RANDOMLY, WRITING
There were footsteps on the stone floor, eight sets, and I recognized the rhythm of each and every one.
My friends had come for me, unless my ears started playing tricks after being stuffed full of silence. Either way, I still had to pray, so I kept my eyes closed, hands clasped, head and heart bowed to the Planet.
“Cloud.” The murmur was Tifa’s. After a pause and shuffling of feet, only one pair of boots made the long strides, leaps really, of the pillars to the altar. Took several further steps, and stopped in front of me.
I still had to wait for an answer. No matter what, I couldn’t stop praying until the Planet answered.
The air between us felt charged, but there was no interruption. Finally an answer, the answer came, bringing a smile to my face as I looked up. Tifa’s hand rested just above my shoulder. She must have wanted to shake me to attention and just barely held herself back; her eyes were so full of anxiety, I was surprised she’d managed. The frown on her lips softened. I was sure she’d return my smile soon, though I might get a lecture first. Tifa had often made me think in small ways of my adopted mother.
“Aerith, we were so worried,” she said, and she took a breath for her next words, her hand already moving to help me up if I wanted.
Then the other hand flew up, and both shoved me back. In the next instant, the long blade of the Masamune would have split me open. Seeing it cut through the back of my friend, I screamed like it had.
Sephiroth knelt between the others and me, then rose to his feet with Tifa still impaled on Masamune. He lifted her up as she dangled and breathed in shallowly, examined his handiwork with a sickening smile-then flicked her away with a snap of the wrist. She would have tumbled off the altar and into the still waters if it weren’t for Cloud. He’d started moving as Sephiroth stood; he caught her a split-second before she would have gone over the ledge, then sunk down with her, clutching her tightly.
“Be grateful, Cetra,” Sephiroth murmured, locking eyes with me. “You will not die alone.”
Vincent didn’t waste a second to open fire, the bullets ricocheting off of Sephiroth’s guarding blade. Nanaki howled and pounced, and for once when Yuffie’s mouth opened there was no boasting or bragging but a shrill war cry. “Get ‘er back, kid!” Cid barked at Cloud, and when Masamune swung toward Nanaki, the pilot managed a tight jump over Sephiroth, jutting out his spear as he passed to thump the swordsman in the back and make him stumble-forcing him just a little farther from me. In response, the fearsomely long sword lashed out at us. Blood streamed from Cid’s shoulder, but still he stood between me and the once-greatest SOLDIER.
“Cid-Cid, don’t-!”
“Shut it!” he told me. “You had everything figured out? He ain’t stopping you while I’m here, so #$@#%#’ finish it!”
Finish it. Of course. Sephiroth hadn’t come for just blood. He had hoped to stop Holy’s summoning. “Sephiroth!” I cried out. “You’re too late! Even if you kill me, the Planet already heard my prayer! You’ve lost!” Frantic, I undid my ribbon with one hand and yanked the materia out with the other, ripping out some strands of hair too, and raised the orb for him to see its green glow. “Destroy me or my materia-it doesn’t matter, because Holy will come!”
So please…
Please…leave us alone. It was a new prayer, pounding in my ears. Please leave us. Please let Tifa survive.
He looked at me and the White materia, and for a fraction of a second I could see a flicker in his proud face.
Then he smirked.
“Clever girl,” he crooned. “This does complicate things. But that’s all it is, a complication.”
“You can’t fight Holy!”
“Did you really believe this wounded, dying Planet could produce a miracle? One to overpower a god? Two thousand years ago, when your people still thrived-perhaps Holy would have been sufficient.” That thin-lipped smirk widened. “No longer. You prayed and gambled on a miracle that will not come. All you’ve done is caused another to sacrifice her life in your stead-”
“Shut up. She won’t die.”
My throat had clenched too hard to speak; the words came from Cloud, still knelt over Tifa, green radiating from the Restore in his hand and from his wild eyes. Barret stood over the two of them. Sephiroth chuckled and spoke without turning.
“Can you save her, Cloud? You once believed yourself the sole survivor of Nibelheim. How did it feel back then? If you felt anything at all…dredge those illusory emotions back up. You’ll need them.”
“No…”
Sephiroth’s eyes flashed; Cloud bent over double, spasming, the healing spell cut off. “Remember-”
“S-stop! Don’t-aaa…ahhh…!”
“Get a damn grip!” Barret roared, enveloping the Restore in his good hand and clutching hard enough to crush Cloud’s hand in-between. The faintest whimper came from Cloud, still shaking, but the green cast of the materia flickered back to life. Sephiroth rose into the air, but not before dropping a piece of mutated flesh that was transforming even further.
It's probably bad I still can't decide whether Tifa should live in this or die. I'm thinking "compromise" of "very badly injured and in coma, but even then: does it end with her waking up, dying in her sleep, world ending, what?
My friends had come for me, unless my ears started playing tricks after being stuffed full of silence. Either way, I still had to pray, so I kept my eyes closed, hands clasped, head and heart bowed to the Planet.
“Cloud.” The murmur was Tifa’s. After a pause and shuffling of feet, only one pair of boots made the long strides, leaps really, of the pillars to the altar. Took several further steps, and stopped in front of me.
I still had to wait for an answer. No matter what, I couldn’t stop praying until the Planet answered.
The air between us felt charged, but there was no interruption. Finally an answer, the answer came, bringing a smile to my face as I looked up. Tifa’s hand rested just above my shoulder. She must have wanted to shake me to attention and just barely held herself back; her eyes were so full of anxiety, I was surprised she’d managed. The frown on her lips softened. I was sure she’d return my smile soon, though I might get a lecture first. Tifa had often made me think in small ways of my adopted mother.
“Aerith, we were so worried,” she said, and she took a breath for her next words, her hand already moving to help me up if I wanted.
Then the other hand flew up, and both shoved me back. In the next instant, the long blade of the Masamune would have split me open. Seeing it cut through the back of my friend, I screamed like it had.
Sephiroth knelt between the others and me, then rose to his feet with Tifa still impaled on Masamune. He lifted her up as she dangled and breathed in shallowly, examined his handiwork with a sickening smile-then flicked her away with a snap of the wrist. She would have tumbled off the altar and into the still waters if it weren’t for Cloud. He’d started moving as Sephiroth stood; he caught her a split-second before she would have gone over the ledge, then sunk down with her, clutching her tightly.
“Be grateful, Cetra,” Sephiroth murmured, locking eyes with me. “You will not die alone.”
Vincent didn’t waste a second to open fire, the bullets ricocheting off of Sephiroth’s guarding blade. Nanaki howled and pounced, and for once when Yuffie’s mouth opened there was no boasting or bragging but a shrill war cry. “Get ‘er back, kid!” Cid barked at Cloud, and when Masamune swung toward Nanaki, the pilot managed a tight jump over Sephiroth, jutting out his spear as he passed to thump the swordsman in the back and make him stumble-forcing him just a little farther from me. In response, the fearsomely long sword lashed out at us. Blood streamed from Cid’s shoulder, but still he stood between me and the once-greatest SOLDIER.
“Cid-Cid, don’t-!”
“Shut it!” he told me. “You had everything figured out? He ain’t stopping you while I’m here, so #$@#%#’ finish it!”
Finish it. Of course. Sephiroth hadn’t come for just blood. He had hoped to stop Holy’s summoning. “Sephiroth!” I cried out. “You’re too late! Even if you kill me, the Planet already heard my prayer! You’ve lost!” Frantic, I undid my ribbon with one hand and yanked the materia out with the other, ripping out some strands of hair too, and raised the orb for him to see its green glow. “Destroy me or my materia-it doesn’t matter, because Holy will come!”
So please…
Please…leave us alone. It was a new prayer, pounding in my ears. Please leave us. Please let Tifa survive.
He looked at me and the White materia, and for a fraction of a second I could see a flicker in his proud face.
Then he smirked.
“Clever girl,” he crooned. “This does complicate things. But that’s all it is, a complication.”
“You can’t fight Holy!”
“Did you really believe this wounded, dying Planet could produce a miracle? One to overpower a god? Two thousand years ago, when your people still thrived-perhaps Holy would have been sufficient.” That thin-lipped smirk widened. “No longer. You prayed and gambled on a miracle that will not come. All you’ve done is caused another to sacrifice her life in your stead-”
“Shut up. She won’t die.”
My throat had clenched too hard to speak; the words came from Cloud, still knelt over Tifa, green radiating from the Restore in his hand and from his wild eyes. Barret stood over the two of them. Sephiroth chuckled and spoke without turning.
“Can you save her, Cloud? You once believed yourself the sole survivor of Nibelheim. How did it feel back then? If you felt anything at all…dredge those illusory emotions back up. You’ll need them.”
“No…”
Sephiroth’s eyes flashed; Cloud bent over double, spasming, the healing spell cut off. “Remember-”
“S-stop! Don’t-aaa…ahhh…!”
“Get a damn grip!” Barret roared, enveloping the Restore in his good hand and clutching hard enough to crush Cloud’s hand in-between. The faintest whimper came from Cloud, still shaking, but the green cast of the materia flickered back to life. Sephiroth rose into the air, but not before dropping a piece of mutated flesh that was transforming even further.
It's probably bad I still can't decide whether Tifa should live in this or die. I'm thinking "compromise" of "very badly injured and in coma, but even then: does it end with her waking up, dying in her sleep, world ending, what?