FicWad

Tragedy Belies the Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit from this fanfiction.

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Chapter Ten: A Daring Rescue

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Cloud awoke slowly and looked around. A cell? How weird was this? As he examined more and more he realized he'd seen this place before.

"What the hell!?" exclaimed Cloud jumping up.

"Welcome to the world of the living." said Lightning with a smirk.

"What's going on?" asked Cloud.

"Shinra's got us." said Lightning.

"Just who is us?" asked Cloud.

"Everyone, including my sister." said Lightning.

Cloud began to look around, Lightning was right. There they were: Tifa, Snow, Serah, Vincent, Squall, Rinoa, Zidane, Garnet, Seifer, Laguna, Caius who was rocking back and forth, Tidus, Yuna, Kuja, and somehow Mateus. The only person missing was Aerith.

"This is a damn big cell." said Cloud.

"I knew Rufus was going to hit low but this is ridiculous." said Lightning.

"So how do we get out?" asked Cloud.

Snow shook his head. "We've tried everything." he said.

"Well not quite...everything." spoke Kuja with a grim look on his face.

They looked to Kuja. "Zidane and I...we are different then the rest of you." he said pointing to his tail and then a grate on the ceiling that was there for ventilation.

"Hey right on!" said Zidane.

"Wait Kuja...how did you and Mateus get here?" asked Cloud.

"We were captured a few days ago, the turks have been keeping a watchful eye on us. They said we're all here for a reason." said Kuja.

"That's right yo." said Reno walking up.

Cloud glared at Reno. "Where's Aerith?!" he shouted.

"Chill out man, Rufus is just testing her with Yazoo." said Reno.

"Why are all of us here?" asked Serah from Snow's side.

"I'll let the boss explain that." said Reno walking out as Rufus's head appeared on a screen.

"I hope you all find your cell to be comfortable." said Rufus.

Squall snorted and folded his arms. "Now allow me to begin." spoke Rufus.

"I will begin with Laguna Loire, Seifer Almasy, and Caius." spoke Rufus after a brief moment.

On the screen appeared Yeul. "This is Yeul, the reason why Caius is in the state he's in." said Rufus.

Caius looked up and snarled at Rufus, unable to contain his fury. "What Caius is too messed up to say is that Yeul was under a voluntary Shinra experiment with Caius." said Rufus.

Cloud looked surprised, as did everybody else, Seifer however seemed annoyed. "Hey whoa, Yeul would never have volunteered for something like that." said Seifer.

"She owed Shinra a debt so yes she would." spoke Rufus.

"What was the experiment?" asked Seifer calmly, but the hatred was burning in his eyes.

"She was to try and gain powers, powers that could be brought out with nuclear energy, it was highly experimental." said Rufus.

"And that...killed her?" asked Cloud.

"Indeed. However we weren't expecting Caius's troubles to fall onto Shinra. The publicity he raised costed me a pretty penny to make disappear." said Rufus.

Caius stood up. "You killed her!" he shouted.

"It matters not. Once you were in the hands of Laguna a highly publicized man and Seifer his bodyguard, you became a problem to Shinra." spoke Rufus.

"So what? You're gonna just imprison us forever?" spoke Seifer.

"In due time I will tell you my plan for you three." spoke Rufus.

Rufus turned to Garnet, Zidane, Kuja, and Mateus. "Mateus you fell right into my trap." spoke Rufus.

Rufus smirked. "Did you really think I'd let you keep gaining power while my company lost it? Or for that matter allow Kuja and Zidane, two failed experiments under the Garland project to roam free?" spoke Rufus.

Zidane crouched looking angrily at Rufus on the screen. "Hey! Don't you bring up his name!" exclaimed Zidane.

Kuja sighed. "I was unaware that it really had all that much to do with Shinra." said Kuja with a fiery and bitter undertone.

Rufus chuckled. "Well of course you wouldn't believe that. Garland did go against our orders." said Rufus.

"What do you intend to do?" asked Mateus calmly.

"I intend to keep you here until your power in the world dries up while we dismantle those failures." spoke Rufus.

Kuja and Zidane went tense.

"Whoa hey! You can't threaten them!" exclaimed Snow.

"Oh? Can't I?" spoke Rufus, behind him appeared the twins of Serah and Snow, and Mikoto Garnet's child, their children.

"What!?" exclaimed Snow.

"I wouldn't dare think of speaking out of turn again." said Rufus.

"What do you...plan to do to them?" asked Serah trembling.

"Nothing yet, so long as you don't stand in my way. In fact I have orders for you three." he said to Lightning, Snow and Serah.

Lightning's jaw clenched, her fists at her side. "Lightning since I know your resourceful-ness I want you to take Kuja and Zidane to the weapon chamber, if you make one false move I will kill the twins. Snow and Serah I want you to make sure Cloud does not try anything while Lightning does this." said Rufus.

Rufus was in control, it was like they were suddenly his puppets. Cloud however could think of only one thing...what was happening to Aerith at that moment?

"Vincent, you will be staying with Cloud, Yazoo and Aerith will be returned to you both when our experiments have been concluded." said Rufus.

Vincent was tense, that much was obvious. Rufus then turned to Garnet. "Say goodbye while you can deary." he said.

Garnet was crying and looking at Zidane, Zidane was staring at the ground but he nodded to Garnet. Mateus also appeared quite tense while Rufus turned to Tidus and Yuna.

"You both are here for another reason." said Rufus.

Tidus was growling. "And yeah, what is that!?" he fired at Rufus.

"Jecht." spoke Rufus.

"What about my old man?" asked Tidus.

"Did you know that Jecht's disappearance was planned?" spoke Rufus.

Tidus looked surprised. "What?" he asked.

"Indeed you see your father was indoctrinated into the Sephiroth experiment." spoke Rufus.

"What?" asked Tidus shocked.

"Jecht's body disappeared about a week ago but he's somewhere in the facility still as our sensors have predicted. You both will find him and bring him to me, if you do not then I will murder Squall and Rinoa." spoke Rufus.

Rinoa grabbed Squall and he hugged her closely, so essentially they were just there as hostages?

"Why do you need us to find my old man!?" exclaimed Tidus.

"Because I want to know if there's any humanity left in him." spoke Rufus with a cocky grin.

Rufus turned to Tifa and smirked. "And you. You will be another hostage, if anyone doesn't do as I say then she dies." spoke Rufus's malicious tone.

Rude and Reno grabbed Laguna, Seifer, and Caius dragging them off into another room. Tidus and Yuna ran off, Kuja and Zidane slowly walked to the chamber they were ordered to go to with Lightning. At the end the of it when Rufus's face disappeared, Cloud's jaw was set, he looked tense and he looked annoyed.

"He's gone off the deep end." said Vincent.

"So now what?..." asked Cloud.

Garnet was trembling, crying, she definitely was losing it.

-Meanwhile-

"Y, R, P. It's showtime girls." said a voice.

Yuna sighed, she was with Tidus, the two were in the basements of the Shinra building. Tidus looked a bit disturbed by everything he had learned. Yuna suddenly saw him...Jecht.

He was monstrous, so much had changed about him. Tidus's eyes went wide as Jecht turned with a smirk.

"Hey there boy." said Jecht.

Tidus went tense. Jecht walked over. "So what brings you here?" asked Jecht.

"Sir Jecht..." spoke Yuna.

"Yunie!" exclaimed a familiar tone, Rikku swooped in with Paine at her side. The two had weapons and fought Jecht back.

"Rikku!?" exclaimed Yuna.

"You alright?" asked Paine.

Yuna nodded. "What are you both doing?" asked Yuna.

"Yunie remember our training?" asked Rikku.

Yuna sighed, she hadn't really wanted to go into this again. A long while back after her father's death, she had decided to investigate the church, Rikku and Paine had been her partners as they had been trained into becoming agents for the FBI. It had been a brief stunt to get closer to the church and find out the truth. As it turned out her father Braska had been murdered by them because he knew something about their involvement with Shinra, but that had been their last clue.

"Yunie, Braska knew about Jecht's disappearance." said Rikku.

"You two wanna fight?! You got it!" exclaimed Jecht.

Jecht was practically a super soldier and he began to punch and fight, Paine of course used her sword skills to block him while Rikku moved in to hit his pressure points. Rikku handed Yuna two guns and nodded to her. Yuna looked to Tidus. "Run...save the others." she said.

Tidus looked at Yuna, he looked at Jecht and he kissed Yuna's cheek before running, he knew this could be their only chance. Yuna began to shoot at Jecht, Tidus sprinting to somehow help.

-Meanwhile-

Lightning had walked with Kuja and Zidane, the two of them were staring at the floor as they walked into the chamber that would hold their very lives and kill them. Mateus was back with Garnet, his hands clenched into tight fists while Garnet cried.

Kuja walked forward first, making Zidane step back.

"Wait..." said Zidane.

Kuja looked back to Zidane a small smile on his face. "Do you remember when you and I fought each other?" asked Kuja.

"Yeah...when you were kind of insane over Garland and took it out on me, how many you killed and all...all because you thought you were going to die." said Zidane.

"You covered for me after our fight, after I did almost die. You stopped the world from finding out about what I had become Zidane." said Kuja.

Kuja smiled a little at Zidane. "This is my chance to repay the debt I owe you." said Kuja with a small smile.

Zidane grabbed Kuja's arm as he turned. "You don't have to do this!" he exclaimed.

Kuja looked back at Zidane. "I have lived a life I was never supposed to have Zidane. After Garland, after I lost my mind, after the scars I gave you and your canary. After what I did to you. The things the press doesn't know about me, the way you talk about me now like I'm not some abomination. Zidane, my brother. I must die first. I must somehow save you." spoke Kuja.

He closed his cerulean eyes and smirked before he raised a hand, as creations they had certain abilities that others didn't. Kuka's abilities had always been ESP abilities of sorts, he had the ability to teleport himself or one other in desperate times. Zidane ran to stop him, as Kuja was suddenly grabbed by the machines, Lightning reached to stop the machines but recoiled remembering what might happen, Kuja managed to block the cameras in the room long enough to teleport Zidane out before he was injected with the poison that would kill him.

Kuja fell to his knees, his body trembling, he coughed up blood and fell into Lightning's arms, she was staring down at him.

"Where did you send him?" she asked.

Kuja coughed, blood coming from his mouth. "I won't tell, I won't let Rufus get him or his Canary." he coughed once more after saying this.

"Kuja..." said Lightning.

"Zidane once told me...you don't need a reason to help people. That we're all in this game called life together for a reason." said Kuja, more blood coming from his mouth.

Lightning thought for a minute, her eyes filling with tears but they were silent as she looked away from Kuja. "Help your brother and sister..." said Kuja.

Lightning looked at Kuja in surprise as he smiled at her. "It will be...alright." he said.

Kuja then closed his eyes, his breathing stopped, he was dead. Lightning looked away, her jaw clenched. Suddenly into the room came a figure, he was unlike anything Lightning had ever seen in her life. It ran over and injected Kuja with something.

"Who are you?" asked Lightning.

The figure turned to her. "He will recover." it said before it casted an odd spell of sorts, Lightning had never seen anything like it. The figure grabbed her hand. "Follow me." it said.

Lightning picked up Kuja and followed after the figure. "I'm Vivi." it said leading their way down the hall.

"Vivi...what are you?" asked Lightning.

"A friend of Zidane's." said Vivi as it found them a place to hide.

"Ok wait...explain." said Lightning.

"We were a project created by Kuja out of spite. The black mage project. He was able to make people like myself, dolls of sorts who could use special but temporary powers that are close to the old magics told about in fairy tales. He created us to use as his revenge for Garland. We assisted Kuja in eventually bringing down Garland's name and everything else, underneath Kuja's control completely. However it came with a price...Kuja didn't care about our safety, or how long we would live. He was so driven by his own hurt in this world that he used us. But Zidane...he saved us, he brought down his brother. The Garland project was never given the media attention that the Sephiroth project was given because of us and Kuja." said Vivi.

"So why did you save him?" asked Lightning.

"Because of Zidane. Zidane was my only friend, my best friend, and he helped me through the hard times. Kuja is temporarily dead, but what I gave him will allow him to live." said Vivi.

"You were a doll created by Kuja, he followed in Garland's foot steps?" asked Lightning.

"Kuja...Kuja fought Garland and killed him for what he did. The Emperor developed an antidote to save Kuja. But Zidane saved Kuja from himself. But Kuja made us in the process. You ever hear of the Russian facilities of Shinra?" said Vivi.

"No, why?" asked Lightning.

"Because the files were destroyed, Shinra didn't care. We black mages were dolls given life somehow by Kuja, created with advanced sciences. Kuja had to track Garland down after Garland ran from what he'd done to Kuja and Zidane in their lives. Across Russia, Kuja killed many people, he was in a way very much like Sephiroth. But unlike Sephiroth, Kuja was able to be saved by Zidane's influence, Zidane defeated Kuja when Kuja killed Garland, and saved Kuja from his own ambitions. Then Kuja met the Emperor and Kuja began to heal, rather then die the next month as he was supposed to. We black mages who were left, were thrown into a remote facility, this facility by Shinra." said Vivi.

"We're in Russia?" asked Lightning in shock.

"Indeed, and I know the way out." said Vivi.

"Can you lead me to help the others?" asked Lightning.

"I can." said Vivi.

Kuja suddenly stirred, he felt terrible and his head was pounding. He wiped his mouth of blood and looked up, jumping at the site of Vivi.

"You...me...what?" asked Kuja.

Lightning explained that Vivi had saved Kuja, Kuja looked away unsure of how to grasp this. Vivi nodded and began to lead them, they knew they had no time to dally, Kuja had to get Garnet out of there, he'd managed to save Zidane, but Garnet was another story.

"Hey Kuja...before you said that it didn't have much to do with Shinra what Garland did." said Lightning.

"Indeed, and what I did was also underneath them. They didn't realize how much we ran amuck until it was too late. It happened they noticed after I killed Garland. My experiments on the black mages were done in a wear house that no one ever visited, Shinra abandoned because they were far too focused on the Sephiroth project. Yes eventually it was noticed and dealt with obviously, but still you understand." spoke Kuja.

"We're in that wearhouse." said Lightning.

-Meanwhile-

Tifa heard the alarms going off, she was definitely in a panic but stood her ground, when suddenly she saw Zidane run in with Snow and Serah's kids and Mikoto. Zidane grinned and handed them to Serah who held her girls in her arms and cried, Snow holding her closely. Zidane turned and saw guards were coming at them with guns, Squall and Rinoa looked at each other. Obviously things were not going according to Rufus's plans. Tifa ran ahead and punched one of the guards down, she grabbed his gun and shot a few others. Vincent joined her grabbing a gun, the two of them made sure the guards no matter how strong weren't getting through. Mateus managed to sneak past the guards at that moment and ran in the direction they had taken Kuja.

Lightning saw him run up and set Kuja down. Emperor Mateus walked over gracefully and picked Kuja up into his arms. Kuja looked at him and just smirked. "You realize he has threatened your pride." he spoke.

"A threat he will not get away with." spoke Mateus.

"What do you plan to do?" asked Kuja.

"Bring Shinra down." spoke Mateus.

"It won't be too hard to do with this on our side." said Lightning pointing to Vivi.

"No, that is because of Kuja, not Shinra. We will use my political influence." spoke Mateus.

Lightning nodded folding her arms. "So why do you care so much anyway?" she asked, a little bit skeptical of Mateus.

Mateus didn't flinch, but for the first time since she'd seen him, Lightning saw Mateus express some type of emotion besides his usual cold self. Mateus held Kuja and looked to Lightning.

"Isn't is obvious?" he said, a warmth in his eyes.

He then looked away and led them back towards Tifa and the others.

Tifa punched one of the shinra soldiers down, Cloud himself had jumped in finally shooting them down, when he saw Mateus, Kuja, and Lightning come back. He looked shocked.

"Hey what's going on?" asked Cloud.

Which was when he saw Tidus run in.

"Hey!" exclaimed Tidus running over.

"Where's Yuna?" asked Tifa.

"She and her two other friends Rikku and Paine are holding my father off....Shinra...Shinra did something to him!" shouted Tidus.

Lightning nodded and grabbed a gun. "Lead me to them!" she exclaimed.

Lightning looked to Cloud. "Go find Aerith." she said.

Cloud nodded and ran to find Aerith and Yazoo, Lightning followed after Tidus, she knew they'd have a true fight on their hands.

Suddenly an alarm wrung out. "The Base Will Self Destruct In Exactly Fifteen Minutes." said the cold metallic voice.

"What!?" shouted Tifa.

"We need to get out of here." spoke Mateus coldly.

"But how?" asked Serah.

"I will lead the way." said Vivi.

They all turned to the new companion and though they were skeptical, Tifa lead the way, she hoped Cloud would find a way out.

-Meanwhile-

Caius, Seifer, and Laguna heard the alarm. Seifer growled and hit the door they were in, it was locked and they couldn't get out.

"Shit...this was his plan for us?" asked Seifer.

"No...I was." spoke a familiar voice.

Stepping forward was Yeul, Caius's face turned warm, his eyes looking at her with a gentle expression.

"Yeul..." he said.

She shook her head. "There isn't time." she said.

She walked over to Caius. "I must die again." she said.

"What?" he asked in shock, his voice choking.

"Vivi and I...we must die in order for you all to live." she said.

"What do you mean? Who is Vivi?" asked Seifer.

"Vivi is a puppet created a long time ago, a black mage puppet that was an experiment in this facility. I was also experimented on in many facilities. Vivi gave me an antidote a few days ago to the damage done to my body, as the experiments didn't allow me to die actually. I would keep coming back and dying. The antidote he gave me a few days ago was so I could save you all. We knew what Rufus was planning, or rather...Sephiroth was planning." she said.

"Wait...Rufus isn't Rufus?" asked Laguna.

"He is under Sephiroth's control with Rufus's knowledge of experiments coming out. Sephiroth has come back due to the experiments done on Kadaj and Loz's remaining parts with Yazoo, they have all been combined to bring him back." said Yeul.

"Wait so why do you and Vivi have to die to let us escape?" asked Caius.

"In truth, Sephiroth was going to gas this chamber and kill all three of you so you could never tell the public about the experiments and what happened to me. But I broke the system with my powers that Vivi gave me with the antidote he gave me. These powers will kill me. Now escape, leave, Vivi and I must stop Sephiroth from getting to you as you escape, you must escape or this place will self destruct and kill you all." spoke Yeul.

Yeul moved to the door and sent out electricity from her hands, the door short circuited and she helped them all out. Yeul then ran with them to the exit, Vivi had helped everyone else escape and looked to Yeul.

"Vivi...you don't have to stay." said Yeul.

Vivi shook his head. "We need to get the others." Vivi stated before he looked to Zidane.

"Thank you." Vivi said.

Zidane was definitely upset and grabbed Vivi's hand. "Hey come on now." he said.

Vivi shook his head. "This is my debt paid to you Zidane, for what you did for me before." Vivi said before handing a letter to Zidane. Vivi and Yeul then ran, they ran to Lightning, Paine, Yuna, and Rikku. Yeul jumped in front of them and sent out the powers she'd been given at Jecht, her body beginning to feel more and more faint. She looked to the others. "Vivi go help Cloud!" she exclaimed.

Vivi nodded and ran, the others ran as well getting to the exit and leaving the base. Vivi moved as fast as he could while Cloud finally reached Aerith. She was shaking and he grabbed her.

"Aerith." said Cloud.

"Cloud...he's back." she said.

Cloud looked confused before he heard a familiar tone.

"Hello Cloud." said Sephiroth.

Cloud turned, fear in his eyes as he saw Sephiroth there. Sephiroth threw Rufus's body to the ground and smirked. "How good of you to join me." said Sephiroth.

Cloud moved in front of Aerith. "Stay back Aerith." he said.

"Cloud..." said Aerith.

He looked back at her. "They used my DNA to bring him back Cloud, it was all a set up. The experiments with Yazoo. Jenova...Jenova is here. She's in Sephiroth. Her body was absorbed, somehow they brought him back. He's unstoppable Cloud." said Aerith.

"Not true, I defeated him once before." said Cloud.

Cloud turned to Sephiroth, Vivi ran up next to Cloud.

"Escape." said Vivi.

Cloud looked to Aerith. "Run." he said.

Aerith shook her head and grabbed Cloud's hand. "I won't run." she said.

Cloud felt his heart clench, he couldn't expect Aerith to stay there, he couldn't let her die. "No I won't let you die." he said.

"Cloud, I won't leave you behind." said Aerith.

She then did something Cloud didn't expect, she pushed him, Vivi looked as Cloud was pushed into a pod of sorts, he banged on the glass.

"I'll be back Cloud." she said.

Cloud shook his head and Aerith smiled at him. "I promise." she said.

Aerith then hit the button and Cloud was sent out in an escape pod. Aerith then turned to Sephiroth and put her hands together. "You won't get him." she said.

Sephiroth growled. "It was you...you who set off the alarm to make this place self destruct." he said.

Aerith smiled a little. "It was me...I can't allow you back into this world. Our curse must burn with us." she said.

Sephiroth moved in for the kill, Vivi grabbed Sephiroth. "Run Aerith!" shouted Vivi.

Aerith shook her head. "No I can't run this time. I can't allow anything to hurt Cloud or the others. I won't allow it!" she shouted.

Vivi shook his head. "No you have to go!" shouted Vivi as Sephiroth struggled against Vivi.

Aerith smiled a little. "I love Cloud more then anything in this world. And I wanted to stay with him and the others...but I can't." she said.

Aerith grabbed an orb then. "This will prevent any further attempts at Jenova cell reproduction." she said.

Aerith knew then, she knew somehow this was her destiny. She grabbed the orb and put it into Sephiroth, breaking threw him into his stomach. He grabbed her and stabbed her through, and then the place exploded into flames, destroying them all.

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Author: I know, a hard chapter to write and read, I do hope for reviews.