Day Six
7:03 a.m. Highwind.
Yuffie entered the conference room to find everyone trying to console a disheveled Cloud. His eyes were bloodshot, his complexion pale, and his hands trembled. She stayed at the door; he looked so fragile that any movement might shatter him. After long moments of tensely awkward silence, Red XIII padded over to her. He nudged her out the door into the Highwind's main bay. Only after the doors had closed and they had walked away from them did Yuffie dare to ask, "What happened?"
Red XIII shook his head sadly. "Cloud saw Aeris."
"Saw her as in he's losing it, or saw her as in he saw some planet induced hallucination again?"
"No. He saw her, talked to her, and held her. Aeris is alive."
"And that makes everyone sad?"
"When Cloud spoke with her, she said she knew that Sephiroth was alive and that she didn't want us to kill him. because she's in love with him."
"Aeris?"
Red nodded.
"In love with Sephiroth?"
Red nodded.
"How's that possible?"
"I don't know. Cloud didn't tell us everything." Neither of them spoke for a moment, and then Red XIII decided to change the subject. "You spoke with JT?"
Yuffie shook her head. "He wasn't there, but I talked with Pax. JT left directions with him to give to me to pass on to Cloud - who's now catatonic."
"What did he say?"
"JT and a small group of the Reckoning will make a diversion to distract ShinRa security, while we slip in through the emergency doors on the west side of the building. They've narrowed the location of the disk to the fourth floor. We'll only have fifteen minutes max to get in and out of the building with the disk. Once we've got it, we should probably hide out for a while. They'll take the disk and debug it so it's not traceable. After that, it should be clear sailing."
Red XIII looked contemplative. He reviewed what Yuffie had relayed to him. "What will the diversion be?"
She shrugged. "He said we'd know when it happened."
"When does it start?"
"Tomorrow at 9:00 p.m."
"We won't want a large group, and I don't think Cloud's in the condition to go. I'll talk to Tifa about it." He padded back to the conference room, and out of site.
*They better take me along,* Yuffie thought. *I want to do this for JT and for Wutai.*
11:10 a.m. Rufus's office in Junon.
The phone rang. Rufus raised a curious eyebrow; all calls were to go through Cara before they got to him, and she hadn't informed him of any calls. He stopped his work and watched the device, as though an explanation would present itself to him if he stared at it long enough.
After six rings he answered it. Before he could get a word out, the person on the other end began to chant, "They're coming to take me away. he he They're coming to take me away, off to the funny farm, where things are wonderful all the time. I'm looking forward to seeing those nice men in those clean white suits. They're coming to take me away." Another voice interrupted, and the sounds of a struggle could be heard. The first voice - though more distant - could still be heard screaming the same lines over and over. The second voice returned. "Hello? Is anyone there?" it asked.
"Yes," answered Rufus. "Who's this?"
"Mr. President?"
"Yes."
"Oh my gosh! Mr. President I'm so so so so so sorry. That wasn't supposed to happen. I don't know how he got out. I'm terribly sorry you were disturbed. I."
"Hold on! Calm down." He waited until the breathing of the person on the other end returned to normal. "Now, who is this?"
"Corporal Edward," came the shaky reply.
"All right, Corporal. Where are you stationed?"
"At the jail."
"Okay. Tell me what happened."
"Well, sir. One of the prisoners weaseled his way out of his cell and got to a phone."
"Who's the prisoner?"
"Um. that ex-executive Reeves. He's gone a little nuts since he got here."
Rufus nodded slowly, though he was well aware that Corporal Edward couldn't see him. "I see. He's back in his cell now?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Well done."
"I'm not in trouble?"
"No, but keep an eye on him. He might get loose again."
"Yes, sir." The soldier sounded relieved.
"Keep up the good work." Rufus hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, a satisfied smile on his face. That soldier was terrified of him. He liked that thought. *I love my job.*
2:12 p.m. Soldier barracks in Junon.
Sephiroth opened the door, stepped through, and had a bucket of water drop on his head. "Huh? What the hell? Who put that there?" He shook the water from his arms and wrung out his hair.
*I did.*
"Who're you?"
*I'm the author.*
"Oh. Cid told me about you. Decided to pick on me, huh?"
*Yeah, but don't worry. The bucket is all I'm going to do to you. I figure the rest of the story is torture enough. I've got something much worse planned for Vincent.*
"Hmph. I don't know whether to feel lucky or cursed."
* I can make it worse.*
"That's okay. You don't have to. I'll settle for what you've done."
*Oh, so you aren't going to talk back like Cid? Smart boy.*
"I try."
4:49 p.m. ShinRa building in Junon.
Scarlet stepped out of the elevator and froze. Her eyes narrowed as they caught sight of the figure walking through the building entrance. It was that woman. The one Vincent had fought with the other day. What was her name? Lucrecia? Yes, that was it. What was she doing here? *Probably come to beg Vinny's forgiveness. Pathetic.* She watched as a guard stopped the woman and questioned her for ID, and continued to watch as Lucrecia's manner became more and more upset when he wouldn't let her pass.
With a smug smile on her lips, Scarlet approached the scene. "Is there something wrong, here?" she asked coolly.
The soldier was startled for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. "Miss Scarlet, this civilian insists on getting in to speak with one of the Turks. I've told her he isn't here right now, but she won't listen to me. She says she'll wait, and refuses to leave."
"It's all right. Go back to your duties. I'll handle this," she told him. She turned to Lucrecia. "You're here to see Vincent Valentine, correct?"
Lucrecia nodded.
"Well then, come with me."
The former ShinRa scientist followed Scarlet to the elevator; she waited quietly as it took them to the fourth floor. Scarlet then led Lucrecia down a long hallway. She stopped at the third to last door in the hall, opened it, and stepped into the room. Lucrecia followed suit, and heard the door shut behind her. She gazed around her. The room was a rather extravagantly furnished office, decorated with rich oak furniture in red velvet trimming with carpet and curtains to match. She saw no one else in the office. "Where's Vincent?" she asked timidly.
Scarlet walked to her desk and sat on its edge. "The guard downstairs told you already. He isn't here right now. I brought you here because I wanted to have a word with you."
"About what?"
"About Vincent, obviously. You came here to ask him to forgive you, correct?"
Lucrecia nodded. "I know we can rekindle our love. He can't possibly hate me as much as he let on when we last spoke."
"Actually, he hates you as much as he loves you, and that's why he can't stand to be with you. If you truly care about him, you'll leave him alone."
"What do you mean?"
Scarlet felt her face flush with anger. *What's wrong with this twit? Why can't she understand she's not wanted around here?* She lightly touched a hand to her temple, as if attempting to wish away a headache. "Allow me to explain. Vincent loves you. You dumped him for some psycho loser, and allowed his son to be used for experiments. Not to mention, you lied to him and told him his son was Hojo's. You betrayed his love and his trust. You hurt him in the worst possible way. He doesn't want to go through that again. That's why he doesn't want you anymore."
"But I won't do that to him again. If I'd known it would cause him so much grief, I would never."
Scarlet cut her off. "Oh, give me a break! How could you possibly think anything like that *couldn't* hurt him? There's no way it couldn't hurt him! What kind of idiot are you?"
Lucrecia stepped back, more than a little frightened and confused at Scarlet's disposition.
The executive stood and set her hands on her hips. She glared at the other woman. "All right. You listen very carefully to me. Just stay away from Vincent. You had your chance, and you blew it. You've caused him enough misery as it is. Just walk out of his life, like he told you to."
"But I know he'll forgive me if I can just prove to him that I still love him," she pleaded.
"Ha! Do you honestly think I'll let you pester him like that? Do you think I'm going to give you the chance to take him away from me?"
"Take him away from you? Are you saying that Vincent is seeing you?!" Lucrecia shook her head with defiance. "Vincent would never date a floozy like you! He wouldn't leave me for you! You're lying!"
Scarlet walked over, and slapped Lucrecia across the face hard enough to send the assistant scientist to the floor. "Get real, #@%^$. After what you did, do you honestly think he's not going to cast off a dreg like you when he can have me? Vinny's mine, and I'm definitely not going to lose him to a trollop like you."
Lucrecia picked herself off the ground, and returned Scarlet's slap. "How dare you?! How dare you speak to me that way?! How dare you presume to know anything about what happened between me and Vincent?!"
Scarlet slapped Lucrecia again. "He told me."
Lucrecia slapped Scarlet again. "Why would Vincent tell you anything?"
Scarlet slapped Lucrecia again. "Because he trusts me with his feelings. He knows I'm not going to walk all over them like you did."
Lucrecia slapped Scarlet yet again, which Scarlet immediately returned. And so it continued. There was a knock on the door, but the two were so caught up in their catfight that neither one noticed. After a moment, it opened and Vincent peeked around to check inside. "Scarlet, a guard downstairs said there wa-Good gracious!" He flung the door open, rushing over to where the fight had escalated into a brawl. In his attempt to pry the two enraged women away from each other's throats, he received a slap to the face that had been intended for Scarlet; a feint crimson line formed along his cheek, collecting into a drop which broke free and ran down to his chin.
Lucrecia gasped. "Vincent, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you." She reached up to wipe away the blood, but was shoved away by the female executive.
"Back off! You've done enough damage."
"What are you talking about? This entire fight was your fault."
"Mine? You started the trouble by coming here to bug Vincent."
"I-"
"That's enough!" Vincent snapped. He pulled Scarlet away from Lucrecia. By that time, a crowd had gathered outside Scarlet's office; a couple of guards pushed their way through to enter the room. Vincent shot them a look that told them to stay where they were. They obediently complied. "What is this all about? Lucrecia, what are you doing here?"
"I came to see you. I wanted to speak with you again, to try and explain."
"No explanation is going to help. Nothing is going to fix the damage that's been done. That's why I told you to leave me alone, Lucrecia."
"But."
"No, Lucrecia. I'm sorry, but there isn't going to be reconciliation between us. I don't want to chance that kind of heartache again. If you ever truly loved me as you claim you do, then you'll leave me be. There's too much pain in the past. Let me start my life over so that I may achieve my own happiness." He turned to the guards, who still waited by the door. "Please escort her out of the building."
"Yes, sir!" They flanked the scientist, and, with some persuasion, led her from the building.
Vincent then addressed the crowd. "There's nothing more to see here. Get back to work, all of you." He shut the door, not waiting for the employees to disperse. Instead, he sat Scarlet in a chair and went to her adjoining private bathroom. He came back out with a warm wet washcloth, which he then used to carefully clean the scratches on her arms. He inspected her face; her one cheek was bruised and slightly swollen. He recalled Lucrecia's slightly more disheveled condition, and chuckled. "I had no idea you could be so vicious."
"I wasn't about to let her try and steal my boyfriend. No one takes something that belongs to me."
"'Belongs?' I see. So that fight was about who got to keep me?"
She took the washcloth from him, and wiped the blood from his cheek. "Exactly. It would seem I won." She smiled, but stopped when the pain in her cheek flared.
Vincent chuckled again. "So it would seem."
7:03 a.m. Highwind.
Yuffie entered the conference room to find everyone trying to console a disheveled Cloud. His eyes were bloodshot, his complexion pale, and his hands trembled. She stayed at the door; he looked so fragile that any movement might shatter him. After long moments of tensely awkward silence, Red XIII padded over to her. He nudged her out the door into the Highwind's main bay. Only after the doors had closed and they had walked away from them did Yuffie dare to ask, "What happened?"
Red XIII shook his head sadly. "Cloud saw Aeris."
"Saw her as in he's losing it, or saw her as in he saw some planet induced hallucination again?"
"No. He saw her, talked to her, and held her. Aeris is alive."
"And that makes everyone sad?"
"When Cloud spoke with her, she said she knew that Sephiroth was alive and that she didn't want us to kill him. because she's in love with him."
"Aeris?"
Red nodded.
"In love with Sephiroth?"
Red nodded.
"How's that possible?"
"I don't know. Cloud didn't tell us everything." Neither of them spoke for a moment, and then Red XIII decided to change the subject. "You spoke with JT?"
Yuffie shook her head. "He wasn't there, but I talked with Pax. JT left directions with him to give to me to pass on to Cloud - who's now catatonic."
"What did he say?"
"JT and a small group of the Reckoning will make a diversion to distract ShinRa security, while we slip in through the emergency doors on the west side of the building. They've narrowed the location of the disk to the fourth floor. We'll only have fifteen minutes max to get in and out of the building with the disk. Once we've got it, we should probably hide out for a while. They'll take the disk and debug it so it's not traceable. After that, it should be clear sailing."
Red XIII looked contemplative. He reviewed what Yuffie had relayed to him. "What will the diversion be?"
She shrugged. "He said we'd know when it happened."
"When does it start?"
"Tomorrow at 9:00 p.m."
"We won't want a large group, and I don't think Cloud's in the condition to go. I'll talk to Tifa about it." He padded back to the conference room, and out of site.
*They better take me along,* Yuffie thought. *I want to do this for JT and for Wutai.*
11:10 a.m. Rufus's office in Junon.
The phone rang. Rufus raised a curious eyebrow; all calls were to go through Cara before they got to him, and she hadn't informed him of any calls. He stopped his work and watched the device, as though an explanation would present itself to him if he stared at it long enough.
After six rings he answered it. Before he could get a word out, the person on the other end began to chant, "They're coming to take me away. he he They're coming to take me away, off to the funny farm, where things are wonderful all the time. I'm looking forward to seeing those nice men in those clean white suits. They're coming to take me away." Another voice interrupted, and the sounds of a struggle could be heard. The first voice - though more distant - could still be heard screaming the same lines over and over. The second voice returned. "Hello? Is anyone there?" it asked.
"Yes," answered Rufus. "Who's this?"
"Mr. President?"
"Yes."
"Oh my gosh! Mr. President I'm so so so so so sorry. That wasn't supposed to happen. I don't know how he got out. I'm terribly sorry you were disturbed. I."
"Hold on! Calm down." He waited until the breathing of the person on the other end returned to normal. "Now, who is this?"
"Corporal Edward," came the shaky reply.
"All right, Corporal. Where are you stationed?"
"At the jail."
"Okay. Tell me what happened."
"Well, sir. One of the prisoners weaseled his way out of his cell and got to a phone."
"Who's the prisoner?"
"Um. that ex-executive Reeves. He's gone a little nuts since he got here."
Rufus nodded slowly, though he was well aware that Corporal Edward couldn't see him. "I see. He's back in his cell now?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Well done."
"I'm not in trouble?"
"No, but keep an eye on him. He might get loose again."
"Yes, sir." The soldier sounded relieved.
"Keep up the good work." Rufus hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, a satisfied smile on his face. That soldier was terrified of him. He liked that thought. *I love my job.*
2:12 p.m. Soldier barracks in Junon.
Sephiroth opened the door, stepped through, and had a bucket of water drop on his head. "Huh? What the hell? Who put that there?" He shook the water from his arms and wrung out his hair.
*I did.*
"Who're you?"
*I'm the author.*
"Oh. Cid told me about you. Decided to pick on me, huh?"
*Yeah, but don't worry. The bucket is all I'm going to do to you. I figure the rest of the story is torture enough. I've got something much worse planned for Vincent.*
"Hmph. I don't know whether to feel lucky or cursed."
* I can make it worse.*
"That's okay. You don't have to. I'll settle for what you've done."
*Oh, so you aren't going to talk back like Cid? Smart boy.*
"I try."
4:49 p.m. ShinRa building in Junon.
Scarlet stepped out of the elevator and froze. Her eyes narrowed as they caught sight of the figure walking through the building entrance. It was that woman. The one Vincent had fought with the other day. What was her name? Lucrecia? Yes, that was it. What was she doing here? *Probably come to beg Vinny's forgiveness. Pathetic.* She watched as a guard stopped the woman and questioned her for ID, and continued to watch as Lucrecia's manner became more and more upset when he wouldn't let her pass.
With a smug smile on her lips, Scarlet approached the scene. "Is there something wrong, here?" she asked coolly.
The soldier was startled for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. "Miss Scarlet, this civilian insists on getting in to speak with one of the Turks. I've told her he isn't here right now, but she won't listen to me. She says she'll wait, and refuses to leave."
"It's all right. Go back to your duties. I'll handle this," she told him. She turned to Lucrecia. "You're here to see Vincent Valentine, correct?"
Lucrecia nodded.
"Well then, come with me."
The former ShinRa scientist followed Scarlet to the elevator; she waited quietly as it took them to the fourth floor. Scarlet then led Lucrecia down a long hallway. She stopped at the third to last door in the hall, opened it, and stepped into the room. Lucrecia followed suit, and heard the door shut behind her. She gazed around her. The room was a rather extravagantly furnished office, decorated with rich oak furniture in red velvet trimming with carpet and curtains to match. She saw no one else in the office. "Where's Vincent?" she asked timidly.
Scarlet walked to her desk and sat on its edge. "The guard downstairs told you already. He isn't here right now. I brought you here because I wanted to have a word with you."
"About what?"
"About Vincent, obviously. You came here to ask him to forgive you, correct?"
Lucrecia nodded. "I know we can rekindle our love. He can't possibly hate me as much as he let on when we last spoke."
"Actually, he hates you as much as he loves you, and that's why he can't stand to be with you. If you truly care about him, you'll leave him alone."
"What do you mean?"
Scarlet felt her face flush with anger. *What's wrong with this twit? Why can't she understand she's not wanted around here?* She lightly touched a hand to her temple, as if attempting to wish away a headache. "Allow me to explain. Vincent loves you. You dumped him for some psycho loser, and allowed his son to be used for experiments. Not to mention, you lied to him and told him his son was Hojo's. You betrayed his love and his trust. You hurt him in the worst possible way. He doesn't want to go through that again. That's why he doesn't want you anymore."
"But I won't do that to him again. If I'd known it would cause him so much grief, I would never."
Scarlet cut her off. "Oh, give me a break! How could you possibly think anything like that *couldn't* hurt him? There's no way it couldn't hurt him! What kind of idiot are you?"
Lucrecia stepped back, more than a little frightened and confused at Scarlet's disposition.
The executive stood and set her hands on her hips. She glared at the other woman. "All right. You listen very carefully to me. Just stay away from Vincent. You had your chance, and you blew it. You've caused him enough misery as it is. Just walk out of his life, like he told you to."
"But I know he'll forgive me if I can just prove to him that I still love him," she pleaded.
"Ha! Do you honestly think I'll let you pester him like that? Do you think I'm going to give you the chance to take him away from me?"
"Take him away from you? Are you saying that Vincent is seeing you?!" Lucrecia shook her head with defiance. "Vincent would never date a floozy like you! He wouldn't leave me for you! You're lying!"
Scarlet walked over, and slapped Lucrecia across the face hard enough to send the assistant scientist to the floor. "Get real, #@%^$. After what you did, do you honestly think he's not going to cast off a dreg like you when he can have me? Vinny's mine, and I'm definitely not going to lose him to a trollop like you."
Lucrecia picked herself off the ground, and returned Scarlet's slap. "How dare you?! How dare you speak to me that way?! How dare you presume to know anything about what happened between me and Vincent?!"
Scarlet slapped Lucrecia again. "He told me."
Lucrecia slapped Scarlet again. "Why would Vincent tell you anything?"
Scarlet slapped Lucrecia again. "Because he trusts me with his feelings. He knows I'm not going to walk all over them like you did."
Lucrecia slapped Scarlet yet again, which Scarlet immediately returned. And so it continued. There was a knock on the door, but the two were so caught up in their catfight that neither one noticed. After a moment, it opened and Vincent peeked around to check inside. "Scarlet, a guard downstairs said there wa-Good gracious!" He flung the door open, rushing over to where the fight had escalated into a brawl. In his attempt to pry the two enraged women away from each other's throats, he received a slap to the face that had been intended for Scarlet; a feint crimson line formed along his cheek, collecting into a drop which broke free and ran down to his chin.
Lucrecia gasped. "Vincent, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you." She reached up to wipe away the blood, but was shoved away by the female executive.
"Back off! You've done enough damage."
"What are you talking about? This entire fight was your fault."
"Mine? You started the trouble by coming here to bug Vincent."
"I-"
"That's enough!" Vincent snapped. He pulled Scarlet away from Lucrecia. By that time, a crowd had gathered outside Scarlet's office; a couple of guards pushed their way through to enter the room. Vincent shot them a look that told them to stay where they were. They obediently complied. "What is this all about? Lucrecia, what are you doing here?"
"I came to see you. I wanted to speak with you again, to try and explain."
"No explanation is going to help. Nothing is going to fix the damage that's been done. That's why I told you to leave me alone, Lucrecia."
"But."
"No, Lucrecia. I'm sorry, but there isn't going to be reconciliation between us. I don't want to chance that kind of heartache again. If you ever truly loved me as you claim you do, then you'll leave me be. There's too much pain in the past. Let me start my life over so that I may achieve my own happiness." He turned to the guards, who still waited by the door. "Please escort her out of the building."
"Yes, sir!" They flanked the scientist, and, with some persuasion, led her from the building.
Vincent then addressed the crowd. "There's nothing more to see here. Get back to work, all of you." He shut the door, not waiting for the employees to disperse. Instead, he sat Scarlet in a chair and went to her adjoining private bathroom. He came back out with a warm wet washcloth, which he then used to carefully clean the scratches on her arms. He inspected her face; her one cheek was bruised and slightly swollen. He recalled Lucrecia's slightly more disheveled condition, and chuckled. "I had no idea you could be so vicious."
"I wasn't about to let her try and steal my boyfriend. No one takes something that belongs to me."
"'Belongs?' I see. So that fight was about who got to keep me?"
She took the washcloth from him, and wiped the blood from his cheek. "Exactly. It would seem I won." She smiled, but stopped when the pain in her cheek flared.
Vincent chuckled again. "So it would seem."
