Sepsis

Chapter 1: Lysogeny

By Lyralina Sanzennine

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 is property of Square Enix.

It’s not as if anyone actually expected Sephiroth to stay dead. History has a horrifying habit of repeating itself, as you must know, and the man’s already proven that he has enough hatred to keep his consciousness intact, even in death. It was only a matter of time before he returned. Everyone knew it would happen. Especially Cloud.

But even with that knowledge, when the moment came, it was as a surprise – to AVALANCHE and the world. We knew, though. Not to the exact time or day, but generally, we knew.

I knew.

And I chose to go, or come, depending on how you see it. I chose to play my part in what was to be the final destruction of Jenova.

The concept of fate and free will are interesting, aren’t they? And always conflicting with each other. Sometimes it’s a terrible headache. Fact of the matter is, there is an element of fate in life, and there is an element of free will. They work together in a tedious balance, like most things. Like the dark and light. Yin and Yang.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Most people let themselves believe that Jenova was destroyed by the rain I sent. Things are never that easy, though. You know that, right? The rain was temporary suppression. It played its temporary role.

Jenova is more complicated than anything Gaea was ever meant to see, but in some ways, It’s like a type of virus that exists on Gaea. Lysogenic bacteriophages, as they’re called. They combine their genes with their host bacteria and multiply silently each time the host cell does. They can go undetected this way for…well, long enough. Then something will happen one day, and lysis will be triggered. The cells rupture and release the viruses so that they can go on and infect more cells.

In some ways, Jenova acts like this, but only in some. The powers of Jenova are so much more than merely that. It’s will to survive is as strong as Sephiroth’s.

But I spoke of balance and opposites, didn’t I? And choice. Yes, it was my choice to go. Had I known what would happen to me there, would I still have gone? I think so, yes. Some things are simply worth it.

Life is so…ironic in so many ways. Sometimes I almost feel like laughing when I think about it.

He is my enemy – Sephiroth. There’s no question of that. I was the martyr and he was the murderer. He wasevil manifest, and I good. And I suppose that I used to expect it all to be so cut and dried and simple.

When had it ever been simple?

But that doesn’t matter. What matters – what it all comes down to – is choice. I chose this. He chose that.

And in the end, we found so many things within ourselves and each other, how else could it have ended?

And You intended for this to happen all along, didn’t you Gaea?