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

A/N: Here is the second of the two chapters that I was dreading. I have come to the conclusion after fighting with this large battle, I hate writing fight scenes! Even with the great advice, I still have a hard time writing these stupid things. Frankly, I'm sick to death of trying to fix this battle, so this is what you get. Hope it isn't too bad.

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!

"Thought is the seed of action." –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chapter 77

When the first wave of attacks sent Jade backward, all three of the winged men took off toward the source. With a constant attack of gunfire and materia magic, she was slowly falling. With the signal given, the two flanking teams ran forward and simultaneously attacked her. She was more powerful than they thought. Looking at her, she was just a petite thing, smaller than that of any of the girls in their party. That was a fatal mistake to underestimate her however. The first wave of close combat fighters was swept to the side in an almost effortless wave of her arm. Rude, Cid and Hector slid to the side with a painful scraping of their skin against the ice-covered ground.

While Cid's team kept Jade occupied, Red leapt up and landed on her back and took a mouth full of the back of her neck. She flapped her wings and began trying to take off, but Carmine swung his sword to her front and met with a back hand to the side of his face. As he fell to the ground, Steve stood to the side and readied his attack. Carmine got up and flanked her on the other side. Red was flung back and regained his footing quickly.

She moved like a ghost, silent and quickly. In a blink, she was in one spot, then another. Carmine and Steve had mako enhancements, but they even had a difficult time keeping up with her movements. The places that bullets had ripped through her were already healed and she recovered from every strike in record time.

Cid stood at the ready and when Steve and Red got knocked away, he began his attack and he hit one side of her head. He then flipped the spear in his hand and quickly got another one on her side. He turned in a graceful spin and then jumped up and drove the tip of his spear into her shoulder. Rude took advantage of her falter and began his assault and as he moved to one side, Hector and Steve both struck her. Then she was down.

Her frail frame lay on the ground and very little movement could be discerned. Red stepped back, "Ready yourselves, she is not out just yet!" As if sensing the movement, Rude jerked back but Hector didn't. With a swipe of her hand, she dropped him the ground and twisted herself around his neck. The sickening pop filled the air and Hector's lifeless body became a projectile that she catapulted out toward Red, Carmine and Cid. Red jumped over and Carmine ducked. Cid wasn't as lucky, with the reflexes of a mere mortal, he wasn't able to get out-of-the-way. Hector's large body slammed into him and they both went skidding.

With Cid pinned down, Steve lurched forward and attacked her from behind and got tossed like a toy into Rude and Carmine. When Red launched at her, she turned and swatted him to the side.

Steve froze, his eyes dilated and his stillness shocked Carmine when he looked in his direction. Blood dripped from his chest and along the blade of Masamune that impaled him from behind. Sephiroth withdrew his sword and Steve crumpled to the ground. Sephiroth glared at Carmine as he took up his ready stance. When Sephiroth darted to one side, Carmine blocked, barely. When Sephiroth darted again to the other side, Carmine faked to the right and then ran to the left, away from Jade. Sephiroth took to the air and tackled Carmine and knocked his sword along a precipice. Carmine watched as his sword tipped to one side and slid without resistance into the life stream below.

"It looks as though this round goes to me," Sephiroth smirked and jabbed forward and stabbed Carmine in his side.

"Carmine!" The yell from Harding as he sat next to Steve got Sephiroth's attention long enough for him to roll out from under the silver man's feet. The sword sliced through the rest of his side and dislodged from his flesh, he punched Sephiroth and followed through with an elbow to the face.

Carmine ran quickly to where Hector had fallen and picked his sword up, "How is Steve?"

"He's lost a lot of blood. He needs a hospital soon," Harding pulled out more bandaging, "I'll give him a mako boost. Maybe that will help him heal." Carmine ran toward Red as Rude switched places to keep Harding safe while he tended to the wounded. Bleeding from the open wound, Carmine faltered a step and almost collapsed.

Another volley of gunfire got Red's attention as Vincent held his gun out and Rick sent another firaga spell then quickly drew his sword.

Rude ushered Harding over to Cid and Rude pushed Hector's body from him, "He's alive, but unconscious. Rude just cover me okay." Rude stood between Harding and Jade and while Vincent fired, Rick cast spells. However, it appeared that Rick was getting weaker from the energy that it took to cast the magic.

Yuffie, Reno and Barret charged in, Red took up a place next to Vincent and watched helplessly when Sephiroth sliced into Rude's arm and chest and went for Harding. Before Harding could do anything, Sephiroth grabbed him and flew up into the air.

Barret took aim and screamed as he fired in a continuous burst, "Jacob!" Red took off, his paws scraping at the snow-covered ice, following them as he was flown further away from the rest of the battle party.

Harding screamed and flailed against Sephiroth's strong hold as he was flown closer to the barrier and then dropped as if he were a sack of garbage. Tifa put her hand to her mouth and screamed, "Jacob!" Barret stopped firing and stood in shock as his friend died right in front of him.

Red howled in anger and Barret shot his gun towards Sephiroth. Aerith ran to Cid and finished what Harding started, she silently cried for Harding. Her tears were blinding her, but she pushed through. That was when it started to get weird.

The three men sat in their cages, tired, worn down and torn apart. Every little thing that made them individuals now made them one of three. Their lives became a game to a foreign entity that didn't care about life, let alone theirs.

Zack lay in his cage facing the farthest wall from his friends with his back to them. He couldn't look at them; he couldn't look at himself as a human anymore. What had happened to him? Did Hojo have that much influence on another human that he could take their lives without even raising a hand? He would stay in his cage for as long as Jenova said they could live. It wasn't his choice anymore, he wondered if it ever was. When he was born, was this what had been planned for him all along? If so, then why even give him a conscience? It wasn't his decision, it wasn't his life so what made him think that it would be that simple?

Then the last thing that his friends would think of him before they died would be his betrayal. It was moot now, but it still stabbed at the heart, the heart of one of his best friends.

The brunette's fingers picked at the base of the bar, the rust colored his fingertips in a ruddy red that reminded him of home. He remembered the neighbor had a farm and his farm equipment had rusty spots that he had paid Zack to keep from getting worse. The green paint covered it, but it didn't really get rid of it, it was always there, right under the surface and it always would be. If by some miracle that they survived, these entities would be the same for them.

There was no need to look; he knew exactly what was going on behind him. Sephiroth, double crossed and taken for a fool, sat facing away from them. His legs drawn up with his arms around his knees, with his forehead resting on his knees. He was hoping that if he curled into a tight enough ball, he could disappear from existence. His whole life had been a mask, a mask of deception and lies.

Over the years Zack had been able to gain his trust and friendship and what did he do with it? He did to him what everyone had ever done, stabbed him in the back. He did that to him and there was no way for him to ever make it up to him. Not that he would blame him, he had every right to hate him.

Then Cloud sat in lotus position and begged for the end. He had always been introverted and if he hadn't become friends with him, then Cloud would be somewhere with a family and living a happy fulfilled life, the one that he wanted. If he could go back, he would have steered clear of the small, quiet blond boy who had wide, bright and innocent eyes. Zack had enabled his innocence and life so that they were toyed with. Knowing what he knew now, though, he couldn't stay away from his blond friend that easily. What should have happened was that he should have been stronger and able to beat Sephiroth, not leaving it to a boy who didn't ask for any of this. Everything, all of it, was his fault. Cloud, Sephiroth, Aerith and Tifa, they all wouldn't be in this if it weren't for him and his weakness.

"Have you given up?"

None of them looked at the blond man outside the cages, but Cloud spoke in a defeated tone, "Wouldn't you?"

"No. I didn't. I want to live. I tasted what life is really for. What love is, how it feels, what it sounds like and the look of love in another's eyes," Green eyed Cloud approached slowly. His wings held out to his sides, "I didn't know before. I wish that I could be the one, but I cannot."

Sephiroth's broken voice tore Zack's heart all over again, "Just go… Leave us to our fate."

"You do not understand. Your fate is your own, it always was," The Cloud that stood on the outside of the cage leaned his forehead on the bars, "Although I couldn't read Tifa's thoughts and feelings like I can with you, I was still able to tell, just by the feeling that the kiss gave me."

Still sitting against the bars in the back of his cage, Cloud looked up and glared at his winged green-eyed twin, "I told you not to touch her."

Without acknowledging Cloud's statement, he continued, "You will never be rid of us, not really. Regaining control is easy enough, that is why you must stay in the cages. If you're locked away, you're not a threat." The sound of his voice fell to a deep sadness that boiled away to nothingness.

All they heard next was the click of a key in a lock.

Cloud's eyes opened at Zack's nudge. White skin had turned red from the exposure to the frigid snow-covered ice.

The rest of the group must have gone forward, into Jade's territory. Cloud's bright green eyes met those of Zack and they looked each other over. Knowing that they were once again in control, they didn't understand why their eyes were still green. Together, they came to a sudden realization, now it all made sense.

Their wings tucked behind them and the blood that trickled from Zack's wing had dried as his wound had healed. With unsure movements, they flew/ran to Jade.

They intercepted a surprised green-eyed Sephiroth, "What are you doing?!" Zack glanced at Sephiroth as he watched the brunette run past him toward his daughter. Stopping in place, frozen, his eyes went blank, almost lifeless until they closed. Jerking in a short convulsion, he fell to the ground where he stayed.

"Stop!" Halting in place, everyone watched as Cloud clumsily got to Jade and embraced her, blocking her from further attack by the group.

Embracing her father, she stroked his blond hair and then Zack joined her and wrapped himself around her and Cloud both tightly.

Barret's booming voice came across loud and clear, "Zack, Cloud get back!" Barret pulled his gun arm up and took aim at the three where they stood, "Don't think I won't kill you too!"

Limping up to Barret, Vincent held Tifa up, "Wait a minute Barret."

Pinching his eyebrows together he questioned, "What the hell you talkin about? They're gonna join and make Jenova or however it's supposed to work!"

Raising a gloved hand, Vincent pushed on Barret's arm until he relaxed. Vincent's knowledgeable eyes told the larger man whose fight it was now.

This was it, the end of their journey. A strength that had been withheld surged forward in Cloud. Zack's arm wrapped around him and kept him tight against her. Zack spread his wings out and awkwardly wrapped around all three of them, adequately blocking Jade's view of the group of fighters.

Arms and legs intertwined, almost appearing to become one, but there was one difference. Cloud's face looked over her left shoulder and Zack looked over the other. Locking gazes momentarily with each other over the top of Jade's head, Zack closed his eyes and bowed his head.

One of the blonde's hands had been left unbound by the black and red wings. With a slow movement, Cloud reached around from the waist band of his jeans. Pulling his arm around her to finish his side of the miniature family reunion, he took a deep breath and let it out at just the right time.

A swift movement and the knife lodged to the hilt into her back right between her wings and shoulder blades. She gasped and tried to pull away from her fathers, but Cloud held the knife in place, keeping her from healing the wound. Zack held on tightly, keeping their daughter in the deathly embrace. Small but strong hands pushed and clawed at the taller men, feebly trying to escape.

Finally collapsing, gasping for air and questioning in her eyes, Zack released them and stood nearby. Tears welling up in her jade colored eyes, a bottomless pit of fear, the place where her suffering resided. She reached up with one dainty hand to her fair-haired father, leaving a small smear of her blood marring his chest where she rested her hand.

Afraid to release the knife, he held it tightly in place. The blood from her wound stained the ground around her as Cloud followed her to the ground, still unwilling to drop the handle as he still held her in his arms. Two sets of deep green eyes engaged each other, battling over life and death. His breathing increased as his anxiety rose, watching the fire burn and rage in the eyes that he appreciated as the devil itself.

Needing to see this to the end, wanting to witness the end to all his torment and pain, he gripped the knife tighter and twisted just a bit. The end was within his hands and he couldn't screw this up, everyone's life depended on him and his ability to stay until the end. She was his last stand, it was his doing, his last act as the warrior that he had left his home to become. Entering the Shinra Empire as a boy with dreams and aspirations, but leaving a broken science experiment for a mad scientist.

A gunshot rang out and a fresh spray of blood, from the back of her head fanned out on the ground, making an oddly beautiful tribute to Jenova and what she meant to everyone there at that moment. Becoming complete dead weight in his arms, he still remained there, keeping his vigil over her.

Zack wrapped his hand around his wrist, "It's over Spiky, you can let go now." Cloud blinked and turned his eyes to his friend as he whispered again, "Spiky… it's over. We won." Finally able to let go, the blond stood and allowed Zack to hug him, slowly he completed the hug. Again, as if trying to convince himself of the fact, the taller man's face buried in Cloud's hair, he whispered with a smile, "We won."

"Hey!" Sephiroth caught everyone's attention. Looking over at Aerith, he had tears develop in his eyes as the green faded and light blue replaced it, his voice strained in the agony his chest filled with, "Aerith... Why?" Torment swept through his eyes, fleeting in a current of an indescribable ache.

She held a look of confusion at first, until she looked at Zack and then back at the traumatized silver-haired man, "Seph, please don't do this. We can talk okay?" Aerith rose to her feet and stood next to Reno.

Sephiroth dropped his gaze from Aerith, unable to look at her any more, he was unable to hear her words. Looking over to Zack, his eyes flickered in anger and heartache, a single tear dripped down his cheek. Then his face stiffened back to the battle hardened man he once was, the General of Soldier from the Shinra Power Company. His chest heaved with a stiff inhale and pointing the tip of Masamune at the dark-haired man, he challenged, "Zackary Fair, Soldier First Class. Take up the knife that you stabbed me in the heart with and fight me!" Charging at him with sword in hand he let loose a battle cry that put all others to shame.

With lightning fast reflexes, Cloud jumped in front of Zack and took the full force of the impalement.

"Cloud!" Tifa, forgetting all about her own injuries, ran for him in a wild panic.

Sephiroth dropped his hand from the sword that seemed to float in midair as it grotesquely stuck in the blonde's body, "Cloud! No! -Not you…"

Zack caught the blond and lowered him down to the ground gently. Tifa got there and took his head into her lap, "Cloud, please don't. I need you." Taking the sword by the blade, Zack pulled it from Cloud's chest as it cut deep into his hand. With furrowed blond eyebrows, he gasped in pain as the sword left his wound.

The remaining green glow faded and his deep blue flashed brightly and then began to dull, a smile crossed his lips, "I love you… Tifa…" Trickling blood ran from the corner of his mouth staining his perfect creamy skin.

Zack pressed his hands to the wound, "Don't you dare die!"

Losing the strength in his legs, Sephiroth dropped to his knees, "No, please… Oh Gaia, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

A pale hand rose and his callused fingers stroked Tifa's cheek before it fell limply to the ground next to him, "Cloud! Please, I love you! I love you! Please stay with me."

Looking at Zack as he frantically pressed on the wound trying to stop the flow, she barely heard the brunet yell, "No! No you can't do this Cloud!" As if in slow motion, Tifa watched as his blood flowered around him on the pristine and pure snow-covered ice. The fear, the sight that she feared would happen, came true.

Zack felt his eyes burn with tears, "Spike… Please don't do this… It's not supposed to end this way…" Losing his friend, the love he held for him tightened around his chest and cinched it until he couldn't breathe and his blood rushed through his veins, deafening him.

Once again raising a pale hand over Zack's, which still pushed down on the wound in his chest, Cloud looked over to his dark-haired friend, squeezing his hand gently just before the cool hand fell back to the ground - Cloud Strife smiled softly as he closed his eyes and exhaled.

A/N 2: 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*

Metal brains: Another good chapter!

I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and hope this one is okay too.