Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters.

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(Chapter 3)

There's no going back to Midgar, now, for there was no need to. What matters now is getting prepared for the worst that's yet to come, which is the Final Battle with Sephiroth. Not to forget, Ultimate Weapon, Ruby Weapon, Red XIII's final weapon and a few minor things. On the Highwind, Auntie Aisyah's breath was taken away as she had never seen how lovely the view was from the Highwind. Jacques and I joined her. Aerith, Tifa, Cloud, Vincent, Cid and Cait Sith remained on the bridge. Naz was taking care of Yuffie as she had gotten airsick again. Sam and Siew Mei were chatting away. Serena and Red were keeping an eye on Rufus and Barret was checking on the chocobo.

We had Spark, one of the gold chocobos with us. Barret whispered to it, that Marlene would love Spark and Rain as much as he does. Even Auntie Aisyah or Falcon was amazed at the sight of them. Auntie Aisyah was a huntress and a dancer. She had the looks, the figure and everything. Some may be deceived by her appearance but everyone makes mistakes. Falcon as a nickname suited her fine. She used a crossbow with unlimited bolts and daggers. I thought she was cool. It's nice for once to have an aunt who's as adventurous and cool like Michelle Yeoh. I really miss my mom, now. She's cool, too. She taught me to bake, scuba dive and all sorts of things. Stop it Lisa, the more you think of it the more you worry! I slapped myself hard. Speed was surprised at my behavior and held me close to his chest. Auntie Aisyah noticed this and smiled thinking I had finally found a boyfriend. She allowed him to hold me and didn't disturb us. She knew there were other couples on board and knew what was going on with Naz and Yuffie. Hopefully she won't tell mom or dad before we do. That night was my turn to watch Rufus in the room. Speed and Red didn't want to leave me there alone. I assured them that I would be fine. Even Naz and Yuffie didn't like the idea of me watching him alone.

"Don't worry... when he does something unexpected I'll holler for you." I gave them a thumb up.

Cloud suggested that Red and Falcon stood watch at the door. I agreed to that to make sure the others didn't worry. But it would take more than that to assure Speed. I gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek, before entering the room. Rufus was already asleep when I went in.

"This would be a cinch," I thought.

There were only a few hours left in the night and he was knocked out. At least I may not have to worry about anything, or so I thought. I sat there beside the bed and read the comics I conjured up from my backpack. Suddenly, he woke up and saw me there beside him. He then requested me to sing a lullaby for him.

"What a baby." I whispered. I sang the theme song for FF9 (Final Fantasy IX) Melodies of Life, and was surprised that he wasn't dozing off. Usually when I sing this particular song, anyone would fall asleep instantly. He just stared at me, for some reason I could tell what he was thinking but decided to take matters into my own hands. If I'm going to be a good ninja, I'll have to handle things on my own.

"What do you want, Rufus?" I asked hiding my fear (I had fears of encountering people on my own).

"I want to be with you." he answered.

"I don't think so; didn't you hear me the first time? I'm with Speed," I countered his wish.

From the other room, Speed or Jacques woke up suddenly and sensed that something was wrong. Red woke too, and waited for Speed. Together they banged open the door to find Rufus pinning me to the wall and trying to kiss me. Jacques pulled him off me and threw him to the bed. He held me tight and Red barked at Rufus. I was in shock and my heart was beating so fast like I had just ran a 5km cross-country run. But a question kept ringing in my head.

"Why choose me of all the other girls on board?" Cloud and Aerith heard about what happened and asked if he did anything to upset me.

I answered them no, but then to Aerith, I asked her why didn't he do this with the other girls? Why was it me? She answered simply, and said it was me who saved him, not the others. The answer was right in front of me the whole time, Must have ignored it when Falcon arrived. This isn't a time to worry about these things, Auntie Aisyah told me. Indeed it wasn't, and we had bigger fish to fry. Anyway, we split up to two large groups. Some went to the Bone Village to excavate a few items and the rest went to Cosmo Canyon. As someone needed a flying lesson, Auntie Aisyah and I flew to Cosmo Canyon. It seems that she wasn't used to being off the ground, even with a safe jet pack on her back. Everything was so far smooth sailing on the way to Cosmo Canyon, but Falcon had a crash course landing when we arrived at the Cosmo Candle. She needs a little more practice.

Cloud, Red XIII, Barret, Aerith, Falcon and I gathered around the Cosmo Candle and waited for Bugenhagen to arrive. He came and gave us a lecture on how Red has grown strong. He even said Red would've made his father Seto, proud. With that he gave Red his most powerful and final weapon, Limited Moon. It was a glorious day for Red and all were proud of him.

At the Bone Village, the others had gathered a lot of goods which included the W-item materia, a few potions, phoenix downs and other cool stuff like weapons we missed along the way.

Phew... what a haul, didn't think we'd get this much stuff and especially the W-item materia." Naz said as he wiped sweat from his forehead.

Everyone agreed and even Rufus was getting the hang of being a 'good guy'. He helped with the digging and enjoyed it.

"Hah ha... I didn't think digging would be fun." He laughed.

Everyone joined him. "Maybe he's finally become a better person," Naz whispered to Vincent.

Vincent nodded and smiled. Cloud and Barret called for a meeting on the bridge.

"It's time for the Ultimate Weapon hunt. We know he's supposed to be the one protectin' the Planet and all. But we don't want him wiping out the whole human population. That's why we have to stop him once and for all." Barret announced, loud and clear.

Some were shocked at the statement, but logically it made sense. Basically, the weapons were created to protect the Planet, but wiping out the entire population would be unfair as not all were bad. But all the same, I pitied Weapon. He was huge, ferocious and monstrous on the outside, but inside he and his 'brothers' and 'sister' are peaceful and are there to protect and destroy. After their deeds are done they are put back to sleep till other crisis appear. Aerith herself felt sorry for the Weapons but knew there was no other way.

"Alright...! Let's start the chase!" Cloud commanded.

The head pilot, understood and flew over to Ultimate Weapon's first haunting place, the crater near Junon. He was surprised to see us and fought us gloriously. He was powerful but fled after tasting our strength. We chase him all over the place, from the crater to finally Cosmo Canyon. There all the villagers poked there heads out of their homes to watch our fight. Ultimate was tired of fleeing as he had nowhere else to run. No matter where he 'ran' we were always hot on his tail.

"I'm sorry Ultimate, but we've no choice but to defeat you," I whispered, and it just so happens that Aerith and I felt and thought the same way.

Ultimate released his special 'Shadow Flare' attack which did serious offensive damage on all of us. It did a lot of damage, but it was worth the risk as Cloud's, Vincent's and Cid's enemy skills materia learned that skill and used it against him with Knights of the Round summoning spell. A tear from Aerith's eyes fell when the two spells were cast. After a blinding light show and great blast, Ultimate was gone, forever. We should be glad but we weren't but knew it had to be done. He left us with many 'parting' gifts, which included a Cursed Ring, a Reflect Ring and Cloud's Ultima Weapon.

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