Dinner finished, they sat in the living room, Katy leaning against Sephiroth's chest, Aerith next to Zack, Tifa and Cloud on opposite sides of the room and Katy's parents elsewhere. "I've got a direction on Vincent. Though he's been quiet for a while, he's used his Materia again. From the reports from Earth, there's another person using Materia near Vincent, and lots of death in the areas nearby. I'm not sure what to make of that, since Earth doesn't really care if people live or die, just that we fix the border between it and the Planet," Katy reported. "Last report was that Vincent was northeast and heading farther away by the day."
The others nodded, but before anything else could be said Sephiroth took up. "We'll start out first thing in the morning."
"You mean-" Aerith started, looking towards Katy who nodded.
Sniffing once, Katy shifted her weight as she replied, "Yes, I'm coming with you. I really don't belong to either world now, and I know I can come visit my parents at any time, but saving two worlds comes as a priority to sleeping in till one in the afternoon and puttering around the house till midnight in my slippers, which is what I would be doing otherwise." Katy shrugged slightly at Tifa's snigger.
Another set of nods went around. "Get a good night's sleep, we'll be up early tomorrow- I'm setting my alarm for five thirty," Katy stated, inwardly cringing at the thought. What an ungodly hour!
For once, the day was clear, but cool and Katy was glad for her jacket. Their saddlebags were packed with fresh supplies, their stomachs packed with a final breakfast made by Katy's mother. Biting her lips, Katy fought her tears once again. Never had she imagined that saying goodbye would be this hard, but it had to be done, and for a moment, she'd almost thought she wouldn't let go- or her parents wouldn't let go, or the moment would last forever and negate the need to go entirely, but after a moment more, Sephiroth touched her back and she forced herself to wipe away her tears and turn away.
But now her home- her family- were two hours behind her on the road and she was in the lead with Sephiroth nudging her along from beside her. He hadn't gone so far as to outright tell her to get going, or herd her bird physically, but she could tell he was somewhat impatient with how she'd been dragging her feet. She'd ...have to explain to him later. She thought she'd explained before, but maybe not, half the time, she forgot what she'd said or just thought she's said to him.
Swallowing, she nudged her bird into a bit faster of a pace, and Sephiroth was pleased and took this as an indication that he was allowed to talk to her now. "How far ahead is he?" He sat easily on his mount, his hair flowing loose- as usual- strands catching in the breeze and floating behind him, catching the mid-morning sunlight as they rode on the side of the road, heading northwards.
For the past two hours, the only sound had been external of the group, just the sound of leather creaking and the harnesses jingling softly. They'd drawn quite a bit of attention, but no one had stopped them as of yet.
Taking a breath, Katy shoved her bangs out of her face, adjusting the clips that were supposed to be holding them back one-handed with a slight frown. "He's actually been heading towards us, which is convenient, but its still a ways to the north, somewhere in ... Tennessee I think, near Nashville if I've got my maps right. So if we get to the highway and follow it, we won't get shot at and I'll be able to tell where we are. That's a four hour drive by car, so I guess it'll take longer riding cause we can't go eighty miles per hour the whole way."
Though half of what she'd said made no sense to the others listening to her in silence, but Sephiroth gave a slight nod, "Make that a day's travel then. Given detours and delays." He looked ahead, squinting somewhat, as if he could really see across the distances involved and spy their quarry. That was out of the question though and after a moment, he gave up and looked to the right at the cars passing by, heading the other direction, the people in them slowing down to gawk as the group rode past.
Katy licked her lips, took a breath, and paused before she spoke, "It's odd, but there seems... well... it seems like Vincent is following someone. Or that's the impression I got. It might even be that its not even Vincent I've been tracking. There've been more and more instances of people using Materia lately, even in the last few days." She shook her head.
"That might be because Mideel has switched with Hawaii," Sephiroth replied. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head as a sneeze tickled his nose, but managed to suppress it.
Blinking, Katy looked at him, eyes widened with shock, "What? How'd you find that out?" Sure she'd heard him speaking in English from time to time, mostly to her parents and sister, but she hadn't realized that he was fluent enough to do research like that.
A smirk touched his lips, "You don't pay attention to the radio in the mornings, do you? Your world's media system is rather informative." Sephiroth gave a slight shake of his head, his bangs brushing against his face, "How can you choose anything with so many choices?" He didn't have to mention the two hours he'd spent online, gathering more information about the current situation in the world politically as well as economically- with help from Katy's mother who frequented such websites. The fact that information like that was free for anyone who could get on a computer was amazing to him. How did the government keep control of anything that went on? Or did they? Katy's description of Democracy had been rather idealistic, but he supposed, now that he'd seen the place, that it worked... somehow.
Laughter bubbled up from Katy's stomach, and she let it, though it was surprising and she didn't really want to laugh, "That's Commercialism for you, I told you about it before. Your own fault for not believing me." She edged her bird closer to Seph's.
Turning his glowing blue-green eyes towards her, Sephiroth quirked a brow, "I believed you," he replied, "I just didn't realize your people went quite so far as to offer not just six different brands of noodles, but six different types for each brand."
"Yeah, there's light, regular, original, and the various special flavors. It is stupid, but they're not going to stop unless no one's buying their stuff anymore." Katy shook her head again and stretched, briefly dropping the reigns of her Chocobo to reach above her head. "Hmm, so we've been to the land of cotton, now to the Cradle of Country and Rock-n-Roll."
The other brow joined the first and Sephiroth looked at her fully, his hand reaching out to clasp her offered one as his expression returned to normal. Behind them, as if the end of the conversation up front had been cue, Zack spoke to Aerith- her laugh chimed in the air like bells.
All was silent in the city.
A light wind blew dust and smoke through the air between them as Vincent stood facing Vassago. Somewhere nearby, a water main was spraying a sheet of water up into the air, the wind occasionally pattering Vincent's hair with drops. The sky above was overcast, as it had been for quite some time now.
Vassago's cloak fluttered around his ankles, staff held at ready. Ifrit had already been dealt with, Shiva beaten beyond usability by either of the combatants.
Their battle was not going unwitnessed, undocumented, for there were innocents lurking within the rubble of Vassago's latest attack. The place known as Dolly World had been his target on this day- on this day that Vincent caught up with the maniac. Not one for stirring speeches, the ex-Turk didn't bother telling Vassago why he was being eliminated. It should have been obvious.
Stepping back with one foot, Vassago raised his staff, "Titan!" he shouted, and Vincent didn't have any other summons to use. He would just have to stick this one out and defeat the summon by himself. Raising his gun, Vincent fired off shot after shot at the mage as his summon appeared, before Vassago could be shielded by his summon's magic.
Titan roared, surging up from the ground, peeling up a large chunk of pavement as he went and hurled it at Vincent. Ducking, the gunman rolled as he was clipped in the shoulder as the heavy piece of road went over him and broke into large chunks when it landed. Rolling to his feet again, Vincent dodged aside as a chunk of building flew past. Leveling his gun at the much larger and less agile summon, Vincent fired several shots, then had to throw himself to the side once more as Titan heaved more scenery at him.
This wasn't going too well, Vincent had to admit. Not that he'd thought it would be easy, but this sorcerer was quite good at dodging damage and always having a shell spell and a reflect and a summon around for emergencies such as this. This world's militia had already expended their fury on him and hadn't done a scratch's worth of damage except to the surrounding area, which was now a smoking crater a bit further to the north.
Coming to his feet again, Vincent threw a fire spell at the earth elemental. It did little damage, but that was one step closer to defeating the brute. He had to dive again as Titan reached over and picked up a lamppost and bashed the ground where Vincent had been standing only a second ago. Rolling to his feet again, Vincent kept running as Titan smashed at the ground behind him. Unexpectedly, the summon changed tactics and brought the pole around the other direction and caught Vincent in the stomach and hurled him down the street.
Landing hard, Vincent rolled a ways before coming to a stop. At least he hadn't lost hold of his gun and took a moment to cast a cure on himself. Lifting his head, he looked up just in time to see a chunk of pavement sailing towards him.
A shriek of his name from nearby, and Vincent was up, running to avoid being smashed. He only barely made it and had to dodge several more chunks as he ran, leveling his gun at Titan as he went. Though Vince would have worried about the bystanders normally, he just didn't have the backup that would have given him the luxury of saving stupid fangirls that got too close.
He had found out rather early on that he and his world had supposedly come from a video game. At first, the information had been frightening, but stoic as ever, Vincent hadn't shown it and just gotten on with his life. Obviously he wasn't really a video game, after all, if he was, how could he really be here alive and breathing? ...for however much longer that was.
Coming back within battle-range with Titan again, Vincent shot off another fire spell and commenced a strafing run. That pole came back into play and Titan attempted the same trick it had gotten Vincent with the first time. However, the ex-Turk had learned and leapt up as the summon swung the pole at his midsection again. The swing went under his feet and Vincent fired off several more shots while on his way towards landing.
Titan was a bit faster than expected and reversed the swing, catching Vincent in the back, knocking him across the ruins of a building and through the spray of water from a broken fire hydrant. Landing hard amidst the rubble, Vincent wheezed, seeing stars and unable to hear the pounding of Titan coming after him over the roar of blood in his ears.
Wincing, Vincent rolled over onto his back as the summon stepped over the source of the spray towards him. Putting weight on that foot, Titan crumbled forward, the leg falling apart, and flailing and roaring, the summon landed on the ground, disintegrating in the endless spray of water.
Vincent could only thank whatever god there was and cast a cure on himself while Vassago was stuck dismissing Titan so he could call something else. So that was three summons out of the picture, that still left some rather nasty ones like Bahamute and Leviathan.
Hissing in pain, Vince rolled to his feet as Titan disappeared and stepped around the spray of water, leveling his gun at Vassago while he was in between summons. His shots bounced off the shell spell, and Vincent wished he had a dispel Materia to use. The mage gibbered something that was completely lost on Vincent, then raised his hands dramatically, "Choco/mog!" he shouted.
At this, Vincent had to just stop and stare, then run as a large shadow loomed over him. Dodging aside, the fat Chocobo landed with enough force to rock the ground and send Vincent to his knees. The summon disappeared and Vincent took up firing shots at Vassago without bothering to get up, it just took too much effort.
Still, the crazy teenage mage just laughed and called another summon, "Odin!" apparently, Vassago was getting serious.
Slowly, the ex-Turk pushed himself to his feet, determined to meet his doom while standing. The summon charged down from the sky on his eight-legged horse, coming to a stop near Vassago. Shifting his hand on his massive spear, Odin turned his sightless head towards Vincent, Sleipnir pawed the ground and tossed his main. Vincent idly recalled a file he'd read once, long ago, about this summon. Usually killed in one blow. Yes, that was the phrase. Funny how information like that just sprung back to mind after so long of being forgotten.
Pushing his shoulders back, Vincent straightened, panting for breath as Vassago smirked.
Sleipnir lowered his head and his rider shifted his weight in the saddle, then the beast charged, Odin's spear lowered and set. Vincent moved, he couldn't just stand there and take it, but the summon kept after him even as Vincent ran, straight towards Vassago, spinning around behind the mage as Odin bore down on them.
Gobbling and shrieking, Vassago tried to direct the summon aside, but Odin was too close to stop, going too fast to turn aside.
Vincent smirked as the spear penetrated Vassago's shield and hit the mage himself. Throwing his body aside, the ex-Turk rolled and landed heavily on the ground as Odin exploded, having killed his own summoner. That was fine with Vince. He'd done his job, and figured he could take a rest now. He just stayed where he was, face-down on the ground, body aching and bleeding from cuts he didn't remember getting. He'd come so close to going berserk and transforming, but he was glad he hadn't... the innocent bystanders would have been in trouble- worse trouble from him than they'd been in with Vassago still alive.
He closed his eyes and sighed softly, feeling the patter of the broken water pipe on his soaked cloak and back.
They entered town as the sun was setting and were rather surprised to find people dancing in the destroyed streets. Lit torches were everywhere, fireworks were going off, and the smell of a wonderful town-wide barbecue was in the air. Katy had to swallow drool and looked towards Sephiroth, who merely shrugged.
"Any idea what's going on?" Zack asked.
Katy glanced back at him, "No clue, but damn, that smells good!" Zack laughed, but agreed completely, as did Cloud. Turning her attention back towards the crowd, Katy reached down and tapped a young man's shoulders, "Hey!" she shouted at him and he looked up, then past Katy to Sephiroth.
"Oh my god!" he shouted.
Sephiroth sighed and looked away, keeping watch while Katy attempted to get the man's attention again, "Hey! What's going on here?"
Sighing, Katy straightened as the man went running off shrieking like a little girl about Sephiroth coming to destroy Earth. Looking back, Katy pointed at Tifa, "Go ask someone what's going on."
Frowning, Tifa pushed her hair back from her shoulders, "Why me?" she asked in return.
"Just go do it," Sephiroth stated.
Flipping a hand at her fiancé, Katy answered, "Because, I'm counting on those stupid gamers to latch eyes on your ... attributes and not notice him." She jerked a thumb at Sephiroth. "Sorry, but that's all they're likely to see after you smile at them."
Cloud was blushing bright pink. Katy turned her attention to him, "You go ask around too, Cloud. And don't take it too personally if they start asking about who you think is hot, okay? Zack, Aerith, stick with me and Seph, we're going to stay on the edge of town. Vincent is in there somewhere, but I don't have a pinpoint location on him."
Nodding, they split up, Cloud and Tifa heading off together. Sephiroth eyed them, "Playing matchmaker?" the general asked blandly, peering towards Katy.
Shrugging, the redhead smiled up at him, "They'll answer Tifa's questions, Cloud's there for her protection. Those gamers can get crazy sometimes."
Tifa peeked at Cloud once again as they rode their Chocobos through the throng. He was blushing still, but glancing towards her from time to time, and occasionally, their eyes met. This would only cause him to blush even more deeply. Since the cat was out of the bag, Katy had given them a deeper briefing on what it meant to be characters in a video game, and even read some of the worse fanfiction out loud to them. It was horrifying. Tifa simply couldn't imagine herself ever dating Sephiroth, or Vincent- a man she didn't even know- or Aerith. The less offensive pairing was her with Cloud, but he hadn't given his opinion on the subject, so she kept hers to herself. By far, she had to admit that the most frightening fanfic had been a Cloud-Sephiroth-Zack threesome, and Katy had stated that those were rather common and usually out of character.
Shaking her head, Tifa arched her back in a stretch and looked around for a likely candidate to interrogate. She didn't have to look far, for three pimply teenagers were standing at her stirrup, staring up at her with worshiping eyes. Her bird shied away slightly, and Cloud loomed up beside her. No longer was he blushing and throwing embarrassed glances towards her, he fingered Buster Sword's hilt where it rested on his back and looked rather intimidating.
The geeks backed up a step.
"Excuse me," Tifa stated, "But what's going on here?" she gestured towards the party. They'd gotten the attention of quite a few people, the older ones were staring at the birds for the most part, the younger generation was looking at the riders.
"The Demon-kid Vassago was killed!" someone else shouted amidst the crowd.
Another voice added, "By Vincent Valentine!" a cheer went up.
Tifa had to fight to be heard as the partying began again, "Where is he now?"
One of the geeks at her stirrup gave a smile full of braces, "I'll tell you if you kiss me!" he told her.
Fuming, Tifa pulled her bird away from him and aimed a kick. The three dived back and Cloud interposed himself. They immediately thought better of following. Moving on, the fist-fighter tapped the shoulder of an older man, "Excuse me!" she shouted and he moved aside, then looked up at her, "Where can I find Vincent Valentine?" she called over the noise of the party.
He shouted something and pointed. Looking up, Tifa followed his finger and guessed that he meant to say that Vincent was on the side of town where there were a few buildings left standing. Nodding, she called, "Thank you," and turned. "Cloud, let's get out of here!"
Immediately agreeing, Cloud turned Rekkui and Kede was quick to follow. They made tracks getting out of town to regroup with Sephiroth and the others. As agreed, the others had gone to the edge of town, still mounted and on guard, but within sight of the road. The trees they'd ridden through to get to this town looming behind them.
Cloud saluted and began the report, giving Tifa a moment or two to collect her wits and temper. "Vincent is here," he started with, "somewhere in the part of town that's still standing. He defeated some demon named Vassago and that's why they're celebrating. We retreated due to unnecessary harassment."
Nodding, Sephiroth replied, "Good work. Both of you," he gave a stoic nod to Tifa.
For a moment, she stared at him, unexpectedly pleased by the statement. Katy continued, "I got a pinpoint on his location." She looked towards Sephiroth, "wanna wait till after the party or go on in now while they're drunk?"
Sephiroth didn't answer immediately, but finally nodded and started forward. "They have to have some self preservation instincts," he stated blandly.
Once again, they forged into town, pushing partiers out of the way as Katy led, Sephiroth was behind her with Zack and Aerith on his left, Tifa and Cloud on his right, and the girls on the inside by unspoken agreement between all the present members of SCYTHE. They reached the area where the barbeque was being held, and after a long look, Sephiroth gestured, "Zack, procure us some dinner."
Grinning, Zack saluted and peeled off. Of the lot of them, the dark-haired young man was probably the least likely to be recognized and harassed. Katy continued onwards, leaving a trail of confused people in their wake.
At last, they reached a hotel that was only partially destroyed. The front wall had been knocked down, but a majority of the building was still standing. There were several self-appointed guards standing at the entrance, armed with bats and pipes. Katy rode up to them with a winsome smile. "Hello," she called. At least the noise of the party wasn't quite so loud here, "We need to talk to Vincent."
"He aint seein no one," one man stated.
Aerith rode forward a step, "You're sure he can't see us?" she asked with a winning smile.
The three guards had apparently played FF7, for they outright gaped at her, "uh..." one of them said, looking like a fish flopping on the riverbank.
Shaking his head, the third stepped aside and elbowed his comrades, "Of course," he replied.
As one, they dismounted, Sephiroth looking towards Cloud, "Watch the birds and look out for Zack." The blonde saluted. Turning, Sephiroth took his place beside Katy and the three guards melted from his Mako-enhanced gaze. Tifa and Aerith fell in behind them and they entered the building.
Before the attack this hotel had probably been the best one in town, but now, most of the walls were cracked, there was dust from the ceiling all over the floor. Everything glass had been shattered and crunched under their boots. Amidst the debris, there was a trail of footprints that lead past the front hall of the building, past what was left of the front desk, and onwards to the one room that had been cleaned. That room had formerly been the dining room, but now a couch had been pulled in and the tables pushed aside.
"I said leave me alone," Vincent muttered, his flesh arm over his face, sleeve rolled up to the elbow. His cloak was draped across the back of the couch and the ribbon that usually tied his hair was piled on the floor. His claw hand was resting on his stomach where he sprawled on the couch, hair tangled and flowing free over the couch arm that faced the door.
Katy smiled, "Aww, you're such a party pooper," she folded her arms, "Sitting in here angsting while the biggest party this town's ever seen rages through what's left of the streets in your honor. Really, Vincent, would Lucrecia approve of this kind of behavior?"
Dropping his arm, Vincent sat up and twisted around to stare at her with wide eyes, the most expression she'd ever seen on his face. His eyes went from her face to Sephiroth's, brows lowering. "You're dead," he stated the obvious.
"Jenova had other ideas," Sephiroth replied emotionlessly. "Which brings us to the point of this little visit. Jenova has lost me as her puppet, you're next in line."
Shifting, the vampyric man got to his feet, straightening to his full height. Katy firmly stopped herself from drooling, he was one HOT mo-fo, and she could see two things: the first being that she knew exactly where Sephiroth had gotten his body from, and the second was exactly why Lucrecia hadn't been able to resist the temptation to cheat on Hojo. "So, you've come to kill me?" Vincent asked coldly, his crimson eyes straying back towards Katy.
Shaking her head, Katy firmly informed herself that she would not cheat on Sephiroth with his dad and replied to the gunman, "No. that wouldn't stop Jenova anyway. We're going to purge Jenova from you, as I did Sephiroth."
"Lucrecia..."
Katy shook her head again, "I'm not Lucrecia. She's dead. I don't know why I look like her, but we're not the same. I met her, actually, and there are differences between us physically. We just have a lot of similarities." Sighing as she started repeating herself, Katy just gave up on that and turned back to the main point of the conversation. "In any case, you've got a choice. I can purge you here and now, leaving you partially Cetra, or we can go back to your world and do it, making you fully human."
Tifa blinked, "wait- what?"
Looking back at the other girl, Katy replied, "It's the Lifestream. The people here are Cetra- though we've called ourselves humans, on your world, we're Cetra, so the Lifestream on Earth is made of Cetra. If I use Earth's Lifestream to purge him, he becomes partially Cetra. If I use the Planet's Lifestream to purge him, he becomes what he originally was."
Vincent remained silent, his unblinking gaze resting on Katy, then switching to Sephiroth. Once again, that emotionless mask was in place over the ex-Turk's thoughts, leaving him impossible to read. Sephiroth's expression mirrored the gunman's, giving nothing away. Finally, Vincent took a breath, "It hardly matters," he stated. "I would like to go back to the Planet, however."
Katy nodded. "Though, kinda sad that you'll be losing your cool Limitbreaks. Er... um, you... do know about um..."
"The video game?" Vincent finished for her, then nodded. "I was informed."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Katy smiled again, "Good, well, okay then. I guess we'll just spend the night here and head out in the morning." She looked towards Sephiroth, "alright with you?"
Silently, the leader of SCYTHE nodded. "Meet us outside of town at dawn."
With that, he turned and started following their trail back outside. Tifa and Aerith followed, but Katy remained, gazing after Seph for a second before turning to look at Vincent. "Hey..." she said softly, completely serious now, "I didn't get the chance to thank you before... so, thanks for helping. I-..." Shaking her head, Katy crunched across the bits of ceiling stuff and wrapped her arms around Vincent. "Just cheer up, would you?" she begged, "Really! You're not doing yourself any favors dwelling on the past- and at least go visit Lucrecia from time to time. She's still where you left her, and probably would be in a lot better mood if she wasn't alone all the time. Now's your chance to have her to yourself. Hojo's being a dick in Midgar still, so he won't bother you."
Vincent's lips pressed together and his arms raised, encircling Katy hesitantly, and a moment more passed before he put his face into her hair, eyes closed. Katy forced herself to shut up, then, and just stood there, letting Vincent have his moment of pretending she was his beloved.
Taking a breath, he released her and stepped back. Looking up at him, the young woman gave a smile, "You know... you're his father," she pointed out, "It'd probably make her happy if you spent some time with him, getting to know each other." He stared at her for a long moment, thinking about her words, then nodded slightly. "See you in the morning, Vince." She patted his arm and turned, jogging off to catch up with Sephiroth and the others.
Vincent was sitting at their campfire when Katy awoke, yawning and struggling from her bedroll. Sephiroth was not there, but she could still feel the warmth of where he'd been, meaning that he hadn't been gone long. Yawning again, she pulled her hair out of the braid she'd slept with it in and shuffled in her bag, hunting down her brush to begin taming the tangles.
Aerith and Zack were awake already, chatting on the other side of the fire, Tifa was asleep, and Cloud was missing. Looking around, Katy scrubbed her eyes and hunted down her glasses. They'd really taken some abuse, and she had a feeling that the prescription was getting outdated. "Where's Seph and Cloud?" she asked sleepily.
"Training," Zack replied immediately, gesturing off towards the woods.
Nodding, Katy crawled from her blankets and sat on them instead, still working at her hair. "What's for breakfast?" she asked.
Surprisingly, Vincent held out a plate towards her, "Leftovers," he stated.
Grinning, Katy let her fresh braid drop and took the plate, "Yay, dinner was good."
Silence fell again as she ate, and Katy glanced up from time to time, finding Vincent staring at her. "What?" she asked then swallowed.
"You act just like her," he stated blandly, as if that really didn't have any effect on him emotionally at all.
Shaking her head, Katy finished eating before getting up to go find somewhere to take care of nature, not dignifying his comment with any answer. She'd told him once already that she wasn't Lucrecia, he'd just have to get that through his head- just like Hojo would. Katy refused to be their plaything; after all, she loved Sephiroth. Returning a short while later, Sephiroth and Cloud were back. Smiling, the Cetra from Earth dropped down behind the silver haired man and nibbled his neck. "Morning," she said cheerfully.
Eyes falling half-lidded, Sephiroth took a moment to enjoy her attentions, embarrassing Cloud and Tifa, Vincent outright looked away, and Zack just laughed. Aerith remained silent, but didn't seem the least bit disturbed- after all, she and Zack had been around the pair long enough to get used to it.
Finally, Katy released Seph and sat down beside him. "Ready to go back to Cosmo?" she asked him.
"Whenever you are," he replied.
Taking a breath, Katy looked up at the overcast sky and spoke, "I was thinking... about why the first gate didn't last. I think I figured out why." Lowering her eyes, she looked at the others of the group, "I was using my energy to hold it, and Earth's Lifestream wasn't awake yet. What I need to do is get both planets working together and make THEM stabalize the bloody thing. So, I will try doing that this time."
Sephiroth nodded his agreement, "Except," he added, dropping his voice, "what happens when you channel that much Lifestream?" he just had to remind.
Katy paused at this, "I don't know," she whispered back, "But you're still holding onto the important stuff I told you, right? I can't not cast the gate back, and I may as well make it permanent, right?"
Reluctantly, Sephiroth had to agree and got to his feet, beginning to pack up his portion of camp. The others followed his example, except for Vincent, who just got out of the way after putting out the campfire for them.
Once packed up, the gunman took a seat behind Tifa, on Kede, and they took off, heading on to find a suitable doorway to use. What they found was the archway of an unused gate. The hinges were rusted and the gate broken and hanging sideways. This seemed the best choice, and Katy dismounted, Sephiroth coming to stand behind her in case she collapsed again. Closing her eyes, she took a slow, deep breath, and reached for the Earth's Lifestream, then beyond it to the Planet's.
Contact.
Sephiroth stood stony silent as blue-green light welled up around his beloved, flaring to twice her height. He could hardly see her within the swirling mass of pattern and chaos, and she seemed to stand like that forever, frozen amidst the whirl of color. Slowly, her hands lifted, and tendrils of Lifestream spun off her fingers, wrapping around the arch they'd broken the gate out of, until finally the arch was completely framed in blue-green. Now, the edges started spinning threads inwards, blackness with a blast of cold air washing out snapped into being in the blue-green frame. Chaos swirled within the void that gate opened into, and above, the clouds boiled, lightning flashing within their depths.
Beneath their feet, the earth rolled and rumbled, steadily growing stronger as the darkness persisted in the World Gate.
One by one, the birds were driven to their knees and the trees around them swayed as the wind picked up. Sephiroth fought to stay on his feet, and Katy seemed the only one who was completely untouched by the chaos around her.
Finally, an image snapped into being, replacing the voice, a flash of light went across the sky, and the ground settled. Taking a breath, Sephiroth pushed himself to his feet again as the Lifestream pillar died down around Katy. She tumbled limply towards the ground, and Seph launched forward, catching her before she hit. "Katy!" he called, shaking her.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared up at him.
"Who're you?" she whispered and passed out.
