Author's Notes: Sorry about taking so long to update! ; My internet got cut off for no reason, and I didn't feel like writing for a while. Not only that, but I decided to totally re-write the ending of it...and then got stuck. x3

Anyway, here is your finished product: Chapter Ten:)

Chapter Ten: Shinra HQ.

"...What?" Barret asked, too stunned to come up with a better retort.

Cloud, however, wasn't listening, and walked briskly forward, stopping just at the door and turning around. "Just one more thing..." He said slowly, unbuckling the sword from his back and tossing it to the floor unceremoniously. "...I don't want a repeat of our last adventure." Cloud said quietly. Everyone was silent for a moment, then:

"The materia too."

Cloud gave a start and turned to Vincent, who's eyes were piercing him with their crimson stare. "Oh...right, of course." Cloud replied, pulling the orbs out of the slots in the heavy metal bangle on his left arm and handing them over hesitantly. Before Vincent could take them, however, Yuffie jumped forward and snatched them with a grin.

"I'll be able to take care of these." She said sweetly, dropping them into a pouch at her belt before anyone could protest. Vincent sighed but said nothing.

"Well...let's go." Cloud said, turning on his heel and striding out of the door. Everyone followed hesitantly, Barret grumbling audibly about the situation. Tifa darted up front with Cloud, and looked over at him curiously. He didn't seem to have that far away look he got when Jenova was talking to him, but he didn't appear entirely normal either.

"...Cloud, are you feeling alright?" She asked suddenly.

"Huh?...Yes. I'm fine." Cloud replied absently, looking over at her as if just noticing her. The two were silent for a few seconds before Cloud added "What was it you wanted to speak to me about?" Tifa jumped, then winced. She had been hoping that all the recent excitement had pushed her visit back on the Highwind from his mind.

"W-well...I..." Tifa faltered, avoiding Cloud's curious gaze. "...I wanted to just...check up on you."

Feh. Excuses. Don't let the brunette con artist distract you from your goal here. You need to do this.

Cloud took the sudden mental intrusion in stride, and didn't show any visible sign that he had heard. "Well, I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself, Tifa. After all, I'm not the child you grew up with anymore." Cloud replied coolly. Tifa looked up at him confusedly, surprised by his sudden coldness.

"I know that Cloud." She said slowly. "But...I worry about you. More and more every day. I don't know if you can see it, but you're getting worse all the time. This isn't you. Jenova is slowly but surely drowning you out...I can't even recognize you anymore! Can't! Can't you TELL!" Tifa finished, her voice growing louder and louder with each word she spoke, until she finally stopped and took a deep breath, looking up at Cloud tearfully. For a long time he didn't respond, until finally he looked at her sidelong, a grin slowly creeping across his face. Tifa shivered involuntarily at the sight of it. There wasn't any of Cloud's usual cheerfulness or mirth in the grin. It was more like a wolf grinning at it's prey.

"...But don't you see Tifa? This is the real me." Cloud said in a near whisper, so that only Tifa could hear. Tifa looked up at him blankly, at a loss for words. "Aeris was the only one who could see it. Yes, she could tell...she could tell that it was all just a ruse...I was acting out the wrong part in the wrong play." Cloud barked out a laugh before speeding up his pace, forcing Tifa to fall back with the rest of the group and contemplate what had just been said to her.

It has to stop, and soon. She thought, watching Cloud as he wove his way through the rubble in a direct path to the old torn apart Shinra building.

The day wore steadily on as everyone traveled through the ruins of upper plate and tried to make their way to the Shinra building. It was hard going, with places where pits just suddenly appeared, sheer cliffs that you couldn't see until you got right up on them, and the fact that the rubble its self was unstable and would often crumble under their feet made the trip a slow one. Not to mention Yuffie's whining.

"My feet huuuuuuuuurt!" Yuffie moaned for the twentieth time.

"YES! WE KNOW YOUR FEET HURT! NOW SHUT THE HELL UP!" Cid roared finally, his patience snapping after the long day of traveling and whining.

"Quiet!" Vincent hissed, shooting Yuffie and Cid glares. "We don't know what could be prowling around here. It's best if we don't let every monster in Midgar know our location."

"It'll be a damn blessing if some #$& monsters show up." Cid growled. "One of them might eat Yuffie."

In response to this, Yuffie merely stuck her tongue out at him and started bounding off through the rubble again. For all her complaining about sore feet, she was doing better then any of them.

"Ahh!" She exclaimed as she tripped over something. She turned around with a frown on her face, and saw a trapdoor was sticking out of the ground, disguised very well with the surroundings. In fact, she wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't tripped over it. "Hey! Guys!" She called out, her voice taking on a serious tone.

"What? Have your legs become so warn out from walking that you can't go any further?" Reno asked dryly. He, too, had grown weary with Yuffie's commentary.

"No! I found a trapdoor!" Yuffie shot back. "But maybe I shouldn't have told you ungrateful jerks. You just don't appreciate real talent when you see it." She sniffed, crossing her arms and turning her face away from them in a dismissive way.

"Out of the way Yuffie." Cloud said, leaping down next to her and examining the rusty old door closely. He brushed some of the rust flakes away, to reveal the Shinra Electric Power Company logo imprinted into the metal. "It looks like you've found a shortcut." He said, straightening up at last.

"Of course I did. I am Yuffie Kisaragi, the daughter of Lord Godo and the heir to Wutai." Yuffie said with a smug smile.

Cloud didn't say anything in response to this proclamation of her noble heritage, instead he reached down and yanked open the door, making a cloud of dust fly up. He had to take a step back as the stale air of the old passageway escaped. It was pitch black, with an old metal ladder that looked ready to fall off of the wall leading down into oblivion.

"I know what that is!" Reno exclaimed suddenly. "That's one of the old maintenance entrances from way back when Shinra started out. Most of them are sealed up now. It should take you directly under Shinra HQ."

Nanaki stepped forward cautiously and looked down into the hole. "Well, I don't see, hear, or smell anything out of the ordinary." He said with a flick of his tail. "However, I lack hands, so I cannot go down."

There was a pause, then Cloud said slowly "You, Cid, and Yuffie will go back to the Highwind. I'll go down the tunnel, and the rest of you can go ahead to the Shinra building and take a look around."

Immediately there were protests.

"WHAT!" Cid bellowed. "I have to travel all the way back to the Highwind with the whiny hyper kid! Are you out of your #$! mind!"

"You aren't going down there alone!" Tifa cried out.

"I'm not leavin' yer spiky ass alone for two seconds!" Barret growled.

"Alright. Calm down." Cloud said coolly. "Cid, quit whining and go. Vincent and the Turks can go ahead to the Shinra building. Barret and Tifa can come with me, if they insist on it." He shot Tifa a glare, then before anyone could protest further, he grabbed onto the ladder and started down into the tunnel.

Cid stood there, dumbfounded for a moment, before letting loose with a very colorful string of curses and stomping off, Red following behind in silent amusement. Yuffie, after hesitating a moment, also followed Cid as he stomped back they way they had come.

Reno stood with his hands on his hips, a frown fixed on his face. "I'm going to have to get used to this whole teamwork thing..." He muttered before turning to Rude, who just shrugged. "...I need a drink." He sighed finally, turning to Vincent who had remained silent. "I hear you used to be a Turk, eh?"

Vincent gave a curt nod in reply.

Reno stared at him a moment longer, expecting him to speak, but Vincent said nothing. With a shrug he turned to his fellow Turks and said "Well, let's go." And with that they started weaving through the obstacle course that was the remains of the upper plate.

The metal ladder seemed to have no end to it, and Tifa cursed the rust that made it hard to keep her footing on the metal and left her with the feeling that she was going to fall to her death. She could only imagine how nervous Barret must be, since the steps creaked and groaned under just her weight, and Barret was considerably larger then she was.

Just when she thought she couldn't stand to climb any farther down, her feet hit the ground and she gratefully let go of the ladder. It was still pitch black, the only sign that light existed came from where they had entered, which from the bottom of the ladder looked like a small white circle, and did nothing to lift the gloom.

"Cloud?" She called, taking a blind step forward. He was below her on the ladder, so he couldn't have gone far. Suddenly light flooded the tunnel and she threw her arm over her eyes instinctively. When she lowered it, she saw with a start that Cloud was right next to her, and had hit a switch on the wall to turn on the track lights that lined the ceiling. He turned and started down the tunnel without acknowledging Tifa's presence in the least. Tifa hung back, staring after him, a small frown on her face. She could hear Barret's loud steps on the ladder and it wasn't long before he was on the ground too.

"Where's chocobo hair?" He asked. Tifa pointed in the direction that Cloud had wandered off in, and Barret started off that way immediately. Tifa wasn't too far behind, and they soon caught up with Cloud, who had stopped at a fork in the tunnel.

"Which way do we go?" Tifa asked quietly. Cloud looked from the right to the left one, in deep thought.

Left.

"Left." Cloud said finally, turning and starting down the tunnel without any further hesitation. Tifa and Barret followed silently. There where many other forks in the road, and Cloud would stop for a moment before suddenly deciding which way to go and leading them down that path, until, after at least an hour of walking, they came across a door. Unfortunately...

"It's locked!" Barret growled, glaring at the door. "All this walkin' an' we come 'cross a door that we can't open!"

Cloud looked around carefully, then, spotting their means of entrance, said "There." and pointed off to the left. Tifa and Barret turned.

It was an air vent.

"...No. Noooooo way." Barret said, taking a step back. "I-I ain't goin' in there! It's way too small for me!"

"Fine. Then you can stay here." Cloud said flatly, removing the grate and hauling himself up without another word.

Barret gave Tifa a pleading look, but she shrugged apologetically and followed Cloud through the vent. Barret hesitated a moment before cursing and scrambling into the vent after them.

"This is a bad idea..." Barret grumbled.

"Quit whining Barret. Just because you're scared..." Tifa taunted.

"Scared! Me? Ha!" Barret snorted, before Cloud looked over his shoulder and gave both of them a whithering look.

"Be quiet. Both of you. There are people below us." He said sternly. Barret huffed in response, but said nothing. They continued in silence for a few moments, until they passed over a grate that revealed people bustling around underneath them. Cloud passed over it without a second glance, as did Tifa, but Barret stopped and looked down for a moment.

"There's a lot of people down there...just where are we?" He asked, looking up. Cloud had just turned to reply when a loud 'Crreeeeeaaaak!' rent the air. No one had any time to react before the grate under Barret collapsed, sending all of them tumbling down to the ground below in a tangled heap.

"Smooth Barret. Real smooth." Tifa groaned.

"I told ya it was a bad idea!" He snapped back.

Cloud ignored them and had just started to get to his feet when he felt the muzzle of a gun press against the back of his neck.

"Don't move! Put your hands on your head!" The guard behind Cloud barked.

Cloud slowly started to raise his hands in the air, then rolled to the side and reached into his pocket. A light green aura surrounded him and a bolt of lightening suddenly streaked down from the ceiling, frying the guard. Luckily there wasn't anyone else around aside from some terrified scientists.

"I thought ya left yer materia with Vincent." Barret growled as he got to his feet.

"Obviously not all of it." Cloud said calmly.

"I knew we couldn't trust ya--" Barret began.

"Just shut up Barret! Shut. Up." Tifa hissed, pulling herself up at last. "Now is not the time to start this." She looked up at Cloud and her eyes widened. The words "Cloud, look out--" had barely escaped her lips when something hit the back of Cloud's head. Hard.

He blinked once, twice, then fell forward, unconscious.

"The place sure has gone downhill." Reno said as he, the Turks, and Vincent tramped through the twisted ruins of the once-proud Shinra HQ.

"Look on the bright side. At least we weren't in there." Elena pointed out.

Reno shrugged and continued on in uncharacteristic silence.

After about ten minutes of walking, Reno stopped and turned to the rest of the group with a frown. "Just what exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" He asked.

"Anything out of the ordinary." Vincent said stoically.

"Pfft. This whole place is out of the ordinary." Reno growled, sitting down on a chunk of cement. "I don't see why blondie thought we should go here."

"...To get us out of the way." Rude said.

Vincent seemed to perk up at this. "...You may be right." He said slowly, surprised he hadn't guessed it earlier. "And if that's the case, then we need to go back."

"...All the way back to the tunnel?" Reno asked exasperatedly.

"Yes. As quickly as possible." Vincent said.

"...Figures." Reno spat, turning around. "Well, let's get goin', then."