Lost in the Shadows
Chapter 22 - Reappearances
Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 and its characters, settings or the like. These words, however, are mine.
"I uh... Think this is..." Tifa stuttered, standing up. Reno started walking backwards, pushing her back.
"Loss for words?" Reno grinned. "Hojo liked to boast about this thing. Said it was $&$ powerful."
"You make me feel so much better, as usual." Tifa snapped sarcastically.
"Chill out babe." Reno said, feeling the stairs at the back of his heels. His mind started to try and devise a strategy. It was way too big to fit up the stairway but he was sure it wouldn't have any problem in destroying the wall. He looked around. He really had no idea what it was weak against... at all. In fact, he didn't know anything about it save for it's immense power. At least, that's what Hojo had said.
Well. "Yes, well..." Reno mumbled. They needed to get out of this cramped space and into an open area. Having Cloud and Cait around wouldn't be too bad either.
"Reno..." Tifa said. Reno threw her a glance over his shoulder to let her know he was listening.
"Shouldn't we be trying to do something...? Do you even know what this thing can do?" She asked.
He shook his head. "Not a clue."
"What?" She cried.
The monster let out a feral growl and fell into a pouncing position. It couldn't move any further towards them so Reno guessed it was going to smash the wall.
"RUN!" He yelled, turning around and pushing her forward.
They hadn't gotten very far when the monster had rammed it's body into the wall, once... twice... three times. On it's fourth try it flew forward a little because there was little of the wall left.
Tifa screamed as she fell forward and Reno tripped over her.
"#$&!" Reno swore.
They both hastily got to their feet and began to run again, but the monster was very determined to get to them.
"Oh my god!" Tifa screamed, as the ceiling began to collapse around them.
"#$&!" She heard Reno exclaim from behind her. "Keep running, don't stop. If it caves in then..." Then what? They were damn strong, but they couldn't handle tons of concrete landing on top of them. "Throw yourself against a standing wall."
"What is that going to do?" She said, narrowly missing a rather large chunk of concrete.
"Trust me." Reno yelled back, looking over his shoulder. It was still after them but it was still trying to break down the stairway wall.
They had gotten out of Hojo's labs now but they needed to find another pathway out of the building. They couldn't use the one they had come here from as it was blocked off by rocks.
"Dammit." Tifa said in a drawled voice, panic laced throughout.
"Hey." Reno snapped at her. "We ain't done yet. I ain't a $&$& Turk if I let you $& die so don't start losin' it now."
Tifa watched him sadly but nodded and he saw a bit of determination spark in her eyes. Reno nodded. "Now, babe." He said, looking around. "Which way should we go?"
Tifa looked both left and right, trying to decide. "I don't know..."
Reno stood thinking, trying to ignore the fact that a huge monstrosity was after them but that was short lived when he turned and saw it free of the walls and running straight for them.
He chose the path with the more fresh air and decided to go on instinct.
"Left!" Reno yelled to her, urging her forward.
They ran, to where they didn't know. The only hoped they'd find a way out or meet up with their comrades.
Cloud looked up at the ceiling as it started to cave slightly. Smaller rocks and dust were falling and he'd heard -- and felt -- the load roar and the jerk of the building. Cait was looking around anxiously and walking close to Cloud's leg.
"This can't be good..." He said lightly.
"No, it can't." Cloud answered him. He started a bit when Cait jumped on his shoulder and moved closer to his head. He rolled his eyes before walking on.
"If this thing caves, Cloud..." Cait said, looking at the walls. "We won't make it out alive..."
Cloud became a little annoyed at how pessimistic Cait was being but brushed it off. It wasn't worth it. Instead, he walked at a more brisk pace, hoping to run into Reno and Tifa.
"Cid!" Yuffie yelled, waving her arms at the landing Sierra. She smiled and ran over to the ship, Sephiroth following with less exuberance. "HI!" Yuffie screamed when they started walking down the ramp towards them.
"How'd it go brat?" Cid said, taking out a cigarette only to have it knocked out of his hands by Aerith. He looked at her, pouting, before he let it go.
"Awesome! All of Wutai is on our side, knowing about Sephiroth." She smiled happily. Cid watched her skeptically, knowing there had to be something more behind it. "And...?" He asked.
She got a confused look. "And what...?"
Cid shook his head. "Nothin'."
"What do you mean, Wutai is on our side?" Vincent asked.
Yuffie turned towards him. "Oh." She thought for a second. "I went around to every house in Wutai with Sephiroth and my gramma Nita. We explained Sephiroth's prescence and he explained a few things about the war and his place in it..." She trailed off. "They understand and they're willing to help us in any way whenever we need it!" She ended happily.
"Wutain War?" Rude queried. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"I did some things I am hardly proud of back then." Sephiroth said, ending the discussion.
They stood in silence for a moment before Aerith spoke up. "I think we should get going." She turned and walked into the Sierra, not waiting for anyone else to follow her.
Sephiroth and Yuffie raised their eyebrows at everyone else and they shrugged. "Been kinda outta it since we got back." Barret supplied, not too sure of the answer himself.
Red moved in closer and spoke. "I think she is worried about something." He spoke quietly, like he didn't want anyone to hear. "I can't explain it, but I almost feel the same way." He said, shifting his eyes .
"What do you mean?" Yuffie chirped loudly.
Red shook his head. "I'm not sure."
"Maybe the Planet let her know something. She has gotten into the habit of keeping things from us lately." Vincent said.
"Not on purpose!" Yuffie scolded him. "She was worried about us! I wouldn't want to be the one to break that kind of news to you guys either, you know. And Aerith is like..." Yuffie motioned to them. "You know what I mean."
More silence filled the air.
"Nuff of this depressing talk--"
"You're right Cid!" Yuffie said, walking over to him and slapping him on the back. "Shouldn't you be expecting a PHONE CALL anyday now?"
"Huh? What're you spouting off now, brat." Cid asked, taking out another cigarette now that Aerith was gone.
"I mean, do you ever phone HER?" Yuffie accused. "Huh? HUH?"
"#!" Cid cursed.
"You're gonna be FATHER CID soon." Yuffie said.
"She's right." Red said, looking up at Cid. Seeing his expression, he grinned lazily. "Don't tell me you forgot about dear Shera?"
Cid sputtered, turning red in the face before turning around. "Don't know what the &$ you're talking about!"
"Aha! So you DID! Poor Shera..." Yuffie said.
Cid turned around to give Yuffie a piece of his mind when the phone rang.
"See. I am legendary, I know. Please, please, you're embarrassing me." Yuffie said, sighing dramatically.
Cid mumbled something incoherent before picking up the phone. "Cid $&$ Highwind."
"CID!" Tifa shouted from the other end, sounding completely out of breath.
"Tifa?" He asked. "What the $& is goin' on?"
"Cid, please, get out here --" A scream was heard and a load roar filled Cid'sears. Something smashed.
"Tifa, shit, what the--"
"Reno, get off me you--"
"I told you to get against the wall, dammit!" Reno's voice could be heard.
"Shut up you... You're crushing me, you idiot!"
"I'm saving your ass here!" He yelled back.
Tifa sighed. "Cid, please, get out here. Get to the Shinra building! There's a huge monster. It's following us--"
"RUN, dammit."
"It came from the labs. We were split up and it's just the two of us! Please..."
"I'm on my #$&$$ way!" Cid said, hanging up the phone.
Yuffie looked scared. "What's wrong?"
Cid beckoned them towards the ship and he ran inside. "Tifa and Reno are in $& trouble. Some huge ass monster is out for 'em."
"Where's Cloud and Cait?" Red asked, running up beside him.
"They got split up, don't know the #&$& details."
He got to the controls and made a final announcement before taking off, "hold onto your $&$& drawers, this is gonna be one hell of a $ ride!"
"We're almost out!" Reno told Tifa, trying to get her to move faster. She had been hit in the shoulder by a piece of debris and the pain was hindering her pace.
"You aren't the one who was hit by falling concrete, you ass." She ground out.
Man she was cranky when she got hit.
"Whatever babe. I told you to get against the wall."
"I was BUSY! I was making a phone call that could mean the difference between our living or dying!" She yelled.
He snorted. "Can't you multi task?"
Tifa stopped running. "Don't make me use my limit on you, I'll kick you scrawny butt from here to..."
"Hey, hey." Reno said, stopping as well. "If you have to use a limit on anyone, use it on that thing!" He said, pointing to the monster who was now extremely close to them.
Tifa nodded. "Great idea!" She turned around to face the monster.
"Wow, wow, WOW!" He said, grabbing her arm. "I meant, after we get outta here!"
Tifa spared him a glance before retrieving her elbow from him and falling into her battle stance. Reno started to panic.
"H-hey! Don't do anythin--" Tifa ran forward. "rash...?"
She executed a powerful few punches before somersaulting in the air, kicking the monster. It howled in pain but bared it's teeth, trying to scare her off. Tifa would have none of that. She kicked the monster and it was sent backwards a little bit, dazed. With amazing new found strength, she picked the monstrosity up off the ground before slamming it into the concrete below them. A swift uppercut was all that was needed to knock it off it's feet. It tried to rush at her but she managed to hold it at bay for a moment with her hands before picking it up and jumping into the air. It's weight pulled her down a little but she pulled off the move successfully, watching as the fiend hit the ground with a deafening crack. Landing ninja style, she immediately stood, pulling back her fist. Running at her full speed, she flew forward, slamming her fist into the monster creating a giant blast. She flipped backwards, away from the monster to land beside Reno.
He didn't know what else to do so he simply gawked at her.
"What the, how did you --" Reno sputtered.
Tifa gave a half hearted shrug. "That should take care of it for a while." She grinned at him, flexing her shoulder muscles. "I feel much better now." She took off at a run and Reno held back a little bit before following.
They ran and they ran, trying to find any possible exit. They were finally coming to a fork in the hall when Tifa collided with someone coming from the opposite direction. Reno tripped and fell into a wall.
"Why... WHY do I keep DOING that? &$$&&&! Where's the $&$ beer when I need it!" Reno swore.
Tifa untangled herself from her victim and put a hand to her head. "Oh man..." She groaned. She got a groan in response. Her eyes snapped open. She didn't need to see anything else but the spiky blonde hair. "Cloud!"
He looked up at her slowly. "Tifa...?"
Tifa lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him. "Are you okay? You're not hurt are you? I'm so sorry!"
Cloud waved it off. "S'ok. But what's going on? Why were you running so fast?"
Tifa stood up quickly, pulling Cloud up with her. "We need to get out of here!" She said, tugging him along.
"Why?"
She looked back at Reno who was still sitting against the wall, sulking. She looked around for a sign of Cait but found nothing.
"Hey... Where's Cait Sith?" She asked.
Cloud looked around, finally noticing his companion missing. "I don't know..."
A small whimper came from not too far away. Tifa went to move but Reno stopped her. "Tell him what's going on... I'll look for that damn cat."
Tifa nodded and started explaining. "We found Hojo's lab but we didn't actually find anything there. We stumbled across a secret passage and dared to go down." She sighed. "There were a few books in there and we assumed it was important but didn't look. We went further down the passage and found this huge fiend staring back at us."
Cloud looked shocked. "Well, where is it now?"
"Your girlfriend kicked it's ass, yo."
Cloud looked to Tifa questioningly. She nodded.
"I was about to use my limit break on Reno but..." She shrugged smirking. "He had another idea. It's back there, but I think I managed to knock it out." She said. "For now."
"Then we'd better get out of here."
They all nodded and Reno picked Cait Sith out from under a piece of rubble. "You still alive? Damn."
Sephiroth had wandered the ship, searching for his petite comrade.
Why?
He had no idea. All he knew was that there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head. A nagging feeling to make sure she was alright. Her safety and well being had taken quite the priority with him, he noticed.
It was hard though. Everytime he saw her, he felt a wave of guilt and wished to be anywhere but near her. He still saw flashes of Nibelheim, crucial points of his previous journey with 'mother'... None had he seen so vividly as the time he had killed her.
He just couldn't understand how she could forgive him so easily. She had had things in her last life. A possible direction of love, great friends, a connection to the Planet. Sure, she had those things now... But her friends and even he noticed she wasn't like she used to be. Shrouded in darkness, she kept things to herself. Someone so innocent like her, shouldn't have had to go through the things she did... The things that she would.
What of himself? Would he have an unexpected relapse of insanity? Tifa, Cid and Yuffie had befriended him, much to his unexplained liking. What if he hurt them in some way?
He continued walking down the hallway at a slow pace, letting the dark thoughts take hold of him for a moment. Further... Further... Where his steps were taking him, he didn't know.
He was about to walk out the door to the railing of the ship when he heard someone singing. He stood and listened to the quiet melody, letting it lull him. He leaned on the doorway and watched as Aerith let herself be lost in the world of music, cleansing her thoughts... His thoughts.
A sudden jerk of the ship caught him off guard.
"$&#$." Cid cursed, looking out of the window in front of him. He could just see his friends standing outside of the Shinra building, appearing out of breath and strained. He watched as the ground beneath them shook and they turned their heads, shocked, towards the aforementioned building.
"Hey, you $$&$! Stop running!" He yelled through his intercom systemwhen they started to depart at a fast pace from the building. Tifa looked up and saw the Sierra. She held her arm out to stop Cloud from running past her and she pointed to the ship that was now just above them.
"What's going on?" Yuffie said, running into the room with Vincent.
"Found em." Cid answered, motioning his head toward the window.
Yuffie ran over and glimpsed outside, immediately noticing something was wrong. She voiced her thoughts. "Cid... Something's wrong..."
Vincent walked over. Yuffie looked up at him. "Look at Teef's face..." Vincent nodded in response.
"What do ya mean, somthing's wrong." Cid snapped. "They look perfectly #&$ fine to..." Cid trailed off, gaping at something before him. Yuffie squealed in horror and Vincent, as usual, stood there not giving any indication of what he was feeling.
A huge monster had just broken through the top of the Shinra building, being the one thing to finally destroy the building once and for all. The rubble on top of it was paid no heed as it began to soar upwards. Tifa and Reno were staring with their eyes nearly out of their sockets.
"It can fly?" Yuffie screamed. "Cid, do something!" She urged.
"I can't $& fly that &$$ fast!" He yelled back at her, trying to do multiple things at a time. "$&$! Hang on $# tight!"
Vincent pulled Yuffie away from the window just in time to save them from the flying shards of glass that sprayed through the air when the monster collided with the side of the ship.
"Oh my god!" Yuffie yelled.
"Damn, $&$ fiend! $! $&$&$&!" He cursed, furious at the possible damage inflicted upon his baby.
"It's a damn ship, you moron!" Yuffie yelled, aggravated.
"Now is not the time to quarrel amongst yourselves." Vincent said, earning a glare from Yuffie. "Steer the ship as best you can and try not to get too far away. Yuffie, let's go."
Yuffie huffed, crossing her arms. "Fine, Mr. I-know-everything."
Vincent sent her a glance before jumping out of the window and onto the top of the ship.
Yuffie grinned and walked over. "Show off..." She mumbled. "See ya, old fart!" She said, waving at Cid before following after Vincent.
The Sierra jerked to the side and Aerith went flying forward-- right into the railing. Shegroaned when her stomach made a sharp impact with the railing. Amazingly she managed to stop herself from flipping right over and she began to move away but something she saw made her freeze on the spot.
Toyori was soaring up towards her, knife in hand, grinning like a total madman. Aerith forced herself backwards, trying to stay on her feet but the Sierra was jerking around too much. She fell to her feet and looked up to find Toyori stood directly above her.
"Well, well..." Toyori smirked, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her roughly to her feet. At the sight of Sephiroth righting himself he pulled her back towards his chest and took out a sharp blade, holding it to her throat. Sephiroth's eyes hardened when he saw this and he began to step closer.
"No, no, no..." Toyori said, pressing the blade to her throat. "I wouldn't advise that."
Sephiroth stopped moving forward and watched him with eerie eyes.
"You realize, this is the end for you and your little... party." He sneered.
Sephiroth scoffed.
"Think it's... funny...?" Toyori said, moving the blade across her throat only slightly, but still drawing the tiniest amount of blood. Aerith whimpered slightly in his grasp. He gained the reaction that he had been aiming for from Sephiroth.
"I suggest you step away from the girl." He said coldly. "Or I can guarantee you this will be where you fall."
"You're in no position to make threats, dear general."
He looked behind him at Sephiroth's comrades, trying to fight off the flying beast. "Quite a fun little toy, isn't it?" He said, motioning towards the fiend. "I can say this; it was unexpected but definitely a grand addition to this little visit."
His eyes glowed a brilliant blue for a second before returning back to their original colour. Sephiroth looked in confusion for a second before someone appeared in front of him.
Reno ran forward, his nightstick upraised before he stopped and looked around him. "Where'd it go..."
Toyori chuckled. "I brought you here, because I thought you might like to... collect something of yours." He said, an odd gleam in his eye.
Reno's gaze turned murderous at the sight of Toyori.
Toyori smirked and his eyes glowed again, but this time, someone unexpected showed up, slumped on the floor in front of them.
A small blonde haired woman, long gone from the world of the living, lay before them.