Chapter Ten

"We need to think of our next stradegy." Cloud said. They were back in the infirmary, where they always made up their plans. Their meetings were more frequent lately, with all the new events, but this one was one of the worst. "If Rufus really is going to attack Wutai, we need to try and talk him out of it."

"I say we jus' kill the damn foo'!" Barret suggested. "He's been nuthin but trouble since day one!"

"He's right!" Cid agreed. "The little fucker hasn't done any good since we've met him!"

"How do we know that?" Tifa asked. "What if he's really somone else?"

"What do you mean, 'someone else'?" Zack asked, looking at her questionably.

"Well, what I mean is that maybe he's not the person we think he is." she replied.

"What do you think he's really like?" Aeris asked.

"Uhm," Tifa started, and stood up to get everyone's attention. "I think that he's really just trying to be the person that everyone thinks he is. He doesn't want people to get the wrong idea and start spreading rumors."

"Possible." Vincent observed.

"Rufus has been kind of...aloof... lately." Rude said.

"Yeah! You're right!" Elena agreed. "Like, a couple days before we joined your team, he was really quiet, especially for him. And he was acting strange, too!"

"That really adds the evidence on." Cloud said. Tifa sat back down beside him and watched him. "But still, we don't know what he's really planning."

"I have a good guess."

They all looked over to the door to see Reeve and Red, standing side by side, Reeve with a note in his hand, and Red looking angry.

"What's up?" Barret asked.

They walked over to the table, Red standing on his hind legs to see over the table, and Reeve set the note on the table.

Cid picked it up and read aloud, "'Everyone, I'm going to go see Rufus. He's definently not the cause of all this. Jenova is probably just taking Rufus' form, because he told me in all honesty that he didn't even want to bother with world domination anymore. And he wasn't lying. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Singed, Karasu....' DAMN! The little bugger went out on his own!!"

"How did he get off the plane?" Aeris asked, her eyes going wide.

Everyone went silent.

"I observed that he had wings." Red finally said.

"Oh yeah..." Aeris agreed, feeling stupid.

"Well, this means that we gotta head to Wutai." Cloud stated.

Everyone turned and looked at him. "Why?" they all asked in unison.

"Because." Cloud replied, scratching his head. "It's the only sensible thing to do."

"Eh, beats sittin' 'round here all day!" Barret agreed. "Meetin's dissmissed!" he pounded the table and everyone scattered to their own places to await the trip to Wutai.

As soon as Rude and Elena got out of ear shot, however, they had some concerns of their own.

"Hey," Elena whispered. "Reno wasn't at the meeting."

"You're right." Rude replied, and looked around. "I don't know where he is."

"Do you think?" Elena began.

"No, he probably didn't go with Karasu." Rude said.

"No, not that!" Elena whispered harshly.

"Oh, you mean....Hey wait! Yuffie was gone, too..." Rude's eyes went wide.

"Damnit, knowing him he's probably got her in that position." Elena said, annoyed.

"Let's let them be." Rude replied.


The next day the Highwind was just nearing Wutai. Everyone was out on the dock with their best armor and weapons equipped, all the items they'd need, in case anything bad should happen. They waited out on the dock until they were over it, and then climbed down the ladder and watched as the pilots of the Highwind directed it to a safe hiding place.

"I've taught those guys pretty damn well." Cid observed.

"Yeah, whatever! Let's just go and save Wutai already!" Yuffie said.

Cloud nodded and they started to head into the city. Something was different, and even though there was a big change in the city, none of them were surprised. They had all seen the results of war at least once before. There were SOLDIERs around every corner. They had to keep especially hidden this time, because they didn't want to get spotted yet. The SOLDIERs were fighting the troops from Wutai, and they were fighting to the death. Other SOLDIERs were directing innocent civilians to go with them and into captivity, and the others had to hold Yuffie back in order to restrain her from omni changing.

Then, out of nowhere, a pair of SOLDIERs walked up behind them. They quickly turned around and the SOLDIERs quickly picked up their guns and aimed. Before they knew it, Cloud and Zack preformed a double slash attack with their swords, followed by a barrage of bullets from Barret's gunarm, Elena's and Vincent's shotguns, and Reeve's own mako gun.

Within seconds, the SOLDIERs fell. But with that, all the SOLDIERs around them noticed, and saw them as the bigger threat, other then the civilians.

Yuffie quickly pulled out an ultima materia and an all materia, and combined them both and targeted all the SOLDIERs around them and let the magic energy fly from the little orb. Instantly they were surrounded by green light, and the only the SOLDIERs (except for Cloud and Zack, of course) were destroyed. Quickly more came into view, startled by the flash of the ultima spell.

Yuffie cursed under her breath. "Shimatta..."

"Damnit, Yuffie!" Tifa exclaimed, and pounded a nearby SOLDIER in the face, only to heel drop him in the back of the head as he fell down.

Cloud and Zack teamed up once more, slashing at all the SOLDIERs that came in their way, splitting each one in two. Aeris ran around healing everyone that she could that were on her side, and Reno electracuted anyone that came close, keeping more of an eye on casting support magic like haste and barrier. Sephiroth slashed with his sword with little effort, killing them with ease. The SOLDIERs were strong, though. Stronger then any normal human. They could withstand hitting blows, and even would have enough guts to reach for their guns and shoot even with the lower half of their body seperated from themselves.

That was the tough part. Getting them to actually die.

Tifa was about to punch another one in the face when one of the SOLDIERs' hands grabbed her by the ankel. She shreiked and kicked it away, stepping on its face, ignoring the cracking sound as its nose went up into its brain. She quickly turned around and elbowed the SOLDIER in front of her in the face, and then kneeled it in the stomache, and with a finishing move, drop kicking it in the spine, making it break in two at the neck.

Red and Cid were seperated partially from the others, fighting on their own. Red casted fire with the combination of his all materia, hitting all the SOLDIERs in sight. Cid quickly finished them off, swiping furiously with his spear in every direction. Then, he felt a bullet lodge into his shoulder and cursed. "Shit!"

Aeris saw him fall to the ground and quickly hurried over, dodging all the other SOLDIERs and casted cure3 on him. Revived, he quickly got up and dove his spear through the stomache of the SOLDIER that shot him.

Then, after a long and hard battle, something finally caught everyone's attention. At first all that it was was a low rumble, going on and off. Everyone ignored that, figuring it was just some bombs, but then they all stopped and looked up warily as a shadow clouded the sun. In front of the city stood a tall, menacing figure, resembling a giant. Water dripped from it, and it had red, glowing eyes the size of a normal car.

"It...it can't be..." Aeris gasped.

"E..e..." Cloud began.

"Emerald WEAPON." Sephiroth said darkly, glaring up at the humongous figure.

It let out a huge, earth shaking roar that seemed to rumble and echo from every direction. It brought one of its giant legs up and carried it closer to them, and brought it down on one of the new, large, business towers. Yuffie winced as it crushed the small building with ease.

The SOLDIERs, however, had different plans. They turned around and ran from the scene, screaming in horror. But AVALANCHE, being as stubburn as they were, stood their ground.

"What are we going to do?!" Tifa asked, looking over to Cloud desperately.

"Fight it." Cloud replied as if it was the most simplest answer in the world.

"Dis bitch is going DOWN!!!" Barret agreed, reloaded his gun arm with fire ammo.

"That would be the idea." Red agreed himself, going into his own fighting stance, crouched down, his cat reflexes ready to spring at a moment's notice.

The WEAPON took another step closer, lifting its massive leg, which seemed to move in slow motion, and bringing it down. Yuffie's eyes widened as she noticed where its landing spot was. The one place she would rather have it not hit in the whole entire continent, and it had to hit it.

The Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods.

Reno raised an eyebrow as he caught sight of her through the corner of his eye. He jerked his head over and looked at Yuffie, and ran to her through the rubble seperating them. Her skin was changing, already turning into green scales. Her shoulder blades were about the rip out from the back of her shirt, and strong, feathered outlines shown through the cloth. Her pupils grew to slits and she began to grow claws. Reno caught up to her, and all the others looked at the sudden burst of movement as he drew back a hand and quickly smacked her across the face.

Yuffie fell to the ground, the blow making her change back into her original form, and she looked up at him, horror in her eyes.

"Control yourself." he said.

"But...But Godo...and all the others..." Yuffie began.

Reno helped her up and then looked her straight into the eye. "Believe me. It's not worth it." he said.

Tears fell from her eyes when the rumble shook the earth as its foot landed, crumpling the large pagoda. She tried to hold back sobs, and suceeded, but that didn't help her internaly.

"PATHETIC HUMANS." Emerald WEAPON said, its mere voice loud enough to make them stumble.

"What do you want, Emerald?" Sephiroth asked, bringing his sword up to stabalize himself.

Aeris stepped forward to gain attention. "We're just trying to save the planet!" she tried to reason with it. "Aren't you on our side?" Her eyes shown sad, but she didn't cry, as if she was talking to a little kid about the death of a family member.

Emerald looked down at her, but she didn't flinch. "YOU ARE JUST MAKING THINGS WORSE." it stated menacingly.

"How?!" Zack demanded, bringing his sword up for defense against the blow of its voice.

"BEACAUSE OF YOU HUMANS AND YOUR MISTAKES YOU HAVE DRAWN JENOVA CLOSER TO THIS PLANET." Its large, red eyes glowed harder. "HER POWER IS ALMOST FULL."

Vincent, who wasn't more than twenty yards away from WEAPON looked up at it, not showing one little drop of fear. "But we'll destroy Jenova if you let us!" he said.

Emerald picked up a foot and stomped it down in rage, shaking the earth more than ever. Everyone fell down from the shock, except for Vincent, who still stood, looking up at the WEAPON through his timid, red eyes. "YOU WILL MAKE IT WORSE!!!!" it yelled out furiously, and fired a large water beam down below in Vincent's direction.

He quickly transformed into the Chaos beast, taking less time then usual, and quickly dodged the incoming beam, countering with his own flaming skull attack. Being as big as it was, Emerald couldn't dodge, and was hit. But it didn't leave a scratch.

"Oh, so he gets to transform and I don't?!" Yuffie demanded.

"At least he knows what he's doing!" Reno protested.

"ATTACK!!!" Cloud yelled out in order, and at that, everyone grabbed their weapons and ran for Emerald WEAPON. It fired multiple water beams, aiming for all of them, but they all quickly dodged, or were immune to it, and quickly launched attacks of their own.

Cloud jumped up, followed by Zack, and slashed Emerald in the face, along with Zack as a final blow. They landed on the ground next to each other, and Sephiroth ran up to their side.

"Let's combine our attacks, maybe then we could hit it harder." he suggested. Cloud and Zack nodded in reply, and they all jumped back up to the WEAPON's eye level. Cloud slashed down on it plainly, followed by Zack who took two swipes at each of its eyes. Then Sephiroth came in for the final blow, slashing down at Emerald's armor covering its stomache. His long, six foot sword gave him the advantage, and split the armor in half and breaking it off. It burst into peices and flew in every direction, and they all had to duck in order to not get hit.

"Geeze, now I know why they say he's got the strongest sword." Tifa thought to herself out loud.

They all went in for another round of attacks when Aeris dropped to her knees, cupping her hands in a prayer. Nobody noticed, as was expected, when a small, yellow circle lighted up around her, millions of designs and cetra letters scribbled inside it.

Tifa heard a soft mumble from behind her, and she turned around, wondering what it was. She saw Aeris sitting there, praying. She listened carefully, trying to pick up the words she was reciting.

"Oh planet, hear my cry..." she pleaded.

Tifa was about to walk over and protect her from the incoming blows from WEAPON when she was hit herself, and she was sent flying five feet behind her. She was now just sitting a couple inches away from Aeris. Quickly, she got up and casted Barrier on both of them, shielding most of the attacks from Emerald.

"Please aid us in our quest. Please give me your strength..."

Tifa looked over helplessly at Aeris. There was nothing that she could do to help but shield her. She casted Haste on herself and used all of the support magic she could.

"Aid us in helping you..."


Karasu looked around. He was in a very deep forest. There was green everywhere he looked. Frogs and insects and birds chirped and croaked, and the sunlight that was shining through from the canopy was bright enough to make you squint. It was somewhat damp, and there were a lot of different flowers and tropical trees everywhere. A small, clear water stream ran throughout the forest, and Karasu had been following it for some time, knowing it would lead the way out. He smiled to himself as another frog hopped in front of him. This place was more like a jungle then a forest.

He kneeled down to the small frog and picked it up. It looked up at him with huge, yellow eyes and croaked. He snickered and it jumped off, hopping into the stream. Karasu stood back up and began his journey again. He had to find the damn Shinra, he knew it wasn't Rufus' doing. And besides, if he wanted to kill him, now would be the perfect time. He had a fault and he could use it to his own advantages.

There were the sounds of leaves behind crunched in front of him, past some bushes. He looked up and his eyes widened in curiosity. Karasu creeped over to them and peeked out the other side. There was the one person he was looking for! Rufus. He was on his knees, sobbing. Karasu dared not to interupt. He wanted to know what the deal was, first. It was rare to see a man with his kind of ego cry.

"Damnit..." Rufus swore, wiping the tears from his eyes. He slowly got up, his body seeming frail and weak, and he looked up at the sky above. "I'm never going to get there in time... And she's with them, too...."

"Who is?" Karasu asked, stepping out from his hiding place.

Rufus practically jumped. "I..." he started, then stood up straight. "I'm not telling!"

"So, if that's not you over in Midgar...then..." Karasu began.

"Who is it?" Rufus finished. Karasu glared at him. "Who do you think it is?" he asked.

"...It's Jenova, isn't it?" Karasu asked. Rufus nodded back, his eyes filled with rage and hatred for the name he just spoke. "Wait....how...how did you escape?" he asked. "And how did you get here with such haste?!"

"I hitched a ride on a Shinra helicopter to Gongaga." Rufus said, rubbing his forhead.

Karasu came closer and examined the bump on his forhead. "How did you get this?" he asked.

"Stupidity and a rope." Rufus simply answered, turning around and he started walking the way Karasu had been walking from. "Now, we need to get to Wutai." he said, looking over his shoulder to Karasu. He nodded and followed Rufus silently. "And quick..." he finished.

They had been walking for some time, about twenty minutes when Karasu finally spoke up. "Really, in all seriousness, who were you talking about?" he asked.

"I'm not telling." Rufus said simply, trying to hold back a blush.

Karasu snickered. "Awww, who does lil' Rufy have a crush on?" he asked with an evil grin.

Rufus swirled around, his trenchcoat lifting off the ground for a brief few seconds. "What was that you just said?!" he demanded, fire in his eyes. Karasu backed up a step. "Well?" Rufus asked again, impatiently. "Say that louder so I can hear it....little boy."

Karasu's eyes widened in anger. "LITTLE?! What the hell!!!" he then lunged at Rufus. "I'll kill you here and now, Shinra!" he declared.

Rufus rolled out of the way, pulling his shotgun out of a pocket in his trenchcoat, kneeling on the ground and locked on to Karasu in one swift movement. "Look who's got who." he said, his finger hovering of the trigger.

Karasu stopped dead in his tracks, his sword drawn and they remained in their positions for a few moments, glaring at each other.

Then, out from the branches above, came two, lizard like beasts. The landed right in front of Rufus and leaped at Karasu. Rufus then fired the gun and it hit one of the monsters. It had little effect, the scales on its skin acting like strong armor.

"And here I thought this was a peaceful place!" Karasu muttered and slashed his sword at one of the lizards. It jumped out of the way and shot a beam of water at him from its mouth. Karasu was blown into a nearby tree hard. His head swam, and he tried desperately to function but his muscles wouldn't respond, and then he saw nothing but blackness, and lost consiousness.

Meanwhile, Rufus was left fighting the two lizards. He heard Karasu cry out and he turned to see him fall to the ground in front of a nearby tree. "Damnit!" he swore to himself and shot another lizard. He looked back at Karasu again and put his gun away. He ran up to him and pulled the sword by the hilt out from his limp hands. He picked it up and took a swing at one of the lizards. It merely jumped out of the way again.

"Grrr...DAMN THING!!!!" Rufus yelled in rage and the sword clattered to the ground. He picked Karasu's limp body up and slung him over his shoulder quickly, grabbed the sword and turned and took a chance glimpse at the lizards. They were poised and ready to strike. Then, at the last moment, Rufus turned heel and ran for his life. Just as he did, the trees that he was standing by just a moment ago burst and toppled over. "Shit!!!" he cursed and ran out of the way as they fell to the ground. He jumped over one of the trunks and ran down the river side, the two lizards not far behind.

"Wh...wha....?" He heard Karasu mutter.

"Just shut up and stay still, I'm saving both of our asses and I don't have enough time to wait for you to get up!!!" Rufus hissed. Karasu didn't reply.

Then the rock next to his feet burst open and Rufus turned to look at it for a brief second just to see water where it was once before. He turned to the lizards again and saw they were right behind him.

He was surprised when Karasu struggled to get away. He finally succeeded and pushed himself off of Rufus' shoulders and to the ground. Rufus turned to see the lizards pounce on him and they started pecking at him with their snouts.

"Aaaaaaa.....AAAAHHHHH!!!!" Karasu screamed in pain.

"Karasu!" Rufus gasped and brought his gun and shot one of the lizards in the back. There was a loud, cracking noise and it screamed in pain. The other lizard looked up at him, its blood red eyes glinting timidly. Rufus pulled the trigger again and it screamed out. Then, both of the lizards skittered off, back into the forest.

Rufus looked down at Karasu and his eyebrows shot up in shock. There were slits all over his face, his arms, and holes in his cloak with blood seeping out from every mark. He kneeled down to the wutain prince, examining all the marks. "You gunna be all right?" he asked.

"I...I think so...ow..." Karasu groaned and sat up with great difficulty. "My body....everything hurts..." he whined.

Rufus smirked. "It'll stop hurting over time." he reassured. Karasu nodded.

They looked at each other for a brief moment. Then Karasu finally spoke up. "Who's the girl?" he asked bravely.

"I said I'm not--" Rufus began.

"Oooh, it's the flower girl you were eyeing earlier, ain't it?" Karasu asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rufus' own eyebrows shot up. "N...no!" he countered.

"Suuuurrreee....." Karasu laughed.

"I'm going to kill you if you say that in front of the others---!!!" Rufus stopped at the sound of a faint beeping at his right hip. He picked up his newly regained PHS and turned it on, putting the volume at max and turning the speakerphone off. He and Karasu both listened in...


"Uh! I think the ray's about ready, sir!" Palmer said, positioned in a helicopter over the Sister Ray, which was now positioned towards the Wutain continent.

"You think?" Jenova asked, still disguised as Rufus, from his office at the top of the tower. "I want a straight answer from you now, fool!"

"Yessir!" Palmer replied. "The ray's ready!"

"Good."

"But, sir?" Scarlett, who was with Heideggar in a helicopter positioned over Wutai, questioned. "Is it the best idea?"

"Are you doubting me?" Jenova asked menacingly. There was no reply. She smirked to herself, evil of course, and pointed at the ray. "Fire."

"But sir!" Heideggar protested.

"FIRE THE DAMN RAY ALREADY!!!!" Jenova yelled through the PHS.

"Sir!" Heideggar tried again.

Jenova was furiated now, and clenched her fists in rage. "What?!" she asked, about to throw the phone down and fire the ray herself.

"Sir, if we do that then the whole continent will blow up!" Heideggar stated.

"Is there a problem with that?" Jenova asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Scarlet joined in. "Everyone will die!"

Jenova's eyebrow twitched. "Is there a problem with that ???"

"Well...." Palmer started, but was cut off.

"WELL WHAT?! JUST FIRE THE DAMN THING!!!!" Jenova yelled, then said in a calm, irritated voice filled with content, "Or I will do it myself."

There was no answer for a while. Then there was a rustle from Scarlett and Heideggar's copter. "Okay." they both agreed.

"Uh-huh..." Palmer added.

"Good..." Jenova said. "Now, as I was saying before..." she trailed off...


"Shit...." Rufus cursed to himself, turning off the PHS and bolted for the exit. Karasu was already after him. "Shit shit shit shit..." he cursed over and over.

Karasu gained speed and came up to his side, glaring at him. "Didn't you know about this, you pathetic slob?!" he demanded.

Rufus didn't even look at him. "No." he simply replied.

"Dumbass.." Karasu muttered. Rufus didn't hear him, and they then bursted out of the forest, running along the dead plains of Cosmo Canyon, ignoring the burning sensation in their feet.

A bead of sweat ran down Rufus' forehead. God knew what would happen if they were to not get there in time to tell the others...


The whole ground shook again. Almost the whole city was rubble now, and the only ones that were standing were AVALANCHE and the turks. They were tattered up pretty badly, and had tooken a lot of damage from Emerald's attacks. Cloud stood up and slashed it once more, but was swiped aside with its giant claws.

"It's no use..." Sephiroth said. "Even without armor...." he looked up at Emerald. "...it's unstoppable, isn't it?" he asked the others.

"I believe that is what to expect." Red said, comming up to Sephiroth's side. "If the planet wishes for the WEAPON to destroy us, then it will use all of its power to do so."

Sephiroth's eyes widened. "You....you don't think..." he turned back to the others. "It's after me, isn't it?!" he asked.

"Yes it is!!!" Yuffie screamed out, all of the sudden. "Why didn't you find that out before?! BAKA!!!" she clenched her fists in anger. "You've destroyed Wutai again!"

No...this can't be....

Sephiroth stood and stared at Yuffie, then at the others, and then glanced around at the shambles around them in horror. It seemed like such a good idea before, but now that he'd seen it again, he was starting to regret the first time.

It wasn't my fault.... But even if it was, why should I care?!

"I....." he paused, looking at everyone else.

"It's not your fault!!!" Vincent said, glaring at Yuffie. "It's not only after you, don't listen to her."

"But...hey..." Sephiroth stopped and turned around. The WEAPON was gone. Destroyed. It was now in a bloody heap on the ground. "What the?"

Tifa glanced up. It really was gone. "But...how did it get killed so quickly?" she asked. "Did we do this?"

"No..." a stangled voice from beside her said with great difficutly. Tifa glanced over and saw Cloud's form, trying to stand up. "We couldn't of done that..."

Tifa crawled over to him and looked him straight in the eye. "Then what's going on?" she asked.

"You guys!!!" they heard Red call from behind them. They all turned around to see him standing next to Aeris, who was still praying. She was now glowing a bluish color. Her hair was turning a cold, icy blue and her skin a pale, sea like green. Red was tensed up, making sure she was okay, but ready to attack if it wasn't really her.

"Aeris!" Tifa yelled, and ran to her side. She stopped, though, when Aeris' eyes flashed open. They were icy green, her pupils not present at all. Tifa hesitated and stepped back a couple steps. "Wh... What are you...?!" she began, but Aeris' head snapped to the right and she gazed at a nearby church.

"I must go there." she said plainly. Her voice sounded very far away, like she was talking to someone else who wasn't there. She silently started to step towards the church, in a daze.

"What's wrong with her?!" Barret asked.

"It's gotta be Jenova!" Zack muttered, and brought his sword up.

"But Jenova's got Rufus, not Aeris!" Elena said. "There's something else going on!"

Then a smooth, mako generated beam was seen in the sky, comming from the direction of Midgar. And it was heading right at them.

"It's not Jenova!" Cloud exclaimed. "It's not Sephiroth! Those two options are completely gone... There's only one more possibility..." he trailed off, and looked over to the others.

"What do you mean by that, spike?" Cid asked.

"We never did see her really summon holy." Cloud began. "She was in the lifestream, remember?"

"She was on the altar when she summoned holy, you fool!" Sephiroth objected. Then he stopped and took another glance at Aeris, who was halfway to the church by now. "But.... What if instead, since I'm not fused with Jenova to block her spell anymore..." he turned to Cloud. "Is it possible this is what happens to an ancient who summons Holy right away?!" he asked.

Cloud nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking." Then they all heard a crash from Aeris' direction and turned to see what was going on.

Aeris had encountered some rubble that was in her way. A small portion looked like it had been blasted off. She drew back her hand and flew it in the direction of the rumble, and it all crippled right in front of her. Stepping over it, she began her way back towards the church.

"What the hell....OH SHIT!!!!!" Cid cursed, looking wide eyed at the sky.

They all turned their heads to look up too. They saw the mako beam. And it was almost about to hit, around thirty hundred yards from them.

"That's it!" Yuffie said. "I'm not taking any more of this!!!!!" she crouched down slightly, and her wings ripped out from her back.

"Wait!!!" Reno tried, but Yuffie was allready out of his reach.

"She's insane..." Reeve yelled. "GET BACK HERE!!!!"

Reno kicked the ground in rage, and then turned to them all, his cold glare looking even more menacingly because of the scars under his eyes, which made him look tough and bitter. The mako glew hard and cold, matching his glare and adding more effect to it. "There's no use stopping her. She won't stop if it were for the world." he said calmly, but filled with anger.

"Wh...What do you mean?" Rude asked, his eyebrows raising from behind his sunglasses.

He turned and looked up at Yuffie, who was almost at the blast. "That's not Yuffie." he replied.

Meanwhile, up in the air, Yuffie brought her hand back and powered up her own energy, resorting from taking some of the planets energy, knowing all too well that she had to leave some for it to be saved by somebody down there. But she couldn't figure out who. Everything was all fuzzy up in her head, and it felt as if she had just came back into reality just a few seconds ago when she was in the air. But she kept powering up, the little voice in her head telling her it had to be done. It was an instinct, she was sure of it. And it was so strong she couldn't reason with it.

You will not destroy this town. I will never let you!!!

Whatever the voice was, it was getting louder and louder every second. And the mako beam, the path of her destruction if she were to mess up, was getting closer and closer more rapidly then ever. She started to feel dizzy, and with that she brought her hand forward in her last bit of effort to direct it away from the blast. Then, her sense of reality came more clearer then ever.

If I don't do this right then everything dear to me will perish!

"YUFFIE!!!!!" she heard a voice call from below, but didn't pay any attention to it. She suddenly felt a large preassure against her, too quickly that she couldn't shield herself, and she was sent flying through the air. Before she knew it air was rushing past her and she splashed into the sea, flying in a diagonal line towards the earth.

What's going on?


"Sir! We got the first blast in, but it's been redirected by a strange source of energy!" Heideggar said through the phone in his chopper.

"DAMN THAT OMNI!" Jenova cried, bringing down her fists onto the desk. "FIRE IT AGAIN!" she commanded, not able to control her hatred.

"But, uh, sir!" Palmer spoke. "It will take it time to..."

"Just fire it or I will kill you." a deathly voice came from the other end.

"Pr...president?" Heideggar, Scarlet, and Palmer questioned.

"It's not president.... Your president's dead, sweeties." Jenova managed to say through clenched teeth, and meanwhile, back in Rufus' office, she had tooken her original form back, her tentacles wrapping around the gadgets over by the computer that was controlling the Sister Ray in the event that the main controllers were offline. "Or as good as dead, I suppose." she pressed in the code with a couple of her more nimble tentacles. "You can't stop me now."

"You bitch..." Scarlet gasped. "You're.....Who are you?!"

"Jenova." she replied, and then the ray started to power up again for another blast...


A small speedboat came up to the shore of the long continent, and it held three occupants. They were Karasu, Rufus, and some other guy. He was afisherman, in his early fourties, dressed in tan pants, pale green shirt, tan sleeveless sweatshirt, clunky, muddy boots and a hat with various hooks and other stuff to decorate a fishing hat with. His hair was short, but of it that you could see was black and he wore dark blue sunglasses.

"Well, then." The man said, stopping it and tieing a rope that connected the boat to a nearby boulder. "I don't know what yer hurry is all about. It's a perfect day and all to relax and enjoy the view."

Karasu and Rufus jumped out of the boat quickly, turned to look at the man and bid thanks with nods of their heads, and turned back to run towards the city up north.

"H..hey!!" the man began, but they were allready out of earshot.

"That guy was cool. I hope we meet him again." Karasu said. He looked over at Rufus, who was running beside him. "What was his name again, anyway?"

"I think he said it was Stellar." he replied, not turning to look at him. They put on more speed as they ran up one last hill, and when they reached the top, their eyes widened.

"Are we too late?!" Karasu gasped.

"No, what was WEAPON's doing!" Rufus said. He turned to Karasu. "There's still enough time, common!" he went to grab Karasu's arm when there was an explosion over the city. They both turned to look just in time to see a slight streak of light head for the sea and there was a big splash when it impacted into the water.

They both stared dumbly at the scene for the moment.

"Was that a ray blast?" Rufus asked himself.

"Well, whatever it was it's not good!" Karasu said, and got himself out of Rufus' grip, running down the hill himself. Rufus followed him without hesitation and they made their way throught he rubble quicker then they expected. They turned one last coner and ran into AVALANCHE and the others.

"What's going on?!" Rufus demanded.

They all turned to see them, just as surprised as they were.

"The hell was that?" Karasu asked.

Sephiroth shook his head solemnly. "That was your sister." he replied, no sense of emotion in his words whatsoever.

Karasu froze in his place.

Meanwhile, Rufus turned and looked around. "Where's Aeris?" he asked.

"In the church." Tifa replied, pointing over to it.

The crackling static was heard from Rufus' hip, and they all looked down as his PHS.

"You bitch..." they heard Scarlet's voice. "You're...who are you?!"

Cloud's eyes widened at Jenova's reply.

"Argh! Now that damn cetra is trying to stop me!" she exclaimed from the other end of the line, rustling and beeping heard as she fidgeted with the controls to the computer.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on her!" Heideggar yelled. "I know she's the enemy, but aiming an entrie ray blast at her is waste!"

There was no reply for a couple moments, just sounds of rustling. Palmer was about to speak, but his self consious told him not to. Jenova finally answered, in a cold and sly voice, "You can't stop me..... No one can stop me!!!!" she yelled the last phrase, letting the energy from the ray go and the others could already hear it comming their way.

"Holy.... That's one loud beam..." Barret began, a bit hesitent.

Vincent looked around, his blood red eyes widening. "It's got tremendous amount of energy." he stated. "More then what's usually allowed to be controlled."

The wave of mako energy could be seen from the horizon.

Rufus bolted past Karasu, who was still in shock, and headed for the church. Karasu blinked, and then turned to see Rufus make his way through the door. "DON'T!!!" he yelled.

The blast was much faster this time. It was almost there....

Rufus ripped the door open and ran over to Aeris, who had passed out on the floor, already had callen the ancient Holy spell. He picked her up and ran for the door, only to see light. But then, a large barrier fought against it, and Rufus stepped out, Aeris in his arms, and saw Karasu with his hands up, using all the strength he could. The barrier was already starting to shatter, little cracks of the energy pouring in, making the barrier split in two. Rufus came up and brought out his barrier materia as well, casting a new barrier.

Karasu looked over to him. "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed.

Rufus turned to look at Karasu, a pained expression on his face. "Get Aeris out of here... I'll sustain the barrier for just a little longer..."

"You can't do that!" Karasu objected, stepping forward. "You'll die!"

"I don't care." he responded. "All that matters is if you two get out of here. Now." he ended the last part of the sentence as if it were a demand, and not a request.

Karasu hesitated, and then, nodded. He picked up Aeris' limp body and ran out of the way, just as Rufus' own barrier was about to give away.

He reached the others and set Aeris down, and then turned to look. It was too late. The barrier shattered and the church was blown into mere splinters, and the blast kept going until it dissappeared off into the horizon, and out into space.

"RUFUS!!!!" Karasu cried and stood up, stumbling, and ran for the church. It was hard making his way through the rubble that the blast had made, but determination kept him going. No one tried to stop him, but he didn't care. He didn't know why he was doing it, but it seemed to him like it was the right thing to do.

He finally reached the church, or what had been, and looked around frantically for the orange haired president. He couldn't find anything! The ground rushed up at him and he changed into his gimme cat form, and continued his search. Then, out of the rubble, he saw a tattered, beat up hand. Quickly changing back to human, he pulled up the body, only to reveal the man he was looking for.

"Rufus..." he began shakily after he had set his body on the ground. There was a big gash in his stomache, and he only had one arm, the other one ripped off at his shoulder from the impact of the blast. His shirt had been discarded completely, but his white, baggy pants remained, torn in countless places.

He slowly opened an eye bravely and looked up at him. "Karasu..." he coughed. "I guess... Jenova couldn't save me that time, huh?" he asked.

Karasu didn't reply. He just looked down at Rufus. His mind was swarming with questions to ask him, sure, but nothing made it out of his mouth. He was too shocked. First his sister, and now his best friend!

Wait...friend...?

Rufus smirked, or at least tried to, and coughed out a laugh at him. "Oh well... At least... Holy will come after all..." he gasped as another wave of pain streaked over him.

I guess... Since we always fought... We knew each other well. We knew just how the other would react after a while... And used that to our advantages. I wished so much for him to die... And now I got my wish...

A tear fell down from Karasu's face and dropped onto Rufus' cheek.

He's crying. God damn, why do I have to see him cry? Didn't he want me to die?

His eyes widened when, all of the sudden, Karasu lowered his head and pressed his lips against his. He was further suprised when he started to respond, hot tears comming out of his eyes and dripping down onto the ground below.

Karasu pulled away softly, and looked at Rufus, who returned his gaze.

"Kill me. Now." Rufus struggled to say.

Karasu's eyebrows rose quickly in shock. "Wha...what?" he asked.

Rufus glared at him. "Just do it. You wanted to do it anyway, didn't you?" he asked. "And besides..." he added, "I'd rather just have you kill me then my own weapon... It's too much of an embarrassment." he smirked up at him again, warmly, "You'd at least get to do what you wanted to do in the first place."

The wutain above him hesitated, but then nodded. "As you wish." he replied, bringing up his sword, and standing up in front of him. The moment his sword hovered over Rufus' body, they made one last glance at each other, and they didn't have to say anything. They knew what the other was thinking. This was the only thing they could do. They couldn't let anyone else know about them.

Just as Karasu's sword came down, AVALANCHE and the others had ran up to him, and shouted for him to stop, but he just ignored them and brought it down with great relieft, and watched in horror as Rufus' life energy wisped out of his body and up. His soul circled around him once, and as he did they said their farewells.

Thanks, birdie.

Any time, prez.

And with that, his energy returned to the planet below, and all was quiet in the moment that the Shinra Empire had finally fallen...

~~~~

Chuu:Sorry it's been so long, people! My computer was temporarily swarming with viruses but now they're all cleared out and I can go back to making this story (and some others I might add ^^) For any of you who cared, my website will be back up near the beginning of Febuary, like in a week or so (maybe even sooner...or later xX;;) I'm getting a domain to make it easier for mahself... I'm fed up with geocities xx; Oh, and that up there? That's probably going to be the only yaoi scene in the story. Sorry non yaoi fans, but I had to do it vv; Tell me what you think, ppl! ~Chuu