Chapter 14- Semi-Truth

"Surely there's something we can give you in return for capturing this girl." A sly smile formed on Kadaj's lips as he paced back and forth between a large window and a person in a wheel chair. The dim light from the outside world reflected on his face, the only visible skin he showed.

"What could you possibly have to offer?" Genesis glowered at the man dressed in black in front of him. The man tapped impatiently on the handles of his wheelchair, wondering how is god's name this person had found him in his hiding spot.

"Do you not see it? While his body may be gone, do you really think his mind completely dissolved in the life stream?" Kadaj looked over his shoulder at Genesis, his silver hair covering his face like a veil.

"What do you mean?" Genesis scowled and looked out the window.

"I am part of him, together, with my brothers and this girl; we can bring him back to his former glory. Wouldn't that be great? The legendary hero returns to Midgar to have revenge on Shinra." The tone of his voice was more cruel and sadistic then cheery and hopeful.

"If I bring this girl to you, you will give me the Jenova cells I need?" Genesis confirmed Kadaj's proposal.

"Correct, however, seeing the sorry state your body is in; it would be unwise to send you into the field. Perhaps if you told us where we could find her?"

"And how will I know you'd hold up your end of the bargain that way?"

"Humph, then how do you propose to get this girl if I can't know where she is and you can hardly walk?"

Genesis looked over to the corner of the room experimental fiends lay, soulless much like a vessel or a puppet. Kadaj followed his gaze and then met Genesis' again. Kadaj laughed and then told Genesis the time frame the task needed to be completed by before taking his leave. Genesis was left alone to his thoughts. He frowned at how weak him body had become.

"Hey, ya got something troublin' you bud?" Cid sat down next to Tifa. Tifa made no movement or gave even the slightest acknowledgment that he had spoken. "Look, uh, I know we don't really know you too well but it's not good to keep things bottled up forever, ya know?"

Tifa lowered her head, concealing the lower half of her face with the top flap of her cloak.

"I'm jus sayin', if you need someone ta talk ta, we're all here." Cid continued.

"Thanks..." Tifa mumbled.

"Whada where ya doing before we found'ya in the woods?" Beret spoke up, the shadows the fire cast dancing on his dark skin.

"SOLDIER." Tifa only had to say one word because everyone knew what she meant.

"I knew you looked familiar!" Yuffie jumped up, waving her arms in the air before continuing, "You were on the news! Vincent Valentine... only that wasn't your real name and there was some scary truth about you. I can't remember what it is though."

Everyone jumped to their feet, except Tifa who remained sitting. "You're a spy, ain't you!" Cid made an accusation. Beret made a disgusted face while Yuffie picked up her shruiken.

"You've been playing us this whole time!" Beret shouted.

"So, they've found out." Sephiroth spoke to her in a low tone.

"What the hell is your angle?"

"It was only a matter of time." Sephiroth continued.

"I suppose you were going to wait and kill us when we fell asleep!"

"What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to defend yourself?" Sephiroth placed a firm hand on Tifa's shoulder.

"What for?"

"So you can collect your big fat pay check and destroy a portion of Avalanche," Beret snarled.

"You're not a monster; you and I both know that. Do take the heat for being one." Tifa could almost feel Sephiroth whispering in her ear. She could swear that she caught a hint of the spearmint toothpaste he often used. The thought of him standing so close to her once again sent shivers up her spine. Her mind fogged over and he became the focus all her thoughts. "Heads up," was what he whispered last before he disappeared back into her memories.

Tifa felt a long metal object come crashing down on her head. She fell over onto her back, staring at her attacker wide eyed and confused. Having been absorbed by nostalgia, she was not aware she was responding to the real life conversation around her. Tifa made no attempt to defend herself, if she got carried away, she'd end up seriously hurting them. That wouldn't help her case at all. The pole part of Cid's spear collided with her stomach, pushing the breath out of her. She sat up quickly, narrowly avoiding a blast from Beret's mechanical gun arm. A shruiken clipped her check, drawing blood to the surface of her skin. She hoped to her feet and some sort of interpretative dance; attempting to dodge the blasts of energy at her feet, a large spear jabbing at her torso and a shruiken whirling around her head in the air somewhere. With a great leap she flew up into the air, vanishing from sight in the darkness of the night.

"Son of a bitch! You get down here now!" Cid shouted to the tree tops.

"You attack because I worked for Shinra?" Tifa shouted down to them.

"Ya, and you lied to us you big jerk!" Yuffie threw her shruiken towards the trees in a hopeless attempt to catch Tifa.

"You never asked!"

"Shut up and get down here so we can kill ya!" Beret bellowed towards the sky; anger and rage filling his voice. A large golden boot came falling through the air and smacked Beret on the face, causing him to stumble back in surprise. A matching boot landed next to Beret.

"What the hell are ya doing?!" Cid shouted again. Next a holster, Cerberus, and a leather ammunitions belt fell to the ground.

"Is he stripping?" Yuffie had a hint of excitement in her question. The question was answered when Tifa's red cloak landed across her face. A leather glove fell and then her leather suit landed on the dirt with a light thud accompanied with a number of belts. Next was a leather vest. When the articles of clothes stopped falling, Yuffie spoke again, "What, not underwear?"

"I am unarmed, drop your weapons." Tifa ordered sternly, ignoring Yuffie's comment completely.

"Why the hell did you take your clothes off?!" Beret seemed repulsed by the idea of a man sitting next to naked in a tree, however, he transformed his mechanical arm back in to a hand. Yuffie and Cid also dropped their weapons.

"Your raving mad boy!" Cid called up.

"Did you want to know a part of the truth?

"A part? Dang it I want to know all of it," Beret folded his arms across his chest.

"I only prefer to disclose so much." With those words, Tifa hoped down from her perch high within the trees. All the others saw at first was pasty blur landing next to the campfire. Before they had realised what they say, Cid automatically had Tifa pinned to a large tree trunk by her chest. She didn't wriggle or attempt to resist him. Cid immediately jumped back when he realized what he had been groping.

"You're... You're a ... chick?!" Cid stammered. Tifa let out a heavy sigh, she was wearing a white tank top, her single golden claw and some black leggings; overtop of her underwear of course, that showed off her feminine curves. "But... but...but y'all were in SOLDIER."

"Ya, I'm female," She rolled her eyes.

"Oh ya," Yuffie placed a finger on her chin as she thought back to the news clip she had seen. "That was part of it. And I think there was something about you stealing billions of dollars worth of research equipment."

Tifa arched an eyebrow at the dark haired girl. "And I was only with SOLDIER for about a month or so."

"Yet you made first class easily, the same rank as Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal." Yuffie continued.

"How is it possible that a girl can be as powerful as Sephiroth?" Beret frowned.

"I'm not," Tifa bent down to begin gathering up her gear. "I was stronger."

"That's a load-o-crap! He was a genetic experiment, how can a simple girl match that. Let alone a human one, I don't think that he was completely human." Cid protested.

Tifa walked closer towards them so the light of the campfire would shine on her pasty white skin. She held her arms up and slowly rotated in a circle for them. Yuffie covered her mouth when she saw Tifa's weak form. Without her gear, a fair amount of her scars we visible, traveling across her skin like cracks and potholes on an old highway. "I'm not with Shinra and I will not raise arms against you. However if you attack me again, you will have to be spoon fed for the rest of your lives. Sephiroth died by my hand, you all couldn't match his strength combined. It would be wise to let the issue with me working for Shinra subside." Tifa grimaced as she touched her bloody cheek.

Yuffie, Beret and Cid glanced at each other cautiously before Yuffie spoke again, "So... you're a monster too then?"

Tifa scowled but refused to answer. She put on her gear again, though she felt their eyes of them upon her. "Your lives are at risk now that you know some of the truth. Shinra will hunt you down and kill you all off. Despite you all being terrorists and being able to hide this long, you will have never before had such a number chasing after you all. Without me, you don't stand a chance. You helped me get to Midgar, now I'm offering to save your lives." Tifa pulled her cloak over her shoulders and fastened the buckles up.

"Um.... I guess?" Beret scratched his weave.

"Err... Thanks?" Yuffie shrugged.

Tifa had a competitive grin on her face as she peeked over the top of her hand of cards. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to read Sephiroth's thoughts by his expression. She had no such luck; his face was always a poker face, concealing all thoughts behind a serene mask. He made eye contact with her, but said nothing. Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow at her as he waited for her to take her turn.

"Hit me," She grinned. Sephiroth flipped over a three. "Hit me." He flipped over a ten. "Hit me." He flipped over a nine. "Damn it!" She slapped her cards on the table. Tifa grabbed the pile of cards and dealt two cards to Sephiroth. Meanwhile, Sephiroth pulled the stack of cookies Tifa had bet on her last hand and placing his own bet. Since neither of them owned poker chips, they stole a couple boxes of cookies from the kitchen.

"Hit me." He said. Tifa turned over a six. "Hit me." She turned over a two. "Hit me." She turned over a jack. "Hit me."

Tifa threw a cookie at his head. "There's already 17 on the table. I suggest you stick."

"Hit me," He repeated himself more assertively. Tifa flipped over another two. Sephiroth put down his cards face up to reveal two aces.

"You've been counting the cards haven't you?!" the dark haired girl folded her arms tightly across her chest. Sephiroth pressed his lips together into a thin line. Tifa frowned and threw another baked good at his head. "That's cheating!"

Sephiroth caught the projectile in his hand and took a bite out of it, chewing it thoughtfully. "It's not cheating, it is annoying though." He examined the chocolate chunks carefully. Sephiroth opened his mouth when he had swallowed to speak again. A low pitched screech burst from somewhere within his chest. Sephiroth faded to black, as did the room. However, the screeching continued.

Tifa slowly opened her eyes, rubbing them to get rid of the blur. The others sleeping around her had not heard the screeching yet because of the fact that none of them had genetically enhanced senses like she did. She felt the presence of something of large numbers a few hundred yards off. Whatever it was, it wasn't a humanoid, possibly some type of beast. She jumped to her feet, it was approaching them quickly. Tifa felt her heart race in excitement as her adrenaline went up about seven notches.

A/n: :( I apologize profusely for the length of time it took to update. My computer was a living dinosaur- over 9 years I had it and it wasn't brand new when I acquired it. One day, it died. I lost everything except for what I stored on my external hard drive, which was only music, amvs, pictures, and work related files. All my stories I was working on for fanfiction: gone. Then on top of all that, I was moving so I didn`t really have the extra money to purchase a new computer. Thankfully, I`m all moved in now, I have a laptop and I plan to update regularly again. Again, I apologize for the delay.

Reviews:

Thanks for the review xSefirosux! I`m working on another SephTi fanfiction... I`ve rewritten it about 7 or 8 times, just going through plot ideas. Nothing's really tickling my fancies. Loz in Advent Children Complete was quite amusing. He looks older than the others but acts the youngest. Hope to hear a review from you soon and that you like this chapter as you have my others.

Thanks for the review Lilith! Moving sucked... try to avoid it if you can. I know my chapters are short but I have a horrible habit of writing them late at night when I feel the most compelled to write them. I usually end up falling asleep at the keyboard around 2 if I don't call it quits at a reasonable time. Hope you enjoy this chapter. I once wrote a short story about a girl named Lilith... I was wondering if I knew you in the real world or if it's just a coincidence.

Thanks for the review ! Genesis is not dead yet, fear not. I'm happy to see that you like my story and thank you for your first review. I don't mind Cloud, I'm just tired of the love triangle between him, Tifa and Aerith. Sephiroth will be back, that is the whole point of Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz showing up and stealing Jenova's head. Hope you drop another review.

I took it slow... or slower than usual for this chapter. Hope you guys like it and drop a review. I will be updating within the next few days!