Cloud was terrified. Not for himself, of course, but because Aerith was right behind him as they charged towards a monster the size of a large building. How the hell were they even supposed to fight something that big in the first place? It seemed far more likely that they'd be able to trim its nails than anything else. Still, they'd decided to try, and he was determined to do whatever it took to keep her safe in the rapidly approaching battle.

"So, how exactly do we beat this thing?" Zack called out, mirroring Cloud's thoughts.

"Hit it until it stops moving?" Tifa asked teasingly.

She was never going to let him hear the end of that, was she? "Ha ha, very funny," Cloud retorted. "We're not trying to beat it, we just need to get its attention off of the reactor and buy them enough time to escape."

"And not die in the process," Barret muttered.

A blue light shimmered into existence around everyone before seeming to sink into each of them. Cloud guessed it was some kind of magic, but he didn't feel any different.

"No one is dying on my watch," Aerith said, sounding far more confident than he felt.

"What was that?" Jessie asked.

"A barrier spell," Aerith replied. "It'll protect you by lessening the impact of any attacks that might hit you."

While that certainly sounded encouraging, Cloud didn't plan on finding out how effective the magic was. One look at the claws on the Weapon was more than enough to let him know that dodging was going to be absolutely essential. On the plus side, the monster did at least seem to be relatively slow, thanks to its ridiculous size.

"Okay, sure, we don't need to beat it, but how are we even supposed to get its attention?" Zack asked. "I don't know if you guys noticed, but we're like ants to that thing."

"Oh, I don't think that's going to be something we have to worry about for long," Biggs shouted, skidding to a halt in the lead and nearly causing Wedge to run directly into him.

Everyone hastily followed suit as the giant monster came to a halt and then turned to face them, its eyes flashing red. Pulling his sword from its sheath on his back, Cloud entered his fighting stance, making sure he was between the Weapon and Aerith. There was a long, drawn-out moment as neither side made a move.

"What the fuck is it doing?" Barret asked, glancing back at Aerith as if she had all the answers. Couldn't he tell she was just as lost as they were? It frustrated Cloud to no end that they were treating her so unfairly.

Aerith shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe it could sense hostility and moved to confront it. As far as I'm aware, no one has ever fought a Weapon before so it's hard to say what to expect."

"Maybe this is a good thing, though," Tifa chimed in. "As long as it's just staring at us we don't have to do anything and it's not moving any closer to the reactor."

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like things would be that easy as the monster appeared to lose interest in them after a handful more seconds and began turning back toward the reactor.

"Nice jinx, Tifa," Zack said with a laugh, earning an annoyed look in response. "Guess the chase is back on! Come and get it you oversized lizard!"

He took one step toward the Weapon and it spun back around to face them faster than Cloud would have thought possible. It unleashed another ear-shattering roar before its eyes flashed and it stomped one of its feet into the ground. The earth underneath seemed to buckle, then break, as jagged cracks shot outward and the ground fractured like a broken pane of glass.

Dropping his sword, Cloud lunged for Aerith, catching her in his arms and rolling so that he absorbed the brunt of the impact. To his surprise, he hardly felt it as they crashed into the ground, dirt raining down around them. He spit out some of the soil that had made its way into his mouth and carefully wiped his face clean so nothing got into his eyes before opening them. "You okay?" he asked, looking down at Aerith.

She blinked up at him in surprise, her mouth hanging slightly open before she seemed to gather herself. "What, are you my bodyguard now?" she asked, her lips curving upward.

"I—" Cloud could feel his face heating up, knowing he must already be glowing a bright red. He was fully aware that she was only teasing him, but he also didn't regret his actions, despite only now realizing just how close their faces were. It was an effort not to lose himself in her eyes, to the point where he had to force himself to look away. "Maybe I am. Don't want anything happening to our magic user."

"Well, I'm certainly not going to complain, but I will point out that you might have overreacted just a tiny bit," she said with a light laugh that caused his heart to beat a bit faster. "That spell I cast should have protected us from the worst of it. Aren't you feeling okay?"

He nodded awkwardly, feeling even more embarrassed now. She'd said exactly that when Jessie had asked, and now it made him look like he hadn't believed her. Letting go of her, he staggered back to his feet, Aerith doing the same at his side.

"Thank you for worrying about me," she said, reaching out and gently squeezing his arm. "It was sweet of you."

It took all of his self-control to not turn as red as a tomato all over again, although, from the amused look on Aerith's face, it seemed like he wasn't as successful as he would have hoped. If he didn't know any better he would have said she was trying to make him blush.

"Everyone okay?" Tifa called out, pulling his attention away from Aerith and back to the situation they were in.

"I've been better, but I've also been worse, so no complaints here," Barret said. He was covered in dirt, like the rest of them, but otherwise looked no worse for the wear.

Seeing that everyone was at least back on their feet and appeared unharmed, Cloud shifted his focus back over to the Weapon. It was still standing in exactly the same place which was a minor relief, but as Biggs helped Wedge off the ground, its eyes flashed red for a second time as it began moving toward them—once again, more rapidly than Cloud expected given its size.

"We've got incoming!" he shouted, rushing over to his fallen sword and grabbing it.

Zack was at his side a moment later, sword drawn and with an eager look on his face. "Guess it wanted us to stay down, huh? Wanna make a bet which of us will be the one to take it down?"

"Take it down? How exactly are you planning on doing that?" he asked incredulously.

"You heard Tifa," Zack said with a grin. "We just have to keep hitting it until it stops moving!"

Cloud could only groan in response.

The Weapon closed the remaining distance between them as the others spread out into loose groups—Tifa and Barret to the left, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge to the right, with Aerith hanging back safely in the rear. Without hesitating, it lunged forward once it was in range and swung its clawed, right hand directly at Cloud and Zack. They dodged in opposite directions, and even though he managed to avoid being hit, Cloud could still feel the power behind the attack as the bladed claw cut through the air directly above him.

Returning to his feet, he swung his sword in a counterattack. . . and bit back a curse as the impact nearly caused him to drop his weapon. What the hell was this thing made of? It made Shinra's robot seem like a kid's toy in comparison. The monster gave no indication of even noticing the blow as it swung its tail in the direction of Jessie's group while simultaneously attacking Tifa and Barret with its other claw.

Cloud had hoped their numbers would be the one thing that could give them a fighting chance against it, but even that dwindled as he saw how easily it managed to engage all of them at once. Refusing to give up, he readied his weapon and charged forward, avoiding a strike from the Weapon's clawed foot and landing an attack on its leg. Once again, the vibrations running through his blade nearly numbed his hands and it took all of his effort not to let go of it.

From what he could see, Jessie's team wasn't doing any better with their guns. The bullets didn't seem to be doing even the slightest amount of damage, and Cloud could have sworn he'd seen one lying in the dirt that had been flattened by the impact. Tifa and Barret were doing the worst by far since they had to get so close to land a punch, only to have it hurt them more than the Weapon. All in all, it was nothing short of a complete and utter disaster.

A roaring crackle filled the air, and he looked up just in time to see a huge ball of flame crash into the side of the Weapon's neck. Almost immediately afterward, a jagged bolt of lightning appeared from thin air and struck the same location before a giant crystal of solid ice dropped on its head with enough force to cause it to jerk downward. With a loud roar of anger, the Weapon swung its head to look directly at Aerith, its eyes blazing a bright crimson.

Cloud's heart nearly stopped. Unlike their attacks, Aerith's magic had clearly been able to hurt the monster, and now its attention was entirely fixed on her. He desperately scrambled to come up with a way to distract it, to do anything to get it to focus on him instead, but without a way to hurt it, nothing seemed likely to work. Could he pick up Aerith and run? Would he be able to outpace the monster while carrying her?

To his surprise, the Weapon didn't move to attack. Instead, it only stared at Aerith for a moment longer before its eyes died back down to their normal, smoldering burn. Everyone remained frozen, waiting to see what it would do next after this unusual change in behavior. When almost a minute of nothing happening had passed, Cloud couldn't take it any longer and hurried over to Aerith's side.

"Do you have any idea what's going on? Did you do something to it?"

She shook her head in reply, a confused look on her face. "I have no idea. I thought I'd made a horrible mistake but then it just . . . stopped. For a moment I almost thought I heard—" She cut off, biting her lip. "No, never mind, I must have imagined it."

Before he could ask what she meant, the Weapon shifted, turning back around to face the reactor once again. Instead of moving closer though, it continued to simply stand there, seeming to no longer care about them. Cloud wasn't sure if they should try to get its attention once more, or if it was better to leave it be. He was about to call out to Barret when a tingle abruptly ran up both of his arms—his hair standing up on end. A moment later a low humming sound filled the air, gradually growing louder by the second.

"We need to get out of here. Now!" Aerith shouted, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him backward. Her eyes were wide when he looked back at her, and a chill ran down Cloud's spine. He'd never seen her look this afraid before.

A blue glow was growing in intensity alongside the humming, centered on the Weapon's chest. He had no idea what it was, but even without Aerith's warning, he wouldn't have wanted to stick around to find out.

"Fall back!" he yelled, moving back toward the tree line with Aerith close at his side as he gestured with his hand. No one put up an argument and it wasn't long before they were clustered in a tight group just inside the forest.

Barret was frowning as he watched the Weapon. "Don't like the looks of that, that's for damn sure. Any idea what it's doing?"

"It's preparing a spell of immense power," Aerith immediately responded, not taking her eyes off the monster. "I've never felt anything like it. Whatever it's going to be will be massive."

"Well, on the plus side I think they might have finished their evacuation," Tifa said. "I saw people pouring out of the reactor while we were fighting, but it had trickled off before all this started."

"More than they deserve," Barret muttered, earning a glare from Tifa. "Look, I agree they don't deserve to die," he hurried to say. "But they're working for Shinra. Damn fools need to open their eyes and wake up, realize they're working for the wrong side."

"Side? Most people don't have a choice, Barret. Shinra—" Tifa cut off as the pervasive humming cut out.

A heartbeat later, a beam of pure energy shot outward from the Weapon, slamming into the ground about halfway between it and where the reactor stood in the middle of the clearing. There was an immediate explosion, rocking the ground underfoot before the beam lifted, carving a flame-lined path through the earth until it reached the reactor only a second later. Cloud saw stars as a blast of air that was as solid as a wall slammed into them.

When he dazedly regained his feet, it took him a moment to understand what he was seeing. The trees surrounding them were all at an angle, leaning away from the clearing. Several large branches were scattered around on the ground, and thankfully none of them had hit anyone. The Weapon was still in the exact same place, but the reactor was simply . . . gone. Where it had previously stood in the clearing was now only a blackened pit with flickers of flame dancing within.

Zack whistled softly. "Anyone else glad it didn't use that against us?"

Even Barret seemed stunned by the scale of destruction, remaining silent against Cloud's expectations.

"How can it be so powerful?" Jessie asked with a clear note of dread in her voice. "We weren't able to so much as scratch it and it just took out that entire reactor like it was nothing."

"The stories talked about their overwhelming power, but I never expected it to be this extreme," Aerith said. "This would explain why the Treaty was signed and the Barrier put into place at the end of the last war—no one would ever want to see weapons like this unleashed."

Continuing to ignore them, the Weapon turned and began slowly moving away. Cloud's initial fear was that it was heading for Midgar next, but based on the position of the sun that didn't seem to be the case.

"So now what, it just wanders off into the forest and we hopefully never hear from it again?" Barret asked.

Aerith looked thoughtful for a moment before her face went pale. "Thorntide is only a few hours away in that direction. It was the village responsible for supplying the main war effort due to its proximity."

"Does that mean it's not only after the reactors then?" Tifa asked. "Why would it care about the Cetra?"

"The Weapons aren't on anyone's side," Aerith said. "Their only purpose is to protect the Planet from any threats. In this case, I can only imagine that means putting an end to this war."

"By eliminating both sides?!"

Aerith nodded slowly. "I'm afraid so. Nothing else makes any sense."

There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed what she was saying. Cloud honestly hadn't cared if the monster was going to go around destroying all of the reactors—that was Avalanche's end goal after all—but wiping everything out was quite a bit different.

"We have to stop it," he said softly, looking between the others.

"Don't be a fucking idiot," Barret snapped. "You just saw firsthand how impossible that would be."

Cloud shook his head. "Aerith's spells were able to hurt it. We need to work together with the rest of the Cetra and then we might stand a chance."

Barret's expression softened somewhat before he grudgingly nodded. The other members of Avalanche also seemed more hopeful as everyone turned their attention to Aerith.

"I agree that it's our best hope at averting disaster," she said with a slow nod of her own. "The Council might have some ideas as well, and, at the very least, they can dig into the ancient records and maybe find something helpful from the last war. Before that, though, we have to go warn the people of Thorntide and get them to evacuate before the Weapon reaches the village."

"You all go without me," Barret said, shaking his head. "I'm not rushing off to some Cetra village and leaving my family behind in the forest."

One of Aerith's eyebrows lifted. "Well, the good news is that they're between us and the village. The bad news is that also puts them directly in the Weapon's path."

Barret's face fell. "Well what are you all waiting for?" he shouted, turning and charging after the Weapon. "Get your asses in gear!"

A loud commotion could already be heard coming from the village as their recently reunited group approached the outskirts. Aerith was leading the way, being one of the few people among them who knew where to find it. According to her, it was now common practice for all Cetra villages to have the same type of spell protecting them so that any wandering Humans wouldn't stumble into the middle of them.

"Sounds like they already know what's coming for them," Zack muttered.

Tifa gave him a confused look. "How though? We were pushing pretty hard to get here before the Weapon and we didn't see anyone else. Magic?"

"I think it's something else," Aerith said, sounding strangely worried. "If they knew about the Weapon I'd expect them to already be evacuating. Come on."

Cloud followed right behind her with everyone else close on their heels. As they made their way between several small houses that reminded him of Farstar, they reached a large clearing in the center of the village where it seemed like all of the residents had gathered and were shouting at each other in mass panic. Despite the commotion, it didn't take long for their presence to be noted, and the screaming quickly changed to cries that the Humans had found them.

"We're not here to hurt you!" Aerith yelled, struggling to be heard over all the noise. "Please, I need to speak to your Elder, we don't have much time."

If anyone heard her, they made no sign of it as the chaos ensued. Cloud almost expected the Cetra to start throwing spells to force them to leave, but, thankfully, the villagers didn't seem willing to go that far. At the rate things were going, however, the Weapon was going to arrive before they'd be able to explain what was going on and then all of this would have been for nothing. "Shut. Up!" he roared, surprising himself and earning a shocked, but thankful look from Aerith.

Somehow, it worked better than he'd expected as the villagers slowly quieted down and stared at the group in what seemed to be dismayed resignation.

"Aerith?" one of the female villagers asked in surprise as she pushed forward to the front of the group. She seemed strangely familiar and after taking a second look, Cloud realized why—it was Seoda from their childhood. "Aerith, it is you!" Running over with a smile on her face, she threw her arms around Aerith in a tight hug. "I was so worried about you . . ."

"Seoda! What are you doing here? I wish we had time to catch up, but we need to get everyone out of here as soon as possible, a giant threat is approaching."

The bully—apparently turned friend—shook her head. "Everyone is still too shocked at being cut off from the Lifestream. People have been losing their minds about not being able to use magic anymore."

Aerith frowned, her brow furrowing. "What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you noticed? Given your history, I would have expected you to be especially devastated."

With a puzzled look, Aerith held her hand out and ignited a small ball of flame above it. "My magic is working just fine, though."

From the incredulous gasps around them, it was clear that what Seoda was saying was true. Cloud couldn't think of any other reason why people who regularly used magic in their everyday lives would be so shocked to see such a simple display of it.

"But . . . how?" Seoda asked. "A few hours ago it simply stopped working for the rest of us."

The timing was suspiciously close to around when the Weapon had first appeared, and by the look Aerith shot him, it seemed like she'd come to the same conclusion.

"I think our problems might be related, but we really don't have time to explain everything right now," she said. "What you need to know is that the Weapons are very much real and one of them is approaching this village as we speak."

Somehow, Seoda managed to look even more shocked than she already was, but much to Cloud's surprise, she didn't ask any questions. "It's going to be challenging to get people to leave their homes, but the medics and I have been stationed here for a week now. The villagers trust us so we'll do everything we can, but, if you're willing, it might help if you said a few words."

Aerith seemed taken aback by the request, and Cloud felt like he could relate. Giving a speech, even a small one, to a bunch of strangers was not something he'd be comfortable with. She nodded her head, however—a determined look on her face—and when she spoke, her voice was much louder than normal—clearly amplified by magic. "I understand that you're scared and confused by the loss of your magic. I believe the reason for its disappearance is the same as why we rushed here to warn you: a Weapon has emerged and is on its way here after destroying the Human's reactor."

The announcement caused a flurry of conversations to spring up, threatening to drown out Aerith to Cloud's frustration. One large man in particular stepped forward, raising his voice to be heard over the commotion.

"If the Weapons have truly arrived to save us from the Human menace, why would they be coming here or even related to the loss of our magic? Your lies make no sense. Instead, I find it far more suspicious that a Half—somehow capable of the impossible and using magic—has arrived with a bunch of Humans." His voice grew louder as he spoke, his face turning red and angry. "I think you're the one responsible for stealing our magic, taking it for yourself, and using it for your own evil ends!"

Cloud's hand instinctively raised to the hilt of the sword on his back as he took an aggressive step forward, only coming to a halt when Aerith quickly raised her hand to stop him. A rush of shame flashed through him as he felt her hand trembling against his chest. She was already pushing herself so hard, the last thing she needed was him escalating the situation.

"I wish I had answers for you, but I don't. As a Seer, my magic doesn't appear to be affected by whatever the Weapon is doing. I also can't say with any certainty that it means this village any harm, but please, for the sake of your families, I beg of you to be overly cautious and leave. After seeing what it's capable of, and not understanding its goals, I'd much rather prepare for the worst than allow a disaster to happen."

Once again, her words caused a large uproar, although this time it was different—more filled with awe, and people saying the word Seer over and over again. Only a few moments later, several of them began to break off from the crowd—rushing to disappear inside their houses. From there, it wasn't long before the central square was mostly empty except for the members of Avalanche and Seoda.

Aerith let out a deep sigh, her shoulders slumping slightly as she rubbed her temples with both hands.

"That went well," Seoda remarked. "I didn't expect you to bring up the whole Seer thing, though. I guess that moogle is out of the bag then?"

"It is," Aerith said with a small nod. "I'd be lying if I said I thought it wouldn't help convince them, but it's also the only explanation I can think of for why I'm the only one who's still able to use magic. You really can't cast anything at all?"

Seoda shook her head. "Nope. Not even the smallest little flame. It's like there's a yawning chasm when I reach out, and nothing responds."

"Well, now what?" Barret asked, running a hand through his hair. "The plan was to get more people capable of using magic to fight that thing, but from what it sounds like, that's no longer an option."

The ground trembled lightly underfoot. It was weak enough Cloud probably would have disregarded it in any other situation, but it could only mean one thing. Everyone else visibly tensed up as they turned to look in the direction they'd arrived from.

"It certainly complicates things," Aerith said. "I still think the best course of action is for Vincent and myself to return to the capital to meet with the Council. More than anything, we need to know what we're dealing with and that's our best hope."

"I'm not letting you go without me," Cloud declared, only fully realizing exactly what he'd said once the words were fading away and it was too late to take them back.

Tifa and Jessie were shooting him a look, while everyone else seemed to specifically be looking anywhere else. He could feel his cheeks beginning to warm up, but Aerith was only smiling at him.

"You are, of course, welcome to join us," she said. "I'd like you to, in fact."

He wasn't entirely sure what that last part meant but nodded his head firmly. A part of him recognized that this had nothing to do with protection—especially considering he was all but useless compared to her versus a Weapon—and had far more to do with not wanting to be separated from her again, but he did his best not to think about that. There were still things he could help with, even if nothing immediately came to mind.

Another tremor ran through the earth and this one was strong enough that several screams could be heard from around the village. People began rushing back out of their houses, carrying food and belongings as they gathered in a loose cluster nearby.

"It's nearly here," Aerith announced, her voice once again carrying. "I pray that it will leave the village alone, but we have to leave. Now."

There were a few tearful sobs, but all of the villagers followed as Cloud led the way out of the village in the opposite direction from where the tremors were coming from. He did his best to try and keep the pace easy enough for the villagers to keep up with everything they had with them, while still being fast enough they'd hopefully be safe from any danger.

They ran and ran, mostly in silence, with the tremors either remaining at the same intensity or gradually weakening as more time passed. There was one, singular moment where the very forest around them seemed to hold its breath before a massive explosion came from behind them, followed by a large plume of black smoke from where Cloud guessed the village was. Many of the villagers screamed, but, thankfully, they all kept moving.

Cloud glanced over to see tears running down Aerith's cheeks, and, without thinking about it, he reached out and grabbed her hand as they continued to run through the trees.

It's been a while, but the action is back! I can't imagine the result of this battle is too much of a surprise, given just how powerful Weapons are. Avalanche tries their best here, and while they do manage to buy the people in the reactor time to escape, they aren't able to so much as scratch the Weapon. Well, except for Aerith's magic. With the reactor down, it then turns its attention to Thorntide, showing that it's not on anyone's side but the Planet's. Things go from bad to worse as the party finds out that their one hope, magic, has apparently been cut off as none of the Cetra other than Aerith seem able to touch the Lifestream any longer. With no other ideas, our main couple sets off for the capital yet again, hoping they might find answers there.

Keep an eye out for another mid-week update this time around, and this one, surprise, is from yet another new PoV!

Next Chapter: Pressure