Next chapter is here guys, sorry about wait lack of internet! Enjoy!

-Chapter Twenty-Four-

Clouds Return

So Vincent's prediction was true. The parasites had been revealed, and what was worse there was photo evidence to back up all those present at the fight which had taken place between Tifa and Sephiroth. Fortunately, though it was of small comfort, these were the only two of whom people knew the hosts of, everybody else remained a secret.

This of course meant a lot of awkward questioning for Alex and Josh's families. Obviously neither of them could return to their homes now, both of them were under very close watch from the authorities. Alex's phone had rang time and time again with calls from her parents, Reeve however had implored her not to answer as the call would likely be traced.

Alex was now staying with Savina in London and having to keep an extremely low profile. Her face was all over the news as was Tifa's. At first the country had taken the news as a joke, but when it persisted however, the reality of the situation seemed to have begun to sink in.

Savina looked at the TV from the sofa which she was sat in and saw Josh and Sephiroth's face flash up. They did not bother unmuting it, they had heard the report several times over. Alex was still having difficulty accepting that all this time it had been her best friend playing host to the most powerful parasite in existence.

She looked down at the new phone which Reeve had acquired for her, wondering if she could risk a call to anybody she knew besides Shaun. Fortunately for him he was still yet to be discovered.

Alex looked over at Savina. "So where do we go from here? We can't just sit around and do nothing!"

She looked up at Alex, "My instructions from Reeve were to keep you here for the time being whilst we work out a plan of action. He and Cloud should be with us shortly."

Alex kicked the nearest wall, and then wished she hadn't due to the pain. She could not stand just doing nothing when the situation had escalated beyond control. "You didn't think this was going to happen either, did you Savina?"

She shook her head. "I think like you I was hoping Vincent was talking out of his…well never mind. The point is it has happened and there is no amount of manipulation we can do to undo that now." She looked up at Alex, "Why didn't you tell us the second you knew who Sephiroth was? We could have stopped this then and there…"

Alex couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty, she defended herself none the less however. "What would you have done, he is my best friend, I have known him for years and you would have slaughtered him."

Savina didn't answer, Alex knew that this was because of the truth which her words held. She began to pace the room, running her fingers through her hair, the events of the previous few hours replaying over and over in her mind's eye. It was at that moment that the two of them heard footsteps approaching the door.

Seconds later three people walked in. Reeve, followed by Shaun who ran straight up to Alex and hugged her. The final person was Cloud Strife, tall and slender with long spiked blonde hair. Tifa began requesting to take over, which Alex refused.

"We won't be staying here long, I have a jet being prepared for us, we move out in two hours max…" Reeve addressed them all, walking over to the armchair and collapsing into it.

Cloud walked over to the sofa and sat next to Savina, who was slowly transforming back into the ninja, Yuffie. "So this is where everyone has been hiding…" He joked, looking around at everyone.

Alex finally let Tifa take over. "You're late." She said to him, a smile on her face.

He shrugged. "Better late than never right?" Everyone present laughed slightly.

"We have time before we need to leave, why don't you share with us what you know Cloud…" Reeve suggested, everyone agreed with him.

"Well," He began, leaning forward slightly and resting his elbows on his knees, "my host is from Japan, that's why I have been a little out of sync with the rest of the world. It was only recently when I saw the news about the break in of Fort Knox that I decided to leave my post. I was laying low, I didn't know if all of you had come through to this world like I had…I am sorry…"

He looked down at the floor. "Anyway when that hit the news I knew you were here too, I could sense it, nobody else could have broken into there." He looked around at them all. "I knew it had to be him, and then something inside me told me to travel here to England, that this is where I would find you, that the time was now right to make a move."

Everybody was taking in his story with great interest. "But that isn't how our instinct works…" Tifa began, a little confused, "…it has always been we sense when another of us is either close by or publicised."

"Yeah that's how you found me! Saw my host in the papers…" Yuffie chirped in cheerfully.

"Perhaps my 'instinct' works differently?" Cloud suggested to the room at large.

"Well we are always prepared for new surprises, the thought of becoming lenient with our situation is laughable…" Reeve added, remembering just how much things had changed over the last few months, "…continue?"

Before Cloud could say another word however, Reeve's phone began to vibrate. He looked at it and saw it was Vincent. He flipped it open, there were a few short exchanges between them, and then he snapped the phone shut.

"Sorry about that, Vincent has a plan, it's going out on a limb but it may just work…"

X

"I don't care who they are or where they supposedly come from, the point is they are quite clearly dangerous and need to be stopped." The prime minister said to his advisors, walking towards his office. "If we don't track down Ms West soon then there will be panic from the public, we need to get results and we need them fast."

"Sir we have MI5 and MI6 working on it as we speak, there is no way of knowing if she has slipped out of the country undetected…"

"Tighten security on all forms of travel. Anybody attempting to leave the country either commercially or privately is to be checked and double checked for identification until she is found…" They reached his office door, "…now if you will excuse me I need to call Washington and inform them of our intentions."

He went in his office and closed the door, locking it behind him. The prime minister tilted his head forwards for a few moments closing his eyes, of all the times something like this could happen it had to be when his party made office? He pinched the back of his hand for what must have been the tenth time that day.

"You aren't dreaming Mr Prime Minister…" A voice said from behind him, he spun around and was facing a tall man in a red cape, sitting with his feet up behind his desk, drumming his fingers upon it, "…and believe me I wish you were."

He spun round and tried to unlock the door, but found that he couldn't, then he began to shout. "Help! Help!"

"Nobody can hear you, I have sealed the room, nobody can get in or out and nobody can hear inside." The man held up his right arm which was glowing an ominous green colour. "No matter how hard you try, I'm not here with ill intent anyway."

The prime minister sized up the man, wondering if he was lying. "Then why the guile in getting into my office, why not just approach me by public means?"

"Because Mr Prime Minister in your current state of panic I don't think my approach would have been met with praise…" The man got up from the red leather chair and walked round to the front of the desk, and then to within two feet of the prime minister, he held out his hand, "…Vincent Valentine is my name."

He chose not to shake Vincent's hand, which he lowered soon after offering. "What do you want?" The minister asked, sounding very angry.

"I'm here to shed some light on the situation your country is in." Vincent replied, moving back over to the desk and leaning on it. "First of all I must implore you to stop searching for Alex West and to begin searching with all haste for her friend Josh Adams. He is the real threat."

The minister took a step closer to him. "I have people looking out for him as well, but why should I believe that he is the threat, from what I heard this Alex West and her…her…"

"Parasite." Vincent finished for him.

"Parasite!" The minister added, "Can create fire and use it against others from thin air! Don't tell me that isn't dangerous!" He began to pace the room. "And what do you mean by parasite?"

"Mr Prime Minister that is what I am, that is what I am here to explain to you. There are not many of us in the world, and we haven't been here long…" He took a step closer to the pacing minister.

"That doesn't explain exactly what you are though!" The minister shouted back.

"We are souls living off the bodies of others, body sharing if you will but with two distinct physical differences and personality's." Vincent proceeded to change between his host form and back again, "You see?"

The minister suddenly felt very light headed and pinched the back of his hand for the final time to check he wasn't going to wake up. "But it's not possible…"

"Anything's possible…" Vincent replied, a smile creeping onto his face, "…Mr Prime Minister there is much I have to tell you but it may be easier simply to show you…"

The minister looked a little confused. "Show me?"

"I can leave my current host and go inside your mind, you will see everything that has happened to myself and other parasites up to this point, it should let you make a more rational decision as to what to do…" Vincent explained.

"And you will leave straight after?" The minister said suspiciously.

"Of course…" Vincent replied, "…now you must take my hand…"

He stretched out his hand again as though for a handshake. The minister tentatively took it, and Vincent looked straight into his eyes. "This will feel a little weird…"

Vincent closed his eyes, and an extraordinary site met the minister's eyes. It looked as though a silver something was forcing its way up Vincent's throat. He opened his mouth, and from it a silver wisp burst from it and shot straight at the minister. Vincent had gone, the man now standing before the minister was a tall black haired man who fell to the floor.

"I'm still here Mr Prime Minister." A voice which he recognised to be Vincent's said to him, this time he couldn't help it, the minister fell to the floor unconscious.

Standing in a black void, the minister looked around, then quite suddenly, a whirl of colour met his eyes. He was at the Great Wall of China, then quite suddenly he was at the tower of London, then Fort Knox, and then…

The minister woke with a start. "You understand now, just what we have been through? You understand the threat which we face, the threat which the world faces?" Vincent's voice said to him.

"I understand…" The minister replied, getting to his feet, he then felt as though something was forcing its way up his throat. The silver wisp shot from it and back into the black haired man on the floor. The minister fell to his knees, weakened.

Vincent Valentine was getting to his feet. "Set your sights on the right person now prime minister, you have the knowledge, you know what we all face. The decision now I leave to you."

The minister looked down at the floor, thinking. "But why are you here at all!" He looked up, Vincent had vanished.

X

"That's the long and short of it, like I said nothing interesting, I have merely been laying low…" Cloud concluded to the rest of them. They were all looking at him interested.

"You said you found materia?" Yuffie asked, getting excited at the word as she always did.

Cloud produced two orbs from his arm, a yellow and a red. "Typhoon." He held up the red one, "Almost caused chaos when I summoned that, and mime…" He held up the yellow one, "…haven't used this one yet need to be near someone with materia."

"It doesn't work any differently in this world then?" Reeve asked curiously.

"No, probably about the only one that doesn't…" Cloud replied, replacing both of the orbs in his arm.

Reeve's phone began to ring again, he flipped it open. "Go ahead…" He said into it.

He was talking for a good ten minutes to whoever it was before hanging up the phone. "If all has gone well they should be ending their search on you…or putting the prime minister in a strait-jacket…" He looked at all of their puzzled faces, "…I'll tell you on the way, we are going to have to get moving, our jet awaits. Tifa, you and Alex try and lay low, Vincent has managed to make the leader of this country see reason, but how long the order will take to go out is anyone's guess…"

X

Three hours previous.

"Can I get you anything else hunny?" The woman addressed the young looking man.

"Just keep them coming…" Josh replied, his arm glowing yellow.

"We lay low here until the time is right and then we move out, getting past security at the airport should be easy with this materia, but it would be foolish to act too early…" Sephiroth said to Josh.

"I hope they beat those damn things, if you have killed her, I will not stop until I kill you…" Josh replied, every inch of his thoughts laced with malice.

"Well you won't know because I left them rogue, I have no control over them, believe me if I did they would be dead already…" Sephiroth laughed quietly in his head, "…it is in your interest to not make any rash moves however, unless you want to spend the rest of your miserable existence in a padded cell?"

Josh looked up at the TV which had just been flicked on by the barmaid. She looked surprised to see the news. Much to Josh's horror, Alex's face was on the headline. It was not as though he had not expected this, but it did not look as though she was dead. The two words 'Manhunt Issued' popped up beside her photo.

The television was on mute so he could not hear what the female newsreader was saying, moments later however, his face popped up next to those two words. Being sure to keep the barmaid under the influence of manipulation, she walked over to the TV and turned it off.

The damage it seemed had been done already though. Two men looked at Josh with great interest from across the bar. "Oi, turn that back on would you Jane?" They called to the barmaid.

"Oh brilliant…" Sephiroth said to Josh, and to his horror he sounded slightly excited, "…go ahead, let her turn it back on, make sure she turns it up as well."

Jane the barmaid walked back over and switched it on, then turned it up so the reporter could be heard. "The public are warned that the two teenagers are extremely dangerous and if seen not to be approached. Anybody with the whereabouts of either should contact the police immediately."

"You know what Josh, you can have this one, have it on me, we share fighting ability after all…" Sephiroth laughed. And then it happened, finally after months of fighting, Josh's mind completely broke.

One of the two men that had looked at Josh before pulled out his phone and began to dial. Josh smashed the glass he was holding on the bar, picked up the largest shard and threw it at the man's hand. He dropped the phone at once, nursing the gash in his flesh.

Josh felt someone grab him around the neck from behind. He laughed, whoever this was simply had no idea… He grabbed the arm and slowly, almost lovingly, pulled it away from his neck, then with absurd ease he snapped it. The man fell to his knees in agony.

Josh got up off of the barstool he was sat on and looked at him. He extended his hand and touched the man's face, "There there, let me make that better for you…" He grabbed his head and twisted, snapping his neck with a horrible crack!

The crowded bar was in panic, many people running towards the door. Upon opening it however they were faced with a translucent blue barrier. One person foolishly tried to run through it, and to everyone's horror the barrier seemed to merely absorb their whole being.

The barmaid who was still under manipulation poured Josh another drink. He picked it up, watching everybody running in the pandemonium. People were attempting to call the authorities, however Josh's barrier prevented that. He drank his drink in one, looking at the bar.

"Any volunteers for who's next?" Josh addressed the room at large. Many people had broken down in tears. Suddenly he felt a piercing pain in his left shoulder after a loud bang had sounded. One of the men from the bar had a gun, and it was pointing right at him.

Josh did not scream in pain, he merely looked down at the wound. "…I liked this shirt…" He said sarcastically. The man fired another shot at him, but to no avail, there was the sound like a gong being struck, and the bullet reflected back at him, hitting him square between the eyes. He fell to the floor.

Everybody else was huddled together in a corner of the bar. Josh looked at them all, how pathetic they all seemed, the couples, the old men who obviously had nothing better to do, some teenagers, and a clearly pregnant woman. He got Jane to hand him a bottle of Vodka from behind the bar. He opened it and poured it over the bar and what was remaining over the floor.

Jane then handed him a cigarette lighter. Several of the onlookers cried for mercy. "Mercy?" Josh asked, smiling, "…Afraid I'm not familiar with the word…" He set the liquid alight, then walked towards the barrier. He passed through it with ease. Looking back he saw several people attempt the same, to no avail.

He watched as the bar was engulfed in flames for a few minutes. He could hear sirens of what must have undoubtedly been the fire brigade. Josh turned his back on the building and walked away slowly.

"Nice to see you and I are finally on the same page…" Sephiroth said to him, for he had not taken any kind of control during this.

"Indeed…now, the black materia…" Josh replied, hearing an explosion from the bar behind him, "…lets hurry."

A/N: Dun dun dunnnnnn... Hehe. Hope you liked it guys. Reviews appreciated! Til next time,

R&A