a/n: alright, chapter 10! Man, this story's gonna be finished in a few more chappies…sniff…

Chapter 10 – Trapped

Everyone seemed to be talking at once…but amidst all the frantic chatter, Vincent Valentine sat, seemingly lost in his own world. Lucrecia was gone…forever…but she'd left him with something precious, something irreplaceable. A chance to live again…not just exist.

He looked at Yuffie, the girl who'd fought so valiantly because she cared for him…yes, he could at least admit that to himself now, and he was grateful for it, because, after what seemed like a thousand years, he felt that he really cared for someone who would be there for him no matter what…like Tifa was for Cloud. He knew he cared for the young girl very much – but was it love? He had no idea.

"Hey…Vincent? Vincent!"

He blinked, the sound of his name being called snapping him out of his reverie. "Yuffie?"

She sat down next to him and whispered, "Are you alright?"

He nodded.

"Good. I was worried about you."

"You were? Thank you."

Before she could reply, they were being called away. "Hey, you two! It's time to go! Sephiroth still needs to get his ass kicked." Cid yelled.

Yuffie immediately stood up. "Alright. I wanna get out of here as soon as possible."

As she began to walk away, Vincent jumped up and grabbed her arm, holding her back. "Yuffie, wait."

She turned to face him. "What is it?"

He looked straight into her eyes. "Thank you. I mean it."

"You're welcome." She started to walk away again, but he tightened his grip on her arm, effectively making her stay.

"Wait…"

"What is it?"

"I…it's just – when we go up against Sephiroth – be careful, alright?"

She stared hard at him. "Yeah, of course I will."

He continued to hang onto her arm. "Yuffie!"

She turned. "Yeah?"

He averted his eyes. "It's just…I, uh, really don't want anything to happen to you…I – just…you made me promise before…that I'll be alright…I need to know you'll be safe after this is over…I need to know…I need you to make me the same promise I made to you…"

Yuffie's expression softened and she lifted her free hand to touch his cheek. "I'll be fine. I promise."

"Yuffie…"

She smiled at him and almost shyly leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek "Don't worry. I'll be okay…you'll be with me."

With that, she turned and quickly followed the others, leaving an inordinately pleased but undeniably dazed Vincent in her wake.

"They're coming." a figure wearing a black hooded robe announced, startling the silver-haired man in front of him.

"What do you mean? They can't have defeated Lucrecia…"

"I'm afraid they didn't need to, sire. She self-destructed."

"But she was under a spell -"

"It was broken."

"By who?"

"I can only assume it was the man in the red cloak."

"How?"

"She stabbed him, and I assume she was aggrieved by his pain."

Sephiroth cursed profusely. "Foolish woman." he muttered, his hands clenched into tight fists.

"My lord? What shall we do now?" the hooded figure asked.

Sephiroth gave him a sardonic smile. "Stall them."

The figure bowed respectfully. "As you wish."

As his companion was leaving, Sephiroth turned back and faced his reflection in the mirror. He didn't look different…but he felt different. It wouldn't be too long now…he just needed a little more time…

"Which way do we go from here?" Cloud asked, standing in front of yet another crossroad, the third one they'd encountered so far.

Red XIII sighed. "I suppose…we just pick one."

Cloud echoed that sigh. "Why do I get the feeling we're going around in circles? I don't remember there being so many forks in the road when we came here before…"

"Yeah, I don't recall that, either," Reeve said.

Tifa looked around. The place had changed a lot alright, but an explosion would destroy everything, not rebuild it and make it as big as it seemed to be at the moment… "Hey, guys…"

Cloud turned at the sound of her voice. "What is it?"

"Do you think…if he could…would Sephiroth change the face of this place to suit his needs?"

Her boyfriend cocked his head to the side, thinking. "Yeah, I guess he would." he replied.

"Look around…this place…it looks like it was…created…"

"…But why would he do that? Unless he's…"

"He's stalling." Vincent said.

Everyone turned to him. "What do you mean? Why would Sephiroth stall? He should want to get rid of us as soon as possible, right?" Barret asked, confused.

"It may be that he's trying to buy himself some time for something…but if so, what?" Vincent wondered out loud.

"Wouldn't you like to know," an unfamiliar voice arrogantly said.

All eyes turned in the direction of the voice.

"What's that supposed to mean?" an irritated Cloud asked.

"It means your pathetic existence ends here." he replied, that same maddening arrogance in his voice.

Barret stepped forward angrily. "Why don't you step out of the shadows and back that up, hotshot."

Obligingly, the shadowy figure stepped into the light, revealing a relatively short man wearing a black hooded robe and open-toed brown sandals.

Barret smirked. "Heh, for all that big talk, you don't look like the type who can back it up."

The hooded figure smiled before making a quick gesture with his hands…and not even a minute after he did so, about two dozen figures wearing identical black robes appeared.

"Oh shit…" Barret muttered under his breath.

"Jeez, Barret, could you have been more wrong?" Yuffie said, annoyed.

He glared at her. "You're one to talk, you -"

"Cut it out, guys. This is not the time to argue…they're closing in." Tifa said.

Both Yuffie and Barret looked up after Tifa's statement and, to their horror, saw for themselves that what Tifa just said was true.

"Man, this is gonna be trouble…" Barret muttered.

"I can't believe I actually agree with you…" Yuffie said.

And suddenly, almost faster than they could blink, the hooded figures were attacking from all sides – relentlessly.

"This…really…sucks…big time!" Yuffie said, yanking her arm away from one guy and kicking another guy in the gut to keep him away.

"Yeah…what do you propose we do about it, then?" Vincent asked, calm as could be as he shot one guy in the leg and flipped his gun over before using it to hit another guy on the head, knocking him unconscious.

"I don't know!" she yelled in reply.

"Ouch! That hurts!" Tifa shouted, blood dripping from a deep cut on her arm.

"Tifa! Are you alright?" Cloud asked, worried.

"I'll be fine…as soon as I…finish doing this!" she said, punching the guy who cut her in the face.

"We can't keep this up much longer! We have to get out of here!" Cid yelled.

"I couldn't agree with you more…" Reeve muttered, ducking to dodge a punch directed at his face.

"I'm all for that…but how do we do it?" Barret asked, shooting off a few rounds.

"How about…we run!" Yuffie suggested.

"Yeah…but run where!" Tifa asked.

"I dunno…be creative!" the ninja answered.

Tifa sighed. "I can't think straight let alone be creative in a situation like this…"

"Hey! Over there!" Cid yelled.

Everyone immediately turned in the direction Cid pointed out. It was a shallow-looking cave higher up, on a ledge. "You sure? What if it's a trap?" Cloud asked.

"I say we take a chance on it!"

"Okay…I'd rather take a chance on that than stay here anyway…" Reeve muttered.

So they quickly pushed the attackers closest to them away and ran in the direction of the cave – only to find when they got there that inside the cave many more hooded figures awaited them.

"Great…we're in for it now."

a/n: Okay…I know this chapter's kind of short but I couldn't think of anything else…but the next chapter will be longer, promise! RnR…please? Thank you!