"Turrets on the wall," Yuna said.
Gippal slapped the machine gun mounted to Bevelle's wall and eyed the direction of Guadosalam. Then he looked to Zanarkand. The enhancement allowed from his eyepatch to his ruined eye showed the colorful plague of dead energy radiating from both directions. "We're flanked," he said. "We'll need all the firepower we can get."
"But how will bullets beat undead?"
"With blessed rounds. We've been enchanting lead with white magic since Auron and the others first came and said hi."
"How long do you think it'll last?"
"We should at least make it through the night. But I make no promises after that."
"But we can still beat it, right?"
"Maybe. You don't stop with the questions, do you?"
"I don't like doing this without Lulu."
"She'd be handy, sure, but at least this means that Besaid is covered, right?"
Yuna frowned and looked toward Zanarkand. "And to think I worked myself into a panic when they talked about developing Zanarkand for research purposes. I had no idea I'd be the one that let these monsters in."
Gippal leaned against the turret and took in that lovely horizon, lit in the pink and orange glow that came with sunset. "It'll get cold tonight. You might want something to protect yourself."
"I'll keep warm enough."
"Hold up." Gippal noted a glint on the horizon. "Is that what I think it is?"
Yuna looked at her garment grid and changed to Psychic. "It's… a golden mist? And it holds life."
"How much life? Is the Farplane taken?"
"No, it isn't many small forms, but feels like a piece of something bigger."
"That's him." Gippal leaped from the wall and slid down the side of the ladder like a pole. "Get Tidus and the others, will you?"
"On it!"
Gippal barreled past palace workers and Auron entered his mind with a sense of annoyance.
"We cannot fight him as he is."
"What does that matter?"
Gippal slammed the alert just outside the main chamber of recourse. Alarms blared and personnel knew to take their positions atop the walls. Anyone near the gates of the city risked being locked out now and it was only a matter of time before they issued the bar-in policy for all citizens.
"Apocalypse started," Gippal said when he reached Nooj's room. "Get dressed, Deathseeker, because it looks like your time's come."
"Has it?" Nooj hummed and adjusted his warrior's robes.
Gippal rang the bells along the walls that reached Kurgum, Chuami, and Selphie in their place on the bottom floor, as corresponding to Kurgum's position. Tidus had none, and Yuna was already mobilized.
"Where's your soldiers?" Gippal asked.
"On standby." Nooj took up a sphere from his desk, dialed into it, and said, "Code C, gentlemen. Get moving. Gippal, what did you see?"
"Golden mist. Auron says it precedes the corruption."
"Won't it take time for the Farplane to turn?"
"Not if he's got a handle on VII already. He's practiced with another world like ours, so there won't be much of a learning curve to taking over our life force."
"We can work with that." Nooj limped past him and Gippal followed him to the top of the palace, which connected to every wall through walkways and cables.
Gippal watched a stream of Senders swarm the lower level, barely visible through the windows below the wall's walkways. Footmen and gunners took those places with the best visibility and vantage point. They'd start shooting first, then the Senders would clean up the dislodged spirits. "We've anticipated him," Gippal said. "We can work with anything he throws our way."
Auron thrummed with uncertainty. "It's always more complicated than that."
"Trying to stay optimistic here, man." Gippal leaned against the rail. "Nooj, we've faced something like this, haven't we?"
Nooj shook his head.
"Are we gonna lose another of us?"
"Hopefully not."
"But it could happen."
"… Yes."
Gippal took a deep breath and eyed that gorgeous horizon that slowly turned blue with the fading light. "Didn't this thing prefer light?"
"So they said."
"Then why doesn't it attack during the day? It's not stronger during that time?"
"I wouldn't know. But don't panic."
"I'm not panicking. I've just never faced a god before. Might have some beginner's nerves."
The gunners leveled rifles and Gippal knew their target came within sight even though he couldn't see them from here. Machinists took to the turrets and Gippal felt a chill. He wanted his work in the Council to remove the need for firearms and protection, yet that naivety betrayed him again.
In the covered corridor inside the wall, Kurgum moved through the limited ranks of Senders with confident strides. Chuami stood with the melee soldiers gathering at the base of the walls.
"The guy should like this place," Gippal said. "Given his thing for so-called 'holiness' and crap."
"We shouldn't have gathered the people here, then," Nooj said.
"I wouldn't say that."
"Besaid could be safer depending how they handle water."
"Then let's hope everyone here can breathe like Blitzball stars."
"Aim ready!" yelled Yuna to the top levels, still floating with the power of the Psychic. "Don't give them a single inch!" And then said mentally, "Gippal, Nooj, there's too many of them."
"We'll manage what we can," Nooj said.
Auron thrummed—he sensed the dead near. As one from their numbers, he felt a growing pull to join them. "Can you hold on, buddy?" Gippal asked.
"Not forever."
"Then just give me a few hours. We'll have this handled before sunrise."
Cloud felt that burst like a tear through his soul. He buckled over and grabbed a post for support. It ripped at his mind like the Lifestream did so long ago and his view pulsed red and green.
"Cloud," Tifa said. "We need to keep moving."
"Yeah, just… one second."
"What happened?"
Voices clamored in his head, pain in his arm where his scars remained. Sephiroth's distant gloating that urged him to give up on his family.
"… I'll be fine, but…" Cloud shoved away and struggled to focus on the way to the ship. "They're coming."
"Who?"
"Whatever chased us through the dead ways. Something big."
"Marlene!" Tifa yelled. "Denzel! Stay close!"
The two picked up their pace, but their legs were too short to keep with Tifa and Cloud.
"What kind of something is it?" Tifa asked. "Do you know?"
"… Looks like it's why we came here. We were too slow."
Tifa gestured for the kids. "Keep up! We can't miss our boat!"
"You're too fast!" Marlene said. Denzel didn't complain, but his face was flushed, and he seemed to have trouble breathing.
Tifa said, "There's no point going back until we've gotten something out of this place."
"Looks like there won't be much of anything left by the time we leave." Cloud looked behind them and found a swirl to the air like it mixed with oil.
"Fine." Tifa huffed and they cleared the bridge toward Luca. "But I'm not going to stand for any of Reno's whining."
"I'd be more worried about Shinra if he's back when we return."
They almost reached the city when they lost the children. One moment they were together and the next Cloud couldn't make out two feet ahead of him. He pulled out his phone and dialed Lulu's number. She didn't answer. "Something's wrong."
"Now's not the time for something to go wrong! Marlene! Denzel!"
From the direction of the Moonflow, a golden-red mist curled their way, licking at the dirt and grass like a hungry beast. And in the mist he made out the vague shapes of people. "Tifa."
Something tore at the ground between them and a hill formed. The mist crawled over.
Cloud lost feeling in his chest and reached for his sword. Tifa screamed and broke through the mist and kicked at shambling ghosts.
Cloud pulled his blade free and activated the holy materia embedded within. But the fear of hitting the kids kept him from swinging.
Kurgum always imagined a position like this to mean yelling and orders and bossing people around. But it turned out that there wasn't a whole lot to say when their main goal as a division was to send. And to keep sending until further notice. So, he danced alongside everyone else, occasionally redirecting focus to a different cluster of souls.
The Farplane was broken. He didn't know where the souls went, but there were a lot of them. It seemed incomprehensible to him only weeks—or months?—ago for two Senders to dance together. And now he moved with some dozen others to force back the frontline of a dead army.
The turrets went off and bullets filled the air. Kurgum startled at the sound and lost stance, but they remained safe behind the machines.
Isaaru hesitated with him. "Seems pretty backwards, doesn't it?" Isaaru asked.
"… A bit." Kurgum resumed and focused on the pyreflies, though his bad leg tripped him up more than before.
"We do what we have to, I suppose."
The army approached despite their work and Kurgum felt the weight of his brass-knuckled-gloves more keenly.
Dona flashed white magic and some muttered in confusion. Dread gripped his chest and Kurgum forced himself to keep dancing.
"They've breached the gate," came Yuna's voice.
A spirit coalesced and Kurgum switched to white magic. "Melee!" he yelled. "They're inside!"
Something took him from behind and Kurgum blasted it with healing. That granted him an opening to ready his fists and fall into the old habits taught him by Bevelle's underground maesters.
Selphie dropped bombs of her greatest make since her school days and whooped when one took out a dozen mirages. She never thought imbuing explosives with holy magic could pack such a punch, yet these things reacted like humans splashed with potent acid.
Yuna flew past her before changing jobs to White Mage and raining curajas on the force swarming about their walls.
Bullets hailed and arrows flew while Senders danced beneath them. The air filled with what Yuna called pyreflies to the point that Selphie couldn't see the night sky for all the souls appearing as lights in the air. Between that and the red light, Selphie forgot the natural blues and greens of the world and lost herself to the ethereal fire that engulfed them. If only she could communicate what it looked like to her friends back home.
Something rumbled in the deep and the fighting stuttered. Confusion rippled through the ranks and Selphie hesitated with her next bomb.
"Keep going!" Nooj yelled. "We will not give our enemy the satisfaction of surprise! Nor the victory of fear!"
Motion picked up and the fire turned smooth. Selphie swallowed before lobbing her next blow and moving to the next segment of the wall. It was worst on the southern and northern edges, but the souls spread alarmingly fast. They'd be overrun the hour at this rate.
"Yuna!" Selphie ran to catch her, but Yuna kept the opposite way. Selphie switched direction and took a crosswalk over the city to cut her off. She kept her eyes straight because looking down made her vomit once already. "Yuna!"
Yuna finally looked up and switched to Psychic. Selphie reviewed her plan and Yuna caught on and flew her way. Selphie put out her hand and Yuna caught her. They flew to the southern side of the gate and Yuna dropped Selphie off at the dead center before taking the blast of Selphie's first bomb and exploding in the middle of the southern swarm.
That wasn't new. The new part was Yuna enhancing the blast with Holy.
The road blew sky-high, with more pyreflies joining the great colors of violence. Yuna took Selphie, who brought as many bombs as she could hold, and they zipped to the other end of the city for round two.
Gippal whistled at the blasts caused by Yuna and Selphie's work. His automatic felt like sticks and stones by comparison. The mist-like force that invaded the city didn't take much effect from physical hits, but their alchemists did good work with their enchanting concoctions.
"How are you holding up?" Gippal asked.
Auron rattled, "I grow weak."
"Then we'd better hurry it up." Gippal ran out of bullets and threw his gun aside. Daggers felt like a downgrade, but at least Rikku wasn't here to mock his inexperience. "Come at me, you stupid wisps!"
She had to find them. Before the boat left for Besaid and left the children surrounded by this bloodthirsty mist.
Something tugged at her conscious and Tifa screamed at the spirits that pulled for her to join them. She beat them back with steady pulses of white magic that repelled the ancient souls hungry for more life.
"Marlene! Denzel!"
"Tifa."
She spun to find Cloud reaching for her, eyes flashing different colors. His motions turned jerky and unnatural, like a puppet whose strings were readjusted.
"No!" Tifa grabbed him and shook him by the shoulders. "No, don't give in again!"
"Tifa." Cloud looked down at her and reached trembling fingers to her chin. "Run. While you can. I'll… come back."
"No!" Tifa blasted the radius with more white magic and dragged Cloud toward Luca. "We'll need you to get them back! You can't let it take you!"
The magic rattled him, but Cloud steadied himself enough to grip Tifa back and say, "You'll run out of white. Denzel's equipped with enough materia to stay alive. You need to come back for them."
Tifa fought back her panic. "I can't leave them!"
"Neither can I."
"If you're saying I should leave you, too—!"
"I'll find them." Cloud reached out and his skin pulsed red. "I survived the Lifestream. I can do it again."
Tifa turned cold and she took his hand. Cloud closed his eyes but Tifa rejected his plan.
She tossed him out of the mist, and he went rolling until the crowd of stragglers headed for Besaid enveloped him.
Tifa's white materia snapped and she faced down the milling bodies and spirits that grabbed at her and pled for company and relief.
But she wouldn't go until she found her kids.
Auron stuttered. His control slipped. When he slipped back into Gippal's mindset, he found the battle changed. Gippal cut through gathering zombies and stumbled under the burden of fatigue. Adrenaline still fueled him, but it wouldn't last.
Whispers told him of the greatness awaiting him within the Farplane and reminded him of the rest he found. The Council served a great purpose, but it wasn't his role as a spirit to govern the dealings of men and beasts.
Rest, came a distinct order. You don't belong with them.
Auron flickered again, unable to get Gippal's attention. Unwilling to get his attention. The urge to rest overrode the inclination to responsibility. He fought the selfish desire, but it lashed at him with greater strength.
"Go," he forced out through Gippal's mouth. "We… go."
Through the blood and smoke and broken bodies, he dragged Gippal away. Confused fog overtook them and Auron moved toward the burning light in the distance. Gippal fought him confused, but Auron made him move. They fell out of sync and Auron took full control.
Dajh let the power of Life flow through him as a stream of energy that pushed at the prison of his body and begged for release. But he knew enough times with Bhunivelze, using that energy to hurt and destroy, that he knew better than to assume any form of life to be a good thing.
"He came to Tycoon," Cinque said, "to use the people here?"
Serah followed Mog to where he said the fight started. "He made a pact with the Void," she said. "Going by what you said about that day, he didn't make that pact until after he talked to you. He clearly used its power to break the Crystalchosen after."
Dajh shivered at the invisible hands that poked and prodded at his clothes and the distant, barely audible voices that whispered to him. Voices that sounded like friends and the promise of eternity in Light's Embrace. "I feel it."
Mog chirped, "This is where the worlds collided, kupo. In the place that drew in heaven and earth, it's only natural we'd find it as the closest connection to the void, kupo."
"Then that's how Bhunivelze connected," Serah said. "He was so close to the Void, it worked as near-instant communication."
Cinque asked, "Void deals work like telephone calls?"
Serah said, "In speed they do. Mog, Cinque, did you see an emissary that day? Anyone that looked out of place?"
"Only Hope," Cinque said.
Mog shook his head. "Exdeath was gone for a long time by the time we came, kupo."
"You didn't see anyone else? Blue Terra had different descriptions for the kinds that visited their planet."
"I don't know," Cinque said. "There was a lot of people that day. How could I notice one person?"
"They would have stood out."
Dajh moved past them and toward the throne. Its tall backrest remained stark amidst the ruined room, like the ruler over ashes. The place acted normal despite missing its queen, but they never picked up this room and even let people in without security checks.
He stood before the throne and put out a hand with life power to scare away the Void. It recoiled at his presence. He found the weak point.
"Leave my friends alone," he said before putting both hands out and sensing for the entrance. There was a connection here, going by the cold in his feet like he stood over a long drop. If he wasn't careful, he could slip into the Rift and be lost forever.
Space slipped and Dajh planted his feet. Then pushed life through that split between reality and nothingness.
She lost cohesion with Psychic ages ago and barely felt the white magic inside her. The only other spheres she had were the Gunner, White Mage, and Songstress. The frazzled and worn part of her wondered if Lenne's power as a Summoner would have transferred if the Fayth hadn't woken. She still knew so little about the woman and it scared her to use the sphere after everything that happened.
Yuna struggled to catch her breath when she caught up to Nooj. "They've broken the main lines and we've lost contact with Chuami and…" She couldn't say it. Couldn't speak past the lump in her throat.
"And the Senders?"
"They're next."
"Where's Tidus?"
Yuna looked toward Guadosalam. "We can only hope his white magic got him to the world's exit."
"Braska?"
"He's… left."
Nooj nodded to himself. "A strategic retreat."
"They're part of the Farplane, so they had to disconnect before Bhunivelze took them."
"Except for Auron, apparently."
"He's still here?"
"He took Gippal toward Zanarkand. I suppose Braska would have gone with him."
"We've lost, haven't we?"
"Not until our last person is gone and we're far from that. Until the city falls, we keep fighting."
Yuna watched the mist spread through the city. "We should have sent more to Besaid."
"We don't know if Besaid is safe."
"Lulu's there."
"Lulu isn't stronger than a god."
"I like to think she is."
"Many do." Nooj closed his eyes and breathed. "But the fact is that we face an unbeatable force, armed with barely more than toys and weak spells. We've fought the good fight already, so let's not give up now."
Yuna tried to summon more white magic. "Right."
"Let's see if there's some guns left for us to use, shall we?" Nooj turned back to the fight.
"And I'll send Tidus through." Yuna fumbled around for her sphere. "Win or lose, he's better off somewhere else at this point. If only we could send more to join him."
"This is hardly a safer task we've assigned him. I wouldn't wish to travel the cosmos unguarded."
Yuna took that as a small comfort when she hit the button that would ping Tidus' sphere and confirm his entry. She could only hope he was still there to see it instead of transformed into whatever it was this power did to people.
"I'll find you a weapon as well," Nooj said.
"You don't need to." Yuna checked to make sure the signal got out before tossing the sphere over the side of the wall. "I can find one for myself."
She barely finished speaking when the air split and a large-framed man broke through with a war cry.
"Snow," Nooj said. Despite everything, he still looked surprised. When Snow landed on the city floor, Nooj gave a grunt of interest.
"That's not quite what I meant," Yuna said. "But I'll take it."
Nooj cast her an amused look before Yuna grabbed a discarded staff and danced.
Snow blew cold and ice and forced back a chunk of dead. People scattered at his approach and Snow used the clearing to stick through a handful of fiends. He still had to get to Gaia III. And Gaia VII, but apparently those would have to come later. King and Queen were going to kill him, but he didn't realize how far he'd let things go.
"Hey!" That lady from the Council joined him and Snow wondered when she learned to use a sword like that. "Where've you been, douchebag?"
"Name's Snow!"
"I don't care! You disappeared!" She sliced through fiends and kicked them into a building pile.
Snow's heart clenched at the beasts swarming the place. He punched through them and spiked them and blew them into walls, but it seemed to only break stone and dent poles. Many that fell eventually worked themselves back up and came at Snow and Chuami with renewed vigor.
Pain spiked in his head and something thudded against his skull. Without a thought, he ported to Nooj and Yuna's side.
"Snow!" Yuna said.
Snow felt the urge to take Nooj and throw him over the—
Snow stumbled back. "I feel him. How—?"
"Who?" Yuna asked.
"Bhunivelze," Nooj said. "Snow, you should go."
Yuna froze. "He can get to us?"
"He's already getting to us. Snow, you're better off working somewhere else. We'll handle this."
"You won't!" Snow fought the pull on him. "This place is overrun! I won't leave you!"
"You have to," Yuna said, voice cold.
"No!" Snow approached Nooj and reached out to make him see—
—And threw him into the wall.
"I'll not surrender you, too!" Yuna pushed Snow. "Go! For the love of all my fathers and mothers, GO!"
Her glare burned itself into his memory. Snow swallowed and portaled out.
Denzel ran and Marlene followed him. She forgot the stitch in her side and worry for Tifa and Cloud because they were big and could take care of themselves. But the energy spreading their way smelled like rotting things and the musty attic of that lady's house on second street back home.
Every breath hurt and her shoes scraped her feet through the socks, but Marlene kept going. Denzel kept reaching for her like he didn't think she could keep up, but she refused help. She didn't need it.
What felt like hands tore at her dress and caught her hair, ripping pieces from her until something warm and sticky seeped against her scalp and ankles.
Eventually they found the shore and Denzel shot a frantic look behind them. Marlene looked with him and found the mist still on their heels, the sight of it sending a sickening thrill down her spine.
The shore dropped into the depths like a cliff. Marlene hesitated at the edge before Denzel leaped and she followed.
She slammed into the water like concrete and it stung her cut and torn skin. She cried and swallowed seawater that stung her nose and burned her lungs.
Hands grabbed her and she flailed to keep out of reach of more monsters. She broke the surface and gasped down breaths.
"To that rock!" Denzel held her and pointed toward a large boulder that sat in the water like it floated.
Waves crashed against them. Marlene paddled at the water, but they never practiced swimming back home and she was worse than the rest of the kids. Denzel wasn't great either, but he helped her to the rock, then held on beside her despite the waves bringing him up and down.
"Why won't you come up?" Marlene asked.
"There's no room. You'll fall off. And you're still bleeding, so you need to stay dry."
"You didn't get hurt?"
"I'm okay."
"Liar."
"You're younger. You need to be safe more."
"Do not."
"Do too." Denzel clung to the rock as another wave hit him. He breathed hard. "They're not following, so it looks like water is safe for now."
"For now?"
"They might adjust. Monsters can do that."
The cliff they jumped from looked so far away from here. The mist curled about the edges like a frozen shot and she wondered how anyone could live up there. "We need food," she said.
Denzel nodded.
"And a fire for the night."
"Probably."
"And medicine."
"I've got white magic."
Marlene looked about them. "There's a bigger rock down that way. We should swim there so we can both sit down."
Denzel shivered and adjusted himself to keep hold. "It's far away."
"We can make it if we keep close to the cliff." Marlene found where the water met the cliff. "It's not perfectly smooth, dummy. There's rocks in the water we can use for support. I'm glad we didn't hit those on our way down."
Denzel pointed up. "The edge curves over here. Looks like we got lucky coming out on this side."
"Good." Marlene smoothed down her torn dress and measured the distance between them and the bigger rock. "Let's figure out food and shelter after you get out of the water. Actually, we should prioritize a signal for Cloud and Tifa to find us, first."
Through chattering teeth, Denzel said, "We can't make a signal without fire."
"Then we'll figure out fire." Marlene let herself back into the water and hated how gross it made her shoes feel. And how it hurt her heels and everything else. "What lives in this?"
"Ocean life." Denzel came around to her side of the boulder. "I studied about this stuff with my old parents, but I never saw the ocean until we came here."
"Do you think Tifa and Cloud met the ocean in their travels?"
"Probably. They went all over the planet."
"Then we'll make it to the next rock."
Denzel agreed and they moved back toward the cliff to use as a guide.
