A/N: Just keep on truckin'…

…And Comes to a Steady Boil.

…

The rest of the party was considerably less dull than the first half had been, Squall mused as he walked Rinoa home that night. Most of the guests took carriages home, but Squall wanted to do the dashing thing and accompany his lady to her doorstep.

And maybe do some other stuff along the way. Come on, when you're 16…

Shera had been acting oddly the rest of the night. Squall wanted to contribute it to whatever had pulled Lord Ansem away from the festivities, but he knew that wasn't the case. It's not like he was an idiot, after all. Squall could see that his innocent sister was not as chaste in mind as she was in deed, let's just say.

Rinoa was still chattering about the way Cid had just stomped in and dragged Lord Ansem away from his guests. Apparently she was appalled at the lack of respect that was shown by the man.

"It's just like daddy has been saying," she said. "Lord Ansem has been too lenient with the peasants. The social balance must be kept firm or chaos will ensue."

Of course daddy had been saying it. Rinoa was quite the "daddy's girl" and, like Lucrecia, had the tendency to be a bit standoffish. It was by no fault of hers; she had just been raised in richness and plenty and couldn't sympathize with anyone who had not. Squall was raised in much the same way; however, he did not have the same blind devotion to his often-distant parents. He had many friends of the middle class, like Cloud and Tifa, for example. Also, you left your prejudices at the door when you joined the Guard.

They had reached the Heartilly's large home close to the palace, and Squall kissed Rinoa goodnight. He was tempted to take it a little bit further, and no doubt would have done so had there not been people still about in the streets. Rinoa smiled and went inside, and Squall turned to head back to the barracks.

And promptly bumped into Reno Chauncer. Squall scowled at the skinny kid, who, for once in his life, didn't try to make some off-color joke to get himself off the hook. In fact, his pale face was even paler than usual, and his green eyes were wide with fear.

"Reno?" Squall asked, "What's the matter?"

Reno was shaking badly, and he looked like he had been staving off tears. "It's me mum, Squall. She- she ain't been back in a week and a day, and- and- I dunno what I'm about to do."

Squall felt a stab of pity for the kid. Sure, he was a pain, and usually deserved whatever life dealt his way, but his mother was the only family he had, and without her, he had no way of surviving.

It was also strange how she hadn't come back. Squall knew of Lacey Chauncer's drinking habits, and how she'd go off for days without a word to her son, but she was never gone for more than two or three days and nights. She'd drag herself home on the fourth morning at the latest, and Reno would let her sleep off the alcohol while he made trouble for the rest of the town. He was most likely running out of food now, and Squall knew he had to do something.

Squall couldn't take Reno home with him; his father would never allow it. But where? He got an idea, and grabbed Reno's arm. The boy squawked. "Oy! Where are we going?"

"Just come on."

…

"I'm telling you, dear, the boy's just an idiot, not to notice my beautiful daughter," Tifa's mother said, cleaning off the kitchen table in their tiny cottage. Tifa sighed. Her mother was just trying to cheer her up, but it wasn't exactly working. And now Mrs. Lockhart was seemingly having a grand old time insulting Cloud.

"Mama, it's not like that at all," Tifa began, when there was a knock on their door. She went over and opened it. "Squall? Reno? What are you all doing here?"

Tifa's mother came over. "Oh, visitors!" she chirped. Squall shook his head. "I have to get back to the barracks, but do you mind if Reno says here until his mother comes back? She's been gone longer than usual."

Reno stuck his chin up. "I don't need no charity," the kid huffed. His statement was somewhat lessened in intensity by the sudden rumbling of his stomach. Mrs. Lockhart smiled.

"Well, maybe you can grace us with your presence then, Reno. We don't get a lot of guests, and it's always nice to have a new face around. Tifa can be a bit of a killjoy sometimes."

Tifa groaned. "Thanks, mama."

Reno shrugged. "That don't sound too bad. I guess I can stay."

"So glad to hear that," Squall scowled. "I have to go. Thanks, Mrs. L. See you around, Teef."

As Squall strode off, Mrs. Lockhart watched him go. "Why don't you date him, dear? He seems like a responsible boy."

Tifa groaned again. "Mamaaaa…"

"Oh, all right. Now, let's see about getting our guest here some food. Cookies sound good?"

…

Cid stood there and observed the Prince Regent examine the body that he had found. Ansem was calm, collected, and even cool around the corpse. Cid was slightly unnerved by his behavior. The first glimpse the mechanic had had of the woman had made him turn around and retch in a corner, but Ansem didn't even seem shocked or disturbed by the sight.

Even in the dim light, Cid recognized the woman. It was that Chauncer woman, the one that goosed him in the market one day because she was smashed out of her mind. Tracy, Macy, oh yes, Lacey, that's it. Her kid was the annoying one. It was a shame, though. Nobody deserved this.

Whatever this was. Cid hoped the woman hadn't did of some sort of disease. The last thing the city needed was another plague. There was no blood, no bruises, the woman just seemed to have keeled over. Any poison available in the Bastion would have left a mark on the victim's forehead (a trait that the mages had introduced to reduce the number of mysterious deaths in the city), but there was nothing. Ansem was mumbling to himself, and acting very oddly.

"Sir?" Cid ventured. "I know this woman, her name's Lacey Chauncer, she lives- lived- in Lower Bastion."

"Hmm…Oh, yes, Mr. Highwind. I think perhaps you should go and get some sleep. Tomorrow you can attempt to locate any family she may have had. I can handle this job on my own."

Cid was puzzled, and just a bit suspicious. "Sir, don't you think I should get the mages down here?"

Ansem spun around. "No!" Then he calmed down. "No, I shouldn't think that would be necessary for one dead woman, Mr. Highwind. Just follow my orders, if you please."

Cid saluted. "As you wish, sir," he said, a tiny edge to his voice. He made his way out of the Waterway, Ansem's behavior weighing on his mind. It seemed as if their esteemed leader knew more about Lacey's death than he was letting on. Cid grumbled. He hated royalty.

He headed home, crawled into bed, and tried to get some sleep. Tried being the operative word in this situation.

Tonight's been a strange one, he decided. First finding that woman, dead, now that was not what I had planned for tonight, dammit.

And then, that party…Shera…wow. She didn't look half-bad…who am I kidding, she was…pretty. Yeah, pretty's the word I'm lookin' fer. More than pretty, she was even…

Hold on there, pal. Nothin' good's gonna come from thinkin' bout that. Wish I could just get that out of my mind, but I don't at the same time.

Dammit.

Cid turned over, punching his pillow. This sucked.

He didn't know that, halfway across town, in a stately manor, a girl who had traded her yellow party dress for nightclothes was having similar trouble sleeping, her thoughts plagued with uncertainty. Shera let out an exasperated gasp. Why was she doing this? It was just a party, he just happened to show up, that was it. She saw the man every day, why was tonight special?

It was the way he looked at me…no, no, he couldn't have meant anything by it; he must have just been surprised. Handsome 25-year-old men just don't care about scrawny teenagers like that.

But still…it was nice.

Neither of those two confused souls would get a whole lot of sleep that night.

…

Ansem regarded the dead woman in front of him. Strange, his new "pets" hadn't acted the way he had thought they would. His "Heartless" shouldn't have just sucked the woman's heart out. They shouldn't have left a body. Ansem punched the wall in frustration. Now that nosy engineer was going to be intruding where he wasn't welcome. There was no chance a commoner like Cid Highwind, a man who worked with his hands, would understand the measures Ansem was taking to protect his people. He wouldn't accept the fact that sacrifices had to be made in order to save the many.

Sacrifices like this woman.

Ansem had discovered the beings of darkness in an ancient part of the castle several months ago. He researched them, learning that they survived by consuming the "hearts", the essences, of light-dwelling humans. Ansem figured he could appease them, by offering them several lesser people, or those nobody would miss, and prevent them from preying on their favorite victims, the children of the Bastion. He was also experimenting on the creatures, trying to change the way they operated. He wanted the Heartless to cause their victims to disappear, not become lifeless corpses who would attract attention. Eventually Ansem hoped to be able to control the beings.

His experiments were not going very well.

Ansem gave the corpse a last, contemptuous glance, and went back to his study. He was going to need to work harder on the Heartless, and he was also going to have to figure out a way to make the prominent engineer either keep quiet or disappear.

…

The next morning dawned crisp and cool, typical for a late-winter morning. Preparations were already beginning for the Spring Festival, which would be held later that month, and the busy season for merchants was in full swing.

Squall was on duty, guarding the gates to the city. Beyond the walled confines of Bastion Town and its palace lay a wasteland, a jagged landscape that offered no respite for any unlucky travelers. As far as anyone could tell, no one lived outside of the protective shields the mages had set up around the city to ward off the elements. In fact, Squall really couldn't see any reason to post a guard around the city gates. He and Cloud most unwisely volunteered that opinion to their commanding officer, and in result were assigned Gate duty every other day.

"See anything, Strife?" he asked his friend. Cloud rolled his eyes. "No, I don't see anything. What, did you actually expect me to see something?"

Squall smirked. "My, my, we are a bit cranky this fine morning. What, are you missing your girl?"

Cloud reddened. "M- Maybe. What's it to you, Squall?"

"Nothin'. I just hate to see a good soldier brought low like a droopy-eyed puppy by some woman, especially if he's supposed to be watching my back."

Cloud grinned. "I seem to remember a certain Master Leonhart who pined for weeks over Rinoa Heartilly."

Squall laughed. "Yeah, I remember him too. What a sap!"

He became more serious. "You really like her, don't you, man?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, I really do."

"But what about Tifa? You know she's liked you for years."

"I know, and I don't want to hurt her or anything, but I just don't have those sorts of feelings for her. I do have those sorts of feelings for Aerith."

"Who you know absolutely nothing about. I mean, you've only known her for what, two months? And nobody knows where she came from."

"So? Your parents only knew each other for two weeks. And they got married, Squall."

Squall chuckled humorlessly. "Please, don't use my parents as your model for a stable relationship. They're both cheating on each other and think that nobody can tell, and they're so busy with their own lives that they can't even see that my sister's been spending more time with Cid Highwind than she does with her family."

"I thought everyone knew that. I mean, everyone sees her bring him lunch every day, how could they miss it?"

"They're nobles, Cloud, they live on a different level of life than normal people do."

"Ah, yes, the level of life you are accustomed to, Squall."

"The level of life I've been desperate to escape, you mean. Shera too."

Cloud grinned. "Shera's got the easy end. All she has to do is marry old Cid and your parents'll disown her in a second."

"Don't even joke about that, man, it could happen so easily."

"Think she'd do it?"

"Maybe…nah. Shera may like him, but at the end of the day, she still does whatever she's told. S'just the way she is."

"You never know, Squall, things change. Things change all the time."

…

Something was "up" with Ansem, mused Prince Rufus as he sat at his breakfast. He was moody, irritable, not exactly his normal, cloyingly charming, self. Not that Rufus particularly cared, but he was suspicious of any change in his dearest uncle's behavior.

Rufus didn't particularly like Ansem very much. From the time Rufus was a small child, all he ever knew was that smugly smiling man, ruling his country, telling him what to do. Rufus wouldn't be surprised if the man was planning to usurp the throne. The only people the teen prince could trust were himself and his Turks.

And even they weren't invincible. Ansem had already come up with ways to break up Rufus's group of friends. Their oldest, Tseng, had been "promoted" to being a bodyguard to that foreign brat, Yuffie. She was some cousin of his or something. That left Rufus with Rude, his best friend, Reeve, the smart one (Ansem was eyeing him for a transfer to the Engineering Department), and Elena, one of the only girls in the Guard. Rufus scowled. He didn't like Ansem trying to control him. After all, he was Crown prince Rufus, son of King Shinra, First General of the Guard. Who was Ansem, his father's younger, lesser brother, to tell him what to do?

And now the usurper was acting oddly. Great. Rufus glared into his oatmeal. If anything was worse than Ansem, it was crazy Ansem. Just what was his problem?

…

Cid set out, bright and early, to go find the Chauncer kid. He checked Lower Bastion, where the kid lived, but nobody had seen Reno since yesterday. Great, Cid thought, Mother's dead and the kid's nowhere to be found. Just fing peachy.

He came up to Upper Bastion, asking around to see if anyone knew where the kid was. He stopped in Lockhart's Café to ask if Mrs. L had seen him. She had.

"Well, where is he? I got some- I got some bad news for him."

"Oh dear," she said. "Is this about his mother? He's in the back room with Tifa."

She showed him back and Cid saw Tifa washing dishes in the back room sink. Reno was sitting at a table, playing chess with…Shera.

Great.

Shera looked up, and he'd be damned if she didn't turn as pink as her dress. Nice color on her, he noticed.

Stop it, stop it.

"Captain!" she said, looking at him with wide eyes. "Can we help you?"

Cid steeled himself. This ain't gonna be pleasant. "I need ta talk to the kid."

Reno stood up. "Yah?" Cid could see the kid squaring his shoulders. He knows somethin's up.

"Its yer mom, kid, she's, well, she's…" he trailed off.

"Dead?"

"Yeah. Kid, I'm sorry."

Reno's knees gave out, and he sat down hard. "How?"

Cid sighed, flicking imaginary dirt off his nose. "Damned, uh, darned if I know. Nobody can tell. When we find out, you'll be the first to know."

Reno didn't hear him. He had started to shake, face buried in his hands. Then the three observers heard muffled sobs. Shera looked up into Cid's face, begging him to tell them that it wasn't true. He couldn't. He turned to go, and as he walked out, he saw Reno fling himself into Shera's arms, sobbing harder.

Poor kid. He's too young for this.

Cid walked out into the sunshine, but the day didn't seem so beautiful anymore.

…

A/N: Wow, longest chapter ever. Three chapters in and I've already made Reno an orphan. Go me. But hey! Keep reading. How are you guys liking it then? C'mon, review.