“Anne!   Are you all right?”   I opened my eyes and saw Red standing outside my cell.
 “I’m fine.   Who has the Black Materia?”
 “Barrett.”   I looked up.   Sephiroth was vanishing.
 “Get it.   Sephiroth is making his play for it.”   He ran off.   My cell was breached shortly before all hell broke loose.   I had enough time to shove the photos (I think, I hadn’t opened the envelope) in my bag, which was still in Vincents’ possession.
 Barrett, Vincent and Tifa had taken care of the three mute clones.   Then Cloud went and gave Sephiroth the Black Materia.   It was around that time that Rufus and company showed up.   Great, this is going to turn into quite the fiasco.
  We knew it the second ‘Meteor’ was summoned.   The ground started shaking and the planetary weapons began to rise from their long slumber.   As they were breaking out Sephiroths’ crystal dropped.   Not feeling like losing him again I ran to jump after it.   Rufus had grabbed me, surprising me with his strength.   “No, Anne!   You’ll die!”
 “No.   Whatever is protecting Sephiroth should protect me as well.”
 “No!   Come on!   This cavern is collapsing!”   That was all I heard, for that was when Ruby had broken loose and when it lept from the crater some of the ceiling had collapsed and struck me.
 I awoke feeling like I was in a hazy dream.   Hmmm.   Midgar.   ShinRa headquarters.   How much time had passed?   I sat up and was greeted with sharp spears slicing through my head.   I was in the infirmary.   Rufus was sleeping in a chair in the corner.   Why?
 “Rufus?”   He blinked a few times before locking eyes with me.
 “How are you feeling?”   I groaned.
 “What happened?”   He shook his head.
 “All hell broke loose.   Sephiroth is gone.   Meteor lingers over us.   Clouds’ friends escaped, they stole the Highwind.   Scarlett’s working up a plan to destroy the barrier that Sephiroth has put up.”
 “What kind of plan?”
 “The canon from Junon has been mounted here, it’s being hooked into the reactors.”
 “That’s rather dangerous.”
 “We have to get to him before Meteor comes down.”
 “It won’t do any good.   It’s coming down whether we like it or not.”
 “Will killing him slow it down?”
 “No.   It will only make us feel better.”   Rufus buried his head in his hands,
 “I never did like that bastard.”
 “Rufus?”
 “What?”
 “Did we have an affair?”   His head shot up.   Then he narrowed his eyes.
 “Is this a joke?”
 “No.   Even before you grabbed me in the crater I couldn’t remember anything about the time I was assigned as your bodyguard.   Sephiroth led me to believe that he had photos.”
 “You forgot?”
 “Did we?”
 “Yes.   I gave you that wedding band.”
 “Then why was I with Sephiroth?”
 “Dad.   He was in on Hojos’ ‘create more Ancients’ plan.   Even though we knew you weren’t an Ancient.   Dad, for that reason denied me the ability to openly call you my wife.”
 “Why can’t I remember?”   He shrugged.
 “I don’t know, you haven’t fallen victim to any experiments.”
 “Why do I hate you?”   He smiled and walked over to sit beside me on the bed.
 “Do you REALLY hate me?”   I was confused, why couldn’t I remember this alleged relationship?
 “I don’t know.   Am I mean to you behind closed doors, when we are alone?”
 “No.   Only when we have an audience.”
 “That’s why I was kept alive.”   He nodded his head.   “What’s going to happen now?”
 “We’ll destroy the barrier and send an army after Sephiroth.”
 “No.   Let Cloud.   He’s the only one that can get to him.”
 “Why?”
 “Aeris was praying for ‘Holy’ when she was killed.   ‘Holy’ won’t let just anyone down there to cause more damage.   None of will be able to break through it.   It is out of our hands, Rufus.”
 “Not yours, you and Jenova are the same species, whatever that may be.”   He laid a file beside me.   “This is why you were transferred to me.   Dad wanted a scientific file on you.”
 “Funny, I’m a brand- new race?”
 “Read it.   Consider, you don’t need materia to call upon magic.   You don’t have a past here.   Maybe Jenova is your nemesis and you somehow lost your memory in the chase.”
 “I’m hungry.”   He smiled.
 “Get dressed.   We’ll go to the Spectra tonight.   I have fond memories of lobster dinners...”   Before I could ask he hustled out of the room with a smile on his face.
 “Get back here!”   In vain I threw a pillow at him.

 “We have to leave Midgar, Rufus.”
 “No.   I will not leave my company.”
 “Are you ready to die with it?”
 “What do you mean?”
 “The weapons.   They’ll attack Midgar.”
 “Why?”
 “Come on Rufus.   Look up ‘death’ in the dictionary, it says ‘see Midgar’.   They’ll come.”
 “The Sister Ray will be ready.”
 “You better start hoping it’s enough.”
 “Can we talk about something else?”
 “Like what?”
 “What you’re going to do when we straighten this mess out.”
 “Lets’ wait and see who survives it.”   A junior officer from SOLDIER ran up to us.
 “Mr. President!   The Highwind has been spotted!”
 “Where?”
 “North of Midgar.   They’re just sitting there.”   Rufus looked miffed.
 “Anne.   Go get my airship back.”
 “Yes, Sir.”   I stood up and started following the junior officer out.   Then abruptly I stopped, turned on my heel and walked over to Rufus.   He stood to face me.
 “Something wrong?”   Oh, hell.   Why not?   I grabbed him by the lapels and kissed him for all that I was worth.   It completely confused him.
 “Do me a favor Rufus.”
 “Sure.”   I still held his lapels.
 “Leave Midgar.   Wait for me in Nibelheim.”
 “I’ll leave when the barrier is destroyed.”
 “No.   Tonight.”
 “I have to stay Anne.   I’ll be OK.   After the barrier is popped I’ll go wait for you.”
 Everyone in the restaurant was watching us, mouths open and staring.   I smiled.
 “Promise me tonight or I will drag you there.”   He threw his hands up in a mock surrender.    For the first time I felt as if Rufus wasn’t such a bastard after all.
 “Ok,ok.   I’ll leave tonight.”   He laughed.   “Now, go get my airship...please?”   I nodded and turned to leave.   His laughter got even louder after he swatted me on the ass.
 I got to the Highwind in the late morning.   It was a hell of a hike.   They saw me coming and Cloud dropped the ladder.   I climbed up and immediately pinned Cait Sith with a glare.   “You are?”
 “Reeve, Agent Leonheart.”
 “Ahh.   The weapons will start attacking soon.   Organize an evacuation of Midgar.   Even if Rufus is against it.”
 “Will do.   Shall I linger?”
 “That’s up to you.”
 Cloud finally spoke up.   “What brings you here?”
 “Well.   I have orders to return Rufus’s airship, but I think we’ll need it.”
 “We?”
 “Yep.   I’m coming with you.   Let’s wait here.   They have a plan on how to break Sephiroths barrier.”   That’s when we saw the Diamond Weapon.   It was rising from the ocean like the great leviathan.  “Cloud, grab a couple friends.   I’ll run back-up on you guys as a healer.”   He nodded towards Vincent and Tifa.
 “Let’s go.”
 We went to the beach and waited.   The three of them stood in front of me.   Vincent had returned my gun.   I just shook my head.   The Weapons were far too strong for physical attacks.   I was glad he returned, only for the fact that I noticed ‘Anima’ and my ‘Enemy Skill’ were still slotted to it.
 It stopped and the battle began.   Cloud immediately sprang in with a ‘Knight of the Round’ summons.   Tifa followed up with ‘Mime’.   Then I jumped in and casted barriers on everybody.   Vincent was about to summon ‘Bahamut-Zero’ when it struck us.   I immediately countered with a ‘Fullcure’ for the entire party.   Then Vincent loosed ‘Bahamut-Zero.’   Cloud and Tifa jumped in with another shockwave of the Knights and then I summoned ‘Anima.’
 The Diamond Weapon had enough.   It turned and starting walking towards Midgar.   We ran back to the Highwind and from an aerial view we saw the simultaneous shots.   First Diamond opened up and released a flurry of huge fireballs then the pure ray of Mako-energy came from Midgar.   The Sister Rays’ shot slammed Diamond to the ground still smoking, it didn’t even slow down.   The Diamonds’ shots were right on the money.   All of them hit Midgar.   To what extent the damage was, we could not see.
 Cait Sith got vocal.   “Cloud!   Guys!  Go to Midgar!!   Hojo’s trying to take over the Sister Ray!”   As Cid obeyed and swung the Highwind towards Midgar I went over to Cait Sith.
 “Damage reports?”
 “Headquarters took a pretty good hit, so I’m out of touch as to how much of the city has been damaged.”
 I bowed my head.  “President Rufus?   Did he escape?”
 Cait Sith got very quiet.   He shook his head and whispered. “No.   He was in his office.”   A single tear escaped my eye.   Then I got angry and started screaming.
 “Why?!   You moron!   I told you to leave!   I told you to wait for me in Nibelheim!   Why didn’t you listen?!!”   I was freaking out and scaring everybody on the bridge.   Vincent finally had enough and hit me on the back of the head with his gun.
 After around ten minutes of being unconscious I opened my eyes.   “Vincent.   That was a very naughty thing to do.”
 “It got you to settle down.”
 “There are less painful ways of getting me to calm down.”   I said as I rubbed the huge bump on the back of my head.
 “Oh.    Well, considering you were crying over Rufus I figured you blew a fuse.”
 “Yeah.   You’re a fucking psycho.”   I shot to my feet and whipped around to face Cid.
 “I hope I didn’t hear you right.”
 “You did, you fucking nut.”   I started to move towards him, hell bent on breaking his scrawny neck.   Then a metal arm clapped around my waist and the flesh-and-blood hand clapped over my mouth.
 “Be nice, Anne.”   I struggled to get free.   I couldn’t.   I relaxed and put my hands up.
 “What’s this?” Vincent pulled a file out from between us.
 “Oh yeah.”   I had forgotten about the file I had tucked into my belt before leaving the infirmary.   “Rufus gave that to me.   He told me that Jenova isn’t an Ancient.   Also, whatever she is, I’m the same thing.”
 “This is Hojos’ handwriting.”
 “Yeah, Rufus said I wasn’t an experiment.”   Vincent had opened it and was reading it.
 “You believe him?”   I shrugged.
 “Why?”
 “It says here that you were given drugs.”   My memory.   That was it.  Why I couldn’t remember.   He began quoting the file.   “Subject is aggressive.   Great danger to scientific crew.   Then, in another handwriting, it says.   Only under the chiefs’ supervision may medication be administered to calm subject.    Hmmm.   So who was the chief?”
 “Rufus.”   I looked at the file.   “That’s Rufus’s handwriting.”
 “What were they doing?”
 “Trying to figure out was Jenova was.   Trying to link her to the Promise Land.”
 “Hmmm.”   He continued to read.   “Cell growth and replacement is phenomenal.   Judging by this, it would be nearly impossible to determine subjects actual age.   Abnormal ability to heal.   Absolute resistance to any variation of pestilence.”
 They were looking at me strangely.   “So?   I’ve never had a cold.   So what?   I take good care of myself.”
 “Umm...Anne?...”   Vincent was still holding the file open.   “How old are you?”
 “I am two years younger than Sephiroth, that would make me twenty-eight.”
 “According to this you were cased in a reactor since ShinRa opened its’ doors.”
 “That would make me over two-hundred years old!”
 “Well, Jenova was deemed to be over two-thousand.”
 “Jenova looked like she was in her late twenties...”
 “You saw her?”
 “MmHmm.”
 “The awful news is that Rufus lied to you.”   I looked at Vincent.  His face was emotionless.   “Look at the file yourself.   It’s all right here.   The myriad of tests they did on you, there is even a notation that this is a secondary file...somewhere in headquarters is the original.”   My heart sank.   I should have known better   I knew I had hated Rufus for a reason.
 “I don’t want to see it Vincent.”   He nodded and started to put it back in my bag.   The envelope!   “Vincent?   Could you hand me that envelope?”
 “Here.”   I hastily opened it up.
 “What’s that?”
 “Naughty pictures.”   Vincents’ eyebrows shot up.   “Rufus said that him and I were married.   These, I got from Sephiroth, he told me that Rufus sent these to him during the war with Wutai.   At that time I had been transferred to be Rufus’s bodyguard.”   I started looking at the pictures.   Cait Sith began to speak.
 “Anne?”   I looked at him.   “According to ShinRa databanks you and Sephiroth are legally married.   There is even video of the ceremony and reception on file here.”   I nodded.   “Umm...there is something else about transfer orders.   I don’t have the clearance to get to it.”
 “Transfer orders?”
 “Yeah, top brass.   Roughly three months after you were transferred to Rufus.”   I returned my attention to the pictures.   Of course, you could see Rufus clearly.   The womans face...was always blurred or covered in her hair.   After about ten photographs I held the one that told me the truth.   The womans left shoulder had a tattoo.   My shoulder was normal unmarked and unscarred.
 “As much as I hate to admit that I was duped...you are right Vincent.   Rufus had both me and Sephiroth going.”
 “How can you tell?”
 “Her shoulder it has a tattoo, I have never had any tattoos.”
 “So who is that?”
 “I have no idea.   Reeve?   Do you recall anyone that greatly resembles me?”
 “Yes.   I’m not sure I want to go there...”
 “Who?”
 “Come on, you are going to kill me over this.”
 “Who was screwing Rufus?”   Cait Sith bounced over and whispered something in my ear.   My eyebrows raised.   “Anything else?”   He whispered some more.   Then I accidentally voiced this aloud.   “Oh shit, hell has NOT broken loose yet...”

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