.
Rufus smiled darkly as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.
*****
“Damn it!” Kadaj swore as he barely dodged another attack. He slashed hard at the tentacle that shot past him, and barely left a mark on it. “Nothing we do makes a difference!” he shouted to the others.
“We can’t give up!” Cloud shouted back.
“But what do we do?” Kadaj asked, and he sounded as frustrated as he felt. He jumped over a tentacle as it made a pass at him and somersaulted in the air and landed next to Yazoo. It was about then that his phone rang. Kadaj started slightly, and then found it and answered it.
“Kadaj!”
“Rufus, I’m a little busy. . .”
“I know that, love,” Rufus interrupted. “Listen to me. We’ve only got enough vaccine left to hit her with it once, but we need a clean shot at her heart, Kadaj. You’ve got to somehow open her wide. Do you understand? I’ve got the Turks waiting with loaded guns, Kadaj. It’s up to you and the others now.”
“Right!” Kadaj flipped the phone shut and looked up at Yazoo.
“What?”
Kadaj found himself laughing. “Rufus just wants the impossible, that’s all. Now, move!” They leapt into the air just as a tentacle slammed down where they had been standing. Kadaj sprinted to where Loz was, Yazoo close behind.
“Follow us!” Yazoo called, and they dodged tentacle attacks until they stood with Cloud and Sephiroth.
“We have to somehow expose her heart,” Kadaj told them.
Cloud smirked and shook his head. “Rufus’s idea, right?”
“Yeah,” Kadaj said with a small smile.
“Demanding bastard,” Sephiroth said. “I suppose I’ll have to get used to it, now that I’m working for him.” Sephiroth eyed the blade in his hands and shook his head. “It’ll have to be me. Masamune is the only blade here that is long enough to cut as deep as we need.”
There was a pause in the conversation as they were forced to dodge another attack, and then they quickly regrouped. This time they were joined by Yuffie and Vincent.
“What’s going on?” Vincent demanded as he and Yuffie landed in their midst.
“We need to get Sephiroth close enough to open her chest up,” Kadaj explained. “The Turks need a clean shot at her heart.”
“Leave it to us,” Vincent said. He exchanged a look with Sephiroth and Kadaj. “Yuffie and I will distract her. The rest is up to you, my sons.” He leapt away, Yuffie close behind him, before Sephiroth or Kadaj could answer him.
“Kadaj, what did he mean by that?” Yazoo asked. He was staring after Vincent with glowing green eyes.
“Exactly what he said,” Sephiroth replied with a smile. “He’s our father.”
“Our father?” Yazoo looked back at them. “We have a father?”
“Yeah,” Kadaj said with a grin.
“I hate to interrupt,” Cloud said with a wry smile, “But we’re about to be squished.”
Kadaj looked up, and sure enough, a thick tentacle was descending upon them at a frightening speed. They scattered to the four winds just seconds before the tentacle struck. It impacted with a thunderous sound and sent a cloud of dust into the air.
“It’s time to end this,” Sephiroth shouted to them. “I need a way to get up to her chest level.”
“The tentacles!” Loz shouted.
“What about them?” Cloud shouted back.
“If we can somehow tack one to the ground, he’ll be able to go right up it, like a cable bridge!”
“Brilliant!” Sephiroth said with a grin. “As soon as she is distracted . . .”
As if on cue, Jenova let loose with a horrible scream. They looked upwards and found that Yuffie and Vincent were directly attacking her head. Vincent scored a direct shot to one of her eyes, and she roared with pain. She thrashed around with her tentacles, and one came down very close by.
Cloud exploded into action. He ran at top speed and launched himself into the air. He somersaulted and came down hard with his buster sword. The blade drove through flesh and bone and slid into the concrete below it, effectively pinning the appendage into place. Jenova screamed, but before she could wrench herself free, Loz was there with his inhuman strength. He wrapped his arms around the tentacle and held on tight.
“Go, Brother!” Loz yelled at Sephiroth.
*****
Sephiroth didn’t need to be told twice. He leapt on the tentacle and ran as fast as he could. It got treacherous half way up, as the incline became sharper, but he steeled himself and started to cover the distances with small leaps. He gained her shoulder just as she managed to shake Loz and Cloud off. He frowned as she sent them flying, and felt relief when they both regained their feet and dodged her next attack.
“Mother!” he screamed at the top of his lungs. Jenova’s surprised gasp sounded like the wind. Her head turned, and she glared balefully at him with a giant dark eye.
“Sephiroth!” Her voice was deep and hollow. “My son . . .”
Sephiroth sneered at her. “I am not your son,” Sephiroth screamed. “I was never your son!”
“We shall see!”
Sephiroth felt something wrap around his booted feet, and he jerked his gaze downwards. Her flesh was engulfing him, and he was already ankle deep in it. Terror overwhelmed him as he felt tendrils of it find their way into his boots, and then excruciating pain as they dug into the flesh of his ankles. No, no, no, no, no!
And as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Jenova screamed in rage, and her flesh quite suddenly retreated from him. Sephiroth had to work to keep his feet--his ankles were grievously wounded now, and he could feel blood pooling in his boots. He laughed even though his ankles were screaming with pain. The vaccine. He’d completely forgotten about the vaccine!
“What. Have. YOU. DONE?” Jenova’s whole form quivered with her outrage. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??”
“I’ve only just begun!” Sephiroth shouted at her. He gripped his sword tightly and leapt off her shoulder. His battle cry was a result of pain as much as it was of righteous anger. He somersaulted and used the added momentum to drive his blade deep into her chest and then downward. Jenova gave a hideous scream. Flesh and bone parted like butter beneath Masamune’s edge, and Sephiroth gritted his teeth against the pain as he used his injured feet to push himself away from her. He somersaulted again, and landed less than gracefully on the ground. Pain shot up his legs on impact, and he swayed.
“Got you!” Kadaj and Loz were suddenly at his side and supporting him. They all looked up as Jenova continued to scream with pain. The flesh of Jenova’s chest was gaping wide open, and they could see her pulsating black heart.
The crack of rifles filled the air--once, and then twice. Jenova paused, and the night was suddenly deafeningly quiet, but for the steady beat of her heart. Time seemed to stand still, and then there was a definite hitch in the heartbeat, and then another. Jenova moaned lowly, and the towering form swayed dangerously.
“What . . . what have you done?” Jenova wailed. “It hurts! It hurts so much!”
She screamed again, and listed to the side. They scattered as she came down, all writhing flesh and tentacles. A dark rash was spreading rapidly outwards from her chest and was already making its way down her tentacles. The impact made the earth tremble so that it was felt nearly a mile away.
“It’s working!” Kadaj shouted. “It’s really working!”
It was. Sephiroth could see the flesh around the chest wound melting off her bones, and the effect was spreading quickly as her heart pumped the infected blood to her whole body. She went into convulsions when it reached her brain, and they were forced to retreat even further. Tentacles flailed uncontrollably as the vaccine did its work. Sephiroth could only imagine the pain, and his darker side thought that perhaps it wasn’t even close to enough, for all that she’d ever done to him and the Planet.
Jenova gave one more ear-splitting scream before she suddenly ceased to move. For a while, the only sound was the feeble beating of that black heart, and then, it too ceased. Sephiroth released a breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding.
“You did it,” Kadaj breathed into the sudden silence.
Sephiroth shook his head. “No, Kadaj.” He turned and kissed his little brother on the forehead. “We did it.” He looked around at the others gathered around them. “We all did it.”
The pain in his ankles became unbearable then, and he sat down on the ground hard. Maggie was suddenly there, tears in her eyes and her expression frantic as she knelt next to him and gathered him close. He closed his eyes and rested his head on her shoulder, suddenly bone tired.
“Sephiroth?” Maggie was crying.
“I’m okay,” Sephiroth said. “Only, I want to go home, Maggie,” he whispered.
“And where is home?” she demanded through her tears.
Sephiroth chuckled and opened his eyes and lifted his head. He lay his palm against her cheek and smiled at her. “Anywhere you are, Maggie-mine.”
And then he kissed her.
*****
I have four sons.
Vincent shook his head and smiled ruefully. Eventually, he’d come to terms with the fact and stop obsessing over it. Four sons. It hardly seemed possible that a mere two years ago he’d been a solitary creature. Now he had a family, and a rather large one at that. Four sons! And within the next year, he would probably have another child. He already knew that Yuffie wanted children, and there was very little Vincent had the courage to deny the young woman. He found himself secretly hoping he would have a daughter. Although he would never admit it, he was fairly convinced that he would enjoy spoiling a little girl.
Vincent’s gaze wandered to where Maggie was resting on one of the waiting room couches. Maggie had been in a panic when they had first taken Sephiroth away for the emergency surgery to repair the damage Jenova had dealt his ankles. He could understand it--Sephiroth had been bleeding badly, and the first thing Dr. Graham had done was insist that Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz donate a pint each for the surgery. Once Sephiroth had been taken to surgery, the group of friends had closed ranks around Maggie and done what they could to assuage her fears. It had been Rufus who had finally succeeded in calming her, and she’d fallen asleep in his arms. Rufus and Kadaj had carefully laid her on the couch and covered her with a blanket after that, and she’d been sleeping ever since. That had been nearly three hours past, and there was still no word as to how Sephiroth’s surgery was going.
He moved his gaze to where Kadaj was presently trying to coax Rufus to the cafeteria. The Shinra President had been on the phone for nearly three hours straight in his efforts to coordinate the clean-up of the mess Jenova had caused in the hospital and surrounding property. This had come after the much less pleasant task of notifying Daniel’s family of his demise. Maggie had offered to do it, but Rufus had firmly insisted that Daniel’s death was Shinra’s fault and that he would take care of it. The man looked beyond tired now. There were dark circles under his ice blue eyes, and Vincent could understand Kadaj’s worry for him, and it didn’t appear as if his youngest son was succeeding in getting Rufus to comply. Vincent frowned and crossed the room.
“Soon, Kadaj,” Rufus was promising.
Kadaj snorted and rolled his eyes. “You said that an hour ago,” he said flatly. “Rufus, you need to eat.”
“I would have to agree,” Vincent interrupted. “You look like death warmed over.”
Rufus snapped his mouth shut and stared at Vincent for a moment, and then he smiled slightly. “You’ve already adopted me in that head of yours, haven’t you?”
“Am I wrong to?” Vincent asked with an arched brow. He looked pointedly between Rufus and Kadaj.
Rufus laughed softly and shook his head. He reached out and laced his fingers through Kadaj’s and squeezed. “No, sir. If you’re thinking along those lines, I’m afraid you’re permanently stuck with me as an in-law.”
“Then, as a concerned in-law, I’m going to have to insist that you get something to eat,” Vincent said.
Rufus wanted to argue, and Vincent shook his head sharply.
“I know you want to fix everything your father ever ruined, Rufus, but it will help no one if you collapse from exhaustion,” Vincent said gently. “I have no doubt that you will achieve your goal in time, but to do so, you must be healthy. Go, get something to eat. That cell phone will still be there when you are through.”
“Please,” Kadaj added. That simple plea broke Rufus, and he nodded.
“Okay,” he said. He leaned over and kissed Kadaj on the temple. “You’ve convinced me.”
Vincent watched them leave for the cafeteria before he turned his attention to the others. Cloud and Tifa were curled up in one of the bigger chairs and both seemed to be dozing. Marlene and Denzel had found a deck of cards and were playing a quiet game at a corner table. That left Loz and Yazoo. The two brothers were standing at a window, staring out at the spectacular sunrise and speaking quietly to one another. Vincent had yet to actually speak with them.
“You should at least go say hi,” Yuffie’s voice suddenly suggested. She stood at his elbow and smirked up at him. “I don’t think they’ll bite. At least, not hard anyway.”
“It’s not that easy,” Vincent said.
“Yes, I know. It’s awkward, but unless you start talking to your sons, it always will be,” Yuffie said with a chuckle. “I think they’re curious about you, too.”
Vincent swept her into his arms and hugged her close. Yuffie giggled as she melted into his embrace and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“I love you, Yuffie,” he whispered into her ear. A part of him still could not say it loud enough for all to hear, but he knew Yuffie understood that.
“I love you, too,” she whispered back.
Vincent released her. He looked up and found that Loz and Yazoo were watching. He took a deep breath, and went to talk with his sons.
*****
TBC
- 21
- 22
- 23
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The Path to Redemption