Hero's March

by FrostByterFang

That fateful battle in the wastes dealt Zack Fair a cruel hand: He barely survives, albeit with permanent injury. Taking advantage of Zack's K.I.A status, Tseng secretly enlists his aid to help free Aerith and Cloud from Shinra's all-encompassing shadow. Zack must use his new identity to protect his friends, all the while they remain ignorant of his survival. AU

18. When Shadows Whisper- part 1

~777~

Contrary to the quiet, comforting camaraderie he experienced with Cissnei and Vincent for the last two days, Zack couldn't have felt any further from relaxed as he stood here.

He got a fairly serious call from Hendel yesterday; and you can bet it wasn't anything good. Despite the fact that Zack should be turning off his phone and getting rid of it as per Septimus' recommendation, he was kind of glad he held on to it; considering what Hendel had to tell him:

Apparently, from what Hendel could gather from the footage Zack both sent and told him, Cloud had something like retrograde or dissociative amnesia- which naturally discombobulates his head and introduces a whole host of new symptoms in addition to his PTSD and J-Cell Toxicosis. Now, while Hendel admitted that he'd still prefer to investigate Cloud's condition in person, he managed to scratch this up from a near-glance. Moreover, he said that amnesia wasn't exactly something he could just medicate and eventually fully recover from.

Oh no no. It was something much more insidious.

"I thought he obtained that memory loss from the J-Cell infection and mako treatment itself, but I was seriously wrong," Hendel told him in this tone that was within itself something worrying. It contained a hardness that Zack never recalled hearing before; a gravity that sounded very much like he was being ordered to march back into war. To say it unnerved and frightened him couldn't be any closer to the truth.

"-We're talking about very real brain damage here-" He continued. "Hojo had fucked him up in a way that may be permanent. Amnesia in ANY form is a messy affair that takes more than just time to recover from; given the victim can even recover from it at all-"

"Whaddya mean?" Zack asked in this suddenly hoarse timbre, noticing that his hands where shivering just then. "Are you sayin' that he can't ever recover from it-?"

Cissnei had taken notice of this as well, her expression increasingly more concerned as she eyed him. She kept piloting the bird though, her work mask gone and replaced with a dazzling series of growing confusion and worry in varying degrees as seconds ticked by. Zack could also feel Vincent's ghost-fire gaze boring into the side of of his head as he held the phone; the device set to speaker. The man had been rather quiet in the back-seat this whole ride, but his wooden silence further cemented itself as he absorbed Hendel and Zack's words.

There was a sigh. And then:

"If it doesn't go away on its, then it won't go away at all," He said quite plainly. "And even if he does get some memory back, chances are he won't get all of it back, yunno? He'll NEVER be the same. Amnesia isn't a surgically clean cut through some person's thoughts and memories; selectively going out of its way to sever only specific parts of the truth. That kind of thing only exists in fiction."

Zack could almost imagine the doc swiping a hand through the air here, "In reality, it does so much more: There's many different versions of it, and there's many causes for that kind of amnesia. It makes a real mess out of the victim's mind; effectively rewriting their autobiographical perception of their life and contorting it into a something else entirely. Sometimes, it stops the individual from absorbing new information instead of rewriting the old; or rearranges memories in ways that seems believable- which is the case with Cloud."

When Zack said nothing further, his tongue thoroughly tied from this portent's vice, Hendel asked, "Didn't you say Cloud had a relatively noticeable lack of self-esteem and friends?"

"Huh? Oh uh... yeah. I did," The man reluctantly admitted.

"Well... it seems Cloud's unstable psychological state may have compounded with Hojo's experiments-" he went on, "-Among whatever other problems he's internalized, its finally broken his already fragile mind-set and re-wrote history for him. Its bad enough he had to struggle with the Nibelheim event and the loss of his mother, plus you, and him having to endure mako poisoning and overdose, and then the J-cell sickness... And then there's Sephiroth's cells..." The man took a breath, "Anyways, the point is, he deliberately forgot you so he could try to get through his day-to-day. That kind of guilt he shouldered from having believed he lost you to Shinra was far more an intense trauma for him than we originally perceived. Most likely, he blames himself for your death; and he couldn't carry the weight of it anymore."

"...Its the one piece of straw that finally broke the chocobo's back," Cissnei mouthed, her mocha-caramel gaze sympathetic.

"Precisely. And seeing as I can safely say he has this... kind of neurological disorder, its rendered my previous efforts to make him some medication moot in some parts. I thought a little mako-charged vials like what Zack has prescribed to him would help reverse the condition, had it been linked solely with Mako Addiction and subsequent poisoning..." Hendel sighed here, "...But this is no longer the case. When it comes to Dissociative Amnesia, the best thing we can do is to wait it out- and hopefully Cloud's companions and a little support, time, and patience will finish healing him."

Zack flapped his gums soundlessly in mute outrage, but then Vincent queried behind him, "What if he saw Zack again? Do you think it would be too jarring for Cloud to know his friend is alive? Or would this truth maybe heal him?"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure," Hendel mumbled. "-Zack has unfortunately become a source of great pain and shame to Cloud- and I know that isn't something you want to hear, Mr. Fair..."

Aforementioned man had slumped into his seat, his spirits sinking and sinking continuously more.

"The thing is-" The doc carefully went on. "-Even if Zack did divulge his identity to him, chances are Cloud may react rather horribly to it and it could incur a relapse of his comatose condition- Perhaps placing him in another fugue state. However, this isn't the only other possible outcome-" Zack could imagine the doc gesturing wildly with his hands and noodly-arms somehow, "It may be possible that Cloud could recognize Zack and probably start recovering in earnest. Or worse case, he'll see that Zack is alive, but his brain may be too far-gone to accept this new information and his memories will remain in this altered state- which isn't likely. Its really hard to say how he'll react to Zack's survival though- His amnesia is a little hard to pin-point because he's been through a lot of events that could've caused any and all of it."

Cissnei pursed her lip and tossed her supposed trainee a stare that betrayed her growing concern. "So all in all, Cloud's most likely to remember Zack and heal with time, or it'll shock him so bad he'll shut down entirely and turn back into a vegetable," she wondered aloud. "The chances of him not remembering Zack at all are still pretty slim though... Right?"

"Its something along those lines, yeah," The doc confirmed. "-Let's keep in mind that Hojo gave both Zack and Cloud massive amounts of sedatives. Believe it or not, enough drugs like benzodiazepines, hypnotic drugs, and stuff like it over a course of a set amount of time will induce amnesia. Honestly, I'm actually kind of surprised that Zack hadn't developed the condition as well. Hojo has some super strong stuff." There was a beat. And then, "...Although, I suppose his inability to recall anything of Hojo's experiments is a kind of Anterograde amnesia within itself... hm."

Zack threw himself back in his seat and huffed, somehow not at all relieved by this tidbit of information.

"Anyways, its possible Hojo may be the root cause of Cloud's case- given it really isn't just Cloud reacting to the idea of Zack's death. Hell, there's multiple ways of how he could've gotten it-" Hendel continued, the trio almost picturing the shrug in his words. "This being said, I may still prescribe Cloud some mako doses to see if it'll reverse some bit of this condition. If it doesn't, then we can safely say that mako energy isn't to blame for his amnesia."

"And it'll be fair to say that there may not be anything else we can do for him," Zack muttered despairingly, his face white and bloodless. He shook his head, arms resting on his knees as the phone hung limply in his loosened grip.

"Au contraire," Hendel almost blithely interjected; surprising the former SOLDIER in the process. "I can safely say we can at least treat his J-Cell sickness and reduce the amount of negative effects it has on his body. So while his amnesia is potentially something we can't help, Cloud's other ailments are actually very treatable for me. I already have some other meds prepared for him, on that note."

"Really?!" Zack almost babbled, jerking the phone back to his face.

"Yup. Thanks to the spinal sample you've given me, its sped things along," He could hear the smile in the doc's words there. "So, whenever I can manage it, I'll try to send it along to you through another Turk's hands. That, or you can directly come pick it up from me in Midgar."

"We've had contact with Septimus recently," Cissnei suddenly informed him. "We're to meet him once we've finished with our more recent surveillance on AVALANCHE. Do you think you can send the medicine through an available Turk to Septimus so we can pick it up from him then?"

"I'll get Kunsel on that," Hendel told them. "He should be finishing up his more recent job right now."

Zack blinked and almost face-palmed; having forgotten that one of his best friends was now helping him along this mission. Honestly, with all the shit that's hit the fan lately, how could he have not forgotten this little detail?

"So uh, I know this is a bit off-topic and all..." Zack decided to ask, resting his gaze onto Cissnei next to him. "-But what was Kunsel's gig? What did Tseng order him to do?"

"Tseng told Kunsel to get Aerith's mother and the little girl she's with to a place where Rufus can't potentially find them in the future," Hendel replied. "The president won't be able get Aerith to willingly surrender herself to the company by using her mother and this tiny girl as a means of ransom. Tseng wanted to make sure that the Turks will be unable to follow through on that order to capture Elmyra, or Aerith herself for that matter. He's technically making sure Kunsel sabotages the Turks over-all tracking ability and effectiveness preemptively."

"Uh... That's kinda weird, but okay-?" Zack scratched his head. He tossed Cissnei another glance and noticed her wrinkle her nose, but she nodded in agreement. He then went on to ask, "But uh, can I ask why he wants to be deliberately sabotaged? And won't Tseng just be able to ask him where he's placed the girls in the future?"

"He told Kunsel to keep that information to himself," Hendel added on, Zack hearing some semblance of a smile in his tone. "Tseng said in these exact words that he doesn't want to put Aerith and her familiars on the spot ever again; if it can be helped. He also said he took no pleasure in bringing her into Hojo's lab when Sector Seven came down- as he and I both knew what the mad doctor had in mind for her. Its already bad enough what he's done to you and Cloud..."

Zack could definitely feel his own anger come to a bubbling boil here, but Vincent's own demeanor was suddenly a seething mass of vitriol that blistered the back of his neck like a bad sun-burn. The ex-SOLDIER passed the elder man a small glance and noticed the angry inferno burning behind his bloodied gaze; a Hellish scowl that can send even the Devil himself running in the other direction.

"Uhhh... right," Zack finally said, deciding he needed to move the conversation along before Vincent scorched the seats with his eye-lasers alone. "So, was there anything else you wanted to tell me about Cloud?"

"Other than his amnesia, not really. He seems to be doing well enough," the doc said with some hint of hesitation within his tone. "-But I still want to meet Cloud in the future and treat him properly. I'm going to have to ask Tseng if it'll be okay to arrange a meeting or something between us... hm."

"Do you think I should try to talk to Cloud again?" Zack pressed, his tone stiffening somewhat. "Should I tell 'em about this condition he has, or about me in general-?"

"I... I honestly don't think it wise right now," Hendel apprehensively reciprocated. "But I also don't know if it'll be all the worse for him if he continues on as he is... My advice for that is to wait just a bit longer and see if the medication I prepared for him has any effect on his memory. Again, if he starts to react to the mako vials I made to combat the J-cell sickness, then we can safely link his amnesia to the poisoning- which will help us remove it without us having to expose you. But... if he doesn't react to the mako vials at all, then we'll know his amnesia was something else Hojo did; and we'll need to make a decision on what to do for him based on that."

Zack imagined a shrug when Hendel also add on, "Who knows: Given the mako treatment doesn't work, maybe we will let Cloud see you're still up and kickin'. I can only imagine that letting him go on without knowing his friend is actually alive and well would only continue to compound his mental health."

"Noted," Cissnei said, making sure her gaze pointedly connected with Zack's as they absorbed this information. "But until then, Zack stays silent," she said rather pragmatically.

"Right! So anyways, I'll make sure Septimus has the meds for when you arrive. You guys keep sending me some footage of Cloud whenever you can get it."

"We will," Zack affirmed, his gut churning somewhat as he finally closed the call.

This conversation was something that happened the previous day; all the while Cissnei had them slowly trail behind AVALANCHE for the last two days after Rocket Town. They still wanted to get a hold of Tifa or Aerith so to ask them about Tseng's conversation with them, but the trio had been running into road-blocks there:

Cait's messaging system was one way for the Turks; so they couldn't exactly get a message to the cat to separate the girls without incurring any suspicion from whoever else the mechanical cat was linked too. Its very possible that the president himself had access to Cait's files and whatnot at any given moment; so its not like Zack and Cissnei could just ask Cait Sith to let them speak to some of AVALANCHE's members without raising eye-brows.

So instead, they took advantage of their unhurried sense of pace and lagged comfortably behind AVALANCHE while waiting for the chance to catch their quarry alone. Cissnei waited for Septimus to message them back for any reason, Zack rested and monitored his health (he was feeling pretty great by the way), and Vincent kept them on track. He even offered to cloak himself to get Aerith's attention, but Cissnei shook her head and reminded him of the canine-thing following them around.

As of this morning, two days after the Rocket Town incident, Cait Sith sent them a frantic message conveying his vexed and frustrating position. AVALANCHE, after having dropped off Shera at Nibelheim's borders up river, had come to Wutai as per Yuffie's request to see her family and stay out of Shinra's sights for a few measly days. However, it took a sour turn for the worse when she freaking robbed her own friends blind of all their materia and left them stranded in unknown and congestive verdant wilderness in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere.

Yup. Yuffie did that. And boy did it infuriate Zack in ways he never thought would aggravate him so. He could only imagine how Cloud felt about it, seeing how the latter has never had any real patience with Yuffie's shenanigans to begin with.

So now, here they stood in the heart of Wutai: Having followed Yuffie's trail in an effort to help AVALANCHE get its materia back before Shinra forces found them first. Without these precious orbs, Aerith would be much easier pickings for Rufus' men, and Zack's mandatory mission to protect its members would raise his risk of exposure- not to mention that of the Septimus Sect's. As it is, Cait Sith had used his GPS to help them get here while Cissnei, Zack and Vincent covertly escorted the oblivious members of AVALANCHE part of the way here to assure they didn't get anymore lost.

For the moment, Zack blinked off his disorientation as he eyed the town: Wutai's biggest city was a bustling, busy eye-sore that assaulted the senses with red, red, red and more red; with some gold garnish and overly elaborate Leviathan and dragon decor on the side. Sometimes, a plethora of other colors were vibrantly splashed across the pagodas, signs and streets in dizzying array. The whole place was tightly cluttered with service stands and shops and eateries with every kind of exotic food you can imagine; and with a vast assortment of smells ranging from completely unappetizing to its polar opposite, and everything else in-between. Zack could see a lot of places even served raw variants of these foods; their strange; fishy smells however only made his stomach curl and sour in ways that lodged more than just bile in the back of his throat.

He couldn't help it; he truly felt like he didn't belong here- Especially after the Wutai War some years back. After having been a part of a series of missions that ultimately helped quell any remaining resistance (and hope) this place could've had left, he couldn't help feeling like quite the antagonist. He was an alien intruder in their midst; and he was plenty aware of that. Minerva forbid anyone here knew he was of former SOLDIER affiliation- let alone first class.

Its like what Angeal always used to say, he grimly figured. Once a SOLDIER, always a SOLDIER. You can never truly erase your link with Shinra after the procedure. Huh, Angeal?

He pulled at his mask and goggles, making sure both articles were tight across his face. Even though it was about as hot and humid as a typical temperate climate in the middle of its hottest time of the year can be, he made sure to wear his best coverage today. His heavy braces and tightened leather coat were already making him sweat like a gore-tooth sow in heat; but he wasn't going to complain this time around. Like hell he would. Zack was a big boy; and he totally believed he can take a little heat this time around.

Cissnei heaved next to him; as if catching onto his uneasiness and mirroring it in-turn. "Okay," she breathed with apparent and equally bereaved resignation. "Didn't think I'd be spending my day here of all places, but I guess it can't be helped."

"Yeah... Didn't think so either," Zack drawled, his timbre lower and gruffer than usual. "Honestly, I'd thought we woulda been seein' Septimus by now."

"Same here," she concurred.

Cissnei then shook her head and glanced around, she and the rest of the squad staying well within the shadows of the alley-way. They were cramped between the infamous Turtle Paradise and its neighbors; the clamor of the venders and their uncertain, potential customers louder than Zack's own thoughts. The noise barely stiffed the sound of his semi-erratic heart-beat; but its pulse could still be plainly felt as he idled closer to Cissnei's side.

Vincent harrumphed suddenly; garnering the duo's attentions simultaneously. The man peered around with some level of interest; his maroon eyes a vibrant array of swirling, scarlet fire as he absorbed the world around them. His arms remained at his sides; a gesture betraying his vague sense of intrigue.

"I haven't been to Wutai in so long," he said once he realized he caught his companions attentions. "The one time I did come, it was on family vacation some years before I became a Turk in earnest. Its amazing how its so different, and yet so much the same despite all these years."

Zack cocked his head, finding this portent rather interesting for the fact that Vincent hardly ever said anything of his past beyond his tenure as Lucrecia's body-guard. He hummed, somewhat wishing for Vincent to continue, but knowing this wasn't the time. So instead, he said, "Eh, whaddya mean by 'different, yet the same'-?"

"This place is very resistant to change," Vincent went on. "From what you told me about Shinra's past transgressions, you would've expected to see some sort of advancement in commerce and technology here. And yet I see nothing like it. However-" His ghost-fire gaze darkened, "-It is rather hard to miss the increased number of weapon shops and unsmiling faces of the natives. Moreover, I see tourism has increased as well. I wonder if this country is now making most of its funds from that-?"

Cissnei nodded, her mocha-caramel gaze far more lined. "Good deduction," she confirmed. "Wutai actually does depend on touristy nowadays. Shinra's pretty much cut off most outside resources beyond the country's waters; so they have to make the most out of what they can technically lure in."

Zack snorted in undisguised disgust, the sound further distorted and amplified by his chambered respirator. "...Shinra's pretty much taken over the entire world by now. The only thing they haven't really ruined by now is literally the Promised Land. Its no wonder they're still on Aerith's ass like stink on a Malboro's anus." His mako-eyes flashed here, "They'll never rest until they've spoiled the entire world... and then some."

"In both life and death, it seems," Vincent murmured.

"In the meantime," Cissnei gently prodded, deciding to hastily switch topics before it delved to the philosophical territory. Her eyes bespoke of her inner agreement on the aforementioned words however, despite her strict and schooled Turk mask. "We need to focus on helping AVALANCHE get its materia back. The sooner we do this, the better. Capiche?"

Zack folded his arms, feeling his earlier, irate mood return with a pent-up vengeance. His lips thinned and stiffened unseen behind his mask; his jaw clenching. "Freaking Yuffie bein' a damn problem," he muttered more or less to himself, his enhanced eyes studiously sizing up the over-whelming amount of people around them in search of the aforementioned ninja. "...Now, if I were a bratty, squirrelly-ass kleptomaniac with a god-complex and a metric boat-load of shiny gems that go boom, where would I go?"

He meandered about in place, squinting his eyes against the noon sun as he surveyed the noisy environment. "...Hm. Okay, I think I have an idea. First off-" He whirled about to face his companions. "-She'd need a place to stash the materia, obviously. She'd also have to worry about shaking off an irate team of professional terrorists with a canine-thing whose likely got her scent memorized by now. She probably already has ways to get rid of her scent; not to mention the crowds here... she can easily mingle with the huge amount of people here to top it all off..."

"Right," Cissnei nodded, her face super-serious.

"Secondly-" He folded his arms here, "-She obviously knows the place better than any of us combined; and I'm willing to bet she knows a lotta people here too..." He pursed his lip anew. "-Which means she can use any of her contacts to derail anyone sniffing her out. These people would naturally be more liable to helping her out rather than any passerby strangers from outside the country. So if Cloud kept wearing his uniform and tried asking anyone if they've seen her-"

"-They wouldn't be of any help," Vincent immediately added on. "And worse case, he could incur an attack from potential enemies who are still sore over the war's end."

"Yeah. Pretty much," Zack confirmed, grimacing at the idea of it. "And that's not even the worst part-"

"What do you mean?" Cissnei wondered.

"The times I came here to route out enemies and their strongholds," Zack began, feeling his mind coast away a little more easily than he cared to admit. "-I found out that even civilian homes- let alone the forts- had a tendency to have trap-doors and secret basements and what-not all over the place. If there's one thing the people of Wutai love-" He harrumphed sardonically, "-Its sketchy secret passageways, sliding walls, and underground rooms. Smoke and mirrors aside."

Vincent flashed a curious expression all around, "...Are you saying that Yuffie can ultimately be hiding in any one of these resident homes and shops, with a potential accomplice or accomplices, whose letting her bunker down in any hidden room or wall in any place, all the while they mislead any potential pursuers with a vast assortment of lies or traps? And she could've stashed the materia in ANY given secret vault or hidey-hole in this whole ginormous town?"

"Yup. Nailed it in one," the ex-SOLDIER confirmed with a heavy slump of the head and shoulders.

Cissnei threw back her head and groaned audibly; surprising her male companions. Zack had never seen her look so grieved by her duties; and honestly it'll continue to surprise him when he looks back on this day sometime later.

"Fucking bloody bull-behemoth shit, this is gonna be sooo exhausting," she muttered. "I didn't sign on for this stupid scavenger hunt."

"No kidding," even Vincent grumbled. "...I think I'd rather get shot again over this."

"Don't jinx it," Zack chuckled somewhat. "You just might get your wish if you're careless here."

Just then, Cissnei clapped her hands and sucked in a breath; holding it there for a few seconds before letting it steadily flow back out. "Okay then," she said, pulling her professional work mask on all the way. "Here's what we're gonna do: As much as it pains me to say this, and I really do hate saying this-" Her eyes flashed to Zack here, "I just can't see us not managing this in a passable or manageable way without separating again. And after the last few debacles we've experienced every time we did, I can't help feeling like this whole thing is just one giant mistake-"

Zack rested a hand on her shoulder and dipped his head enough so that he was sure they were sharing eye-contact, "Look. You know I wouldn't try to get into trouble if it can be helped-"

"Its not you that I doubt," she interrupting rather stuffily. "-But this entire death-trap as a whole. This whole place is totally ANTI-SOLDIER; and there's no doubt about that. And you know, it always seems like every time I take my eyes off you, something bad happens!" Cissnei crossed her arms, "I'm almost afraid to see what other stupid, nonsensical bull-shit is waiting to happen to you once you're alone. It always seems like danger is deliberately trying to single you out."

"D'aww. I knew you cared," Zack playfully added on as he used the same hand he originally placed on her shoulder to pinch her cheek.

"I'm serious!" She grumped as she swatted his hand away.

"And so am I," he grinned through his mask as he drew away; conveying every ounce of his confidence through continued eye-contact primarily. "I'll be okay. I've been feeling pretty hunky-dory ever since Aerith healed me. And even then, I swear on Minerva's beautiful bodacious bust that I won't get into any trouble on purpose." He held up a single, solemn hand and straightened his posture. "And if you still don't believe me, then I swear it on my honor as a SOLDIER- and as your friend."

She still didn't look quite satisfied, but she knew Zack to be sincere. She could only sigh and jerkily bowed her head, gesticulating with a sweeping motion next. "Yeah... Okay," she breathed with resignation. "I think its fair to say that you're the only one out of the three of us that has any idea on how to navigate Wutai, let alone where to start looking. We'll separate where its needed, and keep in radio contact should we do. So lead the way."

Zack cocked his head to one side, "...Wait, you're actually giving me free reign over this? Really?"

Cissnei bobbed her shoulders and shifted weight to one leg, "Yeah, pretty much."

Feeling a little surprised but certainly happier, Zack passed his companions another confident nod and fixed that grin to his face; only to feel it slip as he passed the humongous city of Wutai another cursory inspection. He placed his hands on his hips and racked his brain, trying to call upon what little he knew of this place and of Yuffie in particular.

"Right. So here's the thing-" He turned back to Cissnei and Vincent. "Let's dissect Yuffie's behavior, and see where it'll take us. We'll start with her weird obsession with rocks in general- which she's always seemed to consistently have, ever since I met her seven years ago."

"Wow. That long?" Cissnei queried.

"Yeah. In fact, you could say materia was always the one guaranteed thing that'll drag her scrawny ass out of Wutai- despite her being the size of a twig and clearly underage. If there's rumors of some new materia to be nabbed, she was on that quicker than anybody can blink. No matter where in the world she had to go, she was there." He scratched his head, feeling himself shudder next, "-Now that I think about it, something's off about that whole shtick... She was always able to get into all kinds of dangerous places and what-not, so either her family doesn't give a damn about her, or they simply... simply..."

Zack trailed off here, suddenly feeling himself blanch as he considered the possibility of Yuffie being an orphan. He'd never really given it much thought to begin with; and he couldn't help like feeling like a complete dick over it.

...Like holy shit. How can I be such an idiot? Nobody's ever bothered to go looking for her whenever she wandered into a monster's nest... Not to mention why she'd want the materia so bad. Is this whole motivation of hers something born from a sense of vengeance? Is it really for Wutai's restoration?

He mashed his lips and turned towards the town again, not entirely sure what the girl's intention really was. If this whole thing really was about vengeance, he knew it was going to get even messier than it already was. Zack had seen enough throughout his years in Shinra to know that revenge had never been the answer; and it couldn't be more obvious. Violence bred even more violence; and that was an absolute. Whether or not Yuffie really was doing this for this presumed vendetta of hers, it didn't seem to be too far of a stretch. Wutai's restoration, or a lost family member, it truly did become more and more obvious to him just what this whole thing was about.

And it couldn't have frightened him more.

"...Or uh, they simply died out during the war," he finished lamely, realizing he'd left the long-forgotten sentence open-ended. "So uh, its likely she wants the materia because she wants revenge on Shinra for either the decline of her country, or she's avenging something or someone else... Or maybe even both," he helpfully offered, almost flinching at how mundane those words truly sounded.

Fucking hell. This is a revenge quest, he realized. And she's right in the middle of a potential shit-storm she herself made. I need to find her before she does something she'll regret... and fast.

"-So she's taken to stealing materia for a certain amount of years and is likely hoarding it all somewhere?" Vincent offered, his natural growl jerking Zack back to the present.

Cissnei placed a contemplative hand on her chin, "That does make sense... But now, I can't help wondering-" She caught Zack's eye and gesticulated, "Do you think she actually ever genuinely cared about AVALANCHE's members at all? I can't help wondering if she only used them to help her get here, and to carry around what she essentially considered was her materia-"

"Why do you ask?" Zack cocked his head. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, Aerith is a likable individual with no apparent enemies except Shinra, right? People are generally comfortable with opening up to her-" Cissnei smiled coyly here, "Even some Turks have done this. But now, I can't help wondering if Yuffie ever told Aerith or anyone else within AVALANCHE anything about herself in particular that'll provide a clue. If she was really friends with any of them, it would've most likely been with Aerith... who she could've told any of her secrets too; assuming she's done this. That said, maybe if we knew a little bit more about her, it'll help narrow the search some."

Vincent harrumphed an affirmative, "And since we've needed to talk to Aerith and Tifa anyway, maybe now's the time to find a way to approach them; all the while we keep an eye out for Yuffie in the process."

Zack blinked and nodded, mulling over the information offered. "...Yeah. We can do that. In fact-" His eyes roamed the streets again, "Cloud or Barret likely suggested the idea to split off to help narrow down the search. So its likely Aerith would've already split off-"

"And given she or Tifa aren't paired with Cait Sith or the quadruped, we can probably approach either or," Cissnei reflected. "We can finally ask them about not only Yuffie, but Tseng too."

Zack pumped an arm, letting his grin show through the gesture instead. "Now that sounds like a plan to me!" he said, feeling his earlier nerves defrost a little.

"Hm. Alright then-" Vincent dramatically whirled on the ball of his heel, his cape flaring somewhat as if an actual wind had brushed by it. "Let's try to find AVALANCHE. If we see any isolated members or pairs, we can safely assume they've already branched off to search for Yuffie. We'll do the same, should it be the case."

"Right," both Turk and supposed trainee echoed.

---

~777~

Tifa was having a much harder time of this than she originally thought.

When Aerith told her to simply spend more time with Cloud and try to talk to him, it seemed an easy enough task. Hell, she'd been able to do it far more adeptly back in Midgar and Runen; and with no trouble whatsoever. Some moments, Cloud even seemed quite open and willing to spend his free time with her of his own accord; even going as far as to move the conversations along with careless ease whenever Tifa herself was at a loss for words; and the vice versa. He was stoically charismatic and collected; a natural center of gravity that usually caught the attentions of those around him.

And that's just the thing about him.

This was a facade that just didn't belong with him- and its definitely something she's learned to notice and acknowledge the longer she spent with him. Hell, she knew this since they'd been living in Midgar and its still a sight she wasn't sure she was quite seeing correctly. Her childhood recollections of Cloud usually painted him as a reticent, even confrontational individual who had no fucks to give. He willingly picked fights with the other kids and generally had no friends except for Tifa herself. Tifa had always personally wondered if this ancient representation of him was even remotely accurate; especially when she saw Cloud making strides to befriend his current company- but now she knew better.

Him and Barret got along well enough most days; and most fights that break out between them now was mostly petty and playful jabs that were quickly forgiven. Cait Sith he very much distrusted once, but now looks to for tactical advice and the general movements of Shinra. Aerith was no trouble to him at all. Nanaki was of a strangely like mind to Cloud; being his usual calm and reserved self before the pair jointly bared fangs at any opposing adversary standing before them. They had relatively similar personalities that actually surprised Tifa- and they connected well in a pinch.

As for Yuffie, well... before her more recent transgression, Cloud had steadily began to tolerate her and even value her resourceful flexibility in a fight. Yuffie was, despite her age, clearly no pushover. And for that, Cloud had received her as an equal in battle- and that's something that made Yuffie smile even more brightly than usual.

But now? All Cloud clearly wanted to do was find her and their materia; no longer possessing anymore of his earlier composure and tolerance for her thieving ways. But that was besides the point.

The thing was, Cloud's personality had taken several tonal shifts that shocked and mystified Tifa. She saw bits and pieces of him that just didn't match up with her memory. Moreover, when Tseng had officially confirmed that Zack had truly been involved with Nibelheim, this correction in her ambling memory truly began to open her eyes to his plight. He had a faulty memory that he himself seemed to believe to be so genuine; his words and gestures completely steady and sure. His personality, his bravado, his claims to be a SOLDIER-

It was all a lie. And this she was STILL having trouble fully wrapping her head around.

Its not to say that she didn't believe it at all, but its more like she was having trouble absorbing it. With Aerith's confirmation on Zack's identity just a couple of nights ago and Tseng's words from Gongaga in mind, she couldn't help wondering if she could somehow get Cloud in a decent conversation and see if she can help him retrace his memory. But she knew better than to bring it up while she still hadn't a full grasp of Cloud's own mind-set; let alone what's exactly wrong with him.

And that was the other problem: She just didn't know how to bring it up with him, and its a dilemma she's been pandering around for quite some time now; the dilemma keeping her up at night throughout the past two days.

For now, Tifa had temporarily pushed this to the back of her mind as she assisted Cloud in trying to locate the missing Yuffie; hoping to find their much-needed materia before they had anymore unfortunate run-ins with Shinra forces (like they had this morning; go figure). Tifa had partnered herself up with Cloud, whilst Barret and Cait Sith went off in one direction. Nanaki, Aerith and Cid went in another; all the while the elder man cursed a flurry of sacrilegious slurs that more often than not had people looking at him funny.

Cloud and Tifa roved the streets; asking whoever they can stop if they've seen Yuffie or if they knew anything of her. However, absolutely no one was of any help. Tifa wouldn't put it past these people that they could very well be lying for Yuffie's benefit. Its bad enough she and Cloud were vaguely aware of the fact that him wearing a SOLDIER uniform- whether an outdated one or not- was drawing even more unnecessary attention. Tifa was almost certain they were drawing enemy eyes.

Maybe we should've convinced Cloud to stay at the plane? The former bar-tender couldn't help wondering. Its bad enough he doesn't have anymore spare clothes. All the ones he had earlier were permanently ruined after Rocket Town... Then again- She glanced around at the shops, pursing her lip contemplatively. Its not like anyone would want to service us anyways. I don't think they'd bother with us even if Cloud did stay with the plane...

On one such instance, they went into a weapons' shop and asked about Yuffie; with the owner declining any association in a vaguely stuttery bluster. So to help ease the tension between them, Cloud tried to lazily toss him a polite compliment on the weapons; even asking about a new, potential sharpener for the Buster Sword. He pulled on a charm Tifa never thought him capable of; and by all rights an purposes, it should've worked.

Unfortunately, the man's only reply to that was a an outrageously loud "NOTHING'S FOR SALE I'M SORRY SIR-" before falling into a sheepish silence with a petrified look on his face. The pair got the hint to leave, and did so not seconds there-after.

So now, Tifa kept pace with Cloud's more agitated gait; the merc snorting very much like an impatient predator loosing its prey's trail. Tifa herself was hot and pissed too; having a nice layer of sweat and grime caking her underarms, thighs, and embarrassingly enough- beneath her breast in rivers that stained her shirt. It was annoying, humiliating, and a great pain in the ass in general. She desperately craved a shower; and for good reason. She and the rest of AVALANCHE hadn't been able to stop at a proper establishment since Cosmo; so you can bet that was the last time she had such a luxury.

I'm never taking a shower for granted again, she almost muttered aloud, swiping a hand across her forehead and casting Cloud a side-long glance. Here's hoping we'll be able to check into a hotel or inn somewhere around here. At this point, I'm willing to choke somebody for it.

To be honest, Cloud stank pretty bad too- like really, really bad. If Tifa had to describe it, it had a strangely pungent aroma that reminded her of a mako reactor and salty man-stink. Thanks to the combination of ocean-brine, plane-smoke and aforementioned mako, it was definitely a scent to remember. The poor guy hadn't been able to clean himself up properly in the aftermath of the Rocket Town incident either, and Tifa truly didn't blame him if he got short on someone.

His petulant frown was permanently sewn in place; sun-kissed bangs sticking annoyingly around his eyes and face more so than usual. Whenever he had a moment to pause, he kept shifting the weight of the Buster sword uncomfortably around; and then pressed on in a moody saunter. His sweat, very much like her own, stained parts and pieces of his clothes that made it evident that he hadn't had a decent wash in days. His drooping hair even added on to the appearance of him being bedraggled; like he'd crawled out of a raging river of sweat itself. Having noticed this, she can only imagine how bad Barret felt; since he had a tendency to do worse off than Cloud in extreme heat.

So yeah, Cloud was pretty pissed... to put it mildly. And Tifa was too, respectively.

The two decided on a drink; nothing too fancy, and not anywhere too far from their teams' rendezvous point. It was a miserably temperate zone here; and the sun was blaring down even more intensely now that it was a cloudless afternoon. So, while it hadn't been the best idea they've had today, the duo decided on checking out the infamous Turtle Paradise itself; not giving a hot damn about warranting even more attention than what they've already garnered. They were thirsty enough to not care for the potential repercussions of their decision right now.

At this point, Cloud and Tifa jointly believed themselves capable enough of defending themselves anyways; and they're truly desperate for some basic ice water or something just as refreshing. And since the joint was right there, why not check it out while the opportunity presented itself? Again, not the best idea they've figured, but Cloud confidently asserted that unless Sephiroth himself was actually in here, he wasn't worried about any potential enemies in particular-

That is, until they opened the door and found themselves eye-to-eye with three of the worst Turks to be alone with.

Reno, Rude, and Elena were either in mid-swig or mid-bite of what was presumed to be their lunch. Elena in particular was more or less standing before the former two, her mouth agape in either mid-lecture or surprise; or possibly a combination of the two.

Cloud and Tifa merely stood there, somewhat slack-jawed themselves before the blond suddenly snapped his hand to the hilt of the Buster sword and ducked his head in a threatening stance. Tifa slowly raised her fists, her lips a tightened and non-existent slash across her faintly ruddy features.

"You," Elena hissed, her icicle-eyes a tangible snow-storm that blew its incredible fury across the short distance between she and the newcomers.

Tifa and her male companion hadn't noticed at first, but there appeared to be no one else inside the Turtle Paradise. The presence of the Turks, for all they knew, may have chased away any and everyone else. The only other individuals here was the cook and server nearby; who both audibly gulped and suddenly ducked beneath the counter.

The three of them stood there, eyeing the other in scowling expectation of a movement meant to betray their likely first and last move. Reno and Rude however merely continued to sit around, boredly watching the silent posturing go on for a full-on minute or two. The former took a halfhearted draught of his cup; whilst Rude primly entwined his hands together and sighed. At the sound of it, it seemed to alleviate some bit of the tension in the air. Albeit, not all of it.

"Yeah, I know," Reno suddenly spoke up; as if in response to the sigh itself. "Our day just got a little shittier. Huh, partner?"

"Hm. Now the booze tastes bad," Rude reciprocated.

The red-head scoffed at that, "Booze has always tasted bad, man. Especially this-" He swished his cup around. "Rice wine and Saki always did have a kinda aroma to it that's never been quite my cup of tea."

If there was a joke in that last comment, Tifa certainly didn't see it. Still, the two men chuckled at the careless quip like its some sort of inside joke only they understood. That being said, she tossed Cloud another side-long glance and raised a brow, only to see that he was just as confused as she was. When the two focused on Elena again, they noticed that she had this rather annoyed and exasperated look to her face, but she had yet to relax her posture.

"Yunno Elena," Reno suddenly broke in. "Ya should just sit back down and chill. Its not like we're in any rush..."

Now that certainly got her attention. It was like he said the most possibly offensive slur in the entire history of the world; the girl's shock-blue eyes a wintry flash of glacial cold and frigid steel. She whirled about upon her heel and balled her fists at her sides; shoulders squaring indignantly.

"Wha- Whaddya mean 'sit back down and chill'-?! We're on ASSIGNMENT for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, and our current assignment isn't to bother with AVALANCHE," Reno corrected her in this exasperated tone betraying his rapidly thinning patience. "Our job is a little more important this time around. Doncha think so?"

Elena shot out an arm, having seemingly forgotten that her back was to the enemy. Cloud could easily sneeze and drop the heavy Buster Sword on her by sheer accident at this point, if he wasn't careful. "If its so important," She grounded out, her words severely clipped. "Then WHY are we still sitting here and drinking on the job? Hell, why the heck did we even come here in the FIRST damn place?!"

"-Uh, cuz we're never gonna have another chance to do so?" Reno sighed in this 'duh' tone, leaning back in his seat and throwing an arm over the rest.

Rude refilled his own cup across from him and went to set the Saki bottle back down. However, just as he went to grab his shot, Reno snagged it in one impossibly swift movement and teasingly grinned; only to drain his partner's own glass in a span of a breath. Rude made a face at him for the tiny theft, but said nothing to it.

Reno made a face as the likely thick and heady after-math of the rice wine assaulted his nose, but his expression fell back to bored not seconds there-after. "-Elena, you already know how busy we can get, and its not like we can ask for much shore leave nowadays. Not after all the drama going on in Midgar," he went on, ignoring Rude's tiny glare across from him. "So, me and Rude here make the most out of our jobs and try to get in a breather or two. Surely that ain't so bad?"

Elena huffed rather loudly, her shoulders retaining their stiffened position. "Then why drink?" she queried. "I get taking a break and all, but drinking? On the job? When the enemy could come in at ANY moment-" She gesticulated pointedly to Cloud and Tifa behind her, the pair having somewhat lowered their weapon and fists (respectively) during the exchange. "-And we get our asses handed to us while we're sloshed outta our minds? Seriously, Reno? Are you out of your god-damn mind?!"

"We're not stupid, sis. We're not gonna get drunk when we're on the clock. A buzz though-" He waggled a finger. "Now that ain't outta the question. Besides, even like this we can still take on anything that walks through that door-" Reno shrugged carelessly, although his stare did flash to Cloud and noticeably narrow. "-And that includes any bitchy swordsman with a superiority complex and a gross exaggeration of their copied abilities."

Tifa blinked, but then schooled her expression before anyone else can notice. Wha- wait... 'Copied'? What does he mean by that?

Cloud briefly curled his lip, but then it swiftly went back to his usual cold glare. "-'Copied'? Dunno about that, but that's still kinda funny coming out of a guy who won't even try to fight me on his own- not after letting his pets get first dibs. You always had your lackeys or partners doing half the work before you even bother stepping into the ring," he tossed his head rather lazily, looking very relaxed despite the fact that Reno's current squad may just be that tipping point for him; seeing as they still had no materia on them.

Reno and Cloud continued to glare each other down, as if they've temporarily forgotten about the other three people standing or sitting with them. The red-haired Turk had long since put down his glass, his expression a bitter leer and a flash of challenge within his turquoise stare. In fact, after a minute of simply sizing each other up, Reno actually got to his feet and swaggered on over, his lips keeping their upward curl. He stepped clear past Elena and met Cloud half-way, hands in his pockets.

"Its like I told ya," he lazily drawled like he totally wasn't thinking of hitting Cloud across his face with his taser mag-rod. "We're a consummate team of professionals, man. Meaning we don't do anything stupid like rise to the bait and go swinging at just any enemy- no matter how weak they are. I let my boys get 'first dibs' cuz they wanted to."

"That's not what I saw back at Sector Five," Cloud coldly inserted. "You let them attack me because you wanted to feel out my abilities without having to put in the work for yourself. Either you're a coward, or you're just a lazy asshole."

Reno's lip twitched, but then he threw back his head and laughed like Cloud just spat out the funniest joke ever told. It was a cackling snort that lasted mere seconds, but its sardonic sharpness hadn't been lost on the blond and his female companion. "...Lazy? Well, okay buddy. You got me there," Reno snickered almost playfully, bobbing his shoulders in the process. "-But yunno... Just because I don't always wanna be first to throw in on a fight right at the get-go, doesn't mean that I'm a damn coward too. Those guys were getting paid to do their jobs too, man."

They briefly fell silent again, but then Reno huffed and turned on the ball of his heel. "Man oh man," he huffed in a somewhat weary tone. "It would be too easy to mince ya right now. But I don't wanna be a part of a real buzz-kill when I got a good one goin' for me as it is. As far as I'm concerned, we're on break."

"Right, sure ya are," Cloud snorted, but he decidedly lowered his blade and passed Tifa a mild shrug.

Elena threw out her arms and flapped her mouth open, glancing repeatedly between the AVALANCHE members and her own team in mute outrage.

Reno sat back down and even let out a yawn, seemingly bored and tired with the whole exchange. "So here's the thing, sister," he meandered on, his attention on Elena now. "We're gonna sit and sober up a wee bit, and then we'll get back on the job. And we're not gonna bother with these assholes unless they deliberately get in the way. Yunno?"

The female Turk suddenly found her voice and dramatically flailed her arms in visible fury; her fists balling at her sides once again. "Not-uh, we ain't waiting around any longer," she snarled through curt lips. "We have a class-A criminal whose carrying around sensitive Shinra Intel on the loose and he's hiding in what happens to be the biggest city in ALL of Wutai! Its an emergency, and yet you're still sitting around and treating this like its just a petty kid-criminal who stole a tiny bit of candy and left a clear trail to his hide-out!"

Reno opened his mouth to say something else, but Elena went on, "No! I don't wanna hear it! Unlike you, I don't like sitting around on my ass and prattling on about how my job's too damn difficult because I deliberately neglect it until it escalates! You do that kind of of thing to yourself-!" She jabbed a furious finger and then waved a arm, "I'm gonna go on ahead and spend my day actually doing something about this. You two can sit here and keep having your fun; but I'll be reporting this to the director himself when this is all through!"

"Aw come on, Elena. You really don't hafta- and she's gone," Reno rolled his eyes as he watched the younger Turk stamp flat-footedly out the front door; completely bypassing Cloud and Tifa in the process. "Freaking great," he muttered under his breath.

"Should we go after her?" Rude politely queried.

"Naw... yeah. I guess we have to," Reno shook his head and slowly got to his feet again. "You know how she is; she's hot-blooded enough to get in a fight that's just outside her league and get us in trouble with the boss-man for something she did. If we don't follow her now, we won't be able to find her later until its too late. Yunno what I mean?"

"True."

"So okay then. I guess we're doing this," Reno blew some hair out of his face and slipped his hands into his pockets again, uncaring of the stares he was warranting from not just Cloud and Tifa, but now the cook and server nearby. "Yo Rude. Can ya be a pal and foot the bill for me? I've already charged up my credit full for this month. And I also don't have the enough physical change on me-"

Rude had his turn to babble some muted mutterings to himself, looking incredulously between his partner and their table. He looked ready to say something in protest for real this time, but he once again didn't follow through on the impulse. Instead, he left some gil on the table and wordlessly sighed, shaking his head and fixing his shades in place.

Reno stopped right back in front of Cloud again, only this time passing the slightly shorter man his most hardened stare. He kept his hands out of sight; indicating his lack of interest in anymore posturing. His thin lips thinned even more, eyes slanted with unreadable thoughts and likely salty comments waiting to be heard.

"...I just don't get it," he eventually sighed, like he just posed a great question deserving of a fantastic answer but was instead denied the astounding privilege of ever hearing its likely life-changing answer. "...You're not even worth the effort. I dunno why the big-guy thought you were worth savin' and all; especially since he nearly got himself killed over it. You don't even have the decency to remember what he did for you, do ya?"

"I- what?" Cloud shook his head, wondering where in the Hell did that come from.

"He and the boss..." Reno continued, his expression borderline disgusted as it was exhausted. "They seem to think you're good for something, but I just don't see what for. The big-guy's gotta heart that Tseng thinks is worth protecting, and by extension means you get some sorta special treatment from us... and I say its a load of jack-shit. We can't even do our own jobs right anymore 'cuz of you."

"Reno," Rude suddenly butted in, his tone rather wary and containing just the slightest hint of a warning.

The sound of it seemed to be a hint for Reno to shut up; and he did just that. In response to it however, he jerked his head like he wanted to spit but refrained from doing so. He apparently didn't want to soil the expensive carpeting of the infamous Turtle Paradise.

"Yeah yeah, I know," he heaved rather resignedly. "...We should be going."

He strode easily past the pair, not at all giving a damn that Cloud had yet to remember to put away his blade. Rude followed behind and actually spared Tifa and the blond a respectful dip in the head, as if they weren't enemies at all. The whole exchange had firmly baffled the two; keeping them pinned in place with just straight confusion alone.

Just as Reno grabbed the front door though, he nearly bumped into a huge, six-foot-four-inch wall of gun-metal black clothes with rivets and leather straps crossing over it. He paused and had to physically look up, blinking off his surprise and squinting like he was staring directly into the sun.

"Wha-? Oh. Holy shit man," he went on to say with a tiny note of irritation. "What the bleeding Hell are you doin' here? And does sis know you're here?" he added on while stopping to look on either side of him as if he was looking for someone else in particular.

The larger man nodded his head in reply, his gaze entirely shrouded by the hood. "Assignment," he almost growled, his voice distorted by his respirator. "-And yeah, she's here; but she's not with me as of this second."

"Uh-huh," Reno nodded sharply, his gaze suddenly a snarky mask that didn't do too well to conceal his disbelief.

Tifa suddenly froze in place, feeling her wine eyes arrest themselves upon the somewhat imposing individual standing in the door-way. Wha- No way. Is that-? she wondered brokenly to herself. She couldn't help the shaking of her own head, wondering what and why in all the world was Zack Fair himself doing here.

Between the two of them, Zack's larger size and general appearance was just off-putting; to say the least. He was literally head-and-shoulders taller than she and Aerith; practically matching Sephiroth's own frame. And with Reno just inches from him, it couldn't be more apparent. With that little picture in mind, Reno looked more or less like a leggy-fox trying to judge its odds with a hungry and muscly dire-wolf.

"...Look pally. You make for a damn convincing door more-so than you do a window, so do ya mind moving out the way?" Reno inclined his head. "We got an assignment of our own to get to, just so yunno."

The hooded man ducked his head, and then side-stepped for the pair to pass him by. He even pulled the door all the way open for them and held out an arm in polite deference; his goggled eyes completely unreadable.

"Cool. Give sis my love," Reno sarcastically threw at him as he ducked into the street. He did toss Cloud and Tifa a backwards glance though, and then he focused his suddenly suspicious stare onto the larger individual. "And uh, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"I'm well aware," The hooded man returned with a note of irritation within his deepened timbre; something that almost sounded like a belly-deep growl through the breathing apparatus.

Reno kept a hard and judgmental stare leveled at him for the longest moment, but then he shrugged and flicked his head at Rude. They slipped wordlessly past him, not giving the situation another thought to it.

Once the Turk pair had gone though, Zack hesitatingly shut the door and huffed tiredly; as if the brief exchange had already exhausted him too. After that, he sauntered right up to Cloud and Tifa as if they weren't anything to worry about. He paused before them and lifted his head, his rust-flecked gaze a dim glow underneath the confines of his hood.

"Heya," he greeted simply, albeit his tone low and unsure.

"...You again?" Cloud replied instead, his tone even stiffer than before. "The Hell do ya want now? And what the heck are you even doing here of all places-?"

Cissnei's supposed trainee considered his words for about half a minute, and then he shifted his weight to one leg in a casual show of ease- but to Tifa, it looked more like an apprehensive nuance demonstrating his need to run in the other direction. "...My job, apparently," was his first, clipped reply. Tifa certainly didn't mistaken the swift slide of his wrongly-colored gaze as it settled upon her in just nano-seconds; the motion making her wary. He turned back to Cloud before she can say anything though, "I hear you needed some help with a little scavenger hunt?"

"How you figure?" Cloud huffed as he folded his arms, his expression guarded.

The man's incorrectly-colored eyes wondered over to the counter next, suddenly taking notice of the two employees still milling about uncertainly. "...Not here," he suddenly imputed. "Do you think we can talk while we walk?"

"Uh... Sure," Cloud grumbled, his gaze suspicious.

The man turned and took the lead out; going as far as to open the door for them and wait. Like a perfect gentleman, he continued to wait with no signs of hostility whatsoever; his gaze still difficult to read but fairly neutral from what Tifa can glimpse. The pair went past him, and then he shut the door and loped easily astride Cloud and Tifa jointly like he belonged there. The weirdness of the observation stupefied Tifa; who couldn't help wondering why Zack Fair- Cissnei's assumed partner and Aerith's current flame- would be meandering up like it was no big deal after all the silence he's betrayed.

And all Tifa could only think was just how much of a bad sign it was.

They waited until they were clear of the main thoroughfare and the enormous crowds before he began first; abjectly taking Tifa by surprise yet once more. "...I apologize for suddenly dropping in like this," he murmured mostly to Cloud. "But I'd figured you can do with the help when it comes to someone like Yuffie."

Cloud's mako-charged eyes became rigidly frosty, his apathetic mask suddenly sewing itself back into existence. "You know her?" he queried in a near-accusative tone.

"To an extent," he returned somewhat cryptically. He bumped his shoulders next, "It just so happens that she's got a bit of a history with Shinra- and myself included. She stole materia from me back at the Costa Del Sol; right after we disembarked from the cargo freighter."

"...Uh-Huh. Now why am I not surprised?" Cloud rolled his eyes, although it wasn't meant to be a rude or sarcastic gesture meant for the man beside him. "So you got it back in the end?"

"I did," Zack- or Garm, if Tifa was remembering it right- huffed with fleeting humor. "-But she didn't exactly make it easy for me. On the side, she's griefed SOLDIER members in the past some years ago; throwing herself at top-secret mining sights and monster dens for materia of any kind. After having considered this-" He flicked his head at the pair, "My partner and I thought you could use the help. This place isn't exactly easy to navigate either, on that note."

Cloud scoffed, but said nothing to protest this; as Tifa had half-expected.

The larger man skulked past Cloud and jerked his head again, "I wanted to give you something, to help make the search a little easier for you. It may be pointless now, seeing how recognizable you are... but I can only see it being more help than hindrance. Hopefully, they should fit."

He stopped before them, and then reached into a pouch he had strapped to his side. His glaives clinked minutely, but not too much as he drew out what looked like a roughly-folded set of clothes. Cloud and Tifa jointly couldn't help puzzling over this phenomena, blinking in surprise and passing each other matching stares.

"From what me and Cissnei observed," he reasoned as he noticed their shocked expressions. "-You guys don't carry a lot of spare clothes around, and you hafta travel light as it is. And seeing as you're still dressed as a SOLDIER, its safe to assume that you don't have any other spares." He then went on to say with a hint of warning in his level timbre, "And we both know that wandering around Wutai dressed as you are is only going to earn you a knife in the back."

"I dare 'em to try," Cloud shrugged, not at all cowed by the words. "And even if it did happen, its not like it'll kill me-"

Zack snorted; but whether from annoyance or humor, Tifa couldn't tell. "...Well, I know that by this point its probably a fruitless gesture-" He continued, his stare a little stiffer. "-But you should still get out of those threads so you can maneuver around a little easier."

"I don't really see much point now. Not after having taken a pleasant stroll around the town," Cloud countered.

"Maybe so," Zack returned the shrug, his tone containing some traces of his patience despite Cloud's posturing. "But for those of 'em that hadn't seen you and weren't tipped off by anybody that has seen ya, it'll still serve as some kind of cover. Moreover, it'll help them feel a bit better if you weren't dressed like that. You'll find talking to the citizens here a little bit easier, on that note."

Cloud didn't argue there, but he did however raise a brow. Tifa did the same, her gaze flickering to both Zack and the bundle of innocuous laundry in hand. She even went as far as to hesitatingly reach for the proffered articles first; cautiously taking them in hand and putting them in the crux of her arm while eyeing up the sizes on them.

No way. He even has the measurements right, she immediately noticed as she eyed the numbers stuck to the collar of the indigo tee and the tag of the green-camo colored cargo pants. Now why would he know Cloud's sizes-?

Cloud gently took the articles from Tifa, and then fingered the new, light-weight material with some level of puzzled scrutiny. His gaze turned to suspicious as he noticed the same thing she had.

"Anyways," continued the other. His sudden movement arresting their wandering attentions back to him, "You should slip those on so we can get on with the search. I wanted to ask though, before we do-" He inclined his head at Tifa this time, "How much do you know of Yuffie and her relations anyway? You have any details in mind that stick out to you?"

"...Huh-? Oh," Tifa blinked off her consternation, feeling her eyes wander up and down Zack's larger form in varying levels of confusion. She felt her lips purse and thin next however, realizing that he was fishing for what should've been potential bits of useful information that could've helped them out with finding Yuffie earlier. However, the girl had been surprisingly discreet with her back-story until just the other day; only going as far as to tell AVALANCHE a bit about her presumably surviving father.

Upon recollection of this detail, Tifa moved a hand to her chin and then said, "She uh... Yuffie never really tells us much about herself. Me and Aerith in the past had asked her about her back-ground and what-not, but its only until the other day did she finally mention some potential family living around here-"

"Oh yeah?" Zack folded his enormous arms and cocked his head, shifting weight to one hip.

Cloud snorted and waved it off with a careless and sharp motion, "It coulda been a lie for all we know, so don't get your hopes up. She said she has a dad around here, but I never got the impression that she could actually be telling the truth. You'd think her real family woulda wanted to know where she was with all the time she spent with us out in the world..."

"Yeah. True," Tifa conceded. She moved a hand to her face and swept some rogue strands of loose hair out of her sweaty face, sighing in the process. "I guess it was just a lure to get us here... Man I feel like such an idiot. Yuffie's never really hid the fact that she was thief from us..."

"Wait- huh?" Zack's head pivoted to the opposing side, his eyes a dumb-founded display despite the goggles. "Whaddya mean by that? You mean you still knowingly trusted her anyways despite the fact she's clearly been a thief? Why would she not hide that fact anyhow-?"

Cloud crossed his arms next, his eyes on the ground, "Yuffie's best attributes were her stealth and versatility. She gladly helped us get supplies whenever we needed it and we couldn't move freely within a Shinra-occupied town; and that included stealing from any grunt we ran into. After a while, we managed to get as much materia as we did because of her. It was a useful ability, when it wasn't being used on us."

"-Not that we entirely lowered our guards about it," Tifa added on. "But we never really did give much thought to the idea that she'd try to weasel us out of our own belongings once we got here. I still feel pretty stupid about it... Aw hell, you could even call it embarrassing-"

"...Well, its not embarrassing so much as its an unpleasant surprise," The Turk associate suddenly spoke up, his tone genial. "You guys thought she was a common ally with your shared hatred for Shinra, right? You guys even willingly risked your lives for her back at the cargo ship-" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "You've spent weeks traveling with her, sharing your meals and likely your life-stories with her- And frankly, pretty much most people whose ever befriended Aerith has never wronged her; and they usually never think to do so. I've seen Yuffie listen to Aerith when she stole materia from me that one time. I actually didn't get the impression she'd turn around and do this to you, let alone to Aerith of all people."

The guy turned his attention back to the town itself, arms folded again, "I mean, there's a difference between trusting her with your stuff, and trusting her with your life. How could you have possibly known that she'd rip you off like that once you got here? She left you guys in the middle of Wutai's worst wilderness without so much as a backwards glance. I think its fair to say that she took everybody off guard with a stunt like that-"

Cloud harrumphed, but said nothing to this. He and Tifa however shared a glance, their pensive expressions matched.

Zack went on, "Its really hard to picture someone you've willingly thrown yourself into peril for would do such a thing to you in such dangerous territory that you know nothing of. So if its any consolation, its not something you should feel embarrassed over, Tifa. If anything-" He shook his head head, "-Feel pity for the fact that Yuffie still apparently doesn't know right from wrong; despite her age. Maybe the Wutai War really is to blame for that mentality of hers."

Tifa hummed, somehow finding herself agreeing whole-heartedly with the man's words despite being a little wary of his presence and current alignment. If nothing else, Zack's words were sensible in a way she already knew, but just couldn't really quite find the right terms for.

The larger man turned back to Cloud next, "Anyways, you should swap out of those duds so we can get going. Hopefully we'll get lucky and find someone whose seen her around and is actually willing to let us know." He jerked a thumb to the side of his head, "My partner is keeping an eye out and an ear low to the ground. She'll ping me if she sees any signs of Yuffie."

Tifa blinked and glanced away, gouging a toe into the earth once again as she wondered why this man before her would go to such lengths to help. He's really got nothing to gain from this except unnecessarily risking exposure, she knew as she eyed him. Is he really that good of a person-? Like Aerith says he is? Its not like he's actually getting paid to do this... Right?

But then again... with what he said... hm.

"Now hold on-" Cloud suddenly sputtered, lifting a hand as if it'll physically put a barrier between the two of them. "What's with all the help for anyways? Where's this all coming from-?"

Zack blinked, and then folded his arms, "What? Do you not want the help...?"

Cloud's eyes remained creased, and rather pointedly at that. "Its not that," he almost spat. "Its just- Why do you do that? Help us out in general, I mean."

"Ugh... because its my job to make sure you guys can adequately protect Aerith with the right gear...? Which just so happens to include your precious materia?" Zack reciprocated in a somewhat sarcastic, but not-at-all bitter inflection. If anything, he sounded wary.

"Ohhhhh~ no. Not this again," Cloud chuckled ironically, dismissively waving off the whole previous statement. "You can't just be goin' around hiding behind the whole Aerith's-safety-is-our-priority-excuse again. You even admitted to me just the other day that the Turks were interested in me-" He bowed out his shoulders and almost got directly into Zack's face, his nose and the respirator barely inches apart. The other, taller man however didn't move as Cloud said, "-But you never told me why. You're not helping us out strictly for Aerith's sake; that much even I know. What the hell do you even get out of all this? Why would you unnecessarily show yourself to us just to help out? I still don't fucking buy it."

Zack threw his head back with a sigh, and then he said, "-Not this again. That's got nothing to do with why I'm here today. And its like I already told you: I just can't go around giving you the answer because you asked. I can only tell you so much-"

"-Not like you told us much to begin with," Cloud interjected with a snarl.

"Look bud," Zack tiredly closed his eyes and held out a hand as if to push it all away. "-You already know we're helping you out to meet our own ends. That's enough of an answer within itself. Its bad enough my partner lectured me about telling you even that much..."

The shorter man suddenly paced in place, rolling his eyes at that. "Then why? You, an injured Turk with no damn uniform, whose apparently unable to fight for long periods of time, who just gave us a moving spiel about Yuffie-" He shook his head. "-Whose willing to put our lives above Shinra brass- whose unflinchingly put himself to great risk to fetch my blood for whatever the fuck you're doing- Who just offered to help us look for shit that we made the mistake of losing in the first place-"

Cloud snorted, waving it all off like it was a delusional fever-dream. "So tell me then: What part about this whole ordeal should I not question? I don't get why you'd want to do this to yourself just for a paycheck you're likely not even getting until you're a fully authenticated Turk." He jabbed a finger at him, "-Cuz guess what? I know for sure Turks don't actually put their lives on the line for anything else unless its for something personal. You assholes never not have a reason for what you do."

Zack's shoulders slumped as he sighed again, although he had no reply to this. In fact, his expression looked briefly pained, like he truly had no counter to this.

As for Tifa, the little monkey-in-the-middle here, she could only sit there and helplessly look on as the two quibbled semantics; knowing full-well the answer to Cloud's questions but was quite unable to say why:

From what Aerith told her, Tseng and Zack were friends; even to an unknown extent. And apparently, from what Tifa had managed to piece together just a couple days ago, Zack got into trouble with Shinra and attempted to get out of it; only to get caught by the Turks or something. Not that Tifa knew this for sure. However, Tseng had ordered his brethren to bring him in alive; and even gave Zack the gear he was wearing now to help keep him hidden. He let Zack join in as a presumed Turk trainee whose yet to earn his uniform, just so he could personally watch over Aerith- his girlfriend- and Cloud, who Tifa assumed had been a great friend of his in the past. And so far, he's already shown proof that he genuinely cared for Cloud.

Tifa wondered back to her meeting Tseng in Gongaga, remembering having asked the man if the two had really been friends at some point. Upon hearing the query, Tseng actually looked surprised as he heard it; even asking himself if Cloud ever mentioned any association with the SOLDIER. If nothing else, surely these things meant that Zack was genuinely here for Cloud's sake; if not for Aerith's?

But that doesn't explain why Cloud doesn't remember him, Tifa couldn't help puzzling over. Why did Cloud deliberately forget an assumed best friend? Its not like he had that many to begin with- She recalled as she dawned back on their childhood in Nibelheim. So, were they actually friends at any point? Or did I pull that assumption from out of nowhere-?

No... Its not from out of nowhere, she immediately corrected herself as she further reflected upon the prior information. The Turks don't like Cloud, and they've never disguised their attempts to kill him or hurt him back in Midgar. So, for them to start helping him out now in the span of us not seeing much of them between Midgar and now- I can only assume its because of Zack that they've stopped trying to come after Aerith and Cloud in earnest. So, Zack is technically shielding us from them, and he sees that. He's trying to keep his distance to help Cloud, but he can't exactly say anything to anyone because it could hurt them somehow.

But... given I'm not assuming too much here, in what way would it hurt? Is there some other reason as to why he's here today? Risking exposure just to be near us when he's usually put himself out of arm's reach? Why would the Turks deliberately put an interfering factor like Zack within their midst just to hinder their jobs anyway? Zack's inclusion as Cloud and Aerith's metaphorical and literal shield could only hurt them, right?

Whenever push came to shove, Zack had shown up and almost thoughtlessly did his best to help out. Even if he and Cloud had literally come to blows about it back at Runen, Tifa can now somewhat see the reason for it- but not all the way.

"You said to 'watch' Cloud earlier, didn't you?" She remembered asking that night.

"I did. And as you should," Tseng affirmed.

"He's not... dangerous, is he?"

Tseng shrugged, much to Tifa's horror, "...I've no idea. And that's the problem we have here; all I ask is for you to make sure Cloud doesn't do anything life-endangering to himself or to the people around him- namely Aerith. So long as he has you all, I don't see why it should be a problem. Am I wrong here?"

Tifa watched on as Zack started pacing around himself, apparently getting tired of arguing with Cloud; who did have a right to wonder why Zack was helping them out the way he was. Poor Cloud had been left oblivious; and he knew it. It frustrated him to a near confrontational extent; and it felt wrong to keep going on without knowing why the antagonistic Turks were trying so hard to help all of a sudden. Cloud had been left in the dark; and he clearly felt like he was losing control over his life somehow.

And for all they knew, he might as well have.

Tseng mentioned Hojo... and then there's Cloud's forgetfulness... and him being a potential danger...

She thought back on when they stayed at that inn before their arrival to Gongaga; when Cloud had a fit and nearly fell from the fifth or sixth story floor of the building. She thought back to Nibelheim as well, when he seemed to have suffered from a hallucination of some kind that traumatized him for the next two days after. And then there was his frequent headaches, and a snide mention of his 'copied' abilities- thanks to Reno. With all of this pieced together, Tifa could see that Zack's presence here really did mean something wasn't well with Cloud. Clearly, he felt like he had to be closer by than usual, and he needed to be close enough to watch Cloud and jump in immediately if a fight broke out.

Tifa dawned back to Reno's words, suddenly realizing that they weren't just some side-ways comment just to confuse and frustrate Cloud. When Reno mentioned big-guy- he literally meant Zack. The boss-man however, was clearly Tseng. And he'd deliberately dangled those two terms above Cloud's head knowing he wouldn't be able to understand.

"I dunno why the big-guy thought you were worth savin' and all; and especially since he nearly got himself killed over it. You don't even have the decency to remember what he did for you, do ya?"

His breathing problem, Tifa suddenly realized as she eyed Zack's respirator. Was Cloud somehow the cause of it-?

"Look. Just drop it, okay? I'm trying my best here," Zack harrumphed with a plain mixture of irritation and fatigue. He had a hand over what little of his face can already be seen. "...Didn't I tell you three days ago that I'd let you know more when I can?"

The blond merc had squarely folded his arms, his stare militant and scarily frosty. He turned on the ball of his heel and threw up his arms once like he was thankfully giving up; his stare pinched and tensed. He looked trapped, honest to god.

Seeing this, Tifa unconsciously reached out and placed a placating hand onto Cloud's bare shoulder; doing her best to maneuver into view while smiling as softly as possible. She squeezed just the slightest bit, even going as far as to use the other hand to grab Cloud's gloved one resting on his hip. She pulled it closer to herself, and locked his wintry gaze onto her own warmer one to help defuse the ticking time bomb within him.

I will do right by him, in whatever way I can. If I have to be his inner voice for when he has none, then I'd be happy to take it. If Zack isn't allowed to be his friend, then I will happily be that medium for them. No matter what I have to do, I will do it for you, Cloud.

"...You're hot. Right?"

"Eh... what-?" Cloud's expression immediately fell away; his face now confused and uncertain. He looked ready to babble out-right, but he had the graces to zip his trap shut as Tifa went on.

"Its hot out," she inclined her head at the area around them. "And we didn't get that drink at the Turtle Paradise. Once we're done here, we can go and give that another try. Doncha think so?"

"Huh? Oh... right," The blond swordsman finally seemed to catch on to what she's saying; and for a moment, it nearly looked- dare Tifa say it- disappointed somehow. But before she can fully identify that however, Cloud perked himself back up and nodded; mashing his likely dried lips at the idea of some water sating any and all of his troubles right now. "Yeah. We can do that later," he muttered in agreement.

"Then... its a date?" she teasingly added on.

Cloud's expression had fully softened now, and it cheered Tifa immensely. His shoulders fell slack, his lips curving ever so slightly. He hummed an affirmative, all traces of his earlier frustration already ebbing away.

Tifa felt Zack's eyes on the back of her neck, and then she turned just to catch the look of surprise in his usually guarded expression. He blinked quite a few times in shock, as if in good measure. And then, Tifa couldn't help the wrinkling her nose as she noticed he suggestively lifted a brow or two; even going as far as to teasingly wiggle it at her.

She huffed and reluctantly let go of Cloud's hand, the blond turning to face the taller man again. "Alright then, fine," he huffed, clearly tired and sweaty and ready to end the day. "We'll drop the subject, for now. But you better get back to me on this!"

Zack held up both hands in submissive confirmation. "Hey, I promised you, didn't I?" he flicked his head gently. "Just not today."

"Promises don't mean anything from a guy who hides his face from his own job," Cloud snorted, but his voice thankfully contained no more bite to it. He was seen holding up the clothes Zack had offered him earlier, and then said. "Okay. I'll go put these on, and then we can focus on Yuffie. Deal?"

"Deal," reciprocated the other, his rust-and-blue eyes brighter.

Tifa blinked herself out of her reverie and watched Cloud slip off behind a tree; moving as far as he could from them. He plunged the Buster sword's tip into the earth and ducked out of sight; his brightly colored hair occasionally poking out from behind the trunk.

Now technically considered alone, she turned towards Zack and noticed that his eyes were already firmly planted upon hers; although his expression couldn't have been any harder to read. Having observed this, Tifa recalled Aerith's advice to look for another means of reading Zack's attempts to disguise his emotions. So she gradually moved her eyes down his body and noticed that his hands were indeed clenched; and its a likely anxious nuance.

Silence hung between them for a rather awkward few seconds; even if it felt much longer to the former bar-tender. In response to this, Tifa merely folded her hands behind her back; schooling her expression to look as impassively neutral as possible.

Just as she thought he wouldn't say anything at all, he immediately contradicted this assumption by saying, "Hey, uh... Thanks for helping me with Cloud. For a second there, I thought he was actually gonna sock me right in the jaw. Or in the chest again-" He presumably made a face there; from what little Tifa could see of it when his eyes crinkled. "-And I certainly don't need him to be doing that again anytime soon."

"Of course," Tifa shrugged lopsidedly. "If I hadn't said something, I think he might've even challenged you to another fight. It would've been really awkward if I didn't help him out this time," she tried to laugh off, but couldn't quite do it convincingly.

The man sighed, his expression continuously more obscured. "Heh... maybe so," he replied mechanically. "So uh, you're not actually mad about that-?"

Tifa shook her head, "About Runen? No. I understand why you did it when you did. You were only trying to help Cloud then, right?'

Zack's eyes flashed, his expression almost wide-eyed but settling back to its more passive and elusive nature. The tension left his shoulders, and his next response came a little more easily, "That was the idea at the time... yeah. But its not like you guys made it easy on me. Now that I think about it though-" He chuckled there, "You hit pretty damn hard for someone whose never had any military training!"

"Sorry about that," Tifa quickly apologized. "I didn't know it then-"

He waved it off, "Don't sweat it. It healed fast enough. With that said though... I assume Aerith's told you about me?"

"For the most part, yeah."

"Ah. Okay then, I guess that's good," He muttered uncertainly. "-Saves me the trouble of having to explain myself, at least."

Tifa mashed her lips and nodded, not sure as to where this likely brief interlude would even go before Cloud finished dressing. It wasn't like he actually slow about it; although his SOLDIER uniform can be a bit of a pain if you didn't know what strap went where.

Zack moved a timid hand to the back of his head and rubbed sheepishly, his tone noticeably its normal, somewhat more familiar mild-mannered timbre instead of the deliberately lowered growl he seemed to favor nowadays. "So uh, can I ask ya something else real fast?" he tried in an increasingly lower tone.

"What is it?"

"...The real reason why I came here," he lowly murmured between he and she. "-I actually do want to help ya'll with Yuffie, don't get me wrong. And I wasn't exactly lying about her history with Shinra- But uh... I really came to talk to you more specifically..."

Tifa finally stopped churning the dirt beneath her, having no idea why she felt like she had to be on her guard. It wasn't like Zack had said or done anything threatening, but she still didn't like the twisty feeling in her belly. "What's it about?" she could only merely reply, her cherry-wine eyes flashing once to Cloud's tree and back to the man before her.

"The first thing is, I wanted to talk to you about Cloud himself. Its uh... kinda important," he muttered with some apprehension. He darted a glance to Cloud's location as if for emphasis, and then he added on more hurriedly, "-And the second part was that Aerith tells me you and Tseng had a little talk or something some time back. He tipped you off about me, right?"

Tifa blinked and intertwined her hands, feeling her nose wrinkle in consternation. The first subject she actually expected, but the latter one had surprised her quite a bit. "Not really," she muttered back thoughtfully in response to the last query. "I actually pressed him about it, but he dodged most of my questions."

"Then... how did you learn about me?" Zack slowly inquired.

Tifa opened her mouth to say, but it wasn't like she anticipated on finishing the convo anyways. At that second, Cloud finished up and was meandering back over; throwing the Buster sword over his shoulder with greased ease and clipping it back into place. He still had a tiny piece of his SOLDIER wear on; but it was only the part of the suspender with the magnet clip for the sword. It looked a little off, but it suited him well enough.

"They fit," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone to Zack. He held his dirty clothes and bolted pauldron in his left, uncertain as to what to do with them.

"Good to know," Zack replied in that little grumble of his. He was seen removing the now emptied pouch on his waist, handing it to Cloud for him to place his used clothes in. "For the record," he genially said. "-You can keep those- both the clothes and this. You might as well use that for dirty laundry."

"Huh? Oh uh, thanks... I guess," Cloud blinked as if blind-sighted by the kindness, his expression bordering on confused and suspicious again. He stuffed away his normal wear and strapped on the now heavier pouch, his glacial gaze not ever really leaving the taller man for long.

"Okay. Let's try heading to a street you guys haven't been to yet," Zack offered. "I'll cloak and go inside the houses and look for Yuffie there."

"Why inside the homes?" Tifa wondered.

Zack bumped his shoulders at them, not at all bothering to conceal his disgruntled expression. "Wutains love their trap-doors and hollow walls- something they've learned to adapt into their life after the war," he shrugged almost guiltily there. "Can't really blame them, all things considering. That said, I'll be knocking around inside the interior while you guys wait on the outside. In fact, you can probably distract the residents or owners with conversation to disguise what I'm doing. If I flush out Yuffie though, you'll be ready to nab her right then."

"Now that's an idea," Tifa nodded to her blond companion, who looked equally surprised as well as satisfied by this.

"Can you guys whistle?" Zack pressed.

When the pair nodded again, the man went on. "Cool. Now, if for some reason we get separated while doing this, give two sharp bursts to get my attention for something; like if you see Yuffie and need me to act fast," he continued to elaborate, holding up the indicated number of fingers. "-And give three to call me over in general for anything else. If there's some kind of emergency or you get in a pinch you just can't handle, give me a single, long blow. I'll try to report to you as frequently as possible if Cissnei gets back to me with anything, so I'll be super close-by."

"Gotcha," Cloud nodded, with Tifa doing the same beside him. "So would you whistle if you run into any similar problems?"

"Yeah. Or at least, I'll do my best even with this damn thing bein' in the way," He pointed at his mask, his leisurely movements betraying his humor. He passed them a lazy wink, and then, "-And again, if I see her, I'll letcha know if she's coming your way with two thrills."

Tifa clapped her hands together in cautious excitement, feeling a little more cheered by the idea of a somewhat more organized plan than the old 'split-up-and-search' routine they've been stuck with for the better part of the last while. She passed Cloud a little glance and smiled, glad to see his mood was already improving too.

The three of them then turned towards the town and started to head back, but Zack deliberately lagged behind Cloud just to walk astride Tifa for just a fluttering second. The woman briefly wondered if he was merely going to continue their previously dropped conversation in blatant nearness to Cloud; but Zack instead murmured an ever so low "We'll finish this later" to her ear and cloaked quicker than she can react. She could still hear his steps for a minute or two; but once they neared a house, she heard nothing of him at all. If she didn't know better, she wouldn't think they were being followed in the very least.

Which is a little creepy, she admitted to herself, but she didn't complain about it. If it meant they'll eventually get their materia back, then she'd gladly take the help from even a presumed Turk associate. It did actually help to know that Zack wasn't a legitimate one, and that he was their willing ally in this instance.

---

~777~

And for that next while, they went on with the search: Cloud and Tifa skillfully keeping residents distracted while Zack searched its nooks and crannies. And as expected, this first, unassuming home contained what the ex-SOLDIER had already presumed. So when Zack had finished looking around its darkest corners, he gave them a single tap on both of their shoulders and followed them out.

And once they we're outside again, he said to them, "...I figured as much. That house did have a sliding wall."

"Fuck," Cloud harrumphed. "That probably explains why we can't find any signs of her. For all we know, we could've passed right by her and we would've never known it."

"That's the idea," Zack muttered, Tifa imagining a shrug following it. He was still cloaked, so she couldn't say for sure. "Let's just be careful though; there could be more than just a trick door or two."

"Are you saying that there might be actual traps-?" Tifa wondered aloud in disbelief.

"-Maybe. Its a strong assumption, but we shouldn't eliminate it," Zack returned. "So for the record, if they suddenly want to lead you somewhere and they seem oddly hospitable for any weird reason, just don't buy into it until I tell you otherwise. Alright?"

"Noted," Cloud mouthed back.

And so it went: From the second house down and into the third; and with the fourth being of a similar story. The fifth and sixth were much of the same as well; although Zack admitted that he nearly did fall into a trap-door in the floor when he accidentally displaced a decorative sword on a stand atop of a dresser. He had taken so long to look in that last place that Tifa and Cloud wondered if something bad really did happen to him. So when he headed outside and told them about it, all it did was curdle their nerves.

Some hour or two later- and covered in a new, fresher layer of sweat- Tifa and the men just wanted to be done with the day. Zack had to stop and uncloak on occasion; running out of stamina a little quicker than Tifa expected of an ex-SOLDIER. She did also consider that his black clothes and armor must've been a nightmare for him; seeing how red he got around his eyes where his goggles weren't covering skin. Cloud was merely too short-tempered to keep going, but keep going he did- despite the weight of the Buster Sword finally taking its toll. And as for the bar-tender herself, still she dreamt of that one cleansing shower that'll help remove all of her current problems...

By now, the sun was probably around the three or four o' clock mark; leaving the trio completely and utterly thirsty and tired. They checked another seventh, eighth, even a tenth house; but to no avail. However, even Tifa knew that Yuffie wouldn't be able to elude them forever; considering how often she watched Zack turn to the transmitter in his ear to converse with Cissnei. Every time he broke connection with her though, it was always a tiny disappointment to hear that even she hadn't seen anything.

But by around the four-thirty mark, that's when things started to take a real turn for the more... interesting.

Zack briefly stopped them to contact Cissnei yet again, but he blinked in mild confusion when he received no immediate reply over the transmitter. After trying this a few times, his brows crinkled; and then he whipped out his cell and tried calling her. And when even that didn't work- That's when he started to fidget in earnest.

At first, it didn't seem to be much of a problem; but Tifa knew something was wrong when more than a whole minute had gone by and she still hadn't answered his calls. Zack shifted his weight from one hip to another; and then he started to pace vigorously when three minutes had gone and she hadn't replied to any of his increasingly desperate attempts to get her on the line.

"I don't get it," he muttered, his voice turning into a hiss as he went on. "Why am I only getting static-? From both devices-?!"

"Something wrong?" Cloud queried.

Zack didn't immediately answer, holding up a finger to the slightly younger man as he continued to wait for Cissnei's response via transmitter. When she still hadn't picked up by the four minute-mark, he knew something was wrong.

So, as far as Tifa can guess, he changed frequencies and said, "..Yo Vince. Can you read me?"

"I read you. Did you find the target?"

"Negative. But I've tried hailing Sis and seeing if she's seen anything recently... Did you hear back from her at all?"

Tifa and Cloud couldn't hear too much of this Vince, but the transmitter was dialed up just enough for them to catch more of the conversation. To be fair, Zack was deliberately letting them hear the news as it came. Cloud however did turn to Tifa once and mouthed soundlessly, "He has another partner...?"; only for Tifa to merely shrug. Zack hadn't made any mention of this Vince to them until now, so it was a bit of a surprise.

"...Hm. No. Not within the last ten minutes ," bespoke the man with a growl unlike any Tifa has ever heard within her whole life. "I've contacted her about that long ago, but I assumed she was on the toilet or talking to the other Turks that are here. She didn't pick it up when I tried her..."

"So... she hasn't reported to you since then-?"

"My last contact with her was maybe twenty or so minutes ago. I only got static when I tried her again just two minutes before you contacted me."

"So you're only getting static too...?"

"Yes, and its not clearing up. I even assumed we've wondered far enough from each other's range, but Cissnei isn't someone who'd deliberately let this happen. If nothing else, she'd track your location first and foremost on her cell. Did you try calling her?"

"Y-yeah... but... she's not picking up."

"Voicemail?"

Zack replied in the negative, his expression no longer its composed mask. He even blinked several times, his respirator moving along with his jaw as he likely clenched it. He looked up and around the vicinity suspiciously, suddenly feeling his heart take a sudden, trepidatious leap.

"You don't think she's... I dunno. You wager she ran into someone with a vendetta against Shinra?" Zack tried after a minute.

"Perhaps. But I can only assume she can get herself out of trouble; should that be the case. If this happened, maybe her transmitter is broken...?"

Zack was by now eye-balling his other two companions in shared confusion and varying amounts of concern; unable to completely deny the fact that something had indeed gone wrong. So to help calm his growing nerves, he whipped out his cell and unlocked it again; going to pull up a signal screen that betrayed his immediate location with a glowing red dot. The trio noticed Zack's position was clear enough; alongside the blink of three others. Cloud and Tifa had no idea what these other signals were, but apparently Zack's suddenly twitchy reaction was a sheer tell of something insidious.

After staring at his screen for another blatant minute in slack-jawed silence, Zack asked in this low, emotionless tone that contained only the tiniest, hair-thin thread of his original composure, "Heya... Vince. I don't suppose you can tell me how many other Turks are here for sure...?"

"I believe Cissnei told us this morning that Reno, Rude, and Elena would be here... So I suppose just them?"

"I'm only seeing four dots, man. You, me, and them." Zack's tone hardened, "But come to think of it, I should be seeing six here. You, me, Cissnei, Reno, Rude, and Elena..."

"So, there's a fifth and sixth missing-?"

"Yup,"Zack dead-panned.

"I just talked with Reno and Rude. So if they're not whose missing-"

"Then Elena is!" Tifa cut in, remembering when the girl went off on her own only an hour or so before.

There was an inebriative silence so weighted-down that no one soul felt pressed to break it. And sure, while maybe they could be treating this a little too seriously too soon, Zack's gut feeling; alongside that of Cloud and Tifa's jointly, couldn't help saying otherwise. He shut his phone after spending the better part of another half-a-minute ogling at it, unable to muster the courage to speak up until Vince did so for him.

"I'll go check it out," he said so simply. "Who knows? Maybe Cissnei's waiting at the bird just to tell us her transmitter's battery has died. Or she left her cell on it-"

"Pfft. Yunno, I highly doubt that," Zack sarcastically breathed more to himself. "But uh, if you're suggesting we wait a couple more minutes and see if she pings us back at all-"

"Give me five minutes, max. And then I'll get back to you. Will you look for she and Elena as well?"

"Need you ask?"

"Alright. We rendezvous back at the bird if we lose anymore contact. If I don't see Cissnei or Elena at the helicopter, we'll assume something's happened and we'll look for them then. For all we know, maybe Cissnei realized Elena's missing and she went to look for her covertly."

Zack shook his head rather doubtfully, his expression contrite. "I wouldn't think that she'd do this without at least telling somebody though," he muttered more to himself. He then looked up and said, "...Thanks, Vince. Talk to you then."

When he closed his connection, Zack turned to look back at Cloud and Tifa's antsy expressions with frustrated anxiety; unable to gather himself to change his voice again. By now, the blond swordsman had noticed Zack's timbre was no longer the fake one he usually used, but he had the courtesy to not bring it up now.

"Okay then," Zack eventually huffed, his timbre almost shaken. Almost. "You heard the man: We get a few more minutes of play-time together, and then I'll hafta call it quits. You might have to look for Yuffie on your own then-"

Tifa rapidly shook her head, "No way. It doesn't have to be that way. Maybe while we look for Yuffie, we can search for any clues on where Cissnei went too? And again, you guys don't even know for sure something's happened-"

"Hm, maybe not," Zack folded his arms and meandered about. "But lemme tell ya; sis has always been digging into my ass ever since day one of my donning this gear. The first moment I even stepped into her helicopter, she became my nanny in all but name. She's been constantly hounding me about my health and what I'm doing. And you guys saw how frequently I reported to her up until just a few moments ago-" He shook his head, "She's never, in all of my weeks and weeks of being with her, she's neeeeevveeerrr not contacted me. Even in emergencies, or when she's about to warn me that her battery is dying... she's always managed to get back to me somehow."

He stepped past them, his attention on another house in particular, "I can't help thinking something might've actually happened to her. I could be wrong, but my gut's never been wrong otherwise."

Cloud glanced off to the side, his expression contemplative. For all rights and purposes, he looked ready to switch the subject of their search around.

"Anyways," Zack went on. "We'll check another couple of houses together. If you guys wanna help, go ahead. I won't stop you."

"Consider it done," Cloud immediately reciprocated.

"Huh?" Tifa and Zack both actually shot him matching glances there.

Cloud waved them off, giving the pair another one of those composed scoffs. "So far, while I still don't trust you, you've spared us the courtesy to help us out. Frankly, I also don't give a damn about the other Turks, but you and Rust-Hair haven't really done much warrant us in saying 'no'. So, we might as well return the favor- if at least to you and not the rest of them hacks. Right, Tifa?"

The aforementioned woman nodded resolutely, and then turned back to Zack, "Yeah. So we'll help you search around as much as you need!"

"What about the rest of AVALANCHE?" Zack tried.

"Barret will get over it," Cloud smirked. "And its not like Cid and the rest will say no. And we ALL know Aerith is only going to badger us about helping you search-"

"C'mon," Tifa actually had the audacity to suddenly reach out and give Zack's armored wrist a faint tug in another direction. "Let's get it done."

The larger man merely stared at them and their retreating backs, unable to speak or contradict the assistance. Inwardly, he smiled to himself as he trailed behind them; cloaking right after. But still, its not like the group had any real plans of actually continuing to find Yuffie after a certain point; as its already late in the day. Zack accepted this, and he knew they did too.

So now, here they were; at the last house of the street before they turn their attentions to Cissnei's more pronounced absence. It hadn't even reached the full five minute mark, but Tifa can tell that Zack was eagerly awaiting this Vince's reply. He kept moving a hand to his ear; trying Cissnei's frequency as much as he can- which was just about every few seconds. As they meandered up to the stoop though, Zack decided to give up the calls and cloaked himself; staying as close to their backs as he can without being too intrusive of their personal space.

They approached the final dwelling and knocked; although the sound was muffled compared to the irritating thump, thump and crash that followed. In fact, the plethora of chaotic noises happened just as Tifa knocked, so the trio figured no one had heard it. So instead, Cloud apprehensively tried knocking a little more loudly and stepped back; folding his arms in the process.

The three of them however all jumped jointly when they heard a squawking call that screeched absolute, hoarse, blood-curdling murder-

And its a sound that Tifa will never forget.

"-AAAAAAAAARGH! THERE'S EVEN MORE OF THEM OUT THERE! QUICK! GET THAT LITTLE PARASITE OUTTA HERE! I SWEAR SHE'S ONE OF THEM! SHE'S ONE OF THEIR SPIES! SHE'S ONE OF THEIR EYES- THEIR EEEYYYYYEEESSS-"

"Grand-dad! She's not a spy- Great ancestors what are you doing?! You need to be in bed!"

"ITS SHINRA! ITS'S SHINRA'S DOGS AGAIN. The dogs... THE DOGS. THEIR BLOOD-THIRSTY HOUNDS- They're here again... oh, they're coming to KILL US ALL THIS TIME! THEIR HORRIBLE, IN-HUMAN, MAKO-PUMPED MONGRELS-"

Tifa heard a steel-toed boot hit cobble-stone behind her; prompting her to turn and notice that Zack was no longer cloaked. This observation mystified and worried her immediately; especially when she caught sight of the look on his suddenly gaunt, platter-sized eyes. If nothing else, it looked like he forgot how to use his own spell at the sound of the cry.

Cloud had turned as well, just then blinking off his initial surprise and tilting his head at the taller individual. He looked like he was going to ask what's wrong, but he didn't follow up on the query. Instead, he turned to Tifa and said almost casually, "Okay then... so how about we just look for Rust-Hair instead-?"

Not even two whole seconds after he asked this, several things happened at once and chained together; creating an effective maelstrom that Tifa would never truly quite make sense of when she dawns back on this day someday:

BANG.

The door clapped Cloud and Tifa right in the face as it slammed open; effectively knocking them into the suddenly unresponsive Zack. The three of them fell backward together, which in-turn threw the latter into the stone road with a breathless CLANG. Zack's blades and Cloud's Buster Sword resounded rather loudly across the entire street; the former's respirator knocked askew by a flying set of twiggy limbs that didn't quite belong with that of either of his companions. These skinny limbs flailed about and slapped the blond and bar-tender right outside their faces as well; forcing the remaining air out of Zack and making quite a mess of the situation.

"Ow ow ow ow OW! What the heck ol' man!?"

"GET OUT YOU THIEVING LITTLE LIAR! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"

The limbs once again wriggled and twisted in a confusing blur of white and fabric; and then Tifa opened her eyes to take a swift look at their little assault-tee-

Only to be eye-to-eye with the one and only Yuffie Kisaragi herself.

"Uh... hi... guys-?" she gulped.

"Hello there," snarled Cloud with a wicked grin beside her, just as he immediately recovered his senses-

-Only to lose them again when Yuffie accidentally clocked him in the jaw when she tried to rapidly get up; the old man inside the house now throwing hard, pointy, metal objects at the four of them. Tifa barely caught sight of things ranging in-between frying pans and shurikens and throwing knives of varying types and sizes as they flew by. She, Cloud, Yuffie and Zack (who managed to snap out of his weird daze) tried untangling and running; but the old owner of the house was shockingly swifter than they.

"I KNEW IT! THEY'RE BACK TO KILL US ALL! QUICK! SOMEONE GO CALL LORD GODO! I knew this day was coming- ITS THE WAR ALL OVER AGAIN!" He bellowed as he rushed towards them; this time wielding an antique katanna he likely plucked from the wall.

"Grandpa NOOO-" screamed another girl perhaps no older than Yuffie herself, the adolescent frantically waving her arms before wrapping them around her elder's mid-riff. "They're not SOLDIER! THEY'RE JUST TOURISTS! LISTEN to me already-!"

Like teenage kids caught in the middle of ding-dong-dash, Zack, Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie jointly fled the scene without so much as another glance over their shoulders.

Yuffie however pulled ahead much quicker than any of them had expected; likely having casted Haste on herself at that very second. When Tifa saw this however, she knew the chase was immediately on in earnest.

As it was, Yuffie was certainly not stopping to take a single breath; despite being clearly exhausted herself. After having likely ran around the town the entire day though, who wouldn't? She huffed and pumped her arms rapidly like Hell itself was on her heels; knowing full-well that if any one of these three caught her, she was doomed. In fact, she was probably likely internally questioning why Cissnei's partner was with Cloud and Tifa, but its not like she can just turn and ask.

Tifa noticed Zack stick out an arm; a green orb flashing into light as it casted whatever unknown spell he had in mind. However, it apparently didn't work when she heard him spit a curse from under his raggedy, respirator-cracked breath right after.

"Fuck," he mouthed to her; having fixed his mask back properly by now. "Chronos doesn't work on her!"

Its not like she could ask what the spell did in that moment; but she figured it was some sort of time spell. Tifa wagered Yuffie had a warding materia equipped with her haste; and it was in hind-sight an intelligent move on the younger girl's part. So instead, Zack casted this 'Chronos' onto Tifa herself, and then he and Cloud following. Right after he did that, Zack gracefully took to the air with a mighty High-Jump materia-powered burst and ran along the roof-tops; cloaking right after.

He's going to cut her off, Tifa immediately realized. Me and Cloud just have to wear out her spell and keep her attention on us.

She nodded to Cloud, who had apparently figured the same thing she had. He confidently returned the dip in the head with an answering scoff; and then he sped to the opposite side of the street. His mako-and-spell-powered legs were a blur beneath him; the man expertly dodging around any passerby he came across.

Tifa felt the spell carry her a little closer to Yuffie; Chronos' effect apparently a little faster than the typical Haste. She vaulted over pots, carts, pets, people; anything and everything with an easy grace she was proud to call her own. She even managed to jump over someone's fence and run along its top; getting increasingly closer to Yuffie just as the desperate girl tried her luck to dodge them.

Yuffie was crafty however; even going as far as to cast Slow or Stop on Tifa and Cloud to nullify their boost. However, Zack merely immediately re-casted the spell as a counter; rendering the back-handed tactic moot. If anything, with Yuffie having to stop just long enough to even try to cast the ailment, it only allowed Cloud and Tifa to get that much closer to her.

Yuffie yelped as she registered the failure; and then she rapidly turned a corner and disappeared down an alley quicker than Tifa can react. Of course, the blond and bar-tender followed; having just whipped around the bend and catching Yuffie as she wall-jumped like a parkour-pro from side-to-side of the narrow passage. She elevated herself to the roof-tops just before Cloud seized her; the girl cackling all the way-

-Only to run right into Zack's waiting hands.

Yuffie crashed into the man; wide-eyed with shock when a pair of invisible tree-trunk arms wrapped themselves around her- just like that day at the Costa Del Sol. However, this time around Yuffie wasn't so totally under-prepared: She didn't bother wriggling out of Zack's iron-grip, so she used a Transform spell and shrunk herself so she can slip out. Zack had clearly been taken by surprise when she suddenly became a third of her original size; and he actually did loosen up anyways just so he didn't accidentally crush her. The girl ran away form him quicker than he can recover; and then she resumed normal size and leapt to the adjacent building next door.

Zack and Cloud sounded remarkably alike when they both hollered "FUCK!"; and then they resumed the chase together; their facial expressions probably matched for all Tifa knew.

Tifa suddenly felt the Chronos spell get re-casted onto her again; and then she watched Zack once again cloak and disappear into another direction. She had no idea where he planned on going this time, but she figured he had another idea in mind. Cloud and Tifa stayed along the streets though, letting the Turk associate pursue their quarry from above.

Yuffie was tiring; this much they all knew. She didn't have Cloud or Zack's stamina; nor their level of spirituality when it came to spells. She also didn't have the advantage of having that many allies either; so no one but herself was going to have to find ways of shaking her pursuers.

This in mind, Yuffie tried once again to cast haste on herself to renew the effect; but just as she whipped it out, she yelled in shock as the materia suddenly floated up into the air and away from her. She actually paused long enough to try to catch it and fumbled; and then she realized it was flying right towards Tifa and she had to reconsider her choice of trying to reclaim it.

"FAT ULTRA CHOCOBO KRAKKA-GREENS!" she hollered, turning on a dime and pelting away- magic rock be damned.

Tifa caught the orb and fused it with her arm; but didn't do anything to tamper with the spell Zack had already casted on her. If anything, she sped along and noticed that Yuffie was trying to head to the more convoluted food service area; where the crowds and tourists were at their natural thickest. If she was allowed to re-enter that area though, they were sure to lose her; especially if the crowd saw three adults running after a teenage girl. It would look bad in more than just one way.

Just before the girl could reach her desired escape route, Yuffie was screaming for another reason; and this time SHE was flying straight into air and into an uncontrollable flip caused by her own upward momentum. She kept flipping and flipping like a pinwheel; turning greener and greener with every horrifying revolution. Once she was completely slowed to a stop, she was probably suspended twenty-feet into the air and hung upside-down. She ulped next, the girl letting her arms flop limply below her as she slowly realized she would be unable to get herself back down.

Cloud and Tifa jointly stopped, only to see the spell keeping her up there for what it really was: The pair turned and noticed Zack had materialized into view again, but this time holding out his left arm with another, unidentified spell keeping the green orb in his limb aglow. He was clearly levitating the girl, but not with anything Tifa could actually recognize.

Is that the same spell he used on the blades back at the boat-? She wondered, not sure if this was a spell meant for human use.

"Nice going," Cloud nodded to him.

Zack's chest suddenly fluttered warningly; the sharp intake a harsh thing that horrified Tifa just as she caught it. The skin around his shaded eyes whitened; his pupils pining until they were nearly needle-tips. Upon seeing this, Tifa knew he was going to drop Yuffie if she didn't do something.

Just then, Yuffie's altitude lowered just a couple of stuttering inches; but certainly enough to frighten the group. And then, just as Zack violently huffed again, she began to drop almost entirely-

Tifa however used the haste materia she newly acquired from Zack and leapt into the air; catching the tinier girl and rolling into the street. She hugged Yuffie tightly to herself, rolling some few meters before she came to a gravel-grinding halt. With pebbles wedged into her hair, sweat-soaked clothes and bare flesh, Tifa knew she was going to have a hell of time trying to get herself cleaned up later. Still, she sighed with relief when she saw no injuries to the younger individual; happy to see Yuffie wasn't anymore bruised than herself.

Yuffie shook; and then she wiggled free from Tifa's embrace and into an undignified sprawl onto the cobblestone street. She smacked a hand to her mouth, ulped, her eyes widening; and then she projectile vomited up all of her breakfast from earlier this morning. She heaved and shuddered, and then rolled over until she was on her back.

"Ugh... I give up. Just don't... don't ever-" she puffed. "...Please... don't do that again. I swear, I'll be good this time."

Tifa blinked and didn't say anything, but quickly evaluated that Yuffie would be unable to run again for the next minute or two. In fact, she carefully looked over Yuffie's form and took stock of the few materia she had on her; which essentially surprised her the more she looked. She even plucked the glittering rocks out; feeling her nerves churn when she didn't find that many on her.

"Where's the rest of it-?" Tifa muttered, holding out the handful of gems in her arms. She managed to find just Transform, Fire, Warding, Barrier, a couple of measly boosts and the Haste materia Zack passed her earlier- but nothing else of their usually large repertoire.

Tifa decided she'd ask in a second; right after she checked up on Zack. She wondered why he suddenly petered out like that when he'd been doing so well to keep up with she and Cloud. He'd showed no exhaustion or any evidence of his condition until just that one spell-

So what the heck happened?

She pocketed the crystals and kept an eye on Yuffie while she approached the former SOLDIER; noticing that the man was now down on all fours. His chest was a shivering, thorny cage clenching around his weakened lungs; hooded head almost kissing the ground as he stayed stooped. His arms shook like he had a deathly cold; shoulders bunched and weapons forgotten on the ground beside him. His respirator was obscenely loud; a noise that kept shattering whatever lull had followed them.

Cloud was bent beside him too, shaking his head and likely wondering the same thing as Tifa. He looked up between she and the man once, and then he asked, "Yo. You okay? Can you breathe?"

The larger man looked so much smaller than as he really was; almost pathetic compared to the original, intimidating image of Zack Fair that Tifa knew. This former SOLDIER couldn't do whatever super-human feats were required of Shinra's dogs; a broken tool they could no longer use. In fact, Tifa wouldn't doubt that on a decent enough day, even she can beat Zack alone in a level fight with no magic.

She searched Yuffie's materia kit for a healing spell, but she didn't see it. She pursed her lip and tossed the girl another side-ways glance; only to see that the ninja girl was now raptly staring at Zack herself. She blinked a few times and then laid on her belly, confusion wrenching itself across her face.

"Okay then, so I'm gonna ask," she bluntly began, now that she was no longer quite so green in the gills. "What're you guys even doing with the Turks' pet anyway? And what the heck is even wrong with him?"

Tifa didn't get the chance to reply- Instead, her attention immediately snapped back to Zack when she saw him cringe and shudder; moving a shaken hand to his unseen ear and tapping the wire piece. It seemed this Vince was finally pinging him back.

"-Garm? do you hear me?" said he.

Zack kept on huffing; sounding very much like he was having trouble trying to get some air back into him and keeping it there. Despite the whispery, hoarse crackle of his voice, he said, "...Loud and clear... *huff* ...Did you... *huff* ...find her-?"

"No. She isn't at the bird either," Vince reciprocated, although there was a trace of confusion within his natural, growling timbre as he realized Zack was winded. "What the heck happened on your end? Why do you sound so exhausted? Did you run into trouble again?"

"...Found Yuffie... *huff* ...Don't worry about it," Zack immediately deflected, his tone brittle. He then snarled, "Look, did you not hear back from Cissnei, or what-?"

"I've pinged Reno and the rest... but it seems they haven't heard from her either. In fact- they tell me that Elena is officially missing as well."

"Oh COME ON!" Zack was suddenly on his feet and yelling at full octave; his exhaustion suddenly much further away.

Tifa caught from the corner of her eye Yuffie steadily trying to make her escape; but she casted Stop on her before she could even crawl another couple more inches. She turned to Cloud next, noticing his expression briefly flicker with a grimace as he too absorbed the enormity of this portent.

"It seems we have a new directive then," Vince went on to say quiet seriously. "We have two missing Turks, and apparently a rogue criminal is running freely around Wutai that may be behind the disappearances. In fact- I actually ran into some of this guy's hired goons at the bird."

"You were attacked-?!" Zack babbled, suddenly frenetically pacing about; despite his redness and fatigue. "By WHO?!"

"Some Wutain warriors calling themselves the Crescent Unit. I have a few of them hog-tied by our vehicle. They were trying to get into it."

At this, Zack threw back his head and YELLED- A violent, crackling sound that startled Tifa, Cloud, and the paralyzed Yuffie. He punched out his arms and rapidly turned; his metal-knuckled fist connecting with the stone building behind him and effectively sinking in a hole deep enough for Tifa to snugly fit an infant's head.

He turned back around and pressed on rather acidly, "...Are you suggesting that these guys, this 'CRESCENT-FUCKING-UNIT' you ran into- was HIRED- by this- this- this same criminal Reno's been after?"

"From what I managed to gather, perhaps."

"Fucking-" Zack started and stopped; apparently too tired and infuriated to correctly sew together anymore decent expletives without having to put too much thought into it. He then slumped, huffed again, and put his hand back on the transmitter, "...Look Vince- this... this is bad. And I mean- REALLY bad... The Crescent Unit... They-" He paused as he eyed Yuffie, his expression blanking out briefly. He then went on with a stiffer tenor, "-I'm familiar with these guys. And lemme tell you- they especially don't like Shinra. If those guys presumably took Cissnei and Elena... then their lives are in very real danger here!"

"Do you really believe Cissnei was caught by them? Even I haven't managed to confirm this."

"I think we can hazard that as a reasonable assumption and say YES-" Zack growled. "The Crescent Unit are hella vicious and have a killer vendetta against Shinra- especially when it comes to their SOLDIER and Turk operatives. They're some of the only warriors in this whole damn country that're strong enough to even take on a SOLDIER or Turk in the first place!"

"Then we have a lot of work to do," said he. "I'd say we should link up, but it would take too long. We need to find them- STAT."

"Ya damn right we do," Zack nodded.

He stopped when he noticed Tifa waving at him, gesticulating pointedly to herself and Cloud next. Zack blinked almost dumbly and leveled her a confused stare; and then he caught on to what she was saying and shook his head. Having said that, the two began to sign angrily at each other for a solid few seconds before Zack finally relented and wearily added on, "Heya, Vince... Cloud and Tifa said they'll help."

"Huh?"

"...Yeah, I know. But they said they can help, so I'm going to take it."

"Why in Gaia's name would they- You know what... Fine. We need every set of eyes we can get. Did they at least get their materia back?"

Zack's mako-charged eyes narrowed as they lingered over Yuffie, "Not yet, but they're about to. Right lil' lady?"

Yuffie could only whimper; unable to speak or move so long as the materia's spell kept its hold over her.

Vince went on, "I'll start the search ahead of time. Make sure Cloud and the rest recover their materia. I get the feeling that we'll be seeing some fights before long, and we'll need the extra fire-power."

"Copy that," Zack finished, his eyes steeled as they locked with Tifa's. "You be safe out there."

"Its not me that I'm worried about," Vince replied with some air of warning. "So, make sure to take your own advice, Garm."

"Yes mom," Zack rolled his eyes, finally releasing the transmitter and turning back to their catch of the day. He almost merrily clapped his gloved hands together, having finally shaken off his earlier exhaustion. "So, shall we finally get your stuff back?" he queried politely; even though his tensed body language suggested his desire for immediate haste.

"Let's," Tifa nodded, with Cloud doing the same beside her.