Well, here's chapter 3. Sorry it took me so long to update, but I've been kinda busy with Christmas and a special friend. Well, here goes, please, continue to R&R

Chapter 3: The End of Worlds

" So is this how it ends Cloud?" Sephiroth said quietly to Cloud, who stood like an executioner over him, his sword poised to come swinging down on his neck.

"This is how it ends" he replied coldly, his mako blue eyes flickering as he fought the feelings welling up inside, trying to fight back the tears. "This is what happens when you kill my friends. Aeris. Tifa's father. My whole hometown. I'm still not sure if it was you who were responsible for my mothers death," he said, with anger in his voice

"Well", Sephiroth said sarcastically, "we know who was responsible for my mothers death now, don't we?"

Cloud looked stunned for a moment, and lowered his sword, a tear almost forming at his eye. His mind raced, a thousand fleeting glimpses of his mother and his hometown flashed through it. Was he as bad as Sephiroth? He asked himself.

Sephiroth noticed Cloud's insecurity, and immediately began to use this to his advantage, teasing and taunting him, playing with his already fragile mind. "Are you any better than me? Really, are you?" he began to plant little seeds of doubt into Cloud's head. Cloud shook his head from side to side, trying to block out the man's words and the thoughts that were creeping in. Sephiroth slowly stood up, pausing only to retrieve his sword; Cloud didn't even notice him moving as he wrestled with his conscience.

Cloud collapsed to his knees, his head reeling with thoughts as he held it between two shaking hands, thoughts of his hometown and mother, vague flashes of faces of the people he had killed or helped kill, the realization of the hundreds that had died by his hand when the reactors blew up in Midgar. He questioned himself over and over, 'am I any better?'

Vincent watched the strange sight that was unfolding before him. He saw Cloud ready to kill Sephiroth. He then saw Cloud drop his sword and collapse only a few seconds later. Then, it was Sephiroth's turn to stand like an executioner, his sword poised to separate Cloud's head from his body. His normally stoic and compassionless face flashed concern for a moment.

"Cloud is in trouble" he stated to the others, crowded around Tifa, trying to revive her. It was Cid who looked up first.

"Holy $^#@!" he bellowed, his everlasting cigarette falling to his feet and smoldering gently on the stone floor. "Yuffie, take care of Tifa, while we kick the @#$% outta Sephiroth"?

Red tisked at Cid's continuing procrastination, before charging towards the 'great' General Sephiroth. The others weren't far behind, only Yuffie stayed to help Tifa, using her limit break to coax her back into consciousness, with help from a phoenix down.

The group of mismatched heroes ran toward their leader, who knelt in despair, before the general. Red reached them first, just as the silver haired warrior began to swing his sword down in a fatal arc towards Cloud's unprotected neck.

Sephiroth saw Red leap at him out of the corner of his eye, and stopped the Masumane in its swing and slightly changed his fighting stance to counter his new adversary. The legendary weapon was now horizontal, pointing directly towards the lion-type creature, which was in mid pounce. Suddenly, Red froze in mid air, not moving forward, neither falling. Both Red and Sephiroth looked at each other in confusion for a few seconds, before Cid's voice was heard, bellowing something about a stop spell, and the pilot rounded on the general with a grin, the Venus Gospel in one hand.

Sephiroth merely brushed this momentary interruption off, and swung his sword horizontally, heading for Cid's waist, his intention being to slice the man in two. Cid, however, managed to put the Venus Gospel between him and certain death. An almost sickening, splintering sound was heard, as the Masumane cleaved the spear neatly in two. This time, it was Sephiroth's turn to grin, a wry smile snaking its way over his pale lips. He narrowed his cold, jade green eyes at the pilot, and raised his arm.

"ULTIMA"

A burst of dazzling green light enveloped Cid, who stood, dumb-founded on the spot, eyes wide in terror. A mirage of colours were emitted, causing a tornado like wind to whip about, preventing the others from reaching either Cid, or Cloud. Sephiroth seemed unaffected by the wind, his silver hair still, and his long, satin black coat merely fluttering as though in a gentle breeze. The intensity of the light and colors increased, and the spell finally came to an end with a powerful explosion, throwing Cid across the crater. He lay there, motionless, his limbs twisted in impossible angles, and crimson blood trickling from a deep gash on his head and out of the corner of his mouth.

Meanwhile:

"HA! You think you pathetic vermin can stop me?" Ultimacia snorted in disgust, while the laughter echoed away into an eerie silence. "I think I might just spare you," she mused, "you provide me with some humor" she remarked, before floating out of reach of the three, enveloping herself in a shell of barrier spells, and began to weave a more powerful, devastating spell.

"He... hey! What's happening?" Squall asked, feeling a change in the air around him. It felt to be growing more electric and colder somehow, as she weaved her spell.

"Right now, there is a world nearby me," Ultimacia scorned, staring down at the trio with her empty, black eyes, seemingly penetrating the very souls of the three. "A world in turmoil, the planet crying for help, and chaos reigning over it" she informed the group, who stood in shocked silence. "And I intent to…help it"

Squall looked at his fellow comrades in confusion, and they looked back at him with the same bewilderment.

"What's she mean, 'I'm gunna help it?' And why does that make me shiver as much as when she laughs?" Quistis muttered absently to herself. Zell stood dumbfounded, Ultimecia's words slowly turning over in his mind, and not really making much sense.

"What exactly do you mean?" Squall asked, his head cocked to one side, and a puzzled look across his face, his body stayed in his fighting stance, however, ready for any trick she might be playing.

Ultimecia scorned the group from her high perch above them.

"Be quiet, you fools. You are about to witness the bringing together of two worlds, the merging of two universes…" She trailed off into silence. A vibrant blue glow surrounded her, and began to pulsate. As it did so, an eerie chanting filled the empty space around them.

"Help it?" Zell questioned the void, rubbing his head.

"Oh, try to keep up!" Quistis snapped at him. Squall glanced over at her in mild surprise. He'd seen her agitated before, but this was something else.

The pulsating light grew brighter, and more vibrant, before fading down to a dull glow, and then intensifying again. Thoughts ran through Squall's head, the light was very similar to the one the group had seen in the Deep Sea Research facility, just before they had fought Bahamut. But the light they saw now was brighter, and seemed more powerful, the same, but different…somehow.

The void that the mercenaries were stood in began to take to same hue as the pulsating light, until they were surrounded by it, no longer able to see the sorceress, or each other.

"Guys?" Zell's question reverberated about the void, and he began furtively glancing about searching for his allies and friends in the light.

Quistis began to panic. "Squall? Zell?" She wandered aimlessly about, trying to find her friends while slightly hoping that she wasn't walking straight to the edge of whatever platform they were stood on.

Squall, however, seemed calm on the surface, his expressions and stance not changing. His eyes, however, betrayed how he felt inside; he was afraid, afraid of being alone, just like back when Sis had left him. He knew that he acted like he didn't need anyone, and pushed people away, but deep inside he was aching for a friend right now.

The light continued to grow in intensity, until it was a blinding white light. Zell tried to shade his eyes with his hands, while Quistis and Squall continued to peer into the brilliant glow wondering what the Sorceress was doing.

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Well, that's it for now. Sorry it took so long to update, I've been real busy, and Yorkshire water decided to cut my broadband cable. Typical. The next installment shouldn't take so long though. Thanks again to Mako_Majic for proof reading, and good luck with your exams Hun ^_^

Please continue to R&R

~Vincent~