So, did you know if you don't pay your internet bill, they shut it off? Well, that's pretty much what happened to me and I was net-less for a week and a half and therefore unable to do any research for my story! But that's okay. This chapter is extra long since you were all kind enough to wait!

Over at my LJ, I've started posting a Picture companion to go with each of the chapters for those of you who don't know much about FF7. It has most of the characters and pictures of some of the places she goes as well. Almost like a scrapbook! Anywho…you can check it out if you want.

As always, I don't own a thing. There will be an A.N at the bottom as well.

Chapter Four

Come Home

Buffy's Point of View

"Talking about art is like dancing about architecture."

David Bowie

Time sped up and I found myself on the outskirts of a small mountain town. The sign said Nibelheim.

I looked around at the picturesque scenery, the perfect little houses, quaint water tower… "Um…didn't this place burn to the ground five years ago?" I asked aloud, for my own benefit, of course.

"What?" Tifa gasped and for a second I thought she had heard me, but that moment passed. "This was all supposed to be burnt down, right?" she asked, turning to Cloud.

"I thought so," he breathed, his eyes wide, darting around to all the sites
he hadn't expected to be there.

"Then why?" Tifa asked, her voice tight with pain. "My house is still there, too."

"I'm not lying!" Cloud exploded. "I remember…the intense heat of the flames…" he trailed off.

They must have talked to everyone in town asking about the fire. All of them claimed that no such thing had ever happened. Something about their answers felt off to me. Their responses too well choreographed? Their eyes not quite right? Too shifty? I wasn't sure, but something wasn't right.

In some of the houses the group visited, there were hunched people in black robes. Most said nothing, but a few whispered the words 'Sephiroth' and 'Reunion.' The group left them alone after they figured out that they made no sense and didn't seem to be doing any harm.

They went into Tifa's old house to look around. She claimed it was unchanged, until she found some documents on the desk in her room. I leaned over her shoulder to get a better look at them.

Periodic Report to Professor Hojo

CLONE Activity Report

Unfortunately, no CLONES have left town this quarter. As previously reported, the CLONES seem to be sensing something. But all they say is 'reunion' or 'Sephiroth' and show no other signs of activity.

Confidentiality Report

A total of eight people have visited the town this quarter. Fortunately, none knew about the incident five years ago. Therefore, no one knows the town was restored exactly as it was. Our staff, disguised as townspeople, have improved their acting skills and we do not report any problems at this time.

That is all.

Okay…Clones? Restoring a town to cover what Sephiroth had done? This was a whole new level of weirdness that I had never dealt with before. I couldn't even fathom Shin-Ra's reason for doing that at all. Unless they just didn't want to be blamed for it because he was their General.

There was nowhere else in town to go but the Shin-Ra Mansion. Two of the black robed people were lurking just outside the gate. Cloud hesitated, but then walked over to one.

"He's calling," it rasped slowly. "Sephiroth…is…calling."

Cloud looked haunted at the name and stared over at the second one as if debating whether or not it would be worth it. Curiosity won out in the end.

"The…Great…Se…phi…roth…is near," it mumbled and, as if it had been choreographed, we all turned to look up at the mansion.

Was he in there right then? I didn't know but I got that excited anticipation matched with dread, as if I was walking around in a horror movie. Sephiroth was like the masked axe murderer that could jump out and take down a member of the group at any given moment. So, just like the stupid teenagers in such a movie, we headed into the creepy mansion. All that apprehension, but I couldn't help but think we was about to find something amazing.

The mansion once might have been opulent, but years of disuse had robbed it of its finery. A good three inches of dust marred the windows that would otherwise lookout onto the beautiful mountainside. The walls, once white, had become dirty and water stained. The carpet, once plush, judging by how thick it still was in the corners, was now threadbare as if years of wear had walked it down to dust.

Cloud ran up a large stairway in the foyer, seeking out treasures and anything that might prove useful. I knew very well what he was doing. He was taking as long as he could before going to the basement, for if Sephiroth was anywhere, even I knew that's where he'd be. I didn't blame Cloud for stalling. I would have done it too.

Finally, we entered the last room above ground, a bedroom on the third floor. There was a semi circular stone façade built into the corner of the room, almost like there might be a fireplace on the floor below and this was just the stack, passing through the room on its way outside. Cloud placed his hands in the center and shoved. A large rectangular opening emerged in the rock and the nervous swordsman led the way.

A long ramp spiraled down along the stone walls and they began to follow it to the bottom. I glanced over the side, saw that the ramp curled around three times, judged it to be about forty feet, and jumped.

I flipped five times and landed neatly, no pain in my ankles or anything. Well, if I couldn't fight, at least I could do stuff like that. I waited patiently at the bottom for the group.

It was like we had entered a large underground cave as opposed to a basement. We ran along the stone corridor and I noticed a door set into the rock, almost matching in color. Had the light hit it differently, I might have missed it.

"Hey…got a door here!" I called out.

It seemed Cloud had seen it the same time I had. He stopped in mid stride, stumbled, and then turned to face it. I think he decided that he would rather go anywhere than the library, which was where I assumed the cavernous hallway went to.

He pushed the metal door open into a small room with a faded purple coffin in the center. The dust on it was so thick, it looked like it had been there far longer than anyone in this group had been alive.

A voice rang through the gloom, slightly muffled. "To wake me from my nightmare," was all it said.

Cloud settled his fingers on the edge of the casket and Aerith jumped, snatching his hand back.

"Don't!" she whimpered. "There could be a…a…a body in there."

I chuckled. "Relax. Jump at every little thing down here and you'll wear yourself out." Then I groaned. "Why do I keep talking to you guys? No one can hear me. All this wit is wasted!"

Cloud gently removed Aerith's hands. "I just want to see," he mumbled as he wrenched the lid open.

A man lay inside. A familiar man with black hair, blood red eyes and pointy brass boots. He sat up slowly and stared at Cloud. "Never seen you before. You must leave." His voice was deep and slightly hoarse from disuse.

Cloud shrugged. "You were having a nightmare," he said in his defense.

Aerith nodded. "You'll dream bad things if you sleep in a place like this," she informed him.

"A nightmare?" The question was barely even discernable in his voice. "My long sleep has given me time to atone."

I wondered how long he had been in that coffin. There were four other caskets in the room along the walls that I hadn't noticed before. They were open, holding corpses that were nothing more than bones and the tattered remains of rotting clothes. Had they all been put here at the same time and this man in red was the only survivor?

"What are you talking about?" Cloud asked.

"I have nothing to say to strangers," the man said coldly. "Get out. This mansion is only the beginning of your nightmare."

"You can say that again," the blonde swordsman agreed.

The man cocked his head slightly to the side. "Hmm? What do you know?" he asked.

"Like you said, this mansion is the beginning of a nightmare. Except, it's not a dream. It's for real. Sephiroth has lost his mind," Cloud explained. "He found the secrets hidden in this mansion."

Clearly not all of them because here was this man in a hidden room. A secret if I ever saw one, and I wondered how Sephiroth had not noticed this room in all the times he had come here.

"Sephiroth?!" the man exclaimed and I noted that his eyes, the only clear and visible portion of his face, had widened nominally. It took a lot for this guy to crack an expression. It reminded me of Oz.

"You know Sephiroth?" both Cloud and the man said at the same time. It would have been comical if not for the seriousness of the situation and the possibility of a psycho murderer down the hall.

The man in red stood in his coffin, executed a perfect back flip and landed neatly on the rim of the casket behind him. Smooth.

"You start first," he ordered.

And Cloud did. He told the man everything he knew. "And that's how it was," he ended.

A rather lackluster finish, but Cloud wasn't very dramatic. Four years of Rikku and a year spent with Balthier some time before that and I was actually missing dramatic flair.

"So Sephiroth knows how he was created? And about the Jenova Project? He was missing but has just recently appeared. He has taken many lives and is seeking the Promised Land?" the man repeated, as if to make sure he understood.

Cloud nodded. "Now it's your turn."

"Sorry. I cannot speak."

I found myself very disappointed. Possibly more than I should have been.

Aerith glared at him. "That's dirty," she sneered.

The man sat back down in the coffin, a forlorn and kind of heart-rending sight in the dim room. "Hearing your stories has added upon me yet another sin. More nightmares will come to me. More that I previously had." He put his hand on the lid of the casket. "Now please leave." And he shut himself back inside.

Cloud looked at his companions in bewilderment. Then he opened the lid again.

"You're still here?" came the deep voice, sounding bored.

"At least tell us your name," Cloud said.

The man sat up. "I was with the Shin-Ra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research, otherwise known as the Turks." He paused, as if it were easier to give his job than it was to trust someone with his name. "Vincent," he said finally.

"The Turks?" Cloud said suspiciously and I was reminded of my suspicions that Turks had to be ridiculously attractive to get in. And thus wondered what he looked like behind that cowl.

"Formerly of the Turks," Vincent corrected. "I have no affiliation with Shin-Ra now. And you?"

"Cloud," the swordsman replied. "Formerly of SOLDIER."

The girls also gave their names and I notice no one ever gave a last name. Odd. Like everyone here was Madonna.

"You were with Shin-Ra?" Vincent asked Cloud. "Do you know Lucrecia?"

His voice was different when he spoke that name. Softer. More affectionate somehow. Perhaps the woman was his lover? God, I was getting tired of all the conjecturing.

"Who?" Cloud asked dumbly. It made me smile. The guy was kind of oblivious, or maybe I had lived so long, I was just getting rather good at reading people.

"Lucrecia," he said again, drawing it out. It almost sounded like a caress, and I checked myself for waxing poetic. Perhaps my idle mind was drawing conclusions where there were none.

"The woman that gave birth to Sephiroth," Vincent clarified.

"Gave birth?" The swordsman sounded confused again. "Wasn't Jenova his mother?"

"That isn't completely wrong, but it's just a theory," Vincent answered. "He was born from a beautiful lady.

Made sense. After all, the man was hotness personified.

"That lady was Lucrecia," Vincent continued. "She was an assistant on the Jenova Project."

"A human experiment?" Cloud asked in disgust, like he couldn't imagine anything worse than that. I wasn't sure if I could either.

"There was no way to stop the experiment. I couldn't stop her," the crimson clad man said softly. "That was my sin. I let the one I loved, the one I respected most, face the worst."

Aerith screwed up her face in confusion. "So, your punishment is to sleep? That's kinda weird."

He glanced at her blankly and then pulled his coffin shut once more. "Let me sleep," he said, his voice muffled.

Cloud shrugged and, deciding it had been put off long enough, headed for the library.

I followed, but my mind stayed with Vincent. To the casual observer, his eyes must have looked blank, but to me, who had spent more than a century learning the true meaning of pain and loneliness, he looked forlorn. Guilt is a funny thing and it's taken me a long time to learn what Vincent apparently hadn't. The guilty is not the one who commits the sin; it is the one who causes the darkness. It was a hard lesson.

I don't think anyone was surprised to see Sephiroth standing amongst the stacks of books.

"Being here brings back memories," he said coolly. "Are you going to participate in the Reunion?"

Even though there were two other people with him, it was obvious that that question was for Cloud alone.

"I don't even know what a Reunion is!" he exclaimed, glaring at the ex General.

"Jenova will be at the Reunion," Sephiroth went on as if Cloud hadn't spoken. "Jenova will join the Reunion and bring a calamity from the skies.

"The meteor," I breathed. "Is the calamity the meteor?" I was only theorizing, but hey, no one could here me anyway.

"Jenova? A calamity from the skies? You mean she wasn't an Ancient?" Cloud asked in surprise.

Sephiroth looked at him in disappointment. "I see. I don't think you have the right to participate. "

Clearly Cloud had missed something that the General thought he should have figured out by now. But he was in good company. I had no clue what was going on.

"I will go north, passed Mt. Nibel," the man continued. "If you wish to find out…then follow."

As Cloud stood there dumbstruck, most likely due to the fact that his enemy was basically offering information, Sephiroth chucked a piece of materia at him. It hit the blonde in the chest and he winced in pain.

While he was distracted, the mad man in leather rose, hovering six feet off the ground and then flew over our heads and out of the room.

Neat trick. Creepy, but neat.

Cloud pocketed the materia and made to chase after Sephiroth, almost running headlong into Vincent in the hallway.

"If I go with you," the crimson-eyed man said calmly showing no alarm at almost being bowled over, "will I meet Hojo?"

"Dunno," Cloud answered. "But we're after him and Sephiroth. So, I guess sooner or later…"

"Alright, I've decided to go with you," Vincent said gravely.

I had to laugh then. I loved how people just invited themselves along with Cloud and his group. I rather admired the audacity.

"Sure is a quick change of heart, huh?" Aerith said, but I caught the sneer and the tremor in her voice. She was afraid of Vincent and covering for it with a bit of bravado. The flower girl wasn't quite was sweet as she seemed, but then again, who was?

But to his credit, Vincent totally ignored her. "Being a former Turk, I may be of help to you," he finished.

"Alright then," Cloud agreed.

And I found myself elsewhere, yet again. A town with a huge, slightly decrepit, rocket behind a house, leaning precariously like Pisa. The sign aptly proclaimed the place 'Rocket Town.' Clever name, eh?

Cloud walked around, looking at the shuttle from ever angle like and excited little boy. But his enthusiasm lead them to their next great discovery. Sitting in the backyard, not fifty feet from the rocket, was a plane.

"There's a Shin-Ra logo on it," Cloud noticed. "Tiny Bronco. This is so cool…"

Aerith clapped her hands and I was suddenly glad she was always in Cloud's group. If she wasn't, I wouldn't have any clue what was going on. "Let's take it! Okay Cloud?"

A woman came out of the back door of the house. "Um…may I help you?" she asked skeptically.

The group spun around, the guilt plain on their faces. "No," Cloud said sheepishly. We're just looking at it."

The woman eyed him knowingly. "If you would like to use it, please ask the Captain. He should be in the rocket." She smiled at the group. "I'm Shera. And what are your names?"

They introduced themselves and Shera looked thoughtful. "So, you're not with Shin-Ra," she stated. "I thought the approval for the reopening of the Space Program came."

Cloud looked at her with wide eyes.

"President Rufus is scheduled to come here," she continued, not noticing the anxiety on the faces of the people in front of her. "The Captain's been so restless all morning." She turned and headed back inside.

"Rufus?!" Cloud exploded when she was out of earshot. But there was nothing to be done about it now. So the swordsman took off for the rocket. The group climbed the ladder up the side.

There was a man inside. Blond, goggles, dog tags. The Pilot! I grinned, realizing that I had officially seen all of them now and it might just be over soon. He turned as he heard Cloud's heavy footsteps on the metal planks of the floor. "What're you doing here?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"We heard that the Captain was in here," Cloud said innocently.

"Captain? I'm the Captain!" The man said proudly. "The name's Cid. What d'ya want?"

"Can we borrow the Tiny Bronco?" Tifa asked sweetly.

Cid looked at the members of the group in shock. "You outta your fuckin' minds? That's my most cherished possession. I can't let you take it!"

Cloud tried a different tactic. "Is Rufus coming here?"

The man looked excited. "Yeah! It must be news about restarting the Space Program. A young president, that's what we need. He still has hopes and dreams too."

I sincerely doubted, with the little I had seen of Rufus, that his dreams involved space. The man hadn't even cared that his father had been killed, only that it made him the President of Shin-Ra Inc. The man was cold and cruel.

Then Cloud asked about the rocket. Clearly, this was the right choice. Cid completely lit up as he spoke about it.

"You know Shin-Ra developed a lot of technological gadgets during the meaningless war, right?"

I wasn't aware of what war he was talking about but did it matter? Because, hey, he said it was meaningless!

"Now it's a mako company, but in the old days, it was a weapons manufacturer," Cid went on to his audience of three…and a half. "Well, they came up with a rocket engine. There was so much excitement about the thought of going into outer space. Our dreams got bigger and bigger. They put a major budget into it and made prototype after prototype. Finally, they completed Shin-Ra No. 26. They chose the best pilot in Shin-Ra…no, in the world….me. I mean, come on!"

Okay, this was the guy that had berated me for my cockiness back on the bridge of the airship? Pot…Kettle!

"And finally, we get to the day of the launch. Everything was going well…" he trailed off and then kicked the interior wall of the rocket hard enough to dent it. "But because of that dumb ass Shera, the launch got messed up. That's why they became so anal." His shoulders slumped. "So, Shin-Ra nixed their outer space exploration plans."

And I wondered how the sweet looking woman the group had just met could somehow screw up the launch.

"After they told me how the future was space exploration and got my hopes up…DAMN THEM!" Cid sighed. "Then it was all over once they found out mako energy was profitable. They didn't so much as look at space again. Money! Moola! Dinero!" the man exploded. "My dream was just a financial number for them! Just look at this rusted rocket. I was supposed to be the first man in space with this! Everyday, it tilts a bit more."

It must have been horrible for him to have a constant reminder of his ruined dreams.

Cid groaned. "At this rate, I don't now which will come first, this thing falling down or me getting outta here. My last hope is to talk to the President," he said dejectedly.

Cloud and the girls wandered back down to the house and Shera invited them inside.

"Did the Captain say anything?" she asked, seeming nervous.

Cloud shook his head.

And then Cid walked in. He looked at the group and then glared at the soft-spoken woman. "Damn Shera! What're you blind?"

What the…?

"We got guests! Get some tea! Fuck!" he exclaimed angrily.

"I…I'm sorry," the woman stuttered.

"Really, don't mind us," Tifa said kindly, trying to avoid a conflict.

"Shut up!" Cid screamed. "Sit your ass down and drink you god damned tea!"

The group sat hastily, most likely out of shock. I couldn't believe how rude this guy was.

"I'll be in the backyard, tuning up the Tiny Bronco," he announced and left in a flurry of cigarette smoke and cursing, slamming the door in his wake.

"Sheesh!" Aerith exclaimed. "What bad manners."

"Sorry," Cloud said sheepishly to Shera. "It's all our fault."

The woman turned and smiled at him. "No, no, he's always like this."

Tifa frowned, her whole face scrunching up. "Why is Cid so hard on you?"

Shera clasped her hands in front of her and stared at the ground. "It's because of my stupid mistake. I was the one that destroyed his dream," she sighed.

I'm not really sure what it was about Cloud. Maybe it was the big blue eyes, the silly spiky hair, or the charming yet boyish half smile, because when he asked people for their stories, he always seemed to get them. So naturally, when he asked Shera what happened, she broke down and told him everything.

Apparently, she had been one of the mechanics working on the rocket. She had noticed a problem with one of the oxygen tanks and was checking it, but her timing wasn't exactly impeccable. She was still in the engine room, working away, with three minutes until the launch. Cid found out and screamed at her over the intercom to get out, knowing that if the engines fired with her inside, the chamber would get too hot and she would be killed.

But she was willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of Cid's safety. She continued to fix the oxygen tank.

The countdown began, Cid torn between the dreams he had lived for and the woman in the engine room that would die if he achieved them. He knew if he aborted the launch, it would be at least six months before he got another shot at the stars. The team in the control room begged him to forget her and continue as planned.

But at the last possible moment, just as the engines fired, Cid aborted. The rocket tipped from the power shift and had been there ever since. The Space Program was cut back after that and the launch was cancelled.

"That's why it's all right. I don't care what the Captain says. I'll live my life for him," Shera finished.

So gruff and crude as Cid was, he was also a good man. Important to know.

He came in the back door, completely missing the slightly more tender looks on the faces of the assembled females. "Shit! You still haven't served them tea!"

"I…I'm sorry," Shera cried and turned back to the stove.

Cid sat down, tossing one of his booted feet up on the table. "They're late," he complained. "Where's Rufus?"

Just then, the front door opened to reveal a tubby graying man I immediately recognized. The man that had gotten away from the group at the Shin-Ra building and escaped with Rufus. His eyes traveled over Cloud and the girls without any recognition and then landed on the pilot.

"Hey, hey! Long time, no see! So Cid, how ya been?" the man asked loudly.

"Cid stood up. "Well, if it ain't the fat man, Palmer," he said with disdain. "How long were you figuring on keeping me waitin'? So?"

Palmer looked at him with confusion.

"When's the Space Program gonna start up again?" Cid clarified.

The fat man shifted uneasily on his feet. "I don't know. The President's outside, so why don't you go ask him?" he suggested.

"Damn!" Cid said, glaring at him. "Good for nothing fat fucker!" He shoved Palmer aside and strode out the front door.

I had just decided I rather liked Cid and all his attitude.

"Don't say fat!" the pathetic man called after him.

Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith followed the pilot outside, staying right next to the door, trying not to be noticed by anyone from Shin-Ra.

Rufus stood before Cid, his white suit as impeccable as ever, looking impassively as the man ranted in front of him.

"What the…? You got me all excited for nothing? Then what'd you come here for?" he growled.

"I want to borrow the Tiny Bronco," the President informed him smoothly. From the way he said it, it was pretty obvious that 'no' wasn't an acceptable answer. "We're going after Sephiroth, he continued. "But it seems we've been going the wrong direction. But now we think we know where he's going. We have to cross the ocean. That's why we need your plane."

Well, convenient that he would just volunteer information like that.

"God damn it!" Cid uttered. "First the airship, then the rocket, and now the Tiny Bronco? Shin-Ra took outer space from me and now they want to take the sky away from me too?!" His face was red now and I could see him grinding his teeth.

I understood how he was feeling. When Rikku's father had given me the Celsius, it was like I had been given freedom, true freedom for the first time in my entire life. I could go where I wanted, when I wanted. And I finally understood what Jack, Mal, Setzer, and Balthier had all told me over the years. A ship, whether it sails through the sea, the air, or space, was liberty. Salvation. Sovereignty. And a damn hard thing to give up.

Rufus was in the middle of pulling the corporate line. "You seem to forget," he said pompously, "that it was because of Shin-Ra Inc. you were able to fly in the first place."

"What?" Cid exploded and I was almost waiting for him to lunge forward and punch him.

Shera opened the door and tugged Cloud and the girls back inside. She locked the door and then turned to them. "You wanted to use the Tiny Bronco, right?"

Cloud nodded. "Well, I believe Palmer's going to try and take it…"

The group was out the back door before she could even finish her sentence. Sure enough, Palmer was on the nose of the plane desperately trying to start the propeller.

Cloud ran up and stood underneath him. "We'll be taking that Tiny Bronco," he said coldly.

Palmer cocked his head to the side like a huge overweight dog. "I've seen you somewhere before…" He paused, considering. "I know! The Shin-Ra building. When the President was killed. Ulp!" He looked around anxiously and found himself alone.

And then he pulled a gun. The team barely had time to dive out of the way before he was showering the place they had just been with bullets.

Aerith hid behind the landing gear of the plane, using materia to cast magic at Palmer while Cloud and Tifa took turns drawing his fire so the other could sneak up and attack. And that worked well, until Palmer scooted back to give the propeller a hard shove. It started and the plane idled for a minute.

And then it began to move. It turned itself, almost braining the fat man with the wing. He ducked just in time and then took off running.

Tifa and Cloud jumped onto the wing of the small airplane. "It won't stop," the brunette woman cried.

"Forget it! Hang on!" Cloud yelled over the roar of the engine. He pulled Aerith up just as the plane left the ground.

It careened precariously around the rocket as I watched from my safe spot on the ground. Then it swooped for the dirt in front of Cid's house, but the pilot was there, running and grabbing onto the tail as Rufus ordered his soldiers to open fire. Cid pulled himself into the open cockpit and pulled up, but not before the tail was hit.

Suddenly, I found myself on the wing next to Aerith. I stooped and grabbed on, not wanting to find out what happened if I fell. It was strange watching the wind whip everyone's hair around and feel nothing of it myself.

"Emergency landing," Cid called back. "This's gonna be a big splash. Hold onto your drawers and don't piss in 'em."

That's when I noticed we were almost to the coast and the sea was stretched out before us. I had a momentary flash of terror, as I had felt since I was sixteen in regards to water, but since I wasn't really on a crashing plane, it passed quickly.

The plane landed relatively smoothly, propelling itself along a bit due to inertia and then drifted to a stop. Cid pulled himself out of the cockpit and cast a mournful eye over his plane. "She won't fly anymore," he said sadly and I realized that Shin-Ra had succeeded in taking the sky from him, just not in the way they originally intended.

Cloud looked around the plane floating so nicely on the water. "Can't we use it as a boat?"

Cid lay down on the wing and dragged his fingertips through the salty water. "Hell! Do whatever you want."

The swordsman looked at the older man with empathy and more than a little concern. "Cid, what are you going to do now?"

Cid stared into the water. "Dunno," he replied gruffly. "I'm history with Shin-Ra and I've given up on the town."

"How 'bout your wife? How 'bout Shera?" Cloud asked.

"Wife? Don't make me laugh! Just thinkin' 'bout marryin' her gives me the chills."

The two girls exchanged angry and rather pointed looks but wisely stayed silent.

"What're you guys gonna do?" Cid asked.

Cloud looked determined again. "We're going after a man named Sephiroth. We'll have to get Rufus Shin-Ra someday, too."

Cid sat back and appraised him speculatively. "I don't know about any of that but…what the hell! Sign me up!"

They headed back to land, using the Tiny Bronco's propeller as a motor, to pick up the rest of the team. They made sure to stay far enough away from Rocket Town that Shin-Ra wouldn't notice them and then discussed how to find the Temple of the Ancients, the place Cid told them Rufus let slip as Sephiroth's destination.

A flash and we were at the Gold Saucer. Perhaps someone here knew or something important was going to happen? It was the only reason I could think of that Aerith would show me this.

Cloud was in a room talking to a burly man about something called "The Keystone." I was at a loss as to what that was but could only guess it had to do with the Temple. Cloud told the man he wanted to borrow it and was told that he could have it if he fought in the battle arena, a part of the amusement park. And the cocky swordsman was more than willing to accept the challenge.

He entered the circular arena alone, but there were high boxed seats looking down into the pit so I could see what was going on. Ignoring the commentary from the team that had gathered to watch, I concentrated on Cloud as he fought. He was pretty good, no doubt about that, but there was something in the way he held that huge sword and lunged with it that made me think it hadn't been made for him. That it was…I'm not sure what I even thought. He was ever so slightly awkward with it. But as he cut down monsters right and left, I shrugged it off as the observations of a bored mind.

When he had slaughtered everything the man sent in after him, he was rewarded with the Keystone. As they tried to leave the park, however, they found the tram, the only way to get in or out, had broken down. Cait Sith suggested staying at the hotel inside the grounds, and since that was the only real option, that's where they went.

It was called the Ghost Hotel. No prizes for guessing the theme. There were skulls and fake ghosts and it was all done in dark colors. I kinda dug it, just for the humor.

"We usually don't get the chance to be together like this, huh?" Cait Sith said nostalgically. He asked Cloud to recap the story, since most had come in recently and didn't know everything that had happened.

"I been here since the beginning an' I still don't know what the hell's goin' on," Barret complained.

So Cloud, with the help of Aerith and Tifa, recapped the story. But there was something in it now I had not heard. Cloud said Sephiroth was searching for black materia.

And I had to wonder if Aerith had left that part out for a reason, or if she just wanted me to learn about it as the rest of the group did.

But the conversation pretty much ended there. Cloud told everyone he wasn't ready to talk about the black materia and everyone headed to their rooms for the night. Or so I thought.

I had the extreme pleasure, note the sarcasm there, of tagging along with Aerith and Cloud who went on a date a bit later. I saw more of the Gold Saucer than I had ever cared to. I wasn't huge on amusement parks. But finally, they decided to go back to the Hotel. They were almost there when the noticed a certain group member slinking away.

"Hey," Aerith whispered. "What's Cait Sith doing?"

And that's when they noticed he was carrying something.

"Is that the…Keystone?" Cloud asked in a strangled voice.

So a stuffed toy was stealing the keystone? Kinda ridiculous.

"Hey, Cait Sith!" the swordsman shouted, ever the confrontationalist.

And the cuddly monstrosity began to run, leading them on a not so merry chase around the park. Outside the chocobo racing area, a helicopter was hovering in the air. Cait ran to it and chucked the Keystone to the man standing in the opening in the side. Tseng.

Houston, we have our spy.

The helicopter took off again, leaving Cait to face the wrath of a very irate Cloud. And he looked like he was going to dismember the cat.

"I won't run or hide," Cait Sith told his two teammates. "Yes, I was a spy. I was hired by Shin-Ra."

Aerith looked at him in disgust. "I trusted you," she said, her voice shaking. "I can't believe this!"

The tiny cat shrugged. "I couldn't help it. How 'bout if we continue on like nothing happened."

Wow. That kind of audacity…just wow.

Cloud looked ready to deck him. "No way, cat! You got a lot guts acting like a friend but being a spy!"

"Then what are you going to do?" Cait said scornfully. "Kill me? You'd just be wasting your time if you tried. This body's just a toy anyway."

Well, even if he was a backstabbing bastard, I had to admit that a mechanical toy that could fight was pretty cool. It didn't even give me creepy BuffyBot flashbacks. It looked all innocent and whoever had made it was a full on genius.

"My real body's back at Shin-Ra headquarters in Midgar," it was saying. "I'm controlling this toy cat from there."

"So you're from Shin-Ra?" Aerith yelled at him. "Who are you? Tell me!"

The tiny cat held up his hands. "Whoa! I can't tell you my name!"

Cloud groaned, running his hands through his gravity defying hair. "We're not getting anywhere."

"See, I told you!" Cait said triumphantly. "Talking won't do any good, so can't we just continue our journey?"

Cloud stared at him incredulously. "You think I'm joking?" he asked and I could see his fingers twitching and was guessing he was wishing he had brought his sword along on the date.

"Alright, yes, I'm a Shin-Ra employee," Cait admitted. "But we're not entirely enemies. Something bothers me. I think it's your way of life. You don't get paid. You don't get praised. Yet you risk your lives and continue on you journey. Seeing that makes me…" He paused for a long moment and I held my breath, wondering what he was going to say. Of course, I had a soft spot for the unsung heroes in any world. It was hard to sacrifice everything and never have anyone know. Never have anyone say thank you.

"It just makes me think about my life. I don't think I'd feel too good if things ended the way they are now," he finally said.

Cloud turned to Aerith. "He'll never tell the truth," he proclaimed. "Once a spy, always a spy. We can't go on with someone like that."

"Just as I thought. Talking won't do a bit of difference. But I prepared something, just in case. Why don't you listen to this?" Cait Sith said.

There was some static and then a little girl's voice came through.

"Papa! Tifa!"

"Hey," Aerith cried. "That's Marlene!"

"It's the flower lady!" the little girl said over what I assumed was a radio the controller had placed in the cat for just this occasion. And then the transmission was cut.

"So you have to do as I say."

"You're the lowest," Cloud spat.

I wondered…Papa? I remembered hearing Cloud tell Aerith in Midgar to take care of a girl named Marlene, but somehow I doubted it was his kid. He wasn't quite pissed of enough for that. At the time, Barret was the only other male group member, ergo, the girl was his daughter. Damn. That was really low.

"I didn't want to do this," Cait said in his defense. "Using dirty tricks and taking hostages…but this is how it is…no compromises. So why don't we continue on as we did?" he started to waddle away, the stuffed moogle swinging its arms as the mechanical cat controlled it…and he was being controlled by something else. Strange new world.

Then he stopped and looked back. "Oh, you didn't seem to know, but the Keystone is the key to the Temple of the Ancients. So, you're still going, right? I know where it is so I'll so you later."

Convenient, but he was a spy and Shin-Ra wouldn't want the keystone unless they knew where they were going.

Cloud watched in despair as the cat hopped off toward the Hotel. "Well, we're stuck. We have to do what he said."

"I wonder if Marlene is all right. I wonder what happened to mom," Aerith said softly.

The next scene I saw appeared to be the next morning. The group was gathered around in the Hotel lobby again as Cloud came down the stairs.

"What took you so long?" Cait asked him jovially, as if he had not been found out as a traitor mere hours before. And then he told them how to find the Temple of the Ancients.

And find it they did. Moments later they, Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith, were standing before it. It was in the middle of a vast forest; a huge ziggurat that looked like it belonged in ancient Mesopotamia rather than a relatively modern world.

They ran up to the rope bridge barring the entrance and stopped.

"This…this is the Temple of the Ancients," Aerith said in awe. "I can feel it…the knowledge of the Ancients…floating…You could become one with the Planet, but you're stopping it with the strength of will. For the future? For us?"

Cloud and Tifa exchanged confused looks. It was good to know that I wasn't the only one who had no clue what she was babbling on about. Or whom she was talking to, for that matter.

Cloud laid a hand on her shoulder. "What are you saying?"

She didn't answer, but instead she continued on to the entrance anyway, her two companions trailing along behind her.

Just inside the doorway was an altar flanked by high torches. Crumpled before it was a man with long dark hair and a blue suit. Tseng. He struggled to his feet as they entered, his hand pressed inside his jacket. He was wounded; the blood was dripping steadily down onto his pants.

"I've been had," he rasped before falling back down, his back slamming against the altar. "It's not the Promised Land…Sephiroth is searching for…"

"Sephiroth?" Cloud blurted. "He's inside?"

Tseng pulled out his bloody hand, staring at it dispassionately before stowing it back inside his jacket. "Look…for…yourself…" he whispered, his breath coming in short shallow pants. "Damn. Letting Aerith go was the start…of my…bad luck….The President…was wrong…"

"You're wrong," Aerith said hotly. "The Promised Land isn't like what you imagined. And I'm not going to help. Either way, there was no way for Shin-Ra to win."

"Pretty harsh,' Tseng chuckles, grimacing in pain as he did. "Sounds like something…you'd say." The man staggered to his feet, holding out something in his free hand to Cloud. "The keystone…place it on…the altar." After the swordsman took the item, the Turk stumbled to the side and collapsed once more to the floor. Beads of sweat clung to his forehead as he curled up around his injury.

Cloud looked at his two teammates, but his eyes lingered on Aerith, who was sniffing audibly. He scratched the back of his head, looking completely bewildered. "You crying?" he asked gruffly.

Aerith shook her head. "Tseng's with our enemies, the Turks, but I've known him since we were little. There are not a lot of people I can say that about. In fact, there are probably only a handful of people in the world that really know me."

Yeah, and I have none. What's your point?

Cloud looked between her and the dying wounded man for a moment before moving to stand in front of the altar.

I stared at Aerith in complete disbelief. She was going to leave her childhood friend to bleed to death? She had Cure materia! I had seen her use it! I couldn't believe this was happening. Or maybe, I didn't want to believe. Sure, I was all for slaughtering people like Hojo, monsters, but even when Willow had gone all Dark Side, I still would have moved mountains to save her from harm and death if I could. But Aerith didn't spare another glance at the fallen man, instead slipping up next to Cloud as he set the keystone in the groove on top of the altar.

There were bright green and white lights and I gasped in amazement and more than a little fear as I watched Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa sink through the floor.

I found myself beside them again on a high walkway. It looked as though we had wandered into an Escher drawing. There were stairs leading to other walkways and some leading to nothing at all. The Temple was a maze.

"What a strange place. Do you think we're even welcome here?" Tifa asked nervously, casting her eyes around as if waiting for the spirits of the Ancients to appear. They all looked uncomfortable, but began to pick their way through the trails and stairways anyway. I followed along with them, watching them fight and find treasure. They made it carefully through the Escher room and went on to the next.

There was a large pool of glowing water inside the second cavernous room.

"It's full of the knowledge of the Ancients," Aerith whispered. "It says there's something here." She paused for a moment. "Look, it's going to show us."

They all gathered together and peered into the water of the pool. Images began playing on its surface just like a T.V. screen. It showed Tseng, obviously some time in the past because he was unwounded, staring at the walls of a torch lit chamber we had yet to find. It had paintings all over the walls that looked a lot like Egyptian hieroglyphics but were a bit to far away to be seen clearly from where we were.

That made me think. If the Ancients this temple, had made our pyramids too? They had traveled to different planets, settling them and then moving on. Had mine been one of them? But there was no use in dwelling on that. I wouldn't be getting any answers anyway, so I stared to pay attention to the images in the pool again.

Elena walked into view, looking at the pictures on the chamber wall as well. "Tseng, what's this? Can we find the Promised Land with it?"

The dark haired man looked at her and shrugged. "I wonder. Anyway, we have to report to the President."

The blonde woman nodded at him. Be careful," she said gently.

"Yeah," Tseng replied softly. Then after a pause, "Hey, Elena? How 'bout dinner after this jobs over?"

The woman flushed bright red. "Th…Thank you very much," she stuttered. "Uh…if I may be excused…" Then she ran off to make her report.

Tseng watched were she had disappeared for a few more moments before turning his concentration back to the murals on the wall. "Is this the Promised Land?" he asked himself. "No, it can't be…"

We watched in horror as Sephiroth appeared behind him, his huge katana unsheathed and in hand. The General looked at the unaware Turk in a predatory manner, as if contemplating how his blood might taste. A look I had mostly seen in vampires all the way back home.

Tseng turned his head a bit to survey the wall more and he caught sight of the intruder. He exclaimed the man's name in surprise and terror.

"So you opened the door. Well done," Sephiroth said mockingly, a small smile playing about his pale lips.

The Turk looked at him carefully, but his curiosity won out after a few moments. "This place…what is it?"

"A treasure house of knowledge," the silver haired man said. "The wisdom of the Ancients. I'm becoming one with the Planet."

"We'll try not to tread on you then," I snarked to myself, watching the man hold up his arms, his sword point glinting in the torch light, his mad eyes glowing green in the dim room.

"One with the Planet?" Tseng asked softly, trying to keep the madman speaking as the Turks eyes darted around seeking an exit.

"You stupid fools," Sephiroth chuckled. "You have never even thought about it. All the Spirit Energy of this Planet. All its wisdom…knowledge…I will meld with it all. It will become one with me."

Tseng looked at him as if he were crazy. Maybe he was, but there was just the tiniest bit of awe in his expression as well. "You can do that?" he asked, his clipped and formal tone almost breathless.

"The way…lies here," Sephiroth said cryptically. "Only death awaits you all."

His voice didn't change. There was no warning and even though I had been expecting it, I didn't see it coming. None of them did.

The former General sprang forward, slamming his long sword straight through Tseng's chest. The Turk's dark eyes flew wide and his already pale skin lightened even more as he slid backwards along the length of the blade. He lay on his back as Sephiroth removed the remaining tip of his sword.

He knelt by the man he had just stabbed; running a long leather clad finger over the wounded Turk's pale cheek, disregarding the fear in Tseng's murky eyes.

"Do not fear," Sephiroth said softly, almost fondly as if he were speaking to a lover. "For it is through death that a new Spirit Energy is born. Soon, you will live again as part of me."

As the picture in the pool faded, I found a lot of respect and sympathy for Tseng. Even if he didn't show it, it must have been terrifying to have that maniac hovering above him as he bled. And after that, somehow, he had to have dragged himself all the way back to the entrance just to give this group, his enemies, the Keystone so they could enter. And now he was alone and bleeding to death, if he wasn't dead already. Tears pricked behind my eyes. Maybe Tseng was a bad guy…a Turk…but in the end, hadn't he done the right thing? Did he really deserve to bleed out?

"Did you see it?" Aerith asked her companions, effectively silencing my inner monologue.

Tifa nodded solemnly. "I saw it," she said quietly.

"Where is the room with the pictures on the walls?" Cloud asked.

"We're almost there," Aerith said and I wondered how she could possibly know never having been there before.

"Sephiroth is here, right?" the blonde man asked her. He continued after she nodded. "No matter what he thinks, it's going to end here. I'm taking him out."

"We're here too, you know," Tifa reminded him gently.

They moved on through the rooms working their way passed the puzzles and mazes until they came to the mural chamber.

"Where are you, Sephiroth?" Cloud shouted.

There was a blinding flash of white light and the silver haired General was before them. He held his sword in his outstretched arms as he hovered three feet off the floor. "So cold," he murmured in his deep and mesmerizing voice. "I am always by your side. Come." There was another flash of light and he was gone again.

They moved slowly into the long hallway type room and suddenly, there beside them, facing the wall, admiring the painting.

'Splendid," he said, turning his sword absently over and over in his hands. He looked at the group over his shoulder before turning advancing slowly until he stood before them.

"A treasure house of knowledge," he said and I recognized the phrase. He had said the same thing to Tseng moments before running him through.

"I don't understand what you're saying!" Cloud cried exasperatedly.

Sephiroth laughed silently, abut then was gone again.

They moved further down the long room and there was another flash of light. The General was leaning against the wall, still chuckling.

"Look well," he said cryptically.

"At what?" Cloud spat at him.

Sephiroth cocked his head slightly to the side. "At that which adds to the knowledge of…" he trailed off. "I am becoming one with the Planet."

Man, I was getting sick of him saying that!

And then he disappeared again. I was starting to think we had accidentally wandered into and acid trip. The lights, the creepy appearing…what the fuck? Why couldn't he just stick around and say whatever it was he wanted everyone to know and then take off? Because this was giving me major wiggins!

About twenty feet down the chamber, he appeared again in a binding flash of white.

This time he was lounging against an ornate treasure chest. "Mother," he gasped. "It's almost time…Soon we will become one."

I was starting to think this dude had a bit of an Oedipus complex. This whole yen thing he had goin' on for his mom couldn't be healthy. Seriously not right.

Sephiroth gracefully got to his feet and gazed dispassionately at the small group before him.

"How do you intend to become one with the Planet?" Aerith asked suspiciously.

The man turned and fixed his glowing green gaze on the Cetra. "It's simple. Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit energy to heal the energy." He slashed his katana absently through the air as he spoke. "The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury."

He stabbed his sword into the ground at his feet. "What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the very life of the Planet? Think how much energy would be gathered!"

He yanked his sword point free of the ground as he chuckled. "And at the center of that injury will be me. All the boundless energy will be mine."

His body was flickering, almost like a bad television set picture might. His powers must be immense to do all the things I had seen so far. I had to wonder, even if it was just to myself, about how he had ended up like this. It couldn't have just been because he had found out he was an experiment. Did the Jenova cells affect his mind? Make him crazy? Why had this been allowed to progress like this? The Powers could have sent me in at any time. Five years ago maybe, when he was just learning about his creation. Surely something could have been done to prevent this! I decided to ask Whistler when I got back to myself.

"By merging with all the energy of the Planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence," Sephiroth was saying. "Melding with the Planet, I will cease to be as I am now, only to be reborn as a 'God' to rule over every soul."

My blood ran cold. I didn't exactly have the best track record with Gods, seeing as the last one I had faced had caused my death. I'd like to think since I was a lot older and a lot more experienced now; the result would be nowhere near the same. But I really couldn't help the extreme fear that rushed through me at that statement.

"An injury powerful enough to destroy the Planet?" Aerith said skeptically. "Injure…the Planet?"

Sephiroth used his sword the gesture to the wall. "Behold that mural. The Ultimate Destructive Magic…Meteor."

Ah…it was all starting to come together now.

"That'll never happen!" Cloud yelled at him.

"Wake up," Sephiroth sneered as he rose into the air above their heads. There was a blinding flash of light that left us blinking. The man was gone.

Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith looked around for him, completely bewildered.

"Where are you?" the blond man screamed. "Sephiroth!"

He took off running to the other end of the long room again, the two girls crying out for him to wait and struggling to keep up. They caught him at the part of the mural opposite the door. His body was flickering, just as the General's had been only moments ago. The girls called to him, but he didn't seem to hear. It was like he had no idea there was anyone else in the room. His attention was fixed on the painting.

He started to laugh, a bit hysterically. "Black Materia," he bit out between chuckles. "Call Meteor."

Jesus jumped up Christ! The black materia…the spell it performed was calling the Meteor! No wonder Sephiroth wanted it so badly. If his theory was right, then he was already on his way to godhood in real time! But as was a more immediate problem…why the hell was Cloud flickering like the General had? What else was going on here?

"Cloud!" Aerith cried out. "Get a hold of yourself."

The blond man grabbed his head, shaking violently. "Could…" he whispered. "I'm Cloud." His body became solid again, all the flashing had stopped. "I remember…I remember my way." He turned to look at the girls and looked surprised to see them there.

"Cloud?" Aerith asked in confusion.

"Mm? What's wrong?" he asked, his eyes flitting between the two women. "Is something wrong?"

Aerith and Tifa exchanged worried looks and silently decided not to tell him about the incident until they could later discuss it at length. "Uh…it's nothing," the flower girl said hastily. "Don't worry about it."

Tifa nodded, her eyes round as saucers as she surveyed her childhood friend. "Sephiroth got away," she reminded him.

"Don't worry about that!" Cloud exclaimed excitedly. "I understand what he was saying." He pointed at the mural.

It depicted a group of people, all in Egyptian type clothing, staring up at a flaming ball.

"So, this must be meteor, right?' Cloud asked.

"Is something going to fall from the sky?' Tifa asked with a furrowed brow.

"This must be magic," Aerith declared. "Just what Sephiroth was saying."

I did the happy dance for figuring it out before the rest of them.

"The Ultimate Destructive Magic, Meteor," the flower girl quoted. "It finds small drifting planets with it's magic…and then collides with them. This Planet might get wiped out entirely."

The ground began to shake violently. The group fell to their knees in shock. I kept my balance, but only barely and I knew it was due to my Slayer…ness or something.

"Sephiroth?" Cloud gasped.

The General's voice whispered through the room, like a slight breeze I wasn't sure I had heard. "It is not me," it said with a dark chuckle.

But it only took the group a few more seconds to find out what was shaking the entire Temple. A red dragon lumbered to the door, poking it's head in, and staring at the intruders with a fearsome predator's gaze. It squeezed itself through the door as the team fell into attack positions. Aerith cast ice based magic attacks at it while Tifa and Cloud physically assaulted it. The brunette woman's hand-to-hand fighting style was a lot like my own when I chose to go without a weapon.

I found myself clapping and cheering when they were doing well and groaning and grimacing in pain when anyone got in the way of the dragon's teeth or claws. I felt like a cheerleader. It took them less than ten minutes before they had reduced the thing to a cooling carcass.

The group ran to the door. The dragon's tail had knocked it closed after it had squeezed its massive girth through.

"It's locked," Cloud said with a shrug.

The group backtracked, trying to find another way out of the room. They reached the treasure chest at the end with no success. But then they noticed something they hadn't when they had been there the first time. A holographic image of the Temple floated a foot above the chest.

"What is this?" Cloud asked in wonder.

Aerith walked up close to examine the image. "There's something written on it," she informed them. "B…l…a…c…k…M…a…t…e…r…i…a…"

"Black Materia!" the swordsman exclaimed.

"What should we do, Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"Let's take it!"

But the treasure chest was sealed and the lid wouldn't even budge.

"Wait a minute," the flower girl said sweetly. "I'll ask." She looked up at the ceiling, closing her eyes. "I don't understand…" she murmured. "Wait…really?"

She looked back at Cloud with a wide grin. "They say that the Temple itself is the Black Materia."

The blond man blinked slowly at her. "What do they mean?" He looked just about as wigged as I was about the girl talking to the spirits of the Ancients that no one else could see or hear. "This huge Temple? This is the Black Materia? Then no one could take it."

"Hmm, it's pretty hard," Aerith agreed. "You see this model of the Temple?" she asked, indicating the floating hologram. "Inside it is a device which gets smaller every time you solve a puzzle until it's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand."

"So," Cloud said slowly. "If we solve the puzzles, the black materia will get smaller and smaller and we can take it out?"

Aerith nodded. "Yes, but there's one catch. You can only answer the puzzles while inside the Temple. So, anyone who solves the puzzle will be crushed by the Temple."

Brilliant defense when you think about it.

"I see…the Ancients didn't want dangerous magic taken out of the Temple so easily…"

Of course, if they didn't want someone to get it, they could have just destroyed it. But I'd noticed in a lot of worlds, including my own, ridiculously dangerous things were locked up, booby trapped, buried, but never just gotten rid of. Like Acathla. The Ancients here were just asking for someone to try to figure out a way to do it. Why else would they bother to leave it there? And Sephiroth was going to rise to the challenge.

"Let's just leave it, okay?" Tifa asked nervously.

"No," Cloud said firmly. "We've got to think of a way to get it out." He scratched the back of his head. "Because Sephiroth has lots of different flunkies. It's nothing to him to him to throw their lives away to get the black materia."

He turned back and looked carefully at the floating ziggurat. "This place isn't safe," he said softly.

"So what are we going to do?" Aerith asked, obviously loathe to leave the place of her ancestors.

Cloud didn't answer for a few moments and I didn't envy his decision. I knew all to well the strain of knowing that your decisions, your plans, your mistakes could get people killed. Or cause an apocalypse. It was hard to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Sooner or later we all found our shoulders weren't big enough. No one's are.

I think we were all startled when Cloud's pocket started ringing. He jumped, but then fumbled for his phone and put it to his ear.

I felt a bit awkward about it, but I completely invaded Cloud's personal space, even if he wasn't aware of it, to hear what was being said.

"Hi Cloud! This is Cait Sith. I overheard the whole story."

Resourceful little toy! He had probably bugged their clothes or something somehow so he would know what was going on at all times. Clever.

"Don't forget about me!" the robotic cat was saying. "Everything you said makes perfect sense. You can use my stuffed body for the future of the Planet!"

"We can't let Sephiroth get his hands on the black materia. And we can't let the Shin-Ra get theirs on it either."

"But Cloud," came Cait Sith's voice. "There's really nothing else you can do. Everyone, please trust me."

Cloud looked sick at having to place that much faith in the spy. "I guess we have no choice," he said finally.

"All righty then. Leave it all to me!" Cait Sith chirped. "Please hurry! You've got to get out of there! I'll be waiting at the exit."

Cloud hung up the phone and the three of them headed back to the door of the room. When they arrived, they found it unlocked again. They darted back through the rooms, killing the few monsters that tried to bar their way. They reached an ornately carved door where Cait was waiting for them.

"I'll handle the rest," he said confidently. "Well everyone…take care of yourselves!"

Aerith looked at the cute monstrosity like she was going to say something profound and then thought better of it. "Come on, Cloud. Say something!" she whispered, nudging him with her elbow.

Cloud snatched the back of his head, a gesture I was starting to recognize as him not knowing quite what he wanted to do or say. "I'm not good at this," he muttered.

Cait Sith grinned his stuffed feline grin at him. 'Mm, I understand. I feel the same way too."

Aerith hugged him quickly. "Why don't you read our fortunes?" she asked.

I felt like a voyeur again. Here they were, saying goodbye to a member, spy or not, that had just volunteered to have his body crushed! Clearly something had happened between this point and the point where I had shown up on the airship, because he had been there. But still…well…you know…

"Say, that's right!" Cait was saying. "I haven't done that in a while, huh? I'm so excited. Right or wrong, I'm still the same old me! Now, what should I predict?"

Aerith smiled sweetly, sliding her arm through the blond man's. "Let's see how compatible Cloud and I are!"

My jaw must have hit the ground. You know, it was one thing to say it to Cait, but it was something else to say it in front of Tifa. I quickly looked at the buxom fighter. The small smile that had been on her lips was now completely gone. Her mouth was no a thin line and her fists were clenched at her sides. God, I felt for her. A blind man would have been able to tell how much she liked Cloud, so there was no way Aerith hadn't known. She was just choosing to ignore it. I watched Tifa turn and stare at the wall with her eyes closed, awaiting the tell tale prediction.

Cait began his ridiculous dance and then the tiny printed card that issued from its mouth. He turned away from the group. "This isn't good," he whispered. "I can't say it. Poor Tifa."

"No," Aerith cajoled. "Tell me!"

"Bitch!" I screamed. "You selfish arrogant slut! How can you do this to your friend? You must be the most self absorbed woman I have ever met, and that includes Cordelia Chase in high school!"

Cait sighed as much as a robot was able to. "Looks like you're perfect for each other."

Tifa's face completely crumbled. I walked to stand in front of her and time seemed to stop as I watched a few stray tears course down her face. Behind her, Cloud was smiling with embarrassment and Aerith was giggling while Cait looked at Tifa with concern, but those three no longer existed for me. My eyes were fixed on the broken hearted woman in front of me. I ghosted my hand over her tear-streaked cheek, as I might have wiped away the moisture if I was really there, or if the two of us were friends. The way I had for my sister. And as I watched the poor girl try to reign in her emotions, I was reminded of a song my mother used to sing when she didn't know anyone else could hear here…right after my father had left.

"But love is not a victory march," I sang softly. "It's a cold and it is a broken Hallelujah."

The stuffed cat had just turned his back on everyone when I started paying attention again. "Thank you for believing in me, knowing that I was a spy," he said.

All of a sudden, I really wanted to meet the man behind the cat. Sure, he hadn't said anything to really give away gender, but I usually wasn't wrong about things like that.

"Guess this is the final farewell!" the cat said before lumbering out of the room.

"Be strong, Cait Sith!" Aerith called after him.

We went through the door and found ourselves in the first room we had entered, the door fitting seamlessly into the wall. As we passed the altar, I noted that Tseng was no longer there. I could only pray that someone, Elena or someone else, had come and retrieved him. I also noticed that no one in the group looked back to see I the wounded man had died there. And I was disgusted with them for it.

We crossed the rope bridge and stood there, looking back at the Temple. Suddenly, with no warning at all, it was engulfed in a greenish black light, blue forks of lightening crashing at random all around it. And then the entire building was gone.

Cloud ran back across the bridge, the girls hot on his heels. All that was left was an incredibly deep hole, like an inverted skyscraper. At the bottom, I could just barely make out a small sable mass rolling about as the ground settled.

"That's the black materia," Cloud breathed.

"Uh," Tifa said, looking at the ground from the staggering height. "I'll wait here."

Cloud nodded and then jumped off the edge, Aerith following him by climbing slowly down the rocks. I figured, since she was going, I would have to as well. So I jumped. Not like I could get hurt anyway.

Soon, the three of us, although no one knew I was there, since I really wasn't, stood at the bottom and there it was. Funny that there was so much fear over something that was smaller than my fist. It was staggering to think of the destructive power in that tiny sphere.

"As long as we have this, Sephiroth won't be able to use Meteor," Cloud sighed with relief. He looked at Aerith with curiosity. "Could you use it?"

"Nope," she replied. "You need great spiritual power to use it."

The swordsman cocked his head at her. "You mean lots of Spirit Energy?"

Aerith nodded. "Yeah, one person's power alone wouldn't do it. You'd have to be somewhere special. Where there's plenty of the Planet's energy…like…the Promised Land!"

"The Promised Land?" Cloud exclaimed.

"Sephiroth is different. He's not an Ancient," she explained.

Cloud looked at her carefully. "Well, he shouldn't be able to find the Promised Land."

I think I realized what was about to happen a split second everyone else did. A white light flashed, ensnaring the hole, the area, hell, maybe even the world for all I know, for the space of a few moments.

"Ah, but I have," a voice said and there he was, standing at the precipice, staring at us. He leapt down to the bottom, landing gracefully next to me and for the first time, I was a bit afraid of him. Not the God he might become, but the terrible and beautiful man he already was.

"I'm far superior to the Ancients," he was saying. "I became a traveler of the Lifestream and gained the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients. I also gained the knowledge and wisdom of those after the extinction of the Ancients. And soon, I will create the future."

"I won't let you do it!" Aerith screamed at him. "The future is not only yours!"

"Ha, I wonder," Sephiroth chuckled. He stalked forward, towards Cloud.

The blonde swordsman grabbed his head and fell to his knees, making a high pitched keening sound in his throat.

The silver haired man knelt before him. "There Cloud," he whispered. "Good boy." He motioned the blond man forward all Morpheus style.

Cloud jerked towards him, his eyes wide and unseeing. Well, this was a new and strange development. The man moved like he was fighting every step of the way, an unruly marionette combating the puppet master. But he couldn't fight the power Sephiroth somehow had over him. His shaky hands held out the black sphere. The General snatched it from his hands with a dark smile.

"Well done," he said with a deep chuckle. And with a bright flash, the man rose into the air and was gone.

I seriously needed to learn to do that.

"Cloud," Aerith cried, kneeling by the shaking man. "Are you alright?"

"I gave the black materia to Sephiroth?" he asked in complete confusion.

It was like when the First had been triggering Spike, except Cloud was completely aware of it! Somehow, Sephiroth could control him, and that made him a liability, just as the blond vampire had been. I wondered how long it would be before Cloud asked the team to kill him so he would no longer be a danger to them.

"What…what did I do?" he cried miserably. "Tell me, Aerith!"

"Cloud, be strong, okay?" she said softly.

The man staggered to his feet and grabbed his head again. "What have I done?" he screamed in frustration.

"Cloud," the flower girl said soothingly. "You haven't done anything. It's not your fault."

"Cloud!" Tifa shouted from above is. I think we had all forgotten she was there. And standing next to her was…Cait Sith!

"Oops," I heard him say. "Looks like I came at a bad time. I'm Cait Sith Number Two! Right pleased to meet you all!"

I paused, thinking about how a second robot had gotten here so fast and how many there were total, but then decided it probably wasn't important at present.

Tifa quickly hopped down off the wall into the crater the Temple had made. "Cloud?" she whispered. "What are you doing?"

"Everything is white," Cloud whimpered. "What did I do? I don't remember anything…my memory…since when…?" His eyes were squeezed tightly shut. "If everything's a dream, don't wake me up."

"Cloud!" Aerith said, shaking his shoulders. "Can you hear me?"

The man was foaming a bit at the mouth and I thought he was having a seizure. He was moving his lips as if he was talking to someone none of the rest of us could see. I wondered, not for the first time, about his sanity, but it didn't matter. There was a flash and we were gone.

I was with Aerith. We were entirely alone now, no more members of the team hanging around. We ran through a shadowy but beautiful forest and she mumbled the entire time about the City of the Ancients. I guessed that was where we were headed.

From her slight speech as she ran, I could pretty much gather what was going on. Aerith believed that she could confront Sephiroth and stop him somehow because she was the last of the Ancients. All I could think was that the girl had a martyr complex a mile wide! But all my thoughts were stalled when we reached the city.

It was a city only in the loosest terms. It was completely abandoned and rather than normal, relatively square buildings, these resembled conch shells. Huge, uber overgrown conch shells. Big enough to fit my old house on Revello Dr. in.

Aerith didn't stop at any of the buildings, but instead she picked her way through the paths of the antique city, until she came to a large pond with a round platform in the center. The girl leapt over to it and knelt down. Her hands were clasped together against her chest, her eyes shut, head bowed. She was praying to her god, or her ancestors, or whomever. And I was stuck waiting.

I wandered around the platform, watching the sunset through the trees, but that soon became incredibly boring. I sat down and as I scrutinized the girl praying, my eyelids grew heavy and I slowly felt myself drift off to sleep.

When I opened my eyes, I knew something was completely and utterly wrong. For one, I was kneeling, and I knew I hadn't fallen asleep that way. Second, I felt all weak and kittenish. So not me. My hands were clasped in front of me and when I looked down at myself, I was wearing a pink dress.

Shit.

Just when exactly had I gotten sucked into Aerith's body? I almost wished I had been awake for it. And then again, had I stayed awake, it might not have happened at all.

I could hear Cloud talking to someone and then heard him jump across the water to reach her…uh…me…us.

I watched him approach. He was perhaps three feet way when he grabbed his head, shaking and muttering. Then his eyes went blank and he drew his sword. Aerith, or perhaps only I, watched him calmly as he raised his sword over his head, preparing to strike us down.

"Cloud!" I heard both Tifa and Yuffie scream from the shore.

The man halted in mid stroke, the blade of his enormous sword only inches from our head.

His eyes flew wide and he shook his head hard, rushing backwards hard enough to stumble. His face was contorted with horror, pale and trembling.

"What are you making me do?" he muttered. Then he looked back up with beautiful cerulean eyes full of anguish at what he had almost done.

I heard something above us. A kind of whistling flapping noise of someone or something dropping from on high. I wanted to move, or at least look up, but I had no control over Aerith's body and either she had no clue what the sound was, or she didn't even hear it. So I was forced into an agonizing wait.

I felt it far before I saw it. White-hot pain exploded from my back, easily making the transition to my stomach. It felt like my entire midsection had been set on fire.

I felt my arms drop and hang like lead weights at our side. I looked down to find a good two feet of katana sticking out of Aerith's…my…our gut.

The pain was excruciating, but slowly, as I felt our body slump forward, the pain gave way to the dark.

A.N. I was always bothered by what happened to Tseng in the game, and the fact that it was never resolved. We all just had to assume he died because they never actually showed that room, or the man, in the game after that. We had to wait all the way until Final Fantasy Advent Children came out, nine years later, to find out he somehow survived. That pissed me off.

///Cough///

That's my rant about that…

R&R?