Chapter 3: Reunions

"So you mean he did it, too?" Tifa asked, after Cid had explained what had happened to Red XIII.

"What the hell do you mean, 'too?'" Cid asked, confused.

"What you just described sounds identical to what happened to Cloud." Tifa said quietly.

Cid and Tifa sat in Red XIII's room, each in a hard, uncomfortable plastic chair. Cloud had to stay behind on the count of being hooked up to an immobile IV. The doctors insisted he stay in his bed, in his room, and Tifa helped talk him into it. They both looked from their chairs across the room to where Red XIII lay peacefully on a bed specifically engineered to hold four-legged creatures. His chest repeatedly rose and fell slowly.

"I'm so relieved he's still alive." Tifa said as she watched him breathe gently in his unconscious state. "I didn't think he was going to make it when you came barging in the room like that."

Cid smiled genuinely, a rare act that caught Tifa a little by surprise. "I didn't think he was, either. I came to get you when some doctor told me his heart stopped. I thought I was getting you for bad news"

The nurse who stayed in the room to keep watch on him spoke up for the first time. "His heart DID stop." She stated simply. "We restarted it."

Cid pointed to the electric paddles sitting nearby. "I didn't think those damn things ever worked. But if it had to be any time, I'm glad it was this time." He looked back over to Tifa, who had assumed a concerned expression. "What's wrong, Tifa?"

"Hojo experimented on Vincent, too. I wonder if he's alright?"

Cid widened his eyes. "I forgot about that! It's not like he was much to talk about himself. The only thing I ever heard him say about his past was 'Lucretia this, Lucretia that.' I say the man needs to get laid."

The brunette slapped his arm. "Oh, stop it, Cid."

Cid shrugged. "Am I lying?"

Tifa opted out of answering. "Let's just go check on him," she said, rolling her eyes. "By the way, where did you say Barrett was again?"

"He stayed at the inn. He seemed more out of it than any of us. He took a nap, I just needed to get outta here so I could have a cigarette."

* * * * *

"What the hell d'ya want?" said a groggy voice in response to the knocking at the door. "I don't need no towels, so get on outta here."

The knocking began again after a pause, but no voice followed it.

Sighing irritably, Barrett picked himself up off the full-size bed, and shuffled a few steps over to the door, half-sleeping. He swung it open without hesitation, his vision still blurred. Once his sight cleared, he found himself staring at a dark-haired Shinra executive. Not fully understanding his situation, he just stared at the man and muttered, "Reeve?"

"I have someone here who wants to see you," the man said simply. He looked to his side and motioned for someone to come.

What happened next would be more memorable to Barrett Wallace than anything he had ever been through in his life. Marlene walked up to Reeve, who knelt down and pointed up to the large colored man in front of them. "I told you we were going to see him, didn't I?"

Paying no mind to Reeve's question, Marlene ran straight to Barrett, shouting, "Papa!"

The sound of the young girl's voice was the trigger that snapped Barrett completely back into his senses. "M…Marlene!" He knelt down and hugged her when she came close enough, being careful of his gun-arm.

Reeve smiled and started to walk away without a word.

"Yo, Reeve!" said the voice coming from the room. Reeve froze in his tracks, closed his eyes, sighed, and turned to face Barrett. Guess this was inevitable. He doesn't easily let stuff go. He opened his eyes, shocked to see Barrett's outstretched hand facing him. Reeve blinked and slowly greeted Barrett's hand with his own. Barrett smiled uncharacteristically softly. "You awright by me, Reeve."

Reeve's shocked and confused expression slowly melted into a smile of contentment as he realized he wouldn't be running out of the building while dodging gunfire. "Yeah. You're okay with me, too, Barrett."

They released hands, and Reeve again turned to walk away, this time without objection. One he reached the end of the hallway, he found a red-haired figure in khakis and a loose white T-shirt waiting around the corner for him. "How'd it go, Reeve?" inquired the man as he fell in step behind the former executive.

Reeve smiled in response. "Even better than I'd hoped. That man apparently isn't as stupid and pigheaded as we all thought he was. Thanks for backing me up just in case, though, Reno."

"No problem."

* * * * *

"It's about time you people let me outta here." Yuffie muttered as she signed the required release papers in the hospital lobby. Her back was neatly cleaned and bandaged, but she had kept the same crimson-stained clothes on. She turned and headed out the door, until the sight of a familiar blond-haired woman on a bench made her dart back inside. What the hell is Elena doing here? Yuffie thought, wide eyed. Her and those other two Turks must be looking for us. If she picks a fight with me, I'm screwed. I can't fight like this. She peered out the door again, being extremely cautious not to be seen. Elena sat no more than two hundred yards away. She had picked up a magazine and seemed immersed in it. She was not wearing her usual Turk uniform, but a casual white sweatshirt and a pair of faded blue jeans.

Seeing a possible opportunity as Elena read her magazine, Yuffie snuck out the door, remaining close to the building and keeping her face turned away from the blond Turk. She ducked into the first possible alleyway, between the hospital and what seemed to be a grocery store, hiding herself from sight. She poked her head around the corner of the building to get another look. Elena was gone.

"Well, that's that. I don't know what she was doing, but at least I don't have to worry about it," the young Wutian thought aloud. "Should have thought of this before I left the hospital, but I better go tell everyone the Turks are here."

"That's alright," said a somewhat sweet female voice behind her. "We'll do it ourselves." Yuffie whirled around and got an eyeful of blond hair as she saw Elena the Turk stand before her.

Yuffie, rather startled, stammered, "W-what the hell are you doing here?"

The blond giggled, which made Yuffie relax about an inch. "What, did you think we were gonna stay in Midgar? We're not idiots, you know. After we met up in the sewer, we made sure you guys took care of Hojo, and then we came here. And relax, we're not out to get you. There's no more Shinra, and we didn't like them, anyway, 'cept for Reeve. That wasn't anything more than a paycheck to us."

"Why should I believe you?" Yuffie asked cautiously.

Elena giggled again. "Well, for starters, if we were out to get you, I'd be fighting you right now, not talking."

"Maybe you're afraid to," the Wutian challenged, "maybe you want to wait until your little buddies are with you."

"Ah, you mean Reno, and… him?" Elena asked, pointing over her shoulder without turning her head. Her finger led straight to the roof of the grocery store where Rude stood steady with a handgun pointed square at Yuffie's head.

The young, dark-haired girl's face paled as she stared up to the Turk, who was in his traditional blue uniform. Elena motioned to Rude, who holstered his gun and jumped down from the roof, landing behind Yuffie and cutting off her only possible means of escape.

Elena smiled confidently. "You see, we could kill you right now. It wouldn't be hard. You're tough, but you can't take both of us."

"Well, we'll just see about that." Yuffie spat, hiding her desperation as she slid her feet into a fighting stance.

The light-haired Turk suppressed a laugh. "You can't be serious. You just came out of the hospital. You're in no condition to fight us. Besides, we're not here to fight you, I already told you that. If we wanted you dead, you would have been ten minutes ago."

Yuffie, unimpressed, continued her interrogation of the young woman before her. "Then why go through all the trouble to trap me like this? Just for kicks? You're Turks, you…"

"Not anymore." Rude cut her off in a deep voice.

Elena nodded. "There are no more Turks. I already told you. There is no more Shinra, so there is no more Turks. However, there is something we want from you. Take us to Cloud."

Yuffie narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"We want to set the record straight with him, and all the rest of you. Things are finally back to normal. No more Shinra, no more Meteor, and the three of us just want to live without worrying about you hunting us down. And I'm sure you'd like the same from us."

"Let's just get one thing straight right now. I don't trust you. But I'll take you to see Cloud. On one condition."

Elena raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Tifa, Barrett, everyone's in the room when you see him. And you leave your weapons."

"That's two conditions." The blond woman looked past Yuffie to Rude, who nodded. "Alright. Have it your way. We'll give you some time to get everyone together. Meet us back here in an hour." Elena said, and motioning again to Rude, the two walked out the other side of the alley.

The young ninja stared after them until they turned the corner, at which point she finally exhaled at ease. "What the hell," she muttered to nobody in particular. "This has trap written all over it."

* * * * *

The door to room 218 slowly pivoted open, allowing access to a long-haired brunette and a tall blond man.

Vincent Valentine, who had been lying awake in his hospital bed, sat up to greet his visitors. "Tifa, Cid. Nice to see you."

Tifa wasted no time getting to the point. "Hi, Vincent. Are you alright?"

"Of course. The staff here is exceptionally skilled. I should be out of here in little more than a day or two."

"Yes, but… has anything unusual happened in the last few hours?"

"No, Tifa, why do you ask?"

Tifa explained the events of the past hour, concerning Cloud and Nanaki. (AN: I will be referring to Red XIII as Nanaki from this point forward. Substitute his name however you like.) Vincent seemed surprised, but when Tifa started stating her concerns for him, he smiled grimly.

"It was different, what Hojo did to me. Surely you must have seen what happens to me when I get desperate in battle."

Cid shrugged. "Yeah, you turn into some kind of monster and kick everyone's ass."

Vincent nodded. "In effect, yes. You see, Hojo was trying to make Sephiroth clones out of Nanaki and Cloud. Understandably so, you saw how powerful he was, and he would not have been so strong had it not been for the Jenova cells injected into…" he trailed off for a moment, and his eyes took on a familiar distant look. He picked up his explanation from a different point. "I was an isolated experiment of Hojo's. He used Jenova, but only in conjunction with the essence of the beasts that he injected into me."

Tifa and Cid both nodded along with him, feeling they at least had a basic understanding of what he was saying. "So, what does this mean, Vincent?" Tifa asked, clearly troubled by this explanation.

"It means… I need to be away from you all for a while."

"What do you mean? Why?"

"If what you say is true, then I, too, will be ridding myself of Jenova very soon. However, it will be very different from what you have seen at this point. Instead of releasing the mere cells as Cloud and Nanaki have done, I will be releasing exactly what was injected into me: the four beasts. Should I be with any of you when this happens, I shall be putting your life in danger."

Tifa giggled softly. "That's sweet, Vincent, but after all we've been through, don't you think it's a little late to worry about putting anyone in danger?"

The strikingly handsome bedridden man gave Tifa a solemn, serious look. Holding her gaze for a few minutes, he finally responded, "It's never too late to protect those you care about."

Cid's blond eyebrows went up at this statement, but he wisely stayed silent. He knew enough about Vincent's past to know what he was really talking about.

Tifa nodded, also understanding the subliminal message encoded in his message. "Just promise me you'll be okay."

Vincent said nothing, and avoided the young woman's soulful, pleading eyes.

"Vincent," she said, her voice now slightly stern, "promise me."

There was a long pause, in which Vincent's eyes continued to direct themselves anywhere but towards his two comrades, especially the lovely brunette making the demands of him. Finally, he responded. "I'll… take care of myself."

Tifa hesitated, a little concerned that that was the best response she could get out of him. "Okay, then."

* * * * *

"They're here? In Kalm? And they want to see me?" Cloud asked dubiously.

Yuffie nodded. "And it seems they want a truce. I hate to say it, but it they'd wanted to, they could have easily kicked my ass on the spot."

"Which proves nothing." Cloud pointed out. "They could just need to use us for something… but I must admit, we've had times when the Turks weren't all bad, haven't we?"

Yuffie winced very slightly, remembering the time she had been tied up next to Elena in her home Wutai when the Don decided he wanted one of the luscious ladies for his own. The Turks had worked together with her fellow party members to save both of them, then secretly defied a direct order to attack Cloud once the ordeal was over. They weren't ALL bad, that much was true. But, she wondered, can they be trusted?

(AN: That's all for this time. Took me long enough, eh? Well, I have lots of other stuff going on, too, but at least I'm working on it! All reviews are welcome, even flames if there's a point to them and something I can correct in my writing, not just random comments about how much I suck. Ch. 4: The Confrontation coming soon!)