Welcome back! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and I appreciate the push. Here's chap 6…and again, I don't own KH. I am planning a prequel to this story, though, to explain everything that's left to questions.

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Wolf's moon 21—Thanks to you for the same! I look forward to more reviews from you and hopefully some other folks too!

Platonic1—Gratzi, Gratzi, for the review.

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That's everyone so far—I look forward to reading all your stories, and please leave reviews!

Chap. 6

--and buckled towards the edge as Cloud's gloved hand fastened around his own. Squall's teeth clenched hard in effort as he strained, trying to pull his comrade to safety away from the open air. He groped blindly behind him with his right hand, trying to find some hold on the smooth concrete for leverage and finding none. He tried then to force himself up, tried to pull Cloud up, but he lacked the strength for anything other than that required to hold the stalemate. In his breathlessness he faltered and nearly lost his hold; fortunately in that same breath Cloud's other hand locked over the side of the platform.

"Damn it!" Cloud heard Squall gasp, and could see the effort etched into every line of his ashen face. The blonde chanced a look over his shoulder, and felt his vision swim a bit: they were a good twenty five feet in the air and rising, and he was still dangling off the side of the platform. At the moment, his weak handhold and Squall were the only things between him and falling. Fighting for every word, Cloud heard him ask: "Can...you climb?"

"I'm trying." He was, but his boots kept slipping on the smooth underside of the rising platform. "I can't...get a foothold." Above them, Aerith was ebbing out of the sheer concentration that her Stop spell was requiring. She was too tired to hold it; too worn out from too many spell attempts to keep up a continuance on her stabilizing chant. Her mental focus slipped and the airship convulsed visibly. There were over thirty wyverns and the guns had ceased to accomplish anything. The Firaga blasts, too, had become much less frequent.

"Hey!" the blonde man was back a third time, trying to get her attention again. He was only about ten feet above her now. "Hold 'er steady, I'm going to get--" he trailed off, and even at the distance she saw his eyes widen. Chancing a look behind her, she peeked over her shoulder.

Oh my God. They were the first words to whisper through her consciousness as she took in the scene behind her: Squall, lying flat and seeping blood onto the concrete, trying to pull something over the edge of the platform and doing so without success. It was when she saw the spikes of blonde and realized what--who-- he was trying to save that her mental hold on the Stop spell slipped again. This time, though, the platform was the thing that suffered from her error: the airship tottered in the air as a pack of wyverns slammed into its other edge, causing the side that the door was on to rock downward. The forewing knocked against the dais and it halted in its ascent, shaking violently.

Cloud felt his left hand slip off the ledge, and for one horrible second he felt Squall lurch halfway over the edge with him. The other youth recovered and twisted halfway back up, though, sliding sideways and pulling up the few extra inches Cloud needed. He allowed himself a short thought of relief as his left hand found its hold again.

"Too close," he panted. Squall nodded a little. Too tired to speak, he was fighting himself again, trying still to muster his strength and pull Cloud onto the platform.

Aerith thanked God silently when the dais stopped shaking and she could see that the guys were still hanging on. The blonde man from the airship had signaled her once more to hold on also, and was running two long wooden planks side-by-side like a bridge between the ship and the platform. She had to freeze and keep her mind clear--she had to hold onto the Stop spell for just a few more moments...

She felt her heart skip a beat when she heard Yuffie's cry of "I'm coming!" She should have been reassured that she was going to help the others, but she was gripped instead by a wave of sudden foreboding.

Squall made it to his knees, panting, managing by some grace of heaven to get one of his legs underneath him. The strain was almost too much, but if he could just pull a little harder, get Cloud a little more leverage, then he was sure he could—

--but then he cut off with the closest sound to a scream he'd ever uttered as five slim fingers dug into the open wound on his right side. Just as the dog's bite had done, the resulting flood of angst struck down all the strength he had mustered. He didn't have any time to compensate, to try to recover from the loss or the shock by pulling back--he just fell, fell forward as his consciousness vacillated into darkness. He didn't even remember what was going on as he let his arm go slack, nor did he feel the pull of the other male that was threatening to drag him down too.

His weight was jeopardizing them both and Cloud, in the split instant he had to think, knew it.

So he let go.

He felt the sickening inertia as the muscles in his left arm buckled and gave under his own weight. The feel of the air swirling around him in freefall and the sight of the platform and airship made him feel oddly blank. He was falling, faster than he would've thought possible, and somehow he didn't care. The others were safe, and as long as they were going to escape he was at ease with whatever happened next.

Battle training took over as he hit the solid concrete: he rolled, spreading out the force of the impact, but not before he heard the snap. Thirty feet's too far for that old trick to work, he mused, climbing shakily to his feet. He found the problem when he tried to assume his fighting stance. One, his sword was still on the platform high above and two, his right ankle couldn't hold an ounce of his weight.

"Wonderful," he muttered aloud, but he had little time to think about it. The shifting mass of shadows was more than enough to remind him of that. "Just wonderful." It was less than a blink before the first Heartless leapt.

Was that acceptable? Yes or no? I'm really getting into this one, I think, and I'm planning a prequel that explains everything about Cloud, Squall, Aerith…please R&R, and thanks so much for those of you that have already!