"So, anybody have any luck?" asked Zack as the three bikes pulled up again in front of the church. The friends had decided to split up for more efficient searching; they had seemingly covered every square inch of Midgar and Edge, and it was now nighttime.

"Nobody's heard or seen a thing," Jonas said, shaking his head in disappointment.

"We've got nothing here either…" said Tifa with a shrug.

"Unbelievable. We've looked all over this damn town," Zack muttered. "Is everyone in this dump BLIND?" he shouted in frustration, ironically drawing a couple of strange looks from passersby.

"Seems like so much crap has happened around here that no one notices anything anymore," Cloud reasoned.

"STORM is relatively smart," Cissnei said thoughtfully. "We Turks were often sneaky at times."

"Yeah, until you had to blow up a town or something," said Zack. "Other than that you were stealthy as hell."

"We were acting under orders, Zack!" Cissnei argued.

" 'Orders', that was always the excuse, wasn't it?" he spat back.

"Which is why I left!"

"Guys, guys! Time out," Tifa said, putting up her hands. She sighed as Zack and Cissnei silenced, with glares still pasted on their faces. "Look, we're all tired, and we're all frustrated, but let's not kill each other, okay? That's not going to help Aeris. I say we sleep on this, before Zack decides to blow up a town." Zack nodded, eyes downcast, knowing that Tifa was right. Besides, it was getting very late and they weren't going to find anything if they couldn't see it.

"Alright…let's go home," said Cloud.

They all headed back to Seventh Heaven, where Tifa had hung a 'Temporarily Closed for Business' sign in the window earlier, to give them some time. "You guys can stay here tonight if you like," she offered to Jonas and Cissnei. Fortunately Marlene and Denzel were with Barret that weekend so there was some extra room. Cissnei nodded appreciatively.

Before long everyone was in their beds. Zack lay awake with his hands behind his head, staring restlessly at the ceiling and trying not to think too much about the body that normally occupied the empty space beside him. He let out a sigh of exasperation, glaring at the moon outside the window. "Hang in there babe," he mumbled. Eventually he succumbed to his exhaustion and fell asleep, wondering where that body might be right now.

***

"Why the hell did we have to go all the way out to Wutai anyway?" one STORM member complained to another as they flew over the nation's capital city. Their chopper was small and unmarked, its Shinra logo painted over.

"You heard what Alex said, George" the pilot replied. "If that stuff is anywhere in the world, this chick's got it."

"I hope we're getting paid extra for this, Charlie," the first man grumbled.

"Well the pretty-boy says we're not getting paid at all 'til the job's done," the pilot said, "so we might as well get it over with. There's the place," he added, jerking his head towards the window. "Prepare for landing."

"Roger."

"Now remember, we're not supposed to get greedy. Just get that one type of materia and get out. 'Do what the people pay us for', that's our motto."

"What was the name of the materia again?"

"Eh, I forget. I know the pretty-boy said that it had green, orange and black swirls though—I'm sure we'll know it when we see it."

***

"He didn't come for you for four years," Paul said, pulling the ring off of Aeris' still-tied hands and holding it up. "What makes you think he'll come for you now?" She remained silent. He grabbed her by the back of her neck. "And the other one let you die! I wouldn't have done that. What did they have that I didn't, huh?" He pulled her closer and spoke softly into her ear. "Bet you wish they were here right now. But guess what…no one's coming, Aeris. If they really wanted to find you, don't you think they would have by now? Don't bother protecting them—they're no good to you. Now…tell me where they live." Aeris shook her head fiercely and said nothing. He shoved her back down and then bounced the ring hard off the side of her head. He pulled a small knife from his belt and looked at it thoughtfully. "I guess this is going to take a while, folks."

***

Charlie and George landed their chopper in a large abandoned lot and walked the rest of the way towards their destination—a large house not far from the Wutaiian palace. There were no lights on inside the house, and no vehicle in front of it.

"Looks like the little lady ain't home," said George.

"All the better," his partner replied. "Let's go." They went up to the door; George picked the lock and they went in. The place was as impressive on the inside as it was on the outside, but there was no time to marvel.

"Where d'you suppose the stash is?" asked George as they looked around.

"Try over there," said Charlie, pointing to a door in the far left corner of the foyer.

"There must be a dozen damn bolts on that thing!" George exclaimed. "It'll take forever to pick 'em all.

"Allow me." Charlie drew his handgun and fired at one of the locks, blowing it completely off. George followed suit and soon both men were shooting at the door, obliterating all twelve of the various latches. Just as they fired the last of their bullets they heard the sound of a motorcycle engine cutting off in front of the house.

"Shit!" hissed George. They both looked towards the front door, and quickly moved back and stood on either side of it. Suddenly it flew open to reveal the silhouette of a small woman with a large shuriken in her hand.

"Hey! Who are you guys and what're you doin' in my house?!" she shouted, looking from one to the other. As she turned to look at Charlie, the butt of George's handgun quickly connected with the back of her head and she went down on her face, unconscious.

George looked down at her with a smirk. "Nothin' personal, missy. Just business."

"Let's keep moving," said Charlie, looking at his cell phone. "I just got a text from Alex with our location for Phase Three." He snapped the phone shut and stowed it back in his pocket. "That pink-dressed piglet finally squealed."