Denzel gasped suddenly as he thought her heard Tifa cry out in his head. He felt it was a reaction from his Geostigma. He was sitting on a set of stairs as people walked by while he was staring at the ground. After a few seconds a pair of shoes appeared in his eyesight. A Moggle doll hung next to them as well. "You have the Stigma too?" was what the girl asked.

Denzel lifted his head to see the girl standing in front of him. She was holding the Moggle doll in her right hand and there was visible Geostigma on her right arm and neck. "Come on, they're gonna fix us." the girl said as she grabbed Denzel by his hand and led him off to where ever she was talking about. Denzel felt unsure, but his instincts were saying he may as well check it out.

She led him through an alley to a truck that other infected children were getting on to. The girl ran over to the truck, but Denzel was unsure. After some thought, he finally decided to go along and hopped onto the truck. Yazoo stood at the front of the truck, pleased with how many infected children had gathered.

Squall was riding around the city with Tidus, looking for Cloud and Lightning with the mysterious cloaked person riding with Squall. "Come on you two, where are you?" Squall impatiently thought as he rode off even faster.

Cloud walked into the church to see if anything was wrong there. As he walked inside, he was shocked and confused to see that the inside of the church was pretty much torn apart. "What the hell happened here?" Cloud thought as he walked forward and observed the damage.

When he reached the front of the large flowerbed, he saw a figure lying in the flowers. After getting a closer look, he was speechless to see it was Tifa, and that she was obviously hurt. Cloud quickly ran over to Tifa and held her up. "Tifa, Tifa!" Cloud cried with a very worried tone.

Tifa groaned as her eyes opened a little bit to see Cloud holding her. "You're late." was Tifa's reply.

"Who did this to you?"

"H-He didn't say" Tifa weakly said.

Suddenly, something struck her mind as she remembered the last thing she saw before she fell unconscious. "Marlene!" Tifa shouted as she suddenly got up with a jolt. She fell back down into Cloud's arms unconscious from the beating she took. Cloud looked around for Marlene to see she was no where to be seen. Then as he eyed his things, he saw that his chest of materia was gone as well.

"Damn!" Cloud said in frustration. Suddenly he felt a great pain in his left arm as his Geostigma was acting up again. Cloud grunted in pain as black ooze began secreting from his sleeve and dripping onto the flowers and grass.

Cloud's eyes turned green and into their cat-like form as he began having visions of Sephiroth as well as Kadaj. Suddenly, he heard Sephiroth's voice in his head. "Don't pretend you're sad. Why tremble with anger that's not even there? Face it, Cloud. All you are is an empty puppet." After hearing those words, Cloud fell down unconscious next to Tifa.

Cloud opened his eyes a moment later to see he was in a burning town with orange flames covering everything. The burning town quickly became familiar to Cloud upon seeing it. "No, it can't be." Cloud said not believing his eyes. He was in the now burning town of Nibelheim, his home. He felt a dark presence behind him, and he quickly turned around to see Sephiroth standing in the flames. He gave Cloud an evil smile before turning around and walking through the flames.

Cloud clenched his fists as he felt a great deal of anger surge through him. "It's all your fault… You're the one to blame!" Cloud shouted as he grabbed the Main Blade from behind him and ran through the flames after Sephiroth. When he reached the end of the flames, Sephiroth had disappeared into thin air.

Cloud was now in a world shrouded in darkness and the burning town of Nibelheim disappeared. Cloud looked all around to see if there was a way out, but all there was around him was pure darkness. Suddenly a surge of pain shot through his left arm from his Geostigma.

Cloud dropped the Main Blade and grabbed his arm in pain as he fell to his knees. Not only was black ooze secreting from his arm, but blood too. A great pain suddenly shot through his upper right back as a large lump suddenly appeared. Cloud let out a loud cry of pain as the lump began growing larger and larger.

Suddenly, a large black feathered wing burst from Cloud's upper right back. The Sephiroth cells in Cloud began reacting to this change strongly as his eyes changed to their cat-like form. Cloud felt as though his body was about to give out any second. Suddenly a ball of white light appeared in front of Cloud, and its light seemed to soothe his pain.

The wing retracted back into Cloud's back as his eyes returned to normal. "Only you can stop him." a voice from the ball of light said as the ball expanded and Cloud's entire world was shrouded in light. Cloud felt lightheaded as he fell to the ground. When he landed on the ground, he saw he was once again in the flower garden with Tifa next to him only they were both in Cloud's world of light. Cloud then fell unconscious.

Cloud woke up and opened his eyes to see he was no longer in Aerith's church. After getting up and getting a better look at his surroundings, he saw he was in the 7th Heaven Bar. He looked to his right to see Tifa sleeping in the bed next to his. Cloud was thinking a lot about the vision he just had since it seemed and felt so real.

"Y'know you're, pretty heavy." Reno's voice said behind Cloud. Cloud turned to his left to see Reno and Rude at the door.

"Weren't there, some kids living with you?" Rude asked.

"Cause they ain't here" Reno added in. Cloud only remained silent.

"You don't care?" Rude asked.

"I just…" is what Cloud said as he looked back at the sleeping Tifa. Reno just let out a sigh of frustration.

"Man, you're a real handful" Reno said as he and Rude left the room.

In the Forgotten City, Loz had brought Marlene and Cloud's materia chest to Kadaj. Kadaj walked over to the chest and was amazed at what he saw. "Look at what brother was hiding. Powers forged in the Lifestream. Kadaj took a blue materia and placed it on his arm. The materia was absorbed into his arm and could be seen shining through it as a blue aura was illuminating around his arm.

"With this materia, those powers will be ours." Kadaj said.

When night time came, Tifa awoke to see Cloud standing at the window. "Reno and Rude are out looking for them." Cloud said as he walked over and sat on the other bed.

"Cloud… you have Geostigma. Don't you?" Tifa asked.

Cloud only stayed quiet.

"So you're just gonna give up and die like that. Is that it?" Tifa asked.

Cloud still didn't answer her questions.

"So it is"

"There's no cure" Cloud responded.

"Yeah, but even that's not stopping Denzel is it? Don't run. Let's fight it together, we can help each other I know we can Cloud!" Tifa said

Cloud didn't respond to her.

"I guess that sort of thing only works for real families"

Tifa… I'm not fit to help or protect anyone. Not my family, not my friends… nobody" Cloud said in a gloomy voice.

"Dilly dally shilly shally" Tifa said. Cloud raised his head in confusion at hearing those words.

"Dilly dally shilly shally" she repeated.

"I think she wants you to move on man." Reno said as he and Rude appeared behind the two at the door.

"Did you find them?!" Tifa asked worryingly.

"No. Genesis and Lightning found a witness. Kadaj's gang, took the kids." Reno answered.

"Where are they?" Cloud asked.

"They're at their base now. The Forgotten City" Rude answered.

"Go. I have to talk to Rufus." said Cloud as he got up.

"Stop running!" Tifa responded.

"I know, even if you find them you might not be able to help them. You're scared that something might happen that can never unhappen aren't you? "You need to think about now and really take it in. Right now you're only thinking that you've got it so damn hard! Let people in if you hate being alone so much! You may not answer the phone, but I don't see you throwing it away either!" Tifa said. Her words left a great impact on Cloud.

"You go. The base is all yours." Reno said as he and Rude left the room.

"So which is it? A memory, or us?" Tifa asked. Cloud only stood there in thought of what she told him.

Cloud was riding Fenrir through the Forgotten City and was heading to the Forgotten Capital, which is where Kadaj and his gang were currently at with the kids.

At the Forgotten Capital, all of the infected children were gathered in front of the large lake with Kadaj and his gang on the other side. Marlene was with Kadaj's gang and was being held by her shoulder by Loz.

"Mother has given me, a very special gift. The power to fight, against a planet the torments humanity. She gave this gift, to all her children."

What Kadaj just said came as a big shock to all the children.

"That's right. You and I are brethren. Brothers and sisters… chosen when we inherited Mother's memetic legacy through the Lifestream. But… the planet doesn't approve of that at all. It's doing everything it can to hold us back. That's why, it's racking our bodies with pain, and filling our hearts with doubt!"

Kadaj's words continued to have a great impact on the children. "Now, I shall heal you. Then, we will all go to Mother together. We will join as a family and strike back at the planet!" Kadaj said as a large blue aura of energy surrounded him.

"Do as I do." Kadaj said as he walked into the water. As he did, the water began turning an evil shade of black. Kadaj raised his hands from the water and cupped some of it in his hands. He brought his hands to his mouth and drank the water. The children began walking into the water and did what Kadaj had just done.

Denzel stood there in the water, hesitant if he should go though with it.

"Denzel!" Marlene called out. Denzel took some of the water into his hands still hesitant. Finally he decided to go through with it and drank the water.

"Denzel!" Marlene called out again. Denzel moved his arms down as he felt the power of the mysterious water course through him. When he opened his eyes, they suddenly turned green and his irises became a slit like a cats eye. His and all the other kids Reunion instincts had been triggered.

As Cloud was riding through the Forgotten City, he couldn't help but feel a strange sensation around him. Suddenly before he knew it, he was in a world of white light, just like in his vision. "You came" the voice of Aerith said as she stood behind Cloud.

"Even though you're about to break. That's a good sign." Aerith said. Cloud only stayed silent at hearing his friends voice again.

"So, why did you come?" Aerith asked.

"I think, I want to be… forgiven. More than anything." Cloud answered.

"By who?" Aerith asked. When Cloud turned around he was back in reality and Aerith was gone. Cloud turned around as gunshots went off and bullets came flying his way. Cloud swerved his motorcycle out of the way of the shots to see Kadaj and his gang up ahead. Loz and Yazoo were the ones firing the shots at Cloud.

Cloud opened Fenrir's sword compartments and chose the Main Blade and the Hollow Blade. He accelerated Fenrir, maneuvering the motorcycle with his legs, as he dodged or deflected incoming bullets. Kadaj drew his sword and walked forward as Loz and Yazoo ceased their fire.

With waves of his free hand, infected children suddenly came down from no where. When Cloud saw the children up ahead, he saw Denzel and Marlene in his way. Cloud quickly jerked Fenrir away from the two which caused him to skid out of control. Cloud was thrown off of Fenrir as the bike was sent spinning forward.

Cloud landed on the ground hard as his spinning was stopped by Loz's foot as the Main Blade landed two feet behind it. Kadaj appeared in front of Cloud as the infected children gathered around him. "I'm glad you could make it!" Kadaj said.

"I only came for the kids!" was Cloud's response.

"See this man? He's our big brother!" Kadaj said as he circled Cloud.

"But alas. In our happy flock." Kadaj said as he drew his two bladed sword Souba and held the blades at Cloud's face.

"He's what you'd call a black sheep." Kadaj said as he drew his sword back, ready to kill Cloud.

"Cloud!" Marlene called out which distracted Kadaj. Cloud quickly grabbed the Hollow Blade from in front of him and swung at Kadaj who dodged the strike. The children quickly fled from the area so they wouldn't get caught up in it. Yazoo was firing shots at Cloud while Loz used his super speed to get in close.

Cloud didn't have time to get ready for the attack since he was too focused on deflecting Yazoo's bullets. Loz jumped and swing his Dual Hound at Cloud, but Cloud dodged the attack just in time. Loz threw a series of punches which Cloud was barely able to dodge. Cloud quickly tried to slash at Loz suddenly threw an uppercut which Cloud used the Hollow Blade to block.

The force sent Cloud flying over Loz and he landed hard on the ground. He saw the Main Blade in front of him and quickly grabbed it before seeing Yazoo fire more shots at him. Cloud swung the Main Blade at Yazoo, who ducked under the strike and kicked Cloud's face, sending him sliding back as he continued firing shots at him. Cloud blocked the bullets and swung the Hollow Blade but Yazoo ducked under it and swung his Velvet Nightmare at Cloud who blocked it quickly with the Main Blade.

Loz, a good distance from the two, brought his Dual Hound arm up and then slammed it into the ground, sending a large wave of dirt at them. When Cloud noticed it coming at him, Yazoo did a large jump over the wave while firing shots at Cloud. Cloud deflected the bullets before turning his attention to the dirt wave. He charged the Main Blade up with energy and used Blade Beam. He swung swung the Main Blade, sending a blue energy blast at the wave. On impact, the blast destroyed the dirt wave a large blue explosion.

After the dust cleared, Loz came flying towards Cloud with a punch though Cloud retaliated with a slash which Loz blocked. He used his super speed to reappear all around Cloud while attacking him which left Cloud at a big disadvantage. Yazoo fired shots from his Velvet Nightmare at Cloud which gave him another obstacle to deal with.

Cloud barely managed to blocked the bullets while dodging Loz's punch's at the same time. Cloud quickly did a large jump and landed on the top of one of the white glowing trees. He saw Loz beneath the tree who punched it and caused the tree to fall over. While it was falling, Yazoo landed on the tree and fired shots at Cloud, who blocked them as Loz jumped up at them.

The three were in the air doing melee combat. Cloud was in the middle of the two and was able to fend off their attacks since he had two swords. Cloud quickly performed a big slash which pushed the two back as Cloud landed on a tree branch. He quickly combined the Hollow Blade with the Main Blade as his eyes fell on Kadaj who returned the glance.

Cloud jumped from the tree at Kadaj ready to strike. Suddenly, Cloud's Geostigma sent a surge of pain through his body which caused him to hold back on the power of his strike. Kadaj brought Souba out and easily deflected the strike, but while flying back, Cloud had another vision of Sephiroth.

Kadaj began swinging his sword rapidly at Cloud who was barely able to block them, especially in midair. Kadaj quickly jumped up and brought his sword up as he was ready to kill Cloud. Suddenly two figures appeared above Cloud and slashed their swords at Kadaj who dodged the attacks.

Cloud landed on the ground hard, and his cell phone fell from his pocket into a lake. When Kadaj looked up, he saw the figures were Genesis, and Lightning. Kadaj quickly swung his sword at Genesis who deflected it before swinging back which Kadaj blocked. Lightning got behind Kadaj and swing her sword, but Kadaj just barely managed to move out of the way.

Kadaj was ready to attack again, but his eyes caught the sight of a red cloak descending from above. The red cloak draped down and covered Cloud as gunshots were fired off from it. Kadaj deflected the shots as Yazoo fired shots at the mysterious cloak. The cloak quickly flew away with Cloud as Genesis and Lightning followed it.

"Should we go after them?" Yazoo asked.

"No. That would just be a waste of time. Let's get back to the city." Kadaj said as the three walked off.

When Cloud opened his eyes, he saw he was no longer in the area of the Forgotten City he once was. He sat up to see Genesis and Lightning standing by him. "You're finally up." Lightning said.

"What happened?" Cloud asked.

"Well, we just saved you and that's pretty much it." Genesis answered.

Cloud noticed Vincent was standing with them. "Vincent, what do you know about this?" Cloud asked.

"I come here often. I've seen what Kadaj's group is doing." Vincent said as he walked over and grabbed Cloud's left arm. Suddenly Cloud's Geostigma sent another surge of pain through him.

"The Stigma. It's a symptom of alien matter infesting the body. The body tries to eliminate it and over compensates." Vincent said as he let go of Cloud's arm and the pain stopped.

"Inside our bodies is a current, like the Lifestream. That current is what fights off any malevolent intruders."

"What do you mean by intruders?" Cloud asked.

"The Sephiroth Gene, Jenova's memetic legacy. Call it what you want" Vincent answered.

"You're well informed." Lightning said.

"So how did you find this out?" Cloud asked.

"Tseng and Elena. They were brought here half-dead. They must've been brutally tortured. I did what I could to revive them, but… well we'll see" Vincent said.

"Tortured?" Cloud asked.

"They had it coming to them. They got their hands on Jenova's head." Vincent said.

"So when Kadaj says he's looking for mother"

"Heaven's dark harbinger. The calamity, Jenova. If they wanted to, they could recreate Sephiroth." Vincent said.

"Kadaj. What is he?" Cloud asked.

"I'd rather not know." was Vincent's answer. Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes and everyone grabbed their weapons incase it was an enemy. A small figure came running out of the bushes and ran into Cloud which turned out to be Marlene.

"Marlene!"

"Cloud! Denzel, and Tifa!"

"Don't worry, Tifa is alright"

"I wanna talk to her!"

Cloud reached into his pocket to get his phone, but he saw it wasn't there. "May I?" Marlene asked Vincent. Vincent lifted his cloak showing he didn't have one.

"You don't have a phone?"

"Neither do we." Genesis answered for himself and Lightning.

"Come on Marlene. I'll take you to Tifa." Cloud said. Marlene nodded as she took Cloud's hand in hers. Before they left, Cloud asked Vincent a question he though was very important.

"Vincent. Are sins, ever forgiven?"

"I've never tried" Vincent answered.

"Never tried?" which left Cloud in thought.

"Well I'm gonna try. I'll let you know how it goes" Cloud said as he left with Marlene, Lightning, and Genesis.

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