Description so Bob doesn't "Warn" me:
Final Fantasy VII ended and many fanfictions followed... But the problem is a massive portion of those just basically said "Oh boy, kids! Gee, Sephiroth is at it again!"... I detest fanfictions that continue that annoying part of the story, so I made completely new characters for the fanfiction I created. It's a drama fanfiction I wrote that was divided into seven parts. Instead of posting them as I made them, I finished the fanfiction all at once in order to present it here and now!

Have a good read!

Final Fantasy VII~ The Second Wind- A fanfiction by A V B

- Story information -
This fanfiction does NOT have Sephiroth as an Antagonist any longer. Cloud is now faced with a problem that doesn't affect just his planet, but it determines the fate of existance. No longer is Sephiroth a threat, the real foes are Cloud's conscience, visions of Aeris, and a new rival to fight with: Hirothipes, a man teetering on the edge of insanity, the only way he can be satisfied is if he tastes the blood of his dead victims. Hirothipes makes Sephiroth look harmless in this 7-part drama- Final Fantasy VII~ The Second Wind.

Part One- Comatose_________________________
Cloud quietly lay there, staring up at the sky. The cold night air gently pushed his hair in a light breeze. Too many thoughts were going through his mind. Did Aeris finally rest and go to the promised land? Where had his friends gone? And, where did Sephiroth disappear to? The stars were soothing to his worn out, despaired soul. His tears would not come, even though all of his friends had passed to the promised land... The world was so grey and empty without his friends by his side, and all he could do now was look at the sky and pray for a good dream. It was getting darker and colder as the minutes passed like seconds, the pain would not heal even though time had passed greatly. The soft grass made Cloud feel like he was finally sleeping on a bed. There's nobody around to tease him, or encourage him, or put him down. There's nothing. Everything is blank and there are no worries, or good laughs, or bouts of depression.... Just silence. The only thing he has left to keep him going is the broken materia he holds in his hand, and the good memories. After laying there in a dead silence, Cloud sits up and gazed at the moon in its radiant glory. Cloud looked at the moon and wished he hadn't joined SOLDIER.... This never would have happened... None of it, and he would have met Tifa, Aeris, Barret, Yuffie, Cid, and Cait Sith in a more peaceful way. He didn't wish for this, none of this. He stared into the endlessly expansive sky, and noticed a shooting star. Now was his chance to make a wish and hope for it to come true.
"I wish..." and right there he stopped. If he wished to not ever have joined SOLDIER, he wouldn't be alive today... That's all he lives for: his existance.
"I wish that my friends came back..." Cloud bowed his head and lied down, waiting for another long day to come.

A warm light made him feel comfortable for a brief slumber... Birds chirped and he heard a couple of people talking amongst each other.
"I found him near the hill on the other end of the woods." A female voice echoed in Cloud's head.
"He could be a frigging terrorist for all we know!" A deep male voice boomed.
"But look! He's got SOLDIER equipment!"
"I don't give a damn if he's a soldier! Put him back where you found him!"
"You treat him like he's an object! We have to let people in need have shelter!"
Cloud woke up, groginess imparing his vision. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Tifa? Barret?"
"Who the hell're you talkin' about? Get yer spikey ass up!"
"But I could've sworn..."
"No, you're mistaken. My name's Faith and his name is Tarbareth." Faith responded loud enough for Cloud to hear. His slumber dulled his senses.
"Oh, I'm sorry... You look almost like my old friends..." Cloud stared at them and could have sworn they were Tifa and Barrett... But that's impossible, they're already dead...
"Do you know where I could get a job?" Cloud asked blatantly.
"But why? You're a frigging SOLDIER! You must be rich!" Tarbareth yelled back, his expression rather intimedating.
"No, these are all the clothes I have left..." Cloud looked at the floor, knowing this was true, and hoping they would accept his response.
"I don't know, those SOLDIER clothes and that sword would go for a high price, you must have some money on you." Faith was skeptical.
"It's true, empty my pockets... I have nothing but my sword, a broken materia, and the clothes on my back." Cloud responded with a truthful attitude. Faith reached into Cloud's pockets and found nothing. There was no secret stash of money, he was really broke, and had nowhere to go.
"Tarbareth, he has no money, just the things with him..."
"Hey, let me take a look at that materia!"
"But--"
"I said let me look at it! I can fix the damn thing!"
"Oh, thanks."
Tarbareth went over to his working station and looked at the materia with a magnifying glass. He noticed the cracks that caused the materia's mana to not flow. The cracks were in a pattern, as if trying to spell something. They spelled in a sequence...
"Uh... These cracks spell the word 'one'... Did you have a look at the damn thing before you put it in your pocket?" Tarbareth, startled at the word revealed, directed his fear into anger toward Cloud.
"No, not really. I just consider it my good luck charm."
"Well, the b****'s busted. I'm gonna need alot of time to fix this thing." The cracks nearly fully damaged the materia. Luckilly, the core was still protected, but just barely. He never really noticed the crack in the materia, just thought it would be a useless trinket for him to carry with him.
"You don't look so good Cloud... Are you alright?" Faith gasped to see Cloud sheet white.
"I don't feel so hot..." Cloud felt his head- he was burning up. What was happening all of a sudden? Cloud's stomach began to churn, he started seeing double, and he was barely clinging to consciousness.
"Cloud? Cloud!" Faith's voice faded. Everything went blank. A magnificent white light engulfed Cloud's line of sight, and he drifted off into a comatose state. He woke up, or so he thought. Rising from the floor, he was astounded to find he wasn't in the porch of the house in Midgar any longer, but a white room... No corners, seemingly endless in its size.
"You have come at last..." The calm voice of a young woman echoed in the white room.
"Where... Are you?" Cloud was dazed and confused. Was this a dream? Reality? Or the final seconds before death embraced him?
"I'm here..." She responded calmly, and emerged from a blue beam of light.
"A-Aeris?"
"No. I am 'Mother'."
"You look identical to Aeris..."
"I have been called many things, like Aeris, Mother, Divine light..."
"So, you are Aeris?"
"If that is what you wish to call me, you may."
"Don't you remember all of the times we had together, Aeris?" Calm was shocked that this woman, identical to Aeris, was indeed not her.
"I have no memories," Aeris responded, "Just knowlege of the present..."
"You mean---"
"Yes. I remember nothing from the past. I watch over the present, and I can do no more."
"..." Cloud was speechless, all of the past memories, nonexistant...
"I must leave now..."
"No! Wait---"
"We may continue this another time..."
"Aeris..."

PART ONE PORTION 2, Awakening
Cloud jumped up and shouted,
"AERIS!"
"Whoa! Damn!" Tarbareth, startled, jumped away from Cloud.
"I honestly thought you were dead!" Faith had a saddened tone to her voice, as if she was ready to cry.
"Sorry... I don't feel very good..." Cloud felt his head, cold as ice. What was going on? First, he almost burned his hand from the temperature of his head, and now, it's freezing.
"No kidding, you passed out and hit the floor!"
"What day is it?"
"It's the same day, but you've been in a comatose state for 12 hours..."
"What?!"
"Yeah, did you think passing out would be five frigging minutes?"
"Ow... My head...."
"Come on, let's get you down to sleeping quarters." Faith helped Cloud up and brought him downstairs.
Cloud and Faith walked down the metal stairs, right away he knew it had to be Tifa and Barret's quarters. Everything was in place: the punching bag, the receiver, and the beds. It was deja vu... As if this was him starting from the beginning...
"The beds are right--"
"Here." Cloud knew exactly where the beds were... He had been in this exact location once before.
"How did you know that?"
Thinking of a quick way to explain, Cloud came up with the perfect excuse. He said,
"Oh... Sorry, I've been to places... Like this."
"Okay. Just wondering. Have a good sleep, you need rest." Faith walked up the stairs and locked the door behind her. Cloud could finally sleep in a bed, at long last. He plopped onto the bed and fell asleep right away. The warm sheets caressed him as he fell deeper and deeper into a slumber. Waking up, groggy, he was introduced to another blank room. This time, it was blue, and a man's voice boomed and echoed throughout the walls.
"So. You are the 'Cloud' everyone is talking about."
"What---"
"This is the first time you have heard me, correct?"
"Yes, but-"
"That is all I need to hear."
In a red beam of light, a tall man emerged. He had flaming red hair, and gold eyes. In one hand there was a platinum scythe, which already had blood on it. In the other, a small vial of blood."
"Ah yes... My addiction to the precious blood..."
Cloud, confused, stood there, frozen in fear.
"It's too bad Aeris had to give me it, though, she really was a kind girl."
"You bastard!"
"Tsk tsk tsk... Why so short of temper, Cloud?"
"You killed her! I'll make you pay!"
"Yes... I would love to see you attempt such an action."
Cloud jumped out of the bed, sweating bullets.
"What...? It was another bad dream..."
Faith and Tarbareth ran into the room and shouted,
"You better come outside and look at this!"
"What? What happened?"
"No time to explain!"


Part 2- Beyond the Grave__________
Cloud, Tarbareth, and Faith ran outside to see the air in the city completely orange. The tint of the wind left a musty smell in their nostrils, one they would soon not forget. A loud crash followed by screaming followed the horrible stench of rotten metal. The source of the screaming came from the far northeast direction of this mysterious city. Tear gas exploded over them, their eyes becoming irritated.
"Gah!"
"Quick! We have to find a safer location!"
"Damnit! Stupid SOLDIERs are coming back for you!"
"I can't believe this..." Cloud thought to himself, was this another bad dream? Or was it actual reality? All Cloud could remember before all of this happened was when he first woke up on a patch of grass near a town of unknown identity. He remembered fighting someone with a scythe and flaming red hair, but the trauma he had experienced nearly destroyed his perception of reality. He was mentally dying. Cloud experienced another throbbing migrane, but he did not pass out. Instead, he had developed a near blind rage.
"Cloud?"
"What you be trippin' 'bout now, you spiky ass?"
"H... Hiro... Gah..." Cloud, after a fit of rage, fell to the ground on his knees and dropped onto his side, at an almost dead state of comatose.
Once again, a blank room stood before him. The entire area was silver, and another voice reached his ears. Aeris's voice calmly changed the entire mood of the room.
"Cloud... You must solve this."
"Solve... What?" Cloud was shocked and confused to the point where he didn't even know if it was reality or a dream. It was as if the barrier between dream and reality had been shattered. Chaos and Order were one... Oblivion.
"Him... Solve your problem... By killing him..."
"Who? Sephiroth?"
"No... He no longer exists."
"No longer exists?"
"Yes. He died with your previous state of mind..."
"What?"
"Sephiroth is no longer a threat... This new stranger can determine the fate of existance with the twitch of a finger."
"Tell me! Tell me who he is!"
"His name is-------"
"Wake up, damnit!" Tarbareth's voice exploded into Cloud's ears.
"He's too heavy! I can't carry him any longer!"
"Don't give up!"
"Aaah!" Faith shouted, Cloud was far too heavy even for both her and Tarbareth to carry. Waking up from being dropped, Cloud jumped up, not knowing if he was still in the dream.
"Finally! We were getting sick of carrying your fainting ass around!" Tarbareth took a deep breath and tried to catch his breath.
"At last, you have awakened..." Faith was ecstatic to see Cloud awake.
"What happened?!"
"This is your second time passing out. There's obviously something wrong with you."
"I know..."
"Do you know of anything that causes your constant lapses of fainting?"
"I don't... I wish I knew of a way to stop it..."
"What happens during the times you pass out? What do you see?"
"I see... Aeris... And someone else... A man with red hair..."
"Oh no..." Faith gasped
"What is it?"
"I think you should see something..."
"Huh?---" Faith pulled Cloud to a safe area, following Tarbareth. A small shelter made of metal pipings and rags was the only protection they could find. Faith dragged Cloud to the graveyard behind the bomb shelters. The city was completely deserted... Like a ghost town.
"Here's what I want you to see..." Faith gestured toward one lone grave, in the midst of all the others.
"What is it?"
"Just look at the name...."
"H-Hirothipes?" Cloud did not know what the name meant, but it sounded somewhat familiar.
"Yes. He's not dead, but is assumed to be. He went missing after escaping execution. If you say he has flaming red hair... Then he must have used... It.
"It? What do you mean?"
"I... It's hard to explain." Faith looked down at the pendant on her neck, and clenched it tightly, as if something horrible was about to happen.
"Please, explain to me."
"I cannot... They'll kill me for it..."
"Who will?"
"Trust me, Cloud... You'd best be better off not knowing..." Faith held back tears and followed Tarbareth into the bomb shelter.
"What....?"
Tarbareth gathered some rations and put together pieces of wood to make a small fire. The air became frigid and the stench of rotting metal returned.
"What... Is that smell?"
"SOLDIER's new toy." Tarbareth began warming his hands above the fire, and then opened a box of rations.
"They've created a new weapon? But I thought they had made a treaty not to make any more upgraded weaponry."
"Then, what you've heard is a damn lie. They're producing those God forsaken new models and they sure don't intend to slow down..."
"So, there's no way out of this one, is there...?"
"Apparently not. All we can do now is hope for our lives..."
"And my daughter..."
"Your daughter?"
"Yeah, Larmena..."
"What happened to her?""
"Bunch of SOLDIER goons took her away... God knows what they're doing..."
"Are you kidding?! Are you just going to stand here and let them hurt her?!"
"What else can we do? We're no match for their new gadgets..." Faith sat there and sobbed.
"Are you listening to yourself right now? Do you honestly think you don't have the strength to change anything?"
"Well-"
"How dare you! How dare you sit here treating yourself like dirt while Larmena is being hurt!' Cloud exclaimed into their faces.
"You know what? You're right..." Faith stood up and put her hand on top of her pendant.
"He is right. I'm sick of being a damn coward." Tarbareth picked up a couple boxes of rations and stomped on the fire.
"You want to go to the SOLDIER base, correct?"
"Yeah... Lead the way."
Cloud, Faith, and Tarbareth walked out of the dark alleyway of the bomb shelter's exit and walked to the SOLDIER base, knowing the hell they would have to fight through to retrieve Larmena.

Part 3- Geosyndrome______
The stench of bodies and blood engulfed the area and chilled the trio's bones. They knew this morbid deathpit was not going to be easy to get in--- or out. The frightening tone grew more terrifying as moans echoed the bloodfilled trenches of dirt.
"Oh my God..."
"Larmena.. Please be okay." Faith was clenching to her pendant once more.
"This isn't the SOLDIER I used to be in..." Cloud was appalled at what SOLDIER had done... Taking experiments as far as this never previously crossed his mind, and now, the nightmares of everyone: fears of death, corpses left and right, moaning of suffering people welcoming death to end it all... Was real. Piles of bloody corpses missing limbs, eyes... A horror film come to life.
"What... Have they done....?" Cloud was awed by the horror of dead bodies everywhere, in piles as if scrap paper.
"Keep high hopes for Larmena. She better be alive. Those bastards will never see the light of day if they hurt her!" Tarbareth pounded his fists together, knowing something must have happened to Larmena. The path leading up to the SOLDIER base seemed endless... The bodies in heaps as if they had reached hell itself... And Satan was waiting, preparing for another feast to foolishly come forth. The hellish pathway stretched far until they reached a large gate... Was this still the SOLDIER base? Or was it hell's gates?
"What has SOLDIER been doing while I've been gone?" Cloud's jaw dropped to see one of the body heaps on fire. The horror filled his mind with traumas of his past... How all of his friends died in front of him...
"Cloud! Snap out of it!" Faith shook Cloud to get his attention.
"Oh! Sorry, I've just got alot of problems on my mind right now..."
"Larmena's fate is in our hands. We cannot just stand idly by..."
"You're right. Let's keep going." Cloud continued walking forward past all of the piles, trying to look away. He pushed open the large gate, and it made a piercing loud creak. Everything around them had rusted and withered. Surprisingly, there were no guards partolling the area... As if everything around them was abandoned. A few seconds later, they heard footsteps.
"Hide!" Faith ran behind the wall while Tarbareth and Cloud followed. Faint voices grew louder and louder. There seemed to be two people talking. One of them told the other,
"Experiment 0887B was defective..."
The other person responded,
"Don't worry, we have plenty more, hahahahaha!"
"Yeah... When do you think we can find a cure for this?"
"I don't know... But at this rate, I don't think there is one.."
"Don't give up though, we have to find some way to fix this..."
Cloud accidentally coughed, the stench of the rusty metal finally making him choke.
"Who's there?!" One of the unidentified people turned around the corner, and noticed the three of them hiding behind the wall.
"YOU!"
"Give me back my daughter, damn you!" Tarbareth punched the man in front of him, and then picked up his other arm. His left hand was replaced with a metal spike ball, instead of Barrett's machine gun.
"I don't know about any daughter of yours!"
"You lie! Tell me where she is or I'll make sure I'll be the last person you see!"
Cloud stepped into the argument, pulled out the katana he now uses.
"This is Sephiroth's blade. I'll have the pleasure of decapitating you if you don't tell us where Larmena is." He pointed the tip of the blade at the man.
"F-fine! I'll tell you!"
"Good. Now sing!"
"She's on floor 21, room 92x..."
"Good. Let's go, Faith---"
"Ha! You actually thought I would tell you without strings attached?"
"What are you rambling on about now?"
"Hirothipes! Kill them, they know too much!"
A man with flaming red hair stepped forth.
"You called?"
"Kill 'em!"
"Ooh! I've heard about this one... Cloud, correct?"
"Grr..." Cloud stood his ground. Hirothipes had the disturbing stare Sephiroth had, but Hirothipes was more intimedating.
"I'll enjoy feasting on this group's blood... What a treat!" Hirothipes put his schythe in his hands, and attacked swiftly.
"Gah!" Cloud backed up just before it would have killed him.
"Ooh... Elusive, are we? I love persistent victims!"
"Just die!" Cloud fought back, slicing rapidly with Sephiroth's Katana.
"What a very shiny little trinket you have!" Hirothipes attacked with a heavy sweep of his scythe, knocking the katana out of his hand.
"Damn!" Cloud knew this was over. Out of nowhere, his broken materia started shining. The word "One" continued glowing as it floated out of his pocket.
"What's that? Another useless knick-nack?"
The materia shot out a blinding light, causing Hirothipes to fall to the ground momentarily. Cloud, Faith, and Tarbareth sprinted toward the door leading into the SOLDIER base, and slammed the door behind them.
"Damn, Cloud! That was close!" Tarbareth, breathing a sigh of relief, snatched the materia from Cloud.
"It was broken materia, how could it have activated?" Faith pondered.
"I don't know... I'm just happy it helped." Cloud was relieved, one out of the many problems had been solved... Now, to find Larmena.

Part 4 Behind the Experiment______
The hallways had many forks and turns... A maze of death and peril unfolded before them. The three of them didn't know where to begin. So many crevaces and varying hallways, it was as if the walls were constantly changing shape. The intimedating metal walls stared back at them with a plain look, the bolts rusting and the stench of rotting corpses traveled around the building.
"Larmena's in here...?" Tarbareth didn't know where to begin. One of the many dead people in here could be Larmena, or he could be mistaken.
"I'm afraid so, but we'll get nowhere if we stand idly by." Faith led the way, and their search had begun.
So many paths, and time was slowly dissipating, as they began to fear being lost in this dungeon-like maze of a SOLDIER base. Larmena could possibly be already dead as they searched for her. The futility of this search made Cloud doubt the purpose of it. But they had to think positive, Larmena was captured only recently, and these experiments were just killed after being held for months.
"I hope Larmena's okay..." Tarbareth prayed for Larmena's safety, as they traversed deeper into this horrible nightmare of dead bodies and failed experimental chemicals.
"I know she is." Cloud responded positively.
"You better be damn right, spiky ass." Tarbareth had a stern look on his face. This was a matter of life and death.
After countless minutes of trekking through the laberynth of metal hallways, they finally reached a door with the label "01". The doorknob was broken off and was on the floor. The smell of burning blood oozed out of the metal doorway.
"Larmena!" Tarbareth barged through the door and saw a machine. This horrible behemoth of a computer had multiple wires hanging out of it. Next to it was a container full of bubbling liquid. A little girl was floating in the tank with a breathing mask attached to her face.
"LARMENA!" Tarbareth ran up to the processor and stared up in horror to see his beloved daughter being experimented on. This horrid machine made unearthly noises... What was it doing to her? What was this experiment about?
"No! Larmena!" Faith fell to her knees, clenching the pendant, letting the tears flow endlessly as the horror came to life...
"Damn it! Stupid machine!" Tarbareth slammed his hand on the keyboard, and the machine shut down.
"She's being experimented, too?" A woman's voice came from the shadows.
"Who---?" Cloud gasped to see a woman in a blue dress, resembling Aeris.
"I can't find my way out of here... She seems stable. It's not too late." The woman responded, pointing to Larmena.
"Who are you?" Cloud knew it had to be Aeris.
"I come from a small village outside of Midgar. My name is Resia."
"Do you know of anyone named Aeris?"
"I am sorry. I do not." Resia responded, her head lowered.
"We don't have damn time for this! We have to save Larmena and get out of here!" Tarbareth broke open the tank and pulled out Larmena.
"D--Dad?" Larmena's eyes opened, and she started coughing.
"Yeah. It's me." Tarbareth's eyes started to water, then he turned around to the others.
"We need to get the hell out of here!" Tarbareth pointed toward the door, and they started to leave.
Now that Larmena was saved, one new problem has been solved. Unfortunately, many others were ready to spawn immediately after a short calm. Cloud and the others left the room and saw Hirothipes standing before them.
"H-Hirothipes!" Cloud pulled out the katana and charged forth, ready to kill.
"Tsk Tsk! Don't be so hasty!" Hirothipes vanished into thin air.
"Don't hide from me, coward!" Cloud was infuriated, when will this hell end?
"Do you honestly think you specs of dirt are worthy of my prescense?" Hirothipes laughed maniacally and his voice faded. A white materia fell on the ground. It was broken like Cloud's.
"A... White materia?" Cloud picked it up. The cracks etched a word... "Two" was engraved into the broken materia. "One" and "Two"... The materia went in order, but what did it symbolize? What was the purpose?
"Two materia..."
"Hirothipes is hiding somewhere.. I can feel it." Faith mumbled with a shaky voice.
"I know he's somewhere, but we can't look for him right now. We have to bring Larmena back home first."
"But what can we call home now? We've got nothin' but the friggin' clothes on our backs!"
"I know, but the only thing we need is each other." Faith hugged Tarbareth, and Larmena did the same.
"You're right. But what do we do now?"
"We find the heart of the problem- where Hirothipes hides." Cloud responded.
"But where can we find him?"
"He's in the core of Midgar. If he wants to experiment, that's where most of the people live."

Part 5 Slow Demise____
Travelling farther into the prodigious center of Midgar, Tarbareth, Faith, Larmena, Cloud, and Resia knew not of the dangers that awaited them. The horrid visions Cloud had been experiencing-- were they coming to life? The woman who resembled Aeris... Was named Resia, and all of the others who looked like his friends all had different names... What was going on? So many questions kept popping up, unwanted... These two materia... With cracks etched with the words 'one' and 'two'... This was all so confusing to Cloud... How did Tarbareth and Faith know Cloud's name? He never even told them. Cloud never really noticed how they knew his name out of nowhere, because they had the same voices as Tifa and Barret... Walking farther and farther into the unknown darkness, the five of them noticed how everything was silent... Not a sound was whistling in the wind... Dead cold silence... Cloud began to examine the area, hoping nothing would jump out in surprise.
"It's far too quiet for Hirothipes to be here." Cloud mumbled. Indeed it was far too silent for Hirothipes to be causing any problems... The cessation of sound was deafening... The horrid fears of silence, the screams of nothingness... Quiet insanity slowly crept upon them.
"Are you honestly sure he would be here?" Cloud turned around and questioned Tarbareth's assumption.
"Well, there used to be a lot of people here. Where did they run off to?" Faith was scrutinizing every inch of the area... Nobody was there, another abandoned location on Midgar. Cloud continued walking forth until he noticed a small rock of some sort.. As he examined more carefully, he noticed it was actually a materia!
"Another..." Cloud picked up the materia... It was blue and there was yet another crack in it... 'Three' circled around the broken materia in scratches... There were three materia, with cracks all in numerical order... What was the secret behind the broken materia? It all started with the one broken materia Cloud carried around as a trinket... Now there were three of them... Each different colors: Black, Blue, and Red.
"Cloud... Another materia?" Faith looked at the various colors of the orbs, and wondered... Were they parts of something? Where there more than three of these? Immediately after looking at the three in order, Cloud felt dizzy... He began to shake, and his fingers turned icy blue. He looked up and then passed out... All sounds fading from his prescence. Cloud woke up once again in a room... But now it was green. For several moments nobody appeared... It was a silent, blank room.
"You're the one who can stop it....."
Cloud gasped, not knowing where the voice was coming from. He shouted,
"Who is it this time?!"
The voice grew far louder, and responded,
"Your mind. I am your being, your conscious... I am YOU."
"What?! How? I'm right here!" Cloud looked at his hands, horrified. Was he in a state of delerium, or was this actually happening?!
"I'm you, nothing more. You're the only one who can stop this from occuring!"
"I don't understand," Cloud looked around, "Stop what?"
"Only your heart knows... Goodbye."
Cloud didn't know where the voice came from, but he did know this: whatever 'it' was, 'it' seemed to be a huge problem.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tarbareth was shaking Cloud violently, finally waking him up.
"Eh?! What happened?"
"Just like the other times, you fainted like a woman!"
"Gah, what's this materia?"
He gazed at the magnificent light of the materia. It glowed in radiant beauty, shining with a piercing light. The ground began to tremor, and a flash of green light blasted out of the sky.
"What?!" Cloud's eyes were disabled momentarily, the heavy light piercing through his pupils.

Part Six~ Ending the puzzle~
The light shot out fiercely, as if created by a god.
"What is that?!" Faith sheltered Larmena's eyes from the flash. A being descended from the heavens, laughing maniacally.
"So you've finally found the materia for me? What a wonderful servant!"
"That voice... It's..."
"Yes, your new friend Hirothipes! I missed you, Cloud!"
"You! What are you talking about?"
"Oh, you mean the labelled materia?" Hirothipes chuckled. What did the materia mean? The three of them, all scratched with numbers in order...
"No!" Resia charged toward Hirothipes, but he punched her out of the way, sending her flying to the ground.
"You seem to have become friends with pushovers, Cloud, how sad..."
"Shut up, you!"
"If you're so angry at me, why don't you hit me? Come on, I love the pain!" Hirothipes pulled out a bottle of blood and began to drink.
"Gah! Just die like Sephiroth!" Cloud violently slashed at Hirothipes with the masamune, but he continued to dodge the thrusts. No matter how many times Cloud tried, Hirothipes was always that small amount faster.
"Your aim is way off," Hirothipes laughed, "try attacking where I will end up next."
"Why are you helping me?!"
"Because death is what I want! Death will bring me eternal life!"
Tarbareth's eyes widened. Death to eternal life?!
"How? Death can't make you immortal!" Cloud's stamina depleted quickly, the anger fueling his last breaths.
"On the contrary.... Those materia are the keys to immortality!"
Cloud gasped, his breath fully depleted. Hirothipes took the opportunity and punched Cloud repeatedly in the stomach, making him keel over in sheer pain.
"Give me the materia and I might think of letting you live!"
"What do you profit from immortality?!"
Hirothipes snatched the materia and began to laugh,
"Your innocence consumes me with laughter! To rule over, of course!"
"I'll NEVER let you do that!" Cloud managed to speak, his words followed by heavy gasps for air.
"Ironically, you already have!" Hirothipes threw the materia into the air and it began to blast beams of heavy, magnificent light. The materia exploded and engulfed him, wings unfolding from his back. The wings were of gold, and the time came for his ultimate form to shine.

~ Part Seven: The end becomes reality ~
"Hahahahaha! You've written your demise in stone, my friend!" Hirothipes rushed and stabbed Cloud in the chest with the scythe, making Cloud fall in a pool of blood. Before Cloud's death, he had one last thought...


....The shooting star he wished upon...
"Cloud, Cloud! Wake up!" A voice resembeling Faith's filled his ears.
"Wake the *#($ up!" A prodigious male voice boomed loudly.
Cloud opened his eyes, and saw two people standing before him... He wasn't dead? What happened to Hirothipes and the materia?!
"Faith? Tarbareth?!" Cloud spoke in shock.
"Who are they? Are you okay, Cloud?"
"Tifa? Barret? Marlene?"
"Last time I checked, that was my damn name!" Barret smacked Cloud in the face.
"You're alive!!!" Cloud hugged Tifa as if he'd never seen them in ages.
"What's wrong with you?" Barret laughed.

....It was all a dream
....Or was it a premonition?
________________________END______________________

Name shifting:
Faith- Tifa (Take away H)
Tarbareth- Barret (-H and 1 A)
Larmena- Marlene (+ 1 E and -1 A)
Resia- Aeris
Hirothipes- Sephiroth's twin brother


~Finis~
Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed the twists and turns of the story.

That was sweet dude 8/10

Finally someone praises my work


I was going totally emo-tastic today because all the other things I did got flamed x,x.

lol i read the thread you made about it XD
its a really good fanfic. sometimes me and my friend do stuff like this on our kingdom hearts forum but its more like roleplaying.

Keep up the good work

Thanks