Author's Note: Disclaimer found below.

This is the next to last chapter.

I apologize for taking so long. :-P

(Fifteen)

It only took a few minutes to reach the end of the collapsed tunnel, once Tifa reached the surface. The hard part was skirting the wreckage that the collapse left above ground. Once she reached the end and lowered herself down, the road was clear enough that she could run; it had been largely swept free of debris by the blast.

Up here on the Plate, Midgar was completely abandoned, and eerily silent. Tifa kept walking, stumbling, only vaguely aware of her surroundings. Her focus was turned inward - she concentrated on the threads of feeling that tugged at her, leading toward the center of the city. Toward the tower.

There was a shortcut, a narrow passage between two buildings. She turned to take it -

She was nearly to the far end when a thin black figure suddenly appeared. He'd been leaning against the wall at just the end of the gap, apparently, but now stood straight in her path. Light glinted from the metal in his hands that she nearly collided with, his narrowed eyes gleaming green-blue.

Yazoo had his gunblade trained on her, unwavering, though he supported himself with his right hand on the wall. His left leg seemed to be rather badly mangled; she wondered why for a moment - but he must have been caught in the explosion, and probably wasn't carrying healing Materia.

"You... killed Loz," he choked, and she realized that he was crying.

She looked away from his face, that inexplicable sense of guilt and pain rising in her again. "He asked me to," she whispered. She didn't dare meet his gaze again. The pain there was too deep, and would pull her in and bend her to him if she let it. His will was stronger now than it had ever been before - regret was a powerful force.

All she could do was stand and not look and taste his blood still on her lips and in her mouth and on her hands and -

He wanted to kill her. He wanted that more than anything, other than twisting time back on itself and making things unhappen. But killing her was something that he could actually do.

Except that he hadn't yet. She'd walked right into him; what excuse could he possibly have for not pulling the trigger?

Yazoo was shaking now, but at this range, his decreased accuracy would hardly matter. She needed to pass - the pull from the center of the city was growing stronger by the moment. Simply asking would mean nothing to him; it was not in his nature to respond kindly to it. Begging was beneath both of them. That left either demanding, or taking him on, and she didn't have the time to waste on fighting right now. "Get out of my way."

From the direction of the ShinRa tower, there came a rumble of screaming metal and crashing stone. Both of them startled, looking in the direction of the sound.

There was a click as Yazoo cocked the gunblade. Tifa turned her gaze back to him, and for a moment they only stared at each other with similar eyes, both slitted, identical in color, equally reddened and exhausted.

Yazoo flinched first, which should have been a victory, but the pull in her mind was becoming so strong that Tifa barely noticed.

His voice was hoarse. "Help me, Little Sister."

The sky went dark, suddenly overcast with storm. Dark enough that the glow of his eyes was obvious.

He was Remnant, ghost, nothing more than the incomplete shadow of memory - stagnant. And she was reality, still alive and... becoming. Changing.

She tensed, moved back a step - but the gunblade leveled at her head, steady again. Yazoo gritted his teeth. "Help. Me."

Of course. He could feel it too. They both needed to get there. Past and Present both being pulled toward Future.

Tifa tilted her head, still not breaking eye contact, and stepped forward again. The gunblade lowered; he carefully uncocked it, his hand trembling. She moved slowly, ducking under his outstretched right arm and pulling it over her shoulders. He didn't resist when she turned, pulling his hand from the wall, becoming his only source of support.

There was more rumbling, and when they stumbled from between the buildings, it was obvious that the shape of the tower had changed. It was falling apart under the force of the power gathered there.

Tifa began to walk, nearly dragging Yazoo with her.

Neither spoke, both concentrating on walking. There was nothing to be said. No power to hate left, only numb acceptance. But no forgiveness. No redemption.

Yazoo's movements gradually became more and more sluggish; looking back, Tifa could see the trail they were leaving, spatters of blood punctuated by black ichor.

They were both dying.

It was no simple matter to pick their way through the rubble at the base of the abandoned Shinra Tower. Yazoo finally cast Float on both of them, though he could barely stand after that. He hung limply from her back with his arms over her shoulders, gunblade still in hand, and let her climb.

Even with the Float spell, he was quickly becoming dead weight. Tifa clenched her teeth, focusing on climbing. It wouldn't take long, with the spell - and she didn't want to be caught on the outside of the building when the spell wore off. And if he lost his grip and fell, it was his own fault...

"Tifa..."

She tested the next handhold, fingers slipping on the grimy concrete. She tried to ignore that he'd actually used her name, instead of calling her Little Sister again, and she didn't respond.

"I want him back." Yazoo sounded weak, bordering on delirious, if not there already.

"Hn." His mind was going. Useless. She'd drop him now, except that he still had his gunblade; it clacked against the concrete each time she gripped the building close. With her luck, he'd have the presence of mind to fire as he fell.

"I know you can't give him back," he said, quickly, his voice strained in her ear, his head resting against hers. "But I want him back."

I don't. I don't want him back. I wish he'd never existed to begin with. None of you should exist. If it weren't for you I'd still be drifting...

I shouldn't exist either. Don't deserve it any more than any of you.

It started to rain, hard pelting drops that seemed to burn when they hit her. She scowled - just what she needed right now. She felt Yazoo twitch, shivering as though he suffered more pain. He made a small, strange whimpering noise, hiding his face against her shoulder, and she didn't understand why.

Tifa pushed upward, gaining another few feet. One foot slipped from the next foothold, but she managed not to fall, hanging by one hand for a moment before swinging around to cling to the structure again. The wet surface was difficult to keep hold of.

Nearly there. And it had gone far too quiet above...

...Wrong. Something was wrong. It felt Wrong -

Yazoo stiffened, breathing fast, nearly strangling her with his sudden panic. "No, this isn't supposed to happen, Kadaj -"

"Shut up and hang on."

It was like a candle blown out, wisps of smoke left in its wake, but the flame gone entirely. She could feel something missing now. And this hurt, too - and had even less right to do so.

One last push, and she was scrabbling at the wet metal overhang, trying desperately to not lose her grip. If it wasn't for this damn stinging rain...

Yazoo let go with one hand, frantically swiping at the overhang and tossing his gunblade over before he caught it and pulled himself up. Tifa was able to swing up as well, once he let go of her, though when he released her the loss of weight wasn't as much as she'd expected. It was as though he were becoming physically lighter...

He gained his hands and knees, raised his head - and then collapsed, lying on the metal and reaching helplessly. He was crying again, his expression stricken, barely able to speak. "Kadaj... no..."

Curled next to him, Tifa followed his gaze, but she knew already that Kadaj was gone. There was only Cloud on the rooftop, standing in the rain with arms outstretched and face uplifted to the brightening sky, as though receiving some ridiculous blessing.

Yazoo made a sobbing noise, rising to one knee, lifting his gunblade. It took him several tries to stand, and didn't seem to be able.

Tifa drew his right arm over her shoulders again, slipping her left around him, pulling him up. Better to stand. He was far too light now, and she could see a greenish glow creeping over him - the Lifestream wouldn't leave him behind with the other two gone. He couldn't exist on his own. He seemed to be blurring, black and silver bleeding away into the air.

...Only her own bare arms seemed to be falling victim to the same phenomena. It was the rain, she realized. It was raining Mako. That was why it hurt - the damage was irreparable. She was being taken as well.

So it was over, then. Really over.

And then there was a gunshot next to her, and her head jerked up in shock. Cloud was shot, falling...

"We'll go... together," Yazoo choked out, calling to Cloud, nearly losing his footing again. The gunblade - now out of ammo - clattered to the roof from his slackened hand. His head drooped; he was shaking, weak, empty.

Cloud stood, turning - the power radiating from him was almost palpable. For a moment, he stared, and Tifa stared back. Black veins boiled over her entire body, evaporating where the rain struck her only to reappear a moment later. Her eyes gleamed, slitted pupils dilating, her expression hardened. It's over, Cloud. End it.

And then Cloud was running at them, raising his sword - Tifa had never thought that she'd be on this side of that edge - roaring in wild battle-rage with tears coursing down his face -

Yazoo raised his hand, screaming in a mixture of despair and defiance, channeling every spell he had left into one blast. And fired.

The world suddenly turned to flame. She was pushed back and to the side, unable to breathe, unable to think -

Nothing.

"Tifa!"

Everything. Mostly pain. The world was reeling.

She opened her eyes a little, head hanging, confused at the dim and moving images beneath her feet.

"Tifa, come on!"

She realized that she was hanging from one hand on the edge of the now-destroyed roof, staring down at the debris below. She wasn't even holding on to anything - her gauntlet had caught on a bit of twisted metal, and she dangled painfully from her wrist. Only the angle prevented her from slipping out of her gauntlet and falling.

"Dammit, girl, wake up!"

She raised her head. Barret was crouched on the edge of the roof, trying to determine how best to grab her without falling himself. Yuffie loomed over his shoulder.

Vincent was moving around to the side to try to better reach as well. He jammed his clawed metal hand into the remains of the roof, leaning and reaching. "Tifa, give me your other hand."

She blinked a few times, her head clearing - but still didn't move.

She must've blacked out, or at least been addled enough by the blast to have lost time. She could've sworn that the first voice she'd heard calling for her had been...

Her arm. She stared at her arm. Her skin was smudged dark with soot, ached with burns - but she must've been thrown clear pretty quickly.

And the black trails of Geostigma were gone, the grey undertone to her skin now vanished.

No wonder it seemed dim. Her eyes... were hers again. Her mind clear for the first time in what felt like - no, what really had been - days. She'd been hanging here in that stinging Mako rain the entire time she'd been unconscious...

Mako. The Lifestream. Aeris...

Weakened metal creaked, shifted, and she suddenly dropped an inch. Yuffie yelped, close to flailing her arms in helplessness. "Tifa!"

And then Barret had her, unhooking her from the metal and lifting her, the tendons in his arm standing out from the strain before he managed to get her onto the roof. Vincent could only move back, trying to stay out of the way.

"Don' go scarin' us like that," Barret panted, a strangely pained edge to his gruff voice. "You okay?"

Tifa didn't answer, but slowly pulled herself to her knees, damp hair whipping in the wind. She looked up - the Sierra was lowered quite close to the roof, and she could just imagine the barrage of curses coming out of Cid's mouth while he tried to keep that position in this wind.

There was the sound of claws on metal; Nanaki came close, tail lashing uneasily. Cait Sith rode on his shoulders, unusually silent and still.

She looked down at her arms again, then folded them over her chest, hugging herself. She'd been healed. Aeris had healed her. She'd been forgiven by the Planet.

It had to be a mistake. An unintentional side effect. Even Aeris wouldn't waste the energy of the Planet to save her at this point. She had nearly been - had become -

Tifa raised her head again, eyes dry and empty. She glanced at each of those around her in turn, then frowned, scanning the roof. "Cloud..."

There was an uncomfortable silence, during which Barret looked away, Nanaki hung his head, and Yuffie covered her face. It was Vincent who finally spoke.

"There's nothing left."

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