When Claire Farron woke up the next day the general was gone. There were no mako green eyes to greet her first thing she woke up, no strong comforting arms to carry her around the property and no firm toned chest to lean on. There wasn´t even a note.

The man from her dreams was infact deep into the forest by the time the woman perched up in her bed had lunch, had already reached the place where he and Genesis had encountered their Jenova spawn. Because yes. That was exactly what it was. Jenova spawn. There was no doubt to that anymore.

Looking around the grove where the three had fought, General Sephiroth Crescent found the creature from his nightmares gone without a trace. No tracks this time, no foodprints to follow, no traces. Not even of their battle. Where there should have been a huge decaying carcass, there was not even a drop of dried up blood. Where there should have been upturned earth, there was only untouched forest floor. It was as if the beast had never been. As though their battle had never even taken place.

It made the silver haired man shiver.

It didn´t matter either way. He didn´t need any tracks to follow. He knew exactly where he had to go. That strange feeling that had been luring him into the forest ever since the first dogster had set foot into Bodhum, it was so much stronger now, was guiding him deeper into the forest, pulling him really. Pulling him closer. Closer to what?

Pausing in his tracks to taste the air, to contemplate what he was doing really, General Sephiroth Crescent slowly closed his eyes, gave a deep drawn worried sigh.

He still felt Lightning somewhere south of him, felt their connection, a feeble tiny thread, weak, compared to what was urging him to venture north. But still there nonetheless. As it would always be. Whether they wanted it or not.

Lightning...

The both of them were linked now. In more ways than just one. Sephiroth knew that. Was aware. He somehow was responsible for her. Responsible for her safety. But also for her wellbeing. For her happiness.

He had promised to come back to her. A silent promise. But a promise still. But he´d also sworn himself to protect her. And protecting her required going to the woods. Required following the pull urging him northwards.

He didn´t know what would await him there. But he had his suspicions. Had had them now for quite some time. Suspicions that had grown to possibility, festered into theory, every tiny fact, every single piece of evidence he had collected pointing towards it, confirming it a little more, making it feel a little bit more real. It was the thought of those suspicions being real that had driven him back into the forest, the thought of his fears being confirmed that had made him leave Claire Farron´s side. Just to make sure. To prove his theories wrong.

Because yes. They had to be wrong.

Because if they weren´t...

The eerie silence of the surrounding woods creeping him out to no end, General Sephiroth Crescent shook his head to clear his mind, felt for Lightning´s link one more time before turning north he set his body into motion.

No, it couldn´t be real.

Please don´t let it be real.

'Angeal, where is he?' Claire Farron´s voice questioned demandingly.

She still had a hard time moving around with her body all sore and weak but crutches or not, she still wasn´t one to cross and her eyes told volumes of what would happen if the burly first class tried to do that.

Truth was she was growing impatient. Impatient and worried. She´d been waiting for Sephiroth to return all day and the day after the first one too, and when he hadn´t, finally on the evening of the second day, she´d ventured out of bed alone, determined to find him and set stuff straight once and for all.

But all she´d found there on her quest to do that were clueless faces, empty appologies and a terrified Cloud, hobbling away as soon as he realized she wasn´t up for the chase.

So it was for what had to be the hundredth time that she had posed that question that day, and to at least a hundred different people too.

Serah, Snow, Cloud, Genesis, Zack, Lebrau, the guys from the neighbourhood watch even.

Noone seemed to have seen a hint of the silver haired first class or knew where he had gone. It was as if the man had been swallowed up by sandy grounds.

But Angeal... Angeal was his closest confidant. He was the one who knew about her secrets too. If Sephiroth had planned to leave, surely he would have told Angeal. She would have talked to the burly first class first of all if she had had the chance to.

'Lightning. I really do not know.' the dark haired man confessed with sad concerned features.

'He wasn´t at the station this morning. Have you tried at his place?'

Lightning gave him a withering gaze. Sure. She had. First thing after reaching town.

'Well... He´s probably out hunting monsters then. I´m sure he´ll visit you as soon as he´s ready...' Big blue eyes boring into her´s curiously, Lightning quickly turned her gaze away.

'I just hope he is alright...'

Oh, why was he running away from her now? Now that she was ready.

General Sephiroth Cresecent brushed past bushes, waded through the thickets of the forest undergrowth, the weird pull in his insides luring him deeper and deeper into the forest.

It was stronger now. Much stronger. Seemed to grow with every step he took. The connection to Lightning only a tiny spec now, hiding away somewhere at the back of his mind, nothing more that the knowledge that she was alive and somewhere to the south, the strange new growing force, it filled him, filled him up until he thought he´d burst.

It pushed away all rational thought, silenced his mind, his inner voice, his reasoning, everything there was except the urge to follow, the urge to come closer. Closer still.

Just a little further...

It was the sight of thickets thinning that made the silver haired man come back to his senses.

Yes, there was a clearing ahead. A clearing and a building. It seemed strangely familiar.

The driving force inside his head reaching a climax, he slowly reached out with his hands. Parting the branches of the last few bushes General Sephiroth Crescent revealed a building he must have seen a thousand times before.

A Shin-Ra mako reactor.

A towering monster of steel and concrete, hidden away by the thickets of the deepest forest it loomed there in front him, a crouching beast ready to pounce at him.

For a second there he just stood rooted to the spot. Staring at it, that mysterious relic from his past. Unable to form a single coherent thought.

There it was. All the mako he could ever need. Readily waiting in front of him.

The force inside his head rising to a painful throb, it was fear gripping his heart that finally overrode it.

Bushes and branches snapping loudly underneath his feet, the silver haired man bolted southwards, back to where he´d come from. Back to where surely he belonged.

It was two days later that Sephiroth returned to Bodhum, that after a quick stop at his appartment for a shower and a set of freshly laundered clothes, he made up the Farron driveway and to the front door just to find the beach house empty.

'Hello? Is anyone there?'

There was no answer. Noone to welcome him or even give him rude comments about ruining the carpet.

Where was everyone?

Climbing the stairs at a run he opened the room to Lightning´s door just to find the neatly made bed empty.

She was gone. Just like that.

For a moment he just stood there rooted to the spot again, a million thoughts exploding in his head at once. Ligthning was dead. Lightning was dying at the hospital. Lightning had been dragged to the forests by a pack of dogsters.

It took him a few moments to shake off the panic that had gripped his heart again, to get rid of his distorted thoughts and think clearly again. Somehow the visit to the forest must have shaken him. More than he had thought.

Relaxing his shoulders and taking a deep breath he felt for their link again, followed their bond downstairs and out to the porch where the woman he loved was busy hanging clothes to dry.

Strong enough to do some chores, ready to walk around without even her crutches, the pink haired ex- warrior was standing with her back to him. Didn´t even seem to notice his arrival.

'You got me worried.' the silver haired man greeted. Approaching her in a few swift strides he was there at her side extending his hand to reach for her arm. Just to touch her, just to feel that she was real. Alive. Alright and safe.

For once she didn´t pull away. For a moment there he´d been afraid she would.

'I´m fine.' the pink haired woman said, turning her face to greet him with a dazzling smile.

'I´m glad you´re feeling better.' her former mentor said, mako eyes sincere. Giving him a closer look Lightning found that he looked serious, worried, tired.

'I´m glad you´re back.' she told him, blue eyes as sincere as his.

'You returned just in time for Zack and Lebreau´s engagement party.'

The silver haired legend gave a tiny smile at that.

'Wouldn´t want to miss that, right?'

'I´m sure you wouldn´t.' Claire Farron threw back skeptically.

Everyone knew Sephiroth was not exactly fond of parties.

'So... How was your mission? You were back to the woods, right? What did you find?'

It was almost admiringly. Admiringly but also cruel. Brutal almost. How she could be so gentle one moment, then so businesslike, so on the spot, the next. Well... She´d had the best of teachers after all.

It made the silver haired man´s small smile vanish, made him avert his gaze to the ground.

General Sephiroth Crescent gave a frustrated sigh, began to tell his comrade about his way back through the forest and about the strangely empty clearing from their fight where he´d found nothing at all.

He looked tired, volnurable, Lightning realised, so infinitely tired. And it was true in so many ways.

General Sephiroth Crescent was as vulnerable as he'd never felt in his entire adult life.

The truth was the last mako shot hadn't kicked in as he had expected. The expected rush of energy, the hightening of his senses, the familiar surge in strenght that had usually accompanied the whole ordeal had stayed out almost completely and he'd been left with almost only the debilitating side effects. And they seemed to have grown more severe too.

The truth was the damned thing had done only very little to replenish his drained mako supplies and the silver haired man was growing desperate.

Could mako shots go stale?

He hadn't given it too much thought. Still, further inspection of the one remaining mako shot had left him with the observaton that the usually vibrant green substance had lost some of it's shine, that maybe it had gotten a little bit dull.

It was reason to worry, he guessed.

Not only had he admistered himself potentially expired drugs, with the mako shot not working as supposed, he also would run out of it much earlier than he would have liked, than he had planned, really.

He needed the mako. Needed it for at least one more thing.

Sure he'd found some mako. A whole damn reactor load of it. But how the hell was he supposed to use it? How was he supposed to fabricate it into something even only remotely useful, something that wouldn't simply kill him, the second he forced it into his veins?

No. Mako source did not equal mako shot.

That much was for sure.

This could only mean one thing.

Soon he would run out of mako completely and then what?

Sephiroth still didnt know.

Well he'd probably find out the hard way soon. That much he knew for sure.

Looking into Lighning's pretty pale blue eyes he recounted his excursion to the forrest for her in detail, drank in the way she looked back at him, attentive, alert, listening to him, his every word, all the while staying close to him.

It made him feel better instantly.

More focused, more relaxed, more calm, more confident.

He couldn´ bring himself to tell her about the reactor though. Didn´t tell her about the voices whispering in his head ever since he had returned.

Voices. Pleadings. Screams. Urging him to go back. Urging him to come closer.