(Disclaimer: My co-author and I only own our original characters.)

(A/N: Okay, okay, I know I said I'd upload the edited chapters about once a month and I know it's been longer than that. I'm very sorry! I've been so busy with school work and I'm finishing up my final exams. T.T I've had just about no time to work on any of my stories. But with the end of the fall term, I'll be able to work on stories again. Please enjoy the edited chapters!)

Dear Journal

A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction

Chapter 2

Luxaria

She wondered how it had come to this, chained up like a common criminal. Had she gone too far? Was there even a too far for the future queen? She sighed as the chain around her waist dug at the soft white material of her long dress as it flowed in the breeze. She looked at the silver restraints around wrists, silently making an attempt to wriggle free of them; only for them to cut into her pale skin causing little crimson beads to form.

"My lady, please stop." Came the voice of one of the guards, who stood before large heavily ornamented dark wooden doors, which lead to her mother's throne room.

"If you continue to struggle, it will only become worse." The other added. She waited patiently for the doors to open as her mind wondered to the most recent events. She remembered the smirk on her own face as the handsome, black haired, emerald eyed elven like man fell into the pond. As he came to the surface sputtering, the intricate tribal like tattoo over his right eye glowed even brighter than his eyes.

"You will pay." He growled out.

"I highly doubt that." She answered.

Another memory came to mind. She watched as buildings crumbled and fell. People looked on as the monstrous, wolf like beast howled. As the final building fell, she stood before the beast reaching out a pale hand. It bent its black head down and she petted it lovingly. "Good boy." She said, "You can rest now." With a slight nod the mammoth wolf – beast dissolved into black smoke.

"So you declare war with us- with me?" the same man from before questioned, the starts of an army behind him.

"My Lady!" A guard called, sending her back to the here and now. "She is ready for you now." The great doors opened as the guards moved to either side of her, escorting her into the throne room to face her fate at the hands of her mother. She stood before the throne of the kingdom, the throne of their ancestors, and currently the throne of her mother. It glowed a bright red color as if it were on fire, which seeing that it was made from flames made quite a lot of sense.

"Hello, Mother." She said while nodding in greeting.

"Luxaria Rose, I trust you know why you are here?" her mother questioned, her golden eyes glaring upon her daughter's face, an unaccustomed hardness in them. She looked every bit the queen she was: her dark crimson robes, her posture as she sat on her throne of fire, and the halo of her dark brown hair underneath her crown that matched her eyes. Even the red swirling pattern of the tattoo on her hand seemed to glow with an almost royal light.

"Well, Mother, Actually …No, I do not."

"You mock the union of our kingdom with the one to the north. You refuse to even listen to the suitor…And then at his proposal of marriage you push him into a pond….And you claim to not know why you are here?"

"Well to be fair, Mother, he's an arrogant, abusive, selfish, son of a-"

"Enough!" Her mother shouted. "You know as well as I that we have had a troubled relationship with them! And yet you bring that beast to them!"

Luxaria grinned. "It was just a bit of fun really! I was only working on my summoning skills – Those building were to be demolished anyway! No one was hurt! I meant no -"

"Harm!" the queen's voice echoed about the throne room, "They think that you mean war!"

"I meant-" Luxaria began.

"Silence!" The queen roared. "You have gone too far this time! Your constant mischief and outright refusal to do what is best for this kingdom–"

"What is best for the kingdom? You sit alone on the throne and rule while I will be forced to marry him!" Luxaria interjected her voice full of hatred and venom.

"To be a queen, we must do what is right for all…not just ourselves." Her mother stated with a quieter almost sad like quality.

"He is a vile, cruel man!" Luxaria shouted.

"As are most royal men-"

"Yes, so you've told me …and yet you married Kana's father…even though he was a bastard!"

"Enough!" The queen roared, her anger returning, as she rose from her throne.

"Yet, my father, a sweet, kind, gentle man… and a commoner… you wanted nothing to do with him… you chose even more power over love!" Luxaria shouted her pale face flushed with anger.

"I said enough!" The queen hollered.

"Did you even love him at all?" The queen opened her mouth, her eyes full of anger, but was cut off. "I am glad my father is dead… It would have killed him to see what a POWER HUNGRY WHORE YOU TURLY ARE!" Luxaria screamed her voice echoing about the throne room.

"SILENCE!" The queen screeched her voice even louder and cracking slightly. Stalking towards her daughter, she stopped mere inches from her. "There is no other option…"

"Which is?"

She glared and with a wave of her hand a bright fiery, red portal appeared behind her daughter. "I cast you out. With no chance of return –no hope of redemption."

"So you send me to Earth, that's not-"

"Oh no," The queen hissed, her voice barely above a whisper. "That would be too good for you… Gaia is where you're headed." Luxaria looked at her for a moment, and in that brief moment of confusion, her mother pushed her into the portal. With a loud pop, Luxaria was gone; the queen looked up at the guards and the small group of servants who had gathered around the open throne room door. "What are you looking at? Return to work at once!" The servants hurriedly left, leaving only the guards. "Leave me!" She shouted and they scrambled for the door, as the door shut behind them, the queen sank into her throne and tears began to fall as she thought about her eldest daughter and what she had just done.

Immobilized, Luxaria watched as millions of stars and planets passed her by at an alarming rate as she hurtled towards the planet Gaia. Before she knew it, she was sent falling. Falling, falling, it seemed like she fell for days. She tumbled ungracefully from the sky, falling though a large whole in the crumbling roof of some ancient stone and wood structure. Luxaria landed with a sickening thud on something hard and wooden. It cracked, splintered, and collapsed as she made impact with it. She laid there for a moment, amongst the wooden wreckage, her body aching from her long descent. She sat up quickly and let out a screech of pain. She looked down. She slowly, with yet another scream, stood pulling long wooden splinters from her arms, her side, and legs. Little crimson drops forming on her arms and legs as a small river of blood ran from her side. On shaking legs, she surveyed her surroundings. It was a church, beautiful and crumbling, with many white and yellow flowers growing at the heart of the church. She took a wobbly step closer to them and fell, landing in the bed of soft flowers, coloring them crimson. Her eyes closed as she drifted into unconsciousness, the red vine like tattoos on her arms and legs glowing brightly even if they were hidden by the dress she wore. Her whole body seemed to be surrounded in crimson light. The bleeding stopped as the wounds healed in a matter of moments, and as the wounds healed the markings grew dull until they had no glow at all.

She heard the sound of a door opening. It was followed by the sounds of footsteps. One sounded like the running of small feet. A small child, perhaps? It was soon accompanied by another pair of footsteps, though this person walked slower. Luxaria opened her eyes slowly as a small child's voice asked. "Does Cloud live here?"

"I guess he does." A woman's voice answered.

"What's this?" The child asked as Luxaria sat up quickly, her head aching. She thought the child had meant her, but neither the little girl nor the woman were facing her, both had their backs to her. The little girl had dark brown hair that was tied with a bright pink ribbon in a braid. She wore a light gray outfit: a sleeveless knit sweater-like top and a skirt that stopped at the back of her knees. She wore bright pink ankle socks and light gray and white lace up shoes. She was stooped down, looking at something, but what Luxaria couldn't exactly see from where she was. "It's just like Denzel, is Cloud sick?" The girl asked looking up at the woman.

"Why didn't he say something?" The woman wondered aloud. She had black mid-back length straight hair. She was dressed all in black except for the little bit of white that peeked out from under her sleeveless leather shirt. She was wearing a long black, and also leather, skirt with black shorts, and black and white lace up shoes.

"Did he leave because he's sick?" The girl questioned the woman.

"He just wants to fight alone." The woman stated as Luxaria stood and quietly headed towards them.

"Fight?"

"No." the woman said looking down. "I don't think that he will." Luxaria weakly walked unsteadily towards them and the little girl turned to face her.

"Tifa?" the girl questioned, pointing at Luxaria as the woman turned to face her as well. They stared at her for the longest time. What a strange sight Luxaria was to them. She looked every bit the ethereal vision: her pale skin, red lips, long burgundy hair flowing down to the middle of her back; her eyes so white they seemed drained of all color. Her dress was long, flowing and mostly snow colored. It was ripped in multiple places and had been stained crimson. Yet it was still beautiful, with an unearthly quality to it. Luxaria wore no shoes.

"Hey, where'd you come from?" The woman, Tifa, asked.

"I-I-I…" Luxaria opened her mouth to speak, but then thought better of it. If she told this woman she fell from the sky, would she believe her? Or would she think her mad? "I-I…" Luxaria stuttered, trying to think of something. Her legs shaking, her body hurting far worse than she had originally thought.

"Hey, take it easy, alright." Tifa said; she placed a hand on Luxaria's arm, bringing her over to sit on a wooden box.

"I'm Marlene! And this is Tifa!" The small girl exclaimed, smiling at Luxaria. "What's your name?"

"Luxaria Rose."

"What happened to you?" Tifa asked.

"I fell." Luxaria said, wincing. Well, it wasn't technically a lie.

"I miss Cloud." Marlene stated, looking at Tifa with a sad face.

"I know, sweetie." Tifa said.

"Cloud? What a strange name." She looked up at the two. "Who is this Cloud?"

"He's a friend of ours." Tifa stated.

"He used to live with us." Marlene said and then added with a sad face, "But not anymore."

"Oh." Luxaria smiled at her. The girl's face brightened at this and she smiled back. "My sister, Kana, is about your age." Luxaria said, looking away from Marlene and Tifa who were staring at her. "You are around six years of age, yes?"

"Yup!" Marlene exclaimed, brightly.

"Where's your sis-" Tifa began, before Marlene interrupted.

"You're really pretty!"

"Well, thank you. You are an adorable little girl." Marlene giggled as the church doors opened.

A tall, very muscular, short silver haired, man entered the church. He wore a tight black outfit. A gun strapped to his side. His eyes were blue with a green tint to them, something about his eyes made Luxaria very uneasy. Tifa glanced at Luxaria briefly before turning to glare at the man. She placed her hands on Marlene's shoulders and pushed her back some as the man started walking closer to them. "Wanna play?" He asked holding a hand out towards Marlene and Tifa. He stared at the two, seeming completely unaware of Luxaria's presence. "I guess that's a no." He said, taking a step towards them.

"Where's Mother?" He took another step closer, looking about the church, stopping he looked directly at Luxaria. "Huh? Mother? " He asked.

"There's no one here!" Tifa shouted as the man turned back to face her.

"She's here." He said looking back at Luxaria. "You hurt her, didn't you?" He asked, turning to look at Tifa waiting for her to answer. "Fine, be that way." He took a step closer to Tifa and Marlene, his arms in the starts of a fighting stance. Tifa released her hold on Marlene and she quickly headed out of sight, hiding behind a large stone pillar. Luxaria and Marlene watched as Tifa pulled leather gloves from a pocket and put them on. Tifa stood fists out, in defense mode.

"Huh," He took up a fighting stance as well. "This will be fun." He looked at Luxaria. "Watch this, Mother." He said. Tifa rushed forward, getting to land several hits to his face. Tifa kicked him in the head. Luxaria was sure the man didn't stand a chance. But then he used some device that, with a shock of what looked like electricity, sent Tifa flying backwards. She landed on her feet kicking up dirt, she wiped her lip and with a shake of her hand charged at him again; she slid, trying to knock his legs out from under him, but he jumped dodging her attack. She punched him in the face and he was sent flying into a stone wall of the church. She kicked him once, twice, three times. After the last kick she did a complete flip landing to face him and grabbed hold of the arm with the device on it. He pushed her back and kicked her square in the chest. She stayed steady and as he made to attack her again she ducked, and he ended up putting a hole in the stone wall, right where her head had been moments before. In one quick move Tifa grabbed him and pushed him to the ground while using him as a springboard to launch herself into the air, but as she rose into the air he let out a groan and grabbed hold of Tifa's ankle and used her to knock over several pews and then he tossed her like a rag doll against one of the church's walls. She landed like some sort of spider, kicking up several flowers in the process. They glared at one another as she went to attack him again. Luxaria blinked and in a moment the man landed in a pile of rubble where some pews once were.

"Tifa!" Marlene cried. As the sound of someone's phone ringing could be heard Luxaria, Marlene, and Tifa looked about the church for the source of the sound. Then with a rise of dust and broken wood, the man leaped up from the rubble. He stood, seemingly unharmed, as he put the silver phone to his ear. "She's here. She's hurt though. I'm not crying." He said before almost growling out the last part. "No, I got it…Bring her and the girl." He removed the phone from his ear, snapped it shut, put it back in his pocket, and adjusted his gloves. "Where were we?" He asked as the device made a clicking sound. He rushed forward throwing a pew towards Tifa, she deflected it and it splintered. He got behind her and zapped her with the device. She yelped and in one swift motion he had her pinned to one of the many pillars in the church. He activated the device again and the pillar turned into rubble before he lifted Tifa and threw her like a doll into the bed of yellow and white flowers.

"Hide!" Luxaria mouthed looking over at Marlene, who nodded noiselessly. Luxaria watched as the man headed over to where Tifa had fallen. He stooped over her, device at her throat, readying for the final blow. "Stop!" Luxaria commanded from her place on the wooden box. The man turned to look at her; he stood and moved towards Luxaria.

"But why, Mother?" He asked, getting closer to her. "She hurt you."

"Mother?" Luxaria questioned. "You must have me confused with someone else."

He shook his head, kneeling in front of her. "No, you're her."

"I am about your age!" She stared at the strange man, were those tears in his eyes? "You have me confused with someone else." She repeated.

"Why don't you remember me, Mother?" He questioned.

Luxaria continued to stare at him; she felt sad for him. "I am not your mother. You are very much mistaken." He looked up at her, tears welling up and falling from his eyes.

"But you have to be her…You are not from here… just like her." This man was clearly mad, but the look on his face made Luxaria want to listen to him, even if he was a lunatic with mother abandonment issues.

"That means nothing… How can you be so sure?"

"My Mother is not of this world; she has powers and beauty. I've never seen her, but I bet she looks like you." He stood, taking several steps closer to her. "Please come with me. My brothers, we need you."

Luxaria rose, standing and looking up at him. He smiled slightly. "To lose something as precious as a mother …" She said, a bit of guilt welling up inside her at what had sent her to this place. She held out a hand as a ball of flames began to appear in her palm. "I am truly sorry. I hope you find her. But she isn't here. It is time for you to go." She nodded in Tifa's direction. "You hurt someone who has been very kind to me..." She took up a fighting stance. "I do not wish to fight you… but if I must…"

He looked at her his face a mix of confusion, hurt, and sadness. Then he rushed towards Luxaria. She leaped out of the way while sending fire at him. They moved about the church; Luxaria moving in such a way to avoid both Marlene and Tifa. This man was good, but she was just as good. She conjured fire, attempting to set him ablaze. He moved swiftly, jumping into the air as the fire hit a wall of the church, scorching it, sparks flying. Marlene gasped as Luxaria called, "Are you alright?" Unaware as the man landed, coming down right behind her, in one swift motion, he grabbed her and shocked her five times with the device that had brought down Tifa. Before Luxaria knew what was happening the man was already out the church door and had taken Marlene with him. Luxaria shook her head trying to clear her clouding vision, but it was of no use and she sank to her knees, falling into unconsciousness once more.