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 42, One Winged Angel

January 3rd [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

Tseng was watching the crater from his perch on the weather deck alongside Liz and Dr. Rayleigh when suddenly a great explosion wracked its way through the center of the crater. As he squinted, the female renegade reached for her binoculars and peered through them, straining to see what was going on. "Well, it looks like the party has started," she commented.

Tseng's eyes widened almost imperceptibly at what he was witnessing. There was something at the center of the crater, and it appeared to be getting bigger. He wasn't quite sure what he now saw. From this distance, it seemed to have nearly insectoid features, and yet it also bore a pair of winglike appendages. Could that be…?

"What on the planet is THAT thing?" Rayleigh exclaimed.

"I think it's Sephiroth."

As if to confirm Tseng's statement, several bright lights appeared around the giant being, telltale signs that some summons had been called on.

Cloud shielded his eyes as the light permeated the room but then he distinctly heard the ceiling crack above them and was barely able to get to Tifa in time, using his body and the Buster Sword to protect her from the crumbling debris as Kunsel cast a Wall on someone nearby. On the ground, he noticed the Yoshiyuki, sitting where he had dropped it and as the first flakes of snow filtered in from the sky opened up above them, he picked it up and secured it on his back. Somehow, the Buster Sword seemed like the right weapon to use for this.

Tremors wracked their way through the cave and he saw a shower of stars as Aerith channeled a limit break and suddenly he found himself impervious to the falling debris. He looked down at Tifa, "You all right?" he asked.

She nodded, her face hardened in determination. "Let's go get him!"

He pulled her up and, followed by the rest of the party, they started leaping up after the growing and mutating mass of flesh and sinew. It was a simple matter, to hop between the falling rocks and crystals until everyone but Aerith, Cissnei, and Cait Sith, who had stayed behind to tend to Zack and Vincent, had taken up positions around the newly opened hole at the floor of the crater.

In the dim light glowing up from the hole they'd just climbed out of, Cloud could see that Sephiroth had changed into a strange and nightmarish figure, having grown considerably larger, turned an eerie bluish color and had developed a couple of wing arms and a strange extra head with antennae. Gaia, he sure hoped his own enhancements wouldn't do anything like that.

Reno, Rude, Barret, and Freya had ended up a ways off to their right while Elena and Nanaki had ended up further on their left. Kunsel, Cid, Tifa, and Yuffie landed nearby and they regarded the monstrosity for only a second before Cloud lifted the Buster Sword and called out "Charge!"

As one, several of the group began casting while others raced forward to leap into the air and take a chunk out of him that way. Ramuh and Ifrit, Odin, Titan, Shiva, and Chocomog. All six summons deployed at the same time raining destruction down on the monster before Cloud and Kunsel raced in after the others to dig their swords into his flesh in unison while Yuffie and Cissnei let loose their shurikens and Barret and Freya unleashed a spread of devastation from a little further away.

As Cloud leapt back, his boots skidding on the ice-covered floor of the crater, he saw Tifa casting a Bio into the mix and Nanaki letting loose a Demi.

Sephiroth was already retaliating, reaching out with his winged appendages to swat away the melee fighters like flies. Kunsel rolled out of the way and into a crouch nearby, casting a Bolt spell while Reno and Rude both attacked with a series of fire blasts.

"Fire in the hole!" One of Elena's grenades flew by overhead and and everyone ducked as an explosion rang out from near Sephiroth's midsection. He let out an unearthly roar, and fire and ice spells peppered the ground.

Cloud managed to get out of the way, though by now, Aerith's limit break had apparently worn off, because some of the flames clipped his leg and he'd felt it burn him a little. He ignored it though, instead letting loose a powerful Fire spell of his own, and then leapt into the air again to take advantage of the burn he'd inflicted to try doing more damage. Unfortunately, he got sent flying by one of Sephiroth's flailing wing appendages and ended up rolling on the ground to avoid most of the damage. The chill of the ice under his gloved hands would have been painful had he not been enhanced, but he picked himself up and charged again.

Around him, he could see the others continuing their assault with weapons and spells. Cid leapt into the air for an assault with his spear, while Nanaki moved in from below to get at Spehiroth's flanks.

That was when an idea occurred to him. He reached into his pocket and equipped Bahamut. This had worked with Chocomog, right? If they could just get enough height on it, they might have an easier time getting at Sephiroth's more vulnerable parts for a more effective assault. Concentrating, he allowed the summon materia to tap into his energy and suddenly a rush of wind rose up around him.

When he looked up, he could see a silver-blue dragon before him with armored scales. As though it had sensed what he wanted, it stood there, waiting for him. Cloud raced forward, hopping up on the dragon's back, and before he noticed, Kunsel, Tifa, and Cid had joined him. The dragon hurtled into the air, just barely avoiding one of Sephiroth's wings and a horde of magic spells. It jostled them slightly as it pulled for altitude before opening its mouth, letting loose a powerful blue beam of energy. Since they could already tell Bahamut was starting to disappear, Cloud and the others leapt into the air, each one channeling a limit break as they fell to the ground. Cloud summoned a storm of meteors that pummeled the central body and Tifa landed a series of hardened blows to the left wing before jumping away to land in a crouch.

Kunsel dived for the other wing, letting loose five powerful strikes in a sequence almost too fast to see while Cid dove towards Sephiroth's upper head, unleashing a powerful explosion. All of them dived out of the way when Sephiroth cast another powerful wave of spells to try and fend them off. Cloud rolled away, a series of explosive bursts lighting up the sky above him before he looked up again, and his mouth fell open in surprise. Sephiroth was sinking to the ground, as though he were collapsing in on himself, but more importantly, as he fell towards the hole, Cloud could already see their enemy's body changing yet again. What the…?

The thing that stood before them now under the unforgiving northern sky appeared with Sephiroth's face and the upper body of a gigantic man whose lower half had been replaced by six great white wings while his right arm had been replaced by a single black one. Two golden glowing disks rotated behind him and Cloud could see him looking down upon them with pure disdain.

His eyes narrowed as they locked with the glowing reptilian green ones of the would-be god and destroyer of the planet, and then set to work on casting his highest level fire spell while Kunsel raced forward with his sword charged by his Bolt and Elemental materia.

The ex-SOLDIER leapt as high as he could go, using a rock ledge to pull for the most height he could manage and sliced at one of the wings while two shurikens and a shotgun blast rang out over the battle field. Off in the distance, he could hear Reno and Rude casting again while on the opposite side of the fight, a powerful beam of energy issued from the general direction of where he thought Nanaki was. His Fire spell deployed in a burst of flames around their enemy but just at that moment, Sephiroth called forth what seemed to be a ball of energy as dark and black as a void, hurling it through the falling snow directly at the hole in the ground as though he were going for Aerith, Vincent and Zack. He felt a limit channel, and almost as though he'd teleported, Kunsel appeared in the way of the attack. While he was well able to take the brunt of it, the dark energy swirled around him opening wounds as though a void was ripping them through the space-time continuum.

The others doubled down on their assault, spells flying in a torrent around the crater, even as Sephiroth reached out with his wing, knocking Tifa away when she leapt up to try and attack him once again. Cloud's eyes widened once he saw her go flying across the crater and ran to catch her.

He could already hear Barret letting loose a battle cry as he unloaded a burst of gunfire at their enemy, and Yuffie channeling another limit, her shuriken striking like a snake in her hand, as she let loose a powerful flurry of attacks from several angles,. He leapt underneath Tifa, catching her before she hit the ground, but could see the attack had left her Petrified. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a Remedy, taking cover by a rock as he did so, and popping the bottle open so its healing effects could be utilized.

As the fight went on around them, she stirred and blinked. "Cloud?"

He said nothing but gestured that they needed to get back to the fight. She nodded in understanding and ran back out into the fray, with him right behind her. Cait Sith attacked with his megaphone from near the hole in the ground just when they returned to the fray, but suddenly, Sephiroth flew higher into the air, and raised his left arm, calling on a gigantic blue beam of light. There wasn't time to run for cover, before it rocketed to the ground, straight for Cid. There was no way anyone could get to him, and suddenly, he looked a whole lot smaller and less energetic. Cissnei ran across the battlefield, another limit channeling as she threw her Rekka up at the flying creature, and Cid appeared to have been restored to his normal size, but he was still somewhat slower.

Cloud reached for Bahamut one more time, thinking that he might be able to use it to get up where he could get an attack in, when Sephiroth raised his hand again, calling forth a white orb of powerful energy. Somehow he knew this one was going to hurt, even as he raced forward, knocking Tifa to the ground behind a rock while Kunsel and the others were doing what they could to put walls and barriers in place and Freya let loose a barrage of shot gun bursts.

Sheltering behind the rock, he felt the energy whoosh around them in a wave, burning white hot as it flowed over the battlefield. When he looked out over the floor of the crater, the sight that met his eyes was terrifying. Reno and Rude had apparently also found shelter, but Barret had taken the brunt of the attack after having jumped in front of Yuffie, and Cid also looked very much the worse for wear. Freya had already rushed over to where Kunsel lay, a Cure spell playing at her fingertips and a Phoenix Down in her other hand. Cait Sith also was hurrying out onto the field with Elena, who threw another grenade as she went, along with unloading all the ammo in her gun.

Like a great bird of prey floating in to finish the kill, Sephiroth floated down, closer to the ground and Cloud could almost see a smirk on his face.

Tossing a Cure in Tifa's direction, Cloud raced out to meet his enemy, standing before him in the torrent of snow that was quickly becoming a blizzard, and once again, he reached for the energy deep within him, calling on the limit he'd channeled down in the mako cave below them. A whirlwind of snow and dust blotted out his view of the monstrosity, and he took that moment to once more reach for Bahamut, calling on its power to deploy once again.

The dragon flew up above him, looking down into the vortex and unleashing a powerful blast, clearing the snow away and leaving a fiery pit of ashen ground on the floor of the crater, just below where the smoke was clearing around Sephiroth's body.

The would-be god glared down at him and he felt a whisper at the back of his mind. "Very well 'Cloud,' I accept your challenge."

A wave of energy flowed through the area, and he could hear cries of pain around him and soon he realized one of them was his own as it ripped through his body, frying his nerves, burning his skin and muscle and tearing at the very fabric of his body until he fell to his knees. He could already hear the laughter in his mind as he struggled to stay conscious. "In the end 'Cloud,' this will mean nothing and you will only fail, as you have, so many many times. Whether you die here or not, your friends are still down in that cave. I will have the Black Materia, the world's knowledge will become a part of me and I will win…"

He looked up at the winged being who had once been a great man, with a quiet fury in his eyes. It was coming closer, he realized. To kill him? Probably. It was this that made him drag himself to his feet once more, and he could feel his arms protesting as he hefted the Buster Sword up one more time.

"You're wrong," he said softly, gritting his teeth as he moved into stance. "You already lost a long time ago, when you lost yourself in the basement of Shinra Mansion." With a monumental effort, he raced forth, coming at the self-proclaimed 'god' and, leaping into the air with all his strength, channeled a final limit break, raining meteors down upon the general out of the air around them. They fell into the snow, tearing many great holes into the caves beneath the ground and carving a path down into a current of Lifestream below them. Perhaps the most frightening thing about it, was that as he landed on the ground and his knees collapsed from under him, he didn't hear the former General cry out once, as the abomination collapsed and dissolved into the currents below them. The ground beneath him rumbled ominously …

On the floor of the Shinra building devoted to Urban Development, there was a small uproar near the director's office as a flurry of smoke poured out from under the door, and two small feline figures raced out distracting the guards. Thinking that someone was trying to escape, the guards all ran after the small pitter-patter of booted feet until they discovered an open ventilation shaft leading down into the bowels of the skyscraper.

Meanwhile, back at the office, no one noticed the man in a business suit carrying several folders and a small hand gun creep out the door and hurry down the path to another elevator until he was already inside its confines. Reeve jammed the button on the panel that he knew would take him down to the executive parking lot near the main floor of the Shinra building. For several pulse-pounding moments, the elevator continued downward, until, quite suddenly, it stopped. It was way too soon for him to be at his floor and the top panel lifted off of the roof of the passenger compartment. "Reeve!" A Cait Sith popped his head through the whole. "Get ootta there! Me sensors're showin an entire squad on the way comin' to get you!"

Tossing his belongings up to the little cat, he jumped and grabbed the edge of the hole. He wasn't a strong man by any means, but with the little robot helping him, he managed to crawl up into the elevator shaft and shut the trap door behind him just as the door to the floor he'd stopped on slid open. Above him, he could see the door for the floor above where he'd stopped. "Cait 5, could you open those doors for me?" he asked.

"Right'o!" The little robot climbed up to the door with the grace of, well, a cat, and using the servos within his little body, he gently worked the two sides of the door open wide enough for Reeve to squeeze through.

Crawling up onto the landing, Reeve looked around and saw that he was on the floor with the giant tree. The area was deserted due to it still being the middle of the night, so he only need worry about the guards that he could already hear inspecting his escape route. Running for the main elevator on the opposite side of the floor, he and Cait 5 managed to get through and he hit the down button just as a group of SOLDIERs were beginning to advance towards the lift. He was already more than halfway down by the time they spotted him, but he knew he couldn't possible come in at the main floor. That place would be crawling with guards. After a moment's deliberation, he turned his gun on the glass, and averting his eyes, he shot several holes through the transparent wall before pushing with his hand to knock the shards away completely. He'd only have a moment to get from here to the roof of the main floor. Gathering up his belongings and letting Cait 5 climb onto his shoulder, he took a deep breath and waited for the right moment. As the roof of the main hall came into sight, he raced forward, and leapt out of the elevator. He was lucky the panel of glass on which he landed was tempered; otherwise, it might not have held his weight. Unfortunately, that was when he heard the click of an assault weapon nearby and saw a pair of Heligunners pointing their weaponry at him.

"Never let it be said that you aren't one for overkill Rufus," he muttered, putting his hands in the air.

Zack opened his eyes for a moment as Aerith handed Vincent a water bottle she had carried with her. It had taken some time for the Phoenix down and the cure to work on the man but he seemed to be capable of walking under his own power now at least. Upon noticing he was awake, she walked over to him. "Zack?"

"Aerith… I knew you guys would come…" he offered her a smile, and reached out with his good hand to gently brush her honey brown bangs behind her ear. "Where are the others? Cloud… Vincent… are they all right?"

Vincent stood and limped over, silently affirming that he was capable of moving.

"Cloud and the others are fighting," Aerith answered. "It'll be over soon."

"Good…" Zack's eyes seemed to glaze over a little from exhaustion and the Lifestream exposure, but that was when a tremor racked its way through the cavern and he grimaced, the steel rod still embedded in his arm. "S-Shiva… what was that…?" She could see he was starting to shiver a little from the snow filtering in from above them. Had he not been injured so badly, it probably wouldn't be affecting him, but with his shoulder the way it was… She reached into her pack and found a blanket, wrapping it over what parts she could reach.

"Just stay warm, all right?" she whispered.

He put his good arm around her, pulling her close. "I'll t-try."

That was when their attention was drawn by several scraping sounds overhead. The three of them looked up and Aerith smiled when she saw several of the others climbing their way down into the hole. Kunsel was the first, followed by Freya, Cid, Tifa, and Cloud, who was carrying Nanaki while Yuffie, Cissnei, Barret, Cait Sith, and Reno, Rude, and Elena brought up the rear. "Cloud…" Zack looked up at his friend with a tired grin. "You did it…"

Cloud let Nanaki down and nodded, walking a little closer to get a good look at Zack, wincing as he did so. "Sephiroth did that?"

Zack nodded.

Cid walked up and took an assessing look at the rod. "We can get him loose, but it might be best to cut him out from behind."

"You're right," Kunsel agreed. "It'd be best to cut the front of it off too and leave the parts in his shoulder until the doc can see it, otherwise it might start bleeding again, and if he crushed some bones they won't heal properly with just a Cure."

"Do what you have to do…" Zack said. "I can take it."

"Right," Cid reached for his PHS before looking at the others. "We need someone to go back and get my power tools. I need my reciprocal saw $%&#!^ yesterday!"

Kunsel looked down at Yuffie. "You're probably the quickest, do you think if you went from the floor of the crater, you could make it?"

"Yeah," Yuffie agreed. Taking a running leap, she climbed the rest of the way back out and was gone within seconds, even as Cid was already talking to the crew on the Highwind. Aerith watched, slightly on edge as the Turks approached.

Reno took a good look at what had happened to the SOLDIER and even he winced. "Damn, you really do look terrible, yo."

"Yeah… kinda hard not to with this thing…" Zack grinned and gestured to the pole.

"Does it hurt?" Cissnei asked.

"Not as much as you'd think anymore… It was a little scary when I couldn't feel my hand for a bit though… If I didn't have my healing limit I might have lost that for good…"

"That sounds like there was some nerve damage…" Freya said. "Can you move it?"

"I'd rather not…" Another tremor wracked its way through the cave and Zack grimaced again. "What's with the quakes around here?" he said, clenching his teeth.

Aerith listened to the planet for a little. "I don't think they're waking up, but that was definitely enough to make the WEAPONs stir a little. We should get out of here as soon as possible. We don't want them to get any more active."

"WEAPONs?" Elena asked.

"Powerful beings created by the planet to eradicate things that hurt it," Aerith explained. "Let's just say they're very dangerous."

They waited a little longer as the snow filtered in through the ceiling which was now open to the clouded sky and frigid air. Soon Yuffie returned and slid down the side, a large case in one hand and a small box in the other. "The doctor sent some medicine too. She said to give it to Zack so he wouldn't feel it while the saw's going, because otherwise it'll hurt. A lot. She also said to tell you it's already adjusted to his weight, and to give it five minutes before you get to work." She handed the large case to Cid and the little box to Freya.

The Turk looked up at Zack, holding the syringe she had just removed from the box. "Are you ready?"

"Bring it," Zack challenged.

Freya nodded, walked over and jabbed the needle into his arm, dispensing the contents. Soon after that, he was pretty woozy, and not totally coherent anymore.

"All right," Cid said. "I need a couple of volunteers to keep him leaned back while I go at the front piece." He was all set to crank up the power saw as he spoke.

"I'll do it," Cloud offered.

"Good man," Cid nodded. "Just be careful. It wouldn't' do to get a face full of this $#!&."

Kunsel also stepped forward to support Zack's injured side while Cloud pulled his head back, and then Cid cranked up the saw, sending a loud whirring noise echoing through the crystal walls. Once he was sure it was in working order, he approached and carefully lowered his saw to the metal. Light blazed around them as sparks flew up from the metal pipe before the blade began moving through steel. It took several seconds before, at last, the front end of the rod was gone.

Cid stopped the saw at that point and lifted up his goggles. "All right, now, I want ya to pull him forward, just a little so I can get to the back end. Be careful, we don't want any more blood than we gotta have. That'll just complicate things."

Aerith watched nervously as Cloud and Kunsel lifted up her boyfriend's form and pulled him forward along the rod just slightly. After a moment, Kunsel looked up at the onlookers. "Guys, we need some things to pad his lower back so there's a space for the saw to work."

Aerith quickly took off her jacket and offered it to them. After a moment or so, Barret also offered his vest. Wrapping the case for the saw between the two articles of clothing, they wedged it between the wall and Zack's body, but just as Cid was about to start the saw again, another tremor wracked its way through the cavern.

Everyone looked around nervously. At first, it looked like the tremors would stop, but then suddenly they rebounded with renewed force.

"I don't know what's going on here, but we need to get moving!" Reno said.

"Cid?" Kunsel looked over at the man.

Cid nodded and hurried forward. Better to clip the man a little than kill him by not acting quickly enough. As the blade began to whir again, Aerith's eyes rose up to the top of the wall of mako crystals and her eyes widened. "Look out!" she called. Cid backed away while Cloud pulled the Buster Sword over himself, Zack and Kunsel.

Cid moved to try again, but another tremor prevented him from taking another step. "$%#&! These tremors are makin' it too dangerous to do anything! Get everyone outta here!"

At that point, Barret walked up to Aerith and said "Leave it ta them, he'll be all right. If anythin' happened to you 'cause ya stayed, he'd never forgive us."

Aerith shook her head. "I want to stay! I'm not leaving him!"

Tifa seemed just as determined. "I'm not leaving the guys either, we'll protect each other."

Kunsel looked over at Freya. "Get them out of here! We'll be right behind you!"

The Turk nodded, and took charge. "This is an order! Everyone move it! No sense for this place to come down on all of us!"

Freya and the other Turks were already working with a set of ropes to make a path for everyone to escape as the tremors were getting worse when an especially violent quake rode through the place like a wave. To Aerith's horror, several points on the wall began eroding away like they were being eaten by acid, revealing the Lifestream flowing beneath. She raced forward, slipping past Barret's attempt to keep her from getting any closer, when suddenly the wall behind Zack fell away. She watched as his prone body dropped into the vortex below, even as Kunsel and the others tried to reach for solid ground and catch him at the same time.

Almost at the same moment she saw Cloud reach for a rope that Cid had coiled near his supplies before lassoing it to a rock nearby. Securing the other end around his waist as he went, he raced towards the hole gaping down into the Lifestream below and dived in after him, the rope uncoiling out behind him…

I know I'm notorious for cliff-hangers, but I think I outdid myself this time. It wasn't just a cliff-hanger, it was literally a dive over the cliff head first! All joking aside though, for the first time in a long while, we actually have a couple of new limit breaks!

First we have Kunsel's: Double Time, a third tier limit that strikes an opponent five times in quick succession.

Cissnei also had one as well: Fairy's Kiss, a third tier limit that heals HP and cures Frog, Small, and Confuse.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a good Christmas (and where applicable, a good end-of-the-world party? Wasn't there something about that recently?) and that they have a Happy New Year!

See ya in 2013!