Chapter 24: Trouble in Midgar

Max slowly woke up to find the sun peeping in through the window and he could hear the sound of birds singing outside. "Huh…" He asked himself as he began to come round, "what happened?" He tried to sit up only to find that something was on top of him, he looked up to see Pandora with her head lying on his chest fast asleep with a grin on her face. "Oh yeah," he said to himself again he couldn't help but smile, "now I remember." He stroked Pandora's hair and not wanting to disturb her he lay there patiently until she woke up herself.

An hour later Pandora began to stir, "Oh…" she moaned as she started to come round.

Max smiled at her, "morning sleeping beauty."

Pandora opened her eyes to Max smiling at her and she smiled back, "how was it?" She asked slyly.

"Wow…" Max replied, "it was…wow…"

Pandora's grin grew wider, "good," she responded as she circled her finger round Max's chest. "I wanted it to be special what with it being our first time."

Max wrapped his arm round her, "Oh it was special," Max stated still smiling.

"Yeah," Dark Max agreed, "it was pleasurable I'll give her that."

"And there was me thinking that you didn't like me Dark," Pandora spoke to Dark Max.

"…I didn't say that…" Dark Max faltered, but Pandora gave Max a knowing stare. "Ok, ok, I admit you were annoying at first with your constant nagging, but now I see you in a more positive light."

"Dark," Max spoke to his dark side, "do you mind? You're ruining the mood."

"Fine," Dark Max said with a sigh, "Let me know when there's a battle, of course I'll need to rest after last night." Dark Max was silent as he fell asleep in Max's head.

"So…" Pandora asked Max, "do you want to get up or stay here?"

"Well, the others will probably be wondering where we are, so we'd better get up." Pandora and Max got out of bed and got changed, as soon as they got changed Pandora walked into the bathroom and locked the door. Fifteen minutes later she came out.

"I just wanted to freshen up," she told Max, "and to make sure I don't you know."

"Yeah, I don't think my dad wants to be a grandfather just yet," Max replied as they walked out of their room.

"What's this about me?" Nightshade asked suddenly causing Max and Pandora to turn round and they saw Nightshade leaning against the wall.

"Dad!" Max yelled in shock, "eh he…we didn't see you there." Max ruffled his hair nervously.

"You two weren't up to anything last night by any chance…" Nightshade half asked and half stated. He stared intently at his son and daughter in law and not once did he take his eyes off them. Max and Pandora said nothing but they stared back at Nightshade, "your room is right next to mine, remember?" He reminded them as he pushed himself off the wall and walked towards them.

"Yeah," Pandora replied still not taking her eyes off Nightshade.

"And you might want to keep your voice down next time," Nightshade told Pandora, but he wasn't meaning it in an unfriendly way, in fact he sounded deeply amused. "You have a set of lungs on you."

"Eh he…" Pandora laughed nervously, "you heard all of that?"

"Every word," Nightshade answered with a sigh, "I guess it's a little too late to tell you about the birds and the bees, I just hope you took precautions."

Pandora placed her hands on her hips and glared at Nightshade, "of course!" she snapped, "what do you take me for?" She demanded as she jabbed a finger into Nightshade's chest.

Nightshade however appeared unfazed by Pandora's threatening demeanour, "all I'm saying is that I don't want to be a granddad at the age 39," he answered as he gave Max and Pandora a sly but stern grin before he walked down the corridor.

"He's really creepy sometimes," Pandora said to Max when she made sure Nightshade was out of earshot, "you know how he's just there sometimes."

"Yeah," Max agreed, "he has that affect on people sometimes. It's just part of who he is, come on, let's go." Max and Pandora walked down the corridor that Nightshade had walked down.

Because Midgar was even more dangerous than usual it was neither recommended nor wise to sneak into the ruined city in broad daylight where they could have easily have been spotted by the enemy. So the group was just doing their own things until the time had come for them to complete their mission. Emily was currently in Reeve's workshop making improvements on her dual wheeler and she did this with the utmost care. Cid was re-fuelling the Sierra and everyone else was in the grounds, Tifa, Angel, Sunny, Yuffie and Red XIII were lay on the grass sunbathing. Aerith was sat on a chair in the shade drinking a tall glass of cool lemonade and reading a book. Zack had turned himself into a grey wolf with black spiky hair and bright blue eyes, he was currently curled up next to Aerith's feet fast asleep. Vincent, Barret and Isis were deep in discussion about their weapons.

"Damn you cat!" Barret got into an argument with Isis as he held his metallic hand up and it morphed into a tri barrelled gatling gun. "My gun is better than yours fool!"

"Ha!" Isis laughed at Barret, "you seriously expect to kill all of your enemies with that peashooter!" She goaded before she materialised two tri barrelled gatling guns in her hands. "These are guns!"

Vincent laughed at both Isis and Barret, "and what are you laughing at?!" Barret demanded as he and Isis glared at Vincent.

"You know, bigger isn't always better," Vincent replied as moved his cape out of the way and took Cerberus out of its holster, "besides," Vincent continued, "there's only one way to settle this."

Barret and Isis continued to stare at Vincent, "How?" They asked, Vincent grinned as he walked over to a machine.

"Target practice…" Barret said as he gave Vincent a sceptical stare.

Vincent's grin grew wider, "unless you're chicken," he said to Barret and Isis.

"Please…I'm a cat," Isis scoffed, "I eat chickens for breakfast."

"Alright," Barret agreed, "you're on!"

Vincent pushed a button and the machine hummed to life, he, Barret and Isis prepared their weapons as targets were shot into the air and the three began to shoot the targets as they were fired into the air. They were half way through the competition when Max and Pandora entered the grounds, they saw Aerith and they walked over to her, Pandora accidentally stood on Zack's tail causing him to leap to his feet and growl fiercely at Pandora.

"Sorry Zack," Pandora apologised as she and Max sat down on chairs round the table, "I didn't see you there."

"It's ok," Zack accepted Pandora's apology as he walked round in a circle before lying down again. "It's gonna take me ages to get back to sleep again," he moaned softly as he looked up at Max, Aerith and Pandora.

Max and Pandora looked all around them and they saw Barret, Vincent and Isis shooting away at the targets, neither of them was willing to back down. "What are they doing?" Max asked Aerith.

"Oh, they're having a my gun is better than yours argument," she answered as she licked her finger and turned the page of her book. Zack managed to get a good look at the front cover.

"Hmmm…Jane Eyre," he read the name of the book out loud, "I remember that book being discussed on a talk show. So you're just gonna do exactly what they tell you."

Aerith glared at Zack, "this book has been around since the 19th century, it's a classic," she replied as she continued to glare at Zack.

"But you only bought it a couple of days ago," Zack remarked.

"No I didn't!" Aerith argued not taking her eyes off Zack.

"Is that why it's got the recommended sticker on the front?" Zack asked as he nudged the front cover of the book with his nose and grinned triumphantly at Aerith.

"Oh…" She marked her page and flipped the book over so that she was looking at the cover and she saw the sticker that Zack had pointed out. "I thought I peeled that off."

"So what are you gonna be reading next time?" Zack asked as his grin grew wider.

"Well I'm not really sure yet but…hey!" Aerith yelled at Zack as she realised what he was getting at. (A/N, this is a parody of the part in the Family Guy episode PTV where Brian and Stewie are having an argument over a book. It's so funny that I had to make a parody of it in my story, I don't own this part but I wish I did. Family Guy belongs to 20th Century Fox)

"Oh I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this," Zack said as he tried hard not to laugh, Aerith continued to glare at him. Zack yawned and stretched out before he curled himself up again. "Ok, I'm gonna go back to sleep now." He rested his head on his paws and he fell asleep.

"I wonder how long they've been at it." Pandora stated as she and Max continued to stare at Barret, Vincent and Isis.

"About half an hour," A voice spoke up from behind, Max and Pandora turned round to see Cloud standing there. "And from the looks of things," he continued, "I'd say they'll be at it for a while."

"Well Isis is stubborn," Max replied, "Barret can also be stubborn and Vincent…well he's just being Vincent."

Cloud, Aerith, Max and Pandora continued to watch Barret, Isis and Vincent as they shot the targets down with amazing skill. About an hour or so later Barret and Vincent couldn't go on anymore and they admitted defeat to Isis.

"See," Isis gloated as Barret and Vincent glared at her, "I told you my guns were better, you didn't stand a chance with those peashooters of yours!" Isis turned tail and she strutted back into the building leaving Barret and Vincent scowling in her wake.

Cloud laughed when he saw that, "I never thought I'd see the day when Barret and Vincent would get their asses handed to them in target practice," he remarked as Max, Pandora and Aerith also laughed.

"Yeah," Max agreed, "Isis is extremely skilled when it comes to hitting her target, that's why she's…aaahhhh!" Max cried out in pain as he grabbed both sides of his head. His vision blurred temporarily but all of a sudden the pain had gone.

"Max are you ok?" Pandora asked him, her voice was filled with concern. Max removed his hands from his head and he looked up to see Pandora, Cloud, Aerith and even Zack who was woken up by Max's yelling were all staring at him.

"Yeah…" Max answered slowly, "I'm fine."

"Did you have another headache?" Aerith questioned as Pandora placed her hand on Max's forehead.

"Well you're temperature's normal," Pandora replied looking confused.

"I know," Max responded, he too was confused about the whole thing. "I seem to be getting a lot of headaches lately and I don't know why." This was actually a half lie, he had a rough idea of what was going on but he wasn't 100 sure. He knew that the headaches were a warning of some kind, but what it was warning him about he didn't know. However he didn't want to tell the others just yet, he didn't want to worry them. He knew that they were all still staring at him, he needed to think, but he couldn't think if he was surrounded by everyone else. He needed to find a quiet spot so he could think about the situation and decide what to do. "Listen, I'm gonna go for a walk, clear my head." Max told everyone as he slowly got to his feet.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Pandora asked him.

"No," Max replied as he started to stagger off, "I need some time alone." Before anyone could say another word Max had disappeared round the corner. Pandora sighed sadly and she hung her head, Aerith placed her hand on Pandora's to reassure her.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Aerith said encouragingly, "a walk will do him good."

Max continued to walk slowly round the grounds, and it wasn't long before his head started to pound again. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" He cried out as he quickly grabbed hold of his head again, he fell to his knees as the pain pulsed through his whole body. He was shaking violently and he felt faint and sick, he held his hands out in front of him and he stared at them in shock as they shook. "What's happening to me?" He asked himself as his vision gradually began to blur until all he could see was a blinding white light. His eyes rolled in his head so that only the whites were showing, he saw the same vision he saw the night before only it was much more vivid. Visions filled Max's head as he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"Huh…" Max's eyes fluttered open and he found himself lying on the ground, he lifted his head up to see the sun beginning to set. "How long was I out for?" Max asked himself out loud as he slowly dragged himself to his feet. The pain in his head had long since subsided and he didn't feel so sick anymore, but he still felt a bit faint. "What's going on?" Max questioned again out loud but to no one in particular. "I better start heading back," Max slowly walked back the way he had came, when he got there he was shocked to find that everyone had gone. Max scratched his head thoughtfully as he looked all around him, "I guess I have been out for a while," he chuckled to himself, "everyone's probably wondering where I've got to." Max turned round and started walking towards the main entrance to the building when white mist began to shroud him like a cloak passing through his nose and windpipe, "What is this?" Max coughed as the mist continued to surround him blocking everything out. "All I can see is white, am I going blind? HELP ME PLEASE! SOMEBODY! I'M TRAPPED IN A THICK MIST AND I CAN'T GET OUT!" How long Max was shouting for he didn't know, but he gave up when he realised that no one could hear him, after a while the mist cleared and disappeared almost as quickly as it came.

"Huh…" Max uttered looking confused, "what was that?" He asked himself, everything looked perfectly clear now, and not seeing anything unusual he shrugged and turned round to walk back inside the building again when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Max turned round to see Pandora stood in front of a tree staring at him. "Pandora!" Max called out her name, Pandora didn't say anything, she merely winked at Max and she walked behind the tree and down the path. Max ran in the direction he saw Pandora walk in hoping to catch up with her. "Hey! Wait up!" Max continued to call after her as she left the WRO grounds and took off to flight.

"Hmmm…" Max thought to himself, "there's no way I can keep up with her now, unless…." Ten minutes later Max was speeding down the highway on his bike, he had a look of determination on his face as though he was possessed and not once did he let Pandora out of his sight.

Pandora continued to lead him down the highway passed Kalm, she looked back every so often to check that he was still following her, she didn't stop once until she flew over Edge and into Midgar. "Damn!" Max yelled as he banged his fist on his bike, "what's gotten into her?" He sped through Edge unaware that people were staring at him, eventually he got out of Edge and headed towards Midgar. He drove passed Aerith's church and he was about to go further when his bike ran out fuel, Max quickly got off his bike and he continued the rest of the way on foot. He eventually saw Pandora just standing where the old Shinra building used to be.

"Pandora!" Max called her name out again as he ran up to her, "I finally caught up with you, what the hell is wrong with…" Max didn't have to time to finish the rest of his sentence as the same mist that he saw earlier began to surround him again as Pandora slowly disappeared into the mist. "PANDORA!" Max yelled as the mist disappeared. "Huh?" Max looked all around him and he was confused like he had just woken up from a bizarre dream but he knew that it wasn't a dream. He looked back to where Pandora was a few moments ago. "Where did she go?" Max asked himself, he didn't have time to think about it any further as an all too familiar voice rang in his ears.

"Well, well, well, looks like the Kitsune wants to play again!" Max turned round to see Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz stood behind him holding their weapons.

"So it was trap," Max whispered half to himself, he couldn't believe it.

Kadaj walked towards Max, "you catch on quick," he stated as Yazoo and Loz laughed, "I guess our master and Hojo weren't lying when they said that you had above average intelligence."

Max held his arm out to the side as his sword materialised in his hand, he walked towards the trio with a grin on his face. "I was wondering when you jackasses would show up," he goaded them.

Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz glared at Max, Loz cracked his knuckles and prepared the Dual Hound, "What did you call us?!" He screamed at Max, Max however wasn't fazed.

"I said you were jackasses!" Max repeated loudly as he held his sword out in front of him. "I guess you guys want another thrashing!"

"Perhaps it is you that wants a thrashing!" Yazoo shot back.

"I can take you guys on any day of the week!" Max retorted.

"Is that right?" Kadaj demanded as he stared intently at Max.

"Yeah!" Max answered grinning smugly, "and I could do it blindfolded, with one hand behind my back!"

Kadaj laughed at this, "I like you," he stated as he withdrew his weapon, Yazoo withdrew the Crimson Velvet gun blade. "But do you seriously think you can take on all of us?"

Huh?" Max looked all around him to see Balthazar, Scarlet, Rosso, Nero, Azul, Weis and Sephiroth surround him. But it didn't take long for the smug smile to creep back on to his face. "Bring it on!" Max yelled at the group as he brought his sword forwards, "I'm ready!" Max felt the last of his common sense leave him as he prepared himself for battle, Max knew that the odds were against him but at that moment in time he didn't really care. He watched as the group formed a tight circle around him, completely surrounding him. With a cry everyone charged forwards as several weapons clashed with Max's.

Max stared into the eyes of Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, Weis and Sephiroth as they all focused their energy into forcing Max back. Max however wasn't willing to back down, once he had gotten over the shock of all five weapons clashing against his own weapon at the same time. He pushed back against their weapons with all his might, with a yell he managed to force them all back and knock their weapons away from his. He quickly rolled out of the to avoid a vertical slice from Kadaj's weapon and he quickly brought his sword round to parry against Kadaj, Weis and Sephiroth who were attacking him with vicious sword combos causing Max to duck, dodge, roll and parry. He was so focused on the three swordsmen plus Yazoo and Loz that he didn't even see a foot fly out of nowhere and kick him square in the jaw, the blow was so powerful that it sent Max flying backwards and slamming back first into some ruins. Before Max had a chance to get up a boot clad foot slammed down on his chest, Max looked up to see Scarlet grinning evilly at him.

"Hello Max," she said evilly as she twisted her foot round to make it harder for Max to escape. Max struggled against her foot, he eventually grabbed hold of it and threw her off him. He leapt to his feet and pointed his sword at her.

"Scarlet," Max spat her name like a bitter poison, he hadn't forgotten all the damage she had caused and it would've given him great pleasure to kill her again.

"Oh," Scarlet asked mockingly as she eyed his sword, "are you going to let your sword do the work, or are you going to fight me like a man?!" She scoffed as she held her fists out in front of her and got into a fighting stance.

Max took one look at his sword and it disappeared to be replaced by two metallic red gauntlets and they fitted easily on to his hands Max punched forwards twice to test out the gauntlets and he grinned at Scarlet. "I don't need to use my sword to take on the likes of you!" He retorted as he got into a fighting stance, he brought his front leg back slightly and he gave Scarlet a just bring it gesture with his hand.

Scarlet charged at Max drawing her fist back as she did so, when she approached closer and closer to Max she quickly thrust her fist forwards but Max leapt out of the way just in time and with lightning speed he grabbed Scarlet's arm and twisted it round causing her to cry out in pain. Max then spun her round kicked her on the back, Scarlet reached her leg up and booted Max hard in the stomach with the heel of her boot winding him. The shock of the blow caused Max to release Scarlet's arm, he staggered a few inches backwards one hand clasped over his stomach breathing deeply. Scarlet grinned when she saw her chance and performed a sweeping kick knocking Max's legs out from underneath him. Max landed flat on his back and he saw Scarlet leap into the air and thrust her foot downwards aiming to strike Max in the stomach again. Max brought his feet into his body and as Scarlet fell to the ground Max thrust his legs upwards to kangaroo kick Scarlet, his feet made contact with her stomach as Max forced her away from him knocking her flying into the rubble and she lay there motionless.

Max staggered to his feet and breathed deeply, but his break didn't last long as Max sensed that there was someone behind him and he quickly turned round spinning his leg to roundhouse kick whoever was behind him but the person held their hand out and caught Max's foot in mid kick. Max looked up to see Balthazar stood there holding his foot grinning evilly at him.

"It seems you're losing your touch," Balthazar said mockingly, "or maybe it's because you're so used to using a sword now that your gauntlet skills have been a little…neglected."

"Hardly…" Max spat as he thrust his free leg into Balthazar's stomach and pushed out. The shock caused Balthazar to release Max's leg, Max performed a back flip in midair and he landed safely on both feet. "I think it's you that's losing your touch!" Max mocked as Balthazar lunged at him with his fist, Max dodged out of the way. "Or maybe you're just a little slow in your old age!" Max continued to goad Balthazar, Balthazar growled at him as he and Max paced round each other and without warning the two Kitsunes launched themselves at each other striking out with vicious combos of punches and kicks. Balthazar and Max punched, kicked, dodged and grappled, but hard as they tried neither could get an effective blow in. Max received a sudden foresight as Scarlet along with Rosso and Loz joined in the fray, he quickly moved to the side as Loz launched Scarlet at him and Max had to duck quickly as Rosso performed a horizontal slash with her double bladed weapon, Max quickly made his left hand gauntlet disappear and his sword reappeared in his hand and he swung it round to block Rosso's attack as she swung her blade round again and the two weapons clashed. Meanwhile while Max was using his sword to fend off Rosso's attack he was using his remaining hand to fight off both Balthazar and Scarlet. Max, Rosso, Balthazar and Scarlet all leapt into the air as Loz jumped into the air and slammed his Dual Hound into the ground to cause an earthquake. Max continued to fight Balthazar and Scarlet with his right hand and he blocked and struck at Rosso with his sword. Max tried to read all of their minds to determine what they were going to do next, but his mind reading abilities weren't strong enough to read the minds of several enemies at once and as all four of them landed back on the ground again Max realised that he was at a severe disadvantage. "Damn!" He cursed to himself as he knocked both Scarlet and Balthazar back and dodged another one of Rosso's strikes. "I can fight them easily on their own, but when they fight in a group…" Max didn't have time to finish his thoughts as he felt several powerful punches hit him at once and he was sent flying back into another ruined building. Max rolled out of the way just as Loz lunged at him with the Dual Hound and the spikes were pierced into the building where Max's head was a few seconds ago. Loz yanked the Dual Hound out of the building and lunged at Max again as Max made his other gauntlet disappear, the sound of clanging metal could be heard as Max's sword clashed against Loz's Dual Hound and sparks flew as Max dragged his sword against Loz's Dual Hound, concentration was etched on both of their faces as each one tried to force the other back and it looked like Max was having the upper hand as he continued to force Loz back, however with a grin Loz disappeared from Max's sight.

"Huh?" Max asked himself as he stared at the place Loz was before, he was so focused on that spot that he didn't see Loz behind him.

"He…" Loz laughed to himself as he reeled his fist back and before Max knew what has happening Loz performed a powerful uppercut knocking him into the air. Loz leapt up after him and he punched Max in the face before he sped behind Max and punched him in the back and he kept whizzing back and forth until Max was knocked senseless. Loz then disappeared and reappeared above Max, he looked up but before he could react Loz aimed his fist downwards and struck knocking Max right out of the air. Kadaj was stood directly below where Max was falling and with a grin he held his sword up hoping to impale Max on it. Fortunately, Max came to his senses just in time and he swung his sword round so that it struck with Kadaj's sword as he landed with a thud on the ground, breathing heavily and sporting many wounds and bruises from the battle. Kadaj seeing his chance ran towards Max dragging his sword along the ground and bringing it upwards above his head as he approached Max preparing to strike down on him. Max rolled out of the way barely dodging the attack, unfortunately he wasn't able to completely avoid it as he felt the sword slash against his leg.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Max cried out in pain, he knew that his leg had been wounded but he didn't look at it, he knew that the battlefield wasn't the time or the place to tend to wounds. He staggered to his feet and limped slightly as he tried to balance himself, seeing that his opponent was injured Kadaj swung his sword round to strike at Max again, but Max was ready for him this time and he managed to parry the attack. Max quickly turned his head round to the sound of gunshots and he saw Yazoo, Loz and Weis shooting at him with their gun blades, Max ducked and dodged as he narrowly avoided the barrage of bullets flying in his direction. He stood up again but he didn't notice three more bullets flying in his direction until they pierced his left side. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Max yelled in pain again as he felt his old scar reopen as memories of that fateful night when he was shot flashed in front of his eyes and the gunshots rang in his ears. But still Max refused to back down even when both Weis and Sephiroth charged at him and combined their attacks with Kadaj.

Max had to duck again to avoid being decapitated by Weis' overhead attack, he dodged to the left as Kadaj did a vertical strike and he dodged again to the right as Sephiroth also performed a vertical strike. Max swung his sword round to parry against Kadaj, Weis and Sephiroth he also hoped to force them back as well but his parry was weak and his swing was slower than usual. Sensing this, Kadaj, Weis and Sephiroth doubled their attacks, striking faster in the hopes of breaking through Max's defences all the while forcing the wounded Kitsune back. Max however continued to defend himself with the little strength he had left, his main aim now was to survive, getting blows in didn't matter to him anymore as long as he survived this battle. He swung his sword round to block against attacks from all three sides, however his defences became weaker as Max began to succumb to his wounds and fatigue. Max's sword arm fell limp at his side, but he still managed to hold on to his sword, the energy and vigour he had at the beginning of the battle had long since died out and both Max's mind and body were about ready to give in, he looked at Kadaj, Weis and Sephiroth hoping that they'd just end the battle, but they had other ideas. Before Max even knew what was happening, he was sent flying backwards and his back slammed heavily into the base of the ruined Shinra building.

Max slid down the wall and landed painfully on the ground, before he even had a chance to move he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder. He looked over to his right to see a long sword sticking into his shoulder pinning him to the wall. He followed the sword with his eyes to see Sephiroth holding the other side of it, there was an evil grin on his face. Max winced in pain as he looked into those cold, staring green eyes and back to the sword again. "Uhhhhh…" Max moaned softly as he slowly lifted his left arm up and brought it to his right shoulder, his hand gripped the blade and he tried to remove the sword from his shoulder but he was just too weak.

Sephiroth merely laughed at him, "you put up a brave fight I'll give you that!" He scoffed as Max continued to struggle, "but it looks like we have the upper hand."

"I doubt it…" Max weakly shot back, "you guys lure me here, you beat me up, you shoot me, you slash at me and you stab me in the shoulder…" Max continued his feeble attempts to remove the sword from his shoulder. "What else could you possibly do to me?"

Sephiroth's grin grew wider, "oh, I'm sure we have a plan up our sleeves," Sephiroth replied mockingly as he looked down at the sword. Max looked down to see that the sword was glowing green.

"What the…" Max asked as he glared at Sephiroth, "what the hell did you do?" Sephiroth's grin grew even wider as he moved one of his hands from the handle to reveal a small, glowing, green orb. "Materia…" Max muttered barely above a whisper.

"Ha, ha, ha!" Sephiroth laughed as he saw the look of shock on Max's face, "sweet dreams…"

Sephiroth's voice and all the voices around him started to fade out as Max was slowly being overwhelmed by waves of sleepiness. Max's hand fell away from the sword and fell limp at his side as he felt the last of his strength leave him, Max's head slumped down as he finally drifted into unconsciousness.

Chapter 24 is finally finished, poor Max what will become of him? What do the bad guys have in store for him? And will his friends be able to save him before his fate is sealed? Find out in chapter 25, which will be coming soon. Just a reminder that I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters, they belong to Square Enix. I do however own characters I created myself. Also, the bit where Zack and Aerith were arguing about the book Aerith was reading was a parody from an episode of Family Guy called PTV, I don't own this, Family Guy belongs to 20th Century Fox.