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 89, Some People Just Can't Seem to Stay Dead

April 15th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009 6:30 PM Mideel Central Time

Argento had just finished working in her forge. It had been some time ago when she had offered to re-treat Genesis's sword for him, and now that Cloud was gone, she had ample time to do so. The reforged Rapier in her hands with the quote from Loveless freshly engraved as spell runes upon the blade, she reverently carried it past the actual Masamune, carefully preserved on a table near her workspace. She still needed to place it in the goddess's chamber. It had been mutually agreed upon by both herself and Genesis. What better to serve as Sephiroth's grave marker, now that the man himself was no longer physically in existence?

As she neared the entrance to Minerva's cave she saw Genesis standing alert, as though listening to something, and then he quickly whirled on his heel and started towards the exit of the cave.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

Genesis looked at her, as though he'd only just noticed she was there. "I have been called…" he said.

Argento blinked. "You mean…?"

Genesis nodded. "It is time the three friends fulfilled their oath."

The blade smith sighed and then offered him the Rapier, the red metal almost burning in the light from the sunset. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Beyond the shadow of a doubt," he said, and then with a wry grin he added "I promised. The people I love are waiting." Of course, he would use a line from the play for this. She wanted to laugh but it seemed horribly macabre.

She considered for a moment before saying "I'll be right back," with that, she walked back towards an old desk in the cave. It had once been purposed only for Genesis to display his accomplishments as a boy, but now, he had been using it to keep personal affects, as well as a basket of dumbapples from some of the last living specimens of the Banora White apple tree.

From it, she selected one and walked back to the cave entrance, pressing the fruit into his hand. Genesis seemed surprised, but smiled. "My complements to you and yours, for your family's craftsmanship, and your companionship in these last few months."

"It was what was needed," Argento said. "I do not think we will meet again in this lifetime."

Genesis offered her a respectful bow. "Perhaps in another?"

"Perhaps." She smiled, though she couldn't help feeling genuinely saddened. Possibly the first time she had allowed herself such a luxury in several years. They shared no further words before Minerva's WEAPON took to the sky, and Argento set about cleaning her forge, but not before placing her Deepground uniform almost ceremoniously into the fire to be incinerated. Over the last year or so, she had been periodically venturing out to collect the necessary medical supplies to sustain her mako addiction until she was ready to undergo the arduous process of trying to beat it. Now that she was free to leave, there would be no need to hold off for much longer. Further, there was no need for this place anymore either. She felt a small stab of pain from a patch of infected flesh that lay under a bandage she had hidden under one of her work gloves as she carried the Masamune into Minerva's cave and placed it at the foot of the destroyed statue, and then dutifully walked out and cast the most powerful Fire spell she could muster to make the cave entrance collapse in on itself.

Upon completing this task and making sure the entrance was no more than a pile of impassable rubble, she gathered up her tools and belongings, and walked to the cave exit, slinging a rucksack over her shoulder as she felt her loose traveling clothes fall so much more naturally against her skin than her mako suit ever did.

There was now only one last thing to do before she could leave Mideel. "Father…" she murmured. "As soon as I finish this errand, I will be coming home to you. For the evil my sword helped to bring about in this world will finally begin to be undone."

April 15th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009 11:30 AM Junon Western Time

Marlene was sitting in the main cabins when suddenly she noticed Denzel reach for the bandage on his shoulder. Almost in unison, Sasha curled up on on the floor, Matt suddenly dropped onto a bench nearby, whimpering, and Alistor gritted his teeth. "What's wrong?" she asked, not sure who to go to first.

Alistor gave her a smile through the pain though his voice was calm and even as he spoke. "It's all right. Go… ask Tifa if we have any of Aerith's water…"

Marlene nodded ran out of the main cabin to hurry along the corridor to the front. As she neared the bridge, she caught sight of the cannon just outside, and then a little further away, she saw the Gainsborough coming closer. "Are Zack and Aerith coming?" She asked.

Tifa looked back at her and nodded. "You need to get back to the cabin though. It's dangerous."

Marlene shook her head. "Tifa, Denzel and the others need help!" It was at that moment when she saw something come flying up from near the base of the cannon, and it wasn't until the figure landed in a crouch on the barrel of the gun that she realized it was Cloud.

At the same time, the communications officer spoke up. "Captain Highwind, the Gainsborough is hailing us."

"Patch it through," Cid said.

Almost immediately a familiar voice came through the speakers. "Guys? What's going on? Aerith said something's really wrong." Almost at the same time as Zack and Aerith's images appeared over the holoprojector, Marlene saw another fast-moving figure leaping up from the streets below, and she realized it was a man in a dark coat with long hair, though he was quickly obscured as the sky began to darken, and tendrils of corrupted Lifestream began collecting around the cannon in a whirlwind.

Cloud felt the change in force before he comprehended it as Sephiroth catapulted him back up into the air though he had the presence of mind to angle himself so he landed safely back on top of the cannon. Sephiroth leapt up after him to land on the coolant injectors, looking down at him with a self-assured leer. "I see you've received my invitation…" he said. "Doesn't it feel wonderful?"

"Sephiroth!" Cloud called across the cannon barrel. "What do you want?"

"The last thoughts of Geostigma's dead. Those remnants will gather in the Lifestream and girdle the planet, choking it… corroding it…" He looked up at the sky hungrily before returning his gaze to the swordsman. "What I want Cloud, is to sail the darkness of the cosmos with this planet as my vessel, just as my mother did long ago." With that, he raised his hand and suddenly the sky began to darken and as he watched, tendrils of corrupted Lifestream started swirling down from the sky, covering the area around them, and Cloud lifted his sword, ready for any surprises. "Then one day," Sephiroth continued, "We'll find a new planet, and build a shining future."

"What about this planet?" Cloud demanded.

"Well," Sephiroth drawled, "That's up to you Cloud." With that, the silver-haired demon lunged, his sword out in front of him in a stabbing motion. Cloud deflected the blow and immediately channeled a limit, striking hard and then leaping into the air to finish a Climhazzard, but Sephiroth followed him through the tempest on top of the cannon. They traded several blows in midair before Sephiroth raised his blade and slashed down hard. Cloud blocked but felt himself falling down past the barrel. He grabbed onto one the weapons' support struts, swinging himself around to get to a more secure spot, but that was when, like a wraith from the underworld, Sephiroth glided around the side of the structure to come in for another strike.

Cloud dodged, before he was forced to block again and again and again as the former 1st Class SOLDIER just kept coming. He could see he was no longer near the building but was simply parrying Sephiroth as the other man was knocking him further down. At last, he reached another platform on the mako cannon's secondary pillar and pulled himself out of the air, crouching, his arm beginning to ache a little more, but he gritted his teeth. He had a promise to fulfill. Sephiroth was in his face again as they locked blades. "Oh," Sephiroth smiled at his opponent. "So you do still have some strength?" his voice was mocking.

Cloud glared at him. "Enough to stop you!" He pushed upward with all his might, and Sephiroth was thrown aloft, smashing through the barrel of the cannon above them and he leapt after his quarry through the hole to find the man had already gone behind him, slicing on of the pistons and sending it flying in his direction. He jumped, using his sword to slice the thing in two before realizing it had still somehow knocked him back. Glancing down, he could see he was no long over the ground but standing out above the ocean. Steeling himself for his next move, he saw the harbinger of his nightmares come flying at him, ready to knock him off, but he cast a Fire spell in Sephiroths direction before running forward in a slashing block, using Sephiroth's own force to flip over him and then he leapt across the hole once again as the former SOLDIER turned and came in close to trade several more blows with him.

Cloud's arm was really beginning to hurt now but he knew he couldn't stop. For every blow that he thought he'd landed it felt like his enemy would try to land about five more, but he couldn't get in. For every single one that he blocked, he focused on Sephiroth's next strike, trying to predict from what direction in might come. The two of them were almost to the other end of the cannon, near where the pistons were when Sephiroth suddenly drew back to land on on one of them. Cloud glared up at him before leaping after him to land another deadly strike, but in midair he heard his enemy taunting again.

"I wonder, what it would take to make you crumble," he said, before suddenly slicing off the counterbalance of a large crane that stood near the Junon Shinra Building. Cloud sliced through it, hoping against hope that no one would be crushed by the pieces as they fell. His opponent was suddenly up close to him and his breath caught in his throat as the man leered at him. "Shall I give you despair?" Suddenly Cloud felt his arm seize up and realized he was falling, but somehow, as he landed on the cannon again, he managed to stay standing.

"On your knees," Sephiroth drawled, "Beg for forgiveness and I may let you live long enough to see oblivion." He was distracted at that moment when something huge suddenly came flying at him and Cloud realized it was the remains of the crane, and more. It seemed his opponent had taken the construction site to which the building was attached and was throwing whole segments of it at him. Cloud struck, suddenly finding himself once again airborne as he attempted to slice through as many of the fragments that were coming at him as possible, when he suddenly spotted Sephiroth coming in from behind and he attempted to block before using a fragment of a girder in midair to jump off of and return with a powerful slash. Sephiroth knocked him back in midair and he swung around a pole before parrying several more slashes.

Cloud leapt to another piece of debris, before slicing through it and coming to rest on another, only in time to parry a another series of blows as his enemy came flying in from above. They were standing almost on top of each other between two fragments of rubble, trading blows as the force of the wind around them kept the pieces in line and then suddenly, Cloud felt the pain grow worse, and he knew he had reached his limit for this exercise. Using his good arm, he sliced the Fusion Sword through the debris he was standing on and leapt out of the line of fire to come to rest, just for a moment on the cannon. He dropped into a crouch, his lungs shuddering for breath as his left arm burned.

But at that moment, he was forced to make a rolling dodge as Sephiroth came at him again, and he blocked the attack before he felt himself tossed several feet along the length of the cannon again. Sephiroth struck and struck again, not letting up, and Cloud parried as best he could, but having been caught off guard he found he was being driven further and further back out towards the sea. He managed to leap over the hole he'd knocked his opponent through, barely staying on his feet, before he felt rather than saw the empty air behind him. Knowing he had no other choice, he ran at his opponent, attempting a Cross slash, but Sephiroth managed to parry every single strike, knocking him back, and he only managed to keep from falling off the edge. The pain in his arm seared and he felt himself growing light-headed.

Sephiroth gave him a look of mock pity. "It seems your Geostigma has finally started affecting you." He stood before him, ready to strike a single black wing suddenly appearing behind him, "Tell me what you cherish most?" he said softly, "Give me the pleasure of taking it away…"

For a moment, Cloud was certain he was done for, but then, suddenly, he felt something wet connect with his head. Had it started raining? Not that it mattered… wait… Sephiroth was suddenly looking up, and he felt the droplets coming down harder, and harder. It was only when it started pouring that he felt something tingle under the bandages. He saw Sephiroth glaring at the shadow that had appeared above them, and then he was gone. Cloud stood, perplexed at the fact that he felt strangely refreshed and then he saw what was going on.

About fifty feet up and out, the Gainsborough hovered in the air. Aerith stood next to Zack on the weather deck of the ship, her staff in front of her and her materia in her hand. Cloud felt his eyes widen and his heart nearly stop as Sephiroth came flying in her direction, but Zack stepped forward, deflecting his blow and then a Fire 3 spell was unleashed, blowing the nightmare from the past out over the ocean. As Cloud watched, Sephiroth looked down at him with the utmost hatred. "There you are traitor. I was wondering when you'd show up.

Zack didn't move from in front of Aerith, and Cloud could already see his wife had had cast haste on him. "I have to admit I wondered the same about you," Zack shot back. "But whatever you're after, we're not letting you get what you want."

Sephiroth chuckled. "Well, it matters not, perhaps I should come back for you once my victory is assured. Unless you would choose to follow." He suddenly zoomed downward, and Cloud was about to jump after him when a streak of black suddenly appeared flying due west over the ocean and it wasn't until a moment later when he realized Yazoo and Loz were also being carried aloft, almost like dolls. As he departed, the rain around them was washing the corrupted Lifestream away and suddenly the clouds were giving way to the sunshine.

It was only at that moment when Cloud realized something. Gently, he reached for the sleeve on his arm and ripped it off before unwrapping the bandages beneath. In the afternoon sun, he saw that the diseased and abscessed flesh had vanished to be replaced with healthy skin, fresh and pink.

He looked up to find Aerith and Zack looking down at him. Upon seeing what had happened, Zack knelt down on the deck and smiled in relief. "Looks like we made it in time. You doing all right down there Cloud?" Zack asked.

"Better than I was," Cloud replied. "So you found the cure."

Aerith nodded happily. "Yes, we found it. I'm glad we could help!"

Zack looked off towards the west. "Where did he go?"

"I know," Vincent suddenly appeared at Cloud's shoulder and as Cloud looked down, he saw that the ex-Turk was holding a small disk in his hand. "Did you see this when you were inside the tunnels?" he asked.

Cloud shook his head. "What is it?"

Vincent hit the playback button on the data disk solemnly and Cloud watched, suddenly aware that the object in the hand of the person whose eyes he was looking through, was terribly familiar. "The Black Materia?" He asked, not wanting to believe he was ever seeing that blasted harbinger of death ever again.

Vincent nodded. "It seems Rufus got to Shelke's data before we destroyed the computer she used at the Shinra building, just before the Battle of Midgar."

"Does Sephiroth know where this is?" Cloud asked.

"It is my suspicion." As they both looked up, they saw that the weather deck of the Gainsborough had come level with the edge of the cannon and Zack was tossing them a line. "We must hurry," Vincent said. With that, he folded into his cloak to reappear on the Gainsborough's deck. "We must notify Cid immediately," he said to Zack as his friend hoisted him up onto the deck. "We can probably get to the coordinates I give you before he does if we all take the Shera, but we must not let him have the Black Materia."

April 15th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009 1:00 PM Junon Western Time

"So to be clear about what's happening," Reeve began, "Sephiroth figured out where the Black Materia was because he recognized the location as it was tied to the collective memories of the Lifestream?" All of GUARDIAN's members now stood on the Shera's bridge as Cid guided the airship at top speed towards their destination.

Cloud saw Vincent nod his head slightly to indicate his agreement with Reeve's assessment of the situation. "As he has slowly been corrupting it from the inside he has been learning about what's been happening in the world. There is no telling who saw the landmarks in my memories, but if he's learned to manipulate those currents, then he would have been able to use that information immediately."

"Then there really isn't anywhere on the Planet that's completely safe is there, because if he manages to kill the person who knows where it is or if something like this happens again then he would know, right?" Tifa asked. She was pacing nervously near where Cloud was leaning against the railing of the bridge.

"Unless you propose a solution for destroying it, then I am afraid not," Vincent replied.

"But…" Yuffie looked confused for a moment and then she asked "If that's true, then why didn't he kill you when he had you at the crater Vincent?"

"Because of Chaos," Vincent said, walking towards the guardrail to look out over the water below them. "He is bonded to me at the core of my very being. While Sephiroth could very well stop my body from moving, my connection to him would endure until he has fulfilled his duty at the end of this planet's existence."

Yuffie's eyes widened. "Y-you mean… you're never going to die?"

Vincent looked at her and Cloud detected a hint of gentleness in his expression. "At the least, I seem to be very difficult to kill by normal means."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a while as they considered the meaning behind that statement before Zack spoke up. "Regardless, we can't let him get the materia. This airship should be able to make it there faster than he was flying, so once we get there, we'll fan out around the cave where it's been hidden, and set up an interception net."

"I expect we will use partners and notify each other if Sephiroth or one of the remnants appear?" Cissnei asked.

Zack nodded in confirmation. "Classic Turk tactic, right?"

"She'd be proud," Cissnei agreed.

"Then I'll take Sephiroth when he shows himself," Cloud decided.

Zack looked over at his friend in concern. "You sure about that?"

Cloud glanced down at his arm, now bare of his bandages as he reattached his black sleeve and nodded.

Zack gave him a hard look. "If you do need a hand with him, I can still fight too you know. I'm at least going to back you up. He wants me and Aerith dead almost as much as he wants to kill you."

Cloud nodded. "All right." He turned his attention to the ocean out in front of them. "We're going to win, right?"

To his surprise it wasn't Zack who answered, but Kunsel as the other ex-SOLDIER joined them in standing at the front of the bridge. "We're here now aren't we?"

He nodded feeling Tifa's hand in his as he replied. "There's definitely something waiting for us over that horizon."

Zack looked over at Barret. "What's that thing you always say?"

Barret looked confused for a moment, and then he realized what Zack was talking about. "Oh, that!"

Suddenly a chorus went up from everyone as they spoke the line in unison. "There ain't no getting' offa this train we're on!"

"That's right!" Zack said. "When we get there, this is going to be it, our most important fight. So rest up while we can, we're going to be there before you know it!"

With that, everyone dispersed to make their preparations.

See you next week!