A town was coming into view and Sephiroth pressed harder on the acceleration. The Buggy ran on materia rather than Lifestream and wouldn't run on empty. But he still wanted out of the vehicle. But he knew this wasn't going to be good. This isn't his first trip to Niblehiem.

"Coming up on Niblehiem now," he said, to judge everyone's reaction. Cloud and Tifa could hardly believe it. Barret and Red XIII looked a little confused. Cait Sith was a closed book, being the only expression he used was in his voice. And Yuffie…Yuffie had taken a tranquilizer and was asleep, leaning on his shoulder, no matter how many times she was straightened.

Parking the Buggy, the group headed into the town. But Sephiroth held back, he knew what they would see. And he didn't want to go in yet.

He sighed, remembering what Niblehiem meant. In one of the planet's old mythology, Niblehiem was the name of the land of the dead, guarded by the two headed hound, Garm.

"Hey, Sephy, what are you doing out here?" Yuffie said as she took his hand and tried to pull him inside the town.

"I just need some time to think, Yuffie. And I've been here before. It's filled, to the person, with Shin-Ra employees so determine not to make people suspicious that they do anyway."

Yuffie let go of his hand and leaned against the Buggy. "What are you thinking about that you need to clear your mind?"

"Anything and everything. Mostly about Ganglere though. Twice I have fought him and twice he has won. His skill with that sword is unbelievable and I hold a scare that is a testament to it… It's all just a little much, that's all."

Sephiroth leaned against the Buggy but stopped when he felt something poke his back. His hand reached into his back pocket and pulled out the hair comb. "Oh, here Yuffie," Sephiroth said, handing it to her.

She smiled and said, "Thank you Sephy." Sephiroth sighed at the nickname she gave him.

The next instant, they both looked to the west. Though they saw nothing, they felt this aura rising from the earth. "I think it would be a good idea to go find Cloud," Yuffie said, taking a few steps back.

A hundred feet away, the ground started to bulge and break. Yuffie was about to turn and run but Sephiroth grabbed her wrist. "Don't move." His eyes were trained on what was coming out. Two massive paws pushed through the dirt followed by the two heads of a giant hound. As more of it came out, Sephiroth realized this thing was not only two headed but it was twenty feet long.

"Garm," Sephiroth said, barely able to believe it. Belatedly, he clamped his mouth shut. The two headed hound turned its heads to look at him, and Sephiroth thought he saw a smile on their lips.

"Well, well, what have we here," asked the head on the right. "I believe we have the most pathetic looking pair of humans we have ever seen," answered the head on the left. "But he is a smart one, calling us by name. It makes it hard to attack him." "But the girl hasn't said it, now has she?"

The two bunched their legs and launched into a jump that was meant to land them on Yuffie. As she screamed, Sephiroth stepped in between the two and drew his katana.

But Garm soared right over the pair, laughing as he landed. "So, she's your woman then?" both heads asked. "This might be interesting. Will you fight to protect her?" "I say we find out. It has been an awful long time sense we had some fun."

"Yuffie, stand back," Sephiroth said as he made sure that he stayed between them. "So Garm, what are you doing here?"

"Don't try to distract us, boy. Over here, if we are to fight, we will need more room." That wasn't a request, and Sephiroth knew it. Right now, they had the upper hand with Yuffie there too scared to fight.

Sephiroth stepped over to the spot they had indicated and readied himself. Garm's goal right now was to see how he would react, which meant that Yuffie was still in danger.

Garm bunched his legs again and ran forward. At the last second, Sephiroth dodged to the side, slashing him from his blood stained crest to his hind quarters. With a normal monster, that would have been enough. But the Dragon's Claw was unable to pierce Garm's fur.

"HA HA HA, not what you're used to, huh boy?" Garm said at the look of disbelief on Sephiroth's face.

But Yuffie noticed something. The fur was weaker where the blood had stained it. A small slash in the fur could be seen just at the edge of the patch. "Sephiroth, his crest!"

They both looked at her and this time, she also saw Garm smile. "Such smart ones we have found." "Maybe they aren't as pathetic as we thought."

Sephiroth looked at the crest and saw the slash. "Thanks, Yuffie." Leveling the blade with the center of the crest, he raced forward to stab their heart.

When he was about to, the left head, bit down on the Dragon's Claw while the right head had went in to bite off the head of this human. But instead, it found the Dragon's Fang cutting the roof of its mouth. "I win."

The two heads stared him in the eyes for a moment and started to laugh again. Letting go of the sword, they took a step back and bowed in defeat. "Well done boy. This was the most fun we had in five hundred years. Here, your reward." A red orb materialized between the two and dropped to Sephiroth's feet. "It has been even longer since we gave that to a human. Summon us, and we will help you fight. Ha ha, why do you look so surprised? We aren't monsters…so to speak. We only fight when summoned or to test someone."

The two turned and left, quickly leaving the sight of the two humans. "…This was just some sort of test?" Yuffie's mind tried to wrap around this knowledge but it was too much. Sephiroth wasn't much better as he picked up the summons materia. Inside was the image of Garm running across a field, laughing.

When the two headed inside, they found Aerith waiting for them and prepared themselves for the giggles and what not. But they never came. "Did you two find some trouble out there?"

Sephiroth smiled as he said, "Nothing we couldn't handle."

Author's notes: So Garm wasn't a summon you could get in the game; I think he would have been cool to have. But Garm always falls to the shadows of Cerberus. And even he wasn't in Final Fantasy 7. Garm and Niblehiem is part of Norse Mythology.

I don't own Final Fantasy 7 nor any of the characters.

Hey Yuffie, sorry for the scare.

You Jerk! He scared me half to DEATH!