DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FF7 OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS

A/N: this story is the direct sequel to Part I: 'Flower of Vengeance'. I strongly recommend you read FoV before starting this.

PART II:

SHADES OF GREY

Chapter One

The silver-haired man stopped struggling against the bonds that held him tightly to the chair, and looked up at his captors. The seven remaining members of AVALANCHE stared back at him.

"Why do you keep me here?" Sephiroth asked. "Release me. I have done nothing!"

"Nothing?" Cloud retorted. "Other than summoning Meteor, killing thousands of innocent people, not to mention Aeris…need I go on?"

"I have no memory of those things," said Sephiroth.

"Huh. Yeah. Convenient, that," Barret snorted.

"If we let you go, you'll just start killing people again," said Yuffie.

"I will not. I am not a murderer."

Cloud pulled Ultima Weapon from its scabbard and held the tip at Sephiroth's throat, "Go on. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just finish you now."

"You can't do that, Cloud!" said Tifa, pushing the sword away. "Not while he's unarmed and helpless."

"Tifa, the guy's a psychopath. All he does is kill."

She took the sword from him and put it back in its sheath, "Maybe so. But we're different. We don't kill people in cold blood."

"If you do not want me to live, why did you bring me back to life?" asked Sephiroth.

"Shut up, you!" Cloud snapped. "You were the last person we wanted to bring back! We were trying to resurrect Aeris, but we were deceived and ended up with you instead."

"I have done nothing wrong. Release me."

"That ain't gonna happen," Cid told him.

Red XIII furrowed his brow in thought, and shrugged, "It is possible that he is telling the truth. This clone will only hold the memories of Sephiroth up to the point when Hojo took the blood sample, which we used to bring him back. The blood sample could have been taken at a time when Sephiroth was of a sound mind."

"Possible," Vincent agreed.

"I wouldn't trust him further than I could throw him," Cloud spat. "He's the reason why Aeris is dead!"

"We need to decide what to do with him," said Tifa. "After that, we need to find out whether or not Hojo really did have a sample of Aeris' blood. If so, we can bring her back once we find it."

"I'll tell you what we should do with this guy," Barret said. "Lock him up and throw away the key!"

"Hear, hear," Cid agreed. "Come on, you guys, I'm even agreeing with Barret here."

"We can't do that to him," Tifa argued. "As Red pointed out, this might not be the Sephiroth we knew and hated. It might be him from an earlier time, when he was still a brave and noble general."

"We should give him a test," Yuffie suggested. "See if he's the bad old Sephiroth or a good guy."

"All right, Sephiroth," Tifa said, facing the seated man. "What's the last thing you can remember? It should be the last thing that happened just before Hojo took your blood sample."

Sephiroth frowned, "I wish I could remember something specific, something that stands out…all I can remember is the same old routine my life had."

"Do you remember visiting the Nibel reactor with Cloud and me?"

"I don't think so. I've never seen you before, but I remember Cloud. I must have worked with him when we were in SOLDIER."

"So Hojo must have taken your blood sample before you discovered Jenova at the reactor," said Red.

"He's lying," Cloud hissed. "Don't listen to a word he says. He'll trick us into letting him go, then he'll just start killing again."

"Let's try to keep an open mind here," Vincent said.

"I say we put it to the vote," Barret interrupted. "All those in favour of lockin' this murderer away and forgettin' about him, raise your hands!"

He and Cloud put their hands in the air. After a moment's hesitation, Cid joined them.

"Those in favour of giving him a chance to prove himself?" Tifa asked.

She, Red, Vincent and Yuffie raised their hands.

"Huh," Barret grunted when he saw he was out-voted. "Well, do whatever you want. But remember, there's still one of Hojo's agents out there, armed with his poisonous flowers! So don't waste too much time yappin'!"

He walked to the door and left the room. Cid pulled a cigarette from the inside pocket of his flight jacket, "I'm off out for a smoke. This whole business stinks. Like a pile of &^*%!"

The door slammed again and he was gone. Cloud faced the others with an angry expression on his face, "What is wrong with you people? Have you forgotten everything that Sephiroth did? Have you forgotten that we had to kill him to save the Planet?"

"We have not forgotten any of it," said Red calmly. "We simply wish to ascertain whether or not he is the same Sephiroth who was guilty of those acts."

"Of course he is! He's lying to us!"

"I think he's telling the truth," Yuffie said.

"Who cares what you think?" Cloud snapped, losing his patience.

She flared up angrily, "Yeah, what would I know? I'm just a stupid kid and a Materia thief to boot. Is that what you think of me, Cloud? Is that it?"

"You weren't there in Nibelheim five years ago, when Sephiroth burned down the entire town and killed my family!"

"I was," said Tifa, trying to calm down the situation. "And I understand how you feel, Cloud. But it isn't as simple as that."

"I didn't do that any of that!" Sephiroth was protesting. "I've never been to Nibelheim!"

"I'm still waiting for an apology," Yuffie said to Cloud.

"Shut your mouth, Yuffie, or I'll shut it for you," he snapped.

"Leave her alone," Vincent warned.

Red stepped in between them and said in a quiet voice, "We can accomplish nothing by fighting each other. It is our togetherness that makes us strong. I understand why you all feel the way you do. It is a very difficult period for us. We must stay calm and try to work out a rational solution."

Cloud nodded, and waited a moment for his anger to cool down, "All right. I still don't trust Sephiroth, but I'll go along with the idea of giving him a chance to prove himself. What did you have in mind?"

"I hadn't really thought about it," Tifa admitted. "I want to get out of this reactor. It's too creepy. Can't we go back to the Highwind?"

"What about Sephiroth?"

"Take him with us. He's got no weapons and no Materia, and he's not going to get too far away when the ship's in mid-air."

"I'm not sure Cid will go along with this…"

"Well, let's ask him."

When she found Cid, he was smoking a cigarette outside the reactor and idly watching a flock of birds flying overhead.

"Hey," said Tifa. "Is the ship ready?"

"Dunno, I'll give her a look. You want to leave soon?"

"Yeah. We were planning on bringing Sephiroth with us."

Cid stood up and spat out his cigarette, "No way. No &^%$in' way. That son of a %^&$^ is not getting' on board my ship."

"Would you rather leave him here so he can escape?"

"No…but Tifa, this is the Highwind we're talking about. We can't take on board someone we blatantly don't trust! What if he slips away from us and starts messing with the ship?" Cid shuddered at the possibilities.

"We'll keep an eye on him. Come on, we've let people on board before that we didn't fully trust. What about the Turks?"

"True. Say, weren't you going to phone the Turks and find out their status? Didn't they say something major had come up and that's why they couldn't help us in our final battle with Hojo?"

"Something like that. You're right, I had better give them a call. Can you get the ship ready?"

"Sure. But I'm still not happy about this!"

"I know, I know. Neither am I. None of us are."

Cid got to his feet and hurried down the path to the clearing where they'd left the Highwind, while Tifa punched Reno's number into her PHS. She held it to her ear and waited for a response. Eventually somebody answered, but it wasn't Reno.

"Hello?" came a female voice.

"Is Reno there? It's Tifa."

"Tifa! It's Elena. I was just going to give you a call. We need to talk."

"What about?"

"Reno and Rude. They're freaking me out. More than normal, I mean. Reno's got hold of something from Hojo's office - I'm not sure exactly what it is, but he thinks it's some all-powerful bargaining chip. We're still in the Shinra building. I think the two of them are planning to rebuild the Shinra empire with themselves at its head."

"What?!" Tifa gasped. "You have got to be kidding!"

"I wish I was. Believe me, I'm as surprised as you. I never knew Reno was this ambitious. Since finding that thing - whatever it was - in Hojo's lab, he's just gone mad with thoughts of power."

"In that case, you're right, we need to talk. Can you meet us somewhere?"

"It won't be easy," said Elena uncertainly. "Reno knows I don't hold with his views, so he'll be keeping an eye on me to make sure I don't try anything. I can probably slip away some time tonight when they're asleep. I'll head north and meet you in Kalm early tomorrow."

"Right," said Tifa. "Be careful. You - "

"Wait, I think someone's coming. I'd better go."

Elena hung up, and Tifa subconsciously lowered the PHS and clipped it back on to her belt, while her mind remained deep in thought. So Reno had betrayed them and was planning to make his own personal bid for power. Well, it wouldn't be easy for him. The backbone of the Shinra empire, namely the Mako reactors, were all but destroyed. If Reno planned to rebuild Shinra, he'd have to find an alternative source of wealth and power. The Shinra army had been disbanded, but the infrastructure and bureaucracy that had kept the company running smoothly on a day-to-day basis, was largely still in place.

She also wondered what the object was, the thing that Reno had found in Hojo's office in the Shinra building. Whatever it was, he clearly thought it was his ticket to the top. Could it be some kind of new weapon that Hojo had developed? Knowing Hojo, his idea of a weapon would be some kind of chemical or poison that he could use to blackmail people into obeying him. Was Reno capable of the same thing?

"Hey, Tifa," came a voice from behind her, disturbing her thoughts.

She glanced round to see Yuffie. The young ninja looked downcast and depressed, sitting down on a rock to stare unhappily at the ground.

"Are you all right?" asked Tifa.

"Cloud hates me," said Yuffie, kicking at a loose rock and watching it roll away down the path.

"Don't be silly; of course he doesn't."

"He does. You heard what he said back there."

"Yuffie, he's stressed. People don't act like themselves when they're stressed."

"Huh. Doesn't mean he can take it out on me. Anyway, I'm out of here."

Tifa raised her eyebrows, "You're leaving?"

"Yeah. I mean, Hojo's dead, we've won, you don't need me any more, right? Nobody wants me around when we're not fighting a battle, so I'm heading home."

"Well, I can't stop you," Tifa said. "But I think you should reconsider. It's not true to say that nobody wants you here."

"All right, name one person who likes having me around."

"Me? Vincent? Red?"

"What about the rest?"

"I don't know, but none of them hate you."

"Huh. Whatever. I'm leaving."

"Please, Yuffie, give it another chance," Tifa said. "We need you. Something else has come up and the Turks are involved. We're going to go to Kalm tomorrow to investigate."

Yuffie looked up, "Sounds interesting…OK, I'll stay. For now. But tell Cloud to stop picking on me!"

"All right, I'll have a word with him. Cid's doing some checks on the ship and we're going to leave any minute, so I suggest you get on board."

She watched as the younger girl got up and ran down the path towards the Highwind. Tifa sighed and ran a hand through her long, dark hair. She was still worrying about Sephiroth. It was impossible to tell, on the surface, whether or not he was the same man as the evil megalomaniac who had tried to take over the Planet. They'd have to find some way to test him, but she couldn't, at the moment, think of any way they might go about it. She headed back into the reactor, and went up to the second floor to tell the others to get ready to move out.