Disclaimer: All characters, and locations that appear in any of the Final Fantasy games, belong to Square-Enix.

Chapter Two: Ceremony of Remembrance

With one gentle wave of Necron's hand, a vast podium and a single royal table appeared. Each piece of furniture was plated gold, and was encrusted with otherworld jewels that shimmered in the faint light of the Zero World. In front of each golden chair, on the table, sat a candle. With one flick of Necron's hand, each candle was sent ablaze. A bluish flame danced upon the melting wax.
As each was seated, Barret was the only one who stood. He still held the fiend abroad his shoulders. Once more Necron moved his hand, only slightly, and the fiend's weight was lifted from Barret's shoulders. The fiend's cold black eyes stared back at Necron. Almost immediately the fiend burst into a semi-transparent blue flame. In seconds the fiend was devoured and exploded into particles of energy that Necron absorbed.

"Now I believe, the sword should be summoned forth." Necron suggested.

Cloud hesitated before he spoke.

"Um, Necron?" asked Cloud.
"What is it?" replied Necron, sounding agitated.
"No offense or anything, but the sword you speak of, is it Masamune?" questioned Cloud.
"Why, yes it is, may I ask why?"
"Masamune is nothing more than an ordinary piece of stone now. It was petrified when Sephiroth died. Right after Havoc and him fell into the Abyss." Cloud stated.
"Nonsense! Even if that were true, would the sword be here today?"
"What are you talking about, you're crazy!" Cloud shouted.
"Am I?" replied Necron.

Necron shifted his gaze from Cloud to his side. Immediately the clouds began to shift and rumble. Eventually the clouds dissipated and moved aside to allow the entry of some foreign object. Rising from the hole in the clouds was the sword, Masamune. It was perfectly preserved and was still stone.

"How did you do that?" Cloud interrogated, "That sword was set in unmovable ground. The sword was buried to its hilt and when it became stone so did the ground around it. How are you able to move the sword that no one else could?"

Necron began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Ha! You still don't get it do you? I created Sephiroth, I created Masamune. It received its strength from me. It only became stone because Sephiroth moved onto the Zero World without it. But behold! The legendary sword that was once stone is now reverting to its natural state."

What Necron said was true; the sword was starting to replenish itself. First was the handle, then the hilt, both were now what they once were. Ivory and bronze, then slowly the blade began to crack and then it shattered. The dust from the stone fell into the clouds making them look gray, and the blade shone in the light of the Zero World.
What Necron did next was even more surprising. He threw the sword directly between the Sixth, and Seventh Divine Paths. To everyone's shock, the blade pierced what seemed to be nothing but air. Slowly a rip formed and a little light shone forth from the slit. Then the rip began to rip northward and southward, until a brand new threshold formed.
The light from the newly opened Divine Path engulfed the sword and it disappeared. Then the threshold collapsed and the sword and the path were gone.

"What the hell was that? Tell me!" demanded Cid.
Necron answered, "That was the Spirit Path, and it leads to the Living world."
"Why would you send Masamune to the Living world?" asked Cloud.
"That's not important, I have other matters to discuss with you guys." replied Necron.
"Trying to put it behind you huh? But you're moving forward, you will only create more past to cover up. I think he's hiding something." Vincent accused.

Hastily, Necron threw his arms outward to each side and four vortexes formed and two vortexes formed in front of him. Rising up from the clouds, through the vortexes created by Necron, were the allies' weapons. They had parted with the weapons when they each died. To Necron's left rose two weapons, the Venus Gospel and the Diamond Shatter.
Cid and Barret slowly walked to their own weapon making sure it wasn't a mirage or something. Cid picked up the magnificently crafted Venus Gospel, its red mahogany staff gleamed with its red oak stain. The blade was polished and its battle scars were no longer visible. The sharp spear on the other end was encrusted with only one jewel, the Venus Flame. A beautiful red gem, which in the proper lighting flared with the intensity of fire.
Barret, on the other hand, detached his Missing Score from his arm and allowed it to fall helplessly to the cloudy floor. Hesitantly, he re- attached the Diamond Shatter. Finally to check if it worked properly he requested that Necron revived the same Lupine pup he had killed. Necron fulfilled this request and Barret armed his Diamond Shatter.
Barret found himself starring into the same black eyes as before. He glanced at the Diamond Shatter one final time. It was encrusted with the same diamonds as always, the Gatling tip on the end gleamed with a new gloss. Barret clipped the magazine into the chamber, and fired the diamond bullets. A maelstrom of diamonds flew at the Lupine pup, and before it could even move it was struck by the diamonds.
Protruding from each bullet wound was a bluish smoke, then the Lupine burst into the same blue flame as before. Necron happily absorbed even more energy once the fiend was completely converted to energy.

"Satisfied?"
"Thank you Necron." replied Barret and Cid together.

Rising forth from the next two vortexes were the Tekketsu and the StealthEdge. Yuffie, of course, came running as fast as she could in order to take back her beloved StealthEdge. The StealthEdge was a shadowy grey and was roughly cut around the blade. Sliding her hand into the center of the weapon her StealthBracer aligned perfectly with the weapon. Making both her arm, and the StealthEdge weapons.
Tifa quickly removed her Dragon Gloves and slid the Tekketsu into place. Each Tekketsu were forged of gold and metal. Both of the gloves had the talons of a dragon mounted on them. Making the Tekketsu an excellent defense against other weapons and an impressive offense. The talons were sharpened to the point, sharper than Diamond Weapon's, making them lethal.

"Satisfied?"
"Yes!" replied Yuffie.
"Absolutely not!" exclaimed Tifa.
"What?"
"Not until you tell me the reason you're giving us our weapons."
"Fine!" yelled Necron, "a new evil is forming on the Planet. The sword SoulPain has been taken from my possession and was sent to the Living world. I don't know who is responsible but I can send one of you six people to the Living world. I gave your weapons back in case one of you decides to go back to the living."
"Thank you." replied Tifa, sounding as innocent as can be.

As Yuffie and Tifa walked away seemingly happy, the final two weapons emerged from deep within the black vortexes. First rose the ever lustrous Death Penalty, always looking for more kills to power its strength. Next was the Ultima Weapon, first emerging was the handle. Wrapped in blood red leather, and decorated with several tassels. Then the double edged blade shot forth from the vortex.
Watching as his sword fell from the sky, Cloud ran toward the sword and jumped into the air and caught it. Once he landed he performed the 'Omnislash' technique, it thrilled him at the immense power radiating from the sword's core. It was no mirage; this was the same sword that defeated Sephiroth, and the same sword that he battled with until his own demise.
Vincent, on the other hand, never took a step toward the Death Penalty. It could be seen that he was struggling with inner demons, and his past. He wasn't sure whether to take up the weapon once more or to move on and forget about his past. Slowly, Vincent began to walk toward Death Penalty.

"Just pick up the weapon Vince!" yelled Yuffie.

Vincent picked up the weapon and aimed it at Yuffie's heart.

"Vincent! What are you doing?" cried Yuffie.
"This should improve the odds of sending me back, besides she's been getting on my nerves lately." thought Vincent, as he pulled the trigger of Death Penalty.

A puff of black smoke resonated from within Death Penalty's ancient barrel, as it shot forth the single bullet aimed at Yuffie's heart. Vincent was the only one that seemed to watch, in slow motion, the bullet slice through the thick soul filled air of the Zero world. Everyone jumped at the sound of the gunshot, but Yuffie was the only one who began to get goose bumps. Slowly, she looked down at her heart. There was a single gun wound, and no blood spewed forth.
Yuffie glanced up at her attacker, Vincent, and then her vision began to blur and darken. StealthEdge de-located itself from the StealthBracer as Yuffie let go of the weapon. It was the first to fall onto the clouds, with a clink. Next she fell to her knees starring blankly at Vincent, and then a blue stream began to escape from her wound.
Vincent on the other hand, was going through his own torment at the same time. Though he did not look it he was seeing not the scene of Yuffie's death, but the scenes of all his death deals, and those he killed with the weapon. The souls of the dead he killed seemed to surround him all at once, knowing that it was only a mirage; it still felt so real to Vincent. They began to gasp, and their rasp voices echoed inside his mind.

"Death Dealer, our destroyer, our revenge and anger are not in vain. You will soon get what is truly yours to receive. Next time you may not be so lucky to receive your body back." whispered the souls of the dead.

Vincent blinked and the souls were gone, but he had a mind splitting headache. Yuffie on the other hand, had a more serious condition, she was dead. Finally, her body fell completely to the clouds and a semi- transparent blue flame engulfed her body. Necron simply jumped at the opportunity to gain more energy and converted Yuffie's body to energy, which he absorbed.

"Unless anyone else wants to die again today, I suggest you discuss who is going back to the Living world." suggested Vincent.