Every blow was deflected like it was childs play. Genesis smirked as Peter backed away to catch his breath.
"Cloud, say something!" Tifa begged, still trying to wake him up.
"Now, Sephiroth. Will you agree or am I going to have to find another way to amuse myself?" Genesis asked. Sephiroth glared at Genesis angrily.
"I will never join you, Genesis." he snarled.
"That's a shame." Genesis said, raising his hand again. "What shall I do now?" he asked mockingly.
"What is the point of betraying ShinRa?" Sephiroth asked quickly, trying to distract Genesis before someone else got hurt.
"My dear friend, don't you see? But of course, you were loved by the Goddess and shared none of her blessings. Even as heroes the world hates." Genesis sighed and lowered his head.
"Darn, here I was thinking we'd get away with no quotes of that stupid thing." Zack muttered in annoyance.
"This is all about The Goddess, isn't it?" Sephiroth asked. Genesis looked up again, a smile on his face.
"Yes, it is indeed." he confirmed. "Don't you understand? We must hold onto her while we can! Besides, she is the only one who could love such monsters as us." the smile disappeared from his face and a haunted look replaced it.
"What do you mean, monsters?" Sephiroth asked.
"Us!" Genesis said. "We are monsters, created by ShinRa." Something in Sephiroth triggered and he lunged at Genesis, the sound of swords clanging filling the air.
Zack didn't exactly know what to do. He knew this fight was for Sephiroth, but he didn't know whether he should leave to try and find Angeal or not. He looked over at where Tifa was still leaning over Cloud, now crying. Peter was watching the fight in amazement at how skilled they were.
A blast was heard and Zack's eyes widened as he saw a ball of fire being thrown from Genesis' hand towards Sephiroth. But Sephiroth leapt out of the way quickly, safe from harm.
Then Zack realised that Genesis actually had a plan as he saw the fireball connect with a building and engulf it in seconds.
"Sephiroth! You have to stop fighting!" Zack yelled. He was ignored however, and caught a glimpse of the anger on Sephiroth's face. There was no way he'd be able to persuade him to stop at this rate.
Another fireball was thrown, and another building went up in flames. Zack knew he had to do something, so in an instant he was running, desperately searching for Angeal - their last hope.
Zack raced inside the small cottage and his eyes widened in shock at what he saw. Angeal was sitting in the middle of the room on a simple wooden chair. There were ropes binding his arms and legs and a gag was wrapped around his mouth. He saw Zack and his eyes widened.
"Angeal! What happened?" Zack asked, running forward and immediately beginning to untie the ropes and the gag.
"Genesis, he's gone mad!" Angeal said once the gag was off.
"I know! He's gotten Sephiroth really angry and they're fighting like there's no tomorrow!" Zack replied.
"There might not be if we don't stop them." Angeal said, standing up and hurrying out the door. Zack followed quickly, not wanting to be left behind.
"We've got a girl with us as well." Zack told Angeal as they made their way towards the sounds of the fight.
"A girl? Who's idea was that?" Angeal spat.
"Lazard's. The girl's name is Tifa and she's a friend of Cloud. She was put on our team because she knows Nibelheim and was going to be our guide." Zack replied.
"Is she trained at all?" Angeal questioned.
"No." Zack shook his head.
"Then she shouldn't be on the team." Angeal said. They rounded a corner and the fight was suddenly visible. Genesis was smirking and threw yet another fireball.
"Zack, get back." Angeal said, bringing an arm up to stop Zack from running forward.
"I want to help!" Zack whined.
"I'm sorry, you can't." Angeal said. Taking a deep breath, he ran towards his two friends with his sword raised, letting out a battle cry.
Cloud slowly opened his eyes and looked around, wincing as a pain shot through his head.
"Cloud!" Tifa's eyes widened and she smiled slightly. "Are you okay? How do you feel?" she asked quickly.
"Tifa," he pushed himself into a sitting position and looked over at her, concern in his eyes. "Are you hurt?" Tifa stared at him, unable to grasp why he would ask such a thing when he had just been unconscious.
"I'm fine. But Cloud, you're the one that was hit!" Tifa said, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Don't worry about me." Cloud mumbled, then turned to see how the fight was progressing. "I have to help them." he said, standing up. Tifa hurriedly stood up beside him and nodded.
"Me too." she said.
"No! Tifa, I don't want you to get hurt." he said firmly.
"Hey, I'm not letting you fight without me by your side!" Tifa said. "Besides, I can look after myself."
"Oh sure, like you did on the bridge those years ago." Cloud hadn't meant for it to come out like that, but somehow the words had come out of his mouth before he could stop them. Tifa froze and stared at him.
"Cloud.." she said quietly. "Is that what you really think? I was just a burden that kept getting into trouble and you had to keep helping?"
"Tifa, I didn't mean-"
"Stop it! I finally understand, okay? You've never liked me. That's why you never wrote and you never took my calls. Maybe that's even why you left in the first place; just to get away from me." Tifa took a step away from him, a tear slipping down her face.
"That's not true!" Cloud snapped. "I left because I wanted to prove to you that I was stronger than those idiots who you befriended! I never wrote to you because I didn't want to have to tell you that I was only a grunt! And I didn't take your call for the same reason. Tifa, you never listen to my explanations and I'm sick of it."
"You.. wanted to prove yourself?" Tifa asked quietly.
"Yeah. No doubt your 'friends' filled your head with crap about me." Cloud said angrily.
"Cloud-"
"I'm over it. I'm over everything." Cloud shrugged. "I want to become a SOLDIER and I think the thoughts of you were holding me back." Tifa couldn't speak. He had just admitted to wanting to prove himself to her, and now he was saying she was holding him back?
"Cloud! Watch out!" Zack yelled desperately. Cloud looked up and in an instant he had grabbed Tifa and dragged her out of the way as another fireball went hurtling past.
"Come on, we can't just stand around talking all day." Cloud said, letting go of Tifa's arm and heading over to Zack to see what he could do.
Tifa slowly wrapped her arms around herself, crying freely. She loved Cloud. How could he say that she was holding him back from becoming a SOLDIER? Was SOLDIER that much more important to him than she was?
A scream was heard and Tifa turned to see a house that was on fire. Her eyes widened and she gasped as she saw through a window a little boy trapped behind the flames.
In an instant she was running towards the house, uncaring about the fact that her idea so far only consisted of leaping straight into the fire. She didn't know how, but she knew she was going to get that little boy out of the house even if it was the death of her.
The boy screamed again, and because Tifa was closer she could hear his sobs. She ran the last stretch of ground and jumped straight through the low window, landing with a crash on the wooden floor.
She couldn't breathe, and she couldn't see. Coughing, she scrambled away from the flames and reached a hand out, searching for the boy.
"I'm here to help!" she managed to choke out.
"I want mummy!" the boy cried. Tifa managed to wipe the smoke out of her eyes and found the boy, pulling him close to her and making a silent promise to herself that she would not let him die.
"Come on, I'm going to get you out of here." Tifa said, trying to shield his tiny body from the heat of the fire.
"I want mummy!" he cried again, his small hands grabbing fistfuls of her hair.
Tifa turned to see if there was another way out other than the window, but the door was completely on fire. She turned back to the window and took a deep breath. She wasn't sure whether she could do it or not.
"Tifa!" She heard someone yell her name and glanced around, suddenly realising she was possibly as scared as the boy. "Tifa!" the voice yelled again, and suddenly there was a blast of cold wind and - water?
"Cloud?" Tifa asked, eyes wide in disbelief as she saw Cloud standing on the opposite side of the window with an empty bucket in his hand.
"Come on!" he shouted, gesturing with one hand. She nodded slowly and stepped towards the window again. Cloud dropped the bucket and walked forward, carefully taking the boy from her so that she could climb out easily.
Soon she was on solid ground again and she turned to look back at the house. Her breath caught in her throat. If she had waited any longer they wouldn't have been able to get out. The fire had spread onto the window again.
"I want mummy!" the little boy was sobbing and Cloud glanced over at Tifa, an obvious look of 'help' in his eyes. She walked over and took the boy back into her arms, beginning to walk slowly around the house they had just escaped from.
"Was mummy inside?" Tifa asked quietly. The boy turned to look at the burning house and his bottom lip quivered. He slowly nodded his head and Tifa fought back tears.
"Look after him." Tifa turned to see Cloud and frowned slightly, before widening her eyes in shock as he walked right up to the front door. "I'm going to find his mother."
"Cloud!" He paused and turned to face Tifa. "Be careful." she said quietly.
"I promise." he said, smiling and turning to walk into the house.