Rather than climb over rubbish and rooftops as he had after Vincent, Sephiroth walked. He wanted the distance, the exercise, the time to think. CD's tucked into the pocket of his sweatshirt, he wandered farther and farther down toward the slums. Vincent had not yet returned, and Veld had been unable to estimate when he would be back.

"I really can't tell ya," Veld had said with a shake of his head. "He comes and goes as he pleases. Can't get him to carry a phone either. He's not used to it yet, keeps leaving it here."

Vincent had indeed left his PHS behind, and Sephiroth had pocketed it, intending to return it to Vincent once he found him. It seemed likely that the former Turk would be down in the slums, putting the fear of Holy into the local thugs. Therefore, he wandered farther down into the perpetual twilight of underplate, the air becoming more acrid and stagnant with every step.

The street where they had engaged earlier was empty. Even the shell casings from Vincent's expired rounds had been removed. There was, however, a rather disquieting trail of blood meandering off into a small alleyway. Hand on Masamune's pommel, Sephiroth stepped forward. The sounds of bone crunching and flesh tearing met his ears. At his feet, the blood oozed more thickly on the broken pavement. Although he now suspected a monster of some sort, he was not prepared for the scene at that met his eyes.

"Vincent?"

A familiar blue beast looked up from its bloody meal. At once its ears perked and its tail began to wag.

"Seppppppphiroth," it growled, jaws not intended for speech drawing out the syllables. Sephiroth blinked.

"Alpha-son," the beast whuffed, leaving its kill to come over and sniff at him. Sephiroth held still as the beast's nostrils traveled over him, sniffing around, but mercifully not directly at, his crotch. Satisfied, it let him scratch its ears before returning to the pile of blood and offal on the pavement. There were similarly stripped carcasses lying about.

"Vincent…" Sephiroth began, but trailed off, not quite knowing what to say. "Vincent, you don't need to eat vermin. If you were hungry…"

"Gallllllian," the beast rumbled, ears flat.

"Excuse me," Sephiroth apologized, the memory finally clicking into place:

Well it was either the 'puppy thing', as you put it- who calls himself the Gallian Beast, by the way- or Chaos.

He had forgotten the conversation during the trek down to the Shinra mansion laboratory. This was not Vincent, but one of the creatures who shared his body. A hungry one, apparently.

There had been many times when there had been food present, but he had not seen Vincent eat. When Sephiroth had managed to catch him in the act, Vincent had only ever used his right hand, the left kept folded and out of sight in his lap. Indeed, he rarely used his left arm. Narrowing the instances further, Sephiroth realized the only times the prosthetic had been employed was when Vincent was running on adrenaline and acting on instinct. He blinked, realization dawning: Vincent had never learned how to use his arm.

Whether Gallian had truly wanted to hunt, or Vincent simply wanted to avoid embarrassment at mealtimes, he did not know. Gallian was clearly sentient, but he could not speak the way a human did. Once Vincent had calmed enough, he would revert. Perhaps, in this instance, he would return to normal when he was no longer hungry?

"Alpha-son, hm? Has Vincent told you something different from what he's told me?" he asked, stepping a bit closer, but not enough to seem as if he wanted to steal Gallian's meal. "Or do I just smell like a Valentine?"

Gallian gulped the last tangle of entrails and licked his chops. Horn-crested head tilted to one side, Sephiroth wondered if the beast had understood? Abandoning the remains of his dinner, Gallian padded over on all fours, spiked tail wagging for all the world like that of an enormous retriever.

"Alpha-son," he barked, nudging Sephiroth with his snout. Smiling, Sephiroth scratched the beast's ears again, making his tail wag furiously.

"You know, I've never had a pet before," Sephiroth mused. Gallian looked at him askance. "Not that you're a pet, of course," he amended hastily. The beast stretched and slurped his cheek. Judging from the look on Gallian's face, Sephiroth was pretty sure he'd made it deliberately sloppy.

"Touche," he commented, wiping Gallian slobber off his face with his sleeve. "I'm not sure what Midgar leash laws are like, but we don't need people coming after us. Would you mind playing along?"

Gallian looked rather indignant for a moment and then gave an unmistakable nod.

"Thank you."

The beast followed along at his elbow, keeping formation as well as any soldier. When Sephiroth stopped, he sat down, and though there was rubbish enough to tempt him strewn all over the street, Gallian ignored it. Although they drew several wary glances from those who dwelled in the slums, no one said anything. Sephiroth had no doubt that word would spread about his "dog". Just as long as no one recognized him. He did wonder, however, when Vincent would revert? Hopefully, Gallian would let him know.

Their walk took them past the edge of Sector 5. Near the old city wall, a spire loomed. A church? Sephiroth had not known one was still standing. Perhaps this was the same building Zack's girlfriend kept her flower garden? Deciding to investigate, Sephiroth veered off the main road and ducked through the hole in the concrete wall.

There was more rubbish piled here, but it was close enough to the wall that real sunlight filtered through the gap between the top of the wall and the bottom of the plate. The church had seen better days, half the roof had fallen in, but the steeple and many of the colored glass windows were still intact. The thick wooden doors stood ajar and Sephiroth shouldered the one open, Gallian going ahead, nose to the ground. Ears lifting, he bounded forward.

"Beta!" he yapped, galloping toward the altar.

"Whoa! Hey, down boy!" a familiar voice echoed down the aisle.

"Zack?" Sephiroth asked.

Zack did not answer right away, pinned beneath Gallian who was slurping his face, he was laughing too hard.

"Okay, okay, you got me! I give!" Zack laughed, finally managing to shove the beast back. Obediently, Gallian sat down, tail wagging happily.

"What are you doing down here?" Sephiroth asked.

"Me?" Zack squinted into the depths of Sephiroth's hood, eyed Masamune's pommel sticking up from above his shoulder. "Do I know you?"

"It's just me," Sephiroth said, pulling his hood back. Zack blinked.

"Damn," he mused. "I guess I got used to looking at you in full uniform. I don't think I've ever seen you in civvies before."

"Me either," Sephiroth remarked, eyeing Zack's grubby jeans and flannel shirt. "What are you doing down here?"

Strangely, Zack blushed. He ducked his head as he got to his feet, trying to hide the color in his cheeks. "Diggin' in the dirt."

Sephiroth tilted his head to one side, curious. "Why?"

Zack shrugged. "Aeris is gone. Someone's gotta take care of the flowers."

"Have you heard from her at all?"

Zack shook his head. "Nah, I haven't heard from her since she left with Cloud. I'm worried about her… I hope she's okay…"

Gallian cocked his head, evidently trying to track what the humans were saying. Standing, he circled Zack, sniffing him.

"Easy there, Chief," Zack remarked, gently steering Gallian's nose away from his fly. "I love you, but not that much."

Sephiroth bit back a chuckle. "He won't invade your personal space too much."

"Good to know. So is this Vincent or...?"

"Gallllllian," the beast growled.

"Right, nice to meet you." Zack held out a hand and Gallian gave him a forepaw. The handshake, however, was closer to that of two businessmen concluding a deal. Dropping Zack's hand, Gallian began sniffing about the flowers.

"What the heck are you doing down here?" Zack asked him.

"Tracking the monster from Nibelheim," he said, nodding at Gallian who was busy inspecting the church. "Vincent agreed to play decoy."

"Any leads on the actual monster?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "Not yet."

"Just putting on a show, then?"

"Reconnaissance. Vincent had some information for me."

"Ah. Gotcha. Eh?"

Zack looked down as Gallian punched his leg with his snout, a strip of pink satin trailing from his jaws.

"What the…?" he began, taking the ribbon from Gallian. It wasn't even wet.

"Mate," Gallian whuffed. Zack flushed as pink as the ribbon.

"Er, not quite," he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "I mean we're serious but not that serious… Her mom would kill me."

"Her mom?" Sephiroth echoed. Aeris had told him her mother was dead.

"Yeah, their house isn't that far from here. She's sweet. Good cook too."

"Has her mother heard from her?"

Zack shook his head. "No, Aeris hasn't come back to Sector 5, or at least, I thought she hadn't." The ribbon in his hand, however, seemed to suggest otherwise. "Do you think she left this on purpose, or do you think she was attacked?"

"Calm down," Sephiroth told him. "Look around. Think. Does it look like she was attacked?"

Even Turks would have left signs of a struggle. Although the nave was strewn with debris, fallen roof timbers and broken tiles, all of the detritus was old. Even Aeris' box of gardening tools had been untouched when Zack arrived to pull weeds.

"No," Zack breathed with some relief. "No, she wasn't attacked. Not here, anyway."

Sephiroth patted his shoulder. Zack was still staring at the ribbon.

"Gallian, where'd you find this?"

"Box," Gallian barked, going over to the modified tool box that held Aeris' collection of gardening implements.

"She hid it in with the tools," Zack mused. "She knew I'd find it. She knew I'd be the only one likely to find it." Giving a frustrated sigh, he pocketed the strip of satin. "I love her but I could smack her sometimes. I bought this to keep her safe. It's not gonna do her any good if she's not wearing it."

"She probably doesn't know," Sephiroth pointed out.

"True," Zack conceded. "Hey Gallian, where ya goin'?"

"Mate," Gallian huffed, and trotted off toward the rear of the church. Sephiroth blinked.

"She must still be in the city. There's no way he'd pick up a scent trail over a month cold."

Zack was already racing after the beast, one end of Aeris' pink ribbon trailing from his pocket.

Gallian, nose to the ground, led them on a rather circuitous route to Sector 7 and a familiar-looking SOLDIER bar.

"She's at Cleo's?" Zack asked, bewildered. "I've been here like three times in the last month and I haven't seen her."

"Mate," Gallian insisted, shoving him towards the building.

"Girlfriend," Zack corrected. "It's a step or two down from 'mate'."

The beast's expression indicated that Zack was not fooling anyone. Shaking himself, Gallian gave a plaintive whine.

"What is it?" Sephiroth asked.

"Alpha," Gallian replied, looking pained.

"Shit, we gotta find some place for him to revert," Zack said, scanning for convenient alleyways. "Over here."

He darted around the corner of the building to an area with two dumpsters hemmed in by a rotting plank fence. It provided just enough cover that no one was likely to notice so long as they didn't make too much noise. Giving Gallian what space they could, Zack and Sephiroth stood with their backs to him, watching the alleyway. The beast whined, clearly in pain, the pitch dropping abruptly and the sound becoming more human. Chancing a glance over his shoulder, Sephiroth noted a familiar red cloak. Vincent knelt on the broken pavement, massaging his head with his flesh hand.

"You okay?" Sephiroth asked, crouching down next to him.

"Yeah," Vincent grunted, doing his best to shake it off. "Fine."

He didn't look fine, but flowed to his feet somewhat less gracefully than usual.

"You might wanna lose the cloak," Zack commented. "There's no 'wanted' posters yet, but there will be."

"Of course," Vincent muttered, pulling it off and rolling it up under one arm. Without, he seemed to diminish slightly. His outfit was obviously borrowed, both the shirt and the trousers not quite long enough and rather too wide for his narrow body.

"Come on," Zack told him, gently herding him toward the entrance. "I'll buy you a drink."

"...do I need to worry about being recognized?" Sephiroth mumbled underneath the blaring guitar music coming from the juke box. Zack shook his head.

"Just keep your hood up and your voice down. I didn't recognize you in that outfit, but I knew your voice."

"Right."

Zack led them toward a booth in the back, ushering Sephiroth in first and then scooting in beside him. Vincent sat down opposite, holding the rolled-up cloak over his left arm, the better to conceal his claw.

While the waited for a server, Zack pulled his wallet out, the heavy chain connected to it clattering against the abused wood of the tabletop. Sephiroth opened his mouth on the point of offering to pay when two things occurred to him: this was a cash business, and even if they did accept debit cards, flashing his Shinra ID was not likely to go over well for him or anyone else. He would have to make a note to hit the ATM in the Shinra cafeteria at some point. It seemed unfair that Zack should have to sacrifice his income when Sephiroth had more money than he really knew what to do with. It wasn't that he made a fortune every year, he didn't. As a general he was certainly well-paid, but it was more that he never bought anything. Shinra supplied most anything he could possibly and need and he'd never developed the habits of acquiring trinkets like CDs, movies, and fashion-forward clothing the way his subordinates did. Maybe he ought to do something about that? Actually, what he should do was drag Vincent to a tailor so he could stop borrowing Veld's clothes.

The cuff of Veld's shirt was easily two inches short of reaching Vincent's bony wrist. Eyeing the bared skin, Sephiroth's eye caught the edge of a faint white line. Something inside him went cold and he eyed the older man suspiciously. Vincent's limit breaks didn't just trigger by themselves. So far as he knew, Vincent was incapable of transforming at will, which meant something must have happened to set him off. He'd watched Vincent put his own gun to his head, tear into his own flesh with his claw. Sephiroth did not want to believe this sort of behavior was ongoing but if it was, they were going to have words about it. Many words.

Vincent caught him looking at him and blinked. "What?"

Now was not the time. He'd talk to him later. Which reminded him. Digging in his pocket, Sephiroth produced Vincent's PHS.

"Here," he said, handing it across the table. "You left this. It won't do you any good if you don't have it on you."

"Thanks," Vincent said, pocketing the phone.

"You guys want some snacks?" Zack asked. "The food here's amazing."

Sephiroth bit his lip against a smile, Vincent simply looked amused. Suddenly his expression snapped to one of concentration and he lifted his chin, nostrils twitching. Both Zack and Sephiroth watched him as he turned his head and eyed one of the servers.

"She's over there."

There were three servers, all female, collecting food and drinks from the bar. One was little and blond, another was taller with curly black hair, and the third was Tifa.

"Which of these things is not like the other," Zack mused.

It was Tifa who came over to serve them, the black-haired waitress heading to the other side of the bar.

"Hey guys," Tifa smiled. "What can I get for you?"

"How 'bout a word with Aeris?" Zack asked, cutting right to the chase. Tifa blinked. "Look, we know she's here. Just tell her to meet me out back in ten minutes, okay?"

"Uh, okay…"

Zack waited only as long as it took for Tifa to bring their drinks. Excusing himself, he wandered toward the men's room and the rear exit.

The black-haired waitress was already waiting at the bottom of the rear steps. Zack had to admit, the disguise was pretty good. He thought he recognized the wig as one of Miss Cleo's before she'd grown her hair out, and the thick-framed glasses drew one's attention away from her brilliantly green eyes.

"Hi," Aeris greeted him sheepishly.

"You," Zack began, "were supposed to skip town. What are you still doing here?"

"I couldn't leave," she protested. "What about my mom? What about the flowers? What about you?"

"Aeris I'm a SOLDIER 1st Class, I can take care of myself. I'm more worried about you."

"I can take care of myself," she said indignantly. "Besides, I have Angi to protect me."

"Angi?" he echoed. As if on cue, the creature dropped down, landing at his feet. Sniffing him, it chirruped a greeting.

"My gryphon," Aeris explained, reaching down to pet its head. The creature mewed in pleasure and rubbed up against her legs like a cat.

"I guess that's something," Zack conceded, "but Angi can't hold off a platoon of SOLDIERS or a squad of Turks."

"Tseng wouldn't hurt me."

"Then who dragged your ass up to the Science Department?" he tried to keep the anger out of his voice but did not quite succeed. Aeris scowled.

"...it wasn't Tseng," she huffed, crossing her arms and turning away. "Besides, you'll need my help."

"With what?!"

"Jenova."

That brought him up short. "Jeno- Wait, what? How do you even know about that?"

Aeris lifted her chin. "Tifa told me. Not that I haven't known about Jenova for ages."

Now he was thoroughly confused. "I… Is this another Ancient thing?"

"Maybe."

"Okay. Who else did Tifa tell?"

"Just me. She didn't even actually tell me, I told her."

Zack just stared. "Beginning, please?"

Aeris sighed. "Okay. When Cloud snuck me out, he took me here. His friend Tifa works here, he knew she would help me. But when she asked why Shinra kidnapped me I had to tell her something! I mean, she went up to the Nibelheim reactor with you guys, I figured she was safe to talk to."

Zack groaned and massaged the bridge of his nose with one hand. "Okay, well, at least it's still on the inside. How is you being an Ancient gonna help us?"

"I can help you track Jenova. I can hear the voice of the Planet, and while it's hard with so many people in the slums, I can tell that it's kind of freaking out. I could help you! I could!"

Smiling, Zack shook his head at her. "Okay, okay. You know that's not my call to make. I'll talk to the General. In the meantime, lose the hair."

"Huh?" she blinked.

"The wig," he nodded at the inky black curls. "Take it off."

Glancing to the right and the left, she pulled the wig off, her auburn braid spilling down her back.

"You left something," he said, stepping around behind her.

Her smile was audible. "You found my ribbon."

"Yeah, I did. That was a dumb thing to do, but I'm glad you did it."

"Why was it dumb? I knew you or maybe mom would be the only ones to find it."

"Actually, Gal- er- Vincent found it. You left it in a good hiding place, but it was dumb to take it off."

"Why? It's just a ribbon."

"You ever wonder why the accessories at that stand were so expensive?"

"Because it's real satin?"

Although she couldn't see it, Zack smiled and fluffed the loops of the bow he'd tied around the base of her ponytail so they stood out. "It's intended for combat. Blue ribbons used to just go to whoever won the round. You can get them in all kinds of colors now, but they still do the same thing: they guard against any handicaps your opponent may throw at you. So long as you wear it, this ribbon will keep you safe."

She was very quiet as she turned around to face him. "I'm sorry… I didn't know."

Zack smiled for her. "It's okay. Just promise me you'll wear it, okay?"

Throwing her arms around him, she hugged him close. "I'll never take it off. Ever."

"Good. Now put your hair back on. The guys are probably wondering what happened to me."