They dreamed.

They dreamed, yet they never remembered their dreams.  For they dreamed the 
dreams of their masters, gods from the stars, even when their masters did not 
speak through the dreams.  The vistas that these creatures had seen seeped 
into the pits of the dreaming mind.  But the wonders and horrors of the 
vastness of space-time were more than the fleshy minds of man could bear, 
and so, on waking, they forgot.

In dreams, they saw the places.  A black city of shifting quicksilver 
nightmare, under black stars in a grey sky.  The spiral nebluae where the 
gaseous brains sang strange songs.  The world were tectonic plates of gem 
floated on a sea of molten gold.  The five orbs of crystalized magic that 
orbited a star of no color.  The planes of angled time.

And they saw Jenova.

They saw the worlds left in the plague mother's wake.  The planet clothed 
in a seething sea of virii.  Another populated by living dead things that 
exhaled clouds of vaporized blood each dawn, and wakened to the quick 
blood rains of each night.  A sphere of ebon, scoured to smooth and perfect 
lifelessness, orbiting a rotting sun.  A trail of dead and corrupted worlds 
left in great Jenova's wake.

And they dreamed this, minds passing over the terrible wreckage of Jenova's 
path.  A cosmic panorama of horror, forgotten before they woke.

Forgotten, but the slow toll taken, none the less.

"III: L'Imperatrice [The Empress]
A woman with platinum-blonde hair.  She wears a gold circlet and carries a
scepter bejeweled with emeralds.  She reclines on and is surrounded by a 
threadbare and rotting couch and tapestries.  UNE DAME PESTILENT, MAJESTUEUSE 
DANS L'AFFAIBLISSEMENT"

***

Gabriel sat in Inno's room, resting a chair as the late afternoon sun 
streamed through the window.  He watched as Inno slept, still under from the 
tranquilizer she had taken the night before.  Half-dozing, Gabriel watched as 
dust-motes flashed golden through the sunbeams, to land softly on Inno's 
face.  He watched, and the room was still.

Presently, Inno stirred.

"No..."  Inno was murmuring in her sleep.

Gabriel roused himself from his langour, moving to sit beside Inno on the bed.  
Even as he did so, her soft cries quickened, their tempo falling ever faster.

"No, no, no... No.  Please, no..."

Gabriel looked, and was unsurprised to see the trials of tears running down 
her cheeks.  He shook her shoulder lightly.  "Hey, kid...  Wake up."

Inno stirred feverishly, then bolted upright, a scream on her lips.  She 
paused, looking confusedly about the room.  She slumped, breathing in little 
ragged gasps, and Gabriel moved to fold her into his arms, protectively.  Inno 
murmured faintly as he held her and tried to sooth her.  Just barely, Gabriel 
could hear her whispered, "Oh, momma...  So horrible.  What scares me so?  Why 
did you leave me?"

And Gabriel could neither explain fears she had no memory of, or heal the 
wounds fate had brought.

So, he held her amid the twilight sun, as the darkness of the evening crept in, 
and told her the lie.  That everything was all right.

"II [Two of Swords]
A man divided in twain stands, his two halves separated by the night sky.  In
each hand he holds a sword.  ON A DIVISE ENCORE LUI-MEME"

***

Final Fantasy : Fated
Chapter #10 - Birds, Flocking to the Tree

By Anonymous
Originated from the starter by Samantha Rodgers

***

Nightfall was approuching as the travelers entered the valley.  Below them, the 
sun's last rays revealed an expanse of scorched earth, blasted of every living 
thing.  In the center of this desolation, a pile of rubble poked brokenly through 
the earth.   As the valley stretched away, shifting from blasted to simply arid, 
a series of metal tower adorned by a string of cable could be seen leading into 
the distance.  The cables originated in the rubble-pile, terminating somewhere in 
the unknown distance.  On the cusp of the horizon, the faintest glimmer gold shone.

The travelers wound their way down the trail into the valley, occasionally passing 
a burned-out entrance of some abdanonded mine.  The black, ash-strewn landscape 
seemed to angrily press in from all sides, herding them onwrads toward the ruins.  
Presently, a sign announced that what they had believed to be a ruin, was actually 
the town of Correl.

Passing through the streets of Correl, they could not help but remember the slums 
beneath Midgar.  However, the slums of Midgar had the benefit of living amung the 
castings-off of the affluent, Correl lacked ever that.  The city was built amid the 
ruins of its buildings, toppled walls and shattered buildings propped and strutted 
into minimally livable conditions.  But, even that was rare, the vast majority of 
people eking out livings in the tangle of a filthy tent city that filled the center 
of Correl.  In the streets, sewage flowed, the primative drains inadaquite to
contain 
its flow.   Piles of mouldering coal lay on the street corners, and more than once 
blocked the streets.  On more than one occassion, they saw great plumes of black 
smoke rising from where one of the coal piles burned unchecked amongst the ruins.

And everywhere, there were the people.

On every street, people, jobless and hardened, watched the travelers.  They were 
filthy, and often whip-thin, and many bore the marks of disease - pale scar-like 
twists crawling against burn red skin, the livid marks spreading over arms, legs, 
necks, cheeks....  They watched the travellers, hunger and hungers unrelated to food

playing across their faces, causing the travelers to unconciously shift ranks, 
forming a defensive ring, Tifa and Aeris in the center.

Passing a hulking machine once used to tear coal from the mountainside, now long 
crippled, they spotted a building that stood out as obviously out of place.  For
one, 
it appeared new, and was spotless and well-maintained.   The group entered and sat
in 
the spacious lobby.

There were a few moments spared so that everyone could take a seat.  All five 
travellers settled in to their seats with hearty groans, eager to be off their feet 
after the day's march.   Cloud surveyed his companions, Tifa, Aeris, Cait Sith, and 
Red.  

"So, what now?  I know we said we'd wait for Gabriel and Inno here, but I, for one, 
am not interested in staying here any longer that we have to."

The others nodded in agreement.  "But, if we head on to the next town down the line,

how will we get word to Inno and Gabriel about where we are?   I doubt that there's 
anyone who would deliver the message here." asked Tifa.

Cait Sith grinned from his perch on top of his moogle, produced a megaphone.  "DON'T

WORRY!  EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTR-"  He was cut off as Cloud yanked the megaphone
out 
of his hands.

Blinking, Cait continued.  "The building in a aerial tram station that goes to the 
Gold Saucer.   The Gold Saucer is a big amusement park type place.  I used to work 
there, back before the Boss called me back to Midgar.  I know some folks there."  He

paused, puffing out his scrawny little cat chest.  "I bet I could call in some
favors 
and get us free rooms for a couple days.  We'll leave word at the station, and Ms. 
Inno and Gabriel can meet us there!"  

Aeris perked up at Cait's words.  "Oh, the Gold Saucer!  Mom used to tell me stories

about it.   I've always wanted to go.  Cait, that sounds lovely!"  She beamed at the

little robot, her hands clasped in excitement.

"Heh.  I am good, aren't I?"

Cloud just rubbed his forehead.  "OK, go ahead," he sighed.  "But this isn't a 
vacation.  We're just here long enough to let the others catch up.  We can't afford 
to lose Sephiroth's trail."  There was a touch of acid at his last words, as he
recalled
his brief clash with Gabriel earlier. 

Cait Sith stood and essayed a jaunty salute.  "You got it, boss-man!"  He sat back
down 
on his moogle's head.  As he did, the moogle's ears perked up until they stood
completely 
vertical, and then began swiveling like some sort of bizzarre radar dishes.  As this

happened, Cait's tail became ram-rod straight, and slow quiet beeping issuing.

They sat silently like that for more than a minute, and the others watched, not
saying a 
word.   At the three minute mark, Cait's tail fell slack and resumed it's normal
twitching.

"OK, compadres!  Everythings arranged, and our rooms will be ready when we get
there," 
stated the cat.  Turning, he bounded away to the tram docks.  The others got up from
their 
seat, and moved to follow.

Red XIII watched Cait Sith's retreating form, then looked up at Aeris.  "Who would
have 
thought that some as simple as a phone call could underscore how different someone
is.  
If it weren't for seeing that, one might think he was actually a living thing...."

***

Brushing the dome of heaven, they passed.  Beneath, the desert was molten gold,
burning, 
fluid, and beautiful.  From the molten gold sea, raise the tree of life, shining
golden 
and mystical in the last trace rays of the dying sun.

The light guttered, tumbling behind the mountains, and the gold was transmuted, now 
silver.  The Tree of Life was framed by stars, and glowed golden from within.  Eight

great branches reached out from the trunk of the Tree of Life, and each clutched a 
great golden disk.  The tree was surmounted by a ninth and largest disk, and far
below, 
a mesh of lights marked the last, impure disk.  Tracks, cables and walkways 
interconnected the disks of the Tree of Life.

It was beautiful, shining against the night.

The Tree of Life.

Systemia Sephirothica.

              Kether
            /    |     \
       Binah-----|------Hokhmah
       |         |            |
       |         |            |
       Din-------|--------Hesed
       |    \    |     /      |
       |      Tifereth        |
       |         |            |
       Hod-------|-------Netsah
            \    |    /   
               Yesod
                 |
              Malkhuth

The Gold Saucer.

"X [Ten of Coins]
Five men in rags stare with coins for eyes.  OR D'UNTOUCHABLE, RECOMPENSE DE CHARON"

***

They had found him out within a day and a half.  After the escape of AVALANCHE and
the 
test subjects, Shinra's security staff had ransacked the computer system, searching
for 
the loopholes that had allowed AVALANCHE to break in to the Tower. 

Of course, all the loopholes lead to him.

Of course, the punishment for betraying Shinra, Inc. was death.

Mere minutes before the Administrative Research Branch, aka the Turks, had burst
into his 
office, Reeve had hi-jacked a small prop plane from the hangars at Shinra Tower. 
After 
just barely loosing his persuers from Midgar, he had beached the plane on a red rock

beach between the Gold Saucer and Cosmo Canyon.

He got it contact with Cait, who was now his only safe haven in the world now, and
set 
out to meet up with AVALANCHE while they stayed at the Gold Saucer.  There was a two

day march, but finally, his boarded the tram.  He would have a chance now.  Once he 
joined forces with these men and women who opposed Shinra, he would be able to
protect 
the people of Midgar.  By toppling Shinra from their Tower.

"I: Le Bateleur [The Magician]
A proud-looking man with short, jet-black hair wearing a purple robe and 
holding a double-edged sword above his head.  SES ESPOIRS LE COUPERONT A 
LA MOELLE"

"XV La Maison De Dieu [The House of God [The Tower]]
A city of enormous towers and crooked alleyways, most of which are lost
in shadow.  One mighty structure stabs toward the heavens far above its 
lesser breathren; the rising or setting moon, swollen to an unnatural 
size, floats between the viewer and the bulk of the spire.  The top of 
the spire is in the midst of collapsing, a giant piece of the top of the 
tower sliding free.  Many tiny, richly-dressed figures fall from its 
top.  Red lightning flashes across a stormy sky.  VILLE BABYLON, ABANDONE 
DE DIEU, PLEUVANT LE FEU"

***

At the Gold Saucer, Cait Sith led Cloud, Aeris, Tifa, and Red to the hotel.  
Given the exciting and luxerious surrounding the Gold Saucer presented, they 
had expected something similar.  An oppulent hotel done in marble and gilt, 
or something tall and stately in black glass and expensive woods.  Or at 
least with more neon.  They were not expecting a crumbling, centuries-old 
hotel, complete with mouldering Edwardian decor. 

"What, what?  This is the best hotel in the Gold Saucer."  Cait paused, 
rubbing the back of his neck.  "Actually, it's the only hotel in the Gold 
Saucer."  

There was a collective groan from the others.

"Eh heh...  Um, can I have my megaphone back?"

"No."

So saying, Cloud went to the front desk.  It may have been excessively 
weird, but at this point, he was really just too tired to care.  Ringing 
the desk bell, he looked around impatiently for the clerk.

When the clerk's corpse fell for the rafters onto him, he just about had 
a heart attack.

When Tifa, Aeris, and Red came over to see what had happened, and the 
corpse jerked up by the noose around it's neck, and greeted them, there 
was a second round of near heart attacks.

Cait Sith, however, was rolling the floor laughing his butt off.  After 
managing to compose himself somewhat, Cait spoke.

"Ahahaha...heh.  You should have *seen* the look on you guys' faces!" 
He paused, surpressing a snicker.  "Anyhow, this is a friend of mine, 
Mr. Rope.  He was good enough to get us the nice free rooms we're 
enjoying."

The dangling corpse waved.  "Hiya."

Red sniffed the air, then addressed the clerk.  "Um, not to be rude, 
but...you're dead.  How are you still living... so to speak?"

Mr. Rope grinned, an unpleasant sight due to the deteriorating state 
of his face.  "Sore wa himitsu desu.  But, since you're friends of Cait, 
I'll show you."  He paused, unbuttoning the top three buttons of his 
uniform.  Under the layers of cloth, a green materia was sunken into the 
pallid flesh of his chest just to the right of the breastbone.  The 
materia shone febrilely, as though a dark film floated across the surface 
of the crystal.

"This here is necromantic materia.  Shinra produces it, but it's very 
hush-hush.  Actually, I know there's lots of other types of materia 
that they don't let the public know about."  

There was a pause as everyone absorbed this.  Rope began rebuttoning his 
uniform.  "Anyhow, here's the keys to your rooms," he said, flashing 
another crumbling grin.  "Y'all have a nice night."  He dumped the keys 
into the paw of Cait's moogle, and tugged on his noose, which reeled him 
back into the rafters.

And then, after dividing up the keys, there was nothing to do, save seek 
the solace of a warm bed.

***

The moon, a perfect disk of shimmering silver, shone through the window.  
It illuminated the desk in the room where Tifa sat.  The day's travel 
lingered, but she could not sleep yet.

Looking out the window, Tifa thought of the times she had seen the moon 
over Midgar.  Catching a glimpse of the moon from the slums was rare, so 
rare that she could count all the times she has seen it on the fingers of 
one hand.  In Midgar, every time she had seen the moon, it had seemed 
diseased, a bloated, rotten fruit polluting the sky, discolored by the 
thick veils of smog it was seen through.  She had hated seeing the moon 
then, as if it was a harbinger of some vast sickness that she would catch 
if that orb looked on her.  

But here, high above the desert, it was different.  The moon wasn't a 
sickness, but the moon of her childhood.  It was like being back in 
Nibelheim, before what come later.  The moon looked down, serene, pale, 
silver, and she looked up and remembered.  

A moon like tonight's had shone on a night when Cloud had asked her to come 
to the village watertower.  That night, when Cloud had told her he was 
leaving Nibelheim, and she had finally realized just how much she would 
miss him, and the promise she had him make.

Tifa sighed, smiling slightly, and stood, moving to draw items from the pack 
that lay on the bed.  Shucking the day's outfit, she slid into her nightgown, 
an over-sized t-shirt that she'd had for ages.  It was comforting, in a way, 
as her sensei, Zangan, had given it to her after he had taken her away from 
the darkness that had been Nibelheim.

Having changed, she began her nightly rituals.  Standing in patch of 
moonlight that streamed through the window, Tifa focused.  Breathing 
deeply, she focused, trying to find center.  A minute passed, as she 
drew breath and focus her chi.

Suddenly, there seemed to an instant transition from stillness to blurring 
motion, as a complex series of kicks and punches was unleased.  Limbs flowed 
smoothly through katas, flashing palely in the silver half-light.  The flurry 
of activity continued, slowing gradually until, with a final chopping motion, 
the last kata was finished.

Tifa paused, catching her breath, calming.  Once she had done this, she 
returned to the seat at the desk, placing the items drawn from her pack onto 
the desk.  They consist of the few things she had left from her childhood.  
Most of such things had died in Nibelheim, but when Zangan had rescued her, 
there were a few personal effect laying in her pack that had survived a 
hasty retreat to Midgar.

Tifa went through her nightly ritual, arranging the three photos before her.  
On the right, a portion, cut from a photo of the students of Nibelheim's 
one-room schoolhouse, that depicted both her and Cloud, even though they 
weren't really standing any where near each other.  The middle photo was a 
picture of her and her father.  She didn't remember when the picture had 
been taken, but it was the only momento of her family that she had left, 
and she charished it.  Finally, a photo of Zangan-sensei, taken at the 
decrepit dojo he had maintained in Midgar.  

Memories.

The final item, Tifa clasped in her hands.  It was hardly important, just 
chunk of common quartz she had found while working as a guide in the Nibel 
mountains.  But, she had liked it, and carried it in her pack up until that 
day all those years ago.  Over time, it had become a kind of small personal
shrine.

She didn't really believe in gods.  True, there were powerful spirits that 
could be call forth by certain materia, but they cared little about humans.  
She knew from experience that if called out to in times of trial, they would 
not come.  The scar that ran along her left side, from her ribcage to her 
collarbone, where Sephiroth's sword had cut her to the quick, spoke 
eloquently of the indifference of the gods.

So, at night, she spoke to no-one, to anyone who would listen, and to herself.

"Everything has changed.  I used to hope that he was still alive, and for years 
there was no word, and I started to doubt.  But, even as I wondered if he might 
really be dead, I found Cloud again."

"But, now, everything is different.  He isn't who I remember.  We're caught up 
in something so big, I can't grasp all the pieces.  And if we stand before all 
our enemies, how can we survive?"

"Cloud's changed.  When he spoke about Nibelheim, things were wrong.  I'm 
worried.  I still love him... but, I think he's forgotten me."

She ended as she had nearly every night since she began her nightly ritual.  
"Please, where ever he is, let him think about me too...."

Having finished, she swept up the photographs, and placed her belongings in her 
pack.  She drew the shade, blocking out the moon's glow, and fell upon her bed.  
She was asleep, dreaming questioning dreams, in scant minutes.

"V: L'Amoureux [The Lovers]
Two naked humans, one male and the other female, stand beneath a sunny sky.  The 
two are flanked by a pair of stately trees whose drooping branches are laden with 
huge rotting fruit.  The woman, a curvaceous dark beauty, looks up at the sky, 
while the man, an individual with long blonde hair, gazes darkly at her.  AMOUR 
EST DESTRUCTIF"

***

In a room further down the hall, Cloud dreamed dreams he could not recall.

"Roi des Epees [The King of Swords]
A regal but stooped king swallows his own sword.  The bloodied tip protrudes 
from the arch of his back.  MATRICE PAR L'EPEE"

***

The Gold Saucer never slept, but some parts of it were not open twenty-four
hours a day.  One such place was Dio's Museum, the owner's     collection of 
valuable artifact and curios.  The Museum closed down at night, and tight 
security measures fell into place.  Robotic guards, laser grids and motion 
sensors relayed complex alarms that would result in a quick trip to the Correl 
Prison for any would-be thieves.  No one could get into the Museum at night.

Unless they happened to know that the security chief on the night shift was 
a sucker for expensive bourbon.

If you knew that little fact, someone could have the ran of the place for 
the night.  Much as Cait Sith did now.  Waiting the main display gallery Cait 
Sith waited to meet The Boss.  While he waited, he cat-napped, taking the 
opportunity to perform some routine internal maintenance.  He dreamed silicon 
dreams.

<0101000100101111011001010101110001001010011100100110010101010101011>
<11101-...one might think he was actually a living thing...-01010000>
<0001101010001111111000101100110010000111001010011100111001010101010>

In some distant sub-routine, Cait was very disturbed.  After all, he had 
always thought of himself as human.  Well, fundamentally, at least.  It was 
a little hard to ignore the fact that he was a robotic cat and thought in 
binary, but still The Boss had once told him, "you're as good a person as 
any man I've known, and far better than many."  And so, he'd tried to live 
up to that.

Well, OK, mostly.

The sound of a service elevator approuching the darkened gallery caused 
Cait to close that subroutine.  He shifted to sit up, paying closer attention.  
Overhead, the ventilation system creaked.  

Seconds later, the elevator chimed, and a dark-haired man with a goatee stepped 
out.  His suit, once quite stylish, had obviously seen better days as the days 
of several days travel lay heavy on it.  It was The Boss, head of Shinra Urban 
Development Division, Reeve Maningen.

Cait bounced up and down on top of his moogle, which bounced over to where 
Reeve stood.  The creaking of the ventilation echoed the cat's enthusiastic 
voice. 

"Boss!  It's good to see you again.  Are you alright?'

Reeve smiled and scritched behind Cait's ears.  "I'm as well as can be expected, 
considering I've got a death sentence on my head and I've been on the run for 
three days."  The ventilation groaned softly in response.

"Well, leave it to me.  I've got a room for you over at the hotel.  In the 
morning, you can talk to the others.  Don't worry!  Everything will be gre-"  
At about this point, the ventilation duct that had been complaining broke loose, 
dropping squarely on top of Reeve.  Of course, this also somehow set off a 
security alarm.

From the pile of collapsed metal and flattened executive, came a weak mumble.  
"Ite...."

Cait poked his moogle and it began lifting chunks of vent off The Boss and whoever 
else was down there.  Under the rubble, he found The Boss, out of commishion, but 
otherwise OK.  Then, there was the girl.

She was young, to start, and wore a mish-mash of armor over a green shirt and khaki 
shorts.  A huge and vaguely ridiculous-looking shield thing completely covered her 
left arm and what had to be the world's largest shuriken was strapped to her back.  
The girl sat up and clutched her head for a moment.  Then, she noticed the blaring 
alarm, jumping straight from dazed to panicked.

"Oh, no!  I've got to get out of here.  I'll get caught!" she squealed in panic.  
She looked around rapidly for a safe exit.  Meanwhile, Reeve began sitting up, 
having slightly recovered.

Cait spoke up.  "Miss?  If you need some place to hide, here you go," he said, 
pro-offering his room key.  "You can hide there.  No-one will look for you there, 
really."

The girl looked at him suspiciously for a moment, then took the key.  "Not like 
I've got a lot of options here."  Her gaze shifted around the gallery.  In the 
distance, running feet could be heard.  

"If you go back through the next gallery, there's a door that leads to the 
storage wing.  Try using the service elevators."

"Um... arigato."  With that, the girl dashed off into the back of the museum.

Reeve lifted himself from the floor.  "Cait, are you sure that was the wisest idea?"

"If it wasn't, there's nothing we can do about it now," Cait shrugged.  He passed 
Reeve a key.  "Let's get you out of here now.  I'll stay and smooze the guards.  
Wouldn't want anyone to think they had to come arrest me for leaving the scene of 
a crime.  Even if I never was officially here."

"Alright.  Be careful though...."  Reeve cast a worried look at Cait, before Cait 
and his moogle flash him two pairs of thumbs-up and big grins.  Reeve took off 
then, disappearing back into the museum's service coridors, and from there into 
the busy crowds of the Gold Saucer.

Cait got to stay and explain that, really, the upkeep here had gone to seed, 
and you guys ought to fix things like that before someone got hurt.  It took a 
long time before they finally bought the story.

"VII [Seven of Coins]
A fortune-teller with a spread of indistinct tarot cards on a table, with seven 
coins in a pile from his last client; sometimes described as a gambler instead.  
L'AME DANS L'AME-MOINS"

***

In her room, Aeris Gainsborough slept the sleep of the innocent.  No doubts nor 
dreams nor visitors disturbed her slumber.  

"VIII [Eight of Scepters]
A girl juggles eight scepters before an azure sky.  The scepters are an 
impossibly great weight for her to bear.  PURETE EST SAINTE"

***

The wind blew over the night sea, stirring the glowing contrails formed 
by the ship's wake, as it churned the myriad tiny, phosphorescent oceanic 
lifeforms in its passing.  The ship, clipping its way toward the Gold Coast, 
was dark.  The night pressed in, despite the glow of the moon.

On it's deck, three forms lay slumbering peacefully.  Marlene lay snuggled up 
against Jessie, the pair draped with Jessie's ancient military surplus jacket.
Nearby, Biggs watched them and listened to the sursuration of the waves 
against the haul of the ship.

After some time, he shifted his gaze.  Barret stood nearby, at the bow of the 
ship.  His bulk was a monolith against the night.  He stood, arms folded, 
scanning the horizon, as if he expected some horde of foes to descend on the 
ship.

Biggs sat up a bit.  "Hey, Barret..."

From his position at the front of the boat, Barret grunted in response.

"How come we're going to the Gold Saucer?  If we're heading for Cosmo Canyon, 
it's just a needless delay."

There was a pause, before Barret spoke.  "Everything 'tween the Gold Saucer
and Cosmo Canyon is a jungle.  It's damn near impassable, and there aren't any 
usable ports further south 'n the Saucer.  We'll hafta try and get one of the 
Saucer's all-terrain vechiles.  After that, we'll finish the trip t' Cosmo 
Canyon."

The big man returned his attention to the horizon.  "We'll be at th' Saucer docks 
sometime in th' mornin'.  Gimme a little credit, will ya?"  He lapsed into silence.

Biggs lay back down, and soon dreamed of girls in ancient military surplus jackets.

"VI [Six of Swords]
Six men with outstretched swords stand at the back of a sailing ship, 
as if saluting something they are leaving behind.  LA FORCE DE NOS 
CONVICTIONS"

***

After a quite lengthy discussion with the Gold Saucer's security chief 
(which eventually amounted to "you owe me, I'll take some more bourbon, 
thanks, now don't let me see you around here again"), Cait trudged back 
to his room at the Ghost Hotel.

Reaching his room, he paused before the door, remembering the encounter 
in the gallery, then knocked quietly.  Inside, he could hear faint 
padding steps for a moment, and then the click of the lock being undone.

Pushing open the door, Cait peeked inside.  Not seeing his guest, he 
entered.  Closing the door, he scanned the room for his guest.

She hit him like the fall of the Wutai Empire.

the next thing Cait knew was the he was rolling across the floor, someone 
lifting him against the wall, a large, sharp thing pinning him to the wall.  
It was the girl of course.  She looked both suspicious and nervous, the giant
shuriken wavering an centimeter or two from Cait's throat.  Cait thought for
a moment.

"Um.... Hi?"

"Look you... you... cat.  Whatever your game is, I'm not playing it.  I don't 
buy the friendly routine.  Any minute now, security guards are going to come 
swarming in here, dropping out of the ceiling and the dresser and stuff, aren't
they?"  The bulk of this impromptu rant was lost on Cait.

"OK, OK, just please put me down.  I think the moogle's getting unhappy."  True 
enough, the moogle was shuffling forward, massive paws raise for an overhead strike.
 
"Stop that!  Bad moogle!  Naughty moogle!"

The moogle stopped, and Cait Sith wriggled out of the girl's grip.  Scampering 
over to his moogle, he climbed up and perched on it's head.  He patted it, seemingly
trying to sooth the construct.  He looked at the young ninja, who was still 
wild-eyed, for a moment, then said, "Miss, please calm down.  Everything's under 
control.  I convinced the guards it was just faulty construction.  No one's after 
you.  No one but me and The Boss know you're here.  We won't turn you in, I
promise."

The young thief calmed visibly.  "You really promise?"

"Really.  Cross my heart, even."  Cait made a little x-ing motion over his heart.

His guest's face melted in relief.  "Um.... Well, seeing as it's way late already, 
could I crash here tonight?  I don't really have a place to stay."  She smiled at
Cait.

"Sure.  I don't really *need* a bed.  I'll sleep on the floor."  Cait poked the
moogle 
and the pair propped themselves up next to the closet, Cait curling up on top of the

moogle's head.  Pausing, he reached up and clicked off the light.

"Oh, hai, arigato.  Um...  What's your name?"

"Cait Sith, miss.  What's your's?"

"Watashi wa Yuffie desu.  Oyasumi nasai."

"Um...  Good night."

Cait Sith shut down, once more dreaming silicone dreams.  <10011101010222222...>

"Reine de Denier [The Queen of Coins]
A queen stands smiling, a large coin held in one hand behind her head, 
as if faking a halo.  ANGE, ENTERRE DESSOUS, TOMBEAU DES GEMMES"

***

The screen was blurred, static dancing across it, obscuring any intelligable 
images it might pick up.  But, the audio signal came through loud and clear.

"The assault should fall tommorrow night.  The fall of the Tree of Life will 
draw out Sephiroth.  There are others who must die as well.  There are certain
thing that are buried beneath the Tree.  When they fell to earth, the impact 
formed this desert, and a prison was built to contain them.  Free these things, 
topple the Tree, the Gold Saucer.  Destroy Sephiroth and the others.  Do you 
understand, Dyne?"

The man who stand before the screen nodded.  

"Of course, Lord Prophet."

"XXI: [The Hierophant]
A figure in tattered yellow robes, with a strange mask upon his face. He sits 
upon a throne of onyx, one hand clutching fiercely at the throne while the 
other rests upon his chin, perhaps holding the mask in place or preparing to 
remove it.  QUE SE TROUVE DERRIERE SON MASQUE"

***

"VI [Six of Scepters]
Six knights on six horses holding six scepters advance on a peasant, who falls 
before their hooves.  ENDROIT DE LA GRANDE PAUVRETE, ECRASE PAR MES SABOTS"

"X: La Justice [Justice]
A young man dressed in a riding cloak who holds up one arm in greeting.  The 
other arm is folded across his chest and something glistens on his hand.  His 
face is grim, matching the bleak, lifeless landscape behind him.  DEMENTI OU 
DOULEUR SINISTRE DANS MORNE UNE TERRE"

The cat read the fortunes he had cast.  They read:

"Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards.  Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes.  Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is somethings he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see.  I do not find
The Hanged Man.  Fear death by water.
I see people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you.  If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days."

The cat was very confused.

"IV [Four of Cups]
A man drowns within a cup, which floats within another cup, and another cup, 
and another cup.  MORT PAR EAU"

FIN

***

Author's Notes:

Props go to:  John Tynes, who's KIY Tarot I drew from; Sionna Klassen, whose FFVII 
Tarot formed additional elements; T.S. Eliot, whose poem "The Wastelands" is quoted 
at the end of the section.  Please interprete these symbols as you will in future 
parts.

Other props to:  Charles Park, for the Tifa fanart that inspired that scene - 
you can find the picture in Issue #15 of PSM; BWA, for part #8 of FFF; and Stefan 
Gagne, who wanted Yuffie to be Red XIII's bitch - sorry, I didn't pull that off, but
how about a stuffed cat instead?