Late chapter, blame my stupid Algebra homework that ONE SINGLE PROBLEM TOOK UP A WHOLE PAGE. Or perhaps it is my Spanish homework, which took TWO HOURS to finish the other day….

Anyways, aside from all my complaining and excuses, I hope this chapter went a little more into the VII characters. I'm not sure why, but I felt like Tifa and Cloud just weren't having any real parts in here…. So… here we are. Anyways, Gil is not forgotten, even though he was kidnapped AGES ago, in a far off chapter I can barely remember the name of it. (Koufuku, maybe?) The opening quote is from Basch, FFXII.

Chapter 21- Shinnen

If I could protect but one person from war's horror... then I would bear any shame. I would bear it proudly.

((((()))))

Tifa was in the library when she heard the first shatter. "Cloud?" she asked in surprise, running into the laboratory under Shinra Mansion to see him hacking away at the huge test tubes. "What are you doing!"

He only stopped when the tubes lay in shatters at his feet. Without a word, he threw the Buster Blade back over his shoulder and walked away. Tifa grabbed his shoulder. "What was that about?" she pressed.

Cloud sighed. "That's where Zack and I were for four years."

She stopped, letting him storm off in his usual Cloud way. Tifa frowned and slowly started back after him. "You know, Cloud…," she started softly.

"What do you think I can bring back for Denzel and Marlene?"

Tifa was irritated that he decided to change the subject on her before she even stated the subject, but answered anyway. "I don't know."

Cloud's lips twitched. "You're going to make me choose?"

"Why not? You know them as well as I do."

"No I don't."

Now Tifa smirked. "And why would that be? Surely not because you ran off on Fenrir."

Cloud spun around, taking Tifa by surprise. "My bike. Is Fenrir still alright?"

She was about to assure him, when a certain notice broke into her mind. Foreclosure on Fenrir. Cloud's face crumbled. "What happened to it?"

"Um… well…. Without you to run the deliveries, we sort of lost some good money. And because of that-"

"You didn't lose it, did you!"

Tifa calmed him down. "Of course not! If Barret listened to me, he took it to Corel with him. Marlene and Denzel are with him, too, and I think Yuffie was supposed to watch over him while he was out digging for oil."

Cloud's eyes went wide. "Yuffie? How is she supposed to look after two children? She's still a kid herself!"

"Vincent and Cid are helping her."

"They're even worse!"

Tifa put her hands on her hips. "I couldn't just leave them with Red XIII! He's off with the WRO all the time. Shera's got her hands full cooking for them and Barrett's oil team, and the Turks are a last resort always."

He still didn't look convinced. "Elena wouldn't be too bad."

"I considered her, but I figured she'd dump them off with Reno, and that wouldn't turn out well, now would it?"

"Unless Reno handed them off to Rude."

"Can you really see Rude taking care of Marlene and Denzel?"

He shrugged. "You never know. Maybe he's really a family man and we just don't know it?"

Tifa scowled at him. "Tseng is more likely to be a family man before Rude, and you know it, Cloud Strife."

"Tseng has potential," he defended. "He might be strict, but I'm sure he could have watched over them."

"Do you know what you're even saying here!"

Cloud actually did stop to think about what he had said. With a mighty groan, he turned and marched out. "You've got me worried over the kids and Fenrir. What more can you expect?"

For you to tell me something about what you've been doing here?

But Tifa only hummed and set to walking outside of the so-familiar Shinra Mansion. She couldn't make the smile come to her face, though, as they were finally leaving the wretched place with their "crystal", which looked surprisingly like a green materia. There was this feeling in her gut that told her something bad was happening.

She almost didn't hear it when Cloud asked, "Are you alright, Tifa?"

Tifa tossed him a careless grin. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You have that look on your face," he observed, making her wonder if she really did have a "look". "What's going on?"

Maybe she couldn't hide it from him, then. For a brief moment, Tifa wondered how odd it was that their places had been switched. Usually she was the worry-wart while Cloud remained aloof, as normal. Maybe he was worried enough over Marlene, Denzel, and his stupid bike that it was rubbing towards Tifa as well. "Just a feeling," she simply answered. It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a lie, either. There were other things on her mind too.

He didn't take that as an answer. "'Just a feeling'? Like the one you had before Aerith…." Cloud's voice trailed off as he focused on something behind her.

Tifa pulled on her gloves as soon as Cloud reached back for his sword. There wasn't a need to, seeing it was the real Bartz and Lenna and not a pair of manikins. "Heya, guys!" Bartz cheerfully waved.

And now we're switching back to "aloof" Cloud…, Tifa miserably thought as soon as Cloud got that hopelessly bored expression on his face. "Hello!" she called, waving back. Bartz, with a bright red face, and Lenna, who still had a silly smirk on her face about something ran up to them. Tifa blinked, staring at the mimic. "Why…?"

His smile crumpled into a dark scowl. "She neglected to wake me up from a nap in the Rift. Sunburn. Touch me and die."

Lenna burst into giggles again, and held up her hands in surrender when Bartz summoned Garland's massive sword. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" She stifled her laugh and turned back to Tifa and Cloud. "How've you two been? Gotten your crystal yet?"

Cloud held the small green ball in response. "You two?"

"Got it!" Bartz said, cheerful that subject had changed. "We didn't even have to fight anyone, besides a few manikins. And they were easy, let me tell you."

Only Tifa noticed Cloud barely grin as the two rambled on about their adventures.

((((()))))

"Without Light or Cecil around, you all come to me, eh?"

"Well, you are a SeeD general," Rinoa airily reminded him. "You do know a lot about enemy strategies, don't you?"

Squall's signature scowl didn't change in the least. "But they aren't the same as a Galbadian leader back home, Rinoa. Each of them have nearly destroyed a world on their own." In a bland voice pointed at Kuja, he said, "And he actually succeeded in destroying an entire planet."

"Let's not mock the injured," he retorted, turning away.

Squall rolled his eyes. "Anyways, the last of the Chaos warriors are not only insanely strong, but they've had experience in murder and mayhem, two things we are not accustomed to."

He sat back and crossed his arms. "So, since we've basically winged it thus far, we should keep up the good work."

"Are you serious?" Firion asked, aghast. "'Wing it'? We haven't done anything of our own accord yet! Light split us up, and many of us almost died. Kuja had us go after our crystals, and look where it's got us. If they, the leaders, aren't even leading us anywhere with that method, letting us out on our own, we've got to do something different. Together, we have the one thing they do not: strength in numbers. We can overwhelm them with an onslaught and take them out one by one-"

A hoarse voice interrupted him. "They're not alone," Terra said, voice uncharacteristically grim. "Exdeath, Enuo, and the Cloud most definitely have an alliance. Garland, we know for sure, is going to follow any plan that brings down our downfall, and thus he's allied with everyone as well. Sephiroth was working with the Emperor when Leon fought him, just like Zemus once did. I don't think that Ultimecia and Seymour would be on their own, either. Seymour was part of Ultimecia and Edea's plan, right?"

Jecht and Golbez nodded.

She continued. "And we don't know whether or not Kefka is on our side of not."

Kuja turned at this. "What makes you think so?"

"When Rinoa was under control because of a necklace, it had the symbol of Gestahl. It was a similar design to the crown that…," her voice trailed off. "Gilgamesh wouldn't have known how to make it. It had to be Kefka."

He was silent. Terra nodded. "Then it's safe to assume he's working with Ultimecia and Seymour. If we're going to stick together, which I definitely agree is the smartest move, we've got to choose just which groups we're going to take out first."

Tidus stepped in then. "We're going to rescue Gil."

They nodded in agreement. The Blitz star turned back to Squall. "How're we going to do this, General?"

((((()))))

"No one's here yet," Mage realized, confused. "We did say to meet up at the Western Keep, didn't we?"

Light nodded, equally perplexed. "We did."

Mage frowned, expectantly looking outside the cave entrance. "You don't think…?"

He shook his head and sighed. "It was a simple mission- they're not in trouble."

She turned with a scowl to him. "Isn't that the same thing you said earlier?"

Light paled. Mage nodded victoriously and crossed her arms. "Well, I don't believe it for a second. Let's go find them. Oh, but we should leave a message, just in case someone comes and finds us gone."

They both decided it a good idea and started carving a message into the wall with their swords. So it wasn't the most conventional method of leaving a note, but it worked, nonetheless. Mage pretended to wipe the sweat from her brow. "Well, that should do it. I think our little warriors can decipher it if they try hard enough."

"Yeah," Light mockingly agreed, staring blandly at the chicken scrawl they had managed to write out. "They most definitely will be able to decipher it."

"Don't sass me," Mage snapped. "Alright, let's go."

((((()))))

"Is that… supposed to be a message…?" Bartz started slowly, turning his head sideways to see if that'd make it easier to read. It didn't, and he stuffily sighed.

"It says they've left to find the others. I guess Light and Mage got impatient," Lenna offered. When Bartz gave her an incredulous stare, she grudgingly explained, "Faris's handwriting is much worse than this."

Tifa nodded in understanding. Cid could scrawl horribly too, if he was in a rush. Which he always was it seemed. She slowly nodded at the strange message. "Then… we go looking for them, now?" she asked.

Bartz and Lenna shrugged. "It's all we have left to do, isn't it?"

((((()))))

Cosmos saved us, remember? Right at the last second when Iifa's roots were headed straight for us, she popped us off to Dissidia to save our lives.

Yes, and I owe her a lot for it.

Zidane stopped, feeling winded. He'd walked a long way, he realized, looking back at the edge of Balamb. The Western Keep was just in front of him.

With a start, he realized that Light and Mage were still waiting for them. "Shoot!" Zidane exclaimed, turning back to go tell the others. How could they forget to rendezvous?

"Zidane?"

He skidded to a halt. "Huh?" he started intelligently.

A grin cracked on Mage's face. "Good to see you!"

"Ah, I'm sorry we forget about the rendezvous," he hastily started. "We had to go fight Garland because he was beating up on Luneth and Arc, and then Tidus and Yuna came and told us Gilgamesh was kidnapped, and Kuja killed Garland and-"

"Wait a moment," Light said. "What happened, now?"

Zidane shook his head. "Never mind- let Firion and Squall tell you. We're back at Balamb trying to rest up a bit."

Light and Mage exchanged worried glances at each other and ran off after the tailed thief.

"Hey!" Zidane shouted once the were closer to the gardens. "I found Light and Mage!"

Squall stood up, carelessly swinging his gun blade on his shoulder. "Hmm. Guess it is them. We've went ahead and decided to go after Gilgamesh. Start packing."

Zidane gaped. "Right away? Can't we, like, go in groups of two?"

"Splitting each other up only results in bad news," Terra said subtly. She couldn't help but narrow her eyes up at Light. He stared curiously back at her, and before he could ask anything, she interrupted him. "We're all going together, but only Firion, Leon, Maria, Jecht, Golbez, Squall, Rinoa and I are going to fight. The rest of you are going to try and get Gilgamesh back."

"Just who was responsible for kidnapping him?" Light asked. "How did he even get caught? Weren't you three traveling together?"

Celes frowned. "We… we thought he went with Bartz and Lenna. See, they were with us talking, and-"

"You shouldn't have been so careless!"

Celes winced at his shout. "This is serious!" he continued hotly. "We have no idea what they've done to him by now! We don't even know if he's even still alive!"

"Like you even care!" Terra suddenly burst.

Light flinched at her outburst. "Wh-what!" he stuttered. "Of course I do! I-"

"You," she started, "aren't even who you say you are!"

His face paled, and any words left in his mouth were heavy with guilt. "I… I…." He couldn't even utter a word in his own defense. Light just stood there, frozen with terror.

Terra huffily sat back down. "We're leaving as soon as Bartz, Lenna, Cloud, Tifa, Kain, and Cecil get here. It shouldn't take them too long to figure out we're not at the Western Keep."

((((()))))

"What the heck does 'Gurir ered higurtei' mean?"

Kain shrugged, cocking his head sideways. "I have no idea."

Cecil shook his head, giving up on trying to figure out the cryptic message. "Well, in any case, no one else is here."

The dragoon waved for him to follow. "We'll go in order, then. Balamb is the closest location from here, isn't it?"

"I believe so. Let's go."

((((()))))

Yuna knew it was probably impossible. The gunner took out their crystal, which looked surprisingly identical to one of Shinra's commspheres, and cocked an eyebrow. "Squall," she slowly asked, "your world is pretty mechanized, isn't it?"

He looked at her for a moment before giving her a nod. "So?"

"So," Yuna started, pointing to the sphere, "I thought maybe you could help me with something. In our world, there's a boy who invented a thing called a commsphere. Our crystal looks and feels just like one, and I was wondering if maybe we could find a way to turn it on and talk to him. It worked when I was in the Farplane for a little while, so I think it'll work here in Dissidia, too."

He didn't say a word, but took it from her hands and looked it over. The sapphire surface reflected back his solemn face perfectly, like a blue tinted mirror. But past his reflection was a series of circuits and wires to give away that it really was a commsphere. On the flat, golden bottom of it was a tiny switch. Squall flipped it, and a faint hologram popped up of the bridge of an airship. A man with a blond Mohawk in a pair of overalls with blue, swirling tattoos on his arms paced around with a blonde girl in a bikini top and a short skirt following mockingly behind him.

Yuna gasped, and they both looked up. "Rikku!" she burst, stealing back the commsphere. "Brother!"

The Al Bhed siblings ran over closer to the hologram until Brother's face filled the whole thing. "Yuuuunaaaa!" he cried in a heavily accented voice.

He started to ramble in a language unknown to everyone until Rikku shoved him away and filled her face in the hologram. "Oh, Yunie! We've been so worried! Where are you? We'll swing the Celsius around and come pick you up right away!"

Yuna nervously frowned. "Sorry, Rikku, but I can't leave right now. I'm in a place called Dissidia."

"Dissidia? Where's that?"

"Where I've been," Tidus finally broke in, setting his chin on Yuna's shoulder and grinning. He flinched back in surprise as tears formed in Rikku's eyes. "Ah, R-Rikku, I-"

Instead of the happy tears he was expecting, they turned into tears of rage. "YOU STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, POOPIE HEAD!" the Gullwing shouted, leaning back just enough to let in a little look at Paine standing, head cocked in confusion, behind her. "How dare you just leave like that and run off to this 'Dissidia' place without telling any of us! We thought you had faded! Died! Been erased from existence-"

Paine popped her head in, cutting off Rikku's rants. "So you're not hurt. That's good to know."

Yuna smiled at her drab companion and introduced them both. "Paine, this is Tidus. Tidus, Paine."

The transmission suddenly blinked, chopping up Paine's next sentence. Yuna's heterochromatic eyes widened in fear. "Paine… I-I think I'm losing you."

Rikku stole back the sphere. "Come back home really quick, Yuna, and we'll throw-" the image and sound fizzled again. "…really miss you!"

"I'll be home soon!" Yuna managed to get in before the sphere went blank for good. "Rikku? Rikku! Ri-"

"…She's gone, Yuna," Tidus mumbled. He frowned and the took the sphere from the stunned gunner's hand and pocketed it. "I think that killed the battery. At least we know everyone is fine, right?" Noticing Yuna was still miserable over losing touch with the Gullwings, Tidus poked her arm. "I have two quick questions, though. First, just who the heck is Paine? Second, since when do you have Al Bhed guys crying over you?"

It had worked- Yuna was now guffawing over Tidus's snippet at Brother. She attempted to answer with a straight face, but it just wasn't working. Yuna eventually at least was able to get a straight answer out for Paine: "She used to be a Sphere Recorder for the Crusaders. After they broke up, and her team split up to do their own things, she decided to start a career in sphere hunting."

"Um… what exactly is sphere hunting?" Celes asked, her face riddled with confusion. "Spheres don't… come alive, do they?"

Yuna grinned and shook her head. "Before Sin first destroyed Zanarkand a thousand years prior to my time, people used to record things in spheres to watch for later. In Spira, people have been finding those spheres from the past and learning about our history. This kind of sphere was messed around a bit by one of the Gullwings' crew members named Shinra to help us communicate or something. I don't know. Most of what he says doesn't make since to any of us, but he's brilliant either way."

Celes nodded, and plopped back on the ground next to Terra, who was twirling a blade of grass between her fingers.

"There you guys are!" Bartz shouted.

The mood lifted just a little more when Bartz and Lenna darted up to them. Cloud and Tifa weren't as erratic as the two, but were still just as glad that everyone was back together again.

Except for three. Tifa's face darkened as she noticed Cecil, Kain, and Gilgamesh were gone. "Where are the others?" she slowly asked.

"You haven't seen Cecil or Kain? I figured they would have joined you all," Luneth thought aloud. "And Gil…. He was kidnapped by the bad guys."

"What!" Tifa frantically burst.

Cloud gave her a grim look. "Seems you were right again, Tifa."

He explained her weird "feeling" earlier, and how she had the same gut feeling right before Aerith had died. "And also… right before you left," she quietly admitted. "That's why I thought you wouldn't be coming back." That's why I cried myself to sleep for a week.

Cloud frowned, a side of him coming out the Dissidia warriors rarely saw: the caring side of Cloud Strife. "I'm sorry."

Tifa plastered a small smile on her face and shook her head. "But you're still alive. That means that we have time to save Gilgamesh, too."

Something pulled at Cloud's chest, like he'd be rammed into, that knocked the breath out of him. Two seconds later, and I could have saved Aerith. Five minutes later, and I could have gotten Zack to someone who could save his life.

Cecil and Kain finally ran up, a grin on the paladin's face at seeing them all together.

But… I wonder…

They shouldered their packs and started off towards the Old Chaos Shrine- it seemed good as any place to start off at.

We will make it in time for him?

((((()))))

A wicked smile widened on the Cloud of Darkness's face as she put one finely sharpened finger at Gilgamesh's throat. The warrior glared mutely at her smirking face. "Nothing to say?"

He was silent.

She turned and walked away. "He's yours, boys," she flamboyantly simpered to Exdeath and Enuo.

What a sweet sound, The Cloud thought. The sound of a dying man's last cry.