Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are McCallister, Eddy, and Jake. Foreshadowing snuck into this chapter, that sneaky little minx. Enjoy.

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028 – Technologic

"I don't think she's figured it out at all." Rinoa said, unscrewing the bottom of the laptop and setting it aside before reaching into the wiring.

Beside her, Eddy cringed as he watched. "Careful with the—"

"I mean, so McCallister has some insecurity issues, don't we all?" Rinoa snorted, "Lord knows I should be the queen of that hill by now."

"The wires—" Eddy pointed gingerly.

Rinoa found the green ribbon that was…something important, apparently, and started wiggling it free. "I mean, I think Tifa is just meddling at this point. She got her happily-ever-after and she just feels responsible for making sure everybody else gets theirs too." She rambled.

"Be careful with that—" Eddy grimaced at her handling of the ribbon.

"I think maybe some people are just better off alone. They're happier alone, and maybe Tabaeus is one of them." Rinoa continued to babble. "I'm not happy being alone, but those are the lemons that the cosmos gave me…If McCallister is happier being alone, and I'm not, then why is Tifa trying to set McCallister up with somebody and not me?"

"Put the computer down!" Eddy finally raised his voice, practically snatching the abused laptop from her.

Rinoa paused in her ranting. "What? Oh…" She looked at the frayed wires and green ribbon in her hands. "Oops."

"Oops is burning something in the oven." Eddy reprimanded, glaring at the disemboweled state of the laptop. "That was cold blooded murder."

"I told you, I'm not good at computers." Rinoa folded her arms, slouching in her seat.

"Yeah, but you aren't even trying now." Eddy set the computer down on the table. "We started the night so well: you fixed the printer—"

"Well, the printer was easy. You plug the thing into the…other thing; make sure that one thing is in right and…printing." Rinoa gestured vaguely. "Computers are hahahahard." She whined.

"Tough nuggets," Eddy remarked. "Nobody else in the Alliance wants you in your department, and I'm starting to see why. You just don't care. Who are you doing this to impress?"

Rinoa scoffed, "I'm not—Nobody. Shut up!" She folded her arms and pouted.

"Rinoa, I'm trying to help you learn this. It's a skill; it takes time to get the hang of it." Eddy said, more calmly this time. "Just let me teach you…And stop talking to me about your girl problems. I'm not your—"

"—friend?" Rinoa input sourly.

Eddy rolled his eyes, "—girlfriend. I'm not one of your girlfriends. I've met Tifa Lockhart a few times. She seems perfectly reasonable and grounded."

"She is…It's so annoying." Rinoa frowned.

"And Tabaeus McCallister has a stick up her butt." He explained. "Why do you women always read so deep into nothing?"

"Because men are idiots who read nothing out of anything." Rinoa fiddled with a lock of her hair.

Eddy looked at her flatly and held up the laptop. "Are you going to at least try on this thing or not? We've been working on it for three days now."

Rinoa sighed and sat up again. "All right. Sorry."

He held up the gutted laptop. "Apologize."

Rinoa looked at him. "Seriously?"

Eddy held it closer to her. "Make nice."

Rinoa groaned dramatically and took the laptop husk, "Sorry, laptop." She petted it like a dog for a beat, looking at Eddy as though to say 'happy?'

"Okay." Eddy smiled cheerfully. "Now, this bit…" He held up the green ribbon, "…is absolutely ruined. We'll need another one."

Rinoa grimaced at the torn ribbon. "Can't we just staple it—"

"Nope." Eddy busted out his computer repair bag. "We are the IT department of the Alliance. We are the computer doctors. We," He pulled out a comically small screwdriver. "are technological conquerors."

"And complete dorks." Rinoa input.

Eddy struck a pose. "To dorkdom!" He handed her the screwdriver.

With a sigh and a smirk, Rinoa took the tool and went to work undoing more of the hard drive inside the device.

"So, idle curiosity." Rinoa asked as they resumed working on the computer. "When one's laptop goes blue screen and starts smoking…the ideal treatment wouldn't be to throw it in the freezer?"

Eddy removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. This was going to be a long evening.

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029 – Blue Skies and Sunshine

Big Daddy La Bouff's party had been hell'a entertaining, Yuffie thought, but now they were getting more to the meat of this world out in the bayou. One of the recon squads had reported back some kind of magic on the readings, so of course Yuffie had to go check it out. And of course, Jake had to come along. So now here they were, sitting in the boat-turned-house that was perched in a tree over the bayou waters.

The tottery old lady that the natives called Mama Odie was rambling on about…frogs and gumbo…or something like that.

"Look, ma'am, that's great and all," Yuffie finally interrupted, "But we need information on this rumor going around about someone called the Shadow Man. See we're from…way out of town…and we're just trying to get to the bottom of this."

"Hee HEE," Mama Odie chuckled, "Would you like some gumbo? It's still HOT!"

"No, thank you." Yuffie said, starting to get a headache. "We need—"

"Need, need, need. That's all you been talkin' about since you got here." The old woman spun to face them. "I don't think either'a you has any idea what you need."

Yuffie sighed and looked over to Jake, who was poking the woman's pet snake with a stick. Mama Odie stirred her gumbo pot a few times.

"Them froggies that just hopped outta here had that same problem."

Of course this woman talked to frogs. Why not? Yuffie inwardly sighed.

"And that was?" Jake asked, reconnecting to the conversation.

A few bubbles in the gumbo pot popped, and Yuffie swore she saw magical sparks shoot out of it. The blind woman lifted her staff, stirring at it a few times.

"Let Mama Odie show you." She tutted, gesturing them closer.

"I really don't think—" Yuffie started.

She was cut off as the surface of the gumbo swirled and briefly turned gold before spreading open like a window into another world.

"You don't need glory or fame to be noticed, child." Mama Odie said, patting Yuffie on the shoulder. "I've heard all about you, but that ain't why you's noticed."

Yuffie paused, looking at the woman. She had never told anyone about that…About how, despite her skills and general awesomeness, under that façade, she always felt like the perpetual child in the Restoration Committee. How did this woman—

"See?" Mama Odie gestured to the gumbo surface.

Yuffie curiously followed her finger's pointing. The image in the gumbo was that of the entire group, including herself, in the Restoration Committee, just sitting around at Merlin's house and talking. That kind of get-together wasn't so common anymore, what with Leon and Tifa having a baby and Aerith always being busy with her magic research…

"You don't hafta earn equality with them. You've always been on the same level." Mama Odie assured. "You just need ta be yourself."

Yuffie wasn't sure what to make of all this. First Facilier and all his creepiness, and now Mama Odie and her magic gumbo…This was turning out to be a weird mission. Before she could question further however, Mama Odie zapped the pot and the gumbo's surface bubbled again.

"As for you, Mister Joker." She rounded on Jake.

Jake ruffled his hair, "Thanks, ma'am, but I've got everything I need." He gave the room a cheeky grin.

Mama Odie looked unfazed. "So you say, but you had a storm cloud hangin' over your head from the moment you stepped up in here."

Yuffie looked above Jake's head, looking for a cloud, before realizing it was a metaphor and looking back at his face. "Storm cloud? Jake?" She snickered, "He's been the same happy-go-lucky guy this entire time."

Mama Odie snorted, "It's a good mask, sonny, but masks don't work on blind women."

She poked her gumbo again and magic spit out of her staff, sailing through the air in a shower of green and orange glitter. The blob of magic sprouted wings and landed delicately in bayou woman's hand: a small paper crane.

Jake eyed the crane and then shrugged awkwardly, "Doesn't mean anything."

Yuffie tilted her head, "Jake…"

Suddenly, a flurry of more balls of magic sailed out of the gumbo pot, all transfiguring into paper cranes of multiple colors and swarming around in a bright cyclone around the room. Their wings tickled as they passed by Yuffie and she giggled.

"Do you know now what you need?" Mama Odie prompted, sitting in her wicker chair against the wall as the cranes flew out the window into the sunlight.

Jake exhaled heavily and leaned against the wall, looking spent.

Yuffie looked to Mama Odie with a smile. "I think so. Thank you." She darted over to Jake and snatched up his hand. "C'mon."

"Where are we going?" Jake helplessly followed her out of the house.

"To Mardi Gras!"

..:-X-:..

030 – A Picture Worth a Thousand Worries

Leon had been staring at the same two pages of paper for the past half hour, and had nearly chewed one of his fingernails to the quick. It was two am and his eyes were hurting from the unsatisfactory light of the side table lamp in the living room, where he was slumped on the couch. The left side page was almost blank, save for a few jotted, handwritten notes. The page on the right was a list of tiny font print—which he had practically memorized for staring at it for so long—and a single, three-inch tall picture of a woman.

Behind him, a hand suddenly ruffled the hair on the top of his head. His reaction was to close the file of two papers and drop it in his lap as Tifa leaned over the back of the couch, one hand still in his hair, the other propped on the couch's back.

"What're you doing?" She sounded garbled, like she'd just woken up and staggered down the stairs.

He sighed, "Can't sleep."

She grunted and stood, moving around the couch and plopping down to sit beside him, all with eyes half open and sleep-messed hair all over her head. "Which kind of 'can't sleep'?"

He shifted to put his arm around her and she got comfortable, reclining against him on the couch sleepily. "The thinking kind."

"Uh oh." She murmured, "That's never good."

He slid the file from his lap and set it on the end table on his right. "I found a file this afternoon." He started and then stopped, not sure how deep into this he wanted to get with her tonight, while she was clearly out of it. "Just a few pieces of paper in it…but…it has information in it about my biological parents."

Tifa's arm seemed to involuntarily loop up around his stomach, giving him a light squeeze. A small gesture encouraging him to continue.

He cleared his throat a little, "They're both gone…but I knew that already. Mom and Dad told me that when they told me how they adopted me…at least I thought they told me everything. Now…" He paused, tracing a circle with his index finger around Tifa's shoulder. "I don't know."

"What's the file say?" She asked, clearer and more awake now.

He didn't pick the file back up, instead retelling it from memory. "My birth mother was named Raine. She was my adoptive father's sister. She died a few days after I was born. Complications, I guess."

Tifa squeezed him marginally tighter but remained quiet.

"My biological father has…nothing on him. They were only married for a year before I was born, but I couldn't find their marriage license…His name isn't on my birth certificate. He was listed 'missing in action' just a few months before…Something called the Lifestream Project." He felt like he was rambling, but he couldn't stop now that he'd started.

"Wait, wait," Tifa shifted a little so that she was looking up at him. "Missing in what kind of action? I've never heard of the Lifestream Project."

"As far as the Alliance's records or even Radiant Garden's historical records go, it doesn't exist." He shrugged, irritated at the lack of knowledge. "All I could dig up were a few recurring words and phrases about it: the heart of the world, someone named Ultimecia, and the old Sorcerer's War that Dad—my uncle, actually, I guess—served in, but nothing else."

But that wasn't what was keeping him awake. He had dealt with mystery all his life. The unknown was just a box hidden in an attic somewhere, waiting to be found. The fact that his biological father's profile had 'missing in action' and no date of death…that was just something unknown that he could dig around about. What was keeping him awake was that little picture of Raine Leonhart: looking young and happy, full of life and…healthy.

Then HE had happened.

Leon inhaled and his eyes drifted from Tifa's gaze to the small, barely noticeable bump of her stomach. Tifa was also young, happy, full of life, and healthy. She had had her bouts with the morning sickness and the moodiness, sure, but nothing abnormal…or what he was told was abnormal. But what if Raine had had nothing abnormal happen either? What did 'complications' mean? Could her death have been prevented, if someone had been paying closer attention? What caused 'complications'? What could take a healthy, vibrant woman and…kill her? God, the idea of something happening to Tifa…or the baby…

"Hey." Tifa's voice startled him out of his trance, and he realized that he was hyperventilating. "Hey, your heart's racing." She moved her hand from his chest. "And while I like to think I always make it do that…Your face says something else is wrong."

Leon cleared his throat again and tried to get his breathing back under control. "The way my mom died…It's just…I don't want—"

Tifa sat up a little, cutting him off by cupping the side of his face with her hand and tilting him toward her to kiss him on the lips. He returned the kiss and moved both arms around her, pulling her to him like he was terrified to let her go: which he was.

As their lips parted, he kissed her forehead. "I'm scared." He whispered into her hair.

"Me too." She replied quietly. "I wouldn't love you if you weren't scared. But I'm fine. Our baby's fine. We're all going to be fine."

He closed his eyes, wanting desperately to believe that.

Tifa gave him a quick peck on the jaw and climbed out of the couch, tugging his arm. "Come back to bed." She offered a smile. "It's been a long day."

Leon sighed and stood, letting her lead him up the stairs and back to their bedroom, knowing that he probably wasn't going to get much sleep for the next six months.

..:-X-:..

A/N: The Lifestream Project and the Sorcerer's War are more points of tease for a new story I'm working on, focusing on the Restoration Committee's parents, though primarily Leon's background, and Radiant Garden's history leading up to the invasion of the Heartless.

Preview for next week: "I'm the youngest in the Restoration Committee. There are soldiers in my department that are seriously twice my age…and they have to take orders from me. I kick ass, right?"