This a surprise, Reeve thought, as Vincent's name flashed across his cell phone's screen. He hadn't intended to contact the gunman quite so soon. He delicately but purposefully pressed the green 'accept' button with his thumb and held the phone up to his ear.

"Reeve," Vincent began immediately upon the ending of the dial tone. Reeve paused for a few seconds, waiting, but Vincent didn't say anything else.

"Hello, Vincent," he responded finally. "Your timing is fortuitous."

The gunman remained silent.

"I assume the reason for your call is the situation at the mansion," Reeve exhaled slightly. Word travels much faster than Meteor, he thought as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I wasn't intending to trouble you with the details right away," he admitted.

"When were you intending to trouble me?" The gunman replied dryly. It would have seemed an attempt at humor had it come from any other person, though from Vincent the question was vaguely sardonic.

"When I thought the timing was more optimal," Reeve stated, unflinching. "This shouldn't require additional aid," he continued, unconsciously smirking.

"I will decide that for myself," Vincent replied. His voice was unwavering and stern.

"I anticipated you would say that, and transportation is inbound to you."

"If you've sent them to her grave, I am no longer there," Vincent appeared to be as close to impatience as was possible for him.

"I know where you are." This time it was Reeve's turn to be direct. "I can track all of you through your cell phones, and frequently do in case of emergencies."

Vincent was silent for a long time. Reeve could hear him slowly take a breath when he finally decided to speak: "Then why did you allow Yuffie to go to the mansion?"

"Ah," Reeve began, pausing for another moment to consider his words. "That was…a bit of developmental oversight, I fear. Had we evidence of Lifestream mutations of this caliber, I would have taken a more direct and cautious approach, but Yuffie…" His voice trailed off for a moment. "She is a creature of habit, not unlike yourself," he finally declared, with an air of finality. "She had already decided what she would do, and like hell can anyone direct her otherwise, rational arguments aside."

Vincent remained silent. It was difficult for Reeve to tell if the gunman had merely accepted his words, if he was preparing to challenge them, or if (perhaps) the man was offended at the idea that his own routine was irrational. There was a nearly inaudible exhale from the man on the other end of the line.

"She is in danger to prove that her actions are irrational?" Vincent asked, softly. It didn't sound particularly accusing, but given the nature of the question, a measure of blame existed nonetheless.

"I couldn't control the variables," Reeve admitted, and a hint of urgency and desperation slipped through. "Her arrival to the mansion was meant to be a friendly challenge, the setup of a listen-to-your-elders, teachable moment," a small smirk still graced his features as he admitted his fault, "as well as the penultimate I-told-you-so." Even despite the importance of his position, Reeve couldn't help having a sense of humor, the desire to find light in uncertain circumstance.

It made him undeniably human, something that Vincent would envy-if he had the capacity for it. Perhaps he heard the whispers of other emotions tugging at the back of his mind, but in the past they would be no match for the river of guilt, and now-having some sense of closure about his perceived failures-now…perhaps the riverbed was dry, and he was simply empty.

A quick exhale sounded from the gunman at the end of Reeve's admission, but he couldn't tell if it was a scoff, or an attempt at a chuckle. Vincent also couldn't tell, as the response had been entirely involuntary.

"I regret my blatant disregard of the possibility of danger," Reeve finished, stroking his goatee. "It is unlike me," he began again, but his cell phone started vibrating against his hand, interrupting his thought. Reeve pulled the phone away from his ear to see Nanaki calling him again. He dismissed the call just in time to hear Vincent say:

"It isn't unlike Cait Sith."

The response caught Reeve off guard, and he chuckled. "No, I suppose it isn't," he agreed. "Perhaps this is Cait Sith's way of telling me I need a vacation." If only the Planet would oblige…

He shook his head and sat in his office chair, pensive. Vibrations rippled through his temple and palm again. He checked the screen. It was Nanaki. Dismiss.

Vincent had halted his travelling progress to receive Nanaki's call, and in turn call Reeve. He stood, still as a statue, in an open field. The sun was beginning to set, storm clouds were rolling across the horizon, but the rain hadn't yet reached him. The wind was picking up the chill of the night as it whipped his ragged cape behind him. It occurred to him he would be riding into the storm. The personal risk wasn't a concern for Vincent, but the chance of equipment damage might be to Reeve.

"The weather will turn soon," the gunman said. He heard Reeve exhale.

"In Nibelheim, it already has. Yuffie called me during the storm, before the attack," Reeve responded. "The conditions were not fit for her return travel-they very storm you're heading towards is the same that trapped her. We're hard-pressed for other options at this point, though."

Reeve heard Vincent make a noise similar to a grunt. The vibrations continued, all the way through Reeve's arm, and he didn't bother looking at the screen. He would call Nanaki back as soon as he was able to, he resolved.

"Nanaki mentioned Lifestream abnormalities," the gunman began.

"Yes," Reeve stroked his goatee contemplatively. It was unlike Vincent to engage in small talk. Under normal circumstances, the conversation would have ended after the man had given his location. Was he killing time? Gathering information on what he should expect? Had it been long enough since Vincent had spoken to someone that physically responded that he was absorbing what conversation he could get? Surely it couldn't be that, since Nanaki had mentioned meeting with him… Vincent had confronted a lot of his past over the last two years, could it be that it had softened him? Regardless of Vincent's reasons, Reeve would act as a conversation partner for his friend for as long as Vincent would have him. He'd always been of the mindset that if Vincent opened himself to the compassion of his companions, he would find his own again in time. If Reeve could aid that in any way, he would.

"Previous cases have reported sudden weather pattern changes before unusual events, but none have been quite this sinister," Reeve continued, realizing he was keeping Vincent waiting. "Whatever is causing chaos at the mansion, Nanaki stressed that it was large and mutated in some way, and I would be a fool not to consider its appearance as proof that the Lifestream overabundance may have consequences the likes of which we can't contend with, particularly since humanity hasn't yet seen the same benefits."

"Save for waning mortality," Vincent quipped.

"He told you that, too?" Reeve asked, unaware that Nanaki had filtered as much information to Vincent as he had. "The only cases of humans recovering from imminent demise have been seen in Wutai thus far, and there have been only two. Granted, the survivalist existence of the region as compared to more urban environments may be the reason. With more people facing death due to wildlife or exposure to unpredictable elements, its only natural this region would be the first to see traces of- "

"Three," Vincent interrupted. His voice was quiet, but sharp. The gunman turned and scanned the horizon behind him as the distant buzzing of an engine steadily grew in intensity. He spotted a dot in the sky, growing closer as the seconds passed, becoming the shape of a helicopter as it neared him.

Reeve was silent, stunned, weighing the implications of the gunman's statement.

"Who…?" There were more than a thousand questions now racing through Reeve's mind, too many to form into cohesive sentences. He could hear a motor beating through the speaker, but even knowing he was running out of time, he couldn't grasp the syllables of the words his brain was drowning in. Even the vibrations of Nanaki's umpteenth call failed to ground him.

"Reeve," Vincent said in parting. The gunman closed his phone and turned toward the approaching copter.

The call had ended, but the only movement Reeve made was to take the phone away from his ear and set it upon the desk. Nanaki called again. Reeve didn't answer. What could Vincent have meant with his implication that someone else was alive when they shouldn't be? Who could he have meant? An image of Sephiroth was conjured, and Reeve's blood went cold. He scolded himself, desperate and angry that he hadn't considered the possibility since the very beginning. The planet improving, the search for efficient energy sources-it had all distracted him, made him complacent.