CHAPTER XXX

THE STRENGTH OF HEART

"Your heart is still strong, Cloud," Tifa said, darkness in her voice. "When you join Leon and me in the Legion of Shadows, we'll truly be a force to be reckoned with."

"Tifa…you can't give in to the darkness…" he stuttered.

Leon laughed, slinging his gunblade over his shoulder like a rifle. "It's way too late for that, Cloud. She's not only given in…she's been consumed. She's a heartless…just like you will be."

Mickey pushed Cloud out of the way as Leon dove at him, gunblade pointing straight ahead. Aerith and Yuffie were knocked back as Tifa caught them off guard with a punch-kick combination.

"Cloud! We can't fight them! Without a heart harvester, we'll never be able to make them whole again!" Mickey pointed out, as Cloud pulled his sword out of its sheath. It hung down by his side as Leon cracked him in the head with the handle of his gunblade. Cloud went down quickly, sliding across the room and stopping only when he hit a heartless ship's wing.

"Well we can't just stand here and let them attack us, Mickey!" Cloud said, hoisting himself up with his sword. As Leon rounded on his for another attack, Cloud sidestepped him, kicking him at full force through the metallic wing of the heartless ship like a cookie cutter through dough. As Leon emerged on the other side, Yuffie was sparring with Tifa against the rocky inner wall of the base. Tifa had her pinned, and she took three strong punches at Yuffie in succession, aimed straight at her head…but Yuffie's reflexes were too quick, as she dodged all three, sending Tifa's fist into solid rock, crushing the rock into dust. Yuffie kicked Tifa backward during an opportune moment, and she flew sideways into Leon. Aerith aimed a strong blizzaga attack at them together, sending them careening into the computer terminal. Sparks flew everywhere as Leon and Tifa stood back up.

"Plenty of time for recruiting later, boys and girls. Don't worry – I'll leave you some company so you don't get lonely…" Leon said, as he opened a portal with one hand and summoned over two-thousand neoshadows with the other. They spawned everywhere – eventually, there was so little room left on the ground and on top of the ships, they started spawning on the ceiling. He disappeared through the portal as Tifa walked close behind, stopping to turn and stare at Cloud.

"Feel what it's like to be part of the darkness…a part of you has been…consumed," she said, disappearing through the portal as it closed shut. Cloud's heart immediately felt as though it was in a massive vice…darkness filled his mind with thoughts of pain…suffering…death…

Cloud was unable to stop clenching his chest…something was in his head, tormenting him…Sep…Sephi…

"Sephiroth…lives…" Cloud gasped, passing out the next instant. Mickey, Aerith and Yuffie didn't have much time to digest this particular bit of information, as they were startled by a figure approaching from behind. Mickey held his keyblade up at the dark haired man.

"Vincent," Mickey said. "We saw the whole thing. We know you're a heartless now."

Vincent said nothing. He raised a lock of his black hair from his forehead, revealing a small, but distinct heartless insignia inscribed on his forehead.

Aerith stepped closer to Vincent, who was now holding his Cerberus triple-barreled pistol out toward Mickey. "You've got some nerve, Vincent. You used to be our friend."

"Don't try that friendship crap with me, Aerith. I used to be whole. I used to be human. Well…somewhat human, at the very least. You know nothing of the pain I've been through," he criticized. "Why don't you become a mindless heartless zealot and then tell me I have some nerve."

"We can help you, Vincent. We can find your Nobody and make you whole again!" Yuffie said.

Vincent shook inwardly, fighting with himself to stay upright. His body seemed to be in pain, convulsing, tearing him away from Yuffie and Aerith and pointing his gun tightly at Mickey. His voice stammered as it defied his body.

"I…can't fight it for long…but I want your help…I…need…" he struggled. His eyes no longer glowed the standard yellow they did on most heartless…they shone through like beacons in the dark night…Vincent's true eyes. Suddenly, they blinked back to yellow and glowed brighter than ever. "I need…to eliminate the barriers that stand between myself and the Dark One. The Legion has made that priority number one."

His voice changed with his personality…going from the Vincent that Aerith and Yuffie knew to a sort of bleak, empty version. He squeezed the trigger, sending three hollow point bullets rocketing toward Mickey. Aerith used a reflera spell to block the bullets, but Vincent was already flying around the room, bounding from ship to ship, avoiding Yuffie's ninja stars.

"Didn't you listen? We can't destroy Vincent just like we couldn't destroy Tifa or Leon! Without a harvester, their hearts will be lost in limbo forever!" Mickey yelled, trying to grab Yuffie's arm.

"Look, I know Vincent's number one priority – don't fight a battle you can't win – and that goes above all else…even if he is in the stupid Legion. It seems most of the Legion members retreat if they sense defeat…so we just need to give him a run for his money!" she explained, pulling away from Mickey and running between the ships on the ground, trying to keep up with Vincent bounding overhead.

Back in the center of the room, Aerith stood over Cloud, attempting curaga magic to the best of her ability. She was a strong healer…but Cloud wasn't budging.

Mickey kept the neoshadows at bay, darting around the room like a spastic pinball. He stepped on one heartless' head, bounced to the next with a spinning keyblade overhead, finally landing in the center of a large group of them with his keyblade pointed down. The resulting shockwave of light sent the heartless in all directions, giving Mickey a little room to breathe.

Mickey held his keyblade over head and screamed 'firaga!', as billowing flames shot out in all directions, roasting the nearest heartless. He did a front flip into a hand stand, flipping and casting thundara every few feet, sending bolts of lightening through the heartless like dark conduits.

Yuffie was running at such high speeds that the ships became a blur around her. She couldn't tell if there were heartless chasing her or not – she didn't care - she just concentrated on the figure with the red tribal marks and the cloak, jumping twenty feet ahead. Vincent turned, jumping backwards now, firing his Cerberus at Yuffie repeatedly…Yuffie dodged every bullet but one, reflecting the last bullet with her ninja star in the nick of time. She used every bit of leg strength she had to jump upward and forward after Vincent…as she gained on him, she drew two ninja stars behind her head and spun, sending them both hurtling at Vincent…

Both stars connected – the first stopping Vincent in his tracks; the second sending him below, crashing into the ground. Yuffie landed next to him and launched into a set of impressive ninja moves. Vincent blocked a few of her high kicks…but she connected with a karate chop to his shoulder, turning him to jelly. She could his knees buckle as he fell to them in front of her, as her ninja stars flew gracefully back to her hands.

Vincent snapped his finger, a portal appearing on the ground in front of him. "You know me too well…" he said, and for a brief moment, Yuffie thought she saw him smile. He disappeared into the portal as Yuffie watched it close. She dashed back to Aerith and Cloud, who had just regained consciousness.

Mickey had done a phenomenal job of clearing out the heartless…there were only fifty or so left of the original thousands…he breathed rapidly as Yuffie led the way back to the Fenrir 2, fending off heartless every once in a while with Aerith's help. Cloud had a little trouble walking…but when they finally made it back to the ship, Mickey and Cloud both sat down on their beds and immediately fell asleep. Aerith and Yuffie at the controls, they took the Fenrir 2 up into the air heading for the automatic doors they had blasted through earlier.

Yuffie gave Aerith a lopsided smile, as they turned the ship around. "Aw, what the heck?" Yuffie said playfully. With one fantastic swoop, Yuffie brought the ship across the entire length of the shipyard while Aerith slashed nearly every ship to pieces from the slash turret.

"That should even the score…" Aerith said as the Fenrir 2 emerged back into space from the seemingly innocent asteroid, plotting a course for Disney Castle.