Well, we all know that my update-every-week streak couldn't last very long. I went on vacation, where I had only dial-up -shudders- then came home to find our internet out -.- Life isn't fair like that lol.

Jennypen: Lol I never left! I just get slow sometimes XD But I've plans to finish this this summer. We'll see if that works out for us lol. And I'm glad that was what you were looking for! I thought there was a subplot that I completely forgot about and got scared XD

Evil StormSister: Are you in that Evil High Pressure Pocket of North America too? I can't remember a day it hasn't hit over a 100 degrees XD Eww. And I'm going to give you credit for the improvement of battle scenes! It was basically you that brought attention to it in the first place, so I'm glad you approve :) Thank you for all of your help in the area, and hopefully it will continue to improve!

Enjoy :D

Squall stared as he disappeared down the alleyway, leaving only a trail of crimson in his wake.

Vincent stood at the side of his house, still holding his gun at the ready and tracking Cloud until he was out of sight. Then he slowly lowered the weapon and turned his gaze to Squall. "Are you alright?" he asked as Irvine, Selphie, Zack, Aeris and Lea ran up behind him.

"What happened?" Selphie demanded, her brown eyes wide. She ran and crouched beside him, fixing her gaze on his side.

He looked down to see blood seeping through his shirt and frowned. That must have been from rolling into the Buster sword. He pressed his gloved hand to it to stifle the flow and winced. "It's not deep," he assured her as the others crowded around him.

Irvine offered him a hand up and he accepted. His head spun from the sudden movement, but it passed quickly enough.

"What happened?" Zack repeated Selphie's question frantically. He rounded on Vincent. "Did you just shoot Cloud?" By the end of his question, his voice had soared up several octaves.

Vincent regarded him with his usual calmness, which seemed to border on indifferent. "If I hadn't, Squall would be dead."

The color drained from Zack's face. "Cloud was going to kill you?" he asked Squall. Squall just nodded in response. What else was there to say?

"Which way did he go?" Aeris asked. Squall gestured vaguely down the right side of the alley. Before anyone had the presence of mind to stop her, she took off.

"Aeris!" Zack shouted, chasing after her. "Aeris, wait!"

"C'mon, Squall," Irvine said after a moment. "Let's go inside and have a look at that," he gestured to his side.

Though he wouldn't admit it aloud, sitting down didn't sound like such a bad idea. "Go help Zack and Aeris," he said, looking between Irvine and Selphie. At the looks he received, he continued. "I'll get it cleaned up," he promised. "It's not serious."

"Better not be," Selphie muttered. "Can't leave you alone for a couple of hours before you pick a fight with someone."

"Squall just has a way with people," Lea commented for the first time, smirk firmly fixed on his face.

Squall gave them both a withering look, but they ignored it. Selphie grabbed Irvine by his sleeve and proceeded to follow orders. Lea turned and went inside.

Squall and Vincent glanced at each other before going indoors as well, Vincent stopping to pick up Zack's sword on the way. "Do you have a first aid kit?" Squall asked.

Vincent propped the sword against the wall next to Squall's. "Sit," he ordered, gesturing to a chair at the table and disappearing into his bedroom.

Squall sat at the table, ending up across from Lea, who had helped himself to a sleeve of crackers. "So," Lea began, tearing into the package, "Sephiroth's pushed Cloud over the edge, huh?" He sounded almost bored.

"What do you mean?" Squall asked.

"You don't just get some other guy's heart put into you and walk away with no side effects," Lea informed. "Stands to reason that he's got Cloud's brain scrambled."

"Scrambled?" Squall repeated.

"I think he means confused," Vincent said as he walked in, setting a case and a wet cloth on the table.

"Don't put words into my mouth, vampire. I mean scrambled," Lea retorted with a trace of irritation in his usual mask of sarcasm.

"Vampire?" Vincent asked, almost managing to sound indignant.

"Do I stutter?" he asked, biting into a cracker with more viciousness than was probably warranted. "Anyways, we can't keep him if he's unstable like that."

"He's not some stray cat. We can't just turn him out like one," Squall huffed, carefully wiping away the blood from his side. The cut was easily five or six inches across, but not very deep. It would be annoying for a while, but nothing terribly inconvenient.

"I'm just sayin' we can't keep him here."

Vincent crossed his arms. "Where else can we keep him?"

"What about one of your AVALANCHE buddies? Don't they have someplace to hold him for a while until we get this mess sorted?" Lea asked, flicking a large crumb off the table and onto Vincent's booted foot.

If Vincent was annoyed, he didn't show it. "No."

Squall massaged the bridge of his nose. Things were getting worse and worse. First Ansem and Xehanort, now this. Cloud would either draw the unwanted attention of law enforcement, or probably end up stabbing Squall in the back; literally, of course. What was he supposed to do? What did the cosmos want from him? There was only so much he could handle at once.

The back door opened and the Zack walked in. Aeris followed with tears in her eyes and Zack's hand tightly clutched in hers. "We can't find him," Zack announced, his voice grim. "Selphie and Irvine are still looking." He guided Aeris to one of the sofas and sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Well, nothing new. Just one more thing going wrong.

"You met with AVALANCHE?" Squall asked. It was time he was brought up to speed, and wondering over Cloud's whereabouts while others were out looking for him was pointless.

Zack nodded. "Yeah. They've got a team of four and they're willing to let us join."

"Four?" Squall asked, careful to keep the frustration out of his voice. They needed more like fifty.

"Yeah, but they're good," Zack assured him. "The problem's going to be wresting authority from their leader. Barret thinks he has to run everything."

Squall massaged the bridge of his nose in an effort to ward off the headache growing behind his eyes. He would almost rather forgo the assistance than have a power struggle with this Barret.

"I'm going to check out for a bit," Lea announced, standing up and stretching his arms over his head. "Have some errands to run."

"When you come back, bring an army, will you?" Zack asked with a weak smile.

"Heh, I'll see what I can do," he replied, heading out the door.

When it shut, silence fell over the room. "Guess we should at least wait for Selphie and Irvine to get back before making any plans?" Aeris asked.

"What about Lea?" Vincent questioned.

"We'll fill him in if he's not back yet," Zack replied. "He always seems to know everything anyway." A frown slowly spread across his face and he looked up at Vincent. "By the way, what's he got against you?"

Squall had been wondering the same thing. He had never seen Lea so nervous or irritable than when he was around Vincent. Apparently he wasn't the only one that had noticed.

Vincent didn't seem all that concerned. "I've seen Lea in some . . .difficult circumstances. I probably remind him of what we went through."

"He didn't like you then either, I take it?" Zack asked.

He shook his head. "He saw me as competition. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was something to keep himself alive."

No one questioned him further. Squall wasn't too sure he wanted to know what the two men went through in that basement.

It was some time after that that Irvine and Selphie walked in, both looking weary in a way that went beyond physical exhaustion. Squall could relate. "We can't find him anywhere," Selphie said as they slumped down on the couch adjacent to Zack and Aeris'.

"We looked down every back way and alley in a ten block radius," Irvine reported. "There's no sign of him. We asked around, but no one even saw him. It was like he disappeared into thin air."

Zack rubbed the back of his head. "Well, what now?"

All eyes shifted to Squall.

He didn't want this. Why was he being forced to take charge here? He wasn't a commander of anything. Zack was the General. He should be the designated leader, not Squall.

I don't know.

He wanted to say those words, too. He wanted to say them aloud. They were true. He had no idea what to do next. What choices did they have? As far as he knew, they had no army, no means of taking back the kingdom. It would be like a drop of water rebelling against the ocean: impossible and unthinkable.

You're SeeD. This is what you do.

The words were a whisper from his memory. He had said those words to himself many times before. Every time he had a tough call to make, or another squad was killed in action, or a mission went horribly wrong, those words echoed through his mind like a mantra, a justification of sorts. This was what he was, and that was that.

But ever since his word was destroyed, those words didn't seem to matter. It wasn't his job anymore. He couldn't hide behind a title that claimed danger and authority came with it. After the mistakes he had made, he refused to hide behind that ruse any longer.

What was he really? Without his title, he was nothing. He was just a man that made more mistakes than he wanted to remember. His decisions got people killed and worlds destroyed. He didn't trust himself anymore.

But his team did. And Zack did, and Aeris did. They were all waiting for him.

He rubbed a hand over his face in an attempt to block out their stares. "I need some time to think. Selphie, Irvine, let's go meet Renolds." He pushed his chair back and lead the way out the door.

Cloud sat huddled in a dark alley, shivering with adrenaline and fear and desperately trying to stop the bleeding. His hand shook as he ripped off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the injury.

What had he done?

He had tried to kill Squall! He had never killed anyone in his life, and he was going to murder one of his only friends!

He's not your friend.

Yes, he is! Cloud wanted to scream. It seemed like all of his thoughts were in a jumble. Nothing made sense. Every thought conflicted with another, every decision second guessed. He was confused and afraid. This was not who he was!

Then what are you?

He knew for certain that he was no murderer.

That's not what I just saw.

Shut up! he thought. What was wrong with him? What had Sephiroth done?

Don't you see?

His breathing hitched and his heart skipped. That thought . . .these thoughts, they weren't his.

No, puppet. They're mine.

Dun dun duuuuuunn . . .

I sense intense drama in the near future.

Please review if you will, and have a great week!

God Bless,

-RainFlame