By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Hojo’s eyes were wide with horror. The thought that Vincent was actually willing to fling himself into the Mako well seemed unreal. "Mr. Valentine! What are you doing? How can you do this?"

"Fuck you." Vincent’s hands slipped free of their metal holds and he kept his eyes tightly closed. He knew he was doing the right thing, even at the cost of his own life. The irony that he had spent the last several years not caring whether he lived or died, only to end up finding happiness and then having to sacrifice himself did not go unnoticed.

Instead of falling freely forward as he expected, Vincent felt a sudden jerk halting his movement. He opened his eyes, wondering what invisible force had stopped his plummet and saw Jaras standing behind him, having a firm grasp with his left hand upon his pack.

Jaras’ face was completely devoid of any emotion as he raised his sword with his free hand. He pulled Vincent back further, at the same time slashing his blade downward in front of his father.

Hojo screamed in agony as both of his arms were severed from his body at the elbow. He fell away down into the glowing reactor, eventually being swallowed up by the Mako below.

Vincent watched his long time rival disappear into the depths, then coming to notice that the man’s disembodied left hand was still tangled within his pack strap. Vincent narrowed his eyes and pulled the dead arm off of him, reclaiming his wedding ring from it before tossing the appendage after its master.

Jaras just stood there watching as his father slipped the gold band back onto in own artificial finger. He resheathed his weapon and turned away, starting back upward.

Vincent looked on in a moment of shock. Jaras was already some distance away when he was finally able to speak. "Jaras?"

"What?" He didn’t even turn to look at Vincent.

"I owe you my life." Vincent started toward him, letting his pack fall to the floor off his aching shoulders.

"I still bear a great debt." Jaras began climbing the stairs again. "Our work is not done."

Just as the others had seen, Vincent noticed that Jaras was completely different. Part of him was deeply hurt to see this, but he also knew in a way that it was the inevitable conclusion. After all, with the return of his memories there was bound to be a change.

***

Tifa found herself standing before a large glowing blue cylinder. Suspended within the liquid environment amid a tangle of wires and tubes she saw the fetus. She reached out and touched the glass, overwhelmed with emotion. Hojo or not, this was her child in this terrible and fragile state. Clearly it was still too undeveloped to survive on its own and she was overcome with a feeling of helplessness.

Vincent and Jaras entered the room after she had been standing there for a long time. Upon seeing her husband alive and well she ran to him and placed her arms around his waist.

"Oh God, I thought I’d never see you again!" Tifa fought back the tears as she nuzzled into him.

"Me too." Vincent sighed, while stroking her hair. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Tifa relaxed a little within his embrace. "Rude let me go, telling me to get up her and stop the Project."

Vincent was a little taken back by this. "What? Rude is a traitor?"

"It’s looking like it, yeah." She replied.

Vincent’s eyes scanned the room as he continued to comfort her, soon coming to examine the growth accelerator standing before them. His attention to this was cut short however as someone else entered the room.

Kimo came in, with Porter hanging heavily from his side. Vincent and Tifa were leery at first, until they realized that the Turk that had escorted Porter here was clearly no threat.

"Looks like all of us Turks are." Porter finished, having heard Vincent’s last comment. Porter was relieved to see the three others alive and well. He let go of Kimo and held something out to Vincent. "Damnedest thing, we were on our way up and this fucking thing fell out of nowhere, just about hitting me in the head."

Vincent’s eyes went wide as he took back possession of his Death Penalty; it’s familiar weight feeling quite at home in his hand. In one fluid motion he lifted it and aimed it at the glass cylinder, intending to put an end to Hojo’s final attempt to create the perfect being.

Tifa at once grew horrified to see that Vincent was going to kill the child growing within the chamber. She grabbed his arm and attempted to pull it downward but his mechanical body afforded him the strength to hold steady. "Please, Vincent, don’t! Don’t kill it!"

He didn’t dare to make eye contact with her at that moment; for fear that he would lose his resolve. "I can’t allow this Project to go on."

She pounded his chest with her fists, tears streaming down her face. "It’s my baby! You can’t! I swear to God, if you do this, you’ll never see me again!"

Vincent’s heart was stung, as he knew this wasn’t an idle threat. For a few more moments he kept the gun trained on his intended target but when he faltered and glanced down at her tear streaked face, he lowered his weapon. There was no way that he could do something to hurt her like this.

"Thank you." Tifa again threw her arms around him.

Then it happened. There was a terribly loud crescendo of shattering glass and scraping metal. Tifa spun within Vincent’s arms to see what she most feared. Behind where the chamber had stood was Jaras. His sword hung in his right hand, the blue fluid from the once present glass chamber still dripping from the blade. Amongst the shards of glass and wires, lay the remains of the fetus severed cleanly in two.

Tifa dropped to her knees, paying no heed to the slippery fluid and broken glass beneath her. She clasped her hands to her mouth and watched as the bisected fetus twitched a few times before dying.

Everyone was dumbstruck at the change of events, and all eyes turned to Jaras.

Tifa looked up at the silver haired man and glared. "Jaras, how could you?!"

He slowly resheathed his weapon and narrowed his eyes at her. "After the life I have lived, I wish someone had done me the same favor."

"I hate you!" Tifa screamed while everyone remained frozen in place. "I hate you, Jaras!"

Without any sign of emotion whatsoever, Jaras strode past her through the remains of the accelerator and toward the door. "You do not hate Jaras, Tifa. You hate me, Sephiroth."

Silence fell over the group as they watched Vincent’s son stride swiftly through the room. Sephiroth or not, his heart was broken at what he had done, and more so for causing Tifa to detest him. It was no matter for him though; the world was safe from further threat at the hands of Hojo and his creations. He knew now that Sephiroth could be put to peace finally.

Vincent eventually came to Tifa’s side as she continued to sit where the fetus lay destroyed. He again placed his arms around her and she burrowed into his chest to cry bitterly. The pain of losing another child, even if it had not been created with the man she loved was ripping her apart.

***

Hojo struggled to stay afloat in the Mako as long as he could. The Lifestream was penetrating his body, killing all of the Jenova that he had injected himself with over the years. With all of his superhuman abilities ripped away by the Mako he was unable to hold out any longer and he sank beneath the surface. He quickly bled to death from his wounds and his life force was stripped from his body becoming part of the Lifestream.

In life, Hojo had disbelieved in a heaven or hell thinking that all life just merged into the Lifestream to be recycled, but for another rare instance he had been wrong. It was true that he became part of the Lifestream that flowed within the Planet, but there are things that he wasn’t aware of.

There are two layers to the Lifestream. The uppermost consists of that energy which gives life to the living, breathing part of the planet. The other is kept at the center of the Planet and makes up the hot molten core. This is where the Lifestream holds that energy which it never again will allow to become part of the living world.

The energy of all those that Hojo had tortured and killed over the years enveloped him, eventually pulling him down to the deepest bowels of the Planet. Although without a body now, he could still plainly feel the molten rock and metal that was the sea in which he swam. Locked away here in this hell Hojo’s spirit would never again be allowed to threaten the Planet or its inhabitants.

***

Rude continued to hear shots being fired and feared what he would find when he located their source. He struggled to keep up with the gunfight, as it was obvious that the players were moving quickly through the maze of catwalks.

Reno was running out of energy. His lungs burned beyond belief from all the running and the blood that had now soaked the majority of his shirt let him know that the wound he had sustained in his shoulder earlier was no small scratch. Resolving that he couldn’t run any further, he crouched in the corner of a small platform and awaited his fate.

Rasta came down the flight of stairs that lead to where Reno was holding out. He aimed at his quarry one last time and smiled. "So, the great Reno is giving up?"

Reno scowled, wishing that the cocky Turk would just end this. "Yeah, the one and only."

"Well this is going to look very good on my record." Rasta was very self-satisfied at the moment. "Very good indeed."

"Oh just fucking do it, okay?" Reno, even with faced with death was impatient.

Rasta pulled back the hammer on his gun and carefully centered his aim for the middle of Reno’s head. "Nice to meet you."

Rude finally managed to catch up to the action and shouted. "Rasta, hold your fire!"

Rasta flashed a quick glance at his boss standing on the opposite end of the platform. "Ah, the traitor."

"I have always known that you didn’t understand the most important aspect of being a Turk." Rude said while shaking his head slightly.

Rasta cast him another sidelong glance while still maintaining his aim. "And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you do not understand where your loyalties need to be." Rude took a step forward while placing his hand on the gun hanging beneath his coat.

"I am a Turk, my loyalties are to Shin Ra." Rasta said, catching Rude’s movement out of the corner of his eye. At once he spun and turned his aim onto his former boss.

"Yes, your loyalties are to Shin Ra, second only to your fellow Turks." Rude said, satisfied that Reno was no longer in Rasta’s sights.

"Yeah, nice try old man." Rasta wanted desperately to fire, but something deep inside wouldn’t let him kill his long time friend, at least, not yet.

Rude allowed his hand to fall away from his weapon. "Turks look out for one another, both past and present. There is no one else in this world we can rely upon."

Reno remained in place, watching the drama unfolding before him. As he nervously tightened his hands around his Night Staff he remembered something. Just above his boot under his pant leg, he had strapped a small gun for back up. In all of the running and madness he had somehow forgotten this one tiny detail.

"I think this is just one last ditch attempt to try and get me to be a traitor like you and the others and that ain’t going to happen." Rasta said, finally building up the nerve to do what he needed to do.

A shot rang out and Rude was stunned not to feel the pain of a bullet ripping through him. Confusion set in as he saw Rasta fall to his side, writhing in pain.

Reno remained in place, still holding his gun as he had when he fired. It had been so rare that he had used this weapon that he was still in a little shock at what he had done. Slowly he got up and made his way to Rasta, Rude also soon coming to his side.

Rude looked down at his former partner in dismay. "I told you, we have to look out for each other, no one else will."

Rasta looked up, obviously in tremendous pain. As he lay dying, he realized his mistake but it was too late for him now. He had been shot through the chest and it only took a few more seconds before he bled out internally.

"Damn shame." Rude sighed, turning his gaze to Reno. "He was a good friend before all this."

Reno reached out and clapped Rude on the back a few times. "Hey man, thanks."

"Think nothing about it." He replied, giving one last glance at the dead man lying before them. "We did what we had to do. I just wish I’d known seven years ago what I know now. I’m really sorry about Elena."

Reno felt his heart wrenched at the mention of her name. "There’s nothing that can be done about that now. If you’re interested, I’m pretty sure I can get you a job."

Rude grinned at the offer but shook his head. "I’m a Turk, Reno. At least, as far as Shin Ra is concerned. With Hojo dead and this reactor abandoned, no one within the company will really have any idea what happened in here today."

"What are you saying?" Reno asked.

"I’m saying that I hold a really good position within the Turks, and your little group of rebels could really use someone as close to the President as me. Nothing goes on that I don’t know about." Rude crossed his arms over his chest.

Reno was a little stunned to hear this. "Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, it’s gonna be real dangerous."

"Yeah well, I’m getting old and could use a little excitement in my life." Rude turned from the scene and started up the stairs. "Let’s go see what the others are up to."

PS- this is not the end, just a chapter that isn’t ending in a cliffhanger. I think I’ve done that enough to you loyal readers lately.