Author's Note:

Reno: Wait. There's more to Rude's past than he let on?

Reeve: Of course there is. It's build up to 'Fighting For A Promise', the prequel to FF7 that Tyramir will eventually write.

Reno: Jeez. That man has no life. He's got like five things lined up. Still working on Promised Empire, Final Trinity coming soon, and he hasn't even finished Fallen Knight yet.

Reeve: Tell me about it. For a man that's so lazy, you'd think he'd give himself less of a workload.

Reno: Yet it's that very same laziness that keeps him from finishing Fallen Knight.

Reeve: Heh. Tyramir doesn't own the rights to Final Fantasy. Final Trinity is coming. And so's Fighting For a Promise, too. Eventually.

Chapter Fifty Nine

Illusion No More

Cloud sheathed Ultima Weapon and surveyed the carnage. All about him were the dead bodies of Cosmo Canyon's finest warriors as well as those of refugees from both Corel and Gold Saucer. But for every body there was, there were three piles of ash. Some consolation. The trade hardly seemed worth it.

He turned to face Barret, and saw the man sitting down on a boulder, looking completely dumbfounded. The man appeared to almost have no sense as to what was around him, looking confused.

As Cloud approached, the man said, "The hell's it all for? These godamn Tali Hishna... First Corel, then Gold Saucer, now Cosmo Canyon. The hell is it all for!"

Placing an arm on Barret's shoulder, the big man flinched at the Soldier's touch, as if just noticing Cloud for the first time. The black man grunted. "The hell you doin' here anyway, Spike?"

Cloud smiled, glad to see that at least Barret's surliness remained intact. "I came because I heard you needed help. Looks like I got here just in time."

"Yeah, well, thanks, I guess." A pause. "We got lucky today. Hell, we been lucky the past week. We shoulda been overrun a long time ago. Why they doin' this, Cloud? Why they tryin' to kill us all?"

"They're not. They're trying to conquer us. They want the world to bend knee to Jenova."

Barret spat. "Like hell I'll bow to those albino bastards. Ain't happening. Shit man, what do we do now? We lost more than half our men, and I know there are more o' those sons o' bitches out there."

Cloud nodded. "They're attempting to take Gongaga. Cosmo Canyon was just a feint. They want the Mako reactor there."

"How d'ya know that?"

"The Planet told me."

"About that," came a voice from behind. Cloud jumped and turned to see Vincent, who was sporting a pair of leathery black wings. He gave another small start at that sight.

"Vincent-? What happened to you?"

Barret answered the question for him. "Dumb shit decided to go skinny dippin' in the Lifestream. Hey, Vince, is Marlene all right?"

The Turk nodded. "She is safe in the library. None of the Tali Hishna penetrated those doors."

"Good. Good. Hey, been meanin' to ask ya. How'd you know Dio and Frennal were the traitors? You always so secretive, I was just wonderin'…"

As the two spoke, Cloud only half-listened, bending over to pick up the burlap sack he had given to Barret. Inside was Death Penalty, discarded by Barret in his haste to put his own gun-arm back on.

Vincent smiled. "I didn't. I honestly thought it was you and Dorret. Why else would Dorret give you a position of power?"

Barret began to protest, sputtering about how Vincent could possibly think a thing like that, talking about old times and when they'd fought Sephiroth together, and then stopped short. Cloud noticed a small, barely there, smile on Vincent's lips. A joke? Did Vincent just tell a joke?

Cloud handed over Death Penalty to Vincent and was about to remark on it, but he stopped short, looking at what was in Vincent's other hand. A cold anger gripped him. "Masamune. Sephiroth's sword. Where did you get that?"

Barret answer for Vincent once more, a frown on his face. "Ah hell, when he went to the Lifestream and got all playin' in it, he got that damn pig-sticker. Figures we'll need it for 'the coming battle' an' all."

Cloud visibly trembled as he looked at the blade, remembering with anger how it had taken Aeris' life before his very eyes. Maybe Barret could bring himself to forget that, but he never would. And as he lifted his eyes to look into Vincent's he realized that the former Turk remembered just as well. And still he wielded it.

Cloud's first impulse was to strike Vincent, but instead he turned away, pronouncing every step deliberately as he stomped off. He spotted an outcropping of rocks, small shelter from prying eyes, and made his way towards them.

"Cloud," Vincent called after him insistently. "I need to speak with you. It's about your visions of the Planet-"

"I don't want to see you right now, Vincent!" the Soldier washout yelled, not even turning to face the man. He just kept walking, away from where people could see him.

Once he made it to the rocks, he slipped behind them and screamed in anger, remembering Aeris on her knees, and a black cloaked figure descending, sword point out. He remembered nearly striking her down himself, nearly losing himself to Jenova's and Sephiroth's control.

You are a puppet.

He could hear the words echoing throughout his mind, over and over again, singing of weakness and inevitability. How he would always fail to protect the ones he loved. He'd lost his mother to Sephiroth, and nearly Tifa, too. He'd lost Zack to Shinra, and Aeris, if only temporarily, to Sephiroth. Cid had perished killing the forbidden summoned monster, Shin Bahamut. Always people seemed to be dying. Always because of him.

Howling in anger, Cloud suddenly realized how much his fist hurt. He looked down at it, and saw that even through his glove, blood was beginning to seep through. He must have hit one of the rocks. Quite a few times. He smiled to himself. He wasn't Rude of Tifa. He couldn't break stone with his fists.

"Ya damn idiot," came a gruff voice.

Cloud turned to face it, and wasn't surprised to once again be confronted by the visage of Cid, smoking a cigarette. Cloud coughed for a moment on the odour coming from it. He never had been used to that.

"I see ya managed to get to Cosmo Canyon," the Planet said. "Good job there. You didn't fuck up entirely, kiddo."

"No thanks to you," Cloud said. "For the spiritual embodiment of the Planet, you certainly haven't been giving me good advice recently. When I was running from the Tali Hishna, they always seemed to know where I was heading, always knew where I was hiding."

"About that," the image of Cid said. "I think that somehow the damn Yenta Pree was listenin' in. Managed to intercept what I was sayin' to you. They're smarter'n I thought. Listen, what you gotta do next is get your ass to Gongaga with what's left o' the people here and-"

"Cloud!" Vincent called. Cloud looked up to see the man land, his wings giving a few small flaps as he did. The former Turk looked directly at the visage of Cid.

"You can see it?" Cloud asked.

"More than see it," Vincent hissed. "I can sense it. I felt it right away as soon as it appeared to you. Is this what's been giving you advice, calling itself the Planet?"

"Yes," Cloud answered, his voice a mass of confusion. "How can you see it? It said that it could only appear to me, because I'm a champion."

The visage of Cid grunted."He can see me because he's got some of… Jenova's taint in him, like you. He's been in the Lifestream, too. Somethin' like that's bound to change a man, make him more in touch with the Planet."

"That ain't it," Barret's voice called. The man stepped from behind a rock, an angry expression on his face. "I can see you, too. Vince said somethin' was up over here and tol' me to eavesdrop. And lookie what I can see. A Tali Hishna pretendin' to be our dead friend."

"What?" Cloud asked incredulously.

"'Beware the Tainted Tongue, for it lies both to the ears and the eyes.'" Vincent said, as if reciting something. "That's what the books in the library said about the Yenta Pree, masters of illusion."

"Now hold on just a damn second!" Cid said. "I can't be the damn Yenta Pree. I dunno why Barret can see me, but I've been on your side. I gave Cloud my damn spear so he could fight Rude. The same spear that Sephiroth killed Jenova with, dammit! I'm the Planet. We don't have time for this. Why would I be responsible for helpin' kill Jenova?"

Cloud's eyes widened, as he remembered the Yenta Pree's own words when he had fought the sorcerer-like Cetra in the ruins of Midgar. "'We know you, for we saw you slay Mother. We thank you.' You set me up. Jenova called you for help, you came to see what she needed, and found out she was in trouble. So you set me up to kill her."

"Even if I was the Yenta Pree," Cid explained, "why the hell would I help in Jenova's destruction? They worship her. She's like a god to them!"

Vincent said, "You're right. It doesn't make sense. Unless the priests of Jenova had become content with her absence, satisfied with the power in society that gave them. The return of the Tali Hishna's god would mean a lowering in rank for the Yenta Pree, wouldn't it?"

"Listen, dammit. I'm tryin' to help you numbskulls, and here you are accusin' me o'-"

"Screw it," Barret said. "If this is really the Planet, then it's made up o' Mako, right?"

"I would assume so," Vincent answered.

"Good. Cloud, get clear!"

The former Soldier barely had time to jump out of the way as Barret lifted his gun-arm, pointed it at the image of Cid, and opened fire. It flinched, and as a loud barrage of machinegun fire issued out, a blue wall of light appeared between Cid and Barret, and the bullets were harmlessly absorbed.

"Curse that Veishan!" the figure sputtered, the illusion about it flickering away to reveal a white-skinned figure in grey robes. "This is all his fault! I knew I shouldn't have appeared here!"

Cloud shouted, "Barret! Hit him with everything you've got!"

"On it!" came the reply, followed by another barrage of machinegun bullets.

Drawing Ultima Weapon from its shoulder sheathe, Cloud swung the massive weapon in an overhead attack, bringing his entire massive strength to bear on the force field that surrounded the Yenta Pree. The blue energy rippled, but the sword harmlessly bounced off. The Yenta Pree casually lifted a hand and sent a bolt of lightning energy at Cloud. The Soldier washout took the hit, falling down, and his muscles seemingly ablaze. He began to stand up, anticipating another attack, but the Yenta Pree had turned to face Barret.

"Barret!" Cloud called, "Down!"

The large man was way ahead of Cloud, already dodging to the side as a wave of fire erupted where he had just been standing.

"I am Dweir!" the Yenta Pree called. "I am not a weakling like Veishan! I-"

Whatever else he was about to announce himself as was cut off as Vincent clumsily raised up Masamune and drove it through his shield, the weapon sliding through as if it were butter and directly into the Yente Pree's thigh.

"You talk too much," Vincent said.

An expression of pain registered on the albino's face, and it looked stunned for a moment. Vincent withdrew the sword, seemingly having difficulty wielding it correctly, and lunged again, but the Yenta Pree managed to stumble aside, and the blade sunk into the rock behind him. A wall of ice abruptly surrounded the Jenova-tainted Cetra, extending twenty feet into the air and trapping Masamune's blade.

Cloud stood up and began to hack at the ice with his blade, while Vincent began to tug at his sword.

"Time to put on the heavy firepower! Get outta the way!" Barret called, and as the two dodged, Barret let loose with a large explosion issuing from Missing Score, the rocket attachment having just clicked into place before he fired.

The ice shattered, and Masamune clattered to the ground. Cloud instantly charged to where he assumed the Yenta Pree must be standing and swung, but his sword connected only with the ground.

"Where is he?" he called.

Vincent looked all about, then peered up into the air. "Up there! I won't let him get away!"

Cloud looked up as the Turk's wings surged, and saw the Yenta Pree in the sky, lightning ablaze all about him as he streaked through the sky. Vincent launched himself into the air and followed immediately after. A series of explosions began to issue around the fleeing Yenta Pree as Barret fired at him, missing only barely and swearing each time he did.

"Let him go," Cloud said. "Vincent will get him."

"Shit!" Barret said. "The hell do we do now?"

Cloud sheathed his sword, and continued to watch the black figure chase after the white one in the sky that was still just turning to night. He wondered that very same question himself.

"The Yenta Pree told me that Cosmo Canyon was a distraction. That the Yenta Pree were really after the Mako reactors, and were actually after Gongaga."

"So what? We gonna go to Gongaga, listen to it like a buncha fools? It wants us to go there. Prob'ly an ambush."

"Exactly," Cloud said. "But if I've learned anything about lying from Yuffie, it's always to put a little bit of truth in it to make it seem believable."

"So what's that s'posed to mean?"

Cloud scratched at his chin for a moment, mulling the question over. "We can't go to Gongaga, because it's sure to be a trap, and we can't stay here. The attack force that was supposed to keep Cosmo Canyon pinned has been eliminated. Sitting here accomplishes nothing. We have to go to the nearest Mako reactor. Gongaga's is broken, so that leaves…"

"Corel," Barret answered right away. "We gotta go to my home."