Tobikunai: Yes, I actually AM alive-

Kansatsu: Dammit.

Tobikunai: And yes, I actually AM updating for once!

Kansatsu: DAMMIT!

Tobikunai: Onward, onward! Oh my God, I absolutely cannot wait to write this chapter! I mean, it has-

Kansatsu: Shaddup! The people don't want you to ruin your one plot twist! (which, I might add, everyone saw coming)

Tobikunai: Oh, fine...

Disclaimer:

Nnnnope, no contract to Squaresoft here... All I own is myself and the sarcastic waste of air standing next to me.

Kansatsu: Hey!

-Chapter Seven-

Aerith stumbled.

She caught the castle wall to right herself, unable to stop her heart from pounding in her chest.

Squall was right, she thought, Something's happening, something bad... I don't know how I know, but... it scares me, all the same... its like I can tell that something's not right. The center of this world is trembling in fear.

"Aerith!" Cloud called over his shoulder, "you okay?"

Aerith nodded, pulled herself to her feet, and kept running. She stepped through the doorway at the top of the stairs, feeling a tiny surge of panic as she saw that the heavy door that usually stood there had been ripped clear off its hinges.

Cloud had frozen just ahead of her, and in her haste Aerith almost crashed straight into him.

"Cloud! What's wr-" Aerith stopped speaking in midsentance. Because it quickly became painfully clear just what was wrong.

"There're thousands of them..." she breathed, "thousands..."

The creatures flew across the sky in swarms, like a huge red cloud descending over the papapet. They were small and sleek and dragon-like, branded with a small black and red heart shaped symbol. And they had the same eyes as the buglike creatures, the same terrifying, unseeing yellow eyes.

"We're completely surrounded." Cloud said quietly. Then, almost without thinking, he took a quick step forward.

Aerith put a hand on his shoulder. "Wait." she said in a small, trembling voice, "Look at them. They're darting around the edges. If you attack, they'll probably fly back a bit, and chances are you'll fall..."

Cloud nodded. Aerith frowned. There must be something she could do... her grip tightened on her metal staff. Wait...That was it! Without a pause for thought, Aerith summoned all her strength. Twirling her staff expertly between two fingers, Aerith took a deep breath, feeling power welling up inside her.

"THUNDAGA!" she cried.

The bolts of lightning spread in a broad range around her, scorching the neat pink tiles that covered the high tower's floor. The creatures scatterd, the slowest of them got hit and vanished suddenly.

"Yatta!" Aerith cried, giving a little victory leap into the air.

"Don't celebrate just yet." Cloud interrupted, "They're coming back."

"Right!" said Aerith quckly. Once again, she closed her eyes and concentrated...

---

"Erm... Squall?" Yuffie ventured in a high pitched, sing-song voice.

"What?"

"This probably isn't the best place to be wandering around."

Squall glanced blankly at the stone Waterway walls. "What are you talking about?" he asked, somewhat irritably. Why the hell did Ansem have to seal this place up with these nonsensical gate puzzles, anyway? It was a sewer, for Kami-sama's sake. It wasn't like anyone was going to sneak into a sewer...

... like they were doing just now. Never mind.

"But can't you hear it?" Yuffie was saying now, her voice rising another octave in panic. "There's something moving, on the other side of-"

"Got it!" Squall interrupted as the gate rattled open. " Er, sorry Yuff, what were you saying?"

Yuffie opened her mouth to answer, but then gasped and took a step back. Hundereds, maybe thousands of shadowy, yellow-eyed creatures streamed from the room beyond.

"-that gate." she finished somewhat lamely.

---

"Blizzard! Firaga! Gravira! Cloud look ou- ack! Curaga, curaga, CURAGA! Aerora... oh... oh no..."

Cloud turned in time to see Aerith slump to the ground. "Aerith!" he called, running over to her. "Aerith, you okay?"

"Yeah..." she said tiredly. "Casting that many spells at once kind of takes a lot of energy, is all... I dunno if I can cast anything else for awhile..." (A/N: In other words, she ran out of MP)

"Okay... then we need to get out of here. Don't worry, I think there's somewhere..."

"The Chapel's just up those steps..." Aerith said in a surprisingly even voice.

"Right."

---

"Right." said Squall with a sigh.

"Yosh!" Yuffie shouted, her previous nervousness apparently deserting her. She pulled a handful of shruiken out of her pocket. "Get out of our way, right now, ya got that? Or else... or else... well, you'll be SORRY!"

Silence.

More silence.

A little more silence.

"Anou...I don't think they can understand you, Yuff..."

Yuffie shrugged. "Eh, they've been warned, ne?" She said, springing, catlike, towards the creatures.

Squall rolled his eyes but sliced through a large amount of the creatures in barely a blink of an eye.

...And nothing happened.

"Well. This isn't good." Yuffie muttered.

A bit of an understatement, considering the circumstaces. Squall looked around, trying to find a way out. Then he saw it. Not excactly what he'd been looking for, in fact not even related remotely to a way out, but at least it was something that could help. A ledger lying open and abandoned on a table in the room they had just opened the doorway to. A report. Ansem's report.

"Yuffie!"

The kunoichi followed his line of sight, bewildered. "What?"

"The report! It's over there- on that table!"

"Heh? Oh, right!" Yuffie swung an arm out of the reach of a small, monkey-like creature, managing to whack a few potential attackers over thehead with her armguard in the process. They jumped right back up again with surprising (and annoying) tenacity.

Yuffie leapt over to the corner, bouncing off walls and using attacking heads as stepping stones. ("Show-off".. Squall muttered.) She landed in the corner seizing the book. As she lifted it, the pages suddenly came loose of their thin binding, scattering across the room in all directions. The creatures leapt at them, grabbig the sheets of paper and fleeing, flying away or fading into the walls, until every single one of them was gone, taking Ansem's secret with them.

A small, torn peice of one of the pages lay on the floor in the center of the room. Yuffie, not knowing what else to do, walked over and picked it up.

Eight words, written in blotted black ink:

Those without hearts... I will call them Heartless.

---

"Sorry... I know I can't have been much help..."

"Are you kidding? I should be saying that. I'm the one who almost passed out back there." Aerith smiled, "So thanks"

"...your welcome... but that wasn't your fault." Cloud said quietly.

"If you insist." muttered Aerith, rolling her eyes. She slumped against the wall, resting her head in her hands. "Just what the heck is going on anyway?" she groaned, "It's getting really annoying just sitting here and hoping to be enlightened. We need answers. Now would be nice."

Cloud nodded. "...that's true. But I guess at the moment, we can't do a lot more than pray that Ansem's pet freaks don't find us here. Though I guess we don't even know for sure that they're Ansem's... this is annoying." Cloud glaced over to the doors of the room- and froze.

Tipatip. Tipatip. One of the yellow eyed creatured skittered across the tiled floor. Tipatip. Tipatip. It set foot in the center of the room. Tip. A red pentagram spread from beneath its tiny feet to the edges of the room. Tipatiptipatiptipatip. The creature ran, pancking, darting away from the mysterious, glowing symbol.

Aertith got to her feet.

A reflection of the pentagram shone, up on the high ceiling. The ground trembled. Suddenly, the two symbols were connected by a pillar of flame. Aerith yelped, jumping out of the way. The flame thinned. In its place stood a tall, silver haired man, katana at his side. He looked up at them both, glaring through icy, blue-green eyes. Slowly, he stretched out a silver gloved hand, and from behind him unfurled a single jet black wing.

"It's been a long time," he said, "hasn't it, Cloud?"

Tobikunai: I agree with Sephy, it has been a long time! Yes, believe it or not, I finally finshed this chapter! n.n I bet you aaaaall saw it coming, but hey I couldn't resist! I mean, it's Sephy! Sephy can add drama and doom and all that crap to ANY serious fanfic! n.n

Sephy: STOP CALLING ME THAT!

Tobikunai: But it's fun! n.n

Sephy: I'll SuperNova you again...

Tobikunai: Oh, yeah right, like I'm gonna stick around for twenety minutes to wait for you to smash a few planets? What kind of moron do you take me for?

Sephy:... no comment.

Tobikunai: Grrr... Well, anyways, the next chapter is... THE EXCITING CONCLUSION! DUN DUN DUUUUUN! I'm gonna miss this fic sooo bad! But oh well, o tanashimi ni!