There were lots of things Cloud wasn't sure of. He wasn't sure he still had the physical abilities he needed of the days that had long gone by. He wasn't sure who he could trust in this new, confusing world he had come back into after twenty years of seclusion. He didn't know why the pipe-swinger had attacked him, or why the man told him that Shinra had taken Tifa back to their hometown of Nibelheim. There was a vast ocean of uncertainties swirling about in Cloud's head. The only thing he was certain of, was that he needed answers - and he knew just where to look.

Keep calm, old man. He thought to himself as he tried his best to keep a casual style to his walk - which was leading him straight thru the front doors of the (rebuilt) Shinra headquarters. He would have to play it cool if he was going to make it all the way to the top floor, which President Rufus had undoubtedly made his personal quarters. President Rufus. The man with (Cloud hoped) all the answers he needed.

Playing it cool meant no weapons - which bothered Cloud more than any confused thought he could have dreamt of. The only thing he had come to trust, the only thing he had come to depend on in his old age- was laying lifeless in a large bush, hundreds of feet away from his yearning hands. He loved that sword… probably the only thing he did love anymore. He certainly didn't care much for himself.

What are you doing, old man? Keep your head in the mission. You need it more than ever with no weapon.

A Shinra soldier passed him as he entered through the large, glass, double front doors. He couldn't refrain from balling his hands into fist as the soldier passed. Old habits would find you, no matter how long you've been hibernating. The soldier didn't even so much as look at him as he went on his way. Good. Cloud though. At least they aren't looking for me. At least not here. He had figured once word got back to the higher-ups that were pulling the pipe-swingers strings that he had leaked info about Nibelheim, they would lower their guard here in Midgar. He must have been right, because security in the large lobby he had just walked into was scarce. Maybe they didn't think the rebels were such a threat after all. Or maybe, it was a clever way of lulling any rebel-minded attackers into a false sense of security - dozens of soldiers pouring out of every crevice in the building the minute something went wrong. Either way, it didn't matter. Cloud didn't plan on calling any attention to himself.

"Hi. Welcome to the Shinra office, how can I help you today, sir?" The blonde woman at the large oval of a front desk asked. She used a cheery, yet empty, voice that could have only been perfected from years at a meaningless desk job. It meant she was experienced at this. It meant Cloud had to be extra careful not to seem… Cloud-like.

"Hi." He said, forcing a wide grin that hurt his face. He hadn't smiled like that since… "I'm here to see Rufus."

The lady shot him a sharp look from behind her thick glasses.

"President Rufus?" She said, correcting him. "Do you have an appointment, sir?" She asked, but the confused look on her face said she already knew he didn't.

"No." Cloud confirmed. "But I'm sure he'll see me on short-term scheduling. We're old friends."

The lady raised an eyebrow and looked as if she wanted to say "Your friends with the President?". Instead she said

"Sir, I don't think that's possible. Maybe if you schedule now and come back-

"Cloud. Just tell him Cloud is here."

The ladies face showed her annoyance rising. Cloud caught her eyes take a glance over at the two guards that were at either side of the front doors.

"Please. If he wants to have me thrown out, that's fine - but at least give him the name."

Her gaze shifted to him, staring into his eyes. Those faded blue eyes… they were hypnotizing and relentless. She pursed her lips and frowned her brow in debate for a moment before saying

"OK. Go wait over there," She pointed to a row of chairs to the right of the front doors. "And I'll tell him that…"

"Cloud."

"That Cloud is here."

He smiled and gave her a nod before going to the chairs to wait.

He looked as casual as could be, but inside he was in a heightened mode of awareness. His eyes digging around the room for anything out of place. If the soldiers were alerted to anything from above, he would know the second they did. What he would do from there, unarmed, he didn't know. Improvise, I guess.

The lady had made the call now. She glanced over at him a few times while she was on the phone, but they weren't nervous glances. Not the kind of glances you gave to a former warrior, one who had gone toe-to-toe with Shinra in their early days. No, these were casual, look at who I'm talking about, glances. It made him a little more relaxed, but not overly so. He was careful of that. He learned that lesson at the city of the Ancients. Always be on guard… never let your surroundings take your eyes away from you. Aeris…

"Sir." The woman cut into his thought. He pulled himself out of the chair and made his way back to the front desk. When he got there, he saw a face of almost embarrassment.

"The President will see you now." Her voice was small - shameful. "I apologize for my rudeness."

"Don't worry about it."

"Thank you. The elevator will take you there." She said, gesturing to a large elevator to his right. He nodded with a smile. All this pretending was making him sick. He hated acting like someone he wasn't. Almost as if he was being controlled - like a…

He forced the thought out of his head before it could be finished. It wasn't the time to go down that road. Not now. The elevator door slid open with a bing. Behind it were two Shinra soldiers. For a second, he thought he was being set-up. He thought his old mind had deceived him - that there was something he hadn't picked up on in the lobby. He thought of his sword - lying dumbly in a bush outside.

"Come on." A soldier said. "President Rufus is waiting."

Cloud, like a seasoned veteran of putting his thoughts aside, smiled and stepped into the small elevator - turning around to face the closing doors. As the booth began its ascent, Cloud's eyes found a small golden plaque above the doorway. It said something, but Cloud didn't know what. He hadn't read it. Instead his eyes stared past the words - at the reflective golden surface of the plaque beneath. If the soldiers were to try something, or even if they gave a shady glance at one-another - Cloud would know. And as the elevator reached the top floor and came to a stop with another bing - he was convinced the soldiers had not been notified in anyway who he was. At least not yet.

"This my stop?" He asked casually.

"Yep." One of the soldiers answered equally.

The elevators doors slid open to reveal a wide, elegant hallway. One that would have been much more fit for a ballroom, or a theater. Long red walls, that seemed to head upwards for an eternity, were lavishly decorated. The carpet (which rolled towards the elevator door like the tongue of some mysterious creature) was just as over-the-top. Bright lights lit the way from regular intervals along the walls.

Cloud shook his head. Tax payers money well spent.

He suddenly frowned. What did he just think? It was as if Marlene's words had jumped into his head. She had said that exact sentence to him when they were heading towards Midgar together. He remembered she had spotted a large cruise ship, out on the ocean. She told him a story of how Shinra gave it's new soldiers a luxurious, paid vacation if they stayed loyal to them for at least a year. That's when she said; Tax payers money well spent. But why had Cloud thought it? He didn't care where their money was going - after all, he wasn't a tax payer himself. Just Marlene's words, ringing through my head. Damn, that girl was chatty.

He began walking down the long hallway - the two guards from the elevator staying at his backside. Just as he approached the large front doors to (what he thought was) Rufus's office, they swung open.

"Cloud." Rufus said - surprise and joy in his voice. More surprise. He gestured to the two soldiers behind him, and - after a short, reluctant pause - he heard them turn around and go back to the elevator.

"You know." Rufus began, as he turned around and headed into the room behind him. Cloud followed. "I must say, I'm surprised, Cloud. Although I shouldn't be, I guess. It's a brave decision to come here, but you always were brave - weren't you?"

Cloud brushed aside the "compliment".

"I should have been heading towards Nibelheim by now, right?"

Rufus spun around with a devilish grin on his face. He hadn't seemed to age a bit. His hair was still blonde and plentiful - his boyish, good looks still perfectly intact. Cloud was angered by this, but not from jealousy. He was angry that this scum had somehow beaten his age - still looking like the young, power-hungry vice president from years ago.

"Cloud… let's sit down. Be more civilized." He said. Even his voice had remained young.

Rufus led them to two, red, leather couches in the center of the oval-shaped room - which was as ridiculously fancy as the hallway leading to it. Rufus sat on one, Cloud taking a seat on the opposite side. Only a glass table separated them.

"I must say, Cloud… you look terrible." Rufus calmly stated, sliding into the back of his couch comfortably and propping his feet on the glass table in front of him.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing."

Rufus gave one of his innocent smiles.

"It's the Mako, you know." He said, still with the smile on his face. "It messes with your aging process. All the people we experimented on have shown the same effects. Their face looks twenty years older than they actually are. Physically, they feel even worse. After the vanity issues take a hold of them, that's when the real problems begin. The problems that aren't on the outside."

Cloud stared at him coldly.

"The mind begins to bend and contort around invisible edges. The brain begins sending strange signals to the body - causing unexpected, and uncontrollable muscle twitches." Rufus continued. His grin had disappeared, but the mocking tone had not. "Have you had any twitches yet, Cloud? That's when you know your mind don't work very good no more. You know, none of the other soldiers have made it much past their forties. How old are you now?"

"Old." Cloud answered calmly.

"Yes… old indeed." Rufus agreed as he shook his head slowly. He was surprised Cloud hadn't given much of a reaction to the news. In fact - he hadn't reacted at all. Maybe the effects had already gotten to his head… No. He's gotten this far - he's still in one piece.

"So why am I here, Rufus?" Cloud asked, ignoring the presidents dreadful vision of the future.

"I thought that was my question?"

"No. It isn't." Cloud began. "You want something with me, and I want to know what it is. You obviously don't want me dead - seeing as you didn't spring a trap on me in the slums, where you knew I was going to be. You don't want me captured, because you could have gotten me in the slums for that, too. So what the hell is it you want, Rufus?"

Rufus nodded.

"Alright Cloud." He started. "I can see the Mako effect hasn't affected your mind. At least not yet. But, I guess that's a good thing…"

"Don't play games, Rufus. You said it yourself, my inner clock is ticking - time is valuable to me now."

"Indeed it is." Rufus agreed. "OK Cloud, I'll be honest with you. I need your help."

Cloud gave him a confused look.

"Yes. I'm asking for your help. Don't look so shocked, even a President needs help from time to time. "

He stood up, and began pacing around the room slowly. Cloud didn't take his eyes off of him.

"Let me ask you, have you ever heard of the Sephiroth Cult?"

Cloud grimaced. Even hearing the name made him hurt. Most of his memories had been either buried, or forgotten - yet hearing the name could somehow bring them all rushing back - Sephiroth. Memories had a way of finding you again.

Cloud shook his head.

"Oh, yes… of course not." Rufus said, shaking his head. "You wouldn't have, as you've been in hiding for the last two decades. Well, they formed just around after the time Meteor hit. No one is really sure exactly when, or who began it - but we do know it was around then. A small group of people who had learned of the story of Sephiroth… misinformed a hundred times, probably. They believed that Sephiroth was a god, sent to us from the Cetra, or Ancients - as you might know them. They thought that we killed a god, and would be punished accordingly. That the Cetra would return to find their prince dead, and unleash a wrath upon our planet like none imaginable to a humans mind." Rufus was now standing at a large window behind a desk - staring down at the city below. "At first, it was just a spook story. One to tell your buddies around the campfire. But as time grew, so did their numbers. And their crazy beliefs. Even to this day, they would die in his name - smiling.

"They preached their craziness all across the planet. At night, when the towns and cities are completely still and quiet, the church would re-open. Or the old abandoned inn at the far side of town would suddenly be alive with chatter. The Sephiroth Cult was in town - and if you weren't too afraid, you'd go and see if the rumors about them were actually true. And if you were a fool - you'd join them."

Cloud shook his head in disgust. Sephiroth. He had found a way to out-live his physical body, once again.

"Their threat, like their numbers, had started out as minimal. Once in awhile you would find a dead chocobo in a field - badly beaten and cut up sadistically. Or you'd catch a caravan of dark riders, riding swiftly across the planet in the middle of the night. But as their followers increased - their tactics became more sadistic."

Rufus turned to Cloud and looked him straight in the eye.

"Human sacrifices... Not just men, Cloud. Women… and children."

Cloud narrowed his eyes, a new sense of anger rushed through his body, making everything inside of him feel alive.

"Now, I am worried their numbers may have grown a bit too large for my likings."

"So go after them." Cloud said, fighting to keep the emotion from his voice. "Kill them all with your stupid army."

"I would love nothing more, but with this cold war going on with the rebels, my hands are tied. If the rebels found out a large portion of our army was indisposed, they would strike us with everything they had."

"And you want me alone to get rid of them?" Cloud asked sarcastically, pointing to himself.

"Well… yes."

"Are you sure your mind isn't the one that's failing?"

"Positive. You see, three days ago I struck a deal with them that will guarantee they stay out of my business… at least for a little while. You see, they are avid collectors of anything that came in close contact with Sephiroth. Yes… they do quiet enjoy their collection up in the dark places of Mt.Nibel."

Rufus waited patiently for Cloud to react.

Mt. Nibel… Nibelheim… Tifa.

And suddenly, quicker than he thought his aged legs could go, Cloud was on his feet - racing at Rufus furiously. Rufus - premeditating the move - had already called for Bastian (his pet creature that was something between a wolf and a lion). The ferocious beast jumped between Rufus and his attacker - landing with a hard thud and peeling back his upper lip to show a jagged row of long teeth. Cloud slid to a stop in front of him. For a moment, he considered trying to take the monster, but the thought of his sword laying outside made him decide against it.

"Rufus you scum!" His voice was dangerously mad.

"Calm down, Cloud. They said they weren't going to kill her."

"No, just experiment on her and torture her!"

"Well, if that's the case - I suggest you make haste."

Rufus was smart. He had planned this out well. Cloud had no choice but to admit it. It was a win-win situation. If he went after Tifa and killed the cultists, Rufus would have one less threat to worry about. If he went after her and failed, the verdict would be the same. He would have delivered Cloud to them - probably the ultimate prize in their sick, distorted world - making them leave the president and his army alone for good.

"You'll get yours, Rufus. I promise you that." Cloud said coldly, then turned and began heading back to the elevator.

"Don't forget your inner clock is ticking, my friend. Hope ya don't twitch." Rufus called after him, then began laughing hysterically.

Cloud felt a twitch alright. A twitch in his head that reminded him of why he fought these kind of bastards in the first place. They had forgotten the value of life. They were sick and cruel… the weakness of the world. And he made a vow that if he survived this whole thing, he would make sure they would never forget again.

Tifa… I'm coming.