Epilogue Four

Reeve

As Reeve walked from Elena's room, he sighed. He had never really given his chances with her to be that good to begin with, but recently she seemed to be purposely shutting him out. He supposed he shouldn't take offence. Reno had noted it a time or two as well. She was apparently doing it to everyone.

So it wasn't a rejection. Not of him anyway. Ever since Tseng's death, second death that was, she'd distanced herself from everyone. Especially since she'd gone looking for his body and never found it. It had probably been swept in by the ocean or eaten by who knew what kind of Mako monster roaming the beach side.

Reeve walked slowly to his office, a slight spring in his step despite everything. He had his body back, although he wasn't sure how. Something Aeris had done to him. Although he hadn't been able to question her about it. He remembered the last time he saw her, walking away in the closest thing he'd seen to her in a fury.

Reeve, Reno and Yuffie raced to the Junon gates. The soldier who told them of an enemy army and Rufus' betrayal of them had been frantic, saying something about Aeris gone to confront the army on his own. Reno couldn't have seemed to care less at first, but once Yuffie started dragging him and Reeve mentioned a potential mission with double pay, that had gotten the Turk to start moving.

The three stumbled out to the front gates to see Aeris clutching a dead body and Rufus moving towards her as an army of albinos swarmed someone over. It was chaos, and Reeve didn't even pretend to understand what was going on. But as Reeve moved closer, he heard the dead body speak.

"Did we fool 'em?"

"Yes, Lieutenant, we did," Rufus responded.

Aeris gave a start, looking from the dead body to Rufus and back again. "You're alive?"

"Of course I am, ma'am," the soldier said. "Rufus never shot me. It was all illusion."

"Illusion?" Aeris asked incredulously.

Rufus said, "Ephain told me that Cetra gain access to a particular school of magic at a point in their own growth. Some keep their healing magic, some become masters of time and space, people in touch with the world around them control their surroundings, people with deceptive natures gain illusion magic, and warriors gain black magic. Out of all those, you assumed I was closest to a black mage? That I would gain the Mark of Blood Letting?"

Reeve scratched his head, but didn't want to interfere or say anything. He'd get his answers later. Reno, however, wasn't so patient, and with a comment that sounded very much like "Fuck this," the Turk wandered off, Yuffie trailing along behind him.

"But… you planned all of this? Switching sides, pretending to kill Gerald, revealing Ephain?"

"Not everything. I admit the megaphone was a godsend, but more or less. I had a dream, sent to me by the Planet. In it, my father appeared, and told me to 'Fight like a Shinra.' The Shinra family fights with lies and betrayal, petty scheming and backstabbing. It was the only way we could win. The dream told me about the Mark of Blood Letting, and how I could use illusion to make it look like I had it. From there, all I had to do was make it look like I switched sides."

Aeris stood up abruptly, shoving the soldier from her as she did. She stormed up to Rufus, staff in hand, and slammed the end across his temple. The President of Shinra collapsed in a heap. Aeris walked off, straight-backed and one fist clenched around Princess Guard.

Reeve hurried to Rufus' side, who mumbled, "I didn't think she'd actually hit me."

Reeve was still unsure what had happened there, even after Rufus had explained the whole situation, but he knew what he needed to know. Rufus was back in control of Shinra, and he had made noises about making amends. Aeris was back in Kalm, and apparently the rest of Avalanche, save Yuffie and himself, were headed there to meet her. The Tali Hishna had retreated back to their caverns. From there, no one knew their fate.

Reeve stepped into his office, and saw the red light blinking on his answering machine. It was probably from the same soldier who had feigned death to make Rufus' betrayal seem more real, Lieutenant Knox. He moved towards the machine, but stopped at hearing Rufus' voice.

"Reeve," Rufus called.

Reeve turned to face the man, who was still sporting a nasty lump on the side of his head. Materia was once again working again, but Rufus had purposely gone out of his way to not see to the injury. Reeve suspected the main sought some sort of penance for his deception of Aeris.

"Yes, sir?"

"I just wanted to tell you… there will be a board meeting tomorrow morning about the Neo Midgar project."

"Understood, sir."

Rufus nodded once, then left. Things were still strained between them, Rufus having similarly lied to Reeve in the past as he had done with Aeris. It was all that Rufus seemed to be able to offer to the world. Lies. Deception. Betrayal.

Turning once more to the answering machine, Reeve hit the button and sat down in his chair.

"Vice President Reeve, this is Lieutenant Gerald Knox. We have concluded our salvage of the Highwind, specifically looking for what you requested. And… uh, sir. There seems to be no sign whatsoever of the Cait Sith doll. We believe it may have been thrown clear of the explosion, and we are currently…"

Reeve stopped listening. His fists clenched, and he ground his teeth. So, the Cait Sith doll was still out there. With Hojo still in charge. There was no telling what Hojo might do now, if he was still alive. And without a body to confirm it, Reeve feared very much that Hojo was still alive.

"Well, fuck."

Author's Note:

And so Promised Empire ends. Did you really think it would end here, folks? Yes, I'm going to do my prequel Fighting For a Promise. Yes, I am doing Final Trinity (Duo? See the Message Board for details). One day I'll even finish Fallen Knight. But for now, I'm going to rest for a bit, then begin Final Trinity (Or Duo. Whatever : P)

As I did with PE, I will now list various things that got changed.

1. Barret was supposed to die in Cosmo Canyon, not Dio.

2. Reeve would never get his body back. He would succeed in pushing Hojo out of his body, but not be able to put his own mind back in. The Cait Sith body would later be destroyed, with Reeve's life essence floating down into the Lifestream. Reeve would have ended up a vegetable at the end of this fic.

3. Tseng was supposed to be alive "all along," having faked his death at the Temple of the Ancients. He was supposed to be in Fort Condor where Rude would then meet him and fight alongside him. This was scrapped because I didn't like rewriting FF continuity. Too much. Don't start with me with Rufus killing his father instead of Sephiroth.

4. Cloud was supposed to die fighting Veishan. Rufus would then make his move on Aeris at the end of the fic, but she would instead find comfort in the arms of Vincent. Scrapped just like ideas one and two because I decided that SFtPO was too mopey and sad at the end, and I didn't want to end PE on a similar note.

5. This was originally not supposed to be a cliffhanger. PE was supposed to be the last fic in the series. Then, to be a total ass, I thought, "Hey, what if I have Chaos become the bad guy for a new fic?" and then adapted that for the Promised Series. Tseng, Hojo and possibly Graehan (Don't know whether or not to keep him around) followed as future plot ideas.

And that's it folks. Stick a fork in me. I'm done. Sorry it took so long to finish this. I could offer a wide variety of excuses, but I'm too godamn tired right now. Hope you enjoyed the fic. Remember to review please.