"So let me get this straight," Weiss began. "I went up against a Force of Nature, got my ass handed to me, and have been only semi-conscious since then. What with being comatose, I got captured, Argento came to find me and make sure I was okay. In the meantime, Shelke got kidnapped and brought here. Nero and Rosso are holding down the fort, and also have two prisoners. So far nobody wants to blink first as far as a prisoner swap goes."

Shelke nodded. "Pretty much. They're supposed to give Nero an answer and let him know we're okay."

"Do you think their leader would speak with me?" Weiss asked. "I mean, I'm technically the leader of our forces."

"We have theirs, so I think you outrank whoever's running the show here," Shelke pointed out. "Some guy in a red cloak and a lady with a prosthetic arm. Vincent and Elfe."

Weiss nodded. "Okay. I need to talk to them, and we need to figure out what we're going to say."

Rather than escort three prisoners to the communications room, Elfe brought a laptop to them. It would be safer and simpler on a number of levels. If nothing else, she didn't fancy trying to escort anyone who needed chains designed for a railroad car in order to keep him restrained. Argento had passed word that Weiss was awake and lucid and wanted to talk.

He was standing and waiting for them, his mother and sister flanking him on either side looking far more like a pocket-sized military inspection than the denizens of a sick room. It came as a bit of a surprise that standing, Weiss was scarcely a handwidth taller than Elfe was herself. He was, however, twice as broad. Indeed, she wondered if he'd have to turn sideways to fit his shoulders through the door. The chains were looped over his wrists and forearms, but Elfe got the distinct impression that this was done out of courtesy and not necessity.

"Feeling better," Elfe observed.

"Yes, thank you," Weiss said in a deep, yet even tone. For some reason, she had not expected him to be so polite. "I appreciate the consideration you've shown Argento, Shelke, and myself."

Or articulate. Well, looks could be deceiving, after all. Elfe set the laptop down and set up the program. Vincent swept through the door after her and gave all three of the captive Tsviets a mistrustful look. Argento returned it with a wry smile, and Vincent ducked his chin behind the high collar of his cloak. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Elfe keyed the frequency.

"We have your leader and one of your captains in custody," Weiss went on. "I understand Nero wants to trade. Let us go, and we'll well and truly go. We have no interest in Edge, but Midgar is ours."

"If you want it, you can have it," Elfe tried not to growl. There was barely anything left of Midgar except tumbled buildings and mako-enhanced monsters anyway. "What guarantee do we have that you'll retreat and stay put?"

Lifting his arms, Weiss pulled. The links of the heavy chains- each one the size of cinder block- groaned and snapped.

"I could have done that at any time," he said, allowing the links to fall to the floor. "I'm playing by your rules for the sake of Argento and Shelke. I could probably punch my way out of here, but I'm not leaving them." He let the chains slide to the floor in a deafening clatter. "So. I'll be good so long as you're good to them."

Elfe had no reply to that. Nor, it seemed, did Vincent. Both of them stared silently at the broken chains for a moment before shaking themselves and returning to business.

"Nero's been harping on releasing you and Shelke. He hasn't said anything about Argento."

"I was with their father when he died," Argento said quietly. "It is likely he believes me to be dead as well."

Weiss looked at her sharply.

"I'm sorry," was all she said.

Silence hung thick and cold for several moments. Taking a breath, Weiss shook it off and stared them down again.

"Well," he began, "Nero's not going to retreat without us, and you won't give us up without insurance. What can we do?"

"Ask him to release Veld and Reeve," said Vincent. "And anyone else he's holding. Even trade."

"It's not even," Shelke grumbled.

Weiss raised a hand and she shut her mouth. Argento stepped forward to rest a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll happily release your people if you release us. We could meet somewhere neutral to hand off everyone."

"That still doesn't address the main issue," Vincent pointed out. "You're here. You've got Midgar. It's not up to Elfe and I to say you can keep it. Nero has to be willing to sit down and talk, or we'll just be right back at the point we left off."

"He'll listen to me," Weiss said calmly. "He always has, always will. What do you want to talk about?"

"You came up and attacked. We didn't come down there after you. We can argue all day about how much Shinra is responsible for, but the fact is, they're not in charge anymore. No one is going to just trust that you'll keep your word to leave us alone, and I'm sure you won't trust us to do the same, not without some kind of formal agreement."

Weiss spread his hands. "Such as?"

"An official cease-fire," said Vincent, glancing at Elfe to see if she had any objection. She evidently didn't, saying nothing. "Then a treaty. That won't be up to me to negotiate. That's why we need Reeve."

"Well, at the risk of blowing a strategic advantage, you've got the supreme leader in custody yourselves," Weiss' tone was wry. "Fine. A cease-fire is acceptable. Believe it or not we're not in it for the slaughter. I'm sorry about your people. I confess the revolt got a bit out of hand."

"We have you," Vincent agreed. "I'll admit we don't know if we can keep you. On the other hand, you haven't seen everything we could use to hang onto you, if need be. So don't get over-confident. As far as the killing...nobody's happy about that. We want it to stop. If you want the same, then we have a basis for negotiation.

"Elfe, are we ready to transmit? We aren't going to solve anything talking amongst ourselves."

"Right," Elfe said, turning to the computer. "We're ready to broadcast. Ready when you are."

"Deepground, this is Weiss the Immaculate. Repeat, this is Weiss. I'm fine, Argento's fine, Shelke's fine. We're all here, we're all together, we're all unharmed. Unless you count one mother of a headache from my initial capture."

Shelke snickered at this and Elfe found herself biting her lip as well.

"We've begun negotiations for a ceasefire," Weiss went on. "They want to talk; maybe set up a prisoner exchange. If you could give them proof that their leader is alive and well, I believe that would go a long way to reassure them."

"Do not squander this opportunity," Argento put in. "Think on what would be best for all, and not simply of us."

"I want to go home," Shelke added. "Please, Nero."

Weiss briefly touched her shoulder. "We look forward to hearing from you."

Elfe cut the transmission.

"Let me go," Shelke spoke up. "I could talk to Nero. Act as a go-between. I'm not as important as Weiss or Argento. I could help."

"Peace, child," Argento admonished. Shelke scowled.

"I'm not a child," she grumbled.

"You're not bad with the mag rods," said Vincent, "but we're not going to send a...er, young person like you out there alone. Especially unarmed. Let's wait for an answer. We'll let you know what Nero has to say."

"You heard them," Nero said gruffly as the doctor withdrew the hypodermic. "They want to talk, maybe arrange a treaty. I'll put your leader on to let them know he's okay, and that you're coming. They get nothing unless we get a goodwill gesture in return. That means Argento or Shelke. I doubt they'll release Weiss, so I won't bother asking."

The doctor stepped back, clearly eager to be out of Nero's immediate reach.

"You'll be given an escort to the borders of Edge," Nero continued. "You can make your own way from there. And remember, it's best not to stray too far."

Veld touched the back of his neck gingerly. It hurt, but it was minor. He could live with it, provided he followed Nero's instructions.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Can I talk to Reeve before I go? He's not a military man, I want to make sure he's okay and keeps cooperating."

"Yes. We're about to let him speak. Rosso?"

Rosso nodded, apparently having become accustomed to playing jailer as well as bodyguard, and herded Veld down the hall to the communications room he'd been inside earlier. Reeve was there, seated before the console. He looked rumpled and scruffy, but otherwise none the worse for wear, aside from a bandage peeking whitely below the leg of his dark suit and above his black shoe.

"Veld!" he cried, clearly happy to see the other man. "Good to see you in one piece."

"You, too. Listen, these lovely folks are letting me out to go talk with the others. We're going to try to find a solution to this mess that everyone's happy with. I need you to stay calm and not cause any trouble while I'm gone."

"You know me better than that," Reeve replied with a sidelong smile. "I'll be the very picture of good behavior. Give everyone my regards."

"I will." Veld turned to Rosso. "Ready when you are."

The walk back to Edge was shorter than he'd thought. The thick fog of shadows made it difficult to gauge the distance. His escort seemed to know the way, however, and Veld soon found himself at the bombed-out border of Edge.

Continuing on alone, he kept an eye out for predators, both human and beast. Gods knew what had escaped from Deepground, or where they'd gone, and desperate people did nasty things.

He had no idea where Elfe was holed up, but there were places he could check. She'd have people out patrolling, watching for Deepground intruders. They knew he was coming, but they'd be careful not to betray their exact location in case he was being watched.

A couple of hours passed as he made his way through empty streets, keeping to the shadows where he could. If that wasn't ironic, nothing was. He'd passed one of their hideouts already, with doors blown off and windows shattered. A second one had become someone's makeshift home, and a quick, careful conversation made it clear to Veld that they knew nothing about Elfe or Vincent. He kept walking.

He'd nearly passed the third place, a ramshackle building that looked like a brisk wind would knock it down, when he heard a whisper.

"Veld? That you?"

Veld stopped, glancing around. Someone gestured to him from behind the old building. He squinted, trying to make out the face.

"Tom?"

The man stepped out into the fading light. "Yeah. Gods, I thought they were lying! Come on. I'll take you to the others."

"Daddy!" Elfe threw her arms around him and hugged him close. It wasn't often she addressed him as father; he'd barely been in her life until a few years ago. First names were usually good enough, except in rare circumstances. It seemed this was one of them. Veld hugged her back, tucking his chin against her hair.

"Don't you dare do that again!" she shouted, shaking him. "You are not allowed to scare me like that!" She pulled him to her a second time. "I'm glad you're okay…"

"I'm fine." He edged back a little to look at her. "You're okay? Everybody else? Tell me what's been going on. How many people have we got left?"

"Most everyone since you disappeared," she confirmed. "Except Reeve. They just had him on the radio. He sounds okay, if tired. How was he, really?"

"Has a sprained ankle, but that's about it."

"Okay, good. Weiss will want to talk to you once you've briefed Vincent and myself." She ushered him into what was serving as a conference room. Vincent was already there, waiting.

"Valentine," said Veld. "I hear you've been breaking and entering. Nero wasn't happy with that."

Vincent shrugged. "That's his problem. Sorry I never got to you. I found something else, though." He told Veld about Shelke, and Veld shook his head.

"Yeah, Nero's really not happy about that. Let's trade stories, and then if there's anything like a shower around here, I need to bathe, and get something to eat."

He tried to think. They both did. Ever since the Degradation experiments, Weiss had had an extra voice inside his head. In recent months, it had gotten louder. Weiss had only known Professor Hojo by name, and distantly by reputation prior to that. Now, it seemed, the man was stuck inside his head. Mostly he kept to himself, but recently he'd gotten louder. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it did prompt rather impressive headaches.

'Well?' Weiss asked. 'Any suggestions?'

'There's nothing worse than a violent fool,' Hojo observed, 'and that is what every last one of them is. I've dealt with the one in the cloak- Valentine, I believe, is his name. The woman looks vaguely familiar, but I cannot recall anything special about her. The one called Veld, however, is not so stupid, but no less dangerous.'

'Tell me something I don't know.'

Hojo gave a long suffering sigh. 'One of you has got to blink first. They'll not give an inch if they can help it. What's more important? Your safety, or that of your family? Naturally, you can't have both. See if you can send the women home. Then it will just be you, and you can look after yourself, can't you.'

'I suppose,' Weiss mused. 'I could give orders to attack. We'd win. Except Nero can't leave Midgar so there's no point. We would only get so far without him.'

'Indeed, he is necessary and instrumental to your continued freedom,' Hojo agreed. 'I believe it would be wisest to give them what they want for now. Reform ranks. You can teach them a lesson later when you have all your generals about you once again.'

Weiss nodded to himself. 'Yeah. Sounds good. Give them what they want for now. What's their leader going to do? He's not even a soldier.'

'He knows Midgar,' Hojo cautioned. 'Head of Urban Development was not a glamorous title, but he knew the city inside and out.'

'He didn't know Deepground.'

'Probably not,' Hojo agreed, 'but he knows the surface and you do not. Keep that in mind.'

'I will.'