Chapter Sixteen

Rain poured from the sky, flooding the streets. Cloud blinked, looking out the window with interest. He was so bored because he couldn't go to Aeris's church because Tifa had strictly told him that he would not go outside until it quit raining. He had thought about going out anyway, but it seemed that Tifa was watching him every second. Maybe he really was going out to Aeris's church too often…

He sighed, standing up straight, he went downstairs. He found Tifa fixing a drink for one of the customers. He could hear them talking about something. 'Probably the whether,' he mused, making sure she was keeping her attention on the customer. He slipped quickly out the door and sidestepped away from the door so she couldn't see him and sighed with relief. That was rather easy now that Tifa had opened the bar. Now to find his motorcycle.

Cloud headed around back of the bar and spotted his motorcycle that, to his dismay, was out in the rain. There were two people trying to break the chains that he kept around it. Cloud sighed, feeling so bored that he couldn't even make himself angry. Too bad he didn't have his buster sword with him…

"What are you two doing with my bike?" Cloud growled, looking at the two guys. They looked drunk-really drunk.

"Why dis here bike is what we're goin' ta sell at da-" the first man started, his speak so slurred that Cloud had trouble understanding him.

The second guy slapped the drunk man in the back of the head and scowled, before looking up at Cloud. "Oh, srry 'bout dat, we didn't know dis was your bike. Let's go Jimmy," Cloud blinked, looking at the two drunkards as if they were crazy-which they really were but that wasn't the point.

He went over to his bike and looked at it making sure it wasn't damaged. No, the chain was nearly broke it two though, but nothing else. Cloud ignored the rain as he grabbed the keys out of his pocket and was about to start the engine when he noticed Vincent walking through the rain, heading towards the Seventh Heaven. He blinked with surprise, and then he noticed Red sitting outside the door in the rain, looking quite content. Barret was just coming up to the Seventh Heaven with a bag in his hand. That was most likely a present for Marlene.

Then he noticed Yuffie was speaking with a drunkard and taking gil off the guy. Cloud shrugged, AVALANCHE was always around, but they never really were in just one spot like this. He jumped on his motorcycle, staring it. Cloud ignored them as he raced past them. Vincent had turned to look at Cloud, his piercing red eyes flashing. Yuffie had glanced at him before grabbing a red materia from the man and sneaking away, a grin on her face. Tifa, who had obviously heard the motorcycle, came outside, scowling at Cloud, but her voice was cut off by the loud clashing sound of thunder. Before any of them could speak, lightning struck the ground, just where Cloud had been seconds before.

Cloud hit the brake on his motorcycle and turned to look at the scorch mark on the ground before his vision blurred. He could feel himself falling off of his motorcycle. Pain seared through his body, his blood felt like liquid fire, burning him from the inside. Then his vision went black.

Cloud's eyes snapped open with shock. He sat up, looking around him. His head hurt horribly and he bent down, clutching his head. He ground his teeth together, wishing the pain would leave him. His mind flashed.

Green waves of the Lifestream coursed steadily around the Planet. Aeris's spirit took form and there she stood, standing next to Zack, Sephiroth, and Hojo. Their images faded from the Lifestream, along with their spirits. In their place, a black shadow lingered.

He shut his eyes as the pain grew even more intense.

Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz were headed on their way to Rufus ShinRa's place. Kadaj looked very angry about something, Loz looked rather upset, Yazoo's face was unreadable. Just as they were reaching the place where Rufus stayed, a wave of green washed over them. When the green vanished, there was no trace of Kadaj, Loz, or Yazoo.

Cloud felt his eyes watering from the pain he felt. How were the images supposed to help him? He opened his eyes, the pain ebbing away. Well, at least he now know how he had gotten here-sort of. He moved the thin blanket that had come from the tent away from him and climbed out of the tent, wiping away the tears that had threatened him. He was surprised to see that Zack and Aeris still had not woke up, so he went over to last night's wood stock and grabbed some to make a fire.

The heat bounced off the flames as Cloud struck up a fire. He flinched at the sudden wave of heat, feeling the intensity of the flames. Cloud recovered at once as he went over to his tent and reached inside. He grabbed a pack that was full of supplies and took out something to eat. Cloud noticed that it was hot dog. He shrugged, finding a stick and stuck it on it.

After Cloud had finished eating, his head still hurt terribly and every time he moved his head, he would flinch at the pain. Aeris and Zack were just getting up as Cloud took down his tent. "How late did you two stay up last night?" Cloud asked, looking at both of them.

Zack shrugged, "I don't know," Aeris, however, looked away and was getting something out of a backpack. Cloud turned away, flinching at the movement of his head, feeling the pain stab at him.

"Let's go," Cloud ordered. HE had finished packing and wasn't even thinking of them as he stood up, slinging his pack around his shoulder. Zack and Aeris, however, looked at Cloud with confusion. "But we haven't even eaten yet, Cloud, much less packed." Aeris objected at once.

Cloud felt anger wash over him. It had come out of no where, just as the stabbing pain in his head had. The pain grew, but for a split of a second, Cloud seemed immune to it as he snarled, "Well you should have woken up earlier!"

Aeris drew back in alarm and shock at the tone of Cloud's voice, staring at him with wide emerald eyes. Zack, however, looked at Cloud with anger, but quite suddenly, he noticed the color of Cloud's eyes. It was a green color, a harsh, angry green color. His eyes narrowed as his mind flashed back to an image of Sephiroth. It was the color of Sephiroth's eyes. Zack felt hostility coil up within him like a snake, but it faded as soon as Cloud dropped to his feet, clutching his head.

Stabbing pain blinded Cloud. It was worse than when he had woken up, much worse. He felt his insides go numb as he kneeled in the dirt, his teeth clenched together and his fingers digging into his hair. He shook his head in fury and pain, trying to get the one image that stuck in his mind, out. Cloud saw 'his' haunting green eyes in his mind. He could feel rage flooding through his body. Then, all at once, everything stopped and Cloud dropped into the dirt below, out cold.

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Sephiroth smirked. He knew where Cloud was now, but heck, he didn't have to kill his puppet now. He green yes flashed with a torturous gleam. Strife was his puppet, and that meant that he could manipulate his little puppet anyway he wanted to. He could make Cloud kill his friends, hurt the innocent, or worse-kill Tifa. Heh-heh, what a fun sight that would make! Another one of Strife's girlfriends dead! He laughed at the idea, not even bothering to look back at his other two puppets.

He stopped, and turned around. He knew where Cloud was going and everything. Sephiroth's Mako green eyes glowed in the morning sunlight as he made his way back to Balamb, rushing to get to the train. He knew it still ran by, regardless that everyone in that town was dead. Kadaj and Loz were quick, but they were no where near as fast as the ex-General.

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Tifa was worried for Cloud. Very worried, he had not been himself a few times before and he was sick. Also she remembered Squall talking about so many monsters out there. She knew she shouldn't worry herself, but she did. Tifa felt so angry at Cloud for just leaving her here at the Garden. She had nothing to do here, she wanted an adventure so bad.

Tifa sighed, looking at Vincent, Marlene, and Barret. They were all sitting around, bored as she was. Yuffie, though, was no where to be seen. Tifa wondered where the ninja had snuck off to now. Then she remembered Yuffie telling her something about Irvine last night. Maybe she was with Irvine again.

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In fact, Yuffie was with Irvine. They were in the Cafeteria eating breakfast. Yuffie was still uncomfortable with Irvine putting his arm around her shoulders, but after she had told him to stop it, he had. Now she was eating, not really having anything to say. Irvine, though, was a different story. "So, Cloud left, huh? Why did he leave?"

Yuffie sighed, shaking her head. If anything she really, really disliked about Irvine, was that he asked too many questions… "Yes, he left last night to go with Zack and Aeris to find Sephiroth and kill him."

"Where did they go?"

"To Esthar."

"Why Esthar?"

"To find Laguna, Kiros, and Ward."

"But they aren't there anymore."

"What! Where are they?" Yuffie panicked at once.

"How should I know? Last I heard, Laguna was looking for Ellone, who had went back to Winhill. Maybe they went back, but I don't know. You better hope they did go back." Irvine said, looking at Yuffie with suspecting eyes.

LOL! Poor them...I dunno what I'm gonna do...hm...well, i updated as soon as I could-which was five second later so be happy about it cause my school is about to start againa nd the updates aren't going to be as requent-srry! And to think, I'm NO WHERE near done with this fan fic...