[ If he could move, he wouldn't. He kneels there on the ground, one hand pressed against his injured face, and meets Topaz's eyes with a steady gaze. He's no stranger to death. How many times has he chased after it in the past? You're tired, comes the familiar, whispered voice in his head. You deserve to rest.
This is for the best. There's only so many bodies he can add to his list before it starts collapsing in on itself from the weight. Topaz didn't deserve this. She didn't need to be another victim of his awful curse. Besides, there's only so many times that his luck can pull through, and these days, it's been thinning out more and more. As the barrel of the gun points between his eyes, he knows that this was always going to be the inevitability.
Still, it would have been nice to say goodbye, though he's briefly distracted by Cloud firing his spirit gun in this direction. Before the sphere can fully close around him, Aventurine sends him a small smile. A quiet thanks for the attempt, a silent apology for all the trouble he's caused since that very first week they'd met.
And then the bullet is sent, the force of it causing him to fall back to hit the arena floor.
[ family drama fights are truly so insane because lenalee is the only one with decent rolls in this place. she crushes her heel down into kanda's shoulder, but he's able to get ahold of her to yank her down. she does have her other leg though, which she'll try to use along with gravity to dropkick him one more time with a 14. that said... her energy is starting to flag. she'd thrown herself into his attack earlier, after all, and it's through that thinking that she's starting to pay the price now. well, lenalee was always the quickest to figure things out.
topaz rolled a 2, so that spirit gun shot from cloud is going to do its job. but it's not before she turns to fire one shot each at cloud, daan, and kanda all on her way out. this gun can't only be fired twice in two rounds, that'd be embarrassing. the bright light envelops the rest of her face afterward, one headshot after another. when it disperses, there's no semblance of a face left. the body remaining stumbles a step back before collapsing to the ground.
i rolled a 2 for laudna but then realized no one's attacking her. I LIED!!! THE VINES ARE ON THEIR WAY!!! MY GOD SHE TRIPS AND EATS SHIT (THORNS)!!! so i guess instead of her attack getting worse, cloud is just gonna be trapped in this sphere for a second
anyway i wanted lowe to get more injuries if they want, so the chaos element 12 is for the vinethorns growing, growing, growing—and with daan's emotional state being what it is, the fine-tuned controlled may not all be there. they start to climb around his ankles, his legs as well. protecting him, maybe, or just starting to consume whatever is near. ]
[pixi 🪷 kanda Request: [1d20] Roll: [1] Result: 1 (lethal company voice) YIPPEEEEEE
Her energy is waning, but so is his. Without his regeneration, his body can only take him so far before the blood loss starts to affect him. His balance is off with his lost ear, and it hurts to be sprawled on the floor like this, but none of that matters compared to Lenalee. To saving her, even if he has to destroy her to do it.
Her kick lands directly on his chest, and it knocks the breath out of him, forcing him to cough blood. Lenalee is a kind, brave woman, but she knows just as well as he does that no mercy can be shown to an enemy, so it doesn't surprise him to find her turning that strength against him now. He doesn't hold it against her. He never resented Alma, and this is much the same.
But she'd begged him, earlier. And he can't let her go on like this. He won't let them have her, too. So, he reaches inside himself for as much energy as he can muster, and summons the spirit sword again to try and drive it through her body--still aiming, even now, to stab through her and into the parasite on her back.
Did you know Kanda is capable of crying. The boys won't get to learn that, because it's dark enough and they're far away from the others, but maybe Lenalee will notice the shine in his blue eyes, or the few tears that slip out and slide down his face. Or maybe she won't, because his eyes flutter shut shortly after, the spirit sword flickering before it shatters.
He can't save the rest of them, but maybe she can.
Unconscious from blood loss, it's impossible to dodge anything else. Between whatever else Lenalee might have in her to do to him, and Topaz's shot, there's no way to get out of this.
[ with all his strength renewed by the power of determination and the sudden unwillingness to die here or let his companions die after everything else he dramatically breaks out of the sphere and--
HE WAS GONE FOR TWO SECONDS HOW DID TWO OF YOU DIE ALREADY
anyway, that's quite a sight to get out of the sphere too! and it distracts him long enough to get absolutely fucking nailed through the chest by topaz's bullet, the thing ripping through his ribs and lodging itself in his lung. that's gonna be a problem later, probably, he thinks as he coughs out blood. daan's vines are all over the place. they're attacking friend and foe pretty equally, and in the face of being shot he doesn't really register the pain when they strike him. everything hurts. has been hurting. but he's not done. he can keep going.
laudna's being held by the vines and cloud still has two shots-- this spirit gun thing is really powerful, so. pew pew again! he doesn't take the time to see if it connects, firing it off before grabbing the sword and using it as a makeshift crutch to help himself stand back up, ready to fight whoever--whatever is left.
if he goes down he goes down fighting, it's the least he owes--he can't remember who right now. aerith. yuffie. the other three that were with him. laudna, for killing her, probably.
if this is another sephiroth illusion he would enjoy it if it ended actually ]
[ Daan would also love it if this nightmare would end sometime soon actually. Like the one with rotten wood and turning gears, of a naked madman swinging a kassara in his direction, screaming at him to get back to making cubes in the Workshop, only to wake up back in the train like nothing ever happened. He'd forgotten about that, which is really impressive given the EVERYTHING about that sequence, but that really kind of sets the tone for his canon and his life.
He has fully given up control over his vines at this point which drink up the blood soaking the ground with eagerness, and hunger for more. Friend and foe alike, just like Zia said! And self, too, because they're digging in for his own blood too -- and that's fine, really. They dig into his forearms, thorns gouging deep. What is any of his magic except that which draws power from giving himself?
These vines rise in the air and collect into a point, aiming to pierce through Lenalee. ]
Edited (rephrases because i made it sound like this situation is anything like the Dream) 2024-07-11 06:12 (UTC)
[ kanda dies, and some part of lenalee's mind shatters. she becomes still after he passes, long enough for the spirit sword to skewer her from one direction before the vines come after her in the other. blood trickles down her body as she's skewered in place. red runs down her face, pooling in her eyes and then overflowing until it coats her cheeks. it would've been better, if those strikes had just caught her sooner.
she doesn't fall, instead left standing as the vines keep her up, even as the thorns start to feast on the life that's quickly draining her body.
as for cloud and laudna, maybe it was always going to come to this! she was terrified of him on the beach, nervous about the demonic and bloodthirsty energy that radiated from the sword that he'd been carrying, and she'd only been proven right.
maybe it's fitting that the spirit gun is this blast of light that once again illuminates the stadium, and this time she can't get far away enough from it. it incinerates her, leaving her skin toasted and consciousness fading as she also falls to the ground. the irony is that this blast is inherently less lethal than the others, so unless someone wants to finish her off, laudna might actually get to live.
or she might get eaten by this runaway demonic plant.
cloud and daan won't get a chance to know, as the darkness finally lets up around the arena. when the shadows clear, six of the eight fighters who entered are dead or incapacitated, but the two left are from the same time. amazed, koto makes her announcement: ]
I can't believe my eyes!! Somehow, after two back to back fights of killing their darlings, it looks like The Nood Doods are victorious yet again! Though it's look like our team has turned into a dynamic duo! What carnage, what mayhem!! What a win!!
[ oh what a win indeed.
and for all their blood, sweat, tears, and losses, daan and cloud are greeted only with the rude, roaring jeers of the stadium around them. they're boo'd despite being the victors, and mocked for their fallen teammates. they're told that it won't be long before they join them, and they hope that every second is painful.
... but they do get to leave now. nothing's stopping them. their eggs are waiting for them at the hotel, but it's hard to say what state they must be in after all... that. ]
[ YOUR BOOS MEAN NOTHING TO ME I'VE SEEN WHAT MAKES YOU CHEER
is what cloud would say, but once the announcement has officially been made, facing the carnage they've wrought and the memories and realization finally hitting his stupid little brain now that it's not just fightfightfightfight, he is going to just falter back to the ground unless something stops him, crumpling like a puppet with cut strings.
how the fuck are either of them making it to the hotel that's a great question maybe they can just die here. coughs up some more lung blood. gnight
okay fine he does manage to turn his head almost listlessly to stare blankly at daan with his bloody tired face. hey. what the fuck now ]
[ x2 because of the food he's still got That Bitch in him a little bit
But not out loud. The plants will have their fun munching away at the corpses. Wow, don't we love a free clean-up?
He won, didn't he. He wonders if this is what awaited him past the Moon Tower's gates had he not gotten pulled here instead, booing and jeering and absolutely no feeling of victory.
He is bleeding from his arms and on his face pretty bad but you know what, he didn't get SHOT so he's winning over a certain someone here that's for sure. Hey uhhh can we get a medic? ]
no you don't get a medic. if you want medical attention go to back to the hotel and patch yourselves up. this is the dark tournament either bring your own heals or die
though if you pass out, that's also something. they will have to move you by force to clean up the ring for the next match. ]
[ not that he remembers this but the last time he passed out while bleeding out something not so cool happened and there is thus a small part of his brain urging him to not do that because it will suck. so. despite the fact that he really thinks bleeding out here to be eaten by plants would be preferred at this point
he rolls himself over to crawl back to his hands and knees and this time when he uses the sword as a crutch. that bitch is staying a crutch. his legs jelly. arms weak. mom's spaghetti.
can he make it out of the stadium to the hotel without dying. probably. will he enjoy it. no. is there a likelihood if any of these demons get too close he will find whatever strength is left in him and stab them? 100%
c'mon daan... up we go..... woo.... stop gettin eaten by your own plants. ]
[ I'm not gonna lie if Cloud had passed out here there was a SIGNIFICANT chance that Daan would just leave his ass here. He has a limit and he has crossed it a million times over by now, sorry Gen Z Eminem. However, if Cloud IS able to walk then Daan will help him... once he eventually get up, prying these thorns out of his own wounds, pulling his legs free even it it tears the fabric -- fuck these uniforms anyway and their custom embroidering.
Up to the hotel room yaaay... do you want to smoke some wild dagga, buddy. He got that first aid kit for Pickles (:/) and now it's going to get used on Cloud to at least do SOMETHING for him, preferably in regards to the bullet wound at minimum.
they patch up their wounds, they continue about their way in silence, and supposedly, probably, they eventually return to their rooms. they'll find their spirit eggs waiting for them, larger in size even still, and pulsing as if about to hatch.
eventually exhaustion and blood loss will carry them to unconsciousness. ]
it's complicated, when your soul is made of such a bizarre, twisted existence. when his life has been mired in tragedy and there is so little indication that it will be getting any better. maybe it would be simpler, sweeter to end it all.
it is like viewing events like an outsider. it is his house, during those days that the war kept him and elise apart. it is moments before a ritual, moments before she's taken away, moments before she leaves him behind.
the spirit egg is held between his palms. but there's something wrong with it. it doesn't feel like warm energy. there is something inside that is hungry, that seeks to devour.
he has two choices. he can save elise, breaking the egg open and releasing what's inside. it doesn't feel friendly.
or he can let this moment drift away like a dream and do nothing at all. ]
[ Let it loose, let it eat him alive, because he watches this and he feels one thing for certain:
Maybe he should never have stepped foot in the von Dutch household. Maybe he should have never opened his mouth and taught the Baron the works of Sylvian magic, his payment of gratitude in exchange for teaching him medicine. Maybe if he'd just kept his mouth shut, the Baron's obsession wouldn't have gotten worse, and maybe he wouldn't have been driven to whatever madman's gambit that led to him sacrificing Elise and himself. Maybe Daan wouldn't have had to see some twisted version of them both in that fucked city, wielding stitches and needles crafting seemingly artificial versions of the very magic he once told them both about.
If what the egg hungers for is himself, then he'll pay that price. What's his body, an eye, some organs, his arm, his soul. It's all worthless without the people that made him feel like somebody. The cat should've eaten him the first time he saw those yellow eyes -- it was right. His is a cursed existence, dragging all others down to his degeneracy.
If what the egg hungers for is the rest of this nightmare, then take it. When the night breaks, maybe she'll be there at the end in the sun, unmarred with a beautiful smile.
it's complicated, when your soul is made of so many entities at once. when his life is and isn't his own, and has been the case this entire time. who is cloud strife? is this even truly his spirit, or is it some disgusting amalgamation of everyone he pretends to be?
it is like viewing events like an outsider. there is a church, and there is aerith. she smiles at him sweetly, and she is just about to leave him forever. sephiroth's silhouette approaches from behind her. she doesn't stop him.
the spirit egg is held between cloud's palms. but there's something wrong with it. it doesn't feel like warm energy. there is something inside that is hungry, that seeks to devour.
he has two choices. he can save aerith, breaking the egg open and releasing what's inside. it doesn't feel friendly.
or he can let this moment drift away like a dream and do nothing at all. ]
[ oh, but this isn't a question at all, is the thing.
the egg is between his hands and cloud can feel the energy, can feel how it's greedy, destructive, wrong-- and in his mind the egg isn't an egg at all, and it isn't this big after all. he could hold it in the palm of a hand, this black, glass sphere, holding the dreams of a final annihilation of a people so very tired of living inside of itself. it's his, after all. his to deliver unto the world.
the reunion, the voice inside of himself whispers, the part of himself that drives him forward, forward, forward, to a fixed point in space and time.
it's a reunion, cloud thinks as he stares at the egg in his hands. he can bring aerith back. he saved her last time. (didn't he? the images flash in his mind. sephiroth's sword through her. no, he deflected that. didn't he? it morphs to his own, now. no. no, that didn't happen. none of that happened. if he brings her back-- it'll be like none of it happened. just one more memory to erase from his mind.) he can do it again. he can save her again. as many times as it takes, he'll never let sephiroth have her. he can't lose her. not her too. not after everything else he's done.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
This is for the best. There's only so many bodies he can add to his list before it starts collapsing in on itself from the weight. Topaz didn't deserve this. She didn't need to be another victim of his awful curse. Besides, there's only so many times that his luck can pull through, and these days, it's been thinning out more and more. As the barrel of the gun points between his eyes, he knows that this was always going to be the inevitability.
Still, it would have been nice to say goodbye, though he's briefly distracted by Cloud firing his spirit gun in this direction. Before the sphere can fully close around him, Aventurine sends him a small smile. A quiet thanks for the attempt, a silent apology for all the trouble he's caused since that very first week they'd met.
And then the bullet is sent, the force of it causing him to fall back to hit the arena floor.
Aventurine is dead. ]
no subject
topaz rolled a 2, so that spirit gun shot from cloud is going to do its job. but it's not before she turns to fire one shot each at cloud, daan, and kanda all on her way out. this gun can't only be fired twice in two rounds, that'd be embarrassing. the bright light envelops the rest of her face afterward, one headshot after another. when it disperses, there's no semblance of a face left. the body remaining stumbles a step back before collapsing to the ground.
i rolled a 2 for laudna but then realized
no one's attacking her.I LIED!!! THE VINES ARE ON THEIR WAY!!! MY GOD SHE TRIPS AND EATS SHIT (THORNS)!!! so i guess instead of her attack getting worse, cloud is just gonna be trapped in this sphere for a secondanyway i wanted lowe to get more injuries if they want, so the chaos element 12 is for the vinethorns growing, growing, growing—and with daan's emotional state being what it is, the fine-tuned controlled may not all be there. they start to climb around his ankles, his legs as well. protecting him, maybe, or just starting to consume whatever is near. ]
no subject
Her energy is waning, but so is his. Without his regeneration, his body can only take him so far before the blood loss starts to affect him. His balance is off with his lost ear, and it hurts to be sprawled on the floor like this, but none of that matters compared to Lenalee. To saving her, even if he has to destroy her to do it.
Her kick lands directly on his chest, and it knocks the breath out of him, forcing him to cough blood. Lenalee is a kind, brave woman, but she knows just as well as he does that no mercy can be shown to an enemy, so it doesn't surprise him to find her turning that strength against him now. He doesn't hold it against her. He never resented Alma, and this is much the same.
But she'd begged him, earlier. And he can't let her go on like this. He won't let them have her, too. So, he reaches inside himself for as much energy as he can muster, and summons the spirit sword again to try and drive it through her body--still aiming, even now, to stab through her and into the parasite on her back.
Did you know Kanda is capable of crying. The boys won't get to learn that, because it's dark enough and they're far away from the others, but maybe Lenalee will notice the shine in his blue eyes, or the few tears that slip out and slide down his face. Or maybe she won't, because his eyes flutter shut shortly after, the spirit sword flickering before it shatters.
He can't save the rest of them, but maybe she can.
Unconscious from blood loss, it's impossible to dodge anything else. Between whatever else Lenalee might have in her to do to him, and Topaz's shot, there's no way to get out of this.
Kanda Yuu is dead. Maybe it'll stick this time!]
no subject
HE WAS GONE FOR TWO SECONDS HOW DID TWO OF YOU DIE ALREADY
anyway, that's quite a sight to get out of the sphere too! and it distracts him long enough to get absolutely fucking nailed through the chest by topaz's bullet, the thing ripping through his ribs and lodging itself in his lung. that's gonna be a problem later, probably, he thinks as he coughs out blood. daan's vines are all over the place. they're attacking friend and foe pretty equally, and in the face of being shot he doesn't really register the pain when they strike him. everything hurts. has been hurting. but he's not done. he can keep going.
laudna's being held by the vines and cloud still has two shots-- this spirit gun thing is really powerful, so. pew pew again! he doesn't take the time to see if it connects, firing it off before grabbing the sword and using it as a makeshift crutch to help himself stand back up, ready to fight whoever--whatever is left.
if he goes down he goes down fighting, it's the least he owes--he can't remember who right now. aerith. yuffie. the other three that were with him. laudna, for killing her, probably.
if this is another sephiroth illusion he would enjoy it if it ended actually ]
no subject
He has fully given up control over his vines at this point which drink up the blood soaking the ground with eagerness, and hunger for more. Friend and foe alike, just like Zia said! And self, too, because they're digging in for his own blood too -- and that's fine, really. They dig into his forearms, thorns gouging deep. What is any of his magic except that which draws power from giving himself?
These vines rise in the air and collect into a point, aiming to pierce through Lenalee. ]
no subject
she doesn't fall, instead left standing as the vines keep her up, even as the thorns start to feast on the life that's quickly draining her body.
as for cloud and laudna, maybe it was always going to come to this! she was terrified of him on the beach, nervous about the demonic and bloodthirsty energy that radiated from the sword that he'd been carrying, and she'd only been proven right.
maybe it's fitting that the spirit gun is this blast of light that once again illuminates the stadium, and this time she can't get far away enough from it. it incinerates her, leaving her skin toasted and consciousness fading as she also falls to the ground. the irony is that this blast is inherently less lethal than the others, so unless someone wants to finish her off, laudna might actually get to live.
or she might get eaten by this runaway demonic plant.
cloud and daan won't get a chance to know, as the darkness finally lets up around the arena. when the shadows clear, six of the eight fighters who entered are dead or incapacitated, but the two left are from the same time. amazed, koto makes her announcement: ]
I can't believe my eyes!! Somehow, after two back to back fights of killing their darlings, it looks like The Nood Doods are victorious yet again! Though it's look like our team has turned into a dynamic duo! What carnage, what mayhem!! What a win!!
[ oh what a win indeed.
and for all their blood, sweat, tears, and losses, daan and cloud are greeted only with the rude, roaring jeers of the stadium around them. they're boo'd despite being the victors, and mocked for their fallen teammates. they're told that it won't be long before they join them, and they hope that every second is painful.
... but they do get to leave now. nothing's stopping them. their eggs are waiting for them at the hotel, but it's hard to say what state they must be in after all... that. ]
no subject
is what cloud would say, but once the announcement has officially been made, facing the carnage they've wrought and the memories and realization finally hitting his stupid little brain now that it's not just fightfightfightfight, he is going to just falter back to the ground unless something stops him, crumpling like a puppet with cut strings.
how the fuck are either of them making it to the hotel that's a great question maybe they can just die here. coughs up some more lung blood. gnight
okay fine he does manage to turn his head almost listlessly to stare blankly at daan with his bloody tired face. hey. what the fuck now ]
no subject
But not out loud. The plants will have their fun munching away at the corpses. Wow, don't we love a free clean-up?
He won, didn't he. He wonders if this is what awaited him past the Moon Tower's gates had he not gotten pulled here instead, booing and jeering and absolutely no feeling of victory.
He is bleeding from his arms and on his face pretty bad but you know what, he didn't get SHOT so he's winning over a certain someone here that's for sure. Hey uhhh can we get a medic? ]
no subject
no you don't get a medic. if you want medical attention go to back to the hotel and patch yourselves up. this is the dark tournament either bring your own heals or die
though if you pass out, that's also something. they will have to move you by force to clean up the ring for the next match. ]
no subject
he rolls himself over to crawl back to his hands and knees and this time when he uses the sword as a crutch. that bitch is staying a crutch. his legs jelly. arms weak. mom's spaghetti.
can he make it out of the stadium to the hotel without dying. probably. will he enjoy it. no. is there a likelihood if any of these demons get too close he will find whatever strength is left in him and stab them? 100%
c'mon daan... up we go..... woo.... stop gettin eaten by your own plants. ]
no subject
Up to the hotel room yaaay... do you want to smoke some wild dagga, buddy. He got that first aid kit for Pickles (:/) and now it's going to get used on Cloud to at least do SOMETHING for him, preferably in regards to the bullet wound at minimum.
Woooo... ]
sleep...?
they patch up their wounds, they continue about their way in silence, and supposedly, probably, they eventually return to their rooms. they'll find their spirit eggs waiting for them, larger in size even still, and pulsing as if about to hatch.
eventually exhaustion and blood loss will carry them to unconsciousness. ]
daan
it's complicated, when your soul is made of such a bizarre, twisted existence. when his life has been mired in tragedy and there is so little indication that it will be getting any better. maybe it would be simpler, sweeter to end it all.
it is like viewing events like an outsider. it is his house, during those days that the war kept him and elise apart. it is moments before a ritual, moments before she's taken away, moments before she leaves him behind.
the spirit egg is held between his palms. but there's something wrong with it. it doesn't feel like warm energy. there is something inside that is hungry, that seeks to devour.
he has two choices. he can save elise, breaking the egg open and releasing what's inside. it doesn't feel friendly.
or he can let this moment drift away like a dream and do nothing at all. ]
no subject
Maybe he should never have stepped foot in the von Dutch household. Maybe he should have never opened his mouth and taught the Baron the works of Sylvian magic, his payment of gratitude in exchange for teaching him medicine. Maybe if he'd just kept his mouth shut, the Baron's obsession wouldn't have gotten worse, and maybe he wouldn't have been driven to whatever madman's gambit that led to him sacrificing Elise and himself. Maybe Daan wouldn't have had to see some twisted version of them both in that fucked city, wielding stitches and needles crafting seemingly artificial versions of the very magic he once told them both about.
If what the egg hungers for is himself, then he'll pay that price. What's his body, an eye, some organs, his arm, his soul. It's all worthless without the people that made him feel like somebody. The cat should've eaten him the first time he saw those yellow eyes -- it was right. His is a cursed existence, dragging all others down to his degeneracy.
If what the egg hungers for is the rest of this nightmare, then take it. When the night breaks, maybe she'll be there at the end in the sun, unmarred with a beautiful smile.
In this dream, he chooses Elise. ]
cloud
it's complicated, when your soul is made of so many entities at once. when his life is and isn't his own, and has been the case this entire time. who is cloud strife? is this even truly his spirit, or is it some disgusting amalgamation of everyone he pretends to be?
it is like viewing events like an outsider. there is a church, and there is aerith. she smiles at him sweetly, and she is just about to leave him forever. sephiroth's silhouette approaches from behind her. she doesn't stop him.
the spirit egg is held between cloud's palms. but there's something wrong with it. it doesn't feel like warm energy. there is something inside that is hungry, that seeks to devour.
he has two choices. he can save aerith, breaking the egg open and releasing what's inside. it doesn't feel friendly.
or he can let this moment drift away like a dream and do nothing at all. ]
no subject
the egg is between his hands and cloud can feel the energy, can feel how it's greedy, destructive, wrong-- and in his mind the egg isn't an egg at all, and it isn't this big after all. he could hold it in the palm of a hand, this black, glass sphere, holding the dreams of a final annihilation of a people so very tired of living inside of itself. it's his, after all. his to deliver unto the world.
the reunion, the voice inside of himself whispers, the part of himself that drives him forward, forward, forward, to a fixed point in space and time.
it's a reunion, cloud thinks as he stares at the egg in his hands. he can bring aerith back. he saved her last time. (didn't he? the images flash in his mind. sephiroth's sword through her. no, he deflected that. didn't he? it morphs to his own, now. no. no, that didn't happen. none of that happened. if he brings her back-- it'll be like none of it happened. just one more memory to erase from his mind.) he can do it again. he can save her again. as many times as it takes, he'll never let sephiroth have her. he can't lose her. not her too. not after everything else he's done.
she deserves to live. more than anyone else.
he'll save aerith. he releases it. ]