Copyright: All characters, items, and places are property of Square Soft inc. DO NOT USE THE FANFIC WITHOUT MY PERRMISSION!

Intertwining Destinies: The Legend Begins

Chapter 3

By: Mark

[Authors Note: All the action starts here. I hope you like the series and send me info to help it. Oh, and "The Legend Begins" is only the first book: so stop calling it just Intertwining Destinies! I want to know if you guys like realistic battles, or ones with materia and magic. I made this a normal battle, but I NEED your feedback! Enjoy!]

Vincent sat on the roof of the ShinRa mansion looking at the dark night sky. He clenched his claw into a fist, then unrolled it. While he did that, he thought, "Damn Hojo. He ruined my life. He took away everything. First Lurcrecia, then my humanity."

Vincent continued to stare into the night sky when he saw somebody running. The person was a bit disfigured and wore a white lab coat. Whoever it was appeared to be in a hurry out of Nibelheim. Vincent jumped off the roof and followed.

* * *

"Cloud, please wake up, please," Aeris pleaded. Cloud was lying on a bed with Aeris on the side holding his hand. Cid was calling all the AVALANCHE members to inform them about Cloud and that the Highwind will come to pick them up. When the rest of Avalanche got there, Yuffie asked, "Where'd Vincent go?"

"I don't know, I called his PHS but nobody answered," Cid replied.

"What happened to Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"He was mumbling about someone coming, then blacked out."

As if on cue, Cloud rose up quickly as if something happened, then calmed down and put a hand on his forehead. "Unhnnhhh," He muttered.

"Cloud, are you alright?" Aeris asked

Cloud nodded and hugged Aeris tightly. "Sephiroth. He attacked my mind. It replayed before my eyes..."

"Sephiroth's dead though," Tifa said questioningly. Cloud released Aeris.

"He's back, with the power of Jenova," he started, "I think they merged forms. He's more powerful than he was before..."

"How do you know?" Barret asked.

"I sense him. He's the only one who could play back Aeris' death. I could see him laughing. It felt so real..." Cloud answered.

"What if Sephiroth is back? Cloud could be right," Aeris added.

"We can search around and see," Cid said.

"Let's try Nibelheim, I think he might go there," Cloud replied, "Oh, and Aeris, you might need this," Cloud then handed her, her Princess Guard.

* * *

"Shinra is back! This just in: President Rufus ShinRa has recovered and wants to restart the ShinRa organization. All people who would like to join ShinRa should meet at Junon Harbor. Also in, a strange creature asking to find Cloud Strife has massacred Nibelheim and has killed several people with a long wicked looking sword. If you happen to see him, call 783-235-7564 and Local authorities will assist you."

* * *

The Highwind flew over to Nibelheim and saw a ghastly site. Bodies lay all around the place, with blood everywhere. They landed the Highwind and attended to the wounded, though there weren't very many because most were dead. Cloud jumped over some rubble and attended a wounded person.

"He killed my family... He said he wanted to know where Cloud Strife was... We didn't know, but he killed us anyway..." The man whispered. Cloud immediately a pillow under the man's head.

"Where did he go?" Cloud asked the man who was still recovering.

"To the reactor."

Cloud thanked the man and started to run to the Nibelheim reactor.

"We'll settle this now Sephiroth!" Cloud yelled as he ran.

* * *

Vincent followed the person over to Midgar. Vincent had hidden on the boat that the person had taken to Junon. When the person didn't see an entrance, tentacles came out from the lab coat and cleared the way.

"It couldn't be..." Vincent thought, "Hojo was killed..."

The person walked through and headed towards the remains of ShinRa HQ.

* * *

"Cloud wait!" Aeris called to Cloud, who was quite a distance away by now.

Aeris quickly helped the wounded person she was healing and hastily hurried after Cloud. Soon all of Avalanche was following.

* * *

Cloud turned the door handle.

"It's locked." He said to himself.

So, he got back and slashed the door with his Ultima Weapon. He heard Aeris calling him and turned around. He saw the rest of Avalanche catching up with him.

"Sheesh! You could have waited for us!" Cid said angrily.

Cloud didn't say anything; he just made his way in. As he made his way through the reactor: he saw somebody waiting for him. It looked like a human but its skin was color was much different. Its body also was a bit bigger. It had long silver hair and carried a long, thin blade.

"You came after all, Cloud," It said tauntingly, "I was beginning to doubt you."

"It's over Sephiroth, the end," Cloud replied, his eyes burning with anger and rage.

"You're wrong, this is only the beginning! Prepare to die!" Sephiroth yelled and slashed open one of the pods Cloud remembered from his first visit.

"Goodbye Cloud!" Sephiroth yelled, "See you in hell! Hahahahahahaa!"

Sephiroth disappeared into the Jenova room with all of the creatures. Only the one that Sephiroth had motioned to remained. It hissed and charged at them. Cloud ducked as it flew behind him. Barret shot at it but missed. After being enhanced in mako for a couple years, it was awfully strong. It jumped up and slashed Cloud on the chest. Tifa thew a kick at it and hit it on the back. It turned around and hissed. Cloud had used the brief respite to focus energy on the blade of his sword.

"Braver!"

Cloud ran up and brought the sword on its head. The creature moved to the side, but not fast enough. Cloud sheared off its arm. It jumped away from Cloud and the others. Its arm was slowly growing back.

"What the hell are we up against?" Barret yelled.

"I'm not sure, but at least we know that it can regenerate it limbs," Cloud replied.

Barret immediately started to shoot at it. One shot hit its chest. It hissed and charged at Barret. It released a savage combo on Barret. After the combo, Barret charged up his fist and punched, sending the creature into a wall. Yuffie threw her Conformer and hit it. It turned to Yuffie and started to head for her; but before it could get to her, a blue laser hit its back, causing great pain. It turned to see Cloud lifting his sword. It hissed angrily and its tentacles began to glow. They turned into long blades. The creature hissed and ran towards Cloud. Cloud was able to counter almost all the attacks but a few still hit him. Then, Cid charged, burrowing his spear into the creature's back. When Cid stopped, the creature fell off the spear and hit the wall. It was about to attack again when Aeris stepped in. First, the end of her staff began to charge with holy energy.

"Holy beam!"

She jumped into the air and shot a powerful yellow beam into the creature. It screamed in agony as the beam hit it. It wriggled on the ground and was about to get up when. Chop! Cloud lifted his sword up from the ground. The head was severed from the body.

Aeris immediately ran to help Cloud. His blood was leaking from a few wounds. They looked where Sephiroth had gone and saw nothing. Then they left the reactor.

* * *

Cloud winced as Aeris put a bandage on his wound. Cloud and Aeris were in the infirmary to heal his wound. He had gotten a deep slash in his chest when the creature had lunged at him.

"There, as good as new!" Aeris said as she finished with the bandage. Cloud got up and thanked her. When he was walking out, he suddenly doubled over. He put his hand to his head. Aeris immediately ran over to him and asked him if he was ok. Cloud looked at her and said that he was ok. But Aeris could see the pain in his eyes.

"Are you sure you're ok Cloud?" She said tenderly, "Is Sephiroth attacking you again?"

Cloud nodded painfully and Aeris helped him over to a seat. Suddenly he lifted his head up with a puzzled face.

"What happened?" Aeris asked.

"It stopped. I really have some serious thinking to do."

"Is there anything I can help with?"

"No. Get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow."

Aeris had a concerned look on her face but she kissed Cloud on the cheek and went to bed, giving Cloud a few more things to think about.

* * *

Vincent watched as Hojo worked in his lab. When he finished, he typed a password on the control panel. It opened up.

"Yes! It is finally complete! Time to come out my little specimen!"

He was about to press the button but suddenly held his hand in pain. Vincent made a ghastly site, his crimson eyes glowing.

"Hojo." He said in a voice, which was full of anger and hatred.

"Vincent, what a surprise," Hojo said wickedly, "Guessing why I'm alive? You think you killed me? Ha! You just killed a clone! The reason I'm like this is because I preformed a bit of "experiments" on myself. I'm smarter than you think."

"It's over Hojo, give up."

"You're wrong! It's just the beginning! Soon the planet will be mine! Hahahaha! Oh, I don't have time to play. I hope this will entertain you!"

Hojo pressed a button on the wall and two cyborg creatures stepped out.

"My brilliant little creations. I enhanced them with mako, Jenova, and some mechanics. Goodbye!"

Hojo immediately ran out of the room, leaving Vincent and the creatures. Vincent cocked his gun and prepared for battle.

End of Chapter 3

[Author's Note: Like it? I decided to put Vincent in here because I always liked his character. Oh, Aeris' new limit break came from her time in the Lifestream. I also need to know if this story is worth continuing. Please send me comments and suggestions that could help my writing. When I'm done with "The Legend Begins" I'm going to write several short stories. Then I'll write the next Intertwining Destinies book. Please send me your ideas, and if I like them, they'll probably be is the series. Thanks for reading, and remember MAIL ME! Zeritul17@aol.com.

P.S. I decided to give up the idea about Tifa and focus on the Cloud Aeris relationship.