I hope you enjoy this chapter and remeber keep reveiwing!

Chapter 10: The Aviators

It had been Twelve days since the NECRO WEAPON incident and ever since Cid Jr. had gotten home it had been one disaster after another. First of all his dad had done nothing but tear into him for all the damage done to the airship in the fight, Jr. had spent the past couple of days practically repairing the whole thing himself. And to make matters worst ever since his sister Izumi had come home she spent all of her time crying in her room. Everyone from his mother to every one of his other six siblings and even his father tried to console her. But as of yet no one had ever figured out why she was so sad to begin with.

It was about 11 at night and Jr. was all alone in the hanger tuning up the Shera mark 5, when he noticed a light on in the Shera. Jr. cautiously made his way into the ship up to the observation deck where he found his sister is Izumi standing teary eyed staring at the moon. Jr. approached her carefully as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"What's going on with you sis? Everyone's worried out of their mind." Stated Jr. concerned

"If I tell you will you promise to keep it a secret?" sniffed Izumi

"Sure thing, you know you can trust me. I can't count the number of things you hid from dad on my behalf." Replied Jr.

"It's……John." Replied Izumi sadly

"John…..what about John?" asked Jr.

"We're……in love." Replied Izumi as she burst into tears and hugged her brother.

Jr. stood there mouth a gape in total shock trying to wrap his mind around these new developments.

"Wait….you….and John……John Valentine." Stammered Jr.

"Yes Cid, me and John, we're together."

"How long?"

"A year."

"A YEAR….A WHOLE F&ING YEAR, HOW DID YOU HIDE THIS FROM US…….HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN…..DID YOU LET HIM GET PAST 1ST BASE, CUZ IF YOU DID I'M GONNA HAVE TO KILL HIM!" shouted a confused and angry Cid

" I don't need to explain myself to you Cid this is between me and John!" retorted Izumi

"Okay, okay I'm calming. If you and John are so happy then why have you been crying all this time?" asked Jr. as he tried to regain his composure

"That's the thing I'm happy being with him, but John he's so confused, all he wants is to have a happy life, but he feels like he's burdened with so much, he fears the demon sleeping inside him." Replied Izumi sadly

"Demon? You mean that monster thing his dad and sister turn into….hell if they can control it so can he….can't he?" asked Cid confused

"You don't get it, his father can control Chaos because of the protomateria and because of the fact that when he fathered children Vincent's demon side was weakened because the power was passed on to his children. Yes, they can both transform, but Lucy didn't get as much power as John did, that's why she can control it, but John he inherited almost all of it, that's why…..he can't control it."

"But his dad managed to have a relationship why can't he?"

"That's what I keep asking him….asking myself…he told me a story once…a story that his dad only told him as a warning, ever since he heard it John was always afraid to let people in."

"And he told you all of this?"

"We talked a lot, John would always open up to me…..well as much as John could open up."

"So……what was the story?"

"One time Vincent lost control of Chaos……in front of Yuffie and he….well….hurt her."

"Oh!"

"So you can see why John is a bit….resistant, but recently I thought that maybe just maybe……I don't know what I was thinking and now he's disappeared. I keep asking Lucy if she's heard from him but he hasn't been seen for days."

"Wow, Izumi I'm…so sorry, I don't know what to say?"

"You don't have to say anything, just….thanks for listening and don't tell anyone."

"Okay."

Jr. hugged his sister one more time as she headed off back to her room, when she was gone Cid punched the ship wall as hard as he could.

"That bastard!" growled Jr. as he ran out of the ship and grabbed the keys to one of the Bronco planes

Jr. readied the plane and headed out when he made sure no one would notice. The next day Jr. was flying over the area near coral when he saw a familiar bike speeding through the vast desert. Jr. lowered the plane as Alex pulled over to greet his friend. Jr. jumped out of the plane and immediately smirked at his friend.

"Well looky here If it isn't the reclusive Alex Strife, where the hell have ya been buddy." Asked Jr.

"Not now Cid." Replied Alex tersely

"So what do you think your problems are worst than everyone else's, I just found out that John's been boning my sister." Shouted a distraught Cid

"Good for him." Stated a confused Alex

"I got a lot on my mind right now Alex, so answer this question…..Have you seen John cuz I gotta kick his ass." Replied Junior

"No I haven't seen or heard from John since the de-briefing." Retorted Alex

"What the hell is with your attitude!" shouted Cid

"I told you I don't wanna deal with anything, I have my own problems to deal with." Answered Alex

"You self centered bastard!" shouted Jr. as he ran toward Alex

Alex side stepped Jr. then sent him into a judo flip landing him flat on his back as Alex pulled out his sword and pointed at Jr., sirens started to blare all around them as they were suddenly surrounded by WRO vans. Alex sheathed his sword as he helped Jr. to his feet. Shelke jumped out of one of the vans accompanied by Red 13 and Cait Sith. Alex sighed deeply as Jr. held back a chuckle at the rag tag squadron assembled before him.

"What do you want guys." Stated an annoyed Alex

"You're family is worried about you Alex." Stated Shelke

"When aren't they?" snorted Alex

"We're serious!" snarled Red

"Well It's hard to take a big red doggy and a small stuffed cat seriously now is it?" retorted Alex, Jr. snickered

"Hey what's with the attitude Lad, all we're trying to do is help…." Stated Cait

"I don't need help!" sneered Alex

"You kind of do." Snickered Jr.

"Shut Up!" shouted Alex

"Well if you won't listen to reason, then maybe you'll like to learn the latest information that your brother has discovered." Replied Shelke

"What?" sighed Alex in defeat

"Two years ago, Rufus fired all of the old Turks, to hire these new ones, but the thing is we can't find anything on them….like they don't exist." Answered Red

"That's right Denzel talked to Reno a former Turk and learned all of this!" shouted Cait

"Where's Reno now?" asked Alex

"We were just on our way to meet him at the Gold Saucer and bring him to the WRO for more questioning." Answered Cait

"I'm coming too." Commanded Alex

"If you want." Replied Red tersely

"Are you coming too?" Shelke asked Jr.

"Sure Why not, hey do you guys know where John Valentine is?" asked Jr.

"No." They replied in unison

When they reached the Gold Saucer the small group headed for the local hotel to locate Reno's room. After asking the front desk, they were supplied with his room number. When they headed up to his room they knocked on the door, but there was no answer, Shelke knocked once more, but still no answer. Alex ushered Shelke out of the way, they kicked the door down where they were surprised to see a bloody and mangled Reno on the floor groaning in pain. Shelke rushed over to him to check his injuries as Red, Alex and Jr. searched the room, Cait looked out the window for any signs of who was behind this.

"He's fading fast, his limbs are broken, and his throat is crushed, I also believe his ribs are broken." Stated Shelke as she tried to help him, Jr. ran out the door to find some medical assistance

"From the look of the room there was a fight, a pretty nasty one too, blood every." Stated Alex

"And from the smell It's all Reno's." added Red

"Ya mean some one just man handled him, like a rag doll, who could do such a thing." Asked Cait

Suddenly Reno startled to spit up blood and groaned as he motioned for everyone to come closer.

"Who did this Reno?" asked a concerned Shelke

"Five miles south of the North Crater….cough….there's an abandoned Mako reactor. It was….never finished, because the area was unstable…..cough….but it was used as a lab the answers…..are….there…….." Reno struggled to say before he let out his last breathe and died a bloody mess in Shelke arms

Alex paced the room in shock as the medical team ran in to tend to Reno's body. The WRO crew had come in about five minutes afterward to investigate the room, unfortunately besides the blood and the wreaked room there was no evidence. Alex sat on the window sill looking over the golden saucer in silence. Suddenly Shelke walked back into the room after making a quick visit to the surveillance room.

"There's no video evidence, the guards were killed and the tapes were taken." Stated Shelke solemnly

"Dam It!" shouted Alex as he punched a hole in the wall

The others looked on in horror as Alex tried to regain his composure.

"Cid use your plane, get to the WRO headquarters and relay everything we know, Cait, Red, Shelke you guys and I can take one of the Shadow Fox's and check out this abandoned Reactor Reno was talking about." Commanded Alex

"Sure!" They all shouted in unison

Everyone headed out the door but Alex hung back and stared at the bloody spot on the floor where Reno had died right before his eyes. Alex lowered his head a bit as he quietly closed the door and left.

Meanwhile back in Rocket Town, Cid Sr. was irate, not only was his oldest son ignoring his duties, but he had also stolen one of his planes. This was the second of Cid's planes to have gone missing in the past couple of weeks. Cid spent the most of the day pacing around the house and the hanger yelling at anyone within an ear shot. Cid's wife however was outside tending to the garden, most of the kids were out about the town having some fun, Izumi however was sitting on a small stone bench in her mother's garden watching her tend to it.

"Mom how do you manage to deal with Dad's temper?" asked Izumi out of no where

"Well it used to be worst, I felt like I owed him for ruining his dream, but he eventually forgave me. He's always had a bit of a temper, but I know deep down inside he's a good kind hearted man." Stated Shera slightly taken aback

"But why is he so hard on Jr.?" asked Izumi

"He only pushes him because he wants what's best for him dear. He wants to push Jr. to be his best." Replied Shera sweetly

"How do you deal with Dad's…….temper." asked Izumi cautiously

"I just give him his space dear, some times men just need to work things out for themselves." Shera said eyeing her daughter

"Thanks Mom." Replied Izumi

"Dear, what is all this questioning really about?" asked Shera

"What would you do if you were in a relationship with a guy, but for some reason he kept….shutting you out…not because he didn't want to but because he cared about you….because he wanted to protect you.

"I'm sorry Dear I can't help you there, this is probably something that has to be worked out between you and that man. But if you truly love each other, then you'll make an effort to confront the problem head on together, it's the only way you'll get over it." Stated Shera

Izumi smiled at her mother then gave her a big hug, suddenly Cid came running out of the house in a panic.

"Something's wrong Alex is trapped in some sort of abandoned reactor fighting for his life, he's gonna die soon if we don't get help to them, I'm gonna get the Mark 5 ready, John, Lucy, and Denzel are in their way, I gotta go!" shouted Cid as he headed for the hanger.

Izumi's eyes widened in fear as she followed after her father toward the Shera, as the Ship flew off toward battle Izumi stood on the observation deck with a new resolved. This time she wasn't going to let go save her, she was going to save him, not matter what.

Next Chapter: The Hopeful Princess