"STORM!!!" Politesse sounded freaked out.

"Lita, what is it? You saw a ghost jump Runner's ass?"

"Worse!! It's HOJO!!"

There was a pause.

"WHAT?!?" Storm exclaimed, loud enough to make Lucrecia jump. "What do you mean, it's HOJO??"

"Hojo?" Lucrecia's eyes widened. "But... he's dead!"

"Lita, get the other Turks. I'll call Simon and Magdalena. Meeting room in ten minutes. Storm over and out."

"Right!"

"Get Maggie," Storm said grimly, his mushy mood gone. "I'll find Sephiroth and Simon."

Lucrecia nodded and ran off. Storm strode through the corridors, his mind racing with impossiblities that seemed dreadfully possible.

"Yo, Storm! Wazzup?" Simon called from the door where he and Sephiroth had been pasing through.

"Hojo," Storm replied. "Get into the Meeting room in ten minutes. Apparently, Runner and Politesse have found him."

"That sounds bad," Simon said.

"Very," Sephiroth said quietly. "If Hojo is back, there's no telling what mischief he may be up to."

"Runner and Lita will be able to tell us, I'm sure," Storm said darkly.

In ten minutes, everyone was gathered in the Meeting Room as ordered by Storm. He sat at the head of the table, where his father usually sat, face serious with Simon on his right and Magdalena on his left. On the other end sat Cid Highwind, Yuffie on his left and Vincent on his right, the elder side of Avalanche. Sephiroth sat next to Vincent, next to him was Runner and then Lucrecia. On Yuffie's side sat Politesse, Erratic and Blazer.

"We have a big stinking problem. His name is Hojo," Storm began, going straight to the point. "Runner, Lita, may we know the details now?"

"We'd detected a signal in the network computer base of the Shin-ra labs and were trying to decode it. This signal is similar to those found in the Space Program and Science Research reports... it was found hanging in space. Doubtlessly, it was taken for a signal from Jenova to others like her out there in space," Runner said quietly. "In decoding it, we realized this signal was meant to get into space thirty years after it has been sent... and it had been sent one year after Meteor. While we were discussing this, Hojo's face just flickered onto the screen through the telecommunications program."

"HOJO?" Yuffie exclaimed. "Hojo??"

"Shit," Cid said sourly. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" He chomped on his toothpick furiously. "So what the hell goes on now??"

"We could try following the signal," Lucrecia suggested.

"How?" Vincent asked his daughter.

"It's really quite a simple matter, Father. All we do is find that signal and, like a pipeline, we just follow it back to where it came from. This might put us into contact with Hojo and we'd be able to see where he is."

Erratic winced. "Did she have to get all wordy?"

"You do so consider it a deprecation to you for others to communicate in way you don't comprehend, don't you?" Lucrecia said scathingly.

The Turk winced again. "Okay, I understood. But how are we going to find that signal?"

"We have a computer room in the Research Department," Politesse pointed out to her brother. "Wasn't that quite a stupid question to ask?"

"Can you imagine I lived with this for years and years?" Erratic said mournfully to Blazer.

"Enough!" Storm snapped. "Lucrecia, Runner, Politesse, get to work."

The three of them rose immediately. They ran down to the lab and immediately got to work. Their fingers flew across the keyboard and the only sound in the lab were tapping. Lucrecia sat at the main console, Runner to her left, Politesse to her right.

"Will everything be all right?" Akiranni asked Yuffie fearfully. She'd heard of the news and was quite badly shaken.

"It will, dear," Yuffie assured her daughter even though her true feelings contradicted her words.

"Found it," Lucrecia said triumphantly.

"Indeed," Hojo murmured as his face appeared on the screen of the largest computer in the room. He looked and regarded everyone in the room. "I see almost everyone here... but where is Strife? And young lovely Lockheart? Sephiroth? You're here, too? A surprise indeed, to see you working with these youngsters." His wide insect-like eyes cocked slightly. "Valentine? So my experiments turned out quite fine... you still look the same as ever."

Vincent nodded gravely. "And you now look like how you should."

Hojo laughed, an unpleasant sound. "Perhaps." He looked at the younger generation curiously. "I can see the Turk Reno has a son, while Elena's daughter seems to have caught on with Rude's style of dress."

"My father is Rude," Politesse pointed out politely.

"Tseng? Impossible. After all, Sephiroth did quite a job slashing Tseng up."

Runner did not reply, merely glared back at the screen.

"Who's this lovely creature at the main console, Valentine? I don't believe I've ever seen her before... She's got your eyes... before you transformed, of course."

"My name is Lucrecia Kisaragi," Lucrecia said clearly. There was no hint of fear in her voice.

"Lu..." Those bug-like eyes would have bulged if they weren't already doing so. "What would Lucrecia think, Valentine? Abandoning her for another woman?"

A muscle in Vincent's cheek ticked dangerously.

"And that other girl... so she's Yuffie!" Hojo laughed maniacally. "I never thought you and that temperamental ninja even could get along... So the other girl with the strange headband's also yours?"

"She inherited Chaos. So you see we're a very strong family," Vincent said modestly.

"You should thank me."

"You still haven't atoned your sins, monster."

Hojo ignored him for the moment and turned his attention to Sephiroth. "So how are you bearing up with the weaklings?"

"It's better than your lab," Sephiroth replied blandly.

But Hojo was already eyeing Lucrecia with interest. "You're just as lovely as your namesake, my dear," he said cordially. "And I see great talents in you, too. What are you doing with these people?"

Storm stepped forward behind Lucrecia, laying a possessive hand on her shoulder.

"Aaahhhhh.... so Strife has a son, as well," Hojo said in obvious recognition. "Is Lockheart your mother?"

"Yes. My name is Storm," the young man said evenly. "What do you think you're doing, you freak?"

"What do I think I'm doing? Interesting... how come you haven't figured it out yet?" Hojo grinned nastily.

"Calling for Jenova's kind won't be of much use to you," Runner declared. "They'll only come and destroy the Planet."

Hojo snickered. "They wouldn't destroy one of their own, m'boy. As you can see, my self-experimentation came out quite well. They wouldn't destroy me." There was a smirk on Hojo's elongated lips. "As for you, Sephiroth, you won't be able to stop them either. Either way, they still get you."

Sephiroth stood firm, saying nothing. He swayed a little, his eyes unreadable. Magdalena held out a hand to his shoulder. "You gonna be okay?" she whispered.

He nodded once.

"Why... if it isn't... may I presume this is the new captain of the Highwind?" Hojo asked.

Magdalena turned to the screen coolly. "You've got pretty good eyes, considering your vision's myriad. And if you hadn't realized already, you're quite out of touch."

Hojo laughed. "That's why I need the introductions. So I can tell which one to kill first."

"Goddamn bastard," Erratic muttered beneath his breath.

Lucrecia was placidly tapping the keyboard, calmly ignoring Hojo. Storm was watching her work carefully. He nodded to Runner and Politesse, and they too continued their work on the computers. Vincent showed no expression, and Yuffie was careful not to open her mouth, though she wanted to strike Hojo. Cid grinned dirtily. The old coot had it coming.

"Party's over," Storm announced.

Hojo frowned at the young man. Lucrecia smiled pleasantly at him. "We've got the information we wanted, Professor. Thank you so much for staying in contact so long." She grinned a kind of fake grin, baring her teeth as her finger struck one last key. "Have a nice day."

Pictures and text flooded the screen, bright green letters that flew across the empty miles and crowded into Hojo's computer system. Runner grinned as several curses flashed across the screen, little personal letters from Avalanche to the mad professor. Politesse let her lips curl up in a little smile.

Storm was laughing when Hojo howled. "What do you think you're doing??" Hojo demanded, enraged.

"We're disrupting your computers, Professor. It's a nice little virus that'll keep you out of trouble for the next few days," Storm told him pleasantly. The screen went blank as static filled the room.

"But it won't, of course, stop us from tracking it down and finding your base," Sephiroth observed.

"What a hell of a virus!" Simon exclaimed.

"That was cool," Blazer commented. "Now what?"

Lucrecia was frowning as she sat seriously at her place. "Hojo's signal got through, Storm," she said quietly. "Look at these printings. They're little with whole conversations between that old man and the aliens."

Storm blinked. Help it... Help it... he could clearly hear the sobs once more. The voices drifted away. So that was what it meant! The Planet knew that Jenova's kind had been reached... How was he going to help it?? The aliens were probably on their way here now!

"Okay, I think we all better get some rest," he ordered the others. "Tomorrow, we're going to pinpoint Hojo's location, and then we're going after him."

"Who's 'we'?" Cid balked. "I'm getting too old for this, kid."

"So are we," Yuffie told him. "And Vincent's older than you."

Politesse and Runner were quiet. Politesse leant over to Runner. "What if we were to take another trip into the City of the Ancients? Maybe they have some clues on Jenova's kind."

Runner agreed. "I'll discuss it with Storm and the others tonight."

"After dinner."

Was he crazy? Sephiroth had heard voices and they led him down the path of insanity. Aeris had heard voices, as well, but that was because she was a Cetra, a being who could hear the Planet itself. What was he hearing?

If you didn't fight it or question so much, you might be able to find better answers, a soft voice advised gently.

"Aeris?" Storm asked. "Aeris? Is that you?"

He was drifting again, and the only thing he could see what plain white everywhere he looked, except for the occasionally shadow as if there were people passing by.

He felt his feet stop on solid ground. Aeris was sitting by a small pool, watching the images that floated to the surface of the calm water. Storm curiously peered into the water and was shocked to see Sephiroth amidst flames... Nibelheim, he realized with clarity. His father, much younger then, lying on an examination table, he and his friend Zack screaming as they were injected with various liquids and MAKO. He was his father, then, feeling the burning energy in his blood.

Later images floated to the curface, of Aeris and Tifa speaking softly to Cloud, who obviously adored the two of them equally. Aeris smiling as she walked with Cloud, having Cait Sith read their fortunes... it had been an ill omen of things to come... Storm wanted to look away as Aeris made her way among the buildings of the City of the Ancients to the most powerful part of its holy heart, where the Lifestream would be able to hear her strongest. Cloud coming up to her, about to strike her in a fury influenced by a dark force hanging above them... the enemy falling from above.

No one could have known! Storm thought, tears streaming down his face as the masamune stabbed the fragile flower girl through the back. she let out her last breath, a white materia bead bouncing down the steps as an anguished Cloud cried out and cradled the dying girl in his arms. Sephiroth watched with emotionless eyes, coldly telling Cloud about the futility of emotions. Aeris had become part of the Lifestream then...

"It wasn't enough," she said quietly, lifting her eyes from the little pool. "Holy came and saved the Planet from the drastic effects of Meteor, but it wasn't enough to stop Jenova's kind from hearing her and coming. They have been long in coming, Storm. They have taken this long to cross the galaxies and reach this place."

"Aeris, what can we do?" Storm asked a little desperately.

"Not much," Aeris admitted. "Unless you're ready to undertake a great task which might take quite a long time. Even then, it may be too late."

"What can we do?" Storm repeated.

Green eyes looked into his and he nearly recoiled from how penetrating her gaze was. "You must find a way to the stars," she said simply. "It's your last chance. Out there, you may be able to send a signal to my people."

"Why can't you do that? You're part of the Cetra in the Lifestream."

"We are already doing as much as we can, Storm, but it isn't enough. You've got to help get our message out there in the stars. We have reached out kind out there, but our message is vague."

Storm took a deep breath. "What signal would they recognize?"

Aeris smiled a little. "In the City of the Ancients, to the northwest, there is a platform that reaches itself into the sky. There're... instructions there. Go."

The young man bowed. "As you wish, great Aeris."

Aeris shuddered as the Lifestream to engulfed her once more. More voices surrounded Storm, speaking rapidly and slowly, such a myriad of voices Storm didn't understand what they were saying. He understood at once the effort it took for the Cetra in the Lifestream to send their cries out into the empty space beyond the atmosphere, and the power it took just to get Aeris to speak to Storm. He thought he felt something else moving in there, too, but he wasn't sure what it was.

Do you promise, Storm Strife? the empty, hollow voice of the Planet asked right into his mind.

"I promise," he vowed sincerely.

Storm scowled, sitting up on his bed. The instructions given to him were there imprinted in his mind, but slowly the details began to escape him. Lifestream? What bloody images were those? The headache cleared in a few moments and he hastily got up to ask Lucrecia whether she could interpret Cetra writings.