She hovered over the ground, as her large tentacles passed over the fresh green grass, they wilted and turned black. Turning her face towards the sky, she admired each tendril of smoke as they drifted into the air and the baby blue sky.

She turned her head back towards the area of the burning and smirked. How those Cetra had deserved it. She nearly shivered with excitement thinking back to how the Cetra had tried to fight back and how she snapped each of their tiny little bones and threw them into the fire.

Ahh how beautiful fire is…

How she had laughed, as each of them screamed in agony and begged the Planet to end their pains. They had died screaming.

She began to laugh again, how funny it was, to have somebody die screaming. How their last cries stick in their throats as their life was extinguished. She sniffed, her nose taking in the putrid smell of burning flesh. How sweet the sent was to her nose.

Aah yes, afterwards, she would soon fish their bodies out of the fire and slice off their heads (if it already hadn't fallen off) and fashion them as trophies… perhaps even to play a little catch with the other Cetra…

The other Cetra…

Her eyes flashed in anger and annoyance, then the feeling dissipated almost as quickly as it had come.

Those damn Cetra. She thought. Where do they hide now?

It was too much like the last time she had dealt with those damned "protectors of the Planet". Did they think they were special? Given "powers" and all.

She was about to throw a fit, but she managed to calm herself before she stooped to that level.

Raging, storming, and destroying will not find the Cetra. She reminded herself. Calm yourself. It takes patience and hard work to find them…

And when she found those Cetra, she would take her time, breaking every last one of them. Oh yes… she—

Some presence was near. She quickly did a three hundred sixty degree scan. Nothing. How could it be? What dared to spy upon her! She searched everywhere and came with the same results.

Then she noticed. The presence… was so… familiar. Ah yes… the foolish human general that thought himself her son.

Son? Is that you? She attempted to communicate with the presence, making her tone sickly-sweet.

She hated to be so sickly-sweet and ickly-poo and how she hated to poise as a human weakling's mother, but it was necessary. The human was a child of the Planet, and his blood was needed to summon Meteor.

She almost laughed. Sephiroth. The strategy genius, yet so gullible and foolish enough to fall for a simple trick. Either he was just plain stupid or… just desperate. It didn't matter to her. He was the perfect puppet.

Speak to me, son! She thought, her voice giving a fake squeak of joy. You know how much mother loves you! It would pain me so much if you did not respond.

She waited. Only silenced answered her call to her human "son".

Son?

Still nothing.

SON!

She began to scream. Her voice terrible and high-pitched. Her cry was so powerful and loud that life miles from her wilted and died.

She had lost her precious puppet to those damn Cetra!

-----

Son? Is that you?

Who was that, speaking to him? His thoughts were fuzzy and unfocused in his head, but he knew that voice from somewhere. It was so familiar and it was a female speaking… just who was it?

Wait… she had called him 'son'. It did not sound like Lucrecia… so was it…

JENOVA!

He panicked, how was he going to wriggle out of this one. If he didn't reply, Jenova would suspect something, if he did reply, she would find where the Cetra were hiding.

Speak to me, son! You know how much mother loves you! She crooned. He heard an additional fake squeak of joy.

You liar. He thought angrily. How dare you she call him 'son' when the only one with permission to call him that was his true mother? He wondered how he could've even thought that Jenova had been his monster in the first place.

Son?

He decided not to answer, even if it did blow his cover, he didn't want to risk all the lives of those Cetra. He would never be able to meet his mother or Aeris if he did so.

SON!

He sensed her voice and the anger in it. He knew now that this beast didn't really have feelings of love.

Then he heard a shrill cry that rang through his ears and into his head. He mentally tried to block out the sound, but found that he couldn't. He quickly cut off their mental link, almost like slamming a door in someone's face.

But that scream remained in his mind, always shrill and going on forever.

Another voice joined in, a man's. Pain filled his head… and… his… thoughts.. were… dulled… more… f------uuuzzzzyyy…. Thhhheeenn… evveerrr….

Was that him screaming? He wasn't too sure……………………….

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

His eyes snapped open, and he was breathing hard. He peered around the unfamiliar room he was in. Just as his eyes wandered to the door, Aeris and two others came in, a male and a female, both in their middle ages.

There was the woman that stood next to Aeris, who looked extremely like her. She could have nearly passed for Aeris' twin, but older. He looked at the man… the man… was too familiar for it to be right…

The man peered at him, pushing his glasses up his nose and scratching nonchalantly at his cheek.

"What's wrong, Nefilim? We heard you scream…" Aeris asked, never minding the blank stares that she received from the two others.

Nefilim thought about it, the two others must know him… but by his real name. His thoughts were cut short when a dull throb came to his ribs… then the hardcore pain. He slumped into the bed, trying to focus on the main point of the pain to stop it.

"Just a bad… dream." He said, his teeth clenched and his voice tight. He forced out a smile, cold sweat pouring down his forehead like rain.

Aeris heard the strain in the silver-haired man's voice. "Are you sure you're alright?" She asked, touching his arm in concern.

Nefilim didn't like this closeness, he felt uncomfortable. His only barrier to being uncomfortable was anger. He would become angry and people would fear him. Aeris' soft gentle hand touching his arm was unbearable.

Aeris gave a small smile, trying to be comforting. From her hand, she felt all the pain and uncomfort that Nefilim felt, and all of it seemed strange to her. She could feel the discomfort building up inside, he was nearly wriggling with it. She quickly let go of his arm and saw him sag with relief.

Nefilim stared at his arm; it burned where her arm had touched him. The touch was almost… comforting…

He mentally smacked himself. What was he thinking? He needed to get back to the dream. How had Jenova found him? He needed to tell Aeris immediately.

Before he could speak, Aeris nearly jumped and gave a small "Oh". "I forgot to introduce you to my parents, Nefilim! Sorry!" She looked at her mother and said. "Nefilim, this is my mother, Ifalna."

"Er… hi…" His voice gave out a touch of strain and nervousness. He nearly hit himself, what a nice way to start off, by sounding like an idiot.

"And this is my dad, Profess…"

The man felt dizzy. The words came out of her mouth in slow motion, before she could even say her father's name, he said. "Jared Gast."

Memories came back to him. Most of them were happy ones. Though he hated most of his caretakers, Gast was the one who was always gentle with his injections and was always kind to him. Sometimes, the man was reluctant to even give Nefilim a shot.

There was a long silence in the room. Aeris stared at Nefilim, Nefilim stared at Gast, and Ifalna and Gast exchanged looks. Finally, breaking the silence, Nefilim spoke up. "Professor Gast…" He said, his voice hoarse. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, dear boy. It is me. I'm glad you remembered! I almost thought that you'd have forgotten! It's been a long time since then." Gast smiled warmly, his face curving upwards, the same smile that he used to smile when Nefilim was young.

"You're Aeris' father!" Nefilim yelled suddenly, realizing what Aeris had said ten minutes ago.

Gast nodded and smiled again. Nefilim's eyes widened with guilt and sadness.

He had killed his daughter… the only man who had ever treated him as a human being. His soldiers had respected him, but respected him as one would with a god. His caretakers had treated him like dirt. Hojo fired the ones that had been kind to him.

Don't let your emotions take over you! His mind commanded. Tell them! Tell them now!

"Aeris…" he said, looking over at the girl.

Aeris looked up. "Yeah?"

"My dream… it was about Jenova," he began, immediately she looked up, her eyes alarmed. "It… seemed too real to be a dream…" He stopped.

"Go on." She said, looking at him cautiously.

Nefilim cleared his throat, trying to relive the dream. "I don't know… I… she was trying to call to me. She called me 'son'. I wouldn't reply to her, because otherwise she would've found where we were and we would all be doomed."

"Very wise." Gast approved and nodded.

"Anyways… then she knew that I was no longer under her control and she began to scream. That's why I screamed… then… I was here…" he said, finishing lamely.

"It's a good thing you didn't reveal yourself," Aeris sighed, sagging with relief. "So that we weren't exposed… so that we wouldn't be extinguished."

Nefilim felt his chest puff up with pride, then he abruptly stopped when a pain was sent through him.

-----

"Damn it man! What kind of f---in' pilot are you! For the last few years that you've been on here, you've never been this f---in' bad!" Cid yelled as the Highwind narrowly missed a large jutting rock that was in the way. "I swear! If you crash my baby, it'll be the last thing you ever f---in' do!"

"Yes sir." The pilot said weakly, his knees shaking badly. "I'm sorry sir, but the weather is really bad. Maybe we should turn back."

The pilot was right. A storm was brewing. Hail fell hard and made large "smack" noises as they hit the side of the Highwind.

"Hell no! Ya hear me! Hell no!" Cid shouted. "We're gonna get to that damn Cave as soon as possible and kick Sephiroth's annoying little ass!"

"But sir! It'll be suicide! The winds are already acting up!" the pilot said desperately, not having a death wish.

"DON'T YOU TALK BACK TO ME!" Cid yelled, staring the young pilot down.

Personally, Cloud felt sorry for the pilot, but he knew that it had to be done. It was either leave their friend who had saved the world by sacrificing her life, in danger, or go and help her.

The young pilot withered under Cid's tornado-stopping gaze. "Um… ye… yes sir… I won't… t… talk… back again… sir…" he said weakly, shaking.

"SHIT! LOOK AT WHERE YOU'RE STEERING!" Cid shouted, turning beet red. "WATCH OUT FOR THAT—"

Cid was cut off by the impact as the Highwind smashed into a jagged rock. Everyone was thrown back onto the ground, even Barret, who wrapped his arms protectively around Marlene.

Cloud winced as the Highwind screeched, it's hulk scratching against the rock. He prayed that they would all survive this flight.

"My ship!" Cid cried, running towards the steering wheel.

"Screw the damn ship! We want our lives, Cid!" Barret yelled as Marlene flew backwards into the floor, screaming for him.

Red XIII watched in horror as the Highwind tumbled down. Everything was a blur. He stood on his paws, swishing his tail nervously. There would be no way to get out of a crash, unless the Highwind somehow, miraculously, went floating up the air and went to miss every jagged rock in the brewing storm. "Cid, stop it! It's no use!" he yelled over to the angry pilot.

"NO! IT'S MY SHIP! MINE!" Cid roared, kicking at the pilot, who was crumpled on the floor. "DAMN IT! WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO CRASH! WHY!" he screamed, but his breath was wasted. The pilot had smashed his head into the steering wheel because of the impact, got a nasty gash on the head, and went unconscious.

Other crewmen rushed around the ship. The Highwind tilted and rocked. She groaned as a gust of wind blew them away.

Lightning raked across the sky, sending blinding light all around. The clouds darkened, and thunder roared and the ship tumbled down, yards away from the earth.

It all seemed so dramatic to Cid.

Lightning and thunder as we go down. He thought, almost chuckling. Damn, and with my ship too. Ahh well… Shera always warned me this was the way I was gonna go down. Shera…

The Highwind screamed as it smashed into the ground. Cid yelled out as he flew backwards and smashed into the wall, his thoughts on the Highwind, Shera, and everything...until it all became a blur.

So sorry for not updating! My dad took away the internet for a while! Sorry! See! Super long chappie to make up for it!