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 III: Demons

Chapter 69, Down the Rabbit Hole

June 21st [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 11:30 PM

Cid was flying a bomber-class airship, slightly smaller than the Highwind, over Midgar when he saw that they were nearly in position over the Sector 6 Reactor. "Attention crew, confirm missiles are ready to launch."

After a second someone replied through his headset "Confirmed. Armed and ready when you are sir."

He looked down at the button just to the left of the steering wheel and then reached for it. "All right, this is for trashin' the Highwind you Deepground #$!&$^#%!" Jamming the button for the first missile, he watched it fly out ahead of them through the window, bound for its target. A second followed, and then a third. The missiles made contact with the reactor, causing flames to burst from the installation in a huge display and the entire crew cheered. As Cid watched, one by one, across the city, the other reactors were starting to smoke and then burst into flame as the various teams that had infiltrated the city blew them sky-high, and the individual Sectors were going dark until at last, only the Shinra building remained, a pillar of light on an otherwise darkened plate surface. Zack and the other should be in there right now, and hopefully it would go dark soon too.

"Sir!" an intel officer interrupted his thoughts at that moment. "We've got several Dragonflies coming our way."

"Well, let's not disappoint 'em!" Cid said, gritting his teeth in a determined smile. "We still got plenty of ammo left! Missile bays, get loading!" With that, he turned the airship hard to the right to get into position for the next volley.

Kunsel paused to pepper covering fire at some of the Elites on the left stair as the forward group rushed to take Weiss. To his left, he could see the Turks moving to guard the left staircase while Cloud, Tifa, and Argento were working their way to the right. Spells and bullets peppered the air, when Genesis let loose a Flare, and flames washed over the mezzanine above them. Confident that should keep the Turks covered for the time being, Kunsel turned his attention to how Zack was doing, just in time to see Weiss go flying backwards through the window into the exhibit hall and over the side of the truck.

Aerith had ducked for cover, casting Walls and Cures where needed and Vincent had just dodged an attempt by Nero to try and absorb him into his darkness and was returning fire with his gun. Everyone on the stairs seemed to be holding their own, so Kunsel leapt through the window after Zack as the two SOLDIERs flanked Weiss, both striking with their swords. Weiss blocked both with a pair of powerful sideswipes before jumping up on top of the flatbed of the tricycle and launching an energy blast at both of them. Zack dodged right while Kunsel dodged the other way. Once he had evaded the blast, he opened fire with his gunblade while Zack unleashed a Fire 3 at the Immaculate Emperor, but Weiss jumped down from his perch, shooting a volley of machine gun fire in their direction.

Outside, Kunsel saw Vincent and Genesis were still playing tag with Nero, but that was the last glimpse he got for a while, as he was busy fleeing across the exhibit hall to take cover behind one of the cars on the right side of the room. Zack had joined him there and after trading a nod and casting a Wall spell apiece, the two of them leapt over the car and split, Zack going right, while Kunsel went left, drawing Weiss's attention with a few shots from his gunblade. Zack had almost reached Weiss and moved to strike when he blocked, knocking Zack backward, and sending him careening into the Hardy Daytona with a blow that shook the foundations of the building.

Weiss lifted his gunblades, ready to fire at the Ex-SOLDIER, however, at that point, someone else entered the equation. Cloud jumped down from the mezzanine, shattering the glass window above as he went and bringing the First Sword to bear on the White Tsviet. Weiss had to block with both swords and staggered backwards, breathing hard. It was at that point when Kunsel could see the man was sweating profusely in spit of his light attire. Was something wrong with him?

Something moved out of the corner of his eye and he rolled out of the way as a black mist enveloped the spot where he had been standing only moments before. He retaliated by shooting at it, but the mist and it's controller dissipated into thin air to reappear near Weiss. "Brother?" he asked.

"I'm fine Nero," Weiss growled. The Ebon Tsviet turned his attention to Cloud, and Weiss started running towards Zack. Zack tried to dodge and bring the Buster Sword around to try and take him from behind, however, several things happened at once. Nero's mist began to appear around Zack and he never would have had time to dodge with Weiss right on top of him, but at that point, a limit channeled on the second floor. A familiar red rekka flew around the exhibit hall, striking through the spot where Nero had tried to emerge four times before striking at Weiss another four. The two staggered before looking up to see Cissnei catch the rekka in her hand as she turned her attention back to a group of elites up on her own floor. Weiss backed away, clutching a shallow wound on his chest.

"Weiss!" Nero was at his side in an instant, and then in another, the two of them were gone. A few seconds later, the fighting upstairs had gone silent.

As soon as the danger was past, Aerith hurried over to Zack. "Are you all right?" she asked.

He nodded in affirmation. "Of course I am. Takes a lot more than that to take me out." After securing the Buster Sword to his back, he looked around at the others. No one else seemed to have been hurt that bad, aside from one or two of them who had sustained minor injuries, quickly healed with Restore materia.

"Where would they have gone?" Tifa asked.

"Maybe up to the President's office?" Zack suggested.

"Not likely," Vincent said, from where he stood near the entrance to the exhibit hall.

"He's right," Argento said, looking thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "I don't know if you noticed but something was clearly the matter, and it was more than just the fact that the young Turk here wounded him."

"Yeah," Kunsel murmured as he too secured his own sword behind him. "He almost looked sick."

"I didn't see much of your end of things, but he didn't have the stigma… did he?" Freya asked.

"It didn't look like it," Cloud said, though he was focusing his attention on checking to be sure they weren't about to be ambushed.

"Perhaps that protocol triggered after all," Argento mused.

"What, you mean the one that prevented you from fighting the Restrictors?" Tifa asked.

The Tsviet shook her head. "That was only supposed to happen should one of us actively attempt to kill a Restrictor. However, Weiss, at the time of his development was so powerful, they put a number of other failsafes in place." She took a couple of steps towards the model of Shinra #26, considering what she was about to say. "Initially, they felt he was too dangerous to be allowed out. One of the first things they did, was to imprison him in Reactor 0. But that wasn't the only precaution. Should a normal Tsviet attempt to harm a Restrictor, not only is a reversed Barrier spell triggered, rendering the attacker immobile, but the defending Restrictor would have then been able to do whatever he wished. Had I attacked Keter for instance, he could very well have cut off my head where I stood, if he didn't choose to take my remaining eye and possibly my heart first."

"Your point?" Genesis asked impatiently.

Argento raised her unobscured eyebrow, clearly not approving his impatience. "For Weiss, there were other precautions he had hoped to neutralize by using someone else to resolve, one of which was a powerful virus that could potentially take hold should a Restrictor be killed. We thought it was tied to our own actions. It wouldn't be reasonable otherwise. Accidents happen after all. But in that case, he's probably even more desperate to get the Protomateria now…"

Everyone had been listening to the Tsviet with rapt attention, but at that moment, the tense silence was interrupted when Zack's PHS buzzed. He clicked the button on the headset. "You've reached Zack." He listened for a moment and then turned back to the others with a quiet "Thanks Jessie," before speaking a little louder. "Intel says their chips showed up in the lowest area of the Shinra building where the satellite can get a signal."

Argento gave everyone an appraising look. "They're trying to lead us into Deepground itself, it's the final place remaining where they have the advantage."

"The sooner we catch up to them the better," Zack said.

Argento walked out . "We should be able to get there through the basement elevator system."

"Then let's go," Cloud said.

"Actually, this is where we're gonna have to go our separate ways yo." Every one looked over at Reno to see Rude standing next to him.

"Why's that?" Zack asked.

"Because we've got something else to do, good luck with Weiss guys," with that, the two Turks hurried up the stairs.

"Should we stop them?" Tifa asked.

Zack considered the question before shaking his head. "Every moment we're up here, that's one more person we can't save. Whatever Rufus asked them to do up on the upper floors can't be more important than stopping Weiss and Nero. Let's get going."

"Then follow me," Argento strode ahead of them and began quickly leading them down a hallway which brought them to a set of stairs into the basement.

June 22nd [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 1:00 AM

Vincent walked a short distance behind Zack, his eyes alert for any sign of pursuers. The last hour or so had been tense, as there was no telling when the next corner wouldn't house another Deepground soldier waiting to come in for the kill. After leaving the foyer of the Shinra building, they had been traveling progressively downward for a little while, first through a series of hallways, and then across the first bridge and down an elevator. If he remembered the recording Rufus had given them correctly, this should have been the elevator in which Elena and SOLDIER had first encountered a series of Aerial Mines. True to their account, a number of them had been flying around, making plenty of work for those in the party with ranged capability.

Afterwards, they had passed by several rooms with computer terminals, down another elevator and currently, they were passing through another series of corridors dimly lit by emergency lights. They were well below the Shinra building now, possibly even below the slums, down in the bedrock itself, if the sense of the immense amount of weight above them was any indication.

Up ahead, Zack paused, signaling that those with guns come to the front while everyone else should take cover. Freya and Kunsel cocked their weapons in anticipation, looking out through the door at a catwalk in the two-story room they were approaching. After a moment, the two of them left the doorway, fanning out to get better positions and Vincent headed out through the center. Barely a moment later, Vincent lifted Cerberus and fired off three shots at a Deepgrounder with a sniper rifle who was taking cover behind a couple of packing cases. Two more of them returned fire and Freya fired a blast at one of the doors on the second level while Kunsel set his sights on someone ducking behind some heavy machinery. Not long after, the room was silent.

Without a word, Argento took the lead again, walking over to a security door and typing in the key code. "How much further is it?" Freya asked.

"Not much longer," the Tsviet replied. The door opened, revealing a bridge over a huge precipice, only lit by a few Shinra issue fluorescent lamps. The gap was so deep, it seemed bottomless, Midgar's supports descending into the emptiness below before disappearing into nothing. "There's one last elevator to go, and then we'll be at the President's personal entrance." The Tsviet walked to the next security door, and as everyone gathered behind her, she quickly typed in another code on the keypad.

When the second door opened however, she let out an unmistakably disappointed "Oh…"

"What is it?" Zack stepped up to look through the door and upon seeing what lay beyond he backed up. "Yeah… I guess that would be a bit inconvenient." He turned around to face the others. "The elevator's out. All we've got's an empty shaft. It's not a terrible problem. Just means we'll have to climb down instead of ride."

"We should be more worried about what could happen while we're climbing," Kunsel suggested.

"Nero, most likely," Vincent said.

"Right," Zack said. "It looks pretty open, so…" he turned his attention to Genesis. "Do you mind being the advanced guard on this? We'll be right behind you."

Genesis unfurled his wing. "If you insist." With that, he stepped out into empty space and allowed the air to catch in his feathers, circling in the empty space below. As he went, Vincent noticed he had drawn Rapier and was holding it above him, the words inscribed upon the blade shining red, lighting the shaft in an eerie glow.

Zack looked over at Aerith and Tifa. "I need you two to be climbing buddies. I know you're both tough girls, but it's a real long fall."

The martial artist nodded. "We've got this!"

"What about you Zack?" Kunsel asked. "I hate to bring it up, but you've only got one arm to climb with. I doubt you'll be doing much with the Buster Sword on the way down."

Zack nodded. "I know, but we'll manage. I need you and Vincent to help cover Genesis. If anything's hiding out on the walls, he's going to be hitting it first."

Vincent moved closer to the shaft and the void it contained as everyone else worked out what order they'd be climbing in. Once he had confirmed that Kunsel was ready, the two of them lowered themselves down into the shaft. With the grace of a spider, Vincent maneuvered over to the opposite side so the swordsman could have room to move, and then began the task of descending along the lining of cables and steel supports that enveloped the empty space.

On the other side, Kunsel's hazel eyes reflected out of the gloom, though on occasion, he paused, and Vincent could hear the sound of something being affixed to the wall. Looking back up at one point, he could see a series of small battery operated lights, illuminating the way for those who were climbing behind them. In their glow, he saw Zack making his way down with Cissnei spotting for him. Cloud stood on another steel beam, protectively sticking close to Aerith while at the same time covering Tifa so she could climb down to where they stood. Argento dropped from one cable to another nearby and higher up, he could see Freya, standing on a crossbeam and checking their rear before sliding down to the next secure surface.

Looking down, he could see Genesis continuing to circle in the empty space below. The WEAPON was watching the walls, and after a moment he grabbed onto a cable, signaling a halt before unleashing a fireball below them. Vincent folded into his cloak to materialize next to the former SOLDIER and immediately spotted the remains of a Deepground soldier with a Shrike jet pack falling into the abyss. Another one was rising out of the depths, and Vincent aimed at the man's head, sending a bullet right through the singular eye piece on the soldier's helmet.

Kunsel had dropped to hang on a cable across the void and after a moment, he fired a shot from his gunblade at another target below them. Another Shrike dropped just as it pulled into view below them.

They waited in the darkened shaft for several moments as the echoes from their gunshots slowly died away, in case any further resistance awaited, but nothing seemed to be coming. Perhaps Genesis' Flare had sent most of the other sentries packing. But then… what if…

He glanced over at where Kunsel was adjusting his hold on the cable he was using for support and that was when he spotted the black mist a few feet higher, almost as if... "Above you," he said, before reaching out with his hand to cast Stop at the area above the swordsman. Kunsel only spared a moment to glance up before leaping to the side to grab another cable and then immediately cast Bolt at the location Nero had been threatening to occupy. The mist quickly vanished.

"This situation might be more serious than we thought," Genesis commented, the glow from his sword illuminating the black cables and those holding onto them in a blood red light.

Vincent nodded. "Those sentries were to confirm our location." Looking up through the dim path of lights Kunsel had been setting, he saw that the others had paused in their descent, all of them alert in case Nero appeared again.

The tense atmosphere held a physical presence in the empty void in spite of the echoes reverberating through the shaft for several seconds. Then, up above them, they heard Tifa yelp in surprise, jumping away from the spot where she had been hanging and casting a Bio spell at the location she had been mere moments before.

Half a second later, Aerith cried out as Zack let go of his own cable, running down the wall several feet. A spread of bullets followed after him as a Wall manifested around him before it came to a stop. Up above them, Cloud had cast a Fire spell which lit up the area overhead and the image of a man with two handguns disappeared in a puff of smoke. Zack leapt from the wall on which he was running to cross the gap and use his good hand to grab on a support beam a few feet below Genesis. "Phew," he said. Looking down as he pulled himself back up to secure ground. "Thanks Cloud." The other swordsman nodded, keeping his focus on the area around him.

After that, everyone started to pick up the pace of their descent. The lower they could go, the sooner they reached the bottom, and the less chance an uncontrolled fall would be fatal. A few moments later, a laugh permeated through the gloom. "You realize," a voice echoed through the shaft "as long as you are here, killing you would be as easy as shooting, if you'll pardon the expression, fish in a barrel. I can appear anywhere in here."

There was a surprised cry from above them and a report from Freya's shotgun before the lady Turk dropped several feet below where she had been standing to grab another cable and the Tsviet continued, "I can destroy the integrity of every handhold you could find." Below them, Vincent suddenly noticed a void blocking their path and promptly sent a Fire spell in that direction, accompanied by Genesis, as well as Cloud. The void did not react but Nero's speech continued. "And, I can hinder any attempt you make to find your way." With these words, suddenly, all of the lights Kunsel had placed along the shaft went dark, leaving only Genesis' sword and the eyes of those who had been exposed to mako as illumination. "In essence…" Nero finished, appearing in front of Zack, his blood red eyes contrasting with Zack's violet ones, making them seem almost blue in the dark as they illuminated each other's faces. "I've already won."

Zack looked directly back into the other man's obscured face, and his own eyes narrowed in the dark. "Tell it to the hand." Slowly, gritting his teeth with the effort of using his once-dominant hand, he brought it up to Nero's chest just enough so they were touching and Vincent felt magical energy trigger as a Thundara spell shot through the Ebon Tsviet's body.

The black mists below vanished and Nero let out an angry yell of surprise. The lights reappeared as the mist that had been obscuring them faded, but the Tsviet's voice echoed once more through the shaft. "Very well, have it your way." Another dark void opened up above them and Vincent could see the man was preparing to shoot, but Freya beat him too it, a shotgun blast reverberating above them as the shot permeated through the walls. Nero had already disappeared and Freya hopped down from the cables on which she'd been hanging to the support where Cissnei was standing.

Another void opened in the wall a short distance lower, across from where Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith stood. Vincent fired a shot but saw that Cloud had already seen it, for he had jumped from the beam where he was standing, drawing one of his switchblades. Flying across the gap, he stabbed the blade directly into the void. Nero had already vanished though, leaving the switchblade to embed itself in the wall. The swordsman grabbed another nearby cable before dislodging the blade and sheathing it again.

Genesis had let go of the wall by now, pumping his wing for altitude and Vincent felt something stir within him. Chaos was restless. Not that he himself wasn't. Any moment, Nero could come swooping in on them.

Something moved out of the corner of his eye and he brought Cerberus around just in time to see Tifa dodge behind a vertical girder to avoid a stream of gunfire. Aerith stood still nearby, but the Wall spell around her told him she was fine. Even so, Argento leapt down from another girder to take a guard position in front of the Ancient stemming the flow of bullets with an Ice spell. Once again the void in the middle of the shaft closed.

Overhead, a Bolt spell shot from Cissnei's hand, followed by Genesis soaring up to slash at something with Rapier. Silence returned, but Vincent remained tense. Nero couldn't have been scared off…

The very moment he thought of this, Chaos suddenly started becoming frantic. He barely noticed the changes before they were already happening, and by the time he realized it, he had dropped like a stone. His own wings caught the air and he was suddenly gaining lift, feeling power collecting in his own hand. Chaos flew past everyone, up and up. But the void had vanished, to reappear below everyone.

Vincent could hear several people calling his name as Chaos allowed itself to drop even further like a hawk diving after prey, but he was so busy attempting to wrest control back from the demon, he couldn't tell who. And then, without warning, the void lay right in front of him, and Chaos flew directly through it, with the speed of a bullet.

Vincent suddenly had the sensation of something cold flow across his skin. He was no longer in the elevator shaft. Instead, he seemed to be alone, in an endless expanse of darkness. Had he actually gone inside of Nero's void? Chaos continued to fly forward, looking for a target and then at the first sign of movement, it threw an energy blast. It hit nothing, but continued on, getting further and further away, until it was no longer visible in the gloom. Chaos kept going, searching for something to destroy, and hopefully to get rid of this adversary it did not understand, while Vincent fought to regain control. He had to. Before anything else happened. If there was one thing he could not allow, he could not let Nero get the Protomateria.

His concentration was temporarily interrupted when something wrapped itself around Chaos's left wrist, causing the winged beast to jerk to a stop. It turned on the tendril of dark energy, clawing at it with its right hand, trying to free itself, but then, another tendril reached out of the dark, encircling around the monster's right arm, tangling it even further. Chaos roared angrily and flapped its wings, snapping its jaws and Vincent tried even harder now to regain his concentration. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an orb of energy that looked like a barrier, and saw Shelke kneeling within it, watching him.

Nero appeared right next to her. "So this is mighty Chaos. Omega's squire to the lofty heavens. He doesn't seem so difficult to deal with. Now tell me Shelke, before you exhaust yourself with that barrier spell of yours, where is the Protomateria?"

"I have no intention of telling you Nero," Shelke said. Suddenly the pressure around the barrier intensified and she grimaced at the amount of energy she was having to put out to maintain it.

"Then, I suppose I shall have to tear him apart, piece by piece. It's a pity. He might have actually lived to carry out his role otherwise." Nero said, approaching the captive demon. Shelke looked from Nero towards where Vincent was fighting tooth and nail against Chaos's impulses.

"Vincent…" Shelke called out to him. "You must regain control. You may not have understood… but…" Nero's power was pressing even more heavily on her Barrier, causing it to crack around her. "Chaos is a being created of the same corrupted Lifestream that gives Nero his power. This darkness should be easy for you to negotiate… because part of you was born from it. You must fight him… I don't want anyone else to die." The cracks were becoming deeper in the barrier.

"I'm so sorry… Please, you must fight him! I don't want you to die!" A voice echoed through his thoughts. Lucrecia? Why now?

"Shut up!" Nero demanded. "This idiocy ends now." With that, he reached forward his hand ready to be plunged into the Ex-Turk's chest, where he would no doubt search until the Protomateria was found, however, at the last moment, a clawed hand grabbed his arm. Slowly, but surely, Vincent focused, using every shred of his will to force Chaos back into the recesses of his mind. It might have wanted to carry out its duty of heralding the coming of Omega, but now was not the time. As control returned to him, he tightened his clawed hand around Nero's arm before throwing the man away from him with every ounce of strength he possessed.

The darkness with which the Tsviet had tried to trap him, was falling away, and even though his body was still in the form of Chaos, the calm serenity of his eyes belied a deep conviction within. Troubled as he was, he would not allow this to pass. Nero tried to approach him again as Vincent in Chaos' form stepped forward, but a wing batted him away like a minor annoyance, sending him flying into the void, and Vincent walked towards where Shelke waited. "Unless you find something appealing about this place," Vincent said softly. "I suggest we leave."

Shelke nodded and stood, allowing the man in the form of a demon to pick her up and carry her out. A few moments later, they were dropping though an empty elevator shaft, until the air caught in Chaos' wings and Vincent began the slow process of circling downward. Hopefully the others in their haste, had not gotten too far ahead.

June 22nd [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 2:00 AM

Cloud dropped the last few feet to the floor of the elevator platform as Zack landed next to him, his sword arm holding Aerith, only letting her down when he was securely on the ground. Tifa landed in a crouch nearby, followed by the Turks, while Argento and Genesis scoped the perimeter along with Kunsel. It had taken them several minutes to get down here from where Vincent had disappeared, but they had been climbing faster than most of them had believed possible as a result of his departure. If Nero managed to extract the Protomateria from him, then it might be all over. They needed to find them again.

Once he was certain everyone was safely on solid ground, Cloud followed Zack and Aerith to look up at the huge door. "So this is it?" Zack asked.

"It is," Argento said, her voice as calm as though they were discussing the weather. "This is the door to Hell."

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Zack asked. "If Nero took Vincent in there, and Weiss is in there, then we need to get moving."

Cloud heard a pair of boots connect with the ground behind them. "I suppose you are half right." Looking over his shoulder, Cloud saw a strange being with dark skin and leathery wings, who had just let Shelke down to sit on the floor of the elevator.

Zack turned around too, and upon seeing the beast that had just landed, said "Vincent? How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?"

"A few," Vincent said. After a moment or two, the wings began to disappear, the fangs and claws receded, and a pale man with lank dark hair, clad in a black bodysuit and red cloak reappeared.

"How did you get away from him?!" Freya asked.

"Are you okay?" Aerith added.

"I'm fine," Vincent said. The tone of his voice spoke to a desire not to be questioned on the matter. "We were able to evade Nero before he could compromise the Protomateria."

Everyone visibly relaxed at that. "I don't know if we could be more relieved," Cissnei said, before looking over at Shelke. "What about you? When Jessie notified us about what happened, she told us Shalua was nearly frantic. It was all they could do to keep her from hijacking an airship before Midgar's airspace was considered secure."

"I am also unharmed," Shelke said. "Though it was by a very near miss. I doubt I will be much use if we encounter further conflict."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Tifa said. "If anything happens, we ought to be able to handle it."

"I am glad," Shelke said, and for a brief moment, he thought he saw traces of concern on her face before the usual blank mask returned. "Shalua was worried?"

"Of course she was," Freya said with a smile. "That's what older siblings do."

"I thought you were an only child," Kunsel commented.

"Sure I was," the Turk said, "But don't get me started on how Lou used to worry when Elena was younger. Come to think of it, she still does…"

"Perhaps I should tell her I am unharmed once we are back out of the underground communications blackout zone," Shelke murmured, pulling herself to her feet.

Vincent nodded almost imperceptibly, and then he looked up at the door that lay before them. "So this is Deepground," he said at last. "The path to darkness opens once more."

"Yes," Argento agreed. "But sometimes, opening the door can be the easiest way to let the light in. Shall we go?"

"Yeah," Cloud agreed. As they approached the door, a motion sensor triggered, and it began to slowly open. First a device similar to an airlock in appearance spun open, and a door slid to the side, revealing two more slabs of metal blocking their way. These too slid open revealing a bright light behind them.

"Now that's kind of funny," Zack commented. "All this talk about darkness yet it looks pretty bright in there… whoa…" As everyone's eyes adjusted, they stepped through the door, and Cloud found himself just as amazed by their surroundings. They found themselves on a catwalk overlooking what appeared to be a small city, surrounding the largest Mako reactor any of them had ever seen. Overhead, Gargoyles flew through the air, and down below, tendrils of Mako flowed up through veins passing between buildings.

Zack put an arm protectively around Aerith. "Do you hear anything?" he asked.

Aerith closed her eyes and listened. "Yes," she said. " The Planet is worried. But the voices here," she took his hand in her own. "So many deaths happened. So much pain…"

"I know," Zack said, taking a step forward. "But we'll put a stop to it, one way or another."

Aerith nodded. "Right." She placed her staff in front of her. As if this were the signal, everyone proceeded forward. Reactor 0 lay within sight, on the other side of the city.

Looks like Weiss and Nero are trying to use Deepground itself as their defense. Though I'm not entirely sure about how effective that's going to be since Vincent has proven a little more difficult to extract the Protomateria from than last time. Maybe because he wasn't caught entirely by surprise when someone attempted a ninja stab to the chest maneuver to get it this time.

Oh yes, and something happened this chapter that hasn't happened in a while. Someone channeled a new limit break. Details are below:

Jinx: Cissnei's level four limit, A string of eight shuriken attacks that can randomly cause status ailments.

No wonder Weiss and Nero got out of there in a hurry.

See ya next week!