A storm was on the way. A cold wind passed through the air, sweeping up some fallen leaves into a wild dance. The sound of their rustling was very loud in the midst of this quiet night. Even more loud was the mind-piercing crack of the thunder, which was surely to be the prologue to some magnificent storm. The large moon overhead was slowly eclipsed by a dreary purple cloud. The next burst of thunder seemed to be the clouds laughter as it wrapped the planet under its dark blanket. A lightning bolt shot to the ground in a dazzling pattern of zig-zags. An ice cold wind pushed over a trash can. Yes, a storm was certainly on the way.

From a small window inside an equally small shack of a room, Marlene was sitting up watching and waiting for it - listening to the quiet (but constant) patter of the rain on the roof. She sat on the corner of a raggedy mattress that had been laid out on the floor - surrounded by nothing but a small desk that stood two feet higher than the beds surface. The moon was casting a neat rectangle of light through the rooms sole window, but a menacing looking purple cloud had almost completely smothered it. Now Marlene was in the dark, and she didn't mind. She was thinking of when she was a young girl living at Corel. It was so dark at Corel most of the time, she had grown accustom to it's presence. The nights seemed to be longer there. And it was always so dry. She dreamt of the night a mean, old storm would come out to find her. To pour over her bedroom window as she lied still - not daring to move. She imagined it would see her if she did, and come and take her away… far away from Corel to some place where it always rained and the days were three times as long as the nights. It was a fantasy world she had crafted from many sleepless nights - stuck awake by the howling of some insane beast outside, or her fathers (her real fathers) drunken ramblings. Not much different, actually. She thought as she pulled her knees in closer to her body. She hugged them tightly and propped her chin between them. Just like when she was younger… before the Shinra took her home away from her.

With that thought, she glanced over at the other side of the mattress where Teioh was sleeping peacefully. Sometimes she would watch him sleep and could only imagine what wild dreams he was having. He sometimes muttered things… strange things. Things that she wasn't sure even he would know what they meant if repeated to him in the morning. He was still as enigmatic as the day she met him. Him and Loeb… two of the strangest Chocobo racers she had ever seen. The two of them were hustlers - and thieves to boot. They did their buisness far out of the reaches of any Shinra influence - which was what had drawn Marlene to contact them about joining her in the first place. Didn't matter who they were, or where they came from now. No one had a secondary title around these parts. If you were a rebel, that's all you were. It was as full time of a job as you could get.

Another flash of lighting lit up the small room.

"Eh… wha… They can't!" Teioh began muttering in his sleep. "No… they're almost there…."

And just as suddenly as he had began, he had stopped and his rambling were replaced by a rhythmic, slow breathing again. It was in the flash of light that she had seen he was still wearing that mysterious black cowboy hat. Ever since they had escaped Thaisan city, he had been attached to it like it was a part of him. In fact, she couldn't recall seeing him with it off since. Before she even knew what she was doing, she was hunched over him and her hand was slowly reaching for it. Another flash of thunder showed his eyes were open.

"Marlene?" He asked in a confused murmur.

She was feeling the same way, not really knowing what she was doing.

"Sorry." She said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "You were having a nightmare again, Teioh. You were muttering something about…" She tried remembering what the words were, but could not. It was so ordinary to hear him saying odd things in his sleep, she didn't even pay attention to what they were anymore.

"I've got a strange feeling, that's for sure." He stated as he rubbed his eyes. "Like… kind of a claustrophobic feeling."

Marlene glanced around the room, although she didn't have to. It was small and dirty - the price you paid at a rebel encampment on the outskirts of a town filled with the empire you're rebelling.

"Yea, I guess-

"No… not the room." Teioh cut her off. He sat up. "Not the room at all."

Another flash of lightning, and Marlene could see he was staring out the window into the rain. His look frightened her - not because it was a scary face, but because it wasn't the usual just-woke-up dreamy gaze. It was a face that was purposeful and looking for something.

"Shinra?" She whispered, not daring to be any more audible as fear grabbed a hold of her. He looked to debate something for a moment, then shook his head. Marlene eased up a bit - but not entirely.

"What then?"

Teioh gave a nod towards the window. Marlene turned around and strained her neck to look over the bottom edge of it. At first, nothing but the constant streams of rain racing down the glass. The water made a distorted picture of the very dim light at the center of camp. She pulled herself to her knees and pressed her face closer to the window. Another flash of lightning revealed a picture that made her skin crawl. Out standing in the middle of the camp, a tall figure in a black robe stood - seemingly staring directly at her.

The sudden horribly eerie image made her stumble backwards, landing on her elbows on the mattress. She stared at the window for a moment longer to make sure the thing outside wasn't going to magically burst through the glass like some crazed demon, and then shot a confused and terrified look back at Teioh. He was already standing next to the mattress, going through the opened desks drawers.

"I don't know." He said before she could ask him, throwing her a pair of tough looking gloves.

She picked them up. Looking at them, her mind was able to drift away from the horror picture of the thing outside. It drifted back to the Seventh Heaven, where she spent countless days training with them. It began right after the incident with the grey-haired men. She remembered Tifa telling her that if looked like even though a lot of the evil that was in the world had been defeated, the planet would probably never be a safe place again. "Not even for a little girl." She remembered that line perfectly clear. Tifa had always been a king of mother to her, and after that day, she would also be a trainer and a mentor. Marlene then thought of the Shinra scum that had taken her away, which led her right back to the mysterious black-robed thing outside. Was there some sort of a connection?

"Teioh" She said in a sharp voice, causing him to stop suiting up for battle and look down at her. "I think I better go out there."

Teioh looked like he was about to laugh. "Not without me, you're not! I'll signal Loeb and a couple other and we'll-

"No, Teioh." She began. "I want to talk to him… he might have something useful to say."

"OK, then when we capture him, we'll make him tell us anything useful he might have to say anyway."

"Unless he flees when he sees an entire army coming after him…" She stated dryly. Teioh shot her a look.

"Marlene, what exactly do you expect him to know? It's a strange man standing in the middle of a thunderstorm. For all we know, he could be some crazy homeless guy with nothing to lose… which means he would have no problem going after you at first sight."

"If he does, I can defend myself just fine and you know it." She said. Teioh, looking as if he was beginning to tire of this, began to say something, but Marlene continued. "Teioh, I have to. OK? I'm just not so sure I'm convinced that our insider told us everything he knew."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm suspicious - that's all. It also means that if there is a possibility that I can find out anything else about Tifa, I'm going to try."

"But Cloud-

"Cloud is an aging old man whose probably been practically comatose for the last twenty years. Besides, he's abandoned her (and me) once, I'm sure he would have no problem doing it again." There was bitterness and resentment in her voice. She swore to herself to bury those feelings, but once in awhile they cropped up. She couldn't help it. After all, Cloud did leave them -he didn't say goodbye - and he was an old man. A foolish old man who couldn't be trusted with a task as big as saving a woman she still cared about. She had been thinking of that ever since they split ways at Midgar - watching him walk off into the city like a lost dog who had found its way back to the pound it came from.

She pulled away from her angry stare at nothing, and looked back up at Teioh - who was looking quite defeated.

"If that creep makes the slightest movement-

"Save the hero talk." Marlene said, laughing away some of her anger. "You look funny saying things like that with that cowboy hat on." She saw Teioh's wounded look, and suddenly remembered who he got the hat from. "Sorry." She added quietly.

"Yea, well, I'll be too if something happens to you."

She smiled. Teioh cared about her deeply, and she knew it. Sometimes, she thought, maybe it was cruel of her to hang around him so much. She cared for him too - just not in the same way. He was a good friend, great fighter, and a hell of a chocobo rider (maybe the best left.), but he was just that. She knew it would never be anything more, but also knew he didn't. And now here they were bunked up together and it must have been torturing him. Maybe if her last glimpse of love hadn't ended so… wrong, things might have been different… might have been better…

"Thanks Teioh, but I'll be fine." She said, pulling the old pair of rough, leather gloves firmly over her out-stretched fingers. She made an open-close motion with her fists a few times to get them comfortable, then stood up and took another glance out the window. The man was still there, if possible, looking more creepy than before. She shuddered, but quickly put aside her fear and headed towards the door.

"Marlene…" Teioh began. She looked back at him. He smiled warmly before taking the black hat off his head. She couldn't hide the look of surprise on her face as he gently placed it over her reddish-brown hair and tugged the front flap down. She smiled back at him, but with a bit of sympathy. Nothing more, Teioh, I'm sorry.

She trudged through the, now muddy, ground - heading towards the small fire at the center of camp. They didn't dare make it any larger in fear of being spotted - although the chances were slim, being as they were centered between a very large and battle-scarred rock that was sticking twenty feet out of the ground (Marlene supposed it was birthed from a battle she heard about when she was a kid between Cloud and his friends and a "weapon" of the planet.) and the dark side of Midgar, where only the beggars and the poor might see them - good, because most beggars and poor folk were in the rebellion anyway. They had set the camp up awhile ago, but she had never felt it so isolated until this moment - marching through a thunderstorm to meet a strange, robed man who, for all she knew, could be the devil himself. As she neared him, she began getting a more clearer image, partially thanks to the black hat that was keeping the rain just at bay from her face. It was a he alright. A he that stood at least six feet tall, and was dressed as dark as the shadow that was cast behind him from the camp fire. As his face (which was pretty well hidden by the black hooded robe he wore) became more defined, she saw he was grinning the devils grin. It made her uneasy, and for a moment, she had wished she sent Teioh out to talk with him instead. She ended her stride when she was but only a few feet in front of him. The rain began to die down a bit, almost as if it was stepping back so they could speak.

"Little late for a stroll way out here on the outskirts, isn't it?" She said, slightly raising the volume of her voice to speak over the rain. She kept her eyes locked on his face, but she was really watching his hands. He kept his grin as he spoke.

"You've come in contact with the Neodeity?" His voice was cold and steady. He wore it well.

"What?" Marlene said quickly. Knee-oh Dee-a-tee? Maybe Teioh was right, this guy may just be off his rocker. "Listen mister, I don't know what you're talking about, but I would like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

The mans face ran instantly cold - the smile replaced by something between rage and disbelief. Marlene was surprised by the sudden change, reflexively taking a step back.

"We don't appreciate sinners." He began, keeping his anger to a low flame beneath his words. "You will repent, or you will be punished."

We? What does he-

And almost as if an answer to her thought came from the sky above. A flash of lightning shot into the earth only a mile or so away, filling her ears with thunder and her surroundings with a brilliant light. A brilliant light that gave her about a second or two to see what the man meant when he said we. Circling the camp in strategically placed positions, dozens of figures dressed exactly like the man before her stood watching. She felt her throat go tight, and finally understood Teioh's claustrophobic feeling.

Then, it suddenly registered with her. The strange religious ramblings, the black robes, the tattoo she spotted on the mans wrist, the creepiness of the whole situation. It was the cults work, and it meant trouble no matter that they wanted. Her mind darted through a myriad of thoughts. Did Teioh see them all? Was he going to try something? If these black hooded men attacked the camp, did they have the numbers to repel them? What could they possibly want? And what is this Kneeoh Deeatee?

She would have ran through a dozen more questions, but the mans low - yet furious - voice stopped her.

"Repent." He repeated. "Repent, by telling me about the Neodeity."

"Listen, I told you, I don't know-

The backhand came so quickly and furiously, Marlene's only reaction was to stop talking as it crashed into the right side of her face with such force, her left leg had to plant firmly in the mud to stop from falling over and Teioh's hat was flung off her into the darkness of the night. Pain filled the side of her head, and a little blood trickled from her mouth. Before she could react any further, she heard Teioh yelling something at the top of his lungs, and then everything went white. Not because she passed out, but because she was being blinded by two pairs of intensely bright lights - spotlights from helicopters overhead that were now circling around in the black sky. Next, she heard orders being shouted from somewhere on the outskirts of camp, and before she could register the words inside them - she saw dozens of Shinra soldiers collapsing into the camp from squinted eyes. They had been tracked - the cult had found them - and now the Shinra was going to have their way. Things couldn't have gone any worse.

---

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Rex Arinthone had called in the choppers the moment the girl came outside the shack. Him and his men had been following these strange robed men throughout the whole night, and it was finally going to pay off. He found himself second guessing President Rufus when he was told the plan at first- after all, to work with such crazy scum was almost as bad as working with the rebels themselves. But now here he was, and it had all worked out like the President said, and he was only moments from getting his hands on the little punk that ruined his retirement party. He couldn't help constantly opening and closing his fists to keep his cool as he sat hunched behind the tent in the midst of the thunderstorm. His mind had been a train ever since that night at the Falber Castella, running on a constant path towards finding the rebels that had escaped him. He would be damned before he let his final night on duty end in such… failure. Now, he could end it in triumph. The capturing of a whole little army of rebel dogs… and the pup that dared to sit at his retirement table on that dreaded night. Yes, he would make sure that dog would be taught a fine lesson later on. But right now, he had work to do.

"Team One, flank right, Team Two, you're with me - straight up the middle. Keep your weapons on the shacks and tents, anyone comes out, do NOT hesitate to kill. The mission is preferably captures, but we've been given the OK on lethal force if necessary. Stay sharp, and keep your trigger fingers loose - we don't want any accidents out there in this rain, got it?"

Both teams (of about twenty five soldiers each) nodded, and just as Rex heard the helicopters coming in he gave the GO signal, sending the plan into action. They were quick and, even in the thunderstorm, moved with deadly military precision. Their fast steps were like a fine dance as they began to completely cover every door to every shack and tent that was set up. Rex moved surprisingly well for a man in his fifties, heading straight towards Marlene. She looked like she was in shock, and for good reason being as she was just cracked in the face and swarmed by lights and soldiers. Suddenly the girls face rung a bell in Rex's head.

That waitress!

He was filled with even more excitement as he picked up his pace towards her. This dog was going to pay too. But before he got there, the man in the black robe turned towards his direction and put a hand out in a stop gesture. Rex reluctantly did so. He hated having to even be near these people, let alone take an order from one of them.

"What!?" He barked out angrily. "This is our mission now, you're checks already been cashed."

"No sir." The mans voice was now so polite, you wouldn't have been able to guess he was the man who just furiously backhanded a woman in the face. "Your leader told you I may need a prisoner if I could not get the info I needed." He said, gesturing to Marlene. "I did not, so I will."

Rex was a bit angered by this, but nodded anyway. As long as he would get that cocky kid. "Fine." He said.

"General!? You've resorted to working with cultists now!?" Marlene shouted at him, taking a few steps in his direction.

"Shut your mouth, rebel!" He shouted right back, but her words wrung true. He didn't like these cultists anymore than the rebels did. She took a few more steps to him, causing him to slightly raise his machine gun. "Stand down rebel - or be shot down."

"You piece of-

She started as she cocked her arm back ready to swing at him, but before she could, the robed man grabbed it and pulled it behind her - quickly doing the same to her other arm and tying them together with a black cloth he pulled from his robe.

"General Arinthone, I promise you Shinra will pay for this!" She began furiously. "We have-"

The rest of her sentence was distorted by the black bag the robed man pulled over her head.

"Thank you." Rex said as he nodded in delight. He loved to see a rebel treated like the dog they were.

Two more robed men came from seemingly nowhere and picked her up - carrying her squirming body away.

"Your business here is done then?" Rex asked as he watched the men and the girl disappear into the blackness of the night. The robed man nodded and, speaking no words, turned and headed off in the same direction. "Freaks." Rex muttered under his breath when he thought the man was out of ear shot, then watched the figure fade into the night.

"Sir!" A military-like voice cut into his stare. He hadn't even noticed but the teams had done a fine job of rounding up all the defenseless sleeping rebels. He looked around and saw them being marched towards the large trucks that were now pulling up from the north.

"Yes, captain?" He asked, wondering what could possibly be wrong in this perfect operation.

"Someone is escaping!"

His whole mind exploded in anger. Thoughts of that STINKING rebel kid - that DAMNED smug rebel - escaping him AGAIN made him furious.

"WHO! WHERE!" He barked at the soldier in front of him. The man pointed towards the west side of the camp. Rex furiously snatched the binoculars hanging from the soldiers neck and ripped it off him, breaking the strap. He slammed it over his eyes (pain he would feel when his adrenaline was lower), and squinted into them - searching the horizon. Nothing… nothing…. there!

He shifted a knob on the right side of the binoculars and the sighting changed from regular, to infrared, to night vision.

He let out a sigh as his shoulders slumped back to a sane position, and the pain on his forehead became apparent. It wasn't him. It was some black kid on a chocobo.

"Sir? Should I send the helicopters?"

Rex debated for a moment before saying

"No." In a calm voice.

"Sir?" The soldier asked in confusion.

"Let him go. Let him run back to his rebel friends and tell the story of this night. Maybe it will put some fear into the dogs… yes. Maybe, having them think we have allied with the cultists will be enough to send a couple of them back to their homes with their tails between their legs."

"Yes sir. Quiet smart sir."

"Wait." Rex said, before the soldier even moved. "On second thought, send a ground force in some hovercars. Stay close to him for awhile, but lose him - and lose him well. We don't want him thinking we let him get away on purpose now, do we?"

"No sir."

"Then go."

"Yes sir."

Rex began walking towards the prisoner trucks to claim his prize, but he found out he didn't need to. Lying in a pool of mud and dirty water, the rebel that kept him out of retirement was lying still. A group of soldiers stood around him, two more were laying on the ground beside them.

"What happened here?" Rex demanded.

"He wasn't sleeping, sir. Put up a hell of a fight, but we got him down without lethal means."
"Very good private." He said, walking over to the rebel and staring down at him. It was him, alright. "Very good indeed."

And when the camp was cleared out, and all the prisoners were taken away in trucks - the only thing left was a dwindling campfire and an old black cowboy hat that had been stepped on and left in a muddy pool of water.