Scarlet was waiting for Tseng when he emerged on to the deck of the ship. She was seated behind a couple of cargo boxes, legs arranged neatly, skirt draped around her ankles in an almost picture-perfect tableau of sex appeal. There was something artificial about Scarlet, Tseng had always thought, something so manufacture and composed about the woman that Tseng had always felt, in the back of his mind, like she was something Shinra had created, another weapon in their plan for something resembling world domination. And the most effective, weapon, too, he thought, because it not only could attack the enemy, but could eat away at the company from the inside out.

He crossed over to her, and she straightened up upon seeing him, smiling and reaching out one hand to call him to her. Tseng went, one foot in front of the other, slowly, letting his control drift as he got closer and closer to her. As he stopped only a few feet away, she reached out to him, cupping his chin in one hand, dragging him to her and running her fingers through his once-long black hair with a nostalgic smile.

"I've missed you," she said. "You look older."

"It happens," Tseng growled, and as he closed the distance between them entirely, she pulled his head to her and kissed him, letting her lips linger on his just long enough to remind him of exactly what she'd meant be "reminiscing about the good old days."

Tseng' arms closed about her greedily, and he pressed her backwards on the cargo box, so that she was teetering on the back edge of it, held upright by Tseng's embrace. His lips moved down to her neck, to the bare skin exposed by her strappy red dress, and she leaned into him, arching her neck and smiling as her lips traveled along his ear.

"Entirely too long," she whispered, and Tseng, otherwise occupied for the moment, said nothing.

Elena was pacing back and forth next to their shared bunk bed when Rude opened the door. She stopped in her tracks and glanced up, then smiled, relieved. "Rude, it's been boring as hell in here, I didn't think to bring a book like Tseng."

Reno snorted, from his perch atop his own bed. "Wouldn't be boring if you'd just sit down and try to chill out a little back, you're acting like him."

The him, in question, Rude thought, must be Tseng, the ever-nervous. Elena, reaching the same conclusion, ignored Reno entirely. She crossed to Rude, and, taking in the concern on his face, frowned. "What's going on? What's happened?"

Rude gestured at the door. "Tseng's gone," he muttered. Elena started, and Reno jumped up, sliding down the ladder behind him to land on the floor before them.

"What? You mean he's disappeared?" Elena was already headed for the exit, ready to give chase. Rude stopped them, holding out a hand to prevent Reno from following. Elena stared at him. "Well?"

"Not disappeared," he corrected, "Just gone." After a short pause, during which Elena and Reno waited impatiently for the rest of his explanation, Rude added "Shinra's here."

"What?" Elena was puzzled. "Rufus Shinra's dead." She turned to Reno, hoping to get some verification of her right to be confused. Reno shook his head, shrugging.

"Not Rufus Shinra," Rude tried again, "Scarlet. Scarlet's on board."

This was a new matter. Elena and Reno exchanged another look, this time a more concerned one, but Reno shrugged, and turned back to Rude. "So? What can Scarlet do to us, all on her own?" He flopped back on to Elena's bunk, unconcerned. "She's anything but potent with a weapon, and besides, Tseng knows what he's doing. Not sure what all the fuss is about, honestly, maybe both of you need to get more sleep.

Elena glared at him, honestly in disbelief of his nonchalance. "Scarlet's no pushover," she said, "and Rude's right to think that we shouldn't leave any of our number alone."

"Any of our number?" Reno gave Elena a hard look. "And what exactly is 'our number?' Last time I checked, Elena, you weren't the one combing the planet for the rest of us while we were out fending four ourselves. Last time I remember, we had to coerce you to come with us. Now you're gonna turn around and pretend you're the concerned member of the force, ready to go out and sacrifice herself for her comrades?"

Elena stopped, mouth open, and then bristled, blushing angrily. "Go to hell, Reno," she muttered. "You're never going to understand what it's like to really care about someone, are you." She started for the door, and this time Rude made no effort to stop her. She slammed the cabin door behind her a s she went, and they listened to the sound of her footsteps diminishing around the corner.

"The fuck's that supposed to mean," muttered Reno, pulling himself up off the bed again. "She wouldn't know the first thing about what I'm talking about, her and her celebrity and her protection. If we hadn't come for her, she'd never even-!"

Rude cut Reno off with a look. The two men regarded each other for a few minutes. Rude shook his head quietly, and then turned, and stalked out of the room after Elena. Reno watched him go with a sigh, trying not to think about what she'd said.

"Like I wouldn't know what its like," he muttered.

Tseng pulled himself out from behind the boxes where he and Scarlet had tumbled, blinking blearily around him at the still deserted ship deck. "For heaven's sake," he muttered, groping around behind and in-between boxes for his pants. "Rude's probably going insane."

"What is he," Scarlet asked, smiling, "Your mother?" She reached out for Tseng again, but he rolled away from her, pulling his pants on and grabbing his shirt from beneath his shoes. "You're gonna leave now?" She asked, after a moment. "That's all I get, huh?" She shrugged. "Hit and run, okay, sure. It was nice catching up, Tseng."

Tseng stopped for a moment, finishing the ties on his shoes. "We're all gonna come through this one after all," he said. "After this storm over former Shinra employees passes, you know?"

"Yeah," said Scarlet, with a languid sigh. "Sure we will."

"I'll see you tomorrow night," Tseng added, as he turned to head back towards his rooms. "I want to hear where you've been all these years." He watch Scarlet slipping her heels back on, pulling her hair back tight away from her face. "All right?"

Scarlet just nodded. As Tseng stalked off to his cabin again, she watched the blinking homing device on the back of his pants flash every few seconds, grimacing to herself. Then she turned away, and disappeared around the corner, just as Rude, Reno, and Elena came bounding on to the deck of the ship, scanning for their leader amongst the cargo boxes.