A/N; Okay, I promised a longer chapter than last, but let's face it; anything was longer than the last chapter! So here's chapter seven, let me know what ye think, k? I wasn't particularly happy with the way it turned out, not sure why, but if ye find anything, feel free to tell me in the review or don't be afraid to send me a pm………again; thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, you're support is what gets this wrote! And thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this aswell!

Lamb…Jared Leto Rules!!!!!:-P:-P:-P…hehe; little private joke there peoples!


Whilst all others made their tearful yet heartfelt reunions with their loved ones all throughout the WRO base; two individuals remained alone in the medical wing; one a patient, still lying unresponsive in his white linened bed…the other; a twenty-six year old, with hazel hair and deep hazel irises………Denzel had performed somewhat of a disappearing act when all the parents and teenagers had gone all emotional about an hour ago; he didn't feel like watching it………it wasn't that the young man detested them; they had ever right on Gaia to happy…but he just didn't fancy watching all that joy and happiness when his younger brother lay in a bed and his mother was still in the clutches of The Nightmare………Denzel turned his gaze back to the youth in the bed, a small smirk playing on his lips;

"You grew up little man………Dad'd be proud………"

The youngster laughed lightly as he thought back over their years as kids, back when everything had had a meaning, before the planet had been turned upon it's head………though nine years fell between the two; he and Ross had always been close, more so when they got into trouble; it was simple really; you cover my back; I'll cover yours! Each providing a plausible alibi when the other was in need of one………especially when it was one needed in defence of their mothers' wrath! But that was then, a far cry from what was now………his life had been turned into a living hell after Sephiroth's rise to power, his body showed the signs of it; numerous white lines marred his back, scars of the torture he'd been forced to endure, countless bruises and broken ribs had since healed, but the memories would always remain, refusing to be forgotten, burned deep into his mind; he'd seen things that no one should ever have to bear witness to…things that would haunt his dreams until the day he died, forever lurking in the back of his mind, just waiting to catch him off guard and launch into a replay; he'd seen people, innocent people taken by the Nightmare, even young children, kids whose parents had been killed or imprisoned, all taken for his own entertainment, some were granted the easy escape; locked into a hall full of Shadow Creepers, with no defence of their own…those screams of agony would forever haunt him, the screams of terrified children, the screams of pure, blood-curdling agony as the vile creatures' claws tore through flesh…but others hadn't been so lucky as to be given death, instead they'd been handed over to Hojo and subjected to his experiments, most of which ended in a slow death, either by Mako-poisoning or through shear exhaustion mixed with whatever sordid substances the demented man had intruded their bodies with………but even those weren't the height of the epiphany's evil; that was only what the monster subjected the males to and an amount of the females that his forces apprehended; what the young man had seen the remnants do to the imprisoned females, even as young and innocent as teenagers, was stomach turning at the very least, no person deserved what they'd made them do…but above all that; the one thing that just proved to support the true evil of this monstrosity was his pure uncaring nature - his coldness; shortly after his capture, Denzel had bore witness to one of the most inhuman things that was possible; a woman, a member of the WRO had given birth to a child after her own imprisonment, the child; a little girl, had been born healthy, with only the other women in her shared cell to serve as midwives…but the Nightmare took the child, and as her mother watched on; summoned a Shadow Creeper………the mother's face would forever haunt the young man's sleep………it hadn't taken the Nightmare long to establish his hold on the planet after his fight with Cloud; It had taken only hours after Clouds' defeat for the Nightmare to seize control of the ShinRa base; slaughtering those who opposed him without a moments' hesitation; he'd defeated his top contender, anyone else had just been easy pickings after the blonde. After the whole of ShinRa had been overthrown; the former hero had turned his attention to the most likely of his future opposition; AVALANCHE and the WRO…in several swift, simultaneous raids; he'd taken them; Barret, Tifa, Cid, Shera, Vincent, Yuffie, Reeve – all of them. Even though Wutai retaliated at the imprisonment of their Queen; their forces were nothing compared to Sephiroth's………leaving the five teenagers parentless, sibling-less, and alone on the now; uncaring streets of Edge………but it looked as if, after four long years of abandonment; the five youngsters had taken it upon themselves to bite back………


"Mmmm………"

Ross opened his eyes groggily, then shut them as quick as his vision was affronted by a fluorescent light that attached itself to the white ceiling, after a few seconds the youth reopened his eyes and sat up, only then realizing the other person in the room…

"Denzel…w-what happened?"

Denzel snapped out of his staring into space as his brother's voice fell upon his ears, he smirked;

"You killed that demented fucker of a remnant, and then passed out after you found out about Mom…other than that not much."

Ross felt a pang at his heart as he suddenly remembered what Cissnei had said…why did everything in his life seem to go against the youth?

"Thanks Ross…"

The blonde teenager looked up as Denzel said this, confusion evident in his shimmering cerulean eyes;

"What for?"

"I'm here ain't I? Not in a cell…"

"You've Cissnei and Rika to thank for that, not me…all I did was run-hey! What the fuck are you playing at!?"

Ross glared accusingly at his older brother whilst rubbing his arm where he'd just been thumped………Denzel only shook his head, the slightest hint of a smirk on his lips as he spoke;

"Cop the fuck on squirt! You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself; none of it was your fault! Yeah, you ran; but only coz you had to; but you also managed to make shit out of Hojo's lab and the rest of the gang totalled his mainframes and computers, aswell as disabling two Mako-Reactors…and all in one day! You five did more damage in a few hours than others have in years, even more than AVALANCHE did against ShinRa the first time around! So quit blaming yourself already…god; I swear you're just like Dad was! Hey; I heard you and Aiveen hooked up! Haha! Yuffie'll get you to be her own personal Materia hunter, and Vincent's gonna use you for target practice!! Haha, funny stuff!"

"Shut up! I didn't need to hear that right now!"

"Tough shit…see ya; I'm gonna make sure Vincent has Cerberus loaded and ready…"

Ross jumped from his bed as the young man made for the door, and literally tackled Denzel, and as a result; both ended up sprawled out on the floor;

"You're not goin anywhere!"

Denzel only grinned from where he now sat on his butt;

"Ha! I was only guessing about Aiveen, but I guess that seems you reacted like that – it's true then! Oh holy Christ; you're in for an unmerciful slaggin spikey!"

"You asshole Denzel!!"


"Sir! You need to see this!"

All heads of AVALANCHE, the WRO and the Turks turned as a technician shouted to Reeve; it seems things were back on path again………

"Hey; Vincent-fuck sake spikey calm down; I'm only messing! Hey Yuffie-oww!"

This time it was Denzel's turn to glare accusingly at his brother whilst he rubbed his smarting arm, albeit still grinning. Reeve, on the other hand, wasn't grinning at the brothers' antics; his eyes were glued to the screen of the terminal that showed a surveillance of outside the base…and two people were in view; one of which had a long sword………

Ross soon became aware of the attention Reeve was paying the small screen and positioned himself so as he had a view that all others seemed to have quickly locked onto whilst he moved his position…the youth felt his blood freeze within his veins upon his eyes setting upon the harrowing image………without so much as one word; the teenager turned on his heels and quickly made for the front exit of the base, grabbing the fully assemble First Tsurugi as he went………


Tifa stood fast as the cold steel remained pressed firmly against the tender flesh of her exposed neck…half afraid to even swallow as it would further push the blade against her skin…she felt the pang of guilt hit her as the first of the people emerged from within the safe confines of the base; Ross………this wasn't fair, the youth had been through so much, and yet the Nightmare intended to deal the hardest blow he could at that moment in time to the youngster………

"I must admit, I have been foolish in my judgement of you teenagers, it seems I may have underestimated you, more so you; Ross…you have taken you revenge on Kadaj, eliminating him from the equation, so in return; I shall be eliminating an additional presence also………guess who it will be?"

Sephiroth allowed a small smirk to appear on his face as the rest of his former prisoners appeared alongside the youth, along with the other teenagers and Rika…that was fine by him; it just meant more to watch………

Ross tensed and prepared to attack, as did several others amongst the crowd, but the Nightmare moved quicker…in one clean movement; the Masamune came across it's target, dragging a deep, thin ravine of red across her throat…then relinquished his grip as the woman, who, within mere seconds, seemed to crumple to the barren ground…

"You bastard!"

Rika made to attack her former lover, but he didn't really feel like fighting at that moment in time, he would have preferred to stay and watch their reactions, but he had a city to get back to controlling, and forces to ready…so; with a flurry of black feather's the demented once-upon-a-time-hero was gone. Whilst all others had been frozen with shock, rooted to the ground, one person had snapped out of it and made a sprint to the female figure that now lay unmoving on the ground…

"Mom…no………"

Ross skidded to his knees as he came to a halt beside his mother, he rolled her frame over, pulling her towards him, willing her to answer his voice, praying to God, any God that what he had witnessed had been an illusion, there was no way a God of any kind could be so cruel as to do the such a thing twice to one person…it just couldn't be happening a second time!

"Mom…please! Answer me! Give out to me – something! Please…please…I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything, just please answer me, I'm begging you! Mom!"

But even as he spoke, the youth became aware of a weird sensation; he looked down to see that the knees of his jeans were totally soaked through…but not with water, it was a liquid, but it was red…it was blood and it wasn't his………Ross blinked back tears as reality began to sink in, but no matter how hard he blinked the tears away or swallowed the painful lump in his throat, the tears raced down his pale cheeks, falling from his chin onto the non-responsive figure that he hugged close to his chest………the lump seemed to grow despite his attempts to swallow it as he noticed the glazed, empty appearance of her hazel-red irises, the pale tinge to her skin, the lack of movement in her chest cavity………

Numerous friends and allies averted their gazes as the youths' anguished cy echoed through out the silent air of the night, stabbing at their hearts and alerting all who heard it; that life had once again brought this youth to his knees, not only had he watched his fathers' death, but now, too, had witnessed the untimely demise of his mother, he felt his heart give way………