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Sephiroth
A shrine to the One-Winged Angel
Warning! Warning! Spoilers! Spoilers! Avert your eyes!
Quotes from the game will be in turquoise.
Sephiroth. Hated by many players. All because of that one deplorable act. This is the history of the man we call...Sephiroth.
About thirty years before the start of the game, what was thought to be an Ancient was found in the geological stratum of 2000 years ago. She was named Jenova. A program financed by Shin-Ra Inc. was initiated to create a 'perfect being' using cells from Jenova and Mako showers. Sephiroth was the being that was produced.
Three scientists, Gast, Hojo, and Lucretia, were sent on a special mission to Nibelheim, the town in whose Reactor Jenova's body was being kept. They were supposed to study her, but a more important idea was brought to light during their stay.
Vincent Valentine of the Shin-Ra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research - code-named the Turks - , sent to guard the scientists, fell in love with Lucretia. They had a short romance. But Hojo seduced Lucretia, turning Vincent into an emotionless wreck. Lucretia became pregnant, and her and Hojo decided that they would treat their baby with Mako and Jenova while it was still in the womb. The treatments were harsh on Lucretia, and she suffered frequent collapses, but her scientific mind kept her going. She had her baby and named him Sephiroth. She never got to hold him.
Once she had had the baby, Vincent turned on Hojo, insane with rage that he could treat his own wife and child like animals. Vincent moved to attack the scientist, but Hojo quickly shot him, and performed strange experiments on the Turk that altered his body, and put him into a state of suspended animation, sleeping inside a coffin, inside a vault to which Hojo held the key. Soon afterward, the study that the group had been working on was completed, and Hojo hid the key in a safe and scattered some notes around for anyone to find, to revive Vincent.
Shortly afterward, Lucretia fled from Shin-Ra, in constant agony due to Jenova's influence. She was no longer of any use to Jenova, but the 'Cetra' would not let her die. She hid herself in a cave behind a waterfall, longing for her child.
Sephiroth developed into a strong warrior, and rose through the ranks to the General of Shin-Ra's army, commander of the vast legions of Jenova and Mako enhanced warriors Hojo had produced.
Five years before the game time, Sephiroth, and three other warriors, Cloud Strife, of SOLDIER, and two others, were sent to Nibelheim to investigate the Reactor, which was producing monsters that were terrorizing the populace. They arrived in town, and Sephiroth asked Cloud a few questions.
Sephiroth: How does it feel? To be back in your home town? It's your first time back to your hometown in a long time, right? So how does it feel? I wouldn't know because I don't have a hometown...
Cloud: Ummm...how 'bout your parents?
Sephiroth: My mother is Jenova. She died right after she gave birth to me. My father...*laughter* What does it matter...?
The team hired a guide, Tifa Lockhart, and went through the mountains to the Reactor, loosing one of the fighters when a bridge snapped beneath them. Cloud and Sephiroth went inside, and found a room containing pods, pods holding ...things...that had once been human, but had been warped by Mako and Jenova. There was also a mysterious sealed door with 'Jenova' written above it. Sephiroth remembered about how SOLDIERS were treated with Mako, and suffered a small nervous breakdown, slashing wildly about with his Masamune and wondering...
Was I created this way too? Am I...human?
Sephiroth pointed out the break that had released the monsters, and Cloud fixed it. They went back to Nibelheim.
Once they got back, Sephiroth secluded himself in the library of
the Shin-Ra Mansion, and read about the Ancients.
Reading this, Sephiroth finds that he is a Cetra. In another book, he discovers that the Cetra were a migrant race, colonizing Planets in search of the Promised Land.
The ancestors of humanity rebelled against the Ancients, and became humanity. Sephiroth, seeing that Cloud has followed him, calls the SOLDIER a 'traitor', and flies out of the Mansion. Cloud follows, and finds Nibelheim in flames. Sephiroth heads to the Reactor. He is going to see his mother.
Upon arriving at the Reactor, Sephiroth goes inside, and slays a man who stands in his way. Ignoring another figure, he strides into the room with the pods, climbs the stairway to the door marked 'Jenova' and asks:
Sephiroth: Mother, open this door!
The portal opens. He hears a noise behind him. It is the girl, the guide that they hired to get through the mountains. The man he just killed is her father. She has picked up Masamune from where he dropped it and she holds it inexpertly. She swings at him, but he grabs his sword from her hands and strikes her with it, sending her crashing to the floor. He leaves her for dead and goes into the chamber of Jenova.
On a pillar rising out of darkness, there is a statue of an angel. There is something behind it. Sephiroth walks along a thick cable leading to the statue's base and removes it.![Jenova...is that red spot her eye or a reflection?](2feca8d0.jpg)
Behind, Jenova. Cloud appears, and asks Sephiroth a few questions. Sephiroth knocks him away and ignores him for the traitor he is.
He cannot take Jenova with him, so he must settle for a part of her that is portable but will retain her will and consiousness...something that will regenerate quickly...her head.
He leaves the room, and, once on the catwalk leading out of the Reactor, hears a noise and sees the traitor behind him. Sephiroth stabs him, but to his amazement, he is lifted by his own sword and tossed into the liquid Mako below...
But he is not dead. He lies in the Lifestream for five years, recovering from his wound. Shin-Ra consolidates its power, annexes Wutai, although Mako power is still not a reality there. Jenova's body is shipped to Midgar and studied in Shin-Ra Tower. Cloud left SOLDIER with a friend, Zack. On the outskirts of Midgar, Zack was killed, and Cloud took Zack's sword (the ugly-ass Buster Sword). He later becomes a mercenary who gets caught up in the whole Meteor Crisis. Sephiroth left the Lifestream and traveled to Midgar, where he killed the President, most of the employees of Shin-Ra Inc., and took Jenova's body with him, leaving a trail of blood through the building. Sephiroth goes on a mad rampage, hiding on a ship bound for Costa Del Sol and releasing Jenova to wreak her havoc, appearing at Gold Saucer and talking with Dio, and getting Shin-Ra's new President, Rufus, in a twist. Later, Sephiroth goes to the Temple of the Ancients.
Sephiroth: I am becoming one with the Planet. You stupid fools. You have never even thought about it. All the spirit energy of this Planet. All its wisdom...knowledge...I will meld with it all. I will become one with it...it will become one with me.
Tseng: You can do that?
Sephiroth: The way...lies here. Only death awaits you all. But do not fear. For it is through death that a new spirit energy is born. Soon, you will live again as a part of me.
He attacks the leader of the Turks, Tseng, and waits for Cloud and the others to arrive:
Sephiroth: So cold...I am always by your side. Come. Splendid. A treasure house of knowledge...Look well.
Cloud: At what?
Sephiroth: At that which adds to the knowledge of...I am becoming one with the Planet.
...Mother...it is almost time. Soon...we will become one.
Aeris: How do you intend to become one with the Planet?
Sephiroth: It's simple. Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit Energy to heal the injury. The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury.
...What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the very life of the Planet? *stabs the ground with Masamune* Think of how much energy would be gathered! Hahaha. And at the center of that injury will be me. All that boundless energy will be mine. By merging with the Planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence. Melding with the Planet...I will cease to exist as I am now...only to reborn as a 'God' to rule over every soul.
Aeris: An injury powerful enough to destroy the Planet? Injure...the Planet?
Sephiroth: Behold that mural. The Ultimate Destructive Magic...Meteor.
Cloud: That'll never happen!
Wake up!
Cloud: Where are you? Sephiroth!
Aeris: Cloud!!
Vincent: What are you doing?
Cloud: Ha ha ha...Black Materia. Ha ha ha...call Meteor...
Sephiroth started the puzzle sequence and somehow made the party fight a Red Dragon, and then disappears. Once the party has fled the Temple and let Cait Sith be crushed, he takes control of Cloud, makes him give him the Black Materia, and forces the mercenary to attack Aeris. Aeris goes to follow him, and at the forgotten City of the Ancients, she stops to pray to the Planet to stop Meteor. Cloud and company make their way to the forgotten City of the Ancients and stay the night.
Cloud: I can feel it...
Vincent: ...What's wrong?
Cloud: Aeris is here...and so is Sephiroth.
Vincent: If that's true, then we're in for it.
Red XIII: How did you find that out?
Cloud:...It's not an excuse. I feel it in my soul.
Vincent: If that's true, we should hurry. Something terrible could happen at any moment.
Cloud:...Right. Let's hurry and find Aeris.
Cloud hears Aeris and follows her voice, and finds himself in a beautiful cathedral made of slabs of glittering crystal. There, on an old and battered altar, Aeris is in prayer...
Cloud walks up to her, determined to ask her something...
Cloud: Aeris?
But Sephiroth exerts his control over Cloud and forces the mercenary to draw his sword...Cloud is poised to slash Aeris open...
Vincent: Cloud!
Red XIII: What are you doing!
Cloud: Ugh...what are you making me do.
Sephiroth then appears...plunges down from a hidden ledge, Masamune drawn, and sinks the blade into the altar...after he sinks it into Aeris. ![*sobs* She's gone.....](338d6b00.jpg)
Cloud: ...Aeris. This can't be real!
Sephiroth: Do not worry. Soon the girl will become part of the Planet's energy. All that remains is to go North. The 'Promised Land' waits for me over the snowy fields. There, I will become a new being by uniting with the Planet. As will this girl...
Cloud: Shut up. The cycle of nature and your plan don't mean a thing. Aeris is gone. Aeris will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry...or get angry...what about us...what are WE supposed to do? What about my pain? My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!
Sephiroth: What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me you have feelings too?
Cloud: Of course! What do you think I am?
Sephiroth: Ha, ha, ha...Stop acting as if you were sad. There's not need to act as though you're angry, either. Because, Cloud, you are...
Jenova: Because, you are...a puppet.
Cloud: I'm a puppet?
Sephiroth then lets Jenova loose again. Trying to get over their grief at the loss of Aeris, AVALANCHE heads towards the North, to the Promised Land.
Struggling across the icy plains of the north, the party arrives in Aeris' home town, Icicle, where the perceptive player can watch some videos about Jenova, WEAPON, and the Planet, as well as see how Shin-Ra captures Aeris. Some of the Turks try to stop the party from leaving Icicle, but they escape across the Great Glacier and make it to Gaea's Cliff, where they encounter one of Sephiroth's clones. After climbing the Cliff, the party finds themselves at the North Crater. Sephiroth reveals more about his plan and has them fight yet another incarnation of Jenova, Jenova-DEATH.
---{@
Once again, I've had
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MIDI playing: Those Chosen By The Planet
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