Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to FF7, or their characters or, places ect... all I own is Xaen, Reverance, Warrent, Nobe, Smythe, and some others...

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"This way," I grabbed a hold of her hand and started to pull her down the right half of the hall. I felt her hesitate. "What's the problem?" I asked.

"Nothing..." she replied. *Was she... blushing? Why would she? No.... just my imagination. *

"Good then let's keep moving."

We ran down the hall following the signs reading Mako Reactor and finally reached the correct door.

"Here we are!" I told her, relieved that I actually found the place. (With all the signs it was kinda hard for him not to.) I walked inside and quickly scanned the area. I saw no one. I motioned for Reverance to follow me inside. I had a feeling that the room was not entirely devoid of any threats.

The room was quite large. Think warehouse. In the middle was a large glowing cylinder that could only be the reactor. Encompassing it were multitudes of computers and machinery probably use for maintenance.

I heard footsteps and reacted fast enough to roll to the ground dodging a swipe from a large spear. *When did I learn to do that? * When my roll came to a stop I quickly hopped to my feet and had drawn my sword. My rifle had slipped off my shoulder and skidded across the floor, stopping near the wall.

I found myself face to face with Cid Highwind. His spear was positioned to skewer me, and my sword ready to be thrown. *I've never thrown a sword before...*

"Xaen HELP!" Reverance screamed. *Damn it Nanaki is here too. *

I shot a glance over to where she was and saw Red XIII backing her into a corner. In that short moment Cid struck, thrusting the spear forward towards my gut. I don't know what came over me, but in the next half of a second I found that I had slipped both of my legs out from under me and was falling back first to the ground. *Where are these reflexes coming from? I've never fought before. * Cid's spear shot harmlessly above me. I took this opportunity to reach out and grab the spear. Yanking downward I caused Cid to lose his balance and as I rolled of to the right, he fell face first where I had just been. I quickly threw his spear, which he had let go of to hopefully catch his fall, (didn't work) off to the far wall opposite my gun.

Nanaki was dumbstruck. He had never seen anyone move like that.

I ran to the corner where Reverance was, but before I could get there a look of true terror rolled through her delicate features. *I know what that one means* I whip myself around to see that Cid had pulled a knife. I could also see one of the Vagrant soldiers sneaking up behind him.

"Cid, Behind you!" I yelled.

"I ain't dumb you bastard!" he yelled right back at me.

Red XIII must have regained some of his composure, because the next thing said was, "He is right!"

"GET DOWN!" I said. *I was wanting to use some of those* "Trust me," I added as an after thought.

For some odd reason he obeyed, and I smiled to the soldier and said, "This is MY party, but here's a present!" *Sweet Jebus, more speech like corny lines... They need a support group for this. * I tossed a quick release grenade at him. All I'll say is that he didn't move fast enough and I'm glad I'm not the janitor.

"Now that he is gone, Who the fuck are you?" Cid so tactfully asked.

"I'm Xaen, she is Reverance, you are Cid Highwind, and he," I said pointing to the red haired dog, "is Nanaki, or Red XIII."

"How did you..." Nanaki started.

"Know who you are?" I finished. "I'll tell you how after we get out of here."

"We?" Cid butted in.

"Yes, WE! I also know that you need to set a bomb, so get moving. We need to get out of here immediately." I butted right back.

"How did you..." Cid started this time.

"I know how Cloud thinks, and I'll tell you how I know when WE get outta here," this was becoming tiresome. "Your gonna have to trust me, NOW GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR!"

"Ok, Ok just don't try nothin', I guess well talk when we get out of here." Cid spoke up, then set the bomb and picks up his spear then hands my rifle to me.

*ERRRR... is he really that dense, or did he just block me out? *

"C'mon, this way," he said as he pointed towards a smaller hall off to the right.

We followed Cid down the hall for a couple hundred yards before I decided to ask, "What type of bomb was that?"

"C4, with a proximity trigger," Nanaki explained.

"Proximity, that could go off any second?!?!!" I raged.

"So? We'd better run fuckin' fast," Cid replied as a smile played across his face. "C4 does a wonderful job for how much it costs."

We all continued to walk to wherever Cid was leading.

"Why have you been so quiet?" I asked Reverance.

"Well, you seemed to be doing so well that I didn't need to did I?" she replied joyfully bouncing with each step. *I thought she would have been traumatized or amazed or scared after all that, why she so happy? Whatever...*

"We better start running *Why WERE we walking? There was a bomb behind us! * or we could end up roasted," I suggested nonchalantly.

Cid and Red XII turned to look at each other and then shot down the hall. *I didn't know that Cid had FUN in him. Where else would they have any, but in the middle of a dangerous situation? They ARE Avalanche. *

I reached around to grab Reverance's hand but she had already started after the others.

"Huh? Wait for me!" I yelled after the three of them.

Not one looked back.

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When we finally reached the small emergency escape dock, *They must've snuck in here* I thought, the place was empty.

"Where the fuck is that spiky haired freak?" Cid was yelling and cussing about bad timing and unreliability. *Well, at least I know, with Cloud, everything will work out. I hope...*

"He should be here by now!" Cid continued ranting on and on.

"You seem to know about them," Reverance whispered to me, *"About them"? Not those people, or these strangers? She must really be trusting, Why does she even trust me? Oh Nobe...* "Why does, Cid is it?, do that?"

"I is probably his way to mask fear. And besides it keeps him busy, does it not?" I explained.

"Oh, hehe, that makes sense," she giggled. *Why did she giggle? We are gonna die and all she can do is giggle? All I can do is make jokes so I can't really say anything really. Urgh this thinking needs to stop. *

"It's fuckin' about time," Cid calmed down a little after that, but it still looked like Cloud was gonna be taught something later. I really did not want to find out what that was.

Reverance and I were standing behind Cid and Nanaki. They were waiting on the end of the docks for Cloud to show up. It must have looked like we were sneaking up on them because the next thing I know I see Yuffie on top of the submarine weapon less. Weapon less because her 4-point object of destruction was sailing towards us.

"SON OF A..." I cut myself off, realizing that women were about, and dove into Reverance, pushing her and myself out of the way. The oncoming weapon struck harmlessly against the wall and proceeded to fly back to its owner.

"Damn, I can't believe I missed..." Yuffie said in a frustrated manner.

"They are on our side, damnit." Cid yelled over to Yuffie.

"Oh... sorry, I guess." she apologized, not really meaning it. *Ahh... Just as well. *

"Let's just get going," Cid continued.

"Alright," I said.

Cid, Nanaki, Reverance and I started to walk over to the sub. Once again I heard footfalls coming from the passage behind us. *They didn't set off the bomb? * Then we heard the expected. The explosion that ensued was enormous. The walls cracked and groaned under the weight of the water, as the integrity of the building diminished. *Oh, there it is. * The footsteps were still coming towards us and I was able to glimpse one of them. They looked like a SWAT version of the normal Vagrant soldiers.

"Everybody get on NOW!" I yelled, "I do love these grenades," I added as I pulled two more off of my vest and rolled them into the crowd. *Awww... only four left...* I turned around to see everyone climbing under the top hatch of the sub, and I ran to catch up. When I reached the hatch I climbed halfway down and un-slung the rifle hanging from my shoulder. Aiming I took out the few of the troops that survived, to make sure we had a safe escaped. As the sub lowered into the water I closed the hatch and jumped down.

The under water base collapsed as we sped away. "Nobe is really gone?" Reverance asked hesitantly. *He must have really done a number on her. *

"How could he have gotten out? Last I saw he was busy fighting them, {pointing over to Cloud and the others} and unless there was another escape rout near by, I'm pretty sure he is gone." I reassured her. *Evil villains never die at the first loss, in these things. He is probably still around. * I thought, but she didn't need to hear that.

"I'm gonna go rest, I'll explain everything when we are back on land." I said, before anyone could demand an explanation, clutching my stomach. *I hate motion sickness. * From the main cabin I walked back to where the bunks were, like I always knew that they were there. *Jebus, I played this game way too much. *

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(Not a lot of combat, but much better descriptions there of. I liked this chapter. *ahh insanity ebbing*)