Author's quickie: Here it is! The fourth chapter in what is most likely going to be a long series. Yikes. Oh, and I'm really, really sorry, but I'm afraid Cloud won't be coming in these next two chapters after all. I've decided to develop Aerith's relationship with Leon a bit more until he finally -bang!- does appear. Maybe the next three chapters, tops!

Disclaimer: You can stop sending me legal papers intending to sue for ownership, because I do not own any segment of what rightfully belongs to Squaresoft.

Project: Trinity

Chapter Four: You see me not.

For a moment, Aerith refused to believe him. Just a sick joke, that's all, she told

herself with a fake laugh. But when she looked closer at Leon and saw a muscle in his jaw twitching erratically, and that his eyes looked a little too red to be normal, she knew. It was all true. Leon would never lie about something like that. Aerith stifled a horrified gasp as the implications hit her.

"Leon," she asked urgently, "what about...?"

"Yuffie and Cid are in District One, trying to get all civilians to another world. They're waiting for us." With that said, he stopped waiting for the Heartless to attack and charged. A furious lunge sliced through some of the Shadows, and when a Heartless clung to his leg, he punched it into the wall, where it dissipated into dust.

"Leon, look out!" she cried out as a Darkball pounced at him, its fanged mouth aiming for his head. Aerith shot out a hand and instantly an icicle of ice hurtled at the monster. It plopped down at her feet, the frozen body separating into icy shards.

Leon twisted around to give her a short glance before he plunged his gunblade into the last Shadow. Grunting, he heaved his weapon over his shoulder and ran back over to where she stood.

"They're getting stronger," Aerith said as she eyed the broken remains of the Darkball.

Leon crunched the shards under his boot without a word. His face was flushed, his breathing irregular. "We have to go."

Aerith nodded silently. "Leon, what about our home...?" Though it wasn't truly a "home", the house they had in Traverse Town was as close as it could get.

The look he gave her was at once understanding and sarcastic. "We have no time. Leave it." He glanced at her, who was still leaning against the wall for support. "Can you walk?"

"Uh...I don't know." Perhaps it's better now...she thought hopefully. Gingerly she straightened her legs and tried to make it hold her body weight. When her legs began to wobble unsteadily, she quickly held onto the wall again. "No," she grimaced, "I don't think so."

"Here." Leon held out his hand, which she took after some hesitation. When he slipped his hand under her arm and placed his hand on her waist, propping her to a standing position, Aerith nearly jolted with surprise. He's just trying to help, she told herself, calming the anxiety in her stomach. Awkwardly she looped her other arm over his shoulder. Leon looked at her with an uncharacteristic bit of nervousness. "Is this alright? Can you walk better now?"

She nodded, a bit of heat rising up her neck. "Thank you."

He gave her one of his sardonic grins. "For what?" He looked out at the streets looming before them. "We have to hurry."

She lapsed into silence as they started walking. "Aerith...?" Leon muttered.

"Hmm...?" she said, her eyes a little out of focus.

"Thanks."

He could've sworn she was grinning.

* * *

"What's taking them so long?!" Yuffie cried in frustration as she shot off another ninja star. The Darkball she barely nicked bared its fangs and hissed at her when she jumped off to another rooftop.

"They're grouping together to attack!" Cid shouted out hoarsely, using his spear as a bat to smash barrels into the Heartless. Yuffie grunted as she landed not too softly next to him, and held out her shuriken to attack the first Heartless that came at her.

"This is great," Yuffie moaned. "I was hoping to reach my seventeenth birthday before I died, but I guess that's not happening."

Cid managed a credible snort. "Yeah? Maybe if you ask the Heartless nicely, they'll let you live."

"Oh, yeah, well, we're not all lucky enough to reach sixty like you!" Yuffie snapped.

"What the hell do you mean SIXTY?! You little brat!" Yuffie yelped and narrowly missed being skewered on his spear like a shish kabob.

"HEY! Watch it!" she yelled, swinging her shuriken at him threateningly.

The Heartless, taking advantage of the momentary disorder among the two, rushed forward in a charge. Yuffie, noticing the swarm of black creatures running towards them, shouted in alarm and hurled her weapon at them. It struck one down and another on its way back, but the Heartless seemed indifferent to the small decrease in their numbers.

"Shit!" breathed Cid. "They're popping out of the ground like locusts!" Yuffie watched them with mutual disgust, backing away slowly from the oncoming slaughter. Her back hit the rough edge of a wall, and she tried inconspicuously not to panic.

"Dead end." Yuffie said hollowly.

Cid chuckled nervously and propped the spear in his hands. "Well, it's all or nothing, I suppose. Ready?" Yuffie, who looked more than slightly sick, nodded silently and crouched down for the inevitable battle.

Out of nowhere an armored monster materialized from the ground and lunged forward. "Watch out!" Cid yelled as the Heartless came closer, raising its claw to strike at the nearest human, which happened to be Yuffie.

"GRAVIJA!" A human voice cut through the roar of the Heartless, and Yuffie managed to open one eye in time to see the Wyvern become flattened like a moldy pancake with the weight of the magic spell.

It was a voice that sounded suspiciously like... "Aerith?" Yuffie called out hopefully, straightening up.

"Bingo!" The voice answered her, its owner appearing from the corner of the street. It was unmistakably Aerith, although she looked a little tired and a few blood stains were crusted on her dress, including a long gash that ran across the length of her cheek. And the person who accompanied her had to be...

"Leon!" Cid said, running up to them. "It's about time you guys arrived. Ninja brat here was about to get a good kick in the ass if she wouldn't quit whining."

"Shut up," Yuffie retorted. She turned to Aerith, grasping her hand tightly. "What happened?" she asked breathlessly. "Your face...all this blood..." Yuffie glanced at the hand that was resting across Aerith's waist lightly. A crafty smile flitted through Yuffie's face. "Leon found you in time, didn't he?"

A fiery red blush spread its way up Aerith's neck, and she was sure that Leon was flushing heavily, too. She had forgotten that the warm touch of his hand was still there; it seemed normal, after a while. Quickly Leon took his hand away from her waist and stared at the ground in sudden embarrassment.

Cid rolled his eyes at the younger people and said gruffly, "Enough of that. The Heartless are still here, if you guys have forgotten." This announcement drew all of their gazes back to the black shadows slinking about, who were peering at the four humans covertly with their luminous bug eyes.

"There's more than I thought..." Aerith trailed off. What will happen to this world? Will it disappear, too? Like Hollow Bastion... The thought made her sick, and unknowingly her hand tightened into a fist. How many more people will die...?

"And there's more coming. If we're gonna leave, we better do it soon. Before we get overwhelmed." Cid waved a hand at the dead end behind them. "I've stowed the Highwind there, and me and Yuffie made sure we got everyone inside. From District One, anyway."

"You mean, the people who live outside of District One are...?" Aerith said disbelievingly.

Cid shook his head and let out a long sigh. "Any that didn't make it to District One are probably dead."

"But-" Aerith argued, horror-stricken, "but you can't be certain that there aren't any survivors! We can't leave them here!" She turned back, ready to run to the doors blocking District Two.

Leon grabbed her arm gently but firmly, leaning close to murmur, "Aerith. It's too late. If we don't get off now, then none of us are leaving. There has to be some sacrifices in life, no matter how painful they may be."

The tone he used left no room for argument, but Aerith looked at him incredulously. "How can you give up on them? Have you forgotten what had happened before?!" Roughly she jerked her arm from his grip and walked a few steps away, trying to control herself.

The color in Leon's face immediately drained away as she said those words. It was a low blow, and everyone knew it. I...didn't have a chance...I never wanted Hollow Bastion to fall... His hands balled up into angry fists and a feeling of inferiority washed over him.

Yuffie shot Leon an uneasy look and walked to Aerith, trying to console her. "I'm pretty sure that we got everyone, Aerith. It'll be alright," Yuffie said rather unconvincingly.

Aerith shuddered in response, but remained silent. She didn't trust herself to speak.

Leon, who had regained a bit of his thought process, ran a hand through his hair and said monotonously, "We have to go. Now." Cid and Yuffie sent worried glances at Aerith, who stared at Leon impassively. She walked towards where the ship was parked without a word, ignoring Leon's half-desperate, half-furious look.

He sighed and began running to catch up with her, motioning for the others to follow. "Cid," Leon whispered quickly as they ran, "Is the ship prepped and ready to launch?"

"Yes. One-hundred percent," Cid answered without a trace of doubt in his voice.

"Good. Get ready to lift off as soon as we get on," Leon ordered, swinging out his gunblade.

"No problem." Cid ran ahead of them and was the first to reach the ship, smacking a button panel on the outside of the ship to slid open the door. He hoisted himself up and disappeared from sight, presumably to enter the cockpit.

"Yuffie." At the sound of her name, she ran up to Leon and waited for him to explain her job. "I want you to get on the ship and check that all the survivors are safe. When we start to leave, the Heartless won't let us go that easily."

Yuffie eyed the gunblade in his hand. "You're going to fight," she stated, getting the gist of his dialogue.

Leon nodded. They were almost next to the gummi ship by now, with Aerith a little bit ahead of them. Quickly he threw a look behind him and saw the Heartless in fast pursuit of their prey. "When you get on, stay on. And...make sure Aerith is safe."

Yuffie nodded silently, bowing her head ever so slightly in acknowledgment. "We'll all get out safe, Leon. I know it." She turned and ran to catch up with Aerith, laying a hand on her shoulder as they walked side-by-side.

He watched them silently; Aerith was no doubt still cold to him after their heady disagreement, and he felt himself wish, a little bit unconsciously, that there might be a chance he would really would get out of here alive; so that he could tell her someday, "I'm sorry."

And he would mean it.

* * *

Ending notes: Thanks to all the 36 reviewers out there! Including repeat ones! As my gift to repeat reviewers(meaning at least two reviews), I currently have an AU Aerith-Leon-Cloud (another one, but much more mature/darker!) for you all! If you are one of the reviewers listed below, drop a review with your e-mail, and I'll e-mail you with the first chapter as soon as I get your review! Or, if you want, e-mail me instead of a review and I'll send it to you that way. My e-mail is: Butterscotchpup@aol.com [I'll be updating this list soon!]

Jenruki-gal4ever (Jenruki fan, huh? Well, I guess we differ somewhat...but that's ok!)

TheDancingCow

Snowri Leonhart

Mala Chi Xing

Aerith

Little Kaori solo Yuy-Maxwell

bass clef

Ghost