"Cloud, Tifa, Barret! It's good to see you again. Thanks for making the trip!"

Cloud and his party took four days to get from Corel to the WRO Headquarters, formerly known as Fort Condor. Four years ago, the outpost was a haven for a rare species of condor, which was being threatened by Shinra. Back then, it resembled a molehill more than a fortress.

That all changed when the WRO moved in. Reeve and his organization completely renovated the outpost with state-of-the-art computer systems, defenses, and various other amenities to make what was once called a fort off-hand into the real thing. WRO headquarters was a hard nut to crack for any opposing force…and yet, a year ago, Deepground had managed to do just that.

Not once, but twice.

As a result, the WRO made a concerted effort to doubly reinforce their home. And although they hadn't had any sort of attack since the Deepground incident, the contractors had all but assured Reeve that nothing short of Ultimate Weapon itself would be able to penetrate the WRO Headquarters' defenses.

Still, Reeve admitted to himself that it was good that Cloud and his friends were here to help him handle this new situation in Nibelheim. As he pointed out all the new additions to WRO Headquarters to Cloud, Tifa, and Barret as they made their way inside to the debriefing room, Reeve had a feeling that he was going to need all the help he could get.

"Please, have a seat," Reeve said as he motioned for the trio to enter the debriefing room. Cloud entered first and was surprised to see who was already waiting for them.

"Vincent? Red? What are you doing here," Cloud asked as he found his seat.

"We had some trouble with sahagins back at Cosmo Canyon," Red explained, "and we have reason to suspect it has something to do with that group from Nibelheim."

"What makes ya say that?" Barret said with skepticism.

"This," Vincent said as he took something out of the recesses of his cloak and tossed it across the table to Cloud. Cloud quickly scooped it up and examined it. "What is this?"

"A transceiver of Shinra make," said a quiet, monotone voice that emerged from behind Vincent. It belonged to Shelke Rui, formerly Shelke the Transparent of Deepground. A year ago, Shelke had been a member of Deepground's elite caste called the Tsviets. After coming in contact with her sister Shalua and being ousted from Deepground, Shelke decided to help the WRO and Vincent in the Battle of Midgar. Since then, she worked with the WRO by scouring the Worldwide Network for any information that might aid the organization's efforts of Planet restoration and protection via her Synaptic Net Dive ability.

Her time in Deepground did leave her with some scars; even though she was twenty years old, she had the appearance and voice of a girl much younger. She had managed to open up more in the year since Deepground and Omega's defeat, but for the most part Shelke was still the same reserved, off-putting individual she was when she was first introduced to the WRO.

Still, no one can deny her intelligence and abilities when it came to computers, online systems, and technology. So when she spoke, people listened.

"A transceiver? What the hell does it do?"

Everyone was surprised to hear Cid's voice coming through the speakers installed on the meeting table. Reeve laughed as he explained, "Cid and Yuffie are en route in the Shera, and rather than waiting for them to come here, I figured it would be faster and easier to teleconference via Cait Sith. Sorry, I probably should've mentioned that earlier. Shelke, if you would?"

"Very well. Anyway, in the years after Sephiroth's assault on Nibelheim and subsequent death, Shinra was in a race to design a new type of army. While Hojo continued his research into Jenova cells and Project S, Head of Weapons Development Scarlet worked on developing a means to control monsters. The result was a special disk-shaped transceiver that, when implanted on the base of a monster's neck, could give the monster subliminal commands and have them act as shock troopers on the front lines."

"Shinra actually developed something like that?" Tifa asked, somewhat shocked by this revelation.

Shelke nodded, "Yes. However, the effects of this device were all theoretical. The cost associated with developing this technology compiled with any unforeseen major conflicts led to this project being abandoned. This group must have found Shinra's secret research and development department and took the technology inside for their own purposes."

"Any idea how many of these control disks Shinra produced?" Vincent inquired

"I'm afraid that, without Shinra's top-secret inventory manifests, there's no telling how many were manufactured. I can only surmise that it was not much more than two to four dozen due to the costs. However, I did managed to gain access to Shinra's encrypted databanks and find out some information on one Cyrus Thresher."

"Can you put that information on the viewer?" Reeve asked.

Shelke nodded as she used the remote control in her hand to turn on the monitor and bring up the relevant information. "Cyrus Thresher, age 30, former cryptologist employed by the Shinra Corporation…"

"Cryptologist?" Barret interjected. "That some kinda grave robber?"

"No, Mr. Wallace," Shelke answered. "Cryptology is the study of ancient languages and the attempt to decipher them."

"Barret, I appreciate your curiosity, but please, save your questions until Shelke has finished her briefing," Reeve politely ordered. "Go ahead, Shelke."

"Very well, Mr. Tuesti," Shelke acknowledged. "Immediately following the Nibelheim Incident, Shinra decided to invest money in deciphering the language of the Ancients. Cyrus Thresher had become renowned for his work in cryptology and was contracted to work on uncovering the Ancients' secrets."

"Cyrus spent three years working out of Bone Village and the Forgotten City, working by himself to translate the Ancient runes. Despite his insistence on working solo, he was kept under constant surveillance by the Turks. They noted that Cyrus worked long hours and refused to eat or sleep until it was completely necessary. Eventually, Cyrus managed to decipher his first symbol, which led to the complete translation of the Ancient calligraphy."

No one said a word, but they were all thinking the same thing. They all thought that the writings of the Ancients were undecipherable and would forever remain a mystery. Even Chief Elder Bugenhagen of Cosmo Canyon was unable to translate the strange symbols before his death, and he was considered to be the foremost expert on the Ancients and the study of Planet Life.

Shelke ignored the confused looks on her audience's faces as she continued, "Once he managed to create a working codex, he began translating some of the Ancient manuscripts. He then learned about the Planet, the Lifestream…and what Shinra was actually accomplishing with their Mako reactors.

"Cyrus presented his findings to the Shinra Board of Directors. He urged them to halt the processing and usage of Mako energy to prevent any further harm to the Planet. The president of Shinra at the time dismissed his findings and summarily fired him for not finding the fabled Promised Land. Furious, Cyrus threatened President Shinra with exposing his findings to the press and ruining the Shinra Corporation.

"Needless to say, Shinra did not take Cyrus's threat lightly. Two days after his meeting with the Board of Directors, the order was given to the Turks to eliminate Cyrus Thresher…"

"Apparently, they didn't get the job done," Tifa retorted.

Cloud shook his head. "It's not that. The Turks don't fail unless there's a really good reason. Maybe they thought they got rid of Cyrus, or maybe he faked his own demise. Either way, I don't think it matters."

"Right," Reeve agreed. "What matters is finding out this group's motives and intentions. Everything about this group is strange…at least, that's the feeling I got after I met Cyrus Thresher."

"Say what?" Cid shouted. "You actually met that bastard?"

"Well, I was the one who told Yuffie about the strange people in Nibelheim, so I wanted to meet them face-to-face and see what was going on. He seemed normal enough, but something about him rubbed me the wrong way. Then there's the matter concerning Jenova Manuscripts…"

"What about them?" Cloud asked

Shelke answered, "About a day ago, we received all copies of the Jenova manuscripts via special delivery. Attached was a handwritten note from Cyrus Thresher. To summarize, Cyrus claimed that he and his followers stumbled across them while investigating Shinra Manor. He went on to say that he had no need for them and wanted to make sure they were handled by the proper authorities. We have them in our depository awaiting categorization."

"Man, this is getting weirder and weirder by the second," Yuffie piped up. "If he's not after Shinra's secrets, then why bother…"

"Director!" a WRO officer shouted. "We're receiving a news feed from Edge. It's Cyrus Thresher!"

"What? What the hell's he doing in Edge?" Reeve demanded. "Lieutenant, put that news feed on the monitor. I want to know what his game is!"

The information that Shelke had uncovered about Cyrus Thresher was quickly replaced by a video feed from the Meteorfall Memorial. Everyone sitting there, especially Cloud Strife, sat silently as they waited for Cyrus to make his intentions known.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cyrus stood in the center of the plaza with his back against the memorial. Flanking him on either side were members of his Collective, armed with crowd-control batons and shields. Surrounding them were hundreds of Edge's citizens, who wondered who these strange people were and what they were hoping to accomplish.

Cyrus smiled as he held on tightly to his cane at his right side. He raised his left to silence the crowds as he started to speak:

"Citizens of Edge, fellow members of humanity, I thank you for gathering here to listen to my message. My name is Cyrus Thresher and we…" Cyrus paused to point to his comrades with one swipe of his hand, "…are the Repentant.

"We formed our Collective for one reason: to aid a suffering Planet and atone for the sins of humanity."

That statement garnered a series of whispers and confused looks from the crowd. Cyrus smiled. "I see you are unaware of the sins committed by you and your ancestors. Allow me to enlighten you.

"Millennia ago, the Cetra roamed the Planet as caretakers of the Lifestream. Throughout the centuries, the Cetra would wander across the world, cultivating life and speaking to the Planet, learning all of its secrets in the process. The Cetra and the Planet co-existed in perfect harmony, and the world was a perfect utopia.

"However, some Cetra were unhappy with being essentially nomads. They rejected the gifts of the Planet and chose comfort and convenience over knowledge and wisdom. They settled down and built homes and villages, and forgot their heritage. Those traitors to the legacy of the Cetra…those were our forefathers."

Another series of gasps and confused looks emerged from the crowd as Cyrus pointed his cane upward and continued, "2000 years ago, a calamity fell from the skies. This dark harbinger, this disease from the stars began to infect the Cetra and transform them into terrible monsters that fell under its thrall. The remaining Cetra combined their powers together to force the creature into a dormant state, but they paid the ultimate price.

"The Cetra became a dying race. And where, you may ask, were the humans during this battle for the Planet's survival?

Cyrus lowered his cane. He paused before he answered his own question in a bitter tone, "They didn't fight…instead, they hid. They avoided the conflict altogether and let the Cetra die! As if that wasn't a grand enough atrocity in and of itself, the sacrifice of the Cetra was buried and forgotten! I ask you, can you answer for these sins? What reason or excuse do you have to offer?"

The crowd argued amongst itself before one man finally spoke up. "Hold on a second! How do we know any of this is true? Even if it is, you can't hold us responsible for something that happened 2000 years ago?"

"Oh?" Cyrus retorted quizzically. "And, precisely why not? 'The sins of the father are visited on the son' after all. Besides, what makes you think you are not blameless in the Planet's pain?"

"What are you talking about?" The outspoken crowd member demanded.

"The Shinra Corporation eventually found that calamity from the skies and gave it the name 'Jenova.' Their scientists mistook it for a survivor of the Cetra and used its cells in their research, attempting to build the ultimate soldier. All the while, they discovered a way to convert the Lifestream into an energy source. They call it 'Mako' and built reactors all across this world, and while they lined their pockets with gold they continued to choke the life out of the Planet. And you…you apathetic fools let them do that!"

That statement drove the crowd into a smoldering fury. Cyrus smiled and continued, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say something untrue? Let me ask you, when the flora and fauna began to wither and decay around the city of Midgar, did any of you stop and question it? Did you not find it strange that the earth became barren with the operation of Midgar's eight reactors?"

The crowd's anger soon turned to one of hidden embarrassment as Cyrus answered, "No, of course you didn't. Why bother to care about the Planet? You were all living relatively comfortably thanks to Shinra and their Mako reactors. If you were happy, what else mattered?

"Shinra may have committed the sin of using spirit energy as fuel for the furnace, but you are just as culpable. Apathy is death…no, worse than that, because in death you at least serve a purpose and provide the Lifestream with spirit energy and aid the Planet in that way. All of humanity has sinned against the Planet, and there is not a single one of you that can deny it."

The crowd became very quiet as they contemplated what this man was telling them. Were they really to blame for what had been done to the Planet? And if so, what could they do to apologize?

As if reading their minds, Cyrus continued his speech. "But rest assured, it is not too late to seek atonement. We Repentant have dedicated ourselves to finding a means of penance and helping ease the Planet's pain. Thanks to the efforts of all the Repentant, we have unlocked the long-forgotten secrets of the Cetra and have uncovered the key to our deliverance and the Planet's salvation. I aim to collect that key and bring about a brand new age, a new utopia where we will once again hear the voice of the Planet and receive its blessings once more.

"And I urge all of you to join our Collective at the village of Nibelheim and bear witness to our holy work. Please, consider this invitation as your one chance to atone for not only your transgressions, but those of your ancestors and mine. We are now at the crossroads of our Planet's past and future. And I for one will walk the path of enlightenment and atonement. I wonder...who among you will walk beside me?

"Thank you for your time today, and I hope you will make the right decision."

As Cyrus walked down from the Meteorfall Monument, the crowd split in two to let him and the Repentant pass by. Cyrus noticed the looks of concern and intrigue on the townspeople's faces as he walked among them. He then noticed the news crew and camera that was following his every move.

"Wonder what Cloud and his followers thought of my speech," Cyrus thought with a snicker as he cleared the crowds and headed down an alley.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Notes:

Special welcome to Command76, the latest person to favorite my story. Thanks a lot!

Had a little trouble writing this chapter, but in the end I'm pretty happy with how in came out (especially Cyrus's speech). Let me know how you all liked it and if you have any writing suggestions (not storyline suggestions, because what kind of fanfic writer would I be if I wrote someone else's story?)

Reviews are just like smiles: they take a little effort, but when you make one it makes everyone feel better (OK, that was cheesy).

Later,

"The Exile" Cyrus Truth