A/N: For those who would like to know, this is happening about a week after last chapter's Cloud/Sephiroth discussion. It also ends with something a whole lot of people should have realized by how Minerva handled the trip back in time...And it was only a matter of time before it would happen.

Phoenix: Thanks for your reviews (for the chapter before last as well as last chapter)! Good timing on re-watching those movies, then! :D

Dire

Genesis woke with a start as he heard his PHS ringing, so muttered curses under his breath as he grabbed it and answered it with the words, "Couldn't you have waited until noon to call me?"

An amused snort sounded on the other end of the line, then Veld said, "Not in particular. Be thankful I'm calling you an hour before we're all due to show up there."

The red haired man's eyes snapped open, which also produced a questioning chirp from the Firebird chick curled against his side and mostly under his blanket. It had been a few weeks and the chick was starting to get actual feathers. And it was annoying him that she either ignored names he tried on her or actually hissed at some of them—she clearly really didn't like those ones. Back to his call... "Sorry, but who's showing up here, and when was this meeting apparently scheduled? Without my say, at that."

"About five minutes ago, with the intent for me to update you, Cloud, Weiss, and Vincent. I can't put this off, and we can't have it interrupt the work day without arousing suspicion. Because you have a baby bird to try to keep fed, it made more sense to have the meeting at your place. As such, we'll see you, and probably your mentee, in an hour."

The Turk then hung up abruptly, and Genesis sighed as he closed his PHS and dropped it on the floor. He didn't need to look at it to know it was early—probably around six or seven in the morning—and he wasn't a morning person. On top of that, he really hadn't been getting much sleep since the chick had hatched on him, and that made his temper worse. When the chick shrugged off the blanket and gave a demanding chirp, he just sighed again and got up to retrieve the puree Tifa had shown him how to make and the baster, then fed her. After that, he showered, taking the chick in with him—she seemed to love getting clean that way. And, as she always wanted to eat after a shower, he'd been prepared to feed her...

But she didn't demand food right away.

He blinked and waited a couple minutes, but all she did was try to pull his toothbrush out of the glass he kept it in, then drink some water droplets on the edge of the sink. As such, he dressed, made sure the chick was mostly dry with the towel, then generated fire to warm and dry her as he took her with him to the kitchen. When he sat at the table, the chick tried to climb onto it, so he quirked a brow and put her down there—and she set about happily exploring the surface and the bowl of fruit in the middle of it. The bowl was a new addition Kunzel had insisted on once they'd brought the little chick home.

And for some reason, she was currently working very hard to try to pull a banana out of the bowl and break it open with her beak.

After a few minutes, she succeeded, and began happily eating as she cooed.

"Well I'll be damned," Genesis commented to no one in what should have been an empty room.

"And you wondered why I wanted it there?" Kunzel's amused voice asked from behind him, making him turn to look. The younger man was in his uniform, but hadn't tightened the straps yet, and Sierra was practically hopping at his feet, obviously eagerly awaiting her breakfast. "Since when are you up and dressed at this time, though? You usually need me to remind you the work day is going to start before you get up."

"Since Veld called me this morning to tell me he decided on a meeting this morning for him to fill in the Blessing people on—I guess more than one new development," Genesis replied, shrugging. "They're going to be here in..." He paused for a moment to check the time, then finished, "About twenty minutes now. He's assuming you'll be here for it, or at least that the likelihood is high."

"Okay..." Kunzel blinked, then moved over to the fridge to get out the meat he kept for Sierra and something for himself to eat. Genesis joined him in eating, then went to retrieve his PHS.

Soon after, the first knock came on the door. When Kunzel answered it, Veld stepped inside, nodding to Genesis as he did. Weiss let himself in quietly, and soon after, a knock announced both Cloud and Vincent's arrival.

Once they were all seated (and Sierra played with an apple on the floor while the chick went to sleep after eating a good portion of the banana), Veld gave them all a nod and said, "First, it looks like the President will go for heavy-handing the war. When I told him yesterday evening about how Tseng had offered the route through the mountains last time and Heidegger had discarded it, he decided to see if using it would work. Command is likely to go to the Firsts and the Tsviets who are present, and Heidegger is currently on suspension, for two reasons. My investigation into our missing funds took two very different routes I was shocked to see—we expected Heidegger, but none of you offered Palmer as an option."

Cloud and Vincent traded surprised looks as Weiss asked, "How could that inept man actually have been hijacking funds from anywhere, let alone Public Safety?"

Nodding to the white haired boy, Veld explained, "We're still tracking the trail, but it looks like he's better with technology than we gave him credit for, and actually began skimming off the top of what Heidegger was taking. Of course, even if Heidegger knew, he couldn't have said anything without implicating himself, so he kept it quiet. While Heidegger has a replacement, Palmer doesn't, so unless you have suspicions of someone who could take it, that one's going to be up in the air."

"Cid Highwind," Cloud said right away.

"Who?" the older man asked in surprise.

"That actually might not be a bad idea, though you might need to test him in actual leadership," Vincent mused. "He was a good ship's captain when we knew him, but I'm not sure how well he'd be able to run a department of Shinra. He also knows the technical aspects of the Air and Space Department intimately. The only other issue would be his age right now, but if you could show the President his skills, it just might be possible to put him in. Also, Cid shouldn't be hard to find because he already works for Air and Space. So, unless you compare his credentials to others and find someone equal to or better than him, he's the best option we can offer."

"Um...I can ask him what he'd think of the chance, if you want?" Kunzel put in quietly, PHS in his hand and active.

"How's that?" Veld asked, and the SOLDIER Third turned his PHS around to show him the name and number it was open to. "...You know him?"

"Yeah. He's one of the mechanics who works on the airships here, and is at the top of the list to go to work on the rocket in the next rotation. He's actually supposed to take over there because he's also going to be the pilot," Kunzel informed the Turk Director.

For a moment, Veld paused, then said, "Ask him who he'd nominate as head of the department if he could pick anyone in it—or outside it if he can't think of anyone in it—and why."

The Third's brow quirked, but he nodded and typed in the requested message. It only took a few moments to get a short answer which made him snort and give another reply. The others traded looks, then just waited quietly for the response since it seemed Cid was awake and prepared to talk. After several minutes, Kunzel said, "Here's his top three list," and turned it around for Veld to see.

Blinking, the older man commented, "That's actually an interesting list. Ask him if he'd like the position himself."

Obediently, Kunzel did—and in just a couple minutes, he got a reply he read out loud as he tried not to laugh, "Are you bloody crazy? I'm a hands-on fellow, not a paper-pusher—give me a wrench and an airship over a pen and a posh office any day!"

The others chuckled and Veld said, "I'll look into the other options he gave, then. Let him know. And yes, you can tell him there's an investigation going on right now which may lead to a change in their department, but tell him not to spread word around yet."

"Will do," the younger man agreed, and set to work on his reply.

"All right, so that covers the investigation and the war, as well as potentials to head Air and Space," Veld commented. "So, our next topic is actually about Scarlet."

"Good or bad?" Cloud asked, gaze apprehensive.

Veld met his gaze as he said, "You asked Derin to see if he could keep an eye on her. While that hasn't led to much regarding the reason for your request, it made him think of something which made him look more deeply into her past. And what he found became alarming enough for him to wake me last night at about one in the morning."

"And that is?" Genesis asked when he realized a now-pale Cloud wasn't going to.

"Apparently, the President is her father. And yes, he knows that," Veld finally answered with a sigh. All of them paled, and Kunzel looked ill. "She wasn't supposed to have been born—much like you, Cloud—but there was intervention which prevented him from being able to follow through. On his own, he hadn't intended on approaching her, but when she offered in exchange for power and position, he took advantage. I'm not sure if Scarlet knows that herself, but Derin thinks she does, which only makes the situation worse for her. And it begs the question of how she found out when her mother couldn't tell her."

"Why's that?" Vincent asked with a frown.

"Her mother has amnesia and doesn't remember who she was before Scarlet was about five years old," the Turk Director replied. "The ultimate result was that they lived in poverty and there wasn't much of a bond between them—there's indications her mother resented having a child she didn't even remember shoved on her. It wasn't a pleasant life, and Scarlet's desire to get out from under an abusive department head would then make a lot more sense—why go from one abusive home to another? In her own home, there was literally nothing she could do. If she found out about her father before or after that, we don't know yet. The major glitch with this is that there's one more layer to it which Derin is probing into, but he hasn't worked it out yet."

"That's really creepy..." Kunzel muttered. "Fathers shouldn't be doing that to their daughters..."

Veld's brow rose at the comment as Vincent said, "They shouldn't. And yet, that state of affairs is shockingly common."

"How do they even get away with it?" the younger man asked in surprise.

"Either by telling them no one would believe them if they told, or by twisting it and saying it's 'love', or even by saying it's the child's own fault," Veld informed him. "If the child believes any or all of those, they'll say nothing, especially not at the times they most need to. Scarlet's case is different, especially since this only started when she was an adult—and her saying nothing then takes on a different meaning. It's quite likely she isn't because of that 'extra layer' Derin is still looking into. Even then, our legal system is intrinsically flawed and men—even official court judges—will look for ways to let men get away with committing rape or other sexual assaults on people, especially women. It's entirely possible she says nothing because she feels that if the Turks won't help there's no one who will."

"Are you not helping?" Kunzel suddenly asked harshly.

"We are right now or we wouldn't be having this discussion," Veld replied evenly, meeting the younger man's angry gaze. "Sadly, in the past, we didn't. At that time, I'm not sure there was anything we could have done, either. Right now, we have a way to get Heidegger out of the picture legitimately—and he handed us at least two methods to use, both of which I've given to the President. We should be getting his elimination orders in the near future. Then, we just need Rufus to be ready to take over for the President before we arrange a convenient 'accident' to eliminate him. Our only other problem then is in figuring out who the other one is that's bothering her and we can take him out, too. In this case, I'm thankful the President sleeps around because he leaves her be for long stretches of time as a result."

Kunzel looked away and fell silent, so Weiss asked, "If there's nothing more we can do on that topic, was there anything else we needed to discuss?"

"Yes," Veld agreed with a sigh. "It seems, in the short time the remaining Restrictors have had to find another place to operate from, they met up with AVALANCHE, and the result is what happened in Corel not long ago. We don't have intel on whether or not the meet-up was intentional on the Restrictors' parts, but I'm not sure it matters. What it means is that they now have Fuhito's help with rebuilding their ranks, something which we aren't sure the designated leader of AVALANCHE knows about. Because AVALANCHE is a very slippery group and we have a hard time tracking where they are at any given time, especially their leaders, this becomes problematic.

"We have reason to think only Fuhito is currently not in Wutai, though, so if we get the okay from the President for heavy-handing the war, I'm going to be heading out there with the military force initially. My goal then is to see if there is some sort of way to manage them—for your purposes, for me to recover my daughter. Then, it's a matter of what, or how much, pull she has with them and the help she'd give us to stop the war. Knowing about the High Nobles may well be a huge help. Cloud, you gave me a general update on what Tseng told you, but were there details you left off which might be good for Elfé—for Felicia—to know to make her decision?"

Cloud paused to think for a minute, and Genesis was legitimately curious about what he'd say, especially about one thing Hojo had said. "Is it really true they don't actually have to obey the law in Wutai?" he asked curiously.

The boy gave him an annoyed look. "That was a flat-out lie, actually. The only thing they have the right to do is refuse conscription for war. All other laws, they have to obey, just like everyone else. Hojo was trying to make it look a lot worse than it actually is, but there's a good chance a lot of Wutains are doing the same thing—those would be the same people needing to be eliminated."

The others blinked and stared for a minute, but it was Vincent who asked, "In that case, you may need to give us more details so we know what other false impressions we've been given."

"Mostly, the High Nobles are being eliminated because they're the ones who actually make all the rest of the Wutains hold to their own laws and treat people with respect—they're the ones who teach them honor and discipline. Obviously, there are some people in Wutai who really, really want to do things which are either legally wrong or morally wrong, and they want to get rid of the people stopping them from doing those things. That's why I had to tell you to give Argento the investigative power and a tell which means some people have to just be killed. Though, he also said we'd have to try to get Yufi out of there," the blond boy explained.

"Who?" Kunzel asked in surprise.

Cloud's gaze turned amused as he said, "Princess Yufi Kisaragi." The others blinked, other than Vincent, who just sighed and muttered something under his breath. "The only problem is finding her, because she's never really stayed where she was supposed to be. I'm pretty sure she won't be in the Palace, largely because she thinks she's better than she actually is at fighting. I mean, she's only seven years old right now, I think. She's plenty strong by the time she's sixteen—legitimately—but right now, she thinks she's invincible when she's barely-trained. And she's probably already going the route of the thief, which we need to get her out of. At some point, I think someone said she didn't like AVALANCHE being in Wutai, but I don't know if that's true yet. I still wouldn't put it past her to be someplace like Tamblin when she's supposed to be at the Palace."

Veld sat back to eye him for a long moment, then said, "She's seven and somehow gets away from her watchers to get to places like Tamblin?"

"That's what I just said," Cloud answered flatly.

"How is she getting away from her watchers?" Veld asked in reply.

"I don't know. Ask her," the boy answered in annoyance. "Oh, but if you attack anywhere in Wutai and AVALANCHE is there, chances are even their leaders won't be able to stop them from fighting, since they're made up of a whole bunch of people who hate Shinra. If you can get to Felicia before the attack starts, she might be able to do something—assuming she's aware enough to do so—but otherwise, it's out-right elimination of the members. I don't know how much 'protection' they'd give Yufi if she was in the area during the attack, but by her not really liking them, they may not bother with her, other than a few who would possibly react to her either being the Princess or being a child. Most of AVALANCHE probably doesn't care about details like those."

"Why wouldn't she—Felicia—be aware enough to stop the battle?" Weiss asked curiously.

Cloud's look was flat as he told the other boy, "You've never gone through the mental shock of suddenly recovering memories and realizing everything you thought you knew was a lie. It's common for someone to pass out for awhile, or at least to be incapable of doing much for an extended time. And in Felicia's case, that's even more true because her life before she joined AVALANCHE was the polar opposite of what it is right now. Putting those opposing memories against one another hurts. There's a very real chance she won't be able to do much of anything for some time."

A silence fell, then Veld commented, "It might be best to have a child retrieve a child."

"What?" everyone else asked in surprise.

"Cloud, you're sufficiently combat-capable to go out to Wutai," Veld replied. "I'd have said Weiss, but he's a SOLDIER and will be in the thick of the battle—a battle he can't just disregard whether he sees her or not. If your sole purpose there is to find her and bring her back here safely, that's the best option. A child would also be more likely to trust a child, and if you're not dressed as a Turk, you'd be less threatening to her. It also means you won't be responsible for killing anyone unless they attack you directly, and in the meantime, you can make repairs to equipment we need fixed."

"And what do we tell the President about her?" Cloud asked with a raised brow.

"My first thought is to imply she's an orphan who needs a new home," Vincent offered in a thoughtful tone. "All it would take is to say no one was taking care of her when you found her, leaving the impression she's probably a war orphan, especially if she was near or on the battlefield. It would almost be automatic for a Wutain a Turk brought back to Shinra to become a Turk and fall under our jurisdiction. Especially if the additional implication was that no one in Wutai was taking care of her."

"That's true," Veld agreed. "Though, for us to babysit a seven-year-old..."

"Oh, she'll keep us all on our toes, trust me, Verdot," Vincent replied with a raised brow. "She's a training exercise for us in and of herself." Cloud snorted at the words, but nodded agreement.

Then, the boy's expression suddenly went almost horrified and he said, "Veld, get the President to give you a list of all the people he'd had his eye on for Deepground. Inform him the Restrictors will go after them now if they haven't already, and the only way he has to stop them is to get those people out of their reach—to bring them here to work and go to school."

"That's true," Weiss agreed, suddenly terse. "We should have thought of it sooner, and some of those people may already have been taken. Our only benefit would be that they'd start with 'the strong' before they'd take people like children or who have special abilities which aren't combat-related. They were on a wait-list in the first place because they weren't required for Deepground to build its strength."

Veld paused and blinked, then nodded and said, "I'll see what I can get from him and how quickly. It shouldn't be a trial for him to provide a list so the Turks can start going to retrieve them. Anything else on that topic?" He got back negatives, so he said, "That leaves our last order of business this morning—Hojo."

"What about him?" Vincent asked in annoyance. "You already know why I can't eliminate him yet."

"Yes, and I get regular updates from Reeve on the progress of your new arm," Veld answered in a flat tone, making the others blink. "Yes, your arm is the priority, before it does any more damage to you, and I'm not complaining about that. We need to discuss what he's doing, though, now that Sephiroth effectively gave him the finger and turned his back on him—and the President supported him to do it. Because, not only did Hojo try to con the President into thinking Tseng is actually Wutai's Emperor, only to have that fail dismally, but now he's been forced to let women into SOLDIER when it's obvious he doesn't want them there. Losing Sephiroth on top of that has put him in a very bad mood."

"Wait—when did Hojo try to make the President think Tseng is actually the Emperor?" Cloud asked, looking pale. "And how is it that 'failed dismally'?"

"It actually happened about a week after the Deepground visit," Veld answered dryly. "And I didn't even have to intervene, because the President flat-out denied the possibility that Leviathan's power in that region could actually do such a thing. He was more disappointed in Hojo's demonstration of lack of logic and science than anything else. Hojo wasn't pleased with the result, but he realized he'd have to back off. With the rest of the resistance he's gotten, though, it looks like he's tried to clone Sephiroth—and it looks like he's succeeded. Superficially, at least."

"Which means?" Vincent asked sharply.

"The clone looks just like the General with only very slight differences, and seems to be maintaining itself through rapid aging," Veld sighed. "This was accidental when Anki went to the Science Department to give them samples she needed a comparison and assessment of. She actually saw what's currently a child—a child who easily slaughtered a Behemoth and felt nothing about it other than possibly manic glee. He's powerful, there's no doubt of that, but even she realized there was something eerie about him. Hojo's glee—was worse. That doesn't bode well for us."

Vincent was frowning deeply, and Genesis was about to ask him what he was thinking so hard about—when Cloud said in a dead tone, "I will never be only a memory."

The others stared at him, then Vincent asked warily, "When did he say that to you?"

"...Just as he dissolved after the incident with his—with Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz," Cloud answered, and Genesis realized the boy's hands were shaking. "Minerva threw whatever was left into the past. Sephiroth—that Sephiroth, the Nightmare—was still in the Lifestream, so he got sent back, too, but refused to bond with the 'him' here now, who isn't like him yet—they really are two different people. If Hojo and Jenova went looking for a way to counter our retaliation against her, and they found him..."

"Then we have to eliminate him now," Weiss said. "Before he gets too strong to—"

"It's already too late for that," Cloud answered flatly, and Genesis felt a sinking feeling.

"Did Anki say how the child eliminated the Behemoth?" the red haired man asked Veld suddenly, and the others blinked at him. "Honestly, I'm one of the ones who knew him best. If I know the 'how', I can tell you if Cloud's right."

"She said he just swung his sword—from outside striking distance—and the Behemoth was effectively cut to ribbons," Veld sighed.

Genesis' lips pursed. "Then yes, Cloud's right and it's already too late. We're better off leaving that alone and just letting Sephiroth—our Sephiroth—know what's happened. Otherwise, until Vincent's arm is fixed and Cloud's back up to par, there's nothing more we can do. It also means he definitely didn't see the Behemoth as a threat, just as an inconvenience, so the only way he'll fight seriously will be against either Cloud or Vincent—or more likely Vincent-as-Chaos. Of course, at his current strength, he probably also doesn't need to take anyone else seriously."

The others stared in something like horror at a pale, tense Cloud and resigned Genesis for a minute before collectively releasing a sigh. "I'd rather know now than have it sprung on us suddenly," Weiss said softly. "But this...We're running on a time restriction now, and we have no idea how long we'll have before Hojo unleashes him."

"Probably at least until he grows up," Cloud answered sourly. "But if that's happening rapidly..."

"That doesn't leave us long," Genesis agreed.

Veld sighed and rose. "Well, then, that covers our topics today, and there's nothing more to be done, so good day, gentlemen." The others snorted in dry amusement as he left, then began rising, themselves.

"Would he really release him so soon?" Kunzel asked softly.

Cloud turned back to him and said, "It's not even an issue of whether Hojo would or not. If the Nightmare wants out, he's going to get out. Right now, if he's willing to go along with whatever plan Hojo and Jenova have, we have more time to prepare, so we have to take it. There's no other option. If we hadn't had this accidental warning, though..."

"That would have been a lot harder," Kunzel finished. "So we shouldn't tell anyone but the ones we know will be directly affected."

Agreement was given to that, then the others left—and Genesis sighed as he realized they hadn't thought through the situation nearly well enough. Even he wasn't up to par yet, and he'd been actively using his skills since being returned to his past body so he could build them up. And he suddenly had the urge to recite two lines of LOVELESS, as they seemed especially applicable just then:

"Even if the morrow is barren of promises, Nothing shall forestall my return."