CHAPTER 1
It was an unusually warm October night when Jeremey and Kaylie stepped out of the recreation center and walked down the sidewalk. The wind blew through the trees surrounding the cracked sidewalk, worn from many years of use. People walked by the couple so caught up in their own conversations they nearly bumped into them. Jeremey loved nights like this, when he could just hang out with his friends and not worry about anything. They turned a corner and followed the sidewalk down the main street of their little town.
Justin and Petey, Jeremey's longtime friends, tagged along about five feet behind the couple, just within earshot. Jeremey was about five-foot nine-inches tall, thin, had short brown hair and brown eyes to match. Kaylie was five-foot eight-inches tall, thin, had blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Justin and Petey both had dirty blonde hair but Justin was really short and had brown eyes while Petey was taller than Jeremey and had blue eyes, both were thin. All four had extremely explosive tempers and Jeremey had a tendency to brood a lot, a strong sense of justice, and more determination than anyone he knew.
"You know, just once I'd like something REALLY cool to happen to us." Jeremey said to Kaylie holding up his index finger to indicate the number, "You guys know what I'm talkin bout?" He looked to Justin and Petey who nodded enthusiastically. Jeremey was a huge Final Fantasy fan and he owned all of them except three and eleven. They passed in front of the library, which was nothing more than a very small brick building that housed a few hundred books; a 'Backwoods Larnin Center' as Jeremey jokingly called it.
"We all do Jeremey, but that doesn't mean it'll happen." Kaylie replied, "I mean, if everyone had a lot of cool stuff happen to them, it'd be kinda boring. Don't you think?" Jeremey raised and eyebrow. He was used to having long conversations about trivial subjects.
"I never said anything about anybody else having cool stuff happen to them." He smiled waving his pointing hand in front of him like a drunkard would, "Just me and my friends, like some kind of Final Fantasy adventure thing."
"Not THAT again" Kaylie rolled her eyes, but she smiled at Jeremey to let him know she was joking. ANY adventure would be welcome. She looked at Justin and Petey and smiled, then she planted a kiss on Jeremey's cheek.
"Now what did I do to deserve that?" Jeremey smiled at her. He was still getting used to having a girlfriend after almost two years of being single. Whims of fancy that led to kissing was not something that one could just jump into gung-ho. His hand started tingling like it had fallen asleep, but he ignored it.
"Just wanted to let you know that I love you." She replied laying her head on his shoulder. Her forearm tingled as well, she scratched it thinking it would go away...it didn't.
"Hey, are your hands tingling?" Justin asked them. Petey shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, but Jeremey and Kaylie nodded. Justin opened and closed his hand hoping it would go away, but it stayed.
Jeremey looked down and his hand and sparkling little shapes suddenly appeared in the shape of a sword or something similar.
"What the hell?!" Jeremey exclaimed and looked to his friends, Kaylie had something appearing on her forearm, the shape was familiar to him somehow, and Justin had something appearing shaped like a sword, only it was different than Jeremey's, smaller.
Jeremey looked back down to his hand and Squall's gunblade from Final Fantasy 8 materialized and attempted to fall to the ground but Jeremey grabbed it. His jaw dropped and his mouth moved trying to find words. His mind seemed to be a maelstrom of ideas and explanations, none of which were coherent.
"You gotta be fuggin kidding me..." He finally choked out and looked around. On Kaylie's forearm was Rinoa's pinwheel from the same game and Justin held Tidus's Brotherhood sword from Final Fantasy 10. They all gaped at what had just happened.
The device on Kaylie's arm-- a pinwheel as it was called-- was nothing more than a mechanism that shot a sky-blue saw blade-like disc at enemies and was strapped onto someone's forearm. Once shot, the disc would cut anything in its way then circle back to the owner. The owner of the weapon would then catch the disc on the mechanism. It took precise aiming on the part of the owner to catch the blade, or else it would be over. Jeremey thought it wasn't the most genius weapon ever made, considering the threat, but it got the job done, almost always without error he guessed. Why else would anybody use it?
"Dude, these are Final Fantasy weapons.." Justin said in amazement while inspecting his weapon. It glimmered in the light from the lamppost they stood under, but something else was catching his attention. The blade seemed to be made out of water. He couldn't see through it, but it seemed as though pool water had been solidified into the shape of this sword. Near the hilt guard it seemed as though the water was frothing. He couldn't believe what had just happened; a weapon that should by all rights not exist had just appeared out of nowhere.
Jeremey nodded and inspected his own wepaon. It was exactly like Squall's gunblade, the blade was fairly short, about three feet long. The rest of the weapon was made up of something that resembled a revolver, except that the black grip was elongated and was arranged so that someone could hold it like a sword. An emblem of a flaming lion with wings decorated the blade and a chain with a lion's head on the end of it hung from the end of the black grip. In all, the weapon seemed to be about four and a half feet long.
"Amazing..." Jeremey said. Suddenly, and bright blue light flashed in front of them and a man was standing where the flash had occurred, blue swirls of light dancing around him. He had long silver hair with two long strands falling in front of his face. He had piercing green eyes and was wearing all black.
"It can't be man..." Jeremey's eyes grew wide, fear rising inside of him, "It's impossible!" Justin took a step back, he knew who this man was and what it could mean to the world.
"Sephiroth!" He cried in amazement. Sephiroth looked at them and smiled a smile that sent chills down the group's spines.
"So this is Earth?" He said taking in his environment, "It's not all it's made out to be. But it will have to suffice." Jeremey didn't like the way that sounded. He remembered Sephiroth's intentions in Final Fantasy 7. Jeremey readied himself for battle.
"What are you doing, boy?" Sephiroth laughed, "Do you intend to fight me?" A bead of sweat rolled down Jeremey's forehead and into his eye. He closed blinked instinctively and when he opened his eyes Sephiroth was gone.
"Ah, I see you have the gunblade?" A voice came from behind Jeremey, who spun around only to be staring Sephiroth in the face. He was tall, about six foot seven Jeremey guessed. Jeremey took a several of steps back.
"What are you doing here man?" He forced a smile, "Aren't you supposed to be getting your ass whooped by Cloud somewhere?" Forced humor was the only way Jeremey knew how to cope with stress and fear of this magnitude.
"Hm," Sephiroth frowned, "Typical of you to think that. But my plans are far to magnificent for your simple mind to understand. Now, unfortunately for you, I'm going to destroy you and this entire pathetic town." He held his right hand outward and the Masamune appeared. It was a samurai katana with a blade six feet long. It seemed impossible that anyone could wield a weapon like that, but then again, Sephiroth was the only one who could wield it. He stood in his fighting stance, with his sword held horizontally at shoulder level, pointing toward Jeremey.
By this time the people near the group had either run off frightened or had stayed to see what developed. Jeremey glanced over to the forming crowd and then back to Sephiroth.
"Destroy us?!" He asked, "Why?! What would be the point? We're just a group of harmless kids." Jeremey said mockingly, smiling. Sephiroth growled.
"Insolent whelp..." He muttered under his breath. "How dare he..."
Jeremey looked at his friends, "Get outta here, I'll hold him off." He knew he would probably die in the ensuing battle, but he had to try.
"But Jeremey, we have weapons too!" Justin replied, getting ready to fight for his life.
"No!" Jeremey yelled firmly, "I won't have you guys die because I made a careless mistake in a fight! Go! I'll be alright..." He knew it was a lie, but he couldn't have his friends around in a fight, it would distract him. Kaylie was about to reply but Sephiroth suddenly charged at Jeremey, who pushed Kaylie out of the way and readied himself for the coming battle.
"I'm growing weary of this!" He said as he slashed for Jeremey's legs, to which Jeremey responded by instinctively jumping straight up. "It doesn't matter who stays to fight me, you are all going to DIE!!" He then slashed at Jeremey again but Jeremey brought his weapon up to block and was knocked sideways by the force of the blow.
"Ah!" Jeremey screamed as he hit a street sign on the other side of the street, warping the base. He looked up to see Sephiroth walking toward him slowly. Justin, Kaylie, and Petey were about to attack Sephiroth but Jeremey stood and told them again to run.
"I can handle him!" He said looking back to Sephiroth, who was chuckling. "What's so funny?" Sephiroth looked up and took his battle stance.
"The joke you just made." He waited for Jeremey to reply with a retaliatory insult. That insult never came; Jeremey simply laughed and charged at Sephiroth.
Jeremey jumped as high as he could and brought his gunblade down with all his might. Sephiroth easily blocked, leaned back so Jeremey fell forward and used Jeremey's momentum to kick him back to the other side of the street, in front of the library; performing a back flip as he did. Jeremey crashed through the white picket fence in front of the library, slid on the ground, crashed into a tree, and curled into a fetal position. The pain was immense, but he didn't think anything was broken. He looked at his right hand and was relieved to see that his gunblade was still there.
"This guy's too tough!" He coughed and stood, "But I can't give up. Not as long as I still breath... I have to kill him!" He stood in a defensive stance. Sephiroth was already at the sidewalk. Jeremey stumbled back a step, his body ached all over. Sephiroth smiled.
"Did you honestly believe you could face me in battle and win?" He laughed and charged again. Jeremey ducked as Sephiroth swung his sword at his head and rolled to the side as Sephiroth ran past him. Jeremey turned and looked as Sephiroth stopped and turned his head to look at him, frowning. Sephiroth then smiled and the trunk of the tree that Jeremey had crashed into suddenly slid in half diagonally. Sephiroth had cut straight through the thick trunk with little effort. Jeremey's eye twitched and he took a step back.
"Not good.." He said to himself as Sephiroth turned and walked toward him menacingly. "Definitely not good.. Where's the police when you need them?" He looked around and saw that most of the crowd had dispersed. Justin, Kaylie, and Petey were nowhere in sight; at least they were safe. Jeremey turned just in time to see Sephiroth trying to impale him with the Masamune. Instinctively, he turned sideways and leaned back, barely dodging the attack, the blade practically leaning against his chest.
"That was too close.." He said looking at the huge sword and then to Sephiroth, who had a broad smile on his face. "What are you smiling about?" Sephiroth nodded his head to behind where Jeremey stood a moment before. He turned and gasped at what he saw.
A woman, maybe in her late 40s, was impaled on the end of the sword. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was agape as blood slowly dripped out of it. Sephiroth slowly pulled the sword out of her chest and stood a moment, admiring his work.
"No..." Jeremey said, "Please no.." He ran to the woman and caught her as she fell to the ground. He stuck the blade of his weapon into the ground, lifted her head and found that she was dead, her face trapped in a look of surprise, her cold blue eyes staring at him. Jeremey went numb all over his body.
"This is my fault..." Jeremey said, "If only I had parried instead of dodging..." His opened and closed his mouth looking for more words to say, but none came. He closed the woman's eyes and laid her head down. He suddenly heard Sephiroth laughing maniacally. He clenched his fists and stood, grabbing his gunblade.
"You intrigue me boy." Sephiroth laughed, "I honestly thought cared only about your friends." He took his battle stance again, still laughing.
"How can you laugh..." Jeremey gripped his gunblade white-knuckle tight, his anger taking complete control over him, "How can you laugh after doing that to someone?!" Jeremey charged at Sephiroth, blocking everything out of his mind except the figure in front of him. He swung the weapon in a left horizontal slash aiming for Sephiroth's head. Sephiroth blocked, but struggled to keep his blade steady. Jeremey's anger served as an impetus and he continued his attack by breaking the encounter and slashing at Sephiroth's left side, forcing Sephiroth to fall back.
"His anger seems to make him stronger, faster..." Sephiroth said to himself. "I thought it would have made him sloppier... But it's made him better." He ducked as Jeremey slashed at his head. He then parried a lunge intended for his heart. He countered with a downward slash which Jeremey blocked. Sephiroth smiled and kicked Jeremey in the stomach, sending him flying back onto the sidewalk directly in front of the library.
"Ugh.." Jeremey clutched his stomach, "That one hurt..." He looked to where Sephiroth had stood when he kicked him only to find that Sephiroth had vanished. He stared at that spot for a moment, then he heard a rustle of clothing above him. He looked up to see Sephiroth coming from the sky feet first with the Masamune pointed down, intending to kill Jeremey.
"Now you DIE boy!" He yelled as readied himself for the attack. Time seemed to slow down around Jeremey as he watched this unreal Angel of Death descend upon him.
"I'm gonna die..." Jeremey said as an insuperable fear rising in him, but that was overcome by his determination. "No! I can't!" He shouted as he rolled onto his right side as the blade came down and went through the ground as though it was butter. Jeremey looked to see Sephiroth coming down with the blade and he raised the end of his gunblade to impale Sephiroth through the chest as he came down.
"Ugh!" Sephiroth exclaimed and spit blood out, which landed on Jeremey's face. He looked down at Jeremey with pure shock on his face. Jeremey smiled weakly at him. Sephiroth frowned and seemed to be pulled into the sky slowly by an invisible force.
"This is not over boy!" He yelled as he floated into the air and dispersed into tiny, blue glowing orbs.
"That was... REALLY close.." Jeremey said as he realized that the blade of Sephiroth's sword had cut through his light jacket when he had rolled over. He sat up and mulled over the night's events and what they meant. The face of the woman Sephiroth had killed broke his thoughts. His body went numb again as he turned to look at the woman's body lying on the ground.
"It was my fault..." Jeremey said as Justin and Kaylie ran up to him. "All my fault.." He looked at his gunblade and wished that it would go away so he could think clearly. It dispersed into tiny, glowing golden orbs. He looked at his hand and fell onto his back and groaned as all his pain hit him like a freight train.
"Jeremey, dude, that was fuggin awesome!" Justin shouted in excitement as he stood looking down at him. "I've never seen anything like that in my life!" Kaylie was the first to notice something was wrong.
"What's wrong baby?" She kneeled down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. He sat up and looked at her with tearful eyes.
"That woman..." He pointed to the body, his voice shaking, "She died because of me.. If only I had blocked or parried or done something else beside dodge, she'd be alive right now! " Kaylie looked at him with concerned eyes.
"You didn't know Jeremey, there was nothing you could do." She told him. "And worrying over it will only make it worse." He hung his head for a moment and looked back up at her with a forced resolve.
"I guess you're right." He said as he stood. He groaned and stumbled a moment before righting himself. Petey finally arrived and looked Jeremey over.
"You look like crap dude." He said with a relaxed tone. Jeremey laughed and slapped him on the shoulder.
"I feel like crap." Jeremey said as he limped down the sidewalk. "Let's get something to eat. I'm starving!"
It was an unusually warm October night when Jeremey and Kaylie stepped out of the recreation center and walked down the sidewalk. The wind blew through the trees surrounding the cracked sidewalk, worn from many years of use. People walked by the couple so caught up in their own conversations they nearly bumped into them. Jeremey loved nights like this, when he could just hang out with his friends and not worry about anything. They turned a corner and followed the sidewalk down the main street of their little town.
Justin and Petey, Jeremey's longtime friends, tagged along about five feet behind the couple, just within earshot. Jeremey was about five-foot nine-inches tall, thin, had short brown hair and brown eyes to match. Kaylie was five-foot eight-inches tall, thin, had blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Justin and Petey both had dirty blonde hair but Justin was really short and had brown eyes while Petey was taller than Jeremey and had blue eyes, both were thin. All four had extremely explosive tempers and Jeremey had a tendency to brood a lot, a strong sense of justice, and more determination than anyone he knew.
"You know, just once I'd like something REALLY cool to happen to us." Jeremey said to Kaylie holding up his index finger to indicate the number, "You guys know what I'm talkin bout?" He looked to Justin and Petey who nodded enthusiastically. Jeremey was a huge Final Fantasy fan and he owned all of them except three and eleven. They passed in front of the library, which was nothing more than a very small brick building that housed a few hundred books; a 'Backwoods Larnin Center' as Jeremey jokingly called it.
"We all do Jeremey, but that doesn't mean it'll happen." Kaylie replied, "I mean, if everyone had a lot of cool stuff happen to them, it'd be kinda boring. Don't you think?" Jeremey raised and eyebrow. He was used to having long conversations about trivial subjects.
"I never said anything about anybody else having cool stuff happen to them." He smiled waving his pointing hand in front of him like a drunkard would, "Just me and my friends, like some kind of Final Fantasy adventure thing."
"Not THAT again" Kaylie rolled her eyes, but she smiled at Jeremey to let him know she was joking. ANY adventure would be welcome. She looked at Justin and Petey and smiled, then she planted a kiss on Jeremey's cheek.
"Now what did I do to deserve that?" Jeremey smiled at her. He was still getting used to having a girlfriend after almost two years of being single. Whims of fancy that led to kissing was not something that one could just jump into gung-ho. His hand started tingling like it had fallen asleep, but he ignored it.
"Just wanted to let you know that I love you." She replied laying her head on his shoulder. Her forearm tingled as well, she scratched it thinking it would go away...it didn't.
"Hey, are your hands tingling?" Justin asked them. Petey shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, but Jeremey and Kaylie nodded. Justin opened and closed his hand hoping it would go away, but it stayed.
Jeremey looked down and his hand and sparkling little shapes suddenly appeared in the shape of a sword or something similar.
"What the hell?!" Jeremey exclaimed and looked to his friends, Kaylie had something appearing on her forearm, the shape was familiar to him somehow, and Justin had something appearing shaped like a sword, only it was different than Jeremey's, smaller.
Jeremey looked back down to his hand and Squall's gunblade from Final Fantasy 8 materialized and attempted to fall to the ground but Jeremey grabbed it. His jaw dropped and his mouth moved trying to find words. His mind seemed to be a maelstrom of ideas and explanations, none of which were coherent.
"You gotta be fuggin kidding me..." He finally choked out and looked around. On Kaylie's forearm was Rinoa's pinwheel from the same game and Justin held Tidus's Brotherhood sword from Final Fantasy 10. They all gaped at what had just happened.
The device on Kaylie's arm-- a pinwheel as it was called-- was nothing more than a mechanism that shot a sky-blue saw blade-like disc at enemies and was strapped onto someone's forearm. Once shot, the disc would cut anything in its way then circle back to the owner. The owner of the weapon would then catch the disc on the mechanism. It took precise aiming on the part of the owner to catch the blade, or else it would be over. Jeremey thought it wasn't the most genius weapon ever made, considering the threat, but it got the job done, almost always without error he guessed. Why else would anybody use it?
"Dude, these are Final Fantasy weapons.." Justin said in amazement while inspecting his weapon. It glimmered in the light from the lamppost they stood under, but something else was catching his attention. The blade seemed to be made out of water. He couldn't see through it, but it seemed as though pool water had been solidified into the shape of this sword. Near the hilt guard it seemed as though the water was frothing. He couldn't believe what had just happened; a weapon that should by all rights not exist had just appeared out of nowhere.
Jeremey nodded and inspected his own wepaon. It was exactly like Squall's gunblade, the blade was fairly short, about three feet long. The rest of the weapon was made up of something that resembled a revolver, except that the black grip was elongated and was arranged so that someone could hold it like a sword. An emblem of a flaming lion with wings decorated the blade and a chain with a lion's head on the end of it hung from the end of the black grip. In all, the weapon seemed to be about four and a half feet long.
"Amazing..." Jeremey said. Suddenly, and bright blue light flashed in front of them and a man was standing where the flash had occurred, blue swirls of light dancing around him. He had long silver hair with two long strands falling in front of his face. He had piercing green eyes and was wearing all black.
"It can't be man..." Jeremey's eyes grew wide, fear rising inside of him, "It's impossible!" Justin took a step back, he knew who this man was and what it could mean to the world.
"Sephiroth!" He cried in amazement. Sephiroth looked at them and smiled a smile that sent chills down the group's spines.
"So this is Earth?" He said taking in his environment, "It's not all it's made out to be. But it will have to suffice." Jeremey didn't like the way that sounded. He remembered Sephiroth's intentions in Final Fantasy 7. Jeremey readied himself for battle.
"What are you doing, boy?" Sephiroth laughed, "Do you intend to fight me?" A bead of sweat rolled down Jeremey's forehead and into his eye. He closed blinked instinctively and when he opened his eyes Sephiroth was gone.
"Ah, I see you have the gunblade?" A voice came from behind Jeremey, who spun around only to be staring Sephiroth in the face. He was tall, about six foot seven Jeremey guessed. Jeremey took a several of steps back.
"What are you doing here man?" He forced a smile, "Aren't you supposed to be getting your ass whooped by Cloud somewhere?" Forced humor was the only way Jeremey knew how to cope with stress and fear of this magnitude.
"Hm," Sephiroth frowned, "Typical of you to think that. But my plans are far to magnificent for your simple mind to understand. Now, unfortunately for you, I'm going to destroy you and this entire pathetic town." He held his right hand outward and the Masamune appeared. It was a samurai katana with a blade six feet long. It seemed impossible that anyone could wield a weapon like that, but then again, Sephiroth was the only one who could wield it. He stood in his fighting stance, with his sword held horizontally at shoulder level, pointing toward Jeremey.
By this time the people near the group had either run off frightened or had stayed to see what developed. Jeremey glanced over to the forming crowd and then back to Sephiroth.
"Destroy us?!" He asked, "Why?! What would be the point? We're just a group of harmless kids." Jeremey said mockingly, smiling. Sephiroth growled.
"Insolent whelp..." He muttered under his breath. "How dare he..."
Jeremey looked at his friends, "Get outta here, I'll hold him off." He knew he would probably die in the ensuing battle, but he had to try.
"But Jeremey, we have weapons too!" Justin replied, getting ready to fight for his life.
"No!" Jeremey yelled firmly, "I won't have you guys die because I made a careless mistake in a fight! Go! I'll be alright..." He knew it was a lie, but he couldn't have his friends around in a fight, it would distract him. Kaylie was about to reply but Sephiroth suddenly charged at Jeremey, who pushed Kaylie out of the way and readied himself for the coming battle.
"I'm growing weary of this!" He said as he slashed for Jeremey's legs, to which Jeremey responded by instinctively jumping straight up. "It doesn't matter who stays to fight me, you are all going to DIE!!" He then slashed at Jeremey again but Jeremey brought his weapon up to block and was knocked sideways by the force of the blow.
"Ah!" Jeremey screamed as he hit a street sign on the other side of the street, warping the base. He looked up to see Sephiroth walking toward him slowly. Justin, Kaylie, and Petey were about to attack Sephiroth but Jeremey stood and told them again to run.
"I can handle him!" He said looking back to Sephiroth, who was chuckling. "What's so funny?" Sephiroth looked up and took his battle stance.
"The joke you just made." He waited for Jeremey to reply with a retaliatory insult. That insult never came; Jeremey simply laughed and charged at Sephiroth.
Jeremey jumped as high as he could and brought his gunblade down with all his might. Sephiroth easily blocked, leaned back so Jeremey fell forward and used Jeremey's momentum to kick him back to the other side of the street, in front of the library; performing a back flip as he did. Jeremey crashed through the white picket fence in front of the library, slid on the ground, crashed into a tree, and curled into a fetal position. The pain was immense, but he didn't think anything was broken. He looked at his right hand and was relieved to see that his gunblade was still there.
"This guy's too tough!" He coughed and stood, "But I can't give up. Not as long as I still breath... I have to kill him!" He stood in a defensive stance. Sephiroth was already at the sidewalk. Jeremey stumbled back a step, his body ached all over. Sephiroth smiled.
"Did you honestly believe you could face me in battle and win?" He laughed and charged again. Jeremey ducked as Sephiroth swung his sword at his head and rolled to the side as Sephiroth ran past him. Jeremey turned and looked as Sephiroth stopped and turned his head to look at him, frowning. Sephiroth then smiled and the trunk of the tree that Jeremey had crashed into suddenly slid in half diagonally. Sephiroth had cut straight through the thick trunk with little effort. Jeremey's eye twitched and he took a step back.
"Not good.." He said to himself as Sephiroth turned and walked toward him menacingly. "Definitely not good.. Where's the police when you need them?" He looked around and saw that most of the crowd had dispersed. Justin, Kaylie, and Petey were nowhere in sight; at least they were safe. Jeremey turned just in time to see Sephiroth trying to impale him with the Masamune. Instinctively, he turned sideways and leaned back, barely dodging the attack, the blade practically leaning against his chest.
"That was too close.." He said looking at the huge sword and then to Sephiroth, who had a broad smile on his face. "What are you smiling about?" Sephiroth nodded his head to behind where Jeremey stood a moment before. He turned and gasped at what he saw.
A woman, maybe in her late 40s, was impaled on the end of the sword. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was agape as blood slowly dripped out of it. Sephiroth slowly pulled the sword out of her chest and stood a moment, admiring his work.
"No..." Jeremey said, "Please no.." He ran to the woman and caught her as she fell to the ground. He stuck the blade of his weapon into the ground, lifted her head and found that she was dead, her face trapped in a look of surprise, her cold blue eyes staring at him. Jeremey went numb all over his body.
"This is my fault..." Jeremey said, "If only I had parried instead of dodging..." His opened and closed his mouth looking for more words to say, but none came. He closed the woman's eyes and laid her head down. He suddenly heard Sephiroth laughing maniacally. He clenched his fists and stood, grabbing his gunblade.
"You intrigue me boy." Sephiroth laughed, "I honestly thought cared only about your friends." He took his battle stance again, still laughing.
"How can you laugh..." Jeremey gripped his gunblade white-knuckle tight, his anger taking complete control over him, "How can you laugh after doing that to someone?!" Jeremey charged at Sephiroth, blocking everything out of his mind except the figure in front of him. He swung the weapon in a left horizontal slash aiming for Sephiroth's head. Sephiroth blocked, but struggled to keep his blade steady. Jeremey's anger served as an impetus and he continued his attack by breaking the encounter and slashing at Sephiroth's left side, forcing Sephiroth to fall back.
"His anger seems to make him stronger, faster..." Sephiroth said to himself. "I thought it would have made him sloppier... But it's made him better." He ducked as Jeremey slashed at his head. He then parried a lunge intended for his heart. He countered with a downward slash which Jeremey blocked. Sephiroth smiled and kicked Jeremey in the stomach, sending him flying back onto the sidewalk directly in front of the library.
"Ugh.." Jeremey clutched his stomach, "That one hurt..." He looked to where Sephiroth had stood when he kicked him only to find that Sephiroth had vanished. He stared at that spot for a moment, then he heard a rustle of clothing above him. He looked up to see Sephiroth coming from the sky feet first with the Masamune pointed down, intending to kill Jeremey.
"Now you DIE boy!" He yelled as readied himself for the attack. Time seemed to slow down around Jeremey as he watched this unreal Angel of Death descend upon him.
"I'm gonna die..." Jeremey said as an insuperable fear rising in him, but that was overcome by his determination. "No! I can't!" He shouted as he rolled onto his right side as the blade came down and went through the ground as though it was butter. Jeremey looked to see Sephiroth coming down with the blade and he raised the end of his gunblade to impale Sephiroth through the chest as he came down.
"Ugh!" Sephiroth exclaimed and spit blood out, which landed on Jeremey's face. He looked down at Jeremey with pure shock on his face. Jeremey smiled weakly at him. Sephiroth frowned and seemed to be pulled into the sky slowly by an invisible force.
"This is not over boy!" He yelled as he floated into the air and dispersed into tiny, blue glowing orbs.
"That was... REALLY close.." Jeremey said as he realized that the blade of Sephiroth's sword had cut through his light jacket when he had rolled over. He sat up and mulled over the night's events and what they meant. The face of the woman Sephiroth had killed broke his thoughts. His body went numb again as he turned to look at the woman's body lying on the ground.
"It was my fault..." Jeremey said as Justin and Kaylie ran up to him. "All my fault.." He looked at his gunblade and wished that it would go away so he could think clearly. It dispersed into tiny, glowing golden orbs. He looked at his hand and fell onto his back and groaned as all his pain hit him like a freight train.
"Jeremey, dude, that was fuggin awesome!" Justin shouted in excitement as he stood looking down at him. "I've never seen anything like that in my life!" Kaylie was the first to notice something was wrong.
"What's wrong baby?" She kneeled down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. He sat up and looked at her with tearful eyes.
"That woman..." He pointed to the body, his voice shaking, "She died because of me.. If only I had blocked or parried or done something else beside dodge, she'd be alive right now! " Kaylie looked at him with concerned eyes.
"You didn't know Jeremey, there was nothing you could do." She told him. "And worrying over it will only make it worse." He hung his head for a moment and looked back up at her with a forced resolve.
"I guess you're right." He said as he stood. He groaned and stumbled a moment before righting himself. Petey finally arrived and looked Jeremey over.
"You look like crap dude." He said with a relaxed tone. Jeremey laughed and slapped him on the shoulder.
"I feel like crap." Jeremey said as he limped down the sidewalk. "Let's get something to eat. I'm starving!"