Chapter Twenty-Three

Tifa stared at Cloud with wide eyes. She could not believe this was happening, all because he had kissed her…She could only watch as Sephiroth made Cloud kneel before him and then kicking Cloud in the chest, throwing him back on the floor. She watched in horror as Sephiroth turned to Yazoo. Her breath quickened and her heart rate went up. She watched Yazoo pull out a second gun from his side holster and hand it to Sephiroth. Tifa couldn't watch, but she couldn't turn away either. She tried to force her eyes to close, but they would not.

She watched as Sephiroth pointed the gun at Cloud and said something in his ear that Tifa couldn't hear. She watched as Cloud's eyes widened in horror and shock as the gun was placed against his head. Tifa stiffened as Sephiroth cocked the gun. Suddenly Cloud's pain filled voice reached her ears, "Sephiroth! Don't!" he begged.

Tifa hadn't expected what was coming. Before she could blink ,Sephiroth stood up straight, and spun around, aiming the gun at her. Tifa couldn't even move as he fired the gun. The bullet passed through Tifa's chest. She heard herself yelp in pain as she felt the blood pour from the wound and then everything went black as she collapsed onto the hard wood floor of the deck.

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Zack had already told everyone that he was going to go look for Tifa, and they had all agreed. Now that they had reached Esthar, Zack didn't have to take a train back and waist about thirty minutes riding on the train when he could ride an airship to Galbadia. He was already in the airship and was almost ready to go. He buckled up and set it on 'auto pilot'.

Then, before he knew it, Zack had the thing up in the air and it was racing like a speeding bullet to Galbadia. What really surprised Zack was that he had gotten to the Galbadia country in less than a minute. He set the ship down and climbed out and began his search for Tifa.

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"Let me get this straight. She asked you out so you said yes even though you know you are breaking the rules by going out with her?" Rufus asked, staring at Tseng.

Tseng smiled slightly, as if he were trying to make it seem to be not as bad as it was, "Yes,"

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Cloud stared at where Tifa had fallen. He felt himself standing up and rushing towards Tifa. He dropped down beside her, looking at the bullet wound in her chest. Was she alright? He didn't know, but what he did notice, was that she wasn't breathing. He blinked, gathering Tifa up in his arms. He felt no pulse when he checked and he felt tears begin to slid down his cheeks. Cloud could hear Sephiroth's boots hit the floor as he came closer to Cloud. Cloud did not move as he held Tifa's lifeless body, crying silently. "This is why I told you to stay away…" Cloud muttered, his voice choked with tears.

Suddenly Cloud felt immense pressure on his throat as Sephiroth grabbed the back of his shirt and twisted it. Because his air was cut off so suddenly, Cloud reached up to try and make Sephiroth let go, but Sephiroth merely flung him away from Tifa's body. Cloud hit the ground, banging his face on the hard wood. Pain seared through him as he gasped in shock, his hole body seemed to freeze. And then he heard a gun fire and felt more pain and then everything went black.

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Thirty minutes had past since Zack had gone looking for Tifa. Now as he approached the ocean, he came across a boat. Zack climbed aboard, noting that there was no one on it but him and maybe someone somewhere that he couldn't see. He immediately spotted the trail of blood going off the ship. Zack followed the blood trail up to the front deck and found that there was a pool of blood leading to a door. Zack noticed more blood splattering the walls but nothing else. He did, however, find a curled up figure up against the door. A closer look told him it was Tifa.

He noticed that there was blood on her, but she didn't seem hurt. "Tifa?" he called down to her.

She moved and looked up. Zack noticed the fear in her eyes as she looked at him. And then, as she realized who was standing over her, she relaxed. "Z-Zack? Is that really you?"

Zack blinked and nodded. He hadn't expected Tifa to jump to her feet and throw herself on him. He could hear her sobs as she clung to him, her whole body shaking. "Zack! It's horrible! S-Sephiroth! He shot me and then he shot Cloud, Zack!" she told him.

Zack pried Tifa off of him, looking at her, "He shot you? Are you alright?'

Tifa nodded, "Yes, I-I'm fine. He revived me with a materia…but…when I woke up…Cloud was…"

She didn't finish as she let her voice trail off. Zack could tell she was shaken terribly and so he led her away from all the blood that he guessed must have been Cloud's. His Mako blue eyes burned with fury as he remembered the blood trail. Cloud had been hurt that bad? Zack felt Tifa slowing down as they finally made it off the ship. He looked at the trees in front of him and sighed. This was not going to be fun…he did not like going through monster infested forests…

Zack figured that as soon as he got back to Esthar, he could talk with Tifa then, but maybe right now wasn't a good time to suggest that. After he had helped Tifa through the monster infested forest-he went back to the airship and got on. He set it back on 'auto pilot' to go back to Esthar.

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Aeris blinked, 'Gaia? Where are you? Won't you talk to me? Please?'

Nothing.

Aeris growled in frustration, sure she had tried to contact the Planet seven hundred times already-she counted. Now she was rather angry and Zack still hadn't returned…Aeris looked around, spotting Squall, who was sitting there, glaring at Selphie who was trying to get Dr. Odine'' chocolate from him, but Dr. Odine said that it would turn you purple if you ate it. That seemed to make Selphie all the more want it. Aeris blinked, rolling her eyes and looked for someone else to talk to. Well there was Red XIII, he knew stuff about the Planet, right? Right!

Suddenly Aeris realized that Red wasn't with them. Where was he? She looked around but she did not see Red anywhere. "Nanaki? Red? Kitty? Um…opps…I mean hybrid wolf! Where are you?"

"I'm over here, Aeris." Red yawned, opening his eyes and looked at her. Aeris smiled and walked over to him and bent down to his height. "What do you want?" he asked her.

Aeris frowned suddenly, "Why can't I contact Gaia? I mean, distance shouldn't really matter should it?" she asked the red hybrid wolf, staring at him with utter confusion and frustration.

"I don't know Aeris…how many times have you tried?" Red asked, sitting up, his tail twitching.

"Around seven hundred and one." Aeris responded, blinking.

Red looked at her sideways and then nodded, "Okay…maybe the Planet has decided to remain silent…"

"Maybe…but would that explain why I have the strangest feeling that Selphie is about to turn into a cucumber if she eats that piece of chocolate-wait a second? Selphie! Don't eat that!" Aeris suddenly yelped, snatching the piece of chocolate away from Selphie.

Then Aeris settled back into a chair, groaning, "Gaia! Answer me!"

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Reno could not help but laugh as Rufus slapped Tseng and then turned around and left. This was probably the funniest conversation he had seen between Rufus and Tseng-which this was actually the only funny conversation he had ever listened to that Tseng actually acted like a complete idiot in! Suddenly Reno stopped laughing as he felt Elena and Tseng's gazes on him. He gulped as he looked from one to the other. Okay, maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut earlier…

Reno backed away from them, holding up his hands, "Um…you guys don't want to hurt your best buddy, Reno, do you?" he asked, his voice full of fear as Tseng and Elena advanced on him, cracking their knuckles. Reno blinked. Uh-oh-Elena had already done enough! Why did he have to be the one to get ganged up on-why couldn't it have been Rude or even Rufus?

"Yes," they both answered, glaring death glares at him.

"Wait a minute! Hold you guys! I have an idea!" a sudden voice filled the room. All three of them turned to see Professor Hojo walking in.

They blinked, "Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Tseng asked, staring at Hojo.

Hojo narrowed his eyes, "Don't rub it in…anyway-Let's make Reno sing nursery rhymes! I have a video camera!"

Reno's eye widened, "No! Anything but that! Please! No not the nursery rhymes!"

Hojo's grin widened as he went up to Reno, "Okay then, you can be my new lab rat!"

"What! No! I'll take the nursery rhymes!"

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Professor Gast groaned, banging his head on his desk. What the heck was he doing? Why was he even in Esthar in the first place working for a guy named Dr. Odine who had no idea what a Cetra was? He sat up straight, closing his eyes. He looked back down at the to-do list in front of him. Why was he even reading that and following what it said? Why was he working with Dr. Odine? He missed the Lifestream...Okay so he had forgotten almost everything except for Ifalna being there with him…but he didn't remember anything else.

"Selphie! Put that piece of chocolate own!" Professor Gast opened his eyes. Someone from up above was screaming. He sighed, how was he supposed to work with all these people screaming at the top of their lungs? He pushed his chair back and stood up, heading towards the elevator. It was nearly his lunch time anyway…

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Aeris saw the door open as she grabbed yet another piece of candy from Selphie. Zack came in with Tifa and the first thing Aeris noticed was the blood all over Tifa. "What happened to her?" Aeris gasped, looking at Tifa, who appeared to be asleep-she had actually fainted, but Aeris didn't know that.

"Get her to tell you when she wakes up." Zack responded bluntly, setting Tifa in a chair and then he collapsed on the couch. "That airship is murder on you!" he groaned, closing his eyes.

Aeris looked over at Zack and then back at Tifa. She noticed that Tifa didn't seem to be hurt-in fact, the blood didn't seem to belong to Tifa. "Zack-did she tell you who's blood that is?" Aeris asked, blinking.

"Yeah…" Zack responded, but he didn't say a name. Aeris turned to look at him, a suspicion suddenly coming up from within her. She walked over to where Zack was sitting on the couch and sat down beside him.

"Who's?" she asked him, fearing the answer.

"Cloud's…" Zack responded, opening his eyes and looking down at Aeris. And then he looked away and watched as Barret went over to Tifa. Red had looked up from where he was laying down and was now staring at the elevator door. Squall was looking from Tifa to Aeris and Zack; Irvine and Yuffie were standing over near a door that was shut off and Selphie was still trying to eat candy.

Aeris was about to speak again when the elevator door opened. She blinked and turned to see who had come out of the door. A man in a white lab coat came out and was walking past them. He passed Aeris and Zack saying, "Oh hello, Aeris," suddenly he stopped. "Wait a second…Aeris!"

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"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder…" Reno sang. Hojo held up the video camera, yelling, "Gold!"

Elena and Tseng were laughing like idiots while ordering some whiskey to drink. Rufus had come in and now that Reno had gone through 'Do you know the Muffin man?' and 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star', and all kinds of others, no one could stop laughing. Heck, even Rude was laughing like a babbling idiot!

Reno felt so humiliated…he just might have preferred to have been ganged up on instead. "Now you have to sing the Barney theme song!" Elena yelled, hiccuping Reno groaned, "Can't I have some whiskey too?"

"Hey! Don't stop singing!" Tseng snapped, drinking another glass of whiskey-he's had about three already. Reno blinked, staring at the camera. There was no way they would get him to sing that. Na-uh! He was not going to sing that!

"Don't make me sic my doggy on you!" Hojo growled, drinking some of his own whiskey. Reno stared at Hojo.

"You have a dog?"

"Yes, wanna see him?"

Suddenly they heard a loud roar from the door. Reno turned to stare at the door and shook his head, "No thanks! I don't want to see your dog!"

"Sure ya do! Come here Frisky!" Hojo yelled, he ran over to the door and opened it and out came a-