"The As-of-Yet Untitled ListFic"

By the Beautiful People of the FF-Worship Mailing List!


In Junon, it was raining very hard. A "midsummer shower" the SNN
meteorologists said would last a few hours at the most. Kitsuko sighed as
she looked out the window. Kitsuko was a young girl, about 21 years of age,
with flaming violet hair and what appeared to be a body piercing fetish.
This week she was goth, last week she was a Pagan hippie, and next week, she
predicted, she'd be a technofreak again. She stared out the window at the
people bustling along the streets of Junon, and awaited her friends'
arrival. Because the weather was so shitty, she'd invited them over to, you
know, chat. Among who she was the most anxious to see was Boko, her
childhood friend...

* * *

She sat at the Costa Del Sol dock, waiting to enter the ship. I dunno, only
about ten more minutes, right? Boko hated waiting and wished everything
would happen one event RIGHT after the other.

She was a very strange little girl, also 21. She had bright flaming fire
engine red hair with citrus colored routs. Shoulder length. Bright
hazel-green eyes She wasn't one for lots and lots of piercings, only one out
of place. on her tongue, of all places, geez.

Finally, she could board the ship. She was finally on her way to meet her
friend, Kate, whom she hadn't seen in 5 months. She was beginning to really
miss her and was excited about seeing her again.

She was also excited about finally seeing her other friends again.

-this piece by boko-

Meanwhile, back in Midgar, Cid and Cloud had missed there flight. Barret did
too, and it was because of Barret that they did miss it.

"Yo, jus' shu'up, Cid!" Said Barret, after hitting him on top of the head.

"You're gonna give me a friggin' headache, stop hitting me, will ya?" says
Cid.

Barret hit Cid on top of the head again. "Well, maybe I wouldn't if yo'd
jus' stop actn' so stoopid!"

Holding spear up to Barret's dick, "You hit me one more time, and you're
gonna become Mrs. Wallace!"

"WHAT?!" and with that, Barret held his gun up to Cid and shot him to
death... well.. until Cid was no longer conscious.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" screamed Cloud.

-piece written bye cloud


Kitsuko stared at her watch- one of those neato Tokyo Bay ones that the
Japanese exchange students had when she was a kid at "Japan camp".

//They should be here soon.// She thought about her old friend Boko for a
moment. //Goddess... I can't believe we actually got out tongues pierced
when we were thirteen. I still remember how disgusted I was when the girl at
Newbury Comics told us that the barbell was hollow because they took a
bigass chunk o' flesh out// She tasted the metal in her mouth and laughed to
herself.

She thought back to how Cid liked to play with the piercing when they
kissed, and her smile widened. They were never really "going out" or
anything, but they had their moments. She turned the radio up- her favorite
song- "Du Hast" by Rammstein- and watched the rain fall.

Back in Midgar.

"Quick Barret! Call for help! Now!!" Cloud ordered.

"Why should I go taken' orders from you, yo!" Barret replied. Cloud, quite
annoyed, bothered, and upset, looked up at Barret with pleading eyes.
"please... Barret... help?"

-boko





"Cloud, shu'up! What da fuck you want me to do?!"

"GET A DOCTOR, YOU HALFWITTED DICKHEAD!" Cloud screamed, trying desperately
to keep Cid conscious. People were beginning to gather around and talking
amongst themselves. Cid's eyes fluttered open, and he looked groggily at the
three gunshot wounds he had incurred just below his rib cage. He mumbled a
few select words to himself and dropped his head back

down on Cloud's lap.

"Cid, CID! Wake the fuck up! Don't die on me now... come on..." Cloud said,
realizing how much he really cared about the guy. After a moment, he stood
up and looked Barret in the eyes... well kind of.

"Barret, what the fuck is wrong with you?! This isn't you... usually you're
so concerned about everyone else in the group, and..."

Barret looked away.

"HEY! Look the fuck at me when I'm talking to you! He's gonna friggin'
die..." Cloud thought for another moment. He remembered what he had heard
about "slave crowns" as a child. "Barret... it's Shinra, isn't it?"

Meanwhile, someone was pushing his way through the still-forming crowd.
Someone with flaming pinkish-red hair, dark sunglasses on his head, and twin
battle scars on both of his cheeks.

"What's going on?" he said in Cloud's general direction.

"R... Reno...?" Cloud wondered if he was here as a friend or a foe.

(Kitsuko)

"Kitsu!!!" They embraced in warming hugs. Boko Maii had arrived... uh...
finally. "What in the name of goddess took you so damn long to get here?"

Kitsu and Boko walked into the living room and sat their asses on the damn
sofa.

"Where is everybody?" asked Boko. "Hmm?"

(boko)

"I have no friggin' idea," Kitsuko said, taking another sip of her coffee.
"They should've been here three hours ago... I hope they're alright."

"Oh, don't worry," Boko said. "They survived the end of the world,
remember?" she said with a grin. "Midgar Intercontinental Airport has a lot
of delays nowadays because of the weather Hurricanes and stuff. I think the
last one was called Bonnie or something, and they got hit pretty hard. Have
you seen the weather lately?"

"Not for Midgar. All that's ever on SNN nowadays is local weather, and stuff
about the government collapsing and rebuilding itself and collapsing again."
Boko and Kitsuko laughed.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Cloud asked Reno frantically.

"I'm here to help," he said, brushing his hair out of his face.

"Since no one else looks like they're going to. What happened?"

Cloud figured he had no choice but to accept Reno's offer to help.

"Barret... I think Shinra's got a slave crown on him or something. You know
those metal implants they put in people's necks to control them?"

Reno nodded.

"Cid and him... they got into a little argument or something... I wasn't
really paying attention, and..."

"I see. We've gotta get him to a hospital before it's too late."

"Why are you helping me, Reno?"

"I'm not a Turk anymore, Cloud. Shinra's under new leadership. Everyone
else... they died when Meteor struck. Rude and Elena."

Cloud looked into Reno's eyes, praying to the gods silently that he was
serious. He suddenly felt something missing...

"Where *is* Barret anyway?" Reno asked.

"I have no idea... I'll get him later. Let's go!"

(Kitsuko)


Kitsuko looked at her watch again. She was getting tired of looking at the
damn watch all the time, since it never paid any mind to her. She decided to
look out the window. //Wow. Rain. Whoop-dee-shit.//

"I'm gonna call Cloud," Boko said, reaching for her cell phone.

"Good idea," Kitsuko said.

"Hello?" Cloud answered.

"Cloud? Where are you?"

"We're at the hospital. I'm sorry Boko, we-"

"What the fuck are you doing at the hospital?"

"We had a little incident."

"Is everyone alright?"

"No, not really. Cid's damn lucky he's not dead, and we've got a crazy
Barret running around somewhere in Midgar."

"What happened?"

"To the best of my knowledge, Barret's under the influence of Shinra. He
attacked Cid, and..."

"And...?"

"Well... Cid isn't doing too good. He got shot three times, and it was quite
awhile before we finally got him to the hospital. He lost a lot of blood.
He's still in the operating room."

After a few moments of silence Boko said, "I'm on my way over."

(Kitsuko- on Cid's computer)

(boko- changing a few things to what kitsu wrote)

and boko continues--

"Are you sure?" asked Cloud.

"Yes!!" and she hung up. She turned to Kitsu with a shit load of worry in
her eyes.

"What.. what is it?"

"Cid... we gotta get to the hospital!" Boko grabbed Kitsu's arm and ran out
the door. Boko drove them to the airport and explained everything on the
way. "Looks like we are going to be seeing our old friends after all...

-boko


--Cid floated in and out of consciousness...

"Who?...what?"

A shadowy figure appeared before him..

"Vincent....help..."

-breathless' minuscule addition =-D


"Cid, can you hear me?" Vincent asked quietly, holding Cid's hand.

"Mmm hmm..." Cid groaned. Although it hurt like holy hell for him to talk,
Cid decided it would be better than sitting there and just kind of staring
at Vincent like an invalid.

"How are you feeling?" asked Vincent.

"...it hurts... real bad... the rest of my body is just kind of numb..."

"That's just the medication. Do you feel dizzy?"

"Yeah..." Cid said, closing his eyes slowly, and then opening them again.
Things were beginning to come into focus a bit better- he could see
Vincent's face now, and the rest of the room- not something he particularly
liked, especially the various needles and tubes connected to

his body.

The door opened, but Cid could not tell who it was at first.

"How's he doing?" Cloud asked Vincent.

"He doesn't seem to be all that bad. Not as bad as I thought he'd be."
Vincent leaned over toward Cloud and said in a low voice, "But then again
this is the almighty Cid Highwind, and nobody knows what he's ever feeling,"
he said with a little laugh.

(Kitsuko)


(why I gotta be the bad guy? *lmao*)


Barret entered the Shinra building. A tall man named Rude walked up to him.
"Well? How did it go?" Barret, looking at him quite blankly, answered slowly
with an even steady tone. He told Rude every important event that occurred.
Rude nodded, took out his gun, and shot Barret in the

head.

Barret (they all start with Barret! o_o) fell to the floor. Rude took off
the slave crown and gestured for two soldiers to take Barret to the basement
prison.

-Barret


Boko and Kitsu burst into the hospital. "Where is he??" said Boko.

(Boko)

Cloud was running down the hall to them. "He's in that room over there," he
said, pointing somewhere behind him. "He's awake now... thank god. But
visitors have to leave in half an hour. It's already ten o' clock."

Before Boko could say anything to Kitsuko, she already saw her running down
the hall. The door flew open, and startled everyone in the room- Vincent, a
nurse, and even Cid.


"CID!"

"Kitsuko?" Cid said in disbelief. "What the fuck... how did you get here?"

"I walked, you moron," Kitsuko said before kissing Cid on the cheek. She
smiled. "How are ya doing?"

"I guess I could be... ugh... worse..." he said, as the nurse put a small
needle in his stomach. "Ouch! Could you cut that out?!"

The nurse just looked at him funny.

Boko and Cloud came in through the door, talking and holding two Styrofoam
cups of coffee. Kitsuko stared at them, got up, and handed Cloud 50 gil.
"Off you go," she said, opening the door. Boko and Kitsuko looked at each
other and laughed. "Oh you're real nice!" Boko walked over to Cid and sat in
the chair beside him after the nurse left. "You're looking a bit better than
I had expected, Cid. I guess Cloud was being a little melodramatic," she
said with a giggle.

(Kitsuko)


"Cid, I want you to get out of this hospital as soon as you possibly can!"
said Boko, rather sternly, but still jokingly.

"Gladly," replied Cid o kudasai.

-boko


"He'll be outta here soon enough," Vincent said from across the room. "The
doctors here are pretty good... I give him another two weeks. But then
there's the Barret issue..."

"The Barret issue?" Kitsuko laughed. "Sounds like he got his own late-night
talk show."

"No, that's 'The Ladies' Man'," Cid said.

Kitsuko started laughing her little ass off, and Cid did too... until of
course it hurt too much.

"Ow," he said.

"Hey! Don't laugh! You'll pop your stitches!" Kitsuko said, still laughing.


Just then, a nurse came in.

"I'm afraid visitor's hours are over," she said. "You're all gonna have to
leave."

"Fuck. Come on Kitsuko let's go," Boko said, picking up her jacket.

"Bye Cid," she said before kissing Cid good-bye. A bit longer of a kiss than
either of them had anticipated. The nurse looked at them both strangely.
"I've had all my shots," she said, poking the nurse in the arm, and left.

(kitsuko)


On the other side of the planet, Sephiroth and his wife, Feiluna(that's the
name of my cute little kitten =^o,o^= !!!) were having a nice romantic
dinner, with all their little Sephletts running around.

All the little boys had blue hair, similar to their father.

All the little girls had pink hair, like their mother.

Sephiroth walked into the room holding a rose behind his back. Feiluna
looked up at him. "Ah! I cannot see! For such beauty has blinded me!"

"Oh Sephiroth," she got up and kissed him. All their little children stopped
running around and looked up at their parents.

"Oooh!" They all said at once.

Sephiroth looked down upon them all (all 10 of them 5boys 5girls) and smiled
warmly. "Why don't you all go upstairs now. Me and Mommy want to spend some
time together."

"Again? You always want to!" One of the kids protested.

"Okay, if you go now, then we'll take you to your favorite place later."
Said Feiluna. All the kids got up and stampeded up the stair all yelling,
"YAAAAY!!!"

-boko


Back in the basement prison of the ShinRa mansion...


-cloud, who doesn't feel like writing, who made a start for the next

person


...Barret was sitting in his cell, thinking. //What th' hell happened?//
There was a slight pain in the back of his neck, and in the reflection of
the metal plating on his gun-arm, he could see small indents. As if
something had been there, but removed. Something was very wrong...

The sound of footsteps was audible coming down the hall. Barret looked out
the small barred window on the door to his cell, and saw the shadow of one..
no.. two soldiers coming down the hall. He thought quickly, and heard the
slight but distinct sound of keys jingling. He had to get out. Raising his
gun arm, he aimed it out the spaces between the bars. When the guards came
into view, he opened fire, pumping bullet after bullet into the bodies of
the guards. The one in front was the one with the keys. He fell to the
ground, the keys dangling from his belt. "Shit", Barret said to himself, now
wondering how he would get the keys out...


The night passed quietly, Cid slept in his hospital bed, and dreamed.

--Dream sequence--

The airship. Standing on the bridge, inside.. A small rumbling.. Something
fell from the ceiling.... and struck Cid on his head.. He fell.. to his
knees... and suddenly from the bridge, into a black hole, and kept falling
and falling and falling... --End of Dream--

*THUD*

Cid was on the floor. There was a sharp pain in his forehead, he looked up,
his eyes adjusting to the light, his senses adjusting to the pain of his
stitches being pulled at by his position on the floor, and standing above
Cid... was Rude...

-Aerith

Cid groaned loudly and attempted to reach for his gun, only to find that he
wasn't wearing his bomber jacket where he usually kept it. //Oh shit.//
"Rude. You're dead though..." he said with surprising clarity. //Nothing
surprises me anymore.//

"Very funny, Highwind. Pity Barret didn't put you outta your misery while he
had the chance."

"Who's to say I was miserable?"

"Well... according to your records with Shinra," Rude began, taking a folder
from one of the guard he was with and reading it, "Your parents died when
you were a kid- your father died of lung cancer- shouldn't you be cutting
down?"

Cid growled.

"Your mother died in a car crash... et cetera. You've had a miserable life.
And there are rumours floating around that the reason you're not with Shera
is because you've been having a personal struggle... with your sexual
preference." Rude laughed. "Although I'm not one to believe the rumours."

"The reason I left her is because I had to kick the asses of stupid bastards
like you," Cid said, now trying to get up.

"You'd better watch your tongue, faggot," Rude said, kicking Cid hard in the
stomach.

(Kitsuko)


Cid doubled over in pain as his stitches ripped. Barely able to keep his
eyes open, he knew he was in a little trouble. The only thing he could do
was hope someone was outside within earshot...

"SOMEBODY GET THE @!#*^$ IN HERE AND HELP ME!!!!" Cid screamed at the top of
his lungs. Rude looked stunned for a moment. Cloud, who had dozed off in the
waiting room (With a hat on and a jacket.. he was un-recognizable..) heard
Cid’s yelling, and sprung upward. Running into Cid’s room, he saw Rude and a
Shin-ra guard standing over Cid. He picked up the metal garbage can, and
swung it at Rude. It hit his bald head with a loud ‘Whang’, and Cloud
doubled back, hitting the guard in the face with the can. The guard’s nose
began to bleed excessively, and Rude stayed there on the floor. Cloud hit
the button to call the nurse (more like beat on the button, but..) and knelt
down by Cid’s side. The nurse came rushing in, looking a bit tired and
weary. She saw Cid’s stitches, and for a moment was overcome with horror.
Cid had passed out from the pain, and Cloud was putting him carefully back
onto the hospital bed. They took Cid back out to the operating room, and
began repairing his stitches. Cloud tied Rude and the guard together with
medical tape, and tied them to the leg of the sink.

"You bastard," he said to Rude, who was beginning to stir. Cloud went to the
phone, and called Kitsuko. She soon answered, sounding as if he had awakened
her.

"Kitsuko?"

"Cloud?" She suddenly was a bit more awake. "Cloud? Is something wrong?"

Cloud explained to her what had happened. "...And Kitsuko.. I need you and
Boko to go to Midgar.. and get an old friend of mine..."

Back in the slums of Midgar, a young woman was sitting at her kitchen table,
at home. She was just below average height, with long brown hair and deep
aqua-marine eyes. Her name is Aerith Gainsborough.

There was a knock at the door. Aerith went to the door, listening carefully
and opened it. Standing there were two young women, one with fire-engine red
hair, and another with flaming violet hair and quite a few piercings...

-Aerith

"Hi. Cloud said that we were supposed to find this chick..."

Bokono elbowed Kitsuko in the ribs. "Shut up, Kit. That's Aerith."

"Ae- Aerith?" Kitsuko gave a puzzled look. "But you're... uhm..."

"Shut up, Kit," Boko growled. "Hello Aerith. Cloud sent us to you for some
help. Can we come in for a sec?"

"Sure, sure," Aerith said, opening the door wider. "Make yourselves at
home."

"Nice place," Kitsuko said with a grin. "I see you like flowers."

"Yeah," said Aerith with a smile.

Boko explained the whole twisted story to Aerith about the slave crown, the
Turks, Cid, and Shinra. "We've got to find Barret soon. Nobody knows where
the hell he is, but there've been rumours flying that he escaped from the
Shinra HQ. He's runnin' around somewhere in Midgar.

He couldn't've gotten outta here that fast."

"So I assume you're asking me to help?" asked Aerith.

"Yeah. We were thinking that maybe you could come with me and Boko and take
care of what's going down with Shinra, and Cloud and Vince could maybe take
care of the Turks."

"Hm. I didn't know the Turks were still around."

//You're not one to talk, hon.// "Neither did we, but they are," said
Kitsuko.

"This is never going to end, is it?" Aerith said to herself as she got her
staff out of her closet.

-Kitsuko

Vincent ran down the streets of Midgar. He looked behind him. Yes, I haven't
lost them yet...

One of the soldiers caught up with him and grabbed his arms and they both
fell to the ground. Some tall figure approached from out of the shadows.
"Let him go."

"Who the hell is that? said one of the soldiers.

"I am Liam Howlett, champion of the keyboard. Let him go."

"HA HA HA HA!!! KEYBOARD!!" They all hollered in laughter.

Liam snapped his fingers and there came a crash of thunder, a brilliant
flash of light. Soon after a giant piano fell on them crushing them to
death.

-boko


Aerith, Kitsuko, and Boko had just left Sector 8. They were inside the train
tunnels, making their way to the center of Midgar. Kitsuko had asked about
the trains before they had entered the tunnel.

"What about the trains?" Aerith looked at her.

"It’s Sunday. The only run a morning train... we should be fine."

"Oh.." There was a hint of disbelief in her voice.

A short time after that, they were walking down the tracks in Sector 6.
(Sector 7 was still closed. The Shin-Ra still have not gotten around to
rebuilding it ever since they blew up the support and Sector 7 came crashing
down...) It was Boko who noticed it first. She stopped walking. Kitsuko and
Aerith turned around.

"Did you hear that?" Boko asked.

"Hear what?" Aerith asked back. The noise which had first caught Boko’s
attention was heard again, only louder.

"Like a metal rubbing or something" Boko explained.

Aerith looked at Kitsuko, who shrugged, and said, "Lets just keep going,
okay? Barrett could be running loose doing Goddess knows what! We have
things to DO!"

They started back on their way. Then the noise was heard again, this time by
all three.

"You know", Aerith said, "That sounds a lot like a train. But it can’t be a
train.."

The tunnel ahead of them was suddenly lighter than it had been.

"Oh nooo...! Quick! Jump into this vent!" Aerith said as she began pulling
on the slatted door to a nearby air vent. "We can crawl into this and the
train will go by..!"

Aerith, Boko, and Kitsuko tried in vain to get the vent door off. It was the
only one in the tunnel they were standing in, and the tunnel was not wide
enough to stand back and let the train pass. They were too far from the
other end to run out, either.

And the vent door was rusted shut.

-Aerith

"SHIT! What are we gonna do??" screamed Kitsu. The train was pretty much now
in visible site. Kitsu just gave up all hope and burst into uncontrollable
tears.

"HELP!!!" screamed Aerith. The train was getting closer and closer.

Boko closed her eyes.

Please don't let us die here. She thought to herself

The vent door came flying open and a hand reached out pulling Boko up. Then
Kitsu, and lastly Aerith with the train just missing her feet, so it seemed.

"THANK YOU GODDESS!!!!" Yelled Kitsuko.

"Liam?" Said Boko.

"Aerith?" Said Vincent.

"Howlett?" Said Kitsuko.

"Vincent?" Said Aerith.

"..." Said Liam.

"Liam?" Said Boko.

"Aerith?" Said Vincent.

"Howlett?" Said Kitsuko.

"Vincent?" Said Aerith.

"..." Said Liam.

"Rocky! I created you... and I could BREAK you Just as EASILAYH!!"

-Franken Pherter in Rocky Horrer Picture Show

"Vincent!" Said Boko. "How did you get here?" She gave him a huge hug.

"Nevermind that. I owe you my life!! Thank you thank you!!!!" she looked
over at the man that pulled her up. "Both of you!" And she gave him a big
hug too. "Sorry for mistaking you for Liam Howlett. You just looked like-"

"I am Liam Howlett," he said in a voice very similar to Vincent's.

"Actually, I'm Vincent's cousin. Pleasure to meet you."

"Liam?? You are Liam?? (starts laughing) Wow! I used to really like Prodigy
when I was younger and I had the cousin that was absolutely obsessed with
them." She took a deep breath. "I never thought //or planned// I'd ever meet
you."

"HOWLETT!!!!" Kitsuko crawled over and gave him a big hug.

"HOWLETTHOWLETTHOWLETTHOWLETT!!!!"

"Uhmm... why, may I ask, were you guys in here anyway?" Aerith said, a
little annoyed with the immatureness of Boko and Kitsuko.

-boko

(And the world surrendered like a tree to the axe and like Yorkshire pudding
put in front of a hungry man.)

"Sorry, Aerith." Kitsuko grumbled. "Hmph. Howlett. I love that."

"Well, you see... Vince here thought we'd hijack a train and go look for
this Barret guy. Of course I should be rehearsing with me mates now... but I
thought I should do what I can before anyone else gets hurt or something."

"I see," Aerith said with a smile.


(Kitsuko- sorry so short. It's late and I have mucho mail.)

They all returned to the train tracks inside the Sector 6 tunnel. Vincent
was off to the back of the group, with Kitsuko and Liam in front.

"They’re running trains today", said Boko matter-of-factly. Aerith was
between a grin and a look of sarcasm.

"Let’s continue. We aren’t getting any closer to finding Barret by standing
around", Aerith said. The group agreed, and continued up the tunnel. Aerith
stopped, and looked at the soles of her shoes.

They were full of scrape marks from the train. She shuddered. Vincent was
behind her.

"Are you alright, Aerith?" He asked. Aerith was somewhat startled.

Kitsuko had turned around to see why they had stopped, and looked from
Vincent to Aerith, and then to Boko, and grinned. They entered the Sector 5
tunnel, and got to the point where the tunnel splits, with one path to the
left and one to the right. The right tunnels were always open, as they
circled around the center of Midgar. There were dots of light on the right
side of the tunnel wall, coming from the left path of the tunnel.

"This doesn’t look right", Liam said, looking at the dots of light.

"What?" Asked Kitsuko.

"Where’n the hell did these lights come from?" Liam asked back.

"Look", Boko interjected, pointing at the wood door covering the left side
tunnel.

It was full of holes... small holes.

Bullet holes.

"We’re probably getting close", Vincent said, heading towards the wooden
door.

And distantly, everyone heard the faint sound of a rapid fire gun shooting.

-Aerith

"I think that would be Mr. Wallace," Kitsuko said with a laugh.

"Let's go check it out," she said, and started walking.

"What're you doin'? Are you outta yer damn mind? This Barret guy don't know
either of ya. Or me either. Vince should go, don't you think?"

"Howlett's got a point,' Boko said.

"Vincent, be careful. If you get your ass kicked, I'm going to have to be
the one to break it to Cid. Got it?" Kitsuko said.

"Yeah. Don't worry." Vincent started running over to the vicinity of where
the noise was coming from.

"You think we should've let him go by himself?" Aerith remarked.

"No," Boko said.

"Ah, Vinny'll be fine. He's me cousin,' Liam said.


-Kitsuko

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Cid had been recovering nicely. The
operation successfully repaired his stitches. Cloud still had Rude and the
Shin-Ra guard tied up, and was trying to get information out of them about
Barrett. Cid had been sleeping for a while. Cloud was sitting on a chair
watching Rude and the guard, and did not notice Cid begin to stir.

"....I.. feel like.. I am getting.. just.. too old for this shit!" Cid said.
This surprised Cloud, who spun around in his chair and looked at Cid, his
mouth agape.

"Cid!!! You’re awake!" Cid could only grin. A laugh would hurt him right
now. He noticed Rude and the guard, and became somewhat agitated.

"What the hell are they here for?" Cid asked. Cloud looked at Rude, who was
scowling, and then back at Cid. "I am trying to figure out what is up with
Barrett", he explained.

-Aerith

"Barret... hmph. Sonuvabitch started all this..." Cid growled. He paused. "I
need a cigarette, man... I'm gonna go all cold fucking turkey."

"I think that's just about the *last* thing you need, Cid. It'd probably do
you good to quit." Cloud laughed. "You're getting too old for that shit."

"I already tried. Only makes me feel more fuck... I could get used to this
morphine though... heh."

"Yeah, whatever. I kind of figured you'd be back to your old pissy self
again after awhile," Cloud said, inevitably cracking a grin.

Cid... almost laughed. "So... Kitsuko and all them are out lookin’ for
Barret, huh?"

"Yeah."

"You should've went with them. They could use you."

"Nah... I have to make sure you don't get yourself into any more trouble
with Shinra."

Cid looked down, with a little smirk on his face.

"What... did you do something to get them angry?

"You work with Shinra for fifteen years and then quit to join a bunch of
punks who want to save the world, and they get a little ticked. Especially
when you know as much as I do."

"What do you mean?"

"I know more than that pretty boy, Rufus. For some reason that makes them
uncomfortable-"

"And you call *Rufus* a pretty boy?" Rude grumbled. Cloud whacked him across
the head, and knocked him out.

"As you were saying?" Cloud said.

"Thanks. Anyway... I had Level 5 access... the highest you could get. So...
that's about it."

"I see."

"Can I get a drink?"

"All they can give you right now is water."

"Ugh. Nevermind."

Cloud laughed. "I don't think they'd have Foster's anyway."

"No," Cid smiled. "I suppose not."

(Kitsuko)

"Man... I can't see a thing. Where are we?" asked Rufus to one of his
playmates.

-Barret


"You are inside of the cave," answered Vicks.

Just then, Bokono and Kitsuko went flying past on Liam's back (Liam was on
top of Vincent's back and Vincent was riding in a pickle thing colored wheel
barrel with mad huge wheels)

"We're going into the cave!" swooshed Bokono's voice and faded off.

And they were gone in an instant.

"Barret must be in here! We must find him, and find the others, find Cid,
Cloud, kill them." Rufus said to Vicks.

"Mr. P.," Vicks said, "I am sorry to inform you that that was a run-on
sentence, and we do not tolerate that around here."

"Whatever. Let's go!"

....And so they continued on there way.



"Ahhh... it's a beautiful life, don't you think?" Said Rude, lifting his
head away from Reno's manhood.

"Oh yeah!" They both jumped about a mile when the green lights flashed and
the siren went off.

"SHIT!!!" They screamed in unison.

-bokono



People were running left and right. The building was full of voices. The
roof over Reno and Rude's head caved in along with flames.

- the Black Man.

"What the hell?!" Cid yelled, sitting up abruptly.

"Fire drill," said Cloud.

"They don't do fire drills in /hospitals/, Cloud!"

"We should go then?"

"Um, yeah."

"Can you get up?"

"I... ugh... think so," Cid said, getting up.

Cloud started laughing. "Cid, your ass is hanging out!"

"Agh!" he screamed, sitting down again.

"Here... um... get changed- quick," Cloud said, throwing a pair of hospital
scrubs at Cid.

Cid looked at Cloud like he was a lunatic at first, but decided he had no
choice when he heard the huge *BOOM* of the upper floor caving in.

"RUN!" Cloud screamed, grabbing Cid's arm.


(-Kitsuko who forgot to credit herself to this)

Cloud tripped over Reno, who was trying to hike his pants back up. Rude was
down the hall, and Cloud looked at Reno, pausing briefly to wonder how the
hell he got in there, but forgot about Reno to help Cid.

Cid, with a great deal of effort and pain, had just put the scrub pants on.
Suddenly, Cloud’s arms were around his body, rushing him to the exit of the
hospital. They burst through the doors, and Cid collapsed on the ground
outside. Cloud helped Cid get onto his back, and leaned over Cid, looking
him over.

"Geezus, Cid, are you alright?"

"I’m... fine.... in alot of this goddam pain, though"

Cloud sighed, and shook his head, staying by Cid as firefighters began to
pour water on the blaze. //How the hell did this fire start?// Cloud thought
to himself. //And what happened to Rude and Reno?// He looked around the
area, but did not see either among the frantic doctors and firefighters. Cid
’s eyes were closed, his breath becoming ragged. Cloud winced at the thought
of how much pain Cid was feeling, and did the only thing he could do....

As doctors and nurses fled the building, they each passed a young blonde
guy, kneeling over a slightly older blonde man, clutching his hand tightly.

*****

The giant pickle type vehicle that Liam, Vincent, Kitsuko and Bokono were on
had slammed into a huge stalagmite that was sticking out of the ground. The
four were alright, shaken up, but fine. Vincent stood up, looked around, and
said, "Where did Aerith go? Wasn’t she in this story?" Kitsuko looked
around, answering him, "I guess someone forgot to update where she was!"
Aerith ran up to the entrance of the cave, having followed the tire tracks
of the vehicle. //Just for sleeping in! Yikes!// She thought as she quietly
entered the dark cave.

(Aerith)

Kitsuko looked down and grinned. "What the hell are we doing? Barret's
obviously not here- and even if he was, he's probably go apeshit anyway and
kill us all. We're hauling ass for nothing, and I've got a bad feeling about
Cloud..." She paused. "And Cid."

"Kit, there are five of us, three of which bear large automatic weapons.
We'll be fine..." Liam started.

And suddenly, for some reason, the light at the end of the cave was eclipsed
by a large blur. As the object came more into focus, the group could tell
that it was about 6'8", dark-skinned, and had a gun for an arm.

"That's him!" Vincent yelled. He leaped out of the car and started running
towards Barret, gun loaded.

All trailed behind him, Aerith, Boko, Liam, and Kitsuko, staff and guns
ready in case of a sudden attack. But Barret just kind of stared.

"Vince? What are you doing here? And Kitsuko, Boko... Aerith?!" Barret said,
shocked at her presence. "Y'all can explain later, I just wanna get outta
here as fast as I can. I dunno if they're after me or not..." Barret looked
behind him.

Kitsuko and Bokono looked at each other, and so did Liam and Vincent.

(Kitsuko)

Barret stared at the four of them in disbelief. //What’s wrong with them?//
He thought to himself. They didn’t move, none of them, as they stared BACK
in disbelief. Suddenly, there was noise coming from the dark halls of the
cave. It had to be Rufus and Vicks. Vincent shook his head, cursing softly.

"Shit."

"What?" Said Kitsuko, who was standing next to him.

"Didn’t you hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?" She asked in return. Then they all heard it, footsteps,
talking. They ALL knew. And with their distrust of Barret, it was not a good
thing. But, unfortunately, this was not the worst of their problems. From
the inky blackness of the caves tunnel behind them, came a low, guttural
sound. Almost like a soft growling. The air around them became cold and
stale, six pairs of eyes shifted from one pitch black branch of tunnel to
the next. A breeze blew out their lanterns and candles, and the six of them
were bathed in darkness.

(Aerith)

"Oh FUCK!" Kitsuko squealed. "Fuck, fuck, fu-"

Liam slammed his hand over her mouth. "The last thing we need is for you to
start now."

Kitsuko sighed, and started searching through her shoulder bag. Finally she
produced a black disposable lighter. With a few clicks, a flame appeared.

"You smoke?" Liam said.

"Not really- it's Cid's..." Kitsuko uttered, raising the lighter to relight
Boko's candle. "I carry around a lot of weird things in here," she said,
pulling out a Moogle mini-flashlight from her last visit to the Golden
Saucer.

When she raised the flashlight in front of her, she let out a piercing
scream. Rufus and Vicks were standing less than five yards from them,
weapons poised and fully loaded.

(Kitsuko)

Rufus had a shit-eating grin on his face. His gun was raised and loaded,
looking something like a hawk ready to strike on hapless prey.

"Vicks," He said, "Check out that tunnel. Find out what made that noise."

"A -- are you sure.... that’s a good id-" Vicks started to respond, but
Rufus cut him off.

"Just DO it. My, that is catchy. AHEM. Vicks, go." Vicks went. He
disappeared down the other branch of the tunnel. Rufus stood in front of the
four of them, holding out his gun. The grin was still on his face, except
his eyebrows were a little lower, a little more menacing.

Except someone was missing. Rufus did not know them well, he looked from one
face to the other. //Why are there five now?// But he dismissed the thought.
Vicks returned, and addressed Rufus.

"Sir, there is nothing there." Rufus accepted this, nodding, and said,

"Vicks, keep them here. I will be taking these two." With that, he pointed
in the direction where, in a small cluster, Kitsuko, Aerith, and Vincent
stood. They exchanged glances. "YOU two" Rufus said, pointing to Kitsuko and
Aerith with his gun. Kitsuko had already started again, very very quietly.
"Fuck, fuck fuck..." Rufus quieted her.

"Shut up. Come with me. If you do not move when I tell you to move I will
mess up these lovely tunnel walls with your brains. If you do not stop when
I tell you to stop, I will mess up these lovely, beautiful tunnel walls with
your brains. Are there any questions?"

(Aerith)

"Bokono!" Kitsuko squealed when Rufus grabbed her arm. Aerith exchanged
worried glances with Kitsuko as Rufus led them off.

"...Did I forget to mention that you will also /talk/ when I tell you to
talk and shut up when I tell you to shut up or else that Technicolor hair of
yours will have to find itself a new home?" Rufus asked vehemently.

"Kitsuko!" Boko screamed, picking up a small rose-colored crystal point from
the ground.

Kitsuko gave Bokono a knowing look and a smile. She whispered a few words in
the ancient tongue and looked at Aerith. Aerith nodded, giggled, and the two
went off in Rufus' grasp.

"Vicks! Take care of them!" Rufus said over his shoulder.

"Are you sure they're going to be alright, Boko?" asked Liam. "I mean,
that's /Rufus Shinra/ they're with."

"Trust me, Liam. Kitsuko knows, Aerith knows, I know. Their presence is with
us in this cave. See these crystals in the dirt?" Boko said, holding up a
handful of earth and sifting it through her fingers. "We're not alone."

"What do you..." Liam began.

Vicks gasped and looked around himself frantically as the growling noise
started again, this time shaking the walls of the cave violently.

"I'd better... go check it out," he said, walking forward, inspecting the
cave with his flashlight.

"Just wait," Vincent said. "I think she knows what she's talking about."

The wall shook again. Boko raised her index finger to her lips. "Shh..."

For a moment, time seemed to freeze. Suddenly, the rumbling grew to a
deafening wail and fire spouted out of the darkness ahead like a geyser. The
party was somehow protected by a forcefield of pale blue light. Then, just
as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Strangely, nothing around them
caught on fire- or even looked scorched. Vincent, Barret, and Liam first
looked at each other, breathing heavily from all the excitement, and then
back at Bokono.

"Don't say a word," she said with a smile. "I'll be right back," she said,
running into the darkness with her candle. And then the walls shook again-
but this time, more gently, and the room seemed to fill with a pale warm
glow as Boko rode atop the magnificent beast.

Vincent, Barret, and Liam were taken aback by the dragon- and Bokono's
ability to manipulate the damn thing.

"Dude," Bokono said. "Just y'all wait. You haven't seen anything yet."

(Kitsuko)

"Those two must be in love," an average-height, thin woman with long brown
hair said quietly to herself, leaning in a doorway. She was looking at Cloud
and Cid. Cid was in the bed, his eyes glazed over, staring at the ceiling,
talking to Cloud, who was bedside, sitting in a chair, leaning forward. They
were still hand in hand. After the fire, cause still unknown, the patients
were moved to a hospital in Sector 4. It was a large hospital, which is the
reason they moved there. She raised a gloved hand, and ran her fingers
through her lush brunette hair, and knocked on the door, the thick metal
knuckle pads in the glove creating a resonant sound on the steel plated
door.

"Cloud?" Cloud sat up, but didn’t look at the door. He knew that voice.

"Tifa..." His voice was quiet, but she heard it. He had hit the nail on the
head.

Cid looked at her across the room, and said as gruffly as he could,

"Hey there, little lady" Tifa laughed, crossing the room and sitting on the
chair on the opposite side of the bed that Cloud was on. For the next few
hours, the three sat and talked about the past, the present, and the
possible future like old friends gathering for such a purpose.

(Aerith)

Meanwhile- Barret, Bokono, Vincent, and Liam were trying to find their way
out of the tunnel.

"Dammit, where the hell are we?" Liam grunted.

"I don't know, but we've got to find Kitsuko and Aerith," Vincent said.
"That dragon thing... do you think she got at Rufus too?"

"That would be a riot if she did. Vicks keeled over like /that/," she said,
snapping her fingers to accentuate the word. "So there's really no reason
why Rufus wouldn't- that is, if he was still in the cave at the time..."
Boko said.

"And Kitsuko and Aerith? Would dey be awright?" Barret said.

"They'd be fine, Barret. Aerith is part-ancient, so that would protect her
naturally- and Kitsuko has the same power that I do."

"Wait a minute," Liam said. "You and Kitsuko are... ancients?"

"No, you dumbass, dey ain't even from around here," said Barret.

"That's right, Barret. Kitsuko and I are from Dimension III, which is
basically an alternate universe. There's a lot of explaining we have to do,"
she said with a laugh.

Suddenly, Vincent tripped on something and fell flat on his stomach.
"Damnit, I should've seen that," Vincent said, getting up. As he picked up
his flashlight, something seemed to be looking right at him. Something very
cold and very dead. "Ohmygod!" he yelled.

"Guess she fried 'em," Boko said. "She has a rather keen sense of smelling
scumbags."

"If Rufus is here," Liam began, "Then where are Kitsuko and Aerith?"

"They must've found themselves out, or they're in the process of doing so,"
Vincent said, still brushing himself off.

(Kitsuko)

"I still can't get over that!!" Aerith continued.

"Well, you know. It was nothing, really," Kitsuko replied, feeding in the
compliments.

"Can you do it again?"

"You nuts?" Kitsuko laughed. "Mebbe later... can we get out of here first?"

Aerith sighed. "I can't believe that. I didn't know any.. HUMAN could do
that... WITH THEIR TONGUE!!!"

"Aerith, calm down. It's just a tongue," Kitsuko said with a laugh.

-bokono


There was sound coming down the tunnel of the hallway.

"Vincent?" Aerith called into the blackness.

"Aerith?" His voice came back. The two groups met up in the center. Kitsuko
stopped short, and yelled, "Barret’s RIGHT behind you, Vincent!!!" Vincent
wasn’t affected.

"He’s okay, Kitsuko, he explained to us what happened."

"Oh." She replied. Barret was quiet, as was Bokono. Liam spoke,

"Y’know, we OUGHT to try to get out of ‘ere..."

"Ah," replied Vincent, "You’re right." And so, our heroes continued down the
passage.

(Aerith)



"Hey, I think I see a way out," Vincent said, pointing to a hole in the
ceiling of the cave.

"And we're supposed to fit in there /how/?" Kitsuko said sardonically. "I
don't exactly wear a size four."

"I know, I know... maybe we could blast it open so it could be a bit
larger," said Vincent.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute... you /know/?" Kitsuko said,
looking at Vincent.

"That's a good idea. If only Cid were here, he could bitch and swear at it
until it gets bigger on its own, but he isn't, so we're going to have to..."
Liam began, cocking his gun. "...Smack that bitch up ourselves."

"I don't know if you want to-" Boko tried to say, but she was too late. Liam
was having a field day with that gun and that hole. "Phew. Looks like it
worked," she said, wiping her forehead off.

(Cid... ¬_¬ ^^;;...and Kitsuko!)



Arson.

The police report was in for the hospital where Cloud and Cid had been. It
was arson. Only, it wasn’t the Turks for once. And it wasn’t ShinRa, Inc,
either. They were doing other things. Arson to this degree was strange for
the usual suspects; the cause of the fire was ruled as an unknown source of
flames, meaning, there was no chemicals, no matches, no gasoline, nothing.
It was as if some great force of power caused the very atoms of the
flammable items in the hospital to become overheated. And it gets weirder:
There was more than one source of fire. There were three. The clinical cause
of the fire? Spontaneous combustion. But HOW? An "outside" energy. When Cid,
Cloud and Tifa received the police report, they concluded there was only one
person they knew of who had such power. Such energy.

Sephiroth.



(Aerith)

"What the fuck?" said Cloud after hearing this ridiculous suggestion from
Cid. "It could NOT be Sephiroth! He's dead! When some one dies, they die!"

"I know but," Cid started.

"He died of death! Don't you understand?" Cloud continued to protest.

"Then what the fuck do you suggest it could have been?!"

meanwhile...

Sephiroth sat down with his wife and pink and blue-haired children for
supper. "Let us say grace."

Sephiroth bowed his head.

"Since when do we say grace??" asked one of his sons.

-boko

"Since Daddy heard the word of the Gods," said his wife, glaring at
Sephiroth. "Daddy is getting ideas about destroying the planet again. So you
all just say your fucking GRACE before he gives us all ROOT CANALS and
plants a NUCLEAR BOMB in the CORE OF THE EARTH!"

All was quiet.

"Mommy and daddy need to have sex," said Pinkie to Spike.

(kitsuko)

Outside, above the sky, the clouds were churning. The tree leaves shivered
and danced in the quickening wind, and the whip-like branches of the weeping
willows swayed back and forth. The blue sky beyond the clouds had darkened;
its once-fair and pale complexion was a mix of shadowy hues. The land had
become empty, the birds gone, squirrels who once chittered high in oak trees
were not to be heard. The once proudly blossomed flowers of the summer had
closed. Eyes of random people in the street halfway shifted towards the
north, watching the cyclone pattern that the clouds had formed above it.
Above the north pole, where Sephiroth had last been seen that while ago. The
passers by put a moments thought into it, laughed at the thought of
Sephiroth being alive, and kept going, passing torn Avalanche posters and
flyers still tacked and taped to lampposts and walls. Dogs in the train yard
watched the skies, lifting their faces to sniff at the quickened breeze.
Vincent, Liam, Kitsuko, Aerith, Bokono and Barrett had all gotten out of the
cave in one piece. But where were they? Surrounded. Behind them, the caves,
mountainous standing behind them. In front of them, a bog. Marshy land,
flat, overrun with algae and stagnant water. Dragonflies and mosquitoes
danced among the acrid water, and a long dark shadow seemed to glide around
in the depths of the murky water.


(Aerith)

"Kitsuko!" Bokono jumped up and down excited. "This is where we were when we
first came here! Do you think we could get back home?" Bokono regretted
saying that. How on earth could she ever want to go back?

"Little witches from another planet..." sighed Liam. "We'll ask for an
explanation later. First... I'd like to get out of 'er."

-boko

"I'm sure we all would, Liam," Kitsuko said dimly, scratching her leg just
below the line of her black miniskirt. "But first, we've gotta find out
where the hell we are in relation to the rest of the world."

"I think we're pretty close to Kalm," Vincent said, shooing a dragonfly out
of his face. "This might be that marsh near Choco-" Vincent paused suddenly.
"Did you hear that?"

"No, what?" Bokono said.

"There it goes again," Vincent said, eyeing the area around him nervously.

"Yeah, I hear it too," Kitsuko said, striking a match on the heel of her
boot, lighting a clove cigarette, and tossing the match into murky oblivion.

"You know how many times I've told you about smoking those things, Kitsuko.
They make your lungs bleed," Bokono said, glaring at Kitsuko.

"Bullshit," said Kitsuko, exhaling a puff of spicy smoke.

Suddenly, she felt something cold and slimy slither against the back of her
legs, and turning around abruptly, she found herself staring into a pair of
fiery red orbs.


-Kitsuko

"So where do we go now?" asked Cloud, who was sitting outside the hospital
on the ledge near the entrance. Cid was leaning against it, and Tifa was
across from them, leaning on the ledge, her back to the other two.

"Well," said Cid, "We can go find /them/."

Tifa turned around "Them?"

"Yeah, them.. Kitsuko..." Cid paused a moment, "Bokono..." He paused

again. Cloud finished for him,

"Aerith..." He paused as well, "Vincent... And Barret! He is probably still
loose!"

Cid looked at him, visibly angry. He was still pissed off about being shot.

"That stupid fuck! Let’s go find him!"

Tifa walked across the entrance to the hospital to Cid and Cloud. "I’m
coming with you."

"Alright," Said Cloud, jumping off the ledge. "Let’s go."

The trio headed out of Midgar, having only to pass through Wall Market
before they were outside.

****

It was slithering against Kitsuko’s legs. It /felt/ her standing in the
marshy water.

"Quick!" Vincent yelled, "Get out of the water! It can feel you!"

Kitsuko jumped away from the water and closer to the cave’s entrance, on dry
land. The serpent poked its red eyes out of the water, and looked around...
yet, it did not see the six people standing in front of it. Slowly, it slid
back into the water.

"Damn," Said Liam, "If we don’t kill that damn thing.. We’re screwed. We
cant get across." Boko, Kitsu, Aerith, Barret and Vincent all exchanged
glances, each knowing that this predicament was not a good situation.

(Aerith)

"Wow, I haven't been here in about five years," said Cid as he looked around
him. Tifa, Cloud, and Cid were in Wall Market.

"That's not necessarily a bad thing," said Cloud.

"Lookit all the goddamn drag queens. That's terrifying," Cid said, eyeing
the couple in drag in front of them warily.

"Do you think they're here?" said Tifa.

"I have no idea," said Cloud.

"Well... let's start looking," said Cid with a sigh.

(-Kitsuko)

"Can’t either of you two fly ‘r something?" Liam asked, looking from Kitsuko
to Bokono.

(Aerith)

"Fly?" Kitsuko said, giving Liam an evil look. " What the hell do you think
we are?"

"Sorry, I thought you might have a broom or something," said Liam, a drop of
sweat rolling down his cheek.

Kitsuko proceeded to discreetly flip Liam the bird.

"Angels can fly, birds can fly, faeries can fly, bugs can fly, airships can
fly, and planes can fly. But no, we can't fly," said Bokono, almost as
P.O.'d as Kitsuko.

"Sorry," said Liam, who had lost complete interest in the argument of
Kitsuko and Bokono.

All six of them sighed.

---{--<@

"Excuse me ma'am, but have ya seen a guy runnin' about with a gun for an
arm? He's about seven feet tall, three hundr'd or so pounds, and he's
prob'bly really ripped right now-" Cid babbled on as he stalked a young
couple.

Cloud touched his shoulder. "Cid, I don't think that's going to help much."

"Aye, yer right. This is gettin' to be a bloody wild goose chase," said Cid.

Tifa walked over to where Cid and Cloud were talking.

"No luck, how about you guys?" she asked them.

Cloud shook his head and sighed, while Cid lit a cigarette.

"Guess not," said Tifa.

-{<@ Kitsuko

Barret was angry. Actually, he was downright livid. He held his gun-arm up
at his side and stepped knee-deep into the murky marsh, and was yelling with
every step.

"Awright you lousy sonofabitch WORM! I have had enough shit for one day!!
Show your slimy self - I am gonna kick your scrawny worm ass!!"

It heard him.

It felt the vibrations through the muck, and Barret watched as the serpent
sped towards him, its dorsal fin poking out of the water sending waves to
each side of its body. As it stuck its massive head out of the marsh, Barret
was ready, and instantly was unloading round after round into its body.
Kitsuko, Bokono, Liam, Vincent and Aerith watched, mouths agape, as Barret
took on the serpent.

And won.

Flesh showered them as Barret’s bullets tore it apart. It fell around him
and the others. When it was dead, Barret turned and grinned.

"Sho’ showed it who’s boss."

(-Aerith)

"That you did, Barret. Nice job," said Kitsuko, flicking pieces of gore off
her jacket.

"Let's find somewhere with a shower," said Bokono.

"It would be nice if we could get out of this shithole first," said Liam
sardonically. "This place is rancid."

After a good couple hours of complaining and stop-and-go walking, the team
made it safely out of the marshland.

---

"Why do I have the feeling that they're not even in Midgar anymore?"
remarked Cid, looking at Tifa and Cloud.

"We haven't looked through the whole city yet," said Tifa.

"That'll take days," Cloud said. "Maybe we should just wait for them to come
to us."

"I've got an idea," said Cid. "Tifa, you wait back in Sector 1. Cloud an' I
will look for them. Fair enough?"

"I think that's fair," said Cloud, looking at Tifa.

"Is it because I'm the girl?" she said, pouting. "Okay. Fine, I guess. But
if you two aren't back in two days, than I'm going out looking for you."

"I think we'll be back by then," said Cloud.

"Cheerio," said Cid, waving to Tifa.

"Bye Tifa," Cloud said with a warm smile.

Tifa kissed Cid on the cheek, and Cloud full on the lips. For some reason,
Cid caught himself glaring at Tifa...

-Kitsuko

They were at the Chocobo farm. And they were exhausted, too.

"You don’t understand, we don’t HAVE any money!" Kitsuko whined to the
Chocobo farmer.

"I’m sorry, but its 300 gil a night." The farmer held his own. Bokono came
up to Kitsuko, putting her hand on her shoulder, and dragged her away. "Come
on, Kitsu. Liam’s got a tent we can use. We’ll set up right outside the
farm."

The sun was already halfway gone below the horizon when the last stake was
set into the ground, holding the portable tent up. It was a tight fit, but
everyone fit inside of it. The farmer was kind enough to let them use his
bathroom. As the other four were outside arguing over space within the tents
canvas walls, Vincent was having a talk with the farmer about his chocobos.
Aerith was in the bathroom, getting dressed from a shower.

Vincent was facing the farmer, whose back was facing the bathroom door. And
while he was talking about the texture of chocobo feathers, Vincent was
smiling. He could see Aerith through the slight opening in the door.

When everyone had finished, they all piled into the tent. Kitsuko and Bokono
were still in a tiff over the spot near the edge, then was Aerith, Vincent,
Liam, and closest to the side opposite of Kitsuko and Bokono was Barret.

And what an interesting night it would be...

(Aerith)

"Get that @#$%^&* gun outta my back!" someone screamed.

Bokono looked over to see Kitsuko scowling and holding a lighter up to
Barret's face.

Barret looked at Kitsuko funny. "Sorry to /disappoint/ you and ev'rything,
but I wuz over here on 'dis corner of 'dis here tent."

Bokono giggled when she saw Liam lying where Kitsuko was supposed to be.

"I don't think it's Barret you're after," she whispered, being careful not
to wake up Vincent, Liam, or Aerith.

Kitsuko looked over at Bokono. "Oh?" She shifted her eyes to Liam, who was
snoring loudly now and had his hand over a large, round rock under the tent.
Kitsuko sighed and threw Liam back over in the general direction of Vincent.
"Either that rock there was the thing going into my back, or Liam thought he
had his hand on..." She paused and looked at Aerith funny.

"What's she doing?"

"I think she's gotta pee," said Bokono with a laugh.

"I t'ink she be sleepwalkin' or something," said Barret.

"I think she's being called outside by a powerful supernatural force- a
force from another planet, perhaps even another galaxy or
/dimension/-constantly being covered up by the highest officials in the
government..."

Barret, Bokono, and Kitsuko all looked at each other, and then at the man
who had started giving this strange speech.

"Fox Mulder, FBI," the man said, poking his head inside the tent.

(Kitsuko)

Since Fox Mulder was standing in the opening to the tent, Aerith ran into
him. She opened her eyes, and looked absurdly shocked, and fainted.

"Uh oh" Said Fox.

Barret scratched his head, and looked around, mumbling to himself. "Aerith
on th' floor, some weird dude in th' doorway, Vincent been pokin' me with
that arm a' his, Kitsu screamin, Boko laughin', Liam.. aw what th' fuck is
goin on?"

This made Bokono laugh harder, and get tangled in the various sheets and
sleeping bags on the floor. She fell over on her butt, and landed on the
rock. Liam awoke with a yelp and sat up, rubbing his hand. Bokono shrieked
and rubbed her butt where it had hit the rock. Fox looked around. "This
disturbance," he said, "is all caused by the planetary disturbances brought
on by-" But he was cut off. By everyone.

"SHUT UP!"

-----------

Cid was quiet the whole time as he and Cloud headed out of Midgar. Cloud was
enjoying being outside; for once, the air wasn't as grey around Midgar. It
was a nice day, warm and breezy. "Nice day." Cloud remarked.

"Yeah." Came the reply.

"I hope the others are okay."

"You do? I seem to recall a smartass who didn’t give a shit about anything."

Cloud was taken aback. "Yeah well I've changed."

(-Aerith)

"That... you have," said Cid, rather surprised. "We all have, however much I
hate to say it."

Cloud was silent for the next few moments. "It's gorgeous out here."

//Déja vu?// thought Cid. He smirked. "Yep."

And so Cid and Cloud kept walking in silence for the next couple hours or
so, when they both spotted seven shadowy figures on a hill up ahead...

---{--<@

"God, I'm so @#$%^&* tired," said Kitsuko, looking at Bokono and Liam, o
were on either side of her. "We've been in a CAVE looking for BARRET because
he shot MY Aussie, we've been in a SWAMP with a big-ass SNAKE, we've been in
a TENT with EACH OTHER, and NOW- to top it ALL off, we're in a MEADOW! A
big, empty, stupid, green MEADOW! And where the HELL is MIDGAR?!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked at Kitsuko.

"She gets like this," explained Bokono. "I think it's because she hasn't
been with Cid in awhile."

"Excuse me? EXCUSE ME?!" Kitsuko squawked furiously. "I don't need a MAN to
make me HAPPY all the time!"

"I think you're right," said Vincent to Bokono. "We'd better get back soon
before she declares mutiny or something."

Fox began to say something, but was quickly silenced by the peculiar-looking
flying disk that suddenly started hovering over him, and just as quickly as
it had appeared, sucked him up in its tractor beam and zoomed away into
oblivion.

Six left.

"I'm gonna find my OWN way back!" Kitsuko declared. "I guess I'll be seeing
you all in Midgar!" she said, and started running up and over the hill in
front of them.

Five left.


---{--<@


"Do you think that's them?" said Cloud to Cid.

"Hmm... I see Barret, Bokono, Vincent, some guy with black hair, and a girl
in pink-" Cid looked at Cloud with wide eyes.

"It can't be..." said Cloud. "That's... that's impossible."

Silence.

"CID!!!" a voice screamed from behind them.

Cid spun around to see a little Asian girl clothed in all black, with black
and purple hair, a nose ring, and smeared eye makeup.

(-Kitsuko)

And so, they were all back together.

Kitsuko nearly tackled Cid, and kissed him so hard he almost went into
shock. Bokono and Vincent exchanged knowing grins. Cloud was making sure
everyone was alright, and got to Barret.

"What happened, Barret?"

"Wuh?" Barret scratched his head.

"When you shot Cid. Why did you do that?" Cloud stared at Barret with his
icy eyes.

Barret was wordless. Bokono filled in for him.

"Barret was under the influence of a slave crown, and that’s that."

Cloud was quiet, and Barret looked at the ground, and said, "That
sonuvabitch Rufus... an’ the Turks..."

Cloud nodded. "Alright." He looked around the people milling about. "So what
do we do now? Barret’s not crazy any more, Kitsuko and Cid are reunited..
Who are you?" Cloud was looking at Liam.

Liam looked at him, "I’m Vincent’s cousin."

Vincent nodded.

"Oh." Cloud replied.

The air grew stale around them, Cid and Kitsuko were now sitting on the
ground talking, Liam and Vincent were talking, Bokono was lying on the
ground looking at the sky, Barret was picking gunk off his gun, Aerith was
off sitting under a weeping willow tree, and Cloud was standing. Just
standing.

Reunited, there were now eight.

"Well," Cloud said, breaking the quiet, "I suppose we should head back to
Midgar instead of Kalm."

The group didn’t agree, but they didn’t protest either. Everyone just got up
and got on their way. They subconsciously walked in a pattern: Cloud or
Barret in front, Aerith and Vincent behind them, Bokono and Liam behind
Aerith and Vincent, and Cid and Kitsuko trailing behind, still conversing.
As the earth beneath their boots and shoes started to darken with the
prolonged pollution of Midgar, a soft whirring became audible in the sky.
And it grew. As they lifted their travel-weary faces to the sky to see what
it was, there were helicopters. At least five of them. And they were
hovering above Midgar, flying around Midgar, and worst of all, flying
towards them.

(-Aerith)



"Either all the animals from the Sector 2 Zoo escaped, or we're in some deep
shit," said Kitsuko.

"I'm going with the latter," said Cid, lighting a cigarette.

For a split second, there was an awkward silence- and in this awkward
silence, Cid and Kitsuko exchanged terrified glances with each other. That
nanosecond of absolute silence was broken by the deafening roar of machine
gun fire, coming from at least three different angles.

"Aw, FUCK!" Kitsuko yelled, putting her arms over her head and running with
Cid by her side, who was also creating quite a colorful stream of expletives
himself.

Bokono ran in the opposite direction of Kitsuko and Cid, while Vincent and
Liam were scattering in a totally different direction than even her. Cloud,
after watching a few seconds of Barret shooting at one of the helicopters,
ran in the same direction that Kitsuko and Cid had gone.

Kitsuko was on the verge of tears now, and after awhile of running, she
realized that she and Cid were clutching hands. She choked on a sob and
smiled at Cid, and in her peripheral vision (or what was left of it from
years of working with computers) saw Cloud running behind them, either not
expecting Cloud to be there in the first place, or not expecting him to be
without Bokono.

And before they knew it, they were falling. Not for a long time, only a
split second, but it seemed like an eternity. Kitsuko looked up at the
opening of the hole that she and Cid had apparently fallen in, at the
helicopters hovering overhead, and at Cloud peering down. She looked around
for Cid, and saw him about four feet away, coughing violently and trying to
catch his breath. Kitsuko began crawling over to Cid, being careful not to
aggravate the arm that she had hurt- sprained the goddamn thing at the
worst.

"You okay, Tsuko?" Cid managed to say.

"That scared the shit out of me," she said with a little laugh.

-Kitsuko

Without warning, the choppers were gone as fast as they had showed up.
Clamorously, the eight scattered individuals made it back to each other in
the idiotically happy meadow. Cloud made himself the spokesperson of the
group and asked vaguely,

"All ok?"

Six nods. One whine. Kitsuko. She was favoring her left arm.

Silence.

For about an hour more, they headed where they figured Midgar would be. Cid
especially had a great sense of direction; he lead, everyone else followed.
The mood of the group was neutral at the moment. The metaphorical camel’s
back had not yet broken. Not Rufus, nor bullets, nor caves, nor dead people,
nor giant snakes, nor mush, nor Fox Mulder, nor choppers could keep them
down.

Liam was humming an old tune, much to Bokono’s delight. She trailed
alongside him, basking in his musical talents. Behind them was Aerith and
Vincent. Bokono caught a glance behind her shoulder, and smirked to herself.
//Hn. What interesting things can develop in dangerous situations.// She
thought as she discreetly ‘noticed’ Vincent run his fingertips over a fresh
bruise on Aerith’s arm. In front of Barret was Kitsuko, who walked alongside
Cid and Cloud. It seemed like where Cid was, Cloud was. And visa versa. Come
to think of it, they hadn’t been apart save Cid in the operating room.

//How long ago was that?// Kitsuko mused to herself. //Days? Two? Does it
even matter any more? I’ll just look at a calendar when we get back to
Mid-//

"MIDGAR!" She screamed aloud.

An energetic whoop lit from the outlandish group, and their pace quickened
ten-fold as they hurried to the entrance to the Sector 5 Slums.

"Home sweet home," Aerith said with a smile, which Vincent caught, and
reflected with another smile.

"I am starving." Kitsuko announced as they made their way into Midgar.

"So am I," Boko added, and one by one everyone agreed.

After a stop at the restaurant in Wall Market and eight-daily-specials
later, the group was feeling energized and anew. They were all around a
large round table in the corner of the restaurant, discussing their plans.

"If Rude or Reno survived the fire at the hospital," Cloud was saying, "Then
they’re expecting us. And they’re probably back in Midgar already. Those
Turks get around really fucking fast."

"What fire?" Bokono said, looking up from the remnants of tofu and crackers,
and other various bits of food.

"The hospital was burned to the ground! Some sonofabitch decided to torch
the place." Cid explained.

"The reports said it was Sephiroth." Cloud added calmly, stoically.

"Bullshit." Kitsuko and Bokono said at the same time.

Aerith looked up from her food, and shook her head.

"Are you telling me that Sephiroth blew off death and is alive and well,
here to wreak havoc again?" Bokono did not sound impressed.

"...I did it, didn’t I?" Aerith said, and Bokono sweatdropped. "Hasn’t it
occurred to you that I was dead?"

Bokono glanced around the table at her companions, who were all wide-eyed.

"Well?" Aerith said, lips pursed.

"I guess.." Bokono started, but couldn’t find the words to use.

Vincent sought out Aerith’s hand under the table and found it, intertwining
fingers. He knew. He knew what it was like to be dead.

"Sephiroth and Aerith have cheated death." Cloud said, feeling the words as
they spilled from him. "Hn."

Kitsuko ordered a round of regular coffee for everyone and looked at Aerith.

"Okay. You know the trick. Spill it."

(-Aerith)



Aerith switched her focus from the cream mingling in with her coffee to
Kitsuko's

deep brown eyes. Kitsuko Yami bore the infinitely deep eyes of a teenage
magician that held behind them the knowledge of a thousand ancients- the
eyes of a witch that desperately wanted to learn the secret of Aerith's
mysterious death and rebirth.

Kitsuko toyed with the tiny pewter coffin that dangled from her neck from a
heavy silver chain, just below a black leather collar studded with spikes.
"What's it like to die?" she said morosely.

Aerith looked at her coffee again. She was searching for the right words.

For the next few -painfully long- moments, there was stark silence. Finally,
the silence was broken by Cid hurriedly pushing aside his chair to run into
the bathroom. Cloud watched him leave, a concerned look upon his face.

"Where does he think he's goin'?" said Liam, playing with his short,
tar-black hair.


"I don't know, but he's not looking too good," said Cloud as he pushed his
own chair aside. He sauntered across the restaurant to the bathroom door,
and knocked.

"It's unlocked," Cid groaned between coughs.

Cloud opened the cautiously. Somehow, he was not surprised to see Cid
kneeling in front of the toilet, heaving his guts out. A few drops of blood
dripped off his chin onto the floor.


"Oh, Cid..." Cloud began. "Are you alright?" he asked, squatting down next
to Cid and putting his hand upon Cid's shoulder.

Cid looked up at Cloud. "Yeah. When am I /not/ alright?" he said, forcing a
grin.


"You're not alright now," Cloud said, obviously quite concerned. "This is
not normal, Cid."

Cid clutched his stomach, coughed, and spat a scarlet glob of blood into the
toilet. He looked at Cloud innocently, silent tears making trails down Cid's
dirty, otherwise pallid, cheeks.


"I've got to get you a doctor, Cid. You should have been resting the past
few days." Cloud bit his lower lip. "I'm sorry, this is my fault..."


"No, no it's not," Cid began, reaching over to flush the toilet. "Even if I
did see a doctor, I'm sure that that there's not much more he could do than
give me some Tylenol." He stood up, wiped off his chin, and stumbled over to
the sink to wash his face and hands.

For a few moments, Cloud was speechless. "Cid, you're not saying that you're
going to..."


"Die?" he said casually, finishing Cloud's sentence. "If I do, I do," he
said as he dried off

his hands and face with a paper towel. "But I'm going to fight this fight
until the end. Until Sephiroth's in his g'damn rightful place." He threw the
paper towel out.

It took a moment for Cloud to realize that tears were making their way down
his own dirty cheeks. He tenderly looked at Cid, who was getting ready to
leave the bathroom and rejoin the party at their table. "Oh, Cid..." he
said, embracing his blue-eyed friend tightly.

Cid was about to say something, but decided not to when he heard Cloud's
quiet sobbing, his face buried in Cid's blue bomber jacket. Cid decided to
remain silent and return the embrace.

It must have been at least fifteen minutes before they decided to return to
their table.


(-Kitsuko-)

The clock in the restaurant said 11:18 PM when Cid and Cloud returned. The
sat down next to each other. Starting with Cloud, and moving to the right,
were Cid, Vincent, Aerith, Bokono, Liam, Barret, and Kitsuko. From the
pooling silence came Aerith’s voice.

"Sephiroth killed me."

"We _know_ that," Cloud’s voice came back quickly. The thought of it hurt
him - it was _his_ fault that it had happened. If only he had retained
control over his body..

Aerith took it with a grain of salt, and without looking up, continued.
"Sephiroth killed me, and not anyone /else/. Sephiroth isn’t an Ancient
persay, but he is.. part Ancient. Like me. He is one of the Cetra, but also
is infused with Mako energy. My prayer to Holy is part of what brought us
back... It recognized the Cetra in us, and it filled us again with energy
from the Life Stream. I don’t know if any of this makes sense.." She trailed
off.

Absolutely flabbergasted, the rest of the people around the table had
nothing to say.

"Go on." Bokono’s words were all Aerith needed.

"If Sephiroth hadn’t been there at the time, he wouldn’t have come back. But
he was. He and I came back at the same time. I know it because... I saw him.
It was like a dream, or a flashback. He recognized me, I know that. The
bewilderment in his eyes was priceless. I don’t know where he is, but I know
he would tell me if I asked."

"So it /was/ Holy." Kitsuko said, thinking it all over. //Damn. Now there’s
something a witch can’t tap into. I’d have to be an Ancient. Damn!//

Aerith only nodded. To death and back again.

Cloud looked at Cid, who was paying full attention to the explanation of
revival, but was looking pale.

"I’ll be back in a few minutes," He said, and was gone. Liam, who had
withdrawn a few /thousand/ gil from his jumbo bank account, paid happily for
their bill. They waited for Cloud, not knowing what he was up to, and
finished their respective coffees, teas, and sodas. And Cloud came back
shortly after he had left.

"Just as I thought. The old mansion that Don Corneo lived in was turned into
a hotel. I’ve got the last four rooms reserved. Each room has two beds. Liam
is going to be kind enough to pick up the tab. He told me about the hotel in
the first place." With that, Liam nodded, and the group got up.

The night was heavy with humidity as they made their way across town to the
hotel. The sky was ebony flecked with white, each star shone with the
brilliance of diamond. The rooms were all on the second floor, one on the
right side of the hotel, three on the left side. All at once, they were
paired off and gone. It was a nearly systematic division. Kitsuko and Bokono
shared a room; they needed the privacy to discuss what was going on and what
they wanted to do. Cid and Cloud shared a room, as well. Cloud refused to
leave Cid’s side. Aerith and Vincent wordlessly went across the hall to the
right side of the hotel. The others watched with mild interest; what Vincent
and Aerith did was *their* business. Liam and Barret took the last room with
a nod in acknowledgment to each other.

* *

What Went On In Each Room..

* *

Room 14.

11:58 PM.

Kitsuko and Bokono showered consecutively before settling down to talk. As
close as they were, they didn’t keep much of anything from each other when
talking about their feelings about the events. Kitsuko was concerned with
Cid, who seemed to be preoccupied during dinner. Bokono was musing over the
revival explanation. After a bit of talking, they went to bed. The clock
read 12:45 am.

Room 15.

11:58 PM.

Liam showered first, then Barret. Liam stayed up writing in some sort of
beat up journal while Barret watched the late edition of the news.

‘Our top story tonight: Unexplainable events around the city of Midgar have
left local police and residents baffled. The events have been described as
paranormal, and include three fires, one of which claimed a hospital three
days ago, and various electrical disturbances. Police have refused to
release an official statement as of yet regarding the events. We will bring
you more as this story develo-’

Barret turned the television off. "Damn," He said. And with that, went to
bed. 12:16 am.

Shortly thereafter, Liam finished up and closed his journal and went to bed
as well. 12:29 am.

Room 16.

11:58 PM.

Cid had insisted on showering himself, and Cloud let him, standing outside
the door in case Cid needed his help. As soon as he was dry, Cid put his
boxers on and opened the door. The words ‘internal bleeding’ sped through
Cloud’s mind when he saw Cid’s stitches, the entire area was red and
inflamed from the constant movement and inability to rest. Cloud found
himself refocusing on the rest of Cid. His hair was still wet, and his
cheeks, shoulders, and chest were still flushed from the shower. He looked
at Cloud.

"I’m tired."

"Okay. You want to go to bed?"

"Yeah."

Cid’s arm went around Cloud’s shoulders, and together, they eased Cid over
to the nearest bed. He /was/ exhausted. Cloud leaned over Cid, and looked
into his heavy-lidded eyes.

"Cid?"

"Hai?"

"Promise me two things.."

"..what?"

"One.. promise me you’ll let me take you to a hospital tomorrow."

Cid nodded.

"Two.." Cloud paused, and leaned closer to the Cid, who was slowly drifting
to sleep. "Don’t die.."

"Mm." Cid said in response, and was asleep. Cloud resisted the urge to cry,
but instead let another urge take over.

He kissed Cid. Softly, so as not to wake him, but enough to fulfill any
regret he might feel later... //NO!// He thought to himself. //He’s NOT
going to die!// Cloud glanced at the clock as he turned the light off next
to the sleeping Cid’s bed. 12:15 am. //The news will be on. I think I’ll
watch that..//

Cloud turned the television set on, but missed the top story. He caught the
weather report, however, which noted some occurrence of high temperatures
and levels of humidity. That explained why it felt like a sauna outside.
//Thank the gods for air conditioning,// Cloud thought, as the air
conditioner clicked on in perfect timing. He turned the television off,
showered, and went to bed. One last glance at the clock told him it was
12:42 am.

Room 28.

11:58 PM.

Aerith had watched the news while Vincent showered, and saw the report about
the unusual "paranormal" events. Vincent turned the television off while
Aerith showered, and his gaze met her as she came out of the bathroom,
combing her hair. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, her back to
Vincent.

But then he was right behind her, his slender fingers over hers, loosening
the comb from her hand. Aerith folded her hands in her lap as he combed her
hair, his strokes were even and gentle. Vincent put the comb down, and ran
his fingers though Aerith’s hair, marveling at the soft texture. He sat down
on the bed behind her, and she leaned backwards into him. One of Vincent’s
arms encircled Aerith’s waist over the soft, thin fabric of her nightdress.
With his other arm, he brought his hand to her face, and lifted it to his,
and kissed her. Minutes flew by with the kiss, and lead to a flicker of his
tongue across her lower lip, encouraging her to loosen her jaw a little
more...

By the time they drifted to sleep in a sweaty tangle of limbs, the clock
read 3:47 am.

Room 15.

4:10 am.

Barret awoke to use the bathroom. The silence in the hotel was countered
only by the hum of the air conditioner. He returned back to bed and a heavy
sleep.



Kitsuko awoke first, oddly early. The clock said 7:14 am. She stretched,
went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and headed down to the lobby for a
‘continental breakfast’ - donuts, coffee, and orange juice - which came free
with the room.

And nearly tripped over the bloody, broken corpse of the receptionist.
//SHIT!// Kitsuko’s mind screamed, and she saw shadows to her left and right
duck into hallways. //This is TOO much for morning!//

Kitsuko ran back to her room, and locked the door with a deadbolt.

There was somebody - or some people - in the hotel. And this was *not* a
good thing at all.

(-aerith)

"Boko..." Kitsuko said nervously as she shook Boko's still-sleeping body.

//This is the last fucking thing I need,// Kitsuko thought as she continued
to shake Bokono. Bokono just groaned wearily and rolled over. Kitsuko was
getting pretty fed up as she watched the clock go from 7:29 to 7:30. "WAKE
THE HELL UP!" she finally yelled into one of Bokono's heavily pierced ears.

Bokono's green eyes fluttered open, and she sat up with a start. She looked
up at Kitsuko, who was hurriedly putting on her purple velvet duster in an
attempt to hide the fact that she still wasn't even wearing a bra. "What the
hell?" said Bokono, rubbing her eyes, looking at her hands for any signs of
yesterday's eyeliner. "Duh, I took a shower," she quietly noted.

"They're here..." Kitsuko began shakily, buttoning the second silver button
down from the top of her jacket.

"Who's here?"

Kitsuko quit fidgeting with the damn buttons and looked at Bokono weakly. "I
don't know, but something tells me that they're not on good terms with us."
Kitsuko sniffled, holding back tired tears. "Whoever the hell it is, they
sure did a damn thorough job of killing the chick at the front counter."

Bokono dragged herself out of bed, threw the plaid boxers she called pajamas
onto the

unmade bed, and yanked on a pair of skinny black-and-grey pinstripe pants.
She quickly zipped up the fly, and proceeded to pull on her boots, not even
bothering to do the top two buckles. As she walked past the mirror on the
wall, she frowned at the fact that she was wearing a crappy-looking heather
grey tank top, and her hair made her look like a reject from a Robert Smith
tribute film. Nonetheless, she bent over and picked up her heavy mythril
sword with its saphirre-encrusted handle.

"Well, let's see what the ruckus is," Bokono said as she threw the sword
over her shoulder.

Kitsuko sighed. "Funny, usually I'm the one looking to kick ass." She
glanced into the mirror and noted to herself that she too looked like an
extra in a Cure music video.

Bokono undid the deadbolt and poked her head out into the hall. Left,
nothing. Right, nothing. "Come on," she said to Kitsuko, and snuck out
quietly. "You get the others and make sure they're alright. I'm gonna take a
look around."

"Mmm kay," Kitsuko said with a bit of relief. "Careful."

"Yeah, you too," said Bokono.

Kitsuko tried to remember who was in what room. No idea. //I'll just have to
look around,// she thought. The first door was on the left. She knocked,
carefully listening for any signs of familiar voices. Hearing nothing, she
knocked again, harder this time. Kitsuko sighed. "OPEN UP!" she yelled at
the top of her lungs. She was relieved to hear someone walking over toward
the door, and unlocking the door.

"What is it, Kitsuko?" Aerith said wearily.

Kitsuko tried to take her mind off the fact that Aerith was wearing nothing
more than a blanket wrapped around her body much in the manner that one
would put on a towel after a shower. //Maybe she's just one of those nude
sleepers.// "Someone's here. Get something on and meet us downstairs."

Aerith blushed, a bit embarrassed at Kitsuko's bad timing. She quickly shut
the door and locked it again as Kitsuko ran down the hall to the next door.

Ten minutes later, Aerith and Vincent were both fully dressed. Vincent
loaded his silver pistol. Aerith readied her metal staff. They looked at
each other and smiled. Vincent tenderly ran his claw through the length of
Aerith's gorgeous ginger-brown hair.

"Leave your hair down today," he said, and kissed her forehead.


After getting Barret and Liam out of bed and downstairs, Kitsuko bumped into
Bokono, who had an absolutely horrified look upon her face.

"What's wrong?" Kitsuko asked.

"We've got to get out of here... now," she said, steadying the heavy sword
in her hands.

"You found out who it was?"

"Yeah. I did..." Bokono frowned. "Hurry up. I'll meet you downstairs," she
said shakily. Kitsuko shrugged, and continued to walk towards the final
room. She knocked on the door.

"Cid?" She knocked again. "Cloud? Come on you guys..." She sighed in
frustration. She ran back to the end of the hall and began to run, gaining
speed and strength the whole way. Concentrating her energy, she flew into
the door with a flying kick and pulled the damn thing right off its hinges.
She ran into the room, not really surprised to see Cloud and Cid sitting up
in bed, Cloud looking healthy as a horse and Cid looking as if he had just
contracted the plague. Kitsuko ran over to the bed, slightly out of breath
from knocking the door down. "Come on. Something's up."

Cloud frowned. "Oh god. What's going on?"

"Meet us downstairs," Kitsuko said as she ran over the broken door, into the
hall, and down the stairs.

"You okay?" Cloud said, looking at Cid.

Cid nodded. "Fine," he said quietly, almost inaudibly.

Cloud sighed and forced himself up and out of bed. He picked up Cid's shirt
and jacket off the floor and handed it to him. Other than that, Cid was
already dressed. Cloud bent over to pick up his own shirt up off the floor.
As he rose back up, he was startled to feel cold gunmetal pressed against
his right cheek. Cloud found himself staring straight into the ice blue eyes
of none other than Reno.

(-Kitsuko-)

Reno was smiling, the bastard.

"Pret-ty boy.." He hissed into Cloud’s ear, putting more pressure on the
gun, which pressed harder into Cloud’s cheek. Reno circled around in front
of him, and said for both Cid and Cloud to hear, "If either of you so much
as blink, I’m going to mess up this pretty white carpet with his brains. We
don’t want that, of course."

Cid froze in place where he was, sitting on the bed. Cloud froze in place as
well. Reno pushed Cloud over to the opposite bed, and had him sit down as
well. "You," he directed towards Cid, "Leave."

* * *

Bokono had found three Turks roaming around. She hadn’t been seen,
thankfully, but she snooped around enough to see that the entire hotel had
been vacated of other guests. //So the Turks are being merciful on the
common slob. How nice.// Gunshots.

As Bokono rounded the corner of the hallway towards the lobby, she saw blood
on the floor, Barret, Liam, Kitsuko, Aerith, and Vincent, all spread about,
and bullet holes in the walls. Barret ran out the door, firing his gun as he
went.

"What’s going on?" Bokono yelled.

"Barret got Rude!" Kitsuko yelled back.

//One down. At least two to go.// Bokono thought as she met up with the
group. "Where’s Rude? I know I saw him. There is at least one other besides
them, too."

No sooner had she said that then the most horrific sound sailed out from the
balcony above. It was Cid, who was running extremely low on energy and pain
tolerance.

"Kiiittttsuuukooooo--!!" He had half wheezed, half hollered.

Cid collapsed against the railing, and sank to his knees. Kitsuko was up the
stairs in a flash, kneeling next to him.

"What, Cid, what is it?"

"..Cloud.."

"Something happened to Cloud? Is he hurt?!"

"No, no.. just.. Reno.. captured him."

Cid heaved a sigh and remained silent. //Shit.// Kitsuko thought for about
the millionth time that hour. Kitsuko stood up. "LIAM! BOKONO!"

They were up the stairs and at her side in a split second. "Cid’s in bad
shape. I mean... its..." Kitsuko took a deep breath, and looked squarely at
Bokono and Liam. "Take him to the hospital, RIGHT now. Me, Vincent, Barret,
and Aerith will be fine here. We’re going to find Cloud and take out the
other Turks.

Bokono nodded, and Liam hoisted Cid up and carried him out of the hotel,
with Bokono right beside him, ready to brandish her sword at anything that
moved.

* * *

Reno lead Cloud down some back passage in the hotel. Although he’d
blindfolded Cloud, Cloud still knew when they were outside because the thick
air hung about them like melted marshmallows. Cloud became aware of an
engine running, most likely a car. Reno guided Cloud not-too-gently into the
vehicle, which Cloud deduced to be something large, a sport utility vehicle
or hummer perhaps. Reno wasn’t driving, because he sat next to Cloud in the
back, gun against Cloud’s temple.

* * *

Tseng entered another room in the now empty hallway, and searched around for
evidence of people. Nothing. He’d searched every room himself; the hotel was
presumably empty. Hopefully, by now, Reno’d found what they had come for.
Rude was a decoy; his mission was to distract everyone whilst Reno did the
dirty work.

(-aerith)

"Shit, shit, shit... SHIT!" Kitsuko rambled to herself as she paced back and
forth. She

threw up her arms in disgust and turned to Aerith and Vincent, who were
leaning against what was supposed to be the front desk. "How DARE they do
that?!" she yelled with a choked sob. "The Turks've got Cloud... and Cid's
only getting worse..." She paused to wipe her runny nose with her sleeve.
and they're probably worried /sick/ about each other..."

Aerith looked at Kitsuko and smiled. "I'm just as worried as you are. Don't
be so pessimistic, though. We'll find a way out of this."

Kitsuko gave Aerith a maniacal grin. "Oh-ho. Yeah, that's it. Let's be
happy." She lit a cigarette from the pack she had secretly taken from Cid.
"Are you fucking /blind/?" After a heavy coughing fit, she threw the
cigarette- as well as the rest of the pack- on the ground and stomped on it
furiously. "Cloud is all alone with the /Turks/, world renowned
anal-rapists. Bokono and Liam are taking Cid- who /might/ make it through
the rest of the week..." -she choked on those last words- "to the
hospital..." And then the dam broke. The next thing she knew, she was
sobbing uncontrollably all over Aerith.

"Kitsuko..." Aerith began.

"She's too young to handle this kind of pressure," Vincent said darkly. "She
shouldn't even be here."

Barret rose from his place at the foot of the stairs, and walked toward the
three. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't shot Cid in the first place, none
o' 'dis would be happenin'."

"You had a slave crown, Barret. You hadn't any control over your actions,"
said Vincent.

"Yeah, but..." Barret abruptly stopped when he heard footsteps on the floor
overhead. All four looked up, and then at each other.

"I thought everyone left," Kitsuko said, and sniffled. She finally stopped
crying, and feeling rather embarrassed, stood up straight and walked over
toward the stairs. For a few moments, she waited for any more signs of
activity upstairs.

"Hell wit' dat," Barret said, breaking the silence. "Let's git Cloud."

"I agree," said Vincent. "That's the most important thing right now."

Ten minutes or so later, the four, led by Kitsuko, found themselves staring
at an old Shinra patrol vehicle. Kitsuko looked at the other three. "I can
probably hot-wire this thing," she said matter-of-factly. "I'm assuming one
of you can drive?"

Aerith shrugged.

Vincent shook his head. "Never had much use for it."

"How about you?" Kitsuko asked, turning to Barret.

"I only got one arm," he said. "Two would be better, doncha think?"

Kitsuko rolled her eyes. "Pathetic."

"So, what are we gonna do?" Aerith asked.

Kitsuko produced a folded-up, very wrinkled, piece of paper with a quite
unflattering picture of herself on it, and a stamp with the word 'FAILED' in
huge red letters. "I got my permit, just never quite passed the test." ^^;

Vincent, Aerith, and Barret tensed up and exchanged nervous glances.

Half an hour, and six pieces of gum later, the truck was up and running.
Luckily, whoever had left it there had left it with a half-full tank of gas.

"I take it we're heading for Shinra?" Kitsuko said, laughing to herself when
she saw the way the other three had their seatbelts on so tightly and were
hanging on to whatever they could for dear life.

"I don't see where else they could have taken him," Vincent said.

"Well, off we go then," Kitsuko said, and stepped on the gas.

* * *

"No, you don't seem to understand," Liam said to the man in the turban
behind the desk at the Sector 6 Visitor's Center. "We're looking for a
hos-pi-tal, not a strip club." He turned to Bokono, who was applying ice,
that she had gotten from a nearby vending area, to Cid's ever-reddening
stomach.

"Liam, let's just look for one in Sector 5," she said. "We can't be wasting
our time here. I think he's got a fever."

Liam sighed. "Yeah. These people are useless." He walked over to Cid, who
was sitting in a metal chair by the door. "Hey Cid. Can you walk?"

Cid looked at Liam blankly. He had no desire to talk to anyone.

"Guess that means no," Liam said, lifting Cid out of the chair. Cid cringed
as Liam took him into his sturdy arms. Bokono placed the plastic bag of ice
on Cid's stomach, and held the door for Liam.

"I wonder how Cloud's doing..." Bokono said thoughtfully.

(-Kitsuko-)

The vehicle which contained Reno and Cloud had been driving for some time.
Not long enough to get out of Midgar, but long enough to either be at the
dead center or outer edge. The gun in Reno’s hand hadn’t moved from its spot
at Cloud’s temple. Reno had kept the pressure on it so high that he could
almost make out Cloud’s pulse around the barrel. Cloud hadn’t made a sound,
either, the whole trip. Reno did, however, but not much more than a "Turn
here", or "Go that way". He purposely left out directions, knowing full well
that Cloud was a trained soldier. He could easily memorize the turns they’d
made and figure out where he was. So things remained vague to him.

Reno kept the gun to Cloud’s temple and a firm grip on the back of his neck
as he lead Cloud out of the car and into some sort of building. Cloud
memorized the turns they made after going into the building: Left, right,
right, left, and then into another room on the right. Reno sat Cloud down
and removed the blindfold. As Cloud adjusted to the light, he saw he was in
a grey room, a perfectly shaped square. There was an identical door on
either wall. In front of him was a table, above his head was a bare light
bulb hanging from a socket. And nothing else. Not even a window on any of
the doors.

Two men came into the room, one from the door to Cloud’s left, one from the
door in front of him. The hallway, which he caught a glimpse of, was as
stark and grey as the walls inside the room. Each man carried a length of
rope. One tied Cloud’s ankles together, the other tied his arms behind his
back, and his torso to the chair.

Reno stood against the wall, and watched, and when the men were done, they
left through different doors than they had come into.

//Confusion tactics. Hn.// Cloud thought bitterly.

"I suppose you’re wondering why you’ve been brought here," Reno said,
ripping off a few clichés. "Ha! I’ve always wanted to say that!" He leaned
over the table, looking at Cloud. "Such a pretty face... Its a shame why
they wanted you anyways. Well, the reason is, anyways. It’s something about
Mako energy, and Sephiroth, you know, all /that/ mess again. Oh well! I hope
by now you’ve figured out that the hotel was a setup." To this, Cloud was
actually a little surprised. Reno saw it in his eyes. "Pretty convenient
that one room was set away from the other three, wasn’t it? Although... you
didn’t follow our plan. But we worked around it without a problem. You see,
you were supposed to take that lone room, being such an independent person
and all. But our dear Ex-Turk Valentine took it, and from what I found it
appears he got a piece of that lovely Aerith’s ass. I thought she was your
woman, hm? Perhaps not. I was very surprised to find you rooming with that
brash pilot. Is there something about yourself you’re not admitting to the
world?"

Cloud wanted to kill him. The mockery in Reno’s voice tore his nerves apart
bit by bit. He wanted to tear Reno’s eyes out and stomp on them like grapes.
Rage built inside him.

"You _bitch_," he spat, not even realizing he’d said it aloud. Reno grinned
demonically.

"That’s right, let the rage grow. You’ll be more useful that way. After
continuing Hojo’s studies, we found that the Mako energy in the members of
SOLDIER reacted to heightened emotions. So unless you magically learn to
control yourself, you’ll be the perfect candidate for what we need you. Of
course, personally, I had other ideas of how you could be of service to
us.." Reno cast a gaze down at Cloud so intense it made his skin burn. He
tried to retain his composure as best as he could, but still flinched
slightly as Reno’s hand lit on his sweat-dampened forehead, and slender
fingers ran though his blonde hair.

"Be back soon, pretty boy," Reno cooed, and exited the room via the door in
front of Cloud.

Cloud sighed heavily.

* * *

Cid was immediately put into intensive care. Bokono and Liam were barely
listening to the lecture the head nurse gave them, something about bringing
the injured in *before* they’ve become infected. Or worse. Bokono and Liam
waited for what felt like and most likely was hours.

Once they were allowed into the room, they got a good look at Cid. He looked
so vulnerable, lying unconscious on the starched white hospital bed, with
tubes everywhere. His skin was grey, and there was a solid white wrapping
around his midsection. The hospital room was small and quiet, and unlit save
the last light of the setting sun. The only sound that permeated the
slightly stale air was the soft, rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor,
combined with the ragged sounds of Cid’s laboured breathing.

"He’s in a coma," the head nurse said, startling both Liam and Boko as she
bustled into the room. "And he’s been through alot. I had the head surgeon
come down and take a look at his wounds. The bullets had been removed
already, but whatever activity he has been up to since he was injured has
taken quite a toll." She paused, looking at the illuminated numbers on the
machinery, and writing them down.

"Please, go on," Boko said quietly, wondering if there was more.

"Let’s go out to the waiting room," The nurse said, and lead the two to the
said area.

"Although he is in a coma," she explained, "He can still hear us. His brain
is still very active. That’s why I asked you to come out here. It has been
proven that patients have a higher chance of recovery if they are told
positive things, rather than negative."

Boko’s heart sank to her stomach in hearing this. It meant that--

"He has extensive internal bleeding. We took x-rays of his ribcage, and
found that one of the bullets had splintered a rib. All of his activity
seems to have jarred more splinters loose, and they aren’t doing any good by
sitting next to his lungs. We also found that the left lung has been
punctured. It’s a small hole, but it has gone untreated for so long that the
lung’s capacity is almost 19% filled with blood. That is why his breathing
is so irregular. The only thing you can do now is wait. He’s on a high dose
of morphine for the pain, and we’ve given a double strength shot of
antibiotics into the wound. The redness indicates infection, and his fever
has proved it. But there is good news. When you brought him in, we read his
temperature at 104.9. It’s come down to 100.3, and that is very good news."

By this time, Boko was crying.

"I’m sorry," the nurse said. "But all we can do now is wait." With that, she
turned and headed back to the nurses’ station to continue her rounds.

"How am I supposed to tell Kitsuko that?" Boko asked, looking at Liam
pleadingly, as if he had the answer.

"I don’t know," he responded. "I don’t know."

* * *

Kitsuko sped down the sidestreets of Sector 4, rather than the main
highways, so as to "not attract any attention. We want to keep a low profile
so we can go rescue Cloud!"

The other three were still holding on for dear life as the cruiser whipped
through the alleys at 50 mph. For once, Aerith wasn’t optimistic.

"How are we supposed to find him," she asked, "If no one saw where he and
Rude went?"

"Instinct," Kitsuko replied. "I have a gut feeling I know where he is."

Aerith was silent for a moment, then asked aloud, "Then do you believe in
ESP?"


* * *

In a far off space, somewhere to the North, Sephiroth stood over the dead
bodies of his wife and children. His emerald green eyes were ablaze, as he
held his sword with clenched fists. Outside, the sky was shrouded with
blackness pierced only by frequent lightning.

"The storm within my heart," Sephiroth growled, in a voice that echoed from
his mind rather than his throat, "Is now a rage upon the world."

But through the seething evil, a glimmer of purity shot through, and spoke
directly to him.

"Sephiroth," The voice called to him, "This. Is. Not. The. Way." Another
voice joined it, similar to the first but not entirely the same. It came
with a second glimmer of purity. "You are needed, Sephiroth."

And then a third voice, a third glimmer of purity. "You must destroy the
remnants of Hojo’s work," It commanded. "You must go to Midgar."

Silently but swiftly, Sephiroth was on his way to Midgar.

* * *

Aerith opened her eyes, and looked at the other three in the car. They hadn’
t been paying attention to her. Barret’s low whistle was followed shortly by
his voice. "Check out that storm comin’."

With a furious energy force, black clouds rolled in and covered Midgar. The
wind picked up speed to nearly gale strength, and it began to hail. The
flecks of ice hit the windshield with such force that hairline cracks
appeared all over the glass.

"Shit," Kitsuko said. "This isn’t good."

Lightning struck in front of the speeding car, and set a dumpster ablaze.
Kitsuko hit the brakes, and the car began to skid. The wind became stronger
yet, pushing the dumpster into the path of the car. Kitsuko frantically
turned the wheel, screaming, but the car slammed into the dumpster. Within
an instant, all four were out of the demolished vehicle, amazingly
unscathed. The heavens opened, and rain came down in torrents.

"Great," Kitsuko lamented. "It didn’t rain until we were out of the car,"

"We have to get out of this storm," Vincent said, ignoring her complaint.
"It looks like a hurricane."

"I am not disagreein’," Barret said, and they headed for shelter. Aerith
didn’t follow.

"What’s wrong?" Kitsuko called, turning back around.

The wind howled all around them, whipping debris through the air. The
lightning strikes were coming faster now, and each blinding flash of white
was followed almost immediately by an ear splitting thunderclap.

"Come on, Kitsuko," Barret urged, tugging at the girl’s arm. "You gonna get
yo’self killed!"

Kitsuko put her hands together, and a flurry of words of an unknown language
came from her. She opened her eyes, and looked upward. "Skies be CALMED!"
She finished, casting the spell.

For a moment, the rain let up and the lighting stopped, but a gale
force-gust whipped through the alley, bringing with it an even stronger
torrent of rain, hail, and lightning. The gust knocked Kitsuko to her knees,
and she fell forward. Barret was by her side immediately, and helped her up.

"Yo, AERITH!" He hollered, over the roar of the storm.

Aerith hadn’t moved. Rather, her eyes were closed, arms loosely held at her
sides, face upturned to the skies.

"AERITH!!" The other three screamed again, but she still did not reply. All
at once, a blindingly white bolt of lightning tore down the sky and struck
the ground. It was followed immediately by three more, which surrounded
Aerith. In the same instant, the lightning bolts and Aerith were gone.

"NO!" Kitsuko screamed, "DON’T DO IT!" As if responding to something someone
had said.

"Do what?" Vincent asked, taking Kitsuko by the shoulders.

"She’s going to see him," Kitsuko said, shaken.

"See who?!"

"Sephiroth!"

* * *

Above the menacing masses of sickly grey and black clouds was Sephiroth. He
stood, or rather floated, above the clouds, controlling their every move.

And when the figure appeared before him, the one he had once killed,
Sephiroth smiled.

"We shall become one," His voice echoed around her.

* * *

After finding an abandoned warehouse, Vincent and Barret had tried to calm
some sense into Kitsuko.

"I understand now, I understand now," She repeated breathlessly. Her eyes
had glazed over a faint sheen of silver, and she sat in trance-like state as
Barret and Vincent watched her closely. After a while, her eyes returned to
their normal colour, and she regained her thoughts and awareness.

"What is it that you understand now?" Vincent asked expectantly.

"It’s hard to explain," Kitsuko said, digging for words. "I’d heard legends
about this stuff for years and years, but I never believed it."

"Believed what?" Barret asked, turning to Kitsuko from the window.

"It’s said that of every power, there is a good side and an evil side. And
within the heart of each side, is the center being. The only one who has
either all good and no evil, or all evil and no good. Supposedly, both sides
will war against each other until the two center beings unite." Kitsuko
looked from Vincent to Barret, as if expecting them to have understood.

"I get it," Vincent said quietly.

"I sure as hell don’t. What’s this got to do with Aerith and Sephiroth?"

"I’ve been thinking about the resurrection they got from Holy," Kitsuko
said, again wishing she could have access to such power. "Supposedly, the
center beings can not be killed unless they unite, and, well.. Sephiroth and
Aerith were both resurrected by Holy because they are part Cetra."

"Could it be? Aerith is the center of good Cetra, and Sephiroth is the
center of evil Cetra?" Vincent sounded convinced to the extent of which he
would show it.

"It makes sense," Barret said, understanding.

"That’s exactly what it is," Kitsuko said, absently fingering the buttons of
her duster. "She told me telepathically."

"Why here? Why now?" Vincent asked, irritably. This was *not* the time for
Sephiroth to be screwing around with things. Not when he was finally happy..

Kitsuko looked at Vincent.

"Cloud."

* * *

Bokono awoke with such a start that she nearly fell out of the waiting room
chair. It had been a few solid hours since the nurse’s little status speech,
and apparently there was quite a storm raging outside. Boko had an unnerving
feeling of unease, however. She had dreamt of Kitsuko giving her some
message about a legend she’d heard of as a child, one of those corny old
good and evil bits. Without waking Liam, who slept fitfully in the next
chair over, Boko headed to Cid’s room to see how he was.

* * *

It had been hours that Cloud was kept in the room. Although Reno had
returned and untied him, he was still in the same damn room. He drifted in
and out of sleep, and for the last good hour or two, steady streams of
voices and words had been flowing through his mind. It reminded much of when
Sephiroth was haunting his subconscious, causing him to go into states of
delirium. But this was different. Rather than an inclination of takeover,
these voices and words were soothing and calm, and seemed to be calling him
to them. Or it, whatever it was..

Just as Reno was returning to Cloud’s room to begin the follow up on Hojo’s
experimentations, the roof above Cloud had begun to crack. Cloud strayed to
the other side of the square room, but the entire roof cracked. Just as Reno
entered the room, the roof caved in. Strange as it was, it became stranger
when the roof reversed its direction and caved.. outwards.., showering the
surrounding area with chunks of plaster and wood. Immediately, rain poured
down in the room in torrents. Reno lunged forward, about to grab Cloud, as
lightning sped down from the sky and struck the floor. Three bolts in all
struck around Cloud. One hit Reno directly. Similar to Aerith, the lightning
disappeared with Cloud, leaving behind the lifeless, burnt body of Reno.

When his fuzzed vision returned to normalcy, Cloud found himself above
Midgar and the storm. What he saw amazed him. Sephiroth floated a few feet
above the clouds, clothed in black shrouds and surrounded by blackness. His
eyes were glowing furiously green, and his skin was illuminated. Across from
him was Aerith, looking quite the opposite in white shrouds and surrounded
with a bright white light.

"Hojo did not know what he was doing," Sephiroth’s voice said, except his
lips did not move. "He messed with power he did not understand. He had no
right to be my father. And now, I am similar to Jenova Death as she is
similar to Jenova Life, we are to become one. That is what true Jenova
Synthesis means. The unification of Death with Life. And the true Cetra will
die with us. But you, Cloud, you are similar to Jenova Birth. You shall be
infused with both of us, good and evil, and you shall start the next chapter
of the Cetra."

"You’re insane," Cloud said, but lost his nerve when he realized his mouth
hadn’t moved. At once, his clothing melted from his body, and he was
surrounded in grey shrouds. Sephiroth moved towards Aerith, and their hands
touched. The light and dark pierced each other, and from it came a grey
energy which began to surround Cloud.

* * *

Bokono had left a note with Liam requesting him to stay at the hospital with
Cid, whose condition hadn’t changed. She knew she had to go to Kitsuko, that
something was wrong.

Kitsuko had climbed to the top of the warehouse, much to Vincent and Barret’
s dismay. Given her alternate universal powers, she could see everything
happening above. And she knew what was going on. Boko finally showed up, and
Vincent simply pointed upwards.

The stairway door flew open, and Boko joined Kitsuko at the top of the
building.

"Can we stop it?" Boko asked, not looking away from the sky.

"I don’t know if we should," Kitsuko said, watching the events above.

"They’re going to be killed, though!" Boko cried, becoming angry.

"This is supposed to happen, though," Kitsuko replied, unnaturally calm.
"Whether it happened 50 years ago, now, or 100 years in the future... it’s
supposed to happen."

"But what if Cloud dies?!"

Kitsuko looked at Boko, studying her for a moment. "I don’t know, Bokono."


* * *

Nearly all of the blackness and whiteness surrounding Sephiroth and Aerith
(respectively) was gone, mixing in a brilliant show of light and energy, and
was now completely surrounding Cloud. Thousands of years of Cetra knowledge,
wisdom and power entered Cloud, filling his very being.

‘Finish it, Sephiroth,’ Aerith’s voice said softly.

Sephiroth gave the encantment of what seemed to be a prayer in the ancient
language of the Cetra. A loose translation of his words pinpoint his prayer
as meaning,

"Continue our legacy, our journey, and our legends. By bearing children, you
shall open forth the door to a new era of the Cetra."

Together, Aerith and Sephiroth repeated the encantment in the Cetra language
until the last of their essence had surrounded Cloud. The greyness around
him was an equal mix of the white and black, good and evil. Slowly, as the
storm over Midgar faded, the greyness absorbed itself into Cloud. The three
figures were brought slowly back down from the sky, and ended up on the roof
where Kitsuko and Bokono stood waiting.

The two watched in amazement as Sephiroth stood up, and walked over to
Aerith, kneeling beside her. She stirred, and stood up as well. Together,
they roused Cloud, who slowly rose to his feet. Although his clothing had
melted away for the grey shrouds before, it was back in place once more. All
three looked as normal as they ever had. Cloud stood, regaining his balance,
and Bokono finally decided to approach them.

"Are you alright, Cloud?" She asked, looking him over. Kitsuko joined her.

"What exactly was that?"

Vincent and Barret were up on the roof then, both wanting to know what had
occurred.

"We no longer have any sort of power," Aerith said. "We’re mortal now."

Kitsuko and Bokono exchanged glances.

"She’s right," Sephiroth said. He smoothed back his silvery hair, and looked
from Cloud to Aerith. "We’re normal people now."

"I find that hard to believe," Kitsuko said defiantly. "I mean.. you’re
*Sephiroth*.."

"Not anymore," he replied, smiling. All the while, Cloud stood wordlessly
next to them.

"What about Cloud?" Bokono asked, watching him closely.

"He has to have children to continue the new Cetra," Sephiroth explained.
"But if he doesn’t, then there will be no Cetra at all. It’s up to him what
he wants to do."

Everyone looked at Cloud, as if asking him what he wanted to do.

"I.. want to go see Cid.."

* * *

It’s been six years since that happened. Although I thought I’d forget
little bits of detail, I didn’t.

As things ended up, Cloud was able to use his new powers to heal Cid. The
doctors were baffled, and write it off as a miracle. To each other, they
admitted their mutual feelings of love. Cloud sealed the fate of the Cetra
by accepting another man as his mate, ensuring there would never be another
Cetra after himself.

I don’t know what happened to Tifa after Cloud and Cid left her in Midgar,
but I have heard that the Honey Bee Inn has a new star whose becoming world
famous who goes by the name "Tifa". But until I know for sure, I can only
guess.

Barret has returned to a normal life with his daughter, Marlene. They reside
in a posh apartment in Costa Del Sol, happily provided by Liam Howlett.
Although Barret had a hard time adjusting to the new place, Marlene loves
living near the shore. The last I heard was that he had met a local woman
there and fell in love. I expect a wedding invitation anytime now.

Sephiroth wanted Aerith to stay with him. Despite their strange
relationship, Aerith turned him down. She and Vincent moved in together in
Nivelheim, as did Cid and Cloud. From what I know, the four have a very
close friendship. Aerith is expecting her second child. Sephiroth
disappeared shortly afterwards.

Bokono, Liam and myself began working on lyrics for Prodigy’s next album. I
never thought I’d do such a thing in my life, but it is kinda fun. I enjoy
the music industry, as does Boko. I know she misses Cloud, but I can see
there’s something there in the way she looks at Liam. It’s not like either
will ever say anything about it, though!

As for myself, I haven’t seen any of them except for Boko and Liam within
the past two or so years. And I know I’ll always love Cid. That’s just the
way things are. I wish the very best for him and Cloud, even if it means
that I’ll never have Cid again.

* * *

Kitsuko finished the sentence, and looked back at the story she had just
written. True, the visit to Boko so many years ago had proved to be the most
interesting visit ever. And for years afterward, she had thought about
writing the events down. And now, it was finished.

Kitsuko printed seven copies of the story, and prepared to mail one to each
of her longtime friends.

* * *

O W A R I
* * *