Took me a while, eh? I've been busy improving my page to get sexvampyr (read: egotist) to say it looks nice. After that, I can now sit down and continue to write. My new short story is nearing completion as well. On we go!

 It was almost dark. The streetlights of Junon were sparkling, and loud Pink Floyd was played on the room's expansive stereo system. Ramza was feeling very tired, and Nate could see it. Of course, Nate was tired himself. He caught himself dozing off several times, and kept awakening himself. Nate was wondering why Murdoc hadn't caught them yet. Priscilla had left, she decided that it was too freaky to go with these black sheep.

 "Ramza, let's go to sleep. We can get Murdoc in the morning," Nate said, and added a yawn. Ramza walked in, and yawned in reply.

 "I... suppose so. I'm tired myself. Besides, we need rest." Nate followed Ramza in to the bedroom. "Uh, there's only one bed... I guess we have to share it," Ramza said. Nate shrugged.

 "I don't care. The only people I've ever seen share beds were our parents. But that's cause they're married. Uh, the bed's huge. I suppose we could share it," Nate suggested. Ramza nodded, then scratched the back of her neck.

 "I'll go get dressed." She went into the bathroom, and changed into the nightgown that was available. She came out, and Nate went in. He took off his pants and shirt.

 "I can't stand how dad can wear these." Nate came out in what was one of the pairs of boxer shorts Cloud gave him when he put on a few years. They had red polka dots on them, and Ramza started giggling. "Hey, you shut up!" Nate grinned, and jumped on Ramza, and they flew onto the bed.

 "Hey, get off of me! Hee hee!" They were laughing, and tickling each other. Nate and Ramza were having fun for about five minutes, then they sighed and rolled over. Nate got under the covers, and Ramza followed suit on the other side. Suddenly, Ramza rolled over, and hugged Nate, then kissed him.

 "Good night, Nate." She rolled back over, and closed her eyes. Nate opened his eyes back up.

 "Good night, Ramza." Nate turned off the bed stand light. His eyes closed, and Nathan Strife fell asleep.

 "/As you look around this room tonight.../"

 Reno was in his Turks garb, something he hadn't worn in a while. But, the uniform was buttoned, and his hair was tied in a tight ponytail, with his bangs hanging out.

 "/Settle in your seat, and dim the lights.../"

 Reno sat down in a chair, and the lights in the room went down in amplitude, and the disco ball lit up, and rotated slowly. He looked around, and saw in a seat across the room; Elena. She was dressed in a beautiful blue dress. It had no sleeves, and the bottom was cut off about three-quarters between her hips and knees. It had sequins on it, and flashed when the disco lights hit her. She flashed her pearly whites, and Reno smiled back. They reached each other, and began to dance.

 "/Do you want my blood, do you want my tears, what do you want?/"

 Reno and Elena began dancing. A slow song came on, and they came closer. Reno brought his arm around Elena's waist, and brought her closer to him. She timidly smiled, and put her lips up to his, and they passionately kissed. Their lips parted, and Reno got that look on his face whenever he felt things were going right.

 "/What do you want from me? Should I sing until I can't sing anymore?/"

 Suddenly, someone tapped Reno on the shoulder. He turned around, and saw someone he did not recognize. The woman he saw was about five seven, with long blonde hair, and dark greenish-black eyes. She was wearing a green dress, that showed her hips quite well, and the legs of the dress were split in the middle, at about her knees. The woman walked up, and gave Reno a peck on the cheek. She put her arms around Reno's neck, and swayed back and forth. Suddenly, as Reno's eyes met hers, he felt an insurgence of memories.

 "/Play these strings until my fingers are raw? You're so hard to please... What do you want from me?/"

 He saw Ramza. He saw his little girl. She turned out as Reno imagined she would. She stood tall, with blonde hair not unlike her mother's. Her face was more or less like Elena's, too. But she had his spunk. Her ruby red lips coerced him to hold her close. He held her hands tight around her back.

 "/Do you think that I know something you don't know?/"

 Ramza smiled and lifted herself to kiss Reno on the cheek again. She pulled down again, and they turned with the music.

 "/What do you want from me?/"

 Reno picked up Ramza, and swung her around in a circle. He set her down again, and she had changed! She was herself again, his seven year old daughter. She smiled, and he picked her up. Reno set Ramza down again, and then he saw her walk up, with each step she grew. When she reached Reno, she was her full grown self again. Again, Reno hugged her, and she kissed him again.

 "/If I promise you the answers, would you go?/"

 Suddenly, Ramza turned towards Elena, and walked towards her. Ramza hugged Elena. Elena had to look up, because Ramza was a few inches taller than her. Elena gazed into Ramza's eyes. She saw the onyx in her eyes shimmer. Ramza opened her mouth a little bit.

 "/Should I stand out in the rain? Do you want me to make a daisy chain for you? I'm not the one you need. What do you want from me?/"

 Elena suddenly felt strange. Ramza placed her hand on Elena's abdomen, and Elena felt when she was carrying Ramza, and she looked like it too. She looked down, and back at Ramza again. Her mouth opened to ask a question, but found herself a loss of words. Ramza turned away, and suddenly, from nowhere, pulled out her lightsaber, and turned around to both of her parents. Her eyes were blood red. She let out a scream like a banshee, and charged towards both of them.

 "/You can have anything you want. You can drift, you can dream, even walk on water, anything you want./"

 She swung the lightsaber wildly. Reno and Elena quickly got out of the way, but Elena tripped, and fell on the floor from the excess weight and loss of mobility. Reno got up and ran towards her, kneeling by her side.

 "/You can own everything you see. Sell your soul for complete control. Is that really what you need?/"

 Ramza was screaming like a banshee, slicing everything in her path. The banners, the lights, everything. Even people. One by one, they dropped to the floor, until there were two left.

 "/You can lose yourself this night. See inside, there is nothing inside, turn to face the light./"

 Suddenly, Reno saw Ramza's eyes go from red to her normal dark onyx. Ramza started shaking her head, then grabbing it and falling to the floor.

 "/What do you want from me?/"

 Ramza's eyes flashed open. Not again. Another goddamn nightmare. She sat up in the bed, and saw Nate sleeping soundly at her side. Poor boy. She looked at the clock, and saw it was seven A.M. Weird, there was no sunlight. She turned over, and nudged Nate.

 "Hey, it's time to get up." Nate groaned and rolled over to see Ramza, then rolled over again. Ramza frowned. "Hey! We gotta get Murdoc, remember?" Nate groaned again, and lifted himself out of bed. He yawned, and smacked his lips.

 "What time is it?" Ramza pointed at the clock, and Nate looked at it. "Seven A.M.? It's not even light outside!" He got out of the bed, and sat down on a chair. Ramza went into her clothes closet, and picked out a nice pair of tapered leg jeans and a green sleeveless shirt. She went into the bathroom to change. After she came out, Nate was speechless. Boy, does she look good, he thought. But, Nate realized that he was still in his boxers, so he got his clothes, and changed. He wished he brought a few more pairs of clothes with him. He looked in the mirror for a few seconds, then shook his head and left the bathroom. He met Ramza, and they decided that now was the time to strike. Ramza got her lightsaber, and held it firmly in her hand. Nate gathered his ethers to power his magical skills. They left the apartment.

 Nate and Ramza opened the door to what used to be Reeve's office. Ramza walked in first, and turned on the lightsaber. No one was in the room. She walked a few steps. Nate walked up to her side, and the door suddenly shut.

 "Greetings!" The voice of one Angus Q. Murdoc echoed into the room. "I've been working on my telekinetic powers. I have so much!" Murdoc's form appeared before them. "Jenova really helped me out. Ha, ha, ha!" Ramza and Nate stared blankly at Murdoc. "Oh, what the Hell. Let's get this over with. Now, how shall I toy with you?" Murdoc scratched his chin, and then got a look like he discovered something. "I know! How about... our friend Nate here..." At the mentioning of his name, Nate stepped back, "...Loses a few inches!" Murdoc pointed at Nate, and a bolt flew from it, and hit Nate. Nate didn't scream, but an orange aura surrounded him. Ramza turned, and saw that Nate was about a foot shorter than she was! The aura went away, and Nate turned to Ramza, his eyes filled with disbelief. She turned towards Murdoc, and he laughed.

 "I'm more powerful since last you met me, huh?"

 "You're still mortal. I can kill you. Even if you've
incapacitated Nate." Ramza took her lightsaber, and waved her hand over one of the materia. "Haste!" Clocks began to swirl around Ramza, with their hands ticking faster and faster. She felt her reflexes speed up. The office was about to be trashed, big as it was. Ramza darted her eyes around, and then saw something she didn't see before. It looked like some sort of machine, but it had tubes coming out of it, and a transmitter at the top. She darted her eyes over at Murdoc, who seemed to be waiting for her move. Suddenly, he took out that blasted remote control. Ramza suddenly remembered the cellular phone. She took it out of her pocket, and threw it up in the air. She jumped, and sliced it in half with the lightsaber. It blew apart in a loud explosion. There must have been some sort of bomb in it. Murdoc's expression suddenly changed.

 "NO!" This time, he was enraged, and moved to press the red button on the remote control. With her enhanced speed, Ramza ran forwards like a bullet, and grabbed it out of his hands. "NO!!" Murdoc was now genuinely pissed. "Don't touch that! You'll kill us all!"

 "Oh ho! It seems that this is your divining rod, huh? Without it, you are powerless? Coolness! Maybe this can hook me up to that transmitter," Ramza said. She pressed a button that said linkup, and the transmitter on the machine started beeping, and an aura surrounded Ramza. She was feeling more powerful each second it absorbed into her. The aura soon went away. How powerful I feel! She thought to herself. She turned to Nate, waved her hand, and he returned to his normal size. Ramza pointed at the jar that held Reeve, and the top blew off. The jar fell on the floor, and the goo oozed out. The goo came out of the jar, and formed the shape of Reeve. As soon as Reeve was himself again, he collapsed on the floor. Nate ran towards him, and Ramza turned towards Murdoc again. Murdoc was now overly nervous.

 "Okay, don't do anything harsh, okay? You could disrupt..." Ramza cut him off.

 "No thanks. Without this, you're powerless!" Ramza slipped the remote into her pocket. "Can't receive them there Jenova radiation waves! Now, I think it's your turn to check out." Ramza lifted her lightsaber high, and jumped. It fell down square on Murdoc's head, and went through, blood spilling everywhere. Suddenly, after Murdoc's lifeless body hit the ground, Ramza took out the remote control, and trashed it with her saber. After a few seconds, she felt woozy, and collapsed on the ground, as the power that she received from the radiation faded away. Nate ran over to her side, and brought Reeve over with him. He set Reeve next to Ramza. Ramza was laying feebly on the floor, and Reeve started to cough and sneeze. He had to get them out of there.

Author's Notes

As you can see, this is coming to an end. Keep watching, and then, when this story gets done, see TR 2, at a local web site near you. I liked the dream sequences, and the final battle, even though it didn't seem like a battle. As of now, Jenova produces radiation, which was Murdoc's power source. Without it, he can't do all them cool tricks.

Kefka Floyd