Cloud had been hard pressed to convince the pilot known as Cid that the silver haired man standing before him was not exactly the Sephiroth they had once known as the most villanious man in history. In fact, it was all he could do to stop Cid from skewering Sephiroth on the barbed end of his spear. Somewhere inbetween his explosive oaths and jabbing of the spear he calmed down enough to actually listen to what Cloud was saying. Sephiroth remained motionless through it all, not daring to move for fear of being impaled. Finally, at Cloud's insistence, Cid lowered the spear.

"Out of all the people to defend him," Cid grumbled, looking sharply at Cloud, "I never expected it to be you."

Cloud laughed, a short harsh sound. "That makes two of us, Cid."

Sephiroth allowed himself a small sigh of relief. At the sound, the gruff pilot turned his attention back to Sephiroth. The look in his eyes was wary, distrustful, and a tinge violent. "What the hell are you doing back here, anyways? Wasn't nearly destroying the world and life as we know it once enough for you? Or are you lookin' to get your ass kicked again?"

Sephiroth opened his mouth to explain, but thought better of it and looked to Cloud instead. The blonde man sighed.

"Cid, " he said, "It's a long story."

Cid folded his arms over his chest stubbornly. "I've got time."

In a resigned voice, Cloud related to his friend everything about Sephiroth and his mysterious return. After he'd finished, Cid shook his head. "Are you sure about this, Cloud?"

"I don't know," replied the other. "But I want answers just as much as he does, and I think I know where to go to get them."

"Just where exactly are we going? You and all your goddamn mystery, making me fly out to the middle of nowhere to pick you up. Although it was wise of you to not mention your friend here," he added, a glint in his eye, "Cuz if I'd known who it was, I would have mowed him down with the plane."

"You're taking us to Bone Village," Cloud said grimly.

"Bone Village? What the hell you want to -" Cid stopped in mid sentence, and his countenance became solemn. "Oh."

Cloud was beginning to look impatient. Cid sighed and fished around in his shirt pocket for a paket of cigarettes. He lit one and inhaled deeply, and then indicated the plane behind him with his thumb. "C'mon, then. Might as well get going. You ..." he growled at Sephiroth, "You pull any funny stuff and I'll drop you onto whatever hard surface we happen be flying over. Understand?"

Sephiroth nodded. Cid glared at him a moment longer before turning and heading to his plane. Cloud, grinning slightly at the pilot's sour demeanor, indicated that they were to follow.

The plane was called the Lady Luck, and it had on one side a mural of a scantily clad woman. The cockpit was roomy, and Cloud moved up to occupy the copilot's seat near Cid. Sephiroth, figuring Cid would pilot better if he was nowhere around, took up a seat to the rear of the cabin. With the load roar of the engines and the vibration of the propellors they began moving, faster and faster until they had left the ground all together. Sephiroth stared out the small window at the ground that was falling away rapidly beneath them. As they flew, he could hear Cid and Cloud in deep discussion, presumably about him. From time to time one voice or the other would raise in anger, and it slightly bothered Sephiroth that he was the cause of dissension between two old friends. The steady thunder of the engines prevented him from clearly making out what they were saying, and after a while he stopped trying. Lulled by the rythmic noise around him, he soon drifted into sleep.

He awoke as the plane around him shook and bounced. Alarmed, he sat bolt upright, only to realize they had landed. Cloud was moving into the back, gathering up his bag of supplies. Cid stood and leaned against the cockpit door, cigarette hanging precariously from the corner of his mouth.

"When should I come back for you?" He asked as Cloud opened the hatch.

"Two days," Cloud replied. "We'll be back by then. We'll be waiting for you right here."

"Allright. Good luck. And," he added with a dark glance at Sephiroth, "Be careful."

Cloud nodded and gestured Sephiroth to the hatch. It was a short drop to the ground, and he landed lightly, shouldering his pack. Cloud followed, landing with ease and turning to wave at Cid one last time before the pilot closed the hatch again. Sephiroth looked at his surroundings. They stood before a forest, and what appeared to be the bones of some long dead and rather large creature protruded menacingly from the forest canopy.

"What's that?" He asked Cloud.

"Bone Village," the other replied, and began walking towards it.

He discovered a short while that the bones were in fact a part of a village. It was, Cloud explained as they walked by the buildings made of canvas draped over bone, mainly an archaelogy site. There were several people digging in various parts of the area, and they acknowledged the two men either with nods or words of greeting. Sephiroth still wore his hood pulled low over his face. They came to a ladder that led up to a higher portion of the forest, and they climbed it one after the other. They then entered the heart of the forest and left the village behind them.

The atmosphere immediately changed upon walking several steps; a thin mist whirled gracefully between the trees, and it seemed the leaves themselves gave off a sort of soft luminousity. Sephiroth would have stopped to explore had Cloud not been resolutely walking ahead, and so he hurried after his guide. They wound their way through the forest only a short ways before it abruptly ended, and Sephiroth caught his breath at the sight he was presented with.

Before them yawned a large canyon, colored greyish blue. And in the center of the canyon rose a spectacular mass of winding structures; he had no idea what it was, but it was breathtaking all the same.

Cloud had been closely watching his reaction. "Do you remember this place?"

Sephiroth shook his head, his eyes still on the sight before him. "Should I?"

"Yes," Cloud said, and Sephiroth was surprised at the undisguised fury in his voice, "You should."

The blonde man turned and began picking his way down a winding trail that led to the canyon floor. Curious and apprehensive at the knowledge that they were nearing their destination, Sephiroth followed suit. As the trail they walked gradually straightened, they drew closer and closer to the structure that rose so gracefully before him. It gleamed white in the sun, and he began making out details as they drew nearer. It was a city, he realized, and remembered what Cloud had told him two nights ago.

The City of the Ancients.

They came to walkways made of what appeared to be shell. The path diverged three ways; Cloud took the path in the middle and continued on without stopping. They drew closer to the heart of the city, which rose now all around them. In the neighbouring cliffs that rose around the city Spehiroth could clearly see that habitats had been carved out of the stone, and were connected to the city by graceful, arching walkways. Cloud did not glance at the scenery; he walked with single minded purpose, and Sephiroth could not help but wonder just what that purpose was ...

A large shell rose up before him, surrounded by a pool of crystalline water, with winding stairs leading into the interior. He marvelled at the intricacy of the structures of the Ancients. Cloud took the steps into the shell and then began walking down on a pathway made of crystal. The pathway led to a cavern beneath the shell house, a large cavern. The cavern floor was covered in water that pulsed with a strange glow, and towers of iridescent white spiralled up towards them. The travelled into the midst of the towers, until they stood before a small alcove with pillared steps leading to it. Cloud jumped with agility from pillar to pillar until he stood in the alcove, and Sephiroth followed his suit awkwardly. Cloud said nothing as he stood there, but his eyes were faraway and Sephiroth was loathe to interrupt.

"It happened here," Cloud said finally, an anguished heaviness in his voice.

"What happened here?"

"Aeris ... Aeris died. She was kneeling there," Cloud pointed to the spot directly before him, "deep in prayer. And from above you came down, and impaled her on your blade. You murdered her here, in the City of the Ancients."

There was such thick sorrow in his words that Sephiroth something tighten in his chest, "I'm sorry ..."

"Are you?" Cloud asked sharply, "How can you be sorry for something you don't remember?"

"I am, and I don't know how," the other whispered, "but I am sorry."

Cloud made a choked sound, and turned and began leaping back down the pillared steps. He said nothing further as they climbed the spiralling pathway, and did not stop until they left the shell house. He waded a few feet into the water, gazing into the depths. "This is where I laid her to rest," he whispered, half to himself. "I carried her out into the middle, and I watched her drift down. She's down there, somewhere ..."

Sephiroth waded into the water a few steps. "I -" He began, but abruptly stopped speaking as a million voices erupted into chaos in his head. Agony tore through him, and he fell to his knees in the water and clawed at his head to try and relieve the pain. Cloud was shouting, but his words were unclear. The voices were screaming, crying, laughing, singing ... and above them all rose the cadence that haunted him every night:

-SEPHIROTH-

-----

It had arrived.

It flew unerringly through the winding peaks and spirals of the structures of the Enemy, headed to the heart of the City. It travelled with single minded purpose, and was thus surprised to see two creatures in the pool it had come in search of. The images the Voice had sent included these two ...

The Avatar, and a puppet.

It was pleased to see the Avatar had survived. It reached out and caressed his mind, as the Voice had so often done, to reassure, to control. The effect it had was startling. The Avatar dropped to his knees and thrashed about. It called harder, trying to manipulate the pieces of itself that lay within the silver haired form. It stopped abruptly. It could sense none of itself within the Avatar. Confused now, and a little alarmed at how violently the Avatar was reacting, it tried to soothe him, sending out reassuring calls.

-Mother- it said -I am Mother-

The Avatar made no gestures of of recollection and instead screamed in agony.

The puppet had noticed it now, hovering above them. There was horrified recognition on his face, and he rushed forwards. It paid the puppet no mind, instead trying to bring the Avatar under control. It was therefore unprepared for the searing pain that ripped through its form, and it shrieked in agonized surprise. The puppet had burned it with something that came from the weapon it held. It was struck again, and the agony caused it to falter in flight.

-MY SON- It said, frantic now -SAVE ME-

The Avatar stumbled to his feet, and gazed upon it for one second. Tears of pain streaked his face, and the look in his eyes held no recognition, nothing but horror.

The Avatar was no longer a part of it.

Furious, it sent its rage to the Avatar, and he fell backwards into the pool. It was hit again by the puppet, and it turned its attention to the problem at hand. It could sense pieces of itself in the puppet, and exerted its will to manipulate them ...

The puppet grit its teeth and sent another wave of fire streaming into it. There was not enough of the taint inside him to control; it was too weak without the Voice to guide it. It flew higher, escaping the waves of burning hurt. It could not defeat this one, not now. It soared free of the city, and propelled its hurting form north, to where it could rest.

Inside its mind, there was only seething hatred.

-----

Cloud let his sword fall from his nerveless fingers. Not again, not here, he prayed silently, fervently. But there was no mistaking what he had just seen. A piece of Jenova, grotesque and twisted and utterly inhuman. He had felt it trying to exert its will over the cells in his body, and he had fought back. It had fled, but it was real. It existed.

Jenova.

Cloud realized then that the pain filled cries of Sephiroth had vanished. He turned to the pool to find it empty, with no trace of the other. Cloud ran into the water, until it passed his waist. He peered into the depths, trying to see if the man who had been his enemy was somewhere within.

But there was nothing.

-----

Sephiroth vaguely realized through the painful haze clouding his mind that what was trying to communicate with him was Jenova. He had seen it and the way Cloud reacted to it, and knew instinctively what it was. He could not understand what it was saying to him; all he heard where screams and cries, and occasionally a word louder than the others.

-Mother-

NO! He shouted soundlessly back at it. The chaos in his head increased, angry now, and the agony of its thoughts threw him backwards.

As the water closed over his head he thrashed and twisted to escape the presence in his mind. Something was not right; he could not escape the pull of the water, it was pulling him downwards. It felt heavy, and it pulsed around him. It was similar to his dream, and the thought that perhaps he was re-entering the void that was his punishment made him struggle all the harder. His lungs burned, and finally he could not fight it anymore. He sucked in a mouthful of water and made one last attempt to kick free, to swim towards the rippling surface above ...

Something began to glow, searing his eyes with a blinding white light. Unthinking, he moved towards it, sluggishly, aware that he had only seconds to survive. He saw what was giving off the light and wrapped his arms around it, bringing it closer to him. Immediately the water around him grew thinner, released its hold on him, and he drifted to the surface.

-----

Cloud shouted in surprise as the entire pool began to radiate a brilliant white glow. Hastily he stumbled backwards, out of the water, shielding his eyes. The glow died as abruptly as it had started, and out of the water rose Sephiroth.

And cradled in his arms was a form that was all too familiar, pale and lifeless ...

In his arms he carried Aeris.