05 - The Fall of Midgar

[The Waffle King]

Valtiel lay spread out on the rooftop in the half destroyed abandon sector next to his scavenged spot light, he hadn't moved in the longest time. Dead leaves and litter had accumulated on one side of him from the wind. He wasn't dead, no, not by far. He was watching, his attention turned toward everything he could grasp with his mind. He could feel his emplacements hard at work, just waiting for his signal. He touched the sky with his thoughts, thick clouds that almost hugging the skyscrapers hung over the whole city, ready to burst forth with refreshing rain. He could feel the others as well. All moving about or occupied with the scuffle between his two most hated creatures, that sliver-haired man and the cloaked figure that had been a thorn in his side for the longest time. He had foiled his plans two times now, and it would not happen again. His eggs were ready, the sky was ripe, and his enemies were occupied. The time was now, and there was no turning back. Hoisting himself to his feet and turning his head towards the heavens, Valtiel spoke to himself.

Valtiel: “Time's up...”

Back at the movie theater; a rough, clawed hand reached out of the darkness below and gripped the large toggle switch on one of the spot lights. The lamp itself was radically different than it's original form. Now it sported pulsing veins and a layer of living tissue. It turned itself towards the sky above the center of the city, revealing it's dirty looking lens to the clouds. The gritty hand pulled the switch, causing a strange light to spew forth from the massive lamp, and quickly disappeared back down into the shadows. The clouds seemed to rippled at this new development.

Theater Manager: “Chris.....Chris!”

Chris, a teenage part-timer, lifted one of the sides of his headphones. A vacant but annoyed stare peered through his dyed and mussy hair as he scowled slightly with his pierced lower lip, his portly superior stood before him.

Chris: Sigh “What...”

Manager: “Don't 'what' me, git off yer ass and check out the roof. Someone's been screwin' with one o' the lights. And stop listenin' to that damn radio, you're on the clock.”

The manager tossed a small flashlight in Chris' lap and walked away.

Chris: “Psh, whatever. This is why I hate midnight shows.”

The teen picked up the flashlight, turned up the volume on his portable radio, and went out through the rarely used back door. It was oddly dark outside, so he flicked on the light. He swaggered up the rusty stairs to the roof, muttering to himself about how his boss is such a jerk. He got to the top and walked out onto the dirty roof. He was about to aim his flashlight at the afflicted spot light when his hand-held light source failed him, leaving only the directed glow of the massive light pointed towards the sky. He looked at the tiny light disgustedly, and banged on his free palm, but to no avail. He looked up at the sky.

Chris: “Where's the damn moon when you.....need............it...”

Chris gazed at the bizarre clouds with a wide open mouth, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. A scratching sound in his left ear got his attention, he instinctively looked, but saw nothing. Static? He batted at his radio to try and fix it. A voice eventually came through.

Announcer: “This is a sever weather warning for the entire Midgar area. There appears to be an intense low-pressure system forming over the city. We advise all citizens to avoid travel and to seek shelter immediately. We will keep you updated as the storm progr.......this ha.............local new....”

The radio had cut out, it just blurted out broken phrases now. He put the headphones around his neck and looked back up at the sky.

Chris: “Low pressure system, my ass. It looks like the friggin' apocalypse.”

The scraping noise invaded his ear once more, static again? He looked at his radio, it wasn't even getting a signal now. He puzzled for a moment before noticing a second sound. Breathing. His eyes widened and he fumbled for the flashlight. He gave it a few good whacks and the beam revealed itself. He quickly swung it around towards the sound, but only empty roofing lay before him. His breathing was erratic and his eyes darted around in the darkness. He just wanted to get out of there, he planted a foot in the direction of the spotlight. His progress was immediately halted by the same scratching noise originating from behind him. He hesitated, but forced himself to turn around. Before he could even get a good look, two long hands wrapped themselves around his neck and hoisted him into the air. Gasping for air, the small beam of light flashed across the his attacker repeatedly. It had a thin and sleek build, elongated arms protruding from it's shoulders. It's skin was gray and sand-papery like that of the roof's shingling. The creature had no legs, it grew directly out of the building at the waist, its skin made of the same material. This thing treated the roof like it was made of rubber, simply pressing itself against it and letting it form to it. Chris was fading fast as it's grip tightened, he looked at it's near featureless face. It's head was bald and had only a single, toothless mouth in the middle of it's face, sputtering air and saliva at him. He lifted the flashlight high above him to swing at the beast, but was stopped by a popping sound. The flashlight slipped out of his hand and this limbs flopped to his sides. The living wall pulled him in closer to it's face to inspect him, being satisfied, it dropped Chris' body and pulled itself back into the roof, creating a scraping sound as it did.

The sound of a door slamming rose up from the back lot, followed by heavy footsteps on the decrepit stairs. An angry looking manager came storming up to the roof.

Manager: “Chris! What'n the blazes is all that noise fo.......”

He was stopped mid-scolding. He saw his employee lying limp on the flat roof, glazed eyes staring at the sky. His own eyes widened in horror as he nearly fell back down the steps, screaming to the other's inside to call the police.

Valtiel grinned inwardly to himself as he raised his left hand and motioned towards another part of the city, this accentuated by the sound of police sirens speeding off towards the theater. The clouds rippled one more and grew even darker. Now even the horizon's light was being eaten by the growing parasite in the sky.

Valtiel: “Try as you might, you cannot halt the innevitable.”

A voice crackles through the PA system in the hospital's maintenance room. Cindy, the only available custodial crew member at that time, looked up at the aging voice-box.

PA: “To any maintenance crew, we have a problem with one of the lights near the helipad. Get it fixed, we have reports of an attacker at the theater and we need to be ready.”

Cindy: “...guess that means me.”

She grabbed a tool belt and headed for the roof. The hospital was rather empty, but buzzing as much as it could in preparation for any wounded that may be coming in. She reached into one of her coverall pockets and produced a wallet. She flipped it open ad slid out a picture of a young, dark haired male. Her boyfriend employed at that theater.

Cindy: “God, I hope your OK over there.”

???: “HEY, whatcha got there?”

She quickly stuffed it back into her pocket and looked wide eyed at the aging man in similar clothing. She recognized him and calmed down.

Cindy: “Jeez Willy, you scared me half to death.”

Willy, her supervisor, smiled at her through his white mustache. He held up a tag board box containing a spare bulb for the problematic light.

Willy: “Fergit somethin'?”

She smiled and reached for the bulb, but he pulled it away. She scowled at him.

Willy: “I'll come with ya this time, ya haven't worked with those lights yet.”

She smiled again and they both entered the stairwell.

They arrived on the roof in the middle of a pleasant conversation but were halted at the roof's door, the smiles melting away from their faces. A nurse in a dirty uniform hunched near the spotlight, periodically convulsing. They slowly moved towards her.

Willy: “Hey, ya shouldn't be messin with those lights, it ain't yer.......hey, you alright?”

Willy moved in more quickly, thinking she may be hurt or sick, Cindy followed closely behind. He reached a hand out to help the supposed hospital employee, but before he could connect with her shoulder he felt a ribbon of pain across his chest. He dropped the bulb and looked down to see a 7 inch long gash through his coverall and into his flesh, the nurse still stumbling to the side from the attack. He put his hands against it momentarily and looked at his palms, they were stained with a stream of red. Willy staggered back, stunned from his injury. Cindy stopped mid step with astonishment. Before she could turn to run, the nurse changed the direction of her stumble towards the girl. She felt a cold hand wrap around her chin as she was held like a human shield, a scalpel tip at her throat. Willy regained his senses and looked at his partner, his expression escalated from stunned to horrified. Cindy squeezed out a few squeaking words.

Cindy: “Will....help me..”

Willy didn't even take the time to identify the nurse, he turned and ran for the stairwell to get help. After he was gone, there was an unnerving silence. Just the sound of gargled breathing and her own racing heartbeat reached Cindy's ears. The deathly cold nurse leaned her head over Cindy's shoulder, still sputtering with each heavy breath. Cindy cranked her eyes as far over as she could to get a look at her attacker, her eyes widened with fear. The nurse was unidentifiable, not because she couldn't recognize any features, but because there no features at all. Her face looked like a layer of flesh had been pulled tightly around her head, covering anything that resembled a face. The only thing breaking up the lumpen mass was a dark, decaying hole where it's left cheek should be. It tilted it's head a bit towards it's captive. Although Cindy saw no eyes on its face, she knew it was looking at her. She felt sick to her stomach. All she could do was wait to be saved as she was pulled back by an overly rusty spotlight near the helipad.

A second set of police sirens blared across the city and reached Valtiel. He turned on his heels and made a grand gesture to another part of the expansive metropolis, his voice rising in volume with sheer excitement.

Valtiel: “Yes! Run to your pitiful fates!”

The clouds rippled and darkened once again. The darkness above the city blotted out any source of cosmic light; no stars, moon, nothing. The sky was now a black, writhing, oppressive mass.

At the slightly short-handed police station, a man scrambled to get on his blue coverall and helmet. The TV in the locker room had the local news on. It was saying something about the sudden uprising of violence in the city that night.

Pilot: “Damn, its bad when the press has a better response time than us.”

The news caster turned over announcements to the meteorologist.

"We are placing a sever thunderstorm warning our for the entire Midgar area, heavy rainfall is expected as well as lightning activity, we suggest....”

Pilot: “And now I gotta fly in this shit?! Today just keeps getting better and better.”

He finished with his coverall and harness, he grabbed his helmet as he bolted for the stairs. He yelled to the two officer's that would be going up with him that he was ready and hurried up the stairs. He muttered to the others on the way up.

Pilot: “There is something seriously wrong with this city. First some kid gets attacked at a theater, now someone at the hospital went mental and holds some girl hostage, what else could go wrong with these people?!”

The door at the roof of the station flew open just in time to see the chopper slip off of the building. The three men stood there dumbfounded. Moments later, the sound of a huge crash brought them back to reality. They stared in awe as a huge figure, at least 7 feet tall, straightened itself after moving the weight of the chopper to the edge of the roof. It was only a split second before the two officers drew their sidearms and ordered the thing to get down on the ground. It slowly turned to face them; its head was wrapped in some sort of material, its armed covered in long red rubber gloves and topped off with two long hinged blades. It wore a bloody apron with long pants and leather shoes, all of which were grimy and caked with dried fluids. The officers began ordering it to put down it's weapons as they moved in for the arrest. But it didn't listen or even care about their guns. It broke out into a full run at the two men. They opened fire, but their bullets only met the dingy blades it was carrying. Before they could even empty their clips, the two officers were cut down in one swing. The behemoth came to a halt and slowly turned towards the final terror stricken man. The pilot swung the door shut and retreated down the stairs, he screamed into the radio on his shoulder and demanded backup. The thing simply walked over to a degraded spotlight and continued guarding it with its life.

Valtiel watched as the search team at the theater were taken out one by one in the shadows, as the massive standoff at the hospital unfolded, and as the rest of the dwindling police force were occupied at their own station. He rejoiced inwardly as all the pieces had fallen into their intended place, there wasn't anyone else in this city who could interfere now.

Valtiel: “You built this city on corruption, and now you must face it once again...”

Valtiel threw his arms into the air and turned his face to the clouds.

Valtiel: “Rise and shine, Midgar. It's time to wake up and smell the ashes!”

He threw the switch and the lamp heaved its light to the sky. A massive, circular symbol flashed into existence on the belly of the clouds. Two large rings of red enclosing three smaller ones inside it, an image his opponents knew as well. It would surly announce his presence, but it was already too late. All broadcasting and receiving devices within the city began catching static, their transmissions became broken and gargled. People already on the street looked up at the sky in astonishment, this surely couldn’t be a natural phenomenon. They yelled into their homes for their friends and family to come out and see the amazing weather, the writhing clouds keeping their faces turned upwards. The symbol slowly receded back, leaving the people in stunned silence. He watched this all intently.

Valtiel: “Yes, stare at the sky. A little rain never hurt anybody…”

The lights in the city began to flicker and buzz, all transmissions faded away, the city’s contact with the rest of the world was cut. The silence prevailed, but the motion of the clouds did not. It began to swirl where the center of the gigantic symbol used to be. The funnel dipped down ever so slightly and increased in speed. The citizen’s eyes widened, maybe this wasn’t just a storm. The eerie silence was broken by the sound of a lone tornado siren screaming its warning to the city. It’s pitched slowly increased and held for a few seconds, screeching at all those within earshot, and lowered again. But this was no natural disaster.

The rain started to fall. The rain was not clean; it was near black with soot and grime, leaving a spot wherever it fell. No one noticed the spots start to spread. A single drop found its way into someone’s eye. A business man on his way back home from a late day at the office. It stung; he wiped it away with his hand. But the stinging continued, and after a moment, increased in intensity. He dropped his suitcase and began rubbing at his face in a panic, the whole side of his face felt like it was on fire. The people around him looked away from the sky and saw him in pain. He fell to the ground and curled up into a tight ball, hands wrapped around his head, sporadically convulsing. The crowd moved back, but one person moved in to help the poor soul. He reached in to help the man up, the moment he touched him, the man on the ground swung an arm and struck him in the face. The afflicted one struggled back to his feet, sputtering incoherent sounds. He raised his head, revealing a bluish gray skin tone and a black substance leaking from every duct on his head. He gargled at the man he had struck, sputtering black goo onto him. His skin began to sizzle upon contact. It turned away from the now previous man and looked to the others. They stared in horror upon his revolting image. The thing lunged for the nearest human it could see and sank its teeth deep into their flesh. The crowed screamed in unison and scattered.

The clouds no longer rained, they poured destruction upon the city. Everything the rain touched was overtaken and transformed into something vile and disgusting. The entire city was beginning to change. Some parts of what once were buildings now resembled massive clumps of muscles and veins, twitching and writhing under their own power. The sky started to release more than just water, flying creatures descended from within it. They looked like a disgusting fusion between bat, bird, and human. With shortened human appendages, fleshy wings where arms would have been, and a thin black beak protruding 2 feet from a human shaped head. They picked up any remaining human with their clawed feet, draged them screaming into the hellish sky, and droped them to their deaths. The Siren continued on in the background, acting as they symphony of destruction for the city of Midgar. Most forms of life were either taken over by the rain or destroyed by the horrors that it created.

The screams of people started to fade as the usual look of the city degraded. Fewer and fewer citizens remained after each second that ticked by. The downpour ceased, and the thick clouds descended from the heavens to form a thick fog that constricted vision to a mere ten feet. Eventually, there were no screams, just the sound of the siren blaring out its warning to deaf ears. And in time, that was silenced as well. Midgar had descended into hell, nothing of the old city remained, all friendly soil turned against the inhabitants. The lights were gone, the transmission towers silent, nothing left but twisted figures looking for their next meal. Silence once again prevailed over the city, a city now under the guiding hand of Valtiel and Fallen, their hand guiding them to kill.

Valtiel strolled through his new home, admiring his own handy-work. He would momentarily stop and inspect one of his new minions and judge it on it’s creativity and function. He was quite pleased. The city was his, he had won, his enemies too busy with their own endeavors to have stopped him. He reveled in his victory, savoring every gratifying moment. He had spent so long under their radar; he had almost forgotten what causing fear and chaos felt like. He had missed this sensation, and was content to have it back. Completely happy with what he had done, Valtiel made his way to the center of the city to plan his next move and watch his opponents.




OoC: Just to be clear, beginning part of the post overlaps with sephy's. go ahead and overlap you're actions and reactions wherever they may fit.

[Shadow Phoenix]

Black Spider flew towards the park where he felt two large powers battling. Neither of these powers was really familiar to him, but he could only assume because of his conversations with Bax and the others that one of them must be Sephiroth X, the new Warrior of Prosperity. If he could at least find them and let the others know their location, he would feel better. Even though he had saved Bax’s ass back in Nibelheim, he still owed the Phoeniyan king a great debt for all that he had done years ago. It was because of Bax that he was still alive today.

As he flew, he looked up at the sky and saw a very strange symbol etched into the clouds in sanguine red. It definitely wasn’t natural. He landed on the roof of building adjacent to Midgar’s police building and looked up at the sky.
“What the hell is that?” he asked himself out loud. He craned his neck upwards and tried to remember if he had seen this symbol somewhere before. Suddenly, the lights all around the city began flickering. Black Spider looked across the street to the police building and saw a massive hulk of a creature standing by a spotlight, stoic and unmoving. It “stared” at him with a hideous, faceless face, wrapped in a cloth-like substance. It had strange, blood-caked blades on rubber gloves, and wore an apron. Like a butcher.

“Ugly bugger, aren’t you?” he said quietly, distorting his face with disgust. What the hell was that creature? And what was it doing? Black Spider observed the fallen bodies of two police officers back by the door. Had the thing killed them? He kept watching for a moment and saw the door to the roof burst open. A whole team of police officers burst through the doors and began shooting at the thing. Black Spider cocked his head and watched as the bullets bounced off of the behemoth. Its limbs creaked and it spun around and began bearing down on the officers. Two by two, it cut them down in a bloody display. Black Spider recoiled backwards in disgust. He had killed for a livelihood his entire life, but this was a complete slaughter. Whatever that thing was, it was not doing anyone any good.

Suddenly, a siren rang out, piercing through the air and breaking the eerie silence. Black Spider looked up into the sky again and saw that the symbol had disappeared. The clouds were now twirling down like a tornado. The writhing, black mass dipped slightly, and then opened up, spitting out rain. Black Spider held out his hands and caught one drop. It was black…sticky…and it burned a little. He flicked it off of his hand and looked around. What he saw horrified him even more. Down on the street below, a young man was covered with the black rain and was screaming in pain. A horrifying transformation began as he pitched to the ground. His skin turned grayish blue and he was literally leaking the black rain. This new creature got up and began staggering about.

What the hell was going on?

Black Spider felt the rain drops, and began to worry about himself. But after only a few drops, he felt nothing. Was he somehow impervious to this horrid rain? He could only hope so.

The shape shifter spread his wings and lifted off the building to resume his search. If he was unaffected by this rain, he could only assume that the others were all right as well. He had set out on a mission, and he wasn’t going to be dissuaded unless something big happened.

Black Spider smiled at himself for a moment in slight self-mockery. Something big. As if this wasn’t big enough already.

But he got his wish.

Suddenly, the sky began belching out more than black rain. Flying creatures began descending from the clouds, almost resembling Black Spider in their gargoyle-like hideousness—practically humanoid, but with bird beaks and bat wings. And one of them was flying straight at him. Clearly, though they looked alike, it recognized its own kind.

It screeched and reached out its horrible talons. Black Spider wielded his own claws back and charged forward to meet the creature head on. He screamed and dug his claws into the chest of the creature. It screeched, but dug its own claws into Black Spider’s arms. The shape shifter winced and spit into its face.
“Aw, hell no!” he yelled. He narrowed his eyes and grimaced as he flexed his arms and literally ripped the creature in half. Black blood burst forth and covered Black Spider. He spit in disgust and tossed the halves of the creature aside.

All right, that was enough to distract him. Screw Sephiroth and whoever he was fighting. Black Spider knew that Bax and crew were trying to find him, but he could take care of his own ass in this living hell if he really was the Warrior of Prosperity. Black Spider suddenly found himself with his hands full just trying to make sure that these winged creatures didn’t tear him apart.

And he saw something else that he could try to do…

One of the winged creatures flew past him, clutching a screaming woman in its talons. It looked about ready to drop her. Black Spider sped towards it. At the sight of him, the woman began screaming even higher and louder, but the shape shifter ignored her and decapitated the creature. It began to fall and Black Spider reached out and delicately grabbed the woman, pulling her from its grasp. It plummeted to the ground below, smashing a car.

And still the woman was screaming. Eyes wide open, screaming at Black Spider continuously. He kept trying to ignore her, but finally just screamed at her.
“SHUT UP! I’M TRYING TO HELP YOU!”
She stopped screaming for a moment, and then fainted in his arms.
“…shit…”

Black Spider decided that he would try to save anyone that he could. The citizens of Midgar may have been annoying at times, but most of them didn’t deserve to die in this hell. He began flying towards the city limits, looking for signs of someone else needing saving. He would just drop them off outside of the city and hope that they could take care of themselves for a while until they were able to flee elsewhere.

Black Spider swooped down and plucked a young child off of the ground as he ran away from a group of blue-skinned “zombies.” He wasn’t exactly sure why he was doing this, but he felt driven nonetheless. Necessary. Purposed. Was this what heroism felt like?

Black Spider dodged out of the way of a few flying demons, as he claws were both occupied clutching these two people. As he got far enough away, they gave up chase in favor of fresh blood below. Black Spider finally saw the sand of the desert outside the city, and he darted out of the gathering fog and set the two people down.
“Kid,” he said to the boy, “Take care of this woman for a while til I get back. And don’t go back into the city. Just stay here. But move it if anything comes out of the city. Got it?”
The terrified little boy just nodded through tearing eyes. Black Spider sighed. He had never been very good at this whole comforting thing.
“You’ll be fine. Promise.”
The kid nodded again. Good enough.

Black Spider took a step back, spread his wings, and flapped into the air once again, diving back into the city. As he passed back into the fog, he thought to himself for a moment—he was crazy for actually heading back into this hell. But for the first time in his long life, he couldn’t help himself.

He was within the city limits again, and he settled down on a roof to scan for signs of life. But the roof, as he noticed, wasn’t really a roof anymore. He hadn’t noticed it on his way out, but it was unmistakable now. The buildings were becoming less and less like buildings of stone, brick, concrete, glass, and metal, and more like…flesh. The “rooftop” he stood on now pulsated with hellish skin, skin which was covered in sores and veins running with blood.

As he looked out, Black Spider saw that the whole city was undergoing this horrifying transformation. It was, purely, and simply—hell.

And the aura rising from the city centered in one place. A center of complete darkness, drawing all of the evils of this city towards it. That dark master was probably Valtiel. Had this destruction, this chaos, been what Black Spider had been feeling this past few weeks? It had been building with a horrible crescendo. He had been a fool to merely observe it—there was nothing he could do now.

Black Spider couldn’t help but laugh at himself a little bit. All this time, he believed himself to be quite powerful. After all, he was connected to the Apocalypse, the being that now indwelt Valtiel. Valtiel’s spawn, Ragnarok, had inhabited Black Spider for a long time. He had increased his powers exponentially and taught him how to truly use his shape shifting abilities. Black Spider was able to tap into an enormous reservoir of power. But as he looked out across the city, he realized what he was truly up against. He had tasted power through a small fraction of Apocalypse’s strength. Though this Earthling, however hellishly mutated and deformed, Apocalypse was able to do all of this. He had transformed a city with over a million inhabitants into a living hell.

Black Spider couldn’t help but feel small and insignificant. He had spent the better part of his life yearning to find the Apocalypse. To meet this being who had given him such powers and allowed him to become the most feared assassin in this galaxy. And then to kill him and take his powers. Even now, though he was not as power hungry as he once was, he still wanted to kill Apocalypse for leaving him to die, even if it only was his spawn. He felt drawn to Apocalypse, because he was a part of him. Even now.

But it seemed futile as he looked out across the city. If this is what Apocalypse was capable of…if this was but a taste of his power…

Then Black Spider feared that not even the Warrior of Prosperity would stand a chance against him. Even if joined by all the ranks of the warriors in this world.

Apocalypse was coming…

And all that Black Spider could do was try to save a few people from his wrath.

He lifted up into the air and tore through a flying demon as he searched through the fog for any signs of life.

* * *

At the edge of the city on the opposite side from where Black Spider had just dropped off the two human refugees, a cloaked figure advanced on the city. It traced familiar steps to the most common entrance of Midgar. The figure saw the destruction and just kept coming, not caring that it was heading directly into hell. Without fear, it traipsed through the city gates and entered into the chaos. Barely 10 feet into the city, a swaying zombie staggered towards the figure. Without flinching, the figure continued walking and raised its hand towards the pitiful creature. The hand glowed orange and yellow and a ball of fire leapt forth and consumed the creature, instantly turning it into ash. The figure paused for a moment to observe its handiwork, and then kept traveling towards the center of the city, slaying any beast that got in its way.

[ZaCloud]

Edos Lee found his attempts at contacting his mercenaries sullied by heavy static, and then a dead line. He also heard a very ominous siren… the pounding of rain… then screams muffled through the walls of the building. Walls which were beginning to take on an organic, sickly appearance…

“Shimatta…” he muttered, hitting a button under the edge of his desk. A series of dings resounded through the building, signaling to group in the lobby. He grabbed a few records, shoved them into his inner jacket pocket, and ran out of his office while strapping his katana to his hip. He found himself having to draw it quickly as small limbs reached from the slightly writhing steps he was descending, attempting to grab or trip him. He sliced them away from his ankles, then cleared a path ahead until he leaped down the last eight steps, then rushed for the grouping area.

He took a quick head-count. Eight mercenaries, the secretary, the treasurer, five guards (two outdoor ones missing). And two Shadows; people who worked in either concealment or undercover, who’s duty it was to track down members on hiatus, or to trail ex-members to ensure they no longer used the band’s name as an affiliate, with license to kill should that edict not be obeyed. These two had happened to be there to report back findings, still clad in their black uniforms, their faces masked from the bridge of the nose downward. Everyone was noticeably unnerved, but able to focus due to their now gathered numbers and the arrival of their leader.

“At signal two,” he commanded, “We shall stay together, and take the underground route to Midgar’s western border, and exit the city. We will then move to the Escape Protocol point, if others have survived they will arrive there as well. Anything we should know?”

“The rain turned people into monsters!” one mercenary cried out. A thick-boned Strife with short but still distinctly spiky hair, “It didn’t affect me, yet at least, but kill me if I start to—“

“We will have to expect conflict in the sewers, due to run-off,” Lee interrupted to keep the planning period fast and the half-despaired Strife focused, “And part of the route is above-ground. The rain is over but the beasts will be there. Avoid lethal force if possible against ex-humans, but do not hesitate; the momentum must remain. Escort formation around the non-combatants.”

They formed up, and waited a few moments, when it became obvious that the tinny squealing of the PA system meant that there would be no second alarm. They could only assume that everyone who was in the building was either among them… or gone.

“Ikuzo,” Lee ordered, and he led the way toward the hidden door in the wall near the now mutated fridge. He hacked away at the fleshy ribbons blocking it, kicked it in with a burst of blood and foul stench emitted from the now broken hinges, and the group rushed down the bucking steps into the darkness.

“Marco, Shadows, eyes,” Lee whispered. The Strife and the two black-clad agents moved to the front; they had the best night-vision of the group. Marco’s may have been low-resolution, but at least his eyes did amplify the lighting more efficiently, allowing for him to sense movement. Also, his bloodline allowed for other amplified sensations as well.

“Only minimal mutation after thirty feet,” the Shadow on the right observed.

“Things feel weird,” Marco quietly murmured, “Feels like we’re surrounded, but not. I might not be very useful…”

“Keep focused,” Lee interjected, “All forward. Raksha, watch the rear.” The group moved forward, with the crimson-caped dark-skinned woman keeping pace behind them while backing up, her combat knife drawn.

They made their way down the tunnel, occasionally forced to slash at or shoot at various tendrils or limbs that got too close for comfort. Soon, a hatch halted their progress. Marco enthusiastically stepped forward and forced the rusted mechanism to turn, opening the way into the large sewers running below the city. Normally, some bit of light would have permeated through the grates above, but none met their eyes.

“Lights,” Lee commanded, and the two Shadows turned on their head-mounted flashlights. One instinctively moved to the rear while the other stayed forward with Lee and Marco. “Encounters are likely. Keep the momentum forward. Move.” They continued onward, not bothering with secrecy at this point with nowhere else to go in the tunnel.

Sure enough, after a while, a stampede of giant insect-like creatures grumbled and slid toward them from the path ahead. The Shadow slid back a few paces, his knife drawn, while Lee stepped forward with his katana and Marco with his thick-bladed bastard sword. “I will clean from the center and above,” Lee said, “All behind me, hold the front line. Center, guard the non-coms in case of AFA*.” Lee then leaped through the air, as high and forward as the twenty-foot ceiling allowed, and plunged into the center of the insects.

(* non-coms = non-combatants, AFA = “Attack From Above”)

The mercenary force slashed away at the insects straight in front of them. The grotesque creatures had at one point been cockroaches, but were now sporting blade-like extensions on their legs, their wings enlarged and jagged black capes of flesh, their mouths now stretched into fluid-spewing pinschers. Metallic clangs resounded through the tunnel as blades met insectian blades and hard carapaces. As one sword found its mark on the vulnerable underbelly of one creature, the others stepped over its body, their attacks now higher and more dangerous.

Meanwhile, Lee was standing on the back of an insect in the center of the group, whirling back and forth, keeping the advancing horde at bay. As they leaped at him, it exposed their bellies, and he was able to make effective deadly contact with his blade. But the one he was standing on disliked the company, and opened its shell, beginning to flap its wings. Lee quickly changed his footing to stand between them, and plunged his blade into the crook just between the thorax and abdomen.

The creature let out a hissing squeal as it began to writhe in agony. Lee, having already visually calculated before entering the enemies’ territory, leaped to the side and caught onto the rungs of a ladder leading to a manhole above. Not a moment too soon, as several of the insects dove to where he used to be.

Lee glanced at the rest of his group to make sure they were faring alright. The line was holding solidly, and as instructed kept their advancement steady, so now they were standing upon the slain so the insects no longer had the advantage of attack height. Satisfied, Lee once more dove into the midst of the insect horde, beheading one insect and skewering another. They were difficult to kill however; the headless one remained active, slashing drunkenly about. Lee countered several attacks, before finally cutting off half its legs and slitting open its abdomen. All the dead still wriggled and flexed below the aggressive living.

The mercenary leader gasped and swayed back just in time to dodge another claw arcing at him. However, a longer leg from the same insect was following the motion, and that one slashed him across the belly and chest at a diagonal angle. Lee caught the leg in the follow-through, however, and pulled the insect into a stab-slash, throwing it aside with a scream of effort as blood welled from the wound. It was not deep, and his adrenaline kept him from feeling too much pain. He set his feet for another attack.

However, he caught an unexpected movement from his group; Marco was leaping toward Lee’s general area, sword raised to stab any insects below, screaming out, “LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!”

“Marco, NO!” Lee cried out, trying to rush forward to cover his comrade’s landing. But he could not make it in time; three insects were rearing up with their legs extended, and Marco was skewered at five different points, his sword flinging harmlessly into the corpses below. As the insects landed, they distanced at different angles, their respective legs pulling Marco apart. His blood-laden screaming went quickly silent.

“Son of a BITCH!!!” Lee screamed, slicing three legs and half the belly off of one of the killers and stabbing another straight down the throat, his teeth gritted.

Vaulting off the back of another insect, Lee knew he would have to abort his mid-field attack since their best front-man was gone. He leaped from one rounded wall of the sewer to the opposite, then struck down at two insects upon landing near the front line. Too far to reach on his left, another fighter shrieked; a creature had sunken its mandibles into a burly man wielding double sai.

“Robby!” a blonde woman screamed, driving her spiked mace into the beast’s head, causing its jaws to fall from the man’s mid-section. She struggled to pull the wounded man back to the center of the group, as two others moved forward to take their place. Meanwhile, Lee quickly positioned himself with the front line, determined to keep it solid. The number of enemies was dwindling, but the risk was still high for more casualties.

“Keep moving forward!” he shouted, pulling dangerously ahead to force the group to follow. But their momentum did continue, even with several others being lightly wounded, Lee himself sustaining more slashes as well, by the time the last insect fell squirming and wriggling below their feet.

Lee looked around, taking stock of their situation. Several fighters were already bandaging their injuries. Robert was down, with two tending to him. Lee approached to gauge the wound’s severity. It was jagged and deep; he would need surgery soon or he would not make it. Also, he couldn’t help but worry that a bite from those creatures could transform their victims as well…

He gave the man a squeeze on the shoulder. Robert turned his pained eyes to his boss and forced a small, determined smile. Lee gave him a nod, then stood. “Keep him with you in the center,” he instructed the secretary and treasurer, “We’ve got to keep moving.” They nodded and moved to support the wounded man between them.

The group stepped across the rest of the insects, and Lee looked at some of Marco’s remains with sadness and a hint of anger. Strifes always overachieved for precious words of approval, and were far too loyal for their own good… The fault of society.

I hope you do not act with the same recklessness, Zack, he thought, turning his gaze forward once more.

The journey through the sewer continued without incident… until they were confronted by a large, half-decayed rat the size of an adult lion. Its long incisors were spread out into a large white X, and spurs of bone stuck out from its body in many directions. It hissed a bubbly, black-drooled bark at them, and rushed forward, its long claws clattering against the floor.

“Boss, I’ll take him,” a thin, violet-haired man with a spear-type weapon offered, beginning to step forward.

“Both of us, Jason,” Lee insisted, “I’ll cover you. All behind, stand ready.”

The rat lunged, and so did Jason. The animal twisted lithely in the air, however, and the point of the spear deflected from one of the bone spikes. It landed against the wall, then leaped toward Jason who could do little with such a long-range weapon.

But Lee came in low and spun on his hands with his sword lying between them, kicking the beast in the jaw. One of the teeth shattered, and the animal shook its head hard as it skittered back, hissing angrily. Jason took another lunge at it, managing to pierce its neck, but he did not manage to hit anything vital. The creature reared up, grabbing the spear with its hand-like paws, and jerked the spear out, pushing the butt of it into its wielder. Jason was hit in the stomach by his own weapon, losing his breath and stumbling backward.

Meanwhile, Lee was in a crouch, his sword in his hands once again, and he came in with a low charge toward the rat. It roared and turned sideways, swinging its thick, bone-spiked tail at him.

Lee attempted to leap over it, but the speed was unexpected, and it hit his feet, sending him sideways in mid-air. But he compensated quickly, landing on one hand in a momentary suspended hand-stand, and with his other hand jammed his sword straight into the creature’s now exposed back.

It squealed, trying to send its tail rapidly back and forth at Lee again, but he’d already finished flipping his feet to the ground and leaped back. The beast turned to face him again, and charged headlong, fangs glistening and parted.

Lee allowed it to get so close he could feel its breath in his face, then he side-stepped to the right at the last moment, spinning and slashing through the creature’s side. Blackened organs oozed from the wound, and the creature’s run turned into a walk, then a crawl, until it finally lay still save a few twitches.

The mercenary leader looked back at Jason. “Are you alright?”

The young man nodded ruefully, rubbing his stomach, catching his breath.

Lee then held his blade in front of him and whispered, “Arigatou gozaimasu, Ryu no Kiba.” He wiped the blade on the corpse’s fur, and waited for the group to catch up.

“Why do you keep putting yourself at risk, boss?” Jason breathlessly asked. He was the newest member, so all of this was a bit of a shock to him.

“This clan is composed of those who would follow my principles,” he answered, keeping their pace brisk, “I would not set any of you against a challenge I could not take on myself.”

******

Finally, they emerged on the outskirts of Midgar. The eerie sounds of screams and monstrous roaring was gone. The group emerged among rubble that was only partially transformed, and headed for a near-fossilized forest they knew lay about a mile away in the Desert of the Dead. There, they would do what they could for their wounded, and find out if any more of their clan had survived.

With a cut across his cheek, a slash in his upper left arm, and a wad of bandages pressed to the wound on his mid-section, Edos Lee gazed upon the city which had been converted to a literal hell on earth, and wondered what he should do next. Was it too late for anyone now? Would any of his surviving members have a chance against the demon who had caused this? …Would Bax and the others even be alive to accept his aid if he could even give it now?

[ZaCloud]

(OOC: Triple-play between myself, SP, and Sqiky ^_^ Great times, great times)

---

Zack, still kneeling on the pavement, had been still as a statue for quite some time. Frozen like a deer caught in the headlights, his eyes just as wide as the entirety of Midgar transformed around them. It was surreal, impossible. And yet, there it was, all around them. Something that could not possibly be happening, was. It was a severity that immediately looked irreversible, hopeless.

And then the deforming rain made its way to their area…

Zack had seen from the distance what it did… “No… oh no, oh god…” Black droplets plopped on the pavement around them. Zack quickly fell forward, bracing himself over Bax’s upper half like a roof, trying instinctively to shield him from the fateful downpour, his eyes squeezed shut. But time passed, and despite a strong burning sensation wherever the drops sludged on his head, back, and arms, there was no change. Zack blinked his eyes open. Bax was still himself as well. He gasped and jerked his head to look at Jack. He, too, was safe, the drops rolling off of the Earth Breaker.

Zack sighed with partial relief, blinked a few times, then gazed upon the multitudes of monsters, his breath holding as if to hope they would not notice him as long as he did not breathe. Breathlessly, he whispered, "What's going on... what's happening... what do we do?"

Bax stirred from his catatonic state and lifted his head slightly. He mumbled something unintelligible and shook his head. It looked like a horde of horrible, deformed humans, were descending on them. Bax tried to move his muscles, but couldn't manage to shift enough to get up.
"Run," he finally rasped. "We...must...run..."

Jack was slowly drifting in and out of thought as Bax’s words echoed through his ears, distracted by the horrifying atmosphere of this place that seems to be continually creeping in from all directions, like an invisible prison for the senses. The disgusting beings made of random cadavers and the unholy overgrowth of flesh easily induced Jacks gag reflex at every sight. He had to divert his attention away just to maintain his composure. "Hes right..." *cough cough* "We need to keep moving..."

Zack snapped out of it, gasping in rancid air which caused him to cough a few times. He quickly grasped Bax and started pulling him toward the bike, his adrenaline and default strength allowing him to effectively pull the Phoeniyan up. "Yes, let's get out of here NOW." But as he got Bax near the bike, he paused, gazing into the distance. "Oh no...What about Sephiroth?"

Bax was beginning to regain his composure and he breathed deeply. "Can not...leave him. I...will find...him." Bax coughed and spit out a small flame. He shook his head and cracked his neck. "I think that I can find him. But I will need my bike."

Zack started a bit. "Are you sure you're ok? That was terrible.." Then he blinked and shook his head. "Oh no, no no, you're not going out there alone! Not again!"

"Zack, I will be fine. I promise I can take care of myself. But we all need to get out of here as quickly as possible."

Zack shook his head furiously. "You said that last time, and the time before that! You weren't fine! Look at all that! LOOK AT IT!!"

Bax lowered his head. "You have a good point." Bax shuddered. He kept on seeing new and strange things here on Earth, but this had to be the most disturbing. The city had literally transformed. Bax could only assume that this was the work of Valtiel. It was horrifying. He wanted to get out, but he was still worried about Sephiroth.

"I do not know, Zack. I feel that maybe if we split up, we will cover more ground and get out of here faster."

"I know... I KNOW... We have to find Sephiroth... But I don't even know if... if we..." He looked helplessly at Jack for any insight.

"You sure you can make it?", Jack exclaimed, realizing that Bax was serious but hoping to change his mind anyway. "....alright. You and me are going for a ride...". Jack got up to start the bike once again. " I need something to take my mind of things...."

Zack opened his mouth, looking at Jack with a mixture of feeling betrayed, and knowing he was right. He then looked at Bax with intense concern, yet also the acknowledgement of his decision. He looked between the two quickly two more times.

He couldn't let Bax go alone again into this horrible situation, not after the vow he had taken... But he could not let Jack have the same or worse risk either. He was utterly torn. "You can't... You... I..."

Bax interrupted him. "Zack. You can not take the world on your shoulders. Not everything is your fault. You will have to let us do as we choose. If you decide to come with me, I will not stop you, but I think I should go alone."
Bax eyed the nearing hordes and put his hand on Zack's shoulder. "Now...quickly. We do not have much time."

Zack looked into Bax's eyes waveringly, then more solidly, though he was on the brink of tears. He tightened his lips and nodded once, placing his hand over Bax's in a quick squeeze. "You better not die, Bax. Or else..." He couldn't finish the sentence, giving one more nod, and quickly climbing onto Jack's bike before he could change his mind.

Bax drew his swords and looked in the direction where he was sure his bike last was. That old abandoned gym. It was back towards where they had come from--hopefully not too far. There would be a great deal of these creatures in the way, but he would be able to make it there soon if he played his cards right.
"I won't die as long as you don't."

"Ill give it my best shot... as long as my suit holds out...", Jack trailed off as he looked again at Zack. "You really don’t want to be going it alone and on foot. Lets put some distance behind us."

Zack nodded and kept his eyes on Bax as they looped around and sped away, looking for all the world like an over-anxious puppy being taken away from home. He kept Bax's light in sight until the mist consumed it. He then closed his eyes tightly, then forced them to the front. He would have to help Jack keep an eye out for any threats up ahead.

Bax… Sephiroth…

"We'd all better survive..."

[Shadow Phoenix]

OoC: I really ought to be studying, but I couldn't focus until I wrote this. Enjoy.

IC:

As Jack and Zack sped off on the bike, Bax turned away from them and faced the approaching hordes of mutated former-humans. Of all of his encounters with Valtiel, Bax had only really encountered something like this with once before. Back at the hospital, after returning to Midgar from the Senate. Bax went to go find Lynx when Valtiel stilled called himself Pyramid Head, and he had to slay several demonic creatures on the way. That had been one of the tensest moments he had experienced here on Earth, standing face to face with Pyramid Head. Back then, the demon wasn’t even the host to Necrostiana and he was already frighteningly powerful.

But he had not encountered anything quite like these zombies. As far as he knew, the creatures back in the hospital had never really been human. These, just minutes before, had been humans. Millions of humans had been crammed in this city, and now they had been transformed into the mindless, unwilling bloodthirsty servants of a megalomaniac demigod. Bax saw no way to move about except to cut through them, but he did not want to kill someone who might be helped if, perhaps, Valtiel were defeated. If he had no other choice, he would have to kill, but he hoped to avoid it if at all possible. Valtiel had declared war and raised these poor people as his soldiers—and these soldiers would not be taken prisoner.

Bax was suddenly reminded of something that Lynx had said back then, after Pyramid Head let them go without conflict.
“It's not over yet…It won't be over until he's dead or we are.”
To be sure, all of them had come very close to death many times. But the final battle was yet to come.

And that…that was another reason Bax wanted to split off from Zack and Jack. He didn’t want to involve them…as he made his way towards Valtiel. To do what, he wasn’t sure. He would be a fool to take him on in a fight like this. But even if he could just speak with the demon, to get an idea of what was going on in that twisted head of his, it would be worth the risk. He knew he had to get out, but he felt drawn to Valtiel—to Necrostiana. He had to go find him.

Bax angled his swords down and backwards and began running towards the zombies.
“Out of my way!” he screamed, leaping high into the air and above a sea of undead.

* * *

It seemed like he had been at this for hours, but Black Spider was just under an hour into this impromptu operation of his, and he had managed to find and rescue just over twenty people. It didn’t seem like very much when he thought about the millions of citizens who had been transformed a killed, but he felt like he was making a small difference. And besides, he had slain over a hundred of those flying creatures in the mean time.

Speaking of which…

A screech alerted Black Spider to the presence of a flying demon in hot pursuit. He glanced back and saw two more join the chase. Black Spider whirled around and gave a great flap of his wings to stop his momentum. He flashed his right hand out in an arc straight across the neckline of one of the demons, severing its head with his claws. The creature began to plummet to the ground in a spray of black ooze. Black Spider flexed his left elbow back and then shot forward his left claw to impale the creature directly to his left. This one stopped and twitched, too shocked to flail about for a moment. It simply stared at Black Spider’s arm as it passed through its body.

The third creature saw this display and made a sharp turn away, flying to put a good distance between it and the gargoyle shape shifter. It screeched in anger and then turned to fly away.
“Oh no you don’t! You start fighting, you stay to the end!”
Black Spider ripped the one imp off of his arm and tossed it towards the fleeing one. He clutched both fists together in front o him and concentrated, summoning up his energy and drawing from the darkness all around him. The air around him visually pulsated and he grunted. He shot both hands out in front of him and unleashed a beam of black and purple energy. The beam flew through the air and engulfed both of the imps in its path, annihilating any trace of their existence. Then the beam began to ripple and act strangely. Black Spider flexed his elbows again and the beam receded backwards, disappearing back into his hands.

The shape shifter smiled. That was a handy track. Practically no loss of energy—it took concentration, but it was good if you were trying to conserve yourself. He had learned that trick when he was inhabited by Ragnarok, years ago.

Ragnarok…that self-righteous sonofabitch. Promised power without a price, but then expected you to be a willing servant to his own bizarre agenda. Black Spider was no one’s slave.

He could remember it all as clear as day. He and the other spawn had long been embroiled in a plot that stretched on for millennia. Black Spider had only been around for 120 years of the conflict, but he had seen enough. Apocalypse was bad news to anyone he touched. Black Spider knew—the original spawn, Ragnarok, had inhabited him for 67 years. More than half of his lifespan. Even since then, the spawn that Ragnarok had left in him had been causing him severe headaches for 29 years. It’s name was Thanatos—the alias Black Spider went by before taking up this form.

Black Spider knew that it was crazy. If he hadn’t experienced it first hand, he would never have believed that two souls could inhabit the same body. Nor would he have believed that one of those souls could jump to another body and leave a veritable copy of itself behind. But that was the nature of Ragnarok, the nature of Apocalypse. Ragnarok, just a hint of Apocalypse’s true essence was powerful enough and had caused massive problems. Between its four major hosts, it had killed millions of people through wars, assassinations, and plenty of other battles.

Simply put, Ragnarok was a transient, bodiless being. He was a soul, an existence. An echo and a shadow of his master.

Thanatos was an echo of an echo—a shadow of a shadow. He was weak. But that hadn’t stopped him from trying to gain power over the past 29 years. Having two voices in his head had made Black Spider feel like he was on the verge of insanity on more than one occasion. He still had his moments where he didn’t quite feel connected to reality.

Black Spider shook himself from his reveries and focused on his flight path. He soared through the dark skies, scanning for any signs of life. Real, live people were growing scarce in the city. Most people were either dead or…undead.

And then Black Spider noticed a figure in a cloak walking towards the center of the city.
“What the hell?” he remarked. What was someone doing walking deeper into the danger?

With a flap of his wings, Black Spider dove down towards the figure. Talk about brain damage…

“Are you insane? What are you doing heading into this mess? Here, come with me, I’ll get you out of her right quick.”
The figure stopped its slow, stalking approach towards the center of the city, and turned to face Black Spider. Black Spider tried to discern any features to see if he could see who this soul was, but the cloak completely covered its head. It was no use trying to sense the person either—all Black Spider could feel around him was the darkness of Valtiel and his servants. So he couldn’t tell if this was a priest of the Holy Order or some civilian who was lucky enough to have a cloak to protect it from the hellish rain.

After standing there for a moment, Black Spider shifted.
“Well? Are you going to answer me?”

The figure lifted its hand and faced its palm towards Black Spider. Black Spider narrowed his eyes and crouched down. “Hey now, let’s not do this.”
The hand began to glow yellow and orange, circling with flames. Black Spider gritted his teeth and cursed. Suddenly, he heard a groan and shriek behind him, and he glanced back to see a zombie ready to gnaw on his neck. He instinctively fell out, kicking his legs out to get out of this thing’s range. As he fell, he felt the head of a fireball singe the hairs on the top of his head. The zombie burst into flames and was consumed within seconds, dissipating into ash.

Black Spider gasped. Had this person actually just saved him? Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around for these hero situations?

He stood up and faced the figure.
“Right, uh, thanks. Seriously, though, we should get goin.”
The cloaked figure just turned back to its original path and began walking again.
“Well shit,” Black Spider muttered under his breath. “Come on. Not a good idea. Can you at least say something?”
The figure kept walking, but reached one hand back to unleash a fireball directly at Black Spider. He leapt out of the way and looked around him. No zombie this time. The bastard had actually tried to hurt him! Now he was pissed. He began walking quickly behind the figure, his face betraying his anger.

“Look, dude, I’m just tryin’ to save your ass here! Just tell me to get out and I will, but don’t you dare shoot me! Hey! I’m talkin’ to you here!”
Black Spider was almost behind the figure when he spun around and burst into flames. A wave of invisible energy slammed into Black Spider and pushed him back. The cloak billowed in the sudden wind that emanated from the figure, but the hood stayed on, keeping the mysterious figure’s identity a secret. And somehow, though fire raged all around, the cloak did not burn.

“Do not interfere.”

Black Spider shook his head. Was he hearing voices again or had he just heard this person whisper into his mind?
“Do not interfere? With what?”

“This does not concern you, spawn. Leave or I will kill you.”[/color]

Black Spider crouched down into a fighting position and his own aura began to ripple. This ass had just called him a spawn. “I am not a spawn! You want a fight? You’ve got it!”

Suddenly, the flames and the winds stopped and the figure settled down.
“...So be it.”

And then the figure disappeared.

[Shadow Phoenix]

OoC: I really don't have time to do this, but once I start, I just can't stop...

This will probably be some of the last from me until Finals are over next week. Happy reading.

IC:

Black Spider whirled around as the cloaked figure disappeared. Was this guy really this fast, or had he just managed to deceive Black Spider’s eyes somehow? Black Spider scanned every possible area around him to look for his new victim-in-need-of-rescuing-turned-adversary. Even with his quick vision, though, he couldn’t manage to find the cloaked one, especially through this fog. Black Spider was usually able to see beings that could move extremely fast, as he was able to move quickly himself. So where was this guy?

Suddenly, Black Spider felt multiple blows reign down on his body, all in the span of about half a second. Concussive, explosive blows contacted in three spots on his back, four spots on his chest, once on each shoulder, and twice on opposite sides of both of his arms. Black Spider felt several of his ribs shatter, and both of his shoulders dislocated as the bones in his arms bent to near breaking points. With all of the opposite contact blows, though, Black Spider didn’t budge. In fact, he felt frozen to the spot. All at once, his heart lurched painfully and suddenly felt very dizzy and cold. He crumpled to his knees and his head dragged him to the ground. His dislocated shoulders made it impossible for him to catch himself, and he just fell to the ground.

And to think, less than ten seconds before, he had been staring at his opponent, ready to pummel him. Look where he was now…

Black Spider felt a burning hot hand grab around the back of his neck and pick him like he barely weighed anything. The cloaked figure clasped on his neck and hurled him upwards through the air. As he pierced through the air, he knew another attack would be coming any moment. He groaned and shook his body violently. His arms wrenched around him and popped back into his shoulders.

Just in time. Black Spider saw his attacker for the first time in a while, diving down through the sky towards him at breakneck speed. He was ready this time. Black Spider flipped his hands up and caught his opponent’s fist. He then used their conflicting inertias and spun around powerfully, flinging his opponent to the ground. He looked down and saw the cloak smash into the ground. The cage-like ground bent, but refused to break. Still, a huge cloud of dust rose up.

Black Spider flapped his wings, surprised that they still worked as well as they did (albeit through much pain), and stabilized himself in the sky. He could not go on the offensive until he actually understood his opponent. So he wouldn’t shift—not just yet. This form was balanced well for both offense and defense.

Through the cloud of dust and the fog, Black Spider saw the air rippling with the increased temperature, and he prepared to fly away from the oncoming ball of fire. But he wasn’t expecting what came next.

Whereas the fireballs that this sorcerer had thrown before had been fairly small, (about twice the size of the average human head), the fireball that rippled up towards Black Spider was massive. It stretched for an easy diameter of 50 feet at its largest point and was moving with ferocious speed. Black Spider stretched his arms out and began flapping his wings like mad to pull himself back. There was no way that he’d be able to avoid this one. He just hoped he could handle its strength full on.

The fireball, or wall as the case looked, slammed into Black Spider’s hands and he felt the intense heat sear through his body. He was instantly driven back by the sheer force of the attack. It didn’t help that his skin threatened to turn to ash if he didn’t concentrate most of his mental and energy capacities to putting a heat shield in front of him.

It was too powerful for him to try to simply rip through and brave the heat. It was too big for him to try to separate it with a concentrated blast of his own. His only hope was to try to absorb some of the energy and then go from there.

While Phoeniyans had a great capacity for heat, there was another race which Black Spider had encountered that were even more suited to such a task. They resembled large red bugs, a cross between dragonflies and ants. They typically lived inside volcanoes, often making homes in tunnel systems running around the magma. Black Spider concentrated just enough to maintain the heat shield and began to change his form. His bones flattened and moved to the surface of his skin before breaking out and forming a thick, armored exoskeleton. All of the excess iron in his blood had been transferred to his bones, giving the exoskeleton the characteristic red appearance and extra strength. Black Spider’s wings withered back into his body and were replaced by two pairs of strong, transparent wings, coated in a shiny, resilient chemical that made them equally impervious to the searing heat and gave them a rainbowed appearance. While his hands took on a distinctly more pincer-like appearance (though they still retained their functionality as hands), two more arms wrenched out from the exoskeleton. The pair of arms directly below the more standard arms ended in whip-like talons, coated in the same material as the wings. Black Spider’s tail shortened and then disappeared into bulbous backside. His legs thinned out a little and dangled below him, now complete with several more joints. The transformation finished as Black Spider’s horns thinned out and became antennae. His jaw split and become a powerful pincer, though the basic speech-producing structures remained the same. His eyes divided many times over, becoming hundreds of eyes in a matter of seconds. At last, the transformation was complete.

Black Spider felt much more comfortable with the heat the moment the transformation ended, and he reached his head forward and began to devour the energy, sucking it into his body, where it underwent a strange sort of metabolism and was released from the bulbous extension where his tail used to be as air that was just a little warmer than normal air temperature. And considering the temperature of the air all around him, that was nice and cold.

Slowly but surely, the fireball began to shrink down and Black Spider halted his pushed ascent. When the flaming sphere of destruction became about 15 feet in diameter, Black Spider was beginning to get far too hot. He wasn’t supposed to take this much energy and stress in. He needed to break through. He stuck his pincer claws into the fireball and began fluttering his wings powerfully. He drew up the other two arms and jabbed them into the flames. He screamed and the ball rippled, burbling and bursting with excitement before shattering in a show of sparks.

Black Spider’s lungs were expanding and contracting rapidly. That last act had really tired him out and overexerted him. And as far as he knew, his opponent probably barely had a scratch on him.

Black Spider waited for the smoke, steam, and fog to dissipate a little. His opponent was likely to reveal himself soon. Black Spider twitched and began to reverse his transformation. Within a few moments, he was back in his gargoyle form, and he could see a figure, blurry though it was, through the fog.

The enemy skyrocketed into the air towards Black Spider. Black Spider curled up a little and prepared for the attack once again. But this time, the enemy pitched to the side and went screaming past him. Black Spider whirled, only for his opponent to disappear. Black Spider flapped his wings and tossed himself into a vortex-like spin. If his opponent was going to try to use speed, so was he. Black Spider worked himself him to a good rotational velocity, and then tilted slightly to begin spinning in a practical sphere instead of a mere circle. He waited for a sign of his opponent.

Black Spider didn’t see his opponent until right before he struck. He saw the flash of a cloak, and then saw a fist flash through and catch him hard on the cheek. The rest of his body snapped around, continuing on with its original momentum even though his head and neck were traveling in a very different direction. His neck cracked and he flailed hopelessly. A swift blow to his back sent him flying back down to the ground. In his plummet, Black Spider righted himself and landed cautiously on all fours. Though he was dizzy, he knew he had to keep moving, and he rolled forward and sprung up into a sprint to put a little distance between him and his impact point, where his opponent would be more likely to expect him.

After a few seconds, the shape shifter whirled around and saw the cloaked figure hovering above the ground and soaring towards him. It wound one fist back and launched it forward. Black Spider tucked his wings in and began running backwards. He met the first blow and tossed it out to the side. As they traveled down the street, the cloaked attacker launched its other first forward towards Black Spider. The shape shifter caught the blow once again and deftly deflected it. Then the first went flying, with Black Spider on the continuous defensive, barely able to glance back to make sure he wasn’t getting too close to a zombie or a car as he met each blow.

Finally Black Spider saw his chance. The enemy took a little bit too much time winding back, and the gargoyle ducked down, spread his wings, and kicked off the ground, changing his momentum and launching upwards. He rammed his shoulder into the enemy and wrenched his claws through the fabric of the cloak. He had the bastard now!

Black Spider flapped his wings and soared upwards, still clutching his opponent. With his current momentum, he planned to slam the enemy into the ground and then incapacitate him brutally before taking off that hood and finding out who had been giving him such problems.

Unfortunately, he never got that far. In a burst of flames, the enemy broke free from Black Spider’s grip and burned him a little. Black Spider whirled to face the loose cannon and was met with a powerful right hook to his gut. He doubled over with the savage blow and groaned out in intense pain. That may have very well been the last straw.

Black Spider was suspended in midair, hanging above the horrid wasteland. And the last blow combined with the rest of the exertion of the battle (and all of his previous battles over the past hour), had just taken too much out of him. Could he even escape?

The figure grasped onto him and began rising up. It clutched him around his neck and drew close. For the first time, Black Spider thought he caught a glimpse of the face beneath the cloak.

The gargoyle’s face twisted in surprise and he gasped audibly. Though he felt weak, he was able to shake his head incredulously.
“You?” he said, seeing something flickering in his memory. “But it can’t be…”

The figure extended the arm holding Black Spider and flexed its other arm back. Without another moment’s notice, it brutally launched its fist forward into Black Spider’s skull and sent him flying, unconscious, over the rooftops of the city to land outside in the desert somewhere.

Slowly, the cloaked figure settled back down the streets below, landing lightly on both feet. It turned and resumed its slow walk towards the center of the city, maintaining whatever mission it was on.

[Sephiroth X]

*The air raid sirens blasted through Midgar, the black clouds looming. As the first drops of the black rain started to fall the sounds of screams came from the distant reaches of Midgar. Sephiroth X and Dark Crono stood in partial battle-ready stances in case either made an aggressive mood, but their eyes were darting around the horizon in a subtle terror of the power that was suffocating them both. The screams grew louder and more consistent, Midgar slowly turning into a continuous buzz of gasping and screaming.

*Thunder rumbled in the sky directly above both X and Crono as a few drops of rain landed around them. Both of them looked up for a second as they saw a half dozen drops descend and land onto the concrete of the building they stood upon. Sephiroth X watched one of the drops specifically and watched as the black rain seeped into the concrete and transformed that small area into a patch of rotting flesh. Seph then felt two drops of rain land on him, one on the sleeve of his arm and the other on his shoulder guard. X flinched a second initially trying to prevent anything from happening to his clothes or himself, but as he watched the two drops of rain he watched them simply roll off of him and land onto the pavement, the pavement subsequently became corrupted in the area where those two drops landed.

*X looked down for a second and cocked his head slightly wondering why the rain didn’t directly affect him. Seph looked up and saw Crono calmly brushing a drop of the dark rain off of his coat as well… again with no effect.

Sephiroth X – Strange… no affect. Well, I still don’t think I want to risk a lot of direct exposure to this stuff… especially to the skin.

*As Seph finished speaking he saw Crono pull his hood back over his face, only his gold eye showing. Perhaps a subtle mocking of he being more prepared then Seph.

Sephiroth X – Hmph...

*A louder scream could be heard by the both of them, this one originating from the street below them. Both X and Crono paced to the ledge of the rooftop and looked down to see a lady staggering backwards from a man that she had apparently been walking with. A few drops of the dark rain had struck the man and his skin was turning into a pale version of its old self. His hair was falling out and his muscles appeared to be bulging in random locations of his torso, then it seemed as if his shirt itself rotted off of his body as he staggered to the ground. The lady promptly came to aid him and as she reached a hand out towards the man he lashed out at her and bit into her hand. The lady screamed once more as she pulled her bleeding hand back and turned to run from the now transformed man who was staggering behind her in a zombie like pursuit. Both Sephiroth X and Dark Crono watched the entire thing happen, then as X spoke it was apparent that fear was in his voice.

Sephiroth X – This isn’t happening.. no no no this cant be going on… Valtiel… its… its him… he’s doing this… We… we need to get out of here.

*X’s head turned to face Crono again, only to see that the hooded enigma was already gone. Another loud feminine scream echoed through Midgar, and although X knew it wasn’t her scream, the sound of the scream jolted his attention to an entirely different matter.

Sephiroth X- Catrina!

*Seph immediately leapt from the rooftop he was on and went into a hasty flight back to the Midgar gymnasium.

- - - - - - - - - -

*After sensing the danger Seph was in, Catrina began exploring the area around the gymnasium to find a sign of her love. She was walking down a couple of sidewalks just trying to find anything, and then the air raid sirens went off. She stopped and looked up to the sky in a curious fear observing the sky, and while she stood there looking other Midgarians slowly walked outside and looked upwards similar to Catrina.

Catrina – What… is going on?

*A large group of others were out on the sidewalk with Catrina as thunder rumbled and dark rain began falling down. The rain fell on the street and the sidewalk, along with landing on the skin of some of the bystanders directly around Catrina. She spun around looking as each person near her staggered and fell to the ground, some reacted in pain, others in fear, a couple with ill like symptoms including vomiting. Catrina gasped in fear and then stopped for a moment wondering why nothing was happening to her, then as she looked up she was perplexed.

Catrina – The rain is falling… on… everything but me…

*She looked around seeing the raindrops corrupting the area around her, Catrina noticed that everything was corrupting in an almost perfect circle around her. Catrina then cautiously took a few steps towards one of the people who fell to the ground. She went to one knee and placed her hands on a man who was curled up in the fetal position cringing in pain on the ground.

Catrina – Sir… sir are you ok?

*Catrina shook the man lightly, from the feel of his skin something was definitely wrong with him though. His skin was burning, like he had a deadly fever, the pigmentation on his skin was almost completely gone as well.

Catrina – Sir!

*The man twitched violently as he grabbed some of his own hair and began yanking it off of his scalp. He was pulling so hard at times that it took chunks of the skin off his head and thin black-red blood dripped down his face. Catrina screamed for a second and jumped to her feet while taking a few steps backwards. The man staggered to his feet slowly while some of the others around Catrina also began rising up around her. They all looked the same, pale skinned and almost inhuman, their hair all falling right off their skin. The man she tried to help then turned to her and stared at her with cold black eyes, his mouth opened and he let out a deep yell that was not human. It was a low bear-like yell that rattled Catrina right down to the bone, the other “people” around Catrina then returned similar primal yells.

*Catrina staggered backwards in fear, she abruptly slammed into another one of the monsters and fell down to the pavement. She crawled away from the monster she backed into, finding herself back in the spot she was in when the rain started falling a few moments before. She quickly got back to her feet and saw zombie like monsters approaching her from all directions, completely surrounding her. Catrina dusted some of the dirt off of her clothing and quickly raised her fists.

Catrina – Alright you creepy bastards you aren’t getting a bite of this without loosing a tooth.

*One of the monsters stumbled towards Catrina and extended its hands to try and grab hold of her. She immediately pulled a fist back and drove it into the nose of the approaching monster, dark blood erupted from the creature as it staggered backwards. She then felt the hand of another monster grab her shoulder, immediately Catrina spun on one of her heels and lifted her other leg and connected with a solid kick directly to the chin of the monster behind her. As the creature fell Catrina quickly realized she wasn’t going to be able to keep this up for long and just as her feet stabilized on the ground she took off running, stepping over the monster she just kicked to the ground and shouldering through a couple of other monsters around her. As she ran one of the monsters charged after her with surprisingly blazing speed and was gaining ground fast. Catrina hustled down the center of the road trying to get back to the gymnasium, the monster that was chasing dove and grabbed onto one of her ankles for a second. Catrina slipped free with her own momentum but stumbled to the ground and rolled a few times. She got up to a knee and looked around quickly and still couldn’t see a sign of the gym… she then realized she had no idea which way she ran, she was lost.

*The monster that tripped her up quickly got back to its feet and began pursuing her again, a few yards behind it the rest of the group was chasing her as well. Catrina tried to quickly get up and run again and managed to get a few feet, the monster behind her quickly leapt into the air and was in a trajectory to land right on her. While trying to get back to her feet Catrina slipped on the transforming pavement and landed on her back and then her eyes widened to see the pale skinned monster descending down upon her. She quickly raised her knees and elbows just as the monster landed on her. Catrina screamed again for a moment as the monster’s mouth tried to bite towards her neck and face while trying to pry her arms away from in between herself and it. With all of her strength Catrina managed to push the creature back slightly, but as she looked past it she could see the other creatures coming to its aid. In a panic she tried to frantically push and kick the monster away, but the freakish beast continued exerting strength and began pushing her more firmly into the pavement. It opened its mouth and tried to get its teeth close enough to bite into the flesh of her face, drool dripping down onto Catrina as she hopelessly fought for her life.

*With a last second bit of determination Catrina exerted all of the strength she had left in one final effort and managed to push the monster off of her body. She quickly threw a punch at the creature, then as she tried to get to her feet she realized that too much time had gone by and the rest of the monsters had already circled her again. Just as she shot up to one knee again numerous hands grabbed onto her and kept her in place and she saw multiple sets of deformed faces lurching towards her. Letting out one final scream, Catrina closed her eyes not wanting to see her own face.

BOOM[/I]

*A loud booming cracking sound jarred Catrina’s eyes open as she also heard one of the monsters scream in agony. She felt all of the hands that were restraining her suddenly vanish almost as if something more important came to the attention of the monsters. When her eyes first opened she saw the head the monster whose nose she had broken planted into the concrete with a black booted foot driven a few inches into it. Catrina’s eyes immediately shot upwards to see Sephiroth X facing her, his eyes darting around glaring at each monster around them.

Catrina – Seph!

Sephiroth X – Down!

*Seph immediately swung the Masamune and Catrina ducked, the blade barely missing her. Multiple monsters screamed and then abruptly became silent as X’s blade sliced open their skulls. As Seph followed through with his slashing motion he went into a 360 spin and roundhouse kicked a couple of creatures that were advancing behind him, each screaming as their jaws broke or dislocated. Seph turned back Catrina and quickly extended a hand to her.

Sephiroth X – Come on were getting out of here!

*Catrina promptly shot up to her feet and wrapped her arms around Seph’s waist as Seph firmly wrapped an arm around her. X’s eyes illuminated green for a second as he shot up into the air and out of danger.

*X flew a few yards above rooftop level to keep out of danger while holding onto Catrina. The eyes of the two of them looked down at the streets of Midgar as the chaos below progressively got worse. The dark rain was pouring down profusely at this point, curiously not affecting both X and Catrina, and they saw it transform anyone it touched that was unlucky enough to get inside. The buildings themselves were turning into rotting flesh and chain link versions of their former selves.

*Midgar was turning into hell right before their eyes.

*Sephiroth X looked around, they were approaching a more desolate area of Midgar that wasn’t totally transformed yet and didn’t have many people in it… this meant less monsters for them to deal with. As Catrina could feel X’s arm around her, she could feel something she never felt from him before… he was trembling.

Catrina – Seph… are you ok?

Sephiroth X – Y…. Yes I’m fine don’t worry.

*X’s eyes then locked in to an old small three floored housing complex that was only partially transformed yet, and he couldn’t see any monsters outside of it.

Sephiroth X – There… that building.

*As they flew just above the small complex X quickly descended and landed. Holding on to Catrina’s hand, he quickly walked up to the front door of the building and kicked the door open. In a hurry the two of them walked into the building and Seph immediately began looking for a set of stairs leading upwards.

Sephiroth X – Here, the stairs.

Catrina – Seph why are we going in here? We need to get out of this place!

*X responded sharply in a fragile tone of voice.

Sephiroth X – I know I know! But I can’t go…

Catrina – What!?

Sephiroth X – This is all my fault, Catrina!

Catrina – What are you talking about?

*X pointed out the front door to the sounds of screaming and chaos. He spoke in a fast and frustrated tone.

Sephiroth X – All of this! I could have stopped this all from happening! Valtiel’s the one who’s doing all o this! He’s been in Midgar this entire time AND I KNEW IT! And I didn’t do a single damn thing to stop it! I was too caught up in the high of defeating Crono and too enamored in love!

*Catrina stared at Seph, fear in her eyes.

Sephiroth X – I neglected the power I had been given, Catrina!

*X pounded on his chest, as if pointing to something within him.

Sephiroth X - I’ve failed to live up to the duty that comes with the Element! I need to go and right this before it gets worse Catrina! I’m going to stop Valtiel, now.

*Catrina stood there silent, there wasn’t anything she could do to stop him and that was a tough pill for her to swallow in this instance. She could tell he was deathly afraid right now, she could see it in his eyes and she shared that fear.

Sephiroth X – Valtiel’s storm hasn’t completely transformed this area yet and those creatures won’t search for people here for a little bit. Just get up to the second floor and hold out there until I come back.

*Catrina nodded quietly.

Sephiroth X - I will come back and get you after this is over.

*Seph turned and started talking out the door to the building, Catrina quickly ran to him before he left.

Catrina – Seph!

*Just as Seph turned to her, she ran into his arms and gave him a deep passionate kiss. After they broke their kiss they looked into each other’s eyes for a few moments, neither of them said a word. Slowly Seph backed away, turned around, and walked out the door. Sephiroth X bent his knees slightly, gripped the Masamune tightly, and then shot up into the dark sky of Midgar and flew like a bullet towards the center of the city.

*Sephiroth X flew over the buildings of Midgar, the situation was progressively getting worse the further he got towards the center of the city. Seph could feel his stomach churn, vivid and horrid memories of his entrapment in Valtiel’s hell looping through his mind. He never wanted to return to that world, and here he was watching his own home city get turned into it. Monsters of all shapes and sizes were running down alleys and streets hunting and feeding on survivors they found. Seph’s eyes focused towards a more distant location in the very center of the city, he saw a large building that was even more vibrantly radiating in Valtiel’s energy. The building itself was being circled by hoards of flying creatures that looked like demonic birds and was made entirely of chain link and fence, his eyes focused and tried to see what was behind the waves of birds. He could see the rooftop of the building and saw the shape of one figure standing calmly atop it… X knew it was Valtiel, and X immediately he increased his speed towards the building.

*Sephiroth X flew up the side of the building zipping between waves of the demonic flying creatures that Valtiel had summoned. X's sixth sense was picking up so much power that it his brain felt like it was going to explode if he didnt adjust to it. Then as X reached the rooftop of the building he flipped in mid-air, unsheathing the Masamune, and landing on one knee as his intense mako green eyes luminated at the monster standing before him... Valtiel.

Sephiroth X - ... This ends before it even starts ...

*Valtiel openly laughed. Not even a touch of psychosis in his voice, but genuinly amused.

Valtiel - Oh-ho-ho no, my friend. You've got it all backwards, this is the end. You missed the start of the show long ago, this is my standing ovation! You can't stop what has already passed.

*He began casually pacing around the rooftop, no intention of defending against X's blade. X slowly rose to a standing position as he gripped the Masamune tightly.

Sephiroth X - Regardless, I am not letting you walk away here unscaved. It’s because of me that you were allowed to get as far as you got with this nightmare... And I’ve fought too hard to let you ruin everything.

*Sephiroth X then raised the Masamune slightly, to an attack ready position.

Valtiel - Ha! At least you can admit your own incompetence. If you'd hadn't been so consumed by such human failings like love and vengeance, you might have ruined my opening act. But, of course, you are human after all...a weakness in itself. Ooooooooh, but don't worry about that. I have the remedy for what ails you. A sweet spoonful of death should put you're mind at ease.

*X looked at Valtiel for a moment with a sense of confusion... How does he know about Catrina?... Those words seemed to light another fire within Seph, now wanting to make sure that this monster doesn’t get near her.

Sephiroth X - Your confidence will be your downfall... My abilities have grown tremendously since we last encountered. And because of this you will not succeed, nor will you intimidate me in this environment

*X spoke in a confident tone, blatantly trying to hide the terror he was reliving in this recreation of hell.

*Valtiel's head flesh contorted oddly, he suppressed a chuckle welling up inside of him.

Valtiel - I must apologize, I can't properly convey my emotions clearly without the ability to smile.

*Valtiel started walking towards X with his arms out to the side, looking around at the city.

Valtiel - I'm not sure if you've been paying attention here, but I've already succeeded! This isn't your city anymore, it's mine...it's me. But I guess I can't stop you from trying to play hero...In fact, I wont. This is rather entertaining, like watching a fish suffocate on a cutting board. You struggle and fight, but in the end you're still just another meal. Just give up.

*As Valtiel spoke his words, Seph slowly looked out to the city as well as distant screams of survivors continuously faded. Thick fog blanketed Midgar while pillars of rusted chain link and flesh that once resembled buildings protruded upwards. Not even the moon nor the distant rising sun were visible... Valtiel was right, Midgar was lost... First Dark Crono is alive and now this happened... X started to doubt his own ability to live up to the mythical title the Element gave him.

*Then Sephiroth's green eyes illuminated brightly once again as his rage built up again and reached its boiling point. The Masamune shook in his hands from gripping it so tightly.

Sephiroth X - There is one thing you haven’t been paying attention to... I don’t give up...

*Sephiroth X let out an enraged battle cry as he dashed along the rooftop at his peak speed towards Valtiel, swinging at him with a powerful slash. Valtiel moved to the side, but not quite far enough. The blade caught his side and flung him onto his face. He let out a hideous wail. Valtiel shakily lifted himself to his knees holding his side, a massive gash oozing down his leg.

Valtiel - Wh....what?

*X paused for a moment at Valtiel's reaction. X quickly switched the Masamune to a reverse-grip in his hands and then slashed at one of Valtiel's arms while the monster was seemingly at a loss. The Masamune cleanly sliced through the arm occupied by the wound on his side. Valtiel wailed again and staggered away from X. The arm hanging on my a shread of meat. Valtiel seemed visibly weakened from the all out attack, his legs could hardly keep him upright, his wounds festering and open. Maybe the Element instilled X with a power to combat Valtiel's darkness.

Valtiel - N...No! Why is this happening?! I'm supposed to win! Where's my power?!

*Valtiel paused and looked around him. His power was there, encompassing the whole city.

Valtiel - Damn! Did I spread myself too thin?

*X went into a three-sixty spin as a follow-through motion from his slash, then as Seph faced Valtiel again he twirled the Masamune in one hand and lunged forward. The Masamune hit its intended target directly, impaling into the chest of Valtiel. X's eyes returned to their normal appearance as his smirk of confidence returned to his face. He held onto the handle of the Masamune tightly making sure it stayed in his foe.

*Valtiel hissed as the blade peirced his chest and remained their. He slumped over it and gripped the masamune's blade with his one good hand, trying to pull it out of him but simply watching his hand slice itself on it's edge. His body curled even further over and quivered against the weapon, then went completely slack.

*A few silent moments passed as X's foe remained skewered in place. But a quiet chuckle leaked out, breaking the calm. Valtiel's shoulders began to bob as the chuckle turned into a laugh. His side quickly closed up and arm pulled back into its rightful place. He rose to his full height once again, completely ignoring the sword in his ribs. He lifted a foot and took a step forward, the blade sliding out of his back. Each step brought him closer and closer to X, the laughter unceasing. Valtiel eventually reached the end, the hilt of the great sword pressed up against his chest, his face just a few inches away from his enemies.

Valtiel - ....You really didn't think it was over already, did you?

*X's eyes grew wider with every step closer Valtiel took down the blade of the Masamune. Valtiel wasn’t even being effected by it... he was toying with Seph. And Seph stood there both motionless and speechless in terror. Valtiel 'smiled' again as he observed his frozen opponent for a moment.

Valtiel - Goodbye Sephiroth X. The next time we meet, I'll keep your life for myself.

*Valtiel pulled back one of his grotesque arms and landed a jab directly into X's gut. X immediately left the ground, the force of the punch propelling him off of his feet and well off the building, his sword being pulled in tow. Seph slipped in and ouch of consciousness as his body spun and flew without control over Midgar. X had no clue how long he was flying because of Valtiel’s emphatic blow, however as Seph managed to regain full consciousness he saw buildings flying past him at blurring speeds. X managed to rise his head a little too look and see where his body was flying towards and just as he did he saw the ledge of a rooftop flying towards him. Instinctively one of X’s arms shot up to cover his face as his body clipped the edge of the rooftop, sending his body into a fierce corkscrew spin that carried him several hundred yards. Seph’s body finally descended from the air and he landed on the pavement of a road. His body dragged over the street for a few dozen yards as the concrete broke apart and turned into nothing but sand.

*Sephiroth X cringed in pain and coughed up blood for a few seconds as he stumbled to his feet, he looked down to see sand that was stained with his own blood. What amazed him was the sand itself. Slowly and painfully X stood up straight and looked back towards the now extremely distance center point of Midgar where he fought Valtiel. The force of Valtiel’s punch was so strong that it literally knocked Seph out of Midgar completely. Seph was standing in the Desert of the Dead , just at the Midgar border. X was out of hell… he could easily turn away from Midgar now and make haste away from this hell-hole and regroup. But then X put a few pieces together in his mind, and his gut twisted into a tight knot.

Sephiroth X – Catrina…

*This was what Valtiel wanted, and Valtiel wanted Seph to know it too. This is why Valtiel sent X this far… this is why he knew and mentioned Catrina’s love… Valtiel knew that Seph was deadly afraid of the world Valtiel called home, and how he had given Sephiroth X a heart-wrenching ultimatum.

Leave Midgar and save yourself…

Return to your greatest fear to save your love…

*Sephiroth X clenched the Masamune so tight he was almost afraid the handle would snap. Fear filled his eyes and he felt like vomiting from terror at the simple sight of looking back into the overtaken Midgar. Then all of the fear and regret doubled the moment X looked out to the horizon of the Desert of the Dead away from Midgar as he thought about Catrina. Seph closed his eyes as he tried to suppress everything that was running through his mind. As his eyes slowly opened the green tint of the Element of Prosperity lit his eyes for a few moments. He knew what he would do… what the Warrior of Prosperity would do… The desert sand below him began to spin around him for a few moments as X lifted up into the air. Seph sheathed the Masamune and then held his arms tight to his sides to eliminate wind resistance. Then with the speed of a fighter jet… Sephiroth X flew back into Midgar to find his love.

[phycoredwolf]

Nuke rises his head high to the sky laying flat on his back in an alley way

Nuke: well well well.... whats all this

Nuke lets a long low wistle from his lips and jumps to his feet and wanders out of the alley way

Nuke: lets see whats going on , looks like some ones haveing my kind of party here , wonder if i can join

[Sephiroth X]

*A couple of freakish humanoid figures sat atop a rooftop enjoying the taste of human flesh from a fallen Midgarian they had just hunted down. Nothing more then demonic grunts came from their mouths while screams of victims in the distance continued. One monster sat cross-legged as he enjoyed the taste of a dismembered arm while the other began slurping through intestine almost like it was spaghetti. Both monsters slowly stopped eating their 'meal' as they saw small pebbles start shaking on the rooftop they were on. A quiet hum sound grew into a loud roar as Sephiroth X flew over the rooftop into Midgar. The force of the wind slamming into them sent both monsters flying off the roof down the street below. X was making as much haste as possible to find the building he left Catrina in before his failed confrontation with Valtiel. As X soared over the city he was stunned by how fast the city had degraded, in a matter of minutes Midgar had turned from a poverty ridden metropolis to an embodiment of hell... Humans turned into monsters, law enforcement overwhelmed, people screaming as their own loved ones attacked them.

Sephiroth X - Is this all really my fault...?

*X forced the thoughts out of his mind as he tried to focus on finding his loved one. He remembered that the building he left her in was an abandoned place in the barren slums of Midgar, the only region that had not been severely altered by Valtiel yet. But as X looked around the city, it looked like everything was transforming at this point.

Help! HELP!

*Sounds of a woman's plea for help echoed in close proximity to X. It caught Seph's ear and his eyes darted to the source of the scream. He saw a woman who was running down an alley that had apparently tripped and fallen over a dumpster while running from two armless monsters that were staggering in pursuit. She was crawling across the pavement and was favoring one of her legs. X could tell she was injured and at her pace she likely wouldn’t escape her monsters.

HELLLLP! SOMEBODY PLEASE!

Sephiroth X - No... no not now! I've got to find Catrina, I don’t have time for this!

*X turned in mid air and circled around the area of the screaming woman one more time as he continued to hear her screams. In the back of his mind, two thoughts fought each other. He knew Catrina's time was limited, eventually Valtiel's monsters would find her... if not Valtiel himself... and X didn’t have time to get sidetracked. On the other hand he remembered specifically what he said to Catrina, how this was all his fault because he neglected his duty that came with the power that had been bestowed upon him from the Element, and he wondered if avoiding helping others to save his own love would be just like neglecting Valtiel. X hovered in mid-air for a moment, his face expressing obvious frustration, as he sorted out his own thoughts. After a few moments he gripped the Masamune tightly and flew downwards to the aid of the woman.

*The woman crawled and even tried to get up and run again, but the pain from her severely sprained ankle made her crumble like a house of cards back to the pavement. She looked over her shoulder and let out another final plea for help as the horrid monsters closed in on her. Tears began rolling down her face as her dreadful fate crept closer and closer, one of the monsters getting close enough to drool on her with its deformed hole of a mouth. Before one of the monsters could touch her however, the sound of something descending from above made the two monsters' heads jerk upwards. Then while one monster's head looked up the bladed edge of the Masamune sliced down into it as a blood wrenching scream came from the creature before it collapsed and died. Sephiroth X pulled the Masamune from the first monster, spun towards the second monster and promptly slashed through the second monster cleaving it entirely in half. Blood dripped off of the Masamune onto the rusty and flesh covered pavement as the woman gawked silently at what she just saw. Then the dimly glowing mako eyes of Sephiroth X looked down at the woman as he offered her a hand to help her up.

Sephiroth X - Can you walk?

Woman - I... I...

Sephiroth X - I said can you walk?

Woman - My... my ankle its hurt... I sprained it or something.

Sephiroth X - How fast can you move on one leg then?

*The woman reached out and grabbed his hand and slowly got up, keeping pressure off her bad ankle.

Woman - I'm... not sure...

Sephiroth X - There aren’t any other creatures for about another 50 yards or so from here judging from what I could see up top. The Midgar border is a couple hundred yards that way.

*Seph pointed west in the direction he flew in from.

Sephiroth X - If you go now you should make it. Stay in the larger streets and if you find others then stay in a group. You'll be able to defend yourself better and these monsters seem to be lurking in the more enclosed alleyways. Go now.

*Seph took a few steps away and turned away from the woman as he prepared to take flight again.

Woman - Thank you so much sir! Thank you!

*She took a moment to look at him again, this time tilting her head slightly.

Woman - Wait! You! You're that guy from the TV... that Super City Element of Prosperity guy right! You're the Warrior of Prosperity!

*X paused for a moment at her words and he locked eyes with her for a brief moment.

Sephiroth X - Yes I am... some hero I turned out to be...

*X looked back up to the dark sky and shot upwards in flight.

*As he flew through the skies again he kept his eyes focused on the city below trying to recognize familiar landmarks that would pinpoint where he left Catrina. With all of the changes that Midgar had undergone recognizing anything was a near impossibility for Seph, all of the rusted and fleshy buildings were mere shells of their former selves. The only thing X could really rely on as a guide were the small patches of Midgar that weren’t completely transformed yet, small patches had avoided the black rain and still held their original form. However, rain was still falling in certain areas of Midgar and it seemed probable that in mere moments anything left of the original Midgar would be lost for good.

*X ascended upwards a little ways so that he could survey a greater area of Midgar at once. He knew time was running out on him and he would need to maximize every advantage he might have had. X kept flying upwards to the point where the black rain clouds themselves were only a couple dozen yards above him and finally halted and hovered in mid air observing a massive amount of Midgar. As his eyes panned around the fog that fell upon the city began to thicken more and more ever passing second, slowly nearing the point where nothing could be seen beyond the buildings that protruded up from the fog.

*A quiet whoosh caught Sephiroth X's ear.

*X's eyes broke their gaze on Midgar below and he quickly eyed his immediate surroundings. Another whooshing sound came from the area behind Seph, this time in closer proximity. Seph looked over his shoulder, once again seeing nothing. A few seconds later the fluttering sound of wings could be heard in the dark clouds above him, X immediately looked upwards into the darkness at the source of the sound. He wondered if somehow a bird or something had survived the entire ordeal and was flying upwards to safety.

KRRAAAAAW!

*Suddenly a large red hawk like bird shot down towards Seph from the black clouds. The monster was comparable to Sephiroth X in size and the creature looked to be made almost entirely of human blood, the exception being long metallic talons and teeth. It already had its talons extended towards Seph as it flew downwards at him and Seph barely was able to grab at its feet and force them out of the way of his torso. The force of the creature's impact sent both of them tumbling downward to the city. As X tried to hold the birds legs he could feel his fingers begin slipping through the creature's blood like structure and as he lost grip the bird slashed at him with one of his talons cutting through one of the sleeves of X's coat. Reactively X spun in mid-air and slashed at the 'blood bird', the monster screamed as X's blade cut up between its legs and all the way up through its legs. Seph floated down a little ways creating a slight buffer of distance between he and the creature, and he then watched as the two halves of the bird floated away from each other. Instead of falling limp to the city below, however, the two halves began to bubble and grow bigger as they both took the size of the original bird. Two identical bird like howls filled the air as appendages shot out from each of the two blobs of blood, which became two identical copies of the original blood bird. Both monsters hovered in place and flashed their talons and teeth at X.

Sephiroth X - Great, first everyone but me gets this ridiculously fast healing crap and now these suns-a-bitches just split into two when I slash at them.

*The two birds began grinding their talons and showing their teeth a little more as they slowly drifted closer to X.

Sephiroth X - Now might be a good time to run.

*X spun around and bolted through the air down towards the foggy Midgar below, the two blood birds let out high-pitched screams as they folded their wings back and darted after him in pursuit. Seph looked over his shoulder for a moment to see the two creatures gaining on him, then as his green eyes illuminated for a moment he pressed his arms against the sides of his body and increased his own rate of descent. The blood red monsters continued to gain on Seph however and they both reached out their legs towards him with their talons fully extended. X sensed the impending danger closing in on him and reactively threw his body into a corkscrew spin. Seph quickly threw one leg out away from his body during his spin and his shin slammed into and through the head of one of the creatures. There was a abrupt 'kraw' from the creature as hit slowed its pursuit. X could see that the creature was only reforming its head, indicating that the blow he delivered wasn’t critical enough to prompt another splitting of the creature.

*The second monster slashed at Seph with one of his talons and barely missed. X stabilized himself out of the corkscrew spin and continued flying downwards hoping to put some distance between the monster and himself. The headless blood bird regenerated its decimated appendage and roared again as it shot downwards to help its demonic partner against X. Seph put a brief bit of distance between himself and the first monster, a gap that was slowly closing again as the monster adapted to Seph's speed.

Sephiroth X - Cant slash these things... non-critical attacks stun them but don’t stop them... these things need to be hit with something that hits everything at once... some kind of all or nothing attack.

*X looked down into the foggy Midgar trying to find anything he could use against these things. The second monster was quickly closing in to help the first one, whom was diving in to attack Seph once again. Then as the streets of Midgar grew closer Seph saw something he could use to his advantage, a large tanker truck.

Sephiroth X - That has to be one of the fuel convoys that come to Midgar for transports that cross the Desert... that things should be loaded with fuel.

*Sephiroth X altered his line of descent and flew directly at the tanker parked on the Midgar street. He utilized a little bit more of his energy to put distance between himself and the blood birds, but then he intentionally began slowing himself down. He glanced behind him to see the two creatures gaining ground on him... taking the bait. Seph gripped the Masamune with both hands as the tanker came closer and closer. Both creatures opened their jaws and reached out with their teeth hoping to sink them into the flesh of Seph. X continued flying downwards and the tanker was closing in fast, then as Seph reached the tanker at high speed he spun in mid air and swung the Masamune at the two monsters. His blade intentionally missed them but they flapped their wings and had to hover in place to avoid the attack, the very reaction Seph wanted. X continued his spinning motion and kept the Masamune extended outward, with a second burst of energy he turned and slashed the blade directly through the metal hull of the fuel tanker. Sparks flew off the Masamune as it sliced though the hull's metal and set fire to the fuel inside resulting in an emphatic explosion that shattered windows of nearby buildings and sent a ball of fire shooting out in all directions from the tanker. The flames from the explosion engulfed the two crimson birds entirely as they let out desperate final screams before going silent while the force of the explosion sent X slamming into the side of one of the nearby buildings.

*After colliding with the brick siding of the building Sephiroth X landed on the sidewalk and promptly brought himself up to one knee and looked back at the remnants of the tanker. Fierce fire roared from the tanker while black smoke rose up into the equally black clouds above. Seph stood up and walked back up to the tanker to inspect the area and see if his monstrous attackers had somehow survived the flames. As he walked closer he saw a couple of strange shapes protruding out of the debris the tanker, and as he kicked some of the spare debris he found the two creatures. However they were now entirely different then what they were a few moments ago, they were now made entirely of stone and preserved in their final moment before the explosion. Seph cautiously kicked them lightly and then smirked a little bit.

Sephiroth X - Blood-Goyles? Nice...

*Seph then slashed the Masamune through the two statues, the BloodGoyles fell apart and shattered into bits of concrete. X then looked around at the buildings, there were a couple of broken down apartments around here and the roads weren’t in the greatest of shape. Seph new that given the hellish transformation these visual observations weren’t much to go off of, but he figured he had flown into the slums that Catrina may have been in. X launched himself back up into the air and hovered at rooftop level trying to see anything familiar.

Sephiroth X - Come on Catrina... where are you!

*He slowly rotated in the air observing everything around him but was still struggling to find the building he left Catrina in. From what he was hearing he could tell he was in those same slums however, the screams of survivors were noticeably more distant then before meaning he had entered a more barren area.

Sephiroth X - Concentrate X... you know she's near here... Focus!

*X closed his eyes and tried to sharpen his sixth sense. His power was rendered basically useless in Midgar now thanks to the overwhelming energy of Valtiel and now with this transformation everything exponentially reflected that same energy. Seph only hoped he could focus enough to pinpoint someone in close proximity. As he continued to focus it felt like the world around him became silent and his mind seemed to slip into a near tunnel vision like sense of focus as he didn’t let any other thoughts run through his mind. His sixth sense scanned the area and was barely piercing through the energy of Valtiel, and X could sense nothing. Determined to find her, dead or alive, he scanned his immediate area again with even more focus.

Sephiroth X - THERE!

*He did it, he found something. It was her and he knew it, she gave off a familiar aura of energy that resembled Seph's own energy. X's eyes shot open and his sixth sense painted a trail to her to the point were it almost felt like his eyes left his body and zoomed in on her location. For a split second X could see the building he left Catrina in, he saw a building that was transforming into a corroded version of its former self and was being swarmed with monsters. And from the building he heard one word get yelled out with such emphasis it resonated through X's sixth sense right into his mind.

Catrina - HELLLP!

*The scream shook Seph right out of his focus and prompted him to turn in the direction of Catrina's building. Without hesitation X's eyes flared a vivid green color and with explosive force X flew towards
Catrina, flying clear through one building in the process.

- - - - - - - - - -

*Inside of the abandoned building, Catrina was on the second floor looking down the stairwell that lead to the main level. The walls of the building were shaking as she knew monsters were trying to break in and she was trying not to panic. She could hear the front door of the building being pounded open and slipped on a pair of black gloves while she stood in a battle ready stance preparing to fight for her life.

*After a few moments she could hear the door break off of its hinges. Footsteps and growls filled the first floor as creatures searched for the living being they could probably smell. A couple of seconds passed before Catrina saw something reach the base of the stairs and look upwards to her, it was a disturbing creature, its head was dismembered from its torso and was being supported by 4 rusty poles that protruded out from its body. The creature's arms and legs looked like they were cut off at the shoulders and knees, and replacing the lower halves of its appendages were large sharp weapon like blades. The monster hissed as it saw Catrina at the top of the stairs and then with its sharp tipped legs ran up the stairs after her. As the monster neared the top of the stairs it leapt into the air extending all four of its blades at her, Catrina jumped straight up a few feet as the monster neared and kicked the monster in the face. The momentum of the bladed monster kept it coming closer to her while its face stayed firmly pressed against the soul of her shoe and then as Catrina landed back on the floor she crushed the head of the monster with a sickening crunch. The impact alerted the rest of the monsters to her presence and at the base of the stairs another one of the balding pale monsters she encountered earlier appeared, it roared and sprinted up after her. Catrina looked down at the body of the bladed monster and stepped on the arm joint of the corpse forcing the blade to separate from the arm. She scooped up the weapon with one hand and stabbed the monster in the chest. It howled in pain as it tried to pull out the metal weapon but was quickly silenced as Catrina drove the palm of her fist up into the creatures jaw, shattering its jaw and sending it tumbling down the stairs. Catrina immediately heard a couple of windows shatter in one of the adjacent second floor rooms, two monsters quickly charged out of that room in pursuit of her and Catrina held them at bay with a series of quick kicks and punches before she back flipped into another room into the second floor. After promptly slamming and locking the door to the room Catrina heard the monsters pound on it trying to break through. She kept her eyes focused on the door waiting for it to eventually break under stress. The floor rattled for a moment below her and suddenly a long rusty blade shot up through the floorboards in front of her, a blade similar to the ones used by the knife-arm monster she just killed. Catrina screamed for a second and took a few steps back. Another blade shot up through the floor just as the first one started slipping down again. A third knife stabbed up at her again, this time even closer then the first two. Faster and faster the knives kept lunging up after her and Catrina quickly figured that another one of those bladed monsters was crawling on the ceiling below. Catrina kept avoiding the blades as fast as she good before one of the blades sliced up and scraped the side of her calf cutting into it a little ways. Catrina cringed for a moment and fell down to one knee quickly grabbing onto her injured leg, just as this happened the monsters on the second floor broke through the door and rushed in to attack her. Catrina quickly tried to get her self back to her feet however just as the monsters got a few steps into the room the floor lost its stability due to all the cutting through it. The floor of the room collapsed completely and Catrina, both the monsters, and the bladed creature on the ceiling below, came crashing down onto the first floor.

*Dust filled the room for a few moments and then started to settle. Catrina was the first one to try and stand, she got up onto her knees and saw the two monsters from the second floor laying there looking unconscious. On the other side of her was the bladed monster that was stabbing at her through the floor, one of its blades had a few drops of her blood on it while another one of its knives got stuck in the floor during the fall just a few inches away from where her head rested on the ground. Catrina coughed a couple of times due to the dust as she rested on her knees for a moment, she looked at her leg for a moment to observe her wound.

Catrina - This shouldn’t be too bad, I can still walk at least...

*Just as she tried to get up onto her feet, the bladed monster sprung back to life and rolled over onto Catrina pinning her down onto the floor. The monster let out another hissing sound as it raised one of his blade appendages up above her neck. Catrina tried to force the monster off of her but the strength it was exerting was too much for her. She was pinned down, and in a last effort she screamed out.

Catrina - HELLLP!

*The bladed creature growled at her and raised its weapon preparing to slash down and kill her, then the wall of the building next to them both blasted apart as a silver haired blur flew through the debris and kicked the bladed monster off of Catrina and into one of the other walls. As the dust settled Sephiroth X stood above Catrina with the Masamune raised.

Catrina - Well it took you long enough!

Sephiroth X - Didn’t I tell you to stay on the second floor?

*The bladed monster roared and leapt at Sephiroth X with one of its weapons extended out to impale him. X spun the Masamune twice with blurring speed, the first spin deflected the enemy blade away while the second sliced its arm completely off. The creatures screamed in pain so loud that it brought the two creatures on the ground out of unconsciousness as well as attract the other monsters that were outside of the building.

Catrina - Well the second floor wasn’t much of an option very long.

*Sephiroth X extended a hand to Catrina and quickly helped her up.

Sephiroth X - Hang on, we're getting out of here!

*Catrina quickly wrapped both her arms around Seph while he put his free arm around her. X then air dashed over the floor back through the hole he made in the building shouldering through a couple of monsters that were blocking his way. Seph took flight with Catrina in his arm immediately upon leaving the building and started flying directly towards the border of Midgar.

Catrina - You look like hell, Seph.

*She looked into his eyes for a moment, she could tell he was troubled.

Catrina - You couldn’t beat Valtiel... could you..?

*Seph didn’t respond, me made eye contact with her for a split second before focusing on the distant Midgar border.

*In the sky above them, Seph and Catrina could hear the 'kraw' of BloodGoyles. They both looked upwards for a moment and a half dozen of them began descending from the black clouds above them in pursuit.

Sephiroth X - Hang on tight.

*Seph lowered his altitude and flew in-between buildings for a few moments before turning onto a large road that was littered with buildings. Seph quickly determined that this had to be one of the major highways Midgar had and that he could follow this right out of the city. X's eyes glowed for a moment as he channeled more of his energy and with a sudden burst of force his flight speed doubled as he flew just yards above the highways pavement.

*Catrina held on tight and kept an eye over Seph's shoulder as he kept track of the BloodGoyles that were in pursuit of them. She could see that all of them still gaining ground and even saw one BloodGoyle slam right through the pole of a streetlight, split in two, and form two new BloodGoyles.

Catrina – Seph they’re gaining on us.

[Sephiroth X]

*Seph looked over his shoulder for a moment to confirm it, then as he looked ahead of him again his eyes illuminated fiercely bright and his flying kicked into a higher gear as he flew over the streets of Midgar. The BloodGoyles grew more distant from the two of them, but they quickly compensated to catch up. After a few moments Seph exerted even more energy as he caused a sonic boom right in the streets of Midgar sending cars flipping up onto the sidewalk and shattering all of the windows within reasonable distance. Seph’s eyes were constantly glowing at this point as he ripped through the sound barrier and wrecked anything that was in the streets because of his wake… he was determined like hell to get out of there. Somehow the BloodGoyles were keeping up with them, but at this point Seph could see the border of Midgar closing in fast and could even see the light of a rising sun. X turned to check on the BloodGoyles again and he saw hoards of debris in his wake and the BloodGoyles were mixed in with it, but then he saw something that quickly perplexed him… the BloodGoyles very abruptly stopped their pursuit. X immediately turned to look in front of him again and saw that on the side of the road immediately in front of him was another one of the large fuel tankers like before, and sitting on top of the tank was one of those blade monsters. He saw the creature cut open a hole on top of the tanker and then quickly grind his two blade arms against each other creating a series of sparks that ignited the fuel.

*X and Catrina were right beside the tanker as it exploded, and the force of the explosion jarred Catrina from X’s arms and they both helplessly flew further down the highway. Their momentum carried them far enough that they landed right at the border of Midgar, Catrina landed first and Seph landed a few dozen yards further out from the border a few moments later. The two of them both staggered to their feet and turned to face each other and immediately ran to each other.

Sephiroth X – Hurry Catrina lets go!

Catrina – I’m coming let’s get away from-

*Just as the two of them were almost within arms reach of each other they both slammed into something that sent them backwards away from each other and crashing to the ground. They both got up again and quickly got close to each other again and they both could feel some kind of force repelling them. As they both pressed their hands up against this invisible force suddenly a large semi transparent wall of crimson energy appeared in between them, with images of skulls and demons floating through the field.

Sephiroth X – What the hell..!? No .. no no NO NO NO!

Catrina – It’s Valtiel… he did this.

*A tone of scared frustration overcame Seph’s voice.

Sephiroth X – No this wasn’t here before! When I fought Valtiel he threw me clear out of the city further away from this! There’s no way this wall was here a little while ago and survivors have been fleeing since and this didn’t stop them!

Catrina – He… he must have done this just to us.

Sephiroth X – No we can get you out of here!

*He punched against the wall of energy, all the wall did was glow brighter around the area he punched it and the wall rippled with energy.

Catrina – Seph…

Sephiroth X – No!

*X punched the wall a couple more times tying to make it give.

Catrina – SEPH!

*Seph stopped slowly, looking into Catrina’s eyes with a saddened terror. Catrina spoke with a grim tone.

Catrina – We both aren’t leaving here right now, Seph…

Sephiroth X – No! I’m NOT leaving you here Catrina!

Catrina – SEPH! Valtiel could be on his way here right now for all we know and if that happens then we both die!

*Seph punched the wall once in frustration and his voice was shaking at this point from terror.

Sephiroth X – I’m not leaving you here in this city Catrina! No… Not after getting this close…

Catrina – You’re going to have to Seph! There is no other choice right now!

Sephiroth X – I… I cant…

Catrina – You have to! You need to get out of here… get away! You need to go find others so that you can stop Valtiel! You’re the Warrior of Prosperity Seph… You’re too important to die now, even for me, do you understand!

*Seph stayed quiet.

Catrina – I will hide out in the city as long as I can… I have a plan.

Sephiroth X – What…?

Catrina – That black rain that polluted everything, it didn’t have an effect on me at all but had an effect on everyone around me. And unlike you or some of the others like you, I’m just a normal human… I might be able to distract Valtiel for a while or something because of that.

Sephiroth X - …

Catrina – And if all else fails… I was resurrected through the Element of Prosperity… that will surely get his attention.

Sephiroth X – I… I don’t want to leave you Catrina…

Catrina – I know Seph… I don’t want to leave you either…

*The two of them pressed both their hands against the crimson wall as they tried to hold each other’s hands.

Sephiroth X – I love you, Catrina.

Catrina – And I love you too, Sephiroth X… Never forget that.

*There were a few moments of silence as they gazed into each other’s eyes one final time. Then Catrina slowly turned around and began cautiously walking back towards Midgar, Sephiroth didn’t move at all as he kept his eyes locked on her.

Sephiroth X – I will get you out of here alive Catrina, I promise!

*Catrina stopped where she was and stood there for a moment before slowly turning to look at him one more time.

Catrina – Just don’t make promises that you can’t keep…

*Catrina turned away from him again and continued walking, Seph stood there watching the entire time. As the sun rose behind Sephiroth X behind him in the Desert of the Dead, Catrina vanished into the fog of Midgar and could not be seen or heard… she was gone. Seph continued standing there, motionless as everything that just happened began to finally sink in. Within moments tears welled in his eyes and Seph broke into tears as leaned against the crimson wall and slid down to his knees crying.

*He let everyone down, he felt like a total failure and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong… Dark Crono was alive and just as strong as he… Valtiel transformed Midgar into an utter form of hell that Seph thought he escaped long ago… thousands upon thousands had died within the hour or so and the survivors were left in a hell that nobody should suffer through… and after getting so close to escaping… he lost his true love in the process and sat there and had to watch Catrina vanish back into the darkness… and all of this happened on his watch.

Sephiroth X – No…. no no no… NO NO NO NO!

*As tears rolled down his face he exploded with anger and slammed fist after fist against the crimson wall from his knees. He punched so hard that his fists began to ache and then started slashing the Masamune against it in a blind rage. Punch after punch and slash after slash… the wall didn’t give a single bit and Seph dropped the Masamune to his side and looked up to the sky screaming.

Sephiroth X – NOOOO! GOD DAMNIT NO!

*Seph let out a hellish battle cry as his eyes exploded into a green color so bright that it lit the immediate area around him. As his eyes stayed glowing he unleashed a flurry of punches at the wall again as his anger and frustration reached its ultimate boiling point. Each punch seemed to just exponentially increase his level of anger to the point where not only were his eyes glowing but his entire body gave off a green aura around him. His body became brighter and brighter and he became increasingly filled with hate, his arms and hands were in excruciating pain but he didn’t even seem to care.

Sephiroth X – WHAT DID I DO WRONG!? WHY WASN’T I STRONG ENOUGH! WHHHYY!! NOOOOO!

*Seph pulled back and let one final emphatic punch slam into the crimson wall, as he did this his body finally reached its breaking point and his muscles gave way and his entire body relaxed on him. X fell to his side on his knees as he passed out, as he fell to the ground the glow of his eyes and body momentarily faded from its bright green color to a pitch-black color before fading away entirely. Sephiroth X slammed on his side against the ground totally unconscious from the loss of energy, and there he laid as the Desert’s sun rose behind him… totally broken and defeated.

[ZaCloud]

Jack’s bike swung like a pendulum as he dodged creature after creature on the ruined streets, or avoided rifts and unstable bridges of chain-link fence. It was a precarious operation which took all of his concentration to accomplish, at the highest speed he dared reach.

Zack did his best to support both of them by hitting creatures away with the broad side of his sword or kicking with his feet; they had enough to worry about without having chunks torn out of them by foul fangs, or having the tires or gas tank punctured by claws. At the same time, he did not aim to kill any of them if he could help it.

But then the strikingly horrid-looking demons began diving from the sky at them. Zack partially stood on the back of the bike, balanced carefully, trying to strike the creatures away. He managed to succeed at cutting a great deal of them down or wounding their wings to the point where they could no longer fly. But one more came from behind and to the right, sweeping down with its claws and snagging Zack by the cape, pulling him from the bike and into the air.

Jack did not notice yet, his concentration on the road, having faith that Claude would keep all other distractions away…

“Ack! Let go! Let go!” Zack squealed, kicking his legs around. He was too far down to hit the creature with Fenrir; it had only the tip of the cape in its claws. After a few moments, it began to hover. Zack still struggled, then happened to look down.

They were hundreds of feet in the air.

“I mean DON’T let go! DON’T let go!” he bawled out, twisting and waving his arms. He managed with great difficulty to sheathe Fenrir over Fjalar despite the cape’s angle pulling at both blades. Then he worked to quickly climb the cape, pulling himself toward the creature.

It opened its claws.

“OH SHI—“

Zack clutched upward desperately, and managed to precariously grasp the leathery, bony tip of the creature’s wing on the downstroke. The creature was pulled down with Zack into a spiraling fall.

The boy climbed up the wing, at times climbing down, at times crawling sideways, as they tumbled toward the earth. He finally leaped and landed spread-eagled on the creature’s belly. It rapidly flapped its wings to regain altitude, managing to just avoid the top of a building.

Panting with relief yet renewed tension, Zack clung on for dear life. But the creature did not enjoy having a passenger, so it flew toward the wall of a skyscraper and began flying upward, trying to scratch the Strife off of its belly.

It was far too high off the ground for Zack to safely let go, so he clung on, his swords creating sparks after much of the cape was worn away.

Angered, the creature then went into a dive again. Zack wondered if it was willing to kill itself just to kill him. But at the last moment, it drew its wings up over its back and went into a belly-flop posture.

“CRAP!!!” Zack exclaimed, shoving off to the side and rolling onto the creature’s back. He tried to stand on it, but only managed a half-kneel before the demon splattered with a sickening crunch into the ground. The impact jarred Zack severely, his backbone compressing, his hip rattling, his head snapping up and down, and his diaphragm jarring to the point where his wind was knocked out. He collapsed half-curled next to the creature, his mouth gaped open and eyes wide and glazed.

Then he slowly brought his hands to his forehead, trying to breathe, using one leg to partially roll in a rocking motion back and forth in a silent expression of pain and shock. When he finally could gasp in some air, he cried out inbetween, trying to curl up but finding that hurt his back, trying to feel his back but finding that hurt his neck, trying to massage his neck and finding that hurt his ribs. His head throbbed and his vision blurred.

Slowly, he forced himself to start getting up and twist his body around. Cringing and loudly sighing, he felt his vertebrae popping back into place with each movement. With these each came both sharp pain and widespread relief, as the pinched nerves were released. But they were bruised from the crushing, and would probably continue to hurt for days.

Finding no actual joints out of place and no bones broken, Zack forced himself gingerly to his feet, still dizzy and beyond sore. Already, creatures were closing in on him. He glanced around. It was still too misty to really know where he was, and he had no idea where Jack was at this point. Either way, he had to get out of there.

“Shit…” he muttered, his eyes narrowed. He drew Fenrir again, and plunged toward what he hoped was the edge of Midgar, teeth gritted in pain but pushing it to the back of his mind as well as he could; he would have worse than pain if he was caught by any of these things.

As they leaped at him, he struck them back, rolled around them in a diving dodge, and jumped over them, making a mad dash for freedom.

Many began to give up on the chase, but a few persisted as Zack neared the outer border. He turned and struck them back, but they kept coming, the blunt force not enough to deter them.

“Damn it… I’m sorry,” Zack growled, shifting Fenrir’s position in his hands so the sharp side now faced the creatures. One leaped at him again, and he swung horizontally, tearing through its legs, severing one and nearly doing so to the other. The remainder of the bone within snapped as the creature landed, and it fell onto its belly with a squeal.

Zack sidestepped away from it and crippled several more as they went for him. However, after he had taken down another, he felt something grip his ankle. He glanced down to see one of the maimed ones had crawled up to him, and was about to sink its teeth into his leg.

“Damn!” Zack cried out, feeling terrible as he chopped off the creature’s arms as well. It screamed and rolled on the ground. Several more were already approaching Zack as it had. And then the handless one began crawling toward him again on its bleeding stumps.

Zack looked at them all with growing despair. What if they could be changed back to normal if Valtiel were defeated? What if one of them used to be the young woman he’d talked to on his first day at Midgar whom he had thought was good-looking? What if one of them was the kind old man who had returned his greeting on the street with pleasant surprise? Or the homeless man he had bought burgers for? Or one of his mercenary co-workers? Or an innocent child?

But what if they followed him out of Midgar and killed the few survivors out there?

“Shit… shit…” his eyes began to tear up. He squeezed them shut. Then they opened once more at a darker tone, narrowed and determined.

He hew each of their heads in half as they got near him, splattering foul liquids, solids, and in-betweens in all directions at each strike. Three remained and retreated rather than fall to the same fate.

Zack turned away, eyes closed tightly again, standing in place for a moment. Then he opened his eyes again and ran the rest of the way out of the city limits of Midgar, panting openly, on the verge of tears from both remorse and worry. He looked back and forth. No sign of anyone in his immediate area. Not Jack, not Bax, nobody else. True, Midgar was very large, so anyone could be anywhere.

But he needed to see someone, anyone, to know that some people made it out, to know that things might be alright, at least a little…

“Damn it… Jack? JACK?! JAAAAAAACK?!?!?!” He waited. No reply. In the darkness overhead he could see nothing.

It had been his duty to stay with Jack if he could not stay with Bax… he had failed them both now. Bax had tried to tell him not to blame himself for everything, but how could he have let himself be torn from Jack’s side? He felt sick. If anything would happen to Jack… to Bax… to Sephiroth…

“Jeez, what happened… what happened…” He looked at the ruined city, slowly shaking his head. “Everything… everybody… Finally found this and now… it’s all ruined… all destroyed…” He then squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head harder, before hissing and cringing at the pain in his neck. He held his hand to his forehead. “No, can’t say that, maybe it’ll all be fine if we kick Valtiel’s butt, that’s all! Gotta focus on that!”

He straightened and looked toward the city again, smirking and clenching his fist outward. “Alright you, you better watch out, cuz we’re gonna….”

He trailed off, and looked off to his right. He thought he heard something. It was extremely faint, muffling itself with reverb as well as from far distance. But he definitely heard something. Some kind of screaming and impacts. It was definitely a forlorn sound from what little he could catch. His heart quickened in pace. A tad bit of hope, in hearing another life form out here. But mostly vast concern over the state of whoever it was.

He began to walk in the general direction of the noise. Then jog. Then run despite the pain along his body. It would take him quite a while to get to wherever the sounds were, but that was all the more reason for him to hurry.

“I hope it’s not Jack in trouble… Jeez, if he… I’ll never…No! Whoever it is, I’ll get there in time, and Jack’ll be fine! He’s tough, I know he can do it… Whoever you are, hang on!”

[Shadow Phoenix]

OoC: So I know that we have already technically moved on from this point, but I will try to move through this as rapidly as possible. If I don’t get all this in, what happens next won’t make much sense.

To save you the trouble of reading back, what last happened on my end (about 6 months ago) was that Bax parted ways with Zack and Jack and turned to a sea of the “zombies,” leaping over them so that he could find his own motorcycle at the old gym—better transportation so that he wouldn’t have to expend energy flying around. And from there, he’s headed to the center of the city to find Valtiel. In the mean time, Black Spider was busy trying to save citizens and ran into one person slowly walking further into the city. They tangled and Black Spider was beaten and sent flying out of the city (much like Valtiel did to Sephiroth X). We now join Bax in the action already in progress…like, 6 months ago.

IC:

Bax raised his right arm and slammed his elbow into the face of one of the pitiful transformed creatures, trying to attack him from behind. The creature recoiled and fell to the ground, its face covered in its own black blood, leaking from its shattered nose. Bax swiveled his left sword around so that the flat of the sword was in the normal attacking position. He growled and swung the sword in a full arc in front of him, carrying over to the side. With the movement, he took out a whole row of the zombies, knocking them away without harming them. After Zack’s concern earlier, he couldn’t bring himself to out and out kill these people—or former people, as it were. So he had been making his way through the city, trying to incapacitate these people as he ran into them. It had slowed him down, but he had managed to work his way this far without killing or maiming any former people he ran into. The demonic creatures that were the spawn of Valtiel’s hellish nightmare, however, he slew without remorse.

Bax took a quick look around him and noted that he had driven all of these minions of hell away from him. Those that had attacked him in this area had been knocked away and crept back to the shadows. The others that stood watching remained where they were, eyeing him carefully. Bax too a deep breath and sheathed his swords. He ran down the rest of the street and turned left at the corner.

Before him, he saw what…looked like it had been the gym where he had lived and trained for a while. That was before Lynx came and took him to Nibelheim. Even though it hadn’t been too long since he had been her, it felt like forever. But even though he wanted to wax nostalgic for a moment, he couldn’t. The gym had been transformed into just another part of this hell. It rose from the ground, bloody flesh and blisters mixing with the old wood and metal to create an eyesore. Bax shuddered as he looked at it. He just hoped that the motorcycle he had bought had not been transformed.

He strode across the street to the gym, his eyes ever watchful for zombies.

A high-pitched squeal shook him from his trip, and he remembered that the skies were not safe either. He wrenched his head up and saw one of those hideous flying gargoyles dive-bombing towards him. He leaned back and let his feet slip out from under him. The gargoyle’s claws passed narrowly over his descending head. Bax arched his back and flipped himself upside down. He clamped his legs around the gargoyle and slammed it into the ground as he righted himself again. In a quick motion, he unsheathed his sword and stabbed it cleanly through the gargoyle’s head, decapitating it.

Bax looked around him and then up again. A few hellish creatures were circling above, but none were making any movements to descend. And there were a few movements in the shadows, but nothing emerged. Satisfied, Bax walked the rest of the way to the gym and entered through an open…door. If you could call it that.

The inside looked a little bit more normal than the outside. The walls were a little bit more rusted and decrepit than they had been the last time he had seen them. The lights were no longer working, so it was too dark to make anything out for sure, but it looked like the floor was…moving. Bax gulped and kept his eyes up, trying not to think about it.

If he remembered correctly, he had left his bike in a storage room adjacent to the basketball court where he had done most of his training. He walked into the court. It was pitch black, save for the small patch of light around Bax from his flame. Since the sun was blotted out in this nightmare, it was impossible to see a thing. Bax took a few steps in and then raised his hand and created a small fireball in his hand to serve as a torch.

As dim light spread throughout the room, Bax heard a groan-growl. He stopped in his tracks and stopped breathing. He slowly intensified the flame in his hand to increase the light. And then he wished he hadn’t.

About 20 feet away from him, something low to the ground crept around. Bax peered through the darkness and saw what looked like a dog. From this distance, it looked like skin was hanging off of it. Bax looked around and saw two more a little bit closer. How many were in here? Bax gulped and threw a large flame up towards the ceiling, and four more to hang over the four basketball hoops. The room suddenly lit up with these torches.

Bax froze. Only his eyes moved as he took in what was around him. More than a dozen dogs strode around him. But these things weren’t dogs. About half of them appeared to be half-starved canines with yellow-greenish-brown skin hanging loosely from them and tufts of hair growing in a few places. Long blood-red tongues hung limply from their mouths, and they roamed around, growling and making sniffing noises. The other half looked like they had been burned, but their heads were…covered with something that was writhing about. Like…worms.

“Shit,” Bax cursed.

One of the Wormheads close to Bax stopped and lifted its head. It snarled and all of the other dogs began growling and groaning as well. They all turned towards Bax and slowly began walking in a circle around him. Preparing to strike.

Bax lifted his hands to his swords and drew them out quickly, just as two Sniffers and one Wormhead broke from the circle and ran with lightning agility towards him. He sliced the Valermos directly through the Sniffer to his right as it leapt into the air, and the two halves of its body fell to the ground. He used the momentum from this strike to spin and stabbed the Diroxauralis down through the head of the Wormhead that was about to latch onto his leg. It howled and writhed around beneath the blade as it was pinned to the ground. The last Sniffer was too quick, though, and it leapt up in front of him as both of his blades were out of striking distance. Its paws struck his shoulders and it knocked him over onto his back. The Diroxauralis stayed stuck in the head of the writhing Wormhead and the Valermos clattered to the floor a few feet away.

The Sniffer slobbered all over Bax as it pinned him down. Its long tongue dragged across Bax’s neck and then stabbed into his chest. Bax grunted as he felt this thing try to vampirically attack him. Valtiel had a sick sense of what to keep as pets…

Bax snapped both of his hands around the sides of this dog and he erupted in flames, sending fire bathing over this creature of hell. The dog burst into flames and was nothing but ashes within a few seconds. Bax raised his hand to the wound on his chest and quickly cauterized it. He had to get to his feet before the rest of the dogs had a chance to attack.

Unfortunately, these dogs seemed to be fairly intelligent, and they all ran towards him as he scrambled up. Two Sniffers latched onto his legs and a Wormhead charged him, knocking him flat on his back again. The pack of dogs descended on him and he felt them all gnawing at him.

“Get off me!” Bax screamed. As blood began leaking from every one of his quickly multiplying wounds, Bax’s aura exploded, sending flames in all directions. All of the dogs were thrown away from him. Bax quickly got to his feet and saw them all flying and rolling away. They all got up quickly, too, however, not deterred in the slightest.

People were more predictable in battle, and were easier to fight. Animals, on the other hand, were harder to read. And these dogs hunted in a pack—they wouldn’t be satisfied until they had ripped Bax limb from limb.

Three Wormheads and two Sniffers launched into their mad dashes and Bax crouched down, withdrawing into a defensive position. With no weapons in his hands, he would have to improvise in melee combat. That didn’t seem like a good idea to begin with regarding these dogs, but he didn’t seem to have much of a choice.

Bax directed his right hand at a Wormhead approaching in front of him, and he blasted in with a concentrated fireball. It yelped as it was blown back across the gym. Bax turned and launched another attack at one of the Sniffers on his left. It narrowly dodged the blast, which hit the gym floor and exploded. Bax tried again, and missed yet again. Too late.

Bax took a quickstep backwards and lifted his left foot over the head of that same Sniffer. He viciously brought his foot down and snapped the back of the dog, which fell to the floor, screeching and writhing around. Bax leapt off of its back and spun around in the air, sending a large fireball towards the other three dogs that were now gathered right where Bax had been. Bax saw one of the Wormheads dodge out of the way, but the downed Sniffer, and a Sniffer and Wormhead were caught in the blast. Bax reached out his hands and molded the flames to envelop the dogs in a dome. They were mercilessly burned.

Which left, if Bax had kept track correctly, seven, one of which he had hopefully injured enough with that last blast.

The Wormhead who had dodged out swung around and ran towards Bax. Bax sidestepped its lunge, and they both turned on a dime. It leapt up for Bax’s jugular and Bax clamped his hands around the thing’s disgusting maw. He wrenched the creature’s jaws apart just as he felt a dog pounce on his back. He fell to the floor and tossed the Wormhead he had just killed to the side. The dog growled in his ear and lowered its tongue to scrape his cheek.

“Bastard,” Bax grunted as he wrenched his elbow backwards and knocked the dog off his back. A Wormhead nipped at his heels and Bax flailed backwards to get out of the way. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Wormhead who he had thought he just killed get up, its jaws limply hanging. The Sniffer he had just knocked away jumped to its feet and began running towards him. The two Wormheads also broke into gallops on either side of the Sniffer, and they broke off to come in for a pincer attack. Bax dodged backwards and began a backwards flip, kicking the Sniffer in the jaw and disrupting its advance. The Wormheads continued in. The one with the broken jaw clumsily leapt into the air. Bax righted himself vertically and grabbed the dog by the neck, slamming it into the other Wormhead. As they both flew to the side, Bax raised his hand and shot an inferno towards them, incinerating them.

Bax launched to the offensive and ran towards the Sniffer he had kicked. Once again, it had bounced back and was running towards him, joined by another Sniffer that looked a little charred. Bax knelt down and upended both dogs as they leapt over him. As he grabbed their undersides, they howled. He slammed them both into the ground. His hands glowed and they burst into flames.

Three more. The two Wormheads and one remaining Sniffer charged him and began to circle around him rapidly. A Wormhead broke from the tight circle and sunk its teeth into his right leg. Bax kicked and loosed the dog from his leg, then kicked it again in the head. At that very moment, both of the other dogs leapt towards him. Bax sunk down and delivered a fierce uppercut to the maw of the Sniffer. The Wormhead slammed its head into Bax’s stomach. Bax grunted as he lost his balance, but forced his hand onto the snout of the creature, unleashing a stream of fire into its body, sending into oblivion. Bax leapt back up as the remaining Wormhead lustily lumbered after him. Its writhing head twitched and it ran past him to attack from the back. Bax spun around to prepare for the attack, but noticed the Sniffer attacking from the opposite side at the same speed. Both dogs leapt up and Bax took a deep breath and plunged his fists into the mouths of both dogs. He grabbed the long tongue of the Sniffer and oozed his way into the Wormhead’s mouth. Both dogs bared their teeth around his arms, but Bax paid them no mind. With a brief flash of his eyes, he filled them both with flames, handily incinerating them.

Bax sighed and collapsed to his knees. He was bleeding profusely from over 20 nasty wounds. Something in the saliva of those minions of hell had slowed his usually fast regeneration. Bax felt weak and light-headed. He touched his fingers to a few of the more serious wounds and cauterized them manually to stop the bleeding. Damned dogs…

Bax couldn’t afford to waste any time, though. Even if he was feeling weak, the city was falling into more chaos by the minute. True, he would need to be at his full strength to even consider facing Valtiel, but he was probably growing stronger and stronger as the city claimed more victims.

After a necessary few minutes, Bax stood up and reclaimed his swords. Thankfully, the Wormhead he had left the Diroxauralis did not get up—it had met its end like its brethren. Bax sheathed the blades and walked slowly to the side room where he had left his motorcycle. He pushed open the doors and looked inside. The motorcycle was covered by a sheet, which he wrenched off.

The bike still looked great and in perfect working order. This would get him to his destination faster—and it wouldn’t tire him out so much. Bax removed his black leather trench coat and helmet from their place on a hat-stand and put them on. He got onto the back, kicked out the kick-stand and turned the keys. The engine roared to life and Bax grinned. Even through the pain and the misery of this chaos, adrenaline still coursed through his veins.

Now to find Sephiroth X…and Valtiel. Bax revved the engine and tore through the basketball court and out the doors of the building. He felt the concentration of Valtiel’s darkness and began riding towards it. It wouldn’t be long now.

[Shadow Phoenix]

While Bax fought the hideous dogs in the gym, the lone cloaked person continued to advance into the city, incinerating anyone or anything that got in the way. One of the citizens who had managed to survive the rain and the creatures that it had spawned sat huddling on the top floor of a building. He watched this strange figure, wondering why someone was going closer to the center of this hell rather than getting the hell out of town. The only reason that he hadn’t made a run for it was because he had twisted his ankle while getting away from a group of friends who had all transformed. It had been horrifying to see them all pitch to the ground and come up with bleeding sores covering their bodies. They turned on him and he ran. So why was this person walking so calmly?

“Hey…hey, you!” he stage-whispered, spitting his words out while trying to keep his voice down. “What the hell are you doing? You trying to get yourself killed? The edge of the city is the other way!”

The figure stopped and slowly turned around. He couldn’t see the face under the hood, but he could see glowing red eyes peeking out from under the cloth. It unnerved him and he crept back out of sight.

“Pitiful creature, get out while you still can. Your doom is assured, but maybe you can live a little while longer.”

The man looked around him. Where had that voice come from? There was no one else in the room with him, was there? He fumbled with his flashlight and quickly shined it all around him. No, there was no one else around. But…

He crept back to the window and looked down to see those red eyes staring straight into him.

“No, really, if you stay there, you will die. You’ll probably die anyway, but I’d get out while I still can.”

It was…them…

The man scrambled back from the window again and shook his head. They were in his head. Oh God! What the hell was happening in this city? To this whole damned world?

He ignored his twisted ankle and tore down the stairs. He had to get out while he still could.

The cloaked person turned back towards its destination and kept walking.

[Shadow Phoenix]

Bax screeched through the transformed streets of Midgar, skirting corners and tossing up puddles of black water in the faces of the zombies that he passed. He raced along towards the center of the city, moving as quickly as possible to avoid further confrontations. The dark winged creatures still flew overhead, though, and now and then, one or two would dive down to try and get a piece of him. Still, he hadn’t had too much trouble, and he had been riding steadily for 15 or 20 minutes. He was getting close. Real close.

Bax wrenched around another corner on the bike and squealed to a halt. Before him, two hulking misshapen beasts that looked like large blobs of flesh were moving down the street towards him. As they came, they picked up the transformed people and tossed them aside like dolls. Their arrival could only mean one thing. Bax was getting very close, and Valtiel…or Valtiel’s creation at least, was getting nervous and beginning to pull out more stops to stop him. Bax unsheathed one his Valermos and revved the engine. He deftly placed the sword across the bike and unsheathed the Diroxauralis. He crossed the swords and gunned the engine, speeding directly between the two hulking creatures.

They lumbered towards him. One picked up a zombified human and swung it by the legs, tossing it towards Bax. Bax grimaced. He didn’t want to kill the pawn, but he would be derailed if he didn’t do something. He gunned the engine and stood up carefully. He leapt off of the bike and then lifted his legs. Bax kicked up just as the zombie passed beneath him, sending it careening down and sending Bax shooting up and forward. He spun the blades around and mumbled a quick incantation. Bax’s eyes flashed red and sparks flew out of the swords as they erupted into flames. Bax spun both blades around to back-handed grips and stabbed them into the “heads” of these behemoths right as he passed in between them. He quickly let go of the swords and landed on the bike. He wobbled a little bit, but managed to find his balance. He spun the bike around and slammed on the brakes. The bike did a reverse pop-a-wheelie and nearly flipped over. But Bax stabilized himself and the motorcycle slammed down (probably jarring the suspension). The hulks grabbed their heads, bewildered by the sudden intrusion. Bax lowered his leg to keep his balance and snapped his fingers on both hands.

The Valermos and Diroxauralis glowed orange and red and the creatures were immolated, bathed in torrential flames. Bax sighed, held his hands up and whispered a few words. The blades passed through their targets and returned to Bax’s hands.

“All right, then, it is time to keep mov—”
Bax was suddenly wrenched off of his motorcycle by an unknown force. He turned his head and saw that a large red bird with metallic claws and beak had grasped his arms. But the thing looked like it was formed from…blood.
“Valtiel, you are a sick son of a bitch,” Bax breathed. He spun the swords around and cleaved the bird laterally in two. The metallic claws loosed and Bax began to fall to the ground. The bird screeched.

Bax looked downward to see where he would land. It looked like he had not been knocked too far off course. His bike was fairly close to him. Bax tucked himself in and prepared for his landing. He looked around and saw the focal point of the storm—a building just a few blocks away. Hundreds of winged creatures encircled the building. Bax could just barely make out a figure on the roof, waving his hands around as he surveyed the damage. Valtiel. He wouldn’t be enjoying this much longer. Bax took a deep breath and began to move himself around to control his landing.

Suddenly, he saw another one of the blood birds right in front of him, charging him. No—it was the same one. There had been no other creatures like this in the vicinity. Bax cursed and drew his Diroxauralis out of its sheath.

Another bird squawked behind him and Bax turned his head to see another one of the birds right behind him. What the hell? He brought the sword down and cleaved the bird in half. Then he turned to the bird approaching from the front. He raised the sword, but the bird was too quick, and it grasped the sword in its metallic claws. It flapped its wings and began to drive Bax towards the ground. It was going too fast!

As he descended, Bax caught a glimpse of the two halves of the other bird he had just slain. Much to his shock and horror, the two halves grew as they fell, and each became another distinct bird. What the hell were these things? He had started with just one, and now there were three. Should he remove the head?

Bax wrenched his Valermos out and slung it through the head of the blood-bird. Its head came cleanly off and Bax kicked out of its grip. He spun himself towards a building and kicked off of it. He stuck for a brief moment, however, in the fleshy walls. As he leapt off, though, he saw the headless bird grow a new head. And the head slowly regrew a body. Now there were four!

The two from above dove down and caught Bax by the arms. “Why won’t you things just leave me the hell alone?” Bax screamed. He knew it would bring more trouble, but he didn’t know what else to do, so Bax swung both of his swords through the claws of the birds. They screeched and wrenched back up through the air. Bax propelled himself downward with flames from his feet, and turned his head to watch the falling metallic claws. To his surprise, they fell to the ground and clattered without causing any more problems. He glanced back up and saw that the two birds had already regrown their claws. But this helped.

They could regenerate their wounds, but would only regenerate into two new creatures if the wound was serious enough. Like, slicing them in half or cutting off their heads. So he shouldn’t deal quite so many fatal blows as he had for the other winged creatures. But he could try to incapacitate them briefly to drive them away. And then he had to figure out a way to actually destroy them. Bax slammed into the ground next to his bike and picked it up, moving it quickly out of the rain and under a former shop awning.

“All right, birdies, come and get it,” Bax said to the four birds circling above. He would show no mercy to these spawn of hell. Bax looked quickly behind him and saw that a few of the zombies were still hanging around, but none were advancing. Maybe they still had a shred of intelligence left in them. Just to be safe, though, Bax waved his hand in an arc behind him and erected a wall of fire to separate himself from the small army behind him. He couldn’t afford any distractions.

The first bird reached him and he deflected its claws with the Diroxauralis while removing them with the Valermos. He tossed the claws aside as the bird rose up, screeching. The next bird came down and Bax repeated the procedure. What could he possibly to do fully stop these things? There had to be some way to incapacitate them. Was there some way to annihilate them entirely? Bax resolved to give it a shot. As two birds descended on him, one from either side, Bax sheathed the blades and raised his hands above him. Flames began to circle above him. The birds began to slow their descent and appeared to try and move out of the way.

“Aha!” Bax exclaimed. He unleashed the fiery destruction upwards and completely caught the birds. Their screeching was unbearable and Bax braced himself. The frequency made his ears bleed. Why wouldn’t they just shut up?! Bax increased the intensity of the flames and the screeching stopped. The two birds fell just a few feet away. They had been turned to stone.

“I see now,” Bax said. He looked up and saw the other two birds circling above. He raised his hands and shot a fireball from each one. They initially missed the quick-flying birds, but Bax waved his hands around and began to follow each bird with the fireballs. One made excellent dodging maneuvers, trying to lose the fireball against the buildings, but Bax deftly stopped the bird in its tracks and intercepted it. With a snap of his fingers as the fireball neared the bird, an explosion took the bird out, turning it instantly to stone. It shattered as it hit the ground.

The other bird kept just out of Bax’s range and then began diving towards Bax, intending to either skewer him with its beak and claws or to lead the fireball into him. Bax smiled, though and pointed his other hand directly at the bird.
“Not as smart as you look,” he said as he shot out another fireball. The bird tried to turn out of the blast, but Bax clapped his hands together and the fireballs met in the center—the bird—and resulted in a giant explosion. The final bird clattered to the ground as a statue as well.

Bax retrieved his bike and shot off over the wall of flames he had created. He weaved through the zombies—none of them even tried to touch him.

He was coming for Valtiel. And nothing that he or this hell of a city could throw at him would stop him from reaching his goal.

[Shadow Phoenix]

OoC: Courtesy of the Shadow Phoenix and the Waffle King. Enjoy responsibly.

IC:

The cloaked figure stood in the shadow of the building at the center of this nightmare. It looked up and whispered two words into the wind.
“I’m coming…”

The figure raised its arms and the cloak began to flutter in a new wind. Slowly but surely, the person began to rise up the side of the building. Above, hundreds, maybe thousands, of flying demons circled the building. Blood-birds, gargoyles, massive insects, and all other manner of hellish creatures. None of these fazed the stranger, even as they took notice of its ascent and descended to attack.

From underneath the hood, red eyes glowed. All of the descending creatures burst into flames and scattered to the wind as ashes. Yet this person hadn’t even lifted a finger.

The person continued its upward ascent, and any creatures that got too close met the same fate as the first group. It was as if they hit an invisible aura around the person and simply burst into flames. Up and up the cloaked figure rose, and the creatures circling the area began to make a wide berth around it. This person was serious—and was going to reach Valtiel.

Finally, the figure reached the top and took a step onto the roof. The cloaked figure seemed to suddenly quiver. It took a few steps forward and waited for Valtiel to take notice.

Valtiel slowly turned to face the cloaked figure. "So, you're the odd one that's been wandering around my city. Are you here to kick me out as well?" He extended his right arm, pointing the sword at the approacher.

The figure's eyes glowed red and the quivering turned to semi-regular convulsions--as if in laughter. “Master,” the figure spoke in a voice of hushed awe. The voice sounded feminine. “Oh, god and master! No, I do not want to hinder you like the others. I am your loyal servant. I have accomplished what you have asked, and now I am here to be your right hand.”
The figure bent down and got on one knee, bowing its head.

“How I have waited to be in your presence…and now…after all this time…all of my sacrifices and the sacrifices of my brethren are worth it.”

Valtiel's head made a subtle cock to the side as Necrostina conveyed the necessary information, about Auralias, and of her followers. “Hmmmmmm, now this is indeed an interesting turn of events...” He turned the blade around, stuck it into the roof, and slowly approached her. “But I do believe you will turn out to be extremely helpful.” He extended his had. “Come, your master accepts you with open arms.”

* * *
Bax pulled his motorcycle right in front of the building where Valtiel was. He looked up and saw the hordes of creatures flying around the building, the players in this hellish symphony. Now he just had to scale the building and cut his way through Valtiel’s minions.

Bax revved the engine and spun back around, gunning away from the building into an alley. He did another sharp turn and then began to speed back towards the building. He would scale the building’s walls—directly!

Bax neared the end of his route and slammed the brakes. The bike leapt into the air and the front wheel bit into the fleshly walls of the wretched building. Though it tore the flesh off the walls, the bike managed to slowly begin the climb. The bike turned completely vertical and Bax crouched close. Higher and higher, Bax climbed with the bike.
“I’m coming for you, Valtiel!” Bax roared.

Bax neared the cloud of flying demons and pulled the Diroxauralis from its sheath on his back. His trench coat flew in the wind and he readied the blade to strike. A gargoyle was the first to approach him, and he sliced the blade through it and continued to climb. Beast after beast, he cut them down. For each blood-bird, he charred them with flames from the blade. He cut through them all, showing no mercy to the hordes as he rose.

At last, Bax roared over the side of the building and emerged on the roof. He landed and screeched to a halt.

“Valtiel!” he roared as he leapt off the bike and unsheathed the other sword. He began to stride towards Valtiel when he saw the cloaked figure kneeling before him. Valtiel had his hand extended towards the figure…and the figure was reaching up to accept the hand. Bax stopped in his tracks.

This aura…

The figure stood and lowered its hood. A flame stood atop her head. Bax stared at her in disbelief.
“Hello, Bax. Long time no see.”

Valtiel chuckled. “Now this IS interesting. So many visitors today, I must be getting popular. And it seems you know each other as well, I guess that make's introductions rather short.”

A flood of emotions overcame Bax.
“Hodia!” he cried aloud to see his best friend alive. Tears began to stream down his face. The last he had known, Hodia had been killed when his ship crashed months and months ago. He had spent all this time thinking that she and everyone else he had traveled through space with had been dead. How had she survived?

Memories came flooding back. Everything. From how they played together as children, to how they consoled each other during losses. The awkward tension when they began to come into their own. Their competitiveness. And then when they dated…and how it ended so horribly. How they managed to regain their friendship and trust. When Bax helped Hodia through her bout with alcoholism. How she was the maid of honor at his first and second weddings. How they supported each other through every trial and tribulation—all the wars and the death. And then how they worked together to come up with the idea for this trip—how she had helped with the diplomacy just as much as she had helped deal with space pirates and all of the piloting. She had been a great friend and comrade for nearly 30 years. She had been dead, and now she was alive! Like the great phoenix, she had risen.

“Hodia…by the Ancients…where have you been all this time? How did you survive the crash? I swore that I saw you dead! And what are you doing here?”

Hodia turned her eyes down.
“Bax…I wish you hadn’t come. I wish you weren’t involved in all of this. After everything, I never wanted it to come to this.”
Bax cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow.
“What do you mean?
Hodia’s eyes flashed red.
“I am going to ask you nicely, Bax. Please turn around and leave. Get out of this city. And stop pursuing Necrostiana. This is bigger than you, Bax. For you sake, I hope that you don’t have to be involved anymore than you already have been, and that you can simply go home to your family. But if you continue to be an aggressor, I will have no choice…but to kill you.”

Valtiel crossed his arms. “Well, well. It seems to be time for your first test, little one. I'm eager to see what you can do.”

Bax took a step back and put his swords down. His face registered horrified shock.
“Hodia…what the hell are you saying?”
“Leave, Bax. I won’t say it again.”
“I won’t! I want answers, and I want them now!”

Hodia sighed. “Idiot. You never changed. You’ve always been the same hurt little boy.”
Bax’s heart leapt in his chest. What was she saying?

Hodia slowly began to walk towards Bax.

“You want answers, Bax? You really want to know? You want your whole fucking world turned upside down? All right then. I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

Bax’s breathing began to get shallow. He didn’t like this.

“Everything…you know…is a lie. So many people who you have trusted over the years—you never should have.”
“No, Hodia…stop…”
“The Children of the Shadows, Bax…they reach much farther than you think.”
“Please, Hodia…don’t…”

“I never died, Bax. Sephiroth X found me lying in the wreckage, even…but I was only giving the appearance of being dead. Actually, Bax…it was because of me that the ship started losing fuel and crashed. It was because of me that everyone died. It was not my will…but the will of the Apocalypse. I reached out to the Apocalypse and became a beacon for its power and will. Apocalypse told me to bring the ship to Earth and then to destroy the ship to keep any of us from getting off the planet while we worked to awaken Necrostiana. You and your comrades did beautifully providing enough energy so that the power of the esper could be released in this very city. The Children of the Shadows never believed that events would occur so well. Every movement that you have made…the battle for the Element of Prosperity, the training of that Shadow Caller, the movements of the Holy Order of the Magi, everything that beings of great strength have done…it has all served to strengthen and awaken the full power of the god of chaos.

“Before we left on the trip, the Children of the Shadows summoned me and told me that I would be gone for a long time. I would have to go into deep meditation at many points during the trip so that the will of Apocalypse could be done through me. At last, as we passed near to this planet, I heard Apocalypse speak to me as clear as day. He told me that it was time. After that, I lost consciousness for a while as I channeled the will of the shadows. Through me, the meteor that hit our ship was summoned. I snapped back to consciousness just as we were hit and knew what was going on. I moved to land our ship safely as the crew worked diligently. At last, you went to your quarters. That is the only reason you survived Bax…you were supposed to die in that crash with everyone else. For as we entered the atmosphere, I lost consciousness again, but felt power flow out of me—my body was enveloped in an explosion that shook the foundations of the ship. It is a miracle that you are still alive, Bax…a slight deviation from the plans of the Children of the Shadows, but one which the Holy Order of the Magi were able to work with.

“You see, Bax, I was amazed to find the Holy Order here. But it only makes sense. They are our cousins—an extension of the Children of the Shadows, developed to its current form here on Earth by the power and influence of Apocalypse. When the sealed Necrostiana fell here on the Earth, she began to change the Order from the inside out until they existed only to serve the will of Apocalypse. They have been a great help to our mission, even if they are amateurs. They have only been in this business for a few hundred years. The Children of the Shadows have been serving Apocalypse for over 2000 years.

“I am aware that you already know that you have the potential to be a Child of the Shadows. You have the template of chaos. Both Necrostiana and Keldira have told you of this. But did you ever think why that is, Bax? Did you consider how you came to possess this great potential? Do you even know those around you who also possessed this potential? I have been a Child of the Shadows since I was 13, Bax. Yes, around the time we started dating. My father, the great General Guntol Selemon, brought me into the organization, believing he could trust me with the secrets of the organization better than any of my brothers or sisters. So right after we started dating, they told me to cease such a close relationship with you. Something about inbreeding. But I defied them. I defied them and paid dearly for it, Bax. You have no idea how much I cared about you. But you…you broke my heart. I never forgave myself for letting you go…and I never forgave you for giving up. You were the last thing that kept me from descending wholeheartedly into the Children of the Shadows. Before our falling out, I still believed that the Children might be wrong. I believed that you were a reason not to bring about Apocalypse’s reign. But I was wrong…you are just like everyone else. You just give up when things get too hard. You run away. You are weak. And you don’t deserve to be king of anything. It’s too bad your brother died.

“Yes, your dear brother. You’re a pale shade of who he was. He and your mother were both great members of the Children of the Shadows. They fulfilled so many of our objectives while keeping tabs on your father and giving us all of the plans he made. And when your father got too close to discovering our secrets in the Kisenian Civil War, our intelligence inside the palace had him killed. Remember when your brother ran off? He couldn’t believe what the Children of the Shadows had done, and neither could your mother. They never thought that we would go so far as to kill the king of our race. I can still hardly believe it, and it happened 3 years before I was inducted. And do you want to know who gave the order, Bax? Do you really want to know? His best friend and brother-in-law! Your uncle Relois Virka!

“Your mother, your dear mother, wanted to reveal everything to the public. But we slowly had servants in the palace poison her. She knew what was going on by the time she died. And your brother disappeared again. He nearly quit that time. But his sense of duty was strong. He came here to Earth all those years ago. Certainly, he came to stop the other powers of our universe from invading Earth…but the primary reason was to scout out what we thought was going on. We had received intelligence that Apocalypse’s power was especially strong here, and he came to investigate. He was going to come here to finish unlocking the power and release Apocalypse, but he was killed by pirates around Earth. The vengeance of the Children of the Shadows was absolute…why do you think we didn’t encounter any pirates at all in this area? We annihilated them all.

“Which brings us to our current situation, Bax. Your mother, your brother, your uncle, your best friend, and countless others who you have trusted over the years. We are all members of an organization that you have spent most of your life distrusting and despising, trying to destroy. But what we are trying to do, Bax…we are trying to bring balance to this world. Apocalypse annihilated the weak years ago, and those who stuck with him became stronger. It’s just the next natural step…we’re just trying to facilitate it. We want to be at the forefront of this new age.

“So I give you one last opportunity, Bax. Either join us or leave. But now that you know everything, I cannot let you go back to Auralis and destroy us. Unless you willingly join our cause. Make your choice, Bax.”

Valtiel interjected. His words made Bax’s blood run cold. “Think about it, Bax. She speaks the truth. We are power absolute. You know you're better than these human slugs, more powerful. Help us clean the filth from the scales, leaving only perfect balance.”

Bax’s mind reeled…he felt sick. Every muscle burned, and his stomach churned, causing his throat to tense up. Hodia had been right…everything he knew was a lie…everything…his whole life…everyone he had believed in, trusted, and loved…none of it was real. What else was a lie? Could he trust anyone? Anything?

He knew in his heart…he was more powerful than the humans around him. But it was for that reason that he had tried to protect them. Could he turn his back on all that and join with the Children of the Shadows? With the Apocalypse?

“No…” Bax said. This was exactly what Necrostiana wanted. Bax had the template, the ability to one of the most powerful Children of the Shadows. But he had a choice. And he wouldn’t give in.

Uncertain of himself, of everything, Bax quivered and stared straight into the eyes of his…friend. “You…won’t have me. I have to end this. There is no other way.”

Hodia lowered her head. “You fool…so be it.”
Hodia suddenly disappeared.
Bax whirled around and raised his swords. “Hodia, we used to spar! I know your tricks!”
“I thought I already told you Bax—YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!”

Bax suddenly felt a barrage of blows explode all over him. His left shoulder was dislocated, and he felt several ribs break in two. His jaw went slack and his ears began ringing. As Bax became battered and bruised by the unseen fast-moving Hodia, he suddenly felt a shattering blow on his left leg. Bax’s eyes crossed and he began to fall. He looked down and saw his leg actually give out beneath him—it was broken. As Bax fell, he looked around him rapidly to find any sign of Hodia flying about. He caught a brief glimpse of a blur, and followed it to his right side, where the cloth inside his trench coat was suddenly ripped to shreds. Bax felt a deep cut in his side, and his blood pressure began to drop, making him feel light-headed.

With his good arm, Bax began to swing the Valermos around as he crashed to the ground. He screamed from the broken leg and the deep wound in his side, but thrashed around regardless. He felt two more gashes across his chest and a nasty rake across his face before he finally felt his sword bite. Hodia screamed and suddenly reappeared. She dodged backwards and Bax saw an expression on her face unlike any he had ever seen before. She looked like a demon.

Hodia clutched her arm and glared at Bax. “You managed to see me…just like Fashalt. But he lost, too.”

Black Spider? He had encountered her, too? And she had beaten him?! By the Ancients…how had he underestimated her power so much?

Bax breathed heavily. His body had been severely beaten. In addition too all of the wounds from making his way through the city and all of the wounds from fighting the priests in the Super City…now he been decimated by Hodia. And he had no idea how she had managed to move that fast…

Bax jammed the Valermos into the ground and lifted himself on his good arm and his good leg.
“Don’t count me out yet, Hodia…”
Bax maneuvered the sword under his armpit and wrenched his other shoulder back into place. He groaned in pain, but then returned to his previous position. He moved his right hand behind his back and began to make a few motions with it.

“I gave you your chance, Bax. You passed it up.”
Behind his back, Bax was forming some ancient Kisenian symbols in fire with his fingers. Once he had formed these symbols, he gathered them in his hand and crushed them in his fist. To the ancient Kisenians, words formed in fire were as good as spoken or written words. Whether it was signatures, pledges of honor, or ancient spells, words put into existence with the proper intent could be held as binding. It had facilitated a great deal of political deals and helped numerous soldiers who had to be quiet.

Now all Bax had to do to make this work was to keep Hodia verbally occupied while he completed the spell and drew up enough power from within.
“Why won’t you consider the possibility that you could do more? What about the rest of your family? Do you think they would want to see you doing this? Killing your king, your best friend, your ex-lover?”
“Don’t remind me, Bax…”
For the first time, Bax heard a tone of sorrow in her voice. Regret.
“Think about it…with your power, you might be able to overwhelm Valtiel. Why would you want to be a servant to a power that seeks only to destroy worlds?”
“It isn’t about power…it’s about restoration and resurrection. This is a means to something greater…and it’s because you don’t understand that…that I can’t help you.”
“So once Apocalypse has cut a swathe across the universe and destroyed billions upon hundreds of billions of people…then, you’ll be satisfied?”
Hodia chuckled, “You make it sound so bad, Bax…”
“You make it sound so easy.”

The flame in Bax’s hand turned a silvery blue and Bax sighed. “I’m sorry, Hodia. But I can’t accept this. I can’t accept what you’ve become.”

Bax shot his hand out as tears streamed down his face. The flame in his hand exploded and a blade, like the blade he had fought Lynx with back in Nibelheim, shot out from his hand. Hodia’s eyes widened and she stared in disbelief as the blade shot right through her chest. It passed a few feet through her and then Bax lifted the blade and shifted it over a few inches, sending Hodia flying as the blade continued on towards Valtiel.

It pierced his neck, but came to a sudden stop. Valtiel’s firm grip clasped around the blade, he hadn't been quite fast enough to stop it in time. He pushed forward, unburying the few inches of blade from his flesh.
“This is new, I'll be sure to watch out for it next time…” The usual sarcastic tone dropped from his voice, revealing a cold rumble through which he spoke “...but there isn’t going to be a next time. I am not the type of god to just sit idly as heretics do harm to my loyal flock. It’s time for our game to stop, Bax.”
He continued to push forward with one hand as the other plucked this sword from the building.

Bax scraped his feet along the roof as Valtiel pushed him back. He had to continually readjust the sword in his hand, stabbing it in different parts of the roof to maintain his balance. He had to figure something out, or else Valtiel would surely kill him.

Valtiel quickly shifted to an over-handed grip and levered it upwards, pulling Bax off his feet by the sword. He dangled there by his forearm as he was moved off the edge of the roof, blade starting to bend under his weight.

Creatures of all shapes clung to the side of the building as they climbed their way up toward him, reaching out to Bax with hunger. One of them continued onto the roof and got a hold of the blade near Bax’s end. It opened its twisted maw and vomited a vile black mess onto it. The combination of goo and metal sizzled upon contact, the bend greatly sharpening at the corroded portion, threatening to snap at any moment.
“Just die.” The blade gave out and broke.

As Bax fell, Hodia dropped to the edge of the roof. The blade stuck through her chest dissolved as it disconnected from the root of the blade. She seethed at the injury, but stood and turned to face her master.
“Forgive me for not killing him and forcing you to dirty your hands. But now I see why Necrostiana chose you. Your will is my will, my master.”

A somehow warmer tone returned to Valtiel’s voice. “Apologies are not necessary, you have proven yourself more than worthy today. And as I said, I am not one to just sit and watch. Let’s take care of those wounds.”
He held out his hand to her again and motioned back inside the building. Hodia took the hand and smiled. They descended inside the building.

The rest of the blade still attached to Bax’s wrist dissolved as he fell into the horde of creatures. He felt a sharp claw wrench up into his back and tear through his flesh. Creatures latched onto his arms and legs and began to pull in all directions. Claws and talons from dozens of creatures cut Bax to ribbons as he fell. He was pulled apart in all directions. Was this…the end?

Bax spiraled to the ground in the clutches of these creatures. He hurtled down to the streets of infestation, where all of the demons he had fended off before had gathered to await his fall. Faster and faster he plummeted down as the flying demons ripped and tore at him. Bax began to lose hope. He really couldn’t see a way out of this one. He was too injured, and he had spent just about all of his energy fighting his way through the city before give his last to fight Hodia. Between the broken bones and his other injuries, Bax had nothing left. He closed his eyes…it was almost easier to just accept it at this point.

Suddenly, Bax felt warmth from the Valermos, which he still held on to. He opened his eyes weakly and turned to catch a glimpse of it glowing orange and red.
“What are you doing, Valermos? Not ready to give up yet, huh?” Bax whispered in his delirium. To his surprise, the sword answered back in a low, rumbling voice.
“You’re not dying here, Firago. I haven’t come all this way to get left on a godforsaken planet to rust.”
Bax’s eyes widened a little. He had wielded this blade for ten years, and it had never spoken to him. Had he just lost too much blood and begun to hallucinate?

The glowing blade burst into flames and incinerated all of the demons on Bax’s right side. It wrenched from Bax’s limp hand and began to slice through all of the creatures clinging to him, burning them to ash as it stole their limbs. At the same time, the Diroxauralis similarly took on a life of its own and withdrew from the scabbard on Bax’s back. It spiraled downwards faster than Bax and lodged in the center of the street. It burst into flames as well. The flames danced and curled around, rising for a moment in the form of a phoenix. A few of the zombies and other beasts in the vicinity caught fire and began to flee from the sword. The others gathered in the street caught onto what was going on and also fled. The flames began to spiral around rapidly beneath Bax. As he was completely freed of the creatures devouring him in the air, the Valermos began to spiral above him, sending out similar flames. Through the whirling flames, Bax was gently cradled and lowered to the ground. The swords stopped glowing and fell at his sides.

Apparently, the blades hadn’t wanted him to die. Now he had seen everything…

As Bax lay on the ground, his body bruised and broken, he stared weakly up into the sky. He hadn’t noticed when it had occurred, but the black rain had stopped falling. Things were beginning to calm down. It even looked like the black clouds directly above him were starting to break apart. Bax closed his eyes and tried to move. But not a single muscle would work. Certainly, the blades had saved him and driven off the creatures, but now what? He would lie here in the street and bleed to death, or wait for the demons to return. Bax had failed…Valtiel was still very much alive…and now someone whom Bax had always thought he could trust had joined forces with him. It didn’t seem possible. It didn’t seem just. None of this did. And yet…there Bax lay at the foot of a building made of rotting flesh, where his best friend had joined hands with his race’s ancient enemy. Valtiel had won…

Bax felt a chilling cold grip him. He had felt this before…whenever a Phoeniyan was near death, their skin began to turn a sickly pale blue and they were wrapped in bitter cold. But he had recovered from it before. And this feeling…this was so much colder…so much deadlier…

Bax shuddered. Hopefully Zack and Jack had managed to get out of the city unharmed. And perhaps Sephiroth X had gotten out with Catrina after all. Black Spider, Edos Lee, all of the mercenaries…Bax could only hope that they had all made it to safety…

Bax tried to open his eyes, but found that he even lacked the strength to do that anymore. It hurt too much…and his eyes were swelling shut. From the other side of the street, Bax heard halting footsteps. So one of the creatures had stayed to finish him off after all. Tears began to stream down his face. All he wanted to do was see Galandia’s face one more time…to hold his son Jax and his wife in his arms and tell them that he loved them. He hoped that they would be okay…that his people would be all right…that they would move on and prosper. That was all he had wanted in the first place. And even if he couldn’t be there to watch over it all…he prayed that his family and his people would thrive.

Bax heard the footsteps growing closer, and he let his head roll to the side. He guessed this was it…

Before he slipped out of consciousness to await the end, Bax cried out with a weak voice.
“Galandia…Jax…I will always love you…”
And then all went dark…