CHAPTER EIGHT

In his dreams he found himself wandering the streets of the beach resort alone. Nothing seemed to stir despite the fact that he felt cold, but then realized it must have been coming from within his body. Looking down at the streets Denzel saw a trail of blood, and then heard a fury of bullets.

To his left he saw a familiar face, Barret Wallace standing like a hulking guard keeping any of the strange shadows at bay as he yelled in defiance and yet the young man couldn't hear anything. He was frightened. He was nearly thirteen again, running thru the stained stone roads as he searched for the others.

He tried to call out to them, tried to be heard over the screams. The shadows had consumed Barret now, his gun arm barely protruding from the darkness as Denzel screamed out frantic to find the others.

Tifa? Where were you? He heard her voice like a muffled cry. But it wasn't asking for his help, instead the woman he had come to consider his adoptive mother was being pinned down by one of the arriving shadows. The enemies were clearer now, his vision making out the Deepground logo emblazoned on their shoulders as they pointed their weapons at her.

Tifa shouted for him to run as she struggled to fight back. And he did. He ran, he never looked back. Red XIII was by his side, they could make it. They could make it. And then as though from the depths of the earth more unholy monsters crept forth.

In the midst of the shadows Denzel saw something dark red, a figure he knew to be somehow connected to all the sorrow he had experienced and despite his fears he shouted in defiance. He was done running.

But all the shadows did was mock him. And then devour him whole. The young man woke with a start clinging to the sheets with sweat on his body as he looked about the dreary tent and then rubbed his eyes tiredly.

He glanced at Nanaki who was curled up on the floor near to him and he shook away the strange mixture of memories and nightmares trying to believe that those he fought with years ago were still out there, somewhere.

Walking out and into the calm evening Denzel glanced at the still canyon, most of the scavengers had retreated for the night. The only one really still up was Seraphina who refused to even try and rest despite all the efforts the others had made.

The woman glanced at him as he climbed up to where she was perched overlooking the settlement of Corel and he noted her eyes were fixed on the edge of the camp where old train tracks ran deeper into the mountains.

"Shinra is getting closer, I saw smoke from the old reactor off in the distance. I think they might be trying to rig an explosion of some sort," she said brushing her bangs aside and leaning against her long rifle.

"Why haven't you alerted the others?" Denzel asked trying to look thru the mountains at what she saw. "We wouldn't have time to run anyway," she said with a shrug as he glared at her and then jumped back down to the sandy canyon. Running across the camp, the young man spotted the nomadic leader and yelled out, "Shinra is almost here."

The former owner of the Golden Saucer frowned and nodded before gesturing toward one of the larger tents in the camp and answered, "Find yourself a suitable weapon and then you and your friends leave this place. We can handle Shinra."

Denzel looked at all of the scavengers who had easily defeated a large dragon just that morning and knew that Dio was telling the truth. He opened up the tent and slipped inside spotting Dirk and his brother gathering what supplies they needed for the long trip and then held a finger up to his mouth to let them know they needed to be quiet.

Closing up the tent Denzel listened as the sound of footsteps got louder as well as a train horn. Apparently whoever had come to Corel had chosen to ride it all the way into the encampment, he thought.

Dirk pulled at his shirt muttering, "Come on, Vance said we all meet at the northern outskirts."

He nodded listening as the sounds grew louder and then at last stopped

Dio was the first to speak. "Director Tseng, you are a long way from home."

Denzel's ears perked up at the name, frowning and remembering how the former leader of the Turk had turned on his allies long ago. For some reason curiosity got the better of him and he knelt down to listen further.

"Home is a word I don't believe I can use anymore, sensei. Seeing as mine died a long time ago.".

"And who's fault is that?"

"I didn't come here to discuss the past, Dio," the Turk said icily.

"Then what has brought you and your men to Corel?"

Denzel looked thru a small hole in the fabric and thought he saw at least thirty soldiers. There were probably more on the other side. Time to go he thought as Gharek pulled him away from the door.

Quietly the young man followed him out the back way against the canyon wall as he caught snippets of the conversation.

"... fugitives. Have you seem them?' Tseng asked.

"Corel is a free state, if anyone came here with a price on their head it was erased."

"Unfortunately that is not how the rest of us govern ourselves, sensei. So if you don't mind we will be searching the encampment."

"I warn you, Tseng. Your company has no jurisdiction here," Dio said as Denzel looked over one of the rocks to see some of the nomads unsheathing their weapons.

If things went south this whole place could transform into a blood bath in minutes, he thought crouching down.

"Don't try anything foolish Dio," the Turk said as he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the old fighters head.

"You going to shoot me like you did Elena? Go ahead, at least I can see you die in front of me with my last breath."

"You don't know anything, old fool," Tseng said preparing to fire as Denzel froze unable to look away.

"Sir!" a new voice said and this time Denzel thought he was seeing a ghost as the curly haired girl approached leaping over a few of the soldiers with ease. It couldn't be...

Cissnei. His heart skipped a beat. But I saw her die, he thought thinking back to the dream and to the memory that made it all too real. Costa Del Sol. She was attacked by Deepground, her last words crying out in defiance as she shot back against the hordes.

Yet here she stood unfazed by that or any battle in the two years since. Almost like she had been reborn. "Report," the Director ordered.

"We caught one of the vigilantes trying to leave the camp via a small passage to the west," Cissnei said as Denzel found himself growing more and more surprised. "Looks like you got lucky Dio," Tseng said with a laugh.

"Dirk," the twin crouching beside him muttered shaking his head and checking his backpack.

He pushed aside his straight auburn hair and took out one of the red Materia stating, "What we need is a distraction."

Denzel took a look at the image of the Esper trapped within and his eyes widened as he whispered, "You can't summon that here. We could all die!"

"He's my brother," Gharek said as though that justified his action and then tossed the red sphere over the rockface.

Denzel stood up giving away their position as he watched it bounce and roll straight to the middle of the camp. Cissnei looked up at him, gave a quizzical look and then picked up the Materia.

For a moment nothing happened as the Deepground soldiers waited for orders and then abruptly the orb burst out and the red energy seeped into the ground below.

"Get them!" Tseng shouted as s barrage of bullets fired toward the two young men. Denzel and Gharek sprinted down the slope toward one of the storage sheds even as the earth around them began to shake.

Slipping thru the rickety wooden doors Denzel scanned the interior of the building for anything better to fight with and quickly spotted several grenades and assault rifles even as he heard a collective groan come from their enemies. "Come on!" Gharek yelled as he kicked loose the exit on the opposite side.

Together they ran into the central portion of Corel where chaos had quickly taken over. Chunks of rock and sand had meshed together with raw energy giving life to the dangerous Titan, it's glowing yellow irises taking in the entire camp in mere seconds as its hulking form blocked the afternoon sun.

Deepground frantically fired at it as the Esper picked up large segments of the canyon wall preparing to obliterate all below.

Running in-between the Simon's legs Denzel spotted Dio dueling with the former Turk and shouted out, "Heads up!"

Dio turned his head as the young man tossed a live grenade toward them and then ducked to the side even as Tseng also barely escaped the blast.

Amid the cloud of smoke that followed he caught sight of Cissnei leading Dirk away from the canyon with a shuriken at his back. "Get to the buggy," Denzel shouted to Gharek as he climbed.

Her dark brunette hair fell over her face as she turned to face him pointing her other weapon at him and warning, "Don't come another step."

Denzel looked at her in shock his resolve to fight faltering as he asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"I don't answer to you boy," she snapped back. Denzel felt another barrage of bullets fly by as he caught sight of something in her eyes and realized that she didn't remember him.

"Denzel!" Dirk shouted and then added, "Jump!"

He didn't hesitate this time as the Titan smashed his fist in the space where he had just been standing. Cissnei fell from the rocks as the other twin leapt toward the Esper's arm. Denzel extended his hand and grabbed Dirk pulling him up even as a roar from above told them more troops were arriving.

The two of them clung to the gigantic Summon as they both noticed portions of the creature were falling off as its health waned and Dirk muttered, "Time to go."

Denzel nodded, got to his feet and began running along the length of the Esper's arm jumping to the ground below at the last second.

He looked back to where Cissnei lay unconscious and wondered just what Shinra did to her even as they arrived at the passage which led to the dune buggy. I will find a way to save her too, he resolved as he spotted the others in their small group getting aboard the large land vehicle.

Seraphina tossed the rope ladder over one of the bulky tires as Gharek helped his wounded brother climb up.

Denzel turned to see more Deepground approaching the mouth of the cave and put a round into the assault rifle pointing it toward the stalactites.

As the rocks fell over them he too climbed aboard and felt the buggy shake and come to life, slowly driving away from the carnage.