What If

Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy VII, okay? Any original characters (or semi in this case) are mine and I also don't own the toy mentioned. Though a virtual cookie for anyone who can guess what it is supposed to be.

Smouldering Wreckage

Loz felt a deep sense of sorrow as he walked through what remained of Gonaga in horrified fascination. He had of course heard about the raid, the news had spread like wild fire across the information networks and many people were stirred into unsure feelings. It had been reported that members of AVALANCE had been captured during the raid and were due to be punished by the highest statue that could be thrown upon them but ask anyone in the village and it was quite clearly a different story. Loz didn't know much when it came to dealing with grieving, his emotions were still that of a child but thankfully he had grown up a little during the past few months, but to those that he could he would offer his sympathy and help.

Some people stayed clear, not trusting him for the faint Mako glow in his eyes, others rejected him for simply being a stranger and only a few would be thankful for his assistance. Still very few people talked to him, or questioned what he was doing here; they were all wrapped up in their broken worlds to even begin thinking about strangers and what they could mean. Loz was thankful for that, he was pretty sure that if he mentioned to anyone that he was looking for the Valentine children then he would get lynched easily enough.

So he slipped among the residents, helping to hold scaffolding, digging graves for the head and generally clearing through the destroyed houses for anything that could be used to attempt a rebuild of the town. It was tiring work, long and exhausting with barely any compensation at the end. He lost track of the days that he was there, it all seemed to blur into one. At night he would sit and cry for those who had passed on, watching the green trails of light flow and skitter about as they returned to where they originally came from to be reborn anew.

On the third day, whilst he was just walking through one of the areas close to the Mako Reactor, which had let out its fair share of strange rumblings over the last few days, Loz spotted something rather unusual in the debris of a house. Well more correctly spoken he was virtually squashed by the thing which turned out to be a very excitable pink Chocobo. Having never really seen on before in his life, Loz had no idea as to what to do with it and tried to back away.

Unfortunately the Chocobo followed him, attempted to nuzzle him on more than one occasion and let out a 'wark' of indignation whenever he ignored it. "Shoo" Loz said, trying to side step and get out of the way of the bird only to miss his footing and land heavily in the remains of what had been a stable.

"Either you've got some grysal greens in your pockets" came a female voice, "Or Corel's taken a liking to you my boy"

Loz turned to look at the women, recognising her as Grace Fair, a lady whom he had helped drag children out of the remains of the school with. He stood up, obviously confused and completely ignoring the fact that the chocobo was now in the process of preening his short silver hair. "Corel?" he asked.

Grace tilted her head towards the bird, "She's the chocobo behind you who's attempting to eat your hair. I'm afraid she may have mistaken you for Sephiroth"

Loz felt his heart skip a beat slightly, "S-Sephiroth?"

"Yes" Grace nodded, sighing slightly, "He used to live in the house with his sister Eisa whilst their parents were away in Midgar doing who knows what. They were the ones that were taken by the Shinra…" she trailed off, shaking her head, "though what those mean men could want with those two is completely beyond me. I mean it's not like they were in any form of trouble were they?"

Even though Loz knew it was a rhetorical question, he sighed and shook his head, "They are now" he murmured but didn't elaborate on.

For the next few hours Loz searched through the wreckage of the house, on the pretence that it may have something of use to the village in it and also to stop Corel from constantly snapping at him. Strangely he found the bird to be good company once she stopped trying to eat him alive at any given moment and he was pretty sure that she would allow him to ride her when he needed it. Most of the stuff he found was burnt and destroyed beyond any comprehension but a couple of items were salvaged.

That night he sat by a fire on the outskirts of the larger groups, a snoring chocobo beside him and he looked at the objects with no real comprehension as to what they were. The first was a golden locket, brandished black and sealed firmly by the heat of the fire which had tried to consume it though to Loz it was an interesting little trinket that he wrapped up in a cloth and chose to keep safe. The second item was the remains of a toy, which may have been moogle like in origin but it just didn't quite fit the bill. For one thing it had been snow white at one point in time and it was wearing a dress, though it was horribly shoot covered now, and even had a bow on its pointy ear. He had kept it purely out of a childish instinct within his brain and he decided that when he got to the next town then he would attempt to get it fixed. Currently the doll, which he had dubbed Sooty for now, was sitting in his lap whilst he stared at the last remaining object.

He had never seen a photograph in his life, Hojo wasn't overly fond of having them around and plus it wasn't like he had ever had a family that would do such things. The image was typical of a family photo, with everyone present and Loz was able to guess who was who by pure association. Vincent was easy to spot, whilst his wife – he never heard her name – was leaning against him with a tired looking smile. Sitting just to her left was Sephiroth, which slightly gave him the creeps because he thought for a couple of seconds that it was his brother Yazoo but realised that it was impossible for him to be in this photograph and to the right was Eisa. She had a gentle smile in the picture, somehow looking a little bit on the awkward side but to Loz she was a very pretty girl. Her black hair had been tied up in a high pony-tail as was the style at the moment and the shine in her red eyes spoke of hidden mysteries.

He checked himself, knowing that there wasn't a lot that he could really do about this whole situation. He had to find both of them, find out what had happened though he could pretty much guess and help them escape along with his brothers. It was risky at best and he didn't know where to start looking. Midgar would take over a week to get to and apparently it had been airships which had taken the pair away but no one had really seen which direction they had gone in.

Tutting, Loz decided to wait until the morning before choosing where he should go. He would keep his promise to Vincent and his brothers, but it would take him an awful long time unless he got help.

Maybe tracking down AVALANCE wouldn't be such a bad idea.

The next day, before dawn was even fully up, the fire was doused and a simple note of thanks left besides Grace.

No one saw the boy and the chocobo leave but they would talk about it for generations to come.

Authors note: Hope you enjoyed the last two chapters, please review and don't worry I'll be tracking down Sephiroth, Vincent and Eisa in the next chapter or three so keep you're eyes peeled.