--Right, so I realize it's been quite a while since I've updated, I got Dirge of Cerberus…priorities you know. In any case, if any of my readers has beaten Dirge of Cerberus they know that my story is in conflict of something to do with Chaos I won't mention what in case there are people who haven't beat it. I can't magically change this conflict so I will just have to ignore it and go on as planned, I will however be referring to Dirge of Cerberus here and there so if you do need me to explain something and you haven't played the game mention it in your review. On with the story.

Chapter 21

Omega Materia

Sam sat staring at the White Materia as the others moved around; they were trying to figure out what exactly Sam had told them. He could tell they didn't quite get it, and he knew they never really could.

The basic idea was that Cloud himself was the artifact the Outcasts needed to get into Centre Time, the last artifact they'd need to make their plan work. It was much more complicated than that though.

They not only needed Cloud and all the other artifacts but they needed a certain combination of them all. They also needed Cloud to willingly open the door to Centre Time, and obviously he wouldn't do that.

This above all else was the reason why Sam knew he needed to get the second most important artifact before the Outcasts did.

Sam needed to get another special Materia, one more powerful than both Black and White, but not nearly as well known.

Sam stood up and walked over to Gast, the sun was setting and he was watching his sister sleep.

"Is Cloud conscious?" asked Sam.

"Not yet, he's been out as long as she has," Gast replied.

"I have to go," Sam said.

Gast looked up in confusion, "What?"

Sam nodded, "You're not safe here, you all need to get away, when Aeris wakes up she'll know what to do."

"What about you?" asked Gast.

"I'll find you," Sam replied. "I'll look after the White Materia, I'll need it for where I'm going."

Gast just nodded, "When will you be back?"

"Hopefully very soon, if it takes too long all is lost anyways," Sam said.

"What exactly are you looking for?" asked Gast.

"Another special Materia," Sam said, "one to hold back the Weapons."

"Weapons?" asked Gast. "They're all dead, though."

"I should have said Weapon," Sam said.

"Omega," Lucrecia said behind them.

"What?" asked Gast.

"Don't worry, not many people know that one," Sam said. "Lucrecia Ms. Knows-More-Than-She-Should here obviously is informed."

"I know of it," Vincent said standing off to Sam's left.

Sam jumped and looked at Vincent, "Could you not sneak up on me like that?"

"Sorry," Vincent replied deadpan.

"Yes, I know you know it," Sam said, "you killed it."

"In one time or another," Vincent replied.

"Well put," Sam replied, "in this existence Vincent and his buddies here are gone, so Deepground and those events probably won't even happen."

"Well, that's good," Gast said, "now what the hell are you talking about?"

"How much does Hojo's son know of his father's work?" asked Vincent.

"I don't know," Gast replied.

"He'd be one to ask," Sam said.

"You think he'll know about this and I wouldn't?" asked Gast.

"It's Shinra's dark little secret, Professor," Sam said, "it's common knowledge you'd go to a guy like Hojo for dark secrets."

Samael looked over at Vincent, "Am I right my crimson and very shady friend?"

Vincent nodded slightly.

"He'd know," Sam said and nodded to Lucrecia, "and so would you, consider yourself lucky though."

"Why?" she asked.

"In another scenario you don't come out quite as…" Sam trailed off.

"Unscarred," Vincent finished.

"That works," Sam said nodding.

Lucrecia was silent.

"What happened to her?" asked Gast.

"Well, for the sake of all existence, you'd be better off not knowing," Sam said.

Gast was also silent.

"Alright, I'm off, when Aeris gets up tell her I said: 'don't follow me, I'm going for the Materia' alright?" asked Sam.

Gast nodded.

"Wait," Vincent said, Sam turned back to him. "Are you saying it's possible all this might awaken Omega?"

"Omega Weapon is a defense mechanism for the planet like all the other Weapons," Lucrecia said, "except Omega is designed to awaken when it senses the end of the world so it can move the Lifestream."

"More or less," Sam said, "and this is the end of the world on such a grand scale that it'll blow the top off any Hojo or freakin' smartass Cetra anywhere."

"Unless you get this special Materia it'll be all over on every possible level of existence," Vincent said.

"If I don't get this Materia, tall dark and shady," Sam said, "we're downright fucked on every possible level of existence."

"Are you sure you should be going alone in that case?" asked Gast.

"Show of hands, who here other than Cloud thinks they could kill Sephiroth?" asked Sam raising his own hand, no one else did. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Wouldn't the Outcasts want this Materia as well?" asked Gast.

"The Outcasts would like to think they're masterminds, but they're really just naïve," Sam said. "They have no idea what they're doing will bring about the destruction of every known existence. They aren't bringing the Cetra back; they're killing them off completely. Even the dead ones won't exist anymore."

"So, we just sit here and hope Aeris wakes up?" asked Lucrecia.

"Hope she wakes up?" asked Sam. "You're such a downer. She's asleep not dead. If you'd like to keep yourself busy why don't you all go pay Hojo's son a visit, that'll be a laugh and a half won't it?"

"I think he might be worth talking to, actually," Lucrecia said, "it appears he knows things."

"I have a question," Vincent said, "I know Lucrecia is Sephiroth's mother, who's his other son's mother?"

"Still Lucrecia," Gast said looking sadly at her, "it's not a happy moment in the past I think it'd be better…"

"You know about that?" asked Lucrecia.

Sam laughed and everyone looked at him.

"Sorry," Sam said, "just…if anyone was to know about it…it would be this guy."

"How?" asked Lucrecia.

"My question first," Vincent said.

"Twins, dude, twins," Sam said, "in your place and time, Sephiroth was an only child. Here it seems everyone has a brother, eh?"

"Twins…" Vincent muttered.

"Only one got injected with the Jenova Cells," Gast said, "the other became a scientist."

"Sephiroth the scientist," Sam muttered chuckling, "I love this place it's like a parody, Aeris has a brother, and Sephiroth has a nerd version of himself."

"Strange," Vincent murmured.

"Careful, shit like this can mess you up real good," Sam said, "try not to think about it all too much."

"You get out of here, we'll talk with Hojo," Gast said.

"While you're at it ask him about time travel," Sam winked, "you might be surprised, some of that psychotic genius rubbed off."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Vincent said deadpan.

"Hey no worries, remember," Sam said, "you're still in the Turks. Nobody shot you here; Shinra didn't even assign a Turk to Lucrecia and Hojo."

"Wait, so you are Grimoire's son?" asked Gast.

"You have fun trying to explain this," Sam said smiling, "remember to pass on my message to Aeris, will ya?"

Sam was gone with a snap of his fingers.

"I shouldn't ask," Gast said.

"No, you shouldn't," Vincent agreed.

"Okay," Gast said shrugging.

"Sam, no!" came a sudden screech that made everyone jump.

"Aeris?" asked Vincent seeing her sitting straight up looking around fearfully. "What's wrong?'

"Where's Sam?" asked Aeris.

"He went to get the Materia; he says not to follow him," Gast said kneeling beside her, "are you alright?"

"Omega," Aeris said, "he'll die."

"Who, Sam?" asked Gast.

"He knows he'll die," Aeris said, "oh, no, we have to stop him."

"Stop him from doing what?" asked Vincent.

"He's after the Omega Materia, the Materia designed by the Cetra to control the Weapons," Aeris said.

"She always knows more than we do, don't be surprised," Vincent said.

"I'm not," Gast replied grinning, "I think Sam can handle it, Aeris."

"No, the Cetra had it protected so even a Cetra can't get it, and Sephiroth..."

"He has the White Materia, will that help him?" asked Vincent.

Aeris shook her head, "It'll only postpone the inevitable, he won't be able to…"

"What?" asked Gast.

"He's going to send the Materia back instead of himself," Aeris said shaking her head. "The Omega Materia will survive, he's going to sacrifice himself."

"We can't let him do that," Gast said shaking his head, "that's why he was so vague about it, can't we help him?"

Aeris shook her head, "Without the White Materia we'll die instantly."

"I think we're missing a possibility," Vincent said.

Aeris looked at him curiously.

"Hojo said that for me to be able to exist with Chaos he had to give me an indestructible body," Vincent said.

"What?" asked Gast.

"Chaos," Lucrecia muttered.

"Whatever it is I can survive it," Vincent said.

Aeris looked uncertain but couldn't deny the logic, "You might be right."

"Can you send me to where he went?" asked Vincent.

"Yes," Aeris said, "the Omega Materia is in an existence outside of the Star Effect which would explain why the Outcasts don't know about it."

"Is it like ours?" asked Vincent.

"It's another version of the same existence, yes," Aeris replied, "the Materia only exists in that particular time and place. It is held in the City of the Ancients."

"Booby trapped to hell I gather as well," Gast said.

Aeris nodded, "Vincent, Hojo was an intelligent man, but when he said an indestructible body I'm not sure he took every option into account."

"If I know Hojo, he did," Lucrecia put in.

"You said it yourself," Vincent said, "we need to stop him."

Aeris nodded, "Okay, but if you don't save Sam…"

"No one can bring me back, I know," Vincent cut in nodding, "do what you need to do."

Aeris raised her staff and pointed it at him, "Be careful, Vincent, if we lose both of you..."

Vincent said nothing.

Aeris closed her eyes and a green beam shot from her staff and hit Vincent, then he was gone.

"We're spreading ourselves too thin," Aeris muttered.

"What?" asked Gast.

"This whole thing started out much simpler," Aeris said, "since the Outcast leader forced us into the past and away from our destination it has become much more complex."

"Sam suggested we talk to Hojo's son," Gast said.

"Did he think he'd know something?" asked Aeris.

"Maybe, he is in charge of the Time/Space Research in Shinra," Gast replied.

"Uh, excuse me," Lucrecia said, they both looked at her. "Could I ask something…about Chaos?"

"I'm afraid I'm not much of an expert," Aeris replied, "I was killed before I knew much at all about Vincent."

"He has Chaos inside of him?" asked Lucrecia.

"From what I know, yes," Aeris replied. "Apparently it had something to do with what it took to keep him alive after Hojo shot him. I wasn't around for this information; this is what I picked up from in the Lifestream, nothing more though."

"Hojo…shot him?" asked Lucrecia.

"That doesn't surprise me, however Vincent Valentine here is still alive and in the Turks," Gast said.

"I think it'd be better if you just didn't know," Aeris said.

"Sam said something like that, yeah," Gast said nodding.

"Well, if Sam said we should talk to him maybe we should," Aeris said.

"Look, nobody here should like the guy, but he's dead and this isn't him, this is his son remember," Gast said. "His son which…may look a bit awkwardly like Sephiroth."

Gast was looking at Aeris.

"Sephiroth is dead, it won't bother me," Aeris said.

Suddenly a groan could be heard from Cloud.

"He's waking up," Gast said.

Aeris knelt down beside him, "Cloud?"

His eyes opened revealing his two signature bright Mako infused eyes.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We'll go later," Gast said, "why don't you try and fill him in on what's going on?"

Aeris nodded.

"Lucrecia, I think we need to talk," Gast said to her and she nodded.

The two stepped a few feet from Aeris and Cloud.

"Shinra didn't ever assign a Turk to you, did they?" asked Gast.

"No," Lucrecia replied.

"You're not lying to me I hope," Gast said.

"Of course not," she replied indignantly.

"Alright," Gast said, "because hearing that in just about every existence Hojo wasn't any better of a person worries me. More so the fact in other existences you come out of it all in worse shape, I'm worried it may still come to be."

"Don't worry Professor, I've put what happened back then behind me," Lucrecia said, "what your father started with Hojo and I brought about many things…most of them horrible. It's over now however and I think we should be worrying about the current problem instead of one that doesn't affect us."

"Have you ever really met Vincent Valentine, the Turk?" asked Gast.

"No, but Grimoire talks about him," Lucrecia said.

Gast shook his head, "These are all things that have been resolved, you're right, I'm getting side tracked."

"Professor Gast," Cloud said now standing.

"Yes, Cloud?" Gast asked.

"How fast do you think we can get to Hojo's son?" he asked.

"The Shinra Chopper is still here," Gast said, "ten minutes, why?"

"He can get us where we need to go to stop one of our problems," Cloud said.

"Which problem exactly?" asked Gast.

Cloud looked at Aeris and then back at Gast, "How much do you know about something called the Ancient Black?"