"It is disgusting how good you are at this game, Biggs," Wedge declared, looking up from the small pile of cards on the table between he and his friend.

"Face it, I'm the king of Speed." Biggs paused. "All right, that didn't sound right..." he added as the other three in the room bust out laughing.

It was almost nine in the evening, and no word of the invasions had yet come. Shion and Vincent had warned them that it might be awhile, so they weren't worrying just yet. Tifa and Reno had only left the group about a half-an-hour ago. Reno had begun to grow uneasy under the piercing glare of Wedge and had suggested that he and Tifa turn in for the night.

Standing up from the folding chair, Biggs yawned. "I don't know about you guys, but I am beat." He shuffled over to the couch in the room, and threw himself down onto it, next to Alli.

"Oh, poor baby," the teenager rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, pity me."

***

Costa del Sol was smothering in tension. Reeve was surprised anyone could breathe the air. War hung over the city like funnel cloud, sinking closer to the ground with every passing second, fear growing until the final moment when it touched down and the cyclone was born, slashing across the world.

They'd been in the coastal city for around two hours. Barret had immediately begun swearing about the heat, and Reeve had to agree with the aggressive man for once. It was unseasonably warm, even for the resort town. He supposed it had something to do with the storm that had recently passed through.

It had taken them several hours to reach Costa del Sol. Rather than going by helicopter, as was the original plan, they decided they would drive in a small terrain vehicle. Stopping for almost a half-an-hour in Correl, in which Barret had been disturbingly quiet, refusing to leave the vehicle, claiming, "Too hot to get out."

While in the almost completely dried-up town, they had picked up almost the entire adult population's assurance that they would meet them in Costa del Sol. Arrangements had been made with the Underground members of Rocket Town that would be driving out the next day to transport them. Cid assured them that with the backings they had in the resort city, they would have a good chance of standing up to the expected amount of troops that would arrive in Costa del Sol the next afternoon.

"Hey Cid?" The former Shinra-exec turned to face the pilot in the room of the inn where they were staying.

"Yeah Reeve?"

"How exactly do you expect townspeople to stand up to Shinra's army?"

Cid chuckled before answering. "We'll be prepared, trust me."

"Yeah, but how?"

"Do you really think all that stuff back in the Underground headquarters was for show? We're ready! We have weapons, we have vehicles, hell if it comes down to it, we have chocobos! We'll be fine. Quit worryin'."

Reeve sighed. "Sorry Cid, but I can't do that. It's my job to worry. I'm the person in Avalanche who worries too much." A grumble was heard from the general direction of Barret's bed.

"Will you two quit yer yappin'! I'm tryin' to sleep!"

***

"Look! Something's surfacing!" Aeris whispered over to Yuffie, pointing out at the ocean. The two of them were hidden among the sand dunes of the beach near Gongaga, watching for any signs of the oncoming army.

The teen's eyes narrowed as she looked on to the vessel that was indeed surfacing from the depths of the ocean. It was large, and looked to be one of Wutai's own designs.

Bastard Rufus! It's bad enough he takes over our city, now he uses our own weapons against us?

"We better go tell James and Shera," she looked over at the Cetra, then crept out of their hiding spot and hurried toward the tiny town, Aeris following her closely.

They'd been in Gongaga for most of the day. It hadn't taken long to reach the washed up town with the Highwind. Aeris had felt bad that Biggs couldn't be there to see the answer to his question about the airships got out of the ground.

She'd hardly believed it even when it happened. They'd been in the main hold of the ship. The engines had started with a deafening roar. They began to ascend, and the three Avalanche members had been cringing, waiting for impact with the ground above them, but none came. The ground had opened up.

In awe, the three had rushed out to look over the side, just in time to see two great slabs off earth falling back into position as several smaller airships followed the Highwind. They landed the ship near Cosmo Canyon, where they were greeted by the guardian, Nanaki. There, they were given terrain vehicles and drove the rest of the way, the airships staying safely away from the soon-to-be battlefield until they were needed.

Before long, Aeris and Yuffie had reached the house of the family that was housing them for the time being.

"James, Shera!!" Yuffie hollered, bursting in through the front door and winding trough to the sitting room. "Something's happening!"

"Huh?" James stood from his spot on the sofa, and Shera gave them a sharp glance. "What?"

"A submarine's surfacing! A big, Wutain one!" Yuffie spat out these last words as though they were venom.

"Are they attacking?" Shera's mouth was pursed into a tight line as she stood, leaving for the next room.

"Well, I don't know, but I'm gonna guess...YES! Why else would a huge war submarine surface??" The young Wutain was beside herself in rage.

"Yuffie, Yuffie!" James, trying to get the girl under control, placed his hands over her shoulders. "Calm down. They may just be making an observation of the town." His eyes caught hers and he was suddenly very conscious of how close they were. His hands dropped to back to his side immediately. Aeris stifled a giggle as Shera came charging back into the room.

"Alright, I want you three to get back out to the bluffs and keep a lookout until more orders come. Keep out of sight. Yuffie, you're familiar with the model of the sub, right?"

"Uh, yeah!"

"What sort of observation equipment does it have onboard?"

"Oh, nothing too great! All that was put into smaller scout subs! Those like the one out there are used for attacking mainly. I don't think we have too much worry about." She paused. "Oh wait, besides getting blown into a million pieces!!!"

"Er, Yuffie," Aeris, looked over to the ninja, nervous. "Would you mind shutting up??"

***

"Yeesh, it's dark in here."

"Well, the lights are off, dear."

"Oh shut up, you know what I mean!" Jessie, groping blindly in the darkness, hurled an extra pillow over in the general direction of Biggs. By the sound of it, she missed.

"Will you two quit bickering already? Some of us are trying to sleep!" Wedge was sounding awfully irritated as of late.

"Dear, dear, Wedge. Haven't you already said that, somewhere along the lines of our little adventure?"

"...have I?"

"Yes, I believe you have."

***

Elena's head had only recently stopped pounding, yet Zoë's incessant complaining was threatening to send her off the deep end.

"I cannot believe this!" Slight scuffling could be heard, as though the youngest Turk's feet were wriggling against her bonds.

"Zoë," Elena sighed, having had enough. "Would you just shut up?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard her," Tseng spoke up before Elena could once more. "We don't care for your complaints. It's bad enough in here as it is, don't make me regret adding you to the Turks." Several moments of silence ensued. Finally, the short blonde couldn't take it anymore and turned to the one person in the room she might even begin to call a friend.

"Hey Rude? You ok?" He hadn't said more than a couple of words the entire time they were down in the cell and while Rude had never been much of a talker...it was still a little unnerving.

"Fine. Why?" His voice was as soft-spoken as ever, as though the question had been asked in the middle of a field of wildflowers and bumblebees.

"Well...you were ran through with a spear so I dunno, I guess I was just curious."

Then, to her complete surprise, what could only be described as a chuckle let loose from the tall Turk.

"Laney, I do believe you are forgetting that you too were run through. So I suppose then that I should also be asking you, are you ok?"

Elena could merely blink. That was the most...anyone had ever heard Rude say in one setting. She supposed she should have felt honored to be the recipient of such a lengthy comment from him, but at the moment, she could only blink.

"Uhh...yeah. I'm fine," she eventually managed, shocked to hear him laughing under his breath.

Confinement can do strange things to people...

***

James glared out into the darkness, his green eyes locked on the submarine. So far, it had done nothing but sit, and no others had surfaced, but they were still wary.

A slight electronic beeping shook him from reverie, and turned to the source. Yuffie's watch. She only wore it every now and then, he'd noted. Now, she was looking at the display, a somewhat depressed sigh leaking out of lips. Before he could question her, she turned to face him.

"Merry Christmas, James."

"Huh?" He glanced down at the watch, and took of the date shining on the display. It was indeed Christmas. How ironic. Despite the feeling of irony, he smiled at Yuffie. "Merry Christmas, Yuffers." She offered him only a small smile and then went back to watching the sub. Aeris, down a few yards, chuckled lightly. "Merry Christmas to both of you, too!"

"Oops! Sorry Aeris! You were so quiet I forgot you were there! Merry Christmas!" James waved to his fellow Cetra, who shook her head.

"You guys are so blind, you know that?"

Two voices became in expressing a rather dumbfounded, "Huh?"

***

"Reice, you had better have a good reason for dragging me out of bed at 3:30 in the morning in the middle of fucking hurricane." Caleb Hatcher was in a bad mood. There had been no message from Grace. It was cold. Very cold. And disgustingly wet and windy. Well, after all, it was a hurricane outside. But did that stop Reice from calling him while he was sleeping and demanding he met him. Noooooooo.

Reice's eyebrows went up at the swear. Caleb was never one to use curse words. He must have been really mad. Boy did Reice have a surprise for him. "I do, I do. But it's a secret. Trust me though you'll be...entertained."

Caleb gave a disgusted sigh and said no more until he noticed something. "Why're we in the old warehouse district?"

***

"Hey Jessie-girl? Whattsa matter? Can't sleep?" Wedge slid into the room, dimly lit by a single light-bulb, where Jessie sat watching the storm intensify.

"Nope. Thought I'd come in here...watch the storm and think."

He took a seat next to her on the couch. "What about?"

"Oh um.... nothing!" Her cheeks colored very rapidly scarlet.

"Uh-huh."

***

"Ok, we're here." Reice stopped dead in his tracks, the quickly rising water rushing past their ankles.

"What? We're here?" Caleb was practically seeing red. "What do you mean, we're here?!"

"Well, actually, we're going there." He pointed to the large, abandoned building in front of them. "Notice anything funny about it?"

"No." The soldier paused. "Yes."

"What?"

"There's a light on."

***

"No really, I wasn't thinking about anything, I was just...thinking."

"You make less and less sense with each passing day, you know that?" He grinned at her.

"Oh you hush."

***

"Shhh...we don't want them to hear us clanking around before we even get half-way through the building." Reice's voice was a bit reprimanding, though mainly, it was giddy.

"How exactly are we supposed to find them in this maze?" The factory was surprisingly full of rooms. There were three large, spacious areas, as one might expect, and then dozens, upon dozens of hallways.

"Easy. We follow the dust-free path." Taking out a tiny flashlight, he began to follow the cleanest hallways until they reached what seemed a well-attended area of the seemingly abandoned building. Several doors branched off of what seemed a living room-like area. A couple of couches and armchairs surrounded a coffee table. One of the doors was slightly ajar, and another had dim light pouring from the bottom. Muffled voices could be heard inside.

Soundlessly getting Reice's attention, Caleb mouthed to him, "Avalanche?" And the captain nodded back, a small grin playing across his face. He motioned to the lit door, and began to his way over to it. Pausing for Caleb to make it over, he reached for the doorknob...

***

"I'm telling you Jess, it's not normal for someone to be as weird as you," Wedge, having seemingly forgotten he was supposed to be in a bad mood, had an enormous grin on his face.

"Grr...you only wanted me back so you could pick on me, didn't you?!" Jessie's eyes were narrowed into a glare, but she knew he was just kidding. Wedge was kind of like an older brother to her.

"Yup! Oh, another thing, the blonde hair?" He picked at a strand of it. "Is really not working for me."

"Oh? And why-"

She was interrupted by the most astounding thing. The door flew open and standing there was Captain Reice and Caleb.

"Shit."

***

Caleb listened as he waited for Reice to give the signal.

"-another thing," a man inside was saying. "The blonde hair?" Grace had blonde hair... "Is really not working for me."

"Oh?" That even kinda sounds like her. "And why-"

"NOW!" Reice turned the knob and threw back the door, startling the two inside.

"Shit."

Caleb's jaw was on the ground. Jessie's was too as she and Wedge flew up off of the sofa. Reice was beside himself in mirth.

"G-Grace??" Caleb's voice was unbelieving. "What...what're you doing here?"

"What're YOU doing here?" Was her reply, regaining some of her senses and realizing the situation they were in.

"We are here," Reice butted in, "doing our duty as faithful members of the Shinra Imperial army." He raised a gun from a holster inside his now open jacket. "Exterminating the enemy. That would be you. Avalanche."

"WAIT!" Caleb, reacting faster than anyone else, wrenched the gun out of his commanding officer's hand. "You can't shoot h- you can't shoot them."

"And just why not? Hatcher, what you are doing can be considered treason. Now give me back my weapon."

Hesitation clouded his green eyes as he glanced back and forth between Jessie, known to him only as Grace, and his superior. For the first time in his life, he had no idea as to what he should do.

Luckily, he didn't have to do anything, because before anyone could do anything, Bigg's hand shout out from the darkness behind them, sending Reice crashing to the floor below him. His foot, while naked, slammed onto the captain's back, apply a painful amount of pressure for such a little guy.

Caleb, relieved for the moment, tossed the gun across the room, where slid to Wedge's feet, and put his hands in the air.

"Ok then...heh...shall we call it even?" A tight, very uncomfortable grin was forced onto his face, and as Wedge and Biggs turned to him, glaring, he looked to Jessie/Grace for support.

"Hey! Easy on Caleb, would ya?" She rushed over to his side, taking him by the arm and leading out to another room, telling the other two only, "I need to talk to him for a second."

After a few moments, in which she directed him to an empty room, she turned to him, and incredulous look on her face. "What are you doing here, Caleb?!"

"I could ask you the same thing, Grace!" She flinched at the name.

"Er, well first of all, my name isn't Grace. It's Jessie." She stared guiltily at her shoeless foot. "And, well, isn't obvious? I'm a member of Avalanche." She let out a suppressed sigh. "I'm the enemy, like Captain Reice said." She looked back up at him, expecting to see anger surging through the soldier, or something of the sort. She certainly wasn't expecting to be accosted by Caleb's hands grabbing her face and pulling her in for a very unexpected, yet incredibly welcome kiss.

After it ended, which disappointed Jessie greatly, they merely stood there, staring at each other. Neither really knew what was supposed to be said after a moment like that. Somehow, Jessie thought, "Well, that was nice," sounded inappropriate. Luckily, Biggs barged in.

"Sorry to bust in on ya like this...oh wait, no I'm not, he's Shinra scum, let's go," he made a move to grab Caleb's arm, but was halted by the young soldier's glare. Caleb was a good five inches taller the rebel.

"There's no need for man-handling, I'll go on my own." Jessie grinned at the remark, and shrugged when her friend glared at her. To him, she was siding with the enemy. Biggs, however, gave in and merely led them out to the main living area, where Wedge, Alli, and Vincent, much to Jessie's surprise, were sitting and keeping a close eye on Captain Reice, who was currently bound and gagged to a folding chair. And looking very angry to see Caleb. Caleb however, was preoccupied by something else. A second folding chair next to the captain, complete with ropes to bind and a cloth to gag.

"Uh...now...is that really necessary? I mean, I'll be good! You can keep an eye on me! I won't try anything!" Desperate, he looked over at Jessie, who gave him a weak smile and shrugged.

"Nope, sorry, now sit your ass down, soldier-boy," Wedge's attitude toward was much like that of Biggs.

"Hey now, do you guys really have to tie him up?" Alli, sitting by Vincent, and looking very ashen. "I mean, Jessie seems to trust him...maybe he's not so bad."

"Jessie!" Biggs gave her shocked look. "This guy's a willing soldier for Shinra! He's about as bad as they came!"

"Hey!" Jessie was enraged with this sort of treatment of her...whatever he was to her. Alli, also apparently disgusted, shot up out of her seat and stormed off to the sleeping quarter.

"Wha...?? Alli! Come back!" Biggs, dismayed by her reaction, ran after her, completely forgetting the situation at hand.

"Uhh…" Jessie was scrounging for a way to convince her friends not to bound and gag Caleb. It might just put a bit of a damper on their…relationship. "Guys, seriously! He'll be good! Just because he's a…siding with Shinra doesn't…mean he's the bad guy?"

Before anyone could reply, however, Biggs came not so gracefully tumbling out of the makeshift bedroom, and landed on the cold floor with a very audible thud. Then, the door slammed completely shut, followed by a very a angry, "YOU ARE THE BIGGEST PIG I HAVE EVER MET, BIGGS!"

"…ouch," was all the reply that was given.

***

"Hey…Yuff? What is that?" Aeris, eyes squinting in the darkness, pointed out towards the ocean where a small…something could be seen closing in on the land.

"Uhh…I think…I think it's a…scout sub? I dunno…it must be a Junonian design," the teen shrugged, and fell back to looking very worried.

"Scout sub? That could be bad…" James, too, was looking concerned.

"But…it's surfaced. That makes no sense, scout subs work underwater…unless…" She trailed off, eyes going wide.

"Unless what? Yuffie?" James was now looking considerably more concerned.

"Unless they're coming to shore." The three rebels glanced at each other briefly, then tore back off for the town.

"SHERA!" Yuffie reached the house much quicker than the other two. "THEY'RE COMING TO SHORE!!"

The woman only glanced at the teenager at nodded. "I suspected as much. Where are Aeris and James?"

"Right here," James replied, entering the room with a panting Aeris. "What do you need?"

"I need you three to stay here until you are told otherwise. It won't do for them to know right away that we've got something up our sleeves. And I think seeing three lab-escapees would kind of tip them off."

Yuffie swore lightly and kicked at the foot of the coffee table before throwing herself down on to one of the wing chairs. James and Aeris merely sighed and sat on the sofa.

"What're you going to do?" The male Cetra asked the engineer with questioning eyes.

"I'll be going down to the shore along Mr. Remon to see what exactly is going on. If it's what I expect, they'll be trying to reach a "peace offering" and take the town. Wait here until told otherwise," she said once more before turning and leaving through the open door.

Yuffie glared. "This sucks!"

***

When Shera and Ryan Remone reached the shore, there were two men waiting for them, a small submersible bobbing in the water behind them. They stopped several feet away, flashlights directed on the ground. Both men had a Mako glow to their eyes.

"Who are you?" Ryan asked, eyes narrowed in anger.

A sharp chuckle issued out from one of the men as the other spoke up.

"I am General Zachary Briggs of this Imperial Army. This is my associate Jacob Maines, SOLDIER First Class. We wish to reach an...agreement with you."

"I'll bet you do," Ryan grumbled, still glaring at Imperial soldiers. "Look, we don't want anything to do with your little Empire so just get the hell out of here and leave us be. We won't cause you any trouble."

This time, both men laughed out, shaking their heads.

"You know," Briggs continued. "While you may have just possibly said the stupidest thing I have ever heard, I have to give you credit for your bravery. Maines, if you will." The SOLDIER nodded and reached behind him, bringing up a small PHS.

"Alright boys, bring 'em up nice and easy and man your stations. Don't do anything else until told, we wouldn't scare these poor yokels too much." Smirking, he put the device away and put a hand on the sword strapped to his back.

Shera and Ryan did nothing as a dozen subs of all sizes slowly rose out of the water. When the ascension of the vehicles was done, they turned to look at each other, then Shera sighed.

"Alright, why don't we go talk about this in town?"

Briggs smiled. "Now that's more like it."

***

Yuffie had taken to pacing the hallway of the small house while James and Aeris sat in tense silence. When a sudden rattling sounded at the front door, the two were on their feet and Yuffie halted mid-stride. The door opened. In stepped Shera, followed closely by the General and SOLDIER. Ryan brought in the rear, closing the door behind them.

For a moment, Briggs didn't seem to take any notice to the trio in the living room as conversed with Shera about the "wonders the Empire could do for such a small town," but suddenly, he halted, staring hard at the tree.

"Wait a second...those two...are the Ancients and that's...Godo's...what is going on here?!" He turned just in time to see Ryan expertly grab Maines around the neck, a gun appearing in his hand. His hands immediately went to his sword hilt on his back until the steel of another gun barrel on his bare neck.

"Hold it right there, General." Shera's voice was cold and deliberate. "Drop the swords, both of you." The SOLDIER did so at once, but Briggs was a bit more reluctant.

"You realize of course, that my men will notice something is wrong when I don't make contact with them," his voice was steady as he lay the gigantic sword at Shera's feet.

"Oh we are very capable of dealing with your men, General," she reached near his belt and pulled out his PHS as Ryan did the same to Maines. "Now, if you would both follow me," she pressed the gun harder against his neck and began to lead them down the hall when Briggs suddenly twisted, grabbing her wrists with one hand wrenching the gun from her.

"No, if you would follow me I'll make sure you don't die too horrible of a-" he was silenced by the sudden barrage of Yuffie's feet swinging up off of the ground making hard contact with his face. The first sneakered foot breaking his nose and the second knocking him off balance. A swift open-palmed blow to his chest sent him careening to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Well," gasp. "It would seem you backwater ninjas are a bit quicker than we give you credit for," he continued gasping on the ground as Shera jerked the gun from his hands.

"Alright, back on your feet and don't try anything funny this time." Still a bit short of breath, Briggs merely nodded and stood, following without another incident to the basement of the house.

Gongaga, like Rocket Town and Nibelheim, had an underground area beneath the city. It was considerably smaller, having only a few necessary buildings. What was different about Gongaga's, was that it connected to nearly every house directly through a network of basements and tunnels.

Briggs and Maines raised eyebrows when Ryan opened a door in his small basement and led them out into a large cavern type area, full of small buildings. Immediately upon entering the Underground, three men, all carrying nasty looking guns, marched up to them and helped Ryan escort the two prisoners to a small building. Briggs glancing back to the four left behind, his eyes pausing on Aeris for a brief moment, then turned back around, his head towards the ground with shame.

"Alright," Shera said resolutely, rubbing her sore wrists that were beginning to look as though they might bruise, let's go see what those idiots in the subs are doing."