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

Disk 01: Chapter 37: In The End Is The Beginning

=== Begin Third-Person P.O.V: Tseng ===

Approaching from the north, Tseng and Elena arrived at Knowlespole just a few hours ahead of us. They explored quickly and located the entrance to the underground. By the time Avalanche arrived and descended the great crystal stairway the two Turks were already well concealed behind a low dividing wall on the far side from the entry.

"Just like we were told." Elena whispered.

"Yes... Though now I find myself torn. I'm going to go along with the plan but it doesn't quite sit right to stand by and allow something bad to happen when we're here and could stop it."

"Then why don't we write our own ending to this?"

Tseng sighed. Elena was smart, she had potential, but she so often missed the bigger picture. "Unlike the Guardian, we cannot see the future. This is about more than saving Aerith... It is about saving her in order to save us all. If allowing events to proceed unhindered is the only way to insure that..."

"... Then we go along no matter how much we hate it." Elena finished, seeing Tseng's point. "Alright... Tseng?""

"Yes?"

"I have to ask, why are we trusting this Ganthet so readily? It's not really like us."

"No, it's not." Tseng admitted. "I'm calling it a calculated risk. If what he told us is true, then we need to go along with him. If he's lying, we need to be in a position to find that out. Either way, we should go with it for now."

Elena nodded. "Makes sense. So have you decided where we're going to take her?"

"Yes, in fact." Tseng replied. "There's only one place in the world where I would trust a hospital staff to not contact Shinra as soon as they found out who and what their patient is: Wutai."

"Long trip from here."

"We can stop at Icicle Lodge on the way if needed."

Satisfied with Tseng's answers, Elena said no more. Together, they watched as the events played out, Aerith praying on the altar, Cloud's breakdown, Sephiroth's attack and my attempts to stop him.

"When do we move?" Elena whispered.

"Be ready... We're supposed to go while everyone else is distracted."

Across the way, Sephiroth finished his gloating and flew away into the sky. A dark object fell, and exploded out into the second Jenova monster, which immediately took Avalanche's full attention. "I doubt we're going to get a better distraction than that." Tseng said. "Let's do this."

Moving swiftly and quietly, careful to avoid notice by either Avalanche or Jenova, the Turks slipped in and gently lifted Aerith, carrying her to an out of sight location. "She's unconscious." Elena said as they laid her down. "But I've got a faint pulse."

"The wound is serious." Tseng noted. "But it seems her protector did well, Sephiroth missed everything vital, though not by much." He cast Cure III twice. "Better... But I'm in no shape to cast much right now."

"Moving her further is risky." Elena said.

"Very risky. It can't be helped. Let's get out of here."

Working together, they cautiously carried Aerith the long way around behind where the battle was still raging and up the long stairway. The entire way up, Tseng feared that someone would look up and see them, but no one did and he sighed with relief at the top, then pulled out his phone and called for pickup. The helicopter came shortly afterwards.

"Wutai." Tseng told the pilot once they were aboard. "And make it fast..."

----------------------------------------------------------