Disclaimer: Not mine, yay!
Chapter 28- The One-Winged Angel
"Iji, it's morning." Sora poked Iji. "And I would like to get off from up here, before we boil to death."
Iji stretched like a cat and opened her eyes. The sun beat down mercilessly. Iji put a hand over her eyes to reduce the sun's glare. "Did I fall asleep?" she asked.
"Yeah." nodded Sora.
"Yuffie-chan appears!!" screamed Yuffie as she popped up behind Sora and Iji.
The pair nearly fell off the edge in fright.
"Yuffie!" yelled Sora, his heart pounding a million miles an hour. He took a deep breath and calmed down. "How'd you get up here?"
Yuffie grinned. "We ninjas have mysterious powers!" She wiggled her fingers and made spooky sounds.
"Do your 'mysterious powers' involve grappling hooks and ropes?" inquired Iji, pointing to the equipment that hung on the edge.
Sora stared at the ninja in disgust.
Yuffie laughed nervously and crept towards the equipment. "Um, anyways, I'm just going to um… Bub bai!" She jumped off the edge, sliding down on the rope.
Sora and Iji stared after her silently for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. Iji grabbed Sora's hand and they both floated down to the ground.
"Ahyuck, good morning!" Goofy said cheerfully as they landed.
"Where were you guys?!" demanded Donald. "I was up worrying half the night about you two!"
"Aw, you're such a wet blanket, Donald." Sora pouted. "And I can look after myself, okay?"
"Ah, phooey." grumbled the magician.
Iji started running to the foyer. "Hey guys, I'm just gonna go clean up okay?" She waved back at them. "I'll be back soon!"
"Iji!" yelled Donald.
*****
Iji splashed some cold water over her face. The locker room was empty. Carefully, Iji readjusted her silvery-blonde hair into a ponytail again as she watched herself in the mirror. Seeing her eyes, she sighed.
"I wonder if my eyes were always this colour?" she breathed in question. "Never mind… I better get back to Sora. We have a job to do."
The hallway was also empty. A bright light shone from the arena end. Iji glanced down it, and paused. Was she still half-asleep, or had she just seen somebody watching her? Iji frowned and walked up the hall to investigate. Outside, the arena was empty as well.
"This is getting strange…" she said quietly and stepped up onto the arena area.
Suddenly the magic barrier flared up. Iji's eyes widened in shock and she turned around to escape. No luck. The barrier held fast. A black feather floated down from the sky as it turned dark.
"Did you come to challenge me?" asked a deep voice.
Iji spun around. A man with long silver hair and piercingly bright aqua eyes stood in the middle of the arena. He seemed to tower over Iji. A long, thin sword hung by his side. The man gripped onto it and stared down his nose at Iji. A raven black wing waved gently in the breeze.
Iji stared at the wing until a name dawned in her brain. "Are you… Sephiroth?"
The one-winged angel smirked. "Yes. Now, did you come to challenge me or not?" he asked again.
Iji paced back until she ran up against the magic barrier. She could almost feel his power radiating off him. It scared her.
Sephiroth advanced towards Iji slowly until he stood directly in front of her. There was nowhere for Iji to go. She trembled as he reached out a hand and stroked her white wing. "I think I saw you once long ago, when I was lost in the darkness."
"What?" Iji blinked and looked up into his eyes. She could see a tired sadness mingled within the hatred and anger in his eyes.
The look in his eyes lasted only a brief second. He released her wing and stepped back. There was a sound of sliding metal as he unsheathed his sword and held it out in front of him. "Are you going to fight me or not, girl?"
"Why?" asked Iji, confused.
Sephiroth's frowned harshly. "Everyone who comes wants to fight me, to kill me, all because of what I am."
"But, I don't want to fight you. I came here because I thought I saw you watching me." explained Iji.
For a moment, Iji was sure she saw Sephiroth's face look disbelieving and his mouth twitch in a smile. It disappeared as Sephiroth's eyes became as cold as ice. "Well, it seems your curiosity was a mistake then. Everyone who comes ends up dying anyway. Now prepare for it!" Light flashed off his sword and he leapt at her.
Iji yelped and held her hands out above her. Her Star Cutters appeared in her hand, just in time to deflect the attack.
"That's more like it," Sephiroth grinned. "Now we're getting serious." He slashed at her again.
Iji rolled to the side, and then leapt back as Sephiroth used his sword almost like a whip. Sweat poured down Iji's forehead as she tried to keep up with the warrior's speed. Left, right, right again, left, up. She faltered and in a brief few seconds received a handful of cuts across her body. 'I need to attack back!' thought Iji furiously. 'Or else I'm in trouble!' In between his attacks, Iji saw a gap. She jumped for it and raked Sephiroth along his sword hand.
"Not good enough!" he yelled back and cut her across the back.
Iji landed uneasily on her knees and twisted around, retaliating and catching Sephiroth on the shin. His boot sliced open and a small trickled of blood ran down. He leapt back.
"Very good, girl. I haven't had anybody cut me in quite a while. You're not anywhere near my level though, and I'm growing tired with you." He raised his sword above his head and rammed down with it to stab Iji.
'No…' thought Iji wildly. Everything slowed down before her as she saw the blade. 'I can't die. Not now, not like this! I still have so much to do and so much to find out about my past. This can't be the end!'
Sephiroth's sword fell to the ground with a clatter. "What is this?" growled the warrior and picked up his sword. He tried to attack again and his sword bounced off.
Iji stood up. The invisible shield around her grew, pushing Sephiroth back.
"What are you doing, girl? Hiding behind this like a coward? Fight me!" Sephiroth attacked the shield again, trying to break it down.
"I don't want to fight you. I don't see the point…" Iji trailed off and stared at him. "Are you afraid of letting anyone getting close to you? Is that why you do what you do? Are you afraid of becoming friends with someone, someone like me?"
Sephiroth slashed at the shield. "I am not afraid! My name is Sephiroth, I am a trained solider! Anybody who approaches me must die, no matter what reason!" He roared at the barrier as he put his strength into an attack. His sword sliced through the shield, making it fade away.
Iji fell forward onto her stomach. Pain shot through her body. Sephiroth had put his sword through her white wing. Red liquid dripped down, staining the feathers. Iji looked up from the ground to him. As her mind clouded over, Sephiroth's face melted into one she knew well. 'Riku…' she thought. 'I wish you were here… So I could say goodbye.'
'Please hang on, Iji!' pleaded Talara in her mind.
'If you die, I'll never forgive you!' scolded Menel.
The sword came down again. Iji cried out. There was a clang of metal as Sephiroth's sword was deflected.
"You'll leave her alone."
Iji gasped happily. "Cloud!"
"Yeah, glad to see you too." The blonde swordsman cringed as he held his ground with the one-winged angel. He pushed against Sehpiroth's sword with his own. He glanced back at Iji. "I broke down the barrier. Now get going!" Golden sparks of electricity jumped around his body as a lone bat wing burst from his back.
"Thank you, Cloud." Iji coughed as she painfully rose to her legs and limped towards the foyer. She looked back at the two warriors, feeling the hatred and power that raged between them.
Sephiroth shot Iji a quick look. Iji paused. The look on his face seemed to say 'I'm sorry.'
With a burst of power, Cloud shoved Sephiroth back. He panted and held his sword out in preparation. "So we meet at last…" he growled.
"I've been searching for you too." he replied.
"As long as you exist, I cannot wake from this nightmare… you are my darkness."
"If that is so, then I will draw you into the darkness. Into the nightmare that deprives you of light from which you can never awaken."
The two leapt forward at each other, their swords held high. Sparks of metal flew as they exchanged blows.
"Good luck," Iji breathed, hoping them both the best. She left them to their battle and limped out into the foyer and to the entrance hall. She collapsed when she finally reached the sunlight. The world around her throbbed and turned dark.
"Iji? Iji!" cried a voice.
*****
"Hey Iji! Wake up!"
Iji opened her eyes. Yuffie stood over her. "What happened?" She looked around the locker room. Everything seemed unreal and dream-like. 'Was it just a dream?' she thought.
"Man, you got beat up pretty bad! It took us pretty much all day and night to get you patched up! And you were screaming in pain the whole time and there was blood everywhere and…" Yuffie stopped herself and looked embarrassed. "Well, never mind. At least you're okay now!" She grinned.
"Come on, already! We've gotta get going!" yelled Donald angrily, coming into the locker room and pushing Iji onto her feet. "Move it, move it!" he grumbled, ushering her out towards the world gate. "We're supposed to be locking more Keyholes!"
"Iji! You're awake! I was really worried!" Sora jumped at Iji and inspected her, making sure she was totally okay.
Iji smiled. "Yeah, though I feel a bit stiff."
"Great!" Sora gave her his trademark grin. "Well, let's get to it!"
Yuffie sidled up to where Leon stood at the entrance to the lobby, watching as the four of them boarded onto the gummi ship and sped off into space.
"You think they'll be okay, Squall?" Yuffie asked.
Leon growled quietly at the sound of his other name, but chose to ignore it. "Yeah, I'm sure of it."
"It's a miracle she survived her encounter with Sephiroth really." Yuffie commented. "Cloud came in at just the right moment." She glanced back down towards the arena. "You think he's really gone?"
"I don't know. But I'm pretty sure that it would be impossible to truly defeat someone as strong as that." Leon replied after a few moments of thought.
Yuffie sighed and plopped herself down on the stairs. "Then Iji really was lucky."
Leon joined her. "Iji's powers keep growing with every new day, it seems. If Sora gets in trouble, I'm sure he can count on her to get him out of it."
"But… She's still torn between light and darkness." Yuffie placed her hands over her heart. "She's still vulnerable to the feelings in her Heart. It may cloud her judgements."
Surprised by her comment, Leon turned to her. Yuffie blinked and looked up at him. She smiled softly.
"There's a hidden meaning to what you just said, isn't there?" Leon raised an eyebrow.
Yuffie's smile turned into a smirk. "You never know." she whispered. She leaned over and placed a kiss on Leon's cheek.
Leon blushed embarrassedly.