AN: Ya, I know I thought i was MIA too! But I'm back, like I have previously stated: THIS STORY WILL BE FINISHED! Anyway sorry again for the year delay. Oh my word has that much time really gone by or does it just real like its been a year. Again sorry about the delay and enjoy! As always feedback is encouraged!

Angeal reached the top of the long set of steel stairs first and looked down. Zack came next in line, Sephiroth at Zack's heels; Rain lagged a couple sets of stairs further behind.

Satisfied Angeal took a moment to look at his surroundings. From this height he could see a large portion of Deepground's upper structure spread out before him. The silent city stretched on for miles in the seemly endless cavern and that was just the surface. The real network of passages and labs where they had found Zack and Rain lay beneath that. It would not take them long now to find an entrance. The real trick had been getting out of that network of tunnels.

The longer they stayed in Deepground the greater risk of meeting conflict. Almost immediately after they had left the lab an alarm had been sounded. They had not encountered anyone yet, but the longer they stayed down here only increased the chances.

Though Sephiroth and Angeal could probably deal with anything they came up against, Deepground had its surprises. Nothing was normal down here and with Zack and Rain in the shape they were in, Angeal did not want to take any risks, especially with everyone not quite themselves at the moment.

Sephiroth's behavior partially was erratic these last couple of hours. Sephiroth was always a careful man, even though there was probably little in the world that could actually harm him. Yet right now he was being beyond carful. His eyes constantly darting into ever corner and his hand was never far from Masume's handle. It was if he was soo paranoid about keeping them from outside harm that he was unaware of what was happening within the group, especially with Rain.

This caused Angeal no small amount of worry. He knew better than most what Sephiroth was like when he lost control, even just a little. Hojo's death was one such result. However what really bothered Angeal had been not Sephiroth's lack of control, but Rain's power over him after he killed Hojo.

It was rare when Sephiroth lost complete control like that and when he did even Angeal knew to give him a wide berth if he valued his own life. Yet Sephiroth had not lashed out at Rain's touch or her attempt to draw him from his bloodlust. With an ease that even Angeal long friendship had not acquired Rain had drawn Sephiroth back with a few simple words.

Angeal was now trying to decide if it was the fact he did not like the idea of someone having emotional power over Sephiroth or simply that it was Rain who had such power. Angeal still did not know what to think of her. Both Zack and Sephiroth seemed to have some sort of emotional connection to the girl that could not be explained.

Not even Zack's normal friendly and protective nature could account for his behavior when it came to Rain. Angeal remembered long ago Zack saying he felt a connection to the cadet and had even threatened them when the three SOLIDERS began suspecting her. No, Angeal did not trust Rain.

She had not said anything since they had found a change of clothes for her and she had discarded her bloody garments for some loose fitting slacks and an oversized jacket with a hood that she had immediately drawn up around her head concealing her face. As if that could hide her pain from them, which she was obviously in.

Right now Angeal doubted either Sephiroth or Zack were aware of what was happening with Rain and Angeal well he had chosen to ignore it. His focus was entirely on Zack, who looked ready to fall asleep on his feet as he joined him at the top of the stairs.

"How are you doing, pup?" Angeal asked at another small wince from Zack, who only smiled in response, too tired to give one of his cheery assurances. His body was just now coming down from the high the mako had put it through and he would be feeling very fatigued for the next couple of hours, which given the circumstances was not unusual.

That fact again drew his attention back to Rain. If Zack was this bad from his short time in the labs Rain should be far worse, mostly likely dead knowing Hojo's methods. Yet on the outside she appeared only weary, yet Angeal couldn't help but wonder if that was all that was going on.

Rain was hardly even aware where she was going anymore. Her mind had become so wrapped in its pain, that controlling it had become her only focus. Her body mindless followed the men in front of her, but she was hardly aware of them.

Rain tried not to gag as blood filled her month again. She forcing herself to swallow and grasped her index finger on her left hand buried in the long sleeves she applied pressure on the knuckle until she heard the faint crack as the bone gave under the pressure. She winced slightly at the pain, but the relief that came imminently after quickly washed it away.

The breaking of bone gave her momentary relief as the excess mako that had been eating away at her body found a source to direct its force on. Her broken finger would be healed in a matter of minutes, but then the pain would return again and when it became too much to bear she would move to the next finger. It seemed like a never ending cycle she had already gone through one hand.

She looked around as her head cleared and she was able to take in her surroundings. She froze as she met the stares of the three SOLIDES, who had halted at the top of the long set of stairs waiting for her. She had not realized how far behind she had lagged.

It was Sephiroth's stare that had Rain in sudden fear that he knew and she quickly slid her hands deeper into the jacket's long sleeves.

"Come on Rain," Zack shouted, "We are almost out."

In less than a minute Rain was on the landing with the rest, it was then that she realized that running might not have been a good idea.

Thought it had only been a short sprint Rain felt the blood once again fill her mouth and then something else. This was not the normal pain she had been fighting. It was there for an instance then it fading, but the emotions it had evoked left Rain feeling shaken and unstable.

She needed to get away! Needed to be alone, to gain control over herself! She could not fall apart in front of them, especially Sephiroth.

Noticing a door to the left of the landing Rain moved toward it muttered something about needed a moment. She felt a presence behind her and knew it was Sephiroth. She was just wondering how in the planet she was going to get him to let her be alone for a moment, when Zack's spoke. His tone was amused.

"Seph, I know you don't know much about woman, but there are some places a man shouldn't follow them."

Rain was too tired to smile or see the small blush that had crept into the General's face as he came to a dead halt. She did however smirk as she opened the door and saw that it had a sink, toilet and even a showerhead coming out randomly from the wall. Talk about ironic.

Walking over to the sink Rain quickly washed out her mouth, spiting the red liquid down the drain then starred at her reflection in the cracked mirror.

She looked like crap! Her eyes had dark rings around them, her cheeks were sunk in and her blue eyes had practically turned green with mako. As Rain starred, her pupils abruptly narrowed into those familiar cat eyes.

Rain gave a strangled cry bolting off the sink, crashing into the opposite wall.

Breathing heavily Rain slowly approached the mirror again, aware that someone was pounding on the door and shouting. She ignored them, instead focusing on the mirror. Her eyes were normal again.

Rain breathed a sigh of relief, when a searing pain suddenly rips through her entire being! Rain's eyes roll back in her head and she grips the sides of the sink until it cracks, fighting the urge to scream as her head felt like it was about ready to explode. Rain suddenly knows what was happening.

They were facing each other!

The thought just forms in Rain's mind when suddenly everything changes and the bathroom, voices, everything disappears.

For a moment Rain's feels nothing, hears nothing and she smiles faintly in bliss. Then… wind. It blows fiercely against her as if she just stepped out into a storm, but it only lasts a moment. As if recognizing her presence, the wind suddenly calms into a gentle breeze that tugs lightly at her hair.

Rain hated this place! Most people found comfort retreating deep inside of themselves, trying to escape their pain. This region of her mind though was the source of her innermost pain, and it would soon become a battlefield if she could not control the opposing forces imprisoned within.

Though the wind had stopped, the tension in this place was so thick you could cut it and the fog at her feet seemed to boil angrily. Slowly Rain lifted her head to look around, already knowing what she would see.

Jenova stood tall and regal, her blue hair blowing around her head almost in what looked like a crown. Calamity! Enemy of the planet! The Nightmare, which resided in Cloud and had passed on to Rain along with everything else. Rain had inherited everything from Cloud, even his taint.

Instead of Jenova's usual lack of clothing when she appeared in Rain's mind, she was now coved in armor as if prepared for battle. Looking at her opponent it would seem absolutely ridiculous to the normal eye.

The child in front of Jenova looked no more than ten and barley came past Jenova's abdomen. Though it looked like a child replica of Rain, the transparent green hue of the life stream that hung around the child clearly marked the being's celestial nature. Just as Jenova's unnatural beauty did hers.

The two parts of herself consistently at war with each other! Only one knowing of the other's presence inside the same vessel, Rain had also been so careful to keep them apart from each other. Spread out in the vast corners of her mind, but the amount of mako now burning through her body had ripped down those barriers. It had caused one to stir and the other to be awakened by the stirring of the first. Now here they stood confronting each other for the first time.

Neither of the beings had noticed Rain's appearance in their midst, their focus solely on each other. Jenova's face was twisted in an ugly sneer as she looked down at the child, who at first glance seemed relaxed. Rain however could see from the way her feet were positioned ever so slightly apart, the tension in her shoulder muscles and legs that the child was ready to attack at a moment's notice. It was stance all too familiar from Rain's early years as a child, in her training with Cloud.

"This is it?" Jenova's voice was full of contempt, "The planet must indeed be desperate if this is the only force it can muster."

"I remember ages past," Jenova continued, "Planets created weapons of such magnitude it made the mere mortals tremble just to gaze upon them. Now look how far they have come, reduced to this pathetic Weapon stuck in human flesh. You can barley even be considered a citadel."

Though it appeared the Weapon was indifferent to the insult. Rain saw the girl's hand clench into a fist and knew it was not so. There had only been a few times the Weapon had ever awakened, each time it had taken on the appearance of Rain as a child. Through those limited interacts Rain had found out the Weapon's metal state was usually on a similar level to the body it choose to appear as and Rain knew better than anyone her emotional state as a child, which meant they were walking on thin ice.

Rain was already moving before Jenova even finished speaking. The child's clenched fist was now glowing as the planet's raw power flowed into it, but now was not the time for the Weapon to prove herself to Jenova. It could ruin everything!

"Citadel, stop!" Rain launched herself between the two beings just as the weapon launched her attack.

The amount of power that surged through Rain as the small fist slammed into her abdomen was equivalent to be struck by lightning. It knocked her straight off her feet until her back slammed into a wall causing a new eruption of pain.

No, not a wall, Jenova! Rain just felt the woman's arms surround her from behind before blackness clouded her vision.

Sephiroth had had enough! His enhanced hearing had immediately picked up on Rain muffled cry in the bathroom and had been at the door in an instant pounding on the steel frame.

He still had enough composure to recognize the cry not being one of pain hence the only reason he had not broken the door down already. That and he was still mindful of Zack's warning about woman, but his patience was quickly running out.

"Rain," his voice was composed, but he knew those around him picked up on the threat behind it, "if you do not open this door within the next ten seconds, I will break it down."

The seconds dragged by until suddenly a bloodcurdling scream came from behind the door. Sephiroth's fist was through the door and the door ripped from the frame in less than a second.

Rain was on her knees in agony, one arm wrapped around her middle. The other was keeping her from doing a face plant on the floor as she choked on the blood erupting from her mouth and pooling by her hands.

Sephiroth quickly knelt by her side pulled her up so her back was against his chest, supporting her as the coughing fits continued. Slowly the coughing subsided, leaving Rain trembling and gasping for breath, barely conscious.

Despite this she seemed to be muttering something past the blood still trickling from her mouth.

"Don't fight… your not ready."

"Who's fighting Rain? Is someone here?" Zack was at their side reaching out to grasp Rain's hand but suddenly stopped and swore. Sephiroth glanced down briefly to where Zack held Rain's broken hand gently in his. The fingers were swollen, obviously they had been broken, but seemed to be healing on their own.

Sephiroth took the mutilated hand gently in his own carefully examining it.

Zack looked confused, proof that his own experience in the labs was still affecting him. He usually wasn't this slow.

"She was intentionally injuring herself as a way to burn up excess mako." Angeal had come along side them and looked down at them thoughtfully, "I'm surprised you did not notice earlier, Sephiroth."

"You knew and yet you did nothing?" Sephiroth's glare was cold.

"Oh, stop!" Zack was now angry, "There is no time for that now. Right now we need to get Rain out of here and fast!"

Sephiroth briefly closed his eyes, calming himself. Zack was right. In one smooth motion Rain was in his arms and he was on his feet and moving.

Once he was on the landing again Sephiroth paused as he felt the fabric on his back rip, then the familiar explosion of feathers.

Glancing down he saw Rain's eyes start to close, "Rain? Rain!"