Chapter 16 : The Altar
"Do you understand it?" Cloud asked for the third time as Red finished reading the text.
The Turk's and the entire Avalanche group were sat round in Tifa's bar waiting.
"I'm not an expert on this you know, it would be better to ask some of the elders back at the canyon." He shook his head. "But unfortunately I don't think we have time to do that."
"What do you mean?" Tifa asked.
"The virus Aeris has is fatal, I'm unsure but the text says it takes about a month to kill. This depends slightly on the strength of the infected."
"There is a cure right?" Cloud turned to Red, even though he didn't want to ask, fearful of the answer.
Red turned back to the book and read a little more. "Not exactly." He quickly moved on to explain, seeing Cloud's expression turning worse. "The virus doesn't effect the physical body, it effect the soul of a person or rather a Cetra. This is why there aren't any physical symptoms to find it by, and why no one else has caught it."
"The soul?" Barret repeated. "It infects a persons spirit energy?"
"Yes. That is why there is no cure as such." He read a few lines from the text. "But it says here that there is a ritual to perform that will remove the virus."
"Figures." Zack said. "In the entire time I've know her, Aeris has never gotten sick, not even a cold."
"So what are we wait'in for?" Cid stood up. "Let's go do this ritual and cure her."
"It's not that simple, the ritual must be preformed by Aeris."
Reno yawned and leaned back in his chair. "What's this ritual do then?"
Red turned to the book again and read it out loud. "The infected must begin the ritual in a place rich of natural spirit energy. Once started they must establish a connection with the Promised Land, becoming one with the energy there. The force of the spirit energy will then overwhelm the virus and it will dissipate."
As he looked up from the book he met everyone's blank faces.
"So the cure is to go to the Promised Land?" Reeve asked.
"Not exactly, just to connect to it using this planets Lifestream. It is done in a similar way to using the black or white materia."
"Sephiroth used the black materia in the heart of the planet." Cloud said. "The only other place is where Aeris prayed for Holy."
"The City of the Ancients." Tifa added.
Cloud nodded saying nothing further. Given the choice he would go down into the depths of the planet instead of that place.
"So all we need is one book of magic junk, one Cetra girl and a place to do it." Reno stood up and walked over to Cid. "Like the pilot said, lets get this show on the road."
"Is there anything else? Does Aeris even know how to do this thing?"
Red nodded. "It looks simple enough. I should be able to teacher her how it goes on the way."
"Then lets not waste anymore time." Cloud stood up. "I'll get Aeris, Cid you get the Highwind ready." He turned to leave but stopped next to Reno. "You guys come as well, there's something I need you to do."
Reno just nodded a little confused but he didn't really mind. He was already planning on going anyway.
After a few moments everyone split up and began to get ready for the trip. The only two left in the bar was Vincent and Red.
"Something bothering you?" Red asked him.
"This. Why did Jenova go through all the trouble to use this virus to kill Aeris?"
"I don't know, perhaps to hurt Cloud more. This way he would have to watch her die, if Jenova was still alive then we wouldn't have been able to find a cure."
Vincent stood up still unconvinced. "Perhaps."
Red followed him out of the bar outside. "Well either way we're going to fix it."
_________________
On board the Highwind things were going fairly smoothly. Cloud had managed to wake up Aeris though all the time she was fighting trying to keeps herself from falling back to sleep.
Red had begun explaining the ritual to her, hoping that they still had enough time to perform it. Everyone else on the ship kept themselves busy while waiting to arrive at their destination.
Tifa and Reno were up on the open deck talking. Barret, Vincent, Reeve, Zack and Yuffie were on the bridge with Cid. Elena and Rude had kept to themselves mostly in the briefing room while Cloud and Red tried to keep Aeris awake.
The trip was uneventful really. Cid had made a straight course to the city taking Red's words of urgency to heart, he made sure every engine was going at a hundred and ten percent.
Cloud sat down next to Aeris and leaned down trying to see her face.
She sleepily looked over to him and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm still awake."
"Do you think you can do this?" He asked.
Aeris nodded and looked down at the book Red had given her. "It's very similar to using the white materia, it's just the prayer that's different."
"Well, just make sure you don't fall a sleep while praying."
"No promises there." She smiled and leaned to the side feeling Cloud's hands stopping her from falling off the chair.
Cloud looked more concerned, he knew her strength was been used up. "We'll be there soon. Then this will all be over."
___________________
Reno leaned against the railings and crossed his arms. He watched as Tifa paced back and forth in front of him.
"Having fun?"
She looked up at him as if just been woken from a dream. "Uhh oh yeah, fine."
He raised an eyebrow. "You seem nervous about something."
Tifa stopped walking for a second and put her hands on her hips. "I just don't feel right."
"Your not well?"
"No, not like that." She sighed trying to find the right words. "Don't you feel this was a waste of time? Why go to all the trouble of finding a virus from centuries ago to kill someone when all she need to do was pull a gun out or something."
Reno shrugged. "You know how it is. The bad guys always got to have some over dramatic way of killing the hero's."
Tifa looked at him unconvinced. "I don't think Jenova was it to drama that much."
The red head shrugged again. "Does it really matter? We have the answer, we're on our way to the city and in a few hours we'll have our strange ditsy flower girl back to normal doing her usual thing."
"I guess your right." She smiled at him. "But I'm sure it will be fun when I tell Aeris you called her a 'strange ditsy flower girl'."
Reno's face dropped. "You wouldn't dare."
Tifa slowly walked up to him and ran her finger down his chest. "Why? You gonna give me an alternative?"
"Hmm maybe?" He grinned. "How about a weekend trip to my room?"
The brunette smiled again and leaned up to his ear whispering something. "You saying what I think you are?"
Reno matched her smile and nodded. "You bet."
"Well in that case." Tifa pushed back and crossed her arms. "I think I'll stick to telling Aeris and letting her beat the hell out of you."
Reno's face matched the colour of his hair. "You know some day I'm going to pay you back for all the things you've done to me."
Tifa smiled innocently and pointed to herself. "Me?"
"Yeah you."
She stepped to him once more putting her arms around is neck. "Well, I guess I'll have to do some nice things to you." She smiled before leaning closer and pressing her lips against his.
______________________
"All clear." Zack, Rude and Vincent walked back up to the ship where Cloud and the others were waiting. "Not a creature in sight."
Cloud nodded. "Good. The last thing I want to do right now is get into a fight."
Zack turned round and took a good look at the city. "You know, I was expecting a lot more from the City of the Ancient's."
Tifa was sat leaning against one of the large boulders. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know, I just thought it would be a bit more interesting than a bunch of oversized shells."
"Well that's not the full city, where we're going is main part."
"Oh yeah the altar." He saw Cloud expression drop as he talked about.
The blond turned away and walked back onto the ship."
"He's not too thrilled about been here is he?" Zack watched Cloud leave.
Tifa looked up at him. "Would you?"
"Guess not."
Cid walked down the ramp mumbling something. "Alright we're here, now lets get on with it."
Tifa stood up brushing the dust off of her skirt. "Calm down, we're going now." She turned to Reno. "You go on ahead and I'll catch up with Cloud."
Reno nodded and signaled the rest of the Turks to follow.
______________________
Cloud walked into the briefing room and kneeled down next to the chair Aeris was sat in. In front of her was the old book, and on top of that was Aeris' sleeping figure. Smiling a little he picked up the book and lifted her up out of the chair and began to head back towards the ramp.
Aeris felt herself been moved and half opened her eyes to see what was going on. "Cloud?"
Cloud looked down surprised she was awake again. "Yeah?"
"What's going on?"
"We're here." He smiled at her. "You ready to do this?"
She looked at him in deep though. "The prayer... it's getting difficult to remember."
Cloud speeded up his walking pace. 'The virus must be getting stronger. But we're here now, things are going to work.'
Outside on the ramp Red and Tifa waited for him, the others had gone on ahead to the underground city. The air outside was cool yet still, the sun provided enough heat to provide the desire for shade.
Cloud stepped off the ramp and took a deep breath. He realized inside he didn't want to go further, he hated this place more than anything. But his feelings didn't matter in this case, he had to ignore them and carry on, whether he liked it or not this place was his only hope.
_____________________
"What are you smiling about?" Elena looked at Reno curiously.
The Red head just smiled at her and said nothing.
"Come on what is it?"
From around the lake Tifa walked by followed by Cloud and Red, before entering the over sides shell she winked at him. Reno's grin grew wider as he stood on guard.
"Oh geez." Elena rolled her eyes. "It's typical with you."
"Uh huh, like you never have those days."
The blonds face brightened red. "What? You don't know anything about my personal life."
Reno stared at her, his hands placed behind his back. "Yeah, like I don't know about the hour long lunch breaks you and Rude conveniently take together."
Elena's face grew redder. "You, you...."
"What about it Rude got anything to share?" He leaned past Elena.
"...." Rude just looked uncomftable and adjusted his sunglasses.
Elena continued to stare at Reno trying to think up some horrible revenge. "Hmph, so what are we doing here anyway? Not like there are any monsters around."
"I know but, well Strife explained what happened the last time they were all here. To be honest I can't blame him been a bit over protective."
The blond looked at him oddly. "You're agreeing with Cloud? Huh you must be in a good mood."
______________________
Cloud took his first step onto the crystal stairway. It had been over two years since the last time he walked down these stairs.
Looking down at Aeris she didn't seem to bothered, her usual cheery smile was present even at a time like this. She looked up at him and her expression changed to concern, he seemed really troubled by been here.
'Just get this over with as quick as possible and then we can go.' Red had talked her through the prayer once again on the way, she kept running it through her mind so she wouldn't lose it.
At the bottom everyone else was waiting. Aeris' face turned a slight shaded of red as she realized they were all here for her, something she wasn't too use to. She tried to hide her face in Cloud's chest, slightly embarrassed by the attention she was getting. Up until two years ago the only person that really cared for her was her foster mother, but all that changed when she met Cloud. 'And here you are again, saving my life once more.' She felt a pang of guilt hit her, the amount of times Cloud had come running to her rescue. After this she promised that she would repay him in some way.
Aeris broke her chain of thought as Cloud stopped walking. He was stood just in front of the water that separated them from the altar. For the first time she began to fell nervous about been here.
Cid, Barret and Zack were already stood on the altar. She guessed that Cloud was taking no chances this time, a little over the top but she couldn't blame him.
She looked back up at Cloud as he carefully jumped from stone to stone finally arriving at their destination. He walked over to the opposite side and leaned over putting her feet on the ground, almost instantly Aeris dropped to her knees unable to support her own weight.
"You ok?" Zack kneeled down next to her.
"Yeah, just a little numb. But it doesn't matter anyway, I don't need to stand." Aeris balanced her self before putting her hands together and running Red's instructions through her mind. Before closing her eyes she looked over at Cloud who was turned away. He was leaning against the side of the stonewall, his arms crossed but she couldn't see what his expression was.
Zack stood up and backed away, making sure she wasn't about to fall over. After a few moments it looked like she was frozen still, locked in deep thought. He frowned hearing a small chuckle from somewhere, but when he looked round to see, everybody was silent.
A few moments later he couldn't help but smile as a faint white glow began to shine from Aeris, though strange enough it looked like the light was shining from within her body.
He looked up hearing another laugh. This time when he looked round he saw Cloud standing in front of the stone steps, his hand stretched out as he continued to laugh.
"Cloud you ok?" Zack took a few steps over to him.
"Hey Spike what's so funny?" Barret also noticed the blonde's odd behavior.
Cloud just half turned to them, he gave them sharp smile before looking back at the steps. His laugh deepened as he cast the spell, a huge quake hit the stones causing them to crack and turn to rubble, each piece fell into the water splashing it over the others.
Tifa ran up to the side figuring she couldn't get to the other side now. "What are you doing Cloud?"
Zack stepped up to the blond and put his hand of his shoulder. "Hey!"
Cloud spun round pushing his hand away. He stopped laughing and just stared at the ex-Soldier. "What's wrong? Don't recognize me?"
Zack looked confused as he looked at him. After a few moments the obvious hit him. "You." Before Cloud could speak Zack grabbed onto his neck pinning him up against the wall. "Get out now!"
Cloud just smiled at him pushing him away effortlessly. Zack reached for his sword but was too late as Cloud shot his fist straight into his chest sending him flying into the wall behind.
Barret grabbed hold of Cloud's shoulder pinning him up against the side again. "Who the hell are you?"
The blond just smiled again and reached out with his arms. Barret stared in disbelief as he was been picked up into the air. "Still using all the muscles except the one that counts hmm?" He tossed the Avalanche leaded over the wall into the water.
As Cloud turned to the final obstacle a bullet whistled past his face.
He turned round to see Vincent on the other ledge aiming at him. "That was your only warning shot."
"Hmph." He lifted his hand and cast a second spell. Everyone on the other side ran for cover as the rain of lightning came down on them.
Cloud grunted as he felt someone from behind lock his arms. "Idiot." He flexed his chest and Cid was thrown into the wall next to Zack. He collapsed into a heap feeling a wash of pain hit him as a few of his back ribs cracked on impact. It took all of the pilot's strength to try and hold the pain back.
With all interruptions out of the way Cloud turned towards his goal. Zack watched helplessly as the blond stood in front of Aeris.
After a few moments of savoring the victory Cloud held out his hand into the air. From around his arm black streaks began to appear, each moving towards his fingertips and over. Each piece of darkness merged and set, the dark object grew further until it was at full length. Cloud smiled and brought his arm in front of his face, the black sword stretched out perfecting its shape.
In front of him Aeris didn't even twitch, he didn't know whether she was oblivious to what was happening or if she just knew there was nothing she could do to stop it. Either way it didn't matter.
Cloud took one more step up to her, the light that glowed inside of her body brightened as the prayer was nearly complete. He brought the blade down to his side, as the tip touched the floor it cut through the solid stone as if it was made of mud.
He cocked his head and smiled at her. "Well. Doesn't this bring back memories."
______________________
Ok and that's all from this chapter, I'm not sure how pleased I am with it, its quite hard to make a trip on the Highwind and a walk down some stairs interesting but I hope you enjoyed it. The next one will of course be the last for this story. Thank you to Clorith, Bytemite, BlazingSamurai and aeris'slilsis for reviewing. And yep it is finishing soon but then again my other story still has a long way to go yet before the end. I'll try not to keep you waiting too long for the last chapter.
"Do you understand it?" Cloud asked for the third time as Red finished reading the text.
The Turk's and the entire Avalanche group were sat round in Tifa's bar waiting.
"I'm not an expert on this you know, it would be better to ask some of the elders back at the canyon." He shook his head. "But unfortunately I don't think we have time to do that."
"What do you mean?" Tifa asked.
"The virus Aeris has is fatal, I'm unsure but the text says it takes about a month to kill. This depends slightly on the strength of the infected."
"There is a cure right?" Cloud turned to Red, even though he didn't want to ask, fearful of the answer.
Red turned back to the book and read a little more. "Not exactly." He quickly moved on to explain, seeing Cloud's expression turning worse. "The virus doesn't effect the physical body, it effect the soul of a person or rather a Cetra. This is why there aren't any physical symptoms to find it by, and why no one else has caught it."
"The soul?" Barret repeated. "It infects a persons spirit energy?"
"Yes. That is why there is no cure as such." He read a few lines from the text. "But it says here that there is a ritual to perform that will remove the virus."
"Figures." Zack said. "In the entire time I've know her, Aeris has never gotten sick, not even a cold."
"So what are we wait'in for?" Cid stood up. "Let's go do this ritual and cure her."
"It's not that simple, the ritual must be preformed by Aeris."
Reno yawned and leaned back in his chair. "What's this ritual do then?"
Red turned to the book again and read it out loud. "The infected must begin the ritual in a place rich of natural spirit energy. Once started they must establish a connection with the Promised Land, becoming one with the energy there. The force of the spirit energy will then overwhelm the virus and it will dissipate."
As he looked up from the book he met everyone's blank faces.
"So the cure is to go to the Promised Land?" Reeve asked.
"Not exactly, just to connect to it using this planets Lifestream. It is done in a similar way to using the black or white materia."
"Sephiroth used the black materia in the heart of the planet." Cloud said. "The only other place is where Aeris prayed for Holy."
"The City of the Ancients." Tifa added.
Cloud nodded saying nothing further. Given the choice he would go down into the depths of the planet instead of that place.
"So all we need is one book of magic junk, one Cetra girl and a place to do it." Reno stood up and walked over to Cid. "Like the pilot said, lets get this show on the road."
"Is there anything else? Does Aeris even know how to do this thing?"
Red nodded. "It looks simple enough. I should be able to teacher her how it goes on the way."
"Then lets not waste anymore time." Cloud stood up. "I'll get Aeris, Cid you get the Highwind ready." He turned to leave but stopped next to Reno. "You guys come as well, there's something I need you to do."
Reno just nodded a little confused but he didn't really mind. He was already planning on going anyway.
After a few moments everyone split up and began to get ready for the trip. The only two left in the bar was Vincent and Red.
"Something bothering you?" Red asked him.
"This. Why did Jenova go through all the trouble to use this virus to kill Aeris?"
"I don't know, perhaps to hurt Cloud more. This way he would have to watch her die, if Jenova was still alive then we wouldn't have been able to find a cure."
Vincent stood up still unconvinced. "Perhaps."
Red followed him out of the bar outside. "Well either way we're going to fix it."
_________________
On board the Highwind things were going fairly smoothly. Cloud had managed to wake up Aeris though all the time she was fighting trying to keeps herself from falling back to sleep.
Red had begun explaining the ritual to her, hoping that they still had enough time to perform it. Everyone else on the ship kept themselves busy while waiting to arrive at their destination.
Tifa and Reno were up on the open deck talking. Barret, Vincent, Reeve, Zack and Yuffie were on the bridge with Cid. Elena and Rude had kept to themselves mostly in the briefing room while Cloud and Red tried to keep Aeris awake.
The trip was uneventful really. Cid had made a straight course to the city taking Red's words of urgency to heart, he made sure every engine was going at a hundred and ten percent.
Cloud sat down next to Aeris and leaned down trying to see her face.
She sleepily looked over to him and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm still awake."
"Do you think you can do this?" He asked.
Aeris nodded and looked down at the book Red had given her. "It's very similar to using the white materia, it's just the prayer that's different."
"Well, just make sure you don't fall a sleep while praying."
"No promises there." She smiled and leaned to the side feeling Cloud's hands stopping her from falling off the chair.
Cloud looked more concerned, he knew her strength was been used up. "We'll be there soon. Then this will all be over."
___________________
Reno leaned against the railings and crossed his arms. He watched as Tifa paced back and forth in front of him.
"Having fun?"
She looked up at him as if just been woken from a dream. "Uhh oh yeah, fine."
He raised an eyebrow. "You seem nervous about something."
Tifa stopped walking for a second and put her hands on her hips. "I just don't feel right."
"Your not well?"
"No, not like that." She sighed trying to find the right words. "Don't you feel this was a waste of time? Why go to all the trouble of finding a virus from centuries ago to kill someone when all she need to do was pull a gun out or something."
Reno shrugged. "You know how it is. The bad guys always got to have some over dramatic way of killing the hero's."
Tifa looked at him unconvinced. "I don't think Jenova was it to drama that much."
The red head shrugged again. "Does it really matter? We have the answer, we're on our way to the city and in a few hours we'll have our strange ditsy flower girl back to normal doing her usual thing."
"I guess your right." She smiled at him. "But I'm sure it will be fun when I tell Aeris you called her a 'strange ditsy flower girl'."
Reno's face dropped. "You wouldn't dare."
Tifa slowly walked up to him and ran her finger down his chest. "Why? You gonna give me an alternative?"
"Hmm maybe?" He grinned. "How about a weekend trip to my room?"
The brunette smiled again and leaned up to his ear whispering something. "You saying what I think you are?"
Reno matched her smile and nodded. "You bet."
"Well in that case." Tifa pushed back and crossed her arms. "I think I'll stick to telling Aeris and letting her beat the hell out of you."
Reno's face matched the colour of his hair. "You know some day I'm going to pay you back for all the things you've done to me."
Tifa smiled innocently and pointed to herself. "Me?"
"Yeah you."
She stepped to him once more putting her arms around is neck. "Well, I guess I'll have to do some nice things to you." She smiled before leaning closer and pressing her lips against his.
______________________
"All clear." Zack, Rude and Vincent walked back up to the ship where Cloud and the others were waiting. "Not a creature in sight."
Cloud nodded. "Good. The last thing I want to do right now is get into a fight."
Zack turned round and took a good look at the city. "You know, I was expecting a lot more from the City of the Ancient's."
Tifa was sat leaning against one of the large boulders. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know, I just thought it would be a bit more interesting than a bunch of oversized shells."
"Well that's not the full city, where we're going is main part."
"Oh yeah the altar." He saw Cloud expression drop as he talked about.
The blond turned away and walked back onto the ship."
"He's not too thrilled about been here is he?" Zack watched Cloud leave.
Tifa looked up at him. "Would you?"
"Guess not."
Cid walked down the ramp mumbling something. "Alright we're here, now lets get on with it."
Tifa stood up brushing the dust off of her skirt. "Calm down, we're going now." She turned to Reno. "You go on ahead and I'll catch up with Cloud."
Reno nodded and signaled the rest of the Turks to follow.
______________________
Cloud walked into the briefing room and kneeled down next to the chair Aeris was sat in. In front of her was the old book, and on top of that was Aeris' sleeping figure. Smiling a little he picked up the book and lifted her up out of the chair and began to head back towards the ramp.
Aeris felt herself been moved and half opened her eyes to see what was going on. "Cloud?"
Cloud looked down surprised she was awake again. "Yeah?"
"What's going on?"
"We're here." He smiled at her. "You ready to do this?"
She looked at him in deep though. "The prayer... it's getting difficult to remember."
Cloud speeded up his walking pace. 'The virus must be getting stronger. But we're here now, things are going to work.'
Outside on the ramp Red and Tifa waited for him, the others had gone on ahead to the underground city. The air outside was cool yet still, the sun provided enough heat to provide the desire for shade.
Cloud stepped off the ramp and took a deep breath. He realized inside he didn't want to go further, he hated this place more than anything. But his feelings didn't matter in this case, he had to ignore them and carry on, whether he liked it or not this place was his only hope.
_____________________
"What are you smiling about?" Elena looked at Reno curiously.
The Red head just smiled at her and said nothing.
"Come on what is it?"
From around the lake Tifa walked by followed by Cloud and Red, before entering the over sides shell she winked at him. Reno's grin grew wider as he stood on guard.
"Oh geez." Elena rolled her eyes. "It's typical with you."
"Uh huh, like you never have those days."
The blonds face brightened red. "What? You don't know anything about my personal life."
Reno stared at her, his hands placed behind his back. "Yeah, like I don't know about the hour long lunch breaks you and Rude conveniently take together."
Elena's face grew redder. "You, you...."
"What about it Rude got anything to share?" He leaned past Elena.
"...." Rude just looked uncomftable and adjusted his sunglasses.
Elena continued to stare at Reno trying to think up some horrible revenge. "Hmph, so what are we doing here anyway? Not like there are any monsters around."
"I know but, well Strife explained what happened the last time they were all here. To be honest I can't blame him been a bit over protective."
The blond looked at him oddly. "You're agreeing with Cloud? Huh you must be in a good mood."
______________________
Cloud took his first step onto the crystal stairway. It had been over two years since the last time he walked down these stairs.
Looking down at Aeris she didn't seem to bothered, her usual cheery smile was present even at a time like this. She looked up at him and her expression changed to concern, he seemed really troubled by been here.
'Just get this over with as quick as possible and then we can go.' Red had talked her through the prayer once again on the way, she kept running it through her mind so she wouldn't lose it.
At the bottom everyone else was waiting. Aeris' face turned a slight shaded of red as she realized they were all here for her, something she wasn't too use to. She tried to hide her face in Cloud's chest, slightly embarrassed by the attention she was getting. Up until two years ago the only person that really cared for her was her foster mother, but all that changed when she met Cloud. 'And here you are again, saving my life once more.' She felt a pang of guilt hit her, the amount of times Cloud had come running to her rescue. After this she promised that she would repay him in some way.
Aeris broke her chain of thought as Cloud stopped walking. He was stood just in front of the water that separated them from the altar. For the first time she began to fell nervous about been here.
Cid, Barret and Zack were already stood on the altar. She guessed that Cloud was taking no chances this time, a little over the top but she couldn't blame him.
She looked back up at Cloud as he carefully jumped from stone to stone finally arriving at their destination. He walked over to the opposite side and leaned over putting her feet on the ground, almost instantly Aeris dropped to her knees unable to support her own weight.
"You ok?" Zack kneeled down next to her.
"Yeah, just a little numb. But it doesn't matter anyway, I don't need to stand." Aeris balanced her self before putting her hands together and running Red's instructions through her mind. Before closing her eyes she looked over at Cloud who was turned away. He was leaning against the side of the stonewall, his arms crossed but she couldn't see what his expression was.
Zack stood up and backed away, making sure she wasn't about to fall over. After a few moments it looked like she was frozen still, locked in deep thought. He frowned hearing a small chuckle from somewhere, but when he looked round to see, everybody was silent.
A few moments later he couldn't help but smile as a faint white glow began to shine from Aeris, though strange enough it looked like the light was shining from within her body.
He looked up hearing another laugh. This time when he looked round he saw Cloud standing in front of the stone steps, his hand stretched out as he continued to laugh.
"Cloud you ok?" Zack took a few steps over to him.
"Hey Spike what's so funny?" Barret also noticed the blonde's odd behavior.
Cloud just half turned to them, he gave them sharp smile before looking back at the steps. His laugh deepened as he cast the spell, a huge quake hit the stones causing them to crack and turn to rubble, each piece fell into the water splashing it over the others.
Tifa ran up to the side figuring she couldn't get to the other side now. "What are you doing Cloud?"
Zack stepped up to the blond and put his hand of his shoulder. "Hey!"
Cloud spun round pushing his hand away. He stopped laughing and just stared at the ex-Soldier. "What's wrong? Don't recognize me?"
Zack looked confused as he looked at him. After a few moments the obvious hit him. "You." Before Cloud could speak Zack grabbed onto his neck pinning him up against the wall. "Get out now!"
Cloud just smiled at him pushing him away effortlessly. Zack reached for his sword but was too late as Cloud shot his fist straight into his chest sending him flying into the wall behind.
Barret grabbed hold of Cloud's shoulder pinning him up against the side again. "Who the hell are you?"
The blond just smiled again and reached out with his arms. Barret stared in disbelief as he was been picked up into the air. "Still using all the muscles except the one that counts hmm?" He tossed the Avalanche leaded over the wall into the water.
As Cloud turned to the final obstacle a bullet whistled past his face.
He turned round to see Vincent on the other ledge aiming at him. "That was your only warning shot."
"Hmph." He lifted his hand and cast a second spell. Everyone on the other side ran for cover as the rain of lightning came down on them.
Cloud grunted as he felt someone from behind lock his arms. "Idiot." He flexed his chest and Cid was thrown into the wall next to Zack. He collapsed into a heap feeling a wash of pain hit him as a few of his back ribs cracked on impact. It took all of the pilot's strength to try and hold the pain back.
With all interruptions out of the way Cloud turned towards his goal. Zack watched helplessly as the blond stood in front of Aeris.
After a few moments of savoring the victory Cloud held out his hand into the air. From around his arm black streaks began to appear, each moving towards his fingertips and over. Each piece of darkness merged and set, the dark object grew further until it was at full length. Cloud smiled and brought his arm in front of his face, the black sword stretched out perfecting its shape.
In front of him Aeris didn't even twitch, he didn't know whether she was oblivious to what was happening or if she just knew there was nothing she could do to stop it. Either way it didn't matter.
Cloud took one more step up to her, the light that glowed inside of her body brightened as the prayer was nearly complete. He brought the blade down to his side, as the tip touched the floor it cut through the solid stone as if it was made of mud.
He cocked his head and smiled at her. "Well. Doesn't this bring back memories."
______________________
Ok and that's all from this chapter, I'm not sure how pleased I am with it, its quite hard to make a trip on the Highwind and a walk down some stairs interesting but I hope you enjoyed it. The next one will of course be the last for this story. Thank you to Clorith, Bytemite, BlazingSamurai and aeris'slilsis for reviewing. And yep it is finishing soon but then again my other story still has a long way to go yet before the end. I'll try not to keep you waiting too long for the last chapter.