The Apple and the Core: Ifalna's Fields

Chapter 3: Mad Logic

Dr. Waters, the Banora physician, had come slogging in earlier that morning. He came as a welcomed surprise to Sandra. The older man had traveled on chocoboback earlier to get there, given the waters were still high over the roads. She watched nervously as Dr. Waters hovered over Aeris first, taking her temperature, listening to her breath and heart rate, and monitoring her other vital signs. Sandra exchanged glances with Gillian as he pulled the stethoscope out of his ears, tsking. Without saying another word, he crossed the room to Ifalna and just shook his head.

"I don't have to take a chest X-Ray of this one to know she has pneumonia. Her breathing is louder than my chocobo's as we rode over." H muttered grumpily as he shoved his instrument into the pocket on his doctor's coat and grabbed the thermometer. "And she's burning up." He turned around. "The baby is too…." He muttered. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given that they were out in that storm…"

Sandra pressed her lips together, in an effort to suppress the tears in her eyes. Her best friend crossed the expanse of the room and wrapped an arm around her in a tight hug. "They'll be all right." She heard Gillian whisper. "People have lived through worse things than this…"

"Mmm." Dr. Waters agreed. "You girls did a good job last night." He conceded, but Sandra heard a but coming. "But, they need to be in a hospital where they can be monitored twenty-four/seven." The doctor looked down his nose, over his spectacles, already preparing himself for an argument.

"But you can't!" Sandra nearly fell forward in her exuberance. Gillian caught her and steadied her. When the doctor raised an a questioning eyebrow, Sandra fell silent as tears welled in her eyes. She glanced at Gillian for help.

"We're perfectly capable of taking care of her here, doctor." Gillian straightened, trying to intimidate the doctor slightly.

"Gillian, I've known you for years to be a logical and very smart young woman. I know you're capable, but use the brain that the gods gave you!" He began to polish his lenses in irritation. "These kinds of situations can get out of hand quickly. She may need things like steroids…oxygen…"

"She can't go." Gillian folded her arms across her chest, standing her ground. Sandra stepped up beside here and gave him a very determined look.

"Why can't she?!" The doctor threw his arms up into the air. "A patient's life is on the line!"

Gillian was about to start to start yelling at the doctor, when Sandra put a hand on her shoulder. "…because if she goes…" She watched Gillian's eyes go wide. "…she could be in more danger than she is now."

"That's impossible." The doctor argued. "The staff at Midgar Metro are perfectly capable of…"

"…that's not what I meant." Sandra interrupted, her voice was now almost a whisper.

The doctor opened his mouth, but then shut it as Jacob walked into the room with a distinctly dark look on his face. "Jacob, talk some sense into these women. " He gestured behind him. "These girls need to be in a hospital."

"They can't go." Jacob took his place firmly behind his wife.

The doctor roughly grabbed his black medical bag off the bed. "Have you all LOST YOUR MINDS?!"

Jacob glared down at the older man's frailer frame. "We can't explain why they can't go, and I won't have you yelling at my wife!" Jacob glared at him.

Doctor Waters,then, raised a questioning brow as he looked over all three adults in the room. The wheels began to turn in his mind. "Who is this young woman?" He asked quietly.

When all three of them were silent, Dr. Waters shook his head. "This is that girl Shin-Ra is looking for, isn't it?" He muttered quietly as he turned back to look at here. He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Do you know why they want her?"

"We don't know." Gillian answered truthfully. "She appeared on the door step, unconscious…"

Dr. Waters sighed heavily. "Do you folks know what you've gotten yourselves into?" His voice was tired, but tense as he shook his head. He was quiet for a long moment. Sandra could tell that Dr. Waters was internally debating something. "On one hand, I can't help you harbor a wanted criminal. I'm a father…a grandfather." He paused. "I'd like to see my grandkids grow up big and strong." He closed his eyes. "On the other hand, I'm a doctor. I can't leave a patient to die."

"Then, don't." Sandra pleaded with him. "Help us take care of her.

Dr. Waters took a long breath. "…either way you look at it, she'd be better off in Midgar." He took off his glasses and polished them. "She might be in prison somewhere, but at least she'd be alive." He turned to Aeris. "And you've got her life to think about, too…"

"We can't let her go, Doctor." Jacob's voice was soft, but firm. He shook his head. "I can't send her back without knowing what she did." Jacob glanced at Gillian. "I can't say I trust Shin-Ra much anymore…"

"Nonsense." Dr. Waters bit back. "Shin-Ra's bringing electricity to all of the towns across the continents…They're fighting those savages from Wutai for the betterment of the entire planet." He rolled his eyes. "I never thought you'd buy into conspiracy theories. With your boys being in Shin-Ra, I thought that you'd be more Shin-Ra friendly."

"Maybe that's why I'm not that Shin-Ra friendly after all." He answered darkly, with a sense of finality. "She stays here, doctor."

"Look, I like you and your family, Jacob, and I'm not going to let you throw your lives away on some vagabond criminal."

"You don't know she's a criminal." Sandra piped in quietly.

"Why else would Shin-Ra be looking for her?!" Dr. Waters threw up his hands impatiently. "Fine." Dr. Waters snapped. "Throw your lives away, but leave me and my family out of it. I'm not willing to sacrifice everything I've earned for some mystery woman."

"Are you going to tell Shin-Ra?" Sandra's voice quivered as the tears threatened to flood her eyes.

Dr. Waters grit his teeth. "I'm going to pretend like I didn't see a damn thing." He turned toward the door. "And if you were smart, you'd do the same thing." He marched toward the door with his hands wrapped so tightly around the instruments in his hand, that his knuckles were turning white. He then, pivoted once last time to face them. "If they die, their deaths will be on your heads. I won't have anything to do with this!" He hissed as he turned to Gillian he tossed a bottle of medicine to her. "You wanted a patient, Gillian? She's your's!" And the doctor slammed the door, causing Aeris to wail. Sandra half-fell down onto the bed as Gillian went to the infant's aid. Jacob could only stand and stare at the door. He finally fell into a sitting position on the bed.

"…I've never liked that man." He sighed.

"You've always liked Dr. Waters…"Sandra whispered with a weak smile on her face. It quickly faded into a deep frown. "…did we make the right decision?"

Gillian bounced Aeris in her arms as the infant quieted. Jacob looked up at the patient behind him. "I think we made the only decision we could."

"And if they die?" Sandra bit her lip as her eyes welled up with tears.

Jacob pulled his wife into a tight side hug. "We're not even going to go there."

Gillian looked toward the window, with a faraway expression. "If they die here…" She paused. "They still will have had a much better life than they would have in a Shin-Ra lab."

Sandra buried her head deeply within Jacob's shoulder and sobbed for the unfairness of it all. A baby who may not get to live a full life. A mother who wanted to see her child grown, but may not get the chance. The room was silent, minus the sound of Sandra's crying and Ifalna's labored breathing. Gillian came around Sandra's other side and embraced her from there. "We'll figure this out."

Jacob swallowed hard, remembering the phone call he'd just received from Veld. "Somehow…"

~oOo~

Tseng walked toward Veld's office, passing several fellow Turks along the way. At least, he didn't feel despised when he walked through the halls of the Turk floor, he sighed. Wutain discrimination and out right hatred seemed to emanate from his non-Turk co-workers, and it gotten so bad outside of the building that he didn't leave unless he had to. The sushi bar across the street had gotten sprayed with hate-filled graffiti several times now, and he hated that one of the few Wutain business owners on the plate was actually considering moving back to Wutai despite the war. All this from supposedly educated and well-rounded people. He snorted.

It probably would not have irked him so badly had he not had to deal with the death of his family on top of it all. Grief had made him solemn and somewhat irritable. Understandably so, some of his fellow co-workers had said. At least the Turks had one thing in common: Almost all of them were hated by community at large. They understood, to one degree or another, what isolation was. Some of them even lacked family for a variety of reasons. Cissnei and Veld had been life savers, and he'd ended up speaking to them several times over the past few weeks. Cissnei seemed to be grieving over the loss of his family, which was puzzling and heartwarming at the same moment. Veld seemed distracted by current events, but always welcomed him into his office.

Tseng could tell that Veld that been trying not to bother him over the past couple of weeks. He thought that his second in command should have taken time off to properly grieve. Tseng had quietly disagreed, telling Veld that his work was all he had left. He had no graves to tend to, no will to enact…And taking a walk was certainly out of the question. This was what made this summons so interesting, though. Veld had let the young Turk come to him, not the other way around. He knocked on Veld's door, wondering what was going on.

A voice beckoning him to come from the other side allowed him entry, and as he entered, he found Veld leaned over a stack of thick paperwork with a furiously moving pen. "I hate war…" He muttered. "It causes too much damn paperwork." Tseng snorted as Veld put down his pen. "Sit."

Tseng slowly lowered himself into one of the chairs in Veld's office, as the man folded his hands in front of him. "I've been hearing things…"

"I'm sure you've been hearing a LOT of things about me." Tseng muttered sourly, causing Veld to laugh, but Tseng noticed he changed the subject quickly.

"No, I mean…I heard a rumor." Veld leaned back in his chair.

"Since when do you put stock in rumors?" Tseng's expression soured.

"Since now." He smiled viciously, making Tseng squirm slightly in his chair. He wondered what, exactly, the Turk leader had heard. "I heard you were spending a lot of time with Cissnei?" He raised an eye brow.

"…." Tseng struggled as he felt his face begin to grow hot. "She has been telling me about the last few days she had with my family." Tseng looked away.

Veld leaned forward. "…are you sure that's all there is to it?" He grinned.

Tseng threw his hands up in the air and rolled his eyes. "…you're worse than Reno." He hissed exasperatedly.

"Who do you think I heard it from?" Veld leaned backward and put his hands behind his head. Tseng smacked his forehead so hard it resounded within the walls of the office.

"Don't hurt yourself." Veld smirked as he looked back down at the pile of paperwork on his desk. "Well, the last time a Turk made out with someone in the medic, I got my ass chewed, so…"

Tseng's eyes got big. "Sir, I NEVER…!"

Veld continued. "…I'm giving you an assignment since you won't take a hint to take some damn time off."

Tseng blinked. "An assignment?"

"As I'm sure you're aware, SOLDIER has ultimately failed in finding Ifalna…" He paused. "Thank the gods…" He muttered. "However, the last place they saw her was in the Banora area."

"…you're kidding?" When Veld shook his head, Tseng leaned back in his chair, astounded. "Is Genesis really that stupid?" Tseng clenched his teeth. "If they find her in Banora, they will trace it back to Genesis and ultimately back to us!" He hissed.

Veld nodded in agreement. "Which is why I told them I'd send my best Turk search the Banora area."

Tseng slowly nodded. "But I thought I wasn't allowed to leave Midgar?"

Veld shook his head. "I went straight to the President and offered him the idea." He shrugged. "He doesn't care about the racism. It's all business to him. I told him you know the area best from monitoring Angeal and Genesis."

"All business?" Tseng seethed as he leaped to his feet. "Was my family's death all business?"

Veld glanced at the door to make sure it was shut. He leaned forward and harshly whispered. "We're all business to the President. Not one of us is spared from that horror." He leaned backwards. "This is a chance to make another difference in someone's life."

Tseng sighed and fell back into the chair. He placed a tired hand over his eyes. "I apologize…" He muttered. "I don't know why I…"

Veld walked around the desk and put a hand on his shoulder. "Which is why you really need to take some time off, Tseng…" He sighed. "Or at least, have time away from this hellhole." He shook his head as he kneeled beside him to look him in the eye. "You can't keep bottling it up like this…" Veld smiled as he stood, patting Tseng on the shoulder. "Treat this like a mini-vacation." "The only objective you have is to NOT find Ifalna. I've even arranged for you to stay at the Rhapsodos' home."

"…." Tseng sighed, but slowly nodded. He had to admit that Veld was right. His neck was so tight that he was having constant headaches. The Rhapsodos family were nice people, if not a little on the annoying side. Still, being away from the rat race and hatred of Midgar would be…nice.

Veld smiled as he walked back to his desk. "You'll leave in two hours."

Tseng nodded silently as he stood. He strode across the room and placed his hand on the door knob, before he heard Veld call out to his back, "And give Cissnei some thought, eh? She's a nice girl."

He wasn't even going to respond to that. He rolled his eyes as he pushed down on the door handle, and left Veld behind to deal with his mountain of paperwork.

~oOo~

Angeal wondered if he should chase Genesis after he disappeared below deck. Instead, a sense of overwhelming dread and sadness filled his gut as he stared at Sephiroth's back as the silver haired SOLDIER was bent over on the railing of the ship. Angeal quietly approached the more solemn SOLDIER and rested his arms on the moist railing. The truth of the matter was: He wasn't sure if he was ready either. A roiling sickness had lurched in his stomach ever since he had stepped foot on the ship. He had casually passed it off as sea sickness, too afraid to admit himself the real truth behind the ailmenet. But now…He took a deep breath, bile lurching in his stomach. "You know…" He said in almost a whisper. "I'm not sure if I'm ready either."

Sephiroth turned his head and straightened his posture slightly. "Why do you say that?"

Angeal swallowed the lump in his throat. "I'm…afraid." It was all Angeal could manager to spit out.

There was a terse short silence between the two as Sephiroth studied him. He finally snorted and smiled sardonically. "Everyone is afraid." He glanced back out to sea. "In fact, if you were not afraid, I would question your sanity."

Angeal nodded slowly as he followed Sephiroth's glance out to sea. He wasn't quite sure how to say this. He knew that if he admitted this to Genesis, the young man would mock him. He hoped Sephiroth would not do the same. "I'm…also not sure I can…." Angeal stopped, the words hung in his throat.

"Can what?" Sephiroth glanced at him.

"Kill people." Angeal muttered, causing him to look away.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. He, then, looked thoughtful for a moment as he noticed how tense Angeal's body was. " …Again, if you wanted to kill people, I'd question your sanity." He smiled slightly, making Angeal relax slightly. "Would you kill someone to defend yourself?" He asked more seriously.

"Yes, I…" Angeal paused and then shook his head. "It's not the soldiers I'm worried about…" Angeal shook his head. "I know there will be women…and children, too."

"There won't be many people on the battle field that won't be combatants…" Sephiroth nodded slowly. "And noncombatants don't deserve to die." Sephiroth finally turned and looked at Angeal squarely. "Do you know why I fear that Genesis is not ready for battle?"

"Because he's distracted?" Angeal tilted his head.

"No." The silver haired teen sighed. "Angeal, any SOLDIER who is ready for war has the same thoughts that you are having." Sephiroth began to pace. "He considers death and all its seriousness." He paused as he clenched his fists. "No," Sephiroth echoed. "Genesis is not ready for war because he sees it as a game." Angeal was about to argue, but Sephiroth cut him short. "Genesis believes that war is accolades and accomplishments. Heroes and villains." Sephiroth rolled his eyes as he turned his back to Angeal. "He cares for nothing other than what affects himself."

"He cares about Ifalna!" Angeal found himself shouting at Sephiroth's back.

Sephiroth turned. "And that directly affects him." Sephiroth took a step toward Angeal, his green eyes blazing with anger. "Innocent people have already died in this conflict."

Angeal took a step backwards. He thought about Tseng and his poor, murdered family. "And many more will…."

Sephiroth began to head toward the door below deck, but as he reached the door, he turned. "Angeal, I'm worried about him as much as you are, but if he does not see war for what it truly is, more people will die." Sephiroth looked down at his gloved hand on the door handle. "And they will die in the name of vanity."

Sephiroth took a deep breath and looked Angeal in the eye. His voice took a more measured, solemn tone. "Angeal, if his attitude does not change in the next three days…Please promise me something."

Angeal stood, transfixed on Sephiroth's emerald green eyes. When he realized that Sephiroth was expecting some sort of answer, he awkwardly nodded.

"If Genesis does not change…." He paused. "Stay as far away from him as you can possibly muster." Sephiroth pulled on the door handle. "He'll do nothing but get you killed."

Angeal could only stare at the back of Sephiroth's trench coat as he disappeared below deck. A cold chill washed down his body and he rubbed his forearms vigorously. He had a lot to think about.

~oOo~

Yuffie bounded down the stairs in her father's favorite kimono as she took the stairs two at a time. The servants had promised her that her father would be at dinner tonight, and she hoped that by her wearing his favorite kimono, that she could earn brownie points from him after she had interrupted his meeting with his generals. Her wooden shoes hit the floor with a solid clap and she took off toward the dining room as quickly as she dared run with her clunky shoes. She hadn't seen him in days, and even though they didn't always get along, she was excited to see him. And not only would she see him, she would impress him, she thought. She would show him that she could be as impressive as any boy, she smirked to herself. She and he could talk strategy, even though she hadn't thought one up yet. She reached the dining room excitedly, determined to prove her worth to her father once and for all. She threw open the doors, and found the room achingly empty.

She frowned. That was okay. He would be later, she was sure of it. She slid into a chair at one end of the table, and waited patiently for her father to arrive. Unfortunately, patience wasn't one of her best virtues. She squirmed slightly, looking to the right and the left, and then finally her eyes rested on the door. When the sound of the creaking wood finally reached her ears, she leapt to her feet as servants brought one plate.

"Where is Dad?" She frowned as she cocked her head to the side. Her stomach began to churn. Something wasn't right. They always served her father first, and always made her wait.

They set the meal in front of her, and then one servant turned to look at the other. "Didn't they tell you, Princess?"

"…." Yuffie swallowed hard. "Tell me what?" She asked weakly, although she had already surmised the answer.

"Your father will not be joining you for dinner." The servant said quietly. "He said he had other matters that he had to attend to."

Yuffie suddenly felt tears burning within the wells of her eyes. She clenched her teeth. She wouldn't let the servants see her cry. She flopped back into the wooden chair and pulled her knees up to her chest. She laid her head on her knees.

"…Princess?" The servant asked, but Yuffie didn't hear them.

Suddenly, rage engulfed her. She balled her hand into a fist and swept all of the china off the table with her forearm, causing the two servants to yelp in surprise. "He would have made time for a boy…" She whispered too low for any of them to hear.

"Princess, you're bleeding!" One the servants exclaimed as he reached out for her forearm.

"I DON'T CARE!" Yuffie screamed back at him, causing him to retreat a step. The kimono was her father's favorite. She hoped she bled all over it. She hoped she ruined the damn thing.

She leapt up from the chair and kicked off her wooden shoes, barely missing the concerned servants and she ran out of the dining room and dashed up the stairs, her tears no longer restrained. She made it to her room, and slammed her door so hard that a picture of her mother fell off the wall. The glass within shattered into a million pieces. She knew her father would be angry with her. She didn't care.

She threw herself on top her stuffed animals and sobbed, wondering what in the world she could do to make her father notice her. She cried her heart out until she finally cried herself to sleep.