Dark Crossroad

The Coming Darkness

by:

Stephen Garrett Jr.

 

Author's Word

 

     Two years and one month ago, I took the time to write a four-part fanfic, set on the Final Fantasy 7 world a year after the game's time.  That fanfic was "Darkness Ascending", and while it was set in Final Fantasy 7's world, it included characters from Final Fantasy 4 (or FF2 for you Americans/Europeans who don't know about the Japanese FFs never released outside of Japan) and Chrono Trigger, as well as a pair of characters straight out of perhaps the most popular "space opera" in entertainment history: Star Wars.

     "Darkness Ascending" was decently received, it had it's problems and I was quite amateurish at the time, but people enjoyed the story background from what I saw, and it can still be found in the fanfic archive of rpgamer.com.  Shortly after I wrote it, I envisioned a sequel, and in August and September of 2000 began writing said sequel.  But it fell through, I had badly planned it and tried to add too many elements.  So I shelved it, and went on to other, more serious work.

     Now, I've come back to that, in no small part due to the release of Star Wars Episode 2.  I've thought it through, changed and simplified it to make it more enjoyable, and now, it shall come back, and with the benefit of two more years of trial and error in writing.

     Okay, I'll shut up now.  Let the show begin.

 

 

Prologue

 

 

     It has been said that, sometimes, a timeline will reach a critical decision point, where an exact fifty-fifty probability for two outcomes exists.  At that point, the timeline diverges, birthing an alternate universe, so that both outcomes can exist equally.  Not even the guardians of reality understand how these decision points are decided upon, for it is a phenomonen related to the very fabric of reality itself.

     And now, seventeen years after the fall of the self-proclaimed Emperor Karbov and the resurrection of the Jedi Order, those who faced Karbov and the Dark One Zeromus are again threatened by darkness, darkness greater than anything they have yet to encounter and one that will bring about such a divergence....

 

 

     Seventeen years.

     It had been seventeen years since the woman once hailed as the princess and heir to the throne of Zeal had come to her new home and found a new life, a new life learning and in turn teaching, and one shared with a man she loved.

     Schala Torson had enjoyed those seventeen years, loving her husband Silas and having children with him.  And, during this time, working with the Jedi Master Qui-Xi Lao, who had taught Schala and Silas to use their latent abilities in a new fashion with the Jedi arts.  The three of them had come to the town of Nibelheim with two comrades, Cloud and Tifa Strife, and here they had established the basis for a new generation of Jedi.  Traveling across the world, finding those whom the Force had chosen, and bringing them to Nibelheim to learn to use these skills.

     Schala was the proud mother of two children.  Their oldest son had been born very near their first anniversary, and they had named him Janus.  Five years later a daughter, Isha, came.  Both children carried with them a good degree of potential in the Force, and Janus was the Padawan learner of Qui-Xi, given a greater deal of attention than the other students as he learned straight from the Master the ways of the Jedi.

     For nearly seventeen years, Schala had been without complaint in her life, enjoying her relationship with her loving husband and doting on her children.  But the last two months had been different.  She had been suffering from dreams, dreams containing a terrible omen....

     There was light, and it was Schala, alone with Janus.  "Janus?"

     "Mother."  The young teenage boy stepped forward toward his mother and reached out.  "Mother, help me."

     "What is wrong, Janus?"

     "It's coming for me, Mother."  And Janus pointed into the distance.

     With terrifying speed, a field of black rushed toward them.  Schala grabbed her son and held him away from the onrushing darkness.  "Help me, protect me....  Mother!"  From the other side darkness came, even faster than previously, and grabbed onto Janus.  Tendrils of pure blackness grabbed at Janus's right arm, while Schala tried to hold him with all her strength.  But the darkness was too strong, and despite her son's pleading Schala could not prevent the darkness from swallowing him hole.

     And then it came for her....

     Letting out a cry of terror, Schala sat up in her bed.  The bedroom was dark, and for a moment all she felt was the sweat on her own skin and the bedsheets.  A hand touched her on the right shoulder and prompted her to turn.  Sitting up beside her was Silas, who looked down at her with sympathy in his eyes.  His hair was still as dark as it had been when they first met,  although he now wore it a bit longer in the same style as Qui-Xi's brown-gray hair.  "The dream again?"

     "Yes."

     This drew a sigh from Silas.  "Would you like me to ask Master Qui-Xi to send someone else to Midgar, then?"

     Schala shook her head.  "No, the security for the launch is important, and there is no one that can do it as well as you or I."

     This drew a noticable sigh from Silas.  The couple were the two most powerful and best-trained of the Jedi Order, a powerful curse that kept one or the other or even both out often, finding new recruits, dealing with brushfires for Reeves, and other duties that they might be called to do.

     And so, with the launch of the first hyperspace capable ship just a day away, it would be Silas leading the security detachment.  The ship in question was only to fly to the nearest star and back.  The drive developed was primitive, even with the specifications Qui-Xi's ship had brought with it the best that the planet's best minds could do in the previous seventeen years was develop one with a mere fraction of the original's speed, and seven years after the first successful test with the hyperdrive they would be making their first foray into the frontier of space.  The importance of the launch, and the significance it might have for whatever terrorist or national group desiring to make a name for itself, had prompted calls for the best Jedi available to be present.  Qui-Xi himself had been asked to lead the detachment, but he had instead dispatched Silas, who was well-known enough to placate those concerned.

     Which was precisely why Schala had declined his offer to stay.  And why the offer itself had been half-hearted, since Silas knew his duty, even if he did not like the increasing frequency of Schala's nightmares and wanted to be there to comfort his beloved wife should it come again, or even worse, if something truly wrong came to pass.

     "It'll only be for a couple of days," Silas said, submitting to his duties over his desires.  "I'll be back before you know it."

     "I know you will," Schala answered.

     They held each other tightly and went back to sleep.

 

 

     The mountains beyond Nibelheim, especially around the ruined Shinra reactor, had become a favored spot for Qui-Xi over the years.  Here lied the Chamber of Light, the mystical place where ten millennia before Cecil of Baron had become a Paladin, and seventeen years before Qui-Xi had acquired the Eye of Palom.  Because of the Chamber's presence, the mountain was a nexus in the Light Side of the Force, something to draw strength from.  Qui-Xi had made it ritual to bring his trainees here to meditate, to feel the Force flowing through the region, and he now came here with his personal Padawan, Janus Torson.

     Janus was already one hundred and eighty two centimeters in height at his age of sixteen, and had the brown eyes of his father Silas and the purple hair of his mother Schala.  While sensitivity to the Force was not simply genetic in nature, those born of Jedi usually had quite a good chance of having at least some talents, and those born of two Jedi usually had a level of strength between the two.  In this case, Janus was more powerful than his father, or would grow more powerful at the least, while he still did not measure up to his mother.

     Both in the simple brown robes of the Jedi, Qui-Xi and Janus were seated on opposite sides of a campfire, in meditation.  Qui-Xi felt the boy's fear probably at the same moment that Janus did, and a moment later he woke up from a light slumber that his meditation had brought on.  "You dozed off," he said softly to his pupil, only the slightest bit of criticism in his voice.  "And you dreamt something?"

     "Yes, Master Qui-Xi."

     "What did you dream?"

     "I saw darkness, Master.  It overcame everything, our world, our home, everyone I knew."  Janus's voice trembled for a moment as he collected his nerve.  "And then I looked down, and realized the darkness was coming from me.  Master... does this mean I'm going to give in to the Dark Side?"

     "Not necessarily, Janus, but I am wary of this omen.  Your mother has had several visions of her own in this fashion.  I cannot help but believe that this is a warning."  Qui-Xi stood.  "Janus, we will return to Nibelheim now."

     "Yes, Master."  Janus stood up and put out the campfire quickly while Qui-Xi untied their chocobos from a bush he had placed them on.  "Master, what will it be like?  If we go to other worlds?"

     "I suspect it will be quite good, Janus," Qui-Xi replied.  "I must admit that I wish for the Planetary Republic to restore that which my people lost, a grand galaxy-spanning Republic to bring peace and justice."

     The boy climbed on his mount beside Qui-Xi.  "Yes Master."  Janus bowed his head.  "Master, I find it strange that you have never spoken of someone you cared for."

     "What context are you referring to, Janus?"

     "My mother and father are Jedi and care for each other deeply, and there are other Jedi their ages that have loved ones.  But you never speak of one."

     "Oh, I see what you refer to.  The old Jedi Order did not allow for us to marry or have any loving relationship.  It was seen as too much of a distraction, and prone to lead one astray."  Qui-Xi looked upward.  "But I knew a Jedi who violated this rule, who fell in love and took a woman as his own."

     "And who was he, Master?"

     "He was the most powerful of us all, but that made him arrogant and ill-tempered, and he allowed himself to be manipulated into joining the Dark Side.  He is the reason I fled to this world, Janus."

     "Oh, I see.  I am sorry, Master, if I upset you."

     "No, you have not upset me."  Qui-Xi shook his head.  "What is done was the will of the Force, that much I am certain of.  There is still balance to be brought to the Force, and I trust it will be done in due time.  Janus, why do you speak to me of this?"

     "Well, Master, there is a girl, or a woman really, whom I feel a great deal of care for."

     "I understand that, Janus, and you are indeed coming of age.  But I am afraid that Marlene Wallace is not just too old for you, but not exactly someone who will be interested in you."

     A deep blush came to the boy's face as Janus realized Qui-Xi knew of his crush on Marlene.  "She has been helping me with some of my exercises, Master, when you are otherwise busy."

     "I know, Janus.  And I know just how much of a headache she gives to Silas.  I believe, sometimes, he regrets taking her as his Padawan learner.  She is impulsive, thinks too little and acts too much, and lacks mental discipline.  I have found that her combat skills are improving greatly.  It is a concern, of course, because being a Jedi is not about fighting.  We fight only when we must."

     "I think you judge her too harshly, Master," Janus replied defensively.

     Qui-Xi accepted his pupil's rebuke with nothing more than a slight grin.  "Perhaps.  And, judging by who raised her, I should not see why anyone would be surprised by her attitude.  Marlene has always looked up to her father Barret, even if he is gone, and I believe she emulates him sometimes to try and bring herself closer to her memories of him.  From what Cloud and the others have told me, Barret was a hot-tempered, brash, and impulsive human being, and some still regard him as a terrorist."

     "Well, Master, shouldn't someone talk to Marlene, get her to be herself?"

     "I have tried, and Silas has tried, and everyone else has tried," Qui-Xi told Janus.  "Marlene will have to realize that on her own."  Qui-Xi kicked at the chocobo's side to make it go faster.  "Come, we must return to the town by sunup."

     Janus repeated the action and brought his own chocobo into a sprint, and both took off down the valley toward Nibelheim.

 

 

     Seventeen years could be quite a long time in certain respects, certainly long enough to turn Nibelheim from a small town to a city, not to the level of Midgar or Junon obviously but one of the larger cities on the globe, and central to one of the administrative divisions of Reeves' planetary government, known colloquially as the Planetary Republic.

     Central to the town was the airport and, nearby, the new home to the Jedi.  Their presence made Nibelheim's connection to the rest of the world highly important, as Jedi came and went to do their duties and search for others with the sufficient talent to be recruited.

     In addition, like all of the other major population centers, such as Costa del Sol, Cosmo Canyon, or New Mideel, Nibelheim had it's own representative on Reeves' Governance Council, in addition to members on the Senate.  To facilitate quick movement from their homes to Midgar to consult with Reeves and the other administrators of the central government, a dedicated transport was assigned to each city for the use of the Council members.

     That transport was now coming to a rest on a pad, the blue sheen of it's surface glistening in the morning light.  It's landing thrusters cut and the transport's side door opened.  A brown-haired boy of about ten and a younger blond girl of four leapt out to greet their awaiting father, wearing a standard shirt and trousers and with his own blond hair, uncharacteristically flat and well-combed for those who had known him when he was younger.  Cloud Strife leaned down and lifted his daughter, Jessica, into his arms.  Their son Barrett stood beside his father and grinned up at him.  "Midgar is so cool," the boy said.

     "If his namesake was here today, this would certainly kill him," Tifa remarked as she stepped down from the craft.  "Barret, our Barret here, is in love with Midgar."

     "Barret, at least the old one, always did hate the big cities," Cloud agreed.  "I wonder if he would mind how Corel is taking off?"

     "He would probably hate it just as much.  But, then again, I think he would be happy they're doing it in a safer fashion than the old Mako reactors."  Tifa looked to the side of Cloud at four approaching figures in brown robes.  Schala and Silas were in the middle, holding hands, and to Silas's right and Schala's left stood their particular learners.  "Barret, Jessie, say hello to your sister."

     Standing beside Schala, at just over a meter and a half, with her blond hair wrapped backward in the traditional Padawan braid, Aeris Strife smiled at her younger siblings as Barret ran up and hugged her.  Schala watched with warmth in her expression, but it was apparent that she was a little disturbed by something from the way she and Silas exchanged looks.  "Silas, the transport will be leaving shortly to take you to Midgar," Tifa said to him.  "And look at who we have here."

     Standing at about a hundred and eighty centimeters and with her black hair in the same braid style as Aeris, Marlene Wallace replied, "Hello Tifa."

     "Still growing, I see."  Tifa walked up and hugged the young woman.  "You haven't given Silas too many problems, have you?"  She noticed Silas's expression blanch a little, telling Tifa everything she needed to know.

     "Don't ask me any questions you don't want to hear the answers to," Marlene cackled in response.

     "I won't.  I'm just curious as to how much you are your father's daughter, that's all."

     Marlene's expression did not change, but she did lower her head a bit.  "I'm told that I do act like him sometimes."

     A hand settled on Marlene's shoulder, an expression of sympathy from her master.  "Marlene has some of Barret in her," Silas said in confirmation, "but I think she's got enough of her adoptive parents to smooth that out."  This brought chuckling from Cloud and Tifa, and a small grin crossed Marlene's face.  "You heard the Councilwoman, Marlene, time to go."

     "Yes, Master Silas."

     Tifa looked to Cloud.  "So, where are Qui-Xi and Janus?"

     "Right here."

     From the terminal, Qui-Xi and Janus emerged and came to the pad.  "I apologize for my tardiness, Councilwoman," Qui-Xi stated.

     "All is forgiven, Master Qui-Xi."  Tifa looked over at Janus and grinned.  "And I see you've been growing too, Janus."

     "Thank you, Councilwoman," the young man replied earnestly.  "You have been gone for a couple of years now, how is Midgar coming along?"

     "Quite well.  I see Nibelheim is also growing quite nicely."

     "I am afraid that is entirely my fault," Qui-Xi apologized.  "As the home city of the Jedi Order Nibelheim receives much attention."

     "Considering all that the town has been through before, I'm proud it's being used as it is now."

     Qui-Xi nodded and turned to his charge.  "Janus, say goodbye to your father, he must be going."

     Janus answered his master with a nod and stepped forward, looking at his father and Marlene, mostly Marlene, before giving Silas a hug.  "Take care, Father."

     "I will, don't worry, besides, what can possibly go wrong?"  Silas's voice sounded somewhat unconvinced himself, as he looked toward Schala and her pained expression.  "We'll be back in a couple of days."  He stepped up into the transport.

     "Take care, squirt," Marlene said to Janus, running a hand through his purple hair.  She stepped up after Silas and closed the door behind her.

     Janus nodded and stepped back from the transport as it's thrusters fired and it lifted into the air.  Schala's hand settled onto her son's shoulder, and Qui-Xi could see in her mind that she had been haunted by another of her dreams.  In his Padawan's thoughts Qui-Xi could sense some of the puppy crush that Janus had developed for Marlene.

     Qui-Xi turned his head slightly to see Cloud and Tifa with their children, speaking after a few months of seperation, or for Aeris, an entire two years of seperation from her mother and siblings.  And he soon realized something, when he saw Aeris's eyes look toward Janus.  A small grin crossed her face, but as he turned to look back she suddenly averted her eyes, a little amount of red appearing on Aeris's face from a blush of embarrassment.  He was certain Tifa noticed her daughter's expression even if Cloud was too busy dealing with his rambunctious younger daughter.

     Suddenly a piercing ache filled Qui-Xi's mind, and he dropped to his knees as he felt something wrong in his mind.  It was not something that could be easily described, just a very real sense of something dark, something evil, and that it was close.  He lost track of time as he tried to ward off this feeling in his mind.

     Qui-Xi looked up and saw Schala at his side, trying to help him up.  "Master Qui-Xi?  Is something wrong?"

     The older Jedi swallowed strongly.  "I must go to the Chamber of Light, immediately.  Schala, I want you to be very careful.  I have felt something, something terribly wrong."

     Turning sharply, Qui-Xi marched away from them.  Janus went to follow, and Qui-Xi shouted, "No, Janus!  Stay with your mother!"

     Janus stopped in mid-stride.  "Y... Yes Master, I will Master."

     Schala stepped up behind Janus.  "Come on, Janus, we'll be going back now."  She looked back and saw Aeris try to step away from her family.  "No, Aeris, stay with your family for the day, it has been too long since you've seen some of them."

     The young girl smiled and turned back to continue talking with her family.

 

 

     Qui-Xi's chocobo was not moving nearly fast enough for him as he sprinted it into the mountains, heading for the Chamber of Light.  As he continued on the mountain path, he felt the sensation again, and fought with all his concentration to hold onto his mount.  He was prepared for it this time but the sensation had gotten stronger and more powerful.  It began to get overwhelming.

     A powerful force knocked Qui-Xi off of the chocobo, which screeched before being silenced forever by an attacker, falling lifeless to the ground.  Qui-Xi looked up and stared into a frowning face partially obscured by a robe.  Darkness oozed from the being before him.  He opened his mouth to speak and a force held his vocal cords apart.  Pure energy oozed from the man's hand and gripped Qui-Xi's throat.  "Where is the Grandson of Zeal?"

     "What?"

     "Where is he?  Where is the Grandson of Zeal, born of Princess Schala of Zeal?"

     "You...."

     "Tell me now or die, old man."

     Qui-Xi tried to struggle against the dark power assaulting him.  Having lost his patience, the dark figure hit Qui-Xi with an invisible force and knocked the Jedi Master out cold.  He considered killing the old man for his insolence....

     And then he remembered his purpose, and walked on toward Nibelheim, leaving Qui-Xi's motionless form behind him.

 

 

     In the main chamber of the Jedi Academy, Schala and Janus watched the trainers at work.  Chief among them was Mariya Orlson, a Junon-native whom Qui-Xi had recruited in the immediate week after Karbov's fall.  Modestly powerful, she had been a nineteen year old girl at the time and out of work, with no past connections and no purpose in her life.  Now in her mid thirties, like Schala and Silas, Mariya was next in line for a Padawan learner, but for now she was a general trainer, with ten children ranging from age five to ten before her on their heads and each trying to balance a medium-sized ball in mid-air.  "Keep your concentration," Mariya's light voice instructed them; she was modestly tall, although not as tall as Marlene, and possessing of short-cut brown hair and a moon-face with a light build.  Mariya was the swiftest of the Jedi Order, and had a way with children thanks to her ability to grin and her soft and light voice, which was why Qui-Xi had asked her to direct the training of the "younglings".  "That's good, that's very good," she assured the children as they all maintained their balance.

     "Mother, Master Qui-Xi says you have had severe dreams lately," Janus said.  "I have had one myself."

     Schala's face fell and she held her son close.  "What about, Janus?"

     "I dreamt that this great blackness was coming from me and destroying everything, Mother.  I'm scared that it's a foretelling of my future, that I'll do something like that."

     "You should not be worried, keep your feelings right and you will not give in to such temptations," Schala assured her son.

     "Mother, what do you think of Marlene?"

     "Marlene?"

     "Yes.  Master Qui-Xi has expressed some criticisms of her and I want to know what you think."

     "Oh, I see."  Schala nodded.  "Marlene is a good-hearted soul, but I believe sometimes that she thinks too little.  She has very little caution and is aggressive.  And it can get her into trouble."

     A grin crossed Janus's face.  "Like when she sliced that Wutai fighter's hand off?"

     Schala began chuckling at Janus's recollection of the aforementioned event.  "Well, he was trying to shoot your father in the back, but the point is Marlene could have used other means to take him down instead of cutting off the man's hand.  Remember, Janus, we're not supposed to fight unless we have to.  It's not a responsible use of our power."

     "Master Qui-Xi and Master Mariya have given me the speech before, Mother," Janus reminded her.  "But Marlene isn't all bad, and she's given me help."

     "And you care for her a bit too much," Schala said.  Noting her son's expression, the hint of a smile curled on her face.  "Janus, it's very easy to see.  And it's nothing to be ashamed off, at your age it is perfectly understandable.  Given time I am sure you will look for someone better suited than Marlene."

     "Why isn't she?"

     Nothing the hint of indignation in her son's voice, Schala shook her head.  "Janus, Marlene is six years older than you.  She is a mature young woman, and you, you have quite a while to go."

     "Do I, Mother?"  Janus stood up, an angry expression on his face.  "Master Qui-Xi says I am mature."

     "He would not if he were seeing you now," Schala said in retort.  She stood behind him.  "You act well, Janus, and I am proud of you, but at your age you have much to learn, just as your father and I did.  One of those things is the true nature of love.  And I can tell you that whatever feelings you may have for Marlene, they are not bound in love."

     Janus bit into his lip, his mother's words stinging him.  "Okay Mother," he finally responded in a defeated tone.

     Schala put an arm around her son, who was already getting up in height toward him.  "Would you like to take a walk, Janus?"

     "If you wish, Mother."

 

 

     Alone along the avenue running alongside the Jedi Center and the airport, Tifa walked alongside Aeris.  "I was proud to know you were chosen by Schala, Aeris."

     "Thank you, Mom," Aeris replied cheerfully.  "Will Barret or Jessie..."

     "They have been tested," Tifa answered, "and they will not be trained like you were.  Qui-Xi tells me it's not entirely a hereditary thing, just because you have the potential you do doesn't mean your brother and sister have it."

     "I do not know whether to feel sorry for them or envy them."  Aeris kept her arms and hands at her side in a disciplined stride.  "The Jedi life is not a very easy one."

     "We warned you of that when you decided to join."

     "All I could think of then was the stories about what Master Qui-Xi and the others did during the Imperium War," Aeris said.  "I was too young to really understand the decision."

     "I've heard some people argue that Qui-Xi should raise the minimum age of the recruits he accepts.  I know that he needs young ones to teach the skills properly, but..."  Tifa drew in a sigh.  "It took three days of argument between your father and I before we agreed to let you join.  We had already let Marlene join, and she was turning out well, and we felt that it might help you with your upbringing."

     "Then why was there argument?"

     "Because," Tifa began to reply, "we loved you, and we knew it would not be easy."  Tifa looked over at her daughter.  "Aeris, would you change your mind?  Leave the Jedi?"

     "No."  Aeris shook her head.  "I want to stay, Mom.  Yes, the life isn't always easy, and the discipline is strict, but I am a part of something great, and I can make a difference in the lives of others.  That's what I want."

     "Is that all you want?"

     "Well, yes..."

     Noticing the hesitance in Aeris's expression, Tifa suddenly asked, "Who is it, Aeris?"

     "Who is what?"

     "I don't need telepathy to see that you're wanting more than what you've got as a Jedi," Tifa replied with a sly grin.  "Which boy is it?"

     Aeris blushed at her mother, and began shaking her head.  "No, it's not really a boy, Mom."

     "Then what is he?  Don't tell me you've got a puppy crush on an older man."

     "The only one with puppy crushes on older people is Janus, he sometimes cannot bring his eyes off of Marlene," Aeris giggled, but there was some pain in her words.  "It's nothing, Mom, nothing at..."

     "Tifa, Aeris!"

     The voice of Schala prompted both to turn.  She walked up with Janus beside her.  Seeing Janus made Aeris's eyes lower, while Janus did not react very much at all.  "Taking a walk?"

     "Trying to get used to all the new sights," Tifa answered, indicating some of the rising skyline of Nibelheim.  "When I grew up this was a small town in front of a mountain pass.  Now we've got a sprawling metropolis."

     "Not quite a metropolis," Janus said.  "Midgar is a metropolis.  This is more like a city, an ordinary city."

     "So you say," Tifa said to him.  "But compared to what it was, yes, it is most definitely a metropolis."  She noticed Aeris trying to avert her eyes to Janus, and something clicked in her mind.  "Aeris, why don't you walk with Janus for a while?  Schala and I have some catching up to do."

     Schala grinned and looked at Janus.  "Yes, that would be well."

     "Well, Mom, I..."

     "Mother...."

     "Go on, take a walk," Tifa insisted.  Schala nodded in agreement, and Janus promptly rolled his eyes before walking on.  "You never told me Aeris was like this toward Janus," she said in a jokingly-accusive tone to Schala.

     "Aeris is young, as is Janus, and I think neither really understands the wants and needs they are beginning to feel," Schala replied.  "But I would like it if Janus begin paying more attention to Aeris, a girl his age, than Marlene."

     "He always liked Marlene," Tifa noted.  "So did Aeris.  But Cloud tells me Marlene's been a bit of a discipline problem?"

     "Not a discipline problem, simply impulsive," Schala corrected.  "Marlene doesn't think before she acts, sometimes.  Like the incident with that assassin's hand."

     "Oh God, not that," Tifa groaned.  "Do you realize how loud Lord Kisaragi screamed over that in the Council?"

     "Would he prefer the screaming he would receive if the man had hurt, or even killed, Silas?", Schala commented, with a bit more edge in her voice than she had sought; it was still sour to think that someone had made an attempt on the life of her husband.

     "Oh, Reeves gave it to him for that, but the fact remains that Marlene chopped the man's hand off with a lightsaber instead of trying to disable him."

     "Yes, and she was reprimanded harshly for that."  Schala looked down.  "But that's the problem, is it?  Our position places us above others, and so we can get away with such things more than non-Jedi could.  If Marlene had not been a Jedi, she would likely have suffered more than a reprimand."

     "Which is why some on the Council don't like letting Qui-Xi have the free reign Reeves has given him," Tifa said.  "Even I feel a bit, I don't know, worried about it sometimes.  I trust Qui-Xi, but what happens if any new leader was one who chose to use his abilities and position for his own gain?"

     "That is why Qui-Xi is establishing a new Jedi Council.  Or, at least, will try to establish it.  We only have a hundred Jedi, and over half of them are younglings or otherwise recruited only in the last six to seven years, they haven't reached the same level as Silas or I, or even Mariya and the others that came right after us."

     "A Council would help, but we get back to the problem of how much the Jedi answer to the Governance Council."  Tifa shook her head and decided to change the subject.  "Being a politician is not something I particularly like doing.  I didn't even want the position, Cloud and Reeves talked me into it.  'Oh, you'll be a great politican, Tifa.  You'll be able to reason with others well.'"  She noticed Schala's light chuckles.  "You don't know how many times I would have loved to be given an excuse to flatten one of those imbeciles on the Planetary Senate."

     "Seventeen years isn't a long time in the grand scheme of things, it takes time for unity like this to set in," Schala noted.  "Shinra and Karbov forced unity at the point of a gun, Reeves is giving them a choice."

     "And with that choice, they can leave, and since we don't want them to leave, they can use that over our heads."

     "Such is the way of politics, or so I've found."  A bitter grin came to Schala's face.  "The politics of Zeal were far less complicated.  Of course, that was because Mother commanded and the rest of us...."  Schala stopped in her tracks and her face suddenly began draining of some of it's color.  She could feel something, not just something, someone.  Someone she knew, a presence that even after years she could recognize.  Her stomach twisted painfully and she swallowed, trying to make sense of it.

     "Schala?  Is something wrong?"

     "No..."  Schala shook her head.  "No, this... it cannot be..."

     "Schala?"  Tifa set a hand on Schala's left shounder, a concerned expression on her face.  "What's wrong?"

     "He's not supposed to be here."  Her eyes widened from a realization.  "That's it, that's why...  Janus!"

     Tifa could only watch as Schala turned and ran back toward the Jedi Center and Janus.

 

 

     The unease Aeris was feeling as she walked side by side with Janus was something that was eminently noticable to him and others.  She did not want to admit to Janus that she liked him to the full extent she felt, for Aeris was afraid he might not react well to it.  "Janus," she finally got the nerve to say, "how are you doing with your training?"

     "Master Qui-Xi has said I am progressing well.  What of you?"

     "Your mother never tells you much of me?"

     Janus shook his head.  "Mother maintains your confidence strictly."

     "Oh, I see."

     "So, Aeris, in your own words, how are you doing?"

     "Oh, um, I don't think so good."

     Janus raised an eyebrow.  "Aeris, don't get modest on me.  You've always been good.  When we were younglings you even did better than I in some of the fields."

     "Only some."  Aeris's head lowered, and her shy nature made her blush.  "I'm doing good in most areas, but, I am not so well in the combat arts.  I am nowhere close to you or Marlene in swordplay, and I'm not well in the mind tricks that other Jedi use so easily."

     "Oh, I see."  Janus nodded.  "Master Qui-Xi tells me that the mind tricks are a matter of will, in both you and the person you're trying to suggest.  You have to be more willful than another person to effect them."

     Aeris nodded.  "Master Schala has told me this."

     "Then, perhaps your problem, Aeris, is that you're not being willful enough."  Janus grinned at her.  "You  have always been a shy and quiet girl.  You need to assert yourself, Aeris.  Put enough will into it and even your parents could probably not resist you."

     "Janus!  I wouldn't dream of..."

     "Aeris, listen to me, it was just an example."  Janus took her hand.  "Don't get so mortified.  And, I just realized, you've got a lovely face."

     The compliment made Aeris's cheeks turn deeply red.  "Oh, um, thanks..."

     "That's another thing," Janus pointed out.  "You don't take compliments well."

     "I, well, I've had other people say things nice about me, but, I really don't see why I am so special myself.  I might be a Jedi, but that's where I have my sense of worth.  I don't think I could do anything else."

     "Show some confidence, Aeris," Janus advised her.  "You are Aeris Strife, that's all you need to be worth something."

     Aeris nodded sheepishly.  "Thank you, Janus.  Janus, I..."

     "What?"

     On the verge of asking if he would be willing to go out with her, Aeris lost her nerve.  "When are you going to speak to Marlene?", she said instead.

     "I'm not sure.  I mean, my mother may be right, it could be some silly crush, and I don't want to embarrass myself."

     "I understand.  Really, I do."  Aeris nodded slightly.  "Well, maybe you should just tell Marlene how you feel, let her decide how to react."

     Janus began to nod and stopped.  His heart pounded as he felt something himself, something.  He looked over at Aeris, who was slowly becoming aware of it.  "Aeris, do you feel that?"

     "Darkness.  That's what I feel.  Something filled with dark..."

     "Janus!"

     They turned and watched Schala run toward them at the fastest speed she could manage.  "Janus!  Watch..."

     Aeris was suddenly torn away from Janus by an unseen force, which quickly gripped him and pulled him beside a figure in a dark cloak.  That figure gripped him with power, power beyond anything Janus had experienced, and the hood fell from his head.

     Schala's hand extended forward and her lightsaber traversed the short distance between her waist and hand.  The purple blade flashed into existance.  Aeris stumbled to her feet and pulled out her own weapon, which ignited with a pink energy blade and ran up beside Schala.  The other civilians on the street took off running from the scene.  "Put him down!", Schala commanded.

     "Schala," a deep voice said from within the hood.  "My dear, sweet Schala.  It has been so long."

     "No..."  Schala's voice trembled as she lowered her lightsaber a little.  "It's not you..."

     "Yes, it is me."  The figure's hood lowered and revealed a man with the same purple hair and eyes as Schala's.  "What's wrong, Schala, don't you recognize your dear Father?"

     "You're not my father," Schala hissed in response.  "I know who you are, even after all this time I can still recognize your presence."  Her eyes narrowed.  "Stop hiding behind my family, Lavos."

     "Lavos?"  Aeris held a defensive position beside her teacher.  "Who?"

     "Why are you here?  Are you not feeding off of my world like before?"  A slight grin crossed Schala's face.  "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, Crono and his friends destroyed you."

     "They tried," the man rasped in return.  "But do you think me so foolish as to not prepare for such a thing?  My insurance was already in place when they destroyed me, or should I say my prime self.  But they did not destroy me completely, they never realized they had missed something.  All it took was to wait and be patient to get my chance."

     "Mother?!"

     "Shut up, boy," Lavos rasped.

     From the upper balcony, Mariya leapt down behind Lavos and Janus, igniting her blue lightsaber.  A half dozen other Jedi of varying levels of training followed her, forming a circle around Lavos.  "Schala, if you value the lives of your comrades, I would suggest you order them to fall back."

     "Put Janus down!"

     "No, I think not.  I think he will do fine for my purpose," Lavos responded.  "Just as you did."  A sinister cackle came from his throat as Schala's expression betrayed her pain at the memory.  "Yes, I remember, you lacked the will to resist Mommy Dearest.  If you had only stood up to her, I might never have been awoken, Zeal would never have been destroyed, you never would have lost your brother..."

     An explosion came from the airport, and in the sky a dozen drones of some kind came down, firing bursts of white energy at the streets.  "A little gift from me to you, Schala.  Come after me to retrieve your son, or save the helpless mortals.  It's your choice!"

     With a harsh laugh, Lavos jumped the air several meters, Janus still caught in his grip.  When he landed, he took off.  Mariya turned to go after him, only to be stopped by Schala.  "No, Mariya.  We have to stop these things first!"  She raised her lightsaber toward a pair that were incoming and deflected their blasts.  One deflection hit the drone it had come from, damaging it slightly.  Schala gathered her will and vaulted into the air with all of her power.  Her lightsaber cut one of the drones in half.  The weakened drone flew past, only to have the process repeated on it by Mariya.  The other Jedi spread out, trying to help the civilians that were now hiding from the attack.  Aeris turned her head back to the port and saw one of the civilian craft, fully embarked, under attack by drones alternating between hovering and low-speed strafing runs.  She turned and leapt over the wall, breaking out into a run on the other side and closing the distance with superhuman speed.  Leaping on top of the transport, she sliced out to her right and removed the wing of one of the drones as it soared past.  It spiraled toward the ground and exploded.  Aeris turned to face the other ones as they fired at her.  One of the energy bursts raked across her left shoulder, making Aeris cry out from the burning wound.  Focusing herself, Aeris kept the lightsaber up and deflected more of the drones' attacks.  She moved close enough to them and somersaulted into the air, landing on top of one.  She cut downward with the lightsaber and took it in half.  She turned toward the other one to strike at it.  As she did so it fired a full burst, two of the shots striking her and knocking her backward.  Aeris cried out as she landed hard on the pavement of the concrete, nearly losing consciousness.  Her robes had been partially burnt away by the strike and the flesh of her stomach was showing, red from the burns she had suffered.  Aeris looked up and saw the drone streaking toward her to finish the job.

     It promptly fell into two seperate pieces, it's killer identified by the distinctly purple energy blade that had cut it in half.  Schala landed near her apprentice and looked down.  "Aeris, are you okay?"

     "Just had the wind knocked out of me, Master," Aeris said in a blatant lie.  She got back to her feet and looked around; no more of the drones were about, having been destroyed by the other Jedi.  "Janus!"

     "I know.  They went in the direction of the mountains."  Schala looked back to the Jedi Center, where chocobos were being prepared.  "We'll go after them while the others call in the rest of the Order."

     "Master Schala, who was he, and why does he want Janus?"

     "Lavos would take too long to describe, suffice to say he is a parasite and an evil entity I have had to face in the past.  And I cannot begin to know why he wants Janus."  Aeris could sense an intense anger within Schala as she continued to speak.  "But I will not let him succeed.".

 

 

     The ocean turned to land below the sleek Council transport, with the fortress city of Junon on the far right.  "We're within ten minutes of landing, sir," the pilot said via the intercom to the cabin.

     Silas held down a button on his intercom terminal.  "Thank you."  He looked up at Marlene, who sat across from him.  "I trust you'll be on your best behavior?"

     "Yes, Master Silas."

     Sensing deep resentment and impatience in his charge, Silas replied, "And you're tired of me saying that, aren't you?  Be truthful."

     Marlene drew in a breath, and then nodded.  "Yes, I'm tired of it, Master.  I acted to save your life, I wasn't doing it purposely to harm the man."

     "The argument isn't in your purpose, Marlene, but in how you accomplished it.  There are other means, other ways, to take down someone without attacking them physically as you did."

     "I did what I thought was necessary.  I had barely a second to react when I saw the gun come up.  I did the first thing that came to my mind."  For effect Marlene pointed at her forehead with her left index finger.

     "Which is the problem, Marlene.  It shows how you're thinking."  Silas placed his hands together and leaned forward, noticing the look in Marlene's face.  "Marlene, the purpose of the Jedi is to keep the peace.  Not to fight.  We aren't supposed to even consider violent means unless we have no choice, and the fact is, in a moment of decision, it never occured to you to take that fighter down with a non-violent means, like knocking the gun out of his hand with the Force, or knocking him down even.  You chose the violent means of striking at him with your weapon."  Silas lowered his head.  "Perhaps I'm to blame.  I am responsible for you, I'm supposed to be teaching you these things."

     "Master, don't blame yourself."  Marlene reached over and put a hand on his.  "Maybe you're right, maybe it's a problem that the first solution in my mind was an attack.  But that's not really the question here, is it?  It's the Governance Council and Planetary Senate."

     "They weren't too happy with that.  If you had not been a Jedi you might have even been arrested and imprisoned for it," Silas pointed out.

     "They would ignore that I was saving your life?  Just to appease Kisaragi?"

     "Politics are politics, Marlene."  Silas could sense the anger in Marlene.  "Marlene, watch your anger."

     "I am trying, Master Silas, but how can I help but be angry?  These people care only for their own gain, they have no sense of decency, they do not honor those who have acted selflessly.  They are jealous, Master, jealous that they do not possess these abilities but we do."

     Silas's expression darkened.  "Marlene, I am sensing anger in you, far too much for your own good."

     "Why can't I be angry?  Look at how they remember my father, Master."  Marlene's expression was contorted with bitter anger.  "My father risked his life, everything he loved and he had, to fight Shinra, to stop them from leeching the life out of this world.  He thought selflessly, just as we do, and it killed him in the end."  Some tears showed in Marlene's eyes as she continued.  "Go into Sector 7 of Midgar today, and people will still say he was the one that caused the plate to fall all those years ago.  People there still hate him, still blame him for something that has been proven to be the fault of Shinra!  People remember Tifa, and Cloud, and you and all the others who vanquished Karbov's Imperium, but nobody remembers my father."

     "That's not entirely true, Marlene, and you know it," Silas responded.

     "Do I?"

     "Yes.  In New Corel they raised a monument to him, remember?  And in Costa del Sol, and Kalm, and other cities across the world people know him as a man of conscious, and even in Midgar his name is on the Wall of Memory," Silas continued, briefly recalling the "Wall of Memory", a monument outside the Planetary Government Complex, formerly Shinra HQ and then Imperium Tower, that listed those who died overthrowing both Shinra and the Neo Imperium.  "Not everyone will agree with that, Marlene.  There will be those who believe that Reeves lied about Shinra's involvment, those who still cling to the memory of Shinra and believe it was a good thing.  Remember that there are those who want to go back to Mako reactors."

     "Fools, stupid fools..."

     "Marlene, I know how attached you are to the memory of your father, but you can't let your anger direct you."

     "'Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering', right?", Marlene scoffed.

     "Actually, you forgot the fear part at the beginning," Silas corrected her, "but you've got that down.  Now, we all feel anger sometimes, I know that as well as you, but we can't let it control us."

     "I'm not letting it control me," Marlene protested.  "I'm just, I don't know, tired."  She waited a moment before changing the subject.  "Janus likes me."

     "He always has."

     "No, not just in that way.  He likes me, you know?"

     Silas nodded.  "Yes, he does.  He looks up to you, and he respects you, so it follows he might develop attachments to you."

     "They're a bit more than attachments, I'll say," Marlene snickered.  "I don't suppose you're happy with it?"

     "It's just something that can happen."  Silas grinned again, this time mischievously.  "When I was his age, I had my eye out for Tifa."

     "Tifa?!  Really?"

     "Yes, I did.  Before I met Schala.  I mean, back then, I really liked her.  She was taken, of course, but it didn't stop me from wishing."  Silas made a sound, a combintion of a sigh and chuckle.  "It was a stupid teenage crush.  But teenagers get them sometimes."

     "Why Tifa, though?"

     "Well, when I knew her, Tifa was still quite young and a bit, you know, well-endowed."  Silas crossed his arms.  "I never let Cloud know, of course, I was afraid I'd wake up one day with that large sword of his sticking through my chest."

     Marlene nodded while giggling a little.  Suddenly her expression went from amusement to surprise.  "Master, behind you, the port!"

     Silas turned to look out the window on his side and saw explosions at Midgar's main airport, centered around the cleared away area that was going to serve for the launch of the first hyperspace craft.  Silas jumped to his feet and knocked on the door to the cockpit.  "Pilot, bring us down close to the center of trouble!"

     "I can't land in all that!", the man shouted in reply.

     "I didn't say land, I want you to hover there for a moment.  You'll know when to move on."

     Without answering, the pilots moved the transport toward the center of trouble.  Marlene and Silas opened the door and watched the ground move rapidly until they were over one of the terminal buildings overlooking the central pad.  Silas and Marlene leapt from the craft, controlling their descent to land on the roof.  Their lightsabers, green and cyan respectively, flashed into existance, and just in time to deal with a flight of aerodrones overhead.  "Those aren't Shinra models," Silas observed before deflecting one of their bursts back at the offending drone.  "Where did they come from?"  He turned and saw Marlene running toward the edge of the roof.  "Marlene?!"

     "Hyaaah!"  Stepping up on the edge of the roof, Marlene jumped into the air toward an oncoming aerodrone.  Landing on top of it, Marlene's lightsaber whirled in her hands and severed one of the craft's wings.  She concentrated on steering the damaged drone toward a gaggle of six tank-like robots she saw on the far pad.  When they opened fire at Silas, still on the rooftop, Marlene centered her new-found mount on the robots and leapt off.  She reached out and kept the drone on course with telekinesis, letting go only after the drone was a moment away from impacting.  It knocked over the robot with it's momentum while the reaction force of the strike crushed it to the point that the batteries it carried aboard created a small explosion.  The other assault machines turned toward her and began firing, their energy blasts deflected by the rapid blocking movements of Marlene's lightsaber.

     Now unnoticed by the attacking ground robots, Silas came down from the roof and sprinted forward toward the attackers.  With expert precision he sliced into each one, having to deal with some resistance in their armored frames as he did so.  Marlene's strikes were less precise, but with a higher degree of brute force.  Her first target lost one of it's circular "arms", and the second had one of it's legs sliced out from under it.  A feral growl erupted from Marlene's lungs as she plunged her cyan blade into the chest of her final target, cutting through the armor with the hard lunge and cutting into it's control equipment, killing it.

     Marlene turned back to her previous target, now on the ground.  She twirled the lightsaber in her hand to where she was holding it blade down, and drove it into the combat machine in the same area as the previous kill.  It sparked and became still.  She pulled her lightsaber back up and turned to face other targets to find that ther were none.  Silas stood over one of the fallen machines and turned his head to face her.  "None of these are Shinra models, the armor isn't like anything built today."  He extinguished his lightsaber and by doing so prompted Marlene to do the same.

     With the pad cleared, the people who had been preparing for the next day's launch slowly began to emerge from cover.  One of them was a wolf-haired man with a weathered face.  Silas stepped forward to speak to him.  "Kain Kaspen, I assume?"

     "You're late," the test pilot grumbled in response.

     "My apologies, Mister Kaspen.  Is the ship okay?"

     "She didn't get badly damaged," Kaspen confirmed, "but we've got some injuries."  He frowned.  "So, who was it?  Who's trying to stop me?"

     "I'm not sure, Mister Kaspen," Silas responded.

     Kaspen blinked, and asked sarcastically, "Aren't you a Jedi, son?  Aren't you supposed to know these things?"

     "Jedi are not all-knowing, Mister Kaspen.."

     "Well, fat lot of good you are then," Kaspen grumbled.  "I'm not going to let anyone take my ship."  He clapped his hands and brought the attention of a couple of attendants.  "Finish fueling her up, boys!"

     "Aren't you supposed to wait until tomorrow?", Silas asked.

     "Like hell I will, if I even think someone's going to make a grab for my Bane I'm going to launch her now, Reeves and his Shinra people be damned."

     Marlene touched the gray hull of the Bane , and read the ship's name as it was painted along the side.  "The 'Bane '?  Why such a name for the ship?"

     "Because she's named after me," Kaspen boasted.  "They used to call me the Bane back in my heydays.  The Bane of Shinra."

     "Ah yes," Silas said with an unpleased smile.  "So you're that Kain Kaspen, the terrorist who nearly blew up the Mako reactor outside Costa del Sol.  Last time I remember, you were stuck living underneath the Golden Saucer after Dio's people caught you trying to blow up the Mako plant there."

     "I hate chocobos," Kaspen growled.  "They stink and they're annoying, and it's especially bad when you have to race 'em to win your freedom."  He saw the expression on Marlene's face and asked.  "So, who's this girl?"

     "This is Marlene Wallace, my Padawan learner."

     "Padawatsa?", Kaspen asked in bewilderment.

     "Never mind," Silas said with some exasperation.

     Kaspen nodded, and then snapped his fingers.  He turned to Marlene.  "Wallace.  Say, you wouldn't happen to be the little girl of that old buffoon Barret, would you?"

     "Barret Wallace was my father, yes," Marlene responded with a slight hint of anger.

     "Ah.  Well, not a lot of family resemblence.  I met him a couple of times, girl, he tried to get me on board with his little group.  But I didn't think it would work.  Truth was, Barret was never really committed to overthrowing Shinra, he never could bring himself to go the extra inch."

     Silas did not like the anger he felt in Marlene, and could hear it in her voice as she said to Kaspen, "You mean, my father was a moral man and did not target civilians?"

     "Shinra employees, Shinra sheep, they were just as much the enemy as Shinra was.  Hell, this entire city was the enemy.  I don't see why you people tried to stop Shinra from dropping Sector 7.  Hell, I wouldn't have stopped there, I'd have dropped them all."

     Marlene's nostrils flared with anger, and Silas felt compelled to put a hand on her shoulder with enough force to remind her to calm down.  "Mister Kaspen, that is all that should be spoken on this subject," Silas remarked.  "If you wish to fuel the craft up, go right ahead.  My apprentice and I will stand watch."

     "Good, just keep whoever it is away from my ship."  Kaspen stalked off to board the sleek vessel.

     "Why is he even on this flight?", Marlene asked.  "He's a terrorist, a murderer.  He should be in prison."

     "And he's still got his supporters, mostly in Corel and Junon" Silas added.  "I know Cid wasn't happy that he didn't get to make this flight, but Reeves has to play the political game.  Which means appeasing Kaspen's supporters in the Senate and Governance Council."

     "Politics!  Everything is about politics!"  Marlene frowned.  Suddenly she grabbed Silas by the arm.  "Master, do you feel that?"

     Silas had been focusing on Marlene's thoughts, but her question made him think.  "Yes, I feel something to.  Something very, well, I'm not sure, I guess the closest I can come is 'alien'."

     "Maybe the person behind the attack," Marlene suggested.

     "Keep sharp, Marlene, we'll let them make the first move."  Silas crossed his arms together and brought his hood over his head.  Marlene repeated the movement and they maintained their stance around the ship.

 

 

     With her chocobo mount sprinting through the mountains at full speed, Aeris was concerned that the poor bird would kill itself before they reached their destination.  Ahead of her, Schala's chocobo would long have been on the verge of exhaustion if not for Schala's own aid to it's sprint, using her abilities to their fullest measure to aid the creature's running.

    It was to Aeris's tremendous surprise that Schala stopped at a curve in the pass.  Aeris fought to slow her creature down, scratching the back of the chocobo's neck to reward it as it slowed down.  "Master Schala?"

    Schala got down from her mount and disappeared around the corner.  Aeriis brought her chocobo up to the corner and noticed what had attracted Schala's attention.  Qui-Xi was on the ground, not moving, though not dead.  Schala knelt by the old Jedi and touched him on the forehead.  "Master Qui-Xi?"

    A low sound came from him, a mix of a growl and a groan from what Aeris could tell, and Qui-Xi finally began to move.  He looked at Schala and grabbed her on the shoulder.  "Schala.  Schala, where is Janus?  He is in danger."

     "I know.  He has been taken."

     Qui-Xi got on his feet, helped there by Schala, and asked, "How?"

     "He marched into Nibelheim and took Janus, and he had some kind of robotic drones aiding him, they created a distraction by attacking the airport."

     "I see.  I am unsure as to who he is, but..."

     "I know who he is, Master Qui-Xi."  Schala looked down a little.  "The body is that of my father, Tarsulus."

     "Your father?"

     "I barely remember him," Schala said.  "He disappeared when I was very young.  But I know what happened to him, Master, now I do at least, because while it is my father's body, the spirit that controls it is not my father's.  It is Lavos."

     "Lavos?"  Qui-Xi walked over to Schala's mount and pressed a hand against the chocobo's blue feathers and the flesh beneath.  "This is the same Lavos you told me about before?"

     "Yes, Master Qui-Xi."

     "Then I can see why you and Janus have been suffering from such dreams," Qui-Xi noted.  "Aeris, will you share with me?"

     "Of course, Master Qui-Xi."  Aeris moved back on her chocobo and allowed her elder to get in front and take the reins.

     "I would be the most sensitive to Lavos," Schala agreed, "because of who I am and my past encounters with him.  But I never knew it was him until he got close and I could feel him."  She climbed back onto her chocobo.  "Mariya is gathering the others to begin a search, and Rocket Town has been alerted to keep a lookout on the other end of the mountain pass."

     "I do not think he will take that route out."

     "It's the only way.  I mean, he can't fly or anything, can he?", Aeris asked.

     "In his original form, flying was never a concern, but there was something else."  Schala lowered her head as they moved on into the pass, going slower so they could speak easier.  "He didn't feel the least bit as powerful as he did last I knew him.  I think Lavos is limited in this body, he may even be mortal."

     "And the darkness he emits?"

     "Because of what he is, Master Qui-Xi," Schala answered bitterly.  "If he's not going to try for the mountain pass, then..."  Schala looked over at Qui-Xi and Aeris.  "I'm feeling him again.  I can feel both Lavos and Janus."

     "And where are they, Schala?"

     Schala closed her eyes, and through the distance sought out the conflicting darkness and light she felt touching her soul.  The place came to mind slowly, and Schala finally answered, "The reactor.  The old Mako reactor, that has to be it."

     "It is the most obvious landmark in the range," Aeris noted.  "You don't think he's going to get someone to pick him up there?"

     "The mountain wind is very strong, it would have to be a sturdy craft."  Qui-Xi's expression turned dark.  "I wonder, if it is more than just coincidence that they chose today to strike, as the first hyperdrive ship is going to launch tomorrow morning?"

     "Then wouldn't it make sense to attack tomorrow?"

     "No, Aeris, it wouldn't, because the launch is going to be so well-covered that there would be very little surprise in an attack.  But, if they took it today, with all the pre-launch checks complete and the craft fueled up, they might very well take that."

     "The only question is, if you're right, who would be working with him?", Aeris asked.  "I don't know anyone here that would."

     "I would not put it past some influences," Qui-Xi disagreed.  "Kisaragi, the Eblani, any number of anti-Republic seperatists in the other regions, all are capable of trying something like this if it would hurt the Republic, or give them an edge over Reeves."

     Schala's fists clenched.  "Or, there is the possibility that Lavos has not one but two puppets here."

     "Two puppets?"

     "Yes.  My father," Schala answered, "and my mother."

     "Do not jump to conclusions, Schala," Qui-Xi instructed her.  "Lavos used your father's body to distract you, and try to cloud your judgement with thoughts of the past.  Concentrate yourself on our objective, and the present."

     "Yes, Master Qui-Xi."

     Qui-Xi kicked the chocobo lightly to prompt it to begin running.  "We have wasted enough time.  We must move on to the reactor."

 

 

     Standing in front of the cockpit of the Bane , Marlene looked up and into the window, where Kaspen was making fuel checks.  Behind the ship, his attendants finished fueling the ship up and began detaching the fuel tanks.  Kaspen looked out the window toward her and gave a mocking thumbs up, which Marlene did not return.  The man angered her, indeed, the entire situation angered her.  A cold-blooded murderer was being allowed to perform the greatest flight in the history of their world, and the hypocrisy of it was simply staggering.

     Marlene grimaced as she sensed Silas's disdain for her sudden flareup of anger.  Marlene tried to control it, but sometimes it was simply too much to bear.  The politics, the hypocrisy, the way some would use her as a pawn to fulfill their own desires, not caring for the greater good of the people, it reminded Marlene of how Shinra had been.  And that created anger within her.  Sometimes Marlene even wondered if the Planetary Republic was worth it, if it was possible to have a democratic government that could act on what was right and not on the petty interests of those who sat in it's positions of power.

     Since earlier, Marlene had kept contact with a strange presence in the Force, not like Silas or any other Jedi, and now she felt that feeling grow stronger.  She reached for her lightsaber, and then thought better of it after recalling Silas's words to her.  She moved around the starboard side of the ship and looked down at Silas.  He showed signs of having noticed the presence growing stronger, and turned to face her.

     There was a loud thunk on the top of the Bane , prompting both to look up and watch another pair of the aerodrones zoom past.  It took only a moment for Silas and Marlene to bring their lightsabers to life.

     In time to watch a woman in dark-purple clothes leap down from the roof.  Her hands glowed with power and she sent these purple bolts of lightning toward Silas and Marlene from each hand.  The blasts were easily deflected by the lightsabers they wielded.  "Impressive weapons," the woman said with a harsh and crackled voice.

     "What in the living hell is going...."  Kaspen stepped behind the woman and stopped.  "Who in the hell are you, woman!?"

     "Who am I, weakling?  That is none of your concern.  And you are unworthy of standing in my presence, bow!"  The woman did not turn, but she telepathically attacked Kaspen, forcing him to his knees.

     "Let him go," Silas ordered her.

     "Oh, I know you.  Yes, we have seen you..."  A sinister grin crossed her face.  "You realize you are unworthy to even stand in Schala's presence, much less touch her or dare love her?"

     "Who...  Wait a minute."  Silas's eyes narrowed.  "You, I've seen you before, in Schala's mind."

     "I would think so, Schala would not forget her mother so easily."  Queen Zeal crossed her arms while her telepathy forced Kaspen back into the ship.  "Lavos and I have need of this vessel, so I am commandeering it."

     "Lavos?!"  Silas stared at her.

     "Yes, certainly your wife has told you about the Almighty Lavos, and how indestructable he is."

     "So indestructable that a teenage boy and his friends destroyed him," Silas shot back.

     An evil laugh came from the Queen.  "They did nothing but make the Almighty Lavos change his plans.  That is all.  And now, they shall pay the penalty for their defiance, but that is not of any consequence to you.  If you move to attack this ship, I will kill those aboard it."

     Silas and Marlene kept their weapons at the ready, but while Marlene was ready to strike at the Queen Silas was realizing just how much danger this woman posted to the civilians of Midgar.  Only in Schala's worst nightmares did she think of her mother, corrupted by the power of Lavos, and imbued with terrific powers that would rival the best of the Jedi.  "Marlene, let her go."

     "What?!"

     "You heard me!", Silas snapped.

     Queen Zeal grinned wickedly.  "Wise decision, husband of Schala."  With a telepathic command she made Kaspen begin retracting the side door ramp, which she backed up on until she stood in the door.  As it began to close, she added, "And, you should know, while I was here, the Almighty Lavos was in Nibelheim, taking your son Janus to fulfill his destiny."

     For a split second, Marlene thought Silas would lash out in anger and try to kill the strange woman right then and there.  But Silas merely swallowed, glaring angrily at her as Queen Zeal laughed maniacally and the door swished close in front of her, cutting off the horrible laugh.

     "I must find a flight back to Nibelheim.  Now."  Silas turned toward the terminal.  "Come, Marlene."

     Marlene did so, without saying anything further.

 

 

     The deactivated Mako reactor was dark and forboding, standing tall over the rest of the mountains.  Looking up at the reactor, Schala swallowed to settle her stomach, still twisting from having the presence of Lavos so close again.  She looked toward the top of the reactor to try and pinpoint where Lavos and her son were.  "They're almost to the top," she finally said, speaking to Qui-Xi as he lowered himself from his chocobo.

     "It is quite a distance up," Qui-Xi noted.  "Would it be better to go inside and get out that way?"

     "I do not believe the reactor has a roof opening."  Aeris followed Qui-Xi off of the chocobo mount.

     "Aeris, do you think you can keep up with us as we jump upward?"

     "I can, Master Schala."

     Schala nodded and turned back to the reactor.  Summoning all of her strength she leapt toward the reactor, and found some external piping to grab onto.  She pulled herself on top of it, and when Qui-Xi and Aeris leapt up she continued upward, this time to a narrow ledge built into the structure.  A third jump brought her halfway up the reactor.  "Schala, wait!", she heard Qui-Xi call out.

     But now she could feel Janus's fear, and it offended every maternal sense in Schala.  All else was blocked out, and she continued upward to save her son.

     At the last jump, with Qui-Xi and Aeris still two jumps away, Schala pulled herself up onto the roof.  Janus was on his knees, kept down by Lavos, who turned toward her.  "Hello, Schala.  I sensed you were coming."

     "Mother!"  Janus looked up at her as Schala's lightsaber ignited.

     "Janus, stay calm."

     "Such nice little weapons."  Lavos held Janus's lightsaber in his hand, considering it, twirling it around.  "Very... nice.  You know, I have access to everything your father knew, and he was quite the swordsman in his day."

     "Give me back my son."

     "Shame you don't want to catch up on old times," Lavos lamented wickedly.  He flipped a switch and activated Janus's blue lightsaber.  The weapon's trademark buzzing sound added to the background noise with Schala's.  He moved the lightsaber around, seeming to admire the buzz it made as it swished through the air.  "Let's see how good you are, Princess."  He advanced on her and brought the lightsaber down, forcing Schala to defend herself.  The distinct sound of a lightsaber crashing against another echoed through the air, the conflicting blades lighting up at the points where they impacted.

     From the edge behind Schala, Qui-Xi came up.  Aeris didn't quite make it with her jump, having to grab the edge, and the elder Jedi had to turn and help her.  Lavos turned and saw it, and reached a hand out while  forcing Schala away.  An invisible force struck Qui-Xi from behind and knocked him over the edge.  Aeris held onto him with all of her strength, feeling a horrible tension in her arms with one being the only thing holding Qui-Xi up and the other still on the edge.  "Master, I've got you!"

     "Pull yourself up, Aeris!", Qui-Xi shouted.  He closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate himself while his feet struggled to find something, anything, to ledge against.

     On the rooftop, Schala and Lavos continued their duel, just enough of Lavo's power being used to keep Janus trapped while he for the most part concentrated on Schala.  "Good, very good," he stated as their lightsabers crashed together again.

     "No more games, I want my son!"

     "Such anger, Schala, such rage!  What would mother say?"

     "Do not speak to me of my mother!"  Schala clenched her teeth together from concentration.  I will not be baited, I must maintain my focus...

     "Oh, the fun I will have when I get back to our world," Lavos continued.  "The lands I will destroy, the people I will kill, and I'll have you to thank for it.  After all, you bore such a healthy and powerful son..."

     "Shut up."

     "Oh, did I touch a nerve?"  Lavos cackled as their lightsabers met again, and their faces closed in.  "I tire of this game."  His foot swept under Schala's, and with a telekinetic push he knocked her onto her back.  Lavos lowered his other foot on her chest, placing painful pressure on her sternum, and lowered the lightsaber to her throat.  The pressure on her chest increased for a moment as Lavos used the other foot to kick her lightsaber out of her hand and over the edge of the reactor roof.  "Perhaps I should kill you now and get it over with, or would you prefer dying at the hands of your son?"

     Over the edge, Aeris cried out from the pain she felt in her arms, unable to think clearly enough to try and get out of the situation.  Qui-Xi said, "Drop me!"

     "Master?!"

     "Drop me, Aeris, trust me!"

     The teenager nodded and let go of Qui-Xi.  He dropped a short distance and his feet made contact with an exhaust pipe he had just noticed.  He immediately leapt back up, making it back to the roof.  His green lightsaber flashed into existance while he was in mid-air.  Lavos turned from where he had Schala at his mercy.  "You again."

     Qui-Xi did not speak to the maniacal being, he simply advanced on him, lightsaber at the ready.  The two lightsabers crashed again and again as Lavos found himself facing a very different foe.  He was startled to find that Qui-Xi's quickness and strength were far more than someone of his age might appear.  With precision and calm Qui-Xi met every lunge, every stroke, that Lavos tried.  Lavos over-swung and Qui-Xi exploited the ill-fated attack, and if not for a split second move to the right Qui-Xi's lightsaber would have beheaded Lavos.  He hissed angrily at the burn mark on the left side of his neck while getting back up.  For his part, Qui-Xi did not respond at all to his successful strike, he merely maintained his stance.

     So intent was Lavos on Qui-Xi that he did not notice Aeris moving over to Janus.  She touched him and yelped from the force that was holding him on his knees and hands.  "Janus?"

     "Aeris, help Master Qui-Xi," Janus said to her.

     "But what about you?"

     "You can't help me, not with..."

     Schala moved over beside Janus, watching Qui-Xi and Lavos fight it out.  She tried to aid her son as well, and with her mind tested the barrier holding Janus in place.  "Janus, hold on."  Schala set her hands on Janus's back, ignoring the painful feedback of the energy holding him down and fighting it with her own power and mind.

     Lavos felt the resistance to his field.  He turned away from Qui-Xi for an instant and struck at Schala telekinetically with enough force to nearly knock her over the edge.  Aeris reached over the side and grabbed Schala.  "Your hand, Master Schala!", Aeris shouted, lowering her other arm toward Schala's free hand.  "Give it to me!"

     Schala reached upward and held onto Aeris's hand.  Aeris began pulling her up.  As Schala's head cleared the roof, a loud rumble filled the air.  Overhead, a large sleek aircraft, or in this case spacecraft, moved downward.  The port door opened and Schala's eyes widened when she saw who was standing in the doorway.  "Mother!"

     "Come!", Queen Zeal shouted.  She directed her attention at Qui-Xi and sent a bolt of energy at him with her left hand, one that Qui-Xi was able to deflect with his lightsaber.

     Lavos directed his hand at Janus even as Aeris grabbed ahold of him by the leg.  When Lavos tried to move him Aeris fought back.  "Janus, hold on!"

     "Stupid girl, let go!"  Lavos moved to attack her but found his other hand occupied fighting back against Qui-Xi.  Handicapped, Lavos could do very little to prevent Qui-Xi from severing his right arm at the elbow, the limb in question dropping to the surface of the roof with the lightsaber still gripped in the hand.  Lavos screeched, and in his rage managed to pull harder against Aeris.  Aeris, for her part, refused to give in and allow them to take Janus.

     Queen Zeal's hand lit up and a purpble bolt struck Aeris.  For a moment a scream erupted from the teenage girl's lungs before the pain knocked her unconscious.  Schala barely had the time to grab her apprentice as she fell backward over the edge.  Without opposition, Lavos leapt into the air, dragging Janus telekinetically with him.  Janus tried to shout for help but could not manage to speak before he disappeared within the craft.  Qui-Xi leapt over to the craft, and managed to make it to the door.  "Don't you people ever quit?!", Lavos growled as he used his remaining arm to shove an elbow toward Qui-Xi.  Qui-Xi pushed him back and immediately took a bolt from Queen Zeal, knocking him back out the door as the ship flew upward.  Qui-Xi directed himself back toward the roof, landing on his legs.  He looked back up and watched the Bane disappear as it moved toward the upper atmosphere.  A frown crossed his face.

 

 

     "He dared to do this to you?!"

     Lavos ignored Zeal's screech at his missing arm.  He concentrated for a moment and felt the limb begin to regenerate.  "It is nothing," he commented.  "Did the ship get fueled before you took it?"

     "Yes.  But," Queen Zeal's expression darkened, "FATE will not be pleased that all of the drones we brought with us are not going to return."

     "Schala has chosen good company," Lavos noted.  "These Jedi are very powerful fighters.  Yes..."

     "When we return, shall we continue getting our revenge on the other rabble?"

     "Yes, yes we shall."  Lavos moved toward a seat.  "They thought that defeating me would bring peace.  Well, I have a gift for Crono and his friends, I may even let them live long enough to watch their little Kingdom burn..."

 

 

     "We have to go after him!"  Warm tears flowed down Schala's face as Aeris helped her up on a chocobo, her own expression saddened and anxious.  "Who knows what plans Lavos has in store for Janus?!"

     "Go on to Rocket Town, and speak with Cid," Qui-Xi told them.  "He has been keeping something in storage for me.  And, when you get there, contact Silas at Midgar and find out what happened there."

     Schala nodded.  "And where will you be, Master Qui-Xi?"

     "I am going to the Chamber of Light, perhaps KluYa will have answers for me," Qui-Xi responded.  "I will meet you in Nibelheim."  He took his chocobo's reins.  "Hu!"  The chocobo began running toward the lower end of the mountain pass.

     "I hope we find out where they took Janus," Aeris murmured.  "I've got a bad feeling about all this."

     "So do I, Aeris."  Schala softly struck the side of her right foot against the chocobo to get it to move.  "So do I."

 

 

     Qui-Xi dismounted his chocobo near the brilliant Mako fountain that marked the grotto where the Chamber of Light was located.  He stepped up to the niche in the rock wall that represented the entrance and concentrated for a moment.  The wall disappeared, and inside the large mirror-filled Chamber of Light beckoned to him.  Softly Qui-Xi took the steps necessary to enter, the wall re-appearing as he stepped away from the opening.  He lowered his guard and drew in a breath.

     Qui-Xi.

     The spectral voice seemed to come from everywhere, received not by Qui-Xi's ears but in his mind.  "KluYa, I came to seek answers."

     Yes.  I have felt the pain of Schala of Zeal, and the evil that is Lavos.

     "Do you know what he is planning?"

     No, I do not.  I did not sense his presence until very recently.

     Qui-Xi's head lowered.  "Then, you cannot tell me where he is going?"

     I can, if only because I sensed his arrival.  It was in a similar fashion to how Schala, and then her brother Janus, came to this world years ago, but with a different feel to it.  Schala was brought to this world by a powerful bridge of space and time, but the one Lavos used to bring himself and his aides, the robotic forms and the Queen of Zeal, was merely a bridge in space.  And his power was not great, I did not feel as if he had made the bridge himself, but had it made for him by another.

     "That would explain why he stole the hyperdrive ship," Qui-Xi answered.  "Do you know where he came from?"

     Yes.  Behold, Qui-Xi...

     The mirrors blackened, and a thousand small white dots appeared on the dark field.  A "zoom in" effect began, converging on one of the dots.  This is our sun.  And this... is where I sensed the other end of the bridge to be...  The dot rotated on the display to a nearby star.  Qui-Xi stared intently at the star's exact location, making sure he had the right one.

     When he was finished, he answered, "Thank you, KluYa."

     There is one more matter at hand...

     "What?"

     I have sensed a darkness in the future of the Planet.  Something terrible is about to occur, I fear.

     "Are you certain?"

     No, I am not, for the future itself is darkened.  All I can see is that someone will have to make a choice, a choice that could spell the end of an entire planet.

     "This planet?"

     Again, I am not certain.  Be wary, Qui-Xi.  And, if I am correct as to the nature of this dark threat, you will need something else.  You will need to enter the Tower of Bab-il and retrieve the Crystals.

     Qui-Xi crossed his arms.  "Crystals?  As in the Crystals that existed in Cecil of Baron's time?"

     Yes.  They are still in the remains of the Tower of Bab-il, southwest of Wutai in a deep valley.  The only entrance to the Tower has been sealed for millennia to keep the Crystals from those who would abuse their power.  Send only those you trust, and make sure they can defend themselves from the threats that will still live within the Tower.  The future depends on this, Qui-Xi.

     "I understand.  I shall do as you instruct."

     I will be watching over you, Qui-Xi.  Let the Light be your guide....

 

 

     Schala and Aeris rode their chocobo up to the small Rocket Town air facility and to their surprise found Silas and Marlene already there, stepping down from the Aeris with Cid Highwind behind them, an exoskeleton suit allowing him to stand despite his crippled lower spine.  Seeing Schala, Silas sprinted up.  "Schala!  Schala, where's Janus?!"  By the time he got up to her, Silas had already seen the answer in her expression.  "They got him?"

     With tears on her cheeks, Schala nodded, and the two loves embraced tearfully with mutual concern for their son.

     Marlene's face fell, while Aeris walked up beside her mentor and struggled to maintain a neutral expression.  Marlene watched with interest in how Aeris struggled with her inner feelings, and she was sympathetic; Aeris had grown up with Janus, being the same age as he was, and the feeling between the two of them was strong.  She walked up to the younger girl, and with the expression of an older sister aiding a younger one, put an arm over Aeris's neck.  "You okay, Aeris?"

     "Some, Marlene.  I'm, well, I'm worried about Janus."

     "I am too," Marlene said.

     "Cid."  Schala turned her head from where she had been keeping it on Silas's shoulder and looked toward Cid.  "Master Qui-Xi says you have been keeping something in storage for him?"

     "What in the blaz...  Oh yeah..."  A wicked smile crossed the pilot's face.  "You might say that.  Follow me."

     Limping along at a strong pace, Cid led them to one of his hangers.  He typed in a strangely long code and the mechanical doors whirred open.  Inside, Cid switched on the ceiling lights.  "There she is."

     Silas looked up at the Lightrunner, the Corellian transport that had brought Qui-Xi Lao to their world.  "Does it still work?  I thought you cannibalized it for parts back during the Imperium War?"

     "I did a bit," Cid admitted, "but I put a lot of stuff back, and her hyperdrive is still workin' perfectly."

     "How perfectly?"

     "She should be doing fine.  Qui-Xi's little robot thing, droid, whatever the hell it is has been keeping her in perfect shape."  Cid stepped in.  "So, you're tellin' me that these pricks stole Kaspen's ship and ran off with your kid Janus?"

     "Yes."

     "And where is the ol' man?"

     "At the Chamber of Light," Aeris answered Cid.  "He said to meet him in Nibelheim."

     "Well, let's get to Nibelhein then."  Cid rubbed his hands together.  "I've been lookin' forward to givin' this baby a test flight for years, never had an excuse 'till now.  All aboard!"

     Marlene showed a crooked grin and looked over at Aeris, who seemed as withdrawn as always.  "Oh well, twenty-two years isn't so bad."  She followed Cid up the ramp.  "I sure hope you know how to fly this thing, Cid."

     "You wound me, Marlene, really...", Cid called out from the cockpit at the side and front.

     Marlene looked back with her grin still on her face.  "Come on, everyone, let's not wait around."

     With only a quick exchange of glances, Schala and Silas followed Marlene onto the Lightrunner.  Aeris took up the rear.

     In the rear, the engines lit up... and promptly died.  The four Jedi, sitting in the central room of the ship, exchanged amused glances as Cid cursed, "Damned piece of $*#$!  Zeefive, would you please do your #*$#ing job?!"

     The astromech droid R2-Z5 beeped wildly in protest.  A moment later, the engines came to life and the Lightrunner moved out of the hanger and was airborne.

     "Let 's just hope he's right about the hyperdrive," Silas groaned.

 

 

     A small crowd had gathered at Nibelheim's airport and the Jedi Center, watching as repair crews patched up the damage from the earlier battle.  Overhead the Lightrunner moved toward the Jedi Center and it's roof, where a makeshift emergency pad was present.  The ship settled down easily, and in the cockpit Cid crowed, "See, I told you!"

     Ten minutes later, the leading five Jedi Knights were seated in what would become the Council chamber soon.  Silas and Schala made up two of them, with Mariya as a third.  The other two were recruited immediately after Mariya, Palton Dobsolos and Agas Markl.  Unlike Mariya, Palton and Agas had taken Padawan learners by this time, and were on active duty while Mariya kept to training the younglings in the Order; all four Padawans in the Order were standing near the door to the chamber.  One of the Padawans, Palton's, was Isha, Silas and Schala's daughter, who was now eleven.  She had kept her emotions well in check, but when entering her parents had taken a moment to speak to her and give her the hug they knew she needed with her brother gone.

     "Schala, you never told us much of this Lavos," Palton said softly.  "Who is he?  What does he have to do with you, and why does he want Janus?"

     Seated, Schala returned Palton's questions with a sigh.  "Very well."  In the course of about five minutes, Schala laid out everything she had lived through before the incident that brought her to this strange new world.  The rise and fall of the Kingdom of Zeal, how her mother had been corrupted by Lavos and what she had done, and the final confrontation in the Ocean Palace.  When she finished Schala said, "I never told anyone the extent of it, it was something I wished to put behind me."

     Mariya put a sympathetic hand on Schala's right shoulder.  "I understand the feeling, I have some things in my past before Master Qui-Xi recruited me that I would rather not discuss."

     "We all do," Agas agreed.

     The door to the chamber opened and Qui-Xi stepped in.  The fivesome bowed respectfully to their master, who bowed back.  "I have spoken with the Spirit of Light, KluYa.  I know where Lavos is going.  I will only be able to take a handful of Jedi with me, for the rest of you will need to stay here and maintain the peace.  Silas, Schala, Marlene, and Aeris will come with me.  Mariya," Qui-Xi looked down at her.  "I have a task for you, one that will be difficult, but something that I have been told is needed in the days to come.  There is a mountain valley in Wutaian territory, I need you to go there and locate the Tower of Bab-il, and the Crystals within, and bring them out."

     "I will be going alone?"

     "No, not at all.  I have arranged for Mister Valentine to meet you once you arrive in Wutai proper, and, to impress upon the necessity of this mission with Lord Kisaragi's government, you will have with you an emissary of Chancellor Reeves and the Governance Council."

     "Who, Master?"

 

 

     The day's events had panicked the citizens of Nibelheim, and for the better part of the day Tifa had been switching between trying to calm them and getting more updates from Midgar.  It was getting dark out now, and she had just put Jessie to bed and ordered Barret to do the same when she went into the main bedroom and found a sight she wished she'd never have to see again.

     Cloud was at the closet, and was not wearing any ordinary suit, but the old SOLDIER uniform he'd worn in the years past.  A sidearm hung from the belt, although he was still missing the scabbard for the usual sword he had with him.  "You don't have to do this.  Mariya and Vincent can handle it on their own."

     "Qui-Xi wants someone along who's been through this kind of thing," Cloud answered.  "And I'm that someone."

     "You're going to get yourself killed," Tifa retorted angrily.  "It's been how long since you last fought?"

     "Seventeen years, two months, twenty-two days," came the matter-of-fact reply.  Kneeling into the closed, Cloud pulled out a trunk.  He opened it and reached inside.  "It's something I have to do."

     "Taking that clunky old sword of your's?"

     Her question was answered when the sword he had withdrawn was revealed.  It was nowhere near the size and shape of the famed "Buster Sword", a weapon that Cloud was most known for wielding beside the Ultima Weapon.  It appeared to be a standard broadsword, with an intricately-designed scabbard.  Cloud pulled the sword out slightly, revealing the brilliant luster of the blade, which seemed to shine with a light of it's own making.  Tifa recognized it instantly.  "Excalibur."

     "He gave it to me to use if it was needed," Cloud answered, speaking of the ancient Paladin Cecil, who had given Excalibur to Cloud after the destruction of Zeromus, before the heroes again left the mortal plane with their jobs accomplished.

     The door opened behind Tifa and Barret entered.  "I can't sleep, Mom.  Wow!"  His eyes went straight to his father, and the weapon in his hands.  Before Tifa could reach for him, he sprinted up to Cloud.  "Where did you get that sword, Dad?!"

     "A gift from an old friend," Cloud answered, shifting to a knee to look at his son.  "Barret, I have to go do something, okay?  I want you to listen to your mother while I'm gone."

     "Do what?  Wait, you're... you're going to go fight?"

     "Possibly."

     Barret swallowed wrapped his arms around Cloud's neck tightly.  "Don't let anything happen to you, Dad."

     "I won't.  I promise.  Now, like I said, while I'm gone, I expect you to listen to your mother."  Cloud stood to his feet and secured the scabbard on his waist.  "I'll go kiss Jessie goodbye before I go out.  I'll be back, don't worry."

     Tifa nodded briskly.  "Go on, Barret, see your father to the door."  When they left the room, she closed the door and got on her knees beside the bed, unable to stop her weeping as she hoped and prayed that Cloud would come back alive.

 

 

     The moon was high in the sky as the final launch checks were complete on the Lightrunner.  Qui-Xi and Cid were sitting by each other in the cockpit, securing the ship.  Silas popped up by the doorway and pointed to something.  "Hold on, wait, this thing is down to the E on the fuel gauge!"

     Cid groaned while Qui-Xi turned his head.  "The fuel for the hyperdrive takes up a twentieth of the tank, Silas, and this ship is meant to be able to go across my home galaxy up to four times before needing a refueling.  We will be going only a few parsecs, the galactic equivalent of walking down the hall."

     "Everything's loaded," Marlene shouted from the rear.  "And Mariya and Cloud are here."

     "I shall be back in a moment."  Qui-Xi walked out of the cockpit and over to the port ramp of the Lightrunner.  Waiting at the foot of the ramp, Mariya bowed respectfully while Cloud merely maintained his stance.  "I take it that the Councilwoman was not pleased?", Qui-Xi said.

     "Tifa hates the very idea."

     "I know, but as her husband you will give this expedition connections to the Planetary government, which I will hope to be enough to keep the Wutaians from interfering."  Qui-Xi noticed what Cloud had with him.  "The Excalibur?"

     "Cecil gave it to me to use if I had to, and you yourself said that I had to be able to defend myself."

     "I agree, and I feel that Cecil would agree that the circumstances we are faced with make this necessary."  Qui-Xi looked over at Mariya.  "Mariya, I will see you when we return, hopefully with Janus safe.  May the Force be with you."

     "And may the Force be with you, Master Qui-Xi."

     Qui-Xi nodded and stepped back up the ramp, closing it as he came up.  Mariya and Cloud walked to a safe distance and watched quietly as the Lightrunner lifted itself into the air and quickly became a small dot as it raced toward the edge of the atmosphere and space.

     Standing near the cockpit of the Lightrunner , Qui-Xi sensed a presence and turned to find himself looking at two spectral figures, covered in blue light.  He bowed respectfully.  "Master Mace, Master Qui-Gon."

     The two deceased Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Qui-Gon Jinn, the former having been the Master who had taken Qui-Xi as his Padawan learner when Qui-Xi was just a youngling, had concerned expressions on their faces.  "Qui-Xi," Qui-Gon stated, "you are in danger."

     "So I have been told."

     "But not the danger you are anticipating.  There is another danger, one that will be brought to distract you from what you will need to do," Mace said, elaborating.  "Keep your guard up."

     "I will, Master Mace."

     "May the Force be with you, Qui-Xi," Qui-Gon said before vanishing with Mace.

     Drawing in a sigh, Qui-Xi moved into the cockpit and sat beside Cid.  "Is everything ready?"

     "Everything is ready," Cid confirmed.  "The course you gave me is set in, and we're approachin' the position to jump to hyperspace."  He grinned.  "I'm ready to make history."

     "Then we shall."  Qui-Xi indicated the throttle that would activate the hyperdrive and bring the Lightrunner into hyperspace.  "You may do the honors."

     "Thanks."  Cid gripped the control and pushed it forward.  The Lightrunner trembled for a moment as the stars in the cockpit view seemed to elongate and lunged forward into hyperspace.

 

 

 

To be Continued....