"Comfy you two?"

Zack shouted over the loud sound of the wind breezing through as he drove down the barren lands of the Midgar region. His passengers, Aerith and Chloe, were seated in the sidecar attached to the Garm. Each had a pair of goggles on to prevent straining their eyes.

"We're fine, Zack, but keep your eyes on the road." His girlfriend teased, offering him her usual smile. All while their daughter sat comfortably on her lap, looking in awe over the rapidly changing landscape where the greenery slowly filling the barren view.

"Careful Chloe, We don't want you to fall out."

Instinctively, tightened her grip of the active little girl in her lap. Her action caused the little girl to look at her, a pair of Heterochromiatic eyes, sparkling with innocence, staring back at her with a quick nod of understanding. The soft-touch of her daughter's white cotton shirt with pink frills around the collar and shoulder made her quite cuddly.

"Where?" Chloe finally questioned, looking up towards her father.

"We're going to see your grandmother." He replied, then felt anxious for some reason, which caught his girlfriend's attention.

"Something wrong, Zack?"

"I'm just nervous, I need to get ready to take some hits."

"I guess Elmyra might do that." She giggled, obviously teasing in hopes it would get him to ease up.

"Gee, thanks for the reassurance, Angel." He laughed, eyes still focused on the road as Kalm started showing on the horizon.

~.~.~.~.~

12 AM, Kalm, Market street...

The shops were stocked with unusual items, ranging from food, clothes, and anything in between. The area was also filled with the sounds of people haggling for a variety of wares with the sellers. Since the spaces between shops and stalls were tight, it made traversing the narrow street very difficult.

And while there were a lot of people around, Kristen still found herself needing to keep to the shadows. She was mostly doing it to avoid anyone that would recognize her. After all, her ginger red hair is an exotic sight in the small town of Kalm. She had arrived at the peaceful village a few days prior, doing some investigation on Deepground's plans. So far, she didn't find much information that added to what she already knew. In the meantime, she was having a short break, leaning her back on a wall near the alleyway entrance, having a simple egg salad sandwich.

Her eyes wandered, soon finding herself watching the children play in the safety of their parents' vicinity. She felt her own lips curl into a small smile as she reminisces of her own carefree childhood years as the children's laugher filled her ears. Her trip down memory line didn't last long as her cell phone rang, breaking the immersion and sadly, dropping her snack. Prompting her to quickly pick it up before it rang for even longer.

"Swan here."

"You're too formal again, my dear."

"Let's talk about my formality some other time, Genesis. So what's going on?"

"They just arrived at Kalm, I'm going to leave them in your care."

"Alright, So I'm taking over your job then?"

"Of course. We can't have Zack's skill dull during this time, after all."

"Got it, Swan out. I mean Later." She finally hung up, her new partner has proven to be a handful at times, but manageable none the less. And unlike her previous occupation, he didn't keep her in the dark, so that's something positive too.

For now, though, she had to change locations. She gave the playful children one last glance before moving out of her hiding spot and on to the crowd of people leaving the market place. She reached behind her back, feeling for her foldable Shuriken that's strapped to her back, hidden right behind the dark crimson backpack she wore. After contacting the cold metal weapon, she dropped her hand back to her side.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Kalm, Residential area...

Zack had parked his motorbike a bit away from Elmyra's home, leaving their bags still in the pull cart of the bike. While he pushed Aerith towards the door with Chloe excitingly looking all around. The sight of the many different kinds of plants filled her view, making her even more excited. More than the plants her own mother had in her tiny rooftop garden.

"PREWTTY FLOWES," the little girl gasped as she sat near the flower patches close to the gravel walkway. She was like a bee to flowers, attracted to all the diverse colors and pleasant smells in the garden. Behind her, both parents snickered at her innocent reaction.

"It's a lovely little garden, indeed." a voice chimed in her ears, but when Chloe looked around, she saw a blond lady in white appeared sitting right next to her, Minerva herself. Chole was in awe at how beautiful the lady was. Her own parents had already reached the house' porch ringing the doorbell.

"Don't worry, child, it's only I, Minerva. I'm here to check up on you and your family. You seem to have adapted quite well." Minerva spoke softly, watching her with a warm gaze before shifting it else were. "Someone seems to be watching you as well."

Just as she heard that, a light breeze blow by, guiding Chole's gaze across the street. Presently there, behind one of the other houses, was a young woman with ginger red-colored hair, looking straight at her. Almost as tall as her mother's friend Tifa, the woman in the blue jacket gave her a simple smile and wave. As she was about to wave back, she heard the desperate call of her father.

"C-Chloe! Come and say hi to granny." The sound of her father calling grabbed her attention away from the stranger immediately.

"She's gone, either way, she didn't seem hostile. I'll be around if you need my assistance." looking back at Minerva, she found that she had already left, and just like she was informed before, the strange woman had left as well. The whole encounter confused her, but she didn't dwell on it as her father's calling finally got her to move away from the flower patch.

Her gaze returning to her parents, she spotted an elderly lady standing between her parents and yelling at her father. For a moment, the lady looked away from him, turning her gaze towards herself, a sudden shocked expression replacing her previous angry one. The look on her face was more surprised than fear, the elderly woman then hobbled over to her with tears filling her eyes, reluctantly reaching out to caress her cheeks ever so gently.

"Oh my, Aerith, she looks just as you did when you were younger."

Chloe was feeling a bit of discomfort from the situation. Her sights darting from the old woman to her parents in the back, looking for some kind of reassurance.

"Don't worry Chloe, this is your granny Elmyra, my mother." Her mother comforted her from afar with a smile as her father gesturing for her to approach Elmyra.

Hesitant still, Chloe turned her gaze back at the older woman. She could barely say anything to her father's friend, how was she to talk to this lady? Desperate, she searched for something to help with the situation, her sights set on the flower patch again, getting intrigued by them still. Recalling that this was the old woman's house, she found herself pointing at the flowers.

"Umm, What flowe is that?"

~.~.~.~.~

"Wow, they're hitting it off quite well. I honestly didn't think Elmyra would be this accepting." Zack sighed in relief as he watched over his daughter and Elmyra tending to the flowers. His arms wrapped behind his neck, trying to relieve the pent up stress in his usual way.

"You're the only one overreacting, Zack." Aerith giggled, patting his back reassuringly. Taking in the sweet sight as well as the pleasant smell of the garden.

"Minerva was here before, I wonder if something happened."

"Minerva? You mean the Goddess?"

"She's the guardian of the lifestream, but I guess everyone knows her as a goddess. She usually gives us Cetra warnings of impending danger or important news."

"Maybe she wanted to check on you guys?"

"I guess so, she only talked to Chloe after all."

Though it doesn't help ease her worry, even if Minerva came to check up on them, she won't actually appear to them. Just whispers would have been enough. But she insisted on coming, something was definitely going on behind the scenes.

"Wait, is she the same Minerva that I fought? I'm not an enemy of the planet, am I?" His chatting snapped her out for her thought process. Looking at him, He was sweating bullets, his anxiety making him unintentionally biting his bottom lip. Poor Zack was overthinking things again, how can she not giggle at his silly reactions.

"No, your not; she did enjoy the sparring match, she once told me."

He exhaled the trapped air in his lung, his muscles also relaxed visibly. Aerith found herself relaxing too with him. While she was the one that insisted nothing would go wrong, she was slightly worried about Elmyra meeting Zack again. But thankfully, she only lectured him.

"Good to know. So, do you think Elmyra forgives me?" He asked reluctantly. She found herself humoring him a smile.

"You should be asking her that Zack." She giggled while patting his back for a second time. He rarely got this anxious, but when he did, she had to admit that he was cute.

With his arms dropping to his side, he went over to Chloe and Elmyra, a bit hesitant with the first step. She already yelled at him the moment she saw him, was there anything else? Aerith was sure everything would be fine.

With that, she closed her eyes and felt the light breeze go past. They were far from the busy market, so it was relatively quiet, and it was nothing like the hustle and bustle of Edge. It was an excellent start to a long trip.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

1 PM, WRO HQ, Reeve's Office...

"You're going again? Are you absolutely sure?"

Reeve wasn't surprised that Vincent wanted to go back to Deepground's hideout, but he wasn't expecting it this soon. A day hadn't passed after all, and while it would be best to continue the search, Vincent hasn't let himself rest at all since being forced back. Opting to instead read up on any activity reports that either Yuffie or anyone had sent on Deepground recently.

"Vincent, I applause you for being this attentive, but it's not healthy for you to push yourself without rest. We are all worried about her."

"Which is why I'm still going."

"But..."

"It's no use, Reeve, his mind is set on going." Shelke finally chimed in, interrupting the arguing from going any further.

Reeve, while not agreeing to this immediate investigation, reluctantly allowed Vincent to exit the office. Only he, Shelke, and Sith were left in the office, the gloomy atmosphere made it hard for any of them to speak. But he still wanted a way to help his upset friend in some way, Yuffie was a friend to him as well. He then felt Sith tug on his pants, grabbing his attention.

"If the lad still wants to go, then let me join in."

"You felt guilty, don't you?"

Sith didn't speak, instead, looking down at his red boots. Of course, his mechanical creation felt guilty, Yuffie was his friend too, and she went MIA because she was protecting both him and Chole. Reeve looked away from Sith and at Shelke. As if she had the same thought he did, she nodded, making him feel better about what h was about to say.

"You better go after him then, Vincent won't wait for you if you take too long, Sith."

Sith perked up in an instant and ran out of the office, yelling after Vincent.

"Let's hope they find some good news soon."