"Arghhh," Reno moaned as the doctor undid his bandages. "Be carefullll," he whimpered.

Mom and dad stood next to the bed looking worried and Yuffie was jumping circles around the doctor, who was rummaging through a bag full of glowing ball things, before he pulled out a green one. Yuffie twitched an ear and giggled.

"What are they? They're so shiny!"

Cait Sith frowned. "Come on Yuffie, you should know a materia when you see one!"

Yuffie gasped and her eyes got big and scary. "Materiaaa! But I though all materia are red!"

The doctor chucked. It was nice, he didn't seem weirded out that my family could talk and walk around. "Only Summons materia are red. This materia is a Heal materia, and if I go like this-" he popped the materia into a weird bracelet-type thing on his arm, "I can use it to cast Esuna and take the poison out of your brother's wounds. Watch."

Yuffie did. She didn't look away once, while the doctor raised his arm and did a funny move. Green glowyness appeared around Reno, who looked scared for a sec but then raised his head and his ears came out front and he looked surprised.

"Hey...that's COOL!"

Yuffie squealed and went "AWSOME AWSOME!" and huggled the doctor around the waist. He nearly fell over. I think he was kind of shocked. He pried Yuffie off him and backed away.

"Okay...that's...er...yes, it is rather fascinating, isn't it?"

"Do it again, do it again!" Yuffie giggled.

"Hmm," the doctor frowned. "I only have a level one Restore materia..." he took the Heal one out and put in a different one. "And just enough MP to use it once." He sighed. "So I'm afraid your brother won't recover completely today, but his wounds should at least close and he should be able to walk without nearly as much pain."

Mom grinned. "That's completely alright! It's wonderful that you can even do that much for us!"

Dad nodded eagerly. Reno sighed. "Guess that means I'll still have scars, huh?"

The doctor grimaced. "Sorry. I used up alot of MP earlier today. The ship's cook served some food that was a little too far past it's expiration date, and I had to use Esuna on most of the crew."

Reno put his head on his paws. "Whatever. Guess it doesn't matter."

The Doctor raised his arm and Yuffie grinned and leaned forward to watch as the magic worked on Reno. He definitely looked better afterward. The minor wounds were all healed and the big ones had close and weren't bleeding or as raw and awful looking. He shook himself and stood up on the table.

"Hey...that does feel alot better. Thanks doc!"

He jumped off and came over to rub heads with mom and dad, who looked absolutely awe-struck and grateful to tears. I was grinning too, but then I stopped because all of a sudden my mind started going really hard. I hardly even paid attention to the funny sight of Yuffie tackling the poor doctor again and Cait Sith helping him pry her off. Jay and his friend had been standing in the door to watch, and now Jay was practically rolling on the floor about Yuffie and the doctor. I frowned, blinked, then walked over to the doctor, who was now leaning against his operation table and blinking at Yuffie in a nervous way.

"Um," I said, fidgeting. "Do...do you think you could teach me?"

He looked at me, but kept glancing back at Yuffie as if he was scared she might glomp him again. "Teach you what?"

"The...y'know...that!" I pointed at the Restore materia in his bangle thing. He blinked at me.

"Oh, I'm hardly the person to ask. Anyway, someone as young as yourself shouldn't be concerned with it...used unsupervised, it could be dangerous, especially used by someone your age and with as little experience! I see your head wound is worse than we thought."

I blinked. Half that sentence just whooshed over my head. "But you can use it!"

"Yes of course, but I'm hardly in a position to make the judgment of whether or not you're ready to begin using materia- it's a dangerous and weighty thing, you understand?"

"Uh...you mean it's heavy? They don't look heavy! I want to learn!"

The doctor smacked his forehead. "No, no. I'm too busy anyway. You have no more need for me right now, come back when I've restocked on Ether and maybe I'll try and cure that head wound...though I wonder now if it'd do any good..."

I didn't realize he'd just called me an idiot or whatever, but I didn't care. I did understand that he wasn't going to help me. I slumped and walked out dragging my feet. When I got to the door, Jay slapped my shoulder and I yelped.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"So ya wanna use materia, right? Don't listen to that guy, he only knows how to use boring old Restore and Heal materia anyway. If ya wanna learn any materia, you should learn more useful ones. Like these!"

He brought one out of his pocket that was also green. I blinked at it.

"What's the difference? Looks the same to me!" I said.

"Hehehe. There's a BIG difference. This here's a Fire materia!"

"...What does it do?"

Jay smacked my shoulder again laughing. "Ah man, you're great. 'What does it do'...that's hilarious."

I winced and rubbed my shoulder. That really did hurt. Jay's friend shoved him.

"Give that to me before you hurt yourself."

Jay handed over the Fire materia so fast I almost didn't see it change hands, then went off to find some water- he still hadn't given us our drinks. His friend turned to me and I felt like shrinking. It's not that he looked mean or anything. He was just so serious.

"So you want to learn materia? What's your name?"

"S...Sephi," I meeped. "Sephiroth."

"...Sephiroth?" he asked quietly.

I nodded slowly. "That's my name. Like from the Meteor-"

"I know who he is," the guy said. "So that's really your name?"

I nodded again. "But almost everyone calls me Seph or Sephi!"

He looked at me funny, then looked at the Fire materia and put it in his pocket.

"How old are you?"

I tried to stand up a little straighter. "I turned ten a little while ago!"

"Ten, huh? That's pretty young." He frowned at me, like he was thinking, or like he wasn't sure.

"But I can learn!" I said desperately. Maybe too desperately. His frown deepened and his eyebrows rose, then lowered more than ever.

"Why do you want to learn so much? What would you do with the power?"

I paused. "...I'd use it to protect my family!"

"The Fluffs?"

I nodded. "Because I don't have teeth or claws like them."

He stared at me. I was standing so still I could feel myself freezing into that position. I also tried to stare back at him without blinking but my eyes were already burning for some reason so I blinked within about five seconds.

"You're not ready. Magic should only be used by people who already have some discipline. Learn to use a weapon first if you really want to defend people."

"But...!" I slumped. "How am I supposed to do that!"

He had been turning to go, but he stopped while halfway turned around and looked at me sideways. I prickled just before he turned back around and started walking away.

"Wait!" I ran after him. "Tell me what I'm supposed to do!"

I felt like I was pushing my luck here, but he didn't say anything all the way back to his cabin and then he turned around, looked at me, whipped out a gun and shot a hole in his big dartboard which just happened to be right to my left. I yelped and covered my head with both arms.

"Catch." He threw me a bamboo sword and I fumbled ridiculously and dropped it, then hurried to pick it up and stood, shaking my bangs out of my face.

He'd picked up another one and shot toward me and I blinked and turned and held up my hands to protect myself, closing my eyes. He thwacked me on the head.

"OW!" I sniffled and rubbed where he'd hit.

"You really want to learn how to fight?"

I wasn't sure anymore, if he was gonna be this hard on me. That thing hurt! Was it really worth it just to be able to fight? I wasn't sure I'd ever have the courage anyway. I'd probably just run like a little Fluff puppy with my nonexistent tail between my legs.

But then I remembered how much I'd wanted to be able to do something when the Floofers were all over me and Reno, and I nodded, if a little tearfully.

"If you won't teach me materia then I guess I have to learn something else!" I said stubbornly. I gripped the handle of the weird bamboo sword thing. I felt kind of stupid.

"If you say so." He came at me again and I tried to block-

This is ridiculous. Why didn't you charge first? Everyone knows you have to get stupid teachers like that back by smacking them twice for every time they hit you once!

Um. Sorry. Little interrupting going on here. I guess the time's come to explain why I now spell my name Seffi...even though I haven't used that spelling in this story! That voice just now was Sephi...or Sephio. Whatever. He's the real Sephiroth. I'm not kidding! THE REAL SEPHIROTH! I know, it scared me when I first found out that I wasn't REALLY a reincarnation or anything like that. The reason I look the way I do is because when Sephiroth died he drifted in the lifestream until he found me, and when I was born, he was in me. He just slept alot until recently, when he woke up and Rae and Elie called him out with the whistle. It was pretty scary...I still feel kind of nervous when I think about it. But it all worked out. Sephiroth found a clone to possess and the girls decided my name should be changed to the Fluff's traditional spelling, so that's that.

Nice explanation! Now, you're going to tell me you fought back, right?

Erm...

Well, I tried. But it was pretty pathetic. I couldn't get in a decent hit, though I managed to block a few of his lazier thwacks. He was going easy on me. I ached pretty bad. The doctor hadn't had enough MP to cast Esuna on me- Reno had been the main concern, but I still had the Floofer's acid poison stuff in my cuts and I had been feeling shaky already. So I got backed up in a corner and was panting and sweating and feverish when Jay's friend stopped.

"You're definitely not ready. Come back and ask me again when you're not sick. Doc should be able to find some Ether when we get back to camp."

I slumped over until I was sitting on the floor with my back against the wall, feeling dizzy, and watched him walk away. "Where're we going?" I called after him weakly.

"Goblin Island," he said. "To get Zeio nuts. We only came out on the sea today for the fishing."

"Oh," I mumbled. I didn't know what a Zeio nut was and I didn't really feel like asking. I just sat there holding that stupid bamboo sword and staring at it, eyes half-closed and feeling like I'd fall asleep any second.

"Hey!" Jay bumped my leg with his shoe. "I gotcha some water."

"Huh?" I lifted my head and Jay held the glass out to me- I grabbed it and drank it. It was really cold. I shivered but felt a little better. "Thanks."

"No prob, man! Looks like he went easy on ya, but I guess ya have time to learn, huh?" He grinned at me.

I nodded slowly. "I guess."

He plopped down into a crouch so he could talk to me. "So- what's it like?"

I blinked. "What?"

He leaned forward. "Y'know! Round Island! What's it like?"

"Um..." I leaned my head back against the wall. "It's round..."

Jay laughed. "Man, you're a tough nut to crack. Come on, I want details, man!"

"There's mountains all around the edge," I said sleepily. "And a forest in the middle. And lots of caves where the Fluffs live...and the materia cave. It's really cold in the winter."

"Fluffs...there you go again," he chucked. "So I guess you're gonna tell me you're some weird child whose parents were shipwrecked off the coast and you were taken in and raised by animals or something weird like that?"

I blinked. "No...I'm a Fluff too. I just don't have any fur." I tilted my head back for another sip- the ice in the bottom had melted a little.

"Riiight. Nice story man, it's great!" He gave me a thumbs up. "So I guess it's true you can't get there without a gold chocobo?"

"Huh? I thought all chocobos were gold..."

"Naw, naw man. Those are just the plain old yellow kind!" Jay plopped down so he wouldn't have to crouch anymore. "They can't do nothin' but walk on plain old level ground. Sure you can race 'em, but nothin' beats a gold. Gold chocobos can go anywhere in the world- even across the ocean or over huge mountains!"

"Oh...they must have had a gold for the post chocobos then!" I realized. "That's why it cost so much to ship things over..."

"You serious? You actually got stuff shipped in from the continents?" Jay looked shocked. "Them mail service people must be keepin' you guys a secret- want all the money for themselves, eh?"

"Well nobody rides the gold chocobos over...they just come on their own with the mail," I said quietly. "I think Fluffs from the mainland send them."

Jay blinked, then laughed again. "Man, you sure are creative. Anyway, that's why we're here- ya gotta have a Zeio nut if ya wanna breed chocobos just right to get a gold. Everybody wants to know if Round Island really has the legendary materia, but nobody wants to go to the trouble of breeding to get a gold- it takes a long time."

"Legendary?" I blinked. "You mean the Knights of Round?"

Jay nodded. "Yeah, man! Everyone wants it!"

"Oh..." I frowned, thinking. "Well nobody'll get the materia that's growing there now..."

"Whaat! Why not?" Jay looked dismayed.

I looked at him. "I told you. The Floofers! They took the island over!"

Jay blinked, and started rolling. "Hahahah! Man, that's a good one...them Floofers, must be pretty scary huh?" He rolled all the way to the other side of the ship and left me alone.

This is amusing.

Yeah, it's supposed to be! Anyway, it didn't take us long to get back to the land. They dropped anchor a little ways away from the Shore of Goblin Island, and then we took the little boats over to it. It was a green island with patches of forest. Camp was close to shore, so luckily we got there with only one battle, which Jay's friend quickly took care of. His attempt to steal a nut from the goblin didn't work though, so we all just hurried to the camp. I stuck close to my family. Reno limped a little but he could walk at least, and he shot me a smirky grin.

"You should go tackle that doctor, Sephi. Tell him to hurry and find an Ether or you'll bite him!"

I laughed. "Ehehe...sure Reno. I'll do that."

"Go get 'em tiger," he shoved me in what I guess was supposed to be an affectionate brotherly way, but I just ended up staggering over into a tent that was being set up and getting strangled by canvas and yelled at by crew members. Yuffie giggled.

This is VERY amusing. Do something else!

Sephiroth...urm...this is in the past. I can't exactly change what happened.

Yes you can. Do it. Make it more amusing. I command you.

Ehehh...sure. Well, we'll see how it goes...

So after about ten minutes of tedious untangling from the evil tent, and having to apologize several times to the people who had been setting it up, I scurried off to find the doctor. He was relaxing by himself with a little lemonade, and looked annoyed when he saw me walk over to him.

"What is it this time? Oh, I suppose you need that head wound fixed...alright, I'll see what I can do."

He got up with alot of complaining and slouched over to his tent and started looking through his collection of bottled things and came out with a smallish one, which he quickly drank.

"Mm...still not sure about the taste," he said, wiping his mouth. He took a breath and sighed. "Right then. Esuna first I guess."

He sighed and snapped his fingers. "Oh I forgot. I left the materia on the boat. How careless of me."

I got the feeling he didn't like me.

How observant of you. It only took me exactly 3 minutes and 17 seconds shorter than you to come to the same conclusion!

He shoved two bottles at me. "There, one Antidote and a Potion. I'm all out of Hi-Potions so you're lucky you even get that."

I tried to keep a smile on and nodded. "Okay...thanks."

"Whatever, whatever, just let me get back to my lemonade..."

I retreated with the bottles and looked around for some place where I wouldn't be in the way. People were strapping on weapons and slipping materia into their bangles everywhere I looked, or setting up campfires to cook meals or repairing tents...I finally slunk off to the outskirts of camp and went to go sit down on a rock. I uncorked the bottle, sniffed it, and was about to hold my breath and drink when I heard a voice behind me.

"You shouldn't leave the camp boundaries on your own."

"Huh?" I turned. Jay's friend was walking toward me with a long metal sword on one hand and a bunch of materia in the other.

"You could get killed by any of the weakest monsters on this island, so you shouldn't wander off on your own," he said, carefully arranging the materia into slots in his sword and a bangle on his arm.

I cringed, knowing he was right. "I didn't think about that!" I admitted, blinking at the bottle of Antidote in my hand.

He came over and blinked. "Drink up. Maybe if you're feeling good enough tomorrow, and we've had time for another practice run, I can take you out and see how you fare against some small fries."

I blinked. "Uh...okay!"

I'd never drank any cure items like that before, but it's more effective if you drink it (at least that's what I've learned. Sometimes you can just dump it on someone and it'll help, but drinking is better), so I tried to do it quickly. It didn't really taste bad...it was just felt kind of funny going down. I stopped feeling feverish right away. Then for the Potion...it was really sweet. I coughed once I'd swallowed it, and felt all tingly.

"Whoaaa weird."

He looked at me funny. "You've never had any before?"

I shook my head. "Never ever!"

I can't believe it. What do they do on your island? Rubbing alcohol and band aids?

...kind of?

That's pathetic. I pity your race, Fluff.

Urm...okay. Anyway, I felt quite a bit better and jumped up off the rock. Jay's friend whipped out a knife and I yelped.

"Hold still," he said, and started cutting off the few bandages I had. "Now go ask Jay for some clothes. You look like a castaway."

"Huh?" I sort of was...but I guess that was his point. "Okay. Thanks."

He blinked at me oddly as if to ask "What for?" but he just walked off with his sword in one hand. He got into a fight with a goblin pretty quickly, and he yelled over his shoulder.

"Back to the camp!"

I hurried back into the camp obediently and dodged around all the other people who were heading out to try their luck at stealing a Zeio nut. Jay was about to leave too when I found him.

"Hey!" I called. "Your friend told me to ask you for some clothes...!"

"Hmm?" Jay blinked. "Oh, yeah! Good idea- you're a pretty sorry sight even without all those bandages everywhere! They're in my trunk, just pick out whatever ya want. There should be somethin' in there that'll fit ya."

He waved at me and headed out with a confident grin. I blinked and ducked inside his tent. There was the trunk...it took me a few minutes to unlatch it, and then I blinked at the rainbow of bright colors... I guess Jay liked people's attention. I went through a bunch and didn't find any that I really liked. He didn't seem to own any long pants either, so I just picked out the longest pair of shorts I could find. They were swimming shorts but they didn't look that much different from normal ones...except they had the picture of a weird...doggish...blue thing all over them. But anyway, they were better than what I had on so I hurried and changed. Then I dug a little more and at the very bottom I found it. It was different from all the other shirts, it wasn't as bright and colorful, but I liked it. It had the word "Shirt" printed across the front. So I put that on and felt alot better.

Shirt...on a shirt. How unoriginal. Who comes up with these things?

I think it's pretty original...I mean how often do you see a shirt with the word "Shirt" printed on it? But anyway...back to the story. I ran out of the tent and found my mom and dad and everyone. I hugged my parents and Yuffie bounced around everyone.

"Yay! All better! Yay!"

Reno winced. "I dunno about ALL better, but...whatever."

Cait Sith grinned. "Looks like we really did get lucky. I wonder how many of the other Fluffs found someone who'd take them in like this? Anyway, we probably wouldn't have gotten here without Sephi- he's the only one most of them talk to!"

"Yeah!" Yuffie beamed and grabbed me in a headlock to give me a noogie. "Our little bald Fluff came through! YAY SEPHI!"

"Ah! Noooo!" I squirmed and she let go. Mom and Dad were nodding proudly. Reno grumbled but I could tell he sort of agreed. I blushed and grinned. Maybe being furless had its advantages.

It was funny...feeling like a hero. It lasted for a few hours and then I guess I forgot about it when everyone came back tired and beat up. The doctor grumpily handed out potions to all the people who'd tried for Zeio nuts, and then we all sat down for dinner.

We all got handed a piece of fried fish, and then the Captain came around and stuffed our plates full of spinach.

"Gotta fight off the scurvy, boys! Eat your greens or suffer the consequences!"

Everyone groaned so loud, it sounded like Cloud getting woken before noon back when he was a vampire and on blood withdrawal. Make that Cloud and Vinny both together, plus floorboards.

That's the strangest, most accurate description I've ever heard.

Why thank you.

So they all ate their fish first and then started disgustedly picking at their spinach. I looked at the greens with a touch of longing. Reno gobbled up his fish and plopped the spinach onto my plate with a sigh. I frowned at it while he walked away.

Jay laughed. "Hey man!" he yelled at the captain. "Couldn't we have something different to fight off the scurvy? Like oranges? They got Vitamin C too!"

Captain frowned. "And where would we get oranges? All our other fresh foods aren't fresh anymore, can't eat 'em. Spinach is all we got left."

Jay chucked and nibbled a leaf. "Whatever ya say, Cap'n."

I finished up my fish and ate a few leaves of spinach. Strangely, I didn't really have an appetite anymore. I wondered where Woffia was, and Tilo and old Teff, and all the other little Fluffs I'd gotten to know a little. Did they get out alright? Did they find someplace to stay, or were they still all floating out in the ocean without food or water or shelter? It made me feel depressed. I got up and slunk off. Jay snickered and whispered at my back-

"Good idea, man. Go bury it somewhere!"

I nibbled on my spinach as I walked to the edge of camp and sat down between two tents. I stared at the patch of forest closest. Other Fluffs might have the advantage back at Round Island...but it was probably true that here, around people...it was easier to get around if you didn't actually look like a Fluff. I sighed and looked mopily at the rest of my spinach. I wished...I wished the Floofers had never come. I wished I was back on the island and that everything was okay, even if I did get pounced on alot by Reno and the others...I wished Reno was well enough to pounce on me again. I picked up the rest of my spinach and threw it sadly outside of the camp. The sun was setting and it was dark in between the tents. I felt nervous being far away from the others, so I picked up my plate and went back to the circle.

"Hey Sephi!" Jay waved at me. "The guys want a story! Tell 'em a story! You're good at stories, you're funny!"

I blinked and blushed. "Huhhh?"

Jay grinned. "Come ooon, it'll be fun. Tell 'em a Fluff story!"

I blinked at Dad and he gave me a funny smile. I sat down. "Um...okay...I'll tell you...about the three Fluffs...and their voyage to Mideel!"

Mom nodded proudly at me to continue.

"Oooh I can tell this one's gonna be good!" Jay said eagerly.

The fire crackled. I coughed and nodded. "Okay. Um. Once upon a time, there were three Fluffs..."