Hello again my awesome readers. I missed you all, hope you missed me too. So after motivation, technical, and attention span issues I'm giving you an extra long chapter. I hope you enjoy it. This hasn't been beta'd so sorry for errors, please alert me to them.

Serah, Cid, and Tifa, walked carefully through the forest underbrush making sure to avoid making too much noise as they stealthily rounded Fort Tamblin. As they came around one corner they spotted a pair of guards. Clearly not soldiers by their casual clothes, one was keeping watch while the other had his rifle slung on his back and was facing a tree. It was not difficult to guess what he was doing. Cid halted the two women flanking him and gently pulled them close.

"Either of ya have an issue with killin' people?"Cid asked keeping his voice just below a whisper. Serah and Tifa shared a glance, silently reminding each other of the Shinra goons they killed back in Midgar, then shook their heads "Good. Pinky, I trus' ya got good aim with tha' thing. Take out the one pissin' first."

Serah drew an arrow an arrow back and took careful aim at the enemy's back, making sure to take a few extra moments to make it seem like she was nervous. With Cid silently telling her to hurry up, the pinkette adjusted for the wind and let the arrow fly. It soundlessly slammed into the man's back, into his heart, and with a dull gasp he fell to the ground moments from death. The other man that had been keeping watch spun to investigate the sound and saw his comrade on the ground and looked in the direction the arrow had obviously come from. Without a doubt, he saw Serah standing ready with another arrow but he never got a chance to do anything. A second arrow slammed into his chest, through his heart. The three stepped out of the shadow they were in and Serah retrieved her arrows, carefully wiping the heads off on the dead criminals before placing them back in her quiver. Cid muttered a quick compliment and they moved on.

It wasn't too much longer until they found a way into the Fort. A very large tree had fallen into the outer wall, struck by lightning in a storm at some point over the years, and the cartels using the Fort had never bothered to remove it. The climb up the tree to the top of the wall was treacherous because of the years of decay and other plant growth but between Tifa's martial arts balance, Cid's military training, and Serah's Turk training, they made it up without incident. Tifa was the first one to the top, Serah shortly after, and Cid bringing up the rear. Their position on the wall gave them an excellent view of the inner compound.

Several booth tents were set up in the courtyard of the pagoda in the center of Fort Tamblin. Under the tents were countless crates filled with the items the criminals were shipping between the two nations. Men of all shapes and sizes patrolled the area with rifles that obviously were meant for PSICOM soldiers. The pinkette archer and the brunette martial artist looked around the area frantically trying to spot where Yuffie and Elena were being kept. Cid tapped their shoulders and pointed to the pagoda but before they started towards it along the wall, Serah spotted a head of bright red hair enter the courtyard.

"Wow, you guys have a nice setup here." Reno said loudly, making every gun toting man in the area take aim at him "Whoa guys, calm your shit, I'm here to help you out." One of the criminals said something back but did not speak as loud as Reno so Serah was unable to understand him "I'm a Turk, yo. And If I'm here, Shinra's on their way with some of their really big guns. Because you know how much Shinra hates people touching their toys. Unless, you know, you can convince me to tell Shinra there's nothing here." Serah had to try very hard to suppress a smile at Reno's words.

The pinkette briefly wondered where Snow was since Reno was alone at the moment but let her wonder fade as she, Tifa, and Cid made their way over the wall to the back of the pagoda. Part of the roof was within jumping distance but it would not an easy jump, for an average person. Tifa being a martial artist made the jump with little effort and landed softly, Cid used his spear to pole vault over to the roof landing a bit more roughly than Tifa, Serah though had to be creative with her performance. She backed as far as she could and took a running leap at the roof, throwing aside her Turk training, and made sure to land with a stumble as if she had not expected to be going so fast. Tifa caught Serah to keep the girl from running into the wall of the pagoda, in the martial artist's mind.

The trio slowly, and carefully, made their around to a window where Cid peeked through to investigate the interior. He confirmed the presence of Yuffie and Elena inside the pagoda and told them they had to wait for the distraction. Minutes crawled by as they waited, growing increasingly anxious. Finally, thunder ripped through the air, a towering flames lit the area, and several smaller explosions followed. Serah came to the conclusion Reno planted a bomb on an ammo pile. Cid held up his hand, wordlessly telling the two women to wait, and waited a minute longer then he pointed at the window with two fingers. Understanding him, Tifa threw herself at it, destroying it and falling inside. The martial artist landed on her feet in a battle stance, Cid behind her, Serah just a moment after. Serah readied her bow and knocked an arrow.

In the single large room were several Wutaian women and girls, some from other Shinra controlled regions, all in makeshift cages. In one cage were Yuffie and Elena, both gagged with their wrists and ankles tied, and just a few feet to the side was a man with a scar on his jaw. He was holding at assault rifle, aimed at the three, with a death glare on his face. Sarah thought the man was familiar but she could not fathom why a criminal was familiar to her.

"Who the fuck are you!?" The man shouted. As he shouted the pinkette caught a glimpse of the teeth that had obviously been repaired. Then it hit her.

Serah did in fact know this criminal man. In a way, she and Claire owed him everything. The man aiming a gun at her was one of Don Corneo's men. Many years ago he was tasked with recruiting girls in the slums for the Don, which lead him to the Farron girls. His scar and broken teeth were from Claire hitting him with a pipe. Serah felt a smile tug at her lips and her blood start to boil as she recalled that moment. He did not remember her, but she remembered him and knew what he was guilty of.

With a sadistic pleasure she carefully aimed her bow. Allowing her fingers to gently slide off the end of her arrow, she let the arrow begin it's lethal journey. The alloy tipped projectile raced forward and pierced the man's eye making him drop his rifle and crumple to the floor. Cid and Tifa looked to Serah, the girl making sure to seem surprised. She sheepishly looked at them before saying anything.

"It slipped..." the pilot and martial artist looked at each other as if silently debating to believe the girl.

"Helluva miss." Cid commented as he started toward the cage with Yuffie and Elena. Tifa glanced between the pilot and the pinkette before choosing to go deal with another cage. Serah went to retrieve her arrow.

Standing above the now dead man she realized she was becoming just like the other Turks. Cold and merciless but she was willing to argue that the man on the floor in front of her deserved to die. As she stooped to pull her arrow free she whispered to the corpse.

"Because of you and your friends, I got to be a Turk. But I swear, I will kill Corneo and all your friends when I get back to Midgar." Serah yanked the arrow free and cleaned it off on the dead man's clothes.

Sliding the arrow into the quiver as she stood, Serah spotted a wooden crate with a crooked lid. Giving into her curiosity she stepped over the corpse to investigate the crate. The Turk had to wrench the lid to move it and inside was a white and black marble sphere. Wondering why something so plain was in a cartel fortress, the pinkette lifted it up to get a better look. The stone was warm and gently pulsing, similar to materia.

Without warning Serah was met with a collage of jumbled sights. One was of action blonde woman with a sea green-blue dress and striking blue eyes. Another was of an ancient stone structure deep in a forest, just peeking out over the leafy canopy. Several were of many stone carvings depicting all manner of events that she could not decipher. The last image was of a solid black orb that seemed to glow and consume the light around it.

Forcing herself to drop the stone sphere, Serah stumbled back and tripped over the corpse behind her. The stone clattered to the floor as she landed on her rear with a squeak and a muttered curse afterward. Tifa and Yuffie, surprisingly, we're immediately on either side of Serah helping her up off the floor. Once Serah was on her feet Tifa just about dived at Yuffie to grab the girl in a chokehold, but let her breathe freely.

"You okay, Serah?" The pinkette nodded her response to Tifa "It's time to give back the materia, Yuffie." The young Wutaian nodded as best she could then Tifa slowly released her.

"Hey girls!" Cid shouted "Help me out over here!" The former Shinra pilot was standing between the only door of the pagoda and the crowd of women and girls that had been captive. The crowd was pleading and shouting to leave.

"Everyone!" Tifa bellowed "Please get back from the door! There are still cartels out there! We will come get you when it's safe!" Some of the captives retreated from the door making Yuffie have to command the remaining crowd in Wutaian. Serah was impressed that Tifa could yell so loud or be so commanding. Just before the four warriors charged outside Serah spoke up

"Hold on a sec," the pinkette returned to where the marble sphere had fallen and grabbed up the stone. The images from before pounded into her mind but she did her best to ignore them as she walked back over to the waiting trio "Cid, can you hold onto this?"

"Why?"

"I feel like it's important. Or going to be." Cid's eyes flicked between Serah and the stone a few times before he sigh and slipped the odd stone into a pocket. Serah briefly wondered if Cid was given any visions but felt like he would have made a big deal out of the visions.

Stepping out of the pagoda, with Elena awkwardly following them, the four rebels saw the entire cartel camp was burnt, burning, or cratered. The distraction group was gathered in the middle with some of the criminals on their knees. One of them was on all fours looking very sick. Telling Serah to keep an eye on Yuffie, Tifa went back inside to tell the captive women they could leave now that it was confirmed safe.

"Just follow the trail back to Wutai, ladies!" Reno shouted to them before nodding to Elena "So what do we do with the guys that surrendered?"

"They're no threat anymore," Cloud said with a shrug "Let-"

"Kill 'em." Cid interrupted.

"Whoa," Snow said as he approached the spear wielding pilot "That's not what we do. We're not like Shinra." Snow made no attempt to hide his contempt for the Turks currently aiding them.

"I take offense to that, yo." Reno complained.

"Good." Snow shot back.

While they were distracted, Elena pushed past Snow and drew her pistol, she had retrieved the firearm after she was released from the cage. The blonde took aim and quickly put a bullet into the head of each cartel man that had surrendered. Everyone stared at her in stunned silence as she calmly replaced her pistol in her jacket and fixed her hair.

"We're done here." Elena said as she strode over to Reno and Rude.

Rude nodded solemnly to the rebels and Reno gave a lazy wave as they started to walk away from the carnage. However, the Turk trio paused when they heard shifting expecting it to be the rebels. They spun and saw the rebel group, and their undercover comrade, were frozen staring at the corpse of the sickly man. The body twitched and moved its arms to begin standing. Muscles bulged and stretched, skin ripped and mended as the body began to morph into something similar to the Cie'th the rebels encountered in Nibleheim. What made this one different was it has one arm and multiple appendages sprouting from its left side and shoulders.*

"What the-" Reno was cut off by several yelps of surprise when a several foot long katana-like sword erupted out of the Cie'th's hand.

"Reunion..." The Cie'th growled.


"Code Red! All troops, we have enemy soldiers aboard the Palamecia! This is not a drill! Code Red!" A male voice announced over the Palamecia's intercom.

The alarm echoing through the ship's interior was loud but not deafening as the PSICOM soldiers had to be able to hear each other. The rogue group had left a trail of bodies through the ship working their way towards the command tower on the deck. With Yaag Rosch and Primarch Galenth Dysley aboard the supercarrier, the six fugitives could hugely aid Raines' mission of instigating a revolution in Cocoon. They just hoped that Jihl would do everything in her power to keep herself and her PSICOM troops out of the fight.

Leading the charge through the cramped and narrow halls of the lower decks of the Palamecia, Claire kept Blaze Edge in sword mode and was glad the PSICOM troops were smart enough to not use automatic guns with so much exposed vital equipment running through the halls. Even though the pinkette was leading with Zack right behind her, she had to follow directions from Zack since he had a schematic of the massive ship. So far he had been leading them through a very roundabout way to the top deck, which made Claire curious for a time but he explained he was avoiding bulkhead doors and any room with more than three entrances. Unfortunately, that route wound up leading them to the web of catwalks under the center runway and between the two enormous ocean liner bottoms that kept the Palamecia balanced. It would have been dark as night in the artificial cavern but there were lights on the roof and countless lights along the catwalks.

"We are too exposed out here Zack!" Claire shouted at him. The group of six were taking cover in the hall just before the cavernous tunnel made by the Palamecia and the frigid ocean water below.

"I didn't know this area was outside! The schematic showed narrow passages with few doors so I chose this way over a hangar!" Zack yelled back.

"So now we get deal with soldiers, with guns, over ocean water! Great plan, Zack!" Claire snapped back, the stress of being in danger of death was getting to them.

"Would you rather we go back and fight around the high explosives and sink the ship!?" Zack shouted.

"How big is this bloody thing?" Vanille asked no specifically ignoring the bickering, panting and looking ready to faint.

"Too big," Sazh wheezed.

"Here, ol' man." Fang chuckled as she handed him a small flask "I swiped i' off a PSICOM goon."

"You serious?" Sazh asked incredulously, thinking it was alcohol.

"It's not that, Sazh," Hope said, as if he could read the older man's thoughts "Everyone calls it a potion, brings you back up to speed. Kind of like an energy drink."

"Yeah, bu' this one is military grade," Fang commented with a smirk "So y'know i's good."

As Sazh drank down the potion, and started feeling better, the four noticed the two soldiers had stopped arguing and were actually calmly discussing a plan of action. Not really listening, since the two soldiers would be telling them where to go, the other four took a better look around at the open area. There was a docking system down near the water and they all noticed the lack of a wake at either end of the gigantic ship telling them the Palamecia was not moving. It was not strange at all, the engines would have been under immense stress to keep a ship of this size constantly moving. Jet engines caught everyone's attention and they were treated to seeing a squad of five jets race through the tunnel almost too fast to notice any details and deafeningly loud. But the strange action made Claire realize something very off about the whole situation.

"The rest of the fleet hasn't been notified about us." She told the rest of the group "That was a training exercise."

"You sure?" Sazh asked.

"They wouldn't field jets to deal with soldiers infiltrating their flagship."

"Weird." Hope said idly "Maybe they don't want the other troops to lose faith in the Palamecia."

"Let's wonder their reasons later," Zack said to the group "You all good with some scary jumps and climbing?"

"What?" Vanille asked, she heard him but did not want to believe what he was implying.

"Fastest way to a door that will take us under the command tower involves some catwalk jumping. Pretty good motivation to get it right the first time though." Zack chuckled awkwardly.

Claire stepped out of the alcove they were taking cover in and quickly jumped back in just as a gunshot popped and ricochet off the railing. Claire demanded a grenade they took off a soldier, pulled the pin, waited three seconds, then reached around and threw the explosive. It detonated in empty air creating a very temporary smoke screen. The pinkette told everyone to move quickly before charging out in the lead. As she sprinted over the suspended steel walkway, she flipped Blaze Edge into gun mode before she reached the first checkpoint in their route, a catwalk that ran perpendicular to and seven feet above the one they started on. Claire tossed her gunblade up the catwalk and jumped up after it, a simple task for a SOLDIER Operative. Just as she was starting to wonder why she had not heard anymore sniper shots, something small raced past her ear and made her hair flutter a bit. A gunshot rang out less than an instant later. She tried to not think about how a bullet had just about punched a hole through her skull.

Claire sprinted down the walkway briefly considering shooting out the lights but chose to focus on closing the gap between her and the sniper. The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she threw herself down just as she spotted a muzzle flash from another catwalk and the bullet whizzed through the air where her head had been. Falling into a shoulder roll, she was back on her feet in an instant and mentally mapping the fastest route to the sniper. Putting far too much faith for comfort in her physical abilities, Claire jumped left, then kicked off the railing, launching herself into a diagonal trajectory towards another catwalk. As she got closer to the other catwalk the fear of not making it crept into her mind. The small fear became much bigger as Claire reached out as far as she could and realized she may miss the catwalk and there was nothing but freezing ocean water below.

She missed the railing entirely but her fingers slammed into the meshed steel floor of the catwalk inducing enormous pain and relief. Without hesitation, Claire let herself swing down and did her best to aid the momentum, throwing herself forward at the bottom of the swing. She caught the other side of the catwalk and swung herself upward using her large amount of momentum, she twisted around and caught the railing on her way up, allowing her to flip over onto the catwalk. Turning around, to face the side of the ship they came out of, Claire sprinted to a set of stairs, up them, onto the catwalk section the sniper had been on. The pinkette spotted him slinging his rifle onto his back and starting to flee. She wasn't going to let that happen. Her feet pounded the steel path as she sprinted towards him, a lengthy distance by anyone's standards, quickly closing the gap with her SOLDIER speed. He pulled out a grapple gun, fired it, the hook grabbing another catwalk, but before he could swing away Claire dived and caught his legs making him tumble over.

He pulled out his pistol making Claire release his legs to punch his hand, throwing the sidearm away and down into the water. He used the moment of freedom to deliver a hard punch to the top of her head. She felt the hit was too hard for a regular soldier but decided that now was not the time to speculate. From her awkward position on top of his legs she used her free hand to punch the soldier's knee, feeling it break from the hit. He cried out in pain and reflexively moved to double over, Claire used the opportunity to release him and swiftly break his neck. She pulled the rifle from his back, unfolded it's attached bipod and lay down next to the dead soldier.

Through the scope Claire spotted the other five of the group a long distance behind. Zack was busy trying to lead the other four and keep PSICOM off of them. The pinkette followed the bullet trails until she found the pursuing PSICOM forces and squeezed the trigger. The rifle jumped back and she saw the bullet slam into the torso of a soldier two places to the right of the one she had been aiming at, making her realize why the sniper had not been able to shoot her or the others. The sights were horribly misaligned but she could work with that. After a couple of test shots at the group of enemy soldiers, Claire learned how to use the rifle effectively and emptied the clip. Followed by emptying the extra clips the dead soldier beside her had been carrying.

The pinkette left the rifle on the floor and made her way to the target door to wait for the others. It took several minutes for the other five to reach Claire and the entire time she was wondering why the PSICOM soldiers stopped entering this area. Sazh stopped to catch his breath again, Vanille was looking winded, Fang's breathing was deeper, and Hope still looked fine as did Zack, who just stepped around Claire and grabbed the door.

"How are you still going strong?" Sazh asked Hope, the platinum blonde shrugged.

"I played blitzball for a while."

"Okay so, we're almost there. The elevator up to the command tower isn't that much further in. Once we hit the elevator we have a choice, take out Dysley then grab Dajh on our way out or grab the kid first." Zack explained to the group while looking at Sazh "It's up to you what we do here."

"Dajh will be safe until we get him, right?" Sazh asked, Zack nodded in reply.

"Then we'll take out Dysley first." Sazh stated, his murderous rage obvious to the others.

Zack smirked and yanked the door open then raced through it behind Claire. With weapons drawn the two ex-SOLDIERs scanned the narrow hall they entered. Six doors on both sides, one door open on the left, and dead silence. The duo slowly made their way up the hall, their feet tapping on the steel floor, the others entering the hallway shortly after. Everyone was getting nervous as the silence grew heavier as they made their way to the open door, which Zack pointed out as where they had to go. The room turned out to be a briefing, or lecture, room as revealed by the projector bolted to the roof and the numerous chairs strewn about. It was connected to a linear series of rooms, all empty, which lead them into a main hall of sorts. Zack was the first one into the room and his comment told the others all they needed to hear.

"Oh… Shit…" Zack slipped his sword onto his back and rubbed the back of his neck "Guess you guys figured it out." Claire entered the room ready to question her friend but saw why he stopped.

A large group of Sanctum Templar were standing ready in the main hall. There was easily a couple dozen of them and Claire felt her pulse quicken at the prospect of a real battle. She readied Blaze Edge and Zack put his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"We don't stand a chance here, Lightning."

"So what? We just surrender and die?" Claire snapped at him.

"These guys are just as good as us, and they're loaded with materia."

The other four of the fugitive group came through the door just in time to see Claire holster her weapon. Sazh holstered his pistols and raised his hands after spotting the Templar, Hope placed the assault rifle he pilfered on th efloor, Vanille put away her binding rod and nervously looked to the others, while Fang kept her spear at the ready with a dark glare aimed at the Templar and a feral curl in her lip. Claire attempted to tell Fang to put her weapon away but the tribal woman completely ignored her. One Templar finally stepped forward and motioned toward the elevator at the end of the hall.

"If you are done with arguing with each other, please make your way onto the lift." The Templar's voice was calm, smooth, deep, and mildly distorted by the helmet "Primarch Dysley is expecting you."

With hesitation, caution, and a deepening fear, the group obeyed and made for the elevator. Fang on the other hand, walked with determination and held her spear vertically beside her in the lift. The ride up was silent, uncomfortable, and full of tension. Each one in the party of six felt that this was the end for them, Zack had a feeling they were not going to get off the Palamecia alive since he set foot on the ship but did not have the strength to tell the others they may end up as martyrs. The elevator soon came to a rest and the door slid open to reveal the command deck. Computers and terminals for all manner of things relating to the ship cluttered the deck but everyone manning them did not seem to notice the fugitive group's entrance. Directly opposite the elevator shaft was a window instead of a wall that overlooked the airfield of a ship, Zack knew there was a thick steel cover that could rise up to cover the window. Between the group of six and the massive window was an older man in elegant robes, a decorative head dress, holding a staff and an amused smirk. He was sitting on a throne like chair in line with the elevator but closer to the window. Beside him stood a woman with knee length blonde hair, glasses, and a green uniform dress with the PSICOM insignia that accentuated her cleavage.

"Been looking for you, Dysley!" Sazh called out and wasted no time in sending a round from each pistol racing towards the Primarch. A shield flared to life as the bullets slammed into it, surprising most of the group, Zack and Claire already knew about Protect Materia.

"Your eminence, please make your escape from these fugitives. I will buy you some time." The woman, which Claire was now assuming to be Jihl Nabaat, drew a long thin rapier and took up a fencing stance. The pinkette SOLDIER was reminded of Genesis by the stance and felt her blood start to boil.

Primarch Dysley got to his feet and his throne-like chair collapsed and folded into the floor "You may leave, Jihl. Or rather, take your leave."

"What?" the blonde said, turning to look at the Primarch. A gray orb flew off his staff and hit Jihl's back, making her cry out in pain.

"What the hell!?" Sazh shouted.

"She was on your side, you bastard!" Zack added.

"This is no place for humans." Dysley said calmly

The Primarch held up his staff and he lifted off the floor, several gray orbs materialized and started to orbit the head of the staff. Sazh and Hope made comments about Dysleys apparent ability to fly while the rest of the group stared with disbelief. with a sound like a chime, the gray orbs flew away from the staff and around the room. The orbs raced at the people at the terminals making each and every one cry out from the fatal hits. Two orbs were meant for Sazh and Vanille but Zack and Fang blocked them. The flying man softly landed back on the floor and Claire snapped her gaze, and the barrel of Blaze Edge, towards Dysley but knew he still had the protective shield.

"He killed them all… Just threw them away…" Hope said slowly from shock.

"What else does one do with tools that outlive their use?" Dysley made sure to look at Claire as he spoke, even though he knew she would not understand.

"People are not yours to use!" Zack shouted at him.

"Says one that was used and thrown away by Shinra." Dysley smiled as he insulted Zack, who was taken aback.

With a feral roar Fang leaped at him spear above her head ready for a fatal strike. She brought it down to drive the point into Dysley's head but he slid back and Fang's spear crashed into the floor, cratering the steel plates. The older man raised his hand and a stream of flames roared out making Fang throw herself aside to avoid being immolated. From her place on the floor, Fang gave a sweeping kick to knock Dysley's feet out from under him and used the momentum to push herself up into a spin kick, launching the man through two terminal desks. Claire was dumbfounded by the speed and strength Fang had just exhibited. Dysley laughed as he got to his feet, completely unharmed.

"You've gotten stronger. Actually learning to use the power we gave you?"

"Shut up you bastard!"

"What are you?" Sazh asked, the fear clear in his tone.

Primarch Dysley started to shine brightly but after a few seconds the shine subsided leaving an image that made the group of six stare in shock and silence. Where Dysley had been there was now a twelve foot tall white, black, and gray, mechanical looking humanoid figure with golden patterns. Connected to both sides of it's huge head, and to its shoulders, was something that looked like a massive head dress that had four upside down faces set in it. Its arms were bulky and its hands had crooked claws on the end of each finger. The legs of the thing were equally bulky as the arms and beastial in look, meaning it could leap and run very well. Adding to the beastial look of the metal looking thing was the tail and it's very hunched over stance.

"I am Barthandelus." the thing had Dysley's voice but now it was louder, deeper, and hollow "Lord sovereign of Cocoon, first of the modern fal'Cie, and destined ruler of the world."

* the Cie'th, Wladislaus

I took some creative liberty with Barthandelus but giving him legs can be forgiven, right?

Next chapter is gonna be boss fights! And of course some more drama.

Please leave a Review and stay tuned!