Back at the new Seventh Heaven, there was plenty to look after to take Tifa's mind of her worries for Cloud. Finding space for all their sudden guests was quite the adventure, though at least Vincent declined the need for lodging.

Of course Nanaki never minded just curling up on a rug on the floor, and it wasn't as though Cait Sith took up much space or needed to be made comfortable as Reeve had his own bed in his own home. Tifa still found it sort of fascinating that the ex-Shin-Ra executive managed to do so much just by remote… But then it was really just a more constructive and whimsical take on standard Shin-Ra tactical robotics, wasn't it?

But with the additions of Yuffie, Barret and Cid, and the return of the children, there wasn't really enough to go around… Of course if Tifa and Yuffie shared a bed… It was a thought the bar hostess didn't really relish, remembering the flailing, angular nature of the ninja girl in sleep. But Cloud hadn't come back just yet, and might not for who knew how long, so they could give his bed to Cid or Barret for a time. That left one of them out though… And if Cloud came back some time in the night after all, where would that put him? Though given he'd been staying on the floor of the Sector 5 church for quite a while now, he might just grab a patch of rug with Nanaki. The mental image made Tifa smile softly, Cloud curled up back to back with the giant cat.

Which only lead her to think more on this situation of sleeping arrangements, and how she'd much prefer that if Cloud came sneaking in to the bar in the middle of the night, he'd be able to slip in with her instead. Maybe if she put Yuffie with Marlene…? Hm. Yes, Yuffie and Marlene together, the rest of their children in their own beds, the singles set up like a dormitory in the second room of the bar. That room used to house pool tables until she and Cloud had converted it. …There was a couch that either Cid or Barret could take, probably Cid as he was lankier and less likely to feel cramped. Then there was the second bed upstairs for the other and if they did it that way, Tifa could keep to herself and hope…

But it would be terribly disappointing to wake up in the morning alone. Almost certain she would, Tifa sighed softly and considered things again. She might as well put up with Yuffie's tossing and turning after all, Marlene's bed wasn't all that big anyway. …Though after all they'd been through, Tifa wondered if the children would be alright sleeping by themselves… The kids didn't understand really anything of what had happened, and though most of them were sitting around the bar being regaled with nearly the entire tale of AVALANCHE's adventures, some might still be afraid that silver-haired men with green cat eyes would come after them in the night. To be truthful, Tifa was…

But that thought she immediately suppressed, busying herself with the large pot of soup now cooking over the stove. Reno and Rude swore that the brothers were eradicated, Kadaj was contained in Shin-Ra's care and Sephiroth had been soundly defeated. Almost all of the children were now well anyway, and if she understood correctly it was their affliction with Geostigma that had made them targets. Those who'd been gathered by the three brothers had almost all been outside when the rains began to fall, the tears of the Planet raining down forgiveness, deliverance from Jenova's original sin. All except-

"Tifa! TIFA! It's Denzel!" It was Marlene, calling her from the upstairs room where Denzel had lain down to rest. The excitement had eventually caught up to him and worn him out, which wasn't an unusual symptom to the disease, but the panic flooding Marlene's voice was indication enough that things had taken a significantly different turn.

Tifa dropped her spoon and flicked off the gas stove with out a thought, dashing from the kitchen to the staircase, leaping up three at a time. In the bedroom Marlene was crouched above the collapsed boy, bedding and blankets pulled askew as though he'd fallen while trying to stand.

"No, no, no, no, no… Not yet, not him…!" Tifa knelt beside them quickly, ignoring the sound of footsteps pounding up the staircase after her. It was only a small relief to find Denzel still breathing, but much more softly than he should, looking very pale and wane. The dark blotch on his forehead had bloomed further, was coming down around his left eye now and Tifa had a sinking feeling that it was working faster, closer to the brain.

But there's no treatment for it! She wanted to slam her fists into the floor, only restraining herself because she knew she couldn't lose it in front of Marlene. Why had he been the only one to stay inside? Why should he suffer for not knowing what the Planet would do? She was at a total loss. No one here knew any better what could possibly be done, and to be honest, she didn't know if anyone in the world would. But if there was anyone who understood all that had really happened at the end of all the fighting, they were at the Healin Lodge.

Grasping quickly for the cell phone at her hip, she thumbed the speed dial and stood back from Denzel, pointing urgently for Barret or Cid to get him back into the bed. She listened to the ringer cycle anxiously, growling and doing her best to restrain herself from flinging her phone as a polite female operator informed her she could not get through.

Feeling a gentle tug at her pleated skirt back, she looked down into Marlene's concerned face with impatient questioning. "Ano… He dropped it. In the forest in the north." She looked almost afraid to tell Tifa, as though some how she might be held responsible for Cloud's becoming unreachable, but Tifa gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Thanks, Marlene, I'd have been calling him for ages if you hadn't told me," standing straight again, she sighed softly and terminated the useless call, looking at her phone for an exasperated moment before dialing again. Only a few hours ago she'd been contemplating breaking Reno's lanky body into several different pieces, now she found herself needing his help again. Maybe the Planet was trying to tell her something, or maybe it was just the nature of a TURK. The term "necessary evil" had never so aptly applied.

VIIVIIVIIVIIVIIVIIVII

"It's a call from Tifa, then." The phone came flying across the bed from the doorway where Reno stood once again, and though Cloud woke from his internal thoughts immediately and put out his hand in plenty of time, he couldn't catch the little flip-phone. Kadaj had it before him.

The look of annoyance registering on the TURK's face was gratifying to the silver-haired youth, who was making a point that he wouldn't let them get the jump on him again. Still, as though it had just been a misunderstanding Reno clarified, "For Cloud. Can't think of a damned reason she'd want to talk to you."

Even given her name, Kadaj didn't know who the caller was, and with a shrug just handed the phone off to Cloud. A feminine voice had been questioning over the momentary pause anyway, and it would be impolite to keep her waiting. Once he'd relinquished the phone, he kept one Makou eye on the red-haired TURK who was lounging with affected nonchalance against the open sliding doorway, pretending not to do the same in return. But both men behaved themselves for now, there were the children to think of after all…

"What…?" The concern in his niisan's voice distracted Kadaj slightly, dividing his attention momentarily. "How long ago? … He still hasn't woken? … Ah. They were cured? How? … Sou ka. Denzel was inside then." Denzel… For some reason it was a familiar name…

Yes, the little girl Loz had brought had had particular concern for that boy. Did he mean something special to his niisan? Those ocean blue eyes were watching Kadaj now, as Cloud spoke. There was something going on behind those eyes, beneath that head of golden hair. "Kadaj? Recovering quickly. No, I don't really know any more about it… Un. …I'll come," then he'd hung up the phone and tossed it back to Reno.

Kadaj sat up further, spreading his hands out on the bed, "Where are you going? Wait a minute, you can't leave me here with these…" He fixed Reno with a sneering glare, the TURK returning it with a childish raspberry. Returning his gaze to Cloud, who now stood uncertainly from his chair, Kadaj silently implored him to stay.

Cloud regarded the renegade Avatar for the same silent moment, uncertain, not entirely trusting, before bending closer to speak more quietly. "I don't like the thought of giving you dangerous ideas… but you're holding this entire hospital hostage, in effect. You don't need me here to watch out for you, but one of the children has become very sick and I have to go back to see what can be done for him. The Geostigma's spreading…"

Kadaj fell silent, looking deeply disquieted. After a moment Cloud moved to go, but the boy jerked his head up suddenly, "Wait! You swore!" Cloud stopped and looked back to him, Reno straightening up against the door. The atmosphere was brittle as glass, potentially explosive, but Kadaj broke the tense eye contact first, looking down to rip the tape from the back of his hand and pull the IV needles from his skin again. "Fine. I'm going with you."

"Ohtto! How far do you think you're going to get in that nightgown then?" Reno nodded his head in Kadaj's direction, but the boy just looked up as though Reno should know better.

"You can't expect me to believe you're not prepared for me, not here. It's only been a few months now, there will be something on hand. Get it." He pointed to the door, directing Reno to fetch… whatever it was that he was after. Reno looked extremely nonplussed to be thus ordered.

"Look here, you little brat! If you think their gonna just release you, in your condition, after everything you did-"

"If you think you can keep me here, you're deeply mistaken, and if it comes down to walking out of here in nothing but a damned hospital gown then so be it, but I won't be held prisoner by you people again." And in spite of both Cloud and Reno's expectations for Kadaj's physical condition, the boy threw aside the sheets and stood from the bed with out so much as slouching in discomfort. "Now. Get me something to wear, or get me the president."

Reno just stared for a moment before turning right around and marching out. The appearance of the president was almost certain, given Kadaj had suddenly resumed his driven, demanding persona. There was no safe way of ignoring that. The clothing, however… Well, it would be interesting to see if Kadaj's natural talent for command had any effect on the Shin-Ra company man.

As soon as Reno was gone though, Kadaj leaned back against the bed again, looking slightly fatigued. All the children who were still awake were discretely watching the strange looking teen, upset by his belligerence which was disturbing the wing's quiet atmosphere. Cloud stepped up to the boy's side, touching his shoulder lightly, a silent query into his condition.

Kadaj smiled ever so softly, glancing to the side. "I'm alright… It seems as though Mother hasn't quite abandoned me yet…" The smirk grew a little as Cloud's eyes widened, brows coming together in confusion and concern. Kadaj continued. "You didn't think it was all over did you…? That kid still has Geostigma, on top of that it's getting worse, and I'm getting better and better, healing faster minute to minute…"

The would-be SOLDIER took a cautious step back, watching Kadaj, trying to guess at the Avatar's thoughts. Noticing, the silvery headed youth just gave a small, single shoulder shrug. "I don't know what that means any more than you do, Niisan. I don't know what I'm going to do. …Yazoo and Loz are… and the Shin-Ra… Mother and Sephiroth…" He pushed one slender hand back through his watery hair, nervously, evasive. "They used us, like they used you. … I don't know what I'm going to do," he repeated at last, though it sounded less as though he was simply lost, more that he feared what all this might come to.

Nodding once, Cloud turned himself and leaned against the bed next to Kadaj, waiting for the return of Rufus and his lackey. The silence stretched on between them, but finally Cloud decided to take advantage of the relative privacy. "You said you wouldn't be held here again…"

"Ah. Where did you think we came from? But of course, we have Shin-Ra to thank for our miserable existences… I don't know much about it. The man who caused all this took everything he knew to the grave with him, as far as I've been told… But as I understand it, we were supposed to be the proof that Sephiroth was not a fluke, and… insurance against his possible demise…"

"Hojo, hm?"

Kadaj nodded. "We were born in his labs, trained and equipped by the best in Shin-Ra's military, monitored, studied… They moved us a few times; they never told us the names of the towns. Eventually we were brought here. They took us to Midgar for testing from time to time, but they needed space for our combat training. The hills and plains around here didn't get much traffic, except for the more unsavory sort, thanks to the savage wildlife, so..."

"But the population never even questioned the convenient existence of a medical facility beyond the reach of Meteor's devastation. They were too grateful to find it suspicious," Rufus stood just outside the door, and when he had the attention of the two, gestured for them to come out from the recovery room where other ears could overhear. Even if they were just children, Rufus didn't want them party to enough details to be believed. Explaining the disappearance of an entire wing of patients would be annoying at best.

"Kadaj and his brothers were just one of the pet projects Hojo managed to talk my father into funding after the successful birth and promising development of the young Sephiroth. Much of what his work entailed, even we aren't aware of the full details. Though it is embarrassing to admit, some things he carried out with our complete ignorance; your companion Vincent Valentine and his unique talents for example. The TURKs department had him listed as missing and presumed dead, until he resurfaced with your group two years ago.

"However, Hojo had my father's full compliance with the brothers up until the incident at Nibleheim. After that we limited their movement significantly, kept them mostly confined within the facility. After Meteor we believed the effects the pull to Reunion had had on them had dissipated… As it turned out, they never were the same."

Kadaj smirked softly, listening to Rufus' technical explanation of their situation, a nice little summary that completely omitted all the pain and frustration the brothers suffered at the corporation's hands and under the influence of Sephiroth's return, Jenova's pull toward the North Crater, and Reunion. "What he means to say is I went quietly mad and bided my time until I could cut a bloody path out of here for my brothers and myself."

Rufus frowned, disapprovingly. "You've always had a flare for the dramatic." They stopped outside the door to a private office which Reno opened for them, the politeness a tad exaggerated as he bowed and gestured the two young fighters through. A nurse stood to the side of the exam table inside, holding a bundle of black cloth and leather in her arms, looking to the new occupants a bit nervously. Kadaj smiled wryly and gave a small, familiar wave in her direction. She set down the bundle on the exam table hurriedly, and took hold of the curtain edge which would cordon off the exam space for Kadaj to change.

Rufus gestured for the boy to step inside, the nurse drawing the curtain quickly, and immediately after she took her leave. As Kadaj worked out his new apparel, Rufus continued speaking. Why he was being so forth coming was a bit of a mystery to Cloud, until…

"As I'm sure you will agree, Shin-Ra in its current incarnation can hardly be blamed for the mistakes my father so foolishly made, though we have accepted the responsibility of correcting them, to the best of our abilities. Unfortunately we are still just coming to understand what problems overspending and mismanagement have left for us to deal with, the Jenova project arguably the largest and most complex.

"Ideally, the men immediately responsible would be made to resolve all the mistakes and confusion, but that entire era of Shin-Ra management has been swept away, with the exception of myself and Reeve, the minority opposition. As I have said, the Shin-Ra company will continue to shoulder the burden left by the previous generation, but these are issues which affect the Planet at large, and specifically involve and concern the two of you. Your assistance will be vital in the continued rehabilitation of this world… If Shin-Ra would profit from that aid as well, I sincerely hope you will not spite the Planet to show us resistance."

A soft sigh issued from between the lips of the now clothed Kadaj as he pushed away the curtain for himself, wearied by Rufus' windy speeches, and looking unimpressed with Rufus' attempts to cover the company's ass. The leather ensemble that he wore now hardly differed in a single detail from the one before, disguising any evidence that the struggle only half a day before had ever taken place. Kadaj smiled in droll amusement as he felt the eyes of the three men on him. "I knew you had a spare," the comment mostly directed toward Reno.

Apparently not about to receive any certain confirmation of aid from either of them, Rufus decided not to push it further, for the moment, shifting the conversation to more immediate matters. "I've taken the liberty of arranging transportation and escort back to Midgar. Rude and Reno will continue to accompany you, Kadaj, and I will accept no refusal." It did indeed appear as though the boy had been on the verge of rapid protest. "The Shin-Ra Corporation still has a great deal of interest in your movements, and cannot be expected to release you with out some level of insurance.

"However, they are also under orders to protect you as long as you make no movements against us. You are only one man now, Kadaj, only one child to speak truthfully, and you may have more enemies than you know," Rufus concluded and motioned for Reno to lead the way. With a bit of a scowl, the TURK pushed himself up from the rolling stool on which he'd sat, slouched against the countertop, and strode out of the exam room, jerking his own hand for the two to follow.

When they reached the facility's small, underground parking structure, Rude was already waiting, a long black sedan pulled up in front of the sliding doors, engine idling in preparation for a quick departure. A small squad of uniformed guards was approaching with a pair of unwieldy objects carried between them, and Cloud wasn't the only one to take notice of the amused and delighted light that suddenly flashed in Kadaj's eyes, to recognize Souba being brought along with Cloud's sword after all. The two weapons were loaded into the car's spacious trunk, and Kadaj made a point of flashing Reno a smug look as he slid into the car, the trunk lid closing with a sort of marked finality.

Reno had to restrain himself from slamming the door on the kid's coat tails before turning to take his place in the driver's seat. Before either TURK climbed in to the car, Reno flashed his partner a glare of irritation over the roof, Rude returning it with a shrug that just made the red-head sneer.

Once they'd settled in Reno floored the gas, growling under his breath, "I can't believe Rufus really gave him back that fucking thing…"

Author's remarks: Wee! Getting into the triplets' back story! Hehehe, fun stuff. I've been theorizing on this since I first saw the trailers and now that I've watched the movie a couple score times I've got some definite ideas on the wherefores and hows of their individual existences. Rufus just gave us a glossed over version in this chapter, but believe you me, that's not the last of the mystery revealed. Not by a long shot.

Bwahahaha!

Much evilness going on in my squirmy little brain. A big shout-out to Jehraldeen whose feed-back and e-mails have been a major help for me to work out specific plot points. Expect both hetero and yaoi pairings in the future of this story! And lots more TURK involvement. Wee!

Translations:

Uhm… not much to translate for this chapter, unless you really don't understand the interjections "Ano" and "Ohtto!" the first being "Um" and the second somewhere along the lines of "Well, then!"

Yeah, that's about it. :D Please keep R&Rin'!