Sephiroth ran through the streets, his head filled with mixed emotions. She was gone—hurray; chance of eliminating the clones? Zero. So, he had simply decided to call half the Shinra army to search for the missing girl. The president wouldn't mind if he was in his right state of mind. One little "no" and he would soon have a sword in his back. Out of nowhere, he felt gunshots against his back; he dodged them quickly with ease or deflected them with his sword. His eyes narrowed as he searched the alley for any intruders; the smell of rotten meat was furiously invading his nose and was not to his advantages.

It was too dark for even his mako eyes to detect anything, so he decided to listen. Despite his own heavy breathing he could still hear the fear pumping in the unlucky person's veins. He smirked and moved through the thick air with simplicity, the sound of shoes smashing against the street was a bad idea. Sephiroth was coming, and he was coming fast.

Twist, turn, and catch, like a hunter for its prey. He could hear the gasp from the slightly smaller person as his hand went around its throat with a fierce grip. Narrowing his eyes he made out the usual AVALANCHE uniform; he frowned deeply as he noticed the frightened eyes of the male person. It was pathetic to look at his desperate attempt to breathe, as he tried to struggle against Sephiroth's narrow grip.

"You and your organisation shouldn't have accidentally kidnapped a Shinra scientist… Should you have?" he asked as he neared his face closer to the man's who shook his head furiously, while he hastily denied that nothing like that had ever occurred. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes even more and his irises closed into slits and with the moon shining in his hair, he looked nothing less than a god.

"N… no… we… haven't got any… scientist…"

Sephiroth frowned and released the man roughly, throwing him merciless to the ground. "You should be grateful that I am not in the mood to kill you…" Sheathing his sword into his belt, he wandered out of the alleyway, hoping that at least some of the SOLDIERs had found anything of interest. That was when he heard the man mumble, "Thank god… Elfé would have killed me if he knew…"

Turning around his eyes glinted with hate towards the young boy, "I might consider killing you anyway…"

"No please! I… No, please don't! I beg you…" Sephiroth shook in pleasure at these words, the fear towards him, the feeling of superiority. "Too bad… Isn't it…?"

Fuhito studied the young woman before him as she furiously tried to calm the wailing girl down; her already bloody dress was now soaked with tears too. It was clearly to see that Ningit didn't know that girl, most likely never had seen her before. None the less a certain motherly emotion overwhelmed her and all she could do was try to stop the girl's crying.

Fuhito stood up and opened the tap over the sink, letting the cool water fill the two cups he held in his hands. He handed it to Ningit without hesitation and she took it gladly. "Hey… Hey, don't cry… Drink this okay?" She desperately tried to get the girl to just a drink a bit. The girl though didn't listen to her, so Ningit sighed and stroked her brown curly hair and noticed the red ribbon.

Fumbling slightly with the edges she somehow became fascinated by the perfection it had seemed to be done with. It was just right in those curly locks and she couldn't help but smile at the girl.

Fuhito coughed a bit before speaking, "Miss Ningit I presume?"

She sighed; there wasn't anything she could do to prevent it. "Yes, yes it is me…"

He smiled shortly and pointed at the opposite chair from his, however she just shook her head and pointed at the sniffling girl around her waist. He nodded understanding and moved his chair closer to the bed.

"See, Ningit, we from AVALANCHE are trying to stop Shinra's works on the Lifestream. You do know what Lifestream is, right?" She shook her head; she knew she had worked with it, never known what it really was. You don't ask Professor Hojo; she had learned the consequences when one of her co-members had questioned their work… He never returned. She frowned deeply, the poor young man, Yearn Gainsborough he had been called. The last she heard of him was that he had been sent to the Wutainise War. There was no way he could have survived that.

"Well, then let me explain it then. Lifestream is the stream that keeps the planet alive… According to some, it is where our souls go when we die…" The girl at her arm flinched at his words, but hid her head behind Ningit who kept on stroking her hair.

"A half year ago, we found something very interesting…" Fuhito turned his chair and grabbed a report that lay nearby. "This report is most likely over 20 years old, but it has an interesting aspect… See… Ningit. This report was written by the now dead scientist, Lucrecia Cresent. To be honest everything it says in here scares the living hell out of me…"

The girl suddenly spoke, "WEAPONs… It is about the WEAPONs right?" Fuhito stared surprised at the girl who just glared stubbornly at him, "Yes, WEAPONs… It seems like the planet is able to materialise into several magnificent beings. If we have calculated right, there is a clue for us to find in Icicle Inn…"

"Why Icicle Inn?"

Fuhito smiled shortly before returning to his emotionless mask "This… It is said Lucrecia visited a man in Icicle Inn… If I am right you are born there?" she frowned a bit, "Yes… I am named after the town…" "Aah… Then, you must have some connection to the now dead Professor Gast…"

It all went in slow motion as the glass she held in her hand connected with the ground, shaking the room with a terrifying shrieking noise. Her eyes widened remarkably and her mind went numb.

-H… he is dead?

No it can't be!

-Gast dead!

B...b...but?

- G… Gast.

"I… see…"

Fuhito narrowed his eyes in suspicion when the young girl interrupted. "Be quite! Can't you see that she is suffering!" he was clearly impressed by the young girl's outburst; she clearly wasn't afraid of this dangerous situation. Why had they captured her anyway?

"Yes…"

Both eyes went to stare at Ningit who stared to the ground. "It is right; Gast was studying the Planet in Icicle Inn…"

"Is there anything else?"

She went silent, and Fuhito got suspicious if she knew more than she said, maybe she had been a part of the project. However, he quickly dismissed that thought, she couldn't have been more than four at that time, and he knew the rumours about Gast well enough to know that he would never do such a thing.

"No… There is nothing else…"

"Thank you, Miss Ningit, Shears will escort you out of our hideout, but of course with blind fold. We wouldn't want you to lead them to our secret place would we…?" he said with a smile on his face, which made Ningit slightly uncomfortable. "Very well then…"

"Shears! You know what to do…" Fuhito said, and in of the door walked none other than the second leading AVALANCHE member. "Put these on," he instructed.

Elfé stared horrified at the corpse before her, the chest ripped open and blood that ran out his mouth. Frowning she asked sternly one of the guards, "Who did this?" The guard flinched slightly, but stepped forward none the less. "There are no eyewitnesses… but he seems to have been strangled before slaughtered, Ma'm."

"Damnit…" she muttered underneath her breathe, "Cover him, and make sure his family knows…" Turning around she had to resist the urge to puke, the smell of the rotting corpse made her uncomfortable, and the liquid in her stomach was trying to get out of her body. It was so disgusting, the flies circulating around his body.

Before she could prevent anything, she vomited all over the ground. She wasn't used to looking at death that way; she was more like slicing and run, never seeing a body for more than a second or two after it died. Drying her mouth she looked up and searched the alley for any clues. However, the urge to heave again made her awfully weak and she walked to a more isolated area where she threw up once more.

"Ugh…" she muttered as her head became dizzy. That stupid sickness again she hated it; it always made her weak. Sneaking a glance at the road she noticed something shiny lay on the ground. Furrowing her brows, she moved a bit towards it slowly. The alley was dark, but there was something so strange about the smell, not death, more like gunpowder.

She went down on her knees and slowly picked up the shinning piece of metal. Narrowing her eyes she inspected the piece of metal with great interest, a cartridge. Examining it further she could clearly see that it was one of those they used in AVALANCHE, but who had he been shooting at? Even though she still had the urge to barf all over the ground she suppressed it, this was more important.

She dug into the dirt and found something shiny. Picking it up, she tried to examine it in the light… "What is this…?" It was thin and looked like a hair… They were "Silver…"

She stared at it a bit before she came to the realisation. "Damnit! Guard!" she screamed and a tiny guard came running towards her, "Y-yes?" "Get me Shears quickly! We are in deep shit!"

"Yes, Ma'm…!"

Shears stared at the two girls walking ahead of him. The fact that Fuhito had strictly told him to take good care of the oldest one made him slightly suspicious. What was going on? What was the whole thing about the Planet? He frowned once more, "Don't even think of trying to escape!" Aerith snorted and kept on walking with her hand holding onto Ningit's tightly.

He was about to tell her not to hold her hand, when he felt his cell phone vibrate within his pocket. He picked it up with ease and noticed it was Elfé who called him, he bend his brows and wondered why she would call him at this hour.

"Yes…?"

His eyes widened, "Are you kidding me? Because that isn't funny at all!"

Aerith held unto Ningit's hand tighter and closed her eyes behind the blindfold, "I am scared…" she whispered, Ningit gave her hand a squeeze, "Don't worry… It will be alright…"

The little girl smiled, though Ningit couldn't see. "You sound like someone so familiar…" Aerith said, waiting for Shears to lead them out after he was finished talking with Elfé. "I must disappoint you, but I have never met you before…"

"It is okay, we will meet again soon enough…"

Ningit felt slightly discomforted by her voice; the girl was too young to speak with such knowledge. She sounded like some wise old lady. Smiling herself she just said, "I sure hope so…"

Suddenly, she felt herself being pushed forward and took Aerith with her. To make sure the girl didn't get hurt, she cuddled her close to her chest as she hit the ground hard. She bit her lip at the impact and blood flooded down her cheek, Aerith who had removed her own blindfold stared horrified at the older woman.

"Are you alright?" she shrieked as she searched her body for any wound.

"Stay down!" a dark male voice shouted.

Ningit slowly removed her blindfold and stared at the leather cloaked man before her. Narrowing her eyes in confusion, she asked, "Sephiroth…?"

"I said stay down, Woman!" he shouted as he turned around, revealing silver hair and mako green eyes. She really had a hard time considering whether or not she should be afraid or completely calm. Frowning she turned her head to see what was really going on, her eyes widened and she quickly covered the young girl's eyes.

"H-hey," Aerith muttered slightly as everything went dark. "Keep your eyes closed…" Ningit muttered softly and Aerith did as she was told.

Sephiroth stood proudly with his sword red with blood, "Damnit… The leader escaped…" his brows bent down, as they always do. He had this strange aura around him, and Ningit suddenly felt very afraid. Aerith couldn't see anything and really wanted to see what the famous general looked like. "Can I see?"

"……………… No."

Ningit bent her head in defeat as she looked away from all the dead AVALANCHE bodies that covered most of the street in their crimson colour. 'So sad and disgusting…'

Sephiroth turned around and stared at the defeated girl before his feet. "Get up…"

"…"

"Get up…." He said a bit more annoyed.

"…"

Groaning, he took her arm roughly and pulled her to her feet. "Get a grip okay! Travelling with me means blood, Lady…" "Don't talk to me like you are superior," she muttered, and received an odd look from the slightly taller man. "Excuse me?" he hissed. 'Damn, he is so pissed now' "—here I go, travelling half of Midgar to get you and all you say is that I shouldn't be superior?"

Pulling her closer towards him, his eyes shone dangerously into hers. "I think it would be a good idea to consider your words…" "Please let me down, Sir…" she muttered as she looked down on her dangling feet that hovered several inches across the ground. Sephiroth frowned and sat her down on the ground.

"We will get you some proper clothes before we go. I need some accessories too…" She stood still. "Would you mind being a bit more alive?" he asked as he literally dragged her through the streets in search for an open shop somewhere. Ningit quickly turned around before exiting the alley in search for the other girl…

"… She's gone." She muttered underneath her breathe. Sephiroth stopped and looked down at her, "What did you say?" "Nothing…"

He frowned and released her, marching towards the shop right ahead of them, Ningit just narrowed her eyes at the street. 'She said we would meet again… Who the hell was she…'

Looking up at the sky she noticed the full moon, she thought, 'What is going to happen…?'

She noticed the bag beside her; it looked like Sephiroth really had thought of all the necessary stuff. Hugging herself shortly, she turned to see Sephiroth yelling at her to come with him, she nodded and took the bag. 'Why do I have the feeling I won't be coming back….?'

Reeve sat in his office and wondered if it would be good to call her house. If she was there…

He groaned at the thought of Sephiroth killing her; after that promise he had made to her years before, he suddenly was going to fail her. It was really stupid, and the fact that he was anxious over the whole incident that had happened earlier that day, he was sure that it wouldn't be some wild beast that would kill her. No, it would be none other than her insignificant companion, who had sworn to protect her too.

Somehow, that was what he tried to convince himself at least. What worried him more was if she would get too attached to the general; it was really a dangerous situation. Yes, Reeve was older than her, but who said that it wasn't legal to hold feelings against a young girl? He frowned even deeper; Sephiroth couldn't have been more than nineteen or twenty at this time. She was at least two years older than him…

However, what did she know about Goodbay? There were no records in the base that spoke of him, and certainly all data about Gast had been deleted too and replaced with Hojo. Surely they had had a professor named Goodbay who had worked closely with Gast most of the time, but that data was deleted. How could she know all this?

Suddenly, his phone vibrated on his desk, and he secretly wondered if he wanted to take it or not. He sighed as he noticed the number from the president, "Hello, this is Reeve…"

"Reeve Tuesti! I want you to come to my office personally!"

Reeve didn't answer. No matter what ridiculous excuse there was, there was nothing he could do about it. "Reeve!" Slowly, he pressed the red button. Was it worth it all? He knew that Sephiroth had disappeared without a trace and he knew that Shinra would be searching for him.

His door opened softly and in the doorway stood none other than Scarlet with a frown on her pretty face. She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder. "There is something you know isn't there, Reeve?" He chuckled on the inside as he imagined how ugly Scarlet would be when she got older, placing wrinkles and lots of blue eye shadow and red lipstick… She wasn't going to be a pretty sight.

"Reeve…" she said softly. He knew she had a soft spot for him, sadly he would never return it; she would probably go for the vice-president when he turned eighteen in a couple of years. Her hip landed on the side of his desk, and he just wanted more than anything to push her away and make sure the wooden piece of furniture would be burned.

"Where is Sephiroth, Reeve…?" she hissed softly; screw her crush, money was more important. "I don't know Scarlet…" "You are such a bad liar, Reeve. Tell me…"

"I don't know anything…"

"You don't? I know you have these stupid feelings! That stupid girl of yours! She is worse than me! How could you care for slum girls like her? She doesn't deserve you!"

He slammed his fist into his table. "Would you mind shutting up?" She knew his soft spot, and she also knew when to use it; she always did. "I don't know anything, so get the hell out of my office, will you?"

She narrowed her eyes further. "I don't know what you see in her, and I am going to find out what you are hiding!" she said and walked out the door furious, slamming it with brute force.

"Stupid bitch…"

all rights to square. Finally I was able to update, what a relief it is.
Warm cookie for Sora's savior(here is comes!)and eyesofthetigerandkissofthedragon(the Nin/Seph is not decided yet to be more specific, that is why it changed from Action/romance to Action/mystery because I don't know it yet. The Aerith thing - No, she isn't related...but it is something more...mysteriooos)

A thousand thanks to my beloved Beta-reader, Midorituski.