I Never Let Her Die! (Aerith x Male Gamer Reader)

Disk 01: Chapter 34: Leviathan Rising

As we ran for the exit, leaving Cait behind with the temple model, I grew worried. I knew what we were about to face, and expected it was going to be rough. Perhaps sensing my concerns, Aerith thought to me "There's something else coming, right? Something as bad as the red dragon?"

"Worse." I answered. "We need to be prepared, but there's no warning..."

"Leave it to me." Aerith thought back. She then abruptly stopped running, forcing Tifa and Cid who were behind her to also stop.

"Aer? What's wrong? Why are you stopping?" Tifa asked.

"We gotta move girly!" Cid yelled.

Aerith didn't speak at first, just shushed them with a wave of her hands and then stood perfectly still as if listening to something no one else could hear. Ahead of us, Cloud and the rest of the group had also stopped and were looking back towards us. Then they turned and came back to stand with Aerith. "Do you hear that?" Aerith asked.

After a moment, Vincent said "I hear nothing."

"Right..." Aerith nodded. "Nothing... Nothing at all."

"What are you talking about!?" Yuffie demanded.

"Cait's waitin'!" Barrett said.

I said "I think I get it. It's not just quiet... It's too quiet."

"Calm before the storm." Red agreed. "Yes, I think I feel something as well. Something is coming... We should prepare."

"Barrett, Vincent, make sure your guns are fully loaded." Aerith said.

Though they were uncertain of what might be going on, after so long travelling together everyone trusted Aerith enough to start making sure they were ready for whatever we might encounter on our way out of the temple. Barrett and Vincent reloaded, Yuffie released the clasps on pockets containing shurikens, Cloud drew his sword and Cid his lance. Then we continued on, slowly and carefully.

We came to the great clock, but there was no answer from the Time Guardian when Cloud asked it to align the clock hands on the door we had entered through. "I guess we'll have to go that way." He said pointing to where the hands led. "Unless you all wanna jump down to the bottom."

"Hell no!" Cid said. "I've gone that damn route once today and once was enough!"

"This should be the way out." Aerith said, starting across. We followed.

Beyond the clock lay a long wide hallway. Just barely visible at the distant far end was a gateway. We started forward, cautiously, but before we had proceeded more than fifty feet there was a loud rumble and a large section of the floor fell away just behind us.

"Whoa!" Yuffie exclaimed, barely avoiding falling backwards into the new pit.

"What caused this?" Vincent wondered. "Funny timing."

"Yeah... We got no choice on where to go now." Barrett said.

Peering over the edge, Red said "Fascinating. A true abyss. Given the nature of the temple's tesseract folds I would not be surprised if this pit has no bottom whatsoever."

"Well let's get the hell away from it." Barrett said. "Bottomless damn pits are no place to hang out."

"Right." Cloud agreed. "Let's move on."

So long was the hall that it took us several minutes to reach the gate at the end. We arrived to find a large stone double-door, heavy and solid, with a pair of torches glowing to either side. The door was sealed tightly.

"This is the exit." Aerith said.

"Which does us little good if we can't open it." Vincent replied. "Any ideas?"