This is a short chapter with a whole lot of talking. Apologies for the lack of action, we'll get back to that next time.

I'm taking a lot of liberties with the FF7 lore here. That said, this chapter has MAJOR SPOILERS for Crisis Core and minor spoilers for Before Crisis. I own nothing but the parts of my headcanon that aren't actually canon.

Enjoy!

"Where are we?" Three emerald cubes had appeared, and they were now each seated on one

"We're in... a pocket, you might say," said Fells. "Not actually within the Lifestream, but being carried along with its flow." He gestured at the mako that surrounded them.

"But we're not dead?"

"No, we're not dead," said Zack.

"How?"

"Thanks to the planet," said Fells. "Or, in your case, thanks to me."

Jessie grimaced and kept her gaze on Zack. "So how did you get here? You're not... What was his name again?"

Zack's gaze dropped between his feet. "Angeal. He was my friend... My mentor, really. He was..." He trailed off and looked away.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Jessie found herself wondering about her own friends, but she was afraid to ask what was happening on the pillar, especially if it wasn't happening anymore...

"It's okay," said Zack, but he looked to Fells for help.

"Angeal was a member of SOLDIER," said Fells, "one of three that were a product of Dr. Hojo's early experiments."

"A product? As in, he was created by them?"

"Yeah." Zack's answer came out as a sigh. "Him and Genesis and Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth?" Jessie recalled her dream, and the menacing way in which the war hero approached her.

"Yeah, him too. Anyway, when Angeal found out what he was, he... didn't take it well. He made me fight him."

"Angeal chose his own fate," Fells had said.

Jessie looked down. "Oh."

"I managed to get him here," said Fells. "He wasn't happy about it, but he managed to protect Zack, and the plan was still intact."

"What plan?"

Zack sighed. "The plan to save the world."

"Oh. So, you're kind of a big deal, then."

"I was supposed to be."

"I think we need to start at the beginning," said Fells. "Around two thousand years ago, a being of pure evil came to the planet. She attacked my people, the Cetra, who were the original stewards of the planet. She nearly wiped us out, but we managed to seal her away in the crater where she first arrived.

"Unfortunately, she also sewed discord among the human race, who were an offshoot of the Cetra that had given up their powers. The humans became jealous and attacked us, and forced us to hide."

Jessie grimaced. "Sorry about that."

Fells chuckled, but then his face fell. "The original goal of the Cetra was to use the Lifestream to cultivate the planet. Through our efforts, the Lifestream would become strong and abundant enough to turn the planet into a place of boundless energy and magic. The promise that the Lifestream granted to us in death would become accessible in life.

"But the humans forgot that mission. Their beliefs became distorted, and they thought that the Promised Land was an actual place, rather than an eventuality, and that we could lead them there. It became their obsession. They wrote scriptures around this apparent prophecy."

"But I've never heard of that," said Jessie.

Fells shook his head. "The Shinra Corporation has seized control over all information supplied to your society. They keep the scriptures to themselves, and deliberately misguide the rest of your people. They unscrupulously consume mako because they believe that a Cetra will eventually guide them to a place where they will have unlimited access to it."

Jessie stilled. "So they know! They've known all along that Avalanche is right, that mako is finite and that they're killing the planet with their reactors!"

Fells nodded. "Yes, they know."

Jessie felt a burst of anger, and stood from her cube. Turning, she stormed away from the two men, not that there was anywhere for her to go. She crossed her arms, fists clenched tightly.

"Jessie." Zack came up behind her. "You've helped. Everything that you've done to hinder Shinra has helped to preserve the Lifestream."

She scoffed. "While also killing all those innocent civilians, and provoking their retaliation."

"That wasn't you. Shinra had their machines fire on the reactors after your bombs went off, amplifying the explosions and causing all of the collateral damage."

"What?" Jessie turned to him. "They caused that? But why?"

"As an excuse to escalate the conflict against Avalanche." Fells came up beside Zack. "War distracts people from the truth. Avalanche was a convenient enemy, so long as Shinra could maintain the perception that you were truly evil. So they allowed you to infiltrate their reactors, and ensured that it would appear that you were recklessly killing civilians in your attempts to shut them down."

Jessie slumped, all of the guilt that she had been feeling washing out of her and being replaced by pure anger. "They did that. I thought..."

"I know."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because the others couldn't know why you were so certain of it. They couldn't know about me, and about this place. We have to stay secret until the time comes."

"Until what time comes?"

He exchanged a glance with Zack. The three cubes all moved on their own, teleporting behind each of them for them to sit on again, and then Fells resumed his explanation.

"Shinra was determined to find the Cetra, and locate the so-called Promised Land before the mako ran out in the rest of the world. In their search, they came across the being that we sealed away two thousand years ago, and believed that she was one of us. They named her Jenova, and tried to use her genetic information to create human-Cetra hybrids that could access the Promised Land."

"Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth were the products of these experiments," said Zack. "But as each of them found out what they were, they kinda went crazy."

"So that's what happened to Sephiroth?"

He nodded. "Sephiroth found out that he was created from what was believed to be a Cetra, and deemed the planet his birthright. He began a vendetta against Shinra, and destroyed the village of Nibelheim." His gaze dropped. "I tried to stop him. I failed."

Jessie frowned. "What about the real Cetra? They're still around somewhere, aren't they?"

Zack stiffened, looking away from her.

"There was only one true Cetra left," said Fells, "a woman named Ifalna. Shinra captured her, along with her half-human daughter. They conducted experiments on them, which ultimately led to Ifalna's death."

Jessie felt her anger well up anew. "And the daughter?"

Zack took a deep breath. "Aerith." He said it as though the name took great effort to emerge from his mouth. "She got away, although Shinra kept watching her. I... I met her about six years ago." Liquid appeared in his eyes.

"You were together." Jessie could tell without him saying so.

"Yeah." He took another deep breath as the first tears tumbled to his cheeks. "I wanted so badly to get back to her."

"What happened?"

"After Nibelheim, Cloud and I were captured by Hojo. He held us for four years."

"Cloud? You know Cloud?" Jessie shook her head. "Of course you do, you must have been SOLDIERs together."

"Not exactly, but we'll get to that."

Suddenly, two of the empty cloaks appeared behind Fells. Jessie shot to her feet. These cloaks were white, rather than the black ones that had hurt her, but they were just as intimidating.

"It's alright," said Fells, "they won't hurt you."

"What are they?"

"They are called Whispers, the arbiters of fate. They are servants of the Lifestream, carrying out the will of the planet. The ones that you encountered before, however, were corrupted."

"Corrupted?"

"Cloud and Sephiroth battled at the Nibelheim reactor," said Zack. "Cloud knocked him into the Lifestream. Unfortunately, this enabled Jenova's cells within Sephiroth to taint the Lifestream, giving her the ability to corrupt some of its power."

"The corrupted cloaks now follow the will of Jenova," said Fells, "just as Sephiroth himself does."

Jessie grimaced, rubbing at the lingering phantom pain in her leg, which the cloaks had broken twice over. "So, Jenova really wanted to get rid of me, then."

"She knows about me." Fells looked away. "I'm sorry, Jessie, I never should have brought you into all this."

"Well, it's done now." Jessie looked at the surrounding emptiness.

Zack slowly rubbed his hands. "The Whispers can only be seen by the Cetra, or by someone the Cetra touch. Or, in your case, by someone touched by someone who had touched a Cetra. Aerith passed the ability on to Cloud two nights ago, and he passed it on to you, Tifa, and Barret. Barret passed it on to Wedge and Marlene."

Jessie thought back to the first encounter with the Whispers outside of Seventh Heaven. "That's why no one else could see them." She looked at Fells, arcing a brow. "So, if I didn't kiss Cloud last night, I wouldn't have been able to see what attacked me."

"You touched him plenty of times without the kiss," Fells muttered.

"Anyway," said Zack, "after Cloud and I escaped from Nibelheim, we wandered the western continent for a long time. I wanted to get back to Midgar, to Aerith, but..."

"But she was right under Shinra's nose," said Jessie.

He nodded.

"Zack and Cloud were supposed to be found by the Turks," said Fells. "But the Turks were diverted in their search by the corrupted Whispers, and were none the wiser, not being able to see them."

"Why would that have been a good thing?" Jessie asked. "The Turks are Shinra's lapdogs."

"I fought alongside the Turks," said Zack. "They didn't want me dead, unlike the rest of Shinra."

"The Turks would have reunited Zack and Aerith," said Fells. "Together, they would eventually have been able to defeat Sephiroth, and cleanse Jenova's taint from the Lifestream."

"So that was the grand plan?" Jessie asked. "Love conquers all?"

"Zack's meeting with Aerith was predestined for this exact purpose. It is why the Lifestream sent me to protect Angeal, who would protect and mentor Zack and Aerith as they gained their necessary powers."

Jessie looked at the SOLDIER. "So, you and Aerith were fated to meet? That's cute."

He looked down, his face reddening.

"I guess that means I haven't got a shot with you, huh?"

He looked back up in surprise. "Uh, no. No offense, but..."

"But you belong to Aerith." Jessie shrugged. "Who am I to get in the way of the will of the planet? She's a lucky girl, though."

His blush deepened, rather adorably. "Thanks."

"So, what am I here for, then?" She looked at Fells. "What's my part in this grand plan?"

Fells looked at Zack, who sighed, his gaze dropping again. "I haven't been able to contact Aerith. Angeal brought me here when there were no other options left, but I can't..." He shook his head. "I'm not able to protect her."

"And you can't either?" Jessie asked Fells.

Fells looked away from her. "We can only protect one person at a time. And I..."

"And you chose me instead of her."

He looked down. "I'm sorry."

Jessie sighed and stood from her cube. "Like I said, it's done now." She looked around. "So where is Angeal, anyway?"

"He chose to move on," said Zack.

"On? As in..."

"Into the Lifestream," said Fells. "He's returned to the planet."

"Oh." She looked at Zack. "I'm sorry."

Zack shrugged, but it was a heavy shrug of forced nonchalance trying to mask his grief. "He got to make his own choice in the end. Shinra never gave him that opportunity in life."

Jessie went over and patted his shoulder. Then she turned to Fells. "You want me to be the one to guard his lady love, don't you?"

Fells nodded. "And to advise her as needed. I believe that she would be more receptive to guidance from you than from me."

Jessie smirked. "I'll say. You're way too much of a creep."

His face fell, and he looked away again.

His regret made her feel a small pang of remorse. "Psych!" She waved her hand to wave away her insult.

He perked back up at that.

"Although you do come on a little strong."

"Look who's talking," said Zack, smirking up at her.

She sped through her moment of surprise at the source of the comment, and made a show of looking insulted. "Uh, excuse me? I know exactly how to talk to men to get what I want from them."

"It didn't work with Cloud, did it?"

"That was because of Tifa! I couldn't get in her way."

His smirk transformed into a wistful smile as his gaze drifted away from her. "Yeah. Even five years ago, it was obvious that there was something there."

"You met Tifa, too?"

"She was our guide up Mt. Nibel." His face fell. "It's hard to believe, Sephiroth actually saved her life that day, after we fell into the river. Only to nearly kill her a week later."

Jessie winced. "That's where she got her scar, isn't it? And all the medical debt that she was under when I met her."

"Yeah. I didn't think she would make it. And Cloud..." He shook his head. "The guy wouldn't even reveal himself to her. Kept his helmet on whenever we left the hotel room. He had it bad, but he's terrible with emotions."

Jessie giggled. "That's an understatement."

"I tried to encourage him one night, but I mostly just wound up talking about Aerith the whole time." Zack's wistful smile returned.

"You're both totally whipped."

He chuckled. "I can admit to that. He never would."

"No, he wouldn't," Jessie agreed. She turned back to Fells. "Speaking of Lady Love, if I'm supposed to be talking to her, let's get this show on the road. How does this thing work?"

"Right, then." Fells rubbed his hands together and stood. "Let's get to training."

"Training?" Jessie's spirits sank. "I have to train for this?"

"Like you have to train for anything else."

She looked around, and her thoughts turned back to the situation she was in before Fells brought her here. Was the fighting still going on? She hoped that her friends would be able to stop Shinra's insane plan. If anyone could do it, Cloud could.

And there was nothing that she could do about it now. The Whispers had taken her out of the fight.

But not for long.

She gave Fells a resolute nod. "Alright, train me."

Elena stared out the window, every fire burning below scorching her heart. She couldn't believe that it had actually happened, that those monsters had actually done this.

When Tseng had informed her that the Avalanche terrorists were planning to drop the Sector Seven Plate, she couldn't believe it. The animals, the same that had kidnapped her two months ago, had committed atrocities all across Midgar and beyond. Just two nights ago, they had killed dozens without a care when they blew up Reactor One. Still, Elena had refused to believe that anyone, even the very worst of humanity, would deliberately kill thousands of innocent people just to make a statement about their psychotic cause.

She had been wrong.

This was why she kept failing those damned psychological evaluations. She kept letting her emotions get the better of her judgment.

She looked up at the sound of the helicopter, watching the shadow fly overhead towards the helipad. Turning away from the horrifying devastation out the window, she left HQ and went to the elevator.

She arrived in time to see Tseng enter the building, along with a pair of guards and a rather pretty girl in a red jacket over a pink dress, her pony tail braid fastened with a pink bow. "Sir." She approached him, knowing that her eyes were failing to hide her emotion. There was no hiding her feelings after the devastation that had been wrought tonight.

Tseng studied her for a moment, and then turned to the guards. "Escort the Ancient to her quarters, and see that she remains secure."

"Yes, Sir."

Elena waited for her boss's attention to return to her, but he continued to watch the girl until she was out of sight. Then he finally turned back to her.

"Are you okay, Sir?"

"Yes."

"And Rude? And Reno?"

"Reno sustained an injury, but a full recovery is expected."

"Good." She looked down. "I can't believe those monsters actually did it."

Tseng said nothing to that.

She looked back up at him. "Permission to go after them, Sir."

"Permission denied, Elena."

"Please, Sir, let me into the field. Let me help to bring justice to everyone we lost tonight."

"You have failed to pass your psychological evaluations."

"I know! But I'm a perfectly capable fighter, you know that! Yes, I'm out for revenge, which those stupid tests say is wrong. But after what happened tonight, how can we all not want revenge? We just watched those animals mercilessly kill thousands. All of those innocent people! How can any of us honestly expect to shut off our emotions after that?"

"You need not completely shut off your emotions, Elena. But you must force your brain to control your heart, rather than the other way around. You must show that you are capable of following orders, no matter what those orders are." He glanced in the direction the girl and her guards had gone. "Tonight, we succeeded in rescuing the Ancient whom they were holding hostage."

"How can you balance saving one girl against failing to save thousands?" At his look, she dropped her gaze and forced herself to calm. "I'm sorry, Sir, I didn't mean to... I know that you did everything that you could to stop them."

"I acknowledge that tonight was a defeat, Elena. We lost many good people. And we will bring Avalanche to justice. But we must not fail to maintain rationality and judgment, or they will destroy us as well."

"I understand that, Sir. I... I'm sorry, again."

"It's alright. Get some rest, Elena. I suspect that tomorrow is going to be a long day."

Elena swallowed at the thought of waking up in the morning in a city that suddenly had thousands fewer people. "Yes, Sir." Turning, she returned to the elevator.

Not anxious to go to bed just yet, she returned to HQ. Before going back to the window, she paused to look at the adjacent wall, where almost all current and former Turks had pictures lined up in neat rows, with electronic text below the pictures displaying their statuses.

She stopped in front of one picture that showed a woman looking sideways. The woman's profile was so similar to Elena's own. The blonde hair was a little bit longer, the features a bit sharper, but the family resemblance was unmistakable. Elena stared at the picture for several seconds, and then her gaze dropped to the text below it.

Missing in Action, Presumed Dead.

She didn't need a status bar to tell her what happened to her sister. She knew in her heart that Avalanche killed her, just as they killed dozens the other night and thousands more tonight.

They were monsters.

Her heart feeling several times heavier than normal as it pounded laboriously between her ribs, she returned to the window, staring out at the fires and debris of the collapsed plate.

There was no justice that could possibly balance the scales against what had been done tonight. But she would try, with everything she had. She would defeat those monsters. She would prevent them from killing anyone else.

She would destroy Avalanche if it was the last thing she did.