Author's Notes
--------------------
This is an alternate universe story, so expect a lot of changes.
This version of AR has been censored for language. An uncensored version is available on my website which you can find in my profile.
Check back next weekend for the epilogue.
If you have any questions, ask them in your review or post on my forum. I'll either respond directly, or address them as best I can in the next chapter's Author's Notes.
Luminus
Chapter XIII
Silver and Cold
Deep inside of Sector Seven, the battle had begun to turn against Wutai. Things had been progressing relatively smoothly until Reno had made his appearance. Under normal circumstances the Turk would never live up to his full potential in public, but this was hardly regular day. Since his arrival he had taken out dozens of units single handedly, not to mention quite a few airships. The brief broadcast that had gone out showing Rufus' for the liar that he was hadn't managed to demoralize the Shinra soldiers either, as the main caster screen for this sector had been destroyed during the fight.
Though the storm had finally cleared away, the battle itself was growing more uncontrollable with each passing moment. Sticking near each other, Colonel Miyama, Yuffie, and the three members of Avalanche fought against an advancing wave of Shinra soldiers. Though they had been dug in well, they were now beginning to lose ground as the Shinra army began to rally.
Discarding the gun she'd acquired earlier as the materia inside of it shattered from overuse, Miyama looked around to evaluate the situation when she spotted a red haired man in a blue suit running towards them. Cursing through her teeth, she pulled her sword from its sheath at her hip and prepared to do her best against an opponent she knew she could not beat.
"Look out!" Biggs yelled as he threw Miyama out of the way and tried to leap to safety as well.
With little difficulty, Reno caught him and slapped the weapon from Biggs' hands. Raising his materia gun up, he fired several shots into the man's throat at point blank range. As Biggs collapsed to the ground, dead before his body could even hit the pavement, Wedge cried out for his friend and ran at the Turk. Both Miyama and Barret yelled for the chubby man to disengage, but it was too late for that. With a brutal punch to his gut, Reno sent Wedge stumbling. As the poor man groaned in pain, the Turks right hand began to glow an otherworldly shade of red. With just a touch of his palm to Wedge's face, the overweight man's head was obliterated, leaving only a charred stump for a neck.
"Goddamn you!" Barret shouted with mental anguish as he again pulled the protective glove off of his right hand and aimed his palm at the Turk. A blast of super heated water erupted from the unpredictable bio-materia canon and rushed over Reno's body.
The sheer force and boiling heat of the gushing water would have killed any normal human in a heartbeat, but Reno pushed through it as if it were a splash of cold pool water. With steam rising off of his dripping clothes, he grasped Barret by the throat and pushed him to his knees.
"This is the position people like you were meant for!" Reno cackled. "Groveling before your superiors!"
"Fuck you!" Barret snarled as he pulled at Reno's hand to no avail, all the while continuing to pump boiling water over him from his experimental arm.
With a quiet "thwip", Yuffie hurled a throwing star that did nothing but bounce off of Reno's neck as if it were made of paper. Grinning maliciously, Reno brought his right hand up to strike Barret down once and for all, but then the Turk's eyes went wide and his face paled. Without a sound, he dropped Barret and turned towards the center of Midgar just as the top floor of the tower erupted in a series of small explosions that could be seen from everywhere in the city.
For a moment, the entire battle seemed to come to a complete stop as the sight and sound temporarily drew the attention of all the combatants. To the Shinra defenders it was the most horrifying thing they could ever have dreamed of witnessing. For Wutai it was a sign of hope that heralded a possible end to this long and drawn out war. As the seconds ticked by and the battle resumed, the soldiers of Shinra fought with a greater fury than ever before, born from the fear and anger at what they had just seen. The zealous men and women were now faced with the terrible thought that the Divine Emperor, their god, could be dead, and it fueled their hatred and desire to slaughter every last one of these Wutai invaders.
Staring at the burning summit of the tower with elation, Colonel Miyama couldn't help but fear for the lives of her allies who she knew must have been battling Rufus for such a thing to happen. Completely lost in her thoughts, Miyama snapped back into focus as the clash of nearby swords rang through her ears. It was then that she realized that Reno was gone. She looked to Yuffie, but the assassin only shook her head. She wasn't sure where the Turk had gone either.
Pulling his glove back over his hand to stop the random and dangerous effects of his altered arm, Barret crawled to the bodies of his two friends and grasped at their clothing. Yuffie and Miyama both winced with heartfelt sympathy as the large mans head dropped and he began to quietly cry for his fallen comrades. Yuffie stepped over to him and put her hands on his broad shoulders as they began to shake, but he didn't seem to know that there was anyone else around him at the moment.
With the screams and moans of the dying increasing rapidly, Miyama knew that it was time to go. She yelled for Yuffie to help get Barret to his feet as she reached for her radio and ordered a full retreat. Their goal here had been to cause a distraction so that Rufus could be attacked, and that had obviously been accomplished, staying any longer was suicide. Upon receiving the orders, the remaining airships dropped altitude and lowered their ramps and ladders, laying down magical assaults from their decks as soldiers began to clamor on.
Dependable as always, if a little unsavory, Cid and his Highwind dropped out of the sky and began blasting away at the waves of Shinra soldiers as Miyama, Yuffie, Barret, and many other soldiers climbed aboard. As the remaining ground forces of Wutai began to quickly retreat, the fleet of airships lifted back into the sky and continued raining fire, lightning, and ice down upon the Shinra defenders, forcing them to take cover. The battle at Midgar was drawing to a close, leaving the war torn and flaming wreckage of Sector Seven in its wake.
Sitting inside the relative comforts of his MagiTek armor, General Heidegger tore through lines of Wutai soldiers as they fled from its massive footsteps. Once he began avoiding anyone that was a true threat, he'd been doing quite well, despite the damage he'd sustained earlier. With a guffaw, he sent the suits left claws through a Wutain woman. As the girl's body went limp, he tore her torso in half and sent the pieces flying. He laughed as he watched Wutai beginning to retreat, not even realizing that the top of Rufus' tower was in flames behind them; after all, he was far too busy to take note of such historic events.
Changing course, he found another handful of targets and began charging towards them when a red light marked "emergency" began to blink. Heidegger ignored it; he knew nothing about the suits design or construction, he was only capable of operating it. Reaching the first of his new victims, he stomped the man into a bloody mark on the ground, and then aimed the left hand materia canon at another and fired. As the beam of light vaporized its target, he felt the temperature within the suits cockpit rising rapidly. He thought little of it until the controls began to spark and pop all around him, but by then it was too late.
With a devastating explosion that leveled an entire city block, and incinerated Wutai and Shinra forces alike, the power core of the MagiTek armor erupted from where it had been sabotaged. Heidegger would neither stand in Zahn's way, nor laugh in ignorance any longer.
Marked with the blood of his creator, Vincent Valentine walked the hallways of the Magic and Technology Research Division's floor towards the stairs that would take him the rest of the way up the tower and reunite him with his companions. While he went he heard several explosions come from above, and felt the building tremble. As the lights in the ceiling flickered on and off, he only hoped that this wasn't a bad sign.
The tall man moved slowly as his mind drifted in and out of a hundred thoughts, most of which centered around what he would do now that the only thing that had driven him for decades was gone. It was then that a woman's scream pierced the solitude of his mind. Instantly alert, his eyes darted around in search of the origin; that had been a cry of terror and impending doom, something he was rather an expert at identifying.
The sound was not repeated, but he had a decent idea of what direction it had come from, and so he started out. Moving swiftly through the corridors, he came to an intersection. The right path would take him towards the stairs, the left lead to where he believed the scream had come from. For a moment he stood there in indecision as he weighed which action he should take. Surely searching for his comrades would be more intelligent, but looking to see if some one was in need of help would be the right thing to do; a moral dilemma, one he was not accustomed to.
When at last he chose to search for the woman who had screamed, he turned down the left path only to be stopped by a shout from behind him. Though his reflexes told him to kill, he refrained from doing so as he recognized the voice. Turning back around, he saw the others running towards him as best they could in the battered state they were in. Apparently they had come looking for him.
"Vincent!" Jessie nearly squealed with joy upon seeing him safe and sound. Running up to him with only a slight limp, the girl grasped onto him in a fierce hug, ignoring the blood smearing onto her clothing from his.
"It's good to see you again." He told her.
"Did you do what you needed to?" Cloud asked.
Vincent nodded. "And you?"
"We think so."
"You don't know?" Vincent's forehead creased with concern at that unexpected answer.
"There was an explosion." Tifa explained. "Rufus was right next to it when it happened, and the whole floor kind of collapsed in on him."
"Did he survive?"
"We couldn't get back up there to check." Jessie said. "But he was already pretty badly hurt; I don't think he could have made it through with as weak as he was."
"Then we will hope for the best." Vincent said. Taking note of Aerith, he nodded to the girl. "I'm glad to find that you're safe. We had feared that coming to Midgar alone would be the death of you."
"Thank you for your concern." Aerith smiled to him. None of them had really had the chance to welcome her back as of yet, they had been a bit too busy fighting gods to say hello. "I'm only glad that we were able to put an end to this evil."
"What of Chaos?" Vincent asked.
"We're not sure where it is." Cloud shook his head. "If Rufus had it on him, he didn't use it."
"Maybe he really did only want it to keep it out of his enemy's hands." Tifa theorized. "He might have been crazy, but he seemed to think he was protecting people. I kind of doubt he'd use a doomsday spell like that with his mindset."
"It's possible I guess." Cloud agreed. "But let's discuss it some where else, huh? We need to get out of here."
"Wait!" Vincent exclaimed as he remembered what he'd been doing before they'd arrived. "Some one on this floor is in danger. I heard a scream and was going to help when you came."
"Then let us be swift." Nanaki said. "I fear we will be in great danger if we do not leave this tower soon."
"Come." Vincent nodded and turned back down the left path. Following behind him, it wasn't long until they spotted a large laboratory marked Research Room Three. The thick and seemingly very secure door that led into it was hanging open, revealing a dark room with only an occasional spark of light inside. The most telling aspect was a series of small blood spots forming a trail that led from the hallway to inside the room, as if it had been dripping as some one walked inside.
The party looked to one another with doubt, but pressed on regardless. Inside, the laboratory was quite simply a mess. Whoever or whatever had been here had apparently decided to redecorate, even though doing so hadn't seemed to accomplish anything whatsoever. There were desk items such as paper and pens strewn across the floor. The walls and work stations had been slashed apart by some sort of strong weapon; an enchanted sword perhaps. The light switch had been torn out of the wall leaving the room in almost total darkness. The only source of illumination came from a flickering light inside of a shattered containment chamber on the north wall, similar in design to the one that had held the Atma Ray.
Stepping cautiously into the large and darkened room, they kept their senses on alert for danger, but there were no sounds or movements that would indicate that whoever had done this was still here. It wasn't until they came closer to the destroyed containment chamber that one of its random sparks of light allowed them to see the woman lying at its base. Disregarding caution, they ran to her as another flash of light showed the condition she was in. Though the dress she wore was red by design, the white lab coat she had on over it was not, yet it would be difficult to tell from the amount of blood that was staining it. In addition to the deep wound that had been stabbed into her chest, just between her supple breasts, there were a number of slashes across her body. None of them would have been enough to kill her, though. Whoever had attacked her like this had wanted to watch her suffer.
Leaning down, Cloud checked her pulse but he could already tell that it was pointless. Reaching his hand up to her blank and lifeless eyes, he slid them shut, trying desperately not to let the look of horror on her dead face affect him.
"Scarlet Grant." Jessie said as she looked at the ID tag that was on her lab coat. "I'd never seen what she looked like until now."
"One of the Empire's top scientists." Cloud nodded as he stood up and stepped away from her body. "Weapons research mostly."
"Yeah." Jessie's lips curled. "She probably caused a lot of deaths. It's good to know she won't be doing that anymore."
"No one deserves to die in such a manner." Nanaki scolded the terrorist girl as he looked to the corpse in sympathy. "This woman was tortured to death."
"But by whom?" Aerith asked from the back of the group.
"Who knows, let's just g—" Cloud cut off as a horrible feeling leapt up inside of him, and he turned to look to Aerith.
Just behind the beautiful girl in the violet dress, the shadows moved and as Cloud stared in horror two points of light emerged from the darkness; a set of dully glowing aqua-green eyes slit like a cats that pierced the darkness in a terrifying manner. There was no question as to who they belonged to. No one else had eyes like that.
Time crawled to a halt as Sephiroth Kagemusha came up behind Aerith, and with a gruesome sound the tip of his sword erupted from her chest as he stabbed it through her back. Her beautiful eyes went wide as her blood sprayed out from the swift blow, and her mouth dropped open in a wordless cry of pain. With dark and demented laughter, Sephiroth's left hand grasped at the back of her hair, and with his right foot he kicked her hard in the spine, sending her flying forward and off of the Masamune as he ripped the ribbon from her hair.
Cloud screamed out for her as she was flung forward and into his arms. The second he caught her he dropped to his knees and rolled her onto her back, placing his hands over the grievous wound that was spreading a pool of blood across the floor. As he began to channel all his might into a cure spell that began to flood through Aerith's body, Sephiroth, the man who was supposed to be dead, unwrapped the ribbon in his hand and tossed it aside; in his hand he held the Cetra spell orb, Holy.
"I have what I came for." Sephiroth said as he placed the bloody Masamune back in its sheath at his side. Reaching into the black material of his trench coat he withdrew a second object; some sort of gray and red box with dozens of small circular designs and alien words carved over it. Looking to both of them, his lips split into a smile that could frighten the devil.
"Enjoy your final moments of life, my precious pawns." Sephiroth laughed as his body began to flicker as if it were some sort of illusion.
Upon his words, Tifa instantly closed her eyes and began uttering a very quick spell beneath her breath. Just as she finished her chant, Sephiroth vanished into thin air as if he had never been there to begin with, but the badly injured woman lying on the floor proved that it hadn't been a simple hallucination. The entire ordeal had lasted merely thirty seconds.
Fearing for the life of their friend, the others huddled around Cloud as he continued his healing efforts on Aerith, but it didn't seem to be doing much good. Dropping to his knees, Nanaki added his magical strength to the mix by casting a curative spell of his own. For several minutes no one spoke until at last Cloud broke his concentration.
"This isn't enough." Cloud choked on his words as tears began to well up in his eyes. "I don't know if we can save her!"
"We must take her to my people!" Nanaki ordered as he too broke his spell. "Our skills alone will only prolong her death, but my brothers and sisters could combine their abilities to save her. We must be quick!"
Trying desperately to hold back his tears, Cloud nodded feverishly and pulled a radio from his belt. Handing it to Tifa, he resumed his spell over Aerith's wound. Though he couldn't focus on it right now, there was another very important reason that they needed to leave. Sephiroth had told them they were about to die, which meant that this tower was far from safe.
Everyone took cover and braced themselves as Nanaki stood before the west wall of the Magic and Technology Research Division's floor chanting a spell. As the feline boy raised his hands into the air an enormous column of red and orange fire leapt from his palms and crashed into the wall. Upon impact the wall was blown outwards, leaving a large and gaping hole in the side of the building. Tifa had told Cid to watch for their 'signal' when she'd radioed the Highwind, and sure enough, the aging pilot had assumed that to be it. As its propellers and engines thumped loudly, the Highwind lowered its boarding ramp and edged dangerously close to the tower. With expert piloting, and a little luck, Cid was able to diagonally position the ship well enough that the ramp nearly touched the exit that Nanaki had made for them.
Though they had managed to temporarily stop Aerith's bleeding, the unconscious girl was still in critical condition. Fearing that jostling her may cause the terrible wound piercing her body to tear open again, Tifa used her gray magic to cast float. It was a spell that lifted a person or an object off the ground and allowed it to be moved about freely by the caster. With great care, she used the spell to guide Aerith into the Highwind. The others, who weren't even close to being as injured as Aerith was, jumped onto and ran up the boarding ramp with little trouble. With them all aboard, the Highwind slowly began to move away from the tower just as a large blue light erupted from the first floor lobby. It was some sort of magical attack, possibly even Ultima though they couldn't tell from this distance. As the spell decimated the lobby it destabilized the entire tower. With a thousand terrible sounds, the massive structure began to collapse down on top of the weakened lower floors.
The Highwind sped away from Midgar as Rufus' tower gave way completely and toppled down in a spectacular display of smoke and flame. The entire city shook as the mighty building ironically fell over top of Sector Seven, destroying even more of it than the battle that took place there ever could have.
As the airships ramp sealed again, Cloud and Nanaki instantly began their healing efforts on Aerith. The severity of the wound stopped them from repairing the damage that had been done, but they could stop her condition from getting any worse. Tifa took it upon herself to run through the ship to the command deck where Miyama, Yuffie, Barret, Cid, and Sherra were.
"Cid, we have to go to the Frozen North!" She yelled, silencing the rest of the room immediately. "Now!"
"What are you talking about?" Cid grunted at her.
"We have to go back to the Cetra city we found there! Aerith's been hurt badly, she'll die if we don't get her there!"
"Oh." Cid frowned and turned back to his controls. "Well in that case, hold onto your ass."
As Cid and Sherra plotted a new course, the Highwind began to shift direction, breaking away from the Wutai airships that were all headed east, towards Wutai.
"Now hang on." Miyama argued. "We need to stay with the fleet! We have to see them safely back to Wutai!"
"Not today." Cid grumbled as he continued what he was doing despite the colonel's protests. "We helped you do what you wanted, now you can sit your ass down and let us take care of our girl. Don't like it, we'll drop you and your people off in the ocean."
"It's alright, colonel." Yuffie placed her hand on Miyama's shoulder to stem the tide of anger rising from the young but resolute soldier. "They're right; this is their ship, not ours."
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Miyama sighed as she lowered her head towards Tifa apologetically. "Forgive me, the battle has left me strained."
"It's fine." Tifa said, not really paying any attention to it so long as they were on their way. Turning away she ran back to the crew lounge where Cloud and Nanaki were still trying their best to keep Aerith stable. To her delight a couple Wutai soldiers who knew low level healing spells had joined the cause; though their abilities wouldn't change things much, it was nice to see them trying.
"How'd it happen?" Barret said from behind her. Tifa turned to see that he, Yuffie, and Miyama had followed her out.
"Sephiroth." Vincent said calmly, though his normally expressionless face looked very pained as he stared down at the innocent girl who was dying before their eyes. "He attacked her after the fight with Rufus."
"What?" Barret asked with doubt in his voice. "Sephiroth's dead, man. And even if he wasn't, he's on our side. Why would he attack her?"
"He's right, Barret." Jessie sighed as she hugged her arms. She felt dirty for having worked with the raving lunatic she'd seen in that research room. "I can't explain it, but it was definitely him."
"If you say so." He replied, though he was still unconvinced.
"She is not improving." Nanaki sighed as he broke his spell and sat back. His breath was ragged; apparently all the spell casting had taken its toll on him. "But our spells should be able to keep her alive until we reach my people."
"You're sure they can save her?" Jessie asked with concern written over her face.
"It is her best hope." Nanaki said as he shook his head. "But there is no guarantee; the damage done is extensive. This Sephiroth channeled some sort of spell through his sword when he attacked her. The physical wound itself would have been lethal on its own had we not begun healing her immediately, but this strange spell is disrupting the flow of life throughout her body making it even harder for our abilities to regenerate her."
"She has to make it." Tifa said as tears streamed down her delicate cheeks. "We've gone through too much to lose her now."
"There is another matter that must be dealt with." Nanaki gravely stated. "When we arrive, I will take Aerith to my people and we will do our best to save her. You must find Sephiroth and put an end to whatever his plans are."
"I cast sense on the Holy orb when I saw he was vanishing." Tifa referred to the spell she'd muttered at the shadow warrior earlier as she wiped at her eyes. "I'll be able to track where it is with that."
"What does he have to gain from this?" Cloud asked through gritted teeth as he looked up from Aerith, his eyes glowing brightly from the massive amount of magical energy he was channeling through his body. "Why attack her and steal Holy?"
"I do not know what his purpose is." Nanaki's expression darkened. "Did you see the other item he had with him?"
"The stone box with carvings on it?" Vincent asked.
"Yes." Nanaki nodded. "I have only seen it in drawings, but there is no doubt as to what it was; the central item that Jenova's soul was sealed inside by my ancestors. Though the temple it was kept in had thousands of seals cast on it, the soul itself was placed inside that box. The carvings on it were magical circles and powerful spell words etched there to keep the soul in place and slowly disintegrate it over time."
"So what does Sephiroth want with this seal and Holy?" Yuffie asked.
"I cannot say. What use he would have of those items other than battling Jenova is beyond me." Nanaki sighed at his own ignorance. "But if he truly is as psychotic as I have witnessed, then whatever he plans cannot be a good thing."
Several hours later the Highwind soared rapidly through the cold air of the Frozen North towards an unnatural destination. After stopping briefly to let Nanaki take Aerith to be treated and hopefully cured by his brothers and sisters who had moved here after their home in Cosmo Canyon had been destroyed, they had continued on. Using the sense spell Tifa had cast on Holy they tracked its position, which coincidentally had been less than a hundred miles from where they were. Now as they broke through the cloud cover they could see the place where Sephiroth must be; a massive crater that stretched for miles, with a transparent white dome encircling it.
Flying low, they passed through the shimmering dome with no trouble and could see a pit at the center of the crater that descended into darkness. Several crates, and various types of supplies were strewn about the edges, indicating that there was at least one person down there. With the crater narrowing as it went down, the Highwind was unable to go all the way to the bottom, so the ramp was lowered and everyone, including the Wutai soldiers who had been with them, ran out onto the rocky ground. Strangely enough, the crater's temperature was almost tropical rather than the extreme cold it should have been; perhaps because of the energy dome around it.
As the Highwind remained in a stationary hover, the group of around fifty men and women ran towards the dark pit with Cloud at the lead. Their rush was brought to a halt about halfway there as movement caught their eyes. From all around them, men and women dressed in black cloaks with the hoods drawn down low over their faces began to shuffle out from behind rocks, crevices, crates, and from out of the pit itself. As they looked around in confusion, the black cloaked figures began to slowly move towards them, surrounding them and cutting them off from the pit.
"What the hell is this?" Barret asked, as he rapidly looked around at the still emerging figures. "There has to be a hundred at least."
"A hundred and thirty-five so far." Vincent said quietly as his ridiculously fast eyes took a headcount of the ones he could see.
"And they're still coming." Tifa said, sounding panicked as the figures continuously drew closer.
"We have to get past them." Cloud hissed as his eyes remained fixed on the dark pit that was still a good hundred yards away, and blocked by several dozen of the creepy figures.
"Shit, they aren't even talking." Jessie said as she noticeably shivered. "It's like they're all dead or something."
"We'll be dead as well if we don't do something about it." Vincent said as he slowly pulled his materia gun from its holster and readied to fire.
"We're badly outnumbered." Miyama said as she began giving hand signals for her soldiers to position themselves for combat. "And the Highwind's cannons were spent during the battle at Midgar."
"Look at the way they're moving." Jessie said as she watched the approaching horde shuffle forward. "How hard can they be?"
With an inhuman scream, one of the black cloaked figures launched herself at them with a sudden burst of speed. Squealing with a freakish echo to her voice, she brought a wickedly designed hand scythe out of her robes and slashed it wildly at Jessie. With a curse, she stumbled back away from the disturbing woman's weapon until Vincent shot a lightning round into the dark hood that hid her face. With a sigh that sounded almost joyful, the dead woman dropped to the ground, her hood falling back as she landed to reveal a young but tortured looking face with disturbing eyes of pure white.
As they looked down at the dead girl with terror and confusion in their eyes, Yuffie stepped over to the corpse and shook her head in disbelief.
"It can't be." The young assassin's voice shook. "I knew this girl. She lived in Corel."
"But I thought Shinra attacked the Outlaw City." Tifa said as she kept her eyes trained on the rest of the cloaked people who had not yet moved to attack.
"They did." Yuffie said, her voice a harsh whisper. "But there were a lot of bodies missing when I went there later. I figured Shinra had captured them for information and experiments, but.."
"But Corel was Sephiroth's city." Cloud finished for her as he looked around at the zombie-like figures with a mixture of hate and sadness. "Maybe he took them instead of Shinra."
"What in the hell is going on here?" Tifa shivered as she watched them.
"He must be controlling them somehow." Vincent observed. "They don't seem to be of their own minds."
In what could almost be mistaken for a response to Vincent's theory, the cloaked people begin to sway back and fourth in unison as if there were music coming from somewhere. As one voice, the disturbing group of defenders began to chant a single word in a way that chilled them all to their bones.
"Sephiroth."
Cid and Sherra watched from the command deck of the Highwind as the nearly two hundred figures in black all howled at once and attacked their friends and comrades. Skilled as they may be, there were a lot of the frightening attackers to fight off, and it wasn't going to be an easy battle. Spewing out nearly every curse word in his vocabulary in one amazingly filthy mumble, Cid ran to a locker at the back of the room. Throwing it open, he withdrew a long and dangerously tipped lance and turned for the exit.
"You're not going out there are you!" Sherra shrieked at him, though his intentions were painfully clear.
"I can't just stand here and watch them get slaughtered." Cid grunted as he looked back out the side windows at the fight. "I may be older than most of 'em, but I can still kick an ass or two."
Sherra's face showed signs of the emotional conflict going on inside of her. She didn't want to see the people she'd grown to know and care about get killed either, but she didn't want to lose Cid most of all. Still, he'd made up his mind, and she knew there was nothing she could do to stop him. At long last she lowered her eyes and whispered. "Please be careful."
"You know me." Cid grinned, trying to cheer her up somewhat.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Sherra smiled half heartedly at him.
"Yeah, well, I guess so." Cid scratched at his head and then turned towards the exit before stopping and looking over his shoulder. "Listen, if worse comes to worse…send the Highwind crashing into that pit and get out of here on the escape ship. Maybe that'll stop this crazy bastard if we can't get to him."
Sherra didn't look thrilled about that possibility whatsoever, but she nodded anyway. Not knowing how else to say goodbye, Cid ducked through the exit before he could screw the moment up any further and ran towards the boarding ramp. As he went he pulled a cigarette from his pack and shoved it between his lips. He stopped at the top of the ramp just long enough to light the stress relieving item, and then after a long drag, he ran out into the crater.
With a booming shout Cid leapt into the battle, using his lance to pole-vault him over the heads of several of the black cloaked figures and into the midst of a few Wutai soldiers. There were already several bodies strewn about from both sides of the fight, and with a twirl of his lance and a hard jab into one of the shrouded men's guts, Cid added another to the tally.
"Take that ya creepy bastards!" He shouted as he swung the dead body into a few more oncoming freaks.
He hadn't expected much of a greeting, which was good because the others had their hands far too full to stop and say hello. So far Vincent and Jessie had dealt the most damage. With his feral strength and materia gun, and her explosives, they'd made short work out of a good number of their frenzied enemies. Unfortunately, they were still losing. The black cloaked attackers seemed to be in a trance like state; they were completely disregarding their own safety as they assaulted, which made them far more difficult to fend off than any normal person.
As Tifa sent a sharp kick into one of the zombie like men that knocked him flat on his back, she took a moment to glance around while bouncing in her always ready combat stance. Things were looking grim. They were being overwhelmed; many of the Wutai soldiers who were with them had already fallen, and it seemed likely that they would be joining them soon. As she faced the possibility of her own demise, she realized that if nothing else, she didn't want her death to be in vain. Whatever Sephiroth was doing, it had to be stopped.
"Cloud!" Tifa shouted as she jabbed another black clad woman in the throat. She wasn't sure where he was at the moment, but she figured he could hear her if nothing else.
"I'm here!" The blond warrior called back as he came up alongside of her, shattering the spine of one of the crazed men as he did so.
"You have to go!" She said without facing him, she wanted to say more, to do more with what would very well be the final moments of her life, but she had to keep her focus on the battle. "Stop Sephiroth, we'll take care of things here!"
"There're too many of them!" He argued as he dodged one of the hand scythes they all seemed to carry and threw a hard punch into the wielders left eye. "I can't leave you here to die!"
"If you don't go now no one will be alive to stop that crazy bastard!" She yelled as she landed a solid kick to a hooded mans rib cage. "And if he really is controlling them then taking him out may be the only way we'll make it out of this at all!"
Cloud looked over his shoulder at the beautiful warrior fighting behind him, desperately wanting to say something, anything, but nothing came to mind. Tifa was right, and he knew it. At last, with gritted teeth, he broke away at a sprint. Not looking back, he held his Buster Sword out in front of him and channeled a quick thunder spell through it, using it as a shield to plow his way into the crowd of deadly foes. As the Buster Sword hit against the dark cloaked men and women the electrical currents running through it sent them flying, paving a small path for him that closed in behind him as quickly as it had opened. When at last he broke through, sustaining only a few minor cuts and bruises, he took a running leap into the pit and was quickly swallowed up by darkness.
With a thud, Cloud's shoulder hit the rock wall of the pit on his way down, causing him to tumble and eventually land on his back in a pained heap. With a groan he pushed himself up, wincing at the pain from what would most certainly be a fresh bruise beneath his left shoulder guard. The pit had been a good fifteen feet deep and opened up into a small tunnel of smooth rock that extended further down at an angle. With a grunt he lowered his legs into the tunnel and let himself slide to the bottom, where he rolled to a crouch. Here, beneath the surface at the center of the crater, was a dreamlike room of darkness. The ground he was on ended not five feet in front of him and dropped off into a seemingly endless abyss. Yet several platforms of rocky formations floated amidst the darkness, defying gravity as they gently swayed in the black air like lily pads in a pond. Coming up from the darkness in many places were semi-transparent wisps of green that he could by now recognize as traces of the lifestream.
Further into the darkness floated a large a sculpture carved from thousands of materia orbs that had been meticulously carved to form the image of an enormous heart. The abnormal statue even seemed to beat with an eerie pulse of light, and floating in mid air above it was the Holy orb. Just in front of it, standing on one of the many floating rock platforms with his back to him, was Sephiroth Kagemusha. As Cloud slowly stood to his feet, Sephiroth turned around. Gone was the heavy black trench coat he had typically worn. He now stood bare chest, his practically perfect muscles and body structure painted in strange patterns of red similar to those that had been on the Jenova seal he had stolen from Rufus' tower in Midgar.
"Hello my puppet. We meet again at last." Sephiroth said, his voice tinged with malicious intentions as it echoed through the wondrous and frightening chamber. "I trust you enjoyed the welcoming party of toy soldiers I left outside for you?"
"You tried to kill Aerith!" Cloud shouted across the cavernous darkness, ignoring Sephiroth's vile comments. "I'll make you regret that!"
"Tried?" Sephiroth chuckled with cruel laughter. "You mean she survived? She must be stronger than I had thought."
"Apparently you are too!" He replied with an angry yell. "Or did Reno just go easy on you back when we thought he'd killed you?"
"Oh that?" His lips thinned into a sickening smile. "That was merely my shadow. I'm sure that our Turk friend thought I was dead, but then, that's what I was planning."
"Your shadow? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You mean you don't know?" Sephiroth looked momentarily disappointed. "And to think you were recreated in my image, yet you know none of the power I command. I haven't left this crater in years."
"What?" Cloud looked at Sephiroth as if he were stupid. "That's absurd! You were right there with us!"
"As I said before, that was only my shadow. I projected it from here using some of the more impressive, and arcane, methods I have discovered during my time in the lifestream."
"The lifestream?" Cloud glanced around the room at the green wisps. "You know about that?"
"Do you take me for a fool, boy?" He snarled with sudden agitation. "I located this crater not long after I destroyed your precious little home. I have absorbed much knowledge from the lifestream in my time here, far more than you could possibly believe."
"There goes your little 'reformed villain' routine, huh?" Cloud shouted as additional fury began to boil up inside of him over the mention of Nibelheim. "Tell me, did hearing about your real birth from Vincent really make you lose your mind, or were you just fucking crazy to begin with and just hid it well!"
"You simple human." Sephiroth smiled with maniacal glee. "I didn't lose my mind. I unlocked it. The realization that I was a creation drove me mad, but it also opened my eyes. As I wandered the wasteland you call the Nibel Mountains, I came to understand my true reason for existence! Created though I may have been, Hojo placed the power of Jenova within my body before I was even born! Those cells grew with me, becoming one with my mind and my body, transforming me from any mere creation and into the child and heir of the greatest living organism in the universe!"
"You're out of your fucking mind!" Cloud shouted as Sephiroth ended his insane rant. "Jenova was a murderous demon; you talk about her like she was some sort of god!"
"Mother was a god!" Sephiroth's voice boomed through the cavern.
"Your mother was a Cetra woman named Lucrecia!"
"She may have birthed me, but her genetic code was long ago replaced by my true mother, the Greater Demon Jenova, destroyer of worlds and controller of life!" He roared in madness. "And on this day I will take up my inheritance and continue her noble work!"
"Her work?" Cloud repeated quietly as he stared at the madman in horror. Jenova's 'work' had been the genocide of entire worlds, how could he possibly think he was capable of continuing such a terrible thing?
Oh my god.
"It was you!" Cloud breathed out in horror as he suddenly understood it all. "You were the one who killed Tseng at the Cetra Temple, not Rude! That's why we couldn't find Chaos on his body! You took it!"
"Very good, my pawn." A dark grin spread over Sephiroth's face as he slowly lifted a black sphere up in his right hand. "And with it I shall ascend to god hood and make my mother proud."
"That's not how it works!" Cloud argued, knowing that it was pointless with some one as crazed as Sephiroth clearly was, but also realizing what would happen if Chaos was used. "It's going to destroy everything on the planet, including you!"
"I see the Cetra have told you much." He chuckled. "But not enough; with the immense knowledge of the lifestream as my ally, I have learned all I need to know to see my dreams come to fruition. You see, Holy, though damaged and mostly uncharged, acts in natural opposition to Chaos. The dome of light you surely passed through as you came here was a field that I've placed around this place using its power. It will protect me from the devastating effects of Chaos."
"That's not going to make you a god, that's just going to give you dominion over a dead world!"
"Ah, but that is only the protection." Sephiroth smiled as he turned his head and patted the sculpted materia heart behind him. "You see, at the center of this is the Jenova seal that I obtained in Midgar. I have reversed the effect, and the materia here will amplify its power. Rather than sealing and destroying the soul of Jenova, it will now absorb and contain the lifestream itself! As Chaos annihilates all life on this pathetic world the lifestream will grow immensely and be swallowed up here where I can claim its mighty power and knowledge as my own!"
"So is that why you led us along and convinced us to fight Rufus!" Cloud shouted. "He may have been demented but he didn't want the world destroyed! He would have stopped you, so you tricked us into killing him while you ran around and stole all the items you needed!"
"That's right my puppet." Sephiroth's eyes glowed in the darkness with sadistic glee. "And now the only way that you can stop this is to kill me yourself."
With a flick of his wrist Sephiroth tossed the Chaos orb into the air above him where it stopped and began to spin in place in front of the sculpted heart and Holy. As a dull glow began to emanate from the doomsday spell device, Sephiroth's Masamune appeared in his hands and he and Cloud both began leaping from platform to platform above the abyss towards one another. As they both landed on the same hovering rock at once their swords crossed with a metallic ring and began the battle that would decide the fate of the world.
In the city of Midgar soldier and civilian alike wandered the streets in disarray. In the uneasy silence of the afternoon that followed an unthinkable morning the citizens of the once proud city gazed around and tried to come to grips with what had happened. Some had seen the brief broadcast in which their Divine Emperor had said awful things, and those who hadn't were quickly hearing what it had shown. Some of them believed and some had denied, but all were confused. Now, as they looked upon the burning rubble that was once the tower and Sector Seven, they began to doubt that they would ever see Rufus again, god or not. In a single, disastrous day they had lost their sense of security, a large part of their city, their god, and their faith.
With Heidegger now out of the way, Zahn had taken command of the army. Rather than allow them to chase after the fleeing Wutai invaders, who were now well on their way back across the ocean, he had ordered them to fortify the city and pacify anyone who threatened to make a bad situation worse. As of yet, neither the Lieutenant General, nor the High Priestess in Kalm had made any sort of official statement regarding the events that had transpired. Rumors were spreading that Elena had been prepared to make a broadcast over the Caster News Network when word of the towers destruction had reached her, and that she had not left her office since then.
As soldiers patrolled the streets, blockading any path leading to the burning remains of Sector Seven while simultaneously trying to put the fires out and search for survivors, they ushered civilians back to their homes. Still, despite Zahn's best efforts, thousands of men and women still walked aimlessly through Midgar, all wondering what they would do now that their lives had been shattered.
In the midst of this despair, a new menace appeared. Though the morning storm and its clouds had vanished hours ago, the afternoon sky began to darken as if it were night. As the citizens of Midgar watched in terror new clouds that were tinged red like blood began to form from nothingness until they covered the sky. A foul and strong wind began to pick up and whip through the sky, howling like the souls of the damned. There was no rain, but dozens of funnels swirling with red and black began to dip down from the nightmarish clouds. Unlike any normal tornado, the moment the horrendous cones touched down and began to tear the city apart, the debris that was flung around began to deteriorate.
The people of Midgar screamed and ran for cover as the terrible red storm tore through their city and the surrounding region. As the twisting tornados shredded and disintegrated building after building, smaller trails of smoky red fog began to dart down from the sky like tentacles, striking individuals at random and burning their bodies to ash in an instant. No one knew what was causing this unnatural storm, but those who still had faith screamed out to their dead god for protection while others cursed his name for forsaking them. Little did they know that Midgar was not alone in this torture; the red storm that had been created by the Chaos orb was swiftly appearing all across the world.
The fight with Sephiroth's unknowing followers had drifted away from the pit and to a high rising rock wall. Though they had fought valiantly, most of the Wutai soldiers were now dead, and those who hadn't fell yet were on the brink. The zombie like followers had diminished in numbers greatly, but unlike their hapless victims, their burnt out minds did not give in to fatigue, despair, or pain.
Tifa's back hit the rock wall as one of the black hooded men pushed her off of him and clawed at her with his bare hands as he hissed almost like a serpent. Tifa winced as a wave of fresh agony washed through her tired body from the impact, but pushed it aside as she readied her defense once again. As the man lunged at her, she sidestepped away and brought her knee into his stomach, leaning her weight into it as best she could to send him to the ground. Panting from exertion, Tifa wiped at her forehead, her tired and dizzy mind not registering that there was another attack coming from her left.
With a quiet swish, several sharp throwing stars were embedded into the dark clothed mans face, delaying his assault just long enough for Tifa to realize she was in danger and move into action. The martial artist turned and kicked off the rock wall and used it to propel her other foot into the man's face. With a sickening crunch the blow sent the stars deeper into his bone, and he fell to the ground in a twitching heap. Coming to her feet, Tifa turned and gave a brief nod to Yuffie for saving her ass before moving on to the next opponent.
Yuffie herself, along with Cid, was doing her best to keep a defensive position around Colonel Miyama who had been injured not long ago by one of Sephiroth's brainwashed followers. Though the deep cut in the young tactician's leg wasn't enough to kill her, it had effectively ended her ability to physically combat the attackers. Vincent, who could use brute force as well if not better than a weapon, had given Miyama his materia gun so that she could still contribute by firing shots from where she lay against the rock wall.
With a rasping hiss one of the black cloaked men lunged through the rest and reached Yuffie before the assassin could stop him. He grasped her slender neck and started squeezing. Choking from his grasp, the young girl landed a sharp jab to his face with her left hand that knocked his hood back. As his face was revealed, and his cataract eyes narrowed, Yuffie found herself suddenly unable to fight. The man who was choking her was Jeran; the former Turk who had helped set up many of their connections within the Holy Shinra Empire. Though the others had only briefly met him during their time in Corel, Yuffie had known the man for years. Even as he continued his attempt to crush the life out of her, she couldn't bring herself to fight back; Jeran had been a good man, and apparently he too was now a victim of Sephiroth's treachery.
"Yuffie!" Miyama shouted at the girl when it became clear that she wasn't going to fight back.
The assassin could not respond, even if she had wanted to. She would rather die than kill a man she had called a friend for so long, even if his mind was already gone. Seeing this was the case, Miyama took it upon herself and shot three fire based rounds from Vincent's materia gun that blew smoking holes through the side of Jeran's head. With an almost peaceful sigh, Jeran's grip on Yuffie loosened as he collapsed to the ground, and the young assassin fell down with him, her hands laying over his chest as tears began to stream down her face.
"Come on kid, this isn't the time!" Barret yelled from her right where he'd just been knocked to the ground and had used the immense power of his gloved arm to knock the woman he was fighting through the air.
Yuffie didn't say anything in response, but with newfound determination and hatred in her eyes, she leapt up from the dead body of her friend and let loose a scream that echoed through the crater. With swift movements she darted headfirst into the oncoming attackers, ignoring the threat to her life that such a move would cause. Drawing a short bladed nodachi from her belt, she ducked low and slashed left and right, cutting the knee tendons of two of the practically walking dead to send them to the ground. With a single and powerful backwards flip she distanced herself before darting forward again. Taking a running leap, Yuffie flipped through the air, placing her hands on the shoulders of a frenzied woman and coming down behind her. With a snap, the assassin twisted the woman's neck and let her body drop to the ground before instantly darting to her next target.
Realizing that she was going to get herself killed by straying away from the rest of them as well as the limited protection that the rock wall offered them, Vincent and Jessie both plunged headlong into the crowd too. Sustaining blows and cuts, the two of them fought hard to reach Yuffie and pull her back to the rest of them. Succeeding at last as Vincent used the bestial strength and his gauntleted arm to swipe five of the black clad followers out of their path in a single blow. Though being drug back to the wall didn't seem to calm Yuffie down in the slightest, she did at least acknowledge that it would be wiser to stay here.
As their muscles began to ache and their resolve began to waver, they fought on, hoping that they could hold on long enough for Cloud to do his part.
With a flash of metal and a loud clang, the Buster Sword and the Masamune met in mid air as their wielders fought atop the floating rock platforms. For a brief instance they engaged in a power struggle that would normally have gone in Cloud's favor thanks to the heavier and more durable sword, but Sephiroth's katana was enchanted with numerous spells that allowed it to match up just fine. The two each pushed off and took several steps back, distancing themselves from each other for the next attack and defense. Behind the two warriors, the sculpted materia heart pulsed like it was alive as the lifestream wisps around the area began to flow into it. The chamber flashed with multicolored light as the heart absorbed the lifestream being fed to it as Chaos began to consume the world.
Sephiroth laughed maniacally as he charged forward, using his amazing speed to slash a zig-zag pattern through the air that Cloud was barely able to parry. Not pausing for a moment, Sephiroth lunged again, only this time he dropped his sword hand down at the last moment and swung his left foot around in a kick that caught Cloud off guard and sent him stumbling back. With a frenzied and last minute jump, the blond haired youth leapt off of the platform just before he would have fell off the side and landed on another floating rock about five feet away.
Not letting up for even a moment, Sephiroth leapt high into the air and came down with a slash of his sword that Cloud just managed to roll away from. As the enchanted Masamune slashed the ground it left a black line where the fire materia within it had scorched the rock. With a shout that echoed through the otherwise quiet and fantastic chamber, Cloud ran at him before Sephiroth could fully return to his feet. A heavy left bound swing of his Buster Sword struck only air as the silver haired man fell flat to his back, then onto his feet in an impressive flip.
A wordless noise of exertion escaped Sephiroth's lips to accompany the quick punch to Cloud's sternum that was followed by a palm to the younger mans nose. With a crunch, a gasp and a spray of blood, Cloud was knocked to the ground, his nose broken. Groaning from the pain, Cloud barely managed to scramble out of the way as Sephiroth's boot smashed down into the ground from a flying kick.
The outcome of this battle seemed painfully clear to Cloud; Sephiroth was too fast and too strong for him to take down, especially in his current state. In less than eight hours he had fought through Shinra soldiers in Midgar, infiltrated the tower, done battle with Rufus, exhausted himself on healing spells for Aerith, and then muscled his way past the men and women Sephiroth had converted into his mindless followers. He was tired, he was bruised, he was battered, and he was losing. Sephiroth, on the other hand, was in perfect condition, and was even enjoying himself. He was just too powerful.
That's not true.
Cloud's eyes went wide, both from the sword slash he narrowly avoided as well as the familiar and beautiful voice that had just spoken inside of his mind. Was his pain just causing him to hear things?
Hojo recreated you in Sephiroth's image. The feminine voice continued. He may have more abilities and knowledge than you due to his studies of the lifestream, but your raw power equals his own. Now fight, you must win!
Aerith; there was no other person it could be. Was it all in his head, or was she really communicating with him some how. The young girl was half Cetra; perhaps she was speaking to him through the lifestream that he was so finely attuned to. Bugenhagen had told them that the Cetra had many abilities; could this be one of them? But if it really was her, was she speaking to him through the lifestream while in her unconscious and badly wounded state?
Or has she died and returned to the lifestream herself? The thought made him feel as if he would collapse.
A sudden flash of pain from his left arm brought him back to the fight as Sephiroth managed to lay in a hit. It wasn't deep, only a flesh wound really, but it still hurt like hell. Grinding his teeth from the pain and in renewed determination, Cloud placed both hands on the hilt of his cleaving sword and swung it hard to the side. Moving quickly with steps so swift and perfect that it could nearly be a dance, Sephiroth fell into a defensive position and parried the blow. In retaliation, Cloud took a sweeping step to his left and threw his body weight around, flinging himself into a half spin that sent his sword arm hurling in the opposite direction. Sephiroth again blocked, but did so with a quiet grunt of effort this time.
"So maybe there's some fight in you after all!" The shadow warrior laughed as he took a single step back and then brought his katana straight down in a hard slash.
Not bothering to respond with words, Cloud let his combat do the talking for him. As Sephiroth's sword stroke fell, he brought the Buster Sword up and deflected it off to the side, leaving his opponents arcane painted chest open briefly. With a hard shoulder check, Cloud sent the silver haired maniac stumbling. Regaining his balance with a high back flip, Sephiroth landed back on the platform they had started on.
Cloud took a running leap and arrived next to his equal, ignoring the grinding pain that pounded through his bones upon impact. To stop Sephiroth from striking him down right away, he swung wildly to his left, forcing the other man to keep his distance as Cloud pushed himself to his feet. Growling in anger while simultaneously grinning from the thrill of the fight, Sephiroth dropped low to the ground and swung his right ankle out in a low kick that knocked Cloud's legs out from under him and sent him to his back. Quickly, Cloud brought his Buster Sword horizontally in front of him as the Masamune came crashing down at him. Sephiroth was only slowed by the block for a second, but it was enough for Cloud to pull his legs up and send both feet hard into his adversary's chest.
Sephiroth was thrown through the air, but curled his body in and rolled into a crouch when he landed on the ground. Instantly he pounced at Cloud just as the blond haired man had forward flipped onto his feet. Cloud was a split second late in bringing his Buster Sword out to parry and Sephiroth knocked the heavy weapon out of his hand with a hard punch to his lower arm that caused him to lose his grip on it. Cackling madly, Sephiroth brought his katana back and drove it hard at Cloud's chest.
Cloud cried out in immense pain as the sharpened steel slid through his body, passing through his side and erupting out of his back like a hot knife through butter. Though an attempt at dodging had caused the blade to miss any vital organs, it wasn't the type of wound that would leave him alive for long. At least Sephiroth hadn't opted to use any of the blades enchantments during that strike, or he'd probably be dead regardless. Grinning from ear to ear with an insane glint in his bright, cat-slit eyes, Sephiroth used his physical strength to lift Cloud up into the air, causing him to slide all the way down the Masamune until he hit its hand guard. Cloud cried out again, biting down hard on his lower lip as blood poured down the sword and over Sephiroth's arm.
"You are only a copy, after all." The silver haired maniac's shoulders began to tremble as dark laughter boomed from his lungs.
Cloud's anger and hatred roared up inside of him as he stared into Sephiroth's gleeful face. No matter how severe his wound, he couldn't lose. If he died now, Sephiroth would maintain his summon of Chaos, and the world would be destroyed. He couldn't let that happen, and he wouldn't. Aerith, if that really was her, had been right; Hojo had made him as strong as Sephiroth, and he'd seen Sephiroth overcome wounds and odds greater than even this before. As these thoughts rushed through his mind, several of the lifestream wisps that were growing more and more frequent throughout the chamber broke from the pull that the materia heart had over them and began to flow into Cloud's body.
"I am not a copy." He hissed out through hard clenched teeth as the lifestream filled him with renewed strength. "My name is Cloud Strife!"
Despite the overwhelming pain, Cloud reached down and gripped Sephiroth's wrist. The shadow warrior made a nearly nonexistent sound of anger and pain as he tried to pry the blond's hand off with his free one, but was unsuccessful. With a loud shout and sudden burst of strength that was fueled by the lifestream and his will to see this deranged man dead, Cloud squeezed his hands down, and Sephiroth's wrist crushed in with a terrible sound. Sephiroth roared in pain as all the strength going to his sword hand failed him and he dropped Cloud to the ground.
Groaning in agony, Cloud somehow managed to push himself to his feet despite the sword still sticking from his side, and with a howling cry of torment he pulled the Masamune out of his body. As blood dripped from the thin blade, and poured down his clothing from the wound, Cloud took one stumbling step forward and then lunged at Sephiroth with feral eyes and an echoing scream. With a gasp of shock, Sephiroth was thrown to the floor as Cloud ran straight into him, tackling him to the ground and falling on top of him. There was a sickening sound as the Masamune plunged into its owners chest, and a gravely crunch as it stuck into the rock beneath him.
Pushing himself up with trembling arms, Cloud screamed in Sephiroth's face and pressed his weight against the sword, twisting and pushing it up as he did so. Sephiroth's eyes went wide as he let out a scream that shook the platform they were on but faded into a wordless groan as quickly as it had begun. For a long moment there was no sound other than the ragged breathing from both injured and dying men, but then the silence was broken.
"So in the end…" Sephiroth gasped out, his voice reduced to a horrible rasp, as a mouthful of blood began to cascade over his lips and down his cheeks and chin. "…the puppet becomes the master."
With one last scratching breath, Sephiroth's head rolled to the side, his dead eyes staring blankly into the abyss. Shaking from indescribable pain and exhaustion, Cloud slowly turned his head and looked back to the sculpted materia heart. Chaos and Holy ceased to spin and fell from the air to land with heavy thuds on the platform they had been hovering above.
At last it was over. Time passed as he stared with glazed eyes at the inactive Chaos orb, thoughts racing through his mind as he tried to hold on to what life he had left. Eventually he heard voices and footsteps, but he didn't have the strength to look and see who or what they were from. He hoped that the others were safe, but he felt so tired that he simply couldn't stay conscious. Cloud Strife released long sigh, and let his eyes close as he slumped to the ground.