It took another week before communications were up and running in any useful capacity. Rufus had finally figured out what had caused the reactor to malfunction. Although she didn't like it, Elfe was forced to admit that the reactor was a necessary evil. People needed light, and heat, and fresh food, and that required electricity.
Rhapsodos was back on his feet and was enjoying firing off all the orders he hadn't been able to give while recovering. He could be pompous, but Elfe was painfully glad to have someone else to delegate the million-and-one things that still needed to be done.
"You've got enough on your plate, what with three young children and a sweetheart to nurse," he teased.
Elfe punched him hard- in his good shoulder, of course. She wasn't completely heartless. However, he was edging dangerously close to the line that separated good-natured razzing from a bald-faced insult. Rhapsodos must have realized he was pushing his luck, for he held up both hands in surrender.
Sephiroth- now that he was awake- was doing well. Elfe had thought she might need to sit on him in order to keep him in bed, but he seemed content to rest. She was unable to visit him as often as she would have liked, but frequently found her father or Valentine along with his brothers gathered around Sephiroth's bed. Despite spending weeks in a coma, he spent a great deal of time asleep. Elfe brought him a tablet and reports, and returned his PHS. This turned out to be a mistake as he soon began trying to give orders from his sickbed. It was Veld who confiscated these, insisting that he was not to conduct business until he could stand up without help. Sephiroth took this as a challenge and- perhaps because he had to- recovered in half the time Rhapsodos had required.
"Why do you have to do everything slightly better than me?" Rhapsodos complained, smile on his face, as Sephiroth walked into the operations room. The General smiled and turned to Rufus, who had called the meeting. Everyone who had either already been in charge or nominated into position had been assembled: Zack, Tseng, Vincent, Shears, Azul and his eldest son Weiss, Reeve, and Scarlett.
"So, Mr. President," Sephiroth asked, "what did I miss?"
"Well," Rufus began as Sephiroth took a seat next to Elfe and she shot Genesis a look daring him to make kissy faces at them. "We know why the reactor overloaded."
"Really?" Elfe asked, intrigued. "What was the problem?"
"Turns out there was something missing, something we hadn't taken into account because it's been here for thousands of years."
"Wait, you mean Jenova?" Elfe asked, confused. "How was Jenova making the reactor overheat?"
"She didn't," Rufus shook his head. "Jenova's been feeding on the mako energy of Gaia since the time of the Cetra. We'd never calibrated anything without unknowingly factoring her into it. Now that she's gone…" Rufus broke into a grin. "We're running the whole damn city on only one reactor at just eight per cent power."
Everyone stared at him, jaws dangling.
"Don't get me wrong," he went on, "I still plan to honor my side of the bargain. I want to do away with reactors entirely. We shouldn't be using the souls of our ancestors to heat TV dinners. We're still working on a good replacement."
Elfe nodded graciously, which seemed to surprise him. "Good. I'd appreciate a time table at some point. Five years, ten years, whatever. I recognize it's not realistic to replace mako power overnight. However, I'd like to have a goal to work towards."
Rufus nodded. "Okay, I'll see what I can come up with."
"Haven't other reactors overheated?" Sephiroth asked.
"Our communication network is still limited," Tseng put in. "We have indeed had reports of Kalm and Junon experiencing the same issue. We were able to send them a notice and instructions how to prevent it from happening again. We also issued a red-alert to the maintenance staff of other towns that have mako reactors."
"What are we going to do with the other reactors in Midgar?" Elfe wanted to know.
"We're recalibrating them now, just to make sure they don't blow as well," Rufus explained. "After that, we'll shut all but one other one down. Since Reactor Zero is gone, the remaining reactor will be rerouted to Deepground so they don't have to run on generator anymore."
Azul nodded approvingly. "Appreciate that, Sir."
"And then?" Elfe prompted.
"Then we'll begin dismantling them, probably put the materials toward reconstruction in the rest of the city."
"What about the other reactors in other cities all over the world?"
"Once we find an alternative energy source, we start an aggressive ad campaign. Mako is passe. The new renewable, non-planet-draining energy source is infinitely better; more efficient, and less money."
"Any leads on that?" she asked.
Rufus shook his head. "Not yet. Something we haven't completely ruled out is using mako in a different way; something that doesn't involve processing and burning it."
Shears looked skeptical. "How's that supposed to work?"
"Well, one of the options we're exploring is a variation on geothermal energy. Light mako gives off heat the same way electricity does. We could harness that and get energy out of it without incinerating our ancestors. Right now we don't have a practical method, but like I said, it's just one angle we're pursuing."
Shears nodded, appeased, and looked to Elfe.
"Alright," she agreed. "We're making progress as well. Surveying is still in process, but it looks like quite a bit of the city will be salvageable both above and below Plate. The broken sections allow for greater sunlight and airflow, but still allow for stable surface area. I'd actually suggest converting the standing sections of the plate into non-residential green space. Midgar doesn't generate any of its own food, and the soil around it is so depleted there's a ring of barren earth almost a mile wide."
"Ingenious," Rufus told her, a look of admiration on his face. "I like it. Make it so. Tell me, are any of the buildings on the plate safe for habitation?"
"The short answer to that is 'no'," Zack spoke up. "The standing portions of the plate are stable, but the buildings are more or less totalled. There's a lot still standing, but so far none of them have been passed by the surveyors. They recommend knocking them down and repurposing the materials somewhere else."
"Do it," Rufus said with a nod. "Those with high rent will just have to make do. Can we give people the chance to reclaim their belongings, or was the looting too bad?"
"What's still standing is mostly intact," Zack confirmed. "I'll ask if it's safe for the residents to retrieve their stuff. We've managed to lock down most of the access points to the plate, making it off limits to everyone except the surveyors and construction crew. Looting hasn't been too bad underplate, but that's because there's not really anything worth stealing. There are already SOLDIERs on a detail to keep the looting to a minimum."
It went on like that, everyone giving their reports and offering suggestions. Even Elfe seemed to defer to Rufus, which struck Sephiroth as slightly odd. Then again, her only goal was to abolish mako power, and Rufus was already making strides toward that. Somehow he had expected there to be more things on fire. Then again, Midgar was in ruins. That had to count for something.
"Is this enough?" Sephiroth asked her once the meeting had adjourned. Elfe looked up at him, head cocked in confusion.
"Is what enough?" she echoed.
"This," he gestured broadly at the busy, bustling street actively under repair. "Shinra, Midgar...me, my family. Is this what you wanted?"
She started at him for a moment, opened her mouth, thought better, then closed it again. Reaching, she took his hand and held it. Sephiroth fought not to grin like an idiot even as he watched the wheels turning in her head.
"No," she said at last, and looked up to meet his eyes again, "it wasn't. I never thought I'd be interested in more than burning Shinra to the ground because I was pretty sure that was what it was going to take to stop it. I never dreamed that Rufus would cooperate, that Jenova was guzzling more mako that the reactors, or that you had a soul and a heart."
"Thank you," he replied dryly.
"You know what I mean," Elfe smirked, tugging gently at his hand. "I've asked myself the same thing a hundred times a day ever since we joined forces, and I can't decide if I've just got way better diplomatic skills than I thought, or if I'm selling out."
"What does Avalanche say?"
"I...was honestly expecting them to pitch a bigger fit about it," Elfe admitted. "Sure there's a couple of people who aren't happy about Shinra, about us, but overall they've been remarkably laid-back about the whole thing. I guess killing an alien space parasite and seeing the Lifestream rise up along with a couple of forces of nature with their own eyes puts things in perspective."
Sephiroth nodded quietly, squeezing her fingers briefly. Her had was so small compared to his; had disappeared within his gripe, yet there was unmistakable strength even in the hand without Zirconiade.
"Indeed," Sephiroth agreed. "Elfe...I'm afraid I'm not much use when there's not a battle raging around me. We'll still be fighting, but without swords, and that sort of conflict I'm not very good at. I know we said we'd attempt a relationship once Jenova was gone, but…"
The look on Elfe's face was one of hurt, but quickly morphed into steely-eyed anger.
"Sephiroth- " Elfe began, jabbing a finger at his chest, but stopped short. "I have no idea what your last name is."
Neither did he, to be perfectly honest. According to the files Vincent and Veld had uncovered, Hojo was his biological father, but he'd be damned if he was going to take the old bastard's name.
Wait.
Bastard.
He'd been an unplanned pregnancy; his mother expecting when she'd married the Professor.
"Crescent," Sephiroth told her, liking the taste of the name on his tongue.
"Oh. Good." Elfe began again, drawing a deep breath. "Sephiroth Crescent, you are not getting rid of me that easy! If you think I am going to walk away now that we finally have half a chance to interact when one or the other isn't in mortal peril, you have another thing coming. I am not afraid of what Avalanche, Shinra, or the general public thinks. I am not afraid of your fans, your brothers, or you, so you can stop with the greater-good routine right now."
The top of her head was barely even with her shoulder, but Sephiroth fought the urge to take a step back. She was serious, but not necessarily angry. Annoyed, no, exasperated. He couldn't really blame her.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, forcing himself not to rub at the prickles rising on the back of his neck. "I did warn you I'm not very good at this sort of thing."
Elfe smiled. "That's okay," she assured him. "Neither am I. We can work on it together."
Taking his hand in hers again, she stepped into his space. Of its own accord, his arm went around her shoulders as she rested a hand against his chest.
"You're right, this wasn't what I wanted," she said softly, and Sephiroth held his breath, "but it's what I want now."
Tugging on his lapel, she pulled him down to touch her lips to his. A couple of whistles sounded, as did some excited hoots, but he ignored them. Let them look. Both he and Elfe were exactly where they wanted to be.