HAPPY NEW YEAR! To kick off what I hope will be a great year, here is a new chapter. It's a bit shorter than the previous chapter but you'll just have to deal with that. So without further delay, enjoy the new chapter.

Claire casually walked through the streets of Palumpolum, trying to look like she belong in the city. It was difficult for her to not look around in wonder at the Cocoon city, compared to Midgar it was a stunningly beautiful city. The clean streets, the light colored buildings, the bright colored clothing of the people, both civilian and military, and the clean ocean air. Claire silently admitted to herself that the air was her favorite part of Palumpolum, she loved the salty smell of the ocean, the slight breeze weaving through the buildings, and how it gently played with her hair. The last reason would be a secret Claire would take to her grave.

Even though the dossier on Hope Estheim listed the exact location of his parent's house, Claire did not have the slightest clue of how to find the residence. She basically blindly wandered the streets just examining the shop windows, the people, and the laid back nature of the Guardian Corps. Seeing no alternative, Claire approached the helmeted soldiers, unimpressed by the fact that one of them was spinning his sidearm on his finger. The both started laughing when she asked about Hope's address.

"What is so amusing?" Claire managed to not growl, trying to fit in.

"You're on the wrong side of the city, sergeant," The soldier on the left answered.

"Well how do I get there?"

The soldier on the right explained a simple route through the public transportation. With a polite farewell, Claire found the nearest bus stop and started the hour long trip across Palumpolum.

Palumpolum City Hall

"I'm glad we have reached an agreement, President Shinra," The Primarch of Cocoon, Galenth Dysley, said with a small nod.

"As am I, Primarch Dysley," Rufus replied with a light nod, his vision flicking to Dysley's guard for the thousandth time over the last three hours.

Dysley's guard was vastly different from Tseng, who stood silently to the left of Rufus' chair. The soldier was a large man and had a staff held firmly in his right hand, decorated shoulder plates, and an elegant cape. Tseng was sure this soldier was a member of the Sanctum Templars, the personal guard of the highest officials of Cocoon. If the information was correct, the Templar standing less than ten feet away from the Turk Director could take on all of the Turks and win.

"Before I take my leave though," Rufus started as he stood up "I have some information I would be willing to trade for some of that PSICOM tech," Rufus slid a folder out of his long white trench coat and dropped it on the table, it had 'SOLDIER Unit #5973' printed across the tab.

"SOLDIER? What would I want with that information?" Dysley asked with an almost unnoticeable chuckle.

"There is a rogue operative here in Palumpolum," Rufus stated and Dysley replied with a simple nod "I'm sure you know what the firsts are capable of," Rufus and Tseng saw the minor flash of horror in Dysleys eyes.

"What is it you want?" Dysley was obviously not happy about Rufus' bargaining chip, which was Palumpolum itself.

"Airship and robot schematics. No more, no less."

"Very well," Rufus smiled at Dysley's reply and flipped the folder open. Tseng couldn't believe what he saw, but at the same time he knew he should have expected it.

A picture of Claire was the first thing that could be seen on the small stack of paper. Rufus started to go through the papers with Dysley but Tseng did not hear a word of what they were saying, he was already formulating a plan to alert and rescue Claire. Not to mention trying to figure out why Rufus had sold out the last First Class SOLDIER. The dark haired Turk kept his mouth shut and his face emotionless until he and Rufus were back in the helicopter.

"Sir, if I may," Tseng started politely "Why did you just alert Cocoon to Lightning's presence?"

"Because I hate SOLDIER and everything related to Jenova," Rufus spat Jenova's name as if it were a curse-word.

"You're even going to have Hope killed, sir?"

"Yes, as well as whatever is left of the SOLDIER force when we get back to Midgar," a moment of silence passed as Tseng sat stunned "Which reminds me, you are going to eliminate Director Trepe."

"What?" Tseng felt his voice come out a bit louder than it was supposed to.

"You really think I can leave the SOLDIER director alive after this with all she knows?" Rufus asked offhandedly.

"But-"

"No buts, Tseng. You are going to walk into her office and put a bullet in her head," Tseng watched Rufus' impartial expression transform into a dark glare that held a promise of some miserable fate for Tseng if he didn't listen closely as the President pulled his small shotgun out of his trench coat and point it at Tseng's face "You try to pull the same shit you did with Zack, and I will send Elana back to her sister in several small packages and notify AVALANCHE about Serah."

Tseng was horrified and replied with a shaky voice "You know about Zack and Elana?"

"You really think the Turks are Shinra's only spies?" Rufus asked with an amused smile then a laugh.

Now Tseng knew he had to come up with a very good plan to rescue Trepe and secure Elana's safety. He knew Claire would be okay until the other two were safe. She was Sephiroth's student after all.

Palumpolum, Felix Heights

Claire looked at the door to the house and went over her planned speech for the hundredth time before stepping forward and pushing the button to ring the bell. Seconds ticked by and with each passing moment, Claire got more and more impatient. Even though Shinra had said her identity would hold for the day, she felt like if she just stood around, they would detect her faster. When the door finally slid open, it revealed a middle aged woman with platinum-blond hair, a long light green vest with a brown sash to tie it closed, and green eyes with the most kindness Claire had ever seen in them. Claire made sure to keep eye-contact with the woman.

"Can I help you, officer?" the woman asked with a friendly smile.

"Yes, ma'am. Is Hope home?" Claire responded with her official tone, the same one she used when talking to the Shinra executives.

"One moment," the woman turned back to the house before calling out "Hope! There is a pretty young lady at the door for you!" Claire could hear the chuckle in the woman's voice but it didn't stop her from almost blushing. It was the first time she had heard someone describe her like that.

Soon after, Claire heard someone walking up to the door and almost jumped out of her skin when she actually saw her target, Hope. He was a bit shorter than Sephiroth, had vastly shorter hair, the same build, same pale skin, and even though he was at least four years younger, he looked identical to Sephiroth, with the exception of the eyes. They were the same bright green but with round pupils, and something Sephiroth's never had, a spark. Claire had seen the same spark in many people here in Palumpolum, the spark no one under Shinra had, the spark of life and happiness.

At that exact moment, Claire had the thought of the possibility that Shinra truly was the enemy in everything. Maybe she was the bad guy in her missions, maybe AVALANCHE is right about Shinra's reactors, maybe Genesis and Angeal were right about leaving Shinra. And the instant Genesis' name rolled through her mind, she knew those thoughts were crazy and brought herself back to reality.

"Yes?" Hope asked to get Claire's attention.

"I'm sergeant Farron and I would like to ask you a few questions back at HQ."

"What? Why? About what?" Hope's mother, Claire assumed, asked sounding very worried. Hope just looked confused.

"Don't worry, ma'am. He just may know some information about the victim of a murder that happened in Academia a few days ago."

"Murder?" Hope's mother asked with a raised eyebrow and a suspicious tone.

"It's okay mom, I'll just go answer their questions and be back before dinner," Hope reassured his mother with a very charming smile.

"Fine, straight there, straight back. Don't go charming this one on the way," Hope's mother said with a cheerful smile as Hope put on his black boots and laughed in response.

As they were making their way towards the rendezvous point, where the pilot Sazh Katzroy was waiting, Hope's mother's remark kept passing through Claire's mind. So giving into her curiosity, Claire opened her mouth.

"Don't go charming this one on the way?"

"So you did hear that," Hope said with a slightly embarrassed tone "Last year I kind of vandalized a statue at AU and talked my way down to a fine and not getting a record started."

"Impressive," Claire stated with no emotion. It surprised her how different Hope was from Sephiroth.

When the duo arrived at the landing pad where the extraction pilot was waiting, Hope started to feel just a hint of suspicion that the pink haired sergeant was not actually part of the Guardian Corps. The ice cold steel gaze of hers was the trait that told him she was not even from Cocoon and most likely someone from Shinra. After hearing many stories about Shinra, Hope knew it would be better for him and his parents to just do what he was told. So he kept his mouth shut and obeyed the pink haired woman with a smile.

The dark skinned pilot and Claire shared a monotone greeting and the three of them climbed into the airship. A few minutes later, the Cocoon shuttle was soaring towards the Cocoon/Shinra border and not one word had been shared between the three. The control panel started to beep and the radio crackled to life.

"Civilian shuttle, by order of lieutenant colonel Rasch, land immediately," A stern voice commanded.

"Rasch?" The pilot asked no one "What does PSICOM want?" The control panel started to beep rapidly "Why are you targeting us?"

"You are ordered to land immediately. This is your last warning," The stern voice commanded again. But before the dark skinned pilot could comply, Claire spoke up.

"Speed up, take evasive action. They'd kill us when we land anyways."

"What! Why?" The pilot shouted.

"Because they're after me, Katzroy."

"Knew I shouldn't have taken this job..." Sazh said under his breath as he followed Claire's orders.

The moment he started to move the shuttle, a missile flew by them and Sazh took Claire's orders a bit more seriously. Through a visual check as the shuttle was pulled into a loop, the passengers saw that there was five PSICOM fighters pursuing them. Sazh pulled the shuttle out of it's loop while it was still upside down and took it into a another half loop to get up into the clouds. The fighters were on their tail in seconds.

Sazh pushed the shuttle down towards the canyon they had been flying over. The shuttle angled into the canyon and began to weave through the stone spires dotted throughout the massive crevice. Claire could just hear, above the engines, the sound of the spires being shredded by bullets fired by the fighters. A missile obliterated a spire just in front of them, rocks sent cascading over the shuttle, rattling and pounding the canopy.

"We're gonna die in here!" Hope shouted, obviously terrified.

"Keep us low! We're easy targets higher up!" Claire shouted to keep Sazh on the right course.

The dark skinned pilot obeyed the order and kept the shuttle's belly close to the ground. More spires were getting blasted to pieces, making the shuttle rattle. As the shuttle and five fighters raced through the canyon, the spires started to thin out, which was not something the passengers of the shuttle wanted to see. One missile hit a spire much closer to the shuttle than the others, the explosion managed to violently tear off most of the canopy and make the civilian airship bounce off the canyon floor.

The lead PSICOM fighter raced ahead of the shuttle, so far ahead that it was able to turn around and start heading straight at the shuttle. When it was within range, it opened fire with it's Gatling gun. The bullets easily ripped through the front of the canopy, the control panel, the seats on the left side, and nearly sheared off the left wing. Sazh started to panic when the shuttle began rising out of the canyon on its own and the PSICOM fighter easily maneuvered behind them to rejoin its wing mates.

"What's going on?" Claire shouted, furious, to be heard over the wind.

"I have no control!" Sazh shouted back "In case you haven't noticed, the controls were chewed up!"

What was left of the control panel started to beep, signaling a missile was locked on to them. Claire and Hope looked at each other, for a reason unknown to both of them while Sazh stared wide eyed at the sky in front of them. One word slipped through his lips, just above a whisper.

"Dajh..."

A moment later, a missile took flight from a fighter's wing and drove itself into the tail of the shuttle. The deafening explosion destroyed the back end and engine of the shuttle, making it arch and start diving back into the canyon. A stone spire intercepted the shuttle, turning it into a ball of flame which rolled to a stop in the canyon. The five fighters circled the area for a minute and the squad leader performed two passes, spraying the area with large caliber bullets. The squad reformed into a V and started their trip back to the Palumpolum PSICOM base.

Kalm

Serah stood just outside the ancient stone wall surrounding the small town, looking into the distance, towards Midgar. She thought about what happened when she saw Claire, how Claire went berserk on her, didn't give her a chance to speak, and ultimately broke the oldest promise between them by hitting her. The pink haired Turk felt tears run down her cheeks for two reasons. Even though Claire acted completely different from when they were younger, Claire was awake and somehow able to walk, and how much different the situation could be if Claire had just given her a chance to speak.

The younger Farron sank to her knees and sat on her heels as she tried to stop the tears. For a distraction, she started to run her finger through the dry dirt, drawing random shapes and symbols. The tears stopped several minutes later and Serah slowly got to her feet and spun on her heel, instantly spotting Snow leaning against the town gate.

"How long have you been standing there?" Serah asked with an embarrassed voice.

"A few minutes. I called you a couple of times but it was like you were hypnotized," Snow had a slight smirk and a barely noticeable chuckle "Anyways, Cloud wanted to talk to us at the inn."

"Shouldn't keep them waiting then, eh?" Serah replied with a fake smile, that must have been convincing because Snow just smiled back and motioned for her to take the lead.

They went up the stairs in the inn and saw that everyone was there, waiting for them. Gadot, Yuj, Lebreau, and Maqui were on the left side of the room while Barret, Aerith, Tifa, and the wolf like beast they rescued from Hojo's lab, which called itself Red Thirteen, were on the other side with Cloud standing near the stairs, between the groups.

"Guess everyone's here now," Aerith announced with her cherry tone.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting..." Serah said shyly before joing NORA on the left side of the room.

"So let's hear that story. You know, the one about Sephiroth and the crisis facing the planet," Barret said to Cloud, Serah instantly paying full attention and trying to not appear too interested "Let's hear it all."

"I used to want to be like Sephiroth, so I joined SOLDIER," Cloud began after a moment of silence "After working with Sephiorth on several missions, we became friends," it took an unbelievable amount of effort for Serah to not shout at Cloud for lying. She knew Sephiroth only ever saw Angeal and Genesis as friends, Zack as a war buddy, and Claire (and herself) as a daughter.

"You call that a friend?" Barret asked before Serah's thoughts could take control of her.

"Yeah, well... He's older than me and he hardly ever talked about himself," Serah knew what Cloud just said was true "So I guess you'd call him a war buddy... We trusted each other. Until one day..."

"One day?" Serah asked, hoping to goad Cloud into continuing his story. He turned his back before continuing.

"After the war it was SOLDIER's duty to put down any resistance against the Shinra," Cloud took a long pause "... That was five years ago. I was sixteen."

And Cloud started to recount what he remembered about the Nibelheim incident.

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