A/N: Bet you're all getting into this now! There's going to be a bit of a showdown now, and the next chapter will be when the real drama starts happening.

NINE WHILE NINE

Chapter 2 - Who?

"What the hell is going on Vincent? What did that materia do to me?" Cloud yelled.

"I told you not to use it, you betrayed that trust, and everything that followed was your own doing. You accepted that when you accepted that materia, and I will take no responsability for it."

"You're not answering my questions Valentine!" Cloud shouted again, throwing out a hand to catch the vampires collar, but Vincent stepped back, careful to avoid touching any part of the outreached hand.

"This materia does nothing to you, only to the people you touch. Who? Who have you touched since taking it into yourself?"

"Tifa..." Cloud uttered, panic gripping his throat as the name passed over his lips.

"No. Tifa is immune to such a touch. Allow me to expain a little better the nature of this materia..." His voice darked further. "That materia was not the only one of its kind. It was the last remaining of three. OneI took into myself, knowing that the vampire blood within my veins would be enough to destroy it, the way they all should have been destroyed but my body was not strog enough for them all. The second was taken by Shinra, with the intention of using it as a wepon. The third fell into the hands of the enemy - Seperoth."

"What does it do?"

"Seperoth took three soldiers. And with a mear touch he sealed their death sentance as well as securing his legacy. Those three soldiers, male though they were, became, if you will, mothers to Kadaj, Yazzu and Loz, each of them loosing their life in the process. The materia not only does this but speeds the process to just nine days. You laid hands of Kadaj and Seperoth in battle, but with the death of Kadaj came the death of Seperoth and thus this materia will cause them no burden."

"Then why? Why do I feel so much anger, so much pain?"

"You much have laid hands on another, someone that is feeling these emotions, and while you are separated you share them. So now I must ask you again. Have you touched any other?"

"I don't think s..." Clouds heart stopped, as did his words. His chest tightened. "Oh no..."

"Who?" Vincent asked firmly.

"I pushed him out of the way..." Cloud muttered, raising a hand to cover his face, sighing deeply as the realization sunk in.

"WHO?" Vincent demanded, a little more violently this time.

"He isn't dead, he isn't captured... he's on the run, he's trying to get away from everyone so that no one would know! It's been four days... only five to go... we need to find him."

Vincent advanced on Cloud and stood between him and his motorbike. His voice dropped to a deathly whisper that could have killed had that been the intention. "Who was it that you touched?"

Cloud stared fearfully at Vincent. "Reno."