Author's Note: Well, another week down another chapter. Small side noted updates on my life. I am now in the school play, as in actor, which is very happy news for me. If you like Scarlet… Skip the beginning of this chapter… And I added a few characters… you know… so Cid has a crew.

Reviewer Comments First off, I'd like to make sure you all know how much I appreciate your kind words and gentle way of correcting me and making me think. I often think you are far to kind to me, but I enjoy your reviews, which is why I reply to them.

Lady Sonora The Black-Rose: Glad to know you're still breathing, and I'd hate to say it, but if things were starting to work out, this fan fiction would only have about six chapters left, and I promise you, I got lots more than that floating around in my head.

Sorceress Fujin: Yes Ma'am!… grumble grumble… crazy dominatrix reviewers…

The Dr.- Yes, so long as Chaos isn't around, it's only natural that the sickest demon would have control of the mental playing field, and I can promise you, Hellmasker won't be very happy when Chaos comes barging on in, but then again, neither will Vincent. I've also decided on a very long confrontation with Godo and Yuffie after she earns All Creation, it'll probably end up in abuse, but… yeah… And I don't mind your long reviews, I think they're fun, and rather informative.

IamAudrey: I was actually referring to Vincent as being alive, because, in all honesty, I don't think Hojo was smart enough to kill him, only to reanimate his cells. Hojo's a formidable bad guy, I'll admit that, but I'm not giving him that much credit, and Vincent doesn't know Lucrecia is still alive (ish) yet. Heh, and I heart reviews, and I heart you for reviewing.

Tetsuya Shiraishi: Erm… yeah… about that upcoming kiss… I'm thinking… either just before she steals the groups materia, or after the fight with Hojo… but I dunno yet… Erm, and thank you for the high rating… Though 10 is kind of hard to top.

Yumi8558: Thanks, sorry, dunno how else to reply...

Well, I heart you all for reviewing… I also heart Tenors, Cowboys, Vincent, and boys in uniform, but I digress.

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, if I did, I wouldn't live where I do. I don't own the albhed language either, but I am using it as Wuatanese. I don't own the song "One Day I'll Fly Away" either, but hey… Yuffie sings it…Also, I get my actual text from the game from Thank you.

A Door Beyond Absolution

Chapter Seven: Escape From Junon Part Two, Untitled

Vincent refused to open his eyes. Even when the comforting warmth had, struggling, disentangled itself from his arms; Vincent refused to wake up. No matter how emotionless he tried to be, Vincent had never been a morning person, so, to off set that fact, Vincent rarely slept when outside his coffin, preferring to meditate instead. Had Cid actually not slept like a rock, he would have noticed that Vincent hadn't slept in the bed they were supposed to share till the night Yuffie had returned home in tears; rather, the gunslinger had sat at the table in the other room, meditating into the early hours of the morning.

Now he found himself facing a predicament. Remain struggling to return to sleep, with the space beside him growing colder by the moment, or get up and face the sun that was stinging his closed eyelids. With a sigh, Vincent opened his eyes and sat up, rather grumpily, and prepared to cover it up with blank stares and mono-toned speech. He was not prepared to face the sight that greeted him however.

Yuffie Kisaragi, Ninja extraordinaire, stood before him in black mini skirt and form fitting blood red tank top, with long black boots coming up to her mid calf. Her head band lay abandoned on the long dresser in the room, and her hair, barely long enough to brush her shoulders, had been pulled back into a messy bun that allowed several strands to escape, framing her face and accenting her look nicely.

"Yuffie what…?" Vincent began, but she spun around and cut him off quickly.

"Do I look completely Un-Yuffie-ish?" She asked him, a tone of urgency in her voice. She had actually bothered to put makeup on, a soft pink on her eyes, black eyeliner, and a lipstick that made her lips look like crushed raspberries. Traces of blush adorned her cheeks and a small black choker hugged her lovely throat. "Or do I look like a tramp?"

"…" Vincent stared at her, trying to resume his composure. Her left hand planted itself on her hip in a frustrated sort of way. "You look… unlike yourself… in a… modest female way."

He could've kicked himself in the head if he knew it would've done any good, but Yuffie seemed pacified by his statement.

"Why are you so dressed up?" The question had been plaguing him for the whole two minutes he'd been awake, "you usually wear your fighting clothes to work."

"I'm interviewing Scarlet today," Yuffie informed him, turning back to stare at herself in the mirror. "I was told to look nice, and I knew I had to do something to my appearance so she wouldn't recognize me."

"So you wore a skirt?" The question sounded stupid, even in his head, which Hellmasker simply loved.

"Kind of," she replied, fingering the black choker. "The make-up to hide my more distinguishing no-make-up traits, the heels to make me taller, the skirt and shirt to change my physical description…"

"How can a shirt change your physical description?" Vincent asked, wondering vaguely why his mouth wasn't waiting for his mind's consent before rambling out such stupid questions; he was inclined to blame the demons.

"Well… the shirt I usually wear shows enough of my bust to suggest I'm a

girl, but I wear shirts with built in bras… they don't offer a whole lot of…

support, I think that's what Tifa called it…" If Yuffie had been looking at

Vincent, she would've seen the sudden rush of blood to his face. "So I

actually bought a bra, and I'm telling you, never wear one." In what plane of

existance was that a likely scenario? "The person who made them is,

Hopefully, rotting in hell, because they are SO uncomfortable."

--------

Author's Note: I actually took this rant from a friend of mine who absolutely abhors bras, and sticks to tank tops with them built in. Just so you know.

--------

"I will keep that in mind," Vincent muttered, finally managing to fight down his blush. Yuffie glared at her image and made a sort of disapproving cluck with her tongue.

"I hate myself," she declared darkly as she glared at the image staring back at her, bringing her fingers to brush over her reflection. "My whole life I, the great Ninja Yuffie, have never worn a skirt without putting up a fight. And now here I am standing in one simply to hide who I really am!"

"…" Vincent said nothing, somewhat shocked at her declaration.

"My mother would be ashamed," she whispered, her palm lying flat against the cool glass surface as she placed a knee up on the dresser to get closer to her reflection. She usually could take comfort that she looked like her mother, but now, with the make up and clothes and hair, all she could see was another girl. And it infuriated her.

Before Vincent could register what she was doing, Yuffie reeled her hand back, curled it into a tight fist, and thrust it back into the mirror, shattering it in a million glass shards. They tinkled from the frame, onto the wood she leaned on. Her fist, still imbedded in the mirror, trickled blood onto what glass remained in the frame. Yuffie saw herself, for the first time, as the person she felt like. A million little Yuffie's all staring at back at her, and she looked away, down at the left hand corner of the glass, the only part that remained unbroken, and she saw Vincent.

Unbroken, untouched by her forceful assault, this little space was filled with his shocked crimson eyes, and suddenly Yuffie felt ashamed of herself. She got off the dresser, straightened her skirt, grabbed her purse and bolted for the door; fleeing before Vincent had the chance to rise from his place on the bed.

----------

"So Scarlet," Yuffie found herself saying in a false voice, "we hear a lot of talk about an execution, any truth to the statement?"

Scarlet let out a squeaky laugh and balanced a fist on her hip.

"Oh yes," she giggled. "We think it may be any day now the girl, Tifa Lockheart, wakes up."

"No trial?" Yuffie found herself asking, ignoring the prompter to her left.

"For hardened criminals?" Scarlet asked, her eyebrows narrowing darkly.

"Well," Yuffie smiled disarmingly. "I only supposed that with this great corporation there would be a trial, you know, really prove that they deserve to die." Mentally Yuffie begged Tifa to forgive her, but, for the moment, Scarlet seemed pacified.

"You see," she said, let her hand caress her own cheek, "we've already gotten all evidence needed to prove their guilt, all we've been waiting for is the bodies to inflict punishment on."

"And President Rufus, what does he think of this AVALANCHE mess?" Yuffie asked, once again reading from the prompter and holding out the microphone for Scarlet.

"He's repulsed by the whole business you know," Scarlet replied, making her voice weak and sorrowful. "He can hardly sleep some nights knowing the rest of those retched terrorists are about."

"That's very touching," Yuffie replied tonelessly. "What about the rumors concerning the rebuilding of Sector Seven?"

"All rumors I'm afraid," was the course reply. "We have, however, begun work on restoring the more decrepit sectors."

"I can't thank you enough for this interview Miss Scarlet, and I certainly hope you'll give those terrorists hell." Yuffie said spiritedly, nearly choking on the words as they left her mouth. She turned to the camera completely, smiling a blank sort of smile. "This is Shera Valentine, reporting live from Junon airbase."

The small red light flicked off, and Yuffie turned her back on Scarlet with out another word, she growled at the teleprompter as she walked past, knowing that she could only deviate from its scripting so often with out being scolded. She didn't say a word as she stomped away, feeling lowly and vile, at least not till a feminine hand wound itself about her arm, the red, manicured nail digging into her flesh.

"Hold up hunny," Scarlet giggled. "Don't be in such a hurry."

Yuffie put on a false smile before spinning to address the older woman.

"Oh! Goodness Scarlet!" She wanted to bite off her own tongue, "you scared me!"

"I just wanted to say that you're great at this whole reporter thing!" Scarlet declared, still not moving her hand from Yuffie's arm. Yuffie had moved from feeling vile, to wanting to throw up all the Chinese food from the night before.

"Oh thank you!" Yuffie wanted to vomit on this woman so badly. "It's so difficult some days. I don't know how you keep your speaking skills so sharp after all these press conferences." Well, it was half true, she'd always wondered how the woman could talk and actually sound like an intelligent person; though Yuffie was certain there wasn't a single brain cell in that blonde head. Scarlet seemed delighted and started dragging Yuffie down along the street.

"You know Shera, did I mention that I love your name? There are so many people who think I'm just some pretty face for the company." Scarlet declared, Yuffie had never been happier for meeting Cid's assistant. "I'm so glad a beautiful girl like yourself can understand how much I do! We really should get better acquainted. Let's go out for drinks."

Scarlet grabbed Yuffie's hand, the one she punched the mirror with, and froze when the younger woman yelped.

"Oh hunny! Whatever did you do to your hand?" Scarlet seemed rather concerned, Yuffie shrugged casually.

"I locked myself out of my apartment and had to break the window to get in," she dimly remembered Cloud telling her about doing that once when he lived in Nibelheim; Leviathan how she missed him.

"I know exactly what will fix that," Scarlet said with a wink and a grin. Yuffie shook her head, assuming the reference was to the aforementioned drinks.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm not much of a drinker," it was a complete and total lie. Yuffie was, in fact, able to drink Barret under the table, she just didn't like Scarlet. Scarlet stared at her a minute before shaking her own head and grinning again, a knowing look in her eyes.

"I really must insist, Shera!" Scarlet declared in a meaningful voice. Yuffie stared at her, a smile forced upon her face, completely lost as to what was happening. "We girls gotta stick together, it's so difficult being lonely, single, powerful women in a world like this… We really need to… rely on each other. Trust each other, and comfort each other…."

Yuffie was no longer listening to the women. She had suddenly become very worried about Scarlet's behavior, and assumed the older woman had finally recognized her, and she just barely kept her terror in check.

"I'm so sorry," Yuffie said, forcing down the lump that had formed in her throat. "I just remembered that I need to get home right away!"

"Is anything the matter?" Scarlet looked alarmed and frustrated, Yuffie forced a pained look on her face.

"A friend of mine is very ill, we just don't know what to do for him." She had no clue why she put emphasis on that word, she was listening to her gut instinct.

"A pity…well, your friend needs you," she said with a bright smile and a scandalous wink, "perhaps another time…"

"Perhaps," Yuffie replied before she took off in the other direction, running as fast as her legs could carry her.

-----------------

Yuffie came tearing in, gasping and sweating as she threw her back against the door. Vincent and Cid both stared at her with shocked and impassive, in Vincent's case, looks adorning their faces.

"What is it?" Cid inquired clambering to his feet and all but running to her side. "Is it Tifa and Barret?"

"We have to leave! Scarlet knows who I am!" Yuffie squeaked, Cid stared at her blankly, pulling her away from the door and sitting her in a chair.

"How is that possible?" Vincent asked, getting up from his place on the floor to join the two at the table. Yuffie buried her face in her hands and began shaking her head.

"She must've recognized me, or my voice or… something!" Yuffie wheezed, her voice choked with panic. Cid grabbed her shoulders and shook her roughly.

"Tell us what happened," he ordered, and Yuffie told them every tiny detail. From every accented word to every wink. At the end of her tale, both Vincent and Cid were staring at her with looks she couldn't read.

"Yuffie…" Cid began before he burst into peels of laughter, Yuffie stared at him with confused eyes.

"We're gonna die and you're laughing?" She asked incredulously, Vincent shook his head.

"Yuffie…" he said, barely containing his only mirth. "Scarlet had not figured out who you were…"

"She didn't?" Yuffie was simply to naïve for her own good.

"No, Yuffie." Vincent had finally choked down his mirth and returned to his deadpanned tone. "Yuffie Scarlet was…"

Cid suddenly stopped laughing, something clicked in his head.

"Didn't Cait once call her the company slut?" Cid asked, looking right over Yuffie at Vincent, who nodded.

"Perhaps Scarlet is not picky about who or what… satisfies her…" Vincent said the last words with a grimace that neither Yuffie nor Cid could see, thanks to his collar.

Yuffie stared between the two men, a look of utter confusion on her face. Vincent got out of his chair and knelt down in front of Yuffie, so she was only a few inches taller than him.

"What do you know about sex?" he asked simply, Yuffie opened her mouth to respond only to snap it shut abruptly as realization dawned on her face.

"She didn't!" Yuffie squeaked, sending Cid into a fit of laughter, Vincent nodded. Yuffie screamed. "OH GAWD! OH GAWD OH…. GAWD!"

Yuffie was no longer sitting in her chair. She stood up sharply, knocking Vincent back onto his butt, and began stomping about the room shouting things like "Oh God," and "Leviathan! how could you do this to me?" Cid apparently found the scene hysterical, as he was clutching his sides and laughing in a wheezing, breathless way. Yuffie finally fell silent and plopped down on the floor, her skirt riding up rather high as she stared at the laughing old man and the now standing Vincent, a question burning in her eyes.

"Hey Vinnie?" She said finally, after much deliberation.

"Yes?" he replied softly, barely heard over Cid's gasping laughter.

"How would two women have sex anyway?" The question shut Cid up in half a second, and it completely floored Vincent. Both men stared at her, unsure of what to say as she sat there, knees out to either side of her, hands holding her skirt down, staring up at them like an innocent child. But Yuffie Kisaragi was far from innocent.

Cid was the first to attempt an answer, fumbling over his words and trying not to blush.

"Y-you see Y-Yuffie w-when two women love each other, well maybe not love, but that's not the point when…" He continued rambling on, clearly not even knowing what he himself was saying. Yuffie then turned those innocently bright grey eyes to Vincent, whose mouth was slightly agape as he pondered what Yuffie had just said.

"… I believe this age would call it 'foreplay' or 'oral'," he stated simply. Watching as Yuffie smirked at him.

"Thanks for clearing that up," she said in a very un-Yuffie-ish drawl. She got up rather nimbly, making sure she didn't flash the still spluttering Cid or brooding Turk in the process, and pranced off to the room she and Vinnie now shared. Shutting the door behind her, Yuffie happily threw herself on the bed, grinning from ear to ear when the strangely masculine scent of sweat, dried roses, and green tea, mixed with her own smell of lilies and steel, invaded her senses. Smiling as she rolled onto her back, hugging Vincent's pillow to her chest, Yuffie reflected on the simple joys in her life.

'The only one you may ever feel again after you reach Wutai,' a nagging voice said to her. Yuffie sat bolt upright, clasping the pillow for dear life.

"… They'll understand…" She whispered to herself, clinging to the squishy bundle in her arms.

'Sure they will, they'll understand that you betrayed them.' It said, Yuffie felt her arms shaking as she clung even tighter to the soft fabric.

"They'll forgive me when I explain…" Yuffie didn't bother finishing the sentence, because she had encountered the flaw in her plan.

Yuffie would vanish into Wutai, and, while handing the materia over to her father to increase the gil in the treasury was part of the plan, returning to AVALANCHE was not. She intended to leave them, deserted or whatever, and return home, prepared to take the appropriate steps to claim her birthright. Yuffie choked down the sob in her throat, forcing it into a tiny bubble in her stomach.

It would not do for her to pity these poor saps, no matter how attached to them she was.

With an angry snarl Yuffie through Vincent's pillow across the room, waiting for the dull thud as it struck the wall. It never came, and looking up, Yuffie saw why.

Vincent had caught it by the edge of the casing, and now had his human arm folded over it as he held it to his side.

"Is there a reason you are abusing my pillow?" he asked blankly, Yuffie shrugged and rolled onto her side of the bed. Tucking her knees up to her chest, bringing the skirt up to a point of near indecency.

Vincent dutifully averted his eyes as Yuffie nearly, though perhaps unwittingly, exposed her self to him. Taking into consideration that she was unaccustomed to skirts, Vincent ignored it and sat down on his side of the bed.

"Are you alright?" he asked blankly, Yuffie shrugged.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she replied in a rough voice. Vincent hesitated.

"I heard you muttering incoherently when I walked in…" he replied, Yuffie sat bolt upright. "And last night…"

"Never happened," Yuffie deadpanned, her eyes a most shockingly blank feature on her usually expressive face as she stared at the shattered mirror.

"Yuffie you cannot deny…"

"I can deny it all I like Vincent," she growled, her voice darker than her eyes as they locked on him. "Last night… I don't want to talk about it… Forget it happened…"

And then she was back on her side, in the same semblance of the fetal position. Vincent nearly got up and walked out, intent on forgetting the night prior, but something stopped him. Something that terrified him.

Vincent Valentine, cold blooded murder, a man with more demons than bullets, did not want to forget. He didn't want to forget her clinging warmth, the vulnerability that exuded from her form as she wept, the way she asked him, pleaded him, to take the nightmares away. And with out a word, he had wrapped his arms, both steel and flesh, around her, cradling her to his chest, offering her the only thing that he could.

Vincent had offered her distant comfort. No emotion, no worry or concern, no words of advice or promises of a better future. He had done the least he could do to answer her plea, he had been a tether binding her to reality. And after she fled the room that morning, Vincent had regretted it.

Not regretted holding her, which he knew he should have, he regretted not doing more, not saying more.

As Vincent found himself at the table across from Cid, he wondered what more he could've said, what more he could've done. He wondered vaguely if he even knew what made him cling to the memory like some cherished part of a childhood he'd long ago forgotten the details of. He wondered what was so important about last night.

'Make Me Fly.' The words suddenly exploded in his mind, like fire and ice and thunder, threatening to rip his head in twain. A girl, all in pale blue, falling. Arms, clinging to his torso. Soft, dark hair, tickling his nose. The smell of lily and steel, clashing in his senses as he drew her closer.

Vincent snapped back to reality, his brain throbbing dully in his scull.

"Ya alright Vincent?" Cid asked around his cigarette, Vincent nodded.

"It is… just a headache…" Something in his voice caused Cid to look up.

"Ya ok?" he asked gruffly, Vincent nodded once, his head pounding.

"It… is rather painful…" Vincent replied, his mind thundering. "I think… I will go rest awhile…"

Vincent returned to his shared room without even recalling getting up, and he found himself laying on his side of the bed in the same daze. He didn't even remember falling asleep…

----------Dream----------

Vincent stood before a building he dimly recognized as the Pagoda in Wutai. Standing on the third roof was a figure clad in blue, she was staring down at him, grey eyes searching. Vincent found himself approaching the large structure, reaching up to unfasten his cloak, letting it flutter away behind him.

A flex of his leg muscles and he had bounded right up to the first roof. He could feel her, calling him.

Another flew of his legs, the second roof beneath his boots. He suddenly realized her eyes weren't grey, they were green.

A final bound, she was in arms reach, long brown hair fluttering around her, piercing green eyes, and arms reaching out for him.

But not to hold him.

In her hand she held a vile filled with a milky red liquid, she was holding it out to him.

"Lucrecia?" he whispered, she smiled.

"Yes Vincent," she replied, how could the woman he loved say his name so coldly… wait… she'd always said his name like that.

"What is it?" he asked, looking at the vile.

"Something to make you stronger," she said, her eyes boring into his.

"It will make me better?" he asked, hope peeking into his voice. She didn't reply, only smiled at him and turned away. Vincent turned to see what lay behind him, to see Wutai in the glory he remembered from the pagoda windows. What he saw bore no semblance to glory.

Wutai in flames. Structures collapsing in upon themselves, people screaming, the smell of burnt wood mingling in the air with the smell of charred flesh. Vincent could smell blood everywhere, and there, rising out of the leading family's house, was a monster. Purple skin, blood red wings, glowering red eyes. Vincent choked on soot as he tried to see what the creature held, his eyes squinting though the smoke. Vincent saw the burden.

Dark brown, almost black, hair. A pale blue dress, stained with blood. A small bust, rising and falling in terror. Two piercing grey eyes, staring at him, begging him. And words he couldn't remember hearing in his life.

"THOUGH SHALL NOT WANT, VINCENT VALENTINE," it roared at him.

"…Yuffie…" The name was ripped from his throat as he unwittingly took a step off the ledge of the pagoda. But instead of falling, he did what so many could in their dreams.

Vincent Valentine flew.

----------Reality----------

"E vummuf dra hekrd, Lyh'd cdyht dra mekrd. Frah femm E pakeh du meja ykyeh?"

Vincent awoke from his heart stopping nightmare to a completely different situation. Someone, he had little idea who, was singing not far from him. Singing in another language, a language he hadn't heard in nearly thirty seven years.

"Uha tyo E'mm vmo yfyo, Mayja ymm drec du oacdantyo. Fryd suna luimt ouin muja tu vun sa? Frah femm muja pa drnuikr fedr sa? Fro meja meva vnus tnays du tnays, Yht tnayt dra tyo frah tnaysehk ahtc?" How could he ever have left a land that held such a beautiful language?

'War,' he reminded himself, not feeling any particular hurry to move and startle the singer with his monstrous presence.

"Uha tyo E'mm vmo yfyo, Mayja ymm drec du oacdantyo. Fro meja meva vnus tnays du tnays, Yht tnayt dra tyo frah tnaysehk ahtc?" His eyes closed, a mechanical motion that he didn't entirely understand. "Uha tyo E'mm vmo yfyo…Vmo vmo yfyo…"

When Vincent opened his eyes and sat up, he saw the singer, and his heart fluttered in his chest.

Yuffie, now back in her more normal attire, knelt with her back to him, cleaning up shards of the broken mirror. As she turned to deposit the shards in the trash can behind her, she let out a squeak when she saw Vincent staring at her.

"Were you singing?" he found himself asking, she hung her head and nodded.

"I'm sorry," she replied. "It's a habit I picked up from my mother… before she died…"

"It is… fine…" Vincent said, shifting to the end of the bed. "Would you… sing something else?"

Yuffie turned her back to him once more, busying herself with more shattered pieces.

"E fyc y vuum du pameaja . . ." The words flowed from her lips like rain from the leaves of a tree, sounding more natural than breath. "Y vuum du pameaja. . . Ed ymm ahtc dutyo. . . Oac, ed ymm ahtc dutyo"

Vincent found himself leaning forward, trying to hear her soft voice, her words.

"Dutyo'c dra tyo frah tnaysehk ahtc." Something inside Vincent's chest shattered as the words came bubbling to his mind.

"Why is today the day that dreaming ends?" he found himself asking, Yuffie turned to stare at him.

"You speak?" she questioned, shocked.

"I speak," he replied with a slight smirk.

----------------------------------

Barret paced the room for the two hundred and seventh time in the five days he'd been waiting in the Shinra Med-bay. He was irritated, had no clue where Cloud, or the rest of his team was, and this "rescue mission" was being lead by a sixteen year old girl-ninja. Needless to say, he was about to freak out.

The only thing forcing him to keep his sullen composure was the comatose woman lying on a bed. She had regained a lot of color during her seven day sleep, but she had not yet awoken. Barret spent most of his time pondering what to say to her when she awoke, the conversation got worse everyday. A small bell rang through the silence, and Barret's eyes locked on Tifa in time to see her eyes flutter open.

"…ding…" she muttered as she used her arm to shield her eyes.

"Huh?" Barret asked, moving to stand beside her bed.

"The glare…" She muttered forcing her body into a sitting position with a great deal of effort.

"You'll be better soon," Barret assured her. "You've been a sleep for a long time."

"I'm…" Tifa hesitated, afraid to ask the question on her mind. "hungry…"

"Hey, why don't you ask?" Barret inquired with a sad smirk, "you know, about him?"

"...Because I'm scared." She stared at him with garnet eyes, tears filling them slowly.

"Don't worry. I don't know what happened to Cloud either." Barret hesitated and then grinned. "Guess I shouldn't tell you not to worry... None of them know if he's all right either."

"He's still... alive, right?" Tifa asked, eyes wide, Barret could only shrug. "How long... was I asleep?"

"Lessee now... Must've been about 7 days." He replied, Tifa pressed her palm to her forhead as she stood up.

"What about Sephiroth?" she asked, eyes screwed shut.

"You ain't over it yet." he muttered. "Remember that huge light, in the Northern Cave? Since then, the crater's been surrounded by a huge barrier of light. Everyone knows Sephiroth sleeps in that big hole, protected by the barrier. We can't do a damn thing about it. We just gonna wait till he wakes up. An' on topa that, some huge monster called Weapon's been on a rampage."

"...Weapon?" Tifa's eyes shot open, staring at her friend in confusion.

"Remember that huge monster that was with Sephiroth, at the bottom of the crater?" Tifa nodded, "Well it's up here now. They say it's some legendary monster from the past."

"Weapon... is protecting Sephiroth?" She theorized, Barret shrugged again.

"Dunno. But he's up here goin' around tearin' shit up. Right now Rufus' fightin' it. I hate to say it, but he's got guts." Barret sighed, "We shoulda been the ones to destroy it, but we ain't got no time…"

"Time... ...Hey! How about Meteor?" Tifa asked, Barret gaze her a look before throwing open the curtains. Tifa gasped aloud as her eyes fell on Meteor as it came baring down on the planet. "Do we have to give up?"

"...Dunno…" Barret looked at her, and as she opened her mouth to reply the door swung open.

"I thought Cloud would show up to save you all…" Rufus said with a smirk, "Professor Hojo wanted to check up on Cloud, too."

"What are you going to do to Cloud?" She asked, her hands clenching into fists.

"Sephiroth's alter ego... Meteor has been summoned... Essentially, it's all but over now. So, there's no need for you now. No, maybe there is an important task for you…" Rufus grinned at them and pushed the door open wider, revealing Scarlet and Heidegger

"President! Preparations for the public execution are complete." The fat man said with a rolling laugh.

"I asked you once: what're ya gonna get by executin' us?" Barret growled, Tifa's eyes widened.

"As I told you before, you are to be executed for causing this situation." Tifa opened her mouth to argue, "People are ignorant. They'll feel better as long as someone is punished."

"I take back what little praise I had for this damn jackass!" Barret growled, Tifa sighed.

"Well, enjoy your last moments together." The president chimed before wandering out of the room.

"I'll bind your arms now." Heidegger said as he approached the two. Barret and Tifa were held at gun point as Heidegger busied himself with the handcuffs behind each's back. He gave each a shove towards the door as he finished, and slowly, Tifa accepted her fate.

------------------------

"Breaking news from Shinra!" Yuffie said evenly as she ignored the sailor she'd been interviewing to read from the prompter. "The execution of Tifa Lockhart and Barret Wallace is to commence immediately…"

Yuffie froze, her throat tightening as realization dawned on her.

Tifa was awake and being led to her death. The decision was easy.

Yuffie grabbed her PHS from her pocket, punching in seven numbers with ease. She waited, still being filmed, for Vincent or Cid to answer.

"Hello?" A deadpanned voice asked from the other side.

"Vinnie!" she declared, ignoring the stares of her camera men. "It's happening, the execution is on!"

"Are you certain?" he replied, a little bit of concern leaking into his tone.

"YES!" she screamed into the phone, "it's happening, get Red, and MOVE OUT!"

"Yes Yuffie," he replied sarcastically before hanging up on her. Yuffie put the phone away and turned to the camera and prompter.

"Sorry bout that, my erm… Boyfriend! Yeah, he's been following this story for weeks… and he needs to go visit his sister… and erm… Well, what're we waiting for, we have an execution to attend." As soon as Yuffie turned her back to the camera, one of the men shouted.

"SHERA!" he screamed, backing up several spaces. Yuffie whirled around to see a tremendous wave building some three hundred feet out to sea. "IT'S WEAPON!"

------------------------------

"Is everyone here?" Scarlet asked, scanning the room examining the different studios represented. "Is Saucer Vision coming?"

One man nodded fervently and Scarlet rubbed her hands together.

"Then let's begin!" She declared, pointing an accusing finger at Barret and Tifa. "These are the ones who brought this madness into the world!"

"The hell are these people?" Barret grumbled, Scarlet turned to stare at him.

"We will be broadcasting your miserable deaths live on national television." She growled at him, flipping her hair as a remarkably fat man cleared his throat.

"Scarlet, why a public execution in this day and age?" he asked.

"With the chaos resulting from the Meteor reports, we desperately need to rally public support... it's better that we punish somebody," she told him adding "anybody" under her breath. Tifa growled at her, stepping up with her head held high.

"You make me sick…" She growled, spitting at Scarlet's feet.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" She giggled a bit, flipping her hair again. "They'll never admit it, but everyone loves this stuff! We'll start with this girl."

"If you've gotta do it... do me first!" Barret declared, shouldering Tifa back behind him.

"Camera, this way!" She declared, adding in an undertone as her men roughly shoved Barret aside and seized Tifa. "Make sure you get this, the audience just eats up tearful goodbyes!"

--------------------

Vincent, Cid, and the newly recollecting, though very annoyed, Red were rushing down the hall way in the direction of the airway.

"What are we going to steal?" Vincent asked as they skidded to a halt before a door.

"An airship," Cid replied. "But not just any airship."

"What's so special about an airship?" Red growled, still shaking tiny bows out of his hair from his stay with Priscilla.

"It's my airship, The Highwind!" Cid replied before he kicked the door open and stepped through with his spear drawn. "Coast is clear!"

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Scarlet smiled at her miniscule audience, scanning the room for "Shera Valentine".

"Well now, the show's about to begin!" She declared with a gleeful clap of her hands. "Ha, ha, ha!"

The room erupted in a flurry of flashing lights and resounding buzzers. A voice came from the speakers on the wall, amidst the chaos.

"Emergency! Emergency! Weapon's approaching!" Scarlet's eyes widened in disbelief. "Attention all military personnel: take your positions!"

"Oh no! It's Weapon!" The fat man said unenthusiastically. The man beside him began screaming wildly.

"Run!" Almost everyone in the small audience ran away.

"Hey, hey all of you!" Scarlet cried, reaching out towards them as the people scattered from the room. "Damn! Why now?"

"How does it feel now, Scarlet?" The man asked, stepping up close to her.

"Hmm, so you didn't run? I'm impressed." She said, ignoring as the man's arm dipped into a pocket on his large black coat. "How do I feel? Right now... Nnaaaaaahhhh!"

A gas bomb exploded at her feet, releasing its potent sleeping formula into the air about her.

"Huh? Sleeping gas?" Barret said, his eyebrows contracting together suspiciously.

"Weirdo!" shouted one of the soldiers as the man shed his coat and mask, revealing a large white moogle. Cait Sith slammed both large white fists down on the man's head, sending him to the floor. The others fled the room and Cait raced up to Barret, using a key to remove the Hand cuffs.

"I'm here to help!" he said as Barret rubbed circulation back into his wrists.

"Why you...?" Barret stuttered, "ain't you part of Shinra?"

"Let's just say I'm against capital punishment." He replied sharply, moving to stand beside the now collapsed Scarlet. "Besides... I hate this broad." HE kicked her roughly, "come on, we gotta help Tifa. I'll keep watch at the entrance."

--------------------------

Yuffie was racing down the road, her hair fluttering behind her as she jogged towards a shadowed figure standing, unmoving, on the path filled with screaming, fleeing people.

"VINCENT!" She shouted above the din, watching as the crimson eyes locked on her. She held up a hand and Vincent, having been chosen to do this while the others got the airship, moved towards her with impossible speed. The camera men, who had followed Yuffie, filmed her as she rushed up to greet him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am fine." He replied gruffly, trying to ignore the camera men. He withdrew her shuriken from within his cloak. "I thought you might need this…"

Yuffie reached out to take it from him, her hand brushing his as she clasped the steel right beside his hand.

"Thank you," she whispered. As she moved to withdraw from him, the earth gave a tremendous tremble as Weapon emerged from the water, sending a wave of water down on top of them. Instinctively, Vincent grabbed Yuffie about the waist, moved the shuriken flat against his stomach, and pulled her close while spinning to face his back to the wave.

The wave broke over them, the camera men filming every second as Yuffie and Vincent clung to one another. When the water subsided, Yuffie, soaking wet, peered up at Vincent, nestled perfectly in his arms.

"Thank you…" she whispered, Vincent nodded before leaning towards her ear, eager not to be heard by the prying camera.

"Be careful," he whispered with effort before releasing her and dashing off towards the airstrip.

Yuffie turned to run back the other way, only to be greeted by a camera in her face.

"Alec!" she growled. "What're you doing?"

"We were hired to follow our reporter!" the man with the camera replied, his buddy nodded.

"That's you Shera…" replied the second man, she smiled.

"Then I hope you forgive me when I ditch you, I'm not a reporter." She told them, her left hand holding up her shuriken.

"We realize," Alec told her from behind his camera.

"We wanna help," his friend replied.

"Maybe you can help Cid or somethin'…" she said before taking off again, her camera men in tow.

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Vincent stared in shock as the whole structure shuddered while the Junon Canon fired at Weapon, for a moment even he believed it had worked. But when the dust cleared, Vincent found himself staring up at the form as it approached.

"Leviathan," he whispered as he took off running again.

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Barret and Cait Sith were rushing down the path, past screaming people, both focusing on an alternate route to free Tifa.

"Sure hope she can hold her breath," Cait Sith shouted above the noise. A woman stepped in front of Barret, microphone in hand.

"I know you're in a hurry!" she said, "but, please if I could have a word…"

"Shu'up!" he took a swipe at her as she leapt away from him. "I'm in a hurry!"

"Kiiiiin... Don't make so much noise…" Yuffie growled at him, Alec and his friend filming from near by. "It's me, ME! Yuffie!"

Barret blinked as Yuffie brushed some hair out of her face.

"The hell you doin' here?" He asked, Yuffie opened her mouth to respond when an explosion of sound echoed from the ledge nearby. Rushing towards it, Yuffie saw Weapon rise up once more, glowing with energy as it charged its massive attack.

"I'll explain later!" She hollered, grabbing Barret's arm. "Now we gotta get to the airport!"

And they took off again, following the same route Vincent had just fled down. Bolting down one corridor, then the next, they navigated the complex, every step lined with urgency. They broke through one door onto the open space of the airstrip, Vincent's red cloak flapped about on the deck of one large airship adorned with a woman in a bikini. As Yuffie closed the space between herself and the airship, Weapon released a huge surge of energy towards the building they had just fled.

Someone knocked her to the ground, the breath expelling from her body upon impact. Somewhere above her Vincent was shouting, and suddenly she was being hauled up off the floor by Barret and Alec, all of them running for the same goal.

--------------------------------

Tifa managed to extract herself from the gas chamber with ease, her hair slapping her cheeks as it whipped about her. She climbed down deftly, following her instinct an ignoring the screeching of Scarlet from somewhere above her. When she reached a flat point, she was nearly thrown off balance by the Junon's Canon's second strike, which hit its mark. Right in Weapon's head.

It was slow motion as Tifa watched the creature plummet backwards into the ocean, showering her and everything else with drops or, in some places, waves of salt water.

Dropping down a few more feet, Tifa found herself standing on the canon, her feet slipping slightly on the damp metal as she began towards the edge.

"Our little game of hide and seek ends here. The execution may have been unsuccessful, but your death by falling from here and crashing into the water below still might be pretty exciting." Scarlet shouted as she approached Tifa's back, the girl spun around, her arms held out precariously at either side. Scarlet raised a hand and slapped Tifa hard, turning Tifa's face slightly. "Stuck up to the end!"

She raised her hand to strike again, but Tifa beat her to it by catching her wrist.

"Quit slapping me! You old wench!" She cried out as she struck Scarlet's cheek. So the battle of face slapping began. Eventually Tifa struck
Scarlet a powerful blow that sent her to her butt on the canon.

"God! I can't stand it! Take her away." She waved her hand at Tifa and two soldiers began approaching her. "Now it's time to pay up. I'll really drop you if you don't settle down! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Tifa was shaking, unsure of what to do, when a voice, a familiar baritone voice, echoed in her mind.

"Run... Run to the end of the Cannon!" It said, and Tifa obeyed. Racing to the edge of the canon, Tifa flung herself off the end. Reaching out instinctively her hand caught a rung of the ladder Barret was holding for her, nearly wrenching her shoulder from its socket. Clambering up as best she could, Tifa managed to drag herself over the ledge, right beside Yuffie.

"You okay?" he asked softly, Tifa nodded.

"My cheeks hurt a bit." He raised an eyebrow at her, "forget about that, what's all this about?"

"Well, I'll catch you up on the details later." Cait Sith said, waving his arms about. "In any case, the Airship, Highwind, is now yours."

"Dammit!" he growled. "Why didn't ya tell me you could fly an airship? I thought... Tifa was gone for good."

"Sorry, but I had to do something to trick the enemy." Cait said cheerfully, Yuffie glared at him. "Come on! Everyone is waiting!"

"Everyone?" Tifa's eyes lit up. "Everyone's here?"

The three, and Yuffie, entered the airship, navigating their way into the cockpit.

Yuffie's cameramen, Alec and Merric, were working with Cid, who was teaching Alec to read radar, and Merric how to fly the ship.

"Well Yuffie," he grumbled as they walked in. "Your friends ain't the best fuckin' workers, but they'll do."

Yuffie didn't reply, opting instead to sit down against a machine off the right of the room, near where Alec was working.

"Well where is everyone?" Tifa asked, peering around the room.

"Vincent's lingerin' somewhere 'round the chocobo hold and Red's in the meetin' room gettin' rid of the rest of those damn bows." Cid said as he readjusted Merric's grip on the ship's steering thingy.

"And… Cloud?" she asked, Barret touched her shoulder.

"There's rumor that the life stream bubbles up near Mideel." Cait put in, Yuffie stood up suddenly.

"Before that though," every one looked at her. "I need to go home… to Wutai…"

"Yuffie why?" Tifa asked, Yuffie shook her head.

"I… need to pay my respects to my mother… and… and my father will want to see me." Yuffie stared at them blankly before wandering towards the door.

"Sure Yuffie," Cid said with a nod. "Well you lil' fucker. Set course for Wutai!"

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Author's Note: Well, so here's chapter Seven. Next chapter, Yuffie and Godo! What's with this dysfunctional family? heh, not really, that sounds like a reality show or something...