A/N I know a few people wanted my chapter to be early but i really couldn't get any of my ideas straight. I kept thinking about future chapters and such which brings me to my first order of business.

Should I or should I not have the extra WEAPON bosses in here? They are an extra I could skip over or add into chapters for support, fillers, and basically just some huge extra epic battles. In your reviews i could really use your opinions. Which then leads to our next order of business.

I have noticed a spike in my author alerts and story alerts in the past month, I would like to get at least a few reviews from these new guys. Also I want to hear ideas for future moves Nathan can use as his limit breaks or techniques, I'll send a message back on how i like the idea. I am willing to answer questions people may have if my fic doesn't answer them...Except from Saria19.

Honestly you find a way to get into my head cuz i'll be like "Man i am gunna be so stoked to use this idea." here you are two chapters before its made "When is this idea gunna happen?" You ask to many good questions Saria. Get out of my head! But still thank you for your Beta ability's, I need somebody to help my grammar and i have been going up the ladder slowly.

I don't own FF7, i never will, in another dimension I probably do and I am lucky for that. Chappa 20 everyone.

ch 20

ATE

Rufus tapped his finger on the desk. He had decided it was time to find a better method of tracking Sephiroth and was currently waiting on the phone. He had been given Reeve's latest report and it was as interesting as the rest. He was surprised when the Urban Development manager had explained that the group's genius had a developed knowledge of alternative energy. Shinra had done well enough to make sure Mako was the world's most demanded energy source, going as far as keeping the general public blind to the obvious side effects and limiting access to any documents pertaining to other advanced forms of generating energy. But the way he described everything proved he had access to said knowledge. It was good Tseng was in Mideel investigating what he could.

Reeve had described Cosmo Canyon in detail and Rufus noticed the small twinge of excitement he had at the windmills there. From what he could remember, Cosmo never actually had any decent Mako reserves, so Shinra never paid them any mind when it came to energy. All they had were windmills and they only generated so much considering they weren't as powerful as their reactors. He was also surprised to find it was the home of the experiment that Hojo had. Red was what he believed they called him. Rufus didn't know that the creature was an actual species rather than a culmination much like the rest of the mad scientist's projects.

Click. "Hello?" came a very soft spoken female voice on the other line. Rufus actually had to focus his hearing.

"Hello, is Mr. Highwind available?" He asked. A response of "Hold on," was made and he waited for a few seconds before he heard her again.

"He is currently fixing up his plane; may I ask who this is?"

"I am Rufus Shinra, current president of Shinra Inc. I wished to discuss something with Highwind. It is very urgent."

"I'll tell him," came the response. He waited until he heard a very angry grunt on the other end of the line.

"Damn it Shera, why didn't you tell me this was an important call! You don't make important people wait!" Rufus pulled the phone away from his ear, letting the ringing in it die down.

"This is Cid Highwind, what do you want?" Came a gruff voice.

"Mr. Highwind. Shinra has taken a personal interest in one of our old projects. We would like to hear if you will help us." Rufus carefully worded. He had already read his file and knew of the pilot's old affiliations and ambitions.

"Why didn't you say so? I'm sure we can do something about the space program again! You need me to fly again right?" Rufus heard anxiously.

"I am merely calling to set up a meeting so we can discuss this, Mr. Highwind. We don't have any plans set as of right now."

"Shit...right, business talk. When do you want to meet?" The pilot asked.

"I plan on coming in within the week, how does one o'clock sound, Thursday, you'll have four days to prepare."

"Good, bout time you suits came to your senses. We'll have everything prepped when you get here!"

"Then that will be all. Good day Mr. Highwind." He hung up. So far everything was going according to plan. The hard part would be to get Cid to give him the Tiny Bronco after realizing he didn't want to start the space program up again. However he believed Highwind would have to comply eventually. He would take a few guards just in case. But right now he had to do the part of the job he hated.

He had to talk to Palmer as well...after he listened to some music.

"I hope you realize you may have betrayed your friend's trust by listening Nanaki," Bugenhagen scolded.

"I was passing by to say goodbye, I didn't intend to listen in," Said the Crimson feline who now stood next to me. Bugen only sighed.

"It seems you have to explain to one of your friends then, Nathan." Nanaki stared at me with his good eye before looking back at the old man.

"You can't believe he is telling the truth! It is completely farfetched." He almost growled.

"You said yourself that the Planet is cautious around him, and he gave his explanation." Bugen replied.

"You believe what he says? That our world is nothing but fiction?" He sounded angrier.

"I was being honest," I pleaded. He glared at me.

"You're lying," he stated.

"He believes he is telling the truth, though it is quite a story." Bugen said, sounding amused.

"I don't care; the planet doesn't want to tolerate his being. I haven't seen it, but I have heard. When he changes, the planet becomes fearful of him...just like Sephiroth." I felt like I was hit in the gut when I heard that.

"Yes he has told me. His condition...but he is a fragile mind, he is acting much like what I had told you about standing on your own, and it hasn't destroyed him. As long as he has his allies, he will be fine."

"He could be a threat to the Planet."

"Now just imagine how everyone else will react to this, Bugenhagen. That's why I didn't say." I pitched in. Nanaki may be angry at me, but this only proved my point.

"That fact is you lied to all of us." Nanaki stated.

"For good reason, tell me Nanaki. What would you do if you had knowledge about an impending doom on a world, but didn't have the strength to stop it? Even with your friends?" He didn't retort so I continued.

"What would you do if a person you now consider a precious friend was going to die indefinably, and any wrong move you made could possibly speed that end up?" His eye widened at that knowledge.

"You want to know what I know about the future? After all this is done there is still danger within the next two years, and the year after that. What would you plan to stop all of this when you don't even know how long you can survive in a world you have never actually experienced?" Nanaki finally kept his mouth shut, taking into consideration what I had told him.

"Nanaki," he looked up at Bugen. "I withheld important information from you as well. Yet you grew stronger from it. Your friend asks you to keep this a secret, just as I was asked too." For a time Nanaki didn't say anything. He just looked at the ground. Eventually he sighed.

"As long as he presents no threat to the planet...I am willing to keep this a secret." I felt thousands of pounds lift off my shoulders that instant. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"Ho ho hoooo! Good, then I wish you the best of luck on your journey to save the planet. Nathan, do be careful. I know how powerful knowledge can be. Only change what you feel must be changed." I nodded and said my goodbye along with Nanaki. We didn't say much as we walked back to the now fixed up buggy, despite being gone for a good thirty minutes at least, walking back with Nanaki quickly dissolved any questions the group had for me and all focused on the happy fact that we still had one of our teammates. We entered and were soon driving out of Cosmo. It was still a bumpy and slow ride considering we were now going down the peaks. I still enjoyed my seat on the top of the vehicle, though I was a little disappointed knowing we would for some reason ditch the thing after Nibelheim.

Speaking of the place, I noticed both Cloud and Tifa with very distant looks on their faces. I knew it would shatter their worlds seeing their town exactly the same as before the incident. But as long as they had everyone else, I'm sure they would be able to make due.

"How long till we get there?" Asked Barret.

"By car it won't take that much time. Just a while longer." Cloud replied.

"Hey Cloud...do you think it will still be there?" Asked Tifa.

"What's left of it anyway," was the cold response. Everyone was quiet until Aeris decided to break the awkward silence.

"What was it like before?" Cloud kept his eyes on the road, ignoring the question. Tifa was the only one willing to not ball everything up.

"It was nice, quiet, and peaceful. Monsters rarely tried to get in. It provided a simple place to live. Isolated too, it would take weeks if not a month for news to travel there. Everyone knew each other; it would be hard not to run into someone you knew personally." She said with a small smile, happily reminiscing. However, it all went to a waste when the buggy just suddenly stopped. If I didn't have my leg caught I would have been thrown off the thing.

"Cloud, what the hell are you trying to pull?" Yelled Barret. It fell on deaf ears though because Cloud just jumped out of the buggy and begun running.

"What is he doing?" Asked Aeris. I looked at Tifa who had an almost horrified face.

"It can't be..." she jumped up and ran as well. Everyone decided to follow the two. Eventually we were behind the two who were just staring at the entrance of the town.

It was perfectly intact, no scorch marks, no dead wood, the entire town was clean and built perfectly fine.

"...Nibelheim..." Cloud whispered. Tifa actually fell to her knees at the sight of the place.

"Wasn't this place supposed to be burnt down?" Asked Barret

"Yeah..." Cloud responded.

"Cloud, did you lie to us?" Was Aeris' question.

"I'm not lying!" He snapped, and then looked back at the town. "I remember...the intense heat of the flames...the people's screams..."

"But...why is it all still here?" Tifa asked.

"This place gives me the creeps." Yuffie shivered.

"I know, I don't like the feel of it." I said. There wasn't a soul out on the streets. The town just looked picturesque and was disturbingly quiet. I felt like I could just go up to a house, push a wall, and all of the lies would just fall down, board after board.

"What should we do?" Asked Nanaki.

"...Book a room, everyone else...ask around. I want to know exactly what's happened." Cloud growled. He hated the facade more than anyone else. He went to his mother's house, Barret went to the inn. Aeris and Yuffie were knocking at doors and then just entering houses when they didn't answer. Nanaki and I just followed Tifa, who went to her own home. We went inside and she just froze up.

"It's just like it was before the fire..." She looked at the room, absorbing every detail. Slowly we walked up the stairs. Eventually we arrived in her room. She sat on her bed. Completely taken in at how everything seemed perfectly fine. I walked over to the desk. Rummaging through it, I found what would explain the whole thing. The periodic and the confidentiality reports, I threw them to Tifa.

"Disgusting..." I didn't want to read them. Just knowing what was written before hand left a horrible taste in my mouth. Tifa looked at both papers, staring them down before crushing them and throwing them away. Fury was clear in her eyes.

"It's always Shinra, no matter what happens to us it s always them controlling everything!" She just sat at her bed; I just went and patted her shoulder, Nanaki sitting on the floor, looking at the wrinkled documents. Tifa calmed down some before I picked up the papers and left, leaving her to remember what good times she did have. Nanaki followed.

"You knew..." He stated.

"It still doesn't mean I can't feel disappointed, or angry at what lengths Shinra will go."

"...Will everything we do be predetermined?" I chuckled.

"I don't know, some minor things have changed since I've come...you reminded me of something I heard once." He looked at me.

"In this world, is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcendental entity or law? Is it like the hand of God hovering above? At least it is true that man has no control; even over his own will." I let the words sink in before continuing.

"I may have controlled you all at some point, but now you all have actual feelings, not ones and zeros determining how you act. I know you have to keep my secret, but I can only guess how everything will go. I won't be the most reliable fortune teller, that's Cait's job." He actually chuckled at that. We entered the inn, finding out we booked the only two rooms, I just went upstairs, giving the fake innkeeper a sneer. Inside I found Barret, Cloud, Aeris, and Yuffie all talking about the odd town's people.

"I found out what's been going on." I gave the papers to Cloud and sat on the bed next to Aeris, Nanaki sitting by Barret. He looked them over. The only reaction he let show was a deep frown.

He was pissed beyond all recognition, but he hid it well.

Everyone else got a look at the papers; no one really voiced their opinions. We took most of the day up by searching most the town so everyone went to their own rooms; one was for the guys and the other for the girls. Lucky for us Nanaki liked to sleep on the ground so we all had beds.

"It's strange...being in this room again." Cloud said. I remembered we were in the same one he shared with Sephiroth at one point.

"It's exactly the same...yet completely different."

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Barret asked. Cloud turned away from the window.

"We'll continue searching around, find clues if Sephiroth came here. He never went to Cosmo Canyon, he may have slipped away." He sat on his bed now. I just looked at Nanaki and patted my bed; he lay down next to me.

"Now I believe I owe you a story, don't I" He perked up. "Now where was I?"

"You were at the part where the warriors were going to Terra." He said. Sounding a little like the sixteen year old he was.

"Oh yeah, Zidane and friends were about to enter the portal when suddenly..."

For most of the night I told Nanaki the rest of the plot to FF9, I was happy we were on decent terms. It was late before we were able to get any sleep. The next day everyone had gone out again. I was looking around the mansion area. I had to say there was an air about the place too. It wasn't suffocating like the cave of Gi, it was more oppressive. You knew something was inside, but you dare not go near it because of how scary the secrets in the place could be.

"The...great...se...phiroth..." I flinched and had my hands on both of my swords. Looking over I saw a hooded figure, just pressed against the fence. Carefully I pulled my hands to my side and walked over.

"He's...near...the mansion..." The person mumbled. What surprised me was that the voice was female. I was about three feet away when I pulled the cloaked figures hood down, keeping my fire materia handy.

I wasn't prepared to look at her.

Her skin was pure white, practically ghost like. She didn't have any hair and she was extremely skinny, there wasn't any sort of fat to her face, or anywhere on her head, skin and bones basically. I jumped back a little when she looked at me. Her eyes were blank. Pure white and yet she somehow acknowledged me. It was like looking at my insanity all over again.

"The Reunion...is near..." She pressed her face to the fence again. I ran into town.

"Guys! GUYS!" I yelled. Cloud was first to get me.

"What is it?"

"Sephiroth is here, one of the...people said he is in the mansion."

"Get everyone to the entrance." He told me before going ahead. I gathered the rest of the gang and lead them to the front entrance. Now with Cloud in tow, we all went inside. Inside it was extremely dusty. It still had the same overbearing feeling but the old creaking floor boards and the run down walls and furniture made it seem like some cheap haunted mansion.

"This place is even creepier." Yuffie declared.

"What are we looking for?" Asked Tifa.

"Spread out, find anything out of place." Everyone walked around the entrance area and the floors below. However it seemed the place never had anything of value. I checked every desk, drawer, box, I even stuck my hands down the cushions of chairs just to find a gil or two, what do I find? Nadda, zilch.

"Hey I found something!" Aeris yelled. Everyone came to see she had a dusty piece of paper.

"It was written by Hojo." She cleared her throat.

"I must get rid of all those that stand in the way of my research. Even that one from the Turks. I scientifically altered him, and put him to sleep in the basement. If you want to find him, then search the area. But… this is merely a game I thought of. It is not necessary for you to participate if you don't want to." She then read off the instructions.

"Move the dial of the safe carefully, but quickly. You have 20 seconds. You cannot go past the numbers while turning. The four hints for the numbers are…

Dial 1 – The lid of the box with the most oxygen.

Dial 2 – Behind the ivory's short of tea and ray.

Dial 3 – The creak in the floor near the chair on the second floor… then to the left five steps, up nine steps, left two steps and up six steps."

"Someone is trapped in here?" Muttered Tifa.

"We should help them." Said Nanaki.

"But there are only three hints. Where's the fourth?" Asked Barret.

"Aeris could I look at that?" She handed me the paper. I knew it was in invisible ink but I couldn't tell how to find the forth clue. What were the tricks everyone used? Lemon juice...no we don't have any...Heat! But where will I find...

I placed the paper over my fire materia and focused. I lit a small flame under the paper. Slowly the message started to become clear.

"Right, ninety seven." I gave Aeris the paper back. Looking around, I saw everyone was completely befuddled.

"How did you do that?" Yuffie asked, probably it was one of the "cool" things I would know like dual casting.

"How did you know?" asked Cloud suspiciously. I realized then I wasn't really supposed to know that was there.

"I smelled it." I blurted out.

"You...smelled it?" Was Barrets reply. I handed him the paper.

"Go on do it." Oh man I really wish he can smell something on there or I'm screwed. Barret took a whiff and his eyes widened.

"Urgh, it's like a dentist's office." Wait...he actually smelled something? Holy shit I'm in the clear!

Cloud took the paper from Barret and smelled as well. "Low grade, it was meant to be found this way." He gave the paper back to Aeris.

"I'll be upstairs looking for a creak on the floor." He walked off.

"Room with the most oxygen...I saw an atrium earlier. I will check." Nanaki said and went up as well.

"Why the hell do we get the hard one?" Asked Barret.

"You know it's not that hard, ivory short of tea and ray, it's a broken piano!" I said matter of factually.

"I saw one earlier, I'll look around." Tifa ran up the stairs.

"I'll check the safe upstairs, that's probably what this is all for." I went up and looked at the safe. What put me on edge was the boss battle...but the safe was four feet tall. How could a boss even pull something like that? The physics doesn't make sense, even in this world.

"Nate, we got the rest of the numbers." Yelled Barret from the other room.

"What is the combination?"

"Right thirty six, left ten, right fifty nine, and right ninety seven."

"Sweet!" I started turning the knob. Cloud came into the room.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." He mumbled. I got two numbers down.

"Me too." Third down.

A beat. I sighed, it's not like it will make the fight harder. Famous last words; just in case.

"...What could possibly go wrong?"

Click

(In the main entrance.)

Barret was getting impatient.

"You think someone is really trapped in this old hunk a junk?" He asked, blowing dust off a piece of furniture.

"Hojo is the worst kind of man, and he is always thorough in his reports. Someone is here." Aeris stated.

"But what could be in the safe?" Asked Tifa.

"Couldn't be anything too bad." Right when Barret ended his sentence there was a loud crash coming from the second floor.

"The hell was that?"

(nrml pov)

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!" I ran down the stairs. "Everyone get ready!"

"Nathan what was that?" Tifa asked.

"Safe...physics...everything's wrong...kill now!" Cloud jumped down the steps as a gigantic monster tailed him. The monster had two different looks, one half of its body was purple with a green claw, the other was red with multiple spikes and tentacles for a leg. Cloud jumped down and out the way into the group. Everyone now getting serious as Lost Number followed.

"Aeris, paralyze it, it's powerful!" Cloud yelled. I was confused until I saw Aeris praying into her staff, Lost Number started to gloss over and become still.

"I can only hold it for a short time." She said.

"Everyone attack, don't let it out into the village!" Cloud yelled before making a deep gash in one of its legs, making it kneel down.

Barret proceeded to unload as much ammunition into the monster in the fastest possible time. Yuffie was cutting the creature consistently, Tifa using brute force to knock out the creature's other leg, Nanaki, Cait and myself were casting magic as back up. I was surprised at the effectiveness of Aeris's Seal Evil, with real time damage the monster was looking pretty morbid compared to its previous form. Maybe our team work and experience in battle made the fight seem easy, in the game you only had three people, but now with a large tactile squad, everything seemed easy. The Limit Break started to wear off and Lost Number attacked, albeit fruitlessly considering its current state.

Lost Number looked completely floored; when it tried to stand the wounds on its legs would keep it down. The bullet holes in its body had blood pouring out, and all the magic we cast left scorch marks all over its body.

I kept my guard up when it started to split though, and I mean split. Lost Number just tore itself with its bare hands in exact halves. The entire team was surprised, even more so when the purple side didn't just die but start to bubble out and increase in size until we had a full purple monster.

Everyone went into offensive mode again when it struck. I wished Aeris could perform Seal Evil again, but I had realized something about the physics behind Limit Breaks.

They, like any other technique are performed not because someone took enough damage, but because it's an ability they have. Kind of like Crisis Core, if Sephiroth was a playable character, Octoslash would be a Limit Break. Aeris had exhausted herself; she could barely cast cure spells on the group, let alone support. We were down one healer against the physical form of Lost Number.

Needless to say, when the battle was over everyone had bruises; well everyone except Cait, being a giant plushy toy just let him ignore fatigue. It took time, but everyone got the idea magic did the most damage, and considering how Cloud wanted everyone, including block head Barret, to have a few materia, Lost Number died. We took time to recover in the main entrance before we went back to the safe. Inside I was surprised we only found the basement key and the Odin materia. I looked at Nanaki who caught my glance.

We would have to talk about that in private.

"Cool, so we can help this guy now?" I asked.

"If there really is anyone stuck here, but I haven't seen any place to hold a person." Aeris replied, better than before, but not much.

"There's another part to the mansion, follow me." We all followed Cloud to the right wing of the second floor. Going into the bedroom, Cloud pressed a brick and opened a door to a twisting stairwell. Everyone was shocked while Cloud just looked depressed. We went down and saw the large cavern structure with some machines and boxes scattered about the place.

"Why does this town get creepier and creepier as we go?" I agreed with Yuffie.

"What went on down here?" Tifa asked.

"I never found out, I didn't explore when I went to confront Sephiroth before he went insane. But there are monsters down here, be careful." Everyone nodded and followed Cloud down a ladder. When we got down everyone looked around and saw multiple coffins.

"Are there...people inside?" Aeris looked terrified. Barret looked into one.

"No...just monster remains." We continued to walk through the corridor until Cloud stopped us.

"Listen." Everyone went silent. Trying to hear what Cloud was.

"I can't hear anything." I said.

"It sounds like...someone is sleeping." Aeris said.

"And shifting," Nanaki added. I still couldn't hear anything...maybe I should stop listening to my music so loudly when I get it back.

"It's coming from this direction." Cloud went up to one of the separate rooms and tried to open the steel door. Finding it was locked, I gave him the key, which he opened with everyone following. Inside were multiple open coffins, with one in the middle closed. It wasn't until now that I could hear the sifting and light breathing. Cloud went up slowly to the case and pushed it open.

Inside was a man with a very lean face. Long jet black hair was sprawled around inside. He wore a red bandanna as well as a red sort of cloak.

Vincent opened his crimson red eyes.

"...To wake me from the nightmare. Who is it?" The cover was blown across the room by an invisible force. Cloud backed into the group with his hand on his sword. Vincent lifted his upper body out of the coffin. He eyed the group with an emotionless face.

"...Never seen you before. You must leave." He stated immediately. Cloud let his hand fall from his sword.

"You were having a nightmare." Cloud explained.

"It sounded horrible...the way you groaned." Aeris said.

"We woke you up. Ya outta be thanking us." Barret yelled. I elbowed him to shut up.

"hmph..A nightmare...My long sleep has given me time to atone." He looked down. His voice was devoid of emotion. Seeing this in a person was giving me the creeps.

"What are you saying?" Cloud asked, trying to get some information out of him.

"I have nothing to say to strangers, get out. This mansion is the beginning of your nightmares." His eyes narrowed at the group. Cloud just looked down, clenching his fist.

"You could say that again." He shook his head. Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"What do you know?"

"Like you said, this mansion is the beginning of a nightmare...no, not a dream, it's for real. Sephiroth had lost his mind. He found the secrets in this mansion..."

"Sephiroth?" Vincent interrupted. Cloud saw the look of familiarity in his eyes.

"You know Sephiroth?" Both said at the same time. It was almost comical. My amusement turned to amazement when Vincent had flipped out of his coffin. What was amazing was he actually did it in a slow motion fashion, defying gravity, and landing perfectly on his steel shoes on the edge of the coffin.

"You first," He pointed at Cloud with his clawed gauntlet. Although a little hesitant, Cloud told him the group's story. He explained about his time in SOLDIER with Sephiroth examining the Nibel reactor, how he came to the conclusion he was made different and came to the mansion, finding out he was Jenova's "son" and burned the village down and was defeated the same day in the reactor. He explained how five years later he had somehow returned and that the whole group was out to stop him from getting to the Promised Land. During the whole story Vincent didn't say a word. He listened intently, his face passive the entire time.

"And that's how it is," Cloud finished.

"So Sephiroth found out how he was created five years ago? And about the Jenova project? He was missing, but recently reappeared. He has taken many lives, and seeks the Promised Land?" He said all of this out loud more to himself than to us as questions.

"Now it's your turn," pushed Cloud.

"I'm sorry...I can't speak." He said, letting out a sad sigh.

"Why you lying, white faced!..."

"Barret, if I have to, I will use your gun as a gag, now calm your shit." I scolded him. He seemed to stand still for the time being.

Vincent jumped back into the coffin. "Hearing your story has added upon me yet another sin. More nightmares shall come to me now, more than I previously had...please...leave." By the same invisible force the coffin top went back on Vincent's coffin as he lay down.

"How sad..." Aeris mumbled.

"Who needs him? Come on Cloud, let's go." Barret insisted. Cloud looked at the coffin and Barret before sighing.

"He's free now, it doesn't matter what we want to do. He chooses to be here." Cloud left the room everyone started to follo...waitwaitwait...

I stared at the leaving group. Just like that? No more questions? He's just a depressed man and Cloud leaves him? Sure respecting his wishes but seriously?

I sighed. I would have to get the ball rolling on the other optional character.

"Nate, you coming?" Cait asked. I ignored the cat and went to the coffin.

"Nate what are you doing?" Nanaki asked. Now the group was looking back into the room. I pushed the top off. Looking down I was being stared at by very menacing, and annoyed, red eyes.

"You're still here." His voice didn't betray any emotion. I composed myself to ask the right questions.

"Who are you; at least tell us your name." He looked at me for a good minute before sighing.

"I was with... the Shinra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research. Otherwise known as..." He struggled to remember for a second.

"The Turks...Vincent." The whole group was back in the room, all ready to take up arms hearing the new information.

"The Turks?" Cloud burst out.

"Formerly...of the Turks." he emphasized the word. "I have no affiliation with Shinra now...and you?" He was focusing now on the group again. Cloud stepped forward.

"Cloud, formerly of SOLDIER."

"You were also in Shinra? Then do you know Lucrecia?" He actually sounded a little hopeful.

"Who?" Cloud brought that train of thought down fast.

"...Lucrecia." Vincent stated. Cloud shook his head. "The woman who gave birth to Sephiroth." That got everyone's attention.

"Gave...birth...I thought Jenova was Sephiroth's mother." Cloud said, confused. Vincent just blinked.

"That isn't completely wrong. But just a theory. He was born from a beautiful lady. She was Lucrecia, an assistant to Professor Gast of the Jenova project. Beautiful...Lucrecia..."

"A human experiment," Cloud concluded.

"That's horrible, how could someone do that?" Tifa exclaimed.

"There was no way to cancel the experiment." He looked back down.

"I couldn't stop her. That is my sin. I let the one I loved, the one I respected the most, face the worst." I felt my heart drop. It was like he wanted to cry, but couldn't.

"So you lock yourself up to make up for it? That's weird." Yuffie stated. He ignored her and just laid back down into his coffin. Having satisfied the group's curiosity, everyone left this time. We all continued down the hall until we opened another steel door and found a very interesting room.

It was an old laboratory. Old books were scattered everywhere on the ground, most of them eaten away by time and the environment around it. There were glass pods to house experiments in that were now broken. The lights were dusted over, having not been used for years. The group looked around the room. Cloud slowly walked around, taking in every detail, until he stopped at the hallway.

"Sephiroth!" Everyone looked over and saw across the way. The silver haired general was looking at a bookshelf, smiling. Everyone was near the entrance, ready to fight.

"Being here brings back memories." He focused his eyes on Cloud now. "Are you going to participate in the Reunion?" He asked.

"I don't even know what the Reunion is!" Cloud yelled.

"Jenova will be at the Reunion. Jenova will join the Reunion and become the calamity from the skies." He said casually.

"Jenova, a calamity from the skies? You mean she wasn't an Ancient!" Sephiroth's smile dropped.

"...I see. I don't think you have a right to participate. I will go north past Mt. Nibel. If you wish to follow...then follow. You are more than welcome to bring guests." Sephiroth's grin returned while looking at the group, everyone shuddered. I knew he was implying me though.

"Reunion? Calamity of the skies? Sephiroth you aren't making any sense!" The man in question then threw something at Cloud, it was fast enough I could just barely tell it was a materia, but it hit him before he could ask any further questions and then Sephiroth floated into the air, flying past the group before anyone could take any action.

"Damn it, we had him." Cloud coughed out.

"Like hell we did, he threw a materia at you and flew away!" I was still amazed at the sight.

"Nate's right Cloud, he caught us off guard, but we know where he's going." Tifa said. Cloud nodded and got back up. We took the materia and started to leave the basement. Cloud especially now that he had caught sight of Sephiroth. I was happy though, we were going to leave Nibelheim. I didn't want to stay here, it was a very unnatural town filled with lies and the pain of one of my friend's lives.

I hope I never come back here.

A/N If anyone is wondering I thought this chappa was a little lack luster, so i made it slightly longer to compensate. Till next time audience!