Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy 7: Darkness Falls ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 3: Darkness Falls

by Gemini83

Disclaimer: You know it, I don't own FF7

Aeris ran through the forest with all her strength. Despite having
been dead for so long, the food she had eaten somehow gave her enough
energy to continue. However, her happiness at this new found strength
was short-lived, for she could feel something following her. Something
inside her told Aeris that it was no friend. She ran on, wondering why
the dark forest had not yet opened into Bone Village. Was she being
taken somewhere else? More than just from `ghost stories,' Aeris knew
that the forest was somewhat sentient. It could move slightly, leading
its travelers to different places...

She suddenly heard the screams, bone-chilling cries of agony came from
behind her. Whether from the City, or from her pursuers, Aeris could
not tell, but she immediately began to run faster. Sounds of pursuit
increased, now Aeris was sure she was being followed, and whoever it
was would not let her get away. She just hoped-

Explosions erupted throughout the forest, waking Aeris from her
thoughts. Blasts came from out of nowhere, detonating all around her.
She tried to run faster, but her new-found reserves were quickly
fading. They would have her soon. Then she saw figures up ahead, but
could not tell what they were for all the darkness.

`They have me cornered,' she thought, drawing her staff, `well, they
won't get me without a fight!'

Ready for battle, Aeris ran at the dark figures.

Red had been tracking for a while. Along with his friends, they had
been headed for the Ancient City. That was when the explosions had
started. Then, something else could be heard, something much more
eerie than the sound of any weapon. They were screams, but the sound
was not human.

"Great Planet," said Cloud, "what in all creation makes a sound like
that?"

"I don't know..." answered Vincent, "I've never heard them before,
even from Hojo's monstrosities."

"Silence," ordered Red, "I hear something...someone's coming this
way."

"Okay everyone, get ready," said Cloud, bringing out his sword.

The others brought out their weapons as well. Then they saw a shadow
come out of the forest. The moon was shining brightly, but the forest
concealed the figure well. It was running fast. Upon seeing them, it
hesitated, but then seemed to draw a weapon before charging again.

The figure attacked silently, Cloud strode forth to meet it. The two
attackers met in a lock of weapons. Cloud could now see his opponent
in the moonlight. He went cold inside, and stepped back, it was a
girl...one he had thought dead...

Aeris attacked the foremost of the figures, clashing her weapon onto a
sword. Then she noticed his eyes, eyes she had seen once before. The
figure stepped back.

"Aeris..." whispered the swordsman.

"Cloud..." she whispered back.

He flinched, and backed away further.

"Cloud..." said another voice, which sounded like Tifa, "what's
wrong?"

Cloud backed away further, stumbling to the ground. The others ran to
him, fearing the worst. Then they saw who stood before them, and
froze, not a sound broke the silence, even the explosions and the
screams had subsided.

Tifa was the first to regain her composure. "Aeris...is it you?"

"Yes, it's me." said Aeris, looking at her feet.

Cloud got to his feet, and stared her in the eyes. Then he knew it was
her, somehow, she had come back.

"Aeris..." whispered Cloud, "you're back..."

Before Aeris could react, Cloud drew her up in a bear-hug. He was
crying and laughing at the same time.

"Cloud..." wheezed Aeris, "I can't breathe..."

He drew back immediately, "Sorry..."

"It's alright," she managed to say.

"Is it really you?" asked Tifa, touching Aeris' shoulder to make sure.

"It is," answered Aeris, "I'm not a ghost, I'm here to stay..."

The others gathered around her not believing she had come back, it was
a meeting of friends. That was when they heard the explosions again.
Aeris quickly began to run. She grabbed Tifa and Cloud, and began to
run away from the trees. The others followed after the trio. There was
no more time for questions.

"Hey!" yelled Barret, "Waitaminit dammit!"

"Come on!" shouted Aeris, "There's no time to lose!"

"Aeris..." said Tifa, "what are those explosions?"

"Someone's...following...me." breathed Aeris.

"Following?" asked Cloud, "Who?"

"Don't...know." she replied.

"Go easy on me," wheezed Cid, finally catching up, "running is not my
best skill."

"You really should cut down on those cigarettes." said Reeve.

"Aw shaddup!"

The band had made it to the fields, and were out of the forest. Cloud
was about to ask another question when an explosion came again. This
time, it fell in between the group, scattering them everywhere. Red
and Vincent were the quickest to recover. They got on their feet,
guarding the others as they got up.

"What was THAT?" asked Yuffie.

"You'll find out," answered Red, "they are coming this way."

Dark shapes began to emerge from the forest. In the full moonlight,
Cloud could see that they were men, clothed in black shrouds. At
first, he thought they were Jenova project clones, but there was
something different about them.

One of the men spoke, "We have come for the Cetra," said a raspy
voice.

"Give her to us, and we may let you live," said another.

"The hell we will! We'll show you what Avalanche is made of!" answered
Cloud, drawing his sword. The others drew their weapons as well.
"Aeris, are these the guys who've been chasing you?"

"I think so..." she answered, "I never really saw them."

Tifa was going to ask something when she heard the screams again. A
foul stench filled the air, and more shadows came out from the dark.

The leader of the group smiled, "Ah, my Reavers return. Too bad for
the traitor, he would have made a fine capture."

"What do you mean?" screamed Aeris. "Is...?

"Alas...I believe your friend is dead," laughed the evil man, "Now, I
send you to join him. ATTACK!"

The Reavers attacked the group with the ferocity of raging animals.
They ran everywhere, smelling death in the air. A giant werebeast ran
towards Tifa, she blasted it with fire. The smell of burnt flesh and
hair invaded her nostrils, causing her to gag. The creature fell, but
another attacked her from behind, knocking Tifa to the ground with a
blast of energy from its mouth. It was about to pounce on her when
someone cut the creature in half.

Cloud smiled down at a gasping Tifa, helping her to her feet. "Are you
alright?"

She nodded in the affirmative.

"Good," he smiled, "can't have my wife go before her time can I?"

Tifa smiled back, but screamed as she saw another monster raging at
them.

A blast from behind froze the creature in its tracks, splitting it
into a thousand pieces. Aeris smiled at them. "Pay attention guys,
can't have my best friend's husband dying either!"

Meanwhile, Vincent and Red fought like wild demons. Red slashed and
tore his way through scores of enemies. Vincent had already turned
into the Chaos beast, ripping the monstrosities apart with his bare
hands. Barret wreaked havoc on his foes, blasting away at their
numbers, while Yuffie threw her shiruken, slicing multiple enemies at
once.

"Good job guys," said Cid, "but I prefer a more direct approach."

He grinned as he skewered several of the abominations. Reeve remained
silent, batting enemies away with his armored fists and blasting them
with arm lasers.

"Enough!" yelled the leader of the shrouded men, releasing a torrent
of energy at the fighting figures. Many of the Reavers fell, but so
did Avalanche.

Cloud barely managed to get to his feet. "You...you would kill your
own forces just to get to us?"

"They are pawns, and can be easily replaced. Now, YOU WILL DIE!
Reavers, kill the Cetra, kill them all!"

A few of the beasts ran towards Aeris, ready to rip her to shreds.
Cloud saw that the others were getting to their feet, but they would
never be in time to save Aeris.

`No, we can't lose her again!' he shot forth a beam of energy, hoping
to distract the monsters.

The leader of the shrouds simply deflected the attack with his own
energy, and laughed. Cloud screamed out his rage.

"NOO! AERIS! NOOOOOOOO!"

The Reavers jumped into the air, ready to descend upon the barely
conscious Aeris.

A blast of light swallowed the two attackers, completely engulfing
them. The energy was blinding, and when the smoke cleared, nothing was
left of the two abominations. Aeris slowly got to her feet, dazed and
confused.

"WHAT?!" screamed the leader of the shades, "Who did that?"

The remaining Reavers looked around, trying to find the source of the
attack. The members of Avalanche picked up their weapons, wary of any
trickery.

"What are you waiting for?" yelled the dark figure, "kill them now!"

More of the beasts ran towards Avalanche, but were also destroyed by
an unknown energy. Some immediately disintegrated in midair. The
beasts drew back, forming a pack, and began to gather energy. They
snarled and howled, then began to run towards Avalanche again, now in
a phalanx formation.

This time, a circle of fire surrounded the pack, and consumed the
beasts whole. Those of the pack that had managed to survive quickly
scurried behind the protection of the shrouds.

"Useless mongrels," cursed one of the figures.

"I will do this myself," said another, leaping forth to attack the
group.

He ran towards Cloud first, then jumped away from an expected energy
blast. Whoever it was, his attacks were getting to be predictable.
That maneuver had allowed him to close in on the Cetra with ease. Now
he drew his sword, preparing a killing blow. Aeris weakly raised her
staff for protection.

A form came out from the shadows, and in a torrent of light, blocked
the sword with his own. The force of the swords striking one another
was so strong, the shrouded figure flew backwards. The new man turned
to Aeris.

"Are you alright?" asked the wanderer.

"It's you!" shouted Aeris.

The wanderer grabbed Aeris and jumped towards the relative safety of
her friends.

"Didn't think I'd leave you all alone, did you?" he grinned, "You will
be safe with them."

Cloud and the others stared at him with uncertainty. Except for his
silver armor, he could have been one of the shrouds.

"Who are you?" asked Tifa, fists clenched.

"It's okay," said Aeris, "he's a friend."

The traveler glared at the dark figures, drawing energy into one of
his fists. The fallen shroud got on his feet, and backed away to join
the other shades.

"It's a good thing your friends were here," the wanderer turned to
Aeris, "I got here just in time."

Red walked up to him, "You're him, aren't you? You're the one who sent
me the dreams."

"Yes, I am"

"What are you doing here?" asked Cloud.

"Let's continue this later," he returned, brandishing his sword at the
shadow men, "I have unfinished business with this scum."

"So," sneered the leader of the group, "our Reaver's failed to destroy
you."

"Your `Reavers' can no more kill me than you can."

"Is that so traitor? Do you realize what you are dealing with?"

"What I REALIZE is that you are the one fated to die today."

The shade laughed "And what of you?"

"...It is of little consequence..."

"Enough talk!" shouted another shade, firing a bolt of lightning at
the traveler.

The traveler merely raised his hand, absorbing the energy. "Foolish,
your kind never learns from its mistakes."

The leader shouted his anger, "Reavers, attack!"

What was left of the decimated attack force ran towards Avalanche and
the mysterious stranger.

"Whatever you do," he said, "leave the five shadows to me."

"Can we trust you?" asked Cloud.

"Fair question, but you don't really have a choice." The traveler ran
forward, slicing through the beasts that were foolish enough to get in
his way.

"Let's get started then!" shouted Barret.

Avalanche went into action, attacking what was left of the enemy
force. Despite the multitude that had already been destroyed, there
were still quite a few left.

The wanderer ran into battle silently, destroying anything that got in
his way. Soon, he faced the five shrouds. They merely stood still for
a while. Then, like lightning, they attacked. Sword clashed on sword
as they battled. The weapons seemed to take on different colors of
light, sparks flew through the air. The wanderer's blade shone an
intense blue, as if charged by energy. A shroud jumped behind him,
slicing at his back, but the wanderer merely fell to his hands,
initiating a foot sweep which floored the attacker. As the second
shroud brought his sword down to skewer the wanderer, he used his
spinning momentum to do a somersault, hitting the attacker on the chin
with his feet. The wanderer than regained his footing, and with his
sword drawn, beckoned the two to attack him again, taunting them.
However, he was caught unawares by a third shroud, which blasted him
from behind. The new attacker stood a few feet away from the fallen
warrior, and prepared to deliver a killing blow.

Aeris had spent her time casting support magic on her friends, healing
their wounds and enhancing their strength when she could. She even
dispatched some of the enemy using several destructive spells.
However, she knew it would not be enough. Sooner or later, something
would have to give. That was when she saw the wanderer fall. He had
been taken from behind by one of the shrouded figures. Aeris cast a
spell, and flew through the air. She charged up the energies in her
staff, preparing to cast Ultima. However, the shaded figure saw her,
and let loose a powerful blast of energy. Aeris had never sensed such
power, and knew immediately that a direct hit would be fatal.

`This can't be the end!!!' she thought, `not now, not after all
this!!!'

The wanderer got to his feet. Why had his enemy stopped the attack?
They had gained the upper hand. Then he saw Aeris flying through the
air. He sensed her bringing a powerful spell to bear, but knew
immediately that it would not be enough. As the shroud let loose his
energy at Aeris, the wanderer shouted in denial.

He rushed passed the shroud, jumping into the air. By some surge of
strength, he managed to get to Aeris before the blast, taking her up
in his arms. That was when the blast hit them. The force of the
explosion was earth shattering, and pushed them higher into the air.

Still in midair, Aeris looked into her friend's eyes, and saw the pain
and anger that registered there. He had sheltered her from the blast,
but how could he still be alive after that? They were still flying
through the air, at the trajectory the blast had sent them. The
wanderer held Aeris closer to him, then spun around, sending a
returning blast at the shrouds. The shot managed to scatter the enemy,
but now Aeris and the wanderer began to fall to the earth. The force
of the landing was so massive, it actually formed a slight crater in
the ground. Aeris woke up from her slight daze to find that she had
fallen on top of the wanderer, he had managed to cushion the fall.

"Are you injured?" he asked.

Realizing where she was, she quickly backed away from him, giving him
room to breathe. Aeris blushed slightly. She slowly got up, regaining
her wits, then cast several healing spells.

"I'm fine now" breathed Aeris, "that was close...thank you. Are you
okay?"

When she got no answer, Aeris turned around. Then she kneeled and
noticed something wrong with her friend. He wasn't moving at all. Then
Aeris screamed, for the wanderer lay still and silent, in a pool of
blood.

Author's Note: Okaaay! Yes, I will have quite a multitude of bloody
fight scenes. I am trying to keep this fic a PG-13 rating, but if I
this keep up, it may get to be rated R. I will not go beyond that, no
lemon scenes, just cursing and violence. As always, drop a line.