Howdy Y'all! Miss me? Come on... I know you did. Okay... you missed the fic more.. understandable. I'm not even going to waste everyone's time for not updating this in awhile. So let's get straight to the point.

Disclaimer- I do not own Final Fantasy 7

Change Of Plans

Sephiroth slams the door to the cabin open, ignoring the strange looks from the rest of the group. Behind Sephiorth, Vincent and Daisuke enter, the treasure hunter looking more than less like an icicle. Sephiroth's eyes scan the cabin, Reno as usual is smoking a cigarette from his spot leaning on the wall. Tifa is sitting on the floor in front of the door to the other room while Red XIII stands up from the middle of the rug to greet them.

"I see you all made it." The fiery beast comments before sitting down in front of them as he takes in their condition. "The owner was not here when we arrived. Cloud is in the other room." He says, notifying them as to where their missing leader is.

"Finally, warmth!" Daisuke exclaims as she untangles herself from out of Vincent's cloak to run over to the fireplace.

Sephiroth glances around once more noticing that everyone is not accounted for, "Where's Rima?" Sephiroth asks, keeping his voice void of emotion.

Red XIII tilts his head to the side questioningly, "She's... not with you?"

Emerald eyes narrow a bit in annoyance, "If she was, would I be asking?" Red XIII keeps his mouth shut as Sephiroth walks over to the farthest wall to lean against, trying to keep as far away from everyone as possible.

Vincent stares at Sephiroth for a moment before glancing down at the fiery beast, noticing his questioning look, "Some things have... come up." Vincent exclaims quickly, hoping the furious swordsman doesn't hear him. Red XIII nods his head once, deciding it's best not to ask. "When do we leave?" Vincent changes the subject.

Red XIII shakes his head, "I don't know. As soon as Cloud comes out I assume."

"What is he doing?"

Red XIII glances over his shoulder to stare at the door Tifa is sitting in front of, "He's... thinking."

------

'Yuffie.... are you okay?' The blonde swordsman releases a tired breath from his spot on the bed. Cloud just stares down at his reflection coming off of his sword. 'How are we suppose to find anything in this place?' Cloud thinks dejectedly. He doesn't even know how to begin searching for anything in such a wide area. With the maze of caves and all the snow, it seems impossible to find anything. Yet, Cloud knows if he doesn't find the last part of the talisman before Dregon does, than he loses the only hope he has to getting Yuffie back.

Cloud stands up and heads over to the window to stare outside at the seemingly endless mountain chain. He's been to this area many times, he knows all the cave paths that lead to the North Crater. Yet, he doesn't recall ever seeing anything resembling anything like a part of a talisman while traveling through the caves or the surrounding area. Cloud rests his head on the cold window as he stares through the glass, 'Where... where is it. Where do I look? I need help. Someone... give me the answer I need to save Yuffie.'

Cloud draws back from the window and looks around frantically as the cabin begins to shake. "What the-!" Cloud looks back out the window as a helicopter flies over the cabin. "It's Dregon!" Cloud shouts as he slashes his sword at the window before leaping out. The helicopter circles around the cabin as Cloud stands out in the middle of the open, the rest of the group begins filtering out of the cabin, running to Cloud's side.

The helicopter flies over them. The door of the helicopter opens to reveal Dregon in all his glory, "Mr. Strife, what a pleasure to see you in these parts." He calls out over the howling of the propellers.

"Where's Yuffie!" Cloud demands.

Dregon places a finger on his chin as he lifts his head up a bit, "Hmm... I'm afraid I can't reveal that information. I'll let you know that she's still alive, for now anyway."

"Please! Why are you doing this? What do you plan on accomplishing?" Tifa calls out.

Dregon taps his nose and grins, as if saying That's-A-Surprise. Vincent pulls out his death penalty and fires a single shot, the bullet whizzes through the air but it's stopped by Dregon's seemingly invisible shield. Dregon can only smirk down at the gunman, "Mr. Valentine, have you forgotten about my powers so quickly?" Dregon shakes his head in disbelief, "You can harm me with your petty bullets. I wonder however, have you reconsidered about giving me Chaos?"

The group turns to Vincent a bit confused by the question. Vincent ignores their stares, keeping his fiery glare trained on Dregon, "The demon chooses where it stays. He's not mine to give away."

Dregon laughs at the reply, he shakes his head, waving his hand out in front of him as he laughs, "Please! The demon having a conscious of it's own! That's ridiculous! All it is, is a tool for someone to use when in battle. It's does as the master commands."

Deep in his mind, Vincent can feel the demon's anger, telling him that he's offended by Dregon's words. Dregon gets control of his laughter after taking a deep breath, "No matter, the strength of that demon is pale in comparison of what I'll have control of soon enough. Perhaps this will interest you Valentine. Hojo has a special gift just for you."

"I'm not interested in any gift from him." Vincent replies.

Dregon shakes his head, "You don't seem to understand, you don't have a choice. You'll know what it is sooner or later." Dregon glances around the group for a moment before continuing, "As much as I'd love to 'Play' with all of you, I'm afraid I have some business to take care of. A certain artifact is waiting for me to find it. But don't worry, I arranged something just for all of you." The group watches as Dregon glances inside the helicopter, noticing that he's speaking with someone, but they can't make out the words.

Dregon steps away from the open hatch and someone else takes his place. This man, easily standing six feet tall; with muscles that look as strong as an ox's, stares down at the group with his ocean blue eyes. His red bandanna tied around his forehead keeps his light brown hair out of his face. And yet despite the fact he's obviously another one of Dregon's men, he sports the group with a friendly smile. Without a word, the man leaps out of the helicopter and lands onto the snow covered ground below. The man dusts snow off his brown leather pants and straightens out his black shirt and blue vest before glancing back up to Dregon as he reappears at the door, "I don't care what happens to you as long as you prevent these people from getting passed you, understand?" The man nods his head once in reply.

Dregon shuts the hatch and the helicopter begins flying towards the North Crater. From his spot in the group, Reno snorts in disgust, "Well I can see that asshole takes good care of his men."

The man turns back towards the group, sporting them another smile, "Yes, that's to be expected from someone like him. However, an order is an order." The man crosses his arms and tilts his head to the side as he studies the group, "However, I'm afraid the odds are against me... eight against one, hardly a fair fight."

Cloud holds out his sword, posed for attack, not sure what to think of the man, "If the odds aren't to your liking than why don't you just leave and let us pass?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that however..." He glances around the group a bit more, "I am willing to let four of you pass while the other three stay and fight." He offers politely.

Cloud raises an eyebrow at the man, something seems strange to him. The man seems too... nice to be one of Dregon's men. It only makes Cloud suspicious. However, he doesn't really have the time to think about it. The man is letting four of them pass without a fight, and Cloud knows they need to get to the cliff as quickly as possible, even if it's just a few of them. Turning around to face the group, Cloud shrugs his shoulders at the group, "Well... I guess we can split up here. I'll be going on ahead. Red, I need you with me, you can track down Dregon." Red XIII nods his head in understanding. Cloud scratches the back of his head, "Um... Who'll stay here?"

Vincent lifts his head up, "I'll continue on with you."

Sephiroth glances over at Vincent briefly as the gunman heads over toward Cloud's side. 'Valentine is trying to get away from you. He's going to try and get the moron on his side, so they can both go up against you. You should follow to keep an eye on him.' Sephiroth pushes the thought back were it came from.

Tifa glances around the group waiting for someone else to say something, "I guess I'll go with you guys too." Tifa turns to the four remaining people, "You guys be careful, this guy could just be trying to split us up."

Daisuke blinks stupidly for a moment, "Uh... No offense or anythin', But I think we all know he's tryin' to do that.. After all he said four of us could go on." Daisuke can't help but roll her eyes as she explains this. Sometimes she wonders if she's the only one with some intelligence in the group.

"If you want to stand a chance to getting to Dregon, I advise you to make haste." The strange man insists.

Cloud gives the group a short nod before running off, quickly being followed by Red XIII, Vincent, and Tifa.

The man gives them a short wave of farewell before turning to the remainder of the group, his smile never disappearing from his face, "Well, I like these odds much better, three against one. It'll make the fight much interesting, don't you agree?"

Reno leans over towards Daisuke a bit, keeping his eyes trained on the man, "This guy is really starting to freak me out with his manners. I mean shit, what's up with him?"

Daisuke shrugs her shoulders, "I dunno, but what I do know is that this guy is going to get the shit kicked out of by Pretty Boy. He doesn't stand a chance."

The man shakes his head, "Please, please. I have a name miss. I'd preferred to be called Lagos. Time for me to strike." He announces as he rushes at the group. He charges straight towards Sephiroth, the cold-hearted swordsman doesn't make a move to get out of way. Lagos draws a fist back as he gets closer to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth narrows his eyes slightly as Lagos charges at him, obviously thinking he can beat him with just his bare hands. As Lagos gets into reach, Sephiroth spins on his left foot and crashes his right heel into Lagos's face. Reno and Daisuke both wince, not even wanting to try and think of how much that had to hurt. Lagos slides across the snow on his back. "You're sadly mistaken if you think you stand a chance against me without any kind of weapon." Sephiroth comments coolly.

Lagos wipes his mouth with his hand and looks down at it to see the blood. He begins chuckling to himself as he lifts himself to his feet, "Yes... Hojo thought you'd say that." Lagos closes his eyes for a moment and when he reopens them, his whole demeanor seems to change. His lips curl up into a wicked smirk and his eyes seem to hold an insane gleam to them. "Which is what the experiments were for." Before anyone can question him on what he means, Lagos rips his shirt off to reveal three green orbs imbedded into his body, each having wires attached to one another. Lagos takes in a large breath he gives a grunt of pain as his face becomes paler. The veins in his neck bulge and frost begins to appear in his hair. His lips turn a blue tint, as his body seems to freeze in the weather. The green orbs imbedded in Lagos's chest begin to glow.

Lagos claps his hands together. A frosty mist circles his hands, "Ha!" A large sword suddenly appears in Lagos's hands, made entirely out of ice, "Now each and every one of you are going to die."

"Think again." Lagos turns around at the sound of Sephiroth's voice. The sound of breaking bones and ripping flesh is carried off with the wind. Lagos blinks, not sure as to what has just happened. Starring into Sephiroth's eyes, he can see the satisfied gleam within them. Ripping his gaze from Sephiroth's, he stares down at the Masamune that's thrust through his chest. That's when he become aware of the pain, and the sudden taste of blood in his mouth. Lagos coughs, spitting blood onto the white snow. Sephiroth slowly pulls the Masamune out of the man's chest, letting him fall to the ground, "That's what happens when you take so much time to get your weapon, your opponent sneaks up on you."

'Didn't it feel so good to kill again? If it feels this good to kill this moron, think how much of a thrill it would be to kill a certain ex-Turk.'

'........' Sephiroth sheathes his Masamune and begins heading towards the entrance of the caves, Daisuke and Reno following after a moment's hesitation.

------

'Where? Where? Where?' Cloud keeps asking himself as Tifa, Vincent, and himself follow Red XIII's lead. The guardian of Comos Canyon seems to be having trouble of catching a scent of Dregon. He hasn't been able to find any trace of him yet. Cloud figured that this could mean three things: Dregon isn't in these parts of the caves; he hasn't entered the caves yet, or the caves aren't the place where the last piece of the talisman is hiding.

The group stops as Red XIII sits on his hunches and turns around to face them. Tifa is first to break the silence, "What's wrong Red?"

The beast wags his fiery tail from side to side, as he seems to be thinking to himself, "We have an addition to the party." He announces. Before anyone can question him, Rima drops down to the ground ahead of them, and stands up, casually dusting herself off.

"Rima!" Tifa explains, surprised, and relieved that they've found their missing party member, "Where've you been? Are you alright."

"I think we should leave." Rima says suddenly.

"What? We can't!" Cloud objects, "Dregon is here somewhere, we need to find the last piece of the talisman."

"We won't find that thing here. It will take awhile for Dregon to find it as well." Rima replies.

Cloud crosses his arms, his brow furrow in thought, "So what are you suggesting?"

Rima quietly reaches into her trench coat and pulls out a folded piece of paper. Walking over to the group, she hands the paper to Cloud, "I'm suggesting we go save Yuffie, before Dregon makes it back to his base."

Cloud blinks a bit surprise before unfolding the piece of paper. He reads the description out loud, "Where the blood of the planet is plentiful." Cloud raises an eyebrow and scratches the back of his head, "Um... Somewhere there's a lot of Lifestream, maybe?"

"Mideel." Vincent suddenly answers, his monotone answer bouncing off the cave walls.

"Mideel?" Tifa repeats uncertain, "Why would Dregon set base there?"

"It's not a place where we'd expect. Mideel was destroyed when the Lifestream burst through the surface a few years ago." Red XIII says, remembering the time when Cloud had Mako poisoning and him and Tifa had fallen into the Lifestream.

"Moving in while Dregon is gone would be the best move." Vincent says, figuring out what Rima wants to do, "Attack while the leader is gone. We will catch them by surprise. Depending on how well the base is guarded, we may be able to get in and save Yuffie before Dregon makes it back."

"Doesn't look like you're getting much done Strife." The group turns towards Reno as the Turk, Sephiroth and Daisuke come up from behind. "Sephiroth took care of that loony back there, guy was more weak then we expected."

Cloud runs a hand through his blonde looks as he thinks about what to do. Sephiroth glances over to Rima, noticing her. Sephiroth keeps his face neutral as his shifts his gaze towards Vincent, looking the ex-Turk starring at Rima. The woman in question glances over to Vincent and the gunman nods his head towards Sephiroth, as if telling her something. Something Sephiroth doesn't no. Rima just shakes her head.

'See? He's already trying to get them on his side. Think about how satisfying it would feel to kill him. Tee! Hee! Hee!' Sephiroth's brows furrow in annoyance, 'If he isn't taken care of soon, he'll have them all against you. He's already stolen Rima from you, he made up the story to protect himself from you.' Sephiroth grinds his teeth together, 'You don't need any of these fools to take care of Dregon, you can do it yourself. Just imagine their screams as you kill them all.'

'Leave me be.'

'The screams...'

'Silence.'

'The blood...'

'.........'

'Tee! Hee! Hee!'

"QUIET!" Sephiroth shouts out loud. Everyone turns to stare at the swordsman in question. Sephiroth closes his eyes for a moment, trying to recollect himself as he ignores the feel of everyone's gaze on him. Once he calms himself down, he looks over to Cloud, "What are we doing standing around?" He asks, partially to make everyone forget his outburst, and partially because he's growing tired of standing around.

"Um..." Cloud stalls to come up for an answer while at the same time wondering what Sephiroth's outburst is about, "We found out where Dregon's base is. We can forget this plan and storm into his base and save Yuffie, while he's searching for the last part of the talisman. Or... we can continue searching and take Dregon out now."

Reno rolls his eyes, "I don't really care how you got the location of the base, that's not really the problem. Just take a vote on what the damn group wants to do. I personally couldn't care less about the brat, I say we kill this bastard now."

Cloud raises an eyebrow at Reno, after a moment's contemplation he shrugs his shoulders, "Alright, we'll do what Reno suggests. We'll vote. Kill Dregon now, or save Yuffie first. So far it's one to one since I'd rather save Yuffie first."

"I would prefer to save Yuffie first but Dregon is too dangerous to give him the chance to get what he wants. Going after him first would be the wisest move." Red XIII gives his input.

"Dregon should die now." Sephiroth states, giving his vote.

"I say we save Yuffie!" Tifa announces, raising a fist into the air.

"I dun care." Daisuke says.

Cloud nods his head and glances between Vincent and Rima, "Vincent? Rima?"

Rima crosses her arms, "You already know my vote."

"Alright... It's four to four then." Cloud says before turning his gaze towards Vincent, "Well Vincent, it's up to you."

Vincent lets out a quiet breath and closes his eyes in thought, 'Well Chaos, what's your opinion on the matter.'

The demon in question shifts in the gunslinger's mind, making it's presence known, 'Getting the girl or the talisman would keep us safe. Either or, it doesn't make a difference as long as you and your friends get one or the other before Dregon gets what he's after.'

Vincent nods his head once as he comes to a decision, "We go save Yuffie."

Reno curses in annoyance, "That means I came here all for nothing. What a waste of time. Now I'm going to have climb all the way back up that damn mountain in the freezing cold."

"Not exactly..." Cloud announces as he grabs his PHS, "I can get the Highwind to come pick us up." He explains.

Reno stands there dumbfounded, his thoughts similar to everyone else's 'Why didn't he have them drop us off here in the first place?' Followed closely by, 'Dumbass.'

Oh my god!!! I finally finished this chapter! Yes! I've been working on it for exactly... a month and a half! O.O This was the hardest chapter for me to write ever! Hence the reason it took me so long to update. I just wasn't satisfied with how it turns out. I'm still not. I hate this chapter! It seems too... dull I think... No matter, the next chapters will be filled with a lot of action and lots of good Ol' GO----RE! That's right everyone, we'll be having more gore real soon! So let me know you all are still reading this by reviewing. TTNC!

P.S- Believe it or not everyone, the ending is coming closer. At most there's ten chapters left. I'll drive to make them the best chapters yet! Expect lots of action, gore, drama, and your lovey dovey crap! Well... not lots of lovey dovey crap.. I have a limit for me, I'm not a real romantic writer lol. But the conclusion is drawing near. Believe me when I tell that I have not yet decided on the final pairings besides Cloud and Yuffie. I have the rest of the story basically planned out in my head, EXCEPT the other pairings... oh yea... and Reno and Elena lol. Forgot about them.