Altered Reality : Final Fantasy VII

by Luminus Prime

In a world where religion has divided humanity by conflict, lies and deceit run deep, and the true nature of the war is buried. Join Cloud Strife and his unfortunate party as they stumble across the truth and uncover the reality behind the lies.

3. Chapter III Duck and Run

Author's Notes

--------------------

This is an alternate universe story, so expect a lot of changes.

This version of AR has been censored for language. An uncensored version is available on my website which you can find in my profile.

My homepage has been updated with the first two pieces of AR artwork since last week, be sure to check it out if you enjoy the story!

Check back next weekend for chapter IV.

If you have any questions, ask them in your review, and I'll address them as best I can in the next chapter's Author's Notes.

Luminus

---

Chapter III

Duck and Run

In the waning light of the evening sun, the high rising towers of the cathedral looked even more majestic than they normally did. Behind the elegant structure the sun slowly sank into the mountains, casting long shadows over the city of Kalm. It was indeed fitting that the very birthplace of Rufus had become the heart of the Empire's religion, and the home to the Church of the Divine Emperor's most grandiose place of worship.

From the bell tower, the entire city was visible. Multitudes of brown and black rooftops on old fashioned wood and stone cottages and cabins stretched out in a circular pattern around the marketplace that was at the center of the city. At this time of day the citizens could be seen heading home for a good nights sleep, though they were barely specks at this height.

Although she was still in her mid twenties, Elena had become High Priestess nearly two years ago. It was her faith and devotion that had allowed her the privilege of leading the Church of the Divine Emperor, but it was still heavily rumored that she had achieved her position due to nothing more than heritage. Where the story had begun, she had never found out, but it wasn't hard to see how people could think such a thing. With her orange-blond hair, light tone of skin, and authoritative but peaceful features, she looked very much like the Emperor himself; only the amber shade of her eyes truly set her appearance apart from Rufus. Whether or not she was truly related to the Emperor, however, was pure speculation as she would not confirm nor deny such allegations. For decades members of the Shinra family had attempted to use their heritage for personal gain, and she would rather not be thought of in that fashion by anyone other than rumormongers.

Elena often came up here to the bell tower to watch the sunset and the beautiful city, but on this day her attention was focused elsewhere. From this vantage point she could still see the heavily guarded caravan that had left Kalm not more than an hour ago, carrying none other than Rufus himself. Today had marked the beginning of a spontaneous and epic journey for the Emperor that would surely bring happiness to all the places he visited, and she had been very pleased when he had decided to begin the trip at the place of his birth.

Yet, something hadn't been quite right about the entire ordeal. She had noticed when he first arrived in Kalm and spoke with her about his plans to tour the Empire. Rufus had been excited about the prospect, and seemed rather pleased about it, which was completely understandable. However, Elena had noticed a subtle sense of urgency about the pilgrimage beneath his happiness that she hadn't expected. Perhaps she was wrong, but it was almost as if Rufus was too eager to speed through the journey. This observation also went along with the abnormally sudden way the trip had been formed in the first place. Rufus rarely left Midgar, and when he did it was always planned ahead quite thoroughly with most major members of the government and Church told well in advance. Yet this pilgrimage had been a spur of the moment decision that, from what she could tell, had been planned only a day ago. The behavior was uncharacteristic of the Emperor, and she couldn't help but wonder why visiting cities across the vast Holy Shinra Empire was suddenly so important.

Nevertheless, Elena didn't let it do any more than pique her curiosity. For nearly a century now, Rufus had led the world closer and closer to everlasting peace. Her faith in his vision and his genius was unwavering; whatever the reason for this hastily concocted journey of his was, she was certain that it would ultimately be the cause of good for all mankind.

---

The Marsh of Myth; a stinking place that foul creatures dwelled in and travelers feared. Few dared to enter it, the dangers were too great and the benefits too small. All that it offered was a shortcut past the mountains, but most would rather choose the longer trek over the range; at least there they could stop in the mountain villages and not worry about what sorts of creatures would be stalking them.

For the unfortunate trio that had left Midgar two days ago, the threat of the marsh was no where near as dangerous as the possibility of being captured. It was unlikely that the Empire was hunting them just yet, but until they passed the mountains it was best to avoid Imperial towns; for now they were still too close to Midgar and news of any possible bounty on their heads would spread fast in this region.

"Yuck." Tifa groaned as her foot splashed into the soggy ground. "This place sucks."

"At least it's only your clothes you have to worry about." Jessie responded. "If we weren't skirting the edges we'd have to deal with monsters too."

Cloud said nothing as they continued on; he knew that staying on the marsh's outskirts wasn't enough, they'd been incredibly lucky to avoid some sort of random encounter with one of the marsh's monsters so far. The fact that he was dead tired kept him quiet as well; after all, he was nearing three days with no sleep and little rest. That would change soon, though. They had decided to take a short break upon reaching the Cave of Myth which would take them beneath the mountains, and lay just beyond the marsh itself. After hours of travel, the cave was now only a few hundred yards away. Just the sight of the rocky entrance made Cloud feel more rested; it was going to be very nice to sit down.

"I can't wait to sit down." Tifa said, mimicking his thoughts. "Are you sure this cave is safe to rest in?"

"A lot safer than this marsh is." Jessie responded.

"That doesn't answer my question very well."

"It'll be fine. We'll just find a spot where nothing can get to us."

"Great." Tifa griped; she was obviously not very pleased by that response.

Cloud started to suggest that Tifa merely place a barrier around them when they rested as that would keep them perfectly safe, but he stopped as he heard a strange, bubbling noise behind them. Senses immediately alert, Cloud turned with his hand on the hilt of his Buster Sword. Sky-blue eyes darted across the marsh as he tried to locate the source of the sound. Tifa began to ask what was wrong, but Cloud swiftly shushed her with a wave of his hand. Whatever he had heard was gone now, but he was certain that something was out there. The two girls came up alongside of him to look for danger as well, but none of them could see anything.

"Come on, Cloud." Tifa said quietly. "You're just imagining things."

As she spoke, Cloud spotted movement nearly fifty yards away; the muddy patches of ground were shifting as if something was beneath it.

"We have to get to the cave." He said.

Before they could ask why, the marsh erupted and a muddy column of green thrust into the sky, rising over thirty feet before it began to curve back down. After a few startled seconds they realized what they were seeing; the body of an enormous serpent. The giant snake slithered up completely and curled its body as it unfurled its hood and began to shake its three-way tail.

"Run!" Cloud yelled as he turned and darted across the marsh as fast as he could. As Tifa and Jessie hurriedly followed, the massive serpent opened its thin jaws, extended dripping fangs that were nearly a foot in length and lay pursuit.

There was no time for questions or comments. It didn't matter what the thing was or why it was chasing them; there was barely even time to run. Although the great serpent was far enough back that it couldn't reach them yet, its speed would soon change that. The cave was close now, but still not close enough. The serpent had no trouble swiftly traversing the marsh, but they were not so lucky. They refused to look back, even as they heard the creature hiss so loudly that it sounded like a roaring Behemoth.

Panting from fear and exhaustion, Jessie ripped a grenade from her belt and hurled it over her shoulder. She was just hoping to slow it down a little, but the grenade missed the serpent and exploded harmlessly on the muddy ground.

"Layer upon layer make your mark now." Tifa shouted, doing her part to aid their escape. "Haste!"

As Tifa's spell went into effect, a strange red glow enveloped the three of them and they found their legs pumping faster. Not bothering to question it, Jessie reached to her belt again and another grenade was thrown behind her haphazardly, but the sound of angered hissing told them that this time the bomb had come closer to its target. Cloud risked a glance behind him and quickly realized that Jessie's attacks and Tifa's haste spell weren't going to be enough. The serpent was gaining and it was going to catch them before they could escape into the cave. The situation now called for something that Cloud had always been lucky with; a crazy strategy.

Looking around the landscape quickly for something he could work with, Cloud formulated a suicidal plan and immediately began executing it. Much to their advantage, the marsh was beginning to end, giving way to the sharp, rocky base of the mountains. Just ahead of them was a particularly dangerous looking section of jagged boulders that jutted high into the air. Cloud headed towards them as fast as he could, hearing the snake alter course to follow him. Pulling the Buster Sword from its sheath, he took a flying leap onto one of the boulders, and then bounded off of it to a higher one.

"What are you doing!" Tifa screamed at him as she screeched to a halt behind another rock and watched him leap and climb his way further up.

Cloud barely registered her words as he made it to the top most rock of the sharp formation and turned around just in time to see the serpents head dart towards him. Jumping to the side, Cloud stabbed his sword at it as hard as he could and was rewarded as the blade sank into the monsters scaly flesh, just below its head. Injured, but not defeated, the serpent reared its head up and shook in pain. With his sword still inside of it, Cloud was jerked into the air as well where he held onto the Buster's hilt for his very life. Using his weight, Cloud swung himself until his booted feet hit the snake's scales and he used the momentum to pull himself onto the top of its head. Still tightly gripping his sword in one hand and a scale in the other to keep from being thrown off, he quickly chanted a spell from the single black magic element he was able to conjure.

"Swirling bolts gather and strike with power! Thundaga!" He cried out as a current of electricity ripped from his hands, coursed through the sword, and slammed into the snake's body.

The effect was instantaneous; the electricity spurred the snake into a hissing, seizure. The great serpent jerked in multiple directions as its brain began to fry from the pulsating current. With another terrible spasm, the upraised serpent fell and crashed into the jagged rocks. The razor sharp edges of the stone spikes skewered its body, sending waves of thick blood pouring to the ground as its now lifeless head toppled down. As it plummeted, the Buster was finally thrown loose, and Cloud, who had miraculously held on thus far, was sent flying. His grip on the sword went slack and it fell from him as his arm slammed into a rock wall and he tumbled ten feet to the ground, where he landed hard on his side and didn't stand.

"Cloud!" Tifa screamed as she ran towards him.

"I'm okay." Cloud managed to choke out through gritted teeth, but it was clear that he was lying. As Tifa touched his side to roll him over he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and inhaled deeply from the pain of fractured ribs and a badly bruised and broken arm.

Jessie reached them just as Tifa began to pull his shirt up to inspect the wounds more closely, but Cloud waved her off with his good arm.

"It can wait," he grunted. "We need to get to the cave first; there might be more of them out there."

Tifa bit on her lower lip and her eyebrows knitted with worry, but she knew better than to argue with him, especially when he was right.

"What the hell was that thing?" Jessie muttered as she picked up the Buster Sword and then assisted Tifa in gingerly getting Cloud to his feet.

"It's called a Zolom." Cloud told her after he silently cast a small cure spell on himself to numb the pain until they could reach a safe spot to properly care for his injuries. "It must have been young to be that small."

"That was small?" Tifa's voice didn't do well at hiding her astonishment.

"They get a lot bigger than that," he hissed through his teeth as they began making their way to the cave, which was now less than two hundred feet away. "The older ones will be here soon; we need to get to the cave as fast as we can."

Despite her better judgment, Cloud's words had Tifa looking over her shoulder the rest of the way. In her mind she made a mental note; she was going to make it a point not to like snakes of any size from this day forward.

---

It was mid-afternoon in the city of Midgar. Turks stood guard at the ruins of the Sector Seven Magic and Technology Research Center as black clad men and women sifted through the debris. There had been no official statement made about this attack except that it was under investigation, but Scarlet Grant knew better. There was no investigation because there was nothing that needed to be discovered; they merely needed to clear the site of any evidence left intact from the Mako Enhancement Project.

As her light brown eyes surveyed the wreckage of what had previously been the third largest experimental facility in the Empire, her stomach turned; this was going to cause immense complications. Scarlet was a young woman at the age of twenty-seven, but she looked as if she was barely of legal age to wear what she was; a tightly clinging dress of silky red that started midway down her breasts and was slit on both sides from the bottom all the way to the tops of her hips. The blond of her long, pony-tailed hair clashed with the dress and made her stand out even in the most beautiful of company. Yet, despite her age and physical attributes, her job was a dark and vile one. Scarlet was the head of the Magic and Technology Research Division's weapons department; a section that few people knew existed.

Hearing a familiar voice speaking to the Turks behind her, she rolled her eyes, let out a heavy sigh, and turned just in time to see Shinra's resident mad scientist approaching her. At fifty-six years old, Professor Hojo was not exactly the picture of perfect health. The aging man walked with his back hunched and his head bowed low. For some reason, he always seemed to keep his hands folded behind his back as he walked, but fiddled with his thick glasses or his chin when he stood still. The overly large, white lab coat that he wore helped hide how thin he was, but nothing could quite disguise the fact that he was a thoroughly unattractive man. From his ratty black hair, to his weasely grin, he was not the type people enjoyed gazing upon.

Scarlet detested Hojo, though she never had figured out why. The Professor had never done anything in specific that had angered her; she just didn't like him. Even still, she shifted her legs to cause one hip to jut out quite noticeably, and placed a hand on it as he reached her. The rather provocative pose was one she seemed to do reflexively when in the company of any man, or woman for that matter, who was in a position of power equal to or greater than her own; she had no qualms about using her body to expand her grasp within the Empire.

"Well well," she scoffed at him. "Look who's back. I hope you had a good time in Kalm while we dealt with your problems."

"Don't test me, Scarlet." Hojo snapped back at her. "You'll regret it."

"Oh?" Scarlet held her right hand to her mouth and chuckled quietly. "I don't think I'll be the one regretting anything this time, Hojo. This is your mess, not mine."

"Mm." Hojo mumbled wordlessly as he scratched at his chin and looked around at the devastation. "No, no. I was away. You are in command of the facilities when I'm not here, you know that."

"Thank you for reminding me, but I'm well aware of that."

"Then why," Hojo's brows lifted. "Is this my mess?"

"Because this was caused by one of your little pet projects gone awry."

"And how is that?"

"Avalanche. This was Barret Wallace's doing."

"So?" Hojo waved his hand in the air dismissively. "Your point?"

"You just have no fear, do you?" Scarlet shook her head in disbelief. "How can you not be concerned about this?"

"It was only one facility, Scarlet." Hojo reminded her. "A large one, granted, but still just one. The work will continue unaffected."

"You might be able to pack up and rebuild your babies without much trouble, but you can't rebuild Marx and Tobias, can you?"

"Who?"

"You don't pay attention to anything outside of that little world in your head, do you? Marx and Tobias were two of our highest ranking Turks."

"Why does that concern me?"

"Because!" Scarlet suddenly snapped, looking clearly agitated with his uncaring attitude. "They were two of Rude and Reno's best men. They are not going to be happy when they learn that they're dead."

"You worry far too much." Hojo shook his head. "They are replaceable. There are few things in this world that are not."

"Now that you're right about." Scarlet said as her red painted lips spread into an evil grin. "I haven't told you the best part yet."

"Oh? And what sort of boring and unimportant tale are you going to spin this time?"

"Avalanche was assisted by Imperial soldiers." She said, ignoring his remark.

"Defections happen." Hojo shrugged it off.

"Come to think of it, weren't you in Kalm because you needed to keep watch over a soldier who was part of a two man team on their way to the cathedral?" Scarlet spoke slowly, letting her words drawl out to take full effect. "How did that go?"

"They never arrived." Hojo said in a strained voice as her words put his stomach in knots. "A simple delay, I'm sure."

"Oh, they were certainly delayed." She sneered at him. "Becoming terrorists and then fleeing Midgar will do that."

"Strife is gone?" Hojo asked quietly as his face became even paler than usual. "Does Rufus know about this?"

"Not yet. I transmitted a report to him about the facility, but that was before I learned about Strife's involvement."

"Do not speak to him of this." Hojo said in a suddenly angered tone. "I will tell him myself when he returns from his journey."

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it." Scarlet said with a wicked smile on her face. "I want to be there to see the look on his face when he hears about this."

There was no sarcastic remark, or insulting reply from the professor. Without another word, he turned and began walking away from the clean up site. Scarlet stood there watching him with a grin of triumph on her face. The severity of the situation made it no laughing matter, but for now she couldn't help but be delighted with the worries that must be going through his head.

---

It had been early in the chilly mountains of the Nibel Range when they had arrived. The temperature here never rose above sixty and rarely seemed to go lower than forty; it was as if the region was frozen in a habitual state of misery. This was where Cloud Strife had grown up, and now only months after he had left it to join the military in Midgar, he found himself here again.

A long and bumpy ride had brought them here to this abysmal place. He wasn't exactly sure what the mission was, all that he knew was that there was some sort of disturbance in Nibelheim, and he had been chosen to help calm the locals due to his relationship to the town. Being in the presence of the men who had been assigned to take care of the unknown problem in Nibelheim hadn't helped ease the discomfort of the long trip in the slightest. It didn't seem that the creases had even smoothed from his new Holy Shinra Imperial Army uniform, and yet during the ride he had sat across from two men who were nearly as legendary as Emperor Rufus himself. Escorting Professor Hojo, one of the most brilliant minds in history, was humbling enough, but nothing could compare to sitting next to General Sephiroth Kagemusha, a soldier without equal. Cloud remembered staring at the leader of the HSIA and being utterly astounded at how far this world renowned warrior had come in the thirty years since he had been discovered as an orphan on the doorsteps of the cathedral in Kalm. Sephiroth's mighty presence demanded respect; even army veterans could not hope to compare to General Kagemusha, let alone a rookie fresh out of training like Cloud.

Now, nearly a week after they had arrived in his hometown all of that had changed. As Cloud stood in the middle of the streets he had played in as a child and looked around at the flames that were rapidly consuming everything and everyone he had known during his life, all the respect he had for Sephiroth evaporated. He didn't know what had happened inside of the old, abandoned Shinra Mansion in order to trigger this, nor did he really care. All that mattered was that Sephiroth, the man he had looked upon as a hero and a role model, had gone mad. Taking his standard issue short sword in hand, Cloud ran through his flaming hometown, dodging the bloodily dismembered bodies of his former neighbors as he searched for the one who had caused this to happen. Darting past two buildings, he skidded to a halt as he briefly saw a shadow move down a path between the structures. Altering course, Cloud quickly followed just in time to see two more townspeople; a man named Graham, and his wife Cassandra. He had known the middle-aged couple for as far back as he could remember. Cloud began to shout for them to run when a flash of steel came from nowhere and Cassandra fell, her brunette haired head rolling away from her torso as her body hit the charred ground.

Watching in horror, Cloud saw Graham begin to scream for his dead wife as Sephiroth stepped into view, the normally perfectly kept blue uniform he wore now stained with massive amounts of blood. Beneath his officer's cap, his short trimmed silver hair was a disheveled mess, and the look on his gore splattered face was a vision that could inspire the darkest nightmares imaginable. Despite his fear, Cloud rushed towards the murderous general, but was not nearly fast enough. With another quick slash of Sephiroth's katana, Graham buckled over, dead long before his body fell over top of his wife's. From the momentum of his swing, Sephiroth threw his weight and extended his leg, impacting Cloud's chest with a painful roundhouse kick just as the boy reached him. Sent sprawling, Cloud rolled over the ground until his head and shoulders impacted the wall of a burning home. The speed of his tumble sent him through the weakened wood, raining ember and ash down upon him. When at last he came to a stop from the unbelievably powerful blow, he looked up through blurred vision to realize that he had crashed into his own home. With terror in his heart, he looked to his left, catching just a glimpse of his mother's corpse hanging from the wall with one of her own cooking knives slammed through her face before he turned his head away and screamed at the top of his lungs. Before he had time to fully come to terms with what he had witnessed, Sephiroth stepped through the flaming hole in the wall without worry of being injured, as if he was the devil himself.

"Why!" Cloud cried out with tears of physical and mental pain streaming down his cheeks. "Why are you doing this! You're supposed to be a hero!"

Taking one long step, Sephiroth reached him and with a single hand lifted him high off of the ground by his neck as maniacal laughter broke out of him.

"Feeble human!" The madman spoke wickedly. "You know nothing of me!"

"Human?" Cloud barely managed to gasp despite the crushing grip around his throat. "What are you talking about!"

"It is of no concern to you, human!" Sephiroth shouted as he threw Cloud to the left, sending him through the wall once more and, consequently, back outside.

Rolling hard, Cloud coughed up blood as he somehow found the strength to stand and lift his sword.

"You bastard!" He shouted as he began to run in a stumbling line towards the murderer who was just now exiting his burning home. "I'll kill you!"

As Sephiroth erupted into crazed laughter, Cloud awoke, sweating and panting in a small bed. After a moment of horror, the laughter died back within his head, once again allowing the past to subside and the present to take hold.

"Why can't I remember what happened?" Cloud said as he took a deep, shuddering breath and stared at his hands which he had unconsciously balled into fists. "And why can't I just forget the rest of it?"

Chest heaving as he breathed heavily, he ran his palms over his face and shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. A quiet moan came from his left and he jerked around, only to see Tifa in the other bed as she rolled over and looked at him with hazy, squinted eyes.

"Something wrong?" she asked with sleepiness in her voice.

Cloud shook his head and without another word Tifa curled up and fell back to sleep. Standing up, he walked to a grimy window and looked down to the town below. He'd lied to Tifa, there was definitely something wrong, it merely wasn't anything new so it didn't concern him right now. Ever since that fateful day five years ago, he'd had horrible nightmares of the incident. Yet for some reason, the nightmares always ended in the same manner; not once had he ever dreamt past that point, nor could he recall the outcome when he was awake.

It took him a few moments to get his bearings and remember just exactly what was going on. They had arrived in this small town late the previous night, almost one week since the events in Midgar. Had he not needed to spend so much time casting healing spells on himself and resting after their escape from the young Zolom, they would have been here sooner. Luckily, the journey through the Cave of Myth hadn't brought anymore unexpected set backs. None of them had actually wanted to stop here, but they were in need of supplies to continue on towards Junon, so they had no choice in the matter. All three of them were at least a little concerned about being recognized, but the chances of anyone here being up to date on news from Midgar was quite small. After all, the Fortress of Condor was far less impressive than its name implied. From his window, Cloud could see the tall, crooked, blue tower that completely made up the mighty "fortress". The entire place was little more than a backwater town with an overly large guard tower that had stood for over a century.

The tower was rumored to have been an outpost for one of the great kingdoms that had existed long ago. It received its new name after the collapse of the old world when it became the base of operations for a small, renegade army. After the army fell during the many wars of that time, the survivors lived in hiding in the fortress and made it their home, and their descendants now populated the tiny, poverty stricken town that existed today. The unfortunate condition of the town currently helped keep him, Tifa, and Jessie from being captured. Although the townsfolk trusted in Rufus, their lives were too ruined for them to care much about what went on in the Empire. There was little chance that anyone here would have any idea of who they were, or of what had happened in Midgar.

When they'd first arrived, Jessie brought them to a run down inn that was owned by an Avalanche sympathizer named Arvis. It was, as Cloud had so eloquently put it when he'd first seen their room, a ---- hole. Dirt, grime, dust, broken boards, shattered windows, stained beds, and all sorts of insects could be seen just about everywhere they looked, but at least it was safe, and it couldn't be any worse than sleeping in a monster infested cave somewhere. As Cloud looked out the spider-web entangled window of their room, he ran a hand over where his arm had been broken during their trip through the Marsh of Myth. It was still weak, but his healing magic had more or less mended the bone by now and it should be perfectly fine by the time they actually reached Junon.

Watching the inhabitants of this pitiful place, his mind began to wander off and the events of late started to surface. It was unbelievable, what had happened. Only a matter of weeks ago, his life had been in perfect order; he'd been a skilled soldier in a much coveted position of the Holy Shinra Imperial Army, and he'd had his friends with him to make him happy when he wasn't busy working. Friends; looking back over his shoulder at the bed where Tifa lay, the plural of that word began to haunt him. Cloud had only one friend left, now. Zach was gone forever, and he'd been so disillusioned by everything that was happening that he hadn't even had time to think on it. It all felt so unreal, as if it was just some terrible dream that he'd soon wake up from and find his good friend still alive and well. Yet he knew that wasn't the case; sooner or later this madness would settle down and he would have to come to terms with Zach's death. Cloud wasn't looking forward to that; physical pain was something he'd become used to, but emotional devastation wasn't his cup of tea. For now, he would just have to occupy himself and keep his thoughts on discovering the truth as Zach had asked him to. He only hoped that by the time he found this truth, he would be prepared to face the pain that grieving Zach's death would cause him.

As if it had been perfectly timed to save Cloud from his own thoughts, the door squeaked open on its rusty hinges and in stepped Jessie, carrying several bags of supplies for the duration of their trip. Cloud held a finger up to his lips and then pointed towards Tifa to indicate that they should be quiet and let her sleep, and Jessie nodded in agreement as she sat the bags down on a slightly lopsided table in the center of the room. Walking the short distance to the table, Cloud began helping her remove the bags contents as well as look over what she'd managed to acquire; food, water, camping and hiking equipment and new clothing for all of them. With Tifa still in the prison uniform she'd been assigned, and Cloud still in his Special Ops uniform, new garb had been high priority if they wished to avoid drawing unwanted attention to themselves as they neared the more civilized Shinra cities.

Jessie had, apparently, already changed into her new clothing, which was slightly less "terrorist" looking than her previous camouflage and armor. She now wore a slightly loose turtle neck, and a pair of rather baggy capri pants that were absolutely covered with pockets. Both her top and bottom were of the same jade coloring, which stood out from the black of the standard women's combat vest, fingerless gloves, and boots she now wore. To top the new look off, she had replaced her red bandanna with a jade one to match her clothing as she seemed to demand to have something tied around her forehead at all times.

As he dug through the bags, Cloud located the clothing she'd picked up for him. She'd done surprisingly good job at finding something that would fit him well, but he had a feeling that she'd done this sort of thing before when gathering things for Avalanche back in Midgar. There was a short sleeved shirt and a pair of pants made of the same dark blue material. Both were thick enough to not rip up so easily, but loose as well so that he would be able to move well in them. The pair of pants had two zip up compartments on each leg, while the shirt was void of anything. After the Marsh of Myth, he'd asked her to get him some new boots as well, so she'd brought him a pair similar to her own, as well as black gloves that would go halfway up his lower arm. The final piece was a small, iron breastplate he'd requested; while not enough armor to help him against a skilled opponent, it would be good for any monsters that felt the need to go directly for his heart.

He also saw Jessie removing the clothes she'd found for Tifa, but he didn't bother going through those. Tifa could do that when she awoke, and after seeing the clothes she'd found for him, he was sure Jessie had done a fine job of gathering something Tifa could work with as well. The finishing touches for all three of them were black rain cloaks that Jessie laid down next to the small sleeping bags she'd found for them all.

"So," Jessie quietly said as the last of the bags contents were stacked onto the table. "Did I miss anything?"

Cloud shook his head, "No. You were pretty thorough. I see you even bought some more explosive components for yourself."

"Yeah," Jessie shrugged. "Well, you never know when you'll need to get out of a tight spot, and I'm just about out of the ones I had on me."

"I know. We'll be traveling mostly at night, and it's at least a four day journey to Junon from here. Chances are likely that we'll run into at least a few monsters on the way, so it's good to be prepared."

"Yeah." Jessie said as she reached up and rubbed at her neck. "Hey, are you done sleeping? I could really use some rest, but some one needs to stay up just in case."

"Yeah, I can't sleep anymore. Besides, you've been out buying stuff all day; you need it more than I do now."

Jessie nodded her thanks and sat on the edge of the bed, removing her boots and vest as she prepared to lie down.

"Eat some of that," she said as she nodded towards the food she'd brought. "I had some before I got back. You and Tifa must be starving."

"Alright." Cloud said as he began looking over some fruit that was on the table. "Make sure you get plenty of sleep. We need to leave during the night."

Jessie waved a hand at him in dismissal as she slid under the not-so-great sheets of the bed and closed her eyes. Finally picking up an apple and biting into it, Cloud walked back over to the window and looked down at the streets again. Tomorrow they would leave for Junon, and hopefully to a meeting with the Divine Emperor himself.

---

High in the clear blue sky seagulls called out to one another as they glided above the magnificent, coastal city of Junon. The second largest city in the Holy Shinra Empire, Junon was a marvel of new technology. The advent of both steam and materia powered machines had transformed this once small fishing village into a thriving city of engineering wonders. In a short time Junon had become the heart of the Holy Shinra Imperial Navy; a fleet consisting of over two hundred ships powered by man and not by wind. It was the sole, legal gateway to and from the western continents.

Tifa and Jessie both remembered this city, but for very different reasons. For Tifa, the city of Junon had been her first glimpse of the true glory of the Holy Shinra Empire, which was largely absent from the inner continent where Nibelheim was located. For Jessie, the iron walls and paved streets of the cliffside city was a dreary reminder of how her involvement in this hell began.

"What's taking him so long?" Tifa asked with a nervous tinge to her voice. "What if he's been captured?"

In her worry, Tifa tugged at the edges of the light blue, oriental shirt that was part of the clothing Jessie had obtained for her in the Fortress of Condor. The shirt cut off at her midriff and had long sleeves that were wide at the wrists, was fastened up the center by several small ties, and appeared quite form fitting. The rest of her clothing was much less elaborate, with her legs being covered by a slightly loose pair of dark blue slacks, and buckled shoes on her feet. She had also insisted on buying a new pair of blitz gloves before they'd left Condor, which she now wore as well.

"Relax," Jessie soothed. "He's got a lot of skill that the normal military doesn't, he's not going to be spotted or caught so easily."

Despite her words, even Jessie was a bit concerned. Cloud had gone into the city ahead of them as they waited in the rocky plains around it for him to return. The goal had been to do a quick reconnaissance to see whether the city soldiers were on the lookout for them or not. Given the length of time he'd been gone, it was possible that he'd run into trouble, but Jessie opted instead to believe that he was just being thorough; after all, he was a professional, despite his young age.

In the hopes of getting their minds off things, Jessie decided to ask Tifa a few questions, and perhaps get a few of the answers she had been curious about since they had first left Midgar together.

"So," she said in an absentminded fashion to cover up her intentional questioning, "How long have you and Cloud been together?"

"Uhm," Tifa blinked at her as she thought about it, obviously the girl had not expected Jessie to show any interest in their past. "As long as I can remember, really. We grew up next door to each other."

"Ah, first love, huh?"

"Oh," Tifa breathed out, and in a suddenly shy fashion, she tucked a strand of hair behind one ear and looked away as red tinged her cheeks. "No, it's not like that. We're just friends."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jessie's words hardly represented what she was really thinking. She'd noticed at least a hint of disappointment, and perhaps regret, in Tifa's answer. It didn't take an airship scientist to figure out that she had feelings for Cloud, even if the two of them had never pursued a more intimate relationship. "I just assumed."

"No, it's okay." Tifa spoke quietly. "It's an honest mistake."

"I guess." Noting that this would be a good spot to get to one of her real questions, Jessie pursued the opportunity. "So, where did you two grow up?"

"Nibelheim."

"Ah," Jessie made a mental note of that, as it helped to confirm her suspicions. "That little town in the Nibel Mountain range."

"You've heard of it?" Tifa sounded shocked.

"Well, yeah." Jessie looked down, trying to show her sympathy while still getting the answers she wanted. "I read about what happened there when I was younger, I'm sorry."

"Oh," Tifa looked back down, her voice going soft again. "Me and Cloud moved to Midgar just a couple of months before it happened. Cloud was there during the attack, though. He was put on the team because he knew the area really well."

"He was there?" Jessie asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice. "I heard there were no survivors."

"Yeah, that's what they said when it first happened, but then they found him. I guess it wasn't important enough to make the news." Tifa hugged her arms to herself, a look of deep sadness on her face. "I thought he was dead for months, but then he finally came back to Midgar."

"Months?" Jessie asked. "He must have been pretty bad off if it took that long to heal him up."

"Yeah." Tifa quietly replied. "Can we change the subject? I don't like to talk about this, we both lost our families and friends in that fire."

"I'm sorry," Jessie said, deciding to put an end to her questions for now. She had all the answers she needed now, anyway. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, it's not your fault." Tifa breathed in a little shakily as she tried to get rid of those old feelings. "What about you, Jessie? Where are you from?"

Jessie's mouth instantly thinned into a small line, this was not a subject she wanted to discuss, especially here. However, after dragging up bad memories of Tifa's, she owed it to the other girl to explain her own past.

"Actually, I was born and raised here in Junon."

"Oh really, so this is your hometown, huh?"

"Yeah. My dad was an engineer for the Empire. Me and my mom ran a little store in the city."

"That sounds nice." Tifa said cheerily, trying to negate her momentary depression.

"It was." Jessie nodded. "Then one day, dad burst into the store with a wound on his shoulder, bleeding really bad. He said he'd been working in the airship hangar when he'd overheard some guys in suits arguing with some engineer named Cid about a new prototype airship he was building. I never did find out exactly what it was dad heard, but apparently he wasn't supposed to know about any of it. A soldier had chased him and managed to cut his arm, but he got away and ran to the store. Mom started trying to bandage his arm, and told me to go find a doctor."

Tifa began to speak up, the sadness on her face even worse now as she heard this story, but Jessie raised a hand to stop her. She'd said this much, she might as well finish; besides, she'd severed many of her emotions long ago, things like death and murder just didn't bother her much anymore.

"I ran out the back door to get help, and I was less than a block away when I heard these loud sounds coming from the store. I hurried back, and I could see a guy and a girl in blue suits leaving the store. I hid behind a garbage bin until they were gone, but then, just when I stood up to go inside, the whole building exploded."

Sighing, Jessie leaned her head back against the rock, but no pain or sorrow showed on her features; her tears for her parents and what had happened to them had dried up long ago.

"I was only thirteen when it happened. I was scared that they would come for me too, so I got on a boat and headed west. I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't care, I just knew I had to run. I wound up in Costa Del Sol, and I turned into a shop lifter for a little while to get by. That's how I met this girl, and after I told her about what happened to my parents, she introduced me to Barret, who was nearby at the time. That's how I got involved with Avalanche, and why I started hating the Empire."

"I'm sorry, Jessie." Tifa said with tears forming in her eyes. "That's just so awful."

"Yeah." Jessie agreed with no emotion in her voice. "But there's no reason to cry over it. It was a long time ago, and I've gotten over it. All I care about now is paying them back for what they've done to the world."

Tifa was about to try and comfort her regardless of what she said, but was interrupted by the faint sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. She motioned for Jessie to stay quiet as she slowly lifted her head and looked over the rocks they were sitting behind. Luckily, they were in no danger, and a deep sigh of relief left her as she saw Cloud jogging towards them.

"There you are," Jessie said as he reached them. "What took you so long?"

"The city is crawling with troops." Cloud shook his head in frustration. "We didn't get here soon enough, Rufus arrived earlier today, and they're throwing a huge parade for him before he sets sail for Costa Del Sol."

"What are we going to do then?" Tifa asked.

"I managed to find a nice set of back alleys that are more or less deserted thanks to the parade. We're going to get to the docks, stow away on Rufus' ship, and I'll approach him when I have a safe enough opening to talk to him."

"That's insane!" Jessie said in utter disbelief. "You can't just sneak onto Rufus' own ship!"

"Trust me." Cloud said without hesitation. "I know what I'm doing. Now come on, we have to hurry."

---

Lieutenant General Zahn had watched the grand parade that had been thrown for Rufus from the comfort of the military lounge that overlooked much of the city's main street. As he sipped at a cup of coffee, he couldn't help but wonder if such fanfare would be occurring if the citizens and soldiers here knew even half of the things he'd been able to discover. As he pondered this thought, a soldier marched up next to him.

"Sir," The soldier said as he snapped to attention and saluted. "The guard positioning on the pier has been modified to your specifications."

"Very good soldier." Zahn said. "Dismissed."

"Yes sir." The soldier saluted again and began to walk away before hesitating.

"Is there something else?" Zahn asked, instantly noting the mans behavior.

"Permission to speak freely sir?" The soldier requested.

"Granted."

"It's the placement you ordered, sir." The soldier said, looking nervous for having brought it up. "There's a gap in security that could allow intruders to slip through one of the alleys and board the Emperors ship."

"Don't let it concern you." Zahn said, keeping his voice even, though he was surprised the soldier had noticed the security flaw. "We need as many soldiers as we can spare to be at the parade, security there is much more important. Besides that, the Emperors ship has a compliment of guards and a seasoned staff. They won't allow anyone to sneak on board."

"Yes sir." The soldier said, his tone of voice revealing that Zahn's explanation had been more than satisfactory. "I apologize if I stepped out of line."

"Quite all right." Zahn assured him. "Now, dismissed."

Again the soldier saluted before exiting the lounge. Lieutenant General Zahn stared after him for a moment before walking to the other side of the large room where the windows looked down over the pier rather than the city streets. He had been honest, of course. Soldiers were needed more at the parade than at the docks, and Rufus' ship had more than enough guards on board to deal with any stowaways. What he hadn't mentioned, however, was that many of those guards were far more loyal to him than they were to General Heidegger or the Divine Emperor.

A smile crossed Zahn's face as he spotted three figures emerging from the alley that he had left unguarded. He watched them for several minutes as they snuck across the pier, hiding for cover with expert precision thanks to the spiky blond haired man who was leading them. As the trio slipped into the cargo hold of Rufus' ship, completely undetected thanks to the preparations he'd made, Zahn finished his cup of coffee and turned away from the windows.

He had done all that he could for now. The rest was up to fate.

---

There was very little lighting in the cargo hold of the Holy Shinra Imperial Navy's Gloriosa. Barrels, crates, and boxes of various things heading for the tropical paradise of Costa Del Sol were stacked everywhere in the dank and musty chamber. As the waves of the ocean rocked the ship, one barrel tipped over and rolled across a path between the stacks, narrowly missing both a scurrying rat, and the one person who was in the cargo hold. The man, who wore the standard blue armor and helmet of the Imperial Army, walked quietly through the darkness, making his way to a row of rather large crates. Looking around to make sure no one was here, he stepped up to one of the crates and knocked on it twice before pushing the lid back.

As Cloud Strife removed the helmet that hid his identity, Tifa's head popped up out of the open crate and one of her hands instantly went to her neck for a much needed massage.

"Please tell me we're almost there." Jessie groaned as she lifted herself up from the crate as well. She and Tifa had been cramped in that crate for hours now, only broken by visits from Cloud as he checked on them and brought food.

"It's your lucky day." Replied Cloud, whose in depth knowledge of the Shinra Army had allowed him to walk around in the open without anyone suspecting him of foul play. "We're just off the coast now. They're preparing to dock."

"I wouldn't say that anything about this is lucky," Tifa chimed in. "But at least it's almost over."

"We'll have just enough time to get above deck and talk to Rufus before he leaves the boat and if something goes wrong, we can jump over and swim to the shore."

"You're really going through with this, then?" Jessie asked, her voice going cold. "You're actually going to confront Rufus himself?"

"I've come this far, haven't I?"

"It's stupid, Cloud! It won't solve anything; it'll just get us caught!"

"I have to hear it from his own mouth. I have to know if he's innocent of all of this or not."

"But it's crazy!"

"Most of the things I do are, so it's no big deal." Cloud shrugged and began walking back the way he'd come.

Jessie looked to Tifa, her eyes pleading for help with the insane man, but the other girl just shook her head.

"Once he's set his mind on something that he feels he has to do, he won't stop for anything."

"Even if it means death?" Jessie bluntly asked.

"He's done a lot of stupid things before and he's never died. I don't think he plans on breaking that tradition now."

Tifa began following after Cloud, but for a moment Jessie just stood there staring at them.

"I'm not worried about him dying." She muttered under her breath. She knew that if he was the one she thought he was, then he'd be fine. "I'm worried about us."

Grabbing her belt of explosives, she hurried after the two of them. This was suicide, plain and simple. Yet, she knew she had to go with them. If she was right, Cloud was too important to let him do this on his own, and maybe if she tagged along, she might be able to save him from getting in over his head. She only hoped that this wouldn't turn out to be the worst decision she'd ever made.

---

An elaborately decorated platform was assembled at the stern of the HSIN Gloriosa. From this platform, the Emperor would address the people of Costa Del Sol as the massive ship docked so that they would not crowd him. He stood there now, behind a pulpit bearing the Imperial mark, facing rows of sailors and soldiers on the ship. He wore what had become his standard garb, a white trench coat with a white jacket over top of it, interspersed with the occasional black, which gave him a rather stylish look that caused him to stand out from most others in the Imperial government. With his orangish-blond hair parted and styled so that his bangs hung down to the sides of his face and over his eyes, the Emperor appeared just as he had seventy-eight years ago when he had first returned from the dead to lead humanity to peace. Rufus Shinra was as youthful as he had ever been.

Standing on each side of Rufus were two others. There was a bald man with a goatee and dark sunglasses who stood tall and imposing, with his hands folded behind his back. The other was much thinner and had bright red hair that was a spiky and long mess, tied into a tail in the back. The two men both wore the blue suits and black ties of the Turks, but in different ways; the bald man, who was known only as Rude, wore his perfectly maintained, while the red-head, called Reno, was an unkempt mess. Aside from these two guards, the only other living thing on the platform was a dark blue furred, cat-like creature that sat at Rufus' side. Standing at waist height, the Emperor's pet, Kuro Koka, was a rather intimidating creature.

As his subjects stood at attention and watched him in adoration, Rufus stepped up to the pulpit and placed his hands on the edges.

"Loyal soldiers of the Holy Shinra Empire," he said, his voice soothing and strong at the same time as it carried to all those gathered on the ship. "Among all those in our lands, you are my most valued subjects. You who risk your lives to defend the ideas of peace and world unity that I hold dear; you have my utmost respect. My peace keepers, together we shall one day lead this world into a new era that will be devoid of war! As this part of my pilgrimage ends, I will bid you farewell, but know that you have my deepest thanks for assisting me in this endeavor. Return to your homes and daily lives with my blessings, thank you!"

As Rufus stepped back from the pulpit, cheers erupted from the ranks. Unfortunately, now that the Emperor's brief pep talk was finished, docking procedures had to be resumed, and the applause died down as the commanding officers quickly broke the crowd up and sent them back to their duties. As the men and women filed out of the area, Rufus and his escort were left alone, but Rude didn't let that drop his guard. While Rufus turned to speak with Reno about something, Rude scanned the deck through his dark shades, stopping as he spotted movement behind a row of crates near the ships railing. Watching closely, he saw something spiky and yellow briefly poke above a large box.

A chocobo? Rude thought at first, but then watched as a young man with oddly styled hair steped out into the open.

"A stowaway." Reno said as he saw the man too and reached for the materia gun in his jacket pocket.

"Wait," Rufus said, stepping forward and looking to the man who now stood there waiting in silence. "I don't believe this."

"What?" Reno impatiently inquired.

Rufus stepped past the two Turks and motioned towards the man, who slowly walked to them, bowing his head down low as he reached the Emperor.

"Cloud Strife." Rufus said in astonishment. "Now what are you doing here?"

Cloud lifted his head, his bright blue eyes widening in shock at what he had just heard.

"You know my name?" He asked in surprise.

"Oh, I know a great deal about you, Cloud." Rufus chuckled, his voice cool and collected. "I also know that you should be in Midgar, not on this boat."

"Yeah." Taken back by Rufus' words, Cloud attempted to focus and explain what was going on. "Emperor, I've recently become aware of terrible things that are being done in the capital by Imperial agents."

"Oh? And what sort of things would these be?"

"I saw scientists in an Imperial building feeding processed mako into creatures that resembled demons." Cloud then looked to Rufus' two escorts. "As well as corruption within the Turks. I had to find you and learn the truth behind these things."

"So you've seen demons in our facilities, have you?" Rufus managed half a smile. "Yes. We've captured some in secrecy and are researching them to learn of their origin, and weaknesses."

"That's not what I witnessed, Emperor." Cloud said as a terrible feeling began to grow in the pit of his stomach. "Me and my friend were spotted, and the scientists unleashed one of those creatures on us. The building was destroyed as we fled, so I couldn't investigate further, but they were enhancing those things, not studying them."

"Branch Seven." Rufus' brows furrowed as Cloud's words fell in line with the report Scarlet had sent him. "So you were involved in its destruction."

"Not intentionally." Cloud said as the feeling that something was wrong became worse.

"This is most unfortunate." Rufus said as he shook his head in disappointment. "You weren't meant to learn about any of these things so soon. You aren't ready to understand the reasons behind it all."

Cloud seemed to grow pale at those words, horror filling his eyes as he stared at the Emperor in stunned disbelief.

"Then, it's true?" Cloud barely managed to whisper as Barret's words came back to haunt him. "The Empire is working with the demons?"

A heavy sigh left the Emperor's lips, and in an instant his persona altered. Gone was the peaceful face of hope, replaced by the frustrated expression of a man who had no patience for the current discussion.

"Not precisely, no. Unfortunately the truth is far beyond your ability to comprehend at this point, and I'm afraid that I haven't the time to educate you on its intricacies right now."

Snapping his fingers, Rufus signaled Reno and Rude, who stepped towards Cloud.

"We'll have to talk about this more in the future." Rufus told him. "For now, Reno and Rude will detain you until you can be returned to Midgar where you can be placed in our care."

Speechless, Cloud said nothing as the two Turks began approaching him from opposite sides. Rufus started to turn, but was cut off by an object that landed on the ground next to Reno's foot.

"Grenade!" Rude shouted, but it was too late. The device exploded into bright, blinding light as the entire group shielded their eyes. There were sounds of scuffling as precious seconds were wasted due to their impaired vision, and when the light died down, Cloud Strife was gone.

Reno immediately ran to the edge of the boat and peered over at the water below, where large ripples indicated that the man had dove in.

"Flash grenade." Rude said as he knelt and picked at the debris left behind. "It didn't come from the man, though. He must have had others with him."

"So it would seem," said Rufus as he fixed his hair and dusted his clothing off.

"I'm sorry, sir." Rude said as Reno returned to them. "There was nothing we could do."

"No apologies needed." Rufus replied as he waved off several sailors who were running to them. "Even if you could have stopped them, the fault does not lay with you. It was not your responsibility to keep an eye on my little pet."

"What do we do now?" Reno asked.

"We continue on, at the moment he is not as significant as he once was, now that one of the spell orbs has made its presence known. Even still, if Hojo's theory was correct Cloud may be drawn to him. We can't afford to have them join forces."

"I understand." Rude nodded.

"However, it would be a shame to lose such a powerful soldier." Rufus mused as he rubbed his fingertips over his chin in thought. "Send word to the local authorities; I want Cloud and his friends brought back to Midgar, preferably unharmed, but if they cannot be captured easily, then have them killed. We can't allow them to make contact with that traitor."

"I'll see to it," Rude said as he briskly walked away.

"As for you," Rufus spoke to Reno. "Return to Midgar and explain to Professor Hojo that I am incredibly disappointed with his incompetence."

"Right." Reno smirked. "I'll get the message through."

As Reno left, Rufus walked to the edge of the platform and looked out at the cheering citizens gathered on the nearing docks. At his side, Kuro growled with animalistic anger, but a pat on the head from the Emperor calmed the beast down.

"That's twice you've failed to keep this situation under control, Hojo." Rufus whispered to the air. "For your sake, I hope things are quickly contained this time."

---

As expected, things had gone terribly wrong. Despite Cloud's hopes, Jessie had been right. All his plans had collapsed the moment he spoke to Rufus, and now they were in grave danger. After she had saved the insane man with one of the flash grenades that she'd readied for just such an occasion, Jessie had drug him over the edge of the boat along with Tifa, and together they had swam to the beaches of Costa Del Sol. Knowing that the local authorities would soon be after them, she had led them into the tropical regions jungles in the hopes of finding sanctuary.

So far Cloud hadn't spoken; his encounter with the Emperor seemed to have stunned him into silence, and only his instincts for survival kept him going right now. Tifa had been relatively quiet as well. She was probably worrying about her friend's state of mind; though after several minutes of madly rushing into the jungle depths, she decided to speak up.

"Where are we heading?"

"Somewhere safe," Jessie responded as she glanced at a compass she had on her wrist. "We have to get away from the city as quickly as possible."

"Do you even know where you're going in here?" Tifa questioned as she looked around at the massive amount of trees and plants brimming with animal and insect life.

"More or less," Jessie honestly replied. "It's been a while, but I think I remember the way through."

The sound of rushing water began to grow loud in their ears, and Jessie veered to lead them towards the sound, knowing now that they were on the right path. After a short time, they came to a clearing where a river ended with a small, crystal clear water fall that cascaded down into a large pond some thirty feet below them. Jessie stopped only long enough to spot a downed tree trunk that would serve as their bridge across the river, still here after all these years.

"Be careful." She said as she stepped up onto the wide trunk. "It can be pretty slippery."

"Is this the safest way over?" Tifa asked, sounding rather doubtful of the dead tree's stability.

"Afraid so!" Jessie shouted from halfway across.

"Okay then," Tifa sighed and looked to Cloud, who nodded to her to show that he was still with them.

Jessie reached the other side as Tifa and Cloud were midway there, and turned to wave them on for encouragement when she saw trouble approaching.

"Look out!" She yelled as a low level lightning spell shot past Tifa's head, narrowly missing its target.

Thrown off balance by the proximity of the dangerous spell to her face, Tifa lost her footing and slipped off the edge, falling towards the river waters. Now finding himself in a position where he had no choice but to respond, Cloud went into action. Grabbing Tifa's wrist as she fell, he slammed his sword into the tree and held onto it for balance as the girl's weight jerked him to the side. Tifa crashed into the water, nearly pulling Cloud in with her, but his grip on both her hand his sword remained firm, stopping her from being pulled towards the falls.

Unclipping a grenade from her belt, Jessie hurled it at the Shinra soldier who had cast the spell. The man tried to duck away, but his scream as the grenade exploded was proof enough that he hadn't done so in time. Unfortunately, he had been accompanied by three more soldiers. Jessie pulled another grenade out, but knew that she couldn't get all of them before at least one would hit her with a spell, and neither Cloud nor Tifa could do anything thanks to their current predicament.

As Jessie prepared to launch her grenade, and the soldiers began chanting spell words, three quick flashes of light appeared and zipped through the air. With quiet sounds the flashes reached the soldiers, and the trio men went quiet as their bodies jerked.

"What the hell?" Jessie said in confusion as she watched the soldiers fall to the ground, only then seeing the gleaming metal of four-pointed shuriken protruding from each of their throats. Such a weapon was not common in the Empire, but she knew of a few people who used them. Turning towards the trees behind her, Jessie was startled to see a young, olive toned girl drop down from the branches and land less than ten feet away. The girl was anything but ordinary looking. She was clad in a relatively tight suit that consisted of tan pants puffed slightly at the edges of dark brown boots, and a deep green vest that was tied tightly at the center and crossed with pocket laden straps. A tan mask covered the lower half of her face, and a bandanna with a small metal plate on the front of it was barely visible beneath her short, black bangs.

Even with the mask, Jessie knew who the girl was immediately, but there was no time for greetings just yet. Turning back towards the river, she saw that her friend's situation had grown no better, and the current was starting to make Cloud lose his grip on both Tifa and his sword. Quickly, she began looking around for some way to help them without endangering herself and them even more, but learned that there was no need for that. The shuriken throwing girl stepped past her, pulling one of the pouches on her belts and straps open as she did so to withdraw a thin, but very strong and long line of wire with a retractable grappling hook on the end of it. With a few quick twirls, the girl threw the line and hooked it to a limb on the tree trunk just next to Cloud's hand with amazing precision. After two quick but fierce tugs to check the stability of the line, the girl side stepped to bring it over Tifa's head. Obviously happy for the help, Tifa latched onto the line with her free hand, and then with her other as Cloud released her. As Tifa's strength allowed her to pull herself up the line to the river bank, Cloud found his balance on the trunk again and made his way carefully to the other side before rushing over to make sure his childhood friend.

"Are you alright?" He quickly asked as he looked her over for injuries.

"I'm okay, Cloud." She said, smiling as best she could while she shivered from the cold of the water. "Just a little wet."

With the crisis momentarily averted, Jessie suddenly lunged at the mysterious girl and caught her in a tight hug.

"Yuffie!" Jessie sounded absolutely giddy with excitement. "You have no idea how good it is to see you!"

Widening her deep brown, slightly slanted eyes at the sudden embrace, Yuffie patted her on the back.

"Oh I think I do," she said with just the slightest of accents. "Seeing that you would have been captured if I hadn't been here!"

"Jessie, who is this?" Cloud said, eyeing the young Wutain girl with rather obvious distrust.

"Oh," Jessie muttered as she saw the hateful look in Clouds eyes. "Don't worry, she's a friend. This is Yuffie Kasaragi, apprentice to Master Sakaguchi, and a special agent for the Republic of Wutai."

Jessie's comments didn't calm the young man down, and in fact only made things worse. It was hardly unexpected, even after all he'd seen in recent times to make him realize that the Empire was corrupt; a life time of being taught that Wutai was evil wasn't something that was easy to forget.

"Actually," Yuffie continued in a quiet voice, ignoring Cloud's stares in favor of her friend. "Master Sakaguchi is no longer with us. He was…captured while infiltrating a Shinra facility. I have not seen him since."

"Oh," Jessie's giddy tone died instantly, replaced by a pained face and a solemn voice. "I'm sorry. I know he meant a lot to you."

"Yes," Yuffie acknowledged. "But it was over two years ago. I have no more time for sentiments. I have now been bestowed the full title of assassin, and this region is my responsibility."

"Wait," Tifa spoke up as she remembered something, and because she wanted to try to settle down the anger that Yuffie's words were stirring in Cloud. "Jessie, didn't you say you met some one in Costa Del Sol who brought you and Barret together?"

"Oh, yeah." Jessie said, realizing that she hadn't explained how she knew Yuffie. "Well, back when I stealing food in the city to survive, I met Yuffie."

"I was fourteen at the time." The Wutain nodded. "Back then I had been assigned to gather intelligence, and sabotage Imperial projects in the area. I was mostly a thief, stealing plans and information from the local authorities that might have things to do with the Empire's genetics projects."

"Wutai knows about all that?" Cloud said, the anger seeping away as that revelation hit him dead on.

"Yes," Yuffie said as she finally reached up and pulled down her mask, revealing an adorable face, hardly befitting of some one as deadly as she obviously was. "We have known about Rufus' projects for many years. It is one of the reasons we oppose him and his Empire."

"Damn it," Cloud growled. "Did everyone except me know about this?"

"It is not very common knowledge." Yuffie stated. "Not even within Wutai. The full extent of Rufus' deeds would be too much for the public to handle, so it is mostly kept quiet. Our people are only informed of enough of his actions to ensure that they will not be wooed by his sweet tongue."

"That's why we're always told that Wutai is evil, isn't it?" Tifa said, putting it together. "To stop us from seeing things from your perspective."

"One of the reasons, yes." Yuffie acknowledged. "Now that you know of me, may I ask who the two of you are?"

"Oh, sorry." Jessie laughed a little and rubbed the back of her head. "I forgot. This is Tifa Lockheart, and Cloud Strife. Unfortunate circumstances forced them to fight with Avalanche, and now we're on the run."

"From the Imperials? Why would they chase you so far?"

"Because of me." Cloud said quietly. "I was a Special Ops soldier, and I couldn't accept all of this so easily. I wanted to ask the Emperor about it, so Jessie came with us to help. Now Rufus wants me returned to Midgar, so we're running."

"So you're the ones who tried to assassinate him!" Yuffie said, her eyes going wide again. "One of my sources contacted me about it not long before I found you here!"

"Assassinate?" Tifa said in shock. "We didn't do anything, Cloud just talked to him!"
"The flash grenade," Jessie groaned. "They must have told the authorities that it was an actual weapon."

"It makes sense." Cloud sighed. "If the Army was told that we tried to kill Rufus, they'll be much more intent on finding us."

"They want you alive, you know." Yuffie said, her brows furrowing in confusion. "Why would Rufus himself complicate things by demanding such a thing when it would be so much easier to just kill you all?"

"Because Cloud is important to him." Jessie said, looking Yuffie dead in the eyes as she spoke. "That's why I've come to you. I need to take him to see the General."

"The General," Yuffie breathed out in total shock, her eyes darting from Jessie to Cloud quickly. Noticing the odd glow in the man's eyes for the first time, her own eyes grew wide. "Is this the one?"

"What?" Cloud asked, his features contorting in confusion. "What are you talking about? Who's this 'General'? Jessie, what the hell are you not telling me!"

"I'm not the one who can explain it, Cloud, but you'll find out soon enough." Turning back to Yuffie, Jessie continued. "If Master Sakaguchi is gone, can I assume you are the guardian now?"

"I am," Yuffie said, still staring at Cloud in bewilderment. "I can take you to him if you want."

"Let's go right away then." Jessie said. "Before more soldiers come after us."

"Right." Yuffie nodded as she broke her stare, straightened herself back up, and turned to begin walking towards the jungle trees. "Follow me then."

Jessie started after her immediately, but Cloud and Tifa hung back for a moment. The blond man looked to his friend, both of them with worry on their faces. After all they had discovered that they hadn't wished to know, there was still apparently much more to the puzzle, and now it seemed that it personally involved them. They couldn't help but feel that things had just taken an even greater turn for the worst than before.

---

Blistering heat and a relentless sun beat down upon the desert wasteland that made up a large portion of this continent. Sand and barren rock stretched out for as far as the eye could see, not a drop of water or plant life in sight. It was unreal that such a place existed so close to the jungles of Costa Del Sol. They had ridden here on the backs of chocobos that Yuffie had 'obtained' for them from a local rental company. Each of their birds had been outfitted with as much water as they could carry so that they wouldn't die of thirst on their trip.

They had been riding at a steady pace for over five hours now, and Yuffie was the only one of them that wasn't absolutely miserable; it seemed as if she was used to this sort of travel. Cloud and Tifa had tried many times to find out where they were heading, and who it was they were going to see, but neither Jessie nor Yuffie would tell them; they merely said that it would all be revealed soon. Now, at last, it seemed as if it might be time for such revelations. Stopping her chocobo with a tug of its reigns, Yuffie brought them to a halt as she held her right hand up, holding some sort of metal and stone device in her palm. A few incoherent words were muttered, and a strange ripple exploded from the stone, traveling through the air.

"What is she doing?" Tifa asked.

There was no need for anyone to answer, as both Cloud and Tifa saw the effect of the ripple with their own eyes. As the wave extended, an entire city appeared before them, the gates of which were no more than a hundred feet away. The two of them watched as the ripple eventually vanished after revealing the entire hidden city, a place built of stone and steel that rose out of the wasteland rocks. Although much of the city seemed new, albeit run down from the desert atmosphere, many sections of the walls, and some of the buildings were obviously very old and decrepit.

"What the hell is this?" Cloud asked in bewilderment of the hidden city. "It's like some one built a new city on top of ruins."

"Very perceptive of you," Yuffie said. "Welcome to the Outlaw City."

"The Outlaw City?" Cloud spat out, knowing full well the rumors of this place that had grown to mythic proportions in just a few short years. "You mean that story is true?"

"Yeah." Jessie nodded. "This is the place, built on top of the ruins of Corel."

"Wasn't that the city Barret was from?" Tifa blinked in surprise. "The one he told Cloud about?"

"Yes." Yuffie answered. "These were the ruins of Barret's hometown. The dead city, and the wasteland that extends for miles around it, were the result of Shinra and their demons."

Cloud stared at the place in a mixture of worry and reverence. Were he not seeing it with his own eyes, he would never believe it truly existed. The rumors and stories of an "Outlaw City" had started a few years ago; according to various reports, it was a place where criminals and traitors to the Empire fled to in order to escape the Army. Of course, the existence of such a place had never been confirmed, and aside from the numerous criminals per year who were never brought to justice, there was no validity to such rumors. Now that they were here, and now that Cloud had learned so many things about the Empire he hadn't previously known, he instantly put the pieces together.

"It's a hideout for people who know the truth, isn't it?" he asked, looking to Jessie. "For people like us, who know about the Empire secrets, and are being hunted down."

"You're on top of things today." Jessie said in response. "Yeah, that's the truth of the 'Outlaw City'. It's populated by anyone who learned the truth and managed to get away with their lives. People like us in Avalanche, and Yuffie from Wutai find them and bring them here."

"The stone." Cloud said to Yuffie. "The one you just used, it's some sort of talisman that reveals the city to the people who have it in their possession."

"It is." Yuffie replied as she placed the device back into one of her pockets. "This desert is enveloped in a spell that disorients anyone who enters it so that they cannot find their way here to this city, or back to rest of the continent. The city itself is cloaked by magic so that no one can see it even if they manage to get here by foot, or fly over head with airships. Both spells are necessary to keep the city safe from the Empire."

"Only people who have a guide like you can get here?" Tifa asked.

"Yes, and only when I leave can anyone exit the city. Anyone coming to or going from this place must be accompanied by a guardian like me."

With a snap of the reigns, Yuffie resumed her chocobo's walk towards the city gates, and the others did the same. As they neared, the gates opened outward with rusty creaks, being pushed by a number of men. When they reached the entrance, another man stepped out to meet them. He dressed in shades of blue and gray; a button up shirt with short sleeves, a loose pair of shorts that extended to his knees, and leather work boots. Everything he wore was a little torn up, which was to be expected in this harsh place. While he wasn't exceptionally tall, he was fairly well muscled, and carried an air of authority around him.

"How ya doing Yuffie?" The man asked as he scratched at his scalp through short, messy, brown hair. "Bringing us some newbies?"

"You could say that," Yuffie answered as she slid down from her chocobo and let one of the men from the gates take it into the city.

"Well, I'm no newbie." Jessie said with mock resentment in her voice. "Come on Jeran, don't you recognize me?"

"Is that," the man named Jeran squinted his eyes at her, seemingly concentrating very hard. "Jessie? Jessie Brooks?"

"No other." She smirked as she dropped down from her chocobo as well.

"No way! Man you've grown since I saw you last time!"

"Yep, and I've become pretty good at blowing things up too."

"Always good to know!" Jeran laughed, looking past her as Cloud and Tifa dismounted. "And who are these two? Friends of yours?"

"Yeah," Jessie said, coming back to the subject at hand. "This is Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart."

Cloud watched as Jeran stepped forward and shook Tifa's hand, feeling no small amount of envy before the offer was extended towards him. As he reached out and shook the man's hand as well, he looked him over with a thoughtful expression. There was something about the way the man looked, and acted that made Cloud think of something; his mannerisms and the way he moved were definitely familiar.

"You used to be a Turk." He said to the man. "Right?"

Jeran blinked in surprise, looking to Jessie and Yuffie as if wordlessly asking them if they'd told this boy earlier on, but both girls shook their heads.

"I was. Actually, I was the director for a little under a year."

"You were Tseng's predecessor?"

"Heh," Jeran chuckled humorlessly. "Tseng was my apprentice, actually."

"Why are you here, then?" Tifa asked. "The Turks are in on the Empire's corruption."

"Not all of them." Jeran shook his head. "See, there are two sides of the Turks. There's a public side, and those agents are pretty much in the dark about all the really bad stuff going on. Then there's the other side, which is unofficially called Division Two. The agents there pose as regular Turks, but aren't actually under the authority of the director."

"So, Tseng isn't part of this?"

"I doubt it. I left the Turks and fled here because I learned about Division Two and all the dirty little secrets they have. They told everyone I was a traitor, and that's when they promoted Tseng. The regular Turks aren't exactly without their sins. They're an intelligence agency after all, and they do a lot of things that might be wrong in order to keep the Empire safe. Tseng may seem like a cold guy because of that, but he believes he's doing the right thing. If he knew the truth, he wouldn't want to have any part in it."

"At least I wasn't only one left out of the loop." Cloud said in an agitated tone. "So if Tseng isn't in charge of this Division Two, who is?"

"Well, Tseng is led to believe he's in charge so that he doesn't realize they're doing other work on the side. The guys who really call the shots are Reno and Rude, and they report directly to Rufus."

"Those are the two who were with Rufus on the boat, Cloud" Jessie added.

"I take it from your knowledge that you were with the military?" Jeran asked.

"Yeah. Special Operations in Sector Seven of Midgar."

"Nice." Jeran nodded, obviously impressed. "Tough position to get. You must have some skill in you."

"Not enough to let me see past the Empire's bull---- until I was thrown right into the middle of it."

"Don't worry about it kid. That's how it happened to all of us." Jeran sympathized. Then, turning back to Yuffie and Jessie he asked, "Alright, so what brings you guys out here? I'm guessing you're not just paying a friendly visit?"

"Far from it." Jessie answered. "I brought Cloud here to meet the General."

"This guy?" Jeran looked back at Cloud with doubt in his voice. "He doesn't meet with just anybody, you know. What reason am I supposed to give him for this meeting?"

"Just tell him that Avalanche found someone in Midgar that he'd be interested in talking to. He'll give you the okay, trust me."

Jessie's words created more questions in Cloud's mind, but seemed to answer a few in Jeran's, who nodded his approval.

"Alright then. I'll go tell him and try to set up a meeting. Why don't you guys head over to the bar, and I'll come get you there?"

"Sounds like a plan," Yuffie said.

As Jeran walked away, Yuffie began heading towards a run down building that was marked as a bar by the large beer mug signpost that looked as if it was about to fall down from over the doorway. The rest of the party followed after her without a word, but Cloud didn't exactly feel like getting drunk and having a good time in these conditions.

---

Outlaw City's bar, appropriately named 'Runaways Rum', was a filthy little hole shoveled in between two housing complexes. The state of this place made Tifa's poor little bar in Midgar seem like a country club; it was a bit run down, to say the least. They had been here for over an hour now, split into two groups. Jessie and Yuffie sat at the bar itself, conversing with some of the other patrons and generally seeming to have a good time. Cloud and Tifa, on the other hand, sat in a booth in one of the corners, watching everyone in the building with a suspicious eye. The numerous questions that their friend and guide refused to answer had begun to worry them; were Jessie and Yuffie really trying to help them, or were they as full of lies and manipulation as the Empire was?

"What are we going to do, Cloud?" Tifa sighed. "We came out here so we could find out what the Emperor had to say. Now we have, and it wasn't what either of us wanted to hear. So what now?"

"I don't know." He answered with brutal honesty. "I don't know anything right now. I wish Zach was here, he'd always have an idea."

"Zach," Tifa whispered, the pain in her voice clearly apparent. "Before he died, he said 'make it right'."

"He wanted us to put a stop to all the lies. That's what he'd do if he was still alive." He said quietly. "But how are we supposed to do that? There are only two of us, what can we possibly hope to accomplish against the entire Empire?"

"Maybe that's why Jessie brought us here," Tifa offered. "Maybe we can do something here that will make a difference."

"I don't know what to think of this place, or Jessie right now, for that matter."

"Yeah, I know."

"It doesn't make any sense. She was never secretive until we met Yuffie. Something big is going on, and for some reason she doesn't want to tell us about it."

"Look," Tifa nodded to the bar, where Jeran had returned and was speaking to the two girls. "Seems like something's up."

The trio made their way to the booth as Cloud and Tifa watched them. Jeran had apparently been elected spokesman for the little group, because he was the one who actually stepped up and started talking.

"The meeting's set up." He said to Cloud. "Time to go."

"Really? I'm not sure if I want to, I mean, it's so nice in this place."

"This is serious." Jessie said with annoyance at the way Cloud was acting. "Just go with him."

"I'm not letting him go without me." Tifa protested.

"I was only told to bring him," Jeran denied the girls demand. "You can stay here while we're gone."

"Don't worry, Tifa." Yuffie tried to sooth her. "Nothing bad is going to happen."

Cloud wasn't happy about any of this, but he also knew that it was pointless to resist. There was an entire city full of people here; they could overpower him with little effort, if they wanted to. For now, he would just have to go along with it all and hope that this wasn't some sort of cruel trick.

"It's alright." He said to Tifa. "I might as well see what this is all about."

"But Cloud.." Tifa started as the blond stood up.

"I'll try not to be gone long." He said. "Everything is going to be fine."

Jeran motioned for him to follow, and the two walked across the bar, leaving the girls behind as they stepped into the sand strewn streets outside. Neither man said a word as they walked side by side, though Cloud definitely noticed that everyone they passed cleared out of their way and stared at them. To his surprise they had barely walked two blocks from the bar when Jeran turned towards a crumbling building. It seemed to be one of the original structures of old Corel and, from what he could see on the outside, seemed to have been largely left alone to the 'renovations' that had been brought to the ruined city.

They entered the dusty structure and walked through a few rooms before Cloud spotted a rather obvious fake wall near the end of the hallway they were currently in; he could even see the hinges showing from behind an old tattered tapestry that some one had hung up to conceal it. The false wall confused him to no end; what was the point in it when the city itself was already hidden this well? Beyond that, it wasn't even well disguised. If Shinra soldiers were to ever find this place, did these 'Outlaws' really expect them to not see something that noticeable? His haughty attitude collapsed, though, when Jeran stopped on their way to the "hidden" door and turned to face the solid wall to his right. Raising his right hand up in front of the wall, the former Turk drew some strange pattern on it with his fingertips, and the wall itself vanished as if it had never existed. As Cloud looked into the room behind the wall, he found himself amazed at his own stupidity, and the intelligence of this design. Clearly, the obvious door was a fake, and now that he saw how truly well concealed the real door was, he imagined that whoever headed down the door at the end of the hall would be faced with certain death, or at the very least, a great deal of pain.

Jeran pulled Cloud into the room rather quickly and the wall behind them reappeared, shutting them into darkness until the man lit a torch that was placed on a wall to their left. The flickering flame danced across the room and Cloud had to catch his breath from what he saw. Everywhere he looked he saw weapons. Rows of swords, spears, armor, and just about everything else he could think of. There were even entire shelves filled with unused material orbs; the room was a hidden weapons cache' large enough to supply a small army. Cloud didn't have much time to think about it, though, as Jeran had already walked across the room to pull up a trap door that was in one of the back corners, revealing a dark hole with a ladder leading down. Cloud found himself in awe of the lengths that had been taken to assure secrecy here. A false door, a magically hidden room filled with weapons, and now a ladder descending into the depths? Who or what could possibly be this important to hide?

"Come on," Jeran said as he motioned for Cloud to head down first.

Doing as told, Cloud began descending the ladder, followed by Jeran who lowered the trap door back down overtop of them as they headed down. The ladder itself took them at least twenty feet beneath the surface, and opened into a long tunnel that was adorned with torches every few feet. Nearly thirty feet down, barely illuminated from this distance by the various flames, stood a large set of wooden double doors, carved with elegant designs; to say that it looked foreboding would be a severe understatement.

Together, he and Jeran walked down the tunnel, the heavy wooden doors coming more into focus as they went. When they actually arrived at them, Jeran stopped, prompting Cloud to stop as well and look to him.

"Let me ask you a question." Jeran said to him, breaking the uneasy silence.

"Okay..." Cloud drew the word out slowly, wondering what he was going to talk about.

"Say you knew someone who had done something awful to you, but they weren't in their right mind when it happened." Jeran raised an eyebrow. "Would you hate them for what they did?"

"I don't know." His forehead creased as he stared at the former Turk. That had been a strange question. "I guess it would depend on the full circumstances."

"Fair enough." Jeran nodded, apparently satisfied by that response. "Now here's another one for you. What if that same person later turned out to be some one you had to work with? Let's say it was the only person alive who might be able to help you change the world. Could you put the past behind you and side with them, even if you hated that person?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?"

"Just answer it."

"Fine." Cloud scoffed, confused at this weird line of questioning. "If it was the only way to do what I had to, I guess I wouldn't have a choice."

"Then with that in mind," Jeran motioned towards the doors. "After you."

Cloud stared at Jeran for a moment, the expression on his face betraying his unease at the odd questions and the situation he now found himself in. Then he turned, placing his gloved hands on the thick doors as he slowly pushed them open and stepped through, finding himself in awe at what his eyes were taking in. He had entered into some sort of natural cavern, which was fairly large. The darkness of the place was offset by many flames, either on the walls, or candle stands, giving the entire chamber a very haunted feeling. Despite all of this, there were no little demons scampering across the floor, and no tortured souls screaming for release; instead, there was only beauty. Along the stone walls were paintings and sculptures of very high quality and value, and luxurious woven rugs adorned the ground he stood upon. The décor clashed madly with the actual place itself, giving it all a strange and alluring quality that demanded attention. What drew the most attention, however, was at the end of the chamber; a set of man made steps that led to a small platform that was lifted five or so feet off the ground itself. Atop this platform was a large chair, the craftsmanship and design of which instantly made Cloud think of it as a throne.

As Jeran stepped in behind him and shut the doors, the man in the chair opened his eyes and Cloud was able to make out his appearance; though aqua-green rather than blue, they emitted the same, unusual glow his did, only stronger. In the darkness of this cave, the glow from the man's eyes lightly illuminated his facial features and a small portion of his upper body. Cloud felt his blood begin to boil with past hatred as the cat-slit eyes stared down at him and recognition set in. As his hands balled into tight fists, he knew it had to be him; no one else he had ever seen had eyes like those. The man's hair was much longer now than it had been, and his blue uniform had been replaced by some sort of black trench coat, but there was no denying his identity. Perhaps if he had known the man was still alive, he may have realized who this ominous "General" his companions had spoken of was before now.

"Sephiroth." Cloud breathed out, his eyes fixated on the Butcher of Nibelheim in astounded horror and irrepressible anger.

"I have been waiting for you, Cloud Strife." said Sephiroth, his voice nearly emotionless. "I had begun to wonder if you would ever come."

"This can't be." Cloud said in utter denial of who he was seeing. "You killed yourself! It was in all the papers!"

"I was not aware of that." He replied with the same monotone. "I think it would be rather difficult for me to be sitting here now if I were dead."

"Then I'll kill you myself!" Cloud shouted as his blinding rage took full control of him.

Without thinking about the consequences of his actions, his hand shot to the Buster Sword at his waist.. Before he could draw the weapon, Jeran grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back to stop him.

"Get off me!" Cloud shouted as Jeran used the painful position to force Cloud to his knees where he would be easier to control.

"No can do, buddy." Jeran grunted through his exertion as he tried to hold the wild boy still. "Can't have you killing my boss."

"You work with this bastard!" Cloud turned his head enough to view Jeran through hate filled eyes. "I'll kill you too then!"

"I don't think so." Jeran twisted his arm again, prompting a shout of pain from the blond. "Besides, you'll be working with him too pretty soon."

"Like hell!"

"Come on now, kid." Jeran insisted. "You said you'd work with some one you hated if it was the only option you had. Don't tell me you aren't a man of your word."

"---- you!" Was the only response Cloud offered.

"Let him go." Sephiroth said from his seat.

"What?" Jeran looked up at the older man. "You sure?"

Sephiroth nodded his approval, and Jeran immediately released Cloud's arm and backed off. Wasting no time, the young soldier grabbed for his sword again and took off in a sprint towards the man who had destroyed his hometown. Long before Cloud could reach him, Sephiroth's disturbing eyes shone brighter and the blond felt pressure all over his body. Falling to his knees as the unseen force pushed down on him, his hands were pinned to the ground and he couldn't manage to lift them up again.

"That is not a very wise thing to do." Came the cold voice from the chair. "You can't possibly hope to defeat me."

"I'd ----ing try!" Cloud hissed through gritted teeth as the pressure held him firmly in place. "You god-forsaken murderer!"

"How hypocritical." Sephiroth said with a slight smirk to his features. "I saved the people of the Holy Shinra Empire countless times for years, yet I'm branded a murderer for the actions of a single day?"

"You destroyed my home!" Cloud shouted as memories and visions from his nightmares danced through his head. "I guided you there so you could help, and you slaughtered everyone I knew!"

"Yes, I did." Sephiroth confirmed without emotion. "Have you ever wondered why?"

"Because you're a sick bastard!" Cloud retorted without hesitation.

"Foolish child." Sephiroth's lips curled at the boy. "You know nothing. Perhaps I was the instrument of your home's destruction, but the true blame lies with Rufus."

"Rufus wasn't the one who burned Nibelheim to the ground and mutilated its people!"

"No," Sephiroth said as his eyes narrows. "But he was the cause of my madness."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Cloud growled as he continued struggling in an attempt to break through whatever spell the silver-haired man had cast on him.

"I assure you that when we journeyed to Nibelheim with Professor Hojo, my intentions were pure. I was merely going to perform my duties as I always had, ridding your town of it's rather…violent problem. However, it was during my time there that I was made aware of the true nature of my origins."

Cloud said nothing; he merely continued trying to wrestle himself off the floor. However, he was listening. Despite his immense hatred for Sephiroth and what he had done, he had always been curious about what had happened in the old abandoned Shinra Mansion that made such a mighty hero's mind snap like a twig.

"I am not human, but a creation of the Emperors to serve his true purpose."

"What?" Cloud let out a harsh whisper of confusion. He remembered Sephiroth babbling things about 'humans' in Nibelheim as if he hadn't been one. "What the hell do you mean you were created?"

"I was the product of a scientific experiment conducted thirty-six years ago. I discovered the truth about my past while we were on our mission. The revelation drove me mad, resulting in the incident that has caused you to so desperately hate me. After that I wandered into the Nibel Mountains where my senses eventually returned to me. That was the start of my new life."

"Your senses!" Cloud yelled as Sephiroth's words shot past his confusion and reignited his fury. "You expect me to just forget that you murdered everyone in Nibelheim because you were pissed about something!"

"I expect no such thing, nor do I care." Sephiroth's cold voice made that rather obvious. "What I do expect of you is to realize that we have a common enemy."

"Rufus." Jeran filled in the blank as he came up alongside of Cloud and looked down at him. "We've been searching for a way to fight against him for years. We want you to help us."

"Help you!" Cloud bit out, wishing he could leap up and stab Jeran in the chest right now just for mentioning such a thing. "You want me to side with the man who ruined my life!"

"If you really want to help the people of the Empire," Jeran paused a moment to let that thought sink in. "Then there's really no other choice."

"And you expect me to believe that this bastard actually wants to help people!" Cloud shot back. "He's a murderer!"

Jeran opened his mouth to defend the aforementioned murderer, but Sephiroth raised a hand to stop him.

"It's true, I no longer care about helping the people of the Empire." Sephiroth said with a cold tone to his words that made it clear he wasn't lying. "But I do want revenge, and as such my goal is the same as yours; the end of Rufus."

"Even if I believed you, what the hell can I do about it?" Cloud scoffed. "Rufus is a god, how would my help make any damn difference?"

"And here I thought you had learned a few things on your trip." Sephiroth remarked. "You still know absolutely nothing."

"Then why don't you enlighten me." Cloud snarled, his hatred for this man growing stronger by the second. "What the hell is the truth?"

"The truth, you say?" Sephiroth erupted into a quiet, unnerving laughter that echoed through the cavern as if the entire place were some sort of nightmare world. "There is no truth. Every word you have ever heard, every story you have ever been told, every reality that you have ever know to exist has been a lie. This paradise that has been created by Rufus for the people is a façade; a cruel trick to keep them under control while his corruption spreads through the entire world like viral blood, slowly infecting everything until all is diseased. The truth, young traitor to the Empire, is that the Divine Emperor himself is not merely a hoax, but a devil in disguise. Our world, our beliefs, our very lives have been meticulously sculpted through his manipulation so that all will obey him unquestioningly, and any who fail to accept this will eventually be purged."

"Yeah, I gathered that much by now!" Cloud angrily spoke as Sephiroth's cryptic words ended. "What the ---- can I do to change something that big? Is there hope of stopping Rufus and the demons or not!"

"Hope is a word that has no meaning to me anymore, boy." Sephiroth said with seething anger behind his words. "But there is always a way, and together, we may be able to discover it."

"I'm not going to join forces with a lunatic like you!"

"Rufus has to be stopped." Jeran said sternly. "Jessie told me that a friend of yours was killed, and his last wish was for you to put an end to this. This is the only way you can do that."

"I don't want to stand around and just watch the people of the world be led around like sheep!" Cloud shouted as he clawed at the floor from frustration out of not being able to move. "But I can't just stand here and work with the man who slaughtered my town!"

"But they are sheep." Sephiroth said coldly. "They believe in Rufus because he says he will bring them happiness, and they either cannot see, or do not care to see how he will do that."

"Shut up!" Cloud hissed through his teeth. "I've heard enough of your cryptic bull----! Why the hell do you need my help anyway? I'm just a normal guy!"

"No, Cloud Strife." Sephiroth chuckled as he relaxed back into his chair. "You are anything but."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Cloud snarled in response.

"Come on, Cloud." Jeran said quietly. "Haven't you ever wondered why you climbed the ranks and made it into Special Ops at such a young age?"

"I was just gifted, that's all." Cloud growled at Jeran's implications that he didn't deserve such a ranking. "Zach was only five years older than me and he was in Special Ops!"

"But was he always a prodigy?" Jeran asked as he looked Cloud in the eyes. "Or did he just suddenly start to become one around say, five years ago?"

The former Turks words left Cloud without a rebuttal. His brows furrowed as he considered the question. Now that he thought about it, he had always struggled to keep up with the rest of the soldiers during his days as a recruit, but after he'd returned from the Nibelheim incident, he'd moved past everyone else in leaps and bounds.

"Or how about this?" Jeran continued. "Why do you think Rufus wants you returned to Midgar alive when it would be so much easier to just kill you?"

"I don't know." Cloud said in a quieter voice, some of his anger seeping away as the previous question continued to run through his head. "I'm sure there's a good reason."

"Indeed, there is." Sephiroth said as a dark smile split his lips. "It's the same reason that I had Barret Wallace searching for you in Midgar."

"You gave orders to Avalanche?" Cloud asked in stupefied shock. "To look for me? Why!"

"Because you're important." Jeran stated.

"Is that why Jessie brought me here!" Cloud bit out. "Because you told her to!"

"No." Sephiroth shook his head slightly. "Barret may have sent her to accompany you, but it you came here to me of your own accord."

"Bull----!" Cloud quickly responded. "I didn't even know you were still alive!"

"And yet ever since the moment you left Midgar where you could be monitored and controlled, you were slowly drawn to this place and now here you stand."

"Think about it." Jeran spoke up. "You're the one who went to Junon and then Costa Del Sol. Jessie didn't lead you there."

"Yeah, because I wanted to talk to Rufus! I wasn't coming here!"

"That may have been one of your reasons, but subconsciously you were being drawn to me." Sephiroth said quietly. "After all, it was you who let Jessie lead you here after you escaped from the Emperor's boat. You could have left, but you allowed her to guide you here."

"It's just a coincidence!" Cloud shouted. "Nothing more!"

"Nothing about you is a coincidence." Sephiroth chuckled, a dark and hollow sound. "You know nothing about yourself or of your importance to Rufus. Before you decide what you have to do, you must first learn of what you are."

"What I am?" Cloud shook his head in anger and frustration, not understanding any of this. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!"

"Return to the place where your involvement in this nightmare began."

"---- you!" He snarled. "I'm not going back to Midgar!"

"Not Midgar." Sephiroth told him. "There is one in Nibelheim who can tell you all that you need to know."

"That's not where my involvement started!" Cloud shouted, his anger returning to him at the mention of his birthplace. "That's where you started!"

"No, Cloud." Sephiroth smirked. "Yours began there as well, you just don't know it."

"But there's no one in Nibelheim!" Cloud's voice was filled with hate. "You killed them all!"

"There is one who still remains." Sephiroth's lips spread into a grin that chilled Cloud to his bones. "Return to your birthplace, and seek out the truth in the mansion of the Holy Shinra Empire."

With those words, Sephiroth closed his eyes again, and was engulfed by the darkness. At last, the pressure on Cloud's body evaporated and he was able to move once again. He leapt up and reached for his sword again, clearly intent on saying to hell with everything he had heard and instead attacking Sephiroth, but a sharp blow to the back of his head from Jeran toppled him to the ground. Just before he lost consciousness a series of questions flew through his mind. Who could possibly still be alive in Nibelheim, the town that Sephiroth had burned down five years ago? Why would some one with knowledge of Cloud's past and his importance to Rufus be within the long abandoned Shinra Mansion, and was this person the one who drove Sephiroth into a murderous frenzy when he went into that same building on that terrible day?