Hello all! Sorry for the long delay, the writer's block finally died of a heart attack and I wrote almost all of this today! More coming. Please refer to story warnings, the forecast is cloudy with a 100 chance of AGH. Thanks for all the yummy reviews, you people rule! And a cute little stuffed Sephiroth with angry eyes for MissQuestionMark who I forgot to mention faved my story too, with just two others! (Blush) Huggles! Remember kids, flamers are on fire!

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Rufus Shinra stared out the window and down into the trees for a long time, contemplatively tapping his fingers on the glass. A blur of blond bangs obscured his view for a moment, then the arm that wasn't leaning against the window rose up and brushed them back again. He continued to stare for a few more moments, until they tumbled back down onto his face and he turned away from the window with a sigh as he tossed them away.

"You're sure about this?" he said quietly, looking across his desk at the redhead lounging on the couch.

"Yah, I'm sure," Reno replied gravely, grateful at least that Rufus hadn't blamed his report on Mako or alcohol or a combination of the two. "And the kid is sure, too. He knows it's happenin'. Don't seem too happy about it either."

"It isn't that I'm surprised. These things do have a way of happening over and over again. However, it seems doubtful he would choose the same vessel twice."

"The way I see it, the kid's weak. Can't fight him off. It makes sense that he's using him. What doesn't make sense is the lack of Jenova." Reno propped his arms up above his head and settled a little further down into the white leather couch. Rufus continued to pace at an agonizingly slow speed that defeated the entire purpose of pacing. "The doc said they lost all the Jenova cells somewhere between death and reincarnation. The actual physical presence of Jenova's gone, s'why they lost so much weight. But if there's no Jenova, what's he usin' to get in, sir?"

"For now, until we find that out, I don't want anything done to him. And I don't want any of them informed about this. Not anyone, Reno." The emphasis was slight, but Reno's jaw tightened a bit and he nodded in comprehension. "Cloud Strife has a history of handling things without much…tact. I want you to watch all four of them, particularly Cloud and Kadaj."

"Can't be there all the time, Tif expects me to be gone a lot of the time for work."

"No, but as often as you think you can be there without arousing suspicion, that's where I want you. In the meantime, and whenever you need to be out of there for a time, you can work with Elena, she's finishing up some important loose ends and she doesn't quite share your enthusiasm for the work."

"Is she failing in her assigned task, sir?" Reno asked, barely hiding the sudden tension he felt. But Rufus shook his head.

"No, all of her directives have gone through. She just lacks your …fervor. Her current assignment would almost definitely be completed well before the deadline if you could give her some assistance."

Reno nodded silently in understanding.

"I expect there is no need for me to advise you to continue exactly as I instruct in this assignment without regard to the possible outcomes." It wasn't a question. The redhead swallowed, but didn't look away.

"Yes, sir."

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"He's ready. He's fully recovered and he's bored out of his mind sitting in here."

"He hasn't said so to me," Tifa side-stepped stubbornly.

"He's too polite and shy for that, and you know it," Cloud argued back. "Look, Loz needs something to do, he's farther along then the rest of them, and I've got a backlogged client list like you wouldn't believe from hanging around here for three weeks. Let him come to work for a week, if he flakes out, I'll bring him back. If he doesn't, we give him some free rein."

Tifa looked torn. "I know, I don't like keeping them confined here, either, but so many things could go wrong with this. What happens when people start seeing them out in public? And the first time someone says something to Loz that he doesn't like, and he throws them through a wall? Or if you get separated? They don't know how to navigate out there without some alien intelligence as a back-seat driver. Anything can happen."

"Yeah, well nothing is going to happen if we don't get them out of here for a bit. They won't be any better off than they were in Mideel. You wanted to bring them here, well this is part of what you're going to have to do to take care of them. They can't stay in here forever, Tif. Even Kadaj is getting restless, and he could barely walk last week. Besides, you know as well as me that the big guy's more likely to start crying than to start a fight. He'll be fine."

"I know. I guess you're right." She sighed, then straightened her shoulders resolutely. "Ok, you can take him. But not too far out, I don't know what will happen when we separate them. Yazoo is still so suspicious of everyone, if Reno isn't here I can hardly get him to let me near Kadaj."

"No problem, we'll stick to the island for now, if he's ok after a week maybe we'll go as far as Costa del Sol."

"You'll come back this time, right?" Tifa joked, but it sounded weak even to her ears. Cloud put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Promise. No more loner-hero stuff," he said, and she smiled. "I'll go talk to Loz, gotta see about making him stand out a little less." He turned to go.

"Cloud," she called after him suddenly, then she blushed slightly. "Don't be gone too long ok?"

He returned her gaze with a sad expression.

"Barret can't stay mad forever. And kids miss their mom. Be patient, they'll come back. I heard Barret was staying in Kalm, maybe I'll drop by."

"Thank you."

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"You look like an idiot."

"Kadaj, be nice. You look fine, Loz. I wouldn't even recognize you on the street."

Loz scratched his newly dyed scalp uncertainly, but smiled. Yazoo just shrugged.

"I'm not dying my hair," he said definitively.

"Me either," echoed Kadaj.

"You don't have to. We just thought it might make things easier on Loz his first time out of the house." Tifa put a comforting arm around Kadaj's shoulders. "He won't be gone long, I made them both promise."

"I'll bring you back something from Kalm," Loz mentioned by way of a peace-offering.

"Or you could stay here until 'daj could travel and we could all go," Yazoo said with his arms crossed.

"Yaz," Kadaj remonstrated quietly.

"He shouldn't be splitting us up," the older boy growled.

"All right, that's enough." Tifa had brought the other two boys quite a ways since they had come to live there, but every time she thought they were making some progress, Yazoo would find some problem with it, accuse Tifa of trying to divide them, and they'd all backslide. "We're not trying to separate you and then brainwash you, or throw you back in the Lifestream, or anything of the sort. If we'd wanted to do that, we would have done it two weeks ago when you got here too weak to fight. I don't want to hear ANY more about this conspiracy theory stuff, and Yazoo, stop blaming your brother for everything. It's not his fault he's recovered this well, and if he's ready to go outside and start living his life, you should be happy for him." Yazoo glared at the floor, but didn't say anything. Loz looked embarrassed, but Kadaj just looked bored. "Now all of you should concentrate on just trying to get better and settle in. If you weren't so worked up about everything Cloud and I try to do for you, Yazoo, you'd probably be strong enough by now to go with Loz."

"I wouldn't leave Kadaj even if I was," the long-haired boy shot back defiantly.

"You'd be helping him more if you were encouraging him and not sheltering him. He won't get better with you hovering over him and preventing him from doing anything." The boy looked shocked at the suggestion, and she used his silence to press the point home. "If you want him to get better, maybe you should start letting all of us help him, not just you." Loz seemed like he couldn't decide if he should start crying, and settled for looking worried instead.

"I- I think she's right, Yaz," he said tentatively.

"What would you know about it, Loz? You've been on their side ever since we got here, it's like you don't even care about Kadaj anymore. You just go off by yourself with your new hair and your new friends and your new life. It worked just like they've been planning, and now you split us up." Angry at being singled out, Yazoo lashed out viciously at his cowering older brother.

"Yazoo!" Tifa started to say, but Kadaj finally spoke and stood straight up out of the chair.

"Stop it Yaz! I don't need you to protect me anymore! I don't want you protecting me! She's right, and Loz is right, and you're wrong!" He shook from the effort of standing and yelling.

Yazoo's mouth dropped open. Tifa saw the expression of profound pain and frustration in his eyes for a moment, then he turned and ran out of the room. She was speechless. Kadaj dropped back into the chair, trembling. Loz held his head in his hands, gripping his hair like he was going to tear it out by the roots.

"Kadaj, what….why…" she stammered. "I never thought that you didn't want him around, I would've…well I assumed…"

"I don't want him to leave," he said miserably. "I don't think there's anything wrong with what he's been doing at all."

"But then, why did you say that? You really hurt him."

"Because he's never going to listen to you. He'll probably never trust you completely, no matter how much you want him to. And he's always looked down on Loz, it just made him angry when he said that because he thinks Loz isn't smart enough to pass judgement on him." Loz made a strangled noise behind him. Kadaj didn't pause. "I hope you are right. I hope it helps him to not be bothered with me anymore," he said bitterly. "Because I doubt he's going to talk to either of us after this."

"I'm…I'm sorry, Kadaj. I didn't realize he was so-"

"Paranoid?"

"Well, yeah. I guess that's the word. What will he do now?"

"I don't know. He's never been alone before. None of us have. There's always the fall back. Or…" he didn't finish, but Tifa understood the reference to the voices that used to be in their heads.

"Should I go talk to him? Will that help? Or Cloud maybe?"

"Just leave him alone for awhile. Leave us alone."

Hurt but guilty, she didn't know what else to do. She went downstairs, made a cup of tea, and stared at the table in consternation. She heard Kadaj say some quiet things to Loz, and soon he stopped he crying. Cloud came in from the garage, wiping greasy hands on a cloth, and looked at her curiously.

"What's up?"

"I'm just not ready for teenagers, Cloud," she replied morosely.

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Yazoo was out the back door and well down the back alleyway before he started crying. There had been the brief hesitation at the door, but that was easily overcome by the angry swell of emotion against being held hostage, and once he was past it, he sped up. He ran faster, tears and long silver hair obscuring his vision, completely indifferent to and oblivious of his surroundings. He finally stopped when he ran out of breath and a sharp pain in his side reminded him of his long period of inactivity. Shivering he dropped to the ground and wrapped his arms around his knees in abject misery, sobbing for breath.

How could they? How could they turn Loz against him? He had been the only one to realize what they were really after, and his own brothers refused to listen to him. He hated that woman. She acted so nice, she pretended to help them, but she was just manipulating them. They were always being manipulated. But Yazoo wasn't going to let that happen to his brothers again, or him. He had tried to show them, tried to keep them from going along with it. But Loz got sucked right into it. He should have known. He was completely gullible when someone was nice to him. Kadaj used to bait him, start by saying something friendly, or offering to share something. Loz would get hopeful, and respond, then Kadaj would cut him down scathingly. Yazoo used to yell at him for it. But he was the one yelling at Loz now, and Kadaj was the one disciplining him for it. He felt a strong wave of self-loathing, that didn't do anything to help his misery.

How could Kadaj say those things? All he wanted was to help his little brother, he never did anything for himself, he was only trying to help Kadaj and keep people from hurting him. And his brother had thrown it back in his face. He was alone now. Totally alone. He pressed his face into his arms and angrily tried not to cry or panic. Cloud and Tifa had won over his brothers, and now he was the odd man out with nowhere to go.

"Hey. You." The rough voice roused him, and he glared upward at whoever had interrupted his moment of self-pity. He didn't see the face that went with the voice, just the dark blur that crashed into his jaw, knocking him flat back on the pavement. His head spun and he gagged on the sudden rush of hot blood from his lip. He dragged himself up onto his palms and spit it out.

"Won't fight with someone bigger than a kid, huh?" a voice mocked, but this one was from a woman.

"Tifa?" he slurred, raising his head painfully. He peered through his hair at the dirty-faced woman standing a few feet away. And at the man beside her. And at the men next to him. And all the other people standing in a circle around him. "No, wait-"

He didn't get to finish, because someone behind him kicked him hard in the lower back, and he went sprawling onto his chest. Past the ankles of the people in front of him, he could dimly see a lump of twisted, half-melted metal dozens of feet long lying in a circle of concrete. Recognition flared, and horror.

The voices swelled, and the mocking, angry, jeering blurred into one giant roar.

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"I don't know what to do about him, he just seems so unhappy and suspicious, and Kadaj says there's nothing I can do about it. Did you see him come down here?"

"Nah, he's probably sulking on the roof, that's where Denzel used to go." Tifa shot him a look. Cloud shrugged. "I followed him a few times, wanted to make sure he wasn't going to get hurt." That earned him a look of maternal pride. "Anyway, he's probably fine. Don't worry about him."

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The pain was not a surprise. He was used to pain, pain from Sephiroth in his mind, pain from not obeying Mother directly, pain from Kadaj when he had his temper tantrums. And pain from the Lifestream and the stigma. It was dull, most of it. He curled into a ball and waited for it to end, only he knew it wasn't going to end. It was going to go on until he died. With the massive overwhelming sound of people around him and the unending rain of kicks, punches and blows, he knew it wouldn't be that far away.

He couldn't stop the screams from coming sometimes, when the dull pain spiked into a single sharp one. When his ribs broke. When someone stepped on the inside of his knee and pressed brutally. When he was kicked forward, and a piece of his hair stayed under the foot of someone behind him. It went on forever, but he just waited, because it would end, and when it did, all the pain would be gone. He let himself go limp.

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Reno saw the crowd of people first, they were standing where the Midgar Monument used to be, all shouting and yelling.

"Yo, 'lena. There some kinda thing goin' on downtown today?" he asked suspiciously.

She didn't look up from where she was pushing irritably at her PHS. "Damn thing, it was working yesterday, I just want to check my stupid messages! Not now, Reno, we don't have time for a detour. Did you hear me? Reno?" She looked up but he was already running flat out for the throng of people. "Dammit Reno! We don't have time for this," she muttered under her breath, stuffing her PHS in one pocket and putting a hand on her concealed magnum beneath her jacket, rushing to keep up. When Reno found trouble, it was often just something that was of interest to him, but sometimes his hunches were alarmingly closely tied to the mission. So Elena gave up trying to shepherd him along and just went with it.

She was well behind him when he hit the outer edge of the crowd, shoving and pushing people aside and to the ground.

"Get the fuck out of the way!" he snarled when he hit particularly stubborn knots. It wasn't your typical crowd control though, he thought as he looked at the faces around him. There wasn't any fear or dismay at his presence, even though a Turk just walking by was often reason enough for people to disperse. No, these people were angry, furious, totally caught up in whatever they were doing. It made the hair stand up on his neck.

Getting through the last few feet was almost impossible, but a few surreptitious jolts of the EMR loosened the concentration up considerably. Now people were beginning to look at him that way, and Reno knew he was going to have to play this one smart to get away with it. He battered his way through, and nearly fell over the center when he got there. His heart stopped for a second. There was blood everywhere. All over the ground. All over the clothes of the sad, limp form in the middle of this ravening mob. And soaking through the long silver hair that covered his face.

"Yaz!" Reno yelled so loudly that even the few people stubbornly still hitting at the boy stopped and looked up. Adrenaline flushed through Reno's chest and he saw red. He planted a foot on either side of the boy's body and whipped out his EMR into full view, prepared to break as many heads as he had to. The crowd got quiet. They didn't back off. The faces were still angry. They were all looking at him. There was a long, tense, silence. Reno waited. No one stepped forward. No one stepped back. Yazoo still hadn't moved.

"I said back the fuck up before I shoot you, you stupid bastard," came an irritated feminine voice from just outside the circle. Elena stepped through the crowd, both hands on her gun, steadily pointing it around the circle. She moved up to Reno, and stood with her back to his, still keeping the gun up. Reno shoved the EMR through his belt loop and bent down to pick up the boy. He walked resolutely towards the wall of people in front of him. For a moment, no one moved. When he was nearly touching them, they grudgingly admitted space enough for him to shove past them. Elena followed, walking backward, silently and coldly watching them over her gun sight. No one spoke.

Reno walked forward resolutely, and the crowd reluctantly parted to let him through, but closed immediately behind him. He kept walking. He cleared the edge. It seemed to be taking forever to get out of the square. Blood had soaked through both his sleeves and his shirt front, sticking them to him.

"They're following." Elena said quietly from behind him, still acting as rearguard.

"Fuck 'em. They can't have him."

"Where are we going to take him?"

"Home." He walked steadily onward, through the main street, down the back alleyway, and into the house, where Elena firmly slammed and locked the door.

"For all the good it'll do," she muttered, looking at the mass of people surrounding the bar.

Tifa heard the door slam and poked her head around the corner as Reno carried Yazoo into the living room. She turned white and her hand flew up to her mouth.

"Oh god," she couldn't speak for a moment and ran to the side of the couch where Reno laid him. "Is he…oh please tell me he's not dead. He can't be, he can't, what happened?!"

"I don't know," Reno said grimly. "He went out. Into the middle of the city. The Midgar Monument." He leaned over Yazoo, checking for a pulse and wiping away blood with his jacket sleeve to see the extent of the damage. "He's alive. For now." Tifa still stood there, in shock. "Tifa. The materia. Now. Go," he said sharply, shocking her out of her stupor.

She stumbled into the kitchen, fingers fumbling over the lock set into the side of the false refrigerator.

"Tif, what gives?" Cloud said, confused.

"They got Yazoo," she said in a shaky voice. "He went outside and they caught him, and, oh God Cloud, please help me get this thing open!" she cried frantically, twisting at the combination. Without a word he rushed around the counter, pushed her gently aside and flicked at the dials, pulling the front open and exposing all the materia. He shoved potions into her hands and pointed her towards the living room, gathering up Cure materia as she ran out.

Reno took the bottles from her immediately and forced open Yazoo's bloodied and swollen lips, pouring the potion down his throat. The boy coughed weakly and tried to move his head away, but Reno held it there and motioned for Tifa to give him the next one.

"Elena. I need you to hold his head still. Elena." Reno looked up in aggravation. Elena was looking past him. At the bottom of the stairs, at the other two brothers. Her face was frozen.

"Tseng," he just barely heard her whisper, he noticed she was still holding her gun.

"Hey, uh, 'Lena? Now is not a good time. Could you go check on the psychos outside? Please? Like, right fuckin' now?" Reno covered his panic and grabbed the other potion from Tifa, forcefully resuscitating the boy.

The brothers were not at a loss either, both of them stood still, Loz looking at his brother with panic and straining to get to him, Kadaj holding him back and watching Elena.

"ELENA!" Reno yelled sharply. "That was an order. Get with it, Turk."

Elena shook her head angrily, as if trying to clear her head, then turned and strode quickly out onto the front porch, weapon at the ready.

"Jeez, that's the last goddam thing I needed," Reno muttered, as he propped Yazoo up so Cloud could use the healing materia. Kadaj let Loz go, but stopped him from getting too close.

"Stay out of the way, Loz, just wait."

"While you're at it, make yourselves useful and pray," Reno grumbled to himself.

"He's moving," Cloud said, as the last of the green light faded. "If we need to do it again, it's gonna have to be one of you, I can't do anymore today."

"What?"

"That was four of the highest Cure you can get, and a Regen spell on top of that, I can't do anymore." His face looked drawn even as he said it. "It takes too much energy."

"Why isn't he getting better?" Tifa asked, panicky.

"It's blood, I don't know how bad the injuries actually are, he's got too much damn blood on him," Reno replied tensely. Cloud sat back against the wall and closed his eyes, resting, and Loz moved to the head of the couch, anxiously looking down at his brother.

Kadaj disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a bowl of water and a dishcloth, then offered it to Reno.

"Thanks kid. Have a seat before you fall down." Kadaj shook his head and knelt next to Loz on the floor.

"It's not so bad, now, look," Reno said to them, as Tifa watched over his shoulder. Swelling's gone down already, those cuts are closing, scrapes are fading. Nice work, Spike-head." Cloud grimaced weakly. "It's gonna be a while more though, looks like he's got broken ribs, definitely a serious concussion, maybe more. Let him lie for a while, keep an eye on him," he said as he finished his appraisal, then stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"Check on the rookie," he mumbled to himself. "Back in a sec."