Sephiroth felt like shit, so he took another gulp of his beer. He'd never known piss could ferment, but at least it didn't taste as bad the more he had. Maybe it was an acquired taste? Or maybe he was just getting drunk? He hardly cared at the moment and slouched back in his seat with a few days worth of stubble on his face and unwashed for just as long. His earrings had been joined by some strings of pearls he'd actually stolen from a rich old frog he'd always hated when he was forced to socialize with the upper class of Midgar. She had tons more like it and the theft added to his persona of being a cutthroat bastard bandit from the mountains. Masamune was leaned against the wall behind him.

After the initial fuss and bother of having everyone murmur behind their hands at him, he was fairly ignored and considered one of the usual bar flies now. Cloud came in now and then, reporting things from around town and was pretty much Sephiroth's right-hand man in how things were going. He couldn't help but feel that Katy could have done this better.

Taking a drink and sigh, he pried his eyes open when he felt people descend upon his table and a hush wash across the room. "Whaddaya wan now?" he asked gruffly, feeling peeved that the five now standing over him had come. Couldn't they see a covert ops mission when they saw one? Never mind the fact that he was drunk.

Lloyd, a man with a thin mustache and close clipped black hair, gestured towards the others and pulled out a chair, turned it backwards and had a seat. "You're a pretty good fighter," he started with, "But not good enough yet. The Masamune is a tricky sword to master." Licking his lips, he glanced around, "We've trained closely with the General for years, we know his moves and why he did them."

Sephiroth leaned forward, breathing alcohol breath on the man, "Yah, so? Think I care?"

The others narrowed their eyes, perhaps not believing this flea-infested scruffy man was Sephiroth, but that was for the better. Lloyd smiled in the face of the breath, crinkling his nose only a little, "Look- whatever your name is-"

"Stef!" Sephiroth shouted, slamming his mug on the table, "Ol' Stef, Master of Thieves!" he splashed beer across the table as he waved his hand for effect. There were murmurs of 'aye' in the crowd and Sephiroth finally quieted down when he realized he had no beer left.

Lloyd brushed some of the sticky liquid from his sleeve and cleared his throat. "Look, Stef, we're willing to help train you."

His eyes narrowed, "Yer fuggen serious?" leaning back in his seat, he glared, "How much s' gonna cost me? Arm? Leg?"

Morda, a man with mid-brown hair of rather boring shade and eyes to match, leaned forward, placing his stubby fingered hand on the table, "Look old man, it's not going to cost anything. We want to see the bloody bastard that got Sephiroth stuck. You said it'd be fitting for that sword to be the one to kill it yourself. None of us are strong enough to even pick the bloody thing up. So maybe Sephiroth choose you as the one to carry out his revenge or something?"

Sephiroth eyed them more, went to take another gulp of beer and slapped the mug down again, "An whaddo I get outta this? S'my neck."

"Like you don't already have your neck on the line? At least dragons don't play with their meals," Curt stated, arms folded moodily as he gazed with contempt down at 'Stef'.

Lloyd held up a hand to cut the others off and turned back to Sephiroth, "So what will it be?"

After looking at them all, he finally stated, "Another beer."

Sighing, the group exchanged looks behind Lloyd, but the youngest member of their group leaned forward a bit, "Look, I'll pay for a room at the motel just down the street for you, how's that?"

Looking the man over, Sephiroth frowned slightly, honestly considering the idea. It would save a lot of questions. "A room an beer fer stickin yer dragon? Aye. I s'pose it's a deals."

Lloyd winced at the addition of beer to the list but stuck out his hand, "Deal." They shook on it. "Let's get to work then."

"Whaat? Now? I avent had my second beer yet-" Sephiroth fussed.

Wren and Curt moved to either side of Sephiroth, grabbed his arms and hauled him from his seat, Lloyd dropping some Gil on the table to pay for the beer already had, "Exactly," Morda stated in explanation.

Perrie, a tall thin man his chin length blonde hair tied back in a tail at the back of his head, shoved Masamune's hilt at Sephiroth and reluctantly, it was taken and clipped into place.

Bundled from the bar in the middle of his old students, now supposedly their student, they took him to a building some ways down the street. Sephiroth didn't have to fake much of the weave in his steps and his guides frequently had to take hold and pull him back onto track. "He stinks like shit," Morda complained.

"Oh shut up," Wren grumped in return, stepping forward to open the door to the building that was their final destination. Curt and Morda holding him up between them.

Stubbornly, Sephiroth came to a stop and pulled his arms from their grip, straightened his coat to regain some dignity and walked in under his own power. The door closed behind him. "You're SURE Lloyd?"

The building was an old gym that had gone out of business. The equipment was gone, but the building was still owned by someone- or someone's. So this was his little group's private workout place.

"Positive!"

"Is this place secure?" Sephiroth interrupted.

Silence fell briefly, "Yes sir," Lloyd replied with a salute.

Clearing his throat, Sephiroth suck his fingers into his hair and scratched the back of his head, moving off to the side of the room to drop his bag. There was a metallic clank from within. Looking at himself in the mirror, he scrubbed his chin with one hand, finally pulling his hair out of the messy he'd had it in. Turing back towards them, he looked them over, one at a time. "Now, was there a reason for this?"

Morda looked like he'd swallowed something sharp and large. Curt looked embarrassed, Perrie was terrified, Wren pale, and Lloyd...was just Lloyd, levelheaded as always. "Yes sir, they didn't believe me when I told them it was you."

"I'd noticed," he made the hand gesture of his name and gave a smirk. "Next time, not quite so obvious, hmm?" He shook his head slightly and began pacing up and down the length of the room. "I'll hold you to that room at the least," he pointed towards Lloyd. "Raises fewer questions." He heard the 'yes sir' as he turned and started back down the way he'd come.

Morda coughed softly, "Uh- why are you..." he gestured vaguely.

Giving a smile, Sephiroth glanced towards the man dangerously, "Pretending to be Ol' Stef, the Rather Bad at Stealing King of Thieves?" he shrugged slightly.

Silence fell as he turned and headed back up the room. Curt spoke up, "It's the girl, isn't it? Bryon said you were sweet on her... said he'd seen her in the tower recently too."

"You're not a ghost, are you?" Wren interrupted fearfully.

Sephiroth barked a laugh, pointed at Curt and stated, "I know," pointed at Wren and replied, "No. Any other stupid questions?"

"Yeah," Perrie spoke up, "where's the dragon?"

Shaking his head, Sephiroth turned once more, "Never was one."

Lloyd now asked the question that was burning in all their minds at that time, "Then why did you fake your death?"

Coming to a stop, Sephiroth turned towards the mirror, "I didn't." Pressing his lips together, he swallowed, "I did die, but it was from a far different situation than you were told." Turning to face them again, he lifted his chin slightly, "But the truth is, I'm tired of Shinra, and though they know I'm alive still, they have no hold on me any more... except through things I refuse to let go of."

Perrie blinked, "The girl!"

Curt waved a hand, "Why not just break in and steal her and just leave?"

Unable to stay still any longer, Sephiroth began pacing again, staling up and down the room, hands buried in his hair, pulling slightly, "I would that I could, but she's too sick to move and so long as she's sick, Hojo's got a leash on me, and though Hojo, Shinra. The question is, does Shinra know he's still got me, and if he does, what's he going to do?" the situation was driving him mad, blind to the others in the room as he paced. He was fairly surprised when Curt imposed himself in Sephiroth's path and restrained his senior officer with his hands on the man's shoulders.

"Calm down," Curt ordered, "You're letting emotion tangle you up here."

Bowing his head, Sephiroth had to smile slightly, taking a calming breath. "You're right," he murmured at last, vision clear.

Lloyd slowly made a circuit of his own around the room, "We need a plan, but first we need information. I know you've got a lackey around here somewhere, so who is he and where can we find him?"

The wording suddenly struck Sephiroth, like a blow, "We?" he asked, looking at them all.

Morda grinned, "Of course. We could beat the President's Turks hands down, why should we follow anyone who isn't more powerful than all of us combined?" This was surprising indeed, an interesting turn of events. The others were nodding in agreement.

"You handpicked us, Sephiroth. We're loyal to you," Wren added with a smile and shrug. Wren actually didn't look much like Curt, except that they were both brunets with gray eyes. Curt had a broad forehead and square jaw where his brother looked more like an Elf than a barbarian.

A smile stole across Sephiroth's lips, where had these friends popped up from? Had they really been there the whole time? How blind he'd been. Taking a breath, and control of himself once more, he straightened. Combined strength sees people through tough times... She was being strong in her own way, he had to be strong in his. They would survive. Lifting a hand, he clapped Curt's shoulder. "Thank you," he said, looking them over once more. "I appreciate this."

As one, they saluted.

"I saw the Buster Sword lurking around, is Zack here then?" Wren asked, "Then we can have our old group back," he grinned.

Sephiroth shook his head, "I sent him on another mission, I've got Cloud." They winced, but Sephiroth raised a finger, "He's better than you think. Only took a bit of... encouragement... to make him quit whining." There was a bit of laughter about that.

Lloyd cleared his throat, "Since we're here, can we actually do some of what we said we'd be doing here? ...except the other way around?" There was another laugh and Sephiroth nodded.


Cloud slipped into the building from the back door and came into the front room of the gym, emerging upon the sound of what seemed an all out battle. Sephiroth was pinned in the center of his group of five First Class SOLDIERS, holding a staff this time, casually beating them up. Shaking his head, Cloud took a seat against the wall and waited. Finally, Sephiroth slapped the last of his First classers onto his ass and thumped the staff butt on the floor to signal an end to the spar.

Sephiroth turned towards Cloud and watched as the slightly younger man got to his feet. "No changes," he reported. "No one seems to notice that I'm not supposed to be there either. I've been talking with some people as well and they don't realize that I'm not still working for Shinra. Word is, though, that Shinra's getting ready to send Naomi out to those new islands to test her out. The army will sweep in directly afterwards to clean up. Oh and Rufus has been sniffing around the lab a lot lately, but Hojo won't let him in. Said something about having a decontamination problem or something. He lets me in though," giving a slight grin, Cloud added, "He knows better than to fuck with either of us."

This being the first time the group had seen Cloud in a while, they looked him over, not seeing much difference except more bulk in muscle and a tan. Sephiroth nodded, rubbing his neck slightly, moving to the side to set the staff down and take up Masamune, "Tired?"

With a sigh, Cloud shook his head and moved to get the Buster Sword, "Not yet, but I'm sure you'll fix that."

Politely, the others moved to the sides of the room to watch. Taking a moment to nibble a hangnail, Cloud came forward and took a stance. Sephiroth stood to match him. Thankfully the room was large enough for a full fledged spar, but for the columns spaced evenly throughout the room breaking up the space. Sephiroth would have preferred to be outdoors doing this with a freer range of motion. Cloud checked his grip on his sword and shifted his weight, checking his balance, taking his time to find his center and cover his guard. Sephiroth waited. Speed would come in time after all, speed would come with practice.

At last, his stance was good and Sephiroth hadn't had to say anything. This impressed the others in the room and they shifted closer to exchange murmurs. Cloud, having not sparred with Sephiroth in front of people so much better at it than him flushed with embarrassment, but kept his sword firm. Sephiroth waited for a second longer, then firmly drew his attention away from the whispers in the corner. Darting forward, Sephiroth make a jab for Cloud's shoulder, but the young man twisted to the side without losing his feet and batted Masamune's tip away.

Sephiroth withdrew, bringing Masamune's hilt up to block the retaliation attack from Cloud. The swords sang together in harmony with every met blow. At first, Sephiroth started out slow, but picked up the pace, spinning around behind columns and back, stabbing at Cloud like a mosquito. Sweating, but keeping up, Cloud batted the stings away, only a few catching him now and then and at last, he managed to pin Sephiroth into a retreat as he took the offence, chasing Sephiroth around the room, blind to all else but the moment and reading his opponent.

Unexpectedly, Sephiroth darted to one side, then back and Cloud twisted his sword up around behind him to block a blow from his back. Now it seemed as if two Sephiroth were fighting him. He kept up for a few more moments, but was only able to defend before Sephiroth's final blow set Buster Sword buzzing dissonantly and with a yelp, Cloud dropped the weapon.

Waking to reality again as he knelt to retrieve the weapon, Cloud realized the others were applauding and as he staggered to his feet, he looked at them in astonishment. They were applauding him and he flushed, unable to keep himself from it.

Sephiroth paced over to the wall, dropping Masamune to the floor and picked up his bottle of water, using his other hand to pin the hair that had gotten lose from his ponytail back out of his face as he drank, watching with delight as his First Classers circled Cloud and started talking shop, accepting him fully.


Katy sat in the grass, looking over their flowering field, the one she'd destroyed through depression before, but now had returned to full color. A whisper behind her informed her of Sephiroth's arrival. He sat, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pulling her closer and kissing her hair.

"Good evening," she said softly, sounding fully there for once. "I'm feeling a lot better today..." she turned her head to look up at him. "I can't smell you anymore though- Hojo had the sheets washed. Rufus visited too, he tried to rape me but Hojo stopped him and threw him out."

Sephiroth's hands clenched on her, but he forced them to relax. "I'll gut him for that..." he muttered.

Turning around fully, Katy climbed into his lap, putting her head beneath his chin. "I want out of there. Shinra's been in too, and was talking about Michelle and what she was capable of and that they sent her somewhere, on a mission and I missed freeing her again... Shinra also asked if Hojo had anything else to report about his activities in his lab. Hojo said no. He's been covering me up as best he can. I think... maybe if he's still working out of self-interest, he's at least on our side this time. I've seen Cloud lots. He's put on a lot of muscle lately."

Smiling, Sephiroth caressed her hair. "Yes, I'll stop by tomorrow and see how you're doing. If you're well enough, I'll take you from there. The others will like you, I think. I'd like you to meet them."

"I'm so glad you've figured out how to make friends," Katy murmured, smiling to herself. Sephiroth had come a long way. They both had, Katy realized. She'd grown up- somewhat forced to, but she had and it was a good thing.

He drew a slow and deep breath, "You showed me how," he said at last. Large fingers twined into her hair, rubbing her neck slowly.

Katy's expression went serious, hands clutching his black shirt. He looked so damn good in black. "Sephiroth, what now? What do we do now?"

Staring down at her, Sephiroth swallowed. This was the last thing he'd ever thought he'd hear her say. "And here I thought you knew everything..."

She looked away. "We've diverged from what was supposed to happen so much that I have no idea anymore. I thought I understood people and their motives and just themselves that I could ... could manipulate them. But... things like HOJO happened. On the surface, he was exactly what I expected, but under all that he... he has feelings and now- maybe before I could have shot him or something, but not now." She buried her face in Sephiroth's chest again, "Seph- I'm playing with people's fucken lives! I've killed HUMANS! Ended lives of young men who had girlfriends, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers... I'm..." she stopped, searching for the word, and finally came up with the only one that fit. "I'm a murderer."

Sephiroth's embrace went stiff, "And you don't think that I haven't done the same?" he asked softly.

"I didn't mean it like that."

He made to push her away, but she clung harder, "Sephiroth! I didn't mean it like that!" Finding that he'd have to cut some of his own limbs off to remove her, Sephiroth settled back to the ground, scowling. "Sephiroth-" she whimpered, "I need you..."

Taking a slow breath, he let it out, closing his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, their scenery had turned to fall, blackening toward the darkness again. "And I need you," he finally told her, though his voice was still a bit cold. He hadn't meant to sound like that. The glade halted its transition, but did not return to its former beauty. Pressing his teeth together, he continued to hold her, thinking on things. Where had his inner promise to be strong for her gone? Oh hell. This would... would require an apology perhaps, but he wasn't sure who owed who. These relationship things were so convoluted and how could two people be in debt to each other and not have it canceled out by the double negative?

"Sephiroth, you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I'd rather die than lose you. I don't care what you did during the war. It's war. We still have those on Earth too and there's nothing I can do to stop it- it's just... I ... never thought I'd be... at war."

Her voice was quavering, small and thin, as if she would turn to smoke and blow away at any moment. Chilled by that thought, Sephiroth tightened his arms around her, pulling her closer. What could he really say to reassure her? That it would be alright, that her purity would absolve any sins she might commit? How could he tell her that when he wasn't so sure of it himself?

There were so many things he'd liked to just tell her, but all ways to phrase it would simply come out wrong. Or sound stupid to his ears. How could he say corny things like 'I want to fall into your eyes and drown in their beauty'? She'd never believe he really thought that. She'd probably think Jenova had gotten a hold of him and blast him again. The words he wished to say burned in his mind, but never formed into anything sensible to actually speak, thus did he stay silent till their dream ended.


Katy woke with a start as weight settled on the cot beside her. Opening her eyes, she stared up at Rufus's smiling face. Her heart went cold. Not again... "Ah, little angel," he said softly, leaning down over her. She turned her face away. "You deny me a kiss from your rose soft lips? What restrains you so, my love? You adored me before, promised me a fun time, and now you break your word?"

"Sick bastard," Katy hissed. "HOJO!" she howled.

Rufus smiled more, eyes half lidded, "Oh, just keep screaming. He won't be coming. See, he's up in Father's office. He'll be up there a while." The ice spread from her heart to her stomach. "You see, Father likes his reports. Can't live without them, or some shit like that." Rufus's hand slid up Katy's arm slowly. "Come now, give me a kiss."

Firmly, she pulled her arm away from him and rolled towards the side of the bed. "Leave me alone," she ground her teeth.

His hand trailed downwards now, touching her somewhat prominent hip bone. "Ah- you have a lovely body when you're not pregnant," he murmured, touching her thigh, pulling at the loose white clothes Hojo had given her to wear.

"Get your hands off me..."

"Or what?" he asked, moving to crouch over her now. "You'll hit me? You'll find that I'm not a push over like Hojo. You can't elbow me into submission." He grabbed her knee firmly when she started to squirm off the side of the bed. "I'll have you- and you'll like it."

Eyes blazing with anger, she glared at him. "I'll never like it, rapist. Pedophile. Cradle robbing bastard!"

His other hand grabbed her chin, moved to her throat and pressed down. "Tell me, what makes you so bold? What gives you the strength to seduce me, then deny me? What knowledge do you have that gives you the power to refuse me and think that you can get away with it?" he leaned forward, putting more weight on her throat with every question.

Gasping, she clawed at his wrist, trying to get a hold of one of his fingers. She was far too weak still, she couldn't budge him. Rufus let off and she gasped, his hand had found its way into her loose white pants while she'd been distracted with her neck. "Tell me."

Katy spit at him instead.

Smirking, Rufus pressed his other hand into her, working to make her body his, if not her mind. His fingers slid deep, "No Materia hidden here," he smirked at her, "I guess you're defenseless this time."

Not quite.

"FIRE!" she shouted.

Rufus flew across the room and hit the wall with a satisfying thump as she slowly sat up. "Only the one I love is allowed to touch me there, Rufus. And you're not him."

Gathering himself up, Rufus glared at her, "Oh-? And who would this man be?" his eyes glittered, "oh-ho! Sephiroth perhaps? Oh my! You know what he said about you, don't you? He promised Hojo he'd bring you in, that Hojo could do whatever he wanted to you. He called you a little slut." Rufus sneered, as if this was indeed a killing blow.

Katy smiled at him, "Just words. They weren't even his. You've known him how long now? And you know him so little." Reaching out, she gripped the stand for her IV and slid to her feet, pulling her pants back into place. Clinging to the metal pole, she glared at him. "Don't make me kill you... no, better yet, don't make me keep you alive so Sephiroth can have his vengeance. You see... I'm his first, and only, love and lover, and he is rather protective of me." She smiled coyly.

Rufus didn't look convinced. "Silence." The word had more force than just an order. Katy felt the spell close around her. Damn, should have cast reflect! "So you CAN cast without Materia. How interesting!" he oozed towards her. "But now, you can't cast anything. And what Sephiroth doesn't know, he won't do anything about, though I highly doubt he cares that much. Otherwise, he would have been here before now." Her mouth moved, but nothing came out. "What? I couldn't hear you!" he laughed in her face.

In a rush, he pressed her against the wall, pinning her with his body. "Come now, forget him," Rufus murmured into her scowl. How demonic she looked when wearing that expression. How delightfully resistant! He would make her scream for him before the end, Rufus was sure of that. Her breathing was hard and infuriated, nostrils flaring as his hands wandered down her body. "Hmn, nice ass too." He gripped it, pulling her firmly against his hips. She remained stubbornly unresponsive. Right. It was time to begin putting Hojo's little torture lab to work.

Taking hold of her, Rufus hauled her out into the main room, the tube on her IV snapping out of her arm with a pop. She would have yelped, but the silence remained in full force. "I'll bet, that Sephiroth can't make you feel as good as I can." Again, her lips moved, probably some scathing remark that went unheard. He laughed at her, brought her to one of the surgical tables and lashed her down to it. She fought him, oh sure, she had never stopped trying to take her wrist from his grip, but she was weak, hardly doing more damage than a kitten's scratch. Now she was sobbing.

Rufus lifted his chin and smirked at her, removing his shoes and climbed atop the table with her, crouching over her body as she twisted in the straps. He smiled at her charmingly, sliding forward to kiss her neck. She bit his earlobe. Pulling it from her grip, he restrained the hand that would have slapped her, instead moving to pet her body. She tried jerking her knees up and hitting them, but couldn't quite pull them up that far, she tried bucking to throw him off, but that was useless as well.

Reaching over, he picked up a pair of surgical scissors, starting from the bottom of her shirt and working upwards. He then set the scissors aside, hands sliding along her exposed flesh, teasing her flesh with gentle hands. She still fought him. Grinning, Rufus leaned down to take one of her nipples into his mouth. She screamed some thing that merely came out as a swish of breath, he just laughed at her.

Working across her chest, he played with her small, but well shaped breasts, reveling in the feel of her rose-petal smooth flesh. How soft she felt. How pale... Oh, look, a freckle. How CUTE! "You know," he said softly, "I've been wondering how this will feel. I've never fucked anything but virgins before. Less chance of being diseased, you know," he smiled at her, fingers twirling around her nipples, one hand sliding down her stomach, tracing the jagged pink scar there. "So I wonder how this will feel. Wonder if you're stretched at all, considering who you fucked before. I doubt Sephiroth had much to be proud of... you know... overcompensating with that long sword of his."

She said something, but had no voice to say it with. He sat back, taking up the scissors again, clipping her shirt a bit more and finally pulling it out from beneath her, leaving her bare flesh against the cold table. Katy shivered. "If you'd just work with me, I can make this quite enjoyable." Her lips moved. He could read this one. "Fuck you? Oh, I intend to."

Sliding back a bit more, he began clipping at her pants, having to hold down her leg after she kicked and cut herself on the sharp points. "Now, now, I'm not into Snuff," he told her, "I fully intend to let you live." Rufus glanced at her face, meeting only her sullen glare. Having nothing witty or irritating to say, he smiled prettily at her. She seethed.

"How easy you are to manipulate," he enthused, finishing with one leg of her pants. Setting the scissors down, he slid his hands up her leg, blinking and looking down. "What's this?" he rubbed his hands a bit more. "So smooth, my dear, do you shave your legs? What a silly... but delightful custom!" She gave him the weirdest of looks. As if he were insane for thinking that women shouldn't shave. She'd started doing it more often, since Sephiroth liked them shaved, though he hadn't known there was any custom about shaving them or not, or if he had, he hadn't said anything.

Rufus massaged her leg a bit more, Katy's thrashings getting weaker as she ran out of energy. "My little lamb," he murmured, "Save your strength. Wouldn't want you falling asleep while I'm pleasuring you." He got glared at again. Moving to her other ankle, he picked up the scissors again, beginning to cut. She jerked her leg, stabbing the scissors deeply into her shin.

Giving a soft curse, Rufus removed the scissors, then set back to work cutting her pants. At last, he pulled them out from beneath her and dropped the scissors to the floor. Smiling, he slid off the table to begin removing his own clothes, carefully folding them and setting them aside. They were too expensive to just drop on the floor. He liked wearing things again. Once completely nude, he climbed back atop her. She struggled harder, pulling at the chains, screaming against the silence spell. He smiled, waited till she tired herself out again and began his work.

Fingers barely touching her flesh, he caressed every inch of her body, sending shivers crawling over her skin. Rufus grinned at her, seeing her revulsion- at him- at what he was doing- and at how her body was reacting. How the body betrayed! It was glorious! "Ah, my pet. My little lamb. Do you like this?" Katy seethed at him. "If you'd just relax, it'd feel better." She pinched her knees together as hard as she could. "Sweet thing, that won't help you one bit." He was hard, throbbing like fire and rubbing against her stomach.

Rufus was stronger than her, and slid back, prying her knees apart, kneeling between them. She kicked and thumped against the table, trying to unbalance it, but the thing had been made for people like Sephiroth- for someone who would be trying to get away. His fingers caressed her, sliding in and out slowly, "Relax, my lamb, or this will hurt," he murmured, slathering her own juices upon her inner thighs and working it across her stomach. He leaned down and placed his lips upon her, half climbing off the table to accomplish this, but he still managed to do it, hand holding her thighs away from his head, keeping her from kicking him, and holding her in place. Silently, she screamed.

Moving up, he licked her clean like a cat would, his shimmering blue eyes trained upon her face. "Come now," he murmured, "are you not enjoying this? I would normally have it be your turn next, but considering your current mood, I don't think I'd like to put something so delicate as my Precious near your mouth." She told him some choice words that he couldn't hear, which caused him to laugh again.

Like a stalking animal he crawled back onto the table- slithered more like- bringing himself up between her legs to press himself against her, rubbing gently. "Hm, you're quite ready now, I think." He moved his hips against her gently, teasing at entering.

Screaming in furry, she tried to head butt him, but he backed off and she missed. It stalled him at least. Flailing with her legs, she finally hooked a knee under his thigh and pushed. "Oh- you know I'm really enjoying myself here," Rufus told her playfully, moving to wag a finger in her face. She tried to bite him. His hips moved again, and though he wasn't in optimum position to thrust in, he could still tease at her and did so.

Sliding back off her a bit, he reached down and removed her knee, spreading his body back atop her again as she moved her hands, trying to claw at him. It did no good, she couldn't reach. Rufus's hand slid down from her neck, to her shoulder, to her breast and stomach, finally to her hip, taking hold and lifting up into place.

He made ready and jerked forward.

Katy had closed her eyes, tears leaking from them as she sobbed silently. Slowly, she pried them open when she did not feel Rufus moving- or more, not in the way she'd expected him to. He hadn't entered either. Gasping for breath as the man suddenly slid backwards off her, revealing a rather pissed Sephiroth, her heart leapt with joy.

"Did he hurt you?" Sephiroth asked, reaching out to touch one of the cuts, wiping away the blood to inspect the wound. Her lips moved, but no sound emerged. Eyes burning with fury, he searched his pockets, but found nothing to cure the silence with and sighed, simply curing her wounds and untying her. Rufus lay in a heap at the food of the table, curled up and whimpering from the stab he'd received. Having an enema delivered by Masamune wasn't the most joyful of experiences he'd ever had, apparently.

Upon her release, Katy weakly lifted herself up and climbed into Sephiroth's arms, sobbing into his coat. Masamune clattered to the floor as he held her with both hands. "Shh," he said softly, "I'll cut out his eyes for this. You're mine. Only I'm allowed to see you," he murmured to her, "I'll cut off his hands for touching you, and I'll cut out his tongue for tasting you." After a moment of thought and listening to her silent babbling, he finally made a guess as to what she was trying to say, "You'll cut off his dick? Alright with me, you deserve some trophy for this."

Rufus whimpered.

"First, I shall have you dressed. It would be inconvenient to cut out the eyes of everyone we pass." He pried her loose, moved to pick up his sword and clipped it to his back. Katy pulled her knees to her chest, sobbing into them still, rocking, but thankfully he wasn't away long, finally returning with something new for her to wear, helping her get dressed and once she was, helped her off the table. Rufus had taken the distraction to try and crawl away, his rear bleeding and leaving a trail.

Stalking after, Sephiroth grabbed the man's ankle, pulled him back towards the table and tied him down. Taking out his belt dagger, he started his work, Katy watching with burning eyes.

She didn't blink once.


"We're moving out," Sephiroth stated as he walked straight into the bar, dressed as the General, Katy by his side. His five First Classers and Cloud looked up, scrambled to their feet and saluted. They moved past, out the door, and scattered to get their things. He'd discussed this with them prior, the retreat plan, where they were going to meet and how they were going to proceed from there, they knew what to do. For now, though, Sephiroth paced further into the room, stalking up to the bar, which he knew sold some items. Dropping a few Gil, he stated, "An echo screen."

Fearfully nodding, the keeper handed one over and took the money without looking at it. Sephiroth returned to Katy, casting the charm. She sniffled. "I never want to come back here again," she told him firmly. "I never want to see that damn tower AGAIN!" the last word she screamed, but lifted her hand, biting her knuckles.

Reaching out, he touched her hair, took her hand from her mouth. "I know," he told her softly, "And you won't," he promised, kissed her forehead, put his arm around her shoulders, and herded her out of the bar.

Picking her up bridal style, Sephiroth carried her through the streets. Her feet were bare, he'd have to get new shoes for her. And better clothes for that matter. For now, they needed out of the city. He got that done easily, finally rejoining his group of six outside of the walls.

Sniffling, Katy lifted her face from his neck. "If we move further away from the city, I can call some Chocobos," she offered. He nodded and continued to carry her, earning looks from all but Cloud. As grass started reappearing an hour later, Katy squeezed Sephiroth's shoulder and he stopped, the others stopped as well.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, relaxing against him. Finally, she opened her eyes. "Put me down," she said softly, "The planet is too weak here, I need to touch it." Nodding, he set her feet upon the dirt, but held on to her, keeping her vertical. Again, she closed her eyes.

Green-blue light, the color of Sephiroth's eyes, glimmered beneath her feet, then pooled, then rose further, twining tendrils around Katy's legs, up between her and Sephiroth, and finally began wrapping around him as well. Inadvertently, his eyes drooped shut. The lulling pulse of life, like waves sliding up onto a pristine beach, soothed his frayed nerves, and for a moment, it seemed as if he could feel Katy's very essence touching him. He reached for her with this new sense, and was in turn, engulfed in her soothing warmth, like laying his head upon her breast after a far too long day with her hand stroking his hair.

All too soon, the feeling slipped away and he was left to open his eyes, finding everyone staring at him- no, at them. Katy was standing more firmly in his arms, though her face was buried against his chest still. She breathed softly, "They'll be here soon," she murmured at last. "Sephiroth- tell them...what we did..." she added. "They'll need to know."

Frowning faintly, Sephiroth nodded. "Ah," suddenly, he felt a bit embarrassed. How odd. "Rufus tried to rape her. He's still alive but... Shinra won't be happy." He glanced down at Katy to see if she was going to protest his edited version.

She was. "Not sure how long he'll live, we did cut some pretty big holes in him."

Coughing, Sephiroth looked away from his men. "In any case," he added, a phrase he'd picked up from Katy. It was that and 'Aaaanyway' that she liked to use to draw herself back onto topic. "He's definitely out of the picture and Shinra will be mad."

Cloud gave a soft laugh, "Sounds like the bastard deserved it. Messing with Katy," he shook his head. "But in any case, where are we heading next?"

Sephiroth looked down towards Katy again. "Any ideas?" he asked.

Taking a breath, she lifted her face and turned to lean her back against him, looking at the others, "Getting off this continent would be a good place to start. Seph, any thoughts on where Zack might have taken Aerith?"

"He wouldn't have taken her home," Sephiroth replied. "Other than that, I don't know..."

Cloud spoke up again, "He had Nanaki with him..."

Katy's eyes lit, "Oh! That narrows things down to one!" More than a few eyebrows quirked in response to this assertion. "Cosmo Canyon. That's Nanaki's home, and it wouldn't hurt to talk to Brugenhagen either." She nodded to herself absently. "For now, step one is getting out of here. I wish we could have just blown that whole fucken building sky high. I hate it and I hate everyone in it!"

"Now, that's rather uncharitable. There's more than a few who have no choice but to work there," Sephiroth told her, smiling faintly at this re-emergence of her personality. Never mind that she was being bitchy. To him, it was a good sign. A sound in the distance brought him to reality and he looked up and out to find bright yellow shapes darting across the ground towards them. "Our taxies have arrived. Oh, good job, Katy, they're golds!

She smiled up at him, though her eyes were still a bit haunted. The birds came to a stop near the group, milling about nervously till Katy came forward and offered them her hand to sniff. Finally, she looked to the men, who chose which bird they wanted to ride and she introduced them to each other. "Amazing," Wren murmured. "Amazingly convenient too! Maybe I should get a Cetra girlfriend," he grinned at Sephiroth, "any ideas?"

Giving a shrug, Sephiroth had to reply honesty, aware that Katy was listening. "I'm afraid I haven't really been looking, though they do seem to be everywhere these days. You'd be better off asking Cloud. He seems to have acquired a lot of fangirls from Earth, he might be willing to share." This, of course, made Cloud blush bright red to the roots of his hair.

Their whole party was mounted at last and they started straight east, heading for the ocean directly instead of bothering with Junon and possibly being caught. Katy settled back into Sephiroth's chest as he nudged his bird into motion, taking the lead with the six others riding single behind.

Smiling faintly, Katy murmured, "The seven knights started their journey off towards the sunset."

Sephiroth laughed softly, "Knights, are we now? Of that round table you told me about? Hm, actually, not a bad idea, the whole being equal and all." The hand wrapped around her waist rubbed her stomach gently, "I should hope you would be more faithful than Guinevere had been to King Arthur."

"I thought I'd proven that," Katy said, not sounding amused.

Leaning down to kiss her hair, he lowered his voice, "Of course you did," he reassured. "And for that, I am deeply touched." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled forth her bent glasses, handing them to her. Taking them, she briefly clasped his hand, bringing it to her face and kissed his gloved fingers. Taking the glasses, she bent them back into shape and put them on. "For now, rest. It's going to be a long journey."

"I know. My ass is going to be killing me."

Grinning, Sephiroth gave a low chuckle and offered, "I could massage it for you." She elbowed him, but not very hard.


The sight had to be one of the most disgusting things any man had ever seen. Rufus lay strapped to the surgical table, face down and butt naked, blood pooling on the floor below him. One might have thought he was dead, seeing as how his back had been flayed of skin completely, his eyes gouged out, tongue cut, and lips removed, and beneath him... Well, certainly whoever had done this had gone straight for Rufus's source of pride. Hojo was certainly sickened.

Shinra was infuriated.

"And who did this?" the fat balding blond man hissed, smoke seething out from between his teeth as if he were about to breathe fire. Silence fell, Hojo blinked, realizing that his lack of words might be construed as guilt.

That wasn't to say that he was semi-guilty for this, after having lied about having Katy. Though he'd finally admitted that portion of the situation, which had been the reason for the trip down to his lab by the president. "I'll go check on the Cetra," he said instead, moving off to the side room he'd had her in, only to confirm what he'd thought, but using the excuse to escape Shinra for a moment to think of what to say to save his ass. Stepping out again, he shook his head, "Gone."

Shinra took a slow and deep breath, "Professor, I suggest you start cleaning this up and start explaining. RIGHT NOW!"

Giving a nervous cough, Hojo hesitated, then moved to the side to get a cure Materia, casting a full cure on Rufus before moving to release the mutilated boy. "Ah, I had to forcefully remove your son the other day for attempting unauthorized procreation with my test subject. She was not willing..."

"So you're saying SHE did this?" Shinra hissed.

Biting his lower lip, Hojo helped the handless, sightless Rufus to sit up, and draped a cloth around the young ma-... Youngster's waist. "Well, perhaps not HER exactly but ... um... Sephiroth. He apparently had stronger feelings for her than I'd first thought. He's very good at hiding things like that from me." On account that I tend to destroy everything he cares for? I couldn't blame him one bit. Shinra did not look pleased.

Eyes blazing still, he scowled at Hojo, biting his cigar practically in half. The lit end dropped to the floor with a sizzle, the broken end was spit in the other direction. A rather sour expression crossed the man's face, but when next he spoke, he sounded completely calm. "I want that girl. If she's the only leash we have on Sephiroth, I want control of her. Brainwash her like you did Naomi, make her obey me."

Hojo looked away, "I'd need her first. She was sick before and far more valuable to my experiments untampered with. I hadn't expected your son to mess things up like this. She wasn't well enough to be taken off her medications, and if your son succeeded in doing anything to her before being stopped, then she may very well be pregnant again- and it's far too soon for that. She's highly fertile."

Rufus was, of course, silent, sullenly silent. Unable to speak coherently, he didn't even bother, but it was obvious that he was angry. "In the meantime," Shinra interrupted, "I want my son repaired. Use whatever means you see fit." With that, the fat man turned and stalked out, hammy hands clenched into fists.

Swallowing, Hojo looked towards Rufus and frowned. "Perfect," he muttered to himself and moved off to the side of his lab, leaving Rufus seated upon the table, scowling. "Well, boy, you asked for it. The question is: do you want to be back the way you were, or Much Improved?" this was said with a sneer. Rufus bared his teeth in Hojo's direction with a hiss.


Zack shifted in his seat on the Chocobo's back, feeling rather stiff, his attention divided in so many directions at once that it was impossible to really know what he was thinking anymore. In the end, he just had to fall back on his emotions to remember what he was doing any more.

He was worried for Aerith. She was still very pale, currently riding in the small cart drawn by the Chocobo, Nanaki laying with her to keep her warm even though it was getting quite toasty as the days bore on into summer. He was worried for Katy as well, not wanting to know what Sephiroth would be like if she were dead. He was worried for Cloud, the kid wasn't the greatest with a sword and he wasn't the strongest either and it was more than likely that Sephiroth would drive him into the ground and still demand more.

On top of that was the increased amount of monsters running around. They weren't the usual ones for the area, but new types, spawning from who knew what. He'd gotten waylaid by herds of them several times now that he'd crossed to the east continent, heading towards Cosmo Canyon. Nanaki had promised that place would be safe and that Sephiroth would be able to find them there. Zack had no idea how except that he had to trust in Sephiroth's tracking abilities or whatever he would use. Or if he got Katy, then she would probably know. He got the feeling that Nanaki knew more than he let on as well, but it was a different sort of knowledge, as if he were reading the Cetra as much as they read him. Everything was just too confusing.

Whatever happened to the simple labels of 'Good Guy' and 'Bad Guy'? People he trusted weren't so trustable anymore, people he'd been nervous about were now his greatest allies, and people he didn't even know were trying to destroy his chance for a future. Perhaps that was the way Sephiroth felt as well? Probably...

Taking a breath and sighing, Zack glanced back at the cart, "Doing alright back there?" he asked. Aerith's hand lifted and waved at him a bit. She hadn't spoken since the incident and he wondered if she could. To never hear her voice again? That would be torment... Perhaps someone in Cosmo would know what to do. For now, there was a town ahead and it was getting towards night. It was simply too unsafe to camp outside anymore, even with Nanaki's help. Nudging the Chocobo into a slightly faster walk, he crooned to it, promising a good night's rest with a good rubbing down with an oiled cloth and its favorite greens. The poor yellow warked in a rather dejected voice but did as it was asked.

The sun was setting as he came into town and upon crossing the short bridge over a wide crack in the earth, he dismounted and led the Chocobo towards the inn. Cold dread made him stop suddenly, the bird stepping forward a few more paces before its head was pulled down by the reigns. Sudden realization of why the area looked so familiar washed over him and nearly brought him to his knees. Great, perfect. He wasn't going to get out of here for DAYS! Gongaga Town, the place of his birth, where his parents lived, where everyone knew everyone else's name birthday, and had a tendency to know everyone else's business. It was too late to turn back now.

Nanaki lifted his head, "What's wrong?"

Swallowing, Zack shook his head, "Nothing," he sighed, "Just back at the place I started..." he shook his head firmly and started forward again, changing his direction, instead heading towards his parent's house. He'd never hear the end of it if he didn't go to them. He'd never hear the end of a lot of things if he did though. "Aerith, I'm sorry, I really didn't want to put you through this," he told her, "Nanaki, it'd be best if they just thought you were a dog. Save yourself the trouble of getting nagged at about things you can't help and stick with the Chocobo."

With trembling hands, he tied the bird to the hitch outside the house, unhooked the cart and pulled it over beside the house after Nanaki leapt from it. Reaching in, he carefully gathered Aerith up, blankets and all and carried her to the door. She had been asleep, but at this movement, she woke and opened her luminescent green eyes fully, sliding her arms around his neck. "Think you could knock for me?" he asked her, "I'll try to make them leave you alone, but I don't know if they will. They assume a lot of things." Her hand slid away from his shoulder and knocked on the splintering wood door of the semi-shack. Firmly, Zack closed his mouth, afraid that he would start babbling at her about things not to listen to, he figured he'd just have to distract his parents enough to keep them from bothering her.

There was a bit of shouting from within and finally the door opened, the light falling across them, nearly blinding. Aerith winced and Zack squinted at the hunched figure. Oh, perfect, his grandfather was there too. "ZACKARY!" was the enthusiastic shout.

"Zack!" his mother howled from within, "My poor baby has come home!" the woman crowded up to the door.

His father shouted then, "My BOY!" far too enthusiastic... They must be up to something.

Ma shoved her father-in-law aside and reached forward to take Aerith's hand, "Oh my dear! Are you our son's wife? How wonderful!"

"Mom-" Zack started.

"What's your name, sweetheart? Are you pregnant yet?"

"MOM!"

"Oh I know some good remedies for nausea!"

"MOM!" Zack shouted at the top of his lungs. "I'm not married to her. She's not pregnant. She's wounded, and you're going to leave her alone and let her sleep." He stepped in, pushing past his mother, heading over to the couch to carefully set Aerith down. To her credit, the half-Cetra looked amused. Grinding his teeth and taking a breath, he stood and turned to face his family. "And no, before you ask, I'm NOT here to stay. I've got somewhere else I have to be- I have to meet someone."

His mother's voice raised again, running right over him, "OF course you're staying, dear! We need you around the house! Your father's getting too old to do a lot of things and your cousin Kyle is about useless! Lilly missed you and you MUST tell us what you've been doing!"

Da moved over, grabbing Zack's arm, "Come! Sit!" Yanked off balance, he was shoved down to the floor at his mother's feet as the woman sat on the couch next to Aerith. "You look scrawny, boy, you should eat more."

Paps, seated in the clutches of his old rocking chair near the fire piped up, "What're you doin carrying around a sword boy? You don't know how to use one! You never did! You never will! Bloody idiot. Now back in my day, we all knew how to use weapons, we could take care of ourselves! None of this fumbling around like we don't know what we're doing!"

Zack ground his teeth again, taking slow and steady breaths, forced to close his eyes to keep his temper. Three years hadn't changed them at all. "Oh! You've got such muscular arms! Lilly will be so surprised!" Ma squealed with delight, squeezing Zack's arm appreciatively.

"He's a scrawny little whelp!" Paps asserted, pounding his fist on the arm of the chair. "A dishonor to our family name!" having gotten too excited, he began a hacking cough and Ma let go to run over to the old man and pound on his back.

Taking that chance, Zack shoved himself up to sit beside Aerith and whisper soft explanations to her. "Lilly's who they decided I'd be marrying, Paps has this stupid idea that everyone in the family is eight feet tall and four wide. Ma thinks drinking raw eggs and barley wheat will cure anything, so if she offers you any, refuse. Da's the sanest one in the place, but that's not saying much. He thinks body weight is all that matters."

Aerith gave a tired giggle behind her hand, eyes drooping, but their emerald color glimmering merrily beneath her dark lashes. For a moment, all sound ceased to register in his hearing as he looked at her. On a flirtatious whim, he leaned closer to murmur softly to her, "Tho, I hope my immediate disclaiming of being your husband doesn't make you think I don't want to marry you." She blushed brightly and moved her hand to push him away, but her eyes were still laughing and her lips pulled towards a suppressed smile.

"Ah!" Ma squeaked, "No no no no!" she huffed and pulled Zack over, sitting firmly between him and Aerith. "How terribly ungentlemanly! You're engaged, Zackary. How you could be so unfaithful to poor Lilly, I'll never know!"

Remembering where he was, Zack took a breath, "I am NOT engaged to Lilly. I don't like her."

Da spoke up again after filling his pipe and lighting it. "Now- where were you all this time?"

Sighing, Zack growled out his answer, "I joined SOLDIER."

"HA! Not likely! They don't let whelps like you in!" Paps shouted and started coughing again.

Giving a wail, Ma jumped to her feet again, "You haven't taken your medicine today, have you! I keep telling you if you drink-"

Waving his hand wildly, Paps fended the woman off as she tried to slap his back again, "To hell with your eggs and barley! It DOESN'T WORK!"

"I think that if you just ate more, son, you'd be just fine. Put on a bit more weight and no one could push you around." Zack leaned forward, putting his head in his hands. Aerith's small hand on his shoulder made him lift his head, her silent support doing much to calm him once again.

Sitting up as Ma sat between him and Aerith once more, she asked the inevitable, "So, dear, how did you get hurt?"

Aerith gave a sad smile and gestured towards Zack, who took up the explanation. "She was in a battle." How much could he tell them? Hell, on that thought, he could probably tell them everything and they'd believe none of it.

Paps snorted, "A battle? Girls shouldn't be in battles! Girls are too weak and frightened. And where were you, Mr. SOLDIER boy? You're not doing your job!"

"She can take care of herself!" Zack snapped back. "She was protecting someone else when she got injured." Leveling a glare at his grandfather, Zack growled, "and don't you ever insult her courage again. She's got more guts than you'll ever have." Aerith looked down at her knees, blushing deeply. "For now, both of us have had a very long trip and she needs rest. So if you have somewhere for her to sleep, then tell me where or we'll just pack out to the inn before it gets too late."

Ma leapt to her feet once again. "Oh, Zacky, your room is still empty. She can sleep in there!"

Giving a nod, Zack got to his feet and reached down to help Aerith to hers, supporting her as he walked with her into his room, settling her down on the rickety old bed. "I hope you don't mind," he whispered to her, "But I'm going to sleep outside."

She shook her head with a smile, her hands cupping his face and boldly placed a light and quick kiss on his lips. It was Zack's turn to blush and he looked away briefly, then met her eyes. "See you in the morning," he whispered and escaped the room, closing the door behind him.


Aerith was obviously feeling better, for she came out of his parents' house bright and early in the morning as Zack was sharpening Cloud's sword. The battered training equipment could be serviceable, but it wasn't the quality Zack was used to. He'd put this one into good shape, though, and use the new one he'd bought in the last town.

"Really, I should put a sign about a mile from town in all directions that says 'BEWARE: Rat Trap! All those who enter shall not escape!'"

Nanaki gave a soft grumbling laugh and looked up as Aerith approached and sat down on a sack of oats stacked beside the house. She smiled at them both. "Good morning, Lady," the dog/cat thing said to her. She gave a nod in return.

Zack wiped the last of the oil off the blade and sheathed it, taking up his new sword and started working on it. "Sleep well?" he asked her, "Breakfast will be an hour past sunrise-" looking up at the sun, he squinted, "So, that'll be in another twenty minutes." She nodded and probably got told that already. He heaved a sigh, "they're pretty nuts aren't they?"

"Not too bad," she whispered.

He felt as if his heart had just swollen like a balloon and exploded at the sound of her faint voice. Smiling to himself, Zack bent his head and put his hands back to work. "You think so? Hm. They're more polite to strangers I guess. Family is fair game."

She laughed softly once more, sliding down to sit beside him on the ground. "Thank you for letting me meet them. I don't have much family- and none that's really mine."

Lifting his head, Zack turned towards her, "You've got me, don't I count?" She smiled at him and his blush. "And Katy, and Cloud and Seph for that matter. Maybe even Nanaki if he wants to involve himself in the affairs of us two-legged morons."

Nanaki laughed softly this time, his tail lifting and falling slowly, "It would be a pleasure," he murmured, "My parents are dead as well. It would be nice to have siblings in spirit if not body."

Zack nodded in Nanaki's direction. "There, see? Who needs real family? They're a pain anyway." Aerith giggled softly again. "In any case, Paps did remind me of something. You should get a bit more training using that staff of yours. Since I'm not going to be able to escape this Rat Trap for at least a week, may as well start working on that."

"I was going to ask you to anyway," she replied softly, hand rubbing her throat a bit.

Swallowing, Zack lifted his hand to take hers, "Does it hurt still?"

A smile touched her lips, "The memory of it, yes... those awful 'What If' questions that keep me awake when I'm alone."

He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. "I know. I'm betting Sephiroth is beating himself up about the same things right now. As am I, but we have to keep faith that she's still alive... for Sephiroth's sanity, and ours as well."

She nodded slightly, lifting her other hand to clasp his, putting his fingers to her forehead. "It still... I can't help but think about Katy when you brought her back from Nibelheim. I'm sorry, Zack, I put myself in a dangerous place and how you found me..." she took a breath, swallowing, "It must have hurt you so much."

Setting the sword aside, he pulled her close, tucking her against his chest, burying his hands in her hair, "No, don't think about it like that. It's over and done, you weren't killed and that's what matters to me right now. We'll just not let something like that happen again. Come on, let's get some work done before things start getting hectic around here."

Releasing her, Zack stood, wiped his sword down and sheathed it, reaching into the cart to get Aerith's new staff and her old one from their cart. He'd taken the chance to buy her a better weapon as well. Handing her the new one, he moved to a cleared area- which happened to be the road. "I'll show you some Kata that will give you some basic moves to practice. So just follow what I do." He looked towards her, watching as she moved to stand beside him and took hold of her staff in a similar position.

Sliding down into a stance, he lowered one end of the staff, the other tucked against his side- she mimicked. As he moved through the steps, she followed nearly flawlessly and by the third walk through, they were working in sync. By the time Ma came out, Zack had lost track of where he was in the flow of motion and pleasure of working with Aerith so closely that he didn't realize that they'd gotten an audience. Coming to a stop, he wiped his forehead with one arm, "We'll work on sparing after breakfast and a bit of rest," he told Aerith and she smiled and followed him inside.

"So, what were you two doing?" Ma asked conversationally as she set the folding table that now occupied the front room of the small house, the couch and chair pushed back against the far wall.

Sighing, Zack pulled a chair out for Aerith and pushed her in before having a seat next to her. "Training," he stated.

Paps, who had tottered in just in time to hear that remark huffed, "Looked like playing with sticks!"

Grinding his teeth, Zack looked towards his grandfather, "The staff is Aerith's preferred weapon and it's best to teach someone using their weapon than forcing them to use another. Mostly she's a spell caster though."

Da entered from his bedroom, scratching his heavily bearded chin thoughtfully, "Is that so? So what do you use?"

"Sword," Zack replied and firmly ignored his grandfather's guffaw of disbelief. He continued, "I was trained personally by General Sephiroth." Another snort of disbelief was given.

Ma piped up, giving her rather useless opinion to those gathered, "I don't think that General is a good influence on you, hon. He seems a bit too old to be proper friends with."

Aerith laughed behind her hands, "He's only seventeen," she spoke up with, "And he's a wonderful friend." This, having been the first time, Aerith had spoken to them, and with such strange information as Sephiroth's real age caused a general silence to fall. Zack covered his smile with one hand, leaning his elbow on the table.

"Well, I suppose if you say so, dear," Ma replied. "I heard he was a real killer though."

Zack shook his head, "Only when he has to be, certainly not since he got a girlfriend. He's a lot easier to deal with now."

Aerith giggled. "Only because she so distracting, she flirts almost as much as you do." Though her voice was still weak and cracked, Zack could hear the playfulness within it.

Lifting his hand to his breast, he straightened, "I'll have you know that I haven't flirted with anyone else but you since our meeting."

She nodded, "and I appreciate that," she replied.

Ma, meanwhile, finished setting the table and putting breakfast out. Zack swiftly served Aerith first, then himself and left everyone else to fend for themselves. "Now, Zack, don't get attached to her, you know you're going to marry Lilly."

"I thought we were over this, Mom, I'm NOT marrying Lilly."

Waving her fork and putting one hand on her ample hip, she frowned, "And now what's wrong with Lilly? She's not sick or anything! Quite a healthy young girl."

Shaking his head, Zack replied, "For one, she's seven years older than me, second, she weighs more than I do, and third, health is the ONLY thing she's got going for her! If she at least had a nice laugh I could just sit in the dark with her, but she squawks like a cat that got stepped on!" Aerith turned bright red with her hastily contained laughter.

"That's your problem! You're too picky!" Da spoke up with, "If you'd just eat more, you wouldn't have to worry about how much she weighs. I think she's a fine mate for you." Reaching over, he dumped more grits onto Aerith's plate, "Here, eat some more, you're barely more than bones."

Paps started coughing, splattering half chewed biscuit across his plate. "Ohh! You haven't taken your medicine again, have you. I keep telling you to drink eggs and barley and that cough will go away for good! Why, I haven't had an ache in years!"

Aerith leaned closer to Zack and whispered into his ear, "You're right, they are nuts."

Turning, he replied just as softly, "The whole town is like this."

She laughed, "You're lucky to have escaped." He nodded empathically. Paps and Ma had started arguing at the tops of their lungs, which was a pretty good volume about the restorative properties of eggs and barley while Da continued dumping more onto Aerith and Zack's plates. "Good thing Cloud isn't here. He'd get sucked in and that'd be the last we'd see of him," Aerith stated after a while longer and Zack burst out into a loud laugh. "Neither would Seph, I think," she added after Zack managed to stifle himself into periodic giggles. But her further comment got him laughing again. Bending forward, he snorted with mirth and giggled his way through the rest of breakfast.

Helping Aerith to her feet, he took her back outside, ignoring his mother's call that he help his father with this or that chore. "I have more important things to worry about than your firewood. He can do it on his own. If he needs help, there's always Kyle." With that, he closed the front door and they took up their staves again.

By now, Gongaga's residents had finished their own breakfasts and were moving about. Handing Aerith her staff, he turned to face her, saluted and stepped back a few paces. She mimicked, trying to look soldierly as she did and they faced off, Zack sliding down into a good stance. Aerith waited where she was, feet slightly apart, but weight balanced between them. He slipped his stick forward between his hands, jabbing for her. She twisted aside, knocking his stab aside. He tried a few more attacks, sweeping his staff towards her side. She blocked again and returned to her original stance.

"Good balance," he told her. She smiled. "Your turn," she nodded and came at him with a quick whirl of her staff, swinging it down at his head. He blocked, but she was already moving again, heading towards his leading leg. He skittered back and blocked again. She followed with another swing from the other end of her staff. He blocked this one as well. "Good!" he told her encouragingly. "Lets pick up the pace a little."

Aerith moved in for another side attack, spinning her staff for a slash at his legs directly after. He retreated, blocking, then attacked between one of her attacks, forcing her back a step, exchanging a few block-attacks back and forth there, then forced her back another step. Quickly picking up speed, they danced across the road, the clack of the staves striking each other eventually becoming the only sound in town. Aerith was an experienced fighter, having learned her moves by necessity in the slums of Midgar. She could defend herself against some pretty nasty creatures, but had been caught off guard by the attack on herself and Katy. Now, however, she was weak from the ordeal and needed to get back into practice.

At last, they ended the bout with a simultaneous stunning blow. Zack straightened from his crouch, rubbing his chest where she'd hit. She rubbed her head and gave a laugh, "That was rather fun."

He nodded, "Tired, or do you want to go again?"

Blushing, she forced herself to not look around, "Again, I think. But with your sword this time."

Zack was about to protest that he'd just sharpened it, but her reassuring smile showed that she had remembered that too and it would be alright. He gave a nod and moved to get his sword. Returning to the street, he watched as she cast a Shell on herself and settled into a fighting crouch. She followed suit.

Stepping forward lightly, Zack started the bout with a poke at her defenses. She blocked the jab as well as the next swing. "Almost makes me wish I had Buster back," Zack commented as he twirled away from her counter attack.

Aerith smiled, "It was very nice of you to give it to Cloud." The ring of wood and metal as their weapons collided and she put her weight behind a block that held for a moment. As one, they pushed away and spun around in opposite directions, circling and reengaging in a quick flurry of blows.

Breaking off again, they circled the other direction, searching each other for openings. Aerith could find none in Zack's defense though she was sure he saw plenty but was being polite enough not to point them out at the moment. He smiled in return, "Hey, he needed something to believe in. Our telling him he was good wasn't going to work till he went out and proved himself to himself."

"Hey!" Paps's voice shouted, "You two havin a quarrel? Girls shouldn't fight like that!"

Zack attacked, slipping in and spinning Aerith around, then twirled back in for a quick up close exchange. "Just ignore him. Focus on me," he told her before he slid away again. She nodded, setting her lips as people began to cheer or jeer depending on who they were rooting for. The back of Zack's mind noted that he had the most cheers from the men, though the women were rooting for Aerith.

Aerith took her turn to attack and pressed in- and in what seemed an accidental slip up, ended up getting close enough to Zack to wrap her arms around one of his arms, pinning him a moment. "Now, if you had a dagger in your blouse you could stab me a few times," Zack commented.

"How do you know I don't?"

He laughed and they broke off, "Point for you then," he replied as they circled again.

Aerith's brows lifted, "We're keeping score now?"

Giving a shrug, which Zack broke stance briefly to give, shifted out of the way as the point of her staff came at him in several sharp jabs. Finally sliding back into the spar, they exchanged a few more attack-block patterns before Zack slid in to poke her shield in the region of her thigh, but pulled his blow.

She smiled, "Guess that's a point for you then. You shouldn't baby me though. How will I learn anything if you don't tell me what I need to fix?"

He backed up when Aerith attacked once more, swinging her staff from one side to the other, randomly aiming high and low. Zack grinned broadly, "I'm just seeing what you're capable of right now. You're not as bad as you think. It'd probably take someone trained traditionally to take you down. Which means that probably the attackers were SOLDIER at one point. I didn't get much chance to look at them, but they weren't thugs."

Aerith nodded, slamming the end of her staff down at his leading foot. With a yelp, he bounced back. "Oh! I'm sorry-" She broke stance.

"No, was a fair shot!" Zack replied, now favoring that foot a bit though his hard-toed boots had helped quite a bit. "Keep going!"

Falling back into stance, she tried for a downwards blow to the head. Lifting his sword, he blocked and winced as she switched in the middle of the attack, pulling her staff back and jabbed at his chest. "Damn-" he muttered, "That's one Seph's always onto me about. I thought he was just kidding too!"

She laughed, "He's not that nitpicky is he?"

Zack shifted back away from her and they circled again, "He's a fucken perfectionist! Drives us all nuts! He doesn't care much about anyone but his First Classers, which sucked for us- till Katy came along."

He came to a stop as the ground around her suddenly shifted, blue-green light swirling up around her. Aerith stopped as well, looking down, "Hey-" Zack started to protest, but the light didn't look like any sort of spell he'd seen before.

Clasping her hands together on her staff she lifted her chin, a blissful smile coming across her lips, eyes closed. The light flowed up around her, past her head, then settled back to the ground. Opening her eyes, she smiled widely, "They're alive!" she announced, "Katy just called for some Chocobos. She's got Sephiroth with her, and I think Cloud, and maybe five others or a lot of baggage."

Zack pumped his fist. "Yeah!" running over to her, he swept her up in a hug and spun around. Finally setting her down, he put his hands to her shoulders. "Any idea where they're heading?"

She shook her head, "No, but Katy should be able to feel us wherever we go- or me at any rate- once they get across the ocean."

Nodding, Zack leaned back on his heels pondering, arms folding on his chest and sword clasped in one hand, blade pointed behind. "We'll stick to the original plan then. S'only fair we take Nanaki home." She smiled charmingly. "It might take a few days for them to get this far at the least, with so many of them. Wow. Five more in the fight. Wonder if they're who I think they might be. They'd follow Sephiroth into the pits of hell if he wanted to pick a fight there."

Aerith looked a bit sick at that thought, "I'm afraid we may have to."

Lifting his hands, the one holding his sword easily clipping it to his back, he cupped her face, raising her chin, "I'll be by your side." Her staff fell with a clatter as she threw her arms around his shoulders.

"I know," she said into his chest.

Only belatedly did Zack remember the audience, and realized that the cheering had stopped- now, however, everyone was applauding, which made him blush rather brightly. Looking down, he could see Aerith's ears were bright red. Ah, so that was why she'd stuffed her face against his chest.


Zack sat back in the grass as he looked up at the brilliant blue sky. He'd taken to heading out of town for Aerith's training instead of right there in the street. Three days had passed and he really wanted out of town, but every time he started packing things, he'd find them unpacked the moment he turned his back. He was going to have to leave in the middle of the night if he was going to get away it seemed. Aerith was the second reason he hadn't gotten around to leaving. She had taken up healing people who needed it and seemed to enjoy helping people, on top of that, she still needed rest, but she was doing much better.

Firmly, he avoided the town politics and chores his mother insisted he do and anything else involving town that he knew would tie him there even harder. He wasn't afraid of commitment; Zack simply knew that they had somewhere else they needed to go.

Aerith sighed from where she leaned against his shoulder, eyes half lidded. He made sure not to leave her unprotected the way he had before. So careless he'd been, but now he knew how important she was to his own sanity. No, he made sure not to get overprotective. That would kill her just as swiftly as any stab in the heart.

"You know," she murmured, reaching over to pick a blade of grass and twirl it between her fingers. "I get this... feeling... in town, that something isn't quite right. I'm not sure what though. People seem on edge, like they're carrying on like they always do just to keep the cut of fear from overwhelming them. The earth here seems disturbed. Your mother seems so relieved when we come back after coming out here."

Zack shook his head slightly, "She's always been like that," he replied.

She sat up, opening her eyes to look at his face, pressing her lips together. "Even you noticed that there's people missing around here."

Looking away briefly, he nodded slightly, "But there's logical explanations of that. Gregory likes to get away from town and go camping this time of year. Phaedra probably ran off with someone who came through town. She's always had a thing for foreigners. Who knows, maybe it was a Cetra from Earth?"

"What about the mayor? He went out with four men the morning after we arrived and hasn't been back. They were armed to the teeth."

Lifting a hand, Zack rubbed his forehead, than pinched the bridge of his nose. "Those four have always had overactive imaginations. They make up monsters just to go out chasing."

Nibbling her lower lip, Aerith looked away. "But do they always take the mayor with them?"

All he could say was, "Well, no..." On third thought, he added, "And if there is a monster, what do you suggest we do? Go after it ourselves? What if it's a dragon?"

She smiled at him. Sometimes he hated it when she smiled- he knew she was pulling that string on his heart. Giving a sigh, he muttered, "Fine... fine..."

Aerith's smile didn't change, but she did hug him. Returning the hug, he got to his feet and picked up his sword. She followed his example and they headed back towards town. As they entered, Aerith split off to visit with someone else, all the men who were tied to current chores and unattached turning to look and some bold ones making up reasons to visit the sweet healer. Zack continued on with only one glance back.

Stepping into his parents' house, he found only his mother washing dishes. "Hey Ma, where did Henry and his group go?" He paused, "And Paps and Da for that matter."

Her hands stilled and for a moment, Zack could only hear his own breathing. "They went out hunting," she said finally.

Raising his chin slightly, "Ma," he said softly, moving closer, "There's something out there, isn't there?" She wouldn't look at him, even as he moved to peek, she turned her head. "And you don't want me going out and getting it."

Her teeth clenched, the soft and wrinkled flesh of her jaw pulling tight. At last, she said, "Go get some firewood and bring it in boy. You ask too many questions."

"Which way did they go?"

"I SAID go get that firewood!" she turned towards him, stomping her foot in anger.

Zack shook his head, "And I've already told you I'm not here to do your chores. Mother! Tell me which way they went! I'm First Class, I can handle it!" She started to repeat her direction on the firewood, but he turned his back and left. Once outside, he met with Aerith again, "Da and Paps have gone out for it too, Ma wouldn't say which way they went."

Aerith closed one eye in thought. "No one will tell me either," she murmured, "I guess if they went, I could track either one of them through the Planet, but if they weren't heading for the monster it would be useless."

Folding his arms, Zack heaved a sigh of indecision. "What else can we do but head out and look for the bloody thing?"

They were interrupted by a scream, and he turned towards the road into town. A man came limping down it, one of Henry's men, Magoru, using a stick to prop himself up with. "There's our sign," Aerith murmured and ran towards the man as he collapsed, "Full Life!" she cast upon him, light flowing up from the ground vibrantly around the fallen man. After a moment, she helped him to sit up.

"-killed Henry straight off!" he man whispered as Zack made his way over, eyes wide and frightened. "Jakob was runnin the other direction when I started runnin. He didn't make it. The bugger slapped him in the back with its tail and stomped him flat!" Magoru burst into exhausted sobs.

Kneeling next to Aerith, he rested is arm across his raised knee. "Where did you find it?"

Magoru shook his head, "No- no! I ain sendin you two out to get killed too!" he gasped for air as others gathered, looking at each other nervously. Glancing up, Zack's gaze met that of a young man with dark hair and much heavier build than Zack's. Kyle held his gaze firmly, then gave a nod. Taking hold of Magoru, he and one of the other men helped the exhausted man to his house and once settled, Zack left to find Kyle.

He found the boy hacking at logs behind his parents' house. "So, you had something to tell me?" Zack started without preamble and leaned against the side of the house, arms folded on his chest.

Without skipping a beat in his chopping, Kyle didn't look up, but replied, "I might."

Grinding his teeth, Zack sighed, "Alright, fine, what do you want? I can't give you Aerith, she's not mine to give if that's what you want."

Kyle stopped this time, straightening from his latest chop. "Look, I've grown up in the last few years. I'm not out to steal your girls anymore!" Pressing his lips together, Zack quirked a brow. Kyle looked away, lifting a hand to scratch his shoulder. "I want out. Let me come with you, Zack- I swear I can lead you right to that bloody thing, but if you're really friends with the General, you can get him to teach me sword! I'd do ANYTHING! Zack please... This place is driving me insane. I'm starting to think that maybe runny eggs and barley might actually do something good for me!"

Giving a snort, Zack looked the boy over. "You're sure you know where it is?"

"Yeah, I've been out hunting its lair down while Henry and the others were chasing it around with torches. It's a big sucker but doesn't seem to like fire much." Kyle wiped his arm across his forehead. "Let me help fight it too?"

Frowning, Zack shook his head. "No, I won't let you fight it, Kyle, if the bloody thing killed Henry and most of his gang, then-"

"They're not dead. It eats them, sure, but slowly. It keeps them alive for a few days as it eats them." Kyle swallowed, "It got Phaedra, Zack. I hear her screaming still, out in the forest."

Gritting his teeth, Zack shook his head again, "All the more reason to not have you there at all. If they're not dead, I've got time to find it on my own."

Kyle stepped over his pile of chopped logs, grabbing the front of Zack's shirt, "LISTEN to me! That thing's got a sack of eggs as big as three houses put together and by the looks of it, they're about ready to hatch. They're going to want something to eat when they get out. We haven't got time! Please!"

"It'll be alright." The two turned to look towards Aerith who stood at the corner of the house, smiling, "We'll protect him, Zack. This shouldn't be too hard."

Teeth feeling like they were about to shatter from the pressure, Zack finally nodded. "Fine," came out in a hiss. Kyle released Zack's shirt and the young man moved past Aerith to their cart, getting Cloud's sword from it and held it out to his cousin. Kyle took the sword, gulping with fear and pride, then removed the sheath, taking a few swings with it before nodding, as if he'd appraised the weapon and it passed. Zack was surprised he knew which end to hold. "Lets get going then.


After an hour of walking in the woods they'd come to the caves. Zack just knew it had to be the caves. The one place he hated going, where his friends had taken him once and left him lost in the dark. He'd fallen down a crack and broke his leg and had gotten stuck for four hours with the water rising around his hips. The cold water still tormented him in his dreams, creeping up to his chest.

Trembling, he stopped at the entrance to the caves. "Lets... rest here a moment," he suggested.

Kyle eyed Zack, then sighed, "Oh come on, don't tell me you're still-"

"I SAID," Zack asserted, "We'll rest here a moment." Aerith certainly needed it. She sat down in the grass outside the cave, letting the cool air wash over her in a refreshing breeze. Settling down into the grass beside her, he removed his pack, frowning as he realized he'd brought no lights. Damn it all. They'd have to make torches. Instead of cursing, he handed Aerith something to eat and drink and took a bit for himself, wishing he had some brandy instead of water.

Kyle muttered something about going to take a piss and wandered off. Aerith, leaning closer whispered, "What's wrong. You're really pale..."

Swallowing, he was about to simply laugh and say it was nothing, or change the subject, but he made the mistake of looking into her eyes. "I got stuck down there when I was seven, for four hours in a crack with a broken leg and the tide coming in."

Her eyes went wide, "Oh my- you didn't have any problem with the Mythril cavern..." she wondered, though sympathetically.

Zack licked his lips and shook his head, "Cause those are used so often there's no way you could get lost. These caves have been the town's playground for generations. They're unmapped except in the heads of those who've gone in to explore. There's all sorts of cracks and ledges and walls to climb up down, around and through and sometimes even in. I wish Kyle had warned me we were coming here. I should have brought lights."

Her hands clasped his warmly, "We can make torches, we've at least got rope, right?" Zack nodded numbly. "We'll be alright if we stick together."

Kyle returned and eyed them. "Ready to go yet?" Zack took a breath and got to his feet, helping Aerith up, then grabbed his bag, pulling out the rope and coiling it over his shoulder for later use.

Kyle turned towards the dark hole of the cave, leading down the rocky path into it. "Don't worry about light, I've got one," he pulled one out of his pocket and waggled it. Cold dread stole into Zack's heart. That was the way they'd lost him last time too.

"Wait. I'd rather have more than one," he protested.

"Are you yellow or something?" Kyle sneered.

Aerith folded her arms, "I don't think this is trivial enough to go calling people names, Kyle. People's lives are at stake here. I'd rather have my own light as well." This vote on Zack's side shut the boy up quickly and Zack stepped away to make a pair of torches. Returning with them, he held them out while Aerith cast a small controlled fire spell on them, then handed one to her.

The path continued flat into the cave as a portion of the ceiling had flaked off long ago and landed in relatively one piece. Once out of the main chamber of the cave, however, things got quite a bit more rocky and they frequently had to toss their torches ahead up onto ledges then climb after while Kyle simply clipped his to his belt. In places, they even had to use the rope to get themselves and their gear up.

Damp air tickled them, made their clothes feel heavy and chill, drops of water trickled down from the ceiling, and still no sign of Kyle's monster. Zack was beginning to wonder what was going on. Henry's men hadn't been equipped for cave diving either. He breathed out a sigh- and stared as it misted. The torches went out. Kyle's light remained steady. Stifling his curse, Zack turned a slow circle, peering into the closing darkness. It hadn't been so cold in there a second ago. Nor had there been a breeze to put the torches out.

Kyle's light flickered, then clicked off. He hadn't been facing that direction, but in his heart, he knew that Kyle had turned it off. Stupid childish prankster thought it was FUNNY! "Aerith," he said softly. There was no reply. Shivering in the cold, he thought of calling again. No. There was something in there with them, though it probably knew where they were already.

He blinked a few times, beginning to realize that...

He could SEE!

Everything had a faint blue-green reflection off it, pulsing like Lifestream. Every rock and crevice- and... oh shit. Yeah hell they weren't alone. He drew his sword, the sing of metal breaking the silence. He turned at last to look towards the direction Kyle and Aerith had been only to find them gone, but a brilliant blue-green light off to the side that was moving around a corner. "Shit," he hissed and took off after them. "Kyle, this is not fucken funny! We've got COMPANY!"

The eight legged owners of the cave scampered after him. At least the path Kyle had chosen to haul Aerith down in the dark had been smoothed by eons of water flowing down it and easy to walk. Zack had never been to this portion of the caves before and did not know where it lead. He stumbled as he stepped out of a short tunnel into what had to be the most breathtaking of rooms he'd ever seen.

Stalactites and mites filled the room, some forming columns and rows of stone waterfalls pouring down from the ceiling. Every detail was picked out in his strange fairy-fire light of blue-green, rippling as if covered in water. Kyle had his light on again, holding Aerith's hands. "I wanted to get a moment with you alone..." he was saying.

A hiss behind Zack caused him to spin around, remembering the danger they were in. Aerith pulled her hands from Kyle's. "So you brought us out here? Don't you realize that people are going to die-" she started.

"Oh let them!" Bad thing to say.

Zack skittered to the side as the two-segmented body of the creature made a rush for him, stabbing towards him with one of its legs. He swung his sword down hitting the creature and sending it skittering away from him. Zack backed towards the two, finally coming into range of the light. "Sorry to interrupt your little attempt at romancing my girlfriend, but we have COMPANY and it'll fucken be YOUR death you're looking at."

Kyle yelped, hadn't seen the creature. "How did you find us in the dark!" Zack turned to look at him, but only briefly. "Holy shit! Your EYES GLOW!"

"I'm First Class SOLDIER," Zack pointed out. "Now, we've got thirteen arachnid looking critters in this room with us, and none of them look like they just want to have tea."

Waving a disbelieving hand, Kyle huffed, "You're just making that up to look tough." One of the spiders chose that moment to dart forward into the light. It got a hard stab in its back quarters for the attempt and Zack tried to put as much of his weight behind the attack as he could. He merely sent the creature skittering back into the darkness. "Okay, maybe you're not lying, but Holy I can't SEE them, how can you!"

Kyle... stupid as ever, Zack mused as he took up a position just outside of the light, making his way around the pair after tossing his pack over to them to allow for his maximum amount of movement. The spiders closed in slowly, creeping, intending to take out the one that showed the most amount of resistance first. Aerith had taken out her staff and stood at the ready within the light while Kyle attempted to look tough by casually holding Cloud's sword at something that looked like ready.

Zack was stopped from having the chance to think of any snide comments about his cousin's lack of morals when two of the spiders attacked at once. He blocked one by turning the flat of his wide blade towards it and dodged the other. His momentum from the half-step was translated into a swing towards his left as another spider stabbed a leg towards him. His blade gave a singing swish and buzzed from the impact, sliding with sparks up to the joint of the spider's leg and bit deeply.

The spider hissed in displeasure and pain and retreated, only to be replaced by another. Zack was quickly getting surrounded and he knew he could not defend from all sides at once. He made a break through a hole when he saw one, slashing at the spider that seemed most likely to make an attempt for his legs as he passed, their backs standing at about knee height, it was the perfect place to take him down. He got lucky again and stabbed it between the eyes as it turned towards him. Unfortunately, his sword got stuck there and Zack swung the flailing body, knocking more spiders aside with it as he went, finally dislodging the corpse and sending it to land with a crack in the circle of light. Kyle started and seemed about to go screaming after the critter before he realized that it was dead already.

Two more had crawled in to the cavern to replace the fallen one. "Shit-" Zack hissed, "There's too many," he called and finally managed to hack the leg off one fairly high up in one swing as it reached towards him. He skittered into the light once again, the creatures following in a wave. "Kyle, take Aerith- get out of here. I'll draw them off. They don't like the light."

Aerith lifted her chin slightly, "I can help," she said firmly.

"There's TOO MANY," Zack reasserted with a grunt as he dodged the waves of attacks, spinning and chopping with rather little style, "I kill one," he resorted to kicking one in the head as it came at him. It cracked and caved with a splatter, "but two more appear. We're retreating." Finally, she accepted that answer and grabbed Kyle's arm, bringing him to reality as he'd been a bit busy watching what he could see of Zack flickering in and out of the light, reflections off Zack's sword and the backs of the spiders as they both flowed like water.

Finally, Kyle started moving, heading deeper into the cavern. A dark form reared up in their way with a hiss. Aerith reacted first, swinging her staff down hard. The head caved in and the creature writhed in its death throes as she grabbed Kyle's arm and dragged him onwards, leaving it in the dark. The sound of Zack's sword singing through the air and connecting with loud clangs against the tough outer skeletons of the spiders followed them; the only reassurance that he was still tagging along. Two more spiders moved to flank Aerith and Kyle.

Spinning around in front of Kyle and to his other side, she stabbed the end of her staff at the spider there, then flung her hand back, "ICE!" Kyle stared in fascination as another spider slithered out of the darkness and jumped towards them. Aerith twisted out of the way from where it would land, spiking it with a downwards slam of her staff when it landed, her blow breaking through the joint between its head and back. He begun to theorize that lying about knowing where the monster was had been a bad idea.

Three more came in from the darkness, and Kyle was forced to move as well, flailing the sword Zack had given him at the creatures in an imitation of what he thought fighting should look like. He dropped the light as he was pushed off balance by one spider alone and staggered back. Aerith spun around, cracking her staff across the creature's head and sending it down, but two more came to replace it. "Ice!" she cast again on one that came flying through the dark at Kyle's head. "Aim for their heads!" she told him as she fenced back the other two of the original group that had come into the light.

Turning, he flailed the sword at the spider that was closest, finally hitting something and getting his blade stuck in it. The creature's many legs flailed, he flailed, screaming in terror as he struck the other spider coming after him with the still moving corpse of the first, managing to finally dislodge his sword but the second regained its balance and came after him. The end of Aerith's staff stabbed into its eye.

Aerith took a moment to sweep up the light again, clipping it firmly to Kyle's belt and shoved him onwards. "Keep moving!" she hissed at him and they did. Zack reappeared in the light briefly, holding back a group of six that crawled over each other in a writhing mass of legs in their single-minded goal of trying to get him. He left them dead, one by one, but more joined, jumping in from odd angles.

Aerith, in her wake, left spikes of ice and corpses with single holes in them. Kyle... left nothing. He could barely get a hit on them. They were too fast.

At last, they burst into the light, the mob of spiders flowing out after them. After the initial blindness in which Zack seemed to transition the slowest, the spiders moved to the trees surrounding this second entrance to the cave system beginning to set up webs to fence their prey in. Aerith mercilessly cast Ice upon the lines and broke them with her staff, still dragging Kyle along behind her. Zack dodged and blocked as best he could as he stumbled through the (to him) overly intense light, following after.

They broke out of the trees and only a few spiders dared to follow into the grassy plains, there they were killed and the group took a moment to breathe. "Kyle... I could wring your fucking neck, you know that? A fucking STUPID way to make moves on a girl! If you honestly thought you could impress her by being tough, then you're DEAD wrong. If I hadn't been able to see, you WOULD be DEAD wrong!"

Aerith's hand on his shoulder stopped him from socking Kyle's overweight mug but that didn't stop the heat burning in Zack's eyes as he panted.

"Zack- you're bleeding!" she breathed and placed her hands over the wound, casting a cure. He looked back at the scrape on his back. "Ran into something, not sure if it was a spider or rock. Wasn't paying too much attention to that." He shook his head, letting he heal him, but not playing up the 'Wounded Soldier' the way Kyle would have. Zack didn't need to work to get her attention. He'd have liked to have just brushed her off completely, but knew he needed to be in shape.

Brushing some webbing from his hair, Zack scowled at his cousin, "Now, do you KNOW where the monster Da and Paps went after IS?"

Looking away in guilt, Kyle did not answer. "Just as I thought. You know you wasted three hours of daylight with that stunt? I'm not here on a fucking luxury trip, you know. Aerith, I think we should leave tonight- before any MORE town politics and stupid stunts pull us into this damn cesspit of insanity."

Her eyes met his, "We can't just leave them- you KNOW there's something out there. I know there is! It just feels evil and what if children who don't know of the monsters in that cave go to play in there?"

Zack winced. "We're not properly supplied and it's almost night. We'll never get back to town in the dark and it's too dangerous out here."

Kyle made the mistake of opening his mouth, "You get it all, don't you? The looks, the charm, the strength, and the girls and I get nothing! It's just not fair-"

Before Aerith could restrain him, Zack lashed out, landing his fist right in the center of Kyle's whining mouth. "Shut the fuck up!" he snapped, "I don't want to hear any bitching out of you. You got us into this mess, it's a rather ADULT mess, so grow up and help us get out of it! Moron." Aerith pressed her lips together with a sigh and frowned at the spider blood splattered across them all. With a regretful sigh, she simply clipped her staff back onto its harness on her back and looked around.

"Either we make camp or start for town," she said finally, drawing the two men back to business. "I think we should head towards town."

Zack rubbed his forehead. "Two things, we're on the other side of that cave system, meaning that we're four hours away from town, and we'd have to go back into the forest for the straightest path. Or, we could take the long route, which will get us there by morning from the south side. How far do you feel like walking?"

She looked up at the glowing orangey yellow sky, frowning. "I just... have a feeling that something is wrong back there." Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she turned, and started south. "If we hurry, maybe we'll get there in time."

Giving a nod, Zack followed her. Kyle, still nursing his fat lip, stared sullenly at the two, then followed, not wanting to be left alone in the dark.