"Cloud."

Tifa sits next to him in the moonlight. He can't see her eyes, but he can hear the tremor in her voice.

"Do you know where we are?" It's not a question, but a confirmation.

He nods. "Yes…"

He's suspected it since they'd made camp for the night and he'd taken the first watch. The surroundings aren't familiar, but he's been here before. It's something in the environment evoking the subliminal. Like an itch he can't scratch.

And he knows where Nibelheim should be on a map.

"It's not as clear, but…" He taps his head. "It's up here somewhere." That sensation of home.

Stars split the sky through a canopy of trees. After hours of walking through forested valleys, the group had decided to rest. Reaching an ancient temple on an island now seems impossible with Shinra on their tail again. Yuffie suggested they steal a ship or plane, but everyone agreed they should remain hidden in the mountains until daylight. They made no fire, and Cloud sat in the darkness, listening to the others sleep, trying to remember.

The moon is bright. There are dark shadows down Tifa's face. He can see her frowning.

"I haven't been back since…" she says.

The hum of insects is a wall of noise around them. It's cold without a fire, and most of the group huddles for warmth. Nanaki's tail is dim, curled over his nose. Tifa brushes closer to Cloud.

"There's nothing to go back to," he replies. "It must be a charred husk."

"Maybe. But…I want to see it. I think I need to see it."

A detour is not what he had in mind, especially since this temple and the Black Materia are geographically very far away, and those drones in Cosmo Canyon likely recorded their encounter, and now Shinra certainly knows they are all alive, not just Cloud. Though maybe Aerith escaped their cameras.

"I don't want to go back," Cloud says.

For him, Nibelheim exists as snapshots that don't quite render the whole. Part of him is happy he can't remember every detail. It's pointless to ruminate over what they lost, he wants to tell her, but maybe her wound is deeper than his because she can remember. Maybe for her, this would be closure.

That night, when Tifa takes the second watch, he lies restless. When Barret relieves her the following hour, Cloud at last falls asleep, but he has strange dreams.

He's drifting bodiless in the cosmos. The void is infinite, terrifying, broken with an overwhelming pattern of celestial objects. He can see beyond the visible spectrum. The void is alive, and he's not alone. Others are traveling with him. Hundreds of them, though he cannot see them. One turns. It notices him, his alienness. It peers into him, peeling away strips of his formless body.

He throws himself awake. The dream vanishes, and he's gasping, in the forest, with Tifa asleep beside him beneath a faint pink dawn.

Barret is already awake and looks over at Cloud.

"You okay, man?"

Cloud isn't, but he catches his breath. "Y-yes. Just fine."

Aerith is tossing, unsettled in her rest, as well.

"You know we must be close to Nibelheim," Barret says.

Cloud exhales. "Yeah, I know. Tifa wants to go back."

Aerith awakens with a start. She looks right at Cloud. The emerald in her eyes shimmers. He knows, somehow, that she's had the same dream.

"Oh. Good morning, all," she says, regaining her composure.

He tries to do the same. It's a dream, after all. Except he can't help but think of what Hojo told him about Jenova. It fell from the stars. He glances up surreptitiously. No, just a cloudy gray up there. Nothing else. Even if he feels eyes watching.

Fog accumulates in the valley, and pines poke through like daggers. There's only one road, and it leads to Nibelheim.

"We're this close," Tifa says. "I can't not see it."

"Cloud…" Aerith says. "Is Nibelheim where Zack died?"

Static. No, Zack died in Mt. Nibel. At the Reactor. That's right. He tells Aerith the Reactor is beyond the town, in the mountains.

Supplies are low, spirits are lower, but Aerith and Tifa both want to see the remains of the town. In the early morning fog, they follow the neglected dirt road. The route is overgrown. The wind is biting and carries the faintest trace of Mako. Or maybe that's just in his head.

Completely decimated, Hojo had told him of Nibelheim. So Cloud isn't expecting much. He prepared for the sight of blackened skeletal buildings, a collapsed water tower. Nothing. He's ready for nothing.

Tifa bites her lip and flexes her gloves.

"So what's the big deal with this town?" Cait Sith asks as they walk.

"Cloud and I are the only survivors," Tifa says. "Sephiroth, this person we're chasing, set fire to Nibelheim five years ago."

"Yikes. Why'd he do that?"

"We think it's because of Jenova…" She glances at Cloud for corroboration.

But Cloud doesn't reply because the wreckage of Nibelheim does not come into view. Cait Sith is still talking, asking what's a Jenova, but everything fades except this very real town of rust-colored roofs, white fences, and a water tower right at the center of it all. As if it had been plucked from his memories.

Nibelheim is intact. Thriving. There are shops and pedestrians and puffs of smoke coming from chimneys. The entire town materializes from the fog.

He halts short at the gate. Tifa pauses next to him in shock.

"Wh-what?" she says. "I don't understand."

Yuffie chews a stick of gum. "Looks like they rebuilt it."

But nothing is askew, nothing redone. Cloud notes the slight lean of the water tower, the cracks in the cobblestones. No, this wasn't rebuilt. It was reconstructed. Painstakingly.

"This... isn't right," he says when he finds his voice.

"No shit!" Barret says. "Wouldn't be the first time Shinra lied. They told you it was gone?"

It was gone. All of it. He instinctively rubs the patches of scarred burns on his forearms. The heat had been so intense.

Tifa runs ahead, stopping in front of a perfect replica of her house. There's a woman outside watering flowers. Cloud watches Tifa argue with the woman, who shakes her head, looking very confused. Tifa pushes past to gain entry to the home. Cloud rushes after her, apologizing to the flabbergasted homeowner.

He follows Tifa upstairs into a bedroom overlooking the street. There's a piano and a bed.

"Tif, what are you—"

"This is my room, Cloud," she says, running a finger over the ivory keys. "This is the same piano I played as a child. This isn't possible."

The woman appears, begging them to please leave. Tifa argues it can't be her home, but the woman insists she's lived here for over a decade. There was never any fire. There was never any crazed General.

"He's gone missing, that's for sure," the woman states, "But I've lived in this house for many years. Certainly never experienced any fire like what you're describing. That simply never happened."

Tifa storms out in dismay. She accosts individuals in the street, asking about the fire, telling them about her father's death at the hands of a madman. But everyone shakes their head, asks if she's okay—did she hit her head?—and insists that Nibelheim never endured such a tragedy. Nibelheim has always been here.

"The Reactor," Tifa says, grabbing Cloud's shoulders. "I'm going there."

"I'm going, too," Aerith says, equally alarmed.

"Seems like way too much trouble to concoct a hoax like this," Yuffie says. "Why bother keeping it running?"

The others are stunned by proxy. Barret remains near the water tower, surveying, while Nanaki sniffs the dusty sidewalks. Yuffie twirls a throwing star in her fingers, and Cait Sith perches atop the moogle.

The only one who doesn't seem affected is Cloud. It's tearing him up, but he feels disconnected from this person inside whom the sight of Nibelheim is destroying. As if a shade of himself were experiencing these things, not him truly.

"I can take you to the Reactor," Tifa says to Aerith. "C'mon, Cloud, let's go."

But Cloud isn't listening. He's barely aware of her as a particular structure catches his eye through the fog at the edge of town. An old pristine manor. A mansion.

"No," he tells Tifa. "I'm not going."

His voice is flat, every muscle tense. Of course he doesn't want to go back to the Reactor, she reasons. But she needs to see for herself if there's any trace of what she'd suffered. The destruction, the death. Or if that, too, has been washed into this insane abyss of denial. This town is wrong. The Reactor can't be wrong, too.

She turns briskly from him. He's cognizant of her walking away, hand in hand with Aerith. Barret is following after, shouting for her to wait. The trio disappears into the obscured pathway out of town. Yuffie shivers, rubbing her hands over her arms.

"This place gives me the creeps," the ninja says. "And it's freezing. I need to go buy a jacket."

She vanishes into the narrow streets of the market. Townspeople amble nearby, curious at the newcomers, but nobody troubles the remaining man, moogle, and lion.

"Guess I'll just wait here, then," Cait Sith says, planting himself in the town square.

The Shinra Mansion looms in Cloud's vision with its vine-covered facade and wrought-iron fence. Outside the periphery of town activity, the manor inhabits its own surreal atmosphere. The gravity of it pulls him in.

Suddenly, he's standing at its gate, one hand on the iron fence. It's very quiet.

"Cloud," Nanaki's voice speaks beside him. "This place...smells different from the rest of town. It's older. Much older."

Because the rest of it burnt down. Except this.

Cloud pushes the gate with an eerie creak. A nesting bird takes flight.

"Wait," Nanaki says, but Cloud doesn't.

He crosses into the manor grounds. Smooth glass windows reflect the overcast sky in burgundy brick. The clouds above move fast. An elderly man is tending to the gardens near the main entry. A floppy straw hat covers his sun-tanned forehead. Thick leather gloves go up to his elbows as he crouches in the dirt, pulling weeds.

When Cloud approaches, the older man glances up. His wrinkled face smiles wide.

"Oh. Welcome back, sir."

Cloud doesn't understand at first. Has he been here recently?

"Almost didn't recognize you out of uniform."

"You...work for Shinra?" Cloud says.

The old man jumps. "Oh! You can speak!" He stands and pulls off his hat. "I figured you were a mute whenever you arrived with the Professor. He isn't with you?"

Shinra hasn't kept this man up to date on the latest developments.

"When was the last time we saw each other?" Cloud asks.

"Why, it's only been a few months. Maybe a year."

Cloud feels a bizarre calm run through his body. It doesn't seem possible. The manor pulls at him. He grasps the doorknob. It's brass and freezing cold. He's marginally aware of Nanaki following him into the expansive foyer. The groundskeeper bids a polite farewell and returns to work.

The mansion's interior is peeling paint and dirty windows beneath a cobwebbed chandelier. Former opulence exudes from every crevice, now in disrepair. The carpet stinks of mold. Intricate metalwork rusts on the windows. Cloud doesn't remember any of it.

There's a trodden path down one hallway. He takes it, going past closed doors. The glow from Nanaki's tail chases away only some of the drear.

"What is this place?" Nanaki asks.

Cloud doesn't answer. He's not sure he knows.

They reach a door unlike the others, sleek and modern. A keycard reader blinks. No doorknob.

Cloud takes out his white keycard. Shinra already knows he's alive, so it doesn't matter if using it alerts anyone to his presence.

And the door hisses open. Inviting into darkness.

He's shocked the keycard still works. Hojo's credentials aren't scrubbed from the systems, or perhaps the Mansion isn't connected the main grid.

A stairwell leads down along glistening black walls. The strong scent of chemicals makes Nanaki cringe.

"Cloud, we shouldn't go…"

It's too late. He can't turn back. Waking up in the Shinra Tower in Midgar had been his first recollection since the fire, yet he couldn't have been comatose all those years. He descends down, down into the musty basement, into an array of scents that blind his senses. He wants memories to come back. He feels them just below the surface.

The basement is a laboratory. Lights click on overhead, displaying a table of equipment draped in protective tarp, untouched. Two Mako chambers stand vacant and hungry, large enough to fit a human. Books and research papers line a long desk.

Then he sees it. The machine.

The sight sparks through him like electricity. A massive black box of knobs and drains, with fittings for tubes and rubber hoses coiled on rings. Long needles gleam beneath plastic housing.

A rush of intimate familiarity coalesces into fear. His heart beats faster as he looks up. The ceiling, so usual, wood support beams in reinforced brick, sets everything off.

He's stared at that ceiling. In agony. For hours. Days. Perhaps years. Yes, that was all he knew.

It collapses inside him. He's screaming, but outside he is silent.

There's a tube discarded in one of the chambers. He picks it up, not noticing his hand shaking, and inside is a black residue. A smear of dried iridescence.

He knows exactly what it is. His thumb brushes against the chalky edge, and the material attracts onto his skin. He drops the container, and the black residue seeps inside him.

No, that's not possible. This whole place has—

"Cloud? Are you okay?"

Nanaki is a pulsing beat of warmth in this icy hellscape. The beast sniffs at the fallen tube.

"This is like the creature we encountered on the cargo ship," Nanaki says.

Cloud knows. He already knows. "Y-yeah… Hojo must've been experimenting with Jenova cells in here. The proximity to the Reactor must've…" he trails off, head swimming. He thinks he might pass out. One hand holds onto the desk. There are plastic tubings tied in bunches nearby. The same that he remembers being injected into his chest. He unconsciously touches the space above his heart.

"I can't…"

"What did that man outside mean?" Nanaki says. "You worked in here with Shinra?"

No, he doesn't know. None of it makes sense.

"I thought you'd said you were in a coma for five years."

I was, Cloud wants to say, but it no longer sounds like the truth. The entire town is insanity. He feels like he's losing his mind.

Nanaki perks his ears. He shifts his attention to a corridor further down. The other way is the library. Cloud focuses on that. The bookshelves are bare. Fragments of torn paper are scattered like sporadic snowflakes. This is where Sephiroth lost his mind, too.

Cloud steps into the library. There isn't much here. But something glimmers on the reading desk in the spine of an open book. A green materia. How did this get here? He picks it up, almost expecting it to be an illusion.

It's a Destruct materia.

Confused, Cloud looks around for a possible explanation.

"Hm, a powerful materia to remove enemy defenses," Nanaki says. "Mastered, this can bring swift Death."

He's heard of such a materia, but never seen one before. Shinra is full of secrets. He pockets it.

"We shouldn't stay here long," Nanaki says. "There's something else down here with us."

"What do you mean?" Cloud says. Hearing his own voice is a relief. He's still himself despite what he's seen and heard.

"I can't tell what it is, but it isn't like you or I."

This mystery won't go unsolved. Cloud steadies his sheath and advances down the hall. This part of the basement is unfinished. Water leaks through muddy walls, and there are wooden planks stacked near incomplete caskets. It's a claustrophobic space of crates and one closed coffin.

Nanaki growls at the coffin, but Cloud senses no danger. It's quiet and undisturbed aside from the distant drip of water. He rests one hand on the coffin, the other on his hilt, and pushes the top open. It's solid and heavy, not for typical burial but almost like a tomb.

There is something inside. Someone. A man in repose, with long black hair, wearing black clothing. A thick red cape coils over his chin.

"What is it?" Nanaki asks, baring his teeth.

The man isn't in any state of decay. He's...alive?

Eyes snap open. The color of blood. The man looks at Cloud and sits up.

Cloud startles back, hand on sword, and Nanaki's tail swats, casting odd shadows across this odd man.

"Who is it?" the man asks in a deep quiet voice. "What do you want?"

"Us?" Cloud blurts out. "Who are you?!"

The man regards Cloud.

"Hmph. You must work for Shinra. Tell me, do you know Lucrecia Crescent?"


Meanwhile, not so far away, Tifa approaches the Nibel Reactor.

Navigating full-speed through the mountain pass, she led Aerith and Barret on the same route she'd taken five years ago when smoke stung her eyes and rage burned her heart. Now she stands on the precipice overlooking the enormous silver cylinder jutting from barren rock. The Reactor is a scar on the land.

It looks dark. Inactive.

Sweat covers her skin despite the chill. She pushes onward as Aerith and Barret catch up, climbing down the metal railings two steps at a time.

"The Reactor is off?" Barret questions as they stand under the entryway.

The sleek spire of the Reactor soars into colorless skies. There is a low hum in the earth.

"No," Aerith says. "It's in some sort of...low power state?"

The locks are secure. Keycard entry is offline. Cloud had mentioned some Reactors are fully automated, and this one seems abandoned. Barret shoots the security cameras down.

"Hell, it ain't like they don't know we exist, what with Cosmo Canyon and all."

Then he shoots the whole damn door down. The instant smell of Mako hisses free. Tifa feels the energy of that day, five years ago, and bolts inside.

Everything is as she remembers. Reactors were not designed for human ease. The walkways are harsh metal grating above endless shafts. Deep below the main chamber, the gentle swish of Mako sounds. The lights are dim, the atmosphere dank. It's hot. And quiet. So quiet.

She crosses the main catwalk over the Mako pool. Ahead, a darkened gateway leads to the inner chamber where she'd confronted the General.

She pauses at the end of the catwalk. There's a landing of galvanised metal. It flashes in her head. Her father died here. She kneels, places one hand over the spot where she'd once collapsed. Blood had been all over her skirt. All over her hands. She'd cursed Shinra through her sorrow. The grief was staggering.

Aerith and Barret are beside her.

"Where did he die?" Aerith asks. "Zack…?"

Tifa shakes from her paralysis, wiping a silent tear from her cheek. "Inside." She motions to the doorway.

Aerith presses a switch, and the door sputters open. Barret keeps his gun raised. They haven't encountered any security measures yet, and Tifa assumes this is because the Reactor is not fully functioning, whether intentional or not.

Automatic lighting clicks on, revealing an antechamber of empty translucent pods. Tifa has no idea their purpose, but they are dusty now. A metal staircase leads to a door marked with black and yellow paint signaling caution. It is completely sealed shut.

Tifa lowers her head. This is where it happened.

On these steps, Tifa almost lost her life. In her foolish rage, she'd taken a strike from the most powerful man in the Shinra military. She'd been stabbed and thrown and left for dead.

"Zack…" Aerith whispers. She places hands over her heart and closes her eyes.

Barret hangs by the entrance, keeping watch, but there are no alarms. There is nothing left to guard.

Yes, this is where the First-Class SOLDIER died. Zack had tried to stop Sephiroth. He'd spoken to him, tried to reason. Hadn't they been friends once, she remembers him saying. She recalls the pain. The slippery mess. The smells like toxins. Then, Cloud.

"It's funny," Aerith says. "I always thought I'd be able to sense when he died. When I hear the voices within the Planet, I strain to listen for his. But I never hear it. I thought that meant he…" A short laugh falls from her. "But he's gone. You saw him." Aerith looks at Tifa. "Right?"

Yes, Tifa saw him die. She didn't see the slash, only the trauma. The SOLDIER had gotten to his feet, but blood soaked his uniform black. He hadn't gotten far.

She cringes. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

"I wish I could feel him. Somewhere in the Lifestream."

"He's there," Tifa says. "Just like my father and my mother, and your mother. Everyone we love."

"So it all really happened."

"Yes."

"Why is everyone in town lying?"

Barret leans against the doorway, one foot in the main chamber, gun lifted.

"I'll tell ya why," he says. "Shinra is coverin' up their mistake! A General going ape-shit and killing innocent civilians? Ain't nothing about that spells good news for Shinra. They musta thought nobody survived."

"Well, they knew Cloud survived," Tifa says.

Barret scoffs. "Yeah, that nutcase? They could program him with whatever they want. They own him. He ain't a survivor. Not like you."

She's alone, is what he's saying, outside of Shinra's equation.

Aerith kisses her palm and rests it on the metal where Zack had fallen. Then she turns to Barret.

"You really think Cloud's a nutcase?" she asks.

"Oh yeah," Barret responds without missing a beat. "Comin' straight out of Shinra's labs, not remembering a damn thing."

"But he saved our lives," Aerith says.

"Let's be clear," Barret says. "Cloud saved Tifa's life. He didn't come for me or for you or Red. We just happen to be in the right place at the right time."

"That's not fair. He could've left us behind, but he didn't. Whatever his original intentions, he's a good person in there."

"Defend him all you want. Ain't gonna change what I think."

There's silence aside from the electrical hum of machinery plugged into the earth. It reverberates in the soles of Tifa's boots.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm warmin' up to the guy," Barret continues. "All I'm sayin' is we just don't know that much about him. Whatchu think, Tifa?"

Truthfully, Cloud is very different from the kid she remembers, but they hadn't exactly been close.

"He's missing five years of his life," Tifa says. "That would make anyone a little crazy."

A sudden thud echoes, and the walls shudder.

"Aw hell, now what?" Barret says.

All three go into the main chamber above the Mako pit. There's a clanging from the maze of ladders and platforms above. Then footsteps, muffled voices.

"Shit," Barret whispers. "We gotta hide."

The Reactor has plenty of crevices and dark corners to squeeze into. Tifa crouches next to piping wet with condensation.

"—it never gets easier," a male voice says. "I tell ya, Tseng, those idiots better be here. We're missing the real fun."

A lanky redhead in a black suit appears on the catwalk above. His electro-baton rests on his shoulder. Tifa recognizes him at once.

Reno, of the Turks.

And behind him is Rude, tall, intimidating. He'd been the one who interrogated her at the Tower.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Reno intones. "Especially you, Cloud Strife. We're cleaning up Hojo's messes, and that includes his little science projects."

The voice is cutting and malicious. Rude splits off from Reno, stalking with slow steps. They block the only route out.

"They are here," a third man says, calm and collected. "Don't harm the Ancient."

So they're here for Aerith, and there's no way Tifa's going to let that happen. Barret is across from her, gun poised. All she needs to do is distract the Turks long enough for Barret to get Aerith out.

Tseng comes into view, a Wutain man with straight black hair tied at his shoulders. An air of sophistication and appropriate caution tempers his movements. He is clearly the senior to Rude and Reno, though he doesn't appear much older. He remains by the entrance.

Get Aerith and run, Tifa mouths to Barret.

He shakes his head, lifts his gun towards the Turks. He's ready to fight.

Tifa disagrees. Protect Aerith. There's a reason they want her, she tries to convey. Can't give them that opportunity.

The Turks come closer. They will soon be above and will no doubt see Tifa and Barret.

Trust me, Tifa implies. She gives Barret no time to respond.

She stands, exposing her position.

"Cloud isn't here," she calls out. "It's just me."

Reno snickers, resting his predatory sights on her. He leans over the railing.

"Ah, the lone terrorist. Lover boy desert you?"

Keeping her in his field of view, he walks towards the ladder leading down. Rude, she notices, is completely still. He's almost faded into the steam from a loose valve.

Reno takes the baton under one arm to slide down the ladder on his gloves. He smiles a row of white teeth at her.

"Don't worry," he says. "We'll take care of Cloud soon."

When she looks back at Rude, he's gone. A stroke of panic goes through her. The leader, Tseng, is watching her, too, and he enters the main chamber.

"We aren't fools, Ms. Lockhart," Reno says. With one finger, the baton sizzles to life. Sparks of electricity illuminate his smirk.

She's backing up, but there isn't much more space. Tseng is circling.

"Like I said, Cloud isn't here," Tifa says, flexing her gloves.

Reno sighs, "Are we going to do this the easy way or the easier way?"

Tifa raises her fists. "Are you suggesting I surrender?"

"Surrender?" He chuckles. "Oh. Don't you recall? You're scheduled for execution."

The railing hits her hip. The ladder is further than she thought and at an angle she can't reach. She'd miscalculated her steps.

Reno lunges, baton swinging, and she blocks. He spins into a flurry of strikes. Her reflexes respond. She mirrors him, keeping the electrified end of the baton at bay. Each twist and blow meets equal opposition and force. Reno is fast, and Tifa finds her breath leaving as she allows muscle memory to protect her face. She lands a fearsome jab followed by a hook, and Reno pulls back to wipe blood from his lip.

He smiles at her. "Oh, what fun."

The heat in the Reactor beads sweat over her face. Fists raised, legs firm, she glances at the entrance. Tseng is closer, and at the corner of her eyes she thinks she sees Barret crouching and moving, out of sight.

Reno pounces. The baton hits her. A jolt of electricity rivets through her bones. A crack hits her cheek. Her knees buckle. Metal grating is at her fingers, and far below the faintest trace of greenish liquid sloshes.

She leaps up, steadies herself. Tseng is near. The coast is clear for Barret. She can only hope he's with Aerith on their way out.

Reno doesn't tire. Tifa has to react lightning-fast to keep up. The baton gets her twice more, sending shocks and interrupting her flow. The intensity of his attacks wears her down. He intends to kill her. His eyes feast on her condition as she deteriorates. It's that damn smell of Mako getting in her throat. This whole place is cursed.

"Reno!" Tseng suddenly yells.

Reno snaps his head up.

Barret and Aerith are on the catwalk. At this discovery, Barret opens fire. Reno avoids the bullets and abandons Tifa. Aerith has her staff out. Tifa focuses on her materia to throw a bolt of Lightning at Tseng, but before the reaction can fully catalyze, strong arms grab her from behind.

Rude appears out of the veiled darkness behind her. It scares her, how he'd moved outside of her senses. Gloves hold her tight, reach for her neck. She adjusts her footing and throws him, using his own weight to topple him aside.

Gunshots ring out. Tseng aims a pistol at Barret. Aerith is saying something, but Tifa can't hear. Reno closes in on Barret's position.

Rude mirrors her stance. His gloves raise. His jaw sets. There's no way past him to help her friends. She flies into a series of blows. He deflects, unbalancing her momentum. He's a martial artist as well, and a good one. It's been a while since she's been hand-to-hand with a professional.

He catches her next strike, locking her elbow against his. He pulls her in.

"Don't make this difficult…"

There's something apologetic in his tone. She shoves him away, brings a roundhouse kick into his ribs. He staggers. She follows with a front kick to his chest. Aerith shrieks, and Tifa's adrenaline surges. She can't see Barret and Aerith anymore, but she knows they are in danger. The Turks cannot win.

Rude is waiting for her to tire out, she realizes. Then he'll come in for the kill.

She can't give him that chance. Her hatred for the Reactor, for this false Nibelheim, for the Turks and for Sector Seven pulls up strength. She dives at Rude, fists striking fast. He blocks one hit, but the rest break through. She flips a powerful somersault kick into him, connecting in fire and sweat.

Rude falls.

Barret is in trouble. Reno has moved in and dismantled a mechanism on the gun-arm. Tseng is popping off shots. Aerith calls forth a Quake from Nanaki's Earth materia in her staff, and the Reactor shakes and trembles. A metal beam falls, destroying the ladder leading down to Tifa's level and missing Tseng by a hair.

Rude grabs Tifa's ankle and pulls her down with such force her chin splits on the grating. She kicks at him, but he's twisted her around. The two struggle. Above, more shots fire. Steam spews and lights flare red and yellow. Rude grapples her into a chokehold. Barret looks pinned beneath Reno's baton. Aerith and Tseng face one another.

Tifa senses her muscles fading. The Reactor is closing around her. Vision blurring. Her elbows meet air. Rude's grip on her throat is tightening.

She can't die here. Not here, in this Reactor. Not where everything else died for her. It would mean she survived for nothing.

There's something in the air. A smell like flowers. But that's impossible. A light breeze touches Tifa's face.

Above her, Aerith waves her arms. A whirlwind of energy surrounds the Cetra. It happens so fast, Tifa isn't quite sure what she's experienced. All at once, Rude is frozen. His rigid muscles slacken, and she climbs from his lethal embrace.

The Turk's eyes go to hers, but he cannot speak. He cannot move.

Confused, Tifa looks up at Tseng and Reno. The pair are also paralyzed and silent, with Tseng's gun aimed at Barret.

"C'mon!" Aerith shouts, helping Barret to his feet.

Tifa scans the area and finds piping sturdy enough to support her weight. Rude, helpless, watches her go. She runs to join Aerith and Barret.

"I'm sorry," Aerith says to Tseng, whose glassy eyes stare at her.

The three rush out of the Reactor at full speed. A black helicopter is outside. Tifa wishes they had a pilot, but there's no time to fiddle with the controls. She has to warn Cloud of the Turks, and they have to leave immediately. Their only advantage is that the helicopter can't navigate the valleys or land into the town itself.

The Turks will recover, no doubt, from whatever Aerith had done.

"What was that?!" Tifa asks, breathless, as they run through the mountains. "You silenced and paralyzed them. All them! At the same time!"

Barret tinkers with his gun as they go, though he, too, gives Aerith a curious glance.

"I-I don't know," Aerith admits between gasps. She scrambles over rocks behind Tifa.

"Another miracle from the Planet?" Barret wonders. They'd seen her do it in Sector Seven, call upon strange powers.

There isn't time to discuss. The three continue at breakneck pace. Aerith knows the monster in the cargo ship could also paralyze without materia. Part of her wonders if Gast was wrong. Or if she's been wrong about her ancestry. This link to Jenova… it troubles her more, and she's desperate for answers.


Back at the Shinra Mansion and oblivious to the perils of his teammates, Cloud considers the name he's heard.

"Lucrecia…"

"Yes," the strange man says. "She works with Professor Gast."

Gast. That name again. Bugenhagen had mentioned him, but Lucrecia is a mystery.

"No." Cloud shakes his head. "And I don't work for Shinra. Not anymore."

The man shifts his gaze to the floor. "Oh. I see. Then please go." He lies back down in the coffin and pulls the heavy lid across with surprising strength.

"Wait a minute," Cloud says, halting the lid. "Who are you? What are you doing here? What do you know about Gast?"

"I have nothing to say to strangers. You should leave this place. This mansion is only nightmares."

Cloud almost laughs. "Yeah, no kidding."

This stops the man cold. He glares. "And what do you know of nightmares?"

"I know this mansion is where—" a clip of screaming soars in his head, that ceiling with its rotting wood beams, the Mako choking his senses— "where General Sephiroth lost his mind and burnt an entire town down."

The name electrifies the man, who leaps up at once.

"Sephiroth!?"

"You know him?" Cloud asks, noticing for the first time the man's golden claw covering his left hand and most of his arm. The edges look razor-sharp. "You...work for Shinra?"

A low laugh erupts from the red cloak. "I did once. But I was… Hmm. I tried to stop her. To save the child."

"Child?"

"Sephiroth."

"Wait, how long have you been down here?"

The man pauses. Strands of dark hair frame his pale skin, and he doesn't appear malnourished or disheveled or particularly old. Cloud backs away. There's something unnatural about him, and it isn't his choice of slumber location.

"Who are you, really?" Cloud asks.

"Tell me what you know about Sephiroth."

"No, you first," Cloud says. "What are you doing in this basement, for starters."

Because everything Shinra touches cannot be trusted.

The man hesitates, but his thirst for knowledge about Sephiroth wins out.

"My name is Vincent," he says, bowing at the introduction. "Vincent Valentine, formerly of the Shinra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research."

"You're a Turk!?"

"Formerly," Vincent emphasizes. "As you can see, I am no longer on active duty."

Nanaki speaks up. "Why are you sleeping down here?"

Vincent peers at him. "I chose this long sleep. To atone for my sins." His morose tone betrays no ulterior motive. "I failed to help her."

"Lucrecia?" Cloud asks. "Was she…related to Sephiroth?"

"Oh, she is his birth mother."

This stuns Cloud. Nanaki purrs in thought. The General's obsession with Jenova as his mother stems from research uncovered in this very library. Cloud relays this to Vincent, the night Sephiroth went mad.

Vincent listens, then responds without surprise, "Ah, so Sephiroth knows about the Jenova project." There is a pause as he reflects. "Lucrecia was such a beautiful woman. I tried to cancel the experiment. I respected her the most. But I couldn't stop her."

"I don't understand," Cloud says. "How do you know Sephiroth's mother? You can't be older than—"

Vincent chuckles. It's a low throaty growl. "Hojo, that madman, did this to me. He couldn't stand my interference. Lucrecia…"

But he says no more. Further prompting from Cloud brings no answers, only that Vincent wishes eternal sleep. He is deathless, Cloud surmises. An experiment cooked up in Hojo's labs. Sympathy worms into Cloud's judgement. He decides Vincent is a fellow victim. A fellow company man, too. Broken.

"I'm seeking Sephiroth," Cloud says. "You're welcome to join us."

Vincent turns away. "No, I cannot bear to see what's become of him. If your stories are true, then I've failed."

The timeless man returns to his coffin.

"You can help us," Nanaki says. "Whatever you've endured need not be in vain."

"Shinra is after the General, as well," Cloud says. "We could use your skills as an ex-Turk."

Vincent considers this. Dark eyes go to Cloud. "Will I see Hojo?"

I'll be seeing you again, I'm sure, Hojo had said.

"It's likely," Cloud answers Vincent.

A hunger for vengeance crosses Vincent's expression. Then he stretches. The gold claw catches the light from Nanaki's tail, and beneath the cape Cloud spots an old custom pistol. Everything about Vincent exudes a different era. Even his clothing, a black uniform reminiscent of the current Turks' attire, is a double-breasted style no longer in use. Cloud wants to ask about the claw, but it's clear Vincent has secrets he'll continue to keep.

"Then I'll go with you," Vincent says.

Nanaki takes a glance around. "Is there anyone else down here, Vincent?" Or anything, is the connotation.

Vincent gives a forlorn look at his entombment, low cave ceiling and compacted dirt floor. He shakes his head.

When they pass through the laboratory, Vincent stops at the desk piled with dirty beakers and runs a finger along its grain. Cloud wonders what exactly happened to him in here. Does he share the same dark memories as Cloud beneath the same man's scalpel?

"Let's get going," Cloud says. He feels a distinct advantage over Shinra now that someone who actually knew Sephiroth is on their side.

Outside, it's raining. A light drizzle sets the sky to slate, and droplets muddy the dirt paths. The gardener is gone from the manor grounds.

"So, this Gast..." Cloud begins as they walk.

"Professor Gast Faremis, yes," Vincent says. "An intelligent man."

"Is he the reason Lucrecia was subject to Jenova experimentation?"

"No, that honor belongs to Hojo…" The hatred seethes in each syllable. The crimson eyes gleam.

Hojo, again. The crux of every issue. The form casting the longest shadow. Cloud should've made Hojo tell him everything in Costa del Sol, unearthed every skeleton. He won't make that same mistake again.

The rain sent most villagers indoors, so when Cloud spots the blonde woman in a black suit, an alarm goes off in his head. Cloud's seen her before. In Junon…

Elena, he recalls hearing her name. Elena of the Turks.

She spots him and pulls her sidearm.

"Stop right there!" Her voice wavers but her aim does not. She's six paces from them, stockstill beneath the water tower. A few locals sense the disruption and flee.

Cloud does as he's told. The young woman keeps the gun trained on Cloud's chest. Vincent and Nanaki pause, assessing this new threat.

"Y-You!" Elena shouts through the rain at Cloud. "You're supposed to be dead! I've been instructed to terminate you."

But her hesitancy tells of underlying anxiety. Cloud takes advantage of this by extending a hand, palm open.

"I'm not what you think," he says. "Please, put the gun down."

"No. No, I know what you are. I...I have to call this in." Keeping the weapon on Cloud, she shifts one hand to her jacket pocket and retrieves a phone.

"Elena. Your name is Elena, right?"

She seems shocked at his inexplicable knowledge. She stammers, "Yes. And you're Cloud Strife, the renegade SOLDIER. I heard what you did to the Tower. You're dangerous."

The phone flips open in one palm.

"I'm not dangerous. Listen to me. The Turks asked you to kill me because Rufus needs someone to blame for the President's death. None of it's true. I'm just as innocent as—"

"Shut up! No, you aren't just a regular SOLDIER. I read the reports from Hojo's lab. Stay back!"

He's taken three steps towards her.

"Mr. Heidegger is dead," she spews. "They say you did it." The gun barrel moves to his head. "I said stay back!"

She toes away. The rain drags blonde strands onto her cheeks. She grits her teeth.

"I-I will shoot!"

"You won't," Cloud says, raising his hands. He needs to close the gap and grab that gun from her. "You won't because I'm not the enemy. Sephiroth is."

Nibelheim is motionless as a photograph around them. Steam fizzles off Nanaki's tail in the rain.

"What do the Turks know about the General?" Cloud asks.

He's close, just a few more steps. Her thumb poises to dial on the phone, but she won't risk taking her gaze off him. She's scared of him, he realizes. Very scared.

A sudden crack of lightning tears from the sky. Elena jumps. The gun fires. Vincent flies in front of Cloud, faster than any human can move, and the bullet collides into his chest. Cloud cannot process what is happening because Vincent is changing. Beneath the cape, his body is transmogrifying, becoming beastlike.

The man is no longer Vincent. A transformed monster stands in his place. Horns and tail, fur and claws. He stands taller than Cloud, and in a millisecond, he rushes at Elena. Blood spews from his chest. Claws extended, he attacks.

She screams. Another shot fires, but it does not stop the beast. He rips at her jacket, scratches the gun from her hands like a toy. Sheer panic overwhelms her training. There is nothing in the Shinra Training Manuals for dealing with an obscure scientific experiment gone awry.

Cloud realizes Vincent is going to kill this woman. He draws his sword.

"Vincent!" he yells, but the name doesn't matter. It's a word, lost in the wind.

Cloud jumps between them, wedging the sword and pulling his weight to pry Vincent off Elena. He barely has the strength to do it. Elena scrambles away, nursing claw marks on her face and arm. There's blood all over her hands and suit. Strips of torn fabric hang from her like decoration. She grabs the gun.

"W-What the fuck is that!?"

The beast stands with Cloud, breathing out in inhuman growls, muscles rippling.

Cloud turns to Vincent, or whatever remains of him in this mess. "What are you doing?!" he demands, and the creature's crimson eyes go to him. He does see Vincent in there.

Elena fires three more shots, and Cloud reacts with fluid speed. The broadsword protects them both like a shield. Elena shoots until the clip goes dry. Then it clicks over and over. With trembling hands, she fumbles for the spare on her belt. Cloud spots his chance and dashes to her.

His sudden movement throws Elena off. She drops the useless weapon and reverts to a defensive stance, cradling one damaged arm, but ready to engage with Cloud if necessary. He has no intention of hurting her, though her fear comes alive and she very much has intention of hurting him. He evades her swipes and well-trained kicks, then he smacks the broadside of his weapon against her. She falls into the mud, sliding to a stop.

He stands over her.

"Your phone," he orders.

Her eyes flash to the blade, the same one that ended Heidegger's life, and she decides to cooperate. She tosses the phone at his feet. She hadn't been able to make that call. With the heel of his boot, he smashes the PHS. Rain streams down the sword. Lightning cracks.

"Now get lost," he says to her.

"You aren't going to kill me?"

"Of course not. You already know why. We aren't the enemy here."

Elena peeks at Vincent. "What is that thing?"

"I said get lost," Cloud says. "Or I might change my mind."

She takes no second chances. Within ten seconds, she's hobbling out of town, firearm forgotten.

Cloud breathes out. Then he turns his attention to Vincent. Nanaki is standing over the collapsed red cloak, soaked in the rain. He nudges the fallen figure with his nose.

Vincent groans and turns. All trace of the monster is gone. He's just a man, tired and pale and covered in mud. Cloud exchanges a glance with Nanaki, who wordlessly confirms he'd seen the same bizarre transformation.

Vincent exhales, stands. Then he dusts off his cape, scraping away mud as best he can, as if nothing at all happened. Now the tattered condition of the cloak makes sense. Vincent adjusts the buckles so that it fits snug once more.

"Okay," Cloud says, "what the hell was that?"

It's not a question so much as a demand for an answer.

Vincent lets out a small noise of discontent. "This is my sin."

"You'll have to do a lot better than that."

"It is... Hojo's work."

It strikes a sorrowful chord in Cloud. Yes, this man, too, has been subject to the insane machinations of that scientist.

"Can you control it?" Cloud asks with a tone that means the answer better be yes.

Vincent nods. "To a point. Once it...envelops me...I have difficulty. But it doesn't have its own free will, if that's what you mean."

Nanaki's fur remains up. He's sniffing at Vincent.

"You aren't human," Nanaki observes.

"Hm, I suppose not," Vincent says.

Not anymore, Cloud understands. Hojo has cast something vile onto this man, perhaps for interfering with this woman, Lucrecia. The cruelest repercussion, to deprive someone of humanity.

A large white blob rounds the corner from the market. It's Cait Sith, holding onto his moogle, looking pretty sad and drenched.

"Cloud! I saw a blonde woman wearing a fancy suit," he says at once. The moogle stares its sightless eyes at Vincent. "I think she's a Turk. We better be careful."

"Yes, I know already," Cloud responds, breathing out. He sheaths his sword. "You missed all the action."

The commotion piques the interest of citizens, who watch from curtained windows and alcoves. Nibelheim has never felt so foreign to him before.

Yuffie runs in from the cluster of market stalls.

"I heard gunshots!" she says, wearing a new puffy blue coat. "Was that you guys? What did I miss?" Then she notices Vincent. "Oh, hello. Who're you?"

"Vincent Valentine," he introduces himself with a small bow.

"Oh. Okay." She blows a bubble of chewing gum. It pops pink onto her cheeks, which she peels away. "Yuffie Kisaragi. Nice to meet ya."

"The Turks are here," Cloud reports. "I just scared one of them away, but no doubt there are others." Like roaches.

Yuffie turns to Cait and bops the kitty on the head. "Aren't you supposed to be a fortune teller? Why couldn't you tell us the Turks would be here?!"

Cait Sith shirks away, holding his crown, but any response he has is interrupted by the thunderous arrival of their three companions from the Reactor.

Tifa, Aerith, and Barret blast into town, out of breath, in disarray.

Tifa grabs Cloud's arm. "We have to go. Now!"

He doesn't ask why. It's the Turks, he can see it in her face.

"Yes, okay," he says.

And he follows as she and Aerith and Barret haul out of the reconstructed village as fast as possible. The urgency persists until they are far into the mountains, taking a separate path from the canyons.

Shinra is onto them, aware they are alive and on this continent. A black helicopter circles.

"Who's he?" Tifa points at Vincent, pulling Cloud aside once they are clear of Nibelheim.

The rest of the group awaits the answer.

"Vincent Valentine," Yuffie says, as if that's all that needs to be known.

Barret grumbles, whispering to Cloud. "What the hell are you doing invitin' more creeps to join us? It's bad enough we got a damn cat followin' us around. Now some spooky guy in a cape?"

"He's ex-Turk. He despises Hojo." Cloud lowers his voice. "He knew Sephiroth."

The three huddle close. Aerith edges in.

"Hojo did something to him. He won't forgive Shinra," Cloud says. "Trust me, he's on our side."

It takes a moment, but Barret nods. "Shinra done everyone wrong, one way or another. I suppose everyone wants their crack at revenge, and we on the warpath, after all."

Vincent stands apart, watching them speak about him. But he says nothing. Eventually, it's decided to accept his assistance. Cloud mentions the unique talent Vincent showcased, only because he doesn't want any of his friends to get a serious jolt if it happens again. Which it likely will. There are questions, none of which Vincent answers to full satisfaction, but his hatred of Hojo is clear and welcome.

Nibelheim disappears into fog and rain in the mountainscape.

The group is tired and wet and beaten. Cloud realizes Vincent's still injured, and he uses the Restore to cleanse and seal the wounds, to which Vincent expresses gratitude. Yet how he was able to withstand those shots without protest highlights the unnaturalness of Vincent's condition and the strength. Cloud hopes he hasn't made a bad call, because he knows Vincent has plenty more to share on the subject of Gast and the Jenova project. He'll ask, in time. The ex-Turk doesn't seem too keen to discuss openly.

Cloud wishes he felt something more for Nibelheim as he walks away, even if it is a charade crafted by Shinra. A fleeting glimpse of fresh memories, a thread into his previous life, or some lumination on what really happened that day, but it's a hollow mass in his chest. A blank void, now filled with potential terror at the gardener's words outside the Mansion. He's been here before. And not only on the day of the fire. He doesn't tell anyone, and Nanaki seems to respect this unspoken confidentiality. Until he knows more, best not to worry about it. Forward is their only objective.

To this ancient temple. To this Black Materia, and hopefully, to Sephiroth.