Life Finds a Way

Chapter 85

Clarissa was woken some time later by the sounds of yelling nearby. It didn't take her long to realize there was trouble. Genesis was already up as well. They both raced to the stairs to see what was going on. She couldn't stop herself from yelling out. "Sephiroth! Where are you!"

Genesis gave her an irritated look, but she ignored it as she called out again. Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest as the man she was yelling for came out of one of the other rooms. Vincent and the other Turks came running as well. When Sephiroth drew even with them his brow was furrowed. "What is going on?"

Clarissa grabbed onto him, completely ignoring the looks she was getting as well as Genesis' frown. She looked into his face for a moment until his confusion turned to irritation. He pushed her hands down. "I am fine. Now tell me what is going on."

Genesis pulled her back as he answered. "We don't know either. We need to go find out though."

They all quickly made their way out to see a group of local men standing up to three large men. There was already one man on the ground. Clarissa immediately recognized them as Ravens. Genesis must have as well, as he didn't hesitate to attack. Clarissa was right behind him. Although the others moved to join them, it didn't take them long to deal with them. They all looked around warily. It didn't make sense for there to be so few.

Clarissa's fear was confirmed when she saw flames start near the outskirts of town. They ran towards them. They found several more attacking a group of people while several others had a man trapped between them. Clarissa froze when she realized it was the man that had served as their guide the last time. She glanced quickly and saw that Genesis and Sephiroth had already taken care of the three that were attacking the town, so she instantly started after the ones that were heading up the mountain.

She cursed the fact that it didn't take them long to fall out of sight. As fast as she could move, she didn't really know her way through the trails and with them out of sight already she was as good as lost. She had decided to go ahead and try to fly when she heard several sets of footsteps closing in. She turned to see the three firsts along with Vincent.

She nearly yelled at them but managed to stop. She still turned to Sephiroth with a frown. "We can take care of them. It is just a matter of making it up the mountain and finding them. It would be best if you didn't come up here though. There is no telling how far Jenova's influence could extend."

For the first time in nearly half a year, Sephiroth looked truly angry with her. "You forget who I am. I know what to expect. She will not find an easy purchase in my mind, not to mention you have already proven that her influence doesn't even extend to the exit of the reactor. We don't have time to waste on this. There were even more of those mindless monsters that had already headed up. We need to go now." With that he pushed passed her.

She wanted to scream at him, but she followed. Somehow, they were finally able to spot the group of Ravens on a parallel trail. None of them hesitated to slide down the side of the mountain to reach the other trail. Even with that it was almost an hour before they caught up to the first group. Unfortunately, they had split to keep the Soldiers busy while the rest continued.

With all of them working together it didn't take them long to defeat them, but the rest were out of sight again. Luckily, Clarissa thought she recognized where they were. She was right as they soon came to the place that used to hold the hanging bridge. It was hanging broken when they came up.

Genesis cursed but Clarissa turned to them with hope. "This may be the break we needed. We aren't that far from the reactor now. Since they fell it will take them longer, that is if the guide wasn't hurt in the fall. I can take you all across one at a time and we can head them off."