Chapter Nineteen

Cloud boarded the train, noticing that when they past the conductor, he eyed them with fear showing in his eyes. Cloud ignored him and sat down. Zack and Aeris sat down right across from Cloud, beside each other. Cloud kept his eyes downcast towards the floor as the train left the station when the clock struck two. He looked up when there was a sudden crash from somewhere in the train. At first there was silence but then he could just make out someone yelling in an angry, "What the hell? Stop that!"

He figured it was just some other passengers and looked at the window. It was then, though it was faint, that Cloud saw his reflection. He was shocked to see that his eyes were not blue, but green, a deep emotionless Mako green. Was that what had angered Zack so much? There was nothing Cloud could come up with. "Why are my…?" he let the sentence hang in the air as he turned away from the window.

Zack, he noticed, was staring at the door with confusion. Aeris was looking between Cloud and the door and then Zack. Cloud looked at the door and saw that someone was opening it. In Cloud's mind's eye, he saw the image of Sephiroth flash before his eyes. He flinched inwardly as the pain in his head grew for an instant before fading away.

The door opened in a flash and out came a teenager with silver hair, followed by a second teenager with longer silver hair. "Run Yazoo! Run for your lives! CLOUD STRIFE! RUN! BROTHERS RUN FOR THE HILLS!" the teen screamed.

Cloud jumped to his feet, realizing that it was Kadaj and Yazoo and that meant…oh hell no! He spun towards Kadaj and Yazoo and ran after them, leaving Zack and Aeris dumbfounded. Poor them…Hell was coming fast.

"WHAT DID YOU TWO DO AND WHERE THE HELL IS LOZ?" Cloud yelled over Kadaj and Yazoo's terrified screams.

"Sephiroth killed him! And um…uh…I told him to go to hell because I needed to find Mother and well um…now he's out to control you and kill us! RUN!" Kadaj squealed as they heard Zack shouting something and saw him fast approaching them, carrying Aeris.

"Hey Big Brother, where's your sword-maybe you can kill Sephiroth for us! He isn't the real Sephiroth!" Yazoo asked, looking at Cloud and saw his green eyes. An evil smiled played on his face, but it vanished as Cloud responded, "Zack! Give me my damn sword before we all-Wait! Did you just say that isn't the real Sephiroth?"

"That is right, Big Brother!" Kadaj yelled. "With Mother I shall be the true Sephiroth! MWHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Cloud…why the hell are they calling you their brother?" Zack yelled. Cloud turned to face him, but was stopped by Kadaj, "Shut up! You're not my brother-and Cloud, just because I warned you, doesn't mean I'm not going to slit your throat open later." Kadaj growled, but he squealed with fear as he reached the end of the train. Only one thing to do. Kadaj flung open the door and yelled, "JUMP OFF THE TRAIN!"

"Are you crazy? We'll get killed!" Aeris screamed in terror, clutching onto Zack for dear life. Kadaj turned to face her, "Woman! I'm not gonna die! You might though." Kadaj muttered.

"Hey!" Aeris shouted. Suddenly Cloud grabbed Zack by the arm and pushed him in front of the door and then he kicked him off the train. Zack fell onto the dirt ground below and looked up at Cloud just as the train passed and saw Cloud flinch before kicking Kadaj and Yazoo off the train. Why he was helping them, he didn't know.

"Damn you, you stupid puppet! Why did you throw them off the train? I wouldn't have hurt that dumb Cetra or her boyfriend-my other two puppets, though, are a different story." Sephiroth's rageful voice came from behind Cloud.

Cloud meanwhile, felt the sharp pain stabbing at his conscious, luring him into a sleep, but Cloud fought. He would not give into Sephiroth's control!

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Kadaj spat the dirt out of his mouth a stood up, dusting himself off. He looked over at Yazoo, who was glaring at the passing train. Kadaj noticed that Yazoo had his gun out and was firing at it. Why Yazoo was doing that, Kadaj would never know. He sighed, looking around him. This place was dark…of course-they were in a tunnel under the ocean. "Damn it!" he swore aloud, his Mako green eyes looking through the darkness. He loved that ability to see through the darkness without any night vision goggles! It made him feel special!

"Ow…ohh…why did he push us off the train?" a whining voice cut through the silence that followed the passing of the train. Kadaj turned his head to see Zack and Aeris coming their way, Aeris was limping and appeared to be in pain.

"Because he saved our lives." Zack replied simply, locking his cold Mako blue eyes with Kadaj's, "Do you have any healing materia on you? I think we left all of our stuff in the train."

Kadaj blinked and then glared at them, "Why should I help you?" he retorted. Zack and Aeris were his enemies, just like Cloud was. The only reason (okay so there was two reasons) why he had helped Cloud was 1. He wanted to be the crap out of Cloud, not Sephiroth. 2. It was so fun to sit there and make his Big Brother angry!

"Kadaj, look," Yazoo pointed to a place across the train tracks. "Am I seeing thing or is he real?"

Kadaj's eyes widened in horror at who he saw standing there, glaring at both of them, tears in his eyes. "HE'S COME BACK TO HAUNT US! RUN YAZOO RUN!" Kadaj screamed, but before he could even so much as move, Loz raced over and grabbed Kadaj by the arm and whined, "Why did you let him kill me Brother, why?"

Kadaj tried to get away from Loz, terrified out of his mind of a ghost. If Kadaj had been thinking and he hadn't been hit in the back of the head by Sephiroth for leaving the back of the train; he might have realized that a ghost can't touch solid things and hold them back like Loz was doing.

"Loz, let go of Kadaj." Yazoo ordered, his green eyes flashing. Loz obeyed at once, butt hen he turned to face Zack and Aeris and cracked his knuckles, "Who are they?" he asked as Zack shielded Aeris, a snarl on his face.

Zack was hurt too, but he tried not to show it. But being pushed off a train did put a hurting on you. Plus, on top of all that, he had a major headache.

&&&

"Strife…you're useless to me now if you can't be around your friends to kill them. Get off this damn train!" Sephiroth snarled. Cloud, who had bent over in pain from where his head had been hurting him like hell, was kicked in the side. He fell off the train and landed in the dirt. Cloud's eyes opened wide in pain and shock from the sudden fall to the ground.

All the air rushed out of his lungs and he lay there, gasping for air until finally, the pain began to subside. But Cloud did not get up. He would not go looking for his friends, no, he was a danger to them. Sephiroth had just proven that by his words. Instead Cloud, pulled himself up against the wall and rested there, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. Why was it always him who got hurt? Why oh why was it him?

Far of in the distance, Cloud could hear people talking, some yelling and some were so quiet, Cloud couldn't tell who was talking. He knew Kadaj's voice that sounded terrified. Cloud couldn't help but smile as a thought entered his mind. Kadaj is a remnant of Sephiroth a clone. He has Sephiroth's anger and torturous soul-who knew Sephiroth could be so scared of a ghost? Yazoo-he has Sephiroth's quick thinking and sudden anger, but understanding. Loz-Loz has part of Sephiroth's strength, but otherwise, he's a dud.

&&&

After Kadaj had told Loz to back off, Zack asked again, rather irritated, "Do you have any Cure materia?"

"I told you I'm not helping you, scum bag." Kadaj sneered, turning away from Zack and walking off a few feet, followed closely by Loz and Yazoo. Loz seemed to be sulking about something while Yazoo just stared ahead, his eyes narrowed. He said nothing. Zack, on the other hand, was ready to hit Kadaj any minute. And now that he had two buster swords, Kadaj might want to look out.

"Hey Kadaj, you know I have two buster swords now, and being a first class SOLDIER, I can whip your ass with them." Zack retorted. He felt Aeris hit him lightly on the shoulder for his bad language, but she said nothing.

Kadaj turned to look at Zack with wide eyes, his mouth opened slightly. "You're a f-first class SOLDIER?" Kadaj gasped. But he seemed to snap out of his shocked state and replied, "You're lying,"

"No, I'm not. Sephiroth and I weren't enemies forever ya know. He did have power over me, yes, but we were friends at once. See, here is picture from when we were at Nimblheim just before Sephiroth found those files in the ShinRa mansion." Zack took out a photo from his pocket that he always kept with him. He showed it to Kadaj.

It was a picture of Zack, Tifa, and Sephiroth. Tifa was smiling, Zack was looking bored, Sephiroth was turned away, looking at something, not really interested. "Still don't believe you," Kadaj muttered.

Zack grinned at the next thought that came across his mind. "Want me to prove it to you?" he asked, his tone hinting danger. He cracked his knuckles threateningly.

Kadaj's eyes widened in fear as he realized what Zack meant to do. "Uh-no thanks! Don't hurt me! Here, take the damn materia, I have no use for it anyway!" Kadaj threw a green materia at Zack, who caught it just before it hit him and handed it to Aeris. Aeris sat down, relieved to get off of just one foot and used the Cure materia to heal her foot.

She stood up, her ankle no longer hurting. Though she couldn't see all that well, she looked to what she thought was straight forward, clutching Zack's arm, "Can we get out of this tunnel now? It's cold and wet down here."

Zack blinked, looking down at Aeris and nodded," She's right. For now, until we get the hell out of this place, we're not enemies."

Kadaj and the others nodded. Zack watched as Kadaj got a wondering look across his face before a smile played on his face. He took out a cell phone and typed in a number. Zack heard it ringing and realized it was on speaker phone. Kadaj motioned for them to be quiet as a voice answered, "Hello?"

"Hello, idiot." Kadaj replied.

"Who is this?"

"Me," Kadaj replied smartly.

"Grr! This isn't funny, who the hell gave you this number?" the voice growled from the other end.

"I've known this number Tseng, you remember me, right?" Kadaj asked. When Zack heard the name 'Tseng', memories flashed before his eyes. If he remembered correctly, it had been the Turks that had killed him…Tseng was the Turks' leader. Anger flared within Zack as he stepped forward, not making his intentions clear.

Quick as lightning, he snatched the phone from Kadaj's hand snarled, "Tseng! You damn jackass! You killed me!"

"What? Who is-oh yes! You're Zack, Reno told me you were alive! Hm…I thought he was drunk or something-oh well! Huh? What? Zack, Rufus wants to talk to you."

"Rufus? Who the hell is Rufus?" Zack asked, staring at the phone. Kadaj, who had been trying to get his phone back without success, suddenly stopped and burst out laughing at Zack's question.

Aeris, who had gotten her own weapon from the Garden-which was a staff of course-grabbed it from where Zack kept it for her and whacked Kadaj over the head with it. "Hello? Zack?" an unfamiliar voice echoed through the phone.

"Who are you?" Zack asked.

"I am Rufus ShinRa."

Zack blinked, "And?"

"If you must know-my father is dead, Sephiroth killed him-good riddance! He was a fool but anyway, quit the chit-chat. You are a friend of Cloud and Sephiroth-well former friend, am I correct?" Rufus asked.

"Yes, what are you rambling on about?" Zack demanded, walking down the dark trail with Aeris clinging to him because she was virtually blind in the darkness.

"Well, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo, the three you are with, they are all clones of Sephiroth-if you haven't noticed. I would advise you not to trust them, and if they have any materia-take it away from them. They're dangerous with it-I should know."

Zack blinked, "Okay, and you say Reno is there hmm? I doubt you'll do it, but do me a favor and bust a glass bottle over his head-might teach him a lesson-and if you don't do it-I will."

"Whatever, now hang up the phone, Zack, I have nothing more to say to you." Rufus ordered. Zack growled, but did as he said and tossed the phone back to Kadaj, who just barley caught it. "Why did you ruin my prank call?" Kadaj whined, "And my threats?" Zack didn't turn to look at Kadaj as he continued forward. He, like Aeris, wanted out of the tunnel and away from Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz.

Speaking of Loz, the idiot had been stabbed by Kadaj because Kadaj still thought he was a ghost and Loz was now laying in bloody mud-dying-again.