Chapter 44
"Dulce et Decorum est pro
Patria Mori"
Bodies fill the fields I see, hungry heroes end
No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend
Running blind through killing fields, bred to kill
them all
Victim of what said should be
A servant 'til I fall
-Metallica-
Note: "Dulce et Decorum est pro Patria Mori" is Latin (I believe) that roughly translated into "Sweet and Proper to die for One's Country." That may not be exact, but it should be close to its true meaning.
"Dulce et Decorum est pro Patria Mori":
A week later Sephiroth found himself near the capitol city of Wutai as Daitona had predicted and he was preparing for battle…as she said they would be. Several of Shinra's top commanders arrived to add to the new general's numbers in this battle that would surly be the last.
The night was growing closer to the new day; they'd strike at first light. Sephiroth sat up from his nights resting place then proceeded to wake Daitona. They'd already slept later that they were suppose to, but he really didn't care. This would be the last battle Daitona and he would fight for Shinra, the finishing touch or not. He hoped beyond hope that Mifune wouldn't be at this battle.
Daitona slowly opened her eyes to Sephiroth's gentle persistence to wake her. She looked at him then closed her eyes to stretch herself out full and yawned before opening them again. This time when she looked at him there was a soft glow to her eyes.
"Morning," she greeted; a small smile graced her lips.
Sephiroth smiled back down at her. "Indeed in is; we don't have much time. Hurry and get ready, I'll go get you something to eat."
Daitona nodded and watched him leave their tent before she recognized the uneasy feeling in her gut. 'He said he sensed it…and that was a week ago. If this the feeling he had?'
She shook her head ridding it of those thoughts then stood to get herself ready. She decided on the black pants she had that had a layer of armor sewed into them then her normal black vest. Daitona couldn't help but to be irritated with the way her vest fit. It was very snug, especially around her belly.
"Gee thanks. I just love it when my clothes don't fit right anymore," she stated dully to herself.
She sat down to pull on her new boot; they actually fit and didn't hurt her feet. By the time she was finishing up, putting the belt on that carried her twin swords, Sephiroth came back and handed her a plate of warm food.
"Eat up," Sephiroth advised, sitting down next to her with his own plate. "You never know when we'll have another chance for a meal…and this actually looks good."
Daitona looked down at her biscuits and gravy with a side of hash browns. She shrugged, picked up her fork and began to eat her breakfast.
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Sephiroth lead the way to the rise of the grassy hill that overlooked the Wutain capitol, he peered at the city that lay below; they had no idea what was heading their way at the very moment.
The sky was still night, but he knew it would be dawn all too soon. The tension in the air was unmistakable at this calm moment just before battle. Daitona stood slightly behind him awaiting the order that everyone knew was to come, the one order that would leave this country in ruins and finally end the war.
Sephiroth stood silent for a long moment, letting the cool breeze play across his face, let it tangle its invisible fingers within his long silver strands, let it wisp his cape coat out behind him almost viciously. He inhaled the clean air deeply; he'd been on this island so long now the thought of the polluted air of Midgar almost made him sick to the stomach. This land had yet to be tainted by Shinra, yet…wasn't that what he was here to enforce, to force the Shinra rule over these people?
"Sir?" a bold first class SOLDIER spoke up. "It's almost dawn."
Sephiroth turned his emerald gaze to the young black haired SOLDIER. Hadn't he been a cadet under Daitona just weeks ago? "Yes, I know. I am in no hurry for this upcoming slaughter. Are you? If you are, then perhaps you should have been made General instead of I?" Sephiroth's eyes were cold but soften a bit when he looked to his second in command, his wife.
"Sir?" Daitona asked in question to the look, addressing him properly for once. The battles tension had gotten to her as well and it sounded weird, her calling him 'sir' for once.
Sephiroth closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. Daitona already knew the plan, neither of them could afford not to fight this one and it had him wary; 'If she gets hurt…if…stop it!' He let his glowing aqua eyes open and looked at the commanders standing just behind Daitona. "I want Commander Zendric's and Commander Miguel's squads on the flank. Commanders Auesta and Xavier's squads to come in on the left, and Commanders Zante and Taven's squads to come in on the right. My squad and Daitona's will circle around and we'll box in the enemy. No one gets away; those are Shinra's orders. Until Lord Godo surrenders we are to attack, we take no prisoners. Is that understood?"
Daitona nodded her head silently along with the other commanding officers. Sephiroth gave a careless sweep of his hand and the other officers returned to their squads to deliver their new orders. Sephiroth already had both his squad and Daitona's ready so that they could leave immediately to be in position on time. The going was slow and cautious.
Not a noise was heard out of the two hundred or so men that followed the two generals. By the time they were in place the sun was just out to peak its blazing head over the hill they been standing on what seemed like ages ago but in reality it had only been about forty-five minutes. The sun rising up over that hill overlooking the sleeping town that would be the sign to commence attack, it would not alert the soldiers that waited below.
"Are you ready?" Sephiroth asked Daitona softly, he still worried for her; she stood silently at his side for a long moment.
Her eyes fixed on the lighting sky in the direction of the silent hill, the first rays of red sunlight shot over the hilltop as she answered.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
The other commanders had already given the order to attack; the drowsy Wutain soldiers were already marked for death.
Sephiroth gave the signal for his and Daitona's troops to attack. "You don't seem like yourself." He noted after the troop had dispersed into battle. "If you start feeling tired tell me and we'll pull back. I don't want anything to happen to you…or…our baby. I'm actually starting to look forward to this. Neither of us had parent, none that actually raised us. Our child won't have to endure that."
The fighting was in the distance from where they still stood; no immediate danger threatened them as they spoke to each other before battle.
"These people have been fighting for their rights to live how they want to for years, and we're here to take that all away from them. How could they possibly stand a chance against you alone? But I'm also here…though I admit not in the best state for fighting…but that's beside the point. Shinra didn't want any surprises it this battle, he knows we are virtually unstoppable together. With just you and me, we could crush these people without any of these troops when we first arrived here…How are we supposed to handle that? Isn't freedom what we've craved all our lives? What right to do we have to take from others what we have never rightfully had before coming here?" Her eyes blazed with crave of battle, but her feelings were mixed in whether or not this was right or wrong. She was still having that gut feeling but her spirit refused to heed it; she wanted to fight no matter the consequences.
"Just think of it as another field training session with one of your SOLDIERs, except now the stakes are a lot higher. Freedom for us resides in our deaths or the death of Shinra and his company, but after this we'll seek out your Uncle and hope for the best. And you're right; the troops sent here were unnecessary, but Shinra wants blood…what better than to stain the hands of his army? And right now…I don't think the two of us would be enough." His eyes were fixed on the raging battle before him; it would not last much longer when him and Daitona joined the fighting ranks, he knew this…even if Daitona wasn't at her best that didn't make her any worse of a fighter, slower perhaps but her skill was still the same.
"If you say so," she sighed and also looked in on the battle. The smell of smoke and blood was thick in the air now and hundreds of bodies from both sides started littered the ground.
A stray Wutain soldier-seeking escape from the loosing battle happened to stumble upon the two Shinra General's…he had run into death hands itself. Sephiroth sighed, with a shake of his head he drew Masamune and quickly brought down the retreating man.
He turned back to Daitona. "I guess that's our cue. Lets go." Sephiroth lead the way into the raging battle, cutting down any man who couldn't get out of his way quick enough.
Daitona was right behind him, protecting his back. She cut down soldier after soldier without hesitation with her twin swords, which now glittered crimson red from the many victims she'd impaled and cut down. As they progressed further into battle they took on there own fights but stayed close to each other. But as bad luck would have it, advancing and being pushed back separated them and they were alone to fight without someone else to watch their back.
Daitona retreated back from an attack once more; she'd gone so deep into the enemy she was near their center. She finally managed to take out the soldiers that had driver her so far back then looked for any who might attack her next. A smug look came over her face as a small group of four or five soldiers stepped up and boldly faced her. That would have been fine if it hadn't been for the dozen or more that came up from behind her and surrounded her.
"Not good…" Daitona growled to herself and brought her swords up for defense.
She took the offensive quickly and her first attack took down five men as she spun around in a complete circle. Her sharpened swords cut into the unlucky five who'd come too close. She stopped moving in time to be hit from behind, causing her to stagger forward a step. She spun on him viciously and stabbed the men through the chest. Blood bubbled from the soldier's lips at the sound of crushing bone as the sword went completely through him.
Daitona yanked sharply on the implanted sword; she frowned and yanked again, the sword wouldn't budge. Quickly giving up on it, she stabbed the Wutain charging at her from the left. The blade easily pierced him, but to her shock and surprise he twisted around tearing her last sword from her grip. He fell then, dead with the sword beneath his battered body.
"No!" Daitona cried; she spun to a sound behind her then a searing pain in her right shoulder.
The shock left her vision completely white and she staggered back. She was aware the enemy soldier was near but the heat that was radiating through her was too much.
Sephiroth's eyes darted around the battlefield looking for Daitona. He found her as she killed a man. The surprise on her face was unmistakable as her sword was pulled from her hands. She turned swiftly with her back to him…she straightened...then staggered back several feet. Sephiroth quickly searched for the cause and found a soldier at blank range holding a slightly smoking gun advancing.
Daitona turned slightly cutting Sephiroth's view of the soldier. He growled in worry of what was going on. He began to cut himself a path to Daitona. His heart nearly stopped when a flash of silver and red came slicing through Daitona's back, he was so close to her now…he could almost hear her gasp. The blade was withdrawn in the seconds Sephiroth finally got to her. He came up quickly slashing the soldier with the sword stained with Daitona's blood; with his sword and completely severed the soldier's head from his neck. After that he went to his knees, and hugged Daitona close to him with one arm and the other held Masamune in defense. Lots of soldiers thought Sephiroth's move to be an advantage and started to surround the two in great numbers.
"Daitona," Sephiroth hissed shaking the limp girl. He could feel hot liquid being absorbed through his glove to his hand, on his chest where he knew another wound was pressed against him and knew the wound to be serious. She gasped in pain at him moving her in such a way. 'I have no other choice, or risk loosing both of our lives. I swear to not let it get to me…I'll do it alone this time.'
Sephiroth brought out the blood colored materia orb from his hidden pocket and equipped it in Masamune. Bringing the sword up in such a way to use a summon, his voice came as an icy whisper, "Inevitable." The word came off his lips naturally though he'd never seen this attack in action or even knew if it was on at all.
The one word sent chills up the spins of all those who were unlucky enough to hear it spoken by this Shinra SOLDIER. Even those who couldn't hear, the tiny hairs on the back of their necks stood on end at the eerie silence that seemed to have suddenly take over the battlefield.
A gust of wind blew dust up over their feet; Daitona's eyes went wide and blazed with an intensity that she couldn't possibly have felt. A silent endless rumbling filled the area, the wind picked up blowing dust higher. Just as suddenly as it had started the wind died, but the rumbling became louder and caused some of the soldier's teeth to rattle. Seemingly out of nowhere, a whisper of a ghost appeared. The ghost was of a dragon. It swept through the enemy ranks, touching and passing through each and every one of them. It then turned path and snaked around Daitona and Sephiroth and they vanished within its body.
The Wutain soldiers were frozen in fear, many of them had grown pale and looked on at the magnificent dragon in wide eye horror. The dragon hissed, then its aqua green eyes brightened to firry orbs. All that had come in contact with the summoned beast were sent into oblivion in a dazzling display of explosions.
When Sephiroth and Daitona reappeared, they were in the same place and the dragon was gone…and so was everyone unlucky enough to be anywhere near it when it finally attacked. A deep crater surrounded them, there was no signs of those killed by the summoned dragon.
Sephiroth sighed and sat his sword down. He careful turned Daitona in his arms so that he could see her wound more clearly. Blood stained deeply into here uniform and had matted a section of her long hair. The blood was fairly gushing through the sword wound to her chest, he also notice the bullet wound in her shoulder.
Sephiroth frowned and pressed his hand firmly over the more serious wound though he knew it was bleeding just as bad on her back. The pressure he applied gained him a wince from his fallen wife.
"I'm sorry," she gasped raggedly.
"Don't worry, I'll get the medic. You'll be fine," Sephiroth said with a confidence he didn't feel. He knew the wound was bad and that she had already lost a lot of blood.
Everything had happened too quickly for Daitona to register clearly. She knew she was hurt, but beyond that she knew nothing. She hadn't seen the sword slice through her but she'd felt it…As she went to speak again she started coughing and with that came more blood.
"Don't move," Sephiroth pleaded below a whisper. His mind wanted him to believe she'd be ok, that the baby would be ok, but his heart told him she was dying there in his arms.
Daitona managed to calm her coughing. "Where is it…and how bad is it?"
"Somewhere around…around your heart. You'll be fine…"
"Your eyes say otherwise. I'm so sorry…I should have listened to you from the start. Now I've gone and hurt myself."
Sephiroth turned his head away from her so she couldn't see his eyes.
"That's what I thought," Daitona whispered. "I don't want you to see me like this…" Her voice was sympathetic as she tried to ease the feeling she knew he felt and herself. "Please leave me here."
Sephiroth turned his face back to look at her, and to Daitona's surprise and hurt…his eyes were bright…not from any mako enhancement or the sun…but by true sadness.
"You don't ever know what you have until you loose it…isn't that how it goes?" she asked.
"I won't leave you here…" Sephiroth stated defiantly.
"Sephiroth…"
"Never."
"I won't die…it is much harder to kill me than this. Win this war…for yourself…for me…for our child…but never for Shinra, right? Shinra is ours alone. We will destroy him, it, whatever it is Shinra is. Just you and me."
Sephiroth nodded and stood, bringing Daitona to her feet slowly. "When I win…I'll come back here for you," he vowed.
Daitona closed her eyes and shook her head painfully. "I won't be here. I have to heal…" She started to slowly walk away form him, holding her wounded shoulder with one hand and the other covering the wound she'd eventually bleed to death from.
Sephiroth caught up and stopped Daitona then nodded to her. Carefully placing his arms loosely around her, he wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "You better keep your promise, I'll be waiting for you. I'll go back to Midgar where you'll know where to find me." He kissed her forehead before letting go. Without another word, he walked away from her, back to the dying battle. Now, his heart wasn't with this fight…it was somewhere else. He wasn't sure where anymore.
****
'Please don't let me have lied to him…'
'I am…sorry…'
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-End Chapter 44-