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 spinoffs. That honor goes to Square-Enix.
Part II: Reunion
Chapter 29, On the Edge of the Odachi
December 25th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007
Zack dived forward, holding the Buster Sword up to shield himself and Aerith as rocks fell from the ceiling. Whatever this thing was, it needed to go and fast. It had been making the room shake and shudder for several seconds, and he was quickly getting the impression that if something wasn't done soon, the infernal thing would likely cause a cave-in. Cloud rushed in with Kunsel, both of them striking at the thing again as he heard gunshots from the rear once they'd gotten clear of the line of fire. Tifa seemed to be holding her own all right, having managed to land a graceful flying kick to the monster's head before it could retreat back into the wall before she backed away. The thing reached out with a giant clawed hand to knock Freya to the side before she could unleash another shotgun blast and he saw blood trickle down her sleeve before feeling the familiar energies as Aerith cast a cure spell on her.
The lady Turk nodded her thanks and Zack felt a limit break channel before noticing that Aerith seemed to have a shield similar to Barrier surrounding her. Now that she was adequately protected, he too raced forward, channeling a limit of his own, memories of Cissnei sharpening his concentration as he ran at the beast, leaping to drive the Buster Sword directly into its head. The monster let out a strange croaking noise and then withdrew into the wall, leaving the way clear.
They barely had a chance to catch their breaths before the door in the wall opened and in came Cait Sith on his mog. "Sorry to keep ye waitin'," the cat said, "It's me!" He was already heading past them but he paused to look back at them. "I'll handle the rest. Well, everyone… Take care of yourselves…"
Aerith walked over to the cat, as though she had something to say. "Cait Sith…" She looked over at Zack imploringly. "Can't anyone say something?"
Zack rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know, I mean, I've never been a real big fan of goodbyes."
"No problem lad, I feel the same way," Cait interjected.
Aerith thought for a moment and then seemed to get an idea. "I know, why don't you read our fortunes again? You are always right, right?"
The little cat thought for a moment. "All right. It's pretty soon since th' last time, but I haven' read yours yet lass. I'm excited. Right or wrong, I'm still th' same ol' me. Now what would you like to know?"
Aerith deliberated for a moment. "How about telling us how compatible I am with Zack?"
"That'll cost ya exac'ly one date!" Cait Sith said. "Here I go!"
He twitched his tail and spent a little time deliberating before speaking again. "Well well…"
"What is it?" Aerith asked.
"You are perfect for each other, your stars show a great future! Zack, I'll be your matchmaker, your preacher, I'll do whatever you want me to! Just call me when it happens!"
Zack walked over to Aerith. "Sure."
The little robot smiled. "Thank you for allowin' me to do what I could, even though I was a spy. This is the final, final farewell." With that, he hopped off through the door.
"Be strong Cait Sith!" Aerith called after him. There was no sound of reply.
"Well guys, we should get out of here, Zack said at last. An air of extreme melancholy descended upon them as they walked out the door. In spite of his deceptions, in a way, there had been something a lot more human and self-aware about Reeve's little robot cat than any of them had particularly cared to admit.
It was not long before they reached the other side of the bridge and Zack was sure he could feel the ground rumbling beneath him. Apparently they weren't the only ones who had noticed. Barret and the others had appeared out of the foliage. "Wha's goin' on?" he asked.
"Cait Sith's making the Black Materia smaller so we can get it," Tifa explained.
The man nodded and everyone turned their attention back to the pyramid beyond the walls. Before their eyes, it seemed to be swathed in some sort of dark energy, and before they knew it, it seemed to grow smaller and smaller, disappearing from view. It was at that moment when he realized Tseng appeared to be more alert than usual. That told him all he needed to know and he bolted forward, followed by Aerith and Cloud. Tseng was hardly out of shape. He wouldn't be able to do his job if he wasn't in peak condition, but for all his training, he was still only human. Compared to a 1st Class SOLDIER, there was no contest. Zack reached the edge of the pit that the Black Materia had left and Cloud was right behind him as he jumped down into it, picking up the dark crystalline object in his hand. Cloud landed next to him and Aerith reached the edge just after Tseng. The Turk slid down the steep incline, controlling his fall so that he landed next to Cloud, while Aerith slowly climbed down. Zack watched him warily as the flower girl reached the three of them.
"So this is the Black Materia," Tseng said.
Zack nodded and turned to Aerith. "As long as we have this, Sephiroth won't be able to use Meteor, right?"
Aerith nodded. "That should be the case."
"What about you?" Cloud asked. "Can you use it?"
Aerith shook her head. "No, not now. You need great spiritual power for that."
"So a whole lot of Spirit Energy," Zack said.
"That's right. One person's power alone won't do it." Aerith and Cloud walked a little closer to get a better look at the materia as she went on. "He would need to go somewhere special, where there's plenty of the Planet's energy…"
"Like the Promised Land?" Tseng asked.
"But Sephiroth isn't an Ancient, so he shouldn't be able to find the Promised Land, right?" Cloud asked.
Aerith sighed and looked like she was about to say something when her gaze lifted and her expression became one of surprise.
"…Ah, but I have." A shadow fell over them and Zack looked up. Floating a short distance above them, his expression filled with the self-assurance that he had already won, was the very man whom they were now discussing…
The files finished loading and Rayleigh looked through the now completed list. The Jenova Project, The Reunion Theory, Sephiroth's medical records, the Subject Log. It was all here. All complete. She wavered for a moment. The Reunion Theory beckoned, and so, she clicked on the file and started to read. The majority of it was taken up with discussions of the properties of Jenova cells, however, as she neared the conclusion, she started to get into the meat.
…In short, it is my belief that subjects possessing high enough concentrations of Jenova Cells are drawn together and have a strong affinity for each other. S-cells should be similar enough to retain that property and theoretically should be similar enough to Jenova cells that subjects should be drawn back to Jenova's main cell concentration. As such, it is my intent to test this theory by using S-cells in SOLDIER enhancements and measuring the strength of this pull. I predict that within ten years, all of the test subjects who survive the procedure should reappear in Migar, attempting to get closer to Jenova…
Her breath caught in her throat. Jenova? Jenova had been in Midgar, right? But then Zack had told her that Sephiroth had her with him, somehow… Her eyes widened as she gripped her PHS. If the new idea forming in her mind was the truth… No, it couldn't be… she was sure they would have noticed something…
There were footsteps and Liz appeared at the door to her office, not bothering to knock. "Doctor, Number VI is awake but he's acting really strange, even for him."
She stood and followed the renegade back down the hall to the private room, when she heard the sound of a strange eerie laughter. She entered the room to see Tanjuu watching the man with concern. He was cackling with insane glee though few could miss the words he managed between giggles, and it chilled her down the marrow of her bones. "He's won!... Reunion… all will go to the north… and he will rain Calamity from the Skies… They'll give it to him… they found it!... Black Materia…"
The concern was too great now to dispel. She reached for her PHS again and dialed Zack's number. Everything fit far too well to be a coincidence anymore. The Temple of the Ancients, Sephiroth, Jenova, Hojo, Reunion. Whatever the silver general had in mind, Zack and Cloud hadn't been chasing him at all. He'd been leading them! She didn't know if they were aware or if Jenova had actually been calling them, but they had to know if there was a possibility. It was too dangerous for them not to. She thrust the PHS to her ear, realizing the pounding of her heart as the sound of the call connecting echoed through the speaker. With each ring there was a lower likelihood that the dark-haired SOLDIER was going to answer, and when the call timed out, she tried again, forcing herself not to panic. 'Gaia, Zack,' She thought, 'Please. Pick up!'…
Cloud was itching to reach for his broadsword as soon as he saw Sephiroth floating above them, continuing to talk. "I'm far superior to the Ancients. I became a traveler of the Lifestream and gained their knowledge and wisdom, as well as that of those who came after their extinction. And soon, I will create the future."
"We won't let you do it!" Aerith exclaimed furiously. "The future is not only yours!"
Sephiroth floated slightly higher, laughing. "Ha, ha, ha… I wonder?"
With the grace of an angel, he floated down to the ground in front of them and to Cloud's confusion, Zack seemed to be transfixed, his eyes not wavering from the formal general. Cloud gasped when slowly, his friend reached out his hand as though to give the Black Materia to Sephiroth, and the entire scene seemed to freeze, branding itself into Cloud's memory…
The silence was broken as everyone heard a familiar ringing noise. A PHS? Zack shook his head as though coming out of a trance and realized what he was doing. "What the hell?!" He looked down at the materia in his hand, the horror evident in his voice before he once again leveled his gaze at Sephiroth, anger and shock on his face that swiftly turned to pure defiance. The set of his jaw hardened and his eyes smoldered the air between them with a cold fury that had rarely been there before. As though it was a monumental effort, he ever so slowly eased the materia into his pocket. "I don't know what it was you just tried to do Sephiroth," he said, his voice almost a growl. "But if you want this, you'll have to get through me first."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "Really? How disobedient. No matter, I suppose I'll just have to teach you some discipline."
"Wake up!" Cloud's vision became hazy, and then suddenly, everything seemed far away, almost as though what he was seeing was filtered through someone else's senses. Distantly he became aware of a loud buzzing sound, and his head throbbed as first his knees dropped from under him and then his body moved of its own accord.
"There Cloud… Good boy…" Sephiroth intoned.
"Cloud!" Distantly he heard Tifa's voice and Aerith's in unison, but he was already drawing his sword and approaching...
"No…" It was only because the girls had called attention to his strike that Zack managed to block in time, dodging out of the way before Cloud could swipe at him with the Butterfly Edge.
"Whoa! Cloud! What's wrong! Snap out of it!" Zack parried blow after blow, and moved in a defensive position. Tifa had slid down into the pit and was standing nearby with Tseng, not sure what to do. In a terrifying moment their eyes met and Zack's violet ones widened in surprise. "Shiva, Cloud! What did he do to you?! Don't worry…" He ducked as Cloud slashed with the Butterfly Edge in his off hand. "…We're gonna find a way to fix this…" He ducked again and Cloud internally winced when he saw that several black strands had flown free when his blade tore way too close to his friend's head. Zack turned his attention back to the others, catching Cloud's broadsword with the Buster. "Guys! Stay out of his range! I can handle this!" He dodged a hair's breadth before the Butterfly Edge nearly grazed his hand on the Buster's hilt.
"But what about Cloud?!" Tifa demanded.
Zack struck with the flat of his sword and while Cloud's head swam from the impact, whatever seemed to be controlling him suddenly changed his target. He moved like lightning, and right in front of him, while distant laughter echoed in his ears, he realized why. A flash of pink, familiar green eyes…
"No…" He thought again.
He approached Aerith and his horror mounted when another figure jumped in front of him. Tifa stood there, poised to defend the flower girl. He raised his sword…
"Stop!"
Someone behind him caught him, his blade just inches from Tifa's arm. The moment froze again as he fought himself, but this time, he felt something sharp connect with his chest, before his eyelids drooped, his body went limp, and he knew no more…
If anything Sephiroth seemed only mildly disappointed that Tseng managed to knock Cloud out with a tranquilizer dart, but nevertheless, the fact remained that he was now regarding Zack with a look of serious annoyance. Tifa caught Cloud as Zack released him, holding him in her arms while Aerith and Tseng stood, united for once in the face of the enemy. "An entertaining performance…" he finally offered, "But you cannot hope to defeat me. The Black Materia will be mine. One way or another you will give it to me."
"That's what you think," Zack shot back.
"Oops! This looks like I came at a bad time!" Everyone spared a moment to glance up at the rim of the hole they were standing in to see a familiar looking robot cat on a giant mog. "I'm Cait Sith No. 2. Right pleased to meet you all!..."
"You're right Cait, now is not the time for that!" Another familiar voice interrupted. Freya stood at the edge of the hole, her shotgun trained at Sephiroth, along with Vincent and Barret who were all aiming in the same direction. Yuffie stood to one side of them with her shuriken, and Cissnei hefted her rekka on the other side of the group. Kunsel slid down the slope to take a position next to Zack, while Nanaki leapt down to flank him on the other side.
Sephiroth floated a little higher, his eyes still trained hungrily at the dark haired SOLDIER. "So that is how we'll have to settle things. Very well, I will teach you to follow orders."
There was a bright flash, and suddenly the former general was no longer there. Instead, Zack saw a familiar mass of tentacles shaped into a vaguely angelic female form. Jenova again, and it landed with a loud thump, followed by the grinding of fallen sand and gravel underneath it. On reflex he and Kunsel both cast barriers around Aerith, Cloud, and Tifa, before charging into the fray. Zack heard the sound of a gun going off as Tseng fired two shots at the giant mass.
Zack lunged, digging the Buster Sword deep into it while Kunsel leapt higher, slashing at one of the wing like appendages before using his momentum to connect with the upper wall of the hollow in which they were fighting and used one hand to hold himself up, calculating his next strike.
Jenova did not take kindly to that and Zack had to duck when it fired a blue beam in their direction, before hurling a tentacle at his friend, and forcing him to drop in order to avoid the strike. The ground rumbled underneath him and he realized that Nanaki had just cast a quake spell. Jenova flinched away from the red lion, but retaliated with an attack composed of watery projectiles. Nanaki dodged most of them but was unable to avoid being hit by one of the last of the attacks and was knocked to the ground.
Two shuriken flew through the air overhead followed by a hail of bullets from Barret's gun arm. Yuffie let out a yell of triumph before a large humanoid shadow fell over Jenova and Titan unleashed his wrath upon it. Jenova writhed angrily before lashing out with a wave of blue flames across the ledge up above the gap. Zack took advantage of its distraction to run back in and try for another stab, but right at that moment, he felt a limit break channel up above, and caught a glimpse of Cissnei unleashing two powerful attacks with her rekka.
That was when he also felt the energy of a spell being cast and saw that a reflect spell had come into effect on their opponent. Well, he was pretty sure he had the solution for that. Upon backing up for a moment and letting Kunsel have a turn at the monster's lower tentacles, he reached into his pocket for the Destruct materia he'd been carrying around, however, he suddenly heard Freya shout "No wait!"
A wave of electricity washed over Jenova before predictably, it seemed to return to the person who had cast it. Barret grunted in pain as Freya moved to heal him before letting out a roar and channeling a limit break of his own, aiming with laser guided precision and firing off a powerful blow.
Zack ran up the side of the pit before vaulting off and landing on the abomination's back, digging the Buster Sword deep into its shoulders. Once he pulled it back out, Tseng fired again, only this time having to dodge when Jenova's tentacles attempted to whip out at him. Zack leapt back to the ground, slashing through another tentacle on the way down and made another attempt to load the Destruct materia into his bangle. He heard Tseng grunt after barely evading another wave of blue flames before finally, the materia found the slot, and he started to charge up a Debarrier spell.
That was when he suddenly felt a limit break channel that he'd never felt before. He had never seen Tseng this worked up, but now, his hair askew, and his face for once wearing an expression that was far from being blank, he watched as the Turk raised his gun and carefully aimed up at the monster before him, firing once. Jenova shuddered, and suddenly Zack noticed that it seemed to be moving slower, and that it seemed to be bleeding in several places.
He didn't waste any further time, but cast his Debarrier spell before any further shenanigans could happen, and suddenly felt the area charged with electricity. An old man had appeared on the ledge above the pit and he was calling a storm down upon their enemy. Thunder roared as Ramuh unleashed a storm of lightning upon Jenova. The monster they were fighting suddenly went limp and then disappeared into nothing.
An uncomfortable silence permeated the area and Zack looked around taking stock of the damage. Cloud was unconscious, and even though Tifa had just unleashed that summon and ended the fight, she knelt beside him. Freya slid down next to them. "Is he all right?" she asked.
"I don't know," Tifa answered.
Zack suddenly heard his PHS ringing again and didn't bother to check the caller ID before answering. "Hello?"
"Zack! Oh thank Gaia, I got through. Listen, Shalua's finished the decryption on those documents. There's something about Hojo's experiments that you really need to know. It has to do with Jenova and Sephiroth." Rayleigh was breathless as she spoke, and Zack felt his heart sink even lower.
"We can talk about that later Doc… Whatever it is, I think I at least have an idea…"
The doctor took a moment to process this information before speaking. "What happened?"
"A lot of things. We managed to keep Sephiroth from getting what he wants but… I think there's going to be a lot of discussion when we get back."
Rayleigh almost cut him off. "This time, I must insist. I don't care where Sephiroth is going, the two of you need to come back here now."
"You're right," Zack agreed. "We'll be there as soon as Cissnei can fly us."
"I'll be waiting at the lodge when you return. Don't delay."
"Got it." He hung up the PHS and walked over to Tifa and Aerith. "Are you two okay?" he asked.
Tifa nodded wordlessly, holding Cloud's unconscious form close. Aerith came over to Zack and put her arms around him. "It's not your fault…" She whispered, halfway to a sob. "And it wasn't Cloud's either."
"I didn't think that for a second," Zack said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. It was a little frightening though. Almost before he'd known it, he'd been halfway to handing the materia over to Sephiroth. If he hadn't caught himself… No, if Rayleigh hadn't tried to call him when she did… And when he'd been fighting Cloud, he could have sworn his friend's normally blue eyes had turned an eerie reptilian green.
Gaia, what are we?
He reached into his pocket, to make sure the Black Materia was still there and sighed with relief when he felt it under his palm. "We need to get going," he reached down to help Tifa lift Cloud so they could pull him out of the pit.
"Leaving so soon?"
Zack looked up the wall of the pit until his eyes landed on the new arrival. He shot the man a grin even as he fought down annoyance at the fact that they were facing another holdup. "Rufus. Late to the party I see."
"Fashionably of course, though I'm sure I'm not too late to pick up my party favor. Was Tseng able to hold it for me?" The current president of the Shinra Electric Power Company smirked, training his gun at the SOLDIER along with Elena, and Reno and Rude stood at their flanks, ready for a fight. Palmer stood behind them, holding another strange looking gun, but he looked less sure of himself.
"I'm afraid we got to it before he did. He could try of course, but from the look of things, it'd be like having a bull's-eye painted on his back a mile wide. I doubt even I could get out of this hole fast enough with this many watching my every move." Zack gestured to the much larger collection of people representing their side of the silent stand-off. The implication was quite clear. Even if Tseng helped Rufus, his side was vastly outnumbered and heavily outgunned. On Zack's side, without Cloud or Cait Sith, there were still ten very capable fighters here to Rufus's six. Two of those ten were 1st Class SOLDIERs, and the majority of the others were masters of their various fighting styles. Any fool could see that a direct confrontation would be a blood bath. Even Palmer could do the math.
Zack took a moment to think about his words before he spoke again. "Now here's the thing, I really don't want anyone else to get hurt. So this is what we're gonna do. My guys are gonna watch you very closely while we get out of here, and Tseng can climb up to you guys if he wants. Then we'll be going, unless you want us to settle this right here. Though really, I think you've got bigger problems than us to worry about with Sephiroth running around."
"But therein lies the problem," Tseng said. "You have the object Sephiroth wants to use to destroy the world, and judging by what happened, you are in no condition to be carrying it."
"And you guys are any better?" Zack retorted. "I've seen what happens when your scientists play with materia, thanks." He gestured that Tifa and Kunsel continue carrying Cloud out of the pit while he and Freya stood protectively in front of them, and their comrades covered them from above. Tseng took the hint and slowly started climbing up the other side of the gap, until he was standing next to Rufus. Once everyone else was out, Zack gave Freya a boost so she could climb out and then he took a running leap to grab onto a large root sticking out of the dirt and used that to pull himself up.
Once he was topside, he happened to hear Tseng on his PHS on the other side. "I need a transport helicopter back to Junon immediately… yes, the coordinates are..." He rattled off some numbers.
Zack was about to tell the others to head back when Freya called across the gap "Hey Reno!"
The red head looked up. "What?"
"What did you do with Cid's plane?"
"You can take it for all I care!" The red-head answered back. "It's not like we need it anymore, and chances are that flyboy won't be needing it either."
"Why's that?" Zack asked.
"Because after the stunt he and that technician he lives with pulled, the army's probably already got him. They did try to shoot us, after all."
Freya whispered something that sounded like "No," before she turned to look at Zack. "I'll be back at the lodge as soon as I can, but I need to go. There's not much more I can do here and I know between Rayleigh and everyone else, Cloud'll be in good hands."
Zack nodded. "Go do what you have to do."
She smiled sadly. "You be safe and don't do anything crazy until then, all right?"
"We'll be fine," Zack said, though he was sure he sounded as tired as he felt. The huntress cocked her shotgun, in readiness to take on whatever might be waiting in the jungle, and then quickly vanished into the undergrowth.
Reno looked like he was halfway considering going after her, but Tseng put a hand on his shoulder and indicated the fact that Vincent's gun was aimed directly at his heart. The standoff continued for an agonizingly long amount of time before the sound of a propeller plane echoed over the tree line and then faded into nothing. As if that were the signal to retreat, both parties slowly backed away from the gaping hole in the middle of the temple grounds, and once they were out of sight of the bridge leading across the surrounding steam vents, the group turned around and hurried back to the helicopter.
As Zack took a seat next to the stretcher where Cloud had been secured and Tifa took the opposite side with Aerith next to her, he found himself dearly wishing to pound his fist into the hull. This should have been a moment to celebrate. By denying Sephiroth what he wanted, he was just about certain they'd just saved the world, but it didn't feel anywhere near a victory. Instead, he found himself looking down at the Black Materia, holding it in his hand and wondering if his having it was any better. What was he supposed to do with this thing, when one of the last people he could trust with it was himself?
Whoa. A shorter chapter, but definitely a busy one. We also get to see some new limit breaks.
So in order of appearance:
Protection: Freya's level 2 limit break. Allows one party member to be Invincible for a short period of time.
Double Shuriken: Cissnei's level 2 limit break. Two powerful shuriken attacks thrown in quick succession.
And finally, a surprise appearance from Tseng's limit break.
Dead-Eye: A powerful well-placed gunshot that causes a devastating amount of damage as well as the Curse and Sap status effects. Instakill on normal enemies, but Jenova ain't no normal enemy, now is she?
The original party would have just gotten to Wutai right about now, but anyway, hope to see ya next time!