I'm sorry about the first chapter...I was trying to put stars in where there was a time lapse or a scene change, but they didn't appear. I'll be using xXxs' instead. I'll go back and revise chapter 1 AGAIN, and I'll try and make it so this chapter is completely revised and I don't have to meddle with it anymore, lolz.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx


It was 6 o'clock pm when I finished my shift and let my co-worker, Brooke, take over.

"You don't mind closing, right Brookie?" I asked hurriedly.

"Not at all, Tif, anytime," she said with a smile. "As long as you give me a raise!" She added jokingly.

"Ha-ha, we'll see about that!" I teased back.

I grabbed my coat and hurried out the door. Barret had yet another date with Hannah, and had asked me to baby-sit for Marlene earlier that day. I was already fifteen minutes late, so I jogged quickly along the path through the forest along the creek. I glanced across the creek and thought I saw something glimmering, but I was in no position to stop now.

I got to Barret's house 20 minutes late, but Barret didn't seem to mind. As I entered his house, I heard voices in the kitchen. I walked towards the sounds of the voices to discover Barret and Hannah sitting at the kitchen table, laughing about something. Ah, love.

"Oh hey, Tif! How's it goin'?" He asked me happily. Hannah gave me a little wave.

"Hey you two, I'm just fine. Sorry I'm late, I just had to punch out and ask Brooke to close for me." I replied.

"Well, lucky for you, Marlene's already sleepin', so you can jus' relax." Said Barret.

"Sounds good to me, I'll check up on her every once in a while." I said.

As Barret and Hannah closed the door, I ran upstairs and checked on Marlene. She was fast asleep. Well, at least I don't have to read any stories tonight, I thought to myself as I went back downstairs to my usual spot in the armchair.

At around 10:30, I heard a faint rustling from outside the window, very much the same rustling I heard a few nights before. I walked up to the window and peered out again. I didn't see anything, but I felt a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. "What is that noise?" I asked myself out loud. No one answered.

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Barret and Hannah came in at around 11:30, both with smiles on their faces.

"Thanks again Tif, I really appreciate you stayin' here with Marlene." Said Barret.

"It's my pleasure, really, no trouble at all," I said happily. I was extremely happy that Barret was finding love in his life, so I'm all too happy to look after Marlene while he enjoys himself.

After a few minutes of chatting with Barret and Hannah, I left Barret's house and started walking towards the forest. Another beautiful night! I thought to myself as I wandered down the path. Not far off I heard the sound of the creek. The sound delighted me as I hurried towards the echo of moving water.

As I was making my way towards the creek, a shimmer of light caught my eye. I thought back to earlier in the evening. I knew I saw something glimmering before! I turned, and about fifteen feet away I saw what appeared to be an extremely long sword lying in the grass under a big pine tree. That's odd, I thought. Well, if there is a sword around here, its owner must be close by. I was about to continue on my way, but curiosity got the better of me.

I walked over to the sword and bent down to get a closer look. It was a beautiful, dangerous looking sword, with a black leather handle and an ever so slightly curved blade. I stood back up and looked around. As far as I could see, there was no one around. Maybe I should take it home with me, I wondered. Cloud would know what to do with it most likely. After all, he had a sword of his own. He did a lot of swordsmanship during the past few years, and handled a sword better than anyone I've ever seen. Well, almost anyone. He's pretty experienced when it came to swords, and knew most people's weapons in the town. Maybe he knew who this sword belongs to?

As I went down to pick it up, a strong force resembling wind came out of nowhere and knocked me backwards. I sat up quickly, blinked the blurry vision out of my eyes and looked up. A tall, dark figure stood directly above me, peering down with bright green eyes, and silvery strands of hair falling down in front of them. The figure wore a beautiful black cloak, which fell all the way to the ground. I could tell this figure was a man by the way his broad shoulders wore the cloak so well. The rest of his attire was also black; a black t-shirt, black pants, and burly black boots. It was too dark to see the man's face, for it was covered in shadows. All I could see with perfect clarity were those handsome, emerald eyes.

The man bent down slowly and picked up the sword carefully while keeping his eyes directly on mine.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," the man said with a deep, quiet voice, never breaking his stare.

"I…I'm sorry. I thought it might belong to someone and I was just going to take it back to town with me, just so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands." I replied, trying to keep my voice steady. Although I wasn't frightened, I was still a little shaken by the force that knocked me off my feet.

"It's best not to come here at night, miss, it's dangerous," he said in the same deep tone.

"I always walk through the forest at night, I've never seen anything dangerous here before," I said with a hint of annoyance.

"Who says the danger can be seen?" The dark stranger said simply, his eyes locked on mine.

Something about those eyes made me feel strange. I couldn't quite describe it. It wasn't fear, but perhaps recognition that held my eyes to his. But before I could even open my mouth to speak, both the sword and the stranger were gone.

I stood up and wiped the dirt off of my black shorts. What was that all about, I wondered? As I ran the situation through my head one more time, I started feeling almost nauseous. Those eyes, those emerald green eyes, weren't normal green eyes. His eyes almost reminded me of Cloud's eyes, who has different eyes than a normal person, because of his participation in Soldier years ago. Those were definitely the eyes of someone who was once in Soldier, but…

Sephiroth?

No. That isn't possible. I was there, last year. I saw what happened.

But did you see the whole thing?

I thought I did…

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I arrived home soon after my incident in the woods. I undressed myself, showered, changed into a pajama shirt and shorts, and sat on my bed, reflecting on what had just happened to me.

I wasn't sure what to think. I never thought that Sephiroth would ever come back. What would Barret and Nanaki and all the others think? What would Cloud think? I couldn't tell anyone what happened, at least not yet. There were three questions on my mind at the moment. First, was it really Sephiroth that I saw? Or just some stranger who looked just like him? Second, what did this stranger mean when he said, 'Who says the danger can be seen?' and third, what was that rustling I've heard twice already at Barret's house?

I decided to check it out again in the morning. There was no sense in me getting myself all dirty again after my shower.

My clock said 3:02 am when I woke up and heard the rustling noise outside my bedroom window. I sat up a little too quickly and had to close my eyes for a minute. As soon as the dizziness passed, I threw on my clothes and grabbed my gloves. Hearing this rustling for a third time in the past week isn't just a coincidence. Something was seriously wrong here.

I walked outside my house and looked around. There was no one there that I could see. All I saw were the trees surrounding my little house, which I had just moved into about 8 months ago. It was nice to live away from the rest of the neighborhood. It gave me time to relax and to train without much interruption. The only downfall was that it was a one story house. No stairs to exercise on, but at least I had a huge hill to climb to town every morning.

I walked around to the side of my house where my bedroom window was. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but I could still hear the crackling sound I had heard at Barret's house and just a few minutes ago. This was getting a little ridiculous; I heard the noise loud and clear, but I couldn't see a thing!

Suddenly, I started to get extremely dizzy. I tried closing my eyes for a minute, but it only made it worse. I checked my slots to see if I had any cure materia or any items whatsoever to cure me, but I couldn't even see straight, and my legs started to feel extremely wobbly. I felt my HP dropping rapidly. Suddenly, I collapsed, and everything turned black.

When I awoke, I was back in my bed, and my clock read 8:40 am. All the dizziness I had experienced from last night was gone, and when I checked my HP, I saw that it was full. I looked around, wondering what happened. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, and I certainly didn't hear anything. Whatever was making that rustling sound was gone. Was I dreaming or something? How did I end up back in bed?

After lying down for a few more minutes, I sat up in my bed, thinking for a second about last night, trying to remember what happened after I passed out. As I was staring at the hardwood floor, I noticed a muddy footprint right at the side of my bed. I was baffled. I stood up, only to see more footprints. They lead out of my room, into the kitchen, and out the side door. Those prints are definitely not mine, I thought, they're way too big. I was a size 8, but the footprints on the ground were at least an 11.

Did someone break into my house? I did have locks in my house, but while I was home, I never locked the door, even while I slept. I'd much rather fight any man or monster that tried to break in while I was home, and see what nerve they had left after I was finished with them. As I've said before, my senses have grown very sharp, and I know at all times what is happening in my house while I'm there. But here were these footprints on my floor, and I had no idea how they got there. This thought did not comfort me at all.

I didn't have much time to contemplate the situation. It was almost 9, and I had to go to work. I showered, dressed, ate a quick breakfast, and hurried out the door, locking it behind me. I looked around briefly, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Just to be sure, I went around to the side door, just to see if there were any clues waiting for me there.

It was a cloudy day, and when it's cloudy in the forest, it's almost as dark as night. I tried to see into the distance more clearly. As I was scanning the area, I saw something move. I saw a figure, although I could not tell whether it was a person or just a bush swaying in the wind; it was very far away. I only realized it was a person when I saw a glimpse of their eyes. They were the same eyes of the man I saw in the woods last night on my way home from Barret's. The man who just might be Sephiroth. Before I could approach the man, he disappeared faster than I could even blink.

I jogged up the hill towards the main part of town, thinking about what I had seen. From a distance, I still couldn't tell who the man was. To my disappointment, I feared that this man was indeed Sephiroth. No one moved the way he could, and those eyes. Green mako eyes, which seemed to glow with some strange light that shines out when they look at you. I started to feel something I haven't felt in a very long time. Fear. I was afraid of nothing after the defeat of Sephiroth, but to think that he was back gave me a chill throughout my entire body. What if it was true? I could only imagine the fear that would be produced if word got out that Sephiroth was back. I decided I wouldn't tell anyone just yet.

There was one thing that bothered me, however. If this stranger was indeed Sephiroth, why didn't he just kill me last night when he had the chance? He was standing over me and had the opportunity, so why wouldn't he just finish me? Sephiroth was known for many things. He was known for his hatred, for his insanity, and for his merciless behavior. If this was Sephiroth that I encountered, something was extremely different.

I decided to take a breather and sit by the lake for a few minutes. I pulled the necklace that Aeris gave me last year out of my shirt and looked at it. It was a moonstone, the color of the sky that was usually blue, with the exception of today's clouds. Around the moonstone were four smaller stones; one red, one green, one yellow, and one black. When she put it around my neck, she told me that this necklace held many secrets. I never understood what she meant by that, but when she said it to me, she had a big smile on her face and tears in her eyes. I wore it every day since the day she left us, and every time I look at it I swear I can see her looking out at me, smiling and waving.

I sighed, wiped a tear away, and continued my jog until I made it up the hill and into town. As soon as I approached 7th Heaven, I waited until my eyes returned to their normal burgundy color from the unnatural pinkish color they had become, and rushed inside.

I hope this worked! If it didn't please write to me and tell me how to fix it, lolz, and if it did work, chapter 3 will be up shortly :)