Chapter Twenty-Nine

The towns and faces changed, Tifa noticed. Skin color grew fair or dark, eyes blue or deep brown. Hair the color of honey or hair that was the color of a raven’s wing. But their expressions, those didn’t change. Grim and fearful faces haunted her movements through the towns. Eyes that darted, furtively, trying to look ten directions at once. It was like before, in Midgar, when Shin-Ra had spies on every street corner, in every tavern, waiting, just waiting, to catch you mouth some traitorous words.

Another thing that didn’t change was the bodies. Always the same. Slashed, horribly. Then burned. Always burned. They never knew how long the dead had been there, only that they were dead. Only that they had died horribly, senselessly.

Bodies were always the same color, after they were burned.

They only knew that he had killed him. He had killed them. Sephiroth. They whispered his name in dark corners, whispered it in fear and loathing and perhaps just a glimmer of awe. Sephiroth had killed them. So many of them. So many more he was going to kill, if they didn’t stop him.

Horribly, agonizingly slow were their deaths. She was sure of it. He would revel in the fear, their cries, their pleas for life and mercy. He would taunt them, tease them, perhaps even let them think, perhaps for a few fleeting and tantalizing moments, that he would actually grant them freedom, grant them mercy. Perhaps even he taunted them with the promise of a quick death. Perhaps. But it always ended the same. They all died. He killed them all. They all died… slowly. There were never any witnesses. Oh, he was careful. There was only the death… the fire.

Cloud was racing after him, searching, trying to stop the senseless slaughter. Tifa wept when she read his messages, because she could see he was cracking. Her husband, the only man she truly loved, was slowly cracking. His mind, no, his soul, it could not take much more of this. It had taken years for her to mend what was left after the meteor. Years of tears and finally, it was the laughter and cries of a child than had brought him back from the brink of despair and emptiness that had taken him over. But now, she could see, the pieces were falling apart. A broken vessel is never as strong repaired as it was originally, and she knew, as much as she loved her husband, as strong he was now, he was still a broken, mended vessel.

There had been a few messages from the others as well. Sightings of Sephiroth and the woman with him, Jyleth, in different continents. Always, they were a step ahead. Cid, Vincent, and Nanaki had nearly caught him, but a storm had nearly killed them instead.

The monsters keep growing stronger, faster, and more of them. It’s almost as off they are feeding off the deaths… Tifa considered that option, one she had thought about greatly the last several months. Or perhaps Sephiroth was… spawning them somehow. Yes, now that she consider that option, it did make more sense. Everywhere he went he somehow, somehow divided, and the evil that was him, that evil became more monsters. Yes, she was sure of it.

“Tifa,” Barret’s gruff voice interrupted her thoughts. He stomped across the clearing to her, offering her a handful of gil and showing her his catch of fish he held in his other hand. She nodded her acceptance of both without saying a word, pocketing the gil in one of the many pockets of her trousers. Barret turned to the fire they had built a few hours previously, preparing the fish to be cooked with an efficient air that seemed out of place for him. He had been taking good care of her, she knew. With her mind so pre-occupied on the state of her husband’s mind and the continuing hunt for Sephiroth, she had been neglecting to eat as often as she should. But Barret had quietly stepped in and made sure she ate regularly. She didn’t remember most of what she ate, but she knew he was making sure she was well-fed. I should thank him… she thought. Her eyes drifted to the paper she had been holding for the past two hours, and she forgot about Barret and food.

Cloud, she thought desperately, Cloud, please wait for me. Please stay together for me.

Cloud stepped into Dio’s arena, prepared for any challenge Dio could contrive. He had emerged victorious from this arena so many times, winning to him was just a matter of course, not a matter of chance. The first enemy appeared, a lowly imp. Cloud dispatched without a weapon, choosing only to use his fists to pummel it to nothingness. It was strangely… satisfying.

The next enemy came, and the next, and the next, and with them, the restriction of the dice came. Not that it mattered to Cloud. He could kill without his magic. He could kill without his armor. He could kill without most of his strength. There was nothing so fiercesome that he couldn’t face down on wits and skill alone.

The haze of the second-to-last enemy began to fade as the last enemy began to form. Cloud dusted his hands off, ready for anything. He couldn’t help the slight smile that graced his lips. Maybe he should make his own arena, with his own rules, to show these silly people what a real fight was. It could have some use for his trainees as well, he considered. Especially those that outgrew their britches. Yes, especially those.

He was still planning on how he would make his own arena as the haze cleared, leaving his enemy visible at last. At that same moment, the dice clicked and stopped.

Long silver hair flowed,

“And the restriction is-“ Dio’s voice called out.

Piercing green eyes that saw through his facade to his heart

“Immobility! Fantastic! A substitute will stand in your place!”

The long, slender sword glittered with blood, those who he had already killed..

“Here she is! Your substitute!”

A pink dress, long brown hair pulled back with a pink braid, mysterious eyes that held the answers to everything

“Aeris!!!”

Was it his voice or Dio’s that said that? Cloud was on his knees, completely unable to move. Aeris stood in in front of him, battle ready, prepared for the attack she could not possibly defeat. She turned to face him, that sweet, soft smile on her face, and nodded at him. She was still smiling as the sword pierced her from behind, taking her through the heart. Bright, red blood blossomed around the silver blade, staining her dress red. The stained grew and grew and grew… Behind her, that face, Sephiroth’s face, smiled cruelly. Sephiroth’s arms jerked, twisting the sword, then sliding it out. Aeris, still smiling, fell forward…

“Aeris!”

He sat bolt upright, staring around the darkened room. “Aeris,” he whispered. It had been a dream… surely it was just that. A dream. A horrible dream. But it was reality, too. He had to stop Sephiroth, or it would start again. It then it wouldn’t be Aeris who was standing before him, Aeris who was killed before him, but Tifa.

“Aeris,” he said again. His eyes focused on something only he could see. A smile came to his lips, slowly getting bigger. He nodded, smiling broadly now.

“I understand,” he said, nodding again. “Yes, I do understand. I will take care of it. I understand what must be done. Don’t worry. It is an abomination. It will be taken care of. It is disgusting, repulsive, and must be destroyed. I understand what you were trying to tell me. I will take care of it.”

He threw the covers back, reaching for his clothes. He dressed quickly and sat at the small writing table in the room. The light of the moon was just bright enough for him to see as he wrote a quick message to Tifa.

Tifa,

This world has already been touched by Sephiroth in so many places. I have to purge the sickness before it’s too late.

He is coming to me in my dreams again. I have to end this quickly, or it will happen again. Please stay safe. Protect our children. I will find him, and I will kill him.

He sealed the message slowly, taking his time with the folds. The moonlight shifted, covered briefly by clouds. He must do what he promised, he must kill Sephiroth. And he must do it quickly, before Tifa caught up and was killed. The clouds continue to pass across the moon silently, unnoticed by Cloud. When the first pinking of the sky appeared, he stood, picked up his pack, and left the room.

“So what, they got the stuff for that sick kid?” Cid’s voice carried a heavy tone of disbelief. “Why would they do that?”

“Like I know!” Yuffie countered. Cid and Red had grilled her for the last half hour, asking her the same questions. Vincent, of course, had off and disappeared after they had met back up with their companions. So it had fallen to her to explain what she and Vincent had seen, as well as to give some explanation why they had not engaged Sephiroth and his companion in battle when they caught up with them.

Red had asked many questions at first, his dark feline eyes become more and more contemplative as Cid made her repeat the events. Yuffie had decided to leave out the exact details of the couple’s activities the night before, but she had glossed over it.

“I believe he really cares about this woman he travels with,” Red said, breaking the silence that had briefly fallen in their room at the inn. “This is something to consider. She might be a point of leverage we can use against him. Especially so if we can turn her against him.”

“Do what?” Yuffie looked at him in surprise.

“She might be caught up in some lies or untruths, or perhaps this is some sort of sick hero-worship.”

“So what’s the plan, then?” Cid asked.

“We should continue to follow them. Yuffie, you and I will travel to the Northern Continent. I believe this woman originated from there. If we can find out her story, we can perhaps find a way to talk to her. Cid and Vincent will continue to track them and relay that information to Cloud and the others.”

“Who made you the boss?” Cid’s tone was a little playful, but enough on the serious side that Red turned his full gaze to the pilot.

“Do you have a better idea?” Red’s tail flickered, betraying the irritation he did not allow to show in his voice.

“Seems like we should just follow them together and dispatch them when we catch them,” Cid answered. “Why do you think we need this woman’s help? The four of us together should be enough.”

“To kill without thinking would be to fall to his level,” Red replied. “Circumstances have changed. If we were to attack now, she would no doubt fight to protect him. And we would be forced to kill her. To kill an innocent, however beguiled she might be, would be wrong.”

“I’m not sure Cloud would see it that way,” Cid said. “I mean, he’s got a point. The longer we let Sephiroth live, the more damage he can do.”

“Cloud is not necessarily in his right frame of mind.” Vincent’s voice startled them all. He was sitting on the window ledge, looking quite comfortable.

“Damn it, Vincent! There is such a thing as a door!” Cid said, recovering from his surprise. Vincent’s gaze moved from the pilot to the door, then back again. He chose not to say anything.

“So you intend to follow them?” Vincent asked, directing his attention to Red.

“You and Cid should. Yuffie and I will make some inquiries. I wish to know more about this woman and what their relationship is.”

“Who’s going to explain this to Cloud?” Cid asked.

“Why don’t you, you have such a way with words,” Yuffie suggested sarcastically.

“Yuffie, you and I will stop by the post office on the way out of town and leave a message for Cloud and Tifa. Cid and Vincent need to be on their way.”

“Oh fine,” muttered Yuffie, collecting her pack and following the red cat out the door. “See ya Cid, Vince!”

“Well, let’s go-“ Cid started to say to Vincent, only to realize Vincent had already leapt off the windowsill and was waiting for him at the inn courtyard below. “Damn it!”

“How long do you intend to let them follow us?” Sephiroth stopped walking along the path they had been following through the quiet forest to look at her. She smiled slightly at him, amused that he hadn’t expected her question.

“You knew.” His voice was flat, but she thought she could sense the amusement.

“Of course I knew,” she answered. “I wasn’t a guide for so many years without learning to recognize when I was being followed.”

“Why do you think they don’t approach?” His eyes watched, contemplating her. Jyleth had the feeling he was once again evaluating, or perhaps, re-evaluating her.

“Because they are afraid when they are too few in number? From what you told me before, they only attacked when you they combined their strength and numbers. They are probably afraid.”

“No,” he replied. “I do not think they are afraid. I think they are curious.”

“Curious? About what?”

“You,” he said with a smile. “You are an unknown element. They weren’t considering you into the equation when they went after me this time. It’s confused them.”

“So, they want to know about me? Why not just ask?”

“Maybe they will,” he answered, turning back to the path and continuing. She followed him, considering the situation for many long moments.

“What will you do when we meet up with Cloud?”

He didn’t answer her immediately, allowing a mile or so to pass under their feet. “I do not know. I suppose it will depend on his reaction. I do not think that any meeting with him will end well for either of us. For now, I believe it is best to avoid him.”

“And our followers?”

“They will be easy enough to lose when the time comes,” he answered, seeming very sure. Jyleth wasn’t as sure they could so easily lose the two that had been following them shortly after they had left Gongaga.

They reached Costa Del Sol a few days later, still with their yet to be seen followers trailing behind them. Jyleth was instantly taken with the white sand beaches and crystal clear water. Sephiroth did not seem to be moved by the scenery, but he was clearly moved by the populace, and not positively so. Many stared openly at him, whispering urgently to each other behind cupped hands before darting off into alleyways. Sephiroth’s body grew more tense with each passing whisper, more rigid with each step deeper into the town.

“If you get wound up any tighter,” Jyleth said quietly to him, “ I would use you to string a bow.” Sephirtoh turned his gaze to her, his eyes intense. The mako glow was strong, almost terrifying to behold, as it always was when he was feeling strong emotion. He turned his gaze back to the people around them. His body did not realize. Jyleth sighed, giving up the idea of a wonderful, peaceful walk on the beach.

“Maybe we should find a place to camp outside the town,” she suggested. Sephiroth shrugged, indicating she was free to choose as she wished. With another sigh, she turned from the beach lane to a path that would take them out of town. At the end of that path, they came to a guarded gate.

“Since when does a town have a guard keeping people in?” Jyleth said quietly while they were still out of earshot of the guard. Sephiroth was eye the guard warily, appraising the man’s ability. The guard was nervously doing the same to Sephiroth and was clearly aware he was quite short of Sephiroth’s skill. Jyleth looked at both of them and rolled her eyes. She approached the gate with what she hoped was a non-aggressive stance.

“Is there any reason we can’t leave town this way?” The guard started slightly at the sound of her voice, having been caught in Sephiroth’s stare. He shook his head and gathered himself before answering her.

“No one may leave town from this direction,” he said. “By order of the town council.”

“Why?” Jyleth asked, smiling at him to encourage him to be helpful.

“Well, there have been some monster sightings… and some attacks.”

“What kind of attacks?” Sephiroth asked, having moved closer to hear their conversation.

“We haven’t… ah… there haven’t been any survivors for us to be able to tell. What been left.. ah…” He swallowed suddenly, his whole complexion suddenly going pale at the memory. “What been left, it’s been… not enough to tell what exactly attacked or how.”

“Have their been any attacks in town?” Jyleth asked.

“No, not at this time.”

“Hmm.. Well, we’d like to have a look at these monsters, then, I think.” Jyleth said.

“Jyleth,” Sephiroth said in a low warning tone.

“You can’t pass through the gate,” the guard protested as Jyleth started to move past him.

“It’s by my choice,” Jyleth answered, ignoring Sephiroth. “We can take care of ourselves.” Sephiroth moved to her side, reaching out to take her arm.

“This is not something we need to get involved with,” he said, pulling her back slightly and away from the gate. She jerked her arm out of his grasp, taking a moment to glare at him before moving back to the gate. The guard moved his spear in front her, his expression a mixture of fear, anger, and surprise. The moment the spear moved, Jyleth heard a familiar quiet rasp as the Masamune was drawn from its sheathe. Without turning back, she motioned for Sephiroth to hold his action.

“Why has the town council forbid anyone from leaving town this way?” Jyleth eyed the spear hovering inches in front of her, then turned her eyes to the guard. He was looking wildly between her and Sephiroth, his gaze also flicking back down the path to see if anyone was approaching to help him. Jyleth glanced back and saw the path was empty behind them.

“Well,” the guard said, trying to hide the quiver in his voice, “what if these things realize that people came from Costa Del Sol? What if they tracked the people back here? What if they came .. here?”

“I see,” Jyleth said. She understood very well. They were afraid, and fear was a powerful motivator… however, it didn’t always motivate intelligent decisions. She turned and walked back to Sephiroth, who was still watching the guard with a glare that would assuredly give the man nightmares for weeks to come.

“Put away your toy,” she said softly, resting her hand lightly on his. “Then,” she continued in a whisper, “Use that materia you are so fond of.” Sephiroth’s eyes drift from the guard to hers. She could see his thoughts racing, from pleasure to being given free reign to incapacitate the annoying guard, to annoyance at having to been given any rein to act as he pleased in the first place, to stubbornness of going along with her plan.

“This is not a risk we need to take,” he whispered fiercely back, relaxing his stance and sheathing the Masamune. Though her back was still too the guard, she could hear the audible sigh of his relief.

“We can defeat whatever is there,” she hissed back, allowing some irritation to leak through. “This is another opportunity, just like Bone Village.”

“That was before..”

“Shush…”

“They will not thank us if we are tracked back here,” he retorted.

“Don’t you think it probably already knows about the town?” Sephiroth didn’t answer. “So really, their fear is probably that the tourists will find out and stop coming.”

“This is still not our business.”

“Fine, I’ll just go rap this fellow on his head and go alone.” She turned, swinging her staff into a ready stance.

“What?” The guard jumped, steadying his grip on his spear as she stepped toward him. She took two more steps, truly prepared to knock the man senseless, but the his eyes suddenly rolled to the back of his head. He crumpled to the ground quietly. She reached forward and caught his spear before it clattered down on top of him. She laid it gently beside him.

“I knew you would come around,” she said, smiling over her shoulder at Sephiroth. He still had his hand resting over the materia he had activated to put the guard to sleep.

“You give me little choice,” he answered irritably. “I would have been better served using it on you.”

She paused in her action of opening the gate, turning to look at him fully. He met her glare evenly, his temper as flared as hers. “That would not be a good idea,” she said, her voice flat. He didn’t answer, but neither did he drop his gaze from hers. She finally looked away, opening the gate and passing through to the path beyond. Footsteps followed her down the path, but she choose to wait until Sephiroth had caught up to her before she continued.

They walked in silence for the first few miles of the path, Sephiroth trailing her many feet behind. When she paused, he did so as well, choosing to keep the distance between them. Fine, she thought, he can sulk back there all he wants. He better not dare think of using that sleep spell on me. I’ll.. I’ll… At that moment, she couldn’t quite think of what to do, but she was sure she’d find something appropriate if the need came.

The land beyond the gate quicly changed from beachfront scrub to thicker vegetation. The land was arid with plenty of sun, and the plant life, while larger, still kept close to the ground to avoid drying out. A few sparse trees appeared, but they were little taller than herself, spreading low branches and providing what seemed like endless opportunities for ambushes. The ground was dry, with large, deep cracks running through it; evidence a prolonged period of drought. In some places, sand had accumulated to make large open clearings. Some of these clearings even had small sand dunes.

At one such clearing, Jyleth stopped, staring at a small white object that she had first taken to be a bleached piece of wood. However, as she bent to pick it up, she realized it was not wood, but bone. Sephiroth finally decided to catch up with her, looking at the bone she held in her hands.

“This doesn’t look like a chocobo bone,” she said, “it looks more like part of an arm.” She indicated to the outer side of her forearm.

“It’s called the ulna,” Sephiroth said, taking the bone from her. “It is part of a human arm,” he confirmed before dropping it back on the ground.

“Bones have names?” Jyleth said, amused, “Somebody went and named all of them?”

“Yes, all bones have names,” Sephiroth answered. “Shin-ra standardized the names so that doctors from one area would be able to work with doctors in another quickly in battle situations.”

“Well, I guess that’s one thing Shin-ra did that was useful,” she answered, her gaze shifting from the bone to the sandy clearing that was before them. “Does something about these sandy areas seem a little odd to you?”

“Somewhat,” he answered, considering it carefully. “You have avoided walking through any of them.”

“Old habits die hard,” she said. “In the North, these areas are just too prime for… hmm… I wonder…” Jyleth bent and picked up a small rock at her feet, then hurled it at the nearest sand dune. Before the rock hit the dune, something blurred out of the sand and snapped out, hitting the rock and shattering it.

“My,” Jyleth observed coolly, her eyes tracking the rock fragments that peppered the sand. “Aren’t you a feisty little beastie.” A flash of electricity jolted from the sky, striking the lump with sudden fury. Jyleth jumped back as sand exploded in all directions. A blur streaked out from the explosion, heading directly toward them. She fell back a few more steps, trying to recover her balance, swinging her staff defensively in front of herself. It connected with something solid, jarring her arms painfully. A breath later, Sephiroth threw himself against that blurred shape, knocking it aside enough to keep up from running into Jyleth.

Jyleth recovered, dropping her staff and yanking out both blade of Kasume. The slashed at the blur, felt the blades cut though something that felt like flesh. The blur shifted, turned, then dove back into the sand before she could strike again.

“Damn,” Jyleth said, shocked at the speed and ferocity of the attack. “So there are some differences between this one and the nyriths up north.” Looking at Sephiroth, she blanched as she saw he had fallen to his knees, blood leaking from his hand as he pressed it tightly against a wound on his thigh.

“First,” she said, moving to him and finding the materia cure spell on the hilt of one of the Kasume blades, “That was stupid to attack them like that.” She planted the other blade in the ground, freeing her hand to place it over his. She activated and released the spell into the wound. “Second,” she said, feeling a little out of breath as her body compensated for the power she had used to cast it, “how did you get this? I never saw it touch you.” Sephiroth steadied his own breath as the pain from his leg began to dissipate. Jyleth picked up the blade she had put in the soil, looking for evidence of blood on the edge. There was none. She sheathed it, then offered him a hand up.

He kept a hand still clamped over the wound, which was still leaking blood, despite the strength of the spell she had put into it. “Poisoned,” he said threw clinched teeth. His other hand found a green stone the Masamune’s hilt and activated it. Some of the tension left his body as the spell worked, negating the poison. He activated a second spell, which stopped the bleeding. Getting slowly to his feet, he ignored her outstretched hand as he studied the dune monsters.

“Ten,” he said. “And just one nearly took us both. I told you; this is not a risk we should take.”

“Well, we were hardly prepared,” Jyleth objected. “And I did wound it. At least, I think I did.” She looked back at the dunes, which had shifted since the attack. It was impossible to tell which was the one they had briefly engaged. “And it did run away.”

“We should leave this place,” he said.

“Admitting defeat?” She retorted quickly.

“There are times when a strategic retreat is called for. Even if we were able to destroy these, it is quite likely this is not the only grouping of these creatures. The job to exterminate them would be more appropriate assigned to a larger group. Shin-Ra would have sent in a large contingent before…”

“Well, that’s moot. So maybe some of Cloud’s trained groups?”

“Those …squads he trains.” Sephiroth made a derisive snort. “I suppose some of those would be sufficient.”

“But those squads aren’t here,” she answered. “These things like sand. This location is not too far from Coast Del Sol. If they managed to spread to the beach… it would be slaughter.”

“There is no reason to assume that will happen in the immediate future,” he answered. Suddenly, he whirled to face away from the dune monsters, looking back the way they came. Jyleth followed his gaze, but her view was quickly blocked as he moved two quick strides to stand in front her.

“What is it?” She took a small step to the side to look around him. “Oh,” she said, recognizing what he was seeing and suddenly had become so alarmed at. “Hello again!” She called out loudly to the two approaching figures. They paused as her words reached them. Light flashed as their weapons were drawn; the gun barrel of one, and the spear of the other.