Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it! :D

Also, I have a story up now that's called "Fields of Gold." The main character is still Rufus, and it will center on his relationship with people after he finds out he's sick. Please go take a read if you have a chance.

Please review if ya can! :D

-Crimson

Redemption

Chapter Nine – Can't Go Back

"Let. Me. Go." Cloud's voice was quiet, and despite his deflated figure he still held the same eyes and enough strength in him to make the two people holding him back struggle. Sephiroth stared at the blonde while Vincent and Tseng held onto both his arms, trying their best to restrain him.

The silver headed man was on the other side of the room leaning against the wall, not because he was scared of the blonde, but because he didn't want to have to hurt him. He was all for a healthy fight, but with Cloud in the state he was in, it just didn't seem fair.

Cloud had woken up just as Tseng had confirmed that he thought that his connection was broken after passing out from the shock. He had stared at Sephiroth and in a matter of seconds he had been on his feet and ready to fight. Thankfully Vincent and Tseng had reacted quickly enough to grab him, and now they were standing there staring at each other.

Cloud's blue eyes stared right into Sephiroth's green ones, and despite the fact that the ex general knew he should try to be civil, he couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to rattle the blonde's cage. He just made it so easy. "Your friend's say hello." He said after a moment of silence.

"You son of a bitch!" He tried to break free of the duo that were hanging onto him, "You have no right to talk about my friends." The ex General saw despair fill the other man's eyes with the mention of friends, and he almost felt guilty.

He was right; he didn't really have a right to, but despite the fact he couldn't help but want to aggravate the man in front of him. Sephiroth looked at Vincent and then Tseng, having a small idea. "Let him go." Vincent gave him a puzzled look, and Tseng merely shook his head. "I'll duel you Cloud, but if I win you have to stand down." He kicked himself off the wall he was leaning on, and then took a step forward.

"No."

"We can either put you back to sleep, or you can accept my deal." He raised an eyebrow, and he could see the gears in the blonde's head turning. "You beat me twice haven't you? What's the harm?"

"Three. I've beaten you three times." Cloud said while taking a deep breath.

Sephiroth thought back, and realized the blonde was right. He had beaten him three times, once in the reactor, once at the northern crater, and then with the advent incident. He grinned at the man in front of him, "Alright, shall we go outside?"

Rufus wasn't sure if beer had been such a good idea.

They were all back at the Turk's lounging area at the WRO, and even though it had been nice to just hang out with his Turks, it had also made him more aware of the fact that Tseng was gone. He had volunteered to be the designated driver once they had made their way into a random bar, mainly because he thought the other three deserved to relax.

"I haven't seen him relax so much since before you were gone." Elena's voice broke through his thoughts and he looked over at Reno, who was passed out on the couch snoring lightly. "He was so worried, we all were, but he was especially. We had already lost you once before…so none of us were sure what to think."

Rufus nodded, and tried not to think about the previous time he had been kidnapped while he had geostigma. He looked at the woman who was sitting in front of him. She had changed so much, and even though she still had the same nervous core, she had relaxed quite a bit. She had joked around with everyone, and what made Rufus feel terrible was the fact that he knew that all she wanted to do was ask him where Tseng was, but she hadn't and even though he was glad, he also felt like he owed her an answer.

He owed everyone an answer.

"I'm…I'm glad that you're back sir." Her voice was quiet, and when he looked over at her he saw that she had her brown eyes casted down, "I don't know what happened, or where you were, or who did it – but I'm glad you're back." He could see the tears she tried to hold back, and he felt like he was being stabbed. "I just wish…I just wish I could have prevented it."

He stared at her, and had to replay what she said over in her head. She was upset because she couldn't do anything about it? He tried to think of something to say, but just the thought of her blaming herself made him speechless.

"If we would have gotten there sooner, then we could have saved you. Then Tseng probably wouldn't have gone missing." Her voice cracked at her fiancé's name, and the ex president lowered his gaze to the ground. "I just – everything happened so fast. We were afraid to leave each other's side, because the question of 'who's next' would always haunt us. Reno was the one who wasn't scared – he went all over the world, and when we asked him why, he said 'if I do get kidnapped, I'll know where he is, and then I'll break out.'" She laughed and then shook her head, "I don't think he ever realized that if they had Tseng, Strife, and Valentine as well, there was no way he'd escape."

Rufus looked over at where Reno was sleeping, and he felt a small tug at his heart. He had wanted to get kidnapped. He wanted to save him and everyone else so bad, that he had been willing to get captured. The idea made Rufus angrier than he expected, and he took a deep breath to calm himself down. He shouldn't have been surprised that Reno would be so reckless, but just the idea of the red head being captured and put through what he had gone through made his blood boil.

Rufus looked at Elena, who was staring at Reno as well. She looked so much older, and so much more mature than what he remembered. She and Tseng had finally made it official that they were dating, and he remembered thinking that it seemed strange. It was almost as strange and Kisaragi and Valentine – however it made sense; they completed each other in ways that the other one lacked. Elena glanced over at him then, and raised an eyebrow.

"Is everything alright?"

Rufus nodded, "Yeah." He looked over at Reno, "I just can't believe how much things have changed."

"I agree." Her voice was quiet, and when he looked over at her he saw that her eyes were cast down. "A lot has changed." She looked up at Rufus then, and she gave him a small smile. "It'll get better though, it already has."

Even though he knew her words were half hearted, he couldn't help the warm feeling fill his chest. Part of him couldn't understand why they all cared about him, he had put them through so much, and he still was. He had sent them on missions that had probably scarred them, and even though he wouldn't admit it, there was a part of him that was no better than the Organization.

"That son of a bitch!"

The scream echoed through the caverns, and despite trying to stay calm he couldn't stop himself from shaking from anger. He stood in front of the cell that had held his prize possessions, and he had to clench his fists together so he wouldn't attack someone.

"There was nothing we could do – we – he was too strong –I, I'm sorry"

"Shut. Up." The other man standing next to him quickly shut his mouth.

"He will pay." His voice was quiet, "I promised that I would protect this planet, protect the Goddess and I won't tolerate him interfering." He took a step back and glanced at all the other people he had captured, they were staring at him with wide eyes, almost like they couldn't fathom who they were looking at. "All of you!" He glanced at all of them, "You will feel the pain that you have caused the planet – taking its life. You will feel the Goddess pain and you will give it back what belongs to it."

"I – I thought you were dead." A small voice whispered, and when he glanced over at who was addressing him he smiled. An old man stood there shaking with his hands clasped on the bars containing him.

He walked up to him slowly, "Do I look dead?" His voice was quiet, and when he was not more than a foot away from the old man he smirked.

"You were a part of SOLDIER – you're supposed to protect the people."

"I protect the planet." He smiled at the old man and then turned behind him to his guard, "I have no use for him, get rid of him now." He started to walk away, but was stopped in his tracks when the old man spoke again.

"He was here; he's already shown you that he's not scared. He's mocked you because he knows you're weak. He walked in your territory and saved some of us – he'll beat you. Sephiroth will protect us."

He turned around and glared at the old man who seemed to be mocking him. "You think that maniac will save you?" he laughed at the thought, "He's nothing more than a washed up, pathetic psychopath." He couldn't stop his anger from rising with the thought of Sephiroth. Protect? That was a joke – that man didn't care about anything but himself. "He'll pay too – out of everyone, he is the one who's caused the most pain, and I promise I will make him feel every ounce of what he's caused." He began to walk away, "Kill him, now."

A scream filled the caverns as Genesis Rhapsodos walked away, and even though he felt his skin crawl from the sound, he wouldn't stop until the planet was cleansed of all that had hurt it - all that had stolen from it.

He didn't want to say that he had been overconfident, but in the end he knew he wasn't going to lose. Sephiroth looked down at the man who was lying on the ground, looking up at him with a sword directed at his throat. The silver headed man couldn't help but like the sight a little bit, and he grinned at the blonde whose glare never faltered.

"Enough." Vincent Valentine's voice broke through the think tension that had settled over them. Sephiroth took a step back and sheathed his sword, the smirk never leaving his lips.

Cloud stood up shakily, and looked over at the gunslinger. "You can't expect me to accept this." His voice was quiet, and he then looked over at Sephiroth, whose arms were now crossed over his chest.

"We have to, for now." Vincent's voice held no real emotion, and he then turned his back toward the duo and walked back toward Icicle Inn.

Sephiroth stared at the man who was standing in front of him. Slowly the smirk fell from his face, and he felt something stir in his chest. Cloud was staring at him as well, his breathing was rigid and after a few moments he realized that the blonde was shaking.

"You've taken so much, and you don't even care." Cloud's voice was quiet, and he cast his eyes to the ground. "I used to think that maybe you had just gone insane – but look at you, you don't care about anything." He laughed and then shook his head violently, "You've hurt so many, and you haven't even thought twice about it.

Sephiroth continued to stare at him. All feeling of triumph was gone, and he was left feeling cold. His cat like green eyes blinked and he broke his eye contact. He looked at the mountains that were off in the distance, and forced himself not to feel.

"You killed my family, you burned my home to the ground…" Cloud's shaking was worse now, and his blue eyes were shinning with a new found vengeance, "You're the reason Zack died." Sephiroth felt a small tug in his chest with the mention of the other SOLDIER, "You killed Aerith." His voice was barely audible then, and Sephiroth kept his face blank. "And you have the nerve to 'save' me, and then spit in my face."

The ex General took a deep breath, and brought his eyes back to look at the blonde. He thought over all the things that had just been said, and he found that he felt oddly numb. "Do you think that I wanted to do all those things?" His voice was quiet, but steady.

"I don't care whether you wanted to or not, you did." Cloud took a few steps forward, "I don't care why it happened, I don't care what you wanted, because I was left with nothing! I couldn't do anything." Cloud's voice cracked, "I don't care who sent you, you will always be nothing but a monster."

"Have you ever stopped and considered that it wasn't me who did all those things?" Sephiroth gritted his teeth, trying to keep his composure. He wasn't used to all the emotions that had started to swirl around in his chest – he wasn't used to feeling.

Cloud stared at him, exasperated. "What the fuck does that even mean!? I watched you kill! I watched you destroy everything!" He took another few steps toward Sephiroth, to where there wasn't even a foot separating them "I watched you scream and holler 'Mother, Mother' over and over again to an entity that isn't even your fucking mother!" Cloud's voice was reaching new heights. "You took everything from me."

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. Snow was starting to fall gently, and after a few moments of staring at the blonde who was staring at him, almost like he was waiting for something. The silver headed man blinked, and slowly he took a step forward, walking past Cloud and toward the Icicle Inn. He didn't have to deal with all of that, he had come back to save the planet, and that was what he would do.

He wasn't there to deal with actions that he had no control in.

"Sephiroth."

He turned around then, and looked at Cloud who was looking at him as well. They stared at each other for a few moments, almost as if both of them weren't aware of what to do next.

"If there's any part of you that has humanity left, I hope that one day you feel how you've made me feel. I hope you lose everything, and I hope that you have to watch helplessly as it happens." The blonde's voice was even and steady once again, and he turned to face the other man completely.

Sephiroth grinned, and then shook his head, "What you're unaware of Cloud, is that I already have." He turned around then and continued to walk toward the Inn. He shut all of his emotions off, and walked inside, making himself forget about the whole conversation.

Sephiroth still had humanity, but he had shut it down. He didn't want to feel.

I know that not a lot happened, but I really felt like I needed to get out who exactly was the head of the Organization. I also hope that you liked the scene between Cloud and Sephiroth, because I kept going over it, and I really think that something Cloud has needed is to explode and for once just get everything he's felt out.

I'm sorry this took so long. I'll work on the next chapter tonight, and try to get it posted soon. Moving and job hunting as really been consuming my time. Sorry!

Please Review~

-Crimson