Here's some humor for you guys! Also this is the longest chapter I've written for this fan fic-it's 11 pages on my Word thing. Yeah, well tell me what yout hink of it!

Chapter Five

"Mother?" Cloud gasped, looking at his mother. She was dead, how could she be here?

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Sephiroth blinked, what the hell? He didn't want to be Cloud's damn mother! He looked down at the materia and wondered why the heck it was malfunctioning, was that even possible?

Suddenly he heard loud footsteps and turned around to see Vincent running down there, with a gun in his hands. Vincent's red eyes seemed to flash and Sephiroth heard him breath, "Hojo?"

Sephiroth could have sworn Hojo was dead to…Wait a second! It's this damn materia! I am not that crazy scientist! Sephiroth, without thinking, threw the materia out into the ocean and watched it sink. He blinked, suddenly realizing what he had done. Sephiroth turned to Cloud and saw a look of laughter and anger spread across hi face. Vincent…well Vincent's expression didn't change. It never changed…did it? Sephiroth didn't know, but why did he really care?

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Vincent blinked, somewhat relieved that the person standing there hadn't really been Hojo. But maybe he would have preferred that to Sephiroth. Oh well…He kept his gun aimed at Sephiroth's head, ready to fire. Then he noticed Cloud. Cloud had already taken out his buster sword and was glaring at Sephiroth like he was going to cut his head off.

Vincent shook his head, trying not to get distracted as he lowered his gun slightly, aiming at Sephiroth's heart. Sephiroth obviously had confusion written in his eyes, but it quickly faded and was replaced by a mocking glint. He now wore a smirk on his face as he lifted the Masamune threateningly. Vincent glared at Sephiroth, unsure whether to shoot him or not, but Cloud was right behind Sephiroth. If the bullet went through Sephiroth, it would hit Cloud.

Vincent shrugged it off and took hesitant steps forward. "Sephiroth, you attacked this town? Why?" He asked, motioning with his gun for Cloud to move.

Cloud didn't notice, and that made Vincent feel annoyed and angry at the same time. Sephiroth glanced at Cloud, eyeing his buster sword as he responded, turning his head to Vincent, "Because, these people do not deserve to live even if we are on another planet, Vincent."

Vincent glared at Sephiroth, "You had no reason what so ever to attack them. Have you not realized that this town, this planet-it has done nothing wrong! They have done no harm to our planet and yet you kill them!"

"Well isn't that my job?" Sephiroth smirked again as he spun around to Cloud, his Masamune whistling through the air. Vincent pulled the trigger to his gun. It fired. And fired again. And again. And again.

Sephiroth's eyes grew wide as bullet after bullet entered his body. But that did not stop him from trying to kill Cloud. Cloud used his buster sword to block the Masamune just in time because Sephiroth's movements had slowed.

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Squall looked around him, seeing many people hiding in places and a few others that were already dead. He felt sorry for the town. He wanted to help them, but he had no idea where to find the culprit. Squall glanced at Rinoa who had come along with him. She had a haunted look on her face, and her eyes held great pity.

"Many we should go down by the harbor." Squall suggested.

"Cloud went down there, but yeah, he's drunk after all, and if the murderer is down there, he wouldn't be able to fight." Rinoa replied, her voice oddly calm and steady despite her facial expression.

Squall only nodded. He wouldn't tell Rinoa that he thought that they weren't drunk. Or crazy, that maybe they weren't lying. He couldn't, she might think that he was crazy. Squall didn't want that so he turned towards the harbor and hurried off to it with Rinoa.

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Meanwhile Cloud was fighting Sephiroth while Sephiroth was trying to get Vincent's gun. Sephiroth was wounded and bleeding, but his strength was unharmed. He was fighting Cloud, slowly getting closer to Vincent who had stopped firing, knowing that it was an unfair fight. Vincent didn't fight unfair like that.

Sephiroth swung the Masamune at Cloud, and Cloud parried again and again. Sephiroth had managed to hit Cloud and injured him a few times since the battle began. This wasn't going to be easy with five bullets in Sephiroth's back.

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Reno sat in a chair, looking at Tseng, Rude, and Elena. He was bored out of his mind and thought he was going to go crazy. All they were doing was sitting in this big old city, doing nothing. Well it as nothing to Reno. All they were doing was discussing about how they could get out of this place, where ever they were. Man, if one of those waiters comes by, I'm ordering some whiskey and getting drunk. Then I can have fun…

Reno's thoughts were interrupted by Tseng, "Reno, you and Elena are to go to the town across the sea; it is called Balamb. There, you should find a Garden called Balamb Garden. Go there and get us some information."

Reno blinked, his green eyes staring at Tseng with utter confusion, "What's a Garden?" he asked.

Tseng groaned, "You've been in your own little dream world again, haven't you? Elena, tell him on the way there. I'm not going to repeat myself."

Reno grinned sheepishly and then asked, "Why do we go to a 'Garden'?"

"Are you questioning your orders?" Tseng growled, his patience with Reno wearing thin.

Reno blinked, he'd better not make Tseng mad. Tseng was his boss that could fire him. Reno didn't like the idea of living in the slums in Midgar. Not a fun thought. Reno shook his head and Elena stood up, giving Reno a glare.

"If you mess with me, I'll shoot you in the head!" she growled.

Reno blinked again, in surprise. When had she gotten so threatening? He shrugged and just followed her out the bar. She led him down the streets and outside the town. Reno didn't like being bossed around by her, or anyone, but he had no choice seeing as she knew where they were going, and he didn't. She took him down tot he waters edge, looking carefully around her.

Reno noted that she was fingers the gun in her pocket. Like there's going to be any monsters around this old dump! Reno thought irritably.

But just as he thought that, Reno spied something flying through the air. He pretended not to notice it as they reached the waters edge. A single boat rested there. "What does this thing run on?" Reno asked, eyeing the boat's motor. It obviously did not run on Mako.

"Gas, stupid." Elena responded bluntly, climbing in. She started the boat as Reno got in.

"Why are you so grouchy today?" Reno asked, a teasing note in his voice. "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Or did Tseng ignore you?" Reno dared. He knew that Elena liked Tseng a lot, though he didn't see why. It was always fun to sit there and tease her about it.

Elena turned to face him, death written all over h face. Her eyes burned with fury and she cracked her knuckles. Uh-oh, was Reno's only thought before Elena punched him in the face. It hurt, hell yes! And she busted his nose, but nothing else. "Ow! What was that for?" he groaned.

"Next time it'll be a bullet in your head." Elena threatened. Reno fell silent after that, and tried to find something to wipe the blood off his nose with as the female Turk steered the boat towards an island just close enough to see off in the distance.

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Squall and Rinoa came past Tifa and Red who were searching for the killer, but also for people who might still be alive. Squall stopped and turned to look at them. "Are any of them alive?" he asked, stepping away as a pool of blood that was still fresh trickled down where his boots were.

Tifa shook her head, "No. But we have an idea who killed these people. Squall, Rinoa, we have to stick in a group if it's true. Otherwise, he'll pick us off like flies."

Rinoa, Squall noticed, shifted her position as she asked, "Who do you think did this?"

"An old foe of ours, that's who. His killings are always identical, in a way." Red responded, dipping his head as he looked at a little girl, her eyes were closed and he could sense the life in her. It was fainted. "This young girl is still alive, but her parents…I'm afraid, are dead. We must treat her at once if she is to live."

Squall looked down at the girl and quickly reached into his pocket for a Hi-Potion. He brought it out and handed it to Tifa. Tifa bent down over the girl and used the Hi-Potion. Squall watched as the girl's eyes opened weakly. "Who hurt her?"

"Sephiroth," Tifa responded. Then she turned to Red, "Go take her back to the Garden, maybe they can help."

"Yeah, they can, but who is Sephiroth?" Rinoa asked, confusion spreading across her face. Squall, on the other hand, turned to glance at her and then back at Tifa.

"Well we're going down to the harbor where Cloud is. He went by himself because Zell is with his parents. You going to come too?" Squall asked Tifa as Red lifted the girl onto his back and took off.

Tifa watched Red disappear and then turned to Squall, "Yeah, I'm alone now, so I guess it's better to be safe than sorry." Tifa stood up straight and made Squall lead her to the harbor.

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Yuffie looked around her, unsure of where she was, or even what she was looking for. She knew that some materia was around the place some where, but at the same time, no one was on the street she had taken, so what was she looking for here? The houses seemed abandoned and not a person was in sight. And I thought air sickness was bad…

Well, she knew she was supposed to be looking for the murderer, and people who were still alive, but this place was abandoned! She walked down the street, looking around her. Every time something made a noise, she jumped. "Come on, Yuffie, pull yourself together! Remember, you are the Great Ninja Yuffie!" Yuffie spoke to herself so that she could boost her confidence.

Just as she was about to leave the street, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Yuffie jumped, tensing as she spun around and punched the person. Suddenly Yuffie blinked in shock and muttered, "Uh-oh…" as she realized who it was.

"Ow! That hurt!" Ivrine complained, rubbing the spot where Yuffie had punched him in the face.

"Oh, sorry, Ivrine. I didn't know anyone else was here…" Yuffie apologized. She looked at Ivrine who shook his head and waved a gloved hand at her, "No need to say you're sorry!"

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When Squall reached the harbor, he was surprised to see Cloud leaning over a silver-haired figure that was at least six feet tall. Vincent had a gun aimed at the silver-haired man's head and seemed to be muttering something Squall couldn't here. The silver-haired man had an eleven-foot sword in his hand and by the looks of it, had stabbed Cloud with it.

"Cloud!" Tifa yelled, running down the steps.

The silver-haired man turned his head to look at them as he withdrew his sword was Cloud's body. Squall was frozen by the color of the man's eyes. They were strange, a dark green and his pupils weren't normal. Who was this person?

"Sephiroth!" Tifa growled, approaching him. Squall suddenly came back to life and drew his Gunblade out. This person was the guy that had murdered everyone in Balamb. Also, he suddenly realized, Cloud and everyone else hadn't been lying.

Squall went down the steps, watching Cloud as he stood up straight, lifting that big lug of a sword up. How he did that, Squall would never know. Cloud motioned for Tifa to go away as he was about to swing the giant blade. But Sephiroth knew it was coming and quickly side stepped. Vincent, who still had his gun trained on Sephiroth, moved his arm to where the gun's muzzle was pointing at Sephiroth again-and he fired for a sixth time.

Squall didn't do anything, figuring that if this gun was shoot plenty of times, he'd die. But it didn't work that way with Sephiroth. Sephiroth only turned to glare at Vincent from the pain of the bullets before knowing that he had too many opponents to fight against. He ran for it.

Squall hadn't expected Sephiroth to be able to run so fast either and couldn't stop him as he raced up the steps and vanished. "Who the hell…was that?" Squall muttered to himself, staring at where Sephiroth had vanished.

Cloud, Vincent, and Tifa turned to look at Rinoa and Squall. They were silent and Cloud's eyes bored into Squall's like blue fire. Squall knew that it was Sephiroth; he knew that Sephiroth was a murdered, but he had never expected to see the ex-General here, in Balamb.

Squall didn't know if anyone had heard him, but he'd rather them not. As he moved down towards Cloud, he noticed the blood dripping off of him from where Sephiroth's blade had stabbed him. He could see the emotion in Cloud's eyes; the pain and the anger.

"Are you okay, Cloud?" Squall asked after a moment's pause.

Cloud nodded, blinking. He looked past Squall at Rinoa who hadn't moved. She seemed shaken about something. Squall turned his head to look at her and saw that her lips were twisted into a frown and her eyes were distant. He turned to look at Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent and then spun around and went up to Rinoa.

"What's wrong, Rinoa?" he asked her, looking at her as she shifted her position and looked away from him.

"It's nothing, Squall…" she responded lightly. Then she looked up at Squall suddenly, "Where's Ivrine, Zell, and Selphie?"

Squall blinked, he had forgotten about them. He looked around, not seeing any of them. Fear flooded through him, they might be in danger! No wait…Zell was with his mother…but the others, Squall didn't know.

"Well if you guys are alright, Rinoa and I are going to go look for Ivrine " Squall called down to the others.

Cloud and Tifa nodded, Vincent just looked at him before turning away. Squall didn't really know what to make of Vincent. He never showed his feelings and he was always quiet. Something about him seemed so depressing and angry. Whatever it was, Squall felt that he didn't need to know; but something nagged at the back of his mind.

He shook his head slightly and led Rinoa off to find the others, "Oh and if you see Barret, tell him to meet us down here!" Tifa called.

Squall nodded, "Okay, I will." And then he vanished around the corner.

Rinoa followed him without speaking. Squall could tell that she wasn't going to tell him what was really wrong with her, so he wouldn't asked.

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Yuffie felt uncomfortable around Ivrine. He kept putting his arm around her, which annoyed her greatly. She was tempted to tell him to go away, but then she'd be alone again and back where she started. And…then came the thing about Ivrine knowing where they were going.

"Soooo…Seen any dead guys yet?" Yuffie asked, breaking the silence. She still hadn't seen any life besides Ivrine.

"Nope, well when we first got here, yeah, but that doesn't count. Otherwise I've been following you." Ivrine responded, trying to put his arm around Yuffie's shoulder again.

Suddenly Yuffie's eyes flashed. She didn't say what she was thinking, for fear that Ivrine might take it the wrong way, but he did make it sound as if he had been stalking her. Yuffie shook her head, she didn't like him, and she wasn't afraid to hit him or anything, so why worry? Suddenly Yuffie remembered what she had also been looking for, "Okay then, have you seen any materia around?"

Ivrine blinked, confusion spreading over his face, "What's materia?"

Yuffie blinked, it was her turn to act confused, "You don't know what materia is?"

Ivrine shook his head. "Nope, never heard of it."

Yuffie sighed. She pulled out some materia from a pocket in the vest she was wearing. It was a yellow materia. "This is a materia. This one in particular is a Thunder materia. Materia is formed from powers forged from the Lifestream. I guess you could say it's a solid form of the Lifestream that is concentrated to form this."

Ivrine nodded and then asked another question, "What's a Lifestream?"

Yuffie sighed, her head dropping. If this guy didn't know what the Lifestream was, it was pointless explaining it to him…but she could try. Maybe Ivrine could help her find some materia in this place. Yuffie raised her head, "The Lifestream is a stream of life that circles our planet. It is the very core of life and whenever you die, you return to the Lifestream. But I guess, over here, it doesn't work that way, right?"

"I guess so…" Ivrine responded, his voice dripping with confusion, but he didn't press Yuffie any further with it.

While they were chatting, all at once, Yuffie noticed something. A young boy was slouched against the wall. His eyes were open and staring at the ground. Blood trickled down a gash in his head. Yuffie approached the boy with Ivrine following close behind her. She bent down, and nearly puked.

The boy had been scalped and killed. Blood was still wet on his fingers and it ran down his back and onto the street. Yuffie backed away, horrified. She gasped in air and accidentally bumped into Ivrine. "Sorry," she muttered, not trusting herself to speak.

She moved away from Ivrine, feeling sick. Yuffie turned her head away and grabbed Ivrine's coat sleeve, "Let's get out of here before I throw up!" she gasped loudly, pulling Ivrine with her as she moved away from the boy.

"The poor kid. But…Yuffie, who killed him?" Ivrine asked as he was dragged along by a sick looking Yuffie.

"I don't know and I don't care at the moment. I can't stand the sight of someone missing half of their forehead!" Yuffie responded weakly.

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While Squall searched for everyone, he heard someone talking in the now seemingly-ghost-town. It sounded like a girl with a very high-pitched voice. Rinoa looked around, searching for someone. Then she spotted an alley. "Maybe they're in there." Rinoa pointed.

Squall noticed the alley and nodded. He headed towards it and as soon as he walked into it, he noticed that it appeared abandoned. No one; not a single person was in there, not even a dead person. But he defiantly heard voices.

"Yeah but he was alone, you can't just forget about a dead person! And, you never know, someone could be in the houses."

"Oh no! I'm not going to go looking for more dead people! I'm not a person for airships or dead people! Yeah, sure, I love to kick the bad guys asses, but no way am I going to look for someone dead. They can stay dead for all I care!" That was the woman they had heard.

Squall motioned for Rinoa to follow him as he went further into the alley.

"Yeah, but, isn't that what you were ordered to do, look for dead and alive people?"

"I'm not looking for a dead person!"

"What about materia? There might be some here, you never know…"

"That's true…but still, if a dead person in this town had materia, I would know. I am a great materia thief and no one is my better!"

Squall listened to them and wondered who was talking. The two people were still too far off to identify their voices, but whoever they were, they were alive. Rinoa and Squall hurried to turn around the corner. As soon as they turned, they spotted a dead boy with half of his forehead missing. Rinoa stopped dead in her tracks, looking at the boy with horror. Squall's eyes widened. He hadn't expected this. Maybe that was what the two people ahead had been talking about.

"Come on, Rinoa, there's nothing we can do here…" Squall said, leading Rinoa away from the boy. Squall could tell that Sephiroth had to have done that. It was too clean of cut for anyone without a sword, and Squall didn't know anyone here that had a sword, it was all guns for everyone now.

Sephiroth would pay for slaughtering this peaceful town without reason. Cloud hadn't lied, their nightmare was now his and everyone else. "Rinoa…Cloud and the others weren't lying. Everything here…and there on their 'Planet' it's real…and it's here."

Rinoa looked up at Squall with horror, "You mean that everything that Cloud told you aren't just drunken lies and everything is real?"

Squall nodded, "I thought they weren't lying at how serious they were all acting about their condition. Cloud though, I don't know what's up with him. Or Vincent. Both of them are strange, stranger than the others I mean."

"I've noticed that. Vincent is creepy. He seems so distant and so quiet. Like you, but…different at the same time. And Cloud, I think Cloud is sick. If aspirin didn't cure that headache, he needs something else. And Cloud's eyes are different, a deeper blue. They're strange." Rinoa spoke rather distantly, more to herself than Squall.

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Yuffie glared at Ivrine as he tried to rap his arm around her shoulder again. She shrugged him off as he replied to her last remark about her being the greatest materia thief, "So if you're the greatest materia thief ever, have you stole from Cloud or any of his friends?"

Yuffie looked offended as she replied, "Of course! I have practically half of his gil!"

Ivrine hadn't expected that. Then he remembered the gil he always kept in his pocket, he looked at Yuffie and asked warily, "You haven't stolen any of my gil, have you?"

"Nope, but I will if you want me too." Yuffie replied, inching away from Ivrine as she spoke. Ivrine could tell that she didn't like him all that much, but he liked her-and Tifa. But it was obvious that Tifa was Cloud's woman; but it appeared that Yuffie was free. He did like Selphie, but Selphie wasn't like Yuffie-nope nothing like her!

"Uh, no thanks." Ivrine responded after a moments pause. He thought he had heard someone. Yuffie stopped all at once and Ivrine took a step past her before stopping too. They were being followed like he had suspected. Yuffie seemed to tense.

"Shh," she told him as she slunk towards the direction they had come. For all they knew, whoever was following them, could be the bad guys. Ivrine watched as Yuffie silently crept right up to the corner and peeked over into the next empty street.

Yuffie revealed herself as soon as she peeked over the corner. Then she motioned for Ivrine to follow. When Ivrine reached her, he spotted Squall and Rinoa coming their way.

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"It figures he's with a girl…" Rinoa sighed.

Squall nodded, not responding as he went up to them, "We found the murderer. He's gone, but now we have to find everyone else. Have you guys seen Selphie or Barret?"

Both of them shook their heads, "No, but who was the murderer?" Yuffie asked, looking around her. Squall noticed her eyes flashed.

It was Rinoa who answered Yuffie's question, "It was Sephiroth,"

Yuffie looked up at them with horror. It was clear she hadn't expected it. Squall could understand why; from what Cloud had said, Sephiroth was supposed to be dead. But here he was, killing everyone in Balamb; in fact, Squall hadn't seen a single living person yet besides his friends.

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Cloud didn't know what to think. The pain in his chest hurt terribly from where he had been stabbed, sure, but Sephiroth was alive. He was supposed to be dead, but there he had been, using a manipulating materia to change his appearance. Had Sephiroth been alive all this time? Cloud swore that falling into the pool of Mako would have killed him, but maybe he had been wrong…

He clutched the hole in his chest, feeling the warm liquid seeping through his fingers. He winced as Tifa laid a hand on his shoulder. Cloud forced himself to sit down, feeling the pressure applied to the wound. "Are you okay, Cloud?" Tifa asked for the third time already.

"Yeah…I'm fine Tifa, no need to worry." Cloud assured her, but his voice was growing weak. From all the pain in his body, the aspirin had long-since stopped working and he could feel the pain returning to his head. Why will this headache not leave me alone? Cloud groaned to himself.

Vincent had come over, still holding his gun. "I wasn't going to be unfair." That was what Vincent had said, and Cloud guessed he was saying he was sorry. It was close enough and Cloud just waved him off, shutting his eyes, "It's alright, I-I'm fine."

Cloud's voice faltered for a second. He had shut his eyes for a reason. His vision was blurry again and everything was spinning around him. What the hell was wrong with him? He tried to clear his mind as he heard Tifa moving around for something. Cloud opened one eye, but just barley and noticed that she was groaning.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Red, he has our Cure materia. I told him to go take a little girl to the Garden so she could be helped. She was barley alive, and I didn't think twice about Red's materia. I hope he gets back soon because you can't go anywhere with a hole in your chest." Tifa fumbled with a pebble as she looked down at the ground. Cloud could tell that she was worried for him.

He didn't like the expression on her face. "It's alright, Tifa. I've been stabbed before by Sephiroth, twice in fact. I can handle it." Cloud reassured her.

"Oh I know that Cloud, it's just that you're sick." Tifa responded lightly.

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It was no surprise to Vincent that Tifa was worried for Cloud. He knew that Cloud would be fine after a few days of healing, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he kept an eye on the stairs, waiting for the others to return. He had blocked those two out. No one came and minutes passed.

Finally Vincent walked over to the stairs, prepared to go look for them when Red appeared right next to him.

How did you guys like it? Oh and thank you guys for all the reviews! I love reviews! If you're lucky, I might be able to update again tomorrow!