"Jasmine!" Tifa called as she knocked on the door to Jasmine and Noctis' gym. "It's time for breakfast! Don't forget you're meeting up with Sora and Kairi today!"

The raven-haired girl sank to her knees and tossed the jump rope she was holding aside. Jasmine placed a hand over her chest, feeling her heart race at a rate that didn't feel normal. She grimaced. She'd only taken a week off from working out – in theory, she shouldn't be struggling this much during a relatively easy workout.

As she drew in a breath, Jasmine felt pain in her chest, the same pain she felt the night of the fire on Traverse Town.

"Dammit," she swore.

The doctors told her that she needed to take it easy. Even though she tried her best to put on a front for Tifa and the others, Jasmine was still facing the same problems as when she first got out of the hospital. While she was moving around a bit better, but she was still slower than normal, continued to occasionally cough out blood, and had a hard time breathing.

Just as she was about to get up, the door swung open.

Jasmine started apologizing for keeping Tifa waiting but stopped when she saw Axel crouched down in front of her instead.

"Still having a hard time, Cat-Eyes?" The redhead, who was dressed down in a pair of sweats and a hoodie asked sincerely.

She turned her head away from him. "I feel like I'm not getting better fast enough," she admitted. "What about you?"

Axel smiled ruefully. "I'm not as bad as you, kiddo. But like I said, you were in it a whole lot longer than I was. Plus, I'd be willing to bet that whatever Vanitas gave you that night isn't helping."

"I'm trying to get better," she told him distantly. "I don't want people worrying about me."

Axel rose to his feet and extended a hand for Jasmine to take. "I know. Just take it one day at a time."

Jasmine grabbed Axel's hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. Once she was standing upright, she stretched her arms out and yawned. Even though it was only ten in the morning, Jasmine was ready to go back to bed.

"How're things with your boyfriend?" The redhead teased as he followed Jasmine out of the gym.

Ignoring the "boyfriend" comment, Jasmine told Axel about how Noctis and the others had found the king. Right about now, they should be getting settled into the palace. Noctis promised to call her that night to give an update on when they were coming back to Radiant Garden.

"At least that's working out," Axel said smiling. "Though I think it would be a good idea for them to get the king under SOLDIER's protection for the time being."

"I keep telling Noctis they need to come home, but I think the king just wants to see his people. Which I get but still," Jasmine sighed. "I also haven't talked to him about Ven," she added.

Axel grimaced. "I sure as hell don't want to be you right now. You know he's gonna freak out when you tell him, right?"

Jasmine led Axel to the kitchen where Tifa was working to get breakfast prepared. When they got to the bar, her and Axel took a seat across from one another. Once they were seated, Tifa slid them their plates and joined the duo.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tifa asked curiously as she reached for a peach.

"How your niece still hasn't told her boyfriend that she'd hooked up with Ven," Axel deadpanned.

Tifa whirled around, a look of shock on her face. "You still haven't told him?"

Jasmine sank into her seat and stared at the marble countertop. "Not yet," she replied blandly. "He never talks about Ven and it just seems like a weird thing to randomly bring up. And Noctis isn't my boyfriend," she added quickly.

Axel pursed his lips, thinking about how Jasmine could keep the prince from going ballistic while still being honest.

"I mean," he began, "you could always tell Noctis after you and he start hooking up…"

"Axel!" Jasmine and Tifa yelled in unison.

The redhead held up his arms in defense. "Hey! I'm just brainstorming here!"

Jasmine frowned as she looked at the plate of food Tifa placed in front of her, finding her appetite gone yet again. However, even though she was annoyed with Axel for even mentioning the idea (in front of Tifa no doubt) and because she still wasn't eating the way she used to, Jasmine refused to waste good food. She picked up her fork and started eating the strawberries and pineapple Tifa sliced up for her.

"I'm not gonna sleep with Noctis," she said after she swallowed the fruit. "It's bad enough everyone at SOLDIER thinks I already am."

Axel shrugged his shoulders and moved over so that Tifa could have more room. "Why not?"

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "After all the drama I went through with Ven? Not a chance. I'm taking it slow with Noctis."

Axel chuckled, "There's no way you could possibly take it any slower."

Tifa elbowed Axel in the side. "Leave her alone, Axel. She's just trying to be careful, that's all."

"And in case you haven't noticed," Jasmine said as she sliced up her sausage, "all my relationships have been a disaster. I wanna do better this time around if this is the route me and Noctis are gonna take."

Axel seemed impressed. "Glad you're being smart about this one." The redhead pointed his fork at her. "I know you don't give a damn about his money or status, but if you play your cards right, you could make out like a bandit. At least if you and the prince tie the knot, you could leave SOLDIER behind for good."

Jasmine stared at her plate, absently pushing around her potatoes.

Leaving SOLDIER?

That was something she hadn't thought of in a long time.

Jasmine clenched her fork tighter as one memory, in particular, came back to her.

Flashback

"I've been thinking," Ventus began slowly.

Jasmine waited anxiously for Ventus to go on. "Yes…?"

Ventus pulled Jasmine closer to him as they walked, a small smile tugging at his lips. "I was thinking, once your mission was finished, maybe we could move here. I know SOLDIER has a branch here and we could always go back and forth between Twilight Town and Radiant Garden."

Jasmine's heart skipped a beat.

While Ven had joked about the idea before in the past, this time he seemed more serious about it.

"The university here is great," he added. "If you wanted, you could take a leave of absence and finish off your degree and we could make the move here. Or if you wanted to, we could stay in Radiant Garden, you could finish there, and then move this way. It's up to you really."

"Ven…" Her heart fluttered at the idea. "That's crazy."

Ventus paused when he and Jasmine reached the restaurant, pausing when they got to the entrance leading up to it. "I know. But there's gonna be life after SOLDIER, at least this part of it. You're good at what you do, and I know they'd love to keep you around. But even if you chose to leave, there are other options for you besides SOLDIER."

End Flashback

Once the memory played out in her head, Jasmine felt what little bit of appetite she had completely disappear. She apologized to Tifa as she pushed her plate back.

"Is it okay if I finish this after I take a nap?" She asked Tifa quietly. "It's not that it's not good - I'm not super hungry right now."

Sensing a shift in Jasmine, Tifa did her best to be accommodating.

"No problem, sweetheart. Just go lay down. I'll leave the plate in the microwave for you," she told her niece. "You can finish it off before you go see Sora and Kairi."

Axel also picked up on Jasmine's sudden mood change but followed Tifa's lead. "Get some rest. I'll probably be gone by the time you wake up. Just take it easy, okay?"

Jasmine nodded and excused herself from the eating area. Once Tifa and Axel were sure she was out of earshot and heard a door close in the distance, they spoke privately between themselves.

"Have you heard anything about Terra and Ventus?" Tifa asked quietly.

Axel sighed. "Not a thing. It's like they disappeared clean off the face of the earth."

"And what about Aqua? Has she woken up yet?"

The redhead shook his head. "She's still in a coma. I went by to check on her a few days ago. While she does seem to be getting better, no one can seem to figure out why she isn't waking up. If she doesn't soon, I heard they were gonna send her off to a higher-level SOLDIER facility."

Tifa rubbed her temples. "What a mess," she mumbled. "Are you gonna go after Ven and Terra too?"

"Tseng talked to me about that earlier today. He really wants Jasmine to go too," Axel added.

Tifa paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. She'd been keeping something to herself ever since Jasmine returned but hadn't said anything for fear of the girl overhearing. But with Jasmine on the mend and with her out of earshot, she figured now would be a better time than ever to talk to Axel about this.

"Axel," Tifa began, "I'm shocked that Jasmine doesn't seem that upset about Ven being gone. After all, they were exceptionally close."

"I know." Axel lowered his voice on the off-chance that Jasmine might pop back up. "How much did Jasmine tell you about the Ven situation?"

"Everything," Tifa replied. "I know they had a physical relationship and that they were best friends."

Axel quickly glanced over his shoulder, just to make sure that they were both still alone. "It was more than that – Ventus has feelings for her."

"I knew it wasn't just a casual relationship," Tifa thought out loud.

"Listen, every single one of us knew it wasn't casual, especially not from Ven's end. But he wasn't honest with Jasmine – he told me so himself."

Hanging onto his every word, Tifa asked for more information. "Was he ever going to tell her?"

Axel picked up his fork and slid another strawberry slice in his mouth. "Who knows? He sure as hell told Noctis the night of the fire."

Tifa gasped. "Why would he do that?"

"Noctis called him out on it," Axel replied simply. "The only person Ven wasn't honest with, was the person he SHOULD'VE been honest with when things changed."

"So, Jasmine has no idea that Ven likes her…?"

"No, but I think he straddled the fence with her a bit," the redhead admitted honestly. "That's probably part of why she called it quits. One day it was business as usual and the next he was all over her. But that's not the problem."

"So what's the new problem?"

Axel groaned. "Since Noctis knows Ven liked Jasmine, she's gonna have a harder time convincing him that there was nothing going on romantically once she reveals that they were sleeping together. When she finally gets around to telling him, he's gonna lose his shit for sure. And then he'll probably reveal that Ven actually did have feelings for her."

Tifa turned away from Axel and stared at the clock hanging above the stove. "I'm more than positive Noctis won't handle this well."

"Definitely not. And we JUST got Jasmine on board to actually date him…despite her having the emotional range of a tomato right now."

"Do you think he'll call off the queen's candidate thing?"

Axel shook his head. "He still likes her, but its gonna be rocky for a while. To tell you the truth, if Noctis and the others didn't screw up right before she got attacked on Twilight Town, they'd probably be together. She didn't trust them and started hanging out with Ven more – not that they were doing anything back then but Noctis made it easy for Ven to swoop in."

Tifa recalled the incident like it happened yesterday and the series of events afterward. Axel had a point. While Jasmine had told Tifa that she and Ven were friends, Tifa did notice that after Jasmine put some distance between herself and Noctis' team, she and Ven became much closer.

"So what now?"

"At the risk of being rude, I don't think your niece has the capacity right now to have that conversation with Noctis and NOT have it blow up in her face."

Before he could continue, Axel's phone vibrated. He fished it out of his jacket pocket and his eyes lit up when he saw who it was that texted him.

"Is it Tseng?" Tifa asked curiously.

"Nope." Axel unlocked the screen and texted the unknown person back. "Actually...it's just the person I needed to speak to."

Unsure of what Axel meant by his cryptic statement, Tifa decided to let the comment slide for now.

"You know, Axel? I think it's really sweet how you're helping Jasmine. I know I've told you before, but I appreciate it a lot – so does she. Jasmine needs to be surrounded by good people right now."

Axel flashed a smile Tifa's way. "I gotta say, I'm fond of the kid. Plus, Reno adores her and if anything happened to her on my watch, he'd probably bash my skull in."

Tifa laughed at the thought of Axel fighting with Reno. Both of them were so animated. Even outside of the clear physical similarities, their personalities were similar as well.

"Although…" Axel slipped his phone back into his pocket, his tone becoming more serious. "That also begs the question that I've had on my mind for a while. I didn't ask Jasmine, but in hindsight, I'm sure she can't answer it. And I haven't talked to Reno about it yet either."

Tifa batted her eyes, confused by where Axel was going with this.

"What's your question?"

"Jasmine's father, he was in politics, right?" He asked carefully.

"That's right."

"I've been wondering…why would Mr. Silva, a supposedly squeaky-clean politician, have to go out of his way to hire Reno, Rude and Elena as bodyguards?"

The room fell silent as both Axel and Tifa pondered the thought.

"Elected officials in Twilight Town often had escorts," Tifa reasoned. "And I'm sure in part it's because Mr. Silva knew of Vincent and the others. That's part of why Jasmine's mom asked me to be the godmother."

"Yes yes, but it never made sense to me," Axel added. "Was Mr. Silva ever involved with SHINRA?"

"Absolutely not," Tifa replied. "He went out of his way to avoid people like that."

"I remember a time when Jasmine told me about the night she met Vanitas and how Vexen, who is a literal SHINRA scientist, was there too. Something isn't right."

While Tifa knew that Jasmine's father had a serious lapse in judgement when it came to Vanitas, she was more than confident that he would never put himself in league with SHINRA – at least on purpose.

"Reno told me they started looking after the Silvas when Jasmine was a kid," Axel continued thoughtfully. "And if my hunch is correct, his team started working for the Silvas around the time that Vanitas' parents died."

As the weight of Axel's theory set in, Tifa felt an uneasiness wash over her. She'd often wondered why Reno and Rude were contracted out to work for Jasmine's parents, but she never tried to go deep into the reasoning behind it. After all, it was common for politicians to have bodyguards. But Reno and Rude weren't ordinary bodyguards. And with Axel putting it into perspective, something else seemed very suspicious about the whole thing – especially once he mentioned Vanitas' parents' deaths.

"I know it sounds crazy, but it never made much sense for SOLDIER members to be run-of-the-mill bodyguards. I don't have it all figured out yet, but there's something else going on."

"I agree. I think we should pay Reno and the others a visit," Tifa suggested. "It might not mean anything."

"But it is interesting that Vanitas' parents are dead, and now Jasmine's parents are gone."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Vanitas' folks were in an accident, right?"

"Jasmine said it was a car crash. Whatever story he told at first was a lie."

Axel inhaled sharply. Even though he'd heard this story before, he was still disgusted by the fact that Vanitas would stoop so low as to lie about his parents' deaths. He didn't know either of them, but he knew that they didn't deserve that at the very least. But even so, now he had a starting point. Something else was going on with the Silvas and the Irinos and he had a sneaky suspicion that SHINRA was at the heart of it.

"Well," Axel jumped to his feet and slid his stool back into place, "I'd better get going. I've got a lot to do today. Just let me know if you need anything, Tifa."

Tifa was taken back by Axel's abrupt decision to leave. "Where are you off to, Axel?"

"I got a few things I need to iron out," he called over his shoulder as he made his way to the entrance with Tifa following closely behind him. "Nothing too crazy. Mostly SOLDIER nonsense. You know, the usual BS."

Tifa wasn't quite convinced that Axel was suddenly rushing out to deal with mundane SOLDIER tasks. But there was no need in challenging him. Besides, Axel had been nothing but trustworthy up to this point. If he needed to take care of something, who was she to question him?

"Sounds good," she relinquished. "But do tell Reno when you see him to call me."

Axel waved as he let himself out. "No prob. But if you see him before I do, tell him I've got to talk to him. That moron has a lot of explaining to do."