HugsforEden: Trust me, I'm bouncing along with you! I'm currently working on the very last chapter for this story and I'm getting panic attacks XD But hopefully we'll have us a fuck Jona party before that time comes! Thank you so much for complimenting me on the action scenes! My imagination gets the better of me sometimes, so I'm glad they don't come across as chaotic. Let the battle continue!

Chapter 253

Once Rufus had managed to get up, he cast a disgusted glare our way before carefully maneuvering himself past us and out the door. Tammy was still awed with what happened and didn't notice the look on his face, but all I managed to do was shoot him an awkward grin. I'd been covered in goo more times than I remembered, and was by now getting used to ending up looking like I'd taken a bath in blood. Whereas last time Rufus had teased me about liking the look of blood on me, it seemed that he was less fond of seeing brains and parts of organs clinging to me. If the way Tammy looked was any indication –her red hair was even redder now, and there was an eyeball sticking to her shoulder – I could understand his disgust with us. Maybe I liked that better than suspecting he was undressing me with his eyes and taking a mental picture of it.

Rufus halted by the top of the stairs and looked over his shoulder as if to ask us why we were standing around. However I hadn't expected him to want to go down, but up.

"Maybe you should take Tammy with you and head to the roof," I suggested. I had to admit I was a bit impressed that he wanted to join the fight rather than get out of here. Although he'd proved himself before that he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, nor was he a coward when it came to fighting. "Take a chopper and get to safety, I'll join the fight below."

Rufus's blue eyes suddenly sparked with pride, and he straightened his back. "My people are down there," he calmly said, though his voice was laced with an amount of sentiment I was surprised to hear. "I may lead a company, but what is a company without employees, but a name? I have a responsibility to both, and I will fight for that."

His words reminded me of what he told me not too long ago, after Reno almost got killed. It became clear to me then that he saw the Turks as his friends, or even his family, and he wanted to keep them safe as much as they wanted to keep him safe. It was more than a responsibility he held towards them, he had an emotional connection to them –even though he had a very formal way of putting it. It was clear what he meant, and I appreciated him for it. But only just a little bit more than before. He was still a bastard after all.

"Sir, I think that is a very bad idea," Tseng interrupted just when I was about to open my mouth.

"Rufus," I mused, ignoring Tseng's obvious plead. "That is the most sensible thing I have ever heard you say. I think you just earned some respect."

"Don't encourage him, Foxy!" Reno scolded in my ear, but I knew Rufus didn't need encouragement, he'd already made up his mind long before anyone even said anything.

As we ascended further down the building, the true state of the mayhem became more apparent. It was madness down there. Bodies were flung all over the polished floors, everything in sight that hadn't toppled over or had been destroyed was riddled with bullets. Pieces of the walls were missing, having been shot to shit. There was broken glass and furniture stuffing all over the floors. Metal scraps, bullet cases, blood and what looked like somebody's chopped off right leg were scattered among the ruins of what once was a stylish foyer. Right now it resembled a war zone. Which in essence, it was.

The cars that had entered through the now missing front entrance were used as cover by enemy and friendly alike, and some were hiding behind destroyed furniture or abandoned desks. Lightning struck left and right, throwing more men and rubble around, and it didn't take long for my eyes to find Cloud, gracefully moving among the debris, his massive blade arching through the air as he cut down his enemies. The Turks were gathered close together, all three of them in hand-to-hand combat.

As expected, Tifa was running around swiftly, throwing punches here and there to knock people off balance. Barret's roaring was heard over his gunfire, though he sounded even louder in my ear piece.

WRO troops were also shooting the place up, running back and forth between cover.

I took all these details in within a matter of seconds, and I also noticed that Jona was nowhere to be seen. After quickly scanning the floor one last time, letting my gaze sweep over all the dead bodies, I concluded that he wasn't here, be it dead or alive. Where had he gone if not down to the lobby? Was he hiding somewhere else in the building? If so, we'd better get off these stairs before we got shot in the back. That was the kind of thing someone like Jona would do, no doubt.

Suddenly it occurred to me that Rufus was already firing off rounds into the lobby, and Tammy had left our side, now joining Tifa with her newly acquired black bladed knife in hand.

Without lingering any longer, I reached out to snatch Rufus by the wrist as he reloaded his weapon, and dragged him along with me –much to his displeasure, judging by the string of profound objections that left his lips. He didn't struggle however, and the both of us knew that he could give me plenty of trouble if he wanted. Instead he let me pull him over to the nearest desk, where I shoved him onto his backside with a gesture a bit too crude for Presidential behinds. When his back hit the desk and he grunted, I felt a little guilty. I hadn't meant to be so rough, but he needed to find cover before the entire room recognized his smug face and opened fire on him.

"Sorry about that." I actually apologized, but he still glared at me.

Then, just when I was about to scramble and leave him there, he yanked me towards him by the back of the neck and pressed his lips onto mine. My hand immediately moved to push him away, suddenly not feeling so sorry for him anymore. When he pulled back, there was that familiar conceited smirk on his face, and I was too shocked to even hit him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I hissed, feeling more than a little affronted. He'd made a promise not too long ago. Had he been lying?

Rufus removed his hand from the back of my neck, his smirk still present on his face. "See it as an act of gratitude."

I quickly wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, trying to get the feel of his tongue off my lips. "If this is how you show gratitude, then leave it."

His eyebrows arched up in mocking "My gratitude?" He chuckled amusedly, as if I'd said something stupid. "This was you presenting me with your gratitude for letting you have my Turk."

Clearly, he needed to get his facts straight, but he'd always been a bit delusional to begin with. There were many things I could have said, but right now wasn't the time for that. So instead of arguing with him, I took this as a final act of getting what he wanted, and decided to leave it at that. However, just as I was about to leave cover, the building shook, and something massive came crashing through whatever was left of the entrance, knocking down the very foundations along with it. People screamed as they got knocked out of the way, a few friendly troopers getting trampled by what looked like large mechanical claws.

I stared at it in surprised shock while more glass rained down around us and the entrance collapsed on itself. What had just come charging through the entrance could only be described as a dragon, though it made a ruby look like a toy compared to this one. Large horns protruded from its large head, its teeth were the size of my arms. Not to mention it looked more than a little armored with all that metal. Everything about it was made of steel, the joints visible as it moved and roared. Friend and enemy alike scattered like animals running from a fire. One of the underground men hadn't been fast enough, and with a ferocious swipe got slapped to the side and into the wall, leaving a dark stain along the polished surface.

"Is that Shinra's?" I asked Rufus as we both stared at it over the edge of the desk.

The curious cock of his head said it all. "Not that I am aware of."

"Shit," I cursed loudly. Then I sighed. "Oh well, ain't no party without a pooper."

Cloud was already flying by, leaping high into the air with his blade over his head, ready to strike. He landed neatly on the dragon's head, slashing away before his feet had even touched down. Like hell I was going to let him have all the fun.

Leaving Rufus to his own devices, I hurried out of cover and ran straight for the beast. The entire lobby was a royal mess. Nothing remained of the shiny floor; everything was covered in dust and glass and debris. It crunched under my heels as I ran for Cloud, who tossed me one of his blades before I reached him. I wasted no time joining in on the battle, swinging the foreign feeling blade around, cutting through opponents standing in my way.

When I approached the dragon, it made another sweeping motion, one I managed to avoid by sliding across the floor and underneath its steel belly. I was hoping to find a weak spot there, but I had been wrong. The whole thing was nothing but plated armor. Still, I ran the edge of the blade along its body, but it barely left a scratch.

As if it had felt my cut, it reared on its hind legs with another bone rattling roar, and I only just managed to prevent getting crushed with a swift roll to the side before the deadly paws came down with a crash, causing the entire room to shudder again. Immediately I began hacking away at the visible joints, hoping that at least those would be susceptible to damage.

"Cloud!" Tifa loudly called from the other side of the room, near the stairs. "What do we do?!"

Cloud, who had been holding on to the gigantic beast's horn to prevent himself from being flung off, slashed at the dragon's head again before answering. "Keep the others busy!" he replied. "We'll handle this. Eden, move!"

I did as he said without question, backflipping to get away as fast as possible. Before I had even landed back on my feet, Cloud was summoning massive amounts of lightning, bringing it down on his metal target. It roared once more while Cloud landed on his feet beside me, blade raised and at the ready.

With little warning, the beast opened its jaws and a wave of blue flame shot out towards us, but we moved fast enough to avoid getting incinerated on the spot. More people were running away from the danger, some stumbling, others falling victim to bullets or flames. Barret was shouting for Tammy to get out of reach, as the red-head was too close, and clearly too brave.

She'd been firing her explosive bullets into the dragon's mouth as it spewed its flame, but now she was at risk of getting caught in the heat of it. I heard her surprised yelp in my ear piece when Tseng suddenly flashed by and dragged her along, and only just on time.

The next second there was a huge explosion, sending people to the floor; at least one of Tammy's bullets had hit home, and now the dragon's metal teeth were torn from its mouth. Like launched arrows they were flung in every direction, some planting themselves into the wall or cars, others in unfortunate people. I saw two WRO troopers go down from my position on the floor, the sharp scarps of metal lodged in their backs.

"Who ordered room service?" I heard Reno yell from somewhere to my left. "I ain't diggin' it!"

Suddenly the dragon twisted viciously, swinging its tail around like a whip and sending wrecked cars flying like they were made of foam. One crashed into the staircase, taking half of it down with it. Barret sent off a hail of ammunition into the side of the beast's body, but they only deflected.

"Barret, stop!" Tifa screamed as she threw her arms over her head. Fortunately, Cloud was already there to shield her before she got hurt in the chaos.

The beast continued its rampage, sweeping its tail and swiping its claws, hitting everything that came in its path. I had to duck out of the way at least half a dozen more times. After managing to evade another sweep of the deadly tail, I used its swing as leverage and leaped up onto its back. My eyes searched desperately for any weaknesses, but there was simply nothing. I grit my teeth and slashed away with Cloud's blade, but I might as well have been cutting through air for all the damage it did.

"It's no use," Cloud spoke from beside me, having just joined me on the creature's back while it roared and bucked. "Time for plan B. Let's go."

We landed neatly on the floor, where Cloud's eyes fluttered shut and he brought his closed fist to his chest in concentration. I'd seen him do this before, back when we had faced Jenova after Aerith got killed; he was summoning. And this time, it wasn't the fiery beast called Ifrit. No, this time around it was a black dragon that easily matched the size of the one we were battling, though this one was made of real muscle and flesh. One look at its vicious eyes was awe inspiring.

"Why didn't you just start off with this?" I asked Cloud teasingly, though I might have known the answer without asking. It was clear that the summon took a lot out of him, and I was pretty sure that the beads of perspiration that were gleaming on his brow hadn't been there moments before. Summoning elemental magic was one thing; this was reaching through dimensions and space to call upon a foreign entity.

Without further a do, the dragons clashed, both roaring and clawing at each other. Even a space as large as the lobby was too cramped for two mean beasts battling to the death, and so we all retreated to a safer distance from where we could keep an eye on things and continue our still ongoing fight with the underground. It was a tough battle, a long battle, but there was no doubt in my mind that we would prevail. All of us here were warriors, whether fully human or not. We were family, and we had each other's backs. Which was more than I could say for the poorly organized underworld, who seemed to have no plan at all and simply fired at everything that moved, clearly uncaring for what happened to their own.

I was blessed to have such friends, blessed that we looked out for each other, a feeling that only intensified when I saw Cid pull an unsuspecting Tifa to the side before she got hit by a rogue fireball, Cloud shielding Barret from a hail of bullets, and the Turks fighting in perfect trinity while Reno provided colorful commentary.

I knew I would take a bullet for every single one of them, would die for them even, and this notion made me fight all the harder. Because we weren't fighting for our own greed, but for each other, and that was what our opponent lacked; they fought because they were told to, and that would be their downfall. That, and the fact that they were up against some of the most skilled people on the planet.

By now I was leaping and jumping and rolling all over the room, avoiding debris, bodies, dragon fire and tails, bullets, knives and harsh words, but now that Cloud's Bahamut had entered the scene, I could focus on the real enemy. I hacked and slashed, shot off rounds of bullets and broke more than a few bones in close combat. Luckily, they weren't my bones. Against all expectations, I hadn't managed to get seriously injured yet, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Reno when I passed him by on my way to my next target.

"It's a miracle, babe, ya didn't even get shot yet."

All I could do was shake my head as he chuckled, but we were both too busy for conversation anyway.

The sounds of battle were drowned by the stomps and roars of the dragons, and a few times my friends had to dive out of the way as one of them got thrown across the room. There were large gashes in the metal dragon's flanks and one of its eyes was dangling by a thread. Bahamut looked a bit better off, but there was a nasty cut on his wing, a tear that was clearly visibly each time he flapped the dark appendage.

To my left, one of the cars exploded from what I assumed was one of Tammy's bullets, sending an enemy flying right by me like a rag doll. He was screaming all the way until he was met by Barret, who knocked him out of the air with his metal arm and silenced him.

Bodies fell all around us. There were losses on both sides; some of the WRO troopers had been shot down or otherwise killed, but there was no time to mourn them now. Their comrades fought all the more ferociously, sending wave after wave of bullets at the enemy.

A few feet away, Cid speared a man through the gut and spun around, sweeping more enemies off their feet. Tifa came running, and Cloud lowered his blade to give her a boost, sending her flying into a group of unaware men. They scattered as she barreled into them and sent them flying with her well aimed punches and kicks.

Tammy was happily slicing away with her long black knife, a look of guilty pleasure on her lovely face. She was bleeding from the upper arm, apparently having been shot, but she didn't seem to care. Even Rufus seemed to be joining in on the fun, ignoring Tseng's futile warnings to remain in cover.

Rude and Reno were tossing a man back and forth between them, until Barret interfered and shot him down, loudly cursing at them that this wasn't a playground. Considering our opponent and how vile they were, that was exactly what this felt like to me; a playground. And I'd never played so hard in my life.

The blade I had borrowed from Cloud was washed in red, painted crimson by all the men I had cut down. Now that I had gotten used to its weight and feel, it felt like an extension of my arm just as much as my own blades did, though I thought it was a lot less graceful. But neither the cold steel nor my enemies cared for that as I danced around the lobby.

When another loud roar echoed around the large space, my eyes were drawn to the fighting beasts. The roar had been different, almost desperate, followed by another one filled with fury. This latter one had come from Bahamut; the massive entity had its nemesis in a death grip around the head, claws digging into the beast's neck. Tears began to appear in the solid steel as they both continued to roar, and then with a mighty heave, Bahamut tore the head clean off the body. The headless mechanic dragon swayed on its legs for a few seconds, before it crumpled to the floor with a loud crunch. Bahamut roared again in victory, before he evaporated on the spot, taking the head with him. Perhaps it would make a nice trophy.

I huffed in relief that we had at least survived the worst of it. At least, I hoped it had been the worst of it. I blew a few strands of hair out of my face and hurried into the ongoing battle around me.

My friends were still standing, our enemy's numbers dropping, and I lived for this.

"Hiya SOLDIER," I grinned when I was met with Cloud back to back in the center of the room. "Having fun?"

"Heaps," he replied before swinging his sword and taking out another three incoming enemies. "I feel sorry for these guys."

"That's what you get for picking a fight with the wrong crowd." I spun and my blade slashed through the air, adding another body to the mess at Cloud's feet. Then I smirked. "So, I saw you cuddle with Tifa –"

"Piss off," he retorted while deflecting a hail of bullets fired our way.

I couldn't help but laugh at the helpless blush on his cheeks, even though the rest of his features remained steely. "Just wanted to say congrats, that's all."

He scoffed softly and leaped aside to evade a grenade. When another followed he swung his massive sword like a bat and returned it to sender, causing the men hiding behind a car to dive away in every direction as it exploded.

Needless to say, they didn't make it very far.

"Eden," an unfamiliar voice suddenly whispered in my ear-piece. "Eden, I've found your dear brother…"

I froze in the middle of a swing, being about to slash through an enemy. There was something chilling about the voice in my ear, and judging by the look on some of the others' faces, they were equally confused as to what was going on.

A few feet away from me, Cloud suddenly lowered his blade as his eyes focused on the stairs behind me. The tight set of his jaw and his steely gaze had me afraid to turn around, scared of what I might see.

Rude let go of a crude looking man that he had been about to slam face first into the already crumbling wall and Tifa lowered her fists as she looked at the stairs with obvious concern. And as I slowly followed Cloud's gaze with my own, the battle around us came to a standstill.

There was Jona, standing halfway down the last flight of stairs, casually holding Ollie by the back of the neck while pressing a blade to his throat. "What would your dear mother say if he never came home ever again..?"