Hello readers! Sorry it's been so long since I updated, I've been workingalmost 12hours a day, every day,so it's been hard tofind time towrite. But luckily, today was my day off, so I had a chance to FINALLY finish chapter 10! I'm so sorry that you've been waiting for solong, and I'm so glad you've decided to continue reading my story. I'm determined to finish this! Well I hope you enjoy this chapter, and don't worry, I'll update reallysoon, I promise...You'll want an updateafter this chapter I'm sure!

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My eyes fluttered open and I struggled to look at my surroundings. I sat up, only to greet a wave of nausea that spread throughout my stomach. I touched my head sensitively; it was throbbing like mad. I could tell from the aches and pains all over my body that I was in pretty bad shape. I stood up tenderly, bending my knees with great care, and looked around. A tall, narrow cavern surrounded me, with hardly any visibility; the only light was very faint, and came from several staffs with glowing balls on the end placed equidistant from each other lining the walls of the cave. I turned around and saw that I was at a dead end.

The staffs…they look just like the staff that Cedric and his cronies were carrying…

I started walking down the path of staffs, wondering where they would lead. I considered shouting for help, but I knew that no one would hear me…well no one who would help me would hear me anyway. I used Cure3 and felt my aches and pains go away slightly. On and on I walked, the path twisting this way and that in front of me. I wondered if Sephiroth, Nanaki and Vincent were alright. Sephiroth… What if I never saw him again?

Oh stop it. You'll never get out of this alive if you keep thinking like that.

I small scratch caused me to freeze. I whipped my head around to look behind me. No one was there. My heart started beating steadily faster. I wondered if it was Jenova cells I was hearing. It couldn't be though, because I hadn't passed out. I heard the noise again…it seemed to be coming from the left wall of the cave. The light of the closest orb became brighter as I approached the leftward wall. I slowly bent close to the side of the cave and put my ear up against it. I heard a soft groan.

I pushed myself closer to the wall, putting my entire body up against it. No sooner had my torso touched the wall when the wall magically shifted slightly, revealing a small room. The room had a very musty smell, and looked almost like a prison cell. My eyes roamed around the room; there were chains built into the walls and the only light in the room came from a window built about 6 feet above the ground. The ceilings were rocky, and had stalagmites coming down from it. Or maybe they were stalactites. Whatever those daggers that hang from the top of caves were called, that's what was there. It was very difficult to see, and I waited very impatiently for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. As I gazed around the sinister room, a second of movement caused me to stop. Something was sitting in the corner of the room. I walked towards the thing on the floor that every so often would shift positions. As my eyes adjusted, I realized what the thing on the ground was and gasped.

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"Cloud! What on earth happened to you!" I ran over to my dearest friend, who was in a horrible state. His arms were chained up to the wall and his head was hung low into his chest. I lifted his head up and saw that his nose was bloodied and one of his eyes was swelling. He opened his good eye and attempted to speak, but didn't have the energy. I picked the locks of the chains along his wrists using a hairpin and finally broke them open. His hands dropped down from the walls and stayed put.

"Oh Cloud, who did this to you!" I immediately used Cure3 and Cloud's eye began to shrink back to its normal size. He looked up and smiled weakly.

"Tifa…I thought I'd never see you again…" Cloud reached his hand up from the ground and put it on my cheek. My eyes filled with tears as I leaned towards his hand and kissed it.

"Cloud, what happened? Where are the others?"

Cloud's hand rose towards the tiny window. I stood up and walked over to it. Judging from the size of it, I thought I might be able to hoist myself up and possibly sit on the ledge. I took a running start, jumped up to the window and lifted myself up silently. On the other side of the window the floor was about twenty feet down. As I scanned the room I threw my hand to my mouth to stop myself from screaming. Barret and Cid were hanging by their arms against a wall about three inches above the ground, so they could just barely touch the floor with their feet. Towards the other wall, I saw Cedric. He was holding his staff towards a small figure kneeling before him, who was also in chains. The small figure was shuddering, and appeared to be crying. Yuffie. Anger rose deep in my chest and I prepared to jump right out the window and down the twenty feet to hurt Cedric; kill him if I could. The pain for Cloud stopped me however. I jumped back down on Cloud's side.

I spoke quickly and quietly. "Cloud, how did this happen? I never received a phone call from you guys…did you even make it to Mideel?"

Cloud shook his head. "On our way, we were stopped by that psycho and his men. That head man was so strong, Tifa; I couldn't defeat him. He was too strong…"

I shook my head and put my hand on his. "Cloud, it's ok. We'll figure this out."

He looked up at me. "What happened to you? Where are Vincent and Nanaki?"

"That head man, Cedric, came across us while Vincent was showing us the tree that he saw Hojo enter. He fought against Sephiroth while the others and I fought his crew. Sephiroth couldn't defeat Cedric, but he didn't lose to him either. It was the strangest thing; it seemed that their powers were equal in every way…Anyway, Cedric finally grabbed a hold of me, and the men all looked at me strangely and laughed, and then Cedric used Exit materia and I woke up at a dead end in this cavern. I don't even know where the others are…"

Cloud saw my tear and caught it before it fell. "Don't worry, we'll get out of here and find them. Let's go."

"How are we going to save Cid and Barret and Yuffie? Cedric is way to strong for us to defeat him, but we must save them!" I helped Cloud to his feet and walked over to the wall I entered through. We both slipped quietly through the door and walked down the path, going closer and closer to the large room Cedric had imprisoned our friends in.

Cloud smiled his dashing smile. "Don't worry, I've got a plan."

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"Shh! Don't let anyone hear us. I think they're just beyond that wall…" Cloud pointed to a solid wall after scavenging around the cave for several minutes.

I leaned my head close to the wall and heard silence. "Maybe Cedric has left them?"

Cloud nodded. "Maybe all the walls are rigged. I could probably just…" Cloud pushed with all his might against the wall, but to no avail. He couldn't even budge it.

I shook my head. "Perhaps this isn't a wall that can be moved?" I walked over to the wall and leaned on it and pushed. The wall didn't move at first, but with one more push with my whole body, the wall moved easily inward.

Cloud's jaw hung loose. "How the hell..?"

I grabbed his arm. "It doesn't matter how, let's just go get our friends back."

We entered the large area of the cavern, with walls that stretched up to a twenty-foot ceiling. In front of us was a huge chair carved out of stone. It was big enough to seat three people; kind of like those over-sized chairs that people would take photographs in. Beyond the massive chair were three steps leading down to where, just a few minutes ago, I saw Yuffie kneeling before the madman. She was no longer there.

Cloud pointed towards the far right wall. "Look!"

I followed his finger and saw Cid and Barret, still hanging by their arms, both unconscious. I took a quick sweep around the room and when I saw the coast was clear, ran over to my friends. "Barret, Cid, can you hear me!" I whispered as loud as I could.

Cid remained quiet, but Barret stirred. I touched the chains that were holding Barret's arms, trying to find the lock that I could pick. However, as soon as I ran my hand over the chains, they miraculously opened. My eyes were wide in amazement as I watched Barret drop from the chains and onto the floor. His eyes opened in surprise.

"Wha….what? Who's there, what in the hell is going on!" He looked up at me. "Tifa ol' girl, is that you!" He reached up for me and I bent down towards him and gave him a hard hug.

"Oh Barret, are you alright? What happened?" I hugged him even tighter as tears started to fall. Cloud had picked the locks of Cid's arms and Cid slid slowly to the floor, his eyes remaining closed.

Barret coughed slightly then spoke. "That man…he surrounded us. Tifa, I'd never in my life see a man that skilled in battle. It was the strangest thing, I tell ya. He just didn't stop fighting…" His voice died out as he shook his head in confusion, then turned to Cid.

"Cid ol' man! Wake up!" Barret elbowed Cid in the ribs, and Cid shook his head awake.

"OWW! What the hell was that for!" Cid said, then elbowed Barret right back.

I smiled weakly. "It's nice to have you two back again. Where did Cedric take Yuffie?" I asked, trying to remain calm.

Barret's face suddenly became very grave. "That son of a jackal took her that way…" He cocked his head towards a small hallway in the darker corner of the room.

My face hardened as I walked towards the left corner of the room, which revealed a hallway. "Tifa…" Cloud started. I turned back to him.

"Let me be." I said, and continued towards the dark hallway.

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The hallway was very short, and it didn't take me long to see Yuffie's small body lying still at the end of it. I walked over to her slowly and knelt down beside her. She had cuts all along the side of her neck. I looked towards her mid-section and saw a deep wound right on the side of her stomach, from which blood was streaming down her back and onto the hard ground.

"Yuffie…" I said shakily. Yuffie remained still.

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So do you need an update or what? I'm sorry to leave you hanging like this, I know how people LOVEEEE cliffhangers...but I just had to! Don't worry, I will update as soon as I can. Please RR as usual :)