By a Fraction of a Degree
A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129
Rated T for Violence and Language.
I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spin-offs That honor goes to Square-Enix.
Part II: Reunion
Chapter 36, Back in Action?
December 30th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007
It had been quite a novel experience, keeping watch over Zack and the others. At first Kunsel hadn't quite been able to wrap his mind around what they were attempting. How were they supposed to go through the Lifestream without physically submerging in it? Any idiot knew better than to dive directly in.
But then after everyone had gotten situated, and Aerith had started doing whatever it was she had done, he'd noticed tendrils of the stuff starting to swirl a little more pervasively around the area, enveloping it and obscuring it from view. He'd ended up pulling Rayleigh back from it because she'd been tempted to try getting closer to analyze what was going on. After all, it was a phenomenon that had never been documented before.
She'd been rather disappointed but that was beside the point. Eventually, they retreated slightly further away to avoid the mists wrapped around the others like a blanket, and waited. At one point, Freya had gone back to the Tiny Bronco to retrieve a lunch basket Elmyra had prepared and quietly retrieved the sandwiches she had made for them.
On seeing them, Kunsel smiled sadly. "This brings back memories." He shot a glance over at Rayleigh. "Doesn't it?"
The doctor noticed what the lady Turk was doing. "Of the time we waited in the church?" she asked.
Kunsel nodded, collecting his own lunch. "I never thought I'd see a more subdued picnic than that one, but this one really takes the cake."
"Well, at least when we got back, you knew we'd won. I'm not sure if we can win here," Freya handed the doctor another one of the sandwiches.
"You mean what Zack said about how even if this works he might still have to deal with Sephiroth bothering him?" Kunsel said.
"This may push back a little, but I doubt they'll be truly free of him until we've made sure Sephiroth isn't coming back," Freya clarified.
"Probably true, assuming this is Sephiroth we're dealing with," Rayleigh commented.
"You can't think it isn't worth trying at least?" Kunsel asked.
"Of course not," the lady Turk said, and Kunsel noted she was wielding the wrapped sandwich in her hand through the air like a blade. "If this works, it'll give him a chance to fight for himself, which frankly, I think he needs. I'm just saying this isn't the end of the fight, and you know it."
Kunsel held up his hand in surrender. "Okay, I got it… though you might want to consider eating that rather than using it as a tool for emphasis."
Freya looked down at the food item, and laughed softly. "You're right, it would be a real shame to waste Elmyra's handiwork." She regarded it for a moment before casting a long glance in the direction of the group under the dumbapple tree, and in that moment, Kunsel could have sworn he saw a hint of the vulnerability she'd shown that night in the Gold Saucer. "They are okay in there, aren't they?"
The brown-haired SOLDIER sighed. "I wish I knew."
Rufus was sitting in his Junon office listening to the reports coming in from his generals. They had opened up a direct channel into their radio network so he could hear everything that was happening live. The vast picture windows looking out on the seas around Junon stood in stark contrast to the dark and serious nature of the attack that was about to occur. The troops had landed near the center of the crater and were attempting to climb down into its center. There were several insertion points they were making use of, but already, several of the platoons were encountering resistance. Even if Sephiroth was not outright thwarting them, nature was not taking kindly to their presence either.
"Sir, this is SOLDIER squad seven, we're not seeing any planned resistance but we're taking a lot of situational casualties… Oh Gaia! What the hell is that thing?!... Minerva preserve us!... Ahh! The smell… tentacles! Get it off!"
The radio went dead and he turned his attention to a different channel, this one belonging to one of Scalet's Airbuster detachment. "Sir, we seem to have encountered a very large King Behemoth. He's trashed half our units! We've got to pull out!..." It died into static.
Next he went to one of the rear trooper detachments that were supposed to be backing up the SOLDIER divisions… "Dragon!" *Fwoosh*… The last thing he heard on that end was the sound of something burning.
Rufus found that for once, he was sweating, and he wiped his brow, which was furrowed in a prominent scowl. From channel to channel he turned, finding more and more signs of his military's failure to even make it to Sephiroth's barrier. Only one platoon had even gotten close, and they'd had a nasty run-in with what looked like a Tonberry before they'd been able to retreat. Even the Gelnika had not been of much use since the ballistics that had been installed upon it were insufficient to get deep enough. The Highwind had been kept with a skeleton crew on account of being needed in reserve, but he doubted even its limited firepower would have been much use up there. Having decided he couldn't stand anymore failure, he reached for his PHS and called his secretary.
"Denise," he said. "Tell Scarlet and Heidegger to get up here."
"Yes sir," The woman answered.
Rufus placed his PHS on his desk and glared out the window at the roaring ocean, clasping his hands behind his back and waiting patiently. Behind him the door opened and Heidegger entered, followed by Scarlet, clad in her usual red evening gown.
Rufus turned around calmly to face his subordinates.
"Sir, we can explain…" Heidegger bumbled.
"No need, I heard exactly what was going on."
"If we'd only used our more powerful prototypes, I'm sure we would have broken through…" Scarlet offered.
"That is of no consequence now," Rufus brushed his hand to the side as though sweeping their excuses out of his sight. "We absolutely must punch through that barrier, even if we have to kill every single monster in the Northern Caves! But I can see in spite of my giving you both a chance, this assault has been a total rout thanks to your bungling." His words were smooth, but the venom could be seen in his eyes. "How soon can we move the Mako Cannon to Midgar?"
"It'll be about two weeks sir," Scarlet supplied.
"Then get on it. You are dismissed." With that, he turned his back on the two of them and they walked out. It was only when he looked over to his left, towards the airport, that he saw smoke rising from the tarmac near the Highwind.
Yuffie was waiting in the shadows next to Barret until Cid gave the all clear. They'd managed to sneak into the military airport after bluffing their way through the airport outside the city and bribing their way into Junon's upper reaches. There would be no relying on the other renegades for this, not that she minded.
She had been absolutely miserable on the flight, but now that she was back on solid ground and recuperated from her motion sickness, she was ready for action. Unfortunately, the last of the action now lay at their feet unconscious after being subdued from behind.
"When are we going to go?" she moaned. "I'm so boooored!"
"Quit yer whinin' kid," Barret growled. "Yer the idiot who thought it'd be a good idea ta come."
Nanaki just rolled his eyes as she once again took refuge behind him. "I'm doing this for Cloud, not you…" she mumbled.
"Didn't ya hear him? He said shut up!" Cid growled at her, looking around the corner to check that the coast was clear.
"Sheesh, you'd think I was shouting at the top of my lungs."
They were hiding behind several supply crates near where the Highwind was tethered. Fortunately, Junon was thinly staffed at the moment thanks to the assault on the Northern Crater. The pilot played with a cigarette in his left hand while he considered the layout. "All right, I'm gonna sneak in through the main hatch." He pointed to Barret and Nanaki. "Follow me in after three counts, if there aren't any guards inside, I'll talk to the crew and see what we can get… he looked down at Yuffie. "You're our lookout kid. Stay by the ladder and sound the alarm if anything gets within running distance, got it?"
Yuffie nodded. "Got it."
The four of them stood wordlessly and crept to the access ladder that led up to the Highwind's main deck. Upon climbing to the deck, Cid checked the door and found it unlocked. As Yuffie took up a position by the rail, she tried to make herself not look down, knowing that would make things worse. Cloud had said it was better to look straight ahead if you wanted to avoid getting the disorienting effects… She heard Cid open the hatch and lunge down the gangplank, but he'd left the door open so that they could hear her if she spotted something. She could see the main city off in the distance with that giant cannon, the scourge of Wutai's navy the one time it had even tried to launch an offensive. It had been a total blood bath and even at the tender age of five, she'd known it. Her hand tightened around her shuriken. She hadn't forgotten her mission… and she already had at least one good materia in her possession. Titan had indeed proved useful. Hopefully she'd be able to find more…
But that would be after this situation was over. Right now, there was Sephiroth to contend with. Her face hardened. That big jerk, no, that didn't quite cut it. She found herself thinking of another word Barret was quite fond of using. "When I get my hands on him, I'll give him a little bit of this!" She punched the air forcefully with her hand. "And then some of this!" she landed an imaginary slash with the shuriken in her other hand. "And then I'll make him beg for my forgiveness!"
She assumed a rather arrogant pose as her imagination pictured for her the Demon of Wutai, groveling at her feet. "Oh please, great ninja princess! I promise I won't make any more trouble!" the imaginary Sephiroth begged in her mind.
Yuffie frowned down at her imaginary prisoner and pointed her finger at him dramatically. "No. As princess of Wutai, I Yuffie Kisaragi, the White Rose and savior of the planet cannot forgive you! For what you did to my friends, and what you threatened to do to the world, you will rot in my father's dungeons until you die! Enjoy the rats!" It was at that moment that it occurred to her Zack had said that he thought Sephiroth had already died once. Hadn't Cloud killed him? It was a question no one had answered. If a man had already died, could he die again? She pondered it for a moment before determining that if it were possible, she would find a way! For Cloud's sake! Yeah! And then he and Zack would reward her with their materia for saving his life, and Aerith and Elmyra would make a feast in her honor… she was nodding to herself in approval over her future plans for being revered, when suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw signs of movement and made the mistake of looking down at the ground. A wave of dizziness came over her and she fought the urge to throw up before angling her head so she was looking out over the distance.
Off towards the entrance to the airfield, she saw three familiar figures in dark suits and reached for her PHS. It rang and someone picked up. "What'cha got Yuf?" Barret whispered.
"We got Turks at… um…" she checked the sun's position before continuing "…two o'clock. They're coming closer, I'll stall them 'till you get out here."
"We're comin'." Barret said gruffly and then hung up.
Gathering her shuriken, Yuffie grabbed the rope ladder in one hand and slid down it, landing in a crouch on the tarmac, just as Reno, Rude, and Elena came to a stop in front of her.
"Whaddaya want Turks?" She growled. "Didn't we trounce you good enough last time?"
Reno snorted. "I seem to remember you all running away." He reached for his EMR rod as Rude slipped into a fighting stance and Elena went for something in her pockets.
"So did you!" Yuffie shot back.
"We had orders." Reno jumped forward attempting to catch Yuffie unprepared, but the Ninja flipped out of the way, landing on her feet just beyond his reach.
"Well so did we!" she said.
"Need a hand kid?" She looked up at that moment and saw Barret sliding down the rope. The Turks scattered a short distance away when he unloaded a clip from his gun arm on the way down. Nanaki had also jumped from the deck to land with catlike grace next to the ninja, poised for battle.
Barret landed heavily on the ground on Yuffie's opposite side and trained his gun arm at the three in dark suits.
"Well, what have we here?" Nanaki asked.
"Just some Turks who think they can eat us for breakfast," Yuffie quipped.
Barret was smiling malevolently. "Well guess what Turks? Ya came at a good time, 'cause I'm lookin to see ya get served!"
Elena only looked slightly intimidated by the giant man with the gun arm as she regarded him. "All right, let's go then!" she challenged.
Nanaki growled and raced towards Rude, attempting to knock him to the ground, but the martial artist landed a kick before sliding past. That was the last thing Yuffie noticed before she found herself engaging with Reno. The redhead grinned at her before lunging again and this time she flipped over top of his head, using it as a balance before slicing behind her with her shuriken. He barely avoided the blade before coming at her again with his EMR. She ducked and the rod flew by over her head before she moved to kick his leg out from under him.
Caught off balance, the redhead tripped and had to roll out of the way after falling to the ground, not because of Yuffie, but because Elena nearly stepped on him in her rush to avoid Barret, who had been in the processs of shooting a wave of machine gun bullets behind her. He only just barely avoided getting shot before pulling himself to his feet and facing the ninja once again, a playful and crazy grin on his face.
Yuffie threw her shuriken in his direction and he barely ducked before she noticed Nanaki unleashing a limit break on Rude and the area was suddenly pelted by a hurling mass of bright sparks that seemed to come out of nowhere.
She avoided another attack from Reno and then heard Elena cry out as Barret channeled another limit. She barely dodged out of the way as he rushed her like a freight train, ready to come down hard with a single downward strike. She returned by firing her gun at him, and it grazed his arm leaving a nasty gash.
Groaning, Yuffie called upon the power deep within herself to channel a limit break of her own, letting the wound heal, though it cost her a punch to the gut due to Reno having caught her off guard. "Ouch!" she growled, though as she flew away from him she felt something slide off his hand and into her own.
"I don't really like hitting kids, but we're on the clock!" Reno pulled back his fist about to strike again, but at the last moment something fast flew by just over his head, exploding as it collided with the deck. Everyone looked around in surprise before their gaze was drawn up. Standing on the deck of the Highwind, one foot on the guardrail, stood Cid, a lit cigarette clenched in his mouth and his spear balanced over one shoulder.
"Hey fellas, it seems me and my crew have reached a bit of an understanding."
"Highwind? That you?" Reno asked.
"You bet your ass, Red!" Cid shouted down to him.
"If you think you can just bust in here and steal this thing without any consequences, you're crazier than Zack!" Reno said. "The army's already going to be converging on this spot and if they don't find you here, they'll chase you wherever you go on the planet!"
"At this point, I don't give a $#!%. But let me tell ya somethin' about where we stand right now," he signaled behind him and the guns on the side of the ship started moving ominously. "I've got me a 1280 ton airship with light artillery and the gunner's got his sights set on you. Get the point?"
Reno looked over at Elena and then at Rude. Somehow, there seemed to be more conversation between them in spite of the tense silence. Finally he looked back at the pilot, still cool as a cucumber. "Yeah, we get it. Come on guys, I think it's time to go."
"But… Reno?" Elena looked at him with surprise.
"That's an order, we're going." With that, Reno and Rude retreated followed by a very bewildered Elena. Yuffie looked up at the pilot and grinned, before reaching into her pocket to put away the trinket she'd managed to palm off the red-headed Turk. She had almost gotten to the ladder, when off in the distance she heard someone yell "Damn kid stole my ring!"
She chuckled, before quickly climbing up to join Cid and reaching into her pocket for Cloud's airsickness medicine. She hoped it would be a short trip back to the Lodge, because she didn't want to be on this thing anymore than she had to.
The first thing Cloud was aware of was that through the branches of the tree he seemed to be under, the afternoon sky was a brilliant blue. The next thing he was aware of was that someone was leaning over him from behind and a face partially obscured his vision. Dark brown hair tickled his ears and once his own eyes adjusted, they locked with a pair of wine red ones, wide with concern. He swallowed hard as he realized to whom they belonged. "Uh… T-Tifa?"
Her eyes filled with tears and she reached down to put her arms around him, even as he tried to sit up. "You're back!" she sobbed. He stiffened slightly in surprise before allowing himself to relax and letting her cry into his shoulder. After all the trouble he'd caused, he wasn't about to deny her that.
"We meet again…" he said after a moment.
"You stupid jerk…" she said softly. "You had us all worried sick…"
He realized he had a bit of a headache and reached up to massage his brow with a groan. "Sorry…" he mumbled.
"You'd better be," he heard a familiar voice off to his left and saw Zack sitting nearby, looking pretty tired.
"Z-Zack?"
"Welcome back… though if you can help it, I think I speak for all of us when I say 'please don't do that again… ever?'"
"I'll try not to…" Cloud said, "Though I didn't exactly try to do it the first time." He winced as a sharp pain worked its way through the inside of his skull and he curled up, causing Tifa to let him go, but she leaned over him anyway.
"Cloud?" she tried to get his attention.
"Easy there, are you okay?" Zack had apparently decided to stop making light of things and get back to being serious.
"Ngh… No it's not him again… just a headache… what happened?" he asked.
"We went into the Lifestream after you," Aerith said, sitting down next to him. "I don't think we completely fought him off, but the way you were, you were in no state to fight back on your own."
"Oh…" It seemed incredible to him that he could simply accept that as an explanation, but right now, he was just grateful he wasn't in the condition he'd been in for the last… how long ago had they been at the chocobo farm? "It must've been pretty bad…"
Zack sighed. "Now that is the understatement of the year." He shifted his position like he was going to get a little closer, but he paused to stretch. Several muscles popped really loudly. "Whoa… how long were we in there?"
"About six hours," an older female voice cut in and Rayleigh appeared next to Zack, looking quite stern. "We were starting to worry you'd dragged them all in after you. Lifestream in a gaseous state may not cause mako poisoning in controlled doses but that doesn't mean that you should bathe in it as a general rule." She adjusted her glasses and looked around at the gathered crowd. "All right, give him some space." She then turned her attention back to him. "So how do you feel?"
"Tired…" he replied, and then he felt his stomach growl and added with a wry grin, "Maybe a little hungry too…"
"Perfectly understandable," Freya offered. "I'm sure Elmyra packed some nonperishable stuff in her basket for us. Hang on, I'll see if I can find something." She disappeared for a few minutes while Rayleigh went through the routine of checking to see he was completely responsive, which he was pretty sure he was. He just felt like Sephiroth had tried to use his head as a stress ball, which he had to admit was probably not that far from truth. While they waited, Zack and the others also took the opportunity to move the bedroll a little closer to the tree to take better advantage of the shade.
When the lady Turk returned he was happy to see that she had indeed found a small bag of salted nuts, which he gratefully accepted, along with Zack's water canteen. Rayleigh was finished by now and he ate in a comfortable silence under the tree while the others debated what the next move was.
It was Kunsel who broke the first piece of news. "Cid was able to get away from Junon, he says he'll be here early tomorrow."
Zack's brow furrowed. "Any word from Cissnei?"
"She's about halfway back. She'll probably get here late tomorrow night. There was a delay at the fueling station in Rocket Town, thanks to some troopers who had some questions about the airport's business arrangements," Kunsel supplied. "It was enough to set them off a few hours while they bluffed their way through paper work and stuff but they can refuel in Mideel next time."
"Damn," Zack muttered but when he looked up at Kunsel, his expression was calm. "Well, I guess it can't be helped."
As interested as Cloud was in what was going on, he soon felt his eyelids beginning to droop. Zack's bedroll was beginning to feel rather inviting underneath him. Almost without realizing it, he found himself leaning against the trunk of the dumbapple tree, and soon after that he descended into an exhausted slumber. Truly the best kind, in his opinion. No dreams, no nightmares, and best of all, no Sephiroth. Just peaceful, blissful emptiness…
December 31st [ ν ] – εуλ 0007
When Cloud woke up again, it was already after sunset, and since everyone was pretty much packed, Freya returned to the Tiny Bronco with Rayleigh and Kunsel while the others decided it should be all right for them to walk home. The walk was mostly uneventful, though it was close to midnight when they got to the lodge. Everyone was pretty worn out by the day's events so they'd decided they would deal with explaining what had happened in Banora in the morning. Out of respect for his privacy, when said explanation did come to a head after breakfast, Zack and the others had glossed over some of the more personal details, and in fact, Tifa hardly said anything about what had happened between them. Freya on the other hand, went really quiet for a while after learning that Sephiroth had used her words as the catalyst for what had happened over the last few days. She didn't seem to know what to do about it, or if there was anything she could do.
It was also after breakfast when Zack finally brought up the idea of picking up where they'd left off on that spar Sephiroth had prematurely aborted. It was this that brought them out to the helicopter landing once again, and while Aerith, Freya, and Tifa took up positions to observe from the shade nearby, the three men took a few minutes to get ready. However, there was a little something Cloud felt he needed to do first. While Zack and Kunsel were practicing a couple of sword drills, he walked over to where the girls were and stopped in front of Freya. "What's up?" she asked.
"Just letting you know, I don't blame you for what happened. You couldn't have known he would do that."
She shook her head. "It's okay. If anything, It just means we've got all the more reason to take him out, right?"
He nodded, and at that moment, he saw that Aerith and Tifa were watching him. "Good luck," Tifa said.
"Thanks." With that, he drew his broadsword and walked to the center of the clearing, deciding to go with a single blade this time.
When Zack saw him approach, he finished with the drill he was working on and waited for him to join him. Once Cloud was within a conversational distance, he called out "I think it's only fair that we go first since that was when we were interrupted. What do you think?"
"All right." He brought the broadsword to a ready position in front of him and Zack did the same with the Buster Sword. They circled for a few moments, watching each other, noting the slightest twitch of a muscle that might give away a move. Finally, Zack let loose a battle cry and charged.
Cloud brought up his sword to block in perfect sync. Zack broke off the attack before trying a side swipe. Cloud parried it out of the way before dodging Zack's attempt at a light punch that would have been a head shot if he'd been serious. He decided to counter with a series of strikes, forcing the pressure back on his friend. Zack defended against each of them and then managed to roll out of the way before attempting to get behind him, thinking he might have an opening there, but Cloud was able to defend before he even got close and they pushed each other away.
At that moment, he noticed Zack was grinning, and he couldn't help but return it. His friend wanted to take it up a notch.
Okay.
They circled again, and this time, Cloud took the initiative rushing in with a downward strike which Zack deflected with the Buster before coming back with several short strikes of his own. They went back and forth around the clearing a few times, and Cloud found he was in his element. There was just him and his opponent, and for every blow, he knew exactly how to counter, for every evasion, he knew exactly how to come around for the next swing. Their foot work was like an elegant dance across the clearing, and over the clash of swords, he could hear the girls cheering them on. At one point he caught sight of Kunsel nodding at their technique approvingly, and though the speed had gone up slightly, he still felt as fresh as when they'd started.
At last, Zack came at him with a heavy blow from the right, and his blade came up to meet it, clashing loudly between them. The two swordsmen locked eyes over the blades glistening in the morning sun and he saw a hungry excitement in his friend's gaze that he had rarely seen. It was an energy that radiated challenge, and he met him with equal strength pushing back on his own blade.
For what seemed like a miniature eternity, the two swordsman stayed eyes locked before Zack attempted to break of the stalemate with a kick and the two of them came at each other again at the same time.
As they had so long ago in Gongaga, sparks flew across the blades when they caught on each other, and at Zack's silent cue that he could easily take more, Cloud went at him again, this time with a set of harder strikes. Zack still managed to block each and every single one before pressing his own offensive and returning with a series of blows of his own. By now, they had worked their way across the clearing towards the woods on the opposite side from where Kunsel stood with the girls. While Cloud found he was having no trouble at all defending himself from Zack's blows he was starting to wonder why this was. He looked at him questioningly, asking him without words if they wanted to go faster.
The energy had not left Zack's expression and at his subtle nod, Cloud came at him with his hardest blow yet. To his complete surprise, though Zack managed to block, he heard the Buster Sword sing from the impact and he could have sworn… had Zack backed up a step on purpose? Was he still holding back?
He once again locked eyes with Zack as they started their dance once again across the clearing, blades whirling, but now he noticed not just excitement, but focus and concentration.
That was when he came around with another heavy blow from his broad sword and Zack brought the Buster up to block. To the shock of both of them, there was a resounding "CRACK!" The dark-haired SOLDIER barely had time to duck out of the way before a fast moving object barely missed his cheek.
Several pairs of eyes widened, as they watched a metal shard fly through the air and embed itself into the heart of a nearby tree. The two men stepped back from each other, and Cloud looked down at the blade in his hand. Half of it had been snapped clean off. He looked back up at his friend. "Are you okay?"
Zack nodded still not quite over the surprise. "Sure… Wow…"
Cloud looked back down at his sword; the one Zack had given him in this very clearing. "I'm sorry…"
Zack shook his head, apparently already detecting where Cloud's thoughts were headed and taking charge of the situation. "No harm done, it was an accident. Besides, you still have the Yoshiyuki and the Butterfly Edge, right? We can get this fixed later if it's important to you." He walked over to the tree where the shard had buried itself and pulled it out with a smooth motion. "But I'll say it again Cloud. Wow. We might want to try finding something a little stronger for you if you're gonna be making strikes like that."
He could already see the others coming over to investigate, but their conversation was interrupted when a shadow flew by over their heads. Cloud and Zack both looked up and were greeted by the sight of a familiar looking pilot, gunman, ninja, and Guardian of the Planet looking down at them from the forward deck of an airship. Their ride was finally here.
As of today the party just got past Bone Village and the Sleeping Forest. They have arrived at the City of the Ancients and are waiting for nightfall...
Until next time!