Hello again, everyone.

Please, PLEASE don't hate me for the overly huge update time. Year 10 has a hectic year been. Welcome to the climbing of the cliffhanger.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 6: Déja vu

There was a shock of red hair with a white shirt and blue suit as Reno's lithe body swung through the air in a flying kick, breaking the flimsy wooden sign that had been thrown at the group in two. He glanced back at the group, and gave them a glistening grin.

"Hey, how y'all doin'?" he shoute quickly before turning to face the beast that had thrown the sign at them. He ran towards it, charging his shock baton as he ran. The monster held its fist up in the air, opening it and slapping Reno hard to the side, into a wall, where he landed with a resounding crash. Tifa sighed, and hit her head in mocking fashion.

"Damn it, Reno…" she mouthed, dashing at the creature, which drew its hand back just as it had done with Reno. This one was slow and cumbersome, a mere grunt. It brought its fist towards her, but she was prepared. Leaping nimbly up, she dashed along its thick arm until she was near its head. She stopped for a very short moment, before she backflipped, bringing her toes into sharp contact with the creature's jaw. There was a horrific snapping as its jaw broke and it flew metres up into the air. She leapt after it, grabbing its head and arm and hurling it rapidly towards the ground. As it hit the ground, she was falling head-first, fist drawn back as energy gathered around it. As she hit it, a massive shockwave came as the martial artist hit the creature squarely in the middle of its ribcage. More cracking resounded as its ribs broke and the creature's moans fell silent. Tifa flipped upright, landing as if nothing had really happened. She smiled simply at the group, moving over to where Reno lay, gaping at what he had just seen, but still slightly disorientated. "Hey, you okay?" Tifa asked concernedly, putting her hand on Reno's forehead, kneeling down.

"Heal." Aerith mouthed hopelessly, removing her hand from Cloud's forehead. He was still out cold. He cried out to any touch on his chest or legs. The monster had really done him over. His wounds were too serious for her healing to cure. She sat down next to the bed in the church, clutching her knees to her chin. "I guess there's not really much I can do except talk to you." She looked down at her shoes. "I was always there, you know," she sighed, smiling. "Watching you. Watching your fear, your hope, your hate, your adventures, your love. I never forgot you. I… never will." She was almost crying now, her breathing ragged. "Just wake up. Please. Please." She sobbed.

Cloud wanted to. He could hear her. Every word. He was lost in his mind, wandering, trapped in the mind of a body that wasn't waking up. He willed and willed his body to wake up, but the monster had really beaten him badly. He wanted to stop her crying, to wake up and see her there. He couldn't. He was angry at himself for letting this happen, letting his love cry like this.

"Wake up, damn you, wake up!" he shouted into the blank nothingness of his mind.

Aerith knelt next to the bed again, her hands clasped in prayer, eyes closed.

"Please, wake up. Wake up, Cloud." She stopped talking, praying to the planet for its hero's healing. She stopped and looked up. A single ball of Lifestream descended slowly from the rafters, towards Cloud. Aerith smiled gleefully. As it hit Cloud's chest, it spread out across his whole body, healing him. He breathed a contented sigh in his unconsciousness as the cuts healed. Then the bones started being fixed. There was an awful crunching as the bones were fixed back into place. Cloud let out a ghastly yell of pain, convulsing as the healing fluid fixed his broken bones. Aerith could do nothing but take his hand and watch in horror, tears running from her eyes. Cloud's eyes were open now as his ribs and legs cracked back into place and the pain finally stopped. He sat bolt upright, hugging Aerith who had flung her arms around him passionately, her head against his chest. He was breathing heavily and quickly, eyes still wide in shock. Aerith sobbed against his chest. As his breathing slowed and his eyes focused, he pulled her closer and put his head on top of hers. She quieted, and closed her eyes, as did he. The two shared an intimate moment before Cloud's phone rang. Waiting for a few seconds, Cloud finally reached down and answered it.

"Yea- yeah, it's me… alright," he said, putting down the phone, "Let's go, Aerith." He breathed quietly to Aerith, getting out of the bed. The two started running.

Meanwhile, at the same time…

Yuffie swung her shuriken, decapitating another of the monsters. Their dead bodies littered her path. Wall Market had become much bigger, and was now a thriving economic center. Well, it was a thriving economic center until approximately ten minutes ago. Yuffie took a moment to survey her surroundings. There was carnage. Half of the people who had lied here were dead, the rest had managed to escape. Blood dyed the streets red. There were bodies limp against walls, or just in the middle of the street. Most of the buildings had been destroyed. There was still screaming coming from the places that the group hadn't reached yet. Fires painted the sky a muddy black, clogging smoke forming an ominous cloud over the ruined Wall Market. Yuffie walked on, shaking with the horrific scene that these mysterious creatures had created around her. She held her shuriken at her side, her grip firm in case she was taken by surprise. She stopped and sighed.

"Geez, why don't you guys just do something already!" she shouted to the three monsters that had been lurking behind her for a while. She span round and leapt towards them. Yuffie vanished into a blur of white, green and steel. The monsters were recoiling and then being knocked back by the youthful ninja's incredible speed. Cuts came up on their tough bodies, and they each collapsed in turn as Yuffie managed to hit their internal organs. She landed, tired out from the exertion of what she had just done. Turning, she saw exactly what she didn't want to see: a general. The massive creature was easily twice her size, with four arms. It walked up to her, each step generating shockwaves. Yuffie took a tired leap at the monster, but there was really nothing behind it. It simply punched her into the ground with its huge fist. Thinking she was dead, it walked back down the path she had come from.

Cid's spear appeared out of the monster's side and it swung like a club towards a group of others.

"Yee-haw!" came Cid's adrenaline fuelled yells as he turned to face the next group of creatures. "Come on, you &$£!" he shouted at them, taunting them with his hand. The slow beasts lumbered towards him, groaning. He leapt into the air, and, holding his spear like a javelin, threw it down at them. It landed on the ground just next to them, making a small explosion, but one with enough force to send them flying backwards to the ground. As he fell, Cid grabbed the spear and stabbed them both, killing them. He landed, and looked around at his work. At least ten, maybe fifteen. He laughed to himself. "Damn, I'm good- hey, what the hell?" he shouted, noticing a general coming down towards him. "Ah, crap." He said sarcastically, running at it. Drawing his spear back to stab it, he was shocked to find that as he drew closer, this one seemed to grow in size. Slowing down, Cid gaped. That was the wrong thing to do. The creature, lightning fast, drew its arm back and slammed Cid into a post. It continued on past Cid's unconscious form. It would be easy to think that these heroes were dead. Not many people could survive a punch like that.

Barret fired at the endless hordes of monsters that were seemingly coming from nowhere. They went down against his arm's powerful bullets, but he didn't have that much ammo left. Every so often, he charged up a larger shot which took out a couple. He'd taken out about twenty. Suddenly they stopped coming. Barret looked from left to right quickly. He didn't know why they'd stopped, but he was alert. He heard something coming. Something big. He saw the general. Where had that come from? It was huge. Barret had his mouth open in shock. He began firing at it. It flinched and stopped for a moment. However, after a couple of seconds of recoiling, the monster simply gave Barret a gruesome smile, gritted its teeth and continued on. He was still firing. Then he heard a click, and he noticed that no more bullets were coming out.

"Aw, goddamnit!" he shouted, beginning to run. The monster, however, was faster. It leapt in front of Barret, who just managed to stagger to a halt in time. The monster slammed him into a wall, and moved on towards the same place as the other generals. They were going towards Barret's HQ. As the monster left his view, the immobile Barret took out his phone and dialled Cloud's number. "Aeri- Cloud! We need you. I think they got us. Tifa's takin' Reno back to the church. Just hurry, a'ight?" he put the phone down and smiled, drifting into unconsciousness.

Tifa carried the unconscious Reno back to the church. His hair was caked with blood around his forehead, and his right cheek was bruised. Tifa was carrying him over her shoulder, so she didn't notice when he woke up.

"Damn it, I'll get that big bastard!" he shoute, and Tifa froze, dropping him on his head, she yelled in shock for a moment. "Ow! What the-" Reno shouted, scrambling to get to his feet. Looking round quickly, "Hey, where am I? Where's the monster? How did I get-Tifa!" exclaiming as he noticed the girl behind him. Stepping back, he readied his shock baton, only to fall to his knees as he noticed the pain he was in. He'd probably broken a rib, but nothing else. "Ow! Son of a…" he started, before Tifa moved over concernedly.

"Hey, take it easy, you're hurt." She said, kneeling to help him up.

"What happened…" he started, letting Tifa help him up. "I remember… the monster smashed me against the wall, then you…" he stopped, wincing in pain.

"Stop talking, just walk." Tifa said sternly. Reno nodded, looking at her. They passed Cloud and Aerith on their way, who were running towards the battlezone.

Vincent Valentine had managed to stay away from all the fighting by leaping across the rooftops of Wall Market. He had decided to find out just what was causing this. As he ran towards the back areas of Wall Market, where Don Corneo's mansion used to be, he found the large circular area that was a social area. It was just an area with high glass walls, which were covered in graffiti. Of course, people used all of Wall Market for socialising, but this place had a title. It was notorious for housing fights. It was on fire. At the center stood Rufus Shinra. He had been healed after the events with Kadaj, and he could walk. His blond hair was still smart but somehow casual, as always, and he wore his trademark white suit. It was, however, coated in the blood of the creatures for he was fighting many off with his shotgun. When there was a break, he would fire into the wall, where there was a huge purple crystal, giving off an eerie glow. The creatures would form out of it like sludge and solidify. Vincent started firing at the crystal. Rufus had evidently been doing this for some time. It was cracked and lackluster. It took about twenty shots before it finally shattered. The explosion took all the monsters in the glass-walled area. The generals that were running rampant on the streets were still there, though. Vincent leapt into the social area. The fire had spread to form a ring around the two now.

"Rufus!" Vincent shouted. Rufus turned to look at the red-caped man. "Are you the one that caused this?"

"Me? No. I don't know what it is, but people pay me to get rid of them." Rufus had started taking a slightly more active part in things since he was healed. "Why are you here, ex-Turk?" he inquired.

"I'm helping. However, I have something to give to you." Vincent reloaded his gun.

"And what might that be?" asked Rufus, doing the same.

"All the pain your company has caused me." Vincent said, pointing the gun towards Rufus.

"Ah yes, one of Hojo's subjects I, see." Rufus said, motioning towards Vincent's mutated arm, which was contaned inside its golden claw.

"Yes." Came Vincent's abrupt reply. "And I never got the chance to repay him, so I'll just have to do it to you!" he shouted, firing. Rufus jumped to the side, shooting at Vincent, who jumped in the opposite direction.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ah-ha, longest chapter yet.

Anyway, please don't kill me, enjoy, R&R.

Ciao.

Haeron.