【SC】Endless Journey

Unlike the original Sephiroth, this new creature with the likeness of Sephiroth has white wings.

He is like a feathered beast that has just hatched from an eggshell, slowly opening all its wings, allowing energy to flow to the wingtips.Then he shook his feathers and rose directly below the forming star.

In the process of Sephiroth being swallowed by the original S-type and reappearing, the diameter of the star has gradually increased from one kilometer to about five kilometers, and it is still increasing.The flow of life lifts it up into the sky, and the lower end of the star has also risen to a height of about 1000 meters. Claude suddenly noticed that it is not only rising, but also moving north.

"Where are you taking it?!" Cloud yelled at the newborn Sephiroth.

However, the other party just glanced down at him, and then continued to fly above the clouds with the stars.

That look is so cold and so strange, like two inorganic green gemstones embedded in the eye sockets.Claude's breathing stopped for an instant, and a sharp pain mixed with despair rushed into his mind.

—That's not Sephiroth.

In the past 200 years, he has seen every form of Sephiroth, high-spirited, calm and self-possessed, conceited, approachable...even the angry and crazy side of Sephiroth when he learned the truth in Nibelheim, and afterward He is very familiar with decades of cruelty and cruelty.The only thing he had never seen was Sephiroth, who had no mood swings at all. It felt like looking at a statue of a god. It was so weird and beautiful, but it had lost all human qualities.

Even so, Cloud couldn't find another name to call him.

"Stop it, Sephiroth!!"

His wounds had recovered to the point where he could barely move, so he raised the Six Forms to chase the opponent.

He already knew where Sephiroth was going—the root of the original S-type penetrated deep into the planet's core from the Great Northern Cavity, and could directly absorb Gaia's life flow without the impact of meteorites.When Sephiroth merged with the original S-type, he naturally took over that passage, and the other party would squeeze the last life force of the planet from there, and then push the meteorite to the vast universe.

The six-winged, silver-haired creature turned a deaf ear to his cries, and continued heading towards the Peking University hole.Cloud commanded Bahamut to take himself high into the sky and catch up with Sephiroth at the fastest speed.

When he was close enough to the opponent, he immediately swung the six-style above his head twice, and then shot out like a shooting star.

"Sephiroth—!"

Claude roared and released all the magic energy in his body, and the burning blade slashed at the top of the silver skull from above.

For a moment, he felt a few drops of cold liquid passing by the corner of his eyes, and then Zhengzong blocked the attack.Sephiroth looked at him blankly, and suddenly made a backhand, throwing him straight into the abyss under his feet.

That was a powerful force that the real Sephiroth had never had before, and even with the impact of the meteor strike, it counterattacked Cloud.His internal organs were shattered almost instantly, blood spurted from his mouth and nose, and he fell straight into the sea like a kite with a broken string.

--"How are you?"

Claude opened his eyes in a haze, and the strong dizziness and vomiting made him groan uncomfortably.

He turned his head to the direction of the voice with difficulty, and a silver-haired man was watching him with concern.

The whole space suddenly jolted, and Claude realized that he was in a closed compartment.The food flow with a burning sensation immediately surged up his throat, and he forcibly suppressed it.

"Well... sorry." He replied weakly.

He had a strange familiarity with the man, but he couldn't remember the man's name no matter what.

"I didn't bring motion sickness medicine." The man showed an apologetic expression.

"It's okay, really. It's my own fault for forgetting to bring the medicine..."

He vaguely remembered that the man's body was immune to almost all abnormal states, but the other party still suggested to him: "You can look out the window, it will help you distract yourself."

An inexplicable warmth spread in his heart, as if there was a soul that did not belong to him jumping and moving in his body.So he nodded and replied in an inaudible voice: "Thank you."

……

...he remembered.

He is a soldier of the Shinra company's security maintenance force, and this man is a first-class special soldier of the Shinra company.

As the transport vehicle continued to drive, the scene in front of him gradually darkened.He struggled for a moment with the discomfort of motion sickness, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

"Sir! Something strange is crashing into our car!"

When he regained consciousness, he found himself facing an angry dragon.

It was a green dragon in breeding season, and its nest-protecting instinct made it actively attack the transport vehicle.Since it blocked the only road around here, everyone had to get out of the car and fight.

"Quick, attack its head!"

However, the dragon was huge, and he only had one machine gun in his hand, even if all the bullets were poured out, it would not be able to damage it.The giant dragon roared and rushed towards him, and the heavy dragon tail hit his chest.

"I'm going to die," he thought dazedly.

The broken ribs slid between his muscles, and the broken ribs poked at the internal organs with excruciating pain.

At this moment, a silver arc pierced through the air, and the giant dragon instantly decapitated.Claude struggled to raise his head, only to see the silver-haired man walking up to him with a giant sword, and cast a healing spell on him.

"Protect yourself," the man instructed.

Looking at the back of the other party leaving, a feeling of reverence suddenly arose in his heart.

Ah, this is the great hero——

"■■■■"

The name was about to be blurted out when a headache hit him.

He still couldn't pronounce the other person's name, but he had a little impression of the knife.Its name seems to be...

- "This is the first time you've been home in a long time, how does it feel now?"

Claude blinked, and the scene in front of him switched again.

They had already got off at the gate of a small town, and the silver-haired man was turning around to talk to him.

When he saw the water tower on the square, he suddenly realized that this was Nibelheim.The man didn't know what memories were brought back, his profile showed a little loneliness.

"I can't feel it because I don't have a hometown..."

...It turns out that heroes also have such emotions.

Claude was a little surprised, and then felt a little sympathy for the man.

"Where are your parents?"

A sarcastic expression flashed across the man's face, and he smiled indifferently.

"My mother's name is Xenovia, and she passed away shortly after giving birth to me. As for my father... oh, what does it matter. Forget it, let's go."

"Jenovia."

Claude's head began to ache again, and his vision became blurred.When he opened his eyes for the third time, Nibelheim was already engulfed in flames.

The air was full of the smell of burning, and the shrill screams echoed in the town.Buildings collapsed all around, and the heat wave pushed waves of thick smoke high into the air.

He didn't know when he passed out on the ground in front of his house, his body ached as if he had been run over by a truck.When he barely got up, he found that the house he had lived in for 14 years was burning.

"……Mother!"

He remembered his mother still at home, getting up hastily and rushing to the house.At this moment, the burning house collapsed, and everything in the house was instantly buried by rubble.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

His mother, the only family member he had since he was a child, and the most important person in his life, died in a sea of ​​flames right in front of his eyes.

The great grief tore his soul, he stood up staggeringly, but saw the silver-haired man turn away with a smile in the flames.

……Why? !Why him? !

That man...why would he do this? !

An unbelievable sense of betrayal hit his heart, making all the blood in his body start to boil.He followed the man's back to the Moko furnace in the back mountain, and saw Zacks and Tifa, who were also seriously injured, lying outside the door of a secret room.

"Stop him, Cloud!" Zack yelled at him with all his might.

His mind was so confused and so angry, he immediately picked up the broadsword and walked towards the secret room.

He walked into the secret room and found that the silver-haired man was standing in front of a huge glass container.He looked in through the demon in the container, and could vaguely see a woman's body.

"Mother, I'm here to see you..." The man obsessively stroked the outer wall of the container, and murmured to the obviously non-human corpse, "Mother, let us take back this planet together!"

He couldn't believe his ears.

— Just for this reason? !

Obviously we all lost our mothers, how could you... how could you! !

Claude raised his epee furiously and stabbed at the opponent's back, but the man didn't notice it at all.It wasn't until the sharp blade pierced through his chest that the opponent turned around with an incredulous expression.

"How is this possible... who are you?!"

The green vertical pupils that once carried all his dreams met his eyes, and Claude's heart began to tingle.

"Give me back Mom...Tifa...the village!" He choked up uncontrollably, "I respect and adore you so much, but you—"

The man's expression was extremely angry at first, but gradually softened over time.The other party seemed to recognize who he was, and suddenly grabbed the blade and sent it into his body, pulling him towards him violently.

This was different from the scene he remembered, and Claude took a step back hastily.He stared at the blood gushing from the opponent's chest in shock, but the opponent held his wrist firmly.

"Claude."

The man gave him a weird smile, and slowly stretched out his blood-stained hand to his cheek.Claude froze in place for a moment, and then his jaw was held by the other party.

"...Remember this initial hatred, don't forget me."

The other party leaned over to kiss his lips, he tasted the fishy taste in his mouth, and the memory suddenly flooded into his mind.

He remembered, that person's name was——

"Sephiroth."

As he unconsciously pronounced that name, the world began to crumble.

All the pain in the soul and body returned to his body again, and the boundless darkness dragged him to the abyss of the planet.His body was shattering, and his windpipe was filled with seawater. For a few minutes, he thought he was going to die like this, but a pair of slender hands held him.

"Cheer up, Claude!" The girl's voice echoed in the void.

The voice was so warm and familiar, as if a small lamp illuminated the surrounding darkness.

"Alice..." He instinctively called out that long-lost name.

"Sorry, although I really want to chat with you, but there is no time, I will send you back now."

An invisible force pulled him up in the icy sea water, and the pressure around him gradually began to decrease.It wasn't until the sky light on the sea appeared in front of his eyes again that the force let him go.

"Don't give up, Claude. There is still room for redemption."

Claude choked out a mouthful of Moko and woke up on the beach.

He moved his fingers and found that his limbs were still feeling, so he turned over with difficulty, climbed a few meters to a place where the waves could not wash, and then fell heavily back to the rocky ground.

Claude looked up at the sky, where there were no traces of stars.He stared blankly for a while, and tears suddenly overflowed his eyes uncontrollably.

He hadn't heard Alice's voice in nine years, and he hadn't healed himself so quickly after a serious injury in six years.

All these are the shackles that Sephiroth personally put on him, and now they disappear, which means that Sephiroth no longer exists.

Claude suddenly raised his hand to cover his eyes, choked up and curled up into a ball.

Sephiroth's will is like a cage, which has completely isolated him from the outside world all these years.Under that person's desire to dominate, he once lost control over both pain and happiness, but now that this deformed relationship is finally over, he has not been freed from it.

He had already guessed Sephiroth's method, and he should have reunited with the original S type before the opponent, but he failed.

Alice may have known what happened these years, but she still chose to forgive him, and even rescued him from the brink of death regardless of past suspicions.

Claude thought of Sephiroth in the dream, which might be the last bit of consciousness that the S cells retained in his body.For the first time, he felt that the fact that Sephiroth would really disappear was so painful to him. Once again, he lost his relatives, lover, lifelong enemy and emotional sustenance. Nothing could stop him, and nothing could stop him. save.Even if other dead beings on the planet can forgive him, he can't forgive himself for successfully merging Sephiroth with the original Type-S.

Claude buried his face between his hands and cried silently for a long time.He didn't stand up from the beach until all the pent-up tears were drained, walked to the reef with wet feet, pulled out the six-style stuck in it, and then started to walk towards the camp hundreds of kilometers away.

There was no living thing on the impact plain formed by the Ultima explosion, and the tens of thousands of square kilometers of the Gobi was left with deathlike silence.Claude walked for two hours under the scorching sun, and finally could vaguely see the edge of the explosion crater.

The ground removed by the tsunami exposed the deep compacted soil, and the vegetation on the surface and the organic layer about two meters thick had completely disappeared.They first turned into the nutrients needed for the original S-type growth, and then turned into the basic matter of the new star, and soon they will follow the meteorite to the vast universe.

There will be no plant seeds left in the soil at this depth, and it will take at least a hundred years for Midgar to return to its pre-erosion appearance.However, according to Sephiroth, the planet may not last that long, and it is very likely that Gaia will be destroyed before the next generation of humans sees the forest.

...but what does that have to do with him?

Claude couldn't help but smile bitterly.

If he didn't hurry up, the planet would be destroyed by the newborn Sephiroth in a few days.He must first find a vehicle that can fly, and then rush to the Great Beida Hollow, trying to stop that "Sephiroth" before he drains the planet's life flow.If he is lucky, he can die with the other party; if he is unlucky, he will be destroyed together with the planet; the worst possibility is that he will also be absorbed by the Jenova aggregate and become a part of the wandering universe.

Suddenly there was the sound of propellers in the distance, and a helicopter with the logo of the Principality of Midgar approaching him from the south.The other party soon found him walking alone on the wasteland, and immediately opened the hatch and lowered the rope ladder.

Claude climbed into the cabin along the ladder, and immediately asked about the status of Zacks and Angel.The soldier told him that the rest of them were picked up by the Midgar army half a day ago, and they arranged to search and rescue after Angel returned to the station.Angel said that even if there is only a body, they must find him, so they first went to the explosion site to recover the giant magic spar, and then searched for him along the coastline.

——The premise is that I can leave the corpse behind.Claude thought.

He was not swallowed by the original S-type thanks to Sephiroth, who condensed all the original S-types on Gaia into meteorites so that he survived the moment he fell into the sea.But there was no point in saying these words now, so he just nodded to the soldiers, and then fell into a long silence.

In Junong, three hundred kilometers away, Angel was having a serious conversation with Genesis and Zacks.

Since Angel returned to the station, the two were detained in the conference room. Although Genesis was very impatient, his eyes revealed the avoidance and anxiety similar to Zacks.

Angel has a feeling that the two have been trying to keep him away from the center of the incident. This is obviously a kind of protection when the planet may be destroyed at any time, but he does not need protection as a soldier, so there must be something he doesn't know about it reason.

"According to what you said before and my understanding, Claude is very important in stopping the original S-type, and his purpose is to save as many lives on the planet as possible, why stop me from saving him?"

Zack hastily defended, "I didn't, I was against—"

"I'm not talking about you." Angel looked at Genesis, who was flipping through the poetry collection absently, and finally raised his head slowly at this moment.

"What do you want to say?" Genesis narrowed his pupils, and his tone was extremely cold, "Do you think I want to harm him?"

"Genesis." Zack stopped him in a low voice.

He thought that Genesis' repeated targeting would make Angel angry, but Angel's reaction was calm.

"No, I think you wanted me to go at that time." Angel frowned slightly, more confused than displeased, "Although you said Claude's plan was worth a try, let him live It's obviously better than summoning meteorites, and I want to know why you would rather let me go than choose a worse solution."

As soon as the voice fell, the room fell into a sudden silence.

—He actually knows everything.

Thinking of this, Zack squeezed cold sweat in his hands.

He wanted to protect Angel, and Genesis also wanted to, but he also wanted to protect Claude, but Genesis didn't care about Claude's life, so when Claude implemented that plan, he immediately wanted to stop it. On the other side, Genesis only wanted to save Angel who was on the scene.

Angel was his beloved teacher before his death, and the officer who treats him like a brother and father now, but 200 years ago, Genesis was the one who grew up with Angel, joined the army, became a Shinra warrior together, and then faced it together. The best friend of the cruel truth, but Angel doesn't have this memory, so he is more inclined to believe him.Zack felt that it might be his responsibility to tell Angel about his past, so he began to think about how to say it.

At this moment, Genesis suddenly broke the silence.

"You're questioning my judgment for Strife??" He exploded so suddenly that both Zack and Angel turned their heads to him at the same time.

Zack never expected that he would cut in from this angle, and he didn't know how to answer the conversation for a while.

Angel ignored Genesis' anger, and his expression remained calm: "I have been with Claude for a few months, and I know what he is like, so I believe he really wants to save the planet."

"Oh, so you also know that he and the prototype of the original S-type are lovers, and raised the planet Calamity as a baby for six full years?" Genesis laughed sarcastically, "This really wants to save the planet. "

"Genesis! If he didn't stay in Midgar to attract the attention of the original S-type, we would all die there, at least you can't judge him that way." Zacks was a little angry. He knew that Cloud was in this relationship. It is also painful in China, and his friend deserves more respect.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about." Genesis immediately turned around, "You also saw who the original Type-S looked like after reading his memory in Ice Snow Village. Oh, I almost forgot, the original S-type also turned into Angel's appearance at that time - the one 200 years ago, I'm still wondering whose memory it was, was it because of you?"

The air was briefly quiet for a few seconds.

Angel didn't know about that, so he didn't know the principle of the original S-type reading memory mimicry, but both Zacks and Genesis knew the reason well-the original S-type read someone's mind. The most important image of that person.

Zacks suddenly wanted to understand why Genesis would mess up the topic on Claude, and suddenly felt a little inconceivable.

"You..." He hesitated a little, but finally asked, "—Did you have a problem with me? Because of Angel?"

The color of Genesis's face suddenly faded.

Angel didn't understand what they were arguing at first, until Genesis mentioned another "Angel" 200 years ago, and he suddenly realized that he was not a complete outsider.

His eyes lingered on the two of them for a moment, and finally coughed lightly, got up and walked between Zacks and Genesis.

"This matter has nothing to do with Claude. I'm not questioning your actions. I just..." Angel paused, "...I just want to know, did you know me a long time ago?"

Genesis dodged instinctively at the beginning and was forced to look at him later, a trace of guilt floated in the blue demon pupils that was not obvious.

Angel knew he had guessed right, something must have happened to him 200 years ago.

At this moment, the door of the meeting room was suddenly pushed open.Claude walked into the room in a hurry, went straight to the water dispenser and got himself a glass of ice water, and sipped it as if he didn't see the three people in the room.

Since the topic related to Claude had just been discussed in the meeting room, everyone showed embarrassment in unison.Zacks knew that the other party must have heard something, and asked cautiously: "When did you come back?"

Claude wiped off the water from his chin, and took a stack of documents from White. "Start with 'he and the original S-type were lovers'."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became more awkward.Angel and Zacks couldn't help looking at Genesis, who turned his head stiffly.

"I'm not going to apologize for that statement."

"Well, I don't deny it."

Claude's tone seemed very tired, so all three fell into silence.They have learned from satellite images that the original S-type was not destroyed, but turned into a star similar to the one that hit Gaia 2000 years ago, which must have been very strange to Claude, who had tried his best to stop this from happening. sad.

However, Claude didn't seem to intend to continue the topic just now, and flipped through the documents without raising his head.

Vincent and Nanaki rushed to the conference room soon after receiving the news that Claude had returned to the station.Vincent blurted out at the first glance of Crowder: "'He' appeared."

Claude hesitated slightly and nodded hesitantly.

They are all witnesses of the incident 200 years ago, and they have seen what form Sephiroth will become after receiving the huge energy of the stream of life, so when Vincent saw a blur floating next to the star in the satellite image When he saw the six-winged creature, he immediately realized what it was.

"What did Sephiroth do?" He couldn't help but frown.

"He..." There was a trace of pain in Claude's eyes, and he continued quickly: "...before me, he merged with the original S-type. He absorbed all the energy of the original S-type, and condensed the remaining material into a meteorite , just like what Xenovia did hundreds of millions of years ago... Now he is no longer Sephiroth, but a new kind of life."

For Gaia, which was about to be swallowed by the original S-type, Sephiroth gathered all the original S-types to give the planet breathing time.This should have been good news, but Vincent knew it couldn't be so simple.

"What is 'he' going to do now?" Vincent pressed.

White hastily opened the virtual sand table in the meeting room and imported a string of data from his laptop.

"He and the star are moving north. According to the calculation of the previous path, his destination may be the Beida Cavity, and the infrared image of the satellite shows that there is a high-energy reaction there."

Vincent turned to look at Claude, waiting for an explanation.

"It's the root of the original S-type."

Genesis spoke suddenly, and everyone's eyes immediately fell on him.

"Sephiroth and I went into the Peking University cave to check. The roots of the original S-type have been going deep into the core of the planet. It is for Sa—" he accidentally caught a glimpse of Claude's expression, and hurriedly changed his words, "It is for' him 'provide energy, and sooner or later the planet will be completely drained of life-flow."

What Genesis said was true, Claude did not refute.

According to the data monitored by satellite images, the diameter of the star had reached a scale of ten kilometers an hour ago, and the lowest end had also risen to an altitude of 6000 meters.Claude spent 5 minutes flipping through the information, pondered for a moment, and suddenly asked White: "Where is he?"

"71°10'03.6"N, 0°28'12.0"W." White scrutinized his expression, and reported the rest of the calculation results, "According to this speed, he will be no later than seven o'clock tomorrow morning." You will be able to reach the Peking University Hole..."

"Is there a convenient place to intercept him on his route?" Claude asked again.

"Uh..." White entered a series of instructions to display all the predicted paths on the virtual sand table.

Nanaki, who had not been able to participate in the discussion just now, jumped onto the conference table, observed for a moment near the virtual sand table, and swept his tail towards a certain position on the sand table.

"The City of Oblivion. 'He' will pass by here." Nanaki said.

Claude took a closer look at the terrain, and it was indeed the limit south of the snow line.So he immediately said to Angel: "Help me adjust a transport plane, I'm going to stop him."

Angel showed a troubled expression.It's not that he can't meet Claude's request, but he doesn't know what the consequences will be if he obeys the instructions. After all, the situation in Midgar last time made him realize that some of Claude's plans are likely to kill the other party. .

Just when he was hesitating whether he should reject Cloud, Zack was the first to express his strong opposition.

"You can't go alone. If 'he' is really a fusion of Sephiroth and the original S-type life form, you can't defeat him alone. What's more, your body can't heal itself. Once you get injured—"

"My self-healing ability has been restored." Claude interrupted him suddenly.

Zack froze for a moment.

Although he didn't know what happened, he had a vague premonition.

"My body cannot heal itself due to Sephiroth's wish, he hoped that I would always need him, so as long as his will exists, my self-healing ability cannot be restored... But now I have recovered, you Do you know what that means?"

Zack couldn't answer.

He read endless despair and sadness from those blue pupils, as if he would drown in that heavy emotion just by looking at each other.

"...Sephiroth's will disappeared." Claude's shoulders trembled slightly, "He didn't become a new creature, but disappeared completely. That thing wasn't him, he had actually— "

……died.

This time everyone understood what he meant.

But Claude didn't really collapse, but took a deep breath and continued: "So that's my responsibility, I have to kill 'him'. Please, Angel."

Everyone knew he was acting out of emotion, but everyone couldn't bear to dismiss his request.

So Angel thought for a long time, then nodded: "Let's draw up a battle plan first."