Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC's and the plot.

A/N: I've said it before, but I'll say it again: updates will come slow since I have limited Internet access and because of the hassles of life. I could try and list everything, but I'm sure you want to get to the chapter. However, I'm afraid that updates will at least be once a month during the summer. I'll try and do more, but I will definitely promise once a month. If you haven't put me on your alerts page yet, I highly recommend it so you know when I finally do post.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I don't know if there'll be any action in this one, but I'll try to keep it interesting. If nothing else, this is the arc that I really look forward to writing. But if it seems random at some points, it's probably because it is. In short, it's because the realms I use are some of my favorites and I just want to blend them together. This chapter officially begins the major portion of the crossover genre, so forgive me Zelda fans for steering away from the beginning. However, I'll try and keep as many of those elements as I can, and it will swing full circle again eventually.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the rest of the story and I promise I'll do my best.

Chapter 20

Seconds felt like hours as they dropped through the gateway. Normally traveling through a portal would've been an easy trip, but the space/time continuum seemed to have been disturbed somehow. The trip usually only lasted a couple of seconds to complete, but this time it seemed to take forever. And usually the surrounding atmosphere would be like flying through clear skies with a gentle breeze, but now it was like battling through a very turbulent storm, with lightning-like strikes all around them.

Finally, though, there was a bright light and they were roughly dropped onto a hard surface, presumably concrete. More specifically, though, it was a narrow strip of road. "Where are we?" Alice asked, dusting herself off. "And where's Noel?"

"I've got him," Brad answered, kneeling by the still form of Noel. His eyes were open, but there seemed to be no response to anything the two would do to him. "It's strange," Brad finally said. "He has all the symptoms of being dead, even his vitals have stopped, but he still has his color."

"And what's with the strange pink glow?" she asked. She stopped and looked around. "Uh, Brad, is it just me or did that portal drop us back at the school?"

"I…don't know," he said slowly, taking it all in as well as keeping an eye on Noel. "It seems that way, but keep your guard up; some realms are separated by only minor differences." Fortunately, they had landed in the alleyway behind the school, where a few houses shielded them directly from the street. Unless somebody had been looking out the window at time or a car happened to drive by at just the right moment, then nobody had seen them drop out of the portal. The way around one corner led to the front of the building, while the other led to where several school buses were parked. In the middle of the alley was a large brown dumpster next to the backdoor leading into the gym. Looking behind him, Brad was relieved to find that if they had landed a couple more feet over they would've landed in front of a window that looked into the cafeteria in the basement. Sneaking a quick peak, he found that it, too, was empty. "Let's lean him up against the wall for now, and I'll take a look around. Put him up behind the dumpster so nobody will see you two."

"And if they do?" she asked.

"Pray that they don't get any wrong ideas," he smirked, before taking off around the corner to the front of the building to avoid Alice smacking him.

He peeked around to make sure she wasn't going to pursue him before looking at the area. Sure enough, the mystery man had landed them at the school that Noel and he had attended for so many years. The building itself was made up of orange brick, and it co-joined the Baptist church that all three of them attended. The church had been given the nickname "the Airplane Church" because of the slanted rooftops on both sides of the building that gave it the appearance of a stealth jet fighter. Where the two sides met at the top was a fairly large steeple, though not by any means the tallest he had seen. On the front of the building, facing the street was a cross that lit up at night. Looking out onto the decent sized parking lot, Brad noticed only a few cars parked out there. 'So there are people here,' he thought, casually walking along the side of the building. If anything, he did not want to draw any more attention than necessary. 'They seem to be close to the gym, so something is probably going on in there.' Suddenly, a disturbing thought hit him. 'Oh, great! If somebody throws something in the dumpster from the backdoor, they're bound to spot Alice and Noel!' Without a moment's hesitation, he rushed back to the others.

OOO

"Would you stop and listen to me for a moment?" a teenage boy said as he followed behind a girl his age. "Just wait!"

"No! Go away!" the girl shouted back at him, as she turned the corner. "I don't want to talk to you!"

"Why not?" he pursued. She weaved in between the buses to try and shake him, and as she rounded the corner into the alley, put on an extra burst of speed. "Just stop!" he shouted, catching up and putting his hand on her shoulder. She jerked around violently and gave him a death glare that would've made the most courageous of men cower in fear.

"Now listen here," she said, sticking her finger in his face. "Stop stalking me! I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to see you, and I don't want to have anything to do with…" Her voice trailed off as movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Though her first thought was to ignore it and move on, something about the figure hiding behind the brown dumpster made her curious. Slowly, the boy caught on and also turned to see what she was staring at. She pushed by him and went to investigate, and promptly threw another death glare at the boy when he tried to stop her.

Though the figure tried to edge out of view, the girl easily slipped around the dumpster and what she saw took her breath away. It was as if she was looking at a mirror image of herself…and in her arms was a mirror image of the boy that was following her. Curious, the boy looked over her shoulder and his jaw dropped. Seeing how this couldn't get any more awkward, Alice decided to be the first to speak up. "You're probably wondering who we are, aren't you?" she asked, propping Noel against the nearby wall and standing up to see eye-to-eye with the two teens. Dumbly, they nodded. "Well, I…um…don't exactly know how to put it…" Before she could get any further, though, another voice was heard.

"Alice! Get Noel and let's get out of here before…somebody…spots…us…oh, crud," Brad groaned as he turned the corner to find the three teens together.

'Smooth, Brad, real smooth,' she thought.

"Brandon? You know her?" the boy asked.

"Actually, his name is Brad Washings," Alice replied. "I'm Alice Smithers, and he's Noel Rivers," she finished, pointing to Noel's unmoving body.

"What's wrong with him?" the girl asked.

"Long story," Alice replied. "To be perfectly honest, we don't know either." Without another word, the boy knelt down to examine Noel.

"He's 'Stopped'," the boy simply said.

"Well, duh," the girl replied sarcastically and nastily. "He's not moving. Usually when you die, you're pretty much stopped." Suddenly she put a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry," she said, turning to Alice and Brad. "I didn't mean it like that…"

"No, it's okay," Brad spoke up. "We thought he was dead at first, but it wouldn't make any sense." The boy shook his head, annoyed.

"I'm telling you, he's 'Stopped,'" he said again.

"What are you babbling about?" the girl asked as nastily as before.

"See the pink glow?" he explained. "It's a status condition. He must've been hit by some sort of Time magic."

"Forgive him," she said, turning to Alice and Brad once more. "He's a bit of a doofus."

"How do you know that's what it is," Alice asked the boy, ignoring the girl's comment.

"I play a lot of video games," the boy said simply, though with a nervous, almost embarrassed, smile. "It's from the Final Fantasy line. Anyway, how long has he been like this?"

"Well, let me see," Alice said, mentally recalling the battle and looking at her watch. "I'm guessing about ten minutes or so."

"Then he should be coming out of it right…about…now!" the boy said, looking at his own watch. True to form, the pink glow faded and Noel jumped with a start. He breathed heavily and then looked around to find everybody staring at him.

"Okay, would somebody mind filling me in on what just happened?" Noel asked, confused.

"I think you guys had better start from the beginning," the girl said. "This is really starting to creep me out."

"Before we do that, can we at least get your names? We've given you ours," Brad said.

"My name is Nathan Raven, and this is Alison Harper," Nathan introduced, and promptly received a sharp slap to the shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she hissed. "How do you know we can even trust them?"

"Oh, come on," the boy argued back. "They're basically our twins, although I don't know if I can handle another one of you." She was about to slap him again, this time in the face, but Noel quickly stepped in instead.

"Okay, I think it's time to break this up," he said, coming between the two. He leaned close to Nathan's ear. "If you want to stay alive, I suggest you keep comments like that to yourself. You're insulting Alice as well, and I can guarantee you that she'll skin you alive," he whispered, but obviously not quiet enough as she soon backhanded him.

OOO

"…And that's basically it," Noel said.

"So you got here by a portal from a parallel universe," Nathan said excitedly. "Sweet!" Alison, on the other hand, didn't seem so enthusiastic about all this.

"So let me get this straight," she said. "You pulled up this mystic sword, are trying to defeat some video game character from conquering every universe in existence, had a battle with some mysterious guy, and then ended up here?"

"That's about it in a nutshell," he answered.

"It just seems to be a little hard to swallow," she answered, sitting back against the pew. They had decided that being outdoors was too out in the open and moved to the balcony of the auditorium, with Alice and Brad watching the two stairwells leading to it. "If you weren't our twins I might not believe it at all."

"You know, I've always wondered how hard it would've been to convince you if your memory had been erased," Noel said to Alice, who was guarding the closer stairwell, and she sent a cold look and shrug in response.

"Someone's coming!" Brad quickly whispered, darting over and sitting next to Nathan. Alison and Noel quickly dove underneath the pew and scrambled as far out of sight as they could while Alice slipped around the corner and into the shadows.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Alison harshly whispered.

"Because it was the only combination of people that wouldn't draw unnecessary attention," Noel explained. "If it had been you and Alice or me and Nathan…well, I think that explains itself. And if it had been you and me, you and Nathan, Nathan and Alice, Brad and you, or Alice and me…again, I think that would draw especially unneeded attention and questions. Brad and I couldn't have worked because we have no idea who anybody here is, so that leaves Brad and Nathan. Nathan can cover for Brad, so as long as Brad's twin doesn't show up we're dandy, got it?"

"And if we get caught?" she asked.

"We're screwed," he said plainly, eliciting a long, albeit silent, sigh from her.

OOO

"Well, it was nice of Alison to give us some of their camping equipment," Noel said, as he and Brad set up a couple of tents while Alice started a fire. "It's nice to know there's at least one similarity between your families." After the group had finished talking at the church, Alison and Nathan went home with their respective parents, but Noel and the others had to wait until night had fallen to make a move. Alison had agreed to gather up some camping gear that her family used for trips, but the tricky part was getting it to the others. Fortunately for the group, the layout of the land was still the same so there was no confusion on where to go and Noel and Nathan both agreed that the woods nearest to his house, the same woods Noel had stayed in in his realm early on, would be the best place to set up camp.

"Yeah, and we lucked out, too," Alice agreed. "Though it was sunny during the day, the cloud cover that rolled in later let us fly virtually undetected. Hope it doesn't rain, though…"

"Nah," Noel shrugged. "I stayed outdoors enough to know when it there was a possibility, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt…" There was a flash of lightning and a loud crash of thunder. "…that we should get inside the tents," he finished sheepishly.

"My boyfriend, the great woodsman," she stated sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Brad, though, had quietly sat on a nearby log, ignoring both the thunder and Noel and Alice's exchange.

"Hey, you okay?" Noel asked when he finally noticed.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just wondering how we were going to get back to our world, and where the others were," he answered.

"I wonder what our own families are doing? And Will and the others?" Alice added. "Can't we use the Master Sword like before?" Silently, Noel unsheathed the mystical blade and looked at it.

"Normally I'd say yes," he started, "but something, or someone, is interfering with its power. As it stands right now, using it would most likely get us even more lost." There was an awkward silence as he put it away. "However, we do still need to find Brett and David. Strange that we can't sense their energy, though…"

"Now, now, Noel," a wicked voice cackled, seemingly from all around them. "Where would all the fun be if you could find them so easily?"

"Who's there?" Noel demanded. "Show yourself!"

"Ah, how quickly we forget," the voice laughed, as a figure stepped out into the light of the campfire, dimly illuminating his features. Suddenly, a burst of lightning shed even more light on the stranger's identity, though it was for just a moment.

"You!" Brad growled, taking to a fighting stance. The silver-haired stranger didn't seem to notice, as his eerie green eyes were still transfixed on Noel. "This time things will turn out differently."

"Please," the stranger scoffed, "you haven't grown any since I defeated you yesterday. As it stands, I could easily wipe you off the face of the planet." He reached for his sword attached to the belt on his waist, and they all tensed. "But where would be the fun in that?" he smirked, removing his hand. "I know where your friends are, and let's say I have a little wager for you."

"A wager?" Alice questioned aloud.

"And why should we trust you?" Noel followed up.

"Because their lives are in my hands," the stranger said with a deadly serious tone. "You have two weeks to get stronger. Don't worry about your friends; they won't be harmed. At least, right now they won't."

"You arrogant…" Brad started.

"Ah, ah, ah," the stranger reprimanded, wagging a gloved finger, "name-calling won't do you any good." He smirked an evil smirk. "Two weeks. If you die, so do they. If you win, then you get them back and you can all go home." He turned to walk away, but Noel spoke up again.

"Wait, how do we find you?" he asked.

"Oh don't worry, I'll find you," he answered cryptically before cackling and leaping into the tree branches.

A moment passed as the group pondered what to do when suddenly there was a slight movement in the brush behind them. Though they expected a surprise attack, they were relieved when Nathan floundered into the open. His brow was covered with sweat, and his face was pale, as though he had seen a ghost. "I…I…I…can't…believe it," he stammered.

"Nathan, come on, what's wrong?" Noel prodded, trying to bring the boy out of the semi-shock state.

"It's…him…" he babbled on. "Not…him. Anybody…but him!"

"Nathan, what?" Alice jumped in. "Who's 'him?' Do you know that guy? Who was he?"

Nathan looked each of them straight in the eyes before uttering one word. "S…S…Sephiroth."

A/N: Finally, this chapter is ready to go! Though I don't like waiting this long, I find that I get some interesting ideas the longer I wait. And I finally revealed the enemy! For those of you who don't know who Sephiroth is (really, though, shame on you), his "origins" will be revealed next chapter. The next two or three chapters are going to get really interesting (I hope) so stay tuned.

Like usual, this chapter was hard to write. The dialogue wasn't particularly challenging, but it was Nathan and Alison's personalities I was having trouble working on. Those two hit closer to home than any of the other OC's, and I'm trying not to be biased one way or another. I'd really like some feedback on those two, and tell me what impression you would get as if you were meeting them for the first time.

I didn't do as great a job on the school/church description as I wanted to. You'd think that after twenty one years of being there I would be able to rattle it off like I knew the back of my hand, but it's just hard to describe. I'm going to try and get a picture up on my homepage if you want to see what it looks like. If nothing else, ask me for a picture in a review and I'll send you the link address to the site where it definitely is.