Buffy X-overs 1. Slowly Fading

This is kind of a test run of this first chapter to see if there is any interest in this story at all. I've been working rather hard on it and if no one wants to read it, that's cool…I'll still write it but I'll work on something else first!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon and Final Fantasy 7 belongs to Square. Spira and all Final Fantasy 10 characters referenced also belong to Square.

Tears Don't Fall

Chapter One

Slowly Fading

Buffy's Point of View

"We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes, and our ravages. But our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to fight them, in ourselves and in others."

Albert Camus

I knew when Whistler hadn't been the one to come and get me, he was explaining to the new group of people he had picked out for me to help who I was. He loved doing it that way. Sometimes, he would just have someone else fetch me so I could show up at a dramatic moment, but I had been with him enough times to know exactly what it was he was going to say.

"One hundred years ago, there was a warrior. This warrior fought for the people, for the good of the planet, until an evil arose that could not be defeated. The First Evil had been unleashed on that world. After realizing there was no way to win the battle, the warrior called upon the Powers that Be to make a deal. One hundred years of servitude in exchange for banishing the First. The Powers accepted the deal and the warrior has traveled to different worlds, helping people who need it ever since. You are now those people. So you have to ask yourself…do you need help?"

If they answered in the affirmative, they always did, I would be brought before them. When Whistler tells my story, he's very careful never to give even a hint to my gender. We both know that when he says 'the warrior,' people are expecting a big burly man with an axe or something. That was generally good for a laugh, since I'm 5'3 and it looks like a strong wind could blow me over. One thing's for sure. They're never expecting me. But this time…this time everything was different.

I hit the cold metal floor face down. Fighter or not, with both your arms and legs bound, it's hard to land on your feet and stay there. I rolled onto my back; chewing on my gag more out of irritation than thinking I could bite through it and get it out of my mouth and I was thankful the fall hadn't broken my nose.

I heard some surprised gasps before my balance demon negotiator's voice rang out. "Skip, why the hell is the kid tied up?"

"She attacked me!" the demon said in his defense.

Whistler's face filled my field of vision as he pulled on my shoulders to help me sit up. "Did you attack him?" he asked sternly.

I nodded enthusiastically. Damn right I attacked him! If I've learned anything in my ridiculously long life, it's that the truth is always better. That and over the years and after spending so much time together, I kinda figured Whistler had a soft spot for me…even if it was just a little.

One corner of his mouth twitched up with amusement. "And if I untie you, are you going to do it again?" he asked.

I shrugged one shoulder in an 'eh' gesture, but then decided to go with the truth again. I nodded.

This time Whistler broke into a full-fledged grin. He stared into my eyes for a moment and I winked. He choked back a laugh. "Okay, kid. You got a knife on ya?"

I gestured with my head down to my boot. The hilt of a butterfly knife was barely visible under the leather. He fished it out, flipped the blade, and began cutting the thick black cord that bound my ankles. I was in for a long wait. Skip hadn't been stingy with the bondage. My arms were tied behind me from wrist to elbow; one and then the other like some huge perverse fishtail braid. At least he hadn't tied me how he had originally wanted. He wanted to tie each wrist to its corresponding ankle. In my current attire, that would have been horribly embarrassing.

I closed my eyes and centered myself. As I felt the cords on my arms break, I launched myself at Skip. I grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the ground with all my strength. He blinked in surprise, like he really hadn't thought I'd do anything with Whistler there. Man, was he wrong, or what? I jumped onto his chest, pinning his arms down with my knees and glared down at him in what I hoped was a menacing manner, raising an eyebrow at him as I pressed down harder on his windpipe. With my free hand, I tore the gag from my mouth.

"And what exactly did you think you were doing, Skip?" I asked in a fake saccharine voice.

"Come on, Slayer," he said nervously, his eyes darting from side to side, seeking out anyone to help him. He found no one. "You like demons, dontcha?"

My jaw dropped. So I should spread my legs for him because he was a demon? Unbelievable! "Okay, so I've been friends with four demons over the last hundred and twenty two years and that somehow means I have a yen for them?"

He had the audacity to raise an eyebrow and smirk at me. I blushed. "Ok, so I dated two of them, but that doesn't mean I'm jonesin' for a demon fix. And if I were, it wouldn't be you. Angel and Spike were prettier. And don't think you're talking your way out of this, Skippy boy. I've killed things for less than what you tried to do to me."

I could see a group of people out of my peripheral vision gathered to one side of us with Whistler at the forefront. At this point, I wasn't sure if he was going to make them intervene, or if he was holding them back. One of them stood away from the others. He, I assumed because of the foot size as I wasn't bothering to look up, stood about two feet beyond Skip's head. The only reason this even merited noticing was because of the amazing footwear. They were brass plated and pointy.

"Great boots," I breathed, imagining all the damage I could do in a set like them. Then I realized Skip had been talking the entire time I had been zoned out. "Hey," I interrupted. "Your mouth is open and sound is coming out. This is never good." I heard amused snorts and giggles from the faceless peanut gallery as I continued. "But in all fairness, I was distracted by some awesome footwear and wasn't really listening to you. Care to repeat?"

He glared at me for a moment and then used that pathetic male line featured in countless after school specials. "Look at the way you're dressed. It's like you're asking for it!"

I gaped at him in shock before I looked down at myself. Okay, so I wasn't exactly dressed modestly in my orange and blue bikini and my short kaki skirt. But damn it, I had a good excuse. "And do you know where I was when you took me?" I asked him derisively.

He looked confused. "On an airship."

I slapped him hard. "Not _an_ airship. _My_ airship. The Celsius was mine. Now," I said, shaking him slightly to make sure he was still paying attention. "Where was I going?"

Skip looked at me like I was insane, so I soldiered on, hoping he would get it. "I was headed to Besaid Island. ETA of ten minutes when you took me. I had every intention of spending at least a week on the beach and I hadn't seen Yuna and Tidus since their wedding six months ago. I earned that vacation." I started punctuating every word with a punch to the huge black demon's face. "I…helped…save…Spira…twice…damn…you!" I screamed my frustration. "I only have two days left of this god forsaken debt and you pull me from a dimension I've been in for the better part of four years and then, as if I wasn't distraught enough, you tried to rape me, you demonic pervert!?"

I heard Whistler's shocked gasp and I grinned what I knew to be a feral and disturbing smile. "But you'll never grope another woman without her consent, will you?" He shook his head vehemently. "Never put your hands or anything else where it's not wanted, right?" He kept doing that head-shaking thing. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Well, I can only think of one way to guarantee that."

The ridiculous demon sunk back down, relief evident in his features until my words sunk in. His eyes flew wide as I grabbed his head in both my hands and twisted hard, reveling in the unmistakable sound, that familiar sickening crunch of a breaking neck.

"Did not know who he was fuckin' with," I muttered as I stood, brushing off my hands. The body shimmered and disappeared. Nothing better than self-cleaning demon carcasses.

"Did you really have to kill him, kid?" Whistler asked me, his arms folded across his chest.

"Uh…yeah! Yeah, I did!" I exclaimed. "Think about it. What would have happened if you had sent him to pick up a girl that couldn't kick his ass even when tied up?"

Whistler stared at me incredulously. "So that's the only reason you did it then? To save future women?"

"Might be. Or it might have been therapy because I'm slightly peeved about the whole last minute transporting thing and I was looking to put the big hurt on something." I shrugged. "Take your pick. So, what's the what here, Whistler? I mean, two days? You bring me here with two days left of my debt and expect me to save the world? I'm good, but I'm not that good," I said with a wink.

"Cocky, ain't ya?"

I turned to the helm of the airship. A blond severe looking man with goggles on his head and dog tags. I was going out on a limb and guessing he was the pilot. The captain. "Call it what you want, but you don't fight for a hundred and eight years if you suck at it. My track record's pretty damn good at this point."

I was surprised when he actually looked pleased by my answer. I had kind of expected a derogatory remark.  
"So," I said, turning back to Whistler, "think I can have my trunk? 'Cause, now that I'm not going to be spending two weeks on the beach, the outfit's kinda silly."

"Are you sure?" Whistler asked with a smirk. "You could fight the bad guy like that. It could work."

"Men," I sighed, rolling my eyes. He paused a moment more, as if considering whether or not to old my possessions hostage. I raised an eyebrow and he grinned at me. He waved his arm and through the same magic he used to toss me from dimension to dimension, he pulled my trunk through time and space and it appeared at my feet. I laid my hand atop the lid until I heard the click of it unlocking. It was one of my favorite belongings. A young witch I had met almost fifty years ago had charmed it to open just for me, no key required, and magically enhanced it so it held a ridiculous amount of stuff. After a hundred years…well, let's just say that I had accumulated quite a bit.

My trunk was big, four feet across and three feet deep. There was a tray inside the top that held my clothes. I pulled out my favorite outfit. Knee high leather boots, tight red shirt with a stylized lighting bolt on the front, and a pair of loose fitting black leather pants that had been cut off right below my knees. Maybe a tad more goth than I had been when I had lived in Sunnydale, but a lot of time had passed. I wasn't even the same girl anymore. I was darker. More jaded somehow.

"So," I said as I shimmied into my pants, "you gonna tell me what I'm doing here?"

"I thought you might want to know what happened to your friends and family first, since this is the last time I'll ever talk to you," Whistler said quietly.

I paused a moment as I undid my skirt, preparing to pull it off over my pants. I had gone so long keeping them how I remembered them in my mind, I wasn't sure how I could deal with knowing what really happened. But could I have the chance now to know and not take it?

"Okay," I whispered.

"Giles moved to England with your sister. He became Head of the Watcher's Council and was for fifteen years until he died of cancer. Your sister took over at that point. She was married at twenty-five to Andrew, had four children, and died an old woman in her bed. Xander and Anya married five years after you left and moved to New York where she became a successful trader and he owned a construction company. They had two children. They named their youngest child, their little girl, after you."

I turned around to stare at the balance demon as I shrugged into my shirt. I was an aunt! My sister had married Andrew and must have been happy in that marriage to have four children. That was weird, but I could kinda see it. They had been friends when he had been our guestage. I had assumed he was gay, but clearly I had been wrong. And Xander and Anya had married after all. Good for them! I sat to start the long task of lacing up and tying up my boots.

"Faith continued on for a year before she was killed. Amanda was called. She did well. Almost beat your record. Willow and Kennedy dated for another two years before breaking up. Your witchy friend ran into Oz in London and they rekindled their romance. They never married, but they spent the rest of their lives together. Angel spent six years as the CEO of Wolfram and Hart, but he once again lost his soul and his friends were forced to kill him."

Then he stopped. I looked up at him, waiting for him to go on, but he didn't. I stood and moved in front of him. "Spike?" I prompted.

He sighed heavily and I knew what was coming. I steeled myself to hear it.

"William the Bloody fought beside everyone called after you. Four years ago, when Dawn's great granddaughter, Elizabeth, was called, he fiercely protected her, more so than any of his previous charges. Perhaps because her friends and family called her Buffy. But not Spike, of course. For him, there was only one Buffy."

I could feel myself tearing up and I tried desperately to blink it back.

"One night, a demon got her sword away from her and swung for the decapitation. She couldn't get out of the way in time, so Spike shoved her to the ground but in the process…"

"He was killed," I finished numbly.

Whistler nodded slowly, watching my face intently. "He always believed that you would come back. He never loved another woman." He put his hand on my shoulder in what was probably supposed to be a gesture of comfort, but I felt nothing. "I'm sorry, Slayer. I know what he meant to you."

"You don't know anything," I hissed at him. "He stood by me when everyone else turned their backs on me. And I was horrible to him, but he loved me anyway." I had always been alright thinking that no matter what happened, he was out there, somewhere, in a different time and place, and it gave me strength. Intellectually, I knew that when the deal was up, almost everyone I had ever known would be dead, but I thought that if anyone had survived, it would be Spike. "He died and I never told him that I loved him. And I have to live with that, but don't you dare pretend to know anything about what he meant to me."

I turned and looked out the large floor to ceiling window of the bridge and sighed deeply, running a shaky hand through my hair. The sun was just setting over a cerulean sea and I was reminded of home. The times my parents took me and Dawn to the beaches in L.A. were playing over and over again in my mind and I found myself so homesick. "What exactly happens to me when this is over? I mean, I can't go home, obviously. I'm guessing I'm not going back to Spira either, right?"

"Good call, kid. Nope, you're staying here, provided that the world doesn't end."

Crap. "Do I get my mortality back?" I asked hopefully. He said nothing and wouldn't meet my eyes. "Okay then…I get to live forever in a world I know nothing about. And this place isn't like Arda, is it? There aren't any immortals here." It really wasn't a question.

Whistler looked suitably chagrinned. "Currently? There's one besides you."

"Terrific," I groaned. "And as for the Big Bad…let me guess. Some guy went nuts and now he's either trying to take over the world or destroy it and this," I said, gesturing to the assembled group, "is the rag tag bunch of makeshift heroes that are the planet's only line of defense."

Whistler chuckled. "What gave it away?"

I shrugged as I slammed my trunk lid. "Same story in every dimension, I swear to god." I looked around the group that probably thought their story was so unique, so crucial, so important, but really it was a circumstance that I had seen so many times before.

There were nine of them. A blond man stood at the forefront, which lead me to believe he was the leader of the group. He had glowing blue eyes, spiky hair, a black sleeveless jumpsuit, and a sword that was at least four feet tall with a foot wide blade. One serious weapon.

Next to him was a buxom woman with ridiculously long brown hair. She wore a tight white tank top and a mini skirt with suspenders. Kinda trashy. Her wine colored eyes were trained on me and she smiled benignly. The smile of someone hiding a lot of inner pain.

Then there was a red lion type creature with feathers in it's mane and tattoos on it's body. It had one eye that shown with wisdom and intelligence while the other was nothing more than a scar. Even in all my travels, it wasn't often that I came across on animal type thing as an ally.

A girl in tan shorts and a forest green tank top was edging towards my locked trunk. She covertly tried to examine how it was sealed as she ran a hand through her chin length black hair. She attempted to look nonchalant, but it wasn't working. Pretty damn obvious she was going to try to steal my stuff at some point. She was in for disappointment though. Rikku had tried to get into it for years, and if she hadn't been successful, this chick never would be.

In the corner was a kind of cat I recognized from a few of the other places I had been. A Cait Sith. And it was sitting atop a giant stuffed Moogle, another creature that had been in Spira. I didn't quite know what to make of it.

Of course, not everyone was looking at me nicely or neutrally. A large black man with a crew cut was openly glaring at me. His right hand was missing and what appeared to be a large gun had taken its place. I met his glare coolly, thinking that I had so stared down scarier things than him. I did a mental happy dance as he looked away first. Petty? Yeah, probably, but I'd take my entertainment any way I could get at this point.

Then I remembered the dude with the spiffy shoes. He hadn't moved from what I could tell. He had long black hair and the cowl from his red cape covered the bottom half of his face. The only parts I could see were his glowing crimson eyes and his nose, and even they were obscured by his long bangs and the red bandana around his forehead. He wore leather pants tucked into his brass-plated boots. On his left hand was a brass gauntlet. Each finger was fitted with a slightly curved talon. This man was like destruction personified. Even more so when I noticed the gun strapped to his hip. I looked back at his face and had I not been paying attention, I would have missed it. He quirked an eyebrow at me, completely hidden from the others by the angle of his head and his curtain of sable hair. I smiled at him, my first true smile since I got there.

Other than Whistler and the pilot, there was only one other person left. A strangely glowing woman in a pink dress. I had seen enough in my time to recognize a ghost when I saw one.

"Hi!" she said brightly. More brightly than I would have thought was normal for someone that's deceased, but what did I know? I'd only been dead three times, but clearly none of them had taken.

"My name's Aerith Gainsborough, and I'm dead. Tee hee!"

I'm not even kidding. She really laughed like that. And the way she introduced herself? Sounded a bit like a perverse AA meeting, didn't it? And what was up with her name? It was like she was trying to say Aeris with a lisp.

"It's really my fault that you're here," she was saying. "I died a few months ago and I thought my friends might need some help, so I asked for you."

I wanted to say she didn't look like she'd be all that much help to begin with, but I held my tongue. "And what am I fighting exactly? I hate going in blind."

Aerith approached me and reflexively, I stepped back. She kept that irritating plastic smile in place.

"You're going to have to trust me," she said cheerily.

I stared at her for a moment. "Nah," I replied. "I really don't. Haven't exactly lived this long being the trusting sort. To many people have tried to kill me over the years."

She turned to Whistler with a pleading look on her face. I rolled my eyes at the back of her ribbon-adorned ponytail and turned back to the window. It was almost full dark now and I noticed something in the sky I hadn't before. A meteor. And not just a 'Gee, that's going to leave a crater' meteor. This was huge. It looked to be the size of Earth's moon. "Tres Armageddon. How long before it hits?" I asked quietly.

"Hard to say," the pilot said. "It's been there a week and I swear the god damned thing ain't moved."

"Whistler, I can't fight acts of nature," I said, motionless, transfixed by the sight of this planet's impending doom.

"Not askin' you to, princess. What you're here to fight is slightly more man shaped," he answered and I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Who?" I asked. The meteor shone a dark but vibrant pink in the last vestiges of light. I was just thinking it was kinda pretty in a cataclysmic sort of way when something ice cold touched both of my temples.


	2. I Watch You

Ok, so I admit, I hadn't really expected anyone to read this, especially since I didn't have any more written at the time that I wrote this. I've been working rather diligently on this for the past two and a half days just to give you more to read! For those of you that have never played the game, this chapter is detailing some of what happens prior. For those of you who have played, I hope you don't mind the review. I plan to get into what what's happened to her in the other places she's visited, just not quite yet.

I'd like to thank Dilvish 2.0, lildevil0644, kimbclar, Allen Pitt, and youn2731 for their reviews.

I still don't own anything…at all…

Chapter Two

I Watch You

Buffy's Point of View

"We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."

Will Rogers

I found myself in a church. It was run down, dilapidated, with a hole in the roof and the pews were all broken and rotted. In front of me, silhouetted in a shaft of sunlight from the broken ceiling, was a garden of flowers and the girl in the pink dress with the spiky haired guy. This was something that was obviously in the past and I was seeing it all second hand as I stood amongst the pews. It was like I was a voyeur in someone else's memories.

As I watched, they introduced themselves.

"I'm Aerith, the flower girl. Nice to meet you," she said in that nauseatingly bright way of hers. Nice to know she had always been like that and it wasn't death that brought on her psychotic cheerfulness.

The blonde kid struck a macho type pose. "The name's Cloud," he said arrogantly. "Me? I do a bit of everything."

I snorted in amusement, but was then distracted by a noise from behind me. I turned and a man walked in the swinging double doors at the front of the church. He had messy red hair and a rumpled blue suit. I waved at him, just to see how interactive this place was, but his eyes didn't even flick in my direction. Which was too bad. The man was a hunk of salty goodness with bright aquamarine eyes, red crescent shaped tattoos on his high cheekbones, and goggles perched up on his head. But there was a fierceness about him, in the eyes and the set of his jaw. I would have bet even money that he played for the not-so-nice guys. I looked back at the two in front of me.

"Say Cloud. Have you ever been a bodyguard?" she asked him and I had to raise an eyebrow. It just sounded so suggestive. Even more so when he asked what he got as payment and my mind dove happily into the gutter. When she said she'd go out with him once, I couldn't stifle my snicker, but neither could the guy behind me. I watched him for a moment as he schooled his face into a smirk and then I turned back. But the stranger had other plans. He approached the chatting couple and, by chance, I found myself standing right next to him.

Cloud noticed and started down the aisle. "I don't know who you are, but…" he began. Then, a look of recognition crossed his face. "I _do_ know you. That uniform…"

Three soldiers ran in, taking a position behind where we stood. "You Shin-Ra spy!" Cloud was yelling.

"Reno! Want him taken out?" one of the commandos asked the man next to me.

Reno smirked at Aerith and Cloud. "I haven't decided yet."

The girl in pink was simpering about how fighting in the church would ruin the flowers. I felt another stab of dislike for her. She ran off to a back exit and Cloud took off after her, running full speed away from the four men. Classy.

Reno walked up and stood in the middle of the flowerbed, muttering something I didn't understand about mako eyes and I found myself being slowly pulled from the room. Clearly I was supposed to stay with Cloud and Aerith, but I held on to the chapel as hard as I could. The man finished his thought and was ordering the soldiers on. And then he said, "And don't step on the flowers."

The men gaped at him and as I disappeared laughing from the room, I could hear things like "Hey, you just stepped on them," and "They're all ruined," before I completely vanished. The guy, Reno, loosely reminded me of Spike. I quailed at the thought and pushed it away, the pain still too fresh, and tried to reorient myself on what was happening in my new location. We were in the rafters above the church. I watched Cloud fight off the soldiers when they followed and then he and Aerith escaped through the hole in the roof. They sat there on the battered gable and Cloud told her that the blue suited man, Reno, was in an organization called the Turks. They were part of this Shin-Ra…whatever that was and they were into all sorts of things. Assassination. Spying. Kidnapping. Sounded like real quality people. Note my sarcasm.

Then they started running and hopping along the rooftops toward Aerith's house. Not wanting to be left behind and drug along the edges of the memory, I followed. Nearest I could tell, this was Aerith's memory and she had hijacked me as her passenger.

Cloud was already a fair bit ahead of me but I put on a burst of Slayer speed and began vaulting the rooftops, catching the blond boy with ease. He was in good shape, so I kept pace with him, ignoring the flower girl who had fallen far behind us.

I noticed we both rolled our eyes when she called out for him to wait for her. He teased her and then they started talking about how he had been in something called SOLDIER and his eyes were all glowy because he was infused with mako. Whatever all that was.

I heaved a huge and rather dramatic sigh. Why was I being shown all of this crap? How exactly was learning how they all met going to help me beat…well…whatever the bad guy was? That was all I wanted to know anyway and I couldn't figure out why no one would just give me a straight answer about that. I watched Aerith and Cloud arrive at her house and talk with her mother. The bantered about a girl named Tifa and I promptly zoned out.

By the time I was paying attention again, we had left the house and were sitting in a run down playground. I marveled at the low quality of life the people in this place had. It was a slum, definitely. A sick and sad way for people to live.

A cart clattered by on the mangled dirt road and Cloud began yelling to the girl in the back, calling her Tifa. I looked up in time to get a glimpse of her. A girl with extremely long brown hair and wine colored eyes. The girl from the airship. They both took off running after her.

I decided to find out what would happen if I just stood there. It took a few moments, but I was transported next to them as they discussed the best way to sneak into the mansion of a lecherous man named Don Corneo. I could only guess that that was where Tifa was.

"Okay!" I screamed. "Get to the important stuff! It'll take forever to go through every leg of your damn journey!"

And she listened. It was as if her memories were a video tape on fast forward. I saw Cloud go all drag to rescue Tifa, getting some really disturbing images that no amount of alcohol would ever scrub out of my brain. I watched as they ran through the slums to a pillar supporting a huge metal plate that towered over the rickety buildings it seemed everyone lived in. They were told someone named Barret was already at the top.

Cloud told Aerith something I didn't understand about helping a girl named Marlene. Then the memory flashed to her house and while her mother cried and a small girl watched them wide-eyed, a man in a blue suit with long brown hair escorted her to a helicopter. Which was, of course, where I found myself as well. I had never been in one before and found it a bit too militant for my taste. But soon we were hovering over a platform on the pillar, looking down on Cloud, Tifa, and the black man with the gun arm that had been glaring at me on the airship. I put two and two together and decided that his name must be Barret.

The group was yelling back and forth with the Turk that had taken Aerith. I thought I heard the pilot call him Tseng, but I decided the names of the bad guys weren't important as long as I recognized them. When he mentioned the Emergency Plate Release System, I finally understood what was going on. This huge structure was going to be dropped on the people living below. I was horrified. What was the point of this mindless destruction? What were these Shin-Ra people trying to do? Tseng had mentioned getting rid of a group called AVALANCHE so maybe that was Cloud and his friends. But killing a bunch of innocent people to get them? Not cool. The helicopter flew off before I could see what had happened.

The next thing I knew, Aerith and I were in a laboratory of some sort. There was a black haired man in a lab coat that introduced himself as Professor Hojo. While he spoke of things like 'Ancients' that I didn't understand, I wandered around the large room. There were all kinds of strange things. A large glass area big enough to hold multiple people, a table full of menacing instruments such as bone saws, syringes, and things I couldn't name if I tried. There were some pictures laid out of monsters, people, most cut open. Some featured Hojo pulling things out of them, organs, or sewing them back together. There were typed reports on the table that showed he construed his lust for blood science. I couldn't help but wonder how many people he had killed in the name of research.

I felt cold, remembering Adam, Riley, and the Initiative, but I was banking that this Hojo guy was worse than Professor Walsh could have ever been. I turned back to watch him strap Aerith to a chair and draw her blood. He was talking the whole time about how she was an inferior specimen compared to her mother and I felt sick. I didn't even want to know what he wanted to do to her and I have a pretty strong stomach anymore when it comes to pain and torture.

He hummed disgustingly off tune as he marched her into the glass containment area and slouched from the room. I wanted to follow him, to know where he was at all times because he just seemed too benignly dangerous to be left alone, but the memory wouldn't allow it. But it was kind enough to speed up again. Hojo was back, standing on an observation deck elevated by a short clump of stairs, hands clasped behind his back, just staring at the girl.

From an elevator in the corner of the room, a small group of people emerged. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret.

"Aerith!" Cloud screamed.

Hojo looked at them, seeming neither shocked nor alarmed at their abrupt arrival. "Aerith? Oh, is that her name? What do you want?" He almost sounded bored, but there was also a calculating tone in his voice…the sound of a man with something up his sleeve.

"We're taking Aerith back," Cloud said vehemently. He reminded me of me at a much younger point in my life where I would have spoken and not observed the situation more. He started for the Professor.

"Are you going to kill me?" Hojo asked impassively. "I don't think you should. The equipment here is extremely delicate. Without me, who would operate it? Hmmm?" His high voice was almost musical at the last, clearly pleased with his line of reasoning. He watched Cloud falter. "That's right," he said, nodding. "I recommend that you think things out logically before you make any rash moves."

I wanted to hurt him. The fear the man inspired was palpable. Looking at him, the light glinting of his glasses and the maniacal grin…he just seemed capable of doing anything in that lab. I was reminded of the insanity of Angelus and I had a feeling that this man…this Professor Hojo was more dangerous because he had corporate funding and a longer reach.

"Now, bring in the specimen," the mad doctor cried and the floor of Aerith's prison opened, an elevator platform rose, and something I could only call a crazy lion creature came out. But I had seen it before…on the bridge of the airship. At least something good was coming from this rehashing. When I came back to myself, I was going to know everyone's name.

Aerith screamed and jumped away from the creature. I walked into the glass enclosure, passing through without resistance. Just a wraith in her memories. I circled the pair with a trained killer's eye. The creature was growling, it's tail thrust into the air, but something was off. I looked at the animal intently. He was faking it, but I suppose unless one was looking closely, it would be missed.

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret surrounded the glass and Aerith began pounding on the walls of her prison with her fists, crying out for the group to help her. In doing so, she turned her back on the creature, a potential threat. Foolish. Had she been paying attention, she would have seen his one eye scouring the room, assessing the situation, as he feigned bloodthirstiness.

"Lending a hand to an endangered species," he replied. "Both of them are on the brink of extinction. If I don't help, both of these animals will disappear."

Okay, so I wasn't exactly Aerith's biggest fan, but I still bristled at her being called an animal. And then I got it. He didn't intend for them to fight or for the creature to kill her. He wanted them to breed. Can we say EWW! Interspecies breeding? So not right!

Barret used his gun arm to blast the container and the door opened. The lion like creature was lying in wait and as Hojo rushed forward to stop his specimens from escaping, it launched itself at him. It hit him in the chest, throwing him back a good twelve feet, snarling and lunging for his jugular. Hojo had his hands clamped over the creature's muzzle and I found myself hoping his grip would fail and I would get to see his vibrant blood spill out all over the floor of the lab. Sick? Maybe, but I was pretty sure that the devastation this man had caused warranted such a death.

Cloud called out that the elevator in the glass cell was moving again and the creature backed off of Hojo, turned to the group, and spoke in a low growling voice.

"He's rather strong. I'll help you all out."

The looks of shock all around were priceless. I was even kind of expecting it and I felt my jaw drop. I assumed he was talking about whatever was going to come through the floor and not the stooped scientist.

"It talked?" Tifa squeaked.

"I'll talk as much as you want later, miss," it said. I liked that. Polite. It seemed so contradictory because of his less than human nature, but right at the same time.

Cloud sent Aerith off to the side with Barret and geared up to fight. "What's your name?" he asked the lion thing.

"Hojo has named me Red XIII. A name that has no meaning whatsoever for me. You may call me Nanaki," he said.

Then the monster was upon them, clearly one of Hojo's deranged experiments. I was slightly impressed by their cohesive fighting skills, but they had a lot to learn. I could only hope they were better now that they had traveled some.

They slaughtered the thing, regrouped, saw that the Professor had fled, and decided that they were way past the point where they needed to get out of the building. It was always a bad idea to hang out in the headquarters of your enemies. They split up into two groups to be less conspicuous. Cloud with the two girls, big surprise there, while Barret and Nanaki took off in the other direction. The group of three ran out of the lab, down the hall, and jumped into the elevator. I was kinda having fun at this point. It was like having an adventure but with none of the physical risk.

Cloud was contemplating the controls when a blue suited man stepped in behind us. He had a shaved head, sunglasses, a goatee, and seven piercings distributing between his two ears. It was the suit that tipped me off and I started to wonder if it was a prerequisite for the Turks to be attractive because Tseng was, Reno was, and this guy totally was.

The two girls stared up at him in alarm.

"Would you press 'Up' please?" he asked politely.

"Turks," Cloud muttered. "Must be a trap."

The bald man moved aside to let Tseng enter as well and I found myself standing halfway inside the first Turks body. I jumped sideways with a startled shriek and found myself standing in Tifa's body.

"Man, this is too weird," I complained as Tseng began to speak.

"It must have been a real thrill for you. Did you enjoy it?"

Their hands were bound and Aerith was separated from the group and led down a different hallway. We found ourselves in a cell. Time sped up again and we heard Cloud's voice through the wall.

"Aerith? Are you safe?" he called.

They talked a while and there was some definite discomfort when Tifa, who I guess was in the same cell as Cloud, heard about the deal with the bodyguard for a date thing and I sunk down to the ground. Damned love triangles. This was so not something I wanted to deal with, but I was betting I would be confronted with the fallout at some point during this journey. Obviously Aerith had died, but if Cloud cared for her as much as he seemed to in the short time they had known each other, Tifa still hadn't won. I knew it was wrong to view love and relationships as a game with winners and losers, but I also knew that's what they were like. But this was not my problem! And all of a sudden I hoped Aerith couldn't hear my thoughts.

"Okay," I yelled. "I don't care about the personal shit. Let's move on to the plot so we can be done with this freaky Vision Quest!"

But this time, nothing happened. So I started paying attention the conversation again.

Tifa was speaking. "Does the Promised Land really exist?"

The what now? What the hell had I missed?

"I don't know," Aerith replied. "All I know is the Cetra were born from the Planet, speak with the Planet, and unlock the Planet. And then the Cetra will return to the Promised Land. A land that promises supreme happiness."

"What does that mean?" I heard Tifa ask in confusion.

I watched Aerith shake her head. "More than words…I don't know."

"Speak with the Planet?" Cloud's voice questioned.

"Just what does that mean?" I thought I heard a bit of a smirk in Tifa's words that time.

Aerith shook her head again, even though there was no one there but me, sort of, to see her. "It's full of people and noisy. That's why I can't make out what they're saying."

Okay, this sounded crazy even to me. The Cetra I was guessing were the Ancients that Hojo was referring to but this Promised Land stuff? I'd been to a lot of worlds and never heard of anywhere that promised supreme happiness. Nothing akin to that really existed, there were no true utopias like that, but if there was, I could see why Hojo and the rest of Shin-Ra were so interested in finding it.

"I only heard it at the church in the slums. Mother said Midgar was no longer safe. That is…my real mother."

"Oh god," I groaned. "Spare me the 'my mother died' story. Preachin' to the choir here."

"Someday, I'll get out of Midgar…speak with the Planet and find my Promised Land."

Did she have any clue how naïve she sounded? Or maybe I had really just become too cynical and jaded to believe in things like that anymore. At least I figured out Midgar was the name of the town we were in.

Time sped up again and suddenly Tifa was at the cell door.

"Something's wrong," she said quietly and Aerith followed her out into the corridor.

"No shit," I muttered as the coppery tang of blood hit my nostrils. We ran down the hall and found the guards torn apart, great puddles of their life essence seeping across the metal floor. There was a large dome like container that had been sliced apart. Whatever had been inside was long gone now.

"Jenova Specimen," Nanaki said. "Looks like it went to the upper floor using the that elevator for specimens."

I was confused again. I had never heard of this thing. Jenova. What the hell was that?

We went back up to Hojo's lab using the elevator Cloud and his team had utilized on their earlier escapade. When the doors opened, there was a trail of blood, as if someone had drug a bleeding corpse across the room. I sighed. Spike had been right. It's always gotta be blood. So, being heroes, they followed the trail and I followed them.

It led out of the lab, down the hall, and up some stairs. We followed it all the way to a huge office where a man sat at a massive desk. But on further inspection, I realized he wasn't sitting at all. He was slumped over the desk with a six foot long katana sticking out of his back.

"Nice," I breathed sarcastically.

"He's dead," Barret said in disbelief. "The leader of Shin-Ra Inc. is dead."

"Then this sword must be…" Tifa trailed off, the shock evident on her face.

"Sephiroth's," Cloud said numbly.

The buxom brunette stared at him. "Sephiroth is alive?"

The ex SOLDIER shrugged. "Looks like it. Sephiroth is the only one that can wield that sword."

"Wanna bet?" I said derisively, even though I knew it was pointless and no one else could hear me. "A katana, even one that big, is nothing compared to some of the crazy ass weapons I've used over the years." But I was thinking about what they were saying. Someone named Sephiroth, male probably, was presumed dead but was now back and had wreaked havoc within Shin-Ra. One might think that would make him and this group allies, with Shin-Ra as the common enemy, but judging by the terrified looks they all kept shooting in the direction of that sword, I was taking a stand and guessing Sephiroth was our Big Bad.

I came out of my musing as a man darted out from behind a pillar, running for the stairway we had come up. He was a tubby graying man that Cloud and Barret caught easily by the arms.

"P…P…Please don't kill me," he stuttered pathetically.

Cloud glared down at the struggling man. "What happened?" he shouted.

"Se…Sephiroth came. I saw him with my own two eyes and I heard his voice, too," he said nervously. "He was saying something about not letting us have the Promised Land."

"Then what?" Tifa asked. "Does that mean the Promised Land exists and that Sephiroth's trying to save it from Shin-Ra?"

Cloud didn't believe that and I completely agreed with him.

The man broke free and ran as a helicopter came into view through the window.

"Rufus!" Barret exclaimed. "Fuck! I forgot about him!"

"Who? Tifa asked, echoing my thoughts.

"Vice President Rufus. The President's son," Barret answered gravely.

The group ran out a side door onto a balcony in time to see a attractive blond man dressed head to toe in white exit the helicopter. He had a short conversation with the man that had escaped Cloud's custody and then gave the group a long-winded speech about how he was the new president. Obviously didn't care that his father's cooling corpse was sitting right inside. Cold man.

Cloud sent the group off, I guess to face Rufus alone. At the bottom of the stairs, Tifa decide to wait for him while Barret, Aerith, and Nanaki ran for the elevators to get out of the building.

Time elapsed again and we were all standing on a highway. Clearly everyone, including Cloud, had made it out unscathed.

"Well, what do we do now?" Barret asked.

Cloud walked past everyone, staring at the sun beginning to rise over the horizon. "Sephiroth is alive. I have to settle the score," he said softly.  
Barret walked up beside him. "An' that'll save the Planet?"

Cloud shrugged. "Seems like it," he answered.

Everyone in the group agreed to go and they left Midgar, but only after voting Cloud as their leader. They split into two groups again. Cloud and the girls and Barret with Nanaki. They decided to head for a town named Kalm.

A flash and then we were there. It seemed like any other small town. They headed for the Inn. And that's where the plot really began.

Cloud told the group he had joined SOLDIER to be like Sephiroth and after working together for a while, they became friends. I sat down on the bed, figuring this trip down memory lane would take a while. I learned that five years ago, Cloud went to a place called Nibelheim, where he had grown up, on a mission with this Sephiroth guy. I gleaned that this man, this Sephiroth, was a general and rather well liked within the ranks. He claimed that Jenova was his mother. I remembered Nanaki mentioning the Jenova Specimen in the Shin-Ra building and filed away the information for later examination.

Cloud and Sephiroth were in the town to take care of some monsters around a reactor and Tifa, Cloud's childhood friend, was going to be their guide through the mountains to the site. She led them up the mountain and the two SOLDIERs, Sephiroth and Cloud, went in.

Inside was the Jenova specimen and containers of monsters that had been made with mako energy, the energy of the Planet. Sephiroth freaked out, realizing that the monsters had been human and wondering if he had been created in the same way. Shin-Ra, Hojo in particular, had been creating the beasts that they had been fighting.

Cloud told his friends that Sephiroth had come back to the town and then disappeared. They found him in the biggest building in Nibelheim. The Shin-Ra mansion. Underneath it, in the basement, was a library filled with the research on Jenova, the Ancients, everything. Sephiroth had gone there looking for answers. About who he was. What he was.

I felt a stab of sympathy for the man. When I found out the Slayer had been created by infecting a girl with the essence of a demon, I had been sickened. Horrified. And I had questioned often, albeit only to myself, whether or not that made me human or something else entirely. But I really didn't need to worry about that anymore. I wasn't human, and hadn't been for a hundred years.

We were told of how Sephiroth found out Jenova was an organism that had been found in a 2000-year-old geological stratum. Scientists studied it and it was confirmed that the thing was an Ancient. Something was started called the Jenova Project. Sephiroth kept researching. Cloud made it sound as if he had been there for weeks.

One night, Cloud woke and went down to the basement library to find his friend laughing madly. The General told him that the Planet had originally belonged to the Cetra. The Cetra had been an itinerant race, migrating to a planet, settling it, and then moving on. It was a hard journey, but when they finished, they were supposed to find the Promised Land and supreme happiness.

But some of the Cetra decided the journey was too grueling, so they settled to lead easier lives, thus splitting the race in two. Sephiroth claimed that, long ago, a disaster had hit the Planet and it was saved by sacrificing the remaining Cetra.

He said that the Jenova Project was started to produce people with the powers of the Cetra. And he was what had been produced. Then he headed off to the reactor to see the remains of the organism he had been infected with. He even called it 'Mother.'

When Cloud got outside the mansion, trying to catch up, he found that Sephiroth had set the entire town of Nibelheim on fire and killed most of it's citizens. Cloud chased him to the reactor, and found Tifa there. The General had killed her father. She pulled the sword from his body and chased the man, intent on revenge. He wrestled the katana away easily, swiping it at her, slicing open her chest.

I looked at her while Cloud told this part of the story. Tifa had her face buried in her hands and I tried to put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. But, of course, my hand passed right through. I rolled my eyes. Stupid Buffy! Not like I didn't know that was going to happen.

Cloud told us that Sephiroth went mad, claiming that he was the chosen one, destined to be the Planet's new leader. They each drew their swords…and that's all he remembered. He knew he couldn't have killed him, but he didn't know what had happened. Shin-Ra had released that Sephiroth had died, but that wasn't true.

A lot of things weren't adding up. He hadn't killed Cloud or Tifa. Why? The Jenova Specimen had been shipped from Nibelheim to Midgar, but who had taken it from the Shin-Ra building? Sephiroth? Someone else?

Somehow, all of this was interconnected. The Cetra…Aerith…Cloud…Hojo…Sephiroth…but I didn't know enough yet to understand how.


	3. Left Inside Me

Once again, I'd like to thank kimbclar, Allen Pitt, and lildevil0644 for reviewing. The ONLY ones to review! Ergo, this chapter is for you!

I own all 7 seasons of Buffy on DVD and a copy of Final Fantasy 7. Does that count?

Chapter Three

Left Inside Me

Buffy's Point of View

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."

Douglas Adams

The next thing I knew, Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith were fighting in a forest. Their opponent was a young woman in tan shorts and a green shirt. A familiar person again. They knocked her out and stood around her in confusion.

She slowly came to. "Man, I can't believe I lost," she moaned as she stumbled to her feet. "You spiky headed jerk! One more time, let's go one more time," she exclaimed, bouncing up and down with a renewal of unspent energy. This could get irritating in a hurry.

Cloud looked at her completely dispassionately. "Not interested," he said coolly.

The girl ran around the group. "Thinking of running?" she mocked boisterously. "Stay and fight!"

No one moved.

"Fight, I said!"

The blond swordsman stepped in front of her, gazing down, the blank look never leaving his face. Clearly unimpressed.

"Come on. What's the matter?" she teased. "You're pretty scared of me, huh?"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Uh…petrified."

She nodded, not noticing the sarcasm dripping from the words. "Hmm. Just as I thought. What do you expect with my skills? Good luck to you guys, too." Even though no one had said anything to that effect. "If you feel up to it, we can go another round. Later!" she chirped. She started walking away. Then she stopped. "I'm going to leave now. Really!" she called over her shoulder.

"Wait a second," Cloud said and the group sauntered over to the girl.

"What is it? You still have something for me?" she asked, twitching an eyebrow. "Oh, I get it. You want my help because I'm so good! You want me to go with you?"

Cloud nodded and I groaned, thinking the swordsman was a glutton for cruel and unusual punishment, wanting this girl in the group. But when it comes to apocalypses, I understood needing all the help you could get.

The girl preened and pretended to debate whether or not she wanted to help. Cloud and the girls started walking away without waiting for her.

"Wait!" she cried, chasing after them. "I haven't even told you my name! I'm Yuffie."

Funny way for someone to join up, but I was starting to see this group had a lot of similarities with the Scoobies. Somehow, they were all coming together through strange circumstances. Cloud and Tifa were childhood friends, just like Xander and Willow had been. Nanaki seemed quiet, wise, and kind, sort of like Giles. Yuffie was the boisterous and irritating kid, like Dawn had been at fifteen. Looking at the girl, she didn't look much older than that, anyway. I wasn't sure whom Aerith, Barret, or I myself were parallel to, but it wasn't really important.

Time sped up again for a while, longer that it ever had before. I just started seeing quick flashes. The team went to a town called Junon Harbor and found out that Rufus Shin-Ra was in the upper levels. Cloud snuck up and the group waited to hear from him. He came back a few hours later and helped the group sneak onto the President's ship, all of them dressed as soldiers or sailors so they wouldn't be caught.

Aerith and Yuffie were in the cargo hold, so that's all I could see. But when a report came over the loudspeaker that a suspicious character was onboard, they all regrouped on deck. When they realized they weren't the ones the crew was looking for, they came to the logical conclusion that Sephiroth might be somewhere on board and went to investigate. Back in the cargo hold, they found some soldiers and sailors dead and strewn about the floor like rag dolls. They entered a door that had previously been guarded and I got my first glimpse of Sephiroth.

He was a tall man with long silver hair and glowing green eyes. Not gray hair. Utterly silver. He was as intimidating as I had imagined him to be, but there was one thing I hadn't counted on and no one had bothered to mention. Sephiroth was beautiful. His skin was pale and flawless. He wore black leather pants and a kind of black leather overcoat with armored shoulders that buckled over his toned bare chest. I think I actually had to wipe the drool from my mouth. Sinfully delicious. I was ranking him up there in the top three most gorgeous guys I had ever seen in my life.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud cried out. "What are you doing?"

The man looked at Cloud in confusion. "Who are you?" he murmured, his deep voice rumbling forth. But he must not have been very concerned about the answer, as he swept forward and knocked the group to the ground as he flew from the room. Flew! Like a full on Darth Willow levitating thing!

But even though the Big Bad was gone, they weren't safe by a long shot. A monster calling itself Jenova BIRTH burst up from the floor and attacked. It was a horribly ugly and misshapen thing.

I saw the fight in fast forward speed but I could tell what was happening. They were definitely better than they had been the last time I had seen them and they totally kicked the thing's ass! If it even had one.

The ship docked in a town called Costa Del Sol. It was a resort type place straight out of Florida, nearest I could tell. They all decided to take a bit of time to rest so Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa headed down to the beach. And whom did they find lounging on a chair surrounded by girls in bikinis? Why, Professor Hojo, of course. And the sight of the pallid disgusting man surrounded by beautiful women turned my stomach.

Cloud walked over to him. "Hojo…what are you doing?"

The man looked at him snidely. "It should be obvious. I'm working on my tan."

"Answer me!" the blonde swordsman yelled.

"Hmm. I believe we're both after the same goal," the Professor remarked cryptically.

Cloud looked at him suspiciously. "You mean Sephiroth?" he ventured.

"Did you see him?" Hojo asked expectantly. When there was no response, he stood. "I see," he said laughing.

"What is it?" Cloud growled.

"Nothing. I just remember a certain hypothesis…haven't you ever had the feeling something is calling you?" the creepy man asked. "Or that you had to visit some place?"

"I'll go anywhere Sephiroth is," Cloud swore vehemently. "To beat him and put an end to all this."

Hojo nodded. "I see. This could be interesting. Were you in SOLDIER?" the man chuckled. "Would you like to be my guinea pig?"

Cloud fell back in a defensive pose, his hand instinctively on the hilt of his weapon.

"Oh, now what?" Hojo admonished. "Are you going to draw your sword?"

Tifa turned to him. "Stop Cloud! I know how you feel, but you mustn't."

"Why!" I screamed in vain at her. "He's one of the bad guys! This guy's a monster! Let Cloud run him through, or better yet, cut off his head so it will be over and done with! You know he's going to cause trouble and you'll have to deal with him later!"

But to my disappointment, he backed down, the mad Professor giggling the whole time.

In his mirth, he noticed Aerith. "Aren't you the Ancient?"

"I'm Aerith," she replied. "The least you can do is remember my name."

She went up a few respect points for that.

"I want you to tell me something Professor Hojo," she went on. "Is Jenova and Ancient? Is Sephiroth an Ancient? Do we all have the same blood?"

Hojo stared at her, his lips moving but no sound escaping. I wondered what he found so offensive or startling about her question that he couldn't even formulate a derogatory remark. He mumbled something about heading west, then sat back down and said no more. Regardless, it sounded like their course was set. West. And I was betting the nonsense I had just heard would make more sense later.

Another flash, another town. But not exactly a town so much as an amusement park. 'The Gold Saucer' the sign proclaimed cheerfully in fluorescent colors. I watched the group wander until they ran across…a cat, a cait sith, specifically, riding a large stuffed moogle. Airship déjà vu. The cuddly monstrosity wadded over and offered to read Cloud's fortune, introducing itself as Cait Sith.

Of all the damned obvious names! I could have guessed that one!

It claimed it could read fortunes, find missing people, or missing things. So, naturally, Cloud asked where Sephiroth was.

It went through a ridiculous dance and then handed Cloud a small piece of paper that issued from the stuffed moogle's mouth.

"Give in to the good will of others and something big'll happen after summer," Cloud read aloud. "Wait…what's this?"

"Huh?" the little cat said. "Let me try again."

It danced again.

"Be careful of forgetfulness. Your lucky color is…blue?" Cloud read. "Just forget it."

"Wait! One more time!" it cried.

"What you pursue will be yours. But you will lose something dear."

'That one's at least part true,' I thought to myself.

The fortune-telling cat was shocked. He told them he had never gotten a fortune like that before and needed to see what it lead to. And thus, another group member was found.

Time sped up again and we were entering a slightly singed and tangled looking forest. We had only gone a few steps down the path when voices could be heard coming towards us. Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith ducked down behind some bushes as Reno and the Turk with the shaved head came into sight and stopped.

"Hey, Rude," Reno said amiably. "Who do you like?"

Rude, unfortunate name, turned away from him.

"What are you getting so embarrassed about? Come on," the redhead prodded. "Who do you like?"

"Tifa," Rude replied quietly.

I looked over at the people behind the bushes. Cloud and Aerith were trying to stifle their snickers behind their hands. I really wasn't seeing the funny. Sure, Rude wasn't exactly on the same side, but come on! The man was masculine and attractive. Should be flattering. I glanced at Tifa. She was blushing profusely, but I thought I caught a smile in there. I looked back at the two Turks.

Reno was looking shocked. "That's a tough one. But poor Elena. She…you…"

"No," Rude said succinctly. "She likes Tseng."

The redhead chuckled. "I never knew that! But Tseng likes the Ancient."

The two girls were both quietly chuckling now. But it was Cloud's reaction that was cracking me up. It looked like someone had forced a whole lemon into his mouth and clamped his jaw down around it. Jealous much?

A cute blonde woman in a blue suit came up behind them. "They always do that. Talk about who they like or don't like," she said casually. "But Tseng is different."

I decided this must be Elena.

"Oh!" she cried out, like she'd just figured out whom it was she was talking to. She ran for her fellow Turks. "They're here!" she yelled when she reached them.

"Then its time," Reno said coolly, all business now. "Rude, don't go easy on them even though they're girls."

I wasn't sure if he was including Cloud in that statement, but it made me chuckle.

Elena took off to report to Tseng, leaving Reno and Rude staring down Cloud and the two girls he always seemed to choose as his group.

"It's been a while," Reno said, narrowing his eyes in obvious dislike.

"This is as far as you go," Rude told them.

Then they attacked.

It was the first time I had seen the Turks fight, and I was impressed. Reno used an Electro Mag Rod, a weapon I'd seen but never used. His thin lanky frame made me underestimate him at first, but he was faster and stronger than he looked, striking out at his three opponents without prejudice.

Rude, on the other hand, used his fists and feet, and he was good. Really good. I kinda hoped they didn't kill him just so I could get the chance to fight him at some point. He was quick and strong, landing stunning blows to both Cloud and Aerith, but I noticed he didn't even try to hit Tifa. From the look on her face as she ran up and punched him, once again without him countering, I knew she had noticed it as well.

After a rather long fight, Reno backed off. "We may be retreating," he called out, "but we're still victorious."

I laughed as I watched the two men run off. I understood now why Aerith was showing me this. Clearly the Turks were going to be opponents again before the journey was over. It was nice to be aware of their skills beforehand.

Tifa watched the retreat thoughtfully and then turned to Cloud. "Hey, something seems wrong. Like they knew we were coming."

Cloud nodded slowly. "They followed us…but there weren't any signs of it." his face fell. "That means…"

"That there's a Shin-Ra spy," Aerith concluded.

Cloud groaned and looked up at the sky. "I don't even want to think there's a spy. I trust everyone."

I felt for him. No one wanted to believe that one of the people they were traveling with, someone that was fighting alongside them, a friend that was trusted to watch the backs of the other members, was a spy. One of the bad guys. It obviously wasn't Cloud, Tifa, or Aerith. It could be Barret, but he really hated Shin-Ra and that kind of passionate dislike was too hard to fake. It could have been Nanaki. They had found him in the Shin-Ra building after all, but that didn't ring true. That left Yuffie or Cait Sith. But my speculation would have to wait.

The next thing I knew, we were standing in front of a ruined reactor. A helicopter landed just beyond the remains of twisted metal and two people got out. Tseng and a blonde woman in a red dress and spiked heels. She looked very out of place, shoes wobbling along the dirt trail.

"It's Scarlet," Cloud whispered. "Head of Shin-Ra Weapon Development." He pulled the two girls around the corner of the reactor. "I don't think they've seen us yet. Better hide, just in case." They all crouched down behind a metal outcropping and listened.

I, of course, had no such restrictions and stood out in plain sight, had I really existed, to watch.

Tseng and Scarlet stood in front of the mangled reactor. The woman looked in a hole in the side that I could only guess led to the reactor core.

"Hmph!" Scarlet whined. "This isn't any good either. You only get junky materia from junky reactors. This one's a failure. What I'm looking for is a big, huge, large materia. You seen any?" she asked Tseng.

Now, I was almost sure after watching the group fight and talk and flashes of them shopping, that I knew what materia was. They were brightly colored spheres that looked like they would fit in the palm of my hand. And, nearest I could tell, that was how magic worked in this world. That was something I had found in my travels, that magic was unique to each world. Here, there seemed to be a sphere for every spell. Ice. Fire. There was even one of those balls that seemed to cure wounds. So this Scarlet chick wanted a bigger than normal sized materia. Made me wonder, just what spell would that cast?

"No," Tseng answered her in his cultured baritone. "I haven't seen it. I'll get on it right away."

"Please do," Scarlet ordered snootily. "We could make the ultimate weapon if only we had some."

"Well, shit. Yep, taking a stand and saying that's a bad plan," I muttered.

A flash and we were in a house with two middle-aged people. They wanted to know if Cloud knew their son, Zack. He had been a SOLDIER first class just like the blonde had been. Both Tifa and Aerith looked pained and left the house.

Cloud followed, going after Tifa first, much to Aerith's dismay and as I had to stay near her, I took a look at the town. In it's day, it might have been bustling, but the reactor blowing had clearly cleaned the place out. I wondered what it was called, and decided it probably didn't matter.

Before long, Cloud stood before the flower girl. She told him Zack had been her first love and five years prior, he had gone out on a job and never come back. She was convinced that he had found someone else. I had the sneaky suspicion she was projecting her feelings of her lost boyfriend onto the first convenient man that was similar to him.

And that was all. I had to wonder at the significance of this memory. And, as much as it killed me, I was just going to have to trust that all of this would come together and Aerith wasn't feeding me pointless memories just to be irritating. But then again, I didn't know her. Maybe she was like that.

Then we were somewhere else. A beautiful settlement built into a canyon. It had an aboriginal feel, like that of a Native American place. I like it immediately.

"I am home!" Nanaki cried, running up from behind us. He took off through the town full tilt, leaving everyone else at the entrance.

"Welcome to Cosmo Canyon!" a cheery man called out to Cloud's group as they approached. "People from all over the world gather here to seek the Study of Planet Life."

Cloud ran to where Nanaki was excitedly waiting on the stairs carved into the rock. "This is my hometown," he told them. "My tribe was protectors of those who appreciate this beautiful canyon and the Planet. My brave mother fought and died here, but my cowardly father left her. I am the last of my race."

"Cowardly father?" Cloud asked confused.  
"Yes," Nanaki said nodding. "My father was a wastrel. And so the mission I inherited from my ancestors is to protect this place. My journey ends here.

"Hey Nanaki," came a voice from higher up in the settlement.

Nanaki turned, a huge grin on his feline face. "Coming Grandpa!" And he took off up the canyon.

Well, I knew his journey didn't end because he had been there on the airship when I had shown up. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to change is mind, but on the other hand, I felt this might be a private revelation that I shouldn't be privy to. How were all these people going to react when they found out I knew so much about them when they didn't even know my name? But there wasn't anything I could do about it. I was sure I was going to be stuck until I saw everything that Aerith wanted me to see. I had no choice but to follow.

Cloud and his team went to the topmost house and found Nanaki with an aged man.

"This is my grandfather, Bugenhagen," the creature told them. "He is incredible. He knows everything." Clearly the man had adopted Nanaki.

"I hear that you looked after Nanaki a bit," the man said, gratitude shining in his eyes as he looked over the top of his glasses. "He is still a child, you see."

"Please stop, grandfather," the lion requested calmly. "I'm 48."

Bugen laughed. "Nanaki's tribe has incredible longevity. So you see, his forty-eight years would only be equivalent to say…that of a fifteen of sixteen year old in human reckoning."

"Fifteen or sixteen!?" Cloud exclaimed in shock. I was right there with him on that one. He was the same age as Yuffie and no one would ever suspect that!

"He's quiet and very deep. Yo thought he was an adult?" Bugen asked, his voice laced with amusement.

"Grandfather," Nanaki said softly. "I want to be an adult. I want to grow up and protect the village."

Bugen shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "You are not ready to stand on your own yet. To do that now would only destroy you in the long run.

The man was right. I don't think there's a person alive that understands that sentiment more than I do. From the time Merrick approached me on the steps of Hemry High to now, I had known things, learned things, done things that no young girl should have even been exposed to. While I learned about monsters and death, all the vestiges of my childhood, my innocence rotted away. And, in a very real way, it had destroyed me. Sometimes, long ago, I had wondered what kind of woman I would have been. Would I have married? Had children? Would I have been happy? It doesn't matter anymore. But I wanted to call out to Nanaki then. To tell him not to be in such a hurry to grow up because once he did, he would mourn for his lost youth.

"Reaching up into the heavens, threatening to snatch the very stars from the great city of Midgar," Bugen was saying. You've seen it, haven't you?" He shook his head. "Well, that's a bad example. Looking up too much makes you loose perspective." He considered his words for a moment. "When it's time for this Planet to die, you'll understand that you know nothing."

Truer words were never spoken. I was 122 years old and I didn't know shit.

"When the Planet dies?" Cloud asked.

Bugen nodded. "It may be tomorrow, or a hundred years from now, but it's not far off."

"How do you know this anyway?" the blond swordsman questioned.

"I hear the cries of the Planet," the old man said simply.

A sound filled the room that was almost like radio static, but slightly more melodic.

Cloud looked around in confusion. "What is that?"

"The sound of the stars in the heavens. While this goes on, planets are born and die."

Okay, on my wig-o-meter, this hit a 73. I remember Willow telling me that everything in the world was interconnected, but I was not exactly prepared to think of stars and planets as sentient beings that cried or made any kind of noise.

Then there was a mournful cry that almost sounded like a whale. "And what was that?" Cloud asked nervously.

"That was a scream from this Planet. Didn't you hear it? As it to say 'I hurt...I suffer.'" The man had his eyes shut and his head tilted back as he listened.

"They have come here on a journey to save the Planet," Nanaki told his grandfather. "Why don't you show them your apparatus?"

Bugen looked excited at the prospect of someone working to save the Planet and agreed to show them. He led them upstairs into a room with a domed ceiling. That reminded me of a planetarium.

He shut off the lights and they all stepped onto a mechanized platform that rose up close to the ceiling. Planets, stars, and solar systems were all visible in 3D around us and I wondered idly if my Earth was somewhere in the room.

"This is my laboratory," Bugen said proudly. "All the workings of space are entered into this 3D Holographic System."

They watched a shooting star around the room and I speculated absentmindedly about whether or not wishes made on fake shooting stars counted for anything.

"Let's get on with it," the old man said and I sat down on the platform to listen. I had a feeling I was going to learn something important, and since this was my world now too, I intended to absorb.

"Eventually, all humans die. What happens to them after they die?" he asked.

Well, I knew what had happened in my old world, but I had no clue what happened in this one.

"The body decomposes and returns to the Planet. That much everyone knows. But what about the consciousness, their hearts and their souls?" He waited for an answer, but I guess nobody knew, so he went on. "The soul too returns to the Planet and not only those of humans, but everything on this Planet. The spirits that return to the Planet merge with one another. They roam, converge, and divide becoming a swell called the 'Lifestream.'"

Interesting. Weird, but definitely interesting. Lifestream. In other words, a path of energy of the souls roaming the Planet. Odd.

"Spirit Energy," Bugen continued. "A new life…children are blessed with Spirit Energy and are brought into the world. Then the time comes when they die and once again return to the Planet."

"It's the Circle of Life!" I warbled, intentionally off key, and then blushed profusely as I realized that Aerith, real world dead Aerith, not memory Aerith, could most likely hear me.

"Of course there are exceptions," Bugen was saying, "but this is the way of the world."

Then a Planet that could only be the one we were on came into close up view. There was a little 3D man standing on the surface, but then he erupted into little yellow sparkles. Death maybe? The sparkles traveled down to the other side of the Planet and then a tiny baby could be seen. It aged and the whole process was repeated until the Planet was covered in minute points of glowing light.

"Spirit Energy makes all things possible. Trees, birds, and humans. Not just living things, but Spirit Energy makes it possible for Planets to be Plants. What happens if all the Spirit Energy were to disappear?"

The lights all drained from the holographic Planet. It tuned black and cracked apart.

"These are the Basics of the Study of Planet Life," Bugen finished.

"So if the Spirit Energy is lost, our Planet is destroyed…" Cloud said slowly.

Genius, that one. Some drink from the fountain of knowledge. Clearly, he had only gargled.

Bugen nodded. "Spirit Energy is efficient _because _it exists in nature. When it is extracted and manufactures, it can't accomplish its true purpose."

"You're talking about mako energy, right?" Cloud asked.

"Everyday mako reactors sick up Spirit Energy, diminishing it. Spirit Energy gets compressed in the reactors and processed into mako energy. All living things are being used up and thrown away. In other words, mako energy will destroy the Planet."

So we we're fighting Shin-Ra, Shin-Ra's reactors, Hojo, the Turks, Jenova, and Sephiroth? And here was I thinking this was going to be hard. Luckily, my dance card was free.

Everyone left the machine, a lot weighing on their minds. The whole team gathered at the bonfire at the center of the town, talking quietly with one another. Nanaki spoke at length about how he couldn't forgive his father for running from the town, from his mother, from him when the Gi tribe attacked.

Bugen came down, overheard, and told him there was something he needed to see. He led Cloud, Nanaki, and Aerith to a metal door set in the side of the canyon. He called what lay beyond The Gi Caves.

And as I watched them fight their way through the cave, I was itching to jump in and start taking monsters out. Not for the first time, I wondered what was happening to my actual body. How much time had passed in the real world because I felt like I had been in memory land for at least a week.

When they got to an opening at the back of the cave, Bugen stopped them. "During the attack, a warrior went through this cave all alone, fighting attackers off one after another."

"Grandpa," Nanaki said softly. "That warrior…"

"We're almost there," Bugen said, and walked through the opening, the others trailing along behind him.

We walked out into the night on an outcropping of rocks and saw the warrior that had fought the Gi. The one that had prevented them from taking even one step into Cosmo Canyon. The warrior, Seto. Nanaki's father.

Far above us, silhouetted in the light from the moon, was a lion, stone now, his feline face a twisted grimace of pain. I could see at least six arrows firmly imbedded into his hide.

"Seto continued to fight the Gi tribe here, to protect his canyon. Even their poisonous arrows had turned his body to stone, even after they all ran away, Seto continued to protect us. And he continues to protect us even now," Bugen gently informed his grandson.

"Even now…" Nanaki repeated numbly.

"You thought that he was a coward and ran away. But he alone risked his life to protect Cosmo Canyon," the old man finished.

He asked Cloud and Aerith to give them a few moments alone and as they left, me in tow, I chanced a look back at the young lion and knew he had just been forced to grow up a little, his illusions torn from him like discarded wrapping paper and he was left cold in the truth. It doesn't matter what your illusions are, we cling to them because they are safe and they are all we know.

The group came together around the bonfire again, preparing to leave. As they reached the edge of town, Nanaki came bounding after them.

"Wait for me!" he cried. "I'm coming too!"

I got what I wanted, I suppose. I had wanted to know what had changed his mind and it played out before me like the god damned Young and the Restless. But the voyeurism was seriously making me sick. It wasn't my place to see these things and somehow I felt like I had betrayed someone I had never truly met.


	4. Come Home

So, did you know if you don't pay your internet bill, they shut it off? Well, that's pretty much what happened to me and I was net-less for a week and a half and therefore unable to do any research for my story! But that's okay. This chapter is extra long since you were all kind enough to wait!

Over at my LJ, I've started posting a Picture companion to go with each of the chapters for those of you who don't know much about FF7. It has most of the characters and pictures of some of the places she goes as well. Almost like a scrapbook! Anywho…you can check it out if you want.

As always, I don't own a thing. There will be an A.N at the bottom as well.

Chapter Four

Come Home

Buffy's Point of View

"Talking about art is like dancing about architecture."

David Bowie

Time sped up and I found myself on the outskirts of a small mountain town. The sign said Nibelheim.

I looked around at the picturesque scenery, the perfect little houses, quaint water tower… "Um…didn't this place burn to the ground five years ago?" I asked aloud, for my own benefit, of course.

"What?" Tifa gasped and for a second I thought she had heard me, but that moment passed. "This was all supposed to be burnt down, right?" she asked, turning to Cloud.

"I thought so," he breathed, his eyes wide, darting around to all the sites  
he hadn't expected to be there.

"Then why?" Tifa asked, her voice tight with pain. "My house is still there, too."

"I'm not lying!" Cloud exploded. "I remember…the intense heat of the flames…" he trailed off.

They must have talked to everyone in town asking about the fire. All of them claimed that no such thing had ever happened. Something about their answers felt off to me. Their responses too well choreographed? Their eyes not quite right? Too shifty? I wasn't sure, but something wasn't right.

In some of the houses the group visited, there were hunched people in black robes. Most said nothing, but a few whispered the words '_Sephiroth_' and '_Reunion_.' The group left them alone after they figured out that they made no sense and didn't seem to be doing any harm.

They went into Tifa's old house to look around. She claimed it was unchanged, until she found some documents on the desk in her room. I leaned over her shoulder to get a better look at them.

Periodic Report to Professor Hojo

CLONE Activity Report

Unfortunately, no CLONES have left town this quarter. As previously reported, the CLONES seem to be sensing something. But all they say is 'reunion' or 'Sephiroth' and show no other signs of activity.

Confidentiality Report

A total of eight people have visited the town this quarter. Fortunately, none knew about the incident five years ago. Therefore, no one knows the town was restored exactly as it was. Our staff, disguised as townspeople, have improved their acting skills and we do not report any problems at this time.

That is all.

Okay…Clones? Restoring a town to cover what Sephiroth had done? This was a whole new level of weirdness that I had never dealt with before. I couldn't even fathom Shin-Ra's reason for doing that at all. Unless they just didn't want to be blamed for it because he was their General.

There was nowhere else in town to go but the Shin-Ra Mansion. Two of the black robed people were lurking just outside the gate. Cloud hesitated, but then walked over to one.

"He's calling," it rasped slowly. "Sephiroth…is…calling."

Cloud looked haunted at the name and stared over at the second one as if debating whether or not it would be worth it. Curiosity won out in the end.

"The…Great…Se…phi…roth…is near," it mumbled and, as if it had been choreographed, we all turned to look up at the mansion.

Was he in there right then? I didn't know but I got that excited anticipation matched with dread, as if I was walking around in a horror movie. Sephiroth was like the masked axe murderer that could jump out and take down a member of the group at any given moment. So, just like the stupid teenagers in such a movie, we headed into the creepy mansion. All that apprehension, but I couldn't help but think we was about to find something amazing.

The mansion once might have been opulent, but years of disuse had robbed it of its finery. A good three inches of dust marred the windows that would otherwise lookout onto the beautiful mountainside. The walls, once white, had become dirty and water stained. The carpet, once plush, judging by how thick it still was in the corners, was now threadbare as if years of wear had walked it down to dust.

Cloud ran up a large stairway in the foyer, seeking out treasures and anything that might prove useful. I knew very well what he was doing. He was taking as long as he could before going to the basement, for if Sephiroth was anywhere, even I knew that's where he'd be. I didn't blame Cloud for stalling. I would have done it too.

Finally, we entered the last room above ground, a bedroom on the third floor. There was a semi circular stone façade built into the corner of the room, almost like there might be a fireplace on the floor below and this was just the stack, passing through the room on its way outside. Cloud placed his hands in the center and shoved. A large rectangular opening emerged in the rock and the nervous swordsman led the way.

A long ramp spiraled down along the stone walls and they began to follow it to the bottom. I glanced over the side, saw that the ramp curled around three times, judged it to be about forty feet, and jumped.

I flipped five times and landed neatly, no pain in my ankles or anything. Well, if I couldn't fight, at least I could do stuff like that. I waited patiently at the bottom for the group.

It was like we had entered a large underground cave as opposed to a basement. We ran along the stone corridor and I noticed a door set into the rock, almost matching in color. Had the light hit it differently, I might have missed it.

"Hey…got a door here!" I called out.

It seemed Cloud had seen it the same time I had. He stopped in mid stride, stumbled, and then turned to face it. I think he decided that he would rather go anywhere than the library, which was where I assumed the cavernous hallway went to.

He pushed the metal door open into a small room with a faded purple coffin in the center. The dust on it was so thick, it looked like it had been there far longer than anyone in this group had been alive.

A voice rang through the gloom, slightly muffled. "To wake me from my nightmare," was all it said.

Cloud settled his fingers on the edge of the casket and Aerith jumped, snatching his hand back.

"Don't!" she whimpered. "There could be a…a…a body in there."

I chuckled. "Relax. Jump at every little thing down here and you'll wear yourself out." Then I groaned. "Why do I keep talking to you guys? No one can hear me. All this wit is wasted!"

Cloud gently removed Aerith's hands. "I just want to see," he mumbled as he wrenched the lid open.

A man lay inside. A familiar man with black hair, blood red eyes and pointy brass boots. He sat up slowly and stared at Cloud. "Never seen you before. You must leave." His voice was deep and slightly hoarse from disuse.

Cloud shrugged. "You were having a nightmare," he said in his defense.

Aerith nodded. "You'll dream bad things if you sleep in a place like this," she informed him.

"A nightmare?" The question was barely even discernable in his voice. "My long sleep has given me time to atone."

I wondered how long he had been in that coffin. There were four other caskets in the room along the walls that I hadn't noticed before. They were open, holding corpses that were nothing more than bones and the tattered remains of rotting clothes. Had they all been put here at the same time and this man in red was the only survivor?

"What are you talking about?" Cloud asked.

"I have nothing to say to strangers," the man said coldly. "Get out. This mansion is only the beginning of your nightmare."

"You can say that again," the blonde swordsman agreed.

The man cocked his head slightly to the side. "Hmm? What do you know?" he asked.

"Like you said, this mansion is the beginning of a nightmare. Except, it's not a dream. It's for real. Sephiroth has lost his mind," Cloud explained. "He found the secrets hidden in this mansion."

Clearly not all of them because here was this man in a hidden room. A secret if I ever saw one, and I wondered how Sephiroth had not noticed this room in all the times he had come here.

"Sephiroth?!" the man exclaimed and I noted that his eyes, the only clear and visible portion of his face, had widened nominally. It took a lot for this guy to crack an expression. It reminded me of Oz.

"You know Sephiroth?" both Cloud and the man said at the same time. It would have been comical if not for the seriousness of the situation and the possibility of a psycho murderer down the hall.

The man in red stood in his coffin, executed a perfect back flip and landed neatly on the rim of the casket behind him. Smooth.

"You start first," he ordered.

And Cloud did. He told the man everything he knew. "And that's how it was," he ended.

A rather lackluster finish, but Cloud wasn't very dramatic. Four years of Rikku and a year spent with Balthier some time before that and I was actually missing dramatic flair.

"So Sephiroth knows how he was created? And about the Jenova Project? He was missing but has just recently appeared. He has taken many lives and is seeking the Promised Land?" the man repeated, as if to make sure he understood.

Cloud nodded. "Now it's your turn."

"Sorry. I cannot speak."

I found myself very disappointed. Possibly more than I should have been.

Aerith glared at him. "That's dirty," she sneered.

The man sat back down in the coffin, a forlorn and kind of heart-rending sight in the dim room. "Hearing your stories has added upon me yet another sin. More nightmares will come to me. More that I previously had." He put his hand on the lid of the casket. "Now please leave." And he shut himself back inside.

Cloud looked at his companions in bewilderment. Then he opened the lid again.

"You're still here?" came the deep voice, sounding bored.

"At least tell us your name," Cloud said.

The man sat up. "I was with the Shin-Ra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research, otherwise known as the Turks." He paused, as if it were easier to give his job than it was to trust someone with his name. "Vincent," he said finally.

"The Turks?" Cloud said suspiciously and I was reminded of my suspicions that Turks had to be ridiculously attractive to get in. And thus wondered what he looked like behind that cowl.

"Formerly of the Turks," Vincent corrected. "I have no affiliation with Shin-Ra now. And you?"

"Cloud," the swordsman replied. "Formerly of SOLDIER."

The girls also gave their names and I notice no one ever gave a last name. Odd. Like everyone here was Madonna.

"You were with Shin-Ra?" Vincent asked Cloud. "Do you know Lucrecia?"

His voice was different when he spoke that name. Softer. More affectionate somehow. Perhaps the woman was his lover? God, I was getting tired of all the conjecturing.

"Who?" Cloud asked dumbly. It made me smile. The guy was kind of oblivious, or maybe I had lived so long, I was just getting rather good at reading people.

"Lucrecia," he said again, drawing it out. It almost sounded like a caress, and I checked myself for waxing poetic. Perhaps my idle mind was drawing conclusions where there were none.

"The woman that gave birth to Sephiroth," Vincent clarified.

"Gave birth?" The swordsman sounded confused again. "Wasn't Jenova his mother?"

"That isn't completely wrong, but it's just a theory," Vincent answered. "He was born from a beautiful lady.

Made sense. After all, the man was hotness personified.

"That lady was Lucrecia," Vincent continued. "She was an assistant on the Jenova Project."

"A human experiment?" Cloud asked in disgust, like he couldn't imagine anything worse than that. I wasn't sure if I could either.

"There was no way to stop the experiment. I couldn't stop her," the crimson clad man said softly. "That was my sin. I let the one I loved, the one I respected most, face the worst."

Aerith screwed up her face in confusion. "So, your punishment is to sleep? That's kinda weird."

He glanced at her blankly and then pulled his coffin shut once more. "Let me sleep," he said, his voice muffled.

Cloud shrugged and, deciding it had been put off long enough, headed for the library.

I followed, but my mind stayed with Vincent. To the casual observer, his eyes must have looked blank, but to me, who had spent more than a century learning the true meaning of pain and loneliness, he looked forlorn. Guilt is a funny thing and it's taken me a long time to learn what Vincent apparently hadn't. The guilty is not the one who commits the sin; it is the one who _causes_ the darkness. It was a hard lesson.

I don't think anyone was surprised to see Sephiroth standing amongst the stacks of books.

"Being here brings back memories," he said coolly. "Are you going to participate in the Reunion?"

Even though there were two other people with him, it was obvious that that question was for Cloud alone.

"I don't even know what a Reunion is!" he exclaimed, glaring at the ex General.

"Jenova will be at the Reunion," Sephiroth went on as if Cloud hadn't spoken. "Jenova will join the Reunion and bring a calamity from the skies.

"The meteor," I breathed. "Is the calamity the meteor?" I was only theorizing, but hey, no one could here me anyway.

"Jenova? A calamity from the skies? You mean she wasn't an Ancient?" Cloud asked in surprise.

Sephiroth looked at him in disappointment. "I see. I don't think you have the right to participate. "

Clearly Cloud had missed something that the General thought he should have figured out by now. But he was in good company. I had no clue what was going on.

"I will go north, passed Mt. Nibel," the man continued. "If you wish to find out…then follow."

As Cloud stood there dumbstruck, most likely due to the fact that his enemy was basically offering information, Sephiroth chucked a piece of materia at him. It hit the blonde in the chest and he winced in pain.

While he was distracted, the mad man in leather rose, hovering six feet off the ground and then flew over our heads and out of the room.

Neat trick. Creepy, but neat.

Cloud pocketed the materia and made to chase after Sephiroth, almost running headlong into Vincent in the hallway.

"If I go with you," the crimson-eyed man said calmly showing no alarm at almost being bowled over, "will I meet Hojo?"

"Dunno," Cloud answered. "But we're after him and Sephiroth. So, I guess sooner or later…"

"Alright, I've decided to go with you," Vincent said gravely.

I had to laugh then. I loved how people just invited themselves along with Cloud and his group. I rather admired the audacity.

"Sure is a quick change of heart, huh?" Aerith said, but I caught the sneer _and_ the tremor in her voice. She was afraid of Vincent and covering for it with a bit of bravado. The flower girl wasn't quite was sweet as she seemed, but then again, who was?

But to his credit, Vincent totally ignored her. "Being a former Turk, I may be of help to you," he finished.

"Alright then," Cloud agreed.

And I found myself elsewhere, yet again. A town with a huge, slightly decrepit, rocket behind a house, leaning precariously like Pisa. The sign aptly proclaimed the place 'Rocket Town.' Clever name, eh?

Cloud walked around, looking at the shuttle from ever angle like and excited little boy. But his enthusiasm lead them to their next great discovery. Sitting in the backyard, not fifty feet from the rocket, was a plane.

"There's a Shin-Ra logo on it," Cloud noticed. "Tiny Bronco. This is so cool…"

Aerith clapped her hands and I was suddenly glad she was always in Cloud's group. If she wasn't, I wouldn't have any clue what was going on. "Let's take it! Okay Cloud?"

A woman came out of the back door of the house. "Um…may I help you?" she asked skeptically.

The group spun around, the guilt plain on their faces. "No," Cloud said sheepishly. We're just looking at it."

The woman eyed him knowingly. "If you would like to use it, please ask the Captain. He should be in the rocket." She smiled at the group. "I'm Shera. And what are your names?"

They introduced themselves and Shera looked thoughtful. "So, you're not with Shin-Ra," she stated. "I thought the approval for the reopening of the Space Program came."

Cloud looked at her with wide eyes.

"President Rufus is scheduled to come here," she continued, not noticing the anxiety on the faces of the people in front of her. "The Captain's been so restless all morning." She turned and headed back inside.

"Rufus?!" Cloud exploded when she was out of earshot. But there was nothing to be done about it now. So the swordsman took off for the rocket. The group climbed the ladder up the side.

There was a man inside. Blond, goggles, dog tags. The Pilot! I grinned, realizing that I had officially seen all of them now and it might just be over soon. He turned as he heard Cloud's heavy footsteps on the metal planks of the floor. "What're you doing here?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"We heard that the Captain was in here," Cloud said innocently.

"Captain? I'm the Captain!" The man said proudly. "The name's Cid. What d'ya want?"

"Can we borrow the Tiny Bronco?" Tifa asked sweetly.

Cid looked at the members of the group in shock. "You outta your fuckin' minds? That's my most cherished possession. I can't let you take it!"

Cloud tried a different tactic. "Is Rufus coming here?"

The man looked excited. "Yeah! It must be news about restarting the Space Program. A young president, that's what we need. He still has hopes and dreams too."

I sincerely doubted, with the little I had seen of Rufus, that his dreams involved space. The man hadn't even cared that his father had been killed, only that it made him the President of Shin-Ra Inc. The man was cold and cruel.

Then Cloud asked about the rocket. Clearly, this was the right choice. Cid completely lit up as he spoke about it.

"You know Shin-Ra developed a lot of technological gadgets during the meaningless war, right?"

I wasn't aware of what war he was talking about but did it matter? Because, hey, he said it was meaningless!

"Now it's a mako company, but in the old days, it was a weapons manufacturer," Cid went on to his audience of three…and a half. "Well, they came up with a rocket engine. There was so much excitement about the thought of going into outer space. Our dreams got bigger and bigger. They put a major budget into it and made prototype after prototype. Finally, they completed Shin-Ra No. 26. They chose the best pilot in Shin-Ra…no, in the world….me. I mean, come on!"

Okay, this was the guy that had berated me for my cockiness back on the bridge of the airship? Pot…Kettle!

"And finally, we get to the day of the launch. Everything was going well…" he trailed off and then kicked the interior wall of the rocket hard enough to dent it. "But because of that dumb ass Shera, the launch got messed up. That's why they became so anal." His shoulders slumped. "So, Shin-Ra nixed their outer space exploration plans."

And I wondered how the sweet looking woman the group had just met could somehow screw up the launch.

"After they told me how the future was space exploration and got my hopes up…DAMN THEM!" Cid sighed. "Then it was all over once they found out mako energy was profitable. They didn't so much as look at space again. Money! Moola! Dinero!" the man exploded. "My dream was just a financial number for them! Just look at this rusted rocket. I was supposed to be the first man in space with this! Everyday, it tilts a bit more."

It must have been horrible for him to have a constant reminder of his ruined dreams.

Cid groaned. "At this rate, I don't now which will come first, this thing falling down or me getting outta here. My last hope is to talk to the President," he said dejectedly.

Cloud and the girls wandered back down to the house and Shera invited them inside.

"Did the Captain say anything?" she asked, seeming nervous.

Cloud shook his head.

And then Cid walked in. He looked at the group and then glared at the soft-spoken woman. "Damn Shera! What're you blind?"

What the…?

"We got guests! Get some tea! Fuck!" he exclaimed angrily.

"I…I'm sorry," the woman stuttered.

"Really, don't mind us," Tifa said kindly, trying to avoid a conflict.

"Shut up!" Cid screamed. "Sit your ass down and drink you god damned tea!"

The group sat hastily, most likely out of shock. I couldn't believe how rude this guy was.

"I'll be in the backyard, tuning up the Tiny Bronco," he announced and left in a flurry of cigarette smoke and cursing, slamming the door in his wake.

"Sheesh!" Aerith exclaimed. "What bad manners."

"Sorry," Cloud said sheepishly to Shera. "It's all our fault."

The woman turned and smiled at him. "No, no, he's always like this."

Tifa frowned, her whole face scrunching up. "Why is Cid so hard on you?"

Shera clasped her hands in front of her and stared at the ground. "It's because of my stupid mistake. I was the one that destroyed his dream," she sighed.

I'm not really sure what it was about Cloud. Maybe it was the big blue eyes, the silly spiky hair, or the charming yet boyish half smile, because when he asked people for their stories, he always seemed to get them. So naturally, when he asked Shera what happened, she broke down and told him everything.

Apparently, she had been one of the mechanics working on the rocket. She had noticed a problem with one of the oxygen tanks and was checking it, but her timing wasn't exactly impeccable. She was still in the engine room, working away, with three minutes until the launch. Cid found out and screamed at her over the intercom to get out, knowing that if the engines fired with her inside, the chamber would get too hot and she would be killed.

But she was willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of Cid's safety. She continued to fix the oxygen tank.

The countdown began, Cid torn between the dreams he had lived for and the woman in the engine room that would die if he achieved them. He knew if he aborted the launch, it would be at least six months before he got another shot at the stars. The team in the control room begged him to forget her and continue as planned.

But at the last possible moment, just as the engines fired, Cid aborted. The rocket tipped from the power shift and had been there ever since. The Space Program was cut back after that and the launch was cancelled.

"That's why it's all right. I don't care what the Captain says. I'll live my life for him," Shera finished.

So gruff and crude as Cid was, he was also a good man. Important to know.

He came in the back door, completely missing the slightly more tender looks on the faces of the assembled females. "Shit! You still haven't served them tea!"

"I…I'm sorry," Shera cried and turned back to the stove.

Cid sat down, tossing one of his booted feet up on the table. "They're late," he complained. "Where's Rufus?"

Just then, the front door opened to reveal a tubby graying man I immediately recognized. The man that had gotten away from the group at the Shin-Ra building and escaped with Rufus. His eyes traveled over Cloud and the girls without any recognition and then landed on the pilot.

"Hey, hey! Long time, no see! So Cid, how ya been?" the man asked loudly.

"Cid stood up. "Well, if it ain't the fat man, Palmer," he said with disdain. "How long were you figuring on keeping me waitin'? So?"

Palmer looked at him with confusion.

"When's the Space Program gonna start up again?" Cid clarified.

The fat man shifted uneasily on his feet. "I don't know. The President's outside, so why don't you go ask him?" he suggested.

"Damn!" Cid said, glaring at him. "Good for nothing fat fucker!" He shoved Palmer aside and strode out the front door.

I had just decided I rather liked Cid and all his attitude.

"Don't say fat!" the pathetic man called after him.

Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith followed the pilot outside, staying right next to the door, trying not to be noticed by anyone from Shin-Ra.

Rufus stood before Cid, his white suit as impeccable as ever, looking impassively as the man ranted in front of him.

"What the…? You got me all excited for nothing? Then what'd you come here for?" he growled.

"I want to borrow the Tiny Bronco," the President informed him smoothly. From the way he said it, it was pretty obvious that 'no' wasn't an acceptable answer. "We're going after Sephiroth, he continued. "But it seems we've been going the wrong direction. But now we think we know where he's going. We have to cross the ocean. That's why we need your plane."

Well, convenient that he would just volunteer information like that.

"God damn it!" Cid uttered. "First the airship, then the rocket, and now the Tiny Bronco? Shin-Ra took outer space from me and now they want to take the sky away from me too?!" His face was red now and I could see him grinding his teeth.

I understood how he was feeling. When Rikku's father had given me the Celsius, it was like I had been given freedom, true freedom for the first time in my entire life. I could go where I wanted, when I wanted. And I finally understood what Jack, Mal, Setzer, and Balthier had all told me over the years. A ship, whether it sails through the sea, the air, or space, was liberty. Salvation. Sovereignty. And a damn hard thing to give up.

Rufus was in the middle of pulling the corporate line. "You seem to forget," he said pompously, "that it was because of Shin-Ra Inc. you were able to fly in the first place."

"What?" Cid exploded and I was almost waiting for him to lunge forward and punch him.

Shera opened the door and tugged Cloud and the girls back inside. She locked the door and then turned to them. "You wanted to use the Tiny Bronco, right?"

Cloud nodded. "Well, I believe Palmer's going to try and take it…"

The group was out the back door before she could even finish her sentence. Sure enough, Palmer was on the nose of the plane desperately trying to start the propeller.

Cloud ran up and stood underneath him. "We'll be taking that Tiny Bronco," he said coldly.

Palmer cocked his head to the side like a huge overweight dog. "I've seen you somewhere before…" He paused, considering. "I know! The Shin-Ra building. When the President was killed. Ulp!" He looked around anxiously and found himself alone.

And then he pulled a gun. The team barely had time to dive out of the way before he was showering the place they had just been with bullets.

Aerith hid behind the landing gear of the plane, using materia to cast magic at Palmer while Cloud and Tifa took turns drawing his fire so the other could sneak up and attack. And that worked well, until Palmer scooted back to give the propeller a hard shove. It started and the plane idled for a minute.

And then it began to move. It turned itself, almost braining the fat man with the wing. He ducked just in time and then took off running.

Tifa and Cloud jumped onto the wing of the small airplane. "It won't stop," the brunette woman cried.

"Forget it! Hang on!" Cloud yelled over the roar of the engine. He pulled Aerith up just as the plane left the ground.

It careened precariously around the rocket as I watched from my safe spot on the ground. Then it swooped for the dirt in front of Cid's house, but the pilot was there, running and grabbing onto the tail as Rufus ordered his soldiers to open fire. Cid pulled himself into the open cockpit and pulled up, but not before the tail was hit.

Suddenly, I found myself on the wing next to Aerith. I stooped and grabbed on, not wanting to find out what happened if I fell. It was strange watching the wind whip everyone's hair around and feel nothing of it myself.

"Emergency landing," Cid called back. "This's gonna be a big splash. Hold onto your drawers and don't piss in 'em."

That's when I noticed we were almost to the coast and the sea was stretched out before us. I had a momentary flash of terror, as I had felt since I was sixteen in regards to water, but since I wasn't _really_ on a crashing plane, it passed quickly.

The plane landed relatively smoothly, propelling itself along a bit due to inertia and then drifted to a stop. Cid pulled himself out of the cockpit and cast a mournful eye over his plane. "She won't fly anymore," he said sadly and I realized that Shin-Ra had succeeded in taking the sky from him, just not in the way they originally intended.

Cloud looked around the plane floating so nicely on the water. "Can't we use it as a boat?"

Cid lay down on the wing and dragged his fingertips through the salty water. "Hell! Do whatever you want."

The swordsman looked at the older man with empathy and more than a little concern. "Cid, what are you going to do now?"

Cid stared into the water. "Dunno," he replied gruffly. "I'm history with Shin-Ra and I've given up on the town."

"How 'bout your wife? How 'bout Shera?" Cloud asked.

"Wife? Don't make me laugh! Just thinkin' 'bout marryin' her gives me the chills."

The two girls exchanged angry and rather pointed looks but wisely stayed silent.

"What're you guys gonna do?" Cid asked.

Cloud looked determined again. "We're going after a man named Sephiroth. We'll have to get Rufus Shin-Ra someday, too."

Cid sat back and appraised him speculatively. "I don't know about any of that but…what the hell! Sign me up!"

They headed back to land, using the Tiny Bronco's propeller as a motor, to pick up the rest of the team. They made sure to stay far enough away from Rocket Town that Shin-Ra wouldn't notice them and then discussed how to find the Temple of the Ancients, the place Cid told them Rufus let slip as Sephiroth's destination.

A flash and we were at the Gold Saucer. Perhaps someone here knew or something important was going to happen? It was the only reason I could think of that Aerith would show me this.

Cloud was in a room talking to a burly man about something called "The Keystone." I was at a loss as to what that was but could only guess it had to do with the Temple. Cloud told the man he wanted to borrow it and was told that he could have it if he fought in the battle arena, a part of the amusement park. And the cocky swordsman was more than willing to accept the challenge.

He entered the circular arena alone, but there were high boxed seats looking down into the pit so I could see what was going on. Ignoring the commentary from the team that had gathered to watch, I concentrated on Cloud as he fought. He was pretty good, no doubt about that, but there was something in the way he held that huge sword and lunged with it that made me think it hadn't been made for him. That it was…I'm not sure what I even thought. He was ever so slightly awkward with it. But as he cut down monsters right and left, I shrugged it off as the observations of a bored mind.

When he had slaughtered everything the man sent in after him, he was rewarded with the Keystone. As they tried to leave the park, however, they found the tram, the only way to get in or out, had broken down. Cait Sith suggested staying at the hotel inside the grounds, and since that was the only real option, that's where they went.

It was called the Ghost Hotel. No prizes for guessing the theme. There were skulls and fake ghosts and it was all done in dark colors. I kinda dug it, just for the humor.

"We usually don't get the chance to be together like this, huh?" Cait Sith said nostalgically. He asked Cloud to recap the story, since most had come in recently and didn't know everything that had happened.

"I been here since the beginning an' I still don't know what the hell's goin' on," Barret complained.

So Cloud, with the help of Aerith and Tifa, recapped the story. But there was something in it now I had not heard. Cloud said Sephiroth was searching for black materia.

And I had to wonder if Aerith had left that part out for a reason, or if she just wanted me to learn about it as the rest of the group did.

But the conversation pretty much ended there. Cloud told everyone he wasn't ready to talk about the black materia and everyone headed to their rooms for the night. Or so I thought.

I had the extreme pleasure, note the sarcasm there, of tagging along with Aerith and Cloud who went on a date a bit later. I saw more of the Gold Saucer than I had ever cared to. I wasn't huge on amusement parks. But finally, they decided to go back to the Hotel. They were almost there when the noticed a certain group member slinking away.

"Hey," Aerith whispered. "What's Cait Sith doing?"

And that's when they noticed he was carrying something.

"Is that the…Keystone?" Cloud asked in a strangled voice.

So a stuffed toy was stealing the keystone? Kinda ridiculous.

"Hey, Cait Sith!" the swordsman shouted, ever the confrontationalist.

And the cuddly monstrosity began to run, leading them on a not so merry chase around the park. Outside the chocobo racing area, a helicopter was hovering in the air. Cait ran to it and chucked the Keystone to the man standing in the opening in the side. Tseng.

Houston, we have our spy.

The helicopter took off again, leaving Cait to face the wrath of a very irate Cloud. And he looked like he was going to dismember the cat.

"I won't run or hide," Cait Sith told his two teammates. "Yes, I was a spy. I was hired by Shin-Ra."

Aerith looked at him in disgust. "I trusted you," she said, her voice shaking. "I can't believe this!"

The tiny cat shrugged. "I couldn't help it. How 'bout if we continue on like nothing happened."

Wow. That kind of audacity…just wow.

Cloud looked ready to deck him. "No way, cat! You got a lot guts acting like a friend but being a spy!"

"Then what are you going to do?" Cait said scornfully. "Kill me? You'd just be wasting your time if you tried. This body's just a toy anyway."

Well, even if he was a backstabbing bastard, I had to admit that a mechanical toy that could fight was pretty cool. It didn't even give me creepy BuffyBot flashbacks. It looked all innocent and whoever had made it was a full on genius.

"My real body's back at Shin-Ra headquarters in Midgar," it was saying. "I'm controlling this toy cat from there."

"So you're from Shin-Ra?" Aerith yelled at him. "Who are you? Tell me!"

The tiny cat held up his hands. "Whoa! I can't tell you my name!"

Cloud groaned, running his hands through his gravity defying hair. "We're not getting anywhere."

"See, I told you!" Cait said triumphantly. "Talking won't do any good, so can't we just continue our journey?"

Cloud stared at him incredulously. "You think I'm joking?" he asked and I could see his fingers twitching and was guessing he was wishing he had brought his sword along on the date.

"Alright, yes, I'm a Shin-Ra employee," Cait admitted. "But we're not entirely enemies. Something bothers me. I think it's your way of life. You don't get paid. You don't get praised. Yet you risk your lives and continue on you journey. Seeing that makes me…" He paused for a long moment and I held my breath, wondering what he was going to say. Of course, I had a soft spot for the unsung heroes in any world. It was hard to sacrifice everything and never have anyone know. Never have anyone say thank you.

"It just makes me think about my life. I don't think I'd feel too good if things ended the way they are now," he finally said.

Cloud turned to Aerith. "He'll never tell the truth," he proclaimed. "Once a spy, always a spy. We can't go on with someone like that."

"Just as I thought. Talking won't do a bit of difference. But I prepared something, just in case. Why don't you listen to this?" Cait Sith said.

There was some static and then a little girl's voice came through.

_"Papa! Tifa!"_

"Hey," Aerith cried. "That's Marlene!"

_"It's the flower lady!" _the little girl said over what I assumed was a radio the controller had placed in the cat for just this occasion. And then the transmission was cut.

"So you have to do as I say."

"You're the lowest," Cloud spat.

I wondered…Papa? I remembered hearing Cloud tell Aerith in Midgar to take care of a girl named Marlene, but somehow I doubted it was his kid. He wasn't quite pissed of enough for that. At the time, Barret was the only other male group member, ergo, the girl was his daughter. Damn. That _was_ really low.

"I didn't want to do this," Cait said in his defense. "Using dirty tricks and taking hostages…but this is how it is…no compromises. So why don't we continue on as we did?" he started to waddle away, the stuffed moogle swinging its arms as the mechanical cat controlled it…and he was being controlled by something else. Strange new world.

Then he stopped and looked back. "Oh, you didn't seem to know, but the Keystone is the key to the Temple of the Ancients. So, you're still going, right? I know where it is so I'll so you later."

Convenient, but he was a spy and Shin-Ra wouldn't want the keystone unless they knew where they were going.

Cloud watched in despair as the cat hopped off toward the Hotel. "Well, we're stuck. We have to do what he said."

"I wonder if Marlene is all right. I wonder what happened to mom," Aerith said softly.

The next scene I saw appeared to be the next morning. The group was gathered around in the Hotel lobby again as Cloud came down the stairs.

"What took you so long?" Cait asked him jovially, as if he had not been found out as a traitor mere hours before. And then he told them how to find the Temple of the Ancients.

And find it they did. Moments later they, Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith, were standing before it. It was in the middle of a vast forest; a huge ziggurat that looked like it belonged in ancient Mesopotamia rather than a relatively modern world.

They ran up to the rope bridge barring the entrance and stopped.

"This…this is the Temple of the Ancients," Aerith said in awe. "I can feel it…the knowledge of the Ancients…floating…You could become one with the Planet, but you're stopping it with the strength of will. For the future? For us?"

Cloud and Tifa exchanged confused looks. It was good to know that I wasn't the only one who had no clue what she was babbling on about. Or whom she was talking to, for that matter.

Cloud laid a hand on her shoulder. "What are you saying?"

She didn't answer, but instead she continued on to the entrance anyway, her two companions trailing along behind her.

Just inside the doorway was an altar flanked by high torches. Crumpled before it was a man with long dark hair and a blue suit. Tseng. He struggled to his feet as they entered, his hand pressed inside his jacket. He was wounded; the blood was dripping steadily down onto his pants.

"I've been had," he rasped before falling back down, his back slamming against the altar. "It's not the Promised Land…Sephiroth is searching for…"

"Sephiroth?" Cloud blurted. "He's inside?"

Tseng pulled out his bloody hand, staring at it dispassionately before stowing it back inside his jacket. "Look…for…yourself…" he whispered, his breath coming in short shallow pants. "Damn. Letting Aerith go was the start…of my…bad luck….The President…was wrong…"

"You're wrong," Aerith said hotly. "The Promised Land isn't like what you imagined. And I'm not going to help. Either way, there was no way for Shin-Ra to win."

"Pretty harsh,' Tseng chuckles, grimacing in pain as he did. "Sounds like something…you'd say." The man staggered to his feet, holding out something in his free hand to Cloud. "The keystone…place it on…the altar." After the swordsman took the item, the Turk stumbled to the side and collapsed once more to the floor. Beads of sweat clung to his forehead as he curled up around his injury.

Cloud looked at his two teammates, but his eyes lingered on Aerith, who was sniffing audibly. He scratched the back of his head, looking completely bewildered. "You crying?" he asked gruffly.

Aerith shook her head. "Tseng's with our enemies, the Turks, but I've known him since we were little. There are not a lot of people I can say that about. In fact, there are probably only a handful of people in the world that really know me."

Yeah, and I have none. What's your point?

Cloud looked between her and the dying wounded man for a moment before moving to stand in front of the altar.

I stared at Aerith in complete disbelief. She was going to leave her childhood friend to bleed to death? She had Cure materia! I had seen her use it! I couldn't believe this was happening. Or maybe, I didn't want to believe. Sure, I was all for slaughtering people like Hojo, monsters, but even when Willow had gone all Dark Side, I still would have moved mountains to save her from harm and death if I could. But Aerith didn't spare another glance at the fallen man, instead slipping up next to Cloud as he set the keystone in the groove on top of the altar.

There were bright green and white lights and I gasped in amazement and more than a little fear as I watched Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa sink through the floor.

I found myself beside them again on a high walkway. It looked as though we had wandered into an Escher drawing. There were stairs leading to other walkways and some leading to nothing at all. The Temple was a maze.

"What a strange place. Do you think we're even welcome here?" Tifa asked nervously, casting her eyes around as if waiting for the spirits of the Ancients to appear. They all looked uncomfortable, but began to pick their way through the trails and stairways anyway. I followed along with them, watching them fight and find treasure. They made it carefully through the Escher room and went on to the next.

There was a large pool of glowing water inside the second cavernous room.

"It's full of the knowledge of the Ancients," Aerith whispered. "It says there's something here." She paused for a moment. "Look, it's going to show us."

They all gathered together and peered into the water of the pool. Images began playing on its surface just like a T.V. screen. It showed Tseng, obviously some time in the past because he was unwounded, staring at the walls of a torch lit chamber we had yet to find. It had paintings all over the walls that looked a lot like Egyptian hieroglyphics but were a bit to far away to be seen clearly from where we were.

That made me think. If the Ancients this temple, had made our pyramids too? They had traveled to different planets, settling them and then moving on. Had mine been one of them? But there was no use in dwelling on that. I wouldn't be getting any answers anyway, so I stared to pay attention to the images in the pool again.

Elena walked into view, looking at the pictures on the chamber wall as well. "Tseng, what's this? Can we find the Promised Land with it?"

The dark haired man looked at her and shrugged. "I wonder. Anyway, we have to report to the President."

The blonde woman nodded at him. Be careful," she said gently.

"Yeah," Tseng replied softly. Then after a pause, "Hey, Elena? How 'bout dinner after this jobs over?"

The woman flushed bright red. "Th…Thank you very much," she stuttered. "Uh…if I may be excused…" Then she ran off to make her report.

Tseng watched were she had disappeared for a few more moments before turning his concentration back to the murals on the wall. "Is this the Promised Land?" he asked himself. "No, it can't be…"

We watched in horror as Sephiroth appeared behind him, his huge katana unsheathed and in hand. The General looked at the unaware Turk in a predatory manner, as if contemplating how his blood might taste. A look I had mostly seen in vampires all the way back home.

Tseng turned his head a bit to survey the wall more and he caught sight of the intruder. He exclaimed the man's name in surprise and terror.

"So you opened the door. Well done," Sephiroth said mockingly, a small smile playing about his pale lips.

The Turk looked at him carefully, but his curiosity won out after a few moments. "This place…what is it?"

"A treasure house of knowledge," the silver haired man said. "The wisdom of the Ancients. I'm becoming one with the Planet."

"We'll try not to tread on you then," I snarked to myself, watching the man hold up his arms, his sword point glinting in the torch light, his mad eyes glowing green in the dim room.

"One with the Planet?" Tseng asked softly, trying to keep the madman speaking as the Turks eyes darted around seeking an exit.

"You stupid fools," Sephiroth chuckled. "You have never even thought about it. All the Spirit Energy of this Planet. All its wisdom…knowledge…I will meld with it all. It will become one with me."

Tseng looked at him as if he were crazy. Maybe he was, but there was just the tiniest bit of awe in his expression as well. "You can do that?" he asked, his clipped and formal tone almost breathless.

"The way…lies here," Sephiroth said cryptically. "Only death awaits you all."

His voice didn't change. There was no warning and even though I had been expecting it, I didn't see it coming. None of them did.

The former General sprang forward, slamming his long sword straight through Tseng's chest. The Turk's dark eyes flew wide and his already pale skin lightened even more as he slid backwards along the length of the blade. He lay on his back as Sephiroth removed the remaining tip of his sword.

He knelt by the man he had just stabbed; running a long leather clad finger over the wounded Turk's pale cheek, disregarding the fear in Tseng's murky eyes.

"Do not fear," Sephiroth said softly, almost fondly as if he were speaking to a lover. "For it is through death that a new Spirit Energy is born. Soon, you will live again as part of me."

As the picture in the pool faded, I found a lot of respect and sympathy for Tseng. Even if he didn't show it, it must have been terrifying to have that maniac hovering above him as he bled. And after that, somehow, he had to have dragged himself all the way back to the entrance just to give this group, his enemies, the Keystone so they could enter. And now he was alone and bleeding to death, if he wasn't dead already. Tears pricked behind my eyes. Maybe Tseng was a bad guy…a Turk…but in the end, hadn't he done the right thing? Did he really deserve to bleed out?

"Did you see it?" Aerith asked her companions, effectively silencing my inner monologue.

Tifa nodded solemnly. "I saw it," she said quietly.

"Where is the room with the pictures on the walls?" Cloud asked.

"We're almost there," Aerith said and I wondered how she could possibly know never having been there before.

"Sephiroth is here, right?" the blonde man asked her. He continued after she nodded. "No matter what he thinks, it's going to end here. I'm taking him out."

"We're here too, you know," Tifa reminded him gently.

They moved on through the rooms working their way passed the puzzles and mazes until they came to the mural chamber.

"Where are you, Sephiroth?" Cloud shouted.

There was a blinding flash of white light and the silver haired General was before them. He held his sword in his outstretched arms as he hovered three feet off the floor. "So cold," he murmured in his deep and mesmerizing voice. "I am always by your side. Come." There was another flash of light and he was gone again.

They moved slowly into the long hallway type room and suddenly, there beside them, facing the wall, admiring the painting.

'Splendid," he said, turning his sword absently over and over in his hands. He looked at the group over his shoulder before turning advancing slowly until he stood before them.

"A treasure house of knowledge," he said and I recognized the phrase. He had said the same thing to Tseng moments before running him through.

"I don't understand what you're saying!" Cloud cried exasperatedly.

Sephiroth laughed silently, abut then was gone again.

They moved further down the long room and there was another flash of light. The General was leaning against the wall, still chuckling.

"Look well," he said cryptically.

"At what?" Cloud spat at him.

Sephiroth cocked his head slightly to the side. "At that which adds to the knowledge of…" he trailed off. "I am becoming one with the Planet."

Man, I was getting sick of him saying that!

And then he disappeared again. I was starting to think we had accidentally wandered into and acid trip. The lights, the creepy appearing…what the fuck? Why couldn't he just stick around and say whatever it was he wanted everyone to know and _then_ take off? Because this was giving me major wiggins!

About twenty feet down the chamber, he appeared again in a binding flash of white.

This time he was lounging against an ornate treasure chest. "Mother," he gasped. "It's almost time…Soon we will become one."

I was starting to think this dude had a bit of an Oedipus complex. This whole yen thing he had goin' on for his mom couldn't be healthy. Seriously not right.

Sephiroth gracefully got to his feet and gazed dispassionately at the small group before him.

"How do you intend to become one with the Planet?" Aerith asked suspiciously.

The man turned and fixed his glowing green gaze on the Cetra. "It's simple. Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit energy to heal the energy." He slashed his katana absently through the air as he spoke. "The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury."

He stabbed his sword into the ground at his feet. "What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the very life of the Planet? Think how much energy would be gathered!"

He yanked his sword point free of the ground as he chuckled. "And at the center of that injury will be me. All the boundless energy will be mine."

His body was flickering, almost like a bad television set picture might. His powers must be immense to do all the things I had seen so far. I had to wonder, even if it was just to myself, about how he had ended up like this. It couldn't have just been because he had found out he was an experiment. Did the Jenova cells affect his mind? Make him crazy? Why had this been allowed to progress like this? The Powers could have sent me in at any time. Five years ago maybe, when he was just learning about his creation. Surely something could have been done to prevent this! I decided to ask Whistler when I got back to myself.

"By merging with all the energy of the Planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence," Sephiroth was saying. "Melding with the Planet, I will cease to be as I am now, only to be reborn as a 'God' to rule over every soul."

My blood ran cold. I didn't exactly have the best track record with Gods, seeing as the last one I had faced had caused my death. I'd like to think since I was a lot older and a lot more experienced now; the result would be nowhere near the same. But I really couldn't help the extreme fear that rushed through me at that statement.

"An injury powerful enough to destroy the Planet?" Aerith said skeptically. "Injure…the Planet?"

Sephiroth used his sword the gesture to the wall. "Behold that mural. The Ultimate Destructive Magic…Meteor."

Ah…it was all starting to come together now.

"That'll never happen!" Cloud yelled at him.

"Wake up," Sephiroth sneered as he rose into the air above their heads. There was a blinding flash of light that left us blinking. The man was gone.

Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith looked around for him, completely bewildered.

"Where are you?" the blond man screamed. "Sephiroth!"

He took off running to the other end of the long room again, the two girls crying out for him to wait and struggling to keep up. They caught him at the part of the mural opposite the door. His body was flickering, just as the General's had been only moments ago. The girls called to him, but he didn't seem to hear. It was like he had no idea there was anyone else in the room. His attention was fixed on the painting.

He started to laugh, a bit hysterically. "Black Materia," he bit out between chuckles. "Call Meteor."

Jesus jumped up Christ! The black materia…the spell it performed was calling the Meteor! No wonder Sephiroth wanted it so badly. If his theory was right, then he was already on his way to godhood in real time! But as was a more immediate problem…why the hell was Cloud flickering like the General had? What else was going on here?

"Cloud!" Aerith cried out. "Get a hold of yourself."

The blond man grabbed his head, shaking violently. "Could…" he whispered. "I'm Cloud." His body became solid again, all the flashing had stopped. "I remember…I remember my way." He turned to look at the girls and looked surprised to see them there.

"Cloud?" Aerith asked in confusion.

"Mm? What's wrong?" he asked, his eyes flitting between the two women. "Is something wrong?"

Aerith and Tifa exchanged worried looks and silently decided not to tell him about the incident until they could later discuss it at length. "Uh…it's nothing," the flower girl said hastily. "Don't worry about it."

Tifa nodded, her eyes round as saucers as she surveyed her childhood friend. "Sephiroth got away," she reminded him.

"Don't worry about that!" Cloud exclaimed excitedly. "I understand what he was saying." He pointed at the mural.

It depicted a group of people, all in Egyptian type clothing, staring up at a flaming ball.

"So, this must be meteor, right?' Cloud asked.

"Is something going to fall from the sky?' Tifa asked with a furrowed brow.

"This must be magic," Aerith declared. "Just what Sephiroth was saying."

I did the happy dance for figuring it out before the rest of them.

"The Ultimate Destructive Magic, Meteor," the flower girl quoted. "It finds small drifting planets with it's magic…and then collides with them. This Planet might get wiped out entirely."

The ground began to shake violently. The group fell to their knees in shock. I kept my balance, but only barely and I knew it was due to my Slayer…ness or something.

"Sephiroth?" Cloud gasped.

The General's voice whispered through the room, like a slight breeze I wasn't sure I had heard. "It is not me," it said with a dark chuckle.

But it only took the group a few more seconds to find out what was shaking the _entire_ Temple. A red dragon lumbered to the door, poking it's head in, and staring at the intruders with a fearsome predator's gaze. It squeezed itself through the door as the team fell into attack positions. Aerith cast ice based magic attacks at it while Tifa and Cloud physically assaulted it. The brunette woman's hand-to-hand fighting style was a lot like my own when I chose to go without a weapon.

I found myself clapping and cheering when they were doing well and groaning and grimacing in pain when anyone got in the way of the dragon's teeth or claws. I felt like a cheerleader. It took them less than ten minutes before they had reduced the thing to a cooling carcass.

The group ran to the door. The dragon's tail had knocked it closed after it had squeezed its massive girth through.

"It's locked," Cloud said with a shrug.

The group backtracked, trying to find another way out of the room. They reached the treasure chest at the end with no success. But then they noticed something they hadn't when they had been there the first time. A holographic image of the Temple floated a foot above the chest.

"What is this?" Cloud asked in wonder.

Aerith walked up close to examine the image. "There's something written on it," she informed them. "B…l…a…c…k…M…a…t…e…r…i…a…"

"Black Materia!" the swordsman exclaimed.

"What should we do, Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"Let's take it!"

But the treasure chest was sealed and the lid wouldn't even budge.

"Wait a minute," the flower girl said sweetly. "I'll ask." She looked up at the ceiling, closing her eyes. "I don't understand…" she murmured. "Wait…really?"

She looked back at Cloud with a wide grin. "They say that the Temple itself is the Black Materia."

The blond man blinked slowly at her. "What do they mean?" He looked just about as wigged as I was about the girl talking to the spirits of the Ancients that no one else could see or hear. "This huge Temple? _This_ is the Black Materia? Then no one could take it."

"Hmm, it's pretty hard," Aerith agreed. "You see this model of the Temple?" she asked, indicating the floating hologram. "Inside it is a device which gets smaller every time you solve a puzzle until it's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand."

"So," Cloud said slowly. "If we solve the puzzles, the black materia will get smaller and smaller and we can take it out?"

Aerith nodded. "Yes, but there's one catch. You can only answer the puzzles while inside the Temple. So, anyone who solves the puzzle will be crushed by the Temple."

Brilliant defense when you think about it.

"I see…the Ancients didn't want dangerous magic taken out of the Temple so easily…"

Of course, if they didn't want someone to get it, they could have just destroyed it. But I'd noticed in a lot of worlds, including my own, ridiculously dangerous things were locked up, booby trapped, buried, but never just gotten rid of. Like Acathla. The Ancients here were just asking for someone to try to figure out a way to do it. Why else would they bother to leave it there? And Sephiroth was going to rise to the challenge.

"Let's just leave it, okay?" Tifa asked nervously.

"No," Cloud said firmly. "We've got to think of a way to get it out." He scratched the back of his head. "Because Sephiroth has lots of different flunkies. It's nothing to him to him to throw their lives away to get the black materia."

He turned back and looked carefully at the floating ziggurat. "This place isn't safe," he said softly.

"So what are we going to do?" Aerith asked, obviously loathe to leave the place of her ancestors.

Cloud didn't answer for a few moments and I didn't envy his decision. I knew all to well the strain of knowing that your decisions, your plans, your mistakes could get people killed. Or cause an apocalypse. It was hard to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Sooner or later we all found our shoulders weren't big enough. No one's are.

I think we were all startled when Cloud's pocket started ringing. He jumped, but then fumbled for his phone and put it to his ear.

I felt a bit awkward about it, but I completely invaded Cloud's personal space, even if he wasn't aware of it, to hear what was being said.

"Hi Cloud! This is Cait Sith. I overheard the whole story."

Resourceful little toy! He had probably bugged their clothes or something somehow so he would know what was going on at all times. Clever.

"Don't forget about me!" the robotic cat was saying. "Everything you said makes perfect sense. You can use my stuffed body for the future of the Planet!"

"We can't let Sephiroth get his hands on the black materia. And we can't let the Shin-Ra get theirs on it either."

"But Cloud," came Cait Sith's voice. "There's really nothing else you can do. Everyone, please trust me."

Cloud looked sick at having to place that much faith in the spy. "I guess we have no choice," he said finally.

"All righty then. Leave it all to me!" Cait Sith chirped. "Please hurry! You've got to get out of there! I'll be waiting at the exit."

Cloud hung up the phone and the three of them headed back to the door of the room. When they arrived, they found it unlocked again. They darted back through the rooms, killing the few monsters that tried to bar their way. They reached an ornately carved door where Cait was waiting for them.

"I'll handle the rest," he said confidently. "Well everyone…take care of yourselves!"

Aerith looked at the cute monstrosity like she was going to say something profound and then thought better of it. "Come on, Cloud. Say something!" she whispered, nudging him with her elbow.

Cloud snatched the back of his head, a gesture I was starting to recognize as him not knowing quite what he wanted to do or say. "I'm not good at this," he muttered.

Cait Sith grinned his stuffed feline grin at him. 'Mm, I understand. I feel the same way too."

Aerith hugged him quickly. "Why don't you read our fortunes?" she asked.

I felt like a voyeur again. Here they were, saying goodbye to a member, spy or not, that had just volunteered to have his body crushed! Clearly something had happened between this point and the point where I had shown up on the airship, because he had been there. But still…well…you know…

"Say, that's right!" Cait was saying. "I haven't done that in a while, huh? I'm so excited. Right or wrong, I'm still the same old me! Now, what should I predict?"

Aerith smiled sweetly, sliding her arm through the blond man's. "Let's see how compatible Cloud and I are!"

My jaw must have hit the ground. You know, it was one thing to say it to Cait, but it was something else to say it in front of Tifa. I quickly looked at the buxom fighter. The small smile that had been on her lips was now completely gone. Her mouth was no a thin line and her fists were clenched at her sides. God, I felt for her. A _blind_ man would have been able to tell how much she liked Cloud, so there was no way Aerith _hadn't_ known. She was just choosing to ignore it. I watched Tifa turn and stare at the wall with her eyes closed, awaiting the tell tale prediction.

Cait began his ridiculous dance and then the tiny printed card that issued from its mouth. He turned away from the group. "This isn't good," he whispered. "I can't say it. Poor Tifa."

"No," Aerith cajoled. "Tell me!"

"Bitch!" I screamed. "You selfish arrogant slut! How can you do this to your friend? You must be the most self absorbed woman I have ever met, and that includes Cordelia Chase in high school!"

Cait sighed as much as a robot was able to. "Looks like you're perfect for each other."

Tifa's face completely crumbled. I walked to stand in front of her and time seemed to stop as I watched a few stray tears course down her face. Behind her, Cloud was smiling with embarrassment and Aerith was giggling while Cait looked at Tifa with concern, but those three no longer existed for me. My eyes were fixed on the broken hearted woman in front of me. I ghosted my hand over her tear-streaked cheek, as I might have wiped away the moisture if I was really there, or if the two of us were friends. The way I had for my sister. And as I watched the poor girl try to reign in her emotions, I was reminded of a song my mother used to sing when she didn't know anyone else could hear here…right after my father had left.

"_But love is not a victory march_," I sang softly. "_It's a cold and it is a broken Hallelujah_."

The stuffed cat had just turned his back on everyone when I started paying attention again. "Thank you for believing in me, knowing that I was a spy," he said.

All of a sudden, I really wanted to meet the man behind the cat. Sure, he hadn't said anything to really give away gender, but I usually wasn't wrong about things like that.

"Guess this is the final farewell!" the cat said before lumbering out of the room.

"Be strong, Cait Sith!" Aerith called after him.

We went through the door and found ourselves in the first room we had entered, the door fitting seamlessly into the wall. As we passed the altar, I noted that Tseng was no longer there. I could only pray that someone, Elena or someone else, had come and retrieved him. I also noticed that no one in the group looked back to see I the wounded man had died there. And I was disgusted with them for it.

We crossed the rope bridge and stood there, looking back at the Temple. Suddenly, with no warning at all, it was engulfed in a greenish black light, blue forks of lightening crashing at random all around it. And then the entire building was gone.

Cloud ran back across the bridge, the girls hot on his heels. All that was left was an incredibly deep hole, like an inverted skyscraper. At the bottom, I could just barely make out a small sable mass rolling about as the ground settled.

"That's the black materia," Cloud breathed.

"Uh," Tifa said, looking at the ground from the staggering height. "I'll wait here."

Cloud nodded and then jumped off the edge, Aerith following him by climbing slowly down the rocks. I figured, since she was going, I would have to as well. So I jumped. Not like I could get hurt anyway.

Soon, the three of us, although no one knew I was there, since I really wasn't, stood at the bottom and there it was. Funny that there was so much fear over something that was smaller than my fist. It was staggering to think of the destructive power in that tiny sphere.

"As long as we have this, Sephiroth won't be able to use Meteor," Cloud sighed with relief. He looked at Aerith with curiosity. "Could _you_ use it?"

"Nope," she replied. "You need great spiritual power to use it."

The swordsman cocked his head at her. "You mean lots of Spirit Energy?"

Aerith nodded. "Yeah, one person's power alone wouldn't do it. You'd have to be somewhere special. Where there's plenty of the Planet's energy…like…the Promised Land!"

"The Promised Land?" Cloud exclaimed.

"Sephiroth is different. He's not an Ancient," she explained.

Cloud looked at her carefully. "Well, he shouldn't be able to find the Promised Land."

I think I realized what was about to happen a split second everyone else did. A white light flashed, ensnaring the hole, the area, hell, maybe even the world for all I know, for the space of a few moments.

"Ah, but I have," a voice said and there he was, standing at the precipice, staring at us. He leapt down to the bottom, landing gracefully next to me and for the first time, I was a bit afraid of him. Not the God he might become, but the terrible and beautiful man he already was.

"I'm far superior to the Ancients," he was saying. "I became a traveler of the Lifestream and gained the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients. I also gained the knowledge and wisdom of those after the extinction of the Ancients. And soon, I will create the future."

"I won't let you do it!" Aerith screamed at him. "The future is not only yours!"

"Ha, I wonder," Sephiroth chuckled. He stalked forward, towards Cloud.

The blonde swordsman grabbed his head and fell to his knees, making a high pitched keening sound in his throat.

The silver haired man knelt before him. "There Cloud," he whispered. "Good boy." He motioned the blond man forward all Morpheus style.

Cloud jerked towards him, his eyes wide and unseeing. Well, this was a new and strange development. The man moved like he was fighting every step of the way, an unruly marionette combating the puppet master. But he couldn't fight the power Sephiroth somehow had over him. His shaky hands held out the black sphere. The General snatched it from his hands with a dark smile.

"Well done," he said with a deep chuckle. And with a bright flash, the man rose into the air and was gone.

I seriously needed to learn to do that.

"Cloud," Aerith cried, kneeling by the shaking man. "Are you alright?"

"I gave the black materia to Sephiroth?" he asked in complete confusion.

It was like when the First had been triggering Spike, except Cloud was completely aware of it! Somehow, Sephiroth could control him, and that made him a liability, just as the blond vampire had been. I wondered how long it would be before Cloud asked the team to kill him so he would no longer be a danger to them.

"What…what did I do?" he cried miserably. "Tell me, Aerith!"

"Cloud, be strong, okay?" she said softly.

The man staggered to his feet and grabbed his head again. "What have I done?" he screamed in frustration.

"Cloud," the flower girl said soothingly. "You haven't done anything. It's not your fault."

"Cloud!" Tifa shouted from above is. I think we had all forgotten she was there. And standing next to her was…Cait Sith!

"Oops," I heard him say. "Looks like I came at a bad time. I'm Cait Sith Number Two! Right pleased to meet you all!"

I paused, thinking about how a second robot had gotten here so fast and how many there were total, but then decided it probably wasn't important at present.

Tifa quickly hopped down off the wall into the crater the Temple had made. "Cloud?" she whispered. "What are you doing?"

"Everything is white," Cloud whimpered. "What did I do? I don't remember anything…my memory…since when…?" His eyes were squeezed tightly shut. "If everything's a dream, don't wake me up."

"Cloud!" Aerith said, shaking his shoulders. "Can you hear me?"

The man was foaming a bit at the mouth and I thought he was having a seizure. He was moving his lips as if he was talking to someone none of the rest of us could see. I wondered, not for the first time, about his sanity, but it didn't matter. There was a flash and we were gone.

I was with Aerith. We were entirely alone now, no more members of the team hanging around. We ran through a shadowy but beautiful forest and she mumbled the entire time about the City of the Ancients. I guessed that was where we were headed.

From her slight speech as she ran, I could pretty much gather what was going on. Aerith believed that she could confront Sephiroth and stop him somehow because she was the last of the Ancients. All I could think was that the girl had a martyr complex a mile wide! But all my thoughts were stalled when we reached the city.

It was a city only in the loosest terms. It was completely abandoned and rather than normal, relatively square buildings, these resembled conch shells. Huge, uber overgrown conch shells. Big enough to fit my old house on Revello Dr. in.

Aerith didn't stop at any of the buildings, but instead she picked her way through the paths of the antique city, until she came to a large pond with a round platform in the center. The girl leapt over to it and knelt down. Her hands were clasped together against her chest, her eyes shut, head bowed. She was praying to her god, or her ancestors, or whomever. And I was stuck waiting.

I wandered around the platform, watching the sunset through the trees, but that soon became incredibly boring. I sat down and as I scrutinized the girl praying, my eyelids grew heavy and I slowly felt myself drift off to sleep.

When I opened my eyes, I knew something was completely and utterly wrong. For one, I was kneeling, and I knew I hadn't fallen asleep that way. Second, I felt all weak and kittenish. So not me. My hands were clasped in front of me and when I looked down at myself, I was wearing a pink dress.

Shit.

Just when exactly had I gotten sucked into Aerith's body? I almost wished I had been awake for it. And then again, had I stayed awake, it might not have happened at all.

I could hear Cloud talking to someone and then heard him jump across the water to reach her…uh…me…_us_.

I watched him approach. He was perhaps three feet way when he grabbed his head, shaking and muttering. Then his eyes went blank and he drew his sword. Aerith, or perhaps only I, watched him calmly as he raised his sword over his head, preparing to strike us down.

"Cloud!" I heard both Tifa and Yuffie scream from the shore.

The man halted in mid stroke, the blade of his enormous sword only inches from our head.

His eyes flew wide and he shook his head hard, rushing backwards hard enough to stumble. His face was contorted with horror, pale and trembling.

"What are you making me do?" he muttered. Then he looked back up with beautiful cerulean eyes full of anguish at what he had almost done.

I heard something above us. A kind of whistling flapping noise of someone or something dropping from on high. I wanted to move, or at least look up, but I had no control over Aerith's body and either she had no clue what the sound was, or she didn't even hear it. So I was forced into an agonizing wait.

I felt it far before I saw it. White-hot pain exploded from my back, easily making the transition to my stomach. It felt like my entire midsection had been set on fire.

I felt my arms drop and hang like lead weights at our side. I looked down to find a good two feet of katana sticking out of Aerith's…my…_our _gut.

The pain was excruciating, but slowly, as I felt our body slump forward, the pain gave way to the dark.

A.N. I was always bothered by what happened to Tseng in the game, and the fact that it was never resolved. We all just had to assume he died because they never actually showed that room, or the man, in the game after that. We had to wait all the way until Final Fantasy Advent Children came out, nine years later, to find out he somehow survived. That pissed me off.

///Cough///

That's my rant about that…

R&R?


	5. Visions Left

I own nothing!

Chapter Five

Visions Left

Buffy's POV

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.

Voltaire

And finally, I was back to myself. My chest and my back were consumed by flaming pain, but there was something cool and refreshing under my cheek. And that's when I realized I was on the floor. I hadn't even opened my eyes yet. I think I would have been content to lay there on that floor forever. Which was good, since death is one of the few things you could do just as just as well lying down.

"What the hell did you do to her?" I heard Whistler say. "Kid! You alright?"

I didn't even want to muster up the energy to speak. I blinked slowly and the long expanse of the metal floor swam into view, the window and the sunset slowly materializing behind it. I took a few deep breaths and I heard my voice rasp out, "Gimme a sec…"

I lay there flat on my stomach, soaking in the warmth of the air and the coldness of the meal floor and the searing pain in my abdomen that was grounding me happily in reality. It was nice to feel again. Anything. Even if it was pain. And then the sickly tang of coppery blood hit my nostrils. I knew I had to get up.

I groaned and stiffly got to my feet. My shirt, right under my ribs, was wet. I pulled up the hem and found a thin cut slowly weeping blood and I could feel a matching one on my back. Just as I had experienced in Aerith's memory when I had been in her body. Her killing blow made flesh on mine.

I rolled my eyes up to meet her shocked ones. "The blood had better come out. This is my favorite shirt," I said menacingly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize how much power I was putting into that last memory," she said softly.

I watched her silently for a moment. "I get that it's hard to experience your own death objectively and all. And you're pretty lucky really. That's not the most painful way I've died. But just a word to the wise…" I stalked forward and stood before the taller girl. "Don't ever do anything like that again. If you weren't already dead, I would seriously kick your ass for that. Or possibly kill you."

She furrowed her brow at me like she was confused and it made me ridiculously angry.

"Are you stoned? I mean, how naive are you? Do you have any idea what you did?" I hissed at her. "You don't know anything about me. How could you give a complete stranger access to your memories like that? How do you even know we are who we say we are?"

She looked stunned for a second, glancing back and forth between me and Whistler like one of us was going to turn into Sephiroth at any moment.

"I mean, he's a demon and I'm not exactly human either. And now I know all these peoples names, back stories, weapons, and the way they fight. What could Shin-Ra do with that information? Or Sephiroth for that matter?" I asked incredulously.

I found a very large blade parked right beneath my chin. I looked at the blond SOLDIER in distaste. "Ease down, hero," I chided. "It never crossed my mind to betray you, but the point is, you've already found a spy in the ranks."

Cloud's bright mako enhanced eyes narrowed at me. "Who are you two?"

"Uh…I'm Whistler. I'm a Balance demon."

"And I'm just a girl," I said wryly as I pushed the blade away from me with one finger. "A girl that had been zapped here from elsewhere in the multiverse just to help you out. Whistler doesn't care about who wins the final battle, just as long as 'good' and 'bad' are equal when the fight starts." I actually used finger quotes on the words good and bad.

"But I also know better than to place you on the side you consider evil. You wouldn't lift a finger then," Whistler said fondly.

I hopped up to sit on the lid of my trunk, crossing my legs and trying to ignore the tickle of blood as it ran down the small of my back. "Damn straight!" I agreed. "Right and wrong…good and evil…love and hate…heaven and hell…light and darkness. That's not what separates us from our enemies. It's our different perspectives that separate us. There's no good or bad side…just two sides holding different views. And in that spirit," I continued, "Whistler, I have a question." I looked down at my hands, suddenly shy and trying desperately to figure out how to ask what I wanted without alienating the team I was meant to help.

"You want to know if I put you on the correct side," Whistler supplied.

"Yeah," I mumbled, embarrassed.

"Because you see so much of yourself in Sephiroth," he continued.

God, I didn't even want to look up and see the stares I could only guess I was getting from the group. I muttered another affirmative and prayed for an answer that could explain better than I could.

"We had considered," Whistler began, "sending you to help Sephiroth regain his humanity, but the Powers have deemed him a lost cause. If you had gotten here five years ago, maybe…but now he's too far gone."

I looked up. "Then why wasn't I brought in five years ago? If anyone understood what he went through, it'd be me. All of this could have been avoided."

"Well, that's true, but you were helping the Winchester's kill their demon at the time. But this was always meant to happen. Can't change destiny, no matter how much one wants to. But you, of all people, know that. You were supposed to be here now anyway," he said. He looked at me carefully and although I desperately wanted to ask what he meant by that, I knew damn well I wouldn't get an answer. He was like that. "And you shouldn't empathize so much with Sephiroth. Even though there are sizable similarities, it's entirely different."

"How do you figure?" I asked skeptically.

He considered for a moment. "Look at the two cases, kid. He found out he had been created and he went mad and slaughtered a town. You found out how you…uh…your _power_ was created…and how that created you…you internally freaked out, but you soldiered on and kept fighting as you always had. You worried about your humanity, but the choice you made proved that you had it. And that's why you're here now."

"Excuse me," Nanaki said politely. "But you have implied that she was created as well. What do you mean by that?"

Whistler looked at me as if to ask permission. I shrugged. I already knew everyone else's stories, so they may as well know something about me. It was only fair, after all.

"The kid's part of a chosen line of warriors for her world. Her body houses the essence of a demon. It can't manifest or anything like that, but it makes her stronger, faster, and gives her better senses that a normal human. But of course, she's got that whole immortality thing going on now so…"

"Yeah, yeah," I moaned. "Not really human now if I ever was before, but on the plus side, it gave me a brand new outlook on life."

"Yes," Aerith said and I turned to look at her. "Watching your reactions to everything we've been through was really entertaining!"

"Well, at least I thought to bring entertainment," I said dryly as I hopped of the trunk.

"And I think you and Vincent are going to get along really well," the dead girl said giggling.

I stared at her. "Why? Because I think Cloud should have killed Hojo on the beach in Costa Del Sol? I still think you should have."

"But to just kill someone like that? He was unarmed and just sitting on the beach. That would be wrong!" Tifa exclaimed in complete indignation.

"I understand that you guys are new to this, so let me clue you in," I said with a smile. "The Big Bads aren't going to formally challenge you every time they want to fight. What do you think Hojo's doing right now? Sitting in a comfy chair catching up on his reading? I doubt it. The guy's a madman and a monster. He could be up to his elbows in someone else's guts in the name of science right now. He could be killing and torturing people as we speak and that could have been prevented if you would have just taken the man's head when you had the opportunity! Believe me, I know what happens when you don't kill your enemies when you get the first chance. It'll come back to bite you in the ass later."

"And yet you believe I should have saved Tseng," the flower girl said softly.

"Absolutely," I confirmed. "If that man was _ever_ your friend, you shouldn't have left him there to die like that. That was a whole level of cruel I don't understand. I've had friends go dark side on me, but I never just let them die. Totally separate circumstance than the mad doctor, whom you should have dismembered on principle."

"This is one of the reasons I showed you everything," Aerith said with a grin. "You have all sorts of experience with…"

"Being a cold blooded killer?" I ventured. "That may be true, but that's not the real reason you showed me. And for the record, I do know why you did it. Not exactly a mystery."

"I don't know what you mean," she said innocently.

"I've been doing this a long time, but not once has anyone felt the need to invade my mind like you did." I was almost growling at her. She was sputtering, like if I gave her the chance, she would deny everything I was saying, so I soldiered on, not letting her get a word in edgewise. "But I know why you did it. I'm only required to help for the next two days. So you thought that I would see their sad puppy dog eyes and hear their sob stories and what? I would fight harder for them? You can't make me care about them!" I screamed.

I really hadn't meant to get so emotional about that, but damn it all, I was pissed. I was betting I had lived through at least five months of her memories, of her life, and no more than a minute had passed here, judging by the sunset. It was such a Glory move, to go into someone's head like that. It didn't matter to me whom she was best buddies with, who she had a crush on, or whom she was terrified of.

"I would have fought for them anyway," I continued, much softer now. "I never had to know anything about them. You could have just pointed me in the right direction and…" I paused, swallowing hard. "I would have done it to my dying breath never knowing their names. I would have bled and died for them because that's who I am."

I looked up into the dead woman's eyes and there was a softness, a kindness, and just maybe, some understanding there. And as my gaze flitted over the assembled people, it seemed their gazes were softer as well. Damn, I think I may have lost all my cool points then. I felt like I had revealed too much, too soon. I was emotionally slutty.

"You don't like me much, do you?"

My eyes flew to the flower girl in surprise. It came out of nowhere. "You were in my head, so you already know the answer to that. But to be fair, I don't know you. And maybe if I had, I would've. But looking at your interactions from a neutral point of view…kinda can't stand you. I would love nothing more than to beat you within an inch of your life for some of that shit I saw you pull, but hey, you're already dead. So no, don't like you. But you know that. And you know why."

Flirting with Cloud when it was clear Tifa loved him, and not only that, but doing it in front of her. Flaunting it. Being rude to Vincent just because she was afraid of him. People never liked what they didn't understand, did they? Leaving her childhood friend, Tseng, to die so painfully like that when she could have saved him. And I was still convinced she was projecting her feelings about that guy we had heard about, her first love, Zack, onto Cloud because it was convenient. Nope, I pretty much thought she was manipulative and shallow, so I decided to ignore her for the time being. And all the others, who were glaring at me with contempt at this revelation. Minus Vincent, of course. I don't think his expression changed at all.

I cleared my throat and turned to stare out the window. "Uh…Whistler? My sword was on my bed on the Celsius. Can I have it back now?"

"You left your sword on the airship?" the balance demon asked me incredulously.

"Yeah, I know. Some hero I am," I groaned. "Can I just have it back?"

Whistler reached behind his back and did whatever nifty trick he did and then was dragging my sword around, using two hands as soon as he could reach, the point drawing along the metal floor, scoring it. It made a horrible shrieking sound and I knew I was going to spend time resharpening.

"Jesus, Whistler…" I moaned. I mean, yeah, the sword's six feet tall and I'm sure it weighs a good hundred pounds. But as funny as it was to see the demon struggle with it, I didn't want Cid to get his panties in a twist if there was a permanent scratch on the floor of the airship.

I took the sword one handed. It's a thing of beauty. I can say that because it really isn't mine. I mean, I suppose it is now…a man that I respected probably more than anyone I had ever met had given it to me right before he passed on. I don't know if it was because he actually cared about me too or if it was because I was the only person who could comfortably lift it. Either way, I was truly touched.

Auron had always called it a katana, but it looked more like a nodachi to me. That's a large two-handed Japanese sword, but I guess it couldn't have been that since there wasn't exactly a Japan on Spira. He had carried it for fifteen years and I had had it for almost three. Anyway, the blade was like that of a huge kitchen knife, flat on one side and sharp on the other. The steel of the blade was inlayed with a bit of gold filigree. The hilt was wrapped with leather and cloth, once bright, but dulled now after years of use and the oils from his hands and mine. But there was something new. A yellow ribbon was wrapped around the handle, a piece of paper threaded on it. I pulled it off and slung the sword up onto my shoulder.

"Well?" Whistler asked. "Gonna read it?"

I shook my head, stashing the folder paper in my pocket. "Nope, not ready to say goodbye to my best friend in a century, especially not in front of strangers," I replied. "Rikku deserves better than that."

I pushed down my storming emotions and opened my trunk again, pulling out what looked to be a complicated series of straps. My sword holster. I slipped it over my shoulders and buckled it across my chest. It felt good. Normal. And when I slid the sword home onto my back, I felt even a bit more complete. After all, I had been carrying that sword for the nearly three years. I bounced a bit on the balls of my feet, shifting my shoulders a little so the holster settled comfortably. Perfect.

"You ready for this, kid?" Whistler asked, just was he always did before he deserted me in some crazy foreign dimension.

So I decided to answer the same way I always did for old times sake. "Do I have a choice?" I asked with a wry grin.

"Always. Just make the right one."

As the two otherworldly beings faded out, back to wherever it was they hung out when they weren't screwing with my life, I turned back to survey the new group I had been saddled with. Everyone was staring at me with varying degrees of distrust and hostility. Everyone, that is, except the man in red I now knew to be Vincent, who was looking at me blankly. But I understood why they didn't trust me. Wasn't exactly rocket science. Not only had I killed a demon within the first few minutes of being in their presence, but then I had threatened the ghost of their friend. Twice. Not like that would really do anything, but I was betting that it was the thought that counted. And, oh yeah, if she was solid, I would have seriously done that ridiculous girl some bodily harm for the mind rape.

"Well," I said, making it a point to show that I was in no way nervous. "I'm kinda required to be here for the next two days and if you want, you can kick me off after that, preferably near the ground and not over an ocean or something like that." I stooped to pick up my enormous trunk. "You don't have to say anything to me. You don't even have to learn my name if you don't want to. Just tell me where I can bunk," I said amiably, trying not to grin at their shocked expressions that not only had I hefted the chest up, but because of my superior strength, I was holding it quite comfortably.

The leader, the spiky haired blond man, Cloud, glared balefully at me. "We don't have any spare beds," he said coldly.

I looked at the girl next to him. Tifa. She glanced at him and then quickly away, keeping her eyes on the floor, thus giving away that he was lying through his teeth.

I smiled serenely at them both. "That's okay. You don't want to sleep next to a monster anyway. I get that. But," I said, looking at my surroundings, "judging by the size of the bridge, I'm sure this airship is big enough for me to find a corner and hang out until you figure out whether or not you want my help. And until then, you're more than welcome to treat me like a social pariah." With that, I walked out, expecting pilot man, Cid, to stop me from wandering around on his ship unattended, but he didn't. No one did. I walked until the sounds of the engine grew the loudest. I set down my massive trunk and opened the metal door in front of me. The Engine Room. Perfect.  
Back on the Celsius, I had spent a lot of time in the Engine Room. First just from a desire to get away from everyone, but then I had become accustomed to the noise and actually kinda found it comforting. I breathed a sigh of relief as I hauled my trunk into the room. It almost sounded the same as my ship. I guess, whatever dimension you go to, engines pretty much stay the same. Small comforts.

I pushed my trunk into the center of the room, removed my sword, leaned it against the wall, and did a handstand. The corrugated metal bit into my palms slightly, but I just didn't care. I needed to meditate, to concentrate on what I needed to do. I pulled up my arm so I was balanced on one hand and I slipped into the sweet oblivion of my subconscious.

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	6. Bloodshot Eyes

Maybe some of you noticed, but I forgot to put my disclaimer in the first chapter, so let me tell you…I own nothing

I know it's been a long time since I've updated, but my last laptop committed computercide and I thought everything would be totally lost! I had to start trying to recreate my entire story, but in the end, I got my hard drive copied and then had to marry the new stuff I had written to the stuff I had written before. It took longer than I thought! But I'm back and I hope it never takes me this long to get a new chapter up again!

Chapter Six

Bloodshot Eyes

Vincent's Point of View

"If you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will."

Abraham Lincoln

I must say, I didn't know what they were arguing about. A fighter was dropped into their laps and they were debating on whether or not she should be allowed to help? That seemed so futile to me. At this point, I had believed they would use any means to defeat Shin-Ra and Sephiroth. And I would use any means to send Hojo straight to Hell.

I was surprised to hear Cid come down on the side of the girl. He never seemed to like anyone, but her cocky attitude must have called to him, although hers was nowhere near as grating as his was. Or perhaps he only wanted to ask her about her former airship. There might be a camaraderie there I did not grasp.

I listened with mild interest as Nanaki agreed with Cid while Cloud argued that he didn't trust her. That was slightly entertaining considering how lax he had been with people joining his crusade previously. But, since Cait Sith had been outed as a traitor, he couldn't afford to be too careful. Took long enough for him to realize.

I'm sure that Cloud's attitude toward her came solely from her treatment of Aerith. I could see the girl's point, far more than the others it seemed. I had seen Aerith's blatant disregard for Tifa's feelings when it came to Cloud. I had seen the way she manipulated to get what she wanted. But most importantly, I knew what it was like to have your body and mind invaded by someone or something that had no business being there. One might say I could relate. The girl was taking it better than most might. Better than I had, when I had been in her position. Empty threats and hard glares. Not much could be done about an incorporeal being. Ordinarily, I would find someone that resorted to such a thing entirely idiotic. But not her. Somehow, she was different, and I found myself incapable of thinking of her as such. There was something about _this_ girl…

I couldn't really explain it. There was something about her that called to me. Something that resonated within my very being. I was hyper aware when she was in the room and it had been so since she had first appeared. It was odd, and something I planned on covertly examining in her time with us, be that two days or until the end.

I listened to the group and wondered if they had even realized they were calling her "that girl." It seemed so impersonal to be deciding her fate when we had nothing to call her.

Silence descended and I found that they were looking at me. And of course, I hadn't been paying attention.

"So what do you think, Vincent?" Tifa asked, more than likely repeating Cloud's question.

Why were they asking me? They hardly ever even spoke to me. What use was my opinion? And then I saw it. I was the tiebreaker. Barret, Cloud, and Tifa thought she wasn't to be trusted, although I was sure the woman would have voted differently if the object of her affection had as well. Yuffie, Cid, and Nanaki believed she should be given a chance. Cait Sith's opinion, although he was all for trusting her, no longer counted since he was a traitor, regardless of what he had done at the Temple of the Ancients. So it was up to me.

"I think we should find out her name and what she is capable of before a definitive decision is made," I said calmly.

Most of the members of the group nodded in agreement and then looked at Cloud as if for permission. What made him qualified to be a leader? He seemed to be a tad awkward and disorganized to be viewed as such. Not that I was interested in the position, mind you, merely being observant.

Cloud scratched the back of his head slowly, looking back and forth between the two groups and lingering on the one showing support for not dropping the girl from the airship. He still looked unconvinced, but finally shrugged and led the way off the bridge and into the hall.

Nanaki took a deep breath and nodded down the hallway. I could smell her as well, a citrusy and spicy scent, but that was an aspect of myself that I was not ready to reveal. The group knew I could transform into no less than three demons, but I wasn't about to inform them that that my senses were heightened at all times. They barely tolerated my presence as it was, some of them with far less grace than others.

We found her in the Engine Room.

"What the hell is she doin' in there?" Cid growled as he flung open the door.

And there was the girl. She was doing a handstand in the center of the room, her face toward us. The few of the blue beads braided into her hair were standing out considerably lying gently on the polished metal floor. I hadn't realized how long her golden hair was until that moment. She had one of her arms extended out to the side and was balancing on the other. Her eyes were closed and she looked serene in her meditation.

The girl, although I knew even calling her that in my mind was incorrect, because she was far older than anyone on the airship, sighed softly and slowly opened her green eyes. She didn't appear at all surprised to see all of us gathered about the room, although she had made no movement when we had entered. She blinked at us for a moment before bending her legs down until her feet touched the ground behind her head and then in one fluid motion, she stood, her back to us. She turned around, eyeing Cloud carefully, waiting patiently for him to pronounce her sentence.

"Cloud Strife," the swordsman said stoically.

The girl grinned brightly at him with relief. "Buffy Summers," she said, holding out her hand. They shook.

"Tifa Lockhart."

"Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Barret Wallace."

"Cait Sith."

"Cid Highwind."

"Nanaki."

So it went down the line, the merry band of misfits and outcasts introducing themselves to the immortal. And at last, she stood before me and gave the same small smile she had given me on the bridge. "I'm Buffy," she said softly.

"Vincent Valentine."

Her eyes narrowed the smallest fraction as she looked at me. "Romantic name for such a sad man," she breathed. Her voice was so soft, I was sure no one else had heard it.

A sad man with a romantic name? I suppose it could be construed as such. Ironic that my name is Valentine, a word associated with love and flowers, when I spent six years of my life as an assassin. Underneath all that however, I had been somewhat of a hopeless romantic in my youth. I had believed I would meet a beautiful young woman, court her with flowers and poetry, ask her father for her hand in marriage, and make love to her on our wedding night. But that was never to be. I was a monster now and I had left my youth far behind me.

"So, that's it?" the girl…no, _Buffy_…was asking Cloud. "I gotta say, I was expecting you to come in here with your huge ass sword and challenge me."

Cloud merely blinked at her.

"Uh…has that happened a lot?" Tifa asked curiously.  
Buffy stared at her. "Well, yeah," she said incredulously. "Is there a better way of assessing someone's skill with a weapon? Hell, the last guy that challenged me ended up being one of the best friends I've ever had, in a gruff and broody kinda way. He said he couldn't help but like the second person in almost twenty years to take his weapon during combat and the only one to ever try to use it against him."

"And you were the Captain of an airship?" Highwind asked in disbelief, although I'm not sure why. It isn't as if lying about something so trivial would be at all advantageous. He had probably been waiting to ask that since she had first mentioned it to the demon she killed.

Buffy got a faraway look in her eyes. "Yeah. The Celsius. My home for two years. God, I miss it already."

The glazed expression passed after a moment. "But I won't bore you with my past exploits. I doubt that's why you're here. This is probably the part where you tell me that you're going to find out what I'm capable of before you decide to let me help you. And since none of you seem keen on fighting me yourselves, it pretty much goes without saying that your plan is to land this bird and have me fight whatever nasties are around."

Obviously another tactic that had been used before. Was it difficult for her, to travel to all these places and have to prove her intentions time and time again? I would think it would be maddening for her. But what did I know? Perhaps she didn't mind, or perhaps it was that after so many people and places, she was used to it. To live with that kind of constant suspicion…well, I was beginning to understand what that was like.

Between Cid and Yuffie, I had acquired a plethora of brand new derogatory nicknames. Sunshine, Vampy, Melanin challenged, just to name a few. They mocked me, no one in the group really trusted me, both because of my previous employment and the nature of my resting place before they had found me, and they had made to clear, more often than not that the only reason I was accompanying them was because of my knowledge of the past and the fact that I could use a gun. If I wasn't only using them to further my own goals, I might have been offended. But I couldn't be. They were only a means to an end, after all.

I had lost the thread of conversation while preoccupied with my inner musings, but it seemed that everyone was retreating from the room. I stayed a moment after the others had left, watching the slight woman pull a ridiculous fuzzy red and orange blanket from her trunk along with some other cloth items.

She seemed to sense me standing behind her then, although I am not foolish enough to believe that she was previously unaware, and she looked over her shoulder at me, raising an eyebrow. I gave her a stiff but courteous bow and took my leave, heading up to the deck of the airship.

I wasn't there long when I heard the engines, and thus the power, shut off. Cid had told us that if we weren't traveling for any length of time, it would be advantageous to both the machinery and our gil situation if the airship wasn't left to idle. I didn't know whether or not I agreed with his logic, but it would be dreadfully cold if he continued this course of action at the Northern Continent. We would all freeze in our beds. Mores the pity.

I stared off into the inky darkness for another hour or more before retreating back into the ship. My room was the very last in the long line of the hallway. I passed Cid and Barrett's room, the symphonic range or their snoring permeating the air. Cloud and Nanaki's room, silence from within. Yuffie's private room, as no one wanted to share a room with her and run the risk of having all their belongings stolen. I passed Tifa's room with the empty bed dedicated to Aerith's memory. And finally came to my room.

Each space had two single beds, a porthole type window, and a few metal shelves riveted to the walls. Mine also boasted a few ammunition charts for the multitude of guns I used and a stack of books that I had finished reading cluttering up a corner. I picked up a book as often as we entered a town, but unfortunately, I read much too fast and finished all my books before I had a chance to buy more.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and looked over at its empty mate. It was no surprise that no one had offered it. Who, after all, would want to share a room with a demon? I couldn't help but wonder, however, whether or not she was sleeping on the cold metal floor with nothing but that blanket. Wouldn't sharing a room with me and having a real bed be preferable to an engine room?

Decision made, I stood and made my way back to her makeshift quarters. I listened carefully at the door and, hearing no sound from within, eased it open, and I found her curled up and shivering under her blanket. I considered waking her up and extending my invitation, but decided against it when I saw her peaceful face. I had noticed the slight dark circles under her eyes when she arrived, signifying a lack of sleep. It would be cruel to wake her if it wasn't strictly necessary.

I knelt by her small form and picked her up, blanket and all. She struggled for a moment, eyelids fluttering. "Be at peace," I whispered. "I mean you no harm."

She stilled at the first sound of my voice, then calmed completely. I stood and made my way quietly back to my room, taking care that my footfalls were silent, in spite of the brass plated coverings of my boots. I shifted the girl's light body to one arm so I could open the door and then gently laid her on the unclaimed bed. I carefully pulled the blankets over her and watched with detached amusement as the highly dangerous woman turned to cuddle up with the pillow.

Appearances are deceiving, after all.

I went back to the engine room and retrieved the trunk and the sword. I had to call on the strength of those who dwell within me to pick them up and found myself even more impressed with this…immortal than I had been previously. I maneuvered the large objects back to the room and carefully deposited them both at the end of Buffy's new bed. Presumptuous of me, I knew, but I told myself I was merely making things easier on the girl when she awoke.

Unbuckling my cape, I slid into my own bed. I wasn't really one for sleep anymore. I attribute that to thirty years spent in a coffin. And, as a complete change of pace, I wasn't feeling up to indulging in self-reflection and the constant tallying of my sins. Instead, I lay on my side watching the sleeping countenance of my new roommate.


	7. Make Things Better

Yeah, I know. I'm a horrible person for going this long between updates.

Still own nothing.

Chapter Seven

Make Things Better

Buffy's Point of Veiw

"Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery."

~Malcolm X

I dreamt of a deep-voiced angel and floating. It was almost like Heaven, but different. I felt more at peace than I ever remembered being.

I woke slowly and found myself not only warm, but also comfortable. _That_ I hadn't been expecting. Even as a Slayer, there's just no way to sleep on a metal floor and wake up without a backache. I gingerly opened an eye to see an expanse of white pillow laid out before me. I had no other choice at that point. I lifted my head and glanced around the room, blinking my bleary eyes. It was a bunker like in any other airship I had been within. Metal floors. Metal riveted walls. But there was one glaring difference that set this one apart. On the other bunk, long limbs stretched out and casually cleaning his gun, was Vincent Valentine.

I sat up fully and scrubbed a hand over the side of my face. "Thought there weren't any spare beds," I joked, drawing the gunman's gaze to me for the first time.

He looked almost panicked, only visible in the slight widening of his eyes. I wondered distractedly if he had slept in the cape. "I…I assumed you would be more comfortable in a bed," he mumbled. "If you would prefer not to share a room with me…"

"Vincent," I interrupted.

He blinked at me, but said absolutely nothing.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "I think everyone else is too scared to share a room with me. Nice to know I'm not half as intimidating as the others think I am."

I stretched and stood up, watching with amusement as Vincent Valentine raised an eyebrow at my attire. I had pilfered a wife beater from Dean Winchester while I was helping him and his brother and I wore it often to sleep in along with the flannel pants that Rikku had given me two years ago for my birthday. They were yellow and had bright green cartoon cactuars on them. Yep, they fit so well with my badass image.

I dressed quickly in a white tank top, a tight black shirt over the top, black cargo pants, and my leather boots. Valentine had kindly turned his back, continuing to clean his gun. Of course, I noted that he didn't bother to leave the room, but after so long living and traveling with complete strangers, my modesty had practically become non-existent. Not that I flaunted myself or anything, I just wasn't overly concerned about who watched me dress.

As was apparently the custom, the entire team met on the bridge. Yuffie scuttled around like a hyperactive cockroach giving out food rations, and I pocketed mine, deciding it would be smarter to wait until I was truly hungry to eat, just in case they threw me off the airship. And I was pretty sure I couldn't stare to death anyway. After the irritatingly chipper ninja finished handing out the small foil wrapped packets, she eyed me curiously.

"How come you're hanging out with him?" she asked through her full mouth, pointing at the quiet man standing next to me.

I glared at her hand until she retracted it. "Mr. Valentine was kind enough to offer me the spare bed in his room so I didn't have to sleep on the floor. Pretty awesome of him, right?" I asked with the slight narrowing of my eyes.

She looked over at the others and then back at me, the fear and suspicion clear in her eyes. She stepped close to me, as though we were about to share a secret. "You can't sleep in there!" she exclaimed in a mock whisper that every member of the team could hear. "He's a vampire!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Huge peals of laughter were ripped from me, bubbling up in Yuffie's face, causing her to back up quickly. A few minutes and many tears down my cheeks later, I finally got a hold of myself. "You think he's vampire?" I snorted. "When Whistler showed up, he didn't tell you what kind of warrior I was, did he?"

The blank looks I received were more than enough proof that the demon had said the same thing he always did.

"Okay," I said slowly, trying to decide exactly what to say. "Back in my dimension, I was a chosen warrior to rid the world of rather specific things. Demons and vampires. I'm a Vampire Slayer," I finished with a slight grin. "And Vincent isn't a vamp."

I watched with glee as Cid choked on his ration, causing Barrett to smack his back heartily. The rest were busy staring at me openmouthed.

"But we found him in a coffin!" Yuffie exclaimed.

Trying to hold in my snickers, I decided that the straightforward and upfront approach was the best way to go. "No vampire I have ever run across has ever slept in a coffin. Not one. Now, if Mr. Valentine would kindly oblige me, I can even prove he's not a blood sucking creature of the night." I turned and gave the man in question a lopsided grin.

"I care not what they think of me," Vincent said quietly.

"Well, blame it on my need to slay ignorance then, since it _is_ my area of expertise," I said, rolling my eyes.

He regarded me for a moment and then nodded once. I could see he was just the slightest bit interested…or perhaps merely curious would be more accurate. I could tell that the others didn't like him and he didn't seem too fond of them either. But I'd be damned if I was going to let them harass the first person here that was kind to me. He had offered me a bed when the rest of them would have been completely content to let me sleep on the floor. No, this man was worth defending, even if he didn't seem to believe it.

"To begin with, Vincent is breathing. Vampires, for the most part, don't bother. Newly risen vamps sometimes do, but only through force of habit. Second," I said, placing my hand on the tall man's chest, "his heart's beating. You'll have to take my word for it, since I really doubt he's going to want all of you coming over here to grope him. If he were a vampire, he wouldn't have any body heat. He'd be room temperature and he's not."

I made so bold as to grab Vincent's right hand and to slowly pull off his leather glove, watching his face for any signs of discomfort or even panic. His eyes widened slightly, but he made no move to stop me. I tucked his glove into my pocket for a moment as I pulled the necklace from my neck. The two pieces of metal had been saved from the wreckage of Vegnagun and soldered together by Rikku. A cross. I placed the object in Vincent's outstretched palm.

"If he was a vampire, this would be cooking his skin. Clearly, it's not. We're standing in a patch of sunlight here and he's not going up in flames. Also a pretty good indicator. I can see his reflection in the window. Vamps don't have one. And have any of you actually seen him drink blood? Because he would have had to at some point."

They all looked at me sheepishly. It was almost like they had never actually considered the specifics, but instead found the most convenient label for the pale, thin man and run with it. That kind of bigotry was the most ridiculous thing I had ever witnessed.

"But…but we've seen him turn into a monster!" Yuffie exclaimed, looking to the rest of the team for support. "He's not human!"

I laughed a little grimly at that as I handed Vincent back his leather glove. "Neither is Red over there," I said, hooking a thumb at the lion. "And neither am I. So what?" I had no clue what she meant about him turning into a monster, but I knew I hadn't let that show. Of course, I had had a long time to practice my poker face. "If you need to call him a vampire for that, I can't wait to hear what you all come up with to call me."

The rest of the morning was spent in silence. Well, at least for me. I stood at the window with Vincent, surveying my new world. From the air, it almost looked like Earth, minus the roads and the big cities. A world like any other.

Really, sometimes I forgot things like that.

Cloud had Cid put the Highwind down. Then he turned and gave me a hard stare. Like I didn't know what was coming.

"Okay," he said wearily. "I think it's time to see what you can do." He glanced around the assembled group. "Tifa and…uh…Vincent. You guys come, too."

Interesting. I had noticed that Cloud usually only traveled with a group of three. That made sense. Few enough people fighting not to let chaos ensue or attract unwanted attention, but it was enough to take on most baddies without issue. So, adding me as a fourth meant one of two things. Either he expected me to suck at fighting, or he didn't trust me. But that was okay. Trust is earned, not given, and as for the fighting, well…he could see that for himself.

Cloud and Tifa were down the ramp in a hurry, chattering companionably, leaving me and Vincent to bring up the rear. We didn't speak, he wasn't big on the whole talking thing anyway, and I felt him tense beside me as he scanned the horizon for potential threats.

I extended my senses as Giles had taught me and felt two things. One was the mysterious man beside me. I wasn't sure why I could sense him yet, only that I had been able to since I had landed on the bridge.

The other thing was over to our right on the other side of a diminutive rise. "Uh, Cloud?" I ventured. "If you're looking for something to fight, there's something over there."

He followed the point of my finger with his eyes. "I don't see anything," he said in confusion.

And that was all he could say before three monsters crested the small hill and came barreling towards Vincent and me. I pulled my sword from my back and charged at them. They were bugs, like crosses between cockroaches and scorpions, and the size of large dogs.

Vincent had his gun drawn and was quickly firing at the one that had broken away from the group and was advancing on him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cloud hold Tifa back and I knew this was a test to see how well I would fair without their help.

The first bug lunged at me, its stinger dripping with a viscous fluid that I would have bet my eyeteeth was poisonous. I held it off with my sword and, with my left hand, drew the large curved Elvin dagger from my belt. As the second bug came in, thinking I was preoccupied, I stabbed the knife down hard in the middle of its back. I swung my entire body in a quick circle, slicing the first one in half with my sword and eviscerating the second with my dagger. Both carcasses fell to the ground in a trembling heap.

I turned back to check Vincent and, seeing he had successfully shot his insect attacker into Swiss cheese, I cleaned the bug blood off my knife and sword in the grass. I looked up to find Cloud and Tifa in front of me.

The young woman was grinning at me, but the blond man's expression was slightly more stoic.

"Let me guess," I said as I slid my knife back into its sheath. "That wasn't impressive enough and next you'd like to see me tear the baddies apart with my bare hands. I can do that, but it's going to be a lot messier."

He looked shocked and I smirked at him a bit as I rested my sword up on my shoulder.

"You haven't proved anything yet," he sneered as he strode away.

I sighed. It was going to be a long day.

We were just out of sight of the airship, when a voice called out to us.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

Yuffie came running up, badly out of breath.

"What happened?" Tifa asked.

"I know this area pretty well," she told us.

"So do I," I heard Vincent say quietly from beside me. I glanced over at him, but his attention was still fixed on Yuffie. I don't think he expected anyone to hear him, so I stared back ahead, pretending I hadn't.

"It get pretty tough past here. You better get ready," she told the others sweetly.

"Something's strange," Tifa mumbled. "Why do I get the feeling you're planning something?"

Yuffie waved her hands in front of her. "No, no! Honestly, it just gets rough, that's all."

And then from behind some bushes emerged two Shin-Ra soldiers with guns. "Freeze!"

I was shocked that neither Vincent nor I had noticed them, but in our defense, Yuffie _had_ been prattling on.

"Shin-Ra!" Tifa cried.

"Yuffie!" Cloud roared.

"No, I swear, I had nothing to do with this one!" she yelled.

"This one? What do you mean 'this one'?" Tifa screamed at her.

The soldiers attacked, not exactly waiting for us to figure out who betrayed whom. We split instinctively, Tifa and Cloud going after one while Vincent and I went after the other.

As the armed soldier ran at us, Valentine and I struck out at the same time. We both punched, I with my fist, he with his gauntlet, and the startled man flew back twenty feet under our combined power.

I grinned at Vincent and, although no expression was discernable behind the cowl of his cape, I got the feeling he might be smiling too.

We ran at the bewildered soldier. He took aim at me and began shooting. I flipped into the air and landed in front of the stunned man, sliding my sword into his soft belly. The man's eyes flew wide as he looked up at me. Then his head jerked to the side, blood trickling down the side of his face from his temple.

Vincent stood next to me, the barrel of his gun smoking. "He didn't drop his weapon," he said by way of explanation.

I pulled my sword from the gullet of the soldier and turned to find Cloud finishing of the man they were fighting. Tifa was crouched down on the ground, a hand pressed to her left arm, a cheery red liquid seeping from beneath it.

The three of us were at her side within moments. Cloud was fingering a bangle on his arm and then rummaging in his pockets.

"Oh gods," he gasped. "My materia's missing."

"As is mine," Vincent said solemnly.

I looked back and forth between them. "Yeah, and so's Yuffie. No prizes for guessing what happened there. And why do I think neither of you know what to do for a wound without materia?"

Both of the men stared at me blankly.

"This is what comes from depending on magic too much," I said, rolling my eyes. I sat down in front of Tifa. "Can I have a look?"

She leaned back on her butt and crossed her legs, gingerly holding out her arm to me.

I had hoped it was a graze, but no such luck. I was looking at a dime-sized hole in the muscle of her bicep. I got to my knees and leaned over her to observe the back of her arm, expecting to see an exit wound. But instead of another hole, there was an angry bruise and a telling lump. I delicately felt her arm. It wasn't broken.

"Shit," I murmured. "It must have ricocheted of the bone." I stood and quickly took stock of the situation. The bullet would obviously have to come out so it wouldn't get infected.

"Cloud, I need you to make a fire," I ordered. "I assume you can do that without the aid of materia?"

He stared at me in complete bewilderment.

I sighed and pulled an old silver Zippo out of my pocket. I held it out and wordlessly showed him how to light it before tossing it to him. It took him a few tries to replicate my actions, but when he did, he looked up and nodded to me begrudgingly.

Then I unbuckled my belt, pulling it free of the loops, and sliding the sheath of my Elvin knife from it. I tossed the belt to Vincent. "Make a tourniquet above the wound, please," I asked.

While I watched the crimson clad man make short work of his task, I slipped off my sword holder and then my shirt, thankful I had picked up the habit of layering for reasons such as this. I took off my white tank top and then pulled my thin black t-shirt back on.

When I looked up, the fire was built, the tourniquet applied, and my three companions were staring at me. I considered cracking a joke about my green satin bra, but I held back.

"You have so many scars," Tifa breathed. She must not have meant to say anything out loud because she blushed bright red after uttering it.

I chuckled as I tore my tank to into four equal pieces. "Yeah," I agreed. "Fighting isn't exactly without its drawbacks. Of course, when I got dropped onto your ship, I was wearing less. You didn't notice them then?"

She shook her head. "I was kinda distracted by you killing that demon guy. Why…?" Tifa trailed off and I offered her a neutral look, hoping she would continue on her own. "Why don't you hide them?" she asked in a hurry, as if the speed would make the question slightly less rude.

I didn't mind at all, though. "The people I was going to visit had all seen them before. The perils of sharing a tent, I guess. And as for all the other people on Spira…well, I couldn't have cared less what they thought of me. There isn't one scar you'll find that I don't remember. But they're part of me." I glanced down at the 'P' burned into the skin of my forearm. "The experiences I had that got them have made me into who I am. I can't be ashamed of that. There is something beautiful about scars. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed…done with. Nothing but a memory. Just be thankful you didn't see my back," I muttered as I pulled two flasks from my pocket. My black cargo pants were handy as hell for things like this. I opened one, took a sniff and then a taste. I handed that one to Tifa. "Drink this," I ordered.

She looked at it curiously. "What is it?"

"Rum," I answered. "Unless one of you happens to be carrying a local anesthetic in your pockets?"

Silence.

"No? Back at the airship then?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"We've always had materia," Cloud justified lamely.

I moved to sit down behind Tifa, eyeing the place the bullet was lodged under her skin. I glanced over at Vincent, still hunkered down next to the wounded young woman. "Wanna be the nurse?" I asked with a half smile.

He blinked at me.

Well, he didn't say 'no,' so I handed him the four patches of white cloth and my second flask. I pulled out my knife and set it in my lap before handing the leather sheath to Tifa. "You're going to want to bite down on that here in a minute."

I grabbed part of my ruined tank top and the flask from Vincent. I opened it, spilling some of the whiskey onto the cloth, and used it to disinfect my dagger.

Tifa watched me over her shoulder. "I've never seen a knife like that before."

Okay, she wanted a distraction. I could do that. "And you never will again," I said, handing both the flask and the alcohol soaked cloth back to Vincent. I watched the girl take another gulp of rum from the flask I had given her and, at my nod, put the sheath between her teeth.

"Seventy years ago or so, I was in a world called Arda," I began as I made a half-inch incision on the back of Tifa's arm. "It was a land full of things you've only imagined in fairytales. There were crafty wizards, stouthearted dwarves, courageous kings, and beautiful elves. An amazing place. One of the best I've ever been to. And would go back to in a heartbeat if I had the choice."

The bullet was in a bit deeper than I had originally thought but with a final flick of the wrist, it was in my palm.

"We had just lost one of our group members, so we took refuge in the woods of Lórien, and went to the Elvin city of Caras Galadhon," I continued as I began to clean the wound, both sides, with a fresh cloth and more whiskey. "We stayed there for a week to recover. The marchwarden, an elf named Haldir, took it upon himself to teach me how to use a bow. And I sucked at it. I mean, I was really lousy. So, when he left a few hours later for a five day patrol of the forest, Legolas, the elf traveling in our group, decided to help me learn."

I rose and began heating my dagger over the fire. "Drink the rest of that rum, Tifa. Anyway, we practiced nonstop and by the time Haldir returned, I was pretty good. Almost as good as him, actually. Legolas was a good teacher, but he was almost three thousand years old…so I guess he kinda had the experience. Haldir was irritated I progressed so quickly under his tutelage, and Legolas was a tad smug about it and was teasing him a lot, and I laughed about it which, in retrospect, was a bad move because the guy totally lost his temper. The marchwarden spewed a long line of curses at us in elvish, ranging from how unnatural it was for a woman to have such skills to speculating about the nature of mine and Legolas's relationship, claiming it must be sexual and guessing about the frequency of said encounters. He really hadn't counted on one thing, though."

I got up and crouched before Tifa, the blade of my knife red-hot. She put the leather sheath back between her teeth and nodded. I pressed the searing blade to her skin and continued to talk over her stifled shrieks of pain. "For the three months I had been traveling, Legolas and Aragorn, a man raise by the elves, had been teaching me their language. So, I understood everything he said. And I didn't speak to HaldirHHHHSDG again before we left."

I removed the blade and inspected the wound. It had cauterized nicely, but poor Tifa was unsuccessfully blinking back tears. I started heating the knife for the back of her arm.

"It was about two months later that I saw him again. We were at a fort called Helm's Deep and were about to be under siege. There were a handful of warriors and the rest of the people fighting were old men or young boys…and then Haldir came, honoring an ancient alliance that existed between men and elves, but had been cast aside after a good thousand years of fighting and ignoring one another. He brought a small army of elves to help us fight our huge battle. That brought our odds up to two thousand verses the ten thousand that were marching down on us. I was stationed on the outer wall, bow and arrows in hand, and facing down probable death, when he sidled up next to me."

I stood again and moved to position myself over the small hole I had made extracting the bullet. She screamed as I pressed down, but then bit the leather again.

"He apologized, obviously figuring out that I knew what he had said. He told me he should have never spoken to a lady that way and that he was envious of the close relationship I had with Legolas and lashed out about it, and he hoped, in time, I would come to forgive him. Then, he gave me this," I said, removing the blade.

I took another clean cloth from Vincent and bandaged the wound.

"What happened then?" Cloud asked. I think I had forgotten he was there.

"Uh, about four hours later, when we were forced to retreat into the Citadel, uh…the middle of the fortress, I realized I hadn't gotten to tell him that I had forgiven him. I actually hadn't even given it a second thought since we had left Caras Galadhon and I really didn't want to die without telling him that it was okay. So I resolved to tell him the minute he and his troops fell back. And then I could die without that on my conscience."

I used the final cloth to clean the blood and singed skin from my knife and then threw the three soiled pieces of cloth onto the fire and watched them burn.

"The troops came, but no Haldir. Aragorn was the last one inside. As we braced the doors, he told me that Haldir had been stabbed and he was with him as he died."

I retrieved my belt, resheathed my knife, and finished off the last of the whiskey to avoid their shocked and somber gazes in response to what I had said.

"It seems like Yuffie headed north," Cloud said, trying to change the subject. "Teef, you wanna go back to the airship? Buffy could take you while Vincent and I go after Yuffie."

Tifa got to her feet, flexed her arm experimentally, and stuck her chin out defiantly. "I'm going. I may not be able to fight well, but Yuffie stole my materia, too. I'll be fine," she told him stubbornly.

"Vincent," I said quietly. "You mentioned you knew this area."

He looked at me, eyes unreadable as they always were.

"Is there a town or something close by that she probably headed to?"

Vincent nodded once. "Wutai. Up the coast. Fourteen miles," he informed us.

"Okay," Cloud said. "That's where we'll head. With any luck, that's where she'll be."

It was decided that Vincent and I would scout around, taking out monsters, leaving Cloud to protect Tifa if any got past us. When we could see the city in the distance, the fights thinned out and we all started walking together again.

"How's your arm?" I asked Tifa.

"It's not to bad," she answered with a grateful smile. "Why do I get the feeling you've done stuff like this a lot?"

I grinned at her. "Three years ago, right after Spira was saved from their first Big Bad, I moved to an desert island called Bikanel. A race of people called the Al Bhed lived there. My friend, Rikku, was the daughter of their leader. They had had a whole machine city there, but it had been completely destroyed, so we spent our days in the desert, digging up parts for salvage."

I grinned widely at the memories. "Rikku was a klutz. And it didn't matter that she was a graceful thief and a great fighter, when it came to normal things like…walking…she was the uber klutz. And we did everything together on Bikanel. We'd take a hover out in the morning and by the time we got back in the afternoon, she'd be injured. A cut. A bruise. Once, she even fell off the hover and broke her arm. So, yeah, I have a bit of experience."

By the time I finished my little story, we were in Wutai. It was gorgeous. Pagodas and a serene little river snaked through the center of town. I realized Wutai must be like Japan or China in my world. It had the whole oriental vibe going for it.

We decided to split up to search for the thieving ninja brat. Tifa and Cloud headed for the shops hoping to find her while Vincent and I headed toward the residential district. I was sensing a pattern.

"So, how do you know the area?" I asked when the silence became too oppressive. I figured he wouldn't answer, but it was worth a shot. The man was a mystery wrapped in an enigma, so when a full minute passed and he hadn't answered, I wasn't surprised.

"I am from Wutai," he finally said.

The PHS Cloud had given me, almost like a cell phone in function, rang and I put it to my ear in a hurry, thinking the other group may have found our wayward thief. "Summers," I answered.

"Buffy," Cloud said curtly. "Be advised, the Turks are here in town."

I stopped short, a jolt of undeniable excitement running through me. The Turks? Well, I had been waiting for a good fight. The monsters I had encountered that morning had been mediocre at best, posing no challenge at all, and I was itching for one. "Turks, huh? Where are you? We'll come help," I said and Vincent nodded.

"Well, Reno's saying they're on vacation so they won't fight us. Tifa just wanted you two to be aware in case," Cloud said.

"That's right," came a voice, farther away but clearly in the same room. "Don't want our vacation ruined by your spiky ass."

I blinked for a moment. "Cloud? Are you actually standing by them right now?" I asked incredulously.

"Uh…" He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Have you seen Yuffie yet?"

"Nope. You?"

"We saw her for a minute, but then we lost track of her," he answered sheepishly.

"Call you if we find anything," I said and snapped the phone shut.

Suddenly, Vincent's head snapped up and he took off running. I caught the tiniest glimpse of a girl in a green shirt darting into a house and I prayed that the man was right and we weren't about to barge into someone's dwelling without a reason. But somehow, I knew that Vincent wouldn't be that careless, so in we went.

A man was sitting at the kitchen table. He looked up at us in alarm and I realized that Vincent and I probably looked pretty intimidating. Both of us in black, red, and leather. Valentine with his gun and I with my huge sword. The man probably thought we were there to rob or kill him. So we did the only thing we could do. Completely ignored his presence.

Vincent went to the right and I went to the left, hugging the walls and searching for potential hiding places.

There was a silk screen set out about a foot away from my wall. It was the only place I could see in the room that could hide a whole teenage girl. I pushed it aside and there she was, crouched down and staring at me.

"Yuffie," I said softly, not really wanting a shuriken in the face for my efforts. I held out my hands, showing I was unarmed. "We just want the…"

She kicked me hard in the knees. I hadn't been expecting it and I stumbled backwards into Vincent. He locked his arm around my waist, obviously mindful of the talons on his gauntlet, and kept us upright. But Yuffie had already seized her opportunity by running out the front door.

"Damn," I muttered. "I didn't actually expect her to kick me."

We were out the door within seconds, but there was no sign of the little double crosser anywhere. We walked around for a few more minutes, but it was pretty clear we had missed our shot.

But then the PHS rang. "Yeah?" I answered irritably.

"We think we've found her," came Tifa's voice.

She gave us the directions and we were there in less than a minute. In hushed tones, Cloud told us he was almost positive she was hiding in a huge ceramic pot outside of the bar, Turtle's Paradise, we were standing in front of. It gave her two avenues of escape: the bridge leading back to the entrance of town and another bridge leading towards the mountains.

Vincent stood on the first while Tifa and I took up positions on the second. Cloud tiptoed over to the pot and unceremoniously punched it three times.

Yuffie leapt out, flipping over his head, and ran for the first bridge. Spotting Vincent there, gun drawn but held loosely at his side, she whirled and headed toward Tifa and me instead. We stepped forward, as did Cloud and the gunslinger, and she found herself trapped.

"You can't get away, Yuffie," Cloud informed her.

She looked back and forth between the four of us, searching for an escape. Then her shoulders slumped. "O…Okay. I know…I was wrong. You win. I'll give you back your materia."

While Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent escorted her back to her house, I stepped in to Turtle's Paradise to have my flasks refilled. I sat down at the bar while I waited.

At the center table of the room sat three of the Turks. I grinned to myself. Rude, Elena, and Reno. And they had no clue who I was.

Two Shin-Ra soldiers burst in and ran over to their table. "So our reports were right," one of them said. "He IS here on vacation."

My ears perked up. Who was? Evidently not Sephiroth. He didn't strike me as the vacationing type.

"We've finally found him," the other soldier said. "We need the Turks as backup."

I watched Reno throw back a shot. "What a drag."

"What was that?" the first soldier asked him, apparently not having heard.

The redheaded Turk glared at him. "Right now, we're off duty and can't run off to save your butts."

The bartender brought me my flasks and I ordered a shot just to have an excuse to eavesdrop a bit longer.

"We knew you were off duty…" one of the commandos was saying.

"If you knew that, then don't bother us. Looking at you is making me sober," Reno growled.

I stifled a chuckle and smiled gratefully at the bartender as he plunked the tiny glass down on the bar in front of me before moving on to some other customers.

"But you have orders from headquarters to look for him too!" one of the soldiers said indignantly.

Reno and Rude both ignored them, slamming back shots like it was going out of style.

I drank mine and signaled for one more.

"Alright, that's it! We'll get him without any help from the Turks. Just you wait! And don't think headquarters isn't going to hear about this," the soldiers threatened before running out of the bar.

Elena looked between her two male companions worriedly. "Reno, do you think that was such a good idea? I mean, is that the way a professional Turk would act?"

Reno put down his drink and turned in his seat to face her. "Elena, don't misunderstand. A pro isn't someone who sacrifices himself for the job. That's just a fool."

This time, I couldn't stifle my chuckle. "God, that is so true," I said under my breath as I downed my second shot. And then I noticed it was silent. I looked back at the Turks to find them staring at me.

Reno stood and took a few steps towards me. "You got somethin' to say?" he growled at me.

I stood as well, tossing the gil Vincent had leant me on the counter and pocketing the two flasks. "Nope, I already said it," I replied. "I just agreed with the statement."

I watched him eye the hilt of the sword over my shoulder. "Who are you?" he sneered.

I considered what to tell him. "No one you need to be worried about while you're on vacation?" I ventured.

He watched me carefully for another moment. But apparently, my answer was deemed good enough because he nodded and sat back down.

Elena looked dumbfounded. "Rude…?" she asked and I wasn't entirely sure whether or not she was asking him about me or whoever the soldiers had been talking about. When he didn't answer her at all, she glared at them both and then stormed out just ahead of me.

I left the bar and started following the directions Yuffie had given me. And lo and behold, I got halfway there and was completely lost! I couldn't remember if I was supposed to take a left or a right at the pagoda with the green roof. I sighed in absolute frustration because I had the feeling that it wouldn't have mattered I did remember. What were the odds she had told me the truth anyway? But there was no way in hell I was going to use the PHS to call and get the directions again! Cloud already seemed to dislike me and I really didn't want to feed more fuel into that fire.

But then I had a brilliant plan, if I do say so myself. It was going to come in handy that I happened to be hyper aware of one of the members of the group. I closed my eyes and stretched my senses to seek out Vincent. After a moment, I centered on him and followed the tugging at the back off my mind all the way to a small house. I knocked and Tifa let me in.

"Aww man! How'd you even get here?" Yuffie whined as I walked into the living room. "I didn't even give you the right directions."

I raised an eyebrow at her. Suspicions confirmed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I said wryly.

"Quit stalling!" Cloud ordered the teen.

"I know…the materia, right? I have it stored in a safe place. Follow me," the ninja said quietly. She led us downstairs into what was obviously her training room. There were shurikens embedded everywhere, a purple rug on the floor embroidered with oriental looking symbols, and some levers on the far wall. It wasn't exactly my style, but it was functional and had me missing the Magic Box back room more than I had in years.

"I've been hearing that before I was born, Wutai was a lot more crowded and more important." She walked away from the four of us in the center of the room to stand facing the corner. "You saw what it looks like now, right? _Just _a resort town."

Where the hell was this going? And more importantly, why did we care and why did this give her the right to steal from Cloud and the others? I exchanged a glance with Vincent, who slightly shrugged.

"After we lost the war," Yuffie was saying, "we got peace, but with that, we lost something else. Now look at Wutai."

She moved to stand in the doorway, leaving us in the room. "That's why…if I had a lot of materia, I could…"

"Listen, Yuffie. I don't care about the history of Wutai or your feelings," Cloud growled. "You've got our materia and I want it back…now! You know one of those soldiers shot Tifa and we couldn't Cure her! If it hadn't been for Buffy, she could still be bleeding to death."

Well, that wasn't true. Bleeding to death? Nah. And anyway, I'm sure they would have figured it out eventually. But I kept my face blank. Something didn't feel quite right here…

"I know," Yuffie sniffed. "And I'm sorry. That switch…the one on the left. Materia's in there."

Cloud looked at the levers for a moment.

"Uh, Cloud?" I began just as Vincent said, "I do not think…"

But he pulled the lever and stepped back.

A giant steel cage fell through a trap door in the ceiling, confining the four of us inside. The blond swordsman reached for the lever again, but now that he was restrained, it hovered just out of reach.

"Well, that was completely expected," I deadpanned.

"You want your materia?" Yuffie taunted from the doorway. "Find it yourself!" And then, giggling, she took off up the stairs.

I looked at the bars of the cage with a veteran eye. Oh yeah, this wasn't exactly my first rodeo. I'd been locked up quite a few times in my life. I grabbed one of the bars with both hands and pulled. It moved fractionally, so I braced my foot against the bar next to it and pulled it sideways again. In no time, the opening was large enough for me to slip through. I did so and sauntered my way over to the lever. "What would you guys do without me?" I said with a wink as I pushed it back up to it's starting position. The cage rose back up through the trapdoor in the ceiling.

"Why does she even have something like that," I heard Tifa mutter as the four of us sheepishly trekked back up to the ground floor.

I don't know about everyone else, but I was feeling damn chagrinned about being outsmarted by the pint-sized ninja. It was bad enough she was convinced Vincent was a vampire and harassed him mercilessly, a fact that irritated me beyond belief, but no one kicks me in the shins and then drops a cage on me and gets away with it. Or something. Actually, I don't think those two circumstances had ever coincided before.

We split up again to look for Yuffie, this time Cloud and Tifa searching the residential district and Vincent and I looking in the shops.

"So, how is it the ninja girl is from Wutai and her name is _Yuffie Kisaragi_ and you ended up with the name _Vincent Valentine_?" I asked as we followed a trail from behind the materia shop. It led us to yet another district. This looked like the upscale part of town. There was a huge pagoda, a few opulent houses, and a weird little building with a gong on a platform and a door in the side. I called Cloud on the PHS and we decided the four of us would search for her there.

"My father was from Midgar. A scientist from Shin-Ra. He came here on vacation and met my mother. A week later, he left and nine months later, I was born," he said finally. "He was the reason I went to Midgar and joined the Turks. I wanted to meet him. But by the time I was old enough to go, he was already dead. Lab accident."

Color me shocked. It was the most I had ever heard him speak. I got the impression that he never talked about himself to anyone else. Actually, he didn't seem to talk about anything to anyone. But since the whole team seemed to be afraid of him or think he was a bit of a joke, I could see why he would clam up around them. And I made it my mission to get him to open up…and to see his whole face…before we went after Sephiroth and faced death.

Anything else he might have said was lost when our teammates came racing up.

Cloud gestured to the building with the gong on it. He shrugged. "Wanna start there?"

I was surprised to look up and find him staring at me. "Uh…you're the leader."

He looked startled. "Right," he said sheepishly and he charged through the door in the side of the structure directly down some stairs.

"Let go! I said let go!" came a panicked and girly voice.

The four of us ran into the basement room to see Yuffie being held, struggling, by some thug in black. But it was the tubby blond man in the center of the room that held everyone's attention. His maroon robe gaped open, revealing his pudgy stomach and his tight lavender pants. Ew. It was Don Corneo; the man Cloud had rescued Tifa from all that time ago, near the very beginning of my freaky Vision Quest.

"Corneo?" Cloud choked out, as if the memory of dressing in drag to sneak into the man's house were coming back to haunt him.

"I've got a new chicky!" the Don exclaimed.

"Doesn't it strike you as uber disturbing that you have to resort to kidnapping to get a date?" I snarked. "And I do mean _kid_napping, man, because that girl is sixteen."

"Oh, feisty," Corneo crowed. "I like that. But since I already have two women, you'll have to wait."

"Two?" Cloud asked in alarm.

"Hey! Let go of me! You're going to regret this!"

Another thug stood at the back of the room, stepping forward from the shadows that had concealed him. He held a pretty blonde woman captive. A woman in a blue suit. Elena of the Turks.

The three men took the two hostages and ran up a wooden staircase that the dim lighting of the room had previously hidden from my eyes. It took us maybe five seconds to cross the room, but by the time we had, they had disappeared to the ground floor.

Fortunately for us, Don Corneo was blocked in his getaway as three Shin-Ra soldiers burst in through the front door. The ruffians and the girls were nowhere to be seen.

"There he is! It's Corneo! Don't let him get away!" one of the commandos cried.

The pudgy man tried to run back down the stairs, but we were there, cutting of his only avenue of escape.

The soldiers ran in to grab him, but the clever bastard sidestepped them, causing the three off them to run headlong into the four of us, knocking us all to the ground. By the time we had awkwardly untangled ourselves, the Don had escaped out the front door. We ran out into the street, spinning and trying unsuccessfully to catch a glimpse of the man.

"God, that fat bastard can run," I growled.

I couldn't see Corneo, but I _could_ see someone else. Two someones, actually. Reno and Rude were sprinting back towards the main district of town. They must have been searching for Elena, I decided. I pointed to them and looked sharply at Cloud. I was hoping he would take my hint of a truce until the kidnapped girls had been recovered safely.

He looked reluctant, but finally he nodded and I tore off after the Turks. I could hear Vincent close at my heels, his brass-plated boots making a distinct clicking noise even on the hard packed dirt we ran on. We caught up with the two men quickly.

"Wait!" I called out to them.

They stopped and turned around as Vincent and I skidded to a halt in front of them. He made it look graceful, his cloak billowing around him dramatically. I, on the other hand, made it look pretty damn awkward. As my chunky heeled boots skittered across the gravel, I felt like I was losing balance. My hand shot out reflexively and I grabbed on to Vincent's right arm. The one encased in a black leather glove. He allowed me to steady myself and then I let go with a sheepish smile in his direction.

"You're the chick from the bar," Reno said in confusion, clearly wondering why we had chased them halfway through town.

"Wow, that sounds all dirty and suggestive," I laughed. "But yeah, that's me. And you are Reno and Rude of the Turks."

The redhead nodded and then his eyes fell on my companion. "Holy shit! You're Vincent Valentine," Reno gushed. "Fuck, man, you're the reason I became a Turk! You're a legend and the story of what happened to ya? The whole Hojo thing? Cautionary tale for fledgling Turks, yo!"

I didn't have a clue what he was talking about but I knew it would be a bad time to ask. "Check it out, Valentine!" I said, winking at the stoic man. "You have a fanboy! Congrats!"

Cloud and Tifa finally caught up, both leaning over, hands braced on their thighs, breathing hard.

"Oh, so you're one of Spike's followers, eh? Didn't know there were any new additions to the team," Reno said, smirking at me.

I flinched at his nickname for Cloud. Stupid guy with his stupid spiky hair. And of course, now my mind was filled with thoughts of a peroxided vampire. I pushed those away and concentrated on answering.

"Cloud's follower? Uh…no. Part of the team? Well, that really remains to be seen," I said cockily.

"Elena," Rude said sharply, reminding us of what we were doing there in the first place.

"Yeah," Reno said, shaking his head. "That Corneo guy is good at escaping." He looked at his partner. "Let's go, Rude. We'll give them a taste of what the Turks can do. But if Elena's in his hands, that's going to make things a little difficult and...uh…" he trailed off, unsure.

I caught Cloud's eye and raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking that he look past the blue suit and try to see a potential ally.

The blond swordsman bit his lip for a moment. "Okay," he said finally. "Corneo took Yuffie from us. And without her, there's no way to get our materia back."

Way to tell the enemy about your shortcomings, genius boy! But…the Turks _were_ on vacation after all…

"Don't misunderstand," Reno said coolly. "We have no intention of joining you. But for now, we'll agree not to bother each other. That's all."

Cloud scowled petulantly at him. "That's fine. We have absolutely no intention of cooperating with the Turks either."

Reno gave Vincent a pointed look. I glanced at the gunslinger as well, but with a half smile and a wink. I was shocked as hell when he winked back at me, hidden from the others by his silky curtain of ebony hair. I think I might have been grinning like a fool before I turned back to the conversation.

"Did you see which way Corneo went?" Tifa asked anxiously.

"The place that stands out the most," the Turk replied cryptically before he and his silent partner took off again.

I turned in a slow circle, my eyes scanning over the town. Stands out the most? It was a town full of pagodas! To me, it all pretty much stood out.

"Look higher," a deep voice rumbled in my ear.

I glanced over my shoulder at Vincent, who was standing a hairsbreadth behind me, and followed the line of his eyes, very conscious of how close the tall man was to me. I could feel the heat from his body and I was fighting the urge to step forward and away or to close the distance. But what I saw drove both thoughts from my mind.

"Holy shit," I gasped in surprise. "How did I miss that?"

Just beyond the town was a mountain. But this was no ordinary mountain. It had been carved all Mount Rushmore style into a mass of arms and heads very liken to what I had always associated with Hinduism, Shiva, and those types of things.

I pointed at it. "Cloud? Vincent and I think we should check there."


	8. The Path I Walk

I own nothing. Just playing.

Chapter Eight

The Path I Walk

"Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all."

~ William Goldman

I was surprised at how readily Buffy had accepted my subtle suggestion. Any of the others would have flinched away if I had gotten that close to them. But she was also unaware that I was a monster. No man could be the vessel of three demons and still actually be human.

And if that is what I really believed, it made me wonder what it was I considered the woman in front of me. Did I label her as a monster as well? I watched her as we headed towards the Da-chao Mountain. I had thought the place wondrous in my youth and had often spent time there. But I digress…my thoughts were on Buffy.

I had surprised myself by telling her of my father. I had not spoken that candidly since I had been with Lucrecia, and even then, I don't recall her asking much about my family or heritage in the way that Buffy had. Why was she so curious? Did she sense something kindred, the demons inside me, or did she have some other motive? Truly, she did not seem the type to deceive in that way, but then, I knew nothing about her.

Slightly up the winding trail leading through the carvings on the living rock of the mountain stood the two Turks. Reno and Rude. They didn't seem surprised to see us.

"You're finally here," the redhead said. "We're gonna split into two groups, yo. You guys do whatever you want, but don't endanger Elena. And don't worry. We won't do anything to that girl, Yuffie. For now…" he said. Then he and Rude proceeded farther up the path.

"They might not need to," Buffy chuckled as she and I fell in some distance behind our other companions. "Cloud might just kick her ass himself! You guys rely so much on your materia…you'd never make it in my old world, that's for sure."

I glanced at her as we jogged. "How so?"

"Magic is different there. Every time it's used, there are consequences. And they're usually either dire or irritating, but always unexpected. So you can't exactly just use it freely."

We reached a fork in the path. The Turks took one, and we took the other. Our segment led us under one of the ornately carved arms that hung over the trail, like an errant tree branch. We followed the track as it swooped around a large carved head and terminated on one of the hands of the enormous sculpture. And standing at the end, on the very tips of the stone fingers, was Don Corneo.

I drew my gun, aiming at the man's head over Cloud's shoulder. There were definite advantages to my height and my choice of weapon, although I was unable to shoot until we knew what had become of the missing girls. But Buffy was not so fortunate. She was unable to draw her sword, for Tifa stood not two feet in front of her. She drew her dagger and bounced up and down on her toes a bit, trying to see over the martial artist's shoulder. I'm not sure I noticed how tiny she was before that point.

Yuffie could be heard screaming and as we all turned to the left, there she was. At least twenty feet separated us. They, she and Elena, hung suspended against one of the ornately carved faces with a drop beneath them of at least two hundred feet. Corneo was chortling madly. "Scrumptious! I think I've found a new hobby!" he exclaimed. "Which shall it be? Should I go with her?" He stared long and hard at the blonde Turk woman. I suppose she was aesthetically pleasing. Barret and Cid had both loudly mentioned it when the girls of the group were out of earshot. Something about a woman in uniform had been mentioned on many occasions. I did not understand the fascination, but then, I was not exactly a normal man.

"Hey, I'm one of the Turks!" Elena was shouting at him. "Don't think you can get away with this!"

"Or maybe her?" Don Corneo said, appraising Yuffie as though the blonde woman had never spoken at all.

"Oh God!" Yuffie moaned loudly. "If I knew this was gonna happen, I would've taken rope escape classes more seriously!" She struggled violently against her bonds.

"I've made my choice," Corneo shouted with disgusting glee, as though the whole world was waiting with bated breath for his decision. "My companion for the night will be…the cheerful one!"

"Grossness!" Yuffie screamed as she pulled harder on the ropes she was hanging from. "Don't mess with me, old man! You don't even have any materia!"

Idiot child.

Corneo leered at her. "Oh, and saucy, too!"

"All right! That's it!" Cloud finally shouted, the disgust he felt for using one such as Yuffie apparent in his face.

The pathetic and lecherous man at the end of the trail turned and saw the four of us for the first time.

"Let them go!" Tifa screamed at him.

"You can't get in the way of my search for a bride!" Corneo howled, his pudgy face contorted with rage. "Rapps! Come here!"

A red wyvern swept in from the right, settling itself between Corneo and us.

I heard a feral growl from beside me and looked over just in time to see Buffy sheath her knife, take three steps back, and make a running leap over Tifa's head. She landed gracefully in a crouch in front of the flying dragon Corneo had called 'Rapps.' The monster's thin and serpentine body towered at least ten feet over the small immortal, but that didn't stop her from grabbing its tail and tugging hard, causing the wyvern to fall off balance and crash into the ground.

I saw that Cloud was too shocked to offer his assistance, so I leapt easily over the stunned blond man's head. In my momentary distraction, Buffy had kept hold of the tail and as her enemy moved in to bite her, she looped the tail around its neck.

The wyvern snapped and spit as Buffy slowly strangled it. I leveled my shotgun with one hand and tried to get a clear shot, but the dragon's head was effectively shielded by the blonde woman in front of it. I would not risk injuring her if I was able to avoid it. I rather enjoyed her presence and therefore needed her to move.

As though she had heard me, she ducked her head, bringing it perilously close to the dripping fangs of the monster. It reared back, as much as it was able, and prepared to strike what it assumed was now a submissive victim.

My three consecutive shots rang out and the flesh between the eyes of the red wyvern exploded into a sticky mass of cherry blood and thicker things. Buffy dropped the lifeless carcass and swept a piece of brain off her forehead with the back of her hand. She grinned at me and I felt my stomach flop in a way I barely recognized and hadn't felt since…

"Im…impressive shooting," Corneo stammered as he backed up further.

"Shut up!" our intrepid leader screamed at him, finally regaining his faculties.

"Just listen to me!" the overweight man begged. "It won't take long. Why do you think a bad guy like me would swallow his pride and beg for his life?"

"Because he's sure he's going to win," I heard Buffy mutter from beside me, the place she had retreated to after the wyvern had fallen from her hands.

Her voice carried over the rocky terrain to the ears of Don Corneo.

"Right!" he exclaimed and he held up a tiny remote control. He gleefully pressed the red button and the young ninja and the lone female Turk rotated on the face of the carved mountain until they hung upside down.

I could hear Tifa and Cloud both gasping in fear and I glanced down at the immortal beside me. Her face held only interest, as though she was wondering about the mechanics holding the girls to the cliff face rather than their actual plight. A sentiment I shared actually. Their deaths, should they happen, would have no bearing in my quest for revenge.

They were all expendable. Every last one of them. But a small part of me was willing to admit that I would be sad to see Buffy go.

"If I push this button, they'll fall upside down, and we'll have squashed tomatoes," the jovial, obese man sang.

"Damn!" Cloud cursed just as Tifa yelled at Don Corneo that he was a coward.

"Now, give me your women too!" he demanded, eyeing the brunette martial artist who, I am forced to admit, was rather gifted in the chest area, and Buffy, who was looking back at the ludicrous villain as though he was the prey and not she. I thought I saw him shudder, but I couldn't be sure that it wasn't arousal.

"I guess I'm the one who's laughing last," the man was chuckling.

A cool voice came from behind us. "No, that would be us."

Reno of the Turks walked casually past, sidestepping Cloud, Tifa, Buffy, and myself and coming to a stop just past us, on the thumb of the giant hand we stood upon.

"The Turks," Corneo whispered.

The redhead sneered at him. "You've known this was going to happen ever since you leaked that secret. We're going to take care of you…personally." The man's eyes were alight with a mad gleam. A predatory glow I was sure would be echoed in the eyes of the small, blonde woman at my side.

"Then they're all going with me!" Corneo threatened, desperately trying to find a way to bargain for his pathetic life.

The bald Turk stepped out of the shadows on an outcropping next to the face on which the girls were imprisoned, drawing a gun and cleanly shooting the remote out of the villain's hand.

The Don was startled at the sudden movement and jumped back, stumbling and slipping off the hand, only to catch himself on the tip of the stone fingers.

"Good timing, Rude," Reno chuckled.

"Let's get to work," the man said, not even acknowledging his partner's compliment.

Reno jumped from his perch on the thumb to land in a crouch a few feet in front of Buffy. He spared me a glance and gave her a flirtatious wink before advancing on the dangling kidnapper. He stepped decisively on the fingers of Corneo's left hand, twisting his heel slightly until at least one of the Don's bones cracked under the strain.

"Wait!" Cloud cried. "You can't do that!"

He rushed forward, intent on pushing between Buffy and myself. But the woman held out her arm and Cloud, running into it, sprawled backwards onto the ground. She knelt down next to him, her eyes still fixed on the actions of the Turk.

"That blonde chick up there?" she said quietly. "One of their people. I'm kinda thinking that entitles them to a bit of retribution, don't you?" She glanced down at the inert swordsman. "And it sounds like they have more reasons too, doesn't it?"

Reno glanced back at Buffy. She gave him a nod and a small smile. When the man realized he wasn't about to be interrupted by a spiky-haired SOLDIER, he continued. "All right, Corneo. This'll be over quick, so listen up. Why do you think we went to all the trouble of teaming up with those guys to get you?"

I'm sure it was supposed to be a rhetorical question, but Corneo decided to answer it anyway. "Uh, because you were sure you would win?" he whimpered.

"All wrong," Reno said coldly. He began twisting his heel again, deaf to the pleas of his enemy.

Corneo scrambled for purchase for a few moments against the rough stone, but gravity was not on his side.

Buffy and I both stepped forward to watch him tumble though the air.

"The correct answer was…because it's our job," Reno muttered.

I watched her watching that bloated body rocketing towards the jagged rocks below. A smile graced her delicate features, a predatory gleam in her eyes, and I was reminded yet again that the petite woman was beside me was not exactly as innocent as she first appeared. Tifa had covered her eyes and turned away, and even Cloud averted his gaze, contenting himself with watching Rude cut the two girls off the rock.

The redheaded Turk, Reno sidled up next to us. "Pretty fancy fighting, yo," he said as he blatantly appraised the woman's physical attributes. "You got a name?"

My companion glanced at the man with an amused smile. "Buffy," she answered.

Reno nodded in acknowledgement, his eyes still raking over her in a way that seemed to make me irrationally angry. I was surprised at my reaction to the man and I filed the strange feeling away for later dissection.

"You know, we could always use another good fighter, yo. How would you feel about joining the Turks?" the redhead asked guilelessly.

"Hang on a minute!" Cloud blustered. "You can't just…"

"Ease down, hero," Reno interrupted with a smirk. "I'm just asking the lady a question, yo."

Buffy gave the Turk a wry smile and I watched her eyes rove over his slender form for a moment as she thought over his proposition.

"I'd have to wear a blue suit?" she asked. "And take orders?"

Reno furrowed his brow. "Well, yeah."

"Yeah," she repeated. "I'm gonna have to pass. I've never been one to toe the line."

The Turk laughed heartily as his two compatriots joined him. "Let me know if you change your mind. I'm sure we'll run into each other again," he said and then he, Rude, and Elena began the trek back down the mountain, leaving us with the despondent and sullen Yuffie.

The young thief was spared what might have been a spirited dressing down by our fearless leader, as he still gaped at the casual dismissal of the Turks by our newest member. I glanced at Buffy from the corner of my eye and was pleased to note that she was coolly meeting the blond swordsman's gaze.

Her eyes held nothing. No emotion. No remorse for the man that had splattered on the rocks beneath us. No amusement about the strange job offer she had received.

Nothing.

I wondered momentarily if I looked the same. The Turks were skilled in hiding emotions. They taught us in the Organization, beat it into our naïve skulls. And we were naïve, every one of us, and then thrust into the world of the jaded. Sometimes that ingrained mask of indifference was all I had to keep me from screaming.


	9. Something Different Going Wrong

I own nothing. Just playing.

Chapter Nine

Something Different Going Wrong

Buffy's POV

Often it does seem a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat.

Mark Twain

I looked into Cloud's glowing eyes and was somehow reminded of seeing the disapproving stares of my friends back in Sunnydale. I didn't know exactly what I was in trouble for this time, but I wasn't going to stick around and wait for the inevitable chastisement. I started off down the trail, intent on getting a stiff drink at the bar I had visited earlier.

I felt Vincent fall into place behind me and we descended the mountain in silence, listening to Yuffie babbling inane promises at Tifa and Cloud to return their materia immediately. Everything that had happened and all she could think about was materia. She was even telling them she wanted the ones back that she had been using before.

Insane.

When we reached the main part of town, the blond swordsman, the busty martial artist, and the idiot ninja began heading off in the direction of Yuffie's house, but stopped when they realized we weren't with them. They, Cloud especially, glared at us with impatience.

I sighed, cast a longing glance at Turtle's Paradise, and resigned myself to chasing down the group's materia instead of cultivating a healthy buzz.

"Miss Summers," Vincent said quietly and I turned to him. He held out his arm. "Would you care to join me for a drink? I'm sure our compatriots will be more than happy to alert us when they have finished."

I took the proffered arm and glanced back at the staring group, daring them to say something, anything, derogatory about me, my companion, or anything else. But Cloud only gave us a sharp nod before turning on his heel and stalking away, the two girls following along behind him, casting bug-eyed looks over their shoulders.

I let Vincent lead me into the bar and up to the counter. He ordered drinks for both of us, scotch, neat, while I surveyed the room. Mostly a bunch of Asian-looking guys split between staring at us and staring at a table hidden in the shadows in the back corner of the room.

I studied it for a moment and, as Vincent handed me my drink, I could just make out the occupants at the table. The Turks. It seemed as though, even after all the life-threatening situations, they were still on vacation.

I grabbed Vincent's hand and led him to an empty table in the opposite corner as theirs. My dark-haired companion took the seat in the chair in the corner and I sat across from him. I was curious to see if he would drink with the cloak on, since the thing covered his mouth.

I watched entirely spellbound as he reached up and deftly undid the clasps, all of them, and quickly shrugged his shoulders, letting the cloak fall down his back and pool on his chair.

I had wondered if all the Turks, former as well as current, were preternaturally beautiful, and I found that they were. I wondered idly if it was by design as I stared at Vincent's full and soft pale lips as he took a long, slow sip of his drink.

He was watching me watching him, although he didn't seem to mind in the slightest. I took a slow, savoring sip of my scotch, and the burn at the back of my throat was a pleasant and familiar sensation.

I hadn't drunk a lot in Sunnydale. There was the time with the enchanted beer and the time I got entirely shitfaced with Spike and that was all. I had never understood the appeal until I was stranded on an island in my first dimension and all I had for company was my choice of a lecherous pirate or rum. I picked the rum, although I've had more than a few naughty daydreams about what might have happened if I had chosen the pirate instead.

Anyway, that incident was the beginning of my appreciation for liquor. And even though the scotch was delicious and strong, I was becoming more and more intoxicated by the glowing red eyes staring into mine.

I wanted to break the silence. I really did. There were a million things I wanted to ask him. Why the group had found him in a coffin. What had happened to him before that. What Yuffie had meant when about him turning into a monster.

Whether or not he wanted to go get a room at the nearest Inn because he was gorgeous and it had been a very long time for me.

But luckily, I didn't say any of those things, especially that last one. I felt that if Vincent ever wanted me to know anything, he would tell me, but he wouldn't appreciate prying, no matter how curious I was.

I was just about to completely embarrass myself by staring at his full, sexy lips again, when he threw his cloak back on, fastening it with practiced ease. A moment later, someone sat down beside me, flinging an arm around my shoulders.

"Hello, Reno," I said as I watched the fiery redhead from the corner of my eye. He really was a pretty one, with his wide, sardonic smile and those red scars beneath his eyes. He also had very long fingers that were playing in the hair that spilled over my left shoulder.

"Buffy," he acknowledged with a smile. Then he nodded at my companion. "Valentine."

Vincent raised an eyebrow at him, clearly questioning what he was doing sitting at our table. We drank in silence, Reno and I, while Vincent's drink sat forgotten and ignored in front of him, and I watched them both as much as I was able. When our glasses were finished, it was the Turk that signaled for another round.

We had barely started on our second drinks when Rude joined us, sliding in next to Vincent without a word, beer in hand. It was hard to tell behind the sunglasses, but I had the feeling he was glaring at Reno.

"You didn't have to say that," he said finally.

The man beside me looked over at him and I realized he had been staring at me. I glanced at Vincent in confusion, my rock in a strange situation and found that he was watching Reno with slightly narrowed eyes and a blank face.

"No, she needs to know," Reno said to his partner. "She's a Turk for god's sake. She can't act that weak or she shouldn't be part of the organization." He sighed and downed the rest of his drink before signaling for another round for the table. "Where is she now?"

"The Inn," Rude supplied.

Reno smirked. "Good. Maybe she won't be as bitchy after some sleep." Then he turned to Vincent and me. "So, what are you two doing with that group of yahoos, yo?" he asked curiously.

I glanced at Vincent, but I knew very well that he wasn't going to say anything. And I had put up with enough silent treatment from the rest of the team to deal with it while sitting in the bar.

"I have a debt to repay," I answered finally after a long sip of my drink.

"A debt to that Chocobo-haired loser?" Reno asked incredulously.

I smirked. "No, more like a debt to the Higher Powers. Helping Cloud's group just happens to fulfill the parameters."

"No honor among debtors, yo," Reno chuckled. "How'd you learn to fight so well? If you were in SOLDIER, you'd have mako eyes, but you don't. And no one fights like that without some kind of training." He narrowed his eyes at me as though he were going to find the answers hidden in my skin.

I was going to answer him, although I'm not entirely sure I was planning to be truthful, but I was interrupted by furious glowing eyes.

"First he offers you a job and now you're drinking with them?" Cloud bellowed.

The few remaining customers bolted for the doors and the bartender gave the swordsman a venomous glare before retreating to the back room. I guess he didn't want to get caught up in a fight, if it came to that. I was also betting that the Turks' tab was going to be outrageous.

"Please," I said jovially, "pull up a chair.

Strife eyed me, the distrust palpable in his gaze. He looked from me to Vincent and back again, ignoring the two other men at the table entirely.

Finally, after the nudging of his lone, buxom companion, he dragged a chair over for Tifa and one for himself, placing them at the end of the table. He sat in the one he put next to Rude, perhaps remembering that the bald Turk was the one with the crush on Tifa, leaving her to sit next to Reno. Then he looked at me pointedly, waiting for an answer.

"Hey, we're just having a drink. It's not like we're discussing strategy," I said in confusion. "Kinda not seeing the big deal."

The blond's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. "It's not a big deal?" he asked incredulously. He pointed at Reno for emphasis. "That guy dropped the Plate on Sector Seven! He's killed hundreds of people. He's nothing but a cold-blooded murderer. And you're both just calmly having a drink with him?"

"Yep," I replied easily, popping the 'p.' "Maybe you've forgotten, but I wasn't here for the beginning of your little crusade. And perhaps I don't understand the situation completely, because I was under the impression that the Plate was dropped to stop your group, AVALANCHE, from blowing up any more reactors." I looked to Rude and Reno for confirmation, and they both nodded solemnly. "And just out of curiosity, did anyone die in those reactor explosions?"

"Twenty-two engineers, five scientists, and a janitor," Reno answered grimly before taking a deep swig of his scotch.

"And Vincent?" I inquired politely of the stoic gunman. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

The redhead beside me began to snicker and Rude even looked over and raised an eyebrow over his glasses.

Vincent gazed at me, those limitless red eyes making things quiver deep inside me and I had to forcibly push myself to ignore it.

"Yes," he finally answered. "I have taken life before."

"As have I. So, it's safe to say that there are only murderers at this table," I surmised.

The three Turks, former and current, didn't exactly look shocked, but Tifa and Cloud looked absolutely stricken by the comparison.

"But," the brunette fighter sputtered, "we were trying to help people."

Her protests rang hollow in my ears. "Oh, so I guess since your reasons were slightly more altruistic than theirs," I said, gesturing at the Turks, "that makes those people that were caught in a fiery reactor explosion a little less dead? No. And since their blood is on your hands, I think judging people is a little bit hypocritical. Just because we all fight for a different reason doesn't mean any of us are better. As long as our ultimate aims are the same, that's all that should count. And I don't think these guys want that meteor to hit this planet any more than you do."

Cloud glared vehemently at me. "I don't agree with their methods," he spat self-righteously.

"Doesn't matter," I dismissed with a casual wave of my hand. "None of us want the planet destroyed or Sephiroth to take over, so we should all just stay out of each other's way."

I downed the rest of my drink and stood, grabbing my sword from where I had unceremoniously leaned it against the wall and slung it up on my shoulder. "Are we trekking back to the airship tonight or what?" I asked, eyeing the darkening windows. The dark didn't bother me. The Slayer gig comes with excellent night vision, but not everyone was like that.

Tifa shook her head. "We've got rooms at the Inn. You and Vincent are sharing one," she said as she held out a small, brass key.

I took it, ignoring the fact that my comments had caused her eyes to fill with tears, and after a moment's consideration, I leaned down and kissed Reno on the cheek. "Thanks for the drink," I said before I stalked out of the bar and into the night.


	10. Broken Bones

Chapter Ten

Broken Bones

Vincent's POV

Kirk: I take it the odds are against us and the situation is grim.

Picard: You could say that.

Kirk: Sounds like fun!

~Star Trek: Generations

I had always been impressed that there were some people that could speak precisely what was on their minds regardless of whether or not it would hurt someone. I had always been shy, in my youth and as an adult. So to hear Buffy yelling at Cloud, using arguments that he had never even considered applied to him and our group, was entertaining indeed. The Turks at our table were looking smugly at the swordsman and the martial artist's obvious distress at the parallels she drew.

I could have gone without seeing the kiss to the redhead's cheek though. He kept smirking at me, as if he knew the way my stomach had clenched with despair the moment her lips met his skin.

I thought, although I could never be certain about such matters, that there had been a moment earlier, before our privacy had been compromised, where we had shared…something. Felt something…

I stood and wordlessly threw enough gil to cover both mine and Buffy's drinks onto the table. The polished wooden floor of the bar made loud thumps as my plated boots moved over them, and I was thankful for the relative quiet of the night when I left the bar behind me.

What the devil was I doing? I loved Lucrecia. Only Lucrecia. I couldn't have feelings for Buffy, I told myself as I stormed towards the Inn. It was a betrayal. Blasphemy. No, I wouldn't allow it.

I wandered for a while, passing the Inn multiple times as I mentally flogged myself for my desire for the blonde immortal. How could I have such feelings for the woman if I loved Lucrecia? I had loved the same woman unfailingly for over thirty years, although admittedly I was in a coffin for most of that time. But this thing with Buffy? No, it would be better if I ignored such trivialities entirely.

Satisfied with my decision, I entered the Inn, snuck past the snoring man at the counter, and up the stairs. One of the doors was slightly ajar and a soft light was spilling into the hallway.

I approached the door and peaked in the open doorway.

The room contained two large bed pallets, traditional Wutai decoration, blue satin comforters tucked in delicately around the mattresses on the floor. There were silk fans and the quintessential paper lanterns that characterized the culture of Wutai.

I had always been so accustomed to all the conventions of the city, being born and raised here. It wasn't until I was seventeen and had arrived in Midgar that I realized the décor I was so used to was considered relatively exotic. And seeing the blonde, green-eyed woman sitting within the room made it look even more so.

Or perhaps it was just her.

"Well, are you coming in or not?"

I stared with shock at being caught unawares. It wasn't often anyone got the drop on me. I slid inside the door and shut it softly. Buffy sat upon the far bed pallet, cross-legged and braiding beads back into her damp hair, not even glancing in my direction. Clearly she had taken a shower in the time it had taken me to wander about town and mentally flog myself. Before her was an unfolded piece of white paper which seemed to hold all her attention.

I sat down on the bed closest to the door and watched her small fingers deftly manipulate the sections of her hair into a few little braids decorated with the orange and blue beads I had never seen her without. She, still staring at the paper in front of her, ran her fingers through the rest of her hair.

I glanced at the document. It was covered in the loopy handwriting unique to a teenage girl and, spying a coiled green ribbon, I realized she was reading the note she had received on the bridge of the airship. The one attached to her sword. The one from another world.

"Dear Buffy," the woman read aloud and I looked up to see a blank expression on her face. "You're gone and so's your trunk. Sword's still here, but it probably won't be for long, so I gotta be quick, ya know? And there's so much I want to say to you.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me. And I'm not just talking about saving the world. I mean, what you did for me personally. Consoling me when Home was destroyed. Talking me out of my crush on Tidus, and then the one on Auron. Helping me through Wakka's prejudice. You helped make me into the person I am now and I will never forget it. I always wanted a sister, and I feel like I found one in you. Don't forget us. E muja oui. Rikku."

She folded the piece of paper and tucked it into the pocket of her pants.

"I thought you would not read it in front of the others," I said softly. "Why share it with me?"

She blinked at me for a moment. "Because you aren't like the others, are you?" Buffy said with a small smirk. "You don't feel like the rest of them anyway."

I didn't get to ask what she meant by that because she quickly changed the subject.

"When I made the deal, the one with the Powers, I had a sister named Dawn. Seventeen. Bratty. Stole my clothes all the time." She smiled wryly. "I loved her so much. So much I died for her once."

I raised my eyebrow at this but said nothing. I got the distinct impression that she wouldn't have told me if I had asked anyway.

"I've met a lot of teenage girls in my…travels. Hermione. Ginny. Luna. River. Penelo. Relm. Jack. Claire. Usagi and her friends. But none of them reminded me of Dawn the way Rikku did. She was quirky and awkward and she had this way about her. This way of worming her way into somebody's heart. No matter what kind of barriers I had up, no matter how much I wasn't interested, I couldn't help but adore her."

Buffy stood and turned down the bed, her back to me as she continued to speak. "She just attached herself to me like a fungus and there was nothing I could do. I miss her."

She slipped her pants down her hips and climbed into her bed as I tired desperately to avert my eyes from the sight of her green panties. They matched the bra we had all glimpsed earlier when she had donated her undershirt to Tifa's wound. I felt lecherous and disgusted that I was looking, but she didn't notice as she lay down and extinguished the lamp by her bed. She closed her eyes and, after watching her for a few minutes, her breathing evened out and she slept.

I removed my cape and boots and lay atop the bed on my back, hands folded behind my head. So much for my steely resolve. She had opened up to me, like a friend. Like a confidant. And it affected me more than the sight of her half-clothed did. Lucrecia had never been so casual with me.

I had often wondered why she had never told me that she and her husband, Hojo, intended to use their unborn child as a test subject for the Jenova project. Did she not trust me enough to confide? Did she know I would oppose it so vehemently I'd get myself killed? Or, and this was the point that had caused me to stay in the coffin for so many years, did she truly never care about me the way I cared for her? She had flirted…but was I only a source of amusement to pass the time? I didn't know. Could never be sure.

It was with those tortured thoughts that I fell asleep.

The moment I began to dream, I knew it wasn't mine.

The landscape, the people, the fortress on which I stood, I had never seen before. Only one thing was recognizable.

Buffy strode through the people on the battlements with two men, one tall and slender with long, blond hair and pointed ears, and the other a dark haired man with the scruff of a beard only periodically shaven and a pleasant face. People stirred smartly to remove themselves from the path of the three. For all three were warriors. A blind man could have seen it.

They stopped halfway along and Buffy, clad in dark leather pants and a green tunic, hopped up on the battlement, landing in a low crouch. The blond man leapt up beside her and together they stood.

"Legolas. Dagnir. See you anything?" the dark haired man asked.

The blond man, Legolas, looked down at his companion, his countenance grave and his eyes grim. "Ten thousand strong at least," he said. "You were right, Aragorn."

Buffy jumped down, her face determined. "I'd say we've got little over two hours until they get here."

"Well then, lass," a new voice said, "we'd best get to the armory and shore up our defenses." The gruff sound came from a small, stout man approaching them. He gave Buffy a critical once over from his short height. He barely reached the small woman's shoulder. "I doubt there's going to be anything to fit you," he told her. "Not a lot of armor made for women."

Buffy laughed as she and the other two men followed the newcomer off the battlements and down into the center of the fortress. "Gimli, I've never worn armor before and I'm not about to start now!" she exclaimed as she walked. "And besides, if this backwards world would just let women fight…"

"Dagnir," Aragorn interrupted, "this convention is not up for debate. Just because you are a warrior, that does not mean every other woman must be one as well."

"Most men would prefer not to watch the women they love march to war," Legolas added softly. "I do not seem to have that blessed luxury."

"What're you talking…about…" Buffy trailed off as the full implications of his words registered and she stopped walking, staring over at the blond man with bewilderment. "Uh, you guys go on without me. I'll meet you at the ramparts," she said before she turned and sprinted away, her braided hair swinging behind her.

Legolas and I both stared after her, even though I was fully aware that it was a dream and there was no way for me to offer my assistance to the trouble woman. Or the heartbroken man, for that matter.

He began to go after her, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, Aragorn's, and the words of the small man.

"Let her go, lad," Gimli said kindly. "Let her be."

I, on the other hand, followed Buffy to a fairly abandoned corner of the battlements. She sat down against the stone wall and buried her face in her hands, pulling her knees up to her chest.

She looked so defeated and I wasn't sure what it was about the comment that had bothered her so. I sat down next to her and wished this wasn't a dream, that I could comfort her in some way. And I realized that the statement was completely at odds with everything I had resolved while wandering through Wutai. How could I remain emotionally distant if I cared so much? I knew I wouldn't have done the same thing for the ninja or the pilot. Why should Buffy be any different?

But somehow, she was.

Footsteps approached a few moments later and we both looked up to find Aragorn standing on Buffy's other side, looking out over the battlements at the approaching army.

I hadn't bothered to look at it myself.

"Shouldn't you be in the armory?" she asked him, her voice muffled by her hands.

The man glanced down at her with a self-depreciating smile. "The Prince of Mirkwood and I have had a disagreement," he said. "He believes we're all going to die."

Buffy looked up at him in surprise. "He's usually not so depressing."

Aragorn shrugged. "Well, it is not every day one tells a woman he loves her and she runs like a frightened deer. Perhaps it is affecting his mood."

The woman groaned and rose to lean against the ramparts. "Why did he have to say that?" she asked despairingly. "It's not going to change anything. It can't."

Her compatriot placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Why can't it, Dagnir? You push us from you and you suffer, day by day. We all see it. Could it really hurt to let him in? Even for a short while?"

Buffy sighed heavily and stared over the wall. I rose, and for the first time, I looked as well. There, over a rapidly darkening plain, were thousands of dark creatures. Not men, but lesser things, marching down to the fortress. I glanced around at the handful of soldiers and the plethora of old men and young boys holding swords and wearing armor far to large for their slight frames, casting terrified looks at each other.

I rather agreed with Legolas. These people hadn't a prayer.

"I really thought you would understand," Buffy finally began. "I can't get too close. What would be worse? Rejecting him now? Or giving in and being blissfully happy, running around Middle Earth and killing things until the Ring and Sauron are destroyed and we win and all is right with the world…until I get forcefully pulled away from this place and deposited somewhere else, to start all over with a different group of people? Don't you think this is hard for me, doing all this? I can't let it get any more complicated."

Aragorn nodded sagely, but had one more thing to say before he let the subject drop. "Perhaps, if he believes we will all die here, he did not want you to perish without knowing of his feelings. Or perhaps he believes he will not survive this fight. Or maybe he wanted you to realize that, even when your quest is done in Arda and you have left our world for another, you will know that there is someone, the elf prince of Mirkwood no less, that loves you."

Buffy didn't reply. There was no need as there was nothing to say to that. For a few minutes more, they stood together in silence and watched what might be their doom bearing down upon them.

Finally, Aragorn spoke again. "Come. Let us go the armory. It should be empty by now."

I watched them walk off and wondered if I should follow. After a few moments, I realized I needed to. There was no one else there I knew and it was only a dream, clearly speared on by the story Buffy had told us as she removed the bullet from Tifa's arm.

But why in the name of Shiva was I dreaming about it? It made no logical sense.

And yet, I followed her slender form as she and Aragorn walked through the mulling makeshift soldiers. They entered the armory and looked at the few usable pieces of armaments that seemed to remain. As Aragorn pulled on a rusty shirt made of interlocking metal rings, Buffy fingered the remnants on the walls, dusty knives and ancient, broken swords.

The man eyed the immortal carefully and then he began to speak in a quiet, confident voice. "Even though I know Arwen leaves this shore with the last of her kind, no other woman, elf-kind or not, will hold any appeal for me. Is that part of why you resist Legolas' overtures? Because of the love you left behind?"

Buffy blanched as she whirled around to stare at him. Her face was open and vulnerable for a moment before it closed down and hardened completely, an expression I had seen on her face many times in the short period I had known her. Her vibrant green eyes were flinty and a seasoned warrior stood in place of the girl.

"He has nothing to do with this!" she growled. "Don't even talk about him! You think you know something about me just because you have a doomed, forever love thing going on with Arwen? You don't know anything!" A single tear coursed down her cheek. She turned away from him and took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I spent so long defending my actions and feelings for Spike that I think I do it without thinking."

"Worry not, Dagnir," Aragorn said kindly. He walked forward and placed a large hand on her thin shoulders. "I am not offended. I just want you to be sure that your love for this man will not define you all the years of your life. It has been a very long time, Buffy. No man, no matter how honorable and great, for I am sure he was, is worth thirty years of guilt and grief. Do you believe yourself to be the only one that has lost someone? The only one to fail the people you care for?" he asked seriously, his eyes trained on the woman's pale face.

"You're kind of a hypocrite, you know that, right?" she said with a grim smile, reaching out to touch the chain of a necklace resting at the dark haired man's throat.

He smirked and covered her hand with his own. "You are like kin to me, Buffy. I have no wish to see you waste away because of an impossible dream. Not when there is an elf, a dear friend, waiting to win your affections," he said.

Buffy snorted. "Winning them is so not an issue," she muttered.

"Ah," Aragorn laughed knowingly. "I see. So the fair prince already holds sway over our Dagnir's heart."

The woman sighed. "Aragorn, I love you like a brother, like a Scooby, but believe me when I say I will hurt you if you so much as mention anything."

"Just think about it, Dagnir," he said. "Love is a beautiful gift. It may never come again."

"I understand," she said, and then she smiled at him just as Legolas and Gimli entered the armory.

Legolas' face was carefully neutral at the scene before him, but when Buffy turned her grin on him, he had no choice but to return it. He moved toward her, perhaps powerless to do anything else.

Aragorn and Gimli both took a few steps back, giving the other two a semblance of privacy.

"I must apologize, my lady," the elf said softly, casting his eyes down. "I did not mean to upset you."

"No, Legolas," Buffy murmured quietly. "You don't have anything to be sorry about." She reached out and grabbed his hand in hers. "I shouldn't have run. There's no excuse for it. I can only say that your words frightened me because of what I feel for…"

Suddenly they both stiffened.

"Did you hear that?" Buffy demanded of the blond prince in front of her.

Legolas nodded. "That is no orc horn."

As one, they ran for the door and everything went black. I turned around for a few moments, my arms outstretched and searching for something. Anything. A wall. One of the neglected and rusty swords. But there was nothing.

I stumbled and groped for what felt like a year. No sound. No light. Void.

I woke with a start to find Buffy already up and getting dressed. It took me a moment of blinking to realize I was awake and no longer dreaming. The blonde woman gathered up her meager belongings and prepared for the walk back to the airship. I stood, refastened my cape and donned my boots, and watched the girl move about, debating the relevancy of my dream. Did it mean something or was it merely force of suggestion that caused it?

We walked slowly back to the airship. The ex-SOLDIER, Tifa traveling along behind them, was carefully guarding the thieving ninja child and Buffy and I were bringing up the rear.

She had been silent all morning and the other members of the party seemed to be relatively angry at both her observations from the night before and the offer to join the Turks. I wasn't surprised that the redhead had extended it. Not after I had seen her fight and not after I had seen the cold way she had viewed Corneo's death. Had she used a gun, she may have been a better assassin than I ever had been. At least, in the stereotypical sense.

I was musing on such things when Tifa slowed her pace to fall back alongside us. She looked Buffy up and down for a moment, and I noted out of the corner of my eye that she centered on her left arm.

"How'd you get that one?" Tifa asked, pointing. Clearly she was trying to dispel some of the awkwardness between all of us by choosing to ignore it.

Buffy looked up, startled, and extended the arm in question. For the first time, I noticed the deep scar in the flesh of her outer forearm. It was so pronounced, I was shocked that I had failed to notice it before.

She gave the appendage a sad smile. "It's a souvenir from the very first dimension I was dropped into. The Powers had never done anything like it before, so they didn't send Whistler ahead. They just dropped me, quite literally, and unfortunately into the center of a group of soldiers from the East India Trading Company."

She chuckled a bit at our blank looks. "It doesn't really matter who they were. The point is, because I was wearing pants, which was something women didn't do there, I was thrown into a jail in the nearest town, but not before they heated up and iron brand, 'P' for pirate, seared me, and scheduled me to hang."

Tifa stared at her, openmouthed. "But…but…how did you manage to escape?"

Buffy scoffed. "I didn't. Not on my own, anyway. A few hours later, another prisoner was brought in. A real pirate. A man named Jack Sparrow. He took a liking to me. We talked all night about life and death and everything in between since we thought we were going to die. But another man named Will Turner came and helped Jack escape early the next morning, needing his assistance with something and Jack said he wouldn't leave without me. So they took me with them."

She stretched her arms over her head, arching her back until it popped. "It was the first time I ever had to take direction from someone else. I had always been the one in charge, you know?" she said with a grin. "And the first person I had to take orders from was Jack freakin' Sparrow. Man, that was tough. In the first two weeks, when we sailed from Port Royale to Tortuga, I learned how to crew a boat and how to follow. And I made my first friends outside of the same ones I had always had in Sunnydale. Back home."

We walked on in silence until the airship came into view. The team met us outside, where Cloud began the arduous task of explaining all that had happened. Buffy slid through the group, entirely unnoticed, and slipped back up into the ship. I waited only a moment before following.

She wasn't hard to find. She sat before her trunk in our room. I watched from the doorway as she opened it, removed the top insert, and reached into the far left corner, retrieving a long bundle wrapped in a tattered and stained, red and white striped cloth. She placed the package on her lap and stared at it, head bowed, with an almost imperceptible smile on her face.

I felt, more than saw, Tifa come up alongside me. We both watched as Buffy slowly pulled the cloth apart, revealing a few items. She palmed a crude looking pistol the likes of which I had never seen.

"It's called a flint lock," Buffy said quietly. She looked sideways at us and jerked her head, indicating for us to enter. "No self respecting pirate ever goes anywhere without one. This," she said, handing the item to me as I passed her to sit on the bed, "was the height of gun technology for three hundred years. I have no shot for it and no gun powder, but since I was already talking about Jack and Will, I thought I'd pull out the stuff they gave me and attempt to O.D. on nostalgia."

I turned the gun over in my hands. It was made of dark smooth wood and glinting metal. I pointed it at the wall, testing its weight. It was heavier than I had first imagined.

"Jack Sparrow was given that when he was marooned on a desert island by his first mate, Barbossa. It had one shot in it. That's no help for hunting, but after a few days in the sun with no food, that shot starts to look pretty friendly, I imagine. He escaped the island, though, and carried the damn thing for years until encountering the mutineer again and he finally shot him. Then he gave it to me, along with this," she said, holding up a silver ring decorated with intricate skull embossing on the sides and a large emerald in the setting. She slid it on to the middle finger of her right hand.

As she admired it momentarily, Tifa craned her neck to attempt to see the contents of the trunk from her perch on the bed. "So…what else is in there?" she asked slyly.

Buffy stared at her for a moment and then grinned widely. "Want me to show you?"


	11. The Warmth I Feel

I own nothing. Just playing.

Chapter Eleven

The Warmth I Feel

Buffy's Point of View

"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?"

~Steven Wright

I had almost forgotten how much stuff was in my trunk. I had been pulling things out of the damn thing for well over an hour and there was still no end in sight. Cloud had poked his head in to tell us that the airship was heading back towards the crater where Sephiroth had summoned the meteor, so we could see if there were any clues to where he had gone and what his next move might be, and we would be there in the morning. Vincent almost looked like he wanted to disagree, as did I, but none of us said anything until he shut the door.

Tifa coughed gently as she saw what I was sure was a rather traitorous expression on my face.

"Sorry," I said, completely chagrinned. "You'd think after all this time I'd be better at taking orders from other people. But, I gotta say, it's easier to listen to Cloud than it was to the under-washed over-make-uped pirate I started with."

"Hey, what're these?"

I looked up from the round goblin dream crystals I was twirling in my hands. Tifa held up a blue velvet bag in one glove and a glowing orange ball in the other.

"Spheres," I said simply. I was being intentionally obstinate, but at the withering glare the female martial artist shot me, I amended my statement. "In Spira, spheres are used to record. Like videos." I shrugged. "I don't know if you even have things like that here. But some of the people I was traveling with decided to start recording our little adventure so I wouldn't forget any of them. That's what the bag's full of."

"Wow!" Tifa exclaimed, turning the sphere over in her hand. "Is there a way to watch them? How do they work?"

I shared an amused glance with Vincent, who had been lingering on the edges of the conversation, trying to pretend he wasn't at all interested in the items I was pulling out of the trunk, but I knew better. I had seen him eyeing the sawed-off shotgun Dean Winchester had given me. I was thinking of letting him use it if he could find ammo for it.

"Yeah," I answered finally. "I have a projecting sphere player Rikku gave me for my birthday last year." I scoured the trunk and pulled it out. It was a large cube with a recess for the sphere to sit in. I took the bag from Tifa and dug through it to find the one with the #1 scratched into it. Popping it into its designated slot, I observed my roommate and the curious girl as they watched the sphere glow bright and project an image onto the gray metal wall.

The picture was of a man, his arms outstretched, clearly holding the recorder facing him. He had bright, carrot-colored hair that stood high off his head. He scratched his stubbly chin and then grinned widely.

"Rikku, it's recording now, ya?" he asked, glancing off to his right.

A blonde girl poked her head into view. "Yep," she said cheerfully. "Go ahead."

"Uh…ok. Hey, Buffy. It's Wakka, ya? We…"

"What're you doing?" came a curious voice and the bright blue eyes and the sun-bleached hair of Tidus peaked over the taller man's shoulder.

Rikku came into frame again. "Well," she began, " we know Buffy's going to have to leave after she finishes helping us, you know? We're recording her a sphere so she doesn't forget us."

Tidus grinned widely at the two would-be filmmakers. "Somehow, I doubt she's going to need this to remember, but I'll help you anyway."

We watched as they went through the party, introducing teammates and giving me basic messages of well wishes for when everything was all over. Only two people were missing from the lineup.

Tidus took the sphere recorder and broke away from the group, stepping outside the inn. And find the missing members he did, standing on a grassy outcropping overlooking the water and the brilliant orange and pink of the sun setting over the Mi'hen Highroad. Auron and myself.

I wore all black, as I often did now, my hair loose and slightly moving in the mild wind. Auron stood to my left, his long red kimono-type coat fluttering faintly in the breeze.

As we watched the forms facing away from the camera on the cliff, Tidus began to speak softly.

"You're with him a lot, aren't you, Buffy? Sometimes I wonder what you talk about. You told me that the two of you are more alike than anyone you'd ever met, but I don't see it."

In the image, we saw as I bowed my head and Auron reached out to put his gloved hand on my shoulder. I remembered the moment vividly. It was when he told me he was dead and no matter the outcome of the quest, when it was over, he was finished. I thought I would be leaving then and even had he lived, I wouldn't have ever seen him again anyway, but it didn't matter. The multiverse was a far better place with him in it. But, of course, I didn't leave Spira until a few years later, and his loss affected me more than I had ever guessed it would.

Image-me nodded at something Auron said and turned back towards the inn. My hands were in my pockets and I stared down at the ground, not looking at Tidus and his sphere recorder at all.

As I drew even with him, his hand snaked out and grabbed mine. I turned my face up to look at him. My eyes were slightly glassy but there were no tears and my face was blank.

"Are you all right?" Tidus asked, concern coloring his voice. "What did he say to you?"

My recorded counterpart smiled tiredly. "I'm fine. And what he said isn't important."

The figure turned and was only two steps further when Tidus asked another question that made me stop. "Do you love him?"

I heard Tifa gasp and look at me like she was watching a beautiful love story in the making. I kept my eyes on the picture, not wanting to see the pity on her open face when she realized that, had that been the case, it would have ended sadly.

That adventure hadn't been my story anyway. But then again, none of them really had. Not since leaving Sunnydale.

My image turned slowly and squinted at the blond young man, eyes flicking down to the sphere recorder in his hands.

"I love all of you," I had said guardedly.

"No," he said impatiently. "You know exactly what I mean. Are you in love with him?"

My image turned completely around and stared out of frame at where Auron was standing. "In another place and time, I could have been. But not here and not now. I try not to make a habit of falling in love with the people I meet in my travels. Only ends in heartbreak."

The recorder turned and showed Auron still with his back to it, looking into the sunset, and when it swiveled back, I was gone.

"Damn," Tidus muttered.

The image moved closer to Auron until it was apparent he was standing next to, but facing, the older Guardian.

Auron's left eye was scarred over, so he was forced to turn his head completely around to look at Tidus. Behind his sunglasses, I could see his eyes flick down to the sphere and then back up, presumably to Tidus. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked gruffly.

"We're making a sphere for Buffy. When the pilgrimage is over and she leaves to help other people, we don't want her to…well…forget about us," came the young man's voice.

Auron turned back to watching the sunset without a word.

"So…you're the only one that hasn't recorded some kind of message for her," he continued. "And since you guys seem to be so close, I thought you might want to. Here." He thrust the sphere into Auron's hand. The image was only that of the older man's gloved fingers and the grass. "I'm sure whatever you have to say should be said alone. And don't over complicate it.

Tidus could be heard walking away and Auron was grumbling under his breath. But finally, after a few moments, he held up the sphere and looked into it. The wind ruffled his gray-sprinkled black hair.

"Remember, Buffy," he said quietly, "every story must end. You chose your destiny. Believe in it." He stopped speaking when a huge commotion erupted behind him. He dropped the sphere and pulled his sword from where he had stuck it into the ground, whirling about to face the threat. The sphere was perfectly positioned on the ground to catch all the action.

The door of the inn had been thrown open and I could be seen chasing Rikku around the building. As we flew past the front again, my image leapt into the air, hovering with what was perhaps impossible hang-time for a human, and landed in front of the young blonde girl. I dropped and swept a leg out, knocking her legs out from under her. She landed hard on her back, and as she groaned about the unfairness of it all, I pried the necklace from her straining fingers. Image-Buffy pulled Rikku to her feet.

The younger blonde moaned and rubbed her backside. "Oh, poopie! You big meanie!" she whined. "How'd you even know I took it? I mean, I took Auron's prayer beads this morning and he still hasn't noticed, you know?"

A foot came into view in the foreground. A large black boot. And then a low growl sounded through the air.

Rikku spun to face the noise and the sphere recorder, then slowly backed away with her arms held up in a surrendering gesture.

Auron growled again, taking a few steps forward and the recording of me smirked. "Do you hear that? It's the sound of the Reaper calling your name," I teased.

The little thief looked panicked. "Come on, Auron," she pleaded. "It was just in fun, you know? I was practicing!"

The elder guardian shifted his grip on the sword. "Pray…now!" he shouted as he charged at her.

"Praying!" Rikku screamed as she turned and took off full tilt away from the red-clad madman who was intent on taking the beads back by force.

Tidus and I were visible in the background of the image, clinging to each other and almost collapsing under the strain of our laughter. Every few moments, Auron and his prey crossed the screen.

Finally, Rikku tossed the beads away and leapt behind me. As the man retrieved them and attached them to his belt, my image turned around and grabbed Rikku gently by the shoulders. "I hope this means you won't be stealing from us anymore?" I asked with an arched eyebrow.

She shook her head vehemently and Tidus lead the traumatized thief back inside. My image turned to smile serenely at Auron and then followed them.

The red-clad man, a legend in Spira, walked back toward the recording sphere and picked it up. He stared at it for a long moment. "Had we but world enough and time," he muttered before the image went blank.

I gaped at it long after it had stopped playing. It was one thing for me to admit it. It was something else entirely to hear him allude to it.

"What happened to him?" Tifa asked softly. "I mean, that sword you carry…it's the one he was carrying, isn't it?"

"Yes," I answered distractedly. "He was dead. The whole time I knew him. Unsent. When we won, he was able to move on. He gave me his sword, his sunglasses, and his prayer beads before he…left."

"The beads in your hair," Vincent observed from his place in the shadows on his bed. His face betrayed nothing as usual, but if I looked closely at his eyes, I thought I could see a warmth there. A sympathy.

"These are the only ones that were left," I said, reaching up to finger one of the small blue ornaments that hung from the six braids interspersed throughout my hair. "I was holding then so tightly while I watched him go, I crushed most of them by accident."

I slowly began loading things back into the trunk. I'd had enough emotional upheaval for the afternoon, and even though I saw Tifa wistfully eyeing the rest of the spheres, I didn't want to see any more. I didn't want to see the celebrations they had recorded after Sin was finally gone, or the sphere of Yuna's wedding, or the one I made of Rikku getting all flustered while I teased her about her secret love, Gippal. I had tried so hard to make a life in that world, believing it would be the last one I would ever see.

But things generally don't turn out how I plan them. And besides, I would have, eventually, outlived all my friends. I couldn't imagine what seeing them grow into elderly people would have been like. And seeing them all die with nothing but myself as a constant. In this world, provided we managed to save it and survive, somewhere out there was someone else that would live forever. When all this was over, I planned to find them somehow. I didn't like the prospect of facing eternity alone.

Who would?


End file.

Buffy X-overs, Drama, Romance