Part 10— Wheel in the Sky
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Chapter 37
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Azura felt her stomach sink into her shoes. These beings were like nothing she had ever imagined. Hojo...Jenova...Sephiroth...these names were a pale presence in old stories of parental glory. The chanting continued, and an unknown force continued to tug at her, trying to bring her back under control. Her muscles tensed; her downy wings quivered.
"How do we kill them?"
Patrick's demand was met with blank stares.
"You guys were there with the prophecy. You all do know what we're supposed to do, right?"
Cloud sucked in his breath, blue Mako eyes tracking the aliens as they sized up their terrestrial opponents. "Oh god..." A shake of the head. "Zuri, containing them didn't hold. Try getting a barrier up around us."
Reeve pushed the huge green crystal into her hands. "Can't hurt."
She tucked it under her arm and held out her other hand, palm facing out. Her brows furrowed in concentration as waves of light wove themselves together around the five.
One of the beings, the talkative one who instinctively seemed to be the leader, managed to shoot the group a toothless smirk. A beam of hot white lightning burst from his chest, hitting the ground right in front of her feet.
Seeing red, Patrick readied his spear for a full-on ambush.
"Wait," she whispered. "I'm going to…" Her brow furrowed in concentration, as her fingers grasped the crystal so tightly, it seemed she'd leave imprints. "Wall."
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A large, glimmering barrier appeared directly in front of the E' Sha. If they had anything approaching actual faces, they might have been filled with rage. All Cloud knew is that he could not only hear their growls of anger, but feel them. "We can't keep stalling for time—fuck!"
"So you saw another one come out, too?"
"The…" Azura's words deteriorated into gasps, due to the effort of keeping up the wall.
In a flash of inspiration, Aeris reached behind the smaller girl and pulled out the blue crystal. "Patrick. Don't move until our signal."
"Wha—"
"Everybody else, the blue materia. Make sure some part of you is touching it. Now… Cloud, take off your armlet and put it on top of it." She looked up. "If we do it together, the three of us, we should be able to clone a strong enough wall. Like this one."
Beads of sweat were forming on Azura's forehead, but she began to shake her head. "No, I can keep it up—"
"The Wall is for Patrick. You need to throw a Seal All spell towards the portal. It's our only chance."
"Rissy," her brother whispered, "I don't—what if Jenova—"
"You were born to do this, Patrick! I don't care what anybody else has said or done."
Reeve reached out with his free hand, grasping the shoulder of the boy he should have treated as his own son. "I believe in you. We all do."
"Don't look back," Cloud said. "You'll have the best chance when Zuri drops her Wall. Momentum and surprise."
Patrick closed his eyes. Always the prodigy. Always too strong, too angry. He looked out, scrutinizing the alien creatures who were pushing against their magical barrier. Testing for flaws, weaknesses. Waiting to hurt them all even more. Nothing in his life would have been the way it was, if it weren't for them. Rage bubbled within him and, for once, he embraced it.
"Zuri, now," he heard his sister scream, and he let go.
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("Wait, child."
The voice was as familiar as it was soothing. It wasn't Jenova, it sounded more like…
Mother?
"Why not just leave the one you call 'Jenova' to us? She will be punished for being disobedient…and we'll set back this world to what is right."
How?
"By erasing every trace of our sister from this plane of existence. Starting with you.")
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A tendril of the E' Sha's smoky form reached out towards Patrick, coming into contact with the magical wall of Aeris, Reeve, and Cloud's casting. The metaphysical tremor jarred Patrick back into attention.
"No," he swore, eyes narrowing. He swung his spear upwards, and the protective glow around him arched around and beyond his weapon, shooting into the beings in front of him.
As they cowered, a reactive shriek reverberated throughout his body and mind. Still, they began to retreat towards the portal which, at some point, had ceased its expansion. In fact…
"Push them, Pat!" As Azura's voice rang out across the field, Patrick realized that the portal was shrinking. He reached down towards his favorite piece of materia, hoping that 4x cut would perform as well as it usually did.
Blow after blow fell upon the not-quite-solid things in front of him. Though Patrick was concentrating with all his mind, pushing against them with all his body, he suspected that the only reason they were falling back was the contact each swing caused the Wall Barrier to make with his targets.
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("It's not enough. It will never be enough. She will always remain here, unless you subject to us.")
The voice no longer sounded like Patrick's mother's. It was dark and unworldly. Every blow forced them closer to the dimensional door, but the voices never ceased the taunts.
("We do not forget. We do not forgive. And we do not die."
Just a little further…)
The final E' Sha form was halfway through the still-shrinking portal.
("As long as the smallest part remains to breathe, we will come for it. Your blood…")
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Several things then happened at once.
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The portal slammed shut around the final tendril of the final E' Sha.
The final tendril shot towards Patrick's left arm and, instead of meeting the resistance of the magical Wall, actually made contact.
The blue master materia held between Aeris, Reeve, and Cloud split down the middle, releasing a cloud of energy into the air, as the casters collapsed to the ground.
Patrick dropped his spear and, instead, grasped one of his sabres in his free hand. "Then take it."
And suddenly, the entire portal was obscured by a cloud of blue-green energy and a red tint that was, unmistakably, blood.
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"Pat!" Azura wailed. Preparing to cast a curative spell on him, the huge materia in her hands suddenly split as the other crystal had, not a moment before. Another cloud of energy made its way from the crystal—from her—and she sank to her knees in exhaustion. A type of exhaustion she'd never quite known before now…
"What is that?" Reeve rasped beside her.
"What is what?" Cloud was panting and nearly writhing on the ground.
"It reminds me of…Holy."
"It's not Holy." Aeris had struggled to her feet as she watched the haze gathering around them, past them, towards what was left of the portal. "It's Jenova."
"Jen—" Cloud scrabbled at the ground, finally using the assistance of Aeris's hand to rise to his feet. "Holy fuck, it's coming from everywhere."
"From everyone," she corrected, her voice strangely calm. The mist, which had been trickling through the remains of the portal, had finally begun to dissipate. "Zuri. Just a little push more."
The mage nodded, and her eyes closed. One small blur of green energy shot towards her target, and an ear-splitting crack rang out.
The portal was closed. The E' Sha were gone. The four of them felt drained to their very core.
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Patrick lay beneath the former location of the portal, unnaturally still.