A/N: Ahaha! Fifty reviews! Holy spit! Thanks, guys! Please keep it up. I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh well...

Teddy-the-Bear: Huh. I coulda sworn I saw Tseng and Elena near the end. Um, never mind. Yeah, Brand's kinda more pathetic than Cloud is in the game, but, then again, he's a hormonal teen in love. Yeah, they did turn out cool. No! I remember now. Tseng and Elena used nets to secure Rufus, right? I'll look at it.

Bdsproductions: I didn't have a remote, but now I do, and I watched that bad boy. It was great! I'm glad Sephy came off as evil in this. Your main bad guy has gotta be bad, right? I'm glad the characters came off right. Thanks for reviewing.

AerithRosey: Ha, no fluff for you. I think I inflated Brandon's ego and put his confidence down the drain. Bad combination. You'll never know what happens. Mwahaha…unless you, like, read below.

Ghost in the Mirror: Me and my cliffhangers. For shame.

Beeria: Ah, so you saw that in Jessie, too! I was hoping it wasn't just me. I hope I don't disappoint.

Raitokage: Yep, I try to keep to what I say. And, yeah, I was talking about Advent Children. It took me a bit to figure out where to insert AVALANCHE.

Princess of the Knight: I'll do my best, but the only times I can get on now are when people are sleeping where the computer is. Problem. Sigh.

Chapter Eleven

It took several moments for Brandon's frantic mind to realize it was futile chasing after Laura on his bike and shorter to realize he was lost. He pulled his gun out of his pocket just in case and pulled out his phone. He was just about to dial Laura's number when he heard bushes rustle. He pointed his gun at the bush and almost shot when something jumped out at him.

A cat ran off away from him, and he clutched his gun hand to his quickly beating heart. Sephiroth had to go.

Brandon was just about try to call her again when he lowered his head over his phone. There was no way she'd forgive him for breaking their promise. He turned his bike around, found a familiar road, and made it back to his house. She had to come back sometime. He just hoped it was soon.

Garret's POV (next morning)

There were several gunshots up ahead. Garret placed his hand near the small gun he had hidden and ran ahead. Sure enough, two people in suits stood there, shooting at a person as she ran, covering her head. "Turks," he growled. Garret recognized who their target was: Yuffie. He pulled out his gun, ignoring the people screaming and running around him, and aimed at the figures up ahead, their backs turned to him.

He hit one in the back, and he went down. He was already firing when the girl turned around. He missed, however, and she ducked down, grabbed her fellow Turk, and dragged him off to their black car. He got several bullet holes in the car, but it got away safely.

Once she wasn't being shot at, Yuffie turned around and grinned at him. "Nice save," she congratulated cheerfully as if her life hadn't just been threatened.

"Have ya heard from Reno?" Garret asked her, making sure the Turks didn't come back.

Yuffie's grin slightly faded, and she shook her head. "The Turks are going after me more, for some reason," she said. "They tried to attack me before, but I managed to hide"- she grimaced- "in a dumpster."

A police car pulled up. "Humph," Yuffie said, "about time."

"Sometimes, ya gotta make sacrifices," he said, greeting the officer when he came up. Another police car pulled up behind his.

"Everything all right?" the officer asked. Garret looked at him strangely. It was the same officer who questioned him before.

"Yeah," Garret said. "Some guys were chasing this girl. I think they said something about 'Steven' or 'Sephiroth'."

The officer nodded. "Come with me, you two."

Brandon's POV

Brandon tried calling Garret the next morning at around ten, but his friend didn't pick up. He got hold of Tiffany, however.

"What's wrong?" she asked when she heard his slightly panicked voice.

"Laura's missing," he said.

"Have you called anyone yet?" she asked, sounding worried.

"Only Garret, but he didn't answer. Listen, I got her mad. There's a chance she's just hiding out somewhere," Brandon said. He'd been out looking for her for over two hours already.

"All right," Tiffany said. She still sounded afraid for Laura. "Garret and Yuffie got into some trouble earlier, and Vincent can't go out. That just leaves the two of us."

"And we don't have cars," Brandon grumbled. "I'll take the north part of town." He hung up after she gave an affirmative and got on his bike, making sure to hide his gun on him and bring his cell phone in case she called.

The first place Brandon went was the hospital. He went in and asked the receptionist where Mrs. Matthews was. The receptionist looked into it and finally said, "She's in critical condition right now and cannot be visited. Her cancer is terminal."

Brandon shook his head. "I don't know what that means," he said.

"That means…she will not survive," the woman said.

His hands began to shake. "What about Mr. Matthews?" he asked.

"He's not here," the woman said, giving him a look of pity.

Brandon frowned. "But…I came to the hospital with him-"

"I'm sorry," the woman said. "He…passed on last night."

"H-has a girl around m-my age come in to ch-check on her?" he asked, his voice shaking. He wanted to be there for her.

"Yes," the woman said, obviously trying to think back. "She ran out without giving her name."

He searched until his bike's wheel burst. Then he went on aching feet. Tiffany called several times to fill him in on where she'd looked. Finally, at two, she gave up and went home. Brandon still stayed out, his eyes watering from the cold winds that blew. It was into winter, and the sky looked stormy.

At four, it began to drizzle. That turned to snow. He rubbed his bare arms. He was wearing a t-shirt and torn jeans- not that much protection against chill.

His phone rang. He quickly opened it, praying to hear the beautiful voice of-

"Yo, spiky, we just got out of the police station, and Jessie called about a job we could do," Garret shouted loudly. "Yuffie's with me, and I'm going to pick up Tiffany. Where you at?"

"Near the oldest food store," he replied wearily.

"Did you find Laura? Tif filled us in," Garret asked.

"No," Brandon replied with a sigh.

"That's too bad, man," Garret said. "You in?"

"For the job? Yeah, whatever," Brandon said. "Laura obviously doesn't wanna come back. I just…gotta be back at eight."

"Stay near the store," Garret ordered and hung up.

With another sigh, Brandon sat on the curb, downcast. Laura had become the closest person to him. How could he be so stupid to ruin that friendship?

A few minutes later, a van pulled up. Brandon watched a sliding door open before Yuffie pulled him in by the front of his shirt. She tossed him a cool-looking pistol. Brandon looked it over as Garret pulled the door shut and Jessie took off.

"That's a Colt ACE Model," Garret said, gleefully looking over his assortment of guns in the back.

There were no seats where Yuffie, Tiffany, and Brandon were so they had to grab the gun cases before the slid to the back. Garret and Jessie sat in the only seats in the front.

"Here, hand it over," Garret said. "Yuffie, give me the ammo. I'll show you how to load it."

"Where's Vincent?" Brandon asked Tiffany.

The brunette shook her head. "He's still hurting, Brand. None of us would let him go," she said. "Besides, think of what would happen if the police caught us."

Yuffie passed around guns. Along with the pistol, Brandon got an assault rifle. Garret was satisfied with just a shotgun. Tiffany chose two handguns she didn't even look at before she grabbed some Kevlar vests. Yuffie was the last to choose. She grabbed a .357 Magnum based on how cool it looked.

"Where's Sephiroth showing up, anyway?" Brandon asked, taking off his shirt and putting the vest on. He didn't catch Tiffany look at him twice before he pulled his baggy shirt back on.

"A weapons warehouse," Jessie told him. "I'll take out the guards in the back and use a bomb for distraction. You guys get in fast and wait for Steven. Wedge and a couple others will rob a nearby bank to mislead the police."

"Great," Yuffie said. "I got dibs on the smoke bombs."

They soon pulled up to a building near the warehouse. They distributed walkie-talkies, and Jessie went all the way up the stairs to the building's roof. Brandon, Tiffany, Yuffie, and Garret snuck over near the warehouse under cover of the thickening falling snow.

They looked at the back of the warehouse, watching for Jessie to take out the guards, when they saw that there were no guards. When they crept up, they saw that the watchmen had bullets in their heads and chests.

"Jessie," Garret said into his walkie-talkie. Brandon thought it was funny that they only had four of the damn things to split between Jessie and them, leaving Yuffie and Tiffany without communication in the worst situations.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Get to the roof and take a look at this," Garret ordered.

A few moments later, she said, "That's not good. Reno said-"

Yuffie grabbed Garret's walkie-talkie. "Reno?" she asked.

"Yes," Jessie said. "He had to sneak the information. Sephiroth apparently found out about his alliance with you guys."

"Is he okay?" Yuffie asked, worried.

"He was hurt but still alive," Jessie replied.

Brandon frowned when he saw the look on Yuffie's face. She pulled her .357 from her pocket and looked with fiery eyes at the warehouse. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. Things were getting too harsh. Sephiroth…If Sephiroth was gone, they'd be just fine. He grabbed his assault rifle tightly.

"What's the plan?" Tiffany asked Garret. Everyone looked at him.

Garret raged, waving his arms and stomping his feet. "The hell're y'all lookin' at me for? Get your asses in the damn warehouse and blast the shit out of that bastard!" he shouted a little too loudly.

They pulled on ski masks and snuck into the dark building, looking around carefully. Boxes of weaponry pilled around them just proved how careful they needed to be. Sephiroth might or might not be in the warehouse with the Turks. The police might or might not be in the building with SWAT.

Brandon began to realize how much trouble he could get in a little after he stepped over the dead bodies of the guards. He pointed his assault rifle at every shadow and held his finger on his trigger, praying Sephiroth didn't have Laura. If he did, Brand didn't know what he'd do.

When they reached the middle of the dark warehouse, they saw him. His back was turned to them, and his gun was pointed down at some guard he'd dragged from the back, by the trail of smeared blood. He pulled the trigger and, with a "pop, pop, pop" the guy's head fell with a bloody smack to the ground.

Without waiting for anyone, Brand charged forward and began to fire at Sephiroth. In his rage, only one bullet came close enough to Sephiroth. It barely scraped his arm as he jumped behind some boxes.

Garret jerked him back behind their own box cover before Brandon could be fired upon or hit something explosive. Sephiroth had no such qualms. He filled the boxes the four of them hid behind with bullets.

Garret stuck his gun out and fired at Sephiroth with his shotgun. He missed, but Sephiroth's bullet went straight through his arm. He yelled out in pain and quickly jerked his arm back. When that made him hurt his older bullet wound, he hissed in pain. Yuffie snuck Garret's walkie-talkie from his back pocket.

"Ya think you can make that bomb blow up near the front of the warehouse?" she asked over the bullets.

"Wedge will have it placed in a couple of minutes. I'll tell you when to run," was Jessie's reply.

"Over and out," Yuffie said, tossing his walkie-talkie over her shoulder and climbing lithely up the boxes. She got to the top and shot at Sephiroth.

Brandon watched the surprise bullet hit the corrupt man. He didn't see where, but Sephiroth jerked and glared vehemently up at Yuffie.

"Yuffie, jump down!" Brandon said, taking a few steps back and holding up his arms. A barrage of bullets suddenly came at her, and she began to fall backwards. He barely caught her and made sure she was fine before setting her down.

Tiffany raced out into the open, running sideways as she'd seen them do in movies. Her bullets made Sephiroth dodge for cover but separated her from the rest.

Seeing her do so, Brandon fired his assault rifle and joined her. Before he left them he told Yuffie, "Stay with Garret." The little teenager grumbled but didn't move.

Sephiroth went up a ladder, and their bullets somehow missed. Garret was the only one priding himself on gun skills. Sephiroth got up on a high platform above them, made for storing the best weapons.

Brandon and Tiffany quickly began to climb up in case he grabbed some grenades or something. As soon as they got up, Sephiroth fire at them, nearly making Brandon fall to the ground below. Tiffany's guns saved him, however, and his added assault rifle made Sephiroth run for it. He'd been hit by at least five bullets, and Brandon wasn't about to show pity.

"Run for it," Jessie's voice suddenly said from the walkie-talkie in Brand's pocket. He tried to grab it to tell her not to fire when Sephiroth's bullet hit the stupid thing. He threw it over the edge and looked for some kind of cover. Tiffany tugged him behind some boxes and tried to call Jessie on her cell phone.

Yuffie's POV

Below the two, Yuffie tried desperately to find the walkie-talkie. She tossed ammo and gun after gun over her shoulders, usually hitting the wounded Garret, but to no avail. She cursed and stomped her foot on the ground. "They're stuck up there, Jessie!" she shouted vainly.

A loud explosion cut off the last of her sentence. She flew backwards from the force, heavy boxes falling on her.

Tiffany's POV

Up above, Tiffany and Brandon were fighting to keep her balance. Sephiroth's body had seemingly been consumed by the blast, but Brandon doubted that roach would be killed so easily. That thought was in his head when he fell off the platform and grabbed a cord.

Tiffany looked down at him as soon as she caught her balance. Her forehead had been bashed open and blood seeped down it. The fire's light cast shadows over her horrified face. The cord was beginning to snap…

A helicopter suddenly came to the hole in the wall caused by the explosion. Even some of the ceiling has been blown away. A ladder dropped down beside Brandon, and he leapt to it.

Tiffany grabbed it as well, hesitating until she saw the van burst through the fire starting near the ground. Jessie and Wedge were in the front seats. But who was that in the helicopter…?

A man she didn't know was in the pilot's seat. Brandon was chatting with him, however. He looked at her with those big, beautiful eyes that made her melt inside before he introduced them.

"This is Biggs, a friend of Laura's…late father," he said. "He's also, apparently, a member of AVALANCHE."

Biggs grinned and greeted her before paying attention to his flying. "Small world, huh?" he said distantly.

John Dickams' POV (Hehe…Dickams. No, you don't know this guy.)

John was a detective. He looked at the debris from the explosion and shook his head. There were a few police officers around to investigate.

Dickams had been told about the explosion. He yawned at how late it was and began to sift through some halfway burned boxes. He moved one aside and saw the face of a man. "Found one. He's unconscious," he announced. A second later, he let out a choked sound as the "unconscious" guy grabbed his throat.

The man stood, still gripping John's throat and ignoring the officers who told him to "freeze" and "don't move". The reason came to John quick enough when some of their own shot them to death.

John began to wriggle and grabbed the man's hand around his throat, his face turning red at the lack of oxygen. He was going to die.

The female officer began to take the police uniform over her suit off and the man with long black hair tossed the formerly unconscious one a dead officer's gun. With a smirk on his face, the evil man with silver hair put the gun to John's blue face and pulled the trigger.

A/N: Phew! That was a long one! Sorry it took so long. The computer is in my parent's room, and, since my step dad works during the night, well, you know. Anyway, send any good Cleris or Clerith fanfics my way, and I'll be a very happy author. Love y'all. Please review. Oh, and I'm into Yuffie and Leon ones now. Hee…