Yay I am alive! Ok so this took a lot longer than I thought it would…sorry…things just got a little crazy for awhile but it's all good now I think. I can't guarantee that I'll spit out another batch of chapters quickly like I did at the very beginning because I have so much work, my head implodes on a daily basis. . And yes, I do mean implode. I don't know why I just like that word.

…Me: owns nothing. Square Enix: owns a crapload of stuff. Ok so I own Missy and Skye, so I do own something. Sorta. Meh. Go read the chapter, more notes at the end.

Chapter Fourteen-

I pushed Cloud aside and walked to the corner with folded arms.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I just don't want to get so attached to you…it'll only cause more pain."

The truth of the matter was I was scared to get close to another man. Cause you know it worked so well the last time. Try as I might, I don't think I could ever trust anyone else like that again.

"Right. Sephiroth. No need to explain."

"Cloud…" I bit down on my lip hard as I tried to figure out how to speak the right words. "You're very important to me. You've helped me when most people wouldn't, and refused to give up. You pried into my life and snooped where you shouldn't have but all just to help me. And I thank you for that. I really do. But I can't open up my heart to anyone else again after what happened before. There's no more room in there. My ability to trust someone like that was shattered into a million pieces and blown away, and I'm sorry but I doubt that even you, great as you are, could piece it back together for me. I like you. I do. But I can't let myself feel that way again, so please don't fall for me."

Cloud remained silent for several minutes before speaking again. He walked up right behind me and leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"I'm not going to give up."

"Cloud-"

"I think I can piece you back together, and I'm going to keep trying. And I'm doing this for me just as much as I am for you, so don't think you can change my mind or fake that you don't want me to love you."

"Are you always this stubborn?"

"Better believe it."

I turned around with a sigh and placed my hands on my hips.

"Well so am I."

"Then I have my work cut out for me."

I scrunched my nose up and stuck out my tongue.

"We should get ready." I announced, begging to change the subject. "I don't want to wait too long to go fight. It makes me nervous just sitting here."

"Alright, but I swear to God if you die out there I'll kill you."

We both laughed and I decided to play along.

"Same goes for you mister."

We left our little sanctuary and joined the others by all our weapons, which were carried over here by the gang when we came.

I strapped on my sheath for my swords onto my back as I scanned for my blades. Cloud had recently given me a new sheath that would hold both my swords, for which I was grateful. It made an X across my back, making it easy to whip them out at a seconds notice.

I found my shadow blade and dragon blade and held them at a distance to see if they were ready for battle. Satisfied with their condition, I crossed them and slipped them in their case. Next to locate were my set of guns, which lay besides my set of daggers and dirks. I strapped the gun belt on and made sure the weapons themselves were secure in their holsters. The extra ammo went into the several secure slots along the front of the belt. Now all that was left were my "just in case" daggers. They were called that because I really only used them "just in case I actually might lose", which rarely happened. I only lost to Sephiroth, as far as I could remember. I got the distinct impression there was another, but for the life of me I couldn't remember who. So I slipped the slim dirks on each outside slot of my boots, and two more up under my skirt on each thigh.

I pulled on my fingerless leather gloves and made a fist, letting the leather form itself to my hands. On my right leg I strapped on another accessory that held a long linked chain. It's amazing what you can find at the market.

After finishing my preparations on my equipment, I strode over to the window to take a look outside. Standing several yards away were the four silver haired men, and Sephiroth's pet.

"Damn," I muttered. "He's brought his remnants as well."

"Isn't that sort of admitting he's not strong enough to take us all on?" Cloud asked.

"No, that's him admitting I'm strong enough to possibly escape. He's not letting me leave this fight without him."

"Not if we have a say in it!" Skye shouted across the room with a playful punch in the air. She wore her crossbow on her back and brown leather gloves. She was never one to carry many weapons.

I looked around at everyone else to inspect their garb. Tifa wore her regular weapon of choice, a.k.a, her fists. Vincent, had his gun dangling at his side, and Yuffie had her giant boomerang shuriken slung onto her back with several materia placed in it. It glowed like a rainbow. A hideously disfigured rainbow.

"Let's rock and roll guys." Without waiting for the others I made my way for the door and kicked it down.

There in the center of the road was the beast, waiting to devour us.

"That is one UGLY fiend." Yuffie commented as she walked up next to me. "Hey big and tall! You're going down!"

"Yuffie…general rule of thumb: don't taunt the nice monster who is over 100 times your size and whose eye is bigger than your SWORD."

"But I don't use a sword…"

"Besides the point!"

The beast roared up to the sky, baring its giant yellowed fangs.

"Come to play?" Sephiroth shouted. He stood atop one of the buildings next to his pet. "Atma will be most pleased to play fetch."

"What kind of name is Atma??" Yuffie retorted.

"It's a perverted translation of Ultima, I believe. Those rare monsters are very powerful." It's a wonder how I can retain all this random information.

"Please," Sephiroth stretched out his hand and his wannabes strode forwards into view. "Let the fun begin."

I looked back at my companions once more before starting.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a round of kill or be killed. Start your engines." I paused before finishing. "And be careful."

My feet seemed to be glued into place while everyone else ran forwards into battle.

I'm not leaving here with my friends am I…? Try as I might to tell myself we can win, deep down in my gut I know that between the four of them and now Atma, our chances of winning are pretty crappy. I don't want to go there again…please don't make me go…please Sephiroth…

"It'll be ok," Cloud reassured me. He was still standing behind me. "Don't doubt yourself alright?"

"Alright."

"Good, now let's do this!"

I nodded and ran forwards, unsure of where to start. Vincent was flying around, bouncing back and forth off of walls shooting at Atma, while Yuffie seemed to be doing the same with just about everything else. Tifa had rushed straight up to Loz and began to pummel him. Seems like she has a bone to pick with him. Cloud met up with Kadaj and Yazoo and shielded himself from all the bullets aimed for his head while dodging Kadaj's souba. It amazed me how Yazoo always misses.

"Where to start…" I mumbled to myself. I looked around for Sephiroth, and noticed him still watching from above. He didn't want to fight yet, he wanted to watch and wait until the time was right and then swoop in. "Bloody figures…"

I dashed over near Cloud and tried to take some of the focus off of him. I reached for my guns, spun them around on my wrists, and fired. My shots seemed to graze past Yazoo and ricocheted off of Kadaj's souba. That sure got the long haired gunman's attention though. He spun around with his velvet nightmare in hand and shot back, forcing me to flip up in the air and bounce backwards while continuing my assault. Once I ran out of room I dropped down and rolled a few feet to the right, shot up on my knees, crossed my arms at the wrists, and blasted out several more rounds. After the first five shots the remaining sank into his right shoulder, knocking him back in a stunned silence. The blood could barely be seen over the black leather, until it trickled down to the pavement, contrasting the cold gray with a deep crimson. Yazoo held his wounded shoulder in an attempt to control the bleeding as well as the pain.

Cloud nodded to me with gratitude and swung his sword around towards Kadaj. The metal clashed together close to the hilts, until the swordsmen pushed off and scratched their swords away from the other.

One down, four to go. That's not so bad now is it? Yeah I thought so.

I let Cloud handle Kadaj for now and went over towards Atma, where Yuffie had sunk her fuuma shuriken in its neck. It seemed to do little damage other than annoyance however, which wasn't very reassuring to me.

"What's his weakness?" I shouted at her over the roaring of our brawl.

Yuffie backed up besides me with a nervous look and shouted back. "It doesn't seem to have any! Vinnies bullets seem to just glide off of its skin like he was shooting a bee bee gun. Its fur is so thick it's almost impossible to penetrate it with anything! And all my materia is stuck in my shuriken which is stuck in that thing…"

I let out a large sigh. Things were going just swimmingly.

"Well you know what they say," I encouraged her "the bigger they are..."

"The more stuff it has to steal!" She finished.

"Um, no I believe it goes, 'the bigger they are the harder they fall'."

"My way makes more sense."

I blinked. "Your logic does not resemble our Earth logic…"

Both of us dashed up to attack, Yuffie in front, as Atma let out another loud roar.

"Impressive thing, isn't it?"

I shot around.

"I hear he can speak…though he hasn't for me yet. Perhaps he will for you." Sephiroth stalked towards me, Masamune in hand.

"I'd rather not find out. Took you long enough to come down and fight."

"I'm sorry…I was a bit busy…had to pick up something." He smirked and stepped to the side to reveal a bloody Yazoo holding Mina.

My eyes widened in fear.

"Surprised? She was an easy target once you all came out. You almost prevented Yazoo from being able to grab her…but then I would've just had someone else go. Actually, I think you allowed him to. Making everyone think he was down for the count. You should know we don't give up so easily."

I continued to stare at my little girl.

"Well aren't you going to say something pet?" He took a step towards me.

I immediately jumped back.

"Don't you dare come near me. Let her go. Now." I growled low at him as I clenched my fists.

"Ah but that would spoil all my fun now wouldn't it." He smirked again and stepped closer.

I smacked him across the jaw as hard as I could. He merely smiled and he slowly turned his head back round.

"I was so hoping you would do that."

He slashed Masamune across the air and raised it high before letting it fall down and strike me across the chest. I momentarily fell to the ground, clutching my chest where the skin split open and allowed blood to flow freely. I shifted and spun around with my leg out, tripping him in the process. I forced my foot on his jaw and pushed down while I reached for my guns and aimed at him. Even though I held him in place, he blocked the bullets with his gigantic sword with ease.

Seph grabbed my ankle and threw me over him and across the street into the nearest wall, which happened to be a good couple of hundred feet away.

"Dude you just got owned!" Skye laughed sarcastically.

"Yeah I see you're helping!" I retorted as I got to my feet. "What are you doing way back here?!"

"Dude? Crossbow?" She sounded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Dude? Gun!" I dangled my gun in front of her face. "Skye, your aim sucks. I haven't seen you hit a single person!"

She quickly shot off a black arrow and a groan could be heard a ways off. I looked around to see Loz with the arrow poking through his shoulder.

I rolled my eyes and shoved one of my guns into her palm.

"Just take this…"

"A gun? Yeah these things are never useful!" She tossed it off to the side and it bounced off Kadaj's head. "…" She blinked rather stunned. "Except for that. I swear I didn't plan that."

"Maybe your aim doesn't suck…" I too was a little distracted by the previous scenes but ran off back towards Sephiroth anyways.

I wrenched out my shadow blade right before I met up with him and swung it backwards down to my feet then sliced upwards at him, followed by a few sideways slashes. He countered back at every move I made, even when I attempted to jab him in the gut. I struck out at him from his side and our swords met in a sort of deadlock.

"You want to know the first thing I'm going to do when I take you back?" he laughed.

I narrowed my eyes and drew my dragon blade and it met with the other side of Masamune.

"You're not going to get that chance."

He pushed me back and rushed towards me with his katana. In two sudden moves he knocked my blades out of my hands and was about to pierce through my chest. I grabbed onto the blade with both my hands and used all my strength to hold it back.

"I was thinking of throwing a little party for you. Sort of a welcome home bash."

The blade had cut through my gloves and blood was oozing out of my hands and dripping down my forearms and down his sword. I winced slightly at the pain but held my grip firmly.

"Ok, that's it." I groaned. "You're pissing me off."

I shoved his sword back in his face, knocking him in the nose twice. I took the moment to shoot up and run towards the end of the alleyway. I pulled out the chain attached to my leg as I ran and threw it like a lasso around the streetlamp at the end of the road. I kept my hold steady to the other end of the chain as I continued to run towards the wall. My foot met with the brick and I dashed full speed up it in an arc, running across to the corner and traveling to the next wall as I pulled out my remaining gun. I let out several rounds as I continued to move, only managing to hit Sephiroth a few times, but staying out of his range.

In a few seconds, I was at the end of the road, or wall really, and pushed off and flipped around to land on my feet on the opposite side. I repeated this several times until I had successfully scaled the building and made it up on level ground.

The sight below was terrifying, and part of it exhilarated me. Atma was center stage, with everyone surrounding him. He glowed with a deep set purple that discharged tiny light blue sparks. His giant padded paws swung out at its opponents like a giant wrecking ball. But the most amazing part was the color of the air beneath me. It was as if a sunset had been plucked from the sky in some other part of the world and was brought here, right around us. It made the air retain an orangey grey hue, with thick ashy clouds spiraling around each being below.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Sephiroth asked quietly.

"It's strong…and it's power…it almost hurts…but…I like it…somehow." What I meant to say was "How the hell did you get up here so fast that is so not fair and would you QUIT popping up behind me!!" but all I could do was stare in awe of the wonder below while I let its energy make my skin hum.

I heard a soft chuckle. "I knew you would appreciate it. Its power is quite exciting." He softly walked up behind me and looked at it over my shoulder. "Changed your mind yet?"

Reality began to settle back into my mind and I shoved him back.

"Not bloody likely!"

He gave me a small laugh with a shrug.

"Wrong answer."

As if on cue, Atma roared. His cry was so loud it could have penetrated the dimensional wall. But unlike most dogs, Atma's bite was worse than his bark. His eyes glowed red and his fur stood on end. He stretched up on his haunches to his full height, which was very daunting, and flexed each digit of each paw.

The worlds, "Oh snap…" could be heard from our entire group at once, even though we were spread out. I would've laughed, if our situation didn't suck so much. However I don't think there is a person who couldn't at least smile at the thought of our dear Vincent "I'm a big fat emo" Valentine saying "oh snap".

A small energy orb shaded with blues and purples materialized between Atma's front paws and slowly grew larger and larger, absorbing in more energy with each passing second.

And all I could do was stare dumbly at the thing.

Once it stopped it was almost as big as its caster. It sparks lashed out a few feet, trying to taste its meal before it was prepared. Its crackle was taunting; howling out at us to even try something, anything at all. Its blue eyes glared fiercely around, until they met with mine. And then it smirked. Its lips curled up in a twisted smile that bared its pointed fangs made of energy. It finally clicked with me.

"No!" I lunged forwards near the edge of the roof, only to be restrained by my silver haired gentleman. And I use that term loosely.

"Now, now…I don't want you to get hurt." He cooed.

I spun my head around as far as I could and hissed at him, which was a bad idea. He abused his advantage to lean his face in near mine and forcefully kiss me. It wasn't loving or passionate like usual, but harsh and cold. It was lacking in feeling and emotion, and felt more like he was trying to taunt or annoy me than actually connect out of his twisted form of love. His hands that were wrapped around my waist holding me back were now digging into my skin, as if he was trying to ravage me. I attempted to snap my head back and away from him, but his hold on me was too great and his head stretched in too far.

I exclaimed in disgust as I rolled my eyes and jabbed him hard in the gut with my elbow, then grabbed him by the arm and flipped him over onto his back with my foot pressed into his neck. He retaliated by grabbing my ankle and pulled be down besides him. He rolled over on top of me, and I forced us to roll once more so this time I was on top.

"Well this is a first." I muttered.

He reached up my skirt and grabbed my dagger that was connected to my thigh, and slashed me across the chest. He kicked me off, forcing me to flip over his head and crash down once more. Immediately I shot up and flipped back for some room. I could tell he was going to rush me again, and I pulled out my gun.

Damn…empty.

As I figured, Seph rushed me, Masamune in hand. The cold steel pierced through my shoulder, tearing each layer of muscle more and more as it plunged deeper and deeper. I let out a sharp cry as he jerked it back through. He jumped back several feet with that self satisfied smirk as I clutched my left shoulder. I scrunched up my face at the pain, but refused to show tears.

That's it. It's on.

While only one arm to use for now, I threw my gun up in the air. While it plummeted back down, I swiftly yanked out my extra ammo and slid it between my teeth just in time to catch my weapon again and slam them together, effectively reloading my gun. I raced towards Sephiroth, slipping my gun in my hand, and jumped up on his shoulder and into the air. As I flipped and twisted around I shot off each and every round, hitting him every time. His body jerked back from the force of the bullets, until he slumped down to his knees and fell forwards.

I dropped my gun and blinked.

Did…did I win? No…no it can't be. He can't be defeated.

But while I ogled at his fallen form, Atma's attack had shot off. The glowing energy orb exploded and its power radiated out. It hit every single person on the ground, but not me. I was still atop the twenty story building, along with Sephiroth and somehow his clones as well. All that ran through my head was a single word. A name.

"CLOUD!!"

Without thinking I ran towards the group and jumped off the building. It took several seconds to fall to the ground, and when I did, I didn't land on my feet.

I crashed into the pavement on my right side. I would've preferred my left, since that arm was already shot. The momentum I built up during my plunge escaped my body by forcing me to roll over and into the nearest streetlight. I'd like you to know those things may look hard, and they are. Really hard. Don't ever try that kids.

I was past the point of being able to scream. The pain was so intense that all I could do was silently cry out. A few burning tears stung my eyes and I struggled to fight them back. I didn't have time to weep. I didn't have time to notice pain. A few seconds later I fumbled to my feet gripping my bleeding wound. I shook my head to clear all that got knocked loose in the fall and looked around for my friends.

There were so many bodies littering the ground. The air was thick and dusty from the impact of the explosion. I coughed harshly as I stumbled across the street in search of everyone else, but mainly Cloud. I nearly tripped over a young man, half twisted towards the ground, the other half staring up to the sky. I tried to ignore this grotesque scene.

Several bodies later I found Skye. I rushed to her side and dropped down calling out her name.

"Skye!" I shook her slightly. "SKYE!"

She slowly moved her head and moaned. "Man…that was one hell of a ride…" she chuckled but winced in pain. "Go check on spikey girl…I know you want to."

I nodded and sifted through the bodies once more. I was trying so hard not to cry, and I was doing a fairly good job, until I saw him lying there, unmoving and bloody.

Tears freely flooded down my cheeks and I skidded to his side and tried to check if he was breathing. He was still alive. I combed my fingers gently through his hair to untangle the knots that had forced their way into his golden locks. They were strewn with blood. It looked like it was both his own and his opponents. A few cuts were slashed across his gentle cheekbones, and another above his eye. The blood that had dribbled down his face had already dried, as well as some from his other cuts elsewhere. A few cuts could be noticed across his shirt and his one sleeve, but other than that he hadn't seemed to be cut up too badly. It was the newest attack I was worried about. I gingerly lifted his head onto my lap, and felt a cool liquid pool into my palms. I raised one hand and saw blood. Deep shining crimson trying to lick up my fingers and crawl down my arm. For a moment, I could only blink. Then I realized that the blood was Cloud's and that it was seeping out of the wound on the back of his head. I panicked. I ripped off his sleeve, if one can call it that, and bundled it up under his head in a weak attempt to prevent the overflow of life.

"Cloud! You promised to protect me!" I sobbed. "You can't just leave me now!" I bent over to lay my head on his chest and cried my salty tears into that deep blue fabric. "You promised! You don't get to just leave me now!" I pounded my fist. "Dammit you can't do that to me! I can't do this without you Cloud…I…" I closed my eyes. "I love you."

I almost thought I felt his lungs breathe in a deeper breath, but after a few moments I assumed my imagination had taken over and that I had gone insane. No, it was not me. I was no longer in control. It was now up to her.

My eyes glazed over into a deep rich black. My face, void of emotion, stared coldly at the wind until it fell to the ground with a cry of pain. Something was poking me. No, something was poking through me. It took several agonizing seconds until two black leathery wings had sprouted and spread freely. My body shot up into the air and stretched itself out, shaking off the thin white film covering my newest body part.

"We will take over this now." It was my voice, and yet I wasn't speaking. Or maybe I was, I couldn't tell. The voice was doubled.

The beast below growled with a smile.

"How amusing, that it thinks it has won." We muttered. When had I become we?

Our eyes narrowed, and their blackness focused on the fiend with a burning passion. Our right foot popped back and our arms stretched out with our palms facing forwards. With a push off into the air and a twirl, black and purple energy orbs generated in out hands and we shot them out in an attack. It looked similar to Atma's, but to a bystander would have no comparison. Ours was stronger. The energy morphed into one giant dome around Sephiroth's pet, zapping it merciless for several seconds, before exploding from its core.

But we were too weak and untamed.

My wings disappeared like wisps in the air and my eyes dilated back to normal. Unfortunately I was still a hundred feet up in the air and had another nasty drop. I didn't even try to land in a convenient position, I was too drained.

I landed with a bone crunching crash, and laid there unmoving and in extreme pain. I couldn't even lift up my head when Sephiroth walked over.

"Very impressive my girl." He murmured. "She is stronger than we all thought."

He kneeled besides me and lifted my chin with a finger. He cocked his head to the side, letting his silver, silky hair flow to the side. He gave me a pleased smile and leaned in close. I merely fluttered my eyes open every time they begged to close.

He stroked my face gently and watched me, almost sadly.

"I am almost sorry I have to do this." He announced. "Almost."

And with that last word he stood up and kicked me harshly, one last time. And after that, all I knew was that the world was black.

Heh…heh…heh…Missy hates me. She really does. Can I just say I loved writing Cloud and Missy cuteness. Its so opposite of Missy and Sephy-kun. Which I love writing them too.

I can't tell you too much yet, otherwise that'd spoil it. All I can tell you is that I ripped off a few moves from things I've seen, like that one gun move Missy does I ripped off of Devil May Cry 3 which is my latest obsession. Dante…Daaaaanteeeeeee…ahem…ignore me.

Tell me what you think, I'm too brain dead to comment anymore. I give you cookies if you do! Thank you all : )