The safe swung open with little trouble, revealing three things: a key, a summons materia, and a book. Taking all three items, Cloud examined each. "Basement key…Odin…Cosmos Memory… Sephiroth, do you have a Summon?"

"Yeah, I got one."

"Here Yuffie," Cloud said before giving the summons to her. "We're going down to the Basement now."

Downstairs, Cloud put the key into its key hole and nodded to Barret. If something came out that alive, he would fill it with lead.

"Cloud, think about where we are! I'm sure a vampire is on the other side of that door!"

"Yuffie, relax. If something goes wrong, we'll protect you," Cloud said before turning the key and opening the door. When something taller than she was fell to the ground, Yuffie nearly passed out. Until she saw it was just a stack of papers.

"I can't take much more of being scared witless," she said as she forced her heart back down her throat.

Cloud stuck his head in the room and found it was just filled to overflowing with notes, files, and other papers. "Nothing note worthy in here."

As Sephiroth walked down the hall, he had the feeling that, somehow elsewhere, that should have been different.

Down the hall, they once again encountered Ganglere. "You feel it, don't you? The things that have happened here, that should have happened here. All to create the perfect life form…hehehe, HAHAHA! If only Gast had known what he was doing!" At this he turned to them and acknowledged there existence. "If you want to fight me, to stop me, go across the mountain, pass the reactor. Oh, you're here whelp. Maybe we can finish our fight later." Before he left, he shot a glare at Aerith.

Sephiroth tried to stop him but was unable to get the Dragon's Fang out fast enough. "We will finish this Ganglere."

The others watching him knew what was coming. Every encounter with Ganglere made him act without thinking, letting his hatred fusing through his being and guide his actions. But, except for Yuffie, no one knew why Sephiroth hated Ganglere so much.

Aerith was about to go over to see if she could stop what was coming but he took off after Ganglere before she reached him.

"Sephiroth! Remember what I said?!" was all Cloud said but it stopped Sephiroth in his tracks. His body shook for a moment but then that ceased and Sephiroth was the carefree nineteen years old he often appeared to be.

Putting a hand behind his head, he said, "Sorry boss, I guess I lost my head."

Cloud watched him for a moment and went down the hall, picking up the materia Ganglere dropped as he did.

In the mountains, Sephiroth was able to release all his pent up frustrations. At one point, he left a small hole where he had finished off a monster. When he got back up, he realized that he was scaring some of them. So he put on a goofy smile and said, "I feel better. It's been to slow inside the Buggy; I guess I needed to burn off some energy." That caused them to relax a little but he could tell they were still worried.

I just need to beat him once, Sephiroth thought, then I'll have proven that isn't who I am. That I'm not supposed to be a monster.

When they were about to leave the mountains, the found a monster blocking the path, a large one. "Well, fearless leader, any strategies or thoughts," Sephiroth asked.

"Not getting killed is always a good strategy," Yuffie said at his side.

"Sephiroth, Barret, Yuffie; use distance attacks and magic. Aerith and Cait Sith hold back and use healing magic. Tifa, Red XIII, and I will attack up close."

Barret started unloading his machine gun on the Materia Keeper while Sephiroth and Yuffie activate their Summons materia. The two headed hound arrived first. "So this is what you decided to fight first, huh?" The left head released a breath of ice, freezing the Keeper's armor like skin. The right head then used a blast of fire that caused the frozen skin to crack and break. Garm then bunched his legs and jumped. He sailed right over its back, raking claws along it as he did. He disappeared before he landed.

"You know for a creepy oversized mutt, he's pretty strong," Yuffie said before darkness descended over the group. Behind them they heard the sound of hooves touching the ground. All of a sudden a rider was among them, riding an eight legged horse, and holding a spear with a sword at his side. He threw the spear into the air and it came down on the Materia Keeper with the force of an asteroid.

When the dust had cleared, everyone saw that the keeper had been hit with such force that the spear went right through it into the rock, pinning it there. Odin turned and left, and though he disappeared, his spear stayed for a few seconds more.

"Before it dissipates, kill it!" Sephiroth said, activating materia after materia until he was mentally fatigued.

They got several hit in before the keeper could move again. It then used an attack that hit all of them with electricity. Dimly, Tifa and Yuffie realized that their enemy skills learned an attack called Trine.

Sephiroth had nearly fallen; his coat had chain mail inside it to help fend off attacks. But it had just pulled most of the energy into him. Beneath his coat, where his skin touched it, he could feel blisters rising up from the worst of the burns. Unable to hold himself up any longer, he was leaning on the Dragon's Claw.

Things seemed to be slowing down around him. Somehow, energy started flowing through his body and down to the sword. Faster than his mind could follow, his body started to move. The Dragon's Claw went over to its sheath while Sephiroth ran forward.

The Keeper saw him and moved its horn so that the running human would be impaled on it. But Sephiroth ducked under it and pulled the Claw from its sheath, forcing it through the skull of the monster, and on to its tail. Sephiroth stopped running a few steps after, the Claw nearly straight ahead of him.

For a moment, no one moved. Then the Materia Keeper fell, with its top half sliding off. Sephiroth moved the Claw to his right, throwing off the blood, then returned it to its sheath.

Aerith was the first to react, seeing burns on his hands. Running up to him, she used a regen spell on him. The pain quickly eased and Sephiroth was able to breath easy again.

"Sephiroth, I'm going to take your coat off," Aerith said before she started too. But Sephiroth stepped away before she could.

"D-don't touch it…is there a s-stream or such near here?" They could see his hands shaking.

"At the foot of the mountain, a little off the path," Yuffie said, concerned about her friend.

"Lead the way Y-Yuffie."

Sephiroth's movements were almost mechanical as he walked but he wouldn't accept help. He wouldn't even let them touch him.

When they got to the stream, Sephiroth jumped into and submerged himself. The water was freezing, having just melted, and his body quickly went numb. When it did, he pulled off his coat and shirt and threw them ashore. When finally he came out, he was blue in the face but the burns had returned to white for the moment.

"Now try it again," Sephiroth said to Aerith. For a moment she didn't move, that was allot of burns to walk with. "Aerith, please." She put her hands around his face and started casting. It took ten minutes but the last burn finally faded.

"Thank you," Sephiroth said before he collapsed. "That really hurt…"

"Cloud, we need to get him warmed up quickly!" Aerith said as she flipped him on his back and used his coat as a pillow. Her eyes widened as she felt the chain mail underneath the thick leather.

Around them people started moving, trying to gather enough wood for a fire. Cloud ordered everyone to move in different directions, to cover the most ground, and to be back in five minutes. But as they were on a mountain, they were only able to get enough wood to have a fire for eight hours.

With the fire started, they only had to get him out of his wet clothes and into a warm blanket.

Sephiroth woke up in the morning in a blanket that was slightly wet and started to get up. But then realized that was a bad idea. He didn't have a scrap of clothes on. His clothes were dried out by the remains of the fire and his bag was stacked with the others. "Not to bother anyone but can I get dress?"

Tifa was the only one around. She got up and picked up his clothes. "I don't know, I think Yuffie likes you this way."

Sephiroth imagined that his face was as red as the rest of his body was last night. "She didn't…"

"No, Cloud and Barret did. But she did find out that you wear boxers," Tifa said, smiling without mercy or pity for him.

"…Where is everyone else?"

"They went out to get something fresh to eat." Tifa said, still not handing over the clothes.

"Tifa…"

"Yes?"

"May I have my clothes?"

"Hmm, here you go," she put them on the ground just out of his reach.

"You evil, evil woman," Sephiroth said, glaring at her.

"If you want them, you just have to get up and pick them up," Tifa said, still smiling.

"You're toying with me, aren't you? After all, you love Cloud and it's obvious you lust for him too."

Tifa glared at him for a moment but then said, "Yeah, I'm messing with you. Hurry up, they should be here soon." Tifa then turned around.

Sephiroth had just finished when they got back. They made a quick meal of some fruits, vegetables, and fish before getting ready to leave.

"So, Sephy, was that your Limit break? What's it called?" Yuffie asked.

"Yeah it was. It's the death draw. It causes the person to move at such speeds that the mind cannot control it. Everything must be reaction. I know, not something the normal person can do."

Yuffie's face scrunched up as she thought about why wouldn't they. "Why?"

Sephiroth frown at this. "I would have thought that the world's greatest ninja would have known. I was told once that the difference between a warrior and a weapons master was that when the weapons master fought, it wasn't something he planned, move for move. In combat, their minds are pushed aside, no thought, no thinking, just reflexes and reactions. The mind can do many things. But the body can do many more if the mind would only let it."

"You can be serious. What about plans, strategies?"

"…I'll show you when we have the time."

Picking up his bag, he followed Cloud down the mountain.

Author's notes: I don't own Final Fantasy 7. But I do own a Katana that I have named the Dragon's Claw. The cross guard is the claw of a dragon.

Hmm, anything any of you want to add? Cloud? Yuffie? Anyone?

No, we're good.