Confused Hearts

Chapter 10: Underworld

Yuffie flew straight up, in an almost upright position, scanning Tifa's face for an answer.

"What is it?" Yuffie's voice was barley a whisper.

"We have to go to the coliseum and talk to him." Tifa murmured.

"Why? What do you think is wrong?" Yuffie asked.

"It's Sephiroth! Don't you remember the guy with the freaky sliver hair?" Tifa snapped.

Yuffie's eyes widen in horror as she thought of the man that inflicted so much pain in Cloud's past.

"He's still alive…?" Yuffie asked, a little scared.

"Cloud is probably looking for Sephiroth, or he already found him." Tifa thought out loud.

"What do mean?" Yuffie asked, slightly confused.

"Maybe Sephiroth took his heart away, or his soul. Something that would make Cloud the way he is right now." Tifa replied.

"This is confusing, but if I could help Cloud, I'll go with you." Yuffie rose to her feet.

"We have to hurry, before anyone tries to do anything else to Cloud." Tifa replied.

"What about Aerith?" Yuffie quickly asked.

"She'll have to stay with Leon, they both can't know that we left to the coliseum, but we have to hurry." Tifa muttered.

"How are we going to leave? Do we borrow another one of Cid's airships?" Yuffie asked.

"We could always use the gummi ship." Tifa smirked.

"So we're going to find Cloud and help him, right? We won't have to fight with Sephiroth right?" Yuffie asked hopefully.

"If we help Cloud, maybe we have to help him fight Sephiroth. He can't do it alone."

Yuffie glanced back at Leon's lifeless body.

This might be the last time I see him……Should I really go?

"….let's go... I guess…" Yuffie whispered as she grabbed her shruiken. (not sure how you spell that)

"Get ready to fight. There are many heartless outside at night." Tifa reminded her.

Tifa adjusted her gloves and they both hurried outside. The moon was the only light outside the dark area.

"Where's Cid?" Yuffie whispered. It was so shadowy that Yuffie couldn't see where Tifa was exactly.

"I think he's back at his shop. Let's go." Tifa mumbled.

"Don't go so fast! I can't see you!" Yuffie whimpered.

"Just grab on to my wrist." Tifa muttered. Yuffie was squeezing her wrist so tightly, it made Tifa almost squeal in pain.

"It's so dark outside…I'm scared." Yuffie admitted.

"Stop freaking out, we'll find Cid soon." Tifa laughed.

Tifa jolted forward with Yuffie. She suddenly froze in her footsteps without explanation.

"Did you hear that?" Tifa's blood froze at the clamoring in her ear. Yuffie winced at the noise.

"Heartless…?" Yuffie guessed.

"Stay close to me, whatever you do." Tifa whispered. Yuffie couldn't see exactly where Tifa was, she could only hear the brushing of her clothes. Tifa was walking faster, with fear that the heartless would see them. Yuffie walked behind her, whimpering the whole way.

"I could hear them." Yuffie mumbled nervously.

"Get your weapons ready." Tifa replied.

"Okay.." Yuffie nervously replied as she took her shuriken out. Yuffie's eyes double sized when she realized she had lost sight of Tifa. It was completely dark not one gleam of light. She flailed her arms about as disorientation took hold. One instant she had been near the Tifa and she held firmly in her grip, the next she was falling through the air in what appeared to be near Cid's shop.

She twisted mid-fall and landed perfectly on her knees, with a soft yelp. Yuffie looked up sharply, finally catching sight of a small figure far away from her. What feared her most was the clamoring of the heartless getting louder. She watched in horror as the heartless appeared near the small figure, who she thought was probably Tifa. She stopped suddenly, couldn't seem to move, her face draining of color.

"HEARLTESS!" Yuffie screamed as loud as she could. Yuffie looked at the figure turn around in shock.

Before Tifa could answer, a huge Heartless grabbed her from behind. It dug his claws into her back, then slammed her hard onto the ground. Yuffie raced forward towards Tifa, her eyes filled with fret as she watched Tifa get engulfed by the heartless. Her body just came crashing down in the floor.

I knew this was a bad idea! Tifa hang on!

"Run Yuffie!" Tifa winced, as she tried to get up to her feet. Yuffie's eyes double sized as she watched a group of heartless running towards her.

"Tifa, get up! Please!" Yuffie called out in exasperation, she took out her shruiken and closed her eyes hoping a plan would pop into her mind. Tifa stood motionless in the ground, grunting in pain.

"Yuffie, just leave! More of them will come, and neither of us will be able to escape!" Tifa cried again. Everything was happening so fast, making Yuffie even more nervous.

"I can't, not without you." Yuffie cried. The heartless came hurdling towards her, digging their claws in her stomach. She grunted sharply as all the wind was knocked out of her. She could taste that metallic flavor of blood in her mouth, but she tried not to give up that easily. She let out a painful moan, as she sank to the floor.

Don't give up you're the Great Ninja Yuffie! Come on get up….

Her head was spinning, she couldn't breathe. She took a last attempt to throw her shruiken at them. The shuriken left with a sharp wizzing sound, killing almost half at the group. Yuffie smirked as she threw it again, with more force. She dodged the heartless that were headed towards her, and attacked all of them relentlessly.

"Why can't you just die?" she sneered as she attacked another group of heartless. Tifa groaned in pain as another heartless dug his claws on her stomach.

"Don't worry Tifa, we'll make it!" Yuffie cried assuringly.

She sprang forward again, wiping out half of the heartless to the ground.

They're almost gone.. I just have to keep fighting

All of a sudden there was a earsplitting sound coming from behind her, and a gruff voice yelling. A small ship went on top of her, and someone was on it.

"What the hell is going on?"

Right away, Yuffie knew who it was, she smiled as she sent her shruiken in the air one last time, killing another heartless.

"Cid, we need help!" Yuffie cried, as she watched more heartless coming towards her. Cid landed the ship almost immediately.

"Get in the damn ship!" he snapped.

"Yes sir!" Yuffie saluted as she raced towards the ship, with Tifa's wounded body in her hands. She dragged her inside the ship. Cid was fumbling with the buttons and pressing them as fast as he could. The heartless started making their way inside the small ship. Yuffie shrieked as the heartless started scampering inside the ship.

"COVER YOUR EARS!" Cid barked.

Before Yuffie could comply, a loud, eardrum-rupturing explosion rocked the ground, coming right from the airship's weapon controls. Yuffie blinked, feeling her ears still ringing from the loud explosion. The explosion had wiped out all the heartless outside, leaving only the echoing of their squeals.

"Kill the heartless inside!" Cid snapped. Yuffie got back to reality, taking her weapon on last time and sending it towards the two heartless that managed to get inside. Their squeals echoed throughout the ship before the last one disappeared into darkness.

"Ha Ha!" Yuffie cheered as the last one disappeared. Tifa managed a weak smile as the airship descended off the ground.

"Are you okay Tifa?" Yuffie quickly asked. Tifa nodded a bit, her face was filled with scratches. Cid turned back at the two, letting out a sigh in relief.

"What the hell were you two doing?" Cid snapped.

"We were coming to borrow the gummi ship from you, it's an emergency. We have to go to the coliseum." Yuffie explained. Cid mumbled something neither of them could understand.

"Next time I won't let you borrow any of my airships!" Cid grumbled angrily.

"But this is an emergency, Cloud could get killed if we don't hurry!" Yuffie pleaded.

"I'll take you…I have no choice." he barked angrily. Yuffie could feel a smile creep up her face. Her head was now spinning with thoughts about Sephiroth and Cloud. She closed her eyes and frowned thoughtfully.

I can't let anything happen to Cloud. I can't let Sephiroth do anything to him or his heart. Yuffie shook her head violently. It doesn't matter right now. I just have to make the right choice. Am I making a mistake by going after him? But he loves me, and I have to help him, even if it costs me my life. Yuffie leaned against the wall, slowly closing her eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

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Yuffie eyes snapped open when she felt rumbling beneath her.

How come every time I start having a good dream, someone has to wake me up and ruin it! Yuffie grumbled angrily as she stretched from her sleeping position. Thoughts of Cloud came swarming back into her mind as she remembered what had happened last night.

Tifa eyes slowly fluttered open, she carefully staggered to keep balance with her wounded leg.

"We're here!" Yuffie cheered happily.

Cid popped open the airship door, signaling to get out.

"Thanks Cid." Tifa whispered before getting out. Cid didn't even reply as he closed the door and grumbled something that no one could comprehend. Tifa looked around sleepily the deserted area.

"We finally arrived back at the coliseum." Tifa sighed as she started walking towards the coliseum doors. Yuffie sprang forward, slamming open the doors and her eyes darted every direction.

Phil was in the entrance, his face slightly horrified at the loud slam.

"Where's Cloud?" Tifa quickly asked.

Phil eyes bulged out as he glanced over at Yuffie and Tifa.

"What are you guys doing here again?" Phil snarled.

"Look goat man, this is an emergency! Please tell us where Cloud is!" Yuffie barked.

"Hades…took Herc and Cloud…." his voice trailed off, he didn't seem to want to say anything else.

"Hades?" Tifa's face looked slightly horrified.

"They- and Sephiroth- he-" he couldn't group the right words together, but that was enough to make Yuffie shed tears.

"He's in danger! They're going to kill him." she cried.

"You can't go after him, he's in the underworld, you can't kill Hades down there it's impossible. I wanted to go help Hercules…but I can't…I won't…" Phil replied.

"I don't care! I can't just let him die, while I wait out here helplessly! Are you just going to let Hercules rot in the underworld?" Yuffie snapped, she raced outside the stadium, her face was filled with tears. Phil looked at the ground, his face filled with sadness.

"I can't do anything to help Hercules or Cloud. Please, don't go down there." Phil warned them.

Tifa glanced back at Phil and then scuttled forward to stop Yuffie.

"Yuffie, don't!" Tifa jolted after her.

"We can't help him? We can't do anything, Hades has him. Just like Phil said, we can't kill him...Cloud will die! He-" Yuffie was interrupted by Tifa soothing voice.

"We are going to help him, it's okay. Stop crying, I promise he'll be okay. We might not be able to kill Hades or Sephiroth but at least we can try to get Cloud out of there." Tifa assured her. Yuffie shook her head violently and started to feel tears tickling her cheeks.

"He told me he loved me, but he runs off to kill Sephiroth? He could die, or he might already be dead! You don't understand how this feels." she choked back a sob.

"We're going down there, and we're going to save him." Tifa's voice sounded determined. Yuffie rose to her feet and wiped her tears away from her face.

"I don't want him to die…." she replied.

"Then let's go save him." Tifa responded.

"Sephiroth….don't you think he would kill him by now?" Yuffie cried helplessly.

"I can't tell you anything for sure Yuffie..." Tifa mumbled.

Yuffie felt a lump in her throat, but held her tears back.

"How do we get there?" Yuffie sniffed.

"Now, I remember Leon telling me that there was some stairs leading to the underworld. They were really hidden somewhere here in the coliseum. I think they were back there." Tifa pointed towards the fighting arena.

Yuffie just nodded her head in agreement as they slowly walked towards the arena. Almost instantly, Yuffie spotted stairs leading down a shadowy tunnel.

"Over there." Yuffie's voice was quavering a bit as she pointed towards the stairs.

So this is the underworld...I'm scared. I have to help Cloud. As long as Tifa sticks with me, I'm sure I'll

be okay... I'll do it for Cloud…even if I kill myself. Yuffie smirked sheepishly at her thoughts.

"Are you ready?" Tifa smirked as she got her gloves adjusted. She knew what awaited her down there. Phil had told her once that it was filled with heartless and there's no turning back after you go in.

"No regrets?" Tifa asked as they made their way down the shadowy stairs. Yuffie didn't reply as she cautiously followed her down the stairs. A door closed behind the two, and a cold shiver ran down Yuffie's back.

"No regrets." Yuffie replied shakily as she took her shruiken out.

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Tifa and Yuffie went to the underworld to save Cloud! Do you think they'll make it out alive? And what will Leon and Aerith say?

Thanks for all the reviews! Thanx so much! Please tell me what you think about this chapter!