"Who are you?" Cloud asked. He felt slightly scared by this person. Sephiroth. You look just like Sephiroth! He could only contain his fear in his thoughts alone. He would never show that he was frightened physically.

"Why, I am Kadaj! Born of Sephiroth." As Kadaj said it his voice lingered with menace and terror. Such pride he had for being apart of the great Sephiroth. The worlds worst monster!

He knew. He knew this. Confirmation wasn't really needed but... There was a little doubt. A little hope in his mind somewhere that this person had only resembled him. He who had tormented him for so long. Since Sephiroth left, everyone had been trying to make the world right again. Even Rufus Shinra. He still governed Gaia but he had changed his ways to make things right; Helping the poor, taking out the bad men who would seek to destroy the peace we now had for the few years after the events of the past.

Kadaj being here would only mean he's after him or Aerith...

"What are you doing here?" He asked while he thought of a way to get his sword.

"I came for the girl of course." He laughed slightly. "Why are you here?" He now said thoughtfully.

"I was just leaving."

"So you mean, your not here for the girl as well? Awe, did you come here for a blessing?-"

" -The Girl is not here!" Cloud said sharply. "Why don't you just leave"

Kadaj did not like Clouds response. He was just kidding around. He wanted to punish Cloud for speaking to him like that. He takes out his katana.

"Cloud!" Aerith called out from the left of the church.

Cloud turned to her and immediately caught the Buster sword being thrown to him. Turning back to Kadaj he met against his sword with a loud 'CLANG!'. Kadaj laughed. He's strong! Cloud thought. His strength reminded him of Sephiroth's but not as strong. Good. This meant that Cloud has a chance of defeating him. Cloud added pressure onto Kadaj's weapon pushing it back onto his left collar bone. Kadaj slid his sword up Clouds buster and jumped back from him. Cloud went after him, buster sword in his right hand and swinging after Kadaj. Kadaj remained moving backwards while countering his attacks.

When finally he had stopped moving, he dodged Clouds attack all together by quickly stepping and ducking to the left making Cloud almost fall forward but he quickly got his balance. Kadaj appeared behind Cloud instead and elbowed him in the back. Cloud lost balance once more but didn't fall.

Kadaj laughed. He turned to Cloud. "You're not bad. Though your not better than me!" He said with glee. His bright green eyes twinkled with excitement.

Cloud turned to face him. "You're fast, skilled. What do you want with the girl?"

Kadaj appeared in front of Cloud and swung Souba at him.

Cloud countered it!

Kadaj jumped back a few steps out of Clouds reach."We need her for our plans." Kadaj informed.

"We?" Cloud asked.

"My brothers and I," he smiled.

"Great. So there's more of you."

Kadaj laughed. "We're going to bring Sephiroth back and unleash the madness!" He held the brightest grin; Almost as if he expected Cloud to share his delight.

"Why does Sephiroth want to return?" Cloud asked desperately for an answer but Kadaj just laughed again, in that almost sadistic way that Sephiroth did. Hearing it sent shivers down Clouds spine. He so desperately wanted to get rid of this 'Kadaj'. Make his terrifying ambitions disappear! Cloud held his sword up ready to attack.

Kadaj's phone rings! He answers it. "Loz." He waits for the other person to respond. "Fine!" he says annoyed. He turns his attention back at Cloud while hanging up. "It's too bad, Cloud. I have to go"

"your not taking Aerith?" Cloud asked.

"No. I'll come back for her another time =] .." Kadaj went to his motorcycle, started the engine and drove off.

Cloud was relieved!

"Cloud." Aerith said coming from around the corner.

"Aerith. We should go."

"Alright. You must bring me home to say goodbye to my mother, or she will be worried."

"Okay." He led her to his motorcycle. "have you ridden one of these before?

Aerith looked at the motorcycle uncomfortably. "No..." -.- Do I really have to get on one of these? She thought.

Cloud got on the bike and held out his hand for her hand to help her on. Aerith took his hand, found somewhere to step so she could lift her leg over and then she sat behind him.

"You can put your arms around my waist for stability. Its quite rough riding on the back of one of these" Cloud informed her.

" =s Okay." She slid her arms around Clouds waist.

Cloud felt a jolt from her smooth touch echo from his waist to his chest. He was almost reddened in the face by it! Aerith... It was clear to him how much he liked her already. Crazy was it? He didn't know her, but she already had an affect. He cleared his throat before speaking again.

"Now hold on tightly, I'll move off slowly"

"Okay Cloud." She said trustingly.

He started his engine.

They approached the pathway to Aerith's home. Cloud stopped his bike a few metres away from the front door. Aerith came off, then did Cloud. The house was made of stone and wood. There was a tank beside it and flower pots were placed on the flat surfaces of the home. Pipes appeared from out of the ground, leading back into the ground again. Before she got a chance to move, Cloud stopped her to ask her a question.

"Aerith. How did you know my sword was with my bike? And how did you know where my bike was?"

"The Ancients told me." She said looking into his eyes.

Her look almost made him turn away from her. Frightening him like a shy child. Aerith walked to the door and he followed.

"Mother?" She called out.

The door was opened in no time, revealing an aged woman wearing a green dress and an apron. Her eyes are blue and her hair is brown but covered with grey areas. She had it tied up in a neat bun.

"Aerith!" She grasped her daughter in a hug. "welcome home my child"

Aerith smiled. Her mother soon noticed Cloud standing behind her to the right. He stood there looking uncomfortable.

"Aerith. Who is this? o.o" She asked.

"This is Cloud. Mother, I have something to tell you."

Her mother looked from Cloud to her daughter again. "Well come inside! Come inside! There's no point standing out doors," she turned away from the door and walked into the house.

Aerith and Cloud walked inside. He shut the front door behind him. He saw her mother move to the open kitchen whilst Aerith roamed to the 2 seat sofa made from a brown material with flower patterns all over. Aerith had sat down. He moved over to the sofa where she was but stood beside it.

"Can I get you a refreshment, Cloud?" Aerith's mother asked.

"I'm alright. Thank you." Cloud replied.

They heard a slight slam from the kitchen followed by Aerith's mother approaching with a pie in her hands covered with oven mitts. She held a bright smile.

"Pie anyone?" Aerith's mother said looking at Cloud.

Cloud looked at Aerith awkwardly. Help. o_o;

"Mother. Elmyra." Aerith said.

Elmyra looked at Aerith now. She sighed. The only time her daughter ever called her by her name was when she was serious. She set the pie down on the small wooden coffee table before the sofa Aerith was seated on and sat on the 1 seater before the table and Aerith.

"You know that people are after me?" she waited for her mothers response but receiving only her full attention. "Well, they're coming sooner than I expected-"

Elmyra felt a sudden rush of panic enter her body, followed by a series of thoughts; What are we going to do? How can we stop them? They're coming to take my baby girl!

"-so I am going away. I'm going with Cloud and he is going to protect me."

Elmyra started to weep. She held a mix of emotion now: Sadness- as her daughter would be leaving her, Hope- that this was the right decision, and Relief- that at least she would have someone who can protect her from these people who Aerith had been told about and sensed in her dreams.

Aerith stood up from her chair and walked over to her mother, kneeling down to comfort her in embrace. "Oh, mother. It will be alright." She moved her hands to Elmyra's shoulders to look at her face. This day was bound to come. Either she had to run, or they would at last come for her and take her away. But at least this way I have a chance to live! Ifalna would have wanted this. And I can return to you again one day. She smiled at her mother who was crying before her.

She tried to return a smile, "Your such a brave young woman, Aerith." She sniffled taking a tissue out of her apron pocket to wipe her nose. She blew vigorously. She stood up.

Aerith stood up also.

"Well, you'd better go pack some things then." She turns away from Aerith and walks to the kitchen.

Aerith watched her mother walk away then walked to the stairs and followed it to the next floor of the house.

Cloud waited patiently. He felt bad about having to drag Aerith away from her mother and her home. He could see the pain it was causing Elmyra.

Elmyra began rinsing a cloth under the sink taps and then wiping the kitchen surface slowly. I don't know why I'm so upset. We knew this day would come. I knew she would be taken away from me. I remember the first day I had found her. Ifalna had died there on the platform of the train station in the slums. That poor lady. She only just managed to speak out where she had left Aerith.

["My daughter... She is in the old church! Please, please watch over her. They want to take her for something evil" Ifalna had told her.

"I will."

"Promise me!" She cried.

"I promise!" Elmyra assured her.]

Ifalna slowly closed her eyes and passed away. I decided that my husband would be alright making his way home by his self. I had to go and find the little girl in danger. And when I went to the church, I could have sworn no one was in there. I thought, 'she must be hiding some where'. So I walked down the isle when something caught my eyes. A child, was curled up on one of the benches. Brown coat covering her body, white shoes peeking out. 'It has to be her'. I walked over to her. "Little one." I placed a hand gently onto her shoulder and a hand reached out from under the coat, bringing it down a little, unravelling her beautiful green eyes. I smiled at her.

She looked so vulnerable. At that time I had no kids of my own so taking her in was no problem at all. I had told her that her mother told me to take her home with me where it was safe, and that I will be the one to look after her from now on. It seemed, she already knew as she had accepted coming with me.

She was a quiet child at first and seemingly playing with herself or imaginary friends.. or so it had seemed until she had approached me of Bennett's appearance in spirit. One night she had woken me up and told me that Bennett had died. I thought, 'what a nasty thing to say'. I told her to go back to sleep. It was such a crude statement to just speak out like that. Unknowingly, a few days later I had received a letter about his death in the line of duty. From then... I knew how special Aerith was. And I had truly believed that she was safe...

Life had become normal for her. She even began volunteer work around the slums. Everyone knew Aerith around here. They loved her for her great and unconditional work. She had found peace and solace in the old abandoned church. That was where she mostly spent her time. One day she came back and informed of the worries she had about the people who were intending on capturing her. I asked her how she knew about these things and she told me that her ancestors had told her this. I tried to believe her. I knew she would never make things up. So knowing that people were after her in the beginning, I decided that there may have been truth in it. And plus, Aerith had a gift for being in touch with spirits. So why couldn't her ancestors tell her things? She sighed, refraining from wiping the already cleaned surfaces. It's just so hard to know that this wonderful girl, who saved me from loneliness is about to leave me to my worst fears. She jumped as a voice broke her from her minds wondering.

"Ms...?"

"Gainsborough" She informed.

"Ms Gainsborough, I know you are worried about Aerith, but I promise that I will protect her for as long as I breathe"

She could see the integrity all over his face. Still. She didn't know him. She wasn't sure if Aerith even knew him. Who was this man called Cloud? But then again, he didn't seem like a bad person. And Aerith had brought him here, therefore, she believed that Aerith has a good judgement on this character.

"I hope so Cloud. Or I'll be after your head! =[ ." She protested with her wet cloth wrapped up in her fist. Unclean water came oozing out onto her hand.

O-O; "uh-of...course, Ms Gainsborough..." What is wrong with this psycho? He places a hand on her fist and removes it from his face +¬ ¬

Just then, they heard someone coming down the steps. Aerith had come down with a bag on her shoulder. "I'm ready." She said.

"Oh, my child!" She said walking to Aerith, hands out to hold her.

Aerith waited for Elmyra to come closer and hugged her. They stayed that way for about 30seconds. Soaking up the others presence for remembrance. They broke away from each other.

"I'll check in once in a while. So you know I'm okay," slight smile.

Elmyra nodded. Aerith moved towards Cloud.

"Goodbye Ms. Gainsborough." He said before making his way towards the door, Aerith following behind.

They left the house. Cloud got onto his bike. He looked at Aerith who stood looking at the ground. She had never been out of the slums. She thought leaving it, she would there on feel lost, incomplete...

"It will be okay. She will be okay. Come Aerith, lets go." He told her.

She nodded before getting on the back of the bike.