Sandy tossed one of the lackeys into three others as she was knocked down by another from behind her. She tumbled forward, kicking another off the balcony. Her face was slightly bloodied as a majority of the men decided to take her on, thinking that she would be easy prey. Sephiroth was locked in a sword duel with several others, always killing one member, but another always appeared to take his place. He was winded but for the most part untouched aside from the bullet holes in his coat and an unsightly scuff on his left boot. Daniel, though, was nearly completely untouched. He was slightly mad though, laughing as he cut his enemies down with lightning speed. Of the three, he was the one who was clearing out the majority, yet unlike like the others, he was the only who forgot about the bombs strapped to the oversized zeppelin.

Sandy finally did a spin kick, tripping four lackeys at the same time. Sephiroth took this opportunity to rush in and he cleaved all four in half with one chop.

"Go get that one, ill hold them off!"

Sephiroth engaged the seven men who were starting to charge forward while Sandy went to work trying to pull the bomb off its base and throw it overboard. As she tossed it to the side, she saw the ShinRa airship Highwind flying just beneath them. They were already evacuating the ship and from the looks of it, were nearly completed. Sandy felt a bit relieved as now they had one less thing to worry about. The bomb detonated about a hundred feet away, forcing the ship to make a sharp jerk to the left.

"We need to hurry up! God only knows how many they planted!"

Sephiroth was beginning to get frustrated. He was surrounded by green light for a moment, his platinum hair flaying about wildly behind him. Sandy noticed this and hit the deck.

"Daniel get down!" sandy screamed.

Daniel took a running dive between his attacker's legs and slid across the floor; using the bullets he fired to maintain his momentum. The three had worked together on many missions, including one hopeless battle on the field right outside of Wutai. Sephiroth threw his hand out, and fire erupted on the group of lackeys trying to catch Daniel. There were only about twelve left and this cough eleven of them in a fiery inferno of death. When the spell finished, there was nothing left but ash that quickly burned away under the high winds of the Cerberus. The last one looked pretty mean. He took out two swords and started doing fancy, martial moves. Spinning this way and that, throwing them in the air while still keeping his attack moving, he ended his display of expertise with the sword with a war cry. Daniel did feel intimidated by his efforts. How could one with knives stand a chance against someone with this much talent with the swords? Daniel shrugged, lifted his pistol and shot the man in his chest, sending him flying through the railing and into the earth below. Sandy had managed to throw several more bombs over the side of the Cerberus, each blowing up dangerously close to its hull. Sephiroth himself had managed to take a few over the other side of the ship.

Daniel looked all along the deck at the bombs placed there. He counted twenty nine with only fifty seconds on the clocks remaining. He got a really bad feeling in his stomach.

"Uhh..guys! We need to leave now!"

Daniel frantically looked around as he was looking for something, anything to let them escape from the doomed airship.

"Thirty seconds!" Sephiroth proclaimed, as he ran towards the front of the ship, trying to get out of range for the other bombs.

"We can do it! Just do what ever you can to get these off the deck!" Sandy was struggling with a stubborn bomb that was seemingly super glued to the wooden deck. Sephiroth grabbed her and ran towards the doorway back into the bowels of the ship. They were met with an explosion that effectively prevented them from escaping to the parachutes in the hallway. Daniel just stood in the center of the deck, trying to run through his head about what could be done. He glanced at the bomb next to him.

Ten seconds…

Daniel could only close his eyes. This was it, he was done. There was nothing that could be done about it anymore; he was going to die, if not from the bomb blast, from the large crash that was sure to follow. He looked over the side of the rail and saw that they were still above the clouds. It was so peaceful up here. The wind blew through his hair and he took in its sweet scent one last time before he would meet his maker. After he heard the five second warning on the timer, his logic finally got the better of him and he sprinted as fast as he could towards the others. He leapt just in time as the bombs detonated on the deck in order from front to rear in pairs. Sephiroth lost his footing as the ship started turning vertical and plummeted towards the planet. Sandy lost her footing much earlier and where as Sephiroth and placed a hand on the remains of the door to the lower decks, Sandy and Daniel helplessly slid down the length as they tried to avoid falling tables, string lights, and the splintering wood as the main pocket f this giant zeppelin was deflating and causing the metal plating to collapse under its newfound weakness. Sandy managed to catch the rail right as she slid out of the bars. The ground seemed much closer now and with the ship now in freefall, the wind was far more powerful, drafting up Sandy's skirt. Daniel had flown from between the bars but managed to catch on the party lights that became detached as the awning over the balcony broke away.

"Daniel!!!" Sandy was frantically trying to reach for the rope of lights that looked like they were holding Daniel up by little less than miracle. Sephiroth studied the falling ship and debris and let go of the door, sliding down and purposely bumping against bolted tables and other objects to slow his fall enough to be able to fall where Sandy was. He landed on the metal railing and positioned his body for a leap. That was when he saw it. It was something that was flapping with the paper lanterns and party lights on that power cord. Something stacked in a pyramid with a digital clock, counting down from one minute. He knew now that something would go seriously wrong if Daniel was not recovered quickly.

"Daniel! There's a bomb attached to the lights!"

Daniel gripped the lights with both hand to try and steady himself on the falling craft. Even though it was pointed towards the horizon, the ship seemed to right itself vertically as another explosion rang out from the engine room at the rear of the ship. Sephiroth gently let go of the railing just enough so that the deck would put him on his feet once more. Sandy nearly fell from the railing as the ship righted, but Sephiroth caught her boot just in time and reeled her back in. They noticed a helicopter appearing in the distance with that familiar white and red logo written on the side. As it got closer, Sephiroth smiled.

"Sandy looked over and a feeling of relief washed over her for the moment as her eyes met with that of Emily's, hanging out of the cargo door, wearing her uniform. The helicopter got just close enough so that Sephiroth could throw Sandy on the deck and he jumped up and grabbed the rail himself.

"NO! Go down! You have to go down! Daniel is still down there!"

The pilot started descending as ordered, but a lose table from the deck had come unbolted and flew into the rotary blades. The alarm sounded in the cockpit and the pilot did his beast to stabilize the craft. Sandy was leaning out the side, Emily and Sephiroth doing their best to keep her from flying out herself.

Daniel decided to test the strength of the power cord. One hand over the other, he tossed all thought and fear of the line snapping as he climbed up. If he could only reach the deck, he was sure he could jump onto the chopper. That was until he saw the big red numbers stare him right in the face. There was only a few seconds left. He looked over at the Turks chopper as it started approaching again. His world froze in his head. He pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the base of the power cord.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Sephiroth had to wrap his arms around her as she saw what had happened. Daniel had shot the power cord lose and he now fell with the cord. A single tear escaped his eyes as he shut them, hoping that he would fall unconscious before he hit the ground below.

The final beep of the bomb signaled a massive explosion which at first seemed to envelope Daniel within the ball of fire. Sandy screamed in terror and fought harder than before, but finally gave up as she slumped into Sephiroth's arms. Her eyes were flowing, her nerves were shot. Five years of a relationship, working side by side, the arguments, the pleasure of his company, the feel of his strong hands wrapped around her were all gone now. She felt torn inside as she stared out at the grassland expanse. Emily ordered the pilot to get clear of the Cerberus and they took off for the sky.

"Can we confirm who did this?"

Sephiroth nodded at Emily. He also felt heart broken. His partner, one who knew all of his secrets, the one who understood what it was like to be different; he no longer existed. After pausing, he looked Emily straight in the eyes.

"It was AVALANCH. We confirmed the sighting of their second in command, Sears."

"It was probably an assassination attempt on the Director of Weapons Development. We had found out that there was going to be an attempt on her life, but the message didn't get relayed to us in time for our departure."

Sephiroth gave her a puzzled look.

"What do you mean they knew? They knew and did nothing?"

"It was information that had been attained when ShinRa intercepted a message on the internet about a group claiming responsibility for downing the Cerberus. No one knew what they meant until they had received a message from the Cerberus that several ShinRa maintenance craft were asking permission to board in order to repair a faulty propeller."

Sephiroth cradled Sandy in his arms. Her look was dead. The tears flowed yet she made no sound. She only laid there in an absolute state.

"We need to find Daniel."

Emily remained silent for a moment as the two watched the ship crash into the mountain side in the distance. The explosions sent shockwaves and caused an actual avalanche from the top of the mountain to fall and collapse on the demolished and permanently grounded airship.

"As soon as I bring the report to Tseng, ill request a search party be appointed. Until then, were going to have to wait and hope that he survived the explosion and the fall."

Sephiroth, who knowing full well the regulations of the Turks, knew that it would be a while indeed. He didn't like the notion that in order to rescue his only friend, he would have to wait on paperwork. After seeing the look in Sandy's eyes, he knew he wouldn't be able to stand for this.

"Where did the ship crash?"

Emil brought up the computer screen and sifted through the map projected on there.

"The ship had over-shot its destination. It crashed in the Nibel area. Its about twenty miles from the town of Nibelheim."

"Nibelheim…" Sephiroth said coldly. "I'm so sorry that you have to return there my friend."

The party flew off into the distance, leaving their hopes with Daniel. Sephiroth looked at the sky, feeling a tear form in his eye as well, despite how hard he tried to fight it. That was the town where they were experimented on. He hated that town with a passion. The horrors he witnessed there, the screams that must have been heard at night from the depths of that mansion. He and Daniel had always despised that town for their crimes against them, more so than ShinRa.

"When we land, I need to talk to Mr. Tuesti about a faulty mako reactor in that area."

Emily looked stunned for a moment.

"How can you be thinking about fixing a god damn reactor at a time like this?! Have you no-"

It took a moment for the idea to sink in. Emily stopped as soon as it hit her. Being both high standing officials of the ShinRa Company, they knew that although they do run a governing position, they are still a company. The paperwork to send a team out to fix a faulty reactor would get pushed through much faster than one to search for missing personnel. After all, the company needed to protect their profit earnings.

"But there have been no reports in that area. How are you going to convince him?"

Sephiroth looked down at sandy with determination.

"Trust me. I'll make sure something goes wrong there."

Emily shook her head.

"Even IF they passed the request to go out and fix the reactor, they wouldn't send high ranking SOLDIERs out there to do grunt work."

Sephiroth knew this. Already a plan had formed in his head on what he would do. He knew that the only way he would be allowed to go, was if there was some kind of danger involved. He remembered the recent mission near that area of a large green dragon that he had fought. He never killed it but he remembered that it took off towards the mountains. But they wouldn't let him go alone, in fact they would only let him go there to kill the monster, then have him return. He suddenly got an idea in his head.

"Emily, what was the name of that SOLDIER that sat at the table with us?"