A/N: I'm working on revising the first three chapters before moving on. Hopefully it shouldn't take too long – let me know what you think!

Chapter 1: Life Goes On

It had been a year since the defeat of Sephiroth, and a lot had happened in that time. Avalanche's name was cleared, and the charges against them were dropped. They became heroes, and their adventure became legend. People wrote books about it, and others told it to their kids as a bedtime story. But time has a way of blurring the past, and after that year had come and gone, everything was pretty much back to normal.

…

Tifa hammered in the last nail with a sigh of relief. Stepping back, she took a good look at the new jungle gym. The group was in Nibelheim, restoring what had been damaged by the meteor, and improving what hadn't. Tifa, Barret, Cid and Cloud were busy constructing a playground, while Vincent, Yuffie and Red were turning the Shinra Mansion into a library.

"I wish I had had one of these when I was a kid," she said as she pushed the wooden strut, checking to make sure it was sturdy.

Cid was not altogether thrilled with this project, and made no attempt to hide his lack of enthusiasm. "First time a kid falls off of this thing, their parents will sue me, I know it."

"Wha's the matter? Only toy good 'nuff for yo' kid is planes?"

"If I had a kid, yes."

"I'm sure you do, somewhere out there…" chuckled Barret.

Cid cursed under his breath. "I'm going to take a shower," he said as he walked off.

Cloud shook his head. "Looks good, guys. I say we call it a day."

"I second that," agreed Tifa. "Let's go get some dinner!"

…

"Yuffie, those go in alphabetical order…" Vincent said as he looked at the stack of books Yuffie was working on.

"Order is boring. How 'bout we don't put them in any kind of order. That way when you find the book you want, it will make it extra special?" suggested Yuffie.

"…Yuffie. Please put them in alphabetical order. Red will help you."

Nanaki quietly walked over to help.

"What, you don't think I know how to alphabetize stuff?" asked Yuffie.

Vincent walked back to the box of books and said nothing.

"Jerk."

Taking out a knife, Vincent sliced open the next box of books to go through. The library was coming along slowly, but surely. They had gotten some excellent books and quite a nice selection so far. As he popped the box top open, Vincent reached in to grab the first book. Instead of pulling out a book, he pulled out a package in plain brown paper, tied up with twine.

"Odd..." muttered Vincent as be undid the packaging. Sliding off the paper, he held a dusty, worn leather covered journal in his hands. He looked at the first page. "The Private Journal of Professor Gast".

Vincent blinked, and continued reading.

"The Jenova experiments reveal more and more each day. The potential uses for such a miracle of nature are almost endless. It is my sincere hope that through cloning we will be able to continue the race of the Cetra and that through this research medical treatment will be improved. My goal in this project is the cloning of Jenova and the improvement of the human condition."

Red looked over at Vincent. "Vincent, what are you reading?"

Vincent turned mouth slightly agape. "I..."

Red padded over and looked at the book. "Where did this come from?"

"It was in a package in one of the shipments of books."

"Do you think it's real?"

Vincent flipped through the pages and shook his head. "…" he paled as he read a passage out loud. "The studies in Nibleheim continue. Shinra has indeed come though on its promise of equipment. Primary experiments have come out as we had hoped, and my partner and assistant are remaining optimistic that future experiments will turn out as well."

Red looked up. "Wait a minute…Nibleheim? He must be referring to Hojo as his partner."

"Hey, Vincent, you were there, weren't you?" asked Yuffie.

Vincent glared at her. "Yes. I was."

Yuffie squirmed under his glare. "So…if you recognize this stuff, it's gotta be true, right?"

Vincent flipped through the book once more, but as he did so, a small picture fell out. He looked closely at it.

"This…is Hojo…but look at the date," Vincent murmered.

Red studied the picture. "This was taken 2 months ago. That can't be right. We killed him over a year ago."

"We need to take this back to the others. I have a bad feeling about this." Vincent said.

…

Red quickly explained to the group what had happened earlier. Vincent loomed quietly in the corner.

Cloud picked up the book. "I thought Shinra destroyed all of Gast's work after they killed him."

"Not everything," said Vincent from the corner. "This is what all of Hojo's work was based on. It was Gast that set the framework for any future cloning experiments. This is the journal he wrote all his theories in. I remember hearing about this when I was a Turk."

Barret looked at Vincent. "You mean this belonged to Shinra?"

"It did at one time, yes. It was the basis for almost all of the scientific research, especially after they discontinued the space program."



Cid glared and slid in his seat. "So what are we all worried about? It's a book. It belonged to Shinra. It doesn't now. Let's shelf it and forget it."

Vincent turned to Cid. "This entire book deals only with how to clone Jenova. Someone sent this to us. There must be a reason."

Barret looked confused. "But they had to have had that book for over 20 years. They didn't ever clone it. And Shinra's gone now."

Vincent sighed. "Look at this." He passed the picture around to the group.

Tifa looked up at Vincent. "…Hojo? This doesn't make sense. We fought him in Midgar. And he lost…"

Cloud suddenly looked up at Vincent. "That wasn't really Hojo, was it? They already know how to clone."

Vincent nodded. "Not only clone, but clone with Jenova cells."

"That means Hojo, Scarlet and Heidegger could be alive then," said Tifa.

"They're alive, and they're planning something," said Vincent.

…

Reno leaned back in his chair and took a long drink from the bottle in his hand. "Think they got it yet?"

Rude shrugged. "Should have."

Elena shook her head. "I still don't see how this is going to work, Reno."

"Patience, Elena. Patience. All will be revealed." He took another long drink.

"You know as well as I do we don't have much time left. We should have just gone to them in person," Elena said shortly.

"Just…trust me, Elena. It's better this way."

…

Scarlet leaned back at her desk. Things were going as planned. Sure, the company she had worked for was gone, but it was better this way. No President Shinra, no President Rufus, and no lineage she would never have a chance to compete with. She was free. And she was still powerful.

She had the old Shinra scientists working under her, and she had a plan. It was based on two simple ideas: One, history has a way of repeating itself, and secondly, when you're going to do something bad, make it look like you didn't have anything to do with it.

After the meteor incident, the history of Jenova came out. Jenova was not an ancient, only disguised as one. She spread a virus, wiping out almost the entire race of Cetra. Now Neo Shinra had the power to create a Jenova clone, and a synthetic virus. All they had to do was arm the new Jenova creature with it, immunize the people to be kept alive and the world would be theirs. Project: Jenova Encore was right on schedule.

…To be continued

A/N: Congratulations if you made it this far! I always find writing the first chapter to be so hard. But stay with me, I promise I know where this is going! I hope you enjoyed it, and let me know what you think so far!

Special thanks to falsehead's FAQ (www.gamefaqs.com ), which helped me with putting the timeline together (and it's just fun to read)

-Grand Spark - 12 July 2003 (revised 10 January 2004)