Author's note: Disclaimer found below.
Chapter title is a lyric from the song "Satellite" by the Crüxshadows.
(02: My Back Is Burning in the Heat of the Atmosphere)
The rocket pod was built to house eight, but there were only three within. It had no windows, only small two-tone green screens, which displayed information that the occupants didn't care about. There was no need; the pods were programmed to fly blind between launch pad and space station.
Still, it was hard to ignore the alarm that sounded as another object of similar size passed by in the opposite direction. The computer tried to warn of the possible collision, even as it corrected course in an attempt to avoid it.
"Another escape pod."
"They know we're coming."
"They're right to flee."
"She'll still be there, won't she?"
"Of course. She'll have to see everyone else out before she'll go."
"She's like that."
The pod filled with laughter - cold, unkind, sly laughter. The kind of laughter that most people tended to back away from.
Most of the time, it didn't matter to them which one of them was speaking. They functioned as one entity, mind, body, and black soul.
Most of the time.
A few loud clunks resounded within the metal walls of the small pod. The light over the hatch flickered green.
"We're here," the coldest voice whispered.
Yazoo was naturally the swiftest of them; he had the airlock cycling open even before Loz and Kadaj had finished unbuckling their seats' harnesses. But he moved aside and allowed Kadaj through first.
"No one here," Loz muttered in disappointment, last out of the pod. The jetty was empty, the only sound an annoying synthesized alarm, a red strobe light flashing at the end of the hall. A few discarded boxes bobbed along the wall, released too quickly to have been lashed down.
"We'll find them," Kadaj assured him. "They can't all have left yet."
"Can't hide," Yazoo echoed, drifting to the railing. "The place isn't big enough."
For a moment, they were still, listening - sensing. "There," Kadaj murmured, the Scan Materia in his crown-like headband gleaming slightly. He inclined his head to the left.
The three of them pushed off simultaneously - flying for lack of gravity, capes fluttering behind them - each angling in the indicated direction into the hallway at the end of the jetty. Three pairs of slitted, Mako-green eyes narrowed in anticipation. Kadaj smiled; his brothers, slightly behind him, glanced at each other with lips twisted likewise.
Cid ran along the wall of the corridor to his quarters, one hand overhead to stabilize himself against the railing. The door to the rooms was locked open. "Shera! Move!" He shouted before he even reached the portal.
"On our way!" She shot out the door, Mal perched on her hip with her arm around him, a bag as big as he was on her other arm. The dark-haired woman careened into the wall; even after four years, she wasn't as adept at maneuvering without gravity as the children. "Are they in yet? Is it really them?"
Cid clenched his teeth; it pained him to see Shera so pale and tense. She tried to be strong, but he couldn't help but feel that if she hadn't married him, she'd have far less reason to have to try so hard.
"They're in. It's them." He looked at Mal; the boy seemed to know that something was wrong. He was quiet, his eyes wide as he clung to his mother. "We're watching. They'll come close, but I think that we can get everyone out safely. Especially if we delay them."
"You're talking like a fighter again," Shera whispered.
Cid didn't answer. He pushed away, into their quarters. There was one thing he had to retrieve before the place could be abandoned.
"Get going," he ordered her, his voice stern. "I'll be along."
She frowned, eyes growing large and more worried as he returned with pike in hand. "You can't -"
"No choice," he cut her off. "There's three of them. Tifa and Vincent won't have much chance without help."
"You promised," she whispered.
He didn't answer her, couldn't even meet her eyes. He looked to Mal instead, ruffling the child's hair with his free hand. "Take care of your mom, little guy."
"Da," Mal said quietly, his expression very serious.
And then Cid was off, heading further down the hall. Shera hesitated only a moment before moving away in the opposite direction.
He really wished that he could find a cigarette just then, but there were some habits that just weren't compatible with living on a space station.
Tifa held the railing with her shielded hand, the armor clacking as it bumped against the wall, and stared at what consensus held was the floor. With her left hand, she held her PHS to her ear, willing her call to go through. She wasn't even sure that the signal would reach the planet...
It suddenly stopped ringing. "What?" A petulant voice demanded.
She kept it short, speaking loudly over the din. "Yuffie! Warn Shinra to expect a lot of escape pods."
"Escape pods? What are you talking about? Where are you? The Princes headed into the complex not long after you did; Shinra must have a mole -"
"Just relay the message," Tifa begged. "I'll tell you everything later. When we get back."
"Sure you will," Yuffie muttered. But she did add, "I'll tell him," before the signal cut off.
"Thanks," Tifa whispered to the deactivated phone. It seemed like Yuffie had less patience with everyone by the day. Or at least, less patience with her in particular...
"We can draw them here," Vincent muttered, moving into place next to her. They were off to the side of the hall they'd come through to get to the garden, droves of refugees rushing by. The main bank of escape pods was at the far end of the garden. "Once everyone's out, they'll know where we'll be anyway. There are a lot of corridors to funnel them through to get them here, and that means a lot of places to slow them down -"
"We need to separate them if anyone's going to have a chance," Tifa said, snapping her PHS shut and putting it away. "If we can meet them at that junction up there, lead them in separate directions..."
Vincent turned to her, brow furrowed. "You're not going to take him on alone again, are you? After last time -"
Her face was hard; she stared off down the hall, refusing to make eye contact with her friend. "Last time was two years ago. I owe him." She flexed her right hand in its gauntlet, her brown eyes finally meeting Vincent's red. "Besides, this Pearl Armor's got to be good for something, right?" She paused. "Think you can handle the other two?"
Vincent looked away this time. "For a while. Depends on what they bring out in me." His lips drew thin, but the expression couldn't be mistaken for a smile.
"It was good while it lasted, wasn't it? At least you got to see the garden..."
Tifa and Vincent whirled; Marlene was behind them, rubbing her eyes. She was obviously trying not to cry - tears were just difficult to deal with in zero G. Behind her, at the archway into the garden, the boy named Denzel waved people through, though he was watching Marlene.
"I'm sorry, Marlene," Tifa murmured. "They came here after us..." Six years ago, she wouldn't have hesitated to embrace the girl, to offer what comfort she could. Now, her arm only twitched as she resisted the urge to reach out. Being close to people wasn't a good idea for her any more.
"Don't," Marlene snapped, suddenly raising her head. Her lips trembled in a determined pout. "Don't you dare try to take the blame for this too -"
There was a scream far up the hall, three junctions ahead. The people rushing by tried to go faster, voices rising in a panicked chorus.
"Go!" Vincent shouted to Marlene, barely looking back as he began to pull himself along the railing as fast as possible, fighting the frightened crowd to get to the source of the disturbance.
Tifa was right behind him. One face stood out from the throng - Shera briefly made eye contact with her as she passed in the opposite direction. And then she was gone, along with everyone else, sweeping Marlene away with her and Mal through the garden, toward escape.
The sound of sealing and launching escape pods became even more constant. Tifa kicked upward, releasing the rail and pulling herself along flat against the ceiling, fingers digging into the ceiling panels. Ahead of her, Vincent had already done the same.
Tifa tried not to look at the refugees' wild eyes and stricken expressions, tried to ignore their desperate sobs and screams. It only made her remember the beach at Wutai five years ago, crowded with people in the smoky darkness, the night sky obscured by clouds of ash illuminated by fire below. She didn't remember the individual faces so much as their expressions, mouths open, eyes only dark tearful slits, brows furrowed, everyone darkened with ash. She remembered that last hour on the beach, nothing but heat and cinders falling to burn skin and hair and people trampled underfoot and the scent of things burning that shouldn't be... The sea could not save them and the Highwind could not take flight with so many people and the boats were burning and then He was there on the hill overlooking them all and laughing and Summoning -
- And a year after that He'd been broken and crying and finally died and look where that had gotten them -
That scent. Tifa realized that she could smell it again. The scent of clothing and hair and flesh, all crisped by electrocution and fire. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and she shivered.
They reached the third junction, and looked down the side hall there. No one else was coming this way - those who could flee, had. The corridor was long and straight, and further down, the lights had gone out. Only the dim red glow of the alarm light showed anything in that area, and by its flashing, a body could be seen drifting limp near another junction. The flesh was not burned, but there was no point in checking to see if the poor man was still alive; his head bobbed separately next to him.
As they approached, a voice carried from the crossing hall, accompanied by a terrible, wet sound.
"No summons, no spells, no bullets - Kadaj is so strict," the voice crooned, almost singing. "But it's still fun, isn't it, Brother?"
"Hn." The second voice was deeper and rougher than the first. "They're so fragile."
Tifa peered around the corner. They were there, in the hallway that led to the control center. The passage was clouded with drops of blood hanging aimlessly in the air with no gravity to tell them to fall. The long-haired Prince, Yazoo, was upside down with his back to them, pulling his gunblade from inside the rib cage of a second corpse. Further blood and bits of flesh drifted away from the wound. His elder brother, Loz, was idly picking at the crisped black flesh of another body. He'd smashed someone into the wall, where they had broken several wires, and between that and the charge in his gauntlet been electrocuted. At least the man probably hadn't lived past the blow itself.
Together, they were very nearly a completed yin and yang - Loz's brute strength almost perfectly complimented Yazoo's swift grace. Even without their younger brother, they were nearly unstoppable.
That tiny almost was their only weakness.
Vincent, also peering around the corner, slipped back and held up two fingers to her, scowling. Tifa shrugged at him, shaking her head. She'd no idea of where Kadaj might be. She glanced around the corner again to be sure -
Oh, hell. Cid was coming from the far end of the corridor. The Princes hadn't seen him yet. He drew a breath to snarl -
There was no longer any time to think. Tifa gave a wild shout and shoved herself into the intersection, grabbing hold of the headless body and catching herself on the wall by one foot so as to fling it at Yazoo, who was the closer of the two.
Vincent looked at her like she'd gone insane - more insane - before he saw Cid. Then he moved forward as well. He reached for his gun, then thought better of it - weapons fire and the delicate nature of the space station would definitely not mix well.
"Was just wondering where you were!" Yazoo shouted back, easily swatting the body aside. Loz kicked forward, just as delighted. They still failed to see Cid, who - looking slightly ill at the carnage - reached the vertical shaft to the command center. He looked up, scowled, and propelled himself upward with his pike ready.
Vincent stilled himself, his cloak swirling around him like smoke, sharp edges concealed within. "Can you catch me, Yazoo?" He asked, his voice low and dangerous and inviting as he tensed.
"Wrong question," Yazoo responded, stabbing his gunblade into the wall to stop himself a few feet away, successfully distracted from Tifa. "Ask, what will I do when I catch you?"
And Vincent was off, Yazoo quick to follow, the metal wall screeching as he pulled the blade free. Tifa was not distracted; she crouched against the ceiling, coiled and ready, and made no move as he passed beneath her.
Loz waited, braced on the wall at a right angle to her, tilting his head to see her face right-side up. He cracked his knuckles, then adjusted the pronged gauntlet on his left arm. "Missed you," he growled at her.
Tifa suppressed the urge to shudder. Two years ago, when they'd caught her, she'd been brought before Her - Jenova, who called herself Queen now that she had her own corporeal form. She had demanded that Tifa tell her the location of the Black Materia, which Tifa didn't know. Disbelieving, Jenova had formulated another, more cruel scheme to get what she wanted from Tifa, and it had started with allowing Loz to... play with her. He'd used knives...
...And it had been nothing, she thought, compared to what the other two had done to Yuffie before that...
Her left eye twitched, the motion of the tear-like red scar there the only outward indication of the memory.
But it was enough for him to see. "The blades were Mother's idea," he said, almost apologetically. "Not what I had in mind for you, but she was very specific..." He smirked at her. "How many of those scars did you decide to keep?"
"Just two," she responded, her voice cold. She knew what he was trying to do - he was trying to break her concentration. It meant that he could tell that she'd gotten stronger, if he was resorting to this. She'd have to provoke him and return the favor. "You gonna talk or fight?"
He gave up on that game as quickly as he'd started - it was pointless if she was going to try it as well. His punch knocked her back against the wall, but she was able to block; his weapon jabbed into her Pearl Armor, making a terrible noise as it caught and scratched. But the armor held. Bugenhagen had been right - it would be strong for her.
That threw Loz off - he'd fully expected it to shatter like most everything else at a blow like that. Which was why she was able to bring her feet around and kick him in the face, sending him backward until he had the sense to catch himself on the railing.
And then there was a whirr of machinery, and the sound of the electronic evacuation alarm suddenly changed in pitch. Something was wrong. Only then did Tifa realize that she could hear Cid swearing now, and -
Kadaj was in the control room. With Cid. Alone.
Not for long. Cid came flying back down the shaft, slamming back-first into the floor - leaving the room that way hadn't been his idea. But he had the sense to raise and brace his pike immediately.
Kadaj couldn't stop himself, and his shoulder caught and tore on the sharp blade. The boy shrieked, twisting away.
Loz spun aside, instantly reaching for his brother, but Kadaj irritably waved him away. He already had his other hand to the shoulder, the thin green flame of a Cure spell flowing over the wound. "Mine!" He snapped without looking - eyes on Cid, who had pulled himself upright.
Cid was gasping for breath; Tifa prayed that he'd only had the wind knocked out of him. "You didn't have to do that," Cid managed, more than just physical pain in his expression.
An explosion from somewhere else in the station rumbled through the walls. Kadaj had evidently set the station to self-destruct.
It didn't matter what he'd been told; Loz roared, lunging for Cid anyway. He'd hurt Kadaj.
But that meant that he turned his back on Tifa. Her hand shot out, grabbing hold of his floating cape and yanking him back so hard that he spun in the air.
Loz swiftly unlatched the cape from its shoulder clasps, coming for her again even before he seemed to re-orient himself. Good - the two of them couldn't gang up on Cid if she could keep Loz focused on her... Though Cid was unlikely to survive even just Kadaj alone.
She flung the cape up between them, releasing it; it hung where it was as she quickly pulled herself down the corridor. Loz swatted it aside, chasing her without another thought, even as Kadaj laid into Cid again.
There was nothing else she could do, Tifa knew. Cid had chosen to fight. He could've fled with Shera and their son, but he hadn't. And now she'd have to tell Shera...
...Provided that she could get out of this herself...
It was difficult to fight without gravity. Every action caused an equal and opposite reaction; if neither braced, they simply pushed off of each other instead of properly landing blows. It was exhausting.
Tifa barely noticed when they reached the garden again. The sound of escape pods had ceased; everyone who could leave had left. The planet now loomed full above the dome of the garden, and no space could be seen around it. It was closer. They were falling out of the sky.
And then there was a screech, and... something came out of the foliage, filling the air with torn leaves and branches. Something black and red and winged and it had to be Vincent, or at least had to have been Vincent at one point. There was blood spattered all over it, but no visible wounds. There was no sign of Yazoo...
Loz slammed into her, sending her flying into a tree. She grunted, annoyed with herself for becoming distracted, but dug her fingers into the bark enough to push herself aside as he came at her again.
Then she saw Yazoo, slashed and bleeding and huddled in the foliage, blood oozing from a gash in his forehead - his crown was missing. His cape was gone now, too - only shreds of material left waving from his shoulder armor. He had eyes only for the demon that circled above. It was clawing its way over the inside of the dome with its head turned nearly backwards as it scanned for its prey with fiery eyes that glowed brighter than the Princes'.
And Yazoo was raising his gunblade, aiming...
If he hit the dome instead of the beast, they were all dead.
Tifa didn't have time to cry out. Loz was on her again, driving her into the floor, one hand at her throat while he clung to a tree root and pulled himself down with the other. Another root snapped beneath her head and shoulders; she felt the broken edges tangling in her hair. She kicked, knew that the blows must hurt him, but that he was too far gone to care. She gasped for breath, trying to look away from his snarling face... focusing the blood that floated away in Materia-sized drops from the wound on his arm, torn open by the broken housing of a light fixture she'd shoved him into...
Yazoo fired.
There was a monstrous howl, and a terrible cracking sound, followed by a hiss and further cracking. Yazoo had hit the creature and the dome.
"Idiot!"
Loz's head snapped up, his hand at her throat reflexively easing. Tifa gasped for breath.
But the angry shout had been for Yazoo, not Loz. Kadaj was gliding in through the doorway. His cape was still intact, giving evidence to exactly how little difficulty he'd had in dealing with his opposition. His stained, double-bladed sword hung loosely from one hand, and Cid's bloody body from the other. "Get to the escape pods before -"
There was another loud crack. The hiss became stronger. The station was losing atmosphere - it was only a matter of minutes, if that, before the dome broke open completely.
"Behind you!"
Kadaj whirled at Yazoo's warning; the thing that wasn't quite Vincent had pushed off of the dome to swoop down at the boy, claws outstretched.
Kadaj's sword was swift; the creature couldn't alter course, and one wing was suddenly hanging limp, blood spurting. It howled again...
...But Kadaj had never been its target. It lashed out as it stopped, claws digging into the roots on the floor, and yanked Cid's limp form from the boy's grasp. And then it was off again, speeding through the trees toward the escape pods at the other end of the garden.
Kadaj gave chase with an angry cry, sheathing his sword without cleaning it and grabbing Yazoo by the arm as he passed. "Come on!" He shouted at Loz.
Loz released her neck and pushed away, obedient this time. Tifa tried to rise, but her hair was tangled in the roots; it took her a moment to find purchase so that she could push until the tangles tore away. She righted herself quickly and headed for the pods as well.
Damned if she was going to be the only one to die here. She'd take Loz with her if nothing else.
The pods were in sight, and Loz was drifting toward the one already occupied by his brothers. That was easy to take care of. She braced herself against the last tree, aimed, and clenched her fist. Her forearm glowed briefly...
...And then a shining bolt of electricity arced out, branches of it crawling across the metal for a moment before it struck her target: the locking mechanism for that escape pod. She'd considered it too dangerous to use Materia on the station before - hell, even Kadaj had apparently said as much to his brothers - but there was no point in holding back now.
Loz stiffened, unable to even cry out - he was in the way, and some of the Bolt spell struck him as well. Kadaj shouted something, reaching wildly toward his brother's still and drifting body; Yazoo barely had the chance to turn to see as the pod closed in their faces.
Tifa looked toward the other occupied pod - but her attack seemed to have activated it as well. She caught a glimpse of the monster's face - now much closer to Vincent's, drained and inarticulately calling out to her, eyes pained but still glowing - before that door closed as well.
Loz twitched, gasping, the stun wearing off already.
There were a few pods left. Tifa mentally praised Cid for his redundant design, and even praised Shinra for letting him get away with it. And prayed that Cid might somehow still be alive.
She launched herself forward, toward one of the remaining pods, just as a scream of metal and glass came from above. The dome had given way.
Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII compilation (in particular, Advent Children), its story, and characters are the property, copyright and trademark of Square-Enix, and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.