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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
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Chapter 46: Finis Tenebrarum

“Shelke… what is that?” Sukai whispered. Her voice was low, soft, trembling as she stared at the radar screen. The entire top half of the continent of Wutai was just gone, the radar picking up only the rippling tidal waves of energy crashing across the surface below.
“I do not know.” Shelke admitted and to her credit, the normally apathetic girl actually sounded quite worried. “Our systems are not designed to recognize energy of these wavelengths. I will see what I can do. Please, Sukai,” she turned back to her companion, “you should be resting. You are in no condition to aid them, and watching this is making you anxious.”
Sukai barely held back a snarled argument; Shelke was right of course, but that didn’t mean she had to like it! Her lover and her friends were down there possibly being blown away by some unknown energy, and she was stuck on the airship feeling like a beached whale!
A beached whale that was in much more pain than she was ready to admit to.
“Fine.” she growled, and she batted Shelke’s hand away when the woman-child tried to help her back into the uncomfortable bed. “You tell me the moment you know anything, got it?” she ordered. Shelke nodded.
“Of course, Sukai.” Shelke stood beside the bed for just a moment, watching to ensure that Sukai was as comfortable as she could be and then she turned and made her way to the door. She paused and glanced over her shoulder. “I am going to the control room. I will see if I can conduct a Synaptic Net Dive. Please, stay where you are.”
So of course, the moment Shelke had left the room and Sukai was sure she wasn’t coming back for a while, she heaved herself up – ignoring the crushing, throbbing pain of yet another contraction – and went right back to the radar screen. “S-N-D my ass.” she growled to herself, then ripped the back panel off of the radar machine. “Now, you giant paper-weight, you and I are gonna have a talk.”

!@#$%^&*()

Nanaki paced back and forth before the large fountain in the center of the antechamber. Gods, he wanted to help. The energy not twenty miles away bowled him over like a red dragon in the Giza plains, rolling and twisting and writhing and he knew – even though he was not actually a Guardian – that it was Harmony and Sephiroth. His one-eyed gaze fell on the young Guardian in his care. The three children were seated on the lip of the fountain, Kiku between them and grasping tightly onto their hands. She trembled. Nearly convulsed. He knew she could feel it, too, and he could only imagine how maddening and painful it was to know the depth of the danger, and have very little hope of protecting her charges should the danger come to them.
Would she shift into what Harmony had called “Guardian Mode”? Probably. Still… As young as she was, she had not the stamina or physical ability to keep them safe through the flood of soldiers that may be coming. But, she wouldn’t be alone. With a great sigh the last living Red Lion of Cosmo trotted to the fountain. He gingerly rubbed his large head over Kiku’s abdomen and smiled softly when he felt her relax just a bit. He offered a comforting purr to all three children when Fionn and Miri both reached out and scratched at his coarse fur, then plopped to the ground before them like a beast tamed.
And the three children relaxed even more, knowing that when the time came that ‘tamed’ beast would be anything but, and understanding the unspoken promise that he would die to keep all of them safe.

!@#$%^&*()

“Loz you have to go back!” Sassi screeched to her Remnant. “They’re going to kill each other!”
“Sassi please,” Yazoo shouted from not far behind them, “You are what is important. She is what is important. Harmony and Sephiroth know that!” he tried to reason. It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid, or even floundering in despair himself… It was that he knew what his Guardian friends would expect of all of them. Both were programmed – and willing – to die if it meant keeping their Cetra safe. Both would expect to be left behind if that was the only viable option.
“He’ll kill her, Yazoo.” Aerith breathed, and Loz stopped short at hearing the whispered lament. He damned his sensitivity and his stupid fucking emotions as tears streaked down his face. Sassi was placed on her feet, then, and he and Yazoo moved away from both of the Cetra. They were bound to become very angry, very soon… And Sassi’s anger could turn out worse than even Aerith’s.
“We know.” Loz answered with a sob. “We know he will.” It broke his heart to see the way Sassi’s features crumbled in anguish when the gravity of their confession hit her. He waited for the anger. Prayed for the anger. The screaming. The raging. The threats.
They didn’t get any of it.
Sassi hit her knees with a wail of despair, and the very air around them reacted to the cry. Raindrops hovered in the sky, the wind stilled and the rolling clouds froze in the wake of her pain.
“You know?” Aerith whispered, her own voice a cracked sob. “Don’t you care?”
“Of course we care!” Yazoo shouted then. “I love her, too. She’s my sister, dammit! I don’t want her to die! I don’t want Sephiroth to die, either. For Gods’ sakes, I’m a part of him! We love them, too! Why is that so hard for you all to understand?!” Kadaj wasn’t the only remnant that noticed and hated the subtle distrust the others unintentionally showed them.
“Then why did you make us leave them?” Aerith cried. “We could have… We could have done something! We could have cast a spell, we could have-”
“You could have died, while your Guardians were busy trying to kill each other!” Loz barked. “And then they’d both die, anyway! Don’t you think that keeping you safe is the best way to keep them safe?” His chest heaved with his own sobs, face reddened and swollen for the tears streaming down his cheeks. Sassi’s piercing, wrenching sobs tore at his soul and it hurt that there was nothing he could do to ease her pain. It broke him even more when she moved, crawling toward him and wrapping her arms around his legs. She buried her face in his thigh and held on tightly, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane and reciting her mantra in the most pitiful, desperate whimpers he’d ever heard.
“Please go back. Take us back there. Please, Loz. Please. Please. Please go back.” she begged over and over again.
Yazoo opened his mouth to reply, to apologize and tell her they just couldn’t, but his words were cut off by heat and the whistle of air as a bullet whizzed by not an inch from his face.

!@#$%^&*()

The form of the Galian Beast vanished in a wisp of dark, toxic mist, Vincent revealed in its place as he knelt beside Sytherea. Through the break in the trees he could see Yazoo, Loz, Sassi, and Aerith. Even from this distance, he could sense their anguish. It was proving impossible for the Cetra to think rationally, he realized, the bonds they shared with their Guardians wanting to save them just as much as the Guardians wanted them safe.
“Are you sure we should do this?” Sytherea whispered from his left. He knew she understood his reasoning and agreed with his plan, but could and should were two separate things. However… Now was not the time to ponder philosophy.
“I will focus on Yazoo and Loz. You focus on Aerith and Sassi.” was the only response he offered.
He didn’t wait for Sytherea’s nod of agreement before his gun was leveled and a shot rang out. Just as he would expect from the remnants, both men whirled around and Vincent and Sytherea were forced to dive from their hiding spot to avoid the wave of bullets that rained down before Vincent even had the time to pull the trigger again.
“What the hell are you doing?!” he heard Yazoo roar. Vincent wouldn’t answer. He couldn’t. If he opened his mouth at all, he would tell them what he was trying to do and if the Cetra didn’t truly feel that they were in danger, this wouldn’t work.
Gunfire sounded from behind him and he winced when Aerith cried out and threw herself to the ground. Sassi was up in a heartbeat, hands held in front of her and a flickering barrier forming before her. It was meant to protect them from the bullets, but Sassi’s weakened, wavering energy didn’t solidify – she was still cut off from the Lifestream. In another heartbeat Aerith’s hand was wrapped around Sassi’s ankle, and it appeared that the aid from the other Cetra gave Sassi what she needed. A dome of power surrounded the two, Sytherea’s bullets falling harmlessly to the ground on impact with the magical shield.
Vincent couldn’t let himself feel relieved. Instead he snarled and slammed his clawed gauntlet into Loz’s face when the remnant flew at him.
This had to happen.
What’s happening? Sassi’s thoughts whirled through her mind- a twisting cyclone of confusion, anger, hurt, and betrayal. Vincent and Sytherea were trying to kill them! Why? Why?! Was it… Could it be possible, that when Sytherea came back she hadn’t been saved, that Vincent hadn’t brought her to their side, she’d taken him to hers?

Of course. Every warm promise the woman has given you was a lie. Every secret you have shared with Vincent has been passed on to your enemies. It was him, and you know it. He told those monsters where to find your children. He is why they have always been one step ahead of you. Of your Guardian.

Sassi trembled violently as that smooth voice crooned into her mind again. How could it be? God, it was right! Vincent was always there, always with them… He had gone with Sukai to retrieve the mako she needed, and made sure she came back without it! Oh, God!

Yesssss. He is a traitor. Murderer. Liar.

‘But what can I do about it?’ she thought back desperately. She felt the pause, the hesitation. Whatever this was, wasn’t sure if she was… Ready yet? Ready for what?

You can release me. Let me out. I can help you. I will help you. All of your enemies will fall at your feet, your children will be safe for eternity. All those whom you love will have peace until time itself is naught but a memory.

Sassi didn’t need to be asked twice. God, yes. That was all she ever wanted. Just… To be safe.
She shoved herself away from Aerith and slipped out of the protective circle. ‘Who do I call?’ she thought frantically.
Maybe, if she’d been less desperate and less hurt, she’d have realized what exactly she was about to do. Would have considered the implications and the consequences. Would have recognized just who exactly had been provoking and conditioning her for months.
At the moment, none of that mattered through the rage and pain sucking the light from her heart. And at that same moment, she realized she already knew who she had to call.
Vincent grunted as he hit the ground, barely rolling away from Loz’s boot as the big man did his best to stomp him into a Vincent-shaped crater. He smoothly lept to his feet and lashed out with a spinning round-house kick.
Loz’s hands caught his leg, and the remnant paused in confusion. He knew he shouldn’t have been able to stop that strike that easily.
Vincent’s eyes were wide, bulged out of his face. Terror overwhelmed his expression and that alone forced Loz to release him. Nothing they had ever seen had made Vincent look like that. When Loz released him and he crumpled to the ground Yazoo tried to step in, tried to pick up where Loz had left off, but the bigger man stopped him. Even Sytherea stopped firing at Aerith’s barrier and stared in horror at her lover.
“Get back!” she started shrieking, suddenly tossing her gun to the ground and diving at Aerith as the barrier fell. “Run! Get back!” Sytherea turned to Sassi, intending to scream the same at her but she felt her insides freeze when her sight landed on the other Cetra.
Sassi’s hand was outstretched, dark, roiling, sickening black, green, and purple shadow drawing into her palm where it pointed at Vincent’s body. This wasn’t just the demon breaking free of Vincent.
Sassi was summoning him.
“What the hell were you doing?” Yazoo hissed, yanking Aerith away from Sytherea’s grasp. Sytherea didn’t look away from Sassi as she rushed to explain Vincent’s plan: Attack the Cetra, and draw Harmony and Sephiroth’s attention away from each other.
“Are you goddamned suicidal?” Loz was snarling at her, but she pushed his anger to the bottom of her list of priorities.
“We have to get out of here.” she muttered in a dark, foreboding whisper. “Now. Everyone has to get out of here.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Aerith certainly felt the dark, angry power that Sassi was wielding, but she had no idea what it was. She really, really wished Sytherea kept her explanation to herself.
“Chaos.”

!@#$%^&*()

Harmony let out a vicious roar of fury and pain. Sephiroth’s blade had knocked hers to the side, forcing her to release her grip on Hogosha no Kokoro, and then he dragged the merciless edge of the Masamune deep across her ribcage. She felt muscle and bone give under the ruthless slash, and her glowing eyes glared at the male Guardian when he came to stand above her fallen form.
She held him under a withering scowl that would have frozen the sun as he raised his sword high, directly above her heart…
And then he froze. She froze. Time itself stilled. The glow behind two sets of powerful eyes retreated, and for a moment Harmony was distracted by the macabre beauty of the clearing surrounding her; trees fell in slow-motion, along with bodies and limbs. Swords and bullets crawled through the air and bit ever-so-sluggishly into steel or flesh.
A sharp, stabbing, crushing pain burst through her senses and she screamed with the force of it. Her eyes found Sephiroth’s form; the Guardian General was hunched over on all fours, losing his lunch all over the forest floor. The previous battle forgotten under the wave of panic and pain, Harmony understood how he felt.
“Aerith!” Sephiroth gasped when he finished retching into the debris. He struggled to his feet and – pushing through the rage and panic and terror and desperation – hauled Harmony to hers.
Harmony’s thoughts echoed his worry, Sassi’s face exploding through her head until she felt dizzy and could hardly remember her own name. She glanced behind when a familiar voice reminded her, but all she could do was offer a pained, apologetic sob before the power within both of the Guardians forcefully yanked at their bonds, and Harmony and Sephiroth disappeared into the rapidly darkening treeline.

*Finis Tenebrarum - Chaotic Destiny
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Legacy of the Lifestream