I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL FINAL FANTASY 7 CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(

This Chapter is for Loveless and YoungReckless. I greatly appreciate that the two of you are continuing to read this story. I know its long, (after all so is the game) and I hope that you see it through to the end and through the movie, Dirge of Cerberus, and I hope that you come back for the final that I have planning out in my head right now. Thank you two so much! :)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Aerith

"So, just who is it that we're after again?"

Cloud, Claire, Cid, Renee, Vincent, and Myra took a break inside one of the ruined houses that belonged to the Ancients all those years ago. They had stopped for a short break that turned into a sleep till nightfall; the trip had been harder than the six of them had believed.

"We are going after Jeanne Rush and Aerith Gainsborough. We don't know what they're going to do here; we just know that they're here." Renee answered her.

"Why did they run off?"

"We don't know. It has to do something to do with what's going on, though."

Renee and the others continued to talk but Claire lost herself in a slight pain in the side of her head. It was like a stinging and for some reason…she felt like…like she could sense Jeanne and Aerith nearby, but not just them. They were close, all four of them. How could she be telling this, though?

"I feel it…" Cloud whispered. His sister looked him. Was he feeling the same thing that she was?

"Do you know what TIME it is!" Cid demanded.

Cloud turned and looked at the rest of them. "Aerith is here. So Jeanne must be too."

"But," Claire lowered her head. "So are Sephiroth and Sienna."

"They are?" Renee pulled a face as both blonds nodded their heads.

"If that's true," Vincent's deep voice spoke. "Then we're in for it."

(Damn his voice is so sexy! You all know who that is, right? Steven Blum? Roger Smith from Big O and Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop! So sexy! XXDD)

"Hey, how do you know?" Cid demanded.

"It's not an excuse. I feel it in my soul." Cloud shook his head.

"Shit, Cloud," Cid ran a worried hand through his hair. "We can't be sittin' around on our asses."

Vincent nodded his head in agreement. "If that's true, we should hurry. Something terrible could happen at any moment."

"Right," Claire hurried to the door. "Let's go find Jeanne and Aerith."

Cloud seemed to be making the right places on where to go, since they soon entered another building. There was a blue passage in the middle of the room beneath the stairs. The Stairs looked like glass as it led down to a ruined city.

"What is this place?" Claire asked, gazing around at the molded over city.

"This," Myra gazed around the buildings. "This is a legend, my friends. This it the City of the Ancients!"

"All right, now let's go!" Claire led the way through the city.

"What? But…this is a treasure! I've been looking for this for years! You can't expect me not to stop and look at it!"

"Well, you can look at it later. Let's just get the girls!" Cid told her.

"Look there!" Renee halted and lifted her hand to point out across the water. Posts led up to a small stage-like platform that a woman in pink and a woman in white stood upon. Aerith was in the middle of it, on her knees and her hands gripped together as Jeanne stood on the steps, just watching.

"Aerith?" Cloud called out their names. "Jeanne?" Neither moved, seeming to ignore everyone that had just arrived.

"We'll stay right here," Renee told the twins as she pushed them towards the pillars.

Cloud quickly made his way past Jeanne; she didn't move except to grab Claire's arm to keep her from going past her as well. She turned to look at the other woman and opened her mouth to speak but her voice was lost at the cold, stone look on Jeanne's face. What was going on?

Just then, Cloud fell to his knees, gripping his head before he could say anything. Claire watched, biting her lip. Normally, moments like this involved her as well, but it wasn't. It wasn't happening to her now, but why? What was holding it back from her?

Cloud drew out the Buster Blade and turned to stand before Aerith as no one dared to move. No one said a thing, watching as he struggled to move. Only when he lifted his sword did Jeanne let go of his sister and Claire immediately moved, grabbing her brother's arm.

"Cloud! What are you doing?" She demanded. "Knock it off!"

That seemed to knock the blond out of it and he stumbled backwards, Claire following him. "Ugh…what are you making me do?"

"We're not making you do anything." A voice chuckled. "You all do it on your own."

Ice swirled up around Jeanne's feet, locking her in place as Sienna leaned against the railing of the small island, watching them with that smile on her face.

"Sienna!" Claire snarled, turning to face her.

The black-haired woman gave a chuckle and stayed silent, just watching. Aerith opened her eyes slowly just to lock with Jeanne's one more time before a large shadow dropped down from the hole above her. Jeanne watched as Sephiroth fell down at them. She watched it all move slowly. She held the strength to break the ice around her feet in moments and run forward to knock Sephiroth's blade away but…she couldn't make herself move. She was shouting at herself to move, to save her, but her body wouldn't move. So all she could do was watch.

Watch as Sephiroth's sword, Masamune, slid in through Aerith's body, the long blade halting moments from Cloud's feet, the woman's blood dripping into a pile at his feet.

Everyone watched it over and over again in their heads, no one knowing what to think; what to say. Aerith's arms dropped and she fell forward on the blade.

Everyone knew what that meant. Sienna's small 'Hnnh' could be heard in the horrified silence as she stared at Jeanne's solid, straight look.

Sephiroth lifted his head and looked at Cloud, for a moment with that small smirk before ripping the blade out of Aerith. She was still for a moment before falling forward and Jeanne watched as Holy, the Materia that Aerith had been holding, fell into the water, before returning her attention to the twins as they huddled over Aerith.

"this can't be real," Cloud said, shaking her.

"Don't worry about her too much." Sienna grinned at him.

"Soon the girl will be a part of the planet's energy." Sephiroth was staring up at the sky again. "All that is left is to go to the North. The Promised Land waits for us over the Snowy fields. There we will-"

"Shut up." Cloud's voice cut Sephiroth off and they all looked at him. "The cycle of nature and your stupid plan don't mean a thing. Aerith is gone," He turned back to the woman in his arms. "Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry…or get angry. What about us? What are WE supposed to do?" Aerith was left in Claire's arms as Cloud hunched over the floor. "What about my pain? My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My arms are burning!"

Sienna glanced at Jeanne. "Almost like that moment with Zack, isn't it Jeanne?"

Jeanne turned from the twins, finally knocking the ice off of her feet. "No, it's not. It's nothing like his…" Her voice faltered before she cleared her throat and crossed her arms, watching some more.

"What are you saying?" Sephiroth smirked. "Are you trying to tell me that you have feelings too?"

"Of course we do!" Claire shouted at the silver-haired man. "We're not monsters like you!"

Sephiroth then began to laugh. "Stop acting as if you're sad. There's no need to act as though you're angry, either." Sephiroth began to float again. "Because, the two of you are…" Jeanne's feet stomped, ringing against the stairs and echoing around the area as she walked down them, making her way towards Vincent and the others. He and Sienna shared a smirk as she shared the unvoiced message before both of them disappeared.

Jeanne was about to jumped down onto one of the pillars when a slash went off and she turned to see that Sienna had left a parting gift for them. It was the large, red creature; Jenova-Life.

With a sigh, Jeanne pulled out her sword and jumped past the others before they even knew that the creature was there. With a silent growl, the woman performed Climharazard, covering the creature in ice before shoving her sword through it and ripping upwards. The ice shattered as her blade traveled up and the creature fell over the railing and into the water. Everyone turned in surprise as the battle ended before anyone else even knew that it had begun. Claire set Aerith against the rail and stood, a surprised look on her face.

"Jeanne…"

"So fast," Myra whispered to herself as the rest of them moved towards the small platform. "But…"

"Why?" Cloud glared at her. "Why couldn't you save her?" Jeanne stayed silent, gazing at the blond from over her shoulder. "You could have saved her!"

~You're right~ She told herself. ~I could have. But why didn't I? Why couldn't I make myself move? Was it for revenge? For something as petty as feelings for what she had done all those years ago with Zack? And what she had been trying to do with Cloud?~ She shook her head and turned, walking past them all in silence. Cloud stared after her for a moment before turning her head back towards the woman in pink.

Everyone but Myra and Jeanne moved forward to say their goodbyes to Aerith.

"Why don't you say something?" Myra asked the silent woman beside her.

Jeanne was silent for another moment. "Because…she…I…we weren't exactly friends."

"But you still came with her," Myra pointed out. "If you didn't like her, you wouldn't have come out her all the way that you did."

Jeanne continued to watch for a moment before turning away and walking away. "It doesn't matter anymore."

Cloud picked Aerith up and took her outside of the building again, the others all following him to the small lake and watched as he carried her out to the middle of it. They all watched as she sunk peacefully into the water and the darkness below. Cloud backed up out of the lake and stood on the shore, his back to the others and his head hanging.

"Everyone, listen to me," He spoke after a moment. "I'm Cloud," He turned to face them all. "And this is my sister, Claire. We are Ex-SOLDIERs, born in Nibelheim. We came to settle up with Sephiroth and Sienna, Jeanne leading our way."

"I heard that before," Cid scratched the back of his head and Renee elbowed him in the side. He gave a grin

"I came here on my own free will…or so I though." Cloud said. "However…to tell the truth, I'm afraid of myself." He turned again. "There is a part of me that I don't understand. That part made me give the Black Materia to Sephiroth." He glanced to his sister. "If you hadn't stopped me, Claire, Aerith might have been…There's something inside of me. A person who is not really me. That's why I should quit this journey…before I do something terrible. Both of us," Claire pulled a face but her brother continued to speak. "But…I am going. Both of us. They destroyed my home seven years ago, killed Aerith, and is now trying to destroy the Planet. I'll never forgive…Sephiroth. Never forgive Sienna. I…" He clenched his fist. "I must go on." He looked at all of them. "I have a favor to ask of you. Will you all come with the two of us? To keep me from doing something terrible?"

Vincent was silent for a moment as he stared at Claire. She was fighting herself to keep from looking at him. "…I guess so." He answered, trying to ignore the grin that sprouted across her face.

"Jeanne, how did Aerith try to save the planet from Meteor? What was she trying to do?" Cloud asked her.

Jeanne had been fighting with herself over whether or not was the time to tell Cloud everything. She wanted to, she was fighting to, but that voice…Zack's voice…was telling her to wait. Wait just a little bit longer. She didn't know if it was actually Zack's voice…it sounded like him…but she chose to listen to it. But only for a little bit longer. Lying to Cloud was starting to tear her apart.

"I don't know," She replied. "I brought her here and she began to pray. I just watched. I guess we'll never know."

"We still have a chance, though," Claire told them all. We must get that Black Materia before Sephiroth and Sienna use it!"

Cloud nodded in agreement. "Let's go."

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