O-M-G! Finally this update is done. I swear, it took me forever to get this thing going. And then what happens? I finish it in a single day. oh well, as long as it's done, right? This chapter is all about our main character, tho I swear, I don't know where these 'write themselves into the story characters' come from, but I love them!

First Boulder from another story...which I need to update...*cough* and now her? I can't wait for you guys to meet her. I don't know why she ended up with a Scottish accent of all things, but if Cait Sith can have one then why not?

Also, I highly recommend listening to some tavern ambiance music while reading this. it really sets the tone in the first half and...Kingdom Hearts fans...I may have dropped an Easter egg. I wonder if you guys can spot them? ;)

That's all for now, I hope you enjoy, and thank you all again for your amazing continued support. It means the world to me.

He had been born in a harsh life. A life full of torment, pain and suffering that he was trained since a young age to adapt or perish. Sephiroth had not only endured, but after a time thrived from such a life and rose to become one of if not the strongest man alive. This brutal force of nature however was testing even his limits. The cetra hadn't been exaggerating when she said the cold was nearly unbearable.

Sephiroth had wanted to make a straight bee-line for the ancient city, but curiosity won out and he felt the strange need to visit the frigid region surrounding Icicle Inn. It was as if some outside force was pulling him there. At first he feared it was Jenova's pull, but he ruled it out when he realized there was no static ringing in the back of his thoughts as it had before. There was also no headache following after, so he hoped if it was another force, that it was a helpful one. Regardless, Icicle Inn was a place of interest and had been mentioned in the future group's story.

He had traveled through there once before it seemed, though if it was from the future it was likely with darker intentions. This time he was trying to uncover more mysteries, and figuring out the truths behind Hojo's lies seemed like a good reason to travel this far. He was also glad he decided to come and not send someone like Kunsel. The man was beyond skilled, but Sephiroth realized that had he not had first class levels of mako even he would be forced to turn back. It was clear now why the future Cloud; a man born in the cold regions also struggled here. Every few minutes, Sephiroth was forced to stop and warm himself before continuing on, or risk frostbite. He'd have to remember to tell Aerith it was possible to get frostbite in your lungs in a climate as frigid as this.

The local tavern of Icicle Inn was always packed this time of year, with the winter gale blowing so fiercely outside, only the stupid or suicidal would dare venture outside of the protective warmth of the cabin flames. Four men huddled around the bar while two teenage boys played a game of chess in the corner by the fireplace; one wearing darker clothes with golden eyes and the other with his messy dark hair pulled back into a high ponytail, their oddly shaped weapons leaned against the wall by the fireplace while they played mind games with each other, speaking in riddles and metaphors.

Suddenly the door burst open and a man covered from head to toe with frost entered the foyer. He turned and shut the door behind him, cutting off the sound of the howling winds and reducing it to a muffled roar. The air in the room grew significantly colder as if the open door sucked out the warmth like a vacuum. The man looked around the room, but didn't remove his clothing as he headed towards the fireplace.

One of the more wasted of the drunks decided to head over to the stranger and leaned against the fireplace wall as the man stood in front of the flames with his hands outstretched.

"Don't see many strangers at this late hour. Where'd you come from, friend?"

His breath reeked of bad booze, the kind even slum-dwellers would avoid, yet Sephiroth owed him no explanation, so he gave none, instead he resumed his silent vigil over the fire. This didn't sit well with the man.

"What, yer mah never teach you any manners?!"

The higher his temper rose, the more slurred his speech became, Sephiroth wanted to comment, but he had learned from watching an older Yuffie that if you instigate a drunk it only makes it worse. Though, that did remind him of the ending of that incident, which he didn't expect he'd have to repeat here. Another debt he owed Cloud.

The man went to grab his hood and pull it back, but in his drunken state, the man grabbed that plus a handful of the general's hair, which did not sit well with Sephiroth.

"Yew can' juzz barge in here an' thingk yew can take ovur. Warm costz gil in this town!"

"Unhand me."

The reply was calm; Sephiroth was giving him one chance to sober up on his own before he acted. The man didn't take the hint.

"I don' tack orderz from yew!"

Sephiroth blocked the punch with his bare hand before gripping the fist a bit tightly, forcing the man to wince in pain and release his hold on the general's hair before he turned, grabbed the back of the man's belt, pushed him towards the door and shoved him outside before closing the door and locking it behind him.

During the 'Celebration of Friendship' party the group had thrown to remember the good times before he was sent back, Sephiroth had witnessed Yuffie get so drunk she tried to steal from everyone present just to prove how good she was. The moment she went for Cloud, the blond grabbed her in a similar way and shoved her outside, effectively locking her out. She cried and whined, but the blond remained adamant by the door and refused to let her back in until she either sobered up or promised to behave. It took a few minutes for the stubborn ninja princess, but she eventually came around.

The man pounded on the door. "Hey! Lemme in, I'll freeze to death out here!"

His slurred speech seemed to have cleared up, Sephiroth noticed, but he remained unmoving.

"You silver haired freak! When I get in there, me 'n mah boys are gonna rough you up so bad you'll need this blizzard to numb the pain!"

Sephiroth glanced over to the other three men who were staring at him. He quirked a single eyebrow as if asking if they dared to try; they all turned back around and stared into their mugs.

The pounding became more desperate and the man's voice grew to a higher pitch. "Let me in! I'll die out here!"

"Promise to conduct yourself in a proper manner and I might consider it," Sephiroth told him.

"What'd you just call my mother," the man shouted back with a renewed anger.

Sephiroth had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. Obviously he needed to use smaller words.

"Behave yourself and I will let you back in."

"Alright, you win! Just lemme back in, it's colder than Shiva's heart out here!"

Sephiroth opened the door and the man fell through, covered in frost as he scrambled over to the fire to warm himself up.

The general closed the door once more and took his place at the bar counter. The bar maiden was the kindly chubby older woman on the cusp of fifty, but she carried an aura that radiated with tough, motherly love.

"A tough customer you are, where are ye from, if ya no mind my askin'?"

"Midgar," he replied.

"Ah, that explains it then. I've heard stories of warriors born there, glowin' eyes they 'ave, but the stories always say they glow blue. Yours are practically shinin' green."

I'm from a different class," he replied politely as she slid a mug his way.

He looked up at her and she winked with a smile. "It's on the house dearie, take it as an apology for mah boy over there. He gets a wee bit carried away at times, but 'e means no 'arm."

"Your boy," Sephiroth asked, doubting he was her son due to the lack of a proper age gap.

"All the men flock to mah inn on nights like this and over the years they become like family ta me. I looks after 'em and more than not feel like I'm their mother. I'm Catherin by the way, and who might you be?"

"Sephiroth," he replied.

"Such a fancy name, bit of a mouthful too, don't mind if I call you Sephy instead. It rolls much easier off the tongue."

The general wasn't sure if that was a question or a statement, so he just picked up the mug and glanced at it before giving it a sniff and a small sip. It was a strange sensation, but it warmed him up from the inside. He hadn't realized until just then how chilled he still was and took another swig.

"That's my special brew," Catherin informed him, "just what everyone needs after trekkin' through that mess outside."

Sephiroth couldn't put the taste into words, other than it was a little bitter, not unlike a strong coffee, but it felt like someone had wrapped him in a warm blanket right after it had been pulled from the dryer. He'd wager Tifa would love to learn how to brew something like this.

"I don't suppose I could buy your recipe,"

The kindly woman laughed. "Not likely, though I'll give you points fer tryin'."

"Information then, what do you know about the ancients?"

The smile on Catherin's face fell and the chatter quieted down a bit, telling Sephiroth more than a few things.

Catherin sighed as she picked up a glass and started rubbing it with a cloth; a nervous habit most bartenders seemed to have.

"It's been a few years since anyone's asked about them, not since what happened to poor Faremis and 'is wife."

"Who," Sephiroth asked.

"Ol' Gast, I remember him, we was drinking buddies," another man added a few stools down.

That was a name Sephiroth recognized. "Gast? I knew him, but I didn't know he was married."

"Aye, that 'e was. To Miss Ifalna, beautiful woman she was," Catherin replied. She knew a lot about the ancients."

"What happened to them?"

"No one knows the details. One day an armed force storms the town and heads for Gast's home. They barge in, there's some shouting, a gunshot and then they leave, takin' Ifalna and 'er young child with 'em."

"And Gast?"

"When some of the townsfolk went to investigate the open door, they saw a green light disperse. There was blood on the floor, but Gast was nowhere to be found."

"The lifestream, he was killed then," Sephiroth mumbled to himself.

"What was that dearie?"

"Nothing, where is the house, if you don't mind?"

"I can take you there in the mornin' but not in this gale. What I can do is set you up in a nice room for now."

Sephiroth wanted to get this over with tonight, but he didn't want to offend the woman, "thank you."

It was two nights later as Sephiroth made his way through the glowing forest of the Forgotten City. Following the directions given to him by Aerith he found his way past the maze of endless trees. The flower girl had not exaggerated when she said one wrong turn would get him hopelessly lost. Every path looked the same, thankfully she had saved him the trouble by providing a detailed map and it wasn't long before he reached the heart of the city.

A building that looked every definition of a curled, spiked sea shell rose up from a pond of water, its metallic sheen glistening from the reflective light of the nearby flora.

The group from the future had told him this was both a powerful and sacred place and so he remained as respectful as he could; trying his best not to disturb the land.

The area provided a bountiful home for fireflies it seemed as the general noticed them swarming here and there. One of them hovered close to his face and he pulled his head back to keep it in focus. The glowing bug bounced to and fro in front of him and as he reached his hand out towards it, the small insect pulled back.

Sephiroth turned to focus on the matter at hand when the bug floated in front of him again before pulling back, which annoyed the general. Sephiroth was about to push past it and walk towards his destination when the bug charged right at him and zapped right through him. Sending a jolt of immense pain through his body and forcing him to double over. Physically it felt like a bullet, mentally he was assaulted with a vision of himself stabbing his sword through a man's torso, but he didn't just see it. He felt it.

He gasped as he stood, glancing at the bug, hoping it would leave him alone, but to his dismay more appeared and swarmed around him. Another light shot through him and again pain exploded across his back as he saw himself once again strike a woman this time across her back, blood flying out in an arc and her scream tearing through his mind.

The bugs swarmed in tighter and it was all Sephiroth could do, to unleash a weak thunder spell and run while the insects were stunned.

He didn't get far as they recovered and continued to attack. Three struck him at once, sending him stumbling forward as he saw three people felled at once, a burning town in the background. More bugs struck him and he saw more villagers fall by his own sword as he felt their pain, but this time there were infantry mixed in. Another stab and Sephiroth saw what he recognized as the mayor of Nibelheim, another painful blow to his front middle and he saw Tifa struck and falling back. Four struck him at once and he saw different images of himself attacking his own lieutenant and then a pain more powerful than the rest struck him right through his chest, just below the heart and it lingered as his vision forced him to stare at a blond infantryman, hanging, wriggling at the end of his own sword. His eyes locking with the young blond as the look shifted from pain and defeat to stubbornness and determination. His hands gripped the sword and lifted it and Sephiroth off the ground, but not before the blond pulled himself farther along the blade to ensure he had proper footing on the gangplank in order to throw the crazed general into the vat of mako.

Sephiroth felt the burning, bubbling acid hiss and sizzle as it ate away at him before the pain faded. He woke up on his side, gripping his chest in pain. He looked up and saw the bugs coming in for another strike and Sephiroth knew that would be all it took. For once in his life he feared death as he fled from these creatures which had no weakness to materia he found out as he launched several spells at them, but the power was nullified before it even reached them. He knew Aerith hadn't led him to his death, but then again, she wasn't the only ancient, and he was the catalyst for their greatest enemy, the chosen vessel for their demise. Perhaps they were trying to eliminate the threat, but they were making a mistake. He only wished he knew how to tell them that and make them believe.

He saw the pond coming up and he didn't think twice about diving in; anything to escape the insects.

That didn't matter. Like the materia, they were unaffected by the water and struck him at once. He was assaulted with the pain and vision of his blade striking down from above as it struck right through his middle and that of Aerith. Sephiroth knew this was a death blow for both her and him when a warm light from below rose up and forced him out of the water with an explosion of droplets. The bigger light healed his wounds as he sat there, choking and catching his breath.

The bigger light, about the size of a ping-pong ball floated between him and the other lights.

"For shame," its whispering voice echoed. "We are all that remains and this is how you treat our memory? We are the last breath aside from the one who still lives. Can you not see that she sent this man to us?"

Sephiroth remained where he was, unmoving as he listened.

"Monster," one of the smaller lights uttered. "That being is the harbinger's doom child; Calamity's angel of death!"

"Not this time," the bigger light defended. "This time he fights with us, you were so busy enjoying his torment that you did not see his reaction to each blow; the regret and shock, not satisfaction, especially at the wounds inflicted on our champion."

"That's not the first time I've heard mention of a champion," Sephiroth finally spoke as he stood and stared down the beings. "I do not intend to cause destruction. I'm here to learn of a way to destroy Jenova and help keep this world safe."

"How do we know this isn't another lie? Jenova was crafty and cunning. Her words dripped with dishonesty. What makes you, her son any different," asked a light that got right up in his face, but did not strike this time.

"Because I am not Jenova's son. I never was and never shall be. I was given a rare opportunity to set things right. Can you not sense the changes? You're supposed to be a mighty and intelligent race, or are you not cetra?"

All of the lights glowed brighter as they collected before him and combined together to form a glowing white dragon, though it fit more closely to the wyvern class. "WE ARE CETRA!" it roared.

"WE HAVE SURVIED HERE FOR CENTURIES, TRYING TO SURVIVE IN A DYING WORLD. WE HEAR ITS CRIES, WE HEAR THE LAST BREATH OF EVERY LIFE AS IT RETRUNS TO MINERVA'S WARM EMBRACE. WE CANNOT MOVE ON WHILE EVIL STILL LIVES AND IT IS SLOWLY SPREADING…"

The creature's eyes widened as it looked down at the light which defended Sephiroth and did not join with the rest.

"WE SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. YOU ARE CLEVER IFALNA. WE SENSE YOU ACTED ON YOUR OWN, YET…IT MAY HAVE SAVED US ALL."

"To be fair, the world was always in good hands with our champion, but I have seen him suffer enough, and as a mother it is my duty to ensure my child's safety, regardless if she is the last of us. Our champion deserved this reward, free of guilt which was never his to carry. And what is wrong with showing a man misguided from birth that his life is worth so much more and his destiny does not have to be robbed from him? My choices have spoken for themselves, including allowing my daughter a chance to heal yet another victim of calamity's cruelty. Mistakes are being corrected, regret rewound and nightmares undone."

The dragon of light sighed with a collective of relief. "YOU SPEAK WELL, IFALNA OF THE WESTERN PLAINS. THE FATE OF OUR KIND RESTS WITH THE DESERT ROSE, AND THE HOPE LIES NOT ONLY WITH THE PLANET'S CHAMPION, BUT THE SILVER PHOENIX AS WELL. DO NOT LET US REGRET THIS. THE PLANET DOES NOT HAVE THE STRENGTH TO SURVIVE FAILURE AGAIN."

With that the glowing beast vanished leaving nothing but real fireflies floating in the air. Sephiroth was amazed by what he had seen. The light that defended remained before starting to float away. Sephiroth got an idea before it could vanish.

"Ifalna, please wait."

The light stopped before returning to hover before him. She didn't speak, so Sephiroth began without waiting.

"The planet's champion…it's Cloud, isn't it?"

Ifalna's light blinked, "Yes."

Sephiroth knew he had only one chance. It was the only good lead he could hope to find. "Can you help me find him? Something happened we didn't foresee and he is in danger. I'm worried Hojo may try to turn him into a clone of me. He tried to once before in the future. He doesn't need to suffer through that again. Not when both innocent champion from this timeline and proven warrior from the future are both forced to endure this as one."

The light circled around him before blinking as if chuckling, if the whispered sound was anything to go by. "You don't have to be so formal with me, Sephiroth. Unlike the other cetra who've had eons to forget how to talk properly like living beings, I lived a bit more recently. I can't do much for the living, other than offer whispered guidance if they're willing to listen. Our champion however is very open-minded and some time ago I was able to pass a message on from his friend, and in return he sent an image to me. I can show you that image, and you may be able to use that to find him."

"Please show me."

The light floated up for a moment and then zoomed towards the general, striking him through his head, but unlike the others, it didn't hurt. The image shown to him was of a forest area, with smoke or steam rising up and a large rocket towering over the nearby foliage. Sephiroth's eyes snapped open.

"I know where he is!"