Chapter Eight

Cloud's eyes opened slightly. He felt very tired, and at the same time, very sick. He groaned as he opened his eyes all the way, light flooding into his world of darkness. Cloud could feel the pain in his body and it hurt. His head was still killing him and he wished all the pain would just vanish. Why did it have to be him out of all the people who had come to this strange world, why him?

At least it isn't Tifa, a voice said in the back of his head. Cloud was grateful for that, but this damn headache wasn't helping him when he was fighting off enemies at all! He sat up. Flashbacks of what had happened when he had been fighting Sephiroth played over and over in his mind.

He remembered trying to his Sephiroth, but his enemy had side stepped and the blade had hit the ground. Cloud remembered a great pain slashing through his head and blinding him for a split of a second. That was when he had been stabbed. It was because of this headache that he was as wounded as he was. If it had not been there, Cloud might have defeated Sephiroth. In technical means, he had, but Sephiroth had fled and was still alive.

How he had lived through the pool of Mako was beyond Cloud. And you killed him again, remember? A voice entered his head. Cloud shook his head. No, he didn't remember. In fact, he barley remembered killing Sephiroth then. Images played through his head of Aeris and Sephiroth; Tifa and Nimblheim.

Cloud hadn't even looked around to see where he was. Suddenly the image of a man with spiky black haired popped into his mind. He could hear the man shouting in his mind, "Cloud, run!" but Cloud did not know who the man was.

He blinked, his glassy blue eyes focusing on the people sitting in front of him. Cloud looked at Tifa for a moment and then blinked. She stood up and walked over to him. "How are you feeling?" she asked him in a caring, but worried voice.

Cloud shrugged, he still felt down and the pain in his head hurt. But slowly, as he began thinking about other things and memories, the pain ebbed away. Then he became conscious of the wounds that Sephiroth had gave him. The stab wound had been bandaged, but the few slashes he had received from the Masamune hadn't and seemed to have some kind of medicine applied to them.

"How long have I been out?" Cloud asked. He looked at Tifa for answers, ignoring the nurse who was now filling a small flask with something. That something happened to be red. Cloud blinked, looking away from it and staring at Tifa.

Tifa smiled, "A few hours at the most. It's dark out so don't even bother trying to go look for the others because I don't know where they are." she had answered his next question without him even speaking. Cloud nodded, not sure what else to ask, then it came to him.

"How long have you been here Tifa?" he asked herb curiously. She just looked at him and shrugged. Then she turned her head to look at the clock on the wall. It read 10: 56.

"About four hours," she estimated. Cloud blinked in surprise. He knew she had to be tired, especially with how late it was.

"Aren't you tired? Or hungry?" he asked, blurting out his questions.

Tifa smiled at him and shook her head, "No, not really. I could stay here all night if I had to." At that moment, though, she yawned, but only slightly. Tifa seemed unchanged though.

Cloud blinked, his Mako gaze looking at her. He closed his eyes and shook his head, "I can't ask you to do that." Cloud opened his eyes again, waiting for her response. As much as he didn't want her to leave, he knew she needed somewhere other than a chair to sleep.

Tifa gave him a teasing look, but her voice was stern, "You're not asking, I'll telling you that I'm not leaving, I'll stay in here."

Cloud sighed. He knew that he'd never win a fight against Tifa, and if he did, he must be pretty lucky. So he only looked away and laid back on his pillow. Just as he was about to shut his eyes, pain raced through his head. He winced from it, clenching his teeth together. His Mako blue eyes flashed before shutting.

An image filled his mind. It was that man with the spiky black hair. His blue eyes were kind, and beside him stood a familiar girl wearing a pink dress. She was smiling. Then, as soon as the image flashed through his mind, it vanished. Cloud's eyes opened and he tried to reclaim the picture. The girl in the pink dress…he knew that he knew her. That was Aeris, but the man she was standing beside was different. A question played through Cloud's mind as the pain from his headache began to fade.

Is my mind making up this black-haired guy or was am I slowly forgetting everything?

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Reno sighed as he and Elena approached some stranger wearing this very strange outfit. Reno figured all these people were strange, maybe that was why people he didn't know anything about were called strangers, because they were all strange…

He took a quick glance at Elena. He felt bored and she didn't seem to be paying attention…so…maybe Reno could go find something 'fun' to do. She had her back to him and seemed to be muttering to herself, so Reno side-stepped, putting his hands in his pockets for show as he hurriedly escaped from Elena.

He headed towards a hallway and looked around, spotting tons of people walking around doing nothing in particular. Well, actually they seemed to be talking and chattering about 'classes' but Reno didn't care. Then he asked himself, 'Is this a damn school! I hate school!'

He shrugged it off and came to the first hallway leading off into another room. Reno read the sign: 'Infirmary'. He had no business in there. So he went to the next, 'Quad', nope. Then he went to the next, 'Cafeteria'. Reno certainly had business in there! He was hungry! Evil Tseng hadn't been kind enough to order any food for his workers or himself.

Reno thought rather angrily about what Tseng could be doing then. His boss might be drinking some liquor while feasting on a chicken or turkey or something. Nah! Reno tossed that thought out the door. He grinned at his next thought, Elena's not there with him. He has to miss her!

With each thought, came an idea, and this idea was full-proof! Reno took out his cell phone and dialed Tseng's number. It rang once or twice before a blunt, "Hello?" came from the other line. "Tseng here."

"Oh, hey Tseng. I was just wondering what sort of information you needed from this Garden. All that Elena and I have figured out is that it's some kind of school." Reno responded.

He heard a sigh, "I knew that Reno. Is there a town near it?" Tseng asked, his voice monotone.

"Actually there is. But, I'm afraid I have some very bad news you're not going to like." Reno would have told Tseng what it was, if it had not been for someone coming up to him and grabbing his cell phone.

"No cell phones permitted!" the woman snapped. She placed the phone to her ear and asked sharply, "Who is this?"

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Tseng glared as he heard a new voice on the phone and Reno's complaints. He answered the woman with a cold and harsh voice, "Give the phone back to my friend."

"I'm sorry but there are no cell phones permitted on campus!" the woman snapped.

"Woman, if you want me to hunt you down and put a-" Tseng was interrupted.

"Tseng, calm down and give me the phone Rufus demanded, snapping his fingers and pointing at the phone. Tseng did as he was told and Rufus ShinRa was now speaking on the phone to some woman who thought she could boss people around.

"Woman, if you took my friend's phone, you have to understand that he is not part of your school. Actually he was just telling us something very important. You see, Reno, our friend, that's his name, got separated from us when we were fighting off some monsters, and now he was giving us some directions as to which way to go to find him." Rufus's voice was calm and he tried to sound convincing, and it would have worked, if the woman had not spoken to Tseng first.

"Well whoever this Reno was talking to, threatened me!" she snarled.

Rufus sighed, there was no getting past this, but he wouldn't revert to threats just yet. "He just thought he couldn't trust you. Also he is slightly drunk, but Reno could not be in your school anyway because he is past age twenty, so please give him his phone back. We need them because we plan to be leaving this country by tomorrow."

"Oh alright, fine, you win." The woman had finally given in and had given Reno back the phone, but Rufus had hung up. Reno wasn't with Elena, that was for sure. Tseng looked at Rufus without emotion as he took his phone back.

"Now, where were we? Oh yes, the matter of any of our foes being here…"

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The black haired man looked at the nearing town. Yes, it was a town. He had gotten close enough to see people walking around and a few children playing. He also noticed a tall figure standing a little over four hundred yards away. His sharp vision could make out long silver hair. He even saw a drawn sword. The sword was oddly familiar. No…it can not be! That man is dead!

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The young woman opened her emerald eyes. She felt so stiff and unsteady. Her brown hair was braided like it always was and her pink dress was as bright as ever. Hen she opened her eyes, she saw a shadow over her. She moved her arms unsteadily as she picked herself up into a sitting position and looked up to see a tall person standing in front of her.

The sun shadowed his figure, but she knew exactly who it was. She opened her mouth to scream, but a single quiet word came out instead, "Help…"

Sephiroth stood over her, drawing his sword. It glinted brilliantly in the sunlight and he spoke in a cold voice that dripped with the pleasure of a killer's voice, "Cetra, what a pleasant surprise. I thought I killed you when I stabbed you, but apparently not, well it is not everyday that I get to kill someone twice."

The Cetra girl gave Sephiroth a look of terror, but she was unable to move. She wanted someone to come and save her because she knew that she Sephiroth would kill her without hesitation. But at the same time, she knew that she should not be there. She was supposed to be dead, but somehow, she was alive.

Sephiroth glared at the Cetra, about to plunge his sword into her body. She could tell that Sephiroth wanted to ill her, but she also realized that time seemed to slow as he brought his sword down on her. She moved her arms up in front of her face, screaming at last. She knew that she would die as soon as she came back, no one was there to save her this time. Not Cloud, not Zack, not anyone…

Just as she was sure she was going to die, she heard a loud curse word ring out through the air. Then she heard a clashing sound. She dared open her eyes and they flew open in amazement.

There he was, saving her life! She gasped with joy at seeing him, but the fright hadn't left her. She looked at Sephiroth who looked stricken by the man's sudden appearance. The Cetra smiled lightly as Zack smashed his buster sword against the Masamune, blocking one of Sephiroth's deadly attacks.

"Go the hell away Sephiroth or I will kill you where you stand!" Zack snarled, trying to hit Sephiroth. At first Sephiroth seemed as if he wanted to continue fighting, but in an instant, he jumped nimbly away from Zack and sheathed the Masamune. He shot a glare at the Cetra and growled, "You should feel lucky for him saving you, otherwise I'd have gladly killed you again."

She shuttered, knowing that Sephiroth meant that he would still try to kill her for what she had done. At least he was leaving for now because she didn't really think she could stand. How long had it been since she had walked? Years, but they remained uncounted. She had had no sense of time in death, but at the moment she didn't care about time.

Zack turned around to look at her, sheathing his buster sword as Sephiroth headed towards the town without a glance over his shoulder. He bent down to look at her, but he flinched in the process. "Are you alright, Aeris?" he asked her.

Aeris nodded, "Yeah…I think so…but Zack, how am I here if I'm…dead?" She had voiced something that had been troubling her ever since she had realized she was alive and not in the Lifestream where she should have been.