Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Final Materia ❯ Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Shukera felt the strength of everyone's wishes in the warmth of her materia. She stepped closer to Sephiroth and nodded. "I will reach her Sephiroth. Just never let her go." She closed her eyes and searched the life stream.

Jenova stepped closer to the child as she lifted her hand. "I will not allow this human to take my son away from me!!!" A ball of green energy collected in her hand. "She will be destroyed!!!"

Sephiroth jumped to his feet and shouted, "NOOOO!!!! YOU HAVE TAKEN ENOUGH FROM ME!!! I WON'T LET YOU TAKE MY DAUGHTER!!!" He lifted his sword in his hand and glared at Jenova, "You are not my mother!!! My mother was a woman named Lucrecia!! You are nothing but a monster that was forced upon me!!!"

Jenova lifted her hand, "My poor son, they have poisoned you against me. Lies spread out of desperation. I will destroy her and heal your poisoned mind!!"

Sephiroth spat, "I will protect this girl with my life!!!" Jenova unleashed the ball of energy and Sephiroth jumped before it, taking the full blunt of the blast directly. He slammed against the wall hard, breaking the structure.

A sickly gray colored phantom hand extended from Jenova and wrapped around Sephiroth's body. Shukera watched in horror as it ripped Sephiroth's spirit directly from his body. The hand carried his spirit in its tentacle until he was absorbed into the creature.

Jenova smirked at Shukera in victory, "My son is with me now, my power is complete!!! It is only a matter of time before this world is mine!!!"

Shukera stood to her feet filled with rage and grief. Almost instantly her materia flared to life. "You're not getting your diseased hands on Sephiroth or his daughter!! I will die before I allow you to enter his life again!!! I'm not going to let him be taken that easily!!!"

The light emitting from Shukera's hand caught Jenova's attention and she shrieked, "NO WAY!! That can't be!!!"

Bethany stood next to Shukera and held the White materia in her hand. Shukera spat as she joined the child. "Sorry but it is!!! Your minutes are numbered bitch!!"

The two materia began to pulsate together, resonating in unison with energy. The air began to stir around them, blowing their hair around their faces and spreading it behind them almost like a halo. Shukera spoke, as her eyes became the same color as the materia, "The planet has decided it has had enough of you robbing it of its life-force energy."

The light around Shukera and Bethany became blinding, constantly gaining intensity as a gentle voice filled the room. "We have been sent to erase you and heal the planet's wounds. You are unfit to remain here." A hand formed and rested on top of Bethany's, giving the young child strength. A brilliant angel formed behind Shukera and Bethany. She spread her wings and protectively placed her arm around her sister, giving her courage and soothing her fears. Her innocent eyes fixed upon Jenova as a gentle smile formed on her face.

The air became electrified and bolts of lightening began to discharge through the area. The wind blew strongly around the two girls and the angel as they stood unafraid and casually watched the Jenova.

Tentacles formed from the side of Jenova and scrambled towards them. She tried to grab the materia, but when the tentacles came in contact with them Jenova screamed in pain as they withered away then turned to a pile of ash and disappeared into the wind.

Aerith raised her hand and a blast of white energy emitted from her hand, forcing Jenova back and severing its tentacles. Jenova screamed in pain as the dead matter fell to the ground around her.

The wind grew stronger and began battering Jenova around. She tried to shield herself with a barrier, but all the debris that was being carried by the winds only smashed it. Brick by brick, the Shin Ra building began blowing away.

Aerith spread her magnificent wings and they rose into the sky where everyone standing with Cloud and his friends could see them. She held her hand out towards Jenova and the beautiful woman was lifted into the air as well. Everyone was to bear witness to the creature's destruction.

Shukera stared at Jenova's scared form and recited, "From deep within the planet, its revenge will rise up and destroy you. From the depths of the very place you have tainted, targeted directly at this one single point. Justice will be carried out by the planet's own forces to destroy this place and erase the mistakes that man has made…taking everything associated along with it."

Shukera's materia erupted in a blast of deep indigo and surrounded her with a black aura. Phantom fingers reached out from the aura and penetrated the ground, causing a rift where they touched the surface of the planet. The sky split and began to rumble above as dark clouds formed on each side of a rift and began to spread out, casting shadows upon the land.

The angel form of Aerith recited in a strong but soft voice, "Protect the innocent people of this planet and heal the wounds caused by evil. From deep within the force of life shall arise to make a barrier that will protect those whose hands were not tainted by Shin Ra's will. Come forth and protect us from the planet's wrath!!"

The white materia held between Bethany's hands exploded with a blinding light. Below them the ground began to rumble. Not far from where the Shin Ra building stood, a huge crater formed in the ground as it shook violently. From the crater a green liquid burst forth like a volcanic eruption. Ribbons of pale green reached to the sky and joined the rays of white light emitted by the materia. The scene soon became a dazzling display of lights as the life stream spilled from the ground.

Barett and the citizens of Midgar watched as the green liquid spilled from the crater, flowed towards them and hardened around them forming an energy barrier. The liquid began glowing pale green, calming their fears as they looked on. The green barrier made the group invisible to whatever fury was about to unfold.

All of a sudden the sky above them became an ugly shade of gray, the color of dead matter on a corpse and the shadows below the sickened colored land stretched and seemed to come alive.

Long phantom skeleton fingers stretched from the shadows and passed through the fleeing Shin Ra guards. As the fingers hit them, the guards grabbed their skin and screamed in horror as their souls were ripped away from them, leaving them a broken shell of bones. Once the fingers moved on, the men turned to ash and blew away in the wind. The shadows rippled with a death knell as they spread through the land, attacking those whose hands were tainted by the deeds of Shin Ra.

The shadows blacked out the sky above completely as they threw the world into a shroud of darkness. Darkness unlike anything anyone had ever seen, darkness where the shadows lurked and preyed on the evil doers of Shin Ra. Punishment carried out for the evils Shin Ra and its people, punishment for the suffering and pain spread on others, punishment for robbing the planet of its life.

Within the shadows, a dark blackened stream of energy passed, sucking in those that had been left for dead. This blackened stream was thought to be a fairy tale to scare the children before they went to bed, a tale told around a flickering campfire while being surrounded by the darkness of night. The elders of the Ancients called it "Death Stream", the place where the damned are casted never to be reused in the rebirth of life. The ones casted down in the death stream were known as the "Broken Circle", the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth broken forever.

The death stream spread across the planet, repelled only by the life stream that protected the innocent. Barett and the others watched from their protective barrier as an almost unseen enemy struck down many leaving them shrieking in horror. The ground turned a sickening color as the blackish liquid carried the one's who were judged away with it.

Shukera looked at the floor of the Shin Ra building and began to cry, "So that's what my materia was…death…how fitting…" She wiped the tears away and looked up at Aerith's spirit. "I wonder…will we die here too??"

Aerith smiled confidently, "No, I will not allow that to happen." Suddenly a bright beam of pale green light shot out of the white materia and disappeared into Shukera.

Aerith reassured her, "Don't worry Shukera; I'll make sure nothing happens to you." Aerith wrapped her large wings around Shukera and Bethany protectively. In an instant, they were gone.

Aerith took them away just before the death stream punched several holes in the ground around the Shin Ra building. Shadowed fingers mingled with the black liquid as it engulfed the building from all sides. The ground below the building opened up and began swallowing the structure.

The building seemed to implode as it slowly disappeared below the ground. The last thing that could be seen was the death stream coming together and suspended a single form in the air. Jenova's screams of horror could be heard all through the surrounding area. The shadows danced through the death stream, moving in and out of her body. The last of the Shin Ra building disappeared and the death stream sunk back into the ground from where it came, taking Jenova with it.

A streak of pale green light shot down from the building and into the barrier. When it stopped, Aerith stood before Cloud and his friends holding Bethany in her arms. Sephiroth and Shukera laid at her feet in an aura of pale green light. She gently set Bethany down on the ground and watched as Death destroyed the Shin Ra building. A shattering scream filled the air and was gone. The clouds above slowly spread apart and the stars reappeared, twinkling brightly in the sky.

Soon after the death stream disappeared, the life stream withdrew and flowed back into the ground from where it came. When it was gone the only thing that remained was a charred hole in the ground where Midgar once was and a single tiny seedling that broke through the ground. Even in death, the promise of new life stood strong.