Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Recollection xxv

We stood still, frozen in place, eyes wide and gazing intently at the slither of the outside world revealed between two, sheltering temple walls.

Seconds passed, slowly, waiting.

Another burst of gunfire erupted, Barret's unmistakable gun-arm, and we lurched into action, jerked suddenly back into reality.

In a single motion Cloud's sword was drawn as he strode to the doorway. In that same motion, I had turned and risen, Red's hackles were raised high as he lollopped forwards. I tightened the straps on my gloves and followed.

'Stay back.' Cloud had hissed at us, or at me, before he ran out, sword bare and raised.

I ignored him.

Close on Red's heels, I raced outside. My skin was prickling all over. I almost froze again when I saw outside.

The ruins, the mountains were littered with Heartless. Many shapes, many sizes. They seeped through the cracks in the rubble, sliding down rock and stone. All drawn towards us; like ants flocking towards honey.

Oh God, I had thought, before I remembered I didn't believe in one.

I got a hold of myself after that momentary pause.

Gunfire echoed again, and I saw Barret shower bullets over the hoard, Vincent a little ways behind him, picking off the creatures one by one with deadly precision.

I had seen this before, this motif, too often. A man, a father, set up against a wave of darkness. Fighting to the end.

Other figures joined the image, a red lion, a blond swordsman.

I screamed, and threw myself forward.

The first one leapt not at me, but at my heart. I drove my crackling fist full of energy straight through its black head, not pausing as the empty heart it had had been consumed by another of it's own kind.

Punch-strike-turn-swing-kick-turn-kick-punch-swerve-strike-duck-drop-roll-kick-stand…

At some point I realized that I'd lost sight of Red. I struggled to defend myself as well as make search for him. To be caught alone in this swarm of Heartless is a death wish, one that I was now in.

I had cursed my stupidity.

I dodge-rolled again as the long, club like arm swung down, cracking the earth as it made impact. I scrambled up, still moving as the large creature moved jerkily to follow. Keeping lightly on my toes, I moved out the way as it heaved its arm over. Something clawed at me. My eyes darted down and I snapped out a sharp, sidekick to the smaller Heartless beside me. It dissipated.

I darted again to the side and then forward, as its momentum bogged down the large creature. My fist's dart out in a blur as I strike out at it's soft belly in a rush, before hooking my foot on it's side and giving a kick-flip deep under the ribs. I jumped back.

Don't I know how much that hurts.

It stumbles, a smaller, weaker arm clutching at the gaping hole I've made. There are studs on the tops of my shoes for a reason.

The Large Arm twisted its body, bringing down its hammer faster then I had thought possible for a creature its size. Stars burst into my vision even as I threw myself out of the way. On instinct I rolled and rose, darting away again as I hear the air whistle.

Shaking my head to clear away the stars, I raised my fists and dart forward again, swinging an uppercut at its featureless face. The Large Arm flinched, and I followed the motion up with a spinning kick to its face once more. It staggered backwards then, and I beat it with another series of punches, another back-flip kick, another strike, and another. I let my Chi course out at the Heartless, strengthening my impact.

It flailed its arm at me; I leapt to the side and ducked under it, once again beating away at its face, constantly. I ignore the smaller Heartless, trying to leap onto my back and clutching at my limbs to bring me down. Chi is crackling all over my body, and for the moment I am untouchable. The Large Arm flails wildly, like a wounded animal. I gritted my teeth and bring back my fist, mustering energy and forcing it into this last punch. It was practically glowing.

I swung, slamming down with all my might. The Large Arm practically burst, gone, and I was left reeling in the recoil, stunned. Blinking cluelessly. A high pitched ringing resounded through my ears

My whole right side was throbbing painfully.

Wake up!

I heard Sensei telling me to never drop my guard, and I turned quickly enough to block scathing black claws from tearing out my chest by offering my forearm instead.

I clenched my teeth, chastising myself for being so careless as I backhand it across the head with my knuckles. Ignoring the pain, I briefly thanked my stars that I am wearing my arm-guards. Otherwise my arm would be in ribbons and not merely just badly scratched. I staggered a few steps, before moving back into my battle stance and moving on.

Delivering an angry roundhouse kick, I furiously ignored the stars that were returning to my vision.

'Hoi!-'

Something hit me like a truck and all my efforts into remaining upright went in vain. I found myself hoisted over Barret's shoulder as he mowed his way through the Heartless.

I was fuming.

Once had I stopped seeing stars, of course.

A few moments later and I was fighting along side Barret instead of being carried like some frail damsel. He relented after I hit him over the head with enough force to indicate I was quiet capable of taking care of my self.

'Stick close now, fool' girl.' He said angrily as he set me down.

It was better this way. We fought back to back. He hewed through the hoard with his gun, whilst I fended off the Heartless from his back, protecting our retreat. I reclaimed my sense of direction; Barret was headed back up the slope, towards camp.

A Heartless tried to swipe my comrade's thighs, and I viciously slammed my foot down on its arms.

'Teef, c'mon!'

I ran up to catch him, we were a few feet from temple entrance. Vincent stood atop the slope, firing on the creatures and ushering us through.

Cloud and Nanaki were already there, fighting off the few that had managed to get past the entrance. Unfortunately for us, whatever doors were once there had rotted away long ago. We had struggled to hold them off.

A battle roar sounded through out the enclave, and I glimpsed Nanaki charging at one of the larger Heartless.

No matter how many we killed, more kept coming.

And more.

'Tifa, grab the packs.' Vincent's voice sounded in my ear. I did not argue as I heard his shotgun fire as he covered my retreat. I sprinted to the pitiful remains of our campfire and began hauling as much as I could carry on my back. A Heartless approached and I managed to clobber it over the head with a heavy pack.

'Get to the back of the cave!!'

More and more Heartless were pouring in from outside. I sprinted towards the dark hole that led into the deeper parts of the temple, trusting that Vincent would cover me. I could not fight whilst carrying all the packs.

Reaching the end, I shoved them roughly through and turned back ready to fight. I went to strike another Heartless, only to have it collapse as Cloud brought his massive sword down through its body. Nodding briefly, I made as if to go past him to help the others. He scowled at me, grabbing me roughly by the waist and hauling me through the back in the same way I had done to the packs.

Landing hard, I scrabbled up sending death glares his way. Vincent's red cloaked back appeared behind him and further gunshots resounded.

Cloud hefted a pack onto his back, threw one at me and dragged me deeper into the small, dark corridor.

'Wait-no-the others are still-'

'They're coming, move!'

'but-'

Light bounced off the walls as Red and his flaming tail had charged in and followed us. I stumbled; still trying to see whether or not the others were coming-

Boom.

The walls around us shuddered and we were thrown to the ground. Dust choked the air and for a moment, everything went dead quiet.

Then the ringing in my ears was back a tenfold. I groaned. Then I coughed painfully as my throat choked up on all the dust hanging in the air. Slowly, I pushed myself onto my knees, before doubling over, clutching my aching head. The clunking of stones could be heard as the rubble fell off my body. I could feel the burning tinge of cuts and scraps all over my body. Nothing serious, I had hoped.

Sucking in a few deep breaths, I made myself look up. Inky blackness had loomed before me. The fallen rubble and cracked slabs of wall were illuminated by a soft pale glow.

I had hoped that was from Red's tail, and I had hoped that meant he was alive.

'H-hello?' My voice was thick and broken.

I heard rubble move beside me. Blindly, I groped out, hunting through the rock and stone to find him.

Cloud.

My hands hit firm flesh, and I grappled to see if he was all right. I cleared off the rubble, relieved when I felt him move.

'H-ey…'

He sat up slowly, like I had. I could see him blink rapidly until his eyes had focused. He winced and reached up to touch the large gash on his face

'You ok?' My voice sounded too loud, too hollow for that dark place.

'…Yeah…you?'

'Not too bad…'

Cloud gave a nod, stopping halfway as his head protested, I guessed.

The dust was slowly settling. I coughed again at it. Cloud thumped my back softly before I waved him off. We remained crouching, not yet willing to muster the strength to stand. Turning, I looked behind for some visual indication of the others.

'Red?' I had called softly.

The light wavered, then flickered, and I held my breath. A disgruntled grunt became audible.

'I'm here.'

'Are you hurt?' A larger slab bobbed, before sliding away as Red emerged from underneath it. The beast shook out his fur of dust, before limping slowly towards us.

'Your leg…'

'Nothing a potion will not fix.' He paused, staring at appraising me 'What of yourselves?'

I offered a smile and shrugged 'In one piece.'

The beast gave us an incredulously look, before sneezing at the dust. I had realized that my hand was still clutching Clouds shirt, and that his was on my shoulder. Heat brushed my cheeks.

'Uh…' I withdrew and tried not to catch his gaze. Cloud did likewise, scrabbling around the rubble for his sword before using it to heft himself up. I sighed, grasping the wall in support as I too tried to get to my feet. The world swung a little, but it was not too bad. My muscles protested at the movement, though.

'The others…' I started.

'They were behind me when the…' Red's voice trailed off as we all wondered what exactly had happened. He shook out his mane 'The packs, if you don't mind.'

'Oh right, here…' Somehow the travel bags Cloud and I had seized were still with us. I frowned in dismay as I rummaged through mine; at least four of the ten potions in there were smashed.

'Wait here' Cloud stated as I was patching up Red's leg 'I'll go check for the others.'

He pulled out a few potions from his own bag before setting it down beside us. I said nothing; I did not really want to move anyhow.

'Damn tha' shit was big.'

'What exactly was it, may I ask?'

Barret glanced somewhat sheepishly at the beast. I raised an eyebrow at him from where I was carefully applying some potion to Clouds head wound.

'Hrrmph, something left over from…from the ole' crew-from Midgar.'

'Jessie.' I said simply, smiling a little.

Barret nodded and puffed out his chest.

'Good thing too. Them Heartless were swarming.'

'You could of killed us.' Cloud said flatly, earning a scowl from the big man.

Barret had been out cold when Cloud found him, and Vincent's claw arm was broken, the iron gauntlet cracked. We had patched ourselves up as much as we dared, and I had used my weak cure spells to their limit in an attempt to save potions. The effect had left me feeling sick and dizzy, and Barret had scolded me for that.

But I had had to. Whatever barrier created by Barret's bomb would not keep the Heartless at bay for very long. They had a nasty knack of sliding through such defenses. We had to get moving.

Where to, was a completely different matter.

'We'll have to go through the mountain.' We had all stopped and stared at Vincent. He tested his newly mended arm out warily, stretching out all his fingers before replacing the damaged gauntlet and rising.

'Is that possible?' Cloud asked.

'Yes.'

'Then lets go.'

Vincent nodded at him. I bit my lip, and tried not to look doubtful. To my surprise, Barret made no argument, only shrugging as he hefted himself up.

'Well, s'not like we have much of a choice, hm?' he said in his gravelly voice.

No one could say anything to that.

Authors note: This was going to be an absolute bethemoth of a chapter, but I decided that if I did that, it would be just too mind numbing, so I split it into two. Since my last post, I have resigned myself to the fact that I am not going to be able to finish the Recollections in 30 :( Theres still too much I wanna write about (time spent in Radiant Garden and so forth.)

So, there goes that goal.

Anywho, it has been suggested to me that I split up the 'Recollections' saga from Tifa's world hopping journey, which I think I may do. I'll keep the recollections under the name 'Inner Universe' though, it just seems appropriate.

All will be revealed next chapter...