Unholy Alliance
Chapter 8
Mulder looked at his would-be other partner for a moment, realizing. "The vaccine!"
Jenova – Samantha laughed. "Fools! You think that that pitiful vaccine from so long ago will affect me now?" She laughed. "Cloud, Dana, show me that you are better than your brother. Get them."
Sephiroth knelt on the ground, groaning. He picked up his sword and advanced toward Audrea, shaking as the vaccine waged war on the Jenova in his body. Cloud approached Tifa, brandishing Ultima Weapon, and Scully pulled out her gun and held it on Mulder.
Tifa backed up, slowly. "Cloud! It’s Jenova again! You can fight this, you’ve done it before!"
Mulder reached out to Scully. "Come on Scully, give me the gun. You can trust me. You remember, don’t you?"
Barret, Cid, Vincent, Yuffie, Red XIII and Cait Sith watched the grisly scene unfold. "I don’t want to put Cloud down," Cid began. "But if we have to, we have to, right?"
Red looked at the figure. "If we can get rid of Jenova, we can free all of them."
Vincent nodded. "Although I do not particularly relish the idea of setting Sephiroth free, I do not want to leave Cloud or Dana. Nor do I wish to see Audrea killed."
"She’s got guts. I respect that." Barret said, apologetically.
Cait Sith watched, and back in Junon, Reeve shuddered. If Audrea was wrong, and Sephiroth was acting of his own will when he summoned Meteor, this could get very, very ugly. "So what are we doing?"
Yuffie flipped Conformer off her back. "Let’s get Jenova!" The young ninja felt the anger boil inside her. "ALL CREATION!"
"HIGHWIND!" Cid reached for the radio
"CATASTROPHE" Barret raised his gun-arm.
"COSMO MEMORY" The whine of the energy surge began
"SLOTS" The slot machine started to run.
"CHAOS" Vincent began his transformation.
The attacks hit Jenova, and she laughed. "Fools. Do you honestly think you can defeat me? I am Jenova, I am the one that was here first and I will be here until the end of time!" A wave of energy lashed out, throwing them to the ground. Yuffie sat up reeling. "I think we need a new plan."
Audrea watched in horror as Sephiroth advanced on her, holding Masamune. She raised her sword, and the steel clanged as she blocked his first strike. "Sephiroth … you can’t do this. I … love you. She’s not your mother and you know it. Deep in your heart, you know that she’s only manipulating you. Fight her, not me!" Audrea stopped as she was forced to roll out from underneath Masamune. She jumped up to parry the next attack, and they went at it, swords flying.
Cloud looked at Tifa. "Tifa…Help me…" He croaked out, fighting the urge to swing the massive sword at Tifa, who barely managed to jump out of the way. "Cloud! Fight!"
Scully’s hands shook as she trained the gun on Mulder. "Mulder … just…do what I say. You won’t get hurt."
"And be a zombie slave like you?"
"It’s your sister, Mulder. She loves you. How can you think of her like that?"
"Scully that’s not my sister and you know it. That’s some sort of .. I don’t even want to know. Just … don’t believe the lie."
The gun barrel wavered in Scully’s hands. She closed her eyes, separating the truth from the lies. Her finger slipped around the trigger. Mulder watched hopelessly as Scully began to squeeze.
Scully turned around suddenly and shot Jenova-Samantha. The entity screamed. "What is this?"
Cloud and Sephiroth both blinked, feeling their heads clear for a few moments. Cloud turned around, looking at Jenova. "Omnislash!" he yelled, as he launched at Jenova with the slice-and-dice combo. Jenova screamed. "No! My children! Why are you doing this!?"
Cloud stepped back, exhausted from the combo. Tifa ran up to him. "Cloud! Are you all right?"
"Yeah…I’m fine now…but I won’t be if we don’t get rid of her." Tifa nodded.
Sephiroth realized what he’d almost done. He turned around to face Jenova, stepping up to the throne. "You," he said quietly, "are not my mother. You never were. You never will be."
He raised the Masamune above his head, and cleaved the stone chair in half, slicing Jenova-Samantha. The entity screamed as black oil and red blood sprayed forth from the body. Mulder closed his eyes, not wanting to watch as the body of his sister died.