Last shortie! Yaaay! Thank you for the reviews!

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SEPHIROTH.

Sephiroth frowned and looked hard at the old map in his hands, not for the first and most likely not for the last time either. It didn't really make much sense to him.

The sixteen-year old had left his home in the Wutai islands a few months earlier, bored with the familiarity of the land and eager to get out into the world and go exploring. His mother had tried to convince him to stay at home, at least until he was a little older, but the youth had been insistent. And it was a well known fact in the family: what Sephiroth wanted, Sephiroth got.

He looked very little like his Wutaian mother and family. It had been easily explained with the fact that his father had been a foreigner, from some far-off northern country. The man had died when Sephiroth had been very young, and he didn't really remember anything about him. Since there was only so little his mother and other coddling relatives could tell him, he had decided that his first goal would be to find his father's homeland, and maybe some surviving relatives as well. It should be easy; he was, as they said, the spitting image of his late father.

The problem was, the youth realised as he looked up from the map, that he was about as far north as he could go, and so far had found no clues as to where his father could be from. He had reached a small town called Icicle Inn, but there was no-one there who recognized him or had any recollection of his father. And all there was on his map on the Northern continent besides Icicle Inn was mountains, snow, a small archaeology camp and a whole lot more of snow. No other towns, nothing. No wandering tribes either.

It was baffling.

Sephiroth scrutinized the map again, desperately trying to make out anything that could be a town. It was an old map, but the people in the village had been no more help either. There simply wasn't anything else on the continent.

He had suspected that he'd simply gone too far to the north, but from maps of the known world he could tell that he was currently standing in the only damn town farther up than his own home of Wutai.

With a frustrated sigh Sephiroth folded the map and marched into the only bar/cafe/pub in town, barely suppressing the anger from his long steps. He walked straight up to the counter, sat down, and ordered a beer. The barkeep raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fine. Just tea, then." Sephiroth growled under his breath.

He was taller than anyone in Icicle Inn, probably stronger, and even without much bragging, easily the best swordsman as well. He still couldn't get a beer.

"It's bad for you anyway."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and turned to the man on his right, who was chuckling into his pint. "I see. But you, of course, are immune to its effects and can therefore sit here drinking pint after pint of it?" the blond youth asked, cocking his head a little. The man let out a laugh.

"Watch that attitude, kid. You're like a chocobo chick chirpin' to a ten-time race winner here."

Sephiroth snorted. "More like I am the race winner and you the slightly limping one-eyed has-been."

The man nearly choked on his beer. "I warned you, kid…" he slid off his bar stool and pulled out a long, wide-bladed sword with several materia twinkling in it. "Now I gotta go ShinRa on your upstart little patootie."

Sephiroth shook his head, stood up as well – nearly a head taller than the man – and pulled out his own sword: nearly seven feet of best Wutaian steel.

Before they could swing their swords to meet each other, the barrel of a shotgun appeared between them. Both turned to look at the barkeep.

"The man who lives by the sword dies by the gun. Take it outside, and stay there."

The older man obediently put his sword away and reached for his beer, but the barkeep pulled it away. "You can come back in when you can behave."

Sephiroth just stared at them, his sword lowered, and left the bar with a resigned sigh when his cup of tea was also taken away. The barkeep glared at the both of them until the door closed behind them, leaving the two standing outside in the darkening evening.

"That was really smart…" the man said and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You started it…" Sephiroth muttered and sheathed his sword.

"Me? You're the one who was giving me lip about my well-earned beer!"

Sephiroth looked away, refusing to acknowledge the man further. They stood outside the door for a while, the gently falling snow had made a nice little pile on top of Sephiroth's head before the older man opened his mouth.

"Couldn't help but notice that you got a beautiful sword there, kid. Where'd you get it from?"

"It's a family heirloom. And yes, I can use it."

"Ah. You're Wutaian then?"

"Yes."

"You don't look like it."

"My father was from the north. I'm here looking for his family."

"Oh, I see. Any luck?"

"Not really. According to the maps this is as far as I can go, and no one's heard of him here."

"Too bad. You sure he's from around here?"

"That's what I've been told all my life."

"I see." The man gave him a long, close look which made Sephiroth uncomfortable. He supposed that the man found whatever he was looking for when he opened his mouth again. "You know, kid, there's more to see here than what's on the maps. And if you really know how to use that overgrown toothpick of yours, I know of some people who might be interested…"

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and turned to face the man, giving him a close look himself. "Really now?"

"Yeah. Can't promise you they'll know about your papa, but if I were you, I'd go and talk with them."

"Intriguing. Maybe we should continue this conversation over a few beers."

"Sure. But we better make it tea. Don't know about you, kid, but I'm freezing my balls off here."

"When can we go back in?"

"… Better give it a few more minutes."

Sephiroth sighed and shifted his weight. His toes were going numb from the cold, but he didn't mind if it turned out that he was getting nearer to his goal after all.

The snow kept on piling on top of his head.

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A.N.: Yeah, I know he's kinda OOC here, but he's 16, it's his first time away from home where his family pretty much spoiled him rotten, and the old pervert next to him is giving him attitude. The Peacemakers will soon beat some humility into him, though. Heh. Not that he isn't everything he thinks he is...

Next stop is the return to the original storyline! Yaaaaaaaaaay!