Finally, it was time for Sephiroth to reveal himself alive to the world. A difficult task, no doubt. He was hated by people... everywhere. Every single human inhabited place... he was hated. There was no doubt about it. The time of difficulties was near. No matter how difficult or hard, though, he had to know the truth. After Sephiroth knew the truth, he did not know what he would do... he only knew... that he would not be controlled again.

As Sephiroth slowly stood up, he could see the beautiful sunrise. It was strange how he had never noticed it before. Always too busy. Perhaps now that he was afraid to go on, it was easier to stop and look at the beauty of the world. Then again, nothing is made to be pretty. Everything has its uses. Jenova and Shinra had similar thoughts. He was not controlled by them anymore, however. He could do whatever he pleased... if he wanted to look at the pretty sunset, he would. If he wanted to look at snow, he would.

Snow... the first time he saw it, Sephiroth was in the holy church of Midgar. The second time... he was trying to destroy the planets. How queer it all seemed now. Jenova was a fog to cloud his mind. He was finally free. And the freedom was so beautiful. Jenova released him from Shinra, and Cloud released him from Jenova.

Cloud. Cloud Strife. Cloud Strife killed him. If anyone hated Sephiroth, it was Cloud Strife. Cloud Strife had the kind of hatred towards Sephiroth that was just... inhuman. And yet, he had a good reason to. As far as Cloud Strife knew, Sephiroth was a murderer. Sephiroth took everything from him on purpose. Cloud Strife... was clueless as ever. He knew nothing in the matters of the Planet.

Yet did Sephiroth really know any more than Cloud Strife? He never knew what Jenova rambled on about when she talked of Terra and Gaia. As if there were actually two different planets inhabited by intelligent life. There was only one. And that is why we called it the Planet. So that was where Sephiroth had been clueless. What was Terra? What was Gaia? How did they relate to the Planet...?

Sephiroth's thoughts wandered far too much. He needed to enter Bone Village. That would be the start of his journey through hell. That is what it would take to get what he wanted. He smirked at the thought. Sephiroth always got what he wanted.

Not always. Back when he could be controlled by Shinra... he was too small. Too naive. He had been manipulated ever since he was born. Every day now, he began to hate Shinra more. They took his life. They played God... with him.

Revenge, however, was not his current plan. His current plan was to find out where Jenova came from. Who she was. First, he would travel to Nibelheim. Yet what if there was nothing there? Midgar. He always had a second plan up his sleeve. Just in case the first one didn't work. That was one thing he learned from the books he read. And the battles he fought in.

Here it was. Bone Village. Not exactly the entrance though. More like... the exit. People rarely came out the same way. The only reason people passed through Bone Village was to get to the mountains. Or... the Northern Crater.

To see Sephiroth coming back through this exit. How excited everyone would be. How angry. How hateful.... everyone was going to hate him. Sephiroth was a strong man, however. He would not let this get in his way. He would not kill anyone unless absolutely necessary. The times of mindless killings were gone. Now, Sephiroth was on his own mission. He was going to do it his way.

Sephiroth never liked violence. It was the only thing he knew how to do. Now who was the first person to say that... He shrugged, entering Bone Village.

It wasn't even really a village. Just a bunch of dirty old tents. Looked just the same as always. The only people who lived here were performing an excavation. How pathetic. Digging through the very Planet's skin for material possessions. Ha, ha, ha...

It took less than a minute for the commotion to start. Damnit... why couldn't they just... he could hardly blame them though.

"It's... Sir... it's General Sephiroth! He's back, a-ag-again! I couldn't believe it the first time he came back. Yet... twice!? I must be... hallucinating! You can't be real..." It was an old soldier. Clearly he had been through all of Sephiroth's reign. He'd probably seen of Sephiroth for several lifetimes. He wore blue armor, the trademark of an average soldier. As an average soldier, he also carried a mere gun. Guns, ha, ha, ha!

Everyone in the world knew that guns were only for those too unskilled to wield a sword. Guns could be used from a distance and very rapidly, yet did very little damage. Most soldiers wore armor that protected them from the bulk of the damage. And the others... like Sephiroth... could not be killed easily by such small things as bullets. Soldiers induced by high levels of Mako, energy from the Planet, had very high healing factors and tough skin. The bullets still made them bleed, they still hurt... yet a swordsman could kill in one strike. A gun had to hit so many times before it could kill anyone. Two headshots could not kill Sephiroth. And that had been proven.

Obviously, no First Class soldiers were located here. Only average kids and a single officer. The officer wore a very neat blue suit. Like a Turk. Very much like a Turk. So, they sent the Turks to do more of their dirty work. Heh. Excavating. Shinra really didn't like to get their hands dirty.

"Sephiroth... it's been a long time. About six years. Of course you've been busy, I understand... Burning Nibelheim to the ground, dying, coming back, and then you had to summon Meteor. I understand completely why you haven't come to visit me. But there is one thing I don't understand..." The Turk had greeted him coldly, reminding Sephiroth of all his evil deeds. Each and every one of them. Ha, ha. What did it matter now?

"You never did understand much, tool." Sephiroth replied coldly, showing no emotion. He didn't want to kill anyone, but he could not risk looking weak either. He wanted to move on past this town without any casualties. If he looked submissive, they might try and take him down.

The Turk looked abashed at those words. "Why the hell did the Planet bothered letting scum like you live? Hah. I've known you for so long... and you've always been spoiled. I always tried to look out for you. Everything I did was in your best interest. Yet you always turned me down. Scum. You don't even know when people try to help you. It matters not anymore, though." He laughed. He was talking to Sephiroth as if he knew him.

"Shiro, Shiro, Shiro... I didn't want to kill anyone today. But you're going to make me go against my new principles. You could just step aside. I'd prefer that." Sephiroth stood firmly with confidence. His blade, the Masamune, was raging to get out of the sheathe and spill blood once again. Yet Sephiroth contained the urge to kill this man. His only interest was getting to Nibelheim. No blood shed... not yet. He'd ruined too many families already. He did not want to add more sins to his name. "You're just a weak tool. Give up and accept your weakness, little Shiro." Sephiroth gave a blank expression. No feeling at all.

"Ha, ha, ha... I just know you so well. I will not step aside. You are a plague to the Planet. You should have died five years ago. I am suprised you remember me. I was nothing to you. My brother was nothing to you. No, you shouldn't have died five years ago. You should've died six years ago. With those pathetic people of the slums. You definitely seemed to like those filthy rats. Hah." Shiro laughed like Sephiroth did on the day of Nibelheim... so that is what it looked like to be so evil.

"So, Shiro, I see you became a Turk. Congratulations. You finally gave up on soldier. You were too weak to make a good soldier. I told you that many times, didn't I?" Spehiroth clenched his fist as tightly as he could. He couldn't believe he was conversing with Shiro. No... he had to remember that he wasn't being controlled anymore. That he did not have to kill anyone unless absolutely necessary. And he knew very well that before, he killed when it was not necessary... because Shinra felt it was.

"No. Leader of the Turks, to be politically correct. Tell me something, Sephiroth. Do you remember when you let my brother die? Five years ago, to be exact. You were too busy gaining glory for Shinra to bother looking for my brother. Too busy slaughtering monsters to care about a human life. You bastard. Lives don't matter to you, do they? Nothing matters to you. You scum. My brother didn't die from that fall, you know. He died because you refused to take an hour out of your glory to look for him. You... I hate everything about you!" Shiro looked on the verge of letting a tear out of his eye, but he straightened up quickly.

"You will die here, Sephiroth. I will cut your body into so many pieces that I guarantee that no one will ever be able to put your body back together. Prepare to pay for your sins." Shiro glared him into the eyes, a pure hatred like Cloud's. It was yet another family that Sephiroth had ruined. Not uncommon.

The soldiers in the town raised their rifles, but Shiro held his palm out. "This is my fight. Those who fire shall be killed." Shiro continued to glare at Sephiroth, slowly revealing his short katana. It was pure silver, polished perfectly. Yet if you looked carefully at it, you could see the bloodstains of a thousand men on the blade.

Every person in the entire town was watching them glare at eachother. Two very powerful men... They watched from a long distance... They all looked at Shiro as a hero, fearing Sephiroth would kill them all. Raine, only a child of six, had the most absurd opinion though. She thought that Sephiroth would leave them all alone. That Shiro was the real bad guy here. Sephiroth only wanted to pass through...

Silly Raine. Kids always tried to see things in such a simple way. She had no idea what Sephiroth was capable of. Sephiroth was probably here to burn their entire village the second they turned their backs. And then he'd be off to destroy the world again. That was the only thing that damn nutter would want to do.

"I see... I suppose that there is no way I can get to Nibelheim without shedding blood?" Sephiroth inquirid, figuring that as of now, he had to fight.

"You will not have to shed any blood... other than your own! I slay you in the name of the people that you have sinned against, for all the people you ever slaughtered." Shiro glared at him with his bright, blue eyes. Sephiroth had never really noticed Shiro's features until now. He was never a very important person in his life until now... Dark brown hair clouded over his eyes. Its shadow made his entire face darken as he lowered his head, unsheathing his blade completely.

"Very well, Shiro..." Sephiroth unsheathed his Masamune, ready to end Shiro's life. He glared right back at Shiro. Not with hate or vengeace, but with sadness. No matter what he did, Sephiroth always ended up having to kill someone. Aeris wouldn't go back. She just had to let him kill her. Now Shiro was being the same way... Even though they were nothing alike. He shook his head, preparing for battle.

Shiro made the first move, dashing forward with a diagonal slash. The only Turk to use a sword... Sephiroth jumped back smoothly, thrusting his much longer blade towards Shiro. Shiro, like Sephiroth, dodged the attack, jumping quickly to the right.

Shiro was alot better than Sephiroth had ever anticipated. However, Sephiroth was merely testing Shiro's style. Being the best swordsman to ever live, the match was over before it started.

Sephiroth skillfully jumped back again, continuing to test Shiro's style. "I'm suprised you don't use Shinra's style. You do everything else they want you to do." Sephiroth mocked his every move. Before battle, he was quiet... he did not want to fight... he wouldn't provoke it. But once he got into the fight, all rules were off. He'd do everything he could to win flawlessly.

"The style of Sanguis Statim. I'm sure you'll understand it soon enough!" Shiro slashed as hard as he could at Sephiroth, who replied by crossing his blade in a defensive position.

"You know it's no match for Masamune. This fight is already over. You cannot win. Feel free to run anytime." Sephiroth was no longer willing to walk away. The fight had started and Shiro's life was over. If Shiro did choose to run like a coward, though, Sephiroth probably would have let him.

"So you can burn Nibelheim down again? Never! Die, Sephiroth Kesanaga!" Shiro thrusted his blade forward at Sephiroth once again, determined to make him bleed. To feel everyones pain! To relieve everyone from his return. He would never let Sephiroth live again! Once he defeated Sephiroth, he would slash his body into so many pieces... he would spit on the bastards grave. Nothing would be left of him.

Anger struck Sephiroth's heart at the name of Kesanaga. In a single second, Sephiroth took all his knowledge from his enemies imperfection, his weaknesses, his lack of skill... He parried Shiro's blade off balance, and took his own blade deep into Shiro's chest. "You lose." Sephiroth grinned at him, and put himself closer to Shiro as to whisper something into his ear.

"I have no last name. It would do you good to remember that, little Shiro. In the future, I recommend that you stop being a tool or it will be your demise." Sephiroth laughed as Shiro once again gave an expression of pure hatred. He coughed up more blood while trying to reply.

"...You cannot..." He spat up more crimson blood from his mouth. "Escape... your id-entity. You will never... escape... the curse and legacy of Kesanaga..."

"...Shiro... you useless fool. Kesanaga is just another lie. I am not born of the Ancients. Nibelheim proved that Hojo was..." Sephiroth went too far. Was anything that he learned in Nibelheim true? Anything at all? What did he know? Maybe he was... he did not know of his parents. Everything he had ever known was a lie. Perhaps Shiro knew something that he didn't.

"My name is only Sephiroth. Remember it well if you live. I do hope you live to abhor me... I am going to Nibelheim. I do, however, wish that you do not follow me. It will only lead to your death. Goodbye." Sephiroth growled it in a low voice that only Shiro could hear.

"Fuck you... Sephiroth... I hope you ROT." Shiro screamed in rage in his last moments of conciousness. He lost to that bastard. That bastard Sephiroth. He couldn't believe it. He didn't even scratch him with his father's stlye... his father died making that style. And now he died using it...

"I was... only a..." Shiro coughed blood up in the middle of his sentence. It was hard for him to go on. "A soldier... trying to do his job... protecting the Planet in the name of Shinra... trying to avenge my brother... so fuck you, Sephiroth. You ruin every place you enter with your damned insanity... I can't wait until you die! You can't feel pain or sorrow. You are just a monster without feelings. You have no right to live among human beings... I hope you rot..." Shiro growled with such prejudice and hate. He was another Cloud.

Sephiroth supposed that Meteor... was pretty... horrifying. He nearly killed everyone. E-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. The entire Planet. He deserved to be shunned.

Click. The soldier's raised their rifles once more, commanded by a soldier dressed in the standard uniform with one exception: it was red. He was a captain. "You are under arrest for treason against Shinra and influencing riots. Sephiroth is dead. Your masquerade is over. Drop your weapon." There were at least one hundred soldiers in the area now. While he was busy fighting Shiro, the Shinra army had assembled reinforcements. There was one mistake in their assessment, however. He was the real Sephiroth.

Sephiroth was completely surrounded by soldiers, each carrying a rifle aimed at his head. In a situation that seemed to be Sephiroth's defeat, he laughed as if he were insane once more. "Ha, ha, ha. You really want me to kill you, don't you? You really do! I actually had myself convinced that I didn't have to kill anymore. I just wanted to find out who I was... but Shinra, as always, wants to be in my way. If that is so, then so be it. Ha, ha, ha." Sephiroth's teeth clenched and his eyes glared at the captain. "Go ahead and command them to fire if you don't believe that I am Sephiroth. Before you do, though, I have one question. Do you know what it feels like to be incinerated by a fire spell at level five?" Sephiroth's voice was no longer cool and raspy, but full of arrogance and anger. It boomed with the sound of his strength. They had riled him enough.

"Fire." The sound of a few hundred bullets all travelling towards Sephiroth at once resembled the sound of a two freight trains crashing into one another.. Yet as the bullets left the guns, time slowed down. It seemed that time itself was being manipulated by Sephiroth's collosal strength. No... time wasn't slowing down.... the air around Sephiroth had just simply stopped. It was if Sephiroth stole the energy itself from the matter around him. All the bullets simply stopped in midair and fell to the ground. "Your bullets seem not to be making it to their targets. Another question, please. Can any of you move?"

Sephiroth began to walk towards the captain of the soldiers. "Release." Suddenly, the soldier in red uniform fell to the ground, gasping. All the other soldiers around him stood frozen, unable to budge an inch.

"You... are no fake..." Fear. This was true fear. This was the same fear the Wutain soldiers exemplified over a decade ago. The same fear of the people of Nibelheim as he burned the entire down to ashes.

"If Shinra continues to pursue me, I will destroy their entire army. There is not one person that you know that is strong enough to kill me. So give up. Take a lesson from your friend, Shiro. Ha, ha..." Sephiroth grinned, and turned his back to the soldier. "I am going to Nibelheim. If you wish to pursue me, I will not kill you. There are things worse than death that my anger produces. Let that be a lesson to you." As Sephiroth walked away, the captain's uniform became incinerated with a fire so deep that the icy, cold air around him only fueled it further. His muffled cries were heard by none.

Sephiroth's dark shade of green Mako eyes shined brightly as he walked out of Bone Village. His presence scared the villagers away. He had to leave if they were going to help Shiro and the captain. He wanted Shiro to live. Why...? Who knows what goes on inside an insane mans head. That mattered not. All he had to do was ride a boat back to the mainland. That would be easy. He'd sneak aboard the ship going back to Rocket Town. Obviously, it would be delivering the message that Shiro was seriously wounded... and that the immortal Sephiroth was alive once again.

Since the highest ranking Turk had been seriously wounded, perhaps even fatally, there was no doubt that a messenger would be sent back to the mainland. Who could stop him from going along with them?

Sephiroth's image was quite unreal now. No one was really ready to believe the caller of Meteor was back. And after going through Rocket Town, he knew... he knew the world would know. There was no hiding it. He had to move quickly. No one ever paid attention to his warnings, anyways. The Shinra army would most likely attempt to pursue him.