Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

Sephiroth didn't appear throughout the night. The Black Materia was heavily guarded anyway, but there was no sign of him. 'Why should he bother?' Kuja wondered 'We're bringing it to him anyway,' But he agreed there was no better way of looking after it. And with thirteen- no, just twelve guards now- to look after it, he didn't think they needed to worry too much. Kuja was greatly interested in meeting Sephiroth now. An equal, in battle? He no longer cared if he would live or die. It would be enough to find someone of equal strength to him. He had anticipated his own death a long time ago and there was nothing to really hold him to the world.

The journey didn't take too long. They stood in silence, pre-occupied and worried. Yuffie was too worried to be sick again. Red XIII's tail swished ceaselessly from side to side, almost igniting Cid's clothes once. After a great deal of swearing they resumed to absolute silence.

"It should take a couple of days to descend into the Crater," Cloud said, breaking the silence. "So check you have enough Materia and restorative potions to last for a while," No comment, just worried looks all round. Except from Kuja. Oddly enough, the former Shinra experiment looked positively jaunty at the prospect of fighting the great Sephiroth. Perhaps he just didn't know how dangerous the silver-haired man could be. After all, the rest of them were terribly aware. It had been Sephiroth who had terribly injured Tseng before the other Turk's eyes, Sephiroth who had killed President Shinra and floors full of employees before Rufus, Sephiroth who had killed Aeris as they had watched. He had burnt down Nibelheim, controlled Cloud and slashed both he and Tifa. They all knew just how dangerous he was.

"Approaching Northern Continent," Cid said tensely. Snow began to whirl against the glass windows, obscuring the view and Cid switched to radar to view the world. Even inside the ship, the temperature seemed to plummet a few degrees. Or maybe it was just fear that made them shiver as they approached the cursed place.

"There it is," Cloud pointed as the Crater was revealed. An enormous purple shell of magic enclosed the wound in the Planet's surface, sealing it away from the outside world. The surface shimmered with unknown powers. "Can you get through it?" He asked Kuja abruptly. The silver-haired mage walked gracefully over to the window and nodded.

The sight of the crater brought back less than pleasant memories for Rufus. His last few moments replayed horribly in his mind. The Sister Ray being charged up, impossible amounts of power sucked directly from the veins of the Planet. And that moment of triumph when the sheer power of Mako blasted clean through Weapon and obliviated the Guard Spell. That was pleasant enough, but only a few seconds afterwards he had heard a warning on his intercom. A panicking voice. 'Mr President, evacuate your office! Weapon has attacked!'. Why didn't he move as the warnings were repeated, each time more strained than the last? A short run would have taken him to the stairs and safety. Instead he had crossed slowly to the glass windows and watched as the missiles approached. They had been so pretty, sparkling with a clear brilliant light. It took a Weapon to kill President Shinra! He had watched as they approached, awareness of his own mortality shining in his watching blue gaze. And then when they finally struck, there was a second's memory of windows imploding and an enormous fireball consuming his office and the entire top floor before everything was obliviated and he woke up days late, almost completely unharmed. Except for the terribly accusing voices of the Lifestream that coursed through his mind.

He suddenly snapped back to the real world and realised they were landing. Cid had broken his rule about landing only on a smooth grassy area and brought the Highwind down just outside the crater in an uneven patch of snow and rocks. He winced as the ship tilted slightly upon landing and rocks ground hard against the underside of his pride and joy. There was a tense moment and then Cloud nodded. "Let's get going," He said and they followed him outside.

It was bitterly cold here, as they stared upwards at the rocky edge of the Crater. Up close, the spell was more frightening than ever. Tiny crimson flames shot through the surface, bouncing away from each other like fish in a stream. A soft aura of menace radiated from it. Kuja began to wonder if he might actually be unable to cut through it.

"Are you ready?" Tifa asked softly. Kuja shook his head suddenly.

"I need to trance.." He said slowly, remembering the destruction of Terra when crimson waves had shot from his hands and brought down great stone towers and cut through mountains with terrible ease. "Perhaps you'd all better get out the way," There were nods of assent and the rest of the crew headed back into the Highwind. Kuja slowly approached the Crater on his own.

With a slight glow he rose smoothly into the sky until he was perhaps 30ft up and able to see it clearly. It looked frighteningly strong, but then so had Terra and he had destroyed that without too much difficulty. What spell to use? Kuja considered carefully before raising one hand and sending an experimental blast of energy racing towards the Crater.

There was a ping as the area of impact darkened and then flushed scarlet at the assault. Kuja blinked, momentarily blinded. A half-second later he hit the ground hard as his attack simply bounced back and struck him with redoubled force.

"Ow..." He complained, lifting himself up on one elbow. It had been a long fall even without the impact. He had been hurt quite badly and he winced as he examined himself for injuries. Injured badly, but was it badly enough for Trance? He was answered by the rising red light and a familiar feeling of rage as he began to change and rose back into the air.

The light flushed and rose in intensity as he surveyed the Crater. His floating figure looked terribly small against the great purple dome but that no longer mattered. Now he could feel the rush of Trance sweeping through him.. the power that could destroy a world. Kuja struggled to focus it as it coursed through him, concentrating in a thin beam of energy.

"Ultima,"

The sky darkened as the familiar purple spears broke through the cloud coverage. He struggled to focus, to concentrate the power upon the dome alone. The temptation to send jagged waves of power pulsing out at random, destroying all he could see.. it was irresistable. But with a great effort he focused on the dome and pushed them towards it. A great roaring filled the air as the two forces collided. A white hot pain rose behind his eyes and he ignored it, driving the spell onward and feeling it beginning to burn through the defences slowly and surely. It threatened to waver and break away, splintering into a thousand deadly points of light and destroying all else in the area- but he couldn't let that happen. The pain rose until it was almost unbearable.. and Kuja was almost unconscious when he finally heard a strange shrieking sound as Ultima tore through Sephiroth's barrier and the whole Guard spell simply faded away.

He came down to earth slowly and almost without realising it, falling the last ten feet or so as his drained mind gave in. Kuja wasn't conscious when Tifa rushed out to his side followed by the rest of the crew.

- - - - - - - -

"D'you reckon he'll be alright?" Barret asked, surveying the silent mage.

"He's pushed himself too far," Rufus said with a faintly faraway voice. "Give him time,"

"Did Aeris tell you that?" Cloud asked. Rufus suddenly seemed to snap back into reality.

"Yes," He said simply. "She's here now. She promises to stay if we need her advice,"

There was a sudden relieved feeling rushing through the group. Even if they couldn't see her, knowing that Aeris was waiting and talking to them was a tremendous comfort. Tifa smiled. "I think he's waking up," She said, noticing Kuja stir slightly.

"You ok?" Cloud asked.

"I think so.." Kuja said, rising slowly. "That spell.. never seen anything that strong,"

"Well, you got through it," Rufus said. "It took six Mako reactors worth of energy to cut through it last time,"

"Shall we continue?" Vincent asked. "The spell may reform after a while,"

"I suppose," Cloud lifted his ultimate weapon and stood. "Into the Crater we go then.."