Chapter 11: The One Who Sleeps.

Midgar Area- 22:00pm

"What the hell-Ahhgh!." Oraian mumbled upon witnessing the awkward event that was occurring right before his eyes. He grabbed his left arm, feeling the burning of his Geostigma starting to flare up there. The cloaked beings that he and the others had seen at Mt. Nibel were traveling across the open plains of Gaia, and towards Midgar. It wasn't just a few of them either it was a large crowd of them. More than he and his other comrades had seen before. "This can't be good.." He dashed off, following the mob of cloaked figures. The Geostigma seemed the give off more and more pain as he followed along the side of them.

'Stop fighting me Oraian..'

"Mmph-ahrrhgh!" He gritted his teeth and laughed at the voice echoing in his mind. "Tch, only when you're dead and gone, will I stop fighting you, Sephiroth." He smirked. "Until then, I'll continue to fight no matter what it takes.."

'You're a fool..' Sephiroth's voice said to him.

"We'll see who the fool is when this is over." Oraian said and shook his head a few times. "Just what the hell is going on here?" As their location grew closer, the dual color haired male started to slow down. "What in the…" Oraian came to a complete stop just outside of the entrance of the ruins, watching in bewilderment at what was taking place. As the hooded beings entered the ruins, some of them began to collapse and die off. "The hell is going-Ahhgh." He clasped his hand around his shoulder and grit his teeth. "What the-Ahhgh!." He grunted and fell to his knees on the ground. The effects from the stigma rippled down his arm and through his left side. "Fuck! Dammit!." He grabbed at his sleeve and pulled it back. His eyes grew in horror looking at how the once white bandage was darkened. Oraian quickly tore at the bandages pulling them away, despite how bad the pain was stabbing at him. The black ooze continued to seeping through the pores on his skin, dripping down the length of his arm like water. "Ah-ahhgh.." He pulled the sleeve back over his arm and rose from the ground. "Something is not right.." He said lowly and ran into the ruins.

The further in he got inside the dilapidated ruins the more collapsed bodies he seen of the hooded figures. The pain he was experiencing from his Geostigma was also getting progressively worse but he ignored it to the best of his ability, though it was causing him dizziness and effecting his ability to think clearly. "Come on Oraian," He whispered. "Ignore it..ignore it. It's just a stupid..sickness.." He said but quickly frowned. "That's..killing you."

Bzzt..

Bzzt..

Bzzt..

The male reached into his pocket and pulled the buzzing object out and put it to his ear. "Oraian speaking." He said dryly to whoever was on the other side.

"Oraian?" The soft feminine voice spoke. "Oraian it's Tifa, are you okay?"

"Tifa!" His mood quickly switched and a smile stretched along his lips. "Thanks Cosmos you're alright. What about the others, are they okay!?"

She nodded before answering. "Yeah they're all fine. Thanks to Cid's piloting skills. What about Hope? The two of you were on the deck when the incident occurred? What happened?"

He shook his head. "Hope's fine but never mind that now, I'll explain everything when we meet up. Where are you guys right now?"

The woman sighed. "Well unless you have something to get across the ocean, I'm afraid you won't be getting to us anytime soon. We crashed landed near Mideel."

"Damn.." He huffed and rubbed his hand against his face. "Uhm, alright. No worries I'll figure something out. Right now I'm in Midgar, I'm going after Hojo and the Remn-"

BOOM!

Oraian stumbled a bit and fell, upon the shaking of the ground and the loud noise that was closer than he liked it to be. "The hell.." He drew the phone back to his ear. "Tifa I'll get back to you later alright. You and the others just wait for me until I'm able to reach you." He clicked end and dropped it into his pocket. Pushing off his left foot, he resumed his run towards the eastern portion of the woods, but stopped abruptly and ducked behind a nearby tree when his eyes bore witness to something very odd. "Equis.."

Xayne reached down and touched the lifeless body that once was Yazoo. Upon the touch of his hand to the body, it disintegrated into this black energy that swirled gently around Xayne's body. The male performed the same exact gesture on Loz's body and got the exact same results. "Wh-what is this.." He mumbled quietly, examining both his hands. He wasn't at all sure what happened just now, or why it happened. However he figured that it was the last bit of Equis' anger. He must have felt some type of betrayal from these two. Then again, they were trying to kill him.

"What the hell!?" Oraian reached over his shoulder and pulled his sword out at his side. While, the remnant was distracted, taking him out should be easy. But what's that black stuff?

"!" Xayne quickly turned around, swords coming from nothingness appeared within both his hands, surprising him. He was going to have a hard time getting used to this type of thing. It didn't take a lot for him to know that someone was there in the woods with him, and they weren't that far away either. "I know you're there, come out!." He shouted. "If I have to search for you, your end won't be a nice one."

"Alright, you asked for it." Oraian whispered and quickly dashed from behind the large tree trunk. With the swing of his arm, he tossed his blade at his enemy and prepared a magic attack for counter.

Xayne chuckled and used little to no effort to evade the blade coming his way. His figure flashed from sight and appeared to the right of his opponent. "Boo.." He said dryly and grabbed Oraian by the back of his collar. He picked the other up and tossed his figure into a nearby tree. He really had no intentions on hurting him after realizing who it was. "Long time no see..friend." The dark wind that was circulating around his body had gotten stronger and had also expanded and was growing thicker.

"Friend!?" Oraian said, frustrated by how calm this guy was being. That was no surprised though. He picked his aching body up from the ground and stood in his fighting position. He stood about twenty feet away from his opponent, the two just stared off at one another. Oraian, waiting for him to make some kind of move so it could give him a reason to attack.

"Damn, you've forgotten me just that quickly? Has it really been that long?" He smirked and even chuckled a bit while watching the stupefied expressions on Oraian's face. "It's me you idiot, Xayne..now if that name doesn't ring a bell then you are dumb.."

Oraian loosened up a bit and blinked. "Xayne..?" He stood up straight and took a few steps towards the Remnant cautiously. "Xayne huh?" He said and started circling him. "You know, I've had an encounter with Xayne before you know and, you look nothing like him.." He stopped behind the Remnant.

The ebony haired male chuckled lowly. "Yea, and some time ago you probably didn't have that glow in your eyes either. But that's what happens when you fall victim to Hojo's experiments." He explained. "Look," His weapons disappeared and he raised his hands up in the air. "I know you probably don't believe me right now-"

"Hell no I don't! The last Xayne we ran into turned out to be Sephiroth!. So don't think for a minute that I'm going to stand here and fall into that trap again!."

"Alright, alright geez," He dropped his hands back to his sides and rolled his eyes. "Chill out Terrorist I was only-"

"What?" Oraian interrupted. He took a step closer to the male, Xayne stepped back out of reflex, feeling that the other was just a little to close in his face. "Wh-what..did you just..call me?"

Xayne blinked. "Terrorist.." He huffed. "You got a problem with it?"

"No it's just-"

The dark wind continued to pick up, the gusts grew much more aggressive, and even started dragging the duo. It was becoming so bad that it was hard for either of them to stand. "Wh-what the-" Xayne spoke out but quickly, he was forced to the ground. "The hell.." He grunted and forced his head up through the pressure of gale force winds. "Terrorist!." He called out to Oraian who was surprisingly still standing, though he appeared to be distracted by something. "Terrorist!." Xayne called again but his shouting worked to no avail.

"Terrorist!."

Oraian could hear Xayne calling for him but he sounded very distant, and his voice was growing further and further away by the second. Xayne was right there, on the ground beside him but in a strange way, it was like he wasn't there at all. Soon enough it was like he vanished all together and he was the only one standing in the center of the forceful winds, Accompanied by him.

"Ahhgh!." The dual-color haired individual fell to his knees. He grasped the center of his chest where an uncomfortable amount of pain started to develop. The dark ooze that was leaking from his pores earlier started up again. He gasped sharply for air as he began with violent coughs and a bit of gagging.

"If only you'd listen.." Everything suddenly came to an unexpected stop.

Oraian looked up only to flinch away and let out a painful wale, that echoed loudly when he came in contact with the face that's been haunting him for the longest time now. "Li-listen to th-the likes of y-you.." He breathed in deep jagged breaths but exhaled quickly when sharp pains clawed at his heart. "Errrrgh..I'll p-pass..Sephiroth.."

"Sephiro- Terrorist what the hell is wrong with you!?" Xayne spoke out to his friend that seemed to be talking to the air. "Sephiroth isn't here."

The silver haired male laughed at the male's attempt to avoid his demands. He found it rather amusing. "At this rate, you'll die. Join me and I can save you. You're fighting a battle that you can't win."

"Tch.." Oraian scouffed. He coughed again, resulting in blood to trickle down the corners of his mouth. "As I-I've stated before," He shifted his left leg, the one he was leaning on to keep himself from fully collapsing, and weakly pushed himself up from the ground. He bent his legs inward to keep himself stable. His body quaked and his eyes could barely stay open. "I'll f-fight you as long as it takes. I-if that mea-me-means I'll die doing so.." He coughed again. "S-so be it.."

"You poor fool.." Sephiroth said as he grabbed the hilt of the weapon resting at his side. He had a short patience when it came to anything and he was quite fed up with Oraian. "So be it, but how about you allow me the honors of ending your suffering." He swiftly pulled the long katana from its place on his hip and whipped it through the air a few times. "Let me cut your pathetic life short, right now."

"Tch,"Oraian was currently weaponless after losing his sword when he encountered Xayne earlier. He was also in a very critical condition. However, that wasn't going to stop him. The palms of his hands started to glow with the essence of ice magic, he curled his hands into fists and readied himself, taking slow steps towards the silver haired menace.

"H-hey man, what are you doing.." Right away Xayne's weapons appeared within his hands. He started backing away from him, even though the wind was already doing most of the work. "Terrorist!."

Sephiroth could only smirk. He found his bravery quite admirable but at the same time careless, and dumb. "Rushing to your own death.." He huffed. "Have it your way."

From the moment the last words fell from Sephiroth's lips, he was already on the move, in the blink of an eye, he was there directly in front of Oraian. A smirk shaped his pale lips as Oraian stared wide eyed and in shock. His hand was girpped firmly around the base of his adversary's weapon. Sephiroth's smirk faded and he started to chuckle lightly as the visage of him vanished. A hallucination? Oraian snapped from his shock and realized Xayne was standing in front of him. "Xayne?" The ebony haired male choked. "Wh-what's wrong.." Oraian started to panic. "Xayne what's-" A warm liquid fell rolled down the blade that Oraian didn't even realize he was holding onto until he looked down. "What the…" He gasped and stepped back quickly. Both his hands were stained red with blood, and a sword, no Xayne's sword was stabbed through his stomach. "H-how..but..I didn't have..XAYNE!?" Oraian went to reach for the male but the wind current hindered him from such, pulling the individual away from him. "Xayne!?"

The swords vanished and Xayne fell to the ground on his side, blood oozing from the fresh gash in his torso. He took slow small breaths as he turned over on his stomach. "Terror..ist." He reached out for him but shortly after his hand fell limp against the ground, as did he."

"Neh! Xayne no Xay-"

'Oraian…'

"Hn!?" The male dug his fingers into the dirt tried his best to crawl to his friend's aid. "Damn you.." He mumbled lowly to himself. "Damn you Sephiroth.."

'Oraian…come..'

What the hell was that voice and where was it coming from? Oraian shook it off and ignored it, thinking it to be a side effect from the Geostigma or Sephiroth trying to play another head game with him. "Screw you.." He said to the voice. "Hang in there Xayne, I'm coming.."

'Oraian..'

Suddenly, there was a break in the dark wind. No, a giant luminescent tear within..the air? Oraian covered his eyes when the large tear ripped opened, exposing bright light. "Nygh.." He groaned and turned his head away, another hallucination and he wasn't falling for it this time. He was still fighting against the winds that was pulling the in the direction of the tear in reality, but he managed to finally make it to his comrade's side. "Xayne!" He shook the male but got no response. "Xayne!."

'Oraian..'

He ignored it yet again. "Xayne, Xayne wake up!"

No response..

"That's it.." He wrapped both his legs around a broken tree trunk that was behind him, then grabbed hold of both Xayne's arms and pulled him in his direction. "Phew, Okay." Next he circled one of his arms around the ebony haired male's side and held onto the tree trunk with the other, and pulled himself up in a standing position. "Alright Xayne, just-"

SNAP!

"GAH!" The trunk snapped in half and the two were dragged back towards to open rift, but Oraian quickly grabbed onto another tree, only for the same outcome to occur. "Nah, no no!" With nothing else to hold onto, the two allys were sucked up into the open rift.

'Xayne, Oraian..'

A soft voice spoke out to the two men. Xayne's body twitched several times before his eyes slowly started to open up.

'Huh...'

Everything around him was pitch black with the exception of small luminescent balls of light floating around his hovering form.

"Hmmmm?"

Did he die?

Where was he?. "H-hey.."

He looked over his shoulder at Oraian who was just starting to wake. The purple eyed male sat up and looked around. "H-huh, where are we."

'Xayne, Oraian.'

There was that voice again. "Who is that!?"Oraian asked aloud, looking to Xayne for some sort of answer.

"Beats me.." Was his only answer.

"W-who's there!?" He called out. His voice echoed loudly through the dark abyss making him cringe a bit. What if they're dead and this is some form of Limbo...?

"A ghost!." Xayne said just for laughs but his ally didn't find it amusing at all."You're sitting here joking around and we might be dead!."

'Xayne Oraian..'When the voice spoke their name for a final time, a small bright light became visible before it started growing bigger and bigger until it eventually swallowed up the darkness. The two shielded their eyes briefly until the brightness cleared up."Huh, what the.." Xayne quickly realized that the surrounding had suddenly changed. No more were they in the middle of a dark void, but now they were standing on the shores of what appeared to be a beach."This is getting stranger by the second, yea?" Oraian said as his amethysts scanned the unfamiliar location, bewildered. "What...?" The beach didn't appear to be any normal beach either, the sands were dark with igneous like rocks littering the shore line and the waters and sky was dark and baleful looking. The male turned around and looked over his shoulder to see a tall white brick wall surrounding what appeared to be some type of ruins. The male blinked about three times before raising a foot and started for towards the ruins, Xayne right behind him. "You know," he started. "It's weird, I feel like I know this place. Not like I've been here but.." He shook his head. "I don't know."

"What do you mean..?" Xayne asked. "How could you know a place but say you've never been there?"

'Xayne, Oraian...'

There was that voice again. But it seemed much louder and closer than it was when they were in that dark void. Sounded like it was coming from those ruins. The men walked up the stone steps and headed towards the ruins entrance. The sound of their footsteps could be heard echoing with every step they took through the ominous location as well as the sound of the waves beating against the shores of the beach. Turning the corner after traveling down a long brick path, They came to an area of the ruins that seemed to be the only spot that had sunlight shining down on it. Xayne was the first to step in, looking up and all around to see where the light could have been coming from but nowhere did he see a small crack or a fissure that could produce luminosity in this rather ominous place. Nevertheless he had to say it put his mind somewhat at ease. But strangely in the presence of this little bit of light he felt sadness and grief for some unexplainable reason. Like someone else's emotions had just taken him over.

'Xayne, Oraian...'

"Hn...?" Oraian whirled around and in front of him was a large crystal throne of sorts sitting on a lone cliff just several feet away. From the looks of it and the way the brick underneath the throne was destroyed, it seemed that some time ago the seat used to be accessible. But do to the destruction of whatever this place used to be, it would take someone capable of long jump to get to it. Oraian was willing to give it a try but after looking down below to discover that there was nothingness he passed it up. The thrown looked to be fit for a king or queen to sit in. So did that mean this location used to be a kingdom?Suddenly light flashed in his eyes and he quickly jumped back. On instinct he reached for his weapon.

The light dimmed down slowly and soon took on the form of a figure. When the brightness cleared and the face along with the body of the unknown figure became visible, Oraian could see that it was a female. She had pale skin that was barely visible because her body, from her collar bones to her ankles were wrapped in tattered grey bandages. Parts of the bandages looked to be covered in patches of crystal. Her hair was almost as white as snow but just a shade darker. What her eye color was remained a mystery since they were closed. "Who...?" Even though the woman was a decent amount of feet away from him, he for some reason still found it necessary to take an additional few steps back. The woman in some way made him feel uncomfortable. "Who are you...?"

"M-mom..?" He stammered lowly.

The woman presented her son with a nice warm smile. And reached out to touch the male's face. "My son." She said softly then gathered him up in her arms.

The silver haired male frowned and relaxed into the hug his mother was giving him. It had been so long, too long since the very last time that he had seen his mother. He took in a deep breathe to hold back any tears that was trying to come along. He remembered that last moment he saw his mother's face and that's when she went tumbling of that bridge and to her death in the Hanging Edge some years back. Since then all he could do was dream of the day he'd see his mother again, but he didn't know it would be this soon. The boy reluctantly pulled away and stepped back, smiling a little as he did. "I never thought I'd see you again after that day, and here you are. How?" He asked curiously.

The middle aged woman only shook her head. "You called for me and here I am. I'm here to help you find your way back to where you belong Hope, and it's not here." She explained to him. "Things aren't as they should be outside of this little dream stasis that you're in. Your friends need you Hope. More importantly, Lightning needs you."

"Lightning..?" What could she possibly need him for? She was always capable of doing everything on her own. She never asked for anyone's help even if she did need it. If there was anyone who needed help it was him. He tried so hard to be independent and act as tough as Lightning but in reality, he wasn't. He was still that same scared boy from four years ago that he tried so hard to discard.

But was Lightning any different? All her acts of independency and the barrier she put between her and others. The cold front she puts on to scare others away, it was all just a façade that she put on to hide away her real self. Just as she did when they were l'cie. It took him to get around her for her to realize that. "How does she need me mom? Lightning's never needed anyone before."

The woman smiled. "That's not all the way true my son." A rift exposing nothing but light opened up in the back of the woman. She held out her hand in which Hope took without hesitation. "She's lost within a dark place, and needs your help." She pointed to the rift and nodded. "Go.."

"W-wait," He turned to her. "You'e not coming..?"

She shook her head. "I cannot." She hugged the boy one last time. "I'm with you, just remember.."

Hope frowned. He'd thought he'd get to spend a little more time with his mother, even if this was a dream. He really didn't want to go but there was much to be handled in the real world. He smiled and nodded firmly. "I will. He said and stepped through the rift. "Good-bye..mom."

"Who…who are you?"

The woman said nothing for the moment and gracefully jumped backward and slowly floated down on the crystal throne. Took in a deep breath and slowly rose her head. Now opening her eyes, they could see that they were sterling pools of silver that almost looked white when the light reflected off of them at a certain angle.'Xayne, Oraian...?'

She said but her lips did not move. It was like she was speaking to them telepathically.
Xayne quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. "That's us..but how do you know our names, and where in the name of Cosmos are we."A few seconds after saying that there was another bright flash, but this one appeared in front of Xayne. From it, came another woman. "Wh-what!?" The ebony haired male jumped back, swords making themselves present within the palms of his hands. "Wh-who the-!?" The figure, waved her hand out towards Xayne then snatched it back, pulling the two blades from his grasp without even touching them. The woman released the blades and tossed them behind her. The metallic weapons clashed onto the ground and echoed loudly through the ruins.

The woman sighed sadly and shook her head slowly. "I see like others of your kind you use my name in vain." She stated as though she were hurt. She had long blonde hair and was dressed in a gold and white dress. Her facial expression appeared neutral but her crystal blue eyes told another story.

"Y-your name?..." Oraian stated, blinking a few times and tilting his head since he didn't understand.

"C-cosmos..?" Xayne's eyes grew to an extraordinary size. He turned to the other woman off to the right. "Then you must be.." He shook his head. "No way, if that's true then we must be.."The male's mouth fell ajar and his eyes grew wide. "!" He couldn't believe it. This had to be some kind of joke. "Etro a-and?" This couldn't be. How was this even plausible? "How...?""Never mind that. How we're alive or weather we're alive is of no importance to either of you. Right now your located in the world between the living and the dead. "Cosmos said in a gentle tone. Her voice was so soft it almost sounded melodic.So it was as they thought, they were stuck in Limbo. "So we're dead!?" Oraian asked."No, just sleep." Etro spoke."Sleep..." Well that was way better than being dead. "But why, why are we here?"Cosmos extended her arm out at the men but what she was really pointing at was a pedestal just behind them. "We were just about to get to that." The godly woman stated. "The two could only nod."Mmm-hmm." The goddess hummed. "The two of you are probably already aware of this but this world is in a grave state.""Yeah we know, which is why we are trying to save it!" The amethyst eyed male mumbled and crossed his arms over one another.

"We know what we have to do, stop the Remnants and Hojo." Xayne stated and looked down at the ground and shook his head. "I've picked off two of them already and now there is only one left. We can handle this, it's not as hard as we once thought."Etro and Cosmos stared blankly at the individuals. They knew the answers to all his questions but could not answer them all. "I am afraid that what the two of you speak about the two Remnants that you claimed to have destroyed is not at all true. Hence the reason why the two of you are here." Etro stated. "The Remnants cannot truly be destroyed until their true from is dispelled from this world, The One Who Sleeps. The danger to this world."

"the danger of this world.." Xayne tapped his chin.

"Sephiroth!." Oraian shouted out.

"Yes," Cosmos spoke. "The dark wind you witnessed upon destroying those two Remnants was Sephiroth's doing. His focus is to take control of this world by using the lifestream, but only way to do that is to wake the god, Bhunevelze."

"What's Bhunevelze's role in this whole thing anyway?" Oraian asked.

"To further taint the lifestream." Etro responded. "Force waking Bhunevelze from his sleep will cause chaos to this world. Therefore, throwing the stream of life off balance. With control over the stream of life Sephiroth can recreate the world into his own image.

The thought of such a thing happening was probably the scariest thing the two of them ever thought about. However the two of them had already been aware that the silver haired menace had not truly been gone, remembering his message that he gave them three years ago. "So this was the plan he was talking about." Xayne stated. "Well, we'll stop him then, and Bhunivelze. Etro, Cosmos." Xayne looked over at Oraian and nodded. "You have our word that this world will soon be safe from harm. This is what we do!." He said with brimming confidence in his voice. "Right Terrorist?"

"Allow us to forewarn you that taking down Bhunivelze is not easy and cannot be done this early on." Cosmos stated softly.

"Well then we have no problem waiting it out a little while, what's the approximate waiting time?" Xayne asked.

"Five hundred years." Etro spoke.

"Five hundre-"

"WHAT!?" Oraian exclaimed. "Five hundred years, we'll be gone by then! You're kidding!."

The goddesses stared at the two with serious expressions before speaking again. "Not even Sephiroth is capable of being stopped at this point in time, due to the resurrection of JENOVA.

"JENO-" Oraian slapped his forehead. This was a complete and utter disaster. Everything Bugenhagen told them to not let happen was happening. They had failed their mission and now humanity was going to pay the price for it. The confidence he had seconds ago had taken a major nose dive and crashed against the ground. "So-" he paused momentarily. "Wait.." He looked at the two goddesses and his expression suddenly became frantic. His stomach twisted in knots and his head started throbbing from a searing pain that swam across it. "Uh-oh.." He said lowly and swallowed hard. "Does this mean that Lightning…she-"

'Stop your friend; get to her before the Remnants have the chance. If they get to her first, then we all better be prepared to meet a terrible and unsettling fate.'

Oraian felt his legs wobble a bit but he caught himself just before he was able to fall. "Then.." He parted his lips to speak words but nothing came. He desperately wanted to ask his question but fear washed over him. He was afraid of what they were going to tell him. "S-so this means..Lightning..If JENOVA is-"

"What are you blabbering about?" Xayne asked, growing extremely annoyed with his comrades, for not being clear on what he was trying to say.

Etro nodded. She understood what the male was trying to speak. "Yes Oraian, it is as you think."

"So does this mean…"

"No," Cosmos answered. "She can be saved, just not at this moment in time, and weather she lives or not is solely up to you."

"Am I missing something here?" Xayne asked.

"Oh, let me guess, five hundred years from now when we're all dead and gone is when something will be done!? We don't have five hundred years. Either it's handled now or it never will be!."

"Everything takes time. The fate of this world now depends on the two of you, and another. Weather your friend will be saved is up to you."

What the fuck did that mean!? Was what he wanted to shout. But he had a feeling that it would just lead to some other damn riddle that he didn't have the time, energy or brain power to try and decode.

Etro gave a small nod of her head before she and Cosmos slowly started to fade. The crystal throne she was upon shattered and the ruins they were standing in started to collapse away under their feet. "There isn't much time left, quickly complete your task and we will handle the rest.." The ground finally gave and crumbled away, leaving Oraian and Xayne falling into the black abyss.

"Remember the future of this world is up to you.."

It was silent but not completely. He could hear the sound of the breeze blowing through the trees around him, as well as the heavy rain fall hitting against the ground. Then there was a long and despondent sigh that came from whoever was sitting on the right of him. "Ah!?" Quickly he sprung up from the ground, weary and since he didn't give his body enough time to fully wake up. "Where..?" He looked around a few time before his eyes fell on Xayne who was sitting on the ground next to him. He said nothing to his comrade and just continued to look around as if he was searching for something, but he wasn't. He was really trying to figure out whether what they experienced was real?

The thick black energy that was surrounding this area was still present here and it was growing thicker. The body count of the hooded figures in this area had grown higher and was continuing to increase by the second, the deeper they got into the ruins. Did they really meet the goddess Etro and Cosmos? Did the fate of this world really rest on their shoulders? Or was it all just some twisted dream? Did he dare ignore it and just continue with their original task?

So many questions…

So little answers…

A small window of time...

Well at least that's what the goddess in the dream told them. What were they going to do!?

Then, Lightning…

"This can't…" Oraian mumbled to himself. Could they really be too late? Was Lightning not Lightning anymore?

'This is why I told you we shouldn't have let her out of our sight!.'

Hope's words rang loudly in his ears, and he was starting to regret not going after Lightning when she took off at Mt. Nibel. Now Hojo's experimentation is probably a success and Lightning is..

"No sense in dwelling on whether or not that dream was just a dream man, we were both there. I seen it. You seen it, it's real. Cosmos and Etro has given us a task, and we need to complete it." Xayne said to a distressed Oraian.

"You, you're alive!" Oraian exclaimed. "But I stabbed you..in the stomach!."

Xayne waved the frantic Oraian off. "Yeah, and Hope stabbed me too, when we first met. Yet I'm still here." He huffed. "I'm a project remember. I'm not invincible but it stakes more than a stab wound to kill me off." He laughed. "Now, back to the topic at hand here, we have a big job to do, a very big one."

The dual color haired male shook his head a few times. "Yeah and if we don't the world is done for!. And if we do then we have to wait five centuries that we don't even have to see results? I don't even think I have six months let alone five hundred years!."

"What are you-"

"We're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't!." Oraian stomped his foot against the ground and let out a loud frustrated growl. "I've always liked saving others, I have, saving the planet from Shin-Ra was one thing but, knowing that the future of mankind depends on our actions," He slapped his hand against his forehead. "What if we fail huh? I've already messed up letting Lightning out of sight now she's probably.." He stopped and took a few deep breaths.

"Lightning's what?" Xayne asked. He remembered him babbling about Lightning in the dream. "Alright Terrorist, what's going on?"

He shook his head slowly. "It doesn't matter, we're doomed.."

"What's with you man?"

"What are you talking about?" The purple eyed male asked morosely.

"You used to be so optimistic, now you're..this. It's like you've lost all hope in anything because of this one mission." Xayne explained.

"Because we can't do this Xayne. This task is beyond us, and you know that!."

"Yeah, well Etro and Cosmos don't think that to be true." Xayne stood up from the ground and stretched his arms high up over his head. "And if they believe in us, then we can believe in us!. I know it's hard but no one said it was going to be easy either. Etro and Cosmos may have said it all depends on us but they never said we couldn't get help. We have a whole team behind us you know." He nodded. "So, what do you say Terrorist," He held out his hand. "Wanna save the world?"

Could they really do this? Would they really be able to pull this kind of thing off? He had a long list of doubts. One slip up and everything they were working so hard for could be lost forever. There was no second, or third chances and that's what scared him the most. But something had to be done. They had to take action. They were already wasting time sitting here. He smirked and extended his arm out, grabbing hold or Xayne's. "Hmph, never thought I'd say this but, you're right."

"Huh?" Xayne gave his comrade a wide toothy grin. "Whaddya say? I didn't quite hear you."

"Idiot.." Oraian said and punched him in the arm. "You heard me and I am not repeating myself!."

Xayne chuckled. "I just wanted to make sure I was hearing correctly. You did say I was-"

"Would you just shut-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!." A desperate cry echoed throughout the ruins.

"Wh-who was that!?"

Xayne quickly turned around upon hearing the sound of footsteps coming from the south direction, but that wasn't all. The ground also started to tremor and shake. The two comrade's tried to keep their balance by firmly planting their feet against the surface but it did them no justice, they still ended up wobbling and stumbling about.

"Equis!." Used to that name, Xayne acted on instinct and turned in the direction where he heard his project name called. It was Hojo who called out to him. The old man was tripping up as he ran towards the duo in an all-out panic. Oraian growled at the sight of him while Xayne only glared. The quaking of the ground started to grow more and more violent, so violent that it caused the two allys to fall against the shaky surface, Hojo as well. "You're just going to stand there and watch!?" Hojo screamed out at Xayne. "Save me you stupid project!." The old man yelled.

"Stupid project..?" Xayne whispered. One of his hands curled into a fist while a sword appeared in the other. "Oraian, you go. Find the others and tell them everything." The ground gave another violent shake, creating a fissure that started exposing the life stream. A dark essence rose from the wakes of it. "Alright? I'll catch up with you later."

"Right." Oraian nodded and stood to his feet. "Be careful yo.." He said then rushed off through the ruins.

Xayne watched his friend until he was out of sight then quickly turned his eyed back to Hojo. The male stood from the ground without any difficulty. The shaking grounds didn't throw him off balance even once as he made his way to Hojo, who was struggling to get up. "Save me you stupid project." Xayne repeated the man's words as he neared him. "You know, I don't know how the other Remnants respond to your orders, but I don't take being called stupid, lightly." He reached out and picked the man up by his neck. Not even a few seconds after the piece of the ground he was standing on, gave way and sunk, exposing a large chunk of the sea-foam colored energy. His grip on the male's neck started out extremely tight. "Oh would you look at that," Xayne chuckled. "I saved you.." Hojo coughed and attempted to scream for help but the more he tried the tighter Xayne's grip became. "All of this nonsense here is your fault, and you want to run around and scream for someone to save you." Hojo's face started changing from red to blue and his eyes were now bloodshot from the lack of proper circulation. "Well here," Xayne whispered quietly. He raised his sword that he was tightly holding onto. "Let me save you!." The ebony haired male released Hojo from his grip. As he fell towards the collapsing grounds, Xayne performed a swift spin attack that resulted in the splattering of blood along the cracked surface, and even on himself. The Life Stream tainted red in that one spot as Hojo's body, and his head, fell into the depts. of it. A stream of the crimson liquid ran off the edge of the male's blade that soon vanished from his hand. "There.." He said lowly and proceeded to whip away the splatter of blood from his face. "I saved you. Farewell you son of a-"

BOOM!

The tremors were growing worse and now the ground was really starting to break apart. The black essence that was rising from the fissure moments ago, was now rising from every crack that exposed the energy of life. "What the..fuck?" Suddenly the tremors stopped. "What's" He started backing up. "What's going-" He stopped when his back hit against something. Instantly, the male turned around and his mouth fell agape.

He took several steps back, argent optics gazed over the figure in front of him in disbelief. This couldn't be. It wasn't. Xayne took in a few breaths as his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides, gripping the hilts of the swords in both. So this is what it has come to. This is what Hojo was so hard up on accomplishing. This wasn't her, it had to be a clone of some type. His eyes scanned over her once more. Silver hair, pale skin, and those piercing animalistic sea-foam eyes. "L-ligh.."

No, he dared not say it, never would he refer to this, this being as her. He looked her in the eyes, that cold gaze that she usually gave was much colder than he could remember. No more did she have the vivid blue eyes that he liked so much. The determined look was gone, everything about her reflected something dark, and it gave him the chills. He hated it, Looking at her in this state made him so angry. This person here, it wasn't her at all this wasn't his..his..

"Lightning..?" He whispered out reluctantly.