Chapter Seven

A man was sitting in the grass in an empty field. He didn't feel very good. In fact, he felt rather sick. He couldn't remember anything at all. His black spiky hair rustled in the wind. He sighed and kept his hand on the handle of his long, thick sword that laid beside him. He wanted to go find someone, anyone that he knew, but the man feared that if he found someone, it would not be someone he knew.

Some sense in him told him he wasn't in Midgar, or near it. Not even close to Nimblheim, Coastal Del Sol, Junon, or anywhere near any of those places. He groaned from the pain in his head and stomach. He wanted to throw up and sleep, but no, he feared this area. There was no telling what kind of monster resided in these fields. So, he decided, that he would go find civilization whether he liked it or not, and find an inn to stay at.

He kept his fingers clenched on his sword as he picked himself up. He didn't sheath the sword, but he drug it on the ground, heading west. His blue eyes scanned the area, but he sensed, nor found a single monster anywhere. Off in the distance, he saw a small black speck, but he did not know if it was a house, or a cliff, or even a rock or tree. There was no way of telling, but whatever it was, it was the only thing around him except grass and mountains.

Dragging the large sword, his felt the sharp pain in his stomach. The man shook his head, trying to rid himself of the sickness he felt inside of him. His head hurt, but not as bad as it had when he had stressed himself too hard when forcing himself to walk about a mile. Yes, the man had been in the vast ocean of grass for about two hours, stopping in between walks, and now that he had finished his fifth rest, he had spotted something. That brought him hope, but it did not help the pain the seared and ripped through his body.

"I will find you again…" the man whispered confidently to himself. He was certain that he could find the people he was looking for. He had been searching for a long time now, and he wasn't about to stop looking for them.

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Sephiroth felt the pain of where he had been shot, fading away. That was good, the JENOVA cells inside of him was healing his body. Right now he was just outside of the town he had slaughtered, glaring at it. He now knew that Cloud, his little puppet was here along with his damn friends, but that also gave him the chance to kill them.

He knew that a lot of people had believed him dead after he had fallen into the Mako pool and even after Cloud had hacked him to pieces, but no, Sephiroth wouldn't die that easily! Now he was going to kill Strife once and for all, along with all of AVALANCHE. He had killed Aeris already, which had been pleasurable, and Sephiroth now wanted to kill Tifa. Break Cloud's heart. That would be fun, but Sephiroth would kill anyone he could, even if Strife went first.

Sephiroth turned from the ghost-town and headed towards some other place. He didn't, though, go to the Garden. He knew very well that there were many well-trained fighters there, and that Cloud and his little friends were staying there. No, he would go in search for some help. Yes, help. Sephiroth knew he'd need it because of the new people with Strife. He didn't know how many new friends Strife had, but Sephiroth was well-aware at how strong they were.

He turned to the east and headed towards the mountains. This small island had to have some more people on it, and if not, he would go somewhere else to look for some of his own 'friends'.

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Kadaj and his gang glared at the storekeeper. Kadaj had 'borrowed' Yazoo's gun and was now pointing it at the man's head. "Stop joking around and tell me how we can get back to the Edge!" he snarled at the man. His finger rested on the trigger of the Velvet Nightmare

The shopkeeper was a man in his late fifties and was giving Kadaj a look of terror as he responded, "I-I've told you already! I d-don't know where that is!" His hands were held up above his head and he was leaning away from Kadaj. Yazoo was just watching in silence, his eyes flashing. Loz stood a few feet off, a smirk on his face.

Kadaj cocked the gun, "Stop playing games or a bullet will lodge its self in your head! If you haven't heard of the Edge, surely, you've heard of Midgar. Which direction is it in?" Kadaj's menacing green stare bored into the man, his lips twisted into a sneer.

The man didn't know what to do. He'd never heard of the Edge or Midgar. He was terrified of these three young men, and he had only one way to escape death. He had to lie to them, but he knew that would cost him his shop and force him to leave town in case these men returned after discovering that he had lied to them.

"O-Oh, yeah, I-I know Midgar. It's in th-the east," he responded shakily, his heart racing.

Kadaj pulled the gun away from the man's face and turned around. The shopkeeper relaxed, but it was too soon to do that. Kadaj spun around again, raising the gun .He fired and a shriek split the air. The old man fell to his knees, pain racing through his whole body. His head slammed into the wooden counter as he slumped on the floor, blood pooling everywhere.

The bullet had shot right through his stomach and he was slowly bleeding to death. Kadaj smirked at all the blood and the man's cries. He left the shop without a word.

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When Squall and the others had made it back to the Garden, they had brought Cloud directly to the Infirmary. Right after that, Squall had been called up to Cid's office. Now, here he went, up the elevator towards the Headmaster's office. When he entered the office, Cid was waiting for him. "Squall, I understand that you have brought friends into the Garden and that you took them with you to Balamb. Please, give me the report on everything that happened and everything that you know about these people you brought with you."

Squall nodded, and he began to explain everything that had happened. He told Cid that Zell was still with his parents because they hadn't had time to get him when they brought Cloud back. Then he told Cid about Sephiroth and everyone but a girl and Zell's parents and brother were dead. Cid didn't say anything through the whole thing, but when Squall said something about Cloud being sick, Cid interrupted.

"Sick? What do you mean? Is this some deadly germ that can spread through the whole Garden?" Cid demanded at once.

Squall blinked, he hadn't thought about it, but the more he thought about how much time he had spent with Cloud without feeling sick or anything, he shook his head, "I do not think so, sir."

Cid nodded, but there was distrust in his eyes. "Continue," he ordered.

When Squall had finished everything, Cid seemed troubled about something. And then he asked something that had nothing to do with the report, "Squall, have you seen Seifer anywhere today? He's not in the Garden and he hadn't informed anyone he was leaving, not even Fuujin or Raijin."

Squall blinked. He had long-since forgotten about Seifer's disappearance. He shook his head, "No, sir, Fuujin and Raijin told me he was missing, but I figured that he was just off somewhere."

Cid blinked and sighed, "Very well. I didn't expect you to know where he was, you two aren't the best of friends. Well, you are dismissed now."

Squall nodded and stood up. He exited the office and headed down to the infirmary, hoping to find out what was wrong with Cloud. When he reached the first floor, he was met by Rinoa. "Where are you going?" she asked him.

"To see Cloud and find out if he's okay." Squall responded, wondering why she was asking.

"Wow, you took my advice and are being more sociable for once! And you care for someone else besides yourself for a change, that's nice!" Rinoa said, smiling at Squall's expression.

He didn't respond, realizing what she said was true, but he shrugged her off and replied bluntly, "I have a right to know if my friends are okay."

Rinoa blinked and frowned at him, "You sure know how to turn something around, don't you?" she questioned.

"What do you mean?" Squall asked with confusion. Rinoa only sighed and shook her head, laughing to herself. "What?" he asked her again.

Rinoa was still laughing quietly as she replied, "You act so serious about everything. Anything I try to make a joke, you turn it around into some so serious! Squall, you'd make a great cop if you became one!" Rinoa laughed at that one, which made Squall frown.

"I don't want to become a cop, Rinoa!" Squall flustered. Rinoa wasn't making any since to him at the moment. And when he said that, she only laughed a little louder and looked at Squall with a smile and she shook with silent laughter.

"I know that, Squall!" Rinoa laughed.

Squall rolled his eyes and continued to make his way to the infirmary, Rinoa bugging him the whole way there. She could get annoying, but Squall just blocked her out and entered the infirmary. As soon as he took a step inside, Rinoa fell silent.

"So, did you figure out what's wrong?" Squall asked Nurse Janie who came to meet him. She shook her head.

"No, he's just sick from all I can tell. I gave him some more medicine and bandaged the place where he was stabbed at, but that's all. He'll have to get over the sickness himself, I have nothing for it." she explained to them.

Squall nodded and noticed Tifa sitting down in a chair, looking at him. Red was laying on the floor over an air vent cooling off from the heat. Barret was no where to be seen and Squall figured that he was in the Cafeteria with Marlene. Vincent had just vanished all together. Yuffie wasn't there either.

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Elena had reached the Garden. She had completely forgotten about Reno, who was dragging himself along way behind her. Occasionally he would stop to look around and Elena would just keep on going. Of course she was thinking about what she should be doing but…she was also thinking about Tseng. She wondered when they could get back to there so she could rid herself of the pest that was behind her, looking at everything like a little kitten out for trouble.

Damn idiot just needs to go sit down somewhere! Elena thought irritably. She wished that Tseng hadn't assigned Reno to come with her. Why couldn't it have been Rude…or Tseng himself? Suddenly she heard Reno shout out something from behind her.

Elena turned around to see Reno glaring at a kid about thirteen who was holding out some cards and saying something along the lines of, "Wanna play cards with me?"

Reno, of course, was looking at Elena, who was about twenty-five feet off and shouting if they had any cards he could play the kid with. Elena rolled her eyes and called back, "Reno, if you don't get your ass back here, and help me find the person who runs this damn place, I will shoot you in the head where you stand!" she threatened.

Reno sighed and went up to her, whining, "You just have to ruin all the fun don't you?"

Elena shot him a death glare, "Are you going to act like a Turk or a two year-old?"

Reno seemed to be thinking which made Elena want to smack him, but she just turned around and tried to block him out as she approached the gates.

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As Sephiroth made his way across the mountains, he wondered where he was supposed to find his companions at. And when he said 'companions' he meant 'puppets'. Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo, he had no idea where they were, and as he made his way over the mountains, something told him to find a small town that should be just up ahead. He didn't really know what was telling him that, but he knew it was connected to his puppets, so he continuing heading the direction he was going.

It wasn't long before he came across a vast clearing. Nothing was in sight in all directions except for a small village off towards the southeast. Sephiroth took one look at it, and guessed that was where his puppets were. He hurried towards it, anxious to kill Strife and his friends, but when he neared the village, a flash of pink in the grass caught his eyes.

Sephiroth was curious, but he knew that he had to make it over to the village. Deciding he would make it quick, he backtracked his way over to where he had seen the bright pink color.

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Kadaj was making good time heading off in the direction that the old shopkeeper had told him. Already they were a good half a mile from the small village they had found themselves on. Loz kept looking around, trying to decide if the place was safe or not. Yazoo only looked straight ahead without a word, his green eyes glittering. All three of them had their motorcycles, so Kadaj figured he was in luck.

Now, if only he could find Mother, then the Reunion could come! That would make Kadaj's day if he found Mother within a few hours, but something told him that he wouldn't be reaching Midgar anytime soon.

Kadaj sighed, he knew that Mother preferred Sephiroth over him, but he wished it were different. Oh well, at least Sephiroth could return to kill his Big Brother, Cloud Strife. Kadaj resented Cloud because Cloud was not like them. He was their Big Brother, he had become Sephiroth's first puppet, but he had failed. Kadaj wanted Cloud dead and out of the way, but he, sadly had no idea where Cloud was.

And what was worse, he feared Cloud might have Mother with him. Kadaj shook his head. He couldn't become so frustrated right then. He kept his Mako green eyes on the surrounding area, keeping alert for danger.

"Hey Kadaj, when do we reach Midgar?" Yazoo finally spoke up, his green eyes flashing as he spoke in an icy cold voice.

Kadaj shook his head, and only sped up on his motorcycle. "I don't know." he replied over the sound of the engines and the whistling wind.