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 70, Reactor 0

June 22nd [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 2:45 AM

It had been some time since they had entered the labyrinthine series of tunnels and catwalks of the outer wall, and Cloud was beginning to wonder if they would ever get to the reactor. Every now and then they'd encountered light interference, but it seemed the vast majority of Deepground's forces were occupied trying to defend the city. He walked behind the others. It had been his turn in the rear guard, as they walked along another platform. Up ahead he heard someone shout "Below!" Everyone ducked for cover, before Vincent, Freya, and Kunsel fired their weapons almost at the same time.

The man dropped instantly. "Yes!" Freya whispered loudly.

"We can celebrate when we've won," Argento said, striding ahead of them. Cloud and Tifa followed behind, ready to cast at anything that might get too close. Up ahead, Zack and Aerith hopped down to one of the lower platforms and after everyone else followed, Argento and Shelke guided them to a door built into a wall.

After Shelke typed in the entry code, everyone found themselves in a cramped corridor that seemed to go off in two directions. Zack took a step forward, but a split second later, Vincent put out a hand, holding him back. "What is it?" Zack hissed.

Vincent looked around for a moment and then reached for an old piece of wooden debris that lay on the ground and threw it across the hallway. Almost immediately, a series of bullet holes tore through the ceiling and the wall. "How did you know?" Zack asked.

"I could hear them," Vincent whispered.

Shelke started towards another wall. "We might be able to evade them by going this way," she said, pointing to a different tunnel.

"All right," Zack said. "But just in case," he cast a spell in Aerith's direction and Cloud now saw the telltale signs of a Wall before the ex-SOLDIER reached for an ether in one of his pockets. "Okay, now we can go," he said. Shelke nodded and ducked down what appeared to be a maintenance tunnel leading to another path. After everyone had joined her there, they continued until they found an open room. In the middle of it, Cloud could see a depression in the ground, laid with rails.

"A train," he observed.

Argento nodded and walked over to a control panel. "I think about three cars should do it," she said, typing a command in on the control panel. Instantly, a door opened below the platform they were on, and three passenger cars appeared on the track. "This should get us significantly closer to the reactor. Though I suspect there will be plenty of soldiers trying to stop us."

"If that's the way it has to be," Kunsel said.

Vincent took a position in the first car and everyone else began situating themselves. Zack had taken a spot in the middle with Aerith, Argento, and Kunsel while Genesis had decided to stay up front along with Cissnei, Vincent and Argento, leaving the rear car for Cloud, Tifa, Freya, and Shelke. Once he saw that everyone was on board, the ex-Turk hit a button in the front car, and after a brake was released, their transportation slowly started moving forward, into what seemed to be a switch track. After the rails adjusted, the cars began moving again picking up speed until it almost felt like they were flying away from their starting point.

Cloud kept his eyes on the right side of their traveling car, confident that Tifa was watching the other side. Suddenly, he caught sight of several Shrikes overhead, accompanied by a couple of Gargoyles. "Here they come," he said. Immediately Vincent opened fire and Freya followed soon after. Two of the Shrikes crashed into one of the buildings as the train hurtled past and out of the corner of his eye, Cloud spotted a Gargoyle trying to approach the rear car. He turned abruptly as he and Tifa both cast spells in that direction, his a Fire and hers a Bio. In front of him, he sensed Kunsel casting a Bolt spell before firing his gunblade several times from the middle car, putting two more shrikes out of commission. The train continued forward, passing a series of residential buildings washed in dim blue and gold florescent lights providing the image of a city in artificial twilight under the oppressive cavernous ceiling above them. In the distance there was a green glow that was drawing ever closer as they neared the boundaries dividing the regular parts of Sector 0 and the reactor itself. The unspoken message could not have been any clearer for Deepground's denizens. Abandon all hope, there is no escape.

The wind blew through his hair as the railcars neared a turn and everyone ducked as they heard the sound of whirring blades overhead. Looking up from where he had shielded Tifa from a hail of bullets, he spotted a Dragonfly following them through the cavernous space just above the rooftops. Seeing that everyone else's attention was already directed upward, he reached for his Bahamut materia and the dragon appeared in midair just over the helicopter. It reared its head back, letting loose a powerful beam of fiery energy at the helicopter which burst into flames behind them as the railcars rocketed into a tunnel. For a moment the cars stopped and Cloud was momentarily disoriented as first the front car, then the middle car, and finally their own were lifted up by an elevator to reconnect on another track and regain speed before heading out into the artificial lights filtering up from the buildings below them.

Coming out the other side, he saw up ahead of them that a couple of Shrikes had been waiting really close, ready to come in for the kill. He saw that Zack was on his feet, and the Buster Sword was out in an instant, decapitating one as Cerberus claimed the other before GUARDIAN's lead quickly ducked down into the railcar again. Cloud spotted a sniper on one of the walls, but Kunsel was already on it. The enemy was dead within a matter of seconds.

Thankfully up ahead, he could see that they were getting close to another tunnel, and as they approached it, he discovered they were coming to a boarding platform and the end of the rails. "This is where we get off," Argento said. As the cars slid to a halt, everyone piled out and took a moment to reorient themselves.

"That was a rush," Zack said. "What's next?"

"We should reach the reactor itself soon," Shelke said. "After that, it will not be long until we can reach the core."

Once everyone was set, they walked outside the building to find themselves standing on what appeared to be a bridge. Whether it had been destroyed before it had been completed or after, Cloud couldn't say, but what lay beyond, between them and the reactor was even less inviting than the part of Sector 0 they had already traversed. The buildings here looked like they were terribly rundown, almost as though they were part of a war zone. Holes from mortars pockmarked the walls. Sometimes whole floors were missing. Windows were broken and streets were dirty and desolate.

"You were right Argento," Kunsel said as he took in the sights next to where Cloud was standing. "This place is Hell." No one seemed keen to add to that statement.

In a tense silence, GUARDIAN made their way towards a ladder that descended to the rooftops below.

Far above the ground in Hojo's laboratory, Reno and Rude were standing at a computer terminal, where they had just finished downloading a series of files they would be decrypting later. After Rude retrieved the disk there was only one thing left to do. They looked around what remained of the scientist's once pristine work space. There were several tables askew now, and someone had apparently smashed the glass on the specimen cage very violently during their absence from the building. Reno couldn't say who or for what reason, but they were not here to ascertain that information. Rude followed him along the catwalk until they reached the stairs down into the main lab, keeping an eye out for any potential threats, however, instead, the red-headed Turk's gaze was drawn to a glass container that lay forgotten where it had been knocked over onto the floor at some point. The glass was slightly cracked, but not enough to leak the contents on the floor yet.

"There you are," Reno said. Reaching for a pair of sterile gloves, he slipped them on and picked up the container, grimacing at its contents before Rude produced a black case and opened it on a counter nearby. As soon as Reno placed the glass container into the case, Rude shut it tightly, and Reno could see his eyes behind his sunglasses were narrowed at the sinister alien face they had just locked into the dark. After a moment, the Turk produced a thread of yellow tape and began to wrap it around the case, as if there was any doubt of the danger contained within.

Once finished with the procedure, Rude gathered the case under his arm and Reno reached for his PHS, dialing Tseng's number. On the other end of the line he heard the Director answer. "Yes?"

"This is Reno, the subject has been retrieved. We're ready for extraction."

"I'm sending Elena in a chopper to the agreed upon coordinates," Tseng replied before hanging up.

Reno pocketed the PHS. "Let's get moving."

Rude nodded and the two Turks left the lab without another word. Whatever Rufus wanted with Jenova's head was beyond them, but they still had to reach the rendezvous point without arousing suspicion either from GUARDIAN or from Deepground. Reno let out a breath. This week had been way too exciting, even by his standards.

June 22nd [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 4:00 AM

It had taken them a short while for GUARDIAN to get through what was left of the city portion of Sector 0, thanks in no small part to Argento's knowledge of the quickest route through the heavily damaged buildings. With that, they were able to evade a large amount of the resistance, having only come up against a couple of SOLDIERs, and maybe two or three elites. But Freya was certain there was no way even with the vast majority of Deepground's forces distracted by what was going on at the surface, that Weiss and Nero would not make use of their troops to defend their own positions.

They were now hurrying through a network of catwalks and tunnels within the reactor itself and had just come to a bridge leading to a large building in the center of a pool of Mako. "Is this it?" she asked.

"Yes," Argento said. "On the other side of that door, we'll come to the last corridor before we reach the place where Weiss was once held. It may have been his prison, but it was also the only place he ever knew as home. For that reason, it is the most likely place to which he would retreat."

"I notice Nero hasn't been back," Tifa said, stepping up the pace a little to catch up to the main group as they walked along the bridge.

"I wouldn't hold my breath assuming he won't," Zack said, regarding the area suspiciously. "Let's get this over with as quick as we can. I'm not too keen to stay here any longer than we have to."

They continued across the bridge in an uneasy silence, as the Mako churned below. It was hard to believe, sickening even, but if Deepground had managed to accomplish even a small amount of their attempt to use Midgar's population as fuel that could very well be their spirits down there. Freya turned her attention to the area around her. Now was not the time to get lost in such thoughts. It was time to think like a Turk. If anything were to be coming at them to stop them from reaching Weiss, where would it come from? Probably not below. Too much risk of someone falling to their deaths. That left the catwalks surrounding the Mako pool… and…

Almost on cue, a bullet connected with one of the bridge's supports, barely a few feet from where she was standing. Looking behind her she could see several Deepground Soldiers as well as SOLDIERs behind them, and then the wind picked up. As everyone ducked for cover, she saw fast approaching them was a Dragonfly, though this one looked more heavily outfitted than most of the helicopter-like aircraft they had seen previously. Kunsel and Argento had managed to duck in next to her as the others had taken shelter behind whatever they could find and she could see a plethora of Wall spells coming into existence. Argento glanced over at the other side of the doorway to a control panel as more bullets flew overhead. "If there's any chance anyone could cover me," she said, "Then I should be able to get the door open."

"You've got it," Freya said. Taking a position near the edge of her cover, she allowed herself to focus, channeling a limit and bringing her shotgun to ready position, and fired. Energy coalesced around the fragments of shot as it spread and she quickly chambered out the spent shell and replaced it with a new one. Three times, shotgun blasts peppered the area, and as each blast came up against targets, each individual fragment blasted anew in tinier explosions, not just creating a smokescreen, but further pandemonium. In the confusion, Argento ran to the door near where Zack was sheltering with Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith, and typed in the combination.

"You and the others go on ahead," she said. "Just follow the corridor until you reach Weiss's sanctum. From there, you need only defeat him, and that will be the end of it."

Zack looked out at the oncoming but temporarily distracted Deepgrounders who were getting ready to continue their assault and came to a decision. "All right." He looked around making a split second decision. "We'll split into two teams. Who'll back you up?"

"I'll do it," Freya said, grinning from where she'd taken cover behind one of the bridge's supports. "Someone's gotta keep you guys safe while you're off being heroes."

"I'll stay too," Cissnei said.

"Myself as well," Genesis said from the opposite side of the bridge.

Zack looked at him in surprise but Genesis shook his head. "There is no hate, only joy, for you are beloved by the goddess…" The Dragonfly was getting closer and Genesis drew his wing, Rapier ready for combat. "Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds…" He lifted his hand in the direction of the oncoming soldiers and suddenly the mako below them. In the area in front of GUARDIAN, a collection of what looked like stars began to gather before shooting at the Dragonfly and all the soldiers in a storm.

"Go," Genesis ordered.

Zack didn't wait for further prompting as a series of explosions wracked the cavern from the spell Genesis had cast. At his signal, Aerith, Shelke, Kunsel, Tifa, Vincent, and Cloud followed him through the open door and Cissnei joined Freya behind the pillar she was sheltering against, her expression a mix of awe and surprise at the destruction Genesis had just wrought against the Deepgrounders.

"Pandora's Box?" she let out in a breath.

"We can ask later," Freya said, surveying the damage. The Dragonfly was still in the air, and while the enemy troops on the other side of the bridge had obviously been sent into temporary chaos, she could already see several of the Elites issuing orders. Quickly reloading with a double click of the pump, she glanced over to see that Argento was already casting an Ice spell to send at the soldiers as Genesis was flying at the Dragonfly, Rapier ready and a Shadow Flare smoldering in his other hand. "Right now. We've got us an army to fight."

Cissnei readied her rekka. "Nobody said it'd be easy."

"No, but you know what they do say," Freya said, as Cissnei cast two Barrier spells.

"Yeah." With that, the two of them got into position flanking Argento.

Freya aimed her shotgun. "Let's show these guys what the Turks are made of!"

June 22nd [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 4:10 AM

Vincent had been walking alongside Zack as they made their way through the last corridor, when finally they reached what seemed to be an antechamber flanked with dim blue lights. The door ahead of them could not be mistaken for leading anywhere else but to a location of great significance. "This has to be it," Zack said. "Is everyone ready?"

Looking behind him he could see that Cloud and Kunsel definitely were, but at that moment, Shelke leaned against one of the walls. "I will wait here," she said softly. "In my current condition, I will most likely only slow you down."

Zack walked over to the girl and put his hand on her shoulder. "That's okay, you've already helped us a lot."

Shelke looked up at him and Vincent caught sight of a small smile. "Thank you… for counting on me," she whispered. After a moment she looked over at Vincent. "Remember what I said before. If he tries to wake up again, you absolutely cannot let him control you."

Vincent nodded. "He won't."

Zack looked around at those who were left, and finally said "Tifa, Aerith, do you think you can stay here? Shelke probably won't be able to fight, and if we missed anyone between here and the bridge…"

Tifa nodded. "We'll be right here if you need us."

Aerith walked over to Zack, "I understand," she reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "That's for luck."

Zack grinned, and hugged her close before walking to the other end of the hall as Vincent walked to the door. Cloud and Kunsel were behind him. "We'll be back," Zack called over his shoulder.

"I know," Aerith said.

"You are a lucky man, you know that?" Kunsel said.

"Believe me, I do," Zack answered as he and Cloud pushed the door open.

Ahead of them, the room they had entered was laden with steel plates, occasionally punctuated by a piece of machinery, filtering mako. Each of these were situated around the room in a half circle. Along the far side of the room was a pit surrounded by a guard rail, though in the center of this lay a single platform, only accessible by a small bridge, on which was what seemed to be an ornately carved throne, though Vincent could see evidence that at one time chains had been attached to it.

Weiss reclined on the seat, clearly breathing but looking decidedly worse than the last time they'd seen him. The three swordsmen and the Ex-Turk stepped out into the room and as they approached, Weiss looked up. "So good of you to join us," he said, pulling himself to a standing position, though Vincent could see his body was drenched in sweat.

"You're dying, aren't you," when Zack spoke, it wasn't a question.

"Not yet," a voice said to their left. The four of them turned towards the sound and witnessed Nero filter out of the dark. "Once we have the Protomateria, a new life will breathe inside of him, just as one does in you, Valentine."

"At the expense of all those people you murdered," Kunsel said coldly, his hand close to the grip of his gunblade.

"A small price to pay," Nero said, dismissing the accusation with a wave of his hand, as if that alone would sweep away the severity of the situation. "And with the professor in our midst, one that would have occurred anyway. It would be terrible to let such a useful resource go to waste. Nothing is going to stop me from saving my brother, not Shinra, not GUARDIAN, not you."

"I have to admit, it's not easy weighing the life of someone you care about against the lives of a city, but that doesn't make you any less of a murderer," Zack said, taking a couple of steps further into the room.

"What would any of you know, that you would consider yourself a good judge, Zack Fair? You, who spent a meager four years in captivity. Nero and I, we had to endure a lifetime," Weiss scoffed.

"I don't think it's a contest," Cloud said.

"And what would failed Sephiroth clones know?" the Immaculate Tsviet intoned.

"A lot more than you," Zack said. Vincent could see he found that taunt particularly offensive.

"Regardless," Weiss said with a smile, "We will claim our prize." Vincent could see their eyes on him, though he already held Cerberus ready to shoot if they approached, but to his surprise, Kunsel appeared in front of him, his sword clashing with Weiss's.

"For that prize, you destroyed so many, without a single thought," Kunsel growled. "For that, I will do everything I can to make sure you never get it."

Weiss gave him a smile that was almost pitying. "And how would an Ex-SOLDIER and Shinra dog propose to do that, when I am more powerful than you could ever hope to be?"

Kunsel didn't seem perturbed by this, instead, he broke the lock between his gunblade and Weiss's two and fired off a shot which Weiss easily dodged. "I don't care how powerful you are; if you insist on continuing this insanity, we will end you."

Behind him Vincent noticed a dark mist beginning to form. His reaction was immediate. Shiva appeared between where Nero was planning to materialize and the swordsman's back. Noticing the drop in temperature, Kunsel rolled out of the way as a blue-tinged woman appeared, sending a wave of ice crystals at the mists, but the Ebon Tsviet had already moved. "You will not threaten my brother!" Nero demanded. "If you wish to dance, I will gladly oblige you."

"Bring it," Zack said, taking stance with the Buster Sword in front of him.

It was hard to tell if Nero was smiling under his head gear, but the mechanical winglike appendages on his back, which up until this point had been folded at his sides suddenly spread, revealing several gun placements. As the man raced forward from one angle, Weiss was suddenly in front of Cloud, and the blond swordsman blocked his attack with the First Sword and the hollow blade right before Vincent and Kunsel fired three shots apiece at Nero, while running in the opposite direction. Zack ran to help Cloud, using the Buster Sword to knock the Immaculate Tsviet away from him. The last Vincent saw before turning all of his focus on their own opponent, the two of them were practically flying around the Immaculate Tsviet, blades flashing in the green light, as Weiss did his best to hold them off, matching them blade for blade.

The Ebon Tsviet seemed to have multiplied. An illusion he was sure, though to be on the safe side, the two of them dived for cover before firing at the different images, trying to find the real Nero. As they were getting close though, he noticed dark mist forming under his feet and jumped out of the way, just before a clawed hand reached out to try and pull him down.

Almost immediately, another portal opened a few feet away, near where Kunsel had just cast a Barrier. Vincent raced forward, firing a shot that definitely struck home. Nero let out a grunt from inside the hole in space-time and vanished again without the man he'd been threatening to pull after him.

The two of them looked around, scanning the area for Nero's next ambush when they both saw signs of the black mist collecting right behind Zack. Weiss had stepped up his assault and it appeared the man was trying to push GUARDIAN's leader directly into the void.

"You're too far away," Nero's voice whispered. "No matter what you do, you will never be fast enough to get there in time. They'll be inside me before you know it, just like you in a matter of moments."

It was at that moment when Vincent felt a powerful energy radiate through the room. This was definitely a limit, and it was on the more powerful end of the scale, possibly comparable to some of Zack and Cloud's, but neither of them had channeled one.

"Wanna bet?" Kunsel growled. Something resembling a haste spell had activated in the immediate area, and though Vincent jumped out of the way as Nero made another attempt to grab him, Kunsel was running towards the other battle, his gunblade already aimed and he fired it several times, so rapidly Vincent couldn't even tell how many times it had actually gone off.

Weiss backed off as several of them connected with a Barrier he had erected before two of them struck the Tsviet in the shoulder, and Kunsel continued past him, striking the gunblade directly at Nero's shadowed form even as it had tried to withdraw back into the shadowed portals he'd opened simultaneously on both sides of the room. The gunblade connected with the Tsviet seven times before the brown-haired swordsman reappeared between Cloud and Zack, the haste spell still active. As he had struck at Nero, Vincent was already headed after the Ex-SOLDIER, and as he approached, he saw Kunsel looking around the room as Zack and Cloud were already getting back to holding off Weiss.

Weiss backed off now, retreating towards the throne. Definitely moving slower thanks to the wounds Kunsel had inflicted, and Zack blocked one of his attacks easily, allowing Cloud to slide in under his defense and wound his leg. Another door was forming near where the blond swordsman was, but he stepped to the side, allowing Vincent to fire several shots into the dark before the hole closed, leaving only the floor.

Kunsel dodged as Nero made another attempt to drag him into the dark, before shouting at the ceiling "You can't keep doing this forever Nero!"

"Perhaps not," a voice echoed, and then suddenly, it was right behind them. "But neither can you." Vincent recognized where the voice was coming from and moved to push Kunsel out of the way, but this time, a shot from one of Nero's guns struck true. The swordsman looked down and Vincent saw a hole just going through his left side that was beginning to ooze red. Nero had fazed in behind his Barrier, and if Vincent had not reacted, the bullet would have gone through his chest. Zack looked behind him and his eyes widened. Silently signaling that Cloud keep the pressure on Weiss, he raced over, as Vincent turned around, trying to keep an eye on every angle from which the Ebon Tsviet could possibly come next.

Kunsel leaned against one of the mako tubes coming out of the floor, reaching for his Restore as Zack hurried over to him. Vincent looked around warily. Without the swordsman, he had fewer eyes to look for Nero, and he could hear Weiss laughing on the other side of the room even as Cloud was working to hold him at bay.

"Kunsel?" Zack asked.

"It's nothing," the swordsman said through clenched teeth, his breathing ragged. "I'll be fine in a minute."

"All right," Zack said as he saw the other man was already focusing on casting a Cure. "I'll cover you."

That was when it happened. Vincent was about to dodge to a different location, when once again, the mist surrounded him. But this time, instead of the darkness, he found himself standing in a strange, desolate place composed of a network of rocks and bridges suspended over dark clouds, while in the center a fire pit of magma bubbled ominously. He looked up in time to see a strangely spiderlike being climbing out of a hole in the fabric of space above him. Nero appeared shortly afterward, hanging upside down yet bodily affixed to this strange object. At guess it was a manifestation of the darkness he had called upon, but the Ex-Turk could not be certain, and further speculation would have to wait as the Ebon Tsviet called across the space between them. "You can't keep going forever, Vincent Valentine. Even if Chaos puts us on equal ground here, that doesn't mean I won't kill you."

Vincent decided to answer by lifting Cerberus and firing several rounds. Unfortunately, that was when the shield appeared, and he quickly had to dodge to avoid several floating objects. The discovery that these were mines came to him when one of them smashed on the rock he taken cover behind. He dashed across one of the bridges shooting any explosives that came too close. He was almost behind another boulder when he saw a fiery projectile headed his way and he dived to avoid a fireball that hit the ground behind him, sending sparks and cinders across the rocks. Rolling into a firing position he aimed three more shots at Nero before ducking into the shelter of the boulder in order to reload.

Once Cerberus was ready for the next round, he ducked around the rock and emptied the triple barrel of his weapon. The shield finally went down, and after ducking behind the rock to reload one more time, he shot across the opening between his current cover and the next boulder. Another wound grazed Nero's side and he faded back into the dark with a grunt. For a few moments, the area was nothing but silence and then a voice filtered up from the ground below him.

"You aren't going to keep me from saving my brother," he heard someone say below him. Leaping into the air and grabbing a handhold on the rock he was covering behind, he fired at the ground which had opened up into a blackened abyss below him. Nero grunted again this time clearly in pain and disappeared and did not return. Vincent was certain it had been a serious wound.

In the eerie silence of this nightmare world, Chaos was stirring again but he mentally clamped down hard on the demon's urgings. He was not about to lose control again. He couldn't. Not here, especially not if one of those memories assaulted his mind again. However, at that moment he heard something nearby that sounded like Nero shouting out "Weiss!" before the area around him dispersed into darkness, and then without warning, the mist gave way, and he dropped to the metal plates surrounding Weiss's throne…

After Vincent disappeared, Zack had waited for several moments as Kunsel cast Cure on himself and the wound closed. It had been pretty serious, and even with the spell, he'd probably need a day or so for his enhanced healing to completely compensate since there was a high probability some organs had been punctured. The Cure would patch things sufficiently in the meantime, but the stress of the initial trauma would still be there. Even so, the man had absolutely refused to sit down. "Do I need to get you to Aerith?" he asked. At the very least, he'd be out of the line of fire until he was safely restabilized.

"No," Kunsel said seriously, his eyes on Cloud and Weiss as the former of the two leapt off the other mako tube to flip over Weiss and attempt to get him from behind. Weiss whirled around, blocking the other swordsman's attack and then backing away with a speed that was almost on Sephiroth's level, firing several gunshots as he went. Giving his friend a grin that Zack thought could probably have rivaled one of Freya's, Kunsel continued with a shallow laugh. "After all that talk when we started, I'm not leaving. What's that thing Barret always says? About trains?"

"We aren't getting off this train we're on, or something like that," Zack supplied.

Kunsel nodded, "Something like that," he repeated, before looking around. "Go back and help Cloud, I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"I can manage." With a last look at his friend, still leaning against the tank, Zack hefted the Buster sword in his left hand again and charged, just as Weiss fired two more shots at Cloud. The blond swordsman dodged, before veering around in a semi-circle, leaving the Immaculate Tsviet's back open and Zack took his chance, slicing the Buster Sword at Weiss's left side.

At the last minute, Weiss attempted to block, but it wasn't quite fast enough to prevent Zack's blade from leaving a long laceration along the Tsviet's exposed ribs. Weiss let out an angry bellow as he backed away, but didn't bother to cover the wound as he attempted to fire on Zack's position. Zack rolled to the right before using the Buster Sword as a shield while Cloud went in for the kill, driving the Tsviet back towards the pillar on which his throne stood. As he did so, Zack could see that Weiss was moving slower. As Cloud parried another strike, he called out over the room "You aren't going to last much longer like this, Weiss. Can't you just stop?"

Weiss simply laughed. "You fool, even if I die, it'll simply mean Nero can resurrect me once he has the Protomateria, this battle won't mean anything in a matter of minutes."

"I wouldn't count on that," Cloud said as he locked blades with Weiss a final time.

The force of this blow was the one that finally led Weiss to stagger, and he backed away from Cloud, across the narrow bridge to sit on the dais, his breathing getting shallower. "Well then," he said. "I suppose… we'll just have to see… who's right…" He relaxed, allowing both blades to fall to the ground.

Cloud was about to approach with Zack behind him, but then someone cried across the room "Weiss! Keep your hands off my brother!" A black void opened between them and the Immaculate Tsviet, but almost at the same time, a gunshot rang out from across the room. Zack looked around for the origin and noticed that Vincent had dropped to the floor, though he was in the process of picking himself up. Kunsel on the other hand, had moved around the mako tube and the barrel of his gunblade was smoking.

The black mist around Nero dispersed as the Ebon Tsviet dropped to this knees, and started crawling towards his brother. "Weiss…" he moaned. "Weiss… I…"

"Nero…" Weiss replied as the other man moved to curl up with his head on his lap. "Were you able to…"

"I'm sorry…" Nero said. "I did what I could…"

"It's all right… brother…" Weiss intoned. It seemed that once he had stopped fighting, he was weakening faster than before. Even now, his body seemed to be exerting a lot of effort to stay up, "I'll be right… behind you…"

Nero reached up and grabbed his brother's hand, "I'll be… waiting…"

After that, Nero's hand went slack and Weiss looked up at the SOLDIERs. Vincent was walking to join them. Weiss chuckled derisively… "Well… perhaps… you did win… after all…"

"It didn't have to be like this," Zack said.

Weiss narrowed his eyes at him and simply shook his head. "Fool… you wouldn't have lasted a minute… here in… Deepground…" An uncomfortable silence permeated the room, only broken by the sound of the mako below them.

After a moment, Zack returned the Buster Sword to his back and walked forward, mutedly checking Nero for any signs of life, and then checking Weiss. It seemed the Immaculate Emperor had passed barely a few seconds after his last words. He walked back to where Cloud was checking to see if Kunsel needed any assistance on the way out. "It's over," he said.

Kunsel attempted to stand straight. He managed, but he was definitely moving gingerly. "Then we need to get back," he said.

Zack turned to look back at Nero, the dark haired Tsviet who had given everything to save his brother, and somehow found himself thinking of what might have happened. If it had come down to it, when Cloud was ill, would he have given everything to save him? In some ways, it was both pathetic and tragic that it had ever come to this.

"Zack?" Cloud asked.

Zack turned around, to see that Vincent was standing next to the other two swordsmen. "Sorry. It's been a long night, and we still have to get back topside." It was true. He could contemplate might-have-beens another time. Turning to Vincent he asked "What about you?"

The gunman looked around the empty chamber thoughtfully, glancing at the two bodies behind them, already being reabsorbed by the Lifestream before answering. "Let's be on our way."

Cloud gestured that Kunsel could lean against him as they walked to the door, and Zack was headed in that direction but he heard the noise of something clattering to the ground behind him. Looking over his shoulder as Cloud opened the door to the antechamber, he saw that Vincent had dropped Cerberus on the ground and seem to have put a hand over his face. "Vincent?" He hurried back to try and lift up his companion.

"Sister…" Vincent muttered before blinking and looking at Zack, apparently realizing he'd vocalized the word out loud.

"Care to level with me on what that's about?" Zack asked.

"I don't know for certain…" Vincent said as the dark-haired swordsman offered to help him to his feet. Instead, he picked himself up "But it seems since we returned from Midgar after Hojo's death, I believe I've been seeing memories that are not my own."

"You should have said something earlier. Had we been back in Kalm I might have been able to resolve the issue before we left," a voice carried through from the other chamber. As they crossed the threshold, they saw Shelke sitting against a wall while Tifa was talking with Cloud nearby. Aerith was already looking Kunsel over with a Sense materia as the younger Tsviet stood and walked over to Vincent, a slight reproachfulness filtering through her usual expressionless mask. "It is quite possible due to the violent nature of your breaking off my SND, fragments of my memories were left behind. Fortunately for you, the nature of our connection was merely one for seeking information rather than manipulating your thoughts. Therefore, it should be quite simple to correct the problem."

"I think I can understand why he'd be reluctant though. Even then, we weren't quite sure if we could trust you," Kunsel said from where he was leaning against the wall.

Rather than argue the point, Shelke simply sighed. "I suppose this is true, but I still find that attitude dangerously hard-headed."

Kunsel gave her a wry grin, and Zack realized it was probably the first smile his friend had given the Tsviet. "He's not the only one around here with that problem."

"Look who's talking," Zack retorted before turning his attention back to Vincent. "But seriously," he whispered. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I felt you had troubles enough…" Vincent murmured.

At that point Tifa broke the tension by directing a question at Kunsel. "Shouldn't you sit down?"

"Eventually," Kunsel said, "It's just tender is all… I used a Cure, so I should be fine till we get to the surface…" He winced as Aerith ran a hand over the spot where the bullet had cut through him.

"What a trooper," Aerith commented, "It's a lucky thing Rayleigh's Sense materia doesn't seem to detect anything to indicate any complications. Gunshot wounds like that are nothing to joke about. She'll probably want to take a look at you anyway."

Kunsel let out a relieved sigh. "Thank Gaia, I know it could have been a lot worse. "

"What would have?" Everyone looked up at that point to see four others standing at the other end of the chamber. Argento's coat was slightly torn where a sword had obviously made contact with it and Genesis and the Turks looked slightly singed. It was Freya who'd asked the question.

"Glad to see you guys are all right," Zack said.

"Well of course we are!" The lady Turk said, looking everyone over as she approached. "Though it looks like we missed the fireworks."

"Perhaps," Argento agreed.

Aerith walked over to Zack and he put his arm around her. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to go." With that, everyone turned around to walk back the way they had come. There was still the possibility that an ambush by any Deepground holdouts might happen, but that was a problem they could deal with when they got to it. The main threat had by and large been removed.

Only one chapter left in Part III! I can still hardly believe it.

So, we had a couple of limit breaks this chapter. As noted below:

Blast Screen: Freya's level 3 limit, designed to be both offensive and defensive by doing damage, lowering enemy accuracy, and inflicting Blind.

Gunblade Assault: Kunsel's level 4 limit. With blinding speed, he starts by firing several bullet at all enemies before striking with his blade seven times. While not as powerful as Cloud's Omnislash or some of Zack's limits at his prime, it is still nothing to sneeze at, and since his limit tree was one of the first I developed for the part of the cast that weren't protagonists, for this story it's kind of a big one. ^^

See ya next week!