Chapter 19 Only you can save your life

FN: I'd like to make a quick you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours notice available to everyone who reads this. (Blinks a couple times and looks at you with huge kitten eyes) PLEASE spread the word around about this fic, or at least set it as one of your favorite pieces on your accounts. Since your all enjoying it (at least I trust you haven't read 19 chapters into it just out of pure morbid fascination) please spread the word around. I say this because yes I would like it, but more importantly, if you people can get a whole bunch of people reading this piece, and leaving reviews then it'll improve Alex's mood, and the more reviews we get, the more motivated Alex will be to work updating, which will result in these chapters being up sooner. Also, as one artist to another, I would appreciate you giving us a leg up to that bottom wrung of the ladder called success. In short, show you care, be a Jenova's witness. And now, on with in the show.

Mirri and Vincent woke up in the same room. Mirri calmly stretched as if waking up from a perfectly ordinary sleep and started to examine the room. Vincent slowly forced his eyes open in fear, saw Mirri and instantly shut them. Like a child he slammed his hands against the ground (with impressive results considering his left hand) and bellowed in pain. "NO MORE! NO MORE!"

Mirri had never had what you might call the strongest of maternal instincts, but she didn't like to see her friends in pain. "Vincent what is it?" Vincent slowly opened his eyes, and Mirri noted something odd about them. Was it possible to say that Vincent's blood red eyes were bloodshot? If it was, then that was without a doubt their current condition.

Either way, his eyes told the story of someone who was far from well in body mind and soul (assuming the last one counted for vampires) to Mirri. "Let me touch you to make sure you're real." If Melkore had uttered the phrase in his normal tone of voice, Mirri would have given him a one way ticket for a trip across the room. Vincent, however, said it with such great conviction (or lack thereof), that Mirri would allow it.

Slowly Vincent crawled on hands and knees over to Mirri, and slowly placed his right hand on her leg, then pressed down as if he expected her to fade away. Once he was suitably sure that Mirri was real in nature and not just a figment of his imagination he broke away.

Crimson lines streaked his face, and it took Mirri a moment to understand why: you can only excrete what you have inside, vampires would therefore cry blood tears. As the streaks of red covered Vincent's face like battle wounds his voice was a high tortured wail. "I killed you Mirri, I killed all of you, including Master! I didn't just kill you, I tortured you, defiled you! I impaled you and James on the same pike!"

Whenever you were faced with an insurmountable problem, you had to slice it down to size. Clear concise details had a way of doing that, and so that's what Mirri wanted. "Was I on top?" Vincent's voice stabilized for the shortest moment to answer. "Yes!" This was followed by more lines of red and more incoherent screams.

Only one thing to do about it, someone in this room had to take charge and it clearly wasn't going to be Vincent. "Vincent, shut up." Mirri sat down and next to Vincent, and for a moment at least he followed her orders.

"Now then, you're fine. It's called the 'sub-conscious' for a reason, it's below the stuff we think while we're awake. Because of that, we don't have any direct control over it. What matters, is that your subconscious is an accurate reflection of, if not exactly reality, universal truths. If you had impaled James on top of me, then I'd say we had problems. But clearly, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with your mind."

Vincent looked to be deeply engrossed in Mirri's words, which meant that she was making progress. "So, Vincent, you have two choices at this point and time, you can continue worrying about what your mind created to frighten you, or you can think about this." Mirri unbuttoned the top two buttons of her jacket, it had a high neckline, but her bodysuits neckline ended where a normal t-shirts would have.

This action had the appropriate effect. Vincent, took one look at Mirri's neck, and Mirri could see gears turning in his head. The only difference was that it would have been lower buttons with a human, you had to use the right kind of bait for the right kind of prey. "You know, it looks like you lost a lot of blood crying."

Simple statement, well placed emphasis, all the right motions, and to top it off, a touch of concern. It seemed like only the blink of an eye for Mirri but was probably much longer. Either way not long after Mirri made the statement, she found herself buttoning her jacket back up, raising it carefully over the two circles of raw skin on the front of her neck where Vincent had licked the wounds he had created closed.

Vincent for his part who looked to be a year or two older than James did, looking over the red version of a Turk outfit he wore. "Sorry Mirri, however awkward it is, I don't have either the cigarettes or the lighter." Mirri touched the sore spots once, and then adjusted her jacket to its normal position. "You so owe me one for that Vincent."

Vincent, for his part was busy examining his reflection in the small pistol he had been found with. Apparently whatever he saw pleased him because he nodded, returned it to its normal holster and then smiled at Mirri. "I think I owe you two for that. Now let's go find the others."

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James rolled over, and scratched his left ear with his left hand, his standard wake up ritual. "Hey Alex, where's everyone else?" James and Alex where the only ones left in the room they had walked in through. Alex growled slightly as he "spoke". /They've been moved to various parts of the temple Ragabash. The spell had no effect on me because I'm a Cetra, and you proved the most effective for dealing with your fears.\

James rolled over and stood up slowly. "Oh neat, so do we need to find the others?" Alex turned his attention to the temple doors. /No Ragabash, they're going to find us. All roads lead to the same destination, if you have the right intention.\ Well, that was a load off James' shoulders. "So all we have to do is move through this place, that sounds easy. In fact, your a Cetra so you should be able to point the way right?"

Alex pawed the ground again in irritation. /Follow me, Ragabash, and save your breath for running instead of asking questions.\ "No fair! You can talk without breathing!" Alex didn't respond, he just started off and so James followed him.

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Melkore slowly rose from his sleep and stared at Niro, who was next to him. "Do you ever get the feeling that you..." Before Melkore could go any further Niro adjusted his glasses for apparently cosmetic reasons and spoke. "Yeah." The two exchanged one more look and they both slowly stood up.

"Okay then, well the world isn't gonna save itself." Guitar strapped across his chest, Melkore was ready, Niro adjusted his holster and nodded as well. There was only one door out of the room, no reason not to follow it.

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Sephiroth and Aeris came awake at almost the same time. Sephiroth couldn't stop himself from shuddering, he had glimpsed a human being who could surpass even Hojo for evil. However it was only a brief shudder and he quickly pushed it from his mind. Aeris was another matter all together.

If Sephiroth had shuddered, Aeris was shivering, whatever the ill effects of her experience, they were still with her. Sephiroth found the sight bittersweetly gratifying. Sephiroth had always been telling Aeris that if she continued to play with fire, sooner or later she would get burned. Now she had finally gotten scorched.

However, as soon as Sephiroth had that particular thought, he bit it back mentally. Not like this, whatever had happened to her, mental low blows like these disgusted Sephiroth. With what Vincent had told him in mind, Sephiroth managed to force compassion into his voice. "It's okay Aeris, it's over." Aeris slowly met Sephiroth's eyes, and spoke in a voice that was not her own. "No it isn't Sephiroth, it's just starting."

Damn it, why couldn't it be Mirri or James instead of him? But he was a General, and she was one of his soldiers; her well-being was his responsibility. "What happened?" Aeris' voice was a whimper. "Sephiroth, I can't close my eyes, I can't, the voices..."

Sephiroth tried not to breath a sigh of relief, this he might be able to do something about. Empathy and compassion were insubstantial and hard to pin down, teaching a skill was easy. "Aeris, focus on my voice, only on my voice, focus on my voice till there isn't room in your mind for voices. Focus on my voice, till it's the only voice you can hear, and then shut the door on all the others"

Aeris closed her eyes, and grabbed Sephiroth's hand. Sephiroth started to pull free, but stopped. For whatever reason, she seemed to need this, need the contact. She slowly drew a deep breath, then slowly opened her eyes and let go of Sephiroth's hand. "Thank you Sephiroth." That was more success then Sephiroth ever had against Jenova, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

"I can't believe that you've been dealing with this your entire life." Okay, if Sephiroth couldn't manage compassion, fake weakness could stand in its place. "It's only like that for me when Jenova is near." Her own weakness momentarily put to rest, Aeris instantly became interested in someone else's problems. "From the day you were born?" What Sephiroth wanted to do was terminate this conversation right where it was, with extreme prejudice. But he didn't have a choice, the only way that he could be sure about keeping Aeris close to him was to keep himself close to her.

So he spoke about as honestly as he ever felt like doing with his past. "About as far back as I can remember. It got slightly better five years ago, after Nibelhiem. Before that, I couldn't walk in Midgar without hearing voices whispering to me at every turn." "How could you stand it?" He had survived it, wasn't that enough? "Because I could either keep going, or I could roll over and die, that was the choice I had. I did what I had to do to survive, and I survived. "

"Is that all there is for you in the world Sephiroth, survival?" "No, I intend to kill the people who did this to me. Jenova, Hojo, Rufus, those three and others will die by my hand." "Then what?" "Once I kill off every single person responsible for this, I'll lay waste to the entire Shinra organization."

"After that?" "Then I'm going to move so far north that I never see another human being for the rest of my life."

"What?" "I said, I'm going to move so far north that I never see another human being again." "Why Sephiroth?" "You have to ask why? Because humanity disgusts me! Humans care for nothing more than their own gratification. Look at what they do to this world. Mako power, wars, depopulating other species for their own benefit, they would do Jenova proud."

"Sephiroth, humanity isn't that bad." "No, they're not, humanity isn't as bad as Jenova, that is why I will kill one, and plan to ignore the other." "Sephiroth, what has humanity done to you that has made you feel you have to remove yourself from it?" Oh, that was a mistake: Aeris wanted Sephiroth to tell her, he would.

"What has humanity done to me? How would you feel if you learned you where created solely so that others could profit from your abilities? You want to know why I hate humanity? Do you know why I'm General Sephiroth, do you know why I don't have a last name? Because my father was Dr. Hojo, I believe your short acquaintance with him should have been more then enough for you to realize what he's capable of. The kind of things he wanted to do with you? He did them to me. He did them because he wanted to advance science for the sake of humanity. Does that give you any understanding why I don't appreciate humanity?"

That finally knocked Aeris back on her heels. "Sephiroth…" "Come on, we have to find the Black Materia before Jenova can."

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"Hey Tseng, whatcha doing? Looking for the Black Materia?" Tseng turned around, and he was not happy to see James and Alex judging from his expression. He turned around and glared at both of them with blazing blue eyes. "Firecat, you're an unwanted presence here, go."

James and Alex exchanged glances, nothing to do about this one. /Get of Fenris do not retreat!\ "Yeah Tseng, this is different then back in Rocket Town, your gonna get hurt this way."

Tseng glared at the pair of them and slowly reached for his new pistol. "That's just fine for me, I'm different too. I've been upgraded also, or should I say enhanced? I've realized something Firecat. Regardless of what you say or do, humanity is going to be swept aside by Jenova, like the sand by the ocean. I've embraced Jenova, and now you two can die!"

The first bullet blew James' hat right off his head, leaving a second bullet hole in it. Holding his smoking gun, Tseng smiled. "Silver bullets, your lucky I meant to miss that time!" He was a lot faster, James was sure of that.

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The Wyrm servant was strong and fast but there was only one of him against Alexander and the Ragabash. For all his humor, the Ragabash was not quite so bad at combat. The Wyrm servant was kept moving rapidly if he wanted to avoid those slashing wires. He had silver bullets in those guns, Alex could tell by the smell, so he kept moving to avoid them.

The contest was a forgone conclusion. With one smooth motion while the Wyrm servant was reloading his weapon, Alex attacked. No need to use tooth and claws, goblins and gremlins did everything Alex needed done.

The Wyrm Servant attempted to reload his gun, and the "clip" as that was what it was called apparently, bounced right out. A moment later more pieces of the gun that Alex's didn't understand (or want to) shot out of their respective places. Alex allowed himself a proper preen of satisfaction at that sight. /Better run before I crush your windpipe Wyrm worshipper!\

The Wyrm servant tossed aside his broken weapon and removed a new one. It was small and circular, the function of these "grenades" had been explained to Alex once by Mirri. Thus when the Wyrm servant threw it both James and Alex leapt away from it, even if they did so in opposite direction.

It was at this point, that the Wyrm Servant showed his true speed by dashing between them. By the time the smoke from the explosion cleared he was gone. However he had escaped in the opposite, direction from which they had been going. The Wyrm servant was running away, Alex had and the Ragabash had done their job, now to find the Black Materia.

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Vincent, is that what it looks like?" Vincent took one look at what Mirri was looking at before agreeing. "That is what it looks like." Mirri paused for a moment, and took a moment to flex her hands, and run her hands through her hair (unintentionally giving Vincent a free show of the back side of her neck) and sighed.

"You know, this is shaping up to be a nice fairytale isn't it? We have the prince who takes control of the kingdom after his father's dramatic death. We have the idealistic hero who's cursed and his shape transfigured. We have a princess who is cast out of her kingdom. We have a vampire, a werewolf, and a doppelganger. We even have a mysterious girl who doesn't know her own past. So, now we have a dragon."

"We have a dragon." The giant red lizard was crouched across the doorway, its intention quite obvious, to keep people from moving past it. "So how do we kill this thing?" Vincent was checking both of his guns, and carefully examining the dragon.

"The thing's neck is too big for me to get my fangs into it, even if I could get close enough." Mirri appeared to be examining the huge dragon and comparing it to her weapons as well. "That's what I figured, it probably breaths fire to."

"Can't have a dragon if it doesn't breathe fire." "I suppose fire is right up there with sunlight and beheadings for you." "Haven't experienced it, but you're probably right." The dragon began to stretch, it looked out at Mirri and Vincent, clearly thinking the same thoughts that she and Vincent were, how to kill what it saw. As if to prove what Mirri had been contemplating correct, it let out a low growl, small streak of flame and smoke escaping its maw.

"So maybe we should go for the eyes?" Vincent looked at his guns, looked at the dragon and nodded in agreement. "If it keeps looking at us like that I could put a round in either of its eyes." "Think that would kill it?" "Hard to tell." "I could stick some blades into it." The dragon waved it wings at the pair of them in irritation waiting for them to do something. Mirri snarled back, and hissed to Vincent.

"We could just start shooting, slicing and stabbing until the thing dies." "I'd be good for that against most things, but fire breath makes this sort of dicey." The dragon slowly began to take steps forward while still keeping its body fully inside the door. Mirri and Vincent continued to glare at the monster with irritation.

Okay then, you fire, I'll dance with the thing because I can take fire breath better then you." "So basically I stand here while you go risk your life?" "Same way Dracula acted while he let Lucy go to her final death." "Well that makes me feel better about it. Where's Renfield when you need him?" "Where do you think he is, out chasing birds, and coughing up feathers. Remarkably sane for a lunatic, J. F. Renfeild."

"So you're going to go spread the light of the west?" "More or less, would you be so kind as to hold the coffin lid open?" Vincent, started shooting, and the dragon's neck darted away from them as soon as it heard the retorts of Vincent's guns. The bullets didn't go into the eyes, but they still hit its neck. Vincent dropped his smaller gun and started to reload Casull while Mirri dashed forward, blades loaded into her gloves, ready to attack the dragon.

The dragon for its part snapped its head back, ready to try and catch Mirri in its massive jaws. But Mirri was too smart for that, she kept her distance from the dragon's snapping jaws as she darted back and forth launching blades at the dragon. The dragon launched a blast of flames at her, but she ducked to the side into a small alcove for cover.

Vincent snapped his gun shut having finished reloading it. He looked carefuly down the barrel, and put six more shots into the wounded dragon. It had been so busy worrying about Mirri that it didn't pay much attention to Vincent.

These shots did what Vincent had intended, they went through the monsters eyes and blew it's brain out the back of it head. The dragon collapsed with several blades still stuck in it, and Mirri began to climb over it's body. "Nice shots Vincent, shall we continue? There are yet still more hallowed depths to extract consecrated ground from."

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"Dr. Hojo I presume?" The man in a white lab coat that unlike Melkore's looked like it had been washed recently and well cared for turned around at his name. "Morningstar, Shapeshifter, what are you doing here?" Amazingly, despite having a PHD, Melkore was beaten to the punch in this case.

"Well I got tired of waiting around in the lab, that's the problem with making a killing machine, he just might decide that you look good as a corpse also." Melkore was not far behind. "That's Doctor Morningstar to you! And considering that you can't even control the weapons you make, that speaks quite well to which of us is better at our job."

Melkore smiled, as he "tuned" his guitar. Nothing would be quite as glorious as shooting this idiot who had stood in the way between him and the rightful appreciation he disserved for years. "You don't have the guts." "Actually I do, cat guts to be exact, that's what I use for strings." Rapid playing of the guitar resulted in rapid dispersion of rounds, into various portions of the body of Dr. Simon Hojo. "Sorry if you wanted that one Niro, he who hesitates shoots last, or more often not at all"

Niro took special time to tread on Hojo's body as he walked across him. Then he fired a round into Hojo's chest. "Nah, even his soul isn't even worth extracting. Wanna put another safety bullet in him? You could use my gun." Melkore unstrapped his guitar and leaned it against the wall. Then he took the .44 magnum Niro passed him, and held it in a one handed grip. He leveled the weapon carefully at the still recognizable head of the unmoving body, and pulled the trigger.

The gun jumped in Melkore's hand like Sylvia never did, the bullet missed regardless of the short range. Adjusting to a two handed grip he put the gun directly to the head but Niro took the gun from him before he could pull the trigger. "Sorry Doctor, but only one per customer. I'm sure Alex, Sephiroth, Mirri, and Vincent will all want a chance. So unless you're gonna buy me a new clip, you've shot your round."

Melkore looked at the body he had perforated with bullets, strapped his guitar back on, and shrugged. "Okay then, since we're done with his dead body, let's keep going."

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"I think this is it." The temple had led them on a linear course up to this point, but now it finally deviated. The door they came through was one of four doors, all facing one more huge door in front of them. Aeris managed to catch her breath during the momentary rest, both of them had run fast through countless rooms all of which up to his point had seemed identical.

This room was not alike, there were more then two doors, and the room in front of them looked inviting. Sephiroth slowly walked in through it, and Aeris followed. This new room was important, it was filled with various symbols, drawings, and pictures. Underneath those where words written in a hand that Aeris had never seen before, but she could read.

She was saying it out loud before she realized the words were even being translated on the way to her brain. "Beware Crisis From the Sky, whose goal is destruction of the Planet. She has created the Black Orb, that will burn all the world to ash." Before Aeris could finish the translation, someone else did.

"The death of the last of the Planet's Cetra will herald this magnificent destruction!" Aeris and Sephiroth spun to face the person who had spoke. He was leaning against a wall, with a sword strapped across his back. "So you're still alive Sephiroth, I had hoped you would have had the decency to die like a good dramatic hero. But then, as you were so found of saying, you're not a hero."

Sephiroth had none of his traditional emotional control, he glared at the man with unmitigated anger. The man Sephiroth was glaring at was noticeably shorter then him. He had blond hair in a style that was sickeningly familiar, and his eyes were a shade of too blue mako enhancement. His sword was also painfully familiar to Aeris, it had been Zack's sword. "What the hell are you doing here Strife?"

The man smirked arrogantly remaining calm while Sephiroth's every motion spoke of impossible fury battling flawless control. "What do you think Sephiroth? Waiting for you, so that I can finish what we started in Nibelhiem, and Jenova almost finished on the way to Costa Del Sol. It's such a shame that traitor got in the way. I'll kill him slow for that, and your pet vampire too, though he'll probably do himself in like he almost did. The Shapeshifter, the werewolf also, I'll kill them all." Sephiroth drew Masamune slowly and gripped it in both hands. "There's just one problem with that plan Strife, you need to deal with me first!"

"You think your life matters Sephiroth? You always had an inflated sense of self worth. Don't you realize that the Black Materia is already within Jenova's grasp?" "How." It was not a question, it was a command rammed home as surely as Sephiroth would ram home a blow from his sword. Aeris found herself answering at the exact same moment the man Sephiroth called Strife did, the answer was written on the walls. "This entire temple is the Black Materia." Strife cackled gleefully as he finished his answer.

"Isn't is wonderful? This entire temple is the Black Materia, all that is necessary is to make a few simple adjustments to the inside of the temple to make this place revert to its true form! But, the adjustments must be made from this room, and then whoever does it will be crushed to dust! Jenova has plenty of willing servants who can handle the task, do you have any such men Sephiroth? Do you have shock troops, willing martyrs for the good of all? Even if you can defeat me, you won't be able to retrieve the Black Materia!"

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, Strife, and walking across your body is a pleasant way to travel!" Sephiroth leapt to attack and Strife drew the sword that Aeris remembered as Zack's. The two pitted their blades each other with total commitment to the struggle. Sephiroth wielded Masamune with the skill that had made him General, and had let him dispatch countless foes.

He used the sword's great length to help keep him from getting too close where he could have used his blades design to his advantage. Strife for his part was fighting with what Aeris could only assume was the strength of insanity. Zack's blade was not nearly as long as Sephiroth's, but it was wider and apparently just as strong. Sephiroth was clearly surprised that his foes blade was able to withstand so many blows from his.

Strife thus forced his way forward, trying to get close enough to Sephiroth to force a blow that Sephiroth had to block instead of dodge. However, Sephiroth wouldn't allow that, the room was plenty wide enough for him to dance back and forth away from his foes blade. "You'll never be a match for me!" Sephiroth managed to get an edge by holding his blade with one hand, while he used to his other hand to summon a bolt of lighting towards Strife.

It knocked him backwards, but he held onto his blade. "I don't have to be a match for you Sephiroth, you are no match for the strength of Jenova! You will defeat yourself! EXIT!" A green glow surrounded Strife and then he was gone. Sephiroth began to examine the huge frame that Strife had been standing in front of.

Before Sephiroth could ask the question Aeris answered. "I can understand it, it's all very simple, you just have to move those blocks on the wall around some." "Which leaves us the question of who can do it." "I can do it Seph!" Aeris turned around and saw the one person on the planet who could call Sephiroth by an abbreviation of his name and get away with it.

James Firecat and Alex where standing in the doorway, and James had spoken. "I can move the thing Seph! I mean, It's not like, I'm alive the way you guys are, I'm not even human." Alex added his thoughts on the situation. /Hardly appropriate Ragabash, you should expire in pyrotechnic glory.\ Before James could make good on his promise or anyone could stop him, a fifth voice added his thoughts.

"Nice offer James, but unlike you I could do it and get away with it." Niro and Melkore entered behind James and Alex, and it was Niro who had spoken. "I can shrink to something small, a cockroach could crawl out of here." Melkore of course was keeping his distance from Niro, no possible martyr he. Sephiroth looked like he was about to say something, either in approval or disagreement, but then someone else decided it.

"I will do it, Master." Mirri and Vincent entered, completing the party. Vincent had spoken with complete belief, the kind that dwarfed even James' optimism and Niro's pride. "I would gladly lay down my life for yours master, and that makes me the only person suitable for the task."

Alex snorted in irritation as he turned to look at Vincent. /You will lay down your life, and you will keep it vampire if you have any true loyalty to your master. Anyone knows that a vampire can alter his shape so as to slip through even the smallest opening. If this temple shrinks to be so small that it vanishes from sight, it does not matter. So long as the temple retains it shape, you vampire, will be able to slip out of it.\ In the blink of an eye, everything slid into place, with unstoppable momentum.

"You go for it Vincent!" "Just make sure to give us some time to get out first Vincent, you're immortal, show some patience." "Very well Vincent, the task it yours." /An act that will grant honor even to you vampire, succeed.\ "And I thought I was the only game in town, good luck Vincent." "I don't care how it happens, so long as it works, it's all good."

Aeris was the only one who hadn't spoken, but everything had already been said, so she just nodded to Vincent. Sephiroth took a long pause and looked like he was calculating a battle plan in his head. "Give us ten minutes Vincent, that should be long enough for us to get out." Everyone agreed.

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As the group was starting to exit the temple it was already starting to shrink. The door grew smaller, and smaller, and James had to make a diving leap through it as it grew too small to walk through. Once they where out, it was a rather inspiring sight to watch the temple shrink to nothing. Well okay, almost nothing, it was now a small black materia, that hovered in the air.

Sephiroth walked forward, and what had once been an entire temple, he now could hold easily. "To think, the power to destroy the world, in the palm of the hand..." As soon as Sephiroth said those words however, he suddenly dropped to his legs, gripping his skull in pain. James was caught off guard just as much as the others, and before any of them could act, someone else did.

A familiar looking Turk rushed out of nowhere with blinding speed, and scooped the materia into his hand. "Yes it's glorious, and soon the world will be nothing but rubble underneath Jenova. So long." James had a strand of wire in hand, but as soon as he did, Tseng had a knife at Sephiroth's throat. "I wouldn't do that if I was you. You twitch a whisker, I kill him, slitting his throat won't be enough, but take his entire head off and he'll die." "Get. Away. From my. Master!"

The voice came from nowhere, and Tseng looked frightened by it. James held the wire unwilling to move, but he saw something. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, a red mist was emerging from the Black Materia. "I don't care who you are, you do anything I kill Sephiroth." "I WON'T LET YOU!"

The mist suddenly began to emerge faster and faster. It was pouring out of the Black Materia like a flood. It clung to Tseng's clothing, boots, and practically to his skin. "WHAT THE HELL?" Tseng's, blade snapped in his fingers, and a moment later the claw that had snapped it came into being.

Tseng moved away just fast enough to avoid the misty hand that tried to grab his neck. With Vincent's body between James and Tseng, there was nothing he could do but watch. Tseng raced off with the Black Materia before Vincent fully emerged, and that was that.

Sephiroth was fully unconscious, but Vincent lifted him, looked at Masamune, decided he couldn't lift it, and began dragging it behind him. "We need to get some place safe for Master to recover."

End Chapter 19

OWAN: Listen to the furbrain. Spread the word. Bring us into the light. It's 10 of 3, so I sleep now.