The hunched figure walked slowly, sometimes with his hands behind his back as if he was deep in thought, sometimes using them to gesticulate as if he was speaking to someone. North Corel saw its share of strangers due to the location of the Gold Saucer, so no one paid him much mind. At one time, he had worn glasses, but they were gone now, lost on his travels. His graying hair, once pulled back into an impeccably severe pony-tail, was now free to the wind and tangled beyond repair. It was not surprising that no one recognized him. Hojo had become a man lost to memory, to history, to his own mind.

"No, no, everything is going wrong," he mumbled to himself suddenly. "Where is that thing? Where is the girl? It was supposed to meet me there."

"You shouldn't have trusted that creature," a second voice said, this one deeper, angrier, though still coming out of Hojo's mouth. "You should have let me do it. This is your fault."

"Yes, but how was I to know?" Hojo spat, bringing his hands up to his head in frustration. "The wrong girl, the wrong girl. What do I do now?"

"What else can we do? We'll have to wait. Serves you right, you fool. She could be dead, or have fallen into the wrong hands."

"Damn! Dammit!" He clutched at his hair. And then he seemed to relax. "Maybe the other girl. She's young. Maybe I can start again with her."

The other voice growled. "You promised me I could feed on her."

Hojo scowled. "I'll find you something else. Besides, I hate all of the blood. It makes me so sick. Wait until I'm not working so hard."

"I don't want to wait any longer!"

Hojo coughed suddenly and clutched at his throat. "All right, all right, you don't have to shout. I don't want to lose my voice. Just wait a couple of days more, until I know whether I need to start again. Then you'll feed. You can drain the whole town if you like."

There was a silence. And then a sullen, "Agreed. I don't have a choice but to agree."

"That's right, you don't. So just cooperate, and soon the world will be at your disposal. If we find the girl, she only needs one more injection before she's ready."

"But what if you don't find the girl? What then?" the voice persisted.

"Feeding is all you think about," Hojo muttered. "In that case, I will find you something, like I said."

"A young woman?" The voice had a decidedly lusty tone.

Hojo rolled his eyes. "Whatever you want."

"Don't begrudge me a little fun. It is our body, you will enjoy it too."

Hojo remained silent.

The second voice laughed suddenly. "You may deny it, but some part of you is still in love with her."

Hojo threw out an arm as if to strike at someone. "I told you not to speak about her!"

The voice laughed again. "Your agitation proves it. I didn't even mention her name."

Hojo didn't reply to the obvious bait. It wasn't worth it. Passed North Corel, he was now over the bridge and skirting the tracks. After a few moments, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure he was alone.

A hidden door in the man-made hill opened to the push of a proper panel and then he was through. It closed behind him and left no trace that anyone would be able to detect.

Once the man who had been Shinra's top scientist was out of sight, two boys got up from where they'd been hiding in the guard house. This area, rampant with abandoned railroad tracks, was one of their favourite places to play, and they'd never seen anyone come here before. They glanced at each other as if to confirm that they had both seen the strange man, and then they scampered back home.





Cait had had a little luck questioning Dio. With the proper incentive, the greasy owner of the Gold Saucer had been willing to talk. One of his staff, he said, had claimed to have seen Hojo. By the time others had arrived to investigate, however, Hojo had disappeared, and only the young lady who had seen him had been sure it had been the scientist. Cait questioned the tram operator as well, but he hadn't been able to recall anyone fitting Hojo's description. Admittedly, however, he saw a lot of people in his job and was as likely as not to forget most of them.

Cait finished his report and glanced from Cloud to the others. They were in the conference room of the Highwind, which Cid had parked a few hundred meters from North Corel.

Cloud was frowning. "One person, and no observers to tell us where he might have gone, assuming it really was him."

"What about the people of North Corel?" Tifa asked. "Someone else might have seen him."

He glanced at her. "We should probably go down and ask around." He stood from his chair. "We'll split up into three groups. Barret, you're with me. You know this place better than anyone. Tifa, you lead the second group. Vincent..." He trailed off for a moment and then, looking intently at the gunslinger, chewed his lip. "What about Syra, Vincent?"

Vincent was standing by one of the windows with Syra sitting at his feet, one hand clutching a portion of his pants. She had looked up at the mention of her name.

"I will take her with me," Vincent intoned.

"You sure?"

Vincent glanced at the girl, and she stared back at him. "I think she would find a way to follow me notwithstanding any attempts to leave her behind."

A couple of the others chuckled. Cloud smiled wryly. "All right, then. Red, you're with Vincent, and so are you, Yuffie. Now, let's mosey."

Cid scowled at him. "Damn you and yer 'mosey'. Say it like a man." He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Move out, troops. Let's go. Move your asses."

Aeris slapped him in the arm. "Cid, watch your language. Syra might start picking it up."

"Yeah, and stop smoking, too," Yuffie chimed in. "You might give her cancer."

Vincent gestured Syra to her feet and then ushered her in front of him. They were the last to leave the room and, before they headed off the ship with the others, Vincent crouched in front of her on the deck.

"Syra, stay close to me. I don't want you to get lost."

She nodded solemnly. Assured, Vincent picked her up before levitating over the railing and then descending to the ground.

North Corel was just as Barret had left it, squalid and ramshackle, a smudge of dirt roads and decaying shelters surrounded on all sides by grass meadows, and neighbour to the magnanimous Gold Saucer. At the outskirts, the group split up into three and began to approach the inhabitants and to knock on flimsy doors.

At the first 'house' they came across, Vincent rapped his knuckles on a rotting board of the doorjamb (since the door was no more than a curtain of holey cloth) and waited until an untidy-looking woman peered out. "Whad'ya want?" she demanded crisply.

"We are looking for a man who may have passed through North Corel, a scientist, likely wearing a long white coat. Have you seen anyone matching this description?"

The woman studied them carefully and licked at her lips. "No, I ain't seen anyone. Now jus' leave us alone." The curtain fell back into place. With a sigh, Vincent prepared to knock again, but Yuffie grabbed his wrist.

"Oh, just leave it! She's not gonna tell us anything! You probably scared her with your goth-vampire look. Just let me handle the next one." They headed to the next shelter and Yuffie knocked sprightly. In a moment, a older man who looked like he'd recently been into the bottle answer. Yuffie smiled engagingly. "Hey, old father. Seen any strangers come through here lately?"

The man squinted at them and gave a creaking chuckle. "Seen a lot o' strange folks, but yer the strangest I seen so far."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "We're looking for a guy dressed in a lab coat who probably came through here. Have you seen him or not?"

The man rubbed a dirty hand over his whiskery chin. "I mighta. Would refresh my mem'ry if ya made it worth my while." He rubbed his fingers together.

Yuffie turned to Vincent. "Do you have any gil on you?"

Vincent sighed and dug into a pocket. He handed the coins to Yuffie and she handed them to the man. "There. Now do you remember anything?"

The man took his time counting the gil, his eyes gleaming, and then pocketed it quickly. "Thought I saw some'n this mornin'. Fellow came through, muttering to hisself, seemed angry. Looked crazy."

"Was he wearing a white coat?" Yuffie persisted.

"Yeah, yeah," the man answered, scratching at a cheek with grimy fingernails.

"Well, where was he headed?"

The man looked thoughtful. "Don't quite remember..."

Yuffie huffed angrily. "Look, you tell us, or I'll make you remember. This weapon on my back isn't a toy!"

The man eyed the Conformer warily and then seemed to judge the sincerity in Yuffie's eyes. He swallowed visibly. "Saw him head off that-a-way." He pointed down the length of the rusted railway tracks. "Can't tell you nothin' else. Now go an' leave an old man in peace, will ya?" He shut the door on them.

Yuffie smiled cockily at Vincent and Red. "Piece of cake. You just have to know how to talk to these people."

Red shook his shaggy head. "I would say that Vincent's gil did a good bit of the talking for you."

Yuffie scoffed. "You underestimate the charms of a pretty girl on an old man."

"Yes, I'm sure he found your threat very charming."

Yuffie was about to retort when she noticed Vincent glancing around them. She did so, too, and noticed what was missing. "Where's the girl?" she asked.

Vincent stepped away from them and started his search, listening carefully for her voice or her particular shuffling footsteps. Something must have attracted her attention because he was sure he would have noticed if she had been abducted. Thoroughly scanning the area as he was, he found her within a few minutes. She was watching the play of a couple of boys beside the well. Their toys were nothing more than sticks strapped together with a few pieces of fraying cord, but they were using them as shovel-replacements to dig in the dirt, and Syra seemed fascinated. One of the boys was talking to her, but Vincent couldn't make out the words. Then he stood and beckoned to her. The other boy stood also and they started walking away. Syra hesitated, but then followed.

Vincent caught up with them quickly. "Syra," he said sternly, "I told you to stay close to me."

She glanced at him but showed no acknowledgment of his words. "They want to take me there."

Vincent felt curious in spite of himself. "Where?"

Yuffie and Red appeared at that moment. "You found her," Yuffie said unnecessarily.

Syra looked at them and took a step closer to Vincent. "A secret place," she nearly whispered. "He's there."

A prickle of tension crossed the nape of Vincent's neck. "Who is?"

She put out both hands to grip his pants and buried her face in the material. "Him." Her voice was muffled, but Vincent could still hear her. "They said he wouldn't see me."

Vincent glanced at his two companions. "Please get Cloud and the others."

Yuffie raised an eyebrow. "Why? Because she's scared?"

Vincent glared at her. "Do it."

She raised her hands. "All right, all right. Don't blow a gasket. C'mon, Red." They walked off until they were out of sight. Vincent took the opportunity to talk again to Syra.

"Who is there?" he asked her. "Is it Hojo?"

She shivered suddenly. "Don't let him get me. He might see." She lifted her face, streaked now with a few tears that had fallen from large, frightened eyes. "He found me one time. I was hiding. He said..." She drew a small breath and hiccuped. "He said he would always *hiccup* find me."

Vincent was suddenly aware of eyes watching them. He glanced up and saw the two boys peering at them from around the corner of a building. Slowly, he stood and beckoned to them. They stood staring at him for a few moments more before complying, they're faces drawn and wary. It reminded Vincent of the first time he'd seen Syra.

"You've seen the man in a white coat," he stated for them. One of the boys nodded. "Where is he?"

The boy pointed down the tracks. "He lives in the metal hill, sir," he reported in a small voice. "We saw him go in there."

Vincent turned to Syra. "Stay here and wait for the others, Syra," he ordered firmly. "I will be back very soon." He turned back to the boys. "Show me where."

Syra clutched at his pants. "Don't go! He'll find me!"

Vincent sighed. "Syra, you will be fine here. The others will not be long."

She began to cry again, whimpering with something close to terror. With another resignated sigh, he scooped her into his arms. She immediately latched her arms around his neck and tucked her face into his shoulder. "Show me," he ordered the boys again.

They led him across the tracks to a place Vincent remembered from the day they'd had to stop a runaway train from plowing into North Corel. And then they stopped at a section of the tracks framed on one side by a man-made hill.

"Here," one of the boys said. "This is where the door is."

Vincent inspected the metal carefully. "I see no evidence of one."

The boy started pushing on some of the tiles. "He pressed something. It made the door open." His friend joined him in shoving at the unyielding metal.

Vincent watched them for a moment before touching some of the panels around him. It seemed a hopeless task, however. What if there was no release for the door? It may only have looked that way to the boys. Or perhaps it could be activated only by Hojo himself?

Footsteps behind him made him turn to see the others approaching along the tracks. He halted his efforts. Syra remained where she was, burrowed in his shoulder, but the two boys glanced up as the strangers arrived.

Cloud looked a little put out. "What's going on? You should have waited for us. We were supposed to meet together before heading off again."

Vincent ignored the speech. "These boys claim to have seen Hojo open a door in this hill."

Cloud stared at him for a few seconds before letting his shoulders sag. "You know, if it was anyone but you, Vincent, I'd probably tell them they were being irrational. What makes you think these boys are telling the truth?" One of the boys made a face at him. "And I don't have to tell you that this is a pretty unlikely place for a scientist to be."

"Hojo is not a conventional scientist," Vincent asserted. "I can believe that he had another laboratory built in the event that his first one was destroyed. I do not see that this is a place any more likely or unlikely than any other."

While Cloud was considering, Barret spoke. "But there ain't any power source here."

"Generators," Red answered for Vincent. "He probably had them."

"But why here?" Barret persisted.

"Well, he was seen in the Gold Saucer," Aeris pointed out. "Maybe there's some advantage to being close to it."

Cloud seemed ready with another protest, but then he sighed. "All right," he conceded, "let's say for now that he has another lab and that it is here. Where's the door? How do we get in?"

Vincent glanced back at the curving metal. "That is what I'm trying to discover," he told them, and began to press again on the hill's surface. "I have been made to believe there is a release somewhere."

Barret growled suddenly. "But this could take forever! We gotta find Marlene now!"

"Then let's all try," Tifa said. "It'll take less time that way." Quickly, they all approached the wall and started pushing on the tiles. The boys who had shown Vincent the way made a hasty exit, seemingly expecting trouble.

In the end, it was deceptively easy. Hojo was not a very tall man, average at best, and the way he hunched took a few inches off of that. Pressing at her own height, Yuffie was the one to run across the correct panel. It gave way under her hands and she gave a small, startled exclamation. In a second, a door whooshed open to her left and she jumped away.

They waited, but nothing happened. No one came out, and they could hear the electronic hum of some type of technology. Being the closest, Yuffie peered in. "It's a tunnel," she whispered. "There're lights in the ceiling."

The others crowded around to look in. Cid let out a low whistle. "Guess you were right, Vince."

Cloud backed up and gestured for them to huddle around him. "Okay, this may be Hojo's lab. For all we know, he could already know we're here and this could be some kind of trap, so only a few of us are going to go in. The rest of you wait out here, unless we say otherwise over the PHS." Suddenly, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking weary. Unnoticed to the rest of the group, Tifa stepped up behind him and gripped his hand in hers for a second, wanting to reassure him somehow. He returned the pressure of her fingers and then took a breath. "We'll split up the materia. Everyone still has their weapons, right?" Everyone nodded. Cloud smiled grimly. "I guess this shows you can never stop being ready for the unexpected." He pointed at Tifa, Barret, Aeris and then his hand wavered a moment. He dropped it to his side.

"Vincent, I want you to come with us since this is your hunch, but not if you're going to have to bring Syra with you. If Hojo is in here, it'll be too dangerous for her."

Vincent paused a moment before nodding. And then he gestured at Yuffie. "Please, may I see the materia?"

Yuffie didn't hesitate long before handing it over. In a moment, he'd picked an orb out and, fixing it into the barrel of the Death Penalty, cast a spell on Syra. She went suddenly limp. "She should be asleep until we return," he said and, gently removing her from his shoulder, held her out to Yuffie.

Yuffie scoffed. "I'm not a damn babysitter!"

Cloud sighed. "Just take her. We won't be gone long."

Grumbling a little, Yuffie took the girl and flopped her over her shoulder.

It took them a few minutes to sort the materia, each looking to equip a Cure, a Revive, a couple of attack spells, a summon, and at least one All. Eventually, the four of them were ready and, with a few last minute orders from Cloud, they headed into the tunnel. Everyone but Vincent jumped as the door abruptly slid shut behind them.

"I wonder if we'll have to bang on it to get them to open it again," Tifa mused.

"Let's not worry about that now," Cloud said. "Let's just find out if he's in here."

Vincent took the rear as they started forward, the Death Penalty at the ready in his right hand. Part of his mind, as it had been with some of the battles (most recently the battle with Sephiroth) was questioning whether he would be facing death on this mission. The thought didn't frighten him; there had been times in his life where he had prayed constantly for death. But he did feel a sense of regret in that, if he didn't return, Syra would lose her protector and he would be unable to visit Lucrecia as he'd said, thereby breaking his word to her again. There was nothing for it, however. If Hojo was alive, he had to be stopped. There was no telling how many lives would be harmed if he remained at large. Vincent's regret faded and was replaced by that all-encompassing sense of purpose that had fueled him in Avalanche until they had killed Hojo. Or thought they'd killed him.

There was something comforting about having purpose. All things could be sacrificed for a purpose. True purpose didn't allow for any regret.

With a mind clear of everything but the thought of avenging himself, Lucrecia, and Syra with Hojo's death, Vincent followed the others with an expression that was nothing if not grimly determined.




It wasn't long before Syra woke, dizzy and somewhat nauseated, leaning against someone's small, bony shoulder.

Vincent...?

She couldn't feel him, couldn't sense him. There was skin under her cheek, and the contact brought her into awareness of emotions that were not Vincent's. A confusing, jumbled mix of anger and fear and irritation. Uncomfortable, Syra squirmed.

It had always been that way with other people. Skin to skin contact brought her into an awareness of what they were feeling. Vincent was the only one, so far, who's emotions didn't intruded on her own. They were stable, quiet, settling. Leaning against him with her hands around his neck, she could feel secure in the knowledge that he felt responsible for her, that he would protect her, that he even cared for her. But this person felt none of these things. If anything, she considered Syra a burden...

As Syra began to move around, the girl (Vincent had called her Yuffie) put her on the ground. She was frowning. "Great, she's awake already!"

Syra glanced nervously at the people around her. "Vincent?"

The red beast paced up to her and there was suddenly a warm muzzle against her cheek. Comfort, the creature's desire to reassure, flooded into her at the touch and she calmed a little. "Vincent isn't here, little one. He thought it would be safer for you to remain with us."

"He isn't here?" She trembled, feeling suddenly very vulnerable as she had in the house in Kalm. She didn't want to be anywhere he wasn't, no matter how safe he claimed she would be.

Yuffie crossed her arms over her chest. "Somebody else can take her. I don't want to carry her anymore."

The tall, dark-skinned man Vincent had called Barret stepped forward. "I'll take 'er." He leaned down to scoop her up in his large arms. She resisted at first, but then sensed that he wasn't going to hurt her. The man, the one who had given her those needles and put those marks on her arm, was always feeling bad, mean things. She'd hated it when he'd touched her. But she could feel that this man had a rough kind of compassion, and there was a deep love in him, not far from the surface, for another little girl, one not much older than herself. Syra basked in the feeling, though it was not directed at her, and settled against the man's shoulder.

The group of people talked around her and Syra listened to it buzzing in the background. Barret was feeling some anger and some fear, but she didn't care to understand why. She just concentrated on trying to separate out the good feelings so she could focus on them. It was while she was doing this that she felt the first call.

It wasn't very firm, but there was such a longing in it that she couldn't keep herself from sitting up. It came again a few moments later, and she knew it was searching for the sense of Vincent. Almost in words, it was calling out:

...Vincent? Where are you? You said you would come...

There was such a pull to go to that 'voice'. Syra didn't know how the pull was happening, but if she'd been able to describe it she would have said that her very genes felt drawn toward the source. She had heard a call like this once before, but that time the voice had been grieving for someone named Sephiroth. She hadn't felt pulled by it that time. She hadn't know who Sephiroth was.

But she knew Vincent. The urge to go was getting louder, stronger, and she could no longer resist it. She had to go.




Barret couldn't explain later what happened. One second, he was holding Syra against his shoulder. The next, she was floating in the air nearly two meters above him. And then, without warning, she began to soar off southward.

The group of them watched in stupefaction for a few moments before trying to run after her, shouting her name. But it was no use. She was too fast and she either couldn't hear them or was ignoring them.

Yuffie came to a halt beside Barret, who was doubled over with a hand on his knee, gasping.

"Where the hell is she going?" she asked of no one in particular.

Barret was shaking his head. "God," he groaned. "Vince's gonna kill me."



Sorry this chapter took so long! People are still reading, right :S