Summary: Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie, DOC, and a burned copy of the original game at long last. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

Queen's Quornor: It's been a damn long time since I updated this, I know. I've been repeatedly trying to write the next chapter, but for some reason the inspiration always died shortly after I got the first few sentences down. I've had a couple of people ask me to continue, and it is to them whom I dedicate this chapter. Apparently, it took a school trip abroad to Germany, a sick room-mate, and me hiding in the bathroom while she slept to avoid waking her for me to get this written down at long last.

The Nightmare Returns

Livia sat listless on the rotting table, her eyes staring dully at the books yellowing on the shelves. Bryan kept flicking his gaze between her and Azami, who was filling a syringe with the glowing contents of a small vial she had uncovered. The purple substance unnerved him; it reminded him strongly of old B-movie alien abduction scenes.

"So this stuff is supposed to do...what?" he asked.

Azami paid him no heed, but Hojo took the question. It will release Sephiroth from hibernation, and he will emerge from her body.

So she's going to give birth to this guy? Bryan wondered, picturing the silver-haired seven year old having a baby right there on the table.

Hojo responded with a flash of pain. No! He'll possess her, boy!

"Oh."

"Quiet." Azami dropped the empty vial and squeezed the excess air out of the syringe, flicking the sides to ensure all the bubbles were out. "With this rebirth, Weiss's plans are complete. Interfere and die."

Bryan surpressed the urge to roll his eyes and watched the tall woman stride over to Livia and take her limp arm in her hand. Azami pressed the needle into her skin and thumbed the plunger.

The moment she pulled the empty syringe out, awareness flooded back into Livia's sapphire eyes. She stared at Azami and Bryan, terrified, then shuddered and hugged herself tightly.

"Assimilation is alwways painful." Azami's plump red lips pulled back in a smirk that sent chills down Bryan's spine. "I want to watch your agony, child."

She is a triumph indeed! Hojo crowed.

Livia's first scream chilled Bryan to the core. She folded herself in two with her arms wrapped around her stomach, shrieking into her knees. Black wisps rose from her arm and quickly spread, coiling about her body and tightening like chains. She screamed and cried, sobbing for her parents and begging Bryan to make the pain stop. Bryan kept his distance, unwilling to tempt Azami's wrath by trying to comfort the tormented child. Besides, what did he owe her? Laura could always give him a child of his own. Azami merely watched, her violet eyes blazing with sadistic joy.

Livia's spine cracked as a series of violent convulsions wracked her small frame. She arched into a perfect curve and slammed onto the table, writhing, her voice rising into an unearthly keen.

The misty tendrils sank into her flesh and she abruptly stopped fighting. Livia slowly, deliberately, sat up and rested her hands on her knees. She raised her face to look at her captors, and her clear blue eyes flashed, the color morphing into a bright yellow-green shade. Her pupils also changed, becoming the elliptical slits of a hunting cat. Her lips twitched, the corners curved into a sly, wicked smirk that Bryan had never seen her use.

Then Livia was gone.

In her place sat a tall, pale man who sported the eerie, predatory eyes. His molten silver hair spilled across the table and over the edge in a shining fall. Clad in supple black leather, his broad shoulders capped by gleaming pauldrons, he gazed upon his liberators with quiet amusement.

Bryan felt his jaw go slack. He had seen the movie. He knew a little of the story. He knew where he was, knew the identity of the scentist cackling in his skull. But seeing this man, the villain of the computer animated film that had brought him here, was enough to make the impossibility of the situation sink in. Fantasy had become a terrifying reality.

Azami inclined her head towards the newcomer, a graceful show of respect. "It is an honor to finally meet you, Sephiroth."

"So I'm told." He rose from the table and looked upon Azami coolly. "Your name?"

"Azami the Royal, of the Tsviets." She dipped her head again. "I was sent by Weiss the Immaculate, Emperor of Deepground, to free you from your long slumber."

"To what end?"

"To destroy Weiss's enemies, cull the tainted, and help us awaken Omega." Azami flashed him a wicked grin. "The armies of the WRO are weak, but they are plentiful, and they have powerful allies. Once the cattle are slaughtered and the vermin crushed, we can all join with Omega and find our new beginning, far from thie miserable spit of rock!"

Hojo laughed. She is skilled, if she can read Sephiroth's mind. Not even I would dare such a thing!

Bryan shook his head, wishing the scientist would stop laughing so much, and suddenly became aware of eyes resting on him. Sephiroth had turned his attention from Azami to him, and Bryan felt an inexplicable chill as the peridot orbs pierced him.

"Bryan Hanover." The name was spoken with care, as if the silver-haired man was tasting it. "You brought me here."

"I brought Livia. I didn't know you were inside her. I just did what I was told." Bryan started to say that Hojo hadn't told him exactly why Livia was needed, but a sudden twinge from the depths of his skull choked the sentence off in his throat.

Don't say a word about me! Hojo hissed. He will kill you if you so much as hint it! And where will your poor beloved be, if you can't save her from your rival?

Sephiroth was still looking at him, and Azami too. Bryan thought of the first name that he could, and a story to accompany it, hoping the lethal woman wouldn't dig deeper.

To his relief, she smiled. "Ah... So Weiss was able to reach across the cosmos and contact you. Are you an envoy from our new world?"

He shrugged, relieved that she had fallen for it. "Potential, I guess."

"Yes... You are not from this world." Azami tapped her chin and smirked again. "Hail Weiss. He has already scouted a place for Omega to land." She twisted and strode a few paces away, chuckling low.

Sephiroth continued to stare, and Bryan returned his gaze, masking his fear with sheer defiance. The silver-haired man snorted and finally turned away. "Just another puppet. Very well; I should at least have a look at the one pulling your strings."

As Sephiroth turned away, Bryan slowly let out his breath. Inside his head, Hojo hummed thoughtfully.

So her telepathic abilities are limited to surface thought? Very interesting... I did not have much time to study her before my precious specimens here in Nibelheim consumned my time. Perhaps I will be able to catalogue her abilities and limits before my experiment begins in full.

What if we don't get into any fights? Bryan thought, watching the deadly pair as they discussed something by the broken glass tanks against the wall.

He could feel Hojo's scorn already. Of course there will be fights. Gaia is far more dangerous than your puny Earth. Here, we have monsters. I am perfectly safe, of course, but you are at a severe risk.

Bryan rolled his eyes. If I die, you lose your second body. Not so safe, is it? Hojo said nothing, but Bryan swore he felt him grinding his nonexistent teeth. Encouraged, he continued. Besides, I'm not at risk. With those soldiers out there and these two in here, what monster can touch me?

Are you so sure you can trust them? the scientist slyly asked. You are a liability to them, untrained in combat and futhermore unarmed. The girl has been possessed and molded, so you are no longer needed as her keeper. They could easily kill you for being a useless limpet.

Bryan scowled. They need me.

Why do you think that?

Because I can get Sephiroth his mother. If all this shit's true, then Laura has these J-cells too. She could be his mom, reborn. And I have you stuck in my head, so that would make me his father. These silver-haired freaks are really big on family, right?

Hojo simply laughed.

"So this is Nibelheim?"

"Yep. Deepground's already gotten to it." Zack ignored the silent village, a stony look on his face. "These were all Shinra employees and their kids, but even isolated in the mountains they weren't safe. Nobody's safe."

"They're here someplace." Kadaj stood with one hand on Souba, the other on Loz's shoulder. Laura mirrored his posture, though her hand rubbed soothing circles along Yazoo's back. "The manor?"

"Seems most likely." Zack nodded at the path that led past the empty inn and a small house. Cloud's old house, and Tifa's right beside it. They're smaller than I thought they'd be. "Shall we?"

Laura gripped one of her guns tight. Lead on, Fearless Leader.

Zack flashed a grin at her and began plodding towards the path. Kadaj exchanged a nod with his wife and they followed, Yazoo and Loz close behind.

Bryan's going to be here, with that Tsviet and our daughter. Maybe some back-up. Laura licked her lips. God, please don't let them find those cells!

Zack stopped the moment the decaying wrought-iron gate came into view. Kadaj and his brothers likewise halted, their eyes going wide. Laura faltered, feeling an alien sensation jolt through her body, bringing her skin alive in a wash of goosebumps. Something's... calling me...

"Fuck..." The ex-SOLDIER growled and his eyes blazed with the glow of mako. "He's awake."

"We're clean! How is he calling us?" Kadaj demanded. Yazoo and Loz whimpered, clinging to their younger brother and digging clawed fingers into their hair.

Sephiroth's awake?

No! Livia!

Laura lurched at the half-open gates, but Zack caught her and held her back. "Wait, Laura! Calm down!"

"Like hell I will! They've got my baby!"

"Get her inside!" Kadaj commanded, ushering his terrified brothers back to Cloud's house. "We need to think!"

Zack nodded and tucked Laura beneath his arm, ignoring her flailing limbs as he jogged away from the manor.

You fucking bastard! Put me down! That's my daughter he's got! She tried to nail him in the groin, but Zack warded off her fists without so much as breaking stride.

"That's dirty fighting; save it for Bryan!" he growled.

Kadaj held the door open for them and slammed it shut the moment they were inside. Lauara continued to fight as her eyes filled and the lock clicked. Zack quickly passed her to her husband, who pinned her arms in a tight embrace.

"He doesn't know we're here yet. That was just his cells resonating with ours." Zack went to a window and gazed through the lacy curtain, assessing the manor.

"It's a holdover from the Reunion. We always felt his presence, knew where he was by how strong the feeling got. That's how we avoided him and the other clones three years ago, all the ones that weren't grown from his genetic material."

Laura stilled. "What? You mean those clones in the black cloaks weren't you guys?"

"Those were the people who survived the Nibelheim Incident, Laura. People like me and Cloud." Zack put his back to the window and went to the mute brothers. Yazoo wrapped his arms around him and buried his face in his chest. Loz sniffed back tears and held the ex-SOLDIER from behind. "Those clones were injected with S-cells, not created from them and infused with J-cells."

"Can he sense us?" Kadaj asked.

Zack shook his head. "Smaller concentrations of the cells are driven to seek the original source; that's how the clones always knew where to find him. But he can't do that, since he's the source."

"So we can sneak up on him!" Laura struggled, prompting Kadaj to hold her tighter. He turned an agonized expression on her.

"Remember the movie, Laura?"

She was confused, but sighed at his urgent look. Okay... Kadaj got Jenova's head, motorcycle fight, blah blah blah, big explosion, bikes in the church, everything got wet, big fight, Mr. Showoff, Materia, Sexist, Shut your mouth, Cloud is Cloud, Kadaj plus cells equals a Midgar home run, dramatic dark sky, characteristic theme song, new Omnislash...

Laura's eyes went wide. "No..."

Kadaj hid his face against her hair. "It's her body, Laura. Not his."

She twisted to give Zack a frantic, pleading look. "Isn't there something we can do? Anything?"

"Cleanse her. The reason the Nibelheim clones failed is that they didn't receive any J-cells. Without those cells' inherent ability to mimic and duplicate the information contained by other genetic codes, the S-cells had nothing to latch onto and fully transmit his abilities and will. Cloud wasn't infused with enough S-cells to balance the J-cells, so when my blood got into some cuts he got during our escape, he was able to learn all of my abilities instead. Getting rid of the J-cells meant he couldn't be controlled and led on the cellular level anymore, same with you three." Zack indicated the three brothers with a quick nod. "If Livia's body is cleansed, he'll have nothing to hold onto and will have to get out."

"So how do we cleanse her?" Kadaj asked in a thick voice.

We don't have to haul him all the way to Aerith's church, do we? There's no way we can hogtie that man!

"Aerith sent her Great Gospel wherever it was needed. There were a lot of Geostigma cases here in Nibelheim. A lot of the rain got into the water supply, and since most of the Shinra people didn't use the local well..."

"How do we get him outside?"

"We'll have to draw them all out first, then take out Bryan and Azami, along with any back-up she brought." Zack thought for a moment. "We'll have to wear him down, and keep him from getting into the other fights. I can take Azami, but not both her and him."

"I'll distract him," Kadaj volunteered.

"No." Lauara squeezed him tight. "I'm not losing you again."

"Laura, I'm the best swordfighter here!" he argued. "I'm one of his clones. If anybody can keep him busy, it's me."

"He's got a point," Zack admitted.

"You've seen me fight. You know what I can do. I'm even better without that bitch controlling me." He gently coaxed her face out of his shoulder and cupped her chin. Don't play the romantic card on me now! That's not fair! You know I can't resist when you do that! "Let me do this, Laura. I'm the only one who can."

"Cheater," she grumbled as she released him. Turning away from her husband, Laura considered the other two silver-haired men. "Are you okay to fight?"

Zack didn't answer for them this time. Loz let go of him and punched one fist into his open palm, and Yazoo stroked his fingers over the guns gleaming at his sides. I'll take that as a "yes".

"So how do we get them out into the open?" Laura asked aloud.

Zack's teeth gleamed. "We raise hell."