First of all a HUGE appology for how long this has taken. Rest assured we aim to have the entire story written by the end of this month, and will be uploading chapters much much much more frequently. Well worth the wait we hope, enjoy chapter 13!

-Chapter Thirteen-

Silent Mourning

Two long weeks had passed since that dreadful night back at Liz's house. What had happened there was a mystery to all but one person, a terrible mystery that people doubted would ever be solved. Josh however knew everything.

Nobody could explain how that morning, Elizabeth Edwards had been found the next morning, stone cold dead. Josh's parents, who had found the body, called the police instantly, and the investigation had begun. However, after an autopsy had been carried out on the body, there was no cause of death visible. In fact, from what the result of the autopsy showed, the usually bubbly and happy woman should be alive and well. No heart problems, no poison in the blood, no gunshot wounds, stab wounds, nothing at all. It was this, and only this, that had prevented Josh and his family being taken into custody.

This post mortem result seemed to satisfy everyone who had heard that it was simply a death by natural causes. This of course, as Josh knew, was not the case. It was he who had killed Liz, he who had killed his own god mother, his aunt. However, it was not to his will that this had happened, just as Sephiroth had taken control and forced Josh to break his wrist by punching a wall, he had gone one step further and taken control of Josh's body completely.

Of course this was an unnecessary move, if Sephiroth had really wanted her dead for the purposes of disposing her, he would have done it himself in his own body. No, the real motive for this method was to emotionally cripple Josh. Liz had to be one of the people he cared about most on the earth, and he had forced him to watch as he took her life from her.

It was not as though Josh had not pleaded with Sephiroth to stop, he had agreed to go searching for the black materia almost the second he sussed what Sephiroth was planning to make him do. This did not seem to be enough for him however, obviously he wanted to ensure that he would never question him again, and would obey without question. He had explained the second after he had caused Josh to kill her, that should he question him again, it would be his parents, and then his friends who he forced him to kill.

The reasoning behind this untraceable death was a little perk of Sephiroth's. He had an ability which he referred to as a 'Death Blow', a move which only worked upon those who were completely defenceless, but ensured death every time.

Everyone who had known Liz in life were now gathered at her funeral. Josh did not think he was going to be able to stomach going, knowing what he did. On numerous occasions he had considered turning himself in to the authorities, however every time he had done so, Sephiroth had informed him that he would just kill his captors in order to escape.

No, there really was no way out for Josh now, and the shock realisation of what he had done was now right in front of him in a coffin. It was all just getting too much for him. He had never liked funerals to begin with, but then again who did? However this terrible knowledge that he possessed just made it ten times more unbearable.

The service was short and simple, a look back at Liz's life and her achievements, including readings from more some of her more witty newspaper articles, a few hymns, and a song to open and close the ceremony with. To Josh's relief, Alex had agreed to come along to the funeral as well. Even though she had not known her very well, she had agreed to come along simply to be there for her best friend.

It was not until the wake however that he and Alex were able to talk properly with each other.

"How are you feeling…?" She asked tentatively, Josh's eyes still looked a little bloodshot.

"Would you prefer a lie or the truth?" Josh asked, his face remaining emotionless.

Alex did not really know what to say to him. She hugged her best friend, feeling him shake with sadness as she did so. "The truth is always best mate…but seriously there was nothing you could do, it was just her time…"

What did Alex know though, she had no idea. "No it wasn't…" Josh replied.

Again Alex found herself lost for words. She would normally have asked him to explain this kind of statement, but as Josh was so distraught she knew he was not going to make sense.

"Alex…" Josh began, as they broke apart from the hug, "…Alex, I think I'm starting to lose it you know?"

"Watch your mouth…" Sephiroth warned.

She looked at him and gave a weak smile. "Josh, you have just lost your god mother, you aren't going to be all with it straight away. You aren't superman."

Alex was slightly worried now, this light attempt at humour, feeble though it may have been, would normally have merited a small laugh in return from her best friend. However Josh's face remained a pained yet emotionless blank.

"No, I mean really losing it, I don't know what is wrong with me, I don't know if I can explain…"

Again the voice in his head warned him. "And explain you won't, as you know what will happen if you do."

"Just…" Alex began, trying to think how to best phrase her sentence," …just try to relax for now. And I know you probably will have heard this advice before, but try not to think about it too much, like I said, there was nothing you could have done for her. I'm going to go get a drink quickly ok? Do you want anything?"

Josh shook his head, looking down at the floor as he did so. She walked off towards the table which had all the food and drinks laid out on it. Most of the people who had attended the funeral were over there, which was why Josh had decided to find a seat as far from it as possible.

"All beginning to hit home now is it?" Sephiroth asked him with an evil chuckle.

For the first time that Josh could remember, he did not answer, and his mind was so blank from the shock that Sephiroth could not find an answer in his mind. This seemed to annoy him greatly, he was not used to being ignored.

"Did you hear me Josh?" Josh was fairly certain this was a rhetorical question, but decided to answer none the less.

"Yes, what is your point?" He replied, trying to make his mind sound as bitter as possible in his answer.

"Oh dear, we will have to work on your manners 'Joshy'." The deliberate use of the nickname which his aunt had used for him enraged Josh, and silent tears began to fall down his face. He clenched his fist so tightly that his fingernails were starting to cut into his skin.

"Josh?" Alex asked upon her return, looking concerned. "What's up?" She thought this was a rather stupid question to ask at a wake.

"Nothing…" He replied, unclenching his fist. Josh had clenched it so hard he had actually drawn blood from the palm of his hand, "…just the whole atmosphere is getting to me." Fortunately for him, Alex did not notice the damage that he had done to his hand.

Alex tried her best to make small talk with Josh, even though it was a generally unsuccessful endeavour. "Do you want me to leave you alone?" She asked eventually, after several half-hearted responses from her friend.

"No!" Josh replied, so quickly that it gave Alex a start. "No… I'm sorry I'm not talking much but really…I appreciate you being here, I don't know how I would have got through today if you weren't…"

He then looked over at his parents. His father did not look too bad, but then again he was too busy consoling Josh's mother. As Liz had been her sister, it was only to be expected that his mum would take it a lot worse than his dad.

Josh and his parents stayed until everyone else except Alex had left. The room they were in now being deserted but for four people now heightened Josh's feeling of being alone.

"Well…" His dad said to him and Alex, walking over to them, "…we had best make a move, it's a long journey back."

They left and got in the car. Nobody said a word during the trip back. This gave Alex time to talk to Tifa about a sudden idea that had just occurred to her.

"Tifa, do you think there is a possibility Josh is a host?" She asked her. Earlier in the day when Josh had said that he 'Thought he was starting to lose it' reminded her of when she had found out Shaun was a host.

"I'm almost positive that he isn't. I can't sense a thing, and believe me, when he said the losing it comment it made me start to wonder too." Tifa then paused, thinking how best to word her next sentence, "But no matter how much I tried to sense another one of us inside him, I couldn't. No I think he is just going through a lot of emotional trauma at the moment, try to just forget about what he said for now."

Perhaps she was right. Alex was not sure how she would react if she were to lose one of her loved ones like he had. Tifa did not say another word to Alex after this, and she in turn did not attempt to make any conversation. It was an uncomfortable car journey.

Both Alex and Josh seemed glad when they pulled up back in their hometown.

"Do you want me to stay with you for a bit or would you rather be alone?" Alex asked him tentatively.

He thought for a moment. "I think I would rather be alone for now. I will probably give you a call later." Alex nodded and started to walk off, "Hey Alex?"

She stopped and looked round at him. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming along today…I really can't explain how much I appreciate it." She looked at him, it was heart-wrenching to see just how broken this had made Josh.

"No problem." Alex gave him a weak smile and headed off home.

She walked with a purpose, wanting to get home as quickly as possible. It was when she was passing the all too familiar alleyway a few streets away from her house however, that she heard somebody whisper…

"Hey Alex!" She wheeled around and looked down the gloomy alleyway, where she saw a figure in a blue suit.

She walked a few paces down the alleyway before noticing that it was none other than. "Reeve!"

"Keep your voice down!" He warned her. "You never know who might be watching."

Alex looked a little puzzled at this remark. "What do you mean? Who could possibly be watching us?"

"Who do you think?" Reeve asked, obviously not expecting an answer. "His eyes and ears are everywhere, Rufus is a very resourceful man…and a very lucky man."

"Why do you say lucky?" She inquired.

"Well…" Reeve began, looking around nervously, "…there was an explosion and he was at the heart of it. He is lucky to still be alive."

"An explosion?" Alex seemed to be full of questions. "How did he survive? What kind of explosion?"

"How he survived…I have no idea. The explosion itself was cause by a very powerful monster however, it should have killed him, yet he lives. This alone is reason to use caution when it regards Rufus Shinra."

Alex shivered, then remember what she was going to ask. "What are you doing here? Aren't you afraid someone might see you?"

He chuckled. "I doubt anybody except our kind would notice me for who I am." Reeve then seemed to scan the rooftops, as though afraid somebody would be watching from them. "Anyway, I really need to talk to Tifa. I don't mean to be rude, but could you let her take over for a few minutes."

"She can hear you now, can't I just speak for her?" Alex asked.

"Don't you think that is rude?" He frowned at her.

"Ok…how do I let her take over?" This was never something that she had willingly done, it had always happened on a whim as far as she was aware.

"I don't really know how to explain it really…just sort of let her." Alex looked at him quizzically, but nevertheless simply attempted to simply let Tifa take over.

It was easier than expected, and since she was trying to let her take over it wasn't as painful a process as it usually was. Within thirty seconds, Tifa and Reeve were standing face to face.

"What is it Reeve?" Tifa asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well its Rufus…" He replied, so quietly that she almost had to lip read him, "…he is on the move. We know he was situated in northern Europe, he is heading south but we don't know exactly where."

"Your sources letting you down?" Tifa joked. "How do you know he is heading south?"

"He tells very few people his exact motives, Rufus likes to play everything as close to the chest as possible. All we know is that there was a plane bound from Russia to France a couple of weeks ago, whether he is intending to stay there is anyone's guess…" He began to walk down the alley, Tifa followed. "…We are almost certain his main base of operations is in Russia, but for all we know he could be constantly on the move."

"So how will we know what he is doing?" Tifa sounded a little worried.

"Our man lost track of him in France, we don't know where he is now but we are doing everything we can to find him… that I promise you…"

Two weeks previous. Paris, France. Nicholi had touched down in the city no more than two hours ago, yet already his eyes were set on the Louvre. Fortunately for him it was peak time, so blending in with all the tourists who would undoubtedly be there would not be a problem at all. Not wanting to hang around, he made his way to the art gallery as fast as he possibly could with his henchmen.

Not wanting to attract attention he ordered his men to stay outside by the entrance.

"Find a safe place for us to switch over, I would rather look for this with my own eyes Nicholi…" Rufus instructed.

He made his way to the loos, waited until they were completely empty, and then found an empty cubical. In a matter of moments, Rufus Shinra was striding around the hallways of the Louvre gallery.

"Any idea where to start?" Nicholi asked. It was clear that the two of them got on very well.

"Haven't a clue." Rufus replied confidently. It was clear that he had a plan. "I don't intend to do much of the looking. We can find out if there is anything new through somebody else."

He walked from exhibit to exhibit, all the time examining them closely for anything which was out of the ordinary. This was far from easy, as much of the art was extremely expressive, and therefore quite abstract. After around thirty minutes however, Rufus found somebody who obviously worked for the gallery. The man just seemed to have finished giving a guided tour of the gallery.

"Him, we can manipulate him…" Rufus said. He subtly did so, the man had a blank expression on his face for a brief moment before walking off with a seemingly determined look on his face.

Rufus followed him at a slight distance. They walked for a few moments before coming to a fairly extravagant looking statue. He could not quite tell what it was, however he did think it looked very impressive. Rufus walked up to the red cordon which surrounded the statue, and then read the plaque.

'The Elements: Earth, Water, Wind and Fire united as one. Artist Unknown.'

He looked back up at the statue, and could half see what it meant. There were shapes which seemed to be waves crashing on a shore, as for the wind and the fire, he could not spot this anywhere. The statue was within reach. It towered over Rufus, it must have been almost twelve feet tall.

Confidently, he stretched out a hand to touch the stone, then wished he hadn't. The stone was white hot, as though it had just come out of a furnace. Some nearby tourists were watching him as he did this, then went to touch it themselves. To Rufus's great surprise, they were able to touch the stone seemingly without feeling any pain.

Wondering if this meant it was fine to touch now, he tried again, however took his hand away immediately. It was still white hot.

"I think you can finish your search…" Nicholi said quietly.

"Yes, but where is the actual orb?" Rufus began to circle the statue, looking at it with great interest. From what he could see, it was all stone, nothing glass-like was attached to it in any way shape or form.

"Inside perhaps?" Nicholi suggested.

Rufus agreed with him, there was no other place that it could be. Breaking it open right this second however would not be a clever move. "I think I can hazard an educated guess to which one this is."

He took out his phone and pressed speed-dial one. "I need you to close the Louvre, do whatever it takes, shut down everything then meet me in the entrance."

Rufus strode over to a nearby bench and took a seat, evidently waiting for something. Within five minutes, a man dressed in blue was walking around advising everybody to leave, though the reason for why was unclear. He got up and walked into the entrance hall.

Standing in the middle were four people, one of which was the curator, two looked like security, and the other was the man in blue who had been going round.

"I don't care who you work for." The curator said to the man, "I demand an explanation for this."

Rufus raised a hand, and the familiar yellow glow emanated from it. One of the members of security threw a punch at the curator, knocking him to the floor, whereas the man in blue kicked the other guard in the head, knocking him out too.

The man walked over to where Rufus was standing. "Mr President." He addressed him.

"Tseng." Rufus replied simply. "Security is all down I trust?"

"On all but the Mona Lisa." Tseng said. "What is it you have found sir?"

"Follow me." Rufus walked back in the direction of the statue, pointing it out to Tseng. "I suspect it is inside."

"What makes you so sure?" Tseng asked, walking up to the statue to examine it more closely.

"Touch it." Rufus instructed.

Tseng obliged, and just as Rufus had done before him, he took his hand away very quickly as though it had been burned. As the president had done, Tseng also walked over to the plaque and read the inscription it bore.

"Three guesses what this is…" He said with a sarcastic tone, Rufus walked up to stand alongside him, "…any thoughts on how we are going to break it open sir?"

Rufus fired several shards of ice at the statue, to no surprise however, they evaporated on touch. He then extracted a handgun from his coat and fired an entire clip at the statue. They did not even leave a mark.

"Allow me sir." Tseng then raised his hand. There was a flash and a very loud bang, from his fingertips erupted what appeared to be a bolt of lightning. Much to his annoyance however, this also did nothing.

Rufus thought for a second, then looked at Tseng . "Can you electrify the bullets as I fire?" He reloaded his gun and took aim at the statue.

Tseng stood right alongside him and put his hand carefully alongside the gun. "On three?"

"Yes…" Replied Rufus, "…one…two…"

On three, Rufus pulled the trigger and Tseng produced another bolt of lightning. There was suddenly a huge tremor which shook the floor on which they stood. There was a crack in the statue, and then quite suddenly, it burst open.

With what must have been the force of a hurricane, both Tseng and Rufus were swept off of their feet and slammed into the back wall. When they both hit the floor and looked up they were faced with an incredible sight. Hovering in the centre of where the statue had stood was a glowing red orb, clearly whatever power it harnessed was awake.

With what seemed like great difficulty, Rufus took aim at the orb, it took him several attempts, but eventually one of the bullets found its target. The orb fell to the floor and rolled harmlessly up against the back wall, and the gale force winds subsided.

"That was unexpected…" Tseng voiced, getting to his feet and brushing down his suit.

Rufus however had stridden the long distance of the room, knelt down, and picked up the orb. "We got what we came for here, next stop is England…"

A/N: Again a huge appology, we cannot stress how sorry we are and appreciate your patience greatly. Next chapter wil be uploaded wednesday. Review please, constuctive criticism appreciated!

R&A