Chapter 28: Descent
"I can hear my ancestors so well here," Aeris wheezed, "There's still two WEAPONs that haven't been released,"
"Don't talk," Sephiroth told her.
"If we fail in our quest, Omega WEAPON will absorb the lifestream and find another world to release it into. So we at least won't be wiped completely out of existence. I'm glad…"
"I have no intention of letting that demon woman win," Sephiroth stated flatly, "Now try to rest,"
"Yes, sir," Aeris teased.
The two had been sitting near the entrance to the crater for the past five minutes. Sephiroth was sure that the others would eventually catch up, now that WEAPON had made a hole in the barrier at Aeris' command.
Sure enough, the two heard the whirring noise of the Highwind. The two watched silently as the airship descended about a hundred feet away from them.
"Guess it's time to take my medicine," Aeris sighed as she watched everyone getting off.
"Well!" Medea exclaimed cheerfully as she approached the two, "Aeris, you had us worried for a bit,"
"Sorry," Aeris said sheepishly, "But WEAPON doesn't want me to leave its side,"
Medea pulled out the familiar blue bottle.
Aeris looked over at WEAPON sadly. "If I decide to use your head as a pair of bongos after this, please don't eat me…"
"Quite the turn of events," Tseng commented as Rufus guided his airplane over the ocean, "You almost seemed ready to stay put when WEAPON appeared,"
"Everyone else is safe," Rufus said dismissively, "What's the news on the eastern continent?" Rufus asked.
"Three other Turks have been dispatched to meet us on the southern coast near Fort Condor," Tseng answered, "Then we'll be headed straight to Midgar by helicopter,"
"And the status of Midgar?"
"A few small riots, but nothing serious, and nothing near headquarters,"
"I trust there's news crews around?"
"Every news crew is swarming headquarters. They were all informed that you'd finally be returning from what your father had referred to as a 'leave of absence',"
Rufus nodded. "Good. Pity that the others won't be able to hear my speech,"
"Does it mean that much to you, sir?"
"Huh?"
"Forgive me if I'm being forward, but-"
"How many times do I have to tell you to knock it off with that 'forgive me for being honest' crap? Just say it,"
"I think that being around Avalanche has changed you for the better, sir. You seem to have a little more faith in mankind's potential for action,"
"I was proven wrong," Rufus admitted.
"By the computer girl?"
The plane jolted a bit.
"How…?" Rufus started to ask.
"You've barely taken your eyes off her for the past couple days," Tseng informed the president, "Plus, you make no effort to talk to her in public anymore, as if you're deliberately trying to hide it. It's a miracle no one else has noticed,"
"Mayor Lockheart's daughter and Trooper Strife both know," Rufus confessed, "But they haven't said a word. Thanks for not saying anything either,"
"Of course, sir,"
"…You're a good man, Tseng. If I hadn't had a sane guy like you for a bodyguard, I might have snapped years ago,"
"My pleasure, sir,"
A small smile crossed Rufus' face as he continued to pilot the plane.
Jessie…don't you dare get yourself killed. I'll be waiting…
Sephiroth looked around the area while he waited for the others to finish climbing down the ladder Cid had provided them. He stood on a ledge leading to a large spiral walkway, going further into the tunnel he could see at the bottom.
Aeris was still sitting on top of WEAPON when he'd left her, albeit cloaked in a warm blanket, with Reidmar there to look after her. Just as Ultima WEAPON had left Sephiroth alone at Aeris' bidding, it had warmed up to Reidmar as well. Reidmar was still sore over being knocked out, however, and didn't look too happy to be having to climb on top of the creature to take care of Aeris.
Vincent was the next to reach the bottom. He went up to his son, who was now looking up at the top of the steep hill.
"Reidmar will take care of her," Vincent reassured the swordsman.
"Have you noticed the dark circles under her eyes?" Sephiroth asked.
"She's still a strong girl,"
"Let's just get ready," Sephiroth said as he saw the last of the group climbing down the ladder.
"Let's move out, everyone," Vincent announced as everyone now stood before him.
He and Sephiroth led the party down the walkway, shielding the rest of the group from the powerful monsters that would occasionally attack.
Finally, they reached a fork at the bottom.
"Perhaps we might split up into two groups," Sephiroth suggested.
Vincent nodded in agreement. After a few minutes, the two groups had been formed. One consisted of Vincent, Reno, Zack and Jessie. The other consisted of Sephiroth, Medea, Cloud and Tifa.
"We really could have used Barrett and Biggs," Jessie muttered absently.
"Regardless," Vincent said, "It's all over now with this,"
"It's a miracle my PHS still works here," Tifa remarked.
"The high concentration of mako might have something to do with that," said Vincent, "If anyone finds anything, we contact the other party immediately. Understood?"
Everyone nodded.
"Then let's go," Vincent led his party down the left fork, while Sephiroth's group went right.
"Whoa!" Jessie exclaimed as she pointed at a small creature approaching them carrying a large knife in one hand, and a lantern in the other.
"The hell is that thing?!" Reno exclaimed.
"A Master Tonberry," Zack replied as he held up his sword, "They look harmless, but don't let that fool you,"
"Screw that," Reno held up his nightstick and charged at the creature.
The lizard-like monster was barely fazed as sparks shot out of Reno's weapon, barely doing a thing to it. Then, it casually raised its knife and brought it down, narrowly missing Reno's arm in the process.
"Shit!" Reno exclaimed as he jumped back.
"Why can't you ever listen to anybody?" Zack sighed as he loaded a mastered Fire materia into one of the slots on the hilt of his sword.
"Life's a hell of a lot more interesting when I don't," Reno said with a grin.
"You've got one hell of a death-wish, Turk," Jessie commented as Zack unleashed a powerful spell on the tonberry, "But I like that,"
Reno followed with a Quake spell. The small monster stumbled back, slightly dazed.
"My god, the cross-dresser actually said something to me that wasn't an insult!" Reno pretended to look shocked.
"Who the hell are you calling a cross-dresser?!" Jessie snarled as she absently gripped the edge of her plain blue shirt.
"Focus!!" Vincent barked at the two teens as he fired at the creature.
"MORPH!!!" Jessie shouted as she held up her right hand, the metal bangle containing a yellow materia.
A fog began to surround the tonberry, completely enveloping it. When the mist cleared, the creature was gone, leaving a small ribbon in its place.
Reno scowled. "The hell?"
Jessie walked up to the ribbon and picked it up. "I'm almost out of Esuna bottles," she said as she began to wrap it around her left forearm, "This ought to protect me from any nasty spells anyone else has to throw at me,"
"Wait- who said you could keep that?" Reno objected.
"I finished it off," Jessie said with a shrug, "I'll keep it,"
Vincent was tired of these kids squabbling over nothing. "Let's go," he said sharply.
"She's a slick one, that girl," Reno whispered to Zack, "Kinda reminds me of the chief,"
Zack nodded absently as he popped an HP Absorb materia out of his sword and replaced it with a Quadra Magic one. He then offered his old materia to Reno, noticing an empty slot on his nightstick.
"Thanks, man," Reno said as he accepted the blue orb, "Y'know…you're all right,"
"Right back at ya," Zack said with a grin, "Even if you are completely nuts,"
"I still haven't forgotten about taking ya bar-hopping after this is over," Reno said as they continued to make their way down the deep tunnels.
"If you don't mind carrying me back home," Zack laughed.
"We'll make a heavyweight out of you if it kills us," Reno declared.
"How can you talk about drinking at a time like this?" Jessie asked.
Zack shrugged. "Why not? Sure is a hell of a lot more cheerful than talking about Jenova. Hey- what do you wanna do when this is over?"
Jessie recalled the events at the Gold Saucer. "I owe someone a rematch in Lethal Warfare. I just hope he'll have time now…"
"Video games!" Zack exclaimed happily, "See- I like that. What about you, Vincent?"
Vincent looked thoughtful. "Perhaps I'll open up my own store," he said.
Jessie did a double-take. "A store??" she exclaimed, "That's it??"
"Did you expect me to fight forever?" Vincent asked.
"Well…" Jessie furrowed her brow, "I guess…that's all I've ever seen you do. I guess I never really thought about it,"
"I think it'll be a nice change of pace," Vincent said with a slight trace of a smile on his face.
"So what do you wanna do, Zack?" Jessie asked, "Besides get hammered with Reno?"
"The chief's already offered me and Cloud paid vacation time after we're done," Zack answered.
"Yeah!" Reno exclaimed, "Me too!"
"-And I guess I might go see my parents again," Zack went on, "Maybe I can get assigned to help tear down the reactor there, and then take my vacation,"
"I haven't seen my parents and little brother in forever," Jessie admitted, "Guess I'll go hang with them for a while, and maybe I'll go see my sister and her husband. She makes the best fried chicken. God, I haven't haven a real healthy meal since we left that old couple's house near Rocket Town. Even that stuff at the Gold Saucer was artery-clogging fast-food,"
"Hey- I eat that stuff all the time and I ain't complaining," Reno argued.
Vincent allowed the three youths to continue talking and building up their morale as they continued on.
"Where are we?" Cloud asked as he, Sephiroth, Medea and Tifa reached a large, open space.
Suddenly, there was a loud screeching noise. Sephiroth looked up to see a large creature descending upon them. To his shock, he realized the monster looked almost exactly like the offshoot that had infected Aeris.
"Stand back!" Sephiroth ordered the two teens.
Cloud and Tifa obeyed, darting back about fifteen feet behind the swordsman. Cloud was not satisfied, however. He held up his fist.
"ULTIMA!!!" he shouted.
He watched as the monster was weakened by the familiar green mist. However, the creature still had plenty of strength left. Charging past Sephiroth, it picked Cloud up with one arm, and with the other, a bullet-like piece of flesh shot out, ripping through Cloud's right leg. It then dropped the teenager on the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Ignoring Tifa's horrified screams, Sephiroth wasted no time in rushing over to the offshoot, where he proceeded to hack away with Masamune.
Furious at the monster for hurting Cloud, Tifa hung back, knowing her fighting skills were still undeveloped, and stuck with casting spells along with Medea.
Sephiroth had had enough. He leaped up into the air, and then began a rapid descent, his sword pointed straight down.
Tifa and Medea watched in shock as Sephiroth impaled the monster, coming to a halt not two feet above the ground, hanging on the hilt of Masamune.
That was enough to cause a gargling noise to come from the offshoot. It then tipped forward, sliding off the Masamune as it crashed to the ground. Sephiroth managed to land on his feet smoothly.
He practically carries us through these battles…Medea thought.
"CLOUD!!" Tifa screamed as she rushed over to the fallen trooper.
Cloud had lost consciousness during the assault, and now lay on the ground, his arm twisted at an odd angle, and with blood pouring out his right calf, which was slightly bent.
Medea hurried over and examined the boy. "This is bad," she said uneasily, "I'll have to get him out of here and back to the airship where the doctors can look him over,"
"Will he be all right??" Tifa asked frantically.
"I can assure you he won't die if I hurry," Medea said.
"Take me back with you!" Tifa begged her.
Medea stopped short and stared inquisitively at the young girl.
"I've turned my back on Cloud enough times in the past!" Tifa said, "I'm not going to do it again! I have to stay with Cloud!"
Medea carefully gathered Cloud up in her arms. "Grab my arm and hold on tight," she said.
Tifa obeyed.
"You'll be all right?" Medea asked Sephiroth.
"Go," Sephiroth told her, "I'll find Vincent and the others just fine,"
"Good luck, Sephiroth,"
"Thank you,"
With that, Medea sped off, taking Cloud and Tifa with her.