[Fanfic][FFVII/NGE Crossover/Fusion][Spolier] Same Test, Different Methods - Prologue: Arrival _____________________________________ Same Test, Different Methods ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Author: Mats Forsén (garnax@lysator.liu.se) Warning! This contains spoilers for the end of the game Final Fantasy VII and an indeterminate amount of episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. See Author's Notes at the end for an explanation of the Fusion. Previous chapters and my other stories can be found at: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~garnax/fanfics.html DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except my distorted visions. I have no money. Don't sue. ' ' = thoughts, " " = speech, ~ ~ = telepathy, ¤ ¤ = approximations (no english equivalent exists) Revision 0.1 - 1999-12-31 Revision 0.2 - 2000-01-21 --------- Prologue: Arrival --------- Sephiroth's eyes widened in amazement. 'This.. is impossible...'. He glanced down at the sword Cloud had skewered him with but couldn't comprehend how it was possible. 'I.. am immortal.. I am a Cetra! I cannot lose!'. In the back of his mind was the nagging feeling that he was wrong though. He had felt how his mother, Jenova, had perished just before the rugged group had reached him. They had defeated his shell and Cloud had managed to travel the pathways to his physical body. He had been sure that Jenova had just been faking it to instill a sense of false confidence in them but now he wasn't all that sure any more. Cloud had unexpectedly attacked him with his mightiest Omnislash without any warning and had managed to get in a killing blow while Sephiroth was still reeling from the damage. Cloud stood there gloating at the fact that he had finally defeated his mortal enemy. Sephiroth, the bastard who had slaughtered everyone in Nibelheim and killed Aeris was finally defeated. Incidentally it also saved the planet from total destruction but he knew in his heart that he would have gone after him anyway. This was Revenge. Sephiroth stood there with a disbelieving expression on his face as his body started to glow and disintegrate. Suddenly his eyes were filled with a bright light and he had a falling sensation. He felt the world exploding around him and he was losing consciousness fast. He could feel his physical body disappearing. He had been traveling the world for months now in his spirit so he was used to being away from his body, but he had always had his body there as an anchor. He knew without a doubt that no human spirit could survive without its body. 'But.. I am no mere human.. Like my mother before me I am destined for greatness! I will not die! I will have my revenge!'. Comforting as those thoughts were Sephiroth was not gone far enough into insanity to see that merely thinking it wasn't working. As his physical body decomposed into its component atoms he could feel his spirit vanishing into the void. He could hear the call of the Lifestream in his ears.. scores of spirits inviting him into their warmth.. forgiveness.. eternal safety.. With an agonizing jerk Sephiroth stopped himself. He had unconsciously been heeding that call and was drifting towards the Lifestream. 'I.. will never die! I need but find an empty shell for my spirit to inhabit!'. As his spirit was being drawn into the Lifestream he was sending searching thoughts towards the waking world. He was seeking a body with Jenova cells and a weak mind that he could possess. Gleefully he spent his enormous reserves of spirit searching. There! There was a perfect body! The mind was a bit strong but the body sang with the sweet lure of Jenova cells. With a shock he recognized the mind. It was his tormentor Cloud who had survived his aftermath but he was on the verge of exhaustion. Gleefully Sephiroth gathered all his spirit and prepared for the lunge into his new body with which he would rule the world! Cackling with a laugh that was borderline insane he savored the sweet thoughts of revenging his mother and acquiring his rightful place as the ruler of the world. Having finally gathered all his spirit he sent it all out for a devastating strike..... ~NO. WE WILL NOT ALLOW THIS.~ ....only to be stopped by an impenetrable barrier. He surged with all his might and battered at the barrier high and low but was unable to break through. Frantically searching around for the source of the sound he could see that he was perilously close to the Lifestream. His spirit was disappearing at an increasing rate and he knew that it was mere seconds before his spirit would be dispersed enough that he wouldn't exist as a consciousness but only as a voice among many in the Lifestream. But here conversations and actions were made at the speed of thought so a few seconds felt as an eternity.. a dangerous illusion. He felt confident that he could talk his way out of this.. He was, after all.. Sephiroth. ~SEPHIROTH... YOU HAVE FAILED.. THE HUMANS HAVE PASSED THEIR TEST AND HAVE DEFEATED METEOR AND JENOVA.. YOU, WHO HAVE ALLIED YOURSELF WITH THE DESTROYER HAVE FORFEITED YOUR LIFE..~ Sephiroth knew there was truth behind the words, but he didn't know how he knew. 'Who are you to pass judgement on me? You have no right!' ~WE ARE THE CETRA.. THE HUMANS HAVE BEEN DESTROYING THE PLANET BY ABUSING 'MAKO' ENERGY SO WE DESIGNED A TEST TO SEE IF THEY WERE WORTHY OF CONTINUED EXISTENCE.. OR EVEN.. ¤RISING¤ TO A NEW LEVEL OF AWARENESS.~ Sephiroth could feel the implications of the word ¤rise¤ but couldn't put it into words.. It meant leaving behind the physical world.. ascending to a state of higher awareness.. the joining of an entire race in harmony.. all that, and more.. 'You are behind Mother? Like her I am a Cetra and it is my destiny to rule the planet!' ~NO.. JENOVA WAS NOT A CETRA BUT A BEING FROM THE HIGHER REALMS.. YOU WERE CREATED BY THE HUMANS TO BATTLE JENOVA.. HOWEVER, THEIR TREATMENT OF YOU LET JENOVA WORK HER.. INFLUENCE.. ON YOUR ACTIONS.~ 'Lies! All Lies! The puny humans were scared by my greatness and sought to keep my true ancestry from me because they knew I was destined for greatness!' ~BE THAT AS IT MAY, YOU HAVE NO PLACE AMONG THE LIVING ANY MORE.. THEY HAVE PASSED THEIR TEST AND WILL BE LEFT ALONE.. UNTIL THEY DESERVE ANOTHER TEST.. PERHAPS IN TIME THEY WILL ¤RISE¤ TO BE OUR EQUALS, AS WE HAVE ¤RISEN¤ FROM OUR MORTAL COIL.. ENOUGH.. WE WILL HOLD YOU HERE UNTIL YOU DISPERSE.. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE..~ Sephiroth's mind was working overtime with working out the implications of everything he had heard. If what they said was true then he truly had been destined for greatness.. until he feel sway to Jenova.. 'NO! My Mother would never betray me like that.. They must be wrong..' He could feel his spirit dissolving into the Lifestream at a frightening rate.. He tried yet again to reach the physical world but the barrier was still in place. The only other way he could see was into the Lifestream, a sure way to commit suicide. Desperately seeking for ways out while his precious time was wasting he suddenly latched on to the Cetra's last sentence. They too had been mortal before they had ¤risen¤. That meant that they too must have been tested.. But by whom? There must be even greater powers than the Cetra out there. Sharpening his senses he could faintly make out 'trails' that led.. ¤sideways¤.. for lack of a better word. They were probably communication lines the Cetra kept with whomever had risen them.. Gathering his essence up into a tight ball he feinted what would seem a final attack on the barrier to the waking world when he abruptly turned ¤sideways¤. ~STOP! YOU CANNOT GO THERE! YOU WILL INTERFERE IN OTHER SPECIES EVOLUTION.. UNCOUNTABLE TRILLIONS MIGHT DIE!~ Laughing to himself Sephiroth jerked ¤sideways¤ and suddenly found himself in another place. It was a vast and desolate place, completely devoid of life. 'Hmm.. they must have failed their test here..'. Still feeling the clock ticking as his essence was dissolving in the void he knew he was in desperate need of a mortal body to inhabit. Another thought tickled at the back of his mind.. The Cetra had mentioned that they had been ¤risen¤ to a new state of awareness.. If he might be able to take control of such a ¤rising¤ of an entire race.. Why.. he would become a power beyond compare.. A true god! Greedily he started searching ¤sideways¤ for a suitable world.. His time was running out so he had to be quick or it would all be for naught. Stumbling across a dozen dozen worlds he finally started to panic. Too little of his essence remained that he could hardly travel ¤sideways¤ much more. Then.. he found the perfect place.. Humanity was on the verge of ascending to a new state of consciousness. Quickly searching for a suitable host he was puzzled when he could only find a single host.. The host was woefully lacking in Jenova cells but it was the only one he could find. Perhaps it was fortunate in a way since he hardly had the power left to fight a strong host. He couldn't help thinking that if this was all that the humans of this world could do they would surely fail their test. Almost completely gone he quickly gathered himself and attacked the unsuspecting mind. --------- Rei felt Unit-00 activating around her. She had absolute faith in Commander Ikari so she knew that nothing would go wrong. They were just crossing the borderline when she felt something smash into her mind. Screaming out the pain she felt at the intrusion she felt her mind slipping. There was a desperate war being fought inside her head as Unit-00 went berserk and started slamming its head into the wall. She was very close to overpowering the intruder when he finally outsmarted her and her mind started to black out. Sephiroth himself was almost dead. He had only won because he had far greater experience with mind battles. He knew he was dying and was in no position to take over the host as he had planned. In fact, he hadn't even examined who the host was or where it was. With his ¤vision¤ blurring he carefully removed any memory of what had happened from the host mind and prepared to enter a dormant state so he could rest until he had regained enough strength to take over the body. He had to choose very carefully how much to regenerate before awakening. If he waited too little he would be no match for the host mind and would be obliterated.. If he waited too long they would already have ¤risen¤ and it would all be over.. Using his last strength he sealed himself in a corner of the host mind to recuperate.. It wasn't long before he lost consciousness.. --------- Gendou opened the hatch with his bare hands and ignored the burning pain as he wrestled with the hot metal. He finally managed to open the entry plug and gazed down at Rei inside. He knew it was foolish of him but he couldn't help but feel happy that she had survived.. This was much too similar to the way he lost Yui.. Rei nodded weakly when he asked her if she was alright so he stepped aside and let the medics get in.. Rei herself had no memory of what had happened and fainted again. --------- End Chapter --------- Authors Notes: Basically.. the idea is that the FFVII world was tested similar to the world in NGE.. But instead of Adam/Lilith there was only Jenova/Meteor. Humans sought to fight her similar to in the NGE Universe but instead of creating gigantic robots they tried to create Human/Jenova hybrids. In essence, they were creating Rei's to battle the enemy. They managed to use a much higher density of Jenova cells though which explains why Sephiroth and Cloud are so much more powerful than Rei. There were no Angels in the FFVII universe.. Sephiroth, The Fallen Angel, was probably enough of an obstacle. / Mats Forsén, garnax@lysator.liu.se