Last major revision: 01/26/99
Last modified: 01/26/99

Here is the rough draft to part 7.  It hasn't been extensively
proofread so expect some errors. 

It's been a VERY long wait, but I hope you'll find that
this part's worth it -- in size alone, if nothing else!  ^_^;

There's a lot going on and things might get confusing, so I'm
particularly eager for comments and suggestions.

Public and private C&C always appreciated!   ^_^

======================================================================
    CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:  
        A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra
======================================================================
        PART 7:  REUNION
======================================================================

---------------
Disclaimer:
    All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters
belong to Square Co., Ltd.  The characters of this series are used
without permission for the purpose of entertainment only.  This work of
fiction is not meant for sale or profit.                
    All original characters are the creation of the author.  All
copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author.  

---------------
Author's notes:

WARNING:  Violence, Adult language and subject matter.

This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic.  It
contains major SPOILERS for the game.

---------------
Text Conventions
    (  ) are character thoughts
    /  / and //  // and { } are mental dialogue of various characters
    [   ] are miscellaneous images or sound effects
    >----->----->-----> indicate the START of flashbacks/dreams
    <-----<-----<-----< indicate the END of flashbacks/dreams

======================================================================

------------------------------------------------------
PART 7-1:  RESURRECTION ROAD
------------------------------------------------------

    Even deeply unconscious, Cloud became aware of a... presence.  It
was very, very faint at the moment, but he recognized it instantly.  He
knew it like he knew himself... perhaps even better.

    He twitched and softly whimpered, "Sephiroth...."

---------------------------

    Cid and the rest of the party stood at the entrance to the cave. 
Tucked underneath a large, overhanging cliff and surrounded by rocks and
greenery, the ten foot wide opening was well hidden from all but the
most thorough of searchers.

    The pilot grumbled, "I'm sure glad that Scarlet told us exactly
where to locate this damn entrance.  We could've searched these canyons
for weeks before finding the friggin' thing."

    "What about the Highwind?" asked Elena as she glanced skyward.

    "It'll stay here.  Hojo's guards are likely to spot it if it gets
any closer.  Once underground, we'll probably lose radio contact until
we hit the factory."  Cid paused a moment and glanced sideways at Cait
Sith, but the little cat robot looked totally unconcerned by the
possible loss of communication.  The pilot shrugged and continued,
"According to Scarlet, the weapon plant's located on a seaside cliff
that's about twenty miles that-a-way."  He gestured vaguely toward the
northwest.  "It'll probably take close to ten minutes for the Highwind
to reach us even at top speed.  Remember that, guys."  Cid looked around
and said, "Everyone ready?"

    "Yeah!" rumbled Barret, waving his arms.  "Let's do it, man!"

    Yuffie grinned nastily, twirling Conformer around her finger.  On
the Highwind, Cait Sith had dumped a bag full of new, unfamiliar types
of materia onto a table.  As everyone helped themselves like kids in a
candy shop, the little robot cat had murmured something about
'liberating' the stash from the Shinra research labs.  With a little
practice and some lab notes that Cait had thoughtfully supplied, the
ninja girl was prepared for serious mayhem.

    Vincent merely nodded.  It took every bit of his self-discipline to
keep his mind focused on their main goal -- rescuing Cloud and Reno --
but he could feel the darkness within him seething and quivering with
anticipation at the thought of tracking down Hojo and ripping the mad
scientist limb from limb.

    Cracking her knuckles, Tifa also nodded silently.  She was a woman
with a mission.  Anyone or anything that got between her and Cloud was
going to get hurt in a big way.  There was no way that she was going to
let Sephiroth or Hojo get their claws into Cloud again. 

    "I'm ready," growled Red with stark simplicity, his flaming tail
lashing.

    Cait Sith patted his Mog and smiled, exposing small, but
surprisingly sharp teeth.

    Elena, again dressed in a crisp blue suit, glanced at Rude and
replied for both of them.  "Ready to rock, guys."

    The pilot took a deep breath.  "Then let's move out!"

---------------------------

    As the hours ticked by, Reno began to sense a change in his
surroundings.  The air seemed to crackle with an unwholesome energy that
made his skin prickle.  His gut instincts told him that something really
big and really nasty was going down.

    The Turk's gaze drifted back to Cloud.  At first Reno had thought
that the young man had been as good as dead, considering the haphazard
way Hojo had slapped the bandage over Cloud's gaping belly wound. 
However, it seemed that the bleeding was actually slowing down despite
Hojo's sloppy first aid.  

    (Hmmm.  I guess that those rumors about SOLDIERs having super-fast
healing abilities were true.  Any ordinary person probably would've died
of blood loss and shock long ago.)  Reno grinned sourly as he realized
that this enhanced healing was probably why Cloud had always managed to
last long enough to kick the Turks' butts.

    But while Cloud was alive at the moment, he was still in pretty bad
shape.  No matter how physically 'improved' SOLDIERs might be, having
someone rummaging around in one's guts was a hell of a shock to the
system.  The kid may have stopped bleeding, but he was still unconscious
and looked deathly pale.  Nope, Cloud wasn't about to jump up on his
feet and hunt down Hojo.

    The familiar sound of approaching monsters made the Turk twitch
nervously, but the creatures hadn't come for him.  Reno felt a mixture
of relief and shame along with a hefty dose of dread as they grabbed
Cloud and hauled him away.

---------------------------

    "Hold up, Barret!" yelled Yuffie.

    "What!?"

    "Haven't you forgotten about those security checkpoints Scarlet told
us about?  It's been about a mile, there's that ribbony stalactite she
mentioned," the ninja girl pointed to a delicate stone formation hanging
from the ceiling, "so the keypad's got be somewhere around here." 

    "You mean we've got to waste time looking for a hidden electronic
doo-hickey?  How do ya even know if that bitch's telling the truth?  She
could've be bluffing all along."

    Red shook his head.  "Unlikely.  There's no denying that Scarlet's
situation is desperate.  She would have instructed us to ignore the
checkpoints if at all possible."

    Yuffie sighted off the designated landmark, paced off the specified
distances, and started fumbling with an inconspicuous rock on an
elevated ledge.  

    "Ha!  Guys, I found it!"  The ninja girl started to rummage in her
pockets for the list of security codes.  Red had insisted that everyone
carried a copy just in case the team got separated.

    Elena said, "Don't worry, I've got it."  She quickly but precisely
typed in the ten digit code.  A green light flashed twice.

    "Yeah, c'mon!"  The ninja girl somersaulted off the ledge, landed
neatly on one foot, and trotted down the twisty cave path.

    "Show-off," muttered Cid.

---------------------------

    Getting repeatedly smacked in the face with a cold, slimy tentacle
was not Cloud's favorite way of being dragged back into consciousness...
then the pain throughout his entire body brutally reminded him why he
had been unconscious in the first place.  He groaned softly and couldn't
summon up the energy to open his eyes.

    "You're not that badly injured.  The poison gas wouldn't have
impaired your healing abilities that much," an insufferably smug voice
said.

    Cloud muttered wearily, "Damn you, Hojo."  He got another stinging
smack in the face for that comment.  "What do you want from me now?"

    "These creatures of mine certainly have their uses, but they simply
don't comprehend the finer points of my work."
  
    "You dragged me out of my cell just so you could have an
appreciative audience?" Cloud asked incredulously.

    "Of course.  You're intimately involved in all this.  It's only
fitting that you should see this.  Take a look at my masterpiece...
REBORN!"  

    Cloud finally managed to pry open his eyes.  Although his vision was
still refused to focus completely, he could easily make out the huge,
clear cylindrical tank before him.  Hojo has obviously wasted no time
setting his insane plans into motion.  To his horror, Cloud instantly
recognized the shape tranquilly suspended in the glowing green liquid
within the tank.  

    He could never forget that long silvery hair which drifted around a
face with elegant, yet almost feral features... the sleek, powerful
muscles....

    "Sephiroth...," Cloud whispered in a sick voice.  "No.  It can't
be... not this fast!"  

    Somehow, he had expected the whole process to take longer... MUCH
longer.  But the resurrection of Sephiroth was unlike any other of
Hojo's cloning experiments.  Actually, it seemed that the term
"reconstruction" was a more accurate way of describing what was going on
before his eyes.  Instead of growing from a baby into an adult, a fully
mature body was being assembled starting at the head and working
downward.  Cloud could literally see Sephiroth's body putting itself
together with uncanny speed from the inside out -- bones, then flesh,
followed by skin.

    "Oh, but it can!  All this has taken place in the space of three
short hours.  As soon as I placed the sample in this unit, his body
began to reconstruct itself with no assistance or guidance from me...
almost like it has a will of its own, isn't it?  I just provided the raw
materials."

    Cloud whispered, "That's NOT what I needed to hear...."

    Three hours... in three measly hours, what had probably been a tiny
swatch of tissue no bigger than a fingernail had already rebuilt itself
into a recognizable person.  The head, neck, upper chest, and shoulders
were already complete.  At that moment, the skeletal arm bones were
being wrapped in muscle.  Indeterminate blobs of tissue were coalescing,
steadily gaining both definition and texture which transformed them into
recognizable internal organs that in turn gradually attached and packed
themselves into the body's abdominal region.

    The sight unpleasantly reminded Cloud of seeing Sephiroth in his
chrysalis of Materia in the Northern Crater, just before he had so
obediently handed over the Black Materia....

    He tore his gaze away from the tank -- anything to avoid looking at
the monster growing inside - then blinked in astonishment as he saw a
familiar lethal shape lying on a nearby lab counter next to a pile of
equally familiar black clothing.

    "Sephiroth's Masamune!?"

    Hojo chuckled.  "Yes, indeed.  His sword, ready and waiting."

    "How... how did you....?"

    The scientist giggled.  "Pure luck... no, call it fate.  Sephiroth
was destined to return.  Why shouldn't his sword return to serve him...
just like you did."

    "You damn well kidnapped me!  I didn't have any choice in the
matter!" Cloud snarled weakly.

    "Really?  Oh, I think you would have been drawn here anyway.  I just
helped things along," Hojo hissed in a mocking voice.  "I confess that I
was quite surprised to find the sword.  Or perhaps it would be better to
say that it found ME.  Anyway, this is the first opportunity I've had to
analyze the weapon.  Metallurgy is hardly my strongest area of
expertise, but the things I've discovered...."  The scientist rubbed his
tentacles together with insane glee.

    "Analyze?  Why the hell did you need to analyze it?  I thought
Shinra gave the damn thing to Sephiroth."

    "Oh no.  He found it himself, although I'm not sure where.  I never
had a chance to examine it.  Sephiroth could be quite protective about
certain things... and certain people."  He leaned close to Cloud as if
conveying a great secret.  "Do you know that the Masamune is at least as
old as Jenova?  And that the metal is uncannily similar in composition
to other metal fragments discovered near Jenova?  How does THAT grab
you, hm?"

    Cloud shook his head in an effort to stay conscious.  "That's
crazy...  You're trying to tell me that sword's over 2000 years old?"

    "Yes!  Think of it.  It probably came in the very same space vehicle
as Jenova.  It could have been Jenova's very own weapon!"  Hojo burst
into triumphant giggles.

    Cloud thought, (That might explain why Masamune's proportions and
its balance are so weird... and it might explain why Sephiroth's the
only person who could effectively fight with the damn thing.  The
sword's as awkward as hell to lift and nearly impossible to use.  I
bloody well should know....)

    His thoughts abruptly trailed off in a tangle of confusion.  (But...
but HOW should I know that?  I've never picked up Sephiroth's sword
before... I think....)  Cloud was sidetracked as Hojo continued with his
little story.

    Waving his tentacles wildly in the air, the scientist burbled, "When
I found this sword -- or when it found me -- it was a sign... a sign
that I would finally succeed in resurrecting Sephiroth himself!  Not
just a Sephiroth clone -- mere facsimiles, however superior they are to
ordinary humans -- but the real thing!"

    Hojo smirked, then added in a pensive voice, "How strange that such
a great and dedicated scientist like myself would end up believing in
destiny and fate."

    "Don't break a tentacle patting yourself on the back," Cloud
growled.

    Hojo ignored the insolent comment and muttered to himself, "I can't
wait to see how Sephiroth will react to meeting the TRUE Jenova...
Jenova-CORE!"

    (The WHAT!?)  Cloud's eyes widened in shocked dismay.  He wished
that he was just imagining things, but he knew that he'd heard Hojo all
too clearly.  

    "Jenova-CORE!?  But that can't be!  Jenova's head was destroyed in
the Lifestream...."  

    (No, not destroyed.  It was merely LOST in the Lifestream.)  

    And Cloud knew first-hand that whatever the Lifestream swallowed,
the Lifestream all too often spit back. 

    Hojo gave Cloud a sly look.  "Oh, so you know about Jenova-CORE, hm?
 Of course.  You must have found a copy of my notes at Nibelheim."

    "You... you're trying to rebuild Jenova also...."

    Hojo snort in contempt.  "That female alien body that was found
thirty-one years ago was merely a shell, a conveniently sized host for
Jenova-CORE."

    Cloud whispered, "You mean that Jenova's really some sort of... of
parasite?"
 
    "Not JUST a parasite!  The true Jenova -- Jenova-CORE -- is an
entity of unknown shape or form.  When it landed on this world, the body
in which it was residing was entombed by those meddling Cetra!  After
2000 years of interment, only a fraction of the original Jenova-CORE
were left, mostly concentrated in Jenova-host's brain.  Some of the
Jenova-CORE cells were extracted by Gast and went into the creation of
Sephiroth."  The reminder of his rival make Hojo scowl irritably before
he continued speaking.

    "You thought you and your pathetic pack of hoodlums had destroyed me
on the Sister Ray, but you were wrong!  The important part of me
survived and escaped!  When I found the head, I realized the truth and I
knew what I had to do.  And now the day of my triumph has arrived!"
    
    Hojo might have said more, but a loud siren suddenly went off.  An
electronic voice over the building's loudspeakers blared, "WARNING. 
Primary interlock failure.  Mako inflow rising to critical levels. 
Possible reactor breech.  Secondary safety interlocks initiated. 
Shutdown will occurred in two minutes."

    The mad scientist swore furiously.  "NO!  Stupid computer!"  He
flung Cloud aside and stormed over to a computer terminal.  After
angrily punching in a series of commands, the scientist waited
impatiently, then hissed, "What do you mean that the interlocks can't be
disabled from remote terminals!?  The Mako flow must not be interrupted
at any cost!  I won't have it, you hear me!?"  

    The flat synthesized computer voice was suddenly replaced by a human
female's voice, dripping with cheerful malice.  

    "Too fucking bad, sucker face.  Have a nice day."  

    "Scarlet, you bitch!"  With a howl of rage, Hojo stormed out of the
lab.

---------------------------

    When Hojo had thrown Cloud aside like a rag-doll, the resulting
impact tore open the young man's wounds.  He soon found himself on the
floor amid a growing pool of blood.  But all his physical pain and
weakness was nothing compared to his mental and emotional turmoil.  From
his position, he had a clear, unobstructed view of the tank and the
steady progress of his arch-nemesis' reconstruction.  He knew he had to
do something and do it soon.  In a few more hours, Sephiroth would be
back.

    To confront Sephiroth again....

    (Oh god.  Isn't killing him not once, but TWICE enough?  I can't do
this again....)

    But as he slid inexorably into unconsciousness, a grim resolve
slowly took over Cloud's mind, crowding out fear, anger... even hatred.

        // Yes, I can. 
        // I have to.
        // I promised him that night....
        // I swore that I'd do whatever needed to be done.... 
        // Whatever it took..... 
        // Whatever the cost....
        // I PROMISED....
        // ....to set him free....//

------------------------------------------------------
PART 7-2:  GIRL TALK
------------------------------------------------------

    In a way, Red was glad that he and his companions were required to
stop at regular intervals to deal with Scarlet's overblown security
system.  The constant pauses forced his friends to pace themselves. 
Otherwise, he was sure that Tifa and some of the others would have
charged ahead recklessly and ended up in deep trouble.

    "Yo, Red!  How much further we got?" rumbled Barret.

    "We're just a little more than halfway there, I believe."  In the
darkness of the caverns, the beast was the easiest to identify with his
flaming tail tip.

    Cid muttered, "Ten miles in three hours.  Not bad, considering the
terrain, the darkness, and all the damn stops we've had to make."  

    By the light of her lamp, Yuffie could see that no matter how
quickly they moved, it was much too slow for Tifa.  The dark-haired
young woman paced impatiently as the Turks looked for the concealed
security keypad.  The ninja girl reached out and grabbed her tense
shoulder.  

    "Hang in there, Tifa.  We'll get him out of there."

    Tifa has said almost nothing over the last several hours, but now
she leaned back against the cave wall and said flatly, "I keep telling
myself that."  Smacking her fist into the palm of her other hand, she
muttered, "Hojo's dead meat."

    Yuffie glanced at Vincent, who perched on a pile of rubble as he
waited for the security checkpoint to clear.  The ex-Turk had always
been a man of few words, but ever since the recent discovery of Hojo's
unsuccessful attempts to breed more creatures like Sephiroth, the dark
man had been even more silent and withdrawn than usual.  

    "Uh, I hate to say this, but I think Vincent might just beat you to
it," whispered the ninja girl.

    Tifa shrugged.  "Actually, I don't really care WHO kills Hojo.  I
just want to see him finished, once and for all."  She sighed heavily
and muttered, "I can't lose Cloud... not after all we've been through
already."

    As they both watched Rude and Elena scrambling through the rocks,
Yuffie said, "Cloud's tough.  I mean, he's not going to give in so
easily."

    "Yes, but...."  Tifa's voice trailed off. 

    (But when monsters like Sephiroth, Hojo, and Jenova are involved,
he's in more danger than any of us, Yuffie.)

    Tifa shook her head sharply.  "It's just that... I don't want things
to end like this.  I don't want his last memories of me to be.....  Oh
hell."

    Turning away from Yuffie, she paced in a tight circle.  Thinking
about her behavior on the outcrop just before Cloud's abduction, Tifa
was forced to realize that the stalled relationship between her and
Cloud was as much her fault as it was his.  Actually, she was starting
to think that most of the blame was hers.

    (Maybe he didn't say or do anything to let me know how he felt...
but was it because he didn't want to... or maybe it was because I didn't
give him the chance?)  

    On the cliff, Cloud was trying to tell her something, but she'd cut
him off as soon as he mentioned Aeris.  And that hadn't been the first
time she had acted that way.  Was it any wonder that he had become
reluctant to bring up the topic of their relationship, such as it was? 
In her attempts to protect herself, had she ended up driving him away?

    (Me and my stupid....  I'm such a sniveling coward.  Oh, I'm
certainly brave enough about physical stuff, but about other things...
I'd rather bury my head in the ground and ignore the truth.  I just
can't seem to deal with the possibility that he doesn't return my
feelings.  And every time he mentions Aeris....  I wish I could've hated
her... but I can't.  God, I sound absolutely pathetic.  She's dead, I'm
alive, and I'm still jealous of her.)

    Jealousy.  She was jealous of what Aeris and Cloud had together,
jealous of how the other girl could just open herself up.  There was no
secret how Aeris felt... how much she cared.  Tifa closed her eyes.  

    Aloud, she muttered softly, "I could never get up the courage to
tell Cloud how I felt about him."

    Over the last year, Yuffie had been alternately pestering and
teasing Tifa about her relationship with Cloud, but now the ninja girl
had the unhappy feeling that she was getting in over her head.  However,
she doggedly plunged on.  

    "I'm sure he knows that you care about him...," Yuffie said a bit
awkwardly.
 
    "Does he?  Or does he just think of me as a childhood friend... no,
a childhood acquaintance?"

    Yuffie blinked in confusion.  "Huh?  I thought you guys grew up
together.  Childhood sweethearts and all that."

    Tifa shook her head sadly.  "Over the years, I basically talked
myself into believing we were close friends when we were kids, but that
just wasn't true.  I saw him around, said 'hello' to him occasionally,
and ignored him most of the time.  Looking back, I now realize that the
other kids really gave him a hard time.  It was a small town and they
bullied him a lot."  

    The ninja girl snorted.  "It's kinda hard to imagine someone pushing
Cloud around."

    "Oh no.  Things were really different when we were kids.  When he
was young, he was on the small side.  A bit sickly... sort of shy and
withdrawn, but...."  Tifa smiled wistfully, "He was really cute, with
that little blond ponytail of his."

    (I wish I'd said something back then.  I wonder... would a few kind
words have made a difference?  I guess I'll never know....)  

    A grim look crossed Tifa's face.  "And now that I think about it,
the adults were even worse than the kids. "

    "No kidding?"

    "Yeah.  Nibelheim was a small town.  Everyone knew everybody.  But
Cloud and his mother were always outsiders.  She just showed up one day
with a baby in her arms.  I don't think my parents or the other
townsfolk really believed her story about being a widow.  There were all
sorts of dirty rumors.  And when Cloud was growing up, he usually got
blamed every time something bad happened -- stuff got stolen or broken,
that sort of thing... even the weather!  My dad was probably among the
worst.  I can remember Dad blaming Cloud for some broken windows... as
if a nine year old kid had anything to do with a hailstorm!"  

    Tifa shook her head wearily.  "It's no wonder that he wanted to get
away from Nibelheim... no wonder that he wanted to show everyone just
how wrong they were about him.  My father and the other townspeople
pretty much drove him away to Midgar... and looked what happened."

    "Tifa, you can't blame yourself if other people acted like total
jerks.  It wasn't like you did anything nasty to him."

    (But don't you see, Yuffie?  It's not the things I did, but the
things that I DIDN'T do.  Sure, I wasn't cruel to him, but I wasn't nice
to him.  I didn't try to stop the other kids from picking on him.  I
didn't try to defend him when the adults blamed him for things I knew he
didn't do.)

    Aloud, Tifa quietly whispered, "Sometimes the sins of omission are
just as bad as the sins of commission, Yuffie.  I could have... I could
have done a lot of things...."

    The ninja girl said nothing as Tifa stared up at the rocky ceiling
of the cavern and sighed.  

    (Cloud wanted me to notice him.  It was so stupid of me, stringing
him along with that damn promise!  I made him think that he HAD to
become a SOLDIER in order to impress me!  I'm sure that promise only
made things worse when he didn't make it into SOLDIER.)  Tifa scowled
and kicked at a harmless rock.  

    Not sure how to respond to her friend's angry gesture, Yuffie
settled for a noncommittal, "Umm...."  After a moment, she brightened up
and said, "Didn't you say that he saved your life back in the Mount
Nibel reactor, after Sephiroth hurt you?"

    "Yes... but...."

    "Well, if he was willing to go after Sephiroth, that's gotta mean
that he cared about you and that he didn't hold any of those past things
against you.  And it's pretty clear that he still cares about you and
you're obviously crazy about him.  Now the trick is to tell him!" Yuffie
said cheerfully.

    Tifa glared at Yuffie.  "It's not that simple!  Don't you think I
wanted to?  But there are other... issues involved here."  

    Yuffie sighed and gave up.  She'd tried the blatant approach and
she'd tried the subtle approach, but it seemed that Tifa was going to
keep her head buried in the sand and not tell Cloud how she felt. 

    "Tifa...."

    "Yeah?"

    Yuffie bit her lip, then shook her head.  "Oh... nothing."

------------------------------------------------------
PART 7-3: RHAPSODY IN GREEN: SECOND CHANCES
------------------------------------------------------

    There was someone... someone very important to him... someone very
close... that person was desperately trying to warn him about something,
but he couldn't hear him.  It was like there was a thick sheet of glass
between the two of them, blocking off any sort of communication... or
emotion.  

    And after a while, it was no longer a matter of 'could not hear',
but rather he CHOSE not to hear.  

    Eventually, the other presence went away, but he didn't care.  He
had more important matters to attend to.  After all, a god has more
important things on his mind than the inane chatter of an insignificant
human insect.

    At least, that's what he told himself.  But something deep inside
him ached with guilt and sorrow... loneliness and grief....
    
    Now that special person was back.  The mysterious barrier no longer
stood between them and he could sense the familiar, cherished presence. 
But as his consciousness drifted away, he realized that there was
something wrong with that presence... terribly wrong. 

---------------------------

    Some unknown time later, he awoke and sensed chaos, both inside and
out... and since he abhorred chaos, he set about imposing some order on
his surroundings and himself.  Gradually, things began to make sense and
memories gradually fell into place....  But still, there was a part of
his mind that refused to accept order, no matter how much he tried.  And
that portion tried to devour him, to drown him in chaos and madness. 
Like the pull of quicksand, the more he tried to resist, the worse the
pull seemed to be.  His anxiety steadily grew until....

    {Let me help....}
    
    It was just a wisp of a female voice... soft and gentle.  He wasn't
sure whether it was an actual sound he was hearing or whether it was
just in his mind.  

    "Who are you?" he demanded, his ice green eyes narrowing warily.

---------------------------

    His mind-voice was cold, almost brutally sharp, just as she imagined
him to be... just as sharp and piercing as that great long silvery blade
he had used when he....  

    Her lower chest seemed to burn and tingle as she shuddered at the
unpleasant memory.  She hesitated briefly and wondered if she was doing
the right thing.  It was a huge gamble which could end in utter
disaster.  But it was a gamble she had to take.  

    It was her love's only chance for becoming whole... complete.

---------------------------

    {There... is that better?}
    
    "Yes."  

    Surprisingly, it was.  He sensed the chaotic, twisted jumble in his
mind receding into the background, its seductive pull weakened.  A long
pause followed before he added, somewhat reluctantly, "It's still
there."  

    {It's a part of you, no matter how much you despise it.  You can't
just cut it out and throw it away.} 

    The voice acquired a gentle warning tone.   

    {I've only managed to temporarily block its effects, but I can't
cure the madness or make it go away forever.  The protective barrier
isn't permanent.  It can be broken, either by you or by... other things.
 It's only a temporary buffer... something to give you enough time to
gradually face and deal with your memories with a balanced, rational
mind, instead of a mind overwhelmed drowning in its own chaos.  Once
you've understand what's happened in the past, then you can unravel that
knot of madness yourself and destroy it for good.}

    "Who are you?"  With one distraction gone, he could now sense
something else calling him... tugging at him.

    {I'm just... a friend of a friend,} was the wistful reply.

    "Who are you?" he demanded again.

    The voice didn't answer in words.  He got a fleeting impression of
gentle, dark green eyes and an image of a strangely familiar yellow
flower.  Her mental words were soft and terribly sad.  

    {In all the time I knew him... years, but still so short... he never
talked about you.}

    She hesitated for a long moment before continuing.
 
    {I sensed you in him, all those years ago, but you were so much a
part of him, I never realized you were there... that there was another
PERSON involved.  And when I met him again, I was so confused.  The face
and body were totally different and yet....  Part of him felt so
familiar but there was so much pain... he seemed so incomplete....  I
wanted to help, but I didn't know how.  Back then, I didn't recognize
him....  But now... now I know who he really is.  And since I've met
YOU... the real you... I also know what's been missing in him all this
time....}

    He tersely said, "You're not making any sense."  

    {Please go and help him.  He needs to be whole.  YOU need to be
whole.  That can never happen until you meet again.}  

    "Whole?  What are you talking about?"
    
    There was a sad sigh.

    {But it's going to be so hard... so very hard.  There's so much that
lies between the two of you... so much that's changed... yet so much
remains the same... you still need each other.}

    "I don't NEED anyone," he stated flatly, his cold green eyes
flashing. 

    {No, I suppose you don't.  Each of you could survive alone...
perhaps... but neither of you could ever be truly content or happy
without the other.  Don't you want more from life than mere survival...
more than just a barren, hollow existence?}

    He didn't reply, but in a way, his very silence was an answer in
itself.  Things were falling into place for him.  Gradually, he began to
understand what -- and who -- the voice was talking about.  The brief
mental images of the pretty, brown-haired girl and the yellow flower
abruptly clicked in his mind... bringing back memories of a better time.


    "The flower girl in the slums."  Very quietly he added, "Zack never
told me your name."

    {I made him promise and he keep his word.  I knew he would.  That
was the sort of man he was.}

    "Yes, I know."  A brief pause followed.  "Will you tell me your name
now?"

    {Aeris.  My name is Aeris.}

    The name suited her perfectly somehow.  In a thoughtful voice he
asked, "Why are you doing this, Aeris?"

    There was another surge of wistful sadness in her now fading voice.

    {For my first love.  Or perhaps, for my only love....}

    Just before his own consciousness faded, he heard her last words
echoing in the void.

    {Go find the other half of your soul... Sephiroth.}


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[continued in PART 7-4]

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madamhydra@aol.com         /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra/