Lyra dreamt that she was hiking up a cold and snowy mountain. She didn't know why she was hiking, or even where she was going. All she knew was that it was cold and there was an awful pit in her stomach. Something bad was about to happen, but she wouldn't be able to stop it. She was following the man with long silver hair and a very long sword. He turned around every so often to make sure she was there, but he hardly said anything. And if he did say anything, he reminded her to stay close and not to leave his sight.

The others with them were silent and freezing. Lyra knew they were SOLDIERs, but she didn't know their names. Or maybe she did, but she couldn't recall them.

"Not long now," the silver-haired man finally said. "Keeping up?"

Lyra found herself nodding and, despite the awful feeling of dread, she grinned, skipping closer as she followed him. She felt younger, maybe around 10 or 11. Some childish part of her understood that this man was her caretaker of some sort and that she shouldn't be there. If something bad happened to her, he would get in trouble. She was important to the Shinra Science Department, and she was in enough trouble before she snuck away.

Just as she was about to grab his hand, the scenery began to change. She froze as ice filled her stomach. The man kept walking, but the air was hot and dry. Smoke filled her eyes as flames soared high above her head. Lyra coughed but the smoke was too thick for her to breathe. She tried to call out for the man to stop but she couldn't.

Then she woke up.

Kadaj was shaking her awake. She sat up and a blanket fell off her. Before she could ask what was going on and where the blanket came from, Kadaj shushed her.

"Keep quiet. The WRO found us."

Lyra cocked her head to the side and listened. The walls in the building were thin but she couldn't hear anything. She shook her head. "I don't hear anything."

"They're downstairs, questioning tenants," Yazoo said, not bothering to keep his voice down. Not that he needed to anyway. His voice was soft yet razor-sharp, and he didn't make any sound as he walked. Loz, on the other hand, was tiptoeing about, his face screwed up as if keeping quiet was torture for him.

Lyra grabbed for her bag but it wasn't where she had left it.

"My bag," she whispered. "Where is it?"

Kadaj smirked and threw a different, less burned bag at her. She caught it and opened it. Her things were still there, including the prototype weapon. She smiled as she shoved the blanket inside and stood.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Kadaj slung his own bag and his sword on his shoulders and walked across the living room. He opened the window. The sun wasn't even rising yet, just a smudge of purple on the horizon. The morning air was cool but still warmer than the freezing apartment.

"Come on. We're jumping."

Lyra blinked. "What?"

Yazoo huffed as he shoved passed her. "Well, we have to get down to the truck somehow. We can't use the stairs. The WRO are using them." He scowled at Kadaj. "Apparently, someone didn't dispose of your cell phone properly."

Kadaj rolled his eyes. "No, I did. They were probably tracking Lyra the second she left. Not entirely my fault."

Lyra shook her head. "It'll be mine. It was my phone. I shouldn't have brought it with, that was stupid."

Lyra peered out the window. There was no screen, which she felt was a safety hazard, and they were about six floors up. She paled as she drew back. "I don't think that jumping out is a good idea."

Kadaj shrugged as if this wasn't a good enough reason to dissuade him from jumping out a window six floors up. "Why not?"

Lyra knit her brows and stammered. She feebly gestured to the open window. "There's- there isn't anything down there to catch us."

"And?"

What the hell?

"Are you insane?!" She almost screeched in disbelief. Kadaj tried to shush her but she continued. "Kadaj, no! I am not jumping out a window!"

"They're coming!" Loz stumbled as he ran from the door. He jumped out the window, almost running over Lyra as she fell back. She didn't hear anything other than heavy boots marching up the apartment buildings stairs and knocks on the neighbor's doors. She ran to the window and looked down.

Loz smiled and waved from below. Lyra closed her eyes and sighed. Yazoo pulled her back a bit so he could take his turn.

"Look, he made it," Yazoo drawled. "And now I'm going to make it too." He climbed out onto the windowsill as silent as ever and dropped like it was nothing. He landed on his feet and looked up.

"Our turn," Kadaj said, dropping his bag out the window. Loz caught it. Lyra stepped back to glare at him.

"I said that I'm not jumping!"

The knocks came closer.

Kadaj rose a brow. "Would you like to take your chances with them? Go back to people who are terrified of you? Or do you want to come with us?"

The knocks came to their door. Lyra looked at the door and remembered the WRO and the secrets they kept. She sniffed and turned to Kadaj.

"Fine. You first or me?"

Kadaj snorted. The soldiers knocked again. Lyra could hear them talking.

"The landlady says that someone lives here."

"She describe the tenant?"

Kadaj answered her. "Hold on, okay? Don't let go. If it makes you feel better, keep your eyes shut."

With that, he pulled Lyra to the window. Kadaj crouched so Lyra could wrap her arms around his shoulders from behind. It was awkward and she didn't like the thought of jumping, so she squeezed her eyes shut. When they jumped from the windowsill, the soldiers kicked down the door. The wind whipped her hair as they fell and her screech stayed caught in her throat and then they were on the ground. Kadaj set her down and looked up. Lyra was shaking like a leaf, but she looked up. The soldiers were leaning out the window, yelling for backup.

"Come on." Kadaj grabbed Lyra's wrist and ran down the dark street. Yazoo and Loz followed. Kadaj and Loz led them to an underground garage a few blocks away, running past homeless people and drunks stumbling home.

"Really? Was this a smart place to put it?" Lyra panted as the boys loaded themselves into a beat-up truck. She climbed into the backseat with Loz and buckled herself in. The inside smelled like rust and old leather.

"It was either this or leave the truck in the open," Kadaj answered. "Smarter to leave it here instead. Much safer."

Lyra stayed silent as they left the garage, heading out of Edge.

"I am not wasting any more time looking," Barret snapped. "We can either waste time and resources looking for one girl while others die, or we can find Dr. Jael and-"

"She's the last true Cetra," Reeve countered. "We need a Cetra to help us with the Planet."

Barret scoffed. "The Woodlands Area is full of Cetra. Hire one of 'em to talk to the Planet."

Cloud sighed and stretched his legs. He had been sitting for too long.

"According to Shinra documents, they aren't real Cetra, not anymore," Shelke began slowly. "Whatever Jael and his colleagues did down there, the Cetra are more human than they have ever been."

"I don't care if they are more human," Barret countered. "I'm not wasting my time looking for her. People are dying because Jael wants her back."

Cloud cleared his throat. "So if we find her, you'd hand her over?"

Barret turned to glare at him. Cloud didn't react, just continued to silently listen to Barret's outbursts. "One life versus a dozen? A hundred? Thousand? Yes, I would hand her over. Then I would fill the guy so full of bullet holes the Planet won't be able to take him."

"That is quite the claim," Reeve said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. Barret paced around some more.

"What if half of us look for Lyra and the other half look for Jael?" Yuffie offered. Cloud raised a brow. Yuffie grinned a little as everyone turned to look at her. "I mean, it sounds like some of us want to continue looking anyway."

The room was quiet. AVALANCHE and the WRO generals were silent as they thought this over. Cloud doodled a bit on a pad of paper. He wanted to find Lyra, try to get her to understand that he and Tifa and everyone else were trying to help her, that they were her friends. They didn't mean to hurt her or make her feel hurt in any way.

Then again, half the reason they kept secrets from Lyra about Lyra was because of what she could do. They didn't know her, not really. She had stayed with them a week or two and then disappeared, even after Cloud and Tifa had taken her in.

The WRO soldiers had been sent to the neighborhood Shelke and the Tech Department thought Lyra would be in. Something about her cellphone signal's final signal being there. They didn't find anything, but at least three swear that they saw Lyra jumping out the window and running off into the early morning with the Remnants of Sephiroth. They were likely out of the city by now, in the late afternoon. Another video had been sent out by Jael, and he was not happy that the WRO hadn't even considered his offer. Reeve opted not to answer his call, hoping that Jael's threat was a bluff.

In the new video, Jael continued his rant about wanting his favorite subject and killed a teen boy, around 16 or 17 maybe, this time with the Vigo. It was gruesome to watch and the Tech Department was still working on keeping the video from spreading across the Planet. The fewer people who knew, the less panic there would be. And the safer Lyra would be, too.

"I'll go with Yuffie." Cloud looked up from his doodle. He wasn't the only one mildly surprised by this revelation. Vincent continued, "We'll look around, take some soldiers with us."

"Look around for what?" Barret asked. Vincent shrugged.

"Lyra," he said. Barret scowled. Yuffie piped up.

"Don't worry, we won't take many soldiers with us! We'll leave you the lion's share to locate Jael. You'll need more to take down the Vigo anyway."

Reeve clapped his hand on the table. "Sounds doable. Barret and the generals will take Cid and his ship and look for Jael while Vincent and Yuffie take a handful of soldiers to look for Lyra. The rest of us will stay here and decode the Project Starchild files. Everyone go home and get some rest. We'll start tomorrow."

Cloud and Tifa said their goodbyes and left for home. The bar was closed for the night, Tifa was opening it the next night, so it was quiet. The kids were supposed to be in bed and a girl from down the street had been hired to watch them. Tifa paid her the promised gil and sent her home.

Cloud went to the kitchen, meaning to get himself a drink of water. He took a glass from a cupboard and filled it with water from the sink and took a drink.

"Cloud!"

He jumped, choking on his mouthful of water. Water splashed down the front of his clothes and onto the floor and counter. He coughed and sat the glass down as he turned around. Denzel smiled at him.

"What are you doing up? You should be in bed," Cloud managed between coughs. Denzel shook his head.

"Marlene and I were going to stay up until you and Tifa came home," he said. "But Marlene fell asleep, and Izzy left."

Cloud fished around the cabinets under the industrial sink, looking for a rag to wipe up his water mess. "Okay? And what about that explains out of bed?"

Denzel shrugged. Cloud found a rag and cleaned up his mess.

"When is Lyra coming back?"

Cloud stilled and sighed. He and Tifa hadn't really told the kids why Lyra was gone yet. He stood and placed the rag on edge of the kitchen sink.

"Lyra is…. Lyra isn't going to back for a while."

Denzel frowned. "Why not? Did she not like it here? Did we do something wrong?"

Cloud chuckled. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. She liked you and Marlene." He shook his head. "No, it was me and Tifa's fault. And everyone else."

Denzel pulled a chair from the island counter and sat. He leaned his chin on his hands. "What did you do?"

Cloud sat down across from him, struggling to find a way to explain the mess in a way that an eight-year-old could understand it. Denzel was smart for his age, a little too smart maybe, and he had been through his fair share of hardship. He knew about Shinra and what they had done and knew as well as any that the world was a post-apocalyptic mess. But everything Denzel knew about the Shinra Science Department and his guardian's and family's places in the chaos was watered down. And a lot of what they knew about Lyra and what they hid from Lyra had something to do with human experimentation.

"Sometimes," Cloud began. "Sometimes adults- well, no. Not just adults. People in general…" Cloud paused. Denzel blinked, waiting patiently for Cloud to continue. "Okay, sometimes people learn bad things about the people they care about, and they don't want to let the people they care about know that they know, and sometimes the people they care about don't know the things they know. You following me?"

Denzel nodded. "Are you trying to tell me that you were keeping secrets from Lyra?" Cloud nodded. "Then why didn't you just start with that?"

Cloud grinned. "I'm trying my best. Words are hard."

Denzel giggled at this.

"What I'm trying to say is," Cloud continued. "After we brought Lyra here, Shalua and Shelke found out some really bad things about Lyra. Lyra didn't know about these things, and we all agreed that if she found out, she could get hurt. Lyra's a nice kid, even though what they found says otherwise, so we all agreed not to tell her anything."

"Did Lyra find out?" Denzel asked in a quiet voice.

Cloud nodded. "Yeah. Lyra found out."

Denzel sighed. "Is she ever coming back?"

Cloud shrugged. "I don't know kid. I don't know."

Lyra slept most of the car ride around the mountains, though the road was poorly maintained and bumpy and they had to swerve a few times to avoid hitting something. Kadaj had no clue what safe driving was, apparently.

Quite a few times they passed a farm or a small village, and quite a few times they passed a monster. Lyra remembered what Tifa had told her, about the war and the monsters that roamed the Planet afterward. At least two of the farms they passed were empty and obviously overrun by the monsters. Lyra hoped that the people that lived there had run away.

Loz started a game after a while. It was a cross between I Spy and just Loz pointing out different kinds of monsters as they whizzed past.

"That one had horns!" "That one was huge!" "That one was eating a chocobo!" "Did you see that one? That one had spots and was covered in fur!"

Loz was nice but easy to ignore when she grew tired and decided to take a nap. Between Loz's random outbursts of monster descriptions and Kadaj blasting the radio, it was a wonder that Lyra was able to fall asleep, to begin with.

Her nap was mostly dreamless, or at least the dream was uneventful and not interesting enough to remember. She was jerked awake by Kadaj slamming the brakes. Lyra flew forward, her seatbelt stopping her from hitting Yazoo's seat. Loz, on the other hand, hit Kadaj's seat. He hadn't worn his seatbelt. None of the boys did.

"What-?"

"Did you hear that?" Kadaj asked though he wasn't asking Lyra. The boys were quiet. All Lyra could hear was the radio playing a rock song. Kadaj had turned it down at some point. It was dark outside, and Lyra needed to pop her ears. They were far from the mountains. Suddenly, Yazoo perked up.

"I heard that," he said.

"It sounded like a scream," Loz added. Kadaj reached beside his seat for his sword and left the truck, running around to the passenger side of the car. Again, Lyra didn't hear anything. She looked around but she couldn't see much. The moonlight was covered with clouds and it was misting out. Yazoo swore and left the car.

"Loz, stay here. Watch Lyra." He said. Lyra scoffed and pulled at her seat belt latch. It was broken when she got into the car and she didn't want to imagine cutting herself out of it. She rolled down her window a little so she could hear Yazoo and Kadaj and continued to try to free herself. Loz was no help, as he was focused on what his brothers were doing outside.

"Kadaj! What are you doing?" Yazoo called.

"Helping."

"Since when do you help?"

"Since the Flower Girl sent us back and told me to be a good boy. I don't want to end up back in the Negative if I die."

Whatever Yazoo had mumbled after that, Lyra couldn't hear. Her heart hit her rib cage as a shrill scream pierced the air. Kadaj and Yazoo ran off into the dark field beside the road, towards the scream. Loz opened his door and ran after them, not bothering to close it.

"Hey! Wait!" Lyra called after him. "Fucking dammit…" She continued to jam her fingers onto the button and pull at the latch, but her seatbelt wouldn't give. She froze and stared at the darkness beyond Loz's open door.

She had heard a growl, a low and deep growl that chilled her bones and gave her goosebumps. She heard something rustling and could swear that the light from the interior lights glinted off a pair of eyes. She slowly reached for her bag, meaning to pull her prototype weapon out and cut herself loose. To hell with the feeling of safety, she didn't want to be torn apart by a monster.

Suddenly her door opened and a girl around Lyra's age was shoved inside, soaking wet and shivering from the mist. She climbed over Lyra and sat down in the narrow seat between Loz and Lyra, not bothering to acknowledge the person she was jabbing her skinny limbs into. Loz jumped in and slammed his doors as his brothers came flying back as black mist. Kadaj slammed the truck into gear and drove like a bat out of hell out of there. Lyra heard something large and heavy follow them, but didn't dare look back. Instead, she turned to the boys. Yazoo was calmly drying off his guns and Kadaj was swearing under his breath.

"What happened?"

Kadaj jumped and glanced back. "Hey, you're awake."

"Yeah, thanks for noticing. What happened?"

He jerked his chin. "Ask her."

Lyra frowned and turned to the girl. She was Wutainese, dark amber eyes, long black hair straighter than a pin tied back into a ponytail that clung to her back from the mist. She was skin and bones and tall with the clearest skin Lyra had ever laid eyes on. She was dressed in a simple white tank top and brown shorts with hiking boots. Her backpack laid at her feet, its contents falling out. It was flawed beyond repair.

"Who are you? What happened?"

The girl blinked at her. "Drew. Drew Nakamura. You?"

Lyra looked to Kadaj, who was watching in the rearview mirror. He nodded once.

"Eyes on the road," Lyra reminded him. He smirked and did as he was told. Lyra rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling. "I'm Lyra."

Drew grinned. "Pretty name for a pretty face. Where you are guys heading?"

"Junon," Loz answered. Drew blinked.

"Oh. Well, if you don't turn here you're going to miss-"

Kadaj took a sharp turn, causing everyone to fly to the left of the car as he did so.

"…Miss the fastest shortcut. Wow, you are one crazy driver."

"Okay, so what happened?" Lyra asked, getting impatient.

"Eh. Just a monster," Drew answered, gathering her things into what was left of her bag. Ropes and a multi-tool. Some duct tape and a knife. An empty folder and a notebook soaked with water. "Shit, ink's gonna get everywhere. Hey, sorry for climbing over you. I was just trying not to get killed." She grinned at Lyra. Lyra knit her brows and pulled her pack closer.

"So I answered your questions, pretty face," Drew said. "Whatcha gonna do in Junon?"

The boys were silent. Lyra caught Kadaj glancing every so often in the rearview mirror. What were they going to do in Junon?

"Okay. Awkward silence," Drew mumbled. "Any idea where you'll be staying?"

"An inn," Loz offered innocently, smiling proudly. Drew smiled back.

"Yeah, but there's a local festival this weekend and all the inns and hotels will be filled by now."

"Then where do you suggest we stay?" Yazoo drawled, turning to face Drew. Drew smiled at him. It was a flirtatious smile.

"I don't know. You got a pretty face too."

Yazoo rolled his eyes and turned around. Drew continued to smirk and sat back.

"Okay, I'll be serious now," she said. "You guys helped me, now I help you. It's an honor thingie in Wutai."

Kadaj turned the windshield wipers on as it started to rain. Lyra hoped he would slow down. She didn't want to crash. She sent the vibe down the bond and he seemed to catch on. He slowed down a bit.

"Did you grow up in Wutai?" Yazoo asked. Drew shook her head.

"No. My mother did, though." She leaned forward over the center console in the front seat as they sped through the outskirts of Junon. It was quiet, but it was late. The inner part of the city would be busy no doubt, but the suburbs were silent and still. Drew pointed at a street with a spotlight. "Turn there."

Kadaj frowned. "Why?"

Drew shrugged. "I'm taking you guys to my apartment. You need a place to stay and you saved my life. You can stay with me while you do whatever you're going to do in Junon." She turned to Yazoo. "It's a bit cramped though. You seem like the type who likes personal space a bit too much."

He returned her words with a glare. Drew held up her hands and backed up with another grin. "Hey, I'm just messing with you. Turn there."

Kadaj slowed the truck to the speed limit until they stopped.

"K, what are you doing?" Lyra asked. He sat back and scowled at the steering wheel.

"Thinking," he said. Lyra felt down the bond. He was being overly cautious, but he didn't trust this Drew girl. She seems nice but it could be a trick? Anything could be a trick, but should we take the offer? We need a place to stay, Lyra's tired, I'm tired, my brothers are tired. Would the Flower Girl and the Lifestream let me into the Positive if I end up having to kill this girl? I'll probably end up doing that if she's tricking us and-

"Why don't we just stay a night," Lyra offered, reaching out through the bond, hoping to ease the rapid-fire thoughts in his head. "If it doesn't work out by tomorrow evening, we go someplace else."

A flicker of a smile crossed Kadaj's face as he nodded. He put the truck back into gear and continued the turn, following Drew's directions until they came across an empty street lined with cars and streetlights. An apartment building had been shoved between a closed restaurant and a nightclub. The alleyway next to the nightclub was lit by the giant neon signs advertising the nightclub and alcoholic beverages that were served inside.

"I live inside those apartments," Drew said as she gathered her things. "Third floor, 23. Hey, can you hold this?"

She handed Lyra a roll of duct tape and Loz a length of rope that wasn't sitting in her ruined bag properly. She led them across the street in the rain and into the apartment building. It wasn't too bad, but everything was colored brown and dark muddy orange. The front room by the elevators held the mailboxes on one wall and laundry room through a door on the other. Drew walked past the elevators and up the carpeted stairs, all the way to her apartment on the end of the third floor.

"The elevators are broken," she said in a hushed voice. "Some idiot kid who wanted to be an electrician thought it would be fun to mess with the wires and stuff and got stuck a month ago. He's fine, but the elevator isn't." She unlocked her apartment and held it open, letting them inside. She flipped on a light and locked the door behind them.

Drew's apartment was small but comfortable. She had a nice multicolored rug on the floor before a couch and a stuffed chair. Her TV was old but still worked. Her kitchen was right next to the front door and just beyond the front door was a small hall where Drew's bathroom, bedroom, and another bedroom was. She had some clutter, picture frames, and knickknacks, but it was clear that she had lived there a while and loved it. Drew's apartment smelled like jasmine incense and apple blossoms, which was better than dust and mildew like in Kadaj's apartment.

"Make yourselves at home. I got leftovers in the fridge and some movies you can watch." She made her way to her bathroom. "And nothing here is worth stealing, so don't think about it!"

Lyra yawned. Loz snuck down the hall and checked the guest room. He came back with a grin.

"There's a bed!" He held out a fist. "Rock, Paper, Scissors?"

His brothers looked at each other and held out their fist. Then Kadaj frowned and withdrew his fist.

"Wait, Lyra's the only girl. She should get the bed."

"What? No. Rock, Paper, Scissors." She joined her own fist. Kadaj shook his head.

"No, you get the bed," he insisted. Lyra rolled her eyes.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors is fair, K."

"And I'm trying to be a gentleman, Ly," Kadaj insisted again. "You get the bed."

Lyra spoke through her teeth this time, though it didn't bother him much. "Rock, Paper, Scissors."

He narrowed his eyes but eventually obliged. They played it once. Loz drew Paper, Yazoo drew Rock, Lyra and Kadaj drew Scissors. They all looked at each other.

"Best out of three or until we have one winner," Yazoo said. They went again. Loz drew Paper again along with Yazoo while Lyra and Kadaj again drew Scissors. Lyra frowned.

"I think the bond is working against us, K," she said. Kadaj smirked and they started again. Loz, Paper, Yazoo, Scissors, Lyra and Kadaj, Scissors. They tried again, spending about ten minutes just to see who would get the bed until Lyra ended up winning.

"You let me win," she accused the boys as she picked her pack from the floor. The boys insisted they didn't, as Lyra expected.

"You should have just taken the offer for the bed in the first place," Kadaj told her. She stuck out her tongue and left for the room. Yazoo and Loz took the couch and chair as Kadaj followed Lyra. They passed the bathroom and Lyra could hear the shower running and Drew humming. Lyra entered the guest room and Kadaj immediately checked every inch of the room as if he was looking for monsters. Lyra blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"Kadaj, I don't think Drew is working with the bad guys. We'll be fine for one night," she said. She sat on the bed. It was simply made with a plain cotton quilt. A wooden dresser painted white stood next to a closet door across from her. Kadaj predictably checked that closet and then the other at the other side, that opened at the foot of the bed.

"I know, but you can't be too careful," Kadaj muttered. "Plus, Aerith said that I'm your bodyguard and I'd be a pretty shitty bodyguard if I let you get killed by some hidden assassin." He grinned at her and pulled his sleeping bag from his duffel bag. His sword was placed neatly inside. Lyra cocked her head to the side.

"Are you sure you don't want the bed? I could sleep on the floor and-"

"No, Lyra. You won it fair and square in a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors."

He finished unrolling his sleeping bag and took off his shoes. Lyra hesitated before taking her own shoes off. She didn't want to take the bed, but then again she did win it... even though she was pretty sure the boys had botched the game on purpose. Lyra smiled and rolled her eyes at the thought. She sat her shoes next to her bag and crawled under the cover as Kadaj turned the lights off.

"Night, K." She whispered in the dark.

"Night, Star-Eyes."

Author's Note: OKAY I WANT TO APOLOGIZE AGAIN for taking so long to update! I got pretty busy with work and family and then a writer's block came upon me but hey it's all good now! Please don't forget to tell me what you think in a review and don't forget to follow and favorite! I want to hear what everyone thinks of Drew and Jael and the events so far! Thank you so much for reading!