Author's Note:

Hey, guys. Back with an update once again. It took a bit longer than I wanted, but it's here nonetheless.

Since it took so long, I'm going to do something I don't normally do, which is give a little insight into my writing process. I'm finding myself at a point in this story that I always inevitably end up in after passing the 1/4th mark. To put it plainly, I tend to go into a story with a clear idea of how the beginning, middle, and end are going to play out. The problem is that when I get to that middle part, I start finding myself making narrative pivots and adjustments that I feel best reflects the actions the characters would perform based the situations they're in. This starts making me drift a bit from my initial vision, and a lot of pre-planning gets thrown out the window. Naturally, this ends up making the writing process take a lot longer than I'd like.

But there is a bright side to this. These sort of pivots and off-the-cuff adjustments can be pretty invigorating. It's like I'm suddenly going on an adventure where not even I know what the ultimate destination is. So with that said, I'm really excited to see where this path takes not just me, but you guys as well, and I hope you all continue to enjoy this story as much as I have.

I'll begin working on the next chapter very soon, and hope to have it released as quickly as possible while also retaining the level of quality I feel is acceptable. Until then, I hope you enjoy what I've got here for you today, and want to thank all of you for your time and patience.

The howling of the northern wind brought chills along Tifa's arms as she and Cloud stood beneath the Highwind. Looking above, she saw the red hue of Meteor carving its way across the sky. With every day that passed it only grew larger in size. It practically enveloped the sky now. It'd only be a matter of hours until it made planetfall, perhaps a day if they were lucky.

Averting her gaze from the imminent destruction that loomed over them, she turned to Cloud. His expression was empty, betraying a mind lost in deep thought. He was within arm's reach of her, but at the same time a thousand miles away.

"Everyone's gone…" Tifa dared to break the silence. Cloud blinked, returning to reality as he met her gaze.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Looks like everyone had someone to go back to," his mako-laden eyes fell to the rocks beneath their feet. "Everyone except us, I guess."

"Yeah," Tifa ran a hand through her hair. "But maybe they'll come back," there was a twinge of doubt in her voice. "Maybe they'll be here when we…" she was too afraid to finish her sentence. "What do you think?"

"Hmm…" Cloud shifted a bit, his arms crossed as he pondered the thought for a moment. "Everyone has something important that they're hanging onto, and Sephiroth wants to take that away from them, because he doesn't really…" the SOLDIER trailed off. For the first time in this long, arduous journey, Cloud found himself wondering if Sephiroth was truly so wicked and vile that they were truly incapable of cherishing anything beyond themselves. His heart-of-hearts wanted to give an indignant 'yes', but something even deeper tugged at him, telling him otherwise. With no small amount of struggle, Cloud dismissed it as the last bastion of hopeless optimism still within him.

"It's okay, Cloud," Tifa stepped toward the ledge of the cliff, daring to look up to Meteor once again. "Even if they don't come back, even if it's just the two of us, as long as I have you by my side, I'll never give up."

"Tifa…" Cloud uncrossed his arms and moved toward her, but stopped just shy of reaching his childhood friend.

"When we were in the Lifestream, I called your name." Tifa continued. "And even with all that pain and suffering around us, all the screaming of the planet, through all that, I still thought I heard your voice calling back to me." Tifa's hands fell to her side and clenched into trembling fists. "I could've sworn that I heard you call my name…" tears welled in her dark red eyes as she struggled to maintain her composure. "Or at least, that's what I wanted to believe, but you probably don't remember that, do you?"

Cloud looked off into the distance, watching the setting sun crawl beneath the edge of the horizon. He closed his eyes and thought back to that moment in the Lifestream when the world was nothing more than a fog of faces and hazy memories.

"You can't stay here anymore, Cloud." She'd said. "You have to go back." It wasn't Tifa's voice he'd heard, and it wasn't her name that he called.

"Yeah," Cloud nodded "It must've been your voice I heard," he lied.

Tifa felt a small twitch in one of her fingers as she raised a hand to wipe away the tears.

"Cloud, do you think the stars can hear us? Do you think they know how hard we're fighting for them?" Her head lowered as teardrops landed on her boots. "Do you think they know how much we're hurting for them?"

"I dunno," Cloud looked up to the sky, past the foreboding Meteor, and found the faint twinkling of stars cutting through the purple hue of twilight. "But even if they can't hear us, we still have to fight. We have to fight to protect what's precious to us."

"And what's precious to you, Cloud?" Tifa's question rang in his ears for a long moment as the SOLDIER looked down at his open palm. Even after all this time, his fingers still tingled.

"I'll find the answer," he said. "One day."

XXXXX

Tifa snapped herself back to reality as the lingering wave of emotions finally began to subside. She had no idea what came over her, what made her lose her composure so easily. Rubbing her temples, she tried to pull herself back into the heat of the conversation, hoping it might thaw her delirium.

"Your father?" Tifa stepped toward Nanaki. "But how can you…" she shook her head. "Sorry, but I thought your father was…"

"It's complicated," Nanaki replied. "I-I don't really know how to explain it…"

"When Seto fell to the Gi's arrows all those years ago, his body gave in and was turned to stone," Bugenhagen said. "But his spirit, as Guardian of Cosmo Canyon, endured and remains there to this day, protecting us from the Gi should they ever rise again."

"So you just have to talk to your Dad's ghost, and then we're all set, right?" Yuffie asked. "Sounds easy!"

"Well, yeah, but…" Nanaki stammered.

"But what?"

"The knowledge of the leylines isn't something that you can just share," Nanaki said. "They have to be handed over."

"Not sure I get what you mean?" Cloud asked.

Before Nanaki gave his response, Tifa saw Cloud's head shift slightly as he looked off to his side, as though he were acknowledging a silent voice next to him.

"Only the Guardian of Cosmo Canyon can know where the leylines are," he said. "And that knowledge can only be handed over when the time comes for an inheritor to take their place."

"Hey," Barret said. "I thought you already were the Guardian? So what's the big deal?"

Nanaki shifted a bit, his tail swishing side-to-side. "Not until Father shares his knowledge with me," he said. "And when that happens, Father won't be the Guardian of Cosmo Canyon anymore…"

"Which means his spirit will be free to return to the planet, won't he?" Cloud asked, though much like his previous questions, Tifa couldn't help but notice they carried a much stronger degree of insight than normal. "And no one will be able to hold back the Gi anymore, right?"

"That's…" Nanaki lowered his head and swished his tail again. "More-or-less, yeah."

A harsh silence befell the room for a long moment before Barret finally spoke up to break it. "So what are you gonna do?"

"I…" Nanaki's head swayed a bit. "I need to think." They approached a nearby wall and stood on their hind legs to press their paw against a button on the wall. With a flash of light, the holograms died and the light of the evening sun started to creep through the observatory's bay door as it slid open. Then without another word, Nanaki gracefully leapt out of the opening and planted their paws firmly on a red boulder just outside. Then with another leap, they vanished from sight.

Bugenhagen let out a deep sigh as his grandson ventured away into solitude before turning to address the others.

"I knew this day would come eventually," he said. "I'd just hoped that it'd be on Nanaki's terms."

"If his Dad's spirit returns to the planet," Barret said. "Will the Gi really come back?" He scratched at the back of his head. "I mean, not to be rude or anything, but Nanaki's dad is… well…" He let his arm fall to his side and shrugged. "You know?"

"The Gi aren't like you and I," Bugenhagen said. "They, much like Jenova, didn't come from Gaia. They originated from somewhere else, somewhere far away."

"Whoa!" Yuffie's eyes went wide. "Like the whole tribe came from another planet? How?"

"No one knows for certain, save for the Gi," Bugenhagen replied. "What we do know is that after their physical bodies perished, their spirits remained, unable to pass on. Long ago Nanaki's forefathers tried to quell them, to help them return to whence they came, but all efforts failed." The old sage let out a deep breath. "So for thousands and thousands of years the Gi have lived in turmoil, unable to die, and bound to a world that isn't their own. That unending suffering is what made them who they are today."

"That's awful!" Tifa said. "Had we known that last time we could've…"

"There's nothing you could've done, my dear," Bugenhagen replied. "The Gi's suffering isn't something that can be easily quelled," he turned to gaze into the burning sky. "However, for both their sake, and that of the planet, I believe the time has finally come that we must find a way."

XXXXX

Shelke punched away at her keyboard, processing gigabytes upon gigabytes of information as she surfed through WRO reports and compared it with countless local news sources along with various social media network boards.

After nearly an hour of analysis, She came to the realization that outside of a handful of outliers, the rest of the world remained blissfully oblivious to how much danger the it was in. The WRO was only releasing select information to the public that indicated the events of Nibelheim and Junon were simply isolated planetary phenomena, and no immediate cause for concern. However when she cross-analyzed it with all the reports the WRO weren't sending, it painted a picture that was quite the opposite.

The findings left her feeling disconcerted, but any further rumination had to wait, as she sensed a presence approaching her chamber. Flipping a switch to open the door, her chair swiveled as she turned to face her guest and removed her neuro-helmet.

"Mr. Tuesti," she said. "How serendipitous."

"Hoping to see me, Shelke?" Reeve replied with a small, but genuine smile.

"No," she replied in her trademark deadpan honesty. "But it is convenient that you're here."

"How about you go first, then?" His tone was light, even for him. It took very little deduction for Shelke to realize that it was because he wanted to ask her a favor.

"Very well," Shelke replied, not moving from her chair. "The WRO is feeding the public curated information. Why?"

Reeve shifted a bit, but his relaxed expression remained unchanged. "Do you think letting the public know would be a good thing?"

"You're answering a question with a question," she said.

"You've got me there," he laughed, taking a step closer as the automatic door shut behind him. "All of the people who need to know already know," he said. "There isn't a single world leader or high level bureaucrat that doesn't have a full understanding of what's going on. If they wanted to share that information with the public, then that's well within their right, and I won't stop them."

Shelke sat idle for a moment, contemplating if she had more to say on the matter. After some internal calculating, she determined that she wanted more information before broaching the subject further.

"There was something you wanted?" She asked, choosing to move onto the reason for Reeve's visit.

"There's a small favor I wanted to ask you," Reeve said. "Do you remember that little digital space I had you make a while back?" He stopped to glance at one of the security cameras monitoring the room, then back to Shelke. "The one holding what's left of 'you-know-who'?"

Shelke's mako-laden eyes narrowed, breaking her neutral expression. "What about it?"

"I realize this might be a bit of a tall order," Reeve kept his posture loose as he spoke, gesturing as though he were requesting a benign favor. "But do you think it might be possible for you to, how should I say, pay them a visit?"

"Out of the question," she replied. Without another word, she put her neuro-helmet back on and spun her chair to face the monitors.

"Shelke," Reeve took another step toward her. "Believe me, this isn't what I want either, but…"

"Then why are you asking me in the first place?" Her hands danced across the keyboard.

"Because it may be the only way to get the answers we need," he said. "It might be the only way we can learn how to kill Jenova."

"You're asking to unearth something that should've been destroyed."

"And what do you think Jenova will do if we don't stop her?" There was an uncharacteristic bite in Reeve's voice. After a long moment of contemplation, Shelke reared her head, tugging the mako cables feeding into her helmet as she turned her gaze to the head of the WRO.

"I'll consider it," she said. "But don't expect anything more."

XXXXX

Bugenhagen stood atop his floating sphere, floating about the observatory while inspecting the various readings across his countless contraptions and devices. The others had since cleared out, but there was a presence the old sage sensed still lingering.

"I might not see as good as I used to, my boy, but I can tell when someone has a question sitting on their tongue."

"That obvious, huh?" Cloud replied, taking a step toward the old man as he reached into his pocket.

"You're not as hard to read as you like to pretend to be, Cloud." The sphere pivoted and Bugenhagen adjusted his glasses. "Don't worry. Whatever we talk about can stay between the two of us."

"How'd you…" Cloud stopped himself, realizing he was about to ask a pointless question. "Anyways, yeah, what do you think about this?" Pulling a gloved hand from his pocket, he produced the shimmering materia with its soft green flow dancing within the translucent sphere.

"Oh my," Bugenhagen fixed his glasses again as he leaned forward with his wrinkled hands outstretched. "Now where by chance did you come across this little peculiarity?"

"I found it in a lifespring near Corel," he said, letting the sage take hold of the materia as it let out a soft hum. "I can't figure out what it does. Red said maybe you'd now."

"Did Nanaki really put that much faith in me?" He chuckled. "I thought I'd taught him better than that." Bugenhagen fell silent for a moment as he held the materia before him, looking over it from several different angles. "Intriguing…" he said.

"What is?"

"It had such a distinct glow about it just a moment ago," his eyebrows eased, giving way to a forlorn expression of disappointment. "Let me try something," he said. "Catch!"

"Hey! What the hell?" Cloud reached out and snatched the materia from the air.

"There it is!" Bugenhagen's sphere shifted closer to the SOLDIER as the sage peered his weathered gaze deep into the strange materia as it shimmered in Cloud's fingertips.

"What're you talking about?"

"This materia isn't just any materia, Ho ho hooo!" Bugenhagen made no effort to hide his excitement. "No, this is your materia."

"My materia?" Cloud looked it over with a skeptical eye. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"All materia are made from the memories of the Ancients, and what do you think the memory that made this materia was?"

"Not a clue," Cloud said flatly. "If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking you."

"That's too bad, because I sure don't know!" Bugenhagen howled with laughter as his sphere floated about, circling the SOLDIER.

"I don't get what's so funny about this?" Cloud said, a hint of irritation building in his tone.

"What you're holding right there is a materia that is intrinsically linked to you, my boy. Whatever memory made that materia was a memory of you. That's why it reacts when you hold it, but goes as dim as an old lightbulb in these clammy things," Bugenhagen opened his wrinkled palms before Cloud.

"A memory of me?" Cloud's mako-laden eyes followed the flowing green inside the materia. "How can you know that by just looking at it? Have you seen something like it before?"

"Only once," there was a sudden shift in Bugenhagen's tone as his posture stiffened. "But that was long, long, long ago."

"So how do I use it?"

"Only you know the answer to that, Cloud."

"That's the problem," the SOLDIER said. "I don't. That's kinda the whole reason I came to you."

"Just give it time, then," Bugenhagen replied. "I'm old enough to tell you that sometimes the answers will unveil themselves when the time is right, and it may be that this is just one of those times."

Cloud frowned as he looked down at the humming materia, its radiant glow shimmering in his grasp.

"Well, thanks anyways, I guess." Cloud shoved the materia back in his pocket and made his way for the stairs leading out of the observatory. He'd hoped Aerith would've stuck around. Cloud wasn't a fool. There was only one Ancient who could have any memories of him, but she'd already vanished, and he was at a loss on how to get her to show back up again. "You really do like leaving me in suspense, don't you?" He murmured to himself.

XXXXX

Nanaki climbed up the cliff faces, eventually finding a secluded spot atop a lonely mesa overlooking the vast expanse of Cosmo Canyon. The setting sun edged closer beneath the horizon as the moon crept upward, ushered by the faint twinkling of twilight stars.

With a huff, he circled the spot he intended to lay down before slumping to the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust that easily dissipated into the wind.

The fiery-furred creature gazed into the endless sky that battled between day and night, hoping to lose himself in the natural beauty around him. However his mind remained uneasy, racing with uncertainty as he prepared himself to face the inevitability of what he always knew was destined to come one day.

For so many years he hated his father, and if he was honest with himself, it'd been much easier that way. It was so much easier to live his life believing Seto to be a coward who fled from his duty. Yet while the truth of the matter brought him a moment's catharsis, it was only followed by a blanket of guilt, regret, and ultimately, despair.

That despair however wasn't for what happened to Seto, rather it was for what hadn't happened. In spite of learning the truth, learning that Seto had been a hero to Cosmo Canyon, Nanaki still couldn't say that he really knew his father. He could only know him through the eyes of others, through the eyes of those whose lives and experiences were different from his own, and for him to bear the mantle of Guardian of Cosmo Canyon didn't just mean to bear the responsibilities that came with it, but to also rid himself of the possibility that he might one day truly know Seto, that he might truly come to understand who his father was through his own eyes.

With a deep sigh, Nanaki buried his face behind a paw. All that which was weighing down on him was to say nothing about what would need to be done about the Gi. He tried to think rationally and look at the situation objectively, but every thought he had remained obfuscated by a haze of emotions that shook his heart.

The wind kicked up and brushed against his fur, like a soft hand stroking his side.

Suddenly, Nanaki felt a surge course through him as the scent of lilies permeated in the air. His head shot up and darted in every direction. He sensed another presence nearby, but found he still sat alone atop the mesa.

With a twitch of his nose, Nanaki stood up and paced a bit.

"Who's there?" He asked, his voice carried across the remote cliffs, but no response came in return. The presence however was unmistakable. "A-Aerith?" he stumbled on the word, as though letting it slip from his tongue might've been cause for offense.

Only the wind replied, yet as it coursed through his fur like fingertips caressing the side of his neck, he couldn't help but feel a hidden intent within it that resonated in his soul.

"It's never too late to know him."

Nanaki pivoted and turned on his paws, his dark amber eyes following the gust as it soared away, carrying with it a swirling trail of dust that vanished into the dark of the early night.

XXXXX

The lingering light of day had fully given way to the black of night. Cloud sat beneath a secluded arch, the vibrant orange of the boulders brought to light by a hanging torch burning behind him, casting a long shadow as he fidgeted with the materia, or rather his materia, whatever that meant, exactly.

"Mind if I join you?"

Cloud reared his head to find Tifa's silhouette approaching. Her red boots were the first to step through the threshold of the torch's light before her entire body eventually came into form.

"Not at all," he replied, putting the materia away as he scooted over to make room for her.

"It's kinda windy tonight, isn't it?" She said, taking a seat next to the SOLDIER.

"Sure is," Cloud said, stopping to listen to nature's whistling howls spreading across the vast desert before them.

Tifa sat silent for a moment before shifting a bit, and looked over to Cloud with a hint of hesitation as she spoke. "I wanted to thank you for saying what you did back there. Ya know, when I kinda just froze, I guess?"

"Nothing to thank me for," Cloud said. "You were just telling the truth, plain and simple."

"Yeah, but…" Tifa idly kicked her legs as they dangled from the rock. "That didn't make it mean anything less, and well, I wanted to apologize."

"For what?"

"Don't make me spell it out." She huffed. After taking a moment to make a soft exhale, she spoke again. "For what I said back home, or back in Nibelheim, I mean."

Cloud shifted his gaze a bit toward Tifa, but didn't say anything.

"When you said what you did," she continued. "That thing about seeing…"

"Tifa," Cloud cut her off. "We don't have to talk about this if you do—"

"Hey, give that back!" A deep voice boomed from off in the distance. The two looked toward the source of the noise to find Barret chasing after Yuffie while Cait Sith clung to his shoulders, flailing in the wind as he desperately held on.

"But they're so cool! I always wanted to try these on!" Yuffie replied, hurrying away from the burly man as she put Barret's black sunglasses on, which were obviously too large for the ninja and rested awkwardly on her head.

Just a little ways off, Cid chuckled to himself as he leaned against a boulder and produced a piece of gum from his pocket while he watched with a wry grin.

"Anyways," Tifa giggled. "It's fine," she said, reassuring Cloud with a nod. "I'm not going to pretend to know or really get what exactly it is that is going on with you and… her." She stopped for a moment, suddenly finding it hard to speak their name aloud. "But I do know you, Cloud, and I know you wouldn't make something up like that unless you really believed it," she looked away from him for a moment. "And what I felt earlier…" she trailed off for a moment before finally remembering herself and bringing her dark crimson gaze back to the SOLDIER with resolution in her eyes. "If Aerith really is there, then you better listen to her, and if you won't, then she needs to yell as loud as she can until I can hear her! Got it?"

A warm smile spread its way across Cloud's lips. Raising a gloved hand he reached out and rested it on Tifa's shoulder, causing her to momentarily lose her newfound bravado. Then with only two words, Cloud disarmed her entirely.

"Got it."

Tifa shook her head, shaking away her flusteredness before staring up at the sky. "Do you remember that question I asked you back when we were under the Highwind?"

"You asked if I thought the stars knew how hard we were fighting for them," he said as he too brought his eyes to the twinkling lights dancing above them against the endless black of night.

"And you said that even if they can't, that we should keep fighting to protect what's precious to us," she looked back to him while his focus remained on the stars. "But you didn't know what was precious to you, and that you were going to find it someday" she said. "So, have you found it yet?"

"I think I have," he replied as his mako-laden eyes followed a shooting star across the sky.

"And what is it?"

"All this," he answered, gesturing broadly around him. "When I think of what's most precious to me, it isn't any one person or thing, but moments like this."

Tifa turned her attention back to the others to see Barret had recovered his sunglasses and was holding them high in the air while Yuffie vainly hopped with an outstretched arm trying to take them back.

"C'mon! I'll give them back this time! I promise!"

"Not a chance."

"Hate to break it to ya, kid, but I don't think you're winning this one," Cid said, his jaw harshly gnashing down on the gum in his mouth.

After taking a second to relish in the moment, Cloud continued. "That's what's precious to me. The small moments and memories we make with the people we care about. Even if we're only here for a short time, the memories we help build are what stick around even long after we're gone." Cloud reached up to the sky and clasped his hand, as if trying to pluck the stars from the sky "So I want to make as many memories as I can. Not just for me, but for you and everyone else, too," he brought back his hand and opened it as he gazed into his empty palm. "Even for those that aren't here anymore. That's what's precious to me."

Tifa felt a warmth in her eyes as her cheeks grew wet. Scooting closer, she rested her head on Cloud's shoulder. The SOLDIER shifted a bit, but ultimately decided to just let her have the moment. Even if it was for just a moment for him, the memory would always be her's.

While the two sat in silence, up above, sitting on top of the arch, a young woman in a pink dress and a red jacket hummed to herself in bliss as she looked to the shooting stars, and with a whisper heard not by anyone else, not even by the planet itself, she made a wish; a wish she knew would never come true.

XXXXX

A very faint but steady wheeze escaped Lucrecia's lips as she laid face-down on a makeshift cot in Shinra Mansion's basement. Her eyes remained sealed as Vincent draped a blanket over her.

"Thanks," Shalua said, sitting at a nearby desk while she flipped through a dusty tome filled with entries that were over a decade older than her. "I kept telling her to get some rest, but she kept saying she'd 'slept long enough'," the scientist gave a light-hearted scoff. "So much for that, though. She couldn't even finish her coffee before passing out," the scientist said, glancing at the cold cup of half empty coffee sitting at Dr. Crescent's desk.

Vincent walked over to the desk and picked up the cup, taking a sniff of it, then gave a smirk.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," he replied, putting the cup back down. "It's just she still puts magnesium in her coffee."

"Oh? I never thought about that. I guess it does make sense."

"An old partner I had back in the Turks told me about it." Vincent walked over and leaned against the wall. "Too much coffee depletes electrolytes, so it helps balance it out if you drink it too much. After I told her about it, she started doing it, too."

Shalua looked away from the book, listening intently to the former Turk as she spun her chair toward him. "Was she always like this? You know, back when you were…" Shalua trailed off.

"She was," Vincent replied with a solemn tone. After that there was a long moment of silence as Shalua turned back to read over the tome.

Vincent chose to let the silence hang as he looked over to Azul's corpse suspended in a vat filled with a myriad of chemicals to keep his body from decomposing. After suffering the sight for long enough, he brought his attention back to the redhead.

"Is there anything I can do to be helpful?"

"Not really," Shalua replied, her eye fixed on the page in front of her. "Not unless you can think of a way to eradicate Jenova cells."

"I've done it before," he said, glancing down at his holstered gun.

"Yeah," Shalua sighed. "If only they'd stay that way, though. Right now we're trying to figure out a way to nullify the reunion process. So until we figure that out, whatever method we decide to kill her with will just be a temporary measure at best."

Vincent didn't respond, realizing that whatever he had to say on the matter would just be pointless noise. Instead he chose to ponder his thought and reframe it in a way that might be more productive.

"Do you think Reunion can be stopped?"

"Dr. Crescent thinks so," she answered, peering over her shoulder at the slumbering form of the very woman who'd served as Shalua's greatest source of inspiration. "And that's good enough for me."

Vincent felt a small curl form along the edges of his lips, but whatever comfort there was to be had in the moment was brought to a halt by the sound of static coming from the comm in his ear.

"Bravo Team reporting in," a garbled voice said through the small speaker. "We have a possible situation here at the main entrance. Requesting backup."

"What's that about?" Shalua raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know," Vincent took a step away from the wall and pivoted on his heel, his red cloak flowing in his wake as he turned for the exit. "But I'm going to find out."

Vincent made his way to the elevator leading to the first floor and passed through the foyer where he was immediately met by a WRO squad commander.

"Good, you're here," the commander said, keeping pace next to the former Turk as they moved down the hall toward the front door. "We just got a report of two individuals at Nibelheim's main gate. No idea how they slipped past our scouts."

"Do we know who they are?"

"No sir," the commander shook his head as they pushed open the front door. "All we know is that they're… Ah shit."

At the front gate of Shinra Manor were two figures that stood in contrast. One with a mane of white, the other's a feathery black. The one in white cracked his neck with a sly grin while the one in black kept their violet eyes fixed squarely on Vincent, burning with intent to kill.

"Go inside." Vincent said to the squad commander, his tone dry and without any clear inflection as he reached for Cerberus. "Take your men and guard the entrance to the basement.

"Yes, sir!" The commander wasted no time rushing back inside and closing the door behind him, leaving Vincent to stand alone against the two trespassers.

"It's been a while, Valentine," Weiss smirked, taking a step through the gate with their arms outstretched to their side in a grand gesture that exuded arrogance. "Brother and I have been hoping for the chance to see you again."

Vincent didn't bother with the pleasantries. His reply came in the form of a swift, yet carefully aimed shot directed between Weiss' eyes.

The leader of Deepground made no effort to evade as the thunderous crack of gunfire shook the air.

The three bullets barreled toward their mark, but were halted as a black cloud of miasmic smoke formed in front of Weiss, engulfing the projectiles in their abyssal haze. Then as swiftly as it appeared, so too did the smoke vanish, revealing Weiss to still be standing before Vincent unharmed.

Valentine shifted his eyes over to Nero, who extended a hand out to let three bullets tumble from his palm and onto the grass beneath their feet.

"Straight to the point, then?" Weiss' gaze narrowed and his grin vanished.

"I won't let you take her."

"Her?" Weiss cocked his head slightly. "Oh, you mean the surrogate, don't you?"

Vincent growled under his breath, but didn't vocalize a response. With all the effort he could muster, he kept his expression empty, refusing to betray any emotion to his enemies.

"No," Weiss shook his head. "Nero and I wouldn't come all the way here just for something so benign. Rather, we came here for you."

Vincent's expression faltered slightly, but for only just a moment.

"Mother has an important task for you," Nero said. "That's all you need to know."

"Mother?" Vincent took a step back, keeping his gun trailed on them. "You mean Jenova?"

"The choice is yours, Valentine," Weiss' wicked grin returned as he reached for the two katanas at his sides and brandished the mighty blades. "You can come with us willingly, or we can bring back your body. Either will suffice."

Nero's mechanical wings flexed open as a shroud of darkness emanated around his lithe form, ready to strike at his elder brother's command.

"Why do you call her that?" Vincent held his ground. His question came less from a place of curiosity as much as it did from a desperate need to bide time to formulate a plan of attack. One Tsviet was already a force to be reckoned with, but two, Weiss and Nero no less, were far beyond his limits, at least without the full power of Chaos.

"Come with us, Vincent," Weiss replied, assuming a stance that was ready to spring forward and charge into the fray of battle. "This is the last time I'll ask."

"Not happening."

Within the flash of an instant, Weiss shot toward his mark with impossible speed. Vincent brought up his gauntlet and sparks flew through the air as the blades clashed with the metal plates on his hand. Though it took no small amount of effort, Valentine managed to stand his ground against the attack.

However the same couldn't be said for the follow-up that came after. Vincent felt a presence looming over him, making the hairs on the back of his neck go rigid. He had no time to look. All he could do was act.

Vincent disengaged from Weiss and leapt to the side as a barrage of bullets crashed into the ground from a black portal hovering just above where he'd been standing mere seconds earlier.

The former Turk retaliated by unleashing a barrage of bullets toward Weiss, only for them to easily be cut away with precise slices through the air with Weiss' dual blades.

"Come now, Vincent," Weiss said, taking a step toward him. "You can do better than that, can't you?"

Nero materialized above his brother and sent forth a wave of black fire, forcing Vincent to retreat back further. No matter what he did, the two Tsviets refused to give him a moment to breathe. As elusive as Vincent was, he was more than aware he was fighting a losing battle.

The brothers battled as if of a single mind. No opening was left uncovered, and no attempt at retaliation from their prey went unpunished. They moved in a beautiful yet deadly flow of black and white, chasing down the nimble crimson that always managed to slip just beyond the grasp of their razor talons.

Vincent's mind raced as he struggled to come up with a way to separate the brothers. If he could isolate them, even if only for a time, he was certain he could at least level the field of battle. Yet they gave him no quarter.

"Is this really the best you can do without Chaos, Valentine?" Weiss whispered.

Vincent shot his head to his side, finding the white haired Tsviet had seemingly materialized no more than a foot away from him. just outside of his peripheral.

Weiss reversed the grip on one of his katanas and came in hard at Vincent's back with the blunt edge of the blade, sending the former Turk hurling into the walls of Shinra Manor, crashing through the wood, splintering it as he collided against a piece of furniture on the other side.

Vincent struggled to his feet, realizing all too well that he should've been dead. Had Weiss not reversed his grip, they could've easily cleaved him in half. Yet they chose not to.

However, now wasn't the time for rumination. With a stride of authority, Weiss stepped through the hole in the wall with Nero hovering closely behind.

"Was Azul really slain by such a weakling?" Nero murmured.

"Come now, brother," Weiss raised a katana and pointed it at their crimson-clad opponent. "Maybe we were too hard on him. Why don't you play with him on your own for a while?" Weiss sheathed the dual blades with an evil grin. "Besides, I may as well grab the surrogate since we're already here."

"Stay away from Lucre—" Nero wouldn't let Vincent get a word in before blitzing toward them in a wave of shadow. With an unearthly grace, they managed to leap back just in time to evade Nero's assault, opening return fire with Cerberus as they regained their footing.

Bullets whizzed through the air as Weiss made his way into the foyer where a squad of WRO soldiers were already waiting for him, their weapons raised and trailed on him.

"Don't move!" The squad commander barked.

Weiss said nothing. He merely grinned.

Down in the basement, Lucrecia had already been stirred awake by the loud crash from earlier, the ensuing gunfire only served to reinforce her and Shalua's adrenaline rush.

"What's going on up there?" Lucrecia's mind was already rushing between fight and flight, refusing to fully settle on one until her assistant stood up and took action.

"Dr. Crescent," Shalua reached under her desk and retrieved a black pistol, standard issue for every WRO field operative. "Find some place to hide."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me," she replied. Shalua held the gun up to the edge of the desk and pressed the tip against it, forcing thereceiver to slide the bolt back and load a bullet into the chamber. Though the gun was made with two hands in mind, Shalua was more than capable of making due with what she had.

Lucrecia hurried for the far end of the room while Shalua cautiously moved for the elevator with her gun aimed firmly ahead of her. It was only a few seconds after she got into position that the gunfire up above suddenly went quiet. Not long after that, the sound of the whirling cables from the elevator began to hum.

Somebody was coming down.

"Shit!" Shalua gritted her teeth and hid behind a rack full of unused lab equipment and peered her eye over the corner, watching the elevator door with gritted teeth as a bead of sweat dripped from her temple.

The buzz of the elevator's bell rattled once the lift arrived, followed shortly by the scent of iron. A steady stream of thick crimson already began seeping from inside the lift and pooled onto the lab floor. Once the door slid open, the blood splashed as a heavy boot strode through it.

Shalua barely captured a glance of white before hiding herself behind the cart. On the other side of the room she saw Dr. Crescent scurry behind the vat carrying Azul's corpse, crouching underneath the thick bundle of wires and cables that snaked along the room.

Weiss tilted his head back and sniffed. Then with a malicious grin he made his way into the lab with a confident stride. His weapons remained sheathed, and his bright blue eyes were fixed directly ahead of him, making no effort to assess what might lay beyond the edge of his vision.

Shalua's hand trembled as she inched her way along to the opposite side of the cart, dipping around the corner just as Weiss came to pass. Either he'd failed to notice her or he simply didn't bother to register her as worthy of his attention.

Regardless, Shalua saw her opening, and took it.

With her single eye fixed on the huge mane of white hair, she took aim with the pistol and opened fire.

The Tsviet tilted his head to the side just as the gunfire roared through the lab. Weiss turned to face his attacker with the eyes of a predator as the bullet whizzed past him, sending a few strands of snowy hair falling to his feet.

Shalua couldn't let herself get lost in the moment. She pulled the trigger again, and then again, and again until the clip had dipleated and the bolt locked.

Lucrecia yelped, covering her arms over her head and made herself as small as she could. Bullets crashed through vials, thunked against heavy lab equipment, and buried themselves deep into the walls. Yet none of them found their mark.

Weiss kept his stride as Shalua ejected the clip and tucked the gun under her chin so she could reach for a spare at her side. Her movements were fluid, guided by rigorous training she'd made herself endure to compensate for her missing limb, but it wasn't enough.

"You…" Weiss grabbed Shalua by the throat and suspended her in the air. "I know you," he murmured with idle curiosity.

Shalua could only choke out a gasp in response, clenching for air as the Tsviet's fingers tightened around her neck.

Lucrecia peaked from behind the vat. Seeing her assistant in danger, her mind raced, trying to grasp for anything that she could do to help. Her eyes darted about the room until they came upon a glass container that'd managed to go untouched by the hail of gunfire. The label on the vial read 'Silver Nitrate'.

While Lucrecia crawled for the vile, Vincent's battle on the first floor raged on. Black portals unleashing miasmic shadows chased down the former Turk as he offered what return fire he could.

Nero had turned Shinra Manor into nothing short of a nightmare of abyssal darkness as they skittered about the room, weaving between the storm of bullets coming his way.

"You've always had a weak heart, Vincent," Nero said as tendrils rained down upon the mangled bodies of the WRO soldiers, some still living, but many no longer. "Your flesh may be coarse, but beneath it you're no better than these humans." The tendrils grabbed at the limbs of the soldiers and hoisted them up like twisted marionettes. Those who could cried for help as the dark strings brought the barrels of their weapons to arms against Valentine and forced their fingers to pull the triggers. "No," Nero scowled, watching Vincent dart across the manor to avoid the barrage coming from his helpless allies. "You're worse. Humans at least have the barbarity to slaughter each other in aimless wars on the behalf of old men they've never known. You however, you, someone stronger than them, smarter than them, superior to them in every conceivable way, feel the need to protect them when you should be ruling them!"

Nero unfolded his arms and pointed a black-nailed hand at Vincent, directing his puppets like a conductor for an orchestra of bloodshed.

"You talk too much," Vincent said. Raising his gun, he activated the shielding materia in it to protect him from the bullets. Then he charged forward, ignoring the WRO soldiers, ignoring the tendrils, ignoring everything except for Nero as Vincent's gauntleted hand reached out, growing in size and strength into a bestial claw.

Nero's purple eyes went wide. In response to his approaching opponent, he opened a black portal beneath his feet and sunk into it. Yet before it could close completely, Vincent leapt in with him.

The Tsviet's lithe frame came into the grasp of Vincent's claw as they both drifted through the infinite abyss. The black tendrils in the material world abandoned their puppets and instead came to their master's aid. Grabbing and thrashing, they tried to pull Vincent away, but Cerberus' fangs and the lashes of a monstrous claw kept them at bay.

"Are you mad?!" Nero shouted. "You can't kill me here! This is my domain! Here I am Go—" a massive claw wrapped itself around Nero's face. It's grip tightened, and the tendrils could do nothing to free their master of the monster ready to crush him within its grasp. With no other choice, Nero accepted that the only thing he could do was expel his enemy.

A portal opened around Vincent, and the former Turk felt the warmth of the material world overtake the chilling darkness of Nero's. Light pierced their vision, and the Tsviet departed into shadow as the portal between them closed.

Sensing his enemy's intent to retreat, Vincent loosened his claw from Nero and pulled back as the portal sealed shut.

With one enemy handled for the time being, Vincent took a moment to assess his surroundings, finding that the surviving WRO soldiers appeared to be in no immediate danger, and the darkness that once enveloped the manor had vanished, for now at least. However he still had other priorities to attend to, and hurried for the elevator leading to the basement.

Meanwhile, Shalua clawed at Weiss' arm, but the mighty Tsviet remained unmoved by the effort, instead keeping their gaze fixed on the redhead, digging through their memory, trying to recall where he knew the woman from. Then when he saw her single blue eye filled with a familiar desperation, it clicked.

"Right, I remember now," he nodded to himself. "You're Shelke's sister, aren't you?" Shalua gritted her teeth and tried to vocalize a protest, but it took everything she had just to breathe. "I wonder, will you be meeting her when she too returns to the planet, or will she already be there when you arrive?"

Weiss felt a shift in Shalua's form. Suddenly the scientist's thrashing and flailing was no longer out of the need for survival, but rather by a desperation that extended beyond just themselves. In some ways, it was a desperation Weiss could empathize with to some degree, but ultimately harbored little sympathy for her.

"Hey!" A woman's voice called out from behind him.

"What?" Weiss reared his head, confounded that he couldn't sense the presence behind him. Yet that confusion fell to the wayside when his gaze fell upon the interloper, for she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever set his eyes upon.

It wasn't her flesh which captivated him, though she was remarkable in that regard as well, but rather an unseen aura about her that brought a sense of comfort and warmth in his chest. His lips met together and the tip of his tongue fell beneath his lower front teeth to express a sound that ultimately went unspoken.

Lucrecia flung her arm out, splashing a brown, smokey scented liquid across Weiss' face. His eyes fell to her hand to see that she was holding an empty coffee cup, catching sight of a single droplet cascading from the lip and onto the floor.

"What are you…" Weiss' grip on Shalua loosened, and the scientist fell to her knees, gasping for air.

"Leave her alone!" Lucrecia came at Weiss again, this time sloshing him with the bottle of silver nitrate in her other hand. The Tsviet instinctively raised a hand to shield his face, but the liquid reached its mark nonetheless.

The silver nitrate made contact with the coffee, which was at first glance a benign and otherwise pointless action. However when the silver nitrate made contact with the magnesium laced within it, the two compounds made for a volatile mixture.

Weiss' world became an eruption of blinding white followed by searing pain. He stumbled back, holding his hands to his face and howling in pain not just from the burns, but also from the Jenova cells within him working diligently to heal the damage, which itself was an equally unpleasant process.

There was a loud crash at the elevator as a sudden force came down upon it. It was shortly followed by the screeches of thrashing metal as Vincent tore his way through it and rushed into the lab, finding himself stunned at the sight before him.

Weiss growled, wiping away the scorched flesh from his face while Lucrecia grabbed Shalua and hurried her away.

"Damn it!" Weiss brought his glare to Valentine, recognizing him as the immediate threat. Yet before the two could clash again, the Tsviet felt something burning along the edges of his mind, as though the grip of an unseen force had overtaken him with insurmountable power. "What's happening?!"

Weiss flailed and turned to meet the force, finding Lucrecia's fierce gaze burning into him. That alone was enough to make his mind scream. Thousands upon thousands of unseen daggers tore into his sanity, born from the aura of hatred emanating from the otherwise unassuming woman.

"Brother!" A black fog emerged behind Weiss as Nero's spindly limbs materialized from within and wrapped around his elder brother. "We need to leave. It appears we've misjudged the surrogate."

"So it seems…" Weiss allowed himself to be taken into the fog while Vincent closed in on them. "This isn't the end," Weiss said, the black cloud engulfing the two brothers. "You can't escape her grasp. No matter how much you rage against it."

Valentine reached out for Weiss, but only managed to grab empty air as the black haze dissipated into nothingness.

"Damn!" Vincent growled, looking down at his gauntlet, clenching his hand into a balled fist. With a soft exhale, he looked to the others. "Are you two alright?"

"Mhm," Lucrecia nodded, holding Shalua close to her as the young scientist kept struggling to cough up her words.

"Sh-ach!" Shalua wheezed.

"It's okay!" Lucrecia said, gently rubbing a hand against their back. "Just take a second to breathe!"

Shalua furiously shook her head, using Lucrecia's shoulder to hoist herself fully to her feet. With another vicious cough, she managed to utter the words she'd been trying to make.

"Shelke!" She shouted with a burning in her throat. "They're going to kill Shelke!"