Author's note: "Thanks for continuing to read this story, not very many people are bothering at the moment. Right now it's a little slow but it'll pick up it's pace soon if you just bare with me.

It was quite late when they awoke, which was at the same time, due to Saria's movement waking him. Dark looked much better now that he had had sleep. Saria seemed more energetic today, as she was skipping and eager to start travelling.

"You seem happy," he said, having to move his head to keep up with her fast movements.

"I am. I've had a really good sleep and I'm ready to go!" she jumped up and down excitedly.

"Good," he said. "We should get to Cosmo Canyon by the end of today," They began to head for Cosmo canyon, Saria skipping behind Dark, and circling him every now and then.

"So, what's with the sword?" she asked.

"It was my dad's," he explained. "Other than his motorbike, this is the only thing he left for me," his stomach rumbled.

"Let's get food," Saria said.

"No, we'll be at Cosmo Canyon soon– there'll be plenty of food,"

"We'll get there quicker on a full stomach," Dark thought for a moment. Had it just been himself on the journey, he would have continued. However, he had to think of others, and if Saria was hungry, they would go and find food.

After a while of searching, they found a bush full of berries. Birds were hopping around it and plucking the berries from it's branches- a sign that the berries were edible. They had quite a strong, fruity taste, and were full of juices. When they had both eaten enough, Dark put the berries in his rucksack, and they carried on.

By sunset they were under the looming shadows of the rocky cliffs. Dark looked around suspiciously.

"We're quite vulnerable from here," he explained as they walked along the dusty, winding road. In the distance, small flames could be seen, which grew bigger as they got closer.

There was a sign made of wood, with the words 'Cosmo Canyon' carved into it; either side of it was a lit torch. There wasn't anyone guarding the gates, and so Dark and Saria walked straight through. All of a sudden, many people jumped out at them at the same time. Dark held up his hands in surrender immediately. The people were tribal-looking, holding hand-made spears and wearing paints and tattoos. The man with the most markings and a mask and headdress, whom Dark presumed the leader, looked at Dark and lowered his spear.

"Cloud! I thought you were dead," he said. Dark was speechless, and stuttered his answer.

"I'm er… We were… I'm not…"

"Dark!" he turned when he heard somebody call his name. It was a strange creature, like a red lion. It had crimson fur running down it's back, and on the tip of it's tail was a flame, glowing brightly. It swished it's tail, and pounced on Dark.

"Who're you?" Dark said, trying not to laugh.

"I don't have a name, but your father called me 'Red',"

"How did you know my dad?"

"Yes I did, I travelled with him for some time- he was a good friend of mine,"

"How do you know me?" I took you here to be fostered when Cloud was travelling. He wanted you to be somewhere safe, and so he trusted you to me," He turned to Saria. "You're Tifa's daughter, I presume?"

"Yes- how did you know?" Saria said.

"You look like her, eyes, hair…" his eyes looked her up and down "Figure, too. But.. You also look like-" his eyes widened. "But it can't be… Hojo!" Dark and Saria hadn't heard of this 'Hojo'.

"No, my dad's called Dieno- you must have him confused with somebody else," Red's eyes narrowed, it seemed as though he didn't believe her.

"Anyway, how about a feast to celebrate the return of an old friend, eh?" Everybody began making a bonfire, and bringing succulent food to be cooked. Dark and Saria took a place next to the fire, absorbing it's heat.

Sephiroth awoke slightly. His arms and legs were chained up, and he felt pain from all of the needles and sensors dug into his body. He felt drugged, as the doctors and scientists around him were moving in blurrs. He pulled at the chains, and although they buckled slightly under his strength, they did not break. He growled, showing his white teeth.

"Strong, aren't they?" A man said. Sephiroth looked up. "I'm afraid material have become much more advanced since you were around last,"

"Hojo?"

"No, although we do look alike. My name is Dieno, his cousin. Of course, he was a novice compared to me. He meddled with power he was incapable of controlling, and who is he now? A nobody, that's who," He walked quite close to Sephiroth. "Me? I know what I'm dealing with,"

"Then let me go before I kill you all," he gave Dieno a piercing stare- one which would make most men's knees buckle in fear. However, Dieno laughed.

"I that state? Ha! Even you can't get out of this one. You're my subject, my latest guinea pig,"

"I'm nobody's subject," he snarled. "Break me free now of I'll kill you so quickly that it'll be hours before you realise you're dead,"

"Not even if I could make you the most powerful being on earth?" He was very close to Sephiroth, tormenting Sephiroth with the fact that he couldn't harm him. Sephiroth was really tugging at the chains, which were screeching against each other.

"I am the most powerful being on the earth,"

"You? Powerful? Compared to what we could do to you, your power is nothing. Look at you now- bound by mere chains,"

"Fuck you, I'm no-one's guinea pig," Sephiroth spat at Dieno, who frowned slightly, but still kept the same, patronising, smug smile.

"You're in no position to use language like that," he jeered. "See this wire here?" he held up one of the wires attached to Sephiroth's body. "With a click of my fingers I could send enough volts down here to fry you if I wanted to, so I'd co-operate if I were you. Now then- I'm a fair man, so I'll make you an offer. You go through with the experiment, and I'll give you anything you want," Sephiroth thought for a moment.

"Cloud," he said.

"Cloud? Oh- that failed clone of yours? He's dead,"

"But I saw him yesterday. I want to kill him with my own bare hands- revenge,"

"I'll see what I can do,"

"This… Power you're going to give to me…how?"

"Simple- we take your genes, and inject them into a subject. We can clone these cells containing the genes, adding our own chemicals. When they are powerful enough, we can put the altered gene back. We didn't want to harm you or your genes, which is why the experiment is going to be carried out in another subject,"

"Fine. Bring me this guy, and I'll do it,"

"What was my dad like?" Dark asked.

"Very brave, and kind," Red replied wisely. "He saved me from a man called Hojo- who was using me as a test subject. He could have walked on by and not helped me at all, but he stopped and let me free," Dark ate some of the meat he had been handed. "To show my gratitude, I accompanied him. He was a quiet man, but not ignorant. Aggressive at times and gentle at others. For example, when your mother died, he showed such anger towards Sephiroth, but carried her body as though it were the petal of a flower,"

"Sounds like somebody I know," Saria butted in.

"What?"

"You were so angry about Sephiroth, but you treated me so nicely," Dark avoided eye contact and changed the subject, blushing slightly.

"What was she like? My mother, I mean,"

"Beautiful. She always smiled, despite the fact that she was always being chased by Shinra or the Turks for one thing or another,"

"Seems like everyone has a reason to hate Shinra,"

"They were horrible. I'm thankful they're gone now- they left our town penniless, with no food and no raw materials,"

"But they're not gone- they're back, and so is Sephiroth,"

"Sephiroth? But he can't be back- he died about twenty years ago. Your father killed him- I saw it with my own two eyes,"

"Why are they enemies? Didn't Sephiroth work with Cloud once?"

"Yes, Sephiroth supervised Cloud during their missions,"

"But I thought my dad was as good as Sephiroth- Tifa said so,"

"It's strange," Red sighed. "Tifa still refuses to believe it, but Cloud never became the soldier he wanted to be. That night they went to Nibelhiem, it wasn't just Sephiroth and your father who went; another man accompanied them; called Zak. It appeared that over time, Cloud and Tifa lost memory, and had both forgotten that it wasn't Cloud who was the soldier, it was Zak. Zak was the one who faced Sephiroth, Zak was the one who protected Tifa, and Zak was the one who saw the mutations. Cloud was only an apprentice, who hadn't accomplished anything," Dark frowned.

"I'm confused- how did they muddle their memories?" Red sighed again.

"You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"Your father was a clone of Sephiroth, as was Zak," Dark nearly dropped the food he was holding. "All of them were products of Hojo's laboratories. They all looked similar, and somehow their memories became intertwined," Dark seemed even more confused. "Maybe there was something about clones that meant they could share memories,"

"This Zak… was he a good guy?"

"Yes, he was,"

"Where is he? Maybe he would help me kill Sephiroth,"

"Unfortunately, Zak died that night during their escape from Nibelhiem. You're not thinking of fighting Sephiroth, are you?"

"Yeah, I am," Dark said strongly. "I'm going to make him pay for what he's done," Red laughed slightly.

"You're just like your father, and like him, you probably won't be persuaded to change your mind. How's Tifa?" He asked Saria, whom for all this time had been eating her food and listening to their conversation. Saria didn't reply.

"She's dead," Dark sighed. "Sephiroth killed her a few days ago,"

"Oh," Red said. "I'm sorry,"

"It's okay," Saria said. "We're going to get him back for her. For Tifa, Cloud, Aeris, and whoever else's life he's made a misery," She smiled, her eyes sparkling with tears.

"Red?" Dark asked. "Are there any other of my dad's friends who are still alive?"

"Yes, but I don't know where they are. There is Vincent, an assassin and an ex-Turk who joined us out of anger towards Sephiroth. His love, Lucrecia, had died whilst giving birth to Sephiroth. Barret joined your father when Shinra destroyed his hometown and left him to blame. There's Cid, a pilot who never reached his dream in space because Shinra stopped his funding. All these people were happy to help your father- because he was a good man. I only wish I could help you more with their locations,"

"That's okay, maybe I could find them and we could beat Sephiroth again, just like my dad did,"

"If you must. However, I cannot join you this time. Though I would love to help you, I have to stay here and defend my village from Shinra. I hope you understand,"

"Of course," Dark said. "Um… It's late now, do you have anywhere else we can stay the night,"

"Yes, we have an inn. It's not very clean, and it hasn't been used in a long time, but you can stay for free as long as you want,"

"Thanks. We won't stay long, though. The sooner we find Sephiroth, the better," Red looked worried.

"Have you heard any tales of Sephiroth's power?"

"No, I haven't. Is he strong?"

"Unbelievably," Red replied. "So strong that he slayed a 20 foot serpent and speared it on a tree. So powerful he can control comets. The best soldier Shinra ever had or will have. But you know what really makes him scary?" Red's voice took a lower, more serious tone. "He doesn't feel. No emotions, thoughts- just pure hatred. Nothing will stop him from getting what he wants- friends, family; he'll cut them all down to achieve his goal." Dark was scared now that he was finally realising how scary Sephiroth was.

"I've got to be brave," he said. "I'll practice and practice until I'm strong enough to beat him,"

"You'll need a lot of practice- you're father didn't kill him as a novice. It took him weeks of training to get himself that strong,"

"Can you help me?"

"Yes, there are beasts that roam the lands around here. Slay them as you wish, you'll soon toughen up," Dark thanked him again. "The inn is over there, I'll show you," Red stood up, and shook himself, his fluffy mane ruffling. Dark and Saria followed him up a hand-made flight of stairs to a door of a building, which was built against a cliff. Just before they walked in, the leader from the tribal-looking group who had approached them before, came to them, and took off his mask.

He had bright red hair and a handsome face with delicate features. The tribal markings continued to his face, with a red line under each eye. He had bright blue eyes, which caught Saria's attention.

"Sorry about that before," he said. "You're Cloud's son, right? I should have known- you look just like him," Dark opened his mouth to reply, but Saria pushed him out of the way and said;

"Who're you?"

"The name's Reno. I used to be a Turk, working for Shinra, but when it went bust I quit and came to live here,"

"So you and my dad were… enemies?" Dark interrupted Saria this time.

"Kind of. I was actually more of a kind of enemy with your mother. It was my job to capture her fore Shinra,"

"You didn't hurt her, did you?" He said threateningly.

"No, of course I didn't," Reno replied. "You're mother was a kind, gentle woman,"

"What are you doing here now?"

"Well, I've settled down with my wife," Saria looked disappointed as she lost her smile and her enthusiasm.

"Would you come with us?"

"I would, but with my wife and a child on the way, I thought it'd be best to look after them here. With Sephiroth and Shinra lurking about, I'd better be on my guard,"

"I understand," Dark said. Reno said goodbye, and left them to go to their room. It was indeed old, with cracks in the walls and damp patches scattered about the place. There were cobwebs in the corners and a dripping sound coming from somewhere in the room. However, the beds were made neatly and hardly looked as though they hadn't been slept in for twenty years. For all Dark knew, they could have been slept in only yesterday. Dark lit the lights, which brightened the room for a little.

"Will you be okay?" Red asked.

"Yes thanks," Dark said.

"If you need anything, just ask," Red left, closing the door. Dark sat on his bed and lay down, his arms behind his head. Saria was pacing around the room, looking in drawers and under the beds.

"What's up?" Dark asked.

"Nothing," She gave up. "It's just that our parents stayed here a long time ago, I thought that maybe there could be evidence they lived here, maybe they left something behind, but no- not a thing,"

"But think- my Dad could have slept on this very bed,"

"And my mum on this one," She sat down on another bed. They were both quiet for a moment, thinking and imagining their parents. "How long are we staying here?" she asked.

"I don't know. Probably two or three days, it depends how well I can fight and stuff like that,"

"Think you'll need a lot of practice?" she asked.

"Maybe. I used to train a lot with this sword all the time. I can remember when I first tried to lift it, and was punished for playing with something so sharp. I used to train every day for hours- people would see me through the windows, one woman once told me that I was spectacular," he smiled. Saria looked as though she was going to comment, but before she could say anything, he interrupted her. "I'm scared,"

"You? Scared?" She said. "What happened to your 'I'm going to defeat Sephiroth' speeches? You just said you were fantastic with your sword,"

"No, I'm not scared of not being able to beat him physically. It's just that my dad was a clone of Sephiroth- maybe it'll be like fighting my dad. Maybe I won't be able to bring myself to kill him," Saria stood up and sat next to him, putting one hand on his hair.

"Your father was nothing like that heartless murderer-" she said reassuredly. For a moment they gazed at each other, their eyes half-closed. They both leant towards eachother, but stopped. Saria looked quite sheepish and sat back on her own bed. Dark rolled over to face the opposite way, also blushing. It was strange how quickly they went to sleep after such a long day, even with the lights on and wearing clothes. Red came to check on them, blowing out the lights and closing the door as he left.