Title: Toss
Fandom: Final Fantasy: Advent Children
Characters: Cloud and everyone else from AVALANCHE
Prompt: 026 - Teammates
Word Count: 1210
Date finished: 06/19/2006
Rating: PG
Summary: Cloud goes up against the Bahamut-SIN.
Author's Notes: This is one of my favorite sequences in the movie. Naturally I had to write it!
Disclaimer: Characters are owned by Square Enix and Sony Pictures as far as I know.

Cloud had just remounted Fenrir after bringing Marlene home when he heard the gunfire, and he almost smiled. He recognized Barret's machine gun, and wondered when he'd showed up - and why. He knew what he was fighting; it was hard to miss the Bahamut SIN.

He pulled up next to Tifa and Denzel in the town square, glad to see the boy wasn't hurt, and had recovered from whatever Kadaj had done to him. At least, he looked that way. Fenrir opened, the hilts of the six parts of his Tsurugi flipping into ready positions. He glanced at the battle already going on, and pulled the serrated blades from their holders, slipping one into the harness on his back. "Marlene will be safe. I took her home." He slipped the second blade into the harness, then pulled the main blade out, and Fenrir snapped shut. "I feel lighter," he said, off hand.

He did. He'd spent the trip back from the Forgotten City thinking - and letting go.

"Hm?" Tifa asked, a slight smile in that noise; he was carefully not looking at her.

"Maybe I lost some weight, all that dilly dallying."

Denzel smiled. "I'm going to go back and see Marlene, okay, Cloud? We'll wait for you." The boy ran off - Cloud barely heard him, all his attention focused on the battle going on without him. "We'll see you there, won't we, Cloud?"

He looked around at the boy, who had a hopeful expression on his face. Cloud nodded, and Denzel ran off again.

The child hadn't even left the square before Cloud's eyes went up to the Bahamut battle going on. Tifa mounted Fenrir behind him, and he kicked the bike into action.

His teammates were a joy to watch in action. Nanaki - and Cait? - were a blur, worrying at the beast. Vincent's Cerberus barked between bursts of Barret's gun. Yuffie's shuriken whirred through the air, and the teen herself flipped around to meet it, barely pausing between throws. She suddenly froze, staring at the Bahamut, who hovered before her, Nanaki and Cait hanging on near its mouth. Its mouth was open, aiming at her, and there really was nowhere for her to go - it was just too close.

Cid came out of nowhere, stabbing his spear into the top of its head, directing the shot up and away from Yuffie. The pilot was not fond of the Wutai ninja, but such a move was not unusual.

Cloud wasn't sitting still, watching all this. He and Tifa hop-scotched up to the rest of them, putting him in the right place to grab Barret when the blast from the Bahamut knocked a corner of the not-yet-finished building down toward the gunman. Cloud dropped Barret on a steady platform, landing a level above him, drawing a second blade from his harness.

"Hey! The hell you been?" Barret demanded, scowling - but the only time Cloud had seen him not scowl was when he was near his adopted daughter.

And Tifa landed between Vincent and Cid, and the group was complete. Almost, something whispered, missing Aerith. Cloud ignored it, launching himself at the beast. It turned to meet him - still under the summoner's control - and closed it's massive teeth on the main blade of the Tsurugi. With a toss of its head, Cloud flipped back, but it followed, and none of his blows seemed to make any difference.

Then it hit him again, knocking him out of the air. He landed on a girder, and fastened the serrated blade he held on to the partially assembled blade to give it more bite - and a little more weight.

Bahamut flew towards him; Cloud sprang to meet it, staying out of reach of claws and teeth, raining blows on its head that still didn't penetrate. Then, angry, he felt the magic flare, and he let out a grunt as the sword connected one more time, knocking the beast out of the air. He followed it down, flipping to slow his descent, and landed solidly, watching the beast struggle to right itself.

When it did, it shot for the sky, acting, for once, after its nature.

Whoever had summoned it - Kadaj, a voice in him whispered - had been distracted. Now was the time to strike, before he took control again.

Cloud launched himself after the Bahamut, reaching up to Barret, who grabbed his hand and threw him farther with an "Alley-oop!" And a little of Barret's faith came through that, filling his diminished reserves.

He reached the beast, but before he could even strike, it knocked him away with the beak over its mouth, and then, as he fell, batted him down with a front claw, knocking the breath from him.

But Cid's spear was under his feet as he landed, and he jumped even as the pilot finished his swing, launching him after the Bahamut again.

He glanced back briefly as Red gripped the back of his shirt, tossing him higher, Cait Sith's "there you go!" in his ears. And their energy - lifeforce, he thought briefly - added to Barret's and Cid's, and he felt it building.

Yuffie flipped in front of him, his foot in her cupped hands. "Up!" she yelled exuberantly, adding her own spark. Above him, the Bahamut was diving, getting ready to fire. Cloud pulled out his second reserve blade and affixed it to the others already assembled.

Then Vincent was above him, cape fluttering in the wind, hand outstretched to grasp Cloud's, and he catapulted the blond higher. "Fly," he said as Cloud whipped by.

Tifa leaped out to meet him, her hazel eyes warm. "No giving up!" she said, and flung him after the beast.

And as he passed the top of the girders, the magic activated again, creating a shield in front of him. The Bahamut dove at him, and fired.

It was like falling into water. He broke through the surface of the ball, the magic around him warring with the firepower beyond that.

It wasn't enough. Pain began to creep in on his determination. He ignored it for as long as he could, but in the end he had to accept….

Cloud's eyes widened in disbelief as the blue of the fireball faded around him into a blue almost white. Aerith came toward him as she'd been the last time he'd seen her, her hand outstretched to take his. He reached to accept it, and energy - life force? Whatever - flowed into him through his diseased arm. "Ready?" he thought he heard her ask, then he'd broken through, back into the air, and was hurtling toward the Bahamut. It still dove toward him.

Cloud swung his Tsurugi, felt it bite deep into the beast, and landed on his feet on it's back. He ran, dragging the sword along its spine, cutting through muscles and bones like butter all the length of its back, and yelled as he leapt off its other end.

It fell, flailing its wings, to land on its back in the center of the construction, and Cloud followed it down, landing firmly near the rest of his teammates.

And then blue light and a yell pulled his attention around as Kadaj fired a spell at Rufus Shinra, and Cloud was on the move again.

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