Prologue: Of Angels and Shadows
The worlds had shifted, too out of alignment.
Into the spaces between the worlds came a new kind of shadow that people had avoided seeing before. It crept and crawled with insidious constancy, until the viscous and palpable shadows began to take form. It was subtle at first, the first few shadows barely owned names or minds, and they sank and mired about the realities of the worlds, looking and waiting for a moment into which they could slip.
Then he saw them.
The only one to study them close enough, his eyes shone unearthly and his mind grasped the terrible realities that they could bring about with mere flicks of their hands. He had spent time, just fascinated by them and in the end such an understanding brought about the only thing that it could.
He became one with them.
As he grew with them, shadowing them and also giving them a new dimension of reality, he also gave them the ability to move into worlds, and then all the trouble began... and it started with the less noticable worlds. Only a few at first so no one would notice.. and it all started at the point of simple worlds, with farms and little technology.
And in the end... it would all be noticed.
He urged them on, he gave them reasons and passions, becoming their master and minion, their toy and revelation. He was everything, nothing and something to be pitied yet adored.
The Destruction was born.
* * * * * * * * * *
Aeris straightened from where she was stood, within the silence that had become her home. It was always quiet in the solace of the Promised Land, here no one cried or was lonely, for there was always the sensation of planet and of happiness.
The fields ruffled and rippled, then lay calm about her.
The home she had evisioned for herself in the tomes of death was a beautiful one, fields full of flowers and bright skies. Once she had seen a young man walking past her in dark leathers and a ruffled collar, dragging what seemed to be a sword behind him, but a girl had saved him from the silence that was death.
In her small, delicate hands she held a trowel, her attire much different from the girlish clothes she had worn when alive. She still wore the pink dress, but this one had straps on her shoulders, edged in a darker pink. She wore no jacket for the weather meant little in a place where you owned no skin or senses. Her feet were booted still, for the sake of her gardening and comfort, her left wrist captured by bracelets that jangled halfway up her forearm, each inscribed with Cetra sayings. About her slender waist hung a half-belt of blue, straps hanging down her left hip.
She still wore the twisted necklace of threads her mother had made for her when they had been in captivity. Aeris had seen her mother only at a distance in her dream world. She thought they looked alike, and the suond of her voice was often in her thoughts as she worked happily amongst her flowers.
But today was different, the silence afflicting the air was different and with a twist she turned to look behind her, over golderods and rapeseed grass, across the waving fields of corn and small orchards in the distance where pears and apples grew that knew no mortal home anymore.
The scene tried...bending, if possible and she frowned.
"What is that?" she whispered, dropping the trowel so it struck the earth and rolled to land near to her gardening basket. Putting a slightly dirty hand to her hair, she lifted a bang from her green eyes and started walking towards where the scenery had bent..
Whispers come close now.
Don't look.
~Planet? Mother?~
Something darker comes, we must send you away.
~What, why? I'm dead, for some techincal reason I can't quite latch onto that would be a small problem..~
In her fear of hearing the proclamation she hung onto the sarcasm she had picked up when travelling about with Barrett and Tifa, her other hand now gripping onto her necklace so tightly she was either going to strangle herself or cut her hands to shreds.
The air gasped over her shoulder and she turned with a scream, finding nothing behind her. This was crazy, for the past six months everything had been quiet and peaceful and now this kind of madness was happening and she didn't understand it.
All she had wanted was her own small idaho, away from reality where she could learn to live again, under sunshine, where the nightmares would vanish and she would happy if in some small part.
They come without hearts, without thought or real reason. They know no pity, no sorrow and no end. We must return you to life for the future of all worlds, for our future and the hope you can give life to your friends once more.
A key is inside you.
~a key?~
You will never know it, you will never see it. Those who survive, who struggle on all have keys, however large or small, however seen or unseen. One day you will meet him.. one day.
~Planet?~
A hand fell onto her shoulder and she twisted round to see nothing yet again.
Trembling at this violation of the Promised land, she backed up, then turned on her heels and began running as fast and as hard as she could through the grass, running past where she had left her gardening tools. Behind her, auburn hair unravelled and shone in the light of the sunshine, and behind her she could almost taste the revulsion of the planet.
Something was coming.
~Planet? Mother? I'm scared...what do I do? ~
You will know.. go!
Go.
Her feet seemed to trip over themselves and she went sprawling into the grass, her chin striking off the solid ground with a bit too much force for her liking. Shutting her eyes with a wince, she moved a hand under her and slowly raised up onto it, then lifted her head.
Malevolent yellow eyes stared back at her, surrounded by a too large head on a smal impish body. It was crafted, seemingly of pure shadow, and then it gave a hop and grabbed a hold of her hair, tugging sharply.
"Ow," she yelled, in alarm, putting out her hands and pushing the shadow creature away from her, It half giggled and bounced high as Aeris got to her feet and looked behind her. Small shapes of black bobbed everywhere in the grass, then with a yell she looked up as light consumed her...
* * * * * * * * * *
She woke, with Yuffie's smiling face looking down at her and then painfully she sat up and licked her lips.
"Where am I?"
"Hollow Bastion, we had to bring you here, sorry."
Her eyes frowned, then she looked across at the others gathered. She didn't recognise two, but one she did know was Yuffie. The room was dark, and frightfully opressive.
"Where is everyone?"
"Something bad is going on outside, you shouldn't.."
Aeris swung her legs to the side of the slab she had been laid out on, in some sick parody of death and then shakily made her way to the open window and small cupped balcony beyond it. Yuffie followed silently, and peered past Aeris' shoulder.
Hollow Bastion, a place that Sephiroth had once set up as his home, a place that seemed to cross worlds and realities, as if several worlds were touched together at once on this convergence. In the darkness of the castle, books and knowledge were saved. Here people passed through from one place to the next, breaking walls between worlds as she understood it. Her world.. touched close to that of the Sorceress', to others who lived as much as them, with magic.
Below people milled in the courtyards and the battlements beyond, and without a second thought, she turned away from the balcony, grabbing Yuffie's hand much to the young ninja's surprise.
"Aeris?!"
"We have to go down there, where is Cloud? The Sorceress? I need to tell them something.."
Yuffie tried digging her heels in as Aeris rushed past the surprised doctor Kadowaki, making her way to the Library doors and staring down the endless steps. Then with resolve she moved with Yuffie, ignoring the girl's protests.
"We only just managed to bring you back with the doctors help! It took a whole other world's expertise to get you back to us, and now you're already trying to get yourself killed? Sometimes, Aeris, I have to wonder how hard headed you can be, I mean... ahhh...steps steps steps!" Yuffie's voice trailed off into breathless murmurs as Aeris continued down the stairs, set.
"Yuffie, you don't understand, I mean, why are they fighting?"
"Some shadow things," the darker haired girl shrugged, "I tried not to pay too much attention."
"Maybe you should from now on.. they're shadows come to destroy us, get rid of us all. The planet brought me back to save you all, and you have to stop fighting, we have to get away!"
"We can take them."
Aeris stopped, and turned, her auburn hair falling past her face as she sighed, at the base of the stairs and turning into the library itself now, the musty smell of books palpable in the air.
"I don't want anyone hurt," she murmured softly.
Yuffie looked down at her boots, the new moccasin types she had been saving up for the last month to buy. "I know Aeris, but sometimes people have to fight."
"Yes, but sometimes they don't."
There was a silence, where the ancient tried to desperately collect her thoughts, thinking of all the words the Planet had said. She so badly wanted to trust to fate, wanted to believe that everything would turn out right when she heard the breathless sounds of people running and turned to look.
Cid came up the stairs, cigarette in mouth, spanner in a hand. His blond hair was stuck up ragged behind his goggles, face smeared with soot and he blinked, looking at the ancient who stood jacketless for the first time before his eyes. She stared right back, trying to measure her thoughts and also trying not to seem rude, then smiled.
"Cid."
"Aeris, goddamn girl it's good to see ya alive, but we had better mosey else our asses ain't worth jack shit."
Yuffie arched a brow wryly and folded her hands over her chest, "Nice to see you've been cleaning up your language, old man."
Cid turned to her now and waved the spanner at her in the most threatening manner possible, and for an instant Aeris was relieved her friends had lost none of their vigour or fire. "Listen girl, don't make me shove this where the sun don't shine..."
"Enough," came the next weary voice, Tifa and Cloud coming up the stairs with another person behind them. Aeris smiled, and half ran towards Tifa, taking the taller girls hands in hers. Wordlessly the brown eyed girl stared back, eyes shining with unshed tears as she studied her friend.
"You're alive."
"Tifa, It's so good to see you."
"And you, we have so much to talk about.." Tifa looked at Cloud who was studying Aeris in a silent fashion, then quietly she moved aside so Cloud could share in the moment. His iron clad hands moved to Aeris' hands, then he stared down at her with wide blue eyes.
She felt faint, she had dreamt of this even in death.
"Cloud," she whispered.
He said nothing, but his eyes crinkled as lips moved in a very rare smile, just for her. Those eyes spoke love, screamed it and she suddenly felt complete.
"Ahem," coughed the un-named man and she looked over Cloud's shoulder as best she could. "Pleasure to meet you, Lady Aeris."
"I.."
He stood taller than Cloud, thinner too but no less muscular if that was possible. His brown hair was spiked and cut long to his shoulders, stranges slices of it cutting past his face and down his cheek bones, some over his ears. His eyes were a smoky glass grey, and his clothes were all in dark blue, with strange symbols on a sleeve. He also seemed to have a liking for belts, with three about his waist, trouser sides adorned by them, and a few on his arms.
His face had a slanted scar down it, and she tilted her head.
She had seen him before, the man from her Promised Land, as he walked past dragging that very same sword behind him helplessly.
"It is nice to see you survived death, in a way."
The man blinked, then looked away, "whatever."
Tifa smiled, and patted the cold man's shoulder despite the icy look her granted her with, "this is Squall Leonheart, the Sorceress' personal bodyguard."
"A pleasure, Sir Squall," she said, then spread her hands, "I'm glad we're all here who can be... there's something I need to tell you."
From below there was a loud detonation, and she moved back, Yuffie automatically moving infront of her with her shuriken drawn and Leon turned to look with a dark expression, then murmured, "if it's about the heartless, Rinoa knows. She's doing all she can right now."
Aeris hesitated. She knew? And yet the girl was out there, doing her best, facing it with all her heart and hoping to save at least some small shred of this place. Her fingers crept up to her throat, and Squall turned to look back at her, seeing the motion, "don't worry, she's made her choice. Now let's all get out of here whilst we can."
"Everyone..else?"
Tifa's face grew somber, and Cid looked away. Their faces said all she needed to know, and sorrowed she bowed her head, wincing and trying to shut her eyes.
"I have failed."
"No, not yet, come on," Yuffie scooped a hand under one of Aeris' elbows and began pulling on her, "Cid has a rocket now that can move between worlds. We'll use it to escape somehow... come on!"
As everyone else started forward, she was left stood next to Squall, who glanced down at her. Then he smiled, perhaps out of kindness, and then too began moving off.. and helplessly she followed.
Their steps drew them to the spires of Hollow Bastion, up stairs and round the resting places of rooks and crows, where they made their nests and cawed out pleas to the harsh world. No Rook remained now, Cid had them cleared out when building the ship for travel and now it stood as some grotesque platform for launching, the ship ugly and squat but all the hope they had left. Coughing slightly, Aeris followed in last after Yuffie, and stared at it.
Cid patted it, then everyone jumped at the sound of crashing from below. "Right well, screw introductions to my baby, everyone haul ass into it, now."
Aeris was among the first pushed forward, then Yuffie and Squall who sat either side of her. Cid clambered into the pilot seat and began pressing buttons, and then she jumped again, hearing a scream that outdid all screams, making hairs stand up on her arms.
As blood drained from her face she turned to see Cloud drawing his massive sword, and Tifa leaping away from the stairwell, her dark eyes desperate.
"They're coming!"
"No, Tifa... get in, quickly," Aeris screamed, trying to undo her seat belt and scramble over Squall who was unfortunate enough to be in her way. His hands caught her about her waist, Yuffie trying to hang onto her legs.
Tifa turned and looked up at Aeris as the shadows seeped in, yellow eyes hungry and their silence deafening most sounds. Those brilliant eyes watched her with hope.. desperate hope.
"Aeris," she said softly, "find a way."
"Tifa, please!"
Her hand was oustretched, even as Cloud swung at the creatures. The engines under them rumbled, and she gritted her teeth.
"Find a way. I know you can," then turning as a larger shadow appeared, Tifa shut her eyes and jumped into the Fray, disappearing into the shadows. Aeris went mad, trying to push Squall from her way, hand digging into his leg painfully, enough for him to grunt but despite this he held on.
"NO!" she screamed... and then turned her green eyes onto Cloud who had beaten some back. "Cloud!"
"I'll come back to you," he shouted, "Just go! I'll not leave you on your own.. Yuffie, Leon, take care of her."
"Of course," Yuffie shouted back.
She could feel their hands on her, and as shadows filled her vision she screamed again in anger... the engines fired, and the world went white, then darkness erupted..into nothing.
...Find a way...
The worlds had shifted, too out of alignment.
Into the spaces between the worlds came a new kind of shadow that people had avoided seeing before. It crept and crawled with insidious constancy, until the viscous and palpable shadows began to take form. It was subtle at first, the first few shadows barely owned names or minds, and they sank and mired about the realities of the worlds, looking and waiting for a moment into which they could slip.
Then he saw them.
The only one to study them close enough, his eyes shone unearthly and his mind grasped the terrible realities that they could bring about with mere flicks of their hands. He had spent time, just fascinated by them and in the end such an understanding brought about the only thing that it could.
He became one with them.
As he grew with them, shadowing them and also giving them a new dimension of reality, he also gave them the ability to move into worlds, and then all the trouble began... and it started with the less noticable worlds. Only a few at first so no one would notice.. and it all started at the point of simple worlds, with farms and little technology.
And in the end... it would all be noticed.
He urged them on, he gave them reasons and passions, becoming their master and minion, their toy and revelation. He was everything, nothing and something to be pitied yet adored.
The Destruction was born.
* * * * * * * * * *
Aeris straightened from where she was stood, within the silence that had become her home. It was always quiet in the solace of the Promised Land, here no one cried or was lonely, for there was always the sensation of planet and of happiness.
The fields ruffled and rippled, then lay calm about her.
The home she had evisioned for herself in the tomes of death was a beautiful one, fields full of flowers and bright skies. Once she had seen a young man walking past her in dark leathers and a ruffled collar, dragging what seemed to be a sword behind him, but a girl had saved him from the silence that was death.
In her small, delicate hands she held a trowel, her attire much different from the girlish clothes she had worn when alive. She still wore the pink dress, but this one had straps on her shoulders, edged in a darker pink. She wore no jacket for the weather meant little in a place where you owned no skin or senses. Her feet were booted still, for the sake of her gardening and comfort, her left wrist captured by bracelets that jangled halfway up her forearm, each inscribed with Cetra sayings. About her slender waist hung a half-belt of blue, straps hanging down her left hip.
She still wore the twisted necklace of threads her mother had made for her when they had been in captivity. Aeris had seen her mother only at a distance in her dream world. She thought they looked alike, and the suond of her voice was often in her thoughts as she worked happily amongst her flowers.
But today was different, the silence afflicting the air was different and with a twist she turned to look behind her, over golderods and rapeseed grass, across the waving fields of corn and small orchards in the distance where pears and apples grew that knew no mortal home anymore.
The scene tried...bending, if possible and she frowned.
"What is that?" she whispered, dropping the trowel so it struck the earth and rolled to land near to her gardening basket. Putting a slightly dirty hand to her hair, she lifted a bang from her green eyes and started walking towards where the scenery had bent..
Whispers come close now.
Don't look.
~Planet? Mother?~
Something darker comes, we must send you away.
~What, why? I'm dead, for some techincal reason I can't quite latch onto that would be a small problem..~
In her fear of hearing the proclamation she hung onto the sarcasm she had picked up when travelling about with Barrett and Tifa, her other hand now gripping onto her necklace so tightly she was either going to strangle herself or cut her hands to shreds.
The air gasped over her shoulder and she turned with a scream, finding nothing behind her. This was crazy, for the past six months everything had been quiet and peaceful and now this kind of madness was happening and she didn't understand it.
All she had wanted was her own small idaho, away from reality where she could learn to live again, under sunshine, where the nightmares would vanish and she would happy if in some small part.
They come without hearts, without thought or real reason. They know no pity, no sorrow and no end. We must return you to life for the future of all worlds, for our future and the hope you can give life to your friends once more.
A key is inside you.
~a key?~
You will never know it, you will never see it. Those who survive, who struggle on all have keys, however large or small, however seen or unseen. One day you will meet him.. one day.
~Planet?~
A hand fell onto her shoulder and she twisted round to see nothing yet again.
Trembling at this violation of the Promised land, she backed up, then turned on her heels and began running as fast and as hard as she could through the grass, running past where she had left her gardening tools. Behind her, auburn hair unravelled and shone in the light of the sunshine, and behind her she could almost taste the revulsion of the planet.
Something was coming.
~Planet? Mother? I'm scared...what do I do? ~
You will know.. go!
Go.
Her feet seemed to trip over themselves and she went sprawling into the grass, her chin striking off the solid ground with a bit too much force for her liking. Shutting her eyes with a wince, she moved a hand under her and slowly raised up onto it, then lifted her head.
Malevolent yellow eyes stared back at her, surrounded by a too large head on a smal impish body. It was crafted, seemingly of pure shadow, and then it gave a hop and grabbed a hold of her hair, tugging sharply.
"Ow," she yelled, in alarm, putting out her hands and pushing the shadow creature away from her, It half giggled and bounced high as Aeris got to her feet and looked behind her. Small shapes of black bobbed everywhere in the grass, then with a yell she looked up as light consumed her...
* * * * * * * * * *
She woke, with Yuffie's smiling face looking down at her and then painfully she sat up and licked her lips.
"Where am I?"
"Hollow Bastion, we had to bring you here, sorry."
Her eyes frowned, then she looked across at the others gathered. She didn't recognise two, but one she did know was Yuffie. The room was dark, and frightfully opressive.
"Where is everyone?"
"Something bad is going on outside, you shouldn't.."
Aeris swung her legs to the side of the slab she had been laid out on, in some sick parody of death and then shakily made her way to the open window and small cupped balcony beyond it. Yuffie followed silently, and peered past Aeris' shoulder.
Hollow Bastion, a place that Sephiroth had once set up as his home, a place that seemed to cross worlds and realities, as if several worlds were touched together at once on this convergence. In the darkness of the castle, books and knowledge were saved. Here people passed through from one place to the next, breaking walls between worlds as she understood it. Her world.. touched close to that of the Sorceress', to others who lived as much as them, with magic.
Below people milled in the courtyards and the battlements beyond, and without a second thought, she turned away from the balcony, grabbing Yuffie's hand much to the young ninja's surprise.
"Aeris?!"
"We have to go down there, where is Cloud? The Sorceress? I need to tell them something.."
Yuffie tried digging her heels in as Aeris rushed past the surprised doctor Kadowaki, making her way to the Library doors and staring down the endless steps. Then with resolve she moved with Yuffie, ignoring the girl's protests.
"We only just managed to bring you back with the doctors help! It took a whole other world's expertise to get you back to us, and now you're already trying to get yourself killed? Sometimes, Aeris, I have to wonder how hard headed you can be, I mean... ahhh...steps steps steps!" Yuffie's voice trailed off into breathless murmurs as Aeris continued down the stairs, set.
"Yuffie, you don't understand, I mean, why are they fighting?"
"Some shadow things," the darker haired girl shrugged, "I tried not to pay too much attention."
"Maybe you should from now on.. they're shadows come to destroy us, get rid of us all. The planet brought me back to save you all, and you have to stop fighting, we have to get away!"
"We can take them."
Aeris stopped, and turned, her auburn hair falling past her face as she sighed, at the base of the stairs and turning into the library itself now, the musty smell of books palpable in the air.
"I don't want anyone hurt," she murmured softly.
Yuffie looked down at her boots, the new moccasin types she had been saving up for the last month to buy. "I know Aeris, but sometimes people have to fight."
"Yes, but sometimes they don't."
There was a silence, where the ancient tried to desperately collect her thoughts, thinking of all the words the Planet had said. She so badly wanted to trust to fate, wanted to believe that everything would turn out right when she heard the breathless sounds of people running and turned to look.
Cid came up the stairs, cigarette in mouth, spanner in a hand. His blond hair was stuck up ragged behind his goggles, face smeared with soot and he blinked, looking at the ancient who stood jacketless for the first time before his eyes. She stared right back, trying to measure her thoughts and also trying not to seem rude, then smiled.
"Cid."
"Aeris, goddamn girl it's good to see ya alive, but we had better mosey else our asses ain't worth jack shit."
Yuffie arched a brow wryly and folded her hands over her chest, "Nice to see you've been cleaning up your language, old man."
Cid turned to her now and waved the spanner at her in the most threatening manner possible, and for an instant Aeris was relieved her friends had lost none of their vigour or fire. "Listen girl, don't make me shove this where the sun don't shine..."
"Enough," came the next weary voice, Tifa and Cloud coming up the stairs with another person behind them. Aeris smiled, and half ran towards Tifa, taking the taller girls hands in hers. Wordlessly the brown eyed girl stared back, eyes shining with unshed tears as she studied her friend.
"You're alive."
"Tifa, It's so good to see you."
"And you, we have so much to talk about.." Tifa looked at Cloud who was studying Aeris in a silent fashion, then quietly she moved aside so Cloud could share in the moment. His iron clad hands moved to Aeris' hands, then he stared down at her with wide blue eyes.
She felt faint, she had dreamt of this even in death.
"Cloud," she whispered.
He said nothing, but his eyes crinkled as lips moved in a very rare smile, just for her. Those eyes spoke love, screamed it and she suddenly felt complete.
"Ahem," coughed the un-named man and she looked over Cloud's shoulder as best she could. "Pleasure to meet you, Lady Aeris."
"I.."
He stood taller than Cloud, thinner too but no less muscular if that was possible. His brown hair was spiked and cut long to his shoulders, stranges slices of it cutting past his face and down his cheek bones, some over his ears. His eyes were a smoky glass grey, and his clothes were all in dark blue, with strange symbols on a sleeve. He also seemed to have a liking for belts, with three about his waist, trouser sides adorned by them, and a few on his arms.
His face had a slanted scar down it, and she tilted her head.
She had seen him before, the man from her Promised Land, as he walked past dragging that very same sword behind him helplessly.
"It is nice to see you survived death, in a way."
The man blinked, then looked away, "whatever."
Tifa smiled, and patted the cold man's shoulder despite the icy look her granted her with, "this is Squall Leonheart, the Sorceress' personal bodyguard."
"A pleasure, Sir Squall," she said, then spread her hands, "I'm glad we're all here who can be... there's something I need to tell you."
From below there was a loud detonation, and she moved back, Yuffie automatically moving infront of her with her shuriken drawn and Leon turned to look with a dark expression, then murmured, "if it's about the heartless, Rinoa knows. She's doing all she can right now."
Aeris hesitated. She knew? And yet the girl was out there, doing her best, facing it with all her heart and hoping to save at least some small shred of this place. Her fingers crept up to her throat, and Squall turned to look back at her, seeing the motion, "don't worry, she's made her choice. Now let's all get out of here whilst we can."
"Everyone..else?"
Tifa's face grew somber, and Cid looked away. Their faces said all she needed to know, and sorrowed she bowed her head, wincing and trying to shut her eyes.
"I have failed."
"No, not yet, come on," Yuffie scooped a hand under one of Aeris' elbows and began pulling on her, "Cid has a rocket now that can move between worlds. We'll use it to escape somehow... come on!"
As everyone else started forward, she was left stood next to Squall, who glanced down at her. Then he smiled, perhaps out of kindness, and then too began moving off.. and helplessly she followed.
Their steps drew them to the spires of Hollow Bastion, up stairs and round the resting places of rooks and crows, where they made their nests and cawed out pleas to the harsh world. No Rook remained now, Cid had them cleared out when building the ship for travel and now it stood as some grotesque platform for launching, the ship ugly and squat but all the hope they had left. Coughing slightly, Aeris followed in last after Yuffie, and stared at it.
Cid patted it, then everyone jumped at the sound of crashing from below. "Right well, screw introductions to my baby, everyone haul ass into it, now."
Aeris was among the first pushed forward, then Yuffie and Squall who sat either side of her. Cid clambered into the pilot seat and began pressing buttons, and then she jumped again, hearing a scream that outdid all screams, making hairs stand up on her arms.
As blood drained from her face she turned to see Cloud drawing his massive sword, and Tifa leaping away from the stairwell, her dark eyes desperate.
"They're coming!"
"No, Tifa... get in, quickly," Aeris screamed, trying to undo her seat belt and scramble over Squall who was unfortunate enough to be in her way. His hands caught her about her waist, Yuffie trying to hang onto her legs.
Tifa turned and looked up at Aeris as the shadows seeped in, yellow eyes hungry and their silence deafening most sounds. Those brilliant eyes watched her with hope.. desperate hope.
"Aeris," she said softly, "find a way."
"Tifa, please!"
Her hand was oustretched, even as Cloud swung at the creatures. The engines under them rumbled, and she gritted her teeth.
"Find a way. I know you can," then turning as a larger shadow appeared, Tifa shut her eyes and jumped into the Fray, disappearing into the shadows. Aeris went mad, trying to push Squall from her way, hand digging into his leg painfully, enough for him to grunt but despite this he held on.
"NO!" she screamed... and then turned her green eyes onto Cloud who had beaten some back. "Cloud!"
"I'll come back to you," he shouted, "Just go! I'll not leave you on your own.. Yuffie, Leon, take care of her."
"Of course," Yuffie shouted back.
She could feel their hands on her, and as shadows filled her vision she screamed again in anger... the engines fired, and the world went white, then darkness erupted..into nothing.
...Find a way...