"To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day."

Sir Winston Churchill

Everyone chatted happily as they left Elmyra's house. Moments earlier, they had been tense, alert, and over-come with worry, but now they were all cheerfully exhausted. The Turks were discussing their new plans to leave early tomorrow, and Reeve was muttering under his breath about the hole in the wall. Yuffie happily said goodnight to them all and ran off to her house.

Their group slowly diminished as everyone headed off to their separate homes to catch some sleep. Cloud sighed and turned to Tifa, who was leaning heavily against him.

"See?" he said softly. "Everything turned out okay."

Tifa didn't say anything.

"Tifa?" he asked, nudging her.

Her head shot up.

"Sorry Cloud," she said shakily. "I guess I'm just really tired…"

Tifa's face was pale in the moonlight. Cloud rubbed his hands up and down her arms, concerned.

"You okay?" he asked, taking note of how pale and shaky she was.

She closed her eyes and swayed slightly.

"I don't know…" she answered faintly.

Cloud placed a stabilizing arm around her waist.

"Come on Tifa," he said worriedly. "Let's get up to bed, you'll feel better after some rest."

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Vincent slowly mopped the floor, not really focusing on what he was doing. He slowly inched his way across the linoleum floor of the conference room. Working a night-shift janitorial job was not exactly ideal, but it had its upsides. Vincent kept his face carefully blank and scrubbed more vigorously at a spot on the floor.

"And the men made it out successfully?" Kale was asking an advisor.

The advisor, a sallow skinned, white-haired man nodded.

"Good, good…" Kale said with a gleam in his eye.

"They replaced it all…" the man wheezed. "No one saw them...they're on their way back now."

Kale clasped his hands in front of him in a pleased fashion.

"How long does it take for the poison to take effect?" he asked, smiling maliciously.

The advisor considered. "Four to five hours."

The two fell silent. Vincent quickly finished the floor and made his way out. Taking long strides, he pushed his mop and bucket into the janitorial closet and locked the door behind him. He quickly pulled out his PHS. Who would be up at this hour? he wondered. Reeve, most likely. Vincent dialed Reeve's number, and after three rings, Reeve picked up.

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Cloud's eyes snapped open, and he sat up in bed. He and Tifa were piled under blankets against the night's cold. Cloud looked around the room sleepily, trying to figure out what had woken him. The room was illuminated by moonlight, but nothing seemed to be out of place.

Figuring it was nothing, Cloud looked down at Tifa. He smiled at her back and gently brushed a long strand of hair off her shoulder. His smile faded away when he saw that she was shaking violently.

"Tifa!" he said loudly, his brow creasing in concern. "What's wrong? Are you cold?"

He gently grabbed her and pulled her close to warm her up, but he was surprised to see that her skin was cold at all; it was hot to the touch. Still shaking, Tifa opened her eyes slightly and let out a low moan.

"Tifa?" Cloud said, his voice sounding nothing short of terrified. "What's wrong? Where does it hurt?"

Tifa's arms were clenched tightly around herself. Sweat beaded on her forehead.

"Cloud?" she whispered, voice trembling. "I think…I think I'm gunna be sick…"

"Okay," he said. "Come on Tifa, let's go to the bathroom…"

He stood and tried to help her up, but she curled up tightly and shook her head.

"I can't." she cried.

Cloud paled at the pain in her voice. She let out another moan, and quickly, Cloud picked her up and carried her to the bathroom.

"It's okay Tifa," he said, trying to be soothing, but feeling confused and terrified. "I've got you, it's okay."

He set her down gently by the toilet, placing his arm around her waist to support her. She gripped the edges of the bowl tightly with both hands. Her breathing was loud and erratic. Cloud held her hair back and held her up as she was violently sick. Finally, she pulled away from the toilet and slumped back against him.

"You okay now?" he asked, gently brushing her hair off her hot forehead. "Come on, I'll carry you back to be-"

But Tifa suddenly lurched forward and grabbed the bowl again. Cloud sprung up, pulling her hair back away from her face. She dry heaved a couple times, and then started coughing uncontrollably. Cloud pulled her away from the toilet and into his arms, trying to figure out what to do.

"Tifa? Tifa?" he said, voice getting louder due to panic.

Her head lolled back against his chest.

"Oh God…" he cried desperately. "Come on Tifa, I'm taking you to the hospital. I've got you okay? Everything's going to be fine…"

Quickly, hands shaking, Cloud pulled on a pair of pants and wrapped Tifa in blanket. He carried her out the door, and began running towards the hospital.

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In the conference room at Cosmo Canyon, everyone looked strange and out of place in their pajamas. Yuffie, Reno, Elena, Rude, the war advisor from Wutai, Barret, and little Marlene on Barret's lap were all paying rapt attention to Reeve as he relayed the phone call from Vincent.

"They poisoned something here…" Reeve said shaking his head solemnly. "It could be the water-supply…but that would be highly ineffective. The water supply here is a moving spring…the poison would simply go straight through…"

They all absorbed this information and tried to come up with a solution. Barret shook his head.

"I dunno…" he said. "Did you try Cloud an' Tifa again?"

Reeve nodded. "Neither of them are picking up."

The group fell into silence. Suddenly, Yuffie jumped as though something had occurred to her.

"Marlene!" she said, turning to the little girl. "Did you see something suspicious today? Is that why you wandered outside the wall?"

Marlene looked hesitantly from Barret to Yuffie. Barret nodded at her.

"It's okay Marlene." he said quietly. "You can talk."

Marlene sat up straighter in Barret's lap and tucked her legs under her as she began her story.

"I was going to get the ethers because Tifa needed one and the supplies were all out." she said, sounding proud of her helpfulness. "But when I got to the warehouse place, there were already people there."

The war advisor leaned in curiously. "What kind of people."

"Men." Marlene said. "Strange men, I hadn't never seen them before."

"What were the men doing?" Reeve asked her quietly.

Marlene wrinkled her nose. "I'm not so sure…They were putting boxes in the warehouse, and there was a pile of boxes by that hole in the wall that they took with them. But I recognized the boxes! I knew that one of the boxes was the one Tifa needed, so I followed them out the hole."

Everyone paled slightly as they digested this news.

"Where'd they go?" Barret gulped.

"Dunno." Marlene shrugged. "I fell 'member?"

They fell silent.

"So…" Reno said slowly. "They stole some of our supplies and replaced it with poison."

Reeve gave a little jump.

"We have to call the hospital and tell them!" he said, grabbing for a phone.

They all listened somberly as Reeve warned the nurse not to use any potions, ethers, antidotes, or anything.

"Don't give the patients anything!" Reeve said succinctly.

The nurse was talking frantically to Reeve, her voice sounding slightly panicked. Reeve paled.

"What?" he said faintly. "How many?"

There was more terrified speaking at the other end. Reeve sank into a chair and covered his face with his hand.

"Don't give antidotes to anyone else." he said softly. "How many people are poisoned?"

The others looked up anxiously at Reeve as he hung up.

"There are about fifty poisoned people at the hospital now." he said dully. "They've given twenty of them antidotes."

Their eyes widened at this information.

"But…" Elena said softly. "If the antidotes are poisoned too…"

Reeve lowered his gaze. "They're probably not going to make it."

Barret gently stroked Marlene's head as she hid her face into his chest.

"What about the rest?" Barret asked quietly. "The ones who haven't had an antidote?"

Reeve shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know…" he said. "I suppose it depends how strong the poison is, and how much they had."

Rude stood up. "We'll bring back antidotes from Rocket Town."

Elena and Reno stood too.

"The materials Cid wanted will have to wait." Reno said matter-of-factly.

Elena nodded. "We'll take gold chocobos instead of the truck…we'll get there much faster."

The others nodded. The Turks sat back down. Reeve was about to speak again when his PHS rang. Everyone watched as he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Reeve asked, voice brittle and tense.

A man's anguished voice could be faintly heard at the other end. Reeve's eyes bulged slightly.

"Have they given her an antidote?" Reeve asked, quickly, his voice quaking. "Have they-"

The voice on the phone made a reply and Reeve slumped in relief.

"Okay…" Reeve said soothingly into the phone. "Reno, Elena, and Rude are going to get antidotes okay? The rest of us will be over shortly."

Reeve placed his head in his hand again as he hung up the phone.

"What is it?" Yuffie asked, her young voice sounded frightened.

Reeve looked up slowly. "Tifa's been poisoned."

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Cloud poked his head out of the curtain that hid Tifa's bed from the rest of the room. The hospital was loud with shouting and pain-filled voices. Every bed was filled, the nurses and doctors were starting to put makeshift beds on the floor in this room and in the waiting room. The panic and chaos around him made him feel as though he were suffocating. But he tried to squish the feeling, and reached out and grabbed the arm of a passing doctor.

"Doctor!" he said, unable to hide the fear in his voice. "Don't you have anything you can give her?"

The doctor was sweating heavily, his eyes were tinged with panic. He shook his head.

"Everythings poisoned...I can't do anything." he said, anguished.

Cloud grabbed his shoulders to keep him from leaving.

"What about heal materia?" Cloud pleaded. "We gave all our heal materia to the hospital...why can't we use it?"

The doctor patted Cloud's shoulder, trying to be cosoling.

"It...was in the warehouse." the doctor said lowly. "It's gone."

He wriggled out of Cloud's grasp and knelt next to a poisoned recruit who was writhing on the ground. Cloud watched them for a moment, his knuckles white from gripping the curtain's so tightly. They've carried out at least ten bodies...Cloud thought, mind whirring with panic. Cloud's turned his eyes towards the doorway as two more men were carried in, groaning. The nurses and doctors ran around, overwhelmed and frusterated that there was nothing to do, that they had to sit back and watch them all suffer.

"Cloud?" Tifa's voice asked weakly from behind him.

Quickly, Cloud let the curtain drop and rushed to her side. She was curled into a ball, sweat beaded on her forehead from the effort of trying not to cry out. Hand shaking, Cloud brushed her hair off her feverish face.

"They can't give you anything Tifa...Reno, Elena, and Rude are going to bring back antidotes from Rocket Town, okay?" he said, voice breaking. "We just have to hold out till then..."

Tifa nodded, clenching her jaw in pain.

"It's not...just my stomach anymore..." she panted, squeezing her eyes shut. "It feels like it's everywhere..."

Anguish and helplessness ripped at Cloud's insides.

"I'm sorry Tifa..." he whispered, the terror in his chest not allowing him to make a louder sound. "I'm sorry this is happening to you...Just tell me...tell me what you want me to do..."

Tifa opened her eyes. Her fazed was glazed over with fever and pain.

"Cloud..." she said faintly. "Hold me...please..."

The hospital bed wasn't made for two, but Cloud squeezed next to Tifa, placing his head on the pillow next to hers. He gently pulled her shaking body to him. Tifa's feverish face was warm against his neck. Cloud stroked her back tenderly, the other hand laced through Tifa's. He could feel Tif'a's hot tears trickle down into his collarbone. Cloud determinately held back tears of his own. He pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Don't cry Tifa..." he whispered. "I love you...we'll get through this...don't cry..."

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Outside the hospital, a commotion was taking place. Desperate to see their sick friend, Barret, Reeve, and Yuffie were pleading with the nurse, but she wouldn't budge.

"What do you mean you can't let us in!" Yuffie shreiked loudly at the nurse.

Both Barret and Reeve grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.

"Please..." Reeve said quietly. "We have a friend in there."

The nurse shook her head sympathetically but firmly.

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding on the verge of tears. "We don't have room for visitors."

The door slammed in their faces. They exchanged frightened glances.

"What do we do now?" Yuffie asked, looking from Reeve to Barret.

Barret sighed and slumped his shoulders. "I dunno...we can jus' sit around..."

Reeve leaned against the wall of the hospital and put a shaking hand to his forehead.

"This is terrible..." he said desperately. "How could we have let this happen."

"It coulda been worse..." Barret mumbled.

Reeve looked up, horrified at the thought that was occuring to him.

"Oh God..." he said shakily. "What if Vincent never overheard Kale?"

Barret shuddered.

"People woulda kept takin' potions..." he said lowly. "An' they'd keep givin' them antidotes..."

Yuffie smacked Barret on the arm.

"Stop it!" she hissed at him. "Just stop, both of you!"

"Sorry..." Barret muttered.

Reeve shook his head.

"I just meant..." he explained. "President Kale might be smarter than we thought he was..."

Barret and Yuffie looked over at Reeve, this new, disturbing thought settling in their minds uneasily.

"Maybe..." Yuffie whispered. "Maybe we're all in a lot more danger than we thought we were."