Gah, sorry for the wait, guys. Seriously, I haven't been working on this story at all lately. =/ School is keeping me busy, and so is my KH story (which you all should read). But again, I want to thank you guys for sticking with the story. Please review!

Chapter 19: No Giving Up

For the helicopter ride, Rude didn't bother blindfolding Tifa to keep their location from her. This only proved to her that Rude was very determined that she wouldn't ever get away from him. Not alive. This scared her deeply, for she had never seen her ex-boyfriend angry before. But now, being held at gunpoint, she saw how deeply enraged he was at her for not loving him. Not only that, but she could see how furious he was at Cloud, who did receive her love. Those things factored together created a rage so great that Tifa couldn't even look at him in fear of seeing that anger boil over.

Throughout the flight, Tifa tried to keep track of where they were flying. However, due to the Mako poisoning, she passed out after they passed over a bit of water. She was unconscious for hours after that, and during that time, her hands were bound behind her back. Rude may have been acting impulsive, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that Tifa was a brilliant fighter and he would have a challenge subduing her.

The Turk looked to his prisoner when the helicopter landed on the ground, and he knelt down by her position on the floor. "Wake up," he ordered, shaking her shoulder. He didn't care about gentleness anymore; she had her chance to accept him. Now she would belong to him, whether she liked it or not.

Tifa opened her eyes groggily, seeing Rude staring at her behind his sunglasses. She tried rising to her feet, but she couldn't do it alone, so Rude gripped her arm and pulled her up, then leading her out of the flying device. She recognized the area as a cliff-side near Gongaga, overlooking a river.

"What're you going to do now, Rude?" she asked looking at him as they walked. When he didn't respond, she stopped in her place, glaring at him. "You know that taking me away was stupid. You're not going to hurt me."

"You don't know anything, Tifa," he said coldly. Even though she brought up some good points, he wasn't about to admit that to her. He would just ride out her scolding and then…well, he didn't know what would happen then. He had no clue what was going to happen.

"Oh, I don't?" she asked sarcastically, fingering the rope that tied her hands behind her back as she spoke. "Why don't you make things more clear for me, then? What are you planning on doing with me?" Her voice was hard, and no fear was present now. She was taking her stand, and she wasn't about to cower in fear of the man who had to hold a gun to her head to force her into submission. It was a cowardly move, and she had no respect for Rude anymore.

"It doesn't matter what I'm planning on doing," Rude responded. "You belong to me now, and that will never change."

"Why's that?" Tifa pressured. "Why won't that change? You won't force me to stay with you by hurting me, so how do you plan on making that happen?"

"I'll do whatever it takes to keep you with me!" he boomed, furious. "You have the nerve to stab me in the heart, and then the moment Strife returns, you go running into his arms? How stupid can you be? He doesn't love you! He left you!"

"He left for me!" Tifa cried out, defending the person she loved. "I wasn't willing to accept it at first, but now I see that he was actually looking out for me. He was wrong for leaving, but his heart was in the right place!"

"He's a selfish coward, and a liar!" Rude hollered, clenching his fists as he stared at Tifa a few feet behind him. She was infuriating him now, defending such a stupid person. How could any man be so stupid and leave somebody as precious as Tifa? He would never forgive Strife for causing her that heartache—never.

"You're one to talk!" she spat, outraged at his hypocrisy. "You kidnap me and hold me at gunpoint, right after you say you love me! How can you justify this?"

Rude stepped forward, lifting a hand and slapping Tifa across the face. "Shut up!" he screamed in fury, staring at the girl he used to call his life-long love.

Tifa finished messing with the rope around her hands just after Rude slapped her, and she couldn't have thought of a better time to break free. She pulled a hand out of the ropes and turned it into a fist, punching her captor in the jaw. When the blow landed, she grunted and lifted her leg, kicking Rude in the side. When he was out of her way, she ran past him, fumbling to get the rope off her other hand as she ran.

"Get back here!" Rude roared, recovering from the attack quickly. He ran after her, seeing her going for the edge of the cliff. There was a river below, but the fall was too great. There was no way Tifa would risk her life like that. He ran after her and, as he suspected, she stopped at the end of the cliff. "You have nowhere to go," he informed her.

The young woman glanced downward, seeing the river flowing. Unfortunately, Rude was correct; there was no place for her to go now. She had one choice, and she was going to do what was necessary to earn her freedom. She raised her fists and glared at Rude behind furrowed eyebrows, prepared to fight him. If that was what it took, then that was what she would do.

"Hmph." Rude slipped on a pair of gloves, frowning deeply. "You're going to fight me, really?"

"I've been a captive for far too long," Tifa responded evenly. "I've fought back the entire time, and this will be no different!"

"You don't stand a chance against me," he told her. "Have you forgotten about your Mako poisoning?"

Tifa charged forward and the fight ensued, though the conversation continued as well. "Whether I have Mako poisoning or not, I'm fighting! I will have my freedom!"

Rude swung at his ex-lover's head, but she dodged the blow as his fury increased. "You had your chance at freedom!" he screamed. "You could have had everything with me, but you threw it all away!"

"A life with you would have been Hell on Earth," she spat, doing a dodge-flip and a kick at Rude. "I didn't see that when we were dating, but I see it perfectly now! You're a monster!"

That was what did it for Rude. He completely lost his temper and released a roar, a punch knocking Tifa right in the jaw. She stumbled backward towards the edge of the cliff, blinking rapidly to try and regain her senses. However, he wasn't done yet. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a sticky patch of a sleep agent, rushing forward and slapping it onto Tifa's arm. Tifa grunted and hit him away, but she was unsteady as it was. A cry left her lips as she fell backwards, off the edge of the cliff and down into the river below.

Rude stepped forward, watching in awe as Tifa fell into the water. He swore under his breath and started running in the other direction, down a path so that he wouldn't lose her to the river. This fight was far from over, and he was very determined to beat her into submission. He looked up at the sky as he ran, seeing an airship landing in the distance. Great; even more hassle. He'd have to hurry and do what he needed to do to get him and his victim to safety.

As Rude ran down the path, Tifa rose out of the freezing cold water, a gasp leaving her lips. Ouch, that was a hard fall! she thought, her whole body aching because of the impact. There was something more to it than that, though—she was tired. Exhausted, really. But this didn't feel anything like Mako poisoning.

Well, whatever it is, its draining my strength, she thought weakly, fighting the current to keep herself above the water. She turned her head to the side. Land. I need to get to land.

Tifa swam over to the side, panting as she dragged herself onto the dirty land. She looked down at her arm and saw the white patch, and she pulled it off immediately. "Great, more drugs," she mumbled putting it on the ground. The drugs must have seeped out of the pouch, through her skin and into her system, because she was so tired that it was dizzying.

The sound of reverberating footsteps filled her ears, and she lifted her head off the ground to turn in that direction. Rude was approaching her, an ugly expression on his face. He began to spin in Tifa's sight, and she realized that the drug was about to take her under. No…

A ferocious growl brought Tifa out of her daze a little bit, the young woman looking up and seeing a form leap over her body and in front of her protectively. "Nanaki!" she cried, her voice showing her weakness and injury. It didn't matter to her where he came from; he was there!

"Leave Tifa alone," Nanaki snarled, standing between Rude and his friend. He glared at the man a few feet in front of him, who obviously was feeling threatened because of the look on his face. Rude seemed unwilling to fight him, but Nanaki would be happy to battle him. Of course, he would try and wait as long as possible for that battle to start for Tifa's sake; she was in bad shape, and he couldn't fight and take care of her at the same time. It was a good thing that Cloud and the others were running in their direction, the airship having landed a few minutes ago. But of course, they were still five to ten minutes out; Nanaki was only able to reach Tifa that quickly because of his extraordinary speed.

"Get out of the way, dog," Rude sneered.

"Not a chance," Nanaki growled. "You've done enough damage for one day, don't you think?"

A nasty smirk appeared on Rude's face, the man almost laughing at Red XIII's remark. "Not a chance."

Tifa pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, looking over Nanaki and seeing Rude glaring at her friend. She wanted to say something about leaving Nanaki alone, but her mouth couldn't form the words. She shut her eyes and tried to take in a breath, the effects of the drug starting to wear off do to the dosage being incomplete.

Nanaki lunged at his enemy, a fight beginning. However, before he could deal any really fatal blows, Rude just…ran off. He ran into the woods, and he couldn't have followed him, since he had to protect Tifa. He turned around and sat down in front of her form protectively, able to tell what happened before he came. The animal looked up at the sky and howled, alerting Cloud and the others to what his position was. Tifa was with him, and she was safe.

After all the time that she was gone and all the heartache he and his friends felt for her sake, Tifa was back with him and alright. As long as he was here, then she wouldn't be hurt. He wouldn't allow himself to fail.

But things suddenly changed, a new wind blowing. Nanaki caught onto a scent coming from the woods, and he turned his head in that direction. However, he was too late. A bullet came for him and impacted him in the shoulder, forcing him to release a howl of pain.

Tifa sat up on her knees at that moment, crawling about a foot to get closer to her friend. "Nanaki!" she cried, seeing that he had taken a wound. He eyes wandered to the woods, and she saw a familiar figure inside of them. Rude was coming back! And she wasn't strong enough to fight him, and neither was Nanaki. What were they to do?

"Run, Tifa," Nanaki said, his voice labored with pain. "Run now!"

"I can't leave you!"

"I'll be fine! Go!"

Before she fully realized what she was doing, Tifa was up on her feet, running up the length of the river and then jumping over a thin part. She landed safely on the other side of the river and ran into the woods opposite of her location, disappearing into the dark forest.