Chapter Twenty-one

Sometimes things happen all at once, and no matter how fast you travel and how passionately you pray, you just can't make things right. Vincent found the labs, and as he entered, he saw that this is where the main fight had been.

Cloud, looking slightly worse-for-wear, was lying across a table. Hojo was lunging toward Claire, inches away, and Wesker was bringing swinging an ax toward Cloud's head.

And Vincent was too far away to do anything. He fired at Hojo, each bullet striking the mad scientist in the back and head. But the motion just pushed him toward Claire faster.

Then there was a swirl of light between Claire and Hojo – maybe caused by skin-to-skin contact. And from the swirl, a man stepped. Wesker froze in mid-strike. "Chris," he said, voice oily. "How did you get here?"

Chris responded by punching Hojo in the face, sending him stumbling backward. "Wesker," he said, voice quite calm. "You didn't think I was going to let you get away with it."

"Whatever do you mean?"

Chris drew his gun, making a small eye roll. Behind him the swirling light vanished. There was no sign of Claire anymore.

Vincent's heart skipped a beat. "Claire?" he called, voice cracking. Inside, he could feel his control of chaos slipping. He felt the transformation come hard and fast, wings ripping from his back, fingers sharpening into claws. Pure rage enveloped him, and he surveyed the battle for a split second.

Cloud had recovered from his stunned moment, and was battling side-by-side with Chris. And Hojo was peeling his ass from the floor.

Vincent launched himself at Hojo, killing this version in mere seconds. Then he launched himself toward Wesker.

"Hello," Wesker said, his field of vision suddenly full of an angry Chaos. "What are you?"

Vincent responded by killing him.

Then he wheeled, locking murderous eyes on the only two people still in the room. "Where's Claire?" he snarled, Death Penalty appearing in his hands.

"Calm down, Vincent," Cloud said.

Chris, still surprised by the sudden defeat of his arch-nemesis didn't respond.

Vincent aimed the gun and pulled the trigger, and suddenly Claire was in his view, hugging Chris, and between his bullet and his target.

Vincent deflated, gun falling from fingers. Claire had no protection against Death bullets. She was –

Chris was twisting, trying to get her out of the way. Cloud was moving, trying to get in the way. And between the bullet and Claire, a tall, single-winged man with long, flowing silver hair and a narrow sword appeared. He deflected the bullet into the ceiling. A cocky grin spreading across his face.

"That's my sister you tried to kill Valentine," he said.

"I was aiming –" Vincent said, throat dry. He'd never been so happy to see Sephiroth before.

"At my brother," Sephiroth said. "I know."

"At him . . ." Vincent said, pointing at Chris.

"Yeah, he's my brother," Sephiroth said. He shot a quick grin at Chris. "How's it going?"

Chris cocked his head to the side. Claire was still clinging to him, but hearing Sephiroth's voice, she partially let go. "Chris, this is Sephiroth. I adopted him."

"Isn't he a bit big for adoption?"

"Feh," Claire said. "He's just perfect."

Chris nodded, extending a hand. "Well, welcome to the family . . ."

And, thankfully for Cloud and Vincent, Chris didn't sound quite as enthusiastic about the adoption as the clones and Claire were.

Vincent didn't have too much energy left for mulling that over though. He sank down, raising his hand. "I could have killed you . . ." he murmured. "I thought you were dead."

Claire let go of Chris, and approached him. She offered her hand. "It happens," she said. "Forget it. We're all fine and the bad guys are toast."

"Dead toast," Sephiroth said. He grinned at Cloud. "How's it going?"

"S-sephiroth?" Cloud stammered. "You really adopted her?"

"Yep." He smiled. "And I've decided to be her Guardian Angel. After all, I have wings."

"You have a wing."

Sephiroth shrugged. "Better than no wings, like some people." He gave Cloud a pointed look.

Cloud only shook his head. "Aren't you dead?"

"Yes, but only because you killed me three times," he said. "But my Jenova cells are a bit more resilient than you would think."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you're going to have to kill me nine times," he said. "Because, like a cat, I get lucky." He made his sword disappear. "But seriously, I'm only here like I've been here since you destroyed my body. As a manifestation of self imposed upon the body of a clone."

"Kadaj?"

"Some other clone," Sephiroth said. "And I won't be able to maintain this form for much longer."

"So you'll die on your own?"

Claire tore herself away from the gentle embrace she'd enfolded Vincent in. "What?"

Sephiroth met her eyes. "Not like that, Claire. You're going to be my big sister." In time with his words, he shrank to child-size. Approximately a child of eight years. "The problem with a clone body is that they can't take the energy I put into them. As a result, they burn out."

"So you'll put less energy into it," Chris said. "By assuming a younger form."

"Close, Chris," he said. "It's more like this clone is only in a child's stage of life. So I'll assume that. And . . . I won't be able to stress the body to the limit like I am accustomed."

"Better to be alive than all powerful," Claire said. She crossed the room and hugged him. "Welcome to the family again."

"It's been a while since I had a little Redfield to pick on," Chris said. He was a sharp individual and quickly determined that Claire and Vincent needed a few moments alone. Apparently while he'd been on Earth and she'd been here (wherever that was) she'd had some sort of relationship develop.

"Pick on?" Sephiroth said, sounding alarmed. "Claire said you were the greatest."

"Did she now?" Chris asked. "She's too kind." He ruffled Sephiroth's hair. "Let's go."

"Where?" Cloud asked. He shook his head. "And hold on, what's going on anyway? Who are you? How did you get here? What makes you think that I'm going to let you take Sephiroth away from here? And -"

Chris held up his hand. "First, any of you hear that blaring, building will explode shortly alarm?"

Judging from the expressions on their faces, they hadn't quite heard the sound. Apparently the other shocks were too distracting. Chris picked Sephiroth up. "So, we're all agreed that leaving is a good idea?"

"Yeah," Cloud said. "But Sephiroth –"

"Like it or not, Claire adopted him," Chris said. "She's a good judge of character and he's 'Sephiroth Redfield' now, which makes him my responsibility. Come if you want. But if you try and stop me from getting him the hell out of here, you'll find yourself in an early grave."

Sephiroth grinned. "You are the coolest."

Claire and Vincent stood up. "There's a few helicopters on the roof," she said. "We should head there." She grinned at Sephiroth, taking Vincent's hand at the same time.

On the roof there was something of a crowd gathering. Yazoo, Loz, and Kadaj were together. And Leon was there, trying to keep Tifa and Jill from fighting the clones. Apparently Tifa and Jill had been captured by the Umbrella soldiers before breaking into the base.

"No time for this," Chris said. He tossed Sephiroth into a helicopter. "Strap in, kid."

"I'm not really a kid, you know," Sephiroth said. He stuck his head out. "Hey, Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz . . . this is guy is Chris, Claire's other brother. And he's getting us the hell out of here. Hurry up."

The three exchanged looks and hurried over to the helicopter. Chris gave Claire a look that clearly said I leave you alone for a few months and you start adopting the weirdest looking strays. What the hell is wrong with you?

Claire shrugged. And with the extended Redfield family, plus Jill, the helicopter was full.

The others headed for the remaining copter. Tifa got in the pilot's seat and started firing up the engines. Cloud made to get in the seat beside her, but Leon beat him too it, so he got in the back instead. Then he glanced for Claire and Vincent, and they got in too. And altogether, they took off, leaving the base in a ball of flames.

Author's Note: This is almost done. One or two more chapters. Review please - it always makes my day.