Okay, I was gone for three days on vacation (wow, a whole three days ^.^) and I'm back with an update. Shockingly, after I came back from the trip I had forgotten everything about this fic, the future plot, and all that other stuff. I had to read and re-read this fic to jog my memory. Anyway, onwards ho!

Today's chapter's title is from Prodigy, and is called 'breathe' , It kicks ass and I don't care what other people say.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter XXIV: Breathe

Nox Seran slithered around the control room, having finally been allowed back in. Aeris and Kahn were surrounded by the members of AVALANCHE (Except Yuffie and Vincent. Yuffie was sick, and Vincent was trying to make her feel better.) trying to find out how they were going to revive her. Kahn stood there rigidly, speaking only when spoken to, while Aeris took the whole thing with a smile, even stopping to poke Kahn once in a while.

"So, Aeris, since you want us to revive you, you have to have some sort of plan. What did you have in mind?" Cloud asked, eager to please after his embarrassment about her being... undead.

"Well, you see, that's where we have a problem. I don't know. In fact, that's one of the reasons I brought big-and-grumpy here." She said, poking Kahn, who growled throatily.

"Don't ask me about that, Cetra-wench. Its not in my nature to want to revive something I want killed." He muttered.

"So you can see my problem. I don't suppose any of you would know any ways to revive a dead person, would you?"

A silence reigned supreme. Nox Seran smiled wickedly, and fought the urge to laugh wildly. Of course, it was a futile battle, one he lost. He shattered the silence with a loud cackle.

"You are SUCH a fool, Kahn! You know NOTHING! HAHAHAHA!" He laughed, constricting his tail around himself. "You're a shame to us!"

Aeris regarded him with a inquiring look, while Kahn grinned wickedly.

"Well, if you're so smart, then what do you think we should do?"

Nox Seran un-constricted suddenly, and cracked it down against the steel floor.

"There's nothing you CAN do." He said, with a knowing grin. "The one place that you MIGHT have been able to pull the magic needed, was turned into the Black Materia five years ago. There isn't enough of the Lifestream to generate enough energy to totally revive someone anymore. A temple that generates its own energy is needed."

Kahn frowned, but didn't object to it. Aeris's face dropped. Cloud seemed to be thinking about the prospect still.

"Isn't there ANYTHING we can do?" Cloud asked, more to himself than anybody else.

Kahn shrugged.

"As much as I hate to admit to someone else being right, he has a point. Your Mako-whatevers screwed this planet over like a-"

"Kahn!" Aeris hissed, effectively silencing the demon. "We don't need the details!"

Nox Seran twisted around, whipping out his hand puppets. One looked like a deformed demon, with a big head, tiny limbs, and little wings. The bore a vague resemblance to Aeris, except that she was deformed as well.

"But there is slight hope. You see, in the old days, Cetra and Demons were allies," The demon and Aeris puppet hugged. "And magic thrived. But one day, we Demons discovered how to defy the order of nature. We no longer abided the Lifestream, and so the Cetra abolished our alliance." The Aeris doll pushed the demon doll away. "In our spite, we declared war." The demon pulled out sword, and chased the Aeris doll around. "but, when our victory was all but realized, Kahn stepped onto the throne, and we were betrayed by one of our own, and we were slaughtered." The sword vanished from the demon doll's grasp, and reappeared in the Aeris puppet's. The demon doll was hacked to shreds, and the Aeris doll posed triumphantly. "And a few thousand years later, JENOVA arrived on this planet and we all know what happened next." The Aeris doll, turned green, and keeled over.

Aeris glared at the cruel parody of herself, and Kahn glared at Nox Seran for his insult. The snake demon suddenly had the vague impression that he shouldn't sleep in a while.

"So, because of the lack of our souls, the exploitation of the remaining souls, this planet has been weakened to extreme." Nox Seran continued quickly, flinging his puppets away.

Silence reigned supreme once more, as no-one knew what to say to this. Aeris kicked the ground irritably, and Kahn made as if to walk out, when a thought struck Tifa.

"But you said something about temples." She pronounced proudly.

Nox Seran stopped, realizing that he HAD indeed said something about temples.

"Well," He started out nervously. He had spoken up to shatter their hopes of reviving the Cetra, not to build them up again. But he had dug himself in, he would have to let someone else bury him. "You see, the old temples, the really old ones dating back to when spirits were high and hopes higher, temples were built to channel and magnify the Lifestream, and its elements. Unfortunately, in the war between Cetra and Demons, almost all of these temples were destroyed. The ones that did, were slowly destroyed by the fledgling society your humans built. The only temple to have survived, was the Black Materia." Nox Seran suddenly realized that he had, in fact, shattered the human's hopes after all. He grinned maniacally, and sniggered.

The silence returned once again, more menacing and foreboding than before

But Kahn smiled suddenly, bearing those sharp teeth.

"But who built the temples, Nox Seran?" He asked snidely, his own lips curling into a wicked grin.

The snake demon froze once more, caught in his own words once again.

"half-Breeds." He said reluctantly, with mixed disgust and glaring fury.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elena sat in the operations room, surrounded by Reno and Rude, while Reeve sat on the opposite side of the table, coolly questioning her about her experience with Jarred. He was very interested in him, for some reason. He kept asking about how she thought he worked his magic.

"... So you saw him work his magic three times, didn't you? Do you have an idea how he does it?" He asked once more, not quite in a questioners tone. More like an inquisitors.

Elena shrugged slightly, honestly not understanding the importance of it all.

"Look, I've already told you, I never got a good look at him when he was doing it, and once it was Jarred who worked magic, but Ghost."

Reeve frowned deeply.

"You have to have seen SOMETHING, Elena. You were with them for two entire days. And if you know that ghost worked magic and not Jarred, then you have to have seen HIM work it. How do they do it?"

Elena banged her hands against the table in frustration. This was really starting to get annoying. The first fifteen minutes it had been alright, but now...

"What's so important about it? They've obviously been using it for years, and we only found out about it now. Why should we care?"

Reno shifted, sitting into his chair more.

"That's where your wrong. There's urban legends in just about every city on the west continent. Child God, Triad, Shadowbane, Genocider." The last word Reno said caught her attention. She raised an eyebrow, and Reno seemed to notice. "Ah, you seem to recognise that one. That one started in Junon a while back. A silvery skinned man went around hacking people to pieces, or burning them without Materia. Gave everyone a scare. Funny thing is, he only attacked people from Midgar. Important people, scientists. Junonese civilians watched as he cut them up with a katana. Nasty work, really. He would bark some words at them afterwards, in some god-awful language no-one knew"

"Did he have white hair? Icy blue eyes? Skin seems to glow a bit?" Elena asked hazardingly. Reeve stared her down.

"How do you know that?" he demanded.

Elena shrugged.

"After Jarred summoned that, thing, that person appeared, slit his own wrist, and let the blood drop onto Jarred. He said something about Jarred having used too much power, or energy or something. I can't really remember. He just appeared out of nowhere and cut himself off, and disappeared. Scared me witless, really."

Reeve leaned back, considering this bit of information. Elena suddenly remembered what happened after that... person had come, and hope that Reeve wouldn't inquire further as to what happened.

Just as Reeve was about to open his mouth, Ghost appeared behind the trio of assassins.

"The Prince is discomforted by your... curiousness towards our art, human. He suggests that you ask us instead of trying to figure it out yourself. I'd suggest something different, but the Prince always frowns upon what I say about humans, so I'll keep quiet." He laid a hand on Elena's shoulder. "He also requests that you leave the lady alone." Ghost spoke with such respect and dignity in his voice that would have matched that of a king in his grand throne. The black skinned warrior brought his head down to her level.

"He also requests that you stay silent about our... enhancements. VERY silent."

He suddenly wavered, and faded into the background. Rude stabbed the air where he had been a moment before, and his hand passed through unhindered.

"... What I wouldn't give to be able to do that." He muttered under his breath, moving back into a more relaxed position.

Reeve shrugged.

"I guess that means they're telling me to sod-off in their own special way." The president of Midgar said, and looked at Elena once more.Tha last word caught her attention.moreight, but now...then you have to have seen HIM work it. "Well, you can go. Do whatever you like. Go find out what's happened while you were gone." He said, waving for her to go, still in deep thought.

Elena sighed and stood up, flanked by Reno and Rude.

"So," Reno began. "Did sir smash-a-lot try anything? Any kissy-kissy action?" He asked snidely, running a hand through his flaming red hair.

The Female Turk took slight offence in this. What did they have to do with her private life? Sure, it was alright for them to go on about who they liked and didn't like, but she didn't feel like talking about it.

"I don't see how that's your business." She said tartly.

This seemed to match a confession to Reno, who laughed evilly.

"Oh-ho, does little Elena have a crush? Has she fallen for the dark man with the magic?" Reno laughed.

There came a rustling sound behind Reno, and a sniggering sound. Reno spun around, to become face to face with Spectre. Blue, sapphire eyes glowed mysteriously, and his tattered cloak rustled and dragged across the floor.

"With such a choice of company, who could blame her?" He said hissingly, a secretive smile spreading across his lips. He brushed his indigo blue hair away, and floated upwards toward the deck, cackling to himself.

Ghost appeared suddenly, his emerald eyes burning.

"Wraith wishes to speak with you, Elena." He lowered his voice so that only she would hear. "I don't suppose that bath you had with Jarred would strengthen your case here, would it?" He said with a smirk. "He's waiting for you on the deck." He said evenly, so that Reno and Rude could hear. Again, he lowered his voice. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in a bath with me, perhaps? Ack!" The last bit came after Elena slapped him across the face. "Guess not." He muttered, and teleported away.

Reno raised an eyebrow, and Rude muttered something about 'really want to know how to do that'.

"Are you gonna go see that weirdo?" Reno asked. "'Cause we could tell him to f-%#ยค himself, if you like."

Elena considered this for a moment, but shook her head.

"Naw, I'd better see what he wants. He doesn't strike me as the person who would WANT to talk to someone."

"Whatever you want." Reno muttered, heading towards the control room. Rude hesitated for a moment, looking at Elena.

"Don't worry about me. Find out what's going to happen." She assured, and Rude shrugged and followed his comrade into the control room.

"Be careful, Elena. You don't know what those people might do." He said, before closing the door behind him.

Elena sighed, and ascended the stair that would bring her to the deck. She pushed open the door, and was met by Wraith, who was standing just out of range of the smacking range of the door. He regarded her with his unfeeling black eyes.

"I am to understand that you helped... Jarred when he was vulnerable." He said deadpan, his mouth barely moving, but the words arriving in her ears without much trouble. "I am eternally grateful. But your silence is needed on certain matters." His unfeeling gaze shifted to one of forced politeness. "We are prepared to grant you a request for your silence Jarred. Especially to the demons. I don't want to know of you even speaking to them."

Ghost appeared beside him, tugging the tip of his hat happily.

"It took some negotiating, but I managed to get him not to kill you." Wraith pushed ghost away, sneering openly.

"BE GRATEFUL I DID NOT KILL *YOU*!" He snarled mentally. "I HAD TO HAVE THE QUEEN MEND MY BONES AFTER YOU BROKE THEM."

Ghost stuck out his tongue, and vanished to some place unknown. Wraith turned his attention back to Elena.

"Have you made up your mind?" He asked with strained patience.

"Uhm," She faltered for a moment. What did she want that they could give? Hmm...

"Money, weapons, people, jewelry, Materia, it can be gotten. Put nothing above us."

Elena raised an eyebrow.

"Could you teach me magic?" She took in a quick breath before continuing. "Like the kind you guys use?"

Wraith froze, his eyes boring into her. His fists clenched, and it looked like his hands might reach for his sword hilt any moment, but he stood adamantly still.

"I, I CANNOT TEACH YOU THAT." He said into her mind quickly, trying to recompose himself. "You'd have to ask someone of greater power than I. It is not easy to teach a human to wield. Ask Jarred. He learned to wield on his own, after all."

"Well, where is he?"

Wraith shifted uneasily, turning around.

"It is not advisable to seek him out yet. He is, preoccupied."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jarred, at that very moment, was still unconscious. The Blight had sucked all his energy out of him, and Psin's blood had hardly been enough to compensate that which he had lost. It would be a long time before he woke up. A day, or maybe two. But when he did, he would be hungry.

He lay in the chocobo stall, his head cradled in the lap of a light pink haired woman, with silvery skin and icy blue eyes. She wore the black cloak like Wraith, but without a pauldron. Her long, flowing hair spilled onto her back, while her bangs drooped downwards. Her fragile hands touched Jarred's face tentatively, as is afraid it might crack and break at her slightest touch. Her silvery skin contrasted wildly with his charcoal black, like night and day. Jarred shied away from her touch, even in sleep, his eyes squeezing tightly.

"Ah, poor, poor Jarred. So much to learn, so little to learn from." She said in sweet, silvery voice. "It really was a pity you were born into this world. You were never meant for it. But I suppose everything has a purpose."

She pushed a stray strand of hair out of her sight, and looked inspected his face.

"You've certainly gained a few more scars since I last saw you." Her hand brushed across his cheek, and where Malice's claws had scratched him before illuminated with a dark crimson. "Aw, the demon's mark. Fortunate that you did not stand a bit to the side." She drew her hand away, and let the scars fade back into black. "Poor child."

Jarred shivered, and curled up into a ball. The woman smiled, and kissed his forehead.

"Sleep well, young prince."

There was the sound of footsteps from outside the stall, and then a female voice.

"Jarred? Where are you?"

The door to the stall was pushed open. Elena poked her head in, quickly searching the room for what she looked for.

"Oh, there you are." She said, smiling at the sleeping form of Jarred. She suddenly seemed to notice the other person in the room. "Oh, hello Joan!" She said, smiling.

Sitting next to Jarred, with a sweet smile on her lips, sat Joan. Her black hair was a bit messed up, and she couldn't be comfortable with Jarred's head in her lap, but she smiled all the same.

"Hi, 'Lena!" She replied, smile widening. "What did you and daddy do on you trip?" She asked casually.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Short compared to the other ones, but you'll have to deal with it, I'm afraid. I have books to read, and games to play ^_^