Note:

I wanted to post the last chapter a couple weeks ago but my finals got me swamped and now it's all over and I am back on track and working on the rest of the story. This story's plot bunnies are growing exponentially but it will end in three or so chapters. Merry Christmas!

The Chess of Jotunheim 10

Chapter 10: The Queen's Return

Dawn broke on the horizon and thousands of tents scattered across the plain outside Midgar shone with pale coral color.

Cloud shifted the bag on her shoulder. She had changed her clothes into a darker navy blue crew neck sleeveless top and cargo pants. She had stopped wearing the bandage around her chest, showing her true assets. Her hair had grown during the journey and was just long enough to pull back into a tiny ponytail. She held onto Jotham's hand, they were going to set off to find a new life.

Reeve watched the woman approach a giant black chocobo that appeared the night before. It had shown up outside Cloud's tent and settled to sleep outside the flap until she woke up. Cloud seemed to know the bird and had saddled and reined the bird for the journey without any question where it came from. She placed Jotham onto the saddle and mounted behind him, grasping the rein. The bird rose to its full height.

Reeve approached them. "Cloud. Where would you go?"

She looked over at him and gave a small smile. "I don't know. The world is open to me now. Somewhere far away and quiet."

Tifa joined Reeve's side. "Don't forget us."

"I won't." Cloud's smile widened but it didn't reach her eyes. "Give me some time. When I am ready, I'll call."

"You better!" Cid gruffed and the others nodded.

Vincent stepped up to Cloud and placed his hand on her knees, "We will be here. If you ever need us, we're there for you."

Barret pulled a coin bag out of his vest and threw it to Cloud. "Your pay, as promised."

Cloud peered into the bag and scoffed. "What? 3 thousand gils?" The dark-skinned man laughed and pulled another bag out, tossing it to her again. "Actually, this is what we have left and we split it. That's your part."

Cloud shook her head, "Thank you."

Vincent stepped back to join Tifa and Reeve. "Godspeed."

Cloud and Jotham waved. She pulled the reins and the dark chocobo turned and sped off across the plain. She was out of their sight not long after.

"Mommy?" Jotham asked as they stopped on the cliff that overlooked Midgar in the far distant.

"A moment here." She told him as the bird kneeled, settling on the ground. She got off the saddle and approached the cliff edge.

She watched the sun rise higher in the sky, the valley below shifting in colors, becoming brighter and sharper. She then bowed her head, closing her eyes. "Zack. You were always by my side through everything in the last few years, in my head and my heart. Thank you."

Opening her eyes, she raised her arm and commanded the buster sword to appear. A tear fell, splashing the ground below.

She moved and planted the sword deep into the ground, making it stand as a tombstone. She took a step back and Jotham joined her side, taking her hand.

"Zack died here." She told him through her tears. "He was brave. He helped me to escape a horrible prison that I was trapped in."

Jotham looked up at his mother and hugged her side. "You'll tell me about it someday?"

She nodded and wiped her face with the tears. "Someday, when I am ready."

Jotham looked at the battered Buster sword and said softly, "Thank you, Uncle Zack."

Cloud ruffled his head and they got back on the black chocobo and continued with their journey.

"Woooooww!" Jotham whispered with awe as he looked up to the giant condor bird flapping its wings overhead.

Cloud laughed as she held her son tightly. "That is Condor bird."

Jotham looked up to see his mother above him, they were sitting on the black chocobo back. "It's huge! Would it eat us?"

Cloud ruffled his hair, "No. It's very rare bird and recently I got to see a chick hatch from a giant egg! It was three times tall and wide."

"That is so cool! I want to see it hatch!"

"Maybe someday. We're going to stop at Fort Condor for the night, then we'll go to Junon Base. There's someone I want to try to find."

"Okay! Let's go Shadow!" He turned and patted the black chocobo's neck. He had come to call the bird the name.

"Wark!" Shadow chirped and picked up speed, running smoothly across the terrain.

Junon Base was overcrowded with people coming in from Midgar. People were pushing against each other, trying to get into the city. Cloud held Jotham to her body tightly. He held onto her neck and watched with wide-eyed amazement.

She had left Shadow outside the city to wait for her, she had attempted to let it go free but it would not leave, it was fiercely loyal to her. She was able to find someplace for the saddle and bags to be hidden and allowed the bird free to wait for her. One call from either of them, the bird would come running back. She was happy to have a reliable transportation this time around.

"Where are we going?" Jotham asked.

Cloud pushed her way through the crowd. "I am trying to get to a restaurant. We might get a place to stay for the night. I will need to find tickets so we can go oversea."

Jotham turned his head to his mother. "We're going on a big ship? Why?"

Cloud smiled as she found the right street and exhaled as the crowd seems to thin out. She replied, "It is quieter over there and I'd like to settle somewhere for both us to live a quiet life. There are some people I need to see over there."

Jotham rested his head on her shoulder. "Oh."

Cloud pushed the door to the restaurant and entered. She looked around, it was a bit busier than usual. She smiled as she saw someone she was looking for and went to the counter. She sat her son on the stool and sat down.

"Alright cherié, what would it be?" The cook came up to her, scribbling in his notepad, not entirely paying attention to who he was talking to.

Cloud smiled, "your usual and a room for the night?"

The cook frowned, "I got no room… huh?" He looked up and his eyes widened, "Darlin' Cloud! It's been so long!"

She laughed. "Yes."

"My, my! Did you ever get to Midgar?" He asked as he leaned on the counter.

"Yes." She replied and turned to her son. "This is Jotham. You remember he was in my belly then."

The cook looked over at the boy and his eyes widened. "Goodness, he's no longer little!" He reached his hand out to the boy to shake his hand. "Your mom stayed here for a month with you in her belly! I'm Jimmy, but you can call me Cook, because that's what I do around here, cook food!" He turned back to Cloud, "you didn't say…" he gestured to the boy who returned to looking at the menu. "his daddy?"

Cloud's smile disappeared and she sighed. "His father was a wonderful man."

Jimmy nodded, catching her drift and the past tense. "Well." He pushed himself up from the counter. "One usual for you, and you, Jotham?"

Jotham smiled, "Can I have the kid breakfast?"

"One kid breakfast coming up!" He declared and smiled gently at Cloud, "the room is where it is. One night?"

She smiled again, "Thank you. Just one night. I'm going back overseas."

He frowned. "And you tried to get away in the first place."

"Not going back to that place. Just somewhere else. I had enough on my hands. I need to be with Jotham now." She rubbed her son's back.

"Gotcha." The cook left, going to the kitchen.

Cloud was able to secure a passage for her son, herself and Shadow. They traveled to Costa Del Sol and Jotham was so smitten with the beach that they stayed a whole week in the villa that Avalanchers bought together and enjoyed the beach.

She thought she would finally be free from the last few years, but she found she was wrong. Reality started to set in and guilt, sadness, anger, and many emotions ate away beneath her loving smiling mask. Her nights were long and torturous with terrible dreams. She tried her hardest to hide it all from Jotham but he knew somehow and showered her with affections and love.

They took their time traveling from Costa Del Sol, seeing the beautiful sunrise in Cosmo Canyon, the fun, and glitz in Gold Saucer, and paying their respect to Lucrecia where she was laid to rest in a hidden cave behind a gorgeous waterfall. Then, they reached Gongaga in the quiet primeval forest.

Cloud held Jotham's hand as they stood before a humble home, knocking on the door.

"Hello," A woman in her late 50s greeted the door. Cloud smiled at the familiar blue eyes.

"Mrs. Fair?"

"Yes?" The woman opened the door wider and gasped as she noticed Jotham clutching to Cloud's side. "Oh, what a darling."

Cloud laughed, "My name is Cloud Strife-Crescent. I was a very good friend of Zack."

The smile on the woman's lips disappeared, "Zack. I remember you now. He spoke of you often. You were Sephiroth's wife…" She trailed off as she looked at the boy again. "Oh. He's a spitting image of the General." A tear fell down Cloud's face and Mrs. Fair saw it. She took Cloud's arm and ushered her into the house and toward the couch. "Sit, sit." She grabbed a tissue from the side table and handed it to her. "You poor dear!"

"I am so sorry." Cloud's voice cracked and trembled, "I didn't mean to break down like that."

"You look like you have been holding the world on your shoulder for so long." The older woman told her. She waved to her husband to come over. "Dear, why don't you take the child and keep him busy?"

The elderly man smiled and gestured for Jotham to join him. "Come on, what's your name?"

Cloud nodded to Jotham to go on after he gave her a questioning look. He stood up and went over to the man and replied, "Jotham."

"That's right, Jotham. What kind of game do you like to play? We got a few." Mr. Fair said.

"Chess."

"Chess? That's a hard game."

"My daddy taught me." He told the man and Cloud broke down. Mrs. Fair moved to sit beside Cloud and hugged her, comforting the broken woman.

After a while, Cloud was able to dry up her tears and calm down. "I am so sorry to break down like that. It's been a long time. I just came here to see you guys and tell you how he died." Tears started to stream down her face again as she remembered Zack's last moment vividly.

Mrs. Fair shook her head. "Stop right there, love." She wiped Cloud's face. "We have long come to accept that Zack was gone. We suspected he had died a long ago." She looked at her husband and smiled sadly. "With no news from ShinRa, we suspected as much. But when the world nearly came to its end, we knew then."

Cloud inhaled sharply. "You both deserve to know what happened."

Mr. Fair got up from the table where Jotham was still trying to figure out his next move. He went over to Cloud and knelt in front of her, patting her knees. "Does your boy know?" She shook her head. "Then, we wait until he sleeps tonight. Why don't you stay with us for a while, you look like you need a place and time to heal. We do have a spare room."

Mrs. Fair smiled, hugging Cloud sideway. "Of course. Your family to us. With all the stories Zack had told us about you, Sephiroth, and little Jotham in the letters. The three of you and that girl, Aerith, were the world to him."

Cloud buried her head in her arms, tears wouldn't stop coming. She wanted to stop but it was like a floodgate that just opened after being shut for five years.

Cloud told the whole story to Zack's parents and they were grateful to know Zack had died a hero's death. They took her and Jotham to stay with them for as long she needs to. She eventually found a small house nearby and moved in. Jotham often visited with Mr. Fair and play a chess game with him.

In Gongaga, no one but Zack's parents knew Jotham and Cloud's relation to the former general and she liked it that way. It was quiet and peaceful. Jotham was able to go to school and make friends. Cloud was able to find a job as a delivery person and a personal shopper and settled into her routine, working and spending her time with her son. Their bond grew strong again and she was starting to feel happy once again.

"Cloud, you are a hard woman to find," Reeve said as she picked up the phone.

She recognized the voice and had to smile at the tone of annoyance behind the cat. "Reeve."

"You did a good job going off the grid when you want to." He told her, "I wanted to tell you that you have your stipend for saving the planet."

Cloud rolled her eyes and glanced over to where Jotham was playing on the carpet. "I don't want the money."

Reeve sighed with a hint of frustration, "I knew you would say that. Cloud, everyone got their part. You saved the planet, you deserved it."

She turned and lowered her tone, "I said, I don't want it. I do not deserve it. It was my fault that Midgar got destroyed. I literally handed over the Black Materia. You know that."

He replied with a hint of frustration, "We all know that. And no. It wasn't your fault. You were under control of the Calamity." They all have come to agree that the Calamity, known as Jenova, was partly responsible. "It was a long series of chess game started a long time ago, you happen to be a part of the game. ShinRa started it decades ago when they unearthed Jenova."

Cloud sighed, "A pawn piece, I know." She winced at the memory of being called the puppet.

"No. You were never a pawn. You were the Queen piece the whole time. It was you who stopped them, and you were the only one who could. Just take the money, use it on Jotham and live your life as you please."

Cloud glanced at her son, Jotham who held up a drawing with a toothy smile. She smiled in return, he had drawn a family picture. It included herself, Sephiroth, Jotham, Zack, his parents, and his nanny, Lucy. She nodded to him, giving him a thumb up. She then replied in resignation, "Very well."

"Good. It's already on your account if you refused anyway."

"Jackass," She muttered and heard him laugh on the other end. "How is everyone?"

Reeve's voice gone soft, "Everyone misses you. They are all doing good. Neo Midgar is growing. People from all over are coming in." He paused then quietly said, "they asked about you and Jotham."

"I am sure they did. Jotham and I are doing fine." She paused for a bit before continuing, "I am not ready to come back. I just… I need more time."

Reeve nodded on his end, "I know. It's barely three months since you left. Just take your time. Take years if you must. Just keep us in touch once in a while. Tifa is doing good, but there is a time that she felt horrible about what happened in the past, especially before Nibelheim burned down. She is struggling with her memories, getting confused from time to time."

She exhaled and rubbed her head. She knew how the other girl felt, "I do get confused sometimes too."

"We concluded it was the memory tampering that Hojo had done on you all, those who have been affected. We believe it also extended to some of the Turks. Reno and Rude find themselves wondering which memories were real or not."

"I see. Well, I'll let you know when I feel ready to come back."

"Please do. I'll let you go." He told her, "goodbye."

"Goodbye," Cloud heard the click on the other end and stared at her phone. She then turned to Jotham, "let's see what's for dinner." He cheered and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the kitchen.

"Love, what's with the shadow under your eyes?" Mr. Fair asked Cloud came by to pick up Jotham. He caressed her face like a father would do to a daughter, he looked at her with concern. "Nightmares again?"

Cloud covered his hand with her hand and nodded. "Yes, Pa." She had come to adopt them as her parents and call them Pa and Ma. Jotham picked up on it and called him Pops and Mrs. Fair Grama.

"You need to face that nightmare head on and come to term with it." He told her with fatherly tone, "that would What's it."

"But they're all gone, dead. They haunt me in my dreams." She replied softly.

"Nibelheim?" He asked and she nodded in reply. "Sound to me that you need to find out what it is to close the book in that town."

"You're right." Cloud said, "there is something that I can't figure out." She looked at Jotham and smiled as he approached them. "Maybe I need to make a trip to Nibelheim, there are still some things I do not remember."

Mrs. Fair joined them. "We would be happy to watch Jotham while you go. It's not that far, isn't it?"

Cloud shook her head, smiling. "No, Ma. But I think Jotham should go with me. He should know where his family came from." She knelt to Jotham's level. "How do you feel about a trip with me?"

Jotham grinned, "Mommy, anywhere you go, I want to go with. Remember, you promise to not leave me behind again."

"Of course." She stood up, "We'll leave tomorrow and we should return in a week."

"Good. It's high time you find out what's going on." Mr. Fair said.

"I'll have a basket of food for you to take with you." Mrs. Fair smiled, patting Cloud's hand.

"Thank you," Cloud said and hugged them both, squashing Jotham in between them, making him burst into fits of a giggle.

Jotham looked around Shadow's neck, "This is where you and Daddy were from?"

"Yes. If I remember right, your father was born here but raised in Midgar while I was born in Midgar and grew up here. It was an okay town until…" She inhaled, remembering the day she was given punishment for her so-called consorting. She shook her head to clear the memory. "Your father believes this town was terrible because of their archaic laws and how they treated me." Jotham shot her a questioning look. "Someday when you're older, I will tell you. But that Nibelheim I grew up in, is gone. Burned down. This is just a replica created by the ShinRa to cover up the horrible secret that Professor Hojo had." She pulled the reins, "Let's go, Shadow. On to Nibelheim."

The bird broke into a run and they reached the town limit and they dismounted it. She found a stable and paid the man to take Shadow's harness in and she let him go to roam the field until she needed him.

"Come on." She took Jotham's hand and together, they walked into the town. She could see the difference between the former Nibelheim and the current one. The buildings were slightly different; the people were unfamiliar. She was sure the old laws were no longer in place. By the time they reached the square, she stared over to the park at the end of the town where children played. The park was never part of the town in the past.

She took her son over to the edge of the park and together, they stood there. She swallowed and explained, "This was where the ShinRa Mansion stood. The gate began here." She gestured to the ground where they stood. "Your father lived in the Mansion and I lived over there," She turned and gestured to the small house across the street. "We met when I was four, he was eleven." She smiled at the memory.

"Why is the Mansion gone?"

She looked at Jotham and gave a sad smile. "I guess the town decided to take it down recently, it was a dusty old thing, falling apart. It was the only thing that survived the burning town. I guess it's really gone for good." She sighed softly. "There was so much darkness hiding below the old dusty house." She turned to her son, "Let's get a room in the inn."

They went over to the inn and got a room.

Cloud looked out of the window from her room to the town street. It was dark and the lights were lit. She watched the fog creeping along on the ground, noting it was no longer green tinted. She gave a soft chuckle, happy to know the mako from the reactor was no longer leaking. It had always give Nibelheim trouble in the past.

Ever since she came to town, memories came to her mind unbidden at every turn. She turned back to her son and joined him in sleep, pushing memories down and allowing the depth of blackness close in on her.

"Cloud." She turned around in the darkness. "Cloud."

"Where are you? What do you want?" She asked as she turned once more and felt her heart stop as she came face to face with Sephiroth. "Sephiroth!"

He gave a smile that made her knees weak. He turned and the darkness faded to reveal a mist-shrouded town. He gestured to the trail. "The reactor." He told her.

She frowned and reached out to touch him but he faded into a mist, swirling away. "No, come back!"

"Mom!" She jerked and woke to find Jotham shaking her. "Mom! It's 9 am! I am hungry!"

Cloud rubbed her tired eyes and sat up, "Oh." She got up and laughed as Jotham was hopping around, "all right, all right, I'm up. Give me few minutes to get dressed."

Soon, they went downstairs and went to the pub to get breakfast. Jotham happily wolfed down his breakfast while Cloud slowly munched on her toast and hot tea.

"Sir?" She asked the bartender, "Can you tell me if the ShinRa reactor is still standing?"

The bartender gave her a funny look. "That's off limit."

"What do you mean?"

"No one is allowed to go up there. It's dangerous."

"That's right, dear." A waitress came up to them. "It's fenced off and no one would dare to go up there. There is no way to get over that ravine. The bridge had been out for years."

Cloud nodded. "Oh, okay." She took a sip of her drink. It seems no one figured there was another way around.

"You're new in town, where are you from?" The bartender asked.

Jotham quipped before she could answer, "Mommy's from–" He found his mouth muffled by his mother's hand.

Cloud stared at her son and admonished softly, "Do not talk with your mouth full." She smiled sweetly at the bartender. "Don't mind him. We're from Midgar. Visiting. I heard about Nibelheim and was curious about this town and its history."

Jotham rolled his eyes and returned to his meal.

The bartender and the waitress gave each other a look and he shrugged as he continued to wipe the counter. "Nibelheim has a very interesting history."

"Yeah?" Cloud asked.

The bartender shifted his eyes and leaned in closer, "About seven years ago, ShinRa contacted several hundreds of people in Midgar about relocating them to a new town, saying it was for a project. We moved here to a brand new town and lived our life as it is. We were all given a year stipend to start and that was it. We haven't heard back from them if their project was successful. Some of us left, but most of us really liked it here and stayed. But, we started to uncover some things. We learned that this town is a replicate of the original and something happened before. So, anything that was from before is the original."

The waitress nodded, "that's right. Something terrible. We heard that the entire town was killed, burned down to the ground. We weren't sure if anyone survived the horror."

"ShinRa must really try to cover that one up. Some of us found evidence here and there."

Cloud asked, "What kind of evidence?"

The bartender waved his towel, "Oh, signposts, few burned items on the outside edge of the town. Things they missed cleaning up."

"Oh yeah, there were some pictures scattered and what has been collected is stored in the library. You could check it out." The waitress said.

Cloud noticed Jotham was finished with his breakfast and quickly drank her now cold tea. "Where is this library?"

The waitress laughed, "You can't miss it. It's the clock tower. The library is below the clock."

"Thank you." Cloud replied and turned to Jotham, "All done? Let's go." She laughed as he jumped off the stool and grabbed her hand. They headed out of the door.

"Did you notice the kid?" The bartender asked the waitress.

The woman nodded. "He looks like the strange men that came down from the mountain a while ago."

"That and the former General Sephiroth. Could that be his kid?"

"Maybe. Wonder what's up with them."

Cloud and Jotham found the small library under the clock tower and went in, it was a single room with bookshelves lining the wall. She let her son go to search the books while she approached the librarian, an old man sitting at the desk near the end of the room, thumbing through a book. "Hello."

He looked up and smiled, "Welcome. How can I help you?"

She glanced around the room and asked, "I was told that you have photographs from the original Nibelheim. I'd like to see them."

The librarian stood and hobbled over to the shelf, asking, "There's not very many. We have no clue to who they were, but it was an interesting thing we have found in past few years." He brought a thin black album over and handed it to her. "Please, have a seat and if there is anything else, I'm right here." He gestured to the desk.

She bowed her head in thanks and went to the chair nearby, sitting down and placing the album in her lap. Jotham came over and stood beside her, looking on with curiosity. She opened the album and she inhaled sharply as she saw the pictures. There were different photographs of the original Nibelheim. She thumbed through the pages slowly, seeing the images. The Mayor and the councilmen. Women walking through the street. Children playing in the square. They were from a long time ago. She smiled as nostalgic feelings washed over her.

"Who's that?" Jotham asked as he pointed to an image of a man standing tall and proud. He looked handsome and there was a cluster of girls in the background swooning at him and a single girl apart from them, about to leave the frame of the image with disdain of expression on her face.

She stared at the image. "That's…" She swallowed hard.

"Is that you, mommy?" Jotham whispered as he peered closer at the disdainful girl in the background.

She gave a wry smile and held a finger to her lips. He nodded and made a sign with his hand as if zipping his lips shut. She replied softly, only he heard her, "Yes, that was me. That man, his name was Jeke. He was the biggest jerk in town and all he cared was himself."

"You don't like him?"

"Oh no. I don't like goodbye, he made my childhood very hard."

The librarian having overheard paused and looked up. "You look familiar." He stood up and gestured to the album.

Cloud glanced up. "Familiar?"

The old man peered at her closely and glanced down to the album. "I have studied the images closely, trying to gain some clues from them." He took the album and flipped the page and showed it to her.

She swallowed as she stared at the image. It was a 4x7 image in the center of a page of young Cloud standing facing General Sephiroth, holding a basket. She was smiling up at him, looking beautiful in the simple light blue dress and long golden hair. He was looking down at her, in mid-speech. There was a smile in his eyes. The both of them were a mere foot apart.

Jotham's mouth dropped in awe. "Mommy… that's…"

The librarian chuckled, "Yes, there's a resemblance. This is you?"

Cloud traced her finger over Sephiroth's image. "Yes." Her eyes welled with wetness. " I was seventeen then."

"So, you're a survivor then." He commented.

"Mommy, is that you and daddy?" Jotham asked softly.

She reached for his hand and grasped it. "Yes. Around the time you were conceived."

The librarian chuckled gleefully, "This was a favorite image that everyone wanted to know the story behind it. We assumed there was something going on between the two of them, a romance or something. We had a great fun trying to guess. Care to indulge me?"

"There was, a whirlwind of a kind." She laughed. "Jotham, this was when your daddy and I fell in love." She turned to the old man. "Please, I do not wish anyone to know I was from here. I came here to find some answers."

"Oh! A General and a town girl, how saucy. Don't worry, I won't tell." Cloud laughed, the librarian had no idea how correct he was. The librarian pushed his glasses up and took another look at Jotham. "I see now! Oh, this is wonderful to finally know the truth behind this picture. General Sephiroth's son!"

Cloud asked, "Can I have the copy of the album and this image, the original?"

"Of course. I'll make a copy of the images and have them ready for you. How long will you be in town?" He asked.

"Few days." She told him, handing him the album.

"Good, stop by tomorrow and I'll have them ready for you. May I know your name?"

She bowed her head, "Cloud Strife-Crescent."

"Cloud Strife, that name is familiar, but Crescent, as in General Sephiroth Crescent?"

"Yes."

"You were married to him?" He asked as he placed the book on the table.

"Yes, why?" She asked as Jotham grasped onto her hand.

He waved her over to the shelf where a thick book laid, it looked charred and the pages' edge was blackened. "We were able to find this." He opened the book gingerly, the pages crackled. "The marriage record here left us curious." He gestured to the page. Cloud took a closer look. She found her name, it stated she was married to Jeke. She frowned. He asked, "Is that's your name, isn't it? It states you were married to someone else."

"Yes, but I never married him. He died."

"That's what I found. The death record states he died before he married you."

"That lying bastard," She snorted, "The mayor falsified that one." She stood back from the book. "I'll come back tomorrow and I'll go through this book and give you a record of who had died in this town and when they died. I regret to tell you, they all burned to death with exception of some were killed." She swallowed hard.

The old man patted her shoulder, "There, there. No need to rush. But I appreciate your help in clearing up some records, perhaps uncovering some secret we were all dying to know."

"Thank you. There's somewhere else I need to go." Cloud told him and bowed her head. Jotham mimicked her action and they left.

Cloud returned to the inn and got some lunch to take on the go. She also grabbed a jacket for Jotham and herself to wear. When she was ready, she and Jotham set upon the path to the reactor.

"Where are we going, mom?"

She looked at her son, "We're going to a reactor if it is still there. That's where it all began." She told him.

"You mean, all that bad things that happened?" His eyes were wide. "Shouldn't we go there?"

"I need to find something up there. I don't think whatever is bad is there anymore. Then we can leave." She took his hand and smiled at him, "I'll protect you. I got myself a nice sword."

"Oh, okay." He grasped his mother's hand tightly and grinned. He knew of the new sword his mother had gotten and it was wicked cool. Even the name, Fusion, was cool in his book too.

They reached the bridge and they found the area fenced off. Cloud peered through the mesh fence, looking over into the ravine. It seemed so long ago but the memory was fresh in her mind. She turned and led Jotham down into the hidden cave and they traveled through it until they got to the reactor.

"Wow." Jotham looked upon the rusty building. "It doesn't look like the ones in Midgar."

"No. It a whole lot smaller." She told him and they entered. They worked their way through the dark maze of pipes lined walls, relying on her flashlight and the blue backup lights.

They reached the pod room, which Zack and Sephiroth had nicknamed the room as such. She glanced around, it was in disarray. It looked as if ShinRa had not touched the room. She recalled that night where she found Sephiroth not being himself for the first time. The memory made her feel cold.

"What is this place?" Jotham asked, squeezing her hand. He didn't like how the room made him feel. He felt uncomfortable. "I don't like it here. It makes me feel sick."

"Me too, love. Me too." She murmured. "This was where Hojo did experiments on human beings." She could see some pods broken and where Zack had fallen. She inhaled and went up the steps toward the door above the stairs.

"What's Jenova?" Jotham asked as he read the broken sign.

She looked up. "Jenova is something I need to find out."

They entered the dark room. She remembered that the room was actually a large chamber with mako pool below the mesh plank. She moved her flashlight around the room. It was a mess. Wires and pipes were broken and hanging down from the ceilings and wall. She flashed the light to the left and saw the mesh plank hugging the wall around the room to a door. "There. Come on, watch your footing and stay behind me. That's mako pool, there's no knowing where it goes." She shined the light to the liquid below. It shimmered and shifted, casting a green eerily glow.

Jotham's eyes widened in a gasp. "It smells weird."

"Yeah, it is pure mako. It has a stronger smell than the refined ones. This is why the reactor was built here."

They reached the door. Cloud shifted the doorknob and was surprised to find it unlocked. They entered and found themselves in a small office with file cabinets and desk. The room was the size of a broom closet. She found the light switch and turned the light on, it flickered and hummed, giving a soft orange glow in the room.

"Jotham, sit at the desk and wait a bit. I need to look in the file cabinet." She told him and he nodded, going over to the desk and sat on the chair. It gave a poof of dust. She smiled and turned to the cabinets and started to go through them. Jotham amused himself by drawing on the dust covered desk.

"Jenova… J… J… ah, here you are." She murmured and pulled the file out and started to read it. Her eyes widened as she kept going, mumbling to herself. She went back to the cabinet and pulled out few more, she brought them over to the desk and started to read them under the dim light.

"That shoddy bastard," She muttered as she finished after several hours. Jotham looked up sleepily from the desk, he had fallen asleep hours ago.

"What is it?" He asked.

Cloud reached over and brushed the dust from his face. She was silent for a few seconds, trying to decide if she should tell Jotham or not. He waited patiently, staring up at her with his wide green eyes. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"The scientist, Hojo, was running an experiment out of here and in Midgar for a long time. He used the cells from an alien that crashed with a meteor thousands of years ago, and mako, the liquid that is a lifeblood of this planet, to create super soldiers. Many of the human soldiers he experimented on failed. Only a few survived and one was your daddy." She pushed the file aside. "My father found out." She held up the disc, she had listened to the recording. "He wanted to expose Hojo but he was killed." She shook her head. "Hojo intentionally caused the explosion. Oh, Papa." She shook her head. "You knew before everyone did."

"What happened to Daddy?" Jotham asked, pulling the file toward him, it had his father's profile picture attached to the paper. He pulled the image from the clip and held it, studying his father's profile.

"The cells from the alien had a weird effect, it was alive and took over daddy's mind, making him go crazy. It was what had happened to the others that survived the treatment. Only your father had the treatment since he was in his mother's belly." She frowned as she glanced at the files she had read. "What I don't get is, how your father was able to remain sane for so long while the others succumbed within few years."

It was not all she had read. She found several files on cloning and it was almost enough to make her hair turn white with fright. Hojo had dabbled in cloning and was able to clone a subject with great success. However, the rest of the files were missing. It just abruptly ended in mid-sentence at the end of the paper and there was no more information. She couldn't find it. She wanted to know what happened to that project and where the cloned being was.

There were also several documents that jarred her. It was about subject C and S who were two subjects' DNA contributed to a recent cloning project. The date placed the project right after Nibelheim fire and just around the time Zack and herself had escaped from Hojo's basement prison. She tried to recall if she had remembered seeing anything of such within the basement but couldn't come up with anything.

She took her son in her arms and held him. He hugged her, resting his head on her shoulder. His eyes went to a paper that was on the floor and he frowned. It was in strange language, not like the familiar text that every other paper had. The writing was far older, ancient. He could decipher some words and it was a journal written by the professor himself. He caught several words like 'Sephiroth', 'Clone One escaped', 'possession of memory', 'disappeared into lifestream, possibility alive'.

"Mommy, did you find out what's wrong with Daddy?" He asked as he pushed away from his mother.

Cloud closing her eyes. "Yes."

"Oh." Jotham frowned as he picked up the paper and handed it to her.

Cloud frowned as she looked at the paper. "I can't read this. It's in Ancient. It's an old language, dead one too." She looked up to him.

"It says he is not dead." Jotham gestured to the paper.

"Jotham. No. I saw him die. I was the one who killed him."

Jotham's eyes widened, "You didn't kill him. It wasn't him."

Cloud stood up. "Come on. Let's get out of here. I know what I need to know." She frowned as Jotham pulled her hand and turned.

He stood there, glaring at her with a serious expression on his face. "Mom. I know you are not ready to tell me fully what happened. But I am telling you, Daddy talks to me in my dreams, he is alive. Even that paper says so."

She knelt down to him and caressed his face, "Jotham. He comes to me in my dream too. It's because we miss him so much." She glanced at the paper, "how can you know how to read this?" She sighed and shook her head. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Jotham remained silent and allowed his mother take his hand and they left the small office and out of the strange mako chamber. It was no point in trying to convince his mother, not just yet.

She paused at the top of the steps and glanced to her left, there were three pods near in the shadow of the room. The pods were open, not by force or damage, but manually and there were no mako stains surrounding the pods. The pods were empty and dry. She glanced at the other pods around in the room, there were skeletal remains of failed experiments within the pods that were not damaged. She knew they were failed cloned subjects and she shivered, feeling disgusted.

"Mommy?" Jotham asked.

"Huh." She murmured and turned to him. "Let's get out of here. This place has nothing left for me. All I found verified what I already knew. Hojo was the one to blame for everything that had happened."

"Good. I don't like it here."

"Me too, baby."

They returned to town and had a quiet dinner before retiring to their room. The next day, Cloud kept to her words and went to the library and helped the old man to complete the list of those who died and named the people in the album. She receives her own with the original image of herself and Sephiroth. She had found another image, a picture of herself with Zack and Sephiroth on the day they hiked up the trail to the reactor. She was happy to receive the album.

She went to a masonry and requested for a marble plaque and set it outside the town near where her old home used to be. She knelt down beside the plaque and laid down flowers.

"That's grandma?" Jotham asked. He had never met his grandmother but heard enough about her from his mother. He would have liked to meet her.

Cloud held him close as they looked down at the plaque with Freya's name on it, her birthdate and death date was inscribed below her name. "Yes. She died in the fire. I hope her death was painless." She had no idea how her mother had died nor any memory after seeing her mother for the last time before the reactor incident. It was all she could assume, that she had died amongst with other people in town. The fire burned the entire town within few hours and it had all happened so fast. There were no survivors other than herself and Tifa.

"She wanted to meet you," Cloud said.

"I wish I met her."

"Yeah, me too. Ready to go home?"

"Yeah. I am tired." Jotham replied softly.

They left Nibelheim and stopped in Gold Saucer for the night and decided to watch chocobo racing before retiring for the night.

"Ooh! Look at that green one!" Jotham cheered as he watched the chocobo sped by.

Cloud laughed. "Aw, the pink one fell behind."

"Damn it. My betting bird lost." Cloud turned her head at the familiar voice and saw shocking red hair sitting on the bench nearby. "One more, Rude?"

"Reeve did not say we can come here and gamble." Rude replied.

Cloud got up and went over to the two men. "Hey."

Rude and Reno glanced and nearly jumped back in surprise. Reno shouted, "Cloud!"

She winced at his tone and laughed. "Reno." She turned to the bald-headed man, "Rude."

"What are you doing here?" Rude asked.

Cloud gestured to Jotham close by, "Staying here for the night before we go back home."

"Where are you calling home?" Reno asked, standing to lean against the railing that separates the onlookers and the track.

Cloud shook her head, "You'll just tell everyone else, not going to tell you."

"Aw." Reno pouted.

She asked, "How is everyone?"

Rude pocketed his sunglasses and leaned on the railing. "Good. Neo Midgar is growing and Reeve is working hard to make sure everyone has someplace to live and rebuild. He got the World Regenesis Organization up and running."

"That's good," Cloud replied, keeping eye on Jotham as he cheered the next racing. "Just you know, no hard feeling from the times we ran into each other in last couple years."

Reno scoffed, "Don't worry about it. We were never really after you. After the meteor incident, we remembered."

Cloud nodded. "Hojo did brainwash you guys too."

Rude tilted his head forward in a nod, "Yes. Reeve was able to uncover more of Hojo files and found that the crazy doctor had brainwashed a lot of people that were involved around you and Sephiroth."

"Yes. I figured that from the files I found in Nibelheim Reactor recently." She told them.

"You went to Nibelheim?" Reno asked, surprised.

Cloud turned her head to the red-head, "I needed to put some closure on the town. From what I figured, Hojo had some projects going on and when it turned belly up, he had the ShinRa cover it up. It was a very extensive cover-up."

"It cost ShinRa nearly three trillion gils to cover up the mess Hojo did. I recall President ShinRa wasn't too happy, especially when Sephiroth went missing." Rude explained.

"Oh, he was pissed to lose his prized Soldier. He was also upset that he could not find you or Jotham afterward." Reno said and pushed away from the railing and turned to Cloud. "But I am curious. Zack and Sephiroth went missing, where were you then?"

Cloud looked at the redhead Turk, realizing they didn't know where she was at the time. "I was with them."

Rude shook his head, "We were part of the cleanup. We found Zack and another soldier."

Cloud closed her eyes. "That other soldier was me."

"Shit." Reno's eyes widened. "That was you!?" He smacked his head, "Now it makes sense. We just couldn't figure out why you were running around with soldier uniform. Fuck."

Cloud smiled ruefully and shook her head, "The disguise worked, didn't it?"

"Too well." Reno replied and clapped her shoulder, "it's good to see you again."

"Mommy!" Jotham came up to them, waving the ticket. "Your pink one won!"

Cloud laughed. "That's great! Let's go cash it in!" She turned to the Turks, "Good to see you guys too."

"Take care!" Rude said, waving as Cloud and Jotham walked off.

"Why didn't you tell her that we're having an epidemic in Neo Midgar?" Reno asked quietly.

Rude turned to him, "Why didn't you?"

"Figured she didn't need to feel like she has to save the world again. She's happy with her kid."

"Let hope it stays that way." Rude murmured.

Cloud and Jotham returned to Gongaga. Mr. Fair had inquired if she had been able to put closure to Nibelheim.

"I believe so. I was able to find out what happened that night. There are more questions than answers but it is enough for now." Cloud had replied.

Note: Next chapter will be up in couple of days. Thank you for keeping up with the story! Your reviews are greatly appreciated!