Rufus Shin-Ra leaned back in his office chair, his blonde hair loose around his face, a difference from how he normally wore it, slicked back and out of the way. His blue eyes where fixed out his office window, light filtering in through the slatted blinds and lit up his pale face. The braces on his legs clicked as he crossed them. Since the Shin-Ra building in Junon had fallen on Rufus, he was unable to walk without assistance of some sorts. The doctors in which he was in the care of suspected he would never walk at all. The stubborn blonde quickly proved them wrong.

Of course he would of never gotten to the hospital with out help. He remembered clearly when the rubble has been lifted from his broken body, the sharp light that suddenly rained down upon him rousing him from a fitful unconsciousness. When his eyes fluttered open he came face to face with his savior. A dark haired woman with glowing mako blue eyes, sweat making her hair cling to her forehead as a large piece of rubble rested over her straining shoulder.

"Can ya move?" She panted, her cheeks flushed from exertion.

"I...I'll try." He hissed, trying to pull himself forwards only to have hot pain stab through his being. He let out a yell, but didn't stop. He found he couldn't move his legs, but didn't bother with it yet as he used his arms to drag himself out from under the rubble. With an exhausted sigh, he flopped down. He heard a grunt and then a slamming sound as the rubble was dropped back down.

"You did good. I'm pretty sure you can't walk though..." The woman said, kneeling down beside Rufus.

"My legs..." Rufus groaned, trying to look down at them only to have his face pulled back up.

"You don't want to see them." She told him sternly and then sighed. "Well, I'm going to have to pick you up, okay? We need to get you out of here."

"Okay." He nodded.

"I am going to roll you onto your back, alright? It's going to hurt quite a bit, but you can not look down at your legs, got it?" She told him, voice firm.

"Alright. I am guessing they're pretty bad." He muttered.

"I don't need you to go into shock if you aren't already." She sighed and then put her hands under his right side. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, three...two...one, rollin' over!" She slowly rolled him over, more pain shooting up from his legs, hips, back, and just about everywhere. He let out a loud yell as the pain hammered his body.

"Fuck!" He hissed, breathing harshly through his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Yeah, I know bud, I know." She sighed, looking down at Rufus. "Okay, I need you to put your arms around my neck when I have my back to you. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

With his help, she got the both out of the building through a secret route he remembered when the way she came in became blocked by falling rubble. Unfortunately he passed out before he could ask her name. When he awoke, he was at the hospital being seen to by a rather annoyed looking nurse. When he asked how he got there the nurse snappily told him that a woman by the name of Jinx had drug him in.

He later found out that wasn't her real name. Which was obvious because Jinx was a highly unusual name in any language, but he still often wondered about the woman as he laid in his hospital bed. He wondered about a lot of things while stuck in that bed. Apart from that one question he asked the nurse, he said no more for a very long time, even when his Turks had found him and gave him full report of what kind of mess the world (and Shin-Ra) was in.

He did not speak, he only looked out the window. He wasn't too sure if he slept, he must of, but he never remembered dreaming, only replaying the events of the last month or so when he was the president of the most powerful electric company in the world. Everything had fallen apart so easily and he had little to do with hit apart from having his men run around like headless chickens and trying to slow down the only people that could save the world and salvage something from the mess Shin-Ra had made.

Because Shin-Ra was at fault. He could see it clearly. His father had, with no qualms, funded a mad man's work because that mad man could make him money, then drained the vital life blood of the world to also build unto his wealth and then finally, used an emotionally unstable man, who had been trained from birth to be a fighting machine, to hold the world in his iron grip. So many dark secrets still lurked in the shadows, so many secrets that Rufus did not know anything about. Did he want to find out those secrets? Did he even have any right to even be alive now?

He wondered theses things for many, many weeks until finally the nurse who had snapped at him the day he woke up sauntered right on in to give him more pain medication.

"Look 't choo, Mister High and Mighty Shin-Ra, president of the world!" She said with a sarcastic shrill, "Why Jinx even bothered dragging you out the rubble is a mystery to me."

"Who...Is she?"

The nurse stared at Rufus for a moment and sat down.

"Dunna know. She sorta rolled in one day out of the blue, all tore up and half starved. An old couple took her in and she, in return, helped fix up their house. Soon after she rolled on back out to go and work for the guy in Fort Condor. She came back recently when the egg on the fort hatched. Said she had no more reason to be there, they weren't going to pay her anymore now that Shin-Ra was gone." The nurse told him. Rufus remembered Fort Condor. His father was adamant on getting that reactor back, but the locals wouldn't let him near. Something about a giant bird nesting on top of the reactor.

"Anyways, she just wondered on back in, asking if anyone needed odd jobs done and she had one large golden feather on one of her swords. She's been doing odd jobs around town here and there, staying with the old couple that took in before. When your building went down from the WEPON attack she was the first person to suggest searching for survivors. She was the only one." The nurse picked up a pillow case and started to fold it, a smile on her wrinkled on her face. "Of course, the rest of us where against it. Who would want to try and help the very people who destroyed out town?"

Rufus winced at that. It was true, Shin-Ra destroyed the economy of many towns like Junon. He could argue that they had brought Shin-Ra jobs to the place, but even he knew they hardly hired anyone from the town and often just sent almost unlimited personnel had already.

"So why did you?" He asked, noticing his voice sounded horrible and horse from lack of use and general fatigue.

"She said as blunt as could be, said we'd be just as bad as Shin-Ra if we didn't help." The nurse laughed, "You should of seen her, standing in front of the strongest men in town and scolding them like an angry mother and didn't even show a hint of fear. She's a tough girl that one."

"Yeah." Rufus muttered, his mind floating back to the first time he saw her, her eyes glowing an inhuman mako blue. "She's not normal."

"What?" The Nurse frowned.

"Her eyes, they're the colour that you only get when putting mako into the blood stream. And I only know of one place you can do that."

"Shin-Ra."

"The SOLDER program." Rufus said, sitting up, "She was apart of us."

"Dunna know. Maybe she's been hurt by Shin-Ra." The nurse sighed, leaning back, "You've got no idea how many young men I've seen shipped off to Shin-Ra only to come back from the Wutai war with PTSD and with those hollow, glowing eyes. Many never got the life back in their eyes, even many more took their own lives. She's has that look in her eyes from time to time."

He found out the nurse's name was Miss May. She was in her late 50's and has been working at the hospital as long as anyone could remember. After talking to her, Rufus started to talk his men again, sitting up and sorting out the mess that was before him. First thing he did was have all the reactors shut down, deploying all the personnel that had not deserted to take care of that task. But he was still confused what to do with himself. He often wondered if he should just clean up the mess and then sink back into the shadows and live his life in total loneliness.

But first he had to fix this and maybe...Maybe find out who this woman was and thank her. Maybe. If he ever got the guts to. Man he was such a miserable wretch, only now he could see it.

"Where is Jinx?" Rufus asked, Miss May scuttling in as he shuffled through papers.

"Dunna know. She just left as soon as we got you and the other men out." She said with a shrug, "Does that a lot."

Rufus didn't reply right away to that. After more shuffling of paper, he chewed his lip and finally asked out loud the one question that had been bothering him for quite some time.

"What do I do?"

"What do you do what?" Was Miss May's smart ass reply.

"What do I do with myself?"

"Aren't you doing something with yourself now?" Again Miss May fired off another smart ass reply. She sort of reminded Rufus of a nanny from Costa Del Sol that he had when he was a child. She often swore in a different language and would scold Rufus. That nanny was only thing Rufus had even close to a mother. Maybe that why he felt comfortable enough to speak like this to the woman.

Or maybe he was getting soft.

"I meant after I've fixed all of this." He sighed.

"Well...I can't tell you that." She said, giving him a shrug, "That's all up to you."She said simply, "I've not got that answer."

"Thought not." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Sorry hun."

Rufus spent a good year in that bed, trying to fix the world from that bed and seemingly content that he would never walk again. Till she walked in through that door.

"I'd of never guessed the boy I dragged out from that building was Rufus Shin-Ra." She said, wearing a black tank top, dark jeans and belted to her hips where three short katanas, a golder feather attached to the hilt of one.

"I'm hardly a boy." He said coolly, looking up from the papers on his lap, his reading glasses glinting in the light of the room.

"I wouldn't say that. You're barely a man. You can't be older then 25." She chuckled, her mako blue eyes glittering, but they looked rather hollow.

"You don't look any older then me." Rufus shot back, keeping his cool.

"I'm older then I look." She smirked, pushing a strand of dark hair out of her face, "But tell me, what is the mighty Rufus Shin-Ra is doing here, sitting around and withering away?"

"I am fixing the mess my family made." Rufus hissed, giving her the best glare he had.

"What I see is a man hiding behind paper work and ordering others to do the work." She said, that shit-eating smirk ever present on her face. "Have you even considered ever stepping out of that bed?" She asked.

"Why don't you tell me how the fuck I can do that with dead legs!" He roared. She had succeeded in causing Rufus Shin-Ra to loose his cool.

Striding over to him, she placed a hand on his left thigh. "Can you feel that?"

"Of course." He hissed. She slipped her hand down to his knee.

"How about now?"

"Of course." He huffed, rolling his eyes. She ran her hands up and down both legs.

"See? You can feel your legs, hell I am pretty sure you could twitch your toes if you tried hard enough. Only thing keeping you here is what the doctors say." She said and then looked him dead in the eyes.

He tried to glare, but turned his head away as a tide of emotions rolled over him.

"What...What the hell do you want?" He hissed.

"I know you're stewing away in that bed, trying to figure out what the hell to do with yourself, but don't snap at me." She laughed, flipping her hair out of face.

"So what the hell do you want me to do?" He yelled, throwing the paperwork on his lap into the air.

"I've been hearing whispers about something." She said, looking him dead in the eye as papers fluttered around her, " About a man named Reeve."

"Reeve?" Rufus muttered. Yes, he remembered Reeve. A nervous man that was very easy to manipulate and he was easy to twist into doing what he wanted...Till he grew a conscience and a god damn back bone.

"Reeve. I heard that he's setting up a organization called...The WRO I think." She said, leaning back a bit, "But it's got little funding. No surprise. Everyone is in the shit hole now."

"What are you trying to say?" He asked with a frown.
"Shin-Ra, though considered dead now, still have very, very deep pockets." She said with a grin. He looked at her, the pieces falling into place.

"You want me to...Fund Reeve?" He gaped.

"If you think it is the right thing to do. Of course there are things that only the Turks and SOLDER can take care of. There are many dark underground things that Shin-Ra has been hiding for many, many years, but there has to be something else there too." She explained, standing up, "Something there for the people, something to give them hope and protection! That is what Reeve is willing to do."

Rufus gritted his teeth and glared at her.

"Why are you here? Do you think that because you saved my life that I will bow to your whims?" He demanded.

"No, I am here to tell you the facts and let you do the right thing...If you are capable to do so." She chuckled and then looked down at him. It was the smirk on her face that infuriated him.

Ever since the accident, his felt as if his control of things had been feeble at the best and now she was teasingly dangling her control over him in front of him without a hint of remorse. He just wanted to push her down and wipe that smirk off her face and make her scream. He pushed those thoughts aside as they where only a distraction at this point.

"If that is all you have to say, get the fuck out of my fucking hospital room!" He yelled, seething in anger.

"Tempter, temper." She teased and leaned close to him, "You may want me to leave now, I am sure you'll be demanding me back soon enough. But I wonder...Will I come back without a fight?" With that, she pulled away and headed for the door, walking past Tseng as he stepped in.

The senior Turk looked shocked at the presence of the woman, but soon collected himself.

"I will not ask why you had a woman in your room sir, but I am here to inform you that Mr. Tuesti wishes to have a meeting with you." Tseng said stiffly.

"I figured as much." Rufus said stiffly, "Set up a meeting and then talk to the medical staff about starting me on physical therapy. I want to be standing by the end the of the month."

"Yes sir." Tseng nodded.

"And also dig up some information on the woman who just left the room. She goes by the name Jinx, but it is clear it is a false name and from the look of her eyes, she must have been one of the few women in the SOLDER program."

"Yes sir. I'll see what I can do." Tseng nodded and swept out the room without another word.

It was another year before Rufus could walk with only the help of leg braces. He could only walk for short amount of time before he got exhausted, but he had made more progress then they had expected. And over the course of the year, Tseng had found some files on a woman that matched the description of Jinx. Her name had apparently been Serenity Raito, she was half wutaianese, joined Shin-Ra at the age of 15, at the age of 20, made it to SOLDER, but only made it to 2nd class before she vanished into the wood work during the Genesis incident.

Having his Turks drag her in had been the hard part. She had taken up living in a small hut near Gongaga and was making a living doing odd jobs for the village. Mostly killing dangerous monsters that crawled out the destroyed reactor once in awhile. Rufus has sent Two Guns and Katana to bring her back to the base only to have his two Turk stumble back all battered up. Next had been Nunchaku, then Knives, Shotgun and finally he sent his female martial artist. She had managed to drag the woman in finally

Jinx was an expert swordsman with speed and precision, but the martial artist had both enough speed to keep up with Jinx and the strength to knock her ass out! So she had been dragged into Rufus's office to find the blonde man standing in front of his window.

"Just like I thought, you dragged me back." She sighed, folding her arms. Her face was bruised, lip split and her left eye was swollen shut. She had taken one hell of a beating, that was for sure.

"You, Miss. Raito, have been causing much trouble for my Turks and they had been very polite to you till you got violent." Rufus said coolly, looking Jinx over. Dispite being bruised and battered, she looked pretty good in the outfit she had on. The black tank top she had on clung to her small breasts, her jeans clung to shapely hips and her heeled boots made her legs and ass look glorious. Apart form lacking in the chest department, she wasn't bad looking.

"Oh, so you've done a background check, how quaint!" She said, voice dripping with sarcasm and then folded her arms with a pissed look on her face. "What the hell do you want?"

"I am offering you a job." Rufus smirked.

"Excuse me?" She squeaked (for her voice had decided to get higher in her shock), a completely baffled look on her face. "What makes you think I'll go back to Shin-Ra. I left if you didn't see that on the report!"

"Because, you're stewing away in Gongaga, going insane because you know you could do more." Rufus said, now the one with the shit-eating grin on his face. He had her this time.

"So what? You want to me to be one of your lackeys to help you control the world? I think not. I got out of Shin-Ra because of it's grip on the world and how much damage it did!" She hissed.

"No. I need your help to destroy the hidden labs and I know you've been to them. After all, there is case notes from Hojo in your files saying you where unresponsive to the Janova cells."

Jinx frowned and gritted her teeth. "Yeah...I've only been to one in Midgar. I don't know where the others are and there are at lest four more just under Midgar. There is probably many more all over the place! "

"Still, if we can find one, we can find more." Rufus replied, sitting down and rested his chin on his laced hands. "I am offering you a job as a Turk. You'll get payed more then you did as a SOLDER and don't worry...We don't do assignations anymore."

"But you'll own me." She pouted.

"You'll be helping the world. Who knows what kinds of monsters are in those labs."

"...If I do this I want an apartment in Edge and you've got to pay for all my bills on top of my pay checks!" She demanded.

"Alright. But that makes you my Turk till you die." He grinned.

"Fine!" She held out her hand and spat on it, holding it out to it. "We'll spit on it."

With a very disgusted look on his face, Rufus spat into his hand and shook hers.

Now she was walking through his door, wearing her Turk uniform as normally did, with nothing but a black bikini top under her suit coat and her black hair was tied back in a pony tail, a few wisps of curly hair framing her face.

"You asked for me sir." She said, closing the door behind her and locked it.

"Yes. You'll be going to one of the underground labs with Vincent Valentine and Tifa Lockheart. The lab is in Nibelheim, we're hoping to find out if there is any more Sephiroth copy's like Kadaj and his brothers still floating around."

"I see. So why did you ask me to lock the door?" She asked, folding her arms and popped her hip out to the side. Rufus smirked, pulling his black tie off.

"Come over here and find out." He teased.

"How unprofessional." She sighed, pulling her hair loose, "You better have condoms. We made a mess last time and Tseng gave me shit about it." She said, straddling the blonde man.

"I do." He replied, nipping her ear just to pull a gasp from her lips.

XVCVCVCVCVCVCX

Putting on his red cloak, Vincent couldn't help think that this situation looked an awful lot like a husband going off on a long work trip and leaving his wife and child at home. Of course, Cid wasn't the typical house wife. The thought of Cid as a house wife brought a smile to Vincent's face and he tried not to laugh.

"I hope yer not smilin' cuz yer happy ta git away from us." Cid teased as he held Luci who was waving around a toy plane.

"No. I just thought of a funny joke." Vincent said, patting Luci's head.

"Ya know, ya've been smilin' a whole lot since ya started to stay here." Cid commented.

"I'm happy." Vincent replied, "I like it here. I've always been happy here."

"Oh." Cid didn't really know what to say to that.

A knock at the door soon pulled them out o the awkward silence that had fallen over them. Cid rolled his eyes, letting Vincent hold Luci as he opened the front door, only to be hugged hard by Tifa.
"Cid!" She laughed, squeezing him tight enough to make his ears pop.

"Shit Teef!" Cid grunted, "Dun pop mah ribs out of place now woman." He hissed.

"Oops!" She laughed, letting go and scratched the back of her head, "I'm too used to hugging Cloud and Barret."

Tifa's hair was pulled back into a low pony tail it trailing almost to her lower back. She was growing it out again and Cid had to admit, it looked good on her. She was dressed in her normal black outfit with cargo shorts, it giving her more modesty then the tank top and mini skirt. Some days Cid missed that ol' tank top she had, it made her...Well never mind. He thought of her more as a sister now and he found his eyes wondering over another brunette's frame, rather then hers.

He still didn't know what to make of his feelings for Vincent. Not yet. The wounds where still fresh from Shera's death, but there was no crime in looking at the gunman, and he really was glad to have his help around the house...Even though they argued about the stupidest things, like Cid leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor or leaving a mess in the kitchen sink. Vin could be such a nag! But Luci loved the death out the man. Even now she was playing with his hair and gurgling at him.

"Oh!" Tifa squealed when she saw the baby in Vincent's arm, "She's gotten so big!"

"Yes, she's grown fast. Tell me Tifa, why are you here?" Vincent asked, letting the busty woman hold Luci, who was babbling at Tifa like she could understand her gibberish.

"Oh, I am coming on the mission with you." Tifa smiled, "They need a guide through the Nibelheim mountains. That's there the lab is, under the old reactor." She said.

"Makes sense." Vincent agreed.

"Right-" Cid pulled Luci up out of Tifa's arms, "You'd best git goin' 'fore ya decide ta kidnap mah daughter." Cid teased.

"Oh fine." Tifa laughed.

"Be sure Vin dun do something stupid." Cid smiled, looking back at the gunman.

"I assure you Chief, I'll be back in once piece." Vincent said and with that stepped out the house.

"Chatty as ever. See you soon." Tifa smiled and skipped off after.

"Ya can stay for tea after ya get back!" Cid yelled after Tifa, "Ya can tell me if ya've gotten Barret ta settle down wif yet!"

She only gave him a giggle in reply and blew him a kiss.

Outside of Rocket Town the Highwind sat waiting for Vincent. He swept through the airship, waving hello to all the crew members, even greeting some by name, though he did not know a few of the WRO members that were on board. Vincent was caught by surprise when Seth popped up and patted his back.

"Mr. Valentine!" The tan man grinned, "How ya been? How da captain and Luci doin?"

"Fine. Both are well."

"Ya got ta learn how ta hold da conversation Sir." Seth frowned.

"Well I sure can." Tifa said, "Luci's gotten so big and Vincent has Cid on his toes at all times. The house is cleaner then ever!"

"Oh!" Seth smiled and linked arms with Tifa, the two walking and talking at the same time.

Gal pals. Was the thought that popped into Vincent's head as he watched the two walk off.

Reeve spun around when Vincent stepped onto the bridge.

"Ah Vincent. You look well." He smiled, greeting Vincent with a warm handshake-pull-into-man-hug-thing. Vincent said nothing, but noticed Cait being hugged by a Turk in the corner. He was surprised that he recognized her. She had been an mercenary at Fort Condor! He remembered her because she had been the only mercenary who was a woman and also the only one to used swords, not a gun.

He also had noticed her eyes. Even now they glowed mako blue. They had talked on one occasion (Or rather Cid talked to her and Vincent listened) when asked why she had not used a gun she explained that her aim was horrible and had been trained with a sword since a young age. On further questioning she went on to explain that she left Shin-Ra during the Genesis incident because she had talked to a man from AVALANCH who explained to her about mako and that if they sucked up too much, the world would die. She had seemed like a very honorable person, or at least that was what Vincent thought.

She was, at the moment, pulling on one of Cait's ears and giggling.

"Oh my Shiva, it feels so real!" She laughed and then nuzzled the back of the cat's head as it struggled.

"Git yer hands off meh lassie!" The cat yelled, trying to swat her hands away. "Reeve help me! Sexual Harasment! SEXUAL HARASSMENT!"

Reeve laughed at their antics.

"Vincent this is-"

"I know her." Vincent said softly, "We met at Fort Condor."

Jinx looked up, her black hair falling around her face and her eyes were bright as always.

"Oh! Mr. Valentine, right?" She asked, standing up straight with Cait still in her arms.

"Correct. You seemed to have made quite a career change since we last met Miss Jinx." Vincent said softly.

"Yeah. It's a long story that I'd rather not get into." She admitted, playing with one of Cait's ears.

"Well now that you two have said hello, why don't we head for the conference room? We need to explain the mission." Reeve said, smiling as always. He was such a nice man, Vincent still wondered how the hell the man made it in Shin-Ra.

The conference room hadn't changed since they first started their adventures as Shin-Ra. Vincent could remember clearly when they stole the Highwind from right under Shin-Ra's nose with help from the crew itself. The crew stayed with ship through thick and thin, even now, though there where a few new faces on board.

Reeve stood at the end of the long table that was set up in the room, his blue coat resting on the back of a chair, so he only stood in his pants and a button up shirt. Jinx was beside him setting up something on the large screen behind him. After a moment or two of fiddling around, a picture flicked onto the screen of the Nibelhiem mountains. Tifa was sitting in a chair across from Vincent and looked at the picture on the screen with a sheen of sadness in her eyes. She made no other sign of being upset.

"Right so as you know we recently had a mission to the Midgar ruins to check a lab there, but unfortunately we where unable to get inside due to the fact the door was lock. We are hoping that the key might be in this lab, though if it isn't we might find out some more information. There was notes from Dr. Grimoire Valentine in the lab at Kalm and he spoke a lot about the demons that Vincent currently contains, Omega and a project that he was working on with Hojo. We think the results from that project are in one of the labs under Midgar." Reeve explaned.

"There is more then one lab under Midgar?" Tifa frowned.

"At least five." Jinx quipped up, "Hojo had at least two while Hollander and Gast had one each and then there was the one that Grimoire had."

Vincent seemed to stiffen at the mention of the man. His father had been a scientist for Shin-Ra. When Vincent had joined the Turks, he was sure not to have any missions with or near the man. He was unable to face the man and regretted it greatly when he had died.

"Anyways, the lab under the reactor in Nibelhiem was the main lab for most of Hojo's experiments with the Janova cell's. Keeping this in mind we must be aware that there might be a few Remnants in this lab. The only reason we found the lab was that there where reports of someone with silver hair leaving the town." Reeve sighed, "The Turks are currently looking into the story and are trying to the person."

"Our mission today is to gather information, clear out anything dangerous and then when we've assessed the situation, we'll get a crew down to properly explore the place, check up on files, hack some computers, you know...All that good junk." Jinx shrugged.

"Right. So Tifa's job will be to get us through the mountains to the reactor quickly. The entrance to lab should be at the bottom of the lab, so Vincent, it would be nice if you go first seeing as you can make full use of Chaos's wings and spot a way for us to get down without danger." Reeve said, nodding to Vincent, who nodded back to say that he was fine with that plan.

"Alright! So we're all set right?" Jinx asked, grabbing Cait once more and hugged the robotic cat tight.

"Yes, I think that is all for now. This mission is rather simple." Reeve said with a smile as Cait started to struggle.

"Let meh go woman!" Cait yelled.

"Nu uh! Never!" Jinx giggled.

XVCVCVCVCVCVCX

Nibelhiem was now a ghost town, no one lived there, but the houses where still standing. After the Meteor incident, the actors that Shin-Ra had set up in the small mountain town had cleared out, having no source of income anymore and decided to go and find somewhere to start anew. Vincent and Reeve with the male members of the the WRO team Reeve brought set up sleeping quarters in the old inn in the town while Tifa had offered up her old house to the female members, who where pretty few.

They got to the town as the sun started to set, so the decided not to take the dangerous trek through the mountains during the night. Vincent and Reeve where set up in the same room for the night

"So, how has life been now you are living with Cid." Reeve asked, sitting on the bed across from the one Vincent had claimed, the enigmatic man strode shirtless out from the bathroom. Vincent was drying his hair with one hand and a towel.

"Fine." Was the answer that Vincent supplied to Reeve.

"Honestly Vincent, you can talk to me." Reeve said with a smile. He was always smiling! Something about that smile made Vincent's guts squirm. It was like the smile his mother gave him when she knew something he had been hiding.

"It's not perfect." Vincent sighed, sitting on his bed.

"Oh?" Was the only think Reeve said, looking amazed and raised his eyebrows.

"We argue. About small things, though normally we have to stop because Luci tends to start to cry if our voices get too loud." Vincent admitted, playing with the corner of the blanket he sat on.

"Well that is normal for anyone that live together. You look happy though. Happier then you've been in a long time." Reeve observed, "Even Tifa says you've been smiling more.

"Yes." Vincent nodded and then looked out the window, saying no more.

Knowing he'd not get anymore out of Vincent, let it drop, happy that he had talked to him. Reeve liked to think he was Vincent's friend, hell everyone's friend who had been in AVALANCHE. He had spent many nights up late during the meteor incident, listening to the troubles of the other members of the group and giving some sort of advice. Though he had not been there with them in person, he liked to think he had been there in spirit and had consoled them in some sort of way.

Tifa on the other hand was sharing her room with Jinx. The Turk had managed to grab ahold of Cait and though she made him stay in the closet while they had changed, she was now using him has a teddy to cuddle during the night.

"You're strange." Tifa said as she watched the woman snuggle under the blankets of the futon on the floor with the robotic cat.

"Yes, but it is the reason I am still sane." Jinx said with a sad smile. "I've been through a lot."

"Yeah. Vincent told me you where in SOLDER." Tifa said, hugging her knees.

"It feels almost a lifetime ago." Jinx sighed, "Man I am old."

"No way! You don't look a day over 26!" Tifa laughed, shaking her head.

"I'm 34." Jinx said with a grin.

"No way!" Tifa gasped, "But you look so young!"

"It's the mako." Jinx sighed, "Slows the aging process or something. At least on the outside. My insides look like a 34 year old's, but the outside is still pretty. I'll probably die at 80 and still look 40 or something."

"Wow. I've never thought of that. Now that I think of it, Cloud still looks pretty young." Tifa admitted.

"Oh, Mr. Strife? I remember seeing him. It always did strike me odd that he claimed to be a first class and I never heard of him." Jinx said softly, "The first classes where the only ones that people really knew. The third and second classes where sorta no names that drifted here and there, the firsts where the hero's of SOLDER."

"Wow." Tifa gasped, scooting a bit closer to Jinx, "So, you only made it to second class?"

"Yeah. I left soon after I made second. I worked so hard for it only to find out that I had done it under false pretenses. I thought that mako would make the world better but in the end, it was killing the planet."

"Shin-Ra fooled everyone." Tifa hissed.

"Yes, but now Shin-Ra is trying to fix the mess it started." Jinx chuckled, "Or at least I hope so. If I find out Rufus has been lying to me, he's a dead man. I can say that much."

Tifa gasped, she had never heard a Turk talk about Rufus in such an informal way.

"What?" Jinx asked, looking confused.

"You called him Rufus, not Sir or President!" Tifa gaped.

"Oh. I guess I should call him something like that, but I just can't do it. He's so young." Jinx lied. Last thing she needed was everyone knowing she was sleeping with man causally!

"I see." Tifa nodded. "So...You use three katanas. Where you trying to copy Sephiroth? His sword was similar to yours."

"No. I learned the art of the sword from my mother." Jinx smiled, "I've never even seen Sephiroth during my time at Shin-Ra, thats how much of a no name I was!" She laughed.

"Wow. That kinda sucks." Tifa agreed.

"Yeah, but I made good friends. My old mento, Go, she was a good lady. But...She had been one of Hojo's experiments. She was taken back to one of the labs when he deemed her malfunctioning. He had intended her to be an emotionless fighting machine, but...Well, slowly, bit by bit, I was able to show her the joy in life." Jinx said with a small smile.

"I remember the first time I saw her smile...She'd eaten ice cream for the first time and said, I quote, 'this must be what sunshine tastes like'." Jinx sighed, her eyes becoming wet, "She was taken away soon after that."

Tifa bit her lip, deciding weather to comfort her or not. Cait, who had been listening the entire time, was wiping a stray tear away.

"Now, now lassie. Dunna cry. You'll break mah heart." The cat cooed. She let out a small laugh and kissed the cat's nose.

"Thank you." She said softly and then looked up as Tifa walked over and started to rub her back.

"It's okay. We all lost someone because of Hojo." Tifa consoled her. "Hojo destroyed a lot of lives and made a lot of monsters."

"Yeah. He got off too easy." Jinx sighed.

"Well we should get to bed." Tifa exclaimed, "We've got an early start."

"That we do!" Cait agreed. Jinx smiled and wrapped her arms around Cait, laying down on the futon by Tifa's bed while Tifa switched the light off.

XVCVCVCVCVCVCX

Jinx woke up with a groan, rolling onto her side as an alarm buzzed above her head. She was so warm and it was just too damn early!

"Ruuuuuuuuuu! Turn your damn alarm off." She moaned, "Too early!"

"Who's Ru?"

Jinx jolted up, finally remembering where the hell she was.

"My cat!" She yelled, face red.

"Uh huh..." Tifa said with a disbelieving look, but didn't push the subject as she shut off the alarm on her cell phone.

Everyone has gathered outside the Shin-Ra mansion, Vincent leaning on the wall outside the mansion.

"Okay, we're going to split up into two groups. Vincent, Tifa, Jinx and Cait shall be group one. They will be clearing the path of the stronger monsters." Reeve smiled.

Vincent pushed himself off the wall, walking over to Tifa and Jinx (Jinx holding Cait still) and nodded at Reeve.

(End of Chapter Two.)

A/N

Ooooh! You get an Authors Note this time! Exciting! I am hoping Jinx isn't met with too much dislike and if you do like her, and you ask for it, I will put up a fic of her back story. It is already being planned by me and friend who has rped with Jinx quite a few times. I've noticed that this story has gotten a lot of faves and alerts, but very few reviews. Review man! It's what I write for!

This chapter focuses more on setting the ground work for events to come later on, and the next chapter shall explain some of the things Hojo and Grimoire worked on together, apart from Omega and give some detail on Vinny's past. Though do not worry, we will get back to Luci and the Valenwind lovin' soon enough!

Now to the two people who reviewed me!

To Tanryoku, thank you very much! I am glad you liked how I made the character interactions. I tried to make them sound as real and true to their character as I could. I will keep on writing as much as I can.

To Spoons, I didn't intend it to be so long, but it ended up being 11 pages! This chapter is a whopping 12 pages and was going to be more, so I decided to split it into two so it wouldn't get too tedious to read! I also love including humor into things because if it's too serious, I find it boring. I am glad that you loved reading the first chapter and I hope you'll enjoy the second chapter just as much.

Thank you all and Goodnight!