All routes to Kalm are congested with a terrified exodus from Midgar, so Tifa pulls the truck off-road, driving through lonely hills and plains to avoid the traffic as well as the multiple Shinra "relief" stations setup at major junctions which promise aid to survivors, though identification sweeps are just as likely.

"Palmer was aware of this plot," Rufus says over the radio. "He was obviously working with the terrorists. A horrific oversight on Shinra's part. We understand how frightening this must be to all citizens of Midgar, but rest assured that Shinra's elite military teams have tracked down and killed the terrorists responsible. Our only regret is not thwarting this pernicious plot soon enough."

His voice drips with false sorrow. Cloud can't stand it. He wants to turn it off, but Barret insists they listen to keep aware of Shinra's messaging. Midgar is a splotch of burning black on the horizon, and the sun bleeds through overcast skies like blotted grease. The truck kicks up dust as they travel the long way around.

The route becomes a marsh. Tifa navigates along swamplands, and the weeds grow thick and tall. For the first time in a long time, Cloud begins to relax. His body is exhausted and beaten. His mind reels. But everyone is safe. He succeeded in getting Tifa out of the city. Aerith is free of Hojo's torture. Barret and Marlene are together. Nanaki rests peacefully. He can't believe how quickly everything's changed. His thoughts are a jumble. So he stares up at the sky, at the ever changing patterns.

Tifa stops the truck and taps the window.

"What in the…?" Barret stands up suddenly, staring.

Cloud looks and his adrenaline jumps.

A gargantuan serpent, at least two stories in length and large enough to swallow the truck whole, is dead and impaled on a tree. It's coiled body blocks the route. Dark blood drips from its gaping mouth and dribbles down its scaled body.

Aerith clasps her hands over her lips. Everyone stares at the creature's bizarre slaughter.

"What could have done this?" Tifa asks, mouth open in shock.

Cloud regards the length of the incisions on the serpent's body. The orderly slashes, destroying without ravaging. Precise perfection.

Nanaki sniffs the air. "Whatever it is can't be far. This thing hasn't been deceased for very long."

Tifa shivers. Lightning flashes overhead. A rumble of thunder descends.

"A zolom," Barret identifies the creature. "No person could have done this."

"There is one," Cloud says softly.

Light rain begins to fall. Another flash of lightning carries the thunder closer.

"Sephiroth," he says. The name is almost a curse. "The General could've done something like this. I've seen him fight. This creature would have been nothing to him."

Barret points at the tree. "But how the hell he get it up there?"

Cloud feels more uneasy the longer they linger. The wind kicks up as a storm rolls in.

"Let's just go," Cloud says. "This only adds to the suspicion that he's not truly dead."

"Les' not jump to any conclusions," Barret says as they hop back into the truck. "Coulda been some other reason this thing died. We dunno the facts."

"I know enough," Cloud says, voice low.

Tifa backs the truck up and finds another route past, but the image of it haunts Cloud. Sephiroth was surely in the Shinra Tower and now he's out in the swamplands around Midgar. But why? And where next? They drive the rest of the way in silence. Rain soaks the flatbed, and the skies are dark. The swamps recede into plains as they approach the mining town. The lights of the village are welcoming in the rainstorm. Tifa parks on the outskirts to avoid Shinra patrols.

Kalm is overrun with refugees from Midgar. Even though Cloud's photo is no longer plastered all over the news and the townspeople now have more pressing concerns on their hands, Aerith is unanimously elected to enter the inn and procure rooms for the night, seeing as how she is the least conspicuous of the group.

She returns with a single room key.

"Sorry," she explains. "They wouldn't rent out more than one room due to the influx of people. Almost at capacity, so we were lucky."

They trudge through the rain and enter the corner room on the second floor from the exterior corridor.

The cozy interior is, at least, clean, but there are only three beds. The six of them stand dripping in the entryway, exhausted. Rain pelts the window in a loud rhythm.

"Guess I get the floor…" Cloud takes the lead, unzipping his boots and resting his sword against the wall. He grabs towels from the bathroom, handing them around.

After they all dry off, Aerith and Marlene venture out in search of hot meals for the group and Barret dismantles and cleans his gun-arm. Nanaki snoozes on one of the beds, stretched out, legs twitching in his sleep.

Cloud sits on the floor with his back against the wall. Tifa is combing her drying hair through her fingers.

"Can I ask you something?" Cloud says to her.

She's startled by his voice. Losing her friends, everyone she's known in Midgar, has taken a heavy toll, and she's been distant and immeasurably sad. He can see it in her eyes even as she smiles at him.

"Yes?"

"Why did you say we haven't seen each other in seven years?"

Because from what he knows, the Nibel Reactor incident was five years ago, not seven.

"Because that's when you left town," she replies. "That night at the well. Our promise. You must've hit your head pretty hard back there. That scorpion sentinel almost killed you."

"I know," he says, referring to the timeframe of leaving town. "But… Tifa… I was at Nibelheim five years ago. Don't you remember me?"

Barret stops tinkering with his gun and looks over at them, but Cloud needs an answer from her. He doesn't care if Barret is eavesdropping. None of this is confidential. Well, except for the town burning to cinders and Shinra covering the whole thing up. But his allegiance to Shinra is well gone.

"I...was in the Reactor," Cloud continues. His only vivid memories are of this day, before all of it went black. "I saw you there. Your father… and…"

"Sephiroth," she twists the word with hate. "Sephiroth killed my father. He killed that poor First-Class SOLDIER who'd accompanied us. But you…" Her eyes rest on Cloud. "No. You weren't there."

Wasn't he? A flash of Tifa in the Reactor hits him. He sees her walking towards the inner chamber. He follows her. Sephiroth is orating insanity, holding the decapitated head of his "mother" in one hand, the masamune in the other. The madman has injured Tifa, and Cloud goes to her side, holding her to him. His helmet is off, he was sure of it. But in the haze of anger and bloodshed, could he be certain? He always doubted the possibility that he'd actually killed Sephiroth, the greatest General of all time. Had Shinra implanted these memories? Had Hojo mixed-up his brain enough to make him believe anything?

"N-no," Cloud insists. "I was there. I was… I am… an MP."

She holds his troubled gaze, lips spread apart slightly.

"He burned our town," Cloud continues, hoping she will corroborate. "I was there that day. In the Reactor. I found you, cut open and bleeding to death. I was so scared you would die."

Her eyes glisten. There's a subtle rage clawing below. She swallows. "There was an MP with them, but if that was you, why didn't you say anything to me?"

Cloud doesn't want to admit the shame of returning home without the prestigious badge of an official SOLDIER designation. He hadn't told anyone in town he was back. He'd hid beneath his MP uniform.

"How did you survive?" he asks her instead. "Shinra told me everyone was killed."

Tifa stares into him intently. Her body is trembling. He can see the memories rolling into her, crashing like waves.

"That was you…" she whispers. "I always thought… that was a dream. I hadn't thought of it in so long. Until now."

Relief releases his posture. He leans towards her, touches her hand.

"Yes! That's right!" he whispers back in excitement. "That was me. I checked on you. I had to make sure you were breathing before…"

He pauses. Her eyes rapidly track his. He remembers picking up Zack's sword. All that death. All that loss. Zack? Was that the SOLDIER's name?

"Before what? What happened?" Tifa asks.

He realizes there's no way for her to know, of course. She was unconscious after that point. She cannot corroborate anything more.

Barret is leaning into their conversation, engrossed.

"I killed Sephiroth," he tells her.

The room is silent except for the rain. The bed creaks as Tifa leans away.

"How is that possible?" she says.

"How did you survive?" Cloud asks again.

Tifa shakes her head, clearing the ferocity from her eyes.

"I woke up days later in Midgar. My trainer, Zangan, had rescued me from the Reactor. But he never mentioned any other survivors. Or Sephiroth. I assumed everyone had been killed, including the mysterious MP I dreamt about."

"I thought you were dead, too," Cloud confides.

Their connection intensifies. The knowledge of no longer being alone, of no longer doubting whether or not Nibelheim had been real, makes him want to kiss her. His eyes fall to her lips.

Barret abruptly sits next to her on the bed, dispelling the mood. Cloud turns away, letting a breath out that he hadn't known he was holding.

"I ain't never heard any of this, Tifa," Barret says gently. "Why you keep all this to yo'self this whole time? Your town burning? No survivors? This some serious shit."

A dismissive laugh falls from her. "Oh, well, I just haven't had any reason to bring it up. Never thought of it. Until I saw Cloud again in Sector Five." Her eyes rest on Cloud's and he's once more filled with remarkable elation.

The door clicks open, and Aerith and Marlene return with plenty of take-out and beverages for all. Aerith shakes off her boots, and Marlene happily pounces on Barret with a warm hug. Nanaki stirs and stretches. There is no more discussion of the Nibel Reactor or that fateful day. Cloud had been hoping Tifa would have his missing memories, but her remembrance just barely coincides with his own.

The six eat together, sprawling across the beds and floor. The conversation stays on the surface. Nobody wants to bring up the horrors left behind or ahead. The day has been impossibly draining.

Afterwards, blankets and pillows are dispensed, and beds and floorspace divvied up. Cloud takes the spot nearest the door, sword in arm's reach. Tifa shares a bed with Marlene, while Aerith and Barret both get their own. Nanaki curls with his tail flickering by his nose. The rain isn't letting up. Cloud lays awake listening to it, despite his fatigue.

When at last he falls asleep, it's a deep slumber of the dead. He's inside the Nibel Reactor, picking up Zack's sword. Over and over. The weight of it is too much. He must hurry, though. Sephiroth is getting away.

His eyes snap open at dawn. The rest did him good, though. Any aches and pains of yesterday's ordeals are cleared away, though not for everyone. Barret complains of his sore back from the lumpy bed, and Aerith seems more pale than ever. Tifa and Marlene both look tired, and Nanaki continues sleeping while the others take turns showering and scrounging leftovers for breakfast.

Tifa wants coffee, and Cloud offers to join her on the hunt. The rain has finally stopped, and the village is filled with muddy puddles. Hundreds more refugees had arrived overnight, and Kalm has become a shantytown of tents and makeshift housing. A radio blares nearby, spewing Shinra rhetoric.

"The time for healing has begun," a Shinra spokesperson declares. "Sector Seven will be rebuilt, redesigned for a brighter, safer tomorrow."

Tifa rolls her eyes in disgust. There are others wandering in the early morning, holding photographs of loved ones, asking if anyone has information as to their whereabouts. Cloud avoids looking. It's his fault all these people are dead. They find a coffee stand and wait in line.

"So how did you survive?" Tifa suddenly asks, picking up their conversation from last night. "Nibelheim, I mean. You said you… confronted Sephiroth. Why didn't he kill you?"

This is where the void begins. All he sees is the blade in his belly, hot blood soaking down his clothes, the fury bordering mania.

"I don't know," he admits with a sigh. "He did attack me, but I can't remember what happens next. I woke up in Shinra's care later."

Tifa puts a hand to her chin in thought. He knows it doesn't make sense. Then she elbows Cloud and nods towards an older woman carrying a photograph, begging anyone nearby to tell her if they've seen her daughter.

"Hey, isn't that Aerith?"

Cloud squints. The creased picture in the woman's hands is indeed Aerith. Tifa looks like she's about to call out to the old woman.

"No, wait," Cloud whispers. "Could be a Shinra spy. Hojo was very adamant about keeping Aerith secure in his lab. He might have sent agents out to find her."

"Right, Aerith told me about Hojo. I can't believe you worked with him."

"I worked for him, not with him. There's a big difference."

They watch in silence as the woman strolls past, pleading for information. Nobody can offer help, only sympathy. The woman sits at the edge of the sidewalk, sobbing. Tifa pokes Cloud in the ribs again. She's not convinced this harmless woman could be a Shinra agent.

"Those tears look real," she comments.

"I'm not leading her back to Aerith," Cloud whispers back.

The weeping continues. Tifa can't stand it. There must be something they could do, she argues. Could Cloud think of a way to confirm this woman's identity? They abandon the coffee line and approach her.

"Yes? Have you seen my daughter?" The woman frantically holds up the photo.

Cloud keeps his expression blank. "Maybe. But I heard she's wanted by Shinra."

The woman sobs and confirms that Shinra took Aerith away. The Turks, they've always had their eye on her. Ever since she was a little girl. Aerith is special, the woman says. And now that the plate's collapsed, she fears the worst. Debris from the fall scattered into the surrounding Sectors, and Five is clouded with dust and fallen metal. Her home was crushed. She had to leave Midgar. She had to search for Aerith.

"What's her favorite materia?" Cloud interrogates, grasping at the only piece of personal information about Aerith that Shinra couldn't possibly know. He'd kept that pale materia clear away from Hojo.

"Oh… What a strange thing to ask. But I suppose Aerith favors a white one from her mother. Her real mother, that is. But silly thing, it doesn't seem to do anything."

The color of the materia checks out, but now he's even more suspicious.

"What do you mean, her 'real mother'? Who are you?"

"If you know where my daughter is, please tell me now."

"Not before I hear your story. Aerith is in danger, and I'm not taking any chances."

The woman exhales and dries her eyes. She agrees and beckons them to a nearby cafe. It's crowded, but they find a table squeezed in the back. The chatter around them is all about the plate's destruction. They order coffees, and the woman conveys her tale.

Her name is Elmyra, and during the war her husband was sent to the front in Wutai. When she heard he was coming home on leave, she went to the train station, waiting every day. But he never came. One night, a woman and a young girl stumbled off the train. The woman was badly injured. This sort of thing happened a lot during wartime, Elmyra explained. The woman died at the station, and Elmyra's heart broke seeing her young girl cry.

She took little Aerith in. The young girl seemed to think her mother had escaped from some laboratory far away, somewhere very cold. It didn't seem plausible. Elmyra cared for her and they grew close.

One day, Aerith told her not to be sad. Elmyra asked what was the matter, and Aerith said that someone Elmyra loves very much had died. But not to worry, his soul has returned to the planet.

"Aerith used to talk of these things, of people returning to the Planet, but never this specific."

The next day, Elmyra received a letter that her husband had been killed. She cried for days and wanted to know how Aerith could have foreseen it. The young girl told her she hears things from the planet, voices. Songs. She speaks with spirits.

"Then the Turks arrived…" Elmyra sighs.

The man had introduced himself as Tseng and informed Elmyra that Aerith had run away from Shinra's custody. Shinra wanted her back. Elmyra refused. Tseng explained that Aerith is from a special bloodline. Her real mother, the woman who died at the train station, was an Ancient. The Ancients are the original protectors of this Planet, prophesied to lead to a land of supreme happiness. Shinra believes Aerith is the key to this "promised land".

Tifa interrupts, "Ancients? You mean the Cetra? Barret's told me about the stories, but…"

Fables, surely, Elmyra agrees, but she can't deny Aerith's unique ability to speak with the dead. To hear the cries of the Planet. That is why Shinra wants her. Aerith fought and ran and hid from them all her life. Elmyra moved countless times, but the Turks were always close behind. They were never violent nor put Aerith in harm's way, but it was clear that eventually they would get what they wanted. Elmyra most recently settled in Sector Five.

Cloud nods. Aerith did tell him she was from Sector Five. All of this is adding up.

Then, just days before the plate was destroyed, Elmyra came home and Aerith was gone. A Turk was there, instead. They'd finally made their move.

"And now I've told two complete strangers everything about my dear Aerith." Elmyra gives a sardonic laugh. The tears return. "I don't know why, but I feel like I can trust you. Please, tell me she's safe. Tell me she's alive."

"Yes," Tifa says, taking the lead when Cloud doesn't respond. "She's with us. And she's okay. I believe you have her best intentions at heart, so we'll take you to her."

Elmyra smiles graciously and turns to Cloud. "Aren't you a SOLDIER? Been a while since I've seen those types of eyes. You defected from Shinra."

Cloud struggles to come up with an explanation in public. He doesn't want anyone overhearing this part of the conversation.

"It's alright," Elmyra says, letting him off the hook. "I know many SOLDIERs defected after the war. It's not uncommon. If my daughter has an ex-SOLDIER with her, then I know she's safe."

They take their coffees to-go and head towards the inn with Elmyra. Their boots slosh in the wet streets, and refugees continue to pile into town. There are long lines outside every establishment for food, drink, or rest. And there are Shinra MPs in town, too.

The MPs patrol in groups of three. Their presence is, according to the loudspeaker from the Shinra aid tent nearby, strictly to provide peacekeeping relief to the evacuees. Emergency shelters have been established in Midgar, and all are welcome to return to the city with proper identification.

"We can't stay here…" Tifa whispers. Cloud agrees. These are only MPs, but it is just a matter of time before the Turks arrive. Or weapons are deployed, if anyone from Avalanche is identified.

He asks Tifa to take Elmyra to the inn. He wants to scope out the rest of the village, see the extent of Shinra's arrival.

Remaining as clandestine as possible, he scouts the perimeter. Shinra troops swarm the main roads. Guards wearing raincoats hand out packages of food and water to displaced citizens. Despite their innocuous activity, they seem to be searching for someone. The backroads, however, are clear. At least for now.

On the way back to the inn, he stops to buy a new PHS and grabs one for everyone else, too. There's no telling if he'll be separated from Tifa again, and he figures giving everyone a PHS is less odd than if he were to just give her one. He picks up better-fitting clothing and a replacement pauldron for the standard-issue Shinra equipment he dumped in Wall Market. Troops continue to pour in, and he hurries.

He stays off the main streets, snaking through alleyways. Turning a corner, he catches sight of two dark suits ahead and nearly trips coming to a halt in the dirty puddles. He retreats into an alcove, out of sight.

The two suits are Turks. He didn't think they'd be in the village this fast. He peeks out. The alley is otherwise deserted except for the duo. Rude has his arms crossed, sunglasses perched atop his shaved head. The other Turk is a blonde woman Cloud has never seen before. She's on the phone.

"Yessir," she says with the nervousness of a new recruit. "Absolutely, sir. We will find Sephiroth. Sources tracked him in the vicinity, but we report no sign of him."

Rude shifts, and Cloud withdraws from sight.

"Junon," the woman says. "Yessir. Understood. Right away, sir."

She hangs up and addresses Rude.

"Mr. Tseng wants us in Junon," she says. "And if we spot the Cetra, he explicitly forbids injuring her."

"...I know," Rude replies. His voice is a low deep rumble. "Tseng's always had a soft spot for the girl."

"And if we see Avalanche? What do we do?" She sounds frightened, inexperienced against Rude's calm collectedness.

"Our orders are to reach Sephiroth before anyone else," he replies, "including Avalanche, if any of them survived."

"So we stop them by any means necessary?"

"Yes, Elena…"

The pair walk right past Cloud squeezed breathless and motionless in the shadows. A rat scurries by his feet.

"Though I'm sure Reno would like us to save that fugitive for him, for when he recovers," Rude says as they disappear around the corner.

Junon, Cloud breathes out. The Turks are tracking Sephiroth, so Sephiroth must have been seen in Junon. He has to beat the Turks there. If Shinra arrives first, they'll cover up whatever the truth is, and he'll be lost again. He slips down the alley and hurries to the inn.

Laughter and excited shouts are audible from the exterior of the rented room. When Cloud unlocks the door, the whole group seems to be in a state of actual happiness. Elmyra and Aerith are at the center of the attention. The older woman has transformed with joy while Aerith regales her with their adventures. All eyes turn to him when he closes the door.

He's the bearer of bad news. "Shinra is here. Lots of troops."

Smiles fade. Everyone understands what this means. They can't stay. Cloud tells them what he's overheard from the Turks, about Junon and the General.

"I'm going after Sephiroth," Cloud announces. "I can't ask any of you to come with me. I don't know what to expect. I just know that he should be dead, and that Shinra is looking for him, too."

"I'm with you, Cloud," Tifa says. A moment passes between them, and nothing more needs to be acknowledged.

Nanaki raises his head. "I would like to accompany you as far as my hometown. There is nothing for me here."

"I don't know 'bout this Sephiroth guy," Barret says, "But if we gonna make trouble for Shinra, I'm in. They need to pay for what they done."

Marlene tugs at his sleeve. Elmyra speaks up. "Surely you aren't considering bringing such a young girl on such a dangerous endeavour," she chides.

Barret gives her a bashful look and rubs the back of his head with his hand. "Uh, well…"

Elmyra lets out an exasperated sigh and turns to Aerith, awaiting the young woman's decision. But she already knows the answer. Aerith has always been too unique, too special, and with Shinra after her yet again, Elmyra knows she can't protect her adopted daughter for much longer. And Cloud seems capable. He'd somehow broken her free of Shinra's captivity this time.

"...I'm sorry," Aerith says, taking Elmyra's hands in her own. "I have to go with them. There's something else pulling at me, a greater force. It's something I've known all my life, that I'm bound for something more...something I don't quite understand. But I'm hoping I will."

Tears roll down Elmyra's cheeks in silence. She nods, wiping them away.

"Don't worry," Aerith says with a smile. "Cloud will take good care of me. And my new friends, too."

"I...I know…" Elmyra manages to get out before a sob shakes her body. She hugs Aerith tight. "I'll rent an apartment in town. You can stay whenever you want. Any of your friends, too. If you trust them, then I trust them."

Aerith kisses her cheek.

Elmyra exhales and pulls away, regaining her composure. She once more looks at Barret, "And this young girl should stay out of harm's way as well! Why don't you let me care for her while you are out? I...I could use the companionship in the absence of my daughter, and the road is no place for such a sweet child."

Barret is firmly opposed. He doesn't know Elmyra, and he's not about to leave Marlene with any stranger, but Tifa and Aerith argue back. Tifa especially cares for Marlene and agrees that Shinra's crosshairs, should their false deaths be uncovered, will be unreasonably dangerous for the four year-old. At last, Tifa wins out. Elmyra's calming nature exudes motherly warmth, and the woman has been nothing but honest with them. Reluctantly, Barret agrees to leave Marlene in Kalm.

"But I don't like it," he insists to Marlene, "and I will be back for you first chance we get."

Cloud hands out the phones he bought. But he didn't anticipate leaving one with Marlene. There's only five. Aerith hands hers to Elmyra. She and Aerith share a tearful goodbye, and Barret and Tifa give Marlene plenty of hugs and kisses.

Once Elmyra and Marlene are gone, the atmosphere shifts into urgency. Cloud relays his idea for their escape route along the backroads, out of sight from any MPs. They agree to split into two parties to avoid suspicion. Tifa and Barret elect to go together. Aerith wants to stay with Cloud.

"Who do you wanna go with?" Cloud asks Nanaki.

"I'll stay with Tifa and Barret," he replies. "Because if our phones don't work for any reason, I can probably still track if you're nearby from your scent."

Cloud groans, "I wish you'd stop talking about how I smell."

Nanaki chuckles. "Oh, don't worry. It's not offensive. And your other friends can't detect it."

Cloud rolls his shoulder, adjusting the weight of the broadsword, and ignores the awkward comment. "Okay. Then it's settled. Let's go."

The group does not look happy to be on the run once more, but Cloud feels exhilarated. A clear purpose lays ahead, hopefully with answers about what really happened at Nibelheim.

All those things Elmyra said about the Promised Land and the Ancients, or Cetra… It trudges up fragments of buried memories. That word… he recalls hearing it from Sephiroth, the day the General went mad. A spotlight in his mind shows a long corridor of books. A library. And Sephiroth is at the far end, tearing through pages. In this snapshot, the library is in total disarray, books thrown from shelves and papers scattered about. Sephiroth looks at Cloud and speaks of the Cetra rapidly and conspiratorially, as though insight has struck him on a massive scale. He's made a revelation, he says, poring over the scientific writings splayed all around. He'd been told his mother's name was Jenova and now he sees that same name plastered all over these confidential Shinra files. This area is off limits, Cloud remembers. The General shouldn't be down here. Down? Is that right?

Sephiroth continues ranting. He believes JENOVA is a Cetra, and that he is an offspring produced from its cells, artificially created but an advent of the species' rebirth. His purpose is to reclaim the planet from its "traitors" and go to the Promised Land with his "mother". It sounded like insane ravings at the time. Now Cloud isn't so sure. Elmyra had said Shinra was looking for this 'promised land', too.

He and Aerith wait until Tifa, Barret, and Nanaki are out of sight, then they head the opposite direction, keeping their heads down and circling through the crowded marketplace before descending into alleyways towards the outskirts where the truck is parked. The inflow of Midgarians is overwhelming the town, and MPs can hardly keep up with the demand for fresh water. Stores are closing up due to no inventory.

As they muddle through the side streets, Cloud can't stop thinking about the thread tying Aerith to Sephiroth.

"Is the Promised Land real?" he asks on a whim.

There's a beat of apprehension in her response. "Why would you ask me that?"

He extends a hand to help her climb over a dumpster in their path. "You don't have to pretend anymore. I know you're a Cetra," he says. "Elmyra told me."

She releases his hand, fearful. They are alone in the alley. There's a steady drip of dirty rainwater from the fire escapes above.

"I-I never wanted anyone to know," she whispers.

"It's okay. I know why you lied to me. You couldn't trust me before. I am—was part of Shinra. Maybe you can trust me now."

He looks back at her. If any of it is true, if Sephiroth was right…

"So?" he asks. "Is it real?" His curiosity is genuine, but he sees that same uncertainty in her.

"I don't know," she admits in a small defeated voice. "I've had so many questions my whole life."

He pauses as the alley terminates into a populated avenue, motions for her to stay hidden. A band of six MPs patrol past. Once they are clear, Cloud and Aerith cross into another web of alleys. They are almost to the parked truck. If they can refuel it somewhere outside of town, they could likely make it to Junon by nightfall.

"Can you really hear the dead?" he asks.

"Oh. Elmyra told you that, too?"

"Is it true?"

"...Sometimes."

"Is there any chance you can tell if Sephiroth is really dead or not?"

"Oh, no, it's not like that. There are… too many voices. I can't really seek one person out."

They fall into silence again while he contemplates. The area ahead is thick with MPs, and they have to traverse a long detour through another route of alleyways. The enigma of Sephiroth's reappearance is consuming him. That thing in the basement is connected, not just to Sephiroth, but Cloud is sure those same cells are within him, too. Hojo's life-saving transfusions must be derived from the seemingly immortal thing, twitching in its tube. And what of Aerith?

He wants to tell her these suspicions, that she too may have been subject to Hojo's experimental treatments. Yet something stops him and he isn't sure what. Jenova doesn't feel like the enemy here. Sephiroth got into the Shinra Tower and stole that headless thing, like he did in the Nibel Reactor. He's the real threat here.

"Cloud?"

Aerith's voice pulls him from the spiral.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for getting me out of there. That laboratory. If it weren't for you, I'd still be…"

"You don't have to thank me." Having both been under Hojo's knife, regardless of the tenure, forges an unusual sympathy towards her. He's only glad he happened to go back down into the basement before leaving the Tower completely.

Ahead, the paved village roads become mud and the housing grows sparse and dilapidated. The congestion eases up, and out along the outskirts, Cloud can see the old pick-up truck parked. Except Shinra MPs are congregating less than a dozen paces away, some boarding helicopters while others work to set up another "relief aid" tent.

"Where are they going?" Aerith wonders.

Junon, probably. To catch Sephiroth. Regardless, they can't reach the truck without being sighted. Nanaki appears across the street, tail flickering. Cloud and Aerith cross over to meet up with him, Tifa, and Barret, who are hiding in a vacant storefront. The interior is abandoned and crawling with vermin and mold.

"We can't get to the truck," Tifa says. "So we have to leave town on foot."

"And walk to Junon?" Barret balks. "That'll take forever! Plus the swamps are dangerous on foot. And the only way through the mountains is the highway, which we can't exactly walk along unnoticed, or the mines."

But there's no choice. They can either wait until Shinra leaves town (unlikely), attack the MPs straight-on (which Cloud disagrees with), or they can sneak out and not look back. Nobody can agree, but Cloud won't let Sephiroth continue to stay ahead of them. Now that Junon is in his head, it's hard to think of anything else. He convinces the group to sneak out and leave the truck.

"There's a chocobo farm to the south," Barret tells Cloud as they slip beyond the village's edge. "Could be more useful for off-road travel anyways."

Cloud's heard that some chocobos can travel across mountains and even water with ease. Short of an airship, it sounds like a great method of travel. Plus he's always liked animals. So they head south along the swamps towards the distant farm. The afternoon sun descends, and they see no signs of Shinra. Hopefully, they'd forgotten all about Avalanche and Hojo's runaway specimen now that Sephiroth is on their radar.

As the sun sets, the group makes camp, which without proper supplies simply means a fire, a caught and roasted levrikon for dinner, and lying on tough grass beneath a canopy of clouded sky, hoping those buzzing gnats don't bite too hard overnight. Cloud agrees to keep watch for the first couple of hours.

The night progresses into a black wall of humming insects and nocturnal creatures prowling beyond the dwindling sphere of firelight. Gradually, the rest of the party falls off into sleep. Cloud leans on his elbows, watching across the tall grass and listening for helicopters overhead. This place is peacefully devoid of human sounds. At one point the clouds clear away overhead, and he looks up at a thousand points of starlight. The light pollution from Midgar is far enough away to allow the naked eye to see an endless stretch of the worlds beyond this one.

The last time he was under such a sea of stars was in Nibelheim at the water tower, his last night in town. He glances at Tifa, asleep with her back to him. Her long hair is tied in a loose bun, and her arms are wrapped around her shoulders as if she's cold. He wishes he had something, a blanket perhaps, that he could give her.

Then the next time he was in Nibelheim was during that fateful mission. The one where he lost everything. Well, almost. He still had Tifa, somehow. He doesn't even know her that well—seven years can change a person quite a bit—yet that childhood crush still rushes his blood. He only hopes he's not being too obvious about it. Besides, romantic interests are not exactly a priority right now.

Then he hears something. Footsteps, almost. Light and fast. He thinks he spots a figure out across the plains. A lithe quick movement, a glint of steel from a weapon with many short blades. Someone watching them.

He stands, hand raised to his hilt, and scans the darkness. But he doesn't see the figure again. He hears the crunch of dry grass one more time, further off, then it's gone.

When Barret wakes to take the next watch, Cloud tells him about the visitor. Barret yawns and says Cloud is probably imagining things. The open night can do strange things to one's mind, especially under stress and exhaustion.

"When the last time you actually slept?" Barret says in a whisper.

"Tonight's not going to be that night," Cloud responds. There's too much going on in his head.

He tries anyways, always keeping the sword beneath his hand. Zack continues to be in his dreams. They are traveling to Midgar, running from Shinra. It's raining heavily.

He awakes without feeling like he slept at all, as if time suddenly accelerated into an unnatural dawn. The sky is a haze of pink. Tifa is nearest to him, combing out her hair with her fingers, chatting with Aerith. There's a painful heat crawling along his arm, and he pulls up his sleeve to where the professor's intravenous tubes had gone. The bubbling web of scar tissue he'd noticed yesterday now branches black along the veins of his forearm, up his bicep, smoothed and raised like a long-healed burn. He quickly puts his sleeve down. He doesn't know what it means, but it was not there last night.

"Hey." Aerith smiles over at him. "You sleep okay?"

"Y-yeah. Just fine. Uneventful."

He does not want to spend another night sleeping in the dirt, though. Dawn is breaking, and the chocobo farm can't be further than a day's walk. The group gets going as soon as possible. Barret leads and Cloud goes last. He keeps getting the uncanny feeling they are being followed, but the plains of grass simply wave in the breeze, barren of pursuers. He dismisses it as paranoia, and keeps walking with the only people he cares about in the world ahead of him.

A week ago, he would have thought it impossible that he'd be this far outside Midgar with a group of terrorists and laboratory escapees, fleeing the wreckage of a collapsed plate, and seeking out a dead man that he once revered and then reviled. Everything he'd known had turned on its side in a matter of hours. He'd shed an identity so quickly it almost scares him.