A/N: I practically had to read through my other chapters just to make sure I didn't leave any important details out. If I did… then… poopy me. (mumbles)

Thankies for reviewing! Ahhhh! You'll know what happens to Yuffie as you read this… (panicks)

Disclaimer:

Aeris: You work very hard, Miss Author.
Author: Why, thank you, Aeris. I do work hard.
Aeris: How do you do it?
Author: Well… I have this little schedule that I-
Reno: GAH! What're you doing! I was gonna beat the crap out of her!
Aeris: Wow! You're schedule looks really tight… but… what's this picture of Vincent at the beach…?
Author: (closes planner) WHOAHO! Look at the time! I don't own FF7! (runs)
Reno: YAY! (chases)
Aeris: …

Reveal Your True Eyes
Chapter Twelve

Our Eyes Meet
'M…My dream…' -Nanaki

Once Sephiroth and Reno entered the cave, their first aim was to find Rude. If memory served the red head right, he remembered Elena saying she 'fell down'. Most likely she fell from some high point, but not high enough to hurt her fragile bottom. He needed Rude's muscle power to help scoop her out.

As soon as the two arrived at the three divided paths, Reno pointed to the far right and started walking. But, before he could enter it, Sephiroth clamped his hand into Reno's shirt collar. The Turks growled and turned around.

"What the hell is your deal! I thought you wanted to help me!"

"I thought you were going to change that attitude of yours."

"Look, once I find my friends, THEN I'll change whatever attitude I have."

Sephiroth pushed his hair back and entered the middle path without saying a word. Reno growled and stomped his foot. "Where the hell are YOU going! I was gonna go to where Rude went to!"

"Do as you please… if you want to fall into the same trap as he did."

The Turks twitched an eye and sighed loudly. Seeing there weren't any better options, he decided to follow his foe. Even though he still doesn't trust him, he was the only chance he had to find his friends and bring AVALANCHE back. However, Cait had second thoughts.

As he watched Reno enter the middle path, Cait secretly chose the far left one. He had a very strong feeling that Sephiroth was up to his little tricks. He remembered that after he finished off the ninja and the boy, he saw that evil glow twinkling in his eyes. No matter what he said, Cait thought otherwise. He also knew that 'if you want to fall into the same trap as he did' was a trick as well. Cait had been ordered to explore this cave fairly well. And from his observations, the path to the left was the best to go through. It was the one that led to the other paths.

Finally, he arrived at the long water slide. Luckily enough, he was a toy and was able to see well in dark places. He leaned forward and yelled, 'ELENA' and waited for a response. After a few moments, he heard a faint voice through the moving water. Cait moved a little closer and called out her name again. Finally, through the darkness, he saw Elena walking through the mud.

"W-Who's there!" she yelled.

"It's Cait! Are you alright?"

"Of course I'm not alright! I'm wet, I'm covered in mud, I smell, and I think my make-up's smeared!"

Cait laughed to himself at that. She was right about the make-up… and it sure wasn't a pretty sight. He shook the thought off and crouched down. "Okay, I'm coming down there."

"W-Wait!"

At that, he pushed himself off and slid down the 'waterslide'. He was certainly enjoying his little ride as he made loud cheering noises. Elena slapped her forehead as the stuffed toy slid right into the mud. She sighed and pulled the cat out.

"Great! Now who's gonna help us out of here now! I can't reach Reno or Rude on the phone!"

"Relax! I know this cave like the wires inside this body!"

"…"

Elena and Cait slowly made their way through the big mud pile. As they headed further down the cave, it had gotten ridiculously dark. Cait held the woman's hand and told her to never let go. She muttered in agreement. Now that she thought of it, she never even realized that there was more cave in the back. It looked like it was a dead-end. Suddenly, Cait came to a sudden halt, almost making Elena step right on his head.

"W-What's wrong?" Cait released his grip from Elena. The woman panicked at that. "AH! What're you doing! I-I can't tell where I'm going if-"

"Elena. Reach your arms out and touch this wall."

Without saying a word, she did as she was told. She felt a really rough wall no more than five inches away from her face. She gasped and stepped back. "Oh my gosh! This… this is a dead-end!"

"Now, listen carefully. Once we enter through, we cannot turn back. You can say this is our 'one way ticket' to the other side."

"W-Wait! How're we supposed to go through? Is there a door?"

"No, we must run into it."

"WHAT!"

"Trust me."

Cait took the woman's shaking hand and turned around. They definitely needed a lot of running space to ram right into the wall. Elena was really unsure about the whole thing. However, she couldn't think of anything better to do than sit in a fetal position and cry.

"On three, we run as fast as we can. And keep your arms out so you know when you can't run anymore, okay?"

Elena bit her lip and muttered a 'yes'.

"Alright. One… two… THREE!"

They released each other's grip and thrust forward with incredible speed. Elena was thankful that the Turks did a lot of running-related things in training. She stretched her arms out and felt the rough stonewall. And, to her surprise, she felt herself going right through it. Once she made it all the way through, the other side was much brighter than the other. Elena blinked in confusion and turned around several times to the cave wall. She couldn't believe it! It was like she was a ghost and could go through walls easily like that! While she was deep in thought about that, Cait brushed himself off and peered over some rocks. He sighed in relief. Reno and Sephiroth still haven't made it all the way through the path. They still had time to reach Rude on the other side. Cait tapped Elena's arm and gestured for her to follow him.

Suddenly, they heard faint footsteps. The cat grunted to himself and clamped his big hand onto Elena's small one. "We only have one chance to do this. We can't let Reno or Sephiroth see us…"

Elena gasped. "S-SEPHIROTH'S-"

Cait jumped up and covered her mouth at that. They remained silent, hopefully no one heard the loudmouth. After a few seconds, the footsteps stopped and Sephiroth's voice could be heard. Cait jumped down from the woman's shoulders and leaned forward. He could hear the two men clearly.

"So, this is where you ended up?" Sephiroth asked flatly.

"Yeah, seeing that there wasn't any way out."

Cait gestured for Elena to crouch down. Sephiroth revealed himself through the rocks and placed his hands against the walls of the cave. His face showed no signs of any evil plotting, however, his eyes was filled with evil. Cait wished he could just call an attack on him, but for now, they couldn't do anything. Besides, they were a little too late for that.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and pressed his right hand hard against the wall. He turned to Reno who seemed disgusted by him now.

"What are you doing?" he grunted at him.

"…did you know that this cave holds strange powers?"

"Gee, I never really studied about the wonders of the mysterious cave."

"Everything you see here are illusions."

Elena leaned towards Cait. "Like before?"

He nodded. "Yeah, there's another one that leads straight to Rude. But, we havetah wait til these guys-"

Suddenly, long strands of silver hair appeared in front of their faces. They gasped and looked up into the eyes of Sephiroth. He narrowed his eyes at that.

"Well, well. What do we have here? Little eavesdroppers by chance?"

Reno pulled out his gun and aimed it to Sephiroth's head. "Don't you DARE touch them! Or else I'll send you to hell!"

"…and what have I told you about that ATTITUDE!" he quickly turned and drew out his Masamune. In one thrust, the red head found himself locked in Sephiroth's grasp. His blade over his neck and his arms tightly fastened around his shoulders. "Now… you were saying?"

Reno growled and glared at Elena and Cait. "Don't… you dare… do anything…"

"Not on my watch!" Cait jumped up and landed right onto Sephiroth's face. He took his red cape off and tied it around his eyes. Sephiroth grunted and released his grip on the red head. Reno aimed his gun to his foe as he backed up next to Elena. Cait fastened the knot behind Sephiroth's head and turned to Elena.

"We can't get Rude now, Elena! Go through the wall that Mister Silver Hair touched!"

Elena perked her head up and pointed. "T-That one?"

"Yes! We'll deal with this mister right here!"

"B-But!"

"Just go!" Reno yelled. "We'll try an' slow this guy down!"

Without saying another word, Elena nodded and made her way through the wall. Like last time, it was incredibly dark. However, the walls of the cave were narrow, so she was able to navigate it through pretty easily. Off in the distance, she could hear a faint noise coming in her direction. It sounded like it was someone breathing. Just to be safe, the woman took out her gun and placed it right in front. Soon, she came to a point where the walls of the cave were spreading further and further away. The faint breathing sounded like it was right in front of her. She felt something grab onto her shoulders.

"AHHH! L-LET ME G-GO!" Before she could shoot, a deep voice quickly replied,

"Elena! It's me, Rude!"

"Ruuuudddeee!" she wrapped her arms around the man's neck. "Oh my gosh! I would have NEVER expected you to be here!"

"Me either… I found out that I could go through the walls here."

"Me too! Listen, Sephiroth is here and he said that everything in this cave are illusions… of course, except the bodies…"

"I had a feeling. Did you bring a flashlight?"

Elena searched her pockets and paused. "… if I did, I would have used it a long time ago!"

"Sorry," Rude took out his cellphone and switched it on. The dimly lit screen was their only source of light for now. Elena took hers out as well.

"We might as well find out where this place leads. Stay close to me," Rude held Elena's hand and began walking through the cave.

Elena felt a blush on her face and nodded. "R-Right. I just hope… that Reno and Cait are alright…"

"Ugh… where… am I…?"

Yuffie slowly sat up and looked around. Her surroundings were pitch black and it was absolutely silent. She had no idea what had been going ever since she entered the Lifestream. She felt… nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was like her mind had been separated from her body. Suddenly, she felt her whole body ache. It felt like needles were stabbing her straight into the heart. She closed one of her eyes and stood up. Just then, the darkness disappeared and was replaced by a laboratory scene. Yuffie stepped forward and looked around. At that moment, she finally realized where she was.

"The laboratory… Hojo!" she banged her fists against the sides of wherever she was. "Let me go you asshole! I wanna see Nanaki!"

At that, Hojo's face suddenly appeared right in front of her. He stroked his finger against the test tube and grinned evilly. Yuffie growled and banged her fists again. He obviously couldn't hear her so… where was she?

"It's time, my precious," the liquid in the tube drained at that. Yuffie fell to her bottom as she felt a slight 'earthquake'. "It's time to test you out. And might I add… I adore your looks…" Hojo placed a mirror out in front. Yuffie's eyes widened as she gazed into the eyes of a total demon! She could even see herself inside the creature's red eyes.

"I-I'm… this… thing?" The demon seemed to growl in response. Hojo opened the test tube and the creature made its way to the ground. Yuffie pounded her fists on the ground. "Hey! You can't tell me to do anything! You can NEVER control Yuffie Kisaragi!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Meanwhile, Nanaki and his friends began their journey through the mountain path. So far, they haven't encountered any dangers, but they were still alert as ever. No one made the slightest noise as their only thing to worry about was finding Yuffie, Hojo… and… to figure out what they were to do when they do so.

Tifa clutched her metal bolt tightly. 'I won't let you down, Zack. I will treasure this until the very end.'

'This better be worth it…' Barret twirled his dagger around and grinned. 'I feel both of our strengths inside this weapon… Dyne.'

Vincent clutched the necklace that was now tied around his neck. 'Lucrecia… you lent me all of your remaining powers in my care. I assure you that everything will return to normal.'

Cid lifted an eyebrow and whispered to Cloud, "Hey, did you get one of those thingies that can change into a weapon or something?"

"…what?"

"…meh. Nevermind."

"I can pull one out from my back if that's what you're saying…"

"Really? Damn! So I'm not the only one…" Cid clenched his fists together and lifted his head. 'Time to kick some Hojo-ass!'

Nanaki stared at his necklace and smiled. 'Even though we may be apart, I could still sense your presence right here… Yuffie.'

Suddenly, Aeris, who had been leading the group, came to a stop. She crouched down, noticing a really large pit on the ground. There wasn't anything they could use to move across it. Luckily though, Dyne's trusty brown bag had plenty useful things. Barret pulled out a rope and tied a loop. He twirled the rope around and threw it across the pit. The loop fastened onto one of the big rocks. Barret tugged the rope and gave it the 'OK'.

"Aeris, you go first," Nanaki said. She nodded and carefully climbed onto the rope. Nanaki nodded his head to Tifa as she followed Aeris. Next were Cloud, Vincent, and Cid. As they made their way across, Nanaki nodded to Barret. "Your turn."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine."

Barret tied the rope around a huge rock as Nanaki fastened his canine teeth into it. As Barret made it across, Nanaki bit the rope off as Barret pulled it to his side. Nanaki backed away from the pit and quickly ran towards it. In the last second, he jumped over the pit and easily made it to the other side.

"Wow, Nanaki!" Aeris clapped her hands. "That was neat!"

"Hey! Why didn't you do that in the frickin' first place!" Cid yelled.

"I wasn't sure how long the pit was. But after I measured the-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just go."

Several minutes have already passed, and they found themselves face-to-face with some abnormal-looking monsters. However, they posed no threat whatsoever. One finger on them reduced them to dust. After that, they had to climb over jagged rocks, face even more of those abnormal monsters, and pass through a very thin path. Finally, they took a moment to catch their breath. The only person who found no need to do so was Aeris.

"A-Are… we… there yeeet?" Cloud panted as he fell backwards.

Tifa copied him. "Well, we haven't… seen any… caves…"

"There was one… but that was being occupied by those damn monsters!" Barret sighed. "I hope… that wasn't it…"

Nanaki sat next to Aeris. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Yes… but… I feel something very strange off in the distance."

"What is it?"

"…I can hear… someone crying for help."

'…Yuffie.' "We will leave as soon as we rest up."

"…okay."

Suddenly, distant howls echoed throughout the mountain. That immediately gave everyone attention. All was silent for a while. Just then, a black blur zoomed right passed the group. A huge whirlwind was created at that. The black blur passed them again and finally stopped. A demon with black needle-like fur with red eyes glared at everyone. Aeris' eyes widened and held her head.

'T-This… feeling… is the same… in that house…!'

Everyone pulled out their items as they changed into a sword ('cept for Cloud and Cid). Nanaki stepped forward as his necklace began glow like crazy. He could feel his body ready to change into a human. He couldn't help but stare into the creature's eyes. Passe the black cross-like slits… he could have sworn he saw…

'M…My dream…' Nanaki told himself. He shook it off and yelled, "YUFFIE!"

A/N: End of chapter twelve! Whoaho… the plot thickens! Anyways, I know in the game, Rude mentions that Elena liked Tseng, but remember… he went bye-bye so… why not? I could have paired her with Reno but… hey, she's surrounded by two good-looking men. (squishes face) Lucky woman… anyway! I hope you enjoyed and please tell me how you thought of it!