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.

Mat and Alistor are original characters.

Part IV: Stigma

Chapter 80, Ambush

April 11th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009

When Cloud followed Zack in through the front door of the lodge, the first thing he noticed was the sound of the TV in the living room. As they walked further in, he saw that Freya and Kunsel were sitting on the couch together, and Aerith was waiting in a chair by the door to the kitchen. On seeing Zack enter she stood and looked behind him. "Cloud?" she asked.

"You were right," Zack answered.

Without another word, Aerith walked into the kitchen and gestured that they follow. Upon entering, Cloud spotted Elmyra cleaning up the dishes with help from Doctor Rayleigh. It wasn't unusual for her to stop by for dinner on occasion, but he was having a lot of trouble believing that in this instance it hadn't been intentional. As he watched, Aerith walked over to a basin that had been sitting on the counter next to the sink and carried it to the table, gathering a couple of wash-cloths as she went. Rayleigh stopped drying dishes at that point and walked over. "You too, huh Cloud?" she asked, reaching for a pair of gloves she carried in her coat pocket. "Well, I guess we'll just have to take a look and see how bad it is."

While Aerith gathered her supplies Zack leaned the Buster Sword against the wall and took a seat at the kitchen table, before pulling off his shirt and working to unwrap his own bandages.

As Cloud set about undoing his own sword harness, since it wouldn't do to drag the First Sword around indoors, he saw Freya glance back at him, but she didn't say anything, opting instead to just observe.

He looked behind him to see that Zack had already taken one of the washcloths from Aerith and was gritting his teeth as he worked to wash away some of the black fluid that was oozing out of the wound. Aerith saw Cloud's attention had returned to them and gestured that he join them, pulling another chair over to the basin. "Come on Cloud, I promise, you'll feel a lot better."

He walked over a little closer and took a look in the basin. "It looks like ordinary water," he said.

Aerith shook her head. "It's a lot better than that. Trust me. It won't cure it, but it will stop it from spreading. We've at least been able to do that."

Cloud considered, but then he saw that Zack was already drying the edges around his own wound with a towel. It did look like it wasn't oozing as badly anymore. Reluctantly, he undid the fastening on his shoulder guard and placed it on the table, before removing the sleeve he had made to cover his arm to reveal the infected gash underneath. He was expecting everyone in the room to gasp, or perhaps even flinch, but no one did. Instead, Aerith gently guided him over to the empty chair and sat him down. Without even asking, she doused a washcloth in the basin and for a moment, he felt the cloth sting against his flesh before he realized that the area around the injury no longer burned with pain. Instead, it seemed to cool slightly. It still hurt, but it was as though the sensation had been dampened, and the skin around the wound felt much less inflamed. As Aerith continued cleaning the wound he looked up at her surprised. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's something I learned how to make in the Lifestream," she explained.

After she was done she backed away and he saw Rayleigh standing behind her, giving him an appraising look. "What are we going to do with you?" the doctor muttered softly, shaking her head. As Aerith backed away, she stepped in to examine the damage. "It doesn't look that advanced at least. It's a good thing you didn't wait any longer to tell someone though," she pointed out the edges of the wound indicating the inflamed flesh as the stigma threatened to encroach further along his skin. "It would have been a lot more painful than what it already is."

By then, Zack had begun rewrapping his own wound. "No kidding," he said, "Alistor's was really starting to creep further with how long he's had it. We were starting to worry if he'd make it past next year if it got any worse."

"It's true, " Rayleigh said turning to face him. "And you remember the concerns we had about Mat before Aerith learned this limit break of hers, don't you? He still feels light-headed from how much pain he's in without the medications I've got him on."

"And Denzel, and Ruvie, and Shera too, man, it feels like everyone has it these days," Zack said. He paused as he realized he was getting to the part where he had to secure the bandage around his chest to keep it from moving off his shoulder. A difficult action to perform on oneself even with both hands to do it. "We need to get busy finding a real solution." Noticing he was having problems, Aerith walked over to help him and he whispered a soft "Thanks" into her ear.

"I know," Rayleigh said. "But that's why it's been so wonderful that Aerith knows how to make that rain of hers. At the very least it's bought us some time." She reached for a roll of bandages and before Cloud could say anything, she set about wrapping his arm now that she was done inspecting it. "Still, at the very least," she said, "you won't get worse." Cloud watched as she tightened the bandage around his arm with expert precision before securing it and allowing him to replace the sleeve. He stood as he secured it to his shirt and once again donned the shoulder guard before walking back into the living room.

He found himself facing Freya who had stood up from the couch and had her arms folded in front of her. "So it's true," she said.

"Yeah…" Cloud looked out the window trying not to face her.

"You could have said something before, couldn't you?" she said. "Instead of making us worry…"

"That's exactly what I told him," Zack said, walking into the room.

"I thought so," Kunsel murmured, standing up to join them.

"But it's just such a dumb thing to do!" Freya said frustratedly. "What if it got worse than it already is?"

Cloud looked down at the ground, trying to hide his embarrassment but Kunsel put a hand on the lady Turk's shoulder. "Maybe," he said calmly, "But I think there's enough to worry about without getting mad at him." He turned to Zack. "Tifa doesn't know yet, does she?"

"She suspects it," Zack said. "But I think if anyone should break the news to everyone at Seventh Heaven it ought to be Cloud."

Cloud suddenly had an even greater desire to sink into the floor. What would Tifa say about all this? "I don't have a choice in this do I?" he asked, his voice carrying across the room in spite of its low volume.

"There's always a choice, but it would be the right thing to tell her," Zack said. "She deserves to know, Cloud. She's got to. What if something happens?"

"Cloud?" He looked up and saw that Aerith had joined them. The Cetra gave him a somber look. "You know you will always have us no matter what happens, and that applies to Tifa too. But if you don't give her that chance, then she definitely won't be there. Isn't it better to let us decide what we need to be protected from?"

The blond swordsman was quiet for a moment as he mulled that over. He had been so certain it would have been better for everyone if he just disappeared. It had seemed reasonable, after all, if he wasn't around for everyone to watch him suffer, there'd be much less pain to go around. But it seemed based on what the others were telling him that it had almost been the other way around. "Maybe…"

Zack looked at him grimly, before walking over to him and steering him towards the door as everyone watched. "All right, so now that's settled, we're going back to Seventh Heaven. The sooner we get this out in the open the better off everyone's going to be."

Nanaki was out by the hot spring, having offered to assist with guard patrols in the area in case those strange men had followed them, when a strange scent caught in his nose, and a growl formed in his throat. He knew this smell. It was the smell of their enemy, the monster in the form of a man. He crouched down low, attempting to conceal himself in the bushes near Aerith's flower bed, willing his flaming tail to burn low so it wouldn't catch anyone's attention, as he could tell the owner of the scent was coming closer. It was quiet as a graveyard save for the bubbling of the mineral infused pool nearby and he watched as a figure stepped out of the trees.

For a moment, Nanaki felt a moment of panic as he saw the long silver hair, but then he realized the person was shorter than their feared enemy, and his facial features were much smoother. Then he heard the young man speak. "Mother?" the man called. "That horrible Ancient isn't keeping you here, is she?"

He stood and padded out into the clearing. "No, she is not," he answered. "But I am afraid I will have to ask you to leave."

In the moonlight, he caught sight of the man's eyes, reptilian green and cat-like just before the man went for the gun at his hip. "The only one who's going to leave, is you!" He heard something crunch underneath the man's boot and realized he'd just stepped into her flower bed. The man's nose wrinkled at the sight of the lilies under his feet. "Disgusting," he said, "How can that woman tolerate working with these things all day?"

"Because she cares for them," he growled. "And she will be very upset that you stepped on them!" with that, he sprang.

On the other side of town, Barret stood on the bridge of the Shera, watching as Cid worked at an open access panel under one of the computer stations. "So what your tellin' me is that Spikey's got the Stigma and that's why Zack wants only a few people at the house right now?"

"I thought it was pretty obvious," Cid said, taking a flashlight out of tool box and positioning it so the light illuminated the darkened mass of circuit boards and cables. "Didn' you see that sleeve he's sporting?"

"Well, yeah…" Barret admitted. "But I jes though' it was some new look he was tryin'…"

Cid shook his head. "He was doing exactly what Zack was doing. 'Cept Zack just didn't want the whole world knowing he was sick. Only difference is, Cloud was trying to do it to everyone. And he didn't hide it that well."

Barret listened as the man worked before his attention was caught by something moving on the tree line, just past the edge of the airfield. "What's that?" he said aloud.

"What's what?" Cid asked, looking up from the access hatch, a wrench in his hand.

Barret considered for a moment before hitting a switch on his artificial hand so that it turned into his usual gunarm. "Saw somethin' movin' in the woods," he said, walking over to the door. Cid nodded and went back to work. Leaving the bridge and making his way out onto the airship dock. His eyes narrowed as he looked around. The guards seemed to be on patrol like they were supposed to be, and he trusted them. Zack did after all, with his life, but at the same time… it was what could get past GUARDIAN's best that was of concern to him. Walking down the steps to the grass he could see it starting to dew in the cold night air. Was there going to be a freeze tonight? Aerith was probably better tapped into things like that, but even he could tell the temperature was starting to drop. Not minding the cold, he stepped further out onto the airfield, and then made his way beyond the guards on the edge. They noted his passing with a salute but otherwise did not hinder him.

He walked a short way into the trees, eyes and ears alert. He pulled up his gunarm, sweeping it across the surrounding foliage, ready to fire at anything that might be a threat.

He was looking to his right, when he heard something approaching from the left and whirled around to see a muscular man with short white hair enter the clearing. "Hey!" the man said. "By any chance, have you seen my mother?"

"Kid, I think yer in the wrong place. There ain't nobody here but airship techs and pilots.

"How boring," the man replied, flexing his arm. On which Barret could now see was affixed a strange piston-like weapon. "Perhaps you'll play with me instead?" his glowing green eyes now had a hungry glint in them, and Barret found himself thinking of the Crater, two years ago.

He glared at the man. "Listen here punk, I ain't gonna go easy on ya! Come and get it!" With that, he opened fire.

Aerith had watched Zack follow Cloud out of the house with a heavy heart. She knew the two of them would be able to help get things straightened out again, but it stung that Cloud, after all they'd been through together, still hadn't told anyone what was wrong when something clearly had been. Even so, that was beside the point now. They were working to resolve it, and things would get back to some sense of normalcy as soon as they could thwart what Sephiroth was up to. In order to do that with any semblance of reliability, they would need to find a cure for the Stigma.

She turned her attention away from the window in the front hall of the lodge and walked back into the living area. "I still don't think it was very smart," she heard Freya say.

"I don't disagree," Kunsel replied, "But you know he can be kind of stubborn."

"Do I ever," Freya said. She walked to the kitchen to retrieve a glass from a nearby cabinet.

Aerith followed her in, sitting down at the table. "There has to be something more we can do. Things can't stay as they are," she said.

"Well, there are those notes your mother left." Dr. Rayleigh sat down next to her, a cup of coffee in her hand as Elmyra also joined them, drying the water from her hands on the apron she wore.

"That's true," Aerith said. She reached for a stack of papers on the counter. "That was the other reason I asked you to come here tonight. I did a little bit of looking over what we brought with us on the Gainsborough on the way back, and it seems those tapes aren't the only thing she left. There's also a set of notes about an ancient city to the south east of Icicle Inn. I don't know if there would be anything of use, but if I could tap into the Lifestream there, maybe we could find out if those notes had any connection to the Cetra who sealed Jenova away. My mother talked about the virus, maybe it was something like the Stigma?"

Rayleigh adjusted her glasses as she took the papers from Aerith and looked them over for a few moments before speaking. "That seems like it might be a very good possibility. We should definitely investigate once things calm down a little." She placed the papers down on the table before taking a sip of her coffee. "It would be wonderful if we could at least find something. That limit break of yours is definitely a step in the right direction. But we need to go further."

Aerith nodded in agreement, and looked around at the others to see what they thought. That was when she noticed Kunsel looking out the window by the back door. "Is something the matter?"

"I could have sworn I heard something," he said. He walked to the far wall where his gunblade waited, and upon retrieving it he said "Stay here, I'll check it out."

As they made their way back towards town and Seventh Heaven, Cloud found it very hard not to notice how close Zack stayed to him, almost like his friend was afraid he'd bolt. The idea had crossed his mind, he couldn't deny it. Facing Tifa and the others at such a vulnerable time was a thought that terrified him to his very core. Even if Tifa had cared for him once, the idea of putting her through that again... For Jessie and the kids to see it up close, for Marlene to watch this again… And to face the possibility that even this attempt to return might inevitably result in them losing him again for good… it was the last thing he wanted to face.

And yet he knew he would. At this point, there was no other option.

The path opened out and he saw his breath in front of him as the town spread out before them. The bar lay only a short distance down the main street, and the two men slowly walked in that direction. Cloud was tempted to walk even slower, but stalling would get him nowhere and at last, they reached the door to the bar. Through the window, he could see Tifa was talking to Jessie while she cleaned the counter with a white dishcloth. It seemed the kids had already gone to bed. Something for which he was grateful. For once, Zack said nothing and waited for him to make the first move. At last, Cloud reached for the handle on the door and pulled it open.

The two women looked up as they entered and placed their swords against the wall. It wasn't until they were almost to the barstools that Jessie broke the silence. "Hi guys. How'd the spar go?"

Cloud looked away as he seated himself on one of the stools. Zack took the one next to him, and said "It could have gone better… but…" he glanced at his friend. "I think there's something important someone needs to say…" he trailed off and waited. If there was one thing he wouldn't do, he wasn't about to handle this for him.

After a few moments, Cloud could feel Tifa's gaze boring into him and he struggled to find the right words to begin, but as more time passed, he realized they just weren't coming. When it was clear he hadn't started talking, Tifa spoke. "Cloud, what is it…?" She trailed off, apparently just as uncertain about where this was going to go, and that only served to make things even worse.

Finally he reached for the sleeve on his left arm and stripped it out from under his shoulder guard, exposing the fresh bandage. The moment seemed to take up a physical presence of its own in the room, and Cloud looked away again, not wanting to meet Tifa's eyes. "You have it too, don't you," Tifa said. Cloud nodded, not daring to speak. But it didn't matter. "Is this why you disappeared?" When Tifa spoke again, her voice carried an edge that cut deeper than one of Hojo's scalpels. "So you could lie down and die?"

"There's no cure," Cloud murmured.

"That's not stopping Denzel, is it? Or Zack, or everyone else at the clinic?" Tifa said pointedly.

"You didn't need me like this…" he said after a moment. "I'd have only gotten in the way…"

Zack cut in at that point, "We've told you before, and we'll tell you again, stop doing that!"

He looked back at his friend for a moment. "Doing what?"

"That thing where you tell yourself you're worthless, and shouldn't be worried about. You do it all the time. 'It's not worth the trouble,' 'it won't do any good,' 'I'd only be in the way,' 'I'd only cause them more pain.' Cloud, you've saved our asses on more than one occasion, when are you going to think its okay to try and save your own? And to let us help you!"

"Don't run," Tifa added. "We can still help each other, can't we?" she looked uncertain for a moment before pulling back. "Or does that only work for real families?"

Zack seemed a bit miffed by that. "What's this about 'real families?' As far as I'm concerned, we are a real family. Even if some of us have more problems than others…" Both Cloud and Tifa looked at him in surprise and he shrugged. "What else would we be?"

Tifa seemed heartened by his words. "I guess that's true." She turned back to Cloud. "But can you at least promise me you won't disappear like that again?" she asked.

As Cloud considered his answer, the phone for the bar started to ring, but Tifa ignored it. This was apparently far more important. "I'll… try not to…" he said.

"Good," Zack said.

"We'll probably need to let the kids know at some point," Jessie noted. The phone rang again.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Zack said. Tifa nodded and finally went to answer the phone and Zack turned his attention back to Cloud. "We'll handle this one step at a time. Right now, we need to…" and that was when his PHS started ringing. He checked who it was and then quickly brought it to his ear. "Aerith?... What's wrong?"

The stranger danced across the clearing through the hail of Barret's bullets with the speed of a Jumping flitting across snow drifts. As he tried to train his gun on the man long enough to do some damage his eyes narrowed. While not huge, this guy was definitely heavy, and it was surprising that he could move that fast. This line of observation was interrupted by the fact that suddenly, the man was directly in his face and drawing back his fist for a blow with the piston-weapon on his arm, coming in past the breadth of Barret's ability to shoot. Not bothering to change his gunarm back into a regular fist, Barret reacted by bringing up his normal left hand into a powerful uppercut. He felt and heard the satisfying thud as the teeth in the man's jaw were smashed together and the man nearly flipped backwards in the air before pushing off of a nearby tree to land on the ground. The two locked gazes as Barret's opponent wiped some blood from his lower lip and Barret prepared to open fire again. "Jes' cause I got a gun for a hand don' mean the rest o'me is a pushover!" he snarled.

The stranger laughed, his expression becoming hungry. "Oh, I like you. This'll be fun!"

Barret opened fire again and felt the vibrations throughout his arm as the machine-gun bullets peppered the surrounding landscape and the smoke filtered out of the revolving chambers but the stranger had already begun weaving in and out of the trees. One second he saw him at the base of one tree and then the next he was at the top of another.

He was sending another wave of bullets into the leafless branches of one of the trees when he looked to his right just in time to see that strange weapon plow straight into his side. Electricity shot through him, but he shook it off, grabbing the man by the scruff of his neck with his arm, and running towards the trees with an animalistic bellow, threw him brutally against a tree trunk.

The stranger shook it off only just in time to see Barret's gun arm morph back into a fist as he was about to pound it into his skull before he ducked, attempting to take the larger man's legs out from under him with a leg swipe. Barret dropped and rolled as the stranger made another try for his face with his weapon before leaping to his feet and delivering a couple of stiff punches to the stranger's chest. They were by no means soft hits, but apart from bracing himself, the stranger simply grabbed Barret by the fishnet shirt under his vest and rammed him towards one of the other trees like a battering ram. Stars ran across his vision as the smaller tree split in two and fell to the ground from the impact, but he managed to keep the presence of mind to grab the man by his knee and lift him up, forcing him to break his grip before lifting him into the air and tossing him head first into a third tree. The stranger slumped as the echoes of the latest felled tree reverberated through the woods surrounding the town and Barret's weapon reverted into a gunarm. "All righ' you son of a $!#&%, don' you dare make a move, or it'll be the last one you make!"

He could already hear the sound of voices approaching and wasn't at all surprised to see Cid accompanied by a couple of the GUARDIAN sentries. "What in Sam Hill you tryin' to do out here, wake up the entire town?" the pilot demanded. "We thought there was some kind of stampede going on out here!"

"Ya ain't far off," Barret said, continuing to glare at the stranger who was attempting to pick himself up. The guards were about to close in when there was the sound of a PHS ringtone from nearby. Barret couldn't help but think it sounded strangely familiar and yet totally ridiculous as the stranger pulled the communications device out of his pocket, completely ignoring them as he pulled himself to a standing position.

"She's not here!" he said and to their surprise he snarled out "I'm NOT crying!" before looking back at them. "All right, I'm coming." He hung up.

"What makes you so sure you're goin' anywhere?" Barret demanded.

"Because my brother's done having fun with your friends," the stranger said. With that, he disappeared into the woods as though he'd never been there in the first place.

"You don't think…" Cid murmured before turning to the guards. "Spread out and search, if you find him, detain him, or at least keep him busy." He then turned to Barret. "Let's go."

The two of them took off towards the lodge as fast as they could run.

The long-haired stranger Nanaki faced ducked out of the way as he fired off a shot from his gunblade. The bullet grazed his right shoulder, but he too found purchase, sinking his teeth into the man's arm. They didn't cut leather unfortunately, but he was certain the man would at least be bruised. The man let out a breath but used his gunblade to knock the red lion away with a swipe across his nose. It hurt, but as the Guardian of the planet dropped to the ground, he dashed in.

The stranger was too quick however, shooting in his direction and forcing him to take cover behind a rock. Two more gunshots ricocheted off the hard surface before the stranger had to reload and Nanaki took a moment to cast a Cure on himself from a Restore materia Tifa had given him when hers maxed out before casting a Demi in the man's general direction. He felt the hum of energy around the area as the man tried in vain to evade the powerful spell that was attempting to crush him with its force but after looking over the rock, he could see that it had done its damage. "You…" the man growled, blood trickling down his leather clothes, before pulling himself back to his feet and charging one more time.

Nanaki dodged, landing on the edge of the pool of water, the steam backlit by his flaming tail as the stranger raced past. Nanaki turned to lunge at him, digging in his claws as he went for the man's throat, but as the man with silver hair was falling to the ground, he aimed his gun and Nanaki felt the bullet cut through his side like a knife, crippling him with pain. He dropped on top of the man before ducking away as his opponent threw him off.

The man laughed as he pulled himself up a final time to take aim. "Prepare to die beast!" he said triumphantly. Nanaki crawled behind another rock, ready to cast another Cure, but he felt a blade cut into his other side even as the healing energies flowed across him. Realizing the next attack would probably kill him, Nanaki fled into the trees, taking cover behind one of the larger ones and dimming his tail, hoping this would be enough. He was somewhat ashamed. Wasn't this a cowardly thing to do? He never had to answer that question though. For at that moment, he heard someone else running through the trees, and the sounds of others shouting.

Kunsel scanned the trees surrounding the lodge, the light flooding out from the windows behind him, before pointing his gunblade northward, to his right. "I know you're there! Come out where I can see you!" he demanded.

"My, my, how perceptive of you." He finally turned to look in the direction he had pointed the blade to see a man with shoulder-length silver hair step out of the woods. "Especially for one of those idiot cousins of ours."

"I'm not sure I get your meaning, but what I do get is that you're one of the guys who attacked Cloud at Icicle Inn. What are you doing here? You wouldn't happen to be Kadaj, would you?" He did not lower the gunblade as the man came closer.

"Why, I'd have thought you'd have figured both those things out by now. We're here for our mother…"

Kunsel heard the door open behind him. He could already tell by the footfalls and the metallic clicks that Freya had come out behind him, loading her shotgun as she took a position on the porch. "I think you're looking in the wrong place, pretty boy," she said. "Because, I'm sure your mama isn't here."

Kadaj seemed annoyed by the term because he drew a double-bladed katana. "How disrespectful! Shame on you!"

"What can I say?" Freya said, and he could taste the smirk in her voice. "We aim to displease. Especially where Sephiroth's concerned."

Kadaj chuckled at that. "Well then, we'll see how you feel about it after I've carved my way through you to chop that little Ancient of yours into tiny pieces." He was halfway across the clearing in an eyeblink.

"Not if I can help it." Kunsel met him just before he reached the steps of the lodge, their blade locking in a shower of sparks, however, as they traded several strikes, Kunsel found himself quickly becoming alarmed. As many times as he had trained with Zack and Cloud, he didn't think he'd ever encountered an opponent this fast. Not even Weiss and Nero. Sephiroth maybe, but the forms he'd personally faced were not of the sword-wielding variety, so it was hard to gauge.

He rolled out of the way of a particularly dangerous strike before kneeling to fire his gunblade. Freya's shotgun went off at the same time but the single-shot slug missed its target. Kadaj lunged at him again as he tried to stand and Kunsel was knocked over backwards, forced to block again. He pushed the man off before sending him flying through the air with a powerful kick and rolling back to his feet.

It was at that moment, when he heard the door opening again. "What's going on out here?" It was Dr. Rayleigh.

"Get back inside!" Freya demanded.

Too late. Kadaj raced at her and it was only because Kunsel channeled his limit that allowed him to cover other people that he was able to get in the way in time. As their blades vibrated against each other he felt another limit channel behind him, and an aura similar to what one felt when a sense spell was cast permeated the area. After a moment, the doctor murmured "By the Planet…"

What is it?" Freya asked. At that moment, Kunsel pushed his blade closer to his opponent, taking advantage of the higher ground to beat him back with a series of strikes.

"He feels like the Stigma… or Jenova cells…" Rayleigh murmured.

That was all he heard before he had to bring his attention back to defending against the man in front of him as he was knocked into the air by the power of one of the man's strikes and he parried back, kicking off one of the beams supporting the roof of the porch, attempting to drive the man further back from the house as an Ice spell connected seemingly harmlessly with his target from Freya's direction.

This fight was quickly becoming desperate as he was fighting for all he had just to keep the house from being attacked directly. He felt the katana clip his leg, though he dared not think what would have happened if it had gone deeper.

It was at that moment when a familiar rekka flew out of the gloom, landing a blow to Kadaj's back before returning to a new figure on the other side of the clearing. "I thought I heard noise over here," Cissnei commented.

Kadaj looked behind him and recognition flared in his eyes. "You!" he exclaimed.

Cissnei met his gaze with one of her own. "You're supposed to be dead!" she replied.

Kadaj didn't answer but instead turned and barreled towards her, katana ready to kill, but Kunsel was already in front of her, and he felt the familiar energy of Freya channeling a limit of her own, enveloping Cissnei in protective energies. The Turk jumped over top of him, using her rekka to aim a slice at Kadaj's face as he seemed to be occupied with the swordsman, but Kadaj brought up his fist and knocked her aside, breaking his locked blade and coming after her as she leapt to her feet. "Why didn't that hurt you?!" he bellowed. "Why won't you bleed?!"

"That's because of me, you jerk!" Freya interjected. "Do you want to play some more, or are you ready to turn tail and run!" She pulled back the slide on her shotgun provocatively.

"Not before I've covered the entire forest with your blood!" Kadaj taunted.

He was running directly towards her now but once again Kunsel countered, and he could feel his arms start to ache with the beating they had taken, but he wasn't about to stop, trying to press the offensive again by breaking their locked blades to land another series of strikes. Their blades sang through the clearing echoing into the darkened forest around them as the cold air fogged from their heavy breathing. But out of the edge of his awareness, he imagined that maybe he could hear people running. And then he felt the sensation of someone casting a summon nearby. A giant cauldron erupted behind him and he rolled out of the way as Hades appeared, throwing a powerful blast of energy at Kadaj. He was clearly put off by the deluge, but he was still standing. "You think you can kill me with that?" he taunted.

He was about to say more when Zack and Cloud raced into the clearing, their swords drawn. "Kadaj!" Cloud challenged.

"Oh look, our big brothers are here," Kadaj said.

"See how you do facing all of us!" Zack threatened.

Kadaj stepped back. "Maybe another time. But don't worry, I'll be back for the Ancient soon enough." With that, he fled into the trees towards the hot spring.

"After him!" Cissnei called. Cloud and Freya wasted no time but tore down the path on which the enemy swordsman had fled.

"You okay?" Zack asked, turning to his friend.

Kunsel let out a breath as he went for his bangle to cast a Cure. "Yeah, but be careful Zack, that guy's strikes are more powerful than Cloud's when he gets going."

"Stay here, we won't let him get away," Zack determined. With that he hurried after the blond swordsman and the lady Turk.

A bit of swordplay action and another little something from my dev. notes, just for fun. ^^

You see, we get so little of what Dr. Rayleigh is capable of and I've been playing around with a set of limits for her too. Just because. Since this is the only opportunity we'll get to see any of them in action, here they are. Although I never really intended for her to seriously take part in a combat situation where she'd need them, mostly.

Analysis: Level one Limit, casts Sense without Materia.

That's what she used here. She's a researcher first and foremost, what else is she going to do? ^^

Doctor's Bag: Level 2 limit, heals entire party 30% of each individual's HP.

Psychological Warfare: Level 3, All susceptible enemies are Sad, Silenced, and Confused.

Now one might ask what the use sadness would be against normal enemies when most don't channel limit breaks and it reduces the damage they take. Probably minimal, but against another party that can also utilize limits, when they rely pretty heavily on those limits, I could see the potential there. Besides, it's just funny. ^^

See you next week!