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Chapter FortySeven "You ever see the play 'Loveless'?"
From Kit's place near the back of the bridge, she couldn't hear Cloud's response to the question from Cid, but Cid continued. "Yeah? Really? Well, that's fine. They've been doin' that play every summer since I was a kid. An' I remember seein' it just once..."
It was such an odd time to talk about a play, that Kit turned from what she was doing to look curiously at the pilot. She had never seen that play herself, though she'd seen the billboards plenty of times. The poster had featured a woman gazing longingly at a man - definitely not Kit's sort of thing, nor what she'd expected Cid to have seen.
"Now, I'm no big fan of the theater or anything," Cid was saying defensively, "but this thing put me to sleep, just like I thought it would. Finally during the last scene, the guy next to me woke me up tellin' me my snorin' was too loud. So about all I really remember of that play is the end... The sister of the lead asks her lover..."
Suddenly Cid gestured dramatically. "'Do you really have to leave?'" he quoted, raising his voice just a bit. "And the guy says, 'I promised. The people I love are waiting,'" he quoted, gesturing again and lowering his voice. "'..I don't understand. Not at all. But...... please take care of yourself.' 'Of course... I'll come back to you. Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing that you'll be here,'" Cid went on, acting out both parts melodramatically. Kit stared at him in disbelief, and Cloud didn't look any less baffled.
Finally Cid turned away. "I remember thinking when I heard those lines, '*&%! What the hell's he talkin' about?' But, you know... now I'm not so sure... I think I understand."
Kit's amusement at his antics slipped away at the seriousness of his final words, and she sighed, turning back to what she was doing. The Highwind was now hovering in place, suspended over the crater, and everyone was making their final preparations. The potions and other items had been distributed, the materia had been divided up among all of them, and now most of them were double-checking their weapons.
Early on after she'd met up with AVALANCHE, Kit had removed the clip of specialty bullets that Scarlet had given her with the gun, using the normal clips that the weapons shops sold instead. There had been no need to use such rare and expensive ammunition on anything they'd fought so far - it was designed to kill the single most powerful man on the planet, and it would have been a waste to use it on the monsters that prowled the land. She'd kept it in one of the small compartments on her belt, though, and completely forgotten about it until she discovered it again, while trying to find a place for the Phoenix Down medicine that Cloud had given her to use in case of an emergency.
Now she stared at the clip in her hand, wondering what to do with it, then she shook her head and slipped it back into her belt. It wasn't time yet. There would certainly be other creatures within the crater, and if it came down to a worst-case scenario, she might need those bullets.
After they'd finished their preparations, everyone climbed down the rope ladder onto the rim of the crater. It was Kit's first close look at the area, and she couldn't help but see it as something beautiful. The depths of the crater glowed faintly, and traces of green Lifestream energy flowed up and around the walls, which were touched with limestone and sediment from the snow above melting and flowing down the slopes. There was no indication that the destruction of the planet could lie deep within.
Red, however, seemed troubled. "When we were first here," he explained to Kit, "the Lifestream was bursting forth from the crater like a fountain. The Mako gushed high into the air, but now its glow is faint, and far away."
"Why would that be?" Yuffie asked.
"It's been used up," Red said quietly. "Whether by Shinra's Mako cannon, the Weapons' rebirth, or the invocation of the Black Materia, it doesn't matter. All these things have bled the planet nearly to death." Next to Kit, Yuffie shivered.
After a quick once-over, Cloud determined that the only way to get inside was to slide down the slope onto one of the lower cliffs. The others followed his lead, and slid cautiously down into the interior, being careful to halt themselves before they tumbled over the edge of the rocky cliffs into the center of the pit. Aside from the distant glow of Mako energy, no one could see what might lie below, and there was no way of knowing how far they might have to fall before they hit the bottom.
The spiraling stone pathway that led deeper into the crater had broken away in some places, and threatened to crumble under their feet at times. Several times they nearly fell due to a sudden attack by one of the creatures that lived among the rocks and crevices, and it was almost a relief when they discovered they could go down no further, and that they'd have to make their way through the network of caves that around the crater's walls. The caverns, however, branched in numerous ways, and so the group decided to split up.
Kit decided to go with Barret, as did Cait Sith, which to her surprise didn't cause Barret to grumble or complain. Apparently Barret had finally decided to accept Cait as part of the team, and in fact, the three of them cooperated with their abilities - Barret's knowledge of nature, Cait's mechanically enhanced vision, and Kit's sense of Jenova's presence, which grew stronger as they went deeper - to reach a large cavern that was surprisingly devoid of the unusual creatures they had encountered. It was there that they decided to take a break and wait for the others.
"So, Kit," Cait asked, "do you think all those monsters we fought are Sephiroth's minions or something? Does he know we're here?"
"I'm sure he knows," Kit replied, settling down on a nearby rock. She couldn't hear his thoughts as she had been able to before, but as deep as they were within the crater, the Jenova presence was close enough that she was unable to ignore it. He was far more sensitive to it, and would be able to read her whereabouts easily, and Cloud's as well. "I don't think the monsters were sent by him though. We beat them all easily, and it would have been a waste of his time."
"Looked to me like they were just natural predators," Barret agreed, pacing back and forth around the area impatiently. "Mebbe affected by the Mako though - I've seen those Pug things before, but never with that coloring, or that strength."
"Hmm..." the cat pondered. "I wonder how long it'll be before he tries something. I wonder... if he's watching us right now."
That was an eerie thought, even for Kit, and Barret stopped his pacing to uneasily look out into the center of the crater, muttering a few choice words. "Cloud better show up soon, cause I ain't waitin' here to get picked off..."
Kit wondered briefly about switching the ammunition she'd been using to the single special clip in her belt, and was surprised to discover that her hands were shaking, when she opened the compartment to reach for it. "Whatcha got there?" Cait asked her.
She pulled the clip out to show it to him. "Scarlet's design," she told him, "made specifically for the task of assassinating Sephiroth when he first appeared back in Midgar."
Cait followed her train of thought easily. "You think it's going to do what it was meant to do after all, then?"
She shook her head. "Scarlet may be obnoxious, but her weapons always do what they're intended to do," was her only reply.
Cait already knew the rest of her thoughts on the matter, and he nodded. "Sorry..."
"It's not like it's absolutely certain," Kit pointed out halfheartedly. "Jenova's here in the crater too, you know."
Barret cursed again, looking more uneasy. "Spike-head better get his #$@ down here..."
"I keep wondering," Kit continued, more to herself than Cait or Barret, "if we could find Jenova first, break her hold on him..."
"You really think he's only doing this because Jenova's telling him to?" Cait inquired, surprised. "Like he's brainwashed?"
"I've thought that for a long time," she replied, "but I don't know for sure. It's a possibility though, and if it were true..."
"If it's true, it don't make no difference, if he starts bustin' our heads in," Barret spoke up. "Too much at stake now, an' I'm not holdin' back. Sorry, but that's just how it is."
Kit nodded. "I understand." If she didn't, she wouldn't have been there. But still, if there was any chance at all...
It wasn't long before the rest of the team showed up, and they began to brainstorm what to do next. There were two ways to leave the large cavern they were in, but none of them could tell which way led to Sephiroth. The only way to be sure was to split into two groups, as little as they all liked being separated so deep inside the crater - it cut their firepower in half.
"You know, he picked an excellent place to make his stand," Vincent observed. "I'd say he wanted to force us to split up, to spread us thin..."
Cloud just shrugged. "Now, don't any of you die on me," he said firmly. "Gotta get through to Sephiroth."
Along the path taken by Kit's group from before plus Yuffie, they occasionally came across treasures, much to the young ninja's delight. Probably they had been placed there by some of the monsters they encountered; Barret had read that the Pugs were very intelligent and had their own society, as easily provoked as the ones inside the crater seemed to be.
"Should we even be taking them then?" Cait asked. "If they're someone else's property..."
"Hey, it's like this," Yuffie put in. "We need those things way more than those little monsters do. I mean, it's not like they're goin' up against Sephiroth. It's not like they're saving the planet. If we take these to use ourselves in the fight, then we're doing them a big favor! Okay?"
"Only good excuse I ever heard out of her," Barret muttered, and Yuffie punched him in the arm.
As they continued deeper into the crater, the presence of Jenova grew stronger and stronger, almost overwhelming Kit's senses, and she wondered how Cloud was faring. Voices seemed to be whispering just behind her ears, gibbering and laughing at her, but at least it told her she was on the right path. Maybe they'd be lucky enough to find Jenova before Sephiroth, as she'd been hoping.
The path curved a bit, and finally deposited them at the edge of a cliff overlooking the depths of the crater. This close, the Mako glow was almost blindingly bright, but someone was visible on the opposite side - Cloud and the others. "Yo!" Barret called as they ran to join Cloud's party. "We're a bit late?"
The two teams took a moment to compare notes and pool the items they'd found before going any further. Apparently all the branching paths led to this same place near the center of the planet, where the magical energy was still so strong that it appeared to suspend even boulders in the midst of the Lifestream, making a perfect pathway to the bottom. Cloud didn't seem to be bothered by the strange whispers and laughter that rang in Kit's ears, and regarded the center of the crater with a cool intensity. "All right everyone, let's mosey."
"Damn! Again!" Cid exclaimed, causing everyone to jump. "Stop sayin' it like a wimp! Can't you say 'Move out!' or somethin'?"
Cloud gave a slight sheepish grin. "Move out!" he ordered decisively, and Cid nodded in approval.
Cloud was preparing to jump down onto the first of the suspended boulders when a deafening roar was heard overhead. The entire group looked up to see several dozen monsters swarming down the sides of the crater towards them. "Look at the number..." Red murmured uneasily.
Almost immediately, another few dozen winged creatures filled the open air above, blocking out the small bit of the sky above the crater's mouth. "%#@^! They're comin' out in force!" Cid added, gripping his Venus Gospel.
The monsters seemed somehow familiar to Kit, chattering and cackling as they made their way downwards, and it took her a moment to realize why - they sounded much like the whispering she'd been hearing! "These are Jenova's minions, or Sephiroth's," she told the others. "We're really close now."
They would overrun the cavern where the members of AVALANCHE stood within a few seconds, and Barret waved Cloud away, towards the pathway down into the crater. "Cloud! You go first!"
Cloud shook his head. "I'm fighting here too."
"Shu'up! It won't do us no good wit' everyone back here!"
"Barret's right," Cid agreed, watching the approaching monsters warily. "You take two of us with you and go first. The rest'll catch up with ya later."
Cloud was visibly uneasy with this suggestion, but Tifa smiled confidently at him. "Is this like a practice run before the real thing?"
"Yeah, a major practice run," Cait said nervously, wringing his gloved hands.
"Heh heh, I'm fine with that," Yuffie told Cloud. "It's probably more fun than fighting Sephiroth down there..." she added under her breath.
Vincent nodded in agreement. "Hmm, this might be fun to pass time."
Another roar sounded, this time closer, and Red looked around in alarm. "They're coming! They're already on the floor next to us!"
Yet another roar filled the air, and another legion of monsters rushed out from the caverns the two parties had just come from, swarming around the rim of the crater towards them. "Cloud! Hurry up and make up your mind!" Barret bellowed at him.
"Okay, okay," Cloud said hurriedly. "Tifa, you come with me. You too, Cid. The rest of you... just hold out as well as you can," he told them urgently, as the two he'd chosen ran to his side. "All of you! Later."
His farewell was almost drowned out by another deafening roar, and Barret hefted his gun-arm as the monsters closed in. "Yeah, later."
Barely two seconds after Cloud had leapt down into the center of the crater, the monsters engulfed the rest of the team, crowding around like vultures on a corpse, beating at them with wings, tearing them with claws. In a way, the number of the monsters was a bad strategic move on their part, for they had little room to manuever, and therefore were unable to dodge the shots from Kit, Barret, and Vincent, and the closest ones could not retreat from Red's claws or the solid punches that Cait Sith's moogle dished out ceaselessly. Yuffie cheerfully pitched her throwing stars out from between Barret and Kit, placing them precisely in the throats of any monster that dared get too close, but no matter how many were cut down, the monsters continued to come.
Kit had begun the fight trying to protect the others' backs, but soon couldn't spare a second for anyone else as the enemy closed in around her, pushing her away from the rest of the team. She could only trust they had learned to fight as well as she had on this journey, for she was nearly overwhelmed. She could do little besides duck away from the attacks, and she quickly realized she'd have to find a way to do something else - they were driving her towards the edge of the cliff. That much she could sense from even their primitive minds, Jenova-touched as they were.
From below, there abruptly came a loud shriek. Kit wouldn't have dared to look away from her own battle to see what had happened, except that when the shriek was heard, the monsters Kit and the others were fighting cried out as well, and backed off. The ones with wings flew away, the ones without turned tail to run and had nowhere to go except off the sides of the ledges, and so they tumbled to their deaths. Or so it appeared.
Their cry was loud enough and terrible enough that it seemed to lodge in Kit's head, and she covered her ears, trying to block it out. As she tried to pull herself together, she peered over the lip of the crater to see what had happened. Below was a huge round shape, a shape completely foreign to her, but yet familiar in an intangible way... It was Jenova herself, screaming in agony as Cloud, Cid, and Tifa destroyed her.
Come to me, I order you! Help me!
The voices broke through the screams of the monsters in her head, and for a moment Kit wrestled some strange inner part of her, the part that was of Jenova. It wanted to go down there and save that entity from her imminent death. Kit's hand reached out involuntarily, and she took a step closer to the edge.
Strong hands gripped her from both sides - Barret and Vincent. "$#&@! What do you think you're doing?" Barret bellowed.
Vincent was a little more gentle. "You can't," he said softly to her. "You won't. You know that."
Kit stared at him, and nodded. How had he understood? Well, she supposed he was intelligent enough to reason it out. And he was right. The screaming in her mind was nothing other than the death cries of Jenova, and it hurt her to know that the creature was even now dying, though she must. Sephiroth's "Mother", a part of herself, crying out in one last fit of rage...
Suddenly she understood what Jenova was doing. "Get down! Back from the edge!" she yelled at them all, throwing herself to the ground, away from the center of the crater. The others obeyed without a question, not that they would have had time for a question anyway. A flare of green light exploded below, as Jenova cast her last spell - Ultima.
Kit squeezed her eyes shut against the bright light, but then opened them again in shock as the rocks she clung to began to crumble in her hands. The crater was falling apart.
Somewhere nearby, she heard Yuffie scream, and Cid swearing. Red howled mournfully as the ledge he crouched on tumbled into the crater, and she and the others followed rapidly.
Freefalling through the life energy of the planet, Kit felt the traces of Jenova evaporating little by little, and wondered what had happened to Sephiroth. She had felt nothing from him to indicate that Jenova's death had cleared his troubled mind - she felt nothing from him at all. Was he dead too? She thought that she surely would have felt it, but with Jenova's death, maybe that mental tie was broken. From the reaction of the monsters she'd fought, it was even possible that all those of Jenova's blood were dying with her: Sephiroth, Cloud... and even herself.
But then, it looked as if they would be dead soon anyway, regardless. Even if the members of AVALANCHE somehow survived the fall, she could see rocks three times her size falling all around them in the blinding Mako light, even above them. She knew it made no real difference, her death and those of her friends, if Cloud, Tifa, and Cid had ended the threat to the planet. They would all become a part of the Lifestream, and life would go on for everyone else, at least.
But just before darkness fell, Kit sensed someone else there with them. Sephiroth still lived, and there was no way of telling how Jenova's death had affected him.
To Chapter FortyEight. To the intro. That means it's mine, not yours! |
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