Switched

Strengthening Bonds

Chapter 27

When the Shera finally reached the thickest part of the ongoing battle, they were all pleased to find that the second wave had not even been a quarter of the size of the first one. There was already a steady stream of troops that were working to remove any injured soldiers from the field, but that still left most of the troops facing off against the monsters. With the addition of Avalanche and the others and the decimation of the monsters, they were finally close to no longer being outnumbered.

As soon as they arrived, Cid gathered a small portion of the troops and sent them in one of the airships to start tracking any monsters that had gotten away. They could not afford to wait too long or risk them not being found until they had already started attacking villages. The situation was made worse by the fact that they didn't even know exactly how many had gotten away. It didn't matter in the end. They all knew they had no choice but to find them, and that was the mindset of all the troops.

For those that stayed behind, even though they were all bone-weary and some were still recovering from harsh injuries, none of them hesitated to drop into combat. Their weariness showed, though, and it was nearly nightfall before they finished off the last of the monsters. Everyone was still wary that there could be more, so they did not leave the crater. The only concession that was allowed, was that Cid loaded all the troops that were injured beyond field healing into one of the remaining airships and sent them back to Edge, along with a group of people to help them on the trip.

That group included Yuffie, as she was still not recovered, and surprisingly not Weiss. Sephiroth did overhear the Tsviet threaten Reno though, that if any further harm came to the little ninja that no one would like the consequences. The Turk was one of several of their group to leave as well. Sephiroth also tried to get Aerith to go, but the Cetra refused, only stating that she was sure she would still be needed. The General didn't fight about it too hard, as the people that remained were only slightly less injured than the ones being sent back.

They were all glad that none of them had to camp inside the glacier since there was room on the airships, but that didn't mean the day was done for everyone. Sephiroth knew they couldn't let things lie for too long, as the other four aliens were still unaccounted for. They had to find a way to tackle the barrier.

She had Cid take the Shera back to its original position and tried to go back to the battlefield alone. She hadn't counted on several of the others insisting on going along as well. It was a group of Vincent, Cloud, Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth that descended into the crater full of dead monsters, and one dead alien. It was the latter that she had wanted to address.

Once they were all on the ground most of them split off to check the bodies of the monsters for any signs that they might have once been human. It was a bitter job, but once they had time to breathe, they all realized it needed to be done, as well as the fact that they couldn't leave them all there to rot. While the others were busy checking the monsters, Sephiroth headed straight for the place that they had left Zilan's body. She was shocked to find it missing when they got there, although when she thought about it, she realized the others had probably retrieved him as soon as they left to fight the rest of the monsters.

Her gaze was caught by a flash and she knelt to find the piece of the Masamune that had pierced Zilan was lying on the ground. For the first time, she allowed her emotions about the loss of her partner to flourish. The blade had been her companion before any others, and although she knew it was strange to personify a weapon, for many years it had been the only thing that she had been able to rely on. She clasped her fist to her chest in a salute, both to the blade that had made its last moments count, as well as to the warrior that had managed to find his light again before it went out.