He knew that Cloud was gone. He had watched as the young man had left. He didn't know where he could possibly go or what he could do, but he knew that Cloud had been acting strange ever since they had arrived. He guessed that the boy had a good reason for leaving.

No sunlight showed through the thick, black rainclouds, that morning, or for the rest of that day for that matter. The only way one could tell day from night was to look at a clock. Reno watched as the small City Square bustled to life despite the downpour. Tourists braving the wet ran from building to building, and street merchants tried to sell them worthless junk at impossible prices.

Wutai was primarily a tourist town. Most of their income came from the Tourists, and many people would loose jobs if they ever stopped coming. Wutai was one of the few cities or towns in the world that the Shin-ra hadn't built a Mako reactor for. This was mostly due to the fact that Wutai had been Shin-ra's one and only opposition in the war that had lasted for twenty years, and ended with Shin-ra pretty much ruling the entire world. Relations between Wutai and the Shin-ra had never been very good. After the war, they had pretty much ignored each other. Not even wanting to talk to each other.

Yuffie joined him watching the people running around in the rain. She didn't say anything just watched. Reno was the first to break the silence. "Does it rain like this very often?" he asked

"Yeah almost every day between April and July. But the weird thing is that this is our busiest time of the year." Yuffie pointed out the window at the tourists trying to get as little wet as possible. "those idiots always show up during the wet season thinking that no one else will be here."

"can I ask you something?"

"I guess so."

"You knew Cloud pretty well right?"

"Yeah I guess so. Why do you ask?"

"Do you think he'd forgive me for being on the wrong side?"

"I don't know why don't you ask him?"

"He left last night before it started raining. I don't know I just feel bad for some reason that I can't understand. I caused so much pain to so many people, but I thing I hurt him the most. I just want to say that I'm sorry I guess. And to tell him that I'm never going to be on the wrong side again."

"I'm sure he'll forgive you. He's not much of a grudge carrier, that one. Although he will come after you with a vengeance if you kill someone close to him like Sephiroth did."

"You know when I was growing up I always wanted to be like Sephiroth. I was thrown out of Soldier before I ever got to second class. Even in the Turks I never got famous like him. I never even got to meet him."

"Oh boy you weren't missing much. He was completely insane. I guess that's what happens to people who find out that everything they've been told all their lives is a lie. Sephiroth tried to do that to Cloud. Poor guy couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't for a while there. I wonder what would have happened if we hadn't had Cloud in the end, it he had given up on himself instead of trying to find the truth."

"I think we'd all be dead if he hadn't."

" I know"

Reno reached into a pocket on the inside of his coat for his knife to clean his fingernails, and found it missing. Yuffie put a hand on his shoulder and held his knife out to him. "Relax, I don't allow weapons in my house."

"How did you do that?"

"I used to be a thief. The best actually, I only got caught once."

"I wonder what Professor Gast is doing in Junon. There isn't much there for him there. Just that laboratory that he wanted for some reason."

"My father always used to say 'All will become apparent with time' He always seemed to have one of those old sayings for every possible situation."

"I wish my father had been like that. He hated me; I didn't like anything that he liked. He used to beat me up just because I didn't want to do things with him. That's why I Joined Soldier in the first place. So that maybe I could become a famous war hero, and maybe gain his respect. When I got kicked out I joined the Turks because he was a former Turk. I just wanted for once to have one thing in common with him, but he died before I ever got to tell him about my career choice."

"Don't worry." Yuffie said comfortingly, "He knows. And I bet that he's as proud of you as a father could possibly be. He may not have shown it while he was a kid but all parents love their children no matter what."

"You're pretty smart for someone so young."

"Well being the head of government here in Wutai has helped a little with that."

"How old are you anyway?"

"Eighteen. Why?"

"Wow a sixteen-year-old fought the Shin-ra and won. And I'm pretty glad you guys did. I don't know where I'd be now if you hadn't probably still with the Turks. I wonder if we'll meet any of the others trying to take Junon again."

"Probably they have a bad habit of being in the middle of the fighting. I'm glad I don't have that problem, I'd have to shoot myself."

"Yeah they always do seem to be right in the middle of trouble don't they."

"Come on." Yuffie stood up. "Let's go wake the others."

Professor Gast looked out the window of his new office. It had once been President Shin-ra's, and Rufus Shin-ra's after him. Now it was his. He looked out at the gathering dark clouds above he water, it would soon be raining, and hard by the looks of it. He walked over to his desk and sat down. Things were going pretty well according to his plans. Repairs to the underwater Mako reactor were almost complete. Mako energy was a very important part to his plan. The most important part though was finding that boy, intact.

Seven years before, after the boy had Killed Sephiroth, and come very close to dying himself, Hojo had taken the boy to the underground laboratory in Nibelheim and began his experiment. The boy would have died long ago if Hojo hadn't done what he had to him. Hojo had injected Jenova cells into the boy, far more than the usual amount. Then he had put the boy, and that other young man, the soldier who had also been wounded into Mako Tanks. Where they stayed for two years before somehow escaping.

During the time inside the Mako Tank's the two boys had undergone radical changes. The Jenova cells had reacted with the Mako energy making them stronger physically, and more sensitive to psychic transmissions. While the physical changes occurred Hojo had tried to put more knowledge into their heads. Like more fighting skills and other such things. His goal was to create another Sephiroth, he failed miserably. The two escaped, one of them was killed while escaping and the other had gone on to save the world from Sephiroth and the Shin-ra.

It wasn't really the boy that he wanted. The boy was just a vessel. A living container, carrying the most important part of his plan. Jenova Cells. The boy would most likely die while extracting them but Professor Gas didn't care. All he needed was one cell to make more. Soon he would be the most powerful being on the planet. No one could stop him.

Tifa locked the door of her bar from the inside and walked up the stairs to her apartment above it. She was worried about Cloud. He had been gone far too long. And he had promised to be there for her Birthday. It was now three days past her birthday and he had not so much as sent a message to her. She wondered if something had gone wrong. Cloud always seemed to be in trouble, but what if something serious had happened?

She sat down on her bed and turned on the news. She was shocked to see that someone had attacked and completely taken Junon. All of the Junon military that escaped had regrouped at Wutai. The screen cut to one of people fleeing through a hallway trying to get out of Junon before the army took it. And there right in the middle of them all was Cloud, pushing his way in the opposite direction, and she was even more surprised to see Reno their old Adversary following along beside him.

Now she knew that something was wrong. She stood up and turned off the TV. Barely stopping to put a note on the door of her bar telling her regular customers that she'd be away for a while, she dashed outside and into the night. Looking for any transportation of any sort to Wutai.

Cloud was pulled by whatever it was north and east. Towards the crater where he had killed Sephiroth once and for all. Towards the place where His life had been shattered into billions of pieced and his heart had been ripped out. The City of the Ancients wasn't always called so. No one quite knows what it used to be called so they just call it the City of the Ancients. Cloud was shocked to find that that was where he was being pulled. The city of the ancients.

He landed the plane, a little better than the last time, a little more practice and he would have it down. He started at the strange structures built thousands of years ago in the crevice in the land. Small cliff dwellings and caves, ancient was a fitting description. He walked forwards letting himself be drawn along by the unseen force. He passed through a crevice in the rock and found himself looking at a small building that was the entrance to the true city of the ancients. The crystal city below, Cloud fell to his knees before the small pond where he had laid Aeris to rest in.

It seemed tat his entire life had been lived for someone else. All his life he had done things for other people ahead of himself. And now it seemed that he was about to do it again. His life was full of broken walls and dying dreams. Everything that he had ever wanted or ever wanted to be had been taken from him. All of his dreams smashed before his eyes. All his hopes and loves killed before he had a chance to enjoy them. He had held all his pain and suffering in for most of his life. But now seeing this place again he couldn't stop his sadness from bubbling up.

He had loved Aeris more than anything in his entire life. It had seemed that they were perfect for each other. A perfect match, two halves of a whole. And then Sephiroth had destroyed their future together by taking away the only woman he had ever loved. There was Tifa of course, but he thought of her as a friend that he had grown up with not a lover. He knew the way that she felt about him but he still couldn't bring himself to get over Aeris' death.

Many people would say that this is unhealthy but Cloud had one answer for people like that. Go through something like what he had and then try to tell him that it was unhealthy to mourn. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Unbidden but no unwelcome, it felt good.

He decided that he would find the source of his being drawn later. No he was so tired that he could barely keep awake. Whatever it was had waited for this long and it could wait for a few hours longer. He could still feel it pulling at him very near right in front of him. In the place where, as he looked at it, his life had come to a sudden and screeching halt. He slept with his back against the wall and facing the place where his love lay for all eternity. Caught in eternal youth and beauty under the crystal clear water. In her home, in the Promised Land.