A/N: Wow, can't believe it's been over three years since I've updated. I certainly haven't forgotten. In the last three years, I graduated from college, entered the workforce, started my own personal training business, and am working on training to become a pro wrestler. Soooo that's my excuse. I'm going to try to update more regularly from now on. Thanks to anyone still reading this!
Investigation
Tifa and Yuffie were escorted to their quarters for the night, courtesy of Reeve, of course. Tifa made a mental note while walking that they were not going in the direction of the Junon hotel, but rather, away from it. Moments later, they arrived at a hallway of rooms located in the same building as the WRO Headquarters. The guard led them to one of the rooms on the left and unlocked the door for them.
"Wow!" Yuffie commented. The room was incredibly lavish; there was a jacuzzi, a computer desk (with a computer!), two king size beds, a full-size refrigerator, a microwave, a huge plasma television, and the windows revealed a beautiful view of the horizon.
"Is there anything else I can do for you?" the guard politely offered.
Tifa shook her head and smiled. "No thanks." With that, the guard left, closing the door behind him.
"This is probably one of the rooms used for executives, or ambassadors, or something," Yuffie said, looking around.
"Yeah, no kidding," Tifa quietly replied, putting her belongings down and sitting on the bed closest to the door. Yuffie took note of her friend's reactions.
"What's wrong, Tif?" she inquired, sitting down beside her. "You don't want the ocean view bed?" she winked.
"No, I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."
"About…Cloud?"
"About a lot of things. I wonder who these strange men are."
"Hmm…," Yuffie leaned back, laying down. "Not sure. But they're prettttty strong. I bet it'd be near impossible to steal any of their materia!"
Tifa chuckled in response. Some things never change.
"Hey! That's an improvement!" the ninja commented. "So, I wasn't….fully paying attention earlier. What exactly is the plan?"
"Getting serious now? Well, at 0600 hours we're departing from Junon airport with Reeve and Reno, and heading to Cosmo Canyon. Cid and Barret will meet us there, and together we'll investigate the disappearance of the huge materia."
Yuffie sat back up. "Dang, Tif. You sound like a SOLDIER giving a briefing," she joked.
"Yeah…"
"So, do you think those weird dudes took the materia?"
"Afraid someone's giving you competition?" Tifa joked back, finally.
"Hey! I'll bet we catch whoever did this! Nobody would EVER catch me!"
"Hm," Tifa mused. "Like…when nobody caught you stealing our materia in Wutai?" Yuffie blushed.
"That was different! I let myself get caught!" she defended.
"Really? Why?" Tifa questioned, unbelieving.
This time it was Yuffie who got serious, looking down before forming her words. "Well, up until that point, it didn't really seem like anyone took me seriously. Everyone was always calling me 'kid', and Cloud never even let me be in his party. I thought maybe I had to prove myself somehow, and of course, my number one skill is materia theft. So, if I could be sneaky and swift enough to steal from the great leader and the great leader's party, they'd realize just how useful I am!"
"I see," the martial artist replied. "So you planned on continuing with us all along, you just wanted to prove your skills."
"Exactly!" the ninja fist-bumped the air.
"I'm sorry, Yuf."
"Huh, for what?" her friend gave her a curious look.
"I never realized the others were hurting your feelings. If I had, I would've said something."
Yuffie blushed once more. "Nawww! It's fine! It wasn't your fault! Cid and Barret were the ones pissing me off more than anyone."
"Haha, yeah, they can definitely be a handful. By the way," a random thought popped into her head, and she decided to change the conversation. "Were you…flirting with Reno earlier?"
For the third time in the past five minutes, Yuffie blushed. "No!"
Tifa noticed the swiftness of the response, and decided to nitpick. "Really? It sure seemed that way."
"Tifa! You need to be more observant!"
"I need to be more observant? Wasn't it you who wasn't paying attention to the plans?"
"Uh-huh. But it was also observant ME who noticed that the strange dude didn't disappear, but was just moving quickly."
"Touche," she conceded.
"And if you were observant, you'd notice that it was RENO who flirted with ME," she finished.
"Okay, point taken. So you don't like him then?"
"WHAT? TIFA!"
The martial artist started cracking up. "Well?" she managed after a few breaths.
"Um…," Yuffie ended the conversation by bolting up backwards so that she was on top of the bed. She then started jumping.
"What…are you doing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Cmon, Tif! You're too tense. Jumping on beds is fun!"
"Um, I don't think that's a good idea," she pondered aloud.
"And…why…not?" her friend asked between jumps.
"What if we break the bed?"
"Oh, come on! We're not that heavy! Besides, what's a bed to the most powerful company in the world?"
"I mean, you have a point, but it was very nice of Reeve to give us this room, was it not? We should show appreciation." Yuffie slowed her jumping, and then conceded, sitting down.
"Guess…you have a point. But MY point is still valid, Tif. Thinking is good, but anything in excess is bad. Suppose you think so much you don't get any sleep tonight, and then tomorrow we come across those super strong guys, and you're so tired you can't help and we all die?" she very quickly said.
"Okay, one, slooooooow down. Two, you have a point, so I promise to sleep tonight."
"Ahem?"
"I promise to sleep every night."
"That's better! And…," she started, knowing how to get her friend stirred up, "once we find Cloud, I'm sure you'll be sleeping incredibly well!"
"Yuffie!" she blushed.
"Heehee. Alright, it's getting pretty late. 0600 hours is only…dang, nine hours away. Let's get some sleep," she mentioned, glancing at the clock.
"Deal," she confirmed. Yuffie walked over to her bed, closest to the huge window with the spectacular view, and laid down. Tifa leaned back, and as promised, promptly fell asleep.
Morning came, by definition, very early. Since they had to depart by 6, the girls awoke at 5 to catch some breakfast and shower. The breakfast was complimentary, and Tifa opted for clean eating in the form of oatmeal, egg whites, and fruit. Yuffie, on the other hand, decided to go a little more heavy, choosing sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, pancakes, and some chocolate milk.
At 6, the two made their way to the Junon airport. The sun hadn't even begin to rise yet, and looking in the distance, the stars shown brilliantly on the water's surface. Just like the previous morning, the temperature was very comfortable and gusts of sea air were all the more refreshing. They spotted Reeve and Reno next to a Gelnika style plane, illuminated only by the plane's lights.
"Good morning!" the WRO leader greeted jovially.
"Morning!" Yuffie replied back cheerfully. Tifa nodded in compliance. The ninja then turned her attention to the other male present. "How're you feeling?"
Reno gestured towards his ribs, making an "ouch" face, then replied, "A bit of pain, but nothing a Turk can't handle. Actually," he looked towards Tifa, "you hit harder. Only difference was I wasn't expecting the son of a bitch to hit me."
"I'll take that as a compliment," she smiled in response.
"Alright then," Reeve continued, "we should get going as soon as possible." Following his lead, the group packed into the plane. Although the plane looked like a Gelnika, it was by no means as large as one. In fact, it wasn't much larger than a helicopter. Reeve took front seat next to the pilot, while Yuffie and Tifa sat next to each other in the back seat. Reno sat in a seat whose back was against the back of Reeve.
The roar of the blades commenced, and the plane took off. Tifa immediately took notice to Reno staring at Yuffie, who was clearly pretending not to notice. She then looked out of the plane and marveled at the sights. It had been a year since she'd last flown over water, courtesy of the Highwind. There were some stark differences; firstly, despite the fact that they were under an immense deal of pressure to save the world, she was able to enjoy the scenery a bit more than now. At least she had someone to enjoy it with back then. The temperature was nicer now, though.
"So, ready to kick some creeper ass today?" Reno attempted to start a conversation. Yuffie chimed right in, forgetting that she had just tried to ignore him.
"Hell yeah! Nobody steals our materia and gets away from it!"
"Don't jump the gun just yet," a stern Reeve called from the front seat. "We need to conduct a proper investigation. We don't know it was this group of…whatever they are, that did this. And then, we do not initiate any type of fight. That was a bad call yesterday. We need strategy. Discretion is of utmost importance here," he explained, waving a finger.
"I agree," Tifa said. Reno poked out his bottom lip before replying.
"Way to be a buzzkill, guys! But anyway…beings that we're on that topic, what kind of strategy do we use here? I mean, this guy was faster than cameras could catch. Cid and Barret were child's play. Do we really have anyone that could beat these guys?"
"I doubt it. A full-on assault will just be jeopardizing innocent lives. But, we may be able to work around it." Everyone looked at Reeve curiously.
"How?"
"How does the saying go? If you can't beat them, join them. They may have some demand or purpose that we can assist them with. Assuming it's not malicious, of course. If they find what they're after, they may just go away."
"That sounds cowardly!" Yuffie piped. "They stole our huge materia! They can't possibly have good intentions!"
Reeve sighed, appearing a bit frustrated. "Need I repeat, we don't know that it was these people who did this."
"Reeve, with all due respect, I don't see any other possibility," the Turk said. "Nanaki is a battle-hardened warrior. And the people of Cosmo Canyon are not dumb. Nor are they particularly fond of outsiders. Whoever did this needs to be fast. Real fast. So fast that the people couldn't see. Who else fits this bill?" He waved his hands.
"Good point, but there's still another possibility that you just brought up. The people of Cosmo Canyon are not fond of outsiders. It's not out of the question that whoever did this didn't need to be fast."
"So, you think someone in Cosmo Canyon did this?" Yuffie asked, her eyes getting a bit wider.
"I don't think anything yet. Until we conduct a proper investigation, nothing is ruled out here. Do I believe it was those strange men? Well, yes. But limiting our vision may blind us from seeing the truth. If we're only looking for evidence that it was them, then that's all we're going to find."
"You're a wise man, Reeve," Tifa complimented.
"Thank you. I just believe in being safe over being sorry. After everything this planet has been through recently, we don't need any more disturbances. Anywho, we're about halfway to Cosmo Canyon. We should be there in another hour." He reached down between his legs and pulled something out of his bag. It turned out to be a lap top, which he handed to Reno. "In the meantime, look over the surveillance videos from yesterday again and see if you can figure out anything. I skimmed over them last night, but dealing with the bit of ruckus caused yesterday took up much of my time."
"No prob, boss." Reno turned the computer on and waited for the video to load. Tifa and Yuffie moved next to Reno to look as well. On still surveillance footage, the trio fast forwarded unless they saw something. After several minutes they got to the confrontation between the man and Reno again. This time, they slowed it down by fifty times to analyze. They saw Reno approach the man and begin talking. At some point, the man responded with a single word. After a bit more conversing, the man punched Reno and sprinted away.
"Reno, what did the man say, again?" Tifa inquired.
"Uh, it was something like 'Eden'? I believe."
"Hm. Is that a name of some place? Lots of mini-cities have popped up since Meteorfall," Reeve speculated.
"That's what I originally thought. I told him we were in Junon and the son of a bitch knocked me out," he punched the air for demonstration.
"Search the database, Reno." The Turk did as instructed and typed in 'Eden' into the global map.
"No results."
"Hm. Maybe it's spelled differently than it sounds? Try different spellings." Reno did as instructed again for several minutes.
"No results, boss. I have no clue."
"Then, maybe a name of a person?" Tifa contributed.
"Could be. We don't have access to a name database, however," Reeve replied. "When you talk to Cid or Barret, ask if any verbal exchange occurred. This may give us some kind of lead."
"Hey hey hey!" Yuffie squawked. "Go back!" Reno rewinded the tape. "Pause! Look…" All four looked at the video, Reeve doing a 180 from his front seat. "Look at his eyes! They're glowing teal-ish!"
"Yeah, it freaked me out when it happened, yo. Reminds me of SOLDIER."
"Indeed…" Reeve contemplated, rubbing his chin. "Those eyes definitely resemble Mako eyes. The color is a nuance off, but there's definitely a parallel. I wonder if this man has a connection to Shinra, then."
"I doubt it, yo." All three looked at Reno. "Who the hell in Shinra had that type of speed or power? Even with Sephiroth, we could at least see him move. We'd have known this guy right away, for sure. My guess is, this guy has major exposure to Mako, but maybe not via Shinra."
"Perhaps. But we also have to consider the occurrence in Rocket Town as well. The chances that more than one person have had a major exposure to Mako, survived, and became this genetically enhanced is slim."
"How so? That's what Shinra did with SOLDIER, right?" Yuffie asked.
"Yes, but it was a very dangerous process. Look at Cloud when he fell into the Lifestream. He was basically brain dead for a while. And he had already received Mako treatments. An ordinary person exposed to Mako usually will not survive. The members of SOLDIER were 'prepped' if you will, to handle the Mako treatments."
"Prepped?"
"Physically, they already had enhancements in the way of super-steroids. Basically, it increased the androgen receptor count in their bodies, which enabled them to absorb more Mako, instead of the Mako destroying their bodies. Mentally, they underwent extreme psychiatric treatments and evaluations. Nobody, with the exception of Cloud to my knowledge, underwent these Mako treatments without preparation."
"I see," Tifa thought, her head down. Cloud really did have to suffer through so much. All unnecessarily. No wonder he was so messed up in the head. Shinra did it to him. And falling in the Lifestream, though it helped initially, probably caused more damage than they thought. The fact he'd survived everything he did is incredible. Normal people couldn't do that. And he wasn't 'prepped'? How did he handle so much?
Reeve looked at the GPS. "Alright guys, five minutes until landing. Get ready."
The group arrived to Cosmo Canyon exactly at 8 in the morning, the dew still present on the canyon walls. Tifa stood outside the entrance for a moment, taking it all in. One year. She remembered their first visit to the canyon. Their buggy had broken down. She remembered Cloud throwing a hissy fit inside the vehicle, complaining that they had just received the vehicle "damn yesterday!". She stood in the same place she'd stood a year before, as they prepared to enter. It wasn't fair. She missed him so much. No matter where she went, she was constantly reminded of him. They'd literally traversed the entire world together.
Once they entered, they wasted absolutely no time bolting to the top of the observatory, Nanaki greeting them.
"Tifa, Yuffie! It is so great to see you again, though I wish it were on better terms," he said. Tifa and Yuffie bent down and embraced him around the mane, a smile forming on his face.
Ever the sarcastic one, Reno chimed in. "Hey, no salutations for us?" He puckered out his bottom lip, feigning hurt feelings. Yuffie rolled her eyes, as Nanaki didn't respond.
"Have Cid and Barret arrived yet?" Tifa inquired, looking around.
"Not yet," Nanaki replied, "Barret called and said they'd be a bit late. Something about Cid griping about not being able to pilot the Highwind without enough caffeine." Tifa face-palmed.
"Anyways," Reeve interrupted. "Let's get down to business. Reno, I want you to check for fingerprints, shoe prints, any sort of physical forensic evidence we can use to deduce who stole the huge materia."
"Aye, aye, bossman." He saluted, and then scurried off, Reeve shaking his head.
"Does…he ever take anything seriously?" Yuffie asked.
"I ask myself the same thing daily," the WRO president answered in response. "The rest of you, I want you to begin going around and asking questions. Did the residents see anyone or anything suspicious? And remember to judge body language. We cannot throw out the possibility that this was an inside job."
Nanaki's head popped up. "What's this you're saying?"
"We reasoned that the people of Cosmo Canyon are pretty observant people. More than likely, if anyone noticed anything or anyone strange, they would've come to you. So we cannot discount the possibility that someone here did it."
"I see your logic, though I must disagree. The people of this canyon come here to study the planet, to achieve peace. I highly doubt anyone here would steal, especially not from me," the guardian replied, defending his populace.
"Regardless, we must conduct a formal investigation. I think it would be best to split into two groups. Nanaki, you and Tifa will ask the residents from the observatory down to the entrance of the Canyon. Yuffie, you and I will ask the residents in the other half of the canyon."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Tifa said.
Tifa and Nanaki didn't encounter much success with their investigation. The materia shop owner said he hadn't seen a thing, as he fell asleep on the job. He then tried to hit on Tifa, saying he'd give her two materia if she'd go out with him. The weapon shop owner hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary as well, and complained to Nanaki that business was slow and that he should do something to bring people to the city. They stood on a ledge overlooking the canyon as they took a break.
"It's truly great to see you, Tifa. How've you been?"
She sighed in response. Nanaki could tell Cloud's disappearance was still bothering her. He wished he could do more to help. He remembered searching everywhere with them in the few weeks following Sephiroth's defeat. It occurred to him one night while trying to fall asleep that if Cloud went missing, it's because he wanted to. He had a duty to watch over the canyon as its guardian. When Cloud was ready to come back, he would. He still felt bad for Tifa, however. That woman truly cared about him.
"I'm…okay."
"Cloud will come back when he wants to," Nanaki stated bluntly.
"I'm not so sure anymore."
"What do you mean?"
Tifa looked at the distant Cosmo Flame, a look of nostalgia in her eyes. She waited a moment before speaking. "Do you remember….a year ago. We were all gathered around that very flame. You…were talking about your father, how he was a coward." Nanaki looked down, ashamed. "You were lead to believe that, and spent your whole life believing it. It wasn't until your grandfather showed you the truth that you realized your belief was wrong."
"My father was a hero. I could never dream of even trying to fill his shoes," he looked up towards the sky, and then back to Tifa. "But what does that have to do with Cloud?"
"It was brought to my attention that…well, we all believe Cloud just left, right? What if that wasn't the case?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if he was taken by force? Or what if he had some sort of mental relapse and has no idea who or where he is?"
"Tifa…Cloud is one of the strongest warriors on the planet. I can't imagine anyone taking him by force."
"I didn't either until..." she cut herself off, pausing to think.
"Until?" This had seriously piqued Nanaki's interest.
"Yesterday in Junon, Reno encountered a…thing…a man…we don't know what it was," she kept shaking her head, trying to find her words. With one punch, it sent Reno flying. Then disappeared…except it didn't disappear, it just moved so fast we couldn't see it. We had to slow the video footage down fifty times to clearly see it leaving."
"That is unreal," Nanaki's body gave a slight shiver in fear. "You think this thing took Cloud?"
Tifa shook her head. "I don't know what to think. The thing is, there's more of them. Cid and Barret encountered one yesterday as well. They didn't stand a chance." Nanaki's mouth dropped open.
"You're kidding me! And on the same day? This can't just be coincidence. And it surely can't be good. And…the huge materia!"
"Yeah, we were discussing it on the ride over. We think that maybe these guys or someone like them took it. If nobody reported anything, then either the person was so fast that nobody could see, or someone here did it."
"I see," he replied, pondering. "Anyway, we only have one person left to ask. The gatekeeper. If someone entered the canyon, he definitely would've seen it. I mean, if they were of human speed."
"Right, let's get back to it!" As soon as they stood up from their ledge, the noticed the Highwind approaching. "Heyyyy! Looks like Cid and Barret!" she smiled.
Cid and Barret walked up the long set of stairs leading to the canyon, huffing and heaving. They heard chatter from above, only to look up and see Tifa, Nanaki, Reeve, and Yuffie awaiting them.
"C'mon, you old farts!" Yuffie teased.
"Old farts!? %$# $ kid, I can still whoop yer scrawny ass twice on Sunday!" the pilot replied, as he finished the last few steps.
The group exchanged pleasantries in the form of hugs and hellos before getting down to business.
"Cid, Barret. If you don't mind, would you please tell me what happened yesterday?"
Cid let out a drag of cigarette. "Sure, thing kid. The Marshmallow Hulk and I were sittin' in my back yard enjoying some tea, when someone comes up and tells us someone suspicious was walkin' 'round the inn." He took another drag, so Barret continued.
"We went to go look, and Cid here approached the guy, who was wearin' some red outfit, had a hood on so didn't get a look at 'em, but he just blew us away. None of my bullets hit him."
"I see," Reeve brought his hand up and rubbed his chin, pondering. "Did he say anything?"
"Uh, yeah. He said somethin'," Cid replied. "It was uh…let me see, it was just one word. Edith, I think?"
"You mean Eden?" Tifa asked.
Cid snapped his fingers. "That's it! Damn kid, how'd you know?"
"The man we encountered in Junon said the same thing to Reno," Reeve replied.
"Well sheeeeit," the pilot quipped.
"So what's been goin' on here?" Barret asked.
"So far, we've found absolutely nothing in terms of witnesses. Nobody including the gatekeeper saw anyone enter or leave the canyon. Reno is conducting the forensics investigation right now," the president of the WRO explained. As if on cue, Reno came running up the steps.
"Reno, report." The entire group was now focused on the Turk.
"Phew…," he caught his breath. "So…oh boy." He shook his head.
"Spit it out, boy!" Cid yelled.
"So, initial forensics of the observatory yielded absolutely nothing." There were some gasps amongst the group. "No fingerprints. No footprints. No DNA. Nothing. Nada."
"So, then explain why you were outside the canyon."
"Oh, yeah. So, I had this thought, right? I mean, even if someone was super fast, they'd still leave some sort of physical evidence. If the guy takes a step, he'd leave a footprint, regardless of how fast he's going."
"Okay?" Yuffie slurred. "Andddd?"
"But the fact that there was absolutely no evidence in the observatory got me thinking. The only time in my career that I've ever seen crime scenes with absolutely no evidence, the crime was done by someone specializing in stealth, like us."
"Us?" Nanaki asked.
"The Turks, man. Keep up! So yeah, so I figured doing any more investigation in the canyon was useless. That said, anyone who enters from someone around the canyon is bound to encounter monsters. Which means there would probably be dead monsters."
"Which means whoever killed said monsters would also more than likely be responsible for taking the huge materia, and if we can find out how the monsters were killed, then there's our physical evidence," Reeve finished. "Smart, Reno. So what did you find?"
"A dead griffin." More gasps escaped the mouths of the group. "Dead by gunshot."
"Gunshot…stealth…Vincent?" Tifa asked, afraid of the answer.
"Honestly, I thought the same. But I extracted the bullet from the monster. It was a bullet from a very very rare gun."
"…How rare?" Reeve asked, afraid of the answer.
"The bullet came from a gun that was only accessible to certain Shinra executives. It was called the Bald Eagle. Only one person used that gun…"
Reeve widened his eyes. "Tseng."
