By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Vincent and Tifa continued to creep up the various stairways and catwalks within the vast reactor. They both froze where they stood when they heard the barrage of gun shots and shouts from Reno’s encounter with Rasta. They had no way of knowing whether it was someone within their party that was firing or being fired upon. Frightened, Tifa soon found herself clinging to Vincent’s side.

He looked down at her and smiled faintly. "It’s okay, Tifa. You know our guys can take care of themselves."

There was little comfort to be found in his words. She had been out of combat for so long that her nerves were already frayed to say the least. "Vincent…"

"I know, it’s okay." He held her tightly for a moment and then became again expressionless. "We need to keep going."

Tifa just nodded silently and followed him on their continuing ascent. Her senses were now heightened to their fullest and her eyes scanned the darkness, searching for any clues as to what was happening to her comrades elsewhere in the reactor.

***

Jaras was now far above Porter, racing relentlessly to get to the top. Porter had given up all hope of his partner waiting for him and continued his climb as best he was able, but with each step his pain redoubled.

Kimo was continuing to make his way downwards, still terribly upset at Rasta’s betrayal of his boss. He knew that if he got the chance to kill Rasta in an opportunity to preserve Rude’s status within the Turks then that is what he would do.

The Turk’s sharp hearing soon picked up the sound of someone coming up the stairs below him, fast. This was not the careful slinking that an invader would be using in an attempt to not be heard, rather this was someone running full bore, determined to get somewhere in a tremendous hurry.

Kimo’s gun was cocked and ready as he just remained still, knowing that he would be confronting someone very soon. When he saw Jaras finally emerge at the end of the catwalk he was upon, his pulse quickened. "S… Sephiroth?"

Jaras continued to stride toward the armed man before him, seemingly unconcerned for the moment that there was a gun trained upon him. "Step aside."

With Jaras now only a few feet away from him Kimo peeled off one warning shot. "I said stop!"

"I do not have time for this, Turk." Jaras knitted his brow in terrible annoyance.

Truth be told Kimo was extremely rattled at the moment. Normally, he would have shot and killed this intruder on site, but with all that had just happened with the betrayal of his commanding officer, his world was in flux. Now, Kimo found himself faced with a ghost, and he was certain that he couldn’t have killed him even if he had fired. "I can’t let you go up there."

"Why, do you have some vested interest in seeing Professor Hojo not killed?" Jaras said flippantly, tightening his grip on his sword’s hilt.

As much as he would like to see the madman dead, there was still some lingering need to keep his orders. "That isn’t the point. Turn back."

Jaras smiled while narrowing his eyes. "If you feel the need to take someone out in order to fulfill your so called orders, then feel free to continue downwards and meet up with my partner. He is at this point useless to me."

Somehow, Kimo at once knew who the man before him was speaking of. "Porter?"

Seeing that the Turk was now completely distracted, Jaras flipped up the blade of his weapon and easily knocked the gun from Kimo’s hand. This done, he just confidently strode past his former roadblock and again began to head toward his goal.

Kimo stood dumbfounded. How he had just so profoundly failed his mission was biting but at the same moment he was amazed that one, Sephiroth was still alive, and two, that he had just survived and encounter with said man.

He grasped his badly lacerated hand and clutched it in an attempt to stem the flow of blood. After cursing his injury and the loss of his prized gun for a moment, he remembered that Porter was somewhere below him. He glanced over his shoulder one more time to make certain that Sephiroth was in fact gone, before heading down toward his old friend.

Several flights below he finally spotted Porter, stopped and resting up against a railing for support. Porter looked up with pain filled eyes at the sight of his old friend and despite the circumstances, was not afraid at all. He could instantly tell from Kimo’s demeanor that he was in no danger at all.

Kimo smiled upon making eye contact with his former comrade. "Falling behind as usual, I see."

"Whose side you on?" Porter’s words begged the obvious question, surely Kimo should be looking upon him as an enemy now, not as a friend.

"Shit’s all getting real confusing right about now." Kimo offered a weak grin as he assessed Porter’s condition. "Rasta is playing the rat and has given up Rude to Hojo I think."

Porter reholstered his gun that he had been up until now brandishing. "I never did trust him, but what is Rude waffling on that would get him in trouble?"

"Hojo’s orders to kill you and your new friends, that’s what." Kimo looked at Porter with disdain. "What’s wrong with you? You look horrible."

"God damned hip is killing me. Hojo shot me last time I was in the Shin Ra building and it hasn’t healed completely." Porter made a weak gesture at where the bullet had hit him some weeks before.

"And so what made you think you could handle climbing to the top of this reactor?" Kimo crossed his arms, more in an attempt to hide his injured hand than anything else.

"I need to see that fucker stopped, that’s what." Porter looked up into the darkness of the reactor. "He messed with Rayna and that’s all the reason I need."

"She’s okay though, right?" Kimo asked, remembering the brunette and how fond his friend was of her.

"Yeah." Porter’s eyes caught sight of the blood staining the Turk’s coat sleeve. "What happened to you?"

Kimo suddenly went a little pale. "That guy that was with you, that was who I think it was wasn’t it?"

Porter knitted his brows for a moment. "If you mean Sephiroth then yes."

"Yeah." Kimo nodded. "I thought so. Wasn’t he supposed to be dead?"

"Supposed to be yes, but as you can see he is alive and well, although he calls himself Jaras now." Porter really wasn’t in the mood for explaining all of this to Kimo.

Seeing the sudden expression that over took Porter, Kimo decided that it was time for them to make some sort of move. "We got to get you out of here."

Porter pointed upwards. "I came here to see this thing through so help me get up there."

Although he knew it was virtual suicide to take Porter back up, Kimo silently consented. Somehow, he knew it’s what Rude would have done for him and therefore it should be what he would do for Porter. He put an arm around his friend and slowly they started the ascent toward the lab level.