Apparently Tori had slept longer than she thought. When she had first stepped outside the bookstore, the first thing she noticed was the dramatic drop in temperature from earlier that evening. The days that summer had followed the same pattern. Hot during the day and nearly frigid during the night. She had overheard rumors from people in the bookstore that it may have had something to do with the pollution that still existed in the air above Midgar messing up with the quality of the various chemicals in the Troposphere and blah, blah, blah... Obviously there were some people with remaining intellect that had survived the disaster two years before if they knew how to talk like that, which would make Jiro's theory about smart people actually making the effort to come to a bookstore in the middle of an abandoned neighborhood correct. All Tori knew was that she would definitely not fit in with the scientific crowd. That kind of thing was too...book smarts. All Tori needed to know was that the weather was being affected by pollution and she wouldn't care less about the details.

Speaking of the sky, there was a beautiful sunset that had begun to develop over the city. That probably had something to do with the atmosphere too, but thinking about that after just waking up would give Tori a migraine. She went back inside the bookstore to retrieve her denim jacket and hat that Emiko had knitted her. Tori smiled when she chose picked up the olive-colored hat. After Jiro and Emiko had taken them in and discovered their possessions had been destroyed, Emiko had immediately set about to supply them with new clothing, about half knitted and half made of material sewn together. She had been so kind, Tori and Miya assumed they would be indebted to the elderly couple for practically forever.

Leaving the bookstore once again, Tori noticed that the sunset's colors had begun to deepen. She decided to get the errand for Jiro over with quickly. She really didn't want to be stuck outside with the crowd that hung around these streets at night. Especially if Miya was right and there were Turks around. The errand was simple, all she had to do was go to a delivery service on the edge of the sector and bring back a box of books that was delivered there earlier that day. As long as the box wasn't too heavy, she should be able to get back before it got too late. She would just keep to the middle of the street where the lamp posts still emitted light. She would be able to see if anyone came up to her, and if they intended to do her harm, Tori would have to recall the days of karate that she had taken when she was 14. Sure she had only gotten to a yellow belt, but that was probably enough, she hoped.

Starting down the street towards the edge of the sector, she straightened her back and tried to look as confident as possible.

Yazoo stood in the doorway of the lobby of the dilapidated hotel that served as his and his brother's base, a hand on both posts. It was near an abandoned highway and well out of the way of the crowded business areas of the city. Master had specifically chosen the building because apparently it still had working gas pipes that had once run through to a kitchen area; the perfect place to set up a makeshift laboratory.

Loz and Kadaj had gone in before him; Loz immediately flopping down on one of the ancient sofas near the waiting area, propping his feet up on a footstool and letting out a heavy sigh, and Kadaj making his way to the counter to take an inventory of everything they had retrieved from their "home" laboratory.

Just going back to the place had brought back memories that Yazoo would prefer to forget. Everywhere he went, he could almost hear voices of doctors and scientists, always evaluating experiments and talking about whatever nearly inhumane practice they were going to attempt next. It made him want to clutch his head and shake it as if it would free his mind from the torment whenever he thought back to those memories. He suspected his brothers were suffering the same thing. Loz's arrogant composure had wilted quite a bit and Kadaj had looked paler and more perturbed than Yazoo had ever seen him. After they had collected the instruments they needed, all three had been all too eager to flee the place and come back to the base.

After a moment, Kadaj smiled and closed the bag of equipment before saying, "Perfect, we've got everything Master requested."

"Good, that means we don't have to get to that heck hole," Loz said coolly.

Kadaj smirked, "Why? Were you afraid of a little…building? You should have seen the look on your face when we walked into the chemical lab! It was hilarious!"

He said the last sentence nearly laughing, although Yazoo could tell it was somewhat forced. Loz just scowled.

"Yeah? Well, you didn't look your best in there either. You looked like you were gonna be sick half the time."

Kadaj's smirk quickly faded to be replaced with a sudden uncertainty and he looked as though he were searching for a way to response in his own defense. He fondled the bag a bit and murmured something under his breath as he inched slightly towards the stairway that lead up to their rooms, one which held their master. Yazoo had to admit to himself that he was slightly amused by the fact that part of his brother's placidity had been chipped away to reveal a much more uneasy person.

"Ha! So you admit it then, you were scared," Loz exclaimed, slapping the arm of the couch.

Kadaj spun around and glared at his older brother. The uneasiness Yazoo had sensed was gone.

"It's not that I was frightened. I just didn't like going back to the place where we treated as a minority," he spat. "They have no idea of the power we will possess when our brother is revived."

After he'd said this, a much more serene look drifted across his gaze, reminded of something that subdued his anger. Seeing this discomfited Loz and Yazoo somewhat, but then Kadaj broke out of his reverie and started back towards the stairwell.

"But enough of this. I'm going to tell Master what we've done."

Then, as though he recalled something important, he turned to Yazoo, who had not moved from the doorway, and half smiled.

"Ah yes, I just remembered that one of us should go out and gather information on anything that may have happened while we were gone."

He held out a hand to Yazoo in an inviting gesture, "Yazoo, will you do the honors?"

Yazoo inwardly sighed. Of course the duty would fall to him to him instead of Loz tonight. Loz didn't exactly have a reputation in being the tamest person on the streets. Every time he went out to gather information in one of his disguises he would always get on at least one person's nerves. Then the scene would turn into an all out brawl and he would come stumbling back with that arrogant smirk and only a few snippets of information. Yazoo could tell Kadaj's patience was wearing thin with his brother.

Seeing that Kadaj was actually waiting for a reply, Yazoo nodded in acquiescence. Kadaj's smile widened and he clapped his hands together, having a bit of difficulty with the bag still in his hand. "Excellent. Now, I'm going to continue with my report to Master."

"Hey! Why are you sending him," Loz piped up indignantly.

"Ah, maybe because he doesn't try to break the legs of every person he comes across and actually tries to get some information," Kadaj said, casting a sharp glare at Loz.

Loz just snarled and muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, "I don't see you trying to do anything useful out there…"

"What was that," Kadaj asked with a tone of lethal calm, raising one of his eyebrows.

Deciding he'd probably never see the end of this quarrel and have enough time to salvage for information, Yazoo promptly turned from his brothers, who were now staring daggers at each other, and collected a brown trench coat from the coat rack near the lobby door. Hopefully when he came back there wouldn't be a dead body lying where one of his brothers used to be.

Tori shivered as she walked down the street. The chill air of the night was beginning to cut through her denim jacket to get to her skin. She coiled her arms around herself and tried to walk a little more briskly.

So far, she had been walking fifteen minutes and there had been no trouble. She relaxed a little. Miya had always told her not to be so uptight, but she couldn't help it. If gangs on the street had been bad before Meteor, what could they be like now?

The sky had darkened enough for the lampposts to kick on when Tori reached the delivery service. She went in and was relieved to find it quite a few degrees higher than the outside. The woman at the counter directed her to a fairly large box in the corner of the room when she explained who had sent her. For its size, it was actually very light when compared to the other boxes of books that Jiro had Tori haul around. Maybe she had just built up her muscles over the past couple of years.

She went back outside and immediately hugged the box closer, as if it would supply her with warmth. As she looked down the empty street, she realized she could barely see the areas that weren't lit up by the lamp posts. She took a breath to calm her nerves. Why on this planet Jiro had sent her on the errand AT NIGHT Tori didn't understand. Maybe he had thought that since she was going to be up anyway, she would have no problem with it. Well, even if this did fit in with her sleep patterns, she still didn't feel comfortable when she was on the street instead of staring down at it.

Starting back, Tori couldn't help but cast quick side glances at particularly nasty-looking alleyways. There were a couple of times when she thought she heard a noise only to find that it was an ordinary rat or a homeless guy that looked even more harmless than a circus clown. It was halfway back when she her thoughts tried to comfort her by telling her that she was being ridiculous. She was a teenage girl, who really wasn't that pretty, with a box of books, what would anybody want with her? For some reason, part of her wasn't being reassured, and she continued to jump every time she heard the smallest sound.

When she reached the entrance to a particular wide alleyway, she suddenly heard the sounds of low voices echoing against the walls of the abandoned buildings and sounds of multiple footsteps getting closer. Tori's heart began to beat uncomfortably fast and she started walking a little faster. Truth be told, she couldn't tell which way the sounds were coming from because of the effects of the echoing. This only served to make her speed up even more and she passed several more alleyways in the time span of a few minutes. She tried to hide her face as much as possible by staring down at the ground while she walked; causing her to collide into something that suddenly appeared as if from nowhere out of another alley.

She stumbled backward a few feet before dropping the box in her arms in her efforts to steady herself. The box fell with a loud thud turning onto its side and spilling much of its contents onto the pavement. Tori looked up to see that she had collided with a man much taller than herself with stubble that made it look as though he was desperately trying to grow out a beard but things weren't working out quite right.

"Hey, watch where your goin'," He said in a horribly slurred voice that indicated he was very drunk.

"I-I'm sorry," Tori said with a slight bow of her head before she knelt down to pick up her books. She felt a rough hand grab her arm behind her and pull her to her feet.

"Now, now, there ain't no need to be rude, Lester," Came an equally slurred voice that belonged to the hand. Tori bit her lip and turned her head to face this man. He had small scars all over his face, some which looked uncomfortably like knife wounds. His hair was combed back and looked very shiny as if he had put gallons of hair gel in it

"She should've been looking where she was walkin' instead of starin's at the ground like there were banana peelin's all over," Lester said impatiently. "T's her fault if ya ask me, Hyde."

Hyde ignored Lester and turned Tori to look at him fully in the face. She could literally feel his eyes scanning over her features, and that, combined with the putrid smell of his breath, made her wrinkle up her nose and nearly made her want to vomit.

"Yeh know, for a runt, yer not half bad lookin," Hyde grinned, revealing two rows of unkempt teeth.

Tori turned away, trying not to look too disgusted. Such a thing would probably spur the men into hurting her.

"Please, I'm only trying to get back to my home. It's only a few blocks away and my family will get worried if I don't get back," She said, trying to keep her voice from wavering too much. She had fallen into the habit of calling Jiro, Emiko, and Miya her family, even if the paperwork still had to be thoroughly completed. It was a comfort to think of them right now.

"Hey now, what's the rush? I was actually hopin' you would come with us an' have some fun. Me and Lester here were just on our way to our favorite night spot," Hyde said with what sounded disgustingly like hope in his voice.

"Aw come on, Hyde, she'd only slow us down," Lester said, annoyed.

"You shut yer trap before I shut it fer ya," Hyde said menacingly to Lester before turning back to Tori, his features softening. "So whatt'ya say, want to come have a night on the town before we get back to the agency?"

Agency? What agency was there around here?

Tori squinted through the darkness to get a look at the men's black outfits, only to gasp as a sickening ball of dread fell through her stomach when she instantly recognized the unkempt uniforms.

One thing was for sure, Miya's theory about some people on the streets had been right. These men were Turks.

A/N: Behold my feeble attempts to make drunken people talk! Ok, so I guess I did kind of promise that my chapters weren't going to be as long as the last one, well, I'm sorry, I lied. From the looks of things there all pretty much going to be this long. Don't worry; I'll get Yazoo talking soon enough. Right now he's being the quiet type, but he'll get to say more as the story progresses. His voice shall be heard! Anyway, please send feedback. I'll get the next chapter up very soon.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy stuff...Square-Enix. Original stuff...me.