:: Heart Less Love ::

I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice
for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.
Mia Hamm

Part Twenty-Two: Sacrifice

Let us go from this place

And seek the lonely world again

Where love might flourish

And life be worth living and

Be it bearable for as long

As you are here by my side...

Aerith got to her feet behind Cid, staring at the form of Faben with her heart somewhere in her throat now, fluttering anxiously. The pilot, older as he was, remained firm and steadfast before her, as a wall between them. It was a stance that said he would always place himself between her and danger. Next to him was the burly form of Zack as a wolf, hackles raised and poised to jump for the throat of the man-monster who stood before them.

"Run," Cid hissed at her.

"What!" She whispered back in disbelief.

"You said it yourself, Tifa is down that way, where that thing came from right. You make a run for it, you go and get her and save her from being a complete idiot." Cid reached into his top pocket, pulling out a pack of smokes. With a backward glance that said 'don't ruin my moment' he took one out and put it between his teeth. "But first, got a light?"

"This is stupid, Cid, really stupid," she snapped her fingers together, sparks flying from the mastered green materia she wore. "This will end in you getting yourself killed and do you have any idea how much a funeral costs?"

The man just laughed! "Aerith, you always make me smile. Now go."

"He is right, Aerith."

She looked down at the wolf, as he spoke directly into her mind, his long tongue hanging out. She could nearly see him, as he was, that cocky little smile, that wonderful way he had of holding his head. Her trust, she had always given him it completely. He had always been there with her, sometimes unseen and always unshakeable. "Zack, you too?"

"I came here to be Tifa's protector, to do for you what you could not. But now she is lost and alone, she is frightened, can't you feel it? I know you can, that heartbeat in your mind. I held this monster off, from following her. We'll distract him. Cid is a good man, I remember him from the space project. Trust in us."

"Alright," she said, gathering up her skirts in one hand, "...Don't die. That's a … a... g... god-damned order!"

Cid laughed again and even Zack did, as she began to cry. It was too much, this was too much! She began her run, to speed past Faben, expending her magic to do so. Time slowed, so that she zipped past him. She couldn't say to which the magic effect had occurred, but she was past him, listening to the cries of Cid, taunting the monster as she left them behind.

"Come on gutless wonder, let's see how pretty your intestines are!"

Cid... the big brother... I wanted...

She just ran harder.

Vincent's long expression said it all.

Cloud just chuckled. Well it seemed about as likely as everything that had happened so far. After they had unearthed the hatch, they'd gone down and through the metal corridors, down stairs and through more work spaces and training yards and an inactive reactor to where they were now, some kind of kennel with glowing rocks and another open tunnel leading down into rocks rather than clinical cold metal.

"Dogs. Really."

"Bandersnatches." Cloud giggled a touch, earning him a look of ire. Hey, he couldn't help it that the name was hilarious, and he sometimes had the mentality of a kid barely in high school. Coughing to cover it up, he lifted the sword from his back, freeing it from the magnetic sheath. "But really, did you expect this?"

"I have begun to give up expecting anything."

"That might not be a bad way to go about. Look out!"

Cloud ducked backward as one of the freed dogs came ripping for his head with fearsome looking claws, jaws hung with spittle. Vincent's pistol blast took the throat out of the dog, tossing it aside. Cloud scrambled back onto his feet, and turned about, surprised to see two behind them. That made a total of five dogs, well, four, one laid on the floor with blood straining from the remains of it's neck.

"Let's make quick work of this."

The blond soldier nodded, hefting his sword, "Gotcha. Come on!" He swung at the closest, blade sending sparks from the metal furniture that it swung through, cutting cleanly. The further dog leaped, and Cloud put his hand up, catching the dog on it's underbelly, fingertips grazing along the fur. He focused his will on the materia in his gauntlet, ice crawling up from his hand and latching onto the cells of the dog. It fell from the heigh, shattering the midriff on the floor. It kept twitching and trying to move, but as the magic wore off and the ice thawed, it soon slowed and stopped.

Cloud swung around, jumping over the table as the closer dog snapped at his heels and overturned the desk onto it. Vincent stepped over it, moving backwards with a deft leaping motion. As he moved, the scarf seemed to flutter as if it were alive, bullets scorching through it and hitting the dog dancing up over the desk, another one shooting directly through the desk, trailing a strain of poison, the corresponding green orb of materia slotted into his weapon.

He glanced back as the last dog was jumping, trying to reload his gun as quickly as he could, instead lashing out with his leg. The dog was kicked sideways, and Cloud, ready for it with sword in hand, clove it neatly into two.

"Well... that was short, and sweet."

"Mmm," Vincent looked up. "Maybe not."

"Huh?" Cloud said, also looking up as the floor gave way above them. Creatures crashed down atop them, as well as rock and rubble, dust choking up the air. Cloud felt heavy objects squirming around, roaring and swearing and something hot splashing against his face. He fought for purchase in the dust and rubble, half swimming his way to clearance on the other side of the pile of bodies and junk, seeing what it was for the first time.

Cid was shoving Vincent off him, covered in deep gashes and dirt. Before the two rose a monster that had undeniable Jenova-ish traits about it. Cloud remembered fighting Jenova well enough on many occasions to say that the tentacles alone were enough to leave him with nightmares. On the other side of the monster, snapping and snarling, limping vaguely as it circled was a wolf with shocking blue eyes, and a ruffled fur about the head... and a scar...

"Zack!" He called, astonished.

The wolf dipped it's head briefly, then lunged at the monster from behind, making it spin and roar. The wolf came rushing away from harm, muzzle dripping blood and lips pulled back in a snarl, the kind of snarl that said 'these teeth are not for show'.

Cloud picked up his sword, moving to where Vincent was, then looking up at Cid. "Where's Aerith?"

"She went ahead to get Tifa, she can help hold Yuffie down whilst we get rid of this freak." Cid scraped blood from a cut in his forehead, "Faben's gotten a fair bit uglier, don't you think Cloud?"

"Faben?" Cloud frowned; that would make sense, Jenova cells were strange, they mimicked and used magic in ways that science had been unable to completely unravel, even by the time that Soldiers were being experimented on, like Sephiroth. "I see, Vincent, can you stand?"

Vincent pushed hands off him, frowning, "Yes. But I suppose, given all this, we have to go all out."

Cloud nodded, "I don't see any other way, Cid?"

"Do I fuckin' look like an instruction manual, boy!"

"That's your answer, Vincent."

The tall, quiet man nodded, lifting his scarf to cover his face, "Then, I suggest you get back."

"Huh?" was about all Cid had time to say, before Cloud drove his arm about his neck and dragged him a good distance back, Vincent would need some room. "Oh shit no..."

The transformation was painful, or so it looked to Cloud's eyes. Vincent bent double, holding his middle and screeching, then the skin began to tear, magic rippling through it. Then came that sense of fear that broke bones to marrow and chilled hearts to stopping. Cloud clutched Cid as much as the pilot clutched back, watching the scene with horrified expressions. The wings unfolded first, exploding from his back and showering blood behind him. Next, the scarf curled up towards his hair, turning into a demonic half mask. His skin and rippling, folding into stronger muscles as the exo-skeleton formed over soft tissues. With a final roar of pain, Chaos stood where Vincent had moments before, the tatters of a suit clinging to the legs.

"Oh man, he liked that suit," was all Cid could say, trying to work moisture into his mouth.

Cloud nodded agreement, getting up from behind the overturned desk and retrieving his sword, feeling the comforting weight in his hands. He gave Chaos a wary look, receiving one in turn, with those demon eyes glowing a grisly red. "You know how we do this," he said to him.

Chaos merely hitched a corner of one lip.

"Alright then... tick tock, time's up Doc," Cloud said, starting his run towards the monster, only to get caught by the thick arm which launched him high overhead. As he was suspended mid air for a moment, he saw Vincent start to move with the shadows and brimstone, ducking and weaving about the monster, peppering him with bullets and firing off blasts of magic coloured a dense red and white.

Cid, using Vincent as a distraction, launched a high jump down the left side of Faben, digging his pole-arm in deep. The monster shrugged Cid off, sending him clattering through the empty cages. Cloud started to come down, and landed, foot on the top of the pole-arm. His added weight was enough to drive the sharp end of it through skin and muscle, shearing the trunk arm in two down to the hand, where he kicked as he twisted, sending the pole-arm flying in the direction of Cid who was just starting to sit upright. It jammed, quivering in the wall next to him, making him curse.

Cloud gained his footing again, moving to swing his sword – the next few blows were standard, but as it spun to hit him away again, Zack was there, ripping out an eye. It howled and threw the wolf away from him, this time the impact with a wall was loud, the sound of someone sliding down it to come to a rest.

Chaos zipped in close, neat shots severing the spinal cord and severely restricting the motion that Faben had. When the arm claws out for Chaos, it was avoided with a neat ducking and twist, but the wing tip had been caught and with a vicious twist, Cloud could hear the bone snapping and twisting.

Desperate to help him friend, he moved up and plunged his sword into the soft tissue of the left side, angling up as much as he could. He tried to begin the motions for the cross-slash manoeuvre that he'd known for what seemed like most of his life by now. As he was about to complete the third motion, something poured over him from above, scalding his eyes and filling his mouth. He staggered away, coughing and spitting out the poison as quickly as he could, scrambling to get to his curative materia. The coolness hit, soothing the poisonous sting.

The monster's attention was back on Chaos, the other wing was now coming off and as the final twist was about to be applied, the monster stopped moving. The arrow, or rather, pole-arm, was sticking directly through the creature's head, glistening with the magic of air, traces of it falling away and dispersing, a little like particles of dust seen through a sunbeam.

Cid huffed, as the monster collapsed, unmoving. "I vote, we fuckin' barbecue that bastard this time, all in favour, don't bother to raise your god damned hands." He threw his small hip flask, lit, at the body of the monster. It exploded in flames, screams no voice could ever make tearing the air.

"Holy gaia," Cloud muttered, then noticed Vincent had shifted back to his human form and was lying still, "Vincent!"

He rushed over, pulling the scarf up so he could see the long rake marks in his back and the blood that oozed freely. "Oh shit, Cid... come give me a hand," he shouted, as he dragged Vincent from the fire. The pilot limped over and together they hauled the unconscious man onto a desk, sweeping old papers and rotting food away to do so. "Bandage him with his scarf, I'll use my materia... I don't know though, he's lost a lot of blood." Cloud fumbled with the materia and Cid set to work binding the wounds. Both were so busy that neither heard the footsteps behind them.

"You know, a real hero could handle this," the voice said.

Cloud dropped the materia, it rolled away under papers. The voice froze him where he was stood, tears forming in his eyes and stinging his throat. Cid too, had stopped moving, staring at Cloud's face.

He wasn't breathing right. Addled as he was, he knew that dammit, he knew that.

But it didn't matter right now, as the sword was pushed into his hands, with a force that as strong as love, with care that folded his numbed fingers over the hilt. "Live... you'll be my... living legacy..."

"I'll be..."

"My honour, my dreams..." His friend was smiling. Cloud had envied a smile so free of worries or care. He had wanted to be like this man, he had always wanted to be by his side, to see each day in and laugh together with him. "...they're...yours now..."

"Zack..." he said, staring at the man who passed away, letting out his final breath. The smile was still there. He was gone, and all Cloud had done was watch him slip quietly away. It was painful, too painful to bear. "...rest...well..."

"I'm getting there," Cloud said stiffly, then frowned, "...if I hadn't been playing 'find the materia' of course."

"You can laugh now, and joke. That's a good thing, I was worried, really worried. You're not like other people, Cloud, you know that? Here, just this once and don't tell Aerith, she'll just get upset about rules or that stuff. Lucky I'm just a dumb Soldier, eh?" A hand made of sunlight and dust moved past Cloud's frozen side to touch the back of Vincent. The blood seemed to roll back into the rake-like wounds and close. Then he coughed.

"Ugh..." Vincent said, "I feel rough."

Cid laughed, slapping Vincent on the back, "God be damned Vampire," but it had none of the usual sting in it.

Cloud gritted his teeth and turned about.

Zack was almost exactly as he remembered him being. Tall, handsome with that star shaped scar and dark hair, spiked diffidently about his oval-shaped face with those brilliant blue eyes. The smile too, cheerful and cheeky. "Hey, country boy."

"Zack." Cloud smiled, one that felt unforced. He'd saved them up, cut off for so long. Even if this moment didn't last, it was good enough. "How am I doing?"

"Not bad, I'd say a B plus. But right now, they need you. I can't go further, not yet. The materia blocks my way... hurry to them, down that way." Zack pointed, towards the rock-corridor that led down and out of the kennels. They all looked, but when they looked back, Zack had already gone.

"...B plus my ass," Cid snorted, "You can't help that you're a blockhead, Cloud."

"Cid, don't you have some other lives to ruin?" Cloud grinned, taking Vincent's arm as he stood groggily. Cid took the other arm, and between them, they began walking towards the corridor and away from the smouldering, vanishing mess of what had been the only other active scion of Jenova.

Her lungs burned for oxygen but she didn't slow, not until the green glow and her alert senses told her that she was finally there, close to the materia and the Lifestream. She slowed her running and came out into the open, where she saw Tifa on her back, struggling with the point of one of Yuffie's fuuma shuriken as the slighter, smaller woman attempted to force it through the bloodied and battered Tifa.

"Stop it," she cried.

Yuffie stopped what she was doing, and even Tifa stared at her, moving the point of the shuriken so it slammed into the floor rather than her head. The point was driven deep enough that it would take some strength to remove it, but neither could Tifa move as Yuffie's foot was squarely on her ribs. Aerith looked between the two, then shook her head.

"Yuffie, stop this nonsense right now."

"Aerith," Yuffie said, then her face contorted with rage. "Cetra!"

Thanks to her sharpened senses, she had already erected the magical barrier long before the projectiles came flying for her, kunai, rocks, shards of the fuuma, they all rebounded off the magic. Aerith stayed as calm as she could, and struck back with her magic, pushing air against Yuffie and weaving the seals for her sealing technique. Yuffie cried out, then became as still as stone.

"It won't last," Aerith said, hurrying towards Tifa, and dragging her out from under the foot. The martial artist hung on, as she herded towards a pile of rocks, where Aerith wove her barrier the best that she could, to protect them.

"Thank god, I think I was almost toast," Tifa chuckled.

The slap had been intended, Aerith meant to do it. Perhaps not so full armed, but it was completely deserved. Tifa's head snapped a little when it was applied, but the wine coloured eyes just looked at her sadly, full up with love and regret. "You idiot," Aerith fumed, "You left me, you said you wouldn't!"

"Maybe," Tifa chuckled again, "But one of us was going to, right?"

Aerith frowned, lowering her hands, "That's true."

"Maybe I just decided to pre-empt your attempts at further martyrdom. No one likes a smart ass, sweetheart," Tifa rubbed her ribs. "But, this has been difficult. I thought I could protect you..."

"Let me heal you," Aerith said, moving her hands along her lovers' skin, touching the bruises and coaxing the pain out from them. She woven skin and muscle back together, sewed and stitched bones and bleeding and exerted as much of her magic as she could afford to divert from the shield, which had already begun to withstand the deluge of projectiles, both magical and physical. As her hands came to where the hair had been ripped from Tifa's scalp, she stopped. Tifa had taken her hands, and moved them to cup the sides of her face, her eyes closed as she nestled into them.

"I love you."

"Tifa, I love you too."

"You are everything to me Aerith." The eyes opened a little, to look at her from behind sooty lashes, "You saved me, you're my world. I'd do anything for you, what else could you possibly need? You're so powerful, so beautiful, so wise and kind... and all I can do is be a shield, all I can do is stand in your shadow and pray I can be of use to you someday."

"No, you're wrong, Tifa, you're so wrong." Aerith sobbed, pressing her forehead to Tifa's, tears running down her cheeks, "You don't get it, you really don't get it. I remember, everything. Everything. From the smallest touch, to the slightest smile. To how you raise your arms overhead in bed, to how when you play the piano you are lost in another world made of music and magic, the kind I can't make. Tifa, you're so wrong..."

"How am I wrong?"

"Tifa I," she stopped, part of the shield had vanished. "Look out!" she cried, moving to push Tifa from the way as chunks of rocks shattered from overhead.

There was a hand on the back of her dress, hauling her out and chucking her with force across the room, so hard that she felt herself bounce, hitting small rocks on her spine as she went. Agonsy raced up her nerves, and she struggled to get to her feet.

Yuffie was breathing hard now. "Aerith... why won't you save me?"

"I'm trying to, Yuffie please believe me, I'm trying to!"

"No, no, no no no noooooo," Yuffie pressed hands to her head, "Why can't I make any sense, why when you are there... why..."

"Do you remember the day?" Aerith said slowly, picking up her Princess Guard. Tifa had gotten to her feet and was hiding in ambush behind the rocks, a shorter distance from Yuffie. "Don't you?"

"Yes," it was a hissing sigh, coupled with pain. As the ninja relaxed her hands on her head, Aerith could see the chunk of materia held there. Aerith wasn't sure why, but the materia was showing odd signs of strain, veins of white threading through it. "I remember it. You watched me, as I tried to hide it. You've always been watching me."

"Yes, I have."

"You wanted me to be like you, you wanted... to stop being alone," Yuffie wept.

Aerith nodded, "No one wants to be alone, in this life. No one. That materia, it's not good."

"But mother... mother..."

"Shall I tell you a story, about Jenova?" Aerith smiled, moving towards Yuffie, focused on the materia as the ninja seemed to shrink back from her, "She was a woman, who came from a different world. A woman, whose race were unable to withstand certain radiations. They caused madness, terrible madness. However, this woman who had come to chase this madness down by it's call and destroy met a man, and fell in love. Like all good love stories, they had children and they were happy. The sister of the man was wary of Jenova, of the power she could project if she got too close to the black materia. But years of low grade exposure drove her mad, mad enough to kill thousands, to destroy parts of the world."

"Yes... yes..." Yuffie moaned, "I know..."

"But, when it came down to it, the sister who had been so suspicious of Jenova tried to pacify her at the Northern Crater, the Knowlespole, where Jenova had opened a massive wound on the world. However, it was not K'listo that brought her to a halt. It was her husband, Arkilles. Because he loved her."

"Why... why? Why destroy that which you love?"

"Because you cannot bear to see it grow worse. Because remembering the beauty of how someone was is more preferable to what comes after..." Aerith looked sad, "Like Kasumi."

Yuffie's head came up, eyes wide. "K...Kasumi... Mom..."

"She is there, you know." Aerith touched her heart, "She lives inside of you still. You might hear the voice of Jenova, but your mom, she is still the voice of the Cetra, she is still inside you, protecting you and loving you, like she always has."

"...run Aerith... run..."

Her mother gasped for on the steps, collapsing forward and holding her chest. A woman came from the crowd, kind and sweet and held her as she wept, trying to tug her dying mother along with her. She couldn't be without her.

"Take care of... Aerith... please..." her mother pleaded with the woman, who nodded.

But to her, she whispered, "I'll be with you... one day... when you know where to look, you will find me... Aerith..."

"Mom..." Yuffie's face was suddenly clear. "That's right, I swore..."

Just as she thought she'd finally gotten through to her, Aerith moved to take the materia off Yuffie. However, in a split second veins of black rushed up Yuffie's arm, and she hurled the fuuma shuriken right at her. Aerith closed her eyes, waiting for impact. But there was none, yet she heard the thud. Perhaps her mind was numbed to being stabbed, she reasoned as she opened her eyes.

Instead, she was face to face with Tifa who smiled at her. "Hey."

"Hey?" Aerith said in confusion.

"...rain check then... on that... celebrating thing..." Tifa sighed, stumbling to her knees. Aerith clutched at her, then realised in horror what had happened. The shuriken was stood out from Tifa's back, embedded deeply. Blood had stained the lower half of Tifa's shirt and legs, and Aerith's dress. It was embedded so deep that the point of it had been driven out of the breastbone, the other side of the entry point. Tifa's eyes were wide open, glazed and that smile frozen, blood trickling from one corner of her mouth.

Yuffie was frozen, staring in horror.

Aerith collapsed to her knees, holding Tifa. It began before she knew it, a thin wail that came from her throat, then throbbed into full force, ringing out, tearing out. It shattered off the rocks, it made Yuffie drop the materia and cover her ears, eyes wide and staring, tears running down her cheeks. It was enough that when the three bantering heroes came out of the dark corridor on the opposing side to the river of the Lifestream all they could do was stop dead, seeing Aerith in a pool of blood, holding onto the still body of Tifa Lockhart, and screaming like the world should stop and die. The very rocks about them began to shake and quake, moving and rocking with the anger and the fury and the loss.

But Aerith didn't care. With one stroke, her world was gone.

"Aerith," her mother said...

Tick... tock...

Tick... ... tock... ...

Tick... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...