It was an ordinary evening in September, the day before I was due back to school. It was unusually cold, and the broken radiator in my room did nothing for my practically frostbitten toes. I tossed and turned for a while, unable to sleep thanks to the chill and the gale outside. Eventually I sighed, and clambered out of bed, figuring I might as well tire myself out if I wasn't able to sleep. I almost immediately regretted my decision when my feet met with the freezing floor. Hissing in pain, I stuffed the frozen appendages on the end of my legs into an old pair of Nike trainers, and threw on my old white sweater over my bare chest. Shivering at the cold, I shuffled through my bedroom door and headed on downstairs.

My plan on playing Final Fantasy until I collapsed was, however, short lived. The wind had knocked over a tree onto the power lines, so we had no electricity. I was momentarily baffled, and about to draw the curtains closed again when I spotted a flash of something bright pink in the midst of the storm. Taking a second look, I spotted our cat, Marly, yowling pitifully in the back garden. Marly was a rescue cat we had taken in 5 years before. We had found him eating my younger sister Namine's pet canary, and Mum had all been for shooting him on the spot, but Dad had been taken with his bright pink fur, and took him down to the vet's. The vet had said that someone had obviously dyed him, and it would grow out soon enough. Dad had wheedled and pleaded with Mum until she agreed, so he stayed. Strangely, his pink fur never grew out, but sometimes it looked brighter than others. I suspected Dad of treachery.

Marly was a coward of a cat – he would yowl and cry at the slightest thing. He was also extremely stupid; he would forever be walking into things and falling down the stairs. He once even fell out of my bedroom window, but he landed in the pond, so he survived. Mum was furious, since it scared away all her frogs. And if cats had a sexual preference, I swear Marly would be gay. He spent all of his time with Mum and her flowers, and I caught him more than once watching me in the bath with his tongue lolling out.

I don't know why I'm rambling on about my camp cat. I guess it's because that, so very soon, my life would be changed in a flash. And definitely not for the better.

Unlocking the backdoor, I cursed at the cold, figuring I might as well rescue Marly before he froze to death or got crushed by a flying cow. And by that I don't mean my Form Tutor. I huddled inside my too-small sweater, and yelped when the wind nearly knocked me flat on my face. I hurtled across the garden towards Marly, and tried to grab hold of him so I could get back inside the house ASAP, when he gave a particularly loud yowl and sped out into the woods at the back of the house. Grunting in frustration, I went after him, rationalising that Mum might kill me if she discovered a dead pink cat in her Begonias.

As I entered the forest, I noticed the wind subside somewhat. It was still freezing, but the lack of wind took the edge of the cold, and I carried on, grateful for the improvement. After ten minutes of searching, I still couldn't find Marly, and I was getting seriously pissed. I was covered in scratches and cuts from the forest, and there was mud up to my calves. I decided that in five minutes, if I still didn't find him, I would head home – screw the cat. It was just when I made that decision I heard a yelp off to my right. I struck out towards it, wondering if Marly was being eaten by some giant spider or whatever – these were pretty thick woods. Another, louder, noise prompted me to move faster.

How stupid I was.



After working my way through a particularly nasty bramble thicket, I found myself on the edge of a large clearing. I had been here many times in my childhood with Namine, and we had played horsey on the large overhanging branch that hung just above the ground. It was this branch that drew my attention, and what I saw froze my blood in my veins to a solid icicle, and my chest contracted so tightly that I couldn't physically breathe even if I wanted to.

A man was tied tightly to the branch – he was bleeding profusely from the chest and neck, and both his legs looked broken. His face was puffed and swollen, and covered in bruises. Round him were gathered a group of people. Most of them were men, though there was one short blonde woman. There was a stiff, official looking man with a head of brown hair; a shocking redhead who looked as thin as me; a boy not much older than me with silver hair pooling just on his shoulders; and two other boys on the far side of the clearing. One had a blonde Mohawk, and the other had a large purple fringe over one eye. All of them were wearing the same black trench coat and black gloves.

But the most terrifying of all was the man standing over the body. I wondered through my terror if he was some relation to the silver haired boy, since their hair was exactly the same, except that it fell almost to his ankles. I noticed with revulsion that the sword in his hands was covered in blood almost up to the hilt. I heard a groan, and almost cried out in shock when the man on the branch groaned and stirred. The redhead yelled in surprise.

"Why isn't he dead yet?!"

The silver-haired man growled. Wordlessly, he took his sword and plunged it into the poor man's chest, until it came out the other side. The redhead started, and the blonde with the Mohawk buried his head in the purple-haired boy's shoulder. The leader, as it seemed, withdrew his sword and inspected the man briefly, before plunging the sword back in, and my brain stopped. As the sword withdrew for the second time with a sickening schluck, the world titled sickeningly, and my knees shook.

Time stood still.

I screamed in horror, and all of them whipped round to face me. The blonde girl shrieked in horror; "Sephiroth!!" and turned towards the murderer. Sephiroth, the terrifying man, advanced towards me, the others followed, and I finally felt not just fear, but the danger I was in. Stumbling, I turned and ran back through the bushes.

The blood was pounding in my ears, my burst of energy simply from the fear and revulsion of what I had just witnessed. The nausea was curling in my stomach, and I retched, my vomit spattering all over the vegetation, and leaving a trail for them to find me. I heard voices and sped up, taking no heed to the injuries I was inflicting on myself as I tore through the sharp branches and thorns.

I recognised the redhead's voice, calling from somewhere behind me. "Damn, he's fast!" he yelled distantly. I heard a muffled reply, and suddenly the woman burst out of the undergrowth in front of me. I skidded to a halt, mud splattering further up my body, leaves and twigs flying in all directions. She flung herself towards me; I screamed again and threw myself sideways, nearly colliding with the redhead who had appeared suddenly to my right. He tried to catch me, but I ducked below his arms and dived back into the trees. I heard the woman curse, and then cut off in surprise. It was then I fell over a knarled tree root in my path and went crashing to the ground. The sound reverberated 

throughout the forest, and I heard exclamations come from all around me. I jumped up in horror, and crumpled under my knee. I hauled myself along the path, my knee trembling in pain, but there was a rustle behind me - and I turned.

It was Sephiroth, and he had a gun trained on me. My eyes were wide in fear, and I froze in place. Time seemed to freeze again, the both of us locked in another dimension inside his slitted eyes. My hand gripped onto a large branch and I took hold, my last chance to defend myself. His eyebrows shot up in amusement, and his grip tightened on the trigger. There was a crashing in the bush and the redhead emerged, panting, heavily coated in mud. He took one looked and bellowed "SEPHIROTH, NO!" As he pulled the trigger.

I felt the bullet pierce into my arm, and I was vaguely aware of a horrible scream, gargled and distorted, and the horrified face of the redhead. The burning spread through my shoulder, and the scream intensified and became so loud my ears throbbed. The redhead was closer, right in front of me, and I realised I was the one screaming. I caught a last look of Sephiroth, with a slow predatorial smirk across his face.

The world went black.