Disclaimer: IDON'TOWNFINALFANTASYVIIORANYOFITSSPINOFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!( screamo version)

A/N: Well, I hope you liked chapter one! I was really really happy with it. Isn't Lexi adorable? I love her. Well, here's chapter two! I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do with this one, so I'll just let it go where it will! Read and review, and check out my other stories!

Roses are Red

Chapter Two

I woke to red.

My eyes opened and immediately fell on the red rose in the glass vase I had found in the bathroom of the hotel I was staying in. It was just as beautiful as it had been last night, when I bought it for a whole pouch of gil.

I sat up and blinked the sleep out of my eyes. Why had I felt the need to be so nice to that girl? It was unlike me. It was unlike the behavior of a monster.

A monster would scare her. A monster would hurt her. A monster wouldn't have even looked twice when that boy had knocked her down.

And what had I done? I'd embarrassed the boy, talked to the girl, and given her a ridiculous amount of money for one flower.

I may not be a monster, but I sure am crazy.

I sighed. Who was I kidding? I would always be a monster. Nothing I could ever do would change that.

I pushed myself up and carelessly tossed the remote I'd fallen asleep with onto the bed, making my way to the mirror. The hyper-sensitive device hit the mattress in such a way that the power button for the television was hit, and the TV snapped into life, stuck on the everlasting Channel 7 News Broadcast.

"And that is your throat cancer update. Tune in next week for more information."

"This whole ordeal is really horrible isn't it, Ted?"

"Yes, it is, Diane."

I rolled my eyes. I could hear the fake sympathy in their voices. They couldn't care less about the topics they were discussing. All that mattered to them was getting back home after their news hour, eating ramen, and going to sleep, dreaming of the day they'd finally get a better job.

"Well, on another note, all of you won't believe who is visiting us. Sephiroth has decided to come to Midgar again! Apparently he didn't cause our city enough greif when he was last here. There have been many sightings of the "man in the black cape" throughout Sector Six, so those around that area, keep your children inside, and your cell phones in your pockets. We're not quite sure why this menace has returned to our city, but doubtless his motives aren't good. Until further notice, keep looking over your shoulder, 'cause this murderer could be anywhere -"

Her voice was cut off by the sound of the TV being stabbed.

I let go of the hilt of Masamune, the sword stuck deep inside the black box, and fell back on the bed.

"...grief..."

"...menace..."

"...murderer..."

I closed my eyes, wishing my thoughts would disappear into darkness, like the moldy ceiling of this room.

"...keep your children inside..."

I surprised myself by thinking of Lexi. What if her mother had been watching that broadcast? Would she keep her daughter in the house? I felt a small pain in my chest at the thought of not being able to see that little girl again. She'd made me smile. It'd been a long time since I'd really smiled...

"...man in the black cape..."

I let out a chuckle. That was what Cloud had called me when he was searching for me, as did everyone else. I guess it had been sort of refreshing not to be known by my name.

Cloud... I wonder what happened to him. What would he think if he knew I was still alive? Would he try and find me again? Bring together his old team and try and kill me? Perhaps.

I turned my head and opened my eyes, and found them resting on the rose once more. What was I going to do with this hideously expensive rose? I couldn't just keep it; how would I keep it alive? I couldn't very well give it to anyone, first of all because I didn't know anyone. Second, they'd either run away screaming or take it as a token of affection, and I wanted neither of those things to happen.

But... perhaps I could give it to someone. In a sense.

I got up and plucked the rose out of the vase, running the stem through my fingers as I walked to dry it. I pulled Masamune out of the television and slid it into its sheath, then walked out of the hotel. I had a long way to go, and I wanted to start as soon as possible.

I dropped a few gil on the counter as I left, avoiding eye contact with the man behind it. I kept the key, though, and I could hear him yelling at me for it as I walked outside. Who knows if there were any hotels that would let me stay there besides this one? I'd better stay here until things started looking better.

If things started looking better.

When I shut the door behind me - I heard a thunk as the man behind the counter ran into it, trying to get the key back - I wasn't at all surprised. The streets were empty, the only sound was a cat yowling somewhere along the street.

"Hey, you!"

Turns out the cat wasn't the only sound. I turned around, stopping myself from heaving a heavy sigh at the sound of the man's voice. No doubt he was drunk. And at ten in the morning? This city really hadn't changed at all.

The man was an obvious drunk, and looked like he'd been at the bar all night. He'd probably passed out on the table and had just got thrown out. He had a friend with him who looked slightly less drunk, but a little heftier, in terms of pounds, not muscle. There was a woman with them, very skinny, her skin nearly hanging off her arms. She had a lot of eye makeup on, and red lipstick in contrast to her white blonde hair. She clung desperately to the arm of the man who spoke, and seemed to laugh at everything about him.

One word came to my mind when I looked at her: Whore.

"What do you want?" I asked the man, letting go of my sword to show that he was no threat to me. It felt strage just having my hands limp at my sides; it was habit to grip the hilt of my sword with every movement I made.

"You're that man in the black cape, aren't ya?" he asked, pointing a shaking, hairy finger at me, stumbling a little and making the whore on his arm laugh and set him up right. "Sephiroth, right?"

"That's me," I replied monotonically. My hand twitched instinctively toward Masamune, but I stepped forward with my right foot, hiding the action while still looking threatening. "What's it to you?"

"I'll tell ya what it is to me," he said, then cut himself off in a coughing fit, soon silenced by a burning cigarette in his mouth.

His friend stepped forward. "Why the hell'd you come back, you insane sonofabitch?" he growled, his hands balling into fists at his sides.

"That's for me to know," I answered, standing my ground, even as they came toward me. My fingers were itching to grab my sword, and half of my willpower was dedicated to keeping them at my side. "It's not your problem, so why don't you -"

"Damn well, it's our problem!" the first man yelled, making the woman let go of him, but still trail faithfully behind. Now the question crossed my mind: Whore or girlfriend? I pushed the thought out of my head. Either way, it's pathetic. "You try and destroy the world, so we kill ya. You try it again, and we kill ya! And guess what happens when you try again?"

I sighed and opened my mouth to give a cringe-worthy answer, but he cut me off.

"We kill ya!" he finished, then took a long drag on his cigarette while his friend and whore/girlfriend laughed.

"Is that so?" I glared at the man and curled my fingers to make a fist. It was getting harder and harder to keep my hand at my side, so hard that I had to clamp it against my hip. The sheath was pressed between my side and my wrist, and I was struck by the urge to cut this man into pieces.

Feed the monster...

Her voice sounded as clear as if she'd whispered in my ear. "Stay out of this, Jenova," I muttered under my breath, teeth clenched. The last thing I needed right now was her butting in.

She didn't answer, only laughed her cruel, merciless laugh, coupled with the roaring laughter and sharp giggles of the people in front of me. I could feel her trying to take advantage of my anger; her influence was already starting to make my fist shake.

Apparently the man with the cigarette noticed this. "What, are you trying to freak me out now?" He let out a humorless laugh that I'm sure was supposed to sound superior, but didn't quite reach it. After all, nothing was superior to me. "Well, it's not gonna work, bud. I'm gonna get you outta here, one way or another." He slammed his fist into his hand for emphasis, and I nearly burst out laughing. This idiot drunk honestly thought he could take me? What a joke.

Fine, I'd humor him. That's more like it, Jenova cooed in my head, but I ignored her. "See if you can," I said, my mouth involuntarily curving up into a smirk. I was instantly filled with memories of battle, of blood and screams. It sickened and excited me at the same time.

The man scowled before dropping his cigarette and stomping it into the cement with the heel of his shoe. He stalked toward me, pulling his sleeves up, even though it was a pointless act. "I'm gonna enjoy this," he muttered, then aimed a fist at my chin.

I rocked back on my heels and his fist ran in a circle above my head. I grabbed his wrist and stepped forward, using his momentum to my advantage, then flipped him over my shoulder, letting go while he was in the air. He went flying across the square, landing harshly on an abandoned lemonade stand, filling the air with cracks and a resonating boom as the wood splintered to the ground around him. His head lolled back as he fell unconscious.

His friend wasted no time rushing at me, ignoring the warning of the whore: "Ron, no!" I easily moved to the side and tripped him, grabbing the neck of his shirt as he went down in front of me. I held him up above the ground and ground my fingernails into the palm of my left hand. Jenova was really trying to get me to draw my sword, and it was working. I couldn't let her win.

The muscles tensed and tight in my arm, I brought my fist in front of his nose. The blonde whore wept fearfully and ran away; as if I would have hurt her. Then again, with my lapse in control, who knows?

And then I felt it. Or rather, her. I let out a groan through my teeth and dug my nails into my palm until I could feel muscle under my fingers and blood on my skin. No! It was all I could think. No! No! No...

She laughed, a witch-like cackle that made me want to cover my ears, even though it wouldn't help in the slightest.

And then her laughter was broken into pieces by the sweetest sound I'd ever heard.

"Mister Stephiroff!"