Chapter 8

Tifa winced as a Shadow Creeper bit into her arm. She used her free hand to let a punch fly into its nose. It recoiled immediately. Two more took its place and pounced on her. She fell back, slamming her head against the ground. White spots danced in front of her vision. She shook her head furiously to exile them.

The shadow creepers had her pinned. One loomed over her, his teeth bared, but he didn't attack. So Kadaj only wanted her to be finished by Bahamut Sin. At least that gave her some sort of advantage. Tifa wriggled underneath the monster and managed to free her right hand which she used to give a jaw-shattering uppercut to the creature. It roared in pain; then fell to the side. Only five left.

The other Shadow Creepers sprang onto Tifa, but she rolled adroitly to the side and avoided them all. She jumped to her feet and ran. One whom she didn't see leaped into the air and managed to catch her leg in its teeth, making her acquainted with the stone pavement once more. Twisting her body around she slammed her foot in its side. A deafening roar was heard and she realised that Bahamut Sin was almost ready to attack. Panic welled up inside her and she beat back the Shadow Creepers with pure desperation.

Until suddenly she realised she was fighting nothing, and that Cloud had grabbed her and hurtled them away from the battle on Fenrir. Tifa had never been so grateful for that thing in her whole life.

An explosion rattled the ground beneath them which made the bike unsteady and threw them off. She hit the ground hard, but she knew it was better than being incinerated. Cloud appeared above her and offered his hand. She took it and he helped her up.

"What happened to the kids and Kadaj?" he asked.

"They went to the Shinra building," she answered.

"Thanks," he said quickly. He straightened his bike, hopped onto it and took off towards the deserted ruins before the brunette had a chance to even speak.

"Tifa!" a voice yelled. She turned to see Yuffie running towards her. "Tifa, are you hurt? I saw the explosion-"

"I'm fine," she said reassuringly. "Where are the others?"

"That bastard threw me over," she said, her face darkening. "I almost got sick all over Midgar too. Oh, he is not going to hear the end of this. As soon as he's asleep I'll-"

"Yuffie?" Tifa interjected worryingly.

"Yeah?" she answered innocently.

"Never mind. I don't think I want to know."

Cloud found it very difficult to manoeuvre his bike around the city. The Shadow Creepers that attacked Tifa were not the only ones in Midgar; there were dozens prowling around after the frantic stampeding citizens. They were in their element; the inhabitants of Midgar were plentiful and unorganised. Cloud's blade had cut down many since he had arrived, but even so he had hardly made a dent in their numbers.

He saw a flash of blue behind him, followed by a sickening crash. Bahamut was not at a loss when it came to mindless destruction. He heard the attack be met by gunfire. He smiled, knowing his friends could handle the summon easily.

Even if Tifa hadn't known where Kadaj was, the Shinra Building would have probably been the first place he would have gone anyway. The thought that Kadaj might lie did not seem like a possibility. He had called him his brother after all. He probably wanted him to see the reunion as much as Cloud wanted to stop it. Cloud had an aggressive feeling inside him, much like the time he felt himself being drawn to Sephiroth's reunion at the Northern Crater. At that time, he thought it had been his lust for revenge that spurred him onwards. How foolish he had been...

Nevertheless, though circumstances were substantially different, the feeling he got was exactly the same. Maybe Kadaj would succeed in the reunion. It would all depend on how strong he was, and how strong his own will would be.

A figure sat alone on a motorbike in front of him, blocking his route. He was a very tall man, with long hair that blew gently around his face from the wind. His feminine features hid a powerful strength about him, a strength that any amateur fighter would miss instantly. His gunblade was aimed at Cloud's chest. The blonde warrior stopped Fenrir.

"Hello brother," Yazoo greeted quietly, though clear enough for Cloud to hear.

"Don't call me that," he said shortly.

"But you are!" he laughed, jumping off his bike, gun still trained at his adversary. Cloud dismounted his in turn. "We both share mother's cells therefore we are the same."

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't compare me to the likes of you," he spat viciously, reaching for his sword. His actions were met with a bullet to the top of his hand. Said appendage retracted immediately.

"Not yet," said Yazoo, shaking his head in disapproval. "Let's play nice for a while and talk."

"I didn't think 'play nice' was in your vocabulary," Cloud countered.

"Oh, my brother has a sense of humour, how refreshing."

"Where are the kids, Yazoo?" he asked. "What do you want with them?"

"I'm sure you know as well as I do that I'm not going to answer those questions," he replied bluntly.

"Is Kadaj at the Shinra Building?"

"Inquisitive, aren't we? Well, I suppose I can indulge you with the answer to one question. Yes, Kadaj is there. Preparations for the reunion are almost complete. All we need is our guest of honour."

"Jenova," Cloud said darkly.

"I wish you wouldn't speak mother's name with such malice. All she wants is to bring order."

"How can you call this order?" Cloud asked, pointing to the flaming city behind him. "That's chaos you're creating, not order!"

"For order to be gained there needs to be chaos. One cannot exist without the other. For us to save the world we must make it see what we see. Then they'll understand."

"So once you kill them all they'll see and understand? You have some fantastic logic there. All you want to do is needlessly kill!"

"We kill those who do not wish to see," Yazoo said simply. "The President was one of those."

"What the hell does this have to do with Rufus?" he demanded.

"He was a thief and a liar. He stole Jenova from us, made her suffer. We asked for her back, but he said he never had her." He looked up with a sneer. "He blamed you. He said that you had taken her."

"Is that why you were after me? Is that why you attacked me in the Forgotten Capital? Is that why you hurt Tifa in the church?"

"Ah, the woman. Pity. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, she is also one that does not see. Unfortunately, I must admit that that means you as well brother. I'm sorry, but you won't be able to experience the glory of the reunion with us. You are not worthy to participate."

"Your reunion can go to hell!" Cloud yelled.

Yazoo squeezed the trigger.

"Yuffie! On your left!"

The ninja ducked just in time to miss the swinging tail of Bahamut Sin aimed at her head. She jumped up and threw her shuriken after it.

"Thanks Vinnie!" she grunted in a quick reply. Had the gunslinger not been so preoccupied he would have retorted coldly that his name was Vincent. He jumped deftly onto one of the higher beams and fired six quick shots from his Death Penalty. He jumped higher (reloading in midair of course, because he's Vincent) and fired one precisely aimed shot under the monster's armour. He frowned, expecting a reaction from the beast but getting none.

"What's wrong, Vincent?" Barret yelled.

"I assumed the skin under Bahamut Sin's armour would be weaker, but clearly I was mistaken," he shouted in reply.

"Maybe my spear would work!" Cid roared, jumping up onto the beast's arm. He ran up along it and plunged the Venus Gospel into his neck. Bahamut let out a shriek of pain and bolted upwards, throwing the pilot off its back.

"When we summoned him to fight for us that kind of shot would have finished him off!" she screamed. "That is NOT fair!"

"You alright Cid?" Barret asked, catching the pilots hand mid-fall and throwing him onto the rail. The chain-smoker nodded briefly, drawing several raspy breaths before righting himself.

"I'm getting too old for this," he muttered. Cait Sith hopped up beside them.

"I was built to entertain the workers at company picnics, not this! So you can forget your age!" Cid ignored him and instead concentrated on the fire materia in his spear, casting a powerful fire spell. It barely scuffed the armour on Bahamuts head. Cid leaned over the rail to look below him.

"Yuffie!" he called.

"Yeah?" came the distracted reply.

"Forget the materia! Magic's no good here!"

"WHAT?"

Vincent jumped onto a ledge beside Tifa.

"What do we do now?" she asked. Vincent reloaded his gun.

"Did you hear what Cid said? Magic is of no use against him. Possibly because he is borne of magic himself."

"What can I do? My fists are no match for that thing; your bullets aren't even doing anything to it!"

"You can jump," he said distractedly, catching her wrist and launched off the suspended beam, narrowly missing the jagged claws of Bahamut Sin. The area they had just vacated was now in shreds; shrapnel was thrown everywhere and dug into Tifa's bare arms like little knives, drawing splatters of crimson blood. The whole world slowed for those brief few seconds as she and Vincent hung in the air before plummeting down. Tifa's whole body froze; she felt numb as she watched herself come closer and closer to the pavement.

There was a sickening screech as metal ground against metal and both individuals came to a slow stop. Tifa looked up to see Vincent hanging on to one of the many drab, grey metal beams with his golden claw. She looked down at the ground, and back up at the gunslinger. It was here Tifa's senses kicked back into action.

"Vincent," she said in a somewhat panicked voice. "Whatever you do, please don't drop me!"

"Stop thrashing about," he deadpanned. "You'll lose your grip and you'll fall." Tifa did as she was told and became still, waiting for their swinging bodies to stop. Cautiously she grabbed Vincent's other wrist with her other hand to make herself more secure.

"Why isn't he after us?" she asked.

"Barret drew it away with some cover fire. We don't have much time. Climb up my back onto the rail."

"I-" she stuttered. Vincent looked down at her blankly.

"What? You're not afraid, are you?"

"I, well, uh-"

"Tifa, if you don't climb up you'll fall."

"I can't! I just can't, I'm too scared. What if I slip, what if I-"

"Tifa, if you don't climb up onto that beam in the next three seconds I'm going to drop us both."

The young woman looked into his eyes. She didn't think he was actually serious, but his eyes told her a different story. Slowly, hesitantly, she reached for the belt around his waist. She took a deep breath to steel herself and proceeded to climb up Vincent's remarkably toned body. She thought somewhat distractedly that you never really did know everything about someone until you climbed on them.

Next thing Tifa knew, she was standing on the beam. Vincent caught the metal girder with his other hand and flipped up onto it without as much as a grunt. Tifa chuckled. Vincent looked at her curiously.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said with a smile. Trust Vincent to do things the most elaborate way possible and think nothing of it.

There was a multitude of cursing as Barret's bullets ran out. Bahamut Sin, no longer distracted, circled around and flew straight for his two previous targets.

"Tifa, you must go and help Cloud." She stopped at the mention of his name.

"What? Why?"

"You said it yourself, you're useless here. Cloud can't handle all three of them alone, and the kids are there too. They'll want to see a familiar face when they're saved."

The monster let out a roar and once again started gathering blue energy in its mouth. Tifa stared at it for a brief second and then jumped onto the main support.

"Good luck, Vincent!" she called before climbing down.

"Good luck, Tifa," he replied quietly.

Authors Note:

Hi everyone. This chapter was focused mainly on Tifa; something I never thought would happen when I started writing this. I think there one or two chapters left, and an epilogue, which I have yet to type up. Hopefully, since it is summer they'll be posted soon, but no promises as they always tend to go belly up. I'll try though!

Thanks for reading, as always reviews are appreciated!

LC

Adhar: Sorry I took so long to update...again. I'm glad you like it and thank you so much for reviewing!

lilmione: I actually like Yuffie a lot. She's a really underdeveloped character and I think it's great making her suffer, cause it always makes me laugh! (I'm so evil I know) I used Aeris as my healer too. When she was gone, Yuffie took over, lol. Well, she did have a healing limit break so she qualifies! Thanks so much for reviewing again! (gives you big hug and a Cloud plushie)