Disclaimer: I do not own FF VII or any of the characters from it. However, I did create the character of John.

As always, thanks to all who read the last chapter and a special thanks to those who reviewed.

As Malefactior pointed out, I rushed a bit with the last chapter, but I think that this one came out better since I took more time, enjoy!

Testing Fate

Chapter XIV

Cloud carefully walked up the stairs, making sure that they were behind Hojo by a considerable amount so that he would not hear them. He made sure that he was not visible as Hojo opened and closed the door and continued on his way to the elevator. Tifa, John and Barret followed behind Cloud and stood beside him at the door as they waited for time to pass since Hojo wasn't exactly the world's quickest walker. As they waited, the contemplated their next move.

"Should we just get to work when we see Aeris?" asked Barret, ready to shoot anyone in his way.

"Hmm…I don't know," said Cloud with an uncertainty, "If it'll land her in even more danger, then it might be better to lay low until it'll be safer."

"Do you think Hojo will try something once we show up?" asked Tifa.

"Probably," answered John, "Judging by the way he was speaking about Aeris back at that meeting, I don't think he plans on letting her go anytime soon."

"We'll have to make sure that she won't get caught in the crossfire if there will be one," said Cloud, who received nods of agreement from the others.

"Let's go," said John as he approached the door, "we don't want Hojo to get too far,"

"Wait!" exclaimed Cloud suddenly as John was about to get close enough for the door to open, "Stand back!"

"What?" asked John, confused at Cloud's sudden order.

"Now!" commanded Cloud a bit louder, but still quiet so that only the people in the room could hear him.

John obeyed without another question and Cloud took his place near the door while John went back to stand with Tifa and Barret, who also seemed curious in what Cloud was going to do.

As Cloud got his sword ready to strike, the others slowly became aware of what he was worried about; there were footsteps obviously approaching the door from the other side. Cloud held his breath as the footsteps momentarily stopped before they started once more. A few seconds later, the door opened and Cloud brought his sword down, not caring who was entering. It turned out that it was a 3rd class SOLDIER who had guessed correctly that there were intruders on the other side of the wall and had thrust his sword in first, but he did not guess how strong his enemy was and Cloud's strike brought him tumbling forward as he held on to his sword which had just been hit. As soon as his head entered the room with the stairs, Cloud head butted him hard and sent him stumbling to the side. While the 3rd class SOLDIER tried to regain himself, Cloud brought his Buster Sword forward and embedded his sword in the SOLDIER's side. As his life rapidly faded away, the 3rd class managed to yell a distinct "in here" as he slumped to the ground. John had watched this whole scenario in shock, realizing that he would have been killed if Cloud had not stopped him. Before he could continue that through further, Cloud jumped back and three more 3rd class SOLDIERs entered with their swords drawn. Barret wanted to put holes in their bodies, but he knew that if he fired here, he might hit his friends, so he opted for throwing a fire ball at them, but it was easily stopped by them with their swords. However, this gave John (who had apparently gotten his senses fully back) to rush ahead of Cloud and bring his staff down at the closest 3rd class who had left his legs unguarded by raising his sword to the side to deflect the fire ball, which went to the side and hit the wall, causing few visible damage. The end of the Striking Staff went through the 3rd class's feet and got stuck in the floor, making him turn his head downwards and let out a scream of shock and pain for about a second before Cloud ran his sword through his stomach to keep him from getting even more reinforcements to come. Cloud then rushed to the other side of the room to join Tifa, who was trying to take down one of the other two but was so far unsuccessful in landing a blow. This left John alone as he tried to get his staff out of the floor and the fallen 3rd class's foot. As he gripped it with both hands and was trying to pull it out, he failed to notice that the remaining SOLDIER had walked right up to him and was getting ready to attack. John noticed a shadow and was about to look up when he felt the SOLDIER's knee connect with his stomach. It then slowly came out, only to be replaced by his fist. Once the fist came out, John instinctively grabbed his stomach in pain and hung his head, leaving its back exposed. He now had no way to defend himself as the SOLDIER brought his elbow down on the back of his head, sending him falling to the ground; John barely managed to get up on his hands and knees.

Damn it!

The SOLDIER was about to bring his sword down to finish John when he felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked down to see a giant metallic blade going into him, causing him to drop his sword in the realization that this was it for him. As his life faded away, he looked further beyond the blade to see a blond warrior with cold, glowing blue eyes before he succumbed to his death and the sword was pulled out of him. Meanwhile, Tifa had managed to dispose of the other SOLDIER once Cloud had joined her; as the SOLDIER had been trying to block Cloud's attacks, Tifa had managed to land in several powerful blows, eventually ending by crushing his skull with a powerful punch. She looked back to notice John slowly getting up, trying not to show his pain from the attacks.

"John, are you okay?" she asked as she got closer.

John mumbled a "yeah" before he found Cloud holding his staff out to him. John looked at him with an ashamed look on his face before taking it.

"Never do that again," warned Cloud as his eyes burned into John's, "you could have been killed. How do you think that you can rescue Aeris if you can't even protect yourself long enough to reach her?"

Unable to say anything, John simply looked at the ground while Cloud looked around to make sure that they were safe for now, noticing something peculiar in the meantime; the SOLDIER that he and Tifa had defeated had a sword that was different from what the others had. He walked up to the corpse and picked up the sword; he'd heard about this, it was called a Hardedge. Deciding that it would be a good addition, he placed it on its back on top of the Buster Sword. When he turned back around, he found the others waiting for him sufficiently away from the door.

Wow, I guess that taught them something, thought Cloud with a slight bit of humor to himself.

He then walked through the door and looked around; it didn't seem like there were anymore enemies on this floor for now, so they had a chance to get back on Hojo's tail.

"There's nobody here, let's hurry," he told the others as he started moving forwards.

They walked slowly and cautiously, walking especially quietly around the doors so that the workers in side would not hear them. During this time, John slowly picked up the pace to get up to Cloud before speaking.

"C-Cloud?" he spoke, not sure whether to expect an answer in return.

"Yeah?" was the reply after a short pause, which partially relieved John.

"I'm uh, really sorry that that happened. I-I should have paid more attention."

Cloud let out a nearly silent sigh that only John could hear before replying.

"Look, we're all ok so that's what's important. Just…be more careful from now on."

John nodded in the most optimistic way that he could as they continued on.

He's right; I can't do something stupid like that again. At this rate, I'm going to get killed before Aeris if this keeps up!

As they walked, John saw that the room was opening up, knowing what was coming next.

Jenova…what if it is her that's causing these voices? What is she going to do when I get close? Or worse, when she is freed?

Turning a corner with Cloud, they saw Hojo in the near distance and quickly got behind a box along with Tifa and Barret so that they wouldn't get noticed. Hojo was standing in front of a tank with a red creature that bizarrely resembled a large dog inside.

It's Red XIII, thought John, I nearly forgot about him with Aeris and Jenova on my mind.

"Is this today's specimen?" asked another person in a lab coat who came from the other side.

"Yes. We're starting right away. Raise it to the upper level. My precious specimen…" replied Hojo in a bizarrely giddy tone before following him to an elevator on the other side of the room.

Once they were gone, Tifa walked up to the tank and looked at the creature inside. It didn't seem to mind her and simply continued lying down, not that it could do anything else.

"Hmm…precious specimen…do you think it's going to be used in a research project?" asked Tifa as she looked at it.

"Maybe…" replied Barret uneasily.

John walked up to take a closer look at it and managed to catch its eyes. Not knowing what else to do, John smiled, knowing that it would be leaving with them soon if everything went right. Cloud in the meantime was fixated by something else in the room right next to them; a massive container with a window. John averted his gaze to it as well; afraid of what might happen if he looked at what was inside. Cloud stepped forward and looked inside for a few seconds before grabbing his head and collapsing to the ground.

"Cloud! What's wrong?" asked an alarmed and worried Tifa as she knelt down to help him get his head up.

"Jenova…Sephiroth's…so, they've brought it here," mumbled Cloud as he stared at the container in shock.

"Sephiroth?" asked Tifa, with a new tone of fear in her voice.

"D-did you see it?" stammered Cloud, "It's moving, still alive"

Cloud got up as Tifa went over to the container and looked inside before looking away with a nauseous look on her face.

"God…"

"What is it?" asked Barret as he took over Tifa's spot and looked inside before yelling in shock and stepping back.

"What the #&, Where's the #"$+ head?!"

Cloud was completely silent at this point as he seemed to stare into space. While Tifa and Barret watched and waited for him to snap out of it, John slowly walked up to the container and looked inside; what he saw inside made him want to scream. It might have looked bearable on a TV screen, but up close the body of Jenova was absolutely horrifying. Why did Cloud have to question whether it was alive or not? The entire body was clearly in motion as the chest moved up and down with the purple skin seeming to emit a sweat of some sort, despite the cold temperature of the window. As John looked higher, he saw that there was purplish blood leaking from the sides from where the head should have been; the bumps in its place showing that it was obviously being moved while the wound had been healing and must have hit the crates or something. The alien substance slowly dripped down the creature's sides and breasts as it continued to slowly heave its chest up and down. Finally, John could take no more and started to walk back until he believed that was sufficiently enough away from the creature's prison to start breathing again, which he did very slowly. He then turned his head to the left to find the others staring at him, understanding his feeling of horror.

"L-let's hurry," suggested John in a quiet voice that could not become any louder for the moment being, "We don't want Aeris to be in the same building as…that!"

The voices…they didn't come, what does that mean?

Cloud took one more look at the container and then at Red before nodding and moving in the direction of the elevator, the others slowly doing the same. At the entrance to the elevator, John found a green materia which seemed to have a green form inside it.

This must be Poison…he thought as he pocketed it.

Tifa pressed the button for the elevator and looked back in the direction of the container, feeling a chill run up and down her spine.

Sephiroth…they never did find a body in the end…

"Tifa, you coming?" came John's voice, snapping her out of her thoughts; the elevator had arrived and it was time to go.

"Yeah, sorry," she replied as she turned around and stepped into the elevator with the others.

Once they reached the next floor and got out of the elevator, it became apparent that they had no choice but to act now because there was no place to hide here and Hojo was well aware of their presence as he momentarily looked at them before shifting his gaze back to a glass container in the middle of the room. As the team walked closer to the middle of the room, they saw that Aeris was lying unconscious in the glass container.

"Aeris!" shouted John as they picked up their pace upon recognizing her.

"Aeris? So that's her name," spoke Hojo in a monotonous tone as he watched her through the glass, "what do you want?"

"We're taking Aeris back," announced Cloud with anger in his voice.

"Hmph, outsiders," mumbled Hojo under his breath as he continued not to look at the intruders.

"Ugh, you evil…" began Barret in anger as he aimed his gun at Hojo.

"You're going to shoot me? I don't think that would be wise," said Hojo, finally looking Barret in the eyes, "Without me, who would operate this delicate machinery?"

"Ugh, damn it," spat Barret as he lowered his gun arm.

"That's right," said Hojo, "you should try to think things out logically before making rash decisions, Now then, bring in the specimen!"

The elevator in the middle of the glass cage started to move as Aeris slowly opened her eyes and slowly got up on her feet. In a few seconds, the red creature that they had seen on the floor below a few minutes ago came up and started to violently growl, causing Aeris to run to the edge of the container and start pounding on the glass.

"Cloud! John! Get me out of here!" she yelled as she continued her attempts to break the glass with no success.

"What are you doing?" asked Tifa in horror as she watched her friend try to get out.

"They're both endangered species," explained Hojo in a devious tone, "So we're going to breed them and lend nature a helping hand."

"You're going to-that's disgusting!" exclaimed Tifa as her eyes widened.

"You're gonna pay Hojo, step back everyone!" ordered Barret as he aimed his gun arm at the top of the container and started to shoot.

As the bullets unloaded, the inside of the container started to fill with a fog like substance as Aeris and the creature vanished from sight. Once the entire container was filled with the substance, the front door opened, but the inside was not visible yet.

"What are you doing? My precious specimens!" shouted Hojo as he ran ahead and stopped in front of the container.

As the artificial mist cleared up, the red creature was revealed to be standing about two feet away from Hojo. Before he could make another step, the creature lunged at Hojo and pinned him against the ground, giving John the chance to run into the container to see how Aeris was.

"Aeris, are you ok?" asked John in an alarmed tone.

"Yeah, I thought that he would attack me," she replied, referring to the creature that now had Hojo at its mercy, "Thanks for coming, I knew you would."

Aeris then gave one of her trademark smiles as to everyone's surprise, the creature got off of Hojo instead of starting to devour him and came up to Aeris.

"I apologize for that; I was only trying to distract Hojo,"

"I-it can talk?" blurted Tifa in surprise.

Before anyone else could speak, the elevator started moving again and Hojo started to laugh as he crawled away from the team.

"This is an extremely ferocious specimen, I'm sure it will have plenty of fun as it kills you," he said as he ran towards the stairs.

"He's rather strong, I'll help you out," said the creature as it took a battle stance by kneeling on its front legs, ready to pounce.

"Somebody get Aeris to safety," said Cloud as he took out his new Hardedge.

"No," said Aeris before anyone else could say anything, "I'll fight with you. They put my stuff over there, give me a second."

With that Aeris ran to the other side of the room and started to look around, knowing that they had put her staff & armlet with the materia here.

"Aeris!" yelled Cloud in frustration, trying to get her to cooperate.

"No time Cloud, it's here!" exclaimed Barret as he got his gun arm ready.

Cloud turned back around and saw a tall and bizarre creature which had razor sharp teeth in its shoulder and a massive claw come from the bottom of the floor. Before it could do anything, the red creature jumped at him, ferociously clawing and biting into its other shoulder before the claw grabbed him and threw him back out of the container. Red XIII managed to land safely on all fours as HO512 tried to run out of the container, only to be kicked back in by Tifa.

"Stand back Tifa!" shouted Barret as he got in line with the opening of the container and raised his gun arm.

Tifa managed to get out of the way just in time as a hail of bullets flew into the container, hitting the creature inside over and over. After what seemed like ages, Barret stopped to take a good look at the results. Inside the container, the creature had survived and got up on its feet. What happened next shocked the team; the bullet wounds started to slowly heal until they were nearly unnoticeable.

"Dammit, what is this?!" exclaimed Barret.

"He has to be stopped quickly before he can regenerate" explained Red XIII.

"Now he tells me…" mumbled Barret as HO512 finally stepped out of the container as everyone had stepped back in fear. It held out its claw in front of hit and a ball of light started to form. The ball of light then moved forward and split into three parts which then took form as small creatures.

"Don't worry about destroying those," advised Red, "It'll just make more. If we take him out, they'll die too."

"Great to hear that," said a female voice as a fireball sailed over Red and hit HO152 square in the chest and sent him falling back into the container yet again.

The team turned around to see Aeris, now armed with her staff and her Mythril Armlet equipped.

"I told you I could help," she said with a sly smile.

Before anyone else could comment, the three samples split up and attacked the group. One tried to jump on Tifa, but she was quick to hit it back with a backhand. Another rushed at John, who walked back a few steps before swinging his staff upward and sending the sample flying back. The final one tried to take a hit on Cloud, but had no chance as he was sliced in half in mid air. During this time, HO512 had walked out of the container and was met by a fireball from Red, which it managed to deflect. Barret then decided to keep it from moving and started to unload bullets in its right leg.

"Hey guys, hurry up and hit this thing!" he yelled as he continued the barrage.

The remaining two samples had gotten up and were trying to attack Tifa and John once again, which left Cloud, Aeris and Red to act while they had the opportunity. Aeris launched a fireball at its left leg, bringing it onto a knee. Red XIII also launched fireball, but instead aimed at its claw, swinging it back from the impact. With the body now completely unguarded, Cloud rushed ahead and plunged his sword through the creature, causing it to yell out in pain. Barret ceased his attack as Cloud pulled the sword out and ran back to be a safe distance from the enemy. By this time, Tifa and John had disposed of the samples and went to stand with the rest of the team. They watched as HO512 clutched its wound, which it was having trouble to regenerate due to using so much energy to heal itself from Barret's bullets at the beginning of the battle. They were ready for him try to leave himself open as he would try to create more samples, but he did something else. Instead of extending his claw to create samples, he brought it closer to himself to act as protection while the mouth on its shoulder opened. The team watched as a purplish gas started to form and spill out through the razor sharp teeth.

"Don't get close!" warned Red, "that poison will kill you!"

John began to think about using the elemental and poison materias to get in close for an attack or the Star Pendant, but before he could act, Aeris took a step forward and stood in front of the creature. The others didn't do anything to hold her back as she extended her arm outward, trying to bring it in line with the mouth, which was now starting to open and close. She waited for a few seconds before the green materia in her Mythril Armlet started to glow and a fireball appeared in the palm of her hand. The next time the mouth opened, she shot it straight ahead and to her luck, HO512 ended up accidentally swallowing it. With that, she slowly walked backwards until she was with her friends and they watched what would happen next. In a few seconds, the gas stopped coming out and the mouth closed. HO512 tried to move, but the bullets which Barret had put into its leg were keeping it in place. As it tried to concentrate its energy to heal itself, the fireball did its job as it reacted with the gas inside HO512 and set off an explosion inside him, destroying him completely in a sphere of fire. The team did not move as the smoke settled until they were sure that the creature was dead for good.

"All right then," spoke Barret, getting everyone's attention as he turned towards Red, "Now that that's done, who or what are you?"

"An informed question, but one that's difficult to answer," replied the creature slowly, "I am what you see. I'll answer more questions later, but first let us get out of here,"

"Can you at least tell us your name?" asked Tifa.

"Hojo named me Red XIII; a name which has no meaning to me whatsoever, so call me what you wish."

"Hmm…how about just Red?" suggested John, seeing as that's what he called him in his mind.

"…Red will do," was the simple reply.

"Right," said Cloud, "we should head for the elevator on the 66th floor. I'd suggest that we split up, but we have to be quick and make sure that no one is left behind, so we have to be really careful."

"Good idea," said Tifa as she looked around the room and saw a hall way, "Hojo went this way, so there must be some stairs."

As they started to walk, Aeris spoke for the first time since the battle.

"Thanks everyone."

"Don't mention it," said Barret happily, "You saved my daughter's life and I owe you."

John in the meantime was worried about other things, knowing what was waiting for them when they entered the elevator.

The Turks are just waiting for us; do we really have to go this way? I guess we do though, because we might get killed by Sephiroth if we stay out here. But after he leaves with Jenova, I won't be able to find out if it's them who are causing these voices. Should I-no that would be suicide, but-

"John?" came Aeris's voice as he looked over to find a concerned look on her face, "Are you ok? You seem rather tense."

"I'm okay, I just want to get out of here, I don't like this place," he replied, trying not to show his worry.

"Yeah, me too," she said rather quietly, trying not to relive the memories again.

As they were walking, John found a keycard with the number 68 imprinted on it and decided to pocket it.

Never know when this might be useful…

In what seemed to be too little time, the team approached the elevator door on the 66th floor and John inserted the keycard and waited for the elevator to arrive, shifting his eyes around and trying not to get noticed by the others.

Dammit, I have to decide now! They won't let me go just like that, but if I time my move correctly…

As he was pondering that thought, the elevator arrived and the rest of the team stepped inside.

"John, let's go," said Cloud, wanting to get far away from this place.

John gave one more look at the 66th floor and stepped inside the elevator and the door shut behind him.

All right, here we go.

John walked towards the control panel, careful not to step too far away from the wall, but before he could insert the card, the door opened again and two men in suits walked in. The team turned their hands to see who it was. One of them was a bald man with glasses and the other was a familiar figure.

"Tseng!" exclaimed Aeris.

"I hope you had a fun time," he said in a calm tone as he took out a gun, "Now then, would you please press the 'up' button?"

John saw that Rude was standing to the left of Tseng, who had walked decently far from the door of the elevator, leaving a space there. He took a look at his teammates and caught Cloud's eyes, who realized very quickly what John was planning to do as his pupils widened.

No John, don't try it!

John put the card back in his pocket and quickly ran between Reno and the elevator wall, getting back on the main floor and continued running without looking back. Tseng turned around in surprise and pointed his gun at the escaping figure.

"Get back here!" he yelled as he prepared to shoot.

"Tseng, no!!!" yelled Aeris as she grabbed him and pulled down, sending the bullet flying upwards and hitting the ceiling.

Rude acted fast and restrained the young woman as she tried to struggle and Tseng went back to pointing his gun at the others.

"Okay then," he began in an exhausted and angry voice, "Unless anyone else wishes to test their luck, we will be going now,"

He slowly advanced towards his panel and used his own keycard to activate it. The team minus John could do nothing as the door closed and the elevator started to ascend.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the stairs that the team had just come down stood John, leaning against the wall and catching his breath in fear.

What have I done? What am I getting myself into? I was supposed to stop Aeris from doing this sort of thing and now I'm doing the same…

Taking a deep breath, John started to walk up the stairs to the 67th floor.