Final Fantasy Main Story RP ARC VIII

He chuckled at the toast; seeing how Angeal wasn't used to Kadaj's humor, his reaction made more sense. "To new beginnings." He nodded as well, sipping from his drink as he began to think. Maybe he had been to harsh on Zack, and Denzel. Sephiroth could more than just go fuck himself for Cloud cared, but Denzel was still family, and Zack... well...

Considering everything Zack did for him, how did he have the right to shut him out? Well, he did have a reason. The idiot was probably giving some thirteen year old kid mako shots... but he knew somehow Rufus or someone else had to be a part of it. Zack would never let something like that happen.

Or maybe he would? Cloud shook his head. He'll get the full story. Every. Single. Detail.

"To new beginnings," he said again.

Nero's foot pressed against the blade as he smiled viciously. Sephiroth was a tempered SOLDIER. He saw quickly that there would be no way to break the shell, not yet at least. This space was too small. His wings extended and crashed into the ceiling. With flare in his eyes, he surged enough mana into his wings to create cracks on the topside. With a violent twist of his wings, Nero flew back and watched as the ceiling above Sephiroth broke.

He caught himself, albeit rather clumsily on the floor and aimed both his hand guns, firing two bullets and (with the caving in topside) attacking from two directions.

He will fall against me. Sephiroth will kneel or die!

A feral smile formed on his lips.

The general's speed was impressive, to say the least. Nero barely had time to see the piercing lunge coming, but he did have the chance to react. Instead of moving aside, he would let the sword pierce into his body as his wings curled, aiming to pierce into Sephiroth just when Sephiroth pierced into him.

Nero was stabbed again and he kept his head down. Blood poured from his lips as red eyes looked up to see Sephiroth. "Lacking...? I am no threat to you. Perhaps I am immature for wanting this, but..." He tilted his head to the side and kept no expression on his visage, "... why you? Rufus Shinra wants you alive, because they'll need you. You're a super-soldier... their most powerful unit..." He closed his eyes and gave a chuckle, "I've read your file. I know they put you through hell... I won't deny that you deserve both the strength and recognition you receive."

He suddenly looked away as he coughed out blood on his wings, "But... What you went through... that, that was nothing compared to what they did to us." He looked back at Sephiroth, large amounts of dark blood over his chin. "They tied up my arms because I was too dangerous, so they surgically inserted metal wings into my back when I wasn't even eighteen." He laughed and held up his gun to Sephiroth's forehead. "I could end you right now, but what would that prove?" He laughed and pushed the barrel further against the silver haired male's head. "But I could have easily ended you. What would they have said? 'Sephiroth fought bravely but Nero got lucky'? No... I'll never get more than a look at me from them even after everything they did to me. I'm ShinRa's puppet, too. All my power is what they gave me."

He suddenly moved the gun away and showed the socketed materia he had created just before the fight. "This on the other hand.... this is me. This is my power. This is what I can put to my name, and you can bet that this is only the beginning, too." He kicked off the ground, sadamune slipping out of his body as his wings slipped out of Sephiroth's, and smashed through the damaged wall. After a second to recover, his wings expanded and he he held his guns to the side. The orb on his gun began to glow a very dark red and Nero chuckled.

"Let's play a game... if you can kill me before I summon, I will assure you no harm will come to your companions. If not... they better get moving."

Nero's orb kept glowing as Sephiroth attempted a strike. His wings flapped once and he barely dodged the sword. He felt the air from Sadamune's strike push against his face and he took a moment to catch his breath. That was too close... still in this state, he fights? Though he's no longer fighting for himself... if Sephiroth threatened Weiss, I would rise from the grave a hundred times. Monsters we may be, our base is human.

The sky above darkened and began to merge to make a singular black cloud in the sky. Stands of the Negative Lifestream were seeping from the cloud as Nero's orb was glowing brightly. Glyphs began to appear around him, "Almost, almost. You have one more chance, Sephiroth." He flew a little higher, not making this easy for the other.

"Can you protect the ones you love from me?"

He brought his wings to coil around him but the continuous streaks sent the aerial gunner back. The red orb, growing unstable, ejected out of it's socket by the attack and bounced twice. Red and purple sparks of lightning were circling it and a crack formed on the materia's surface. Ignoring the red line oozing blood from his chest, Nero aimed his gun at the materia and shot it. It instantly shattered and shot incredible amount of energy into the sky, merging with the growing, pulsating, black cloud in the sky. Nero's insane laughter was soon drowned out as a the cloud burst, shooting in all directions and a demonic form roared in the sky.

"Wutai's guardian no more," Nero yelled as he stared at the being, "Behold! Dark Leviathan!" He moved his hands to the sky and laughed manically. His wings pushed him towards the summon.

The serpent was larger than before its corruption, and it's eyes had become jet-black orbs; from its eye sockets, a mixture of tears and blood poured as the demon thrashed its head around, crying out in pain. Suddenly hollering a piercing cry, two metal wings (akin to Nero's) ripped out of its back, splashing red liquid into the sky, and the demon cried out again. Going insane, the monster's mouth began to foam a dark green before shooting out poisonous water at the city of Wutai with enough force to shatter buildings.

Nero purred as he landed on the monster's neck, cooing the beast to his control. Suddenly, the beast looked towards Sephiroth and gave a feral smile. "I think it likes you," Nero mused, wondering if he could finally see fear on Sephiroth's face.

"So wrong." Nero shook his head as the beast roared, spewing the acidic foam every time it opened its mouth. "You think I want to kill you?" Nero gave a loud laugh and he shook his head. "You have no idea... How foolish are you?" Nero's red, cat-like eyes stared into Sephiroth's green, cat-like eyes and he frowned at the other. "You think your death will mean anything to me? You still don't see what I'm after. If I wanted you dead, you would be! I created this materia in less than ten minutes! Imagine, imagine what I could do to this entire planet if I wanted to!"

His wings expanded and he lifted off the serpent. What was once Leviathan shot another surge of water at the townspeople, not giving them a chance to fight back before they died from the poisonous momentum of a focused tidal wave. Nero stared at Sephiroth, hearing the bloody chorus of cries and screams from the massacre.

"Don't you understand?" Nero shook his head. "You are nothing against me, Sephiroth. If I wanted to kill the ones you love, they would be dead before you knew it." He snapped his finger and Leviathan whipped its tail, shattering the roof of the house they were staying at. "But maybe this was your upbringing... Is this the first time in your life where you are facing someone stronger than you?" Nero grinned. "My power is the power of the Negative Lifestream. When I surge, your existence is nothing. I could kill your precious Zack in a heartbeat with my summon... Accept the facts!"

"I have been chosen." Nero smirked, knowing Sephiroth once thought himself the same. "The Negative Lifestream has chosen me, Sephiroth. What it births is the opposite of life, and when I kill, I give the opposite of death. The planet's power is dying, because when those innocents are slaughtered, they will not be allowed to go to the Lifestream. Instead, their strength of existence is fuelled to me, and my Lifestream." He frowned angrily at the man. "To eradicate the Lifestream: That is my purpose!"

He laughed and stared at the man with a feral smirk as Leviathan temporarily stopped its rampage and moved behind Nero, sharing the evil smirk. "You poor thing, Sephiroth... Why did I come here, though? Why am I hunting you, though?" Nero gave a shrug. "I don't know. I decided to have a little fun, and I met one of your remnants. The one with the longer hair, looks like a girl, forgot his name. He went on about how you were the one who protect him, by letting the Jenova infested idiot to stay with the rest. And I shot some thirteen year old kid, then Rufus came... I wanted to know where you were to prove that I was stronger than you. Not just to everyone, but to myself as well."

Leviathan began to growl, metallic wings flapping.

"I know, now, Jenova is no threat to you. You could easily defeat her, most likely. It won't be a walk in the park, but her demise is immanent. Her lifeforce, too, will make me stronger and make the planet weaker." He laughed as the summon rose it's tail over the house. "All I have to do is say the order and your loved ones will be dead. Let's trade. Your life, for theirs. Offer it, or the building comes crashing down. Even if they've left, I'll hunt them down. Nothing is faster than a summon this large."

Nero pulled out his handgun and shot a bullet at Sephiroth's shoulder. "No. No games here. No requirements, no rules -- no conditions." Nero scowled. "You surrender yourself to me and I will leave Wutai and dismiss this summon. I vow that it will be so on my love to my brother." He frowned, "I know my methods are, underhanded, but I have nothing to gain from their deaths. In time, our forces may clash, but this fight is over once I have you. Do you understand? Keep this up or make another demand..."

Leviathan, who held his tail over the house, suddenly roared and from the sea, a tidal wave began to rise, aiming for the edge of Wutai's farmland. It's crash could not be stopped. It was not necessarily a large wave, but the water being a dark green would poison food supplies for a long time.

"I am in control, Sephiroth. Play by my rules."

Zack had moved from the house and taken shelter behind a near by tree, he was nursing his shoulder. Sword strapped to his back.
He adjusted his pack looking round the tree as Nero and summon hoovered overhead.
Zack could hear their exchanged words and he frowned.
'So much for keeping a low profile.' He thought.
He heard the screams of the villagers as they evacuated in a panic.

Zack dropped his pack to the ground moving out from behind the tree.
"Seph damnit." He grumbled.
But he wasn't really in any condition to help.
He had to live to make sure Denzel was okay.
It sounded like Nero had attacked the poor teenager.

Zack had to get back to make sure Denzel was okay.
He had promised Cloud he would watch out for the kid.
But this... this was getting way out of his pay grade.
Zack looked back at Reno. "We gotta help the people get out of here safely."
Even if he couldn't fight this he could do something to help fix the damage done.


[Sorry I got distracted by Prince of Persia, I wasn't supposed to watch it but I did >.>]

The process was painful, but the doctor had explained it all to him. All Denzel could do was grit his jaw until they were done. Once finished he lightly rubbed his shoulder. It still was sore but it wasn't the extreme pain that it was before and as the doctor cleaned up the bloody pads that had been used to help with the bleeding he gave a sigh of relief and rested against the bed as instructed.

Denzel moved to roll over onto his good shoulder. "The mako in your bloodstream will help in the healing process however you should be able to properly use your arm in a few days. For now it would be best to just relax. Only restriction is on fighting, your shoulder isn't strong enough for now."

Slowly Denzel gave a nod, though it wasn't like he was moving anytime soon. All he could do was lay there and wait for what was next. Slowly eyes shut as he sighed. Rufus had told the man everything, now Zack was in danger. Would he be alone again?

Reno managed to get out of the house and follow Zack to safety just before the house was demolished. He un-holstered his gun, checking that he still had some form of cure equipped before activating it with a sigh, his hand moving close to Zack's shoulder to direct the effects. "It's a through-and-through... Harder to heal but will heal more cleanly in the end."

He looked up as the summon reeled around overhead, groaning softly and turning his attention back to Zack's wound, not noticing the tidal wave as it formed. "Look, there's nothing we can so to help them, yo," he said impassively. This was his life. People died, that was the way it was. "If we get out of here alive that's going to be miracle enough."

He was more than glad that Tseng would probably be somewhere safe, or able to escape the dangers - though he couldn't help but pray for one of his usual miracles. It was about time he was due for the grace of one of the gods.

As though his prayers were answered there was a sudden downward wind, the branches of the tree bending around them. He looked up and shook his head with a smirk.

"You never fail me," he muttered, breaking into a grin and holstering the gun again. "We're going to have to fix you up more in a bit." The rope ladder dropped a couple of foot from them and Reno shouldered as many of the bags as he could. "Look, your shoulder will hurt but it'll hold... Get on the chopper, I have a plan."

He said nothing else as he ran for the ladder, climbing it with ease and tossing the bags somewhere safe as he grinned back at the slight smirk Tseng gave him as he looked over his shoulder as if he was saying, "What? You thought I wasn't coming?"

Reno paused to stretch before eyeing the one thing he wished they had Rude there for. "Sorry Baldy, I'm going to have to caress your baby for a bit. I'll be good to her," he muttered to the air as he quickly clipped on the harness and grabbed the bazooka gun, hanging out of the open side of the chopper and taking aim.

"If I hit Sephiroth I'm going to be done for," he muttered before pulling the trigger and firing at Nero.

Reno didn't wait to see what happened, turning and loading the bazooka again, looking to Zack with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that mate, but I think the General might try something stupid if I don't try and put a dent in the guy about to wipe out most of this part of Wutai. Hopefully we'll be able to distract him long enough to get down and scoop Sephiroth in."

He gave a confident grin. "He's no me, but Tseng's close enough in terms of piloting skills."

Nero had never been thankful before of a bazooka's loudness. The minute he heard it coming he steeled his face, not allowing anyone to know of his fear, and stared at the missle from the corner of his eye.

Leviathan moved swiftly moving between Reno and Nero just in time for the explosive projectile to make collision with its neck. It roared as darkened meaty chunks fell from its neck, blood and darkness falling from the wound. Tears and blood clouding the serpent's eyes, it went eye-to-eye with the chopper and its mouth began to foam a dark green, before it could open its mouth and annihilate the vehicle, however,

"Hold!" Nero shouted.

The ends of the metallic wings on Dark Leviathan's back suddenly expanded and plunged itself into the serpent's body, wrenching the bleeding summon and forcing it to stop its fire. As blood and acidic foam fell from its mouth it only growled at the chopper, standing still in the sky.

Nero looked back at Sephiroth and flew downwards. In one fel swoop, he caught the general and lifted him off the air. Even a super soldier like himself would be wounded horribly from such a fall. The sable smiled and let his lips curve wildly, "Now would be a good time to sprout that wing of yours, General Sephiroth." Beneath the both, a ripple of darkness, a portal to the nether, opened as Nero teasingly loosened his hold on the man. "Do you want to know what would happen if I dropped you?"