Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy. This story is written by me, a fan.

The Milestone

OCxSeph. Sephiroth is alive. New Mako reactors have been built and Shinra has returned. As he considers his options, his identity hidden by his cloak, he meets a young woman who is apparently not going to let him go before finding out his name.

Midgar - Onslaught

It was a completely ordinary day – a day just like any other, yet unlike all others. There existed an illusory veil of ignorance shrouding Midgar even now, years after Sephiroth's defeat. It was not raining and the wind was not blowing, and the sun had long since vanished from the sky to announce the arrival of night. Taking the darkness and the shadows into consideration, it was indeed the best time of the day for one such as Sephiroth to make his approach. He was waiting – standing with Midgar before him. Through his mind coursed thoughts of what to do with the countless options he had at hand. Cloud and his teammates – the rest of Avalanche – believed he was dead. That he had shattered and would never again resurface from the depths of the Lifestream. And in believing so, they were gravely mistaken. Sephiroth had managed to force himself to live, and he had survived. How could he take advantage of that? There were many alternatives for him to choose between to get his revenge, yes, but which would be the best? Which would be the most horrible way to make sure he was remembered? The way that would cause the most suffering?

At the moment he was wearing a long, black cloak with a hood to hide his face. His hair was well hidden within, as was his long sword, Masamune – attached to his back with a convenient magnet, as it had always been.

Then he noticed the faint presence of a fiend, a little weakling not knowing any better. The small creature circled him, its tiny eyes eyeing the tall, cloaked figure that it believed would be an easy prey. Yet, despite its fangs and claws, it simply had to be one of the weakest Sephiroth had ever encountered. Simply disgusting. He almost pitied it.

But almost was not enough for him to spare it. It died so quickly it couldn't possibly have known what hit it.

A young woman dressed in black ran as fast as she could muster through the dusty streets. Her breath was ragged and her movements hurried as she randomly chose a turn to shake off her pursuers. She couldn't help but smirk despite her obvious fear and complete lack of breath; her mission had been hard, really difficult to say the least, but she had gotten away. She had definitely been lucky.

For a couple of nights, she had dressed herself up as a regular cadet and moved from reactor to reactor, placing small devices in the main engines of the Mako reactors of Midgar. Not without people getting suspicious, though, but she had gotten away with it. Once all the devices were in position after days of work placing them, she had gone ahead and pushed the button, so to speak. And then they all exploded. The bombs were definitely not large, but they were effective (needless to say, she hadn't made any of them herself). By only getting rid of the very core of each reactor, she avoided unnecessary casualties while at the same time rendering the reactors completely useless. This technology was new (and she had no idea how it worked – only that pushing the button would trigger an explosion), and it was a better solution than the huge bombs that had been used in the past.

The parts of the reactors that had exploded couldn't be fixed, they had to be replaced. To say it would be expensive was an understatement. From what she had gathered, one small engine would cost millions of gil. In other words, the machines were extremely rare and advanced, and making them took more than just a little time. Shinra would have to pay a lot of money for their scientists to even start building one. It was a very difficult process, she had been told. But with Avalanche being a little slow lately, she had gone ahead and made a bet with several 'certain someones', and thus gotten herself in a huge mess.

But she had pushed the button a little too early. And now, Shinra guards were following her.

She ran into a narrow alley, a dead end with lots of junk, broken crates and shattered bottles, ready to use its shadows for protection. Then her hand moved into one of her pockets and brought out a smoke bomb. Wasting no time she threw it, and after seeing it explode she waited. The few Shinra cadets and low-level Soldiers followed her, all at once, surrounding the smoke in the alley. Thinking that perhaps it wasn't a dead end, and that she had continued on, they all suddenly charged in after her, ready to give chase again. But thanks to her black clothes and the slight overdose of smoke (which by the way didn't lessen her heaves for air much), they couldn't see her. And then she made her way out of the smoke while hearing them shout behind her in their aimless ramble.

Her life was safe for now, probably. All she had to do at the moment was to get out of the city, then worry about her other problems later.

Still breathing heavily, she ran - or jogged woozily - to the outskirts of Midgar.

Upon exiting the now pitch black city, she noticed a lone shadow-like person standing still by himself, his black clothes billowing around him silently. She couldn't really tell if he was a man at all, but guessed so from his height. He was tall; taller than an average person, but she couldn't see his face, as it remained hidden in the shadows of his hood. His long cloak danced around him. Blinking slightly, she tried to feel if there was any wind, but there wasn't any. Had the person noticed her?

Being curious, as was one of her bad habits, she moved closer. His head moved slightly in her direction, but he still didn't face her completely. She guessed he felt her presence. Just as she was about to ask him something, the voices of Shinra guards were heard nearby, and her head snapped around to look in their direction and she automatically ducked down a little. The voices disappeared after a short while, suggesting that the guards had left. The young woman sighed slightly. Able to relax, she warily rose to her full height again.

"...Are you by any chance in trouble with Shinra?" she heard a cold voice demand, and she turned to the man in the dark cloak. She moved, ready to change into battle stance. For all she knew this man could be a Shinra guard in disguise.

But he was only one man.

"I broke the reactors..." she said in a quiet voice, watching his hood. He moved slightly, but still didn't face her.
"All of them?" he nquired. She nodded slowly, frowning a little.

"Hm," she heard him mutter, not impressed. He didn't move.
"Are you working for Shinra?" she asked, curious.

After her question left her, a strong, heavy silence ensued, and a strong gust of wind blew dust into the air. For a brief moment she could have sworn she felt a strong pressure of pure and raw energy ravaging the surroundings, and she glanced around hurriedly. There were no fiends nearby.

"No," he replied, his voice dark and cold. The young woman didn't know if she should be relieved or not upon hearing that. Shinra worker or not, he could be dangerous either way.

"Oh... That's good. I don't like Shinra," she said, trying to get on his good side. Anything was better than making a dark, mysterious, tall, intimidating, cold man her enemy. But he ignored her words.
"...Why did you destroy the reactors?" he asked, his voice slightly louder than before, yet also darker. She frowned at his question.
"Because if they don't stop using the Lifestream, the Planet will die. The Planet needs its energy for itself," she said, feeling more determined now. Even though that was only half the truth. She had gone ahead and agreed when some random persons had made a bet with her. She had herself to thank for getting into this mess. At least she didn't have to buy (or steal, for that matter) the bombs herself.

Silence ensued, and the man continued to watch Midgar. Was he about to enter the city, or was he leaving? Was he saying hello or goodbye to the dusty, overpopulated place that was once destroyed by the Meteor, and then rebuilt?

"Why do it yourself? Why not leave it to Avalanche?" he demanded, and the last word was filled with what could only be despise. Avalanche... That was the name of the group lead by the famous hero Cloud. The young woman shifted, thinking of an answer.

"...I suppose... they're just too busy right now... They're not in Midgar, I think. At least not all of them. So I took the matter into my own hands," she said, turning to watch Midgar as well. Because the Mako reactors were now broken, the city was shrouded in darkness.

"Not here..." he repeated silently, and she could barely hear him.

Noticing movement, she turned to watch the tall man leave. His tall form seemed to blend with the shadows the further away he strode. It looked to her like he was walking really slowly, but he still disappeared quickly. He moved forward with a gracious elegance that she doubted she would ever be able to copy. But that didn't mean she couldn't move as fast as him. With this thought set in her mind she dashed after him, determined to catch up. She didn't know why, she just felt like it. This was like a sort of challenge, and she wouldn't lose that easily. Her goal was to catch up with him. That simple.

Sephiroth knew he was being followed. Why the young woman followed him was not quite beyond him, though; she most likely had some unanswered questions. No matter what her reasons were, however, her actions only annoyed him. He did not need to turn his head to know if she was closing in or not. He could hear her. Breathing heavily already, she continued putting in an effort to catch up, and while she did, her feet made quite a lot of noise every time they hit the ground. Frankly speaking, having somebody teach her how to run properly would be a good idea.

How had she managed to break the Mako reactors if she could not run any better than this? This was pathetic.

Just to get rid of her and end the nuisances she was sure to bring with her, he could kill her. But as it were, he had already killed one worthless being today. To kill two such worthless beings in less than an hour would be a waste of effort. The woman was not even worth killing. So he increased his speed to make it harder for her to follow his pace. She should be grateful.

"Hey! ...Wait!" she called out, her eyes fixed on the tall man. In stead of politely stopping and answering, the man sped up. As she saw this, she frowned deeply. That was really rude – a part of her wanted to tell him that, face to face, but only if she dared to. With these thoughts fixed in her mind she sped up as well, determined to catch up with him before she had no energy left. She dashed forward, watching the back of the cloaked person. He wouldn't get away that easily. As she noticed the distance between them lessen, she increased her speed even more. When she finally caught up with him he stopped, but didn't turn around to face her.

"Fi...Finally..." she said, her breath ragged. He turned his head to his right, as though to look over his shoulder. His hood shielded them both from each other's view, though.
"...What is it that you want," he demanded, not trying to hide the irritation in his voice. She bent forward slightly, supporting herself by holding her hands on her knees.
"I just thought... That I'd ask... Your name..?" she said, panting heavily still.

His name? As if he would ever tell anyone such a thing. All the humans on the entire Planet, without exceptions, believed he was dead. Revealing his name to any of them would be foolish beyond comparison. That way Cloud and his team would surely come after him again. Not that Sephiroth cared; he would win this time, that much was for sure. However, before extracting revenge, he had matters to attend to; events to prepare. Meanwhile he did not want to be disturbed. His plans were already starting to take on the forms he wanted them to.

As he remained silent, the woman straightened her back and stared into the shadows of his hood, as he had now turned to face her.

"...If you don't want to tell me your name, then why not tell me were you're going?" she asked, obviously trying to get to know at least something about him.
"That is none of your business," he said, his voice monotonous. After giving his answer, he turned and started walking again. The woman followed him.

"I'm Mika," she offered. As if her name would interest him.
"That does not concern me the slightest," he responded, and once again stopped. Mika stopped as well, seemingly eager for him to speak.

So he remained silent.

"...But I thought that, perhaps, since I told you my name, you'd tell me y-"
"You were wrong in presuming anything along those lines. Now, leave," he said in a strong, yet controlled voice.

If she did not leave, he would kill her. It was as simple as that.
The Mika character looked at him uncertainly, shifting. Then she turned around slowly.

"...Yeah, sure... Sorry for bothering you. Hope we'll meet again when you're in a better mood..." she mumbled as she walked away. Better mood? She was bestowing upon him – in her mind – such a human trait as a that? Sephiroth was never in a bad mood. The words that described him the best were something else entirely: He was determined and focused, having eyes only for his ambitions and the loss of whoever went in his way. Thinking this, he turned around and walked in the opposite direction of Mika – he did not wish to meet her again.

Mika sighed quietly. Once again she had messed up a conversation. Where would she go now? Her plan had been to go straight to the next Mako reactor, but that was really far away. Meanwhile, she had to find somewhere to get some sleep. There was a town nearby; Kalm. Perhaps she'd find an Inn there.

But Kalm was in the opposite direction. The cloaked man had gone that way. If she followed him and he noticed her, what would she do? ...She would just have to tell him the truth, that she was heading for Kalm. He couldn't keep her from going there if she wanted to. And if he didn't like that she was going to the same place as him, he could go somewhere else, because Mika had already made up her mind. She made a full turn and marched in the right direction. Kalm was her destination, and no one would stop her.

...Her march was a little slow, though, as she didn't really want to catch up with the cloaked man.

The night turned darker by the minute, and Sephiroth had stopped a while ago. Again, he was thinking. As things were at the moment, he had managed to come up with a tentative plan. More than one plan had rolled around in his mind up until now, and the best ones all contained surprise attacks. One of the plans were better than the others, though. It was a fine plan, he dared venture. After destroying all the Mako reactors, the Lifestream would grow larger. And then Sephiroth could once again summon Meteor. Once the Planet tried using the Lifestream to prevent the Meteor from hitting and damaging it, Sephiroth would redirect most of the energy to himself. Thus the knowledge and wisdom of the Lifestream would be passed on to him, and though not willingly, the Planet would serve as his source of lore.

But the reactors presented a problem, since they absorbed much energy... He could easily destroy them, but not without suspicion. If even one person saw him in action, rumors would inevitably spread. That was not desirable. The black cloak shielded his identity, yes, but him using mastered materia and his long sword could give him away. Using another weapon was an alternative, but then he would have to go to a shop and buy one in person. Which again caused a problem.

Looking around again, he located a town not too far away. Despite the darkness he could see the silhouettes of the houses clearly. For now, that place would be his destination. His hand moved up to his hood to pull it down past his forehead, covering his face almost completely. Sephiroth still carried his Masamune, but his black cloak was long enough to cover it. A mere human could easily mistake him for a ghost the way he was dressed now. He would be safe even under the gaze of humans peering from their windows.

At last she was there. Mika could see the buildings now. She had wandered back and forth aimlessly for a while, unable to see too far ahead. Kalm had no Mako power after what she had done to the reactors back in Midgar. She vaguely wondered if they were angry, but hoped they were just confused, since they probably didn't know the actual cause of the blackout. That would be best, since she didn't want any uncomfortable questions. Lying was not really her way of doing things. Unless she had practised beforehand. And she really hadn't.

Walking towards the town, she noticed a tall silhouette standing right outside it.

It was the cloaked man from before. How would she get past him without him noticing her? Trying to swallow the small lump in her throat while avoiding to do anything suspicious, Mika decided to walk straight past him. She just had to pretend she didn't see him. After all, he looked quite a lot like a shadow. She walked closer and continued past him, then hurried into the dark town, hoping he would ignore her. The town was bathed in shadows and the only things that lit the place were candles in the windows. The white walls on some of the houses made it easier to see as well, but not as much.

"...You," she heard, and froze. Her shoulders were slightly hunched, as if she had been caught in the act. And she kind of had.

Mika turned around slowly. The cloaked man hadn't moved.

"...Yes?" she asked in a hushed voice, not wanting to wake up the sleeping townspeople.
"Why are you here," he demanded, his voice low and silent – it was not even a question. Mika observed his hood. It was hiding his face quite well.

"Uh, I'm going to get some sleep here. Tomorrow I'll be on my way again. I have more reactors to take care of," she whispered quickly, and turned her head around to find the Inn. She would probably have to wake up the owner. It was getting really late.

"...Reactors to take care of?" he repeated in his low, dark voice, almost mocking her. Mika nodded, and walked straight to the building with an 'Inn' sign above the door. Hesitating slightly, she wondered if she should knock or not. But feeling tiredness starting to take hold of her, she yielded to her needs and knocked.

No one answered, so she checked if the door was open. It was.

Sephiroth pondered his possibilities and her words. She was going to destroy more Mako reactors, and so was he. A new, rather disturbing plan made its way into his train of thought. What if he could let her do it all, and stay away until she completed the job? Meanwhile he could train as much as he wanted. Once she was done, Sephiroth's main plan could begin: The second summoning of the Meteor.

And no one would think he was the one responsible of the reactor destructions. This Mika person was much shorter than him, and her hair was much darker. She had used bombs, meaning she did not use a sword or materia. This new add to his plan was actually quite convenient. He did not even have to tell her to do it, because she would anyway. And while she was at it, he could just stay somewhere and wait. She would destroy reactors, and he would train.

...No.

It sounded too easy. There had to be a catch. The security in Midgar was low only because there were so many reactors there (Shinra had to split up all the guards to make sure all reactors were guarded at least a little). But the other reactors would be heavily guarded. Despite the fact that they would be in the middle of nowhere, the security would be higher simply because the guards were all in one place. They didn't have to run around, switching places with other guards every other minute. Also, after the attacks on the reactor in Midgar, the security would be heightened.

In addition, judging from her extraordinarily bad running, Mika would be too weak to take on that kind of opponents. That was the catch.

"Hey, you, come here..." he heard, and looked up to see Mika walking into the Inn. Before thinking, he slowly followed her inside. The room was jet-black, except for a candle on the counter, which barely lit the desk and the person resting on it. Sephiroth could see quite well even in this darkness, but he doubted Mika could. She had extended her arms and was feeling her way towards the lit desk, as if frightened she would step on something which should not be stepped upon.

There was a man sleeping at the desk, his head resting on his arms.
"...Um, excuse me, sir?" she asked cautiously.

Sir? Why did she call this man 'sir'? He was not worthy of such a title.

Mika poked the man's arm and he woke up. Blinking several times, he used his hands to search for the glasses that were on the counter next to the candle. After putting them on, he squinted at the visitors. Sephiroth wondered for a moment if this bothersome person could see him at all. He could most likely not.

"...Sorry, I seem to have fallen asleep... Can I help you, Miss?" he asked. Sephiroth resisted the urge to frown at the petty human. He hadn't noticed Sephiroth at all. But it was for the best.

"I'd like to rent two beds, please," she said, and at that, Sephiroth's gaze snapped to her.

"...Two separate beds, preferably as far away from each other as possible," she added quickly in something akin to a breath. Right about now, this Mika person had some explanation to do. And if that explanation was worse than good, she would end up paying with her life.

R.R.
(I will renew the entire story, chapter by chapter. And when I'm done renewing a chapter, I will make the chapter title bold, like this.)

Reviews will be converted into gil and given as ransom for Sephiroth to let Mika live.