(Author's Note: Hey…sorry it took so long to get this chapter up but I was working on other stories of mine…anyways…here's chapter 6! Enjoy!)

Disclaimer: FF7 and Squaresoft are not mine. Any other character is…

Chapter 6

Aeris sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Even considering the cold hard ground she had slept fairly well. She looked at the fire. It was still burning the same as it had last night. She looked to the other side of the fire then froze. He wasn't there. She looked around the entire cave but still didn't see him. She again looked around for something that she could use to defend herself if it came to that.

She found nothing. A noise outside the cave made her jump. She cautiously approached the entrance. She choked back a cry when she saw a huge monster trashing around wildly like it was trying to get something off its back…

And it succeed in that. She gasped out of surprise as the silver haired warrior flew away from the creature. It screamed in anger and charged him. He jumped back and flipped onto its back again. He locked his arms around its neck and wouldn't let go for nothing.

The creature was at least 3 times his size. It started choking and slammed its back against the rock wall. But still it couldn't get Sephiroth to release his hold. After a few long minutes the monster finally lay motionless on the ground. Sephiroth got up and staggered away from it breathing heavily.

He didn't seem to notice her as he walked back towards the cave. He stopped a few feet in front of her. He looked at the ground so he wouldn't have to meet her gaze.

"What were you doing?" she asked.

"I woke up and that monster was searching for food. It was reaching for you," he replied in a barely audible voice.

"Oh…" she turned back to the cave. The fire was out now. "Well we can't stay here. We have to find away out of here and get to the closest town. Once there I'm going to call my friends," she said turning back to face him.

He nodded and still wouldn't meet her eyes. She regarded him for a minute. "Well? How do we get out of here?" she finally asked.

"Oh umm…" he looked around. "This…this way…this path leads to the top of the crater," he said pointing it out to her.

"Fine then. Led on. I don't want you behind me," she said.

He nodded and started up the path.

A soft humming reached her ears. 'Planet?'

YOU MUST WORK TO HELP HIM BE FORGIVEN…

'But Planet…after what he's done…how can I forgive him?'

MY CHILD…YOU KNEW OF YOUR DEATH BEFOREHAND…YOU KNEW EVERYTHING ABOUT IT…YOU KNEW THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WOULD LEAD TO IT…SO WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT IT CAME TO PASS?

'I was happy Planet…he took it all away from me…'

The Planet sighed. YOU MUST FORGIVE HIM…ONLY WAY TO PROTECT THE FUTURE…

The Planet's presence left her. She sighed and shook her head. This was going to be a long trip.

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The Highwind landed and the group got off then headed for the entrance of Cosmo Canyon. No one said much. They didn't feel like talking. They walked in silence until they neared the entrance.

"Hey…look at that chocobo," Tifa said pointing to it.

They followed her gaze to find the huge black bird standing a good distance from the entrance.

"Wonder what its doing," Yuffie said and walked towards it.

"Stay away from it! You don't know if it's wild or what!" Cid exclaimed. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"But what's that?" Barret asked narrowing his eyes to get a better look.

"What's what?" Cloud asked trying to see whatever it was that he saw.

"There's something on the ground next to it," Barret answered.

Red raised his head and sniffed the air. "It's a person!"

They walked towards the chocobo and figure lying on the ground. Cloud walked up to the chocobo to get to the person but the chocobo hissed and pecked at his arm.

"Hey!" he yelled and jumped back.

"Let me try," Tifa said. She walked forward slowly. The chocobo warked softly but didn't move as she got closer. She kept her eyes on the sleek black bird as she knelt down. It tossed its head but that was all.

Satisfied that it wasn't going to do anything Tifa moved the person from laying face down to laying on their back.

"We better get her into the town! I don't think she's okay!" Tifa looked at the others.

Yuffie approached slowly but the chocobo didn't do anything. "Looks like it doesn't like guys. One of you come get her while we distract the chocobo," she said.

Vincent walked forward. Yuffie and Tifa moved towards the chocobo but it hissed and pecked at them. They yelled and jumped back. Vincent stopped when he was in front of the bird. It just warked softly and rubbed its head against his arm. He pat the top of its head then knelt down and carefully picked the young woman up.

The others stared at him. How come the chocobo was nice to him and the girls but not the rest of them? It didn't make sense.

Red shook his head. "Anyways. Take her to the inn and we'll see what's wrong with her," he said turning to go up the stairs. The others followed. The chocobo stopped following Vincent at the foot of the stairs.

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"A fever caused her to fall unconscious like this," the healer of Cosmo Canyon said after he finished looking at the woman.

"Will she be all right?" Tifa asked.

"She'll be fine. She just needs to rest," with that said he nodded to Red and left the room.

"Well I suggest that we leave and let her rest. Besides we have to figure out what went wrong with that materia," Red said.

"But maybe someone should come back later and check on her," Tifa suggested.

"Someone will do that. We have something else to do right now though," Cloud said sliding an arm around her waist and leading her towards the door. The others followed.

                                    ****

It was a few hours before she woke up. Judging from the view out the window next to the bed she was in Cosmo Canyon.

She stood up and stretched. After she did that she walked to the bathroom deciding on taking a shower.

When she was done she wrapped a towel around herself. She got another one and began to dry her long blonde/white hair. But then the attack came.

Her breathing went ragged and everything started spinning. Screams filled her mind. Pain lanced through her head causing her to scream herself and sink to the floor.

The door to the bathroom suddenly opened. Her eyes went wide and she screamed again. The door was all but slammed closed.

                                    ****

They raced up the stairs of the inn following the sounds of the screams. They went into the room where they had taken the woman they had found earlier. Inside they found Vincent…but his face was redder that his cloak.

"What happened?" Barret asked.

Vincent took a deep breath. "She screamed so I ahaa…yeah…" he cleared his throat.

"You went into the bathroom?" Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Well she screamed!" Vincent said in defense.

They all shook their heads. After a few minutes the woman came out of the bathroom looking shaken. Her long hair was pulled back into a high ponytail but a few of her bangs fell in front of her face. Her eyes were pale sky blue. She wore a forest green shirt that was tucked neatly into a khaki colored skirt that went to her ankles. It buttoned all the way down but from her knees down wasn't buttoned. She wore a pair of tennis shoes as well.

"Are you all right?" Tifa asked.

"Uh…yes…I'm fine…" she said swallowing.

"What's your name?" Red asked.

"Uh…Kendra," she answered with a small nod.

"Well Kendra. What happened to you?" he asked.

"I'm not sure…" she said slowly.

"Okay. Where were you going?"

"I was on my way here. I wanted to talk to Nanaki…I believe you are him?"

"Yes. Just call me Red. Why do you want to talk to me?" he asked.

"Well Red. I was wondering if you would mind if I did a little bit of studying?" she asked.

"Not at all. You can join us now if you wish. A few of the elders are going to share stories around the Flame," Red said.

"Okay," Kendra followed him down the stairs. The others shrugged and followed after them.

                                    ****

Halfway through the second story Cloud's PHS rang. He got up and answered it away from the Flame as to not disturb anyone else.

"Hello?"

"Cloud? Is that you?"

"Yeah…who is this?"

"It's me…Aeris…"

"Aeris!" The members of Avalanche looked over at him.

"Yes it's me," she giggled.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"Icicle Village."

"Well…it's a little late now so how about if we pick you up in the morning?" he asked.

"I'm not alone."

"…who else is there?"

"Him. Please come get me now," she begged.

"…Sephiroth…" Cloud breathed as anger began to stir. "We'll be there soon," he told her.

"Thank you. Bye!"

Cloud turned to Avalanche. "Aeris is in Icicle Village…but Sephiroth is with her. We have to go get her now," he said.

"All right. Who's going?" Cid asked.

Everyone stood up and they went to the Highwind.

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