Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They are all the property of Square Enix.

Authors Notes: Well here it is, Chapter 3. I want to thank all the people who have reviewed my story. Especially Kimmie for her wonderful review. Now read and enjoy my story, and please I beg of you *Review*
Apocalypse Rising

Chapter 3: Old Friend, New Foe ..................

The waiting room of Neo-Midgar Hospital was abandoned. On a normal day it would be filled with sick people waiting for treatment. For the past three days however, it had had only one resident. Tifa Lockheart had been in this room praying for Cloud. As she sat wringing her hands only one thought was in her head. "How could this have happened?"

For the past three years Tifa had lived in Kalm. She had kept close contact with most of the members of Avalanche. Cid had moved into Kalm with Shera hoping to start a family. Barret had taken Marlene back to North Coral. Red had taken his rightful place as the protector of Cosmo Canyon. Yuffie had gone back to Wutai, where she was undergoing training for when she became queen. Reeve had rebuilt Midgar, he had found a new power source in the materia that had formed when the lifestream had stopped meteor. Vincent had gone and disappeared into the shadows from whence he came.

It had been hard to see her friends leave, but nothing hurt worse than when Cloud just packed up and left her alone. It had not even been four months after they had saved the world before he left. Tifa remembered the day perfectly. She had walked into his room of their new apartment, and all she had found was a note. The note had only one word on it. "Sorry"

It had been then that she knew that Cloud did not love her. That day she had cried more than she cared to admit. However, not long after Cloud left, Tifa found that she did not miss him. She thought that maybe she had even gotten over him. Then he came home.

Three weeks ago Cloud had walked into town. His cloths torn, hair messed up, and looking considerably thinner, he calmly walked up to her place and had knocked the door. When she opened the door it was like all the years she had spent getting over him had never happened. She had hugged and kissed him gently on the cheek before letting him rest in his old room. Then it happened.

Three days ago Tifa had gone to visit Cid and a three month pregnant Shera. When she had returned she found the front door opened. Upon entering the building she saw Cloud. He was lying face up on the floor, his eyes were closed and his hands were covering a large bloody wound in his stomach. She had acted instantly. She had called Reeve in near hysterics and told him to get a plane to take him to Midgar's hospital. She had stayed with him, holding his head and bandaging the wound for what felt like an eternity before the plane came and had taken them here.

That had been only three days ago but it felt like years. When his condition had stabilized Tifa had called the members of Avalanche to come to Midgar. For their part they had answered the call swiftly, and had arrived yesterday. However now without Cloud they were leaderless. Without a direct leader they had begun to fight about a course of action. Unable to take it anymore she had gone to the front waiting room to think. In the best-case scenario Cloud would be healed in a month, the worst. Well she couldn't bear to think about what the worst scenario was.

Besides the problems with Cloud, were the stars. They had begun falling yesterday. They seemed to be inching themselves closer to the planet, and it was putting everyone on edge.

Lost in her own thoughts Tifa did not notice the sound of the door opening, nor footsteps of a black hooded man waling behind her. By the time she sensed his presence he was upon her. Dagger in one hand the man made an attempt to slit her throat. She was barley able to dodge, but the man was not to be stopped. He delivered a sharp punch to her midsection causing her to double over in pain. Standing over her he prepared for the final blow Tifa closed her eyes waiting for the pain, when from the silence and loud shot echoed through the small room. She heard the sound of the dagger fall to the ground followed by the heavy thud of a body falling lifelessly to the tile. Slowly she opened her eyes to see the dead body of the hooded man, and from the main doorway, looking as if he had been through hell was Vincent Valentine.
It had taken him a full night of hard riding, but he had made it to Midagar. When he had left the City of the Ancients he had figured they would be in Kalm. That had been a large error. Now he had lost several hours this, and when was racing the stars before they crashed and brought untold devastation to the planet he needed all the time he could get. He had just arrived at the hospital when he saw Tifa fighting a man in a black hooded cloak. Without even thinking he had drawn Death Penalty and fired. The figure fell dead and Vincent made his way to his comrade and helped her get up.

"Are you injured?" Vincent asked, sounding colder than he had meat to.

"No, just a little shocked, thank you Vincent, but what are you doing here?"

" It's a long story, and one we don't have time for, are the others here?" Vincent asked in a rushed and tired voice.

"Yeah. Yeah they're all here, so I take it you know about Cloud?"

Vincent sighed, he had forgotten about how Tifa felt about Cloud, and how his injury had probably affected her mind. He would have to tread carefully around her, the girl did not need any more problems.

"Yeah I know about him. How is he?"

Biting her lower lip, Tifa tried to keep her emotions in check. "Not good. The wound is very large and he lost a lot of blood before we found him. They are giving him a lot of medicine but they don't know if he will wake up."

Vincent nodded, and gave her a sympathetic look. "And how are you?"

Looking into his deep crimson eyes Tifa tried her best to act normal. "Me? Oh you know I am fine. It just is so hard sometimes." She muttered before tears began to form.

Vincent felt awkward, he was not used to dealing with people, or emotions, but he did his best to console her. He patted her back and let her weep for a few moments before she pulled back, her eyes a little read, but her face grim.

"Here, let me take you to the others." She said and led Vincent through the hospital till they got into a large room with a large oak desk in the middle. Standing in the room were all his old alleys. They mostly looked the same with only minor physical changes. In fact the only major change was the Cid was not smoking.

None of the warriors noticed him and Tifa as they walked into the room. They were all to into their own arguments. Vincent just stood at the doorway taking in each conversation, looking for new information. Then, amidst the mindless bickering he learned of where the stars seemed to be heading. According to Red the stars were moving towards the Northern Crater.
Unable to take the noise anymore Tifa cleared her throat to get the others attention. When they looked at her it was obvious that they were shocked to see the figure of Vincent standing next to her. In fact Tifa was just as surprised by the presence of the lone gunman. Not that she was upset, of all the people in Avalanche Vincent was the only one who had always kept his cool, he could always be relied upon to give a logical answer even in the most trying of times. However, It was a little strange that he already knew about Cloud without being told. Though she did not think that Vincent was up to anything that could hurt the group, she wished he would tell them what had happened to him in past three years. Once the initial shock of seeing Vincent wore off, and they were all composed again Vincent spoke.

"Alright, we all know that something big is happening. From what I heard the stars are heading toward the crater. I know that I am in no position to tell you all to do, but I ask that some of you join me as I go there to battle whatever new evil is waiting for us there. I fully understand if you chose to follow a plan of your own, but with or without you I am leaving first thing in the morning." With that being said Vincent turned and left the room.

The room was totally silent for a few moments after Vincent left, before the others began to talk amongst themselves.

"Well I'll be damned. Never thought I would see him again." Cid muttered to himself.

"I think I will be joining him." Red said solemnly. "No matter what happens I would rather go out to face this evil, rather than just sit here."

"I'm with Red" Cid said. "I am tired of sitting on my fucking ass. Besides Vincent seems to know what he is doing. "

Slowly all the members had agreed to Vincent's proposition. A slight smile crossed Tifa's face. It was amazing, not even being there for more than an hour and already Vincent had gotten the group to agree on a course of action. She knew he would never admit to it, but the man was a born leader.
It had been a very long day, Vincent thought, as he rummaged through the deserted pharmacy. After a few minuets he found what he was looking for. It was a plain bottle of white pills. He ripped off the top of the bottle with his claw and pulled out about 7 of the white pills and swallowed them. After a few moments he let out a relaxed sigh. Most snipers he had known had used tranquilizers to keep theirs nerves in check. Vincent had done the same thing for many years, when he was young. Now they served a new purpose, in stressful times he found it hard to keep his demons from taking control. The pills adequately relaxed him so that he could maintain control before they could take over his body.

As he was preparing to sleep on one of the chairs in the waiting room he heard the groups footsteps. Vincent almost smiled, he had hoped that they would agree with his idea. It would make things much easier with their support.

As they walked to him, Vincent began planning the next day's trip. In his head he had already figured out who he wanted to go with him. He would leave the others to take care of Cloud.

Tifa led the group to Vincent, where they stood around him. Speaking for the group Tifa stepped forward. "Alright Vincent, we all agree to follow you, so can you fill us in on what you have planed?"

Vincent rose form his chair, the pills had already lost effect, due to whatever Hojo had done to him. "Alright, the way I see it is that we have to spilt into two groups. Cid, Red, Yuffie, and I will go to the crater and see what we can find there. Hopefully we can stop the stars before they crash on our planet. It seems like they will crash late tomorrow so we have to leave at dawn. The rest of you will have to stay here and take care of Cloud. Is everyone ok with that?"

"No!" Came Tifa's defiant reply.

Slightly shocked Vincent looked at her with a cold gaze.

"What is wrong Tifa?"

"I am going with you. This might be my chance to find who hurt Cloud. So no matter what you say I am going."

Too weary to argue Vincent conceded, he would need as may able fighters as he could get after all. "Fine rest up we will be leaving at dawn."

Vincent sat back in the chair and closed his eyes. He would need the rest.

....................................

In the northern crater, a figure in a black cloak with gold trim looked to the sky. The stars were now very close, they seemed to form a halo in the sky over the mountain. As he looked up, one of the stars glowed brighter than the others, from it grew two tentacles. These glowing snakelike limbs moved through the sky and made their way to where the mysterious figure stood. Upon hitting the ground the tentacles began to change shape. They formed into two bodies. Both were human like, but with minor differences. Each were about seven feet tall and incredibly muscular, but their bodies generated a bright aura. Their heads were shaped like demons with curled horns protruding from above the ears. The tallest had a large black pole arm, while the shorter held two black swords.

When their bodies were fully formed, the star that the tentacles had come from went out like a dead light bulb. Absolutely nothing remained of it. The tallest turned to the man in the black cloak.

"Is everything going according to schedule, mortal?" The creature asked in a voice that was like thunder

Bowing before the creature the hooded man gestured to his group's camp. "Yes we have amassed your army general Crassus."

The army he was referring to was thousands of monsters that now resided in cages on the outskirts of the camp.

The smaller creature gave a tight smile. "Fine, then let us get to work." The figure said in a voice cold and demonic in tone.

Crassus looked at the small figure and gave a slight chuckle "Do you want to do this Thaddeus or should I?"

The smaller creature nodded "I think I will, if it pleases you general."

Crassus nodded and Thaddeus bent down and lay his hands on the snowy ground. With a mighty roar, black energy flowed through his hands and towards the caged beasts. When the flowing energy hit them the creatures began to mutate. Their bodies grew bigger shattering the cages. New limbs and claws grew, some creatures split in half and formed into totally new beasts. After a few short moments the transformation was done.

With the beast's transformation done Thaddeus rose and stood next to the other two figures.

Crassus walked into the center of the camp followed by the hooded figure and Thaddeus. In the center of the camp was a large pool of lifestream that formed into a river. The lifestream was different however, instead of being bright green it was tainted black. The cause of this taint was hanging above the pool. On a small floating pylon rested a black orb. Though it looked like nothing, the black orb was the strongest weapon on the planet. It was the black materia.

Looking over the taint the three men looked down, a satisfied look on both Crassus and Thaddeus's faces.

"Good, everything is almost ready, soon there will be no stopping us." Crassus's rumbling voice muttered.

The two creatures walked out of the camp and explored their surroundings while the man in the black hood remained with his camp, and beneath his pale hood smiled. He walked the camp and found another man with golden trim on his robes. "They have come, soon all our work will be rewarded."

Merely nodding the other man turned and returned to whatever scientific design he was working on. Leaving him, the mysterious figure returned to his tent and slept.
................................
The group left right at dawn. By noon they had arrived on the northern continent. Vincent, Tifa, Yuffie, were strapping parachutes on. They were getting ready to drop on some sort of strange campsite. Cid had spotted it just a little while ago, when many cargo planes were departing.

"All right boys and girls. I am right above the campsite, it's now or never, call me on the PHS when you want me and Red to pick you up. Now get off my plane, and try not to get yourselves killed.

Vincent looked at each member of his group and nodded. They each jumped off the edge of the plane, and deployed their parachutes.

The decent downward was uneventful but upon landing Vincent saw a large group of monsters, they seemed like Behemoths but they had more horns and they were twice the size. When the beasts saw them they charged. Without even thinking Vincent sent off a barrage of bullets. His shots managed to kill the first beast, while Yuffie's Conformer imbedded itself into the other ones skull.

The fight lasted only two seconds. When they were done, Vincent's ears detected what he could swear was laughing.

He signaled for the others to follow him deep into the camp. After about fifteen minuets of walking led them to what seemed like a black river. The others were completely confused, but Vincent knew what the stuff was. It was the same as in his dream. The black stream had to be corrupted lifestream.

"How did they do this?" Vincent asked himself.

"Oh My God!" Yuffie yelled as she stared above the pool.

Vincent looked at what she was talking about and saw what she was referring to. On top of the pylon was the black materia.

"Yuffie, grab that and hold onto it, the rest of you guys stay on your guard." Vincent said.

Run, this place is not safe for us.

Vincent knew the voice. It was Chaos. Vincent knew if the demon was scared there had to be a good reason. Yuffie had acquired the black orb. Reaching into his cloak he pulled out the PHS. "Cid. We need pickup right now!"

"There won't be time for that I'm afraid." Said a voice.

Tifa quickly turned her head to where the voice had come from. Her mace a mix of confusion and dread.

From behind a large dune of snow three figures walked towards them. One human in a black cloak , and two creatures in black armor.

The largest creature looked at them and laughed. "These are the warriors of the planet. These ants, were strong enough to destroy Jenova? They look like they could barley kill a fly. Thaddeus I will leave you to handle these fools." The creature said, and disappeared in a flash of white light.

"Hmm. As amusing as this fight would be, I am afraid I will have to miss your deaths, goodbye." The figure in black said, and he too disappeared in a flash of light.

Vincent cocked his gun and was preparing for the creatures assault.

"Ha, three on one eh hardly a fight!" The creature yelled.

As he spoke black wings sprouted out of his back and his arms became covered in scales and grew claws.

"Now who's first?" The creature growled as it charged them.

Yuffie tried to dodge the attack but she was hit in the head by the creature's massive claws and was knocked halfway across the campsite.

Vincent managed to dodge the creature and shoot it in the head. However, the bullets only bounced off his thick hide.

Tifa was not so lucky in the battle , she been so shocked by the creatures transformation that she had not been able to cast any spells from a distance. The creature turned to her and grabbed her by the throat, choking the life out of her body.

Vincent had run to Yuffie and checked for a pulse. Thankfully she was still alive, only hurt. Vincent was desperate. He could hear Tifa's struggling with the beast. He quickly found the black orb and pulled it out, and prepared to use his ultimate weapon.

Vincent's gun the Death Penalty had one feature that made it superior to all other guns. One could actually load a materia, and fire it from the gun with the force of many times is mastered level. If he fired the Black Materia he was sure that it would be more than enough to kill the creature. Besides, by firing the materia it would forever destroy it stopping people from using its unholy power.

Vincent quickly loaded the orb and charged at the creature. Tifa was being held by her neck and her kicks and punches were quickly losing power. To make matters worse the creature was hovering over a waterfall of the corrupted lifestream.

Vincent looked up to the sky to see Cid and his plane descending down upon them.

Turning his attention back to Tifa Vincent charged from his position to, the edge of the waterfall.

"Hey beautiful, forgetting someone?" Vincent yelled

The creature looked at him menacingly with its glowing red eyes.

Without hesitation he Vincent pulled the trigger. The Black Materia shot out like a comet, but when it came out of the barrel, it melted the barrel shut behind it.

The orb hit the creature square in the chest and the monster exploded. In a second Vincent jumped off the cliff, and surrendered his body to Chaos. Thin wings shot out of his body, and his body began to change till there were no similarities between this demon and its human counterpart.

Still barley in control Vincent/Chaos caught Tifa and with all his strength threw her back onto the ledge, then he before Chaos could fly after her, forced himself to change back.
Tifa was in a lot of pain, but she was still alive thanks to Vincent. She quickly rose from the ground, to see where he was, but all she saw was Yuffie's body and Cid's ship landing. She rushed to the edge to see Vincent's body crash into the foamy black lifestream. Guilt and anguish filled her very being as she saw the man who had saved her life die. She fell to her knees and fainted. However before she fell into oblivion, something in her mind clicked. She knew the voice of the man in the black cloak was familiar, but now she knew who it was, though it seemed imposable she knew it had to be her old friend Zack.
The fall wasn't that bad, Vincent thought as he began to fall. He hoped that Tifa would be ok, and that they could take on his duty from here. His last thoughts were of how he would soon be with his love, and then he felt a great pain in his back as he hit the black lifestream, and all was black.
Final Thoughts: Well that's it, I hope you enjoyed it. I know some of it may not make sense now, but most will be revealed in chapter 4. So if you have any thoughts or comments on how to make this better please Review and tell me. Thanks for reading.