Chapter 13

"Yuffie and Barret, you two go in from the east entrance. Vincent, Tifa and I will take the west. We'll all gather at the prison in the basement where Zack is," Cloud explained his plan to his comrades. He was now wearing his black garments which had a lion crest over the left side of his chest. They all stood hidden among trees near the ShinRa building, preparing themselves. Everyone nodded in agreement of the plan. "Alright, let's move," he said. Immediately, everyone ran over to their groups and made their way to their respective areas.

Vincent led the way from the west entrance. Cloud and Tifa followed him closely behind. They ran swiftly and silently into the building. Despite expectations, the halls were empty. There were no employees or guards in sight.

"Where is everyone?" asked Tifa.

"I don't know but we should take advantage of this situation," replied Cloud.

The other two nodded in agreement and they all continued running down the empty halls. They ran past many closed doors and down several flights of stairs. Despite their entry deeper into the ShinRa organization, they had still yet to encounter any SOLDIERS.

'This is strange,' Cloud thought, 'Sephiroth knew we were coming. Did he not prepare at all? Or was he just underestimating their capabilities?'

"Aah!" cried Tifa.

Cloud turned around quickly, finding that the floor behind them had opened up, leaving an opening about 10 feet wide. Tifa was hanging on the edge of the floor, her legs dangling in the darkness. Cloud quickly kneeled down and reached out his hand. Both their hands connected and he pulled Tifa up.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, that was a surprise though."

"I'll be in the back. You walk in the middle. It'll be safer there. We don't know how many more traps are here in the building."

Tifa nodded and they both switched their positioning within their small group.

"Cloud," Vincent called without looking back. He remained looking forward, his eyes locked to whatever he was looking at.

"What is it?" Cloud asked. Vincent didn't answer. He and Tifa then decided to follow his gaze. Their bodies both froze with Vincent, staring in horror and fear at the figure before them. Sephiroth stood at the end of the hall. The man stood silently. In his hand was his long katana. He no longer wore the casual clothing that Cloud saw him wear when he encountered him in Midgar. He was now dressed in his long, black SOLDIER coat.

"Sephiroth.." Cloud breathed as he unsheathed his mythril blade. Vincent readied his gun and Tifa raised her fists in a fighting stance.

The man grinned as his green eyes gleamed in excitement. Sephiroth raised his blade and dashed towards his opponents. Cloud also charged at the silver-haired man. Their blades clashed furiously with a loud clang. Their blades held each other in place as both of then stood their ground.

Behind Cloud, Vincent shot his gun towards Sephiroth. But the man pressed his blade off of Cloud's, allowing him to dodge the bullets. Sephiroth swiftly moved to the side and avoided any damage.

Tifa ran forward towards the two males. She ducked underneath Cloud's blade and jolted forward with a skyward punch at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth jumped back but was immediately greeted by Cloud's blade. He pressed his katana against the wall, shoving his body weight away from the oncoming impact. But the assaults continued from both Tifa and Cloud, making it difficult for Sephiroth to counter attack. And while he was blocking and avoiding his opponents' physical attacks, he still had to be on guard with Vincent's ranged weapon.

Cloud swung his blade with immense force directly at location where Sephiroth would dodge to next. The silver-haired man had no option but to block the blade. At that moment, Tifa jumped off of the side wall, and was above both men. She had one hand hold a fisted hand and swung both arms down with impeccable strength. The attack hit Sephiroth directly between his shoulder blades, causing him to drop down the ground on all fours. His katana clattered to the floor beside him.

"It's over," Cloud panted as he pointed his blade at Sephiroth's neck.

Sephiroth chuckled. He turned his head up to look Cloud in the eyes. His long, silver hair draped over one eye. "It's never over, Cloud." Sephiroth quickly spun his leg out and knocked both Cloud and Tifa on the ground with a sweeping kick. He grabbed his blade and dashed straight toward Vincent.

Vincent shot his weapon at the oncoming man. But after every bullet he shot, he could hear the slight sound of a clang. Sephiroth was swinging his blade at such a lightning speed that his bullets were deflected. None of Vincent's attacks were able to hit the first-class SOLDIER. "Damn," Vincent muttered under his breath as he still shot his gun.

Sephiroth was now in front of him. The man swung his blade down at Vincent. Vincent quickly dodged the gleaming metal with a roll to the side but was immediately met with a leg to his side. A loud crack could be heard across the hall. By intent or coincidence, Vincent was struck in the same location when Cloud was delirious. His body flew off the ground and crashed against the wall's corner, sending a piercing pain over Vincent's back. The man crumpled down onto the floor, sitting on his knees.

"Vincent!" Cloud and Tifa yelled in unison.

Sephiroth turned back to look towards Cloud. He looked at the boy with a cold grin.

"Tifa, you take Vincent and keep going."

"But, Cloud-"

"We'll all be caught at this rate. I can hold him off while you both get Zack," Cloud quickly responded as he kept his eyes locked on Sephiroth.

"Okay," Tifa replied.

Both individuals readied themselves to engage their opponent. Cloud suddenly dashed forward towards Sephiroth. Their blades clashed violently several times. Each impact of the blades became harder and harder. Sparks could be seen flying as their blades touched.

Cloud swung his blade down at Sephiroth. Their blades held each other in place. They stood right before the trap in the ground. Sephiroth's foot stepped right near the edge. His left heel was slightly off the floor. Cloud put all his force against Sephiroth. If he could knock him down into the trap, then everyone could be safe. But at least he was able to hold Sephiroth back for the moment.

At that moment, Tifa ran towards Vincent. When she reached him, she pulled his arm over her shoulder and slowly stood up. "Can you walk?"

"...Yeah," Vincent replied.

Tifa helped Vincent walk over to the other end of the hallway. "We have to get going," Tifa said. Vincent nodded and he walked as fast as he could with the support of Tifa. Soon after, they were both out of sight of the two swordsmen.

"Now we can spend some quality time together, Cloud," Sephiroth spoke.

Cloud looked at the man before him. "Who would want to spend time with you?" he scoffed.

"Heh, as honest as ever, are we?"

Cloud shoved forwards, causing's Sephiroth's feet to slide back slightly even more off the edge of the floor. "If you want me to be honest then I'll tell you this- I'd be happy to see you go down this pit right now and stay there."

Sephiroth chuckled. "I'm sure you would if you could."

Cloud took another push-full step forward, making Sephiroth's left foot lose even more ground. Only the toes of his boot still touched the floor. "Don't underestimate me, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth suddenly swung his blade, causing Cloud to stumble back. The man smirked at the boy. "And to you, as well." As Sephiroth spoke those words he jumped back, falling down into the trap hole. Throughout his descent, he never took his eyes away from Cloud and continued to smile devilishly.

Cloud immediately ran forward towards the opened ground. As soon as he peered over the edge, he felt a hand grab him at the collar. He looked down to see Sephiroth, who had jabbed his katana into the side of the trap wall. Sephiroth kicked himself off of the wall, releasing his blade and bringing his precious puppet down the trap with him.

Cloud had been pulled off his balance. He knew he had to regain his balance or he would nothing more than a pile of mash as he made contact with the floor below. He immediately spun in the air and kicked off the sides of the walls, jumping to each side of the trap hole until he reached the bottom. As he reached the bottom ground, he noticed Sephiroth descending below gracefully. His black, feathered wing was now apparent on his back.

Sephiroth's feet landed on the ground with a light tap. He then made his wing disappear as he turned to look up at Cloud. "Are you satisfied now? I'm down in the trap floor," he chuckled.

"Grr.. Don't mock me, Sephiroth," Cloud spoke as he readied his sword. "I am going to end this."

"It's only just beginning."

Okay we're finally here! Back to getting to the pervy stuff that we all miss and love! Sorry I'm just going really slow with the chapters now. School is just being hectic at the moment with annoying papers to write and such. I don't know how much people care about a mini plot in this or not but I kind of thought it'd be good for me to know when to end this thing lol...at least I kind of have a sense of direction with my writing XD?