I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL FINAL FANTASY 7 CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(

Chapter Seven

Return to WRO Headquarters

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Claire's shout was ripped from her throat as she jerked into a sitting position.
"Jeez, sorry. I was just trying to help."

The voice made Claire's head come back and she took a look around. She was in the Shadowfox again, traveling to somewhere. Back to Headquarters, no doubt. Turning her head, Claire found Vincent, still sleeping on the bench across from her and the hooded figure from before beside her. She stared at the figure for a moment before giving a small smile.

"Yuffie. It's good to see you again."

"It's only been a couple of months since our last contact," The ninja smiled. "Miss me that much?"

"Of course," the Strife replied. She lifted her hand and rubbed the back of her neck. That woman, Rosso, had she really injected something into her? Should she say something about it? With what happened last time, if she did tell them, then Reeve would try to find a way to take it out. That meant that Vincent was going to have to go on without her as tests were being performed. That made her decision. She had just got Vincent back. There was no way that she was going to let him get away a third time.

"Morning!" Yuffie's voice caught Claire's attention and she turned to see that Vincent was now awake too.

"Vincent, you okay?"

"Claire…where…?"

"The Shadowfox," She answered him.

"Who are you?" Vincent looked at the hooded woman.

"Well, I'm glad you asked."

"Oh Lord," Claire sighed.

"I am the Champion of the earth and the sky. I am the conqueror of evil! The single white rose of Wutai." She ripped her cloak off and struck a pose. "Yuffie Kisaragi! Feast your eyes on-" Claire laughed as Yuffie fell backwards and hit her head on the control board.

Vincent stared at her for a moment. "So, where are we?"

"C'mon, aren't you at least a little concerned!?" The ninja demanded.

"Huh. Yuffie. It's been a while. How's your head?"

"Oh, you…could you at least pretend to be sympathetic? Both of you!" Yuffie growled at Claire as she continued to laugh. Yuffie wore a black and white headband, long black socks with yellow, knee-high shoes with a pair of khaki shorts. She wore a tank top with flower designs and a sleeveless, unzipped, gray hoodie. Vincent went to sit up but Yuffie pushed him back down. "Hey, take it easy. That was a big wound you had in your chest."

"A hole in my chest?"

"Compliments of Rosso," Claire told him.

"I seriously thought you were a goner," The ninja decided to say. "But then the wound healed itself right up. You were always 'different' but I guess that's why you're still breathing."

He was silent for a moment before looking back at the ninja. "Yuffie, what are you doing here?"

"Me? I'm just helping out Reeve and his game. I was poking around in Nibelheim and I found you looking corpselike in ShinRa Manor as Claire here fought that red-head. So, I saved you guys! Imagine that-me, saving the great Vincent Valentine and Claire Strife. Do I get any thinks?"

"Just don't tell Zeke," Claire sighed. "I'll never hear the end of it." Yuffie laughed.

Vincent couldn't help but pull out a small smile. "Thanks Yuffie."

Claire's phone went off as Yuffie continued. It was a text from Jeanne.

ON MY WAY

She felt tears rise up and she quickly wiped them away. Jeanne was on her way. Claire felt relief pass through her. Jeanne was always there for her when she came across problems and with Jeanne, Cloud came as well. Without the two of them, Claire didn't know what she would do.

"Vincent and Claire have come to?" Reeve's relieved voice brought Claire's attention to the screen that Yuffie had pulled up. "Excellent. I have some good news. Using you-know-who, I was able to infiltrate Midgar. However, what I saw wasn't the prettiest of pictures."

"Of course not," Claire waved a hand. "Were you expecting it to be?"

After Reeve explained what he found, Vincent told him what they had learned from Rosso.

"Omega. I should have known. We cannot let them sacrifice the lives of anymore people. Once we've gathered our forces, we'll launch a full offensive. Of course, we'll require the help of you three as well." Please hurry back to headquarters."

"Just so you know," Claire smiled. "I just got a message from Jeanne. The others are on their way as well."

Reeve smiled. "Good. Good. Oh, I'm analyzing the data files you sent earlier. I should have results soon. Tuesti out."

"There you have it," Yuffie began. "I don't know what's going down, but it sounds big. I've been waiting a long time to get my hands on these Deepground punks. They're had their way long enough. Now it's time to give them a taste of Pain a la Yuffie. Just give me 3 minutes with those guys. No, make it two! Well, maybe 3 or 4. I t really depends on how man there are. If there's five I could probably take them in 2." Claire shook her head as the ninja continued. How she and Renee were related Claire did not know.

"We'll be arriving shortly." The driver told them.

"Good," Claire grinned. "I'm starving."

"You're always hungry." Yuffie decided to tease.

"Are you kidding me? Zeke is the food hound, not me. But he's nowhere near as bad as Zack…" Her voice faltered at that moment as memories flooded her mind of the said SOLDIER they had lost all those years ago.

"What the hell!?"

The car shook. Claire held onto the seat but Yuffie didn't, resulting in her falling and whacking her head against the controls again, this time a lot harder; she was knocked out.

"What in the world happened?" She wondered. It then hit her. "Please, not again." Vincent opened the doors and they found a pair of enemy Sweeper drones waiting for them. "Dammit." She hissed. These drones were nothing for the two of them and were taken care of quickly and easily. "If they're here then they're at the base, too!" Claire told her companion. Vincent agreed and then began to lead the way. The woman turned to the WRO driver that had decided to join them towards the end of the fight. "Take care of Yuffie."

"Right away, ma'am!" he gave a salute. "I shall fix the Shadow Fox and return to base as soon as possible. Just…just go save the others."

"Of course." Claire nodded before moving after her partner.

They found a Deepground camp but a group of bugs took care of that. Guess they didn't like their territory being invaded. Some more of those hounds had attacked them but there was really nothing to worry about until they hit the Headquarters. There were some WRO members out there taking care of some Deepground soldiers and some enemy choppers.

"Why? Why are there always choppers?" Claire sighed.

"Help with the ground unit," Vincent told the woman beside him as he took aim at the choppers. "I'll take care of them."

"You got it." She grinned, pulling out her sword. The men were easy to take care of since there weren't any reinforcements dropping down from the choppers but the mobile units were the real problem here, anyway.

"Just how many of these damn things are there?" Claire had grabbed one of the fallen enemies rockets and was using that to fire. A few of the WRO members were helping her hold it as the others ran through the fallen enemies, gathering ammo for her and reloaded the launcher. Vincent had taken down a few of them by the time they joined in and overall the number of choppers turned out to be 15.

"Thank you, Sir Valentine, Lady Strife." One of the men saluted to them.

Claire flushed. "Please, just Claire."

"O-of course." He smiled at her, resulting in Vincent frowning. "The enemy has-" His radio cut him off as it gave off cries for help. His face paled.

"You and your men follow us inside and cover us." Claire gave off orders. "These bastards think that they can attack us for a second time? Let's show them just what we WRO members can do!"

"R-right. Yeah. Yeah! Let's go, men!" The man called out. The members all gave shouts of agreement and rushed towards the gate.

"Motivation? From you?" Vincent asked.

"Well, I didn't see you doing anything," Claire teased, moving after the members. "Come on, Vincent. Let's go kick some more ass!"

The Deepground soldiers were all over the place. Claire nearly got shot multiple times but it seemed that Vincent was always there to keep that from happening. They found more WRO members along the way that joined up with their group, making them turn into a little army-like set as they reached the doors they needed to get into the Headquarters with a few more Deepground soldiers in the way and another robot.

"Another Black Widow? Really?" Claire shook her head as they all paused for a moment, glaring at the other group. "Don't you guys have something else to use? You should take a hint; if it lost last time what makes you think it'll win the second time?" With that, the next step in the battle took place. The WRO members were like ants, climbing all over the enemy and taking them down as Claire and Vincent easily took the second Black Widow down; much easier than the first one had been. When the enemy fell that gave them free entrance into the building.

Headquarters was in ruins. Stairs had tumbled due to enemy rockets and only a few WRO members were left inside. The reinforcements that Claire and Vincent brought with them seemed to turn the tides though and resulted in WRO retaking the floors.

Pleased and sure that they could handle themselves now, Claire and Vincent hurried off to try and find Reeve and Barry. Instead, they found something that they hadn't been expecting.

Not At All.

"What the hell?" Vincent and Claire echoed eachother as the creature moved down the hall, slashing through some of the WRO members that were shooting it. It was like a mix between a dinosaur and a…Claire didn't know.= and something told her that she didn't want to know.

"Azul." They turned to see Shelke and Shalua standing behind them.

"You mean to tell me that ogre turned into THAT!?" Claire stared at it, wide-eyes still. "How in the fuc-" Cerberus' fires cut off her words but the bullets rebounded off of the creature. "All right, let's try this then." Claire ran forward, her blade ready. She flipped over the claws as they slashed at her and she brought her sword down on its back. Static formed where she hit as she tried to force her way through what appeared to be a shield but in the end she was sent flying back into the wall. "Well, that didn't work," She commented to herself as she pushed herself up, shaking her head to rid herself of the stars she was seeing.

Shalua tried to help but got hit and hard. Vincent was next and then Shelke.

"What in the hell? I thought you were partners!" Claire cried as she gripped her sword again. She was trying to think of a way to break through the shield. ~Dammit, Jeanne would know what to do!~ She hissed to herself. ~Just think, Claire. You can do this!~

Shelke dodged another attack and then pulled something out of her pocket and held it up in front of her and the creature. Azul couldn't move. "The extreme potency of this shield Materia is compatible to that of your barrier field, Azul." There was a flash and the man was standing there again.

"Shelke? Why do you stand in my way?" He demanded.

Shelke sighed and put her shield away. "I had to protect myself. You were trying to kill me."

"Hmm. Then now is the time." He went to hit her again but she was too fast.

~What is going on?~ Claire didn't know what to do. Vincent was pushing himself back to his feet, watching the conversation just like she was.

"You are no longer required." Azul told her.

"No longer…"

"You are no different from the others. You weak body is nothing without Mako. Your only skill is collecting data from inside a virtual reality. It makes me sick to even think of you as a member of the Tsviets."

~ouch~ Claire winced.

"Weiss has ordered your termination." Azul continued.

Shelke took a step back. "Weiss?" She sounded shocked.

"Your mission was to identify and locate the Keeper of the Protomateria. That is why we uploaded the doctor's data into your neural network. But now we no longer need it. And we cannot let it fall into the hands of the WRO. Hmph. Your fate has been decided, Shelke. It is time for you to return to the planet."

"I think it's time to get out of here!" Claire called as Shelke pulled out her shield again.

Shalua grabbed her sister and opened a doorway. Claire and Vincent went right through but Shelke struggled.

"Let go of me."

"I don't think so. We have 10 years to catch up on. I'm not going to let it end here."

"Shit!" Claire and Vincent both tried to pry the door open more but it wouldn't mover. "Where's Barret when you need him?"

"Why are you doing this?" Shelke asked.

"You can still fit through." Shalua told her sister. "Go on." She pushed her through. "Shelke, I'm sorry I' Im' sorry I wasn't a better sister." The door began to crush the metal arm. "I'm sorry I let you suffer for so long. Vincent, Claire. Take care of her, will you?"

Vincent was still trying to pull the door open. "Wait-"

"Shelke, I'm glad that I was able to find you." The door continued to close. "And remember, I'll always love you."

"No!" Claire cried as the door sht. Vincent slammed his fists against it.

"Why?" Shelke sounded stunned and confused. There was a loud thud from the other side and Claire closed her eyes as a pool of blood began to seep through. "Why did she…? Why? Shalua…" There was another thud.

Vincent grabbed Shelke's hand and led the way down the hall.

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