Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Counterfeit God; Part I ❯ Chapter 17
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Shiratori-Strife Inc 
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.08.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.5K | Visits: 198 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.08.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.5K | Visits: 198 | Status: Completed
17
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“Good,” Reno popped open the soda he’d just fished out of the vending machine and sighed. “But if it ever came down to Sephiroth again…Man, yo! Do you think Cloud would be able to stop him?”
“I don’t think Sephiroth has much of anything to do with this. It seems so much bigger than that. Why all the Materia, the Mako? Why go after Sirius if she already has enough Jenova cells inside of her to bring Sephiroth back again? No, I think there’s something else going on. I mean, why go through all that trouble of torturing Morghann? There’s no way he could have known how close she and Sirius are!”
“He didn’t do it because of Sirius,” Reno’s voiced lowered significantly as a few nurses passed by them. “Morghann has a strong connection with the Lifestream, Rude. You know that. You’ve seen what she can do,”
“But…combined with Sirius alone, that kind of power…And the Materia and Mako? It’s too…incredible. Nothing would be able to stop him! What about the Black Materia?”
“I saw the staff he was carrying when he lit the fire around Morghann, Rude. It’s got some kind of power, but I just don’t know what,” Reno glanced down the hallway towards Morghann’s room and sighed heavily. “He’s collecting it for something. At first I thought it was just revenge against Shinra for exiling him but now…Rude, you don’t think he might be trying to finish his experiments, do you?”
“It’s a possibility,” Rude, too, glanced down the hallway. “He didn’t kill Morghann,”
Reno glanced at Rude, intrigued. “No, he didn’t. He just tortured her. She tried to connect to the Lifestream in order to kill him but for some reason…” He paused, suddenly hit by a sick realization. “He wanted her to attack him!”
“His staff,” Rude nodded, agreeing. “It must absorb the energy directly. It’s the only way to obtain such power without harming himself. Gaining the trust of the townspeople in God’s name was just an easy way to get the Mako version of it…But pure Lifestream energy? Morghann is the only person who has ever been able to use it and come out alive. Provided she gives the energy back, correct? That’s not even possible, but something in her blood must allow for that. She doesn’t have this connection by accident, Reno,”
“You’re saying that she was born with it?”
“Maybe. But he went after her parents first, didn’t he? And they died. The experiment failed,” Reno looked a bit skeptical, but he was listening to Rude intently, unable to deny that there might be some truth in this theory. “He must have known that that would happen, which is why he’s been searching for her. Her parents were both injected with some kind of gene, something, anything, that gave them this power. When they created Morghann, the gene had naturally integrated itself into her body, giving her that connection,”
“But why did he kill her parents if he knew that Morghann had-” Reno stopped, let his mind work over this information. “They knew. That’s why he killed them. He didn’t want them to have a chance to tell Morghann when it would have made a difference. Her body hadn’t matured yet, that’s why he couldn’t just go after her,”
“Exactly,”
“But something went wrong,” Reno ventured. “Morghann wasn’t at the house when it burned down, but for some reason, he thought she was…Why would he kill her parents if he thought she was with him?”
“Eko was blamed for their deaths, Reno,”
“But he didn’t directly cause it? He didn’t…”
“They killed themselves,”
“And they sent Morghann away before they did it…Leaving Eko to believe she was still in the house?”
“Yes,”
“But he must have realized…He’s been looking for her!”
“He went searching through the remains of the home. He pulled the bodies out but he never found Morghann. He assumed she was alive, but he didn’t know where to start looking. Think about this, Reno. If Eko started all of this just for the sole purpose of raising Sephiroth, then why go through all the trouble of looking for Sirius and Morghann? He would have taken Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj and he would have gone about it that way. It isn’t about Sephiroth at all!”
“What’s going to happen, Rude?”
“A war, Reno,” Rude checked his watch, knowing his time was almost up and that he needed to head back to Seventh Heaven. “A war that will devastate this planet no matter which side wins. We have to get the upper hand somehow. We have to get a step ahead of Eko.”
“We can start spreading word to all the towns and major cities across both continents…Get the people to keep a watch out for him. If we can spread warning, it might stop him from gaining a foothold in any of the major areas of concern,”
“We should send someone to Mideel. The Materia trade there is pretty heavy,”
“Mideel is too active, don’t you think? I don’t know if Eko would want to risk stirring up trouble there,”
“The world has changed a lot since Sephiroth’s attack against us with Meteor. Mideel isn’t as busy as it once was. Besides, what if Eko doesn’t expect us to look there because it’s such a busy outlet?”
“We don’t even know if he’s there, Rude. He was just in Rocket Town. There’s no way he could have gotten to Mideel,”
“Yes there is, Reno, and you know that. I understand that it’s hard to believe because of how much power he’d gain there, but you have to realize that the simplicity we once knew no longer exists. This world, despite being healed, is on the verge of a huge cataclysmic shift. Eko is already weaving the threads that will trigger a war. We have to spread the word as quickly as we can,”
“Get back to Seventh Heaven. Tell everyone about this immediately, see if you can’t start sending warnings over the airwaves, flyers, all of it. And send Vincent to Mideel. He’ll get there faster than any of us,”
“Do you think we can stop him, Reno?”
“Truthfully?” Reno shook his head. “No, Rude, we can’t stop him. Not on our own,”
“When will Morghann and Sarah be released?”
“In a few hours. The doctors are running the paperwork through Shinra to get everything cleared. Shouldn’t take too long,”
“Then we’ll discuss everything tonight,”
---
The group had gathered later that night at Seventh Heaven to discuss the matter of how they were going to take care of this problem and, surprisingly, Rufus Shinra, Tseng, and Elena were all present. The announcement about his reinstatement of SOLDIER hadn’t gone over well, but most of the group could understand his reasons. They also understood the need for a formidable force such as SOLDIER. Rude had looked more into what he and Reno had discussed at the hospital and had gathered enough evidence to prove their theories correct.
A war was coming. Maybe not anytime soon, but it was coming nonetheless.
“Sarah’s asleep,” Morghann said as she sat down beside Reno, looking more exhausted than she admitted to.
“You should be, too,” Reno crooned, running his hand along her spine.
“I’m ok. Walking is just a bitch right now…” She rubbed her stomach and sighed. The pain and discomfort from the surgery had faded, but not enough that she couldn’t still feel it, and she was desperate to get out on the land to heal completely. She hated feeling this numb and useless when her daughter needed her to be up to par. Reno couldn’t take care of her all on his own and she felt guilty about already having to let him take care of some things that she needed to be taking care of. But that couldn’t be helped, really. Until she was well enough, Reno would have to take care of feeding Sarah (not that he minded) and he’d have to keep a close eye on her since Morghann needed more sleep now.
“We’ll go out tonight, Morg,” He whispered, hugging her gently. “I’ll ask if Sirius will watch Sarah and I will take you out on the land. I know you need it. We both do,”
“Thank you…” She relaxed against him, fighting the temptation that sleep was weaving around her. She needed to be awake for this discussion. Half an hour into it all, Rude presented his evidence and went over the theories he and Reno had conversed about at the hospital, producing a few startling realizations in Morghann’s mind about her own life and in Sirius’ about hers.
“Why did he have to choose my family?”
Rufus smiled at this, lifting a manila folder he’d brought with him off the table. “Because they were descendants of the Ancients, Morghann. Your parents, as it has been recently discovered, were the aunt and uncle of Aeris,”
Cloud shot Morghann a glance and saw the surprise on her face. They looked nothing alike. Was that even possible?
“Recently discovered?” Reno inquired, looking a little skeptical.
“Tseng found some of Eko’s old journals hidden away at the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim. Since he couldn’t get to Aeris, he went after her family. However, having the Ancient Gene wasn’t sufficient to help power his experiment, so he injected them with undiluted Mako on top of another chemical agent that we have yet to discover, and gave them what was equivalent to Lifestream energy. When you were born, all of this was already incorporated into your system and you were able to successfully make a connection with the Lifestream,”
“But your parents killed themselves so that Eko would be blamed and you would go free. They wanted you to escape, Morghann,”
Morghann swiveled and studied Reno, the missing pieces of her past life sliding into place. “All this time, I blamed Shinra…”
“We could have stopped him long before this would have happened,” Rufus admitted. “However, my father was misguided. His greed and his hunger for power are the reasons he waited. He wanted to know if Eko’s experiments would be successful. For this, I must take responsibility for the actions of my company, as my father wouldn’t. Your loathing of us is understandable and I can openly admit that it is not the only terrible thing we have ever done to the people of this planet or the planet itself. That is why I need you to understand the reasons for reinstating SOLDIER,”
“I do understand,” Morghann whispered as she looked across the table to Sirius. “A war is coming and it’s too late now to stop it. We’ll need all the help we can get,” When Sirius reached across the table to take her hand, Morghann complied and smiled softly. “He’s coming after us,”
“Just our luck, huh?”
“We should separate them,” Vincent suggested. “If they’re not in the same location, he can’t kill two birds with one stone,”
“No,” Cloud and Reno said sharply. “We can’t keep them separated. He’ll know we’re onto him if we do that. At least, not anything permanent,”
“I had wanted to take Morghann and Sarah to Kalm for a while. A few weeks. At least until Sarah got a good schedule going. And Morghann needs the rest. While we’re there, I can start warning everyone about Eko.”
“Good idea!” Yuffie jumped up, excited. “And I’ll go to Wutai!”
“Mideel,” Vincent said as he rose to his feet. “And you, Cloud?”
“Nibelheim. If anything has started there, I plan to stop it. That is,” He looked at Sirius, a very stern look on his face. “if you’re up to it?”
“We’ll stay in Midgar,” Barret said as he glanced at Tifa. “We can keep things under control here,”
“Then it’s settled,” Rufus rose, looking pleased that they’d accomplished something. “If you’ll excuse me, I must begin the preparations for the start of the new SOLDIER,” He looked to Cloud and smiled faintly. “I had hoped that you would have accepted my offer, Cloud. However, I believe my other candidate will be able to lead them almost as well,”
Cloud glanced at Vincent as the ex-Turk passed and nodded. “I’m sure he will,”
“Good luck,”
---
“Here, easy,” Reno flinched when Morghann’s knees hit the ground. “Got it?”
“I’m ok,” She smiled softly at him and looked up at the stars. “I’ll be ok, Reno,”
Nodding faintly, Reno stepped back from her a fair distance and felt Cloud at his back. “Will she be able to make the connection?”
“If not…” Reno shook his head. “I don’t know what will happen if she can’t, Cloud,”
Morghann took a deep, shuddering breath and leaned forward, pressing her tired palms against the ground. Her eyes closing, she began to concentrate. Before long, her fingers were working into the dirt, her lips parted as she inhaled and then it happened.
Cloud and Reno felt the ground beneath their feet buzzing in response. They could see the faint green glow from under the dirt as the energy rushed to her summons. In seconds, she was enveloped in it, her body soaking it in and allowing it to heal, while, at the same time, she pushed the energy back into the ground. Back to the Lifestream.
It was the most incredible sight they’d seen in a long time. And when it was over, Morghann rose to her feet, turned, and smiled.
“She denied me because she knew. She didn’t want the baby to be hurt by the rush of energy so she denied me the connection. Reno, she knows…” She smiled. “My cousin knows,”
---
End Chapter
----
“Good,” Reno popped open the soda he’d just fished out of the vending machine and sighed. “But if it ever came down to Sephiroth again…Man, yo! Do you think Cloud would be able to stop him?”
“I don’t think Sephiroth has much of anything to do with this. It seems so much bigger than that. Why all the Materia, the Mako? Why go after Sirius if she already has enough Jenova cells inside of her to bring Sephiroth back again? No, I think there’s something else going on. I mean, why go through all that trouble of torturing Morghann? There’s no way he could have known how close she and Sirius are!”
“He didn’t do it because of Sirius,” Reno’s voiced lowered significantly as a few nurses passed by them. “Morghann has a strong connection with the Lifestream, Rude. You know that. You’ve seen what she can do,”
“But…combined with Sirius alone, that kind of power…And the Materia and Mako? It’s too…incredible. Nothing would be able to stop him! What about the Black Materia?”
“I saw the staff he was carrying when he lit the fire around Morghann, Rude. It’s got some kind of power, but I just don’t know what,” Reno glanced down the hallway towards Morghann’s room and sighed heavily. “He’s collecting it for something. At first I thought it was just revenge against Shinra for exiling him but now…Rude, you don’t think he might be trying to finish his experiments, do you?”
“It’s a possibility,” Rude, too, glanced down the hallway. “He didn’t kill Morghann,”
Reno glanced at Rude, intrigued. “No, he didn’t. He just tortured her. She tried to connect to the Lifestream in order to kill him but for some reason…” He paused, suddenly hit by a sick realization. “He wanted her to attack him!”
“His staff,” Rude nodded, agreeing. “It must absorb the energy directly. It’s the only way to obtain such power without harming himself. Gaining the trust of the townspeople in God’s name was just an easy way to get the Mako version of it…But pure Lifestream energy? Morghann is the only person who has ever been able to use it and come out alive. Provided she gives the energy back, correct? That’s not even possible, but something in her blood must allow for that. She doesn’t have this connection by accident, Reno,”
“You’re saying that she was born with it?”
“Maybe. But he went after her parents first, didn’t he? And they died. The experiment failed,” Reno looked a bit skeptical, but he was listening to Rude intently, unable to deny that there might be some truth in this theory. “He must have known that that would happen, which is why he’s been searching for her. Her parents were both injected with some kind of gene, something, anything, that gave them this power. When they created Morghann, the gene had naturally integrated itself into her body, giving her that connection,”
“But why did he kill her parents if he knew that Morghann had-” Reno stopped, let his mind work over this information. “They knew. That’s why he killed them. He didn’t want them to have a chance to tell Morghann when it would have made a difference. Her body hadn’t matured yet, that’s why he couldn’t just go after her,”
“Exactly,”
“But something went wrong,” Reno ventured. “Morghann wasn’t at the house when it burned down, but for some reason, he thought she was…Why would he kill her parents if he thought she was with him?”
“Eko was blamed for their deaths, Reno,”
“But he didn’t directly cause it? He didn’t…”
“They killed themselves,”
“And they sent Morghann away before they did it…Leaving Eko to believe she was still in the house?”
“Yes,”
“But he must have realized…He’s been looking for her!”
“He went searching through the remains of the home. He pulled the bodies out but he never found Morghann. He assumed she was alive, but he didn’t know where to start looking. Think about this, Reno. If Eko started all of this just for the sole purpose of raising Sephiroth, then why go through all the trouble of looking for Sirius and Morghann? He would have taken Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj and he would have gone about it that way. It isn’t about Sephiroth at all!”
“What’s going to happen, Rude?”
“A war, Reno,” Rude checked his watch, knowing his time was almost up and that he needed to head back to Seventh Heaven. “A war that will devastate this planet no matter which side wins. We have to get the upper hand somehow. We have to get a step ahead of Eko.”
“We can start spreading word to all the towns and major cities across both continents…Get the people to keep a watch out for him. If we can spread warning, it might stop him from gaining a foothold in any of the major areas of concern,”
“We should send someone to Mideel. The Materia trade there is pretty heavy,”
“Mideel is too active, don’t you think? I don’t know if Eko would want to risk stirring up trouble there,”
“The world has changed a lot since Sephiroth’s attack against us with Meteor. Mideel isn’t as busy as it once was. Besides, what if Eko doesn’t expect us to look there because it’s such a busy outlet?”
“We don’t even know if he’s there, Rude. He was just in Rocket Town. There’s no way he could have gotten to Mideel,”
“Yes there is, Reno, and you know that. I understand that it’s hard to believe because of how much power he’d gain there, but you have to realize that the simplicity we once knew no longer exists. This world, despite being healed, is on the verge of a huge cataclysmic shift. Eko is already weaving the threads that will trigger a war. We have to spread the word as quickly as we can,”
“Get back to Seventh Heaven. Tell everyone about this immediately, see if you can’t start sending warnings over the airwaves, flyers, all of it. And send Vincent to Mideel. He’ll get there faster than any of us,”
“Do you think we can stop him, Reno?”
“Truthfully?” Reno shook his head. “No, Rude, we can’t stop him. Not on our own,”
“When will Morghann and Sarah be released?”
“In a few hours. The doctors are running the paperwork through Shinra to get everything cleared. Shouldn’t take too long,”
“Then we’ll discuss everything tonight,”
---
The group had gathered later that night at Seventh Heaven to discuss the matter of how they were going to take care of this problem and, surprisingly, Rufus Shinra, Tseng, and Elena were all present. The announcement about his reinstatement of SOLDIER hadn’t gone over well, but most of the group could understand his reasons. They also understood the need for a formidable force such as SOLDIER. Rude had looked more into what he and Reno had discussed at the hospital and had gathered enough evidence to prove their theories correct.
A war was coming. Maybe not anytime soon, but it was coming nonetheless.
“Sarah’s asleep,” Morghann said as she sat down beside Reno, looking more exhausted than she admitted to.
“You should be, too,” Reno crooned, running his hand along her spine.
“I’m ok. Walking is just a bitch right now…” She rubbed her stomach and sighed. The pain and discomfort from the surgery had faded, but not enough that she couldn’t still feel it, and she was desperate to get out on the land to heal completely. She hated feeling this numb and useless when her daughter needed her to be up to par. Reno couldn’t take care of her all on his own and she felt guilty about already having to let him take care of some things that she needed to be taking care of. But that couldn’t be helped, really. Until she was well enough, Reno would have to take care of feeding Sarah (not that he minded) and he’d have to keep a close eye on her since Morghann needed more sleep now.
“We’ll go out tonight, Morg,” He whispered, hugging her gently. “I’ll ask if Sirius will watch Sarah and I will take you out on the land. I know you need it. We both do,”
“Thank you…” She relaxed against him, fighting the temptation that sleep was weaving around her. She needed to be awake for this discussion. Half an hour into it all, Rude presented his evidence and went over the theories he and Reno had conversed about at the hospital, producing a few startling realizations in Morghann’s mind about her own life and in Sirius’ about hers.
“Why did he have to choose my family?”
Rufus smiled at this, lifting a manila folder he’d brought with him off the table. “Because they were descendants of the Ancients, Morghann. Your parents, as it has been recently discovered, were the aunt and uncle of Aeris,”
Cloud shot Morghann a glance and saw the surprise on her face. They looked nothing alike. Was that even possible?
“Recently discovered?” Reno inquired, looking a little skeptical.
“Tseng found some of Eko’s old journals hidden away at the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim. Since he couldn’t get to Aeris, he went after her family. However, having the Ancient Gene wasn’t sufficient to help power his experiment, so he injected them with undiluted Mako on top of another chemical agent that we have yet to discover, and gave them what was equivalent to Lifestream energy. When you were born, all of this was already incorporated into your system and you were able to successfully make a connection with the Lifestream,”
“But your parents killed themselves so that Eko would be blamed and you would go free. They wanted you to escape, Morghann,”
Morghann swiveled and studied Reno, the missing pieces of her past life sliding into place. “All this time, I blamed Shinra…”
“We could have stopped him long before this would have happened,” Rufus admitted. “However, my father was misguided. His greed and his hunger for power are the reasons he waited. He wanted to know if Eko’s experiments would be successful. For this, I must take responsibility for the actions of my company, as my father wouldn’t. Your loathing of us is understandable and I can openly admit that it is not the only terrible thing we have ever done to the people of this planet or the planet itself. That is why I need you to understand the reasons for reinstating SOLDIER,”
“I do understand,” Morghann whispered as she looked across the table to Sirius. “A war is coming and it’s too late now to stop it. We’ll need all the help we can get,” When Sirius reached across the table to take her hand, Morghann complied and smiled softly. “He’s coming after us,”
“Just our luck, huh?”
“We should separate them,” Vincent suggested. “If they’re not in the same location, he can’t kill two birds with one stone,”
“No,” Cloud and Reno said sharply. “We can’t keep them separated. He’ll know we’re onto him if we do that. At least, not anything permanent,”
“I had wanted to take Morghann and Sarah to Kalm for a while. A few weeks. At least until Sarah got a good schedule going. And Morghann needs the rest. While we’re there, I can start warning everyone about Eko.”
“Good idea!” Yuffie jumped up, excited. “And I’ll go to Wutai!”
“Mideel,” Vincent said as he rose to his feet. “And you, Cloud?”
“Nibelheim. If anything has started there, I plan to stop it. That is,” He looked at Sirius, a very stern look on his face. “if you’re up to it?”
“We’ll stay in Midgar,” Barret said as he glanced at Tifa. “We can keep things under control here,”
“Then it’s settled,” Rufus rose, looking pleased that they’d accomplished something. “If you’ll excuse me, I must begin the preparations for the start of the new SOLDIER,” He looked to Cloud and smiled faintly. “I had hoped that you would have accepted my offer, Cloud. However, I believe my other candidate will be able to lead them almost as well,”
Cloud glanced at Vincent as the ex-Turk passed and nodded. “I’m sure he will,”
“Good luck,”
---
“Here, easy,” Reno flinched when Morghann’s knees hit the ground. “Got it?”
“I’m ok,” She smiled softly at him and looked up at the stars. “I’ll be ok, Reno,”
Nodding faintly, Reno stepped back from her a fair distance and felt Cloud at his back. “Will she be able to make the connection?”
“If not…” Reno shook his head. “I don’t know what will happen if she can’t, Cloud,”
Morghann took a deep, shuddering breath and leaned forward, pressing her tired palms against the ground. Her eyes closing, she began to concentrate. Before long, her fingers were working into the dirt, her lips parted as she inhaled and then it happened.
Cloud and Reno felt the ground beneath their feet buzzing in response. They could see the faint green glow from under the dirt as the energy rushed to her summons. In seconds, she was enveloped in it, her body soaking it in and allowing it to heal, while, at the same time, she pushed the energy back into the ground. Back to the Lifestream.
It was the most incredible sight they’d seen in a long time. And when it was over, Morghann rose to her feet, turned, and smiled.
“She denied me because she knew. She didn’t want the baby to be hurt by the rush of energy so she denied me the connection. Reno, she knows…” She smiled. “My cousin knows,”
---
End Chapter