FINAL FANTASY VII:

Return of Sephiroth PART 7
Liberation or Destruction?

By: Dave (Cloud)

     Six hours remained until Supernova reached Earth. AVALANCHE began to give up hope. All they could think about now was the fate of their loved ones, everything they knew and owned, every animal and person, and everything of good and evil. Barret looked up toward the heavens in dispear and began to cry tears of sorrow. He then took out a small, gold watch from his leather jacket pocket and opened it up. There, he saw the two pictures that meant so much to him. One was a picture of him and his wife, standing at the gates of the Gold Saucer after their wedding. He knew he would see that beautiful smile in just a few hours. He then looked at the picture on the right. He saw how happy Marlene was and how happy he was. He began to have memories of the great times he had with her. All those times he took her to the park, the time he took her to school for the first time and the times they would have talks and tea parties when she was younger. He continued to look at the pictures like he was frozen there in place. Red XIII layed down and covered his head with his powerful paws. Everything I have ever learned will disappear in six hours, he thought to himself, my memories of my brave father, Seto, memories of my grandfather and all of my friends here, who will perish by my side, like it was meant to be. Cloud looked down on Tifa, who was crying her lovely, brown eyes out on Cloud's shoulder guard. "Everything I have accomplished," he said to himself, "I worked hard to get to where I am today. But it'll all vanish because of that no good Sephiroth! My kids, my friends, my lovely wife, all will be gone." Tears then streamed out of his mako blue eyes. Vincent just sat there and looked at his friends crying and waiting for that final hour to come. He, too, began to think about his past. About Lucrecia, about Hojo's gruesome experiments on him and other innocent people, about how Cloud and the crew found him in the Shinra basement, sealed away in that big, black coffen with the red interior. Vincent, for the first time, let out a tear from his red, evil looking eye. He then looked down at his metal glove on his left hand and clunched it into a fist. Reeve sat with his arms crossed and his sad face looking down at his feet. Memories of his days as a Shinra employer and also memories of his betrayal of Shinra and he joining AVALANCHE and eventually working as Cloud's vice president. Joe did the same as the other crew members. Thinking of his past, his wife that was raped and killed in Washington and other things. He then looked out the window and saw jets taking off and people racing home to be with their families. "Hey Reeve," Cloud asked, "I meant to ask you, where is the main Shinra base in this time period?" Reeve looked up at Cloud. "What does it matter?" he asked, "It wouldn't do any good. It's too late to do anything about it." Cloud bowed his head in sorrow when he heard a familiar voice. "There is something you guys can do," it whispered. Cloud immeditly reconized the voice of that of Aeris'. The crew looked around in confusion. "Who said dat'?" Barret asked. "What did you say?" Cloud asked. The voice became louder and clearer. "There is something you guys can do," it repeated. "That voice....it's familiar..." Red replied. With saying this, the figure of Aeris appeared in the doorway of the crew quaters.

     The team all stood up and gasped in shock. They couldn't believe their eyes as they froze in fear and saw the figure of Aeris approaching Cloud. "AERIS!" they all screamed. "Yes, it is, I," she replied. The crew raced up to her and all gave her a great big bear hug. "We've missed you!" Tifa declared. "I know," Aeris said with a smile, "I've missed you the most!" Red XIII said with excitment as he jumped onto Aeris like any excited dog would do. Aeris smiled down on the feriocus beast and petted him under the chin, where he likes it the most. Joe was confused in all of the excitment. "Who is this women?" he asked himself. Then he remembered the story Cloud told him in the bomber. The story of Shinra, their evil, ruthless deeds, and their plans full of greed. The story of how an innocent flower girl of the slums was caught up in all of fighting, pain and suffering they went through and how she was brutialy killed by the evil Sephiroth. "Of course! She must be the one who was killed by Sephiroth that Cloud was talking about!" he said to himself.

     With all of the joy and excitment, Aeris looked over the crowd and noticed Joe, standing there by himself looking at the joyful reunion with confused eyes. Aeris turned to Cloud, who had his hand around Tifa. "Who is that man standing over there?" she asked as she pointed to Joe. "Crap! She noticed me!" Joe nervously said to himself. Cloud turned to look at Joe who had his back to them. "Oh him," Cloud replied, "Let me introduce you two. Joe, get over here!" Joe turned around and hesistated a bit but then began to walk toward Cloud and Aeris, his heavy, combat boots making a booming noise as they hit the floor with every step. He approached them with a shy look on his face. "Joe, this is Aeris Gainsborough," Cloud said as he introduced the two, "Aeris, this is Joe Nagah. He was the one who gave us the ride here." Aeris just gave a warm smile and replied "Pleasure to meet you!" Joe stuterred a bit, but quickly regained his speech. "Pleasure's all mine," he replied back as he shook her hand. "What brings you to a dump like this?" Red asked. "I'm here to announce to you, that there is still hope for this planet!" The team looked at each other in confusion. "What do you mean?" Reeve asked. "If you fly to the main Shinra base of this time period, break into the control room and launch the Shinra Doomsday Missile at the Supernova when it arrives on Earth, there's a chance you can blow it to pieces." Aeris explained. When the crew heard this they were, once again, filled with new hope. There was a fighting chance for the planet after all. But the celebration quickly died when Cloud expressed his doubts. "It's no use, Aeris," Cloud said sadly. "Why not?" she asked. "Well, for starters, we have no clue where it is, second, if we do make it in time and actually do break into the base, we don't have the launch codes. Third, we don't know if the missile will hit it's target." Aeris gave Cloud a comforting smile. "Reeve," she said, "where is the base?" "It's at a place called the Allutein Islands but I'm not sure where excatly that is," he answered. "It's a chain of islands off the southern coast of Alaska," Joe added, "which leads to another problem." "What's dat?" Barret asked. Joe walked over to the huge world map that covered most of the whole side wall. "We're here, in Paris," he explained as he pointed to the black star marked Paris, "Alaska is way over here." He pointed to the large state on the map. "There's no way we'll be able to get there in six hours," he added. "Leave that part to me," Aeris declared, "I can call down a legion of angels to put up a barrier around the planet when the Supernova comes. We should be able to maintain the barrier for about six hours." "Now we're in business!" Cloud shouted as he leaped for joy. "Problem two is also solved," Reeve replied, "I can tap into the old Shinra files at the AVALANCHE building and get the codes from there." "What about sneaking into the base?" Vincent asked. "I can also download a map of the base. We'll need to be as quiet as possible, though. The Shinra security isn't as primitive as it may seem." Reeve answered. "Last thing, what about the timing of the missile?" Tifa asked. There was, once again dead silence from the crew members.

     "Shit! That's right!" Reeve said as he slapped his forehead, "we have another problem, guys." "What is it this time?" Red questioned Reeve. "The missile has to penetrate the core of the Supernova in order for it to exploded." Reeve informed the crew. "Why?" Barret asked, "Why can't it exploded when it it's da' surface of it? Isn't it big enough and power enough to blow the Supernova to bits?" "Even with the diameter, mass, length, width, and it's speed, it won't destroy the Supernova if it hits the outside." Reeve explained, "the Supernova is too large and too dense ." "So all we have to do is aim for an opening and hope the missile hits it?" Cloud asked. "Yeah, but it's very diffecult to scan the Supernova since there is ton of energy around it. We're already starting to get disruptions in the in the ionisphere and the comet hasn't even reached the edge of the Solar System yet." Reeve added as he sat down in a silver chair near the door way. "I may be able to see if there are any holes on the surface," Aeris said as she closed her green eyes and put two fingers of each hand on both of her temples. "Focus," she said to herself, "foucs on the Supernova." AVALANCHE could do nothing but watch in amazement as Aeris was attempting to search for a gap large enough for the Doomsday Missile to enter. An image of the huge comet appeared in her mind as she kept peering closer and closer to the Supernova. She was close enough to it the surface, which was made of iron with ice particles evaporating as it moved closer and closer to the Solar System. She continued to examine the surface, in hopes of finding a large gap or even a weak spot that the missile could easily penatrate. Minutes passed and still no sign of a hole or a weak spot. But, of course, this would take time, for the Supernova was large and dense.

     AVALANCHE just waited and waited. They continued to lose hope as every minute passed. They knew that there was no weak spot on the comet and that every second they stood there and waited, the Supernova edged closer and closer to Earth. Finally, 45 minutes later, Aeris awoken, with news of hope. "I believe I have found a weak spot toward the middle of the comet," she announced, "but I found no hole large enough for the Doomsday Missile to get through." "Damn!" Barret shouted, "Sephiroth thought of everything didn't he?" "Not quite," Reeve replied, "there may be no hole on the surface, but Aeris did say there was a weak spot." "Which means what?" Vincent asked. "In this time frame, humans were still building weapons of mass destruction," Reeve explained, "in other words, if we get the permission from the countries that have these weapons, we should be able to blow that weak spot open so the missile can go through." "That won't be as easy as it sounds, though" Joe added, "what if the countries refuse to cooperate or they deny they have such weapons?" "At a time like this, they would be worried more about their own butts more than revealing secrets to the world," Reeve answered. Joe sighed as he sat down. This wasn't the time or the place to argue about who will agree to use their nuclear weapons on the comet and who wouldn't. "Then it's settled," Aeris said, "Reeve, can you go ask the polite general what he can do get the other countries to cooperate with us?" "I'm already on it," Reeve replied. "Fine, then when Reeve comes back we will head to the main Shinra base and launch the missile!" Cloud ordered. The crew nodded with satisfaction. "Stay here until I get back with the answer from the general," Reeve said as he went out the door and ran toward the General's office. "While we wait, let's go see how Cid's doing," Tifa suggested. "Good idea," Barret added, "I hope da' foo' will be okay,"

     AVALANCHE walked inside of the tent the base had set up for the wounded in the Weapon's attack on Paris. The team looked around the tent with horrific looks. There were people with arms and legs missing, people screaming in pain as the unbearable pain shot through their injured bodies. Doctors having to amputate limbs because of the severe damage done to them. There were people with glass and other sharp objects stuck in their eyes and even people who layed on the hospital beds, dead from the dreadful injuries they had to suffer with. "You think it's cool when it happens in movies," Cloud said, "but when you see it in real life, it's horrible." Tifa, with a weak stomach for these things, was starting to become nausece and weak. Aeris, who was an angel, even couldn't believe how bad the injuries and destruction was in Paris. After walking around a bit, the crew found Cid, who was the only person with no physical injuries there. He was, of course unconscious, and was hooked up to a life support machine. His condition was worse then AVALANCHE had expected. There were two doctors standing beside his bed, monitoring his condition and checking his pulse and brain activity. Cloud was the first to approach the bed. He looked down at Cid and then asked "How is he, doc?" One of the doctors, Dr. Trire, looked up from her wooden clipboard and turned toward Cloud. "I'm afraid he isn't doing good," she sadly reported, "The radiation poisoning is severe. There is a good chance he won't make it." After these depressing words were said, Tifa began crying. She couldn't believe that there was a good chance that Cid would die. She also couldn't believe anything that has happened the last few days. The loss of Cait Sith, his friend, and Yuffie, really had hit her hard, as well as every member of the AVALANCHE team. Joe walked up beside Cloud and looked down at the lifeless body in the bed. "Hang in there, fellow pilot," he said, "you can make it. We all know you can." Joe then walked back to the back of the group, and saw Reeve come inside the tent along with General Sanders and his fellow crewmen.

     "Good news!" the general shouted, "We just got word that the Americans, Russians, French, and British have agreed to lauch every nuclear missile at the weak spot you guys found!" "Alright! We're back in business," Barret excalimed. Cloud looked disturbed, though. "Any word on Sephiroth's wareabouts?" he asked. The general nodded his head no. "The last time he was spotted, he was somewhere in the city limits but he hasn't been seen since." Cloud knew Sephiroth was near. Too near, in fact, that he would try to stop the crew from getting to Alaska and lauching the missile. "Alright," Reeve annouced, "all we need to do is get to the Shinra base and launch that missile so what are we waiting for?" The crew put smiles on their faces for the first time since this whole tragidy began. "I'll get the bomber started up," Joe replied. "What about Cid?" Vincent asked," Someone is gonna have to stay behind." Cloud looked toward Tifa. "No! she snapped, "I'm going with you guys!" "But it's dangerous," Cloud explained. "I wanna be with you until the end," Tifa explained, "if this mission does fail and Earth is wiped out, at least I'll die with you, the way it was meant to be." Cloud just looked at her. He felt the same way she did and reluctantly agreed for her to come along. "I'll stay behind," Red announced, "I can't fight much anyway. You guys will have better luck without me." "You sure?" Vincent asked. Red nodded as he walked back toward Cid's bed. "Then we're set," Reeve said, "let's get going." The rest of the crew followed Joe to his huge, B-2 Bomber and boarded the plane. "Everyone buckle up," Joe replied, "this could be a bumpy ride." The team did just that. The huge bomber's engine roared as it took off toward the east, heading for it's final destination: The Alleution Islands, Alaska. Red looked up at the bomber. "Good luck," he spoke quietly, "you'll need it."

     The news of the plan was told worldwide as people sat in their homes, praying for the safety of the crew. Of course, the news like this couldn't be kept from the force of evil. Sephiroth stood on a crumbled street in Paris, with an evil grin on his face. "So, they think they can blow my Supernova up with a weak missile," he said with an evil smile, "if that's the plan, I'll show them how dead wrong they are if they think they can blow the ticket of the end of the world out of the sky! Mwahahahahahhahahaha!!!" Sephiroth, once again, transformed into his One-Winged Angel form and took flight, following the bomber toward Alaska.

     Two hours passed, and only four that remained before the Supernova reached Earth and blew it out of excistence. The crew looked out the windows at the scenery below. From the crystal, clear water of the Black Sea, to the oil fields of Western Russia. As the bomber flew over major cities and small towns, people would run outside, just to see the world's last hope flying over them as it headed for the Shinra base. Joe looked back at the crew, most of them sleeping like a baby. All except Cloud, who held Tifa in his arms as she quietly slept. "You think this will work?" Joe asked Cloud. "I don't know," Cloud responded, "I sure hope so." Joe turned back toward the front. Aeris was quietly sitting in the furthest seat back, looking out the window and staring at the scenery and clouds. Cloud got up and walked to the back, laying Tifa's head down on a pillow. He sat next to her and asked, "You okay?" Aeris turned toward him. "I'm fine," she replied, "the scenery is beautiful isn't it?" "Yeah it is," Cloud responded, "and it's our job to protect it." Aeris just smiled at him. "When are you gonna put the barrier around the planet?" Cloud asked. "I'm waiting until the Supernova is within an hour of Earth," she answered. "Why?" Cloud asked, "Setting up a world-wide barrier drains our energy quickly," she explained, "if we set it up now, you guys will only have two extra hours for the missile to hit. If we do it an hour before impact you will have an extra five hours, which should be enough time for the missile to hit and destroy Sephiroth's Supernova." Cloud just smiled at her.

     Without warning, the alarms began to go off all over the plane. The loudness of them woke up the AVALANCHE members, who were startled and worried. Cloud ran up toward Joe following Barret, Tifa and Vincent. "What's wrong?" he asked. "We're in trouble," he answered, "an old friend of your is after us and is quickly gaining speed!" "SEPHIROTH!!" Cloud shouted as he hit the hard, metallic co-pilot seat next to Joe. "Ah crap! If he catches up to us, we don't stand a chance!" Tifa declared. "We should call for help," Vincent suggested, "are there any military facilities nearby?" Joe looked at his map of eastern Europe. He found the coordinates they were located and searched around. "Yeah! There is!" he announced, "I have an idea!" "In the mean time, we'll go to the back of the plane and moniter Sephiroth's movements," Barret replied. As Cloud made his way toward the back of the plane, Aeris stopped him. "Cloud," she replied, "please be careful." "I will," he said softly as he put his muscular arms around her. Tifa looked at them with sadness. She knew Cloud loved her, but was still uncertain if he meant it, or if we was just running away from his true feelings he had for Aeris. Tifa slowly walked toward the back of the bomber. Cloud joined her and the others and began monitering Sephiroth's speed and movements. "SHIT! He's gaining QUICKLY!!" Barret shouted.

     The evil One Winged Angel drew closer and closer to the heavy bomber every second. "Within minutes, I shall charge up my power and blow them out of the sky! That will not only get rid of Cloud and the rest of those nuiscene people, but will teach this soon to be demolished planet a lesson about messing with me!" he said with an evil grin, "but first, let's have a little fun shall we? Mother, go, and anniholate them!" Sephiroth held out a finger and blasted a small energy ball toward the plane. "He's firing on us!" Cloud shouted in a panicked voice. "Impact in five...four...three...two...one.... BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!" Tifa shouted at the top of her lungs. The crew scrambled to the nearby seats and held on for dear life. Within seconds, the ball of energy sliced throught the back of the plane and landed near the team. The crew opened their eyes,only to find out that the ball of energy was taking shape, in the form of Jenova. "We're screwed," Vincent said softly.

     Joe was too busy piloting the plane and shouting for help over the intercom to notice the ugly, evil form of Jenova in the back of his precious bomber. "S.O.S! Mayday! Mayday!" he shouted, "We're being attacked! I repeat, we're being attacked!" Luckliy, his message got through to a military office in Moscow. "We hear you," the Russian general said, "we're detecting Sephiroth following you. He'll reach you plane in two minutes at his current speed!" "I know that! We need something to distract him for a while! Can't you send up some MIGs or something?" Joe demanded. "We're doing that as we speak, sir," the Russian general replied, "over and out." Joe put the intercom back and checked his radar again. Sure enough, five Russian MIGs were approaching the plane. "Guys!" Joe shouted, "Good news! The Russians have sent up some fighters to help us and.... AHHHHHHHH!!!" Joe saw the gloomy figure of Jenova, fighting his comrades in the back of his plane. "What the hell is that thing?" he demanded. "It's a Jenova creature," Aeris responded as she walked up toward Joe. Cloud and the others were having trouble beating this one, too. Jenova had dodged every attack so far, knocking the helpless crew into the walls of the cargo hold. Cloud got up after being slammed into several crates. "OMNISLASH!" he shouted as he lunged at Jenova, Ultima Weapon and all. Jenova, though, countered the fearsome limit break and slammed Cloud into more crates. By now, Barret was completly out of ammo, for every shot he took, Jenova slapped him into crates and walls. Tifa's attempt at her limit breaks, also failed. Vincent's Outsider and Death Penalty did little or no damage, which forced him to turn into Chaos. He, too, was thrown around like a toy and was badly beaten. Joe witnessed these events and figured there was only one thing to do. He looked over toward the co-pilot seat. He opened a secret compartment with a key he had and pulled out a missile launcher that he was supposed to deliver in Paris. "What are you doing?" Reeve asked as he came in to the cockpit. "This is the only thing that will blow that monster out of my bomber," he explained. "You'll kill everyone and blow the plane up!" she demanded. "Watch," he explained as he went back to the control panel. He opened the back doors, and aimed his missile launcher right at Jenova. "Tell Cloud and the rest of them to get out of there," he ordered, "those crates will blow and it won't be pretty."

          Back at the airbase in Paris, Red sat in a corner, looking up at the sky. He hoped his friends were okay, since he had seen Sephiroth go after them. He couldn't help but wonder if this plan would work or not. To nim, it seemed like an impossible mission, but with Aeris as an angel, she and a legion of angels would be to hold off that giant monster, Supernova from hitting the planet, at least for a few hours. Red then got up and walked toward the doctor. "How's Cid doing?" he asked the doctor. "Still no change in his condition," she sadly announced. Red, too, was beginning to give up hope. He began to think that death had overpowered, him. Cid, his friends, and the whole world. He went back to his corner and layed down. He put his head in his paws and just sat there, thinking. "Was it all over?" he asked himself, "or do we really have a fighting chance?" He then looked back up toward the heavens and stared. He knew he couldn't lose hope. He knew that this planet and all of it's history had a fighting chance against the doom that was threatning it.

     Cloud and the rest of the crew were beaten up badly. They crawled around, dodging the fierce attacks the Jenova threw on them. Aeris ran desparetly to the back of the plane to warn Cloud of Joe's plan of blowing Jenova to pieces by a missile. "Cloud!" she shouted, "Get out of there!" Cloud stumbled to his feet, but was quickly knocked down by Jenova's fierce blow. "Damn!" he exclaimed. Joe loaded a small missile into the launcher and got prepared to fire. "Cloud! Joe has a plan but you need to get out of there!!" Aeris declared. "We won't have time to get up!" he replied back, "just tell him to do what he needs to, we'll be alright!" Joe was very hesistent, because if the missile was off course by even an inch, it would blow the plane up, killing everyone on board. Joe aimed carefully toward the opened bay doors. "Cloud!" he shouted, "find someway to get that monster in front of the opened bay doors!" Cloud looked at Joe and realized what his plan was. Cloud quickly got up and ran toward Jenova, who was assaulting Vincent at the time. Cloud picked up his Ulitma Weapon and moved quietly toward Jenova. Vincent was caught in a corner, trying as best as he could to dodge the deathblow punches Jenova was throwing at him. Cloud then sprang up and stabbed Jenova in the back. The creature yet a blood curtling scream of pain and quickly tunred toward Cloud. He ran toward the open area where Joe needed Jenova to be. Jenova gave chase and followed Cloud, blood spilling from the opened wound in it's back. Right as it reached the center, Cloud drove his Ultima Weapon through Jenova's foot, impaling it into the floor. "Fire Joe! Fire!" Cloud shouted. Joe looked through the aimer. Jenova was in perfect position. Without hesitation, he fired the missile, flying backwards at the same time. The missile zoomed into the cargo bay and blew Jenova to pieces with deadly accuracy. Blood flew around the room as crates were tossed around from the force of the explosion.

     As Sephiroth approached the bomber, he saw the deadly missile blow his mother to kingdom come. He watched in shock as his mother blew apart. Sephiroth was too furious and shocked to notice, though, that the missile didn't stop there. It kept going and going, heading right for Sephiroth. He caught sight of the missile, but by then it was too late. The missile hit with deadly accuracy and exploded, blowing his angel wing off. Sephiroth screamed in pain and in rage. The crew got up and saw what had happened. They couldn't believe their eyes. For the first time, something had damaged him. Joe, was even shocked. He knew the missile would go through Jenova, but wasn't expecting to hit Sephiroth and actually hurt him. Sephiroth regained his ability, looking evily toward the bomber and AVALANCHE. "You fools!!" he shouted, "Do you realize what you have done? There was a special crystal at the joint of my angel wing. That crystal, controled the time portal. Because you have destroyed it, the portal will collapse and we'll be trapped in this time forever!!!" The crew couldn't beleive what they heard. Because of the destruction of the crystal, they were trapped in the 20th century forever.

     The crew ran back to their seats and buckled up. "Quick! Get moving while he's still stunned!" Reeve shouted. "No problem!" Joe replied as he increased the speed of the bomber. The bomber sped off as Sephiroth was floating in the clear, blue sky, holding the major injury that was inflicted to him. "I can grow a new wing," he said to himself. He closed his eyes and began to focus. He let out a nasty scream as a new angel wing grew back instantly. "Ha, much better," he replied, "Now those fools will be sorry! I'll make them pay for destroying the crystal! Mwahahahahahaha!!" Sephiroth, once again, gave chase to the bomber and this time, he vowed he would destroy Cloud no matter what it took.

     Over the icy fields of Siberia, five MIGs took off from a secret airstrip in the middle of a deserted plain. The temperature was unbelievably cold, while a huge blizzard ravaged the country side. "Is the American bomber still in the air?" the general asked. "Yes," replied a Russian soldier who was sitting near the communication system, "Sephiroh seemed to have stopped but he's still pursuing the plane. "How long until the MIGs intercept Sephiroth and the bomber," the general asked. "About thirty minutes," the soldier answered. The Russian General than turned on the intercom and switched to the frequency the bomber was operating on. "American bomber," he replied, "This is the Russian general, Sorov, I'm here to report that the MIGs will intercept you in thirty minutes." Joe picked up the intercom. "We may not have thirty minutes!" he declared, "Sephiroth may finish us off by then!" "We're doing everything we can to help," General Sorov reminded. Joe looked over at Cloud, then Reeve then Barret. "Yeah, I know you are and we're deeply greatful, but if we're destroyed, it's all over!" he said. Sorov looked over at his collauges. "Let's just hope our fighters can make it in time to help them," Sorov replied, "or it's all over." He turned off the intercom and said, "God be with them."

     Cid's condition remained critical as Red XIII continued to stare out the window. He was tired from all of the traveling he had done and all he had been through. He quietly layed walked over to Cid's bed and layed down. He closed his eyes and began seeing images of the past, or shall we say, the far future of the planet. He was reminded of the events at Northern Crater that miserable day seven years earlier. The lifestream buldging up, hurling the Highwind high into the atmosphere like a child throwing a toy rocket up in the air. Midgar's destruction and eventually, the rebuilding. Cloud elected into office as president of AVALANCHE, all of these events sprang through his head. Just as he thought he would get a peaceful snooze, Cid's heartrate began to fall. The doctors quickly raced over to his bed, trying desparatly to stablize his heartrate. Red woke up in the commosion and saw five doctors by Cid's bed. He quickly got up to his feet and stood by the bed, watching helplessly as the doctors checked for a pulse and breathing. "What's wrong?" Red demanded. "His heartrate continues to fall!" the doctor answered. Red's eyes became as wide as saucers as Cid's heartrate continued to plunge. "He's not breathing!!" another doctor exclaimed. Dr. Trire raced over and began performing CPR. "He's still not breathing!" she replied. She continued to perform CPR until the heartrate stopped. Red watched in horror as the heart moniter showed a straight line. The doctors slowly stood up. Dr. Trire stopped CPR and sadly announced, "We've lost him." Red was shocked. He drooped his head down and mourned in his own way. "It's unbelieveable," he said to himself, "First Cait's friend, then Yuffie and now, Cid. What esle could go wrong?" Without warning, he let out a dreadful howl that was heard throughout Paris.

     Things weren't any better in the bomber. Sephiroth continued to follow and close on them and there wasn't any sign of the MIGs. "Where are those fighters you said were coming?" Tifa asked. Joe stared out the window. "Any minute now," he replied, "just hang tight!" Tifa held onto Cloud tighter now. Aeris was sitting next to Vincent, holding onto his metal claw. Vincent would usually push her away, but his mind was too focused on the mission. Reeve sat in the co-pilot seat with the headphones on and awaiting conformation of the fighters. "Still nothing!" he said. "Just a few more minutes," Joe replied, "just wait a few more minutes." With all of the commosion going on, the radar began to beep. Joe looked at it and a smile came over his face. "There they are!" he shouted as five small dots in the clouds became larger. The team looked in amazement as five Russian MIGs zoomed by the bomber. "American bomber," the squad leader said, "this is the flight squadron, how are things up there?" "Flight squadron, this is the American bomber, things could be better," Reeve answered. "Roger that, we'll hold Sephiroth off as long as possible. Good luck on your mission," the squad leader replied. "Thank you," Reeve responded, "and good luck to you, also. Over and out." The five fighters raced toward Sephiroth, hoping to at least by the team a few minutes. "Alright men," the squad leader shouted, "prepare to fire on the count of three! One....two.....thre...AHH..." The squad jet was blown out of the sky in an instant with Sephiroth's improved pale horse attack. The AVALANCHE team heard the explosion and looked back. "Damn! One down already!" Barret exclaimed. "Those guys won't even last a minute up there," Tifa said, "Sephiroth will destroy them and then catch up to us within a matter of seconds!" "A few seconds we can use to our advantage," Vincent remarked as he took out his small, Outsider, polishing it with his metal claw. "Isn't there anything you can do, Aeris?" asked Reeve. "At the moment, no," she answered, "I'll need all my power to put up the barrier around the planet when it's time." Reeve sighed and turned back around.

     The other four jets began to circle the One-Winged Angel, firing their machine guns and missiles at him. Surprisingly, they were doing some damage to him. "Damn!" he exclaimed, "The destruction of the time crystal weakend me! It won't be as easy to take these guys down! It was a miracle I took the first one down while I had the chance!" Sephiroth was bleeding in several places from the bullets, but managed to dodge the missiles that were being shot at him. Sephiroth charged a huge ball of energy in his hand. The jets flew away then turned back toward him, preparing to launch another wave of assaults. "Prepare to fry, you turkeys!" he shouted as he threw the ball of energy at the incoming jets. The ball was too large for the jets to manover around. The ball exploded, taking the three jets down instantly while blowing the engines out of the fourth one. It pummeled to the ocean below, exploding on contact. Sephiroth looked down and smiled. He was in pain but he knew he stil had more than enough strength to chase AVALANCHE and exterminate them. Sephiroth was also smiling at the fact that in three hours, Supernova will come and destroy the planet, leaving it in ruin and for Sephiroth to build an evil empire in which he would rule for the rest of time...

TO BE CONTINUED...
COMING SOON: Part 8 of The Return of Sephiroth