Chapter 3

The Black Creatures

Reno had never run around so frantically in his life, he wasn't the only one. Vincent was yelling out orders and people were scrambling as fast as possible to do what he asked. As soon as Vincent said something about the end of the world, naturally, everyone was going a mile a minute. It might have been because of what they were rushing toward…the Ancient. Reno of course didn't exactly have a healthy relationship with Aeris Gainsborough, but he knew well enough everyone else there did. The only reason he hadn't scurried off was because when a guy like Vincent Valentine says something about the end of the world you generally tend to believe him.

Vincent was reading over some files he'd pulled from the connected room, luckily for them the files on how to work all the machinery was very simply laid out. Being that the place looked more and more like a Shinra construction…but from the future…combined with the fact Vincent had once worked for Shinra, made the process very quick. Time wasn't on their side to begin with.

"Do we have any idea what else is gonna come back with her?" Reno asked Vincent.

"You mean like other than one of those creepy guardians?" asked Yuffie.

"Yes," Reno replied.

"No, no idea," Vincent replied not looking up from the files.

"Great," Reno muttered.

"Hit that switch over there while you think about it," Vincent said pointing to a switch a few feet away.

Reno sighed and did so.

"How much longer?" asked Yuffie who had just finished connecting one item she knew nothing about to another item she knew nothing about.

"According to the files," Vincent read it over for a second, "Cloud, we need Materia."

Cloud looked up from what he was doing with surprise, "This thing runs on Materia?"

"Apparently," Vincent replied.

"That would have been nice to know in advance," Yuffie muttered.

"I can get anywhere in no time," Cid said, "just any Materia?"

"Lightning element," Vincent said, "says here they specifically calibrated it for lightning."

"Go to Aeris' church, they're all there," Cloud said.

Cid nodded and charged away.

"What happens after Cid gets the Materia?" asked Tifa.

"Then we turn it on and hope the guardian doesn't kill us before we explain ourselves," Vincent said.

"Y'know I really hate how you answer questions," Reno complained, "you said that kind of thing when you could have just said 'then we bring her back' or 'then we turn on the machine.' Did you really have to be so painfully obvious?"

Vincent just looked at Reno unsure how to respond.

"Shut the hell up and hit the switch Turk," Barret yelled from across the big room.

Vincent shrugged and looked back to the files, "Not too long now."

§

Outside, Cid sprinted out the front doors of the black building and headed immediately toward his airship. He was only a few feet from the Highwind when he noticed the two people walking around the ship as if inspecting it. Cid slid to a halt; the two figures didn't notice him as they had their backs to him. On closer inspection the two weren't actually people in the sense of humans.

"What the hell?" Cid muttered slowly readying his spear. Cid was no expert on the monsters that roamed this area; he didn't focus on much of what happened on the ground as he was more interested in the sky. He knew well enough, though, to know that whatever these two things were they didn't belong here. They were completely black, much like the building, and about Cid's height. There was no distinction of clothing to skin, they were just black. They carried no weapons Cid could see and they walked like your average person, they seemed interested in his ship, too.

"Cid, Vincent wanted me to tell you…" Tifa stopped talking suddenly and grinded to a halt much like Cid had as she noticed the two strange things looking at the Highwind. This time they noticed her, she had spoken loud enough that the two things turned to look at her and in turn saw Cid.

"So much for a fuckin' surprise attack," Cid murmured to himself.

"What are they?" asked Tifa.

Now that the black things faced them it was clear they were just as blank from the front. They had no eyes, no mouth, the back of their head showed no discernible differences to their faces.

"Askin' the wrong guy," Cid said tightening his grip on his spear and simultaneously lighting a cigarette in his mouth.

The two back things seemed to suddenly grow swords out of their hands, rather their hands became swords.

"Not friendly suckers anyways," Cid said.

"Vincent said you're gonna need lightning and fire Materia, he found something else in the file," Tifa said. "You need to get on the Highwind; I'll take care of those two things."

"Start running," Cid said and put action to words. He charged with his spear forward, Tifa just behind him. The two black things jumped into the air and in moments were coming down on top of them.

Cid aimed his spear up and impaled one of them on it quickly tossing the thing off his weapon and sending it bouncing away. Tifa evaded the second one and came back with a punch that would have killed most monsters. The black thing staggered back but didn't seem to be very damaged by the attack.

"Cid, is yours dead?" Tifa asked.

Cid looked at the creature he'd impaled as it started to get back up, "Sure as hell should be."

Tifa ducked under a swipe of her enemy's sword and quickly kicked it in the stomach, again only staggering it. Knowing one attack wouldn't be enough Tifa pressed forward attacking it with as many punches and kicks she could fit in before it countered. Tifa ducked under one sword and quickly jumped into a back flip to avoid the quick second blade. As she landed Tifa dived forward into a roll, as she stopped on her back she kicked up with both feet hitting the thing square in the jaw. The black creature was sent flying high up into the air.

"Tifa, on the Highwind, now, these things ain't dyin'!" Cid yelled.

Tifa nodded and ran toward the airship as her enemy hit the ground again and started to get up. Cid tripped his opponent with the back of his spear and drove the front into its head. It stopped moving.

"Well, I think I killed this one," Cid said, he drew out the spear and the thing started getting up again. "To hell with it, this is fucked up!"

Cid turned and followed Tifa. The two were on the Highwind quickly and Cid got it into the air. They looked frantically down to the ground.

"They're gone," Tifa said.

"If they ain't on the ground good chance they're on my ship," Cid growled, he readied his spear and headed out from the bridge, Tifa followed.

"We can't kill them," Tifa said.

"So we just knock 'em off my damn ship," Cid muttered.

They walked slowly through the Highwind looking around; they figured their enemy should stand out as they would be the only two completely black things on the ship moving around, though they both knew also that they knew very little about their enemy and knew that they might have the ability to blend with their surroundings.

"Maybe they didn't get on," Tifa said as a black sword protruded from the wall beside her and jabbed Cid in the left arm.

"Son of a…" his last word was drowned out by a growl and the sound of his spear jabbing through the hole made by the sword and stabbing into the black creature on the other side. Tifa noted that the thing made no noise when it was attacked.

"Put a hole in my ship, bastard," Cid growled pushing the spear further into the black creature. In response the thing seemed to suddenly become like liquid and suddenly appeared on their side of the wall. "You just full of surprises aren't ya?"

Tifa quickly came around Cid's right and kicked the thing in the chest sending it sailing down the hall.

"You get that thing off my ship, I'll find the other one," Cid growled.

Tifa nodded and Cid turned to see the second creature a few feet away.

"Oh, well, found it," Cid muttered.

Tifa didn't hear him as she charged toward the first black thing. It jabbed both swords forward but Tifa was too fast for it and she quickly sidestepped both and gave it a kick to the stomach that again sent it flying backward until it hit the door at the end. She knew outside was the platform they had jumped from to parachute into Midgar around two years ago, the perfect place to get them off the ship. Tifa gave one more kick to the black thing and it blew through the door and out on to the platform. Tifa followed it out as it got to its feet. This time it initiated the attack and charged at her, both blades at the ready. It slashed left and Tifa backpedaled stepping out of reach by centimeters. It jabbed its right blade forward, it would have connected had Tifa not stepped to the right. The thing's left hand blade crossed over its right and jabbed quickly at her, she grabbed the blade with both hands, each on the flat sides of the blade and pulled backwards. It sent the monster stumbling forward. Tifa then quickly spun and gave a final kick to the creature's back sending it over the railing and off the platform. It fell silently, still not a sound coming from the creature as it fell. Tifa stood at the railing and made sure it hit the ground, she didn't want the thing coming back. After she was satisfied it was gone she turned quickly to check on Cid.

Cid parried one blade and ducked under the second; he dexterously kicked the creature in the stomach and spun to drive the spear into where his foot had been. Every time the thing hit his spear the vibration made the wound in his arm hurt a little bit more, not enough to slow him down any though. Cid kept the thing impaled on his spear and spun in a full three-sixty, after he thought he had enough momentum he kicked the thing off his spear and it shot through the air flipping end over end toward the open door leading out the platform where Tifa had been fighting her own enemy.

Tifa saw the black thing flying toward her and immediately jumped into the air and made herself vertical with the ground. She got enough height and hang time to stay above the creature as it flew under her and out the door. The thing had enough air to keep going right over the railing and off the platform. Tifa hit the ground and rolled gracefully to her feet.

"Sorry," Cid said somewhat inadequately and put a hand over his injured arm.

"You okay?" Tifa asked.

"Flesh wound, let's get that Materia," Cid said wincing at the cut in his arm as he turned away from her. He was back on the bridge and got the Highwind going in the direction it needed to go.

"This is taking a lot longer than expected," Tifa said smiling a little.

"Wasn't expecting the damn freaky black things," Cid growled taking the cigarette out of his mouth for the first time since putting it in back on the ground. He let out a puff of smoke, knocked off the ash from the end of the cigarette and put it back in his mouth.

The Highwind was over the church in a few minutes, Tifa looked down on the beat up old building.

"Hasn't changed a bit," Tifa muttered.

"Except for maybe the residents," Cid muttered pointing her attention to something outside the front of the church.

"Oh no," Tifa said.

Another of the black things was out front.

"Wonder how many more of these damn things there are," Cid said.

"I'm faster than you, drop me off on the roof, I can get in through that hole there and grab the Materia we need," Tifa said.

"You ain't faster than me," Cid said, "I'll go you keep my ship in the air."

"I'm surprised you can run at all with all the smoking you do," Tifa said.

"Smoking never stopped me from running," Cid replied.

"You're wounded," Tifa said gesturing to his arm.

"It's nothing," Cid said dismissively.

"Why are you trying to protect me all of a sudden?" asked Tifa grinning.

"Just don't want ya to screw it up," Cid said, he paused, "Cloud'd kill me if he knew I let another female member of our group die, too."

"You had nothing to do with Aeris," Tifa replied.

"I know, but I didn't stop it, did I?" Cid said and shook his head, "Look, why are we arguing about this, it's my ship we're on and I say I'm going."

"Fine," Tifa said, "he wouldn't be too happy if you died either, you realize."

"Just keep the damn ship from crashing," Cid said waving a hand and heading toward the platform.

He looked over the railing and saw the roof wasn't far down at all. He vaulted over the railing and landed heavily on the church. Almost immediately two black things came out of the hole and on to the roof.

"Ah, damn it," Cid muttered and charged headlong toward the black creatures. He managed to shove them both aside with his spear and jumped down into the church, he navigated his way off the roof and on the ground. Immediately he spotted the collection of Materia Cloud kept in the church, right beside the flowers. Cid also noticed three more black things coming in through the front doors of the church.

Cid muttered a complaint and quickly sorted through the Materia. He found a fire and a lightning and quickly turned back toward the hole in the roof. The two black things he'd encountered on the roof were now on the ground in front of him, two more were coming down through the hole.

"How many are there?" Cid asked rhetorically and turned to the front doors of the church. There were now a total of five at the front doors and four behind him.

Quickly, Cid equipped the lightning Materia and turned to the four behind him, "If you guys are immune to magic I'm gonna be very pissed."

Cid cast Bolt3 on the four behind him, they weren't immune.

The four creatures were blown off their feet and landed heavily on the ground a few feet away, they did, however, get back up.

"Still can't kill you guys," Cid muttered shaking his head and moving for the hole in the roof. Cid climbed and got out on the roof, the black things were on his heels as all nine of them from the church were on the roof in seconds.

Cid cast another round of Bolt3s at the black things but they recovered relatively quickly. It gave Cid enough time to jump on the platform of the Highwind. Four of the black things got on before they were away from the church.

Cid stood on the platform staring at four enemies. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and threw it on the ground followed by his boot crushing it.

"Alright, then," Cid said readying his spear, "come and get it!"

In response the four attacked at once, Cid spun and the dull end of his spear tripped all four of them sending them all on their backs.

"What, that's it?" asked Cid in a cocky manner, "good thing you guys can't die it'll give me a chance to kick your ass more often!"

They got up and turned to Cid, this time only two attacked, Cid parried the blades of one and had to jump back to evade the other. Cid smashed one across the head with the dull end of his spear and drove the front of the spear into the second black thing's stomach. He tossed the impaled enemy off the platform and turned to face the second one. It took Cid a second to realize he couldn't see the other two remaining enemies when he heard them behind him. Cid was fast enough to evade the blade that swiped overhead but couldn't avoid the attack from in front. The blade jabbed right through his left shoulder and out the back.

"Same fucking arm," Cid growled, "at least go for a different limb!"

Cid yelled a curse and tackled the black thing in front, he knocked it over the railing and in turn the blade slid out of his shoulder. Cid growled at the pain but ignored it enough to turn his attention to his final two enemies. They both stood still as if staring at him.

"Well, come on, I ain't got all day," Cid said readying his spear only in his right hand now as his left hung uselessly at his side. The two seemed to come to a decision and charged at Cid. Cid quickly jumped forward and hit the ground sliding toward the two things, Cid's foot tripped one up and the second caught its feet on his spear. They both stumbled and fell over the railing.

Cid stood up unsteadily and looked over the railing to watch all four run around frantically on the ground.

"Yeah, I know, but I don't take hitchhikers," Cid yelled down at them not caring whether they understood or not.

He made his way to the bridge. Tifa looked up from her spot where she was controlling the ship and saw Cid's shoulder.

"Oh, no, they hit you again," Tifa said quickly putting the ship on auto pilot and running to Cid. "I don't have any healing items with me."

Cid waved her off, "Don't matter, I'll survive."

"Okay, now you're understating it, don't you have anything on the Highwind?" asked Tifa worriedly.

"I survived Emerald Weapon; this is nothing," Cid muttered, "just need to sit down."

Tifa helped him to a seat, "We'll be back at the building in a few minutes, and I'm sure Cloud's got some potions on him."

"That'd be nice, but I'll survive," Cid said dismissively.

"Quit doing that," Tifa said, "you've got a hole in your shoulder quit trying to hide it."

Cid just closed his eyes.

The Highwind was back and Tifa was relieved to see no black creatures roaming around.

"Cid, we're here," Tifa said.

Cid stood up and looked at his shoulder, Tifa had put together a makeshift bandage for him and Cid couldn't remember her putting it on, must have passed out.

"Any of those things?" asked Cid.

"Not that I can see," Tifa replied.

"Means they left," Cid said, "or decided to go inside."

Tifa hadn't thought of that, "Oh no."

"Let's get a move on, if anyone can handle those things, though, it's Cloud," Cid reassured.

"You're right," Tifa said, not quite as certain as she sounded.

They landed the ship and hurried inside; ready to help fend off more of the creatures should they be inside. Instead they found everyone standing around waiting for them.

"The hell took you so long?" asked Barret.

"They didn't come inside," Tifa said in relief.

"Who didn't?" asked Cloud.

"What did you see?" asked Vincent urgently.

"Well, these black things, they wouldn't die. Not sure what they were exactly," Tifa replied.

Vincent shook his head, "Must be because of the paradox, we're running out of time. Do you have the Materia?"

"Fire and lightning," Cid said handing Vincent the Materia.

Vincent took them and paused, "You're injured."

"That the only thing people notice?" asked Cid, annoyed.

Cloud gave Cid a potion and the bandage was discarded.

Vincent turned and moved to a square contraption set on a wall. The thing had two holes and a big black button. Vincent put the Materia in the two holes and his finger hovered over the button.

"When I hit this, in theory, the machine should bring her back," Vincent said, drawing his gun. Everyone took this cue to draw their own weapons. "Other than Aeris and her guardian I'm not sure what will come through. Maybe more of these black things, I'm positive we'll have to fight the guardian. I will attempt to talk to him, but if we have to kill him then we will."

Everyone nodded.

Vincent hit the button.