Capitulo Nuevo

A/N: All I can say is one big, fat, "SORRY!!!!" My older sister made off with the computer. Can't really blame her though: it WAS hers. And with school the way school is, I haven't had any time to come to the library (which is where I am now) to write any more. But, I now have at most one hour in which to get something down before I have to go home and get ready to go to church.  Again, sorry. But I haven't been getting comments asking where I've been…so there really was no motivation…. hint hint Ack, soory… It's been a weird week so far…So here we gooo! …

Before Cloud could get an answer, he was forced back to the Forest. Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo and all the missing children were before him—Denzel and Marlene at their front… something was wrong with Denzel… and if cloud didn't stop, he would run right over them.

It was hard and it hurt when he fell of Fenrir, but cloud flipped his bike and sent it in Kadaj's direction.

Kadaj drew his double bladed katana and hopped right over Finrir, making his way to Cloud, who was recovering from his meeting with the ground. Loz stopped Finrir with his foot.

"I'm glad you could make it," Kadaj said as he leaned over and circled Cloud.

"I'm here for the kids." He felt no kinship to the three.

"See this man?" Kadaj asked the kids. "He's our big brother. But alas…" he stopped before Cloud… "In our happy flock…" his katana found its way to Cloud's throat. "He's what you'd call a black-sheep."

He drew back his arm for a dramatic execution, right when Marlene… "Cloud!" Kadaj spun, giving Cloud the opening he needed to grab at his sword.

"Vincent?" Harper called.

He turned his head in her direction, "Hm?"

"What's that noise?"

"…" Vincent listened for a minute. "Sounds like a battle. I'll be back." With that he was gone.

Kadaj thought he had him, knew…unless something weird happened. And something weird did happen—

A bullet came out of nowhere and knocked his sword out of line. It wasn't a stray of Loz of Yazoo's, it was meant to do just what it did. Kadaj looked around as he landed just in time to backflip out of the way as a red phantom shape swooped down and over Cloud. No one had any idea what it was, except Cloud.

The phantom continued to fire at Kadaj, but was unable to hit flesh, only steel as Kadaj turned the shots away with his sword. Yazoo began shooting back, and Lozran in for the attack. The phantom rose and parried Loz's attack, moving around the area like a serpent before vanishing over the treetops with Cloud.

Inwardly, Kadaj cursed. What was that?

Vincent dropped down with Cloud. "Cloud!" Harper exclaimed as she stood. Cloud didn't respond, but looked at her, then at Vincent; then he sat down. Harper knew what was happening—Vincent had told her all he knew—but she hadn't thought it was as bad as he had made it sound. She was wrong.

"I was right," Cloud said. "I'm no good to anyone."

Harper sat back down, Vincent stood in front of a tree behind Cloud and to his left. Both Harper and Vincent knew they couldn't change his mind just yet. They would have to wait.

"Vincent, what do you know about this?" he was referring to Kadaj.

"I come here often," he meant the Forgotten Capitol. Vincent flipped a side of his cloak out of the way and advanced. "I've seen what Kadaj's gang is doing."

He knew about cloud's geostigma. Reno had told him. Vincent crouched beside him and grabbed Cloud's arm. His touch sent an arc of pain through cloud. "The stigma," only Vincent and a few others knew much about its nature. He'd have to start at the beginning. "Inside our bodies is a current like the Lifestream. When alien matter infests the body, this current is what fights it off." Cloud was still grimacing from the pain. "Geostigma is what happenes…" Vincent stood and walked around Cloud to stand behind and to Cloud's right. "…when the body overcompensates for its unwelcome guest."

"Unwelcome guest?" Cloud mused.

Vincent explained as best he could. Harper had helped when this was all being explained to him by Tseng and Elena a while back. "The Sephiroth gene. Jenova's memetic legacy. Call it what you want."

"You're well-informed," Cloud said after a moment.

Harper was doing her best to be invisible. Vincent was good at this.

"Tseng and Elena. They were brought here half-dead. They must have been brutally tortured. I did what I could to save them…but it was ugly."

"Tortured?"

Vincent almost scoffed at the Turks' arrogance. "They had it coming," Vincent looked at Cloud, "they got their hands on Jenova's head." It would be interesting to see how he took it.

"Then the 'Mother' Kadaj is looking for…" and so they were back to Kadaj.

Vincent half buried his face behind the lip of his cloak. "Heaven's dark harbinger. The calamity, Jenova. If they wanted to, they could make another Sephiroth." He chanced a glance at Harper. The Sephiroth Kadaj could bring back wouldn't be her father, but the monster created by Shinra.

A/N: that's it for now! My session's up!