Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or FF13.
The darkness brewed ominously in the stagnant air. Idle planes of grass sit still as if cemented in time. The tension was suffocating, nearly oppressive, and it seems to have brought even nature to its knees, yet in all the insane silence, Lightning defies it. She's the only one moving, her boots grating the pebbles against the stone floors with every step she takes. In an effortless attempt, she walks and draws all attention to herself as the only animate being as far as Tifa could see.
Even the fighter herself stood like a statue, the invisible foreboding chaining her limbs still and powerless against the decadence of her freewill. And so, she stood there observing Lightning and her strength and muses that this particular strength comes from her long history of defying nearly everything that has ever been forced onto her. With a loud crack of thunder and the brilliant flash of crimson streaking across the sky, it snaps Tifa out of her trance and forces her too look up. It wasn't fear she felt, but a great dread at the sight of the sinking clouds. It appeared as of the sky was caving in and it settled with finality in her mind that the end of the world was truly coming just as Lightning had forewarned. It fell like a funnel cloud, twisting downwards before the very tip suddenly imploded and sent the clouds dispersing away along side a piercing and deep roar. It was a beast, a truly grand and fearsome monster. Its large encompassing wings beat against the air loudly, holding up the large and long body where four legs sprung forth converging into a slim torso of a dragon. "W-What is that?" Cloud asked, frozen as he regarded the pure size of the beast.
Its shadows from the crimson bolts dancing in the sky eclipsed Mt. Nibel. "That's our prey." Lightning smirked before golden mercury-like substance substance seemingly appeared to ooze out of the center of Lightning's chest, wrapping around her body like a shimmering blanket before solidifying in the armor that Tifa would forever remember Etro donning. A loud cry from the monster rippled through the air as if it had found its mark.
Tifa would never know then, who the prey and who the predator was. Like a comet, the beast dropped with alarming speed straight towards them. Electricity cackled through Lightning's fingertips and with one swoop of her hand, launched a blistering shock of magic straight towards the W.E.A.P.O.N. "Get out of the way!" Cloud yelled, dashing back in vain to avoid the inevitable crash after watching the beast charge through the attack like an arrow straight into the bulls-eye. Tifa scrambled back, nearly tripping over her own two feet. She had only caught a glimpse of the drifting gold dust Lightning left in her trail before the W.E.A.P.O.N. collided with the ground. Everything went black. Tifa had barely registered that her feet had been lifted off the ground. With a groan, Tifa picked herself up gingerly and shook the dirt and rocks off of her head and body.
"C-Cloud?" Tifa called out blindly as she returned to her feet shakily, "Aerith?" Wincing, Tifa strained her eyes for a moment before her vision cleared. Like an earthquake, the ground had shook violently and the collision had sent chunks of rocks and dirt soaring everywhere. Trees were ripped from the ground, the roots twisted and stuck out at odd angles. It was always a shock, no matter how many times Tifa would see it, how easily it was for peace and order to be completely destroyed. She stood on nothing but a wasteland now. "Cloud! Aerith!"
"Mph!"
Whipping around at the noise, another explosion erupted behind her, launching Tifa up off her feet again. She crashed hard onto the floor, landing on her shoulder painfully. Hissing in pain, the fighter staggered back up again and frantically searched for the muffled voice. "Y-Yuffie?" She could see the younger girl, half buried in dirt and flailing her arm wildly. Rushing to her side, Tifa swiftly dug the younger out and helped her onto her feet. "Yuffie, are you alright?!"
"Alright? Alright?! Did you see that thing! It just dropped and-"
Yanking on her arm, Tifa dragged Yuffie away from the battle behind her as fast as her legs could carry her. "You have to go somewhere safe! You can't stay-"
Yanking her hand wrist, the ninja glared fiercely, "I'm going to fight."
"Yuffie-"
"No! I'm going to fight! I'm not going to run away!" Rocks pelted over them again but before Tifa could turn around, Yuffie pulled on the fighter's arm, forcing the other to look at her. "You said I could."
Yuffie held Tifa's eyes with determination gleaming in her stare. The battlefield was no place for a child, and Yuffie being as young as she was, should be somewhere safe. Somewhere protected. Yet Tifa also knew that there was no place safe now. There was no place to hide anymore, and if they couldn't hide then they would have to fight. "Alright..." Tifa breathed unwillingly, realizing that if she couldn't learn to let go now, then she would never be able to do so in the future, "Just... stay safe."
"Yeah. Promise." Yuffie nodded firmly before she left to join the fray.
There was no time for hesitation. Eyes forward. Taking a deep breath, Tifa steeled her resolve. Her hands clenched into fists, yet despite the violent battle taking place before her, she felt a sudden weight off of her shoulder. Following Yuffie's lead, Tifa charged straight into battle. The restrictive tension wasn't there anymore, and for the first time in three years, it felt as if she could finally think properly. She had always wanted to make her Light proud, and even though she could never best the soldier in battle, in a way, Tifa realized, that she could still be stronger. It was the strength to let go and move forward. Light had always been chained to her past and to her guilt, just as Tifa had been crushed by the mere thought that she couldn't of have been there for Light when it mattered most. And so, Light died.
But it wasn't the end. Not by a long shot.
Darting back and forth, Tifa maneuvered herself closer to the battle. Debris exploded left and right as the W.E.A.P.O.N. retaliated mercilessly to every one of Lightning's strikes. She was so focused on getting into the battle where Lightning was that she hadn't even noticed Cloud hacking away at one of the beast's feet while making little progress, she hadn't noticed Yuffie's shuriken bouncing off the hardened skin, or how Vincent's bullets ricocheted. All she knew was that she needed to get in and be there for Lightning. This would be a long battle, but Tifa was determined to see it to the end so she could tell Lightning that she had decided to accept the Heart of Chaos.
...
Her knees nearly crumbled at the impact, shattering the ground beneath her feet to form a deep crater. The shock traveled through her arms, and her entire body, and would've shattered every bone in her body if she were a mere human. Her shield dented from the attack, but Lightning still forged forward, pushing her arms up to break away from the beast's crushing claw. The first thought that passed through Lightning's mind was the safety of her friends, but that sentiment came and went because the W.E.A.P.O.N. swiftly pursued her. Through the clouds of dust, she could barely see the large black taloned claws swipe menacingly at her. Her view was obscured, but she knew that the pure size difference between herself and the enemy would give her the edge. Jumping back behind a fallen boulder torn from the ground, Etro's disappearance faded, having used that only to draw attention to herself. Sounds of battle came form behind her, knowing that Cloud and the others had most likely engaged the beast already. With a quick swipe of her arm, she set an aeroga to clear the dust away, and saw the W.E.A.P.O.N.'s back turned to her. Taking this opportunity, Lightning dashed out, launching herself up onto its back. It instantly keeled, throwing its front legs up while the wings flapped strongly. "Cloud!" The blond man lurched back before the front legs collided onto the ground where he had been standing moments ago. Just as she jumped up, intending on severing the head from its torso, a beam of pure energy came out of nowhere and slammed right into her left side. She crashed heavily against the floor, barely catching a glimpse of another beast before its hand wrapped around her, gripping her in its vice grip before it tossed her into the old SHINRA mansion. She was sure she crashed through several walls, could hear the shatter of glass and feel the broken wood prod her in odd angles.
Right. There were two of them.
...
"Light!" Tifa screamed, watching the said woman collide into the SHINRA mansion. Another beast crashed through the sparse forest, two-legged, but most prominent of all were the two large extensions over both its shoulders. "Yuffie!" The fighter yelled and the younger one quickly caught on. Throwing her shuriken at the new arrival, it swooped in front of its face as a short diversion, drawing its attention towards them. Dashing forward, Tifa watched as its two shoulders slid open before a range of artillery erupted from it like incoming missiles. "What the-" She was cut short when a firm arm suddenly yanked around her waist. A flutter of crimson. Tifa clenched her eyes closed but when the blow didn't come, she opened to see herself carried in one of Vincent's arms. The ground soared beneath her and the way they were moving was clear in that they were nearly a limbless substance, just a ball of fluttering shredded red.
"I'm dropping you." His voice came out of nowhere.
"What-" His arm disappeared and Tifa dropped, but she used the same forward momentum to keep on dashing, rounding the beast on its left while Vincent was on the right. Her punches wouldn't even scratch the beast, that much Tifa knew, and so she relied on her materia. The cold air congregated and condensed. Chunks of ice sprung forward, creating an intricate maze of crystalline ice around the beast. It broke through as if the ice were glass, reaching down to swipe at Tifa with its hand. Dashing straight towards the attack, Tifa threw herself forward and slid on the ground right in-between the gap of its fingers.
...
Pushing the heavy piece of wood off of herself, Lightning staggered onto her feet and stumbled slightly to the entrance of the hole she had crashed through. Vincent and Tifa were fighting one, Cloud, Yuffie, and Aerith were trying to handle the other, while Shinra and the Turks had retreated to the basement to gather important data and information in case this battle got out of hand. If those W.E.A.P.O.N.S came here after Etro, then she'll give them Etro. The golden armor sprung forth again as she held out her hand. A long silver blade came into existence, a straight sword with multiple jagged smaller blades molded to the sides. Flipping the hilt of the blade in her hand so that the blade was behind her, Lightning launched herself foward. Time stopped, and everything was suddenly still. The W.E.A.P.O.N.S attacks froze, all of her friends grew rigid in less than a heart beat. Her feet skimmed over the ground, hardly disturbing a pebble. In one fell jump, Lightning lifted her blade and drove it straight into the W.E.A.P.O.N's chest where the small amber sphere was sitting before time returned to her. The sound vortexed back into her ears like a screech and amongst the white noise she had caught the W.E.A.P.O.N Cloud was dealing with roar. It instantly turned its attention onto Etro's presence. Lightning turned to look just in time to see a bright light congregate at the beast's chest before a large beam of energy shot forth. Jumping out of range, she watched as the attack hit the other W.E.A.P.O.N., completely knocking the two-legged creature off its feet. "You guys take care of that one." Lightning yelled towards Cloud over her shoulder as she opened a dark portal, "I'll take care of this one."
She stepped out onto the dry and ragged plains of the Wastelands before Midgar, and made her way to a familiar Buster Sword embedded into the ground. Grabbing it by the hilt, she pulled it out of the ground before it faded out of existence. Standing alone on the rocky terrain, Lightning looked around her, narrowing her eyes at the W.E.A.P.O.N. by Midgar. It turned to her, and it became increasingly obvious that it had set her as its new target. Sure that they were all heading towards her, Lightning summoned out her double scythes, wielding Lindzei in one palm and Pulse in the other. She had seen Bhunivelze do this, an attack that required precise timing if she were to take them all out at once. Lifting her hands above her head, the weapon started to spin. Faster and faster. Dark clouds swirled into existence above her head while white thunder and lightning cackled menacingly. All the W.E.A.P.O.N.S neared, the one from Nibelheim closing in on her too quickly.
"Damn it!" Lightning hissed, counting down the time it would take for the flying W.E.A.P.O.N. to crash into her and knew that her attack would most likely be interrupted.
It was nearly as fast as a blink of an eye. From the thunderstorm that brewed from her spell, she could hardly catch the silhouette of a one-winged man flying up by the W.E.A.P.O.N. before a bright flash of light drew through the sky like a deadly sickle. It knocked the beast off course, sending it crashing onto the floor close to her before her own spell demanded for her attention. Whipping her attention back up to the sky, she watched with bated breath as a large black orb descended from the sky, dropping like a bomb. The moment it made contact with the ground, everything went white. The ground was ripped straight out. Rocks and boulders sent exploding everywhere. Entire mountains were nearly decimated, chewed apart by the pure energy contained within the orb that were dancing mad to be released. The sky and ground rippled from the blast, sending large waves of dust crashing outwards until gravity pulled it all in again and then imploding right at the top creating a large mushroom-shaped dust cloud up in the sky. Wafting the dust away, Lightning surveyed her surroundings from the center of the crater she had created, and noted the burnt bodies of the W.E.A.P.O.N.S crumpled nearby. She took one step in the eery silence before it felt as if the ground had been pulled out from beneath her. Her knees buckled, and she fell forward before a spark of green illuminated her vision before her. Too weak to dodge, the Lifestream lanced through her, piercing her chest before she fell. Strong arms caught her by the shoulder, "We'll take our leave." Caius' voice could be heard resounding distantly in her ears, but it was obvious then that he wasn't talking to her. Her eyes closed as all consciousness left her bereft of thought or feeling.
...
"GOD DAMN IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!" Yuffie wailed, huffing and puffing when the remaining beast staggered back onto its feet. They had seen the large cloud of dust in the distance, and Tifa had no doubt that's where Lightning had went.
"Cloud!" Tifa yelled, "Let's go-"
Another gust of wind blew overhead, and the loud hum of transports could be heard propelling through air. "Up there!" Yuffie yelled, throwing a finger up to point at the approaching Lindblum. The mechanical sound of gears could be heard, each of them watching wide-eyed as a cannon lowered from the Lindblum.
"Take cover!"
Grabbing Yuffie by the wrist, Tifa yanked the younger along. Tossing herself behind cover, the blast from the cannon echoed. One explosion of light after another, Tifa clamped her eyes shut, clutching the younger girl closely. These battles were larger than life; seeing the Lindblum, watching these beasts emerged from the planet, and seeing Lightning as she is now. When the air finally settled, Tifa pushed herself forward and stepped out into the rubble. She could see the burning carcass of the monster on the ground, but she still kept a careful eye on it. "Tifa!" Turning around, she nodded weakly at the approaching Cloud and Aerith.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
I had a lot of difficulty writing this chapter. It's much harder writing about huge monsters and their crazy laser/missiles/energy beam attacks in a way that doesn't sound redundant. They all look the same to me!
So... I'm going to be wrapping up this arc soon. Then, I'll hopefully move onto the last arc of this story.