No more pain…no more sorrow. The memories of them are all up in flame. A smile appeared on Yumeo's face as she remembered the cries and pleas from those who made her to be a social outcast.

All those painful memories were returning. The people in Kalm hated her and her parents just because of their affair and her mother conceiving a bastard child.

She hated her father for having Mako run through her veins and passing on the faint blow her brown eyes possessed.

She hated her mother for arranging play dates and making her fit in with a town who is too prudish for their own good and that are against them.

Now it was all. She watched the destruction of her hometown silently and she could almost see the smile on the being called Jenova's face—if she had one. Trying to tune out the screams as the people were being incinerated. It was the smell of charred flesh that made Yumeo lean towards the end of the cliff that overlooked Kalm, she heaved and sobbed uncontrollably.

"What have I DONE?!" She screamed and continued to sov. She could only imagine what the death toll would be tomorrow.

Don't you remember all of the pain they gave you? They deserved to do penance.

"But to kill them?" Yumeo demanded. "You bitch! How dare you make me do any of that."

My dear, it was not I who killed those people. You were the one who hand selected the Fire Materia and it was you who set the town ablaze.

Jenova laughed and it sent cold chills down Yumeo's spine. She was ashamed of herself for what she had done, but instead of feeling sorrow towards her actions and hatred directed to Jenova, she felt numb and emotionless.

Shall we continue on, or let speculators come and see you in you in your misery and draw conclusions off of that?

Cloud was relieved to see Elena's shoes lazily kicked off in front of the door. Before he tripped over them, he kicked them to the side and saw Elena on the couch in a fetal position. Her head was buried in her knees.

Cloud sat down next to his wife and took her in his arms, "'Lena, I'm sorry. I should have considered you before Tifa and I went on our own." He sounded so sympathetic. The response Cloud got was Elena burying her face in Cloud's chest and sobbing harder.

After a few minutes, Elena was able to speak again. "Yumeo's dead, Cloud. Everything we have is gone, and Kalm is up in flames."

"That's not possible," Cloud hissed to his wife as he took her by the shoulders. "You goddamned liar," he was now shouting and shaking Elena. "You just want attention, that's all you have ever wanted!"

Elena shook her head slowly. "You need to accept it," she said in a whisper. Cloud's eyes seemed to be on fire, but softened when he heard a small knock on the door followed by Tifa walking in with tears in her eyes accompanied by her son.

"..I can't be happening," Cloud said, letting go of Elena and leaning back on the couch.

Reeve wiped his sweaty palms on his pants before he answered the phone. "Reeve," he said into the receiver. "Yes…Violet?.....Where are you?"

"Right here," Violet Blair said breathlessly as she walked into the mayor's office and put her cellular phone away. She had a very youthful face that was highlighted with her bright blue eyes. She had long purple hair that was tied back with a barrette. She certainly lived up to her name, Reeve gave her that. "Sorry I'm late," she apologized with a slight smile. "There was a situation I had to take care of."

"Are the Turks going to investigate the Kalm fire?" Reeve inquired as he cradled the phone.

"Not all of them," she answered. "Kuroshi and Aya are heading towards the area as we speak. Vincent and Hosia, however are too far away to make it in time, but I'll send them over when they first report back to me."

"And what about Alexandrite."

"He died last week, remember?" Violet said, "That's where you got in that squabble with his brother Zincite."

"Of course," Reeve said feeling quite stupid at the moment to be upstaged by such a young woman. "Will you go to Kalm yourself?" He asked. "I have friends who lives there. Just inquire about the Strife family; I'm sure they are the only people with the name Strife in the village.

"Are you sure that is wise for me to be going alone?" Violet asked. Sure she had her gun, but she never really felt safe since her mother's death.

"I couldn't help but overhearing," a suave voice said from the doorway as a tall man with dark skin said. He had forest green eyes and hair that hung loosely around his head. "But I myself couldn't let a lovely lady as yourself go to a fire by yourself. What do you say, dad; me escort her."

Reeve waved one hand away, "as long as you don't act like a real escort to my Public Safety advisor, I don't care.

"You don't care, now do you?" Violet asked with her eyebrows raised and a bemused grin on her face. "Your father doesn't care what we do, let us be gone, my dear Skah."

When the two left the room the good-natured act of the man dropped instantly. "Those fools," he muttered. They would learn to use caution the same way he did. The incident in Kalm only added on to his list of worries. First activity in the North Cave and an explosion in the City of Ancients, and now a city up in flames. Sephiroth…goddamn you, can't you just stay dead?

Why the hell was Vincent not answering?

This was bad. Hosia clenched her jaws together as she tried to piece together the past hour. First, she had to go baby-sit two SOLDIERS who were grown women, Second, they got lost and the North Cave erupted once more. Now, she was on an island surrounded by Lifestream and the airship took off.

Amon pointed her finger under Hosia's nose. "Its YOUR fault we are stranded here. If you didn't want that long-ass goddamned sword so bad—"

Hosia cut her off. "Not only is it your fault we are here because you decided to wander off, your ignorance is pitiful. Perhaps you SODIERS are not allowed to know classified information as the Turks do, but you should know what this 'sword,' as you lovingly call it is."

"Masamune," Marlene muttered, her back was towards the two other women. "It is said you cannot gaze upon that sword without dying…nor can anyone but Sephiroth touch it. Tell me, Hosia Gast. Why is it that you can touch the Sword that Cannot be touched without being Sephiroth or a clone of his?"

Hosia turned around in surprise at the woman's knowledge. How could a lowly SOLDIER know that? Unless…?

"You think you Turks know everything, even a kid like you," Marlene spat the next words, "Sephiroth clone."

Hosia clenched her jaws together and after a minute, she got her anger in check "I am not a Sephiroth clone," she replied levelly. She eyed the gun in Marlene's hand warily, but did not let the fright slip into her features.

"Then what are you?"

"I don't know. Some would say the last Ancient. Others would say an experiment." The PHs started to ring and Hosia was all to quick to answer it. "Vincent. Where have you been?"