But now I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma,

A harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it

As though it had an underlying truth.

Umberto Eco

The sun was setting as we pulled into the little town at the base of the Golden Saucer. I don't remember its name, but I remember Cid mentioning that one of their friends, someone already in the Saucer, had been born and raised there, back in the town's better days. Once it had been a mining town, but no more; as I walked silently, head down, through the town, I felt it all; almost like the memories were still there, thick in the air, Jenova made me experience it all; everything Shinra did to the town.

A lot of people died and a lot of things were destroyed. Jenova didn't care more or less; but her power reached out and snatched the memories from thin air. My weak soul was beginning to bare more than it could. If I thought I was miserable before, well now…

But now I had friends, and hope. I had to save him.

"You ready?" Cid turned around and looked to me before we entered the rail car that would take us to the Golden Saucer. I nodded my head.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Tifa murmured as she stepped past us to get on the cart. "What if Jenova acts up?"

I shook my head. "She wants to kill me, not Sephiroth. She won't interfere" I promised. "And I assure you I won't let anything get in the way of saving Sephiroth and Vincent. I promise." After hearing this, Tifa gave one last glance to her feet and a sigh, then smiled, and walked into the cart.

Cid grinned at me. "Shall we?"

0-0-0-0

Rising up into the Golden Saucer was a very memorable experience, even after all of the memorable things that have happened to me recently. All of the lights and sounds and magic all around was like one of Earth's theme parks on a whole new level, with the stars shining above the finishing touch. For the first time I was actually glad it was night. But the idea that in three hours the execution would begin dimmed the light of the spectacle.

"Get ready guys, we're coming up. Sam, put your hood up." I immediately followed Reeve's order and pulling the hood low over my face to hide my obvious hair.

"All right, since Reeve still has his Shinra pass we'll get in easy enough. We gotta split first thing. Me and Vincent are heading towards the battle dome; Tifa and Reeve are going towards the Chocobo races and then the prisons."

I interrupted Cid for a question. "Which way should I head?"

He glanced back at me. "For now hang low. You're our trump card if Sephiroth goes nuts." Though my heart felt a little darker, I agreed. I knew it would be best if I stayed out of the way.

"Good luck, everyone." I murmured as the cart came to a halt at the top.

"Yes" Reeve muttered. "We'll need all the luck we can get."

0-0-0-0

Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.


Benjamin Franklin

Quickly, Reeve showed his card ID (an expired one that Rude had so kindly altered for us) and we all hurried inside. I hung my head low and tried to act shy, but I felt the attendant's prying eyes on me. Trying not to bring too much suspicion, I looked up and smiled shyly. He seemed to then decide I was the "girl who's really nervous around guys" sort of person. I didn't correct him.

Then we split, Reeve using his card to get to where Sephiroth was. It took all my strength to force me not to follow him. Instead, I wandered off, hoping that I wouldn't be needed. I hoped that everything would go smoothly without me. Turning my thoughts to stranger matters I wandered off to who knows where.

According to what Reeve had said, it sounded like something was going on inside the Shinra association. And Cid had mentioned that my mother had disappeared in the association, and that even Rufus had no idea why… something fishy was going on.

Even though Jenova had been trying to kill me, I wondered if I couldn't use her powers to my advantage. Or perhaps the powers I'd inherited from Sephiroth would help – something to solve the mystery. I had to find out what was going on… before anyone paid the price. Especially if my mother was involved…

Yet though I supposed there was the chance she might be alive, I hadn't really thought of finding her. It was a far off idea I could hardly comprehend – my mother had been dead for years; I thought…

The clock chimed nine times telling how late it was. It would still be a few hours before the execution. So many things had to go right for everything to end happily… I felt shivers race down my spine.

It was then I realized that that night was the night that would change everything. I had four hours left… Four hours to solve the mystery, save Sephiroth –

Four hours to kill Jenova before it was too late.

0-0-0

Life is something to do when you can't get to sleep.

Fran Lebowitz

"Sam? Sam, you there?"

Quickly I rushed into a dark corner and hit the button on my cell phone. "Yeah. What's going on?"

"Cid's in."

"Already?" I shouldn't have been surprised since the group had been working together for a long time, but they certainly acted quickly. "So what happens now?"

"We're gonna wait a little while before switching Vincent and Sephiroth. Reno and Rude switch in thirty minutes. Do you want… well… you should probably be with us then."

Even though she couldn't see me I shook my head. "I can't go near him. Please."

"How are we going to save him then?" Tifa's voice was full of indignation. "Come on. I know you're worried about hurting people, but we need you."

"Tifa… I can't – he won't listen to me anyway. I tried already." I was backing out I knew, but I was sure they didn't need me. Couldn't Vincent convince him? Someone?

For a moment the other end was silent.

"Look, I know you don't like me much. I'm sorry. But you can't back out of this. Sephiroth will only listen to you! We don't have any influence!"

"I know you're worried and you're really sick right now… but I know what happens when fear comes in the way of love. Love loses. I know first hand."

It was easy to feel the pain in her voice. Biting my lip, I sighed and agreed.

"I'll be there. I'll do it."

Jenova, stay out of my way.

0-0-0

Fourteen minutes had passed as I walked around the park. I was terribly worried and also nervous. I focused on driving Jenova as far back into my mind as possible so I could perhaps have a normal conversation with Sephiroth.

Toying with the chain around my neck I felt the breaks in the chain. Once again I wondered about its significance. Everything was so confusing…

Still, I had a quarter of an hour to kill. The area was getting packed even that early into the night. So I hurried away, head hung low, trying to remain inconspicuous. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw something.

It was a fluffy white cat.

"Furball?"

Utterly surprised and stumped, I wondered again how the strange cat had suddenly appeared out of thin air. This couldn't be a coincidence anymore, I knew; why did the cat keep showing up? Where did it go? Why was it running down a dark hallway, looking back as if to see if I were following?

Shaking my head, I glanced around and took a chance; quickly hurrying after the feline. At the end of the hall was one door, leading into the building. The cat sat down beside it, licked its paw, and looked at me as if to ask when I would open the door for it.

Rolling my eyes, I pulled my sleeve down over my hand and opened the door – to make sure I didn't leave fingerprints. Hurrying inside, the cat slipped between my legs and disappeared into the dark.

"Furball! Wait a minute!" I protested, trying to be quiet but also trying to chase the cat. I tripped over something in the dark, hit my head on the ground, and groaned.

Irritated with a mild headache, I sat up, trying to pierce the darkness and find the animal. Then, to my surprise, I could see; surely someone had turned a light on. But truthfully, I simply calmed down and began looking with my more powerful eyes; I was a little confused as to why I couldn't just see immediately, but oh well. I spotted the cat and chased after it.

We went down another hall in the dark building, and to my surprise there was no one present. It was either a time of day no one was around or the building was abandoned. I hoped for the latter.

Eventually the hallway opened up into a larger, circular room from which the only exit was the hall we came from. Again, with a sneer at the cat I wondered how it knew where to go. But instead of wondering how, I thought why. Why was it important to find this room? I looked for clues.

The Golden Saucer was an amusement park, essentially; not the sort of place you'd find this type of thing. It was a giant computer, with cords strung everywhere, and what looked like blood stains. Of course, when I thought about it, you wouldn't think of an amusement park having a prison beneath it, or holding an execution. This wasn't an ordinary amusement park.

Sighing I walked up to the computer, and pulled my sleeves over my hands. I began to push buttons, to see if it still worked. The start up screen appeared, and I was asked for a password.

"Shit" I hung my head and rubbed my forehead. What was I doing? Sephiroth's break out was about to begin, and I was messing around with old computers…

Suddenly the cat leapt onto the keyboard. Though I was surprised, I'd learned that the cat was more than it seemed so I backed up. A grin came to my face as the cat walked around the keyboard, pawing at the keys and entering the password.

"J – E – N – Oh yeah, that should've been obvious." I sighed, realizing the password was "Jenova". At least – that's what I thought at first.

"JENE Project 1?" I wondered, as the cat backed off and the screen started up again. The password was correct, and it left me wondering what it meant. Was the place I was in the home of the "JENE Project 1"? If so, were there other Projects, and where?

The new screen was an options screen, with a Caribbean Islands background and a martini glass as the little arrow you use to click on things. That was interesting…

"Where should I go?" I asked, turning to the cat. It was gone. "Oh, that's a surprise." I muttered, rolling my eyes; I turned back to the screen.

Four icons floated on the background; My Desktop, Projects, Internet, and Photos. The internet and desktop didn't concern me, but Projects and Photos might. I clicked on Projects first.

The page came up quick and brought up many files. I skipped most of the generic ones such as "Data" and "History" and whatnot – but I found a file that read "Sephiroth Data". I brought it up in a different page and kept reading the list. Another read "Maria Data", and you know I brought that up too. As I kept looking, it seemed as if there would be nothing left of interest, until I found a few folders at the bottom.

"Samantha Data?" Gawking, I stared at the folders. There were folders for Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, Crystal, Jamie, and Zack. But how could they now about Zack? How did they have information on Crystal and Jamie and I, unless it was recent information?

Which meant… no matter how abandoned it looked, someone had entered new data recently. From some other computer connected to here, or to the one I was standing in front of.

Sighing I pulled up all the files and began printing. Some had a lot of pages, some only a few; but I wanted to know what it was about us that was worth filing away, and I didn't have time to stand and read it all. Only a few minutes left, and I would need to be heading towards Tifa and the others.

The pages began to print, and I exited that page and looked at the photos. Inside were pictures, with helpful little descriptions beneath.

The one that caught my eye was a beautiful light show in the nighttime sky, a picture of some sort of vortex full of hues of blue and purple, spiraling out of nowhere over the planet. It was absolutely gorgeous. The description beneath read: "Strange mako reading, April 23rd, outside of Midgar around 3:00 a.m." I remembered from the Shinra file that on that same date there was an entry about a strange vortex in the sky, and hours later my mother "Maria" hobbled into Midgar, with wounds similar to that of a car crash. Had that vortex brought her here? And just who was documenting the information on me and those close to me? Why?

Sighing I glanced at the printer and hurried over, beginning to organize the information. It was a lot, but I was able to get it under my jacket and keep it against my body, hoping it would stay there. Once the printing was done, I looked at my watch and gasped.

"Time to go" Pulling my hood lower for good measure, I hurried away out of the building, back towards the horrendous crowds.

0-0-0

As I came closer, I opened myself up, hoping he'd sense me. The crowds were getting huge, and I found it hard to find my way. I kept being pushed along, shoved, getting lost in the storm of people, unable to find my way, trying hard to keep the precious documents in my jacket safe from harm. Somehow, I knew I wouldn't make it to Sephiroth; I didn't want to. I wasn't strong enough to face him yet – not until Jenova was gone. I had to get rid of her – and I hoped the JENE Project information would give me a clue.

So, giving up on trying getting to him, I opened my mind, searched for him, tried to find his soul among the thousands there – it was easy. Though he tried to hide from me, I could tell it was him simply by a gut feeling.

"Sephiroth?"

I heard him sigh, and giggled. It was really him. Closing my eyes I tried to see what he saw.

His jail cell was quiet, eerie, except for footsteps coming down the hall – they were quick, too quick – which meant it was Tifa and Reeve hurrying toward him without me. I tried reaching Tifa.

"Tifa – it's me, Sam. I'm talking to Sephiroth. Hang back a moment."

The echo of footsteps came to a stop. Taking in a deep breath, I tried to calm my beating heart.

"S – Sephiroth?"

"Yes"

At least he'd answered – I sighed in relief. The crowd kept pulling my around, but I didn't bother trying to hold my ground.

"We – we're here to save you."

"I know."

"So – are you coming?"

"You know my answer, darling."

I ignored the butterflies in my stomach from his nickname for me – instead I frowned and tried to think of what to say. It came to me easily.

"Sephiroth, what good does this do? All those people that died – it wasn't your fault! You – and I – even Cloud and a lot of other people were manipulated by Jenova, by Shinra, it was a mess! You can't take this on your shoulders and say it's all your fault! Please!"

He remained silent. I continued.

"The people will be led to believe you've died. They will be at peace, and so will we! We could – start that life you were talking about. Maybe start a family – who knows? All the peace and serenity we've ever wanted – far away from everyone. It'll be great."

"You're my everything. The reason I'm still alive. And whatever happened before, how we met, I don't care. The past is past already. Whatever you've done, I can forgive. Aren't you going to forgive yourself?"

Once again, I heard nothing from him. Still, I waited, hoping to hear something, anything at all. He sighed, and said to me,

"I can't. Forgive me."

Appalled and enraged, I screamed aloud, "Sephiroth!"

The crowd didn't notice me, even as I sobbed, but as I lost my way in the group I hit someone head on, falling back onto the ground.

Whoever I'd run into had turned around to apologize, until they saw me flat on the ground. Groaning I started to sit up. I felt lightning in my veins, anger at everything in the world. I hadn't even noticed my hood falling off.

His eyes went wide like saucers, and his friends turned to look. I felt tension begin to grow in the crowd, rage, and fear; it was palpable like a cold breeze. Realization dawned on me, but somehow it didn't matter.

"M – Monster!" The man in front of me declared, glaring at me angrily.

"Really?" I chuckled, glancing up from behind my matted hair at him. "Who are you to tell me what I am?" Growling, I walked up to him and pushed him back. Fear grew in his eyes. "So? Come now – who am I? Tell me, mighty one, if you're so good to say so!" The pushes became more violent, and with my final words I flung him into the wall.

The people started panicking – screaming, even, some of them. Some still hadn't really realized anything was wrong.

"Come ON!" I roared, claws growing on my hands, fangs extending over my lips. I suddenly felt Sephiroth trying to contact me; I could feel his confusion and worry. "Who wants to PLAY?" With that, I gave a tremendous roar at the crowd, shaking the ground, my eyes cat like and full of rage.

The rage wouldn't dim, even when I began panicking inside at the first scent of blood.

It was all over my hands, and screams were echoing in my ears, but I couldn't even see what I was doing or stop myself. Was this what it was like for Sephiroth when Jenova forced him to kill? Everything was a haze… it was like a horrible nightmare.

The plaza was a catastrophe, people racing away in fear, screams everywhere, bodies on the ground, blood streaming from them. I felt my heart race; - even the "guards" who'd rushed to the plaza were shivering in fear. I hated it – the beast inside of me was reveling in the feeling.

Before I knew it, even as bullets pierced my skin and buzzed around me, the guards were all dead. No one stood between Jenova (me) and total annihilation for the entire Golden Saucer.

Why not? Jenova whispered to me. They all came to see our lover die.

"Not your lover" I whispered. "And soon, not even mine." Tears came to my eyes, and I roared in agony.

"Quiet down" I heard a firm voice say behind me. Jenova spun me around. "Or will I have to make you?"

A large sword in hand, the speaker stepped into the area, his blonde hair shining in the light.

Cloud Strife had come to the rescue –

He came to kill me.