Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 3: Pursuit

THIRTEEN

As I spun and slashed, my blaze talons clanging against my father's katana, I kept my anger in check. It burned inside me as the thought of all he'd done to me and Mom and so many others filled my mind. And it fueled my determination to stop him. As Kunsel had told me so long ago during my acting days in Midgar, I had to face my father sooner or later. And now that time had finally come.

"Nice scar ya got there!" I quipped as our blades clashed.

Heidegger scowled. "I'll see to it that Strife regrets giving it to me. I hope you enjoy your last moments with him."

I answered with my talons, deflecting another sweep of his katana, then greeting him with a backhand slash. He reacted fast, though, and his blade caught both of mine before they could land and shoved them away. I had to admit, he was good. But so was I. And I had more than a few tricks up my sleeve to use against him.

As we kept fighting, our boots crunching in the dirt as we moved, I watched for an opening. Neither of us had scored a hit yet, but that was about to change. I swept my talons up, knowing my father would block them, and as soon as he did, I slammed my right foot into his chest. He grunted and stumbled backward but stayed on his feet as I spun left to slice him across the side of his shoulder.

He winced. "Damn you, girl!"

"Bet that stings a bit, doesn't it?" I chuckled, waving my talons.

"Hmph! Laugh while you can," my father snarled.

I winked. "Don't mind if I do!"

We kept fighting, the ringing of our blades filling the air in front of the reactor. The sky was slowly growing brighter, and soon it would be dawn. My father and I cut and thrust and sliced with our weapons, and the battle took us back and forth around the hilltop. He switched into a reverse grip at one point, abruptly changing the direction of his swing, and nicked me across the back of my forearm.

"Shit!" I swore.

My father chuckled. "Now we're even."

Narrowing my eyes, I renewed my assault, talons humming as they swept through the air. He met them with his katana, but I kept coming, slashing one way and then the next, refusing to give up. And then I got him again, catching his blade with one talon while cutting his leg with the other in a low, sweeping slash. He flinched and quickly backed off, glaring darkly at me as I smirked at him.

"You know, I remember you being a lot bigger," I taunted.

He sneered. "To a teenager, I'm huge."

He'd always been taller than me, and he still was even now, but not nearly as much as he used to be. Made him a lot less intimidating, too. I kept that in mind as we fought. Although my arm stung where he had cut me, I ignored it as best I could. I'd had worse and could deal with it. And I decided to push things up a notch.

"Not too bad," I snickered. "But that was just a warmup. Let's see if you can really keep up with me, old man."

Then I hit my right glove switch, and acceleration kicked in as the speed boost from my suit took effect. My arms and legs a blur, I rushed at my father with a blinding shower of quick slashes, driving him back. And although he managed to deflect a lot of them, he couldn't sneak in any of his own, either. I spun, sliced, cut, and thrust from one direction and the other, high and low, forcing him to stay on the defensive as the fight went on. But he wasn't through yet.

After parrying one of my blows, Heidegger reversed his grip again, then spun around and stabbed at me with a backward thrust that I just barely deflected. But it put me off balance long enough for him to shift the momentum back over to him. Facing me again, he held his blade in front of him, then swept it across as if he was cutting the air, and an arc of bright green energy shot toward me, knocking me off my feet before I could dodge or block it. The blast threw me to the ground, where my momentum left me rolling across the dirt.