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.

Matt and Alistor are original characters.

Part IV: Stigma

Chapter 85, Phoenix Fire

April 14th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009 6:00 PM Junon Western Time

It was taking every ounce of self-control Reeve possessed not to duck under the desk in his Junon office in the face of Barret's wrath. As it was, Cait Sith was taking refuge under the tails of his trench coat, hiding between his legs as he stood, calmly weathering the storm. "An' they jes let'em get on that boat without doin' a thing?!" he thundered. "Weren' there people watching?!"

"It seems to be that way," Reeve answered, and that was when he realized he'd been holding his breath. "However, Zack and the others are headed north to search as we speak."

"They know where they took her?" Barret's voice had dropped so low he could barely hear him, but Reeve was certain the man was a tightened coil ready to snap at the slightest provocation.

"They'll send us an update as soon as they get in!" Reeve answered. "I'm sure we'll find them soon!"

Barret glared at him before turning to Cid who had entered the room with him. "Take me to my little girl," he growled.

It was to Cid's credit that as abrasive as he could be on occasion, he knew when not to argue. He looked up at Reeve. "You got the coordinates for this place they're goin' to?"

Reeve nodded and reached for his PHS, typing it in and then sending it to Cid's. "Between Yuffie and Nanaki, we should be able to keep things under control. Though they'll probably get there before you do," he said, "Good luck."

Cid nodded, and the two men walked out of the office.

April 14th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009 8:00 PM Mid Central Sea Time

It had gotten significantly darker as the Gainsborough came in for a landing in a clear space between a large forest and what definitely looked like the remains of a city that had long ago been abandoned. Tifa sat next to Cloud's bunk in their cabin, watching the scene through a nearby porthole as she heard the sounds of the others preparing to go out and begin the search. Every instinct told her to go out with them, but on the other hand, who would be left to keep an eye on Cloud until he woke up. Aerith had already cleaned his wounds again, but unconsciousness turned to uneasy sleep was still hardly something to be considered healthy. As she considered her conflict, she heard the door open behind her and turned to see Zack and Aerith standing there. "We're about ready to head out," Zack informed her. "We'll go over the entire city if we have to."

She nodded.

Zack turned and left the doorway. Aerith remained standing there for a moment. "Don't worry, we'll do everything we can to find them," she said. With that, she followed after her husband. There was the sound of another door closing after several people walked through it and then Tifa found herself alone in the crew quarters, with only Cloud's sleeping form for company. She stood and walked to the door, leaving it open so she could hear if he woke up before stepping out into the main cabin, looking out on the view from the window, watching as Zack and Vincent led the way towards the old shell-like buildings, interspersed with several that appeared to have been built of old stones. It reminded her of looking at a sand collage in a bottle, except much larger, and much more dilapidated.

It was when she made this observation that she saw Reno and Vincent cut off from the main group in different directions while Zack and the others continued up the main path until they disappeared under the boughs of the leafless trees. As they did, she couldn't help but feel a sense of isolation, not helped by the fact that she really felt like she needed to be out there looking too.

She was walking back towards the cabin when she heard a rustling sound from inside and picked up her pace. Upon reaching the door, she saw Cloud was sitting up and once he detected her entrance out of the corner of his eye, he looked up at her helplessly. "It happened again," he observed.

"Yeah," Tifa sat down next to him.

"What happened after I passed out?" Cloud asked.

She hung her head. "Reno showed up," she said. "He helped us get back to the Gainsborough. But, while we were out looking for them, the remnants… that's what Reno called them, they took Marlene and Denzel…"

Cloud's eyes widened. "What?"

Tifa continued. "He and Rude told us they were coming here…"

"How did it happen…?" Cloud asked.

"They got grabbed at the docks. Jessie only found out when she found Rude… They got Matt and Alistor too…"

Cloud buried his face in his palm at that point and Tifa paused. Of course she should have known this would be difficult to talk through. "Zack and the others are already out looking," she said at the moment. "Reno's with them, and we can help if you feel up to it?"

"What good will it do?" Cloud murmured. "Tifa, I'm not fit to help anyone, not my family, not my friends… nobody."

Tifa sighed. "Dilly dally, shilly shally."

He looked up at her in surprise. "Dilly dally, shilly shally." She repeated. "Cloud, Zack's right… you need to stop doing that. It only makes it worse." She paused, trying to think through her words. "Look, I'm just as worried as you are, and even if we find the kids, we might not be able to help them, but we're not alone. We'll help each other. I know we can."

Cloud looked up at her sadly, but didn't seem able to answer.

After several moments of uncomfortable silence Tifa knelt down, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "Cloud, don't shut us out. If we give up now, it's going to be that much more likely that something will happen that can't unhappen. But we need to think about what's going on right now, really take it in… So… what's it going to be?" She held his gaze for a few more seconds before standing up and walking out of the room. She felt heartless and she hated it. How could she say those things? Yes it was painful to try and force action on him. She didn't like it, but it was even more painful to see that vacant hopelessness in his eyes once he decided there was no way out. It made her feel ill. She walked to the window, sadly looking out at her surroundings, trying to hold back tears as the uncertainty swirled around in her thoughts.

She couldn't have been standing there long however, when she heard shuffling sounds from behind her. Looking back she wasn't sure if she felt better or worse watching him reattach his sword harness as he walked out into the main cabin. His expression had not changed. He still looked as discouraged as ever, but there was a hardness in his expression that she hadn't seen before when she had spoken to him. As he finished he started towards the cargo hold where Fenrir was parked. "Where are we?" he asked, as she followed after him.

"Aerith called it the City of the Ancients." Tifa said. "Zack and the others should be on the main road, we can catch up to them pretty quickly, I think."

Cloud nodded as they entered the hold and walked over to the manual release on the back gate, hitting it before he returned to his motorcycle, checking its condition before mounting it and gesturing that she join him. "Let's go."

She didn't need to be told twice.

Aerith was listening for anything the Planet could tell her about the location of the remnants, or the kids, or Elena, as she walked through the woods that covered the dead city, though it was really hard to make things out when it was quite distracted by that very large amount of black water that had been released in the lake up ahead. As much as she tried, she didn't feel like she was making any headway at all. After a while, she paused and looked around. "Where are Vincent and Reno?" she asked.

"They broke off a short while ago to scout the side paths," Zack said.

"Oh…" Aerith looked up at the trees as they made their way down the path, surrounded by collapsed buildings. There was definitely a muted sadness here, as though someone she knew had lived here once, and now it was nothing but an emptied out shell of a place, with a few paint cans in the corner. Funny, considering all the giant shells that were lying around.

Freya spoke up at that moment. "There's really something strange about this place," she began before lifting up what appeared to be an old flower pot sitting at the door of a building that had long ago caved in. "It's almost like whoever lived here just… left… without taking anything with them. " She knelt at a series of stones that might have lined a doorframe on the nearest side of the building. "If anyone was actually planning to leave permanently, they wouldn't have just left gardening tools lying around like this." She indicated the head of an old trowel. The wood had been there so long it seemed to have been petrified against the wall of the house.

"Do you think it was because they were in that much of a hurry to get away from Jenova?" Kunsel reflected.

"Either that, or they had hoped they'd be able to come back…" Freya trailed off after a moment as she turned her attention back to why they were really here. "But that's beside the point, we need to stay focused." She stood straight and walked up to where Aerith was standing with Zack and Cissnei and that was when she turned her attention to another part of the ground. "Here we are…"

"You found something?" Zack asked.

"Maybe," the lady Turk knelt on the ground examining it for a few moments. "A whole bunch of people with smaller footprints came through here not that long ago."

Aerith tightened her grip around her staff as everyone quickened their pace. Soon they were at the lake the planet was speaking of and Aerith saw that the waters had all turned pitch black. "This is terrible," she murmured.

"No arguments there," Cissnei said.

"It looks like these people actually went into the water," Freya said as she looked over the marks in the sand.

"They went into that stuff? Why?" Zack asked.

"They were giving themselves to Jenova…" Aerith said before swallowing hard. She looked up at the giant shell at the edge of the lake. Something about it called to her urgently. "Let's go inside," she said. "I-I think someone's in there…"

She stepped forward but Zack held out a hand to stop her. "Wait," he said. "Let me go first. If anything's waiting inside, I'd rather be the one to be in front." He turned to Kunsel, "Could you watch our rear?"

The other swordsman nodded. "Got it," he said. As he drew his gunblade, Freya took up a position next to him before Zack stepped ahead of the group into the depths of the giant shell. As Aerith followed him in, she was relieved that nothing happened.

As they walked a little deeper, they found themselves in a room with a staircase leading down into a hole. Looking through it, everyone found themselves surprised to see that as the staircase went deeper, it was nearly impossible to tell what was holding it up. In fact, from here, if she didn't know any better, it was almost like they led down to the sea floor through an expanse of crystal clear water, though there was obviously air down there because she didn't see any point where there was a water-level just yet.

"What is this?" Cissnei wondered aloud.

"The Water Altar," Aerith answered, almost as soon as the Planet told her. "If I ever needed to use Holy, I would have had to come here…"

"Holy?" Kunsel asked.

"It's not important right now," Aerith murmured.

A hush fell over everyone as Zack checked the stability of the stairs and then, gingerly put his full weight on the first step. It held. "Never seen anything like this before," he commented. "How are they being held up?"

"I don't know…" Aerith said, barely above a whisper, "but I have this feeling… I'm not quite sure what it is… but it's like there's something down there… that's not supposed to be…"

"Well, we should check it out anyway," Freya said, as she checked her ammunition. "If there's a chance the kids are there."

Zack nodded in agreement. "Yeah… let's go." With that, he resolutely began walking down the steps, doing his best to make as little noise as possible. As she walked over them, Aerith didn't even feel the stairs dip under her weight. It was really strange that they hung stationary in the air like this, but it was even more odd to see the vacant towers and platforms below, almost like this had been some kind of castle. After the stairs coiled down around the chamber a couple of times, they finally reached the first solid platform and she saw a ways below her that there was indeed a deep pool of water at the bottom of the chamber. She couldn't tell how far down it went, but the path led to the Water Altar through a series of pillars that had been set across the waterway as stepping stones once it trailed down a couple of sets of stairs and through a couple of the surrounding towers.

The moonlight seemed to be filtering in from a light source above them, giving a mysterious aura to the place. Fitting, considering that this area definitely held some immense spiritual power. As a matter of fact, it looked exactly like the place Minerva had showed her when giving her the technique they had used to pull Cloud back when Sephiroth had almost broken his mind. It had to be the same place.

She heard the others come off the last few steps behind her before they continued forward, following the path towards the altar. Upon reaching the stepping stones, Zack pulled ahead again and Aerith followed until they were standing at the steps up to the Altar itself. "It doesn't look like anything's here," Cissnei commented.

Aerith walked up the steps until she was looking up through the shattered ceiling of gold sea glass that covered it. "No, there doesn't seem to be anything, but I think when we've found the kids, I'd like to come back. There's just something about this place that makes me want to take a closer look."

Zack nodded. "All right, let's keep looking…" he was about to walk towards the stepping stones again when he paused and suddenly Aerith noticed a shadow had fallen over her in the moonlight… Zack lunged, knocking her to the ground and sparks flew as Kadaj's double-bladed katana connected with the blade of the Buster Sword.

"Hello big brother," he drawled, and Aerith looked up in time to see that the others had taken defensive stances nearby, as Yazoo and Loz joined them on the platform. As she looked across the water, a wall of children now stood watching and to her horror, Denzel stood directly in front of them, as did Alistor, blocking their escape. She was picking herself up as she heard Kadaj continue, speaking to their audience. "You see this man? He's our big brother, but along with our other big brother who was too much of a coward to show up, you could say they're what we call, black sheep. Why else would he help this witch here. You know her, of course! The one who was promising to cure you when she didn't have a cure!" The katana was pointed in her direction as he said this, and she saw Zack lunge, once again locking blades with Kadaj.

"Leave my wife alone," Zack said, his voice venomously low. With that, Yazoo fired several shots in their direction and several Wall spells came to life on the Altar platform.

Vincent was floating along above a series of the shell houses that weren't quite as damaged as the others when he heard a rustling sound coming from nearby. Folding out of his cloak into a secure patch of bushes, Vincent listened for the noise again and this time he heard it coming from a house a couple of buildings away. Upon coming closer, he realized it had been blocked by a large stone slab. He called on the Gallian Beast and soon his muscles rippled and bulged under the familiar purplish fur. Walking to the slab, he used his now incredible strength to lift it and move it out of the way before looking into the building. He was almost distracted as there was a piercing scream from the opposite side of the room and a pebble landed right between his eyes. Gallian growled and sniffed towards the sound before recognition filtered through his mind. The little girl was here, Marlene, and she was standing on the staircase, another rock in her hand.

After a moment, he forced Gallian back into the recesses of his mind, allowing his usual form to reappear. "I would not advise doing that again," he said. "Had I not recognized you, Gallian might have had you for dinner."

Marlene peered across the darkened room. "Vincent?" she asked.

The man approached, coming into a shaft of light from a skylight on the floor above and Marlene ran to him, looking on the verge of tears. "Miss Elena! She's really hurt!" Vincent followed her up to find himself in another room, and across it, lying on a stone slab, was a woman he barely recognized. Her blonde hair was askew over her face and her business suit did nothing to hide the cut marks or the bruises that marred her face and body. Upon hearing him enter, the young woman looked up and her eyes widened. As much as they could with her bruises anyway. "V-Vincent Valentine?" she asked. "H-how did you…"

Never one for long conversations, Vincent simply reached for the Restore Materia in his bangle and cast a Cure, causing her injuries to visibly recede from view. "We should leave here immediately and return to the others," he said curtly. "Can you stand?"

The young Turk pulled herself unsteadily to her feet. "Seems I can," she said, using the wall to balance herself.

At that, Marlene tugged at his cloak urgently. "Kadaj did something to Denzel and the others! I don't know where they went but you need to help them!"

"Everyone is looking for them now," Vincent replied, guiding Elena's right arm over his shoulders so he could assist her with the walk down the stairs. "We'll find them soon."

Marlene nodded and hurried ahead of them as they made their way back down the steps. As they stepped out of the house, however, the former Turk suddenly had a strange feeling. It seemed Chaos's attention had been drawn by something near the center of the village. "Hmm…" he grunted. And without bothering to explain anything to his companions, instead began making his way in that direction.

Kunsel returned fire from the foot of the stairs leading to the altar as bullets from Yazoo's weapon ricocheted off of his own Wall. Freya was right behind to him, crouching behind the guardrails a few steps up as she reloaded her weapon before standing slightly to fire another blast at the two remnants before backing away towards the larger threat. Cissnei had already been a couple of steps ahead of her in joining Zack and Aerith at the altar, where the dark-haired ex-SOLDIER and Kadaj were trading a series of blows. Judging by the speed at which he was moving, it appeared Aerith had cast Haste on him.

The other two remnants leapt over the gap with the stepping stones at that moment and Kunsel brought up his gunblade in a block when Loz lunged at him with his retractable gauntlet. Electricity crackled between his blade and the other weapon before Loz pulled back and made another go at it which Kunsel quickly deflected before attempting to stop Yazoo's advance with a couple of shots. The remnant jumped over him before running ahead to where Cissnei stood between them and the rest of the group.

Following his lead, Kunsel broke off from where he stood and ran up the stairs, dodging to avoid another strike from Loz, and channeling Double-Time as he did so. To his consternation however, Yazoo managed to parry all five of his attacks. Coming to a stop at the top of the stairs he once again locked blade and gauntlet with Loz, as the sounds of Zack and Kadaj sparring behind him echoed through the room. Loz broke the lock this time and went for two punches aimed at his gut which he managed to deflect and then a powerful kick, which he was barely able to evade. Why did these guys have to be so fast?

Dodging to avoid a gunshot from Yazoo, he realized only a second too late that it had been a distraction and Loz was headed directly towards Aerith. He was running in that direction, praying he'd be able to get there in time since Zack was clearly preoccupied with not getting skewered by Kadaj, when Loz pulled back his fist and struck towards Aerith's back. Instead of seeing the blow connect, Kunsel felt a limit channeling nearby and then a field of energy enveloped the Ancient. Loz crashed headlong into the barrier and Kunsel looked around to see Freya watching the goings on with a look of relief on her face. She had channeled soon enough, Aerith was fine…

That was when Yazoo appeared behind her, his own gunblade drawn, and at the same second Kunsel channeled one last limit to try and cover her, the remnant fired, and suddenly, blood started to stain her light blue shirt. As Kunsel appeared in between them, landing a powerful blow to Yazoo's shoulder, the lady Turk fell to her knees, and then dropped to the ground.

In that moment, all the sound in the room seemed to have gone mute. Cissnei was next to him, using her rekka as an improvised blade, channeling a limit of her own to drive back Yazoo and Loz before any further damage could be done and Kunsel turned to kneel on the floor, turning the lady-Turk over, looking for some sign that she was still alive. "Freya?" he asked. She was definitely not conscious anymore. Feverishly, he searched his bangle for his Phoenix materia and started casting. Oh Gaia, please let this work… he silently prayed.

The magic began to work around him and as fires burst to life above them, he saw Aerith at his side, a limit break channeling from her own energy. Rain began to fall on the altar in a torrent as Zack and Cissnei continued the fight around them. The phoenix appeared over them, healing energies fluttering down through the chamber like fiery feathers, steaming under the rain and lighting up the walls with warm yet iridescent prisms of color. The remnants were dodging and weaving even as they fought with the others to avoid the burning of its flames. He checked the Turk again for any signs of life.

She wasn't breathing… and then his heart froze.

She didn't have a pulse either...

The Pheonix let out a loud cry that sent echoes across the room before dissipating in a rainbow under the fading rains and suddenly he was once again aware of the clashing sounds of swords around him even as he began attempting CPR. Not like this, he begged. Please… No… "Freya!"

Fenrir was powering down the road as fast as Cloud could drive it towards the forgotten capital. He felt the wind in his face as he looked from side to side. There was no sign of movement. Hardly any sound at all, aside from the rumble of the engine below him. The tranquility of the area was far different from the turmoil of his own thoughts and worries. He hoped they would find the others soon. Looking up ahead of him, over the stand of trees, he suddenly saw something that got his attention. A fiery light had illuminated the sky, painting an aurora of color across the stars, twinkling innocently in the darkness. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but then, inexplicably, he was somewhere else…

The place where he was sitting was very familiar. He could see Zack lying off in the distance, just as he had been the day the Turks had found them in the Midgar wastes, and someone was standing over him. A familiar looking Turk. Through the mako-tinged memory she walked a bit closer through the landscape and suddenly she gave him a very grave look. "Well Cloud, I did it."

"Freya? What's going on?"

She smiled softly. "It looks like I was able to protect our friends this time."

He blinked in confusion. "I don't understand…How are you…?"

She shook her head, dismissing his questions before walking closer as she spoke. " Listen. I don't have a lot of time, but no matter what happens, it's going to be all right. You're still here, and as long as you don't give up, you can still keep trying… so don't give up. No matter what. That's the mission I leave to you. I know you're not a Turk, but that doesn't mean you can't hold to our creed, right?"

"But… what is this?"

"No buts!" she chided, offering a grin that was both fiercely determined and yet terribly sad, "And no regrets… " She knelt down in front of him and gently pushed his blond hair out of his face just as she had done that day two years ago and then stood and turned to walk away, but she looked over her shoulder after a few steps, as though surprised he was still there.

"Hurry… they need you…"

He blinked and found himself back on the road to the center of the city. Adrenaline kicked in and he put Fenrir into full throttle, rocketing along the road at breakneck speed. Trees and buildings flew by them and he could hear Tifa behind him trying to find out why he had suddenly changed their pace, but he wasn't listening. He couldn't shake this terrible feeling that something was wrong. In what seemed like barely a few heartbeats, he had reached a large shell house and come to a screeching halt. He didn't know whether or not he had parked the bike properly as he raced towards the door, the First Sword in his hand and Tifa behind him. He vaguely registered that they were passing Vincent, Marlene, and Elena, or that Reno was approaching from another side road before they had entered the gloom of the shell's interior to find a set of stairs leading into a crystal chamber below.

He practically leaped off the last few steps to land on one of the platforms, Tifa and Vincent right behind him, when up ahead he saw Zack and Cissnei fighting for their lives against the three remnants on an altar surrounded by water. Kunsel and Aerith were behind them, the SOLDIER continuing CPR on someone just out of sight as Aerith was casting healing spells. There was a crowd of people approaching that seemed to be trying to block his path but with the force of a hurricane, Cloud jumped across the water onto the platform with the altar and raced up the stairs to level two quick blows at Kadaj, while Vincent fired several rounds at Loz and Tifa went after Yazoo with a spinning back-kick. Seeing the situation they were now in, Kadaj called to the crowd "Go to the boat!" before attempting to run his sword through Zack's right side. Cloud dived in to cover for him before pushing him away with the First Sword. Kadaj jumped onto a nearby pillar, and Cloud followed after him to come to rest on another support beam over the water.

They traded a few more blows before he realized that Yazoo and Loz had retreated, and that Kadaj had jumped to the platform leading to the stairs before dissolving into a cloud of black mist, leaving them alone in the chamber.

Cloud hopped back to the ground and saw that Kunsel was still on his knees next to Freya's still form. No one said a word as they were all still dealing with the shock of what had just happened. He suddenly felt Tifa grab his shoulder, her eyes wide, and Aerith, who, up until the fight had ended had been trying to help revive the lady Turk with healing spells had now walked over to Zack and was crying into his chest. Cissnei stood behind Kunsel, trying to hold back tears as she purposefully returned her rekka to the strap on her back where she usually kept it.

Kunsel's expression was completely blank, as though the reality of what had happened just hadn't hit him yet, but after a moment, he reached down and gathered up the body of their comrade in his arms, along with her weapon, and started walking across the stepping stones. The others followed as they continued up the stairs and out the building to find Reno, Elena, and Marlene standing outside waiting for them. "What…" Reno began as Kunsel stepped into the starlight, but then he saw the lady Turk in his arms and said nothing more. Elena's eyes widened, and Marlene looked confused.

Kunsel continued past them and they joined the group in walking the rest of the path towards the Gainsborough. Cloud lifted Fenrir from where it had fallen to the ground and wheeled it after the others. They were walking up the main road and the airship was in sight when Cloud noticed sparks of Lifestream beginning to filter around the area, lighting it in a warm green glow. Off in the distance, he could also see the lights of another airship approaching. It appeared to be the Shera.

They were almost to the Gainsborough when suddenly the body in Kunsel's arms dissolved, sending more sparks of Lifestream up into the atmosphere. It wasn't until the last spark disappeared that Kunsel dropped to his knees, and in that moment, Cloud saw that Freya's shotgun was still within his grasp. It was when Tifa walked off to lean against one of the trees nearby, trying to muffle the sound of her own sobbing that he realized Marlene was standing in front of him, and he picked her up and held her close, even as he felt tears trickling down his own face.

I wish I could have said so at the beginning but it would have been impossible without spoiling the plot. If you would like to enhance your reading experience for this chapter, look for the song Last Regrets, as remixed by the artist Haru on youtube and start it around paragraph 7 of section 5.

While developing this chapter I wanted to pay tribute to the original scene without losing its punch, but still allow the new version to stand on its own. It is my hope that I have managed to achieve this.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas, or other alternative winter solstice-time holiday as the case may be, and I wish everyone a happy and safe New Year.

See you next week, in 2014!