Disclaimer: 0renji does not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its contents.

A/N: Second chapter. I was thinking about the plot of this story last night and I realized that it's going to take me eons to finish… I'm talking at least 50 chapters. It's going to be like a permanent WIP niggling me every second of my life. But I love it, and so I'll manage.

Also, I didn't proofread this chapter, so it more than likely has quite a few mistakes in it. I ask you to overlook them until I have time to spiff this chapter up a bit. I just felt like I've been neglecting this story, so I wrote this chapter rather quickly in the past hour.

I hope you enjoy it nevertheless!

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2:00

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Aerith lives in Toradeo.

"The hell?" Barret yelled, narrowing his bushy eyebrows at the tiny white note spread flat on the table before Cloud. He had returned from upstairs, dispatching of Marlene, so it was just the three of us.

I shook my head dolefully. I had hoped that the slip of paper would somehow give us a hint as to what was happening. It wasn't an unreasonable wish ether; the ominous vibe that had come from it almost screamed a clue. But there it was, and it made no sense to me or the others.

"Aerith lives in Toradeo…" Cloud quoted softly, "Is Toradeo a city?"

"I've never heard of it," I said.

"But does this mean Aerith's… alive?" Barret asked hopefully.

Both Cloud and I shook our heads. Of course, we all knew it couldn't be true. We had seen Aerith float to the bottom of that abyssal lake within the Forgotten Capitol. We all knew she was gone, stabbed through the chest by Sephiroth's masamune. My head automatically tilted skywards to keep myself from tearing up at the horrible memory. There was a few moments of utter silence as we all remembered, and it was suddenly broken as the door to Seventh Heaven flew open again, and we altogether looked up in surprise.

"Vinny!" Barret grinned, hastily wiping the mournful expression off his face. I did the same, smiling gently in greeting at the familiar face.

Vincent nodded stiffly in acknowledgement as he scrutinized the bar carefully with intimidating eyes. Reeves appeared behind him, and the look on his face put a sudden dread into my heart.

"Good morning Barret, Tifa, Cloud," he said, stepping past Vincent and helping himself to the chair across from Cloud. He sounded exhausted.

"Morning Reeves," Barret and I replied in unison. Cloud scanned his lined face warily as Vincent took a seat at the adjoining table. Quickly, I moved to bar with the purpose of fetching more drinks.

"So… do you know what's going on?" I heard Cloud finally say.

"Well," Reeves sighed despairingly.

I sat the drinks in front of him, indicating everyone to help themselves, and took the seat beside Vincent.

"I do, and it's rather complicated…"

We all nodded, urging him to continue.

"It started a couple of days ago… I received an anonymous call at headquarters from a man claiming to have link to-," he paused, and took a drink out of the mug nearest him, "Sephiroth."

I felt my eyes grow wide and every nerve in my body tense, Cloud twitched suddenly, and Barret swore under his breath. Reeve continued insipidly,

"He informed me that in two days time his 'master' and he would release 'transforming power' into the atmosphere of our planet. I tried questioning further, but he only continued spewing nonsense until the line suddenly went dead. I didn't think much of it at the time. In all honesty, I was convinced that it was only just a prank call. But indisputably enough, two days later, this day, something had been released into the atmosphere."

"It actually happened late last night. Thankfully, I was awake at the time, and I noticed the change at once. Immediately remembering the phone call, I hastened to wake some of the WRO's meteorologists in order to study the bizarre alteration and determine exactly what it was and if it was alright to breathe," he took a long breath right then, so I assumed that it was, "In a matter of hours, they were able to establish exactly what this is," he waved a hand around in indication, "Condensed mako energy."

"WHAT?" Barret roared, seeming to grow another foot in his surprise and anger. Reeves eyed him wearily and nodded.

"Mako energy sifted down to the bare essentials has been released over the planet. Already, reports of it have come in from as far away as Junon. I may be only a matter of days until it reaches the western continent."

"How is mako alright to breathe?" I asked, attempting to suck in as little air as possible. Reeves shook his head.

"It's alright now. It hasn't yet evolved into a problem that out immune systems can't handle, but if we let it continue…"

"So what do we have to do to stop it?" Cloud asked. His voice was dangerously quiet. I noticed his hands shaking as they clutched the note on the tabletop.

"Yes, Reeves," said Vincent. I jumped slightly, having nearly forgotten he was there, "You said that you would elaborate after explaining to Cloud."

"Yes, well," Reeves suddenly looked a bit nervous, "I don't really have a plan as of now. The only evidence we have is the voice of the informant… It never occurred to me to trace the call."

Suddenly, I was hit with a realization.

"Cloud," I said, and he looked up, "Show Reeves that note."

"Note?" Reeves asked, looking puzzled, "What note?"

Cloud handed it over to him, and Reeves unfolded the slightly damp piece of paper.

"Aerith lives in Toradeo?" he read aloud, a crease appearing between his eyebrows.

"We got it this morning… from a man wearing a hood," I explained, "Um…. Did the informant's voice sound sort of strained? And deep?"

"Well, now that I think about it," said Reeves, ripping his eyes away from the note for a moment, "Yes, it did."

I smiled solemnly, "So did the man's who gave us that paper."

"Hmm… So if this is a clue from the informant and possibly the culprit of the mako release, it would make sense to go to Toradeo and check the place out for any further evidence."

"So you know where it is?" Barret asked excitedly.

"Yes, I do. It's a minuscule village on the southern coastline… I can't see anything being there, but I suppose it's worth a shot."

Cloud nodded, and stood.

"Alright then, let's mosey."

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Sorry, I couldn't resist. Review?