Chapter One: This is My Vacati-Mission!

The halls of Shinra sit clean and sterile, soldiers roam the halls in single file, disturbed only by the slight buzz of passing gossip. What is the latest gossip one might ask? Here he comes now, always the talk of the odd soldier and fan-girl alike: Zack Fair.

Zack walks down the corridor with a bounce in his step, bringing with him a slightly louder buzz of conversation with each passing Third and Second Class soldier. He begins to signal a friendly wave to those he passes, but is returned with hostile stares, infantrymen left and right are stopping to gape at him.

"It's like they've never seen a hero before," Zack mumbles to himself, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

A bold Second Class steps out in front of him. "Zack Fair, stop right there."

"Sorry buddy, I don't have time for autographs, but feel free to join my fan club. I'm sure someone there can hook you up with one." Zack winks at the man and tries to continue past him.

"I need you to come with me." The second class soldier holds out a slip. "You're wanted for questioning and immediate arrest."

Zack is clearly taken aback; something's not right here. "Huh?" he says as he looks over the slip before dodging the Second Class who is now reaching out to grab him. Zack jogs out of the building, only slightly losing the happy bounce in his step, and vaults onto the roof. He looks down as soldiers swarm out of the headquarters in search of him. "Better get out of here… this isn't good."

The soldiers signal to each other, barking orders. "You know what to do?"

"Capture on sight."

"Dead or alive."

"Jeez!"

The soldiers turn to the source of the outburst.

"Sorry, I bit my tongue…"

"Keep it together. We're here for Zack Fair. He was last seen heading toward that direction." The soldier points up in the direction of the roof. "So let's stay in single file and not cause more problems." He looks pointedly at the soldier with the outburst.

"Sir, yes sir!"

Zack takes care to lock the door to the building roof access before going back to look down off the sides of the building. "I'll need to find a place that isn't in the open…" He pulls out his phone. "What's going on…?"

Contrasting the light halls of Shinra, the Turk Headquarters is dark, brightened only by the glow of monitors illuminating the room and the face of their newest superior. Her red hair cascading down the black, crisp fabric of her suit, Ryiah stares into the twenty-plus computer screens, scanning over countless bits of information. A notification pings up on one of the screens causing Ryiah to sit up in her oversize office chair a little straighter.

"Finally a mission worth my time! And by worth my time I mean one equivalent to a vacation. It's been forever since I've got to do a bit of traveling…" She clicks on the mission. "Red zoned already huh? I wonder who this target is; Shinra is usually pretty solid at not letting their mistakes escape..." Ryiah mutters, chuckling to herself at the absurdity of the statement. "Last known location...heading toward the beach, hell yes."

"The others are beginning to question your sanity, Ryiah. If you keep talking to yourself like that they are going to take away your gun," Tseng speaks from somewhere in the darkness behind her.

"I wasn't talking to myself, I was talking to you, my love."

"Very well. I see you've accepted the capture mission. You will be departing immediately?"

"Yes sir!" Ryiah exclaims, jumping up from her seat. "Just have to throw my bikini in a bag and-"

"You're taking Tsiang with you."

"Tseng! Noo!" Ryiah wails, grabbing the sides of her face. "This is my vacati-mission!"

"He needs more training, this is a low risk mission, it's perfect."

"To quote a wise man I once knew: 'No.'"

"If you won't do it for him then do it for me?" Tseng asks her in a monotone as if it's hurting him to stoop so low.

"I love you with all of my being Tseng, baby. But I will not have that kid ruining my mission!" And with that statement Ryiah leaves the room, calling out, "See you in a few weeks!"

Tseng pulls out his phone, sends a text, and then puts it away. "Too late." He shows the slightest sign of a smile.

Zack walks the streets of the slums, a hooded cape pulled far over his head concealing his face. He mumbles to himself as if to appear like a crazed homeless man, or maybe he hasn't thought that far ahead yet. "I managed to escape them, but if I don't figure out why they're after me, I'll just keep running forever…" He ducks into an empty alley way and checks his phone once again. "Let's see what kind of missions there are and if they can explain anything… Oh shoot."

Zack realizes he had left his location info activated which would allow Shinra to track all his movements and locate him easily. Quickly he turns it off, hoping the damage had not already been done. "...probably should have thought about that a while ago…" He continues to mumble to himself as he scrolls through the active missions. "Damn I've been blocked from the system. I'd better lay low for a bit… but where can I go where no one will recognize me…?"

Deciding that if he was going into hiding for what could be "forever", Zack thought it best to lay low in a place that he could enjoy and maybe even relax for a while. Costa Del Sol, Zack Fair's prime vacation- who are we kidding, Zack Fair doesn't take vacations- Zack Fair's prime training location. Sand and ocean spans for miles, joined by an endless sun.

Zack lays on a towel, topless with a white mask of sunscreen on his face and sunglasses shielding his eyes. "Good a disguise as any, and now I get to work on my tan…" he continues to mumble to himself.

A few towels down a familiar red headed Turk is lounging, soaking up some sun on her very pressing "mission". In place of a suit, she is wearing one of the Turk issued bikinis that she herself designed and made a regulation. As she takes a long, luxurious sip of her tropical drink, complete with fresh fruit and a tiny umbrella, a dark shadow is cast, stealing her personal ray of sunshine.

Ryiah angrily glares over at the source of the shadow, and sees a large beach umbrella erected by a funny look man with sunglasses and a face full of sunscreen. She stands abruptly and marches over, ready to give him a piece of her mind.

"Excuse me, but just who do you think you are? I know you have the body of a god and it's taking all my willpower not to reach out and stroke that broad chest of yours… even for a-" Ryiah reaches a hand out as if to touch his muscular, oiled chest, but quickly snatches it back. "But you can't steal my sun like that! You jerk!"

Zack glances up at her from behind his shades, recognition slowly crossing his features. "...Turk?"

"How did you know? I'm not in uniform, no one is supposed to bother me on me vacati-mission. I'm… in disguise. I mean, no… no I'm not Turk, what's a Turk anyway?" Ryiah stumbles over her words, trying to think of who would be out here on a day like this that could possibly recognize her. None of her coworkers would be caught dead on the beach during work hours.

Zack pulls down his sunglasses slightly, peering over the rims. "Ryiah? It's… it's me."

Ryiah squints at him. "Me who? How'd you know my name?"

"Zack, Zack Fair." He whispers harshly. "I know it's been a while but… come on, I made more of an impression on you than that."

"Oh my gosh! You dork! Why didn't you say something sooner! And here I was complimenting you...how embarrassing. What are you doing out here? I haven't seen you in what, three years? And you never bothered to write to me. I bought everyone homing pigeons for Christmas and never once did anyone return a letter."

"Homing pigeon? I never got a bird… Ryiah, I'd love to sit and catch up but I really can't talk here… there's something weird going on."

"No, really?" Ryiah crosses her arms sarcastically. "And I thought it was a new standard for heroes to wear sunscreen on their face like a clown."

"Shh, keep your voice down. As far as you know, I'm not a hero and I don't work for Shinra."

"Oh...I see, you're embarrassed to be seen with me."

"That's not it! Let's go somewhere more private" Zack says while scanning the beach, until he spots a changing shack. "There! Come on!"

"Oh Zack." Ryiah blushes. "All that sexual tension between us must have been building all those years and now it's exploding into an eruption of passion!"

"That's not what I- come on!" Zack grabs Ryiah's arm and drags her to the shack.

Once inside Zack closes the door behind them and waits a moment to collect himself. "I'm sorry that we don't have time to catch up… we'll do that later…but something's going on." He closes up the one small window with a curtain from the floor, working to conceal their location as he talks. "Have you heard anything… relating to me?"

"I heard your fan club has taken off. I guess you're some sort of celebrity now… some sort of..." Ryiah flinches. "Hero."

Zack flashes a cocky grin. "I'm the new generation, now that the other heroes are… 'retired'."

"We're all doomed. Thank goodness the Turks are still going strong with me on the front lines. I actually have people below me now, can you believe it? Well I mean of course you can, I'm amazing."

"So what are you doing at the beach then? As far as I know high ranking Turks are always working. I can't remember a time when Tseng wasn't on a job."

"I am on a job, my goodness. I'm here to track down a hot commodity. Some threat to Shinra needs to be captured." Ryiah slaps a hand to her mouth. "Whoops, highly confidential. Don't tell anyone or I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Threat to Shinra… but I haven't done anything wrong…"

"That's a pretty broad statement; you're not saint, Zack. Wait… you think you're the one I'm after? No way! This guy is some sort of evil genius, he's supposed to be urgent code red - slip through your fingers- kind of crazy. There's no way you could be the guy they have everyone out to get."

"Yeah… yeah must be someone else." Zack scratches the back of his head.

Suddenly there is a knock at the door of the shack putting both Ryiah and Zack instantly on guard.

Zack puts his hand over Ryiah's mouth. "Shh," he whispers.

There's a brief pause and then another knock before a scared and pleading voice comes through the door, "Uh… Ryiah? I… saw you come in here, can I come in please? People are starting to stare… I probably should have snuck in, but…"

Zack turns to Ryiah and frowns, whispering, "Did you bring someone?"

Ryiah pushes Zack off her and whispers back. "No. I work solo. But we've been spotted so let's get out of here…"

"Spotted? What's going on?"

"Uh, you're being tracked, right? Someone wants your captured? So… best not stay at the same place too long." Ryiah unhinges the window in the back. "Let's go find a means of transportation."

The voice outside the door whimpers audibly while Ryiah and Zack quietly climb out the window.

Ryiah sits in the back of a taxi with Zack, now far away from the beach. "Okay," Ryiah says as she reads over her mission text. "They haven't revealed the identity of the man I'm searching for, but they do say he has black hair and a muscular build… what kind of amateur mission is this? I don't know who their informant is, but they might as well put up a child's drawing of the man. Tch. So let's assume it is you… now I don't want to know what you did, all I want to know is what you will do… to make it worth my while not to turn you in."

"Ryiah! After all we've been through together… Please, help me."

"Zack… that was years ago. I'm a high ranking officer now. I can't mess around on the job. This could really come back on me hard. What will my subordinates think?"

"Look, I'm not guilty okay! Just… help me prove that and we'll both be off the hook. Don't make me beg you…" Zack pleads.

"Oh gawd, I don't want to see you beg!" Ryiah looks at Zack's puppy dog eyes. "Oh no, no no no no… Stop! I can't take it!"

Zack makes his expression even more intense and Ryiah punches him in the face.

Zack grabs his nose to keep from yelling. "What was that?!"

"I'll help you. If you never make that face again."

"...deal. Thanks Ryiah."

"If I'm helping you, you're going to need a disguise. Driver! Pull over here."

The taxi driver pulls over in front of the shopping district.

"Oooh no, not one of your disguises… I will not be seen in a dress!"

"A dress? Please, as if you could pass for a girl, you're hideous! No one would believe it." Ryiah shakes her head as she opens her door.

"I'm not… that bad."

"We're getting you a suit. If anyone asks your name is Tsiang, and you're a Turk in training."