A/N - I do not own Final Fantasy Advent Children or any of its ideas or characters.

I managed to beat Cloud to Healin by quite a distance. As I passed the sign that said "Healin Lodge" I looked up to see the old white building on the hillside. We traveled over the bridge and through a small gap before coming to a clearing of dirt in front of the building. As I got off of Atlatl I became quite cautious.

"Maybe you should wait for Cloud" she said. I shook my head as the sound of his motorcycle came into range.

"He's already here" I said as he drove in. He got off of his bike and strode forward. I could tell he meant business. We climbed the system of wooden stairs to the top floor of the building and without hesitation he shoved the door open with one hand on his buster sword. He pulled it out and immediately met the weapon of a man inside. The man withdrew and went to attack him. As the man swung, Cloud simply sidestepped and the man ran past both of us and out the door. He made a startled sound as I stepped in and turned to run back in but Cloud slammed the door in his face. I hadn't gotten a very good look at him but he had long red hair in a pony tail and messy in the front with goggles and a white button up shirt with a black jacket over the top.

"Okay, so you're good" he said from the outside the door and Cloud locked it. I took a step to my right to get out of the way if something should happen. The door on the other end of the room opened and Cloud took a few steps forward. A bald man in sunglasses entered the room. He had on gloves and a suit. "Hey, Rude, looking sharp" said the man on the other side of the door. The bald man, whose name I now knew was Rude, drew his weapon but Cloud was too fast and had his sword up in his face before he could do anything. He grunted and backed down.

"Good, you fight like the SOLDIER you once claimed to be" said a familiar voice and a man in a power wheel chair rolled out. He was covered in blankets and reeked of geostigma. "You haven't lost your touch" he added after he had stopped and the bald man joined him at his side.

Cloud lowered his weapon and I stepped forward. "Rufus ShinRa, do I feel sorry for you" said Cloud.

Rufus looked towards Rude who shifted on his feet and cleared his throat. ShinRa then looked back at us. "The day of the explosion…"

"What do you want from me?" Cloud interrupted him.

He continued "I managed to get out of the building before it collapsed." That was what it sounded like but Cloud had spoken in the middle of his sentence.

"Who were the guys who attacked me?" said Cloud but when Rufus continued to speak he seemed angry. "I'm leaving."

Rufus stopped and brought a hand to his face. "We need your assistance, Cloud."

"Not interested" Cloud said as he shook his head.

"I acknowledge" Rufus continued. "That ShinRa owes the planet a lot. It goes without saying that my company and I are the ones that put the world in the sorry state it's in. Therefore, it's our responsibility to set things right."

"I'm still out here!" yelled the man outside.

"As a first step we have commenced an investigation in Sephiroth's wake" Rufus droned.

"Yep, at the Northern Cave" agreed the man outside.

"What do you think we found?" asked ShinRa. For the first time, Cloud showed some concern. "Nothing… nothing at all" Rufus continued. "You can relax. However, not all went as planned. We were interrupted by the same three that attacked you. Kadaj and his gang."

"Kadaj" said Cloud.

ShinRa moved his hand up and down. "It seems he doesn't want us finishing what we started. Really, what could they be thinking?"

Cloud looked down "What does it have to do with me?"

"You're our buddy, aren't you?" asked the man outside. Cloud kicked the door.

"Kadaj's group is young and violent, as dangerous as they come. That's why we decided it might be in out best interest to hire a little muscle" explained Rufus.

"Too bad, I'm a delivery boy now" said Cloud.

"You're all we have" argued ShinRa. "Cloud, look, you're an ex-SOLDIER, aren't you?"

"Heh, in my head" said Cloud. He turned and unlocked and opened the door. He barely had it open when he asked, "What is this stuff about Mother?"

"Why? Did Kadaj say something to you?" asked ShinRa.

"To both of us" I interrupted. They gazed at me for a moment.

"No surprise" said Rufus. "There are plenty of kids that miss their mothers. That's the world we live in. I hear there are orphans living with you. Think about it, don't you want to put smiles back on their faces?"

"You're one to talk" I hissed from what had become my corner.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Why don't you try putting a smile on the face of the orphan you adopted?" I growled.

"I'm sorry if you're unhappy. I haven't seen you in years" ShinRa said.

"Gah! You know that's not what I mean!" I nearly yelled. "Why did they call me Mother?"

"How is your condition?"

"Stop getting off topic."

"I'm not" he defended himself. "How much longer do you have?"

"I started borrowing time six months ago" I said and I looked down. "Father, it's really bad."

"You haven't called me Father is so long" he said. "You must resemble their mother in some way."

My eyes widened "You mean…"

"Yes" he said. I hung my head. Now I knew exactly why they thought I was their mother.

"Do you think it would work?" I asked. ShinRa had caught on a long time before that I was being vague because Cloud didn't know anything.

"I honestly don't know" he said. We both knew that they wanted Jenova. We just didn't know what for… and if what I was thinking was right, then I could be used as a substitute.

"I'm scared" I admitted.

"I know… but I was to make it better for you too" he said. He looked to Cloud again. "All we want in the end is to rebuild our world, Cloud" he said as he lifted his hand.

Cloud turned around and seemed lost in thought for a moment "But I…"

The red haired man jumped in "Come on, Cloud think about it. Together we could rebuild ShinRa."

Cloud looked surprised for a moment and then moved for the door. "Not interested" he said as he swung it open and pushed passed the red haired man.

ShinRa and Rude called out "Reno!" as the door closed on its own. It opened again and the so called Reno stepped in.

ShinRa turned to me "How far has it spread?"

"It covered most of the left side of my body now" I said.

"I'm sorry, I never thought that this would happen" he said. "If I had known…"

"You couldn't have" I said. "All I ask is that you keep this a secret and say some nice things at my funeral."

He shook his head "You never change."

I walked forward and took his exposed hand, moving the cloth up off of it. "You have it too" I said. He gripped my hand a bit. I pulled his hand up and moved it toward my lips. "Let me take away your pain" I whispered.

"No" he said as he tugged his hand away.

"But…"

"I've seen you do that too many times. Even if I wasn't your real father, the pain you took from others always horrified me" he said.

"I'm sorry" I said. "I'll try not to do that anymore. But I do it without thinking, especially for those who have geostigma."

"You want to help people. Don't waste that. You may not have much time left but don't waste it running from the past."

"I'll try not to" I said.

"Help Cloud" he said. "You're the most powerful SOLDIER that ever existed. Use your ability to help him."

I turned to leave but before I did, I looked back. "If I die before I get the chance to see you again, I just want you to know that after all that has happened I should hate you for what you did to me." I averted my gaze and then looked back. "I should but I can't. After all that happened, you still care about me and that's more than my real parents ever did." I looked down. "Thank you."

"Thank you, too" he said. "For not giving up on me and hating me. Now, stay safe."

"I'll try" I said as I opened the door and walked out giving him a small wave as I jumped the railing altogether and sailed through the air and onto Atlatl's back. To my surprise, Cloud was waiting for me on his bike.

"We need to talk. I have things I need to ask you" he said. I nodded, grinning internally. I just knew he was going to ask about that whole conversation with Rufus. He started his bike and looked back at me.

"I'll follow you. Just go" I told him. He took off towards Edge and for the first time, being behind him, I caught the scent of geostigma. 'He has it too' I thought as I followed him.

We rode for the better part of ten minutes before he stopped by a small stream. I got down off of Atlatl and she walked over and sat by his bike. We walked over to the stream and I kneeled down and then sat by it.

He didn't waste any time. "Who are you?" he asked.

"My full name" I said to start with the basics, "Is Fayte Jenova Aegis-ShinRa. I'm the adopted daughter of Rufus ShinRa and an ex-SOLDIER."

"You were a SOLDIER? I never heard of a woman SOLDIER" he said.

"I was an experiment" I growled. "I guess if I really wanted to do this right I should start from the beginning." I shifted and moved closer to the stream. "I like to tell people that my parents died what I was seven. ShinRa is the only one who knows the truth. My parents were abusive and cruel and at the age seven I had already had enough. I killed them both while they were sleeping and ran away from home. Atlatl wasn't big enough to carry me at the time so I left her in my village and after four years of wandering I found myself in Midgar. Three months after my birthday I ran into Rufus ShinRa. It happened quite literally happen that way. As he stepped out of his limo he hit me with the door. For an apology he took me in and fed me and by the end of the night he decided he liked me and asked if I wanted to be his daughter. He seemed nice enough so of course I said yes. Anyone was better than my parents. As the years went on, I got to know about SOLDIER and even got to meet some of the men but then my life took a sudden downturn again. I suddenly got very sick and I was soon diagnosed with a fatal heart condition. My verdict was six months. I wouldn't live to see my fourteenth birthday." I paused and Atlatl got up and walked over, curling around me and placing her head in my lap.

"Are you sure you want to continue?" she asked. "I know this is painful."

I nodded and leaned back on her for a back rest. I looked over at Cloud and he wasn't even looking at me. He was staring at something off in the distance. "Three months later we found out, the scientists at ShinRa got a brilliant idea. They got in their heads that Jenova was female so maybe a girl would more readily accept her genetic material. A month later, I had taken a turn for the worst. ShinRa was so worried he hadn't slept in days. It was then that the scientists brought their theory back up. They asked both me and my father if we wanted to try and we agreed because I didn't have much time left anyway. Two weeks later I was taken in to the lab for tests and then the experiment began. It was horrible."

I felt a tear escape my eye. Quickly, I wiped it away and took a breath to calm down. "Are you okay?" he said. Now, he was looking at me.

I nodded and continued. "Hollander was the one who worked on me. He was horrible. My body rejected the majority of the first Jenova cells he used. For some reason, I had a defense against them that the men didn't. Hollander put me through several procedures to lower my resistance. Each procedure got more and more painful to the point where I would scream in pain with each injection… but it worked. By the time all the procedures had ended and the Jenova cells had done their thing and gotten a foothold in my body it had been four months since it all began. I had outlived my original projected life expectancy by two and a half months. Furthermore, when they checked my health, I was perfectly healthy. All my problems were gone. As time went on and the Jenova cells made more changes, my hair turned from red to blond and my eyes tuned blue from the mako. They soon were afraid that I would deteriorate over time because of the sudden changes happening in my body but I never did. They gave me a month of rest and then assigned a SOLDIER to train me. The entire project was called Project F. My middle name was changed to Jenova. All the things that came had changed my life for the better. I was trained to the highest level then man could train me to and when I faced Sephiroth as a test, I full out won. After all that time, Project F had been a success. I was closer to being Jenova than Sephiroth was. In fact, I'm the closest they've ever come to a perfect Jenova clone. It scares me to think that now. One day I found out about Jenova and what she really was. I knew immediately that I was a monster and I found out that they may make more of me and my father wasn't going to do anything to stop them. I was afraid and hurt and against the wishes of my teacher and my best friend, I ran away."

"Who was this man?" asked Cloud. "I guess I'm curious."

"I doubt you knew him. His name was Zack Fair" I answered.

Cloud looked shocked. "I knew him. He was one of my best friends, too."

"It was a year after he died that I heard the news. I was devastated" I said.

"I was there" said Cloud. "But he never talked about you."

"I made him promise to keep me a secret" I said.

"I made him a promise to live out both of your lives."

"I should be joining him, wherever he is, very soon" I said.

"What did all of that stuff between you and ShinRa mean?" he asked.

"Two years ago I developed another fatal condition because of my Jenova cells. It was predicted that I had a year and a half to live. Six months ago I should have died. Now I'm just waiting for death to come get me. Zack says I'll find a reason to live but really, I don't see it happening" I said.

"I actually meant the 'Mother' stuff" stated Cloud.

"Oh" I breathed. "We didn't know why he would want it, but we have the feeling that Kadaj wants Jenova. It makes more sense then that I would be mistaken for 'Mother' because I am almost a perfect clone of Jenova. What worries us is if they will try to get me and use me for whatever it is they are trying to do."

"We can't take that chance" he said.

"What?" I asked.

"We can't take the chance that they'll get a hold of you and whatever they do works" he said. "I want you to come back to Edge with me. There's a bar there called Seventh Heaven…"

"Been there" I cut him off. "A woman called Tifa runs it."

"Yeah, when were you there?" he asked.

"I stayed there last night" I said. "But maybe I really should be going."

"Go with him. He needs your help and he can help you. You have a lot more in common than knowing me" Zack's voice sounded in my head.

Cloud opened his mouth but before he could say anything I spoke up more in an answer to Zack than anything. "Okay, don't bug me. I'll go" I said. I stood up and hopped on Atlatl's back. "Let's not waste any more time talking about the past."

He nodded. "I won't be coming back with you" he said. "I have somewhere else I have to go first."

"Okay, I'll just get a head start, then" I said and then I urged Atlatl on. She took off knowing I didn't want to answer any questions about my outburst.

I laid my head down on her back and nearly fell asleep when I was jerked awake and saw we were just outside of Edge. 'Why am I tired so much?' I wondered as we got to the city and headed for the bar.

When we got there, no one answered the door so I walked Atlatl to the garage to find the door open. "Stay here. I'm going for a walk" I told her. I wrote a quick note and left it under the door before I went out. Hopefully they would get back before I did. Before I left I also left my buster sword and equipment with Atlatl. I was the strongest SOLDIER ever made. I could handle a thug with my fists.

As I walked around I began to notice something strange. The children with geostigma were missing. 'Maybe I'm just not seeing things clearly' I thought. It should have bothered me but it didn't. The lack of the geostigma noise in my head allowed me to take a short walk down memory lane. I could still remember this city when it was beautiful and full of life. In my travels before I was adopted, I had been to all of these places. Suddenly a cloth was placed over my nose and mouth and I was grabbed from behind. As I struggled, I breathed, inhaling fumes off of the rag.

"Please don't be frightened, Mother" said a cool voice in my ear. "We will be very gentle with you."

'Oh no' I thought as my body went numb and limp. For a moment the world swayed from side to side and then became very blurry before I blacked out entirely.