A/N: Hello, and welcome to chapter 9 of Freedom! First off I would like to thank chibipinkbunny for helping me with my grammar. If any of you have the time, please read her fanfic. Actually it was her fanfiction story that inspired this whole story so, without her fic, my fic wouldn't even exist. Second, I would like to thank all my reviewers! Be warned, there will be a lot of Yuffie in this chapter. Anyway, this story is in PoV (point of view) format and this means thought, this means writing, and this means singing.

Chapter 9: Challenge

Zack PoV

"Hello SOLDIER boy," she said with an air of arrogance, "looks like we meet again." I looked behind me to see a figure standing at the top of the stairway leading to a pagoda style house. She was wearing a white cloak that covered her face. I already knew who it was, but I let her make her dramatic entrance anyway. She pulled the cloak off. Her quirky smile was the same, but everything else had changed. The last time I saw her, she was only a kid, but now she was a teenager. Suddenly, she started walking toward me in long graceful strides, but after a few steps, she slipped and rolled down the stairs. I was standing at the bottom so she ran right in to me and knocked me over. She clutched her head and watched me as I got up. The wound in my shoulder had started to burn and I struggled to hold the shirt in place.

"Hey, watch it SOLDIER boy. You're in my way." She said teasingly. A little smile tugged at her lips, but it was gone as soon as her eyes landed on the shirt covering my wound. She had a look in her eyes that I had never seen on her before. I shifted my shoulder so that it was out of her sight. Quickly, she composed herself and stood up, still rubbing the bump that had started to form on her head. "So," she asked, "what brings you to Wutai? Here to take something else away from us?" I shook my head and started to say something but was cut off by Aerith.

"We're looking for a friend" she replied.

"Have you seen a guy with spiky blonde hair?" I asked curiously.

Yuffie closed her eyes and shook her head. It was a bit disappointing to hear that Yuffie hadn't heard of Cloud. I was hoping that he would make it here without something terrible happening to him.

"Why don't you guys come inside?" she asked as she gestured toward the house on top of the stairs. "You guy's look tired and I could help fix up that nasty wound you have." She pointed to my shoulder. Aerith looked at me and I nodded.

"That sound's like a good idea, Yuffie," I said.

She nodded in response. She turned around and headed up the stairs with Aerith and me trailing close behind. Yuffie seemed very childlike to me, as if she hadn't changed one bit from when she was a kid. She still had that mischievous gleam in her eyes and that innocent smile that she used to wear. She had grown a lot over the last five years and she was almost as tall as Aerith was. She stopped right in front of the house, which seemed to be a detached part of a much larger building, to fish out her keys and then she opened the door.

Her house looked like any other Wutaian house, except that it was elaborately decorated with tons of items. It looked rather messy and disorganized. There were books and papers piled in heaps in the corners, and there was a table near the front of the house that had more books stacked on it, along with various utensils and random items. There was a screen that separated the front of the house from the back of the house, and behind it was a futon. The bed made me realize how tired I really was. I felt like I could fall asleep right there, but I wanted to stay awake so that I could talk to Yuffie and see if she might know where Cloud was. Yuffie cleared off the table and pulled over a cushion for me to sit on, and then she got one for Aerith to use. Then she walked over to her desk and pulled a first-aid kit out of one of the drawers.

"Dr. Yuffie is at your service!" She said. I didn't like the idea of Yuffie fixing my wound. I wondered if there was any alternative. I didn't think Yuffie knew very much about cleaning and bandaging an open wound.

"No, offense Yuffie," I said, "but, is there somebody else I could ask?"

"Why can't I do it?" She whined. "I know how to be a doctor!"

"I seriously doubt that." I calmly replied. I knew that that was a little harsh, but I wasn't in the mood for Yuffie's antics. She looked a little hurt but then covered it up by putting that impish grin back on her face.

"Well, we have family doctors" she said, "They are sworn to secrecy and if they break that oath, they will be severely punished by my father, but I seriously doubt they'll do as good a job as I would have." She emphasized the 'seriously doubt' part.

I nodded, wondering why she didn't tell me that in the first place. Perhaps she was playing a joke on me. I wouldn't put it past her. I needed professional help and as far as I knew, Yuffie didn't know much about proper wound care.

"Alright then," Yuffie said, sighing as if she was forced to do something tough, "I'll go get him." As she said this, she gathered up her things and left. "Oh," she said as she poked her head through the door, "feel free to use my bed." Then she left and a wave of exhaustion swept over me. I had tried not to nod off while Yuffie was talking, but apparently she had seen how sleepy I was. I crawled over to the bed and lay down. Then I began to fall into a deep uneasy sleep.

Cloud PoV

I opened my eyes and found myself in a place that was all too familiar. I was inside the Jenova chamber in the reactor. I was on the lower platform that had a red pipe that extended outward, connecting it to the platform where Jenova should have been. The problem was that she wasn't there. I ran up to the container, examining the glass for any cracks or signs of escape.

There were none.

An ear-piercing scream came from the room that was connected to the one I was in. My eyes widened as I recognized the voice. I rushed down the pipe, but it grew thinner for some reason. Soon it grew too thin for me to stand on and my foot slipped. I reached for the lower platform, stretching my arm to the point where I thought it was going to break. My hand finally grabbed the metal of the platform, and I tried to lift myself up. My strength was failing, and my grip was slipping. In a matter of minutes I knew I would find myself plummeting to the mako below.

Just then, another scream echoed off of the walls. I felt fury consume me. Whoever was hurting my friend was going to pay. I tried again and let out a groan of frustration when my weak body would not comply. I tried swinging myself from side to side, to see if I can get enough momentum to get my leg onto the edge. Success! My left leg hit the platform, and after that the rest of my body followed suit until I was on the platform at last. I wanted to rest, but as I lay in a crumpled heap on my back I heard the scream again. It sounded worse this time, like they were in even more pain. With anger egging me on, I stood up. Every muscle in my body ached and my arms were burning, but I had to help my friend out. I turned toward the open door and readied myself. I charged on through, but stopped just short of the familiar stairs that led to the entrance of the reactor.

There was nobody there.

I looked around for, the person that had screamed, but I couldn't find him. Thoroughly confused now, I wandered toward the entrance. I thought I heard screaming coming from this room just a second ago. I wonder if it came from outside. . . I opened the door and held my breath in preparation for what I might see.

I didn't see anything except for a blazing fire in the distance.

I choked back tears as I realized that my hometown was burning to the ground. I fell to my knees and stared at the smoldering fire. I couldn't believe it. I heard another ear piercing scream come from inside the reactor and forgot about the fire completely. Quickly, I charged inside to find that the small room wasn't empty anymore. I looked straight into the eyes of Sephiroth. I backed up a few steps and ended up almost tripping on the stairs that led to the ground beneath the reactor. I caught myself just in time.

Then I surveyed the scene before me. Sephiroth was standing in front of me, his piercing green eyes filled to the brim with anger and hatred. He had his Masamune clutched tightly in his left hand. I noticed that there was fresh blood dripping on the end of it, as if he had just killed someone. My stomach clenched when I noticed who was behind him.

Jenova.

She was disguised as a beautiful woman with long blonde hair. The fake Cetra was standing at the top of the stairs and looked quite pleased with herself. Beside her lay Zack in a heap in the ground. He was heavily wounded and bruised in some places. I knew I had to get to my best friend Zack , but Sephiroth was blocking my way. Suddenly, Sephiroth held out his hand, and the Buster Sword materialized out of thin air.

"Fight for your friend's life," he said, holding the sword out, "that is, if you value it." The anger took hold of me, and I seized the sword. I lunged, intent on chopping him in two, but he blocked me easily. I fought to keep control over my sword and hold it in place, but he overpowered me. I slid off the landing and fell down the stairs onto the dusty ground. He jumped off of the stairs and landed gracefully in front of me. I grimaced as a horrible pain shot through my stomach. He had impaled me with his Masamune. He now held me up in the air. My feet were a few inches off of the floor. I could feel my strength slipping away.

"Very well," Sephiroth said, "you have chosen your friend's fate." He threw me off his sword and turned toward the entrance of the reactor. I hit a nearby rock and then fell to the ground and just lay there, unable to get up.

I turned my attention to the doorway when I saw somebody step through it, Jenova. She stepped into the sunlight dragging Zack along with her. All traces of her disguise were gone and she was in her true form. Her skin was pale blue and she had a helmet on that had her name on it. Trailing from her helmet was long silver hair, just like Sephiroth. She has glowing red eyes that had pupils that were so tiny that they were almost nonexistent. Protruding from her back were hideous fleshy wing-shaped objects. For her, ugly would be an understatement. Zack was in horrible condition and got even worse when Jenova threw him down the stairs. He only made it halfway down though.

Jenova calmly walked down the stairs, grabbed him by the hair, and dragged him down the rest of the way. He emitted a loud, painful groan when he reached the bottom. I tried to close my eyes: to block out my friends suffering, but I couldn't. It was as if invisible hands were holding my eyes open. Tears leaked out of my eyes to keep them from drying up, but I knew that that wasn't the only reason. I was crying for my best friend Zack. I knew that he was going to die yet; I was too weak to stop it. I struggled to move, but I just couldn't.

I watched as Jenova put Zack in place and Sephiroth readied his sword. Just then Zack woke up. With another painful groan, he opened his eyes only to be greeted by the tip of Sephiroth's sword pointing down to him and Sephiroth grinning maliciously on the other end. I saw Zack's eyes widen with fear. Then, his eyes shifted over to me.

"Help me, Cloud" He said in a whisper before Sephiroth decided to finish him off.

More tears filled my eyes as I watched Zack's eyes close forever. Sephiroth had killed him and I knew I was next, but at this point I didn't care. I couldn't live in a world without Zack. I suddenly found that I could blink and move again. I pushed beyond my limit to get over to Zack. When I finally reached him, I reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Zack," I cried knowing that he couldn't hear me, "ZACK!" I yelled again as loud as my weakened lungs would allow. Hearing no response, I pressed his cold hand to my cheek. Then I saw a pair of black boots in front of me. I looked up to see Sephiroth smiling down at me.

"Remember Cloud," he said again, "you chose his fate for him" And with a simple gesture of his hand, we were surrounded by flames. I couldn't do anything now, I was paralyzed by fear. I saw Sephiroth raise his sword and prepare to strike, but he never got to.

At that very moment time seemed to halt, and I heard a far off voice calling to me. It felt comforting and familiar. I wrapped myself in that voice, never wanting to let go, and it got louder and louder as time went on.

"Cloud!"

I saw the scene before me dissolve into particles leaving only a bright white light behind. Zack started to disappear from my sight. It pained me to let him go. Ignoring the voice, I tried desperately to hold on as the last few particles of his fingers disappeared.

"No!" I cried out, "Zack, don't leave me!" Then the voice became really loud, as if the person was shouting at me. Suddenly I felt myself being shaken roughly.

"Cloud, wake up! You're having a bad dream" Then it all came back to me. Wutai, the ship, Aerith, Tifa.

Everything.

When I opened my eyes I was greeted by Tifa's worried face staring at my own. She looked like she was about to cry. I reached one arm out to her and gave her a hug.

"I'm fine" I said, trying to hide the shakiness in my voice, "It was just a bad dream." It was too late, a tear leaked through.

"You were yelling in your sleep Cloud," She said, "you were yelling about Zack." She paused before continuing. "Did something happen to him in your dream?"

"No" I lied, but she didn't look convinced "Well… yes something did happen," I told her, "but it's only a dream." I glanced at the clock beside the bed and then back at Tifa, "You should get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."

She nodded and lay down on her side of the bed. I proceeded to cover myself up and tried to get some sleep too. When the panic of the nightmare left me, and I was falling into a peaceful sleep, my headache came back. I realized that my fever hadn't broken yet. I sighed and buried my head in my pillow, willing my headache to go away. I could tell already that this was going to be a long night. Tifa had apparently heard me sigh because; I suddenly heard the rustle of sheets being moved and I felt soft arms curl around my waist.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Tifa whispered into my ear.

"Yea," I said, "It's just a little headache. It'll be gone by morning." There was a short silence and then Tifa spoke.

"Are you sure you want to fight those Wutaian warriors tomorrow?"

"It's the only way to find Zack" I replied.

"We could search for him some more," She replied "I'm sure somebody has seen him." I shook my head and, although I couldn't see Tifa, I knew that she had a sad look on her face. She buried her head in my blond hair. "I just don't want anything to happen to you" Her words came out muffled, but I still understood them.

"Nothing will happen" I said confidently.

"But-" She started.

"Nothing will happen." I repeated, this time a little bit louder. I could feel that the back of my hair was wet and I turned around. Tifa was crying. I used my thumb to wipe a tear off of her face. Then I held her head in my hands.

"I'll be fine," I whispered softly to her, "don't worry about me." She opened her mouth to argue, but apparently decided against it. "You better get some sleep." I said to her before glancing at the alarm clock on my nightstand. "It's already two o'clock in the morning" She smiled at me. Then she closed her eyes and laid her head on the pillow. I turned over and tried to get some sleep too. Moments later I felt those same warm arms wrap around me again and I felt Tifa's gentle breath on my neck. I was able to fall asleep in a matter of minutes and I stayed asleep all night.

Zack PoV

I winced as the doctor made the final stitch in my shoulder and cut the thread. I looked away as he finished mending my wound. Instead I looked at Aerith's silhouette behind the screen. She had not wanted to stick around to watch the doctor patch me up and I couldn't blame her. I didn't watch the procedure at all and I tried not to make any sound so as to not disturb Aerith. When I was finally asked to stand I felt a lot better. Yuffie thanked the doctor and reminded him of the oath he took before asking him to leave. He nodded and did as he was told. Cautiously I peeked around the screen separating the table from the bed. Aerith was fast asleep. I almost melted when I saw how peaceful she looked. Trying not to wake her, I crept my way back to the table. Yuffie joined me in a few moments, after she filled a kettle up with water and set it on her small stove. Apparently, she was going to make tea. Once at the table I decided to question her.

"So," I asked casually, "Why does your family have its own private doctor?" I knew that most people in Wutai probably couldn't pay for their own doctor. She took in a long breath before answering.

"My father is the king of Wutai" She replied. "Wait," I said "If he's king then, that would make you a-"

"Princess" She cut me off, knowing exactly what I was going to say. "But I don't want to be a princess. The pampered and spoiled life isn't for me. I want to explore the world and find all kinds of rare materia. Then, I want to bring them home to Wutai so that it could be the flourishing tourist destination that it once was." She had her head down on the table and was looking at a random item, obviously trying to avoid making eye contact with me.

"I'd be glad to invite you to join our team" I said, feeling sorry for her, "if it's alright with Aerith." I have a weak spot for sad girls, even annoying wannabe ninja princesses.

She perked up instantly, "Can I have any materia that you don't use?"

I nodded and smiled at her as she bounced around happily, like a hyper puppy. Then, I remembered that Aerith was asleep and got the ninja to calm down a little. She reminded me of myself when I was first employed in the ShinRa military. Zero percent attention span and as restless as a little puppy, I could practically hear Angeal saying. I smiled even wider and chuckled to myself. Then, my thoughts were interrupted by the kettle going off. She almost bounced over to the kettle, but took special care in removing it from the stove. "There's only one thing I'm good at making." she said, "and its tea."

She mixed in all of the ingredients and gave me a cup. I winced as the hot liquid touched my throat but then it became soothing. It rejuvenated my aching limbs. Yuffie gave me a quizzical expression. I knew that she wanted to know if her tea tastes good. I gave her a thumbs-up. She jumped for joy, only to receive another "Shush!" from me. Wow I thought I am turning into Angeal. I realized that Angeal probably had to put up with this every day. That would give me a headache for sure. Yuffie sat down across from me and started sipping on her tea. We were quiet for a moment as I started thinking about all that I have been through. Then, my thoughts shifted to Cloud. There was a question burning in my mind. Where was he? Thoughtfully I put down the glass and spoke.

"Yuffie," she looked up from her glass, "Do you know where my friend might have gone?" She looked like she was thinking really hard. Then, she came up with an answer.

"To my father's pagoda of course," she said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, "That's where all of the new visitors go when they want to speak with my father." She nodded to herself. "But first they have to win against Wutai's five greatest warriors"

"But why would Cloud want to speak to your father?" I asked.

Yuffie shrugged. "People around here think my father knows everything" She replied, "maybe they told him that my father might know where you were."

I nodded. "Maybe they did."

We sat there just talking and telling each other stories. I mainly told her about the days when I was in SOLDIER so as not to ruin the mood. She told me about how her horrible it's been since ShinRa took over her father's territory. This just made me hate ShinRa even more. Eventually I had to express to Yuffie exactly how much I hated ShinRa and she thought of all kinds of questions. Those questions shattered my good mood into a million pieces. It had me recalling the most painful of memories that happened over the last five years as I relayed them to Yuffie. I kept some info to myself though. I didn't even tell her about the incident of the reactor. By the time I was done, Yuffie stared at me with wide eyes.

"Wow," she breathed, "you guys went through a lot" She had a spark of admiration in her hazel eyes.

"It wasn't as easy as you think," I said quickly before Yuffie got the wrong idea, "Cloud kept getting sick and having Jenova attacks"

"Jenova attacks?"

"Yea… He's only had two of them, but they keep getting more powerful."

"Why?" she asked. I took in a deep breath before answering.

"Jenova wants to posses him" I said sadly. This information earned me a sad look from Yuffie. She was speechless for a while and just sat there. She looked relieved when Aerith finally stirred from her slumber. I saw her stand up and peeked behind the screen.

"Zack," she said groggily, "have you found out where Cloud might be?"

"Yuffie said that he might be at the pagoda," I said. "Chances are that he's looking for us and he has to go through five of Wutai's strongest fighters to get to the one person that he thinks might have it."

Aerith paused for a moment, apparently trying to process the new information in her half-asleep state. Then I pointed to Yuffie and added "oh, and she's the princess of Wutai." Aerith's jaw dropped a little.

"You don't seem like royalty," She commented.

"I don't want to be royalty," Yuffie replied. "It's really boring." I gestured to her once again.

"Aerith," I said, "would you mind if Yuffie joined our team?"

Aerith tried to stifle a yawn and then answered. "I don't mind. At least until we find Cloud"

Yuffie began bouncing in her seat again upon hearing this good news. She was grinning from ear to ear and if she had a tail, it would be wagging by now. I heard an amused chuckle come from Aerith as she took a seat next to me. Once she calmed down, she asked if we would like some breakfast. Aerith and I both nodded at the same time and burst out laughing.

After breakfast the three of us headed out the door and down the steps. When we finally got down all of the steps Yuffie spoke.

"See that tall building there" She pointed to a large building with an ornately decorated red roof and I nodded, "That's my dad's pagoda" She grabbed my hand and pulled me off towards the smaller buildings. "Come on, I'll show you a shortcut!"

Cloud PoV

I don't know how much more of this I can take,I thought to myself as I dodged a punch from my opponent. Maybe I should just quit.He came at me again with a kick and when I tried to block that he tried to punch me. I managed to avoid the blow just in time. No, I can't give up now. I felt a fiery intensity burning my arm and noticed that he had just cast a fire spell on me. I put the fire out by casting blizzard on myself and then jumped back into the fray. I threw a punch at him, which connected with his face, giving him a split lip. I can't give up knowing that Zack is searching for me somewhere, and the one man who could possibly tell me where he went is just three floors away.

I had managed to beat down two of the warriors before my illness got the better of me. Now the third warrior stood in front of me, ready to strike again. He ran toward me, both of his hands clenched into fists. I caught both of them, and he tried to push me back with all of his strength. I fought back as best as I could until a sharp pain pricked at my stomach and I was forced to let go of one of his hands to clutch my stomach. He took this opportunity to send my flying straight into the back wall. I hit it with a resounding thud and crumpled to the floor. Tifa ran to my side.

"Cloud," She asked, obviously worried, "what's wrong?" I tried to speak but the pain got worse. Tifa pressed the back of her hand to my forehead and gasped when she withdrew it. "You're burning up, Cloud." I winced when her voice suddenly became angry. "How long have you been hiding the fact that you had a fever?" she questioned. I tried to speak, but nothing came out except for a groan. The pain got worse and my head started throbbing. I tried to hide the tears as they squeezed their way out of my eyes, but from the look on Tifa's face, it was no use. My opponent came up and kneeled down beside me.

"Did I do that?" he asked pointing at my weak form lying on the ground.

"No," Tifa said, "not all of it at least. He has a fever and I think it's getting worse." She grabbed the backpack and took the thermometer out. After examining the red line of mercury carefully she announced that my temperature was roughly one hundred and three degrees. It wasn't as bad a last time, but it could get worse really quickly if not taken care of.

Suddenly I heard the door open, and I could just barely make out three figures standing in the doorway. One of them I recognized in a heartbeat. Though it was blurry, his raven black hair stood out like a beacon. I held my breath, not daring to breath his name for fear that this might be a cruel illusion.

Zack.

"Tifa," He spoke in a panicked voice although he was looking at me. "What happened to Cloud?"

"He has a fever again." Tifa said urgently while fishing in the backpack to get something out. I saw Zack's shocked expression as he moved over to where I was.

"How bad is it?" He asked, stroking my hair.

"Not as bad as last time-" She started as soon as she had pulled out the cloth she was looking for. Zack held up a hand to cut her off.

"Last time?" He said, anger evident in his voice, "you mean it's been worse!" Tifa flinched at this comment and looked over at Aerith who was trying to comfort me by massaging my free hand. She nodded and Tifa took a deep breath before telling Zack the words that he probably didn't want to hear.

"Cloud almost died of a fever."

Zack PoV

The news came as a complete shock. For a while I was frozen in place until I felt Cloud's head move under my hand. Tifa was holding his head up so that she could put the cloth, which was now wet, on his forehead.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" I asked in disbelief. Then I heard Aerith speak.

"We didn't want you to get angry" She said timidly.

"Aerith," I managed to say through the lump that was forming in my throat. "You knew about this?" She nodded.

"As a matter of fact," she said, "It happened in my church."

It was hard to believe that Aerith would keep such an important secret from me. I looked over at Cloud. My hand gripped his shoulder now. I tried not to squeeze it out of anger and cause my friend more pain. I noticed that the red on his cheeks turned into a light pink. Tifa seemed to notice too.

She took out the thermometer and stuck it in Cloud's mouth. I felt her sigh with relief. She announced that his fever had gone down to one hundred and one degrees and I let out the breath I had been holding. Just then I heard somebody come down the stairs and I heard a loud voice.

"A SOLDIER in my pagoda!" he boomed angrily. "When I get my hands on them I'm going to-" Then I heard a high-pitched voice cut him off.

"But, daddy" she said, "this SOLDIER is my friend"

"I don't care Yuffie!" he said, "he's still a SOLDIER."

I saw them coming down the stairs. One was tall and powerful looking, and the other one I recognized as Yuffie. I guessed that the tall male was Yuffie's father, Lord Godo.

"They don't work for ShinRa anymore!" Yuffie cried. Then her father looked at me. I was in my SOLDIER uniform, and I had the Buster Sword firmly strapped to my back. Then he looked at Cloud. He was still lying on the floor and still had the symptoms of a fever. Because he was dressed in normal clothes he looked like a regular civilian. The man got even angrier than before, and he walked in my direction.

"You, SOLDIER," he nearly shouted as he pointed at me, "did you do any harm to this civilian?" He asked, this time looking at Cloud.

I tried to reason with him; to tell him calmly that I was not the cause of Cloud's unfortunate condition, but he would not listen. His hatred of SOLDIER burned with an intense fury that made him blind to any reason.

"Look," I tried to say, "I wouldn't harm him. He is my best friend."

"SOLDIERS have no friends" he argued "They're just ShinRa's puppets!" After several more explanations and several more angry responses, I couldn't take it anymore.

"He had a fever!" I shouted "Cloud's lucky to be alive! He's been through stuff that normal people would die from!" I covered my mouth, realizing that I had made a mistake in telling him Cloud's name. His expression turned into one of curiosity.

"Cloud huh?" He said. "And I'm guessing that he's with SOLDIER too, right?"

I nodded. It was no use hiding the truth from the king of Wutai. He would find out sooner or later. I felt really bad for letting Cloud's name slip, especially to somebody as important as Lord Godo. He might have heard something about Cloud.

"So, what kind of stuff happened to him?" he asked, genuinely curious. I could see Yuffie looking over his shoulder. Obviously, she was also curious.

I looked over at Cloud who was sitting with his back against the wall. He met my eyes and shook his head lightly. I nodded at him and turned back to Lord Godo and his daughter. I shook my head at them.

"I can't give you that information" I said simply. Godo's expression turned back to one of anger.

"Why not?" he asked, "Tell me, SOLDIER 2nd class Zack Fair, veteran of the Wutai war!"

I was shocked speechless. Lord Godo knew my name! He probably knew it all along. That might explain why he was so mad at me. Godo's expression became furious, and he was shaking with anger. Yuffie tried to calm him down, but it was no use. He pointed his finger at me and yelled in fury.

"You killed dozens of my men and you injured several more!" He continued on, "You met my daughter and she couldn't stop talking about you. She said that one day she'll be able to beat up tough SOLDIER guys like you." He huffed. "Then she met you on missions, and you got her into trouble-"

"Wait a minute, I interrupted "I didn't get her into trouble, she decided to go wandering off into dangerous places by herself!" Godo looked over at his daughter.

"It's true," she said, like a little puppy being scolded by her master, "I wandered off to look for materia when I was young and I got into trouble. Zack saved me on several occasions and I never thanked him for it."

"No thanks necessary," I replied although the question was not directed at me. I gave her a reassuring smile and looked over at Godo. He looked like he was making a decision. He had to choose whether to trust his daughter or his SOLDIER hating instincts. He looked up at me and then down to Cloud.

"I heard about you two," he said "SOLDIER 1st class Zack Fair and ShinRa grunt Cloud Strife." His eyes lingered on the feverish Cloud before returning to me. "So," he concluded, "how come you two are alive?"

I glanced at Aerith, then at Tifa and finally at Cloud. I took a deep breath before speaking. "Our death was a cover-up," I admitted, "so that we could be guinea pigs in Hojo's latest experiment" I felt sick just saying Hojo's name. I continued on, telling him about some of the things that happened. I left out some things about Cloud, like the fact that he gets Jenova attacks, but I told him that Cloud defeated the great Sephiroth himself.

"Alright," Godo replied, "I'll let you stay, but first you have to pass a challenge to see if you truly do hate ShinRa."

I heard Cloud start to say something, but he held it back. I kneeled beside him and looked up at Godo.

"May I please stay a few days until my friend feels better?" I asked.

"Very well," he replied, "But you have to report to me when the sun rises three days from now for your challenge."

A/N: Sorry this chappie is late! I'm a bad procrastinator. The Wutai scenes are hard to work on because they were boring. This is by far the longest chapter I have written (12 pages!) and my fav part to write was defiantly the nightmare scene. I like putting Cloud in positions like that. I am also going to redo the first chapter and make it longer. I am so sorry if Lord Godo is out of character. I don't really know his personality very much. I also apologize if Yuffie was too serious in this chapter. I usually don't do the Wutai side quest because I am afraid that I would lose all my materia. I hate fighting without materia x.x Also I apologize for the lack of Aerith and Tifa PoVs in this chapter. I thought that Cloud and Zack would be best for this chapter and I love writing their PoVs! Until next chapter, Goodbye! :3