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Hello again!

Well what do we have here? A new chapter? YEP! Whoa! Look at us! Never thought we'd get to chapter 9 folks! But we did and this fic is likely to go on for another load yet, maybe more. Depends on how much I can fit reasonably well into each chapter! But anyway, the last two chapters went down well I'm pleased to say. So here's the next. I enjoyed hearing your responses to Miguel in the end of the last chapter. Hehehe! Keep those reviews coming!

Toodles!

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Dylon smiled to himself. Watching that idiot Costan Miguel have a tantrum wasn't his favourite pastime but seen as it was over Strife, he couldn't be more pleased. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk as he observed the look on the young Sofia's face, saddened, upset – no doubt at a loss. Things were falling into place nicely.

He got to his feet slowly, without bothering with much effort. It was early, the beach was just beginning to fill with the various families or dysfunctional couples with brat kids as he liked to think of them, and the sunbathers/egotistic pricks. Miguel was approaching. He walked up the stone stairs leading to the upper street in a frustrated fashion, right past Dylon without even acknowledging him. Dylon just watched him pass, the smirk still plain on his face. It would not be as hard as he had first thought to get that idiot on his side.

Now it was easier than ever.

Dylon set off at a quickened pace, straight for his target.

"Where are we?" Reno asked himself, a thoroughly confused expression on his face.

Elena clicked her laptop shut, and shoved it to one side. Irritated, she stepped out of the car, slamming the door behind her.

"Move over." She said, shoving Rude out of the way of the map that was spread over the bonnet of the Midnight blue saloon. Reno was bent over the map, running his finger down one of the many coloured fine lines that crossed over each other on the paper. He squinted hard faking a look of concentration.

Elena brushed him away with her hand and stood observing the map. The sun was baking them in their suits – yes those trademark blue suits – and Reno was the only one with sense to have chucked his onto the roof, where it dangled. His tie was hung low, half way down his chest and his shirt unbuttoned at the collar, his sleeves rolled up.

"You two have been stood here pouring over this map for half an hour, well at least you have Reno. What is so hard about reading a map?!" Elena asked rhetorically, though as usual Reno didn't pick up on that and commented yet again.

"Well you see all those lines, there, and there, oh and there, oh yeah and you know what that looks like? Another fucking line! They're labelled all right, but this country lane doesn't look very public does it? Unless there's a red arrow saying 'you are here' then we're screwed."

"Shut up Reno." Elena snapped. She shook her head, as she removed her jacket, folding it loosely before throwing it to hang on the roof – which didn't happen as it slipped off the surface of the car and fell onto the dusty road.

Reno snorted and chuckled to himself. He shot a look over at Rude, whose mouth twitched at the corner, refusing to give way.

Elena closed her eyes momentarily, cursing herself under her breath. She quickly gathered herself together and tried her best to ignore the humiliation by busying herself with the map. She ran her hand along various labelled roads and squinted.

"Ok…what was the last road we were on? I mean, public road, one that you'd recognise on a map." She asked.

"That was over an hour away, we've been down these stupid lanes for ages." Reno pointed out. Elena turned to him.

"I don't care how long ago that was, I just want to know. Which one?"

Reno paused.

And stayed silent.

Suddenly someone pointed at a spot on the map. Elena looked round to see Rude. "That one." He stated. "We've done eighty miles since then." Elena nodded and after marking an eighty-mile radius line around that point, she began working out various routes they could have taken. With Rude's help on which direction turnings they took, she could pin point where they had ended up.

She just took a moment to mark another thing on the map before handing Rude back his pen she borrowed. She patted Reno on the shoulder mockingly with a smirk before walking to pick up her dust-covered jacket. Rude took a glance at the map before walking back to the car, and getting back into the drivers seat. Reno stood confused.

Then he looked down at the map. Elena had been busy, there were marks all over the place, a rough circle pen line for a radius line here, small crosses and ticks there, and there – then Reno frowned. Staring at him was a drawn on arrow sporting the words 'you are here asshole'. He looked up and saw Elena smirking at him from the side of the car just before she climbed in. He scoffed and gathered up the map.

Placing his hand on the door handle, he pulled on it but it was locked from inside. There was a knock on the window that made him look up. Elena was sat there, pointing to the small plastic tube on the door that was clicked in to show she had locked the door.

Reno scrunched his fist around the map in his hand tightly, keeping his tongue leashed behind his teeth.

Defeated, and boasting a child's temper, he climbed into the backseat, shoving the map into Elena's lap.

"Thank you." She said sweetly, opening the creased folds of the map. Rude turned the ignition key, lifted the handbrake and put his foot down without a word; they were off again. This time Elena was navigating, much to everyone (including Reno's) relief.

Dreaming…

That was the only way to describe the state Tifa Lockheart was in right now. She was sat in a pulled up chair beside the sleeping form of someone she had only ever seen in her dreams for the past ten months. She just sat there, watching his chest rise and fall, listening to the sound of his faint breathing. Now and then she would reach out to move stray strands of hair away from his face, or gently dampen his sore forehead with a cloth, but he never flinched, never showed any signs of waking up.

Suddenly the door opened.

Tifa flung her head round to look at the doorway –

"Vincent! How did you get in?" she said getting to her feet. Then she realised how loud she had said that and quickly looked at Cloud. He hadn't moved a muscle, least of all his eyelids. She sighed in relief, chucking the cloth onto her empty chair, and walked over to Vincent. "I guess I must have forgotten to lock the door earlier…Anyway, I came looking for you this morning, but Jack said you never called in last night. He didn't have any customers last night actually, so he didn't get you confused with anyone. What happened to you? You said you were stopping at the inn last night." She said, in a hushed voice.

"I preferred to stay in familiar surroundings compared to the inn. I noticed you had the key to Cloud's villa here still, and in the same place. I remember you getting it and bringing it here originally." He replied in his usual tone. Though it was never bold to begin with so Tifa didn't have any fear of him waking Cloud.

"But…in that case, you lied. Last night, when you said you would go to the inn, you lied?" Tifa said, somewhere between confusion and shock. Vincent didn't deny it.

"I originally intended to spend the night there. I remembered you had the key to Cloud's villa and I chose to keep that information to myself. Cloud would have no doubt taken the easier alternative and avoided your questions by staying there also."

"So you never told him." She finished his sentence off for him. He nodded.

Tifa couldn't help but smile. "Thank you Vincent. But…as you can see, I haven't so much as gotten a word out of him since last night. I came back this morning from looking for you, and found him out cold in the doorway downstairs. It was thanks to a couple of friends of mine, an accident trust me, seen as a pan was involved. Don't ask". She said, before Vincent questioned her about it.

"So, I brought him back up here and this is where he's stayed since then. About three, four hours now? Yeah, about four hours." She said, verifying her guess by glancing at the round wall clock. "And last night, all I got, well, all I expected really was small talk. He was exhausted and I just let him rest and get the much-needed sleep he was lacking before I asked for the long explanation. I'm sure there is one." She finished, glancing back at Cloud. "I guess you were tired too huh? Not like you to get up at noon." She said with a small smile.

"Well, he's not waking up for nobody, so what would you say to some lunch?"

"I wouldn't say no."

Tifa beamed with a smile and walked over to the kitchen. Soon enough, she was moving around her traditional Costan kitchen with ease and familiarity, the sun filling the large room full of surfaces with bright warm light. Vincent sat down at the table and patiently waited, been able for the first time to watch Tifa in her skill of cooking. Occasionally she would catch his eye and ask him about which herb he liked or which choice of side dish he preferred. He felt involved, comfortable, almost at home here.

He had missed Tifa a whole lot more than he thought. And as he sat there he wondered about his other friends and just how much he wanted for them to all be sat here, altogether with him and Tifa. Including passed out Cloud. He felt in his mind he could speak for everyone by saying he missed being on a journey again.

Just then Tifa came to sit opposite him at the round table, breaking his thoughts.

"I've made us a chicken lattice, it should take about 40 minutes to cook. There's enough for the sloth when he wakes up too." She said with a small smile. Then she noticed the look in Vincent's eyes. "What's on your mind Vincent? You look, I dunno…distant."

Vincent paused before looking straight at Tifa, meeting her glance. "During the short duration of our journey, I learnt and experienced things equal to those of my whole life. So much happened, we went through so many trying times when we could have given up, but we held each other together. I guess now it has all come to an end I'm sad to see it go." He said simply.

Tifa looked down at her hands cupped round a glass of water.

"I know. I keep thinking that. Getting back to normal life just isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's so…well, mundane compared to travelling the world, going to a new place every day. Every morning waking up in another place, only to get up, gather everyone together and head off to the next destination. Our feet never touched the ground, well barely. But now we've all scattered to our places, and settled. Sure we see each other now and again but for instance, Red's in Cosmo Canyon. Arranging transport to get there is hard enough, and it takes a while to get there. Once you reach the place its like you are arranging to meet the dead when you try finding him long enough to have him sit still and talk small talk with you. It's practically impossible. It's not like he doesn't want to but, so much is demanded of him, he has little time to himself these days. And when you're talking to him, you are constantly aware of a clock ticking, telling you that you don't have much time and he has to rush off soon so make it quick." She went quiet after that.

"And…we lost so much along the way. I don't want to lose what we have now. As a group of friends we're hanging on by a thread, literally. Though it's probably snapped already. I just wish everyone could see how easy it is to lose each other…" she paused again, her glance returning to the glass of water. She looked carefully at her watery reflection and closed her eyes.

"Aeris." Vincent said for her. She nodded and slowly opened her eyes.

"I think about her every day almost. I see something that reminds me of her, or I hear someone talking, laughing and I think to myself 'that sounds just like something Aeris would say'. Most of all though, at times I'll just sit in this apartment and just miss her company. It comes as simply as that. And I already feel that way for Barrett, for Red, and for Yuffie especially. I haven't seen that girl since New Year. Cid, surprisingly I've seen most of all. He travels once a month to 'do the rounds' as he calls it. Translated to mean visiting everyone. I get to know how everybody else is doing from him, and they know how I am through Cid also. I guess that is a reason why we're just too lazy to see each other. We just regard asking Cid the same as asking each other in person. Which isn't right at all."

"I never thought Cid would be the person who did that. Is it that everyone else is too busy in their own lives, or just busier than him?" Vincent asked, looking to Tifa's un-touched glass of water.

Tifa noticed this and smiled. "Water filter is in the fridge Vincent. Glasses are in that cupboard there. Help yourself." He nodded in thanks and stood up to get himself one. Tifa replied to his last question as he reached for a glass, closing the cupboard afterwards. "I guess so. I mean, originally Cid was busier than everyone else with his projects, and he still is don't get me wrong; but life is so much more time-consuming than that. All the rest of us have complicated routines. We can't just drop them like he can drop a spanner and pick it up again whenever he wants."

Vincent sat back down after clearing half the glass of water down his throat. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself Tifa?" He asked simply. She caught the look in his eye and avoided it, shifting her glance to the window over his shoulder. "Well…I…" she sighed and looked down at the table. "You're right. I'm just making up excuses aren't I? That's basically all I keep doing. I want to see everyone but…I always had the agenda of keeping my 'waiting for Cloud' status. Now he's back I have no excuse. I should just go find them. Make that extra effort, and make them find the time to get together. It's just hard though…" she admitted.

Vincent nodded. "The idea of meeting here every year for New Year was a good idea Tifa, but don't let that stop you from making the effort to see people other than that. Coming up with that idea makes you no better than everyone else." Tifa paused, feeling guilty. "I know that. I do, honestly I do. I was carried away with things here. Too carried away with my own selfish needs of waiting for Cloud to think about my friends. I shoved everyone else to one side didn't I?"

Vincent paused before he replied. "Yes. But they understood, we understood." He corrected himself.

"Oh my God, they don't even know he's back do they?" She suddenly realised. "They need to know! We need to tell them! That'll make them come over here, and then we can think about the things we've done wrong up to now, and we can spend that much needed time with each other. You disappeared on your own way as well Vincent, but we got in contact when we needed I know. Just right now you're already sat here, we can get everyone together." Her tone was lighter, and she sounded much happier.

"That's settled then. Next time Cid rings me up to tell me he's coming round again, I'll ask him to call to see everyone else first. He can pick everybody else up on the way this time, I'll just say I have a surprise I want everyone to see." At that she smiled brightly and got to her feet, picking up her glass and emptying the water down the sink. She dried the glass and put it away before turning to pick up her oven gloves.

"Let's check on that Lattice. I don't know about you, but with these butterflies in my stomach I'm even more hungry in this excitement." She commented, a grin on her face.

Vincent was pleased at her sudden change in mood. Without knowing it, she had just gotten herself out of her own sadness. He had only helped her along by asking the right questions. He hoped he could do the same for Cloud in order to convince him to make his own decisions on telling Tifa what she badly needed to know.

"Ok. Looking good. So, Broccoli or asparagus with it? Oh lets go mad and have both!" She declared. Vincent could have laughed at her sudden giddiness.

Could have that is.

Reno jolted awake. He blinked a few times before he realised his surroundings. He was still sat in the back of the car with Rude looking calm as usual driving in front, Elena watching the road, open map in her lap. Suddenly she turned her head to look back at Reno.

"So the snoring sloth finally awakes? About time. You were beginning to give me and Rude a headache." She said, as Reno wiped the small amount of dribble from the corner of his mouth.

"What time is it?"

"Nine twenty two." Elena replied after looking at her wristwatch. Reno frowned, rubbing his aching head and yawned. "Where are we?"

"Not far now. I'd say we'll make it in an hour or so." Elena said, before looking back at him. "Try to keep awake this time. You nearly slobbered on the seats with your dribbling."

Reno frowned. "Button it smart ass. It's your fault we took so long. Me and Rude had to come all the way down here to get you. Mideel, I tell you. You're an idiot Elena, I swear if you didn't have blonde hair I'd think it was a mystery." Rude smirked in the dark of the car, the occasional overhead road light giving his expression away to a very frustrated Elena.

"I was with a client!! I have to get the investors on side Reno! The one in Mideel was taking a lot of work. I said I'd get to Junon, just that I'd be a day later than you two.

Reno rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's a likely choice you would have turned up in the right place too." He said sarcastically. "No, our client this time is much more important. Seen as you were being a stubborn little girl again, we had to come pick you up. I wasn't risking any chances. This is not the time to look unprofessional Elena, not with this guy."

"Speaking of him, does he know you're screwing him over?" Rude asked.

Reno grinned, folding his arms behind his head. "Does he hell." He slouched low in the middle of the back seat, in a more comfortable position.

"You don't think there's any chance things won't go our way?"

Reno frowned slightly. "It's not like you to doubt us Rude."

"I just think you're taking this a bit too casually. Remember who we're dealing with."

"Oh yeah, I know all right. But what can they do? They won't have their friends around them this time, so what can those two possibly do to us?"

Elena scoffed, resting her left elbow on the door, her head tilted to rest on her lifted hand. "All this for some cheap publicity stunt."

"Watch your mouth." Reno snapped. "This isn't just a publicity stunt, so get your facts right. We are here for much more than that, specifically to get our status of authority back and settle an old score well overdue. Don't get confused Elena and don't doubt the intentions of this assignment again."

Elena quietened down for two reasons. One, Reno spoke in his harsh and serious tone, and two, he called her by her name directly addressing her. An order.

She silently watched the heavy rain patter against the window, listening to the quiet sound of it. She felt like a young child having just been told off. Reno closed his eyes and also calmed himself. This assignment could go the other way just as much as it could go in their favour. He knew that but his unofficial role as leader kept his thought restrained in his mind only.

The next hour passed in silence. All the while, Rude kept his eyes fixed on the late road ahead of him. The night was his ally most definitely. He preferred things to be on his terms, and daylight meant extra civilians, extra people; extra witnesses. Rude fit in perfectly with the dark. Rain provided the background noise to cover footsteps and movement. The conditions were perfect.

This will all go to plan. It had to. He would not allow for errors.

Not this time.

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Well what do you think? Things are getting pretty active now huh? ABOUT TIME!! I hear you cry, but wait, I haven't finished yet :p you better look forward to the next chapter. It'll be up within the next few days, I didn't want to finish this chapter here, I wanted to keep going but the event next chapter deserves a whole chapter to itself, every bit of it. Ooooh! Can't wait. I'm off to go type. Seeya!

Xx Jessie xX

P.S. Before I go, I would like to say a special thank you to a few people. Firstly, a little someone called Manon, who I would like to name Miguel's number one fan (that was a wink btw) though you are his 'single' fan most likely, but none the less Miguel has a fan! He's happy about it too so thanks to you! I appreciate your comments, and I'll tread carefully in future handling Miguel. Whoa…surprising to think somebody gives a damn about him. Awww bless you! Thanks! Ok then, to the next person, someone who gave me the idea of changing Cloud's disease to a fictional one. Thanks for that knock on the head, because it woke me up. I changed it. It's now fictional with a name and short hand letters too (go check 'the secret' chapter) so now I can control the exact effects of the disease, time limit, time of diagnosis, warning signs the whole shebang! So thanks to you Kyuu!

So, don't you all go around thinking I'm arrogant enough to just read your reviews casually and ignore them. I actually carefully consider each and every one. Thanks again to EVERYBODY who has reviewed. Taking those few minutes to post something means the world to me Don't forget to email me for a chat now!

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