Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII or any of it's characters. I own Cassie

AN: So, I'mma try to get this moving faster, Usually by chapter twelve I have at least outlined the main storyline and have introduced a bad guy by now. I want this done in under 25 chapters. Oh, and please, I hope I explain a bit in this chap why Kadaj and his brothers are a little ooc compared to the movie...

Split Realities

"Droppin' the load right now, should have ya'll out of trouble in a jiffy," Cid said over the ship loudspeakers.

"Bout damn time," Barret said as a heavy powder started to fall outside. Cloud and Barret watched as the large spiders reacted instantly, scuttling in every direction to get away from the insecticide.

"Hey, it's workin'! They're heading out of town!" Cid commented.

Tifa and Cassie sighed in relief as the children cheered. Cassie walked to her dagger in the wall but Cloud stopped her with a shake of his head. "Not yet, wait till they're all out of town."


An hour later all of the spiders were either gone or dead. WRO military dressed in biohazard suits went to work immediately with water hoses to clean the city of the poison and collect the spider corpses. As each street was cleared more people came out to investigate the damage. Tifa and Cassie took the children outside while the men dealt with taking the boards off the doors and windows.

"You think Reeve still wants to meet me?" Cassie asked.

Tifa shrugged, "I'm sure he'll want to wait till tomorrow. He's gonna have alot of paperwork for right now." She looked at the children, who stared around them. She was proud of them, even though the spider invasion lasted all day they had not complained once. However, they did play games all day when they should have been studying. "Well, you two, I guess you can forget your bath for tonight, but it is a school night." She paused and put a hand to her chin, "In fact, you were supposed to have school today... But I guess this means you'll have alot more homework tomorrow night." At the children's whines Tifa smiled. "Well, I'll make a deal with you, do your homework tomorrow as soon as you get home and we all can play a game again. Deal?"

"Deal!" Denzel and Marlene said together.

Tifa gestured for everyone to go inside. "Let's make some dinner."


Kadaj stayed awake late into the night thinking. He just couldn't figure out what he was feeling. Ever since he had been resurrected he felt like he had lost control of his mind. Especially where Cassie was concerned. Since the night of the Ball, when the red headed fool started hitting on her, he had found himself harboring fealings of...~Feelings of what? Ownership? Jealosy?~ Kadaj shook his head at this thought. Ownership he could understand. But jealosy? Jealosy meant he had feelings towards the girl other than the feelings of aggravation she tended to cause. But how could he explain the intense anger and hatred towards Reno when he took her home from the club the other night. Or his sudden sense of relief when she revealed that they in fact did nothing last night.

Kadaj was definately bothered by these emotions. Before he died the only emotion he had was intense devotion to Mother and her Plan. No other emotions affected him, least of all the emotion of uncertainty and uneasiness. Of which he had been experiencing alot of lately. It was enough to drive him crazy. ~How can people live with these emotions constantly over running them,~ he thought, exasperated.

What irritated him more than these rampant emotions were the knowing and sly smiles he saw constantly on his captors faces. More over, he was starting to get those same smiles from his brothers, who used to be so subservient to him. Tifa and Cloud weren't the only ones to notice how Yazoo and Loz seemed to be becoming independent, Kadaj had noticed too. However he knew or at least hoped that when he gave the word the two would follow him.

He rolled over, exhausted from contemplating his frustrations. ~As soon as we're in the open we're out of here,~ he thought as he finally drifted to sleep.


"I see," Reeve said, steepling his fingers in front of his mouth. As Tifa said he had decided to see Cassie the next day. He had started the meeting off by asking her several questions about her life, her opinions, her experiences and other things. Cassie noticed the questioning for what it was, she had experienced something of a similar nature when she'd apply for various jobs. After the questions he had asked her to explain in detail how she came to be here and what exactly her plans were. She had just got done telling him her hope to find out if she really did crossover to this world after her inevitable death in her world or if she had just slipped into insanity the last few seconds she had in life. And if the former, her plans to find some way to check on her loved ones. After a few minutes he nodded, "Well, I can tell that there's something you're hiding," At Cassie's guilty and ashamed expression he sighed. "But I have a feeling that it's something you'd rather not talk about right now, or at least to me, as opposed to being something you're lying about. From what I've heard and from having met you I agree, that you're not the type to lie."

He paused and tapped his fingers on his desk, then looked at her. "I can't say for sure right now that you're insane, and one of the possibilites that you didn't say directly but I presume you understand is there, is that you're from this world and just imagined your life in this other world. Now I'm no expert on this subject, and I'm sure the best option would be to send you to an expert to decide, however, I don't find you as a threat to yourself or others. And in fact believe that traveling to find your answers might just be the right way to decide if you are insane or not." He noticed the dark look Cassie gave her tightly held hands when he declared her as not a threat to herself, but decided not to say anything about it. "Who knows, it might be that you are entirely right and are in fact from another world, and I agree the best people to go to to find out would be the scientists in Cosmo Canyon." He looked to Tifa. "By the way, it won't be a direct route there. I've already informed Cloud. I'd like your group to visit towns on your trip to investigate. We've been getting reports all over the continent, including some from the Western Continent, of strange occurances similar to that flock of cockatrices the other day."

Tifa nodded, "Cloud mentioned it."

He looked back at Cassie, "Well young lady. Both Rufus and I will try to find some of your answers here. But more than likely you're going to find your answers out there."

Cassie nodded as she and Tifa got up to leave. "Thank you," she said quietly.


As Tifa and Cassie walked back to the bar Tifa asked the girl what had been on her mind, "So, I have a question, and it's a bit personal..." At Cassie's look of permission she continued, "Do you like Reno? I mean more than because he was paying attention to you... Could you see yourself actually dating him long term?"

Cassie shrugged, "Actually, I don't do well with relationships. Either I push the perfect guy away, or I end up with a sleaze bag and that never ends well." They walked on in silence. "My best friend usually says that its because I need to learn to love myself first before someone else can love me, but..."

Tifa waited, after a few seconds she asked, "But what?"

Cassie shook her head, "It's nothing..."

Tifa just nodded, but she saw again the dark haunted look in the young girl's eyes.~I hope one day she opens up to me,~ she thought, sad.


Over the next few days things were normal for the group. At least as normal as it got for them. Reno tried several times to call to appologize to Cassie but Cloud, having been asked by Cassie, intervened in his efforts and would only tell him she was out and that he still refused to be Reno's messenger boy. Cloud for his part, kept a strict eye on Kadaj, going as far as to bring him along on the multitude of assignments he got in town. He wasn't too worried about Yazoo and Loz, who on their own, had taken to being errand boys for Tifa. Cassie would on occasion help Cloud and Kadaj, but usually stayed behind to help Tifa run the bar and answer phones for Cloud's business. On the fourth day out Barret told the group he was heading out. He had already said his goodbyes to the kids before they went to school.

"Well, Spikey," Barret was saying as he clapped the blonde man on the shoulder. "I'm outta here. You guys take care huh," he said to Tifa and Cassie. He dragged Cloud to the door and said in a low voice, "Hey, if you can you might wanna take the girl out and see if she can fight." Cloud nodded.

When he came back to the girls he was about to say just that when the phone rang. He rolled his eyes, "If it's that fool I'm going to shoot him..." he grieved as he answered the phone.

Instantly Reno's voice came through the phone, "Yo, I'm coming over to see Cassie-" Cloud hung up the phone.

He turned to Cassie, "Well, if you're intent on not seeing Reno I guess we should leave now. Bring your daggers."

Cassie only nodded asking, "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere where we can train you," Cloud said, gesturing to Kadaj to go get his sword.


Reno burst through the bar door ten minutes later. All he saw was Tifa and a few customers. Tifa smiled at him and shook her head, "Sorry Reno, she already left. Try again later."

Reno rolled his eyes and scratched the back of his head, "I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth trying anymore..."

Tifa just laughed, "Don't worry she won't stay mad forever, just give her time." She looked closely at him, "You know, I've never seen you try so hard to get a girl before. What? Did you fall in love in only two days?"

Reno choked, "Uh, nah, it's nothing like that. It's just I feel bad for her, you know. Not many people believe her." He put his hand behind his head and shrugged.

Tifa nodded, "Not many true, but I'm not so sure anymore that it matters. If it is that she imagined this whole other world I don't thing it means anything. What matters is that she believes its real, the good times and the bad times."

Reno looked at her curiously, "What do you mean by that?"

Tifa went back to cleaning off the bar, "Well, she often gets this look in her eyes. Obviously something bad happened to her in that world that still haunts her..." She shrugged.

Reno just thought about what she had said. He shrugged too. He turned to walk out of the bar, "Well, anyways me and Rude have been assigned to ya'lls team, so I'll see ya in a few days."

"Alright," Tifa said as he walked out.


Cassie gestured for a time out. As she stood there panting Cloud and Kadaj nodded. "Good, you've got the basics down," Cloud was saying. "In fact you're pretty decent."

When Cassie had caught her breath she said, "What do you mean, I've just got my ass handed to me on a silver plate..."

Cloud wagged his finger, "Remember, both Kadaj and I are experienced fighters. We're also intelligent. Most of the monsters we'll encounter are pretty primitive. They can be strong, but as brains go, they don't really think in terms of exploiting your weaknesses." He studied the girl. "More to the point if a time ever comes where you're seperated from us, you have enough skill to at least keep the monsters at bay until you get away, or until help comes. What matters is that you have enough skill to stay alive."

He clapped the girl on the shoulder, "Anyways, you'll get more practice and skill through our travels, so don't sweat it." He looked at the sun, it was just setting, "We should be heading back."


Two continents away in Cosmo Canyon, just after sunset, a scientist was aligning the large telescope to an area that was going to be the highlight of the star festival. As he zeroed in on the coordinates he noticed a large blacked out area. Puzzled, he adjusted the lenses, thinking it was out of focus. Yet still the large area remained darkened. He reached over to see who was the last person on the rotation that had messed with the telescope. Finding it he noticed that the last time anyone had looked through the telescope had been two days ago, and they had left a note saying the telescope needed maintenence. Shrugging, deciding that the maintenence crew had yet gotten to it he too left a note about it, then turned away from the telescope to go fill out the necessary paperwork. He sincerely hoped the telescope got fixed soon, they had only two weeks before the festival.