"How long has Sephiroth been missing?"

"I don't know. I think it's almost been six years now."

"Damn…"

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, but something doesn't feel right."

They heard a scream. His blue eyes flashed.

"Come on!"

They ran into town and saw the citizens running to their homes as quickly as their legs could carry them. The Zangan fighter's eyes widened. The town was a mess. Monsters were running amuck, striking down unfortunate people in their wake. The former SOLDIER cut down a creature hell-bent on taking down a man in his late thirties. After a quick 'thank you', the frightened man ran inside his home and locked the door. Something was indeed horribly wrong. Creatures usually stayed away from towns, much less attacked them. They were afraid of humans. Even more, something seemed disturbingly familiar with their aura, with their eyes…the SOLDIER's companion pointed in the distance. Her eyes were showing apparent confusion, unease, and curiosity. He looked over to where she was pointing and he saw with his enhanced sight a pool of Mako half a mile from the town. Even from such a distance, it was visible even to normal eyes due to its unusual brightness. What made it stand out even more though was that it wasn't its usual glowing green…it was black. He looked to his companion, already deep in thought.

"What's going on…?"

"Do you think that's why the monsters are here in town?"

"Yeah…Mako…no, Lifestream…is the life source of the planet, right?"

"Yes…why?"

"We have been everywhere, to every corner of the planet, but I have yet to see monsters like these."

"…Yeah, you're right."

"That black Lifestream may have something to do with it."

"What are you going to do?"

"Let's finish things off. After that, check on the town to see if anyone's hurt. I'm going to call Cid and see where else these things have been popping up. If this is worldwide, we're going to have a serious problem."

"Okay, I'm with you."

He gripped her hand tightly, before entering his battle stance.

"Alright, let's go."

Slipping her gloves on, she hoped to Holy that this was only a nuisance and not something else.


She cowered in the corner of the room, fearing the person in the room with her. The man seemed distant, like he was reflecting on something. She wanted to stay silent, but her fear overpowered her.

"Please! Please don't hurt me. Let me go!"

His attention shifted to her, but he wasn't seeing her. He saw something else, something he hated.

"You? You beg me to let you go when you killed her?"

She was becoming desperate. She had no idea what this monster was talking about. Her linen dress clung to her sides as she crawled over to him, making her voice overly sweet. She grabbed his arm.

"I didn't hurt anyone. Please, please let me go?"

The glow in his eyes flared. His face contorted in anger. He flung her to the wall opposite him. The peasant-girl yelled out in pain.

"Get your filthy hands off of me!! How dare you touch me!? You monster, you drench your voice in false sweetness after you kill the one I love!"

"You're the monster! You don't even know me! You're the monster for all the things you've done in this world!"

He shook slightly. She knew she wasn't leaving this room alive.

"All of my actions were manipulated by you, the bane of my existence!"

She saw something suddenly appear in his hand, and she began to shake violently, knowing it was that damned sword that killed her family. He took a single heavy step toward her.

"You killed her…you took away the only one I loved…"

The girl decided to be sarcastic her last few moments of life. Better than being afraid.

"You? Love? That's ridiculous. The only thing you love is destruction. I feel sorry for whoever you chose."

"SILENCE!!"

He sent his sword flying at her. Feeling it slice her belly, she screamed, hoping for it to end quickly. She felt another, and another, but she was dead after the second cut. He yelled out at her, not realizing that she was already dead and that he was crying again.

"Suffer like you made me suffer!"

Blood was covering his hair, his clothing, his face, everything around him as he continued cutting at the already mutilated corpse through blurred vision.

"Why did you leave me here alone?!"

'I'll always be with you.'

He stopped, startled at the sudden memory. He couldn't see her face. He could hear her voice, but couldn't see her face.

"I…"

'No matter what, I'll be by your side always.'

He fell to his knees, dropping his bloody sword. He held his face in his hands.

"I can't see your face! How could I have forgotten? Where are you?"

'…here by your side.'

He looked to the side, seeing the bloody corpse next to him. He cried out in anguish.

"Aaaauughhhh!!"

His gloved fingers bit into his scalp as he sat there wondering why everything had gone so wrong.

After a time, he looked at the body, realizing that he had killed yet another person, probably the eighth person this week. He had to remember her face. He set fire to the room and left Sector 7 to go and see her for the first time in almost eight years.

"I'm coming Loren…."


Cloud slashed the remaining monster, then planted his sword in the ground and leaned on it, panting slightly. After a few minutes, he strapped the sword to his back and spotted Tifa waving her arms around, announcing that it was safe to come outside. The villagers came out slowly and soon were milling around Cloud and Tifa, cheering and thanking the planet that they were safe.

"Tifa?"

"Yes?"

"How many casualties?"

"Only three. We got lucky."

Tifa's brows became creased with worry.

"Hey, are you alright?"

The blonde man shook his head, warding off dizziness. His shoulder burned horribly, almost like someone was putting salt, lemon, and fire on an open wound.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I just got a cut on my shoulder. Shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Tifa took out her cure materia and muttered a Cure 3 spell. The familiar green aura covered him and he shuddered slightly as the healing took effect. The two fighters looked up to the sky as Cid's airship landed on the town's outskirts. Tifa and Cloud entered the airship and looked at Cid expectantly. Said man shook his head, answering their question instantly. Cloud punched the side of the ship.

"Hey, watch it! This baby is brand new!"

"Damn it, if it's not one thing, it's another!"

"Cid, how bad is it?"

"It's not that bad, at least not from what I saw. A few towns have been raided already, but with all the towns and even out in the middle of nowhere, these weird black pools are popping up like the planet's got a bad case of acne or something."

Tifa looked to Cloud worriedly.

"What do you think is going on?"

"Jenova."

The new voice startled the woman, who quickly turned around to face him.

"Vincent?"

"I called Cid once I saw what was happening. This is Jenova's work."

Cloud strode over to him.

"How do you know?"

"I can sense her diseased aura in the Lifestream. She may be attempting to destroy the planet by contaminating the Lifestream and fusing her cells with new monsters and people that are being born. By doing this, her influence over the planet will be absolute."

Cid slapped his fist in his hand.

"How the hell are we going to stop it then, if she's makin' Jenova monsters and people? We can't exactly tell people to stop havin' kids and we can't wipe out all the creatures on the planet!"

"We'll just have to eliminate all the creatures that have appeared so far and see what we can do about the diseased Lifestream pools."

Cloud shook his head and slumped his shoulders in resignation.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. We'll just have to do the best we can until we figure out what to do."

He turned around and headed off to his cabin rest his tired muscles. Tifa followed and Cid headed off to the deck to smoke a cigarette. Vincent decided to go to his own cabin and get a little sleep. He hadn't slept the past couple of days because he was investigating what Jenova was up to.

Several hours later…


Vincent quickly turned a corner, chasing the elusive black-haired angel. She was fast, but he knew in his heart that he was faster. If only he could close the distance between them…

"Wait!"

She paused for a second and then jumped into a deep crevasse that seemed to go on forever. Vincent jumped in right after her, not caring that he may die when he hit the floor if there was one. Quickly transforming into Chaos, he spread his wings and sped down after the free-falling woman. All around him he heard screams, laughing, so many voices speaking at once. He reached her and scooped her up in his arms. He flew up, back to the place where they had been running. Placing his feet securely on the ground, he looked at the woman in his arms. His relief quickly turned to shock. The poor angel was covered in blood and shards of what looked like glass. Her lips trembled and her tear-rimmed eyes were threatening to close.

"It…it hurts…"

Vincent inwardly panicked.

"It's alright. You'll be fine."

"Please…I…"

Her eyes went blank and her trembling stopped. Her skin became devoid of what little color she had and her chest stopped rising. Vincent held her close as his eyes filled with tears. He shut his eyes tightly and bared his teeth in a grimace, his hair falling in his face as he buried his face in her chest. He howled to the endless sky for all he was worth.

"NO!!!!!!"

Vincent opened his eyes and sat up slowly, grasping his head with his human hand.

"Loren…"

'I'm not supposed to be having these dreams…Lucrecia is there for me.'

"Yes, but when was she there when you needed her the most?"

'Chaos, she had no choice. She was imprisoned beneath the waterfall.'

"This is true, but hadn't you decided that you loved Loren, not Lucrecia?"

'That was because I thought Lucrecia was dead.'

"Come now. It can't be that easy. When you choose to love someone and love them fully, that lasts a long time, whether you like it or not. You can't just force it out."

'Since when did you care or know about love, Chaos?'

"We've been here together for a long time, Vincent. I would know many things. And I may be a demon, and a good one at that, but I can love. Not the way you humans do, but a love all the same."

'Oh? And who have you loved, Chaos?'

"If you want to know so badly, my host, I have loved many demons. I loved Hatred, Death, and Oblivion."

'You loved Death?'

"Yes. As I said, a demon's love is not the same as a human's. We would go and spread our names around and then have a sort of courtship, mate, and care for the young if there are any, and then attempt to kill each other. If neither of us dies, we have an eternal respect for each other."

'Oh.'

"I can see through you, Vincent. You care for the woman, much more than you'd dare admit at this time. It doesn't help your situation by you having dreams about her."

'It doesn't matter. Sephiroth was there to care for her. He loved her…and…and she loved him. Nothing is going to change that.'

"You're going to stubborn, so I'll relent for now."

'Thank you.'

Vincent lay back down on his bed and closed his eyes. Another night of wasted sleep…

A/N: Sorry I was so late with this chapter, lots of things have happened. At least I got it up though, ne? Well, I hope you enjoy. I'm hoping to make updates a little more regular now that I'm not doing anything that'll take up my time. Please review thankies!