A/N: Also, if you want to know more about Jarred's past, then I HAVE made a story out of that. It called 'Jarred Rath: International man of destruction'. Very nasty. At the moment I've pretty muchly left it to fend for itself, though. . .

Chapter II: And It Begins. . .



Aeris was moving from the temple of ancients. She moved as fast as a ghost could, which was pretty fast, to Gaea's peak. There, she would someone who could help her reach Cloud. Someone who would DEFINITELY not appreciate the sight of her.

Zann Talrath Kahn.

She was positive the demon would try to kill her on sight, but the dead can't be killed, can they? Aeris continued on fearlessly. Past the glittering snowfields her and the mountains her sprit soared. In the distance the crater known as Gaea's peak could be seen, throwing its shadow across the land.

Inside the crater the mists of the lifestream no longer swirled around, because the land had finished healing itself here. The healing process was now taking place deeper inside the planet, where cloud and the others had fought the final battle. Traces of JENOVA still lingered there. But now, there was something else that had taken residence at the crater.

Kahn.

Aeris required something of the demon, and she somewhat sure she could convince the demon to help.

If not, then she could pay Cloud a little visit, and hope that he wouldn't suffer a heart attack.

Things were a little more discreet this way though. . .

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Cloud in question was still recovering from Barret and Cid's visit. The neighbour's had actually peeped in through the window to see what was happening that night. He had spent all morning picking up the trash and trying to repair as much as he could. But, unfortunately, Cid had come across a gun Vincent had left in his room before moving into the mansion with Yuffie. At that point things got ugly.

After confiscating the weapon, and denying the pair any more booze, Cid and Barret found that there was little more to do than parade their drunken- ness around Kalm, much to EVERYONES dismay.

Twelve hours and many, many complaints later the two were looked up in a room, where they eventually passed out.

Just when things were starting to calm down, RENO walked into the bar, followed by the remaining Turks, Reeve, and the LoS riders. It was a commonly known fact that when Reno arrives with a large sum of people following, there's bound to be trouble of some sort.

Cloud was NOT fealing up to social activities, but Reeve and the Turks were at the bar downstairs. The riders didn't talk much, and kept pretty muchly to themselves. Tifa had warned him that he had to sleep sometime, and now wasn't it. Cursing alcohol for all he was worth, he pushed himself off the bed he been so inclined to crawl into before, and walked down stairs, to be greeted by the sight of Reeve and Tifa calmly discussing something, while the LoS riders barred the path to the bar from the Turks. Reno was giving them a pleading look, promising them half of their plunder. There was a shaking of heads among the riders, who were STILL cloaked and shrouded since joining with Reeve. It began to look like Reno would give up, when he suddenly whipped out his electric rod and lashed out at the nearest of the riders. This was greeted by resounding yells of anger from the riders, who eagerly broke out as many weapons as they had hands.

Cloud sighed, and forced himself boldly into the fray.

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Jarred stared in disbelief at the child in front of him. Her dark grey skin glistened slightly in the tropical sunlight of southern Wutai, which contrasted greatly with her shining silver hair. Her rags swayed in the wind, as the child looked up with a similar look of disbelief on her face. Her dark red eyes began to water somewhat.

Jarred guessed that the child was around five, but his opinion wasn't exactly the greatest when it came down to children. Give him an army, however, and he could tell you exactly how long it would take to get done having some serious fun with it. But mass destruction and children weren't exactly the same thing, after all.

The small child jumped up at him, and wrapped her small arms around his neck. Jarred tumbled back in surprise, lacking experience with anybody who's first reaction WASN'T to try and kill him.

"Daddy!" The small child sobbed into him, in what sounded to be a happy tone.

Jarred floundered a bit, waving his arms around and trying to wriggle away somehow, but after a while of the child's reluctance to release him, he submitted and calmed down. After a while, he wrapped his own arms around the small child, comforting her.

"Yes, child. I am here."

The small child sobbed again, and buried herself deeper into Jarred's chest.

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Seph X stood outside his cabin, which lay on top a cliff not too far away from the snow village. It stood independently in the horizon, adamantly piercing the evening sky. Beyond the house, Seph X saw famous snow fields spanning outwards, and the great seas beyond. The sun blazed hotly against the waters and snow, creating a myriad of red lights. The steely body of Seph X glowed slightly under the thick cloak he wore to protect himself from the snow.

He opened the door to his cabin, and was greeted by the comforting light from some embers of a dying fire which he had made earlier that day. The single roomed house was simple, not unnecessarily adorned too much. On a table that was leaned against the wall, however, there was a forest of pictures of Seph X and his friends. He hadn't really noticed it yet, but there wasn't a single picture of Jarred among the forest. Somehow the enigmatical man had managed to elude Yuffie and her crusade of picture- taking. It was almost as if he took care not to be around the others for too long, except for Vincent.

Vincent and Seph X had always been able to find the dark skinned man whenever they wanted too. Other times, he was just THERE. Or blowing things up. Random chaos was one of his trademark characteristics.

Seph X, however, was not in the mood to reminisce about his mysterious follower. In fact, he wished he had just stayed down in those sewers, and never met any of the AVALANCHE, or Jarred. It was a pain missing them, and Seph X didn't like to admit that he had grown attached to anyone. It simply wasn't like him.

Light spilled in through the sole window that faced to the south, to the snowfields.

The cabin had been in a disastrous condition when he had first arrived, with nearly every piece of furniture burned down to ashes. The only thing that remained was a small, silver dagger, and a picture of a small child, held in place against the wall by the dagger. Seph X had been forced to buy new furniture, which consisted of a couch, table and chair, and bring them all up to his cabin. It had been a long affair, and he had only recently been accomplished.

He threw the thick cloak away, dropped the Masamune and flopped own on the couch. He wasn't really tired, he was just imitating Sephiroth's if had been alive and without JENOVA.

He sighed, and stared outwards through the window.

He saw a young girl fly over his house. She was wearing a pink dress, and had long, flowing hair which billowed wildly as she flew. She had a radiant smile fixed upon her face, and it looked for the life of her that nothing in the world could get her down.

Strangely, he felt as if he SHOULD have known her.

This gave him a headache.

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Zann Talrath Kahn, for the greater amount of time, liked to be alone. He couldn't stand interruptions, and seldom welcomed ANY company. Unless, of course, they showed proper respect for someone of his age and station. He was a demon lord, and demanded respect from anyone of ANY race. No exception, even from the lowest form of life. If he got sick from ANYTHING, he considered it a personal insult to his inability to fight bacterial sized enemies. He had reacted exceedingly badly to the Cetra declaration of war. The palace wasn't the same after. Indeed, it wasn't even there anymore.

Today, he sensed something he was VERY unpleased to acknowledge. The nerve! A Cetra, coming to HIM, of all people, to ask for help! And her race annihilated his people to the brink of near extinction! It was unthinkable! Monstrous!

And yet, she came, the little, trusting Cetra.

Maybe he could have some fun with her? Stalk her a little? And then finish her off with a quick blow.

Kahn frowned.

No. The Cetra HAD to know what she was getting herself into, or why should she come ignorantly to him? No, he for a fact that the Valentines mate, Yuffie, had met the spirit of the Cetra, and the spirit had spoken lively of Kahn revival. It was sobering thought.

In the distance, he saw the tell tale pink dot in the sky with his keen, demonic eyes. He bit back the eon-long hatred he bore for the race that had devastated his race long ago. He would listen to what the Cetra wanted, and then tell it to go away. He would have as little as possible to do with a Cetra.

They were hardly ever sincerely respectful.







Cha, I know its long time since I bothered updating any of my ff7 fics, but they really haven't interested that much. Luckily, Charles Xavior (A GREAT writer in my opinion) managed to rekindle my desire to write this story with a single review! THANK YOU!