Lost in the Shadows
Chapter 33 - A Sacrifice
Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 -- Squeenix does. X3
Musical Muse - 'Recollection' from FFXI
The quake had shaken the entirety of Costa Del Sol and left many puzzled. It began and ended abruptly, leaving no damage and there was nothing to suggest it was a natural occurrence. Avalanche knew then, what it had been, what it must have been. Cloud simply told them the meeting was finished, as nobody could elaborate on the reports and what it could mean.
"Go and enjoy your short vacation. We'll be out of here soon." He'd said, his mouth set in a grim line.
Aerith could tell he was stressed.
To be quite honest, she was herself.
Almost a week passed without incident. Aerith sulked over the fact that their rest and relaxation was going to come to an end the next day, but her mood lightened considerably as she let her mind fill with the thoughts and the memories of everything she'd experienced over the course of the week. She and Sephiroth had gotten steadily closer and she'd talked to him for hours about her life before she'd first begun her journey with Avalanche. She left no details out, like she had with Cloud, as she knew she could trust him.
She wanted to trust him.
It was considerably harder for Sephiroth to open up to her, she noticed, but didn't let it bother her. He'd had a horrific childhood and didn't want to relive the memories. Besides, and yes, she knew that usually it would help someone to get it all out, it wouldn't help him.
His mind was fragile.
Yet, strong, she thought.
The tragedies of his past were not some fairytale. Regardless of his state of mind, they both knew he would have troubles presented to him that weren't necessary to bring up.
'Why are you thinking about that?' She thought to herself. 'Enjoy the moment.'
She knew she should, but so much was on her mind.
She couldn't focus on the beautiful scene in front of her. Warm colours mixing together with the last haze of the sun as it dipped below the horizon slowly. She couldn't focus on how relaxed her body was because her mind was racing. Sitting in a comfortably fluffy chair out by the ocean with Sephiroth somewhere near her...
Oh, maybe she could.
"It's so beautiful." She sighed drowsily, her eyelids drooping every so often. She heard soft footsteps from behind her and then a soft plunk as he sat down in a chair beside her.
"Not like you, though." He said and she could see the image clearly in her head, him smiling slyly at her.
Something she liked about how they'd decided to get together, to pursue that thing between them that was so obviously there. She was finally seeing him. Not the cold, emotionless shadow of himself, but really him.
He was sarcastic at times, serious the rest. Yet beneath that... There was something different stirring. He was very...
Her thoughts were lost when he kissed her. God, how she could get lost in the warmth and the passion.
"You know..." She said and giggled when he caught her lips again, this time playfully.
"What?" He asked her and she looked up at him. She smiled and despite all the progress they'd made, despite all the intimacy they'd shared, she felt those butterflies flutter in her stomach and her heart sped up, even if only a little. She knew what it was, why it was happening.
What was she supposed to do?
What was she supposed to say, more like it.
'I'm... In love with him.' She thought. Something she would have to deal with. Not now though, after all of this was over. After she figured out the meaning of the reports. After they defeated Toyori, Hiei and... That man. She shivered subconsciously. Whoever he was... She knew it would cost them to go up against him.
After...
Would there even be an after for her?
Her light mood dwindled down to a depressive hum.
Would... She and Sephiroth be here, together, after?
'Why do you do this to yourself...?'
She realized to late that what she was thinking might be relayed through her expression. Sephiroth's own expression turned somber and he cupped her cheek with one hand, rubbing her lips with his thumb. She wished she could punch herself. She wished she hadn't ruined the moment.
"What?" He asked, the rest layered underneath. She could hear the many different questions behind that single word. She wished he couldn't see what exactly was going through her mind because of her expressions. Yet, she melted at the affection in his voice and his actions and some of that sudden sadness and depression crumbled away.
"Just thinking." She replied, putting her hand over his. Looking into his eyes, she saw he wanted more then that. She sighed and stood up, slowly walking to the shore. "Thinking about... After. What are we going to do? Where will we be?" She consoled her guilty conscience at the fact that she hadn't completely lied to him. She figured he could tell what the rest of the truth was anyway.
She shivered when his arms came around her and he laid his lips against her neck. She wanted to snuggle into his embrace but steeled herself against it.
"What do you want after all this?" He asked quietly. She could feel his eyes on her, awaiting her answer.
What a huge answer, too.
The implications!
"I..." She began, almost awkwardly. It didn't have to be awkward though, did it? She knew what she wanted. She'd figured that out after getting to sit through the flows of the Lifestream, watching over the very alive world with her very alive friends. "I want a home. Somewhere I can finally call home, you know? Elmyra gave me a home, yes, but... It wasn't enough. Selfish, maybe..."
She paused, wondering if she should really be laying all this on him.
"I want to do all the things I've always wanted to do. I want to experience all the things I felt I missed out on, felt regret over before I... Before I died." She felt him tense behind her and laid her hands on his in a comforting and reassuring gesture. He slowly relaxed. "I want love and passion. I want kids."
Her mind whirled as everything she wanted flew past her very eyes.
So out of reach, she thought.
Yet so close.
She stopped and closed her eyes as tears began to gather.
How selfish of her, she thought. She had everything she needed. Her friends, her family, Sephiroth...
She was alive, wasn't she?
But... She knew what it was like to die.
She knew what it was like to die and regret never having taken the chance to do what you wanted. To really live.
She opened her eyes reluctantly when Sephiroth placed soft and careful fingers underneath her chin and titled her head up and around to him. Their eyes locked and a sort of understanding passed between them.
Regardless of how the final battle ended.
Regardless of what happened along the way.
They'd be together at the end of the road.
"I can give you everything." He whispered, wiping her tears away tenderly. She'd never seen so much emotion displayed in his eyes before. She smiled tearfully and he smiled back, drawing her closer for a kiss.
"Everything...?" She whispered, amidst it all.
"Everything..."
The clinking of dishes and cheerful humming was all that needed to be heard to know that Tifa Lockheart was a very happy person. The sudden aura of joy and carelessness was enough to make someone dizzy. Her eyes were brighter than usual and she was bouncing around doing random little things that made everyone else just as happy as her.
Almost everyone.
Cloud was still experiencing a tiny bit of anger towards Tifa's rash decisions on the battlefield but nobody paid much attention to it. It would pass with time, like everything else did between the two lovebirds.
"Fuckin' idiot!"
"Ah, man, that's bullshit."
"Don't swear Barret, Reno." Tifa said sweetly, passing the two beers. They were both getting riled up by the game playing on TV and Tifa swore it was the millionth time she'd asked them to stop swearing.
But did she care?
No. Not really.
"I don't think they can hear you." Elena said, yelling the second last word in Reno's ear.
"Calm down, baby." Reno said, putting her arm around her shoulder.
"What did I just say? You don't even know what I just said!"
Tifa smiled and left them to their bickering, breaking out into a giggle at the last minute when she caught Barret's annoyed glance at the two who were cuddling on the couch.
"You've been quite happy lately." Red observed, standing from his comfortable position laying in the sunlight that streamed through the open windows and walking over to her. He nuzzled her leg and sat beside her, purring lightly when she scratched behind his ear.
"It's contagious." She said.
"Who else is happy?"
"Aerith."
"Ah, yes... Did you see it coming?" Red said, breaking out into a wolfish grin.
Tifa squealed. "I so did!"
"What are we squealing over now?" Cloud asked, walking up from the basement. He pet Red on the head and pecked her on the cheek, sitting on the stool at the other end of the counter.
"Aerith and Sephiroth." Tifa answered.
Cloud scowled and muttered something under his breath.
Tifa ignored it flippantly. "It's so adorable! They're so adorable! I've been waiting for this moment. She was always watching him and she thought we never saw." She caught Cloud's look. "Well, you never saw it."
"We know he never sees a thing, though." Cait said, jumping onto Tifa's shoulder, making himself comfortable while shooting a triumphant look at Cloud.
"I see everyone's against me already." Cloud said, smiling at Tifa. He got up and walked over to Barret, who was again yelling at the TV, only to join him. He planted himself on the couch on the other side of Elena and immersed himself in relaxation.
Tifa was genuinely happy that he was able to.
He'd been working hard lately.
She giggled to herself and was happy that this mood she'd jumped into was lasting.
She had a hard time believing anything could possibly go wrong anymore.
A very hard time.
Yuffie didn't realize until the moment she looked upon the house that Cid shared with Shera, and now a baby, how much she was resenting the fact that there even was a child. How scared she was of seeing Cid fuss over and throw attention to another -- his real kid -- while leaving her behind.
It was funny, she decided.
Funny how she'd grown so attached to Cid and taken it further so much as to think of him as her father. She had a father in Wutai. She never forgot about him and she never wished he weren't there, but the fact of the matter was that he really just didn't care about her.
Not in her eyes, anyway.
And maybe she didn't care either.
He'd sent her off and around the world at a young age, with promises of a better life, a better home, only to be kicked out and into another house, only to have everything she worked so hard for for him sold and instead used on himself, the selfish bastard.
It happened agonizingly slow. Walking across the town, trying to keep up with Cid's excited yet nervous pace, to a house she wished wasn't existing.
She thought, finally, she'd found something.
Someone to finally look after her, even if only a little.
'He has a wife,' she reminded herself. 'A wife and a child.'
She steeled herself as she walked through the door.
"Shera?" Cid called out and Yuffie could hear that tremor in his usually calm voice.
"Cid!?" Shera called back instantly. A quiet thump and hurried footsteps was all Yuffie heard. She didn't see Shera throw her arms around Cid and pull him into the other room, heedless of her presence.
'It's her house, idiot.'
She stood around for a couple of minutes, taking in the appearance of their house before she sighed and walked back out the door. She took a look at the gorgeous blue sky above her and wondered why she'd decided to fly about it with Cid, to come here. Curiosity, maybe. To see how Cid would react. She'd always managed to picture him having a kid or two, but with a lot of swearing and influences on the child that Shera would disapprove of and hit him over the head for.
She smiled lightly and walking casually around the town.
It wasn't bustling and hadn't expanded by much. Midgar's refugee's seemed to like their own continent.
It seemed like forever had passed and it seemed like she'd walked in and out of every shop in the town before she decided she needed that thrill of a battle. There was no hesitancy when she walked out of the town and down to the beach. She walked around the soft sand, whistling and singing to herself, trying to attract some fiends' attention.
She was beyond happy when a crowd of three of four fish-like ones she couldn't remember the name of raced towards her. A rush of buried anger overtook her and she charged at them, her shuriken and kunai out in the blink of an eye, cutting them to pieces or stabbing them right in the heart with a passionate cruelty.
Her heart was pounding against her ribcage after she'd taken on and out at least twenty odd ones that happened to pass by her.
She fell down on the sand and held her head in her hands.
This was about a lot more than Cid, she realized.
It was about Vincent too.
She'd seen his hesitance and she'd seen the sudden longing for Lucrecia when they'd been in her cave. Walking through that waterfall had been surprisingly hard on her. Unfamiliar feelings had developed for Vincent over the last month's they'd been together. She'd brought out that side of him that almost nobody else got to see and they'd become closer. She learnt a lot about him.
And in the blink of an eye, or rather, a walk through a waterfall, she could sense rather than see him revert back to something of his old self.
Vincent had been the last to walk through that portal.
Something told her she didn't want to know why.
"This life is so screwed." Yuffie sobbed. Tears had trailed down her cheeks, unbeknownst to her. Everything was catching up with her now. Both Vincent and the new child were awakening insecurities Yuffie thought she'd cast away years ago.
"I'm so screwed." She whispered in her solitude, letting the dam break free.
Elmyra watched with no particular interest as the inhabitants of Kalm struggled with their belongings and large objects, trying to clear out some of the debris left behind. She knelt down and picked up a small jewel that she'd caught her out of the corner of her eye. Dirtied and dusty, she let the pad of her thumb wipe off the mess and let her eyes roam over now shimmering diamond tear-drop. She frowned.
It looked oddly familiar.
She slid it into the pocket of her worn skirt and went over to Marlene who was sitting on the gravel, staring up at the sky.
She'd seen that look before.
That expression of longing.
"They'll be back, sweetie." Elmyra assured her, stroking her hair.
Wide innocent eyes searched Elmyra's own uncertain and fearful ones. Marlene shook her head and looked at the ground. "I want Tifa..." She said, tears brimming and voice shaky.
Elmyra wrapped her arms around the girl and rocked her, placing her own eyes on the stars that were beginning to show themselves above her.
Something inside of her... Was unsettled.
Something was not right.
'Come back safely... All of you.'
Frozen mako hung from the ceiling and the droplets that continuously fell from it was forming a large puddle on the floor, filling the end of the room with an eerie yet comfortable glow, as there was no other light in the small cave. The floor was cracked in various places, making it hard for Toyori to pace any longer, so he simply stopped and stood off on the other, darker, end of the room. He watched silently as Hiei sat in the middle of the puddle, lost in his own gloom and depression, picking at his skin, wondering and asking aloud if he was really there, really alive.
Toyori had to wonder about that one too.
Were they really alive anymore? He looked down at his own skin. Or were they simply forms created out of mako and other senseless things only they're proclaimed 'creators' would ever think of adding to the human body and soul?
Oftentimes, he wondered why Sephiroth was superior to him.
They both had similar characteristics, that was for certain. Their treatment had to have been something of the same.
'Maybe it's because you had that screw-up Kiyoku work on you.' Toyori thought. 'Sephiroth only had Hojo -- you had both.'
Toyori snorted. 'Kiyoku.'
That rush of hatred that always seemed to follow with the thought or mention of the mad scientist didn't come this time and he thought he knew why.
'That Ancient's getting to me...'
And it was hard not to listen and believe her words. She seemed to be the only one who had even an inkling of hope for his, no, their sanity. Her eyes had been filled with sincerity when she told him the Planet hadn't been able to do anything, especially not while he was incased in mako.
Although, her friend's death would've hindered that faith, he supposed.
He had to shake his head clear when his thoughts wandered beyond her seemingly wanting to save them.
Toyori's eyes narrowed as he heard incessant scratching. "Hiei, your skin is better covering your body."
A sigh.
"What are we going to do now?" Hiei asked, letting his guard down for the first time in a long time, sagging against the wall and letting the Wutain accent of his show through.
That was the only reminder they had that they had indeed been human beings before. Humans with normal lives.
Toyori had no accent, being from Icicle Village. Kayana had had some Costan feeling to her voice.
He felt a swell of emotion in his chest then. Kayana. Regardless of how they got on each other's nerves, he would never had wished her dead and he really wished, especially now, that she wasn't, even if only for the extra company.
Hiei, being the oldest of the three, had always kept to himself and left himself and Kayana go off on their own to do what they pleased. Though over time, they'd formed a sort of bond and had stuck together through the nightmares, the torture...
The pain.
'I guess you can't really say we're all heartless then...' Toyori thought, scuffing the ground with his foot. 'We could still be free... Couldn't we?'
"Both of you, it is time!"
Toyori winced instinctively.
"We will not fail."
Toyori and Hiei exchanged one last glance before they disappeared from their hiding place.
"Or you will pay for it with your lives... Assuming you're still around." The voice added once they were gone, cackling manically.
"These burns are still pretty bad..." Sephiroth murmured, not being able to hold it in any longer. Just seeing the once flawless skin of hers so scarred, and all because she was trying to find him, well... It was saddening.
And in a sick and twisted way, it was touching.
"It doesn't hurt that much anymore... It did, oh yes, it did... But not anymore." Aerith answered drowsily, letting her head roll over so she could look at him. She smiled and he reluctantly smiled back.
Within a few minutes she was asleep and the sun had finally set. All that was left was the bright moon and the twinkling stars watching over them.
He fell then, into a deep and dark part of himself.
He shouldn't even be near her.
He shouldn't have ever kissed, hugged, touched her!
He was monster. Nothing good came from it. From him.
And yet... Whenever they did touch, he felt so exhilarated and accepted.
But... He would hurt her in the end.
Hadn't that always been the way of things?
He groaned and lay back on the chair beside her, content to let his arm rest over his eyes. He willed his body to relax from it's tense state and tried to force away the tingling feeling as the hairs on his neck stood. Why could they not just enjoy life? Would there always be this madness following them? Following Avalanche? This vacation was nice...
But it shouldn't have had to be a vacation.
He sighed and once again, tensed, as he heard someone running towards them.
"Sephiroth!" Tifa whisper-screamed as she ran past him to stand in front of him. He relaxed instantly. "You should came back inside." She noticed Aerith then and let out a squeal of delight.
"You're far too happy." Sephiroth said, smirking.
"Are you wishing ill things on me again?"
"Again?"
"Again!"
Sephiroth's ears perked a bit when he heard a yell come from the villa. Tifa shook her head, smiling. At his questioning gaze her smile brightened. "They're far too into the game."
She fell down onto the grass, a little ways away from the labelled 'cute pair' and looked up at the stars, her eyes glittering. Sephiroth smiled, glad she was happy. Their friendship -- and he was glad he could call it that -- had grown throughout the last month or two they'd been around each other and he was glad she was here and so happy.
Even if it was generally Cloud's fault she was so happy.
"So..." She said, looking at him from the corner of her eye and grinning. "How are you two!?"
He grimaced on the inside. If he knew her, which he presumed he did know her enough, he would want to avoid this conversation. As the fates had it, she was happy, happier than usual and would probably not be backing down on this particular subject this very night.
"We're..." He struggled to find the words to describe it. He could lie to her and say everything was fine, but that wasn't truly how he felt. He didn't think he could and should lie to her either. "I don't know." He replied honestly, dipping his head slightly.
She frowned, but asked kindly, "what do you mean?"
"I mean..." He started and paused.
'I mean I think I... I think I love her. How do I tell her? How can I tell her? I'm no good for her and what good would come of it anyway?'
"I'm not used to this." He said finally, taken aback by the emotion and... Sudden forthcoming towards this girl he'd once almost killed.
"Most aren't I guess... I mean, it's hard. What do you do, right? What do you say..." She contemplated her own words. "But I think if it's really there, if it's meant to be... It'll happen. And it'll happen right." She smiled slyly at him, standing quickly. "I think that's what you two have."
Sephiroth lowered his eyes. He found it hard to believe and yet he didn't. He was beyond confused.
Damn, being human was difficult.
'Better than Jenova.' His conscience reminded him.
Conscience.
He snorted and Tifa looked at him, the corner of her mouth tweaking upwards. "Snorting, General?"
"It would appear so."
The slam of the villa door behind them indicated that they would be yet again blessed by another presence.
"Reno, what're you doing out here?" Tifa asked and looked at Sephiroth. She frowned when she saw his emotionless mask was set upon his features, but said nothing.
"Fuckin' game." He muttered and that was all they needed to hear.
A long silence ensued. It wasn't uncomfortable though and Tifa was glad for it.
"We--" She began, but was cut off when the ground began to shake beneath her feet. "Oh!" She shouted in dismay, almost losing her footing. Reno grabbed her arm though and threw his bottle of beer to the ground, steadying the both of them.
Aerith woke then, to her head pounding. "What's going on!?" She asked, ignoring the pain.
Sephiroth didn't say anything, merely looked at the water.
"Sephiroth, what is it...?"
"Stay here." He said curtly, coldly and they didn't protest. He stood and walked to the water's edge, looking down at it intently, trying to see past the darkness. His eyes could only do so much though and he simply gave up, turning and walking back to them.
At that very moment, the water rushed past his feet and over to roughly about where Tifa and Reno were standing. Waves began to form, growing larger every second that passed.
"What the..." Reno said and snapped his head around to the villa when the door clicked open. "Get inside!"
"Move back now!" Sephiroth yelled. "All of you, move!"
His words came too late though, and the waves grew larger in size, far too fast to be natural. Sephiroth was barely at their side when a huge amount of water raised up and over the four's heads, engulfing them. The water quickly rushed over the sandy beach and partway up the stairs leading into town.
Tifa surfaced first, sputtering and trying to push the hair out of her eyes. She was immediately glad she had bought some new clothing upon arriving and had dressed in a dark blue t-shirt and khaki shorts that fell to just below her knees. She didn't think a miniskirt and skimpy white tank top would survive in these unbelievably raging waters.
"Aerith! Sephiroth! Reno!" She called before she fell under the water. It was rising steadily higher... Or was it just the waves? She let out a short and barely audible scream as she broke the surface again.
"Tifa!"
She turned her head to see Sephiroth, who was holding Aerith, swimming away. "Swim! Swim to the villa."
"Where's Reno!?" She screamed back, panicking.
"Here."
She screamed when his hot breath touched her ear. "Reno, don't!"
"Come on." He urged.
The made it to the villa, where a thoroughly upset Cloud and Elena were waiting.
"God, are you alright?" Elena asked Reno worriedly, her eyes sweeping over him.
"I'm fine, I'm fine..."
"Look!" Cait Sith piped up, pointing to a spot in the distance behind them.
They all turned and stared in astonishment as a huge shadow raised out of the water.
"What is that!?"
"I can't even see what it is!"
Aerith turned to Sephiroth and grasped his arm. "What do you see?" It was timidly asked, like she didn't really want to know.
"It's too dark to see anything other than it's silhouette." Everyone was listening to him now, he noticed.
"He's right." Vincent and Cloud said. Sephiroth's eyesight was better than their's, yes, but they were still able to see fairly well enough in the darkness thanks to their mako orbs and bodily construction.
"What's that glow, then?" Elena asked, pointing to the top right of the shadow. Reno squinted his eyes and tried to make out what or who it was, but with no luck.
"What if it's Hiei? The water... He could be the reason it's...?" Red began, but stopped.
"You could be right... But can you control water?"
Aerith shook her head and looked over at Tifa, biting her lip. "You can't control it. You can add more to it though..." She shook her head and water droplets flew from her hair, landing on Red's nose. "We don't know what he's capable of, what we witnessed before could've only been a fraction of his abilities."
"Duck!" Cait screeched, jumping onto Aerith's shoulder and curling himself around her neck.
They all fell to the ground, covering themselves and an explosion rocked the area around them. Aerith looked up and her eyes flashed red, a reflection of the large fire consuming two or three buildings. She let out a cry and stood quickly.
"Ah, Cetra... Enjoying the party yet?"
She felt someone try to roughly pull her back towards the group but she dug her heels into the ground and managed to stay standing in front of the levitating Toyori. She met his eyes with a mixture of determination, fear and confusion. "Why are you doing this?" She recoiled slightly when another spout of fire formed at his fingertips and he threw it over their heads, past the villa, to the brush surrounding the entrance.
"Have you not yet figured it out?" He laughed. "Ah, dear, you are one I wish I could have saved from this fate... However, being the one so closely tied to the Planet, we'll never have that chance." He moved forward quickly and took hold of her chin. "I'm sorry to see a prize such as yourself, wasted..." His eyes roamed her body slowly, agonizingly slowly, before he let her go and kicked off into the air. A few more blows to the town and he was gone.
"We need to move!" Cloud yelled. "Get out of the town, now!"
Aerith stood there stupidly for a moment, gazing off after Toyori before she asked the group if they had a PHS.
"A PHS? Why would we want a PHS now!?" Cait's voice squeaked in her ear.
"It's gone." She whispered, forgetting about the destruction around her momentarily. "How can something that big just disappear!? And without a sound!" She screamed angrily. She took the PHS held out to her by Tifa and started running from the falling debris. Smoke billowed out and around them and the screams and moans of those burning in their homes and on the streets met her ears. A tear trailed down her cheek and she fought the healer's instinct to stay and help.
There was nothing they could do for them. Most were already dead and those not would be in seconds.
Getting past the smoky and flashing entrance wasn't a problem and once they were outside, Aerith fell to her knees, along with a few of the others. Elena, Red and Cloud were coughing like there was no tomorrow and Tifa was just walking silently away, staring at the stars.
Aerith got up and followed her, leaving Sephiroth and the others to tend to themselves or watch as they simply walked away.
"Hey..." Aerith spoke up quietly and touched Tifa's arm in a loving gesture.
"I feel so queasy..." Was all she said.
Aerith frowned and hugged her. "It's probably just because of what you just saw..." Maybe it reminded her of Nibelheim. It was a reasonable reaction, she thought, but they'd all seen death and destruction before.
Tifa gave her an undecided look before sighing. "How did it just disappear like that? It was huge. I mean, where did it go?" She kicked at the ground with her foot and raised her arms into the air. "I knew it was too good to be true, and now those people..." Tifa's voice shook but Aerith watched proudly as she steeled herself against falling apart.
"I know..." She said, rubbing her back comfortingly.
"We should phone Cid and Yuffie... If they don't already know, well..."
Aerith nodded. "You're right. Now come!" She said, taking hold of both of her hands and pulling her back with her. Leaving her with Cloud, she walked a ways away from the group and tapped down on Cid's button. At no response, she dialed up Yuffie.
Again, no response.
"I can't get a hold of them..." Aerith said to Sephiroth, whom she knew was standing behind her now.
"Just keep trying."
"Easy for you to say."
She looked back at the destroyed town. The water had flown back out of the town and was calm once more, but that did nothing for the fire. The flames were springing higher and higher into the air and Aerith closed her eyes slowly, trying to block it out.
'Sacrifices had to made.' Her mind told her, chided her almost.
'Don't let the sacrifice be made in vain.'