Disclaimer: I do not now or before and most likely not in the future, own Final Fantasy, Square Enix or any of the characters.

Reviews, critiques and flames are welcome. I absolutely love all reviews about the story as it gives me motivation, I use good constructive criticism to help my writing improve and I feed the flames to the fires of my imagination.

Thanks to my before posting beta Queen of Jokers and my after posting beta SubZeroChimera!

"The one you love and the one who loves you are never the same person." –Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

Chapter 45

Tifa was shocked at the change. Cloud's eyes were not deep blue that she used to dream of getting lost in anymore, instead they were a bright fiery green with slit pupils, "Aerith, there is something wrong with his eyes." Cloud suddenly reached out and grabbed her by the throat. Holding her out at arm's length, he turned to the wall and slammed her against it. Her feet dangled as his eyes seemed to burn in intensity and his hand squeezed harder around her throat. She could feel every finger as it dug into her soft skin and when his grip loosened slightly, she managed to get out an urgent, "Aerith!"

The ancient turned to look at Tifa, but when she felt movement behind her, she whipped back around to Sephiroth's menacing bright mako green eyes and a smirk on his pale lips, she screamed, "Seph-!"

Back-handing her across the face, she fell to the floor holding her cheek, but then he reached down and picked her up to standing. Ferocious eyes looked at her, with a tilt of his head he spoke to her, "An ancient? Well, this is an interesting turn of events. I think I want to keep you as my pet."

Cloud asked Tifa, "Who are you?" He tilted his head as well and studied her, "Oh, you're his distraction. Well, we can fix that." Both men's voices sounded like it turned around itself and echoed from out of an abyss.

Aerith's struggles to free herself from Sephiroth's grip seemed to just anger him, so he pushed her, but he was many times stronger than her. Aerith's cry of pain when her hip met with the dresser made a smile of hubris cross his face. Cloud looked over at Sephiroth and indicated Tifa, "Do you think Jade would want her? Or can I have some fun?"

Sephiroth's smile caused Tifa to break out in a sweat, whatever it was, she didn't want to know, let alone be a part of it, "I think we can have a little fun first, don't you?"

Cloud turned his attention back to Tifa, her struggles did nothing but amuse him.

Sephiroth walked over to Zack, he nudged him lightly with the back of his hand, but he didn't move. Looking back to Cloud, "Not yet."

Aerith slid over to the corner and quietly began to pray.

Sephiroth walked over to the spare room closet and removed his clothes and armor from the hangers. Once he was dressed, Tifa thought that he looked like the General Sephiroth from before all this madness began. She remembered the posters that hung in Cloud's room that portrayed his hero, only this real life version had bright green eyes and evil intent. All of a sudden, her memories were transported to the Sephiroth that killed and rampaged through Nibelheim.

Cloud slid Tifa down the wall to the floor and pointed a finger in her face, "Stay!" He went and got his boots on, and while he was busy, Tifa jumped and ran for the door. The blond grabbed her arm and whipped her around, "I told you to STAY!" He slapped her across the face knocking her to the ground. Leaning down, he grabbed the front of her shirt.

Taking him by surprise, she landed a punch in the side of his face. An eerie and inhuman laugh caused her to grimace. Cloud was not supposed to sound like that, it was all wrong and the fight in her waned.

Grabbing both of her hands, "You are a gutsy one aren't you. You should hear the thoughts that this one has about you." A large smile crossed his lips, "I have a few things from my own imagination though." He looked at her up and down and licked his lips and pushed her back against the wall by her throat. He got his face up to hers and studied her closer. He picked up her hand, looked at it, then took a corner of her shirt and pulled it out and studied it. Putting his face back to hers, he smelled her neck down to her chest and another smile crossed his lips, "He doesn't want me to touch you… but I think that I do want to know more about you. Touch you."

Tifa's eyes, and her gut, filled with anger, she couldn't take it, her chest tightened in anxiety. Even though it was physically Cloud, it wasn't her Cloud, she had to fight so she screamed, "Let him go!" With a quick kick up and over his head, she got her leg up over the arm that held her to the wall. She hooked her bare foot around his neck and flipped sideways. He twisted, off his feet and landed on the floor and before he could recover, she quickly got herself up and ready for another attack.

Sephiroth laughed, "It looks like she's going to be an interesting one!"

From the floor, Cloud looked over his shoulder to Sephiroth and asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Cloud and Sephiroth shared a smile and both sets of stormy green eyes looked back at Tifa. She reinforced her fighting stance as Sephiroth said, "Oh, yes, Jade will most assuredly like her."

When the blond closed the distance between him and Tifa, she acted by kicking and followed up with a punch. Jumping to the side, away from the kick, he ducked under the punch and was in her face before her follow through reached its finish. With a maddening giggle, he threw a punch and hit her in her ribs. She didn't think that he hit her with all of his strength and for that she was grateful. She fell into the side wall, put her arm down to protect her side and drew up a kick, as hard as she could, connecting to his hip. With him staggered to one side, she kicked up and brought it down on his shoulder, knocking him to the floor and got a punch to his face as he was looking up at her with a smile.

His hand went to his face and he began to laugh as he stood up in front of her again. She jumped up and kicked sideways and just before it could hit him, he jumped back, but then she got contact with a punch to his throat. He stepped back a step and then he was at her before she knew it.

"Do you need me to help you with this small human female?" Sephiroth laughed. Cloud turned and looked at him and when he did, Tifa got a high kick up and got him in the back of his head.

The kick was as if Tifa just brushed lightly across the back of his neck, he retorted to the tall silver-haired male, "I am only playing, if I let her think she's winning, it just makes it that much more fun when I take her. The one this body belonged to is fighting too much. It is making it difficult."

"What is going on?" A voice boomed from beside Aerith. Zack stood there looking at everyone in the room and Tifa's heart sank, his eyes were bright green as well. Now they were a matching set, what would happen now? Zack's blood from earlier had stained his face and his eyes burned. All three of them turned and looked at Tifa. Aerith was still crouched down in the corner praying. Tifa had to try and stay alive long enough for Aerith to do whatever her plan was.

Looking to the other men, Zack sternly informed them, "We can come back for her later, right now we should go to Jade." Zack went over and put on his boots and returned to the other two. All three of them turned silently, making a circle to look at each other, they seemed to be talking to one another, but not saying anything.

When they started to leave, Tifa jumped in front of them and stood between them and the door. Sephiroth grinned as the words dripped from his lips, "She wants more."

Cloud raised his eyebrows, "From the memories of this one, she has an insatiable appetite. But then again, he did too." Cloud reached out and took a hold of her arm and yanked her to him. A steel vice grip on her wrists held her from much movement. He forced her hands behind her back and jerked her closer to him. With her chest pressed into him, he leaned down, sniffing lightly just before he bit her on the tender part where her neck and shoulder met. The piercing pain of teeth through her skin had her developing a scream that got Aerith's attention, but before she could do anything, what Aerith had been praying for, started to happen.

Sephiroth dropped to one knee and grabbed his head and grunts of pain got the attention of the other two. Zack reached down and tried to pick him up, but a shout of angry pain followed him when he fell to the floor next to Sephiroth. Cloud let go of Tifa and she dropped to the floor holding her shoulder. Turning his attention to his comrades, he looked at Aerith with confusion. Cloud changed his course and was going for Aerith now. Tifa had to do something, the ancient was defenseless. Ignoring the pain, Tifa jumped and landed a kick to Cloud's back, only staggering him forward. He kept his path to Aerith steady.

With slower and strained movements, he reached Aerith and she let a shrill cry out at the pain of his hand around her arm, "What have you done?!" He lifted his hand and backslapped her then fell to his knee. Aerith landed across the bed holding onto her face and Tifa got a punch to his cheek as she jumped across the bed. Sliding to the floor, he left himself open for another attack. Jumping to the floor from the bed, she got her bare foot on his neck and pressed down hoping to keep him from hurting anyone until Aerith's prayer finished working on him.

Wild and weak struggles finally proved a winning combination for him. Getting a hold of her ankle, he twisted her down to the floor and jumped, straddling her hips and holding her wrists above her head.

Not giving away the fact that Tifa saw Aerith's impending attack with the lamp from the night table, she was able to hit him in the back with it. Tifa figured that it would do nothing, but at least she was trying. Changing his hold on Tifa, he held both of her wrists with one hand over her head and then reached out with his free hand. Aerith's wrist was squeezed and twisted and she screamed out as she was flung over the bed to the floor on the other side. He turned his attention back to Tifa, "Oh, the things I wouldn't mind doing to you."

When he slowly reached down to his waist band, she began to panic. Was he really going to do this to her, with Cloud's body? 'This can't be happening!' Tifa looked up into those glaringly green cat eyes. They were not Cloud's, but with his face it made it impossible to want to hurt or hate him. Her panic and rapid breaths seemed to intrigue him, but the eyes were angry. Tifa's only recourse was to scream, "No!"

Pulling out a knife, he smiled, "What did you think I was pulling out?" He smirked at her as he held the knife directly over her face and asked, "Do you want this?" With a slow smile creeping up on his lips, he asked in a sensual tone as he indicated his pants with a flick of his eyes, "Or would you rather have that?" When his smile widened, Tifa audibly swallowed down a panic when he broke her from her thoughts with a third suggestion, "I think both maybe… that would be fun." He took the knife and moved the blade slowly and lightly down her chest. The sharpness of it didn't cut through the fabric, but spindled small threads of her shirt, fraying it slightly.

With a jerk of his hand, he jammed the knife in to the wood floor next to his other hand that was still holding her wrists, he demanded, "What did the ancient do?"

Tifa shook her head, "I don't know." Tifa was more angry than scared and her sneer made him smile. She hated seeing that smile on his face. His face was not supposed to be evil, mean or violent. His eyes were always so beautiful and kind, he was not destined to be this thing that was keeping her on the floor. She squeezed her eyes closed, unfortunately, fear and anger kept her from keeping them shut.

His fingers caressed the soft features of her face as he looked her over, "Such beauty, I would hate to have to take it from you." Picking the knife back up, he held it extremely close to one of her eyes. He stopped and seemed to freeze and is eyes flashed blue then they were green again. He broke out in a sweat and panted with exertion, but he was able get out, "This one is a fighter. Why does he fight so hard for another pitiful mortal?"

"Cloud!" She wiggled but he still held her tightly.

He flinched and then he grinned at her again, but the knife shook in his hand, then his smug grin dropped. His hand let go of Tifa's wrists and he fell to his side. Rolling to his knees, he stood slowly and staggered over to where Sephiroth and Zack were lying on the floor, "I have to get to Jade… s-she… needs me…" Finally he stopped staggering and fell to the floor with a thud.

Scooting over to the chair, she breathed a sigh of relief before she intended to check on Aerith, who was sitting up now. Aerith cradled her sprained wrist and surveyed the three men lying on the floor and shrieked, "Tifa!"

Tifa was clearly disturbed at the sight of a pool of blood that grew very slowly underneath Cloud's body. The horror of seeing his blood coating the wooden floor set her in motion. When they turned him over, the knife had sliced through his shirt and deep into his skin.

"Yo! Tifa!" The large man stuck his head through the door, "Tifa must have left in a hurry 'cause the door's unlocked. I'm sure she ain't gonna mind if we just go ahead without her." He stepped farther into the room, "Tifa!" Still nothing, "Fuckin figures that they would be late so that I hafta get everything set up for the meeting." He paused and looked around.

Once he was satisfied that the blinds were closed and several smaller tables were put together to make one large table, he turned to go to the kitchen when there was a knock, "Hey, let us in. You locked us out!"

Rolling his shoulders back, he let his eyes drift back in exasperation, "You're late! You're all late! Get your asses in here would ya?"

"Where is Tifa?" The shorter round man asked.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I got here and she wasn't here. She hasn't answered the phone either. Let's see if there is anything on the answering machine," He propped the kitchen door open as he pushed through it.

The round man, a slimmer man and the red headed woman set out their things on the table. As she pulled out her computer, she set in up near an electrical plug and asked, "Hey Wedge is Harding coming?"

"He is supposed to," He shifted some of the papers around.

"Biggs, Jessie! Get in here!" He yelled from the kitchen.

"What is it?" Jessie ran through the door, "Barret? What?"

She looked at him and he pointed to the answering machine, "There's a couple of messages that sound really bad." He pushed play and the first one was Aerith. He had met her once when she was here at the bar helping Tifa out when Alana quit. She sounded almost hysterical and he couldn't make out all of what she said. The second was Tifa answering the phone just as the machine picked up.

"Hello?"

"Uh, Tifa…Can you come to Aerith's please?"

"Zack? What happened? You sound terrible."

"Just get here fast… please…"

"Zack, that's the former Soldier guy. I don't trust him. He must've tricked her into a trap," Barret's large muscular arms crossed and his sweaty black skin shined in the fluorescent lights.

Wedge came through the door, "Harding just got here."

Jessie stepped across to Barret, "Tifa trusts him and his friends, Cloud and Sephiroth."

"Damn! Sephiroth is worse than Zack!" Barret hit the counter. Harding walked into the kitchen and looked around, waiting for anyone to tell him what was going on.

Harding's phone rang and he looked as puzzled as the others, digging into his pocket, he opened it, "Hello…" It seemed that he couldn't hit the disconnect button fast enough.

"Who was that?" Barret glared at him.

Harding smiled and laughed nervously, "…W-Wrong number…?"

"Hey Rude, did Zack seem a little off to you?"

Rude looked up from his 'Bright Ideas for Your Kitchen' magazine he was reading, "He did seem a little nervous and-"

"I know!" Reno interrupted. Rude returned his attention back to the magazine, "He acted a little paranoid and if there is one thing that Zack has never been, is paranoid." Reno ran his fingers up his EMR, flipped it and then ran his fingers back in the other direction. It had become a habit of his when he was thinking, "That winged chick and the three of them. Two of them seemed unconscious and Zack was acting strange… way out of his norm."

Rude sat there until Reno had come to the conclusion of his thoughts. It just kept the peace if he just let Reno do the "thinking." He finished reading the one recipe that he was going to try when he got back home and had some time off. He closed the magazine and put it back in the spot between the front seats. Reno should be done talking himself through the situation in a few minutes. He readied himself for when Reno announced his epiphany.

"It has to be all three of them and the winged chick. Hojo must have done something to all of them and somehow they are all connected," Reno let out a sigh and elbowed Rude.

Rude began talking after Reno stopped speaking, "Do you think that we should call that Harding guy? I don't-"

"We need to call Harding ourselves. In his condition, Zack isn't going to do it. He may have the answers that we, err… they need," Reno smiled to himself, "No wonder the boss keeps me around." Rude shook his head and pulled out his phone. He dialed the number and Harding picked up the phone. Reno grabbed the phone from Rude before he could say anything, "Harding, baby! How ya doing? Reno here… hello? Hello?" He looked at Rude, "We got disconnected."

Rude reached down and started his car, "I can go get Harding, since you keep getting disconnected, if you want to stay here."

Reno thought about it and opened the door, he stepped out and leaned down, "Hurry back."

Rude knew where Harding was, the same place he went on the same day of every month. He pulled over to the side of the road and observed the bar. Seeing lights on and a few shadows moving across the windows, quickly figuring that now would be better than later.

Knocking on the door, it suddenly got quiet and soft footsteps approached the door. Rude knew that he would be greeted less than enthusiastically, so he prepared himself accordingly. The door opened and the eyes got round in surprise. Rude grabbed the door before it could be shut, he then took a step forward and ducked under the flying chair. Dodging a punch and sidestepping the kick meant for his crotch, the next punch came from the side and he effortlessly grabbed the fist and held onto it. Holding one of his hands up he stated sternly but politely, "I am not here for your group. I just need one of you." They all looked at each other in puzzlement.

"What? You're not here for all of us?" Jessie asked with her eyebrows raised.

Barret took aim with his gun that had been grafted on his arm after he lost his hand when Shinra attacked his hometown, "I trust Turks even less than Sephiroth and Zack… Now let go of Biggs, fucking Turk!"

Still holding his hand up and gripping Biggs' fist, "Tifa is at Aerith's and they both need help." He looked over at Harding, "They all need your help."

They all looked over at Harding. He smiled nervously and took a few steps back, "Hey, guys… I…"

"You've been helping those jokers that've been hanging around?" Barret glared. Rude could swear that he saw steam coming from Barret's shiny bald head.

"Well I did work in Hojo's lab, they were the test subjects," Harding held his hands up, "They were put through some serious stuff and I was able to help them out."

Barret turned to Rude, "Where's Tifa?"

Rude looked at him and adjusted his sun glasses, "I already said and I don't like to repeat myself." He dropped the fist from his hand and turned to leave. As he walked out the door, Rude called, "Let's go Mr. Harding."

They all turned back to Harding, who nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "I guess I can call you with the information and where we are. You can come get Tifa," He ducked his head down and briskly walked out the door and left with Rude.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads, favorites, subscribes and/or reviews, I appreciate your time and I dedicate all of this to you. To quote another author, "Getting reviews makes me feel all warm and squishy."

Please send me your reviews if you want. It is really easy. Just click your arrow in the little box, write what you thought or felt about the chapter and then click right down there, just below the box. A little lower… a little to the right… yeah, right there! Click it! *grinning*