FF7 Heartstrings
Vincent Unleashed
by TacomaSquall
Part Eleven:
Elmyra shoved her ward out of the way of Chaos' decapitating cut. "Marlene, run!" The old woman turned at and swung her handbag at the demon with all of her strength.
The black leather bag glanced off of Chaos' arm, distracting him just as he began to call upon the forces of the Satan Impact. Annoyed, Chaos backhanded the woman wih enough force to send her crashing into the statue of the woman's adopted daughter, Aeris Gainsborough. Elmyra's head cracked against the pedestal, and she struggled to remain conscious.
Marlene lay where Elmyra had shoved her. The girl's overwhelming fear held her rooted in place. She could not believe what was happening!
"Marlene, use the Materia your father gave you!"
Elmyra's second shout got through to the young girl, jarring her into action. Marlene remembered what her father had told her about the Materia she wore in her necklace. If you need to run away from someone who wants to hurt you really bad, think of escape and grab the Materia in this necklace, honey. It will take you away, and help keep you safe until I can save you.
Marlene grabbed the necklace, with its cut piece of Materia in her tiny hands. As she clutched it tightly to her chest, Marlene closed her eyes and wished with all her might. Please let me get away from this monster! Marlene vanished in a burst of emerald energy.
Choas strained his senses, both mundane and magical, searching for the girl. There was no visual or audial sign of the girl. Traces of her scent, tinged with rose soap and ginger ale, still hovered in the air where she had stood just a moment before. There was no sign of where the Materia had spirited the girl that his ability to sense the nature and crafting of mako manipulation could discover.
Chaos turned to Elmyra. "You have saved Barret Wallace's little girl, old woman. Who is going to save you, now?" The Chaos Saber flashed through the air that separated the old woman from the betrayer of the mako-twisted.
Just before she died, Elmyra thought, I don't know why you have turned against those you saved. AVALANCHE will stop you, just like they stopped Sephiroth.
Elmyra's severed head tumbled to the cobblestones of the square. It rolled to the feet of the statue of Cloud Strife. Her unseeing eyes stared upwards in supplication at the leader of AVALANCHE, begging for retribution.
Lord Chaos heard the sound of armed people running towards him. He laughed with glee. "Your daughter may have escaped me, Barret, but the destruction of your home town will do nicely!"
* * * * * *
The Knights of the Round.
Twelve supreme mako-twisted warriors, owing their fealty to their great King, Arthur. Warriors of the Isle of Serpents and Shadows, they chose to yield to the Cetra after their King died, under the condition that their King be bound with them. They knew that further war with the Cetra would just harm the beings they strove to protect.
Protectors of their homeland, the Knights had sworn to uphold a code of might serving right. Their servitude within their Summon Materia allowed them to maintain their vow, assisting the Cetra in the battles against Jenova. Lost in the apotheosis of that conflict, they lay hidden until they were discovered by the members of AVALANCHE, seeking any and all weapons to use in their desperate battle to save the Planet. Now, they answered the call to service once again.
One by one, each of the Knights came forth, releasing the fury of their mastery of arms or sorcery upon the Adamantine Weapon, staggering the gigantic monster with their puissance. After the last knight attacked, Arthur appeared above the head of the Weapon and swung downwards with all of his considerable might downwards. Arthur's blade swept downwards into the Weapon's skull.
The powerful magic of the golden Materia socketed in Yuffie's Chocobracelet called to the Knights, bidding them renew their attack. Before they could begin, however, the Adamantine Weapon's eyes blazed a brilliant emerald. The Knights were banished, screaming in agony, back to the in-between realm they dwelt when not summoned to fight.
The crimson Materia that allowed Yuffie to summon the Knights exploded. The shards flew in all directions out of the socket in her bracelet. The impact of the shards on Yuffie's skin was like a million ice-cold pinpricks that drove the ninja's breath from her lungs. She collapsed like a marionette whose strings had just been cut.
"Damn you!" Cloud screamed. "We fought to save this Planet. This is your gratitude?"
Cloud let the rage he felt within carry him forward into the Limit Break properly known as the Omnislash (called jokingly by Cait Sith as the "you-are-so-dead"-slash). Cloud let his rage catapult him at the Weapon. He rained blows at the monster from in front, both sides and the rear. He leapt in abandon, sweeping his blade downwards with all of his strength behind it. When his Break had ended, he stared in amazement at the Weapon, which still stood, seemingly untouched.
Barret rose unsteadily to his feet. His ribs hurt like hell. Barret figured that one of them had punctured a lung, due to the difficulty he felt when breathing. He saw Cloud end the Omnislash, and saw the wounds caused by the Omnislash begin to close. Within one wound, on the gargantua's right knee he saw a summon Materia. It was held in place by a scrap of adamantine hide.
Barret smiled. Although he was no Yuffie, he had come up with a rather nasty combination of Materia that might give him a chance to get that gem free. And if he did, perhaps the Weapon might be a little more vulnerable. He triggered a burst from the Missing Score, and watched the rounds strike home around the Materia.
The Weapon swept its fist downwards at Cloud and missed barely, as the warrior agilely flipped out of the way. The Planet's defender followed up on the attack with a barrage of eye beams that bathed Cloud in scarlet fire. Cloud's garments began to smolder, unprotected from the full fury of the fires from the center of the Planet.
Barret charged forward, and knocked Cloud away from the lethal gaze of the Weapon. The beams burned into Barret's skin instead, and the black man roared in pain. Barret lashed out with the Missing Score, firing another burst into the wounded knee of the behemoth. The scraps of hide that held the summon Materia in place were shredded by the barrage, and the Materia dropped from the wound. The Weapon ceased its assault as the Materia rolled free and bellowed in pain.
Taking advantage of the Weapon's distraction, Maiji called upon the power of the Revive Materia, bringing Nanaki and then Yuffie back to consciousness as Barret and Cloud kept its attention focused elsewhere. When the Materia rolled free, Yuffie rolled forward and picked up the small crystal.
The Weapon saw Yuffie move forward, and it swept its right hand downwards, in an attempt to backhand the ninja. Yuffie flipped over the massive hand and grinned. "I guess it doesn't want me having this!" She raced out of the Weapon's reach, weaving erratically to avoid the eye beams that were sure to follow her.
As the Weapon's gaze followed Yuffie, Nanaki howled. In communion with the souls of the departed, he unleashed the fearsome power of the Cosmo Memory, staggering the massive behemoth. As he landed, Nanaki cried, "We've got to keep it up! If we can keep it distracted by attacks from everywhere –"
Cloud nodded agreement. "I'm right with you, Nanaki! Hit it with everything you've got!"
The five members of AVALANCHE called upon every trick in the book, avoiding multiple uses of any summon, attempting to avoid the dread counterstroke leveled against Yuffie for using the Knights twice in a row.
Sommoned beings flashed into existence, launched their attacks, and returned to the in-between realm they inhabited. Hades and his deadly bubbling cauldron. Choco, with his Mog companion, bringing forth the Fat Chocobo. The Death Gigas, trying to bury the Weapon in an Avalanche. Shiva, bringing on the cold of deep space with her Diamond Dust. Ifrit, inundating the Weapon in Hellfire. Bahamut, blasting the monstrosity with the dreaded Mega Flare.
Added to the summons were powerful spells. Ultima, dousing the Weapon in energized plasma. Freeze, chilling the skin of the Weapon to absolute zero. Break, crushing it under a megalith dragged from the heart of the Planet. Tornado, buffeting the Weapon with the most powerful winds ever created.
The Weapon reeled from the damage inflicted to it, unable to attack any one member of AVALANCHE because it kept trying to focus on its most recent attacker. Finally, Yuffie smiled and called upon the power of the Materia she had taken from the Weapon. The Materia known as Atma.
The clouds above the City of the Ancients were torn asunder, as a fortress, not much smaller than Condor Fort entered into the atmosphere from the depths of deep space. Searchlights stabbed downwards, illuminating the Adamantine Weapon through the ruined ceiling of the cavern. Along the sides of the fortress, nine turrets turned, each containing a gigantic cannon. They fired in rapid succession.
The Weapon staggered under the hammer blows of each weapon. Each separate turret channeled power of one of the elements. Lightning that surged into the Weapon, and channeled down into the Planet beneath. Fire that slagged one of the Weapon's fingers. Ice the caused cracks to begin to appear in the monstrous being's carapace. Earth, slamming into the Weapon like a freight train, breaking the cracked outer hide. Water that poured over the Weapon, penetrating and debilitating. Gravity that crushed the Weapon's legs, rendering it immobile. Poison that weakened the Weapon even further. Wind that toppled the mighty behemoth. And Holy might that bathed the Weapon in the light, blasting the creation's head from its shoulders.
As the Weapon lay inert, the other members of AVALANCHE dug themselves out of the rubble that had fallen on them. As the friends were reunited, Phoenix reappeared. In its claws, it held the supine form of Aeris Gainsborough. As they watched, her eyes opened, and she gazed upon her companions. Tears welled in her eyes, as she spoke.
"My friends, if you force me further into the world of the living, then you will permit the return of the one who I gave my life to stop." Her voice broke. "If you break the Law of Death, then Sephiroth can return."
End of Part Eleven