Hi!

Ooh, look, another update!  Ain't it great?  The muse has been cracking the whip, a little, and I'm SO glad for it.

Anyway…for those of you who didn't read Scenic Route to the Promised Land, a quick 'n' dirty synopsis is included at the end of the part.  Those who have read the story proper may wish to take a peek, too, since it includes some stuff that Scenic Route isn't up to yet.

Like to thank Nate for his beta read.  (I'm still working on that rewrite of TFTMW, just for you! ^_^)  I'd also like to thank all the wonderful people who've taken time to review for me!  "Reviewer of the part" for Chapter 3 goes to Dark Ice Angel for telling me exactly what (s)he liked about the part.  Dearie, you must be telepathic.  Some of the questions you asked are being answered in this part, and most of the rest are answered in the next.  Feel free to tell me what you like on this one, too!

And with that, on to the fic!

*

Cloud sat quietly on a stool at the kitchen table an empty shotglass before him, gazing levelly at Galen, who was still nursing a beer.  Now done with his part of the story of what had happened since they'd last seen each other, Cloud was waiting for Galen to begin.  He'd been a bit more honest and a bit more complete with Galen than he'd been with pretty much anyone else, but it seemed the right way to do things.  Even though it had hurt to talk about some things, he'd done it, and taken comfort in the supportive presence of an old friend.

Finally, Galen looked up.  "Well, you know about Jamie…Reno, I guess he calls himself.  He's my older brother, the one who supported me and my brothers through childhood and paid for our schooling.  Raythan and Andrew call him 'Daddy' most of the time; it's not like they can remember our real father.  Oh, they know he's their brother, but he took a father-like role for them for a long time, and when he left, he still sent us money and whatever else we needed, like a dad who just has to work all the time to make ends meet.  I…hadn't known he joined the TURKs, but I did know that whatever he was doing was a little shady.  And I missed him.  Imagine my shock when he just showed up at home the day Meteor fell, and begged us to leave."

Cloud's face must have registered his shock—Reno, beg?—because Galen smiled slightly.  "Yeah.  It was weird.  He told us to leave the house, that it wasn't safe.  I'll confess, I was a bit…upset with him.  Especially when he shows up after seven years with no real face-to-face contact with a kid hanging onto him, and demanding we leave our home.  I told him to leave, and Holy, how he tried to make me change my mind.  Finally, he said if we were going to stay, to at least stay in the northwest corner of the first bedroom.  I scoffed at him, slammed the door in his face, then listened to him try to explain to the poor confused kid what had happened.  I didn't know Reno had a son.  Planet, but the kid certainly didn't take after Reno.  I heard him say they were going down to a church in one of the other Sectors, that they'd be safe there."

Galen laughed almost bitterly.  "When Meteor came down, it was like the world was ending.  The house was shaking itself apart around us, and the wind was howling, and Andrew was screaming he was so scared.  I remembered Reno's warning to us, to stay in the bedroom, so I got everyone up and in there.  Not a minute later, I heard the walls giving way in the living area.  A little while after that, I saw the south wall collapse—the other side of that was the other bedroom.  Pieces of the roof were coming down; one hit Andrew on the head—concussed him pretty good.  A piece of flying debris gouged me in the leg, and another broke Raythan's left arm.  I thought we were going to die, and cursed myself for not listening to Jamie—he always knew these things even after… 

"But, so, there I am, making peace with the world and cursing my stupidity, arrogance, and temper when everything just…stops.  We look up through a hole in the roof—hell, the roof was more hole than roof, by that point—and we're looking out at the Lifestream boiling out of the Planet and racing toward Meteor.  I hear Holy was involved, and I believe it, but I certainly never laid eyes on it.  We just huddled there until the Lifestream disappeared, then started digging out of the sorry corpse of our little shack.  There was hardly anything we could salvage right off, but we did what we could.  I took care of all our injuries, and we took what we could—some Materia, a few trinkets we might be able to pawn off, some pots and pans, any food and bedding, everything that might be useful.  Then we camped out by the remains while rescue workers started setting up the clinic, housing, and what have you.

"I guess it was about the third day when the kid showed up.  I felt really bad; I hadn't even thought about Reno since what happened.  The kid introduced himself as 'Taka' and said he needed help because his 'daddy' wouldn't wake up.  He led us through all the wreckage to this rundown old church.  That old thing hadn't a mark of Meteor strain on it.  There was a little shack right next to it, equally untouched, that Taka led us into.  And there was Reno, unconscious, not a mark on him, full to the gills with Mako from no discernible source.

"So I brought him here as soon as I could, and tried everything to bring his Mako count down.  And it worked with the usual success…but he still didn't wake up.  I think maybe the Mako had something to do with it, but the Mako couldn't have been the problem, or he'd have woken up by now."

Cloud shifted.  He'd listened attentively to Galen's story, but something was just not adding up.  "Galen," he said and waited until he had the red-head's attention.  When Galen looked up, he continued sternly.  "What aren't you telling me?  You know something more that you just won't reveal.  I can't help if I don't know the facts."

Galen studied him for several long moments.  "Look, Cloud.  You have to understand, this isn't something we talk about.  In fact, it's something we avoid like plague.  I have to know that…well, if I tell you this, this better not go anywhere, you understand.  We could be in deep shit with Hojo and Shinra Science if anyone finds out."

Cloud nodded solemnly.  "I understand, but Galen, Hojo is dead.  You don't have to worry about him finding out."

Galen sighed.  "No, just whoever takes over for him.  I'm glad that monster's gone, though."  The red-head was silent for long moments before looking up at Cloud again.  "Cloud, I'm…we're…what do you know about Cetra?"

Cloud's eyebrows raced for his hairline.  No shit, the guy was worried about Hojo.  The bastard would have dissected them if he'd known.  "I know enough, I think.  I had a friend who was one.  She died while summoning Holy.  We met in that church, and we saved her from Hojo once, too.  I know they were the keepers of the Planet, and I know the Calamity, the Virus drove them to the brink of extinction two thousand years ago."

Galen shivered and looked solemnly at him.  "Then you know why this was the strictest of secrets.  Jamie took a different name, a different identity, and gave us new ones, too, just to keep us safe.  If anyone discovered what he was, they'd never be able to trace us through him.  Not that it was likely that someone would find out through him.  He didn't display any of the usual abilities by the time he joined the Shinra.  He'd killed by then; we never talked about it, but we knew.  Suddenly, the strongest of the four of us is as blind, deaf, and dumb to the Lifestream as anybody else—of course we knew what happened."

Cloud frowned.  "You mind enlightening me?"

Galen sighed.  "Cetra are always talked about as a peaceful people, happily tending the earth and living things.  That wasn't because they were necessarily any more enlightened or peaceful than the rest of the population of the Planet.  It was because killing another aware organism literally hurt them through the Lifestream.  And more than that, it stripped them of a chunk of their extra senses.  Say goodbye to telepathy, empathy, heightened magical sensitivity, the ability to hear and communicate with the Planet…everything that made a Cetra different from your average human being, torn painfully away for the crime of killing.

"Jamie was," Galen hesitated.  "He was always the strongest of us.  He heard more, knew more, could do more than anyone else.  Hell, he was probably the single strongest Cetra alive on the Planet, at the time.  More powerful by far than your flower girl friend, even—may she find her Promised Land.  Even after killing that first time, Jamie could still do some things, small things; mostly, he just had hunches, gut feelings that very seldom led him astray, though he was careful to keep them under wraps.

"The biggest thing to realize about this sensory loss is that it's not permanent.  A Cetra who kills once regains his senses slowly as his mind and the Lifestream heal together again.  One who kills repeatedly and stops gets better, too.  If Jamie were to never kill again, maybe, in a few months' time, he'd be every bit as powerful as he ever was.  Of course, he was with the TURKs—not precisely a job in which you can just stop killing.  I heard…  I heard he was responsible for the Sector Seven Plate coming down.  Blind to the Lifestream or not, he is Cetra, and the Planet would have made sure he felt some sort of backlash from that.  He probably knows exactly how many people he killed doing that.  I just hope that, now that the Shinra is gone, he can stop.  That people will let him.  All he did, he did for us, even at the expense of his own life, his own happiness, his own sanity."

Cloud frowned when Galen said no more.  It sounded like he'd left something hanging, but Cloud didn't want to pry any further.  It was apparent the red-head was distressed, and Cloud didn't want to hurt him.  Instead, he decided to give Galen a little bit about Reno's life.

"You know," he began, pausing until Galen looked up.  "He does have friends.  The TURKs are a tiny sub-community within the Shinra.  Main-line TURKs like Reno have only numbered three for the past two decades, and back-ups and second-stringers only run maybe a couple dozen.  Out of the whole Company, there are only ever maybe three dozen people at a time who can rightfully claim to be a TURK.  And TURKs stick together.

"For sure, I know that Elena and Rude have been turning over rocks—literally—looking for Reno ever since Meteor came down and they got no word from him.  I know Elena's been worried they'll find his body somewhere.  She was hired when he was down right after the Sector Seven Plate…  Brought the main-line TURKs up to four.  She mentioned to one of my friends—who can't keep her mouth shut, and of course told me—that things between Elena and Reno had been strained because he might have thought they were looking to replace him.  Seems they came together after Tseng died.  And Rude was apparently his best friend.  I know you're doing all you can for him, but maybe they'd like to know about his condition.  Or at least know that he's alive."

Galen sighed softly, but didn't say anything.  He avoided Cloud's gaze.  Cloud sighed, too.  "Well, think about it, Galen.  You don't have to make your mind up right away, of course.  It seems you have plenty of time."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.  Cloud rose.  "Excuse me for a moment.  I ought to go see who that is.  Back in a flash."  Galen nodded, taking a sip of his beer and arranging himself more comfortably on his stool.  He seemed to be in deep thought, so Cloud padded quietly off to the door.

Colonel Andrews stood there, a small smile on his face.  "Hello, Lieutenant.  I was on my way over here to see how your first day went, when I ran into this little one."  Andrews gestured downward to the solemn, dark-haired child beside him.  The child was maybe ten, black-haired, dark eyes set in a Wutaian slant, pale skinned with a vaguely exotic tint to it.  Cloud nodded a greeting, and the serious boy nodded back.  Andrews continued.  "He couldn't tell me the address of the place he was going, but he led me right to here.  You know him?"

Cloud looked at the child again, started to shake his head, then stopped.  "Are you Taka?" he asked.  The child nodded.  Cloud reflected that Galen had been right—the boy definitely didn't look like Reno in even the vaguest sense, except in Reno's Wutaian blood.  "Are you looking for Galen?"  Again the child nodded.  Cloud stepped back inside.  "Come on in, then; both of you, if you don't mind, Colonel."

Andrews smiled.  "Mind.  Not at all.  I can smell you have some alcohol in there; I'd be glad to liberate some from you.  Alcohol is so expensive these days, and it takes so much to get buzzed as a SOLDIER…"

Cloud glared, scandalized.  "Colonel Andrews!  There is a child here!  What are you doing speaking so in front of him?"

Andrews smirked.  "Strife, it is so obvious you're not from Midgar when you say things like that.  I'm sure the kid's not that impressionable."  Cloud blushed.

The child spoke for the first time, in a surprisingly sweet voice at odds with his solemnity.  "I don't want to drink alcohol.  Daddy says he'll swat me if I drink like he does, and Daddy's threats are for real.  He would, and he swats hard."

Just then Galen stuck his head out of the kitchen.  "Taka?"  He caught sight of the boy and strode out.  "What are you doing here?"

Taka smiled slightly.  "Hello, uncle Galen.  The nurse at the clinic said visiting hours were over so I couldn't see Daddy.  So I came to find you so I can see him.  Is that okay?"

Andrews frowned.  "How did you know Galen would be here?  Has he ever been here before?"  Cloud shook his head and Galen smiled mysteriously.

"I guess he really must be my brother's son."

"Who's your brother?"

Galen bit his lip, but Taka obviously had no such reservations.  "Reno."

Andrews stared, jaw working.  "As is, 'of the TURKs'?"  At Taka's solemn nod, Andrews's expression cleared into thoughtfulness.  "Well, I suppose that makes some sense.  You would be Tseng's son, right?  I'd heard he had a clause in his will that made Reno your guardian.  Unusual, but the TURKs are close; it makes a sort of sense that he'd leave the care of his family to one he trusted so well.  Lark made Tseng partially responsible for Elena in her will, too.  It's starting to become tradition, I guess."  He looked at Galen.  "So, you know where he is?  And…he's your brother, Mr. …Galen?  Reno's records clearly state his family is dead…"

Galen shook his head impatiently.  "Do you really think he'd let the Shinra know he's got family?  Family translates to 'leverage' in the Company.  In fact, I didn't realize it until recently, but Reno had a custom spell cast to keep people from making the connection between us.  My younger brothers look different enough to be in less danger, but I think he had the same spell cast over them, too."

Andrews sighed and rubbed his temples.  "You do realize that we've been looking for Reno for a while, now, don't you?"

Galen sighed and slumped where he stood.  "I'll take you to him.  But first…could you gather anyone who…might have been close to him.  I really only want to do this once."

Andrews nodded and pulled out a PHS.  They were unreliable in the Midgar Area, these days, but it ought to be able to raise a message center, so they could send out couriers to find Elena, Rude, interim President Reeve, and maybe a few others who might need to know.  "Where shall I tell everyone to meet?"

Galen shook his head.  "Have those who need to know meet at the Sector Two clinic tomorrow morning at eight.  In the meantime…Taka, wait outside a minute.  I'll take you to see your Daddy.  Do you want to come tomorrow, too?"  Taka nodded, and walked outside.  Andrews accompanied him, leaving the house to get a slightly better signal.

Galen sighed and gulped down the last of his beer.  "Well, Cloud, I guess I'll see you tomorrow.  It's strange, though," he murmured as he pushed his stool back in and put his empty bottle in the trash.  "If Taka isn't really Jamie's son, how did he find me?"  He exited musing to himself.  Cloud saw everyone out, then locked up for the night.

As he sank down onto the comfortable sofa, he wondered just as Galen had, but about more things.  Knowing Galen was Reno's brother was weird.  Taka's ability to find Galen from Sector Two was just as unusual.  Cloud remembered that he had recalled kissing Galen before, and worried that he'd not really thought of himself or others that way before…well, so he'd watched Vincent from time to time.  It wasn't his fault!  The ex-TURK was hypnotic.  And okay, Biggs had been sort of cute, Reno was a hot little firecracker, Tseng had been gorgeous, and a Sephiroth clone floating naked in some weird Materia structure had given him a hard-on…

Ooookay, so maybe he was just stupid, not to be thinking about himself like that.

But he'd loved Aeris, and it hadn't been just with the side of him that was Zack!  And Tifa was attractive.  And Jesse had been a sweet lady.

Then there was work.  The sheer number of things he'd had clamoring for his attention in his head had been staggering.  He remembered this stuff, and knew that was why Colonel Andrews had given him that duty.  His team was full of sharp, respectful, competent people—professionals chosen specifically for the duties assigned.  There were really only a couple he disliked, and he could still work with them.

Holy, but there were so many patients!  Maybe he should be focusing on finding the source of these strange cases of Mako poisoning and Green Syndrome…  Would Reno be okay?  What was Mako poisoning like to a Cetra, powerless or not?  It had been torture as just an average guy—what must the TURK be going through?

Cloud sighed, as his eyes slid shut.  It had been a tiring day.  He was confused, lonely, and wished he had someone to tell him what the hell was going on; barring that, at least someone who would lie to him and tell him it was going to be all right.

"You know, you only had to ask."

Cloud opened his eyes to find a familiar pair of green eyes gazing into his from close proximity.  Sephiroth was crouched beside the sofa, peering intently at him.  Cloud started to lever himself upright, but Sephiroth placed a gentle hand on his forehead.  The slight restraint made it clear that Sephiroth wanted him to stay down, so Cloud relaxed and reclined once more.  Sephiroth smiled and sat down on the carpet, back to the sofa, legs stretched out, leaning his head against the arm.

"Ask what?" Cloud asked quietly, tracing his fingers over the pattern of the weave of fabric that constituted the sofa's backrest.  Sephiroth's soft baritone floated back to him, intimate and gentle.

"Anything.  I really do think it'll be fine, given enough time.  What arrogance we humans have to think we could really destroy all life on this world!  Somehow, something, even just a bacteria, or a 'roach, or a chemoautotroph by a sea-floor vent will survive.  Mako is probably the only way we could really kill our world, and even then, maybe something would survive on Mako, rather than Lifestream."

The silver-haired man shrugged slightly.  "As for the rest; I don't know everything that's going on.  I can tell you I've almost found Hojo.  I can also tell you that Reno seems to be just fine, from this side—better than fine, even.  Radiant.  Full of laughter and power.  He'll come back to you, soon enough, and he'll do it a changed man.  He's been talking with Aeris a lot, learning things his parents died too long ago to teach him.  Not that, in life, Aeris was much better off, but since her death, she's become something of a Cetra researcher, learning all she can about the ways of the Cetra to teach to others—like Reno.  She wants to prevent anything like what happened with Meteor from ever happening again."

Cloud laughed slightly.  "Wouldn't anyone?  Holy, but I'd love to just sleep for a few days, no work, no crises, no nothing—just sleep and dreams and hope.  It's been so busy; you'd think saving the world would entitle a guy to a vacation."

Sephiroth looked over his shoulder at Cloud.  "I'm sure," he said, very seriously.  "If you asked, they would let you take a little time for yourself.  No one would begrudge you rest."

Cloud shook his head with a rueful sigh.  "I begrudge me.  There's too much to do, and not nearly enough people to do it.  Maybe once things calm down a bit.  Time enough for rest in death, you know?"

Sephiroth nodded calmly.  "Time enough."

Cloud was suddenly struck with a sense of how odd this was; here he was talking to his dead arch-enemy, getting news from the other side from him, and listening to the timbre of his voice as if it was the sweetest of music.  It all felt so intimate and relaxed, and Cloud found he didn't want to worry, to be tense in dreams as well as the outside world.  Even though he spent them in a near-constant dream-state, the nights on which Cloud dreamed of Sephiroth left him more refreshed than any deep sleep he'd ever had.  Maybe Sephiroth would come to him every night, if he asked him to.

The other man's words from before came back to him: 'you only had to ask,' and Cloud opened his mouth, swallowing the lump of anxiety in his throat.

"Sephiroth?"

"Hmm?"  Oh, Holy!  The lazy, comfortable sound made Cloud warm all over.  That warm baritone purring acknowledgment of him turned him to goo.  He had to fight to reorder his thoughts, and work to make the words come out.

"If I asked…would you come to me like this every night?"

Sephiroth turned, rolling up onto his knees beside the sofa and catching one of Cloud's hands in his own.  His eyes were bright, a light from within glowing in his face, and his hair slithering across the arm of the sofa, and Sephiroth's own, broad shoulders.

"In a heartbeat, Cloud.  If only you ask."

Cloud pressed.  "And if I asked you to go away, one night?"

Casting his eyes away, Sephiroth nodded, sadly.  "If that's what you want, I'll do it.  If you ask."

Cloud reversed the grip of their hands, squeezing the graceful digits still captive in his grasp.  "I'm asking now, Sephiroth.  Come to me?  Every night.  I…sleep better when you're here, and I don't know why.  But I need it.  Please?"

Sephiroth smiled, a real, wide smile.  It seemed a little strange; Sephiroth's features were so obviously unused to holding that expression (and why might that be, Strife?  Surely, he's not had much in his life to smile about.), but the smile was bright and beautiful, and made Cloud's heart ache.  Could he really make this man—this great, powerful, handsome man—so happy, simply by telling him that he wanted him nearby?

Apparently so.

"I'll come, Cloud.  Every night, until you tell me to stop.  I'll come."

Cloud smiled and laid his head down on the armrest, content.  "I'm glad," he murmured, leaning into the soft caress Sephiroth bestowed on his cheek.  Then, comfortable within this dream, he slept.

*

Scenic Route Synopsis

James born

Galen born; James and Galen's mother dies

James and Galen's father remarries

Raythan born

James, Galen, Raythan, and Andrew's father dies

Andrew born; Raythan and Andrew's mother dies; James starts taking care of the rest of his brothers.

James adopts his mother's maiden name 'Reno.'  Reno establishes identities for his brothers under the surname 'Hernandez' instead of Hiko.  Reno prostitutes himself for the first time.

Reno tries and becomes addicted to glow—a Mako-based designer drug.

Reno kills for the first time in a cage fight.  Lifestream backlash shuts down most of his senses semi-permanently.  The partially dissociated personality of James is forced into the background.

Reno fights in an underground cage fight free-for-all, in which he attracts the attention of the Shinra by defeating Tseng of the TURKs by summoning Tiamat.  Reno is approached by Lark to join the TURKs.  Reno accepts.

Reno collapses in training due to glow withdrawal.  Discovers Tseng's Cetra ancestry.  Begins rehab.

Reno becomes a TURK.  Reno moves in with Tseng, per company policy.

Reno finds out about Taka.

Reno meets Sephiroth and Zack.  Reno goes to Wutai with illegal orders to bring Cloud back to Hojo and a Meteor Materia from Zack to deliver to Cloud.  Reno decides to let Cloud be.

Reno and Tseng become involved.

Assassination attempt on President Shinra.  Lark is killed.  Tseng becomes leader of the TURKs.

Rude is recruited into the TURKs.  Reno and Rude move in together, per company policy.

Cloud and Galen meet and become friends. 

Galen gives Cloud two splinters of his Holy Materia.

Period of relative calm.  Tseng and Reno become more deeply involved.  Tseng has his will rewritten so that, in the event of his death, Reno becomes Taka's legal guardian.

Game start.

Reno brings down the Sector Seven Plate.  Injuries from the fight with AVALANCHE and severe Lifestream backlash incapacitate him.  Elena is hired to fill in the necessary manpower.

TURKs chase Cloud and company around the Planet.  Reno grows confused about Cloud's apparent lack of memory and the strange behavior of 'Sephiroth.'

Temple of the Ancients.  Tseng dies and Reno becomes Taka's legal guardian.

Aeris dies summoning Holy.

Reno warns Galen to take measures to protect the family from Meteor.  Reno takes Taka to his shack by Aeris's church to wait out Meteor.

Meteor's near-collision with the Planet.  'Sephiroth' is killed.  Lifestream surges to aid Holy in destroying Meteor.  Reno falls comatose.

Okay, yeah, a lot of talk-talk-talking, but I hope it was still enjoyable.  Got Taka in, which will be important in parts to come; got Galen to openly tell Cloud about his family's Cetra heritage; got Cloud just that little bit closer to dream-Sephiroth.  I even managed to get an indirect update on Reno in!  I'm fairly happy with this part, even if it took me only about a day to write.  I hope it doesn't suck for the speed at which I whipped it out…

Anyway, as always, comments, questions, and concerns are more than welcome.  Tell me what you think by clicking that little review button, or send me an email!  I love to hear from my readers, if it's just a 'love it, keep it up' or a near-dissertation.  Thanks for reading my babble!

Sincerely,

—Akuma no Tsubasa