Author's Note:

I'm still participating in Festival of Swords, so don't be surprised if my posting gets really slow. However, I appear to have won the first round. Festival of Swords is an event being held at Silklantern (dotcom), which is a Wheel of Time RP site. I hope to claim victory, but I have some pretty good competition.

Oh, and I still don't own the rights to Final Fantasy or any of its characters.

Chapter Thirty Four

Heavy Cavalry

"Stop the car!" Rufus yelled.

Searing pain shot through his skull, igniting his synapses in a bonfire of agony. He clenched his eyes, and did everything he could to keep from screaming. Distantly, he could hear Aeris making almost whimpering noises of pain, reacting to the same thing he undoubtedly was. They were close. The Planet was screaming to them, calling out its pain, trying to warn them of something.

The vehicle screeched as its driver slammed on the brakes, who was yelling on his handheld radio to the other units to do the same. Rufus was barely aware of any of it through the pain gripping onto him. It was more intense than it had been in Junon, coming over him in pounding waves. And then, just as before, it was over.

But as it disappeared, a brief vision of a man in robes carrying a staff, his skin and hair completely white, flickered before his eyes. A man with a blazing staff, and a superior, emotionless expression on his face. But there was more. There were two others as well. One male, similar yet different, crackling with lightning, and a female, much the same as the two men, but her staff was sheathed in ice. The three seemed to be standing side by side, almost touching, but at the same time, Rufus knew they were separated by a distance of miles.

"Orders, sir?" the soldier up front asked.

"Prepare for an attack!" Rufus snarled.

He looked out his window, assessing their location. They were driving through man-made trails in the middle of the mountains, headed steadily eastward. According to his mental map, they would probably be a little north-east of Fort Condor now, heading towards the old Mythril Mines. Danger was all about him, he knew, but the call, the desperate plee for help from the Planet, was coming from those mines.

"Did you see...?" Rufus asked.

Aeris nodded. "Three figures. Albinos... all have some sort of power. The Planet said... Yenta Pree?"

Rufus shook his head, not sure. Had the Planet called them something? He wasn't sure. There had been far too much pain to concentrate on the details. And yet somehow, this flower girl had managed to go through the same pain he had been in and get more information. Was she that much more focused than him?

Rufus Shinra had always thought himself strong, but knowing that Aeris had managed to get more information than him was a little... humbling. He hated that feeling, but at the same time, he respected the girl all the more for it.

"They're here, aren't they?" Rufus asked.

Aeris shook her head. "No... they aren't. But... I think one of them is. It hates us. I can feel it."

That was all Rufus needed to hear. He leaned towards the driver, ordering, "Tell everyone to get ready for a battle. We can't navigate in this valley that well, so we're going to have to take up a defensive position. Send the order to have the cars form a box with a tank positioned every seven cars. This car will be positioned in the middle of the box, as well as one helicopter. The other four helicopters are to do recon throughout the area. Any soldiers armed with bazookas are to position themselves behind the cars, using them as shields. Keep any swordsmen inside the box. They're the backup should the box be breached. Is that understood?"

The soldier gave a crisp "Yes, sir!" and then repeated Rufus' orders over the radio, assigning specific platoons to certain tasks, and filling in details that Rufus had left out due to his lack of precise military know-how and procedure.

"How long will they wait before they attack?" Rufus asked Aeris.

She peered out the window, and he looked out as well, to see the sun bobbing along the mountainous horizon. "Sunset," she answered. "Four hours, maybe."

He nodded, and knew she was right. During his vision, he had the distinct feeling that these enemies didn't like the light. An idea occured to him.

"Lieutenant," he said to the driver, who was still busy issuing orders.

"Yes, sir?"

"Did we bring any search lights with us?"

The man seemed to ponder, then answered, "Each helicopter is assigned a disassembled one in case of emergency, since the light tends to take up the spot the gunner would normally have. I imagine it will take two hours to put them all together. Aside from that, every soldier is assigned a flashlight in his pack."

Two hours. That would take far too long. He needed those helicopters out scouting, to determine the enemy position before they attacked.

"Recall one of the helicopters," Rufus said. "Have that one as well as the one that will be within the box take out their search lights and put them together. I want them completed by nightfall."

The man once again nodded, and set to giving out orders. All the while, Rufus smiled a dark smile.

Later that day, dusk fast approaching, Rufus patrolled the camp, giving out orders, Aeris close behind him. He had his shotgun holstered at his hip underneath his coat, as well as another special surprise. Murasame was sheathed there, hidden safely, taken from Jenova's corpse after her defeat. When he had made a move to grab Aeris then and allowed Valentine to chase him away, he had done so on purpose. At the time, Aeris has been merely a distraction, to take their minds off the blade. A powerful weapon, indeed. And more suited to his style of swordplay, having been trained as fencer when he was younger. Using the dopplehander Ultima Weapon against Cloud had shown that while the President was a good swordsman, he wasn't suited to the style of the massive blade as well as he thought he'd be.

But now, with Murasame at his hip... it felt right. He felt unstoppable. The urge to find Strife and conclude their previous duel filled his veins, but he knew he'd lose credibility with Aeris. He had to prove himself to her. She was the key to it all.

But that didn't matter. He looked to the horizon, and saw the sun coming down, and with it, the helicopters he had set out earlier to scout. Red lights flashed on their flanks. An old Shinra signal Heidegged had come up with. It meant an enemy was in pursuit.

It had begun.

Author's Notes:

Jeez, when it came to the stuff where Rufus was interacting with Aeris, I just froze right up. I'm really beginning to not like her, heh. As soon as the two separated, though, I had the chapter done inside ten minutes. Hopefully it won't take too long to put the next one up...