A/N: Retribution Time

Forgiveness and Care

"What are you doing here?" Yuffie asked.

Chase slowly walked over to the cell, keeping his head low. On a part of the wall that was unseen by the team, Chase slid a card and punched in a couple of numbers on a security lock. The glass door slid open, leading their way to freedom.

"I don't get it, what the hell is going on?" Barret asked.

"This is Chase," Tifa said quietly, "The one who put Yuffie and I in here with all of you. What exactly are you doing, Chase?" she asked indifferently.

"I really think that I am wrong," Chase said. "I work for ShinRa yet I know what they want and what they are planning. I knew how they placed this planet in the sorry state its in and even though that's all known to me, I still follow orders blindly. Not anymore, I don't want to be another device for their own pleasure to utilize."

"And you think setting us free will just atone for your mistakes?" Vincent asked.

"No, I don't believe that. I have my reasons for doing so but, nonetheless, I have done what I have done. You would know all about an unforgivable past Vincent. Atonement can only get you so far," Chase said. He walked over to a steel closet on the other side of the room. He broke the lock on it with his hands and opened it. The various weapons of the group were in there. "I believe it would be in our best interest if we got out of here as fast as we could."

Everyone got out of the cell and grabbed their weapons from the closet. Barret locked into place his Missing Score, Vincent holstered his Death Penalty, and it continued until everyone received their rightful weapons.

Chase opened the door and everyone filed outside with Tifa as the only one left inside. She stared at Chase and calmly walked up to him.

"Why did you really do this?" Tifa asked.

"I told you, I'm tired of being the loyal soldier," Chase replied.

"That can't be all," Tifa added.

Chase looked down at his feet and then back at her face, "Prior to this, I asked myself the same question. I couldn't let you stay here. I love you."

Tifa was stunned at his answer. With tears welling up in her eyes, she let her open palm hit the side of his face. His glasses flew off but Chase turned his attention back to her. She saw it in his eyes that he meant it.

"I guess I deserved that," Chase said softly.

The team ran down the hallways. Red lights were blinking signifying their escape. As they rounded a corner, ShinRa MPs came from hidden doorways and shot at them.

"How much farther?" Barret yelled out.

"Not much, just keep running," Chase said. He came to halt with the rest of the team running off. Tifa slowed down and looked back to see Chase standing alone with the soldiers coming at him. He drew his cobalt blade from its scabbard and simply raised it into the air.

"Ice!" he yelled. From the sword, ice emitted from it and slowly enclosed the space. In a matter of seconds there was a thick wall of ice. Chase seemed to concentrate harder as he left his sword in the ice, "Frigyd."

Tifa stood in amazement as another summoning took place. On the other side of the wall, ice came from the wall and manifested itself into another dragon, an almost exact replica of Byrn except his scales were a royal blue. Due to another factor, the dragon wasn't as large as the first and was small enough to fit inside the area.

"Be a nice dragon Frigyd, cool them off with your Absolute Zero Canon," Chase said. As the soldiers started slowing down and opening fire, the dragon began to build up energy in its mouth. Chase jerked away his sword and sheathed it. He ran the other way, grabbing Tifa's hand along the way so she wouldn't just stand there.

The two rounded a corner and Tifa saw everyone at a steel door.

"What's wrong?" Chase asked as he ran up to them.

"Didn't really think your plan all the way through, Slick," Barret said. "We can't get passed this door."

"You mean you were able to get through so much as a team except a steel door?" Chase asked.

"Your point is asshole?" Cid asked.

"Yeah, what is it that I'm thinking, that's a blast proof door," Chase said as he slid his card on the security lock but the red light remained. "Damn, apparently they know I'm in on this." He gave a sigh, "Screw this," he balled up his hand and punched the lock. His fist made a serious dent in it and sparks flew as he removed his hand.

"That didn't do anything," Yuffie pointed out.

"I already knew that," Chase said, shaking his hand. "This facility was created in a way that if anyone attempted an escape, they wouldn't be able to reach the outside. I only destroyed the electronic lock on this door, which has disabled the physical locks. We're going to have to pull those doors apart."

Everyone grabbed hold and tried to pry open the doors. At first, the doors did not move but a few more seconds of struggling and they soon parted slowly. Finally opening them all the way, everyone was ready to go through the doors.

Chase smiled and Tifa looked up at him. Booted feet came running up to them. Chase looked to see one of them take off a pin off of a grenade and chuck it at them. Quickly, he ushered everyone outside with Tifa by his side. It exploded, causing much of the icy ledge that the door led out to, to crumble. Tifa and Chase touched the ledge as it crumbled and they tumbled down the rock face and landed on the base of the mountain with a blizzard over their heads.

Chase grunted as he sat up. Barret, Yuffie, and everyone else weren't around. He looked up the twenty feet they fell. Luckily, ShinRa headquarters was built into the mountain and had that door positioned near the bottom.

He looked over and saw Tifa still on her back. He tried to walk but the thigh on his right leg made Chase cringe in pain. He breathed heavily as he sat back down on the powdery snow. Still with Tifa on his mind, Chase crawled over to her and began to shake her.

"Ms. Lockhart, Ms. Lockhart!" he yelled as he shook her. Tifa's eyes fluttered open and she gazed at Chase's silver eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief, "Your safe."

She sat up, "What happened?"

"We fell 20 feet, onto cold snow with no one else to help. Are you hurt? Is anything broken?" Chase asked.

Tifa shook her head. She felt no pain except the one in her heart. Chase dropped a bombshell before they escaped but that wasn't it. It was just that he wasn't what he said he was. Chase had another intention than he said to her.

Chase grimaced as he stood up on his feet.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked.

"I broke my leg," Chase muttered. He drew the scarlet sword and pointed the tip to his right let, "Cur..ah!"

He fell back down to the snow holding his leg. Tifa came over and, "Don't make it any worse Chase. What were you thinking?"

"I had to heal it," Chase said between gasps, "If I mended it while it in a bent position, it wouldn't have healed right."

"Look, we got to find somewhere to stay. Being stranded in the snow isn't an ideal place to be with a broken leg," Tifa eased Chase up with his arm around her and together they walked. It was tedious but soon enough they found an open cave.

Inside the cave, it opened up into a cavern. Tifa set Chase in the middle and took the scarlet sword from his hands.

"Ms. Lockhart, what are you doing?" Chase asked.

"I'm making us a fire," Tifa replied. Outside were a few trees so Tifa went back out into the freezing wind and brought back a few branches. She placed them in front of Chase and pointed his sword down at them. "Fire," she murmured and the sword was covered in flames and shot out a small fireball onto the branches. The fireball was hot enough to dry them off and start a small fire but it quickly died out.

"Damn," she said.

"Hand it here," Chase said. Tifa passed the sword to him. He positioned himself onto his side and aimed at the branches, "Fire."

A small stream of fire came out from his sword. The branches caught on fire, but Chase kept the stream going until he was sure it was going to stay alive.

"So that's what a Materia SOLDIER can do," Tifa said.

"I take it that Jonathan told you that," Chase said. "He labeled me that, I could never shake that title off." He stretched his hand to her, "Could you help me?"

Tifa grabbed his hand and lifted him up. Chase steadied himself and aimed his sword down at his leg. "Cure," he said and a green aura flooded from the sword and down onto his leg. Tifa let go and Chase stood by his own power now, free of pain.

"Why did you go through with it Chase?" Tifa asked. "In the end, you still made the decision to have me captured."

"I'm sorry, but there was still another factor," Chase said. "I know, its still no excuse." He went over to the entrance of the cave, "That's why I have to go back."

"Chase! Stop right now," Tifa said before he took another step. "In no way are you in any condition to go out and fight. At least wait until tomorrow."

Chase stood silent for a moment. Cure magic only healed his leg but not the pain. He drew the cobalt sword and created another wall of ice at the entrance, "Fine, tomorrow."

Chase walked over to Tifa. He sat back down on the snow. Tifa sat on the opposite side of the fire and they stared at each other.

"So everything you made me believe in the beginning was all a lie, huh?" Tifa asked.

Chase nodded, "I'm sorry to say that it is."

"All you keep saying is that you're sorry. I want to know why you didn't feel sorry earlier, why you suddenly became the hero."

"It all started when ShinRa sent me to retrieve you. I wondered at first why would they need me to get you. They sent the last remaining SOLDIERs to get your other friends but sent me to you. I don't know whether it's a compliment or disapproval. I figured it would be easy; ShinRa had planned the elaborate arrangement so that I would earn your trust and I would go on from there. But even the best of plans can go wrong."

"I hate you so much," Tifa said.

"I hate me too," Chase said. "Trust me, if I wasn't depended on ShinRa, I would've stopped it all."

"Why are you tied to ShinRa?" Tifa asked.

"To fully understand, I need to tell you a little about myself. You see, I was born in the slums. An orphan. Who knows what happened to my father and mother but I was alone. Not totally, I did have my sister. We lived at an orphanage but that got tiresome so once I was old enough, I took her along with me and got a house. It was hard; luckily people had a high demand for a computer hacker.

"I always managed to hack into computers, mainly banks, and steal from accounts of ShinRa executives. They caught me yet they didn't have me killed. ShinRa acknowledged my skills and offered me an employment opportunity. I wish I refused."

"Too greedy?" Tifa asked.

"No, just that at that time, my sister was sick. No way I was able to find a good doctor in the slums and I couldn't afford being caught by stealing a mountain of gil. But I was caught anyways. ShinRa gave me the option of giving her a good doctor. Jonathan was there and helped her but then once ShinRa fell, he rose.

"He had the crazy idea for a new SOLDIER and threatened to start experimenting with my sister. He didn't want to but said so only to get me. I don't know why he wants me but he did and he got me. I became his guinea pig. As of right now, they still have my sister."

Tifa kept her eyes on Chase. He wasn't lying this time, his eyes proved it, "You would've saved me the trouble of being captured if only they didn't have her as their insurance. You changed your mind but the blast made you fell which has…"

"Yeah, I'm stuck here while ShinRa still has my baby sister."

Tifa was empathetic, Chase only wanted to protect the people he loved. "Chase, one thing I still don't get is that Cloud told me that Hojo was already working on a SOLDIER who had been exposed to high levels of mako, which became monsters. Weren't your abilities spawned from the high mako levels?"

"That must've been the project before. I don't know much except that it called for Jenova cells and the high levels of mako at once. My procedure was different; I was given 50 millimeters of mako and sat in a tube for a few hours. Twice a week, for six months."

Tifa shivered, it was till cold even with the fire in front of her. Chase got up and walked over to her. He kneeled down and took off his white jacket. He placed it on her shoulders.

"Thank you," she said. He sat down next to her. Tifa laid her head on his shoulders, "For the time I found out the real truth about you, I was mad. At you, at me, at everyone, now I see that you had your purpose."

"Still…"

"Chase, what's going to happen when you're married? You love calling women by Miss. So and so,"

Chase was a little perplexed by the way she just changed the subject, "Well, I would obviously call her by her name, that isn't very hard to conclude Tifa."

Tifa looked up into his eyes, "Chase, you love me…"

"Yes, I do love you. Problem, Tifa?"

"Chase, I love you too," she said. Tifa closed her eyes as her lips found his.

A/N: Ha ha, you have to wait for a new chapter.