So sorry this is late! The last few days have been interesting to say the least. Happy interesting, thankfully.

Chapter 14 - Abyss

Darkness. Nothing but black shadows and grey rubble for hours. Denzel stumbled over his own foot. He and Rick had lost their flashlights some uncounted tunnels ago.

We left her behind. They hadn't had any other choice. If they had stayed, the thing in the water would have gotten them, too.

Braith's screams followed him long after they escaped the pool.

Rick pulled him into a narrow crack in what had probably once been a warehouse. They crouched there, barely daring to breath, as one of the sightless moving shadows oozed past. Even after the squelching noise faded with distance they could barely do more than shiver in their hiding place.

"I... I think it's gone." Rick slid a little closer to the opening.

Denzel followed on his hands and knees. "We should go back. We should find Braith."

Rick almost stepped on Denzel's fingers shuffling back into their hiding place. "What good'll that do? You saw it. If it didn't eat her then she's drowned by now."

And it would be his fault, or Rick's. Denzel didn't know who to blame.

"I think I know where we are."

"Huh?"

Rick held up a large bolt. "This is from a train car. I think we're near The Train Graveyard."

"What's that?"

"Somewhere ShinRa dumped all their wrecked trains. It's pretty close to the station, so we might be able to find a way out."

Denzel knew enough by now to recognize the bitterness in Rick's words. "You're from the slums?"

"Yeah. What of it?" Rick glared at Denzel, even though they could barely see each other.

"Nothing." Denzel felt like a complete heel as he followed his friend through the twisted remnants of the slums. He'd never liked Braith. Maybe if he had then he would've done something to save her. Maybe if he had grown up in the slums he'd know what to look for now even in the dark.

Maybe he wouldn't be a burden.

Light appeared ahead of them so small and faint that they didn't recognize it at first. Even as they got closer, the light stayed dingy and grey. Everything around them looked grey except for patches of rust. Dust fell from the distant sky, creating a murky haze.

Rick crawled and slid down the side of a twisted chunk of rail car onto what could charitably be called ground. Denzel followed much more hesitantly. The dust crawled into their clothes and drifted into their noses. Coughing did little to dislodge it.

Still, Denzel felt better away from the shadows.

"Over here!" Rick's voice echoed weirdly in the metal and concrete cavern. He stood near a tangled mat of girders and cables suspended from some unseen piece of the plate above. "I think we can get up this way."

"You think so?"

Rick nodded, pointing out the shafts of light cutting through the dust clouds. "And we're close to the station, so it'll be a quick walk home."

Home. Without Braith. Denzel's heart sank into his stomach at the thought of explaining to all their friends what happened. He was so focused on his anxieties that he didn't notice how the shadows of the wires looked like grasping tentacles.

*7*7*

Work on the new town site that day mostly focused on clearing rocks. Especially one very large boulder poking out of the ground like an obscene gesture against their plans to build a road. Cloud had been on the team trying to dig it out, but after his third broken shovel the foreman moved him to picking loose stones.

He wanted a shovel. Or a pick. Something. With both hands constantly occupied it'd be easier to ignore the constant itch crawling up his left arm. At least with the sleeve there he wasn't quite as tempted to look at it every few seconds.

The inexplicable anxiety that flooded his mind every time the itching drew his attention was worse. Normal rashes didn't come with panic attacks. Normal rashes looked like rashes instead of normal skin. He couldn't see any reason for his arm to itch, and he'd checked it several times before finally scrounging up the material for the sleeve.

He'd gotten a few comments about the lopsided look at the work-site, which just set his base anxiety level even higher. That little nagging voice from his childhood that loved to point out every mistake, real or otherwise, came back with a vengeance. Only this time it sounded suspiciously like Sephiroth.

But Sephiroth was dead. Cloud had killed him. Repeatedly. He watched Sephiroth dissolve into the Lifestream.

"I am always by your side."

Cloud jumped back, gasping.

"Hey! Watch it!" One of the other pickers tried to push him out of the way.

The pickup they were supposed to toss their rocks into had puttered several yards ahead while Cloud had zoned out.

Another picker nudged his shoulder. "You doin' okay?"

"Yeah. Fine."

"Better get movin' then."

Cloud bent down to pick up another rock and nearly pitched into the ground. His fingers gouged thin trenches in the hard dirt.

"You are a part of me."

"Get. Out."

The picker who had expressed concern bent over him. "Huh? What's that?"

The poor man had no idea a human could move that fast. Somewhere between falling on his butt and realizing he had fallen, Cloud had completely disappeared.

*7*7*

Danger.

Moving.

Cloud didn't slow down until he hit the doors of the church. The children inside nearly jumped out of their skin at the sound of wood slamming into stone.

"Cloud? What's wrong?" Cole stood up only to collapse against the side of the pew, clutching his right leg. Black puss seeped through his pants and between his fingers.

Not here.

Cloud's eyes skimmed over the small throng of children. The next oldest one there was Amy. She hovered over her little brother, who was clutching his stuffed moogle like a lifeline.

"Get Tifa."

Amy opened and closed her mouth without a sound. She finally nodded and ran from the church with her brother in tow.

Little Nelly shuffled toward him. "Cloud?"

"Stay here." With that, he vanished.

*7*7*

Plates and silverware clattered over the floor less than a second before Aerith's body joined them.

Zack was at her side before his parents could even blink. The only one apparently unsurprised was Elmyra, who calmly felt her adopted daughter's forehead.

"Dan, go get Phil." Minny waved to the door. "Tell him to bring whatever potions he has."

Elmyra grabbed Dan's wrist as he stepped away from the table. "Wait. I don't think that's a good idea."

Dan frowned. "I don't know much about medicine, but I know she needs help."

"I know, but... this isn't something a potion can fix."

Zack looked up at his parents. "She's right."

The older couple exchanged a look before turning to their son. Minny rested a hand on his shoulder. "What's going on?"

"Uh, you know those stories you used to tell me about knights and fairy princesses?" Zack rubbed the back of his head with one hand while waving his other over the prone form of his betrothed. "Meet the princess."

*7*7*

Swirling, dancing green.

Lifestream.

She searched frantically for that gold aura that would lead her home.

Daughter.

The thought froze her in place. Before her appeared a woman in glowing armor, a golden wheel rimmed by six white wings fixed to her back. Somehow she knew this woman. This goddess.

Minerva.

The goddess nodded once and looked off into the distance. A festering knot of black Lifestream pulsed out tendrils that snapped and corroded everything it touched.

"I know, but I don't know what to do."

Champion.

That word again. "You said that to Zack. What does it mean?"

The goddess didn't answer. An emotion, something like fear, flickered for a moment across sky-blue eyes and the world spun.

She only had the feeling of something dark rushing past before waking.

And end chapter! Just thought the 'eldritch' part of Jenova's 'eldritch abomination' needed a little emphasis. Got my inspiration from the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim and the Arkham Horror board game. Fun stuff. Not recommended for stormy nights when the power's likely to fail. I also just had to fit in Zack's attempt at explaining what Aerith is to his parents.