cloti4life, it's true, everyone else know that it's definitely not platonic, but oblivious Cloud hasn't quite figured that out yet. "Would you crossdress for me?" is going to be my new ultimate test.

I've always wondered, how on earth did Cloud carry that huge sword in without anyone noticing? It makes no sense! Maybe dresses are even more spacious than I thought...

022, I no longer trust Google, but I depend on it too much to stop using it. Google and I have a bit of a love-hate relationship. And I hadn't decided whether I was going to drop the plate or not until about a chapter ago. It was a tough choice because both presented a lot of different opportunities.

ledah13, I thought I would have Denzel have a very different relationship with Zack. Zack would be more of the big brother to mess around with, while Cloud would be the fascinating hero. This working on it though. And yeah, wikai is much better than wikipedia.

oddball, Lol! You and Zack can team up to battle the evil dresses. I didn't know there was umbrella action in LOTR! I bet it was Sam. He was already bashing in orc heads with pots and pans. Why not an umbrella?

"Tifa!" Cloud shouted as he struggled to stand in spite of the rubble trapping his leg, "TIFA!"

He pushed the rock off of himself and gingerly placed his weight one his now possibly fractured leg. It wasn't comfortable, but he could walk on it. Beneath his feet was an oddly shaped ridge. He reached under the water to find a metal rod, probably once a shovel handle. He held it like he would a sword and shouted again into the now nearly black tunnel. He wouldn't be able to see a thing if not for his enhanced vision. Tifa was probably as good as blind.

"Tifa!" his mako eyes searched frantically. Then he saw her, her left arm trapped beneath stone, desperately trying to free herself to escape the approaching beast. The monster had thick skin, too tough for a dull rod to penetrate far and with it's size, getting at it's eyes would be almost impossible. Panic threatened to invade his consciousness as adrenaline took over his senses. He had no back up, no means of escape, and his only weapon was half a shovel. The only thing left to do: something incredibly stupid.

He ran between Tifa and the monster as it stood up on it's hind legs and waited for it to attack. As the monster raged down, it's mouth open ready to devour them both, Cloud thrust the rod upward through the roof of it's mouth. He flinched as teeth sank into his arm, but the trade off was worth it. Not even a menacing beast could survive with a shovel handle through it's brain. It fell, it's head just barely missing Tifa and himself.

Cloud fell back into the muddy water, breathing heavily, his pulse pounding in his ears. Slowly, his mind began to clear of the powerful force of fight or flight instinct. When he regained the ability to think, the ability to feel pain returned as well. He took a deep breath and forced himself to block out the sharp stinging in his arm, to distance himself from it. He sensed pain, but it was a separate entity that, with enough willpower, he could ignore. He staggered to his feet and relocated Tifa.

"You alright?" he asked as he began digging to free her arm from the rocks.

"I-I think so. At least it could have been much worse," she said wincing as he moved a rock that had dug about a quarter inch into her arm, "You?"

"I'll live," a few more minutes of digging freed her completely, "It think you're finger is broken."

She flexed her fingers to discover that her slightly crooked ring finger wouldn't bend any farther than a slight curve, "Definitely. I'll set and wrap it later."

Tifa began to rise. Cloud extended a hand to her until he realized she couldn't see it.

"I guess that's two I owe you," she told him

"Hmm?"

"That was far from an easy rescue," Tifa explained, smiling a little mischievously as she finished, "You and Zack put more than your lives on the line. You also risked your dignity. That's true friendship."

Cloud searched for words, but found none, so Tifa continued.

"I guess... what I'm trying to say is, thank you"

"No problem," Cloud said awkwardly. He was painfully bad at one on one communication, but Tifa didn't seem to notice much.

"Any ideas on how to get out of here?" she asked, "I'm guessing you can see if you just stopped that monster thing. My eyes have adjusted enough that I can make out some vague shapes, but I'm still pretty much blind."

"I'll lead then," he took her right hand and began to look for a way out. He knew it was only logical that he and Tifa hold hands if she couldn't see in here, but it still took every last bit of his courage to entwine his fingers in her gentle, slender ones.

"Vincent," Aerith said, "You were in the manor a long time, right?"

"Twenty-three years, I believe," he said.

"So... you would have been here at the same times he was. The man I'm looking for I mean," Aerith replied, "You wouldn't happen to remember anyone named Zack Fair would you?"

"You are mistaken. I did not leave the coffin those 23 years"

"Not at all?" Aerith asked, "You're sure you didn't see anyone? He's young, 23 now, with black hair and mako-blue eyes."

Vincent seemed to be in lost another world.

"Are you even listening?"

"There's a man sleeping in here," he said distantly.

"What?"

"That's what he said," Vincent answered, "I only saw him for a split second as he put the lid back down, but he had dark hair, blue eyes, and an X shaped scar on his left cheek."

"That's him!" Aerith exclaimed.

"Unfortunately, that doesn't help you much. I don't know where he went after that or even remember how long ago it was."

"I know..." Aerith said distantly, "But.. any news about him is comforting for some reason. At least it proves that he was real. And he really did escape from here, so I'm on the right track."

As Aerith stepped outside of the manor, she noticed Vincent was no longer following, "What's wrong?"

"You didn't tell me it was day time"

"So you have red eyes, sleep in a coffin, don't age, and now you're afraid of sunlight?" Aerith threw her arms out beside her dramatically, "What are you, a vampire?"

"It has nothing to do with sunlight," Vincent said, suddenly pulling her back into the the building, "I heard very little from my coffin, but I know that Shinra watches this town."

"Watches it?" she looked at his quizzically, "Why?"

"Sephiroth burned the place to the ground. Even I couldn't sleep through that. Heat and screaming so intense, I even considered getting up."

"The place was on fire, and you didn't get out of your coffin!" Aerith exclaimed.

"It was not a matter that concerned me. I slept in a coffin because I consider myself already dead. Those who are dead do not involve themselves in the day to day happenings of the living."

"You're not dead!" Aerith said exasperated, "I've lost my original family and my significant other too, but that doesn't make me dead. You're no more dead than I am!"

"How does one define life? If you are unaffected by death, are you really alive?"

Aerith shook her head, "You breath, you live. It's as simple as that."

"I exist, yes, but I do not live"

"You are alive," Aerith told him, "Whether that life has any meaning is entirely up to you. Now why can't I go outside?"

"You may go if you wish. However, I must warn you that you will most likely die."

"Well that's intriguing," Aerith raised her eyebrows, "Why exactly?"

"Shinra watches"

"You know you're pretty much no help at all, right?"

"Just trust me and wait until nightfall," Vincent replied, "Then we will attempt to escape"

"I didn't realize I was imprisoned"

"You will soon enough"

"Cloud," Tifa said timidly. After nearly seven years of wanting to ask this one question, she was still a little afraid of the answer, "Why did you join Shinra?"

Cloud fumbled for words at the sudden question, "I guess I wanted to be someone important."

"Sometimes I wonder..." Tifa started with difficulty, "if we had been nicer to you, tried to help you, maybe you wouldn't have left."

Cloud fidgeted awkwardly, "I don't know"

"Yes you do," she contradicted, her voice gaining strength, "I'm not stupid, Cloud. It was partly my fault you did it, wasn't it? We were so mean to you. It wasn't until a few weeks before you left that I started to see what was happening."

"It doesn't matter now," Cloud attempted again to avoid expressing personal feelings of any kind.

"It does matter!" Tifa argued, "If I'm the one who did all of this to you, I need to know that."

"There were a lot of reasons I left, Tifa," Cloud said turning away even though she couldn't see him, "Impressing you was just one of them."

"Impressing me?"

Cloud tensed as he realized what he had just said, "It doesn't matter. I needed an escape from that town and SOLDIER provided a glorious way to do it, so I left. That's all there is to it."

"Alright," Tifa sighed, "I guess all I really wanted to say was... I'm sorry"

Cloud turned back to her. He was glad she couldn't see that he was staring, "Tifa, regardless of what made me leave, none of what happened afterward had anything to do with you."

"All the same, I should have acted differently. I knew things had been hard for you since your dad died, but I did nothing until my mother passed away, and even then I think it was only because I wanted someone who understood what it was like to loose a parent to talk to. I'm so selfish."

"Tifa..." Cloud was lost for words.

"It's okay," she stopped him, "I'm not looking for you to tell me it wasn't my fault or forgive me. I just thought I should acknowledge what I did wrong. And you still have every right to hate me for it."

"I don't hate you," for the first time the entire conversation, words came quickly and easily, "I never did."

"That's good to hear," Tifa's face suddenly changed to a frustrated pout, "I really wish I could see you right now. That would make this so much easier."

"Maybe soon you can," Cloud squinted to see a faint bit of light up ahead.

They half walked, half jogged through the sewer until they finally reached the light from an opening in the ceiling, a manhole it looked like.

"Lift me up," Tifa said to Cloud, "I'll pull you up after I'm through."

Cloud nodded and cupped his hands into a decent foothold. Tifa pushed the grate out of the hole and pulled herself through.

"You would make a pretty good cheerleader," she said as she leaned back into the hole to help Cloud up.

"Isn't making me wear a dress enough of an attack on my masculinity for one day?" Cloud complained.

When they had both made it to freedom, they realized they had actually gone somewhat in the right direction. They could be at the plate in a few minutes. No words were needed to decide on a course of action; in the light, half of their communication was with looks and gestures rather than speech.

When they reached the plate, they found a disaster more catastrophic than they had even imagined. Through the battlefield, they saw Zack, Cissnei, and Barret on the stairs.

"ZACK!" Cissnei screamed as she watched him fall back down the last flight of stairs after being struck my an infantryman's bullet.

Cloud and Tifa tried to run to them, but it would be ages before they could get close enough to help through the fighting. They could only watch as Zack miraculously regain his senses from the downward tumble just in time to impale a Shinra troop about to finish him off.

Cloud had fought hard before, but not like this. Never before had there been so much at stake. He forced his way through the battle and caught up to Zack after a few minutes, Tifa closely following in the path he had cleared.

"Cloud! Oh, thank Gaia," Zack said through heavy breaths, "Although, Cissnei's right that you're probably not any better off here."

"At least we'll all bite the dust together," Cloud replied.

When they had all reached the top, they had hoped that meant the end. They couldn't have been more wrong. In front of them stood Reno.

"Hey guys, always seem to run into ya just before things blow up, don't I?" he spoke to all of AVALANCHE, but his eyes were focused on Cissnei.

Barret attacked first with a spray of bullets that Reno skillfully evaded. Disguising his motion as a dodge, he moved toward Cissnei, "I've been told this is a bomb only a Turk can disarm."

Then he moved back and continued his deadly dance of EMR strokes and dodging bullets. Cissnei broke away from the group and ran to the panel. When she got there, she could only stare. What was going on?

Tseng watched from the helicopter, face stoic as always, but beneath his mask as the perfect Turk, the heart he wasn't supposed to have bled. Emotions he had convinced himself did not exist screamed in his mind to put an end to the madness unfolding below him. Husbands searching for their wives, mothers screaming for their children. Hell on earth had come, and he simply watched as though it were nothing more than a terrible movie.

Shinra's purpose was to protect people, provide energy, and better the world. If he thought back far enough, he was certain he had at one time believed that. He always completed his mission. But why? Why did he excicute whatever assignment he was given? Was there any real purpose to it, or was it simply what he had been taught to do?

Did he even care what was right and what was wrong anymore? If so, would he be able to identify it after so many years of simply following orders? If he could, would it be enough for him to forfeit his life and carear?

Veld had been his idol, his inspiration for exelling in this job. Veld was the perfect Turk in his eyes, and even he once said that life was more than a job. After continually telling Tseng that individual lives meant nothing and all that mattered was the mission, he then risked a mission to save Tseng's life.

He stared absently at the explosive about to destroy what was left of the Sector, all but disconnected from what the numbers counting down were really leading to.

He was suddenly jerked back into reality. Something was wrong. It wasn't the bomb he was expecting to see, it was one that had just come out of development. He had only ever seen a picture of the prototype it was based on... and he had no idea how to disarm it.

"Reno, get out of there!" he shouted, leaning out of the helicopter, "Everyone out now!"

"Tseng, what are you talking about?" Reno yelled back, barely audible over the sound of the copter.

"Shinra lied! You can't stop! None of you can!" he wasn't sure if Reno could hear him, but his last message was clear, "GET OUT NOW!"

"I'm not going to follow what you told me, Veld," he said to himself, "I'm going to follow what you showed me"

"Cissnei!" he shouted down, "There's nothing you can do! Get out of here!"

She turned away from the panel to him. Her eyes held nothing but anguish and devastation. She spoke too softly for him to hear her words, but he could read her lips perfectly, "Why, Tseng? Why would you do this?"

Reno grasped the ladder Tseng had just let down for him. A minute and thirty seconds left. Just enough time for AVALANCHE to make it out without his help. If no one had overheard him talking to Cissnei, he could keep his job another day. The helicopter took off as he shouted his last warning to Cissnei, "Get out of the Sector before it's too late!"

"We have to leave," Cissnei shouted to the rest of AVALANCHE.

"Leave?" Barret called back, "You're giving up? I thought you were a Turk! I thought you always completed a mission!"

"There's nothing we can do," she began down the stairs.

"You running away?" Barret yelled after her, "Coward!"

"Barret, enough," Zack told him, "She's right, none of us can disarm this."

"No, we can still fix this! We can still-"

"It's over, Barret!" Zack shouted, "Now let's go while we still can."

They sprinted down the stairs as the clock ticked down. Zack could see the fence at the edge of the Sector. They were so close...

Time was up. Debris rained down from the dust clouded sky as the support pillar was blow to pieces and the entire Sector crumbled.

Yeah, people may be mad at me for leaving it there, but I'm going to fall asleep on my computer if I don't.

I know it seems a little overly convenient, but I looked it up and shovel handles actually have been found in sewers. How, I'm not sure, but it still makes more sense than when the characters' weapons randomly reappear.

Aerith: "That's it! Vincent and I discuss the meaning of life, and then you cut away again?"

Leah: "I plead the fifth"

Aerith: "No! I want answers"

Leah: "I need you guys to meet up at the right time, so I can't have your part of the story getting ahead of AVALANCHE's"

Aerith: "Then AVALANCHE needs to hurry up. You're killing the hearts of Zerith fans!"