Midgar University was a maelstrom of overworked college kids all aiming to achieve high paying jobs once they graduated. As Rufus stepped from the all blacked out vehicle, the harried students slowed to a stop, some forming groups other nearly drooling over the city's largest employer. Their fingers itching to whip out resumes at the first sign they were going to get recognized. He could see the desperation, smell their pathetic existence and hehe silently thanks whoever reside over some higher echelon that he had taken dual classes while in high school and has graduated college shortly after he received his high school diploma. He was a practical God on the campus, one of four men which held their futures in their hands.

"Mr. ShinRa, this is –"The Dean rushed towards him, brown blazer flapping as he stumbled from the security golf cart.

"I am here to see Dr. Valentine."

The Dean's head bobbled erratically ready to please the middle son of the illustrious ShinRa Company. "Why yes sir! Please, allow me to show you the way." Glancing over his shoulder to Tseng, he gave a curt nod, duster swirling as he walked cautiously after the man. "Mr. ShinRa as I was saying. This is an honor; while unannounced we will try to accommodate you to the best of our abilities."

The politician kicked in overriding Rufus's base personality. With a smile, Rufus took a seat beside the Dean, "I'm sure it will be fine. This is more of a business meeting between Dr. Valentine and me."

"Oh well of course. He has a class starting in the next hour, why not sit I on that? He's very informational on Ancient history."

"Yes, that is what I hear." Rufus leaned back straitening his jacket as the golf cart zoomed towards the anthropology building. Glancing out of the cart, in the distance he caught sight of Tseng, his pace leisurely as students moved out of the Turks way in haste. As the cart skidded to a halt, Tseng looked away from his study of the schools Victorian styled Anthropology and historic building.

"What took so long sir?" Glowering Rufus's eyes slid to the Dean who was babbling away about the, well he wasn't quite sure. After the first round of ass kissing, Rufus tuned the twenty-minute ride out.

"Traffic."

"Sorry about that Mr. ShinRa, allow me to accompany you to Dr. Valentine's classroom." The Dean wiggled his pudgy hands, Tseng, well out of his mind. The Turk, in turn, narrowed his eyes, lip curling slightly when the man reached out to lead the Vice President into the building. Stepping back, Rufus nodded.

"Lead the way, we'll follow." Taken back, the Dean nodded his displeasure fully displayed. Rufus didn't glance at Tseng as the other man placed a hand on his lower back pushing away, goading him to keep his promise to follow the Dean. However that changed as they stepped into the buildings foyer, his blue eyes steeled as he glared at the Turk. Something wasn't right, the normal eagerness to please one of the ShinRa sons was a notorious bother to them, but people never got as grope with Rufus as the Dean had attempted to.

"So, Mr. ShinRa," the Dean smiled trying to cool his own temper. "How is your brother?"

Fixing his suit jacket, Rufus straightened out his tie under the layers of clothing, "which one, I have three."

"Lazard, he was here last week, seemed rather urgent to see Dr. Valentine as well." The trio slowed to a stop, Rufus looking off to the side in thought, looking over a dimly lit suit of armor encased in glass. His nose crinkled, under the musty smell of old tomes and dust was the all telling smell of death and decay. "How is Lazard? He seemed shaken when he left." Rufus jerked, the Dean's face near his own the man's hot breath reeked of pestilence. Rufus coughed, his back hurt, lungs painful as a green pall filled the corridor, his head aching from hitting the roughhewed wood of the wall. Bringing a hand to his head, Rufus glared at the Dean, the cloud of green disseminating from his rotund body as Tseng stood between them, eyes blazing.

"So it is true." The Deans simpering begging disappeared in an angry growl overlaid with the maniacal tones of a madman. "There were more Knights of Uras Rajes. Where have you been hiding at?" The man swiped out, his hand and arms mutating into a grotesque black claw with a fine layer of green coating aiming for Tseng. Gun shoots pierced the heated air, the Deans body stumbling back as three rounds landed in perfect succession embedding in the flat plain of his balding head.

"I don't think that's going to keep him down." Rufus murmured pushing himself off the wall Tseng had shoved him back into sliding a handgun into the shoulder holster hidden under his jacket. "So we should hurry and find this Vincent Valentine."

Tseng bobbed his head, eyes following Rufus as the young man walked past. "I always wondered what TURK, stood for. The Uras Rajes Knights, That's a bit long-winded, don't you think?"

"It would be Uras Raj." Tseng sighed stepping behind Rufus as they made their way down the hall. At the end it opened into a large atrium, the center holding a great chained crystal, the bottom a murky milk white while the top was clear, a black silhouette locked away inside. Above the crystal, the sun shined through the glass dome brightening the dark interior. As they stepped around the display they were met with a sudden flood of college students, their excited voices chittering away as the class flowed into the atrium, out the opposing corridor without a care in the world to the fight that had just taken place.

"Excuse me," a young girl with blond hair stopped blond hair pulled back into pigtails. The girl's eyes widened a blush creeping onto her face as she looked at Tseng seemingly entranced by him. Ignoring her sudden fascination, Rufus smiled at her, "where is Vincent Valentine's class?"

The girl watched Tseng studying him with great interest, "just down the hall on the left. The door is open, but he's teaching a class right now." She gestured erratically pointing in the opposite directions of her words.

"Thank you."

The girl nodded eyes still on Tseng, "are you, new students, here? Who is your friend, he's really cute." Tseng's ears twitched, Rufus lifted his brow in surprise at the girls' bold question. When he didn't answer she finally looked at him, then to Tseng. Her eyes grew as she understood who she had just spoken to, hastily joining her classmates. As Tseng joined him, head shaking, Rufus crossed his arms.

"That was a strange girl."

"Her sister is a Turk, it's only natural she will be joining our ranks as well. I don't think she realized just who you were sir, that is till she looked at you."

"And just who am I?"

"King of Uras Rajes, Master of the Three Realms of Man."

Rufus, head cast down chuckled, "that sounds like a better position than I am in right now."

"And what would that be sir?" Tseng's breath ruffled the loose strands of blond, his form looming over his young Boss his hands resting on each side of Rufus' head pressing into the cool stone behind him.

"A rock and a hard place." Tseng's defeated sigh ruffled Rufus's hair, the young man's shoulders shaking as he silently laughed. With a pleased huff, Rufus looked up, "we have a mission, Tseng. Let's finish that first. You always get this way after a fight." Bringing his hand up, Rufus straightened Tseng's perfect suit and tie, messing with ShinRa company pin on the lapel.

"No more puns, please." Tseng's hand rested on the small curve, lead Rufus down the corridor to the open door, bright yellow light spilling into the hallway. From the doorway, they could see the students, a majority female, enraptured by their Professor's soft lecture on the Indigenous peoples of the Icicle Area. Slipping in, Rufus ad Tseng made their way to the top of the students seating, Vincent's voice floating through from speakers embedded in the walls.

"The Knowles People of the Upper Paleolithic Era where hunters three-fourths of the year, their lands covered in the north, by a never-ending Winter. In the spring they migrated eastward to the more fertile lands of the Shavian Fjord joining over indigenous groups on the northern continent. There they formed a large farming community that relied heavily on the fabled Shavian jinni that provided them with fertile lands, using the humans more as slaves than serfs like other jinni had been documented to have." Leaning back, Tseng served the students, only a few took notes from the accompanying slide, the others watching their professor with a strange obsession. The hour seemed to drone on yet pass with a rapidity that was unmatched by any of the college course Rufus had ever taken. As the last stragglers left their folio covered reports on Vincent's desk.

Waving to his students, Vincent pulled the door closed and locked it. "How can I help you, gentlemen?" Vincent's voice boomed through the speakers, echoing through the empty room.

Rufus winced as he stood, Tseng following his descent down the stairs. "Mr. Valentine, you were once a TURK, correct?"

The mas welcoming expression turned black, his eyes narrowing at the young man. His face flickered for a moment. Gone was the fitted slacks and pressed the white button up under a sweater vest and the fine cut hair precise and professional replaced by a wild stock of black hair held back by a blood-covered bandana, a black outfit under a blood-stained cloak, the ends tapered black frayed. Rufus looked over the fearsome form, his eyes stopping at the golden gauntlet graphed into the man's arm. "I take this as a yes."

Vincent's lip curled baring a pair of vicious fangs, "You are the middle son, your older brother came last week, he put up a good fight, but if it wasn't for that traitor jinni he would have been dead." Vincent's eye shifted to Tseng eyeing the younger Turk. "Speak fast or I will kill you both."

"We want to know more about Tefyreth, ad how Tifa Lockhart came to be I possession of a certain jinni." Rufus bit out having been under the impression that Lazard had taken a much-needed vacation.

"Tefyreth?" Vincent's image flickered back to the composed, dorky professor returning. Pushing his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose, Vincent walked towards a large bookcase. With his fingers trailing over the spines, he caught purchase of a book tugging it free. Holding it out, Rufus gingerly took the book eyes looking over the wooden covers and bamboo spine. "This is the story of Tefyreth."

"Did you know her?"

Vincent sighed, "She was the Priestesses daughter in Nibelheim, at her birth the Duchy of Nibelheim was at its peak. About seven years before Tefyreth's birth, Sephiroth was born. It was under the rule of Duke Raulas that the relationship with the Jenovaians jinni flourished. They lived among us, traded with us and our allies. They were easily enlisted in the military as healers and soldiers. It was during this time that the Duchy or Nibelheim allied themselves with the city-state of Gongaga. It was Lucretia, the Jenovaians queen and the woman Raulas would not grant me permission to marry." The lost look of love molted Vincent's face into a bitter frown. "A beautiful woman, it was her magic that caught the sights of an alchemist from a distant land, where Midgar now stands. I had been tasked by Raulas to escort the queen from her palace high in the mountains down to the city for the annual Spring Fertility celebration. People from far and wide journeyed to have their wishes for healthy children granted by the queen."

Rufus smirked, "so, this was really just a big orgy?"

Vincent was silent for a minute, then a nod. "Yes, by today's standards it was."

"Anyways, I was to escort the Alchemist to meet the queen," Vincent growled, hand clenching. "After that night I never saw her again. Until years later in which I found out she had a son with the Alchemist. Raulas had died in a battle, the Jenovaians had withdrawn their support a civil war has broken out between them and the humans as the Alchemist had bound the queen in a desperate ploy to control her powers. It was Tefyreth's mother, the High Priestess and the messenger between the Monarchy and Jenovaians that had smuggled out the queen's son, the woman who had opened the tomb in which I had resided for years. She had one request, to take the children and save them from the imploding Kingdom."

"You took them to Banora?"

Vincent turned to look at the two men, "I took Tefyreth to the Cetrian in the North and Sephiroth I took to Banora where my former Knight Lord, Veld resided with his daughter Elfie. Veld was High Lord Commander of the Kingsgaurd and welcomed us with open arms. With his position, Sephiroth grew up within the Palace beside the Emperor's son, a vain little brat and the Kaiser of Gongaga's sons – Angeal and Zachariah."

Rufus frowned as he returned from the rabbit hole he had just traveled down. Holding out a stack of books, Vincent smirked, "I gave the bottle to Yuffie. About three months ago. She loved the design, it reminded her of a vase her friend had that she broke. Tifa is the only one that can break this curse on all of us. Ad she better hurry, I've seen Genesis, under the thumb of Don Corneo he won't last long and unlike Sephiroth who returns to his prison after three wishes, Genesis is bound for life to the family who owns his bottle."

"What about the other two Princes?"

"Angeal and Zachariah? Zack will look for Sephiroth, in the end, they had a close friendship, but Angeal, he protected your brother Mr. ShinRa. That beast has been under your nose just like your Knights have been protecting you and your younger brothers for years." Vincent's eyes turned on Tseng, "although it's unbecoming for a Knight to have clandestine relations with the King." The Turk chuckled as Tseng stormed out. "I'll escort you and your Turk out Mr. ShinRa. I heard the gunshots. Be careful around the dean, his alchemic science knows no bounds."

The walk through the building was quicker than entering. As they neared the door the body of the dean was nowhere to be found. "I have just one more question before we leave Dr. Valentine."

"Hmm?"

"The body in the crystal, who is that inside?"

The sad lining returned, "Lucretia, her body exist within it, entombed forever but she no longer exist spiritually." Rufus glanced down the hall where the suns light shined the brightest. "If you have any more questions, do not hesitate to come. I'm here, always."

Zack whimpered as he dissipated into a cloud of black, moments later reforming in a warm oasis. "Holy hell, what was that for man?" He barked, glaring at the towering man above him. Silently Sephiroth crossed his arms over his clean black vest. The pup fell silent, his eyes growing wide, mouth falling open as he heard the words fall from his mouth. "Holy shit," he muttered again, "I'm not a dog!"

Springing from the couch the genie had not so nicely dropped him on, outside of the one room tent. Tifa and Sephiroth had only returned back to the apartment within the last few hours, Tifa having spent a majority of it cleaning up Zack's mess which could not come up with magic. Ow with the shower running Sephiroth made his move forcing the dog into his bottle and back into his human form. As Zack searched for a mirror to look at himself in Sephiroth glared at the one large dog hair that had destroyed his home.

"Oh," Zack winced as he realized why the jinni was so mad with him. "Well, other than that, how did you date go?"

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing." Zack sighed trying his own magic to fix the destroyed home. "Well, you're out of luck friend. This thing is not budging."

"You will fix this Zack."

"It's not like you can't sleep on the couch, with me. I don't take that much space up."

"I'm not sleeping with you, Zack. The last time I woke up with your feet in my face, on the edge of the bed."

"But I'm a dog outside of here. A cute one at that." Batting his lashes Zack huffed in defeat as Sephiroth returned his human begging face with an unmoved, poisonous glare. "Whatever. It's cramped in here, can we leave?"

"Still complain a lot."

"You could always share Tifa's bed. She smells really good."

I found a planner and realized I have till August 13 to finish this. I'm challenging myself and well I slacked. I want to get to the end.