Author's Note: Disclaimer found below.

...Hard chapter to write, not because of anything in particular about the story part, but because this AU has finally caught up with the movie, and figuring out the differences and how to go about writing what already exists wasn't easy. I think I love Denzel now, though.

...And, just realized that I got through this entire story with very little swearing, somehow. That changes here; sorry if that bothers anyone. :-P

(Thirteen)

"Denzel!"

The boy stared at the ground with slitted eyes more green than his own. A lot had happened around him, and was still happening, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He knew he should care, that he should be afraid, that he should run, but... even when the monument had exploded behind him, he'd only stood, still as a statue, as debris flew around him. Some might even have hit him, but he wasn't sure. He didn't hurt as far as he could tell.

"Denzel, wake up!"

Hands lifted his head, a face staring into his own. Someone was kneeling in front of him.

Cloud.

Some barrier in his mind snapped apart; his eyes went wide. Even as the hyper-real colors in his vision died away, he couldn't look away from Cloud. He caught hold of the warrior's arms, suddenly gasping for air.

"Cloud -"

Strife's face relaxed a bit as he breathed a sigh of relief. This meant that the kid would recover, right? "Denzel, I need you to get out of here. I took Marlene home -"

The boy blinked rapidly, glancing about the square. "Was Tifa there?"

Cloud's brow furrowed again, and he lowered his eyes, hands falling to the boy's shoulders. "Denzel, I... I think Tifa's gone..."

Denzel stiffened, swatting the man's hands away from him. "Was she there or not?"

It was Cloud's turn to blink in confusion. "I... No... I couldn't find her..."

The boy glared at him. "She was with us, and she got sick. Loz said that he was taking her home."

Judging by his expression, Denzel decided that Cloud hadn't understood a word he'd said. Finally the man managed, "They... didn't kill her?"

Denzel's lips curled back in frustrated disgust. Cloud was ten kinds of awesome, but sometimes, he was just clueless. How Cloud could have friggin' saved the world and still have no idea of what someone with enough cruelty and power could do to someone besides killing them was just beyond him.

"No, they didn't kill her," he said quietly. He wanted to sound impatient, but somehow, his voice sounded only frightened and exhausted to his ears. And he hated it. This... this being weak had to stop.

Cloud seemed to get a hint of what had happened in time to stop himself from asking. His mouth opened slightly, horror in his eyes, everything else they could have done finally coming to mind. He bowed his head.

There was silence. Or, rather, neither Cloud nor Denzel spoke for a moment; Denzel had time to notice the chaos around him. The monument behind him was leveled, those people left in the square were screaming and running, there were demonic black Summons leaping about like cats loosed in an aviary, and someone - he had a good guess as to who - had summoned some variety of Bahamut, which was currently circling and roaring above, being harassed by some fighters - only a few of whom he recognized.

Cloud raised his head, his expression stone. "Denzel, I need you to -"

"I'm going home," Denzel snapped, shaking himself free. He turned and almost ran a few steps before pausing to glance over his shoulder. "We'll... see you there, right? When it's over?"

Cloud swallowed, teeth clenched. It felt like the world had dropped away again, and he hated that feeling. He knew it too well.

"When it's over," he managed, standing and moving toward his motorcycle. First things first: get rid of that Summon before it did any more damage...

She was there.

Cloud stood at his motorcycle, staring. He'd been just about to mount up and head for the construction site - where the others had the Bahamut at bay - and when he looked up, Tifa was standing there. She was about twenty feet away, downcast eyes hidden by her hair, statue-still - as though she'd been waiting for him to see her.

She approached when he looked up, but still kept her eyes hidden. The people running past seemed to part for her like water around stone.

Cloud thought he might cry; his words were certainly choked enough. "I thought you were gone," he whispered, reaching out. It was one thing to be told by Denzel, and another to see her here, walking, alive.

And then he saw the black that ran down one arm to drip from her fingers, and noticed the dark veins scrawled over her body and the gray cast to her skin. Denzel had said that she was sick, but this -

She lifted her eyes to his.

Fuck.

He thought he might be able to deal with it if she wasn't smiling.

"Missed you, Cloud," Tifa sighed, tilting her head a little. "I was starting to think I wouldn't, but I did..." She straightened, casting her cat-eyed gaze over the square, searching for something. "You feel different than they do," she murmured. "But I can feel you too, isn't that odd?" She locked her eyes on his again. "You shine like sunlight..."

She stood directly opposite him, on just the other side of the motorcycle, and Cloud suddenly felt that she was entirely too close. He wondered if there was anything left of the woman he'd known, and tried to keep his hand from moving to his sword. Not this, anything but this; how could he have fucked up this badly again?

Behind her, the Bahamut screamed, a slash of red dancing about its face. Vincent. The others couldn't banish the thing on their own...

"There isn't much time," Tifa told him, her smile fading a little. "I don't have much time. Help me."

She was still there. He was sure of it. "What can I do?"

The smile came back. That had been the right answer. "I need a Haste Materia."

She was there. She intended to fight. "Don't have one." He shook his head, glancing down at his bike for the sake of looking at something other than this... perversion... of his best friend. He'd tried, wanted to drift away rather than burden them when he'd realized that he had Geostigma. If he wasn't there anymore, it wouldn't be so bad for them when he couldn't come back, right? But he'd only succeeded in distancing himself from the only comfort he had left... And now...

That smile with those eyes... it was too much...

He heard her snort - in disgust, perhaps - and she shifted as though to leave.

Wait. "Yuffie. Yuffie will have, I'm sure," he said quickly, raising his head again and swinging a leg over his motorcycle. "Come on."

She paused for only a moment before sliding onto the bike behind him. He shivered as her arms easily encircled his waist with unexpected familiarity - but he refused to look. If he didn't see her, she could still be all right, no matter how cold she was...

Tifa rested her head against the scabbard on Cloud's back as he quickly started up his bike - Fenrir, he'd named it, she remembered. She decided that it had a lighter voice than Loz's motorcycle - a bit lighter all around, but at least as powerful.

She watched the fleeing people they passed, disinterested but patient. Cloud would not fail to help her now, out of his own guilt at her condition. He felt that it was his fault. She could read him easily now - he was conflicted, terrified by her as she was now, desperate to make this horror stop.

He needs you.

The memory of the cloying scent of flowers filled her mind. She grimaced and shook her head, trying to clear it.

Guilt and desperation alone was not enough. It would just get him killed - those emotions were a hindrance that the Remnants lacked.

He would need power. Confidence. If she could not give it to him, he would face the Remnants and die, mourning that his best hadn't been enough when his best hadn't been achieved.

He was such a fool.

You'll bring him to me, won't you, Tifa?

Sephiroth. She tightened her arms around Cloud's waist, feeling him nervously stiffen a little. He is not yours. He is mine.

I doubt that, the voice in her mind murmured, full of amusement. But you want him to survive. You'll see to it that he reaches the Reunion.

Tifa closed her eyes, scowling in silent fury. Bastard.

Good girl.

The motorcycle was suddenly screeching to a halt at the base of the scaffolded structure. Cloud was looking up, Fenrir's sword casings suddenly extending with a metallic thunk. He suddenly jerked in her arms. "Barret!"

Part of the structure was falling toward their friend, and the man hadn't even seen it yet.

Tifa let go of Cloud, watching as he ran for the scaffold, casting Float over himself so as to climb in a quick series of leaps. She stared until he was far enough away that she could no longer see the black marks she'd left soaked into his sweater.

And then she followed as quickly as she could...

It was a surprisingly swift battle - Cloud was already near breaking, and didn't hesitate to take it out on the Summon. At the last, the others helped him - providing bases to leap from before his Float spell wore off - and when it was Tifa's turn, she said nothing, only challenged him with her changed eyes.

And he met her gaze and did not flinch away.

Good.

She didn't even wait to see him finish or for the beast to fall out of the sky. The moment she landed next to Yuffie, she was reaching. "Yuffie! Materia! Haste!"

Yuffie turned to make one of her silly remarks, but her face went slack when she got a clear view of Tifa.

"Now!" Tifa snarled. She'd had enough of wasting time. She needed to get to them, find Loz before -

Vincent was there, one arm over Yuffie's shoulders, taking the Materia from her and extending it toward Tifa in his metal hand. His gaze held the same fatalistic determination that she'd seen in Cloud's.

Tifa smiled at them - Yuffie flinched - as she junctioned the Materia to her Premium Heart. Then she tilted her head, stretching out her senses -

She didn't have to. The explosion in one of the buildings several blocks away was enough to get everyone's attention.

Throwing herself backward, Tifa flipped from the girder she'd been standing on, landing in the open space below. Cloud was already there, starting up his bike again.

She leapt onto the motorcycle as well, her hands on his shoulders this time. "Go!"

He didn't hesitate for more than a fraction of a second before peeling out of the site, the banished Bahamut disintegrating into blue flame behind them.

Cloud was focused on the road in front of him, deviating from his path only slightly so as to avoid hitting anyone, his shoulders under her hands tense. He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Tifa... I want to tell you -"

She leaned into him, moving her arms around his waist again. "Don't even think about saying goodbye," she shouted to him over Fenrir's roar. "You will end this. I won't forgive you if you fail."

He glanced at her again, then turned back to the road, and did not waver. His hands tightened around the bike's handles. She was clearly dying, hours to live at best, with some of the worst Geostigma he'd ever seen - and she wouldn't stop fighting.

Good enough.

"There!" Tifa suddenly cried, pointing.

Cloud looked up from the road, and saw - bodies falling to the street from the building that they were heading for -

He realized that Tifa was rigid against him, clinging tightly, breathing fast. "Kadaj -"

One of the bodies stopped in the air - nets. White. Rufus. He'd been caught in rescue nets.

Kadaj caught something in the air, curled around it, flipped - landed -

His brothers were there, with those two Turks, and everything was still for a moment -

Everything fell into place. Vincent had said that the Shinra had gotten a hold of Jenova's head, and Rufus had tried to hire him as a bodyguard, and Kadaj and his brothers were -

Ohshit.

Tifa had her head at his shoulder, straining forward, breath hissing in her teeth loud enough for him to hear and hands clamped down on his shoulders again. He suddenly knew what was keeping her going - she wanted revenge.

"Faster!"

Cloud's eyes narrowed as he gunned the engine. As if she'd had to tell him.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its story, and characters are the property, copyright and trademark of Square Electronic Arts L.L.C., and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.