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Legacy of the Lifestream	By : butabara Category: Final Fantasy VII > General Views: 2387 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not Own FFVII or its affiliates. I make no money from this execise in literary creativity.

Chapter List
- 44
- 45
- 46
Chapter 44: A Demon's Design
Harmony's back pressed tightly to Sephiroth's, her hands shaking as she gripped the hilt of Hogosha no Kokoro. She could already hear the muffled cries of enemies as her unseen companions swiped them from the path and into the trees, where death awaited them. Her heart was pounding; it always did in situations such as this. Her palms were moist with sweat, the same wet substance dotting her brow as she fought to calm her ragged breathing.
Sephiroth shifted behind her as though to offer words of comfort or support, but the action was interrupted as finally, the first shots were fired. Harmony gasped as a bullet whizzed past her face and embedded itself into the pliant bark of a tree, the leaves shaking from the impact. Sephiroth's blade diverted the others sent their way, the metal spinning in a wide circle, like the propellor on a boat. He must have felt her shift to turn, her intent being to help him fight off the first wave of GR soldiers, for he forcefully pressed his back against her.
"Stay where you are! Your job is to watch my back!" He nearly snarled. "You can bet that they will attack from as many angles as they can. You make sure that your side is defended." His voice was more calm as he explained her orders.
However, if Harmony could have seen his face and the dim glow that had begun to shine from the General's eyes, she would have taken her Cetra and fled that forest as quickly as she could. She hadn't seen it though, and so she regained her composure as best she could and turned her attention to scanning the trees ahead of her, waiting for the Soldiers of Hell.
If they were so intent on death, she would show them that living was much, much worse.
! #$%^&*()
Yazoo's muscles flexed as he drove from the brush again, crossing the path and hooking his arm around a GR soldier's neck. He was across the path and crouched in the foliage on the other side so so quickly and silently that the other's did not even realize the soldier at their flanks was gone. The tensing of his arm and a loud snap signalled the end of his enemy, the man's head lolling to the side as the vertebrae in his neck were disconnected from the rest.
The Remnant gently lay the man onto the ground, maintaining his perfect silence. A flash to his right drew his attention and he glanced over just in time to see a man fall. Embedded in his chest was the flickering manifestation that was Sassi's power. He smiled. Her aim had improved significantly over the years, and he was sure that combining her power with Loz's gifted senses, many of their opponents would be carrying scorch marks and punctures from those menacing bolts of energy.
! #$%^&*()
Sassi's legs straddled the thick, flexible branch of the tree, muscles contracting to maintain balance as the branch subtly shifted in the breeze. A large presence pressed itself to her back as Loz's voice whispered, so soft she could barely make out the words, "Twenty paces, southwest."
She inhaled, sighting along the shaft of the crossbow, adjusting her aim and calling the wind to a standstill around her. Within a second she let loose a bolt, the silent missile slamming into its target with a satisfying meaty resonance. Her mouth quirked up hearing it. With a mental shake, she forced herself to think only of the next target as Loz whispered the next destination. His eyesight was much more precise than hers and she relied solely on his guidance.
You don't have to be so dependant you know…
Sassi blinked rapidly, not startled by the voice but taken off guard as it mirrored her inner thoughts almost exactly. She had been planning to use magic as an enhancer. She wanted to see her target, see the arrow piercing flesh. These bastards had changed everything.
You already have the power that you have so craved. You could end the lives of every pathetic creature in this place, should you choose to… Why run from what you so obviously want?
Her fingers clenched around the tension lever, wanting to pull it back to full weight. The crossbow was designed to pierce armor and bone, but she wanted to break more than that. She wanted to see them fall to their knees as bolts sucked at their life force. As her hand hesitated, a bolt began to swirl with a red aura immediately after forming. The weapon and ammo were direct physical manifestations of her magic, shaping with no more than a thought. This new bolt was a type she would never have used. But against these men . . . they deserved it. She wanted to be of use. Hell, she really wanted to just end this whole damn event. Loz's cheek rested against hers and she instantly wished to have his sight, that she could somehow see through his eyes. She would accept that kind of dependency, if for no other reason than the need to physically be more than she was.
More than you are? You are a Cetra, are you not? You are more than any of these beings. They are insects beneath your sacred steps; naught but a tool to be used for your own purposes.
Through their connection, his cheek pressed to hers, she felt Loz make a decision and instantly the crossbow aimed. An urgent impulse caused her finger to release the trigger and she felt herself flying toward the target. It was exhilarating. Her vision narrowed as she rushed through the air, experiencing multiple doses of adrenaline; her own, Loz's, and the foreigner.
She heard more than felt the hiss of sadistic pleasure leave her own lips as her sight focused once more. Loz was shocked when an unfamiliar sound emitted from Sassi the moment before her body slackened against him. In a detached way, she felt herself enfolded in strong arms, but the headlong rush was all too immediate.
Sassi did not feel his surprise as she normally would. Instead she felt her power spike, drawing together to encompass the bolt as it flew toward the doomed target. It was as though she was the bolt. The sight she saw when her vision had cleared was nothing but the trees and shrubs zooming past her as she herself rocketed through the air.
Her arm extended, reaching for the bright, incandescent form wrapped inside the flesh of her prey. There was a slight thrill as her fingers made contact with warm, living skin and she felt a terrible ripping as her momentum carried her all the way through. Her fingers held a throbbing mass of energy, the glow streaming out of the cracks. She gazed at the wondrous object, glancing up into a startled and frightened astral face. The man was terrified, immobile, and his body was writhing in seizures behind her. A great weight fell upon her as she realized what she was holding. The power to snuff this being from existence; the ability to completely obliterate a soul.
As her hand relaxed she felt her body squeezed tightly. She feared a rib might break with the pressure. She was pulled back and up, through the path she had flown, but not before her hand involuntarily clenched. The soul evaporated into fine wisps of smoke as her vision receded, the body going completely still. She slammed back into herself gasping in physical and spiritual agony.
The forceful grip she had felt was Loz as he wrapped his arms around her limp body and she heard his voice, quiet but anxious and calling her name. She struggled and fought his hold until he released her, taking a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart and refusing to look at him. With a hand flat on his chest she pushed him a bit further away, waving off his questions as she internalized what had happened.
Had she actually left her body? She needed no answer. She knew she had. She let dread wash over her senses, not even bothering to mask the fear she knew shone behind her eyes. That voice… whatever entity that was behind the cruel and brutal ideas… had it actually forced her to rip the still-burning soul out of a person?!
No, she would not quantify that excuse for even a moment. The power that overcame her in that moment was exactly what she wanted.
Good… very good.
Her shoulders tensed at the voice, her mind clearly able to picture the wicked, fanged and smug smirk of…
She could not place the face of the creature, but in that instant the knowledge hit her that she was in the grip of nothing short of pure mayhem.
! #$%^&*()
Loz was in a panic, though he hid it well. For a moment there, Sassi had gone completely limp in his arms. He shook her frantically, calling her name in a desperate whisper and she quickly regained her composure. That wasn't what scared him the most, though…
His cheek had been pressed to hers, offering his mind to her as he sighted targets for her to shoot. Right before her body went limp, he could swear he heard a voice, rough, hissing, gravelly and cunning. He couldn't make out what it said, but he could feel the malevolence behind the echo.
"Sassi, what the Hell was that?!" He asked, pulling her tightly against him.
She didn't answer. Her eyes were distant and her skin was deathly pale. Something was wrong, and even he could feel it. He glanced around, finding Aerith's eyes as she and Cloud perched on the same branch, a few feet from them. The other Cetra looked legitimately worried.
She never got the opportunity to speak. From above them, a glint of light flashed through the trees as something crashed onto the branch holding them, sending the whole thing-Cetra, SOLDIER, Remnant and all-to the ground and into the very center of the battle.
! #$%^&*()
Harmony was raging, swinging left and right as more GR soldiers sprang from the trees before her and to her sides. She swung her sword like a mad woman, wide arcs meant to make them stumble back as she lunged forward.
'Injure them, back to Sephiroth. Rinse, repeat.' Was the mantra running through her mind as she fell into the repetitive flow of attacks.
She could feel little jolts of power here and there as Sassi fired her magical crossbow and it helped to calm her nerves. So long as that power kept spiking, Sassi was safe in the canopy.
She looked to her side. Kadaj had joined the fray not long before and was happily slicing away at whomever was stupid enough to come within range of his blades. He looked almost serene in his violence. It bothered her, though now was certainly not the time to dwell on her lover's sadistic tendencies.
A GR soldier managed to block her sword and counter attack, forcing her to dive to the side. Her foot shot up as her hands hit the ground, knocking the soldier's jaw and sending him or her-it was difficult to tell through that armor-staggering back. The soldier regained its footing and launched a barrage of attacks at her. Harmony twisted and bent forward, her sword cleanly slicing just above her opponent's knee and sending it crashing to the ground with a howl of agony.
Kadaj's congratulatory 'Whoop' infuriated her and she turned her back to snarl at him, just in time to see a rush of shrouded energy fly through the trees.
It was Sassi. In astral form. Harmony's heart thudded once and then seemed to stop.
Surrounding the spirit form of her Cetra was another being. It was male, of that she was certain. Its eyes cut to her with their pale yellow glow and it sent a chill of terror down her spine. The glint of fanged teeth sent a bolt of power through her and she involuntarily stepped forward, feeling the rush of energy that signalled the beginnings of Guardian Mode. But the power would not complete… though her mind knew that Sassi was somehow in danger, her power would not react to it.
Her eyes followed closely as Sassi's form rushed through a soldier, stopping so suddenly that Harmony had to backtrack to find her. The soldier was on the ground in a heap, twitching and seizing in obvious agony. Sassi's astral form was just behind him, her hand glowing with what was clearly the man's life-force.
Not his heart. His soul.
"Sassi no!" Harmony screamed, her voice desperate and anguished, but just as she dove forward to stop her friend from destroying the sacred energy, Sassi's hand clenched. The orb was crushed to nothing as her spirit flew backwards into the canopy, Harmony's scream still ringing through the air, only to turn to a snarl of outrage as the branch they had taken sanctuary on crashed to the ground, not a foot from where the Guardian stood.
The snapping of the branch above them was heard by all, both sides of the fight letting out sounds of concern and diving out of the way as the massive piece of the tree crashed to the ground.
Sephiroth reacted instantly. He was across the clearing and had Aerith in his arms before the Cetra could even scream. He landed roughly, rolling along the debris of the forest floor after having literally thrown himself at the fallen branch. He kept her safe, his body curled around hers so that not a scratch accosted her skin until he could regain his feet. Once upright he shoved her behind him, the glow in his eyes growing more bright by the second as his limbs began to shake and a green mist surrounded him.
In that instant, all Hell very literally broke loose.
Harmony stopped her livid advance on her now-terrified Cetra. Her spine straightened until those watching thought it would snap, her shoulders hunched as though she had just been struck by a killing blow. Immediately a green haze covered her body, her feet lifted from the forest floor, and her eyes flashed a vibrant green.
Atop the fallen branch, a new figure stood. The dirt and debris cleared slowly, almost dramatically to reveal none other than Weiss the Immaculate, fully healed and fully armed.
Sephiroth snarled, the Guardian in him sensing the threat of the man's instability. He attacked without a thought, mindless was he to the power now controlling him.
The Dread General had just entered his first Guardian Mode.
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Legacy of the Lifestream