It was finally happening, Shiva had taken most of her body and replaced it with the darkest black she had ever seen. Her chest was consumed with blue, especially where the materia was normally absorbed.

Sleep had become impossible, eating didn't have the same feeling anymore, and drinking didn't get her intoxicated any longer. She wasn't human anymore, at least in her perspective, still did she try to hide it from those who she cared about with makeup and a smile. They didn't seem to notice, once again from her perspective, so she was sure they didn't notice her leaving that morning from Seventh Heaven; nor would they realize that Blake was left behind- a very odd thing for her to do.

Her destination was unknown consciously, her feet simply started walking in a direction she knew to be right. Days had passed, and she knew that by now they had found and read her last message and were likely trying to find her. They always wanted to help, and she should've told them sooner..but by the time everything had settled with Deepground, she realized it was too late for her to be saved.

This would be her redemption, this was the price to pay for the power she desired so badly.

They would be fine without her, she knew it, that group was stronger than anything she had seen before. Everything had been set right with the world, and she was no longer in need of saving somebody; though a feeling of wanting to be saved from this cruel fate was..a deep desire.

Ignoring the feeling, a bag of gil was set in a mans' hands as he nodded to her request of silence and a trip to Northern Crater; seems that's where Shiva desired to be..how fitting, in a way. The place where everything started for her, was where it would end as well. Looking up as once again she was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of the ships' horn, the land of ice sat peacefully right in front of her. Standing, Harmony made her way off and up into the mountains, unaware of the same group following her carefully.

It took another day and a half before she arrived to the cave's mouth, swallowing thickly while wrapping her cloak more tightly around herself, another last buy from the village at the bottom of the mountain, Harmony made her way inside. This cave was caked with mako, the shade of blue much like the markings on her chest, she studied them closely while passing by; silence consuming the air once the narrow walls opened to a massive inside. In the middle of the room stood what appeared to be a solid waterfall of mako, pieces of materia easily able to be broken off. The solid red caused a massive contrast to the blue walls, a glance up proving that the roof was violet in color.

Stepping forward as she pulled out the Materia that started it all, a humming began to vibrate the air. This Materia was huge, at least twice the size of normal Materia, and very old by Harmony's calculations. Pulling her hood back, subconscious movements finally stopped, her voice entering the air with defeat lingering in her tone. It sounded so..odd, for she normally spoke confidently.

"You..win, Shiva. I'm…I'm ready."

The humming silenced immediately, a pulse washing over her body that brought the warmth of a Mother's embrace. Despite the entire situation being out of her hands, Harmony couldn't of chosen a better Summon to use, Shiva had been nothing but kind and completely to the word of their contract. It was Harmony's fault for not reading the fine print, even if she was so young, there was no stopping Shiva to get what she desired the most.

Placing the Materia close to her heart, she closed her eyes and resigned herself to her death, when the voice of someone she knew quite well entered her ears a distance behind her.

"Ready for what, Harmony?"

That was..Yuffie? Turning to look back, desperate panic in her gaze, a white tendril of magic shot out and shoved the Materia against her skin; the force was strong enough to make her skid back a few feet, but the Materia would take it's time to absorb. "Harmony!" Covering the Materia the best she could with her hands while hanging her head, the panic filled her voice as she yelled out.

"Yuffie! Run! Pleas- Argh!"

Pain, the Materia was trying to force a Limit Break, shivering as she collapsed to her knees, another voice entered the air around her.

"You think we'd leave without you with us?!" That was..Tifa…but..how did they get here so fast?

"Yeah, you got 'nother thing comin' if you think I'm gonna leave behind my drinking partner!" Cid, too? Did..everyone come?

Looking up to see at long last, she noticed that the mako waterfall was attacking the group of people she had come to see as friends, Cloud, Tifa, Barrett, Nanaki, Cid, Yuffie, and..Vincent too..

"No! Please! Just leave! Please don't put anymore deaths on my shoulders!" Tears framed her eyes as she grunted and doubled over, the pain causing her nerves to go haywire from the sheer force. Gasping out as air seemed to have left her lungs temporarily, it was Cloud who spoke this time, his words once again leaving her breathless.

"You still think that Zack ever blamed you for what happened?! You obviously never knew him!" Jumping as a feminine screech ended with what sounded like an explosion, she snapped her head up to see Yuffie groaning as she rubbed her head slowly. "Y-Yuffie.."

Another wave of pain left Harmony screaming out in agony, the signal that the process of the Limit Break had begun. Feeling herself being lifted up and carried closer to the source of warmth, every point of her felt as if it were being burned by ice. Why, why were they trying so desperately to save her? She might've wanted it but..they would die because of her..

'Giving your life is sometimes the least you can do..'

Eyes widening as crimson danced in her vision, the pain concentrated at where the Materia sunk in, she choked on her own scream when Vincent came into view. He had shoved his hand into her chest, eyes narrowed at her with disappointment, his words were final and she knew it from the tone.

"You're coming home, Harmony."

Gurgling on her own saliva and blood, the Materia was ripped out and thrown away from her, Vincent grabbing her around the waist to push back toward the others. Holding her steady as he watched the mako waterfall, he noted that the thing inside of it didn't seem to like what he did very much at all. Perking in the slightest at the sound of footsteps entering the area, he glanced back to notice Reno and Rude at the 'doorway'.

"Holy shit! Yo, what's going on?"

Reno was annoying, but he'd come to use for this, Harmony was unconscious so there wouldn't be any fighting back. Lifting her up bridal style, he passed her on to the startled Turk. "Get her out of here." Rude nodded, seeming to understand the situation at the moment, but Reno seemed preoccupied with something. "The hell did you do to her, vamp?!" He had left a rather massive hole in her chest, and although it was bleeding a bit, she had suffered worse and lived. Turning to prepare for yet another fight this..thing was putting up, Rude nudged Reno, both of them leaving with Harmony in hand.

The 'thing' they fought, well, it was best described to be a very pissed off Shiva; add something new to their list of 'Monsters and Damned'.

Six months passed before Harmony woke up to the light of day, no longer did she feel pain, but memories had grown fuzzy on what exactly happened. Feeling herself in a comfortable bed, the red head lifted her hand and opened her eyes to gaze at it, expecting to see the black bruising starting to consume her hand. Instead, pale white showed in the bath of sunlight, causing the red head to shoot up from bed and nearly fall out trying to free herself. Stumbling into the bathroom, the lights were struck on, blinking back temporary colors to gaze at her repaired body with shock and awe.

Turning on the sink, she started scrubbing at her arms and chest, testing to see if it was really true; when no makeup came off, tears started to rim her eyes once again. A pinch proved that she wasn't dreaming, and the scarring above her heart added onto the proof that this was all to real. Vincent had done that to her, hadn't he?

"You're awake."

Turning to see the man himself, tears spilled over as she visibly shook with her emotions. Her redemption..they had been her redemption all along. Pushing forward and into his chest, he didn't make a sound as she wrapped her arms around his torso and began sobbing in his chest, only moving his own arms to bring her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry!"