Hidden Identity (Book Two)-Complete

Year Five, Day Eighteen Part 3

Cress POV

When we finally reach the top floor, the president's office, we find it completely empty. Wind howls eerily through the huge hole in one of the large windows behind the big desk. What happened here? Where's Sephiroth?

As I stride forward with the others, I hear a faint voice coming from outside. It sounds like someone's calling for help. "There's a voice outside calling for help."

I run over to the hole in the window and jump out. The voice is much louder now, and I can pinpoint it's source much easier. I find an elderly man clinging to the side of the building, about to fall. I recognize him. Hojo once introduced me to him: the President of ShinRa.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here," Barret says, joining me by the broken railing and looking down. "President ShinRa himself."

"Please...help me," the man begs.

"And why would I do that? It would work very well in my favor if you dropped from this building like a rock."

"I'll give you money...I have lots of it."

"I don't want your money."

"But there is something you do want."

Barret grunts. "Yeah, there is."

"I'll give you whatever it is you want, just help me up!"

"Barret..." Tifa whispers, coming up to us with the others.

I can almost see the gears grinding in Barret's head as he debates whether or not it's worth it. Finally, he leans over the railing and yanks the president up. He tosses the man to the ground behind us roughly.

"I want you to get on every broadcasting network there is and tell them all the truth about AVALANCHE! We are not puppets of Wutai! We're trying to save the planet from your greediness! If you keep sucking up Mako, the planet will die!" Barret growls, advancing towards him.

The president stumbles back through the door and into his office. We all follow after Barret slowly. What is he talking about? What's AVALANCHE?

Behind his desk now, the president says, "is that really what you want? Your names cleared? Is that more important than shutting down the reactors? See, even you are selfish."

Barret tenses. "Oh, the reactors will be shut down. Trust me."

The Mako reactors? Why does he want to shut them down? Wouldn't that throw the entire city into chaos? What will we use to power everything, then?

"No, you won't," President ShinRa states, suddenly coming around the desk and pointing a gun at Barret. "Your end is here."

I little gasp escapes my lips as Sephiroth appears behind the president from nowhere and stabs his long blade into him just as he had been about to pull the trigger. The elderly man collapses, already dead. Then, to my horror, before he can even try to defend himself, Sephiroth stabs Barret, too.

"Barret!" Tifa yells running forward.

Suddenly, the room flickers and changes into a large dark cave. A huge monster with lots of thick tentacles stands before us. We all draw our weapons, prepared to fight.

"Is that...?" Tifa asks in horror.

"JENOVA," Aerith confirms. "The source of...everything."

Cloud charges forward first, kicking the battle into motion. I dash forward, dodging the writhing tentacles, and stab the main body. Outraged, one of it's tentacles grab me around the middle and throw me. I crash into Tifa.

"Sorry!" I exclaim hurriedly, jumping to my feet and helping her up. "You okay?"

"All good! Don't worry about it!" she replies, hurrying back into the fray.

"Cress! I have an idea!" Cloud calls to me from the other side of the cave. 

I hurry over to him. "What is it?"

"Can you jump to its head?"

I look up at it, mentally gauging the distance from the ground to the top of it. "Yeah, I think I know what you're thinking."

"Good. Let us handle the tentacles. You get on top of that thing and end it."

Nodding, I watch him jump into action, hacking away at the tentacles. As soon as I see an opening, I dash forward and leap onto it's top, stabbing both my blades into it. I jump down, dragging them through its flesh and ripping two giant gashes in it. Dark blood splurts everywhere, drenching me.

Then, as suddenly as it appeared, it's gone, and the office returns to normal. All traces of a battle here are gone, even the blood I had just been soaked in. What just happened?

"An illusion?" Aerith guessed.

"Apparently," Cloud replies, clicking his huge sword onto the magnet on his back.

Tifa crouches down beside Barret's seemingly lifeless body. "Barret..."

Then, one of those 'Whisper' things floats out of Barret's large chest, and he bursts awake. Subconsciously, he pats the place where he was stabbed. The wound is completely gone. Not even a blood stain remains.

"It healed him..."

"This death was not the one destiny has preordained for you," Red explains.

Barret looks up at the Whisper. "Uh...thanks?"

The Whisper glides away and vanishes. For a moment, we all stand there in awkward silence, none of us sure what to do or say next. What now?

Suddenly, Cloud turns and runs outside. Did he see something? I look out the window and spot a curtain of long silver hair disappearing beyond my view. With a start, I run after Cloud. He's not the only one that has a score to settle with Sephiroth.

Outside on the helipad, we don't spot him. For some reason, my gaze lifts upwards, and I spot Sephiroth standing atop a signal tower on the roof of the office with what looks like a body in his arms. "He's up there, Cloud!"

We climb up the ladder to the roof, but before we can climb the tower, Sephiroth flickers and turns into a man wearing a black cloak with the number 49 tattooed on his shoulder. He jumps from the tower and falls towards the city below, clutching the body wrapped in black cloth tightly.