Reunion

[Cloud]

When the woman suddenly appeared and started declaring that Zack had been somehow a problem for her, the ex-SOLDIER could only blink, completely confused. He pointed at himself with that lost look on his face before looking to the others with a shrug. "I don't know her!" he said, shaking his head in confusion.

"Look, lady..." Zack said as he turned to face her, his hands on his hips as he shook his head. "I think you've got me confused for some other guy. Technically, I haven't exactly been around to be on anyone's nerves for a while..." he said, then put his hands behind his head casually, looking up at the ceiling as he spoke.

"Not that you're not cute and all, especially when you're mad, but sorry. I'm not your guy..." he finished...

However, the cells would disagree. This is the vessel, yes... but whether or not they wished to return would be another matter entirely. After all... the very theory of "ReUnion" was that all Jenova cells had a compulsive need to become one with their original donor, meaning Jenova. What made them a pain for her was the fact that they possessed something that belonged to the one with whom she now took issue. These cells... contained Cloud's memories. With them, she couldn't be her own person. Without them, Zack could no longer be...

[Secondary Characters]

Leon had begun to attack Heartless, slicing them apart along with the security systems, when he noticed Zack acting odd. He knew that something was off about him. He didn't seem...himself. Leon began to slowly approach him, preparing to speak, when the woman materialized out of thin air.

Leon figured that she knew Zack somehow, but...Zack didn't seem to know her! She seemed angry, flustered, possibly even...anxious somehow. Taking a step forward, Leon rested his hand on his blade, prepared to fight if necessary...

"Who are you? And what do you want? Speak quickly, I don't have any time for games!"

[Twilight Path]

Jenova sighed, reaching up to scratch a little at her neck, where the cells rested eagerly and...defiantly. Those tiny organisms were his memories, but a part of her own, her adaption to the world that only made her stronger, but she did not want these memories. "I'm sorry, my sweets... but you still have work to do for me..." she spoke to no one in particular, etching closer to the man with black hair and blue eyes. She reached up, and rested a hand on his clothed chest, on that leather strip that allowed his sword to remain in place behind him.

She watched him momentarily, her eyes dull to his nature, "Do you honestly believe you are alive? Do you think your purpose is to move on when you have already seized to be anything but a memory?" her eyes narrowed, the cells on her neck slowly making their way to her hand, "What a naive ghost... you are nothing but a memory, and yet strive to be more than that. You are his past, and only allowed to be so. He is the master in this life, not you. "

[Cloud]

Zack went to take a step back when the woman approached, gripping is sword and ready to strike. But then, her hand fell so gently upon his chest... and he had the strangest sensation wash over him. Total calm... like being around one's mother. He sighed, listening to her words as his sword fell at his side...

"What a naive ghost... you are nothing but a memory, and yet strive to be more than that. You are his past, and only allowed to be so. He is the master in this life, not you. "

"His... past..." he whispered, thinking about this. "Past..." he echoed once more, lifting a hand to look at the gloves there. He sighed, clenching his fingers lightly. "Heh..." he muttered, then looked up with a strange... hurt smile. "He made it, huh? After all hell broke loose... he made it back to Midgar?" he asked, sounding sad but happy at the same time.

"But I..." he started, then suddenly stopped, his eyes jumping open and his body convulsing violently. During his little acceptance of the truth, some of the cells had managed to make it back to him... and his body was reacting violently.

"I-" he gasped again, his body doubling over. His hair would begin to lose all pigmentation and fall about his shoulders. Slowly, he would stop twitching and become stock-still. His tormented gasps and coughs ceased... "I..." he whispered, his voice deeper... clear and dangerous...

He slowly stood up... his eyes coming to meet with Jenova's... green and catlike. "...will never be a memory..." Sephiroth finished, picking up the Buster Sword lightly, darkness swirling over it to change its shape and contour. When he brought it up fully to point the sharpened end at the woman, it would take on the familiar shape of the Masamune...

"Mother..." he whispered, smirking. "I've thought of a wonderful idea... Let's go to the promised land... together."

[Twilight Path]

Jenova's eyes narrowed at the sight of the awakening of Sephiroth. She would sigh a little, unamused, and dis-pleasured by this outcome. This was not FULLY Cloud-- it was partly, which was Sephiroth. The men always seemed to upset her, for these three are not relatives, just acquaintances, barely friends, and yet like her cells- so closely connected.

The woman backed away slightly, holding her hand with the remaining cells on the side, before saying in a subtle tone, "Why do people call me that...?" she'd grumble, only being mother to the CELLS... which for some reason would haywire when it came to possessing a human body, "Hmph... you are simply not complete." she looked down to her hand, feeling the cells growing nervous and eager to help their mother.

"I will fix that." she sighed, and turned her attention back at the man, " ... and soon... all you have will be memories."

[kefka]

[glow=Gray,2,300]Zolapaz had somewhat wandered off inwardly after exiting the portal leading into Tron's world. Once they'd finished there he stopped paying attention, for reasons unknown. However, when he bounced back into reality Heartless were all over the place--typical--and someone new had entered the battlefield. Something familiar, but the Nobody did not care to think too deeply about it. Instead he beat random creatures with his mace as they came his way, and he listened off-handedly to the conversation between Zack and the stranger.

"What an interesting turn of events," he said, just to get some word into the whole ordeal, knocking the head clean off a leaping Shadow with his morningstar. "This newcomer wouldn't happen to know where my Heartless is, would it?" he asked, thinking about his other mission that had been pushed aside a while back. "I need to ensure he doesn't seek me out to reunite some day."

A shrug, and he continued battle, awaiting an answer.[/glow]

[Cloud]

"hmph..." Sephiroth huffed lightly, eyes never leaving Jenova as he stood there with his sword drawn. "You always were non-complacent, Mother..." he mused, then smirked. "Never liked going very far... that's why I had to cut your head off once, and if I have to, I'll do it again..."

Glancing to the side, he saw Zolapaz complaining about... something. Without another thought, he swept his blade in a glorious arc, attempting to sever the man's head from his shoulders in an almost demonstrational attack. "If his finding you is a concern, then let me ease your torment..." Sephiroth muttered before pulling his sword back into a ready position and pointing it toward Jenova.

"Shall we... mother?"

[Twilight Path]

"Cut my head off..." she whispered, her eyes narrowing a bit, "...What an impudent boy you are."

Jenova began to excert a huge amount of pressure; the air around her and near her ran cold, and crystals began to form to float in mid air close to her persona. They were not made of water, no, they were compressed spells acting as shields and weapons.

"Shame you are only a memory... I would of loved devouring your sanity, child." her voice began to echoe, the pressure becoming stronger still. The ground beneath her began to crack and float about before sliding away from her, and the furnitures and games would do similar, their material bending and splintering as they vibrated and trembled away from the Unversed.

[Cloud]

"Hm..." Sephrioth chuckled softly, watching as the woman demonstrated her power. Apparently, now that she was awake and aware, she'd be a little more difficult to control as he once did back at ShinRa. Still, she was nothing more than an overglorified corpse to him, and in the long run... he would be victorious.

The floor gave way, and while most would fall with it, Sephiroth would flip himself backward and launch off the opposite wall toward his "mother". "Sanity?" he asked as he swept his elongated sword at the woman at rapid speeds. His sword would cut through the crystals, penetrating the shield with minor difficulty.

The remaining strikes (and they were few) would target the vital points of Jenova's form. "Sanity is something I discarded with my humanity..." he finished, attempting to cut her to pieces. "... far too much of a burden..." he added.

[kefka]

[glow=Gray,2,300]Though it seemed as if Sephiroth's intentions were to behead the general-esque Nobody, he missed terribly, as Zolapaz simply backed himself into a Corridor of Darkness, lobbing forth his morningstar before disappearing into the void in an attempt to smack the man upside the head.

When he reappeared he was closest to Leon; he gave the man a simple "hello, again", and took to the sky above Heartless swarms, surveying the chaos. Should he step in again?

"What's next on the agenda?" he asked bluntly, bored with the entire situation.[/glow]

[Twilight Path]

'A fool he is,' the caretaker of time would mention, as she saw the child slice through the seemingly innocent looking crystals without a second thought. The man would soon be covered by different sorts of mists given out by the floating shards he eradicated along his way, and the dust which covered him was hastily inflicting him with status effects.

...poison....He would feel his life slowly draining away with every step he took.

...confusion....His sights would give way to whole new reasoning to what he watched, similar to a man thinking half awake.

....gradual petrify....The grey dust which fell on him would soon eat at his clothes and skin, turning them into a stone like complexion.

...Silence....As if she would let him heal himself so easily, The last crystal nulled his speech. No interruptions.

Jenova took a few simple steps back, as the man that was after her head began to slow down. She only took steps necessary to remove herself from the sword's range before speaking, "You know..." she started, "... I'm pretty sure my previous form did not appreciate being used to create children... She was forced into being your so called "mother," do you know what that means?"

She slowly advanced, pinning the sword's blade under her left boot, so he wouldn't try anything in his weak state, "... it means that all the children born of her... were more than mistakes and accidents... they were a violation." her eyes narrowed at that last wording, " ... and I have every right... to take your life on her behalf... but again, you are only a memory... memories cannot be forgotten... but they can be put away."

Jenova stood there, watching the man curiously before reaching down, and wrapping her small hand on his forehead, "Time to go to your second home, my dears...." and she started the transfusion with the cells, sending the memories with them into what would be their new... host.

"You...and he have much work to do..." she spoke lovingly and before Cloud could be formed, she took a dark corridor, and was gone...

She hated goodbyes.

[Cloud]

And so, a different battle would rage.

Sephiroth had little effect in this world during his brief return, almost none as a matter of fact. Really, the only damage he acheived was to mess up the computer room a little, and when he was suddenly afflicted with so many status ailments all at once, it was the calling of another ending. The woman insulted him by calling him little more than the product of rape, a base memory to be ferreted away. The only thing he could take away from it was that he would NOT be forgotten...

And then she forced HIM back into existance. Inwardly, the silent, still, and poisoned Sephiroth would struggle to maintain his reality. Because he was afflicted with confusion as well, it would be a losing battle, one in which the OTHER would be granted the first strike. And so, history would repeat itself within the vast black expanses of the shared mind. A blond-haired warrior would rise up to face the cold evil of Sephiroth, and in a single move, reality would come crashing in on itself.

Omnislash. Sephiroth held no other move in such contempt as that blasted technique. The warrior struck a thousand times, and a thousand times more, each attack landing in horrible, crushing succession. All Sephiroth could do was roar out in anger and agony as once more his life force was hurdled into the back of another's mind. He cursed the name of his own "mother" though she claimed another form now. He swore revenge on the warrior, and above all, he promised...

"I will haunt your nightmares as long as you live... CLOUD!!"

Outwardly, the struggle took on a strange appearance as the body contorted and convulsed, the face scrunching into a horrific grimace. The stone skin would crack and fall away like a hard-boiled egg emerging of its own accord. Steam would rise off his form as the poison burned itself away. The hair seemed to light itself on fire, burning away the flowing locks of silver and leaving behind an embering gold. Those eyes, once green and catlike, would force themselves a pure azure. Even the sword in the man's hand would shift form once more, shortening and expanding until it took on the shape of the Buster Sword.

Gasping for air and grunting from pain, Cloud fell to his knees. His memories rushed him all at once as Sephiroth's influence was pushed farther into the back of his mind than it had ever been before. He coughed and spat up sickly black bile which represented the excess darkness he had taken on only in the short amount of time that monster possessed him. Breathing heavily, he stayed there on his hands and knees a long moment...

Then he lifted an arm and wiped away the spittle at his lips. Shakily, one leg lifted and rose his form into standing position. His other hand held the Buster Sword as though it weighed a million pounds. However, when he was finally at full height, he opened his eyes and glared at the sky, thrusting the sword onto his back. He was regaining himself, the cells making him anew, with all status afflictions removed and his health rejuvinating.

To all this, Cloud had only one word to say. One word which surmised all the anger he felt at the recent past, and the things he'd been forced to endure. All the pain of feeling Zack's reunion with Aerith and subsequent discovery of his own death, even the disgust he felt at BEING Sephiroth even shortly boiled down to the actions of just one person...

"Atticus..." Cloud growled, determined to finish off that monster at long last.

[Secondary Characters]

Leon had seen his fair share of strange things in his lifetime. He'd battled Heartless, entered a computer world to destroy a virus, made friends and enemies, and even loved...but nothing could have prepared him for Zack's transformation from himself into...whatever the long haired, nodachi-wielding man that stood before him was!

The "Mother" to that strange silver-haired man calmly began speaking of memories, and of how the silver haired man existed as one. Leon tried to put two and two together. So...apparently Zack...wasn't really himself, but this man in disguise? But that couldn't be right! Then again, everyone had acted so strangely and told Zack that he was already dead...

So maybe Zack wasn't really himself! Leon was bewildered, but a part of him wanted to accept it, to make the best of it. The strange man Zola, Zack's emotion-less consort, attempted to attack the silver-haired man, but his power seemed incredible, even for such a skilled magician.

Then, everything came to a head when the strangest thing yet happened. The "Mother" put her hand on the silver man's head, calling him "Sephiroth" and telling the memory to leave...then, where there was silver hair, gold, spiky plumes emerged, and the pale, blue-eyed visage of Cloud made itself visible.

Leon was aghast. It was Cloud the whole time?! He seemed to be having some sort of inner battle with himself, but then he came to and was aware of his surroundings, uttering only one word as his mouth twisted in hatred... "Atticus..."

Leon rushed over to Cloud, ready to lend him a hand if need be. He couldn't let Cloud do this on his own! He was here, ready and willing to help!

"Hey! Long time no see, Cloud! So, uh...you wanna fill me in on any details I might have missed...?"

[Cloud]

Cloud's eyes moved from the ceiling (currently with a massive hole ripped through it as a result of the battle between Jenova and Sephiroth which matched the missing portion of floor) to Leon as he approached. With a sigh, Cloud looked off again, not wanting to make eye contact after so much had happened.

"It's a long story..." Cloud muttered in response to Leon's bewhilderment. "Maybe when this is all over, I'll tell you. Maybe."

That was when Cloud looked up and saw another familiar face. Upon noticing Zola again, Cloud grabbed Leon and pulled him back, his other hand pulling up the Buster Sword in a defensive manner. His eyes narrowed at the man and his face set into an angry sneer. "Now I know why you felt so familiar!" Cloud growled, his hands tightening on the hilt of his sword. "You're that clown's Nobody, aren't you? That means that Kefka's a heartless now and more of a problem, doesn't it? That's why the automatic defenses targetted you in the beginning!"

Cloud kept his eyes trained on Zolapaz as his head cocked to the side slightly to speak to Leon behind him. "This guy's one half of a monster that attacked innocent people at Midgar..." he explained. "He can't be trusted."

[kefka]

[glow=Gray,2,300]Turning, his face set in a deep, shadowed expression of apathy, he stared down Cloud the entire time he spoke out against the Nobody.

Fully facing the spike-headed man now, Zolapaz folded his arms together and studied the form. After a few moments of silence he threw up an inquisitive's finger and directed it towards Cloud.

"So you were the one with whom my former self did battle, then. I see, I see." He stepped forward, unfazed by any advances the two opposing him would make and rested a hand on Cloud's shoulder.
"Rest assured, ex-Soldier, that I am unlike my Heartless counterpart in various ways: for one, I am rather sure I'm less pretty."[/glow]