The dragon is no match for the Galian Beast. His mind gives into the rage, the power. Vincent and Galian act as one. He hears gunshots from Barret, the clang of Cloud’s sword against tough hide.

It isn’t until the dragon collapses that reality sets in. It is not Vincent who won this battle. Yet it’s the man in control of their shared body when he nudges Tifa with a snout. She’s breathing.

Vincent couldn’t save Lucrecia, but Tifa lives.

necrophilia

Yet, if Ginnem died, there wouldn’t be a summoner to send her. She’d become just like the fiends wandering this Yevon-forsaken place, her humanity reduced to a mere memory of the woman she’d once been. Perhaps, if Lulu could carry her into the Calm Lands, another summoner might be passing through, who could guide Ginnem to the Farplane.

The wound was too deep. Even if Lulu got Ginnem to the outpost, it would be too late. Both of them knew that. Lulu pressed her sleeve against Ginnem’s stomach, hoping against hope that she could stop the bleeding.

“Lulu.” Ginnem’s voice broke though Lulu’s scattered thoughts, weak and tired. “It’s alright.”

A chance meeting at a karaoke bar on Valentine's Day leads to the unexpected reveal of a lifetime!

Harlow Charles' life is boringly normal: a remote job, wonderful best friends, yet she's without a Valentine. When she meets Grey at Broken Hearts Karaoke, she thinks he might be the one -- but he's in town for one night only, and disappears into the night.

Enter Abby, Harlow's best friend, and her harebrained scheme to bring Grey back into Harlow's life via an ad online and an email: findharlowherman.

A Valentine romance with lots of laughs, a hidden identity, and finding out who you really are.

runicmagitek

“When Darill died,” he said, “it fell to me to see to her final arrangements. The idea of burying her in the ground, to cover her soul with rocks and dirt, never sat right with me. She deserves to be among the stars.”

She knew what this was, now. When Setzer called the Falcon a tomb, he wasn’t kidding. He’d lovingly restored his friend’s crashed airship and laid her to rest among the ruins. He never expected to return. To bring the Returners to this place — to bring her, a former General — spoke of a courage Celes hadn’t known Setzer possessed.

Celes glanced away. In another life, this might have been Darill’s room. She imagined a proud, tall woman lounging at that desk, feet kicked up, a map of the world spread before her. Setzer spoke of her with such admiration, no wonder walking the halls of the Falcon felt akin to sharing space with a ghost.

The words were heavy on her tongue. “What do you need from me?” she asked.

The Ferris wheel jerked. Darcy looked down to see the attendant flailing, talking into his radio. “Looks like it’s stuck,” she said, the other riders noticing it, too. “At least we’re at the top.”

“We might be here a while, though.” His brow furrowed, jaw straightening. Steve studied the machinery keeping them in the air. For half a second, she worried he’d jump from the gondola to fix things himself.

But not on Darcy’s watch. She smoothed a hand over his arm. “Relax, Steve. I’m sure they can handle it.”

“I might be able to—”

“The only thing you should be concerned with is me.”

His eyebrow went up and her hand slid down, skating over his chest and along his abs. “Why is that?”

Darcy grinned. “Who knows how long repairs will take.” Without breaking his gaze, she unbuttoned his jeans. “We might as well make the best of it.”

Jessie grinned. “We have tons in the greenhouse.”

Aerith drew a sharp breath. “You have a greenhouse?! Really?” She edged past him to peer into the doorway. “Oh, look at those beauties!” She took a step towards the door, then hesitated. “Is it open to the public?”

“I don’t know, Barret, is it?” Jessie’s eyes sparkled in that way that meant mischief, and more trouble for Barret to clean up later.

If he said no, he’d look like an asshole. Which he was, but not all the time. But he also hated strangers in his personal space, even if they were cute.

“I don’t mean to put you out,” Aerith said. She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. “I had a greenhouse of my own, back in Kalm, and it’s what I miss the most since moving to Midgar. I swear I won’t touch a single leaf.”

As for Aerith and Tifa? Well, they were in Barret’s arms now. Though they’d made it to the beach, it wasn’t long before Tifa perched herself in Barret’s lap and pressed her lips to his. Aerith came up behind her and teased Tifa’s neck with kisses. His hand slid into Aerith’s hair and pulled on the strands while he slid his tongue into Tifa’s mouth.

All three were panting by the time they came up for air. Tifa leaned back into Aerith’s embrace even as Aerith leaned forward to kiss Barret. “We should go inside,” Tifa murmured.

“Why?” Aerith whimpered as Barret dragged his teeth over her lower lip. “We can have fun right here.”

Tifa ground her hips down into Barret. He bucked up into her. “I don’t want anyone else to see,” she moaned. “Want to keep you two to myself.”

Tifa sat Cloud on the bed while Aerith took his sword and rested it against the wall. “He went snowboarding with this thing attached to his back?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Are you surprised?” Tifa answered.

“What if there were monsters?” Cloud countered. “We’d have to defend themselves.”

“So run them over with the snowboard.” Aerith pointed to Cloud. “Strip.”

He blinked. “Excuse me?”