"Somehow, you seem even happier this morning than you did last night."

Aerith finished the last bite of her hashbrowns and then looked over at Tifa, unable to stop the grin that spread across her lips. "Really? But I haven't even said anything more than 'Good morning' yet."

"Fair enough, but that doesn't change the fact that you're glowing. Something truly incredible must have happened on your late-night walk."

"He took me to a junkyard!"

Tifa blinked several times, clearly confused. "And . . . that's a good thing?"

"Well, it's more what happened at the junkyard, but yes, it was good. Pretty good, even," she finished with a smile, mirroring Cloud's flustered answer to her question from the previous night.

The inside joke clearly didn't land, but Tifa smiled anyway. "I have to admit that I'm struggling to think of what could possibly be good about a junkyard, but I suppose all that really matters is that the two of you managed to patch things up. I had a feeling that a bit of alone time would help the both of you to figure things out."

"And I want to thank you for that," Aerith said, reaching across the table and squeezing Tifa's hands. "I don't know where either of us would be without your support."

Tifa blushed softly, looking off to the side. "Don't mention it. That's what friends are for, right? I'm just glad to see the two of you not looking all gloomy."

"Well, you're the best friend anyone could ask for and an incredible cook. That's the best breakfast I've had in months."

"Thanks, but don't expect anything like it in the near future. I busted out the last of the Heaven's remaining supplies to ensure everyone would be well fed for what's to come today." She briefly squeezed Aerith's hands back before rising to her feet. "On that note, I should really help Myrna with whatever cleaning is left."

"Need another set of hands? I'd be more than happy to—"

Aerith was cut off as the doors to the bar swung open, not in a necessarily alarming way, but with much more force than was necessary. Unsurprisingly, Cloud was already out of his chair and on his feet—one hand raised over his shoulder as if the hilt of his sword was there.

"Damn . . . My bad, I could have sworn those looked way heavier than they are," the man responsible for the interruption said, not sounding even remotely sorry. He was dressed almost entirely in black, but it was his spiky red hair that made Aerith remember the last time she'd seen him—years back when she'd snuck away from home to visit Cloud.

"What do you think you're doing, Reno?" Zack asked, sounding far more annoyed than Aerith could ever recall hearing him. "Shinra isn't welcome here."

Reno held up his hands, an expression of mock hurt on his face. "Cool your jets, Fair. I'm not trying to crash your little party before the end of the world or anything. Just here to let you know that the boss-man has set up a mobile HQ down the road at the nearest gate and wanted to discuss strategy with you before shit goes down, as per your little agreement. I'd say no rush, but . . . he's not the most patient of men and then there's also the fact that the latest reports from our scouts indicate this Weapon has picked up speed and should be in sight within an hour. Today's already ramping up to be the shit show to end all shit shows. Anyways," he said with a shrug, "you do you, not my fucking problem."

"Wait!" Cloud shouted, but the man was already gone, the doors swinging shut behind him almost as abruptly as they'd been opened.

"Aww man, so much for enjoying the rest of the morning," Wedge complained, earning a light smack on the back from Jessie.

"What surprises me the most is what he said about the President," she said. "I find it hard to believe he'd ever leave the tower, especially if it meant being closer to where the fight is going to be."

"Agreed," Barret rumbled, a scowl on his face. "That man's arrogance is only matched by his cowardice. I suppose we'll find out what's going on once we get there. Let's get moving, I want everyone outside and ready to go in five minutes.

"Guess the dishes will just have to wait," Tifa muttered.

There was a loud screeching of chairs scraping against the floor as everyone hurried to prepare. Aerith felt a little lost as she watched the sudden commotion around her, but without a weapon and thanks to her magic, there wasn't all that much she needed to do in order to be ready. Not wanting to be completely useless, she made her way across the room to where Cloud was fiddling with his armor and inspecting his sword—for what she wasn't sure, but he certainly seemed focused on it.

"Anything I can do to help?"

He glanced over at her—a brief smile flashing across his face—before nodding. "Yeah, actually. Could you double-check with Tifa to see if she's got any spare potions tucked away somewhere? Zack and I are both running low."

"On it!" She hoped there wouldn't be a need for them to have to rely on potions, especially with her healing magic, but it was certainly better to be safe than sorry—especially considering the enemy they were going up against.

It didn't take her long to find the other woman in one of the back rooms, rapidly looking through boxes and making a surprising mess of things. "Oh, Aerith, perfect!" Tifa said as soon as she stepped through the door. "If you're free could you help me look through these? I know I stashed away an emergency supply of potions ages ago, but I can't remember where."

With a nod, Aerith dove into the fray, pulling boxes from shelves and quickly checking through them for anything that might be useful. They were packed full with all sorts of odds and ends and there seemed to be no discernible form of organization—at least as far as she could tell. Just as she was beginning to worry they might be wasting their time, the faint sound of glass clinking together caught her attention as she lifted another box. Praying she wasn't getting her hopes up for nothing, she opened it before sighing in relief.

"Found them!"

"Nice! Let's go, I'm surprised Barret hasn't already barged in here demanding to know what we're doing."

Aerith giggled as she carefully lifted the box and followed Tifa out of the room, smiling in thanks when Tifa held the door.

"'Bout damn time," Barret grumbled as they emerged. "What took you so long?"

"Getting you"—Tifa poked his chest—"these," she said, reaching into the box and pulling out one of the health potions. "Now say thank you, or else you're not getting any."

"Oh. Um . . . thanks," he said sheepishly. Accepting the one from Tifa, he stuffed it into a pouch at his waist before turning and shouting, "Extra potions at the bar! Come get 'em."

The other members of Avalanche all hurried over to grab a bottle or two until only a single one remained. Aerith didn't think she'd need it, but she tucked it away figuring that at the very least she could give it away to someone who did.

"We ready to go?" Barret asked, earning a chorus of confirmations from everyone. "Good, time to move out then. Normally I'd say we take our time and make the bastards wait, but it sounds like we don't have that luxury."

"So something like eighty percent effort?" Jessie asked with a wink.

"Maybe ninety," Biggs said. "For Midgar."

"For Midgar!" the members of Avalanche shouted together, before making their way outside into the already uncomfortable morning heat and heading down the road toward the nearest city gate at a brisk pace. Aerith did her best to push her worries to the side as they ran, but it was hard, knowing exactly what awaited them, and the still looming unknown of how they were supposed to deal with it.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Barret demanded. "Reno said the President was going to be here. Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you're already lying to us."

Aerith hadn't expected this partnership to work terribly well in the first place, but it already appeared to be off to an incredibly rocky start. Contrary to their expectations, Shinra had actually set up a rudimentary base of operations just outside the city gate, but it hadn't taken them long to discover that Rufus was the only high-ranking member there. Barret, unsurprisingly, wasn't taking it well.

"No, I said the boss-man was here, idiot. You went and made the assumption of who I was talking about, and when you do something like that, then it just makes an ass out of—"

"That's more than enough, Reno," Rufus said, interrupting the exchange. "The President is . . . otherwise indisposed at the moment and unable to attend this morning. I'm here to speak for Shinra on his behalf and you have my word that we'll keep our end of the deal. Assist us in defeating this threat and I'll see to it that your criminal record is wiped clean."

"If by indisposed you mean keeping his sorry ass safe, then sure," Zack muttered quietly under his breath, just loudly enough for Aerith and Cloud to hear, but hopefully no one else.

"And you'll shut off the reactors," Jessie demanded of Rufus. "They're killing the Planet."

"I promise you that we will conduct a thorough investigation of all security protocols related to the reactors to ensure that—"

"Fuck your security protocols," Barret snapped. "There's no way—"

Rufus held up his hand, his face creased in irritation. "Listen, if the reactors truly are the source of the environmental catastrophe then I will be more than happy to shut them down. If."

"But that doesn't mean anything at all," Zack said, stepping forward. "Even if you're somehow not lying, you don't have the authority to be able to make that guarantee. Your daddy is the only one with that kind of power, and we all know he'll never agree to that."

"Look, I understand where you're coming from—now more than ever—and all I can say in response to your concerns is to expect changes in Shinra. Whether or not you choose to believe me is, of course, up to you."

Aerith certainly didn't know Rufus well at all, but he sounded . . . tired. And despite the clear mistrust of the others, some part of her believed what he was saying—or at least that he appeared to believe what he was saying.

"Guys, this is a great argument and all, super productive, but I think we have bigger problems," Biggs called out. "Literally."

As one, they all turned to find him pointing to the horizon where a large black shape could just barely be made out through the desert's shimmering heat lines. On any other day, it would likely be ignored as some kind of mirage, but given what they were expecting, there was no mistaking what it signified.

"Sir!" a Shinra soldier shouted as he ran over to them, pausing for a moment with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. "The spotters for the cannon have sighted the monster!"

"You don't say," Rufus said dryly. "Instruct them to prepare to fire as soon as it's ready and the target is in range. Make sure they understand not to wait for any kind of confirmation—they're to fire immediately, no matter what."

The soldier nodded once before running back the way he'd come from.

"Do you really expect to be able to damage it?" Zack asked, looking upward to where a portion of the cannon's barrel was visible above the wall. "I'll admit it's impressively large, but from our encounter earlier, that thing is virtually indestructible."

Rufus gave him a wide smirk. "I've been told that a single blast from the Ray would be capable of wiping Midgar itself completely out of existence, so yes, I believe it should be more than enough."

A swirl of unease filled Aerith. Her vision of the cannon and the Weapon firing at each other was what they were here to prevent. No matter what happened, that outcome had to be avoided at all costs.

"In that case, what are we supposed to be doing if this cannon of yours is all that's needed?" Barret demanded.

"Stalling it," Rufus said. "What remains of our army will also do its best to support you. The Sister Ray has never once been fired before—not even in testing—so if Hojo's claims don't live up to expectations then you're also the fallback plan."

Barret snorted. "Of course we are. And just how long are you expecting us to buy time for?"

"With the loss of all the reactors outside the city, charging had been greatly delayed, far beyond expectations. It could take anywhere from one to three hours to get everything ready." Rufus at least had the dignity to almost look mildly embarrassed.

"One to—you can't be serious! If it takes that damn long then why didn't you already start?!"

"Oh, duh, you're right," Reno cut in, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We should have just prepared the doomsday cannon to fire in advance and expected it to contain all that energy until we need it. Brilliant plan, what could possibly go wrong?"

Rufus shot Reno a stern look before responding. "I'm well aware that none of this is ideal, but it's the situation we find ourselves in. Now, there are other urgent matters that need my personal attention. I wish you the best of luck with your fight, we're counting on you." With that, he turned and strode off—Reno shadowing him.

"Never thought I'd hear someone from Shinra say that to us," Tifa said, her brows raised. "I do have to admit, I definitely prefer Rufus to the President. I almost believe what he's saying. Almost."

"We can worry about that later," Cloud said. "We don't have long and we need to come up with some kind of plan. What can we use from the last time we faced off against it?"

Biggs exhaled loudly. "Well, we know that our weapons are useless."

"And that it's got that crazy stomp attack," Wedge added. "If it's close enough to the city and it uses that it'll cause more damage than an earthquake."

"I'm pretty sure that laser blast it used to destroy the reactor is the real threat," Zack said. "Especially since it has more range. By keeping it far enough away so it can't use that, we shouldn't have to worry as much about the quake."

"We probably can't rely on Shinra's soldiers to be able to do much, but what about the Cetra ones?" Tifa asked, looking over at Aerith.

Biting her lip, she shook her head. "I don't think they're going to be much more helpful. Only two of them in total can still use magic and that's . . . stretching it. We're talking about making a flickering light, not throwing a fireball."

"So everything revolves around Aerith then, doesn't it?" Zack asked. "We know your magic can hurt it and then you've also got that summon thingy, right?"

For what felt like the hundredth time that morning, Aerith confirmed that the Materia in question was still in her pocket. "I'm planning to focus on the summon, I think. Even though my spells did seem to have some effect, I don't think they'll be enough. Assuming the Archmage is right, then whatever this calls forth will almost certainly be our best chance at victory."

"Then that means our goal is to keep Aerith safe," Cloud declared. "We do everything we can to keep the Weapon away from her."

Aerith shot him an appreciative smile as the others around them all nodded in agreement. It was entirely possible the summon would be all the protection she needed, but since there were still so many unknowns involved with it, she wasn't going to say no to having the extra support.

"We should get going then," Barret said, jerking his head in the direction of the Shinra soldiers. "They're starting to move and I'm sure Rufus will never let us hear the end of it if the battle starts without us."

Together, they set out, quickly passing the soldiers before settling into a pace that kept them ahead but not completely leaving them behind either. As they'd agreed before entering Midgar, Seoda and the remnants of the Cetra army joined up with them once they were about thirty minutes out from the city. There was an almost palpable tension between the two armies as they continued to move closer to the approaching Weapon together, but thankfully no one on either side was stupid enough to start anything.

"I have to say, this is certainly never something I imagined I'd see," Zack said at her side.

Aerith nodded. "Same, but maybe this is the first step in putting the war behind us. I can't think of a better way forward than uniting together to defend ourselves against a larger threat."

"Seems a bit optimistic if I'm being entirely honest, but I hope you're right."

She did as well.

Their brief conversation ended there as they continued to run—the day slowly growing hotter and hotter as the sun climbed ever higher in the sky above. While the desolated landscape around them still tore at Aerith's heart, she supposed it was the best-case scenario for the approaching battle for a single reason: there was nothing left to destroy.

It wasn't much longer until Barret raised his hand from where he was leading the charge and began to slow down. They'd been feeling the tremors of the Weapon's heavy footfalls for a while now, and Aerith guessed they had roughly ten more minutes at most before it would be on top of them.

While everyone caught their breath from the rapid march, she hurriedly made her way over to Seoda. "Please make sure that no one pushes themselves too hard. The last thing I want is people throwing their lives away in a fight they can't win. Especially if the Shinra soldiers don't engage, then mirror them and stay out of it as well."

"You expect them to turn on us during the fight? Or possibly after we win?"

Aerith hesitated before responding. "I'm honestly not sure. I doubt it would be while we're still fighting but . . . It's better that we're prepared for any possibility, especially considering what they've pulled in the past."

"Understood," Seoda said, nodding. "At least we don't have to worry about anything like that on our end. The only soldiers that stayed behind to help were the more reasonable ones—all the firebrands immediately left to return to the capital when I shared your plans. I'll go spread the word immediately, good luck to you." Before leaving, she quickly hugged Aerith.

"And to you as well," Aerith said as they pulled apart. It was hard not to worry about what she was asking Seoda and the Cetra soldiers to do, but it was too late to second-guess the plan. All she could do now was hope that she wasn't sentencing them all to a horrible death.

She wasn't able to dwell on that thought for very long, thankfully, as Cloud walked over to join her—a worried look on his face. "Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yup!" she replied, feeling slightly guilty at the half-truth. "Just a little stressed out since so much of this plan depends on a giant unknown."

"Hey. This is you we're talking about," he said, reaching out and lightly gripping her shoulder as he looked into her eyes. "There's no way you don't pull this off."

She couldn't help but smile at that, and even though they were just words, somehow when coming from Cloud they did make her feel just a little more confident. "Thanks. I needed that."

"Alright lovebirds," Barret shouted. "You can flirt all you want after we've won, it's go time."

The echoing roar of the Weapon only served to further emphasize the immediacy of the situation as it ground to a halt a short distance away from them—its eyes flashing a telltale red. Giving her shoulder one last squeeze, Cloud stepped away and drew the enormous sword from its sheath on his back. At the same time, both of the armies gave collective shouts and charged in a flanking attack.

She watched as the Cetran archers drew their bows and fired, the arrows whistling through the air . . . only to bounce harmlessly off the Weapon's armor. If they'd had their normal enchantments, Aerith was sure they would have been able to do at least some damage, but like this, it was more along the lines of trying to attack someone with a feather.

As for her friends, Cloud was staying close by, keeping himself between her and the Weapon, while the ones with guns were already firing away—seemingly with as little effect as the archers. Of course, none of this was terribly unexpected, and it only further emphasized just how heavy the weight resting on her shoulders was. Taking a deep breath, Aerith pulled the red sphere out of her pocket and did her best to concentrate on it and not the growing chaos of the battlefield.

At first, she couldn't help but be distracted by the sounds of fighting surrounding her. The shouts of her friends. The roar of the Weapon. Even, somehow, the . . . feeling of life being snuffed out of existence around her. It was all so overwhelming, but Aerith forced it to the back of her mind as she focused on the Materia in her hands.

"Please let this work," she whispered and then activated the Materia.

Except nothing happened.

With a growing sense of dread, Aerith desperately looked around, searching for any sign that the magic had worked. This summon was their best chance, it had to work, and yet, as far as she could tell, it didn't seem to have done anything. Her vision slowly began to blur over, causing her to rapidly blink her eyes to clear the tears. This wasn't the time to be crying, if this plan was a failure then she needed to come up with something else. Only . . . she wasn't crying, and blinking didn't help with the blurriness at all.

A new fear set in, that somehow by activating the Materia improperly she'd caused something to go horribly wrong. Her stomach surged, almost like she was in free fall, and she struggled to stay standing as everything seemed to shift around her. Doing her best to keep her breathing steady, Aerith tried to get a grasp on what exactly was happening instead of allowing her rising panic to consume her.

She focused on what was wrong with her eyes first. It wasn't that she was losing her vision she realized, but rather that it almost seemed like she was seeing two things at once. One image was of the fighting around her—the Weapon looming overhead—while the other was hard to place, but strangely familiar. A moment later it hit her why: the sight was similar to what she'd seen in her visions when she'd been flying—a view looking downward from above.

"Fuck, there's a second one up in the sky!" Zack shouted, and one of the two images she was seeing shifted upward as she tilted her head to see what he was talking about.

It was impossible, but somehow it was as if she were looking into a mirror, seeing herself, except one was her and the other was . . . a dragon. She'd become a dragon.

"Calm yourself," a vaguely amused voice rumbled, only the words hadn't been said out loud. "It has been a long, long time indeed since one of your kind has called me forth. Long enough that I'd begun to hope the cycle of conflict had at last ended. It is regrettable to find that not so."

"What . . . Who are you?"

"My name is Bahamut, Child, and you certainly don't take things small, do you?" His chuckle vibrated through her entire being. "In all my many years, no one has ever summoned me to face off against Ultimate Weapon before."

"Aerith?" Cloud faintly asked at her side. Despite standing right next to her, he sounded as if he were on the other side of a massive room. "What is that?"

It was disorienting to try and focus on both conversations at once, especially because it felt like she was becoming more and more Bahamut and less herself. "That's the summon," she hurried to explain. "He's a friend, and I'm . . . kind of merging with him. Or something. I don't think I'm going to be able to do much myself so I'm counting on you."

If he responded, then she wasn't able to hear it as her consciousness fully melded with the dragon's in the sky above. It was a welcome relief to no longer feel like she was inside two separate bodies, and as the whistling wind flowed over her—their—wings, she took in the battlefield splayed out below them. From above, it was only more apparent just how poorly the battle was going as the Weapon continued to slowly draw ever closer to the city despite everyone's efforts.

"Let's change that, shall we?"

Aerith shrieked as they abruptly plunged downward in a sharp dive, except the noise instead came out as a bellowing roar. The people below all paused momentarily to look up before scattering, running away from the Weapon that was approaching at an alarming rate. A brief flash of pink caught her attention since the color was so out of place amongst the rest, and she realized it was Cloud carrying her body away from the impending clash.

It felt inevitable that they were going to smash themselves directly into either it or the ground, but she trusted that Bahamut knew what he was doing. The Weapon turned to meet them and unleashed a roar of its own, its eyes flaring a deep red. At what felt like the last possible moment, they rolled to the side in a tight swirl—flying past the Weapon and lashing out with the deadly sharp claws on both their front and rear legs.

Unlike the soldiers' weapons, these blades had no difficulty cutting through the Weapon's armor, causing it to howl angrily. With a flap of their wings, they lifted back up into the sky, sand billowing up in a huge cloud beneath them from the force of the wind. This was working. They had the ability to hurt the Weapon and it was trapped on the ground, unable to effectively fight back.

Flaring their wings, they came to a halt above the Weapon. A moment later, what felt like a tingle began to spread through their body, growing in power and intensity as hundreds of tiny lights began to wink into existence directly in front of them. Aerith recognized it as a spell, but one that was far too complex for her to fully be able to grasp. There was a brief instant of total silence as the magic strumming through her reached its crescendo before the lights exploded outward, zigging and zagging through the sky in a dizzying array of lights almost reminiscent of the fireworks she and Cloud had watched. Except these were far deadlier.

Each missile caused a massive explosion as it impacted both the Weapon and the ground around it. The attack was thankfully tightly constrained to the area directly around the monster, but after seeing the sheer power of the spell, Aerith was still glad that everyone below had already gotten a safe distance away.

After what felt like forever, but couldn't have been more than a few seconds, the detonations came to an end. Where the Weapon had been standing was now a cloud of smoke and dust and sand, completely obscuring it from view. Flapping their wings steadily to stay in place, Aerith watched and waited, her eyes trying to pierce through the cloud for any signs of movement. There was no way the Weapon would have been able to ignore that amount of damage, but had it been enough to destroy it?

Without any warning, a blast of energy erupted from the dust cloud. There was no time at all to dodge, although she managed to conjure a small barrier around them before the beam smashed into their chest. Searing agony blazed throughout her entire body, almost as if she'd stepped directly into a bonfire, and Aerith screamed in anguish. The pain made it hard to think, to focus, but she stumbled her way through a basic healing spell—sighing in relief as the soothing calm flowed through her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flicker of light from within the slowly fading dust cloud, and this time, with a quick flick of their wings, they managed to evade the second attack. By now, the dust had settled enough that the Weapon was visible once more. It had clearly sustained a large amount of damage from their attack, but Aerith was dismayed to see that it hardly seemed to slow it very much at all. Trying not to let it get her down, she prepared them to unleash the same spell as before. There had to be a limit to how much damage even it could handle.

"Hold, Child. My time here is rapidly drawing to a close, I regret to say. Even one such as yourself does not have enough mana to fuel our connection for much longer. I worry that another blow like the last risks permanent harm to you."

Aerith recoiled. "What? No, I'm fine, we still have to destroy it! Prevent it from being able to attack the city!"

"I cannot destroy a Weapon of the Mother," Bahamut said gravely. "Not even I have that kind of power. From the beginning, all I could hope to accomplish was to help you stall and buy more time. Only someone like yourself stands a chance at stopping its rampage."

She froze in unbelieving shock. "Me? What are you talking about? I'm just a single person. There's nothing special about me whatsoever."

Bahamut's rumbling laugh filled her mind. "You do yourself a grave disservice and greatly underestimate your worth, young mage. Believe in yourself, and hold true to your ideals. There is much power in such things. Now, I'm afraid our time together really must come to an end."

His voice had already begun fading before he finished speaking, and only a moment later she found herself back on the ground—Cloud's sturdy arms holding her tightly as she struggled to adjust to the abrupt change in perspective. Now that she was no longer merged with the dragon, Aerith immediately realized how accurate Bahamut's remarks had been; she felt completely and utterly drained.

"Aerith?" Cloud asked with a note of surprise as she shifted slightly in his arms. "Are you alright? Did that attack break your connection? The summon is still here, but flying away now."

"I'm . . . fine," she said, feeling somewhat short of breath. "I was too weak. Bahamut couldn't do anymore."

"I feel like we must have dramatically different definitions of weak," Cloud muttered under his breath before abruptly cursing. "It's in range to attack the city."

Twisting her head to look, she saw that with the summon's departure, the Weapon had indeed moved closer to the city and that familiar blue light they'd seen it use against the reactor was begging to materialize in front of it. Bahamut had said she was the only one who stood a chance at stopping it, but Aerith felt so helpless. What was she supposed to do?! The horrible glow coming from the Weapon's chest was getting brighter and brighter by the second and she knew it was only a matter of moments before it would be ready to unleash its devastating beam attack. The damage to the city would be unfathomable—the number of lives lost unbearable.

"Just. Stop," she screamed, putting her heart and soul into the words—alongside a prayer to the Goddess that this horrible nightmare would end.

To her astonishment, the blue light flickered and then faded away as the Weapon's head slowly turned to look directly at her. "Why do you speak on behalf of these leeches, Daughter of the Planet?"

The Weapon's voice filled her mind like Bahamut's had, but the similarities ended there. Unlike the dragon's, this was too loud—painfully so—echoing and reverberating through her head in a way that immediately brought on a piercing headache.

"They suck the very lifeblood from the Planet's veins, corrupting it for their own gain. For the sake of the Mother, extinction is necessary."

"So you're saying Gaia ordered you to do this?" Aerith demanded. "That she wants to wipe us all out?"

There was a brief, almost hesitant pause from the Weapon before it finally responded. "No. We have not heard her blessed voice in a very long time. However, it's undeniable that—"

"Well, I have," Aerith forcefully interrupted, knowing that it was true—that the mysterious voice she'd heard back in the Council chamber all those days ago had somehow belonged to the Goddess. "And I refuse to believe that she would condone your actions."

She could almost feel the Weapon frowning as it seemed to struggle to process what she'd said. Eventually, it finally responded. "Even if you speak true, the weapon they are preparing to fire will consume enough of the Lifestream to blight the land for millennia. I cannot allow that outcome."

"Then we'll stop it," Aerith declared desperately. "If you're no longer a threat to the city then I can convince them not to fire. I believe the reactors could also be shut down, once they understand what they're really doing." If she were being honest, she didn't entirely believe the last part, but she wanted to trust in what Rufus had said. That was a problem for the future, though, after they'd managed to deal with this one.

"You are welcome to try, but if it reaches a critical level then my hand will be forced. The consequences to any in the area will be . . . severe."

It wasn't hard to understand what it was saying. They would have to go to the cannon in order to stop it, and if they weren't able to do so in time, then they would die. The risk was insane, but it also seemed like the only option left.

"Understood. We'll get it done." She turned her attention back to Cloud who was giving her a puzzled look. "We need to find the others immediately. We've got to get back to the city and stop the cannon."

Aerith wanted to kiss him as he immediately began running without asking why. She was a little self-conscious about still being carried in his arms, but it also didn't appear to be slowing him down at all and she was worried her legs hadn't yet recovered to the point where she'd be able to keep up with him.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you can talk to it," he said as he ran. "We're on its side now?"

She laughed softly. "I'm not even sure there are sides anymore. Finding the best path forward is what matters at this point. Once we've got everyone back together I'll explain."

He nodded and kept racing past groups of soldiers until they finally caught sight of their friends. As they neared, Tifa saw them first and waved them over.

"Are you alright?" she asked, looking at Aerith in concern.

Before Aerith could respond, Barret cut in. "What the fuck is going on with the Weapon? It's just standing there now, but it's clearly not out of commission."

Giving Tifa a quick nod, she lightly elbowed Cloud and he got the message, delicately setting her down. To her surprise, rather than moving away, he stayed at her side with his arm in a comforting grip around her waist. "I was able to speak with the Weapon," she explained. "Its only goal is to get the reactors to stop, but more immediately, that cannon can't be allowed to fire or else the Planet will be gravely injured. I told it we would try to stop them from activating the Sister Ray, and it agreed to wait under the condition that it would still attack if we failed."

It was a lot to unload on them all at once, and she watched as each of them processed the news in their own way. Barrett with his typical scowl, Tifa with a raised brow, Zack with a nonchalant shrug.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Jessie said, "but that sounds an awful lot like a suicide mission. Especially considering I can't imagine Shinra is going to listen to anything we have to say after seemingly swapping sides."

Aerith nodded in agreement. "That's true, and I don't want anyone to feel forced to help. I'll go on my own if I have to."

"The hell you will," Cloud immediately responded, his arm tightening around her. "You're not walking into danger without me."

"I'm pretty sure we're all going," Tifa chimed in, accompanied by words of agreement from the rest.

While she'd certainly hoped that would be the case, it was nevertheless incredibly reassuring to hear. She hadn't known Avalanche for very long at this point, but they were rapidly starting to feel like a second family to her—people she could trust and rely on to have her back.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Barret asked with an uncharacteristic grin. "Let's go crush Shinra's fancy new toy."

By the time they managed to make it back to the city, Aerith was struggling not to worry about their timeframe. Rufus had said the cannon preparations would take anywhere from one to three hours, and by her best guess, they had to be already closing in on the three-hour mark by this point. She tried to take solace in the fact that the city hadn't been obliterated yet—meaning the Weapon at least hadn't reached its point of no return. Now they just had to stop the cannon before that happened. Somehow.

"So, how about we waltz on up there and kindly ask them to shut that thing down?" Zack said. "I'm sure they'll be more than happy to agree."

Barret snorted. "The underlings in charge of operating it shouldn't pose a problem, and almost all of their soldiers went out with us to deal with the Weapon. This should be easy."

"Enough talk," Cloud said, slicing his hand through the air. "We're short on time, whatever the situation is, we'll just have to deal with it."

He led the way up the stairs to the top of the wall that surrounded the city, Aerith close on his heels with the others right behind her. As they drew closer to the monstrous weapon above, a low humming noise grew in intensity, and a feeling she could only describe as 'wrongness' filled her. The air felt as though it were charged with magic, ready to be unleashed, and yet something about it was off. Corrupted.

Reaching out, she attempted to conjure a small flame to see what would happen. It felt like stepping into a swamp. The flame did appear, but it was far weaker than she'd expected and an overwhelming nausea forced her to let it immediately wink out. This must have been what the Weapon was talking about—how the reactors were converting something wondrous into an abomination.

Once they reached the top of the walls with the city spread out below them, the cannon's main body came into view. A large group of people, supervised by others in white coats, were frantically running around flipping levers, spinning wheels, and typing away at consoles. It was complete chaos, but at the center of it all—standing in front of the largest display—was the last person Aerith had ever wanted to see again. Hojo.

She saw Cloud tense up in front of her and assumed it was because he'd also seen the scientist, only to then realize the true source. A tall man in black leathers stood in the center of the wall between them and the cannon, seeming to have appeared out of thin air since she could have sworn he wasn't there a moment ago. What truly sent a shiver of fear down her spine, however, was his long, silver hair that immediately brought her back to that day five years ago when he'd appeared in the forest outside Farstar.

"Sephiroth," Cloud whispered.

"Look who it is," the man in question replied, one corner of his mouth rising into a faint smile that held absolutely no warmth. "The Fangs, all back together again. Unless I'm mistaken, aren't you all supposed to be out there, dealing with our little monster problem?"

"Monster's dealt with," Zack said, moving to stand beside Cloud. He seemed relaxed on the surface, but Aerith could tell he was wound just as tightly as Cloud was. "That's why the city is still standing. But it's only going to stay that way as long as you don't fire that cannon."

Sephiroth yawned. "I'll be honest, I don't really care one way or the other about this cannon. At the same time, I can't just let my former pupils do as they please when it goes against the President's interests. Especially considering you're going back on your word now."

Mirroring Zack, Tifa walked over to Cloud's other side. "We're not betraying anyone. This entire situation can be resolved simply by shutting the cannon down. You don't need to fight us just because your father told you to."

A flash of annoyance passed across Sephiroth's face. "I'm here for no one but myself." He drew his blade in an instant, the long, curving blade flashing in the sunlight. "Come, Fangs. Show me how the years have sharpened you."

Cloud and Zack both unsheathed their swords at the same time, and together with Tifa charged forward. Aerith couldn't imagine how Sephiroth could appear so calm as the three closed in, but then with a single horizontal slash of his sword, he drove them all back. Almost casually, he flicked his wrist and his sword flashed in Tifa's direction, faster than Aerith's eyes could track. She hissed in pain but didn't fall back, ignoring the trail of blood that began running down her left arm.

"We need to help them," Barret said, stepping forward, but both Biggs and Wedge reached out to stop him.

"This is Sephiroth we're talking about," Jessie said. "We'd only end up getting in their way or accidentally shooting one of them instead. As frustrating as it is, all we can do is watch."

Aerith also wanted to do whatever she could to help, but the tainted flow of magic was making that challenging. With how quickly the three of them were moving—striking, spinning, slashing—the risk of friendly fire was far too high for her liking. Instead, she tried to focus on providing support, but it was so much of a struggle just to bring up a barrier around Tifa that she was forced to stop and catch her breath after only that single spell.

Staggering, she struggled to stay upright as she watched the fight, trying to tell who was winning. Sephiroth appeared to be holding all three of his attackers off with frustrating ease, but there were moments when one of them managed to land at least a glancing blow. She wanted to believe that everything would work out fine, but then her heart clenched as Cloud shouted in pain.

He staggered backward out of the fight while Tifa and Zack pressed forward with renewed vigor in order to buy him time to get to safety. Rushing over to help him, Aerith gasped as she saw the large cut running all the way from one shoulder to his opposite waist.

"Not looking good, is it?" Cloud asked weakly.

Placing her hands over the ugly wound, Aerith quickly formed an advanced healing spell she'd become far too familiar with . . . only to have it fracture and fall apart. She immediately tried again, but the result was the same. No matter how hard she tried, the corrupted flow of magic refused to properly take shape when it came to healing.

"What about your potions?" she asked desperately.

"Gave 'em all to Zack for fighting the Weapon," he gasped, his voice sounding so horrifically weak that it made her want to scream.

Aerith bit back a curse. She'd never felt so helpless before. Her magic had become like second nature to her—in particular, her healing spells—so to have it stripped away when she needed it the most was crushing. Just as despair began setting in, she realized there was still hope—she'd pocketed the last potion earlier that morning. Reaching into her bag she yanked it out, popped its lid off, and held it up to Cloud's lips.

He quickly drank it down, sighing in relief as it worked its magic. All too soon he was struggling to get back to his feet. Aerith knew she should let him go, but a part of her wanted to hold him back, to tell him it was too dangerous after he'd already been hurt so badly. "Do you have to go?" she whispered.

Cloud lifted his hand to cup her cheek, gently tilting her face so their eyes met. "I do, but there's no reason for you to worry. We've got this."

She couldn't understand how he could be so confident given Sephiroth's overwhelming might but forced herself to nod. And then, before she could second guess herself, she quickly leaned in and kissed him. It was just a brief brush of their lips, but Cloud's surprised reaction still pulled a half-sob, half-giggle out of her. "Go get him."

He blinked once and then was back on his feet and running into the fray. "Sephiroth!" he shouted as he charged in, sword raised overhead.

Tifa and Zack broke off, both breathing heavily and looking exhausted. Thankfully, neither of them seemed to have sustained a wound as severe as Cloud's, although they were certainly bleeding from far more locations than Aerith would have preferred.

"Still two hands I see," Sephiroth remarked.

"Shut up," Cloud snapped back.

Aerith wasn't sure what the exchange meant. Cloud certainly was using both of his hands to swing his massive sword, although from past experience she knew he was somehow capable of doing the same with only a single hand. Didn't using both allow him to use more force? Maybe that was a bad assumption, though, given that Sephiroth was still only using one and appeared to be deflecting his attacks seemingly without much trouble.

Jumping back, Cloud raised his sword vertically in front of him with the blade facing Sephiroth. She'd never seen him take a stance like this before, but just as quickly as he'd entered it he leaped forward. What followed next caused Aerith's mouth to drop open. Cloud struck once, then twice, then a third time, each strike coming so quickly after the last that she had trouble following them. The only reason she was even able to count them was thanks to the resulting clash as Sephiroth managed to parry the strikes. Cloud wasn't done, however, and the blows continued to rain down—if anything faster than before.

Four. Five. Six.

Sephiroth's composure seemed to be faltering, his brow showing the faintest sign of a wrinkle.

Seven. Eight. Nine.

Cloud's unrelenting assault was picking up momentum, pressing Sephiroth back on the defensive as he gradually began gaining ground. Everyone up on the wall seemed to be watching in awe, completely absorbed by the incredible swordplay on display.

Ten. Eleven. Twelve.

The strain of keeping this up was beginning to show on Cloud's body, but he continued to fight on, striking again and again. Even with as little as she knew about sword fighting, Aerith realized that he was pushing so hard because if he didn't manage to break through, then Sephiroth's counterattack would definitively end the fight. She whispered a prayer to the Goddess.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

The fifteenth and final strike did not ring out like the rest as it viciously slashed across Sephiroth's chest, sending him reeling backward to collapse onto the ground. Cloud almost dropped as well, only managing to catch himself by plunging his sword into the wall at his feet and using it to prop himself up. Aerith immediately moved to rush over, but without looking he held his hand out, signaling her to stay back.

"Simply pathetic," Hojo said derisively from where he'd been watching. "Get back up and finish the job, you worthless defect. If you'd simply taken the injection I so generously offered, then nothing and no one would have been able to best you."

Sephiroth made no move to comply, instead remaining on his back as he slowly raised one hand to touch the wound on his chest before raising and looking at it. "Impressive, Cloud. You've grown. Perfected your own style. I'm . . . proud. What changed?"

"I have something to fight for, now. Someone."

"I see." He paused for a moment, seeming to think before continuing on. "Well, you gave me the fight I've always been searching for my entire life. For that, I thank you." Sephiroth's hand flopped limply onto his chest, but Aerith could tell that he was still breathing. The wound was without a doubt severe, but it wasn't immediately life-threatening.

Hojo snorted loudly, disdain written plainly across his ugly face. "Useless, useless, useless! What good are you when you fail time after time? Must I do everything myself?!" Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a strange Materia before holding it out triumphantly. "Behold, my greatest creation. With this, nothing can stop me. I will reduce you all to ashes and dust."

The sphere was nearly twice as large as it should have been, and Aerith could have sworn there was something horribly off with the way the shifting interior was flowing, although it was hard to tell from the distance. It appeared fully functional, regardless, as it began to glow with a deep green light.

"Look out!" she shouted. Not because the Materia was about to cast a spell, but because it had started bubbling.

She'd never seen anything like it before, and the feeling of wrongness that was pouring out from it was overwhelming. Hojo noticed a moment later, his eyes widening in alarm. He moved as if to throw it away, but it was already too late. There was a loud, shattering crack before it ruptured in a concentrated explosion around him. Fortunately, no one else was close enough to be caught in the blast, and as the crystalline smoke cleared, Aerith was forced to look away—the charred remains of what remained of the man were nauseating.

A long moment of shocked silence passed before Barret stepped forward. "Listen up!" he shouted. "I'm going to make this real clear for you all. Either you shut this cannon down, right now, or else that," he said, pointing to the Weapon in the distance, "is going to kill all of us. Ask yourselves if it's really worth your lives, your family's lives, just to fire this hunk of junk."

The remaining technicians who hadn't already fled nervously looked around, clearly unsure of what to do. Finally, one of them glanced over at Hojo's remains before throwing his hands up in the air. "I never signed up for this shit, and I doubt any of you did either. Let's shut it down."

A murmur of agreement followed and soon they were all busy attending to the cannon once again. It was slightly nerve-racking given that it was entirely possible they were actually preparing to fire it, but Aerith pushed those fears aside. It wasn't much longer until there was a low rumble before the ever-present humming noise slowly faded away. Along with it, the built-up flow of magic that had been permeating the air also faded away, to Aerith's immense relief. She took a deep breath, feeling like she was finally able to breathe freely after being smothered for so long. It took her a moment longer to realize that not only was the corruption gone, but her connection to the Planet felt as strong as it had ever been.

With a casual wave of her hand, she simultaneously cast three powerful healing spells on Cloud, Tifa, and Zack. After having gotten used to the Weapon diminishing her power, it was shockingly easy to do. "It's gone," she said, looking out beyond the city walls and noting that the Weapon was, indeed, no longer anywhere in sight.

Zack sheathed his sword before letting out a loud sigh of relief. "Well, I'd call that mission accomplished, right guys?"

Walking over, Biggs gave him a strong high-five. "Hell yeah, nice job you guys."

As Jessie and Barret both checked in on Tifa, Aerith made her way over to where Cloud was standing. "You okay?" she asked, running her hand over his back.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. Glad it all worked out in the end. Hopefully, things can start to go back to normal now, but I guess a lot of that still depends on Shinra."

"There's certainly still a lot to do on that front, but I'd like to think the worst of it is behind us."

It happened in an instant. One moment she was smiling at Cloud the next she was on her back on the ground, her ears ringing as Gaia's echoing scream slowly faded from her mind. Above—past Cloud's panic-stricken face as he leaned over her—a ball of fire so large it nearly seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon hung in the sky. Its ruddy glow was the last thing she saw before slipping into the black void of unconsciousness.

Well, the threat of the Weapons seems to be gone, but now there's a much larger threat looming overhead... I wonder how *that* got there. There's obviously a lot going on in this chapter, probably more than should be in all honestly, haha, but I'll try to cover my thoughts on the big points. More than anything else, I imagine the Summon stands out as one of the larger changes. I really wanted it to be huge and flashy, and having Aerith's consciousness merge with Bahamut so they could fight the Weapon together in one one-on-one combat was just too epic to pass up. There's also some more around the relationship between mako and the Lifestream, and how it restricts Aerith's ability to use her magic. In this case, Sister Ray has so much mako concentrated in it that's essentially acting as an anti-magic sphere. Turns out the Weapons can also communicate, at least with Aerith, and they have a special way of referring to her which explains the chapter's name.

And then we've also got the inevitable Cloud vs Sephiroth showdown. By this point, I've lost track of how many different ways I've described Omnislash, but I think this is my favorite, especially for a move that's already so hard to describe. Hojo meets his demise at the hands of... well, himself, as his experimental Materia fails him in the worst way. I definitely took inspiration from Remake's bubbling Materia scene here. That potion from back at the start proves to be crucial as, thankfully, we're not on Hard Mode so Aerith gets to use it to save Cloud, hehe.

It's crazy to me how close we are to the ending now. Just one, final, issue to deal with, somehow. I hope everyone enjoyed this one!

Next Chapter: Meteor