ELEVEN

Grandhorn was huge, a twisted mechanical nightmare that looked more like a monster than a machine. Its metal skin was reddish-purple, and it must've been twenty feet tall with arms and legs like tree trunks. They ended in a cluster of viciously sharp white claws, and it had a pair of long, curved horns on its bull-like head. It stared at the gate with its small, bright green eyes, then started slamming its large fists into it one after the other, over and over and again while the armored grunts fired at us and the drakes swooped overhead.

"Jessie!" Aerith yelled, quickly pulling me aside.

I felt a cold wind brush past me as one of the drakes flew toward us along the ledge, just missing me and moving so fast we couldn't stop it. The drake grabbed two of our men with its talons, tossed them up over the wall, and shot blasts of ice from its long beak, destroying one of the outer turrets before we could retaliate.

The anti-aircraft guns started firing, taking down drakes one after another and blowing them apart, but there were still more, seeming to fill the sky above the fort as they swooped in and tore at everyone here on the wall while their screeches filled the air. We had to fight off their relentless assaults along with the Shinra forces outside the wall. Beams and bullets flew through the air in both directions, and people on both sides were dying every second. It was chaos.

More grunts and elite grunts sprang onto the wall, using the claws of their metal gauntlets to hang on and climb. I blasted a couple with a fire spell while Cloud shocked another one and Barret shot off a bunch of them. But there were more, like big metal bugs. Another turret went up nearby as beams from several armored grunts and gunfire from the Shinra soldiers amongst them blew it apart and the guy operating it as well. I sighed even as I readied my talons.

Through it all was the Grandhorn, pounding on the gate again and again like some twisted gong. Barret fired a stream of bullets at it, but it didn't do much more than flinch. Cloud, Aerith, and I hit it with spells, and while they did some decent damage to the Grandhorn, the drakes, grunts, and gunfire from Shinra weren't helping. We had to constantly dodge and take shots at them ever few seconds.

"No way we can kill that thing from up here!" Cloud said. "And it's gonna break through the gate any second."

I saw what he meant. "Then let's go kick its ass!"

Aerith tore through a drake with a piercing beam from her staff as it snapped at us. "You've got my vote! Come on!"

"Right behind ya!" Barret agreed. "Red!"

He raced down the stairs after swiping a grunt that had gotten over the wall, then looked at us. "You coming?"

Our forces were barely hanging on as they fought, but they weren't finished yet. They kept fighting, firing at the enemies in the ravine, the drakes flying overhead, the grunts still climbing inside, and also at the Grandhorn. We had to trust that they'd hold out, even as outnumbered as they were. The fastest way to end this nightmare was to destroy that mechanical nightmare, so we rushed down into the courtyard together and got ready to do that very thing.

I backhanded a grunt that leaped up over the wall at me, sending it flying backwards the way it came. Biggs shot another off my back with his shotgun while Lena fired at the enemies outside with her turret. So far, she'd been lucky in that hers hadn't been targeted yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time. Two others on this side of the gate had been destroyed already. The turrets couldn't shoot at the Grandhorn, either. Their firing angle only went so far. And as hard as it was pounding on the gate, I knew it would get through.

"Biggs!" I called. "We've gotta stop that thing!"

He nodded. "Right. We kill it and it'll slow Shinra down. Should let us hold out for a while 'till Wedge gets back."

Yuffie's eyes widened. "Tifa! Biggs! Heads up!"

We whirled around to see a drake screeching toward us, breathing a stream of frost from its needle-like beak. There wasn't much room up here to maneuver, but it was enough. While Biggs ducked and shot at it as it got close, I jumped up, flipping through air until I landed right on top of it. At the same time, Yuffie also did a spinning leap, imbuing her shuriken with fire and slicing the monster across the chest. Then, while I pounded it from above, she came down next to me and hit it with one of her runic blasts, this one burning with energy.

"Hang on, Yuffie!" I yelled as the drake spun and dove wildly again and again as it tried to throw us off.

Her face went green. "Ohh, shit… what the hell was I thinking!?"

I took her shoulder. "Just don't look down!"

Of course, Yuffie did exactly that as we clung to the drake's back. It flew over the courtyard, its screech deafening up close. And then there were blasts going off all around us as the two anti-aircraft cannons shot at the monster. With a jerk, it banked to the right and turned over, and we were upside down. Yuffie shrieked as she was torn loose and started to fall, but I caught her by the arm just in time.

"Gotcha!" I said, still clinging to the spines on the drake's back.

She looked up at me, her eyes wide. "Tifa! Help!"

I tightened my grip on both her and the spines as we flew. "I'm not letting go! Just hold on, okay? It's gonna turn!"

"Oh, my stomach already has!" Yuffie groaned.

Just a moment later, the drake righted itself, and I flipped her onto its back again while I clung to it as well. It was almost exhilarating in a way, flying like this with the wind blowing past my cheeks. But I didn't have time to enjoy it. And Yuffie clearly wasn't. Then more blasts from the anti-aircraft cannons went off all around us.

Yuffie shook her head. "It's gonna be so embarrassing if we get shot down by our own guns! We'll never hear the end of it!"

"Relax, I've got a plan!" I told her.

"What is it?" she asked.

I got up into a crouch. "Just follow my lead!"

Yuffie nodded as she did the same, and when the drake flew above the middle of the courtyard again, I slammed my fist into its spine just under its neck. Yuffie stabbed her shuriken into it a little further down, and it whipped its head back and screeched as an icy mist swept across us. Yuffie and I shivered but didn't budge in spite of the pain, and then the Enemy Skill materia flashed a bright yellow for a moment before it went back to its normal steady glow.

"What was that?" Yuffie wondered.

"Picked up a new trick," I answered. "Icy Aura."

She yanked on her shuriken but kept it embedded in the middle of the drake's back as she saw what I had in mind. I gripped its spines and used them to steer the drake downward while Yuffie gave it a nudge or two with her weapon if it tried to veer off course. Before long, we were safely down as we slid the drake across the ground in the middle of the courtyard right in front of Cloud and the others.

"Nice landing," he smirked.

"Yeah, um… we, uh, totally meant to do that!" Yuffie boasted as we jumped off. "All planned from the sta… urp…"

She bent right over and gagged but caught herself before she could be sick. As she straightened up again, I saw Biggs and Lena hurrying to join us from the stairs. She looked a little singed but nothing too bad as we all gathered together amidst the din of the Grandhorn pounding on the gate and the constant explosions of gunfire.

"Lena! Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, it's nothing. My turret got blown up, but I dove outta there just in time when I saw the blasts coming. Got burnt by the fire a little when I did, but it's not serious."

Cloud frowned as the gate bulged inward. "That thing'll be in here any second. And it's not gonna be alone."

"Neither will you," Edwyn said as he joined us.

I looked at the detachment of men he'd brought with him. "Thanks for the backup, Edwyn. How is it on the wall?"

He grimaced. "Bad, but we're holding our own for now."

"Then let's focus on the Grandhorn," Cloud told us. "We'll fight it, Edwyn. You and your men do what you can to cover us and take down those armored grunts that are with it. They'll be the first ones in, and if we can eliminate them, the rest'll follow."

"Understood," Edwyn agreed.

I unsheathed my mythril claws as I got into position next to Biggs, and he drew his handgun so he could use both his weapons at the same time. Jessie had her blaze talons ignited and ready, but her eyes looked troubled somehow, as if something was bothering her. Besides the fact that we were in the middle of the biggest battle we'd ever known. We all stood in a rough semicircle across from the gate, weapons raised while the Grandhorn continued its relentless assault.

As I stood in the courtyard with Cloud and the others, blaze talons in hand, and listened to the Grandhorn's incessant pounding, I felt odd and strangely uneasy, as if I'd overlooked something. But what? Edwyn, Biggs, and I had planned everything out for the battle and looked over the entire complex, from the fort itself and the outer wall to outside the reactor and the underground caves.

I frowned as I thought about the caves. They went on for miles and miles in all directions, and Edwyn had taken Biggs and I around them the other day to show us. We hadn't gone too far, just to the edge of the ravine, but they did go further, and there were more exits than the ones inside, including one at the base of the other side of the hill, from what Edwyn had told us. We hadn't gone to see it, though, since it was pretty well hidden on the outside and hard to get to.

As I mulled over that last thought, my unease began to take shape. It was still vague, though, and I wasn't sure where it was taking me. But I felt it was important, so I tried to figure it out as I prepared myself to fight the Grandhorn. As I thought about the caves, I sensed something in the back of my mind, a strange but familiar presence. Unmistakably good, but also dangerous and wild as well. It was the same thing I'd felt when I'd seen the mako fountain the other day. And as I stood there in the courtyard, I heard a soft voice in my mind.

Look behind as well as ahead. The threat is twofold.

At first, I didn't know what it meant. What did it mean? What was the voice talking about? It had to do with the caves, I was sure of it, but what? Then, as I remembered the exits to the back of the hill and to the reactor, I knew. I saw it so clearly and hated myself for not catching on sooner. It was so obvious we'd overlooked it.

"No…" I breathed.

Cloud looked at me. "What? What is it, Jessie?"

I stared at him, my eyes wide as I understood it all. "The battle! It's a diversion! Shinra's gonna send another force in from behind to close the noose on us and kill the condors!"

"What!? How?" Biggs gaped. "There's no way!"

I shook my head. "There is! Remember the cave exit at the back of the hill? We thought nobody'd find it because of how steep that side is. But the climb's not impossible, especially for a small force. That's gotta be what the Turks are up to! Damn!"

Barret spat. "Shit! Keepin' us busy at the front door while their pals are comin' in through back! We gotta stop 'em!"

"But what about the Grandhorn?" Lena wondered.

"I got this asshole!" Barret pounded his chest. "Y'all handle the rest an' I'll show him some pain, Avalanche style!"

Tifa stood her ground. "Not by yourself you won't!"

"I'll back you too, boss!" Biggs added.

"Same!" Lena said, cocking the triggers of her guns.

Cloud nodded. "Alright, then. Your four stay here and take out the Grandhorn. The rest of us'll go after the Turks."

Aerith beckoned to us. "Come on! We're outta time!"

The five of us rushed across the courtyard at a dead run, Red easily taking the lead with his four legs and large strides. We were just racing into the fort when we heard the Grandhorn finally tear its way through the gate and come bursting inside the complex with a roar. The sounds of fighting erupted behind us, but as worried as I was for my friends, I put them outta my mind and focused on what I had to do. I just hoped we wouldn't be too late to stop Shinra's plan.

Red and Cloud led us through the fortress and into the caves, and I was only a step behind. We didn't see anyone else at first—most of our people were outside fighting—but as we ran through the underground barracks and the meeting areas into the outer caves, we saw a cluster of dark blue Shinra uniforms with white shoulder guards. Men that were rushing in our direction and wielding slim broadswords with the same insignia on their hilts as Cloud had on his belt.

"SOLDIER," he muttered. "Third Class. I knew it!"

I whipped out my talons and ignited them. "Of course! Shinra sent their best to catch us from behind."

Yuffie twirled her shuriken. "Oh, we can take 'em!"

"Of that, I have no doubt," Red agreed.

Aerith spun her staff and nodded. "Doesn't look like there are very many, maybe a dozen altogether."

Cloud hefted Buster. "Don't underestimate 'em, though."

"We won't," I told him. "Come on!"

The SOLDIERs heard us coming—there wasn't much helping that with the way sound echoed and reverberated down here—but they still weren't expecting us to come in as hard and fast as we did. Cloud and I spun and slashed, fighting back to back against our enemies while Red leapt onto one of the SOLDIERs with a roar and ripped at him with his claws. Yuffie blasted the group with a sudden gust of wind, then darted quickly back and forth amongst the SOLDIERs, slicing and dicing with her shuriken while Aerith unleashed her magic.

The SOLDIERs had spells of their own, though. In between sweeps of their swords, they let loose with bursts of cold and lightning that hit us more often than not. It hurt like hell at times, but we kept going and fought back. I answered with a blast of magical fire, the linked Magnify materia allowing me to target the whole group and scorch them with a blazing column of searing flames while Cloud added his own lightning spells in between overwhelming the SOLDIERs with Buster. The caves were full of light and sound from the battle.

Aerith swept her staff around her, and a fierce electrical storm tore through the area, ripping through the SOLDIERs but not touching us. I took advantage of the opportunity to bury both of my talons into the chest of the SOLDIER I was fighting, stunning him, and then I hit him with a high roundhouse kick to the face. Cloud cut down three more as Red tore the throats out of two more and Yuffie hit another with a spell of her own as a green materia on her shuriken glowed brightly. A globe of water burst over the guy, filling his lungs.

"A little gift from Leviathan!" Yuffie taunted. "Don't mess with the Water God of Wutai or he'll drown ya!"

"Nice one, Yuffie!" I grinned.

She smirked as she swiped at another SOLDIER with her shuriken. "Thanks, Jessie! Water materia's pretty hard to find, but I am a materia hunter. Only the best in the whole world!"

We kept fighting, and although the SOLDIERs were tough and got in their share of hits—my leg ached from feeling the bite of one of their swords, although my suit had softened the blow—we beat them before long, Cloud cleaving his way through them as if he was more a force of nature than a man. Damn, he was hot when he kicked ass. Well, he was hot all the time, but especially in battle.

With the SOLDIERs take care of, we hurried on through the caves, knowing we had to get to the reactor fast. But when we got to the large chamber with the mako fountain in the middle, we stopped abruptly as a familiar—and annoying—figure stood in our path, sword in hand. A SOLDIER, but not like the others. He was crazy, with his long mullet of dark blond hair and bright blue eyes, and I'd hoped I wouldn't run into him again. But things hadn't worked out that way. Cloud narrowed his eyes, as irritated to see him as I was.

"Roche…" I spat.

Yuffie blinked. "Huh? Who's that?"

Cloud grimaced. "A dumbass. But still dangerous."

"Such harsh words," Roche bowed dramatically. "Is that any way to greet an old friend after being parted for so long?"

"For you, yes," Cloud spat.

Roche laughed. "Your wit is truly as sharp as your blade!"

"Why the hell are you here?" I demanded. "You don't seem like the type to care much about condors and conquest."

"All too true, my dear," he said.

Cloud glared. "So what's the deal? What's this all about?"

Roche pointed his sword at him, his eyes burning. "You know what I want. A second dance. Just the two of us."

"This guy is seriously wacko," Yuffie muttered.

"You have no idea," I groaned.

Roche kept staring at Cloud, holding his other hand over his chest as his voice grew more intense. "You turned the key… the engine roars with excitement… it hungers to be set free!"

"Go," Cloud told us. "Stop the Turks. I'll handle him."

I nodded. "Kick his ass, Cloud!"

Then we ran, hurrying outta the room and into the winding tunnel leading outside to the reactor. We raced through it and onto the top of the hill, and just as I'd expected, the Turks were already there as well as a squad of ten elite Shinra soldiers, each of them holding a sniper rifle. They were aiming intently at the condors when we rushed outside and didn't notice us at first, so we just kept moving, never slowing down for a second, and charged right at them.

They reacted quickly, though, and tossed their bulky rifles aside to use their shotguns and batons against us. While Rude and Elena stood back and watched, the troopers attacked, and though they weren't quite as tough as the SOLDIERs we'd fought, they weren't pushovers, either. I spun to the right, slashing with my talons as two of the men converged on me. I took a few blows on my arms and side from their batons, but I shrugged them off and finished my attack, cutting both soldiers down at the same time, one with each blaze talon.

A shotgun blast grazed Yuffie's shoulder, but it only made her mad, and she launched herself with a yell into a rapid string of furious slices and throws with her shuriken that left three of the soldiers dead on the ground in the span of only a few seconds. Red took down two with his claws and teeth while Aerith and I finished off the rest, her Earth spells knocking them off balance as I ran them through with my talons. Then we all turned to face Rude and Elena.

"I knew you'd show up, Jessie," she snarled.

I smirked. "Who better to ruin Shinra's day than me, Elena? Better just give up while you have the chance."

Elena raised her fists. "As if! You're going down!"

"You don't have to do this," I told her, more serious now. "We were friends, remember? You helped me in Wall Market when Tremmel and his Vice punks chased me into that alley."

"That was before I found out who you were," she snapped.

I sighed. "Elena…"

Aerith shook her head. "She's not gonna listen, Jessie. I'm sorry. We don't have any choice but to fight."

"Yeah," I agreed, sheathing my talons. "But my way."

"Right," she nodded.

Elena frowned. "I'm gonna make you pay for what you did back in the tunnel, Jessie. Your ass is just begging to be kicked!"

"Not by you, and not today," I shot back.

"Ha! We'll see about that!" she spat. "How you could you be stupid enough to join Avalanche? Are you crazy!?"

I brought up my own fists. "I could say the same about you and the Turks, Elena. Not exactly the best career choice. Professional bad guy? Really? Sounds like your heart's not in it."

Elena seethed. "Bitch! I'm a Turk, and I'll do my job!"

"Have it your way, then," I said. "Aerith, back me up. Time to teach the rookie here some tough lessons."

"You got it!" she agreed, falling in beside me.

Twirling her shuriken, Yuffie faced off against Rude. "Well, I guess I'll take Baldy, then. You with me, Red?"

"Of course," he said, bracing himself to attack.

"A furball and a kid," Rude grimaced from behind his dark shades as he flexed his own fists. "What a pair."

While they circled each other, I did the same with Elena. Although Aerith was with me, she hung back a little to act as a support, knowing that this fight was really between me and Elena. I hated that we had to do it, but I didn't have a choice. I had to stop her.

Elena sneered at me. "Ready to be humiliated, Jessie?"

I narrowed my eyes. "You wish."

I braced myself, my mythril claws raised, as the Grandhorn ripped through the gate only seconds after Cloud and the others had left. As it stormed into the courtyard along with its escort of armored grunts, we sprang into action. I rushed in, ducking underneath a swinging arm to pound the Grandhorn's midsection with a quick string of punches and kicks while Barret fed streams of bullets into it with his Vulcan cannon. Biggs let loose with both his guns as Lena blasted the Grandhorn with lightning-powered materia shots from her handguns.

The thing recoiled for a moment and then slammed its fist into the ground, causing an explosion of rock and dirt that forced us back. And at the same time, Edwyn and his men fought the armored grunts while we kept the pressure on the Grandhorn, and both battles raged around the courtyard as the long night wore on.

After taking a moment to gather my chi, I hit the Grandhorn with a flying kick, then threw a flurry of punches, denting its armor as Lena added more of her electric bullets. They blew through a panel and left sparks and smoke everywhere. Then I struck the monster with a heavy shoulder charge to its leg, causing it to buckle. But the thing was tough, throwing punches of its own that barely missed us. As I kept attacking, I stayed on the move as much as I could.

But what the Grandhorn lacked in speed, it more than made up for in raw strength. I was just laying into an armored grunt that had sliced its energy blade at me when the Grandhorn connected with another of its punches, hitting Biggs square in the chest and sending him flying to the ground. My heart pounding with worry, I nailed the armored grunt with several quick kicks followed by a fierce uppercut, then ran over to Biggs as Barret and Lena kept the Grandhorn busy.

"Biggs! Are you okay!?" I called.

He was already getting up, though he did wince in pain. "Yeah, just didn't get outta the way in time. Sorry for scarin' ya."

"It's fine," I smiled. "And I'm glad you are, too."

"C'mon, Tif,' Biggs picked up his guns. "The others need us."

I nodded. "Right. Let's go!"

Together, we rushed back to rejoin the others, and while Biggs kept some distance between himself and the Grandhorn, I kept on running, hitting the monster with a focused strike followed by a diving kick. As Barret unloaded on it with a series of powerful blasts, Lena peppered it with enchanted gunfire. At the same time, Biggs fired shot after shot at the Grandhorn, tearing into its body, but it just kept coming, swinging its arms at us and occasionally slamming one into the ground again to drive us back with another explosion of rock.

Edwyn and the men he'd brought with him were still fighting those armored grunts all around us, and both sides had taken losses. But our friends were holding the line, keeping more enemies from getting into the courtyard while doing what they could to take out the Grandhorn's escort. But I knew they couldn't last forever.

Although we were definitely hurting the Grandhorn, it was gonna take a whole lot of pounding to bring it down. Barret barely dodged its grasping claws, then answered with a volley from his new gun-arm. Its three barrels spun rapidly as he fired. I struck it with my fists from the opposite side as Biggs and Lena pressed their own attacks. Lena circled around the Grandhorn as she fired, her face a mask of concentration as she held both of her guns out in front of her, and Biggs did the same as he moved quickly in the opposite direction.

Another armored grunt came at me, slashing his energy blade in a rush, so I had to back off the Grandhorn for a minute to deal with him. Ducking and weaving to avoid the grunt's blows, I pummeled him with a shower of punches and kicks, grabbed him, jumped up in the air, and threw him to the ground so hard the concrete cracked and his armored suit exploded, taking him along with it.

I'd just landed when the Grandhorn suddenly grabbed Lena before she could get away. As Biggs and I watched in horror, it lifted her up to its eye level, its claws tightening around her waist as her guns clattered to the ground. Lena cried out and struggled to free herself from its iron grip, but it was just too strong. Barret yelled, firing over and over again to try and break the Grandhorn's hold on her. But it didn't let go. Then it roared in her face and squeezed. Lena screamed, and then there was a loud, sickening crack as something broke.

Biggs and I gasped. "Lena!"

The Grandhorn growled, then hurled her across the courtyard like a tattered old rag doll. Lena's terrified shriek was abruptly cut off as she crashed into one of the small outbuildings across from the gate. She hit the side of it so hard she smashed right through the wall and rolled to a stop halfway inside as heavy chunks of shattered concrete collapsed on top of her along with several stacks of thick metal mako pipes that had been stored in there. Lena lay on her stomach with her eyes closed, and for a moment I couldn't even breathe.

And then, as if it hadn't already hurt Lena enough, the Grandhorn started to charge toward her, its clawed fist raised to finish her off. But before Biggs and I could even move, there was a sudden flash of purple light, and Barret rushed right into the monster's path, his arms crossed in front of him, and took the blow for Lena. He grunted but held firm, his dark eyes locked on the Grandhorn.

"I don't think so, asshole!" he growled. "You gonna dance with me! An' I'm gonna blow your goddamn head off!"

I charged at the monster, fists raised. "Son of a bitch!"

Biggs was livid. He put his guns away, grabbed a grenade launcher from a fallen soldier, and fired relentlessly at the Grandhorn, pumping after each shot to reload. More than anything, I wanted to run over and help Lena, but we had to destroy this bastard first. Fury filled my blood as I slammed my fists and feet into the Grandhorn again and again, my voice a long, unbroken snarl of rage as I fought.

"Die, motherfucker!" Biggs roared. "That was my sister!"

He blew huge holes in the Grandhorn's body with his grenades as I slammed it hard in the chest with a somersault kick. Then I charged up my fist, jumped up just as the monster bent low to try and grab me like it had Lena, and drove a powerful, Zangan-style true strike punch right in its ugly face. There was an explosion of bright red energy on impact, and the Grandhorn staggered backward.

Before it could recover, Barret jumped up and fired a massive blast of bright yellow and white energy. The beam sheared right through the Grandhorn's face, shoulders, and chest, continuously scorching it until its head exploded. Then, smoke pouring from it, the Grandhorn finally fell, hitting the ground with a loud crash.

Not even waiting for the dust to settle, we rushed over to Lena and started throwing the pipes and debris off her as fast as we could. Then, as carefully and gently as possible, Biggs picked her up and cradled her in his arms. Lena was bruised and bleeding as he knelt with her by the wall, and her skin was cold and clammy, like clay. As I gazed worriedly at her, I noticed that something seemed strange about the way she was laying there as Biggs held her. And then I knew.

I checked Lena's wrist, then slowly looked up at him. "Biggs… she's alive, barely. But… I think her back's been broken."

He stared at me. "Then that means…"

"She can't walk, even if she recovers from the rest of her injuries," I sighed as I held her hand. "And there's no guarantee that she will. If she doesn't get help soon, we… we'll lose her."

"There's gotta be something we can do!" he insisted. "That Restore materia Cloud gave you back in the pillar… you've still got it, don'tcha? What about using it to try and save her?"

I nodded. "It's worth a shot."

While Barret stood protectively over us and blasted anything from Shinra that tried to reach us, I focused on the green Restore materia in my glove, hoping it would be enough. Bright sparkles of energy floated in the air around Lena for a moment, but although the magic was able to close a few of her lesser injuries and slow her bleeding, it couldn't do much more than that. It had its limits.

Biggs looked at me. "Well?"

"I think I've bought her a little time, but that's all," I said. "She's just too badly hurt, Biggs. But I've got an idea. Stay here with her and I'll go get Aerith. If anyone can save Lena, it's her."

"Did it for Jessie and she can do it again," he agreed.

I gently squeezed his shoulder. "Right."

"Go, Tifa!" Barret urged me. "We'll look after Lena! An' hurry your ass back here with Aerith, fast as you can!"

I gently held Lena's hand for a moment, then sprang to my feet and ran across the courtyard toward the fort as fast as I could, hardly aware of the rest of the battle. As we'd thought, the Grandhorn's fall had taken some of the fight from the Shinra soldiers and had given us a chance to breathe. Edwyn and his men had managed to drive them back through the gate for now, but they'd regroup before long.

Putting them behind me, I rushed off to find Aerith.