The Ancient's City loomed before them as they stood at the lip of the valley. A day's journey had brought them quickly through the Dream Forest, now dis-enchanted so that any traveler could pass without the harp.

"Doesn't look like anything's changed from here," Cid said, glancing around him at the silent group.

"We won't be able to tell until we get down there," Cloud said, nudging a stick with the tip of Ultima blade. He hadn't put the blade away since the first monster attack early in the day. Tifa had made only one off-hand comment about him not having to have it out all the time. Only one, since Cloud had silenced her almost immediately with a warning about Sephiroth and the dangers of not being prepared. No one else had chosen to question Cloud on it after that.

"Well, I know that," Cid said, throwing an exhausted cigarette butt on the ground and stomping it out. "But it ain't in shambles like the last place we looked for Sephiroth in."

Cloud glared at the pilot for a moment, then started on the trail down the valley without another word.

"Cid, do you really think that was necessary?" Tifa demanded once Cloud had moved out of hearing range. She started after Cloud, not giving Cid a chance to reply.

"What?" Cid asked, meeting the glares from the other party members. "What did I do?" Vincent and Barret went down the trail without another word, but Nanaki stopped for a moment by the pilot.

"You know as well as I that Cloud is stressed at this time," the red animal said quietly, "it would be best to refrain from - or at least, restrain - your usual sarcasm." Nanaki swished his tail sharply against the pilot's thigh, nearly knocking Cid over, then followed the rest of the group.

"What?" Cid asked again, exasperatingly to no one in particular. He swore under his breath, pulling another cigarette from his pocket and jamming in angrily in his mouth as he headed after the rest of Avalanche.

The sun passed below the mountains just as they reached the outskirts of the town. Cloud announced they would stay in their tents the night, then head into the city the next day. That night, Tifa sat up all night outside their tent, using the pretense of taking watch for monsters.

"Tifa?" Vincent whispered to her across the shadows of the camp.

"What?" Tifa did not turn her head in Vincent's direction, choosing instead to watch the stars above in quiet reflection.

"I--I would like to talk to you for a moment," Vincent said, trying to keep the uncertainty out of his voice.

"I don't think so, Vincent," she answered, still keeping her eyes to the sky. "You started this damn crusade. I have nothing to say to you."

"Tifa," Vincent insisted, keeping his voice low, "I want to talk to you about Cloud, not about…"

"Not about what, Vincent?" Tifa hissed back at the shadows, finally bringing her gaze in his direction. "Not talk about the monster you are? Is that what you don't want to talk about?" Vincent pulled away at her harsh words, slamming his eyes shut, trying to shut out the memories she had reminded him of. He backed away a few more steps, feeling the alternating washes of pain and anger flow over. With a muffled sound of anguish, he turned and fled from the camp.

Tifa listened to the sounds of Vincent's retreat until silence filled the campground once more. Then she returned her eyes back to the sky.

"Where's Vincent?" Cloud demanded early the next morning, rousing all from their sleep with his question.

"Whadya mean, where's Vince? He ain't in his tent?" Barret stomped out of his tend, rubbing sleep from his eyes and stretching mightily. He looked over to where Vincent had set his tent up, blinking in surprise when he saw the tent was gone.

"Looks like he skipped out," Cid noted, lighting up his morning cigarette. Tifa gave the pilot a look of utter distaste, then turned her back to him and set to packing up the tent she and Cloud shared.

"Vincent was prone to disappearing at strange times before," Red noted. "Although he usually stayed around during important events. I wouldn't really worry about it for now. He probably just went to scout out the City…" Nanaki trailed off when Cloud turned his angry glare on him.

"While I'm the leader of this group, I say who leaves to scout and who doesn't. There won't be any leave-taking without my permission. Is that understood?" Nanaki nodded his head, somewhat covering the motion by turning his head down and fastidiously licking his paws clean. The others nodded their assent quietly, turning to pack up their tents in silence. The look on Cloud's face - pure and utter fury - had been enough to make them all wonder once more on the fitness of the ex-SOLDIER to be their leader. But none of them dared to question him on it.

A few hours later, they had completed their scouting of the city, finding nothing other than the usual monsters and traces of some looting. Cloud contemplated each site of looting quietly, not verbalizing his anger. He didn't need to. The others could sense the anger seething through him in the fiercely determined look in his eyes as he quickly dispatched any monsters that dared come across his path. Vincent did not join them that night when they left the city and returned to the same are they had camped the night before.

"Are we going wait for that boy to show up?" Cid finally brought up the question after the tents had been set and a discreet fire had been lit to warm their dinner.

"If he has not joined us by morning," Cloud said, staring intently into the fire as he ate his food methodically, "then he will be left behind. We don't have time for his games."

Red grunted, then sneezed, but the sound seemed suspiciously familiar as a snort of irritation. Cloud looked away from the fire, blinking at the red cat as his eyes adjusted from the glare of the fire.

"Is there something you would like to add, Red?" Cloud said in a low voice.

"Just that it might be possible that something has happened to our silent companion, instead of what you all seem to believe was his intention to leave." Nanaki met Cloud's eyes evenly, but did not allow any emotion to show in his words.

"Ya think Sephiroth did some'tin to 'im?" Barret said, putting away the last of his food with his usual relish.

"I do not discount the possibility that Sephiroth might have had something to do with it," Red said, nodding his head in acknowledgment while still keeping his gaze locked with Cloud's.

"If that is what you think, cat," Cloud said, still keeping his voice low, "then you may search for him. But," he continued, finally breaking his gaze away from the feline eyes that refuse to give under the Mako glare and looking back at the fire, "if you are not back by morning, we will leave you both behind. Do you understand?"

"I understand perfectly," Red said, pronouncing each word with furious precision. He left the light of the fire in one leap, disappearing instantly into the night's gloom.

"Whatcha trying to do by being like that to Red?" Barret demanded.

"Red felt the need to go," Cloud said with a shrug, "I personally think Vincent left on his own will, for his own personal reasons, and that he doesn't want to be found. Red won't find anything if Vincent doesn't want him to. In any case," he said, continuing in a more casual tone, "Vincent knows where we are headed next, so he can catch up to us at any time."

"Oh," Barret said, scratching his head in thought, "I thought ya was being a little 'ard on the cat, but I think I see yar point now. Just 'ope that nothing 'appens to the kitty while 'e's looking."

"Have a little faith in me, Barret," Cloud teased, smiling genuinely for the first time that day.

"Sure, Cloud," Barret mumbled, feeling a little sheepish at challenging Cloud on what now seemed so trivial an issue.

"Time to turn in," Cloud said, rising from his seat before the fire. He lifted a piece of sod they had cut out earlier and dropped it over the fire, effectively smothering and masking it at the same time. The campsite was enveloped in darkness as they all headed off to their tents, except for Cid, who had drawn first watch. He complacently lit a cigarette and wandered a short distance away from the camp, selecting a good vantage point to watch the camp and the area around it while he enjoyed his smoke.

Jyleth entered the arena feeling somewhat edgy and more than a little silly. People alternately cheered and booed at her, varying, she guessed, but the way they had bet on the outcome of her challenge. She pulled out her swords, swinging them extravagantly under the pretense of warming up. There was a slight hushing in the din as a few people hurried to make last minute changes in their bets after witnessing her competence in a complicated sword kata. Her mouth tightened in an amused grin as she observed the rapt attention and even - in a few faces - fear, from her demonstration of weapons prowess.

Is this how Sephiroth felt, when he was forced to take part in the Shinra parades and pageants of glory and conquest? Jyleth wondered as she waited for her first opponent to appear. Did he see fear and awe in the people's eyes? What would that do a person, if that is all they saw reflected back every time they met a person's eyes?

She didn't get any more time to contemplate that aspect of Sephiroth's character, as the door opposite opened and a small flock of weak-minded plains craps - five of them - came writhing out to meet her. She dropped into a defensive stance, then, with a quick flick of her wrist and a barely spoken command, killed them all with a medium level ice-spell. The crowd booed it's appreciation of her quick dispatch, wanting to see more of a fight.

"Very nice," Dio said from a dais on the far end of the arena, "from this next challenge on, you cannot use offensive magic." Jyleth started to question him on that stipulation - he had said nothing of it before - but the door opened again and her next opponent came flying through to meet her.

Through the next succession of fights, Jyleth was subsequently limited by losing defensive magic, restorative magic, and had spells placed on her that reduced her strength, speed, and endurance by half. She endured these restrictions with increasing frustration, as the opponents grew harder each time. She noticed after the fifth battle that Dio was rolling what appeared to be dice after each of her battles before calling out a restriction. Only once did he not call out a restriction - she could only guess that he had rolled something she had already lost.

The final opponent strode out, a monstrosity of muscle, fangs, and teeth. Jyleth had faced creatures harder than this before and defeated them with relative ease, but never with such restrictions placed on her that she had now. She was bleeding from a dozen wounds, and her strength was severely in danger of giving in. Yet, she raised her swords once more, determined that she must win these fights. She had proved she could stand up against the best warrior in the world, she could surely surpass this challenge.

A small eternity later, the ninth opponent fell insensible to the arena stand. Struggling to keep from following its example, Jyleth waved her hands at the crowd, acknowledging the cheers at her victory. Dio came striding up to her, taking one of her bloodstained hands and shaking roughly. She bit off a gasp of pain.

"Congratulations, you-"

"Release me from your damn spells," Jyleth spat, interrupting him as she pulled her hand from his grasp.

"Oh," he said, sounding somewhat taken aback, "of course, my apologies, I should have thought of that first." From the sound of his voice, Jyleth suspected that was the first thing he had thought of, just not with the intention of removing them. He would profit far more if Jyleth had to take a few days to recover - or if she fainted in front of the crowd.

She felt her strength flood back, as well as the wards against spell casting lift, almost immediately after his apology. A cure spell flooded over her in a gentle green glow soon after - the most powerful cure she had. She cast it twice, but still felt rather tired. But, she was, at least, up to continuing the conversation with Dio.

"At what time did you think it was appropriate to keep this information about the battle restrictions from me?" Jyleth met his eyes brazenly as she spoke the words, but she had the thought enough to keep her voice low enough that only he could hear.

"I thought you know!" He whispered fiercely to her. "I mean, you were at the arena, surely, as an experienced warrior, you checked the rules of bout before actually coming here?" When she didn't answer, he spread his hands out to her complacently. "I am sorry. There are no other hidden rules, I promise. The other two challenges will proceed exactly as this one do, with the dice of chance determining what restrictions you bear." Jyleth glared at him a moment more, then stalked from the arena.

"Wait!" Dio called out, running after her. "The next challenge you will-"

"Yes, of course," Jyleth interrupted him again. She didn't stop walking. "I'll be back the tomorrow, and the next, to complete the challenges. I won't go back on my word." Dio smiled happily, clapping her roughly on the shoulder in appreciation. He quickly pulled his hand back when, she whirled on him, half-drawing her dagger, only catching herself at the last moment.

"Dio, I'm tired, I'm hurting, and I'm feeling more than a little pissed off - you should know better than to touch a warrior in such a mood." She turned back to her original course before he could offer a protest, feeling unreasonably annoyed, even for such a transgression as he had made.

Why am I so moody? she thought, trying to calm her frayed nerves that belied themselves by the shaking in her hands. She clenched her hands into fists to hide the shaking, but it didn't calm the turmoil inside. It has to be because of the increased contact with people, because it has been so long since I have had any interaction with anyone other than Sephiroth. That must be it. She tried to put the issue aside as she arrived at the Ghost Hotel, focusing on ordering a meal - to be delivered in her room. The meal arrived promptly after she had showered and done another round of healing spells. While she ate, she went over the fights in her mind, looking for areas of improvement and devising alternate strategies for dealing with Dio's restrictions. But the unstable behavior she had demonstrated after the fights lingered in her mind, even long after she had fallen asleep, to plague her dreams with vision of insanity and chaos.