(Author's Note: Hey all…This must be the longest chapter I've got for this story yet…well…besides the ones Rueh is revising…but anyways here's chapter 26! Enjoy! Oh! And if anyone has any ideas I'd be happy to hear them…I have a few more chapters already typed but I want to do more…but I don't have ideas…so any help will be appreciated…thanks!)

Disclaimer: FF7 and Squaresoft are not mine. Rueh belongs to Rueh. Dete belongs to me.

Chapter 26

To Icicle Village We Go

                                    -1 Week Later-

"…where am I…?" Sephiroth asked as he opened his eyes. He was floating in a bright green substance.

"…Sephiroth…"

"What? Who…?...Aeris?"

"Yes. It's me," her voice said.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"The life stream," she answered simply.

"Why are we here? I remember it erupted in the Crater but before that is blurry…I remember being in Nibelheim in Hojo's lab with…Dete! Where is she?" he said.

"Don't worry. She's fine. So you don't remember what's happened?" Aeris asked.

"No…"

"Let me show from where this started…on that day…5 years ago…"

It was like he was watching a movie of some kind. He saw everything up to the point where Dete stopped Cloud from killing him.

"I…I almost killed her and yet she stopped Cloud from killing me," he said.

"Because she's your friend," Aeris said. Sephiroth was silent for awhile. "You had best return…you've been here a week already," she said.

"What about Dete?" he asked.

"When you wake up she'll be there," she said.

"I'm sorry Aeris…" he said softly.

"It's all right…"

Everything went dark.

                                    ****

"It's been a week. I'm worried about Rueh," Red said.

"Yeah. As soon as the Highwind landed she got her things and Dete's and left. We haven't seen her since," Vincent said.

"That's fine with me. I got the impression that she doesn't like me very much," Cloud said. He was hit from behind.

"Yeah well you wouldn't like me if I left your best friend behind," Rueh growled.

"Ahhhh…hi Rueh…" Cloud started to back away from her.

"Where have you been?" Vincent asked.

"I went home," she said.

"Oh."

                                    ****

Sephiroth woke slowly. 'You were right Aeris,' he thought. Dete lay a few feet away. She groaned softly as she opened her eyes.

"Hey…are you okay?" he asked.

She smiled. "Yeah. Just tired. Gosh it's cold here," she said sitting up.

"Of course it is. We're still in the Crater," he said.

She rolled her eyes and stood. They were quiet for a bit. She looked around confused.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Ahhhh…there it is! There's your sword," she said and walked to where her gun blade lay in the snow pointing to where his lay. Sephiroth stood and picked it up. "How long will it take to get to Icicle Village in our condition?" she asked.

"I'd say a day or 2," he said.

"You okay?"

"Yeah…I'm sorry," he said softly.

"About what?" she asked.

"I killed Aeris and almost killed you," he said.

"But you didn't and it's not your fault. Jenova made you do it," she sighed. He was quiet. "Listen I'm fine. Yeah it hurt but I'm alive and I forgive you," she said. They were both quiet. "Let's go…can you still fly?" she said.

"I can try…" his feet slowly left the ground for a few seconds then touched the ground again.   He shook his head. "Well…he he he…looks like we'll have to walk," he said. Dete groaned.

                                    ****

"Well…it's hard to tell if Dete and Sephiroth are still in the life stream or not," Red sighed.

"I guess we'll just have to wait. If they are out they'll probably head for the nearest town. I'm sure Dete will get a hold of us somehow," Vincent said.

"Ahhhhhhhh! Help me!" Cloud yelled as he ran past.

"Get back here!" Rueh yelled in hot pursuit.

"She doesn't like him does she?" Red asked.

"Nope," Vincent shook his head.

                                    ****

"Finally!" Dete exclaimed. They had reached the top of the Crater.

"It only took us 3 hours to get here," Sephiroth said with a shrug.

"Only," she said dully.

"Well. If we hadn't run into all those monsters and they hadn't attacked we could have gotten here sooner," he said.

"Oh well. Let's go," she sighed.

They started toward the Village. They had walked for about an hour when they were next attacked. Once the fight was over they continued on their way. They stopped when it was dark.

"How far away from the Village are we?" Dete asked.

"I'd say we're about half way there. If we start as soon as the sun's up we should be there sometime in the afternoon," Sephiroth said.

"Okay….I guess we have to sleep in the snow," she said.

"I don't see a hotel around here do you?" he said.

"Ha ha. Very funny." He shrugged and sat down leaning against a rock. Dete sat down about a foot away from him. After a minute he looked at her.

"You're shivering," he said.

"No duh. It's cold. And a t-shirt isn't very warm," she snapped with her arms wrapped around herself.

He reached out and pulled her against him wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"What are you doing?" she asked warily.

"Don't worry about it. Get some sleep," he said.

"But…" he put a finger to her lips to silence her. He cupped the side of her face in his hand as he looked at her. He slowly lowered his face to hers. His lips touched hers and she jerked back, her face red. He cleared his throat.

"Get some sleep," he said gruffly looking away from her.

She yawned. After a few minutes she was asleep with her head on his shoulder. Sephiroth waited till he was sure she was asleep then let his eyes close.

                                    ****

Sephiroth was woken with a jolt.

"Sephiroth! Wake up!"  Dete's voice was a panicked whisper.

"What is it?" he asked sleepily.

"Look," she hissed. He followed her gaze. There was a huge shadow slowly moving towards them through the trees.

"Stay still," he whispered. The monster made slow progress towards them.

"Ewww! Gross!" Dete said quietly.

"Sh-h-h-h." The monster stopped and sniffed the air. It looked at them.

"Gross," she said again.

The monster looked like a giant snail. It had 4 tentacles and 2 arms that ended with 3 sharp claws. It also had spikes running down its back. It slowly moved towards them.

"Umm…I think now would be a good time to run," he said slowly standing. He helped her to her feet.

"I could agree more," she said. They took off running through the trees. "Gosh! For being a giant snail this thing sure is fast!" she said.

"Just keep running!" he said over his shoulder.

"I think it's a dead end!" Dete said as they slid to a stop at the base of a cliff.

"We can't escape so we'll have to fight it," Sephiroth sighed. They turned around. "Here we go!" he said. He cast a lightning spell.

"It's made of rubber!" Dete exclaimed as the spell was absorbed.

The monster slapped at him with a tentacle. Dete fired her gun blade. The bullet bounced off the monster's skin harmlessly. "Uh-oh…" She started to back away.

The monster cast an earthquake spell. She quickly cast a barrier that barely blocked it. The monster shrieked as Sephiroth's sword slashed its side.

All 4 tentacles grabbed him and began to squeeze. He dropped his sword as his hands flew up to try to get the tentacle off his neck. It was getting harder to breathe.

Dete attacked. The monster released one tentacle and knocked her feet out from under her. It then grabbed her foot and held her upside down.

Stars danced in front of Sephiroth's eyes.  He let his hands fall to his sides. The monster tossed him away. He hit the rocks of the cliff hard. He slid to the ground and lay still waiting for his head to clear. He was slow to get up.

Dete struggled and slashed at the monster. It grabbed her shoulder with its clawed arm. The claws dug into her shoulder.

Sephiroth cast a gravity spell. The monster shrieked again and released Dete's foot but kept a hold of her shoulder.

She stabbed it and pulled the trigger. This time the monster roared in pain. By the shoulder she was again picked up off the ground. Dete let out a cry of pain as the monster threw her a good distance away. She hit the ground then rolled a few feet. When she stopped moving she lay perfectly still.

Sephiroth attacked. After a few minutes the monster attacked back. He was knocked off balance and fell backwards before he could stop himself. The monster slowly advanced.

Behind him Dete struggled to stand. She reloaded her weapon with a bright red bullet. She took aim and pulled the trigger.

A red flash passed over Sephiroth and hit the monster's forehead. The red bullet had left behind a trail of red glitter. It slowly started to fall to the ground. It suddenly flashed and shot towards the monster bursting into flames on impact. The monster screamed in pain and charged her. Dete couldn't get out of the way fast enough…she had slid to her knees.

"SUPER NOVA!" Sephiroth yelled.

His summon completely destroyed the monster. Both stayed still for a few minutes.

"Hey Dete…you okay?" he asked.

"…yeah…I'll be all right…" she replied.

Sephiroth stood and walked over to her. "Come on. Let's get going," he sighed and held his hand out to her.

 She didn't do anything for a few minutes. She had her right hand on her left arm.

"You okay?" he asked again.

"Yeah. Just give me a second," she said. After a minute she took his hand with her right.

"You're hurt," he said seeing her left arm. Starting on her shoulder and stopped just below her elbow were 3 deep cuts.

"From where the monster threw me…it's all right," she said.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah…don't worry. Let's go," she turned in the direction that they had been going.

                                    ****

"Well, well. It looks like I was right. Jenova was defeated."

"Yeah, yeah Rufus," Elena said.

"I heard Hojo was involved in this," Reno said.

"Really? I wonder…" Rufus trailed off in thought.

                                    ****

"Wow. We'll get to the Village faster than I thought we would," Sephiroth said as they topped a hill and the village came into view in the distance.

Dete only nodded. They started walking again, Sephiroth leading and Dete following him. He stopped at the bottom of the hill and turned to say something. Dete was on her hands and knees only ¼ of the way down the hill. "Dete?" he called and went to her. He knelt down beside her. "Dete? What's wrong?" he asked.

She didn't answer just kept staring at the ground. Sephiroth waved his hand in front of her face. She didn't react. He turned her face towards him. Her skin was pale and her eyes were dull. "Dete?" he asked softly.

"I'm not feeling too good right now. Just need to rest…" she whispered and leaned against him. He put his hand under her arm and examined the 3 cuts on it.

"This isn't good," he said to himself. He slowly released her arm and put his hand on the side of her face. "Those claws had poison on them. That's why you're like this," he said quietly.

"How much longer to the village?" she asked.

"Only a few miles," he said.

She pushed against him as she stood. "I can make it," she said.

"Yeah right," he said as he stopped her swaying.

"I'll go as far as I can," she said.

"If that's what you want," he replied reluctantly. They walked on only at a slower pace. After awhile the village loomed just ahead of them.

"There it is," Sephiroth said pointing it out to her.

Dete nodded and started to fall to her knees. Sephiroth caught her before she hit the ground. Without hesitating he picked the unconscious girl up and continued to the village at a fast pace. He went to the inn when he got to the village.

"What happened to her?" the desk clerk asked.

"She's hurt and needs help," Sephiroth said.

"Here. Take her to room number 6 and I'll get the doctor," the clerk ran to the door.

"Thanks," Sephiroth said, took the key and went to the room.

                                    ****

It had only been a few minutes after Sephiroth had laid Dete down on the bed when the clerk came in with the doctor. The doctor had cleaned and bandaged the cuts and given her an antidote.

"She just needs to rest for now. She'll be fine. But if she gets sick give her this," he said.

"Thank you for your help," Sephiroth bowed his head. The doctor and clerk left. "I'm glad you'll be all right," he whispered and brushed her cheek with his fingers. Dete just sank deeper into the pillow and blankets sound asleep.

                                    ****

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

"What was that?" Vincent asked sitting at the kitchen table with Red.

"I don't even want to know," Red sighed.

Cloud came in and sniffed. Red and Vincent burst out laughing. The others came in…and began to laugh as well.

"Nice hair Cloud," Cid gasped between laughs.

"Shut up! Who did this? Who dyed my hair bright pink?" Cloud demanded.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yuffie asked laughing hysterically.

Rueh smiled and out her arm around Cloud neck. "I think pink suits you," she said. Everyone but Cloud laughed harder.

                                    ****