All good things must come to an end, and by the end of this week this story shall be one of them. Sorry for the long overdue update, a change in laptops meant almost losing the final chapters, however they are all now safely recovered, and we hope you enjoy them!

-Chapter Twenty-Eight-

Cause and Effect

"Sir you really think that this is wise?" Tseng asked the president.

They were back in their main base on operations in Russia. Rufus was leaning on what once was the map which bore the possible locations of parasites and materia. The table was now completely blank however, it was a sorry sight to look at. The president of Shinra looked up at his head Turk.

"What other choice do we have Tseng? Fear not though," Rufus began, and to Tseng's surprise there was a slight look of confidence on his face, "if all goes to plan we should not need their help, just a little bit of information."

All of a sudden the sound of banging on the main doors of the building sounded, and the sound of shouting could be heard from the other side. Reno and Rude who had been silent up to this moment looked at each other, then at the president.

"Sir how secure is this building exactly?" Reno asked, taking a tentative step forward towards Rufus.

"Secure enough, what with our little bit of magical additives it would take nothing short of a bomb to break down those doors." Much to their discomfort, the distant sound of an explosion then sounded. The chaos which meteor had ensued truly was worldwide.

Rufus looked over at Reno. "Any success on the location of the broadcast?" He asked, looking very serious.

"No sir it was completely untraceable, he seems to know what he is doing…" Reno admitted defeated, "…not that it really matters, we didn't get within twenty feet of him last time so why would this time be any different."

The approaching doom seemed to have changed everybody's personality considerably, the word 'optimistic' seemed like a myth. "Nothing is impossible, everybody has a weakness we just need to find out where to push…" Rufus said, his strategic mind kicking back into action, "…if we need to fight him again at all that is."

X

"So problem…" Tifa began half an hour before they were due to reach Moscow, "…how are we supposed to get through the city without being mobbed?"

This thought had crossed everybody's mind, the only reason nobody had voiced it yet was because plans were running thin on the agenda. All of a sudden, Reeve began to stir on the sofa. Everybody looked over at him as Vincent strode over and knelt down beside him. His eyes flickered open.

"Well that was unpleasant…" He groaned, attempting to sit up unsuccessfully, "remind me not to do that again anytime soon."

"Well that is the last time I lend you anything of mine!" Vincent joked, referring to the Odin materia embedded in Reeve's arm. "Welcome back."

"Miss much?" He asked, attempting to sit up and succeeding this time.

"Oh you know, the usual…" Yuffie began in a matter of fact tone, "Sephiroth got the black materia," She ticked it off on a finger of her right hand as she spoke, "summoned meteor and issued a worldwide hunt for our heads on sticks, other than that no, been a pretty dull couple of days really!"

Reeve looked ready to vomit, expecting someone to suddenly say 'Aaaah we had you going for a moment there eh!?', this however was not the case, and looking at all of their solemn faces confirmed the truth.

"So what are we doing now?" He asked, noticing for the first time that they were on Charles' jet, "Where are we going?"

"We had a call for Rufus in Moscow we will be touching down there shortly." Shaun informed him, he was the only host currently present.

"You don't think it's a trap?" Reeve asked all of them.

"Ha!" Barret boomed, looking out of the window at the landscape below, "Even if it was a trap what would it matter at this point? What would Rufus *&^* Shinra gain from a brawl with us?"

"Peace of mind before death?" Cloud suggested sarcastically, folding his arms.

The jet began to descend towards their destination. It would be extremely lucky if they managed to get on the runway with the world in the state it was in. Fortunately however, the airport seemed to still be functioning properly, even if it was slightly overcrowded, and by slightly, it meant more planes trying to leave than enter.

"Is there even any point changing back to our hosts at this stage?" Cloud asked Vincent.

"I would say yes, but travelling together would be the giveaway. We must make our way to Rufus' base alone to avoid drawing attention." He replied, looking at everyone as they began morphing back to their hosts.

"Works for me." Savina said, initiating her camouflaged state. "Just tell me where I need to go and I'll get there."

"His base is the old KGB museum in the centre of the city." Charles was the one to answer. "We will have to avoid main roads, travelling by car will be almost impossible due to traffic…no it's going to be about an hour's foot journey from here I would say."

"An hour that we can't really afford to lose." Alex pointed out. She was right, there were now less than twenty four hours until meteor struck.

All of them looked up at the sky as a reflex after getting off the jet, the huge purple rock that was meteor was covering an awful lot of their vision now. It was even greater in size than it was back on their world, roughly the size of a country rather than a city, and a large country at that.

"Right…" Charles said to them all, "…minimum necessary force, just keep your heads down and try to…well blend in I guess." He was the first to start walking bravely towards the city, wishing he had a hood of some kind.

"See you there everyone!" Savina said confidently, camouflaging herself spectacularly and beginning to walk towards the city as well.

They all dispersed and nervously for the first time since meteor was summoned, they entered civilisation. It was as expected an utter disaster. The main roads were completely blocked where cars had crashed into each other through both panicked and reckless driving. Windows of both shops and homes had been smashed all along the streets.

Alex was extremely nervous being left alone. She knew of course that this was the safest way, but she couldn't help but feel something was going to happen to one of them. Much to her utter horror, everybody seemed to have taken the television broadcast to heart, in the short time that had passed the faces of all of them were plastered on the walls, a reminder for everyone of what to be looking for.

She couldn't help but walk up to a poster bearing herself and Tifa. It was unreal to look at, but then Alex remembered something. "Adrian couldn't see Sephiroth in the photo on my collage, why can people suddenly see it now?" She asked Tifa, who was quiet for a moment before answering.

"Perhaps because people have seen us…me…in person it has broken whatever illusion was shielding it?" She suggested. This seemed to be a satisfactory answer for Alex. There was a group of obviously drunk men approaching from a side street on her right and Alex chose that moment to walk away from the poster.

The damage it seemed had been done however. They all looked at the poster as she made her retreat, Alex then heard them shout something in Russian, and the sound of running footsteps behind her then followed. Deciding to neutralise them, Alex turned and using Tifa's fighting expertise she took on the three men.

It was absurdly simple due to how intoxicated they all were. They looked on the brink of consciousness even before the fight. One of the men was wearing a long hooded coat. Alex decided to relieve him of it and donned it herself, it was so long on her it fell down past her knees.

Putting the hood up over her head she turned and walked, a little more confidently this time. It was surprising just how few people there were in the city at the moment. Alex thought that many must have fled, but to what point and purpose she could not see.

"No…" Tifa said in her head, reading this thought, "something more sinister is at work here, I can sense it…" Alex was just about to ask exactly what sinister something she could sense when her phone began to ring. It was Charles. "Alex speaking."

"Thought as much." He replied, "Something isn't right Alex, where is everybody? I've seen what…ten people ish?"

Alex looked round at the barren and near deserted streets. There were people at the other end lighting fires in nearby bins, but that was about it. "Surely people are just running around in panic?" Alex speculated.

"Do me a favour and check the more untouched houses, see if there is anybody in them, neutralise anybody that attacks…" Charles instructed, obviously taking the lead from Reeve's word. He then hung up.

She looked around at the street, there were around three houses that looked habitable. Walking up to the nearest one Alex tried the door, it was unlocked. She entered, it was your standard modern house setup. Looking around the three bedrooms Alex found nobody, however curiously there was some food left in a frying pan on the hob, it looked as though it was cooked recently.

Moving onto the next house she entered, needing to apply a little bit of force this time. This house clearly belonged to someone elderly, the décor was just too old fashioned for it not to. Alex silently made her way round, until she came to the living room. Sitting in an armchair was an elderly lady, very frail looking. Obviously she was of no threat to Alex, she looked right at her.

"Who's there?" The elderly woman asked in English, which surprised Alex. "Can't you leave an old woman be?"

"I'm not here to cause trouble." Alex informed the old woman in a raised voice, thinking she might be slightly deaf.

"No need to shout!" She replied, getting to her feet and walking up to Alex, the better to see her face. "You're one of them that they're all looking for aren't you?" She asked, her voice not frightened, "Cowards the lot of them, any idiot can see you aren't the problem!"

The old woman turned round and walked back over to her chair. "You aren't Russian?" Alex asked curiously.

"Top marks for the intelligence in youth today I see!" The woman laughed. "I moved here years ago from England my dear. But tell me, what brings you into my house?"

"I want to know where everybody is." Alex replied.

"You would 'like' to know you mean, manners young lady!" The elderly lady was beginning to aggravate Alex now. "What rock have you been hiding under for the last couple of days?" The old woman laughed again.

Alex looked extremely confused just as the elderly woman began to cough violently. "Not sure I follow…"

"Oh you will find out soon enough, don't go thinking it is just here in Moscow though, go anywhere else and it is exactly the same story, and exactly the same people." She coughed even more, "Only the old crones like me with little more than an ounce of life left in them who remain."

This wasn't right though, Alex had earlier seen fairly young men who had tried to attack her. "Where has everybody gone?" She asked, simply.

"All in good time," She coughed again and then quite suddenly, her eyes rolled into the back of her head. The old woman had died before Alex's very eyes.

Then something happened which Alex neither expected nor understood. A blue wisp like substance seemed to force its way up the woman's throat and out of her slightly open mouth. The wisp hovered for a few moments before shooting straight through the closed window, smashing a hole in it, and out of sight.

"What the hell was that?" Alex questioned aloud.

"Beats me…" Tifa replied, just as utterly bewildered as Alex was, "…we should keep moving and tell the others when we see them."

Alex agreed, and she left the elderly woman's house, closing her eyelids before she did so as a mark of respect. The blue wisp, whatever that was, had long since vanished. It took little time considering the lack of people to get to the old KGB museum. The building was huge, all of the windows of which there were hundreds of had been blacked out. So this was Rufus Shinra's main base of operations.

The building looked like it had recently been under siege, several of the windows were cracked however not quite smashed, and the main door looked as though it had been chipped away at as if attempted to be broken through. Yuffie was already standing outside the door, Alex could just about make out the camouflaged figure of the ninja. Obviously Savina had let her take over.

She strode confidently up to her. "No sign of the others yet then?" Alex asked her, causing her to relinquish her camouflaged state.

"Not yet, got a call from Charles though, he is right, where the hell is everybody!" Yuffie asked rhetorically.

"Never mind that, Tifa and I just saw something super weird, will wait until the others get here before I explain." She got out her phone and began dialling everyone's number to check their status.

Everybody thus far was still alive, and just before she managed to dial Shaun's number, he appeared on the scene. "That was a lot easier than expected!" He said, delightedly, the two females suspected that he had not had a call from Charles.

Not long after the rest of them appeared, all of them now standing outside the huge entrance to the KGB HQ.

"Perhaps we should knock?" Cloud suggested, stretching out his arm. Before he managed to make contact with the door however, it simply swung open. Someone must be watching them.

They walked into the huge entrance hall where they found both Reno and Rude waiting for them, they both looked distinctly uncomfortable with the situation. "The president is waiting for you…" Reno began, gesturing towards a security coded door which Rude opened for them.

The parasites walked through into the main mission room. It was extremely plain now. Most of the computers were off and the main map table had now been overturned in apparent frustration. Rufus was not present however, which caused both Reno and Rude to wear very confused expressions.

X

"Time to use the 'ace in the hole'?" Nicholi asked Rufus from the mirror, they were in Rufus' quarters.

Rufus walked over to the wall which was adorned with guns, Shiva as always right beside him. He pulled on one of them, which acted as a switch. The wall on the opposite side of the room shifted to one side revealing a small safe. He and Shiva walked over to it and began entering the combination on the dial. A few moments later the safe clicked. Rufus turned the handle and opened the door. Inside was a small white orb which he picked up and pocketed.

He looked briskly back into the mirror through Shiva's eyes. "The time is right, wouldn't you say?" Rufus then swiftly exited the room, and they made their way through the labyrinthine passageways of the building and back into the main mission room, where everybody was waiting for him.

"So we have both failed it would seem." He addressed Cloud and his companions, "An extreme sense of de ja vu wouldn't you say?" Rufus went on.

"This time it's different." Cloud replied, taking a few steps closer to him in defiance, "This time we are going to destroy him and ergo destroy meteor."

"Confident." Rufus speculated, beginning to pace in front of the group, Shiva remained idle. "How do you intend to do that then? You don't even know where he is!"

"Do you?" Cloud asked, regrettably knowing the answer.

"Not the foggiest." Rufus replied, still pacing. "But that does not matter, we don't need to find him in order to destroy meteor, I have the means to do that right here!"

All of them watched with interest as Rufus extracted from his pocket the white orb which he had obtained from the safe. Everybody present seemed to know exactly what it was, several of them gasped, Cloud took another few steps forward.

"Where did you find that!?" He asked, looking at the materia with interest.

"Irrelevant, we have it and it can destroy meteor." He proceeded to roll up his sleeve in order to insert it into his arm.

"Wait!" Shouted Yuffie, also taking a few steps forward, "You can't use that, none of us can! Only she could use it!" Rufus looked over at her and laughed.

"Well the ancient girl isn't here nor is she even alive, so I will have to do for now." He replied, making a move as if to insert it into his arm.

Cloud pulled out his katana and pointed it at Rufus causing him to stop. "I can't let you do that, it might risk destroying the materia, our one and only hope!" The Turks all unsheathed their weapons and moved to the presidents side.

Everyone else readied themselves for battle as well. They severely outnumbered the Shinra. Rufus turned to Reno, Rude and Tseng. "Keep them busy won't you?"

He then turned with Shiva and fled towards the passageways of the building, heading towards the roof. Cloud was hot on his heels, leaving the rest of his companions to duke it out with the Turks. It was all Cloud could do to run as fast as he could to keep up with the pair of them. If he lost sight he would surely be lost in the building.

After several minutes of pursuit however, they finally reached a long spiral staircase with a trapdoor at the top of it. Rufus made his way up them as quick as he could, punched open the trapdoor and slammed it down behind him. Cloud, knowing he would have blocked it, threw himself at it with all his might and smashed through it.

Rufus was standing in the middle of the rooftop, Shiva between himself and Cloud. "Why do you persist Cloud, this will destroy meteor, that is surely what we both want?" He shouted.

"You can't wield it!" Cloud cried back in desperation, "None of us can!" He made a few steps advance towards Rufus, and Shiva readied herself for battle.

The Ice Queen was relentless, firing shard after shard of razor sharp ice at Cloud from her fingertips at such speed it caused Cloud to have to both dodge and deflect. In this world however, Shiva seemed to be versed in the art of hand to hand combat, she reached Cloud when he was off guard from dodging and skilfully kicked his katana out of his hands.

It was now a fist fight, something which Cloud was not very confident in. He could see Rufus' materia arm beginning to glow a bright white, pointing it directly towards meteor. Shiva managed to knock Cloud to the ground, she pounced on him and grappled his wrists. A horrible freezing sensation then started to spread from where her hands held him, and Cloud knew it was all over. He found it ironic how in his final moments on Gaia he had referred to this summon as weak.

Then quite suddenly, there was an almighty explosion from where Rufus Shinra was standing. Shiva let out a horrible scream and before Cloud, she simply evaporated into the air. Cloud looked over at where Rufus Shinra was once standing from where he lay. The white orb was hovering innocently in mid-air. Holy had backfired, Rufus was dead.

Cloud got to his feet and walked slowly over to where the materia was floating. He stretched out a hand and closed his fingers gingerly round it, it stopped emanating its white light and fell into his hand.

"Where's Rufus?" A voice said from behind him, looking round he saw Tifa on the rooftop. "The Turks are all unconscious down there."

"Rufus is dead, Holy killed him…" Cloud replied, holding up the materia, "…this is the only thing we have left, shame it is impossible to use…"

A/N - Next chapter will be uploaded on saturday, this is a promise we will keep! Hope you enjoyed it, as usual please review =). Til next time!

R&A