Disclaimer: we all know I don't own anything from FF7 or square-enix/soft. No characters. No locations. No vehicles. No Chocobo. All I own is myself, and I'm not even sure about that one.

Oh well, at least this story's mine. See, I can see the silver lining to every Cloud... :-p

Sorry, couldn't help that one :-p

Don't upset the Lifestream... I want to share the fun too! Wait for meeeeeeeeeee!

Part 1: For those who fight.

"Cloud is going back to Edge. Marlene is with him."

Tifa silently thanked the gods above. She methodically continued her task, washing off the congealed blood and sterilizing the cuts he had received. Most of his major wounds had been sorted out, thanks to Reno's Phoenix Down and her own cure spell.

The gunman was now lying down in the copter's back seat. He was still weak from his haemorrhages and Reno had had to bring him down from the cliff on his back, muttering all the time about "…carrying to and fro AVALANCHE …." Reno and Rude were right now trying to clear the immediate area of the fiends attracted there by the heat so that they could take off. The silence stretched between them until Tifa finished with her task.

"What has happened?"

She waited for an answer as she busied with packing up her first aid kit. He watched his handiwork burning brightly through the open door for a moment before closing his eyes. Had he gone to sleep? Tifa waited for a moment, and then bent over to cover his still form with a blanket when he suddenly spoke; she almost jumped out of her skin in shock.

"There was a fight in the Forest." Vincent didn't think it necessary to precise which one it had been; this particular area would always be known as THE Forest to all of AVALANCHE. He continued:

"They were both all right when they left for Edge. The three men too are going there with the children."

"You were following them, weren't you? Why didn't you call one of us for help?"

Vincent's eyes snapped open and twin orbs of red pierced her with an unfathomably irritated glare. She thought it wiser to let the matter drop.

"So why are they going to Edge? What are they planning to do with the children? Is… Denzel with them? Is he OK?"

Tifa's heart stilled as Vincent's gaze suddenly turned blank, his emotions carefully hidden behind his usual mask and a sudden chill made her shiver despite the heat of the flames. Vincent looked at the young woman, the distraught shadow in her eyes, the tension betrayed by her perfect stillness. He held her gaze for a moment and replied calmly.

"I don't know who Denzel is… but Marlene mentioned him. He may be with the other children following Kadaj."

"So he must be all right! Vincent, tell me, why are they going to Edge?" Relief washed over her. The kids were all right... Cloud was all right...

The gunman closed his eyes and looked down, his face half-disappearing behind the high cowl of his cape.

"I don't know. But it cannot be for a good thing."

Better tell her what he thought rather than lead her on a false path. The situation was critical and the young woman was intelligent; she would not be fooled by anything less than the truth.

"Kadaj is powerful and dangerous; he and his brothers also have Cloud's materia. Kadaj is an unstable individual; his future actions are hard to predict and I cannot say with any certainty that he will not create mayhem and put the children in danger".

Silence. Tifa was letting that information sink in, her eyes now glittering with determination, the same determination that he had seen in her eyes as she fought for her life as Emerald WEAPON had attacked, the same determination as in that last battle against Sephiroth.

"I must get back to Edge. I must warn the others!"

"Princess!". Reno's cry echoed from outside.

Tifa turned around and looked out of the helicopter. Reno was fighting off a six-foot tall humanoid fiend, while Rude was taking care of a couple more.

"Princess! Get ready! We've got to go soon! These things are –argh!"

Reno dodged a fireball that had missed Rude and landed near to the helicopter. His opponent grinned and approached. Reno was cornered now, and the fiend knew it. A man with his back to a wall often found himself holding the wrong end of the stick; he had limited movements, often found himself on the defensive and could not run anywhere else if the situation got tight. Unfortunately for his opponents, Reno did not believe in defence stances; attack, according to him, was the only damned way to fight.

The red-haired Turk reacted; he jumped up and flipped back, and as he hit the side of the copter he used it as leverage to propel himself forwards to rush the enemy, EMR in hand.

Fiery ponytail flying behind him, Reno thrust the EMR into the fiend's right eye, snatching a scream of pain and anger from its oversized mouth. The Turk landed smoothly on his feet; he looked in the direction of the copter, grinned and winked; he knew he had an audience.

"Cocky young fool."

Huh? Tifa looked back to Vincent. He was lying propped up on his elbow, watching the scene outside. Tifa looked back. Half-blinded, the enraged fiend was howling with pain and rage, clutching its head and crouching on its hind legs. Reno was downright strolling towards the beast, EMR slung casually on his shoulder.

"Why are you-"

Her words died in her throat as Reno flew back and crashed into the copter's side, leaving quite a dent in it from the force of the impact.

"Reno!"

Tifa jumped out of the copter, pulling on her gloves as she rushed to the young man's side. He was slumped down, completely immobile. Tifa briefly checked his vital signs… he was out right now, but not gravely injured; he would make it through. If the fiends let them get out of here…

Tifa rose from the young Turk's side and observed the situation. Rude was still fighting off some fiends, but he seemed to be able to handle them quite effectively. Reno's opponent on the other hand was quite another story; its body was rippling with hate and anger, full of fury. Orange liquid was oozing from the wound in its head, trailing down its face to drip on the ground. She watched as the drops fell to the ground, burning the ground and forming a little pool of lava at its feet. There was no denying it; it was royally pissed.

She had enough battle experience to know that opponents who were overruled by their emotions were fierce, dangerous and powerful fighters, but also often fatally lacked judgement and objectivity. If she played her cards right, this was going to be child's play.

Tifa first feinted to the right, in a semblance of attacking it with a blow to its injured eye. The six-foot tall beast rushed forward, roaring, to block her attack with one of his own punishing punches. As it threw all of its weight towards her, Tifa sidestepped and back-flipped, landing gracefully behind it. The energy it had assembled for its attack suddenly losing its outlet, the beast floundered, thrown off-balance, and it crashed heavily on the ground.

Still slightly dizzy, it whirled round and launched itself once again at the frail-looking young woman, meaning to crush her under his weight and strength. And once again, its prey deftly evaded him, rolling this time to the left just as it was about to get close enough to her to launch itself at her. This little game of cat and mouse lasted for another minute or so, the beast's crude onslaughts growing wilder and more frantic with each and every time Tifa eluded it. Unknown to the beast, Tifa was drawing it further and further away from the copter.

Vincent, propped up inside it, understood her actions. This was their only means out of this god-forsaken place. If there was any real fighting to be done, it had to be some distance away from here so as to avoid any further damage. The helicopter had been built to withstand fight situations, but it could only take so much damage and they sure didn't have a Cid Highwind to patch it up with spit, curses and mechanical genius. So she had to interest the monster enough in her, by annoying it and dealing small blows that wounded more of its pride and self-esteem than doing actual harm. Enough to make it forget its other targets, enough to bait it away from the copter.

As it picked itself up for the nth time, what remained of its restraint fled and it roared in madness. It unleashed an offensive TK field, and Tifa, much as Reno had, found herself flying through the air. She tried to control her landing to keep from falling on the side she had injured while fighting that silver-haired man and rolled into the charred stump of a tree. Still, she barely had time to catch her breath before the beast was upon her, its clenched fist about to reduce her head into a bloody pulp.

Tifa jerker her head away before it could hit her fully and felt it graze her scalp; a split second too late and she would have been in for it. She was caught lying between the stump and the creature.

'All right… far enough. This will have to do.'

Using her hands as leverage, she propelled herself between its outstretched limbs. As her level gaze met its astonished one for a millisecond, she jerked her hips up and locked her feet on its muscular throat, standing literally on the tip of her fingers. The creature had barely had the time to react that she pulled her legs down sharply, arching backwards as she released the hold on him and sent the monster flying over her to crash into a pile of smouldering timber.

She sprung immediately to her feet and launched herself at the downed form, catching it just under the jaw and trailing it for some feet before using all of her might to launch the massive figure up in the air. However, it was not airborne for long. The beast was still hurting and shaken from being roughly dragged by the throat when it felt the young woman's foot crash into its head in a furious roundhouse, just before she grabbed its shoulders and jabbed her knee hard into its solar plexus as it crashed into the ground, driving it in until she felt bone break and organs explode beneath the rough skin with the force of the impact. Fiery blood exploded from its mouth, but the young woman had already jumped away from the mortally wounded monster.

Tifa kept her fighting stance as she watched it splutter, trying to breathe as its lungs filled with liquid collapsed and its lacerated heart tried to function properly. Finally, it died, looking at her with eyes full of hatred and pain.

"Woo-hoo! Impressive, princess! Remind me never to piss you off…"

Reno had woken up and was grinning at her, still slouching against the copter. Rude too was watching, having dispatched his last opponent to the Lifestream. Vincent could not tell what the bald Turk was thinking, but he was undoubtedly impressed, being himself a hand-to-hand combatant like Tifa. From his viewpoint, Tifa's slim body was silhouetted against the dancing flames, her dark eyes practically glowing with energy, the dark figure of a war goddess rising from the battlefield she had left behind victorious.

She smiled slightly at them before advancing towards the helicopter.

"All right gentlemen. Let's get going before we get more visitors, OK? I've got some important phone calls to make and I don't have my phonebook on me…"

Some seconds later, the helicopter was rising in the air, going back to Edge…

Author's notes:

Another chapter done, another action scene. Lol, I think I'm developing a partiality to them :-p

This scene is here to explain HOW Vincent managed to get to Edge before Cloud did. Remember, he can transform in that cape thingy, but that's not something he can quite control. So basically, he's on foot, while Cloud is speeding away on Fenrir. So, plot hole (once again).

Does this make more sense to you? ;-) A nice big explosion to flag his position and Tifa and the Turks swooping in to save him and bring him to Edge, throwing in some fights to spice it all up…

Tifa is a GREAT combatant./ remembers the fight scene in the church/ I sincerely think that Rude has half a mind to ask her to join the Turks, what with her skills and natural instincts and even if she is AVALANCHE. But of course, he wouldn't. lol. Underneath it all, he's just a VERY shy guy…/grins/

Because as we all know, unlike SOLDIERS, Turks have not been subjected to any Mako/JENOVA treatments and thus their superhuman strength and resilience is just that: superhuman. Anyway, she would be better than Elena, that's for sure…

Oh, and the cell phone joke is once again on Vincent. Tifa doesn't own one either here because she's always in the bar, I guess. However, we do see her with one in Dirge, which probably means that she regularly moves about to fight either DGS or monsters or whatever.