Author's Note: HAPPY (almost) HALLOWEEN! I'm sorry this is so late in the day, but I had an early morning meeting followed by an entire afternoon with a friend who is moving to another country in just a few months. Going to miss him dearly but it is all for the good.

Anyway... this chapter was... painful... to write and took a lot out of me honestly. I really hope you enjoy it and I would love your feedback as we near the closing of this story. Thanks everyone!

Markin: Hehe, I won't ruin the secret of what's up with the voice Talin keeps hearing but I am excited to give you all an answer very soon. Seph did his best but there are some buttons that you just don't fricking press and Rald found several. Unfortunately, Seph is too controlled to give the jerk what he wants.

I do not own FF7 or any of its characters. Talin, Unit 28, and some other side characters are mine.

As always, I hope you enjoy and please R&R.


Chapter 64

Like a thin curtain over an open window, the world around him was an unfocused, hazy blur as the specter's words lingered in his mind. The place where it all started? This is where it...no... No, it wasn't... He groaned in pain as the fractured shards of his mind tried to piece themselves back together, and then another hurt made itself known. Groan turned to gasp, sluggish and uncoordinated, he moved to clasp hands over his injury but had no strength to press down on it.

I'm bleeding out... I have to... potion... Materia... som- A warmth against him, around him, under his head and on his aching side... a body, an arm, hands... The pain eased and Talin's blurred vision focused on the large, black-gloved hand pressed over the wound.

Body still not responding properly to his requests to move, the teen was glad when the warmth returned to his cheek and tilted his head to allow him to look up. "Gene-ral..." He cringed at the pain caused by his effort and at the croaking rasp of his voice.

"Lieutenant, are you-"

"-ell" Talin's voice was worse this time, hardly a whisper, but he was persistent with his attempt despite the pain. "The well." It was just intelligible enough that Sephiroth glanced in the direction of the great glowing lake for a moment before looking back down to his trainee.

"What about the well?" The question was cautious, more than a little wary of anything to do with the original source of so much of the teen's suffering.

Talin struggled to gather himself enough to respond. His head pounded with the rapid beat of his heart, sending his thoughts skittering away as he tried to keep focused. The pain in his side had relaxed but was replaced with an odd tightness that was increasingly difficult to breathe past. But worse than both, and more concerning, was his growing lassitude.

"Take m-" his voice cut out with a sharp cough before the last of Talin's energy left him and he fell limp in the arms of his mentor. He was thankful as ever for the man's strength when Seph easily caught and lifted him into his arms without a moment's pause.

"Talin?" The teen could hear him, though it was muffled now, and knowing his voice wouldn't work, the young Lieutenant reached for his General the only other way he could.

~Take me to the well. ~ It was so quiet, the mental touch so light, that Sephiroth almost feared to reach out to strengthen their contact. Very carefully, he pressed his mind back against Talin's and spoke softly across their link.

~Why? For what reason? What do you plan to do when you get there? ~ The older warrior had his suspicions, but the look in Talin's eyes made his stomach sink. ~No. ~ The silver 1st shook his head, ~I won't allow you to- ~

~Seph... ~After so long of Talin only ever calling him Sir or General, hearing his name stopped him dead in his tracks. ~Seph...p-… ple- ~ Without thinking, Sephiroth pulled away from the link, cutting off the word before the teen could finish it. Seeing Talin wince at the sudden movement, the SOLDIER was far more careful when he leaned back into the link but spoke aloud instead of across the fragile connection.

"I'm not about to let you break your own rule." The General's tone was teasing but his smile was thin, strained, and sad. Before the teen could try to ask again, Seph stood with him tucked securely against his chest. It was as the 1st turned and took a few steps towards the well that Talin heard a grumbling groan.

It wasn't unexpected that he'd forgotten about Rald. His surprise at Sephiroth's disinterest evaporated when they turned far enough for him to see his step-father. The man was battered and bruised but not broken and Talin, weak and growing weaker by the second, found a spark of pride glow warm inside him.

~You didn't kill him? ~ Sephiroth had kept walking and glanced over his shoulder at the figure following slow and painfully behind them.

~The thought did cross my mind, but he's your demon, not mine... ~ Neither could bring themselves to state the obvious. That Rald may have been Talin's demon, but the teen was unlikely to be able to settle his past with the man. With that thought weighing heavily on Sephiroth's mind, he found that they'd reached the lower platform of the well and he knelt to settle with his Lieutenant on the ground.

Calling it a 'well' really was an understatement. Looking out across this lake of Mako, both watched as the green liquid lapped at the rocky outcropping like waves on a beach. It would have been peaceful if not for the continued burn in their throats and the sounds of Rald, scuffling to follow them, drawing nearer. The General was so focused on the rare and hauntingly beautiful sight that the brush of Talin's mind against his almost made him jump.

The scattered mind that he found when he reached out to form a link was even more shocking. With great care, Seph reached around the fragments of Talin's mind and attempted to pull him together again but knew it would do little to stop what was coming. Within that cloud, the SOLDIER felt a weak caress and reached to catch hold and form the link that Talin could no longer maintain.

~You have to let me go...~ The voice was so soft, having lost even the small amount of strength it had held only a minute before. The 1st couldn't bring himself to look down, to meet the eyes so like his own, to see them dimming to a watery seafoam color instead of the vibrant jade or bright Mako Green. He kept looking out across the 'waves' in this underground lake that wasn't a lake.

~You'll die... ~ His whispered thought was rough and full of the raw emotions he was trying his best to restrain. A hand twitched up to grasp his wrist and the 1st finally looked down.

~I'm already dying, Seph. Nothing in the world could stop it now, except maybe this. I... ~ The pause was long enough that the General wasn't sure if they were still linked till Talin continued. ~This is a trial by fire. A trial, that I needed strong friends for... I don't know how this ends, but this is where it all began...~ The sorrow that had grown in Sephiroth's eyes as Talin spoke suddenly hardened and all trace of the man's pain was buried behind the most brittle of masks.

~I'll be right here, then. I'm keeping my promise Talin. I won't leave you here, so you better as hell come back, Cadet. ~ As much as Talin hated masks, he knew his General needed this one right now.

~Yes, Sir. ~ The smile on his face was a ghost of its normal self as Talin did his best to smother the fear that was creeping through him. His mind was too fractured to torment him with memories of his fall as a child, of being dropped, but the emotion of that moment didn't need memories to set his every nerve alight.

Fingers graze the back of his neck and then Talin feels them move up to comb through his hair, petting and soothing as they go. Closing his eyes, the teen lets himself enjoy the sensation till he feels the edges of his senses dulling further. Taking a deep breath, he opens them again, looking back into the glowing crystal green gaze above him, and finds the strength for the smallest nod.

Lifting the smaller body in his arms again, Sephiroth walks the last steps to the pool's edge and lowers Talin to sit next to it. The SOLDIER feels a flutter of sensation as his young Lieutenant gives one more mental caress and feels the press of Talin's mind trying to speak. Forging the link once more, Seph listens hard to catch the voice that was barely there.

~See ya when I see ya. ~ With a shove of one arm, using all the strength he had left, Talin pulled free of the protective warmth of his General and for the second time in his life watched the lake of glowing green rush to meet him before consuming him whole.


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See you next week!