Part 10: A Father’s Revenge

Inside the Lifestream, Green Angel, Legacy, Final Fantasy 10 connection

Part 10: A Father’s Revenge

   (“Lifestream”) They, the ones who lost the cells, all pass out, fall into the water and are drawn to the bottom. Sephiroth holds Serenity in his arms and walks into deeper water. Mako energy starts flowing out of his body into the water making it look toxic. He lowers himself to his knees so he is under the water. Around him, Mako energy and the Lifestream swirl. They encase both of their bodies; the water seems much deeper now. Through the brightness, he can see two figures. To his left is Jenova and to his right is Minerva; both have arms wide open.

 “Jenova, you are not an Ancient, as much as I believed you to be. My children and my wife are Ancients. They can carry on their knowledge. They can heal this world and prevent another you from destroying it. My ancestors did nothing to stop you and tried to use you and when they couldn’t control you they finally decide to act. I won’t be like my ancestors and many of the people of this planet and wait for someone else to solve their problems. You are my problem and my problem alone. I let you get the better of me and now it’s time I take back control.” Sephiroth strikes Jenova right through the midsection, cutting her in half. The Lifestream attacks her remains and she is expelled. The pool water becomes black and bubbles.

                         Sephiroth now turns to Minerva whose arms are still open. Next to her is Genesis, his black angel wing is stretched out and Angeal whose white angel wing stretches the other way. “The goddess descends from the sky. Wings of light and dark spread afar. She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting.” The real Genesis recites. Sephiroth replies, “My soul, corrupted by vengeance hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey in my own salvation and my eternal slumber.” Finally letting go his hate for the people of this planet, seeing the love people still have for him even when he hates his own existence, letting go of the idea that his fate was predestined; he finally sees all the sacrifice others have made to make things right, rebelling against the future their ancestors wanted for them. He believes that humankind isn’t corrupt, but slow to adapt and do whatever they need to do to survive. The only corruption he sees is power because absolute power corrupts absolutely. With Shinra’s monopoly gone, it will take every person of this planet to reshape it. Sephiroth is ready for a shinning future on this planet. Sephiroth enters Minerva’s arms and he diffuses into the Lifestream. In his place, those with Jenova’s genes are given back their lives, including Serenity, but travel through the Lifestream to another location. Minerva isn’t finished with them yet.

 

The black water bursts out of the pool, Cloud and Sephira are taken to the sky, but as it rises it becomes green and then clears. It reaches the clouds and becomes lightning and rain. Chaos, in Vincent, is reawakened as for the Lifestream is tainted once again. Omega, however, is not awake to make it act according to its will. Instead of gathering negativity, Vincent chooses to gather positivity; all the positive memories and thoughts of this planet and its inhabitant, their hopes for a brighter future. This causes lightning to strike all of the Mako reactors that are still standing. As they are destroyed, the Mako returns to the planet with even greater force due to the Mako infused lightning. The levels of Mako begin to rise as the planet is being filled with more of it than ever before. It causes water levels to gradually rise to make more lands fertile. Some of the Mako turns black, into oil and rests not too far underground. In the sky, a figure is guiding the overspill of Mako to the Northern Cave. Slowly but surely it fills the crater until it can hold no more. It becomes frozen over and at the center are the planet’s new Weapons- Sephiroth, Zack, Angeal, Lucrecia and Aeris. Cells fill the sky and travel to a vessel. The cells turn into their own being, a green angel with Cloud and Sephira at its center- OMEGA is awakened.

The new Weapons fly to the green angel and cast them back down to Gaia. They land in the Forgotten City. The Weapons guide all the cells from the vessel to the figure that has black and white angel wings, Minerva. She flies through the stars, far away from the planet until all the people on the ground could see is a faint green star. In place of the Mako reactors; flowers, trees and plants begin to sprout. The sky clears to a sunny morning. The water returns to the pool and is clean again. Rufus, Reeve, Rude, Reno, Cissnei, Riku and Sakuya stand in the church waiting for Serenity, Cloud, Vincent, Weiss, Shelke and Sephira to come back. The water becomes wavy. 

A new Temple of the Ancients arises. This time it is in the Forgotten City. There, Sephira meditates and starts drawing pictures on the walls.

“Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess. We seek it thus, and take to the sky.
Ripples form on the water's surface; the wandering soul knows no rest. Legend shall speak of sacrifice at world's end. The wind sails over the water's surface quietly, but surely.”(End)

(“A Fleeting Dream”) On the wall she writes: Jenova, is that really her name or is she someone else. Did a soul on another planet not find rest and travelled to this planet. I believe so. Jenova came to this planet 2,000 years ago. At the time, the Cetra and humans lived separate lives. Though they were the same race, they set themselves apart. The Cetra gained knowledge from the Lifestream and had a greater connection to the planet. When Jenova arrived, the knowledge of a far away planet became intertwined with the knowledge of this planet. As the Cetra became a dying race by Jenova’s manipulation, turning the fallen into monsters disguised as Cetra who would eventually kill the rest, their knowledge and memories of deceit diffused into the Lifestream. This manifested into a system of protection for the planet and the Promise Land. Thus, the Weapons were born along with Omega and Chaos. When the humans sealed Jenova away, the surviving Cetra started to live among humans; someone among them began sharing the knowledge.

                This Cetra told a story of a world where an entity named, Sin ravaged the planet and destroyed any civilization that became too technologically advanced. An endless cycle was created in which the one who defeated Sin would become Sin. When one Summoner found out that there was a way to rid their world of Sin forever they were able to finally have their calm. In this calm, technology did start to advance and a ruined city was resurrected using energy from the planet. But, the soul knows no rest. With the defeat of Sin's creator, Yu Yevon and his daughter, Yunalesca who sought to keep him alive; they became unsent. Not making it to the Promise Lands, they wandered. There, they refuse to diffuse. Now as a fiend, she gains power and searches for a new planet in its early stages of development. She wants to create a new world for her people where they can be free from war and weapons; a world where people live simple lives.  She uses the power of the undying to travel the cosmos to another planet by creating a small planet of her own- a meteor- as a vessel to recreate her wondrous city.

1,000 years before Jenova’s arrival, Spira was in great turmoil as the planet was being drained of life and technology caused great destruction. Descendants of Al-Bheds as well as other people from Spira found a way to leave Spira by traveling through the Cosmos from planet to planet, using the weapon known as Vegnagun. They established a deep connection with this planet with the hopes of a world in harmony with The Lifestream- The Promise Land. Minerva, gave them the knowledge to manipulate nature for survival, trusting that they won't abuse it. They began making simple settlements by guiding the planet’s energy. This deep connection caused a rift within the population over power; some saw that Minerva gave them the gift of a new beginning and the gift of a promise land, while others wanted to create another Spira and their own Promise Land with the pure energy Minerva provided them. Overtime, some became more distant and lost their ability to communicate with the planet; they became known as humans and those who kept that connection became known as Cetra. The Cetra were mostly descendants of Al-Bheds as seen in their green eyes while the humans were a mixture. Despite Minerva's efforts to stop the humans from manipulating nature and industrializing by taking her "magic" power back, humans were able to harvest Materia from man-made Materia Springs; made the Lifestream leaking through the surface caused Mako to crystallize. Humans used their knowledge of the magic to make Materia able to manipulate nature for all generations to follow.  

Jenova arrived and wiped out those who knew how to extract energy from the planet- the Cetra-knowing that they are Al-Bheds based on appearance. What she didn’t know is that the humans also had this knowledge. They hid while the Cetra died off and when the time was right the humans sealed her away so they could continue on with their original goal. One of the mixed descendents would use his knowledge of Mako extraction to establish a power company; it was named after the Al-Bhed child that coined the idea, Shinra. 

On the walls is their story; from Jenova’s arrival to Sephiroth redemption. She hopes that future generations will see the murals and not make the same mistakes and just maybe this planet will continue to live another 2,000 years or so. She hopes that those gifted with the power to control the Lifestream do not abuse it again. In deep meditation, she realizes that the Ancients are not gone, they are merely scattered throughout the Lifestream and throughout the lives of the humans.

“The planet has new Weapons now. They are the things that make up this world; a mother’s love for her child, a friend to the end, a murderer and a victim, those that love this world, and those that hate everyone in it.”

“And a hero.” Cloud says as he places his hand on a drawing of Zack and smiles. They leave the temple and meet up with Vincent, Shelke and Serenity who were waiting outside. They head back to 7^th Heaven, where everyone else is waiting. (End)