A/N- Edited. Enjoy.
Last Chapter: Missed Goodbye.
The silver haired men slowly sulked up to what was left of their beautiful home. Chunks of wood floated down the stream in the Aeris water as the last of the rock wood foundation crumbled at their feet.
"So much for a place to call home." Kadaj murmured, kicking aside a small pillar and pulling out a bag of sopping hard candies.
Yazoo ruffled around in the area where the room used to be, and pulled out one of his sketchbooks.
"So much for having any of our belongings as well." He sighed, looking over the soggy papers for anything salvageable.
Cloud and Tifa were conversing quietly as they walked up to the house to see the damage.
"What'd all Reno say?" Tifa asked worriedly.
"He said that ShinRa were getting strange interferences when their helicopter flew over the Northern Crater. Reno's checking it out as we speak…he said he'd call back in a few… Man, I think this is it. We're going to have to go today." Cloud said, worry plaguing his face.
Kadaj had heard it all thanks to his great senses.
"But… I didn't get Knights of the Round. And that's one of the strongest materias in the world. How are we going to beat her without any materia when we couldn't even beat the Seph clones without it?" Kadaj pouted.
Cloud smirked.
"I have a lot of materia… like, two knights of the round. My party will keep our mastered one and your party can have the one that was born from it."
"Why didn't you offer to do this before!" Alathia screamed loudly.
"Mmm, you never asked…and I figured it'd be good if you got your own materia." Cloud answered back with a slight chuckle.
Sephiroth ignored everyone. The man sighed heavily as he watched a chunk of the house floating off into the distance. Sephiroth somehow felt responsible; like all of this happened because of him. Was it his entire fault? Could it be that all because of the incident in Nibelheim that they would never be able to live a normal life?
Deep in thought, Seph sank down on a fallen pillar and rested. His muscles ached from the recent battles, and his limbs craved relaxation. Although the Geostigma was gone, he still felt a dull pain where the spots had surfaced, and hissed when he rubbed the soft spots on his arm…still tender.
Slowly, the sounds of the others began to grow louder in his ears and he drifted out of his deep thought…feeling slightly upset that he could be at fault for everything.
"You're so stupid…gods I'm glad we never actually made it long enough for you to rescue us…" Alathia scoffed, glowering at Cloud.
"Yeah…what a disaster that would have been…tsh." Alexia agreed quietly.
Cloud shrugged it off.
"So what do you want to do Sephiroth?" he asked, stepping in front of everyone, right in front of the slumped man.
" I want to rest. Take us to Cosmo Canyon… We shall deal with Jenova in the morning. My body aches from everything and I require a good sleep."
"And hot food…" Kadaj added with a hungry look in his eyes.
"Fine. Lets all go eat something and rest up. We've got quite the adventure to tend to tomorrow." Red growled, inviting everyone to Cosmo Canyon for a feast.
Avalanche walked ahead of the sliver haireds, chitchatting about everything. The woman hung behind the men, mumbling and giving each other shifty looks whenever Kadaj or Yazoo looked back at them.
They knew this was it. After the events of the next day…. they'd be on their way home.
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Sephiroth didn't like how absolutely dull Alathia and Alexia had become lately. Yes, he knew they were upset with having to leave in secret, but he didn't expect them to turn to zombies. What happened to the funny, obnoxious, random girls who were running around in their underwear the first full day that they'd been in his care? What happened to the girls who loved picking fights with his younger brothers, pulling their hair, biting them, scratching, kicking, screaming, and hitting the boys whenever they got the chance?
They'd gone…and replacing them were these two dreary zombies who saw no light…or hope. They rarely laughed, smiled, or participated in conversations… Just sat back, listening, only speaking when spoken to.
He hated it.
All during the feast the two had huddled in a corner of the grand dining hall, picking at their food and watching with dead eyes as everyone else enjoyed themselves.
They were enjoying their victory of the days fight while those two mourned over what was to come. Seph sighed and ignored them as best he could.
"I don't feel like partying…C'mon, let's go to bed." Alathia sighed, throwing her and Alexia's untouched food in the garbage and shuffling out the door.
Cosmo Canyon was a very comforting place to be staying. Although the set up of it was just a jumbled path of ladders and rocks, Alathia and Alexia enjoyed it very much. The sun never seemed to set as the sky continued to glow with the canyon's natural red aura.
"Do we have to go to bed, can't we go sit by the fire for a while…its too pretty out here not to try and enjoy it! Besides, this'll probably be the last time we see this." Alexia complained.
Alathia shrugged and the two settled themselves next to the ever-lit fire. The two were just getting comfortable when Kadaj and Yazoo slowly walked up to the fire. Alathia squeaked slightly but continued to stare at the fire. Alexia was lying down on her side and seemed to get a big irritated when Yazoo blocked the warmth of the burning flame.
"Hey! Don't stand right in front of the fire!" she snapped, hitting Yazoo's shin with a soft fist.
"Can I lie with you?"
"Yes…"
Yazoo shuffled beside her and sprawled out on the hard stone platform.
Kadaj slumped down next to Alathia and proceeded to fling her hair about until she tackled him.
"You feel ok heh. Usually you're trying to destroy me as soon as I try to touch your beautiful hair." He laughed, wriggling free from her grip.
Alathia shot him a nasty glare, huffed, and began fixing her blond locks.
"I'm just a little tired…haven't really been able to relax much lately." She sighed, smiling at him warningly.
He'd tried to flip her hair round again.
"Tsh know whatcha mean. Mmm, one this is all over we'll be able to relax again. No more training. Would you mind living with Cloud and them until we find a home?" he asked softly.
"I wouldn't mind staying here with you. Why aren't you rebuilding your house?" Alathia asked, trying her best to keep from bursting into tears.
"We don't want to live in that hole. And Cloud promised us he'd clear our name so we could run around Gaia!"
Alathia chuckled and the two continued talking
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"Your breath smells like garlic." Alexia complained as the two lay sprawled out on the cool ground.
"Thanks…I did just spend the last hour eating, unlike you."
"I wasn't hungry. All that clone gunk kinda spoiled my appetite. Makes me worry about how many more she must have. Yaz she's gotta have a million of those things! A few were nothing to her…but they seemed like a lot to us…and-"
"The sky's pretty out here, doncha think?" Yazoo interrupted calmly, stretching out so his back popped.
Alexia looked over and glared at him, but soon found herself staring into the heavens.
He was right; the sky was beautiful out there. The stars sparkled in the dark red sky as night tried to make itself more evident. They both closed their eyes and took in the sounds of the crackling fire, and the smell of firewood and dirt. Funny how these simple things could lull someone to sleep.
Just as the two were about to drift off, a loud, "ASS!" was heard, and Kadaj and Alathia tumbled on top of the surprised couple. Way to ruin the moment.
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Reno writhed in pain as the two replica mesamunes dug into his shoulders painfully.
"Now now dears…this is no way to treat our guest. Please, remove your swords and let the gentleman rest. He's been through enough. Haven't you Turk?" Jenova hissed from a top her stone perch.
Reno's helicopter was now nothing more than a burning heap of rubble, sitting crumpled at the edge of the crater. How it came that way, Reno couldn't fully remember. All he remembered was catching a glimpse of hundreds of Sephiroths darting out of the many random caves on the mountain side, and the next second, a huge explosion rattled the back end of the copter. When he awoke, two of the clones had drug him into the crater and deep within the mountain, where they continued to pummel and torture him… right in front of a pure mako body… Jenova.
The clones grunted their obedience and yanked the swords out of the Turk's shoulders, causing him to scream aloud.
"Hush child… soon it'll all be over (Reno whimpers). By this time tomorrow I will have destroyed the Lilyous (Reno mumbles, "what the hell is a Lilyous?"), Ridden Gaia of Avalanche, and this world will be mine for the taking… My children…hm… perhaps I should keep them alive just long enough for them to realize how wrong they were. Betraying their mother! I, who gave them life. They dare defy me? Dears, be good to me. Smear some of his blood on his id and cut off that ridiculous ponytail (Reno: WTF! Of all things to mess with she's gotta pick the hair!)… We'll be sending them to Cloud." She chuckled, allowing her clones to continue abusing the prisoner Turk.
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Sunlight poured in through the windows, filling the room with red light. Cloud's chest slowly rose and fell as he continued to lie still in bed. Even if he was awake, Cloud wasn't about to get out of bed anytime soon. Some disaster or fairly large commotion had to happen for him to even consider getting up… besides; it's too cold in the morning! Especially when you're only in boxers.
Cloud lazily opened his eyes and stared at the red ceiling. Something was glistening, and was making bight speckles on the dark ceiling. Puzzled, Cloud looked down where the item should have been placed, and blinked back his surprise.
On his stomach lay a fairly bloody Turk ID card, and a huge, long, disgusting, red, ponytail of hair.
"…TIFA!"