 
# Chapter 1

Wish I could believe

That you care for me that way

Mirror, mirror speak to me

In the night

Don't you think I know

this grief can't be cried away?

In the tears I cry I see you

Rainy day.

In the Night

From Key the Metal Idol

"Doctor Kimiko." The young man that stood slouched against the wall with a cigarette in his hand was an unlikely assistant for the short, slender, birdlike robotics expert that was at that moment bent over a computer console. The room that they were working in was all steel walls and corrugated metal floors, the ceiling acoustic times. "If ya need anything else, just tell me." Smoke curled around the man's head, blurring the brilliant hair, the bright orange red that most people would think was dyed, in several places.

The man in question was one of the newly rebuilt ShinRa Company's Turks, the Vice Director, Reno Kirbani, to be precise. The slim frame was in a relaxed posture against one steel wall, but the eyes, a blue green color that resembled the multi-color splendor of the southern seas off the coast of Costa Del Sol, were as sharp as an eagle's in the angular face.

Amber eyes the startling color of a Guard Hound's turned to meet those of the man speaking to her, the orbs up-tilted with distinct epicanthic folds that spoke of her heritage. Hotaru Kimiko was from Wutai, a small village several hundred kilometers from the capital city. She had a natural talent with robotics and artificial intelligence that rivaled that of Reeve Tuetsi himself, one of the greatest roboticists that had ever crossed the threshold of ShinRa's gates. "I need you to be utterly certain that I am not disturbed. I must finish this robot so that it is ready for the presentation in the morning."

Spread about her on the table that stood next to her were gears and wires and other parts, the hulking metallic form that would soon be the completed prototype standing next to it. The shape was vaguely humanoid, with clear glass lenses set in a face of black frosted alloy. The chest plates were open, some of the mechanisms obviously missing. One of the main ones, and it was the reason she was sending him out of the room, was a small container that looked almost like an IV bag, but this bag contained a green viscous substance that hovered from gas to fluid to solid and back, not according to the temperature, but as if it danced to the beat of some strange inner drum only it could hear.

Reno nodded, heading out to stand near the door. If he had known that she was powering the machines with raw Lifestream he would have put a stop to the whole thing, and fast. Though he had some of the Ancient blood, as the Flower Girl that had saved them all had had, he had shut away the voices and the connection to the Planet that came with it that he failed to sense the secret ingredient that brought life to the Doctor's creations.

Once the ragged scarlet rat tail had disappeared from her sight which signaled the young man's exit Hotaru lifted the power gel pack, rubbing it lovingly against her cheek. "Soon my love. . .soon you will have life again."

Her eyes closed as memories washed over her. The loss of her family during the Wutai War had torn her world apart, turning her entire life upside down. Her robots had been all that remained to her after the bombs that had destroyed her home, wiped out everyone she had ever known. She could to this day feel the flames licking her skin in her dreams. . .hear the screams as her husband and child were buried inside the wreckage of her home. "You first, my sweet Akio. . .then our darling Daisuki."

The container was set delicately within the open chest cavity, before the doors were closed. The glass optics flashed once before going dark again, eliciting a smile of satisfaction from the woman. "So very close. . .soon. . .soon I will have my family back."

Reno's head suddenly shot up from outside the door at the same moment those optics flared with that eerie green light from within, as if someone had stepped across his grave. The faintest whisper had traveled across his consciousness, making him shudder with a sudden chill. "That was just fucking spooky." he muttered as he shook his head, passing the feeling off as being one of those strange premonitions he sometimes got.

He found himself a couch to settle into, and the next he knew the sun was leaking in through the windows that were set in the metal ceilings of the hallway, making him blink bleary eyes. He looked down to where his phone was vibrating, and picked it up as he pulled the half-crushed green and white striped pack from his jacket pocket, lipping one of the cancer sticks out as he answered it. "Yeah, boss." It was President Rufus ShinRa on the line, his boss and one of his five best friends.

The last four Turks and their boss had stuck together even after Meteor had nearly destroyed their world and the threat that had been Deep Ground had been defeated, after all, when your comrades in arms were all you had left in the world you became as tight as any blood family ever could. He owed Rude and Tseng his life more times than he could count, in fact the two had been the ones to remove him from the slums of Sector Seven when he'd been a half-starved boy of fifteen. "Yeah, the robot'll be ready by the time it needs to be. Doctor Kimiko sent me outta the room so she could finish it, she's been workin' all night."

"I see." Rufus was inside his own office in the rebuilt Tower, tapping slender, perfectly manicured fingers on the top of his desk as he spoke. "Make certain that she arrives at Edge Municipal Stadium on time. Though I am certain I can trust you to be sure that happens." Those same fingers brushed through wheaten blond strands, pushing them out of the glacial blues that were a ShinRa trademark. Despite his harsh tone, he trusted Reno to be certain the job got done. The man had saved his life during Meteor, pulling him out of the destroyed HQ after Diamond Weapon's attack, at the risk of his own life as the structure creaked around him.

"Yes sir." Reno knew very well what that tone of voice meant. Rufus suspected something was going on, but couldn't put his finger on what that something was. That set his own senses on alert, though he was not certain exactly what he should be on the lookout for yet. As the line was closed he headed down toward where he could find some coffee.

Tseng's dark hair rustled over his shoulder as he turned to Rufus. "Something about this bothers me. . .and I can sense it does you as well. You just do not know what that something is yet. It is like chasing a Jumping through its tunnels and hoping that what you find on the other side is what you seek, and not something that will prey on you." The analogy, though the Wutain Turk did not realize it at that moment, was a creepily accurate one. "Hotaru Kimiko. . .I know I have heard that name, outside of her fame as a robotics expert." He shook his head. "I suppose it will be figured out eventually."

The Director of the Turks knew it was time to put that pondering away for the moment, however, and help Rufus get things together to be ready for the demonstration. "I will check your car, sir. Then we will be ready to do the things we must today, including the presentation." A faint shiver ran up Tseng's spine at the thought. The mechanical beings were something very creepy to him, something about how only those who had been born of the Planet should have a semblance of life, a teaching he had been given early in his childhood. Reeve's creations did not bother him as such due to the fact that though they had AI, he controlled them to a great degree.

Rufus gave Tseng a nod. He too was a bit spooked by the idea of a fully sentient AI, though it was not due to a religious teaching, but the mere visceral response to something not born or organic having life. He supposed it was a natural human reaction to be disturbed by such things, though he put that unease away. These robots would make his corporation a fortune, and save lives, as they could go places no person could go in order to collect much needed energy resources.

I can not afford to wonder about the moral rightness of such technological advances, our world depends upon them now, more than ever, due to it being in such terrible shape. Strife will likely say that I am playing with things that should not be trifled with, but there is naught else I can do. I must protect what little is left and make up for the horrible things my father has done, both to my people and this planet. The blond shook himself from his thoughts as he slid the black vest and white jacket on over the gray turtleneck, the long coat hid the sawed off shotgun he carried on him at all times. As he turned and locked the door, he fought off the sense of chilling presentiment that something was going to go wrong.

He would look back later to his dismay and realize he should have listened to his gut and stopped things before they got so out of control, but then hindsight is always twenty-twenty.

We're building it up  
To break it back down  
We're building it up  
To burn it down  
We can't wait  
To burn it to the ground

Burn it down, Linkin Park

Reno helped Hotaru load the robot into the trunk of the car, a shiver running through his body as he did. He could hear the faint sounds of voices again, but he shook it off, not thinking anything of it. "So, Doctor Kimiko, ya said these things are sentient? How do you do that? Reeve tried, but he could never create a fully self-aware AI." The question was one purely of curiosity, but he noted the way the woman held herself, the way the slim body stiffened as she considered the query. It told him that she didn't want to answer it. Though he wasn't sure why.

Hotaru swept her fingers through shoulder length blue black hair, closing the almond shaped eyes a moment as her full lower lip was caught between her front teeth. "Trade secret." she finally told him. "An artist can't give everything away." Those lips curved up into a smile, and she gestured him to the car. "Come, we need to get to the auditorium and get the robot put back together and set up." She had indeed flinched at the question. If he tells the President, they will not let me finish, they would stop me. They can not know until it is already done.

"Sir." The other that stood outside as Tseng and Rufus left the new tower was tall, broad shouldered, and naturally bald, the round dark eyes in the creamed coffee colored face covered by a pair of aviator sunglasses. His lantern shaped jaw was framed by a perfectly trimmed Van Dyke beard, and he wore a spike in one ear, and double hoops in the other. Hidden under the black three piece suit and tie were henna tattoos that wrapped around both arms and ran down his back in tribal inspired shapes. His name was Rudolph Urar, and he was Reno's work partner, and one of his best friends, though he went by the code name Rude.

"Rude." Rufus gave him a nod as a petite and youthful blond woman walked out behind him, her own expression firm as honey brown eyes scanned the entire area. "Elena. It's time for us to go." They would check the venue before the rest of the people came to see the presentation, while Reno was helping Doctor Kimiko get the robot ready. He could not help the almost secretive smile, however. These people had been with him since prior to Meteor, they had taken care of him after Meteor when he'd been helpless, protected him, and allowed him to keep his pride even under horrible circumstances.

He took Rude aside, and quietly murmured to him. "Make sure that Strife is at the venue. I am certain as Reno is there he would be anyway, but be certain of it. Something about this entire situation strikes me suspiciously, and the extra pair of eyes is something that can only help us." They all knew of the strange bond between the moody, spike haired blond former trooper and the second in command of the Turks, and they knew Cloud would watch over him.

Meanwhile Hotaru and Reno had reached the place where the demonstration would take place, the disassembled robot being removed from the trunk and carried inside, piece by piece. The cold steel of the pieces contrasted with the warmth of the skin they rested against, though he could again hear the soft whisperings as lifted up the chest piece. He shook it off as he got inside.

It took about four hours for he and Hotaru to get the robot assembled and for rest of the Turks to get the venue set up, and people began filtering into the building. Mobile lips tipped up into a smile instead of his typical smirk as the short, stocky former trooper walked in, and he strode over to Cloud, pulling him in for a quick kiss, one that left Cloud teasingly shoving him off.

"Not in public, you know that." came the admonition. Still, Cloud couldn't help the half-smile that touched his mouth at the show of affection. Reno acted so cocksure and carefree ninety nine percent of the time, but the blond knew the other loved him.

The way the two had fallen together was a memory that made the trooper chuckle as his mind soared back. They had begun as friends, back when Cloud had been a trooper, Reno having met him through Zack Fair, the boy from Gongaga who had dreamed of being a hero. Nibelheim had happened, and they had been separated, to become enemies due to being on opposite sides of a conflict that neither had chosen. Through all of the battles, neither had been able to bring themselves to finish the other off, and after the battles had ended, and the dust had settled, they had found themselves one night sitting at a table inside the Seventh, just talking over a few drinks.

Reno had discovered that Cloud still carried the burden of the guilt for Zack's death, and for Aerith's, though neither had truly been his fault, nor had they been preventable. He had also discovered that despite that guilt the blond still did all in his power to protect those he held dear. Cloud had found out that Reno held similar guilt for Sector Seven. . .and that he still, due to his own half-Cetra ancestry, heard the screams of those of his own home sector that had been crushed beneath tons of steel and concrete in his dreams.

Soon after, they had begun dating, and by the time the remnants had come were as thick as thieves, the two of them going after each other at Healen Lodge really being not much more than a show to keep Rufus from knowing they were together before either one was ready for him to know. Now, neither could see life without each other, and they would lay their lives down for the other. As the gleaming band of seed diamonds on Reno's left ring finger would attest.

"I know." Reno's voice cut through the haze of memory, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the grin on the other's face. "Look, I got a seat for ya, yo. Front row. I gotta finish helpin' Doctor Kimiko puttin' this fucker together, an' then I'll be out there to sit with ya. Won't be long, I promise." It would be the last time he'd gaze at Cloud with that much love for a long time. . though neither of them knew that in that moment, and Cloud would kick himself for not stealing the kiss he was thinking of before he reached over and set a hand on Reno's shoulder and strode out.

Doctor Kimiko watched the two almost fondly, though she was also watching the youthful redhead. He seemed spook from handling the robot's parts, which bore keeping watch on. If he figures it out. . .I may have to find a way to keep him from being a problem. I'd hate to have to, I actually like this one. He reminds me of my dear Aki. I will simply have to keep him from figuring out what it is that's spooking him.

It was not long until people began filing into the building. Reno immediately picked out the short bowl cut of the feisty Wutain princess, the long soft sable hair of the barkeep from Nibelheim that had grown up with his lover, and the former Turk in the red cape and headband. In the seats next to them were his coworkers, and their presence made him feel just a little bit more comfortable as Hotaru, wearing a leather skirt, a white button down with a wool blazer, and a pair or clunky flats, walked out, a controller in her hand that she turned a dial on to make the robot walk out behind her with clanking steps.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." her voice, softly accented, carried out over the crowd as she spoke, the microphone pinned to her blouse amplifying the volume enough for her to be heard. "I would like to present to you the newest advance in ShinRa's robotics. The P-75R! It has fully articulated ball joints, and with this switch. .." she pushed the switch up, and the optics that had been dark glowed a brilliant teal from within. "You will see what a marvelous advancement this truly is! Say hello to everyone, Aki,"

One hand of the massive seven foot tall mech that would be reminiscent of old robot films such as the Iron Giant came up in a wave, before the robot turned its head to the audience. "Hello." came a synthesized voice, earlier and pleasantly intelligent in his inflection.

Reno walked over, as he'd been directed, and he reached and shook the robot's hand. As soon as he did the eyes flashed, and the mechanoid turned, his hands stretching out, beams coming out of the palms and chaos broke out everywhere. Things seemed to go in slow motion as his eyes went wide, and he shouted "Get everyone out of here!"

A dim memory broke through the stunned shock, the memory of a small robotic doll that would dance on his bed and make him laugh as a young boy. Of course it was controlled by a small RC controller, but it had been like magic to a seven year old boy who had had so very little. Eerily, the robot was dancing in the very same manner across the stage as the building began to crumble around them. People screamed and ran, trampling each other in an attempt to get out.

Cloud ran toward the stage to try to reach his lover, only to hear the creaking sound of a beam above them. The building was round, like a sports stadium, with a dome atop it, which gave the other people more places to escape, but the stage was right in the center, making it more difficult for those on the stage to escape. "Reno!" he yelled out, as the flames roared up, engulfing the podium and making the Turk disappear from sight.

Rude grabbed Cloud's arm, pulling him out. "There is nothing you can do.." the bald man's expression was grim as he got him out of the building. "You would just be killed too, and he'd die anyway." His voice was toneless as he spoke, before he turned his head, hearing the voice of Doctor Kimiko trying to get control of the robot, as others were ushered out. She managed to get it out of the stadium, then ordered it to reach back in. It punched a hole in the roof and reached back in, rooting around for the redhead, who was the last one still alive inside.

Hotaru's face seemed to crumple in on itself as her precious creation suddenly went out of control, destroying everything in its path. "Aki. ..Aki, no!" she yelled out, grabbing one of the metal arms and pulling it out of the building. The mech was making what could almost be called sounds of distress, two clangs sounding as its hands clapped to its temples. "You must calm down, my love" she whispered. "You must get the young one out. If you allow him to die, I will not be able to finish my work."

It turned, in a ponderous fashion, walking back to the building, climbing atop the roof of the massive round sports arena it plunged its hand through the roof, reaching down with both arms and lifting the debris off the Turk before pulling him back up.

The flames licked up around Reno, his body frozen as terror shredded through every single bit of his training, a primordial fear that even the best trained would be hard pressed to overcome. The images of the hands blasting the building apart, bricks falling down around him, burying him underneath it all combining with the appearance of those gleaming glass crystals and the voices that rushed around him, plus the voice from the machine, overwhelming his mind until his pupils pinpointed, consciousness sinking deep to preserve what sanity remained to him.

Night owl calls while the dove soars across the silver moon. All alone the rose petals close and kiss the night. All across the darkened night sky sail fireflies. gently lighting shadows that hide a thousand eyes.

The verse from the old lullaby his mother had once sung to him echoed through his mind for a moment before his eyes took on the same look of glassy and blank pits as the smoked steel mechanoid whose hand draped itself around him and assisted him out of the destroyed building. When he looked at those who had been so terrified for him, and were glad he was alive, Rude shivered at the look of blank non awareness.

Cloud had fought Rude the whole way to get back into the building to try to get Reno out. . .panic welling in heart and soul, the same panic that had torn into him when Zack had died, and Aerith. He pulled Reno out of the thing's arms, glaring at it with mouth drawn into a vicious snarl. "Don't you touch him." He already hated the creature for what it had done. . .saving his lover's life was not enough to make up for it.

The sound of the sirens in the distance made the others look up. Rude's face was coated in soot from the fire, as he bent to try to get Reno's attention on him. "The medics are coming." he reassured his partner, who simply continued to give him that blank stare. Inside, another persona was forming, one that did not feel pain, or sorrow, or fear. It was cold logic and knowledge, no emotion. "I am unharmed." The flat, cold tone, with none of Reno's typical slang dialect or even his normal Slums accent, would be heartbreaking to those who knew the wiry redhead well.

In your head  
In your head  
Zombie zombie zombie ei ei  
What's in your head  
In your head.  
Zombie, zombie, zombie ei, ei, ei, oh

Zombie by the Cranberries

Rude and Cloud exchanged glances as the medics came, the bald man had lost his sunglasses somewhere along the line, making him feel much more exposed than he really liked. The dismay in those eyes was clear in the way they scrunched at the corners, and in the way the lids hung half-closed. "We will make him all right again." he promised the blond. "Some how, some way, we will. Even if I don't know how yet. I'm not going to accept anything less, and I doubt any of the others who consider him a friend will either."

The look he shot in the direction of the woman who had shut the robot down and begun to load into the car was scathing, enough to make her flinch, had she been looking. "I don't like the feeling I get from her." he muttered to Cloud. "Something about her just strikes me wrong, and I don't know what that is yet." Inside, he was shaken, but turning on that analytical nature of his Turk training was keeping him from becoming overly emotional. If he lost that edge, broke down, it would not help him to figure out exactly why what had happened had happened, and more than anything in the world he wanted to understand, as it might help them in figuring out how to help Reno.

"This is my fault." Cloud's voice was soft. "If I'd watched over him better this wouldn't have happened. I knew something was wrong. . .I knew that there was something off about the situation." He turned, heading toward the ambulance, as the medics began to check the redhead over. The eerie stillness and cooperation that they got from the Turk shook the former trooper to his core, normally the slender male would be swatting at them and telling them to back off, that he was fine and to stop fussing at him.

"Do not blame yourself." The words came from the bartender that came up behind them. "You know that's the last thing he'd want, Cloud." Tifa had her hands on her hips as she looked at him, those wine colored eyes meeting his dead on. "He's always hated when you do that, if he were able he'd smack you for that, and you know he would." She swept her bangs out of her face. "Instead of blaming yourself you need to find a way to help him."

"She's right." Rude told him. "Reno would not want you to blame yourself. He always does what he feels he needs to, even if it's things that others might not agree with sometimes, or might think are reckless or foolhardy. It is who he is, and has always been. Now come on. I'm pretty sure Rufus has already called in the best so far as psychotherapists and doctors by now." He set that hand on Cloud's shoulder again, his expression thoughtful. "I'll take you."

Rufus had indeed called upon the best that Gaia had to offer, considering himself fortunate that the man lived in Edge so he did not have to wait for him to come from some distant place to get here. "Doctor Ellison." He greeted the stocky man with the graying chestnut hair, "I should probably explain to you why I've called you here." He looked to where Reno was being examined by the physician, and gestured the therapist to a seat. "You do know of the accident at the arena earlier, I am quite sure."

"I saw it on the news." Doctor Ellison confirmed. "Just horrible. The latest estimated death toll was fifteen hundred. I can't even imagine what it was like to witness that, much less be inside when it all happened." he felt a jolt of sympathy for all of those who had been there.

"Mr. Kiribani was inside the stadium when it happened. He had been working with the robot that went out of control, had even assisted the creator in making the finer adjustments to the finished product." Rufus told him, his expression serious. "All of his life, since he was a young child, he has been fascinated with automatons. I am certain you as a psychologist can imagine the sense of betrayal that would come from being nearly killed by something you had felt an affinity with your entire childhood."

The doctor flinched at that assessment. "And from the records you supplied me with, it would appear he was not entirely mentally stable to begin with, risk for disassociation, PTSD, depression, aggression, and psychotic breaks." The assessment was succinct. "And my guess is that they are not complete, such tendencies commonly are associated with early childhood trauma, and at the moment. . .he is the only one with the answers that may give us a clue to just how deep this rabbit hole goes. . And he's not able to supply them."

"I want you to get the answers as to what happened. He knows something. I know that he knows something, but he is hidden so deeply beneath the mechanisms protecting him from the trauma that he does not remember it." Rufus' lips thinned into a firm line, his jaw set. "I want to know why this happened. I doubt Doctor Kimiko will answer any questions, if she has not already fled. My suspicions are that she has. I should have had her arrested, but there truly was not anything I could have had her arrested for. She had not done anything illegal. That we know of."

"I will do my best, President ShinRa. But I make no promises."

Deep within the one who sat on the bed with the doctors examining him Reno's true self lay curled up like a cat, hidden behind multiple barriers. It slept inside like a chick within the shell of an egg, In that mental landscape, a gate stood in front of that alcove where he was in protected slumber, with two figures, one on each side of it, the first with a wild and insane gleam in the teal eyes, and the other cold and logical, no emotion on the exotic-looking face, making it appear almost remote. The robotic one had chained the wild one to the gate so that he could not get free.

They were guardians for the raw self inside, his protectors until he was healed enough and strong enough to push past them and rise to the surface again. The Robot kept the wild one back because it was simply too dangerous to have it free.

What I've felt, what I've known  
Turn the pages, turn the stone  
Behind the door, should I open it for you....  
The Unforgiven II by Metallica

Hotaru had indeed run, left Edge altogether. She was hiding in a warehouse somewhere in Lower Junon, the slums of the seaside city being out from under ShinRa's watchful eye enough that she felt safe hiding with her robots, and trying to figure why Akio had lost his senses in such a horrible, tragic way. "I don't understand . .it should have worked perfectly." she murmured. "The power was there, you were in there. ..my darling." she set a hand on the mechanoid's cheek, her expression thoughtful.

Her eyes closed. She had no idea as of now of how to deal with this. Without ShinRa's support she would not be able to bring back Daisuki. . .and with the blame for the disaster resting solely on her machines there was no way she would gain the company's support once more. The only thing she could think of was seeking the assistance of the Wutai government but even that would be chancy should Godo die prior to Daisuki's completion.

I will have to see if I can steal what I need, and hope that I used to separate Aki's spirit works as well for Dai's. I have worked too many years trying to get back my family to let this setback be the end.. The thought was one that made her lips press together as she tried to put together the pieces to do what she had to do.

Cloud sat in the waiting area until they were done so he could take his lover home, his eyes closed. The whole situation had him confused. The mental devastation was clear, and left him not sure what to do about it. He felt as if he was walking on eggshells around the man, as he did not know exactly how Reno would be from one moment to the next. He was no good at dealing with psychological trauma at any rate, even if he had dealt with plenty of his own.

As he waited, the President walked out to him, and gestured him to sit. "Cloud." Rufus began by using his given name, he wanted to set the blond warrior at ease, especially as it was likely they would need to work together if they were to get anywhere, both in caring for the redhead that both of them loved, and in solving the mystery of what had gone wrong. "I know how difficult this must be for you. . .if there is anything I can do to help, simply ask it of me."

Rufus had every intention of making certain that every one of Reno's medical bills was covered. He did not want Cloud to have to worry about any of the financial burden that came of events of this nature, as it would detract from finding out exactly what happened. Though as he said as much, that he intended to be certain that all of their expenses were covered, he saw how the former trooper's spine stiffened. He knew the man had his pride. He held out a hand in a warding gesture. "Do not stand on your principles." Rufus said quietly, sweeping the strand of bangs that would not stay back out of his eyes. "I need your help to find the Good Doctor. . .and to understand what went wrong. If you are too busy struggling to simply survive, you will not be at your sharpest to give me the help that I need. I know that you are a proud man, and if you feel the need to repay me when this is said and done, I will not tell you no."

Cloud suddenly let out a soft laugh, as if suddenly remembering something. "You know how he's always getting himself in trouble? Of course you do, he's one of your own. I remember one day when. . ."

The power had gone out sometime around midnight the night before, snow falling in heavy blankets all across the city. Cloud would wake to the sound of swearing and the scent of burning meat sometime around seven in the morning, padding out to the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. When he got there, Reno had at the wooden cutting board up on the counter, with an entire package of uncooked sausage patties laying on it. He had his emr out, and was inserting the weapon into the middle of each patty and turning it on, the electricity searing through the meat and sending out the smell of burning pork each time.

The blond could not help himself, he took in the sight of the redhead with his hair hanging loose down to the small of his back, wearing a pair of pajamas with helicopters screen printed all over them and feeties, sticking his electro mag rod into the middle of a dozen sausage patties laid out in two rows of six one at a time, and he tilted his head back, letting out deep bellied, rolling laughs.

"He looked so thoroughly ridiculous, I couldn't help but laugh." Cloud smiled almost fondly at that. "But I will give him this. . .he did get the sausage cooked. And it was some of the best sausage I had eaten in a pretty long time." His face fell, though, the reminder of just why they were here sticking itself into his gut. He wasn't sure why he felt this easy camaraderie with Rufus, except that he knew the man loved Reno dearly, as if the Turk was his own brother.

Rufus set a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "We will help him get himself back. That I can promise you. He is strong, stronger than many give him credit for. He would not have survived nearly so long as he has if he was not. And we will see if there was any sort of foul play involved. If there was. . .the perpetrator will not get away with it. I will not allow such to happen."

Cloud merely nodded as the door opened and Reno was led out by the doctor to be released into the former trooper's care. The blank look on the normally mobile face made Cloud's heart sink, but he did all he could not to show it. I have to stay strong. He said to himself. Reno needs me, to help take care of him, but also to find the one responsible for this. I won't let it go unpunished, that is a promise that I am making to myself, right here, right now.

Reno merely tilted his head, giving the spike haired blond a curious look, and nodding as he was told to go with the man. He knew who Cloud was, and that he lived with him, but the emotional connection was not there at that moment. The knowledge was there, but not the feeling, and he did not even realize he should be disturbed at that fact. "We are going home?" he asked, that tone again flat, with no feeling or inflection whatsoever in it.

"Yes, we are." Cloud looked down. Inside, his heart was breaking every time Reno spoke that way, and he knew that there was not a damn thing he could do to change it. .. even if he wished to every deity that there was that he could. "I'll make sure that you have everything that you need. I promise you that much." He wanted to hug the redhead, but he wasn't sure if it would be accepted. So instead he squeezed the man's shoulder. "You hungry? We can pick up something on the way home if so."

The question was answered in the form of a loud rumble. Reno poked at his belly as if he didn't understand why it had made that noise. "I believe I am, yes." His lips pursed in a perplexed expression. "If that noise and the ache I feel here mean that." The teal eyes took on a blank look for a moment as if withdrawing within, then cleared. "Yes, I am hungry." he confirmed. "I think I wish to have a cheeseburger."

The ache grew deeper the more that Cloud saw him displaying none of his normal vibrant life. It's destroyed him. And the worst part is that he doesn't even realize that it has. The loss of one's entire self, the worst thing is I can't even say I can't imagine it, I've been there. I will help get him back. His determined face grew firmer still, even as he did all he could to hide it from his lover. He refused to let on to Reno that what had happened upset him.

Gods speed and good luck. Rufus thought to himself as he watched the two walk out. You will need it, but I will make damn sure you both have every single bit of support that you could need.

Tseng was waiting in the doorway when Rufus returned to the ShinRa building, the look on his face one of foreboding. "We found this within the wreckage of the stadium." He held in his hand a small gel pack, it had remnants of a green fluid inside of it. "We do not know where it has come from, as yet, or what it was doing there. . .but it is obvious that it is unrefined mako. And we all know that that is bad news."

Rufus' lip curled, and his nostrils flared, blue eyes narrowing as rage filled him. "I have done all that I can to get away from the things my father has done. To make up for the harm that was done to the Planet under his watch. That someone is using mako sickens me, especially someone that I myself hired. She must be found, she must be. I've no idea what use she would have for raw lifestream, and I shudder to imagine the purposes of it."

"As do I. Even refined mako is dangerous, but raw mako. . .? That is a disaster simply waiting to happen. Even for someone as knowledgeable as Doctor Kimko has proven herself to be." Tseng's own mouth was pursed as he dropped into thought. "And you and I both know of the secret that Reno hid. For years, due to your father's greed and machinations, we hunted the boy's cousin. If Rupert ShinRa had known that one lay right under his nose the consequences may well have been disastrous." Tseng shook his head. "Combining raw lifestream with someone who already is has increased sensitivity to it due to his ancestry, especially one who has not had a chance to be taught to use his inherent gifts. . .Leviathan only knows what the result of such a thing may be."

"Not to mention the dangers inherent to others. .. but it does give a possible reason for why one of the strongest men I know broke so swiftly." Rufus tapped his chin in a thoughtful manner. Mild mako poisoning would explain Reno breaking so swiftly, most of his kind would have processed the substance quickly, but how much of that was natural ability or training Rufus did not know, and that worried him. "Make sure the rest of the wreckage is entirely swept. We need to know why there was raw mako there, in a contained form."

Tseng gave a sharp nod. "I will make certain that it is done,. Sir." then with a head tilt he asked. "What should I tell Strife? He would want to know that there was mako involved, yet at the same time would being told of the presence of it distract him from the matter at hand? He does tend to get hung up in the details, which could cause him to lose track of the bigger picture."

"Not for now. When we know for sure that the presence of mako did have a hand in what happened to Reno, or that it definitely has something to do with this case, we will tell him."

Do you feel cold

and lost in desperation?

You build up hope,

but failure's all you've known

Remember all

the sadness and frustration

and let it go

let it go

Iridescent by Linkin Park

Reno had seemingly sunk into his own world again by the time he got home, staring blankly at the television that Cloud had turned on when they had walked in. His eyes were glued to the commercials about small animatronic toys, a hand reaching out. Deep inside, the mental landscape was like to a dystopian city, except with a massive waving field of gold in the very center of it, where the youthful looking form was curled up as if cocooned, in a fetal position. That form stirred a bit, though, only to have the Robot stroke fingers through his hair to soothe him back into sleep.

In the outside world, he made a soft sound of curiosity as he settled his fingers across the screen, the digits fanning out over the picture of the robotic guard hound. "I know this creature." was all that Reno said before he fell back into silence again. . And when the commercial ended his hand dropped back onto the sofa. He didn't realize that it was a memory from the self deep within.

Cloud simply nodded, the scent of cooking beef filling the apartment in a way that normally would normally have Reno grinning and asking where the beer was, and it stung even more in some ways that there was nothing but the almost childlike activity of reaching his hand out to the screen when he would find something that fascinated him.

"He must be protected" the Robot's tone was firm. "It is too dangerous for him out there. He is damaged, it would destroy him to be out in the world again. He can not allowed to go out in it again." The trauma had been bad, and if the Guardians had any say they would never let the self within awaken again. "He is the last. The world can not lose him."

"I will kill anyone who tries to harm him." The wild one grinned fiercely even as he was chained. "Protect him even from himself." The inner discussion was one that did not bode well for the one that they spoke of . .even if they were simply trying to protect him. The green miasma mist that floated around them was something they were able to draw upon, using the power to keep their charge sleeping.

"I pray that is not needed." The Robot replied, encouraging the curled up body to remain sleeping, gentling and hushing him

Wind whipped the tails of the suit jacket up from the dark pants as sun gleamed off the bald scalp. Rude was digging through the remainder of the rubble, looking for more clues, Elena digging in another section of the building. They had both fallen silent, which is how Rude's sharp ears heard the sudden click from deep within the debris. "Elena, run!" he yelled, and began running himself, he had recognized that click, it was the sound of a detonator being activated.

As they began to take off there was a sudden whoosh sound, as if of all of the air being sucked out of a room, followed by a loud boom that deafened them both. The rush of heat at his back triggered Rude to pull Elena into his arms, curling up with her into a protective ball as the scent of sulphar and carbon burned through both of their nostrils.

"Someone doesn't want us searching the auditorium." Elena quipped, standing up and dusting herself off as she noted that there was likely nothing left for them to find inside. "Incendiary device. . .any evidence that was still there has likely been destroyed by the heat. It isn't as expert as one of yours, but. . .it did a damn good job of taking down that building, and almost taking down us. It was activated by a remote detonator, which means someone had to have been close enough to trigger it, but they likely fled as soon as they triggered it."

"They might have left something behind though." Rude mused. "Some hair, a bit of the detonator. . .any forensic evidence would be a godsend right now, it could lead us to the full story. Something tells me that the good Doctor is as much a patsy as we were being taken for. But the question is just how deep does the Jumping hole go?"

"I guess the only way to find out. ..is to jump in it, ne?" Elena's face blossomed into a smirk as she spoke those words, determined now to find everything that she could. "They won't get away with hurting Senpai. I promise you that much."

"Job's done." The one who spoke was shadowed, face hidden by lack of light. "There won't be a shred of evidence left in there. It's too bad I couldn't get the Turks in the explosion, but I made sure not to leave anything that could lead them back to us. Even the detonator if they happened to find it looks damn close to one of their own. Should, they were stolen from them." He chuckled, the sound dark. "Soon enough we'll have everything we want. The Good Doctor will make sure we get it. .. after all we've dangled what she wants right in front of her like a carrot on a string."

"Good. . ." the answering voice was as smooth as whiskey over velvet, a baritone that held a slight Wutain accent to it. "The brat will not even know what hit him by the time we are done with him. . .we will have taken his continent and everything on it that once belonged to ShinRa even as his father took our country from us." Smoke curled around the man's head as he matched his lackey with a chuckle equally as dark and forbidding. "Then vengeance will be ours."

I will watch the smoke rising as we too rise from the ashes like the mythical Phoenix. .. and take our place, the one that should have been ours rightfully.

"Sir, I regret to inform you that whatever further evidence might have been in the site was unobtainable." Rude's features were grim as he relayed the news to the President. "But we did find some forensic evidence at the scene. The detonator was stolen from our own stores, which suggests an inside job, but. . ." he held up a baggie with several long dark hairs inside of it. "These were near where we found the detonator. We aren't sure whose they are, but they have the look, weight, and feel of someone who is of Wutain descent."

Tseng's eyes narrowed, then he lifted the bag, his lips pursing in deep thought. "I suppose seeing if there are roots on the hairs is the best tactic now, though I can tell you that even should we catch the ones who set the bomb they are likely to ritual suicide rather than tell you who employed them. My people are a proud people, Shachou, as I know you know from your own experience."

The blond nodded. "I am aware that they are." Rufus began the rhythmic pacing once more that he often performed when he was troubled or in thought. "Which comes back to helping our comrade heal. He likely has seen things, things that if he had the mind and ability to process those clues properly would likely tell us much. Reno is sharp, intelligent, and highly intuitive. Something we sorely need at the moment and lack due to this mishap." He sighed. The loss was also one of a loss of a friend, and he knew that Tseng knew that, but the loss of that brilliant mind was making it all the more difficult to catch the one who had harmed him, and the rabbit hole was just getting deeper with each discovery they made.

"I will have forensics see if they can get DNA off these hairs, sir. In the meanwhile, the chemicals used in the explosion are also being traced, though if the detonator is any indicator, the chemicals may well have been from our own stores as well." Tseng was already texting the forensics team to tell them that there was another bit of evidence coming down for them. "If I may be frank, Shachou. . .this whole situation disturbs me, for reasons I can not right now pinpoint. That Doctor Kimiko asked for Reno specifically now strikes me odd, and I do not know why."

The phone call from her benefactor had spooked Hotaru, even as she was working to try to fix the issue with the robot that had destroyed the stadium in the city. Being asked to sabotage, then to kill if necessary, was not something that sat well with her. . .she would do anything to get her family back, though the deaths at the stadium had been utterly accidental. The order to make sure that the Turk never recovered was not one that she liked, but her family and her life were on the line if she did not, and there was little she could do about it.

"My Aki. . ." she settled a hand on the robot's cheek. "I don't know what to do. You always told me to do what felt right in my heart. . .what does one do when one does not know what that is anymore?" Her eyes were heavy lidded as she tried to calm the pounding in her heart. She didn't want to harm the bright young man that reminded her so much of her husband, Akio, who had always been smiling and laughing, loving his family with a ferocity that most did not understand. He had been a simple man, a soldier, nothing like Hotaru's intellect, but to her it had not mattered. He was the man she loved, and she had devoted herself to him with all of her will.

Memory carried her away like the endless expanse of the rolling sea, back into the corridors of her mind into happier days. Akio had been tall, and broader shouldered than most of the full blood Wutains due to his father having been one of the SOLDIERS who had first come into Wutai, before the war, before all of the destruction that had come after. His mother had loved the spike haired SOLDIER from the East who had come and gone like the wind, but had left the gift of little Akio behind. There had been many born like that in those days.

Hotaru had fallen hard and fast for the SOLDIER's son who had become first a farmer, and then a soldier himself when it had become a matter of picking up arms to protect their homes, families, and land. She'd born their son, Daisuke, during one of the lulls in the fighting, the boy had been the apple of her eye, always laughing and wanting to make others smile. "I wish you were still here, to tell me what I should do. You were always my compass when I was not certain how to handle a situation. I miss you so much."

She sighed, shaking her head and dropping her hand. "I want to believe that this is truly you. . .they promised me that it would be. But now I do not know." The uncertainty just made it all the more difficult to know the right thing to do.

There were murmurs around the Flames of Phoenix meeting hall, some believed their leader was going too far in his fanaticism, while most simply obeyed because it was they felt they should do. One of them, one of the younger members, looked over at one of his friends, shaking his head. "I love our country." the young soldier, slender and short and looking no more than a teenager, started. "But I don't know. He's talking about slaughtering everyone that even has ties to the company. . .down to the women and children. That disturbs me. Does it make us any better than them if we let our own rage consume us?"

The one next to him gestured down with his hands as if to shush him. "I don't like it any more than you do, but I also like living. If the boss hears you we might not be alive very long." The other had long blue black hair with streaks of a chestnut brown in it, his face yet more youthful with a bit of baby fat in his cheeks still. "He's just a bit crazy."

"I know." The response was short and given in a manner that said the boy had experienced said crazy before. "Just starting to wonder if this whole thing is even really worth it." The questioning was something utterly natural for one who did actually have a few shreds of humanity left. "It might almost be better to let ShinRa have it if the boss is an example of what's left of the leadership of our country." he shut up as the door opened, not wanting to take a risk that he might be heard. He shuddered remembering the one who had gone against their leader and what had happened to him.

The boy had been caned, then skinned, and his body hung out in the square as an example of why one did not defy the leader. Micho did not want to be the next one to be punished in such a manner. Instead, he ducked his head, working on the bomb that had been put before him. The thing that kept most of them in line now was fear, and all of the saner ones within the group knew it.

This was not what I signed up for, he thought to himself as he welded the wire down into the electronics of the device. None of us knew things would go this far when it started, but then again desperation is a sanity killer. Now we're stuck, there's no getting off this ride until it's over, all we can do is hope that we don't end up crashing and burning in the process. And I hope I can protect my brother. If I lost Baku I don't know what I would do. It's what keeps me going, even though I would do anything to be able to escape this Hell.

"The underlings are getting restless, Chao Min" Katsu, second in command of the Flames of the Phoenix, turned to their leader, an older man with a muscular and toned body and dark almond shaped eyes that even though he was in his mid-fifties were still as sharp and clear as they had been when he had served in Wutai's military fifteen years prior. Katsu himself was in his thirties, trim and lithe with a dancer's grace.

"Worry not, Katsu, my old friend. They do not know of the glory that will come once this is complete. You can not win a war without a few causalities. There may be a few faint of heart, but those few fear me and will not step out of lime due to that fear." Chao Min assured his second in command of that in a very assured tone. "I have struck fear into all, enough that no one would dare to defy us. The single one that betrayed us and the punishment that he received is enough to assure that none will fail until it is all over and too late for any to stop us."

Chao Min shrugged his kimono on. He would make an address to his men later in the evening, get their blood stirred again, make certain that he would crush whatever doubts might remain. Remind them of how horrible ShinRa had been to their people, make them seem like animals. That was how men had had the flames of war fanned from time immemorial, and he doubted that would change any time soon. It was a tactic that simply worked.

Reno after watching television for a few hours finally rose mechanically from where he had been crouched on the floor, knowing he needed to shower, even if he was not entirely sure why. His lover had gone to get groceries, but seemingly trusted Reno to be able to at least do some basic things for himself without getting himself into trouble. He turned the faucet on, making a soft sound as the warm water ran through his hair and down his back.

"Night hawk sings as the black raven circles overhead." The smokey tenor rang out in the shower as Reno began washing himself. He'd sung in the shower since he'd been a boy, and it was something almost automatic for him now. "All alone the white lily bends and slowly dies. All across the darkened night sky sail fireflies. Gently lighting shadows that hide a thousand eyes!"

Deep inside his mental prison, the boy that had been curled up around himself in slumber suddenly sat up, rubbing his eyes in curiosity. "Where am I?" the voice was youthful, that of a boy of perhaps ten or twelve. It was the self that Reno had been before his mother had died, before he had killed the ones who had killed her in retaliation and the two who guarded him had been born.

In the outside, as the boy woke, Reno's eyes would begin to show their normal life and vitality. "A dream, dream, no dream. You can feel the forest calling out to you! A dream, dream, no dream. Close your eyes, my darling child."

The Child woke completely, beginning to rise entirely to the surface, curiosity propelling him, as he ignored the shout of warning from the Wild One. The natural curiosity he bore made him want to see and experience everything, but his natural innocence made him a target for those who would use him. Something neither of his guardians wanted to see happen.

The Robot was quick to move, a hand going to his neck and pinching the nerve within so the Child collapsed back into his sleep. He draped a blanket over the little one, and looked over at the wild one. "That was far too close." he said, his expression one of great displeasure. "I do not want him hurt. He is far too vulnerable to be allowed to surface."

In the shower, it was as if Reno was a puppet and someone cut his strings as his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed against the wall, letting out little more than a sigh as he did, consciousness utterly fleeing the outside world.

Cloud walked back in after going to get groceries to find Reno in the shower, laying against the wall, cold water splashing down over him, his eyes closed. "Shit." he swore quietly. He scrambled to turn off the water and dry him off before getting him dressed, lifting up his phone as he did. "President ShinRa, I came home to Reno passed out in the shower. I don't know what happened, but it's a bit disturbing to me. He's never done this before unless he was injured. I don't know what to think."

Rufus took in a deep breath. "I will call Doctor Ellison. . .bring him here to the new Headquarters. I want to have him looked over by the psychologist, this is odd behavior, even with him so damaged. " then a shaky sigh echoed over the line. "We've found a few things, Cloud. . .but I can not tell you over the phone, it is far too dangerous. I will speak to you when you get here."

Rufus simply watched through the window, noting the almost stilted, mechanical movements. It hurt him, deeply, more deeply than he had words for, to see someone who had done so much for him and for his company in this state. He looked over to the doctor, his lips narrowed. "Is there anything you can do, any hope at all?" he asked, husky blue eyes closing half way as he ran fingers through blond silk, the fine features and full lips scrunching in concern. His shoes, expensive black dress shoes, made clattering sounds across white tile as he paced near the window.

"We don't know, President ShinRa." the doctor, who was a hotshot in his mid thirties, the best up and coming psychiatrist and therapist on the entire Planet, was speaking in a voice more unsure than Rufus had ever heard from him, as he shook his head, graying chestnut brown spikes swaying as he did. "The trauma was very deep, anyone else would have broken beyond all hope of being put back together again, become completely and irretrievably insane. That he's responsive at all is a miracle."

He had begun the conversation after Cloud had gotten there with Reno and had walked out toward a conference room to wait for Rufus. One of the physicians was looking him over while he talked to the psychotherapist. "Indeed it is. .. " he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am certain you understand where I am coming from. This man is the closest thing to a brother that I have remaining to me. "

It was with those words that Rufus turned and strode, stiff backed with worry, toward the door.

"Why do you do this, Doctor?" Reno's inquisitive gaze met the physician's. "I am unharmed. Perhaps a bit hungry, and a bit tired, but unharmed." It was if he did not even realize how strange it was that he had been found unconscious under the shower spray, for him to simply pass out the way he had. "May I leave now?"

"Your lover is speaking to your employer at the moment, Mr. Kiribani. As soon as he returns you can go." The older gentleman assured him. He would tell the others what he had found, which was not a whole lot. It was as if his brain had simply shut down, as one would turn off a light switch. An unusual incident, in the doctor's experience, and something that bore closer watching. Doctor Matthews, the physician, wanted to run a few tests, there was something about what had happened that gave him a very odd feeling.

It had likely been a result of a surge in brain activity, resulting in an overload and then a shut down. He had seen it before, but it was rare, and normally not something with a psychological cause. I need to talk to the President when he finishes with Mr. Strife.

"We found evidence of the use of mako at the site." Rufus' lips pressed together as he broke that to Cloud. "Though we are not certain what it was being used for. . .it was raw, not refined. Which in the wrong hands would be even more dangerous." He knew that Cloud would know very well how dangerous that could be.

The look that Cloud's face bore at the news, jaw set, brows drawn down, mouth pressed tight, as well as the heightened color that brushed over his cheeks, spoke easily of how he felt about it. "I'd ask how I know it's not you, Rufus, but I know you wouldn't risk Reno. I still don't completely trust you, but I'm pretty sure you know that. The one thing I do trust is that you care about my lover enough not to do something that had a high risk of bringing him harm."

Rufus set a hand on his shoulder. "We will find the one responsible. I still have my suspicions that Doctor Kimiko is a pawn in this, is being used. The ones ultimately behind it must be found. I promise you this. . .I will do all in my power to be certain that the ones who have done this pay the full price for their crime."

Both of them looked up as an explosion rocked the nearby block, concrete and glass sailing toward them at a very high rate of speed, Cloud pushing Rufus to the floor as the window shattered, shielding him from the glass and from the debris that had thrust themselves through the large expanse of it that stretched across the wall outside of Rufus' office.

"You know when I doubted you, Rufus?" Cloud quipped as he got off the blond in the white suit, helping him to his feet. He looked over at the building across the street with the smoking hole in the side of it, whistling at the damage.

"Yes?" Rufus brushed off his suit as he too took in the damage to the office tower across the street from the new ShinRa building, already calculating in his head the amount it would cost to fix it so that he could make sure that it got done. It would be done on his dime, after all it had been destroyed by someone who had been after him, which made it his responsibility.

"Forget I said anything. I was pretty sure you wouldn't do anything to hurt Reno, but I know damn well you have enough self preservation instinct that you wouldn't do anything to get yourself killed. You can be a little crazy sometimes, but unless you count that jump from the old tower suicidal you're not."

Reno even as the doctor had ducked for cover had simply sat there, even as the building rattled around him, completely unaware there had been any danger at all. When he walked out to the others, his lips merely pursed as he looked out at the other building, his expression clearly asking just what had happened.

"Tseng, I want you and Rude to go examine the bank across from us." Rufus called them over the in house intercom. "That explosion was entirely too close to us for me to feel as if it wasn't a warning of some kind."

The doctor took Rufus and Cloud aside. "I'd like to keep Reno here for some testing. I know most of it is likely psychological in nature, but the fact that he passed out afterward concerns me. I want to be certain there is no physical damage. A normal EEG would set me much more at ease."

"Do it." Rufus' command was direct. If any physical damage could be ruled out they could concentrate on the psychological damage which would very much simplify things. In the meanwhile they would find the ones who had been sent to do this, and question them. "And Cloud, as soon as we have caught the ones who did this. .. I want your consent to allow Reno to see them. If there is one there that he might recognize, even in his damaged condition. . .it may trigger something that may lead us to the rest of them."

"I don't know if that is such a good idea." Cloud's tone was doubtful. "We both know that Reno's not really all that mentally stable even during the best of circumstances. . .if something should trigger him in the less than pleasant way. .. .Goddess only knows what might happen."

"I won't let anything bad happen, Strife, stop worrying so much." The change to the surname would speak volumes about how resolute Rufus was that this was going to happen, regardless of whether Cloud liked it or not. Rufus was determined that they would get some clue that would help them find their suspects.

He had no idea how right Cloud was to be worried.

"The warning has been sent." Katsu bowed to Chao Min. "Even if they catch the ones who have done it, they have been ordered to kill themselves rather than talk, there will be no way to link them back to us. . . until you want them to."

"Good. . .fantastic work, Katsu." He set a hand on his second's shoulder. "I knew that I could count on you to make sure that it was done right." The hookah was lifted from the table and smoke curled out from it, wrapping around their heads. He looked out over the looted ruins of their capital. . .even after so long it had still not been returned to its former glory. Yes, Godo had been working to help make that happen, but in Chao Min's opinion it was far too slow for his taste. "How goes the work on our army?"

"The first ones should be ready within the week, my liege. Doctor Kimiko has been called and she knows that if she is to have what she wants, we are to get what we want."

"Wonderful. I look forward to. . .watching them work." a devious smile quirked up the corners of Chao Min's mouth.

"It was as I suspected." The neurologist gestured at the print out for the tests he had done with the EEG and the stress test, the films spread out over Rufus' desk. "Part of his brain is overloading during times of extreme stress or emotion. . .causing an electrical storm which causes him to lose consciousness. There is no structural damage being done, I can assure you of that much. It's a symptom of the psychological trauma attempting to mend itself."

Rufus looked thoughtful at that. "I wanted to be certain that beginning treatment would not harm him. Now that I see that it will not. . .I want to do so as quickly as possible." The information the Turk bore could very well catch them a killer before things escalated to a scale they would not longer be able to control, and that was the thing he wanted more than anything. The explosion at the bank had told him he needed to step this investigation up.

He and Cloud's heads both turned as Rude drug a man through the door, his hands chained behind him. "He had a suicide capsule on him, just as the Director had suspected he would, Sir." The bald man tossed the cyanide capsule out on the desk, immediately reporting in as he'd been instructed, and led him back to the interrogation room. What none expected was for the reaction from the redhead who had been quietly and silently leaning against a wall outside of the door.

Inside, the Child woke and suddenly started crying, the Wild One breaking free of his bonds and rising to the surface. Both guardians knew if the Child was crying danger was very close, and the Wild One had thirsted for a chance for this.

On the outside, in a motion too fast for anyone to track or even begin to try to stop, the teal eyes began to blaze with a bright mako glow, the look on Reno's face going from blank to mad, almost wicked, and his arm snapped out, drawing the bound man to him, teeth going to his neck and latching down on his throat.

The dissident gurgled as those teeth sank all the way in, blood filling his throat as he struggled to get free. "Call off your attack dog! This guy's insane!" the Wutain managed to get out, as trails of scarlet fluid ran down his chin. The pressure of the bite was beginning to crush his trachea, which was not a way he wanted to die.

Rude grabbed Reno, trying to get him to let loose of the man, but his jaw was set tight in the way that a bulldog's would be. He refused to let go.

The Robot moved fast, grabbing the Wild One and chaining him back against the gate and rising to the surface himself. The switching caused Reno's eyes to lose that insane brightness and his face took on a confused look as his teeth fell from the man's throat, and he looked over at Cloud, asking simply "Why is the man bleeding, and why is there blood in my mouth? I do not understand."

"He had no memory of having tried to kill the guy." Cloud's tone was incredulous. "He just let go like nothing happened and has no memory of it. Now try to tell me he's not dangerous, Rufus, that even thinking of letting him into an interrogation is a good idea! He just snapped! What happens if he does end up killing someone? Do you really want to take that chance?" He groaned. "Just as things were starting to look like he and I might have a chance at some normalcy, something like this happens."

"Of course I don't! What in the world do you take me for, Strife? My father? I am certainly not him and have done everything I can to get away from his methods! Yes, I wanted to rule the world through fear once, but things change when you nearly watch the world burn and realize it is the fault of your company and the methods that were used to make it the power that it was!" Rufus ran long fingered hands through his hair. "Look, Reno's best chance at remaining somewhat stable until the psychologist can get a full read on his condition is for all of us to remain calm, to give him a more stable atmosphere in which he can stay. I know how you feel about him, and I will do all in my power to be sure that he is returned to you. .. as he should be."

"I'm going to hold you to that promise, Rufus," Sky blue eyes, glowing with the Planet's energy, narrowed. "If you don't keep it, you won't like what I might do in retaliation. I protect what's mine now. I failed Zack, I failed Aerith. I won't fail him. Even when I have to protect him from his own family." One of his hands touched the massive broadsword on his back in an unspoken threat as he walked out of the office to go take his lover home.

"I don't know anything." the wutain male told Rude as the Turk cracked his knuckles. "All I know is that a guy named Katsu paid me a lot of gil to drop a package in that building. He didn't tell me what it was, told me not to ask any questions. You must understand. I am a poor man, I have very little. My main desire is to make sure my wife and children have enough to eat. If it kills a few of you that pushed our world and my country into destitution, so much the better." He spat Rude, eyes narrowed at the corners.

Rude's round dark eyes narrowed a bit behind the dark lenses. He hated dealing with extremists, it struck his temper more than anything else, and it was hard as Hell to make him mad. "You know, just because some of us worked for the man that harmed this planet doesn't mean we agreed with his views." The words came out a drawl. "But you know, if you don't have any information for us there's no use keeping you alive."

The man's eyes widened, but he just shook his head. "You think I fear death, lapdog? There was a reason I had a cyanide capsule with it. I do not fear death for an honorable cause." He simply stared up into the dark lenses. "Not that you of ShinRa would know anything about honor." Dark amber eyes narrowed even more as he gave Rude an appraising look.

"You'd be surprised." came the return shot as the tall, stocky bald man walked out of the cell to report to Rufus what he'd been told. The set of the lantern shaped jaw told very clearly that Rude was not happy.

"He claims he was told to put the parcel in the building and walk out, and that he was paid well to do so." Rude's report was succinct and to the point. "His breathing and body language say he was telling the truth."

Rufus nodded, dropping into thought. "Our adversary has gotten smarter. Use those who have nothing to lose, and those who will not ask the reasoning for what they are doing." Long, slender fingers toyed with a jewel that he had owned for years. It was a nervous habit, one of the few that the President displayed. The motion helped him think. "Make sure there is a camera on him at all times, but make certain he does not realize it is there. He may give something away if he feels he is completely alone, and we need every clue that we can get."

The second phone call came in to Hotaru shortly after the bomb had exploded in Edge, demanding a speed up in production of the robots. "I want my son." her voice was firm, and though she wanted to trust her employers, she really didn't trust them as much as they would probably like. Doubt had begun to creep in, doubt that they would fulfill what they had promised, though she still very much wanted to hold onto that hope.

"You will get him when the job is complete, not a moment earlier, Doctor Kimiko. You knew that when this all began." The voice on the phone countered. "Honor your portion of the bargain, and we shall honor yours." The connection was severed with a definitive click.

Hotaru's mouth drew into a thin line. Goddess forgive me for what I must do but I would do anything for my son and for my husband. Anything.

# Chapter 2

Cloud had gone to the Seventh Heaven after Reno had fallen asleep, needing a drink and just someone to talk to. He was under a huge amount of stress, not surprisingly at all. The drink that was mixed and put in front of him made him look up. Tifa's wine colored eyes peered down at him. "You need to forgive yourself." were the first words she said.

She started cleaning the glasses as she watched Cloud nurse his drink. "I know you think that you should have watched over Reno better. . .that you failed him because he got hurt. But if you hold onto that guilt, Cloud, you won't do him any good. He needs you strong, he needs you on point. If you weaken now, you won't be in your face there for him when he needs you."

"Tifa, I. . ." he sighed, looking down into the glass. "I should have been there. I know you say I couldn't have known, but I had a strange feeling from the beginning that something was going to go wrong. If I'd spoken up, maybe. . .maybe it wouldn't have happened." a head shake followed that. . ."I'm being stupid, aren't I?"

"I wouldn't say stupid, but you need to remember that he would not want you to feel so guilty. He lives as he'd want to live, and that sometimes involves some risk. That's the way it is." Tifa brushed her dark hair away from her face, tucking a few strands behind her ear. "He'll get through this, though, Cloud. Reno is one of the strongest people I have ever met. Even if he can be irritating at times with his teasing."

"But I. . ." Cloud quieted when Tifa set a finger on his mouth, the smile he had known since they had both been children resting on her face as she shook her head, indicating that it was time to let all of that self blame go.

"Dilly Dally Shilly Shally, Cloud. It's time to move on, time to forgive yourself. You know that's what he'll want to see when he's well. . .when all of this is over." she told him, a soft laugh bubbling up from her chest.

Reno had been left sleeping when Cloud had gone to see Tifa, but none knew of the internal conversation going on. "He must at all costs be protected." The Robot reiterated. "The balance of this world depends on at least one being alive and healthy." He gave the Wild One a stern look. "That means no more of those outbursts like today. That will draw attention, and that is the last thing we need."

The Wild One made a grunting noise. "The man was a threat. I took care of the threat. That is all." He had enjoyed doing it, immensely, but he wasn't about to admit that out loud. "It wasn't as if it was something all that unusual for him, anyway, he kills and eliminates threats on a regular basis."

"People are starting to notice that things are off kilter." The Robot's eyes narrowed at the corners. "If you make it that much more obvious protecting the Child will be made all the more difficult." He turned toward the outside world. "His power will be needed, it must not be squandered until the proper time."

The Wild One scoffed. "It isn't as if our host isn't notorious for his impulsive actions. Calm down, it's not going to make that much of a difference." and he sneered. "Besides that, listening to that idiot human squeal was fun."

Rufus at the same time that Cloud was talking to Tifa watched on a vid screen as the man they had caught went through his day. He had a thought to release the man, with a tracking device implanted on him, something he would talk to the remainder of his Turks on shortly. But for now. . .he worried for his friend, and how they would help him heal.

Rufus, the voice was almost ethereal, feminine. Aerith, the Cetra who had brought about Holy to save the world from Meteor and had died in the doing, still remained as a ghost in the Lifestream that would appear when she was needed by the Planet to impart a thing, or to make certain things went as they should. Please, do not worry so much for the details. Protect my cousin, he will be needed. The rest will work itself out when it is time to. There is a reason for the things that happen, even if they are difficult.

He did hear, but he shook his head, as if he wasn't sure what to think. It was more of an impression upon his mind than something he fully understood or absorbed. The thought and message to be sure Reno was protected came through loud and clear, though, making him yet more determined to do so.

He will not come to harm. Whoever you are. . .I can swear that much to you. He may not be brother in blood to me, but he is brother in the heart. I will watch out for him because of that fact.

"They caught one of our bombers, sir." Katsu looked out to the sun setting over the mountains of Dao Chao, his mouth thinned in concern. "They managed to get his cyanide capsule from him. He does not know who hired him, but for my name, but I want to know what you would like me to do." He was not happy that one of the men he'd chosen had managed to get himself locked up, especially by ShinRa, whose Turks were legendary for interrogation.

"Eliminate him." came Chao Min's order. "I know that you can get into and out of ShinRa's prisons without being caught. Make sure that he dies before he can give away even that much." The hardened warrior was in his hikama when Katsu had entered, performing a set of routine katas that kept his body in shape, his hair tied back in the traditional soldier's bun. The room itself was designed in typical Wutain fashion, with a screen of red silk behind with Chao Min normally changed in one corner, the walls decorated in red satin, and paper lanterns of red embroidered in gold hanging from the ceilings.

The area itself was redolent with the scent of incense, such as one would find in a temple. The well built man turned, speaking a few words in Wutain that called his servant over with the towel, which he used to wipe the sweat from his face. The young man was quick to obey. He still remembered the last servent that had angered Chao Min, how he had ended up with his neck broken and laying out in the hallway to die. That was the last thing any of them wanted to experience.

Katsu bowed deeply, the long hair, black as night, falling into his face as he did so, broad shoulders leading down into the otherwise lithe and agile body. "Yes sir." he affirmed. "I will make sure it is done quickly." He turned and walked out, pulling out his phone and giving the order.

One. Nothing wrong with me  
Two. Nothing wrong with me  
Three. Nothing wrong with me  
Four. Nothing wrong with me

One. Something's got to give  
Two. Something's got to give  
Three. Something's got to give now

Let the bodies hit the floor  
Let the bodies hit the floor  
Let the bodies hit the floor

Two charges were set by black-clad figures in the middle of the night outside of the cell where the one the Turks had caught was being held, "Quiet and careful now." one told the other. "Should we get caught before our job is done it will be bad for us and our cause. . .failure is not an option."

The other simply nodded as the charges removed the lock, the door opening and waking the one within. The man sat up from his cot. "You've come to free me?" the smile of a man who had not expected rescue touched his mouth.

The question was answered by the blade that was quickly shoved between his ribs, piercing his heart and killed him almost instantly. The man had time to do little more than sigh before his body dissolved into the energy from which it had been formed upon his conception. The fact that these weapons instantly broke the body apart made the kills so much more neat, a fact that the two men knew Katsu appreciated.

The two nodded at one another and left the way they had come. By the time ShinRa came in the morning they would find little more than an empty cell.

Morning came to find Reno leaning against the wall on the balcony of he and Cloud's apartment, watching the sun come up with all of the wonder of a child gleaming in the teal eyes. Cloud had to admit that the way the sun made all of the various shades of red in the long hair glow like a halo around his head drew him in like a magnet. It looks like a flame that way, all lit from within. Oranges and reds and golds. I don't realize just how beautiful he is half the time because he just doesn't sit still.

"It's time for breakfast, Reno." he called out. Cloud did not yet know what had happened at the prison, that would come in a while. . .for now they would enjoy one another's company. .. or so the blond hoped. He had put out of his mind the thing that happened back at ShinRa, he no longer wanted to think about any of that. "I made your favorite, chocolate chip pancakes." The scent of chocolate and butter and maple filled the place as the redhead turned, rising from the porch.

Bare feet padded across plush baby blue carpeting and then slapped against marble tile as the Turk walked into the eat in kitchen and settled at the table. "They smell very good. Thank you." The face held the blank expression that it had since the accident, but the tone was very much sincere. The hands moved with those almost mechanical motions, cutting the pancakes, lifting them to his mouth, and chewing.

He was utterly innocent of what would soon be coming. . .and of the role that he would play in it all. A hand reached up to wipe his mouth with the napkin next to the plate and the motion was so childlike it made Cloud's heart ache. He reached out, brushing Reno's hair back from his face, and though he smiled it held an element of sadness. I love you. . .but how to even say it in a way you would understand?

The teal eyes closed, Reno's body relaxing at the touch. He still knew what felt good, even if he didn't have a lot of his normal emotion and fire. Cloud had always known how to reach him even when things were at their worst.

"I do not understand what it is you make happen inside of me. . .it feels. . .strange." the words, like someone who had never been in love before trying to find a way to explain it. "It makes me feel like I could float, warm and light." He set his hand on his chest, not knowing how to explain it other than that.

"That's love." Cloud told him, a slight smile lifting the corners of his mouth. "You may not understand it right now, but that's ok. You will, once you're well again." The promise, spoken quietly and in a tone that said he was hopeful that Reno would be well again. He did not realize that there was another watching them, not yet.

Watch over him, Cloud, Aerith had followed her cousin home. He has a lot of work to do, though he doesn't know that yet. It's going to be hard, and he will have to stand strong, but I know with your help and support he can do everything that he must. You just have to keep him believing, just a little while longer. I'll do all I can to protect him from here.

Rufus was stone faced as he saw the empty cell. He was fairly sure he knew what had happened, though who it was that had broken in and killed their witness was still a mystery. "We are not safe even here now. Something has to be done, they must be found, and they must be stopped. But they seem to be thwarting us at every turn. This is not something I like."

Tseng bowed his head. He hated that he had failed his Shachou, but there was not much to be done now. "I will not fail you again." he told Rufus. "This has become a much larger situation than we ever dreamed it would." His expression became similarly firm as he began to go through the security footage from the night before. He was bound and determined that he was going to find the people who had done this so that they could lead them back to the ones who were ultimately in control of the whole thing.

"Doctor Kimiko, the first lot of robots are ready for testing." one of her assistants strode up to her with the report that the units had been completed and were waiting for her orders for them to field tested.. The assistant ruffled his fingers through his shaggy chestnut brown hair. He could sense Hotaru's unease, but didn't say anything He knew her well enough to know that if she was in a mental state of that sort that questioning her was a bad idea. She was highly temperamental and unpredictable.

"Thank you." was all she said, amber eyes scanning over the report with a distant look in them. In truth, she did not agree with the violence these machines represented. Her wish was to bring life, not to steal it away. They were intended to make life easier, to give an existence of luxury and happiness. How did I get sucked into such a thing? Is it even prudent or worthwhile to ask why men do the things that they do?

She shook her head as if to shake the thoughts away as she walked out to the factory floor to personally inspect the first lot of robot soldiers, checking two or three to be certain that all was in order. These were new designs, and she knew well that glitches and faults were common in first runs of a new product. I do not wish my own people harmed if something goes wrong. Her workforce was like to a family for her, they were what she had left after what had happened. I still hate ShinRa for what they have done. But. ..I am not sure I like that so many innocents will die to get what Chao Min wants.

An order was given in Wutain, and the machine at the head of the group turned on, the eyes glowing blue from within. These were not special, not in the way her Aki had been, they had an AI much more like that of Cait Sith, only more advanced, able to act on its own and process information to act on the fly.

Soon, they were marching across the field in formation, perfectly following the orders that she gave them. Each of them fell in line, soon the maneuvers were complete "This batch will be delivered tomorrow. Tell Katsu, however, that I want what he promised me as soon as they reach him." she told the young man who was helping here get them ready for delivery. She did not trust her employers, not completely, to come through on what they had promised. And it was the only reason she was still going through with this even though she was beginning to question if it was worth it.

"Yes ma'am." he nodded, bowing to her in the traditional Wutain fashion as his slender body moved to begin disassembling the mechanoids and packing them. He was also somewhat uncomfortable with the purposes for which they would be used, but like his boss he knew it was not his place to question it. Death came calling for those that did so, and he was far too young to find himself in the Lifestream as of yet.

Deep in the Lifestream, there was a stirring. A council was being called of those who had served the Planet before, the Summons who were for the most part fully sentient weapons among those who were there.

Shiva was sitting in a way that made it appear as if she was sitting on a bench in midair, while Phoenix and Ifrit both paced. She understood well Phoenix's concern, he had a personal connection to the boy that would have to step up when push came to shove. Ifrit simply had trouble staying still for any significant length of time, one quality about her mate which amused the ice-based summon, even if she didn't show it often.

"You know they won't let him be harmed, Phoe." Shiva brushed her blue hair back out of her eyes, the crystals in the braids in the back tinkling as she did. "I understand why you're as worried as you are, you've been with him since he was a mere child, but he has Minerva's blessing, and he has a purpose. It won't be like what happened with Aerith."

Phoenix shook his head. Here in this ethereal realm he was able to mold his form, and his more human appearance was that of a young, slender man in his mid twenties, with hair as red the flickering flames that Ifrit wielded, and eyes as green as the Lifestream itself. "He is the last now. His road won't be an easy one, especially as he himself still tries to deny himself, but then again the road of one of those who choose to serve Minerva as his people were meant to never is. But being damaged makes it harder."

The last to enter had hair that looked like spun gold, and wore a pure white dress with gold trim on it, and a head dress also of gold. All of the summons present stood and bowed in respect at her entrance, this was their Goddess, the bringer of Life, and they would give her the respect she was due. "Sit, all of you." The voice that came from Minerva was a rich alto, reverberating and multi-tonal. "We are coming to a crisis point, but I am certain all of you know this."

She drew her hand across a place in the air, and what looked like a screen formed out of the green river around them. "There have been disturbances in the Lifestream. .. instances of lifeforces, of souls, simply disappearing from it. The last time this happened was when ShinRa was using mako energy, but I have been watching them, it is not them. These disturbances, should they come to a head, could very well stir forces that we have managed to keep sleeping through the sheer amount of spirit energy and number of cleansed and strong souls within the swell. A resurgence of Jenova or of Sephiroth is the last thing any of us want. "

"Humans are good at destroying things." came Ifrit's deep, rumbling voice. "Though I know that the rest of you will say it is only a small fraction, and that some are not so bad as others. But the true question, I know, is how a stop is put to it. That is why we were called here, since our responsibility is to protect the cycle of life."

"That is precisely why you have been called here." Minerva looked to each and every one of them, her expression firm. "ShinRa was once our enemy, but now they may be our only hope of stopping this before it gets too serious. They care for the last of my Children, as does my Champion. Genesis became lost to me, and I was forced to choose another, and he has been faithful, but without his Balance he will not be able to do what must be."

Her hand gestured along the screen. "There are at present four possible outcomes. One is best, two are workable but not so good, and the last well. . ." a fiery explosion and the withdrawing of the Lifestream from the Planet altogether to start again showed on the screen. "As it is not yet time. . .and we have not yet finished cleansing the Calamity from the flow, the last scenario is one that we can not afford to have befall us."

A silence fell over the gathered guardians as they watched the spectacle before their eyes, all of them solemn, Phoenix looking utterly stricken, as he was the guardian of life and rebirth. To see such things, even if he knew they were part of the ebb and flow cycle of life, saddened him. "This can not be allowed to happen. The Child must be prepared."

Phoenix finally snapped out of his haze, and simply nodded. "I have faith in him. . .he has made mistakes, but deny what he is as he may, he will answer the call. He has ones that he cares about far too much to let this world fall."

# Chapter 3

As the first shipment of the robots was delivered Hotaru demonstrated them for Chao Min, though her head is lowered out of respect for him, as is tradition among the Wutai people. They performed perfectly, but he looked to her, noting they were not like the first one. "Where is their fire?" he asked her, as if he did not trust that she had fully delivered. "They do not act as your prototype, they do not have the same intelligence or resourcefulness. I specially desired ones just like your prototype, an army that could think and act for itself."

"It will take time to perfect them." she told the warlord. "There are things that can not be done in a day. You asked for the robots, I have given them to you. They act as you specified, they are able to think for themselves, and they have self awareness. That was what you asked for, was it not?" Hotaru knew she was taking a chance by speaking to the man as she was, but she felt that she had to. She knew what he wanted, but to play about with raw mako in that way more than she had already was playing with fire. Even she was wise enough to know that.

Chao Min frowned darkly, before one hand reached out and backhanded her. "You do not speak in such a way to me, woman. I do not even allow my most trusted associates to use such a tone with me. Do it again and I may do something that you will not at all like. Men have been killed by me for less, you are fortunate that I need your skills still."

Hotaru gasped, raising a hand to her cheek over the place where he had slapped her. "Yes, yes, sir, of course." Her body trembled with the sudden shot of terror that seized her nerves and locked up her muscles, her voice shaking on the words, almost stuttering. "I will not do so again." She tried her best to keep her dignity when in all honesty she wanted to run in that moment and never look back again, the man frightened her that much. "Forgive me, please." She bowed, trying to make her heart stop beating its way out of her chest.

"See to it that you do not forget again. Now, fix my army. I do not care about the cost to do so, in time, in money, or in consequences. I want them to be what I was promised. If you want what I have promised you you will do as you have been told. Is that understood?" Chao Min's hand rested on the blade at his waist as he spoke those words, a silent threat.

"Yes, yes, of course." As Chao Min finally backed off her Hotaru scrambled to escape and walked out of the room as quickly and with as much dignity as she was able, glad that she had survived and that she still had a chance to regain her son. And that was truly the only thing that mattered to her at that point.

"He was sitting against the wall of the building, as if there was nothing in the world unusual about it." Cloud had a cup of coffee in front of him as he talked to his childhood friend, glad that he could still vent to her this way despite everything that had happened between them. He'd left Reno with Rude. After the last incident he didn't trust leaving his lover alone anymore at all. The thought of walking in to him passed out again, water rushing over him, made Cloud's heart want to rise up into his throat, the sensation of it choking.

"I just don't know what to think or what to do anymore." he murmured. "I miss having him. . .be well. . .him. I know after what happened I'm being selfish and unrealistic, but I can't help but wonder if he'll ever recover." Long fingers ruffled through blond spikes, and the rubbed at sky blue eyes. If Cloud had to be perfectly honest with himself he had not slept at all well since all of it had started, half expecting to wake up and find something terrible had happened to Reno because in that state of mind he didn't seem to know better than to do things he shouldn't.

"Have faith in him, Cloud." Tifa assured him. "If anyone can recover from this, it's Reno. You know it, and I know it. He just needs people to believe in him enough to make it happen." She wiped down the counter in front of him, trying her best to stay close, but not to crowd him. She knew how Cloud was, if you crowded him he'd run. It was the way he'd been since he had been a boy. "He's strong, stronger than anyone. It's probably how he's put up with you so long, hmm?"

The tone was teasing, and the blond couldn't help the chuckle that came as it flowed over his ears. "He's more patient than I would be." If there was one thing Reno had taught Cloud, it was how to laugh at himself, and it was something he was grateful for every day. "And I suppose I don't thank him enough for that patience."

"No, you don't." Tifa quipped, a smile, despite her worry, coming to her lips. "But he'd forgive you for it, it's how he is." Her mind thought back to how she had found out that number one, Cloud was bisexual, and that number two, he wasn't in love with her, for all that she had dreamed that he someday would fall for her.

She had been angry, and hurt. He'd been staying in the upstairs bedroom above the bar at the time, and when he'd told her, which she supposed in retrospect she should give him credit for respecting her enough to be up front with her, she'd taken all of his possessions, packed them into garbage bags, and thrown them into the alley outside of the Seventh Heaven, telling him to get the Hell out of her bar. The memory that came to her mind made her smile a bit, even with the pain that came with it.

"Tifa. . ." Cloud was sitting at the bar, drinking a cup of coffee. He knew that it was more than time that he was honest with her, she'd been his friend since they were children, and he knew she wanted more. . .it was a more that he could not give her despite that he wanted to. "I've been seeing someone else."

Tifa's mouth tensed at the corners, as her motions of cleaning the glasses became faster, the cloth in her hand practically being thrown into the glass as she picked up each one. Her hands were trembling with the sudden surge of jealous rage that she knew she had no right to feel. "Who?" The word was clipped, spit out like a bullet from an automatic rifle.

"Reno." The word, spoken in a simple monotone. Cloud could feel her anger, and he understood it. It was why he had been so reluctant to tell her, he had known from the very beginning that she would take it badly, and the last thing he had ever wanted to do was cause her pain. "Before you get mad, Tifa, you have to understand, the last thing I wanted was to hurt you-"

"The Turk?" Tifa's voice became yet more scathing. She knew Reno, and she knew that he wasn't that bad a person, but he was still ShinRa, he still represented everything that since her Father's death she had come to despise. "Cloud, what in the Hell were you thinking, getting involved with him? Have you slept with him yet?" She knew the answer was none of her business, but the jealousy, and the rage of who it was, had combined to make her ask it.

"No, not yet." Cloud kept his head lowered, and answered the questions she spat at him. He could never help it with her, she always managed to make him answer them truthfully without thinking.

"Do you love him?" Again, that tone that would brook no deceit or holding back. Tifa wasn't sure she wanted the answer to the question she'd just asked, but she had to know. . .even if she was pretty sure she already did know. . .and that the answer was one she'd been hiding from from the moment she had discovered it.

"Yes. I love him with all of my heart. I'm sorry I can't be what I know you need me to be, Tifa. I can keep the promise to be there for you if you're in trouble. . .you're my friend, I will always be that. But I can't be the lover you've wanted me to be, and to know that hurts you is something that I hate. But I felt you should know the truth." Cloud picked at a loose thread in his pants, his head still down.

Those words made Tifa explode into action, and she whirled, marching up into the bedroom Cloud had been sleeping in upstairs, throwing his clothes into the battered and beaten up leather suitcases he had stored in his closet, zipping it up, and tossing that, the sheath with his fusion sword, and another suitcase which had the equipment to clean the sword inside it outside on the stoop. "Just go, Cloud. Get out of my bar. I'll deal with you once I can even stand to look at you again."

Of course once she'd gotten past the upset and jealousy and seen how the two were with each other, she'd forgiven Cloud, and had acted as the best friend he seemed to need so much since. A service she was glad to provide.

"Just support him, be there for him. When it's time, you'll know what to do. That going by the seat of your pants has never let you down before, right?" She smiled a bit, tossing the rag back into the drawer where she stored them.

Cloud smiled a bit and nodded. "Yeah. . .you're right. He'll show me when it's time to act, and what I need to do. Just have to have faith that he'll come back to me."

Hotaru was back at work in her laboratory several hours later. She had been given the essences of the ones that Chao Min wanted used, and as uncomfortable as she was with doing what she had been asked, she felt she had no other choice now but to obey. I must have my son back to me. . .but I must know why Aki did the things that he did. I can not allow such a thing to happen again.

The containers full of glowing green were inserted into the chest chambers of the robots, the eyes flashing on for a single moment, and them going black again. . .the inert appearance making it obvious that their life was banked. . .for the moment.

The stillness was almost eerie to her, though. . .and she half-wondered who these people had been in life, and how they would react to being alive again, but in this form. After all, being something other than human would be jarring once they realized the full extent.

I will need to make sure that nothing bad happens. I don't like the feeling I get from Chao Min, he has threatened me,. That makes me very unhappy. The thought made her frame tense, her mouth thinning in an expression of fury.

What she did not see was how the eyes of her beloved prototype had lit up behind her, gleaming in the dark room. One of the harbingers of what was to come.

# Chapter 5

Green eyes the shade of fresh young leaves peered out into the aether as more souls left. Minerva's concern became palpable as the Lifestream became yet more unstable, feeling the stirrings of the WEAPONS made her frown in worry. They only awakened if they felt there was a true threat to the Planet, so if they came to complete consciousness it was a very bad sign. This can not go on much longer. Something must be done. What, even I, a Goddess, am not entirely sure yet, but if this keeps on our world will be in true peril.

"They still obey you, Minerva." Shiva assured her. "Even in the most dire of circumstances, the WEAPONS do still listen to you, for the most part. That they will not act if you tell them not to is one of the things that you can still trust." The ice based summon set a hand on Minerva's shoulder. For all of her independent nature, she was still utterly loyal to Minerva. All of them were.

"I know, Shiva." Minerva smiled, just a small bit. The reassurance had done wonders, it had been exactly what she had needed with things as unsure and uncertain as they were. "I thank you and your fellow summon spirits as well, for your absolute loyalty to me. It means more to me than I know I tell any of you sometimes."

"What else are friends for, my Goddess?" Shiva smiled in return at that, flipping her braid bound hair back over her blue skinned shoulder. "If not to be there to catch a friend when things look bad and they fear they may fall?" soft throaty laughter came from Shiva as she spoke those words, and gave Minerva's shoulder a soft squeeze.

Rude watched from the kitchen as Reno sat on the sofa, his blank expression was disturbing to the bald man, especially as he had gotten to know the curious, lively man that he'd been partnered with since Reno had been a mere fifteen

Within, there was another discussion going on, much like the one that had been between the summons, The Robot's face showed his own concern, jaw clenched, lips pressed thin, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed. "Things are moving faster than we anticipated." he looked over at the Child, whose sleep had begun to become restless and troubled. "We may have to step up the program to get him strong enough for what is coming."

"Things are moving." The Wild One agreed. "Faster than we anticipated. It's going to be difficult to avoid things becoming messy. The Spirits are already being brought up, stirred from their rest and directed into these machines. I do not know how long It will take until we reach a point of no return." The Child's sleep had become yet more restless, and neither of them were sure how much longer they could keep him in the stasis. "He begins waking, and it becomes harder to send him back to sleep each time. This can not continue much longer."

"If he wakens before it is time. . .the results could be catastrophic." The robot's tone was serious. "It can not be allowed to happen, under any circumstances." He ran his fingers through the soft hair again, his lips pressed together. Should they lose that stored up power it could be catastrophic for everyone. It was the last thing he wanted to see.

News of an eruption of Lifestream in an area outside of Junon reached Rufus, and his lips pressed together in concern. If it encroached into the city people could end up dead and that was the last thing he wanted. .. to lose some of the people that he had taken under his charge. "Tseng, I want you to take Rude to Junon and investigate. A surge of raw Lifesream is not something the happens often, and it is a very dangerous thing."

Tseng bowed. "Yes sir." He knew as well as Rufus how dangerous such a thing was, that if too many people came in contact with it they could have an epidemic the likes of which had not been seen in a long while. Not something anyone wanted. His call to Rude was answered with an "On it as soon as Cloud gets back."

"He'll be on his way shortly, sir." He told the President. Tseng shared Rufus' worry, but for that moment he knew that losing his cool would not help anyone. He so rarely did so, but this was a situation that due to how it affected one of their own affected all of them.

Once Rude had gotten there Tseng watched out the window as Rude drove, dropping into thought. Things were getting complicated, and the Wutain was not entirely sure how to deal with it. This could lead to another war, and it is one that we now do not have the ability to fight. Our SOLDIER operatives disappeared with Genesis, with Angeal, Zack, and Sephiroth. Cloud will fight for us because of Reno, but will he be enough? I do not know. This was one of the times that he was more grateful than he could say for the influence that Reno seemed to have with all of those he was close to.

The thoughts and worries were ones that only became deeper as they reached Junon. The lower sections had been swamped by Lifestream, and the supports holding up the upper sections were beginning to be corroded by the green lake that had invaded it. Tseng gasped, shock the only emotion that would come to him at that time. Even as a hardened Turk, seeing things such as this still took his feet out from under him. "Rufus must be told what has happened here. . .and we need to find out what caused the Lifestream surge that brought this to be. If it keeps happening. . Many will be in danger."

Rude's own expression was firm. He inwardly was as stunned as Tseng at what he had seen, but he had never been as emotive, and even now the most that he would allow was the tensing of his jaw and grinding of his teeth He did nod in Tseng's direction, hiding well the tact that his mind was going wild within. The scent of death is strong here, stronger than it's ever been, even in the slums during the worst of Midgar's past. This can never happen again. It's too horrible.

"We help the ones we can. . .and bury the bodies of the dead. It is all we can do now." Tseng's eyes scanned across the field, and his face held true sorrow for everything he had seen. The same destruction had occurred during the war in Wutai, and in some ways he held himself responsible, but Wutai had disowned him far before he had left.

Rude's nod held a bit of a sad tinge to it as he began to lift up the mako soaked bodies and dig graves, setting the bodies into them, one by one. It was sad and grave work, work which by the time he was done left him wanting to be anywhere else but where he was. "I think that's all of them, sir." the bald man looked across the stretch of ground that almost three hours later was free of bodies. He went to the bucket of water that Tseng had set out and washed the last of the viscous green from his hands before it dug into his bloodstream fully and built up to the point of poisoning him.

Hotaru watched through the rear of the car as Junon faded from sight, her eyes wide with shock. As soon as she had activated the single robot for field testing with the new power pack there had been a rumble from beneath her feet and the earth had begun to crack. She had very quickly ordered the unit to shut down and loaded into a nearby truck as they fled town, just as soon as the car had pulled away from the seaside city the cracks in the earth had become complete and mako had exploded out of them, completely flooding the slums area with the raw energy, most of the people exposed becoming almost immediately severely mako poisoned, those who had had the chance to flee watching as their homes were destroyed.

What have I done? Was her only thought, horror and guilt and grief flooding her. So many innocent people losing their homes and their lives as a result of something she had done. It didn't sit well with her at all. I only wanted my family back. . .this was not anything at all what I wanted. "The test was a success, Chao Min." she told her employer over the phone. "But I can not do anymore. An eruption of raw mako engulfed the town where my factory was located, I lost the majority of my workers and equipment. The entire slums area was entirely wiped out, perhaps ten percent of the population survived the eruption unharmed."

"I don't care about those peasants, so long as it was successful" Chao Min dismissed the Eastern fisherman with little more than a soft snort. "Most of them are ShinRa sympathizers anyway, why would I care about their fate? But if it bothers you so much, killing a few animals, I will find you a place to work that you will much better suit your. . .sensitive nature. Just make certain you get me those robots!" He hung up on her, not caring about her feelings in the matter nor that she was upset by the number of deaths that had occurred as a result of trying to finalize his plans. He hung up on her, leaving her to emotionally pick up her own pieces and not caring at all that she was upset.

"Bastard." she spat as she hung up as well, half-tempted to turn herself in to spite him, but knowing that she wouldn't. My family needs me, even if I hate the price I must pay to be there for them. I am not the one who does not hold in my heart the remorse for the destruction that has been caused. I will remember them for the rest of my life.

# Chapter 6

"The whole town was gone." Rude reported to Rufus. "Tseng and I buried all of the bodies, but most were either dead, badly enough mako poisoned that they soon will be, and the rest are now looking for new homes. It's hard to tell what might have caused the eruption, we'll do more investigating as soon as it's safe to spend more than a few hours at a time on the ground there." He was still not happy at all at what had happened, hardened or not. That amount of death had been utterly needless.

"Understood." Rufus took on a deeply thoughtful look while listening to Rude. He remembered well the last time there had been such an eruption of the lifestream. It had been in Mideel. . .and in reaction to the WEAPONS beginning to wake to protect the planet. They did not care whether there were humans present in the places they were attempting to cleanse or not. They only cared if the danger they had been set to protect against had been eliminated,

Of course, the last time that they had wakened. . .Sephiroth had been resurrected . .or rather Jenova using Sephiroth's face and body and appearance, but quibbling about that made no difference. That threat was the last thing that Rufus figured any of them needed. I will say nothing to Cloud until I know for certain. That was, I fully believe, part of the mistake I made when the remnants came. I told him that Sephiroth might have had something to do with it before I knew for absolute certain. I will not make that same mistake twice. But at the same time. .. I must be cautious.

"I want you to check on your partner once you have cleaned yourself up thoroughly. We both know very well what he is. ..what bloodline he carries. With these disturbances in the lifestream it's possible that he has been affected, and the last thing I wish is for Cloud Strife to be angered when we may have need of him. " He may also be able to tell us. . .something. . .even if the condition that he is in. And it is better to know than to fly blind. I have no intention to be caught with my pants down, so to speak. There is far too much at stake.

Reno's head had popped up from the counter where he had been sitting once Rude had left, a soft keening sound slipping from his throat. He could feel the stirrings from beneath his feet, and the it could be told because the keening noise was one that had a distressed sound to it, as he also began rocking back and forth on the stool. Due to his half-cetra heritage he could feel the surges in the Lifestream, but he wasn't sure how to fully process them. His mind was too fractured to even begin to understand what he was sensing and feeling, thus the soft keening and rocking rhythm that spoke of his distress clearly.

Cloud sprung from his seat, wrapping his arms tight around his lover, trying to reassure him the best he could that everything was going to be all right, though he really wasn't sure that it ever would be again. The gentle rocking motion seemed to sooth the redhead into a deep slumber, and he lifted Reno up and carried him into their bedroom, curling up tightly around him. "I got you, Ren." he reassured fingers running through the bright red strands.

The blond knew well what sort of condition Reno was in, and just a slight mental disturbance could set him back months in his recovery. It was the last thing the former trooper wanted to see happen. "It's going to be all right. .. I promise." he murmured into Reno's ear, eyes fluttering softly closed as he held him. "I won't let anything or anyone harm you."

Inside, Reno's mind had run riot, the Child fully awake and screaming in terror, the Wild One rattling against his bonds, trying to desperately to free himself. The surge had done bad things to the keen senses of the half-cetra, driving the fractured portions of his mind crazy with the overload.

"Both of you, calm, down!" Came the sharp bark from the Robot. "it will calm shortly and things will settle down again. But losing your senses over this will help no one, you need to remain under control." He knew well what direction would need to be taken, but it would require both he and the Wild One working in conjunction with one another and neither of them losing focus until it was definitively time to act. Finally, as the surge calmed completely the Child's cries were reduced to soft whimpers, and the Robot was soon enough able to get him back into sleep. "I am not sure where that surge came from, but that can not happen again. I may not be able to control him if it does."

Minerva after the rattling surge looked over at the others. "The WEAPONS nearly awakened with that last surge. That is not something that we can afford. I need you to make sure that they have not broken free of their bonds, the Planet will end up in chaos should that happen, and we have other things we need to be concentrating our energy on than dealing with misdirected weapons." She directed the rest of the summons around, green eyes narrowed at the corners and more than a bit angry.

The surge had come as a surprise even to her, a Goddess, even though she'd known it was a possibility with the playing about the group of humans had been doing with the lifestream, but she had not expected it quite so soon. If another like that happens I may not be able to control things. If the Weapons break free there will be immense destruction. That is not something I want to have happen, the human race still has so much to contribute if they try.

"Shiva, Ifrit, check the containment on the WEAPONS! We can not afford to have them running rampant before I can calm them, and if they break free of their confinement that will be what will happen!" Minerva turned to the two of the spirits she trusted most with the task.

"Yes, my Goddess." The Ice spirit and the Fire spirit said at once, both of them turning and running toward the materia cages where the WEAPONS resided. They would do all that they could to reinforce them. None of them wanted to see the creatures running rampant. The summons were sentient and able to be reasoned with. The WEAPONS most patently were not.

# Chapter 7

Rude got to Reno and Cloud's place just a few hours later, the first thing he saw was Cloud sitting at the kitchen counter with a beer in his hand, the blond seemingly trying to relax. The bald man could tell that Cloud's muscles were so tense that he half expected them to snap like overtightened piano wire if just the tiniest bit of pressure was placed on his bulky frame. He poured himself a shot of bourbon and sat next to Cloud. "I take it things got difficult here."

Cloud nodded. "He started rocking and keening in the chair in front of the breakfast bar, I had to carry him back into bed, It took me nearly two hours to get him calm and to get back to sleep, he started screaming about an hour into that two hours, just. . .the kind of screams that rip at your soul. I never want to hear him scream that way again, Rude." He shuddered, remembering the pathos of those terrified and distressed screams, the way they had echoed and reverberated off the walls of the bedroom.

Rude cringed at hearing that, downing the scotch in one gulp and pouring himself another. Reno had had some awful nightmares, after Sector Seven, and the bald man remembered having to comfort the redhead through them. It had been rough, and it wasn't something he ever wanted to experience again. He felt horrible for Cloud that he'd had to deal with that sort of trauma. "He'll make it through, I have faith in that. I just hope he makes it through all the way intact. . .no one wants to see him radically changed this way for good."

He sighed, and shook his head. "There was a lifestream surge earlier today. . .in Junon. I'm sure you heard, a lot of people died. I came to ask if Reno had. .sensed anything. . .but I see now he's not going to be able to give us any coherent answers. Rufus is worried, and not just about the effects on Reno, all of us know what he is and there are likely to be some, but. . .what could happen to the world as a whole if this gets too far out of hand."

Cloud looked up. "When did this happen?" As soon as Rude told him the time he sucked in a breath. "Reno started freaking out very shortly after that. That means yeah, there is a fairly good chance it's connected. I just don't know how yet, and I'm afraid to press him, especially after he practically broke down." He lifted his sword, swung it onto his back, then hunted down the keys to Fenrir. "Stay here. I'm going to go to Ajit, try to talk to Aerith. She's always clearer near the lake there, and this is something I really think I'm going to need her advice to deal with." His boots clacked across the wooden tile in the entry way as he headed toward the door. "If he wakes up, do your best to soothe him back to sleep, I should be back by morning."

Rude gave a sharp nod. "Be careful along the highway through Junon. Upper Junon's still ok, the bridge to cross from there to Costa should still be intact, but the supports for the upper city had had some corrosion on them due to the surge. Reno needs you, man, don't get yourself killed."

"I won't, I promise." Cloud squeezed Rude's shoulder. He knew the man cared about Reno as much as he did, and he trusted him to watch over the redhead and make sure he didn't hurt himself. "Just. . .watch him. That's all I ask."

The drive along the highways was quiet. . .these were Cloud's best times to think, the wind through his hair, the engine of the big bike thrumming beneath him. The leather seat beneath him was warm, and the smells of grass and flowers penetrated his awareness as he got out of Edge. This wasn't his typical aimless riding, he had a set destination and purpose in mind, but he still was going to enjoy every second that he was out here.

This is how I prepare myself to meet you again, Aerith. . I have a feeling I'm going to need your advice and Zack's. . .things just got complicated on me, and I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. . .but I want to do my best by Reno, he deserves it. He deserves a lot better than he's had to deal with before this.

The destruction outside of Junon had been just as bad as Rude had said, and Cloud's mouth drew into a narrow line as he drove onto the bridge, eager to put the eerie feeling of the now-ghost town behind him. Sure, Aerith and Zack were ghosts but he'd grown so used to their presence in his mind and heart that it no longer disturbed him for them to be around.

You'd hate seeing what happened here, Aerith. .. the wreckage of an entire town, it'd make you cry. You were, after all, the one that stopped Holy from destroying us instead of saving us because you wanted to give the rest of humanity a chance to prove itself good stewards. The stink of mako in his nose set Cloud ill at ease as well, stirring memories he'd rather not have had in his mind, of being dunked in Lifestream and nearly losing himself, twice.

Cloud. . .it's going to be all right. Get to the Ancient City, Zack and I will explain everything, including what you need to do.. The voice was Aerith's, she always seemed to come to him when he needed her most, and he had needed her more often than he liked over the past couple of days, I'll make sure my cousin comes out of this all right, I know that you love him, and that's what matters, right?

The blond smiled a bit, the ocean lapping at the bridge beneath him as he continued to drive north, inhaling the ocean scent with closed eyes the smell sweeping away the stench that had been in his nostrils when he'd driven through the trashed town. The breeze was warm, and the day calm. Just what Cloud had needed to find his center again after the events of earlier in the day.

A few hours later, the air grew crisper, colder. The area near the Pole and the City of the Ancients itself was sub temperate, nearly polar, and Cloud had to draw the leather coat he'd brought with him on to fend off the chill that had seized the air and began to prickle at his skin, leaving a wash of gooseflesh over all of his exposed skin. He hit the forest boundary and felt how the air suddenly seemed to go still, as if he'd entered another world.

Cloud parked the bike outside of the ancient forest, he'd have to walk through from there, but it was all right, the place had a serene feel to it that he loved. He got to into the city itself, and to the house in the center, his footsteps echoing on the wooden floor as he headed for the stairs, walking down them until he reached the alter near the spring at the very bottom. His first action was to dip his hands in the spring, lifting some o f the water to his mouth and drinking deeply.

Cloud. . .I'm glad to see you made it here. The voice of course belonged to Aerith, and a bright light blossomed in the doorway as the spirit fully manifested. There are things you don't know that you need to. A hand swept over the lake, creating ripples on the surface of the water that produced images. Those images were ones of unrest within the lifestream. . ..souls suddenly leaving, disappearing from their resting places. . Imbalance beginning as there was not enough pure souls left to hold back the impurities. . .negative lifestream beginning to filter through in faint black lines.

"Shit!" Cloud's words were almost a yelp at what he was seeing. More negative souls meant more and more instability and death encroaching on a planet that had barely begun to heal from the crises as it was. "This has to be stopped. But what does Reno have to do with this, Aerith? I don't understand. The surge sent him into hysterics, it took me several hours to get him calmed back down again. I can't take another incident like that, I just can't."

He has links to Phoenix, the spirit of Life, Death, and Rebirth. The disturbances are going to bother him more than they would even a normal Cetra as a result. There's little to be done about it. I agree, it does have to be stopped, but Reno will play an integral part in stopping it, as he's the last living one of the old bloodline. You are to be his Knight, his protector. He will need you now more than ever.

"I'll watch over him and do my best to protect him, Aerith, but then that went without saying. I'm not going to let him be hurt if I can possibly help it. I'm just not sure what all of this entails yet, but then again I have a feeling you don't know all of it yet either. It's just that everything just keeps getting more complicated." Cloud scowled at that, not being sure how to deal with the insanity that was beginning to develop around him. I really don't like this. He thought to himself. But I'm not sure what else to do but handle things as they came. There has to be a reason for Reno to be as he is, even if I don't know what it is yet.

There is a reason. Aerith read Cloud's mind through his body language, as she had become so good at doing. It's his protection. . .until he's needed. But he will come back to you. And he will come back to you a hero. Cleansed of his sins and born anew.

# Chapter 9

Chao Min grinned in wicked glee as he got the first shipment of his robot soldiers. "Excellent. . .most excellent. I will make sure that Doctor Kimiko gets her payment soon, as soon as we have the rest. But I am very happy with what I see today." He rubbed a hand over one metal cheek, watching the way the optics flashed green, then went dark again.

"Katsu, make sure all of these are placed in the protective storage units. Soon, very soon, we will have our first test., . .a small raid, I think. A town that would not get us noticed prior to us being ready. . .and It will go far toward getting us supplies too. Wonderful way to test just how capable these machines are. And how obedient." If they wouldn't obey him, even with their intelligence and resourcefulness, they were no good to him. He needed them to be able to act and change direction in a battle while still obeying a set of basic operating parameters. It was a lot of why he had wanted robots and not people. People were. . Unpredictable, and Chao Min had no time for that unpredictability.

"Yes sir." Katsu's mouth quirked up just a bit as he watched them. He preferred human beings to robots, and these mechanoids gave him just a bit of the creeps, but he wasn't about to tell Chao Min that. He liked his head right where it was, on his shoulders. He used the remote to get the hulking metal men marching straight in a line behind him. It didn't take him long to get them outside as he marched them across the packed dirt of the courtyard, toward the corrugated metal storage shed on the other side of the courtyard. It was empty, for the moment, of any equipment aside from those designed for taking care of the robots. There were charging racks, bins for parts, and oil cans scattered across the concrete floor

He got them stored one by one in the racks that lay against the walls of the shed, wires draped over the metal contraptions, ones that would plug into a port in the back of each one's head. "There. All of you are in place. If there are any mechanical needs that any of you have they will be taken care of before you're used."

He shut the door of the shed with a clang. Katsu had his own ideas of which city to hit. . .he owed one of the families in the seaside resort town of Costa Del Sol some pain. . .he smirked as he thought about how he may just get a chance to get to deal it out. It's not like anyone but a few beach bunnies would miss the place anyway, it's nothing but a resort. Not a thing of strategic importance there at all Perfect for the boss' uses, and I'm going to enjoy watching it burn. More than I probably should. Far more.

"Rudolph Urar. . .you're going to pay in blood for what you did to me. I vow that to you now." Katsu tied his hair back in the traditional bushi fashion. For him, this was a blood debt, and it would be paid. In the most painful way possible.

The raid took place in the early dawn light a week after the accident at the stadium, swift and sure, the metal forms mowing through the town like saws, leaving nothing but burning cinders in their wake. Katsu watched as the mechanical monstrosities did their work, driving people out of their homes, some dying in the flames, as they burned it to the ground. It would be a good message to ShinRa once they heard to watch their backs, that the Flames of Phoenix were coming for them.

The townsfolk stood at the town line and just watched, one young man with tan skin, dark eyes and dark hair with a suspiciously familiar face, holding the body of his mother in his arms and tears flowing down his face. "Dad. . I gotta. . .I gotta tell Rudy what happened here. . .but I don't know how to tell him that Mom's. . .that she's dead. I know we're not even supposed to be contacting him, but he'd want us to for this. He has a right to know."

"We'll call him when we get to Corel." Bernard, the father to the boy, and to Rude, told him. "He's supposed to put his past behind him, but you know he's always sent us whatever he could afford to. He'd want to know what happened to Gladys." Bernard Urar had been a banker by trade, originally from Kalm, whereas Gladys, originally Gladah, had been born to one of the migrant tribes in the Southern Desert, her brother had been Faruq, Prince of the Aibak Hakim tribe in the deserts "Your uncle is also going to be quite upset, Eric. . .this may very well lead to war if it isn't headed off, and the last thing I want is for him to get himself and his people killed over this."

Eric simply nodded, he was beginning to fall into despair. For all of the trouble he'd gotten in when he was younger. . .he and his brother who was three years his senior competing in everything, from women to cars to everything else, he loved his big brother who had gone on to become a Turk dearly. . .and this was not the kind of news he wanted to have to break to him at all. On top of it, Eric had always been closest to his mother, that he had lost her, and in the way he had, had left him reeling and devastated

News reached ShinRa HQ of the attack on Costa Del Sol before Rude's family had a chance to contact him, Rufus shot a look at Tseng, his lips thinning. "This has now gone too far. It is bad enough that they have done damage to this planet when ShinRa has been doing all that it can to repair the damage done in my father's name. But now they have done something to harm one of my own men, ones that I consider far more than employees, they are family now to me. These people have just gone and made it personal."

The white suited blond had his hands clenched into fists at his sides, rage making his lean frame tense to the point that fine tremors ran up and down it. The President had every intention of making this as painful and messy as it could get for the people who had harmed his family.

"Sir. . . shall I inform Rude of the raid?" Tseng asked. The Wutain was really not sure he wanted to deal with the normally taciturn Costan when he was given the news. Rude tended to have a very slow build when rage came, but it also meant that it took all that much longer for it to dispel, and in a contained space that temper would be very dangerous. He wasn't looking forward to the results. At all.

"Wait for twelve hours." Rufus instructed quietly. "There is a chance that should his family be alive they may well attempt to contact him, and I do not wish to have him be afraid that his family is dead without confirmation of such. It would go. . .badly. .. should that happen, and needless drama is not something I wish to be dealing with. I would likely find it very difficult to talk Rude out of doing something stupid and impulsive, and an even harder time wishing to do so."

"Yes sir." Tseng responded, bowing in the traditional Wutain manner. He was honestly very much hoping Rude's family contacted them before the twelve hours were up, he did not want to have to do it. He will not react well. . .his family has been one of Rude's best kept secrets ever since he joined Turk, and for just this reason. . .to protect them. He is one of the few of us that actually had a family remaining to him when he came to us. I hope for his sake and for all of our sakes that they have not been killed.

Rude had been relaxing in his apartment when his phone rang at around lunchtime, his senses immediately on alert when saw the number. My family never calls me unless it's an emergency. . .I have a bad feeling about this, The bald Turk picked up his phone to hear the voice of his father on the other end. "Dad. . .is everything all right? You don't normally call me, due to well. . .security concerns. ..it must be something pretty big if you are."

"Son. . I'm not sure if you know, but Costa del Sol was attacked in the early hours of this morning. Robots, dozens of them, " Bernard took a deep breath, He was not looking forward to breaking this particular bit of news to his son, not in the least. He knew very well how Rude would react, and it would be far from pleasant. "We lost our home. . .the entire town was burnt to the ground. Eric and I fled to Corel, we've found a place to stay there, but. .. I regret to inform you of this but. . ." and he swallowed thickly, his voice going even more quiet as he delivered it to Rude. "Your mother is dead. She was killed when the house caved in. I did my best to get to her, to evacuate all of us from the burning home, but there was nothing that I could do."

The phone creaked within the gloved hand as Rude's fingers tightened on the plastic casing of the device. Grief swamped him in a chilling wave, to be followed by a cold rage so deep that finding a way out of it would only come when he had her killer's cold, dead, mutilated forms laying ravaged at his feet. "I will get vengeance for you, and for our family, Dad. . .I make that sworn vow to you now. It will be signed in the blood of Mom's killers. They won't get away with this, I promise. It's bad enough that my partner was injured by those metal sons of bitches. . .but now they have touched my family. That isn't acceptable. "

"Be careful, Rudolph. The last thing that your mother would want is for you to be harmed because you insisted on trying to avenge her death. You know that as well as I do. She loved you with all of her heart, and she raised you to treat people with the kindness and respect that you would expect from them. But she also wished only for your safety, she worried about you with the work that you do. Please. ..whatever you choose to do, please just be safe."

"I'll do my best, Dad, I promise. I just don't want Mom's death to be meaningless. There has already been too Gods be Damned much loss as it is since this whole thing started. It has to stop." Rude pinched the bridge of his nose between two leather covered fingers, trying to fight back the pounding that was beginning between his eyes. Stress headaches were not a sensation he enjoyed at all, and as his feet sank into the tan plush carpeting of his living room he turned on the tv to the twenty four hour news channel, having a feeling he was going to regret it, but he had to see the damage for himself.

Nothing could prepare him for the flaming horror of watching the city where he had grown up erupt into what equated to a funeral pyre, buildings launching smudges of black smoke into the dawn time sky to obscure the rising red orb of the sun. "Holy Leviathan. . ." came the quietly uttered oath as he listened to the screams and watched people scrambling for the ocean, many of them on fire. It was a terrifying spectacle, one that would be imprinted on his mind for the rest of his life. This couldn't stand. . .he wouldn't let this stand, it was too horrible to contemplate allowing it.

Once he was off the phone with his father, he called in to ShinRa Head Quarters, his tone sharp and crisp as he spoke to Rufus ShinRa. "Mister President. . .once we're ready to go after these people, I want permission to be in on this mission. Those sons of bitches burned my family out of their home and they killed my mother. They made this personal, and I can not just sit at the sidelines while someone else has a hand in avenging the ones that I loved and have lost." He had managed to calm the shaking of rage that had seized his entire body when he had first gotten the news of his mother's death, but he'd buried it into a burning ball that when it exploded would be as messy and as destructive as one of his own special creation bombs.

Rufus sighed from the other end of the phone. He knew Rude Urar, and because he knew the man as well as he did he knew how useless it was to attempt to talk him out of this. "I will give you permission, Rude. . .but I also insist that you take Tseng with you. Your partner, even in the state that he is in right now, hell, especially in the state that he is right now, would take it extremely poorly should you be killed in the performance of this assignment. I for one do not want to be required to break such news to him. So please, by all that is holy or unholy, come back in one piece."

"Don't worry your mind so much, Mister President. I have no intention of getting myself killed. The only blood that will be spilled when all is said and done will be that of my mother's murderers. I'll bring their sorry carcasses back for burial." Rude's voice was a bare growl as he spoke, but all that mattered to him was that he had gotten the consent that he had sought to go after the ones who had committed the horrendous deed of putting their hands on his family.

He walked toward his bedroom, seeking out and finding his baby glock nine millimeter, the one he called the Enforcer, He pressed his lips to the barrel in a sensuous looking kiss, but in reality it was a ritual that he had had ever since he'd first picked up the pistol. He took care of the firearm as if it was one of his own children, oiling the parts daily and cleaning it rigorously every time it was used. That was most of why that weapon had never once in all of his years of being a Turk failed him. "Let this be my hand, that which gains vengeance upon those which have touched my own blood." he intoned as he slid the gun into the leather holster as easy as sliding a shaft into a well pleasured woman.

"Rufus, are you certain that giving Rude permission to accompany on this mission is such a wise decision? You of all people aside from Reno know what Rude is like when he gets into a particular mindset. He shuts out everything but the thing he wishes to accomplish, so much so that he becomes a danger to himself as well as those that he is accompanied by." Tseng was honestly extremely concerned by the fact that ShinRa's president had allowed this to occur. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and the former Bushi was very well aware of that fact.

"What would you have suggested that I should do, Tseng? Tell Rude no? Do you not realize what would have happened? He would have gone on ahead and done it anyway, without my permission or sanction, without proper equipment or backup, and suffered the consequences for his actions when he'd done what he set out to do. Do you honestly believe he would not have? I know better than that, Tseng Xiang, And I will not risk losing one of my top agents because he has gone it alone and managed to get himself permanently injured or killed in the doing." Rufus' tone was exasperated as he replied to the director of his Turk.

Tseng had to admit that Rufus had a point, but his stern expression said he didn't like the fact that his president just happened to be correct., It wasn't something he liked to think about, that his normally cool, implacable Turk had a deeply buried temper that caused tunnel vision when it was triggered. It tended to get people killed, which was why Tseng tried to keep him out of the field when he was that frankly well pissed off. It was just too damn dangerous, to everyone. "Sir, perhaps you're right. But it's not something that I like anyway. Granted, Rude does not normally do the absolutely idiotic things normally that Reno typically does when he's angry, but it's still not the safest situation and one I would have preferred to avoid."

Hotaru got the news of the destruction of Costa, and bent her head down into her hands. This was not at all what she'd wanted. . .to have her creations used to kill. They were designed to give people a second chance. . .not to destroy lives. Why? Why is it that things like this have happened? Her thought was to turn herself over to ShinRa. . . to stop this before it went any further, but she wasn't sure how good an idea that was, and if she would even be given asylum rather than simply killed as soon as she threw herself on their tender mercies. I must try. .. oh, Aki, forgive me, I will never be able to return our son to us. ..but I can not let this go on. Your brethern were never meant to be tools of war.

She got her things together and began to get ready to go back to Edge. She was, in a word, horrified at all that had come to pass, her spirit reeling at all of the death and destruction that had taken place since all of it had begun. It would be almost a day's journey, and she would lose Aki again, but it had finally become too much for her to bear. Some prices were not worth paying, and she knew her husband would not want her to sacrifice his honor in order to return to her.

# Chapter 10

The pool of dark energy in the lifestream was beginning to grow larger, causing Minerva's lips to draw into a scowl as she sensed individual presences within, ones that were never meant to trouble the world again. The roiled and bubbled, trying to reach the vortex that was where the ones creating the robots and giving them life were drawing the spirits from. If any of them escape to the surface. . .it will be a disaster. One the world would be hard pressed to survive, even with the Knight still around. She knew at least one of them was Jenova, and the last thing the world needed was that one haunting it again. "You are not going to escape into the world again, so don't even think to go there."

She had no idea that soon enough she would not be able to stop it. .. the mess that it would create would be difficult to clean up to say the least, but there was little to be done about it. I need to make sure that the last of my Children is protected. .. he will be needed soon, especially should Jenova, Sephiroth, or one of those influenced by either one of them manage to make their way through that vortex and back to the world of the living again. There has already been too much damage because of them, our world can ill afford yet more of their meddling in it.

"Phoenix, I want you to go and watch over the Child directly. He will need the protection, I can sense it. None of the Dark Ones have escaped yet, but it is only a matter of time with things being as they stand now." The Goddess tossed blond hair over her shoulder, bright eyes, as green as young leaves, meeting those of the young God of Life and Rebirth. "He trusts you, due to the affinity that he and his mother both have with you."

The younger summon nodded, flame red hair streaming out behind him as his wings sprouted from his back, the pinions in the fiery shades of blue, red, orange, and yellow that signified his affinity to his natural element. He faded from sight as he passed the veil between life and death, appearing in his human-like form but in a more ethereal manner, not fully manifesting, not yet. He would stay invisible to the eyes of the living until he was absolutely needed.

Reno sat straight up in the bed, eyes going wide with a curious expression as his senses went wild. He could feel the familiar presence, but in his state he did not have a name to attach to it, just knew that it felt like someone he'd known for a long time, someone that he knew with absolute certainty that he could trust. His hand reached out, a look of utter awe and wonder dancing across his features as he watched the ghostly figure that only he in the house could see.

A smile played over full lips as he climbed out of the bed and headed for the kitchen. Reno had suddenly found himself thirsty as he was awakened by the rush of energy that signaled Phoenix's arrival in his home. A cooing noise slipped free as he removed the jug of milk from his refrigerator and poured himself a glass, drinking it and putting it back as he let the warmth of the fire-bird's presence wash over his heart and spirit.

Wind whistled through the trees outside, and it was as if the Turk was hearing all of it again for the very first time. A soft hum came from his throat, the same lullaby that he'd sung in the shower the time he'd awakened the Child. .

The Child began to stir again, though this time he did not fully awaken. He began to leak a bit of that energy, though, causing the external body to glow. Outside, Reno's hair lifted off the nape of his neck, a few sparkling specks of energy the color of raw mako rising up around him and winding around the slender frame as he continued to hum.

Cloud groaned, blue eyes fluttering open as the light that Reno was giving off penetrated the closed parchment thin lids. It took him a few minutes to become coherent enough to fully take in that something unusual was going on, but once he did all he could do was stare. He feared to speak, to call out to his lover, for fear that it would break whatever spell he was under. There was a strange and delicate beauty to this, and the former trooper did not want to upset the delicate balance of whatever this might happen to be.

Phoenix could not help but smile, and giggle while in that invisible form, as he realized that the Child of the Planet was indeed sensing his presence, even if he could not fully see the summon at this point in time. The spirit was young as most summons went, with all of the innocence and playfulness that came with that youth. I have wanted to be able to be close to him like this for so many years. . .I'm not going to waste this chance by getting myself into trouble with the others.

The energy wound a bit more about Reno until he sensed Cloud's presence and stopped humming, the droplets simply falling to the floor like rain and then fading away as he did. "You are awake?" he asked, tilting his head to one side in a curious manner, as if he had not expected his lover to wake so easily.

"Yeah, just going to go use the bathroom and head back to bed. I have deliveries in the morning." Cloud shook himself free of the spell, but he still stared at Reno in utter dumbstruck wonder, still not sure that he had really seen what he had thought he had seen. He still was not entirely sure, though it sure looked that way to him. He was. .. .glowing, with this light that looked as if it was coming from within, and the power I could sense. . .it felt like Aerith. Which as he's her cousin does sort of make sense, but. . .he was never trained to use it. How is he even harnessing any of that?

In the early dawn hours, a figure slipped away from his apartment in Edge, the long black sedan leaving the city before anyone had a chance to stop him. Sure, Rude had been given permission to go on any missions involving dealing with those who had destroyed his home and his family, but he'd been given a clue in the late portions of the night before, a single, very familiar to him, name. That had caused him to strike out on his own to eliminate the problem. . .personally.

No one gets to have Katsu but me. It was bad enough what he did to Tseng, back during the war years. . .but then he killed my mother. . .no one touches what belongs to me and lives. . .and I will bring the rest of his little organizational down around his ears. He and they can burn like my town burned. . .like my mother and my home burned.

The determination for his vengeance had indeed created a bit of tunnel vision for the bald headed Turk, just as Tseng had feared. . .but it also meant Rude was more focused than he had been in years. He'd tossed the bag with his tools in it into the back of the car, including the crushed magic materia that made the demolitions just that bit more special. The colors would break across the clouds in the way that his partner had always loved when Rude set off one of those bad boys right underneath Katsu's floor. "You''re going to get to go out with a bang. Consider yourself lucky, if I weren't trying to respect the fact that Mother would be horrified if I tortured you I'd rip every one of your fingernails and pubic hairs out one at a time and feed them to you." a smirk crossed the tanned face at that as he thought with a great deal of pleasure of what he would like to do.

Tseng's eyes widened as he realized that Rude was gone. He'd been calling the man's apartment for an hour, with no answer, and his cell phone simply got Rude's voice mail. "Shit, shit shit." the wutain normally did not swear, but this was bad. . .this was very, very bad. "If he gets to Katsu first, Goddess only knows what could happen, especially if he gets caught. Reno would be devastated, and Rufus would have my head." He groaned, the thought of what kind of mess the whole thing could create not being something that was at all to his liking. He would have to get Elena and see if he could catch up to Rude before he got himself into trouble.

He flipped his phone open, pushing blue black bangs back out of almond shaped onyx eyes as he dialed Elena's number. "Elena, I need you to come to my apartment. Rude. . .has taken it upon himself to do something exceedingly foolish, and it will be up to us to be certain that it does not cost him more than he would be willing to pay. Or more than we would be willing to see him pay." The director of the Turks' jaw clenched. He was not in the least looking forward to informing Rufus of what had happened, and he honestly hoped to stop Rude before such a thing became a necessity.

"Don't tell me, Tseng. He's gone and done something Reno would do." came Elena's reply.

"If you mean he's done something exceedingly stupid, reckless, foolish, and impulsive, then yes. . .he's done something that Reno would do." Tseng just sighed. "We need to reach him before he has a chance to do something even more stupid, like get himself killed. That's the last thing any of us need." he told her in a droll tone. I do think you would have learned from your partner, Rude. You are supposed to be the steady one that thinks before you act, not take pages from Reno's book. He tried to keep his frustration under control until Elena got there, because he needed to be cool, calm, and collected to deal with things properly.

"Let us just hope that Reno in his infinite wisdom even in his damaged state does not have enough self-awareness and ambition to do something extremely unintelligent and take it into his head to go after his partner." he mused as he waited for Elena. "He always seems to have this strange, eerie sense for when someone he cares for is in danger and tends to do utterly idiotic things when they are."

The redhead had other things on his mind as Rude was going about his vengeance. .. the Wild One had awakened, but instead of his normal thirst for violence, another of the base drives was very firmly in control Reno slipped from the bed, walking out to the living room where Cloud cleaning his blades, the wicked smile of lust pasting itself on his lips and making his eyes gleam as he set his finger on the sword that the blond was buffing sword oil into, sliding the long digit down the edge of it.

"You know, I forgot how sexy watchin' you clean these things is. . ." The voice was a deep purr as thin arms draped themselves around Cloud's neck, a grin touching the full lipped mouth. The pearl-colored teeth latched onto one of Cloud's ear lobes, nipping at it in a very sensual manner.

The former trooper went stiff, not entirely sure what to make of this change of attitude in his lover, and he set the blade aside so as not to accidentally hurt him. "Reno? What are you. . .doing?" He was trying to fight getting aroused while at the same time pushing down the huge amount of awkwardness and discomfort that the Turk's actions were causing him. It became even more discomfiting when he caught the mad gleam in the bluish green eyes, and the almost wicked prowling way in which he was moving.

"You. . .once I get you back to bed." the purr echoed across the pale flesh, as Reno began backing Cloud into the bedroom, the blond retreating step by step, very obviously less than comfortable about the direction that the entire situation was going in that moment. The Wild One of course could not care less that he was making the Hero of the World feel like crawling away and not coming back for the next hundred years.

"Reno. .. stop." Cloud was trying his best not encourage his lover. After all, he wasn't well, he was messed up, traumatized, and to take advantage of someone in that state just would not be right. Even though it was much more Reno taking advantage of him at the moment, but that was very much beside the point. "You're not well, you shouldn't be doing this." His legs carried him further and further back as he tried not to give in to the Turk who was coming on very, very strong.

"And why shouldn't I, hmm?" A long tongue ran over pink lips as one of the long fingered hands reached back, slipping the black hair elastic from his hair, soft strands falling in a blood-red river over his shoulders and down his back, framing the almost exotic looking features to utter perfection. It was an almost surreal contrast to the expression of childlike curiosity that had been on his face just a few hours ago. "It's not as if I can't make my own decisions. ..and I do very much want this."

I have no idea what in the world to do with this. I mean he's acting like he wants this, but. . .is he even fully able to consent? The blond asked himself the question, and he really was not in the least sure of the answer. "Please, Reno. . .I don't think you should be doing this at all." Cloud yelped as lips came down on his, Reno's tongue trying to work its way in between his. He tried to shove the redhead back, but it was proving to not be easy.

Reno blinked as there was a sudden change in his face and his posture, though something sparked inside of him. . .something. ..familiar. . .as he reached his fingers up to his lips where he could still taste Cloud's distinctive flavor on them. "What was I. . .doing?" he asked, and if Cloud looked he would see that it was so close. ..the parts of him that had fractured were laying directly next to one another in the manner of a puzzle. .. though not completely mended, with just a bit of encouragement, for a very short moment, the one that Cloud had fallen so in love with shown in his eyes.

It was almost painful, and Cloud's heart ached to see it, as Reno's arms when almost awkwardly around him. I don't know what I should do now. . .things are so topsy turvy. . .but that look in his eye. ..it's so very close to him being here again. Blue eyes met teal, and he swallowed thickly, I want to believe. . .if only for this one night., that I can have back the one that I love so very dearly. That he won't be like Zack, or Aerith. . .that I won't fail him as I did them.

"Help me." the words were spoken in that ragged tone of need and desperation. "Help me find me. .. " there was so much pain involved in even trying to put himself back together again, in remembering, and yet. ..for Cloud. ..he was willing to give him this one sweet, magic moment. "And help me forget." He leaned in, the full lips parted, just the slightest bit, as the fair skinned face tilted back, as if begging to be kissed.

And kiss him Cloud did, heart pounding in his chest as the sound to come from between Reno's lips was a soft sigh, one that broke into a bit of a sob. Slender arms went around the trooper's shoulders, pulling him closer as the limbs trembled. For the moment, all three pieces were in agreement about what they wanted, and what they wanted was to be in Cloud's arms, to feel him, around him, inside of him, Cloud's scent on him, the feeling of his touch.

The strong arms lifted Reno up into them. . .Cloud carrying him into the bedroom, laying him down on the bed. "I love you. . .I know I suck with words, and I haven't said it enough, but it does not make it any less true." The words were spoken in a reverent tone, "I will help you forget. . .and you will find yourself in my heart." His hands worked the buttons on Reno's shirt and pants, baring the fair skin, his lips tracing down over every fish-belly silver scar, worshiping each one, the love clear in and every touch. I have missed him. . .though I won't tell him that out loud, I don't have words for it.

Reno's breath came out a rattling sigh as sensation swamped him. . .a slow flickering fire that began in the pit of his belly and spread out through his limbs, being slowly but ever so certainly stoked to an inferno that seared over every nerve ending. Every muscle stiffened under his skin as he held tightly to Cloud. "Oh. ..oh Gods. . ." he whispered. "Please, please keep going." The plea came from him in a bare murmur as his arms tightened yet more.

In the drawer near the bed lay a small tub, one that Cloud knew well was there, and he slipped it open, the round tub being drawn out of the cherry wood table before it was closed with a distinctive noise. The top was removed, and his fingers dug into the viscous fluid. The slick-coated fingers slithered their way down the slender body, A look was given, one that asked are you ready? Are you sure?

Reno shivered at the sensations that those long fingers evoked, but that look was one that even in his still fragmented state he understood. . .and he gave the blond a nod. "I'm ready." came the words, spoken in a soft and ragged manner. The long digit that entered him brushed a place within him that sent starlight skittering across his vision, pleasure searing through him, making his body arch as feeling that was both foreign and remembered seized him.

Cloud watched in wonder as the slender body awakened. . .the pearlescent droplets on the tip of the long shaft that he'd known so very well telling of how much Reno was loving this. He could not resist the urge to bend down, licking one of those salty sticky streamlets off the round, uncut tip, drawing another soft shudder from his lover. He smiled at the groan it got. The former trooper was not expecting that this would last forever, he knew that mentally Reno still had a lot of healing to do. . .but he would enjoy it while he had it.

"Cloud. . ." the word was a soft sigh, no more than a single breath on the air between them, but the blond heard it, and felt it, deep inside of himself, It stirred something inside of him, the fierce protective streak that had driven him to keep his promise to Tifa, even when he'd been confused about how he felt for her, that had pushed him past his pain to defeat Sephiroth when the General had destroyed his home town and threatened to bring the entirety of the world to an end. I'm not going to let him be hurt again. I will put my life on the line to protect him. I swear that.

Within, the Wild One had been calmed, he was purring, the presence of the Knight settling him, at least for the moment, making him seize the Robot in his arms and press his lips to the other's in that mental space. For that moment, they were able to be one again. It would not last, it was not the time yet, and the strength was not yet there, but this one golden moment was one none of them would forget.

Reno's head tilted back, the full lips opening, His body was alight, beautifully alight, as he looked up at this man he loved more than life itself. "Now." he whispered, encouraging Cloud to push into him, telling him that he was ready. His legs wrapped themselves around Cloud's waist, and he sighed as Cloud slid into him in one long, wonderfully smooth motion.

The radio played in the bedroom, Reno had taken to falling asleep with it on because it had always soothed his frazzled nerves when the memories of all of the bad things he'd done haunted him, and what played was perfect for this single shining moment in wish all of it had fit together just right.

I wanna know what love is.

I want you to show me,

I wanna feel what love is

I know you can show me.

The feelings that bubbled up within as he made love to Reno filled Cloud with a sort of wonder that he so very rarely had a chance to feel. . .a knowledge, in heart, mind, and soul, that this love, when the time came, would be what would heal the damage that had been done. He reached down, brushing his fingers through the flame like hair, pressing his lips to Reno's and imprinting that flavor onto him, body and soul. He could feel the warmth of the energy that had begun a slow leak and pulse from the slim body as soon as they had joined, and it made him smile.

"Oh Cloud. . ." Reno's tone was one of wonder as the feeling rose up inside of him like a tsunami, threatening to sweep over him, to entirely engulf him, but there was no fear. Merely wonder. .. and trust. Reno trusted Cloud, with his heart, with his life, with all of him. He knew the other would not ever harm him, and from the normally hard nosed and untrusting Turk that was a very big deal. The fire raged in his gut, and then blossomed fully, fanning out through his entire being as climax made his body tense fully, blue white fluid splashing between he and Cloud. In the one moment, he was whole, completely whole.

As Cloud's orgasm too grabbed hold of him and made muscles tense and teeth bare he swore he could hear soft laughter in the room, but he was sure he was imagining it. It wasn't like anyone could get through a locked door. Neither he nor Reno had any idea that it had been the presence of Phoenix that had allowed that temporary mending.

You will need this, my Flame, and his protector, mate, and Knight. You will need this bonding, to keep you strong, with what is coming. I did what needed to be done to protect this world's future. . .I'm simply happy that both of you got to enjoy it as well

# Chapter 11

Rude's jaw was set as he landed the helicopter, sliding the therm-optic cammo over his head, the bomb he'd made in the bag at his side. It was like the one that had blown up the overpass during the fighting with the remnants, that had a flakes of crushed materia in it for extra oomph and a bit of color.

The explosion would be magnificent, and Rude looked forward to the reaction that it would probably get when it went off. "I'm going to enjoy this. Probably a lot more than I should." The house that he was aiming for was right in front of him, only a few hundred feet away, and he knew it wouldn't be a problem to get to it from where he was unseen.

He crept up to the house, and sought out a crack in the stoop, finding it easily enough he inserted the device within it, and backed up, removing the detonator from the bag at his feet. The wires trailed from the explosive, hidden by a conceal as he was by the camo, and the bald man smirked as he moved back out of range, into the woodlands near the home. He knew from the research he'd done before he had come that Katsu lived alone, was unmarried, and that there would not be any collateral damage in the bombing. That was what mattered in that moment.

"You're going to wish you'd never crossed paths with me." he muttered, then hit the button on the detonator. The sky exploded into a rush of heat, flame, and color as the device went off. .. Rude had succeeded in his mission, but he did not realize yet what the consequences of his actions were likely to be, even if they would not be immediately meted out. As soon as the flames died off, Rude checked the wreckage of the house. Finding a hand sticking out of the rubble, he checked the pulse at the wrist, smirking to find that yes, it was there, but thready and weak. Katsu would die on his own in an hour or two, buried in the rubble of his own home, and that suited the Turk just fine.

"I could finish you off, but somehow I have a feeling my mother didn't die fast and mercifully, either, and I'm not inclined to be merciful to you. Breathe your last knowing that Turks avenge their own." he spat on top of the rubble before shoving the hand back inside of it so that even if someone did come across the destruction they wouldn't find the man soon enough to get him out.

He returned a few hours later to Edge, and as he walked into HQ he tossed his gloves down on Tseng's desk. "Mission accomplished, sir." The dark eyes pinned Tseng's dead on, there was not one bit of regret in the gaze Rude gave him.

"You best hope that you do not bring war down upon ShinRa with your actions. You know why I can not simply fire you. . .but we will not protect you if there are consequences for what you have done this day." Tseng's tone was grave as he gave Rude that warning.

"Not expecting you to, Sir. Whatever happens, I'll deal with it as it comes. But they harmed my blood, and that doesn't happen without consequences." Rude rarely said that much, but he wanted to be completely certain he was understood.

"See to it that you do." With that dispensed with Tseng sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You do realize if something had happened to you. . .even in the state that Reno is in now he likely would have done something equally as stupid as you did today. If something were to happen to Reno, Cloud would be infuriated, and there would be little we would be able to do to appease him. There are far too many connections for you to take such risks."

"I can't promise I'll never do anything like this again, sir. . .but I can promise it won't be without reason." The words were a promise, sealed in the honor that Rude gave to his comrades.

"See to it that that remains true." Tseng's expression softened. "You are family to us, and you know this. I come down on you for going off on your own, as I do Reno, because I care." He dismissed the man, watching as the bald headed one lifted his gloves up off the surface of the desk and turned to go.

Watch your back, my friend. There is only so far I can go to guard it from the knife that may find its way to it.

The next morning Cloud went to see Rufus while Reno was still sleeping. He leaned back against the wall, his face drawn into a thoughtful look. "I'd never seen anything like it in my life, President ShinRa. He'd been sitting out on the porch, watching the sunrise, and he just started. . .glowing. It was the damndest thing I had ever seen." He had no idea what to make of that, really. "I had never seen that kind of power, not without materia, anyway. I don't understand any of it."

Cloud described in detail the way Reno had been humming, then the power that had come from him and wound around him. The more intimate details remained a secret. . .he respected he and Reno's relationship too much to discuss those in front of Rufus, but the memory shone bright in his heart, giving him a hope that had not been there the day before.

"Something is happening. Maybe something good, maybe something bad, I don't know. But it's something that will change this whole thing around. I guess we'll know what it is when it's time." Now, Cloud couldn't say he trusted Rufus entirely still, but he knew how much Reno meant to the man, and the President wouldn't do anything to harm the redhead.

"Keep watch on him." was all that Rufus said. "You know, and I do not have to reiterate, that I care for that man as if he were my own flesh and blood. I know well how you feel about him, so I am trusting you to make sure that he comes to no further harm."

"I will guard him as if he was the most precious thing in the world. You know that's what he is to me. I cherish him, even if it didn't start out that way." Cloud met Rufus' gaze head on, his own completely honest.

"That's all I could ask of you." Rufus' words were quiet. "I am assuming he was still well out when you left to come see me?" He was pretty sure after Cloud had found Reno in the shower that he wouldn't have left the redhead alone unless he was thoroughly out.

"Yeah. He took a sleeping pill last night, he needed a good night of sleep. It hasn't been nightmares, really, so much as just. . .being restless." The restlessness worried Cloud a bit, but then again he knew Reno had always been fairly full of energy. It hadn't changed even with his accident.

"You should still probably try to get back quickly. An accidental mess is the last thing any of us need, and he seems to be good at getting into them." Rufus smirked a bit at that. He knew the second in command of his Turks very very well.

Cloud chuckled. "I know. Don't worry, he's a handful, but he's my handful to deal with, and I will make certain he stays mostly out of trouble."

Upon hearing the news that his second in command and best assassin had been killed in an explosion in his home, Chao Min roared in rage, throwing the glass of wine that he'd been drinking against the wall. "I told Katsu that targeting the Turk was a bad idea. Rudolph Urar had nothing personal against him, it had been his job, nothing more. Now I have lost my best assassin to his own foolish, idiotic pride!"

He knew well what Katsu Himura's problem with Rude had been. . .Tseng Xiang had been one of Katsu's last assignments from the Royal Assassin's guild, he'd been told to eliminate the traitor to the Royal House. ..but the then newly-hired demolitions expert had come between he and his kill.

Katsu's failure had caused him to lose his position in the guild, and had it not been for Chao Min stepping in and taking him off the Guild's hands may very well have ended up costing him his life. "I told him the man was going to be the death of him. . .he did not listen. No matter. . .I will go on as planned. . .he will die when the rest of ShinRa meets their ends."

_____________________________________________________________________

Shortly after Cloud, Rufus looked up, his lips parting in curiosity to see the woman approach him. "Doctor Kimiko. . .I wish I could say that I had expected this, but I most patently had not. That you have chosen to turn yourself in is quite a surprise. I am grateful, do not misunderstand me, but I am still very shocked."

"You do not misunderstand me." she countered. "I have turned myself in only because those that had provided me with my equipment have done something that was unconscionable I do not agree with the deaths of innocents. Yes, it happened last week, and there is not a day that goes by that I do not regret what happened to your employee, and to those people. "

Blue eyes met amber, and Rufus could see that Hotaru Kimiko was not lying. She truly did regret the things that had happened. "I know that you have reason to hate my father. But please, do not forget that though I am my father's son, as much as I despise having to accept that fact at times, I am not him. I neither approve of his methods of doing things, nor do I emulate any of the things that he did."

"That is the only thing that redeems you in my eyes, Rufus ShinRa. The knowledge that you have never done things your father's way." she told him. "I will tell you what I do know. I simply wish that it had been more. Katsu was the man that spoke to me about all of my orders. I never met the man who employed him. ..and I suppose that was probably something he did to make it more difficult for him to be found."

"I will have one of my Turks question you. I would have preferred to do so myself, but as I am sure you can understand, thanks to your carelessness with your robots, I am left having to watch over another of my own." his eyes narrowed as he twisted the verbal knife, watching her face.

The flinch of her body that came as the words seemed to strike her almost in the manner of a physical blow told him everything that he needed to know. If he had doubted the Doctor's regret prior to that, he did not doubt it after seeing her react.

You body betrays you, Hotaru Kimiko. I can see that you have not lied to me, and that fact is what will be the difference between Elena letting you go when she finishes with the interrogation or simply putting a bullet in your head.

"Elena. . .the good doctor has come here. I want you to come, take her to an interrogation room, and question her. I want to know everything that she knows by the end of the day. I will be leaving the building for a while, I am going to go and see Reno, please be certain that the secretary knows to take down any messages of importance." Rufus spoke into the intercom, knowing the young, doe eyed blond woman would be there in just a few moments.

For all of Elena's innocent appearance, the woman was significantly more dangerous than she looked. She was as much of a demolitions expert as Rude himself, and well versed in chemistry enough to create her own bio weapons, if she so pleased. She was also a top notch interrogator.

"Yes sir." she responded, and soon enough feet would be heard clattering down the tiled hallway for her to pick up the new prisoner. The woman that walked in looked diminutive, like a teenager, but those appearances were extremely deceiving. A gloved hand seized Doctor Kimiko's arm with an iron strength that was belied by the size of it.

Doctor Kimiko did not fight as Elena led her away, expecting that she would be questioned, she had simply expected it to me Rufus himself, not the newest of the four remaining Turks. Though the implacable manner of Elena's moving said she had some personal stake in all of this.

Not that I should be that surprised. . .all of them act as if they are part of a peculiar brotherhood. I suppose that is how the Turks are and have always been. Likely as they will always be.

Elena sat Kimiko down, her eyes searing into the Doctor's with a great deal of venom. "That you're sorry for what you did is the only reason I don't do anything rash. That man that your actions caused so much harm to is my senpai. He trained me, made me the Turk that I am today. I owe him more than you know."

She gave the woman an almost disinterested look as Kimiko flinched again, looking down at her nails. "There's also the fact that he trusted you. Reno does not give his trust easily. If he discovers that you have actually betrayed that trust rather than it being a simple accident. .. a mishap. . .well, I can't promise it will go well for you once he recovers."

"If he recovers, you mean." Doctor Kimiko countered. She knew very well how trauma of that kind could affect a person, and though she wanted to have hope, because she did actually feel awful for what had happened, she herself did not.

"When he recovers. Reno is stronger than anyone gives him credit to, Doctor Kimiko. He will recover. And when he recovers Gods help you if you truly haven't repented of what you did. He's forgiving, but not if you don't have some sense of knowing that what you've done was wrong." Elena slapped both hands on the arms of the chair the cyberneticist was sitting in. "Now. . .you're going to tell me what happened. . .and give me some clue of how you did what you did, or you won't be getting out of here alive."

To her credit, Hotaru did not jump or flinch when the Turk did so. She was accustomed to Chao Min, and no matter what they did, she was not going to betray the man. . .she feared him more than she did them. They could kill her, to be sure. . .but what he could do to her would be infinitely worse.

Besides. . .without my help he will not be able to create more of the shells anyway. He will have only what he has on hand now, and the blue prints are safe in a place he would never know to look for them. No sense risking being turned into one of them and becoming one of his slaves because these Turks want to know his business.

"Is what I want to do truly that horrible? Imagine a world in which death was not a permanent thing to be feared! In which those who have the courage could bring back a lost loved one! How many children have had their lives prematurely cut short? How many husbands, wives, mothers, fathers? True, it isn't an organic body, and I haven't developed the technology well enough for it to even appear organic, but is it not better than not having them?" Amber eyes met honey, and the straight stare said that she meant it, unequivocaly.

Elena inwardly cringed. She's crazy. . .doesn't she even have any concept of how bad it would be? Human beings aren't meant to be immortal. Not only that, most would lose their minds with no sensory input whatsoever. We are designed by nature to see, to touch, to experience through our senses. . .what she wants to do is just setting herself and her reborn spirits up for a world of hurt.

Outwardly, her expression was simply stern. "We have a set cycle, Doctor Kimiko. . . we are born, we live, we die. It's the way things have been since the beginning of time. To disrupt that cycle is to destroy the planet and deny life to children in the future. But that's something I doubt you thought through when you planned this."

She leaned in close. "Now. . .I want to know everything that this Katsu told you. . .all of it. What they had planned to do with those robots. . .everything that you know." Elena's mouth was drawn into an almost fierce line as she gripped the arms to the chair.

The overhead light of the nearly featureless room suddenly flared to life, a technique meant to make the one being interrogated uncomfortable. Especially when that light was glaring right in the prisoner's face.

"Do you truly believe I am insane? I tossed myself on your President's mercy to escape the ones that had been attempting to use me for their own ends. You must think that I am if you think I would do something that is just as likely to end up with me tossed back at their doorstep to be used as a tool." Hotaru felt like spitting at the Turk.

"I think soon enough that sense of self preservation is going to kick in. . ." Elena circled her. "Everyone has it. . .that point at which they will do anything and everything to make it all stop. Say anything. . .give anything. . .believe me, I can get you to that point, and you don't want to go there."

"You don't get it. They will do far worse than kill me. There is nothing that you could do to me that would be worse than what they would do to me." The wutain woman sneered as she spoke those words. She would give away little more than that.

"You truly have no idea what I can do." Elena pulled a knife from her boot, and a smirk spread across her face. "You're going to wish that you'd never fought me."

Screams rang through the hallways outside of the prison area of the ShinRa building, drawing shudders from the people who passed it. . .they knew well what went on in these walls, and most of the employees that had returned after the fall of the old regime preferred to avoid it and its possible reminders of how the old president had done things even though the ones punished and interrogated there were always the worst of the worst.

It felt like a ghost creeping through the hallways, though, as a few of them remembered when those screams had meant something else entirely, coming from several floors above, and those that still remembered was glad the man in question was gone. Had the known who was doing the screaming most of the workers would have considered it poetic justice.

It was not long before Hotaru gave up a single name. . Chao Min. When Elena had said that she could make a person talk. . .the Turk had been far from joking, and the scientist had new respect for her skills as she sat shaking in the corner of her cell, hoping to Hell that Chao Min did not find out how ShinRa had found him.

"Mister President. . . we have a name." Elena brought him the notes of what she had gotten from the scientist, her mouth set firm. She knew the name that she gave him. . .better than she really wanted to. Chao Min was a gun runner, a weapons salesman, and a religious extremeist to boot. A bad combination, especially when those on the Eastern Continent were considered Devils.

Rufus immediately went into action when he heard the name, handing down the order for Elena to immediately begin trying to find him. He had no idea that things were so much larger than he thought and by the time they did it would be far too late.

Chao Min would already be dead.

# Chapter 12

#

Reno woke as Cloud came back into the house, his face holding the vacant expression that it had since the events at the auditorium once more. The memory of the previous night was locked away, deep. . .being kept protected from a world that was not worthy of such beauty.

It tore at Cloud's heart to see it, though he would remain strong. . .say nothing of what he was feeling. He would not burden this man that he loved so deeply when he already had enough burdens to bear with the fact that his condition hurt him. It wasn't as if Reno could help it for the time being, anyway.

Still, even with the distant look the way that Reno moved was beautiful to him, the sway of the slim hips, the way the slender throat bobbed when he swallowed. I promised Rufus that I would protect you. . .as if I would stop anyway. But. . .I sense something on the horizon too. . .I don't know what it is yet, but it's dangerous.

He pulled the redhead in for one sweet embrace, and he smiled when Reno didn't stiffen at the touch but instead leaned back into it with a look of wonder. It was a relief to Cloud to even be able to have this much. The rest will come, given time. He thought to himself. I do have faith in that much.

A second raid came, also in the early morning hours. . .this one on Lower Junon. The burning city and the destruction was this time close to make most of the people under ShinRa's watch uncomfortable, even though it had not been as bad as Costa, after the first attack Rufus had made sure the cities were much more secure than they had been, and after the first couple of houses had been destroyed they fought back.

This one, however, had had a purpose. The last that Chao Min had known, Hotaru Kimiko had been in Junon, and he wanted to tie up that loose end before she made trouble for him, even if she did not know him by name. It was too great a risk for him not to be sure that she had been eliminated. He did not yet know that it was too late, she was already safe in a ShinRa detention facility in Edge.

Hotaru watched the TV with the news in Junon. . .her head dropping into her hands. It would be the first time any of those who had dealt with her since the tragedy that had begun all of this would see her in tears. The woman had quickly gained a reputation among her fellow scientists and engineers for being tough. . .to see this level of emotion in her was rare, and the guards could not help but feel for her.

"This was not what I wanted. . ." the words were spoken in a soft, quiet tone. "I must find a way to atone for this. . .I can not let this stand. But I've no idea how to do so."

From within the Lifestream, the darkness began to expand once more as a single soul slipped free. . .one that found a home within one of the robotic bodies, though it would not be known yet. Jenova had schemed and planned for this ever since the first of the disturbances had begun.

Minerva had felt her go, and she swore quietly, very much not liking the situation that had begun with this. "We must begin to prepare." she told the others. "Jenova has escaped. . .she will not move immediately, it will take her time to get all of what she needs in place. . .but we will need to be ready."

Shiva's expression was one of concern, blue eyes narrowed in concentration. "It is fortunate that Phoenix is above with your Child, my Goddess. . .Jenova would go straight after him if she were to know that he lived and was in no true state to defend himself."

"Indeed. The last thing any of us can afford is for something to happen to him." Blond hair was tied back into a tail, Minerva getting herself battle ready, she suspected it was going to be needed soon enough.

Within the warehouse in Wutai, the eyes of one of the robots flashed a brilliant, serpentine green, before fading to black again. Jenova knew that making her presence known too soon would only get her stopped before she got her plan fully in motion, and that was the last thing she wanted. You thought you could contain me, Minerva. You were wrong. My first priority will be to get the men who wanted these so badly under my sway. . .from there. ..it will be seeking your Knight, and eliminating him.

She figured influencing Chao Min would be simple enough. . .after all they both wanted the same thing for the first step. The elimination of ShinRa. Then she could simply discard him once she had gained everything that she could get from him. It was, like the virus that Jenova's people had begun as, her way to take what she was able and then discard the remains.

The body was not perfect. ..she could not morph it as she could an organic body, but it had at least gotten her out from under the Goddess' watchful eye. Just where she needed to be to get her plans to begin.

"Jenova is on the surface once more." The Robot's eyes met those of the Wild One, worry shining in them. "Things are beginning to get complicated, and the last thing any of us need is for our host to be harmed. He will be needed."

The mental landscape had become more expansive. . .shimmering silver river wending through the middle of it, green grass on both sides with a perfect blue sky overhead. There was a woodland at the end of the river with trees that rustled in a soft breeze. It was beautiful, most of it was the Child's creation.

"He will be protected." The Wild One countered. "You know well that his comrades will not allow him to be harmed." He reached down and ran his fingers through the sleeping Child's hair. Both he and the Robot shared the memory of the previous night, but neither had allowed it to make them too at ease.

"The Knight as well. . .he would not allow the Child of Minerva to come to harm. He loves him far too well for that." The Robot added quietly.

Rude had been allowed now to leave the Headquarters after his last destructive outing. He and Elena were doing cleanup in Junon after the raid there, his own mouth was drawn into a thin line. Losing his mother was bad enough, but this attack, on one of ShinRa's own facilities? That was hitting far too close to home for his comfort.

"Little Sister, this is just. .." he didn't know what words to use for the disaster area that the normally quiet fishing town had become, even if the destruction was not near so bad as it had been in Costa Del Sol. The scent of the smoke and burning fish still filled the air. . .the burned out husks of the two stone huts that had been engulfed in flame a few hours before still there, caving in.

"It's horrid." Elena swept her fingers through short blond strands. "Granted, ShinRa did some horrible thing under Shachou's father, but things have been different with Rufus in charge. ..and it was never like this, with the exception of Sector Seven, and none of us want to think about that."

It was the smell that would strike anyone who came upon the town first. The smell of charged stone and wood, of decaying flesh and death. Both of the Turks had to filter the air with their shirts as they worked.

Both of them remembered cleaning up after Meteor. ..the same scent of death had hung in the air, and to Rude it was a sobering experience. He had watched Reno be affected by being able to feel as Meteor killed the ones who got caught out in its effects.

The skies were a brilliant ruby. . .the wind was insanely rough, tiny tornadoes coming down, ripping buildings apart in their wake. Reno's eyes were wide as he watched, but inside. ..inside he could feel things he'd never felt before. He could feel people leaving the physical realm. . .their spirits lifting free of their bodies.

His heart felt a mix of trepidation, wonder, and confusion. The redheaded Turk wasn't sure what to make of everything that he was feeling. . .he'd never been in such a situation before. . .he'd never been able to so keenly feel what other Cetra would feel in situations of this nature before.

"Rude. . .this could be the end, yo." Reno was watching the massive space rock approaching. "I'm sorry for everything, Partner. Sorry you've had to deal with the shit that I've given you over the years. I know I done some pretty stupid things over the course of my career. ..this might be my last chance ta say it, but. ..I care, yo. You're the brother I never had."

"You know I feel the same, partner." Rude returned the sentiment. . .he too was watching, all manner of emotions playing across his features. He was afraid, amazed. . Prepared to die while still wanting to live, and having no idea how it was going to happen.

Reno let out a soft gasp as the white wash of energy spread out over the sky. It surrounded the huge chunk of space debris, and at first it looked like the spell might actually manage to drive it back, though the red tendrils began to weave in and around through the white. The spinning stone began to push through despite all efforts of the white energy to push it away.

"Shit." he said, softly, quietly, not just fear but resignation filling Reno. "Looks like this is it, yo. . .shoulda told Strife I had a thing for him. . Kinda regret that now." Something shifted inside of him, though, as a hazy figure appeared on the horizon, one with her hands clasped in prayer.

"Aerith." Rude recognized the presence just as well as Reno did. He knew the feel of the Ancient girl, well enough to know that that was who it was. He sent up a reverent prayer. . .he knew that ShinRa, after the way they had treated her, didn't deserve her efforts, but he very much appreciated what she was doing none the less.

Reno's eyes went even wider as the first of the green rivulets broke up out of the ground. . .and he grinned as one wound around he and his partner. The voices didn't disturb him as he imagined they should have, this was something much more simply surreal. He felt one of the tine streamlets brush by his cheek like a caress as they began to join together, tearing into the Meteor like a coeurl's claws.

"Holy. ..shit." came the soft exclamation, before Reno threw his arms around his partner and let out a hoot. "Rude. . .would ya look at there? It's over, yo. It's over!" The joy of the redheaded former Slums rat was infectious, soon spreading all over the remainder of the people there.

Sure, Rufus was still injured, it would take time for him to heal, but for now. . .Rude could not help the smile that touched his lips. For this one single shining moment, all was right with their world because by some miracle they weren't about to die. "Come on, Reno. . .let's get back to the President. . .we need to check on the Director anyway."

"Remind me ta thank my cousin later, yo. . ." he told Rude quietly, and had yet another realization that made him grin like a loon. He could claim Aerith for what she was to him without fear. . .knowing that even if the whole world knew what he was now there would no greedy scientist waiting to exploit him, no Rupert ShinRa to want to use his blood tie to the Ancient people for his own ends. It was one of the most exhilarating feelings he'd ever had to know that, that freedom. "She really saved out asses today."

Rude caught the look as well, and also couldn't help but grin. Sure, there would be a lot of cleanup. . .a lot of people had died but. . .ShinRa would do what they could to make things right again. They were truly getting a second chance.

"She did." the bald man confirmed. "We ought to do what she'd want us to. . .turn the world around. We owe her that."

"We still owe you just as much today." The bald man murmured as he turned to meet Elena's honey brown gaze. "We will do all we can to do things the way we would know you would want us to. Protecting the last of your blood." That of course was foremost in Rude's mind. Protecting Reno as he knew that Aerith would want them to. He was now the last so far as they knew, just as Aerith had been before him.

Elena set a hand on Rude's shoulder. "We'll find a way to make all of this all right again, Big Brother. It's not going to be easy, but since when is anything worth having ever easy? It won't keep the truly determined from making it happen, though."

Rude nodded, as he continued to clear the rubble from the thrashed homes. He was glad of Elena's stubborn optimism. They needed it, with the way times had been in and on their world lately. "I just hope this doesn't get any worse." his voice held a somber tone with that. There was so very much at stake, and he knew that Elena knew it as well as he did.

"Have faith, Big Brother. Things will get better. After all, we have the last of Minerva's Children as one of us, yeah? They have to get better with that on our side." Elena gave that shoulder a pat, looking out at the area where they had been clearing. "Besides, we were better prepared this time, yeah? That made it so it didn't get as bad. If we're more prepared each time there's going to come a time they'll fail, badly enough for us to get them."

He smiled back at her. "I guess so, Little Sister. I guess so." Rude honestly wasn't sure whether it would happen how she said or not, but her enthusiasm was far too infectious for him to want to naysay her with his own doubts.

"Let's finish this so we can check on Senpai, yeah?" Elena dug her shovel into the ground and made to finish the last grave. She grieved for the families who had lost people, but there was nothing she could say to them to make things any better.

"Yeah." Rude nodded "He's been through a lot, but he's strong. He'll make it. I firmly believe in him." He had believed in his partner since the day they had met, and that wasn't going to change any time soon.

# It only took another hour for the cleanup, and Rude sent back an all clear to Rufus. He knew that the President was already planning ways in which to stop this, and he had every faith it would happen. Though. . .he worried that his uncle had already gotten news of his mother's death, and what the result might be. Uncle Faruq isn't always reasonble when it comes to his family being harmed. . .this could easily turn messy, and I don't know whether he'd go after the real culprit or blame Rufus for it.

He had a horrid feeling it was likely to be the second, and that was somnething that would need to be headed off quickly. The stocky figured bald Turk only hoped he had the time he needed in order to do so before the situation got worse.

# Chapter 13

The news of his sister's death had indeed reached Faruq, and his dark eyes held an almost unreasoning rage. The desert people were enormously protective of their own, as there tended to be so few, the loss of his sister was something he immediately blamed on the "modern folk" who had taken her from her home and moved her into the city. Into the world of being in one place, something which the nomads had never considered all that safe.

Though his wife, an intelligent woman from a neighboring tribe that had always been very shrewd, but had gone from being as harsh and cruel as the desert itself before she had born their son to a hard but fair woman after, set a hand on his arm. "My husband. . .to blame all of the city dwellers for the actions of a stupid, arrogant, and violent few would be foolish. Better it is to find the ones who are in truth responsible."

Ameena's birdlike hands reached up to adjust the veil at her face and the scarf around the blue black hair, she kept with the traditions of her people even when the wrappings annoyed her due to the way in which they tended to slip free at the wrong times. She had to smile behind the gauzy fabric when her husband's hands reached for hers.

"Ameena, love. . .you know you do not need to stand on ceremony with me. You and I understand one another far too well for that to be necessary." Faruq's dark eyes dropped, however, as he sighed. He looked much like an older version of his nephew, only without the facial hair, a few laugh lines at the corners of his mouth and crow's feet lining his eyes. "You are of course right. But I do not yet know who to blame. . .perhaps. . .it would be best to seek those who have also been harmed."

"Our nephew. . .he has ties with the ShinRa, does he not? Those ties could be made use of." Ameena's words held a shrewd tone. Always in her mind were all of the variables of a given situation, what things could be used to come out on top of said situation. It was one of the things Faruq loved most about her, that canny and intelligent resourcefulness that always seemed to be displayed at the times when they were needed the very most.

"Indeed. . .perhaps it is time to give him a call." he squeezed his wife's hand gently. Faruq was not the most demonstrative man in the world, but the small gestures of love were ones that he knew his wife would well understand.

Rude brow quirked when he looked down at his phone, the name on the caller id was the last one he'd expected to see. His uncle called him even more seldem than his family in Costa, so if Faruq was actually calling him it had to be important. Of coutse he'd half-expected his uncle to attack first and ask questions later, which made the phone call yet more of a shock.

"I don't need to see your face to know that you are surprised at me calling on you." Faruq's tone was dry and a bit droll. He had the typical sense of humor that most of the desert dwellers possessed, in spades.

"Am I that obvious, Uncle Faruq?" Rude replied in nearly the same tone of voice, but there was a slight hint of laughter in it too. He was still grieving his mother horribly, but this was family that he rarely got to hear from, and the lightening of his spirit was a wonderful thing.

"You are my blood, and the one closest to my heart. You do not have to be obvious for me to know your mind, my nephew." Faruq countered. "As it has ever been, like calls to like. I know you as I would myself."

Another soft chuckle sounded over the line. "I know this isn't a social call, Uncle. I rarely hear from any of you, at my own request, yes, but still. If I am hearing from you, it is important."

Faruq made a sound that seemed to Rude to be a breathy sigh, as if trying to gather his thoughts and decide how he should state his wishes without sounding too forward or offensive. "Yes. . .this is not a social call. I understand ShinRa has also been under attack from the same robotic enemy that your mother was killed by. . .I wish to speak to your President. It seems that we have a common enemy, and I want to lend my strength to his own."

"I'll get you a meeting. The President is very unhappy on multiple fronts, it may not be easy for me to get him to allow an outsider to plan with him, but I'll do all that I can, Uncle. I killed the one that sent the robots into Costa and cost Mother her life, but I doubt he was at the top. There are more." Rude shook his head at that. He was flustered, as the amount he was saying would show.

"Thank you. I knew that I could count on you, Rudolph. You always come through for your family in the worst of times." Faruq thanked him warmly, if he had been physically present and speaking to his nephew he likely would have bowed.

"You're family, Uncle. . .of course I'll help you." As he hung up, Rude dropped into thought. Rude still needed to go check on his partner, but he'd wanted to come home and get himself cleaned up.

He stripped out of his shoes and padded barefoot across the wooden floor in the living room, across the cracked gray marble tile in the hallway, and into the bathroom. The pale pink tiled floor of the bathroom was cold enough to make Rude shift from foot to foot as he started the shower.

He dropped into thought as he slipped out of his shirt, the firm musculature of his back playing under mocha toned skin, the henna inkwork stretching across back and arms as he climbed into the stall, hot water splashing down over his stocky body.

Something about this whole thing strikes me weird. Rude, as always, did his best thinking in the peaceful time with the water falling down on him like rain. I mean, it started out witn the scientist, but it's gotten so much bigger, you have to wonder just where the ultimate hand at the top is.

As he towled off, and slipped back into a clean uniform, Rude's thoughts remained on trying to figure out just how deep the rabbit hole went. The thought that it might be deeper than any of them could have thought troubled him.

All I can do is watch over those I care about and try to prevent as much collateral damage as possible.

Rude ended up talking with Cloud while Elena visited with Reno, shaking his head as he talked to him about what his uncle had told him. "I don't know. . .I can't figure out what it is, but something just feels off."

"I know what you mean, Rude." Cloud had become at ease with the bald Turk simply because the man watched his partner's back the way Cloud had always watched after Tifa.

Cloud couldn't help the fond smile that crossed his face as another memory came to mind . .this one a few months after the first time he and Reno had gotten together.

The stars were scattered across the clear night sky as Cloud followed Reno from the bar, his arm supporting the slim bodied Turk and keeping him on his feet so he didn't fall. Reno had managed to get himself much more drunk than he'd planned, but his flushed face had broken out into a smile that drew one to Cloud's face, too, despite that it had only been a year since the former love of his life had died.

Reno just seemed to have this way about him, and Cloud didn't always understand it. There was this odd light, this beauty, that shone from within, and the Turk didn't even seem to realize he possessed it. He suddenly found himself wanting to kiss this man that only a few monhs before he'd been trying to kill.

Soon enough, as they got out into the grasslands between Edge and Kalm, Reno tripped over his own feet and ended up out on his back in the long vegetation. ..breaking out into giggles as he pulled the blond down with him.

Cloud let out a yelp, but an odd sense of joy seized him as he saw the grin on the redhead's face. . .the way the man laughed and the happiness in his eyes. It was the most beautiful thing he thought he'd ever seen and he never wanted it to leave.

Reno's laughter stopped when their eyes met and a strange look came over the fox like face. His lips parted, and he tilted his head, desire suddenly blossoming inside of him for this man that had savd the world.

"Cloud. . ." he spoke the name as if it were an invocation, a prayer for a healing that he hadn't realized until that moment he had needed. A slender fingered, fine boned hand reached up as the blond lay next to him, settling onto his cheek.

Cloud's mouth opened in a gasp and some odd, wild impulse had him leaning in, pressing his lips to the redhead's, the Turk making this soft whimpering sound at the contact and throwing his thin arms around the former trooper.

Inside Reno's chest, his heart went wild, something Cloud was able to feel as soon as he too snaked his arms around the man. This. ..this was what he'd needed so badly in his life since Zack had been killed. He knew this man had tried so hard to save the other's life, along with his partner. That they had failed had not been their fault, just something that had happened.

"Reno, I. . ." and Cloud stumbled over the words. He knew what he had begun to feel, but had no idea how to put it to words, the boy from Nibelihem had never been good at translating his feelings into communicable form.

"Don't struggle with it, yo." Reno murmured, bringing his hands to Cloud's face with a smile utterly unlike his normal smirking grin. "I know you ain't very good at it, an' I know what you're tryin' ta say. " and he leaned in, just enough for them to share breath. "Guess what, babe? I feel the same as you."

"The whole situation. . .something is just. . .well, it feels like it did during the Geostigma epidemic, Rude. . ." Cloud sighed, shaking his head. "Like something is coming, you don't know what, and you know you aren't prepared for it."

Rude's face took on a thoughtful look, the wide jaw setting firmly. "It does have that feel to it. Calm before the storm. We'll have to be ready."

Phoenix watched the two, noting that the bald one cared for his charge much as the Knight did. Both of the would do well toward looking after the last Child of Minerva. . .and he gave the redhead a soft smile. You have chosen well, young one, in your companions. They have only your interests and happiness in their hearts, and that is what will be needed in the days to come.

A few hours later, after his visit with Reno and Cloud, he found himself in Rufus' office, standing at parade rest in front of the wide black desk, the one that had once belonged to the old President. Rude didn't particularly understand why Rufus had dug the thing out of the rubble of the old tower and installed it in his office except that Rufus had wanted to turn everything that his father had done on its head.

Eerily, the marking from Masamune where Rupert ShinRa had been pinned to the marble and cherrywood surface was still there. It had never been repaired, and the bald Turk had no inclination to try to decipher his boss's thinking on that.

"Mister President. . .I wanted to talk to you about something." Rude called him Rufus on their off time, but while on duty. . .friend or not Rufus was his boss and he respected that. "I got a call from my uncle this morning. He wants to pool his resources with yours in regards to the robot problem."

Rufus's eyes narrowed at the corners and his hand went to his chin, a stance that indicated he was thinking seriously on the matter at hand. "Your uncle is one of the desert tribes chieftans. . .he has many resources at his disposal that we in the city would not have access to. And as your family. . .he would be more trustworthy than most."

A step left, then right, over the white carpet with the red diamond-in a gold square shape of the ShinRa logo woven into the middle of it, and the white-suited male stopped his pacing, his eyes metting the black suited intelligence operative's through the other's dark glasses. "Have him come to see me. . .personally. Tell him that I will pay his travel expenses and see to his lodging myself."

"Yes sir." Rude turned and left.

# Chapter 14

Chao Min had finally gotten the news that Hotaru's body had not been found. . .his reaction had been to lift the messenger up off his feet, a rumble in his chest that was building to a roar as he throttled the man until the body went limp, breathing hard in his utter rage. The corpse was simply thrown aside, as if it meant nothing.

"When I find her. . .I am going to make her regret she had ever been born. Death will seem like a mercy." He was enraged, she could bring all of his plans down around his ears, in a messy and disastrous way. Not an idea that he wanted to contemplate.

"We are going to find her. . .and when we do, I am going to kill her, in the most painful way you could possibly imagine. . .then I am going to stuff her into one of her own creations so she must work for me for the rest of my life."

He called two of his servents in, his face still pink with rage. "Take that out of my sight." he told them, kicking the messengers body.

Chao Min had no idea that he would be dead before he had a chance to even bring his plans of eliminating the one who had started all of this to fruition.

A few hours later the desert prince was escorted into the glass walled office, his princess on his arm, their son between them. The dark haired toddler looked about him in wonder before Ameena led him out quietly with Elena as her escort. "Miko, come with Mama." She took the boy's hand.

"He's very well behaved." Elena commented, smiling as she watched the tan skinned, curly haired eighteen month old look around the playroom she took them to as if he'd never sen so many toys in one place before.

"Thank you." Ameena's normally cool demeanor became warmer as she relaxed in the presence of another woman. It was a rare treat for the desert born princess to be able to be around someone who did not have the expectation of her acting like royalty. The lush lips became pulled up into a smile as she removed her hajib and naqib, it was a relief to her to be able to be this way.

"You're welcome." Elena smiled. She'd noticed Ameena removing the veils and could not resist the tinkling laugh. "I guess it feels good to be able to let go of everyone else's expectations and just relax, huh?"

Ameena let out a soft, smokey chuckle in response. "It does, actually. I've become so accustomed to the rules and customs of the palace. . .I so rarely get to be just a person any more." She poured herself some coffee and leaned back to watch her son, hoping that this meeting with ShinRa went well.

"You can be here." Elena assured her. "And I'd love to see more of the person you are without all the formalities. It's a person I think that I could grow to really like very much."

"President ShinRa." Faruq bowed in the traditional manner of his people, showing the man the respect that his position dictated that he should receive. "You and I have a common enemy. . .one that threatens to consume us as the desert beasts consume their prey. I would like to pool all of our resources. . .I have many brave warriors, bred and trained under the harshest conditions this planet has to offer, but I do not have the technology necessary to handle this threat. If we work together. . .we can defeat this enemy and defend against this threat and survive."

"You do have a very good point." Rufus conceded. "You have the numbers that we now lack. . .those numbers would be very helpful if this blows up in the way that I very much am suspicious that it will." he poured himself a scotch, and offered Faruq a drink, which the man took with a soft thank you. "I think that I will indeed take you up on your offer. . .and perhaps we can find a way to strike other bargains from there, hmmm?"

"That sounds like a fine treaty, Mister President." Faruq took the hand that Rufus held out for himm and shook it firmly. "I believe that means it is time for the contract to be drawn up. Where I am from a handshake and a man's word is enough but I know that here you require such things as contracts and signed documentation."

"I will see to it, then." Rufus' lips curled up into a smile as he finished the drink, setting the shot glass down. "My men will show you to where you will be staying. . .I promise you that you will have the very best of accomodations while you are here."

Despite the chaos that had enveloped the world, time stopped for no man. The funeral of the matriarch of the Urar family had been planned. . .and Rude was expected to be there, something which all of them understood. The day of the ceremony had dawned in steel gray skies and with a soft drizzle, one which made piloting the chopper dififcult, but not impossible.

The bald man did his pre flight checks in stony silence. Despite the slaying of the one that had arranged his mother's death. . .it had not helped as much as Rude had hoped. It had certainly not brought her back. . .and it had not given him the sense of vindication he had thought that it might.

Seeing the devestated expressions of his father and brother. .. the way the older man with the craggy features and chestnut hair that was graying at the temples had his head bowed. . .the slumped set of his shoulders. . .made Rudolph Urar wonder what all of his struggling to help support his family had been for if it was only going to result in such a tragedy as this.

Eric began softly weeping as the pall bearers carried the casket from the hearse and toward the already dug grave. He stood closer to his father, the sounds going from soft to deep, hitching, almost animalistic sounds of grief that pulled the diaphram up in an effort to extract every last breath in the lungs.

Rude's arms went around him. He had not always gotten along with his brother. . .in fact he and the three years younger man had often competed in their teenage years, but things like this brought a family together, as it very well should. "I'm not going to let you go." he reassured Eric, his tone very quiet. He wanted to weep with the same savagry that his younger brother was, but someone had to remain strong. . .he would save his tears for when this was finished and he was alone.

Bernard walked to the grave and threw a handful of dirt in, before looking up at the others, clearing his throat, hoping he would be able to speak through the lump of emotion that was lodged deep within it. "When I met Gladys. . .she was fresh from the desert sands. So beautiful, and so innocent." a slight smile touched the old man's lips at the memory.

Bernard had been coming out of the bank that had just given him his first position that he had had since moving away from home, he was in his early twenties, fresh faced and naïve. That was when he saw her. . .stepping off the ship. . .her hair, blond but quite obviously dyed so, pulled back against the naped of her neck by a leather thong.

Her face was unlike any that he had ever seen. . .the head round, and small, the chin tapered to a near point, but not too much so, in a way that made it look delicate rather than overly sharp. Her frame was slim, with bird like, fine boned hands, and she was wearing a white middy dress that reached to her knees. Her desert breeding was obvious to someone who knew and some were shunned for it, but to Bernard. .. she was beautiful.

"Hello." He greeted her, with a smile. As a young man he still had the same lantern jawline and sharp cheekbones, but not so many lines in his face as he would in the future. "My name is Bernard Urar."

The introduction was followed by an offer out for coffee. . .which had led to more dates, coffee, dancing, dinner, the occasional drink. Gladys had discovered that he was a banker by trade, and not for a ShinRa owned bank, and he discovered that she was a bit shy, a fantastic cook, and that her brother was a prince.

Within six months, they'd been engaged to be married, within eighteen, their first son, Samuel, would be born. The son that they would lose in the SOLDIER desertion, but neither would know that in this moment of happiness.

"After losing Sam in the SOLDIER desertions. . .all I wanted was to protect her from the world. She was a good woman. . .a fair and loving wife, and a fantastic mother. She deserved more than to lose a son to one man's greed, and her life to another's. But there is naught we can do now but move on, try to recover." Bernard stepped back to let his remaining two sons speak.

Rude swallowed the lump in his own throat as he did, looking around at everyone. "I know many of you know who I am. One of ShinRa's enforcers, the figures in black suits that many of you fear." He did not remove his sunglasses, for to show his eyes would be his undoing, and he knew it. "But my main priority, that which I protect most, has always been my family."

He usually did not say this much, but his mother deserved, after he had failed her, for him to force himself out of his shell. "After my brother was lost to us during the disaster with the Genesis Copies, I made a promise to myself that never would I let my work come back to harm my family again. I failed in that promise. . .though not through any intentional actions of my own." He tossed his own handful of dirt in. "I won't fail my family again, and I will not fail my town again."

As the body was lowered into the ground, Rude's hands clenched, and then unclenched. He knew this wasn't over. . .he could feel it in his bones. . .smell it on the wind. There would be more, and they would have to weather it, to get past it. Not only for their own survival but for that of the world as a whole.

I am going to protect my home, my family, my partner, and my world. . .no matter what it takes. Rude swore, looking to his family that still grieved. If he had his choice, there would be no more deaths. ..no more moments like this.

Eric as he stood almost couldn't speak, but he had to say what he could. "Momma was loved, and not just by her family. She was one of the kindest, sweetest, most loving women in Costa Del Sol, always giving to those who had less than we did, and that won't be forgotten." he looked around at all of them that were there, it was actually a good numbber of the survivors, because as Eric had said she was well loved.

"Our family is gonna try to keep the tradition going in the coming days when things are gonna be so hard for everyone. It's what Momma would want. . .for the rest of her loved ones to help everyone else rebuild."

Chao Min's rage had simmered, and led to his final act. . .he looked to his men around him, his jaw tight and mouth drawn thin, his muscular body tense as he paced. "We are going to ready our forces for our final initiative. . .Edge will fall. . .and all will belong to our glorious nation. They will pay for the iniquities that they have done to us."

Around him, the cheer began to go up. . .starting out quietly, and beginning to grow into a rising tide of voices that rang out, turning into a swell that would push them forward through the charge. The man smirked as he turned, getting ready to move his robots into the warehouse in Kalm so he could ready himself for this last attack. ..the one that should he have his way would win him all.

"Make sure that when you move my troops, you do so with all care. If even one of those robot soldiers is damaged you and the others helping to move them will pay for it." Chao Min warned the men that were loading them.

"Yes sir." The man saluted him, and swallowed thickly. Chao Min was famed for his ruthlessness, and not even a one of these men wanted to be the one to piss him off. They were extraordinarily careful as they moved them into the trucks to be shipped to Kalm.

One of the loaders nearly had a heart attack as the weight of one of them nearly tipped it back out of the truck and he had to shift to move it back in. His dark eyes went wide as he scrambled to make sure it didn't fall. "That was a Hell of a lot closer than I would have liked." he murmured as he got it straightened up and locked into the frame.

"Be careful with thos things!" The guy helping him told him. "You break one, you know what's gonna happen to you, and it'll be painful. You'll wanna kill yourself before you let the boss do it to you if you break one of his toys."

The loader who'd nearly dropped it shuddered. "Yeah, I know. Let's get these guys out of here before something bad really does happen." He got into the driver's seat of the truck and pulled away, wanting nothing more than to get out from under the gaze of the mobster that he could feel boring through the back of his skull even when the man wasn't there.

Faruq laid back against the bed in the quarters he'd been assigned, his arm around his wife. He remembered how difficult there first few years had been. ..Ameena had thought herself barren, though it had later turned out to be several ladies in the court feeding her contraceptive herbs out of jealousy.

She'd grown bitter and angry. . .her disappointment in not being able to fulfill her duty to her Prince had not gone well with her, the grief making her cold and hard. Ameena had always been a strong and fierce woman at heart anyway, and the refusal to weep had had her turning that mourning and despair inward.

Now, she was in the bathroom, bathing their son, the smile that he had missed so when things had been so difficult curving up the corners of the rosebud mouth. "My Mikho. . .my sweet little boy." she murmured as she washed him. "Your father and I will protect you. . .we will keep you safe."

I swear it to you. I did not spend so many years trying to find a way to have you in the first place only to lose you now. I will not let that happen. Ameena's mouth thinned, and her brows drew down, the rage simmering in those coal black eyes one of a mother that refused to lose that which meant most to her. You are my most precious, other than my Prince. . .my family is more to me even than my position and the wealth that comes with it, and I will protect it with all of the fierceness of the desert fox.

Minerva looked from one summon to the other as the disturbances reached a fever pitch, and her expression was grim. The time was fast coming when there would be a battle. . .and that battle would be for the fate of the world as a whole. "All of you. . .be ready. This is going to be one of the most difficult fights you have ever faced. I am not going to lie to you and say that it will not be."

Green eyes pinned each and every one of them, wanting them to get the seriousness of the situation at hand. It was going to be rough, it was going to be deadly, and there were no two ways about it. "I need all of you to prepare, in every way you can. I know none of you can truly die because of what you are, but being forced to return at a critical moment could be the difference between defeat and victory. The world depends on us to win."

The group of summons nodded, and even Ifrit's face held a sterner look than usual. "The humans may annoy me ninety nine percent of the time, but I know their value and Jenova annoys me even more." he told Minerva. "I will protect them. I will not let them fall, and I swear that to you."

Shiva had to eye roll at her mate's assessment of their charges. "We all know you don't like most mortals, why should the humans be any different? But I do know that you will do as you have sworn, because your bed would be rather. . . cold. . .should you fail to do so."

"Oh ho, this is why it's a bad idea to make Shiva mad." Ramuh had a tendency toward the absent minded old man thing, which annoyed the rest of the summons of the time, but it was simply who he was. "You know very well that she is not pleasant when she's angry."

Odin and Titan both turned at the same time and swatted Ramuh over the back of the head. "Shut up, Old Man." they both said simultaniously, only to hear both Ifrit and Shiva laugh quietly.

Minerva even with the tension and the danger could not help a soft laugh herself. Despite everything. . .we are a family. . .I am not going to forget that ever. These spirits are the closest to true born of me children that there are.

Reno's head snapped up, and he walked to the bedroom almost mechanically, strapping on all of the weapons that had been taken from him the day he'd been hurt as if there was nothing at all unusual about doing it. . .he had no idea why he was doing it, but something told him to be certain to be prepared.

Rude had returned from his mother's funeral a very short amount of time before, and he exchanged a look with Cloud that was caught between alarm and curiosity. "He's. . gearing up. Just as if it was another ordinary day of him having to head to work."

Inside, the Robot had turned to the Wild One, simply nodding at him sharply. "It's nearly time. They will be coming soon. . .the Sleeper must soon awaken, even now our host prepares for what is to come, even if he does not understand the why of it. She comes. . .and with her comes a threat to this world that could very well tear it apart."

Cloud gasped. "We can't let him just go out on his own. It'd be irresponsible." But the blond also knew that stopping Reno would be impossible without knocking him out, and as long as he didn't just walk out fully armed there really wasn't much reason to try to keep him from doing what he was doing. It was all just automatical ritual for the moment.

Reno turned to Cloud then as he stopped, looking down at the weapons strapped to him confused. It was as if he didn't understand why he'd done it, though some part of him that was on the surface did get it, did understand.

But instead of walking outside, he sat down on the sofa, his head tilted as if listening a voice only he could hear. Some higher frequency that belonged to something that was not in the least human. Something. . .otherworldly in nature and origin.

My sweet redbird. . The voice belonged to Reno's mother. Eryn had been a warrior by nature, fiesty and intelligent, but she had pampered the son that she had not been prepared for even so. She had been the exact opposite of her sweeter and gentler sister, with brilliant red hair and wide violet eyes. She had looked much like a feminine version of her son, with the cupid's bow shaped full lipped mouth, angled jawline, high and prominent cheekbones, and wide forehead. I know you do not understand. . .nor yet. . .but you have a duty to this world. Your bloodline calls you to do so. I just wish I could have had more time to teach you, to show you what you were to do.

All that Eryn could do was watch her son struggle through the damage that had been done to him to figure it out and to understand. Since the accident at the auditorium he had relied on the defenses that he had to protect himself.

Her own heart ached, and she looked to Minerva and sighed. She wished only that she could have protected him better. I am sorry, my Remi. . .so very sorry. I failed you, and I will never be able to forgive myself for how badly.

His childhood had never been the best. . .as hard as Erynn had tried, she had still been forced to live in the slums, she could not use her own innate fighting or healing skills without risking getting herself or her son discovered by ShinRa as her sister already had been, and she had no desire to see the boy become a scientific curiosity as her niece had.

So she had married instead, and though the man had supported she and the child that was not his, he had been unhappy having to do so, and she and her son had both paid the price for his unhappiness.

"I told ya to stop yer snivelin', boy." Joseph Kiribani spat the words out at the five year old who was curled up in a corner with his hands over his head. The dark haired miner was extremely drunk, and he and Eryn had been fighting most of the afternoon. Fighting which the Cetra woman's son had been witness to, the crashing of objects against walls and floors and the shouting and cursing at each other, and one instance where Jospeh had smacked Eryn across the face, all of it sticking in his memory.

And they did not have much as it was, the dirt floor of their tiny slums hovel showing its years, as did the dirt on the clapboard walls and the holes in the paper thin fiberwood doors. The plates were made out of metal hubcaps that had been beaten and scrubbed clean with steel wool, the cups metal mugs that had been stolen from the restaurant in Wall Market.

The chairs and table were plastic, cast offs collected from the garbage pile outside of the Honeybee Inn. The table had no tablecloth, and they ate with flatware that had also been retrieved from the trash in front of both the Honeybee and the Don's mansion itself. In the Slums you made do with whatever you could steal, or take from the refuse of people who were better off than you were, especially in Sector Seven, one of the roughest of them.

Remi did not deal with the yelling and fighting and loud noises well. . .and when Joseph turned on him when he whimpered again he looked up at the man with wide, frightened eyes and begged "Please don't hurt me, Da. . .please don't hurt me!" He curled up even tighter, as if that would keep the man who had married his mother when he'd been too young to think of him as anything but father from seeing him, and perhaps from hurting him.

"Come on, Joe, leave the boy alone! He's only five, and he's always been sickly, you know that! Besides, of course he's going to be afraid when you've been yelling and screaming and throwing things! If I were in his shoes I'd be crying too. "

Joe slapped Eryn, then turned to Remi again. "If you don't stop cryin', boy, I am gonna give you a reason to cry." And he slapped Remi for good measure, leaving a brilliant red hand print across the boy's cheek and a bruise across his eye, before he walked back over to the table and got another drink.

Rufus stood in the cell with Doctor Kimiko, and his face held a stern look. "The only reason that you still live is that the information that you have given me may very well just have meant the difference between life and death for my men. I know well what that boy meant to you. . .the one who has been harmed so gravely because of your work." He watched her. . .wanting to see exactly what she would do.

"I never wished to harm him, you know." Hotaru finally said, very quietly, in a defeated voice, her slim shoulders slumped, head bowed, the very picture and posture of someone who had nothing left. "Tell me. . .have you ever lost someone that you loved so much it felt as if your heart was being torn out in the losing? Someone that you would do anything, anything at all, to have back?" The amber eyes lifted to meet Rufus' blue as she spoke.

"What one of us has not?" he countered. "My mother was the one that I would have killed and died to have returned to me. . .but there is a difference between you and I. I know when to stop. To flaunt and defy the will of the Lifestream and the cycle that it represents is to lose what you wish to have back even as you have gained it. ..and to lose so much more. I have gained a respect for that cycle that you can never understand until you have looked death in the face and told it that it will not have you today."

Hotaru's lips parted, and she looked down. "You are likely right. . .but I have never been one to easily give up what I want. . .I suppose I love too deeply, and cling too fiercely . . .but that is who and what I am. One can not change the essential core of their person. But then again you would know that better than most."

Rufus as he turned to go gave her a look that said that he did indeed know. . .but he would not let that stop him from changing the horrible things his father had done in the name of the company that Rufus now possessed. ShinRa was his, and he had every intention of making things better.

"There's a reason this is so hard for him." Tseng had come to check on his subordinate, as he was the only one who had not been to see him since everything had happened. "A reason. . .it took so long for him to come to terms with who and what he is. You see. .. the very day that he found out the full truth of what a Cetra is, their power and their duty. . .he lost his mother that very same day. . .imagine what that is like. . .a twelve year old boy having the duty of an adult shoved upon you far too soon."

The story came quietly. . .as Tseng did not want to trigger the memories that he knew haunted his second in command to this very day. The nightmares had been ones that the Wutain had witnessed, and he hated seeing it, for all that he had driven Reno hard due to the potential he'd seen in the young man even that Reno himself had not seen, he cared about him, deeply.

"He blames the duty laid upon him for his mother's death. . .illogical, I know, but children, even ones that are twelve at the time the tragedy happens, are not the most logical creatures. You yourself have dealt with children, you know this well." He sat down hard on a nearby stool, sighing. His eyes glanced over at the younger man, and he could see those eyes clear, just for a moment.

Cloud. . . somewhere, deep inside, the part of Reno that was still him struggled to come to the surface as he rested on the sofa. ..all of his weapons and materia still strapped to his body. He hated that he couldn't communicate. .. he couldn't tell the man that he loved that somewhere deep down he was still there, beneath the damage and the terror and the illness. I'm gonna come back to you. . .I just. . .I can't yet. Not yet, and I hate what it's doin' to ya.

Teal eyes tracked the blond trooper turned delivery boy, taking in the pouty lips, the gravity defying hair, the chiseled muscle, the straight nose, the shining eyes, and the long legs. All of it was beautiful from an objective sense, but more beautiful still in that it was his.

A fourth figure rested deeper in the mental mindscape, but it was more of a ghost. . .not solid, as the Child and the Wild One and the Robot were. It was the wraith of the potential of what all three could be. . .the whole self, free of the fracturing and of the hurt. It was fraught with the potential that due to the pain and the blame he'd held within himself had never been tapped, never been realized. But a time was coming when it would have to be, and tha tiny bit of unharmed spirit, the spark that had kept Reno going when all others would have broken, knew it.

No, don't make me remember. . .I don't wanna remember, not now. . .

The day had been beautiful. . .Eryn had finally told Joseph he could take no more of his violent ways, and though life had been hard, financially, without him in their lives it had been much more peaceful. "Come on, Remi love. . .I have something to show you." She lead her son through the slums of Sector Seven, through Wall Market, and then through Sector Five. . .until she came upon the old church.

"This was a holy place, Remi. My people had built places just like this, all over the Planet. Places where you could feel the voices of the Planet sing and it would make the day better." She walked inside, her hand running over the pews.

His blue green eyes looked about him in wonder, and he truly could hear singing all around him. "Momma. . .it's beautiful. .." he murmured as he held his hands to his chest, simply enjoying the warmth that it brought to him.

"This is your destiny, Remi. . .this is the destiny bequeathed to you through my bloodline. But you must never tell the ShinRa what you are. If they find out, they will want to use you. . .and you will never be free."

They left the church and began to walk back, and as they entered Sector Seven again Eryn perked up her head, and shoved Remi into a building. "Stay there." she ordered, the gang approached the alleyway.

"You . .we want that shiny you got." One of the boys pointed at the Phoenix materia in the chain around her neck. "Give it to us." The shaggy blond hair was filthy, the fair skin smeared with the soil and refuse that was from living in the downtrodden area. He reached to try to pull it off, only to growl when it shocked him. "You bitch."

The shot was like thunder, Eryn's body flying back in slow motion and landing against a storefront. The blond boy turned to the one who'd shot her. "You idiot! Ya know Carmichael keeps an eye on shit that happens outside of his store. We gotta run now, without the bauble, or we're gonna get caught, he knows Turks!"

The boys scattered, leaving only the bleeding body of the last living full Ancient laying there, the pendant they had wanted so badly laying against her chest.

Remi crawled out of the building, and though he didn't shake her to try to wake her up as he would have four years ago, he'd seen death too many times in those years, he laid his head on her chest and just sobbed, before grabbing the Phoenix summon, some odd sense telling him he should, lifted it from her neck, and as he heard voices, people coming, disappeared into the slums.

Cloud heard the sound that the redhead made, and reacting immediately with arms going around him, doing what he could to drive the memories away. He looked over at Rude, mouthing at him for the bald man to make cocoa, the chocolaty drink always calmed the redhead down, something both of them knew.

"Why. . .why do people do such things?" the question was one that Reno had thought for years, but only due to the state he was in would he ask.

"Not all people are. . .but some are selfish and greedy. Those selfish and greedy ones make the rest of us sound bad." Cloud buried his chin into the red hair, wishing now for nothing more than some healing for this man he loved, though the question, after all of these years, finally coming out was something that was healthier than holding it all in.

As Reno sipped the cocoa, Cloud looked over at Rude, sighing. Something was coming. . .as both of them had said, and they had to prepare for the effects that it would have. Not only on this last living one of the Ancient blood, but on the world in general.

Rufus had called upon a small batch of troopers, who now stood in his office. "I need you to watch for me. After the raids on Costa Del Sol and Junon, Edge itself is in danger, and I need to be certain that if they strike here, the people can be gotten to safety in time."

The troopers, most of them young men from Edge itself, and therefor having very good reason to protect it, snapped to attention. "Yes sir, Mister President!" before saluting and heading toward the doors. They had all been well trained, and they knew what watching over the city went.

Rufus had absolute faith that it would be safe in the hands of these young men.

The eyes of the robot in the shack nearest the front of the warehouse in Kalm flashed, as it activated on its own, without any electronic prompting from controllers or any other device. The feel about the robot was malevolent, had anyone been there to feel it, made worse because the face could not express the evil of the spirit that controlled it.

The lot of them had been moved to the small town near Edge in preparation for the Flame of the Phoenix's last raid, for the glory of Wutai, to take back the lands from ShinRa that they felt Wutai should have owned as well.

The lot of them were deaf and dumb to what was within this particular one, as humans tended to be. Something which inwardly made Jenova smirk. They will not even see their doom coming until it is directly upon them. . .but I have a few things I must do, a loose end or two to tie off, before it can begin.

Those loose ends being the stupid humans that still thought that they owned everything.

The robot had left the shack, and simply marched toward the building where the leader's apartments were. . .no one thought anything odd of it, after all, the machines were tested and were seen marching across the grounds often, why should it be anything less than normal to see one doing so now, so close to the very final raid that their boss had in mind?

It walked into the apartment itself in clanking strides, the glassy eyes, glowing that eerie green, simply staring at Chao Min in a way that bordered on the creepy.

"What are you doing in here?" Chao Min barked. "Get back to your harness!" He drew his sword. Though it would not do him any good at all, the robot was not one of the ones he was at all used to dealing with. It was not biddable, obedient. Not at all.

So cocky. . .he thinks he is still in control here. The thought sang in Jenova's mind, and if she could have expressed it would have pushed a smirk to the metal face. He's going to find out that he is most certainly not in control, no matter how he would like to think that he is.

A hand lashed out, striking him through the gut, and the robot looked him in the eye as he flailed on the blades, injuring himself even further. Jenova had made quite certain to strike nothing but the stomach itself, she wanted him to die slowly. . .for the acid to slowly leak out and burn his organs.

"Why have you done this?" Blood ran in trails from his mouth as he literally vomited up the crimson live giving fluid that had filled his gastro intestinal tract. He was honestly shocked that one of his robots had turned on him. "I gave you life again!"

"Because you think this world is yours. . .human." That voice would be utterly familiar to those who had heard it before, a smoky sounding mezzo soprano with a very self assured and haughty sound to it. "This world is mine. . .this world will always be mine, and it is time you puny humans remembered that." She tossed the man to the floor, letting the blood stain the red and gold carpets and not caring one whit about the ruin she left behind.

The body would be left there like so much meat. . .to simply rot. And that suited Jenova just fine. It's no less than one of the idiotic mortals deserves.

The body of the head of the Flames of the Phoenix had been found in his chambers, blood surrounding him. . .sticking in his hair and staining his robes the same brilliant red. No one could say what had happened to Chao Min, but all of the robots he had built and designed were no longer in their warehouse, most people that had news of what had happened assumed they had been stolen.

It was found by one of his men, and he was not mourned a bit, the man that had been chosen as Chao Min's new second merely wrapped it up, digging a grave and tossing him into it, not even bothering to mark it.

Little did they know that it had been one of his own robots that had done him in. . .it had broken into his rooms and simply used the bladed weapons that all of the machines contained in their fingers to kill him painfully. . .breaking the last link that could stop her and the army that she'd seized from him.

She could not smirk or smile in the mechanical body, but internally she was sneering wickedly. She set her hand on each of the other robots in turn, and their eyes went from the pale mint of Lifestream to the lurid serpentine emerald of her influence. "Good. . .now. . .rise my minions. . .rise, wake up, we have work to do!"

The robots began disconnecting themselves from their frames, from the buckles and wires that kept them in them, and lining up at the side of the one that had become their leader. "Yes, Mistress." they all intoned as one.

"Excellent." Jenova murmured as she looked at all of those that she now controlled. "We have a planet to take! I do believe it's time we did so." Her eyes pinned scanned over the robots that made ready to march out to war.

The patrols that had been set up at the perimeter of the city since the attack on Junon would be the ones to get first warning. . .one of them in a stand set up on a power pole that rested high enough above the city, and the trooper lifted his binoculors to his face and whistled. "Ter. . .call the boss. . .we got incoming."

Terry, the other trooper's companion, lifted his own binocs and swore roundly. What he saw was three lines of the robots, all of them heading right for the battlements in Edge. "President ShinRa, sir. .. they're coming, just as you predicted. I can call the evacuation now, sir. Just give the word."

Rufus was sitting in his office as he heard over the phone what the troopers had seen, and the husky blue eyes narrowed at the corners as he texted Rude Get the choppers in the air, and call Cloud, let him know it's started before turning back to the speaker again. "Get as many of the people in the city into the underground shelters as you can. This is going to be rough, and I don't want the number of deaths to happen here as have happened in some of the other cities that have been attacked. There has been too much death already."

No more. The thought seized the President's mind as his fingers tightened into balled fists. These are my people, and though Father not have cared one whit who lived and who died so long as he had enough of them remaining to make a profit, I can not and will not be that person. I am going to stop this, no matter what I have to do.

The robots marched into the town, in two rows, the people peeking out of the peepholes in the shelters and gawking between fear and curiosity. One mother grabbed hold of her toddler's arm as the little girl tried to crawl out of their shelter. A teenager walked out into the street as well, face set in an expression of almost mad bravery.

"You. .. robot. Get out of our town." He pushed blue black bangs out of his face, chiseled features with the lantern jaw firmed in rage. He had a shotgun in the lanky and lithe muscled arm, and he raised it, firing it right into the face of one of them.

The robot was blasted back, but aside from a few holes from the buckshot in the machine's cranium, it appeared to be mostly undamaged. It simply reached up an arm, the blades in its fingers extended with a soft snick sond, and drove them into the boy's gut before tossing him away as if he was little more than a bag of garbage.

The boy was the first victim, but he was likely to be far from the last. Blood flowed from the wounds as he choked out his last few breaths, before the one behind the one that had stabbed merely stepped on him as if he was not even there.

An explosion sounded to the right of the shelter the boy had come out of, bricks rattling to the street with soft clatters, a massive, smoking hole in the wall of the home as the whine of the pulse cannon on the robot's arm sounding as it charged, ready for another firing.

The boy's death had made the others a lot less brave, even as his brother held his sobbing mother in his arms, the hellish sounds of battle starting outside as the scent of blood filled the air.

It had taken all of fifteen minutes for Rude to get the helicopter into the air. . .Cloud was coming on his bike to direct the troopers that ShinRa had remaining to them, his blade in hand, doing all that he could to protect the people of the city. "I'll watch your back." Rude promised him. "Reno's shut up in the only house in the city with a shield generator, he's going to be fine. You just do what you have to."

Cloud nodded, parking the bike back in an alleyway where it wasn't likely to be seen as he got the men arranged into position. "You know what you need to do." he told them. "You protect this town, and save the people in it." He had seen too much death. . .too much destruction, and the thought of it happening here, where he'd chosen to make a home. . .it was just too much.

Rude nodded, his mouth drawn out into a thin line. "Reno's safe. . .the rest of them for the most are safe. . .our job is just make sure that these monsters are driven back and the citizens have homes to go back to." Phoenix watch over him. If we lose Edge we lose the world, and that's not something any of us want. Give us a chance to be heroes and wash the blood from our hands.

Faruq gave Cloud a sharp nod as well, and a daredevil smile lifted the corners of his mouth. "You make sure my wife and son stay safe, yes?" he trusted these men. . .if his nephew trusted them, then he would too. And he could tell that Rude did.

"You know that we'll protect both of them as if they were our own." came Elena's voice from where she was moving Ameena and Mikho into a shelter to keep them safe from the battle that they knew was coming.

She and the Princess had become fast friends and she was proud to be the one assigned to protect her and the young Prince. She would do everything in her power to be utterly sure that they came to no harm.

Rude watched from the helicopter as the robots approached the town, making sure of the way the men that would be fighting were organized, dropping extra weapons and body armor to them as needed. The last thing he wanted was for anyone else to die that day than already had. He was of course worried about his mentally damaged partner that was resting in the one house that was out of the way enough that it could be a shelter in and of itself.

Phoenix, watch over him. . .I don't want to see him hurt. . .he's been harmed enough over the course of his life, he doesn't deserve any more pain. Rude's thoughts drifted to his partner, to his best friend in the world, then. . .to the dark haired bar maid that he loved with all of his heart even if he had not yet told her that. When this is over. .. if all of us survive. ..I am going to tell her. Even if it's hard. . .and even if it scares me just a little.

That promise secured in his mind, he stopped daydreaming as a nearby explosion shook the craft. "Whoa, stop daydreaming." he told himself. "This is starting to get dangerous and daydreaming is going to get you killed."

_____________________________________________________________________

The battle had raged on for hours, fires burning and explosions going off, the screams of the dying ringing through the air as the metal monstrosities ripped through the city. Rude was up in one of the helicopters, firing at them to keep the fighters safe, his look determined. There was already splatters of blood across his face, his sunglasses had been lost sometime earlier in the fighting, and there was no way he had had time to look for them.

He watched as Cloud fought, the blond warrior's face grim, his own features bloodied, cuts and bruises scattered over his body. Metal bodies fell around him, the raw mako leaking out of their destroyed frames and floating back in to join the Lifestream as he tore apart each one. Rude was glad that Tifa had Reno back in the bar and out of the middle of the battlefield, he did not want to see the redhead come to harm.

Reno's eyes simply scanned over the fighting, as one would something that had no emotional attachment for them, curiosity lighting his features. His fingers spread over the glass as the robots fell aside outside, limbs smacking against the walls of the bar as each of the metal creatures was eliminated.

Cloud was surrounded, he looked up, his eyes widening, as a chunk of building fell down at him, his blade coming up in a movement that was nearly impossible to track as the aura of a limit break surrounded him, the two halves of the debris falling to either side around him. What he had not been prepared for was for the leader of the mechanical combatants to come up behind him in a move reminiscent of what he had done to Sephiroth, all of those years before, the blades in its fingers driving through his back, piercing heart and lungs.

Inside, the Child awoke fully, rage, grief, and despair turning the internal landscape from the gold fields and blue skies to blasted ground and roiling black clouds. Reno's face on the outside went from the blank curiosity to grief stricken and angry, his mouth drawn into a rictus of fury, before a loud, keening scream ripped from his lungs, echoing across the entire battlefield and making everything simply. . .stop.

"Cloud! Fuck, Cloud!" As the grief built to its apex, Reno broke free of his shock, and ran outside, his entire body surrounding itself with that green aura as the power spread out, the flames being blown out as the wind of the wave's passing simply snuffed them out as if they were a mere flickering of a candle. "You fuckers!" he shouted, "You have no idea what you have just fucking done!"

Within, the Child, the Wild One, and the Robot merged into one entity, tha darkness of the field being bathed in a brilliant white lighgt as the fragments healed, sealing together with what sounded like a loud crack and then pop. The sheer rage had mended what all of the care in the world had been unable, releasing the will and ability that Minerva had sealed off until the time had been right. With that healing came a sheer out rush of energy as the redhead broke into motion, surrounded by a power that seared everything that it touched.

The slim body lifted off the ground, Reno's spirit within calling out to the one person he knew he could trust to answer that call. Momma. . .I need you now. . .I need you more than I have ever needed you before. Guide me. . .show me. Closed eyes did not stop the redhead from doing what he had been meant to do, a map showing across his mental landscape, he could identify each and every one of the more troublesome robots with a simple reaching of his mind.

His hands lashed out, ripping a power pack out here, a mechanical head off a set of shoulders there, and the as the web of control that the beast had over them became less secure some of them began to look at each other in confusion, wondering just why they were doing this. Then he reached the one that had killed his lover. "You. . .you're mine." he snarled, gesturing everyone else back. His rage was palpable, a force that could be reached out and touched, such was its strength.

"The Puppet fell. . .what makes you think you can stand against me?" That voice. . .smooth as silk, but with a madness that was now incurable. But though the voice belonged to the Hero of Wutai. . .the feel. . .that was a totally different story. Reno knew this for who it was, no matter whose face or voice she wore. He could feel it as surely as he could feel his own heart pounding in his chest with the adrenaline rush.

The acrid scent of burning metal filled Reno's nose, but he knew. . .he could feel and sense it. . .as soon as he defeated this one it would be over, whether there were some of the robots left or not. This was it.

"Because I know you for who you are." his eyes narrowed as the light around him grew brighter, and another voice would join with his, the multi-tonal quality of it making it clear whose power the Turk was currently channeling. "We know you for who you are." The slender body was suddenly lifted into the air as an illusion of white wings appeared at his back.

"What are you?" The words came out not in the smooth deep baritone of before, but a rich alto, the first actual tinge of fear coloring it. Though Jenova, the Calamity and Devourer of worlds, had a feeling she knew exactly who it was, it was her opposite and equal, being channeled through the body of her last Child. "But how? I killed the last of your Children!"

"Foolish creature. Never underestimate the ability of the Ancient Race to survive." a smirk tipped up the corners of the full lipped mouth. "For as soon as you believe they are dead, one will turn up to surprise you." The wings solidified, becoming fully formed and then snapping out behind him, as the red hair floated around Reno's face. The fragments of rags that the uniform he'd been wearing had become floated like snowflakes to the ground. Every scar was lit up within by that same golden light.

A growl grated through the vocalizer as the robot lashed out, trying to grab onto the slender body and encase it in a hand, hoping to crush the Planet's Child in one blow before he had a chance to come to full power, only to run into a glowing barrier of gold energy. "No." the robot murmured as voices rose up inside of Reno's mind, urging him . . .encouraging him and making his spirit feel warm.

Call on us. First Phoenix, the most beloved to him of the summons the heat and flame of him filling Reno's mindscape, then the voices of the rest, lifting him up, giving him a power he'd never expected to be able to wield as his hand went to the stone around his neck, the forms slowly appearing in a circle around him, bathing the area in an ethereal light that bathed the entire city, making it look like the fields of Elysium itself.

The flames from Phoenix surrounded the blond warrior's body, lifting him up, making his arms dangle behind him and penetrating him fully, the bloodied holes on his chest and back sealing over as if they had never been. Blue eyes fluttered open just as Reno's head tilted back, a multi-tonal note coming from it that echoed with power. One long, ragged, gasping breath came from him, and he sat up, those eyes going wide. "Reno?" he asked, in wonder.

The multi-tonal note became more as the voice, that tenor that had not been destroyed even after ten years of smoking, rang out loud and strong in a language Cloud had never heard, but he knew somehow the meaning of it. . .it was a call. . .a call to all of the energy that would be needed. Not like when Aerith had called up the Lifestream. . .but something altogether different. It was a call to the heart, to the will of all of those still living, to lend him the strength he would need to complete this.

"Zankoku na tenshi no yo ni! Shounen yo shinwa ni nari!" The ringing tones echoed off the buildings as people within the shelters heard. . .looking up and closing their eyes, hands clasped, as they prayed, some of them repeating the line themselves as they lent whatever they were able to effort.

Faruq himself closed his eyes as he stood there in there in the middle of the battlefield, willingly giving all that he had to give, he could feel Eric and Bernard nearby as well, eyes closed as they let themselved be drawn upon for what was coming to pass now.

That energy leaked out, joining with that of the summons, narrowing down and focusing on one single point, the body floating several feet above the ground, his arms spread almost as if he was being crucified as it surrounded him completely, then condensed down into a tiny ball, a point that was held between two cupped hands as they came down as if holding a flower between them.

The cupped hands became crossed wrists as all of that power was focused down yet more, and the teal eyes that had slipped closed opened again, but they were now golden as if lit from within. "Now. . .it's the end. You touched what was mine, yo. . .my mind. . .my love. . .my world. That don't fly with me. . .you don't get away with it." Those wrists were flung apart, the energy launching itself at the robotic form.

"No! Stop!" Jenova's voice held a panicked note as the power of all of the summons, all of the people who had answered the call, and the Goddess herself came together, being focused through the form of the last of the Ancient blood. Her plans had been so perfect. . .so wonderfully perfect, and would have worked if all of the Ancients had been destroyed as she had thought.

The power washed over her robotic form, the body literally dissolving into its component atoms as with a soft clap of thunder rain began to fall. Take care of him, came Aerith's soft voice as the slender body floated to the loamy earth, the wings that had been formed as a result of Minerva's power folding beneath Reno as he rested on his back, eyes loosely closed. He looked like a sleeping angel that way. But I know that you will, Cloud. He's a handful, but then again so are you. The words were followed by a soft giggle as a breeze blew through the warrior's blond spikes, a sensation like to that of a hair ruffle.

Cloud as he pushed himself to his feet scooped the slender body up into his arms, a slight smile touching his lips as the helicopter that Rude had been piloting came over their head, the Shera floating just above that. "Let's go home." he told the unconscious form in his arms. "It's all going to be all right now."

As Cloud carried the unconscious form of his partner off the battlefield, Rude knew he had his own promise to keep. Even if it had only been to himself, he knew it was time he finally stopped procrastinating. He knew Tifa had remained in her bar, Cloud had tried to talk her into the shelters and she'd refused, she had told him that she could not cower in shelters while her friends were out fighting. She would do what she could to ease the pains of those who came to her.

Rude simply pushed the door open. He was dusty and stank of the blood and sweat of the battles, but in his hand was a bouquet, one that consisted of the white and yellow lilies from Aerith's church. He simply held it up, and for once in one's life they would be able to see past the stoic facade and see that he was nervous.

"Rude." A bright smile blossomed over Tifa's face as she brushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear, the expression making her wine colored eyes sparkle. "I'm happy to see you got through that whole mess safe."

"Yeah." he intoned, then sat down at the bar. "Tifa. . .can we. . .talk?" His tone, soft, nervous but the words were on the tip of his tongue, just waiting to be spoken. Don't you chicken out now, Rudolph Urar, he scolded himself. You can do this, you will do this. And you'll be better for having done it.

"Sure. Let me get you a drink." The buxom bartender bustled around the bar, getting him a big, tall, frothy glass of his favorite ale and setting it down in front of him. Now, Tifa was smart. . .and had a way of reading people that had always served her well. She could tell there was something Rude wanted to say to her and that he wasn't sure how it would be received.

Rude took his first sip off the beer, then looked down at his hands before handing her the flowers. "Tifa. . .I've. . .liked you. For a long time. I wasn't sure how you felt about me, and up until I found out about Cloud and Reno I was under the impression the two of you were well. . .together. So I hadn't said anything. But after today. . .I figured if I didn't I probably never would. Tifa Lockhart, would you. . .go to dinner with me?"

Tifa's face lit up even more, if that was possible, as she found a vase and filled it with water, setting the flowers into it. "Rudolph Urar, I would be honored to go out with you. What time shall I be ready?"

The sound of dripping water reached the deeply buried consciousness, drawing him up toward the surface. The slender body ached, just as one would expect when someone had channeled the amount of sheer power that Reno had, included two places along his shoulder blades. The first thing that came to his attention as the teal eyes folded open was the fact that something was tickling his nose. As his vision cleared he realized it was a pearl colored feather.

Wings? He thought to himself. Since when do I got wings? Reno did not remember but bits and snippets of the battle that happened out there, from the moment that Cloud had been killed until now was for the most a blur. The memory of that was what made him sit bolt upright. "Cloud!" he yelled, breathing hard.

"I'm right here." Cloud assured him, brushing the red bangs back off the exotic-looking face. "I promised you when I went out there that I'd always come back to you, didn't I?" He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to the full lips. "I meant that promise. . .I will always come back to you. I love you too much not to." and a smile quirked his mouth. "Besides, if I don't who will keep you out of trouble?"

"But you-how? I saw that robot kill you, how are you. .. alive?" Reno's mouth worked in astonishment as he reached out to put a hand on Cloud's to assure himself that the man was indeed solid, there in the flesh, before he swept the blond into his arms. "Never, ever fucking scare me like that again. You do that to me again I will fucking bring you back so I can kill you again, then revive you and kick your fucking ass."

"You. . .don't remember, do you?" Cloud's voice held a fond tone. "You called all of the summons at once, Phoenix brought me back. Their power along with the Great Gospel banished Jenova." He painted a word picture of what had happened out there on the battlefield, his fingers caressing along the redhead's cheek. "You were incredible out there. I've never seen that kind of power, not in my entire life. I know it wasn't all yours, but. . .none of that matters." he leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to the Turk's mouth. "I am so incredibly proud of you. You saved us all."

"I did it for you." Reno leaned against Cloud's chest, listening to that precious heartbeat, his eyes closing. "Everything, yo. . .don't ya get it? Everything I do is for you. I love you so fuckin' much it hurts. If you'd died out there. . ." his slender frame started trembling. "I was full on determined I wasn't gonna stay if you were gone. A life without you is one that just ain't worth livin'." But he sighed, and the trembling began to ease. "Promise me again, yo . .promise you that you are always gonna come back to me. No matter what."

Cloud smiled and kissed the top of the red haired head. "I promise. I will come back to you. No matter how long it takes."

Teal eyes drifted closed. That promise was all Reno needed.

