Part 2-Chapter Eleven

Two days had past and it had been declared that Balamb was officially a ghost-town. Zell's parents were the only ones living there because they refused to leave the town they loved, even though it was abandoned and dead. Cloud had gotten a little better, and at the moment, he was speaking with Tifa in Nurse Janie's office.

"She what?" Cloud roared, his Mako blue eyes flashing. He was furious at the nurse. Apparently she had taken a blood sample from him without informing him and had sent it somewhere to be analyzed and had just gotten some test results back.

"Cloud, calm down. It isn't that big of deal. The reason why you are sick is because…of…well I don't really know what to call it. They said it's something to do with some kind of chemical in your blood. So either Nurse Janie means the Mako or JENOVA cells. That's what is making you sick." Tifa explained.

That made Cloud all the more angry and confused. "Is that so? Well then explain to me what is making me lose my memory!" he challenged, his voice harsh and unlike him.

Tifa drew back at his response and tone. In truth, Cloud frightened her at the moment. He never blew up like this, he had always hid his emotions from everyone, but here he was yelling at her. She hadn't know Cloud was losing his memories, nor did she know what he was forgetting that could make him so mad. "I-I don't quiet understand…"

Cloud glared at her, his Mako blue eyes flashing green for an instant. Tifa was shocked as she saw the green glow. Her brown eyes widened in horror and she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She could only step away from Cloud as he spoke in a harsher tone, "You don't understand? Of course you don't! You don't know what I'm going through with this! I can't remember anything Tifa! Soon enough I'll forget about you!"

His Mako colored eyes flared green as he glared at her. Tifa couldn't speak as she stared into the cold depths. They reminded her so much of Sephiroth's eyes…Her vision flashed and she once again relived the moment when she knelt beside her dying father. Sephiroth had killed him. He had done this and left his sword stabbed into the earth. Tifa had grabbed it, going to avenge her father's death. But Sephiroth had ended up taking his sword from her. Tifa had been helpless as he had cut her across the chest. She had been flung down the steps, bleeding and unable to stand. Then Zack had come, not Cloud. Cloud, she believed, had broken his promise, but when things had looked bad, he had come and tried to kill Sephiroth.

Sephiroth had ended up stabbing him in the chest twice with the Masamune. But Cloud had ended up bring Sephiroth to his end. But Tifa still remembered when Sephiroth had returned. Cloud had given Sephiroth the Black Materia and the Meteor was called. Aeris had tried to stop it by summoning Holy. But Sephiroth had stabbed her through the back and the White Materia had fallen off the alter. Everyone had believed that all hope was lost, but, not, Holy had come. But Holy had been too late to save Midgar. That was when Midgar had fallen.

Tifa snapped out of her trance. She looked back at Cloud, his eyes were still a blazing green, but ever so slowly they were turning a blue color again. His words echoed in her mind. He might forget about her…Those words stung like hell. The tone of voice he had used hurt her even worse. Tifa gave him a terribly sad and wounded look before walking out the door. When she was out the door, she quickly walked pat everyone, wanting to be left alone.

The horror that had spread through her whole body was fading away. She knew what had happened to Cloud. He had been a failed JENOVA experiment, along with Zack, his dead friend. Yes, Zack had been shot and killed. Maybe that was a side-affect of being a Sephiroth clone, getting the horrid monster's eye color…Tifa hoped not. The Mako blue eyes were bad enough. Cloud wasn't even a SOLDIER, he had lied to everyone about that. Tifa shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She just needed to calm down.

But Cloud had hurt her whether he realized it or not. He had wounded her more than he could ever know. Tifa hadn't planned to tell him about the blood tests but he had seen some document on it sitting on Nurse Janie's desk. He had asked her about it and she had no choice but to tell him about it. He hadn't liked it and now he was pissed off and every single one of them.

Tifa found herself heading towards the dorms. On her way there, she walked right into Rinoa. Rinoa looked at her questioningly. Tifa wondered how she must look towards the young woman in front of her. "Is something wrong Tifa?" Rinoa asked.

Tifa wasn't sure whether she should tell Rinoa, but she found herself doing so anyway, "Yeah, it about Cloud…"

"Care to talk about it?" Rinoa asked her sympathetically.

&&&

Kadaj was hopelessly lost and hungry. They had been riding along the ocean for two days and eating whatever they caught. He didn't like that one bit. But Kadaj was sure that they'd run into a town soon enough. Maybe today was his lucky day because his motorcycle had long since run out of gas.

Just in the distance, he could have sworn he could see a town up ahead. "Look, a town," he pointed off into the distance. Yazoo and Loz looked up from where they were dragging their feet in the sand, rolling their motorcycles through it. Kadaj turned to face them and saw that their faces brightened at the sight of civilization.

"Let's hurry up and get there before I die." Loz grumbled, speeding up. He used his inhuman speed to go faster than the rest and his strength to carry his motorcycle. Both Kadaj and Yazoo felt rather mad at Loz for abandoning them.

Kadaj turned to look at Yazoo, moving his silver bangs out of his face, "He'll pay for it later," he told his brother.

Yazoo nodded and replied, "Yes he will."

&&&

Meanwhile Sephiroth had went through the town, but not without any blood shed first. He had killed three men who had told him that they had seen Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo heading towards the ocean. Now he had reached the ocean and could see the impressions of his puppets' motorcycles' tracks in the sand.

Sephiroth followed it, hoping that his puppet weren't too far off, but something told him they were far ahead of him. While he was walking along the beach, he wondered how Zack was alive. He could have sworn Zack had been shot and killed. This place was strange…bringing the dead back to life. How odd.

But what about Hojo?

&&&

Yuffie was sitting outside, bored out of her mind. She, the Great Ninja Yuffie, had failed at finding any Materia in this whole damn place. Yeah, it sucked…and what made it worse is that Ivrine clung to her like a leech. Right now he was sitting beside her trying his best to copy her and act glum. Yuffie cast him a glance and glared at him, turning her head away. He got annoying after a while.

She sighed and stood up. He sighed and stood up. Yuffie turned to glare at him, but Ivrine knew what she was going to do and turned to glare right back at her. Grr! This guy is so annoying! A voice growled in Yuffie's head. Then a second voice spoke in her head, Yeah and what makes it worse, is that he likes you! Grr! He is unworthy for the Great Ninja Yuffie!

Yuffie spun around and headed towards the entrance. Too bad for her, Ivrine was following using the same posture she was. Yuffie was getting rather ticked by him. If he were an enemy like Coal off of Charmed, she would so throw a Ninja Star in his heart! Or not.

Charmed was Yuffie's favorite TV show! Except she had something against the whole Phoebe and Coal thing, but otherwise…yeah. Yuffie entered the Garden and tried to lose Ivrine in a crowded area. Didn't work. "Damn! This guy really is a leech!"

"Yuffie, what are you doing?" came a voice. Yuffie quickly side-stepped away, hoping that Ivrine would stay there as she walked over to Squall. She had her begging look on as she begged profoundly, "Squall! Please tell your friend Ivrine to go away! He won't stop bugging me!" Yuffie whined.

Squall blinked, narrowing his eyes. He looked up at Ivrine and glared at him. "Leave Yuffie alone, Ivrine." Ivrine gave him a but-why? look and left.

"Thank the heavens!" Yuffie gasped with joy as Ivrine left.

&&&

Zack groaned. They had found a small town, but to his great displeasure, a lot of the houses were burned and there was a graveyard just outside of the town. Angelo was barking like mad and Aeris was staring in horror at the town. Zack could tell, by the looks of everything; Sephiroth had visited this town.

He looked at Aeris who was on her knees, looking at the whole town with horror. "He did this didn't he?" she asked him quietly.

Zack nodded, "Yeah, he did, and I don't think anyone is alive here." he looked around again, seeing Angelo barking and pawing at a door built into the side of a wall, or that was what it looked like to Zack.

Zack tapped Aeris on the shoulder and pointed towards Angelo. Aeris stood up and both of them walked over to the door. Neither knew if there was someone in there that was alive or if there was danger. Zack was ready to draw his buster sword at the slightest hint of danger. He reached for the door knob and opened it. The door creaked open.

"Hello?" Zack called, looking around. At first he didn't see anything because it was dark, but a light was turned on and a man stood there with a shotgun raised, pointing at Zack and Aeris. Zack was about to reach for his buster sword, when the man yelled, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Suddenly a rather large woman appeared, holding a wooden spoon. She was hitting the man over the head with it. "Stop that! These two might not be like him! They could know Zell or some of his friends!" the woman snapped.

Zack blinked, and was about to speak when Aeris spoke up, "Hi, I'm Aeris, but no, I've never heard of Zell and I'm pretty sure Zack hasn't. But we need to know where we are." Aeris spoke rather quickly.

The woman smiled kindly at them, "If you pose no threat, you are welcome to stay here. But," she pointed at Zack, "that sword, I want it kept away."

Zack nodded, "No need to worry about that. I only use it when danger is-" Zack might have finished his sentence if a certain dog hadn't run into the house and jumped up onto the woman.

"Oh! Look it's Angelo!" She spoke with a surprised voice.

Zack was shocked, "You know this dog?"

"Why yes! This is Rinoa's dog! What are you doing with her?" the woman's voice was suddenly dripping with suspicion.

"Aeris found her and insisted that we keep her." Zack replied bluntly, not amused at all at the woman's sudden change of voice.

"Zack! Lighten up! This kind lady can help us! I mean think about it! If Sephiroth really did come here, then Cloud might have been here too, otherwise she-" Aeris didn't finish that sentence. Zack knew what she meant. He nodded, it was possible.

Zack turned to look at the woman, "Do you happen to know a Cloud Strife?"

The man glared at Zack suspiciously, but the woman nodded, "Yes, yes we do. He helped get rid of that horrible man with the really long sword."

Zack's hope soared, "Where is he?"

The woman looked at him strangely, "I think he went back with Squall and this guy with a cape and a woman to the Garden."

Zack's eyes became confused, but he didn't really care about the others. He needed to know where the Garden was. "So where is the Garden?"

"Just follow the road and you'll come across it."