for everyone that reviewed and I haven't answered yet - I'm sorry. I was working on this and thought you might not mind the prioritization. That said - this is a lousy gift for Cloud's birthday and so I'll have something better by the 19th cause I'm giving the boy the entire stretch between the two to celebrate his birthday. Guy deserves it.

Chapter 10:

When she squirmed to get off of him, Cloud's first, automatic response was to tighten his arms around her and spread his hands over the vast amounts of soft skin her outfit offered him.

She was right where she belonged and he didn't see any reason for her to leave.

Then his head kicked in and he let her go even if it narrowed his eyes and the palms of his hands tingled in protest. She didn't even hesitate as she wiggled off of him and in response he rolled off of his back and into a crouch, hand catching at the hilt of his sword. Action was a good replacement for emotion and he'd learned to rely on it a long, long time ago. The lighter flicked out when Tifa unexpectedly threw her arms around its holder instead of punching him. In the now complete darkness however, Cloud found that his eyesight shifted into shades of gray and he could still see at about the same level a NOD gave him - without the weight and eventual headache. It was a nice surprise but it also gave him a view of the fact his girl was hugging some lanky stranger that looked suspiciously like -

"Swift!"

Brows coming down, Cloud straightened. That looked suspiciously like... Swift?

Who the hell was Swift?

He reached down absently to pull Jessie to her feet in the dark and then moved forward to repeat the gesture for Aerith. She clung to his hand but in the dark, he couldn't blame her. He was pretty sure he - and maybe Hong Kong - were the only two with decent eyesight.

"Tifa -"

He wasn't possessive. He had no right to be possessive. A forgotten childhood friendship and a sympathetic offer in a prison cell didn't give him any right to care if she was in another man's arms. Even if he did have the sudden desire to treat the man as hostile.

"Missed you too, babe, yo," the other man was saying and Tifa turned a beaming face blindly toward Cloud and the others in the darkness and Cloud knew - he was never going to be able to deny her something that made her so happy just because he was a selfish prick.

"It's Swift," Tifa took a step in the dark toward the sound of Cloud's voice, still smiling and looking more hopeful than he'd seen her look in a long time. "He's my gamer!"

The lanky red-head gave a casual salute in the dark.

"Yo."

The lighter flicked back on now that the other man's arms weren't full of Tifa. Cloud squinted against the sudden flare and his eyesight settled into the more common version he was used to. He would have held his hand out to Tifa the way she half looked as if she would catch in answer except Aerith was still clinging to one hand and his other was full of sword. Instead he stepped in closer to give the other man a careful once over and he grunted in answer. Hey You filled in the appropriate question.

"Your gamer? That's crazy! How he'd get in?"

The red head shrugged, looking for all the world like Reno.

"'Jacked one of the templates." The man squinted at Cloud. "White's a cold man, but he can hack like hell. Yo."

Cloud felt the tight lines of his lips relax, just a little.

"Still, I haven't got much time," Swift got straight to the point. "I'm just hooked up with a clunkly old head piece. You already know the system's been hacked and infected. Got a virus the size of a mother fucker running through it. We can't pull you guys out because it's - yo - taken over some of the systems in your tubes. It's not messing with the life support an' we've got a wall in place now in case it tries but it's doin' something weird to the pods we can't quite figure out yet and we ain't got any of the support doctors with us. Yet. Black's workin' on that. Good news is we've managed to keep the jerks from getting to the room your tubes are actually in and we've taken it over, as well as hacked back into the system from there. Me 'n White are tryin' to unravel the codes to take the system back over again, yo."

"Taken over the room?" Cloud asked, mind collecting and sorting away the facts for later, emotionless as it ran.

"Turns out there are some goons that showed up with guns about the same time the virus activated. We don't know how many but one of 'em at least loves the sound of his own voice 'cause he's taken over the building's intercom and 's 'broadcastin' regularly, yo. Usual crazy talk. Black says the voice sounds familiar but he can't figure out from where. Hey - " he looked at Cloud, "Your guy got some crazy military training or something? 'Cause he's totally taken over the defenses and I don't even know how he smuggled a coupla handguns into the building much less why he thought it was something he needed to do in the first place, yo."

Cloud ignored the looks from the others and, in Hey's case, the mad grin.

"He's a computer tech," he answered flatly before prompting: "Outside help?"

"Maybe for them but we haven't found out. We got the police outside the building on our side but the nuts have an entire live audience as hostage, not to mention the owner of the company, various techs, doctors, etc. Yo. We can't tell much of what's goin' on in the rest of the building but where we're holed up we got White, Black, me an' Mace, Volvo and Shucks, an' Lily. And lady," he turned to look at Aerith. "Lily's once creepy as hell guy, yo."

Aerith beamed.

"What demands are the terrorists making?" Cloud pulled them back into focus. Swift looked at him and shrugged.

"We can't tell, yo. Mr. I'm-so-fond-of-my-own-voice keeps yammerin' on about a 'reunion' and everyone becomin' one. Black says that's a bad thing. Like we couldn't guess, yo. But Mr. Talk is all about gettin' his wiggly little palms on you guys. He's threatenin' the hostages if we don't give ourselves up and let him inta the room."

Cloud just snorted and Swift frowned.

"Yeah, not like we're doin' that. Black's all about his 'we don't negotiate with terrorists'. He's over dramatic but - yeah, we ain't playin' by Mr. Talk-a-lot's rules. You guys are our priority, yo."

"... what about the audience?" Tifa asked softly and Swift turned to her with unflinching eyes.

"When we came onta this program, we gave our loyalty to our actors. Not the company an' not the show. We promised we'd back you guys all the way to the end. Ain't one of us that's changed their mind on that, babe. Told ya I'd keep ya safe, didn't I? Yo. Damn it! I hate that computer glitch. Yo."

"Game plan for us while we're in?" Cloud asked flatly and Swift turned back to him.

"White's tryin' to hack a safe house for you. Make a safe place outside of the virus but still inside the game for you guys to safely wait. Right now, we're still in the 'tryin' stage. So, we're keepin' 'em at bay so until then and it's run and tag for you guys, yo. Just - don't die."

There was something in the inflection of the way the red-head said it that had Cloud's blue eyes snapping up to fix on him. It was a mild change in tone but… Cloud had been around people talking about serious death long enough to know that change. His eyes met the other man's in the flickering light and, even in a second hand avatar, he didn't like what he saw in that pale blue.

Someone had already died in the game... and Biggs and Rufus were still missing.

"All right," Cloud turned to his team. "We're moving out and we're leaving Midgar. Swift, the program's weakness and its strength is the size of the world. We're going to be mobile targets, make it harder for the virus to solidify around us long enough to do real damage. Can you swing healing, magic, weapons or supplies?"

"Magic's harder but we can slip in little things like weapons, potions and supplies easier. And faster too since we can cache them and then just dump them when you get near a spot. We'll get you covered, yo."

"What about communication with our gamers? Are you coming with us?"

"Unfortunately, no," Swift grumbled. "Can't even move offa this spot or I lose my connection, yo. But we're working on it. An' we'll see about hijacking more temp avatars along the way too."

"All right," Cloud gave the other man a nod. Then he looked at his team. They looked everything from trusting to excited to worried to scared. And it made him pause to realize that Tifa was the one that looked the most scared. Gentle, he pried his fingers out of Aerith's hand and held them out for Tifa.

"Come here," he spoke softly because something in her seemed almost... breakable at the moment. Her eyes were huge in the dim light as she stepped forward without hesitation and slid her palm against his. He pulled her close without thinking about it, tucking her into his side and gave Swift a glare over the top of her head at the other man's warning look.

"Are the monitors still active?" He ignored everything but the immediate. "How many people have access to our actions and what we talk about?"

"You're still transmitting. Mr. Talks-too-much wants everyone to know what he's doin'. Whatever that is, yo. 'Cept the virus tends to lose track of you guys and focus on its monsters. Right now, audience is starin' at..." he paused. "Bottom of the elevator shaft, yo. But it focuses on the spots you're supposed to be in. It's expectin' you to follow the game, yo."

Cloud had absolutely no intention of doing so and he hadn't for a while. He gave Swift a nod.

"Tell Black not to do anything stupid. Tell White I'm counting on him."

"Black keeps callin' you 'PC'," the other man sounded annoyed. "An' smirkin' when he does it."

"Tell him he's an idiot."

"Tell Mace I'm rooting for her. And you too, Swift," Tifa interrupted and got a cheeky grin in response. Only Cloud felt the way her hands were clinging to the front of his shirt where their bodies hid it. While the others gave their own messages to Reno to take back, he slid his hand down to the small of her back and pressed, coaxing her body closer into his.

Why was she so frail feeling? Things were bad, but – something else was wrong and he couldn't – his mind traced backward, trying to figure out when it had started and –

"…shit."

It was even more indication that, instead of moving or questioning his hissed word, she simply seemed to want to snuggle in even closer. The fingers of his other hand tightened on the handle of his sword. Voice very soft under Hey's as he talked a confusing gamer slang to be relayed to the two that were apparently his gamers, Cloud asked:

"Who's in the audience, sweetheart?"

Against him, her shoulders seemed to sag and her voice was muffled as she answered:

"My fiancé."

In the dark, Cloud shut his eyes.

He'd known. He'd read the files. He'd just –

He hadn't wanted to think about it. About another man holding her, smoothing his hands over her. Another man she smiled at the way she smiled at him. Another man with more right to her than he'd ever had or ever would have.

Fuck whoever it was for taking a spot that a little scrawny lost boy had once dared to dream was going to be his one day.

And Cloud might as well add that curse to himself too. Because he'd told himself he was over her and he'd sworn to himself it wasn't going to matter.

"Swift – " he cut in on Aerith's detailed instructions regarding a flower business and Lily and the red head turned to look at him.

"New game plan. Tell Black he's got a new PC. We want Tifa's fiancé under wing before things go down."

"What? You mean he's – we can't go snatchin' people, yo!"

The very edge of Cloud's lips shifted.

"You'd be surprised what Black can do. Just relay the message."

"Okay, okay. Consider it done, chief. Yo."

"Good. Then we're done. Let's move out, people."

He didn't pause to listen for Aerith's protest and he didn't bother look back at the avatar they were leaving behind. His mission was to get his team out of here and they'd already wasted enough time. He gently shifted Tifa away from his side.

Concentrate on the mission. Survive. Find an extract point or extract yourself. It was time to focus on what was really at hand and stop dreaming about things that had never stood a chance long before this game had ever brought him back into a certain beautiful, soft girl's life.

He'd failed her before. She'd gotten hurt when those bullies had been after him.

He wouldn't fail her again.

But at the moment it was a little too painful to be near her either.

Once they were out of here, he was going to disappear from her life again. And this time he'd make damn sure he stayed that way.