Okay, I know I should have updated earlier, but school has been keeping me pretty busy, that and my sister's marriage. lol. Then this passing weekend, I started to get sick. So I went to school Monday, even with a 100 temp. Then today, Tuesday, I was coughing so bad my parents let me stay home even through it was my mother's birthday. They took me to the hospital and it turns out that I have an 'upper respiratory infection' which was pretty close to turning to pneumonia (a digital cookie to who figures out how I got something close to pneumonia when its basically summer and in like 70-90 degree weather) . So the doctor said not to send me to school tomorrow, and stuff. So I finally had the time to write some more. This chapter changes views a lot, and when I saw a lot, I mean first its Cloud's, then Sephy's, then Vinnie's, and finally I guess it would be third person.


I watched as the group trekked back to the town. They looked a little worse for the wear, but that was probably just due to the long journey it took to get to either place. I wondered which they went to, but I didn't linger on the thought. I had things to do, places to be… wolves to tend to…. demonic ex-Turks to annoy. The usual.

Then I froze. And who wouldn't? I could feel eyes on me, even though I was hidden in the mansion, and there was no way that I could be seen. Yet, Sephiroth just loved to prove me wrong. His acid eyes were trained on me, of that I was sure. While everyone else was sluggishly making their way to the tavern/hotel they were staying at, Sephiroth was standing in the road, facing the mansion and staring… at me. I felt something flare up within me, the natural flow of my personal lifestream not liking this situation one bit.

This was the Calamity's Child. I was the Planet's. Who would win, in a battle between us? A shiver ran down my back at the thought of the outcome. Subconsciously, my hand moved to grasp First Tsurugi's handle. Aeris seemed to have noticed Sephiroth's missing presence, because she turned and called to him. He turned, and reluctantly I might add, joined his group. My grip did not relax.

"He isn't her real son." Vincent's soft voice echoed in the empty room. I silently cursed him back to his coffin. Sephiroth gave me one last glance before disappearing behind closed doors.

"She isn't capable of having a son, Vincent. But I can't very well go against the tide of the planet's thoughts when it makes up me, now can I?" He made an undistinguished noise, which I promptly ignored.

Tomorrow they'll either try to re-enter the mansion, or try to find the other place that they most likely hadn't found today. I hoped that they would try to find what they couldn't today.

~ Sephy's View.

"Maybe the materia cave is the mako spring… I mean… it seemed like those statutes… figures... whatever… were made from mako."

"No. I don't think so." Zack quirked an eyebrow at me.

"It's possible that Zack is right." Genesis interjected.

"But I doubt it. I just get the feeling that there is a mako spring that Shinra hasn't tapped yet out here."

"So you want to waste another day searching for it?" Aeris' soft voice cut across the room.

"No. We need to start on that mansion." Everyone seemed to slump at the idea.

"I don't think it's a good idea. There's more to Cloud then I think any of us can really realize." Aeris sighed as she spoke. "I get this… feeling around him… and I want to cry. I can't explain it. I feel that I should know him, like the planet wants me to know him. Know who he is, since he obviously doesn't. Or maybe he does… and he just doesn't know it. Either way, I think that the mansion is something of Cloud's. And furthermore, there's so much woven into the mansion, it just….."

Aeris was working herself into a big ball of … I dunno. But it was bad. Normally Aeris or Zack took care of emotions, since I failed so miserably at the subject… I could tell that Aeris was worked up over this, and that was all I needed to know. I glanced out the window, and found my eyes trained on the mansion. Why did things have to suddenly be difficult?

~ Vinnie's View

I watched Cloud as he spasmed in his sleep. A nightmare that would drift out of his mind like a feather the moment he woke. Right now he was struggling with his bed sheets, fighting who knows what in the troubled mind that belonged to the teen in front of me. Then again, he wasn't really a teen.

I turned to look out the window, and noticed that the light was still on in the room that my son was sharing with his men. How many lies made up the life he knew… made up the walls he used to protect himself? How many lives are affected by his… by Cloud's?

My mind wandered to what Sephiroth's life may have been like, and how those around him could have affected who he was now. I thought of his true mother… and me. What a fucked up family. I narrowed my eyes at the thought. A mad scientist mother… a demon ridden father… and a son who believed his father to be another mad scientist and his mother an alien. Chaos chuckled and I mentally damned him. Not that it would ever do any good.

The wolves' howls rang through the country side. Winter was coming. The air was already turning chilly and brisk. Frost was coating the surfaces of the outside. Animals scurried to preserve what was left of the short time when it wasn't winter. Not that there were many animals to begin with.

The moon was so much larger here than anywhere else on the planet. It was half hidden behind the seemingly endless mountains that had to be taller and more majestic than any Shinra skyscraper. They touched the moon, the sky and anything above. A link between the steady ground under feet, and the sky so high above the hand's reach.

The forest, although sparse in some areas, covered the land in patches, like a patchwork quilt. Off in the distance, in a valley in one of the many mountains, a small green pool glowed as it bubbled gently. On the other side, a materia cave shined in the moon light reflecting through it. Both monuments of a story spun so many years ago… This land called to the planet. The once powerful land, saturate in the lifestream and feeding the are so it had an abundant growth.

That night, everyone in the region dreamed. They dreamed of how the land once prospered. They dreamed of winged humans dancing through the trees. Of graceful humans spinning tales in the air with a flick of their wrist. Of other humans howling with wolves, wrestling with bears, and dancing with nature in general. They dreamed of bright blue skies, making the always freshly fallen snow glow with a blue tint. Of the dark starry night and the impossibly large moon over the guardian mountains. Of the song of the skies, and the lament of the wolves. Of a forest covering all, providing shelter to all who needed it.

And when they woke, the dream drifted off like a leaf in a stream. Winged humans didn't exist. Humans couldn't write in the air, no matter how much experience with mako or materia they had. Only the stupidly insane risked their lives playing with monsters. The sky was a dreary gray, thick with the pollution that came from the reactor. The moon wasn't as large, and the mountains no longer protecting. The only song was the lament of the wolves, more sorrowful than before. A dead and deceased forest. Dead to all who could possibly need it.


BTW, hacking up your lungs is not fun and I don't suggest one tries it just to get out of school. MmmKay? Seriously, not fun and very painful; and the medicine, ugh, don't get me started. lol