Chapter 4

Minerva fastened the buttons on her uniform quickly. She wasn't sure how long she would have to work before she was paid but she was tempted to work an entire shift. She needed time to sort out the other days events and working at a fast food place would give her a little time.

She would be working in Gongaga at one of the only fast food places. A lot of them had sprang up after Jenova's last attempt for reunion but Gongaga only had a few. The people liked to stick to more traditional cooking. Minerva smiled as she thought of the progress the town had made since the reactor exploded and almost killed everyone. The town was larger and several small shops had been set up. "Jenova!" she called, "I'm leaving." she was sure the other girl didn't care but still felt the need to let her know.

"Where?" Jenova replied weakly.

"To work, I told you I had a job." she answered. There was no reply as she finished getting ready, "I'll be back soon."

"I want to come." Jenova said. Minerva blinked and entered the room Jenova was in.

"You can't." she said, "You're still hurt and I need you to rest before we have to go."

"What if I follow you?" Jenova asked.

"You wouldn't be able to." Minerva said. She was pretty sure Jenova was just being difficult, they both knew she was too damaged to even leave the room.

"I don't want to stay here." Jenova said.

"Well too bad." Minerva crossed her arms, "If you can get up then maybe you can explore the area."

"Yeah but-" Jenova stopped, "Yeah, get out of here."

Minerva rolled her eyes and left the room. Gongaga was a few hours away on foot, but she was teleporting and it would take a few seconds. She closed her eyes and focused, she didn't want to leave Jenova alone but at the same time, she did. "It's only for a few hours." she said as she teleported away.

0.o.0.o.0

Jenova stared up at the ceiling, her vision was finally returning and she could make out what the sentences on the ceiling were, "When the war of the beast brings about the world's end." She stopped after reading the sentence and sighed. It was the stupid poem that Genesis read a lot. "Yuck." Jenova said as she thought about how much the man had wanted to please Minerva.

She sat up and was surprised at how numb her body felt. She still felt a little pain here and there but it was manageable. She swung her legs out of bed and tried to stand, it didn't hurt too much. She stood and smiled, she hadn't expected to heal so quickly. "This is perfect." that meant she could go to Gongaga and bother Minerva. She took a step and frowned at how unbalanced she was. It would be fixed with time, but at the moment it was annoying.

She made her way to the room Minerva was staying in and found the clothes she'd worn the night before. She took off Gary's ripped sweater and put on the other girls clothes. She frowned at the amount of white she was wearing, she liked black a lot more.

She felt the pain returning to her body and she sighed as the numbness sleep had brought her faded away. She would have to sit down before her body gave in and collapsed on itself. With a small grunt she rushed back to her room and sat down on the bed. She hated her new body, it was so limiting.

Usually, she would be healed and ready to go in an hour, but now she had to heal like a human. Upon examination she could see that her wounds had begun to heal, and a lot quicker then most humans, but still at a slow pace. Still, she wanted to be healed so she could get away from Minerva.

"Damn humans." she muttered to herself. Brianna wasn't the best host she could choose. The girl was weak and dumb. She didn't seem to know anything about anything. Sephiroth had been a smart person who'd even made himself smarter for her sake. But no, now she would have to do it on her own. Maybe then she would stop using words like 'nummy'.

She stood up and felt her body wobble in pain. She stepped forward and decided that if she just ran, she'd get there fast enough and could rest later on. She took a deep breath and started to run. Her entire body screamed for her to stop but she didn't. She was tired of being weak and she needed to do this. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she breached the barrier that separated the Ancient Forest from the rest of the continent. Her body slowed and she almost stopped, but instead she pushed herself onward.

"Which way?" she asked herself. Gongaga was south of the forest right? Was she going the right way? She was running up, so no she wasn't. She needed to be going South-east. She turned and started back for the forest, she wasn't sure how long she could keep running. She was pushing her limits at the moment and her body was ready to give up. She ran a little further before she collapsed to the ground, "Ow…" she mumbled as she rolled over and stared at the sky.

She decided to stay like that for a while. A small part of her regretted the fact that she left the forest. Another part was glad that she'd left. This was a small step towards breaking away from Minerva's contract. Then she could destroy the goddess' planet and leave. Maybe she would leave Minerva behind and let her float in space all alone. That sounded nice.

'Of course it sounds nice, you're one of them aren't you?'

Jenova blinked, that wasn't her voice. Well, it was her voice. But it wasn't Brianna's voice. All of her inner thoughts had sounded like Brianna since she'd taken that body, so why was she hearing her old voice? "What do you mean?" she found herself asking the voice.

'It's your nature to search and destroy.'

"No." Jenova shook her head, "It's not. It's their nature not mine. I only want revenge, that's what this is about."

'Don't try to hide it. We are the same person, I know what you wanted when you crashed onto this planet 2,000 years ago. Revenge didn't cross your mind. You had just broken away from Gaea and their ways were etched into your mind. The only reason you changed your mind was because you were human'

"You don't know what you're talking about." Jenova said. Technically, she'd just told herself that she didn't know what she was talking about, but no one was around to hear that.

'You spent 14 years on Gaea, being on your home planet cause your body to mold back into it's natural form Even your mind changed to suit their ways'

"Who cares, I have a goal and I'm going to meet it." Jenova said angrily, "Who cares why I did it before? All that matters is why I'm doing it now."

You won't be able to, you're human now. You have emotions and no matter how hard you try to ignore them, they will always get in the way. And stupidly, you signed a spiritual contract with Minerva, even if you did want to destroy the planet, your soul would disappear.'

"So what, she'll let me go as soon as we destroy those weapons." Jenova said.

If she keeps her word that is.

"No," Jenova sat up, "Minerva wouldn't do that. She's too holy."

'But she's lied to you before hasn't she? She was the reason you were submitted to such tortures when you were 12. She's why you chose to destroy the planet and everyone on it, she's the reason for all your pain.'

"Yes she is." Jenova sighed, "But I'm not like those people on Gaea. I can get revenge on one person without destroying everything." Even though she'd already destroyed a lot of the planet and even an entire race of people. She wouldn't cause anymore harm to anyone but Minerva.

She didn't get a reply and she smiled, that was good. She hated her old voice, it gave her headaches. She stood up and took a step. All she needed to do was run a little more and she would be there. "Here we go." she took a breath and ran again, it hurt a lot more this time but she didn't stop. She wanted to talk to Minerva about that contract. Now that she could see a little better, she could read through it and see what she agreed to.

After running for a minute she tripped and tumbled down to the ground. She bit her lip and held in the agonized scream that was trying to escape from her mouth. Why did that hurt so much? Was it the body? Was there really something wrong with her? Maybe she should have stayed back in the forest.

"Oh wow, are you okay? That looked painful!" a young boy asked. Jenova blinked and looked around, why was that voice familiar? "I'm right here missy." Jenova found the boy near the town gates. He smirked at her and walked over, "Jenova?" he guessed.

"How?" she asked.

"I'm pretty smart." he said. The boy had black hair and blue eyes that seemed far to bright for him. In fact, they held a familiar greenish glow. It reminded her of the soldiers in Sephiroth's memories.

"Who are you?" she asked. Was he a soldier? He looked far to young for that, maybe he'd accidentally ingest mako? No, that wasn't it.

"I'm a ghost! My name is Zack Fair." the boy smiled.

"No." Jenova shook her head. Zack fair wasn't a little boy. He was older, like maybe he was 20 or something. Plus, he was dead! Of course, that would explain the ghost part.

"Really, I am!" the boy said, "I was playing a prank on some villagers."

"Uh huh." Jenova rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I also wanted to check on my parents." the boy said, "They're alright."

"I don't care." Jenova sighed, "I'm going to see someone."

"Minerva?" the boy guessed?

"How the hell do you know all this?" she asked.

"I saw her on the way into town. She explained a lot to me." the boy said, "She told everything about the weapons and all that. She also told me that you were to weak to get up."

"She was obviously wrong." Jenova said.

"I don't know, you look pretty dead right now." the boy laughed, "But I'll take you to Minerva if you want." Jenova watched as the boy was suddenly bathed in white light. She had to close her eyes eventually but when she opened them again, the boy was an adult. "It's weird, I feel so alive." he commented.

"Oh shit, you really are Zack." Jenova mumbled. That was bad, like really bad. Zack and Aerith were friends, so he was probably pissed at her for killing the woman.

"Yeah." Zack pulled her to her feet and she closed her eyes, she was completely at his mercy now. To her surprise, all he did was steady her and let her go.

"Eh? What are you doing?" she asked, "Don't you realize who I am?"

"Yes I do." Zack said, "You're the alien who came and killed the Cetra thousands of years ago." he narrowed his eyes, "You're also the reason Sephiroth went crazy in Nibelheim."

"Oh yeah." Jenova nodded, "That's who I am." She watched him cautiously, "So why are you helping me?"

"Because of the contract." Zack smiled, "I know you can't do anymore damage and also, if Minerva wants to hang out with you, you can't be to bad."

"Minerva is not hanging with me." Jenova said, "She's forcing me to help her save the planet." Zack said nothing as he lead her into town. Jenova followed him as quickly as she could, "Why don't you go and see Cloud?" she asked.

"I can't really get to him." Zack said, "And I also don't know how long I'll be able to stay here." Jenova tipped her head to the side, that made no sense. If he was really a ghost like he said he was, then he would be able to teleport right? Could ghosts teleport? She stumbled and found herself on the ground again.

"Damn." she moaned. Zack bent down next to her and examined her, a move that made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

"You're really injured, what were you thinking?" Zack asked, "You shouldn't even be moving with these types of injuries."

"Well, I wasn't going to sit in that forest anymore." she sighed.

"Seriously? Do you miss Minerva that much?" Zack asked.

"I don't miss her at all!" Jenova snapped, "I just wanted to see what that contract said."

"Uh huh." Zack helped her up, "Here, I can try to heal you. I'm not sure it will work though." He placed his hand on her abdomen and waited. A transparent green most floated over his hand and her stomach numbed over, "How is that?"

"It's good. Thanks." she sighed. She bit her lip once she realized she'd thanked him.

"No prob." Zack helped her through the town and to a small building. Jenova noticed the smell around the place. It was nice and it made her hungry, "Fast food, it's been awhile." Zack said, "Are you hungry?"

"No." Jenova said. Why was she lying about that? She was starving! She shook her head and sighed as they entered the small shop.

0.o.0.o.0

Minerva handed a man a large bag, "Have a nice day." she forced another smile onto her face as he took the bag. The man nodded and turned away. Minerva waited until he was gone to sigh, this was tiring. She'd only been working for an hour or so but she was already ready to get back to the forest. "So much for thinking." she mumbled as she realized that she really wouldn't be able to get any thinking done with so many people coming up to the register.

She held in a sigh as 2 more people walked up to the register, "Welcome to-" she stopped suddenly, "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Ordering food." Jenova sighed, "Zack's hungry."

"That's right." Zack smiled, "I'm starving!"

"How did she get here Zack?" Minerva asked, "I told you she was dangerous. She can't be allowed around people."

"I think you're overreacting. She can barely stand. How much damage could she even do?" he asked.

"That's not the point." Minerva sighed, "What are you doing her Jenova?"

"I wanted to see that little contract thing." Jenova shrugged, "I want to know exactly what I agreed to."

"But that could have waited," Minerva hissed, "I told you to stay in the forest!"

"Minerva, it's boring down there." Jenova said, "I was about to die of boredom."

"It's dangerous." Minerva said, "Go back, now."

"But-"

"Zack, take her back for me. I'll make it up to you somehow." Minerva said.

"Sure, but how about you let me order some food first?" he asked, "I'm hungry."

"Ah, go ahead." Minerva rubbed her temples.

"Thanks, I want 20 choconuggets, 4 chocoburgers, 3 medium fires, 4 large fries, and 2 diet cola's." Zack said, "Man, I hope I have enough for that." He dumped a pile of gold coins onto the counter and Minerva sighed.

"Sit down, it'll be ready soon." she said. She glared at Jenova as they walked over to a booth near the window. Why had the girl decided to come here? She was clearly in a lot of pain, it made no sense at all. Was this all just to annoy her? Her glare melted away as she watched Jenova rest her head onto the table and close her eyes. She couldn't be mad at a person who looked so, well, in need.

0.o.0.o.0

"She's angry, I hardly ever saw her angry before." Zack said, "Then again, she was a lot older when she was a part of the planet."

"Yeah, she sucks." Jenova mumbled.

"She's doing a lot for you. You should try to be nicer." Zack said, "She can kill you at any moment."

"No, she's letting her emotions cloud her judgment." Jenova smirked tiredly, "She wants to help me out since she feels so guilty or lying to me, she wouldn't kill me."

"But she risked a lot to help you." Zack said, "The entire Planet is in chaos because she took a human body to give you, a mass-murderer, a second chance. A chance that you really don't deserve after what you did."

Jenova frowned, "I guess so." she sighed. Sure, Minerva was doing a lot for her. But this was all her fault anyway. She wouldn't have to deal with her if she never lied in the first place.

Her eyes widened as she watched someone set down all of Zack's food. It was a lot, but maybe he only needed that much because he was a ghost? She didn't know, but it smelled wonderful. "Are you really going to eat all o that?" she asked.

"I am," Zack nodded, "But some of this is for you." He pushed some of the food towards her/

"I told you I wasn't hungry." she protested.

"Yeah, but you look like you need some calories." Zack shrugged, "You'll heal quicker if you eat regularly."

Jenova sighed, "Well thanks I guess." she flinched, had she really just said thanks to him again? What was up with her? Saying thank you was common for humans and maybe ir was really Brianna who was saying thank you to him. But then why hadn't she thanked Minerva? After all, the girl had saved her life. Even though she technically ruined it to.

"Are you alright?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, just thinking." she picked up a French fry and examined it. It was soggy and covered with a lot of salt. "Why would someone do this? It takes all the nutritional value out of the potato." she said as she ate it. She had to admit, it tasted nice. But really, why?

"No one comes to a fast food place for healthy snack alright?" Zack said.

"Yeah, but everything is so greasy." she said

"It's not the best, but it's not like we can ask my mother to make us some soup." Zack sighed. Jenova shifted uncomfortably as she realized that he really wanted to speak with his parents. After all, he was alive and they were right down the street. But Minerva had probably told him not to.

Jenova ate another French fry and looked over to Minerva, the other girl was still glaring at them. Jenova sighed and tried to ignore it, why was she feeling so guilty right now? "Are you ready to go yet?" Jenova asked.

"Almost, give me a few more minutes. And you finish your food." Zack said. Jenova nodded and tried to finish her food. It was far to greasy for her but at least it calmed the storm that was roaring about her stomach. She finished it quickly and rested her head on the table again. She closed her eyes and took a breath, she was so tired…

0.o.0.o.0

"So, is it true her mom is the teacher?" someone next to Jenova whispered. She put her head down and tried to pretend she wasn't listening to the conversation.

"Yeah it's true." another girl said. She heard shifting and noticed a large group of girls had gathered around Minerva's desk. "You know, we think it's unfair that your mom is the teacher."

"Well, sorry?" Minerva said .

"She probably gives you good grades because you're her daughter." another girl said, "What do you guys think?" The entire class murmured in agreement. Jenova rolled her eyes, that wasn't the case. Minerva's mother was far to honest to do something like that.

"It doesn't happen like that." Minerva said. Jenova briefly wondered where the teacher was at the moment. Surely she wouldn't let these girls torment her daughter right?

"You have stupid her." the girl directly in front of Minerva grabbed one of her pigtails and yanked it forward.

Minerva flinched and tried to pull her hair away, "It looks just like yours." she said. Which was true, all of the girls in the class room seemed to have the same colored hair in the same style.

"My hair is a lot shorter." the girl pulled a pair of scissors from her pocket, "But if you want to look like me, we can cut it."

"I don't want to look like you." Minerva tried to pull her hair away but the other girl held on tight. There were a few giggles as the girls started to cut Minerva's hair and Jenova turned away. Those girls were mean but she wasn't going to stop them. That would just draw attention to her, and she didn't need that.

0.o.0.o.0

She blinked and looked around, "Almost done?" she asked.

"What's your rush?" Zack asked, "It's been 2 minutes since you asked." Jenova sighed and looked over to Minerva and noticed a large man banging angrily on the counter. Minerva had a strange look on her face and Jenova grew shockingly angry. Why was she letting this man talk to her like that? She had no idea what he was saying but it couldn't be good.

"You know that guy?" she asked.

"Yeah, his name is Leroy." Zack sighed, "He's a real jerk."

"Should we stop him?" Jenova asked and without waiting for an answer, she stood up and walked over. "Hey, what are you doing?" she asked.

"This lady screwed up my order." Leroy said, "I asked for 2 chocoburgers, one with cheese, one without cheese but with onions and pickles. The first one should have had mustard and the second one should have mayonnaise. But they don't. It's all mixed up."

Jenova blinked at his order, "For real? Do you need all that?" she asked, "I mean you're huge. You don't need to burgers and on top of that, your order is just… stupid." she sighed, "Really, you'd be better off getting a salad."

"What?" Leroy turned to her completely. He straitened his back and Jenova noticed for the first time how big he was, "What are you trying to say?" he asked.

Jenova didn't miss a beat, "I'm saying you're a fat ass! You don't need any more food." she snapped/

"Jenova!" Minerva hissed, "Go sit down." she could see the man was getting angry and had no idea how he would react to her insults.

Jenova ignored her and glared up at the larger man. Leroy looked down at her with an unreadable expression, "You want to repeat that little girl?" he asked.

Jenova stood on her toes and leaned closer, "You're fat, you should run around this place and eat a fucking potato." she said.

Leroy raised his hand, his face was red and he was sputtering some nonsense. Jenova braced herself for the hit and was surprised when it didn't come, "I guess I'll have to put a stop to this." Zack said.

"Huh?" Jenova blinked, "What are you doing?"

"Zack? Is that you? Man, I heard you were dead!" Leroy's anger melted away and Zack sighed. He took Jenova's arm and rushed out of the building.

"Jenova, try not to make a scene next time." Zack sighed.

"Next time?" she questioned, "Wait, I wasn't the one making a scene! He was the one getting pissed because of some cheese burgers. And I really couldn't just let him talk to her like that."

"I thought you hated her." Zack said.

"I do." Jenova said, "But you know, I had to stop him."

"Right." Zack chuckled, "Now, which way do you live?"

"I don't need your escort, the Ancient Forest is only a 30 minutes away." Jenova stretched her arms, "I'll be fine on my own."

"And what about me?" Zack asked.

"What about you?" she asked as she tried to remember which way she came from.

"How will I get there?" Zack asked, "I can't run as fast as you can."

"I guess if you turned back into a kid I could carry you." she shrugged. Zack nodded and made the transformation, Jenova shielded her eyes from the blinding light and the glared down at him, "Can you find a less obnoxious way to do that?" she asked.

Zack grinned, "Well where's the fun in that?" he asked as he climbed onto her back, "Let's go!" he laughed. Jenova rolled her eyes and started to run. Because Zack had healed her a little she could run faster. The pain was still there but she would be fine, "It's like a roller coaster!" Zack shouted.

"Yeah, shut up." Jenova shouted back. She focused on the ground, she didn't want to trip again. Yeah, that would be embarrassing.

"Ah, is that it?" Zack asked, "It's so cool!" Jenova looked up and slowed down. They'd made it to the forest in good time, "Why are you staying here?"

"Why not?" Jenova put him down and leaned back against a tree, "It's nice and glowy in here."

"I suppose." Zack nodded, "But still.."

"Hey, look up there! Fruit!" Jenova pointed towards a bunch of glowing orbs, "Or maybe Materia."

"I don't think so." Zack said, "It's way to big." He made the switch from child to man and stepped closer, "It looks like a bunch of apples really."

"Maybe when Minerva comes back she'll teleport up there and get them for us." Jenova said.

"Maybe, but unil then.." Zack said slowly, "Let's play hide and seek."

Jenova blinked and titled her head in confusion, hide and seek? The game was pretty straight forward. Someone hides and another person looks for them, but why would Zack want to play that? "Um…" she looked around and tried to find Zack.

"You're it! Try to find me!" she heard his voice from somewhere in the distance and frowned. It would be hard to find him, the forest seemed pretty dark even though it was still morning. How was she supposed to fund him? Especially when he's wearing dark clothing, he'd blend into the shadows!

"Alright, I love a challenge." she said with a smile as she started to search.