DAY FIVE

[Riku's Dorm-Kitchen]

"You mean she watched the tape?!"

Sora's angry voice rang loud and clear through Riku's cellphone. Riku was just as mad as Sora was.

"Well, it's not my fault she is so damn stubborn!" Riku shot back. "If the bi-"

Before Riku could finish that wonderful expletive, he was thrown into a violent coughing fit. Dropping the cellphone on the tiled floor, Riku fell on all fours.

"Riku? Riku!" Sora's voice screamed, mixed with concern. Riku couldn't hear him, as he was still coughing.

Something is in my throat... He thought as he felt something slide up his throat with each cough. Finally, Riku was able to reach to the back of his throat and grab it. Gagging, he pulled it out, watching in horror as he pulled a string out, with a floppy little white disc attached to the end.

"RIKU! GODDAMMIT, ANSWER THE-"

"I'm...here..." Riku coughed, throwing the item aside. He shook his head and stared hard at the object he just coughed up.

"Riku, damn, what the hell happened...?"

"N-Nothing." He replied, voice a little hoarse. "Listen, I got to go, we're gonna land soon... Call you later."

Turning off the cell phone without even hearing Sora's reply, Riku shakily got up and examined his arm. The burn mark was still there, stuck on his arm.

"This is no dream..." Riku sadly realized.

~~~

A knock on the door fifteen minutes later broke his trance. Still shaking, Riku left the kitchen and opened it, seeing Sora's cross face and a file folder.

"...The folder...?" Riku asked, pointing at it.

"Info on Sephiroth. It's all in the newspapers. Not much, though." Sora answered, opening it. Exactly two slips of paper, filled on only one side with short newspaper clippings.

Riku opened the door wider and invited Sora in.

~~~

"He was a doctor?"

Riku reviewed the papers carefully. One paper was filled with short articles talking about the town's medical team back in 1966, Sephiroth included. There was also a birth announcement, a marriage announcement, and two death announcements

The other paper was a simply a map to Destiny Islands.

"Yeah. Only one in town, so a lot of people sucked up to him." Sora nodded, leaning back on the couch.

Riku scanned the announcements. The birth was for his son, Ansem. The marriage was him and Aerith, obviously. The deaths...

"Sephiroth died seven days after Ansem..." Riku observed. Sora smiled a little sadly.

"Yeah. Ansem supposedly slipped and drowned in a well. Sephiroth committed suicide seven days later. Guess it got to him." Sora commented, eyes closing.

Riku slowly took this all in.

"But what about Aerith...?"

"She's alive." Sora cut him off. "I spent the whole night searching for her death. It's not there. I'm damn sure Aerith is still alive. You should thank me." Sora added, a tone of warning in his voice.

Riku grinned at his friend.

"Why are you helping me? I thought you didn't believe in all-"

His grin disappeared completely when Sora showed him the burn mark on his arm.

"I started believing when I got THIS, last night." Sora stated, his face completely serious. Riku dumbly nodded, then got up, searching his pocket for something. Sora's eyebrow shot up when Riku found his car keys.

"Where are you going?"

"WE'RE going to investigate." Riku smoothly replied.

~~~

DESTINY ISLANDS

Riku stepped out of the ferry, Sora trailing behind. Looking over the lush scenery, Riku couldn't believe that this town was hiding some dark secret. The sky was a wonderful azure shade, with the ocean slightly darker. The beaches seemed to glow, and beyond that was a dense forest.

"Woooooow..." Sora stared with equal awe. "If we live through this, I'm living here." He commented. Riku shot him a nasty glare and continued on, jumping down from the docks.

"So... where does Aerith live?" Riku asked. Sora blinked, staring oddly at Riku.

"I thought you knew!" Sora blurted out.

"...You idiot!"

A trio of girls playing with a red-haired cat glanced at the arguing duo. One of them, a young girl with blue and green eyes walked up to them.

"Are you looking for Ms. Aerith?" She asked.

The two stopped arguing and looked down on the young girl, who remained calm despite their glares.

"Um, yeah..."

"RIKKU! PAINE!" The girl called to her two other friends. "THESE PEOPLE WANNA SEE AERITH!"

The other two girls looked up and nodded, running off into the forest with the cat following. Sora cocked his head in amazement and Riku just wished they would hurry up.

"They will bring Aerith here, she doesn't like people in her house. Oh yea, an' you-" The girl pointed at Riku. "-shouldn't be afraid. It's your friends I would worry about."

Without another word, the girl skipped off into the forest herself, leaving Sora and Riku completely stunned.

"What was THAT about?" Sora asked. Riku shrugged. Why shouldn't he be afraid? He only had two days left.

The two sat down at the docks, Sora pointing out the little "fishies" swimming in the water while Riku just stared at his burn mark, wondering if the person who gave it to him was Sephiroth. Then again, it seemed a little small to be Sephiroth...

"You wanted me?"

A soft female voice distracted Riku from his thoughts and he looked up. The woman was very old, her skin wrinkled slightly. Her hair was tied back in a braid, chestnut adorned with many gray hairs. She was wearing jeans and a pink blouse.

But her eyes, they still glowed with that tranquil green. Riku knew it was Aerith.

"Aerith, I presume?"

Aerith nodded, crossing her arms.

"I'm Riku, this is Sora." Riku introduced himself, pointing at Sora as well. He outstretched a hand, but Aerith didn't take it. She was still glaring at him.

"Why did you call me?" She demanded.

"... It's about your husband, Sephiroth, and-"

"My husband was a very respectable man!" Aerith snapped. "Don't you go around spreading rumors about him like the other people!"

Riku was taken aback. This wasn't the first time, it seemed, that someone had asked about Sephiroth. Warily, he pulled out the tape from his bag. Aerith's eyes followed his hand and she seemed to freeze when she saw the tape.

"I guess you know something about this, then?" Riku asked, taking on the same tone Aerith did. Screw being polite. This was a life or death matter.

"... Again.... It spreads like a sickness..." Aerith softly muttered.

"Did Sephiroth make this? Or your son, Ansem?" Riku pressed her on.

"I don't have a son." Aerith bluntly told him. "And my husband has nothing to do with that tape." Without another word, Aerith strode off into the jungle, leaving behind more questions than answers.

"I guess that didn't help." Sora muttered. Riku snorted, then stepped into the forest himself.

"Wait, we don't even know what's there!" Sora protested, but he followed anyway, seeing that Riku did not intend to turn back.

~~~

After clomping through the forest for about three hours, the two tired teens emerged on the other side. And with such luck, because they landed right in front of the clinic.

"Destiny Islands Clinic..." Sora read the worn-out sign in front of the cozy building. "This must be where Sephiroth worked."

"Let's go in, then."

Stepping into the air-conditioned building, Riku found the waiting room empty, except for a blonde boy idly playing with an abacus. There was an old man with a toothpick in his mouth at the counter, spotting the boys with his frayed blue eyes.

"Outsiders, eh? We don't get to much." He dryly commented.

"We're looking for the doctor..." Riku started, but the man cut him off.

"You're looking at him. Only doctor on Destiny Islands." He explained. Straightening up, he walked closer to them. "Cid Highwind." He introduced himself.

They nodded, then Riku decided not to waste anytime.

"Do you know about a man named Sephiroth? Or his son, Ansem?"

Cid had a surprised look on his face. His mouth gaped open and the toothpick clattered on the floor.

"I'm sorry, but... my friend and I... we've been seeing disturbing images and..." Sora started, but the blonde boy in the corner interrupted him.

"Do you know anything about them?" He repeated.

"Um..."

"That's just Cloud. He's always here, aren't you?" Cid laughed, rustling the boy's spiky head. "He's my grandson." Cid explained. Then his face grew serious again.

"This isn't the first time anybody came here about Ansem... but it's been so long... come, we'll talk about it outside."

~~~

They sat at a picnic table behind the clinic, overlooking the cliff. The boys sat on one side, Cid on another. They sat near a tree, where Cloud was sitting in a swing, still playing with the abacus.

Finally, Cid broke the silence.

"You know... when my daughter had Cloud over there... we knew something wasn't right with him. Took us a long time to get used to him, but we still love him, you know. But... some of us have our limits..."

"... Like Ansem. Seph and Aerith, they were like peas in a pod. So they've been trying for a very long time to have a kid. Something must have been wrong with one of them, because Aerith kept on miscarrying. Then, they left for vacation one summer, and when they came back, they had Ansem with them."

"Adopted, they said. 'Course, I didn't buy it, cuz Ansem looked a lot like Sephiroth... but then again, I can see why they wouldn't admit he was their kid. Ansem was kinda... crazy like Cloud. Liked destroying stuff. You know, all kids like knocking down crap and stuff..."

"Of course, no kid could kill another kid. They put up with him for ten years, then he goes off and kills someone. Myst, I think her name was. Slit her throat and shit like that. It was really bad for Sephiroth's reputation, so he sent Ansem to the Traverse Town Institution. Hasn't come back since."

The air was silent, except for the steady creaking of the tree branch Cloud's swing was on.

"...Is he still there?" Riku breathed.

"I dunno..." Cid answered. He hesitated, then stood up.

"But I'll tell ya one thing... Things here have been better ever since he left."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes. I must make fun of Cloud whenever the opportunity arises... well, SOMEONE had to play the part of Darby!

Cloud: But why did it have to be me? ;_;

Ansem: _O

Cloud: X_X