Author's Quickie: Okay! Another long hiatus before I finally posted! I hope this one's as good as the others! Some answers need to be revealed, and I decided to add another chapter, so there will be two more chapters after this one. No spoilers for you! Enjoy!

Oh, and a great, big, THANK YOU! to all reviewers. I hit the 200 mark! Whoo-hoo!

Project: Trinity

Chapter Eleven

Cloud was making every effort to keep his gaze steady and unwavering as he looked upon the existence of a man who had haunted him for years, but his hands were clenching and unclenching into fists erratically. So here he was! Cloud thought bitterly, detesting the all-too smug expression upon Sephiroth's pale face. No matter where I go, no matter how many times I kill him...!

"You haven't changed a bit," Cloud said fiercely, forcing the words out though they burned on his tongue. Sephiroth laughed easily, a harsh, chilling laugh that sent shivers down Leon's spine.

Slowly Sephiroth advanced, his heavy boots clanking on the debris that had been showered everywhere, until he was on eye- level with them. "Did you expect me to, Cloud?" he asked, evidently amused. "Do I still haunt your dreams?" Cloud jerked back, surprise written on his face at being read so clearly. Another laugh escaped Sephiroth's lips, and he reached out to touch Aerith's cold cheek. "Just like this one," he said, almost reverently. Although Aerith was still unconscious, bound by all the white threads, Leon could have sworn she flinched at his touch.

"Get-away-from-her," Cloud hissed, gritting his teeth together so that they made a grinding sound. "Touch her, and I'll kill you where you stand."

Sephiroth glanced up, grinning at the rage overtaking his adversary's composure. "Oh? Sensitive, I see. Too sensitive for your own good, Cloud; you should know by now that feelings are extraneous. Afraid I'll kill your precious love again? Afraid you'll have to watch her die in front of her eyes, like last time?" he taunted. Nevertheless he took his hand away, and lifted it up to gesture at the waiting monster behind him. "Do you really think you can defeat me, Cloud?" He chuckled darkly, daring him to answer. "I am stronger than you shall ever be."

"I defeated you last time," Cloud retorted, his voice icy. "And though I failed to kill you as I thought I had, I won't make the same mistake twice." Leon glanced over at him, his mind a jumble of random thoughts. So Cloud and the intimidating silver-haired guy he called Sephiroth knew each other; evidently they both knew Aerith. They're talking too much, Leon thought warily. And all the while, Aerith's blood is being drained.

"You had your friends then. Where are they now?" Sephiroth smiled cruelly, knowing he had hit a vein. "Dead, except for those two fools over there," he said, waving a hand at the unmoving bodies of Yuffie and Cid by the stands. "And I was careless; I won't be careless today." He flexed his fingers, emitting a greenish glow from the tips of them. "I have Griever at my command; and I have control over Heartless. They do not care one whit for Ansem, but for the power he wields. Mine is so much greater."

"You had this all planned out," Leon spoke, suddenly coming to a terrible conclusion. Sephiroth turned to face him, a wry grin plastered on his face. "You knew we were coming--you sent the Heartless after Traverse Town!" he accused, the heat rising into his face.

"Very good," Sephiroth acknowledged, baring his teeth in mockery. "But you're not exactly the brightest crayon in the box, now, are you?" he sneered. "It's too late now. The trap has been laid, and you have walked into it willingly."

"How could you?" Leon asked, disbelief etched into his pale face. Sephiroth merely regarded him with a faint smile, tilting his head ever so slightly to the right. "How could you destroy a whole world just for the sake of revenge?" It went against everything humanity stood for. How could he? Even though Sephiroth had exactly the same bottlegreen eyes as Aerith that seemed illuminated from the soul within, there was no gentle aura around them, no empathy. They were cold, colder than the Heartless' eyes. Was he...insane?

"It's no good preaching to him," Cloud snarled, a muscle in his jaw twitching. "The egotistical maniac is too far gone for that." Quickly he stooped to the ground and hefted up his sword. "The only way, now, is to fight." Fighting words. Yet that were all they were, to flush out the ice that was steadily encasing his blood. He was scared; he was scared that he would, possibly, fail Aerith again. Not once, or twice, but three times...

"I won't fail this time!" Cloud yelled, running up to where Sephiroth was waiting calmly, the blade of the sword gleaming in a silver arc. As he swung his sword at Sephiroth's neck, something painful bit into his shoulder and he stumbled. Thrown off balance, Cloud's gaze darted up and saw a large gash forming across his back. "How--" he said in disbelief, watching as Sephiroth landed neatly a few steps away, the edge of his Masamune covered with a fine layer of blood.

"Cloud!" Leon yelled as he ran towards them, having seen how fast Sephiroth had darted out of the way of his attack, "Cloud, he's too quick for you!" Suddenly awakened from his stupor, Griever slammed a massive paw down in front of Leon and he leapt back instinctively, gnashing his teeth together in frustration.

"This is not your fight," Sephiroth said lazily, waving a careless hand at Leon. "Since Griever is your mortal enemy, I've no doubt you shall be much more interested in your own battle than to meddle in ours." He turned back to face Cloud, who was staggering heavily to his feet. "Please, don't overdo it on the melodrama. It was only a scratch," Sephiroth observed, pressing a finger down on the Masamune's flexible blade.

Scratch, my ass! Cloud thought irritably, annoyed that Sephiroth had managed to dodge and inflict the first blow. Evidently Sephiroth hadn't been joking when he said he had gotten stronger; the sword had cut deep into his flesh, just centimeters away from slicing bone. His cloak had been half-torn off from that single attack. Rustling up his resolve, Cloud circled his enemy warily, noting the lack of concern on his face. "So you set us up. Clever."

"Wasn't it?" Sephiroth replied almost cheerfully, a smirk crossing his lips. "But you were always just a puppet, Cloud. Never forget that."

Sephiroth always knew exactly what to say to set him off. Cloud charged, ducking from the flames that burst out of the palm of Sephiroth's hand. Quickly Cloud brought up his sword, jabbing and thrusting at every moment where he could muster the strength. Blow-for-blow Sephiroth blocked, the Masamune twisting in his hand as he swung it wide. In a rapid series of strokes Cloud was sent onto the defensive, refusing to cave in even though he was steadily being pushed back simply from the force that went into Sephiroth's attack.

A short distance away, Leon was busily engaged in dodging his own troubles. His gunblade, which had never failed him of its own accord before, was almost useless in inflicting any sort of damage onto the massive form of Griever. "Damn you, stay still!" he yelled, rolling on the ground on his stomach as Griever made a swipe at him. Coughing from the dust that was filling his throat, he felt a throb pulsating beneath his shirt. Disconcerted, Leon drew a hand in and brought out his pendant, which was glowing an eerie green color. He could feel the cold silver throbbing in his palm. "What the hell?" he muttered, jumping away as Griever attacked again.

Grunting as he hit the sand, Leon watched the monster out of the corner of his eye while he tried to figure out why his pendant was behaving so weirdly. Come to think of it...how had Sephiroth known about Griever, anyway? He's not from my world...and neither did Aerith... He rose, scanning the empty arena for signs of Cloud and Sephiroth. He found them locked in a standoff, though Sephiroth looked as if he was gaining the upper hand.

"Give it up," Sephiroth sneered, pressing the Masamune dangerously close to Cloud's white neck, sparks flying off from where the Buster Sword was striving against it. "Give up now, and I'll let the girl die a quick death."

"Fuck off," Cloud spat, delivering a sharp kick to his midsection, breaking the weaponlock. They immediately jumped apart, circling each other guardedly.

"Fool!" jeered the silver-haired swordsman. "I have her life in my hands!" As if to prove his point, he reached out and tugged at an invisible string beside him. Wordlessly Leon watched as Aerith's eyes shot open in response, but there was nothing behind the lided glass eyes. Cloud cried out when he saw Aerith move ever so tentatively in the net of strings, but stopped as soon as he took a closer look.

Void. Her whole expression was void and blank, having no emotion at all. Her skin was pale, pale white, and she looked more alive when her eyes were closed. "Aerith? Aerith, answer me!"Cloud pleaded, trying to run to her. He stopped as the blade of Masamune as placed against his throat.

"Painful, isn't it? Cry all you want, but she won't awaken. But I prefer that you do cry; makes for lovely memories," Sephiroth said lazily, drawing the faintest hint of blood from Cloud's neck. "She is my puppet now, just as you are my puppet. There are things worse than death."

Broken, Cloud glanced at Aerith's blank stare. "Why?" he whispered softly, so softly even Sephiroth couldn't hear. "Why does everything happen when I want to see you the most?" The Aerith-shell gazed on, unblinking. "When I want to tell you what I've always wanted to say..."

"Sephiroth!" Leon yelled hoarsely, running towards them with the pendant clasped tightly in his hand. "Sephiroth, let her go! You--you coward!"

The pupils in Sephiroth's eyes contracted ever so slightly. "Name-calling is not particularly mature," he said dryly. "And you are of no consequence, in any case." He waved a hand, and Griever reared back on its haunches and let out an ear-splitting roar. With a howl, the monster lumbered after him.

"You are nothing but a coward!" Leon said fiercely. "You don't have enough power yourself, so you needed to tap into Aerith's magic to call out Griever. All the plans that you set up...if you were truly confident, you wouldn't have needed them! You're not powerful at all, you deluded egotist!"

Sephiroth's green eyes glittered malevolently in the thick silence. "I was thinking of letting you die by your own guardian's hands...however...it shall be much more of a pleasure ripping you apart limb by limb." He cast out a hand, and instantly icicles shot up from the floor, welding Leon's feet firmly in place.

Numbly Leon looked on as Cloud and Sephiroth renewed their battle, though Cloud was showing signs of weariness, in the half-hearted way he was blocking attacks. Despite what he had said, Leon knew that Sephiroth had so much more power than they did. It was just the way his blood had boiled at the way he referred to Aerith as a puppet... Wait. He said something about a guardian. Griever is my guardian? What does that mean? He glanced down, and the silver Griever pendant gleamed in the sunlight, an unearthly green. Then again, he remembered the jolt he had felt when Aerith had summoned Griever, as if something was being tugged out of his heart.

Griever...comes from me? Horrified, he dragged his gaze up, where the clang of striking metal rang in the echoing arena. Cloud was forced down onto his feet, nevertheless still straining against Sephiroth's more polished sword skills. Leon glanced at the sword still gripped tightly in his left hand, where the monster had been carved into the blade. Aerith had drawn Griever out from me...my guardian...

It was true; it was all too true.

Sacrifices. He would have to sacrifice, if any one of them were to come out alive from this battle. He had to save Aerith, and save her dream; whatever else, he would compromise. He had given up once before, when another beautiful, charismatic young girl had crossed his path; he would save Aerith, this time. Summoning up the last of his magic, he focused and nearly cried with joy as the fire flickered from his fingertips, weak, but still there. Casting off any further regrets, he aimed his hand downwards and sent the fire roaring along the ice, melting it quickly into harmless water. After a brief moment, he kicked out and the rest of the icicles shattered into tiny glass pieces.

Launching into a flat-out run, Leon saw with dismay why the last few minutes had been so quiet; Sephiroth had managed to hurtle Cloud's Buster Sword away, where it lay useless by the other side of the arena. Forced onto his knees, Cloud glared up at Sephiroth's glittering eyes with more than just hatred, ignoring the Masamune blade pressed against his throat. Laughing, Sephiroth dug the edge of the blade into the tender flesh of his neck.

"Now," Sephiroth said, baring his teeth in a sneer, "You die."

* * *

[Ending notes: Waii! Will Cloud face his doom? Will Aerith ever awaken? Is Leon going to be killed? So many questions, so little time...see you in Chapter twelve!

*Special Note*: to the 201st reviewer, WildRinoa: As a gift, I'm going to write a Kingdom Hearts fic for you! Drop me a review telling me any suggestions, or your preference for the couple(s). I would have given the choice to the 200th reviewer, but it was anonymous... :(]