Chapter Seven



A helicoptor flew across the sky. They were going from the Kalm hospital towards the neo-ShinRa headquarters. Outside it was hailing and very stormy. Lightning flashed over the moutains and thunder could be heard from far off.

Rufus flicked back his hair. "I inquire why I got such a faulty flight back home." he demanded the pilot.

"Sir, there were no planes available so we had to use this, sir." the pilot answered, swerving the plane just out of reach of a near hit lightning bolt.

"Watch where you're going, you fool!" Rufus complained.

"Sir! Sorry, sir!" the pilot reacted. Rufus just groaned and held his forehead in his hand, leaning on his knee. This was by far his worst week in his life.

'At least my old man's dead...' Rufus thought to himself. 'Damn, I hated that man!'

Then his cell phone started ringing. Rufus growled at it as if it were living, but nonetheless, he picked it up anyway. "Hello?" he asked, annoyed.

"Sir, what are our plans now?" It was Heideggar.

'Damn fatass slob...' Rufus thought. He sighed heavily. He flicked his hair back once more and answered. "Your mission is to find the Turks at all costs. Kill them." he stated.

"But..But sir, aren't they with us?" Heideggar began.

"No." Rufus cut off. "Don't question my orders. Kill them." he repeated.

"Yes, sir." Heideggar answered, and signed off.

"Insolent fool..." Rufus muttered.

"Did ya say something, boss?" the pilot asked.

"Go back to driving." Rufus shot back coldly.

Without a reply the pilot reaverted his gaze to the huge city growing in front of them.

Just then, a lightning bolt flashed. Rufus only had enough time to look up before he heard the propeller had be electricuted, metal being a great conductor of electricity. Especially the mako energy that coursed throughout the coptor.

"What's going on?!" Rufus exclaimed.

The helicoptor was spinning out of control, away from the city and it seemed that the lightning bolt was literally pulling them in a certain direction.

"Mayday! Mayday! We're going down!!!!" the pilot screamed into his CB radio. But it had deactivated and there was no response.

"Damnit! Can't you failures do ANYTHING right?!" Rufus yelled. He ran up to the pilot's seat and yanked the pilot out of the way. Quickly, he took the steering wheel and yanked it to the right. But it didn't seem to work...

And they were heading right for the ocean.

"NOOOO!!!!!!!!!" Rufus let out one final cry as the lightning bolt released them and they went hurling off to the dark abyss below...



They entered the ancient city. It was as lifeless as a ghost town.

Cloud stepped two steps in front of everyone else. He turned around to face everyone, a content look in his eyes. He also had a gleam of victory in his eyes.

"We are almost there. We have to ressuruct Aeris now." he stated. He looked to Yuffie. "Do you still have the white materia?"

Yuffie nodded. "Of course!" she answered.

Zack held out his hand. Yuffie looked at him for a moment, puzzeled.

"Give it to me, please." Zack asked.

Yuffie nodded slowly, and handed the materia to Zack.

Zack nodded to her, and turned to Cloud. Cloud nodded to Zack. Zack returned the nod, and took the position as leader for the time being. Cloud followed close behind. Deciding that this is where they were going, the others followed them too.

Zack leaded them to the four corners of the ancient city. He looked around, confused. "Where did you bury her body?" he asked Cloud without even making the slightest look towards him.

"Up ahead." Cloud answered simply. Zack nodded and walked ahead. They continued walking towards the lake where Aeris' body lied, waiting for them.

Tifa couldn't bare it. What if this wouldn't work? What would happen to Cloud and the others? What would happen to her? Would they just loose hope all together? What would happen to the poor, heartbroken? But....

'What would happen if it works?' she asked herself. Then she felt a pain into her emotions. 'What woudl she do to Cloud? Even though Zack loves her... What if...'

Her thoughts were cut off. She all the sudden came over her greif. 'Aeris is reasoning.' she thought with relief. 'She'll go to Zack... I just know it.'

But there was still a doubt in her heart.

As they neared the lake, the tension began to grew. They made their first steps onto the forest path. Just a little ways further, and they would be there...

Zack ran to the edge of the lake once they had left the path. He looked down, kneeled against the bank and looking around frantically for Aeris' body.

Zack...

Zack's head snapped to the sound of her voice. She was there. Lying, motionless in the cold, light blue lake, at the mere bottom. He ribbon had fallen out and her hair was down. But still, she had her same smile on her face. The same smile she had when he had first met her.

Everyone else walked up behind Zack to see for herself. Nothing had changed with her. She was still the same. Yet, frozen in time.

"Aeris...." Zack muttered.

"What do we do from here?" Red asked Zack.

Zack stood up and turned to them. He held up the white materia triumphantly, his usual, funny grin returning to his lips. "All we gotta do is use the spell on her. But..." he began, looking down. "We gotta get her out of there first."

"No problem." Tifa said. Everyone looked over to her, puzzled.

Tifa concentrated and thought about anything and everything that could get her angry. It took her a while to power up, and with deep concentration. Soon, yellow and amber lights swarmed up all around her and when she felt her limit reach it's maximum, she picked up the whistle Pricilla had given her.

"DOLPHIN SUMMON!" she yelled. Then, out of nowhere, Pricilla's dolphin had appeared in the air above the lake. It splashed down hapilly into the water below and picked Aeris up with its beak by her hand. It swam back up, towards the surface and left her on the shore. As soon as its duty was done, it disappeared in a ball of smoke.

Zack ran to Aeris as quickly as he could. He kneeled down to her and held out the materia. His eyes shown a mixture of victory and concentration. He closed his eyes and concentrated more deeply. The materia's glow had started to glimmer. The inside reflected Aeris' last breaths. It mirrored the image of Sephiroth, Aeris falling to the ground. And even though he didn't have his eyes opened, Zack saw it all. It pained him, but he felt better soon, knowing everything would be all right.

His eyes snapped opened.

"Holy Yell!" he yelled, releasing the materia's energy at Aeris. Then a piece of the lifestream flung out of the holy materia and encircled Aeris' body. It went inside her body through her mouth as she involitarilly opened it, and the glow of the lifestream could be shown through her veins and her skin. Then the glow disappeared. Aeris' eyes snapped opened immediantly and she let out a faint gasp.

The others stiffened. The spell still hadn't proven itself. She was alive for the moment. What would happen if she just died again right there?

Aeris started struggling. The bit of lifestream that had flowed into her body was trying to escape. She sat up and clutched her chest, coughing.

"Aeris!" Zack exclaimed.

"The lifestream...!!" Aeris gasped.

"Aeris, what's going on?!" Tifa demanded.

"Se...phir...oth...." Aeris gasped. Then she closed her eyes gently and waited for the lifestream to settle. It did, eventually, and she steadied herself. Zack helped her stand up slowly. She hadn't been on her feet for months.

"What the fuck was that all about??" Cid asked.

"Sephiroth... he's near..." Aeris explained. "He was trying to defect the lifestream when you did the spell... If he had been successful..."

"We would of tried again..." Vincent said after a long pause.

"It can only work on the same ancient once. If I die I can not be brought back again." Aeris stated.

Everyone went silent.

After a long while, they started to head back to the Highwind in silence. Once in a while Zack and Aeris would glance at each other. But that was the only interaction that was made.

If only they had noticed the helicoptor that were hovering up above a few hundred yards away...



"I have found appearance of the Turks." A guard said, looking out the window with his bonoculars.

"Where?" Heideggar snapped, looking at the guard feircly. Scarlett lit up from her seat in the back.

"They're close? Oh, good! Good!" she squealed. "Punishment time!"

"Not yet..." Heideggar said. "We must first seperate them from AVALANCHE. Their number is too great to just go all out and attack."

Scarlet nodded silently.

"We'll kill the girl, too." Heideggar stated.

Scarlet perked up. "Good! She bitched at me when she was in the headquarters, I want to pay her back!" Scarlet laughed with glee. "Kya ha ha ha ha! No one messes with Scarlet and gets away with it!"

"They will feel the wrath of ShinRa..." the guard said.

"Speaking of which..." Heideggar began. He picked up his celluar phone and dialed up Rufus. But what he heard on the other line was definately not Rufus...

"I'm sorry. The number you are dialing has either been disconnected, or no longer exists. Please check your number and dial again."

Heideggar paused in disbelief. "Musta dialed the wrong number..." he began. He redialed the number to Rufus' phone.

"I'm sorry. The number you are dialing has either been disconnected, or no longer exists. Please check your number and dial again."

".....The hell?" Heideggar began.

"Give me that, you nitwit!" Scarlet insulted Heideggar and yanked the phone out of his hands. Heideggar glared at Scarlet, but let her have her way all the same.

"I'm sorry. The number you are dialing has either been disconnected, or no longer exists. Please check your number and dial again."

"URRRGH!! What's going on here?!" Scarlet exclaimed.

Heideggar shrugged. "Maybe the headquarters knows where he is." he dialed up the number to the main office and Mayor Domino answered.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Yeah, Domino?" Heideggar asked. "Has Rufus returned yet?"

There was a pause on the other line.

"...Well?" Scarlet intersected.

"....I thought he was with you..." Domino explained.

"HE HASN'T RETURNED YET?!" Heideggar exclaimed.

"Well... there is a chance that he could of been killed..." Domino chanced saying. "The lightning out here is very dangerous..."

Heideggar didn't say a word. He jabbed the off button on his cell phone and slammed it down angrily. "Bunch of shit..." he cursed.

"What's wrong?" Scarlet asked.

"Damn Domino thinks the prez is dead." Heideggar said. "What an airhead. Rufus wouldn't die that easily."

"You said it!" Scarlet agreed.

"Now..." Heideggar began, his eyes turning cold. "...to wait for the prey..." he finished, looking back down at the group as they made their way towards the Highwind...



Aeris leaned forward over the railing of the Highwind and looked down at the ocean as they flew above it. It was the first time she had ever been on an airship that was actually flying. A moment later, Zack opened the door behind her and stepped out onto the deck.

Aeris turned around to greet him, a smile on her face. "Thanks." she said.

"No need." Zack replied, joining her by the railing. "The thanks enough is that you're alive."

Aeris looked back down at the water. "...Zack?" she asked after a long pause.

"Yeah?" Zack questioned, turning to Aeris.

She was looking at him with a concerned look in her eyes.

"Uh oh, it's the look." Zack muttered in a joking tone.

"How are you alive?" she asked.

Zack didn't reply. He didn't know what she was talking about.

"Zack.." Aeris began. "You were dead..."

"I was never dead..." Zack stated uneasily.

"Yes you were!" Aeris shot back. "You never sent me any more letters! After your trip to Nibelheim they just... stopped..."

Zack looked at her in shock. 'This is true... I don't remember anything after that... except...'

"Zack!! Watch out!!" Cloud yelled.

Zack drew his sword and turned around to the guards. He swiped at them, but he was too weak to swing at them again. The guards brought up their guns...

A short 'phut' later and all he saw was blackness...

"Am I a ghost...then...?" Zack asked Aeris.

Aeris didn't avert her gaze from his eyes. "I don't know..." she said.

"Will I ever find out how I lived?" Zack muttered to himself, leaning and looking below the railing.

"Yes. You will." Aeris stated. And they left the conversation at that.



Cloud looked out towards the front of the Highwind and at the sky as it whipped passed the window. He wasn't sure about it, but he could of swore that Tifa kept glancing at him uneasily.

Tifa took another chance glance at him. 'I wonder if because Zack's around... Aeris will leave Cloud alone?' she wondered. 'Then again...' she sighed sadly.

She glanced at him again. This time he was watching her. She stepped back, startled, and he walked over to her, a concerned look on his face.

"What's wrong with you?" he questioned.

Tifa sighed again, and looked down at the ground. She didn't answer.

"Answer me, Teef." Cloud said.

"No..." she protested.

"Come on..." Cloud said, and took a step closer to her. "Please?"

Tifa looked up into his eyes silently, but still she didn't say a word. For some time they just stared at each other, and then Tifa suddenly broke the moment and turned away from him.

She still didn't say anything for a while, and Cloud was almost certain she would not respond. Just when he was about to ask again, Tifa spoke.

"Aeris..." she said without turning around.

"What about Aeris..?" Cloud asked.

"Aeris... I'm...afraid that she'll..." she began, but she didn't finish.

Cloud put a hand on her shoulder. "What? What will she do?" he asked her, concerned.

Tifa turned to him with a fearful look on her face. "I'm scared that she'll take you away from me..." she said, and looked down at the ground again. "...I don't....want to loose you again...Cloud..."

"Tifa..." Cloud began. He pulled her closer to him. She looked back up at him. He noticed the tears in her eyes and brushed her hair back behind her ear. "I love you. Aeris can't take away that..." his head lowered to hers. "And besides, she wouldn't leave Zack for me. She's known him way longer..."

"Are you sure?" Tifa asked.

Cloud nodded. "We may have not have known each other really since childhood...but..." he began, but Tifa cut him off when she put her finger to his lips to hush him.

"Sshh..." she said. "Don't remind yourself of those days, okay?" she asked.

He nodded back. "Of course..."

His eyelids lowered and his head lowered to her even more. She wrapped her arms around his neck and they kissed passionately.

A little ways away, Barret and Cid were watching the scene from the pilot's post.

"Heh heh. Been waiting for them to admit one of these days." Cid commented.

"Yeah... Sorta makes us more like a team, don't it?" Barret replied.

"Uhuh." Cid remarked. "Especially since those two haven't been speaking to each other lately. Damnit, I thought they were falling apart!"

"Gack!!!" Reeve exclaimed from the radar screen.

"Huh? What the fuck's going on?!" Cid demanded.

"I don't know if this is a quite so serious matter compared to Sephiroth, but.." Reeve began. Cid and Barret strided over and looked over his shoulder.

"Who is dat?" Barret asked.

"Scarlet and Heideggar." Reeve stated.

"Damn!" Cid cursed. "Let's loose em."

"They're not after us. I don't know what they're doing, but they're no threat to us." Reeve said.

"Fine... just..." Cid struggled for orders to give. "Keep a sharp eye on em!"

"Gotcha." Reeve replied.

Then the whole airship shuddered.

"What the hell?!" Barret exclaimed.

Tifa stumbled to her knees not too far away, and looked around.

"What was that?" Tifa asked.

"Trouble..." Cloud said, holding out his hand to help her up. Tifa took it and lifted herself up with his help.

They walked over to Cid, Barret, and Reeve. "What was that?" Tifa repeated.

"It came out of nowhere!" Reeve exclaimed.

"What the fuck WAS that already?!" Cid exclaimed.

"The energy censors read it as Sephiroth!" Reeve shot back.

"Shit!" Cid cursed. He turned to the pilot. "Land at once!" he barked.

"Aye aye, Captain Cid!" the man saluted and went to land the ship.

Cid picked up the intercom speaker and shouted in it, "EVERYONE REPORT TO THE DECK! WE'RE LANDING! IT'S SEPHIROTH vs. US! MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!" he slammed it down, grabbed his spear, and ran to the deck.

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret soon followed.

Reeve glanced once more at the radar screeen and gasped. "Jenova..." he began. Quickly, he grabbed his gun and followed after them.



They had landed near the south continent near Bone village as soon as they could. Cloud had leaded the others out and they had all took their fighting positions, ready to stand their guard and strike when Sephiroth had arrived.

"Um, you guys?" Reeve ventured after he had jumped from the deck and onto the ground.

"What?" Cloud asked.

"Right as we were leaving...." Reeve looked clearly scared at this point.

"Spit it out." Reno demanded.

"It showed Jenova entering the radar system as well." Reeve finished.

"JENOVA?!" the others exclaimed.

"Isn't Jenova dead?" Vincent questioned.

"How the heck should I know??" Reeve replied, clueless.

"Damn!" Cloud cursed.

Just then, two figured materialized across the feild from them. One was tall, with a long sword and long, silver hair. The other, a good two heads smaller then the man, was a magenta- purplish color with long tentacles for fingers in a silk, black dress and boots. On the back of her dress sprouted two metalish wings that looked light enough to make her able to fly.

"Sephiroth..." Aeris stated.

"Is that...sorceress dressed girl... Jenova?" Red questioned.

"It has to be." Cloud stated.

That was when the two figures disappeared without no trace at all.

"....What was that all about?" Elena question in particularly no one at all.

"I don't wanna have to find out..." Yuffie squeaked.

"WATCH OUT!" Vincent warned.

Just then Sephiroth appeared over Aeris.

He cackled evily. "Great! I get to kill you again!" he said triumphantly, raising his sword.

Aeris let out an ear-peircing shreik, but before Sephiroth could strike, Zack pushed her out of the way and blocked with his own huge, bulky sword.

"Damnit!" Sephiroth cursed, and swung at Zack again.

Zack blocked and returned with his own blow. Sephiroth danced out of the way nimbly and sliced again. Cloud joined in the fray and sliced at Sephiroth from behind while Zack sliced from the front. Unable to block both at once, Sephiroth was hit by Cloud's blow and he quickly disappeared again.

He reappeared behind Aeris. This time, however, she was ready and swiped at him with her rod. He sliced at the rod and it broke in half. Aeris gasped and back up.

Zack quickly came to her air and repeatedly swiped at Sephiroth as he did the same right back at him.

Sephiroth then quickly swiped at Zack too fast for him to handle, and Zack went flying for ten feet and landed on the ground with a harsh thud. Aeris ran to his side a kneeld down to him, casting curing spells on him.

Sephiroth turned to face Cloud. "Care to give it a whirl?" he asked, his cold eyes scraping into Cloud's nerve. Cloud dashed out at him and sliced, and the two engaged in a sword fight as well.

"Fire Three!" Tifa yelled as she casted he supreme fire spell on Sephiroth. Sephiroth jerked and Cloud took the opportunity to swing at him. Sephiroth backed away, looking at them with pure hatred.

"Mother, take care of these filth!" he demanded, turning over to Jenova.

Jenova nodded without saying a word, and raised her tentacled claws, making a long, deadly looking staff up into the air. She then started to chant in a language forgein to all of them.

But that didn't mean it wouldn't effect them.

"Jenova isn't your mother!" Vincent cut in.

Jenova stopped in mid chant, and looked at him as if he were a bug stuck to her shoe. "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" she questioned, speaking for the very first time.

"I'm saying that you're not Sephiroth's mother!" Vincent replied, slightly repeating his former words.

"HOW SO?" Jenova asked, lowering her staff.

"Don't you know?" Cloud asked.

Vincent stepped forward in front of the others to confront Sephiroth and Jenova. "Lucrecia is his real mother. And Hojo is his father." he replied coldly.

"That's not true..." Sephiroth stated.

"Hojo did an expiriment with JENOVA cells, but all in all, LUCRECIA was the one that bore you! And Hojo was your father!" Vincent shot back, a disgusted look forming on his face, "So much as I don't want to admit it, but it's true!"

Sephiroth stood there for a minute, trying to figure out what was right and what was wrong. After a few moments of silence, he turned to Jenova, his cloak whirling behind him. "Is this true?" he questioned, his voice dripping with anger.

"NO IT ISN'T!" Jenova snapped. "I CAN PROVE IT. THEY USED MY CELLS IN THE EXPIRIMENT."

"Aren't you listening, foo'?!" Barret retorted, bringing up his gunarm menacingly. "Lucrecia BORE Sephiroth so that means she's his mum!"

Jenova swiped her free hand in the air in an annoyed gesture. "NOT TRUE--" she began, but Sephiroth cut her off and stepped in front of her to confront the group once more.

"Show me proof, mortal!" he demanded.

"Sephiroth..." Aeris spoke up. "We are all mortal. We're just of different races..."

"Quiet, woman!" Sephiroth snapped.

Aeris looked down at the ground silently.

"If you come with us to Shinra..." Vincent began, "We can show you the files... Or you can visit your real mother."

"How?" Sephiroth ordered.

"I'll show you." Vincent replied. "Her spirit rests in a cave."

"She's...dead?" Sephiroth asked, his face falling in humor slightly.

"Your Jenova here killed your real mother with her own cells." Vincent stated.

"NOT MY FAULT." Jenova shot back, stepping up. "IT WAS TOO MUCH FOR HER."

"SHUT UP!" Vincent yelled.

Everyone stared at him. He had never yelled in such an angry manner before.

"Sephiroth... please listen?" Aeris ventured. Sephiroth turned to face her again. "Just follow us... Please?"

Sephiroth stood and looked at them, his face concerned with thought. He stood and thought again for a long time. Finally, he gave them his answer.

"Fine. I'll follow you." Sephiroth agreed.

"FOOL!" Jenova snarled. Sephiroth turned to her, annoyed. "YOU SHALL NEVER LIVE TO SEE THE LIGHT OF ANOTHER DAY WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU, TRAITOR."

Sephiroth raised his masamune high into the air. Jenova's eyebrows quirked in suprise. "You know, with an aditude like that, you won't last very long either." he stated. Before she could react, he brought down his sword on her and sliced her stomache. She split into two peices and fell on the ground.

Her body quickly dissolved and soon there were no more remains of the former sorceress.



The air was salty. And he could hear water. He tried to move his legs to get up but they buckled at once and he fell limp again. He couldn't even open his eyes. Something was in them. Then the ground beneath him gave away and he stumbled on his elbows and knees. Feeling the ground below, he identified it as sand.

Loud, annoying squawks dove down into his ears and shocked him, giving his head pain. He finally mustered enough energy to open his eyes and he rubbed the sand out. "Ugh...where am I...?" he asked no one in particular.

Rufus looked around. He was washed up ashore on a beach. But where was he? How did he get here...?

The squawking gave another blow to his head. He looked up at the birds above him, glaring.

"Would you mind to shut the hell up?!" he demanded. The birds ignored him and kept up their persistant squawking nontheless. Rufus groaned and rested his forehead in his hands. "How am I going to get out of this...?" he asked himself. There were no remains of the helicopter in sight, so he had no chance of getting off this island... Unless it was a continent...

Rufus stood up immediantly, but he had forgotten about his legs.

"Ow..." he grumbled, and sat back up. "Damnit... I need a doctor.."

Then he heard the roar of an airship above. His head immediantly snapped to the noise and saw something most strange. The Highwind.

"Avalanche...." he muttered.

The Highwind kept going and landed not too far off into the continent. Looking around at the barren land beyond the beach, his mind gradually came to an agreement that he was in Wutai. Where else was the landscape so inhabited?

He slowly got up once more, taking his time as he eased all of his strength into his muscles. He managed to stand, and he slowly made his way up the beach and towards where the Highwind had landed and into a nearby forest that was considerably small and probably the only thing that had growed since the war.

As he walked he kept getting the distinct feeling that something was watching him. Instantly he turned around and stared at the landscape behind him for a few, long moments. Unsatisfied, he turned back around and continued on, the feeling becoming stronger.

Then he heard a rustle in the brush behind him. Again, he turned to look, but what he saw was nothing. A drop of sweat began to fall down his brow and he reached for his gun in his pocket. Cold fear rose up quickly inside him when he didn't find anything.

He looked in all of his pockets warily. There wasn't anything he could use! He was trapped!

Then he saw two red, glowing eyes in front of him. He took a step back cautiously. Whatever was out there was definently after him, that much he could tell.

He saw it lean down to prepare to jump at him, but before it could, he bolted. He heard it claw at the ground behind him as whatever was after him followed. Then it made one last leap and landed on his shoulders, and climbed up onto his head.

He let out a shriek and grabbed at it, trying to rip the small creature off. "ARGH! LET GOT OF ME!!" he screamed, but no avail.

The monster's paws came down to Rufus' eyes and started to claw at him. Finally, Rufus got a good grip of its mid section and ripped it off of him, throwing it as faw away as he could. Then he made to run again, but then instantly his legs buckled under him. He landed on his back and immediantly sat up to see his opponent get up itself, growling at him.

It was a little cat looking monster, with little tuffs of fur over each of its four paws. Its tail was shrivled and spikey looking, its ears were like feelers from a bug, and it had two, evil looking wings on its back. But its fur was an unusual color, it was sort of a navy bluish color, and its eyes were no longer red, they were yellow. The eyes then slowly started to change a shade of pink and pink turned back to red.

'Mood eyes...heheh...' Rufus mused.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty..." he ventured. The cat's eyes widened and turned to an orange color, and then finally, yellow again. It cautiously stepped over to Rufus, looking for every sight of danger. Rufus held out his hand bravely, in an attempt to make peace. It sniffed Rufus' finger softly, and then cuddled against it.

"Heh, I knew you were a good cat." he muttered. The cat then seized him by the finger in betweet its teeth. His eyes just went wide and he swallowed the urge to scream. He quickly ripped his finger away and cradeled it, trying to make the pain go away. "Damn I hope that thing's not poisonous..." he said to himself.

"I'm not."

Rufus' eyes went wider then ever. His head snapped over to the cat. "Huh?" he asked dumbly.

"I said I'm not poisonous." it repeated.

Rufus lept back in shock.

"H..h..h-h-how can you talk?!" he exclaimed.

"Dunno." the cat replied.

"There must be a reason?" Rufus asked.

The cat sat down and licked its front paw in a thoughtful gesture. "Maybe." it began.

Rufus sighed. "Well, if anyone you probably aren't going to tell me."

"It's simple really." the cat continued. Rufus perked up at this. "I'm actually human."

"What? How are you human if you're a cat?" Rufus asked. "Who are you?"

"Heh." the cat mused. "I thought you'd of known. Who do you know can turn into a monster?"

"That metal armed guy that Hojo expirimented on?" Rufus ventured a guess.

"Nope. I'm talking without doing anything physical." the cat replied.

"Ummm...." Rufus started to think. 'Who can turn into a monster...odd... nobody's done that before except.... That's it!!! Durring the war...!!' "You're a Kisaragi!" he proclaimed.

"Very good!" the cat answered. "Hmm...just what is my name?"

"....Yuffie?" Rufus guessed.

"Ugh, wrong gender." the cat said with a disgusted tone.

"Wrong gender? What, does she have a brother too?" Rufus asked the cat.

The cat nodded.

"I didn't know...." Rufus began when the cat pointed its paw at Rufus.

"Of course ya don't. I've been guarding the Omni temple almost all of my life, so I've been long-forgotten." the cat explained.

"Oh." Rufus said.

There was a long silence.

"You were going to kill my sister." the cat accused.

"Yeah... pretty stupid idea now that I think about it." Rufus said. "It would of worked, if only I hadn't had the 'ladie's man' do the job."

"Ya gunna try and kill me next?" the cat asked.

"Nope. I've learned my lesson through trial and error." Rufus replied.

"The hard way..." it mused.

"What's your name, anyhow?" Rufus asked.

"Karasu." the cat stated.

"Karasu...? What does that mean?" Rufus questioned.

"Raven." the cat said.

"Nice." Rufus complemented. He then staggered to try and lift himself up. Surprisingly, a hand offered to help him. Without even thinking, Rufus accepted it and stood up fully, taking a couple moments to regain his balance. Then something triggered in his mind and he looked up. There was no longer a cat in front of him. Instead, there was a young man, about his age with dyed, blue hair. Streaks of the hair's old color, brown, were still noticeable, but in a fashion. He wore a dark, teal colored robe and brown colored, laced boots. His weapon of choice hang on a strap on his back, a long, teal ribbon hanging from the hilt, perferably discribed as a katana.

"Hmm... Yes I do remember seeing you somewhere before." Karasu stated. "Aren't you the new president of Shinra? Because if you are, I will be more then willing to kill you."

Rufus' eyebrows raised.

"But, in your condition, I would be considered a coward. I'll wait until you're in full health again, and mark my words, I shall slay you." he said.

Rufus sighed in relief. At least that would give him some time.

There was another long pause.

Then they heard a rustling from the vegetation not too far off.

"I heard talking from this direction!" a male voice called out.

"Damn..." Rufus muttered.

"What is it? Do these people post some sort of threat to you?" Karasu asked.

"Not really, but in my state, yes. His name's Cloud Strife." Rufus answered.

"Then Yuffie's with them?" Karasu asked.

"Can you just help me out of here?" Rufus asked frantically.

"No." Karasu stated. "I want to see my sister again, so shut the hell up or I really will kill you now."

Rufus fought back to urge to fight back, and stayed where he was. No doubt that if he bolted, it wouldn't take Karasu long to find him again.

Then Cloud appeared into view when he pulled out of the trees and into the clearing Rufus and Karasu were in. He stopped and stared at the situation. Karasu and Rufus stared right back at him.

In moments, Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, and Red had appeared behind Cloud and they stepped into view.

"Where's the rest of yer posse?" Rufus asked.

"In the Highwind. Don't know why you'd like to know." Cloud shot back.

Karasu's eyes immediantly fixed on Yuffie's. Her eyebrow quirked, and then her eyes widened.

The others took note in their eye contact and looked at both of them.

"What's wrong?" Tifa finally asked.

But neither of them answered.

"Yo, what the hell's wrong with you two?" Barret also ventured.

But they didn't even make a move.

"I don't think words can reach them at this time, they are in such deep thought." Red indicated.

Karasu then took a few steps closer to Yuffie until they were face to face, just inches apart.

"Damn, somone check if there's an openning in Hell's gate." Yuffie finally said.

"I never died." Karasu stated.

"Really?" Yuffie asked. "I could of sworn that you were killed. You had a nice, bloody wound and funeral to go with it."

"That was just a shadow I had made." Karasu explained. "Father still knows I'm alive."

"And he didn't tell me?!" Yuffie exclaimed. Karasu simply nodded.

There was a moment of silence.

"Come on. Let's head back." Cloud suggested. "We can sort things out later. First we need to find out what to do with Rufus."

Karasu and Yuffie nodded to Cloud, and they walked back towards the Highwind, pushing a reluctant Rufus along with them.

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Hmmm? I didn't know Yuffie had a brother, did you? ^-^ Yes, he's an original character I've made up. By the way, if any of you couldn't guess, his omni form that I tried to describe is one of those Gimme Cats from Final Fantasy IX (you run into them near Duguerro and they ask for a diamond) Please review and tell me what you think! Oooh and another thing, if you wanna see a picture of what Karasu looks like then go to my site (on my author's profile) and check.... It's not up yet but it will be in a few days!

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