Cloud's hair ruffled in an unusually strong gust of wind. A few white dumbapples fell from the trees sloping over their path, hitting the ground with several thumps. Vincent ignored the fruit, his red eyes glowing even in sunlight as he scanned their surroundings. Nanaki sniffed one in passing but left it alone. Tseng appeared disinterested in general, much like he always did when Cloud or one of the others wasn't speaking.

The closer they drew to where the village had been, the more patches of burned ground littered the landscape. The charred patches were few and far between, like the fire had jumped from spot to spot. When they crested the next hill, the blackened ruins of Banora came into view.

When they reached the village edge and stepped fully within the blackened ground Tseng said, "There's no information I've ever seen detailing caverns beneath Banora."

Without looking at the Turk, Cloud said, "Genesis used to play there as a child. And there are plaques on the walls with lines from Loveless. Also, Emerald Weapon is there, dormant for now."

With a sidelong look at the Turk, Cloud spied the suspicion in Tseng's eyes. Mentally, Cloud just brushed it off. He couldn't expect the man to believe everything so easily.

Cloud's steps slowed when he felt something stir in the back of his mind. Nanaki tensed at his reaction and Vincent's hand moved to his gun. Tseng, however, paused before readying to draw his weapon.

Cloud didn't immediately draw a sword. His eyes scanned the charred earth, then the clear sky, and watched for even a flicker of movement. He really didn't want to get caught flatfooted if Genesis was around to rain a wash of nasty attack feathers at him. He'd have to buy a new hoodie.

It wasn't feathers that rained down on him, but what looked like a volley of Firaga fireballs. If Cloud didn't have mastered Ice materia, he would never have cast in time. The green magic shot away from his open palm, the large chunks of ice spears forming in the air. Ice collided with fire in a cracklingly brittle clash, both spells turning into mist and vapor, dissipating and forming a mostly transparent mist of moisture that dampened Cloud and the others.

When the noise settled, and silence crept over them again, Cloud scanned their surroundings. Vincent and Tseng both held their weapons at the ready, but from their postures, neither saw anything to shoot at just yet.

Nothing came. Cloud wasn't sure what he expected. He hadn't truly thought he'd run into Genesis or his army of copies, but he also hadn't really thought there wouldn't be anyone here. This quiet though, this lack of attack had him puzzled. Genesis copies weren't exactly known for their restraint. One volley of fireballs wasn't enough to kill anyone even marginally prepared for battle.

That's when Cloud realized the slight stir in the back of his mind hadn't gone away. He focused on the sensation. It was tangible in the way that he felt Sephiroth, but with a different texture. Sephiroth was a concentrated point with fine tentacles of awareness floating around, waiting for something to latch onto. But this new feeling was jagged and faint with shuddering tremors constantly reshifting its lines. He'd never felt anything like it.

If it were actually a sense similar to what he felt of Sephiroth, and even the faint presence of Soldiers, then perhaps he could focus on it like he focused on the others.

So he concentrated. With only one question circling in his mind, he sought to locate the source if this new sensation. Where?

A blur of a shadow was the only warning Cloud had before the threat descended on him from right out of the sky. On reflex, he drew the Apocalypse. Red blade met red blade and the crimson glow of power already wrapping his opponent's sword engulfed Cloud's in turn. Cloud activated his Ice materia again to counteract the flare of heat emanating from the swords before it could make their surroundings combust. Simultaneously, he slid one foot back to brace himself, and used the force of his whole body and the broadsword to throw his attacker back.

There were no outcries from his companions but he didn't dare look away from his opponent. The man stood tall in his red leather duster but wide streaks of gray in his hair washed out nearly all of the original gingered red. The long black wing extending from his back, stretched out on display, was also littered with large chunks of gray.

Then the former commander began reciting. "The goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar."

Cloud huffed a silent laugh and said, "Don't tell me you're calling yourself the goddess now, Genesis Rhapsodos."

Genesis smirked even as his eyes narrowed. "I merely speculate on you and I being her wings." Genesis tilted his head ever so slightly. "She said you would come. She said I would hear your whispers in my mind as I hear hers." His eyes flicked away from Cloud's for a moment, presumably to survey the others. "I was not expecting you to be a scion of Shinra Company."

One side of Cloud's mouth kicked up. "I'm not."

Pointing with his sword, Genesis said, "There stands Tseng, second in command of the Turks. Didn't you notice him following you?" came the dry question.

"I reappropriated him after he figured out who I was," Cloud said.

"Oh?" This seemed to amuse Genesis as he lowered his sword. "And who are you?"

"Didn't your goddess tell you?" Cloud shot back. He relaxed his own stance a little.

"For you are beloved by the goddess, hero of the dawn, healer of worlds," Genesis recited. Face losing its composure, one lip curling up to reveal teeth, he said, "But all I see is the man who destroyed Jenova. Hollander could have used her to cure my degradation."

Cloud scoffed, gripping his blade tighter. "If you think pumping yourself full of more mutated poison is going to help you then you're an idiot."

"That's quite the hypocritical statement coming from someone who has his own fair share of mutated poison flowing through his body. You positively reek of Jenova." Genesis' eyes gave Cloud another once over. "And you 've clearly had your enhancements for a while. The lack of degradation declares the possibility of purity to be had. From your appearance, you clearly aren't part of the G-Project." Genesis' smile tightened again. "Would that make you part of the S-Project? Does the difference lie there? I wasn't aware that Hojo had any subjects for that project other than Sephiroth. The general is a bit difficult to get to but you are quite out in the open aren't you."

Cloud shifted uneasily, unhappy with how quickly Genesis' mind made connections. Instead of properly responding to the former commander's assertions, he said, "I don't care how much Jenova runs through me, don't smell me. It's…creepy."

Genesis chuckled at Cloud's unease, one hand flitting to his forehead for a moment. "Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess." Eyes back on Cloud, Genesis asked, "Do you hear her voice whispering to you? Is that why you came? To answer her call?"

"I came," Cloud said, "to figure out why I'm here." He didn't dare indicate he meant the particular time he was in because he couldn't tell how much Genesis actually knew. He'd already seen how quickly the man put things together, and he didn't want to see how much faster that would get if he started handing out clues.

Genesis only arched one brow at him. "Careful now, you'll talk yourself in circles if you don't pay attention." He paused. "I've been warned not to impede your passage. The goddess is expecting you." With that, he turned gracefully and strode deeper into the village ruins.

Cloud put the Apocalypse back in its harness and followed after Genesis. He heard his companions trailing behind him.

Vincent appeared at his side and murmured, "You never said anything about Genesis being some kind of spokesman for Minerva." There was less accusation in the whispered words than curiosity.

In equally quiet tones, Cloud said, "That's because she'd never talked to him before that last fight. This is new."

If the smirking glance Genesis threw over his shoulder at Cloud was any indication, the man's hearing was still quite excellent despite the progress of his degradation. So much for Cloud not giving anything away.

Tseng distracted Cloud from further thought by actually calling out to Genesis. "There's been a great deal of debate, Commander Rhapsodos, on whether or not you were actually alive. It seems that question is answered."

The mirth that had been on Genesis' face the last time he looked back was missing in his next glance. Genesis' only reply was, "There are no dreams, no honor remains, the arrow has left the bow of the goddess."

Disturbed by the bleakness of Genesis' declaration, and struck with a sudden impulse to speak, Cloud said, "The world isn't ending yet Genesis." No one should ever think it was too late to do something. Zack had taught Cloud that. Not even dying had gotten that man to quit interfering.

Genesis' expression flattened, consideration gleaming behind his eyes, but he didn't respond, only disappearing into the basement beneath the apple factory ruins leading down into the Banora underground. Cloud's eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, and found Genesis waiting just inside.

"I've scattered the Goddess Materia throughout the levels. We'll need to gather it all if we're to open the way to—"

"No," Cloud said, narrowing his eyes at the darkness deeper in the tunnels. He could feel a pulse of power, not in his head where Jenova cells echoed, but in his chest. It was faint, but he could feel something tugging at him. He shook his head and pressed a hand to his sternum. "That will take too long," he said absently.

Without really considering what he was doing, Cloud strode into the open tunnel leading out from this first cavern. In the deeper darkness, his eyes picked out thin strands of the Lifestream seeping out through the cracks in the tunnel walls.

"You expect to easily navigate the mazes and find all the barriers removed?" Genesis called after him.

Cloud heard his comrades' footsteps following behind him. Without raising his voice, knowing Genesis would hear him, he said, "Mazes don't mean much to me and there's always more than one way through a barrier."

Genesis offered no reply but Cloud heard his footsteps following anyway.

The tunnel opened into a large cavern full of glowing crystal formations towering above his head. He wound his way to the largest area of flat ground and immediately angled left. He knew he could go the other direction but to the left would be quicker.

A giant Evil Eye swooped down from the blackness out of the illuminated crystals' light. Its one red eye gleamed dully in the dim light. Cloud was leaping forward before even fully drawing the Apocalypse. The Evil Eye barely had time to blink twice before Cloud's blade swung down and cleave the monster in two.

Without breaking his stride, he hit the ground and whipped his blade through the air to fling the thin sheen of monster blood off it. The sword was on his back in a matter of seconds.

Cloud heard Tseng pose the question, "Is Strife usually this single minded when raiding a dungeon?"

"No," Nanaki said. "Cloud usually acts as support for myself and Vincent."

"As you can see," Vincent said, "his skills are often beyond what's needed. That monster was at least level thirty but a single sword swing eliminated it."

It was Genesis who spoke next. "Such a trifling monster should be easy for any who choose to walk these caverns. Perhaps you three should pray that your leader never chooses to forsake you."

Nanaki casually offered, "Cloud has never forsaken us before."

The side of Cloud's mouth kicked up. At least his friend was accurate in that Cloud had never forsaken them in this timeline. Though he wasn't quite sure if leaving them to fend for themselves while he drooled away off in mako poisoned comatose land counted as forsaking anything except his own brain.

With little deviation from the straight shot he was taking, he entered a new area, the path winding around in one long arc before opening up to another large cavern. This one glowed green with an almost mako-infused, luminescent fungus glow. Cloud didn't even slow his stride across the cavern toward the pedestal and sealed off pathway.

Cloud drew the Apocalypse again when a trio of dark blue Grenades bobbed frenetically into his path, mouths open, exposing their flaming innards. He swung the sword in a wide arc as the monsters converged on him. When he cut each creature in half at the mouth, the flames in their bodies erupted in a weak flash, spurned on by the sudden access to oxygen. Globs of flaming remains splattered all over the cavern floor.

Cloud slowed near the pedestal, eying the ornate surface with its seven, smooth indents critically. The pulse of power in his chest throbbed with its own cadence, not synchronizing with his heartbeat, but grew in strength with every step he took that lead him deeper underground. Standing before this pedestal, the pulse was almost maddening. He did feel drawn, like Genesis had asked about earlier, but if this was the goddess calling, he didn't want to listen. But he had the niggling suspicion that leaving now wouldn't make it stop.

Without thinking, Cloud pressed his palm to the center of the pedestal. The pulse slammed up through his arm like silent thunder. The ground jolted, and for a moment, his arm lit up with an inner golden glow.

Cloud threw himself backward, twisting slightly as though to shield his no longer glowing arm. The limb tingled and ached like he'd strained his muscles. The faintest hints of numbness crawled across his hand and forearm. He shook his hand a little then massaged his wrist with his free hand, trying to normalize the sensations.

"Shit," Cloud hissed under his breath. "I don't know what kind of energy trap that is."

None of his startled companions said anything. It was Genesis that drew Cloud's attention.

The former commander had moved up next to Cloud and held a hand over the pedestal. In some kind of curious awe, Genesis said, "This pedestal has never been more than inanimate stone unless the various Goddess Materia are resting in it."

Genesis' hand drew back as the seven indents in the stone face began to glow. The stone itself actually lit up. When seven bright golden glows illuminated the indents in pedestal, the entrance, spurned by its magic and machinery, opened, revealing a painfully bright vortex of light.

"Interesting," Genesis said, seemingly musing, "all the Goddess Materia glow red here, but it seems whatever key you have shines like sunlight."

Unsure of how he felt about unknowingly possessing some sort of key, Cloud brushed it off and walked around the pedestal to move straight into the tunnel. The light in the tunnel was almost blinding, but when he stepped through, it wasn't what he expected. A simple, large cavern stretched out before him, its only feature a statue of a woman. The Goddess as Genesis saw her. Light broke through the cavern ceiling, admitting one bright ray of sunshine all the way from the surface, spotlighting the statue.

Cloud cautiously stepped forward, the pulse in his chest reverberating almost with the same strength as the pedestal had triggered in his arm. The whole cavern thrummed with energy, the air practically shimmered with it.

He glanced over his shoulder at the others. Genesis was only a few paces behind him but his three comrades hovered just this side of the tunnel. Cloud stopped, frowning and half turned to face them. "Why are you all waiting there? It's not like the cavern isn't big enough. And I don't think this stuff in the air is going to actually do anything."

Nanaki sat where he was and said, "The whispers of the Lifestream are quite audible here. I can tell I'm not meant to walk in this place. I'll wait here for you to finish."

Tseng put a hand out but the air shivered, the power in the air solidifying. "I can't pass through the barrier."

Vincent was hovering as far back as he could without disappearing into the bright light of the tunnel. It actually seemed to take the gunman several moments to collect his thoughts. "Chaos is unexpectedly uneasy to be in this place. I find myself needing all my concentration to keep from leaving."

Frown deepening, Cloud turned his stare to Genesis, silently questioning.

Genesis seemed amused at the look, a slight smirk making its way into his expression. "I've never brought anyone down here before. I wouldn't have known not everyone would be permitted entrance." Genesis paused, tilting his head ever so slightly. "I'm curious, though, as to what you see in the air. Not even dust motes drift through the shaft of sunlight."

From the entrence, Vincent suggested, "Perhaps you're hallucinating, Cloud."

Cloud sent a sharp look the gunman's way.

Vincent said, "You've already said you sometimes have visions of the Lifestream. Hallucinations are a plausible suggestion."

Unable to decide if the gunman was joking or not, Cloud turned his attention back to the cavern and resumed his slow progress toward the statue. With the hammering pulse in his chest and a tingling thrum in his skin, he stopped some ten feet from the statue, worried that if he got any closer, it would actually damage him somehow.

Cloud stared at the statue, the circle of stone cradled in its hands shimmering, deep shades of red swirling in its depths. He glanced at Genesis, who appeared to be watching him more than the statue. Cloud glanced back at his companions. Tseng was still prodding at the barrier but the other two remained as they were.

Eyes on the materia again, he voiced the question floating around in his head to no one in particular. "What now?"

The pulse and thrum of power in his body shivered and completely stopped. Cloud's eyes widened as the shimmer in the air stopped in the same moment. The disk the statue held turned gold and the air shimmered green with flowing bands of Lifestream and magic. Cloud squinted as the light grew brighter and brighter, finally bringing up a hand to shield his eyes. He would have shot a glance Genesis' way if he dared look away from the ever-brightening statue.

A sudden flare of light had Cloud flinching and squeezing his eyes shut. When the light died down, he cautiously peered around, ready to close his eyes again to keep the damage from that blinding light to a minimum. The ground glowed with a soft green Lifestream light. The ground faded to nothing about forty feet out. His comrades and the statue were nowhere to be seen. Genesis stood next to him and couldn't tear his eyes from the only other occupant of their space.

Where the goddess statue had been, stood an ethereal and tall woman, a warrior with her shield a good four feet across and an eight foot tall staff crested with a simple framework of wings. Her armored dress gleamed in the soft Lifestream light in golds and silvers; the blue accents and billowing cloths attached to the giant metal apparatus gave her the appearance of wings and made her look somehow made of the sky and about to take flight on her own all at the same time. Even the sprays of feathers and wings gleamed with their own metallic silver light.

Her yellow hair hung straight like threads of silk and was a much paler blond than Cloud's own hair. But her face was what held Cloud's attention. The solemn acceptance and warmth there, despite her lack of a smile, reminded him of Aerith, of a person with knowledge far deeper than their appearance would indicate, but who still felt each and every person deserved a chance.

Her eyes were a kind of crystal clear blue, green, and gray Cloud had never seen before, like materia in clarity. They held gentleness and authority all at once.

Cloud did, however, revise his opinion of her to include that she reminded him of the summons in Knights of the Round. Her armor was similar. That's when her eyes locked on his and she quirked a brow as though to ask, You would compare me to them?

On reflex, Cloud offered a small, sheepish smile, just a slight upturn to the corners of his mouth. When her expression softened, he froze. It was like she'd read his mind.

Both her eyebrows lifted slightly at that as though to ask, You noticed, did you?

Cloud half glanced at Genesis to see if he could spot some sort of reaction, the man was merely alternating between suspicion directed at Cloud and reverence toward Minerva.

Attention back on the goddess, Cloud watched her slightly tilt and angle her head away while her eyes remained on him as though to say, Only you can hear me.

Deciding there was no way he could actually be reading such pointed statements in her expressions, he figured she was somehow putting thoughts in his mind using a similar method to what Sephiroth had done to him. He thought back at her, Why?

With no pretext of simplicity, Minerva's thoughts began to unfurl in his mind. I don't appreciate the comparison but I can understand why you might think of me as invasive.

Scowl slowly creeping onto his features, he thought, That doesn't answer my question.

She closed her eyes for a moment before thinking, Genesis is not ready to hear more than whispers. Before, in your past and future, he embraced his Gift. Here, he has yet to learn what it is. You are the only one who can guide him now.

Cloud's eyes widened. You threw me ten years into the past so Genesis can learn his lesson early?

One side of Minerva's mouth curled up as her eyebrows lifted. No Cloud, I didn't bend time so you could be Genesis' mentor. He is simply one of the few other beings capable of metamorphosis like you, and as you are more advanced than he, you are well suited as an example.

Cloud rubbed a hand across his forehead in attempt to alleviate the slight headache beginning to form there. So babysitting Genesis is somehow a bonus. What am I really doing here in the past?

Minerva lifted her head, face turning solemn again. You are Gaia's catalyst for change. You're rewriting our future and healing the Planet before Jenova's legacy has a chance to irreparably damaging the Lifestream as happened before. If you happen to prevent a few more tragedies, all the better.

Cloud didn't even bother pretending to be belligerent and threaten to let the Planet spiral into destruction. He knew he wouldn't just sit back and watch as Sephiroth went crazy and Hojo tried to experiment on everyone. Minerva obviously knew it, too, if the well-veiled smugness in her demeanor was any indication.

"Cloud," Genesis asked, obviously deciding they were already on a first name basis, "why are you and the goddess making faces at each other?"

Perhaps Genesis didn't know his last name. "We're having a conversation," Cloud said simply.

Choosing to take a different line of questioning with Minerva, Cloud thought, What about Aerith then?

Minerva's expression flattened immediately. She sensed my alterations and followed you. I had already bent time back several years before I noticed her traveling in our wake. She would have damaged herself if left alone so I pulled her with us and kept her asleep while I changed you.

Cloud straightened, his heart stuttering. What do you mean you changed me? The thought of more experiments was unsettling at best. The way Minerva's expression softened had him equally wary. Aerith always wore that expression when she was breaking bad news to him.

You were not experimented on in that way, Cloud. The experiments Hojo performed and the partial healing the Cetra child performed left you fragmented and only partially purified.

Partially purified probably had something to to with being cured of Geostigma, but he wasn't sure of the rest. Outright scowling, Cloud thought, Fragmented?

Minerva angled her head somewhat speculatively but didn't make him wait. Hojo changed Jenova and grafted the changes onto you. You were a fragmented piece of Jenova just as Genesis is a fragmented piece. It was mere coincidence and caution that Hojo rearranged Jenova fragments into something that wouldn't degrade. While we traveled, while you slept, I used the fragments of both experiments and pure Jenova to repair you to something complete.

Cloud's eyes widened. Are you telling me that I'm a Jenova clone instead of a Sephiroth clone?

A fleeting smile graced Minerva's lips. You are more than Jenova. You still have the enhancements granted by both projects. I simply corrected the extremes of both experiments to provide the balance needed for healthy maintenance.

"That's hardly simple," Cloud blurted aloud. He shook his head to dislodge thoughts of how he was now more of an alien freak than perhaps even Sephiroth. Tell me about the purification, he thought.

Minerva arched one elegant brow at him and his order but appeared willing to indulge him. The Cetra child repaired the damage Jenova's taint inflicted, but Jenova cells remain foreign to creatures of our world. Were you to remain dead, you would add to the high levels of tainted Lifestream no matter your intentions. Now is not the time to discuss how I purified you. Suffice it to say you are purely a creature of Gaia.

Cloud rubbed at his forehead again. Is that why I could see all this stuff no one else could and get through barriers Genesis said were impassable?

In a manner of speaking, came Minerva's enigmatic reply.

Realizing he probably wasn't going to get a straight answer, he abandoned that line of questioning. But what about Genesis? You're so keen on my teaching him lessons but how am I supposed to do that if he's dead? Sure the degradation won't kill him for a few years but he's just going to get bitter and desperate the longer it goes. He's already upset that I blasted Jenova. He'll be more likely to attack me than hail me as some all-knowing sage.

The corners of Minerva's mouth lifted in a slight smile. Among the many abilities your new fate grants, one is the power to cure his degradation yourself. You will learn how before he gains an understanding of himself. When the time is right, you will grant him the health he deserves.

Minerva's eyes left him then and, without being told, Cloud realized the discussion was over. She turned her gaze to Genesis, who stared at her with unmasked adulation. Then a warm smile slowly spread over the goddess' face. Genesis' eyes widened in shock.

Cloud rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying not to imagine the undoubtedly sappy and literary things the two of them might be mentally spouting at each other.

Cloud.

His head snapped up at the thought, reflexively feeling guilty for a moment regarding his thoughts before he remembered he shouldn't regret flippant thoughts. Minerva's clear eyes were sizing him up again. At least she didn't seem perturbed by his random thoughts.

She released her hold on her staff, the weapon remaining standing on its own, and extended a hand toward Cloud, beckoning him forward. With the half confidence that she probably wouldn't attack him with her bare hand, he cautiously closed the distance between them. Her hand withdrew before he could even consider taking it, but then, her fingertips landed on his chest. He barely registered the light touch through his clothing.

Her voice no more than a whisper through his mind, Minerva thought, I'll gift you a glimpse of the power you now hold. It will be up to you to draw it out of yourself again.

Cloud took a deep breath, steeling himself for whatever the goddess planned to do. He just hoped it wasn't tentacles. He always wondered why Hojo never gave anyone tentacles. The Jenova mutants had them, but that hadn't been the mad doctor's doing. Wings wouldn't be so bad. But he would rather have two instead of the one all the other high-functioning experiments seemed to get. He could never figure out how they managed to not fly themselves in circles.

The barely perceptible scowl on Minerva's face broke his rather frivolous line of thought, so he waited. If he'd realized what she was going to do, he might have at least thought slightly more irreverent things. He would rather have high-tailed it out of there if given the chance.

In the same way that the pedestal outside Minerva's cave had set off silent thunder in his arm, whatever was happening now released an impact ten times worse, thrumming through his entire skeleton. He convulsed once as every muscle in his body tensed. Haltingly, both his hands jerked up to grasp her armor-clad wrist. She may as well have been made of the stone statue her living form replaced.

Cloud couldn't take a breath as the sound of waves crashed through his ears at a riotous volume. Every cell in his body vibrated in a way it never had when the old Sephiroth of the now past future tried to hammer his way into Cloud's skull.

The faint call he'd felt on first entering the Banora underground was a mere echo of what he felt now. The colors he saw warped, the darkness around them turning the pale green of the Lifestream while the soft glow the ground previously had turned near blindingly bright. He wondered at how he was able to see. But Minerva still stood in front of him, clad in her blue, gold, and silver armor, but the difference took place in how those colors presented themselves. No longer were they the bright, metallic sheen of metal and dyed cloth. They glowed with their own light and depth, the blue like the sky, the silver like the moon, and the gold like the sun.

Her eyes held his attention though. Then shone more brightly than even the Tsviets of Deepground with their unnatural mako glows.

That's when Cloud realized he should probably pay attention to himself. His own skin had turned a rich, golden bronze and bore a faint glow all on its own. He wasn't sure what was going on with his hair, but the locks that usually framed his face and intruded on his peripheral vision lifted and felt like they were standing on end along with the rest of his hair.

If it were only his physical characteristics that were changing, Cloud could have written it off as mako poisoning or drugs in the air. But he felt his mind open up and he actually heard the voices of the Lifestream in a constant chatter. He knew if he focused on them he would be able to make out what they were saying, but he was more interested in the random spells he could feel bursting into being.

In his peripheral vision, a giant pyramid of caged lightning slowly rotated in place. Cloud knew his Enemy Skill materia wasn't firing, but that was a Trine spell all the same. Even though he couldn't see it, he could feel a whole slew of fire burst into being from a Flame Thrower spell, again untriggered Enemy Skill magic. Then dozens of rotating circles in a handful of different colors appeared to spin and twirl around him. That Dragon Force spell came from him too, but again, not from the Enemy Skill materia.

Due to everything else spinning around and flaring in the cavern, he almost didn't notice Genesis. Certainly, Cloud couldn't see the man, but he felt Genesis' blazing presence in the back of his mind. It was a far brighter sense than ever anyone ever inflicted on his mind except Sephiroth. If Cloud could close his eyes, he knew he could point straight at Genesis. What worried him more, though, was that he could feel the Jenova cells. If he could move, he would have gagged at the foul sensation.

Minerva hadn't been joking, at least, when she said Genesis needed to be purified. Cloud mentally shuddered at the thought of feeling Sephiroth through his heightened awareness. According to what Minerva had already said, anyone with Jenova cells except Cloud was impure and not even Genesis came as close to Sephiroth when it came to the amount of Jenova that had been integrated into their body.

Then the feelings began to fade. His skin resumed its paler tone while his hair fell back down to frame his face. Minerva looked simply elegant as she had before before beginning to fade herself. The cave came back into focus, the statue looming up where Minerva had been.

Then Cloud's legs gracelessly gave out.

AN: Any and all comments, disclaimers, and notes are on my profile page. If I get asked a question enough times, its answer is there too.