Tainted Souls

Chapter XIII

Reunion Of The Fallen

Sephiroth stood there, holding Aeris by the neck, sword in hand. He brought the blade back and thrust it forward. A deafening report filled the room as the deadly blow was diverted by one of Vincent's .454 Casull rounds. Sephiroth turned and faced the shooter and walked slowly towards his target. Vincent fired his other five shots at his approaching target. He reloaded when his six shots were spent. This was when Sephiroth made his move. He dashed forward and planted the blade into Vincent's shoulder. The gun fell from the shooter's hand as blood flowed from the wound and flowed onto the blade.

Red XIII pounced at Sephiroth and bite at the man's neck. Sephiroth grabbed the dog by the nape of his neck and pulled him off, raising the creature so that they were eye-to-eye, "Bad dog." he said mocking Red XII.

Red XIII cast Ultima at close range, destroying half the room. When the smoke cleared Red XIII, Vincent, and Aeris lay on the ground. Sephiroth was leaning on his sword. He slowly rose to his feet and walked over to Aeris and raised the sword over his head. The blade came down and the weapon thrust through Aeris's chest. Aeris didn't scream as the blade was pulled from her body. Sephiroth laughed at the girl's fate.

His megalomaniacal laughter was put to an end as claws slashed across his back.

"You killed Aeris, Now I'll kill you a hundred times over you worm." a clawed hand was thrust forward, through Sephiroth's shoulder.

"Impossible." Sephiroth looked on at what could be considered a miracle. Sesshomaru was back.

The sound of parrying blades and the screams of warriors echoed throughout the mountains. Sesshomaru ran lunged over to Aeris' corpse and grabbed the Tensaiga flew from it's sheath and into it's master's hand.

Vincent summoned the strength to get up and grab his gun. He trained the iron sights on the dark form that seemed to be Sephiroth. The blood in his eyes blurred the image. There was another person fighting with Sephiroth, he couldn't tell who it was due to his damage eyes. He fired and the heavy Casull round tore threw the dark figures side, sending him spiraling to the floor. Vincent reached into his cloak and drew out the Tokijin, he felt a strange, dark, evil energy come over him, tempting him.

"Here!" he screamed tossing the blade towards the white figure, the blade landed perfectly on his right hand.

Sesshomaru charged Sephiroth, the two locked blades. The three weapons were locked, it seemed neither warrior was ready to let the other get the upper hand for an instant.

Sesshomaru weakened his push on the blades for a second and then shoved the blades forward, breaking the guard between the them. Sephiroth stumbled back for a second and got his footing back. He leapt out the hole in the wall made by Red XIII's Ultima and jumped into the air hovering ten feet above the ground.

"Bastard." Sesshomaru pounced at his opponent and swung both swords at the same time, there was no way he could block them both. "What!" Sephiroth had somehow not only blocked both of the blades but he had managed to disarm Sesshomaru in the process.

Sephiroth raised his sword over his massive sword over his head and, single handedly, brought the blade down on his enemy. Sesshomaru clapped his hands around the blade and twisted the blade in it's owner's hands. He finally smacked the weapon out of Sephiroth's hands and sent it, spinning, into the snow.

"We'll finish this later." the incarnation of Sephiroth leapt into the air and vanished.

There was a white light, and Vincent saw a sword being swung in front of his eyes. Vincent collapse to the ground, unconscious. Red XIII rose from the hole in the ground where he landed and stared at Sesshomaru, he had never seen anything so divine in his life. The beautiful god of death looked down at the dog and swung his sword in front of him, healing his wounds. The two stared at each other for a moment. Red XIII's nose twitched as he sniffed the air around Sesshomaru, he bowed his head to the dog demon and declared his loyalty.

Spotting Aeris, Sesshomaru dropped the Tokijin and ran over to her side. He knelt down and placed a hand on her deathly white face. She was still bleeding…badly. He looked at the fallen flower girl and picked up her body. He lowered his head so that their foreheads were making contact. Her beautiful, always cheerful face, was filled with pain. Sesshomaru was shaking in anger at the thought of what that bastard, Sephiroth, had done to her.

"You were the only one I ever loved, and that bastard took you away from me. I'll make sure he suffers a million deaths. Each of them worse them the one before. I loved you more then anything else, I'm sorry I couldn't save you." a bloody hand reached up and touched Sesshomaru's face. It moved from his cheek to his chin and rested on his hand.

"Thank…you. I…love you…so much. I…knew…you weren't gone." Aeris looked up, Sesshomaru was in shock. He grabbed the Tensaiga and placed it in between them and closed his eyes. Aeris stared at the blade, when, from the corner of her eye, she spotted several small, impish, spirits staring at her. They moved closer to her and surrounded her, examining the wound in her stomach for a moment. Sesshomaru swung his sword cutting the three imp ghosts in half, they vanished in a puff of smoke.

Aeris looked down at the wound in her stomach. It didn't hurt anymore. In fact the wound wasn't even there. She stared at Sesshomaru, a twinkle in her eyes, and finally lunged at him wrapping her arms around him. She didn't want to let him go, ever.

Vincent and Red XIII left the room when Sesshomaru had healed Aeris. Those two needed time to be alone. Vincent drew a gun cleaning kit from under his cloak and sat down at the nearest table. He began disassembling the Cerberus. He moved the cleaning instruments over the intricate parts of the three barreled .454 caliber firearm.

"I'm very happy for them." Red XIII finally broke the silence. He was curled up on the ground with his flaming tail near his chest to keep him warm.

"You should be. I loved someone once, it's a wonderful feeling. It can empower you, or it can destroy you. It's the most powerful emotions that any creature has. It can run our lives, guide us, show us the light, or corrupt us, mislead us, lead us to madness. Love hurts sometimes, a lot." it took Vincent a while to warm up to people. Not as long as Sesshomaru, but he didn't feel quite comfortable around new people. Red XIII was no exception. He didn't feel quote ready to open up to him.

"I wish I could know how you feel, I'm the last of my kind. Or so that's what I hear." Red XIII turned his head so it was looking away from Vincent. He knew he didn't trust him.

"It must be sad, but I understand your pain, for I am also the only one of my kind. There are no others like me, a victim of mad science." He looked own at his arm and moved the fingers, he listened for the faint sound of the gears moving.

"Well, at least we have our health…that is if it doesn't warm up in here." Red XIII joked. Vincent smiled a little. That was the first time Red XIII had actually had made Vincent smile. It felt kind of good.

Sesshomaru had Aeris in his arms. Aeris was crying from joy, she still didn't want to let him go. She wouldn't. the two of them stared longingly into each others eyes. Their faces slowly moved closer together until their lips touched. As far as Aeris was concerned this was the happiest day of her life.

Sesshomaru finally broke away. "I'll never leave your side."

"I'd like that." Aeris said looking up at him and stared into the enigma that were his piercing, yellow eyes.

They finally let go of each other and got up, Aeris wrapped her arms around Sesshomaru's left arm and walked with him into the next room, the whole time not taking her eyes of him. They walked into the main room where Vincent was smiling at something Red XIII had said. It was funny, he never really smiled much.

Aeris walked right past them and into the bathroom, she just prayed that it had at least running water. Then she could wash her clothes and get the blood of her. Sesshomaru walked in a moment later as Aeris was taking of her jacket. He reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and smiled at him. Her dress was partially unbuttoned, her white bra was exposed through the unbuttoned portion.

"Well, do you like what you see?" she said looking into his eyes with a flirtatious look in her eyes.

Sesshomaru just stared at her unsure of what to say.

"Where's Sesshomaru?" Red XIII asked anxious to leave the cabin.

"How should I know, he vanished when Aeris went to take a…" Vincent shut his mouth and returned to the work in front of him.

"What were you going to say?" Red XIII was sitting straight up now, scratching his ear

"Nothing, kid. Don't worry about it." that weird to Vincent. Even though Red XIII was over almost as old as he was, in his race, he was considered a teenager. That would explain a few things. He acted a little immature at times.

Sesshomaru and Aeris returned from the bathroom, they walked out into the room, smiling, the two looked as if they were about to laugh. Vincent was in shock, even Red XIII, who had been with them for such a brief time knew that Sesshomaru laughing was something that could very well be a sign of the apocalypse.

Aeris plopped down on the moth-eaten couch, bits of dust flew up into the air when she made contact, causing her to cough. Sesshomaru took his eyes away from her and looked over at the new companion, Red XIII. Red XIII's ears perked up and his tail stiffened. He got up and the two walked in circles examining each other. The dog demon and the dog exchanged glances for a moment, they sniffed the air trying to get a feel of the other person, until finally Sesshomaru knelt down and placed a hand on Red XIII's head. The several feather and ornaments on his head seemed to attract Sesshomaru's attention. He stared at each individual feather, clip, and tattoo, try to understand their meaning and purpose.

Sesshomaru walked over to the couch where Aeris was and sat down next to her. Red XIII trotted over and sat on the floor between the two, he rested his head on the couch arm to the couch and looked at Sesshomaru.

"There's been something that has been bothering me lately, may I ask you something?" Red XIII asked Sesshomaru, he couldn't take his eyes off of him.

"What is it?"

"What are you? What Vincent told me was that you were hit by a blast that have easily destroyed the entire island, how did you walk away from that alive?" Red XIII seemed amazed with Sesshomaru.

"I am Sesshomaru, I am a dog demon as you should already know; and for the second question, I was stronger , that's all you need to know." Sesshomaru said patting Red XIII on the head. "We'd better get moving."

Sessho…what a bad-ass huh! Well anyway I got a nice surprise coming up in the next issue, I'll be throwing a new character in the mix, I'll give you a hint, she's the sister of the brother! Oh, if you figure it out please don't tell anyone.