Hey guyz... It's me again. By the way, nice game for Phoenix especially for Steve Nash. He had like 15 assist in today's game (although I still hate his guts for booting us out of the playoffs for the past 2 years). Duncan's injured and my Lakers lost (AGAIN!!!). Anyway here's Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

Cloud and the others had entered the giant black orb. Inside the orb was a gigantic island roughly half the size of Edge.

'Wow! Look at that!' Yuffie pointed at a giant tower that stood in the island. Although it was only half as tall as the Shinra building, its area was 3 times larger.

The white bubble slowly floated towards the ground and landed serenely on the floor, and then it disappeared. Cloud and the others stared at the tower in front of them.

'And I thought Kalimdor was creepy! This place is waaaay creepier!' the Wutai princess commented.

"Draw out your weapons; we're going inside that thing."

As they began to walk to the tower's entrance, they could hear an eerie noise slowly heading towards them.

'The hell was that!' Barret started to look around.

'Ah Fuck!!!' Cid shouted as he saw a horde of giant bat-like creatures heading straight for them. 'People, we've got company!'

"Everyone, don't fight them! We have to save our strength! Head for the entrance now!!!"

But before they could reach the entrance of the tower, giant black spots started to appear around them. Within a matter of moments, giant wolf-like creatures began to claw their way from underneath the black spots. Their mane was pitch black while their eyes were blood red. Their fangs looked as sharp as razors and their bodies were filled with sores and were covered by scales instead of fur.

'Relatives of yours, Nanaki?' Cid joked.

'Not in this lifetime!'

As the giant bat-like creatures started to soar towards the group, Barret and Vincent began to shoot at them relentlessly.

The wolf-like creatures then swiftly started their assault but were immediately engaged by Yuffie, Cid, Nanaki, and Cait Sith.

'Spike! Get your ass inside that tower already!' Barret shouted. 'We'll hold these things off!'

"But..."

'Don't worry kid! We'll join you later when we're finished throwing out the trash!' Cid assured him.

Cloud nodded.

"All right! Aeris let's go!'

As Cloud and Aeris made their way towards the entrance of the tower, 3 of the wolf-like creatures jumped straight at them but Cloud quickly dispatched them with one swing of his Buster sword. And they entered the tower like structure.

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Cloud and Aeris had made their way inside. The temperature inside the tower was freezing, so much so that Cloud could actually see his breath as he exhaled. The walls looked as if they were made of ice.

Aeris placed her hand on the wall but quickly pulled it back. The wall was so cold that her hand started to fell numb the moment she touched it.

Welcome!!!

Cloud and Aeris immediately saw a hooded man wearing a black coat and whose eyes were blindfolded.

So I see both of you are still alive... I expected as much since it would've been rather disappointing if the two of you were killed that easily.

Cloud stared at Ea with utmost hate.

"Where is he, Ea!!!? Where did you take my son!!!?"

Don't worry Cloud... he's around.

Cloud quickly pointed his Buster sword at Ea.

"I don't have time for your nonsense! Give Sora back!"

And what if I refuse?

"Then I'll slit your throat!"

Ea smirked; he raised his hand and immediately a giant scythe appeared in his palm.

Oh really? I would love to see you try.

Cloud glanced back at his wife.

"Aeris, you know what to do."

She nodded.

Ea began to charge at Cloud with such speed that his body looked as if it were nothing more than a blur.

"Aeris, do it now!"

Aeris closed her eyes and began to concentrate.

'Haste!' she suddenly shouted.

Cloud felt his body become as light as a feather and quickly engaged Ea in high speed combat.

Cloud was slashing at the hooded man frantically, but Ea was able to either dodge or parry his attack. After blocking another one of Cloud's attacks, Ea slightly pulled his scythe back and was about to deliver a powerful counterattack.

'Barrier!' Aeris voice was again heard from the background.

Immediately, Cloud was surrounded by a barrier-like energy that helped cushion the impact of Ea's attack. The attack had been wakened so much that Cloud could now easily parry it away.

Cloud quickly slashed at Ea's side but the man was able to quickly jump from harms way and landed safely on his feet.

Ea began to stretch out his arm towards Cloud and opened his palm.

Meltdown... he whispered.

Suddenly, a pillar of flames started to gush out from Ea's palm and was quickly heading towards Cloud.

'Reflect!' Aeris once again shouted.

As the pillar of flames was about to hit Cloud, another barrier once again formed in front of him. The barrier reflected the spell back to Ea but he was easily able to dodge it.

Cloud quickly repositioned his Buster sword at his back. He started to concentrate his energy to his sword and quickly jumped at Ea. Ea was able to block the attack with his scythe. Cloud's attack was so strong that the impact alone was able to create a small crater underneath his opponent's feet. Ea quickly pushed the blonde-haired warrior away with his weapon. A small smile could be seen at the corner of the man's face.

Impressive... You and your wife make quite the team.

He slowly tilted his head towards Aeris.

But two against one isn't actually a fair fight, don't you think?

Ea slightly raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, a giant red ball of energy started heading towards Aeris like a comet.

Cloud quickly came to his wife's aid. He immediately carried her away from the point of impact.

"That was close... You Ok dear?"

'I'm fine.' she replied. 'What was that?'

Both of them looked at the spot were the ball of energy had crashed landed. The spot was covered with smoke and fog. Slowly, a figure could be seen within the smoke. As the smoke and fog cleared, both Cloud and Aeris were shocked as the image of a woman with long, black hair and garnet-red eyes stood in front of them.

"No... I-It can't be..."

'Tifa...' Aeris whispered.

Both of them stared at the dark-haired woman; she had not changed much in the past 5 years though there was an ominous aura that surrounded her.

"Tifa… W-What happened to you? W-Why are you here?"

Tifa did not answer and continued her unfaltering stare, but her gaze was not directed at Cloud.

Aeris felt a cold chill run down her spine. Tifa was staring a hole right through her. Her friend's garnet-red eyes were filled with hate and bloodlust.

Without warning Tifa charged at Aeris, her body was again covered with the fiery red aura.

"Tifa, no!"

Cloud quickly intercepted Tifa's attack by using his Buster sword as a shield.

"Tifa! Snap out of it!"

'Cloud, behind you!' Aeris shouted.

Ea had appeared behind Cloud.

I hope you didn't forget about me… Cloud.

The man quickly used his arm and slammed Cloud to the wall.

Tifa once again began her charge towards Aeris. With one hand she grabbed Aeris by the throat and lifted her above the ground.

'T-Tifa… D-Don't do this.' Aeris was choking, she could hardly even breath anymore.

Cloud could only watch as Tifa slowly strangled his wife. He couldn't do anything, mainly because Ea was continuously slashing at him like a madman and he knew that he'd be dead the moment that he let his guard down.

Pain was etched all over Aeris' face, Cloud could no longer stand it and immediately made his way to her. But in the process he had let his guard down; Ea quickly took advantage and slashed at Cloud's back. Cloud fell and crashed to the ground. Ea followed up his attack by throwing what seemed to be a small red ball of energy at the spot where Cloud had crash landed; the red ball produced a small explosion.

Though he was hurt, Cloud was still able to stand. He knew that if it hadn't been for Aeris' spells then he would probably be dead by now. Cloud tried to come to his wife's aid once more but Ea quickly held him down using his scythe.

Not so tough without your wife are you… Ea jeered

Don't worry Cloud; I won't kill you… yet. I'll let you watch as your best friend chokes the life out of the woman you love.

"A-Aeris!!!"

An ominous voice suddenly echoed through the tower.

COME… MY SERVANTS. WE SHOULD GIVE OUR GUEST A PROPER WELCOME…

Tifa quickly released her hold on Aeris while Ea slowly pulled his scythe away. Both of them retreated to the center of the room.

Cloud quickly ran to his wife's aid.

"Aeris! Aeris!"

He slowly helped his wife up to her feet.

Cloud! Ea shouted.

You said you wanted to see your son again… well, here's your chance.

A small piece of land that was floating atop the tower slowly started to descend. As the piece of land finally made its way to the ground, a figure of a brown-haired boy could be seen standing firmly on the piece of land. His face was downcast, his eyes were closed.

'Sora…' Aeris whispered in relief.

Cloud suddenly felt very uneasy, something was terribly wrong.

Aeris began to run to her son but Cloud quickly pulled her back.

'Cloud?' there was a puzzled look on Aeris' face.

"Something's not right here. Sora… there's something wrong with Sora!"

A maniacal smile slowly crossed the boy's lips. Sora started to speak, but his voice… it wasn't his.

THE BOY YOU CALL SORA… NO LONGER EXIST.

The boy started to open his eyes. The mako blue eyes that Cloud and Aeris wanted to see had disappeared and were replaced by piercing red eyes.

…ONLY I REMAIN…

…I …AM …GILGAMESH!

I'm actually aiming to finish this fic before X-mas, so I'll try to update as soon as I can. RnR please.