Quick note, a lot of stuff in this chapter happens at the same time. I hope it's not confusing.

The group of five ducked into a group of trees with thick undergrowth as the sound of powerful engines approached. Five pairs of eyes gazed into the sky as three small ships flew overhead, it was the third time the three airships had passed. It was an obvious sign that the odd collection of five were getting close to a PSICOM outpost. They were doing their best to stick to the trees to remain hidden, but the clearings between bundles of forest were getting bigger and closer together.

"We're running out of cover," Claire announced, stating the obvious to Fang "Is there-"

"Mountains a bit to the west, close to the Taejin area," Fang replied, cutting off Claire.

"But there is no trees for a few miles before the mountains," Vanille added.

"What's the plan, Sunshine?" Fang asked with a smile, Claire just growled at her.

Over the last few days, Fang had started calling Claire, Sunshine, and the reason was, as Fang said, Claire had a skill for lighting up a room. It started during their second day of traveling together, and things had been calm the entire time. Fang, Vanille, Hope, and Sazh had started making idle chat and found their way to joking about things as if they had been friends their entire lives. Claire all but shouted at them for not being on guard and acting like Cocoon's faction of elite military forces were not hunting them.

"So we can risk getting caught by moving forward or trying to be careful. Wonderful," Sazh commented.

"We should stick to the patches of trees. It will get us further faster and has a lower risk factor," Hope explained. Claire nodded in response and started moving as the patrol ships got further away.

They emerged from the patch of trees at a full sprint, in an attempt to make it to cover before the next patrol. The forest was easily an hour long walk away, possibly farther, and the next patrol was not for another two hours. Feet pounding, heart thundering, breathing with a steady pace, Claire easily kept pace with the others even though she knew she could double, possibly triple, their speed with little effort. Off in the distance, Claire spotted the three patrol ships from earlier split up, loop and roll over, reform, and start heading back towards them. The pink haired imposter looked up into the sky and saw a fourth ship, lazily gliding through the sky, and she quickly deduced that the higher ship was a spotter for the patrol ships. A unit specifically for identifying threats, or criminals, and sounding the alarm.

Claire slowed down and soon came to a stop, the others halting near her and expecting an explanation. She felt their questioning looks piercing into her and she realized then, she hated that more than anything.

"We've been spotted," Claire calmly spoke and pointed to the sky.

"Dammit." Sazh whispered.

"Sly devils," Fang chuckled when she spotted the spotter ship.

The three patrol ships flew close to them and very low. They landed softly near the group, their deafening whirring turbine engines shutting down and falling silent in seconds. Six PSICOM troops emerged from each ship and they grouped near the five. With eighteen automatic weapons directed at them, Claire and Fang remained still, simply because Fang knew Vanille could easily be hurt and Claire was unsure she could dodge that many bullets.

"Either go peacefully or in body bags," the officer of the squad said loudly to the group of five. But before any of Claire's group could react in any way, the officer's radio crackled to life.

"All patrols return to outpost six now! Red alert!" a voice from the outpost shouted hysterically "I repeat, red alert! All patrols-" The voice on the radio was cut off by a scream.

The PSICOM soldiers all looked to each other for a moment before turning and piling back into their ships. Within seconds, the turbine engines roared to life and the three airships were rocketing back to the outpost. Even the spotter was descending from its point in the sky. The fugitive group shared some glances before heading in the direction of the PSICOM outpost.


Cloud was still surprised. Their plan to get onto the boat was executed almost flawlessly. There was the one speed bump of Cloud being forced to join the parade but that did not stop them. Currently, most of both his group and NORA were disguised as infantry, the exceptions being Barret, Red XIII, and Maqui. Barret was dressed as one of the ship crew, as was Maqui, both because of their size and Barret's disguise hid his gun arm. Red, unfortunately, was hidden in the cargo hold in a large steel crate with the Buster Sword, Serah's Bow, Aerith's staff, and a light. All that was left was to enjoy the trip as much as they could and not draw any attention.

Night two of the trip across the sea is when everything awry. An alarm went off, and an intercom announced the presence of a suspicious character in the cargo hold. Both groups were worried they had found Red but every soldier and crew man that went to the lower decks, did not come back. That ominous sign prompted Rufus and Heidegger, who the ship was meant to transport, to board the Shinra helicopter on the ship and fly the rest of the trip. Humbers aboard the ship quickly dwindled to just the captain, helmsmen, NORA, and AVALANCHE. The rebel groups joined up on the top deck and, those who could, discarded their disguises.

"What the hell is goin' on?" Barret shouted at the groups.

"The crew is being murdered on the lower decks," Cloud responded, stating the blatantly obvious.

"We have to go and find Red," Aerith demanded.

"Agreed," Lebreau added.

"Alright, so who is going to lead us down?"

"I will," Barret stated as he started towards the stairs. Gadot, Snow, and Yuj were right on his heels armed with assault rifles with everyone else trailing behind them.

They found a few lone infantry men but they paid the rebel groups no mind. The infantry men were either mumbling something about blood, bodies, or the horror of it all. It horrified the groups to hear the fear induced insane rambling of broken minds as they continued further into the ship's depths. The crate with Red XIII and the weapons was closest to the stairs and the groups had yet to see any bodies or blood. Heavy steel doors creaked open as the strongest of the large group pulled the container open. Red sat calmly gazing at the group with his head tilted in a curious manner.

"What happened?" the beast asked stoically.

"Suspicious character on board," Cloud replied as he recovered the Buster Sword.

The entire group moved deeper into the cargo hold and stopped dead in their tracks. Dead infantry and ship crew littered the floor of the ship, all of them slashed, stabbed, and cut in into pieces. Blood covered every square inch of the once gray steel floor of the main aisle and was sprayed all over the containers lining the aisle. Everything about the horrifying scene indicated that they had been moving towards the engine room. Slowly the group entered the engine room and were met by an equally surprising sight. Just beyond another dozen bodies stood a tall figure, dressed in black, and with long silver hair, his gaze fixed on the floor.

Serah could not believe what she was seeing.

"After a long sleep," Sephiroth's deep smooth voice sounded, clearly heard over the engines "The time... has come..."

"Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted "You're alive!"

"Who're you?"

"You don't remember me? I'm Cloud!"

"Cloud?"

"Sephiroth! What are you doing? What are you thinking?"

"The time... is now..." Sephiroth's gaze moved off to his right, towards the north.

Serah watched the exchange with a massive pain pulsing in her chest. She wanted to talk to Sephiroth, ask him about Nibelheim, and why he had changed so drastically and become so violent.

"What? What are you saying? Be more-" Cloud was cut off by a bright flash. When the light dimmed, there was a towering monster in the place where Sephiroth had been standing.

The grotesque beast towered at least twenty feet high but it look rooted to the spot. It had two mismatching wing like appendages extending from its sides, a tentacle dangled from the appendage on the right side, large spines protruded from its back, and its head extended away from the body. Just from looking at the monster, Cloud knew it was somehow related to the headless creature in the Shinra building.

"What in the name of all that is good is that?" Snow whimpered.

"Where the fuck did it come from?" Barret shouted.

"No idea, but we have to kill it," Cloud announced just a blue laser was shot at them.

Meanwhile...

It had taken an hour, but they had reached the PSICOM outpost and were met by crushing silence. The front gate was heavily damaged from battle and from the apparent escape attempt of one heavily armored tank. After climbing through the front gate, the group looked around finding only signs of battle but no bodies yet. A small group of bodies was discovered near the barracks, all of them slashed or stabbed. As the five traveled further into the outpost, more bodies were discovered but when they found the main field in the middle of the outpost, a truly appalling sight greeted them.

Dozens of dismembered soldiers and their organs littered the field, soaking the ground in blood. Vanille gasped in horror and Fang hissed at the strong scent of death, but all five of the group froze at the next sight. In the center of the field stood Sephiroth, in a circle of clean ground about ten feet across, his bright green and emotionless gaze fixed on them. He watched them, unblinking, as they stepped over and around the bodies slowly making their way towards him, hands on their weapons.

Claire was dumbfounded, to say the least. But there was something off about Sephiroth. His face was different from what she remembered. He was fairly more pale than before, his lips were barely more thin than before, his nose was simply impossible as it was attractive. Sephiroth looked like a being that couldn't possibly exist because his face looked perfect.

"After a long sleep," Sephiroth calmly said, confusing the group "The time... has come..."

"Sephiroth," Claire said, just above a whisper "What happened? Why are you here?" Sephiroth's gaze locked onto Claire but no emotion passed over his face.

"You've grown."

"What happened?" Claire asked louder, a hint of anger finding its way into her tone.

"Nibelheim," Sephiroth answered in a cryptc tone. The word stirred emotions deep within Claire and she felt gears in her head turning, trying to recall why that was an important word "The time... is now..." Sephiroth's gaze moved off to his left, towards the north.

A near blinding flash occurred leaving dark spots in the five's vision for many seconds. When the light dimmed, there was a towering monster in the place where Sephiroth had been standing. The grotesque beast towered at least twenty feet high but it look rooted to the spot. It had two mismatching wing like appendages extending from its sides, a tentacle dangled from the appendage on the right side, large spines protruded from its back, and its head extended away from the body. Just from looking at the monster, Claire knew they had to kill it.


The fight had been long and surprisingly easy for the group. Serah wrote of the ease of the battle to how many people had been fighting and how they had been attacking both sides of the monster. But that is not what Serah considered the important part. Sephiroth had been standing less than twenty feet away from her and did not even look at her, much less recognize her. He wasn't even aware of who Cloud was, but that did not matter to Serah. She was still reeling about hearing, reading, and watching, many pieces of evidence to prove that Sephiroth was dead, yet he had been in front of them, spoke to them, then turned into a towering monster. The young pink haired Turk just wanted to know what was going on.

Once the ship was docked at Costa del Sol, the group raced off of it. The sun shone brightly in the sky and the heat was intense but pleasant because of the wind from the ocean. Serah immediately started to see similarities between Costa del Sol and Bodhum. The smiling people walking around in swim suits, with cold drinks or snacks, bright colors of the town, stalls selling all manner of trinkets and beach equipment. The biggest difference that could be seen was Costa del Sol was purely a tourist town while Bodhum was an actual city.

"It's so pretty!" Aerith cheerfully exclaimed when they cleared the docks and entered the actual town. A few members of the groups were surprised that she could sound so happy and innocent after the atrocity that happened on the ship.

"We'll stop here for a day or two," Cloud told the group.

"What?" Barret yelled "Shinra is going to be on our asses after what happened on the boat!"

"Gee, why don't ya say it louder, I don't think Eden heard you that well," Yuj joked, earning him a glare from the large dark skinned man.

"Look, the easily identifiable people in our group will lay low and discuss what we're going to do next," Cloud said as he stepped between Barret and the others "We need to figure out where to go and what to do anyways."

"Now who is easily identifiable?" Snow asked, crossing his arms and slightly hoping he was not.

"Well, Me, Barret, Red, Gadot, and Yuj," Cloud replied with a light shrug.

"So we get to hide in a hotel while everyone else gets to enjoy the beach?" Gadot complained.

"Alright! Let's get some suits and hit the beach!" Lebreau cheered as she wrapped her arms around Serah's and Aerith's shoulders, pulling them away.

"Be safe," Cloud spoke in a soft tone to Tifa.

"You too," Tifa said back with a smile as the others started to wander off into the city.

The four women rented a room at one of the cheaper motels near the beach, the men minus Cloud, Barret, Yuj, Gadot, and Red, did the same but got a couple of rooms. When they assembled on the beach, the four women decided to break away from the main group and have some girl time. Other than Serah, they made some idle chatter about the town and other beach goers. Minute by minute, Serah felt the visions of the butchering on the Shinra ship eating away at her until she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"How can you three be so cheerful after what happened on the boat?" Serah said much louder than she meant to, but didn't get the attention of any of the other beach patrons.

"Nibelheim was worse," Tifa said with an empty tone.

"That was nothing compared to Sector Seven," Lebreau also replied with the same empty tone as Tifa.

"I grew up in the slums," Aerith said with a shrug and light smile "Don't focus on the bad stuff. Enjoy happiness as much as you can whenever it comes around. Like now," Aerith stretched and rolled onto her stomach, pushing Tifa off the beach blanket.

"Hey! Now I got sand sticking to me!" Tifa laughed, referring more towards the suntan lotion she had on.

"So go rinse off. I know the guys would love to see that," Lebreau stated with a smirk. Tifa gave her a playful glare before standing up and heading for the water.

Serah just observed them with an innocent smile but confusion running through her head. Those three had experienced probably the worst life could throw at them, yet they acted like they were simply on vacation. It was proof enough to Serah that if one wanted to be happy, all they had to do was take advantage of what they had. It was that moment that spawned the idea that maybe, just maybe, Serah was on the wrong side.

Meanwhile...

After killing the towering monstrosity, the group of five had taken of sprinting towards the north. They knew that they would be all over the surveillance footage of the base but at least it would show that it was not they that butchered the PSICOM forces. Claire thought about taking a transport truck from the base, as had Sazh, Fang, and Vanille, but they did not want to risk being caught because of the GPS systems.

Once the sun was fully below the horizon, and no trace of it was in the sky, the group stopped. Claire was relieved to once again have the cover of night upon them as they slipped back into a decently large cavern. A part of the pink haired soldier's mind wondered where Serah was and she was instantly overtaken by a tidal wave of guilt and sorrow. She wished she knew where her little sister was so she could apologize, something about seeing Sephiroth brought up these feelings of deep regret and all she really wanted was to see Serah. Little did she know that at that moment, Serah was having fun on the beach of Costa del Sol.

"So, Sunshine," Fang started "Care to explain how you know the Shinra goon?" the tribeswoman asked as she walked up close to Claire, invading her personal space or attack range.

Before Claire could consciously react, Fang was on the ground. Her spear rattled and clanged as it bounced a few feet away and a minor pain started to spread through Claire's right hand, which she saw was now balled into a fist. Hope and Sazh looked towards the commotion and Vanille was at Fang's side in a moment. The blue clad woman pushed herself into a sitting position, rubbing and flexing her jaw, and looked up to Claire, an amused smile on her face and a fierce flame in her eyes. That was the first time Claire had ever seen a regular person take a punch from a SOLDIER.

"You pack one helluva right hook, ya know that?" Fang laughed, further astounding Claire that her jaw was still in place, let alone intact "Now mind telling me why you bruised my beautiful face?"

"Don't call Sephiroth a Shinra goon," Claire said back, her voice dripping with venom and her glare colder than ice.

"Fine," Fang said as she rolled eyes.

"So how do you know Sephiroth?" Hope asked, as he idly slung his pilfered assault rifle over his shoulder.

"I'm not part of the Guardian Corps," Claire stated.

"Tell us something we don't know," Sazh said back with a hint of amusement.

"I'm SOLDIER First Class, Lightning Farron. Sephiroth's student.

"What?" Fang, Vanille, Hope, and Sazh yelled in unison "I swear I remember seeing on the news that all the SOLDIER Firsts were dead," Sazh stated after.

"Officially we are. As far as I know, I'm supposed to be the last one," Claire's tone was official, devoid of emotion.

"So why are you in Cocoon?" Vanille asked as she tilted her head slightly.

"That's classified. And if you have a problem with traveling with me, you're free to leave," The others started to grab their belongings "Just remember though, PSICOM shot us down simply because I was on that shuttle, and now there is video evidence of you all helping me. Cocoon will not be merciful to you."

"So get killed by Cocoon or be your hostage?" Sazh asked.

"I can guarantee you all safety inside of Shinra's borders. But to get there-" Claire started to explain.

"We have to go through the Northern Continent," Hope explained, cutting off Claire.

"Great! We can stop by Oerba!" Vanille stated cheerfully, almost bouncing.

"Why would we stop there?" Claire asked. The look in Sazh's eyes told her he was thinking the same thing.

"Oerbans are like the folks in Cosmo Canyon," Fang said with a shrug.

"Neutral standing, live off the earth, and you study the stars?" Claire asked.

"Well we don't study the stars," Fang stated with a chuckle.

"Get some sleep, we set out early," Claire commanded "I'll take watch," She was glad SOLDIERs could easily go forty-eight hours without sleep, due to the enhancements.

"And how can we trust ya not to kill us in our sleep?" Fang asked, suspicion thick in her voice.

"I haven't killed you yet," Claire answered flatly as she walked away to set up a perimeter.

"Fair enough," Fang muttered with a shrug before laying down and trying to sleep.


The sword wielding soldier sat and watched the security video with intense focus, hoping to find out what slaughtered the dozens of elite soldiers stationed in the outpost. The only camera that had not failed to record anything, was the camera over the main gate, inside the wall. One moment everything is normal, alarms go off, panic erupts, the feed is lost and the screen is covered in static, then several minutes later, it shows a group of five leaving. One member of the group stood out to the soldier, the apparent leader of the five.

The long pink hair and uniform told the soldier that it was a female sergeant of the Guardian Corps. When she was closer to the camera, she happened to glance up for just a moment, startling the observing soldier. He quickly reversed and replayed a few seconds of the footage and paused it when the woman looked up. His breath caught and his heart thudded hard in his chest, he could not believe it and did not want to believe it.

"Lightning!" He whispered loudly to himself. Quickly, he reached up to his shoulder and activated his radio "Rygdea! I know where the group from the shuttle is heading!"

"Great! Meet you back at the shuttle," the officer with an accent said back.

The sword wielding flew out of the security office, out of the building, across the field covered in bodies, to the airfield. Rygdea was just starting the engines when his fellow soldier burst into the cockpit of the fighter and strapped himself in. The officer chuckled to himself at how excited the soldier looked, unknown to him because of the helmet, the soldier was wearing an expression of extreme confusion and worry.

Sorry it took so long... I seem to be saying that on every chapter... But I am sorry. Writers block mostly, pressure to update other stories, and basic procrastination. There is also the tiny fact of I had no plans for this chapter, I was making it up as I wrote it. In fact, I have nothing planned until the Northern Cave... Well, maybe an event or two before that... So if you have an idea or request for something before then, feel free to PM it to me or put it in a review. I will warn you all now, expect erratic updates of varying lengths. Anyways, is it obvious yet as to who the unnamed Cavalry soldier is?

Please leave a Review. They make me happy and motivate me to update faster... They do, I swear, even if there is a lot of evidence against that.