Chapter Twenty-Five

Vincent was actually glad for once in thirty years. Professor Gast had left to go talk to Aeris! Halajuha! Zack, Vincent noticed, was looking at the hole in the wall. "Who made this big hole in the wall?"

Vincent groaned. Before he could even begin to answer Zack, Professor Gast spoke up, "Vincent here did that! I kinda made him rather man about…" Professor Gast glanced at Vincent. Vincent gave him a death glare, his crimson eyes burning, "…something…"

Zack looked up at Vincent, confused. He, unlike everyone else, didn't know a thing about Vincent's past. Usually Zack wouldn't pry, but he-in the time he had been with AVALANCHE-had not ever noticed Vincent look angry, sad, happy, or anything else-just emotionless.

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Zack was about to say something, when all at once, he felt immense pain in his head. He gasped, his eyes widening as he dropped onto the floor. Aeris was at his side in an instant, placing a hand on his back. Zack tried to speak, but found that words would not come. He looked at his hand and saw that it was fading. Green specks surrounded him and slowlu, he began to vanish.

"Zack!" Aeis yelled, rapping her arms around him. Zack wanted to say something-anything-but within seconds, he was gone. In his place stood a silver and black wolf. The wolf looked around for a moment before it gave a sharp bark. The wolf turned its head to look at Aeris, staring at her with friendly blue eyes. "Zack? Is that you?" Aeris asked in shock.

The wolf wagged its tail and brushed against Aeris before it vanished. Aeris could only stare at the spot where the wolf had been in shock. Zack-he had turned into a wolf!

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When Cloud awoke, he felt pain searing through his back. He gasped as he sat up. Firelight danced across his body as he bliunked, wishing the pain would leave his body as he looked around him, trying to take in his surroundings His Mako green eyes came to rest on a silver and black wolf. The wolf turned to look at Cloud with piercing blue eyes. The wolf didn't seem to be afraid of him as it approached him. suden;ly the wolf drew back into the shadows, its eyes flashing.

"Grr! Why do I have to do everyone's dirty-work?" a voice growled from behind Cloud. Cloud turned his head and saw Yazoo standing there, holding a plate of food. Yazoo glared down at Cloud as he shoved the plate into Cloud's hands. Then he stalked off into the blackness of the shadows.

Cloud blinked and looked down at the plate. It had a large piece of meat on it, but that was it. Suddenly he felt something nudge his arm. Cloud jumped, but then he realized that it was only the wolf. "What?" he asked, reaching out to pet the wolf. His fingers brushed its silver hair before it drew back a few inches.

The wolf whined at him, shaking its head. Cloud was confused by the wolf's behavior as he grabbed a small knife that was on the plate and cut the steak. He stabbed the piece with the knife and was about to stick it in his mouth when he heard a loud growl. He put the knife down, looking at the wolf, utterly confused. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Cloud noticed the wolf was staring at the steak. Its lips were curled in a snarl, its fangs flashing. It was obvious that Yazoo, Kadaj, and Sephiroth had done something to the steak. Cloud sighed and looked at the wolf, "Alright, what did they do o it?"

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Sephiroth looked down at the list in his hand, crossing out what he had already done.

Kill Strife's Girlfriend

Bring Strife to the Island Closest to Hell

Feed Strife Mako

Continue Classes

Well at least he had three out of four done…

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Cloud only got a growl out of the wolf. He sighed. He was starving and with each passing second, he was tempted to eat the steak in front of him. the wolf growled again, the fur on its neck rising. Cloud saw its fangs and blinked, inching away . Maybe this wolf wasn't as friendly as he thought…

Cloud tried to push the growling wolf out of his mind as he finally took a bite of the steak. He swallowed it, finding that it tasted very funny an bitter. Through his hunger, he was tempted not to eat anymore, but he realized how stupid that would be. He ate more of it, but on his fourth bite, the wolf suddenly lunged. It grabbed the meat right off the plate and ran off into the woods. Cloud stared at it in amazement. Maybe the wolf had just been hungry.

"Strife!" a loud voice came from behind him. Cloud tuned, flinching. His eyes founmd Sephiroth and it was as if a light had turned on in his mind. Tifa…she was dead because Sephiroth shot her!

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Aeris looked around the room for an explination from anyone. Professor Gast was staring at the spot where Zack had b4en with amazement. Vincent was looking on without emotion. Yuffie was looking at her., Tifa seemed to have not paid attention to anything as she stared at the floor, her eyes glazed over in thought. Aeris felt so sorry for Tifa. She was worried for Cloud too, but for a moment, it had completely left her mind because of Zack's disappearance.

'Aeris…tell Tifa Cloud is fine, but his face is pretty banged up. The bullet hole doesn't seem to be hurting him much…' Zack's voice filled Aeris's mind, but she did not see him anywhere.

Aeris blinked, nodding even though Zack could not se her and stood up, approaching Tifa. Quietly, she explained everything that Zack had told her to tell Tifa.

When she had finished, she heard someone swear loudly:"That idiot!" Aeris spun around, spotting Zack, a furious look on his face. She watched in silence as he punched the wall, denting it in his fury.

"W-What happened?" Aeris asked, staring at him.

Zack turned to look at her with hard eye. "They were feeding him Mako-poisoning him, Aeris! I tried with all I could to tell him, but being a wolf has its limitations. I took it from him when he started eating it-I just hope he didn't eat too much…"

Tifa looked at Zack with anger in her brown eyes, "Why didn't you stay there with him?" she demanded.

Zack sighed, "Because, Tifa, Sephiroth came up. There was no way I could let him see me. He'd recognize mako colored eyes anywhere, and then he'd kill me."

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Reno stared at the dog with horror. How could Hojo call that thing a dog! It was about as big as a twelve year-old and was a light brown color with blue eyes. It walked on two legs, hunched over, and instead of paws, it had long fingers with sharp, deadly claws on the end. It also had sharp fangs that poked out of it's mouth. "What is that thing!" Reno yelled.

"What this?" Hojo chuckled, an insanre look glinting in his eyes. "Meet my little lab rat, Denzel!"

"You mean that thing is Strife's little orphan friend!" Reno gasped.

"No…maybe…yes. And his name is Frisky!"

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Grimiore Valentine's face was grim and his dark colored eyes were flickering the confusion that he felt inside of him. Where was he? He remembered being in the Lifestream-but now he was in a dark forest and night was all around him. And for some odd reason, he was dressed like Van Helsing with the hat and the crossbow and everything else…strange.

Suddenly a teenager with short silver hair walked right past him. The teen turned to face Grimiore and said, "Oh! Hi Van Helsing!" and then walked off, but then suddenly turned around, "VAN HELSING! Can I have your autograph? And then can you go kill this vampire boy named Vincent Valentine?"

Grimiore blinked, his eyes flashing. He raised his crossbow, and growled at the teen, "No one calls my son a vampire!" and then fired at Kadaj. Kadaj got lucky because it missed-by just by a hair.

Kadaj looked confused, "Van Helsing has a son named Vincent Valentine? Wow! What a coincidence! Must be in a sequel!"

"No you idiot! My name is not Van Helsing! It's Grimiore Valentine-Vincent Valentine's father!"

"You're son's a vampire?"

"No you moron!"

"Oh…um…opps…maybe I'd better run…" A scream tore through his lips as he yelled "Ah! Evil Grimiore is alive and out to kill me! Help me Sephiroth! Help me Genesis! MOTHER JENOVA HELP ME! GRIMIORE VALENTINE-er….I mean Professor Valentine is out to kill me still! Call in the navy! Call in SOLDIER! Call in Genesis! Call in Strife!"

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Sephiroth blinked. Kadaj actually knew something? Gasp! And it was about Genesis? Gasp! Sephiroth sighed as he looked down at Cloud, who was glaring at him. "Where's Tifa?" Cloud growled.

"Dead…"

"What did you do with her body, damn it!"

Sephiroth shrugged, looking at Cloud coldly and yet carelessly as he responded with a cold voice, "Burned it…no big deal really, Strife. It's not like you meant to kill her, right?"

Cloud's eyes narrowed at Sephiroth. His green eyes flashed, "Why you evil little-" he never finished as he leapt at Sephiroth.

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Zack looked at everyone, sighing. This was getting him no where…"Alright, one person can come with me. Who?"

Before Zack could glance at everyone, Vincent stepped forward, "I'll go if it gets me away from Gast quickly."

Zack rolled his eyes and nodded, "Alright, I guess you can come, Vincent."

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Grimiore didn't exactly know why he looked like Van Helsing, nor why he had a cross bow…oh well. He took aim and fired it at Kadaj. He missed by an inch. Suddenly Kadaj scream in terror, "Ahh! Wolf! Ahh! Vampire boy! Sephiroth! Strife! Brothers! Help me!"

Kadaj spun to his left and vanished. Grimiore stopped and spotted a wolf along with a man wearing a red cape. Grimiore stopped chsing Kadaj and approached the wolf and the man. Grimiore could still hear Kadaj yelling, "Genisis! Sephiroth! Help!"

Grimiore rolled his eyes and yelled back, "Genisis isn't going to help you kid!"

Then Grimiore started towards the red-caped man who had turned to look at him with glowing red eyes. Grimiore blinked, horrified at the sight of the man's crimson eyes. He could see the haunted look about the him. he noticed the metal arm that the man quickly hid under his red cape. Grimiore took no notice to the wolf as he asked in a shocked voice, "Wh-What happened to you?"

Throughs all the changes, Grimiore would have never realized that this was his son, Vincent. Vincent did not look anything like the gentleman he had thirty years ago before Hojo got his hands on him, and so Grimiore stayed a few feet away from him. The man didn't answer, his long hair falling into his face as he turned to look down at the silver and black wolf and followed it in silence.

"Grimiore! He's alive!" a sudden, very loud voice drifted through the forest.

Grimiore, who was following the strange man, froze at once. The red caped man suddenly spun around, hios deep red eyes flashing an even darker crimson. His dark red eyes stared into Grimiores as he spoke with a dark tone, "You are Grimiore Valentine?"

Grimiore nodded, confused, "Who are you?"

Before the man could answer, they heard a loud cry of pain. Grimiore looked at where he thought the cry had come from, staring. "Why do you look like Van Helsing?" te man suddenly asked, his voice etched with confusion. "I thought you were a scientist, not a vampire slayer…"

Grimiore turned his atttention back to the person in front of him. He shrugged, "I don't even know that. One moment, I'm in the Lifestream, the next, I'm here in this forest dressed like Van Helsing. Ah, well, being a vampire slayer isn't all that bad…"

"Why does Lucrecia…blame herself for you death?" the man suddenly asked.

Grimiore was about to answer when all at once, a young female popped up behinnd the man in front of him, a grin on her face, "Hey! Now that you're a vampire slayer! You can slay Vampire here!" she said in a cheerful voice, a teasing note in it. Grimiore blinked as the haunted-looking man looked down at the girl with his emotionless crimson eyes.

"Yuffie, you were not supposed to come. And you know I hate the name Vampire!"

Yuffie blinked, a smile still on her face, "Okay, whatever, Vampire boy! Um…" 'Vampire boy' held up his golden claws. They flashed in the moonlight, making the young teenager gulp, "I-I mean Vincent! Ahh!" she ducked and slipped off into the forest, scampering up a tree with quick agility.

"Yuffie! You were not supposed to come here!" Vincent yelled, glaring up at Yuffie. Grimiore stared…this was his…son? What had…happened to his son! He watched with wide eyes as Vincent took a quick leap and was in the tree with the young girl. He grabbed her by the arm with his real hand and jumped back down. Yuffie squeaked as he let go of her.

"Hey! Vampire-Vincent! You didn't have to do that!" Yuffie glared.

"Shut up already Yuffie…Grimiore, ignore her."

"V-Vincent? Valentine? M-My son?" Grimiore breathed, unable to speak as he watched Vincent nod slightly. "Wh-What on earth happened to you?"

"Son? You're Vampire's father? Opps…I mean Vincent."

Vincent sighed, "Forget this for now, we have to go find Cloud. Where'd Zack go?" The wolf suddenly reappeared and gave a sharp, low bark.

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Cloud suddenly screamed in pain as he felt Sephiroth kick him in the shoulder as hard as he could. Cloud's eyes shut tight as he grinded his teeth together. He could feel the bones shattering in his shoulder and upper arm and he could feel the warm, crimson liquid pour from the wound. "That will teach you to attack your mentor." Sephiroth growled, kicking Cloud again, but this time it merely threw him into the durt.

Cloud opened his eyes slightly before closing them again, gasping for air. He wondered how long Sephiroth planned to torture him like this…""And Strife, I'm going to leave you like this until morning. Then I'll heal you and then we can continue our training. That Mako should help your face and the bullet wound-but not the shoulder wound. " With that said, Sephiroth left.

Cloud lay in the dirt, half concious. The pain was killing him. he never would have guessed that Sephiroth could do that with just one kick…well what should he have expected from a superSOLDIER? Cloud groaned, rolling over and trying to keep the weight off of the shattered shoulder. He hissed at the pain as he moved his left arm and touched the wound with his fingers. He flinched as he felt sharp shards of bone sticking out of his skin. Was Sephiroth really able to heal that? He wasn't really sure…

Suddenly Cloud heard someone walking towards him-no wait, three people walking towards him. He opened his eyes and in the dim light of the fire, he could see a pair of metal boots, black boots, and a pair of shoes with a lot of shoe strings. Cloud wanted to speak, but found that he could not without losing his breath.

Then Cloud noticed something looking at him. He blinked, his Mako green eyes flashing as he realized that it was the same wolf that had stolen his food. "What on earth happened to you, young man?" an unfamiliar voice qyestioned, bending down over Cloud.

Cloud found himself staring into the face of a man who was dressed like Van Helsing. "Who the hell are you?" Cloud managed, trying to sit up, but found that he could not.

"I'm Grimiore Valentine, but that's not important right now. Vincent, Yuffie, um…Wolf er…Zack, how are we supposed to get him out of here?"

Cloud was about to say something, when all at once, his vision flashed green and everything went dark for a moment.

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Aeris paced in worry, wondering when Zack and Vincent would return. Everyone was furious that Yuffie had gone with them, but now they were all anxious for their return. Meanwhile Professor Gast was looking at Red with sudden interest and was talking to him anxiously.

"Child…my connection is weak…"

Aeris's head snapped up in shock. Without realizing it, she yelled, "Gaia? Are you there?"

Everyone turned to look at the young Cetra with surprise. Gast's eyes were glinting with amusement as he watched his daughter.

"They're coming back to you, Cetra Aeris…but you must find a way back to me…in Centra…"

Just as Aeris was about to ask when Centra was, she heard a loud cry and spun around to see Vincent, an unknown man, Yuffie, and Cloud. Cloud's eyes were shut and he appeared to be in great pain. Aeris's eyes found the blood on Cloud's shoulder and hurried forward with Tifa and everyone else. Aeris stared at Cloud's face with horror written all over her features. Cloud's face was covered in blood and one side of it was black and blue. His shoulder was torn badly and she could se shards of bone jutting out of it. Aeris nearly threw up as she stood there in horror.

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Cloud could feel someone wrap their arms around him, but he could not open his eyes to see who it was. The pain he was feeling now was nothing compared to before and even worse than when Sephiroth had stabbed him through the chest twice back in Nimbelheim.

"Rinoa! Heal Cloud!" a voice full of worry filled his ears. It sounded so familiar, but Cloud couldn't think og the woman's name at the moment. Within a minutes, Cloud found a painless security within the back of his mind as he blacked out from pain.

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Reno was shaking as "Frisky" approached him. "Hey! Why you stop your singing?" Tseng demanded in a slurred and drunk voice, his eyes glazed and his face red from drinking way to heavy.

"Cause I don went and peed in me pants!" Reno snapped, acting as if he were drunk.

"Sic him boy!" Hojo yelled.

"Uh-oh…"

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It had taken a long time for Cloud to wake up, and several Curagas to heal him. but when he did awake, he looked around him and immediately spotted Aeris, Rinoa, Zack, Barret, Red, Vincent, Grimiore, someone, Squall, Ivrine, Yuffie, Zell, and Selphie all asleep. He also found that he was on the couch and that he felt no pain what-so-ever. He turned to look at his shoulder and found nothing. He reached up to his face-nothing. Someone had healed him, though he didn't know who.

Cloud shuttered as he remembered the events of yesterday. He closed his eyes, unaware of the sleeping figure next to him. Sephiroth's harsh and cruel words ran through his mind and he sat there. Somehow, he had escaped Sephiroth, though he could not recall how he had done it…Hopefully, Sephiroth would not find him again, but Cloud knew his hope was in vain.

Suddenly he felt something lean against him. His eyes snapped open, looking down to see a black haired woman leaning on his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his waist. Who was this woman? Why couldn't he remember? He blinked, looking closer at the woman. A name flashed in his mind, "Tifa…" he breathed. How could she be here if she were dead? Unless… "Tifa?" he asked again.

This time Tifa's eyes fluttered open and she looked around, seeming confused. Cloud couldn't help but grin as she blushed when she realized that she had her arms around him. She moved away from him, looking down, "Um…sorry…" she muttered, "for everything."

"Why are you saying sorry?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"For-For hurting you, Cloud…"

"How? You never hurt me…"

"You kissed me and for that…Sephiroth shot you and then he did all that other stuff…" Tifa whispered

"No, I kissed you so I was asking for it. Then because I-" Cloud was cut off by a loud, "YOU WHAT!" It was Barret-who had been listening to them because he had just woke up.

"You kissed Tifa! Why I oughta you spiky assed foo'!" Tifa and Cloud turned to a very angry Barret. "I'm gonna kill you, Strife!" Barret roared.

"What is the meaning of this?" Grimiore demanded.

"Why dat Spiky assed foo' done went and kissed Tifa!" Barret fumed.

"Aw! Is somebody jealous?" Yuffie couldn't help but ask and try her best to annoy Barret. That was fun-and tease him-she of course, knew that Barret didn't love Tifa like Cloud did-he just felt rather protective of her.

"So? What's the problem?" Zack asked, sitting up and looking at Barret with a old blue gaze. Meanwhile Tifa was blushing furiously because of Barret's shoutings and waking everyone. Poor her…

"Aw, I think that's sweet!" Aeris replied suddenly, looking from Cloud to Tifa.

"So when did you kiss her?" Selphie asked, poking her head in front of Cloud's, a grin plastered on her childish face.

"OH! For how long, hmm, Cloud?" Yuffie asked, looking at Cloud closely. She looked as if she would die laughing at any minute.

"Was there tongue?" Rinoa asked, staring at the two.

Tifa was redder than an apple now. She had buried her head into Cloud's shoulder yelling, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

"Come on, Tifa-Cloud-tell us!" Aeris begged, her emerald eyes glowing. Poor Tifa…all the girls were surrounding Cloud and Tifa. And Cloud was also red, but he remained silent, staring at a wall trying to act as if no one were there.

"Please?" Rinoa asked, her brown eyes looking at Cloud, but Cloud acted as if he had not heard her.

"It's none of your business," Zack muttered, glaring at the girls.

They all turned their attention to him, wide grins plastered on their faces. Zack gulped…maybe he should have just remained silent… "Have you ever kissed Aeris?"

Zack's eyes widened. Aeris blushed and to everyone's surprise, Zack nodded. "How long?" Yuffie demanded at once.

Zack blinked, his face reddening. He, unlike Cloud and Tifa, answered them, "Five minutes,"

"Whoa…" Rinoa breathed, staring at him.

"Where at?" Selphie pried.

"You don't want to know," was Zack's response. Both him and Aeris were turning very red at that question.

"Sure we do!" Rinoa yelled.

"Um…" Aeris replied, "Um…um…um…um…oh I can't say it! Zack you tell them!"

Zack blushed. He did not want to tell them-especially the girls, but finally-after a few moments, he breathed in and then replied very quietly, "In the shower…"

"Ahhh!" everyone screamed, including everyone that had been trying to ignore them. Well, Vincent didn't scream, instead he was glaring at Professor Gast and Grimiore was messing with his crossbow. Grimiore looked up and then reflected on the Aeris's and Zack's age and then looked back down at his crossbow, ignoring them silently. Professor Gast had his mouth open and had walked up to Aeris with a stern look in his eyes, but before he could say anything about it-

"Y-You what?" Tifa gasped, unable to stop staring at Zack. Cloud had also looked up and was staring at Zack and Aeris with horror. "And how old were you?" Tifa demanded.

Zack turned redder as he responded, "We were…sixteen,"

"Oh my gosh! Zack! Aeris! You were too young to be doing that!" Professor Gast suddenly yelled, his face turning chalk white as he looked at his daughter. "Aeris! H-How could you?"

"We didn't do anything-honest!" Zack yelled in his and Aeris's defense.

Aeris was now covering her face from embarrassment-and she was clinging to Zack trying to hide from everyone-especially her father. Even Vincent was staring at them as he spoke with his dark voice, "You were sixteen…?" If he had done that when he was sixteen-he'd never live to see another day-which, might have been a good thing now that he thought of it.

Tifa couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You guys…were sixteen? And you were in the shower! Cloud was only in the washroom when he found me and we're twenty-two and twenty-three!"

Everyone turned at Tifa's comment. "Was he n-"

"NO!" Tifa and Cloud suddenly screamed.

"I was not! I was just washing my shirt off! Yuffie-you are WAY too young to be listening to this-get the hell out!" Cloud yelled. Yuffie shrunk back, but she did not leave as a wide grin grew on her face.

"And I had a towel on!" Zack growled, glaring at them.

All four were blushing and the two guys were angry as hell. "Then why were you in the shower?" Gast countered suspiciously, glaring at Zack and then

"Just shut up, please!" Cloud suddenly yelled, his voice dripping with fury. He was glaring at all of them-except Vincent and Grimiore because they had done nothing but pretend no one was in the room. Okay, so Vincent was glaring at Gast with utter rage-but what else was new? Okay, back to Cloud! Cloud's eyes were dark green hue. He clenched his fists together. None of this was any of their business. Sure, they had both kissed the women they loved-sure Zack was sixteen-but that was the last time Aeris had seen Zack. So what was the big deal?

He walked to a wall and leaned against it, daring anyone to say something. It seemed to Cloud, that all his fury he had felt yesterday, was pouring into the room, hushing everyone. His green eyes stared at each and everyone of them, flashing an even deeper green before he closed them and sighed. Too much-just too much for him. For over six hours he had believed Tifa was dead-and then Sephiroth goes and tells him that he burned her body. As he recollected the memories, his whole body tensed with fury. If Yuffie or any one else piped up about him and Tifa or Zack and Aeris, they would pay.

"So you're Vincent's father…how come you're dressed like Van Helsing?' a voice suddenly asked. Cloud opened one eye and noticed that Yuffie was looking at Grimiore with confusion.

"I don't know, like I told Vincent-one minute, I was enjoying the Lifestream-the next I was on the creepy island. Then this kid appeared and called me Van Helsing and asked for an autograph. Then he started screaming for Sephiroth, a Strife person, and his brothers to come and save him because he thought I was going to kill him when I told him I was Grimiore Valentine. Then he mentioned Genisis-the stupid boy, Genisis wouldn't help someone like him. It was really funny to watch him though," Cloud sighed-Kadaj really was a stupid childish remnant of Sephiroth…

Finally Cloud decided to speak up as Yuffie and Grimiore rambled on about Yuffie's nickname for Vincent-"Vampire". Cloud noticed that every time Yuffie said "Vampire" or "Vinnie", Vincent would turned his crimson gaze on her, fire in his eyes, but he would say nothing. And then Yuffie would correct herself. Cloud also noticed that Ivrine was glaring at Vincent with anger. Cloud almost laughed. Ivrine was jealous of all the attention Vincent was getting. But he still remained silent, until he couldn't take the gibber-gabber anymore. "I'm hungry, Squall, where's a place I can eat at?"

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Sephiroth looked at where Cloud was supposed to have been. There was only a dry pool of blood there with foot prints all around it. He glared, his Mako green eyes narrowed with rage. He could tell just by looking at the foot prints who had been here-except for one pair. One had been that annoying materia thief, the other had been Vincent, and from Kadaj's ramblings the other had to have been Grimiore's. Then there were wolf prints-they weren't big enough to be Red XIII's though.

"Kadaj! Yazoo! Get up! We're going on a puppet hunt!" he yelled, awakening his other two remnants. He could easily track done Strife and be there within a matter of minutes…It wouldn't take long.

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Reno jumped right out of a window-with rabid Denzel following him at inhuman speed. Lucky for Reno-he was running quicker than Denzel, his eyes bludging out of his head. To everyone's-they were drunk-shock, Reno ran right across the ocean and into Esthar.

"Hey! Now we can have a real party!" Rufus grin a drunkard's grin as he gulped down another whiskey. "Come on! Bring in the popcorn!"

Tseng and Elena looked at him, their eyes glazed over and their speak so slurred they could barley be understood, "Why do ya wan' ta bring in da popcorn?"

"Cause we're gonna watch a movie! Dat's why!" Rufus snapped, clapping his hands together. Two waiters came in-looking very freaked out as they handed Rufus his gaint bowl of popcorn.

"Well, I dunno about you two, but I'm going to finish my movie," Hojo stated. He didn't sound very drunk at all-in fact, he didn't look it although he had a ton of glasses of whiskey next to him. Maybe it was because with the JENOVA cells he had once injected into himself were making him act sane-well in the terms of Hojo being sane…okay, let's face it-HOJO IS NOT EVER SANE! Drunk or not!

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When Cloud had finished eating, he felt rather tired. He yawned and stood up, "Squall, where can I stay at for the night-er morning?"

"Go down this hallway and take a right," Squall responded, pointing to a hallway on Cloud'' left. Cloud nodded, thanking Squall and then left. After he had eaten, his anger had melted away and now he was just tired. He found that there was only one room on the hallway that he came to when he turned right. That must be it. He opened the door and found that the room was made for guests. 'Must not have very many guests…' Cloud thought, yawning.

He removed the buster sword from his shoulders, glad to have the weight off of him. And then he took off his bloodied shirt. He needed some new clothes…Cloud laid down on the bed and shut his eyes, trying to sleep.

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A few hours later, Cloud woke up to find that Tifa was laying right next to him, her arm wrapped around his rib cage. Her head was resting on his shoulder. Cloud blinked, his eyes widening. He tried to get away from Tifa, but if he struggled, her grip tightened around him. Uh-oh. He looked around, trying to find a way to escape. Suddenly the door opened and Yuffie, Selphie, and Rinoa poked their heads in. "Help me," Cloud begged quietly, looking at them with pleading eyes.

The girls only grinned evilly at him as they took out cameras…oh they were going to pay for that…Cloud glared at them as Tifa shifted against him, burying her head into his chest. He glanced down at her and the fire in his eye sgrew as he heard quiet giggles coming from the three girls in the doorway. His Mako green eyes flashed. Yuffie was the first to notice the change in them. They turned a silver-bluish hue and then turned to a dark green, horrible green color.

'Heh-heh, looks like I found my puppet.'

Cloud's sudden fury suddenly vanished at the sound of Sephiroth's harsh laugh echoed through his mind. Fear flooded through him as he looked away from the three girls and down at his arm that had the Geostigma on it. He flinched as pain seared through his arm for an instant, turning his vision blue, his eye pupils narrowed until they were strange, looking like Sephiroth's. And then the pain vanished and his eye pupils turned back to normal. But as the pain faded, anger mixed with the fear.

"Get the hell out of here," his voice was dark and cold as he fixed his gaze on the three girls. All three of them blinked and then they left, closing the door.

Unknown to Cloud, there was a video camera sitting on the dresser, recording everything.

"Cloud?" a voice asked. Cloud looked down and saw Tifa looking at him. She suddenly blushed as she realized that she was holding onto Cloud. She moved away, blinking, "Sorry, what's wrong?"