Summary: Sephiroth was gone, the clones hidden away and Cloud and the others beginning to find some peace. But nothing was ever that way for Gaia's champion. Jenova was a threat to the planet, and her cells still lived inside him.

Warning! This story will contain yaoi! That means boy on boy action. Please do not read if you do not like it or really should not be reading it. You will be warned before hand should the chapters contain explicit scenes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of its characters. If I did, most of you would not have been old enough to buy it.

The planet wanted it dead.

Even after the main body had been destroyed, and it's main force sucked away into the lifestream, it wanted every trace of its existence to disappear from the surface.

Most of all, it wanted him dead.

Cloud Strife trudged into the back entrance of the Seventh Heaven, mud and grime caked on his boots. Throughout the dark entranceway a loud crash was heard as he dropped his delivery bag on the tile floor, it's contents breaking. He didn't care, he just wanted to close his eyes and let the day end.

The black rooms stared back at him, outlines of chairs and tables reminding him of the things he had seen on his last delivery. He shook his head, reminding himself to stop thinking about it. He pulled off the dirty boots and dumped them in a corner, not bothering to clean them up. An old coat was flung onto a chair, before falling onto the floor. He stared at it, exhausted.

Walking into the hallway, he tensed as his overworked body protested his every move. He looked into the empty bar, checking to see if its owner was waiting around for him. Checking the clock, he saw that it was well past midnight, and was glad that she had decided to go to bed.

He silently climbed the stairwell, gripping the rail as his tired muscles threatened to give up on him. Stopping at the landing, he turned his blond head to look in the nearest door, allowing a tired smile to grace his face as he saw two small hills in the beds, sleeping soundly.

"Late night, Cloud?" A sleepy voice called from the opposite doorway. Long brown hair falling to one side, Tifa Lockheart leaned against the door, rubbing her eyes. He nodded and walked over towards the far staircase. "What happened this time?" She asked, her voice more steady. He could feel brown eyes staring at him as he began up the steps. He sighed, reaching the top. "The same thing as last time." Eyes widened and her mouth tightened. "Again…" She whispered, shaking her head. He could understand why she was concerned. "Go to back to bed Tifa." He walked into his room. "We'll talk about it in the morning." He nodded to her and closed his door.

Cloud finally allowed his muscles to relax, and collapsed as he slid down the door. Tired arms stripped him of his clothes and tired legs barely managed to drag him to the bed. He fell onto the bed, closing his eyes as the day's events flashed through his mind.

He'd gotten a call from Reno telling him that the settlement around the old Modeoheim labs was under attack, and that they needed him to help get everyone out. They couldn't tell what had happened or what was attacking them, but only that they'd gone straight for the laboratories hidden under the town.

They got there too late.

The things, whatever they had been, demolished the town. The entire area covering the old labs had been ripped up. Anything above it was dealt with; let it be a house or a person. Tseng noted that whatever they were after was in the underground area, and the fact that there was living beings above it meant nothing to them.

"This must have been an organized attack." Reeve told them later when they relayed the information to him. "A monster would have just attacked the people and stolen food. It probably would not have even ever known about the labs. Someone wanted something that was still in there."

This was the second of this kind of attack. Several weeks before Modeoheim, he had gone up towards Cosmo Canyon to deliver medical supplies for the elderly people living there. In the end he needed to run back to get enough for the entire populace.

The people claimed that in the middle of the night, strange noises were heard from the Shinra building. Men had gone out to see what was happening, but never returned. An explosion caused by whatever was happening attracted more citizens, but none who saw who or what was there was alive to say. The townspeople told stories of large beings walking through the village afterwards and destroying houses, but none could say what they were.

Cloud sighed. Rubbing his temples as he tried to figure out what was going on, he thought about the fact that stuck out to him most. Both attacks had been focused on a Shinra building, and both had laboratories and storage areas carrying experiments. Whatever was attacking was destroying and burning specific ones and those around them. There was some connection between all the destroyed articles, but he couldn't remember. The shriveled remains of one of the experiments at Modeoheim reminded him eerily of the ones in Nibelheim, back in the reactor.

He sighed again, brushing that thought from his head. Remembering home was not going to help at all. He instead rolled over and fell into a troubled sleep, filled with images of mako-filled tubes and green eyes.

- To be Continued