The people of Murun made sure that their guests were as comfortable as they could be. Cal had kept her promise and taken Denzel on a trip round the valley; the boy coming back brimming with the amount of exciting creatures they'd seen.

Vincent retired soon after the meal, saying he wanted to examine some of the plant life around the island and Barrett was already asleep.
"I think the fresh air has got to him." Tifa smiled as she stood next to Cloud outside. The stars sparkled overhead; making the most of the darkness before the moon started to rise. "What do you think Cloud?"
"The people are nice and the air is better."
"And it's been a while since we've all had a proper vacation." She looked sideways at him to find him watching the guard on the black chocobo. "What is it Cloud?"
"I...don't know. I feel like I've met her before but, it's...it's nothing." He lowered his gaze and Tifa bit her lip.
"Well, we'd better get some sleep. You'll have your wish tomorrow when Rufus ShinRa comes over." She shook her head, "I still can't believe they would give such secret information to him..."
"Hopefully they won't have done it in vain. And I doubt Reno would let anything happen to the people here when his sister is on the island."
"You seem to be right about most things, I hope this is one of them." She touched his arm and then walked off towards one of the small buildings. "Goodnight Cloud."
"Sleep well Tifa."

oOo

The day dawned with a burning hot sun and Cal moved around the ship, stopping by the doors to the cargo bay when she heard noises from within. Cloud looked up from his bike when the doors opened and saw Cal standing there frowning at him. "What are you doing in here?"
"I was checking my bike."
"Why? Afraid it wouldn't be here?"
"No. I trust you." Cal blinked, momentarily taken aback by his gentle reply. "I work on it when I can't sleep."
"Are you feeling ok, you haven't had any nightmares from the wind pits have you?" She stalked up to him and checked his features out, his eyes widening to see her so close. "Hmmm...You seem ok." She said eventually, leaning back. She caught him glancing at the gold locket that had come loose and slipped it back underneath her shirt. "Rufus will be here in a few hours. You'd better get something to eat before Molly hunts you down."
Cloud's eyes grew warmer. "She is very protective of everyone here."
"She is yes." Cal grinned, "Completely mental though, which is probably where Reno gets his attitude from."
"It's hard to imagine them being siblings." He turned to her. "Is Mikale your brother?"
"What? No." She shook her head. "Mikale is a good friend. I had a sister, she...died though."
"I'm sorry."
She brushed her hair away from her face and shrugged. "You didn't know her so you don't need to say sorry. I'll see you later." She finished abruptly, turning on her heel to walk out of the cargo hold. Cloud watched her go. She didn't like talking about her past and it seemed that the demons haunting her were her dead relatives.

There was also the summoning episode. She was fighting something inside of her; the sweat, the pain, the shaking...He frowned, wondering what else had happened.

Rude locked gazes with Barrett coolly while Reno frowned. "Why are you here?"
"We were invited."
"Seems the wrong people RSVPed." He growled at Cid. "You've got no right being here."
"I'm sure there's a reason for them being here Reno." A suave man in a white suit waved his hand, an eye patch over one eye. He noticed Cloud and smiled courteously. "I believe you wanted to see me."
"We want to know what is happening with the Genko."
"Ah yes. Thankfully I've never had the pleasure of meeting them."
"You'd better not be lying, ShinRa." Barrett grunted.
"Believe me, the Captain would be the first to know if we ever had dealings with those reptiles-"
"Red!" They stopped as Reno threw his hands up in the air and then bounded away, grabbing hold of the surprised woman and bringing her into a bone-crushing hug. "How you been?!"
"Trying to breathe...at the minute..." She coughed a little as he let her go and then punched him on the arm. "Dumbass."
"Heh, sorry." He stretched his arms up and laced his fingers behind his head. "So, why did you bring this lot here?"
"Something's happened." He sobered up and dropped his arms. "The Genko are after Denzel."
"What?"
"How is that possible?"
"He has the same ability I do." She looked to Rufus as he walked up. "And, the Captain thinks there's something else too."
"Someone within ShinRa, or someone who has the same technology as ShinRa, is helping them."
"Why do you think that Captain?"
"The other day we fought a battle droid that seems to use the same sort of technology as your company." Piper folded her arms as Rufus digested the information silently.
Cloud watched him carefully. "You better not be hiding anything Rufus."
"For the past three years we've been trying to atone for the mistakes we've made to the planet Cloud, I know why the Genko are here and what they want to do and believe me, I would rather die than hand over this world on a plate to them."
"You say that now but how can we really trust you?" Tifa asked, "Your Company is still out there looking for parts of Jenova," Reno opened his mouth, "and look what happened last time a part was found?"
"How did you know we-"
"Sephiroth will not come back again." Rufus cut off Reno's exclamation.
"No one knows that, there may be more remnants out there waiting." Barrett muttered.

Cloud was silent, letting everyone talk as he thought about the last battle. He had died...or had nearly died and then came back...Sephiroth had come back from the life stream and he had sworn to Cloud that he wouldn't stay away for long.
"If he does come back," He murmured, making the conversation die out around him, "we need to make sure he doesn't get what he wants. The Genko will help him but he'll need a part of Jenova." His eyes hardened. "Rufus, how close are you to finding anything?"
"We have many leads on the location of Jenova's heart, and I have searches following up all the information we collect."

Cal listened to them talking about Sephiroth coming back and chewed her lip, moving backwards slowly until she was out of sight before turning to run. A query chirped through the air as Voronwer moved easily alongside her, waiting until she'd jumped up before taking off down the valley. He knew where she wanted to go and skirted the hills until they came to the foot of the extinct volcano. A craggy cave entrance led to a darkened tunnel lit by a few glow worms and he moved down it slowly, following the sound of water as it dripped off the rocks above.

It wasn't fair...Her heart lurched and she pressed a hand to it, feeling it hammer against her ribs and echo round the cave. The bird stopped by a smooth rock and she jumped down, sitting on it and closing her eyes off from the sudden onslaught of tears. It wasn't fair...

Nothing happens by accident...

The water droplets appeared to make a gentle tune as they dripped from the shadows. In the darkness before her the image of the caves rippled and swayed.
"Why can't you come back?" She whispered in the dim light. "Why...w..."

No one understands why things happen. They just...happen...

"It's getting harder. I can't think straight anymore." Cal sobbed and covered her face with her hands. "I...I wish I was with you..."

She felt soft arms surrounding her and hold her in a tight embrace though she didn't look around.

I'll always be with you...remember that...

She stayed by the underground lake for some time, just listening to the sounds of the water as it played across the rocks. Voronwer settled down next to her with his head on her lap, eyes half closed while she stroked his feathers. She didn't want to leave; the peace that came over her when she was here was so blissful...but she knew she couldn't stay.
With a sigh she got up and stretched, hearing soft footfalls behind her and turned to see cool light blue eyes stare down from a rocky ledge.
"Who are you?" She tensed herself, silently wishing she hadn't taken off her weapons in the ship. "What are you doing here?"
"Don't worry, I'm a friend."
"I don't know you." The man smiled and moved closer. He was wearing some sort of uniform and his hair was clipped, slightly spiked and dark.
"You come here a lot don't you?"
"What business is that of yours?"
He laughed gently and held out his hands. "Take it easy Cal; I'm not here to pry."
"Oh, so you just like watching behind rocks instead." That made him laugh as well. Cal frowned; she really had no idea who he was and she knew all of the villagers here. "Who are you?"
"I didn't realise the life stream was so close to the surface here." He commented, looking into the pools surface. There was a faint glow that surrounded the lake that seemed to come from within it, but it was so very faint that most of the time Cal didn't even register it. "This is a very special place."
"It is to me."
"I know." He regarded her again with eyes that appeared to recognise her. "You have to be strong Cal."
"Why?" She looked around dejectedly, "why should I?"
"Because it will take over you if you don't."
"It's just too much..." She slumped her shoulders. Pressure on her arm made her look up and the man was standing before her.
"I'd love to fight this one for you but I can't. You have to do this, but you won't be alone." He smiled, "Trust them Cal, especially Cloud. He's a bit hard headed but he'll never let you down."
"You... you know Cloud? How?"
He had turned round now and was walking away from her. "We used to work together."
"Who are you?"
"Call me...Zack. He half turned and winked at her.

"Zack..." Cal opened her eyes and jerked up, looking round the cave. No one was there; the place was silent except for the gentle dripping of water and Voronwer's snores as he dozed. She frowned, she must have fallen asleep. That had been one strange dream. The cave was dark and yet she had been able to see the man as if it was daylight.

No...It had been light in the cave. Had she been in the cave? She must have, he had jumped down off the rocks when she'd first seen him. But then...she couldn't remember seeing anything after that. Apart from the lake.

She looked at it silently and then nudged the chocobo, making him come alive with a snort and a rustle of feathers. "Come on, let's go."

oOo

"Where have you beeeeen?!" She winced from the screech that Molly gave her and glanced upwards at Mikale who shrugged. "He can't help you out!"
"Molly, come on, I was only gone a couple of hours-"
Six hours and no word at all! You could have been lying in some ditch somewhere with no one around to help you!"
"I have my link Molly..."
"And a fat lot of good that did didn't it?!"

Reno rubbed the back of his head while Rude listened to the argument outside.
"Your sister has a good set of lungs hasn't she?"
"Yeah. I swore I went deaf once when I put worms in her hair." The colours of the sunset rolled into a darker, hazier colour as they saw Cloud wander up.
"Is she back?"
"Oh yeah."
"You can hear the shouting all over the valley." Rude added. Cloud relaxed a little more and Reno raised an eyebrow at him.
"Concerned?"
"Molly was."
"Cal is a tough woman; she can handle anything that gets thrown her way."
"Yeah Rude, even you." The red haired man laughed as Rude snorted and adjusted his cuffs. Cloud sensed something behind him and turned round to see Voronwer's intelligent black eyes stare down at him. Reno gasped. "Wow Cloud, you must have done something right for him to like you."
"That bird...is volatile." Rude muttered.
The chocobo bent his head down and Cloud put a hand on the feathers; feeling the glossy smoothness underneath his fingers. "What does...Voronwer mean?"
"It means 'loyal one' in the Ancient tongue."
"Cal knows the Ancient language?"
"She knows some words." Reno punched the pillow he was sitting on into a more comfortable position and lounged back again."Reno..."
"Hmmm?"
"Something bad happened in her past..." Cloud looked at his fingers and trailed off when he tutted.
"We don't go into people's pasts."
"It's impolite." Rude added.
"Besides, what does it matter to you?" He stared at the man and then closed his eyes when Cloud didn't reply. "We're coming back with you tomorrow. The Captain says they'll have a quick look round to make sure everything is safe before dumping you guys back and coming with us."
"Tomorrow?" Cloud looked up.
"That not soon enough for you?"
"It's not that..." He trailed off trying to answer Rude. The trees whispered as the breeze flowed through them, the blades of grass dancing all around the valley in tune with the various wind-catching implements the children had made to create different sounds. Marlene and Denzel had looked so happy making them. Even Tifa seemed more cheerful...with Dax...
"I guess you could always come back, if the Captain thinks you can keep their secret." Reno guessed what Cloud was thinking and grinned when the man turned round, seeing he was right. He tried to go for the high score. "I'm sure Cal would put in a good word for you."
Cloud turned back and looked over the hills where the sky was now a rich azure blue. His thoughts were all slightly muddled, as if he'd just been woken from a long sleep.
"Damn things..." He turned round to see Rude edging away from Tekken, the Kitot giving him a very long and thoughtful stare as its tail lashed round.
"Come on you two." Cal called the creatures from the door and stopped, seeing Cloud watching her. Voronwer lifted his head and gave a mournful cry. "Come on." She said again, moving back inside the house with the two Kitots jumping in after her; Drakes' appearance making Rude jump, his sunglasses askew on his face.
"I don't like those creatures."
"Rude they're ok; just don't get too close to them when they burp."