Well, here begins chapter two. I know, I'm a day late, but I just started school, so yeah. I'll try and be relatively on time, but expect it anywhere from Monday to Tuesday. Why am I writing this? Nobody's read this yet...

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"Look," Riou pleaded with Rasputin, "At least go to the Crater and wait for me, alright? I know you can get there faster than me, and I need to, er, make a pit stop first."

"Fine, fine, I'll go. What's this 'pit stop' you speak of?"

"Ancient Village." Riou said, grinning. "Ten years ago, when Aeris was killed, she dropped a materia. I want it."

"Why?"

"I think…it could come in handy."

(Part Two)

"I'll tell you more as I find out more myself. Thank you."

Everyone in the bar had watched Rufus's speech while Tifa went off to get the jaws of life. Luna was fuming.

"What an asshole," she grumbled and stormed out, mumbling about 'bureaucratic bastards'. Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"I wonder what she has against Rufus…" he said to no one in particular. Cloud, now free from his chair-prison and sobered up, shook his head.

"She blames Shinra senior for her parent's…" Cloud searched for the right word, and, finding no better one, said "insanity."

"How so?"

"Well, in a subsection of Shinra called Umbrella, her parents were working on a cure for a disease that doesn't even exist. Hojo said that the disease, called Twin Syndrome, would occur during the Jenova reunion. People that had been killed within the previous few weeks would come back in a zombie-like state, and hunt for living people, feasting on them.

"Hojo theorized that the disease would be passed on by a bite from these things and assigned Luna's parents to the assignment. They could never find any evidence of the disease, thus obviously never found a cure, but Hojo insisted they keep working. They looked so hard for any evidence of the virus that they went crazy."

Vincent nodded. He had never heard any of this, and felt quite bad for the girl.

"We probably shouldn't allow her to know that we're friends with him then." he said. As Cloud opened his mouth to respond, Tifa walked downstairs, holding the jowls, a puzzled look on her face.

"A thought occurs to me." she said. "We're in Kalm, and this happened in Midgar, yet we seem to be the only people in either Edge, Midgar, or Kalm with a set of these things."

"I found that strange as well." Vincent remarked.

"So what's the exact plan?" Luna asked, having arrived with a vodka tonic.

"My assumption," Cloud said, "was that we would free the injured people from the rubble, and search for some of the missing people."

Tifa nodded.

"Doesn't get much clearer than that."

"Indeed."

(Part Three)

Riou searched for a glimpse of long silver hair, belonging to his enemy or his friend, but saw only rocks as he climbed the Crater. He was moving slowly toward the mouth, trying not to show his fear to anyone who may be watching. He had already picked up his materia, and that should have brought him comfort, but he was still shaking. He reached the top and peered down. Suddenly he dropped to one knee, feeling a burning sensation on his face. He touched his mask absently, willing his memories to go away.

Riou ran up to the mouth of the Crater, ten years younger and without a mask. Even though they had never met anyone in AVALANCHE (except Tifa, in Riou's case), he was convinced Cloud would accept his and Rasputin's help.

"C'mon, Raz, hurry up!" he yelled at his friend, who was lagging behind, unenthusiastic. Not scared, just bored. He sighed.

"Shut up, Riou." he said. "It isn't my fault you're in such a hurry."

Riou stuck his tongue out and turned back the seemingly endless Crater. He ran ahead up to the edge and looked down. His heart skipped several beats. There, down close to the bottom, was a small black figure with white, flowing hair.

"Raz, I see him!" he yelled, peering down further.

Sephiroth glared up at the boy, and with his superior Mako eye-sight, he locked gazes with Riou. He raised his right arm, the left preoccupied with his sword. An energy spiraled around it, and he cast Flare. The spell rushed up, and before Riou could react, the spell hit him in the face. He flew backwards and slid halfway down the Crater, his body limp and in a world of pain. Rasputin ran after him, screaming. When he reached him, he smelled burning flesh, and saw Riou's face…or at least, what remained of it.

"Oh God…" he muttered, and screamed, "Somebody help us!"

Riou looked around in a daze and saw his reflection in Rasputin's eyes. He lost consciousness.

Riou shuddered himself out of his reverie and grabbed a loose stone from the ground. Without looking, he threw the rock into the mouth of the Crater and hurriedly jumped back, covering himself like he was preparing for a bomb's explosion. After he heard the dull thud of the rock hitting ground, he sighed in relief and stood.

Rasputin, unaware of his friends current plight, came up silently behind him and tapped his shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

Riou screamed and flung himself at Rasputin's feet, groveling.

"I didn't mean to come back here, Sephiroth, please! I got led here by your followers, please don't kill me! I don't want to die! I do-"

Rasputin grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him violently.

"Riou, calm down! It's me, Rasputin." he continued in a comforting tone. "You don't need to worry, Sephiroth is-"

They each heard footsteps behind them and turned to look. In front of them stood a figure in black, holding a long sword and grinning as if he'd just one an impossible contest.

"Go one, finish it." he said. "You were going to say dead."

Rasputin's eyes became like red dinner plates. He turned to around to make sure Riou was alright, but he was merely holding his jacket. Despite everything happening at the moment, only three words came to his mind;

"Wow. He's fast."

(Part Four)

Vincent and Cloud walked out of the bar, Cloud holding the tools they would need.

"I assume we are taking Barret's truck?" Vincent asked. When he got no response, he turned around. "Cloud?"

Cloud had dropped the jaws, and his eyes were wide. He was shaking violently. He dropped to his knees.

"Se…Seph…Sephiroth." he choked, and looked up at Vincent. "Sephiroth is alive."

(Part Five)

The wind ripped through the air at the top of the Crater as Rasputin stared into the eyes of the Dark Descendant, the One-Winged Angel, Sephiroth himself. Hate flashed inside his eyes, and he suppressed his memories yet another time, trying to control himself.

"What the hell is it going to take to keep you dead?" he asked through clenched teeth.

Sephiroth ignored his comment and pointed his sword at him.

"Where is Cloud?" he asked. "Do you know him? He has hair like a chocobo."

If this had been anyone else, Rasputin would have laughed. However, as this was Sephiroth, he reached into an inner pocket of his coat.

"You shouldn't concern yourself with Cloud," he said. Fast as lightning, he pulled his handgun out and fired at Sephiroth. The bullet hit it's mark; Sephiroth felt the slug hit him directly between the eyes. However, to Rasputin's horror, it merely fell off.

"Such hostilities for someone I've never met." Sephiroth said, then paused. "Or have I met you? You seem familiar. Doesn't matter." Sephiroth cast Quake, and Rasputin was encased in earth.

"Who are you?" Sephiroth asked.

Rasputin growled and broke out of the rocks, drawing his other gun and aiming at Sephiroth.

"Die, you son of a bitch!"

Rasputin fired thirty-one rounds, effectively unloading each of his guns. Sephiroth, however, spun his sword with the speed of a tornado, and each bullet was deflected.

"Fuck," Rasputin said, beginning to reload. "Riou, I cloud use some help…"

As if on cue, Riou stood up on a platform of earth, with the White Materia in his hand.

"Sephiroth, behold!" he cried, "I hold in my hands your weakness!"

Sephiroth glanced at him, then recoiled, actually frightened.

"No! Impossible!" he cried.

Riou grinned, and held the materia out, as if trying to use it. Nothing happened. Riou panicked a little, and strained, trying with all his might to activate Holy. Again, nothing. Sephiroth and Rasputin stared, Rasputin in embarrassment, and Sephiroth in relief.

"Aw, come on!" Riou yelled, mad. "This is bogus!"

Sephiroth grinned and ran at Riou, sword drawn. Riou gasped, and, having nothing better to do, threw the materia at him. It hit Sephiroth in the chest with a dull thud and hit the ground. Sephiroth stared at it for a second, then bent over, picked it up, and threw it back. It hit Riou in the stomach, and sent him tumbling down the mountain. Rasputin sighed.

"Loser…"

Sephiroth turned his attention back to his actual enemy, but his sword was down.

"You both seem familiar," Sephiroth said. "What is your name?"

"Rasputin."

"Hmph. I sense Jenova's presence within you. I will spare you."

Sephiroth sprouted one lone, black wing, and took flight. Rasputin panicked, and ran after him, firing bullet after bullet.

"Stop!" he cried, and tripped over a rock. He continued firing, but he could no longer see the Dark Wing. "Fuck! Fuck! Come back, you sorry bastard! Fight like a man!"

Riou clambered up to Rasputin, rubbing his shoulder.

"I am officially freaked."

"How the hell did this happen?"

(Part Six)

After the return of Sephiroth, another, more horrible thing occurred. The awakening of the Black Materia's true power. The planetary alignment combined with the burst of Mako from the Sister Ray set off a chain reaction. Sephiroth's twelve followers had given away their souls to give their leader more power, and their bodies were now empty shells. However, they became much, much more useful. The dozen shells moved through a small village, searching…

A small boy was running around his house, playing with his new toy sword. He ran around, slaying imaginary foes, and giggling. He ran outside and looked out, wary of possible enemies. He saw an old woman hobbling toward the house.

"Hey, momma?" he said. "Did you invite grandma over for dinner?"

His mother didn't look up from her boiling soup.

"Josh, honey, grandma is dead." she said. "She has been for three weeks. I know it's hard to…Josh?"

She looked up and didn't see her son anywhere. She walked to the door and opened it.

"Josh?"

In a few minutes, she would be reunited with her mother and her son, though, it would not be a happy one. Her screams were heard throughout the village, along with dozens more.

(Part Seven)

Vincent stared at Cloud for a moment, not sure what to say.

"What do you mean, 'Sephiroth is-'"

"He's alive." Cloud said. "I don't know how…but I feel him."

His phone rang at that moment, and he saw that it was Rasputin. He answered, trying to sound calm, but failing.

"Cloud, Sephiroth-"

"He's back…I know." Cloud said. "Wait, how do you know?"

"I fought him already." Rasputin said. "I…I shot him right in the face, and he just…flew away."

Cloud heard Riou yell at him in the background.

"I helped too, jack hole!"

"You threw a frickin' rock at him!"

"…it was an old rock!"

Cloud decided to interrupt before Rasputin pistol whipped Riou, as was his custom.

"Listen, Raz, I need you to contact Rufus Shinra. Tell him to get to the 9th, and get here yourselves, alright?"

"I hate Shinra…" Rasputin sighed. "But, alright, I'll call him."

"Thank you. Be careful."

"Always am."

(Broken again)

That's chapter two. Sorry for any errors that may have occured in grammer or spelling. Um...please leave a review, even if you don't like this. I felt sad at my one review from the co-author of the story.