Author's Note:
Sorry for the later update-I've been occupied with NaNoWriMo and other things. I lied about the last chapter, this is my longest chapter so far. Enjoy.

011: Trust.

They blinded-folded her, preventing her from catching a good look of their surroundings, she had no idea why they did this, but they tugged her along anyway. Yuna kept silent and hardly struggled—despite her hands tied behind her back she saw no real reason for it. She willingly left and allowed them to take her prisoner, for the sake of people who were called 'terrorists'. Did she have a reason to doubt them? They had their reasons, she was sure, but the thought of innocents having to die no matter the cause almost made her feel nauseous. Yuna had to forget—for now, she was held captive by the enemy, her enemy. Part of her wanted to escape; part of her had no idea on what to do, so she waited; it was all she could do.

She felt her feet drag as they shoved her along, causing her to trip against her own feet, she would've fell if it weren't for the hand tightly holding onto her arm. Yuna heard her captor's curse, along with that had been murmurs of others, and the distant sound of waves.
"Hurry!" She heard a man hiss, and then she was rushed along.

The sound of their footsteps changed as she felt herself step onto a metallic platform, hearing metals scrape at the sound of a large door shutting. Next, she felt herself sink at the sound of a click and she was surrounding by a humming noise as was she raised—a lift? Eventually, she was hauled through once again, without much hint to where she was, all she could hear were the hushed mutters of the group that caught her.
"Where do we go?!"
"You sure it's through here?"
"Is this the right way?"
She was tossed left and right with each response.
"Careful with her, we need her!"
"Are you sure about this?"
"…He'll thank me for this."

Yuna stumbled and was thrown toward the ground, and she fell on her side, making her body to ache as she hit the floor. "I said careful!" She heard, and then she was hauled right back to her knees where the blindfold was removed from her eyes. In front of her was the commander, to the side were two men in navy blue uniforms; they held her in what seemed to be a tiny room with cot to the side—a cell. Of course. She shouldn't feel so surprised; she was their prisoner after all.
"Where am I?" They didn't answer her. "Where are my friends?!"
The commander sighed, lowering his head, scratching at his neck as he kept his head down. "I can't believe after all that, you still call them your friends."
"They helped me."
"They killed people."
"You killed people."
"You agreed to come with us, so shut up!" The commander's gloved hand tightened to a fist, trembling lightly; Yuna held onto her tongue then. "The Ancients knew how this world worked, so it's up to them to heal it—only you know how to do this."
"I'm not an Ancient." The commander ignored her response.
"Do you know what a great discovery this is? Your species were once extinct, now you're back again. For years, Shirna pursued your kind. Now you can help us restore this planet, possible more!" His hands grasped at the helmet that hid his face, lifting it off, and revealing his face. A man no older than his early thirties stood in front of her, with shoulder length brown hair and facial hair. A notable trait that was even clear to her was how obviously ignorant he was.

"You can help us bring glory to Shinra once again," he replied, and he sighed; he would've never imagined himself going this far.

"Midgar's done!" Barret said toward the rest of his group. "There ain't no way they took 'er up at there—it's all destroyed!"
"So that means…"
"They took 'er to Junon."
Junon, the quiet little fishing town turned into a military base for Shinra. As always, they never thought about how this would affect the town, the waters surrounding them, and the fish and living creatures within them, they simply only cared for themselves. This became their second headquarters and the primary home for Rufus back when he was vice president. Would they really go there of all places? Rufus wouldn't be that stupid…

"I'm tellin' ya, there ain't no other place." But Barret seemed so sure of himself.
"No, he's hiding out somewhere else," Cloud replied.
"You think he'd be hidin' out there knowin' you comin' after them?" Cloud paused—he got him there.
"…It's a start." Now to hurry, Yuna needed them.

Outside her cell, she noted the man pacing back and forth, cursing silently under his breath. "Where are they? I can't wait forever…" He continued muttering with words such as "I called them…" "I told them I had her…" The man seemed more distraught than he led on. She kept her eyes to him, watching him pace, she didn't speak to him but she wanted to, despite being held against her will, she wasn't completely hostile toward him.
"Why are you doing this?" She asked with her voice much softer than before to show genuine concern, but he didn't pay any attention to her. Rather, he just chewed nervously at his stubby nails. "Are you talking about the president?"
"President—yes, yes! President Shinra wants you."
"I think I deserve a better explanation if I'm expected to work alongside you."
"I already told you why—you are here to bring Shinra back to their glory, we will rule again with your help!"
"That's not going to help this planet!" Yuna retorted. "Do you care at all of what Shinra did?"
"Shinra did what no other could do, they converted all the stored energy into electricity, they helped our society grow and evolve. We would be nothing without them."
"But they destroyed our land."
"It's the circle of life—with every life comes death, our company produced that life, even if that meant death had to be the result."
"You got it all wrong!" Yuna frantically shook her head, struggling in her own bindings; they didn't even bother to free her hands, even after they placed her behind bars. "The Lifestream is life! Every time death takes away one of our own, they return to the Farplane, the Lifestream, the planet. To use it as a source for electricity is to use the deceased souls of our loved ones that passed on. That is the circle of life. But with no life, we all cease to exist…this is what Shinra was doing. Shinra was killing us."
They paused. They both watched each other closely, without breaking eye contact. With the male's powerful glare to her, she expected him to screech at her, but she didn't back down, she glared right back him with the same emotion. "I'm not from here but this is my home too, this affects us too."

He held his breath as he gazed, ultimately releasing it, and turning away. "I was a proud employer, Ancient."
"I'm not an Ancient."
"I just want to make things right for once." There had been that pause again, where the two of them held onto their breaths and focused their attention elsewhere.
"Why can't you help us instead?" Yuna replied; there was no response from the man. "If you want to help the planet, why don't you just help us?"
"You keep saying 'us'," The man replied. "Do you still stand by their side?"
"…I will not give up on him."
"Him?"
"Them."

It slipped out, she hadn't meant for it to, but it did. Yuna's mind could only focus on one person, it burned in her memory; his hand extended for her, he had called her name. Would Cloud ever understand? She didn't know as she still couldn't even fully understand him.
"Don't let Shinra control you."
"I'm doing this for them."
"You need to defy them."
"I can't, they've given me everything!"

The argument turned heated and left them in a circle, but she didn't want to give up, she wanted to try… "Shinra doesn't care about you."
He knew that was true. "No…"
"They're selfish—you don't need to be."
"They…they given us great opportunities." But Yuna could see the hint of doubt in the man's brown eyes, as they widened, shining with just a bit of innocence. "I can't let them down."
"I'm sorry…"
"You shouldn't be." After a long winded sigh, the man turned back, heading right out. "Are you hungry? It's lunch time… I'll be right back." With these last words, he left her the silence of her jail cell.

Back when the pillar of Sector 7 was destroyed, Aerith headed right back to Tifa's old bar, collecting Marlene, leading her out of the danger, and placing her safely in her home. She had willingly sacrificed herself for this little girl, allowing herself to be captured by Shirna, in order to see Marlene safe.

Cloud went after her, so did Tifa, and so did Barret, and they broke into Shinra's headquarters to get their friend back. The group traveled on Shera, heading right for Junon, preparing for what they might face—they needed to get their friend back, they needed to get Yuna back.
"This could get ugly," Barret warned, and Cloud nodded.
"We'll be ready." Things were hardly that simple for their group, and if things had gone smoothly, that would've only made everything suspicious, but they were always prepared.

They traveled using Shera again; it was just the usual gang minus Red XIII who decided to stay behind with the rest of the team of WRO at Cosmo Canyon, to protect civilians, and to try get through to Reeve to find out what the hell was going on. Just like old times, it was just their group, and Cloud had enough confidence they'd make it out alive.

They couldn't have barged right in—ship and all, even if Barret tried to argue and suggest they would anyway, much to the chagrin of Tifa. They parked Shera at the outskirts of Junon, traveling the rest of the way by rushing by at the fields before any fiends can get to them. There they reached the small town below the large city above, forever blanketed in its shadow that prevented the sunlight from providing them with the much needed nourishment. So far, so good, expect the civilians that stood outside had stopped their daily errands to turn to the group, watching them in silence.
A familiar old woman, however, recognized them off the bat. "You're the ones that rescued Priscilla!" Her house was right at the edge of their small town, offered to them to rest in after they rescued the young girl from drowning. It was when first arrived here.
"You need to rest up again?"
Cloud shook his head. "We're here for someone."
The old woman scowled and Cloud couldn't help but to feel as if it were directed toward him at first, but her face quickly softened as she realized the group was still there. "Are you looking for them?" She asked.
"Them?"
"A group of men in uniforms came rushing in, they were pulling a girl along with them…they looked like—
"Shinra?"
The woman's beady eyes met with Cloud's own pair; they were soft. "Yes. They were in a hurry, I don't think they wanted anyone to know they were here, I was inside the whole time and caught glance through the window."
"Thank you," Cloud said, nodding, and he smiled for a quick second before turning back. "Oh, tell Priscilla I said hi." Then he headed off.

A sandwich and some soup, and it was a good meal for someone who was being held prisoner against her will. Yuna silently ate on the floor of her cell, keeping her head down for the time being. It was the man who guarded her cell for now; he silently ate as well. No words were expressed between the two, and he hadn't had turned away to make another call. He just sat there, avoiding eye contact.
"How long are you going to keep me here?"
"Till I reach the president."
"He isn't the president anymore…"
"With your help, everything can change."
"And just how am I supposed to help!? You refuse to listen to me when I say I'm not an Ancient, I'm a summoner! There is a difference."
"But you learned all your knowledge from the Ancients, it must mean you know something—anything!"
Yuna glared at him. "I doubt it."

The argument was going nowhere, and ran back at them in circles, they couldn't come to an agreement, it was hard to when the man wished to use her and she wished for freedom, but she tried. "Are they really that important to you?" She asked, staring at the empty dishes on her plain tray, she ate up very bite presented to her.
"My father was a well-respected employee; the old president even invited us out to dinner…" It was then he remembered meeting Rufus, a younger, smaller boy compared to him, yet he later grew up to be his boss. "I just want to help out like he did." But he knew it was pointless, he knew it was risky, and he knew he went rushing right in anyway. But he managed to build a group of supporters that also believe in Shinra's old ways, he managed to actually rally up enough people to help spread his cause, after this, the president will definitely be impressed by him, as he was impressed with himself.

"So this… is all because you want acceptance, is that it?" This time Yuna had looked up to him, attempting to catch his eyes only to realize that he refused to do the same to her; he didn't answer her but the solemn look on his face seemed to answer her question. "It's okay, I understand, I've…I've had to do a lot of things just to feel accepted." Having to put aside her needs for others, to shove aside her feelings for her expectations, to give up her future and life for the safety of others, to be titled High Summoner…and only after death—was this acceptance? In her past, she questioned it often but never had the heart to speak her mind.

"I…I know how you fee—!
Loud pops rang close by; close enough to make the two jump from where they were sitting. Shouts roared at the distance and more gunfire rang.
"Shit…" He stood from his seat, taking the rifle leaning beside his chair, cautiously heading out. For a moment he hung behind, turning to Yuna, and watched her carefully. It was pointless to say anything; they both knew very well she wasn't going anywhere.

"What the hell is going on?!" He hissed, ready with his rifle in case fighting got dirty—he actually prayed it wouldn't have to come down to that.
The helmet hid the soldier's face made it difficult to view his expression, but judging by his dropped jaw, and the caught words that he tried to squeeze out, he could tell the other was dumbfound.
"C-cat…?" The soldier stuttered.
"Cat?"
"A fucking cat—!"
His patience was wearing thin, he didn't have time to play stupid games, and if Cloud and his friends found them they were screwed. No, no, they needed more time; they needed to wait for Rufus and reinforcements. "What's this about a cat? I need to know—
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something crimson floating in the air above them. It was like silk or a flickering flame, catching the attention of the others as well, till the 'silk' opened fire, he saw the sparks, heard the loud pops, and one by one the guards surrounding him, including the one baffled by the 'cat', all dropped like flies. It was then he wasted no time in taking off, he couldn't even shoot that thing. Could he? He whirled right back around to aim his rifle for the 'silk' but nothing was behind him anymore. "What the hell—!" But then he felt that strange presence behind him, the one that caused his body to stiffen. He felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of his head and he whimpered. "I don't know where she is!" This was his first immediate response; he could only assume this was what this was all about.
"That's enough games, Kinzo." To his front, a man in a long navy blue coat and dark hair stepped up.
"Reeve…"

There was disappointment clear in Reeve's dark eyes, as if he were ready to scold Kinzo like the child he was. Like the child he was, and it angered him. "Don't you dare talk down on me."
"I wasn't—I just want to know what you're doing."
"I refuse to talk to you about this; I want to see the president."
"This is stupid, Kinzo, what could you possibly get out of this?"
"It's classified." But Reeve knew and Kinzo knew it well, and he couldn't hide from this. "Where is he? Did he send you here? I know he did, don't you lie."
"He? Oh, you mean…"
"Who else? You're all friends, aren't you?"
Reeve sighed. "The president isn't coming."
"You don't know anything, I know how to help."
"Give it up, Kinzo!"

The barrel remained to the back of Kinzo's head, he stared daggers into Reeve who remained calm as he watched him steadily. This caused them to distract each other from the distant sound of shouts, gunfire, and commotion.
"They're here," the strange man behind Kinzo said.
"Always the ones for entrances, aren't they?"
"We weren't any better…"
It was now or never, that tiny moment of loophole while the two were occupied with their small talk, he was sluggish with his movement but he managed to shove Reeve out of the way, darting off before any of the bullets could hit him; he heard Reeve shout to him but he refused to halt. The Ancient—the woman—he had to get to her before Cloud did.

It killed her to have to wait in her cell, peeping through the barred window of the door that locked her inside. Her captor's been gone for a long time and she could hear the distant gunfire; Yuna's stomach knotted in anxiousness. That had to be them. Who else could it be? "Cloud…" She cupped her hands together, pressing them to her lips as she pondered on a plan to get out; there had to be a way to open this door. The question was how. She hadn't noticed the sound of the door's keyhole being fumbled with till a little later. Yuna barely made it out; it was the sound of tinkering and then—click! The door was unlocked! She gasped as she turned toward the door, watching it open slowly, keeping her eyes peeled. "Who's there?" She prepared herself to fight. However, to her surprise she didn't expect a small cat toy to pop in. It actually popped in, plopping itself onto the ground in front of where she stood. "I finally found you!" It chimed.
"You…found me?" This was proving to be interesting and Yuna was left in awe at the sight.
"We have very little time—follow me!" The cat turned and headed out leaving Yuna with no choice but to follow. Right out the door, she came upon two guards who held their rifles defensibly against them; they seemed shocked at the sight of her, already distressed from the uproar outside.
"How'd you get out?!" One of the guards cried; she was out in the open, left defenseless without a weapon.
"Get out!" The guard's attention fell to the cat and they were unnerved by the sight of the toy that yelled back to Yuna; the cat was warning her to get out. "Find him—he has what you need!" The cat leapt forward the guards, erupting with a miniature explosion. It wasn't too harmful but it still caused Yuna to shield herself and knocked the guards back. From there, she made her escape.

A cat, she had spoken to a cat, it jumped, exploded, and helped her escape. Now, she had to find 'him'; she knew of who the cat spoke of. "Where are you?" She whispered, stopping short to gather her surroundings. "What do you have that I need?"

Many of these 'guards' were far too easy to handle, obviously from the lack of fighting experience, some ran off at the sight of him and his group—where these seriously Shinra guards? Either way, they outnumbered Cloud and his friends half of the time but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. Still, he was out of breath the moment Reeve stopped him; he actually hadn't expected to see him there.
"Glad I found you," Reeve said.
"You were looking for me—here?" And here Cloud thought he was being subtle.
"Listen, I know who really took her—I found these," Reeve pulled out a pair of pistols; silver and gold; her pistols. "They confiscated these from her, you should go, take these back to her. Then, I want you to come back, I promise I'll explain everything."
"What? Why? What's going on?"
"No time, just—
A series of bullets rapidly fired past them, causing the two to take cover to avoid being hit; a guard shot at them, distracted by the two targets up front they neglected to check their back, when Tifa swiftly rushed right up and knocked them back with a kick. "Cloud!" She called to him.
"I'm alright!" Cloud nodded, stashing the pistols away, and then pulling out his sword stored behind his back. "Tifa, handle things here, I need to find her."
"Cloud, are you sure?"
"I'll be back, will you be alright here?"
"… Just come back safely." Cloud nodded to her, he knew she had no problem trusting him; he would never back down on his word.

Thankfully, he didn't run into too much trouble. He wasn't a miracle worker, he couldn't fight through an army, and it would've only left him exhausted. He didn't go through an army; a couple punks weren't going to stop him so easily. A group of five passed by him and Cloud hid around the corner to evade them, he could take anyone but he wasn't about to go crazy now, he only had one priority and that wasn't to go off mindlessly killing everyone. But where was she? Reeve gave no absolute clue to where she might've been taken so he was stuck; all he had were her guns. The only clue that came to mind—Shinra's old secondary headquarters, it shouldn't be too far from where he stood. He just had to keep going. He held his grip firm against the handle of his large sword and dashed away, careful not to detect anyone nearby. The wind flew right past him as he hurried to his destination, dodging a couple of guards that tried to halt him, knocking a few back, and knocking a few of them unconscious as well. With the adrenaline pumping in his veins, he wasn't about to stop. He couldn't help but turn to the sky as he ran, even as he tried to focus on moving on—it was how big and open it was compared to his first arrival here, back when the Sister Ray was still attached to this city, only for it to be moved to Midgar. That cannon was gone now and the sky was beautiful, it was too bad the entire city still covered the town below. He realized how distracted he gotten and forced himself to stop, causing himself to stumble on his own feet when he heard his name called again—a female.
"Clouuuud!"
At first, he suspected Tifa had finished up behind and perused him, but as he turned around weight lifted from his body, leaving behind an airy warmness that actually caused his insides to flutter. She frantically turned her head back, as if she were being chased, the blue woven beads of her earring swung back, along with her brunette hair, but as her eyes caught Cloud once again, she grinned, legs pumping, and arms opening up; Cloud wasted no time running right back at her. She was thrown against him, arms locking around his torso, and cheek against his chest. With his free arm, he returned her embrace. He wasn't thinking as his fingers lightly grasped the back of her head, as he felt her breath against his chest, and he held onto her. He was actually holding her. "Yuna…"

But before he could even comprehend the young woman in his arm, someone's shout—"Over here!"—interrupted their moment, forcing Cloud to drop his arm. But then he grabbed onto her hand and yanking her away without looking back; no time to catch up, they had to move. He focused on running and getting the hell out of there, Cloud hadn't even realized their lack of communication till Yuna spoke.
"Where are we going?!" Bullets zoomed right past them, some barely brushing against them, leaving hearts pounding with fear.
"Far away from here!"
It didn't matter where they went as long as they went, but it was only then that Cloud made it to his original destination, and that's when he finally stopped. "Up…"
"Up?"
"We need to up."
"W-why?!"
"We need to head to the airport." He wasted no time with explanations; he pulled Yuna along, pushing through doors as he invaded the old headquarters. Ah yes, he felt the memories flood to his head , where he had to don on that damn navy blue uniform to blend in, and that itself brought back more memories; Cloud shook his head, there was no time to think about that. "Through here," he turned a corner, proceeding out the door where he found himself outside again, captivated by the blue, empty sky above them, feeling the wind against his skin, inhaling the scent of the ocean nearby…
It was a smell that Yuna was familiar with but she smelled something else too—machinery.

"Come on," Cloud took her toward the front where he hopped on a lift and slammed his hand to the bottom to ascend them up. They had a moment of rest, focusing on the white fluff of clouds above them, ignoring the sight of the enemies pouring out from where they came; damn, they were catching up and in a surprising amount.

"Cloud, where are we going?" Yuna recognized the surface they were on was a landing but there was no airship around for miles, just vast open space that stretched out to the sky and ocean from beyond them; it was a dead end.
"I got it covered," he said, slipping his cellular phone from his pocket and pressing it to his ear.
Booop—booop—booop.
Busy signal; he tried again.
Booop—booop—booop.
"Shit!" Subconsciously, Cloud moved toward the edge of the surface and Yuna followed right behind him, carefully looking over to the blue waters below them; she heard the waves even from that height. "Cid's still out there, he could've hauled the Shera over here," Cloud said.
"Don't give up, we have to keep trying."
"I'm calling Tifa right now." The click of a gun disrupted them and the duo turned back to the sound, expecting the group that followed them in here—no, their size in number grew greatly and they found that twice as much. Then there was silence and the only noise that was heard was the waves and the small mumbling coming from Cloud's phone. "Hello? Hello!? Cloud, can you hear me?" But Cloud didn't respond. He had two choices and he already knew which choice to go with.
"Tifa," he spoke into cell, "you need to get Cid; be ready to leave when we get there."
"C-Cloud…? Alright."
He hung up his phone, having already wasted enough time. Oddly enough, they haven't been attacked yet but they kept their weapons pointed at them.
"Give us the girl!"
Neither of them moved.
"This isn't going to be easy," said Cloud, then again nothing was ever that easy. "It's going to get bad; are you ready?" His hand gripped the handle of his sword once more; the enemies up front took note and cautiously yet nervously prepared themselves as well.
"I'll do whatever it takes." Yuna gulped but she held her head high.
"Good, cause you'll need these." Cloud reached behind him, his hand leaving the handle of his weapon to secure two pistols in each grip; carefully, he handed them over, without taking his eyes off the target.
"My weapons! Y-you have them?!" But she didn't question any further and took her guns back. "Thank you," she mumbled before turning back to the group, her exterior strengthening as she aimed her pistols at them.
"Do you trust me?"
Cloud's question was sudden causing a crack to her exterior, and she felt the grip to her guns weaken. "Trust you?"
He didn't want to admit it but the events of Cosmo Canyon kept playing in his head over and over again, it was what motivated him to get this far. No, they weren't perfect in the past, he wasn't perfect either, but he was learning… Still, she followed him this far.
"Do you trust me?" He repeated his question, and this time he saw as she finally turned to look at him, her hand closest to him lowering her gun back to her holster, and she held it out to him.
"I trust you." Her mismatch eyes met his and he was met with the same warmth he felt when they reunited earlier; they were so soft; he grabbed her hand. His fingers loosened on the handle of his sword, feeling lost just for a moment before a large bang ran in the air and his fingers slipped from Yuna's hand.

Time slowed down, or at least it felt like it, and beads of blood floated from the wound in her shoulder, and it shot out the other side. Her body tilted back at the impact, losing her balance, sending her over the edge. Before Cloud could even think he launched forward, wrapping his arms around her frame, sending the both of them below. The wind violently flapped through their hair, hitting against their skin, till they felt the splash of cool saltwater enclose them. Then their world became black.