Prologue
-???-
Darkness....And within that darkness was light. A young woman, on her knees and head bowed...praying. Her bangs arched over her closed, concentrating eyes. Her light brown hair hung loosely around her, barely touching the floor. Light pink dress spread around her. She was truly an angel and no one could say other wise.
He stood there, His long sword gripped loosely in his right hand as her approached her. His clothing suited his surroundings, on his shoulders, huge, white pauldrons. His bangs also arched over his sea-green eyes, but unlike the past they were not filled with a murderous intent, but for once, seemed gentle, guilt plagued within him. He had made amends with everyone, in the only way he could. However, he still had yet to beg the forgiveness of her. He hesitated up until this time; he started his way toward her. every step echoed throughout the space coming back at him.
She tilted her head up and opened her eyes slowly. Watching him approach with innocent, gem-green eyes. He was surprised to see no hatred with in them. But nothing surprised him more then seeing her do the exact same thing she did before. She smiled. The smile brought immediate pain throughout him his guilt did more then double...or even quadruple. It was simply unbearable that that was all she did till she met her untimely end...at his hand.
"Aeris..." he said softly. She frowned slightly, but it was false anger.
"Aerith." She said, voice like a siren to him, but he shook that away from his thoughts.
"Aerith...I-Why did you change your name?" He immediately changed the subject and cursed himself for doing so. He wished he hadn't he was for something else, something MUCH more important.
"Because..." was her only response. Honestly she just didn't want to be called Aeris anymore. More then likely it was because of her past. Hearing 'Aeris' somehow just triggered another name into her head. 'Cloud...'
"Never mind," he said abruptly. "I didn't mean to upset you. I- "Aerith shook her head and interrupted him.
"I'm not upset."
"Well, that's good I don't want you to be, that's why I came here to..."He paused; this was much harder to do than he thought it would be. He bowed his head in thought, how could he word this? It's always hard to apologize for something, but to apologize to someone for killing them was near impossible! "I just want to say..."
"Sorry?" she asked innocently, "It's okay Sephiroth...I have long since forgiven you." Sephiroth could only stare in disbelief. From days to months did he have guilt building and eating away at his heart only to know now that they were unneeded for he had already gained her forgiveness. Before he could question her, however, he discovered that they weren't alone. Aerith seemed to have sensed the intruders' presence also. She tilted sideways to look around Sephiroth to see who it was.
Sephiroth turned sharply and inquired voice colder than the summit of the Gaea Cliffs. "Who are you?" The hooded figure, head tilted down, closed in chuckling lightly.
"It is only a matter of time."
"Before what!?" Sephiroth grew more impatient by the second; his masamune was now ready to strike once the intruder became a threat. "Answer me!"
"Before all is set back to which it had come."
Aeris was taken back by this. Was this what she had predicted? Was THIS what the planet now feared? Is this what she prayed against? "T-The planet?"
The man tilted his head to show luminescent red eyes, white strands of hair peaking through the hood and his small grin before uttering the word "Darkness..." Sephiroth waited not a second longer before leaping forward in an attempt to destroy this new threat, not only to himself or the planet, but to Aerith. It was from this point on, for redemption of his past, he would protect this planet and...Aerith.
-Nibelheilm-
A light hearted laughter filled the tiny bar as AVALANCHE celebrated. Cloud had just proposed to Tifa who didn't waist a second accepting. It had only been a few months, five to be exact, after the defeat of sephiroth. Everyone had come together again after receiving mysterious invitations from Cloud. Even Vincent, who would usually be as far away from human contact as much as possible, was persuaded to come. Everyone was enjoying themselves, well, almost everyone.
Yuffie however wasn't exactly having the time of her life. Sure she was happy about her best friend finding the love of her life but Yuffie couldn't help but be a little jealous. She never really had time for silly things like 'boyfriends' or 'finding a soul mate'. In the past she had been traveling around and only by luck did she receive the letter cloud had sent.
Also, being a thief she never really had many friends. In fact, AVALANCHE were her first, and, thus far, only friends.
'Maybe I should settle down and try and find a nice boyfriend...' she frowned as she banished the thought from her mind. 'Yeah right...I sound like I'm old or something...'sides, I love travelling!..And stealing!' She grinned as she remembered she had another little shipment of materia to deliver to Wutai after this little get together was done.
Tifa came from the other side of the bar smiling at her friend as she walked over. "Yuffie!" She squealed once at her friend's side. She knelt down so they could be around the same height as they spoke. "Can you BELIEVE it? I just can't! I'm just so happy!"
Yuffie, despite her jealously, smiled and replied although a bit sadly "Yeah, well...I'm happy for ya."
Tifa scowled as she looked her friend in the eye and pouted her lips "Yuffie...? What's wrooooong?"
"Noooooothing..." Yuffie replied innocently.
"Tell me..."
"No it's nothin'!"
"Tell me..."
"I can't tell ya somethin' if there's nothin' to tell!"
"Teeeeell me!"
"Sheesh you're annoying! I wonder why Cloud proposed in the first place" Yuffie stuck out her tongue.
"ahhh now that huurt..." Tifa said sarcastically, wiping a fake tear in the process. Both Tifa and Yuffie gave a short laugh before the older woman patted her friends shoulder. "Well, If you ever change you're mind I'll be there to talk to okay?" Tifa stood and waved to her friend before heading back to her future husband. "I'll see ya in a bit okay Yuffie, I have to make sure Cloud doesn't drink himself to death."
"Okay!" The little ninja sighed as she leaned back on her chair looking up at the ceiling. 'This is boring...' She was starting to get tired and wanted this party to end soon. She closed her eyes and frowned a bit "hmph...all he did was ask her to marry him! It isn't THAT big a-WOAH! OOF" Unfortunately for Yuffie, Her chair fell over backwards causing her too as well. 'Great....' she pulled herself up the gaze of everyone in the room on her. Silence....
That is before everyone burst out laughing. Tifa came forth to see if she was okay. Yuffie was physically just fine but felt like a klutz. "Yuffie you okay?"
"Yeah, Yeah I'm fine!" she rubbed the back of her head "Why'd they gotta make floors hard anyway!"
"Maybe because someone up there hates you..."
"...I hate you so much and you'll never now how much...."
"Ahhh Yuffie...just because you humiliated yourself in front of everybody doesn't mean you have to go bitter"
"I hate you even more now..." Yuffie yawned "Hey Tif, sorry but I think I'm gonna ditch out early" She turned her eyes to Barret, Cid, and Cloud taking shots of hard liquor waiting for their opponents to put themselves in a coma, for a mere bet of 20 gil. Tifa pondered for a moment at what Yuffie was staring at and looked behind her. She sighed shaking her head once she saw that her younger friend was watching her soon-to- be(drunk) husband.
"Don't worry about it," she hugged her friend tightly "Yuuuuuffie! I missed you sooo much!" she began to tighten her grip Yuffie almost winced at how strongly Tifa could cling on. "It was so good to see you again. Make sure you come back soon!"
"Okay...Tifa..but couldya...loosen...a-bit?"
"Hahaha...sorry But really it was really nice to see you again"
"Bye Tifa!"she gave her trademark grin and turned to the other's "BYE GUYS!!!! I'M GONNA STEAL YOUR MATERIA AND SELL IT TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!!!!" Only mumbles somewhat resembling 'bye' and 'yeah yeah' could be heard before they began their chanting once again, 'chug chug chug chug!' She picked up her bag and went out the front door. "whew...If I didn't get outta there I woulda gone crazy..." she leaned back against the door and slid down until coming to a sitting position.
"What are you doing here?"
"ACK!" Yuffie swung her head side to side looking for the origin of the voice, "who's there!?" She looked out and before her towered a silhouette. "AHHH Don't come any closer! I'm a ninja!....I got a shuriken and I KNOW how to use it!" she would anyway if it weren't tucked away in her bag.
"Yuffie calm down, please."
"Oh my gawd! Vincent? Vinnie-Vampire-Boy is that you?" If it was Vincent she know the first thing he'd say'
"Yuffie, I'm not a vampire, and please call me by my real name."
"Oh Vinnie-Vampire-Boy! It IS you!" She grinned ear-to-ear. She obviously enjoyed watching Vincent's reaction to his nickname, dubbed by Yuffie, Cid, and Cait Sith, of course.
"Yuffie..."He sighed shaking his head. In Yuffie's entire time with Vincent, the one kind of facial expressions she's ever seen get out of him was angry, saddened, and ,at this time, annoyed. "WHY do you call me a vampire?"
"Well let's see, oh I don't know, maybe it's cuz your eyes are a different kind of red then Tifa's-sort of a blood red color, the black and red clothing, really pale skin, hatred of sunlight, and, oh let's not forget, we found you snoozin' life away in a coffin!"
"..."
"Awww, Sorry Vinnie! If it means that much I won't call you Vinnie- Vampire-Boy," She stood quickly, practically hopping to her feet, as her grin, miraculously, became bigger. "It was too long anyway, Vinnie is MUCH shorter!"
"..."
"well anyway, why aren't YOU in there, huh? I haven't seen you all evening! Don't tell me you're still depressed over that one lady, what's- her-name." She looked disapproving of the thought "You said it yourself!" she posed like she remembered him and quoting "I was wrong...the one who should have slept..." she pointed her finger out into the shadows of the town. "Was you Hojo!" She burst out laughing.
"I remember, Yuffie." He wasn't the least bit amused.
"Just thought you'd need a little remindin'... So VINNIE" she paused to watch him shake his head in disproval before continuing "Why are you here anyway?"
Vincent turned away from Yuffie looking through the glass of Tifa's new bar before answering "fresh air", he lied he just didn't like having people around him often. The marksman inwardly sighed in relief when he saw Yuffie believed him.
"Lemme guess...Cid right? Yeah I couldn't STAND all that cigarette smoke. It was like a fire started or something I was 'fraid I'd have to crawl out the door just so I wouldn't die before I got out!"
"Which brings me to my original question, Yuffie, why are you out?"
"I'm gonna try and get a head start to leave for Wutai cuz ya see" she pulled out a rather large sack from beside her "I have a new lil shipment to drop off before I set out again!"
"You really love your home town don't you?"
" 'course I do! Wutai's meant EVERYTHING to me since I could remember! And I DID promise my Dad I wouldn't let him down!" she stated dramatically, striking a pose. Her hands were curled up into fists on her small hips, a look of determination crossed her face as she looked up to the sky before bursting out laughing. "No but really, I do love Wutai, and if I can just make it like it was before then I can prove something to someone. Kinda hard to explain but..." She paused. Her slowly went wide and her jaw suddenly dropped. Everything went completely numb in fear when she saw what she did.
"Yuffie? what's wrong?"
"a-a-ah" she couldn't speak so she brought up a hand pointing up toward the sky behind Vincent "L-look..." Vincent did as asked and suddenly found himself in the same state of shock Yuffie went into but quickly snapped out of it.
"Yuffie! We need to tell the others!" Yuffie didn't seem to hear him, she was still in a frightened daze. Vincent quickly grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her "Yuffie snap out of it!" She quickly responded by backing out of his grasp, his cold claw on her bare shoulder did that instantly.
"Right tell the others right!" She quickly turned and practically broke the door knob when she turned it and breaking the door's hinges as she opened it. "GUYS!!!!" she ran in frantically, Tifa was the first to hear her and rushed over.
"Yuffie what is it?"
"Go out and see for yourself!" Tifa nodded and ran outside, followed by Red and Reeve being the only sober (or semi-sober) ones left.
"CLOUD CID BARRET WOULD YOU IDIOTS STOP GETTING DRUNK!!!!!!!!!!!" she literally screeched in their ears. "We have a major crisis on our hands here! and it KINDA SORTA MAYBE WOULD HELP IF YOU ALL WOULDN'T BE DRUNK!!!!"
"What the nine fuckin' hells are you talking about!" Cid yelled back "we just finished kicking Sephiroth's ass down to hell so what else could go wrong?" Cid wasn't one to be interrupted while having a drink off, especially when winning.
"Well if you don't believe me look outside!" Cloud, deciding it best just to humor the little ninja, sluggishly got up gripping his sword as best he could and dragged it outside. Barret and Cid reluctantly followed cloud out the door. Yuffie sped past them nearly knocking them all down.
"Look! GAWD if you all weren't drunk...!" Yuffie pointed up to the sky, a storm had come up seemingly out of nowhere, pouring heavily. However that wasn't what was wrong. The entire AVALANCHE party stood speechless as a dark vortex in the night sky glowed menacingly.
Vincent eyes suddenly darted, from one shadow to the next. Yellow, glowing eyes came from them. Not just a pair per shadow, but possibly dozens from each. Quietly ,so as not to alarm the newly found creatures he whispered, "We aren't alone..."
Before anyone could react the creatures finally made themselves known, instantly surrounding them. Thus the battle began. The loud battle cries from the small group quickly got the attention of the sleeping residents. Screams could be heard while people started flooding out into the streets running for any kind of refuge available from the monsters.
"We have to protect the people first!" Tifa cried, if Zaghan taught her anything, it was use her abilities to protect people.
"Let's split up and protect as many people as we can!" Cloud yelled, his drunken manner seemed to have disappeared into thin air. "Tifa you're with me! Cid, Barret! Reeve, Red! Yuffie, Vincent! Let's mosey!" Cid sighed as he and Barret ran for the west side of town. Reeve, trying to find the best way to fend off the creatures, followed Red XIII out the opposite of Cid and Barret, heading east. Yuffie nodded, cocky grin and all, to Vincent.
"Ready?" he asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be!" with that she sprinted ahead towards the Nibelheilm entrance.
"Cloud..."Tifa bit her lip, she could feel it, something terrible was going to happen. She could loose Cloud again, maybe forever this time. "Cloud..I-"
"Tifa, I'm not going to loose you..."He smiled softly before replacing it with a cool, confident grin, adding coolly, "It'll be alright..." He said it the same way she had asked him on the Highwind. Tears threatened to fall when she looked up at Cloud. It was just like before. Whenever he said everything would be alright, everything WILL be alright.
She wiped her tears that did manage to fall she smiled brightly." Cloud...thank you...I know everything will be fine now." she pulled the premium heart tighter on her right fist and did the same for her other glove. "Ready?"
Cloud placed his own gloved hand over the hilt of his the Ultima Weapon on his back before pulling the massive sword out of the scabbard. It glowed brightly, showing that it and Cloud were at full power. "Always ready..." they ran together hand in hand to make sure they were never separated.
~~~
"Vincent I SWEAR I saw people go this way!" Yuffie was more than just upset right now. She had enough frustration building inside her for a new limit break to be made! She turned to her companion noticing how he just finished off another bunch of ....things.
"I never said I didn't believe you, Yuffie." He quickly reloaded the Death Penalty. The only advantage they had was that Vincent's gun was growing stronger with each kill, hence it's name. But the large number of them was incredible! It didn't matter if they had just killed an entire army of them but more and more seemed to have appeared. This was clearly, not anyone's day.
"AAaahhh! no please don't!" The plea came not far away. Actually just around the next corner. Yuffie and Vincent turned to each other nodding in confirmation to hurry. There, another shadow creature, this one wore a visor and clanky armor, the movement of it was still jerky as the towered over the weak old man. Just as Yuffie and Vincent arrived at the scene it was too late. A luminescent pink light shown in the form of a heart and disappeared and so did the man just when they arrived. However, it was soon enough to catch the thief before it too vanished. A loud gunshot echoed in the narrow alleyway and the tiny villain disbursed in a number of colorful orbs.
"Vincent! what happened!?"
"That's why there are no more townspeople here" he conclusively.
"Uh HELLO!!! Is that all you're going to SAY!?" in all honesty she expected a bit more of an 'Oh NO! say it isn't so!' reaction. "With how many that are on THEIR side they more than likely wiped out the whole town! We have to tell them about this!" He nodded, she noticed the look on his face. In all the time she's known Vincent, it was to watch how HE did things or how HE looked while doing it. The reason being, if you did what he did then you can live, if you see how he looks doing things you can usually tell the out come of things. Things weren't going to be just fine...
~~~
By the time they reached the water tower, the number of members left were reduced. Grief ran through Yuffie's mind much more than just once. Red...Reeve...Barret....gone! Cid, Tifa, and Cloud waited for them. "Cloud!"
The blonde leader turned sharply to see their newly arrived comrades. "Yuffie, Vincent!"
"Cloud where's-"
"We don't know," Cloud said abruptly, he already knew her question. The same he had! "Cid said he saw what happened Barret."
"He was being dragged into the fucking shadow! Tried to help the poor bastard but I couldn't! It was like playin' tug-o-war with a fuckin' weapon!" Everyone was silent. Yuffie, despite the critical situation, tired to picture cid playing tug-o-war with Ruby weapon and flung all the way to Wutai after a single tug. She shook her head wildly to be free of the ridiculous thought." I know it sounds like a bunch of made up bull shit but that's what happened!"
"Yuffie and I also have information we need to share." Vincent cut in. In all honesty, that just reminded Yuffie why they were looking for the others in the first place. She nodded quickly.
"Yeah! We found out why all the townspeople just disappeared into thin air!" The small ninja added. "We weren't there to see it all but right when we got there one of the...thing just got him! The old man just faded away like a ghost! There was also this glowing heart above him that faded too! Then right when it was trying to get away Vinnie got 'im!" She glanced around at everyone. None said a word. "What are we going to do?"
Cloud was silent. 'Think Cloud THINK!' being the leader was hell especially at times like this. They had no leads whatsoever as to where to go or what to do! None of them even knew who attacked them or WHY they did. A loud cry brought him out of his thinking. His heart not only skipped a beat, but also jumped into overtime as he spun around. "TIFA!" It was just as Cid had described the disappearance of Barret. He tried to run to her only to notice he couldn't move as well.
The ground was nothing more than a dark, endless void now. The black and dark purple Swirls of smoke wrapped around the remaining members of avalanche, pulling them down. All of them struggled to break free from the hold but everything proved to be a futile attempt.
"GAWD! Yuffie Materia Hunter really IS going to be the last chapter of Materia Forever!" This couldn't be happening! Everything she's worked for! Wutai, her friends, The PLANET for the love of GOD! They save the planet and the planet repays them with-with THIS!? Tears rolled down her cheeks she didn't care if they saw her cry now it didn't matter they were going to die anyway so why not!? However, in the back of her mind she heard HER.
....Don't give up! Keep hope in your hearts! You can do this just don't give up!....
"Aeris...!?" time seemed to stop at that moment and before her was the Cetra flower girl. Her emerald green eyes shone with pure determination, she had to help them! She clasped her hands together as if to pray. Feathers of pure white light were scattered in the air as if ,they too, were frozen in time. Not more than a few seconds later did they form wings behind the Cetra. The final feather was in place and a great light shone brilliantly. Yuffie felt herself being let go, as did the others.
The light diminished, and there was Aeris. Cloud looked on with disbelief, it was really her, wasn't it? Or were they dead? But after that second of thought a jolt of worry shot through his heart. "Tifa? Tifa!?" He was freed and she had to also right? Spinning around, he saw no sign of his fiancé. He looked in Aeris' direction. "Aeris?" The angel bowed her head, looking at the ground sadly. "No..." tears stung his eyes. 'Tifa...I just realized how much I love you but it's too late...It's too damn late now...' "Damn it! Tifa she couldn't have!" With that last word he slammed his fist into the ground.
"...Cloud...I'm sorry I couldn't save her...." Aeris bit her lip, she felt guilty. If she was able to come sooner than she would still be here. The planet's threat, whoever he was, keep Sephiroth and herself busy for sometime, she could still remember the battle.
~
Sephiroth's skills were no match for the white haired man. NO matter what blow was given a ghost, no more like a demon would shield him then counter. The Silver haired warrior didn't allow Aeris to get to close in the battle, no matter how much more horrible the fight became ,only letting her cast spells when she could. Finally, the demon merged with Sephiroth, causing him to double over in pain. And whenever he was within striking distance he was unable to move. She rushed over to help him but he called to her. "Aerith NO! Stay back!" he screamed as the demon attacked from within him. "Leave and help the others!"
It was then she froze. Could she? The others were having a great deal of trouble and she knew that the people outside of the lifestream were suffering, her friends included. But Sephiroth! he needed help! Needed HER help! Another cry of pain was heard Sephiroth's voice, strained completely yelled "Aerith NOW!" Her eyes filmed over with tears as she watched the scene of him collapsing on the ground. He brought himself on his elbows, his rapid breathing was no added sign of comfort to Aerith.
The former flower merchant tore her eyes away from the sight and ran. Looking for the lighted path, the literal door way to the land of the living, leading to Mideel. She had gotten only a few strides in before the man appeared before her. Startled she fell backwards. Hatred entered her eyes when she saw the man laughing, how DARE he! She got up her Princess guard in her hands as she stood ready to fight. She knew she had no chance in winning this battle but she had to-just HAD to try! The man's laugh became louder as he saw her pathetic attempt to stop him; his shadow demon partner came to his side joining in.
"You have no chance of winning, and you know it, yet you STILL want to fight?" His grin could be seen behind the hood he wore. "Let's get this over quickly." Not a second later did the monster wait to strike her down. Brought up her staff in hopes of defecting the demon's blow closing her eyes tightly at the last second.
*Clang!*
She managed to deflect it sounded like to her but she didn't feel a thing. Opening her eyes she saw the one winged angel there, "Sephiroth!? b- but- how did-"
"Aerith that's not important now just hurry before nothing's left!" She put up no argument and didn't dare hesitate this time. "Aerith!" she stopped Turing to him. He and his opponent had their eyes locked, waiting for the other to move. "I won't be able to meet up with you after this is over! But I'll find you! Wait for me! Promise me you will!" He made the could-be-fatal error by turning so he could look into HER eyes. He didn't care if he were to be shredded to bits he just wanted to see her for the last time in a long time.
"I will!" She went into a full sprint. 'I Promise Sephiroth! I'll wait for you to come back!' Deep in her heart she knew he'd come back for her, he was going to come back alive! All she needed to do was focus on saving her friends. 'I'll be there as fast as I can! Hold on!'
~
"v-Vinnie..?" Yuffie's Voice was weak her eyes were wide her cheeks still had tears rolling down them. She wasn't moving a muscle standing in a daze. "V-Vinnie-Vampire-boy?" She used the horrid nickname in hopes he'd just fall from the sky, or walk out of the shadows, or even unbury himself out of the ground just to have him say for the millionth time "Yuffie I'm not a vampire, and please call me Vincent". She sniveled a bit. "You can't...You just CAN'T!" She unintentionally gained the attention of the remaining AVALANCHE members, she didn't even notice one bit, not ONE LITTLE BIT. "Vincent...Why'd you have to leave? Besides Tifa, you were the only one left that actually asked me if I was okay, or where I was going or why I was doing something. You and Tifa were the only ones left to actually give a damn about me." Aeris walked forward and embraced the sobbing thief allowing her a shoulder to cry on. "Aeris why? Why did he have to leave me all alone? And why did Tifa have to go too?"
"Shhh.Yuffie it'll be okay. I promise everything will be okay." patting the younger girls back to comfort her in anyway she could. Aeris could tell now that all that was left of the once proud Terrorist organization AVALANCHE was now just a broken shadow of it's former self. Cloud was going through denial and Yuffie didn't get too far past that. They were in no condition to be fighting.
Cid stood in the back, of course he couldn't stand losing them just like that but he couldn't help but think that Shera could of- 'No damn it! She'll make it through this she's gotta! And damn it I will too!' Looking up at the red, purple and black void in the sky with nothing short of loathing, he noticed something a shadow loomed over the small town just as big as a weapon, maybe even bigger made it's way to them. The pilot's mouth hung open causing the cigarette that always seemed to stay fall right out. "MOTHER FUCKER!!!"
Cid's outburst startled his emotionally distressed teammates so much so that Yuffie had nearly stopped crying and Cloud's came back from his world of doubt about his stolen wife-to-be. Yuffie pushed away from her friend looking up to see her also staring at whatever Cid was. She turned her head as best she could taking a short glance at it. She too found herself the same way, but no not this time! She worked her way out of Aeris' arms, picking up her shuriken, thankful that it wasn't lost like her friends.
Cloud once again unsheathed the Ultima Weapon. It was no longer growing the same it had been before. It had dimmed and had a soft violet glow now, meaning he's been injured quiet a bit before this time, or the physical exhaustion of trying to escape earlier. Either way, he wasn't in the greatest shape in his life. He grabbed a vial from his pocket, biting off the cork and spitting it on the ground he drank the purple liquid. Once emptied, he threw it hard to the ground making the glass break on impact. The Ultima Weapon, and Cloud, were now again battle ready. It was by that time did their adversary get close enough for the battle to ensue.
A fire emitted from Yuffie as she stepped forward she brought her shuriken in front of her as a large ball of energy came from her. It was almost as big as the evil being itself before she let it shoot forward "ALL CREATION!" The beam of light shot through and hit the monster dead on. The light diminished showing that he was still up and running. There was no look of surprise on her face, a scowl crossed it as she threw the conformer, slashing at it's arm twice before returning.
Cloud bent his arms so his sword in front of his face before pointing it forward. Nothing, It didn't have a name, a level of strength, or even how much damage has been caused or how much was needed to kill this thing! He slashed at where the creature's legs should be but no serious damage had been done. 'What!?' he tried again a second time and the thing still didn't even flinch.
A dark hand fell, crushing the water tower and a dark portal, similar to the one that tried to consume Cloud and the others, appeared. More of the shadow creatures that they were fighting crawled from it but didn't get far when Cid stabbed and slashed which ever ones were stupid enough, meaning all of them , to try escape. His spear, Venus Gospel, easily dispatched the twitchy imps before doing his own limit break, High Jump, on their bigger enemy's wrist. Though the desired effect was a screech of pain, it proved effective. He found a weak point. "Hit it's wrists!" He hollered. Yuffie and Cloud were way ahead of him though.
"Cid! Take care of the smaller ones when they come in the meantime help me attack! Yuffie since you have a long ranged weapon Get 'em when we can't. Aeris..." he's voice softened...He never thought he'd be able to order her to do something again. Not that he liked to bother her, mind you. "you have materia?"
"No, I don't", she never needed it in the lifestream to cast magic but now it was necessary. He removed a few from his sword and another from his armor. Heal, Full Cure, barrier, Fire, Ice lightning, all, and BahamutZERO. He tossed the five green orbs and the red one to her; she equipped them as soon as she received them.
"Back us up and when you're tired use Turbo Ether! And Aeris..." he paused for a second "be careful, it's good to see you again." She nodded as he went to aide Yuffie and Cid. 'It is good to be back but...No I have to worry about you guys first!' She cast fire three, then Ice 3 and Lightning 3 in the same order repeatedly until someone needed to be healed. She understood the fact that Cloud didn't want her to die again but she didn't want to feel like she should always be protected! However, reasoning with his thoughts and her own, she decided it might be best if she were just the healer and spell caster...again.
The monster bent backwards and a large ball of energy floated gently into the air finding a target, The beast shot 2 more, following the same behavior as the first before picking out theirs. Cloud, Cid and Yuffie were all struck one after the other with the attack all of them to the point of getting knocked out. Aeris saw her friends as they all fell, it was right then did limit break, though a minor limit break, it would help greatly. Twirling her staff until it got in one hand a pale blue and white breeze surrounded the injured party members. After which she combined the all and barrier materia, casting Wall on all of them.
"You've just about taken everything from me..."Cloud whispered hoarsely as he staggered to his feet, just now feeling the affects of Aeris' cure."My town, my friends, my fiancé..." The Ultima weapon again began glowing brightly. "I hate you...I'll never forgive whoever's behind this..." Fire rippled from his body as he gripped his prized sword tighter. 'Tifa...for you...I'll find whoever did this and kill them!' "OMNISLASH!!!!!!!!!"
Cid and Yuffie stopped as they heard the blonde leader's loud cry and watched as he slashed, dashed, and thrashed at the giant shadow, not giving a damn if his weak point was his wrists but taking a hit at any place he could. They've seen Omnislash many times...But this...THIS wasn't just an ordinary limit break. It was almost as violently and was fueled with as much hatred, if not more, when he used it against Sephiroth's One-Winged Angel form. Finally, the grand finale. Cloud leaped higher then he ever have coming to the very top of it's head. The Ultima Weapon was pulled back over Cloud's head as the swordsman charged up in mid air for the last blow. 'Tifa...' He closed his eyes as brief pictures of her passed through his mind.
'Cloud! What are you doing!?' When they first met.
'Cloud I'm so glad you're back! I missed you!' After she had found him.
'Cloud You DO remember your promise right?' When he was about to leave the 7th Heaven.
'Cloud, I though I heard you calling my name.' By the Northern Crater, the day before fighting Sephiroth.
'Cloud I love you so much.' After proposing to her..
'Cloud!'
'Cloud!?'
'Cloud...'
He heard her voice echoed in his mind in a split second and his mental images of her shattered completely. He would never see her again...and it was this things fault..."ARRGHHHHAAAAA!!!!!!!" He brought down the weapon almost literally slicing the evil, shadowed being in half. He began breathing heavily as soon as he hit the ground. He was so tired now....then for him everything went black.
"Cloud!" Yuffie called out to him but no response followed. Cid and Yuffie ran after him as their earlier crazed leader fell to his knees before hitting the dirt all together. Aeris soon joined them. Cid gave Cloud a quick look over before telling the two girls that he was just unconscious. With that he Pulled cloud's arm over his should picking him up. They heard a cracking sound as the looked up to see their foe crumble and actually turn into dust. It' was dead but now, a bigger problem followed.
As soon as the last bit of that horrible monster was reduced to nothing, a creaking noise followed they turned to find that it wasn't just coming from one of the houses, but all of them! A rooftop was torn apart, the sound of wood snapping and the roof and what would have been debris was sucked up into the sky into the void. Everyone saw what had happened...and everyone knew what could happen next as more and more things were being vacuumed into the mass of black and purple. It was Cid, however, and Cid alone that said something "Oh...fuck..." it was just then that when they felt themselves being pulled up by the same force that was pulling everything else in. The AVALANCHE team was lifted up into the air before grabbing onto anything they could.
Cid was holding onto cloud with one hand and his other gripped on a fence post. Fuck the Venus Gospel! He dropped it after witnessing the flying rooftops and now it was by now in some unknown dimension. Aerith and Yuffie managed to grab onto the old Shinra Mansion gate, though both knew the rusty hinges could give way any second now.
Try as they might, all of their attempts were just wasted energy once the wooden fence post snapped right in half and the gate broke right off. All of them, with the exception of their knocked out leader, cried out as they ascended into the dark sphere.
~~~
"Mmmmph..."Yuffie stirred slightly she opened her eyes Slowly, her vision was blurry "hmmm?" She shot right up rubbing her eyes with her fists. "I'm...ALIVE!?" she noticed that she wasn't in empty space doomed to float all eternity alone but was lying down in a bed. A very soft comfy one at that! It was then did it click that she was all alone. "Aeris!?" no answer Cid!? "No answer "Cloud!?" no answer. Tears stung her eyes, 'maybe they didn't make it...maybe they-NO they didn't I'm not going believe that!'
She struggled to get out from under the sheets, really only tangling herself more in the process. "Awww screw it!" she climbed out of bed, still wrapped up in the blankets, freed only when they slid of her small frame. Running to the door she opened it and slammed into it..."Wha-??" she groaned as she rubbed her lower back "I just opened the damn thing!" She looked at the door she supposedly opened to find that it WAS indeed opened. And there, across the door's threshold, was a man, also on the ground in the same fashion she happened to be. "Oh GAWD!" she feigned worry as she chucked inside 'Nyk nyk nyk let's see if I'm rusty...' "are you okay?" she brushed off his black leather coat as he attempted to stand.
"I'm fine." his voice said coldly, straitening his jacket himself. She noticed how much taller he was and took a few steps back so as not to feel dwarfed to his height. She looked him up and down, he didn't look like one to mess with and it probably wasn't such a good idea to think he would be easy pickings.
"S-sorry! I was just looking for my friends and well" Something clicked in Yuffie...Why'd she have to tell him anyway! "Who're YOU!?" The man brushed a few strands of his brown hair away, his cold colored eyes seemed to be even colder, if possible that is, then-then HIS were before.
"Squall." again his voice was just as cold as just a second ago.
'Sheesh, you think the guy would let up a little! It was an accident! And I DID say sorry!' she looked around the long hallways. "Where are my friends?" Could it be possible that they where sent here too? Barret, Red XIII, Reeve, Cid Tifa Cloud Aeris...Vincent! "C'mon! tell me or I'll-"
"You'll what?" he said, Yuffie swallowed her words before something bad might happened so scowled for a substitute.
"Just Tell me!"
"Fine," he brushed past the angry thief walking down the corridor down to the one next to the one Yuffie stayed in he stopped "The one in pink"
"Aeris!" She cried happily! There really was hope! Squall simply shrugged and walked over to the one across from Aeris' room
"The one with the spiky hair"
"Cloud!" she wore her trademark grin as Squall went to the next door.
"the one with the scruffy looking clothes and goggles"
"CID!" she was hopping up and down and giggling madly as she waited for him to go to the next door. She slowed after a few seconds noticing that he wasn't moving anymore "Heh...well?"
"Well what?"
"WHERE'S THE REST OF THEM!???" Yuffie's hopeful mood made a full 180 turn. Fear struck her ' don't say-'
"They're the only ones I found..."
______________________Prologue End_________________________________________________________________________ _________________
O_O WOW finally I'm done! Phew I hope you don't expect anything bigger than this chapter! ___ this chapter was just to show those who never played FF7 or never got far in it a little background info on them. Mainly Vincent and Sephiroth since you only fight Sephiroth in the Coliseum and Vincent wasn't in KH at ALL! Also, I never really liked how they just said they all came from Hallow Bastion. And yean I know my fight scenes suck just don't rub it in ;_; speaking of which.ever find it weird that you could only hit that whatever it is wrists when fighting him? Yeah so I used that _ Whaddya think? V/Y or L(S)/Y? Well don't worry I'll choose for you Muahahahahhahaha! *needs to stop being hyper*
I also want to say that I probably wound NEVER EVER written this out of laziness and would have continued making one shot's but This fic was requested and I'm not one to break a promise. Though yeah it DID take forever _ it was hard...!
Now! To avoid the big scary men in suits that come to take away my pennies and dimes and my FF7 disks, I own absolutely nothing...zip...nadda...and whatever means nothing...
as always...e-mail me at Yuffievinnievalentine@hotmail.com for questions, comments, suggestions or whatever you don't want other people to see when they read my reviews, please feel free to e-mail me. It's not like I have a lot anyway!
Darkness....And within that darkness was light. A young woman, on her knees and head bowed...praying. Her bangs arched over her closed, concentrating eyes. Her light brown hair hung loosely around her, barely touching the floor. Light pink dress spread around her. She was truly an angel and no one could say other wise.
He stood there, His long sword gripped loosely in his right hand as her approached her. His clothing suited his surroundings, on his shoulders, huge, white pauldrons. His bangs also arched over his sea-green eyes, but unlike the past they were not filled with a murderous intent, but for once, seemed gentle, guilt plagued within him. He had made amends with everyone, in the only way he could. However, he still had yet to beg the forgiveness of her. He hesitated up until this time; he started his way toward her. every step echoed throughout the space coming back at him.
She tilted her head up and opened her eyes slowly. Watching him approach with innocent, gem-green eyes. He was surprised to see no hatred with in them. But nothing surprised him more then seeing her do the exact same thing she did before. She smiled. The smile brought immediate pain throughout him his guilt did more then double...or even quadruple. It was simply unbearable that that was all she did till she met her untimely end...at his hand.
"Aeris..." he said softly. She frowned slightly, but it was false anger.
"Aerith." She said, voice like a siren to him, but he shook that away from his thoughts.
"Aerith...I-Why did you change your name?" He immediately changed the subject and cursed himself for doing so. He wished he hadn't he was for something else, something MUCH more important.
"Because..." was her only response. Honestly she just didn't want to be called Aeris anymore. More then likely it was because of her past. Hearing 'Aeris' somehow just triggered another name into her head. 'Cloud...'
"Never mind," he said abruptly. "I didn't mean to upset you. I- "Aerith shook her head and interrupted him.
"I'm not upset."
"Well, that's good I don't want you to be, that's why I came here to..."He paused; this was much harder to do than he thought it would be. He bowed his head in thought, how could he word this? It's always hard to apologize for something, but to apologize to someone for killing them was near impossible! "I just want to say..."
"Sorry?" she asked innocently, "It's okay Sephiroth...I have long since forgiven you." Sephiroth could only stare in disbelief. From days to months did he have guilt building and eating away at his heart only to know now that they were unneeded for he had already gained her forgiveness. Before he could question her, however, he discovered that they weren't alone. Aerith seemed to have sensed the intruders' presence also. She tilted sideways to look around Sephiroth to see who it was.
Sephiroth turned sharply and inquired voice colder than the summit of the Gaea Cliffs. "Who are you?" The hooded figure, head tilted down, closed in chuckling lightly.
"It is only a matter of time."
"Before what!?" Sephiroth grew more impatient by the second; his masamune was now ready to strike once the intruder became a threat. "Answer me!"
"Before all is set back to which it had come."
Aeris was taken back by this. Was this what she had predicted? Was THIS what the planet now feared? Is this what she prayed against? "T-The planet?"
The man tilted his head to show luminescent red eyes, white strands of hair peaking through the hood and his small grin before uttering the word "Darkness..." Sephiroth waited not a second longer before leaping forward in an attempt to destroy this new threat, not only to himself or the planet, but to Aerith. It was from this point on, for redemption of his past, he would protect this planet and...Aerith.
-Nibelheilm-
A light hearted laughter filled the tiny bar as AVALANCHE celebrated. Cloud had just proposed to Tifa who didn't waist a second accepting. It had only been a few months, five to be exact, after the defeat of sephiroth. Everyone had come together again after receiving mysterious invitations from Cloud. Even Vincent, who would usually be as far away from human contact as much as possible, was persuaded to come. Everyone was enjoying themselves, well, almost everyone.
Yuffie however wasn't exactly having the time of her life. Sure she was happy about her best friend finding the love of her life but Yuffie couldn't help but be a little jealous. She never really had time for silly things like 'boyfriends' or 'finding a soul mate'. In the past she had been traveling around and only by luck did she receive the letter cloud had sent.
Also, being a thief she never really had many friends. In fact, AVALANCHE were her first, and, thus far, only friends.
'Maybe I should settle down and try and find a nice boyfriend...' she frowned as she banished the thought from her mind. 'Yeah right...I sound like I'm old or something...'sides, I love travelling!..And stealing!' She grinned as she remembered she had another little shipment of materia to deliver to Wutai after this little get together was done.
Tifa came from the other side of the bar smiling at her friend as she walked over. "Yuffie!" She squealed once at her friend's side. She knelt down so they could be around the same height as they spoke. "Can you BELIEVE it? I just can't! I'm just so happy!"
Yuffie, despite her jealously, smiled and replied although a bit sadly "Yeah, well...I'm happy for ya."
Tifa scowled as she looked her friend in the eye and pouted her lips "Yuffie...? What's wrooooong?"
"Noooooothing..." Yuffie replied innocently.
"Tell me..."
"No it's nothin'!"
"Tell me..."
"I can't tell ya somethin' if there's nothin' to tell!"
"Teeeeell me!"
"Sheesh you're annoying! I wonder why Cloud proposed in the first place" Yuffie stuck out her tongue.
"ahhh now that huurt..." Tifa said sarcastically, wiping a fake tear in the process. Both Tifa and Yuffie gave a short laugh before the older woman patted her friends shoulder. "Well, If you ever change you're mind I'll be there to talk to okay?" Tifa stood and waved to her friend before heading back to her future husband. "I'll see ya in a bit okay Yuffie, I have to make sure Cloud doesn't drink himself to death."
"Okay!" The little ninja sighed as she leaned back on her chair looking up at the ceiling. 'This is boring...' She was starting to get tired and wanted this party to end soon. She closed her eyes and frowned a bit "hmph...all he did was ask her to marry him! It isn't THAT big a-WOAH! OOF" Unfortunately for Yuffie, Her chair fell over backwards causing her too as well. 'Great....' she pulled herself up the gaze of everyone in the room on her. Silence....
That is before everyone burst out laughing. Tifa came forth to see if she was okay. Yuffie was physically just fine but felt like a klutz. "Yuffie you okay?"
"Yeah, Yeah I'm fine!" she rubbed the back of her head "Why'd they gotta make floors hard anyway!"
"Maybe because someone up there hates you..."
"...I hate you so much and you'll never now how much...."
"Ahhh Yuffie...just because you humiliated yourself in front of everybody doesn't mean you have to go bitter"
"I hate you even more now..." Yuffie yawned "Hey Tif, sorry but I think I'm gonna ditch out early" She turned her eyes to Barret, Cid, and Cloud taking shots of hard liquor waiting for their opponents to put themselves in a coma, for a mere bet of 20 gil. Tifa pondered for a moment at what Yuffie was staring at and looked behind her. She sighed shaking her head once she saw that her younger friend was watching her soon-to- be(drunk) husband.
"Don't worry about it," she hugged her friend tightly "Yuuuuuffie! I missed you sooo much!" she began to tighten her grip Yuffie almost winced at how strongly Tifa could cling on. "It was so good to see you again. Make sure you come back soon!"
"Okay...Tifa..but couldya...loosen...a-bit?"
"Hahaha...sorry But really it was really nice to see you again"
"Bye Tifa!"she gave her trademark grin and turned to the other's "BYE GUYS!!!! I'M GONNA STEAL YOUR MATERIA AND SELL IT TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!!!!" Only mumbles somewhat resembling 'bye' and 'yeah yeah' could be heard before they began their chanting once again, 'chug chug chug chug!' She picked up her bag and went out the front door. "whew...If I didn't get outta there I woulda gone crazy..." she leaned back against the door and slid down until coming to a sitting position.
"What are you doing here?"
"ACK!" Yuffie swung her head side to side looking for the origin of the voice, "who's there!?" She looked out and before her towered a silhouette. "AHHH Don't come any closer! I'm a ninja!....I got a shuriken and I KNOW how to use it!" she would anyway if it weren't tucked away in her bag.
"Yuffie calm down, please."
"Oh my gawd! Vincent? Vinnie-Vampire-Boy is that you?" If it was Vincent she know the first thing he'd say'
"Yuffie, I'm not a vampire, and please call me by my real name."
"Oh Vinnie-Vampire-Boy! It IS you!" She grinned ear-to-ear. She obviously enjoyed watching Vincent's reaction to his nickname, dubbed by Yuffie, Cid, and Cait Sith, of course.
"Yuffie..."He sighed shaking his head. In Yuffie's entire time with Vincent, the one kind of facial expressions she's ever seen get out of him was angry, saddened, and ,at this time, annoyed. "WHY do you call me a vampire?"
"Well let's see, oh I don't know, maybe it's cuz your eyes are a different kind of red then Tifa's-sort of a blood red color, the black and red clothing, really pale skin, hatred of sunlight, and, oh let's not forget, we found you snoozin' life away in a coffin!"
"..."
"Awww, Sorry Vinnie! If it means that much I won't call you Vinnie- Vampire-Boy," She stood quickly, practically hopping to her feet, as her grin, miraculously, became bigger. "It was too long anyway, Vinnie is MUCH shorter!"
"..."
"well anyway, why aren't YOU in there, huh? I haven't seen you all evening! Don't tell me you're still depressed over that one lady, what's- her-name." She looked disapproving of the thought "You said it yourself!" she posed like she remembered him and quoting "I was wrong...the one who should have slept..." she pointed her finger out into the shadows of the town. "Was you Hojo!" She burst out laughing.
"I remember, Yuffie." He wasn't the least bit amused.
"Just thought you'd need a little remindin'... So VINNIE" she paused to watch him shake his head in disproval before continuing "Why are you here anyway?"
Vincent turned away from Yuffie looking through the glass of Tifa's new bar before answering "fresh air", he lied he just didn't like having people around him often. The marksman inwardly sighed in relief when he saw Yuffie believed him.
"Lemme guess...Cid right? Yeah I couldn't STAND all that cigarette smoke. It was like a fire started or something I was 'fraid I'd have to crawl out the door just so I wouldn't die before I got out!"
"Which brings me to my original question, Yuffie, why are you out?"
"I'm gonna try and get a head start to leave for Wutai cuz ya see" she pulled out a rather large sack from beside her "I have a new lil shipment to drop off before I set out again!"
"You really love your home town don't you?"
" 'course I do! Wutai's meant EVERYTHING to me since I could remember! And I DID promise my Dad I wouldn't let him down!" she stated dramatically, striking a pose. Her hands were curled up into fists on her small hips, a look of determination crossed her face as she looked up to the sky before bursting out laughing. "No but really, I do love Wutai, and if I can just make it like it was before then I can prove something to someone. Kinda hard to explain but..." She paused. Her slowly went wide and her jaw suddenly dropped. Everything went completely numb in fear when she saw what she did.
"Yuffie? what's wrong?"
"a-a-ah" she couldn't speak so she brought up a hand pointing up toward the sky behind Vincent "L-look..." Vincent did as asked and suddenly found himself in the same state of shock Yuffie went into but quickly snapped out of it.
"Yuffie! We need to tell the others!" Yuffie didn't seem to hear him, she was still in a frightened daze. Vincent quickly grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her "Yuffie snap out of it!" She quickly responded by backing out of his grasp, his cold claw on her bare shoulder did that instantly.
"Right tell the others right!" She quickly turned and practically broke the door knob when she turned it and breaking the door's hinges as she opened it. "GUYS!!!!" she ran in frantically, Tifa was the first to hear her and rushed over.
"Yuffie what is it?"
"Go out and see for yourself!" Tifa nodded and ran outside, followed by Red and Reeve being the only sober (or semi-sober) ones left.
"CLOUD CID BARRET WOULD YOU IDIOTS STOP GETTING DRUNK!!!!!!!!!!!" she literally screeched in their ears. "We have a major crisis on our hands here! and it KINDA SORTA MAYBE WOULD HELP IF YOU ALL WOULDN'T BE DRUNK!!!!"
"What the nine fuckin' hells are you talking about!" Cid yelled back "we just finished kicking Sephiroth's ass down to hell so what else could go wrong?" Cid wasn't one to be interrupted while having a drink off, especially when winning.
"Well if you don't believe me look outside!" Cloud, deciding it best just to humor the little ninja, sluggishly got up gripping his sword as best he could and dragged it outside. Barret and Cid reluctantly followed cloud out the door. Yuffie sped past them nearly knocking them all down.
"Look! GAWD if you all weren't drunk...!" Yuffie pointed up to the sky, a storm had come up seemingly out of nowhere, pouring heavily. However that wasn't what was wrong. The entire AVALANCHE party stood speechless as a dark vortex in the night sky glowed menacingly.
Vincent eyes suddenly darted, from one shadow to the next. Yellow, glowing eyes came from them. Not just a pair per shadow, but possibly dozens from each. Quietly ,so as not to alarm the newly found creatures he whispered, "We aren't alone..."
Before anyone could react the creatures finally made themselves known, instantly surrounding them. Thus the battle began. The loud battle cries from the small group quickly got the attention of the sleeping residents. Screams could be heard while people started flooding out into the streets running for any kind of refuge available from the monsters.
"We have to protect the people first!" Tifa cried, if Zaghan taught her anything, it was use her abilities to protect people.
"Let's split up and protect as many people as we can!" Cloud yelled, his drunken manner seemed to have disappeared into thin air. "Tifa you're with me! Cid, Barret! Reeve, Red! Yuffie, Vincent! Let's mosey!" Cid sighed as he and Barret ran for the west side of town. Reeve, trying to find the best way to fend off the creatures, followed Red XIII out the opposite of Cid and Barret, heading east. Yuffie nodded, cocky grin and all, to Vincent.
"Ready?" he asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be!" with that she sprinted ahead towards the Nibelheilm entrance.
"Cloud..."Tifa bit her lip, she could feel it, something terrible was going to happen. She could loose Cloud again, maybe forever this time. "Cloud..I-"
"Tifa, I'm not going to loose you..."He smiled softly before replacing it with a cool, confident grin, adding coolly, "It'll be alright..." He said it the same way she had asked him on the Highwind. Tears threatened to fall when she looked up at Cloud. It was just like before. Whenever he said everything would be alright, everything WILL be alright.
She wiped her tears that did manage to fall she smiled brightly." Cloud...thank you...I know everything will be fine now." she pulled the premium heart tighter on her right fist and did the same for her other glove. "Ready?"
Cloud placed his own gloved hand over the hilt of his the Ultima Weapon on his back before pulling the massive sword out of the scabbard. It glowed brightly, showing that it and Cloud were at full power. "Always ready..." they ran together hand in hand to make sure they were never separated.
~~~
"Vincent I SWEAR I saw people go this way!" Yuffie was more than just upset right now. She had enough frustration building inside her for a new limit break to be made! She turned to her companion noticing how he just finished off another bunch of ....things.
"I never said I didn't believe you, Yuffie." He quickly reloaded the Death Penalty. The only advantage they had was that Vincent's gun was growing stronger with each kill, hence it's name. But the large number of them was incredible! It didn't matter if they had just killed an entire army of them but more and more seemed to have appeared. This was clearly, not anyone's day.
"AAaahhh! no please don't!" The plea came not far away. Actually just around the next corner. Yuffie and Vincent turned to each other nodding in confirmation to hurry. There, another shadow creature, this one wore a visor and clanky armor, the movement of it was still jerky as the towered over the weak old man. Just as Yuffie and Vincent arrived at the scene it was too late. A luminescent pink light shown in the form of a heart and disappeared and so did the man just when they arrived. However, it was soon enough to catch the thief before it too vanished. A loud gunshot echoed in the narrow alleyway and the tiny villain disbursed in a number of colorful orbs.
"Vincent! what happened!?"
"That's why there are no more townspeople here" he conclusively.
"Uh HELLO!!! Is that all you're going to SAY!?" in all honesty she expected a bit more of an 'Oh NO! say it isn't so!' reaction. "With how many that are on THEIR side they more than likely wiped out the whole town! We have to tell them about this!" He nodded, she noticed the look on his face. In all the time she's known Vincent, it was to watch how HE did things or how HE looked while doing it. The reason being, if you did what he did then you can live, if you see how he looks doing things you can usually tell the out come of things. Things weren't going to be just fine...
~~~
By the time they reached the water tower, the number of members left were reduced. Grief ran through Yuffie's mind much more than just once. Red...Reeve...Barret....gone! Cid, Tifa, and Cloud waited for them. "Cloud!"
The blonde leader turned sharply to see their newly arrived comrades. "Yuffie, Vincent!"
"Cloud where's-"
"We don't know," Cloud said abruptly, he already knew her question. The same he had! "Cid said he saw what happened Barret."
"He was being dragged into the fucking shadow! Tried to help the poor bastard but I couldn't! It was like playin' tug-o-war with a fuckin' weapon!" Everyone was silent. Yuffie, despite the critical situation, tired to picture cid playing tug-o-war with Ruby weapon and flung all the way to Wutai after a single tug. She shook her head wildly to be free of the ridiculous thought." I know it sounds like a bunch of made up bull shit but that's what happened!"
"Yuffie and I also have information we need to share." Vincent cut in. In all honesty, that just reminded Yuffie why they were looking for the others in the first place. She nodded quickly.
"Yeah! We found out why all the townspeople just disappeared into thin air!" The small ninja added. "We weren't there to see it all but right when we got there one of the...thing just got him! The old man just faded away like a ghost! There was also this glowing heart above him that faded too! Then right when it was trying to get away Vinnie got 'im!" She glanced around at everyone. None said a word. "What are we going to do?"
Cloud was silent. 'Think Cloud THINK!' being the leader was hell especially at times like this. They had no leads whatsoever as to where to go or what to do! None of them even knew who attacked them or WHY they did. A loud cry brought him out of his thinking. His heart not only skipped a beat, but also jumped into overtime as he spun around. "TIFA!" It was just as Cid had described the disappearance of Barret. He tried to run to her only to notice he couldn't move as well.
The ground was nothing more than a dark, endless void now. The black and dark purple Swirls of smoke wrapped around the remaining members of avalanche, pulling them down. All of them struggled to break free from the hold but everything proved to be a futile attempt.
"GAWD! Yuffie Materia Hunter really IS going to be the last chapter of Materia Forever!" This couldn't be happening! Everything she's worked for! Wutai, her friends, The PLANET for the love of GOD! They save the planet and the planet repays them with-with THIS!? Tears rolled down her cheeks she didn't care if they saw her cry now it didn't matter they were going to die anyway so why not!? However, in the back of her mind she heard HER.
....Don't give up! Keep hope in your hearts! You can do this just don't give up!....
"Aeris...!?" time seemed to stop at that moment and before her was the Cetra flower girl. Her emerald green eyes shone with pure determination, she had to help them! She clasped her hands together as if to pray. Feathers of pure white light were scattered in the air as if ,they too, were frozen in time. Not more than a few seconds later did they form wings behind the Cetra. The final feather was in place and a great light shone brilliantly. Yuffie felt herself being let go, as did the others.
The light diminished, and there was Aeris. Cloud looked on with disbelief, it was really her, wasn't it? Or were they dead? But after that second of thought a jolt of worry shot through his heart. "Tifa? Tifa!?" He was freed and she had to also right? Spinning around, he saw no sign of his fiancé. He looked in Aeris' direction. "Aeris?" The angel bowed her head, looking at the ground sadly. "No..." tears stung his eyes. 'Tifa...I just realized how much I love you but it's too late...It's too damn late now...' "Damn it! Tifa she couldn't have!" With that last word he slammed his fist into the ground.
"...Cloud...I'm sorry I couldn't save her...." Aeris bit her lip, she felt guilty. If she was able to come sooner than she would still be here. The planet's threat, whoever he was, keep Sephiroth and herself busy for sometime, she could still remember the battle.
~
Sephiroth's skills were no match for the white haired man. NO matter what blow was given a ghost, no more like a demon would shield him then counter. The Silver haired warrior didn't allow Aeris to get to close in the battle, no matter how much more horrible the fight became ,only letting her cast spells when she could. Finally, the demon merged with Sephiroth, causing him to double over in pain. And whenever he was within striking distance he was unable to move. She rushed over to help him but he called to her. "Aerith NO! Stay back!" he screamed as the demon attacked from within him. "Leave and help the others!"
It was then she froze. Could she? The others were having a great deal of trouble and she knew that the people outside of the lifestream were suffering, her friends included. But Sephiroth! he needed help! Needed HER help! Another cry of pain was heard Sephiroth's voice, strained completely yelled "Aerith NOW!" Her eyes filmed over with tears as she watched the scene of him collapsing on the ground. He brought himself on his elbows, his rapid breathing was no added sign of comfort to Aerith.
The former flower merchant tore her eyes away from the sight and ran. Looking for the lighted path, the literal door way to the land of the living, leading to Mideel. She had gotten only a few strides in before the man appeared before her. Startled she fell backwards. Hatred entered her eyes when she saw the man laughing, how DARE he! She got up her Princess guard in her hands as she stood ready to fight. She knew she had no chance in winning this battle but she had to-just HAD to try! The man's laugh became louder as he saw her pathetic attempt to stop him; his shadow demon partner came to his side joining in.
"You have no chance of winning, and you know it, yet you STILL want to fight?" His grin could be seen behind the hood he wore. "Let's get this over quickly." Not a second later did the monster wait to strike her down. Brought up her staff in hopes of defecting the demon's blow closing her eyes tightly at the last second.
*Clang!*
She managed to deflect it sounded like to her but she didn't feel a thing. Opening her eyes she saw the one winged angel there, "Sephiroth!? b- but- how did-"
"Aerith that's not important now just hurry before nothing's left!" She put up no argument and didn't dare hesitate this time. "Aerith!" she stopped Turing to him. He and his opponent had their eyes locked, waiting for the other to move. "I won't be able to meet up with you after this is over! But I'll find you! Wait for me! Promise me you will!" He made the could-be-fatal error by turning so he could look into HER eyes. He didn't care if he were to be shredded to bits he just wanted to see her for the last time in a long time.
"I will!" She went into a full sprint. 'I Promise Sephiroth! I'll wait for you to come back!' Deep in her heart she knew he'd come back for her, he was going to come back alive! All she needed to do was focus on saving her friends. 'I'll be there as fast as I can! Hold on!'
~
"v-Vinnie..?" Yuffie's Voice was weak her eyes were wide her cheeks still had tears rolling down them. She wasn't moving a muscle standing in a daze. "V-Vinnie-Vampire-boy?" She used the horrid nickname in hopes he'd just fall from the sky, or walk out of the shadows, or even unbury himself out of the ground just to have him say for the millionth time "Yuffie I'm not a vampire, and please call me Vincent". She sniveled a bit. "You can't...You just CAN'T!" She unintentionally gained the attention of the remaining AVALANCHE members, she didn't even notice one bit, not ONE LITTLE BIT. "Vincent...Why'd you have to leave? Besides Tifa, you were the only one left that actually asked me if I was okay, or where I was going or why I was doing something. You and Tifa were the only ones left to actually give a damn about me." Aeris walked forward and embraced the sobbing thief allowing her a shoulder to cry on. "Aeris why? Why did he have to leave me all alone? And why did Tifa have to go too?"
"Shhh.Yuffie it'll be okay. I promise everything will be okay." patting the younger girls back to comfort her in anyway she could. Aeris could tell now that all that was left of the once proud Terrorist organization AVALANCHE was now just a broken shadow of it's former self. Cloud was going through denial and Yuffie didn't get too far past that. They were in no condition to be fighting.
Cid stood in the back, of course he couldn't stand losing them just like that but he couldn't help but think that Shera could of- 'No damn it! She'll make it through this she's gotta! And damn it I will too!' Looking up at the red, purple and black void in the sky with nothing short of loathing, he noticed something a shadow loomed over the small town just as big as a weapon, maybe even bigger made it's way to them. The pilot's mouth hung open causing the cigarette that always seemed to stay fall right out. "MOTHER FUCKER!!!"
Cid's outburst startled his emotionally distressed teammates so much so that Yuffie had nearly stopped crying and Cloud's came back from his world of doubt about his stolen wife-to-be. Yuffie pushed away from her friend looking up to see her also staring at whatever Cid was. She turned her head as best she could taking a short glance at it. She too found herself the same way, but no not this time! She worked her way out of Aeris' arms, picking up her shuriken, thankful that it wasn't lost like her friends.
Cloud once again unsheathed the Ultima Weapon. It was no longer growing the same it had been before. It had dimmed and had a soft violet glow now, meaning he's been injured quiet a bit before this time, or the physical exhaustion of trying to escape earlier. Either way, he wasn't in the greatest shape in his life. He grabbed a vial from his pocket, biting off the cork and spitting it on the ground he drank the purple liquid. Once emptied, he threw it hard to the ground making the glass break on impact. The Ultima Weapon, and Cloud, were now again battle ready. It was by that time did their adversary get close enough for the battle to ensue.
A fire emitted from Yuffie as she stepped forward she brought her shuriken in front of her as a large ball of energy came from her. It was almost as big as the evil being itself before she let it shoot forward "ALL CREATION!" The beam of light shot through and hit the monster dead on. The light diminished showing that he was still up and running. There was no look of surprise on her face, a scowl crossed it as she threw the conformer, slashing at it's arm twice before returning.
Cloud bent his arms so his sword in front of his face before pointing it forward. Nothing, It didn't have a name, a level of strength, or even how much damage has been caused or how much was needed to kill this thing! He slashed at where the creature's legs should be but no serious damage had been done. 'What!?' he tried again a second time and the thing still didn't even flinch.
A dark hand fell, crushing the water tower and a dark portal, similar to the one that tried to consume Cloud and the others, appeared. More of the shadow creatures that they were fighting crawled from it but didn't get far when Cid stabbed and slashed which ever ones were stupid enough, meaning all of them , to try escape. His spear, Venus Gospel, easily dispatched the twitchy imps before doing his own limit break, High Jump, on their bigger enemy's wrist. Though the desired effect was a screech of pain, it proved effective. He found a weak point. "Hit it's wrists!" He hollered. Yuffie and Cloud were way ahead of him though.
"Cid! Take care of the smaller ones when they come in the meantime help me attack! Yuffie since you have a long ranged weapon Get 'em when we can't. Aeris..." he's voice softened...He never thought he'd be able to order her to do something again. Not that he liked to bother her, mind you. "you have materia?"
"No, I don't", she never needed it in the lifestream to cast magic but now it was necessary. He removed a few from his sword and another from his armor. Heal, Full Cure, barrier, Fire, Ice lightning, all, and BahamutZERO. He tossed the five green orbs and the red one to her; she equipped them as soon as she received them.
"Back us up and when you're tired use Turbo Ether! And Aeris..." he paused for a second "be careful, it's good to see you again." She nodded as he went to aide Yuffie and Cid. 'It is good to be back but...No I have to worry about you guys first!' She cast fire three, then Ice 3 and Lightning 3 in the same order repeatedly until someone needed to be healed. She understood the fact that Cloud didn't want her to die again but she didn't want to feel like she should always be protected! However, reasoning with his thoughts and her own, she decided it might be best if she were just the healer and spell caster...again.
The monster bent backwards and a large ball of energy floated gently into the air finding a target, The beast shot 2 more, following the same behavior as the first before picking out theirs. Cloud, Cid and Yuffie were all struck one after the other with the attack all of them to the point of getting knocked out. Aeris saw her friends as they all fell, it was right then did limit break, though a minor limit break, it would help greatly. Twirling her staff until it got in one hand a pale blue and white breeze surrounded the injured party members. After which she combined the all and barrier materia, casting Wall on all of them.
"You've just about taken everything from me..."Cloud whispered hoarsely as he staggered to his feet, just now feeling the affects of Aeris' cure."My town, my friends, my fiancé..." The Ultima weapon again began glowing brightly. "I hate you...I'll never forgive whoever's behind this..." Fire rippled from his body as he gripped his prized sword tighter. 'Tifa...for you...I'll find whoever did this and kill them!' "OMNISLASH!!!!!!!!!"
Cid and Yuffie stopped as they heard the blonde leader's loud cry and watched as he slashed, dashed, and thrashed at the giant shadow, not giving a damn if his weak point was his wrists but taking a hit at any place he could. They've seen Omnislash many times...But this...THIS wasn't just an ordinary limit break. It was almost as violently and was fueled with as much hatred, if not more, when he used it against Sephiroth's One-Winged Angel form. Finally, the grand finale. Cloud leaped higher then he ever have coming to the very top of it's head. The Ultima Weapon was pulled back over Cloud's head as the swordsman charged up in mid air for the last blow. 'Tifa...' He closed his eyes as brief pictures of her passed through his mind.
'Cloud! What are you doing!?' When they first met.
'Cloud I'm so glad you're back! I missed you!' After she had found him.
'Cloud You DO remember your promise right?' When he was about to leave the 7th Heaven.
'Cloud, I though I heard you calling my name.' By the Northern Crater, the day before fighting Sephiroth.
'Cloud I love you so much.' After proposing to her..
'Cloud!'
'Cloud!?'
'Cloud...'
He heard her voice echoed in his mind in a split second and his mental images of her shattered completely. He would never see her again...and it was this things fault..."ARRGHHHHAAAAA!!!!!!!" He brought down the weapon almost literally slicing the evil, shadowed being in half. He began breathing heavily as soon as he hit the ground. He was so tired now....then for him everything went black.
"Cloud!" Yuffie called out to him but no response followed. Cid and Yuffie ran after him as their earlier crazed leader fell to his knees before hitting the dirt all together. Aeris soon joined them. Cid gave Cloud a quick look over before telling the two girls that he was just unconscious. With that he Pulled cloud's arm over his should picking him up. They heard a cracking sound as the looked up to see their foe crumble and actually turn into dust. It' was dead but now, a bigger problem followed.
As soon as the last bit of that horrible monster was reduced to nothing, a creaking noise followed they turned to find that it wasn't just coming from one of the houses, but all of them! A rooftop was torn apart, the sound of wood snapping and the roof and what would have been debris was sucked up into the sky into the void. Everyone saw what had happened...and everyone knew what could happen next as more and more things were being vacuumed into the mass of black and purple. It was Cid, however, and Cid alone that said something "Oh...fuck..." it was just then that when they felt themselves being pulled up by the same force that was pulling everything else in. The AVALANCHE team was lifted up into the air before grabbing onto anything they could.
Cid was holding onto cloud with one hand and his other gripped on a fence post. Fuck the Venus Gospel! He dropped it after witnessing the flying rooftops and now it was by now in some unknown dimension. Aerith and Yuffie managed to grab onto the old Shinra Mansion gate, though both knew the rusty hinges could give way any second now.
Try as they might, all of their attempts were just wasted energy once the wooden fence post snapped right in half and the gate broke right off. All of them, with the exception of their knocked out leader, cried out as they ascended into the dark sphere.
~~~
"Mmmmph..."Yuffie stirred slightly she opened her eyes Slowly, her vision was blurry "hmmm?" She shot right up rubbing her eyes with her fists. "I'm...ALIVE!?" she noticed that she wasn't in empty space doomed to float all eternity alone but was lying down in a bed. A very soft comfy one at that! It was then did it click that she was all alone. "Aeris!?" no answer Cid!? "No answer "Cloud!?" no answer. Tears stung her eyes, 'maybe they didn't make it...maybe they-NO they didn't I'm not going believe that!'
She struggled to get out from under the sheets, really only tangling herself more in the process. "Awww screw it!" she climbed out of bed, still wrapped up in the blankets, freed only when they slid of her small frame. Running to the door she opened it and slammed into it..."Wha-??" she groaned as she rubbed her lower back "I just opened the damn thing!" She looked at the door she supposedly opened to find that it WAS indeed opened. And there, across the door's threshold, was a man, also on the ground in the same fashion she happened to be. "Oh GAWD!" she feigned worry as she chucked inside 'Nyk nyk nyk let's see if I'm rusty...' "are you okay?" she brushed off his black leather coat as he attempted to stand.
"I'm fine." his voice said coldly, straitening his jacket himself. She noticed how much taller he was and took a few steps back so as not to feel dwarfed to his height. She looked him up and down, he didn't look like one to mess with and it probably wasn't such a good idea to think he would be easy pickings.
"S-sorry! I was just looking for my friends and well" Something clicked in Yuffie...Why'd she have to tell him anyway! "Who're YOU!?" The man brushed a few strands of his brown hair away, his cold colored eyes seemed to be even colder, if possible that is, then-then HIS were before.
"Squall." again his voice was just as cold as just a second ago.
'Sheesh, you think the guy would let up a little! It was an accident! And I DID say sorry!' she looked around the long hallways. "Where are my friends?" Could it be possible that they where sent here too? Barret, Red XIII, Reeve, Cid Tifa Cloud Aeris...Vincent! "C'mon! tell me or I'll-"
"You'll what?" he said, Yuffie swallowed her words before something bad might happened so scowled for a substitute.
"Just Tell me!"
"Fine," he brushed past the angry thief walking down the corridor down to the one next to the one Yuffie stayed in he stopped "The one in pink"
"Aeris!" She cried happily! There really was hope! Squall simply shrugged and walked over to the one across from Aeris' room
"The one with the spiky hair"
"Cloud!" she wore her trademark grin as Squall went to the next door.
"the one with the scruffy looking clothes and goggles"
"CID!" she was hopping up and down and giggling madly as she waited for him to go to the next door. She slowed after a few seconds noticing that he wasn't moving anymore "Heh...well?"
"Well what?"
"WHERE'S THE REST OF THEM!???" Yuffie's hopeful mood made a full 180 turn. Fear struck her ' don't say-'
"They're the only ones I found..."
______________________Prologue End_________________________________________________________________________ _________________
O_O WOW finally I'm done! Phew I hope you don't expect anything bigger than this chapter! ___ this chapter was just to show those who never played FF7 or never got far in it a little background info on them. Mainly Vincent and Sephiroth since you only fight Sephiroth in the Coliseum and Vincent wasn't in KH at ALL! Also, I never really liked how they just said they all came from Hallow Bastion. And yean I know my fight scenes suck just don't rub it in ;_; speaking of which.ever find it weird that you could only hit that whatever it is wrists when fighting him? Yeah so I used that _ Whaddya think? V/Y or L(S)/Y? Well don't worry I'll choose for you Muahahahahhahaha! *needs to stop being hyper*
I also want to say that I probably wound NEVER EVER written this out of laziness and would have continued making one shot's but This fic was requested and I'm not one to break a promise. Though yeah it DID take forever _ it was hard...!
Now! To avoid the big scary men in suits that come to take away my pennies and dimes and my FF7 disks, I own absolutely nothing...zip...nadda...and whatever means nothing...
as always...e-mail me at Yuffievinnievalentine@hotmail.com for questions, comments, suggestions or whatever you don't want other people to see when they read my reviews, please feel free to e-mail me. It's not like I have a lot anyway!