A/n: I'm incredibly sorry for the late update; I know I've been very remiss, but I updated now, so…

Thank yous:

Kiome-Yasha: Thanks, I appreciate it. And about the power – I didn't originally intend to do that, I just thought it might make things interesting. Glad you liked it. :-)

KairiGirl: I'm terribly sorry for making you wait so long… anyway thanks for the review.

Ricey-boy: Yeah, I watched Ah! My Goddess a while back. Urd was the funniest. Yeah, that villain would be…Dr. Blight, am I right? And she is incredibly painful to look at. ;-)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned below, except for the two OCs that is.

Chapter 13 – Of Love and Hate

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, father."

Sephiroth smirked. "And why not?"

"Because then I'd have to stop you,"

"Stop me?"

"Yes, if I have to. I want to fight them myself." she answered.

Sephiroth was at first surprised by Tifa's rapid transformation, but he soon shook it off and a smile began to form on his lips. It seemed Jenova's cells had finally succeeded in taking complete control of the girl. "Tifa."

She turned. "Yes?"

"Take care of them for me, will you?" Spehiroth ordered as he began to walk back into the shadows.

"Not a problem," she replied, shocking the hell out of her friends.

"Tifa, what the hell are you saying? Have you completely lost your mind?" Barret half asked, half yelled at her.

The once again purely silver-haired girl answered by making an ice dagger and shooting it straight at him, missing him by a hair.

"What did you do to her, Sephiroth?" Vincent asked coldly.

The man shrugged. "Remember Lucrecia?"

When Vincent nodded, Sephiroth added, "Imagine that with planted memories."

And then he just disappeared.

"Tifa?" It was Cloud, and he looked like he didn't want to believe what he was seeing.

She turned, and her expression revealed nothing. "Yes?"

"What…what's going on? Why'd you do that?"

"Because I wanted to."

Cloud suddenly felt sick to his stomach. "She wanted to? She wanted to hurt one of her best friends…? Tifa…what's happened to you?"

Tifa read the questions in his eyes and gave her answer, "Because this is who I am. I don't know anything else…I have to fight." The words rang true to her at that moment, because it was all she could remember doing.

"Then fight me."

The girl's dark eyes narrowed. "What?"

"You said you had to fight; I want you to fight me."

"Cloud, what do you think you're doing?" It was Yuffie.

"I'm giving her what she wants," he answered, never taking his eyes off Tifa.

Tifa's icy cold gaze lingered on the blond-haired man she no longer had any memory of and smirked. "Fine." And twin swords appeared in her hands, her initials carved into both of them.

"…Swords?"

"Yes, I've had them all my life. Father gave them to me when I was thirteen."

"When you were thirteen, I was watching you from below your window. You didn't even know how to hold a sword." Her next words cut through his brief reverie. "Well then, let's get this over with, shall we?"

Cloud nodded slowly, but there was a marked reluctance in his movement as he pulled his own sword out.

"Cloud, are you sure you want to do this?" Vincent asked quietly, watching as his friend slowly nodded his head in reply. "Then be careful. She's not herself; that's not your Tifa standing there right now."

"No," he said, almost to himself, "that's my Tifa. No matter what Sephiroth has done to make her like this, she will still be the same Tifa in my eyes."

As was his nature, Vincent's face remained completely devoid of emotion upon hearing his friend's statement, but he was actually quite touched by the level of trust and determination he sensed from Cloud. Sure, what Sephiroth had done to Tifa was the same thing he'd done to Lucrecia – but with one vital difference – Tifa's memory had been erased completely and replaced with false ones…which made her even more dangerous.

A moment later, the harsh sound of swords clashing began to echo through the cavern once more. Vincent, Yuffie and Barret watched helplessly as Cloud and Tifa fought each other, with Tifa being the aggressor. They knew they could do something – anything – but they also knew Cloud would never let them harm Tifa in any way. Hell, they knew even they could never lift a hand to hurt her, which was actually where Sephiroth's biggest advantage lay.

"I hate this," Yuffie said, her gray eyes clouded with tears.

"I don't know anyone who wouldn't," Red XIII said as he approached the group, Reeve, who was assisting a limping Zack close behind.

"Exactly what happened here?" Reeve asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, but it looks like Sephiroth has erased Tifa's memories and replaced them with fake ones. She now thinks he is her father." Vincent replied.

Zack frowned, his guilt bubbling to the surface. "It's my fault…" he whispered.

"What?" Reeve asked.

"I said…it's my fault. I was the one who took her away…it's my fault." he repeated sadly.

"I'm glad you know that it is, but what good does that do now?" Barret asked.

"I think I know how to get Tifa back to normal," the raven-haired man answered.

The statement made even the still teary-eyed Yuffie turn and pay attention. "You do? How?" she asked, eager to do anything to get the real Tifa back.

"There's a room, just a little ways away from here. If we can get there we should be able to try something that could get Tifa to snap out of whatever hold Sephiroth has on her."

"Are you sure about that? And why should we believe you anyway?" Barret asked.

Zack turned around and faced Barret before he answered, "No, I don't know for sure if it'll work or not, but it's worth a shot, isn't it? And no matter what it may seem, Cloud is still my friend. I just want to help him."

When Barret looked like he was going to argue further, Cid stepped in, saying, in an unusually diplomatic voice, "Look, fighting with each other isn't going to help. We should at least try and do something about this, because if we don't both of them will end up in a world of pain." he finished, his gaze directed towards the fighting couple just a few meters behind him.

Turning around, he said, "Now, who's going with us?"

Yuffie, Barret, Reeve and Red XIII volunteered to go while Vincent opted to stay so he could intervene if anything happened.

"Which way do we go?" Reeve asked.

"That way." Zack replied, pointing to a zigzag path that led to God-knew-where.

"Alright, let's go." Barret said, charging ahead in a huff.

As Cid passed by Zack, the younger man grabbed hold of the pilot's sleeve, making him stop. "What is it, kid?" Cid asked a little impatiently.

"Thank you." he said simply.

The older man just looked at him and said, in a more Cid-like tone, "No need to thank me. If this doesn't work out, I'll be the first to hit you."

Zack smiled wryly. "Thanks man."

"Anytime."

With Cloud and Tifa

"Damn it, fight back!" Tifa yelled as she jumped back towards him, her dark eyes glowing with fury.

Cloud remained silent and continued to dodge her attacks.

"What is with you? Why won't you fight me?" she asked as she jumped back and circled around him, her swords held tightly in her hands.

"I have my reasons," he replied quietly.

"And what, pray tell, are those reasons?"

"I think you know as well as I do what they are."

"What, that you're delusional?" she asked mockingly.

Cloud tightened his grip on his sword, her words wreaking havoc on his heart. "No."

"Then what is it? The fictional relationship you think we have?"

"It's not fictional," he said, his voice strained.

"Aw, are you going to cry now?" she asked, smirking.

"So what if I am?" he asked quietly, sounding and looking vulnerable for the first time in years.

Tifa felt herself stop for a moment as she looked into Cloud's sapphire eyes. She couldn't understand this feeling…why did it hurt so much for her to see him like this? It wasn't like her to feel this way. "Why am I feeling this again? This is so annoying."

In response to what she deemed were unusual feelings brewing inside her, she gripped her swords tighter and charged right at him, seemingly intent on making him bleed.

Cloud watched her run towards him and felt whatever hope he might've still had start to fade. "Tifa…have I really lost you?"

Scene Change

"We're here," Zack said, feeling along the wall for the switch and pressing it to open the heavy stone door.

As the door opened the group came face to face with a somewhat familiar sight. It was the real Jenova; well, her head anyway, inside a large container filled with formaldehyde in the middle of the room, a bunch of large syringes on a table beside it.

Yuffie walked up to the table and picked up a syringe filled with a dark red liquid. "What's in this thing?"

"Blood." Zack answered, not looking up from rummaging through a drawer just across from her.

Yuffie stared at it, a frown on her face. "Is it Jenova's?"

"No, it's Sephiroth's."

"Oh."

"What are you looking for?" Reeve asked.

"This," Zack answered, holding up a silver key with a skull-shaped chain attached to it.

"What does it open?" Reeve asked.

"A door in the back of this room. It's the one that guy you met up with earlier uses when he carries out his experiments."

"What's in there that can help us get Tifa back to normal?" Cid asked.

"There's a…device in there that was used to get me back. It's the same one they used to erase Tifa's memories and inject her with Jenova's cells; we need to speak to the guy who operates it."

"You think he'll help us?" Yuffie asked.

"I don't know. I hope he does." Zack replied.

"So what the hell are we standing around out here for? Let's go!" Cid said.

Zack nodded. "We need to hurry."

Scene Change

Cloud winced as Tifa managed to stab him with one of her swords, making him fall backward, blood dripping from the wound in his side.

She began to lunge at him one more time, trying to secure her victory when a shot rang out, clipping her hand and making her drop one of her two swords. "Who was that?" she asked irritably.

"It was me." Vincent replied, stepping out of the shadows and into the light, his gun cocked and ready to fire.

"Vincent…stay out…of this," Cloud said, getting back up despite the searing pain tearing through him.

"But Cloud, she -" he started, but his friend cut him off.

"Stay out of this!" he yelled, using his sword to support his weight as he staggered to his feet.

"Cloud…" Vincent muttered, staring at the blond-haired man.

"This is my fight."

Scene Change

Cid pushed open the door to the dark room, and they were greeted by the sight of the large, odd-looking contraption that sat in the far corner of the room, an assortment of wires and tubes connected to it.

"What do we do now?" Yuffie asked.

"We wait." Zack replied.

"For what?"

"For him."

And, just like that, a man in a black hooded robe appeared before them. He looked exactly like the man they'd seen before.

"It's the man from before," Red XIII said.

"No, it's not. That's Stefan; the guy you saw earlier was his twin, Raymond."

"Zack," the man stated, his coal-black eyes looking straight at the raven-haired man, "why have you brought them here?"

"We need your help. We need to reverse the spell." Zack replied.

"Reverse the spell? For what? That would derail the master's plans."

"Yes, but-"

"You plan to betray us? After all the -"

"The master killed Raymond, Stefan. He used his own hand to slit his throat."

"You lie."

"It's true," Zack said, pulling something out of his pocket and tossing it to Stefan.

It was a small book, now stained with its owner's blood. "Raymond's journal…" the robed man whispered.

"Will you help us?" Barret asked, his patience at an end.

The man didn't answer; instead he strode right past Barret and pulled the sheet off of a basin of water and muttered a spell.

"What's he doing?" Yuffie asked.

"He's trying to find out if what I said was true." Zack answered, his eyes never leaving the man he called Stefan.

A couple of images appeared in front of Stefan after a moment; they were the images of his brother's final moments. "No…my brother…"

"Will you help us?" Zack asked when the man seemed to regain some of his composure.

He turned around but didn't answer; he just took something out from the machine and marched straight out of the room.

The group decided to follow him, and as they did, they heard a loud crash and found the container in the room broken, Jenova's head missing from it. Stefan was nowhere to be seen.

Scene Change

Cloud's body had weakened considerably, and Vincent knew it was only a matter of time before his friend's strength gave out completely. He tightened his hold on his gun, feeling Chaos start to come alive inside him. "Cloud..."

That was the last word he uttered before his voice was replaced by Chaos's demon-like roar.

Cloud looked up as the sound of Chaos's growl filled the air, and he instinctively began to try and shield Tifa, but it was for naught. The girl was already too far away from him.

Chaos began to attack Tifa, but he was no match as she just smirked and deployed a magical chain that wrapped itself around the monster's neck, slowly choking the air out of his lungs.

"Tifa, stop!" It was Yuffie; she and the others had returned.

"Why should -" she began, but her words were cut off as her body started to shake, her head pounding with a ceaseless pain that threatened to make her lose consciousness.

"What…is…this?" she whispered, her mind once again plagued by pictures of a past she did not remember.

"The spell is broken," Stefan said, appearing beside Zack, who was standing a considerable distance away from everyone else, leaning against a wall.

"Thanks," Zack replied.

"You should know – because of this…"

"Yeah, I know," he replied, "but it's worth it."

"If you think so," Stefan uttered as he disappeared once again.

"Yeah, it's worth it," Zack said to himself, a glimmer of a smile on his face as he watched his hand start to disappear.

The pain in Tifa's head started to dissipate after a moment, and as she looked up her eyes met Cloud's. She could see worry and hope in those baby blue eyes, and her own eyes began to fill with tears. "He…cares…"

She stood up on wobbly legs after a moment, her hair once again returning to its original ebony shade. She began to walk over to where he was, but it was at that moment that a dark figure came swooping down from out of nowhere and drove a sword right through her side.

"Tifa!"

She started to lurch forward, but a pair of strong arms caught her and she smiled, knowing exactly who it was. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't speak," Cloud said softly, pain etched clearly on his face.

She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. "I knew there was something familiar about you."

"Sshh…don't talk now. Save your strength; I'm going to get you out of here."

She shook her head, a soft smile on her face. "I'm not going to make it,"

"Don't say that!" he said, desperation creeping into his voice.

"Take care of yourself, okay? I wish I could've remembered…"

"Tifa, please, baby…"

"Good bye, Cloud…" she mumbled, closing her eyes.

"Tifa...no…" he whispered as he, too, lost consciousness, falling asleep beside her.

A/n: Okay, that's it for chapter 13. Again, I apologize for the very late update, I just couldn't come up with anything feasible before now. Forgive me? (Puppy-dog eyes).

So what do you guys think, bad, good, corny, silly, stupid, stinky…? Oh, and this story has a happy ending, promise!