Sephiroth continued with what he was doing, using a nice combination of mako and his own blood to truly take over Cloud. He didn't know, however, that certain corporate presidents might be watching, and waiting to make a move.

"Pick him up, Kadaj."

Kadaj slowly lifted Cloud to a semi standing position, leaning Cloud against him. It wasn't easy, the blond was much taller and heavier than he, but he wanted to make Sephiroth happy. Sephiroth got right into Clouds face, and started speaking.

"Cloud. Wake up, Cloud, I have a job for you. Come on, like a good boy..."

"Brother, should you get that close?"

"He'll be fine. We took his weapons, and if all goes as planned, he'll be happy to see his family." He put a hand on either side of Clouds face and yelled, "CLOUD!" He let go and sighed. "Fine, be difficult, as usual." Sephiroth raised a hand and slapped Cloud as hard as he could across the face. "WAKE UP!"

Cloud woke with a start, pushing back enough to send both himself and Kadaj tumbling to the ground Cloud landing hard on the more delicate Kadaj.

"Sephiroth?"

"Cloud." He held out a hand and Cloud reached out, shakily, to accept it.

"OK, that's enough. Hold it right there." Rufus stepped out his hiding place, holding a gun. "Leave him alone, Sephiroth."

"Well, well, Mr. President. To what do I owe this honor?"

"You heard me, Sephiroth, back off."

"I'm not doing anything to him, am I?" He pulled his hand back. "He's free to do as he wants. Aren't you, Cloud?"

Cloud stood up, unsteadily, by himself and looked over to Rufus.

"Go ahead, Cloud. Tell him."

"I'm fine, Rufus."

"See?" Sephiroth shrugged. "Everything's fine. Here, watch this." Sephiroth walked over to where Kadaj had left the sword. He took it back over to Cloud and handed it to him. "Here, Cloud."

Cloud took the Buster sword and just kind of looked at it, like he was unsure as to what to do with it. During this whole exchange, Kadaj had somehow managed to slink off without Rufus's noticing him. He was now sneaking up behind the unknowing president, double bladed Souba in hand. Sephiroth was consciously trying not to look at him, and hoping Cloud was doing the same. Maybe they could get rid of this irritant once and for all. Then, Cloud let his eyes wander to Kadaj....and that was all it took. Rufus turned in an instant and knocked the sword from the little remnants hand. In another quick motion, he twisted the arm around to Kadajs back, and held it there, while he pointed the gun under his chin.

"Don't make a move. I'll kill him,and I happen to know you need him."

Rufus was, unfortunately, right. Any other time, Sephiroth probably would have made any move he pleased. Add to that the fact Kadaj probably would have gladly sacrificed himself for his "family", and this whole thing wouldn't have been an issue. Alas, he did need Kadaj, so now he had to really think about it, and hope Cloud wouldn't do something stupid. Although right now, he was still confusedly staring at his sword. If they had a distraction, he might be able to work something out.

That was when Yazoo, Loz, and Sephora happened on the scene. Sephora saw her sweet little brother, with a gun held under his chin, and it enraged her. Sweet little Kadaj....no one was going to hurt him. She motioned to Yazoo and Loz to hide themselves and silently walked over to Rufus. She held a hand up behind his head, the black aura swirling around her.

"Rufus. Kindly let my sweet little brother go. And please, don't try anything stupid, just let him go. You have no IDEA what I'm capable of these days, and Yazoo is somewhere you can't see, with his pretty little gun trained on your head. Now, I don't want to kill you, as you could be useful to us, but I'm not going to cry about it if I have to. Let Kadaj go now."

Rufus knew he was beat for the time being and did the only thing he could do. He let Kadaj go.

"Wise choice Mr. President. Take him, Loz."

Loz appeared from behind her and took hold of Rufus's neck, squeezing. He was hitting a nerve that would either kill the man Reno and Rude so respected, or simply knock him out. It really didn't matter to him. Sephora turned to Kadaj, on the ground and stunned from the rough treatment. She extended a hand and pulled him up.

"He took me by surprise or I would have had him! You should let me handle him!"

"In due time, he'll get what he deserves, brother." She smoothed a piece of silver hair behind his ear. "It's okay, Kadaj."

Sephiroth watched as she went to Yazoo and Loz, trying to nurture them. Loz was holding an unconscious Rufus Shinra up by the back of his neck. She instructed him to put the president down, and congratulated him on a job well done. She was letting Yazoo know he'd be able to do his part soon. Sephiroth wasn't sure how he felt about all this. Sephora turned her attention to him, walking to where he and Cloud stood. Cloud was still staring dumbly at his sword.

"Is he going to be okay? He doesn't seem like he's going to be any use to us."

"He'll come out of it."

"Right." As she turned to walk away from him, he grabbed her by the elbow and turned her around.

"Sephora, you wouldn't be questioning me, would you?"

"I'd never do that."

"Good. I just want to make sure you know how much you mean to all this." He smiled down at her, doing his best to make her feel important to him. "I can't do it without you." The half-truth slipped out, and he smiled. He leaned down and kissed her deeply, reminding her why she was there in the first place. Her tongue darted into his mouth, moving against his. He felt her press herself against the front of him, and released her. "I just don't want you to misunderstand your part in the plan, as it were."

She smiled up at him, dreamily. "I would never do that."

"That would be tragic. I'd hate for anything unfortunate to happen to you." He took her chin in his hand and turned her face up to his. "I don't want you to forget."

"Oh, I don't forget the things you tell me, Sephiroth."

"Then we don't have a problem." He turned to Yazoo and Loz. "You two stay here. When Clouds friends come, kill Shinra. Kill him in front of them, make it painful."

"Yes, brother," Yazoo said, smiling at the thought.

"You can catch up with us. Come on Cloud, Kadaj." Cloud followed along obediently, silently. Kadaj followed. He took Sephora by the wrist and dragged her along. She looked back at her other two brothers, the two who she had come to love. She had a feeling she was looking at them for the last time.

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Tifa, Reno and Rude were the first to reach the opening of the cave at Northern Crater. They all took careful looks in, suspecting a trap.

Tifa, Reno, and Rude reached the mouth of the Northern Crater first, peering in, suspecting a trap.
"I don't see them. Where do you think they are?" Tifa asked.
"I don't know. I don't know what they're thinking or planning. It seems like they're either leading us on a wild goose chase or this is some kind of trap. I'm pretty sure we're walking into something. What do you think, Rude."
"Most likely. I don't think they'd more or less lead us here and then not have something planned."
Yuffie, Barrett, Nanaki, Cid, Vincent, and Cait Sith soon caught up just as the three of them were staring at each other, deep in thought over what to do next.
"What's going on, Tifa? Did something happen? Did you see them?" Yuffie asked.
"No, from what we can tell, there's nothing here."
"What?? There's nothing here??"
"We should go further into the cave," said Vincent.
"And what if it's a trap?" Reno asked.
"Then we walk into a trap, and maybe we stop them from doing whatever they plan on doing, and maybe we don't. At least we tried. If we don't try, then everything we've ever done is going to mean nothing at all. Besides, they still have Cloud! We can't just let them have him! He'd help us, now we have to rescue him!" Tifa said.

They all looked at each other for a minute, unsure what to say or do.

Reno sighed, "She's right. We can't just let them do this. Not only for Cloud, but Sephora, too. For her mind, and whatever's left of the real her. Let's go."

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Yazoo and Loz may have been enjoying the task at hand a little too much. They had Rufus Shinra propped up against one wall of the cave and were taking turns discussing how to kill him the most effectively, with the most spectacle.

"I could stab him with the velvet nightmare, then shoot him. He'd explode, kind of," Yazoo offered, smiling.

"You could throw him in the air, and I could beat him to death," said Loz, throwing punches to the air.

"We could. But exploding him sounds more fun."

"Fine...." He looked rather dejected,"...but what do I get to do? I want to hurt him."

"You have to grab one of the other ones. Someone we can hold and threaten, make them stand still while we kill this one." He gestured to Rufus.

"Why do I have to do that?"

"You're faster, and I have the weapon..."

"Fine," Loz said begrudgingly. There was a noise at the front of the cave. "Here they come now. Let's do this."

"I'm so glad they gave us this job!" Yazoo said, taking his position.

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Back again! Hope everyone likes this chapter. I know it's been forever.

Again, for my own hilarity. Couldn't you just see Yazoo and Loz plotting the most fun way to kill someone?