Disclaimer: I, uh... don't own FF7. OH

HOW I WISH I DID...





Author's Note:

I might include some of the other characters.

I might not.

Who knows?

But for now... about those shadowy people. Who

says Sephiroth killed them all off? He only

smote the weak, pathetic ones that were going to

die anyway. And as long as there are psychopaths

after world domination, there will always be fanboys

wanting to join him/her. Or in this case, other

psychos in black ninja outfits with red glowy

eyes. In short, they were just a few followers that

remained. So.. don't bother flaming about it or

anything. As the last chapter said I ain't gonna argue

storyline points, or go back and rewrite if something

is probably impossible/inaccurate. Such a pain...

And from now on, the fan mail will be at the bottom of

the chapters. Oh, and this fic has completely different

storyline and pairings than Skyship Highwind or any

other FF7 series I've written so far, with my new

favorite pairings put together. Which you'll find out.

So for now, on with the show!







[Chapter Three: Runaway Ancient!]

[Place: Mount Nibel]

[Time: After Aeris' escape]









Aeris ran as fast as she could, knowing Sephiroth wouldn't

stay down for very long. (and, as anyone who isn't

skipping chapters knows... she was right.)



The young flower girl ran up to the rickety old bridge

and stopped. Boy, this thing sure brought back memories.

She'd come here during the quest to find Sephiroth long

ago, with Nanaki by her side. Barret and Tifa had

stayed behind to rest in Nibelheim, and Cloud and Yuffie

scouted ahead alone. Come to think of it, Cloud and

Yuffie were almost always together, even more so after

the incident at Wutai..





Aeris slowly walked across the bridge. She'd known

they were close, but had thought it was more of a

brotherly/sisterly kind of closeness.



"Guess I should have known when he stood me up

at the golden saucer.." Aeris muttered. She wished

Zack was still alive...





"Flower girl.." hissed a sinister voice in front of

her as she got near the end of the bridge. She looked

up and stared in shock; in front of her stood a man

wrapped up in a black ninja-like cloak, not a bit of

his body visable albeit his eyes, which glowed an odd

blue color. "Wh-Who are you?" Aeris asked, pulling out

her staff and getting ready for the worst. The cloaked

figure laughed. "I am a follower of the almighty

Sephiroth.. and you are our prey. We're here to take

you, alive if possible."



"You think I'll just give up like that and come along

quietly?" Aeris said, as she prepared to summon

something. Before it could appear, however, the

black cloaked figure pulled out a sword as big as

he was, the blade stained crimson from years of

bloodshed; he brought it up with the greatest of

ease and brought it down, slicing off half the

bridge's ties to the cliffside, causing it to

fall sideways.





Aeris screamed and clung to the edge of it as

a soft roaring was heard below. The cloaked

figure grinned from under his mask as nine

others landed behind him. "So, Aeris... will

you come along quietly now?" he asked, glaring

at her. Aeris looked up and glared back, then

she noticed the blue glow in the man's eyes.

"... Cloud...?" she asked, her eyes ridening.





The roaring however grew loud fast as a flaming

creature flew up above Aeris, flame pouring out of

its mouth as it glared at its targets, surveying

their strength with a cruel sadistic grin. The

nine followers behind the first stared in horror

as the creature rushed into the group, the

nine running in terror. The front one took up his

sword and prepared to fend off the beast, but it

was too late.







In a blinding flash of light, and a small explosion

on the cliff, the ten followers became one pitiful

pile of ragged scorched cloaks and bones.



Ifrit grinned, satisfied with his slaughtering,

then vanished in a column of fire as Aeris climbed

up onto the cliffside. She walked up to the burned

followers and smiled happily, then turnd to the

scorched circle. "Thanks Ifrit!" she said before

skipping down the path again.





"Hold it.. right.. there.." a cold, familiar

voice said behind her. She turned around and

saw the pile of rags moving as the head of the

followers, the one with the giant sword, stood

up slowly, his head bent down so that his face

couldn't be seen yet. It was obvious his mask

had been roasted off, as his raven, messy hair

was very visible.





"... No...!" Aeris said, hardly believing what

she saw as the man glared at her. She stared

at him in horror, her heart heavy with dread of

the truth. "... Zack?"







The man looked confused, dragging his

sword up into stance. "Zack..? I have no

name." he said, before charging at Aeris,

swinging his sword and aiming to decapitate.



Aeris ducked as he skidded to a stop and

slammed his sword down at her. She rolled

out of the way just barely as his sword

pounded into the ground. Aeris jumped up

and quickly dashed backwards as his sword

slammed into the cliffside right where

her waist had just been.



"Zack, snap out of it!" she shouted as

the man held his hand out towards her,

electricity surging through his arm.



"I already told you, I'm not Zack!" he

yelled as a bolt of lightning shot out,

sending a painful charge through Aeris'

body.





The flower girl held her staff and

casted regen on herself as Zack took

stance once more, an aura of power

surrounding him.



"If you're not Zack, then who are you?" Aeris

yelled, refusing to strike him down. Zack

grinned psychotically. "My identity matters not...

I exist only to aid the great Sephiroth..." he

said, before slashing at her, a red after-image

of his sword going straight at her. She jumped

aside as the so-called after-image cut through

the bridge and kept going, cutting into the

mountainside far off as the bridge fell down,

slamming into the opposite cliff.



Aeris gave up trying to be nice and thwacked

the man over the head with her staff. He grinned,

cracking his neck and seeming to be unharmed by

the blow as he kicked Aeris in the gut, hurling

her backwards. Aeris skidded off the side of the

cliff, clinging to the edge for dear life.





Zack slowly walked up to her. "Oh, dear. You

should have come quietly, you little pest. Now

it seems you'll have to die."





"Zack... please..." Aeris said, tears beginning

to grow in her eyes as she held her staff tightly

with one hand, her weapon glowing red with

power. ".. I don't want to hurt you.." She cursed

her bleeding heart, but she couldn't bring herself

to just forget about Zack.



"You? Hurt me?!" Zack busted out laughing,

standing right in front of her. "That's about

as likely as you living through this encounter."





He brought up his foot to stomp Aeris and plunge

her to her doom. Aeris closed her eyes and winced,

trying to summon another creature but lacking the

energy to do so. "Zack.. please... don't do this!"

she yelled.





After about ten seconds, though, Aeris felt a

small drop of something hit her hand. She

opened her eyes and gasped as she saw the blood

dripping down the cliffside, then looked up in

horror just in time to see a long thin blade slowly

pull out of Zack's chest.





Sephiroth pulled the corpse aside and looked down

at Aeris with a smirk as she struggled on the

cliffside. "You should thank me. I went out of

my way to make sure this bunch of idiots didn't

go too far."



He reached down and picked up Aeris, carrying her

over his shoulder as he leaped over the ravine

where the bridge once was. Aeris began punching

him in the back. "You killed him!" she cried out.

"You killed him.."



"Would you rather have him kill you?" Sephiroth

said, halfway back to nibelheim. "I'd rather have

a useful healer such as yourself than a pitiful

excuse for a fighter such as Zack."





"Zack's the one that stabbed you years ago!" she

said. "And that was when he was a rookie! You

call HIM the pitiful one?"





"He snuck up on me and flanked me... if not for

him, my plans would not have delayed nearly so

long as they have. After I found Jenova, I used

her to find and manipulate him along with Cloud."



Sephiroth walked down the foot of the mountain and

began walking back to the ShinRa Mansion. "He stayed

here and defended the mansion along with several

others. You may have seen them at some point, but at

the time Jenova had a hold over them all, degrading

them all to mindless babble."







Sephiroth walked in and re-fixed the doors again,

then continued walking straight up to the west

wing. Aeris' punching had ceased a while back,

replaced now by twitching now and then. He noticed

as he climbed the staircase that his shoulder was

quite thoroughly soaked. "... why should you waste

tears on this fool?" Sephiroth said, bewildered by

Aeris' useless waste of emotion as he tossed her

down onto a bed. She looked up and glared at him.

"You monster...! How could you say that....?"





"You've got a horrible case of bleeding heart." Sephiroth

groaned, walking out of the room. He turned at

the doorway with a smirk. "We'll work on fixing

that some day..."





Aeris didn't even bother chasing him. She didn't

bother bashing the door as he slammed it shut and

locked her in. She didn't even bother getting

off the bed. Someone very dear to her had been lost

yet again - for good this time.







[END CHAPTER]





KHan: Now for everyone's favorite part of the fic...



FAN MAIL!!!





Khan: And this time I HAVE THE REVIEW PAD!

So let's begin. Oh, and thanks to some...

negotiations... *rubs his bandaged torso*

Sephiroth won't be wearing a tutu...



Sephiroth: And thanks to more negotiations...

*shoves a huge pile of money aside* Khan won't

be wearing one either.



Khan: So on with the first question, from

Loelene1892. "don't let sephy win, ok?"



Sephiroth: Hmm, can't make any promises

there I'm afraid.



KHan: Hmm, this wasn't meant to be a question

I don't think.. on to the next. This time

we're going to have a laugh at KobeStrife,

who WILL be wearing a tutu today.



*points the camera towards a sad person in

an orange and pink tutu doing the nutcracker dance*



Khan: If you don't like the fic, don't flame with

such immature language. Just don't read it. Now then,

on with the next review... oh yeah the swimming thing.

"aeris acutally sunk down so sephiroth would have to

swim down to get her--"



Sephiroth: We went through this. I can hold my breath

a long time. I walked down there.



KHan: I bet she needed a lot of CPR, huh? *nudge*



Sephiroth: That's... beside the point....



Khan: Now let's get one from a man named reno.

He writes,

"i like. i like very much. just answer me this,

sephiroth, do you really hate aeris? 'cause if

you do, then you must absolutely ABHOR all the

fics with you two as a couple , ne?"



Sephiroth: .....



Khan: Sephiroth?



Sephiroth: I refuse to answer this question.



Khan: Aww c'mon...



Sephiroth: Look, we covered this last chapter.

Don't bring it up again.



Khan: Fair enough. Well that's about it for the

questions.



Aeris: Why hasn't anyone written me yet? ='(



Sephiroth: Because you're the annoying little

twit who bugged everyone in FFVII....



Aeris: Then why is Khan writing a love story

between us?



Khan: H-Hey, I told you to keep that part quiet--



Sephiroth: WHAT!? Khan, you said you'd leave that

part out, you double-crossing little--



Khan: Eep! Well I'm off to run for my life.. uh..

Seph? WHy're you getting out your sword? Seph..?

AAAHHHH!!!









-To Be Continued... if the author doesn't get

stabbed.