Disclaimer: I don't own KHII, on to the story!

A/n: I'm so sorry this is horribly late, I really am. I'm motivated to finish up all my other stories right now so I can start writing my new one and not feel guilty. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!! This chapter is dedicated to everyone who was nice enough to not flame me for forgetting to update sooner.

Last chapter! I even added an epilogue at the end of the chapter to make it a little longer. Thanks for reading and I hope this chapter doesn't seem as awkward as it was to write. That epilogue at the end was rewritten four times…

Chapter Twelve

Yuffie's eyes began to widen in fear and she refused to move. Her body was trembling and she could tell from the look on Leon's face that something really horrible was about to happen. Hands trailed down her sides to her stomach, brushing gently against her exposed skin before dancing back up to her chest.

Her breath began to catch in her throat and she stared at Leon pleadingly, as if there was a spider in her hair she needed him to remove. He took a step towards her and the hands weaving up and down her body stiffened, sharp fingernails digging in to the skin of her stomach.

Soft breath began to rustle the hair behind her ear, and Yuffie stared at the brunette man several feet away in terror.

"You still don't understand, my sweet little Yuffie…"

Yuffie cried out as she was shoved forward, landing harshly on her knees in the dirt. She heard scuffling as Leon rushed towards her, but his footsteps stopped suddenly. Yuffie looked up to see a flash of red as Rosso darted out of nowhere and tackled him. She crouched over him, straddling his hips and trailing a claw-like finger over his cheek and jaw.

A horrific smirk crossed her face and Leon struggled to kick her off. She seemed impossibly strong, holding her place just fine as he tried to wrench a hand free. Her fingernail suddenly cut into his skin, and she sighed happily as bright red droplets of blood began to roll down his neck.

Yuffie growled in anger, leaping up and launching a slightly clumsy kick at the woman's head. Rosso turned and easily wrapped a hand around Yuffie's ankle, tossing her to the side and watching her land hard several feet away, sending up a cloud of dust.

She hardly had time to collect herself when Rosso's boot hit her in the ribs. Crying out in pain, Yuffie threw herself back and scrambled to her feet. Leon lunged forward, swinging the gunblade just as Rosso seemed to vanish. He paused, weapon raised as he shifted his gaze around them. High pitched laughter echoed around them and Yuffie scooted closer to Leon.

"Leon, we're gonna die." Yuffie mumbled through gritted teeth. He sighed.

"Can you at least try to be positive?" He glared over at her for a moment before checking around them again for any sign of the psychotic woman. He knew it was most likely the truth, but he didn't want to just give up hope.

"We're in her mind, she can do whatever she wants with us and there's nothing we can do about it." Her voice was sad, but held a somewhat determined tone to it.

"So, before we die, why are you always so mean to me?" Yuffie looked over to see his reaction. Leon kept his face blank, glancing over at her again in irritation.

"I'm not mean to you, you're just childish." He replied flatly. Yuffie snorted.

"You always sent me on the most dangerous missions, like you were trying to off me or something." She shot back, looking around for her Conformer.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I assumed you could handle it?" Leon let his stance fall for a moment as Yuffie mumbled something rude.

"Yuffie…" His voice trailed off slightly as she turned and walked several steps away to pull her giant shuriken from the dirt.

her heart skipped a beat when she heard him choke, and she spun around to see him standing there with one end of Rosso's sword protruding from his stomach. Blood seeped through his white shirt and dripped down onto the ground. He looked over at Yuffie in shock.

"Leon!" She shrieked, staring in horror as Rosso yanked the sword from him and let him fall to his knees.

She dropped her shuriken and threw herself down by his side, grabbing his arm to steady him as he began to sway. Hot tears started to roll down her cheeks and she brushed them away angrily, placing a hand against his stomach. He cried out in pain and she quickly pulled it away. She helped him lean back and kneeled over him in horror.

"Leon!" She brushed the hair from his face hurriedly.

"Yuffie, calm down." He groaned, "I'm not dead yet."

The sharp clang of metal overheard made her jump in surprise, and she stared with wide eyes as Rosso's sword flew threw the air, the woman reeling back in fury. Shifting her gaze to the right, she realized Riku was standing over her, keyblade in hand. Sora fell to his knees right beside her, breathless as he leaned over the wounded man.

"Leon! What happened?" His usually bright blue eyes were panicked, and he stared down at the puddle of blood in horror.

"That sneaky bitch stabbed him from behind, didn't even bother to face him." Yuffie spat bitterly, resting a hand on his forehead as he winced in pain.

"Are you alright, Yuffie?"

She looked up when Riku spoke to her, almost not registering that he was actually there. Her gaze finally softened and she gave him a small grim smile.

"Look out!" Sora called, lunging forward to block a sudden attack as Rosso appeared right beside them. He gritted his teeth, swinging his keyblade at her as she rolled to the side. She stabbed her sword at Cloud, barely missing him as he slammed his own giant sword into the ground in front of him.

Yuffie leapt up from Leon's side, snatching her Conformer from the ground and joining the fight as Rosso began to lunge from fighter to fighter, hoping to catch one of them off guard. Sora nearly caught her with a vertical slice as she dodged Cloud's buster sword, and she retaliated gracefully by swinging her double ended sword in a wide circle as she slide back. Cloud cursed and Riku reeled back in pain as the end of the sword caught his forearm. She seemed pleased with the sudden blood drawn and paused long enough to let out another maniacal laugh. Yuffie seethed with anger, launching the Conformer between the two surprised younger men and catching Rosso in the thigh before she had a chance to move. She vanished from sight with a curse and Yuffie dashed forward to catch the Conformer. Shuffling closer to the three men, Yuffie raised her favored weapon and glanced around.

"Good shot, little ninja. You always were the one I most looked forward to killing…" The voice whispered in her ear and sent shivers down her spine.

Cloud staggered beside her and she quickly moved to his side. Blood dripped down his leg as he breathed out a curse.

"She's too fast…" Yuffie murmured, placing a hand on her old friend's shoulder as he pushed himself back up to his feet.

Sora cried out in surprise and leapt upward, flipping in midair to swing his keyblade down at the crimson woman as she tried to catch him off guard.

"Shit!" Everyone turned to look at Riku as he fell to the side, barely dodging one of the tall grey monsters as it burst out of the ground. Blood dripped from its mouth as it howled at him, and he wasted no time in attacking the creature.

Several more of the demonic beasts appeared and Yuffie looked around them helplessly, the ground trembling from the force. This is impossible… her grip on the giant shuriken tightened and she gritted her teeth.

Rushing into the battle, she leapt at one of the monsters, catching it before it could react and stabbing at its face with the shuriken. It howled angrily, the sound reverberating through her body and making her head pound. She lost her grip and fell back down, landing painfully on her side. The creature above her weaved to the side before falling over and writhing in pain.

Glancing up, she could see cloud cut one of the creatures in half with his giant sword, but another one appeared moments later to replace it. Riku's shoulder was bleeding rather badly, but he didn't seem to notice as he dodged back and forth slicing at two of the monsters as they tried to overwhelm him. Yuffie struggled to her feet, her eyes widening at the nightmare she had dragged her friends into.

"Yuffie!" She looked up in time to see Riku dart in front of her, wrapping and arm around her neck. A violent jolt went through his body and his grip on her tightened, a gasp escaping his lips as he pulled her close.

"Riku…" She held on to him as he sank to his knees, blood dripping down his body.

She didn't want to see how bad it was, tears ran down her face and she stared at him as he gasped in agony.

Sudden screaming pierced the air and startled Yuffie away from the injured boy in her arms. Rosso was lying in the dirt, clawing desperately at it and writhing in pain. The creatures around them seemed to freeze and Sora took the moment to limp over to his best friend.

"What's happening?" He asked Yuffie, leaning down to brace a hand against Riku's back.

Yuffie shook her head in confusion. "I have no idea…" The screaming grew louder and she found herself covering her ears, her head pounding painfully as if the sound waves were trying to beat her to death.

The world around them seemed to fade to black, and she grasped desperately for the two boys beside her as she began to feel like she was falling.

More screaming, louder and less painful this time.

Yuffie opened her eyes, a slightly foggy blue sky hanging overhead. Her heart started to pound and she sat up, looking around to see where the screaming was coming from.

Immediately, she noticed Rosso curled up the ground, glaring up at Tifa as she leaned over her. Blood dripped from the corner of Rosso's mouth, and her face was twisted up in a grimace of hatred at the brunette girl pinning her to the ground. Kairi was standing just behind her, hands over her mouth as blood began to seep through and stain the rocky surface beneath them.

Yuffie manage to push herself up to her feet, standing shakily and looking around.

"What the hell is going on…" She breathed, holding a hand to her head as she stumbled forward.

"Yuffie! You're alright!" Kairi groaned, obviously sick from watching Tifa's dirty work. She rushed over to the older girl, helping her over to where Tifa was crouched.

Tifa sat up, a look of disgust on her face as she roughly yanked one of Yuffie's kunai knives from Rosso's chest. The woman beneath her let out a choked gasp, coughing up blood and rolling on her side as Tifa dropped the knife. She held out a shaking hand to Yuffie, pulling the girl into a hug.

A groan from behind them returned their attention to the unconscious forms settled on the dusty rocks. Kairi rushed over to help Sora sit up as he started to open his eyes.

Yuffie immediately ran to Riku's side to make sure he wasn't injured. There was no sign of blood, and she stroked his hair as he started to come around.

"What happened?" He asked, sitting up quickly and looking around. He noticed Rosso's bleeding form several feet away and stared in shock. Yuffie beamed happily at him, giving him a gentle kiss before rushing over to check on Leon.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her, and for a brief moment Yuffie thought she saw a small smile, quickly replaced by his usual cold look as he sat up. He quickly pushed himself to his feet, pacing over to Rosso's body and kicking it in the chest.

"Is she dead?" Sora asked, cradling Kairi to his chest as she tried to avoid looking at the bloodstained body.

"Yea. She's pretty dead." Leon said blankly.

"What happened, anyway?" Riku asked, looking over at Tifa as she helped Cloud to his feet.

"Well, I woke up in the Bailey with Kairi leaning over me, and she told me in panic that everyone was down here and she didn't know what was happening. So we hiked down as fast as we could, and found all of you spread out unconscious. Even that thing," Tifa gestured distastefully at Rosso's body, "Just laying here like it was nap time. So I got to thinking and decided that maybe just killing her would work best." She spat the words out, glaring hatred at the now dead woman.

Yuffie hummed softly, grasping Riku's hands as he wound his arms around her shoulders. "She pulled us into her own world. I guess to do that she had to let go of you first. Her only weakness was out of our reach, but not yours. Big mistake, hm?"

"I think it's safe to say, that was the single worst experience of my life." Riku murmured darkly, tightening his arms around Yuffie.

Sora groaned. "Yea, I think we're all about fifteen years older now…"

xXx Epilogue xXx

Yuffie stared out across the plains stretching across the horizon. A gentle glow emanated along the distant edge of the mountains, outlining the rugged terrain. Shifting her gaze downward, she could see the wall she sat on disappear into the darkness, seeming to blend with the dark blue grey rocks below. The night air was cold, a nice change from the heat of the previous day. She sighed peacefully and closed her eyes as a soft breeze blew through her hair.

"You should get some sleep."

She turned around, her eyes trailing through the darkness to the dark form of the man walking up behind her. Her gaze darkened for a moment until he was close enough that the soft glow of his silver hair appeared. Offering her hand, he took it and let her pull him over to her seat in the Bailey window.

"She's not coming back. You can stop watching." He said it softly, but there was a hint of irritation in his tone. It made her smile.

"You don't have to come out here looking for me every night." She said honestly, glancing over as he pulled himself up to sit next to her in the window.

"How am I supposed to protect you from your nightmares if you always wander off in the middle of the night?" He asked, pulling her closer with an arm around her waist.

"For your information, I haven't had a nightmare in three days." Yuffie said smugly, kicking her feet over the ledge.

"You barely slept in the past three days, it doesn't count." Riku replied. Yuffie was quiet for a few moments, resting her head on his shoulder tiredly.

"Come on, let's go home." He finally said, pulling gently on her arm.

She sighed, letting him slide her off the ledge and into his arms. She wound her fingers into his shirt happily, being this close to him made her feel so peaceful. She watched the streetlights pass by as he carried her the short walk to his apartment. His heavy footsteps echoed against the houses around them, and Yuffie closed her eyes as she enjoyed the peaceful walk.

All too soon they were standing outside his apartment door, and Yuffie reached over to turn the doorknob for him. He kicked the door closed behind them and walked into the bedroom, setting her gently on the bed. She curled up on her side as he pulled a blanket over her, lying down beside her in the dark.

Yuffie smiled as he reached over her to take her hand. She couldn't even remember the last time she had gone to sleep without being terrified of what she might dream.

The End

Thanks for reading this story, it was really fun to write. And thank you, everyone who reviewed. I'm sorry if the mistakes in this chapter were really bad, I tried to catch them all but proofreading your own work is really tough. Please review and let me know how good or bad my story was.