Final Fantasy VII

Rebirth

A/N: I think you guys are probably getting tired of me telling you the same old story about why the updates are so slow, so I'll just spare you this time and just say sorry. I'm going to try and keep these updates a bit more steady…it seems like it's been a once a month thing now…I hope I'm not losing any readers this way. But to those who are reading, I will continue to write this fic until its conclusion…though that may come slow, it will happen I swear! I'm already thinking of a new fic in my head, so once this one is complete, expect to find another by me, also based on FF7. The plot is still forming in my head, but I really think that people will like the originality of it.

(And I just got done watching the NBA 3-Point Shootout and Slam Dunk Contest yesterday…let's just say that Dwight Howard is officially one of the best dunkers EVER and Daniel 'Boobie' Gibson is a rising star! And the All Star Game was great, too)

Anywho, here's Chapter 12, I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter XII

A grisly image was laid out before him. Lower Junon was now a slaughterhouse, as bodies littered in the streets with blood splashed on the walls of homes and the ground outside of them. Men, women, and children alike had been slain, none spared in a merciless and mindless killing of the innocent. Reeve couldn't help but wonder if the small girl that Cloud and the others saved several years ago – the one who had taken a liking to Cloud – was amongst the dead.

"It's clear." A W.R.O. soldier announced, as he and three other soldiers who had checked the area for hostiles came back toward Reeve, Red XIII, and the half dozen other soldiers who stood around Reeve protectively. Two other soldiers stood far down the road, one knelt down and trying to gain access to the Junon elevator, as another covered him.

"This is horrible…" Red XIII mumbled, baring his fangs as anger rose in the beast. "…They were innocent…"

Reeve nodded agreement as he watched the soldier who was attempting to open the elevator struggle with finding the code. He had no words to add, so he asked none of the soldiers in particular: "Can he open it?" He was indicating the soldier he was watching that was trying to open the elevator.

The same soldier who had confirmed the safety of their location earlier answered Reeve. "He can, but we're not sure how long it'll take to break the code. Could be seconds – could be hours in worst case scenario. But, seeing as how it is only an elevator, the code shouldn't be too complicated. We'll be moving soon, sir."

Reeve nodded and the soldiers spread out a bit, each of them – including Reeve and Red XIII – were still not entirely sure of their safety in this place, so they kept their weapons drawn and their awareness up. Reeve had his arms crossed, his right in the fold of his jacket and holding the handle of a handgun inside in case he needed to use it. Red XIII sat beside him, aware, and listening at everything around them. If there was a noise to be heard, Red XIII would be the first to catch on.

"This is the work of Sephiroth." Red XIII spoke after several seconds, disgust highly detectable in his voice. Some of the soldiers eyed the talking animal with curiosity, but had grown used to Red XIII's ability to speak nonetheless. Their curiosity was due more in part to the mention of Sephiroth.

"It sure seems like it…" Reeve replied drearily.

Red XIII scraped the dirt with his paw, examining it closely as if there were something strange about it. Of course, there wasn't…yet. "In time, all of this may soon be tainted with Jenova if we do not succeed in finding an answer to our problem…" He was referring to Sephiroth, and the holes in the Planet that was spilling Jenova cells out into the world.

Reeve didn't speak his agreement, only nodded and stared past the houses and to the perfect blue water beyond them. He couldn't even imagine the sickness and death that Jenova would leave in its wake if it were to taint the entire world. It would be like Geostigma all over again, but many times worse.

He had received a call earlier, and he learned that the spreading of Jenova had not stopped in Mideel, and soon it could reach the water. If that were to happen, every shoreline in the world would have been tainted in weeks, maybe days. A domino effect would ensue. The contamination would spread inland, into lakes, ponds, every water supply and thus into peoples homes. Crops and grass would be infected, in turn making people and animals infected. The cycle would continue until everyone was sick with enhanced and even deadlier forms of Geostigma than had previously been seen. The contraction of the disease would be inevitable, as everything in the world would, at some time, become inflicted with Jenova Cells. People would die one after the other, deaths would come too quick – the bodies would pile up. Scavenging animals would feed on the dead, the process would repeat itself.

Every living thing will have Geostigma…there'll be no place to run – no place to hide from it. The Lifestream would work furiously to restore nature…but Jenova would quickly reclaim what the Lifestream had worked so hard to restore. Worse, the Lifestream would reject the dead because of their being infected with Jenova…the Planet will wither away with no new energy and a continued spending of its own. The Lifestream will use all of its strength but for nothing but defeat either way…the Lifestream would cease to exist and the Planet would become nothing but a wasteland…Sephiroth's mission will be accomplished.

"It's open!"

Reeve blinked, his imaginary – but very possible – picture of a dead Planet disappeared as the soldiers at the elevator called over to Reeve and the others. Looking up, Reeve saw that the elevators were open. As one, Reeve, Red XIII, and the surrounding troops moved toward the elevator. They passed more than two dozen bodies on the way.

Inside the elevator, Reeve stood at the back and folded his hands in front of him at his waist. This is horrible…Reeve thought as the doors closed and everyone moved around a bit in order to accommodate for everyone inside. Children…women…none were spared! This, truly, is the work of Sephiroth. Only a heartless man such as he could do such a thing.

The elevator dinged shortly after coming to a stop. As the doors slid open, the soldiers raised their rifles quickly in preparation for anything that was on the other side. The doors opened to a lightless, L-shaped hallway, with the elevator being at the crook of the corridor. It stunk of death, many times greater than Lower Junon, due to being enclosed.

The dozen soldiers stepped out into the hallway, sweeping their rifles across the darkness, the red lasers at the ends of the guns cutting through the blackness. The night-vision goggles that the soldiers flipped down onto their faces displayed a grisly image to them.

"Goddamn…this ain't no pretty sight." One soldier spoke with a bit of a tremble in his throat.

"Poor bastards were chopped up bad…" Another breathed.

"What is it?" Reeve asked anxiously, not able to see through the darkness. Next to him, Red XIII was quiet as he could see through the darkness with his own form of night-vision. Red XIII's species had a natural form of night vision adapted into their eyes, and the Shin-Ra experimentations on him had only furthered that ability. Red XIII was both shocked, and extremely angry.

"About a dozen people dead," replied the commanding officer, "All of them look to have died from a sword. Lots of limbs and bodiless heads lying around here, Reeve."

Reeve's throat tightened. Sephiroth…you bastard.

"Kai, Johnson, Spooner, check the locker room to the north of us for survivors or hostiles. Regroup and we'll move on to the left and into the streets."

"Movin' out." One of the soldiers replied, and the three of them moved on through the darkness toward the locker room.

"Got any more of those goggles?" Reeve asked curiously, wanting to see the damages that Sephiroth had inflicted upon the W.R.O. soldiers that were stationed in Junon.

"No," the captain replied, "But you can use mine if you want to see your surroundings." There was some noise, and then Reeve saw a flashing red light through the darkness. "The light, its my goggles, take 'em." Reeve reached out through the darkness and grabbed the goggles, but before he could take them the captain said, "I'll need those back quick."

Reeve took the goggles and put them over his head. For a moment, his eyes needed to adjust to the new shades of green that he was seeing, and when his eyes did adjust, Reeve saw first hand what those soldiers had seen. Decapitated, and in some cases also armless, corpses lay sprawled through the hallway. Blood stained virtually every inch of the walls, puddles of the stuff surrounding the dead bodies. Brutally hacked arms lay on the ground, most of which still gripped sub-machine guns. Bullets riddled the walls, but there was not one corpse that wasn't W.R.O.

Suddenly, there was shots from up ahead. Reeve looked, and saw that the locker room door was still open and flashes of gunfire were coming from inside.

An icy wind blew through his hair and clothes, but Cloud did not notice it. Too deep in his thoughts and worries, Cloud had spoken very little since leaving the North Crater. It wasn't that Cloud was ignoring his friends' injuries – Vincent and Yuffie's health were also weighing down upon him – but Cloud couldn't help but look at the bigger picture. Staring out toward the Great Glacier, Cloud's thoughts were so distant that it felt as if his mind wasn't actually at Icicle Inn. Instead, it wondered about and touched on every possibility that could occur in the next few days.

Cloud couldn't help but picture a razed Junon – an entire city gone in one day. Cloud feared for what would inevitably come while Sephiroth was still walking the Planet – Junon may only be the first of a long list of cities destroyed by Sephiroth. As strong as Sephiroth now was, Cloud wondered what could possibly stop the maniac from leveling the entire planet city by city. The fight to come would not be an easy one – in fact, it was a fight that Cloud dreaded. With Sephiroth's newfound strength, victory didn't seem to be an option. Only failure, death, and pain were left on the table for him.

"Cloud, you should come inside." Tifa was standing at the balcony door, leaning against the frame and with worried eyes examining Cloud who hadn't turned to face her. "Cloud –" Tifa started to repeat herself, but Cloud made a slight movement beneath his black garbs. Tifa fell silent and waited for Cloud to speak as she stood in the doorway with a chilly breeze wrapping its cold fingers around her body.

"I don't want to lose them…" Cloud said finally, and quickly added, "Vincent and Yuffie…" Cloud looked down at the ground with heavy eyes and a burdened soul. "I've already lost Nibelheim, my family, Zack, and Aerith…all because of Sephiroth." Cloud looked up to the sky and closed his eyes as the coldness embraced him. "How many more…?"

"How many more, what?" Tifa queried.

Cloud looked up sharply, eyes narrowed as he thought about Sephiroth. The swordsman slammed his fist down on the railing and gritted his teeth. The railing had splintered under his gloved fist. "How many more does Sephiroth need to kill?" Said Cloud through clenched teeth, as he looked down at the cracked wood beneath his hand. "What will it take to satisfy him?"

"Cloud, let's talk inside. The cold isn't good for us."

Cloud complied quite easily, to Tifa's surprise. As he walked into the dark room, Tifa slid the balcony door closed and pulled the curtains shut. The room's warmth had already caressed her body by this time. When she turned she saw that Cloud had taken a seat at the very end of the single bed in the room. It was to be noted that they hadn't picked a single bed, but had little choice as to what room they got after they stormed into the Inn with Yuffie and Vincent on the verge of death.

Cloud was slouching, his head hung below arched shoulders and back. Tifa sat next to him cautiously, keeping a sizeable space between the two of them, as she knew Cloud's uneasiness well. For several moments they sat in uncomfortable silence. The only light came from a candle that burned several paces from the foot of the bed on the top of a small table.

When Cloud finally spoke, his voice was low and barely audible. "I don't know if I could handle another death…" He said, almost sounding embarrassed as he spoke the words. "…Aerith's alone…you know what it did to me…"

Tifa forced a small grin. "Yes, I do."

"How are they…?" Cloud asked in a scratchy whisper, referring to Vincent and Yuffie.

Tifa nodded with a small grin. "The doctor said that they'd be fine, given the time. Vincent's wounds already have an accelerated healing process, as is."

Cloud nodded and several more minutes of silence passed between them. Cloud sunk his head again and shook it. "I promised that I wouldn't grow close to anyone…so that…when they did die I wouldn't need to mourn them for too long. But…" Cloud drifted off and Tifa waited patiently for Cloud to continue. "But I ended up cherishing their friendship more than I wanted – more than anyone else knew…That's why I stayed away from you, Marlene, Denzel, and everyone else. That's why I lived in Aerith's church…I wanted to distance myself from all of you…because it would have hurt too much to see any one of you go."

Tifa grinned a bit and moved just a bit closer to Cloud. "You can't live like that, Cloud. You can't live in fear and hope everything stays the same…cherish what you have with your friends until the day does come that they are taken back to the Lifestream. Zack's death, Aerith's death, your family and all of Nibelheim were never your fault and not one of them ever blamed you. They never would – because they loved you, too." Tifa moved again, this time she closed the gap between the two of them. "Cloud, everyone here loves you…some more than others, yes, but in their own way, not one of them wants to see you go…And that includes me – I love you, Cloud, and I want to spend as much time with you as I can…but you never let me…you're always running."

Cloud never shifted from the same position, but inside his heart was softened by Tifa's words. Slowly, Cloud looked over to Tifa and grabbed her hand in his own. "Tifa…" Cloud swallowed hard and sat up to meet her face levelly. "I…can't love you back…not in the way that you love me…"

"Why?" Tifa questioned in a whisper, "Didn't you just hear what I said?"

Cloud nodded. "Yes…but Sephiroth…he would kill you…"

Tifa shook her head. "That doesn't scare me, Cloud. As long as I know that you love me back – that all of my loving and waiting for you for the past years weren't for nothing…that's all that matters."

For what seemed an infinitely long time, they stared at each other, each of their faces shadowed by the dancing flame on the candle. Cloud was confused, lost, scared, angry, and mournful – all at the same time. These emotions created a whirlwind inside of him, and Cloud was torn between the different feelings. In one way, his body told him to leave, in another he wanted to tell Tifa that they would never work, and in the third way…Cloud wanted…

Leaning forward, Cloud kissed Tifa with no hesitation. Throwing all of his feelings away but one, Cloud kissed the woman that he had loved for so long. For years, he held back – for years he tried to ignore his feelings for her. But now, Cloud felt it was right, he felt that it was time to act on his feelings and let Tifa know that he did love her back. Because for every moment that Cloud denied her love, he knew that he had hurt Tifa – although she had never showed it – and now it was time to show Tifa that she did mean something to him.

His lips pressed against hers brought back memories of a simpler time – memories that Cloud hadn't even remembered until now. Tifa and he were sitting on Cloud's bed while his mother was busy downstairs with supper. The two of them had been out and about the entire day, chasing each other and just acting as kids of their age were expected to act. It was then that Tifa leaned forward and planted a kiss on Cloud's cheek before running out of the house to leave Cloud surprised…and happy. Not their only kiss, but one that was important.

But now, Cloud felt as if this was his first kiss with Tifa, and in a way it was. This was the first time since returning to Midgar that Cloud allowed himself to actually show his feelings for Tifa – and this time, actually kiss her. Emotions ran rampant inside of Cloud, but most of all he finally felt at ease with himself and the things around him. He felt like there were no more worries…no more anything besides Tifa's lips and his own.

Suddenly, Tifa was tugging on Cloud's shirt and bringing him down on top of her. Through their kiss, Tifa's hand worked to remove Cloud's sword sheath, and his shirt followed close behind. Once removed, Cloud was hesitant to do the same to Tifa. When his hand moved to the zipper of her vest, he hesitated but Tifa grinned and nodded. As if taking a leap of faith, Cloud slowly and easily grasped it and unzipped her vest. Sliding the leather material off and revealing her shirt beneath, Cloud went back to kissing her as he grabbed the end of her shirt. His fingertips brushed across her smooth skin in the process, and Cloud felt chills come over him as he slowly lifted the shirt over Tifa's head.

Their kissing continued as Cloud's fingers traveled along Tifa's smooth body. Before this, Cloud had barely ever hugged Tifa…but now he was crossing all boundaries and all restrictions that he had set up for himself. Now he was moving past all of that and finally showing his emotions and actually giving himself what he had so long desired.

Tifa's fingers traveled along Cloud's chest and stomach, all the while, their lips were locked, tongues exploring one another's mouths. Tifa's hands traveled around to Cloud's back, all the while the swordsman was trying to figure out if this were a dream, or if, in fact, it was really happening. Tifa worked her hands down to Cloud's waist, where her fingers grasped the waist of his pants.

Cloud froze and looked at Tifa as the woman worked with his button and zipper.

"This…is what you want, then?" Cloud asked, knowing that what was to follow would be a bond of love and deep feelings for one another.

Tifa only grinned response as she successfully unzipped Cloud's pants and started to pull them off of him. Cloud was very hesitant to release the button and zipper that was on Tifa's shorts. But he, against what his mind was screaming out for him to do, eventually did and slid the shorts down to her hips. With one hand, Cloud reached back and pulled his pants off the rest of the way, and with his other he removed Tifa's shorts.

"I love you, Cloud." Tifa said in a whisper.

Cloud looked into Tifa's eyes for several seconds before finally admitting what he had been holding back. "I love you, too."

"Gimme' those!" The captain yelled immediately, and Reeve responded by quickly removing the night-vision goggles and handing them toward the captain. He fumbled through the dark to get the goggles, and when the captain put them on his head, he pressed into his headset and spoke. "Spooner, what the hells goin' on in there!?"

"Oh shit…sorry sir, a corpse just fell out of a locker and scared Johnson…everything's a-okay."

The captain made an annoyed face in the dark and yelled, "A locker? Someone got stuffed into a locker?"

"No sir, it looks like the poor guy was hiding in the locker and got stabbed through the locker door. Guess it wasn't too good of a hiding spot. Uh…everyone's dead in here, sir, nothing to report."

"Well get the hell out of there, and tell Johnson to take his goddamn dress off!"

Reeve laughed at the remark as he recognized the similarity between the captain and Cid. Slowly and easily, Reeve knelt down and spoke to Red XIII. "You should've seen this place…" Reeve said with an unseen frown. "It's a massacre."

"I can see it all," Red XIII responded, "Remember, Reeve, I'm different from you…"

Just then, footsteps came from the other end of the hallway and Reeve stood up quickly.

"It's fine, Reeve. It's just my soldiers coming back." The captain assured in a low voice. Then, in a higher one he said, "Area clear, go ahead and turn on your torches!" The entire team of soldiers complied and their flashlights came on. A dozen beams of light cut through the room, and the captain aimed his light toward the door that he knew to lead out into the streets of upper Junon. As expected, his light flashed across the metal doorknob and he addressed his team. "Through that door is a hallway that leads to an elevator. That elevator will lead to upper Junon. We'll check every building for survivors, and or the people who attacked Junon." The captain motioned his head toward the door and said, "Johnson, open that door!"

The soldier who was called upon stepped up and checked the doorknob. It was locked, and so Johnson backed up and then aimed his rifle up at the top hinge of the door and fired. He did the same to the remaining door hinge and then delivered a solid kick to the door that sent it flying off of the hinges and into the darkness of the next corridor. Twelve beams of light flashed into and around the corridor, checking for any potential threats. When it was confirmed that there were none, the soldiers moved slowly into the hall and picked up pace once they realized that the corridor was closed off besides the elevator doors at the end of the hallway.

Unlike the last elevator, this one opened right up without much difficulty and the group was moving in less than a minute. The ride up was a silent one, and the captain quickly told his troops that when the elevator stopped, they should be ready for anything to come at them. This was something, however, that Reeve guessed that these soldiers didn't need to be told.

The elevator chimed and the doors slid open. Instantly, the six soldiers in the front row fell to their knees and raised their weapons as to allow the soldiers behind them to also aim their weapons without worry of hitting a comrade. Red lasers and the light of twelve torches swept through the empty streets of upper Junon, nonetheless not one laser nor light fell upon any potential threats. The flashlights were unnecessary, however, as the streets were lit by lamps that were placed at regular intervals along the sides of buildings. There were, however, a sickening amount of corpses littering the streets – killed in the same fashion as all others.

"Careful – the killers could be blending in with the dead." The captain ordered his troops as they stepped out of the elevator. The soldiers spread out in order to cover the entire street and allow for easier scanning of the bodies as they moved. Reeve and Red XIII dropped into step behind the line of soldiers and followed quietly as the soldiers crept down the street, paying close attention to every dead body in fear of being ambushed.

"Buildings ten meters from our position," The captain announced, "at eleven and one o' clock. Careful, could be hostiles."

Reeve looked and saw the buildings that the captain spoke of. Just then, the ground beneath their feet trembled enough to make them all stumble, and nearly half lost their footing. It wasn't long after that at the very end of the long street, a large shadow grew into the sky and Reeve realized that it was no shadow, but rather the ground was being torn up and coming at them like a monstrous tidal wave of concrete.

"On your feet!" Yelled the captain quickly, "Move into one of those buildings! Move! MOVE!"

The soldiers all scrambled to their feet and ran to whichever building was closest to them, which successfully split the group of twelve soldiers in half and into either building. Red XIII and Reeve ran to the same building as the captain. Reeve was the last one inside, and he slammed the door shut behind him. A large plate glass window didn't mean anything good and the captain ordered everyone away from it.

Reeve ran to the wall opposite the window – like everyone else – and squatted down into a corner next to Red XIII who looked to Reeve and said, "It's him," just before his voice was drowned out by a tremor that made the entire store rattle. Everything that wasn't heavy or secure enough came crashing to the floor with a loud bang, just as the wave of asphalt moved past the window and darkened everything. The sound of glass shattering caused some soldiers to scream 'get down' and 'cover your head' as chunks of concrete poured into the building like it was water flooding the street. The door didn't hold, and exploded into the room with a surge of rock following.

The rumbling continued for several moments before a resounding 'boom' came from outside the building. The ground stopped shaking, and the sound of the tumbling concrete also came to a halt. Slowly, Reeve stood up and assessed his surroundings. The shop looked to have been hit by an earthquake – as, theoretically, it had – and the front window had been completely shattered as a ton of concrete poured in through it. The concrete outside the store was level with the window, so it was piled up about three feet.

"Everyone okay?" A resounding yes came back to the captain, and he nodded. "Alright, let's go and check on the other team. Reeve, we'll go out first to make sure it's clear."

The soldiers moved to the window – since the doorway was blocked by debris and they filed out of the storefront. When the captain called the all clear, Reeve and Red XIII moved to the window and climbed out without difficulty. The street was now a jagged bed of rocks that made it extremely hard to traverse. Despite that, Reeve and Red XIII still made their way toward the captain and his soldiers, who had gathered at about the middle of the street to assess their surroundings. But the destruction wasn't what bothered Reeve – it was what Red XIII had told him.

"Are you sure it's Sephiroth?" Reeve whispered.

"Certain. I can sense his energy…" Replied Red XIII surely.

Reeve cursed under his breath just as every last light on the street flickered with a threat of going off. The soldiers all raised their weapons – and then the lights went off, casting the entire street into complete and utter darkness.

"Lights on!" The captain yelled, but several flashlights had already clicked on by the time he had said this.

"What's going on!?"

"I don't see shit!"

The soldiers all yelled in confusion as their flashlights cut through the darkness but to limited efficiency. Unable to see what had just torn thousands upon thousands of square feet of concrete into bits of rock, the soldiers all panicked as they wrestled not only with that, but the fact that someone had just turned out the lights and they couldn't see a thing.

Just then, a flash of slick, black clothing, shined in a soldiers flashlight.

"It's him!" Growled Red XIII, "It's Sephiroth!"

The sound of pounding footsteps across the broken ground made Reeve look in every which direction in a panic. A light passed over a form that quickly leapt out of the beam of light, and then there was screams coming from Reeve and Red XIII's right. The screams quickly turned to a gurgling sound, and then a flashlight clattered to the ground and a body fell beside it. More screams ensued and the confusion piled up as Reeve and Red XIII snapped their necks back and forth between screams, footsteps, and rapid gunfire.

Reeve squatted in order to avoid the gunfire, but was defenseless to the assailant who was picking off the soldiers one-by-one.

Red XIII, who could see everything through the dark, could only watch in horror as a figure moved back and forth between random soldiers, cutting them down with a sword that glimmered occasionally in the wild dance of torch light and gunfire. Although his senses screamed the identity of the assailant clearly, Red XIII could not see the assailant and give him or her positive identification because of the persons extremely quick movements.

Meanwhile, Reeve grabbed for a flashlight and pointed it in every which direction. Occasionally, Reeve would get the attacker in the light, but the assailant would move to its next victim far too quickly. Screams and gunfire dominated upper Junon and Reeve couldn't be more frightened, as he didn't know what the hell was going on, but did know that his life could be taken at any moment.

Just then, Reeve's light flashed upon something – and then his eyes went wide and his throat tightened. He could barely utter the name of Sephiroth as he saw the silver-haired man walking toward a downed soldier who was screaming out in fear and pain. Just as Reeve yelled out, Sephiroth thrust his blade into the chest of the downed soldier. A sickening, wet crack ensued as Sephiroth twisted his blade before dislodging it from the man's chest bone. Sephiroth looked up and towards Reeve and grinned – then he was gone.

"Damn it!" Screamed Reeve, as he pointed swept the flashlight back and forth in search of the silver-haired man. "Where did he go!?"

"I don't see him…" Nanaki whispered, looking for any signs of Sephiroth through the darkness. It wasn't that Sephiroth couldn't be seen – he'd disappeared.

Suddenly, the lights on the street came back on with a sudden blast of light that temporarily blinded Reeve and Red XIII. As the two attempted to regain their vision, a horrible sight soon became clear to them. The entire team of soldiers had been slain, and was laying about them in a bloody mess. None had been spared; none showed even the slightest sign of life.

"Blasphemy will not be tolerated." Reeve and Red XIII both spun around, and met Sephiroth's deep-set Mako green eyes as he stared at them with an intense gaze. "How dare they pursue an attack on a god…" Sephiroth said in a low, calm voice. His face was unreadable, his body was still and relaxed – when suddenly Sephiroth's form disappeared, only to reappear and come to Reeve and Red XIII's attention several seconds later when he spoke from his new location about five meters to their left.

"I have spared your lives…but only so that you may die at a time that I see fit." Sephiroth stated maliciously. "Admit my godhood and bow to me, and maybe I will let you live after that point."

"I'd rather die, than worship a false god!" Reeve spat with malice.

Sephiroth's expression changed, and his lips curled into a grin that exposed his teeth. In a flash, Sephiroth moved forward and seized Reeve's collar, closing the gap of five meters in no more than a second. Sephiroth flung Reeve away like a toy the next second, and Reeve's body crashed into the far wall of the inside of a nearby store. Shortly thereafter a wave of energy smashed into the building and exploded like a bomb. A cloud of dust and debris blew out of the open window and tore the door from its hinges as the entire building shook in the explosion. Pieces of entire wall exploded away from the epicenter of the explosion, the force sending rubble flying for twenty yards.

"Reeve!" Shouted Red XIII, who started to run to the building, but halted as Sephiroth moved in front of him. "You're a monster!" Red XIII looked at the building with wild, worried, eyes as he wondered if Reeve was still breathing inside of what was left of the building.

Sephiroth did not seem to hear Red XIII's words, as his facial expression did not shift from his evil smirk, and he only watched Red XIII with unreadable eyes. "Let Cloud know that these are the last joyful days of his life – of this world." And Sephiroth was gone, vanished in a flash as he body ascended into the air.

Red XIII grimaced – or what passed as a grimace – at Sephiroth's words and then sprinted toward where Reeve had been thrown to check on his comrade.