Finally, I'm properly on vacation. And to make things better, today's my birthday! I'll be going out of town for about two or three weeks starting tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to update at least once while I'm away.

To hold you over, here's one more Midgar chapter, and the start of my new Bat-story over on some other part of the site will follow as soon as I can find the time to make some grammatical corrections. Enjoy! And I'll see you when I get back.

Riku: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else he wants to use."

!

Chapter 123: Strife

Barret was frantic. He was pacing up and down the bar of 7th Heaven (which Tifa had decided not to open that day) at high speed. He barely seemed to comprehend what he was doing, and was bumping chairs and tables over as if he didn't see or feel them. Donald had made the mistake of getting in his path once, and was nearly trampled.

Sora couldn't exactly blame him. His daughter had just been kidnapped by one of the most evil beings in the universe, and he was now being forced to wait for several hours until there was any chance of getting her back.

The group had since decided to leave him to his silent pacing, watching him carefully to make sure he didn't do anything rash.

"Well, what do we do?" Sora asked the others.

"I don't know." Mickey admitted. "Trickery worked on Hamsterveil and Xarcs, but Sephiroth is a whole different animal."

"If he suspects anything, then Marlene..." Zack left his sentence hanging in the air, as if they couldn't see the thought behind it.

"We need to have faith." Tifa finally said, quietly. "We need to have faith that there's still a way out of this..."

!

At last, Midgar was coming into view. It was little more than a dark speck on the sandy horizon, but it was there.

Cloud had been riding all night, and for most of the day, stopping only for a short lunch from the contents of his pack. It was about seven o'clock, and the sun was low in the sky, painting it a yellow-orange color.

He fixed his eyes determinedly on the distant buildings, and scowled. He could feel Sephiroth there. Interestingly, it seemed that he was in more than one place. He had no idea what that could possibly mean, but he wasn't about to try to decipher the reason for it. He poured more speed into Fenrir.

He was determined to reach Midgar within the hour, and it seemed an attainable goal. Already, the distant city seemed to be growing larger.

Not for the first time, he was aware of a familiar presence, as though somebody was sitting right behind him on the bike. He felt a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Don't let him get to you, Cloud. And remember, we're all here for you."

Cloud took a moment to reply to the voice in his head. "I won't, Aerith."

!

ShinRa headquarters was a mess. After the Planet had been restored like all the other worlds, it had been allowed to crumble. It sat empty, save for whatever the ShinRa workers had left behind when AVALANCHE had attacked the building. The evidence of their attack remained in the form of holes in the thick walls, rubble that had never been removed, and cracked glass strewn all about.

Coincidentally, before the Planet's destruction, Cloud and Sephiroth had dueled on its roof.

Nothing stirred as AVALANCHE walked up to the front of the building. They had taken a chopper that had been 'liberated' from the ShinRa warehouses after the company was dismantled. The chopper was positioned about half a mile away, because that had been as close as they could get without crashing the thing.

They had walked the rest of the way, Kairi clutching Sora's hand in hers the whole time. They had desperately tried to think of a way to get out of surrendering him to Sephiroth with no bloodshed for hours.

And they hadn't come up with any ideas at all.

Now, they were just hoping for the best.

They all stepped into a sort of courtyard at the front of the main ShinRa building. Huge chunks of the building lay strewn across it, and the pavement was cracked. Ahead of them was a smaller building that connected to the tower that had served as the main place of business.

On the roof of this smaller building stood Sephiroth. He smiled coolly at their approach, and stepped off of it. He floated slowly to the ground, and touched down on the pavement in front of it.

"You made it. I was starting to get worried."

"Where's Marlene?" Barret barked, barely restrained by Vincent and Axel.

Sephiroth didn't react to the menace in his voice, and merely gestured with his left hand. Loz appeared, once again gripping the squirming Marlene by her wrist. Kadaj and Yazoo were just behind them.

"I said I'd leave her unharmed, and I meant it." Sephiroth said. "Now, you hold up your end of the bargain."

Loz released Marlene, and shoved her forward. She stumbled a few feet, and then began to walk slowly toward the members of AVALANCHE. Slowly, Kairi released her grip on Sora's hand. He turned to her, and kissed her for what might have been the last time.

He walked slowly forward, his gaze locked on Sephiroth's. He passed Marlene, placing a comforting pat on her shoulder as she passed by him. She arrived in her father's arms at the same time Sora stopped in front of Sephiroth and his gang.

Yazoo stepped forward, tossing a small burlap bag in between his hands. Sora guessed that it contained the material that would make the evil mark that would incapacitate him. Yazoo reached inside, dipping his fingers into the material. His fingertips were green and shiny when he took them back out.

He approached Sora carefully, and something unusual happened.

From the ground just before Sora, a greenish light appeared. Tendrils of the green energy shot forward, wrapping themselves around Yazoo before he could react to their sudden appearance.

Sora's first thought was of a Cure spell. But a Cure spell would never do anything like this...

The tendrils of green energy wrapped tightly around Yazoo, and squeezed him as a boa constrictor would do to its prey. Yazoo cried out in pain, as wisps of Darkness rose up from where the energy touched him.

The tendrils of energy threw him –still screaming- from their grasp. He flailed through the air, and into the side of the ShinRa building, breaking through the wall, and falling inside.

Sephiroth darkly murmured, "Lifestream..." before Sora seized the moment, summoning Oblivion, and rocketing forward with the intention of running him through the chest. With Marlene safely out of the way, and already running back to the chopper, it was much safer to do so.(1)

Sephiroth had drawn Musamune in a heartbeat, and parried Sora's blow, knocking him a step backwards. Kadaj and Loz rushed forward to come to their brother's aide, only to be stopped in their tracks when the Guardian appeared before them.

Kairi flew past them, ignoring Kadaj and Loz completely, and rushing to aid Sora against their brother. Sephiroth's blade flicked toward her face, and she narrowly ducked under its tip. Sora took the initiative, and stabbed at Sephiroth's exposed chest. The older man slipped out of the way, however, and nearly took Sora's head off with a counterattack. Kairi saved him by quickly blocking his blade with her own.

"How precious." Sephiroth taunted. "The two young lovers are going to fight me together."

Sora and Kairi merely smirked at him.

Sora lunged forward, coming in high with Oblivion, while Kairi went low with Destiny's Light. Sephiroth stepped back from the attacks, and allowed them to come to him again. They advanced in a flurry, their blades striking at every inch of Sephiroth that they could reach. But the man barely gave ground as he moved his long blade to catch each blow.

He took to the air with a single beat of his wing, rocketing into the air high above them.

Sora and Kairi let off matching flashes of bright light. When it faded, they were revealed to have transformed into their respective Final and Goddess forms. Sora wielded Oblivion and Fenrir, while Kairi held Destiny's Light and Oathkeeper. They both looked each other over quickly, and smiled.

The two Keybearers launched themselves into the air after Sephiroth. They arrived to either side of him, and struck simultaneously with their four Keyblades. The moment before impact, and shield of pure black energy formed around Sephiroth, repulsing their weapons.

"And here I thought this would be as boring as last time." Sephiroth said, as his shield vanished.

"Boring isn't how I remember it." Sora replied, slashing at his neck without even touching either of his blades.

"Yes, but the sweat was in your eyes, and fatigue effects the memory." He taunted, blocking his attack, and then a similar one from Kairi.

"I still remember beating you."

"Did you?" Sephiroth tried to cut Sora in half, but had his attack blocked by one of his floating blades. Kairi fired a narrow beam of Light at Sephiroth, which he barely dodged.

He shot backwards, leading them toward the ShinRa tower.

!

Naturally, Heartless had arrived. While the majority of the party was dealing with them, Riku and Vincent were fighting Loz. They had wandered away from the main battle, and were fighting on something of a wide balcony, which may have once served as a chopper's landing pad.

Vincent's constant gunfire –while it rarely found its mark- was suitable to keep Loz on the defensive. His pilebunker moved to intercept the bullets as they approached, and they ricocheted harmlessly away from him. Occasionally, they would graze his skin, however.

Riku was having slightly more luck. He punched out his hand, sending quick bursts of Dawn energy at the big man. Loz weaved out of the way of the blasts, barely missing them each time, as he gradually made his way toward the Keybearer.

He got within a few feet of him, and aimed a punch at Riku's face. The spikes on his weapon skimmed just over Riku's nose as he ducked underneath the attack. He brought his arms up, and took a firm hold of the big man's arm. With strength he didn't even know he had, he tossed Loz over his shoulder.

Unfortunately, Loz had incredible coordination. He was able to plant his feet firmly on the ground before Riku let go of his arm, and reversed his grip to where he was now holding Riku's arm. He tossed him as hard as he could into a nearby concrete wall, where he left a small crater.

However, while his attention was elsewhere, Vincent was able to fire three rounds at his back. To bullets connected with his left shoulder, only partially stopped by his thick shoulder pads. Loz grunted, and went down to his knees.

But, before Vincent could move in to finish the man, he was on his feet again. He turned to face Vincent, looking rather like a very angry bull. He shouted, running full-out toward the his assailant, raising his wrist-mounted weapon to catch the bullets he fired at him.

Vincent never showed any fear as Loz rushed toward him with the intent to kill. He dodged out of the way of every one of his fast punches, easily avoiding harm. At one point, he was able to bring the barrels of his gun up to the point of Loz's chin. Unfortunately, before he could pull the trigger and end the man's life, he brought his thick arms around him in a massive bear hug.

But, there was nothing friendly about the gesture. The gun had fallen from Vincent's grasp, and Loz smirked at him. He began the slow, painful process of crushing the shooter with his massive arms. Vincent grimaced in pain, and his red eyes met his green ones.

With a great effort, Vincent rammed his forehead into Loz's. The maneuver worked, and Loz dropped him back to the ground, staggering backwards, and seeing stars. Unfortunately for Vincent, Loz's forehead wasn't much softer than the wall he had thrown Riku into, and he had to keep himself on his feet by grabbing a nearby chunk of rubble.

"That wasn't cool." Loz growled, staggering. Vincent had raised a large red welt on his forehead, and it was amazing that he could still stand at all.

He walked over to him, and brought the pilebunker to his temple. Before he could act, however, there came the shout of, "Ray of Dawn!"

A massive blast of red-orange energy blasted into Loz's back, sending him flying completely over Vincent's head, and tumbling over the edge of the platform they had fought on. He screamed as he fell, rapidly becoming harder to hear as he fell from such a distance.

Vincent looked over at Riku, who was now getting to his feet. He held one hand to his back, grimacing in pain. The Keybearer reached into his jeans pocket, and produced a potion. He cracked the container open over his head, and felt the pain and stiffness fading.

He walked over to Vincent, and helped him fully to his feet. He handed him the gun he had dropped, and they looked over the side, toward the menagerie of buildings below. "Think that got him?" Riku asked.

"Possibly. But it never hurts to be careful." Vincent abruptly fell forward, and free-fell toward the ground. His crimson cape flapped behind him, making him resemble some form of massive, ferocious bird of prey.

"That dude has style." Riku noted, before following him down.

!

Yazoo had mostly recovered from the attack that the Lifestream had somehow dealt toward him. He'd sprinted the whole way back to the battlefield, and had somehow gotten involved in a fight against Mickey, Yuffie, and Barret.

They stood on a sloping area that had been a bridge before the near destruction of ShinRa headquarters. But fighting on an inclined area wasn't slowing any of the combatants down.

Yazoo had the high ground, and was firing rapidly down at the other three. Mickey made it up to him first, as Barret opened fire on Yazoo from below. The silver-haired man never stopped moving, and stayed out of the path of the bullets. Mickey leapt at his head, with his Keyblade high above his head.

Yazoo parried the King's attack with the sharp barrel of his weapon, and slashed at him twice. Mickey blocked the two attacks, and kicked off from the ground the moment he touched down again. Yazoo blocked his next attack, and still had time to duck underneath Yuffie's thrown shuriken.

She didn't seem particularly disheartened, however. She ran toward him, sidestepping his bullets as she did so. She leapt forward, her foot flying at his face. It was a solid connection, and he let out a muffled shout from underneath her boot.

Before he had even fallen, Yuffie had vanished in a cloud of smoke. She reappeared on his other side, and kicked him hard in the small of his back, sending him reeling forward. Yazoo lost his footing, and tripped. He then began to roll down the incline directly toward Barret, who had just reloaded his rapid-firing arm-gun.

Fortunately for Yazoo, he was able to roll to his feet a few feet before Barret opened fire. He leapt straight up, and the pavement where he had just stood received a hail of lead. Barret changed his aim immediately, and began firing straight up at Yazoo.

The airborne man miraculously deflected each of the bullets with the blade of his weapon, and managed to get off a few shots of his own before he touched the ground again. Before Yazoo could fire another shot at Barret, Mickey had leapt over the man's head. He struck at him nearly a dozen times before he could completely catch himself.

He was just able to get his blade away from him, and then pointed his gun at the King's head. Suddenly, a kunai whistled over Barret's shoulder, and past Mickey's ear, and struck Yazoo in the shoulder.

He grunted with pain, and quickly ripped it from his shoulder. He tossed it to the ground, and barely had enough time to dive out of the way of Barret's trail of bullets. He ran to the edge of the partially fallen bridge, and vaulted over the edge.

Yazoo fell a long way down, leaving his three opponents to watch his descent.

Mickey was the first one to leap after him, jumping over the side, and rocketing after him. Yuffie leapt after him, angling her body to intercept the still falling Yazoo.

"You know, just because you can do that doesn't mean the rest of us can!" Barret shouted after them in an annoyed tone of voice. Knowing that they'd probably be able to take care of Yazoo before he got to them, he turned his sights back to the main battle, where most of the group was fighting against the Heartless.

!

Nehrut, Bariss, and Red XIII (plus their 'motivational speaker', Cait Sith) were going toe-to-toe with Kadaj.

If Nehrut could describe this brother of Sephiroth in one word, it would be this: FAST. His blade resembled a shining silver blur as he fought.

The five of them were fighting on a building near the ShinRa headquarters that had suffered very, very heavy damage. The place was so run-down, in fact, that several steel girders were all that remained of the top half of it.

Currently, they were all rushing back and forth across these girders, having as much trouble balancing on them as they were fighting against their enemy. Red XIII rushed across one of the beams toward Kadaj, with Cait Sith hanging onto his back, shouting encouragement.

He leapt, and clamped his sharp teeth down onto Kadaj's blade, keeping it stuck in place. He attempted to rip the blade from his grasp, but found that he wasn't quite strong enough to do so.

Unexpectedly, Cait Sith leapt from his comfortable position between Red XIII's front shoulder blades, and into Kadaj's face, his claws extended to rip his eyes out.

Kadaj leapt away, onto a new girder several feet away. He extended his hand, and his double-bladed katana shot from Red XIII's toothy mouth, and into his grasp. The timing had been perfect, because Bariss was a millisecond from slicing his face apart with Rose Blade. Kadaj barely parried the attack, and thrust his blade forward to pierce her chest.

Her shield intercepted the attack, and she continued to block anything he tried on her. Nehrut appeared behind Kadaj, and struck at his back. The man twisted around at the last moment to block the strike, and leapt into the air to avoid another attack from Bariss.

Kadaj jumped from the girder when Red XIII joined them, and onto another one. During the brief lull in the fighting, Nehrut called over to him, "Even if you do capture one of the Keybearers, what happens then? What'll happen to you?"

"Brother's going to tell me." Kadaj replied.

"I guess a minion wouldn't really know." Bariss said.

An odd expression came to Kadaj's face. There was something between a smirk and a pitying smile on his lips. He spoke softly. "So what if I'm a puppet? Once upon a time..." Kadaj shouted his next words, as he rocketed toward Bariss, "You were, too!"

The battle became more and more ferocious, and it was seemingly because of this comment. Bariss didn't like to be reminded of her service to the Brotherhood. It was one of the few things that really set her off. She was moving almost faster than Nehrut had ever seen her move as she slashed and whipped at Kadaj, who met her onslaught with equal intensity.

"She's quite skilled." Red XIII noted.

Nehrut just now realized how ridiculously lucky he was to have survived their initial encounter at all when she was finally able to penetrate Kadaj's guard. She left a narrow gash across his sword arm, which he tried to ignore.

!

Cloud throttled the bike faster than he ever had. He had long since passed into Midgar, and was now riding toward where he could feel Sephiroth. He probably wasn't as surprised as he should have been when it turned out to be ShinRa headquarters.

Sounds of battle floated toward him from across the cityscape as he came ever nearer to the massive tower. He caught sight of a trio of specks flying around the sides of the building, producing great flashes of light that he guessed were showers of sparks from colliding blades.

"Time to settle this." Cloud said to himself. A large side compartment in his motorcycle opened up, and he withdrew with the Buster Sword from within it. He moved it into the scabbard on his back, and turned hard onto an abandoned motorway which ran by the ShinRa tower. Moments later, he was even with the tower, and had a perfect view of the ensuing battle. There were a lot of Heartless.

Sephiroth, Sora, and Kairi were battling in the air not far from him. Cloud poured on just a little more speed, and stood up on his bike. At just the right moment, he kicked off from the bike, and drew his sword in midair.

His blade connected with Sephiroth's, and the two flew at high speed toward one of the nearby buildings. They skidded along the rooftop for a moment, before regaining their feet, and coming to stand on the roof. Coincidentally, Tifa and Zack had been fighting Heartless on this same building, and had just destroyed the last.

Cloud stood still as a statue, looking at Sephiroth, who was now on the far side of the roof.

"Cloud..." Tifa breathed.

He slowly turned his head to meet her gaze, and his eyes softened slightly. "Better late than never, so they say."

"Of course in your case, we can only ever hope for 'late.'" Zack said with a half-smile.

Sora and Kairi landed on the roof near Cloud, and reverted back to their normal forms. "Long time no see, Cloud."

"Sora." Cloud barely looked at him, though he saw what might have been the beginnings of a smile on his face. "I should have figured you were here. You have a talent for attracting trouble."

"Hey!"

"Well, actually, he has a point." Kairi admitted.

Cloud was no longer watching them, however. His fierce gaze had settled on Sephiroth again. He raised his massive blade in front of him. "This is our fight, Sephiroth. Leave them out of it."

Sephiroth smiled slightly. He didn't raise his blade just yet. "So good to see you again Cloud. I was hoping you could make it in time for the finale. But you're wrong in saying that this is only our fight, now. I intend to capture the Keyblade Master over there."

"It's not gonna happen." Cloud replied. "I know you'd rather kill me. Why don't you try for that first?"

Sephiroth chuckled a bit. He raised his blade. "I'm always ready for that."

They both moved at the same time, their blades meeting with such speed and force that Sora thought they might have easily broken the sound barrier. Before anybody else could so much as blink, they were soaring into the air, moving far, far away from the ShinRa building.

"How do they do that?" Sora wondered aloud.

"You can ask Cloud to teach you later, let's just go after them." Kairi said, taking to the air on her Light. She looked at Tifa. "I can carry one more..."

"You go on, Tifa." Zack said. "Make sure that that thick-headed moron doesn't hurt himself. We'll finish things up here."

"Thanks, Zack." She said with a smile. As Sora mounted his Keyboard, Kairi created a thin platform of Light in midair. Tifa carefully stepped onto it, and the three of them took off after Cloud and Sephiroth.

!

"I've been looking forward to this, Cloud. Ever since I joined the Brotherhood, I've waited for the opportunity to return to the Planet." Sephiroth said casually to Cloud, blocking a blow toward his head. He countered with a thrust at his neck, barely missing when Cloud slipped to the side.

Cloud hammered down on his blade, pressing Sephiroth down toward the roof of a nearby building. Cloud followed, barely missing him as he struck down toward him. He left a sizable crack in the roof, and then continued toward Sephiroth with heavy strikes of his weapon.

"So what happens now?" Cloud asked through gritted teeth, pressing Sephiroth back toward the wall of a second building connected to the one they stood on. Sephiroth leapt backwards, kicking his feet off of the wall, and taking to the air again. Cloud followed.

"Once I destroy the Planet, I'll collect the remains of the Lifestream." Sephiroth answered, flourishing his weapon with such speed that Cloud was forced into a retreat. "With its power bent to my will, I'll take the worlds for my own."

"So you'll betray your allies... just like you did us." Cloud snarled.

"It's for the best." Sephiroth said calmly, parrying one of Cloud's overhanded strikes. "It's my destiny to control the worlds... I am the chosen one, and I'll ensure the people across the worlds know their place."

"You're an inspiration to us all." Cloud replied sarcastically.

Sephiroth delivered a hard slash at Cloud's waist. While it only connected with his blade, there was enough power behind it to send him spinning to the ground. Cloud skidded across the pavement of the street below, and slammed into a long-since abandoned car with enough force to dent it.

He got to his feet, putting a hand to the back of his head, which had collided with the door handle of the car. Sephiroth touched down a few short meters away. He lifted his free hand, conjuring up seven explosive balls of dark energy. He gestured, and the projectiles shot toward Cloud.

The blonde swordsman leapt into the air, and the energy struck the car, igniting the gas still in its tank, and overloading the battery. The vehicle exploded in a fireball, sending scorched car parts all over. Fortunately, this particular section of the city had yet to be repopulated, and there were no bystanders that could have been injured by the explosion.

Cloud landed several feet away from Sephiroth, and once more fell into a fighting stance.

Sephiroth made no move to approach him, because he had reinforcements.

With loud battle cries, Kadaj, and the slightly injured Loz and Yazoo rushed from behind him, charging at Cloud with weapons bared.

"Let us help you, brother!" Kadaj said, using a tone that suggested he was hoping to play with Sephiroth in some kind of game. He brought his blade down on top of Cloud's, who only seemed moderately surprised to find three Sephiroth copycats attacking him.

"Fire away, Kadaj. Enjoy yourselves." Sephiroth said casually, standing out of the way to observe the action. Truth be told, it didn't matter to him whether or not his creations were victorious or not. Even if by some miracle they managed to defeat Cloud, their fate would be the same, once he no longer had any use for them.

So, he hung back for a few minutes, enjoying the action. He had to admire the skill of his creations. They fought with reckless abandon in the name of their brother and master, but still seemed to think out their moves, as well. This made for an unorthodox –but deadly- trio of warriors.

Kadaj and Loz gradually pressed Cloud down the empty street with fast, powerful strikes, while Yazoo harried him with gunfire from a safer distance. But, Cloud kept his cool, and while he seemed to be having a hard time getting his own attacks in, he didn't seem to have much trouble protecting himself from theirs.

He suddenly dove completely out of the way of one of Kadaj's swipes, and sprinted behind an abandoned pickup truck. Using the flat side of his blade, he struck the truck on its underside with surprising strength. It flew at the three silver-haired fighters.

Loz and Yazoo dove out of its way, but Kadaj actually ran toward it. He took a running start, and then slid on his back, feet-first, under the truck. After it had passed over his head, he rolled back to his feet, swinging his blade at Cloud's face almost before he could react to it.

The truck smashed into the pavement behind them, and skidded into the wall of a building on the other side of the street. Loz and Yazoo had barely begun to move to rejoin in the fight against Cloud, when they themselves were attacked.

Tifa fell out of the sky, driving her booted feet into Yazoo's chest, and sending him crashing into the ground. She could hear a few things cracking. Just two seconds later, the unsuspecting Loz was blasted in the chest by a narrow beam of Light sent from Kairi's palm.

As he hit the ground, Sora and Kairi landed directly in front of him, Keyblades in hand. Cloud was able to throw Kadaj's blade off of his for just a moment, and stood with the three newcomers, standing in a group, ready for combat.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Cloud, stop being stubborn and just say 'thank you.'" Tifa said, giving voice to Sora's thoughts before he himself could.

Cloud was silent for a moment before relenting. "Thank you."

"Now, was that so hard?" Tifa asked with a smile.

"Where'd Sephiroth go?" Sora asked.

Looking over the advancing Kadaj's shoulder, Sora realized to his horror that the One-Winged Angel was no longer there.

As the four of them battled with his brothers, they looked frantically around the street, trying to catch a glimpse of him, but to no avail.

Sora had a very, very, very bad feeling that something horrible was about to happen.

!

Nehrut, Bariss, Red XIII, and Cait Sith sprinted through the Heartless-infested streets of Midgar, moving away from ShinRa tower, and the main fighting. They were chasing after Kadaj, who had managed to elude them for a brief amount of time after their battle.

Of course, if somebody who could sense where you were by tracking your very mind, chances were that you couldn't escape for long.

"Why'd that pansy leave in the middle o' the fight!" Cait Sith asked. It took a moment for the others to understand him through the thick Scottish accent.

"I think he went to help Sephiroth." Nehrut answered. "He's pretty much all he seems to care about, and he was in a heck of a hurry."

"It makes sense." Bariss said. "And if Loz and Yazoo did the same thing, than whoever was causing Sephiroth trouble in the first place is going to need some help."

"So we're-" Nehrut stopped in his tracks, and looked around quickly. Bariss looked around as well, but couldn't see anything.

What happened next seemed to transpire in slow motion. Nehrut's eyes widened in horror as he saw something over Bariss' head that everybody else had yet to notice. He acted on instinct, and rushed forward. Without warning, he shoved Bariss roughly backwards, sending her sprawling across the pavement.

There was a gasping sort of noise. When Bariss looked back up, there was a seven foot-long blade running through Nehrut's back, all the way through his stomach.

Sephiroth smiled coldly, and contemptuously kicked Nehrut off his blade, sliding it out of his body, and knocking him face-first to the ground.

Bariss held back a scream as she watched him fall. She barely noticed Red XIII leap over Nehrut, and attack Sephiroth.

He led him away back down the street. During this time, Bariss crawled over to Nehrut, not wanting to believe what she was seeing. She reached his side, and turned him over as slowly and as carefully as she could. He was still breathing, though in sharp, shallow, infrequent breaths.

She began to cry when she saw the wound in his stomach, which was oozing blood. A trickle of the coppery liquid dripped from his mouth.

Nehrut was dying.

And it was her fault, because she hadn't noticed Sephiroth herself!

Quickly, she reached into one of the pouches on the leg of her pants, seeking the Elixir she kept there for emergencies. This certainly qualified as one. Nothing else –even the greatest Cure spell- would have even an outside chance of saving him now.

Bariss finally found it, and held it over the bleeding hole in his stomach. Before she could open it, however, a ball of black energy streaked from Sephiroth's palm. It struck her hand, and she cried out in pain, releasing the Elixir, and sending it bouncing across the street, where it cracked open. It spilled its magic contents uselessly onto the pavement.

She clutched at her burned hand, and looked down at Nehrut, wounded far more horribly than her. She cried, and looked down into his face. His eyes were open, but glazed, and filled with pain.

"Stupid, thick-headed, self-sacrificing boy..." She whispered, trying to disguise her grief behind anger.

He weakly replied, "Smart, beautiful, interesting girl."

Now she cried in full force.

!

And on that painful note, see you in three weeks! Muahahahahaaa!

1) Might I recommend playing 'One-Winged Angel' here? The Advent Children version is the best.

Review please!