Verna walked into the control panel. She was disguised in her soldier's uniform. "Jane" was still feeling sick and didn't want to come out of Rufus's room, much to Scarlet's displeasure. Verna watched as Scarlet leaned against the railing. She pressed her breasts together to try and get the attention of the crew. It went unnoticed by most. Heidegger, on the other hand, kept his distance from Rufus who was near the railing – away from Scarlet.

"So, I finally found you," Rufus whispered to himself.

Scarlet let out a sudden burst of high pitched laughter. Verna winced, neither of the managers had pleasant laughs. They were scratchy. She had to resist from holding her hands over her ears.

"This is incredible!" Scarlet looked eager. A malicious glint crossed her face.

Heidegger contributed to the horrid laughing fest as he spoke, "This is the Promised Land the President had been searching for!"

Rufus narrowed his eyes as he turned around to face his two managers, "But, I'll be the one who gets it." He turned back around and moved some hair out of his face, "Sorry, old man."

He gripped onto the railing. Yes, this could very well be the only thing that would stop Sephiroth from destroying the planet. He could really care less about the seemingly limitless mako energy that this place could provide. He just wanted to ensure the planet's safety and those that resided on it.

Verna turned back at the sound of yet another laugh, though this was muffled behind a hand. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of Professor Hojo. She already despised this man. She glanced at Rude who appeared uncomfortable in his presence as well.

"That land is no one's," Hojo started. Verna had half the mind to slug him, but she restrained herself – she'd do that later. "It's where the Reunion will take place…They will all gather here…" Rude turned around, not wanting to hear Hojo, but he continued. "I wonder if we'll see…Sephiroth?"

Verna perked her head. It's been awhile since she'd actually had him in her news articles. If he was there, well, things would get messy. She decided it'd be better that he wasn't there. She prayed to Shiva, Odin, anyone that he wouldn't be there to destroy the planet.

She was snapped out of her prayer and followed Scarlet, and Rufus from the airship and into the crater. A cave was there.

She stood there breathless. Her eyes were looking around the area. It was beautiful. The crystals were filled with mako energy. She felt the materia in her arm burn slightly, but she didn't pay too much attention. She quickly took a picture with her hidden camera. It might not go in the newspaper, but she wanted it to remember this moment.

"Mr. President…" Verna looked over at a nervous looking Scarlet, "I've got a bad feeling about this place."

Rufus glanced over at Verna who shrugged, "Hmm…Maybe we should go back to our ship now. We need to prepare for inspection anyway."

A sudden wind and bright light filled the area. Verna screamed out of shock and covered her eyes. It disappeared as soon as it came. She removed her hands to see three new people; Cloud, Tifa, and Barrett.

"Hey!" Scarlet took a step forward, "Where did you come from?"

Verna glanced at Cloud who lifted his head, "Don't know." He shook his head and looked over at Rufus, "This place is going to get rough. Better leave things to me and get out of here while you still can!"

Rufus narrowed his eyes and moved some hair out of his face, "Leave things to you? Hmph…I don't know what you mean."

Cloud turned around slightly dejected and shook his head some more, "This is where the Reunion is happening. Where everything begins and ends."

Verna looked at Tifa as she ran over, closer to Cloud. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her eyes shifted to a strange cat looking thing. It had a tattoo on it that read XIII.

"I'm here! I'm here to help you, Cloud!" It spoke, which shocked Verna greatly.

Verna shifted her attention to Cloud. Something changed. Flashes of pain crossed his face and he shook his head. He took some steps towards the new cat. He shook his head some more and it appeared he was struggling. He finally stopped in front of the cat.

"Thanks…Red XIII," He spoke, void of emotions. "Where's the Black Materia?"

Verna's eyes widened, "Rufus!" She whispered towards him.

"It's safe, I'm holding onto it," Red XIII replied to Cloud. He looked up at the human with innocent eyes.

"I'll take it from here," Cloud reached a hand out, "Give me the Black Materia."

"No…" Verna tried to take a step forward, but something was stopping her.

Red XIII tilted his head, "Are you alright, Cloud?" Cloud nodded and Red XIII sighed in relief before handing Cloud the material, "Then…Here you go. I was a little apprehensive holding this thing."

"Thanks, leave the rest to me." Cloud walked back to where he originally was and looked up, as if he was hearing something. He then glanced at everyone in the area. "Everyone, thanks for everything. And…I'm sorry." He looked at Barrett. "Sorry…" He looked at Red XIII. "Sorry…" He finally turned to Tifa, "Especially you, Tifa. I'm sorry. You've been so good ot me…I don't know what to say." He shook his head, his eyes filled with melancholy, "I never lived up to being 'Cloud'. Tifa…Maybe one day you'll meet the real 'Cloud'."

Tifa fell to her knees. She broke out into a full on sob as Cloud walked to Professor Hojo. Hojo watched him with slight interest as he started laughing.

"This is perfect! It means that my experiment was a complete success!" Verna growled and took a step forward, but Rufus held an arm out to stop her. Hojo continued, "What number were you? Huh?" Hojo frowned, "Where is your tattoo?"

Cloud sighed, "Professor Hojo, I don't have a number. You didn't give me on because you said I was a failed experiment."

Hojo turned to complete fury and turned his back to Cloud, "What the-? You mean only a failure made it here?" Cloud suddenly begged the professor to give him a number. Hojo merely scoffed in disgust, "Shut up, miserable failure."

Cloud sighed. Suddenly, his body shot up towards the ceiling of the cave. Verna watched in amazement at the scene unfolding before her eyes.

Rufus watched in suspicion that this wasn't Cloud and turned to Hojo, "Who was that?"

"He's a Sephiroth-clone I created after the real Sephiroth died five years ago," Hojo replied simply. "Jenova cells and Mako, with my knowledge and skills, have been combined with science and nature to bring him to life." He paused, "I'm not wild about the failure part, but the Jenova Reunion Theory has been proven."

He watched as Rufus watched with scrutinizing eyes before he continued, "You see, even if Jenova's body is dismembered, it will eventually become one again. That's what is meant by Jenova's Reunion. I have been waiting for the Reunion to start. Five years have passed, and now the clones have begun to return. I thought the clones would begin to gather at Midgar where Jenova is stored. By my prediction were wrong and they didn't gather at the Shin-Ra building. But being the genius that I am, I soon figured it out. You see it was all Sephiroht's doing

"Sephiroth is not just content to diffuse his will into the Lifestream. He wants to manipulate the Clones himself. I wondered where the clones were going, but I was never able to figure it out. The one thing that I did know as that Sephiroth was at their final destination."

Verna looked down as she took it all in. If these clones were a part of Jenova, or Sephiroth, then they would try to destroy everything. And if they were all joining back to their original source then that meant Sephiroth was indeed here. Now, all they'd just need was the Black Materia. Which Cloud had…Her head shot up towards him. Cloud was now out of reach!

Rocks begin to shift and fell down to where they were standing. They all scrambled to get out of the way. Hojo remained in his spot calmly as he watched everything unravel. A piercing sound came from the ground. It sounded like the cave wanted to collapse on itself.

Rufus began to push Verna out of the cave, "Get out of here and back onto the airship!"

"What about you?" Verna retorted with Scarlet nearby.

"Just go!" Rufus commanded. Verna nodded and started to head back as Rufus and Scarlet walked back inside. Verna stopped at the entrance, she wouldn't go back. She'd wait for him.

Rufus walked back to get the others, this was getting too dangerous. He stopped when he heard Hojo speak.

"Did you see it!? It's Sephiroth! So he IS here!" He sounded crazed. "This is perfect! Both Jenova's Reunion and Sephiroth's will! They won't be diffused into the Lifestream, but gathered here!" He burst out laughing.

Rufus was about to speak, but Tifa took the words right out of his mouth, "What are you so happy about, Professor? You know what this means, don't you? Cloud has the Black Materia! Sephiroth is going to summon Meteor! Every single person is going to die!"

Rufus walked forward quickly and moved a strand of hair out of his face, he was debating on apologizing for what Shinra has done, but there was no time.

Instead he spoke in a hurry, "Whatever I say now is too little too late. We must evacuate. I want you all to come with me. There's still much more I want to know."

The sound grew louder and Red XIII turned around, "Cloud, No! Stop! Please!"

Tifa's hair whipped around. The sound stopped, but was replaced by a high pitched wind. Her hands shot up to her mouth.

"Cloud!" She screamed in agony.

Cloud clutched his stomach in pain as he fought an inner battle. His face suddenly turned blank. In his hand was the Black Materia. That hand stretched out and pierced an odd substance. In that odd substance was Sephiroth. The Black Materia was shrouded in shadows as it neared Sephiroth.

Bolts of electricity sprung out. The ground began to shake. Everyone ran out of the cave as it started to collapse. Rufus spotted Verna waiting. He cursed under his breath and grabbed her by the arm as they ran for the air craft.

The engines were already running as they all boarded the air craft. Barrett and Tifa stayed on the deck where other members of AVALANCHE were. Rufus forced Verna inside. Once they were inside he pushed her to the ground and shielded her with his body.

A sudden burst of energy erupted from the ground. The aircraft shot across the sky in an attempt to outrun the approaching energy. That was the least of their issues. A monster, that was a massive size, was now right next to the aircraft. A force field surrounded it. It gave out an all-mighty roar and sped off, barely grazing the aircraft.

This graze caused the entire crew to yell in shock. Multiple people hit their head. Loose items flew to the other side of the craft. Verna held onto Rufus tightly as they tried to stay where they were and stay away from minor injuries.

Out on deck Tifa screamed. Her head hit the railing with such force it knocked her out. Barrett tried to catch her before she hit the cold metal, but he was too late. He looked out to where the monster flew, but it was already far off into the distance.

Once things calmed down the airship began to fly off.

-A/N—

I have enough reviews for the Sephiroth picture~! I'll try and get this done within the next week or so.