By a Fraction of a Degree

A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129

Rated T for Violence and Language.

I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spinoffs. That honor goes to Square-Enix.

Part II: Reunion

Chapter 25, But His Fortunes Are Never Right! Right?

December 23rd [ ν ] – εуλ 0007

The group parted ways with the driver of the supply truck as soon as they crossed the river, and after that, Zack led the way southeast. Unlike the previous day, it didn't appear any storms would be in the forecast, so they made good time through the woods in which they'd been dropped off. It was still morning when they walked out of the woods and found themselves near a beach facing south.

"It shouldn't be much more than a few hours and then we'll be there!" Zack called out after getting his bearings. "I took a couple of detours the first time around so I wouldn't get caught, but I'm pretty sure if we follow this coastline we'll get to it pretty quick."

Kunsel hummed thoughtfully as he looked at the map again before speaking. "So Zack…"

"Yeah?"

"How exactly did you get from here to Mideel the first time? There aren't any major ports around here."

"Oh that," Zack stretched as he breathed in the familiar sea air. "I did some island hopping. There's a few fishing villages around here and so I talked to some fishermen and agreed to work for them for a day if they'd take me to the next village, which as luck would have it was a few islands away. It was a good thing it was still the season for fishing, otherwise I might have had problems finding a way to pay them back."

Kunsel grinned and shook his head. "You make it sound so easy."

"Oh it was hard work, but it was nothing I couldn't handle, not to mention it got us plenty of food." Zack's expression became more reflective. "We ate pretty good for a while. Lots of fish stew… I got really good at making it too…" He trailed off and Kunsel decided not to press any further.

Cloud was listening intently. He couldn't remember any of what Zack was talking about but part of him wished he could. He heard Nanaki speak up from where he was walking next to Tifa. "How does he manage to stay so… calm… about everything?"

"I don't know," Tifa answered.

Nanaki seemed deep in thought. "Before I learned the truth, I felt so angry about my father, even the happiest memories of when I was young seemed clouded… tarnished. For a long time, I couldn't even think of my time as a young cub without thinking of him and how he had betrayed the village, and my mother… The anger was all I could see. Before my mother went back to the Planet, not even the sadness in her eyes could change my mind… It's a little frightening…"

Tifa was quiet for a moment before answering, a troubled look on her face. "Anger can be frightening. It can make us forget what we still have… And what it can do to other people."

"It can be a good motivator too though," Kunsel said. He had apparently overheard them talking after Zack had pulled ahead of the rest of the group, clearly intent on getting to his hometown in a hurry.

"As long as you don't let it control you," Freya added.

"Well, yeah, of course." Kunsel agreed. "What else would I mean?"

"I don't know, I guess I'm just having trouble picturing how you'd react if you ever got really mad. Even at the church, you weren't too happy but you definitely seemed to have a very good measure of self-control when I confronted you."

"Obviously you didn't see all the work I did to try and find Zack after I found out what Shinra did to him," Kunsel retorted. "I was pretty motivated."

Freya paused at that. "You know, when you put it that way, that quiet sort of anger might be the scariest there is."

Kunsel raised an eyebrow at her with a smirk. "Says the crazy Turk who isn't afraid of raiding the Shinra building, twice."

Freya snorted derisively. "Compared to Fuhito, that was child's play."

It was late afternoon and the shadows were starting to get long when Zack led everyone to a sandy trail leading into a thick jungle, before opening out again into a village that looked like it had seen much better days. Some of the houses looked abandoned with the rooftops full of holes and the doors boarded up. There weren't many people wandering about, but Zack turned around to address the party. "Nothing against you guys, but I haven't seen my folks in a few years, and I don't think it'd be a good idea to bring everyone. So I'm going to leave Freya in charge while I go talk to them."

"Don't worry about it. We understand," Nanaki said.

"Yeah, we'll set up camp and scout the area just in case," Freya agreed.

"Aww…" Yuffie groaned. "I was hoping we'd be going somewhere interesting!"

"Well, there's the old Mako reactor," Freya observed. "You might find some materia there." The ninja's eyes lit up dangerously, and she was gone before anyone could say anything more.

"Nice job Freya, now someone's gonna to have to go find her," Barret grumbled.

Cloud checked his weapon and wordlessly started in the direction Yuffie had gone, but Zack shook his head and cleared his throat. "Not you, Cloud, you're coming with me."

"I probably shouldn't…"

"Bull. You're coming." He looked around at the others now that the discussion was closed. "Aerith, you and Kunsel are coming too of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." He looked around the group. "You can hold down the fort for an hour or so, right?"

Freya nodded. "You can count on us. We should be able to keep the guys in line, right Tifa?"

The martial artist punched her open hand with her fist playfully. "Sure we can!"

"Okay, see ya later." With that, he gestured that Kunsel, and Aerith follow him and Cloud before they walked to the village entrance. One of the last things he heard before departing was Tifa saying "Somebody still needs to find Yuffie again, do we have any volunteers?..."

Zack wandered down the path past the graveyard and into the village, looking around for any sign of a trap before going cautiously over to a familiar small house and a door on which he realized even after being gone for so long, he could still remember every line and every knot on the boards that composed it. He looked behind him to see that the others had caught up and after taking a deep breath, he reached up and lightly knocked three times in quick succession.

They waited for a few fleeting seconds that to him seemed like hours, before the door opened revealing the face of a woman he hadn't seen since he'd run off ten years ago. "May I... help…?" His mother's voice trailed off as she got a good look at his face. "…Zack?"

"Hey Mom… I… uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he gave her a sheepish grin. "I'm home…?" He was cut off as she spoke.

"All this time you've been gone and that's all you have to say?" She demanded. She turned around and called into the house. "Liam! Get out here! It's Zack! Our boy's come home!" Before he could argue, she nearly tackled him in a hug, which was quite a feat for someone who was not SOLDIER enhanced.

Almost immediately, his father appeared behind her. When had he grown taller than him? His hair had greyed too, but there was no mistaking him. "What took you so long? The least you coulda done was write more than one letter. Come in!"

The two of them were ushering him inside when Zack stopped. "Actually, before that, I'd like you to meet some very good friends of mine." His parents looked around him at the three people standing a few feet away. Aerith had clasped her hands behind her, and seemed almost shy as she smiled, while Cloud seemed to be doing his best to make himself as invisible as possible behind her and Kunsel. Zack pointed them out in turn. "This is Cloud and Kunsel. And this is Aerith. Guys, this is my mom and dad."

His father regarded the three of them and as his eyes landed on Aerith, a smile crossed his face. "You must be the one he wrote to us about. I can see why he'd be a little distracted." He moved out of the way, beckoning for them to enter. "A pretty girl like that? Why would you ever leave the city?"

"Well, thank you." Aerith laughed before turning indignantly to her boyfriend. "But still, Zack, only one letter? You may have had an excuse for some of the time, but I know you could have done better than that!"

"Like Dad said, I was distracted…" He trailed off as they walked inside and Zack found the common room with a small kitchen still looked about like it had when he'd left. It was like a dream almost.

"Will you be able to stay long?" his mother asked.

"We'll stick around for a little while, but the people we're with are camped out at the edge of the village and we'll probably leave tomorrow… "On seeing his mother's disappointment he added. "We could stay for dinner."

"Well I would hope you could do at least that much," his father said.

"You can sit over here dears, there's plenty of seats," his mother interrupted, gesturing to the kitchen table.

Zack sat next to Aerith as his father shut the door and his mother went to make tea. He could already smell the citrus. She liked to use orange peels and it gave the brew a distinct smell that he could remember waking up to like it was yesterday. Liam Fair looked over his son and his assembled guests appraisingly, and then took a seat at the table. "So, what else besides this lovely young lady has been keeping you so distracted all these years?"

"A lot happened."

"I don't doubt it."

In the end, much to his annoyance, Barret was charged with tracking down Yuffie while the others scouted the area and set up camp. Tifa walked with him, taking in the jungle growth while the two of them made their way to the ruined reactor where the ninja was believed to have disappeared to. Ever since Nibelheim, Barret had noticed a change in her demeanor, like there was something bothering her.

"If there's somthin' wrong Tif, spit it out. I ain't blind, and I ain't deaf neither."

The martial artist was quiet for a few moments before she shook her head. "…It's nothing."

"The hell it is." They continued down the path in silence for a while until they began to see signs of debris marking the sides.

At last, Tifa spoke. "I guess I'm a little worried."

"About what?"

"I'm not sure… It's just… when we were in Junon…"

They had reached the edge of the ruins by that point and just up ahead, hanging onto an old bent pipe to keep from falling in, was their wayward ninja, reaching into a hole in the wreckage. "Aha!" She gave one final tug and pulled out her hand which now contained what was clearly a summon materia. "I knew there'd be something good in here!" she crowed.

"What did you find?" Tifa asked, apparently relieved at the change of subject.

"It feels like…" Yuffie palmed the materia as she hopped to the ground. "Titan, I think." She shot them a wary look. "I found it! It's mine!"

"All righ', all righ'! Keep yer shirt on!" Barret growled. "Now how about you go back?"

Yuffie scowled before Tifa spoke up. "Come on, let's go back and help the others. You found your materia, so there's no reason why you can't."

Grudgingly, the ninja allowed herself to be led back to camp. "You coming Barret?" Tifa called over her shoulder.

"I'm gonna take a look around this place first," he answered.

"Well, just be sure to get back soon, okay?" With that, Tifa and Yuffie disappeared into the woods.

Barret took in the ruined reactor with unease. The town they were camped near had obviously been ravaged when this place had blown. He picked through the wreckage, alone with his own thoughts for a while. He was about ready to turn around and head back, when he noticed someone watching him. Freya was looking at the remains too, though clearly she had been out here scouting when she'd spotted him. Upon noticing him, she walked over. "Did you find Yuffie?" she asked.

"'Course I did. She an' Tifa went back to camp," he said gruffly.

Freya nodded and they stood in an awkward silence for a while. "I'm sorry…" She said at last. "About what happened back at Cosmo Canyon."

Barret grunted. What was the Turk playing at? "What was yer real job? Back in Corel?" he asked after a moment. "Were you there so that #$%^ could have a reason ta take out the town?"

"I was trying to get to the reactor, but my job was only to investigate the area…" she trailed off.

"And why should I believe that? Next thing I knew, the reactor blew… an' that was where you were goin'."

Freya looked around the ruins, and absentmindedly kicked a piece of siding out of the path that wound its way through the wreckage. "Do you know what happened here?" she asked.

"No. Don' really care either."

"This was one of AVALANCHE's bombing runs. One of the last ones their smaller cells did before Fuhito took over completely and started converting all his followers into Ravens. One of the other Turks investigated it I think, but by the time I was sent here looking for something else, it was already in ruins, and the town was devastated."

"So?" Barret growled. "It was for the good o' the planet."

"Do you want to be the one to tell that to Zack? When his parents could have been killed?"

"What does that have ta #$%^&* do with anythin'!" Barret was in her face, almost yelling now.

Freya glared right back at him. "It has everything to do with it. Do you want to know who blew up the Corel reactor?"

"What's it matter!" Barret snarled. "Either way, Shinra wanted an excuse to get rid of Corel!"

"You're wrong, and if you want the proof, then open those eyes of yours and take a look at mine!" Freya didn't even flinch as she spoke. "You may not believe me, but you deserve to know the truth. Shinra may have attacked your village to cover it up. Believe me, I know it's not the first time they've done things like that, but it wasn't us who blew the reactor."

"Then who did it?" Barret thundered.

"It was AVALANCHE."

Barret looked at her in complete disbelief and then shook his head angrily, barely holding back the urge to strike her across the face. "How d'ya expec' me to believe that coming from you?"

"If you don't, you can ask Shears." Freya's voice had become eerily calm in the face of threatened violence. "He was there, and so was Elfe."

Barret's eyes widened in shock. "You gotta be lyin'!"

The lady Turk shook her head. "Rufus was funding the original AVALANCHE under the table, but Fuhito… he was a leader along with Elfe and Shears… he decided that Rufus wasn't needed anymore, so he set up a trap at the reactor. I was sent to investigate, but it nearly killed a whole bunch of us. The reason my eyes glow is because I fell in as it blew. Fuhito threw Shears in after me because he was too close to Elfe. If Shears and I hadn't fought our way out together, we wouldn't have made it… The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital and it was three years later. I didn't find out until afterward that the president ordered Scarlet to demolish the town. He did it to cover up the evidence of what Rufus had done."

That was enough. Barret stormed away from her, too angry to even speak. "It probably doesn't change anything," the lady Turk said at last. "I would have to be an idiot to think an apology could ever cut it, for everything Shinra's done to you, but… for my part, I never intended…"

"Freya…" Barret couldn't look at her anymore. "Jes… Go…"

He heard her light footsteps as she walked back down the path. When he could no longer hear her, he let out an angry yell and unloaded his gunarm at the wreckage surrounding him, his thoughts on the village burning in his memories as Shinra troopers destroyed everything in sight.

The last hour or so had mostly been taken up with getting acquainted as Zack's parents asked questions and Zack did his best to answer what he could. He'd felt it best to keep it short and to the point before moving on to what they were currently doing, and so he kept strictly to the most important details.

"…The thing is, after what happened in Nibelheim, Sephiroth shouldn't be running around, especially not if he's still crazy. Me and Cloud just couldn't let it sit, so we've been following him for the last week or so."

Liam Fair leaned back in his seat. "That's quite a story, son." Alice Fair had long since handed out her tea and had taken a seat next to her husband as he spoke. "It's a shame you couldn't have stopped the last time you were here, but now that I know that nice young lady was a Turk, I can understand."

"It's only because I didn't want to put you in any danger, but that's beyond the point right now."

"Don't take it personally," Kunsel said with a wry smile as Zack finished. "He tried to keep me out of it too. Emphasis on tried."

"I would have succeeded too if you hadn't run into Aerith," Zack said. "But I'm actually pretty glad now."

Kunsel laughed. "And don't you forget it."

"Me? I would never!" Zack said in mock offense before the seriousness returned to his voice. "But nowhere is really safe until we've taken care of Sephiroth, and even after that, Shinra's probably going to look for any way to get at us that they can. I understand if you don't want to leave here. It's home. But I'd feel a lot better if they didn't know where you were."

"I suppose if it worries you that much we could go somewhere else for a while, but where should we go?" Alice asked.

"We've been hiding out in Mideel for a while and no one's found us yet," Aerith suggested.

Zack grinned. "That would be great. It'd probably be a little crowded for a while, but I'm sure we can find some way around that."

His mother stood at that moment. "I suppose we can talk some more about this later. How many others are at camp right now?"

Zack looked at her in surprise. "Umm… about six and there's probably going to be one more coming… Why?"

His mother rubbed her hands together in anticipation of getting down to work. "Go and tell them we'll have supper in a couple of hours and then get back here. We've got to find some way to celebrate you coming home after all."

Zack opened his mouth to protest but Alice shook her head. "No arguing. We may not have enough room to house everyone, but they are certainly welcome to pitch their tents in our yard or make use of the inn if we run out of space."

"Are you sure that's all right?" Cloud asked.

"Of course it's all right!" Liam answered. "Make yourselves at home, and don't worry about imposing. You haven't said much, but if what Zack's told us is true, you've been through a lot together. I'm not gonna ask about the details past what we know already, but you get that close and it's as good as being family."

Zack leaned over to Aerith and whispered "Told ya," and she giggled behind her hand as Cloud looked embarrassed again.

"Uh… thanks."

"Anytime." Liam stood and stretched.

Zack also stood. "Well, I guess we'd better go let everyone know what's up."

"Please do," Alice said.

"Actually…" Aerith paused. "Could I stay and help?"

"Of course you can dear, we'll probably put Zack to work on some things too when he gets back."

Aerith turned to Zack, the mischief back in her eyes. "I guess you'd better hurry back then, huh?"

Zack nodded. "We shouldn't be long." With that the three SOLDIERs walked out of the house. "So what did you guys think?"

"You should be ashamed of yourself, not coming back to at least visit them." Kunsel said with a grin.

"You're right, I should. But I had a good reason… most of the time."

"If you say so."

On approaching the location where they'd decided to make camp, they saw that Tifa was there watching their belongings with Yuffie. "Where is everyone?" Zack asked.

"Out scouting," Tifa answered. "Barret's the only one who hasn't checked in yet. I'm getting a little worried about him."

"Well we're calling everyone in to relocate."

"Did something happen?"

Tifa looked a little worried so Zack offered her a reassuring grin. "Nothing bad. My folks just insisted we make camp over near their place tonight."

"Are you sure that's okay?" She asked.

Zack laughed. "Cloud asked the same thing. Yes, it's more than okay. So let's make some calls." He pulled out his PHS. "Since Yuffie's back, I'll start with Barret. Kunsel you call Freya, and… oh wait." He groaned as he remembered. "Damn it, we have got to get Vincent a PHS."

"That won't be an issue." Zack whirled around to see the man in red standing calmly behind him.

"Hey Vincent, don't startle me like that!"

The gunman wordlessly glided past as Zack dialed Barret. The call went directly to voicemail. "That's kinda worrisome." He muttered.

"…You're on your way back? Okay, good." Kunsel hung up. "Freya should be here in a few minutes and Nanaki's with her."

Zack nodded. "All right. We'll go look for Barret when everyone else gets here…" He paused as he heard a new and yet familiar noise. "Is it just me, or do I hear a helicopter?" Everyone looked up and after a few moments, Zack could see a Shinra transport helicopter flying overhead. He squinted at the tail section, to check for the number and sighed in relief. On confirming it wasn't the enemy, he walked out into the center of the clearing and waved his arms. Almost immediately the chopper came into a hover overhead before coming in for a touchdown. Zack could see the curly-haired Turk standing up in the cockpit once the rotors slowed to a halt and before long, the hatch pulled open. To his surprise, along with the sight of the female Turk he was also graced with what looked like an animate cat plushie that had been duct taped to one of the supports, and judging by the nearly irate highland accent, the prisoner was not pleased.

"All right lass! We've landed! Cut me loose so I can talk to the SOLDIER."

"I never took you for the type to collect stuffed toys, Ciss," Zack said, stepping into the helicopter to get a closer look.

"I'll show ye a stuffed toy!" the cat retorted as he looked up. It was at that point when he realized to whom he was speaking, just as Cloud and Kunsel had walked in to see who was making all the racket. Almost immediately, the cat stopped struggling, quickly changing to a friendlier tone. "You're Zack Fair. And that's Cloud Strife and Kunsel. So she was tellin' the truth when she said we were headed back to ye!"

"Yes, I'm Zack. And you are?" The dark haired SOLDIER decided to ignore the fact that he was talking to a stuffed animal for the moment. He'd already accepted a talking red lion, this wasn't too much more of a stretch.

"He's a spy for Shinra. Tseng had him sneak aboard in Rocket Town and I caught him when I landed near home." Cissnei said. "Don't worry, I've put a jammer into his hardware where he can't get it. He can still communicate with his controller, but that's it. Isn't that right, Reeve?" Her tone was slightly mocking.

"You're name is Reeve?" Zack asked.

"No lad, I'm Cait Sith… but as you've heard, Reeve's the name of me controller back at Shinra."

"As many missions as you did for Shinra, you've probably done some for him," Cissnei commented. "Does Reeve Tuesti, head of Urban Development, ring any bells?"

Zack regarded the little cat with curiosity. "Now that I think about it, maybe I have seen him before… Not sure where though…"

"Well then, I suppose we can cut to the chase and speak to each other directly," a deeper voice flowed out from a speaker somewhere on the cat where he couldn't see.

"You know, it's hard to take a guy seriously when he's speaking through a talking cat," Zack commented.

"Don't let that fool you," Cissnei cut in. "Believe me, he's used that to his advantage plenty of times."

Zack raised an eyebrow in surprise, and then turned back to the incapacitated feline, "So what do you want with us?"

"For now, I simply wish that Cait Sith travel with you. I wouldn't be addressing you directly at all, except that I saw you communicating with Veld. If he thinks your mission is important enough to assist you, then you will have my cooperation. I will of course be required to report to Tseng, otherwise he will become suspicious, but I will only feed him enough information to keep him satisfied. My concern is the safety of the public. Whether it is provided by Shinra, or provided by you doesn't matter to me. I've heard a lot about you Zack, and I've learned a lot from you. I understand your aims and I can help you."

"And how do we know you aren't lying?" Kunsel demanded.

"Ask him to tell a fortune." Everyone whirled around to see Freya at the hatch.

"Freya! Where ya been lass! Yeh've got to help me out of this one!" Cait Sith resumed struggling and gave a mewling sound at the sight of the lady Turk.

"Sorry Cait," She walked over to him, tapping his nose with her finger. "But I'm afraid this one's all you. Predict Reeve's intentions for us."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Cissnei asked.

Freya grinned. "There's room for error, but you'd be surprised. It was him that told me where Zirconiaide's support materia was here at the reactor. It may sound odd, but this little guy's the real deal."

"Reeve's intentions, eh? Is it all right boss?"

"Fire away Cait, do your worst."

The cat blinked and flicked his tail a couple of times before speaking, "Your aim is for the good of the many, though you would prefer it not be at the expense of the few."

It was Zack's turn to blink. "What does that mean?"

"I think it sounds like he's saying Reeve's telling the truth, but we can't seriously just go on that, can we? That's a conflict of interest!" Cissnei said.

"You are right of course," Freya agreed. "Which is why I think we should take turns keeping an eye on him while he's with us. Reeve has access to a lot of useful information, a contact with him, even one of this nature, could be valuable."

"I will accept that if you will," Reeve agreed.

"Good."

"Okay, if he's so accurate, what's coming for us?" Kunsel demanded, clearly still not buying it.

Cait Sith's tail twitched again before he spoke, first looking at Kunsel "Ye don't know the value of what ye have until it's gone. Yer lucky color is blue." As he spoke even he seemed to realize it was odd. "Hmm, let me try that again."

He then looked to Cloud "Be careful of doubt and forgetfulness."

"That one's even weirder," Zack commented.

Cait then turned his attention to the dark-haired SOLDIER. "What yeh seek will be yours, but the price'll be too high for keepin' it."

"Does anyone have any idea what this crazy cat's trying to say?" Zack looked around at the others to see if they had any insight.

Cait Sith frowned just as deeply as the others. "Hmm… these are all really strange. I think I might like to come along just to see what they mean."

"It sounds like total gibberish," Cloud said.

"That's what I think too," Kunsel gave Freya a hard look. "You really want to take him seriously?"

The lady Turk nodded. "His predictions have never been wrong before. Now I have a question." Freya walked over to the little cat. "What is Sephiroth after?"

The cat once again blinked and twitched his tail for a few more seconds. "He seeks a key of stone in a dish of pleasure."

Zack groaned. "I never thought I'd want a translator for someone who spoke the same langauge."

"Actually, I'd say it's pretty direct. The only dish around here is the Gold Saucer," Freya said. "Since we know that's where he was headed, it seems a safe bet that we need to look there."

"You actually think we can trust him?" Kunsel asked.

"No. But that doesn't put me above being willing to use him."

"That's great an' all lass, but could ya at least tell yer friend to cut me down?" Cait Sith interrupted. "I'm already gonna lose some fur as it is!"

"All right Cissnei, let him down." She turned her attention back to the little cat. "But know this Cait, if you even think of trying to double cross us, I will personally borrow Zack's Thundara materia and use it on you, are we clear?"

The cat nodded. "We're clear! Just let me down!"

Once he'd been cut loose, the cat walked around the helicopter a moment, and then followed everyone outside. As they exited Kunsel spoke up again. "I still don't think we should be going on the predictions of a stuffed toy."

"Well, if you want to know for sure he's for real, why don't you ask him something that can be verified?" Freya suggested.

"Okay." Kunsel considered the question before looking around and remembering there was still one person who was unaccounted for. "Cait, where's Barret?"

The cat didn't even bother blinking or twitching this time. "He's… right in front o' ye lad."

There was no sign of him. "Really?" The derisive edge in the brown-haired SOLDIER's voice was hard to miss.

It was then that Cissnei's eyes fell to the ground. "Um… try looking a little… lower."

Freya gasped at that point. "Oh no!"

Kunsel looked down at his feet and found himself graced with the sight of a surly-looking frog with a tiny gunarm. "It can't be…"

"Don't worry. We can fix this," Zack said. "He probably ran into a Touch Me on the way back. We just need to pick up a Maiden's Kiss at the shop and it'll be all right."

Freya looked down at the frog with a miserable expression. "You're having a really rough day today aren't you?"

If Barret the frog had been able to speak instead of croak, the next thing he would have said would probably have contained several expletives. Yuffie looked up from where she sat in sheer horror at the sight of the transformed gunman. "What kind of crazy place is this town?"

Zack let out a tired laugh. "It's my home."

"Now be sure to get plenty of rest and I don't want to hear you put weight on that leg before your next appointment. Understood?"

"Of course not. Thank for your time doctor!" The man Rayleigh was seeing limped out the door of the exam room on his crutches just as her PHS buzzed.

Walking back towards her office, she pulled it out of the pocket of her coat and she shut the door immediately upon seeing who it was. Right on time, it was Shalua. Fortunately, that had been the last appointment of the day so she would be able to leave soon. In the meantime, she checked the message. I've got some more results on those files. I've finally got a complete version of Sephiroth's medical records and I've made a start on the Reunion Theory, though it's not yet finished. What's left are the subject procedure logs and the file on The Jenova Project, but this stuff is already hot, and I don't think we've even opened the real can of worms yet. Be careful.

She shut her PHS and walked over to the small stand of laboratory equipment she'd set up on one side of the room. It was very rudimentary, composed of a microscope, and various tubes and beakers along with a small refrigerator for the samples. Fortunately the clinic had a centrifuge since there was no other real lab close enough for running blood tests but she'd done her best to have her own pursuits impact the clinic as little as possible. The rest she'd been able to confirm with the microscope and fresh slides.

The results had been what she'd feared. While there were differences in mako levels and the presence of certain bonding agents, as well as the level of saturation for Jenova cells, the end was result was otherwise virtually identical to what she'd seen in the results from when she'd examined Zack and Cloud. Still… she was beginning to have doubts about her hypothesis already. According to the report supplied by Cissnei, the subject the Turks had detained had been a female, very much insane and aged from the process, certainly not SOLDIER material, like Zack, or even close, like Cloud who while horribly injured in the mako reactor had been at least in excellent physical condition otherwise due to being in the military at the time. If Hojo was trying to recreate Sephiroth, as she'd at first guessed, why would he use an average human female? It was well known that there was a higher risk of complications developing without proper physical training and conditioning, therefore, you couldn't just go through with becoming a SOLDIER and be done with it. Yet that was what Hojo seemed to have done. If not to recreate Sephiroth, then for what end had this experiment been carried out?

She looked through the microscope at a tissue sample she'd put on a slide just to reconfirm what she had found out. The concentration of S-Cells was nearly one and a half times the concentration that Cloud possessed, and that felt frighteningly important.

She sighed, and walked back over to the computer, finally plugging in the PHS to look at the new files, perusing the file on the Reunion Theory first. Oddly enough, that file itself was surprisingly short. It was almost disappointing. There was a lot of discussion of the chemical properties of the Jenova cells and how they behaved under certain conditions. It had been very similar to the essay Cissnei had returned with, which now graced a small shelf in her room back at the lodge. However, for whatever reason, there were portions of the data that clearly had higher encryption matrices, and therefore, she was left with the information, but not the conclusion. She sighed, frustratedly massaging her right temple and adjusting her glasses before checking the now completed medical chart. Now that the notes were completed, she could see there were definitely similarities, but it seemed that for every new piece of the puzzle, there was a new string of questions tacked onto the ones that already existed. It could be the only way to get answers might be to find one of these beings and take a look at them herself.

She didn't like the idea. It made her stomach churn. But as she reached for her PHS she told herself it was for Zack and Cloud's sake, and for the sake of those people in cloaks too. Zack and Cloud needed to know why this was done to them, and if there was a way to make it easier to bear, maybe it would even help the other subjects too. She typed in a message to Shalua thanking her for the information, and then she picked a new number and dialed it. Finally someone picked up. "Yes?"

"Veld, I have a request for you in addition to what Freya has asked."

"What can I do for you doctor?"

"The other Turks who are keeping an eye out for the people in Black Cloaks… How hard would it be for them to catch one?"

Another day, a few more dominoes... I felt kind of bad about what I did to Barret here, giving him all that angst and then frogging him, but that's kind of how things went. I hope I did okay with Zack's parents, I know some in the audience had high expectations.

Earlier this morning, our party finally crossed paths with the original group, and they would have reached Cosmo Canyon probably sometime in the early afternoon FYI.

And Cait Sith has at last officially joined the party. It sure took him long enough! I wonder what those fortunes mean... ^^

Have a happy Labor Day, and I'll see ya next week!