A/N: I'm revising the entire story before continuing on, as I felt I had a generally good story but, I kept changing the mid and late story to what I have now. So, I'm going to update in batches. It might take a while, but I think it's worth it. The overall story will be the same but there will be more meat to the chapters and clarifications, etc.

I'd like to thank MarleNadia, Sailor_Star_Dust, and Irish-Brigid for their betas and generally putting up with my ass.

"Go forth, my warriors, and defeat the slaves of Cosmos!"

As Cloud looked at the large, throned demon, he had to wonder why he should be forced to fight anyone. How did he get here? Who was he? What did this Chaos fellow see in him, that he would drag him from whatever reality he was from into this one? It frustrated him to no end that he didn't know anything but his name and how to use the giant sword on his back.

"Puppets to a devil," mumbled a deep voice. Cloud looked beside him, at a tall and silver haired man that was dressed in black. His sharp features held a frown, and his emerald cat eyes looked downward in deep thought. There was some familiarity, Cloud was certain. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on that gave him a foreboding, uneasy feeling.

Shouldn't it be a good thing, to see a familiar face in a strange place? He wished it was the case.

The silver haired man looked his way, studying Cloud intently. "...Do I know you?"

Cloud shrugged and answered honestly. "I don't know."

With a slow nod the man gave his name. "Hm. I am Sephiroth."

That name was familiar. Very familiar. Why did it fill him with dread? After sizing Sephiroth up, the gesture was returned. "I'm Cloud."

"Cloud..." Sephiroth let the name roll off of his tongue, as if tasting it. "You seem reluctant to fight these opponents forced upon us, too. But, a carrot is being dangled in our faces."

"Our memories," Cloud answered.

Sephiroth chuckled and nodded. "I would like to regain those. So, let us find out together."

Something in Cloud was screaming he shouldn't. He took a look around at who ever else was gathered in this hellscape with him. A mad clown, a woman dressed in a way that it left very little to the imagination, a witch, some blue-clad monster...Sephiroth was the only one out of the group that looked remotely like anyone he would pair with. Maybe the other silver haired man too, but he didn't look like he played well with others. None of them really did, but he was purposefully floating away from the rest of them.

What did he have to lose? He already lost everything as it was. "Sounds like a plan."

"We better stick together," Zidane drawled out as he put his hands behind his head. "Can't let one of Chaos' warriors snatch up a pretty girl like you!"

Tifa rolled her eyes at the flirtatious thief, but smiled despite herself. Zidane just loved to flirt. "You know I can handle myself, Zidane. But hey, I'll have your back. Okay?"

Bartz laughed as they walked through the forest. The sun was casting golden rays through the canopy and onto the dirt path. The three had fleetingly wondered who may have traveled the same woods to leave such a road. "They'll have a tough time of it if they try anything."

"Y'know, I heard there's a couple of 'em that have their memories," Zidane casually mentioned. "The rest are probably pushovers, though."

Tifa looked down at Zidane and blinked. "Really?" She wished she could remember anything from her world.

Bartz nodded as he looked ahead. "Yeah. They would have survived the last couple of cycles or somethin'. Dunno much else about them."

"How'd you two find out about that?"

Before there was a chance to respond, Tifa moved behind a tree and dragged Bartz next to her, Zidane already by her other side. There had been a lone figure at a crossroads that they had been approaching. She peeked out from her hiding spot and squinted her eyes; it wasn't one of Cosmos' warriors.

He had spiky blond hair and was of a slight build, but holding a huge broadsword on his back like it weighed nothing. She prayed silently that he wouldn't look her way, but then he turned to reveal piercing electric blue eyes. Despite the angle of the light, she could make that out. They were unearthly, and staring right into her soul. Why were they so familiar?

She thought he might take that sword of his and slice their tree in half, or say some half-baked speech about a scheme he laid for them. That was what usually happened with Chaos' warriors. Tifa was tense with anticipation at what he might do, and readied herself to fight him. After all, he had to be a Warrior of Chaos. They weren't a friendly bunch.

His eyes flickered with something she couldn't read, his body still as a statue. Then he ran off, disappearing into the forest.

Then the ground began to scream. The ground began to scream?

The bar shook violently, like a terrible earthquake had suddenly visited the patchwork city of Edge. Cloud and Tifa jolted awake in their bed, looking about wildly as they heard screams and howls; the sirens throughout the city were triggered, sending out an ear piercing alarm. Tifa groaned in irritation as she heard glass breaking downstairs as some of her alcohol stores were knocked off walls from the rattling.

"What was that?" Tifa thought out loud. She looked about the nearly pitch black room. There were no artificial lights glowing out the windows.

Cloud scratched the side of his head with a frown. "I dunno. We should probably check it out, though."

In quiet agreement they left their bed and quickly got dressed, wondering what could have happened so early in the morning. Was it just an earthquake, or did a section of Midgar's plate come crashing down? What if it was some other Shinra secret held underground that they didn't know about?

Cloud handed Tifa her clothing out of the dresser, the room too dark for her to see clearly. A little moonlight passed through the slightly opened blinds, just enough to help her dress. He called out what he was giving her before rummaging through the next drawer for his own clothing, then donning his pauldron and sleeve. His side duster hung limply on the chair in the corner, and he walked over to grab it before adjusting the belts after he placed them around his free shoulder.

The two finished dressing as Denzel and Marlene came rushing into their room, wide eyed and scared. "We tried to look out the window to see what happened, but there's just a bunch of people running towards the other side of town!" Marlene exclaimed.

Denzel nodded. "Yeah. I-I think I saw a fire down the street, too."

Tifa comforted the two and brought them back to their room after finding a flashlight she had stored away in the sock drawer, assuring them that she and Cloud would find out what happened. "We're going to find out what happened. We'll be back in a little bit, so stay here and be good."

"Promise to tell us what happened when you get back?" Denzel asked of her.

Cloud popped his head through the doorway, his spikes fluffed and messy from his pillow and his eyes shining blue in the dark. "Yeah. And if you go to sleep, you'll find out sooner," he suggested, the children snickering at the words said many times before by their guardian for more mundane reasons. They didn't give them much trouble after that, but the two adults doubted their wards would sleep tonight. They really couldn't blame them.

The couple hopped on Fenrir and drove off slowly. To their relief, the 'fire' Denzel spoke of were only flashlights behind red curtains, they noticed as they checked their street. As they came towards the plaza, Cloud stopped a man. "Hey, do you know what happened?"

The man was wearing a green shirt and jeans, and his beard looked disheveled. He pointed towards the outskirts of town, opposite the port. "Yeah! Somethin' fell from the sky!"

Cloud stared at him a moment, then towards his finger. He swallowed hard as terrifying possibilities ran through his head. He gave a curt nod. "Thank you."

They began to drive towards a pillar of white smoke in the south that was illuminated by star and moonlight, now that the city was dark. Groups of people congested the streets here and there, making it difficult to travel. They both had a sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs as they overheard shouted conversations about a meteor falling from the sky and how it was still intact, if half buried in the ground.

"There was a white flash, then boom!"

"I think one meteor was enough for a lifetime."

"I wonder when the WRO will get here? Damn thing knocked out the entire city!"

The two drove onward towards the outskirts of Edge, speeding up as they reached a patch of road unblocked by pedestrian traffic. Anxiety was welling in their guts and a painful sensation was gripping Cloud by the tailbone. His fight-or-flight instinct was starting to awaken.

"Should I even get near it?" Cloud mused as they came ever closer.

Tifa bit her lip, looking ahead. "Your cells are from a different alien..."

"What if there's one of those things in there, and it is Jenova? Like from a planet it assimilated?"

"Hm, if you think you should stay back, I'll take a look by myself," she suggested.

"Teef—"

"I'll be fine," she pressed. Or maybe she wouldn't be. No one would be safe regardless, so why worry so much? She was still worrying.

After a few more minutes the source of trouble came into view: a semi-circular rock jutting out of a cone shaped crater that ran into the dusty, stony wastes. The outside was still steaming from entry into the atmosphere, but there was no sign of anything either crawling or oozing its way out of the meteorite, and the two took that as a tentatively good sign. Maybe the shape was foreboding, but no signs of life was a very good start.

Tifa dismounted Fenrir. After giving Cloud a reassuring smile and pat on the shoulder she cautiously made her way towards the suspicious rock, stopping at the beginning of the crater. The earth here was somewhat softer under her boot than the hardened soil of the wastes, and she could feel the heat rising through her footwear. If it was hot, maybe whatever could be inside or on the meteorite had been cooked to death. That didn't stop Jenova.

Someone was pointing their flashlight at the meteorite. Tifa strained to see anything unusual about the giant rock. As her eyes adjusted, she could make out deep lines in the stone near the base. Lines that almost looked like a doorway. Her optimism disappeared.

She audibly gulped, then walked forward despite the sinking feeling in her chest. She was terrified of what might be hiding inside. Another Calamity that would be far harder to kill, or it could be another Sephiroth, she thought. Or maybe there was something somehow worse than either of them. At that point Tifa wondered why on earth she thought it was a good idea to check on the meteorite alone when she felt a warm breath huff near her shoulder. She jumped away, and Cloud's glowing blue eyes looked back at her with an intense, worried gaze.

"...Cloud?" She gently tilted her head to the side.

"If I do anything funny, just knock me out. Okay?"

Tifa slowly nodded before turning back, and the two came closer to the meteorite. It looked strange, almost certainly artificial in its roundness. Was it the husk of a dead planet, drained of all Lifestream by a monster that awaited to feast on this world? Cloud shuddered when Tifa pointed out the lines cracking the surface of the stone.

"This isn't just a meteorite," Tifa breathed.

Cloud gave a grim nod before he put a hand on his sword. He tried not to show it, but he was more terrified than he had been in years. A Jenova at its prime? It nearly won two thousand years ago, and all the Cetra could do was seal it away. The humans of today had no way to seal away such a thing, and he figured the best he and Tifa could do was buy the WRO some time to blast the area before it grew an army of monsters out of the citizenry, out of them. He was well aware that tonight might be the night they fought their last.

They were almost right in front of it when some of the stone moved, and Cloud took out First Tsurugi as Tifa stood in a battle stance, both of them backing up a little as the shifting stone slowly revealed a dark opening. They couldn't see past it, the darkness absolute within. Even Cloud's eyes couldn't make anything out, though he thought perhaps it was because nothing had approached the entrance yet.

"...Man, I hate heights," mumbled a voice within, echoing outwards. It sent the hairs on the back of Cloud and Tifa's necks on end; something was in there and it knew their language.

"This isn't good," Cloud whispered. He could hear footsteps getting closer and he readied himself to pounce on the monstrosity laying within as a shape quickly took form from the darkness. He wasn't going to lose his sanity again to some evil freak alien, not if he could help it. His mind was his own, and he was not a puppet.

A few moments later and a young man with short, wispy brown hair popped out of the meteorite. He held his hand up and on the entrance and blew out a sigh before taking in what and who was in front of him. There was some eerie form of familiarity overcoming the two warriors; this alien looked far from being a threat at all. Then, paranoia gripped at them again: this thing came from the sky.

His grayish eyes widened as he finally looked at the two warriors in front of him. He was dressed in the most bizarre getup either Cloud or Tifa had seen before, as if from some fantasy book. He stood a few inches taller than Cloud. Its unsettling gaze came to Cloud and to his absolute horror the alien grinned. It grinned at him.

"Hey, Cloud!" the young man chimed as it walked towards him.

Cloud swung. It was all he could do at that moment. He wasn't going to let this thing manipulate him like Sephiroth did. His stomach lurched a moment after the alien somehow blocked him with a copy of his own sword just in time. It held it up clumsily with both hands before shoving the still shocked warrior's weapon away. It moved and blocked Tifa's kick, then backed away as the sword it held disappeared. It sported a confused, almost fearful visage as it looked between the two warriors.

"Don't you remember? It's me, Bartz!"

Some faint memory flashed through Cloud's mind; the younger man's face was almost familiar. He shook his head and glowered angrily at the alien calling itself Bartz. "Stop trying to mess with my head!"

Bartz eyed both Cloud and Tifa warily. "I'm not?" It looked at Tifa and pointed at her. "I think I remember you, too. Your name starts with a 'T', um..."

Tifa tensed. "Don't even think about it," she said through clenched teeth.

"Think about what?" The alien backed away some more, watching Cloud as the warrior tensed further. "You saved me from Sephiroth, remember?"

No. Cloud attacked again, and this time he didn't relent. The alien barely had enough time to dodge out of the way of the enhanced warrior, blocking and jumping back the best it could, but Tifa socked it in the gut before it could turn towards her to block. Bartz tumbled into the dirt with a grunt and rolled as it felt the air move above him. Cloud's blade had nearly split its head in two.

The alien looked up at the two combatants and the growing number of people who were congregating on either side of the crater. Cloud lifted his sword again, above his head as he bored his glowing blue eyes into the young man. "Never again."

His sword came down, but stopped midway. Tifa froze as well. The only thing that could move was their terrified eyes. To their absolute horror, they had forgotten their ribbons at home in their haste to leave, they realized. The alien stood up and dusted its hands off before glancing at the duo.

"Well, um...I'm gonna get goin' and let you two calm down." It put a hand on Cloud's uncovered shoulder and gave it a pat; the warrior was screaming mentally and trying to break the stop spell that held him in place. "Maybe the next time we meet, we can talk instead of fight, Cloud." The alien then dashed away as civilians screamed and ran out of the way as it climbed a wall of the crater and disappeared into the nighttime wastes.

Some brave persons slid down the crater wall and checked on the two fighters, and soon the spell released the two. They both gasped, and Cloud doubled over and puked up what was left of his dinner after taking a couple of steps away from the small congregation. A few moments later and he felt Tifa's shaking hand on his shoulder guard, and he inhaled sharply. After spitting the bile out of his mouth he rose and looked towards the direction of the fleeing alien. Cloud made his way towards Fenrir.

"It knew my name."

"It must have read our memories..." Tifa looked back, a light appearing in the sky behind the meteorite. The WRO was here, and she tugged Cloud's single sleeve. "We should stay here and tell them what happened."

He shook his head. "I'm gonna track it."

Her reddish eyes were big and full of worry. "Cloud, it's not safe!"

Cloud rubbed Tifa's cheek with his gloved thumb. "I know. Gotta find it, though. It couldn't have gotten far."

Tifa's frown deepened. "It was trying to affect you, Cloud. What's to stop it from turning you into its puppet?"

He cringed at the word 'puppet' as he put his leg over Fenrir and turned the key, the bike rumbling to life. "Tifa, I know. Just...have them follow my trail, okay? And if it gets me..." Cloud tensed his jaw and closed his eyes for a long second. "Finish me."

As he opened his eyes again Tifa put her fists on her hips. "You're gonna go all alone?" she asked harshly.

"I don't—I need to find it, Teef. Please, just tell the WRO what happened. I'll take care of this."

Cloud turned and floored his bike, traveling in the direction the alien took as it escaped; Tifa angrily yelled something behind him, but his mind was only on one thing: Bartz. It wanted to talk, he thought. It didn't try to hurt them, but maybe that was just another trick. It could have infected him with that pat on the shoulder, its influence silently flowing through him as he hunted it down in the Midgar Wastes.

It didn't take long for him to find the creature that called itself Bartz, the alien looking back towards Cloud and cocking its head, as if it were trying to make out what was approaching it. It turned back and jogged towards some rocky outcroppings that would be hard to maneuver through. Cloud pulled over and shut off the engine, then walked towards the mess of stone and dust that held his quarry.

First Tsurugi was held in front of him as he glanced this way and that, waiting for some tentacled monster to drop down and absorb him into its consciousness, or for hallucinations and urges to overcome him. Still he traveled on, if just to snip the bud before it bloomed. Cloud heard the clatter of stones up ahead and he narrowed his eyes as he moved forward, all of his muscles tense with dread anticipation.

In the distance a voice called out, "what was that thing you were riding, Cloud?"

He didn't respond. Cloud grit his teeth. The voice was becoming oh-so familiar to him, like a dredged up memory he had almost forgotten. It terrified him to the core of his being. "What do you want from us?" he called out. He knew, but he also had to pinpoint where the alien was if he could. Cloud thought he saw movement between two pillars of stone and went off towards them.

After a moment and some more rocks falling against rocks it responded. "Uh, what d'you mean? 'Us'?"

"Us. The Planet. Why are you here?" Cloud asked with a hoarse voice.

"Oh, well I don't like to stay in one place too long. It was a surprise seeing you and...ah, Tifa! I remember now!" Cloud heard a happy hum and that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach grew, along with flashes of something, some memory. "So I guess I'm here to explore. But I'm not really sure why you tried to kill me. Kinda rude, Cloud."

Cloud came to a pathway in the shape of a chocobo's foot, and he studied each path. Behind him he could hear the din of helicopters and trucks. The WRO was probably on the warpath for them both. The alien was being subtle with its influence, and Cloud hated more than anything right now that it was influencing him at that very moment. He, Cloud Strife, had a slowly waxing urge to spare it and maybe talk to it, to find out how it knows them both...

But that was how Jenova worked, through memory. Cloud took a deep breath through his nose.

"You okay, Cloud?" the alien asked, voice full of concern. Cloud took the middle path.

"It's not gonna work."

"What isn't?" said a voice far in front of him, slightly muffled from the stone.

"We know what you are," Cloud growled.

There was a pause in the conversation. "What am I supposed to be?"

The warrior let out an angry sigh and quickened his pace; the alien came into view as it walked away from a pillar. It was familiar, too familiar as it looked at him with a curious face while walking backwards.

"I mean, besides a friend, of course. I hope." It scratched the back of its head. "You really don't remember anything? I guess you must have a bad memory." He chuckled nervously.

Cloud stopped in his tracks as a memory churned through his head. Portals. He was walking through portals with this alien named Bartz. He was complaining that no one would find them after Cloud suggested they sit down for a time in some medieval looking place, and...

"It's no use. We're just going around in circles!"

"Let's sit here. We can wait for help."

"You know darn well where we are. No one's ever gonna drop by."

A light from overhead shone upon him, snapping him out of his thoughts. Cloud turned around and hid his eyes a moment, then turned again to point towards Bartz. Wincing in the light, he noticed the alien had disappeared again. He fell to his knees and First Tsurugi clattered to the ground next to him; he had lost it, and now the Planet was running out of time.