Haaaa, finally updated! I chose Finnish for Nibelese because I figured it was isolated enough, would suit the area of Nibelheim, and because I can't find even a bad translator for Sami; they both would have suited the area imo.

Laguna rubbed his thumbs together, laying on the foldout bed on his back; the room was dark with a small glow coming from about the door. "So, Reeve...You seem to put a lot of trust in your guards."

Reeve shifted in the darkness. "They're dear friends."

Bughe continued to snore, the old lore master conked out from too much excitement in one night. Laguna grinned in the dark, thinking about how Raine would complain about his snoring and sleep talk. "Hm. My two closest advisers are old, dear friends of mine. They're runnin' Esthar while I'm gone. Guess if we don't make it back, they'll have to keep at it..."

Reeve sighed. "I'm sure you'll make it back. I'll have to take a tour of your country someday, if you wouldn't mind."

"If ve get out of zis predicament first!" Odine shuffled about on his bed, trying to get comfortable. "A sorceress on ze rampage here, and none of my suppression inventions vithin reach!"

"Maybe you can make some here, Odine." Laguna offered hopefully.

"We'll think of something." Reeve said, trying to be reassuring. "For now, we should probably rest."

Squall heard paws coming closer to him, and he looked behind him, Nanaki coming to sit beside him as he looked up at the sorceress' knight. "I was hoping tonight would have been more pleasant."

Squall gave a humorless chuckle. "Yeah. Me too. " he sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "I have to wonder if we're going to be safe here during the night..."

"Yes. Sephiroth is not that close, not yet. Hopefully the city will be peaceful during the night, however. We spoke of it with Tseng." Nanaki replied.

"Who is he..." Squall muttered, the book he read vague. A madman was how the book described him. What kind of madman can summon a meteor and for what purpose? "Sephiroth, I mean."

The red beast sat quietly for a moment, obviously judging whether to speak. "The son of Jenova. The man in Rinoa's dream. The one who used the Black Materia to summon Meteor, attempting to become a god through the absorption of the Lifestream."

Green cat eyes...Squall's eyes narrowed. "Is Cloud related to him somehow?"

The beast raised a furry brow. "No."

"His eyes turned green and cat like yesterday." Squall said, terribly suspicious.

Nanaki hummed. "I heard about that."

"Would you know why?"

The four legged warrior sighed, giving a tired look. "You should really ask Cloud yourself. It's not my right to divulge his history, but...he's not a risk, if that's what worries you."

Squall looked skeptical. "He's very strange."

"I don't think we'd have him any other way." Nanaki was grinning. "He's defeated Sephiroth several times. Hopefully, this will be the last time we see him."

The knight crossed his arms. "He was in the Jenova War...How much do those books omit?"

"A lot. You probably read one of the more complete books." Nanaki responded. "It was terrible."

"It said that a group fought Shinra and tracked down Sephiroth, and that in the end your planet had to destroy a summoned meteor with a materia and...Lifestream." A well of souls under the ground? A living planet with a will of its own?

The beast chuckled. "Oh, it left out a lot, then. We were a part of that group, if you hadn't deduced that already."

"Mind telling me about it?"

Nanaki laid down. "There are many horrors in the recent past than I would care to remember. Jenova...I heard Reeve spoke of it to you."

The teen hummed, rubbing his thumbs together. "To Laguna and Quistis, after they made sure we weren't like it. But...If Sephiroth is that thing's son..."

"It's a bit complicated. He had a human mother, but when she was pregnant with him a scientist injected the fetus with Jenova cells."

"Why would someone do something like that?" Squall was perplexed by that kind of wanton experimentation. "The book I read said it was mistaken as a woman belonging to another race, but it turned out their assumption was incorrect."

Nanaki gave his best impression of a sardonic smile. "They thought they could make an Ancient, a being that could take Shinra to a place full of Lifestream. 'The Promised Land.' Instead they made a being with great strength, and unfortunately a great will that survived his death. A will so great that he will not dissipate into the Lifestream, one that, four years ago almost killed the planet."

"How could Cloud defeat such a thing..."

The beast chuckled. "He's not exactly a weakling, if you haven't noticed. We were there to help, too."

The teen grunted, thinking. "...Was he in that special project? SOLDIER?"

"...No." Nanaki said in an almost ominous manner.

Squall and Nanaki turned at the sound of creaking steps, Rinoa, Quistis and Selphie appearing in the magical light glowing in the bar. The teen raised a brow, thinking that they would have bedded down for the night. The beast huffed a chuckle. "Can't sleep just yet?"

Quistis gave him a smile. "I don't like being left out of the loop. Obviously Zell and Irvine are too busy sleeping," she rolled her eyes playfully, "but I was hoping Squall could give a basic rundown of what happened." Her friend nodded, and collected his thoughts to tell them, Nanaki ready to help.

'Are you sure we'll be safe here, tonight?' Tifa whispered in bed, an arm holding Marlene. The girl looked at Tifa, then at Denzel, giving a consternated look. Cloud and Tifa always talked Nibelese when they didn't want to worry them, but it caused them anxiety nonetheless.

Cloud gave a nod. 'Yeah. He sent those monsters ahead of him.'

'What do we do in the morning?'

'I'm hoping she tells me.'

"We're gonna be okay, right?" Denzel asked.

Cloud gave the child's shoulder a little squeeze. "Yeah. Don't worry, we'll protect you." he tried reassuring the child, though he was unsure if he was successful. He himself was unsure if he could, but he'd do his damnedest to keep them safe. The warrior looked back into Tifa's eyes, and gave her a gentle smile before attempting to get some sleep; he would take a shift downstairs later.

"He's comin' your way, y'know," Zack's voice said matter-of-factually.

Cloud sighed, sitting in the familiar flower field. "Yep." He turned his head, peeking at Aerith. "Talking to Marlene and Rinoa?"

The flower girl nodded. "Marlene needs reassurance, don't you think?"

"Yeah. So, how are we gonna stop Sephiroth this time?"

Zack thumped his chest. "We're gonna help ya, man!"

Cloud raised a brow. "...How?" They were dead.

He heard a small laugh behind him. "Just go to your Promised Land. We'll be waiting for you." Aerith said.

The warrior looked away and down. "What is he going to do to me..." That nightmare had him on edge all evening.

"I dunno, but you aren't gonna give up because of a stupid threat, are you?" Zack asked.

Cloud shook his head. "If he makes me hurt my family..."

"We'll be there for you, Cloud." Aerith said reassuringly.

Zack snorted. "It's not like he hasn't lied to you before."

"I know. And I'm grateful. But..."

The flower field disappeared, and he was lying in bed again. Cloud looked around with his eyes, refocusing his sight as the fogginess cleared away. Something cold was laying next to him, and he looked down towards it. Denzel's lifeless eyes looked towards him, his face white with death's pallor. His breath froze as his eyes studied the horrible sight, then looked beyond the boy; Marlene and Tifa were just as dead and pale as Denzel, cold blood coagulated from gory holes in their abdomens. They all had a strange black mist slowly weeping from their bodies.

"This isn't real..." He touched Tifa's face, the woman's cheek cold as ice like a long dead corpse, stale blood pooled in her mouth and pillow. Cloud bit his lower lip, softly shaking her head. He leapt out of bed, looking around in a panic; the warrior charged out of the room and looked about the living space. The rooms were full of death, his new acquaintances just as dead as his family. Peeking into his office, Yuffie was impaled on her shuriken, dried tears still on her cheeks.

"It feels so real, doesn't it, Cloud?" A dark voice whispered.

Cloud looked about defiantly. "But it's not. This is the best you can do, now? Nightmares? You're pathetic, Sephiroth."

"A whelp like you, calling me pathetic? A puppet pretending his lines are not there?" Sephiroth sounded almost angry, the warrior picking up on it.

Cloud sneered. "You're the only puppet here." He walked out of the room, and down the stairs; Sephiroth was there, staring him down.

"I'll show you horrors you've never dreamed of, Cloud."

The warrior closed his eyes, trying to focus on his sleeping body. "This is stupid. Bother me when you actually wanna fight, you coward." He felt the nightmare give way, and he floated downwards, slowly.

"Damn, man." Zack mumbled in the darkness.

"I think you actually hurt his ego a little. You should watch out." Aerith said almost playfully.

"Screw his ego." Cloud said simply.

Zack chuckled. "That's the spirit, Spike! Hey, you should probably wake up now. We'll see you soon, okay?"

"We'll be back, I promise."

Cloud slowly opened his eyes, a warm, living Denzel sleeping soundly next to him as his arm draped protectively around the boy. He twisted his head back to look at the clock, then remembered the lights were out until he noticed it blinking "12:00"; the power was back on. Shuffling out of bed as quietly as he could and grabbing his phone, he tiptoed out of the room and checked on the denizens of the darkened rooms, Rinoa's light balls gone. Squall, Rinoa and Quistis slept in one room, and Zell in the other. '...Irvine and Selphie must have taken a shift.'

He made his way into the galley, the low lights of the bar on and Nanaki deep in sleep by the garage door; the warrior looked about, Irvine and Selphie looking at him and giving him a wave that he returned. After a few minutes he came to the front of the bar after starting the coffee maker, deciding it would be the prudent thing to do. "Mornin'...You haven't been down here too long, I hope?"

They shook their heads. "I was about to wake up Zell to give him a turn." Irvine said.

Cloud gave a weak smile, surprising the two. "I can take it from here, guys. Thanks for watching over the bar."

"Selphie smiled back. "No problem!" She cocked her head playfully. "You're not as big a grump as I first thought." Irvine shook his head, hand covering his face.

The warrior chuckled, walking towards the galley again. "Guess I feel better about you guys." He looked at his cellphone, it was a bit past four in the morning. "You should get some more sleep while you can."

A couple of hours later and the large group congested the front of the bar, Tifa fixing up something the inter-dimensional travelers would eat; she was informed by Cloud when she awoke an hour later that they didn't like the usual, basic breakfast that was common in Edge. She settled on lunch for breakfast, making fried rice to sate everyone's appetite by the time they were all up.

Denzel and Marlene cautiously walked down the stairs dressed, eyeing the new people. They went to sit next to Cloud, the man nursing his bowl; he looked up at them and gave a soft smile they returned. Tifa moved two bowls to them, and started digging into her own as the children picked up their chopsticks.

"How come they aren't using sticks?" Denzel asked; the strangers were using spoons.

Tifa spoke up. "They don't know how to, sweetie."

"Marlene frowned. "How come?"

"...Remember when I said they're from faraway? I meant they're not from here. This isn't their world." Cloud said before eating more of his meal. The children looked back, gawking. One of them noticed, giving a wave back.

"It's rude to stare..." Tifa said. Looking back at Cloud, she whispered to him. "Did she...talk to you?"

Cloud nodded. "The church. She said they'd be there."

The bartender frowned. "They?"

"Zack and Aerith. I don't know, it was kind of cryptic."

She was giving him a funny look. "If you say so."

Yuffie picked at her bowl, obviously lost in her thoughts as she stared at a piece of chicken jutting out of the mound of rice. The others were talking here and there about last night's misadventure or their uneventful lookout shifts. Rinoa was speaking about her newest dream to Squall, the teen holding a more serious look on his face than usual.

"Yuffie?" It was Selphie. The ninja looked towards her, a brow raised. "Are you okay?"

"...Yeah. I guess last night really took it's toll on me." She took a bite of her meal, lowering her gaze.

Selphie patted her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Yuffie." She had seen what happened last night.

The ninja gave a small smile. "Thanks." She sighed, tapping her bowl with her sticks. "...I guess I'm the new leader of Wutai, now."

The teen knew they were related, but she didn't know Yuffie was the next in line to a throne. "Um, I guess that means you gotta be guarded, huh?"

Yuffie let out a sincere laugh. "As if. I'm more than capable by myself."

"If you say so. But we'll have your back, anyway!" Selphie said with a smile.

The ninja swirled her rice. "Yeah. We all have each other's backs." She looked over, Quistis telling Zell what could possibly be going on; obviously someone had brought up Aerith during the night. Cloud or Nanaki? She looked towards Squall, the man holding a stony expression as his father and Rinoa sat next to him. He was dismissing himself from the table, bowl in hand as the rest finished up, stopping to meet Tifa and Cloud.

"So...Where are we going?" He asked the two, a brow raised.

Cloud sighed, head resting on a hand. "We're going to the church in the Midgar Ruins. From there, we'll see."

Tifa gave a tired smile. "Just going one step at a time, um..."

"Squall." He frowned. "The church?"

Cloud nodded, not looking at the teen. He looked up, Squall still waiting on a proper answer. "Some friends might be there that can help."

"You mean the flower girl, Cloud?" Marlene inquired, peeking past Denzel.

"Yeah." He looked back at Squall. "The woman in Rinoa's dreams."

The teen nodded as he went to put his bowl in the sink. He turned to Tifa, giving a nod. "Thank you." The woman nodded back with a smile, then turned back to Cloud, whispering something to him again.

Cloud, Tifa, Rinoa and Squall made their way towards the plaza, having left the others to guard the bar. The blonde warrior was obviously on alert, the noise of many people and the media becoming audible as they came ever closer. Tifa looked back towards the bar, obviously worried about the children despite the security within. She looked at Cloud with worrisome eyes, and he met hers with that hint of concern only she would notice.

"Do you think they'll be alright?"

"I think so."

Tifa hummed, then looked about the nearly empty street. As they reached the bend a mass of people could be seen crowding around the burnt out WRO building, the media flashing their cameras and making news stories. "Is it safe for them to be so close to the building?"

Squall sighed. "Probably not. Looks like people in general don't change much between dimensions..."

Cloud snorted. "That's oddly reassuring." He looked about, then motioned to walk across the road and towards a large monument. "This way. We can avoid the crowd."

They followed behind their guide, eyeing the crowd before passing by the monument. Rinoa looked up at it, blinking. "What's this?"

Tifa looked back at her, then towards the monument. "Meteorfall Monument. It's supposed to be a memorial for everyone that didn't make it..."

"Oh..." Rinoa responded lowly.

Tifa moved to the sorceress' side, and gently held her shoulder. "It's okay. Things ended up how they ended up, and we just go on with our lives."

Squall looked up at the monument, wondering why they couldn't have made a more uplifting statue; in the end he decided that perhaps they wanted to keep the image fresh in the minds of the denizens of the city, like a warning. Looking back, he noticed a strange creature sneaking towards Cloud's leg from behind the monument as the man passed. "Watch out!"

Cloud immediately turned around, looking about for the danger as First Tsurugi flashed out of his sheath as the others prepared their battle stances. "What?"

"Och! Laddy, dinnae have somewhere t'gae?"

The warrior relaxed as he looked down, snorting. "Cait Sith." He picked up the cat like creature, letting it ride his back. "Thanks for the assist last night."

The cat waved at the three others, grinning. "It wae nothin'! Hey, laddy with thae grumpy face! Ye an' yer girl did a good number on that bull, dinnae?"

Rinoa blinked. "Um...What?"

"You were there?" Squall said, trying to remember if he'd seen the creature before.

Cait Sith nodded. "Ah was wearin' Reeve tha night."

Tifa giggled. "Cait Sith is a robot that's connected to Reeve. He has an AI, but sometimes Reeve interacts actively through it."

Squall looked over at the woman as they slipped through another path. "Oh. So, Reeve's watching us now."

"Yep! We have a link with the bar."

They continued on quietly, Tifa or Cloud occasionally answering a question about the city here and there. When was it built, how it developed, when they moved there. Rinoa became more relaxed around the couple, and she gave Tifa a searching look. "So...How'd you two get together?"

Tifa almost turned the same shade as her eyes, and Cait Sith was stiffling a giggle. Cloud said nothing, but the girl noticed his ears were red. Squall sighed.

"Rinoa..."

The woman bit her lip and played with a strand of her chocolate brown hair. "Um, we knew each other since we were kids, and um...we went through a lot together. I guess you could say adversity brought us close."

"Oh, so childhood friends who became lovers! That's so cute!" Rinoa chimed.

Tifa's eyes widened. "N-no, it's not quite like that..." It was obvious the subject made her uncomfortable.

"...We adventured together. Without her, I wouldn't have made it." Cloud said quietly.

Rinoa nodded. "Squall and I went through a lot, too. I guess when you're close to someone else and get to see them under pressure, get to talk to them alone, when you have to depend on them...it brings you close."

Cloud looked back a moment, a ghost of a smile on his face. "Yeah. It does."

After some time they reached the edge of the ruins, vast and mangled. "...Well, we're almost there." Cloud said flatly, continuing on his way. Tifa picked up on his anxiety, walking to his side as they moved towards the shadow of the plate, cast despite the overcast sky. The five looked towards the northern sky, noticing darker clouds gathering from the sea; they instinctively knew they were running out of time.

"So...this Sephiroth guy...what's his problem?" Rinoa asked.

Cloud looked back a moment. "He doesn't like to stay dead."

"Nanaki said as much last night." Squall said.

"How much did he tell you?"

The teen shook his head. "Not enough. Just how Sephiroth came about. I don't know much more than that, and that you were part of the group that stopped him."

Cloud nodded as he looked in front of him. "I see." He paused. "I guess you're still curious."

"It'd be nice to know more..." Squall pressed; he hated not knowing the whole story, that could leave out valuable knowledge.

The warrior sighed. "Sephiroth was the greatest of warriors in SOLDIER. One day, he went crazy and burned down our hometown."

Rinoa looked at the back of Cloud's head wide eyed. "How was he stopped?"

Cloud shook his head. "...It doesn't matter."

Tifa bit her lip as they approached a large, mostly intact building. "Ehkä meidän pitäisi kertoa heille lisää?"

Cloud looked at her with a wary face. "Myöhemmin." he said quietly. Looking back at his two companions from another world, he nodded. "We're here."

"This is the church?" Squall asked, judging the dilapidated building.

"Mhm. This used to be the Sector Five slums, before Meteorfall. The church has a spring of healing water inside." Tifa offered as Cloud opened up the door.

Walking inside, the church was awfully quiet besides the footsteps of the four and the sound of flowing water. The atmosphere felt somewhat different to the warrior in the grey light of the mid-morning, as if the air itself was about to give birth to something.

"Where are they..." Cloud whispered, his face becoming despondent.

Rinoa looked about, then walked up to the pool of water situated in the back of the church. She crouched down, looking into the clear waters. "There's a lot of magic here..." The sorceress put the tips of her fingers into the pool, and suddenly felt consciousness slip somewhere else; just like in her dream.

"Rinoa?" Squall looked over at her, seeing her crouched by the pool. "...Are you alright?" He swallowed, remembering what she said in her dream...No, it was a premonition; he took out his gunblade and faced the door.

Tifa looked at him with a concerned frown. "What is it, Squall?"

"This is what happened in Rinoa's dream...there's gonna be monsters swarming in here next." He hoped it wasn't true, but the sound of groans and screeches came from outside, distant at first but quickly closing in.

Cloud took out First Tsurugi and one of his longer swords. "Anything else happen in that dream?"

Before Squall could respond, the church doors burst open; what stood in front of them weren't ordinary monsters but what looked to be partially mutated humans. Some were partially charred, some cut up and rearranged, tentacles pushed out of mouths and claws instead of fingers. "What the hell...?" These were corpses from last night.

One leapt at the teen, and was immediately torn in two with the explosion of the gunblade's trigger. Tifa pummeled another that thought her weak, followed by another; she grasped the second challenger and smashed it into the other, hard and then kicked it in the center of its mass and into a stone pillar.

Cloud charged at a particularly large challenger, the creature obviously amalgamated from several victims. It screamed as he dug one of his blades into it, and he narrowly dodged a tentacle meant for his heart. Cait Sith held on for dear life, but seemed to be focusing on something in its hand. A moment later and the creature was burning, the warrior retreating a few feet before starting his work on it again.

Squall slashed into one of its several clawed arms, slicing it off as he dodged another beast that leaped into the air, Tifa clocking it in the face as it approached her. She looked over towards Cloud, the man breathing heavily; something was wrong. "Cloud!"

He looked back at her, but his face was confused, his eyes those hard green slits she remembered from before, when Cloud wasn't Cloud. He didn't attack, but simply stood there, as if unsure what he was seeing. "Tifa...I don't know who..."

Rinoa felt herself gently fall face first into the darkness, and then into a green, glowing stream of mumbling voices. It was soothing and so very peaceful to the sorceress. But where was everyone else? No...Her dream told her what would happen, what to do. She had to hurry. Rinoa reached out to the Lifestream, feeling the energy course about and through her.

"You're here." said a feminine voice.

"Not a moment too soon, either!" said a playful, masculine voice.

Rinoa smiled. "I guess we're gonna meet for real..." She focused on the stream, pulling out the voices.

The female voice giggled. "Yes. Oh, I hope Cloud can hold on long enough, until we get there."

"Is he in trouble?" The sorceress tugged some more, shapes taking form from beautiful green streams; human shapes holding her hands. The dream showed those terrible eyes, but she didn't think it was really going to happen.

"Sephiroth's trying to mess with his head again." The male said, not amused. "Don't worry, we'll help ol' Spike."

Rinoa pulled more, and felt herself float upwards towards the black oblivion she came from, then heard the babbling of the pool as she moved ever closer to her body. Suddenly she felt a dark presence pool over her connection to her body, cutting her off from the others as dark laughter flooded her mind. "Sephiroth...?"

"...You can't interfere, little sorceress."

She could hear the sounds of the battle just above the pool of water, Tifa's pleading and Squall's grunts as he fought. Cloud was saying something inaudible as a chorus of monstrous screeches tried to drown the human sounds out.

"Rinoa."

"Hm?"

"Use your power. They need us up there."

Sephiroth's darkness surrounded her, but Rinoa turned inward towards that inner light that glowed in her chest. She focused on it, hoping it could light the way...

Cloud wasn't sure what was happening. One second he was fighting a large monstrosity, the next he was slicing through a person. His head hurt and his eyes burned as he looked over to where his comrades were; they were gone, replaced with more monsters. He shook his head, a throb threatening to make him forget everything that happened in the last few moments.

He felt something grasping at his shoulder and he tore it off and to the floor, it babbled like the rest of the monsters, monsters devouring and killing the people amassed at the door of the church. The warrior lifted his swords defensively, looking back and forth. 'What is this? Where is everyone? Where's Tifa?'

"Tifa!"

A gargling scream came out of one of the monsters as it whipped a person into the wall of the church, the thing trying to speak. It came closer, and he brought himself into a fighting position. The monster paused, softly murmuring to itself, or maybe to him, he wasn't sure.

"Tifa...Where are you?"

It murmured again before smashing itself into an approaching person, using it to knock down a group of innocents. What were they here for? Did they need the healing waters here, or...why was he here? This thing was hurting people. Cloud grimaced before charging the thing, and it tried to jump back as he brought his sword down to kill it before it harmed more people. It screamed, and it almost sounded like his name.

His sword hit something hard and metallic, and another monster had parried with its giant hand claw. Blue eyes glowered at him, and it yelled things at him. Cloud shook his head. They weren't trying to kill him, why? A terrible pain went through his shoulder and he instinctively pulled his weapon away and towards the mass that layed upon him; he cut it though and he looked in horror as he split a child in two, making him freeze.

"Cl...oud."

That other monster he almost tore apart was holding him now, from behind, pulling him away, and he stiffened. Why was a child biting him, but this thing wasn't? What the hell is going on? Who said his name? "Let me go..." he growled.

"Cloud..."

He turned around to look at the creature. Ruby eyes pierced his own, and he looked back to see another monster standing still by the water's edge, spidery wings grazing the floorboards. Cloud looked forward again, the other creature again fighting the mass of people...Was this a Jenova construct, trying to merge him with it, to use him against his friends? He came here with others, didn't he? He couldn't move his arms, he was pinned. His brows knitted together as he struggled, confused. Only one person knew how to pin his arms properly and-"

"Tifa, is that you?"

The monster softly let go of his arms and seemed to murmur something again.

"So this is what he was going to do." Cloud felt his rage increasing; the coward was going to use illusions to make him kill his friends, the revenant had no physical connection to him since the day his Geostigma was cured. Sephiroth could enter his dreams and thoughts, but it would take something like this to get him to do his bidding.

The other creature angrily shouted something, and Cloud looked at the mass of humans, staring at them. Something slipped out of place on them; he lifted his swords and went to work on them, closing his eyes as his swords came down to block out the sight of the massacre he was committing.

'You're killing your friends, Cloud.'

'Go to hell, Sephiroth.'

'Everything you cherish. I hope you kissed your family good bye before leaving them.'

Horrible laughter filled Cloud's head as he killed another illusion. He dropped his swords and held his head, feeling several creatures biting his neck and shoulders; his last thoughts going to the children he left at the bar with these things running around-

The last thing the warrior saw was light flooding everything despite his closed eyes.