WARNING! Long-ass chapter ahead...

A/N: New chapter! So I decided to just stick with 'she' because it's easier on me, and nobody seemed to make any objections...only got one person's response -.- *sigh*

Nightsky, I know your thoughts. I was just hoping to engage the rest of my readers as well with that question...I didn't. oh well...meh.

Also, I know, this is only Sam's Chapter. I will try to get Sephiroth's chapter out as quickly as possible. I figure if I was able to write 7000 words in one day (today) I should have no problems doing the same tomorrow. So bear with me. If it's not out by tomorrow, I will ignore everybody in my life on Saturday until the new chapter is posted. Promise!

Usual Disclaimer: I only own Sam. Everything else belongs to Square.

So much...too much. My mind could not wrap around anything flying through it. Flashes of light filled my vision, breaking only from images of laboratories, strands of DNA, atoms,...blood. I couldn't hear anything, no sounds or words, only a high pitch tone, consistent and unwavering. It was so painful. Much like the last time I was asleep and experienced similar dreams, only this time it was exponentially more potent. Eventually I did not need someone to wake me. My body did it for me as I lurched over the bed I was lying in to expel whatever may have been in my stomach to splatter all over the floor below. Every bone, every nerve, ached. I was so exhausted, but I couldn't rest. I could feel a tingling sensation across every one of my limbs. The materia that still floated in my arm burned me. At least, it felt that way.

I managed to lie back down once the aching in my stomach subsided. I could not open my eyes thought. They remained closed as the visions continued. I was sweating, my breathing labored. I tried to take in a deep breath, to slow my heart rate, but nothing worked. A migraine began to set as the bright light faded, until there was only darkness. I was hoping that would be the end of it, but then another light flashed before my eyes, like a comet across space. That was it. When the flash faded I could see just that, Gaia, spinning while in orbit around its sun. And not far from there, Earth, a completely separate solar system from this one. To the other side was yet another system, only one of the planets in this new system I witnessed fade. It looked bright with life, only to darken, and then crumble. The pieces merely floated where the full celestial body once rotated and revolved. I could not help but feel pain as I watched the pieces spread about, drifting further into the depths of space.

I remember seeing an image like this before. It was in an observatory, a hologram presented by a floating man of the effects of the loss of life on a planet. Just as I realized what I was watching, one of the pieces of that planet began to glow. In a fiery red inferno, it shot forward like a bullet from a gun, headed straight for Gaia. "Jenova" The moment I said it, time seemed to speed up. The asteroid crashed into Gaia, leaving the crater atop its northern pole, creating a rippling wave through the planet and spread through the system. As time sped, the revolutions of the planets from all the systems began to speed up. The colors blurred in their movements until it resembled a spinning top. The shifting and spinning caused a wooziness to set in as my migraine worsened from the view in front of me. My vision began to blur as the pain shifted from a dull throbbing to a sharp pain. I curled over, lifting my head once more to vomit once more.

I managed to crack my eyes open, to see a vague blur of a room. What hit me was the smell. Bleach and citrus odors mixed, causing me to become nauseous once more, doing nothing to calm my severe headache. I noticed however a bucket right beside my bed. I had made a mess a few hours prior, and it was cleaned. That explains the smell. But I was unsure of how I ended up in this room.

As I tried to remember how I had gotten here, to remember what took place before I blacked out, I felt a sharp pain in my mind once more. The severity of the pain completely incapacitated me as I fell back down into the bed, my stomach twisting and knotting in reaction. I squeezed my eyes shut to try and focus, to ignore the pain, but it continued. I broke out into a sweat once more as more vision passed through my mind, only this time it was memories of things I'd seen before. Midgar, the zolom, Junon, Gold Saucer, Temple of the Ancients, the Black materia, Cloud handing the Materia to Sephiroth, Meteor being summoned, Weapons being called on to protect and to destroy. All these scenes played out in my mind, as if someone were sifting through them, trying to learn the story.

I continued to fight against it, to ease the pain and torment that was wracking my body. I forced my mind to think of something else, to bring up a happier memory. I tried thinking of Kyo. He was kind to me, a total stranger. The memories weren't happy, but were much nicer than this right now. I felt what was similar to a slap in the face, but I continued to push through. I began to think of my fiancé. We had our problems, but what relationship didn't. We had many happy memories, I needed only to think of one, to just focus on something else. As I forced myself to think of him, the migraine continued to worsen. Flashes of places in Gaia, of things yet to come, continued in between memories.

My mind finally came to the last memory I had with him. I saw his face in front of mine in a darkened room, but then it shifted. It was no longer his face but the face of Sephiroth. That's right. That happened. Once his face had shown in my mind, with the expression of awe and surprise that he wore that night. I remembered the realization of the positions that we were in. Time seemed to slow down as I felt bliss from the memory. No interruptions, just a picture frozen in my mind. There was even a sense of confusion in reaction to this memory. I could feel everything about me begin to calm, my breathing evening out. I still had a migraine but even that began to fade. This painful intrusion upon my mind, disappearing as I felt myself begin to doze.

I slept there for a long while. No dreams were to be had in that time. It was purely restful. It wasn't until I heard a voice that pulled me out of my REM, "..wake up...leave." I was too groggy to hear the full statement. In my sleeping state it took far too long for my mind to process the demand, so I allowed the words to play around in my mind a bit. wake up...wake up...My eyes, shot open as I realized the voice that had spoken such words. Sure enough, as I looked over, I saw in front of me the long silver hair draped down to the backside of the legs the held the man upright, facing away from me, and walking towards the door. I couldn't help but gasp at the sight as memories of before my weakened state played through my mind. Is this truly real?

At the sound of my gasp, he stopped moving and just stood there for what seemed like eons. All I could do was take a deep breath as he turned around to face me. I calmed myself, realizing what I needed to do, what I was trying to do before I fell into unconsciousness. This wasn't quite the plan I had initially intended to follow through on, but plans change, and something had to be done. The opportunity had presented itself, I can't let this slip by. "We need to talk..." I half expected him to turn around again and leave the room. Why should he ever listen to any of my demands. I was a nobody. I didn't even belong to this world. I shouldn't exist here, yet here I was, and here he stayed. Instead of walking away, he walked closer. I watched him grab a chair and place it in front of me, upon which he sat down, resting his elbows on his knees, his chin in his hands, and his eyes riveted to mine.

I nearly lost myself staring into those eyes. Whatever thoughts I had were disappearing the longer I stared. How could anyone be able to talk to him with a straight face? My cheeks started to burn as I realized how long we just sat there staring in silence. Someone had to break it, may as well have been me.

"Who"What"are"do"you?"know?" We asked our questions at the same time, each of which completely lost on the other person. I looked away embarrassed. I should have let him start. I thought when I looked back to see he held out a hand in my direction, beckoning me to repeat my question while he stayed silent, ever staring, completely focused. I took in a breath and let it out slowly as I asked him, "What do you know? Of your past I mean."

I watched as his eyebrows furrowed and look away. Perhaps not the question he was expecting. I suppose it would be a strange first question to ask to a total stranger, but I needed to know exactly what he knew. I already had a strong idea, but I could only wonder what exactly went through his mind through everything that is supposed to transgress from here on out. From what I saw in that moment, I could tell his mind was not all lost...not yet.

He turned his face back to mine, lifting his head from his hands to sit up straight, resting his hands on his knees. "I will answer your question, if you'll answer mine first." That's fair I suppose. I may have been a bit too blunt with my first question. Should have eased into that one. I nodded once and he continued, "Who are you?"

Simple question, the kind you would expect from a complete stranger, I just replied simply my name, "Sam."

"Sam..." He repeated, looking up at the ceiling as I watched him process things. I wish I knew what he was thinking. "Sam...why do I know you?" He looked back at me again, but all I could do was stare blankly, unsure of the answer to that question myself. I knew why I knew him, but I had no clue how I fit into the equation. All I could do was shrug and tell him the truth, that I did not know. He didn't seem satisfied with my answer as he lowered his eyes. "I have memories of you," he began to explain to me, closing his eyes, "though they are fragmented. For some reason, I cannot hold onto a single one of them when I try to remember. It's as if you were nothing more than a fleeting dream, completely forgotten once I open my eyes." He reopened his eyes once more, staring into mine, "Yet here you are, not a dream at all."

"I'm sorry..." I had no answer for him. I could only imagine the confusion that tormented his mind by all of this. I didn't even understand it. If this whole thing was a dream, surely my mind would have played all of this out much differently. No, even if it were a dream, I could not just say that to him. I could not tell him the truth of how I knew of him either. It would do much more harm than good. I prayed he'd never ask me that question.

"No matter...Why did you want to know my past?" He raised an eyebrow. A sincere questioning look on his face.

"I...wanted to know how much you knew." I watched now as both his eyebrows raised. He shifted in his seat, seeming to be unsure of how to proceed. He tapped his finger on his knee for a short while before crouching forward, back to his original position from when he first sat down, with head in hands, narrowing his eyes at me. I suddenly felt way too aware of myself, and of the precarious position I may have inadvertently put myself in.

"Why would that matter to you?" He got me there. I wasn't sure how to answer that question either. I couldn't tell him that I knew his future if he remained in the dark about his past. So instead, I fought the question.

I shifted in the bed and slid my legs off the edge to straighten myself up, being sure not to kick the bucket near the side of the bed. Kick the bucket...Not quite the phrase I want to think of when raising defiance against Sephiroth... "You said you'd answer mine after answering yours. You asked who I was and why you knew me. It's your turn to answer my questions." I stared him dead in the eye. Big mistake? I thought as his eyes narrowed even further, the wrinkles in the middle of his brow deepening. I felt like an ant underneath his stare but I stayed resolute in my decision, making sure not to show the fear that was shaking my very core.

He interlinked his fingers in front of his mouth, his chin now resting solely on his thumbs, "Very well then. I know almost everything about my past." He spoke from behind his fingers, "Next question." Clever...though not what I meant.

I sighed, annoyed. Oh well, there was one thing I knew that he did not know. I could tell him about his mother, but he'd never believe me. I'd have to show him, but how do I get him to that cave? This next question would be the game changer, literally. I had to word it carefully, otherwise, it'd be his turn to ask the next question, and it was not one I was ready to answer just yet. "Would you travel with me somewhere...that contains something of your past?"

"That depends, where is it?"

"In the middle of the Western Continent."

"so...not far from here then."

"Not far from here?" I finally managed to take in my surroundings. I was in a bedroom of sorts. The wallpaper had a beach scenery. Shells adorned almost everything in sight. Out the window I saw other buildings of tannish color and a few palm trees spread throughout. "Where am I?"

"Costa Del Sol. I dropped you off at this room while you were unconscious." I looked back to him, confused. Why would he do that? I had figured that he would have left me on the ship's deck. What could he have possibly gained by bringing me to shore? This is a really nice room. My mind kept jumping around at what he told me. Did I really have that much of a hold on him? I noticed his facial features had softened, but I still couldn't read him, not with half his face still covered by his hands.

Wait! Costa Del Sol? Where in the timeline am I now? Did everything change already? My heart rate shot up as I tried figuring out the fate of Cloud and the others, the fate of this planet. Can I make a difference or did nothing change? Do I still know where everything is going from here? So many questions ran through my head. "Where is the boat we were on?"

"I believe it's my turn to ask the questions." My heart sank at his words. I wouldn't be getting my answers and I'm going to have to answer his questions. But then he lowered his hands and lifted his head, sitting up once more with a smirk on his face. "The boat is still out at sea. It will reach port later on in the day." I breathed a sigh of relief. Not much time passed after all. I can work with this. "So, shall we go?"

"Go?"

"To that place you spoke of. There are holes in my memories, and I've had visions that cannot be explained yet. If what you say is true, then I would like to see it with my own eyes." He held out his hand to me to help me up from the bed. I took it, though hesitantly. I couldn't be sure if his words and actions were sincere or if there was something underlying. When he closed his fingers around my hand, my heart skipped a beat, and once again I became very aware of myself, how small I was standing next to him. His smell was...wait, that doesn't smell good. I looked away for a moment trying to figure things out, and then looked at myself. I'm disgusting. My clothes were stained from the sweat I experienced while in that bed, among other things I'd rather not name.

I looked back to him, my cheeks redder than a tomato. "How long have I been in asleep?"

"About two days."

"I need a shower." I just stared at nothing, taking in that information. I hadn't eaten since Junon, hadn't even washed since before that.

"I can step out of the room." He's being weirdly courteous. Or maybe I'm looking too deep into this. I turned around to find the bag with materia and my pajamas. They weren't clean, but cleaner than this sailor uniform, and I didn't exactly pack for this trip. I walked away from Sephiroth, looking around the room, checking under the bed, in the drawers, everywhere. It was nowhere to be found. "What are you doing?"

"Where's my bag? I had another set of clothes in there."

"The bag with the materia?" I nodded, "I left it on the ship." I just stood there in shock, Why the hell did he do that? I mean, okay, if it fell off of me when I collapsed, I suppose he wouldn't think to grab it. But if it was still on my back there would be no reason for him to take it off of me. I just sat back down on the bed trying to figure out what to do. There were no clothes in the drawers and I had none. I was stained and gross and smelled of sweat, puke, and citrus. Not a good mix. "Go wash. I'll grab something from one of the vendors outside for you." I just sat there staring at him dumbfounded. Was he serious? Why is he being so nice? Didn't he just kill an entire ship of people only a couple of days ago? I was immensely confused by his sudden good nature. While I knew I was hoping to appeal to that when I was given the opportunity to talk to him, I assumed I'd have to coax it out of him.

When I didn't move, he gave a sigh before approaching me. He bent down so that we were face to face and he said with the most deadpan stare anyone could give me. "Go wash. I don't even want to smell you." My cheeks burned with embarrassment. I just held my breath, squeezing my mouth shut, only wondering what my breath smelled like, knowing he was way too close to not notice. I nodded my head and got up, he moved back to allow me space, and I rushed to the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

I let the breath go that I was holding in, and stood there leaning up against the door for a moment. I heard the bedroom door open and close, now doubt he was heading to a vendor like he said he would. How did I end up in this position? I thought about how close he was mere moments before. His face only inches from mine. God he's beautiful. I quickly shook my head as if to shake the thought out of my mind. Stop daydreaming. I told myself as I stripped to get into the shower, but my mind continued to do so anyway.

The hot water felt amazing on my skin. I started thinking about everything that's happened so far. I couldn't reach out to Cloud...instead I got the source of the turmoil. I guess that's a better position to be in? The image of Sephiroth's masamune piercing through the ship Captain's chest flashed through my mind. Then right after that the memory of that same masamune being pointed at my own neck whizzed by. Nope...not a better position to be in. The pressure is on. I could feel my heart race at what could happen if I were to fail all of this. If my plans failed. If I couldn't get through to him. Dead. I hugged myself, squeezing my eyes shut as my hands grabbed my arms. I felt a chill run through me and goosebumps raise on my skin, despite the warm temperature that permeated the room from the hot shower.

I decided to let my mind wander after all. I was in this situation and there was nothing I could do about it except to take it in stride. This is the hand I was dealt, time to play. I couldn't think about the possible outcome. If I wanted to keep my head, both literally and figuratively, I'd have to stay calm. With that in mind, the sight of his face popped into my mind, when he was sitting on the chair with such a soft expression. It was so calm. Maybe I do have a chance...

Once I had finished showering, I grabbed a towel from the rack and wrapped it around myself. I took my soiled sailor uniform and tossed it in the trash. I'd no way to wash them, or a place to hang them to dry even if I did. After using the complimentary mouth wash, I turned to the door and peeked out. I didn't see Sephiroth anywhere, but in front of me on the bed was a set of new clothes. Nothing fancy, very practical. A pair of plain black leggings and a solid red tank top. On the floor was even a pair of black boots. "I wasn't expecting shoes too. That's helpful." I muttered to myself as I examined the clothes that were left for me.

"I figured they would be better than those broken and worn sneakers that you've been wearing. They wouldn't do well to protect or aid you should we run into any monsters on the way." I heard him say, noticing him by the window on the other side of the room, just staring outside.

"Monsters?"

"Yes. There will be monsters of all kinds outside the walls of any city, town, or village. None of them are friendly." He said to me with no emotion. As he turned around to face me he explained, gesturing towards the clothes he had laid out on the bed, "I apologize that it is not fancy. I hope it will do?"

"Absolutely. Practical, easy to move around in." I smiled at him in thanks, "I'm not really one to wear heels except for when I absolutely have to." I watched his features soften at my words. I guess that was something he was hoping to hear. Though his expression did not last as his gaze shifted slightly and his eyes widened. I looked to where he was staring, unsure of why the change in mood. Looking down at myself I realized that I was still in my towel. I looked back up, his eyes looking at mine again, but the expression did not change. I quickly looked away from him as my grip on the towel tightened, my face red once more.

"I'll be out in the hall..." And with that I heard the door shut. Awkward...

I quickly got dressed and threw the towel onto the bathroom floor. After a short while of towel drying my hair as best I could, I finally walked to the door and open it, to see he had been standing just to the left of it, staring at the corner made from the floor and the wall opposite of him. His expression was very focused, his eyes were unwavering. "See anything interesting?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. I couldn't help but smirk at the scene. He just blinked a few times before turning to me, and stared for a short while before finally turning around to head towards the hotel entrance. I followed after and stayed quiet. I didn't know what was going through his mind, but I wasn't about to ask.

When we left Costa Del Sol, I saw just ahead of us a mountain range. I never got a chance to really look around at the sprawling green, the oceans, the formations of the land. Used to seeing everything from a bird's eye view, from this angle everything looked beautiful. There was a city just behind us, but ahead was just a mass of land that stretched out as far as the eye could see, breaking only when a mountain or river passed into view. "So where to?"

"Southwest of here. There's a cave that lies directly in the middle of the mountains that are just past the ones right in front of us here." I explained as I started to walk in its direction

"Is that how fast you plan on walking?" I stopped and turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. Is he really calling me slow? "It will take a few days at that pace."

Yeah...he is. "Listen, unless you have a chocobo or an airship, I don't exactly see any way quicker."

"Hm." He mused at my response, "Well, I do not own an airship. And there are no chocobos native to this area of the continent."

"Unless we stole the President's helicopter before he got to it?" I said jokingly. He just responded by looking at me with a cocked eyebrow. He's not seriously considering it, is he? Finally, he walked towards me, stopping just a few centimeters from where I stood. My eyes darted around, trying to avoid the uncomfortable eye contact that I would no doubt be stuck in if I looked up at him. I cleared my throat to try and say something to break the awkward silence, "Uhm." But before I could get a word out about my personal space, his arms were around me and my feet left the ground. I gasped at the sudden movement as a wind hit my hair. I looked down and I watched as Costa Del Sol got smaller and smaller. Frightened of the height, I closed my eyes and I quickly wrapped my own arms around his waist, clinging on to his jacket, holding on for dear life. "Oh god I forgot you could fly..." I said quickly, more to myself than to him as I tried to remain calm despite rising further into the air.

"I normally don't like to as much in this body." He explained, hearing what I had said, "It is broken, and so I'm only able to use so much energy before I have to stop to rest. I try to only use what I can, and only when I must." He paused for a moment before I heard him continue, "...you forgot?" He asked, but I gave no answer. I just continued to hold on, focusing on my breathing.

After a few moments soaring through the air, I was calm enough to look around us. There's the bird's eye view I remember. I thought and laughed to myself. Flying was definitely an exhilarating experience, even if it wasn't me that was doing the flying. Once I saw the circular pool of water surrounded by mountains I let one of my hands go from his jacket to point directly at the north end of the pool, "The cave is there."

He looked down to where I was pointing and said, "I've travelled this world over and again a lot during my life, but never once have I seen that. I always assumed that whole space to be purely mountainous." He started the descent as we got closer, "How did you find this place?"

Internet...But I wasn't going to tell him that. I brought my arm back up to his jacket. Of course my mind went back to our proximity, but I quickly shoved that thought aside so I could come up with an answer for him. "I...happened upon it from an airship." When we landed on the rocks below, just in front of the cave's entrance, he looked around and then at me, suspiciously. No doubt he noticed that there was no way an airship could land here, well actually there was...but that was a glitch I managed to find...Instead of humoring his watchful gaze on me, and allowing him to reel me into another awkward staring contest, I decided instead to move on. I held my hand out to him, "I need you to keep an open mind."

This time both his eyebrows raised as he took a hold of my hand, allowing me to lead him into the cave ahead. Once inside he took in the sight before him. He gazed at Lucrecia inside the crystal formation centered at the middle of the cave. For a moment, I thought I saw his expression show one of surprise and recognition, but it must have been just a trick of the light bouncing off the crystal as he said, "Who is she? And what does she have to do with me?"

I didn't want to just answer his question outright. He need to believe in the possibility before he could accept the truth. "Look more closely." He looked to me for a moment and then stepped closer to the crystal. "Closer." He inched forward. "All the way please, and then look." He narrowed his eyes at me, probably exasperated with my demands, but followed them regardless as he stepped closer until his face was only a few inches away. I walked a bit closer as well, but still giving him enough space, allowing him to inspect what was in front of him.

I watched his eyes as they roamed over her face, and then after a while his hands rising to reach his own. I saw him touch his jawline, nose, brow, and coming back to his cheekbones, watching him feel his features as if it were the first time. His eyes widened slightly, only to narrow once more to shift his gaze at me. "Who is she?" He asked again, only this time his voice was much deeper than before, filled with what sounded to me as malice.

For the second time in his presence, I felt my life on the line, but I needed to keep my composure. He would never listen to a worm squirming on a hook. I took a deep breath and answered him, "Her name is Dr. Lucrecia Crescent. She was an assistant to Professor Gast during the Jenova Project before he left Shinra."

"Gast..." He looked away for a moment, lost in thought for a brief moment, and then looked back to me, "I read all of Gast's reports, nowhere was her name listed in any of them."

"They wouldn't be. His reports were focused on Jenova and the Ancients, nothing more. Besides, after Gast left, she stayed and became Hojo's assistant instead." I watched him tense at the mention of Hojo's name. Why, while he was still in the Shinra tower, slaughtering Shinra employees left and right, and even the president himself, did he not seek out Hojo and kill him too was beyond me.

"So she was part of Project S...the Project that created me?" I just nodded my head as he looked back at the woman in the crystal. The crystal seemed to glow for a moment as I watched him close his eyes briefly. When he reopened them, he continued to look at her, "So when they made me, they made me in her image? A copy? Like Genesis was with Gillian?"

"No, you were not made in her image...you were born in her image." With that he looked at me with an incredulous expression.

"She's my-" I nodded. I knew this would take a while to absorb, so I remained quiet, only speaking when a question was asked to me. "Why was I told that Jenova was my mother?"

"Because it was Jenova's cells that they had injected into you during your fetal stages."

"But why not her?" He asked pointing to Lucrecia.

I could only shrug. "I wasn't one of the scientists, I wasn't even alive when you were born. At least I don't think I was." He just stared at me, as if willing a more detailed answer out of me. "I mean, I have a theory, but it's really just a guess and nothing more." He stood there, staring at me, waiting. "Ok, my thoughts are, now please don't quote me, I don't know the validity of it, but perhaps they hid your mother from you so that you'd be more likely to develop the powers of the Ancients more easily. Whereas if you were told that your parents were human, and you knew them, the likelihood of your powers developing at all would diminish because of a preconceived notion that you were no more special than any other child on this planet." His gaze shifted again, taking in the information, "Mind over matter basically is my assumption."

"But I had no such powers growing up."

"No, and you never were going to. You were seen as a failed experiment, that is until they learned that Jenova was not an Ancient at all. So instead, Shinra used you as a super soldier, an icon if you will. A face to trust alongside his own for the company that would be the world's ruler and 'savior'." I continued to explain, though I couldn't hide the disdain in my voice. I thought of another prominent individual back on my own planet who reminded me of Shinra. Everything about me shuddered at the thought. I definitely remembered saying 'I don't want to live on this planet anymore' a lot during that time. Who knew I'd get my wish? I let out a short breathy laugh at my thought, but it didn't go unnoticed.

I felt something cold touch my neck. When I looked in front of me, his eyes were filled with rage, staring as if straight into my soul, his masamune held at my neck once more. I fought back tears, Oh god, not again, please. I inched backwards away from him, but he followed me, "You think this is funny?"

"No, I'm sorry, it was an ironic laugh. What they did to you was horrible!"

"Then tell me, you say my moth-..that Jenova is not an Ancient. Yet in all of Gast's reports they say she was. When did this change?" I continued backwards, willing the sword away from me but of course it would not work.

"After you were born, when Gast left, when neither you, nor Genesis or Angeal could hear the Planet. When you all couldn't use magic without materia. When they learned that despite Jenova's cells you were all still just human. Powerful, but human."

"Then if she is not a Cetra, what is she?"

"She- It is the calamity. Jenova was the thing that fell from the skies that threatened the Planet! It was the reason for the Cetra's mass suicide, to entrap it into a geological stratum for 2000 years before Shinra unearthed it!"

"I don't believe you! How do you know this?"

"Because I'm not from this planet either! You, Jenova, Shinra, the Ancients, everything, on Earth you're all just stories!" I yelled in a panic. My back was against the wall and I had nowhere to go. I didn't know how else to answer and if I lied he'd see through it, and his sword would see through my neck. My heart was racing, my breathing heavy, almost on the borderline of hyperventilating. I kept on praying to myself that I not pass out again like last time. I'd have no place to fall except onto his blade. I closed my eyes and held my breath waiting the backlash for my unbelievable response, but there was none. Rather, I felt the metal move away from my neck.

I peeked an eye open to see he had lowered his arm, his gaze still on me, expression still full of anger. "Stories.." His voice quieted, and for that brief pause in his speech the only thing I could hear was my own breathing. "Then, if I'm just a part of a story, would by any chance know the ending?" All I could do was nod as a traitorous tear managed to escape and roll down my cheek. "Then what is my ending?" I couldn't answer that question, another tear...and then another. I turned my head, I didn't want him to see me like this. That action alone seemed to answer his question though.

I could hear him pacing until finally I let out a loud short scream and cringed when I heard a loud bang right near my left ear. Small pieces of debris fell over my shoulder and chest. I looked up to see that he had punched the wall just next to my head, leaving a large dent in the rock. His face so close to my own. His eyes were closed, brows furrowed, and his breathing was labored. "Why?" He whispered. I couldn't be sure what he was asking, but I could sense an immense amount of pain. His past, I can't even imagine living through it. And then all at once, learning this, after swearing he knew the truth, or at least part of it, before now.

I watched as he opened his eyes, at first looking directly into my own. I couldn't read him this time. He wasn't hiding his emotions, but I couldn't tell which he was feeling. Then his gaze shifted. He took in my face, and then looked to his fist in the wall. He placed his right forearm on the wall on the other side of my face, holding himself up as he pulled his fist out of the wall. He stared at it for a while, but I kept my gaze on his face. What is going on in your mind? I wished I could read him. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what I could possibly say at this point. He shifted his gaze once more, back to me again, and I felt his hand touch the top of my hand, gloved fingers twining into my hair. All the while, his breathing never slowed as I watched his eyes roam my face, stopping at my mouth. Is he...?

My question was answered when he shut his eyes again, brow wrinkling, unmoving. I wished there was something I could say, something I could do, to ease his mind. But I didn't know what I could do. Without thinking further into it, I felt my hand lift of its own accord. The tips of my fingers reached for his jaw, to touch him, to let him know that I would help him. I didn't know how yet, but I would try. I would do my damnedest to help him take back his life from everyone who's ever used him. But just as my fingers made contact with his skin, he breathed in sharply. His eyes shot open, those cat-like pupils boring into my own. I couldn't help but react to him, and pull my hand away from his face. Before I could say anything to him, he pushed himself off the wall, away from me, and strode out of the cave. All I could do was stand there, dazed. I took a few moments to recollect my thoughts, until I ran after him. When I reached the entrance, he stood out a ways on the rocks, staring at the clear blue skies above.

"Sephiroth..." I said, trying to get his attention. He looked in my direction, but he seemed to look right past me. Just as I took another step forward, he crouched down and jumped into the air like a cat, "Sephiroth!" I yelled as I tried to run after him. But he flew into the air, out of my reach. "Sephiroth!" I yelled one more time at the top of my lungs before he disappeared over the mountain range that surrounded the lake. He left...