Disclaimer: I do not own FF VII or any of the characters from it. However, I did create the character of John.

As always, thanks to all the readers and a special thanks to the reviewers.

Well, after twenty chapters of rather smooth writing, I hit troubles as I was writing this. I wouldn't exactly call it writers block, but more of a "creative crossroad". I had several different ways in which to take this part of the story and I hope that I chose the correct one. This chapter was also originally supposed to be a longer one similar to the last one, but in the end I decided to split it into two parts. I don't think this is one of the better chapters by any means to tell you the truth, but it has to be done I guess. I left most of the good parts for the next one. Well anyways, enjoy!

Testing Fate

Chapter XXI

Ugh!

In a hotel in Sector 3, Reno opened his light blue eyes in irritation when the sunlight hit his face. Turning over, he tried to get back to sleep, but to no avail.

Dammit, why do I have to sleep on the couch? So Elena joins us, does she automatically have to take my bed?! Sheesh! Look at them, still sleeping!

Due to the sudden addition of Elena to their team, there had been no time to change rooms, so one of them had to sleep on the couch, which was in front of the balcony of their penthouse. Both Tseng and Rude had agreed that Elena should sleep in one of the beds to feel more comfortable, and somewhere along that path they forgot about Reno's comfort.

Geez, couldn't they have curtains around the balcony at least?! Judging by how much this room costs, I think they owe it to us. I didn't even get a pillow!

Giving up, Reno got up and grabbed one of the cushions from the couch. Looking over at Elena, who was still sound asleep, he gave a grin.

Heh, this should teach her about the price of taking my bed!

With that thought, he hurled the cushion at her sleeping form with all his might. The projectile made a direct hit and Elena was awoken by the blow, immediately jolting up and looking around the room for signs of what had just happened.

"Rise and shine princess, we have a lot to do today," said Reno, the grin still on his face.

"No we don't Reno," said Rude, who had also been awoken, "The funeral is tomorrow, we have today off. The only one who has something to do is Tseng."

"Yeah," added Tseng as his eyes opened to his regret, "Just cause you had to sleep on the couch doesn't mean that you have to wreck the morning for all of us. If Rude and Elena want to sleep, then they can."

"Whatever," said Reno as he turned around and headed for the shower.

After he was gone, Elena gave a sigh and leaned back against the headboard.

"Hey, don't worry about him," said Rude, giving her one of his race smiles, "He'll warm up to you eventually. Reno might act like a jerk sometimes, but he's one of the most loyal friends that you can have."

About two hours after the sun had risen, Cloud, Aeris and John arrived at the gates of Kalm.

"Whew," said Aeris, leaning on the part of the wall where Tifa had been the previous day, "We made it."

"Yeah," said John with a smile, "Finally, we can relax a bit."

Aeris had noticed that there didn't seem to be any tension between Cloud and John like there was yesterday. She didn't ask either of them about it, she simply guessed that they must have talked after she had gone to sleep.

"What are you thinking about Cloud?" she asked, shifting her gaze to him.

"I'm trying to think where the others might be," he replied.

"Maybe they're at the Inn, they would have had to stop there for the night," said John.

"Yeah, let's check there," said Cloud as he began to walk in the direction of the inn.

As they were walking, John took a look around him to observe the town. For the most part it looked just as it should have, except it seemed that there were more buildings. Suddenly something caught his eye: a black chocobo. He looked next to it to find its owner, a man in a red shirt and a hat.

I know him…he's the guy who races at Gold Saucer.

Looking over to the chocobo one more time, he made a mental note to talk to the jockey by himself later on.

"Hello, would you like a room?" asked the receptionist once they entered the inn.

"No, we're looking for some people. A tall man, a young girl and a red…creature, have you seen them?" asked Cloud.

"Oh, so you're the friends that they were talking about. They checked in yesterday and said that you would come later. I think they're still sleeping, should I wake them?"

"No, let them sleep," said Cloud before turning back to John and Aeris, "Well, I guess we got some time to kill until they wake up."

"Can we go eat somewhere?" asked Aeris as she placed her hand on her stomach, "I'm starving."

"Same here," added John.

We haven't eaten anything since the morning we hit the Sector Five reactor…

As they walked back outside, John took another look in the direction of the black chocobo and the jockey before quickly looking at Cloud.

"Have you been here before?"

"No," replied Cloud, "I passed by this place several times, but I never went in."

Aeris in the meantime scanned the area, trying to find a place where they could eat.

"Hey look, there's a diner over there," she said as she pointed to a sign in front of the tunnel next to the stairs, "let's go."

"Good idea," said John, "we can ask if Sephiroth's been seen around here, so we know where to go."

Cloud gave only a nod in agreement before the three of them set off in the direction of the tunnel. Once they entered, they sat down on the stools in front of the table silently and waited.

"Hey, did you see that guy in the black cloak?" came a voice to the left John, which instantly caught his attention.

"Excuse me?" asked John as he looked over at the man, who seemed to be a local with thinning hair, "What was that about a black cloaked man?"

"Oh, do you know him?" asked the man back, rather startled by John's appearance.

"Uhh…kind of, we need to find him," said John, wanting to give away as little as possible, "Do you know where he might be?"

"Well, the only places to go from here are Midgar and the Mythril Mine."

"Mythril Mine?" asked Aeris, "Where's that?"

"You have to continue north from here and you should see a marsh to the east after the mountains subside. But I gotta warn you, there are massive snakes there, Midgar Zoloms. If one catches you, you're as good as dead."

"How do we get past them?" asked Cloud.

"Most people use chocobos from the nearby ranch to outrun the snakes."

"Ah, I see," said Cloud, "thank you."

"Don't mention it," said the man before going back to his conversation, leaving Cloud and the others to their thoughts.

Giant snakes, great. That's the last thing I need…

A few minutes later at the inn, the other half of AVALANCHE came down the stairs, wanting to find out the whereabouts of their friends, who hadn't come during the night. Luckily for them, they didn't need to do anything to find out where they were.

"Oh, excuse me," called out the receptionist, "Those people that you talked about were here a few minutes ago."

"They were?" asked a surprised Tifa.

"Yeah, they asked for you and decided not to wake you up."

"Do you know where they went?" asked Red.

"Well, they said that they were hungry, so they probably went to the diner in the tunnel."

"The diner in the tunnel, okay. Thank you," said Tifa politely before walking out of the inn with Barret and Red behind her.

Tifa had not been expecting her day to start off on such a good note, especially after last night. It had taken her about three hours to fall asleep with all the thoughts about her past and near future running through her head. After a short walk, they found their allies eating breakfast and talking amongst themselves about their next move. Hearing footsteps behind her, Aeris turned around to see her companions and smiled.

"There you are."

"I could say the same to you," replied Tifa as she looked at all three of them, "Where were you last night?"

"Umm…we kinda…had to rest along the road," said John, not wanting to tell them that it was because of his fatigue, although they had probably understood that by this point.

"Take a seat, order something," said Cloud as he pointed to two free seats to his right.

"We have to find out where Sephiroth is heading," said Tifa as she and Barret took a seat while Red sat on the floor.

"One step ahead of you," said John, "Apparently, he's planning on heading through the Mythril Mine."

"The Mythril Mine…the only place after that in Junon," said Barret as he looked at the menu.

"So he's planning on crossing the sea?" asked Tifa.

"Seems like it," said Cloud.

"Where would he go after that?" asked Aeris.

"I have no clue, all we can do for now is follow him and try not to lose his trail," said Cloud.

"Does that mean that we will cross the sea as well?" asked Red from the floor.

"Probably," said Cloud, "Is something wrong?"

"No, on the contrary," said Red in a rather joyous tone, "my home is on the western continent."

"Red, may I ask you where you're from?" asked John.

"I'm from Cosmo Canyon," said Red.

"I've heard that it's really beautiful," said John.

"It is, you're more than welcome there, especially after helping me."

"Thank you," said John with a smile, "I look forward to seeing it."

John was not lying entirely. He might have seen it on a television screen before, but he was really interested in seeing the place in person.

While Avalanche was eating their breakfast in the diner, Rufus Shinra had just entered his office, where he saw Tseng already waiting for him.

"Hello Tseng, you're early."

"Yeah well, blame Reno," said Tseng in a humorous tone.

"How is his hand?" asked Rufus, smiling.

"It's getting better; he should be able to fight again in a few days."

"All right then, you, Rude and Elena will have to keep an eye on him for a couple of days then."

"Is it already decided when we are leaving then?" asked Tseng.

"I've called the infirmary and told them to send Hojo up here later today. I'm hoping to get some kind of hint to where Sephiroth might be heading. My father's funeral is tomorrow and all of us have to be present, you'll leave the following day."

Tseng nodded before asking a question.

"What about Cloud and the others?"

"We'll have to find a way to keep track of them," said Rufus in frustration as he ran his hands through his fingers, "I'll think about a way to do that after the funeral. What are you planning on doing today?"

"I'll go look up information on that John guy like you wanted. I'll look through the records for the others as well; see what I can find out."

"All right Tseng, I'm counting on you," said Rufus as he went to his desk and sat down, "You can come back here this evening to tell me what you find."

"All right, I'll see you later," said Tseng before walking down the stairs.

Leaning back in his chair, Rufus escaped into his thoughts.

Hmm…a way to keep an eye on them…

"There," said Red as he removed his face from the plate on the floor.

The diner owner had been kind enough to let him put the plate with a grilled piece of meat on the floor so it would be easier for him to eat.

"All right then, are we all done?" asked Cloud.

"Yeah," said Tifa, "now what? Do we go after Sephiroth?"

"No, not just yet," said Cloud, "Let's go back to the inn; it's time I tell you the story of what happened with me and Sephiroth."

Tifa slowly nodded before starting off in the direction of the inn, her chest tightening as she thought about what he might say.

This is it, I'll finally find out how he knows what happened.

"Finally," said Barret, "let's go."

"You guys go ahead," said John, "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Okay, hurry up," said Cloud as he walked out.

John only spent a few seconds in the bathroom. After coming out, he looked out of the tunnel to make sure that the others were far away enough for him to do what he wanted to do. Watching as they entered the inn, he walked across from the building to where the black chocobo and the jockey were standing.

"Excuse me; you're Chocobo Joe, correct?"

"Why, yes I am," replied the jockey with a cocky smile, "Would you like an autograph?"

"Um…no, actually, I have a favor to ask of you," said John rather nervously.

"I was wondering if it would be possible for me to borrow your chocobo for a few hours tonight,"

"What-"

"I can pay," said John before Joe had a chance to think, "How's…2000 Gil for you?"

"2000 Gil…wow you must really have something important to do."

"Yes…I do," said John, "I'll have him back in the morning."

"Where are you going?"

"Around the outskirts of Midgar."

"Hmm…that seems to be rather close, all right, you give me the money and I'll leave ol' Zeke here for you tonight. Don't worry, I'll tell him to listen," said Joe with a smile.

"Thank you," said John as he handed over the money before remembering something, "Can you do one other thing for me?"

"Yes?"

"Can you leave something here next to Zeke?"

"All right, what would that be?" asked Joe.

After hearing what John wanted, Joe slightly raised his eyebrows before agreeing.

"All right, that should be easy. Just be back before sunrise."

"I will, thank you again," said John as he turned back and ran into the inn.

Unknown to John, he had been watched by one of his teammates. When she had walked up to the biggest room with four beds, Tifa had gone over to the window for some fresh air and had seen John talking to a man across the street, but she had been unable to hear a word of what they had said. When she saw John running into the inn, she quickly went over to where the others were gathered as he walked up the stairs.

What was all that about? Was that guy…a jockey?

"Sorry I'm late," said John, "Is it okay if I take a shower first? I wanna wash all of this blood off me."

"Yeah, go ahead," said Cloud, "but don't take too long, I need to take one after you."

"All right," said John as he walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

"I better take one too," said Aeris, "Is there another one here?"

"There's one in our room across the hall," said Tifa as she gave Aeris a key.

"Thanks Tifa, I'll be back soon," said Aeris, walking out of the room.

Once water could be heard, Tifa spoke.

"So how was it?"

"How was what?" asked Cloud, slightly confused.

"Travelling with them."

"Oh that," said Cloud as he brought his eyes to the floor before bringing them up to look at Tifa again, "It was okay I guess. I somehow agreed to train them to become better fighters at some point."

Tifa only let out a laugh in response.

"What was that about?" asked Cloud, slightly frowning.

"You're going to teach them fighting skills?" asked Tifa, still smiling.

"Yeah."

"Well then, that will be something to watch then," said Tifa, the smile still not leaving her face.

About half of an hour later, all the members of AVALANCHE had gathered around the beds and Cloud began to tell his story. All pairs of ears seemed to be glued to what he was saying. John in the meantime, while pretending to be shocked at just the correct moments and asking a few questions here and there, kept listing over his future goals, which so far there seemed to be only two.

All right, I have to: one, keep Aeris from getting killed by Sephiroth and two, try to find out about these voices. I can't do anything about number one right now and even hinting at it would be too much for them. I don't have a choice; I have to wait until we reach that time and try to warn her in some way. As for the number two…I have to try to talk to Sephiroth at some point when we meet him. The first place where it seems like that would be possible is the Shinra boat. Hmm…that means that they'll hear me…but I guess that I can't help that. It's only a matter of time before they find out about the voices anyway, I can only hope that they'll be like Cloud and believe me.

John then looked over at Aeris, who seemed to get a concerned look on her face when Cloud reached the part when Sephiroth began talking about the Ancients and had to hold back a sigh.

Aeris…what am I going to do? How can I warn you

Pushing those thoughts to the back of his head, John tuned back into Cloud's story, which seemed to get hazy at this point, when he had gone to challenge Sephiroth at the reactor.

There's still time…

Tifa during this time, found herself holding back corrections to Cloud's story, the reasons behind his knowledge still not clear.

What…what was that? When was he in the reactor? What about that SOLDIER guy? Shouldn't they have met if they both came?

John looked over at Tifa, seeing her confusion and feeling sorry for her.

Poor Tifa, she's holding back so much…

"That's it?!" asked Barret after Cloud had abruptly finished, "What happened after that?"

"I don't know, I can't remember," said Cloud, "In terms of physical strength, I couldn't have beaten him."

John looked over to Tifa who had a strained look on her face before speaking.

"Official records state that Sephiroth is dead, I read it in the newspaper."

"Shinra Inc. owns that paper, so you can't trust it," said Aeris.

After a few seconds of silence, John spoke up.

"…so what are we going to do now?"

"Well first, we have to get supplies," said Cloud, "and for that we need money, enough money to have some left over in case of an emergency. So I think we should make some money for the rest of the day and leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow…wouldn't that put too much distance between us and Sephiroth?" asked Red.

"It's a risk we have to take," said Cloud, "we have to be prepared."

"How are we going to make money?" asked Aeris.

"Well, I saw "help wanted" signs at that diner, so I can work there with Tifa," explained Cloud, "There's also construction going on here and I overhead some of the people talking about them needing help, so I thought that Barret and Red could help them somehow."

After seeing that they were okay with his decisions, he looked over at John and Aeris.

"Now then, about you two…"

John was about to open his mouth when Aeris spoke up.

"Don't worry about us Cloud, we'll find something."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," she replied with a smile.

"Okay then, let's go," said Cloud.

Without another word, AVALANCHE descended down the stairs, where the pairs went off in separate directions. Cloud and Tifa headed to the tunnel, while Barret and Red went some distance to its right, where some construction workers were gathered and working on a house. Once they seemed to be alone, John turned to Aeris.

"So?"

"So what?" she asked with a smile.

"What are we going to do? You seemed to have an idea," he said as he began walking around the area.

"Oh, uhh no, I didn't actually," she said in a slightly nervous voice, "Did you think that the first thing we would do on an adventure would be seeking jobs?"

"No, I didn't," said John while smiling, "I see what you mean. Let's try to find something exciting."

"Yeah," said Aeris happily before she noticed poster on a wall and walked up to it, "Hey, come over here."

"What's that?" asked John as he reached her.

"It's a wanted poster, look!"

The poster showed the faces of five bandits, each wearing a red bandana, and underneath them it said that the capture of each one was worth 15,000 Gil.

"It says that they've been attacking travelers in the Kalm area," said John.

"Exactly, so it shouldn't be too hard to find them. If we can take them down, then we'll have all the money we need," she said with assurance.

"Well…"

"Come on, if we do this, we'll make way more money than the others," said Aeris with a wicked smile before adding, "and it'll show Cloud not to underestimate us."

John could help but give a mischievous smile back of his own.

"Since you put it like that…"

"Excellent, let's go," said Aeris as she ran in the direction of the gates and out of the town, lightly giggling.

"Hey, wait up!" called out John as he ran after her.

In an office at Shinra Headquarters, Tseng sat down and entered the necessary password into the computer to access the main database on the planet's civilians.

This has data on nearly every single person on the planet, there's no way we can go wrong with this. Now then, let's start with John…

Tseng entered the name "John Reeds" into the search engine and clicked "Enter", waiting for the results to arrive. What he received however, was the last thing he expected. In front of him was a red message, saying "Person Not Found."

What?! You gotta be kidding me!

He entered the name again, only to receive the same message.

What the- This is impossible, how can there be no record of this guy? Did he just pop up out of nowhere?

Frustrated after several more attempts, Tseng decided to switch his attention over to Cloud and typed in his first name, locating him quickly. As he looked at Cloud's history, one part caught his eye…

About an hour later, John and Aeris found themselves wandering around quite some distance from Kalm. Their only sign of comfort was that the shape of Midgar could still be seen, showing them that they had not wandered off too much.

"At this rate, they'll find us before we find them," said John.

"I know, I know," said Aeris in a disappointed tone, "maybe we should have asked on where they had last been seen."

"You think Cloud has realized that we're gone?"

"I hope not. We better find those guys so we don't come back looking like idiots," said Aeris with a light laugh.

After a few more minutes, John suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" asked Aeris quietly, walking up to him.

"Shh," said John quickly as he concentrated his ears, "Quick, get down!"

Aeris wasted no time in following John's orders as he followed after her to the ground.

"I hear something over that ledge," said John, pointing ahead of them, "let's go look."

John and Aeris quietly crawled like army troopers to the edge of the small, rocky hill and looked over, somewhat delighted at what they saw. There, they saw the bandits which they had been looking for. To their luck, they seemed to have stopped to rest and their chocobo cart could be seen with them.

"We found them!" whispered Aeris with delight as she and John gripped their staffs, planning a method of attack.

At the top of Shinra Headquarters, the new President sat in his chair, looking at his watch.

Where is he? He should have been here ten minutes ago. I need to do this fast, that man is about to understand that I am the boss here, not him.

As he finished his thought, he heard footsteps and watched Hojo come up the stairs and approach the desk.

"Hello Mr. President, please forgive my lateness," said the head of the Science Department with a twisted smile.