Things are easier said than done; Unmastered materia is just better; Lone gunmen make poor babysitters;
Parents wish to control their offspring; Cid doesn't swear; A momentous choice


Tifa laced her fingers together and stretched her hands above her head, her spine popping. Shaking herself loose, she surveyed the surrounding area. She stood in the little green valley outside the cave, with a cool draft flowing past her from the cave mouth. Two high rocky ridges concealed the gentle valley, the sun just above the eastern ridge, and there were no obvious paths or signs of regular visitation, so she wasn't worried about anyone from the village appearing. After what had become a three-hour-long discussion on their course of action, it felt good to be out in the fresh air. She still wasn't very pleased with the plan, but it did make sense and if all went well, it would be the best for everyone. Unfortunately, that 'everyone' included Sephiroth. She grimaced, and dropped into a fighting stance. When it was just words, the plan was simple. Change Shinra, end the Wutai War, save the planet. The difficult part was carrying it out.

Tifa began to run through some of her forms, testing what her now-smaller muscles were capable of. They would have to change Shinra, save Corel, save Nibelheim (the real Nibelheim), save Cid's dream, and, apparently, save Banora too. They were not only going to take out Hojo, President Shinra, Heidegger, Scarlet and Palmer, all of whom even Reeve thought had long since passed the possibility of redemption, but try and find decent replacements for them as well.

She shifted her stance a little, to compensate for her shorter reach. Tricky as it was going to be to find moral and effective replacements for Shinra's top brass, ending the war with Wutai was going to be trickier still. First, they were going to have to design a way for clean energy to support all of Midgar, thus making mako a moot point. Convincing Shinra to make the switch wasn't going to be easy either, even with the top brass gone. Mako was all people were used to. Even after Meteor, it had taken some time to convince the populace to switch over. Many had wanted to just repair and restart the reactors. A successful switch of power sources would depend heavily on Reeve's success at persuading his counterpart in this timeline, who was in charge of Midgar's Urban Development, to incorporate the change into the design of the not yet finished city.

Some of the others were beginning to drift out of the cave as well, stretching and settling into their own routines. Since they all seemed preoccupied with their thoughts, Tifa turned back to hers.

Alongside the problem of getting rid of mako energy, they had all the lies Hojo had fed the President about the Promised Land. If they could convince the Company that no such place existed, Shinra would no longer have a reason to be in Wutai. Ferreting out and exposing the lies in a way the Company would accept though, would probably make herding cactuars look easy. Even if they couldn't convince President Shinra about the promised land, at least the clean energy would make mako obsolete. And if mako was no longer needed, public opinion would turn against the unjustified war, and force Shinra into withdrawing. Or so Reeve thought. Tifa scoffed. Yeah, right. As though public opinion had ever been more than a plaything to Shinra. She thought the Company might continue fighting just so it wouldn't have to admit that it had been wrong. If they could get Shinra to abandon the war before the president's planned untimely death, it would make things much easer on them. Otherwise their chosen successor would have to deal with the fallout. And then, she gritted her teeth, there was the third portion of the plan.

She found herself putting more power behind her kicks and punches.

The first of the steps she was more than willing to go along with: destroy Jenova. After that, though, her enthusiasm jumped off a cliff. While she had been saddened by the story they'd dragged out of Cloud regarding the two other SOLDIERs 1st Class, and agreed that what had happened to the men wasn't fair, it was still a huge risk. It turned out, surprisingly enough, that sparing Sephiroth would be the easiest part of saving the three SOLDIER 1sts from themselves, and the planet from them. She lashed out with a high roundhouse kick, and followed it with a forward jab and uppercut. Kill Hojo and Jenova, tell the General about his real mother, and in essence, remind him that he was a human, not a god. And if he didn't take it well, they had plenty of experience in killing him. Vincent hadn't been happy with that, and under any other circumstances, Tifa might have gone along with him, just from the novelty of seeing the saturnine shooter so worked up. This was Sephiroth though, and she and Cloud had insisted that the "lethal intervention" card remain an option.

The other two though…. She shifted into a new kata. Commanders Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley. Those two were going to be difficult, because the only information they had on the pair was Reeve's hazy secondhand information and Cloud's hazier memories. For now, they were assuming the illness was something along the lines of Geostigma. Gaia, what a nightmare that had been. She had almost lost Cloud and Denzel to that tainted sickness. The thought of someone else going through that pain had, in the end, been the reason she agreed. The plan was to work on a solution for the SOLDIERs' disease from two fronts.

Coming to the end of her katas, Tifa started her cooldown. Reeve was to work on the medical science end of the problem. He was an engineer, not a medical doctor though, which meant that part of the plan was to go ransack old Shinra labs and gather what information they could. They were going to try to enlist Aerith's help, too. They'd discussed it a lot, everyone wracking their memories, and the consensus was that by 1997, Aerith was free from Shinra's lab, and her mother was already unfortunately dead. They couldn't afford to not at least ask the last living Cetra for assistance. The plan was for Nanaki to meet up with her, explain the situation, persuade her to help them, and then stay by her side, and help her if possible. But Nanaki refused to go to Midgar as long as Hojo was there. So the scientist had to die first. Once again, Tifa thought, easier said than done. Hojo was as paranoid as a schizophrenic rat on hallucinogens.

"Tifa?" asked a quiet but determined voice behind her. "Will you teach me a new kata?"

Closing her eyes, Tifa inwardly sighed. There was also the issue of Denzel and Marlene. She had been teaching them martial arts for exercise, mental training, and emergency self-defense. She didn't want them to have to fight in earnest, ever. She never wanted to see them fighting for their lives, or for revenge, the way she had fought for so long. She wanted them to stay here with the Shera, where it was safe. But she knew they wouldn't be happy with that.

"Don't think about leaving me behind," the boy said, as if reading her mind. "I want to help. Please let me help you! I know I'm not strong, but I won't get in the way. Please. Let me save my parents."

Tifa flinched at that last sentence. At least in part, she was fighting for that reason too. Turning around, she faced the boy, who right now was about her height. His expression was determined - jaw clenched, eyebrows drawn fiercely down - but she could see the worry and fear in his dark blue eyes.

"Denzel. Are you sure this is what you want to do? There are other ways you could help us. You don't need to fight."

"I won't be much help to Vincent hacking. And going with Reeve and Nanaki to Cosmo Canyon, well... I don't know anything about medical science or engineering. Please, let me go with you and Cloud." Denzel was too self-possessed to cry, but his desperation hit Tifa right in the heart. She looked sadly at this boy who was like a son to her, and he met her gaze dead on, posture stiff and straight.

Denzel was bright, and a fast learner when he wanted to be. He already knew all the basic katas, and Cloud had taught him a little about swords. He took direction well enough, but just like Marlene, he was also developing a rather broad stubborn streak. No surprise really, considering who they lived with. She and Cloud were the most stubborn out of their whole stubborn group of friends.

"I guess..." Tifa knew she'd made her decision the instant Denzel had mentioned his parents. Too many of the party had lost their families, and she knew she wasn't the only one hoping for a chance to change things. "Go fetch Marlene and meet me back out here."

Denzel smiled hugely, and left at a run to find his adopted sister. She hoped Barret wouldn't complain too strenuously about this. The party had yet to decide what to do with the kids, but she could at least prepare them a little for what lay ahead. She headed back to the Shera and its armory to grab some Restore materia. When she started gathering them up though, she was surprised by the number they possessed. The materia collection had almost doubled in size. Tifa smiled. Yuffie's hoard must have been added to the armory's store. She wondered if that had been from Yuffie's sometimes warped sense of generosity, or if, like their ultimate weapons showing up, it had been involuntary. On her way out, Tifa also grabbed some Ethers from the rack beside the door, just in case. Jogging back to the surface, she thought about teaching methods for the kids, and also how best to broach the subject with Cloud and Barret.

Denzel and Marlene were already waiting for her, barefoot in the short grass. Both looked eager to see what the martial artist would teach them.

"All right," Tifa said, standing with her arms folded in her best imitation of Zangan in teaching mode. "I am not going to be teaching you any katas."

After a moment of dismayed silence, both Marlene and Denzel started protesting, voices tumbling over each other.

Tifa spoke over them. "What I am going to teach you is this." She held up a green orb glimmering with its own inner light.

"Materia?!" Denzel exclaimed, obviously excited about the prospect of learning magic.

"You're really going to teach us?!" Marlene put in, radiating delight.

"Yes, I am." Tifa smiled at the two. "These are mastered Restore materia." In truth, she would have preferred to start them on lower-leveled materia, but the only ones they had that weren't already mastered were a few summons, a Flare, a Destruct, a handful of support materia that had to be linked to work, and a few negative status materia. None of them were any good for first time casting. The brawler handed an orb to both her students, and watched as they tentatively rolled them around in their hands.

"Alright, I want you to focus. Extend your awareness into the materia. Can you sense the different levels of the spells inside it?"


Denzel concentrated on the orb in his hand. It tingled against his fingers, cool, strange, and soothing, kind of like the water in the church. After a moment, he was able to feel something else, a sensation that was mental instead of physical, like a tug on his brain. Startled, he pressed his fingers against his forehead.

"You should be able to feel the pull of the different spells. The stronger spells have a stronger pull. For now, stay away from those. I want you to look for the smallest spell," Tifa was saying. But it was hard. The way Tifa described it as a pull was true. Some of the spells that tugged at him were demanding. Ignoring the stronger spells was difficult, but eventually he was able to locate the smallest one.

"I found it!" Marlene voiced her discovery first, but Denzel wasn't very far behind.

"Good. Now try coaxing it out, giving it just enough energy to activate. But don't force it, or you'll more than likely end up with one of the other spells," Tifa instructed.

It took a while, but once again Marlene was first, casting a level one Cure spell. Denzel concentrated, but the harder he focused the more the stronger spells got in his way.

"Relax, Denzel. Let it flow through you. If you get too tense, you block it."

He tried taking a few deep, slow breaths, centering himself, a trick both Tifa and Cloud had taught him. Trying again, he slowly extended his awareness into the materia. Locating the smallest spell was easier this time. Taking hold of the spell, he tried to coax it out, letting it feed off of his energy instead of forcing it to follow him out. Goosebumps rose on his skin as a gentle light surrounded him. Denzel could feel the healing warmth of the Restore pass through him. Looking over at Tifa, he couldn't help but feel proud and a little lightheaded at his success.

"Good job!" she said, brown eyes warm. "I'm so proud of you both. Casting magic isn't easy, especially when you're young. It's a skill you'll need to have though, if you're determined to go with us." They both nodded firmly at this. "Right then, we'll work on casting reliably for now, as well as cutting your time down. Later we'll work on blind casting."

It took some time before they were able to cast the right spell at a fairly reliable speed, about one spell every half minute to minute. Not exactly fast, but reliable, at least. Marlene accidentally cast a powerful Regen spell and remained standing afterward, which was pretty impressive. Tifa gave her an Ether immediately, then doled out more as they became tired. As for the blind casting, Tifa gave them each a basic iron bangle to practice with. Placing the materia in the open slot and casting a spell without touching or even looking at the orb was difficult. Denzel could still sense the materia, but trying to find the level one cure became almost impossible. Tifa reminded him again to relax, and suggested he try some meditative techniques that would enable him to spread his senses, but also focus them. He got it in the end, but his casting time was pitiful. If he wanted to get better, he was going to need a lot more practice.

Denzel centered himself, took a deep breath and cast again, and again, and again. By the time Tifa called the lesson to a halt two hours later, Denzel couldn't even remember how many spells he had cast. While he knew he was physically healthy, what with all the cure spells, he still felt tired and dizzy. Tifa explained that what they were feeling was a particular kind of exhaustion that came from extended use of magic. The best way to counter it was to eat or drink something with a high sugar count and rest.

He and Marlene ended up sitting under the arch of one of the many trees surrounding the area, drinking the Banora White juice Tifa had brought back from the town. The shadows were strange down here in this narrow valley, and Marlene amused herself making shadow puppets against the grass. His sister was always more carefree than he was. Now that the training was over, Denzel found himself full of doubt. Cloud and the others could cast mastered spells as if there was no tomorrow and not tire. Of course, he knew that was why they'd gotten so good - there really wouldn't have been a tomorrow if they'd failed. Still, he worried. He and Marlene wouldn't get better without lots of practice, and they didn't have much time to learn. Would they be ready to help when the time came? Keeping his voice low, he asked Marlene what she thought. "Do you think we'll be really able to help?"

"Of course," she answered, watching Yuffie and Vincent head back into the cave, following Tifa. "Maybe we won't really be much use fighting. But we don't want to be left behind again. We'll just have to do our best, and at least now we can heal anyone if they get hurt." She held her hand up to the sky and turned it back and forth, watching the light reflect off the materia in the bangle on her wrist. Tifa had let them keep the iron bangles and materia in case they wanted to practice again, though she'd also warned them, very sternly, not to overtax themselves.

Denzel looked at his own materia. He didn't want to be there only as support. What he really wanted was to stand alongside Cloud. He knew he would never be the man's equal, but if he could become strong enough that he wasn't a burden, and Cloud could rely on him... Then, well, that would be a dream come true.

He nodded decisively. He needed to get stronger, and sitting here wasn't going to make that happen. The juice had helped a lot, and he felt ready to get back to work. He stood, and dusted himself off. "I'm going to run through some katas. Want to join me?"

"Hmm? Sure." Marlene set down her second can of juice, and got into the first stance.

They settled down into a comfortable routine, unaware of the heated discussion aboard the Shera that would decide their fates.


"Hold on. You want to take them with us?" Unlike some of the others, Yuffie wasn't opposed to the idea. She had, after all, been out defending her home from the dogs of Shinra when she was only seven. She just hadn't expected Tifa to be on the kids' side as well, that was all.

"They want to save their parents just as much as we want to save those we lost. They have a right to help," Tifa argued on the kid's behalf.

"I say let them," Yuffie said, ignoring the hostile glances she was getting. "I mean, why not? Denzel's thirteen. I was a great ninja by that age. And Cloud, weren't you, like, gearing up to go shoot people for Shinra by then?"

Cloud's stare sharpened further. "I signed up when I was fourteen. I don't want them to have that sort of life."

"No way is my little girl goin' into battle." Barret's stern voice told her plenty. He wasn't going to be budged on this issue.

"They can not stay here. I am not going to be a babysitter."

Yuffie snorted. The image of Vincent running around after children was hilarious. However, she realized that thinking of Denzel and Marlene only as children was unfair. Physically, most of the party wasn't much older than them right now. And Yuffie would admit, even if only to herself, that she probably acted more immaturely than the calm and quiet Marlene or self-possessed Denzel. So reasons of age or maturity were insufficient arguments to keep the kids penned away from the action. The whole conversation, it seemed to her, was about adults justifying their desire to protect and control their offspring, and she'd had more than enough of that in her life, thank you very much.

"They could come with Nanaki and myself to Cosmo Canyon," Reeve offered. He also seemed keen on keeping them out of danger.

"And what? It's not like they're scientists. They'd be bored." At times it seemed like everyone forgot what it was like to be a kid, Yuffie thought. "They don't want to be left behind or locked up. They want to help! Isn't that obvious?" She scowled, exasperated with the whole group.

"If the issue is that they don't know how to fight, then I'm in the same boat, but you're still taking me," Shera said politely. Yuffie smiled at her. Seemed the split in opinions was the women against the men.

"They know basic martial arts, and Cloud has taught Denzel a little swordwork." Tifa nodded in Cloud's direction. He shifted sulkily. "I just worked with them for an hour on materia. Marlene's quite good. She managed to cast a Regen spell and stay standing, not an easy feat for a beginner. And Denzel's not bad. He has a lot of determination." Tifa sounded pleased with them.

"Ya taught them how to cast?" Barret said. He looked proud about Tifa saying that Marlene had done well, but also shocked that she had taught them at all.

"Why not?" the brawler snapped. "Even if they don't fight, they'll still be in danger. We are taking on the most powerful company in the world. Again. The best way for them to defend themselves is with materia." Tifa's tense posture reminded Yuffie of a mother adamantaimai, ready to crush anybody who further questioned her parenting methods.

Yuffie decided to get a new vote in the discussion. "Red, what do you think? I mean, you said you were still a cub before, so you should have an opinion on this." So far, it was Cloud, Barret, and Reeve saying nay, Shera, Tifa and herself saying yes, and Vincent was kind of abstaining.

"I don't think they should fight, but I also know that they should not have to be left behind. Being separated from the ones you care about, even for your own protection, is difficult to bear. If they can cast materia well enough to defend themselves, I don't see why they can't choose who to go with." Nanaki looked up from his spot on the floor, his one good eye peering at each one of them individually.

He might look like an adorable, fluffy cross between a kitten and a puppy at the moment, but he was the second oldest among them, even if he was still young for his species. Yuffie thought he made a really good point. Marlene and Denzel should have some input on what their future held.

"Red's got a point," Cid unknowingly agreed with her. "Them kids should choose for themselves. Just tell 'em about what it is you'll be doin' and the risk. If the kids still wanna go, let 'em. I know none of us'll let any bastard hurt 'em. The safest place would be with one of us. An' Shinra won't be able to try an' kidnap 'em unless they send the whole damn army after 'em. Kids could learn some useful things too. Seems they already have, what with Tifa here teaching them materia." As Cid finished, he flicked his cigarette into a nearby ashtray.

Yuffie just stared at Cid. He had only sworn, like, twice during that whole thing. The only other time she could remember him talking like that was when they were in space, looking down on the planet, and he was talking about saving it. Guess he really did care about the kids.

"I still don't like it. Marlene's only ten. She don't need to get involved." Barret actually sounded like he was sulking. His lanky teenage posture didn't help with his image either - what was an imposing glower on an adult looked like an overdramatic scowl on a teen.

"I agree with Barret," Reeve put in. Before he could continue, Yuffie interrupted.

"You should know the danger better than anybody, Reeve. The last time Marlene got left behind, you're the one who took her hostage." Her tone was light and teasing but the accusation was there. She felt a little bad about playing that particular card, but she really did want Marlene and Denzel to be able to choose for themselves.

"I didn't want to... It wasn't to hurt her. And I did keep her safe. She could have been taken by the Turks." Reeve looked hurt.

A silence descended on the group as they all thought over the possible choices. The pain of being left behind, or the danger of having to go into combat. The liability of leaving them and the risk of taking them.

"Alright. We let them decide." Cloud didn't look too pleased with his decision, but Yuffie didn't care.

She jumped up and pumped her fist. "Yes! I'll go tell them."

With that, she ran out of the cave. It was still light out, but the sun was dipping behind one of the valley's ridges. The kids were right outside the cave mouth, going through cooldown stretches.

"Hey guys!" she called, bounding over to them. "Sooo, we were all just talking about you and what groups you might end up going with." She kept her face serious, rocking back on her heels.

Denzel visibly tensed. Marlene stepped forward, her mouth opening as though she was about to start arguing with Yuffie.

"Hey, don't worry. I convinced them to let you guys decide. Well, okay, it wasn't just me. Tifa, Shera, Nanaki and Cid helped a little. But the others aren't too pleased." Both of the kids looked pretty nervous. She grinned at them. "Well, just be true to yourself, make up your mind about where you want to go, and stick to it. Alright? Come on then, let's go." Spinning round, she trotted off again for the Shera. At the moment it was her favorite type of airship - grounded. Or rather, undergrounded.


Denzel wiped his sweaty palms on his pants for the fifth time, and entered the room. Marlene was right behind him, and he kind of wished he could hold her hand, just for the moral support. Everyone was looking at them, and their expressions were grim. Here were the two people he looked up to the most in the world, and their friends. The saviors of the planet. How could he, just a scrawny little kid, ever manage to help them? But he wanted to, so badly. For a long time, he'd thought of AVALANCHE as the enemy, as the terrorists responsible for the death of his parents. But they'd been framed by Shinra. Shinra was the real killer. They were responsible for the death of Marlene's parents, too, and for the death of all the parents of the orphans he had meet after Meteor. Even if Shinra had fought against Meteor at the end; indirectly, they were still the cause of that too. He took a deep breath, in and out. He tried to keep his nervousness out of his expression, to make his face match the determination in his heart.

"Denzel. Marlene. I understand that you want to help, but you have to understand what it is we're going to be doing." Cloud's voice was low, but his eyes bore into Denzel as if trying to convey all the information with a single look.

"These are your options, the groups you can go with." Tifa was calm and steady, looking deeply into their eyes. "First, you could stay here on board the Shera with Vincent. After we get the Shera hooked up to the network, he will be our eyes and ears looking into Shinra, as well as compiling a report to show the President about Hojo's lies. On board the airship is probably the safest place for you. Secondly, you could go with Reeve and Nanaki to Cosmo Canyon. They'll be working on a sustainable clean energy source, and as they get more information, a cure for the illness infecting those two SOLDIERs. At some point, when Hojo is dead or at least out of Midgar, Nanaki will be heading there to meet with Aerith."

"If you want to go to Midgar earlier than that, your third option is to go with Barret, Cid and Shera, to take out Heidegger, Scarlett and Palmer. They will also try to find a replacement for each, and make it so that those people get promoted to the department heads. Your last option is to go with Cloud, Yuffie and myself. We will be going after Hojo and Jenova, and just like with Barret's group, we'll be trying to find a new head for the department. We'll be fighting our way through a lot of muck until we find a moral replacement, though. All the groups, but especially the last two, run a risk of being captured by Shinra, imprisoned, interrogated, experimented on, executed or being killed in battle. Do you understand?"

They both nodded. Denzel felt cold sweat inching down his neck, but he didn't back down. He had taken on a shadow creeper during Kadaj's Reunion. Didn't kill it, but disabled it. He had also tried to take on Bahamut SIN, though he knew it had been a pretty stupid move. Cloud and Tifa had taught him how to fight after that, and he knew they were proud of his progress. He wasn't unprepared. He could do this. He was going to make Cloud proud.

"I want to go with you, Cloud and Yuffie." Denzel set his jaw, crossed his arms, and looked at them. He was going to do this.


Cloud didn't flinch at the boy's answer, but it took an effort of will. He had known this was going to happen. He didn't want Denzel within a hundred miles of Hojo. Never mind that the guard around the paranoid scientist was second only to that of the President himself, and maybe not even that. Never mind that they wouldn't be going after Hojo until they were absolutely sure they could take him out in one swift, surgical strike. The mere thought of Denzel in the same room as Hojo made Cloud sick to his stomach. Denzel was smart, a little impulsive, and in no way ready to take on Shinra. But what could Cloud do? They had agreed to let the kids make their own decisions.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Reeve asked, clearly hoping the boy would waver.

"Yeah," Denzel answered stoutly.

Reeve sighed, and turned to Marlene. "And what about you? Who do you want to go with, Marlene?"

"I want to go with Daddy. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I promise not to get in the way. And if I keep working with materia," she held up the iron bangle that Tifa had given her, proudly displaying the materia she had been working with, "I'll be able to help cure at least." She looked at her father, imitating his scowl. Barret looked back, mouth tight, eyes suspiciously wet. Finally, he nodded.

So that was that then. They had chosen to go with the two most dangerous groups. Cloud wasn't surprised. Of course Denzel wanted to go with he and Tifa, and Marlene wanted Barret. They were their parental figures, the ones they looked up to. He just really wished they hadn't chosen them.

"Alright," he mustered after a moment. "If you're going with us, you'll need to be better prepared than you are now. But for now, rest. It's been a long day, and tomorrow will be longer." He needed to get out of there, to think, and what he said was true. Tomorrow they would all start working on moving their plans forward, going over their equipment, and now training Denzel, Marlene and Shera on how to fight, defend, and survive.