The Warrior

Chapter 15

My smallest chapter thus far is 5800 words. Wow. Oh, and this isn't it if you were wondering.

There was a message from Jesse on Tifa's phone designating a time and meeting place – it had been sent at 3 in the morning. Checking the time, that left her with barely an hour to get there.

Tifa had to elbow her way through the crowds of people on the train just to find a reasonable place to stand. Then she waited, listening to snippets of conversations as some began and others ended. Most of them were focused on the President's upcoming address to the city and the implications behind the recent attacks on the reactors. Sephiroth's name was thrown back and forth with some reservation, but nothing to draw too much attention.

More people were getting off on Sector 7 today than the last time she'd come through. Tifa had stashed her uniform before boarding the train and was able to blend in well enough, but it was slow going through the wave of bodies leaving the station.

Her stomach felt like one never-ending cramp and her head floated fuzzily on her shoulders. She really didn't function on low blood-sugar and she had yet to eat anything today -- there hadn't been time.

When she arrived at the building dubbed "Seventh Heaven", she had barely a minute to spare. There was a man she didn't recognize waiting for her. He nodded for her to enter, and she was immediately ushered onto a lift that brought them deep within the core beneath Midgar – one of many bases of operation.

Barret was waiting for them at the bottom level, dismissing her guard with a jerk of his hand before signaling for her to follow him. There was no bustling room of activity in this building, just a long bare hallway that echoed their footstep loudly. He didn't speak, so she responded in kind.

At the far end of the hall was a round doorway and a small panel to its right. Barret quickly dialed in the code and the door opened.

The first thing Tifa noticed was the deep thrumming of a large computer hub and a wide monitor suspended from the ceiling. Then she was brought to attention by an excited exclamation just in time to see a disheveled, red-eyed Jesse leaping up from her seat to greet them. The girl's attention narrowed in on Tifa Immediately, an intense expression around her eyes.

"How did you get this?" Her face glowed with breathless exultation. "I never...this is incredible." She gestured vaguely with her hands, encompassing the entire room. "This will take weeks to sort through."

Barret made an inarticulate grunting noise in the back of his throat. "We don't have weeks."

Jesse forged ahead unperturbed, clasping Tifa's hands with renewed zeal, "Come here." She insisted and lead her to the monitor, "This -" She began, taking a breath as she tapped rapidly across the keys, bringing up multiple pages, "can link us to the entire Shin-Ra Database."

Tifa frowned in puzzlement, "But I thought this was from Deepground? Not Shin-Ra headquarters."

"It is!" The girl emphasized excitedly, "but Deepground is linked to Shin-Ra's database via a ghost network that my handy little jump drive hacked when you downloaded the files from Deepground's host computer. We've got everything – more than I know what to do with really."

"Make sure ya focus on what's important, Jess." Barret cautioned quietly, his arms crossed. "We don't have time to be pokin' through all their dirty history."

She sighed, "I know, but you should really listen to this; it details the original Avalanche organization and its members, all the known survivors…well, what little they knew after their disappearances anyway."

Barret seemed to perk up a slight amount at that. "What's it say?"

Jesse dialed up another window. "See here? Everyone assumed Elfe died, right? Well, not so much." She indicated the screen where a file and photograph of a girl was now displayed, stamped with MIA in bold red lettering, "And at the same time roughly that Elfe disappeared, the leader of the Turks at that time, Veld, was announced dead by Shin-Ra, but look here – it was never officially verified. After some digging around I was able to find some information that strongly suggests Veld was Elfe's father, though that wasn't her given name."

"What's that do for us?" The burly man inquired with a grunt. "They ain't here now. And I'd bet they want it to stay that way."

"But it's fascinating, isn't it?" Jesse beamed. "Think of how much more they've kept in the dark all these years – there's so much we don't know about what went on behind the scenes during the first revolt."

"What about Sephiroth?" Tifa spoke up hesitantly. "Did you look into any of the files on him and Angeal?"

Jesse bashfully avoided her superior's piercing stare. "Some." She cleared her throat uneasily, "Those are the hardest ones to sift, because there's so much information."

"Ain't important." Barret dismissed it curtly.

Tifa took a deep breath, stealing herself for what she had to do next. "I think it is." She contested. "If we could get control of their triggers, it might be to our advantage."

Barret gave a snort of contempt. "They been Shin-Ra flunkies since day one – let 'em rot. We don't have time to be wastin' on them."

Jesse gave looked between Barret and Tifa uncertainly, "Well you know..." she hedged, "she kind of has a point. If we could hijack control of their two strongest SOLDIERs, we'd be eliminating at least two of the greatest threats to our operation."

His brow creased broodingly as he considered that. "Maybe. Wouldn't be easy cracking the code."

"No, it won't." The other agreed, "Given the time limitations we'll be lucky to get one, but I think it's worth a shot."

"Make it Sephiroth then. He's more dangerous." Barret stroked his beard. "I know a few people who'd relish pushing the button on 'im themselves."

Tifa felt the air get sucked right out of her. She inhaled sharply, gathering her courage, "I think…Angeal would be better."

A shadow fell over her face as the large man who stood beside her stepped into the light, blocking it. His eyes pinned her on the spot, "Why? He ain't nothing."

Her lips tensed together flatly, not least of which because she begged to differ on that point, but she wasn't about to voice that. She had to invent a reason and quick. "I…he deserves a chance to live, that's why."

Or she could blurt out the truth too. She clamped down on the tickling of righteous anger that was creeping into her throat before it got her into serious trouble.

Jesse put a hand on Barret's arm before he could retort, "Hey, we've got time to decide. No need to rush it."

"Fine. I'll consider it, but on one condition," He cautioned and his gaze landed squarely on Tifa with ominous portent. "You know what's comin'."

Tifa looked away with a despondent nod.

"Ain't nothin' any of us wanna do either." He murmured – the closest he'd ever come to empathy with her. "But somethin's gotta change and we at the end of the rope here."

"I know." Tifa felt a chill travel down her spine like a shot of cold water. "I'm not backing out now."

Barret turned away, one hand poised on the back of his neck, hesitating, "It'll have ta be coordinated – we've got everythin' in place to cut their power. They'll be in enough disarray at that point – shouldn't be hard gettin' what we need and then some."

Tifa looked up in mild surprise. "So you'll do it?"

"We can try." It was Jesse who spoke then. "We're going to hi-jack their system's safe-guards with the power off anyway, but we won't have a lot of time. Enough to hack one trigger, but two is pushing it. Our manpower is stretched pretty thin at this point now that we've got Deepground to worry about."

"You're going after Deepground too?" That was unexpected.

Barret grumbled something under his breath to the effect of, "Not my idea."

Jesse frowned pensively, "That guy, Vincent - the one you gave the jump drive to? He pushes a hard bargain. He didn't hand it over for free."

"Oh." A tickling of apprehension grew behind Tifa's ears, but Barret made nary a sound. He was glaring at the far wall.

"Don't worry," Jesse dismissed it easily. "He had a good enough point that no one took much offense."

"How do you mean?" She tried to control her hands from worrying a hangnail on her thumb.

"We've known about Deepground for a while." The other woman fired a sidelong glance at her captain. "We've been siphoning equipment and serums from them for some time actually"

Tifa's brow furrowed. "That sounds dangerous. I wouldn't trust anything that came out of that place."

"No one does, but we don't have the time or manpower ta get picky." Barret answered gruffly. "I ain't touched any of it, but some people...they need a little somethin' more ta give 'em the balls to follow through when the time comes. The science was what we wanted anyway – we stole research more than anythin' else."

"But the point is," Jesse interrupted. "Until now, we had no idea of what kind of force they had. After what Vincent told us though and the information on the jumpdrive, we can't just ignore it. They're building up for something and it has the potential to catch everyone off guard if it's not dealt with, which is where Vincent comes in."

"How?"

"He wants to infiltrate the facility during the chaos above and try to cut their power too, which would be devastating since all of their storage containers require power to maintain the lifelines of their…specimens."

Tifa shuddered, "You mean…kill them all? Just like that?"

The other woman nodded, her eyes hard. She shook her head after a moment, "There's nothing else for it you know - that's an army down there and if Vincent thinks he can nip it in the bud, more power to him. I just hope he's not biting off more than he can chew."

"He's going alone?" Tifa frowned thoughtfully. She knew of a couple people who might be, if not willing, than susceptible to being blackmailed into helping out.

Not that she engaged in that sort of behavior frequently, but nothing else for it, right?

"At the moment, yeah." Jesse answered. "But he's going to have an entire team working on base via radio to guide him through it. There's just not enough of us to throw more bodies into the fray when we've got a war on the surface going on."

Tifa wrinkled her nose and gazed off into the nether world of the gears spinning in her mind, "What if I knew of some people who were willing to help him? Is there a way for me to contact him?"

"There is now." She snorted and grinned sheepishly. "Although it wasn't easy convincing him, but we have to have some way of communicating throughout this mess. I can leave him a message if you want?"

"Yeah, okay." Tifa replied pensively and turned away.

"Right then."

"Hey Jess," Barret was starting to fidget and glance periodically at the door.

Her dirty blond pony tail bobbed as she twisted her head at him, "Yeah?"

"What about that one, uh, firewall…whatchamacallit you were tryin' to break? You know, the one with enough security barriers on it to keep out the president himself?" He asked.

"Oh!" Jesse snapped her fingers, whirling around again. "I almost forgot – you won't believe this."

Barret and Tifa exchanged a glance that went unnoticed by the exuberant technician. She was whirling through windows on the computer monitor again at a pace that defied logic. They watched restlessly, wondering at what other mysteries Jesse might reveal.

"I take it you got in?" The dark man emphasized with a scowl. His eyes flitted towards the door again.

The girl tossed a wayward grin over her shoulder at them. "Just wait till you see this - it's beyond weird."

"Get on with it, Jess." Her boss ground out tiredly. "Ya haven't slept int 24 hours and I've got to get back for the briefin',"

"Wait, wait!" Jesse waved her hand sporadically, the other working the keys feverishly in front of her. "Here it is."

Barret and Tifa shuffled forward to take a closer look. It was Hojo's file that had been brought up, including a very unflattering picture of his over large forehead framed by lanky black hair and dark, pinpoint eyes that gleamed behind his spectacles. It sent a shiver up Tifa's spine and she involuntarily stepped back.

"Read what it says," Jesse indicated a chart at the bottom detailing the results of a test on…sperm cells?

Tifa's brow rose slowly at first, her face a little green before recognition dawned. "That's...but that means..." She couldn't formulate the words coherently. Relief and disbelief were warring for the upper hand as she read through the information again, sure that her eyes had deceived her.

Jesse nodded enthusiastically, her grin growing. "Makes sense though, doesn't it? In a twisted sort of way. His pride and joy, and it's not even his!"

Tifa stared, open-mouthed and dull-eyed at the screen. "But if Hojo isn't his father...who is?"

She held up a finger to them as she turned back to the console. "That's where it really gets interesting." Her voice was literally vibrating with anticipation and she threw a pointed look over her shoulder aimed directly at Tifa, "Did you know that of all the people Sephiroth faced, Elfe was the only one he could never beat?"

"I didn't even know there was anyone that he couldn't beat." She confessed and she couldn't help the frown that pulled at the corners of her mouth. The only opponent he could never beat was some girl?

Something tightened painfully in her chest, which she determinedly ignored.

Jesse grinned as she stepped to the side of the console and gestured towards the screen. "Well, take a look at this."

On the screen were displayed two portraits; one belonging to a Lucrecia Crescent, and the other a man she didn't recognize. A face of strong bones, weathered skin, and sharp eyes gazed off to right in his. He had a dusting of hair along his chin and bore a scar across his left cheek. His hair was dark brown, cropped short in the back as one long lock of bangs fell across the right side of his forehead haphazardly.

The name under the picture specified "Veld", though there was another name listed in parenthesis, Verdot. It sounded familiar. Her eyes widened summarily as she read through the addendum at the end of the file; Lucrecia had been artificially inseminated, and Veld was the donor. Or rather the specimen, as it was written, no doubt in Hojo's hand.

Had either of them even known? She doubted it. Hojo would die before he allowed anyone but himself to know that he was infertile and that his prize creation was in fact the son of an ex Turk.

"If you've forgotten, that would be Elfe's father." Jesse supplied evenly. "Which would make her Sephiroth's half-sister. It's no wonder they were so well matched, huh?"

Tifa blinked. If ever a person looked the epitome of flabbergasted, it must have been her. She could almost take a picture of herself she was so…without words.

"Jesse..." Barret drawled as he massaged the bridge of his nose between his eyes. His patience had reached its end it seemed.

It might not have meant anything to him, but for Tifa she was still struggling mightily to drag herself out from under a pile of bricks. Some part of her was secretly relieved, even overjoyed, at this discovery. On the other hand, she felt the familiar budding agony of indecision at being unwittingly handed the responsibility of knowing something so integral to another person's life that it might be the difference between living and dying.

Or going insane. Again.

"I know, I know." Jesse grumbled with a tired smile at her boss. "That's it. I'll get back to work now, kay?"

Now it was Barret's turn to sigh. "Try getting' some sleep, eh? I don't need ya passin' out on me."

"I promise." Jesse assured him before turning to Tifa. "Come on, I've got some more gadgets for you."

"I'll leave the rest to you, Jess." Barret said as he made for the door. He caught Tifa's eye briefly, "She'll show you out when ya finished."

"Thanks." Tifa waved goodbye and turned back to Jesse, who was bent over a box of what appeared to be mechanical beetles. They had a hard, shiny shell and little appendages made for attaching to smooth surfaces.

Jesse cast her a commiserating smile that came out more akin to a grimace, "How are things at the HQ?"

"They're...okay I guess." There was a splintered crack in the wall that struck her with great interest suddenly. How had that gotten there she wondered? And could she disappear into it if she concentrated hard enough:?

"I don't know how you do it." Jesse continued to speak though her attention was directed to the object in her hand. "It must be hard, having to cooperate on a daily basis with the one responsible for...what happened."

Tifa ducked her head to the side, hiding the pained expression that flitted across her face. "Sometimes..." Perhaps not for the reasons assumed however.

Jesse stepped back from the table, her hands falling to her sides as she regarded Tifa with an all too perceptive shine in her sharp eyes. It took some mulling over before she finally decided to speak, squaring herself to the other woman with one had propped on her hip, "Why do you want Angeal's trigger and not Sephiroth's?" She asked. "I mean, I thought you'd jump at a chance to push the button on him yourself."

"What?" Tifa blinked in vague horror as her throat began to constrict, "No! No, I don't…want to kill them."

A shadow deepened in the other woman's gaze as her brow came together, "Then what do you want the trigger for?"

"I want to deactivate it." She shifted her feet and averted her gaze away.

Jesse exhaled loudly, raking a hand over her hair as she turned away. "Well...that's a bit more complicated then."

Tifa swallowed anxiously, "It is?"

Jesse chewed absently on a fingernail as she examined her workspace with discontent. "Your best bet is to surgically remove the chip because there's no guarantee Shin-Ra won't be able to reacquire the trigger back from us once they're back online – we can't keep them out forever."

"Oh...then," Her forehead crinkled, "is there nothing we can do?"

Barret's tech genius blew at a wayward bang that dangled in front of her eyes, "There is, but it's risky and Barret would probably have a fit,.." She trailed off for a moment before posing the question that no doubt cautioned her cooperation, "But why? They could cause us a world of trouble you know. It'd be easier if we just…"

Tifa's mouth opened wordlessly, her expression twisting in consternation as no words were forthcoming. Then came a sigh and she shifted her feet, arms wrapped around her waist as she surveyed the floor. "Please...don't…don't kill them." It came out so quiet, almost as a whisper and she looked up into Jesse's face beseechingly. "They would help us, I'm certain, if they could get free of Shin-Ra."

The silence that followed was punctuated by a soft rustling of clothing as Jesse shifted her weight. It was another moment before she spoke, "Sephiroth has fought us before." She stated. "Why would he stop?"

"He doesn't have a choice." Tifa murmured. "They could kill him if he refused to cooperate. As it is he is barely allowed out of their sight and Angeal even less so."

Something between a sigh and a groan drew out of the tech's mouth. "Well…alright then." She said with a wary glance, "Barret might go apoplectic, but I think we can get around that."

"How does that work?" Tifa fought back a nervous laugh. Barret going apoplectic made a very frightening image in her mind, one that she didn't relish in visiting.

Jesse smirked dryly, "He's not as cold-hearted a bastard as he comes on to be and I'm almost positive that one of our scientists will be willing to help. She can talk him into it if nothing else."

"But we don't even know how to remove the chip." Tifa said. "We might end up killing him."

"Shalui was there for the original procedure, " Jesse offered. "She's the best chance you've got to save him." Her head cocked slightly to one side, "You defended Sephiroth pretty hard though…are you sure Angeal is the one you want to go for?"

Tifa nodded. "Yes. I...someone asked me to...as a favor, to save him."

Jesse crossed her arms broodingly as she regarded the other. There was a lot that could be read into that statement and she didn't miss much. "Seems like you're playing with fire to me." She commented. "You sure you're okay?"

"No." The other shook her head, before calmly meeting Jesse's gaze, "But that's not the point, is it?"

"I suppose not." She wiped her hands idly on her pants and turned back to her box of gadgets. "What a mess..."

Tifa concurred.

Five days. That was a long wait for the world to end. Jesse had mentioned that Cloud was doing well, though he kept mostly to himself. She'd taken a few cracks at getting him out of his shell and had failed miserably in both attempts.

Tifa didn't get a chance to see him while she was there. He was in the middle of a briefing for their next assault and she was not to be privy of any of it. That was understandable, but it made her nervous nonetheless; Avalanche was not pulling their punches and a part of her feared what they would do next.

When she left the 7th Heaven bar it was mid-afternoon. She's spent a solid three hours discussing plans with Jesse, as well as her own responsibilities over the course of the next few days, and being forced to eat by her over-exuberant companion. A lot of time and effort went into drawing up a strategy of this magnitude – Tifa marveled at what these people had accomplished and wondered if she could ever do half as much as they did in twice the time.

Probably not.

She had to decide what to do now that she had the rest of the day to herself. It was lonely thinking about it. With everyone she knew either caught in the middle or on opposing sides of an impending war, there was no grasping of normalcy in her life and no friends to share quiet time with. So it was for her to do as she pleased by herself.

In lieu of recent events, a cafe seemed particularly apt.

Tifa took the train back into the main of Midgar city, somewhere in Sector 3, and sifted through the neon signs for one that nabbed her attention; Wary Traveler's Cafe. She could see wooden stools set up along the windowsill counters. Upon entering, there were tables and booths interspersed within, and a bare corner for live music of which there was none at present. A plush navy blue couch and two equally plush armchairs sat before an empty fireplace.

This was the place then. She pushed inside, the bell at the top of the door announcing her arrival. It wasn't too crowded for the time of day, but there were still some who hadn't gotten off work she suspected. With so many options to choose from, Tifa hesitated for a quite a while before settling on a cup of spiced cream tea.

With order in hand and heating her fingertips almost to the point of pain, she wove through the tables to the far side of the cafe where she'd seen the fireplace. It was only when she sat down in the armchair nearest the window that she noticed the man seated on one of the three stools by himself. She did a double take, sipping her tea as she regarded him curiously from the corner of her eyes.

Sandy blond hair pushed roughly back by a pair of flight goggles, blue oil stained coat with the sleeves rolled up, and an unlit cigarette between his teeth – there was no smoking in the cafe. This was the man she'd seen the day before in the Shin-Ra HQ lobby, arguing with the receptionist. For someone who was supposedly immersed in the higher science of space exploration, he certainly wasn't behaving the part.

He looked more like the irascible mechanic type than a space pilot, but who was she to judge?

His head turned just then and she was too slow to cover her tracks before he noticed her eyes on him. She busied herself with sipping her tea and hiding her embarrassment, until he waltzed passed her to sink into the armchair opposite her. He also had a cup of tea, which he sipped once before setting it down and weaving his fingers over his chest.

"Nice chairs," Was his poignant conversation starter.

Tifa felt a nervous burble in her throat as she scrambled for something to say, "Yeah, they are nice."

"I don't usually strike up conversations with young whipper snappers like you, but I'm bored." He offered with a shrug. "Ain't been to Midgar much and don't know anybody."

"Oh, well, neither do I." She replied. "I've only been here a few weeks and I still don't know anybody." Aside from the terrorist leader of Avalanche, the Great Ninja of Wutai, the General himself, and the General's lesser known friend. Oh yeah, and a "dead" guy.

Nope, she didn't know anybody. Least not anyone it would be safe mentioning.

The man gave a grunt of acknowledgment as he scowled into his tea cup. Evidently it was now empty. "Good tea here." He noted as an afterthought before averting his attention back to her. "So whaddya do here, eh?"

"I'm...working." Tifa forced out between her teeth and nearly scalded herself on the liquid as it passed too quickly down her throat. She bit back a wince.

"Well I figured that." He retorted cheekily. "What do you do?"

"Actually," She set the cup down, wondering how to put it without giving anything away. "I came here to find a friend. And avenge someone…"

He straightened subtly in his seat. His eyes were very blue and startlingly sharp, in more ways than one. "That whole vengeance deal can be tricky business, kid. Ain't always gonna turn out the way you planned."

Oh the irony. Tifa couldn't restrain a dry chuckle from bubbling up her throat. He had no idea... "I mostly just came to find my friend."

"Oh yeah? How's that workin' out?" The man asked.

She stared off into the fireplace whimsically, "I found him."

The pilot sat forward slowly, his elbows braced on his knees as he regarded her shrewdly, "That don't sound like a ringing endorsement."

Tifa just shook her head. "Like you said, things don't always turn out the way you planned."

He favored her with a dry smile, "Ain't that the truth."

"So what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Eh," The man shifted in his seat, resting his right ankle on his knee while his left hand tapped a rhythm on the arm of the chair. "Couple reasons really. I had an appointment - now delayed," he emphasized sourly, "The trip here ended up bein' a bit more exciting than usual though."

"Oh? How is that?"

He shook his head with a grim laugh, "Shit…some poor kid up at Bone Village just about prostrated himself at my feet to convince me to fly him here - looked like he'd been through hell and back, ya know? Didn't feel right leavin' him there so I agreed. Took me twice as long to get here if I hadn't though."

Tifa tried valiantly to control the sudden rapid beat of her heart at the eerily familiar tale. She really was no good at subterfuge at all, but he didn't seem to notice. "So…" She licked her lips, "is that why your meeting got delayed? Because you didn't get here in time?"

"What? Oh no," He shook his head, "No, with all the hullabaloo surrounding the exploded reactor they didn't have time to see me. I'd bet my left testicle that any number of their executive members was free though, the bastards."

"Shin-Ra?" She queried carefully.

He snickered, "Funny how everyone seems to know that."

"You don't seem to like them much." Tifa watched him carefully, covering her mouth with her cup of tea.

His face contorted viciously for one second before settling for something slightly less hard. "Can't say I've got much love for 'em, no."

Tifa bit her lip. "You wouldn't happen to fly helicopters, would you?"

There was a long breath of silence before he moved. His head twitched, eye-balling her slowly. "Yeah, I can fly 'em. Why?"

She took a deep breath, her shoulders rising and falling as she exhaled. "Well…I'm in need of some help…you know that guy you flew here?"

His eyes narrowed. "Yeah…I take it you know him?"

Tifa nodded. "He's a friend of mine. He was in trouble see and…well…" Her head fell into her hands with a groan. "This is a very long and convoluted story."

"Better start at the beginning' then." He observed darkly. "Am I gonna need another cup of tea?"

"Probably." She relented. "But we really shouldn't talk here."

"I'll order it to go."

His name was Cid Highwind. He once had been involved in Shin-Ra's space exploration program, building rockets. Ten seconds before his launch into space something had gone wrong and the mission had failed before it ever left the ground, leaving nothing but a rusty rocket in his backyard to show for his efforts.

Shin-Ra had canned the space program after that and no amount of swearing, as Cid put it, would change their mind.

But he was cautiously willing to help after hearing her story, and that's more than Tifa could have hoped for. She'd made a habit of trusting random people lately that probably wasn't healthy, but then, so far nothing had blown up in her face. There was no doubting the special place in Cid's heart for Shin-Ra, and it was dedicated to pure loathing, so she felt moderately placated.

And he'd helped Chaka without question.

She would trust him, as she had trusted Vincent, as she now trusted in Chaka and Yuffie, Barret, Angeal…and Sephiroth. And to think she'd come here looking for Cloud - he was barely a part of her existence anymore.

Her hands still shook as she put on her uniform. It was getting on to evening now and she was heading back to Headquarters. She had less than a week to practice and just the thought of what she had to do made her want to run from this place as hard and as fast as her feet could take her.

It was at that moment her phone started to ring and Tifa levitated a foot off the floor. She couldn't remember a single time anyone had used her phone to actually call her and she stared down at the thing with a vague sort of panic as it vibrated in her palm.

Flipping it open, she pressed the talk button and lifted it cautiously to her ear.

"Meet me at the Sector 5 reactor, now."

"Wha-"

Click, and he was gone.

Tifa blinked down a the object in her hand in confusion and a growing sense of dread. There was no time to think she realized and pocketed the phone before setting off at a dead sprint.

It took her fifteen minutes to get there and when she finally saw a glimpse of silver amidst an ocean of blue, she damn near collapsed in the sheer relief of being able to stop. Her lungs were about to rend themselves apart, they heaved so painfully hard. She bent over, hands on her knees and gasping for air, her legs almost numb from exertion.

At which point someone took her by the arm and proceeded to drag her along behind him. Her head shot up, seeing a mane of silver hair flowing across his back, and she bit back a cruse. She was half staggering behind him, pulling at his grip in frustration, but he didn't so much as twitch in her direction.

It wasn't until she heard the gunfire that it hit her; AVALANCHE was going for another reactor.

Tifa scanned the crowd for signs of battle, but it was still far off. They were passing through the reactor entrance, Sephiroth's hand still clamped around her bicep. She glanced around warily, wondering if anyone else noticed.

But they weren't paying attention to her. Either they were running from or to the reactor, many of them shouting out commands or seeking out officers. No one took heed of her or the man in leading her, which seemed odd. Shouldn't he be leading the assault?

Someone careened into her shoulder knocking her forward and into Sephiroth's back with a grunt. She looked sharply at the offending party, but he had disappeared into the fray up ahead. Meanwhile, the man beside her had stopped to balance her before setting off again, wordlessly.

"What's going on?" Tifa tried to bring herself close enough that Sephiroth could hear her above the spurts of machine gun fire and the rumble of small explosions detonating nearby. Her fingers gripped the sleeve of his coat to keep her feet as the ground trembled beneath them.

He met her eyes briefly, "High Command was tipped off half an hour ago - AVALANCHE is making an assault on the reactor as we speak, and we are here to defend it."

Tifa's eyes widened behind her visor; Cloud.

He was here.

Her heart seized in her chest and she dove past the silver haired general, ignoring the sharp intake of air that ghosted across her neck as she passed. A distant part of her mind registered her name being called by that familiar voice, a name he should not have been speaking under the circumstances because it was hers. She was too busy shoving her way past those in front of her to care though.

The hall ahead narrowed sharply, descending onto another level of steel grating that spanned over a gaping chasm below it. Soldiers lined the rails firing across the way where another span of metal grating lined the wall. There were cross-walks interspersed every hundred feet, now steeped in a heated battle for control.

Tifa was only half aware of the chaos around her. She was searching for a head of blond hair that defied the laws of gravity, her feet moving of their own volition. The madness that surrounded her in flurries of motion and explosions of fire barely tapped the surface of the turmoil that raged inside her.

There was a commotion behind her. She kept going, hastening her steps as she dodged between the bodies of men fighting and ducked bullets that fired overhead. Her thoughts raced, fear and adrenaline spurning her onwards amidst the anguished cries of those in pain and anger. The noise was almost unbearable, but she wasn't thinking anyway so it didn't matter.

One meter farther and she would have been dead. The grating exploded, ripping steal and flesh as it threw the men that had been stationed there against the wall and out over the abyss below. Blood burned copper in her nose as she coughed, staggering back and against the wall.

Tifa stumbled, holding her hand tight against her nose as tears streaked her face from the intense heat beating across her exposed face. A trickle traveled down her neck, nestling in the curve of her lower back as she continued forward. She stepped carefully over the bodies of the fallen and tied not to see herself among them.

The wall beside her erupted as a spurt of gunfire ripped into the siding. She ducked, throwing her hands over her head as she ran. Her head lifted when the sound ceased, searching for a familiar face somewhere in the maelstrom.

There.

She stopped, momentarily stunned at the scene which greeted her at the cross-way up ahead. A monstrosity of a thing, all moving parts and humming machinery, hovered above the intersection. Its rapid fire machine gun cut through the din of fighting like a lightning clap. There were men fighting it, among them a tall, burly figure with mahogany skin and a machine-gun arm.

Beside him, wielding a heavy broad sword was the most beautiful, and terrifying thing she'd ever imagined. His eyes were alight with life and focus, so unlike the dullness she'd seen when they had first met at the train station. He was fighting along side the other members of AVALANCHE for his life and they weren't having an easy time of it.

The infantry man in front of her took aim at the platform on which Barret and Cloud stood with the others. Tifa saw the soldier's hand move and dove forward, tackling him to the floor as the rifle burst to life. She looked up in time to see that he'd missed high and wide, catching the robotic monstrosity instead.

She struggled to her feet, ignoring the heated words of the man beneath her, and started forward again. Her eyes followed Cloud as she approached the cross-walk, straying only long enough to make her way around whomever barred the path.

Cloud landed a blow to the machine, nearly cutting it in half. There was a moment of hesitation as sparks and electrical currents sprang forth from all its malfunctioning parts. It made a loud screeching noise as it started to descend to the ground.

Tifa was poised to turn the corner onto the crosswalk when the explosion wracked the grating, throwing her backwards. She felt the searing power of the flames against her skin as she hit the ground rolling. Shrapnel flew over her head, embedding in the wall behind her. She covered her head, belatedly, and stole a peek anxiously up ahead.

The breath died in her throat as a vision came through the black smoke furling up from the wreckage of the cross way. She screamed, though she wasn't fully aware of what she said - it sounded like Cloud. Her voice cracked and she jerked to her feet, faltering as pain shot up her leg from her right ankle.

He was hanging from the edge on the far side. She couldn't reach him! Someone shoved past her, knocking her into the railing. The infantryman had a rifle in his hands raised to fire.

"No!' Tifa leaped forward, only to be brought violently back as a strong arm slipped around her waist and cinched tight. Her back fell back hard against someone's chest even as she struggled to get free.

"Stand down Solider." A familiar voice said from above her.

She didn't know if it was she he spoke to or the man with the rifle, but evidently the latter hesitated and that was when Cloud's grip failed him.

Tifa gasped, surging forward sharply against the hand that held her, but he held her firm. Cloud was gone, disappeared into the mist that had gathered in the chasm below, and Sephiroth's strength was too great for her to break free. She couldn't breath, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

He was gone.

A sob wrenched itself from her throat. If not for Sephiroth's arm around her, she would have collapsed to the grating without a fight. Her skin burned as the salt of her tears mingled with the scrapes on her face she didn't realize she had. There was a blur of motion all around her, but she didn't see it; couldn't comprehend it even had she tried.

"No…" Her eyes clenched shut as she turned her head away and sagged against the man who stood silently above her, holding her still. Tifa's fingers gripping the front of his coat with such pain that she thought her joints might explode.

She barely registered the faint brush of finger tips that slid up along the back of her neck and gently stroked her hair. Her head fell against his chest, the helm she wore making it awkward to relax as she settled there in silence, waiting for the nightmare to end and reality to begin.

"Let's go." Sephiroth murmured in her ear.

She nodded miserably and stepped away from him. More blue uniforms had gathered, surveying the wreckage as the last of the Avalanche members retreated. They were not giving pursuit it seemed.

Sephiroth turned away then and she followed, refusing to look back.

Author's Notes: So I've been meaning to say this for, oh, the last 5 chapters, but because I was so caught up in the relief of getting each chapter out, I always forgot. But this time I'm putting this little note at the end in advance so that I CAN'T forget. So...I drew some awesomely bad fanart for this story, which is posted on my profile at Deviant Art. My Deviant tag is Faerlyte, just like here, so just look me up and you'll find all my awesomely bad artwork. I don't do colors so it's just graphit (incidentally, there's a pumpkin carving too), but have a look if you're curious. Someday, I hope to write something inspiring enough that more experienced artists will take up the mantle and I won't HAVE to draw my own fanart. *hint hint*

Also, if anyone has ever heard the song "Let Go" by Paul van Dyk - that is Sephiroth's theme song in my story, in a totally cheesy, techno sort of way. Every time I hear it, it's like Sephiroth is the one singing. It's actually a good song - I like it anyway, but I'm into that sort of thing, and the guy doing the vocals has a nice voice that could be Sephiroth if, you know, you tilt your head a little to the left and perk your ears just so... Right then, I'm sure you can find it on youtube if that perks your interest so with that I bid you farewell.

Happy reading everyone!

Faerlyte