Chapter 3: Family Ties

Later that day in Wutai, Alex made his way past the various tourist stops toward the Ancient Wutai training grounds. For centuries all the great ninjas of Wutai trained here. Alex entered the dojo to the sound of furious training going. Alex looked for the teacher and soon he saw him instructing a few of his students in the ancient arts. John Valentine the crimson eyed ninja was the current leader of the dojo. Alex leaned against the back window and watched the training session commence. When John finally noticed Alex he nodded toward him the graciously ended class early. The students filled out as John wiped off the sweat with a nearby towel. Alex walked up to John casually; John merely stared at Alex with contempt as he started to pack up the equipment.

"What the heck are you doing here?" questioned John

"I just came by to see if your dad or Lucy was around" said Alex

John glared at Alex briefly then continued to pick up equipment.

"Seriously, Alex stay away from Lucy, your like a brother to me, but Lucy is my sister and I will drop you in 10 seconds if you hurt her." commanded John

"Relax, and don't worry this is just a business visit. Besides I probably couldn't hurt Lucy even if I wanted she's very strong willed and……feisty." Chuckled Alex

John raised an eyebrow at Alex's statement but shrugged it off. John finished up packing away the equipment then motioned Alex toward the back room. The two men walked into the sitting room and to a seat on comfortable lounge chairs.

"Would you care for some sake, its good." asked John

"Sure." replied Alex

"Lucy's not here she's on an assignment right now and my dad is on his monthly visit to…..the cavern."

"Oh…that cavern. Doesn't your mom ever get angry about that…….you know once a month visiting the grave of an ex-girlfriend?"

"She has said, time and time again that she understands. The Cavern hold something that was once a very important part of his life to deny him that memory would be madness."

"Your mom's very understanding."

"It comes with age, we're not the same people we were 10 or 20 years ago, we become older and wiser. Besides, my mom usually uses this time as an excuse to go on an all day shopping trip with your mom."

"I guess, what does your dad do at that cavern anyway?"

"Mostly sit around and think of the past. After he married mom he started going less and less, but he never really stopped going at all."

"How did your parents get together anyway, they seem like such an odd pairing, she's all happy and chipper and he's….dark and mysterious."

"Yeah, I know it's kind of hard to explain, from what I understand they were always closer to each other than the rest of the group. They even were paired up on multiple assignments from evacuating Junon, to all the times they worked together during the Deepground incident. However after all that they were paired up for one last assignment and that's where it happened, they started growing closer and closer until…well you know the rest."

"A story for the ages John, anyways did you here the latest news."

"What?"

"I had to deliver a contract to Rufus Shinra, The WRO is finally paying off their debt to him and breaking ties."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh, Things are changing soon the WRO will be independent, then everything will run off of the blood sweat and toil of the people who have managed to help the world become what it is today."

"Is that all?"

"No… I talked to Reeve, apparently someone was up to something at the Mako Spring up in Mt. Nibel. I wanted see if Lucy or Vincent could find out anything?"

"I see, do you know what was going on up there?"

"Someone was manufacturing Mastered Materia using t he spring."

"That's hard regular materia takes years to form, and for it to become master requires lots of usage and skill."

"I know they must have been using some advanced technology, but by the time Reeve's team got there the whole place had been cleaned out, not a trace of anything except all the holes in the spring, and a few left behind pieces of materia."

"That's weird; I'll tell Lucy as soon as she gets back."

"Thanks John, but I think I'll handle this one myself."

"If things are fishy you should go without backup."

"Don't worry, If I run into too much trouble, I always have John the demon Valentine to call for back up."

"Sure thing, bro."

Alex finished drinking the last of his sake then shook hands with John and said goodbye. As he left Alex thought about everything going on recently, up until now everything had been quiet,….mostly. But for some reason, something unnerving hung in the air. Alex couldn't put his finger on it just yet, but he would defiantly get to the bottom of this situation, if it was the last thing he did.

That night Alex found himself back at the Denzel Strife homestead. He had been traveling all over the place today and he was getting kind of tired. The thing that made it easier for him was that he had borrowed the latest model Tiny Bronco from Cid Jr., much to his dismay. Alex knocked on the door only to be greeted by the happy squeal of Mrs. Marlene Strife. Right away she grabbed him and gave him a big hug which he gladly returned.

"Alex! I'm so glad to see you, what brings you around?" shouted an ecstatic Marlene

"Hey, Marlene I just came by to talk to my brother about something. Oh, and I brought a pie." laughed Alex

"Oh my God, Alex I love you!" shouted Marlene

Marlene quickly grabbed the pie from Alex's hand and headed straight for the kitchen. He knew that it was just the perfect gift for the pregnant woman. Alex walked into the house and closed the door behind him. Walking by the kitchen he saw Marlene eagerly devouring the savory peach pie. He continued toward Denzel's private home office. As he neared he heard the sounds of Denzel on the phone conducting business. Alex leaned on the doorframe with a smirk as he stared at his brother. For all his life Alex always looked up to his older brother Denzel. He could remember all the great times they had with each other, from training with their parents, to Denzel teaching him everything he knew about girls.

Truth be told as much as Alex had flirted with Lucy, he was always a bit shy about his true feelings toward her. Out of the three Strife men, Denzel was always the smoothest of them. Denzel finally turned around to see his brother waiting for him, he politely ended his call then greeted his brother with a hug.

"Alex, good ta see ya" exclaimed Denzel

"Hey bro!" said Alex

"What brings you here." Asked Denzel

"No doubt you heard about the Mt. Nibel incident."

"I've been informed"

"I'm going to check out Mt. Nibel, for myself."

"What! Reeve had a whole team of investigators comb every inch of that place, what do you expect to find that they couldn't."

"Probably nothing… hopefully this is all just some sort of paranoid delusion of mine. But for some reason I just have this weird feeling about things."

"I see! I heard that you had a visit with Rufus today how did that go?"

"Better than I expected. Did you hear Rufus has cancer."

"WOW! That's really bad. I feel really sorry for him. He's done a lot good in the past couple of years."

"I know, but there was just something….unsettling about the whole thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Well….he just seemed too calm about the whole thing."

"Maybe he's just come to accept his fate, we all have to die sometime."

"I know, it's just……I don't know."

"Well Rufus has always been kind of a creep in my opinion, but things are changing. Did you know that Reeve is going to retire soon?"

"WHAT! Why the WRO is just about to go independent, why walk away now?"

"Having the WRO become an organization of the people and for the people is the culmination of all his years of work. After he gets things in order he's going to pass on the organization to capable hands. He's getting on in years and wants to enjoy his remaining years after working so hard all this time."

"So are you in line for this promotion?"

"No, no, no…..I've only been with the Organization a few years, He'll probably leave it to Vincent, or Shelke, you know one of the higher ups whose been with the organization longer."

"Hey Denzel, DO you want to come with me to Nibelheim?"

"Sure thing!"

"You better bring your sword things could get dangerous up in Mt. Nibel. You have been keeping your skills sharp haven't you."

"Don't worry about me, my skills are as sharp as ever, you just better worry about yourself little brother."

"Fair enough…..thanks for the help Denzel."

"Anytime bro, hey do you wanna spend the night, We always have the spare room, we could get an early start tomorrow."

"Sure I'm beat, see ya in the morning."

"See ya!"

Alex waved good-bye to his brother and headed down the hall and up the stairs to the guest bedroom. Denzel closed a couple of open files on his desk then turned out the light. He made his way into the kitchen where he saw his lovely wife washing the last of the dishes. Slowly he crept up behind her, then tenderly wrapped his arms around her. She practically melted into his hug as she wiped her hands dry, then turned around and hugged him back. They shared a passionate kiss then stared into each other's eyes.

"Denzel Strife, what are you up to." She said warmly

"Nothing….It's time for bed." he replied tenderly

Marlene turned off the Kitchen light then headed up the stairs with her husband. The lights slowly went off in the peaceful household, and an air of calm filled the night.

It was around midnight, and Vincent Valentine slowly made his way up the rocky pathway toward the cavern. He had been here many times before; it was a constant reminder of his troubled past. He had a family now, he had a lovingly wife, and two wonderful kids, but he would never forget. He could never forget, It would always be apart of who he was. As much as he loved his wife he could just never forget, her. Vincent entered the cavern and was greeted by the sight of the bright mako crystals glowing in the moon light. He saw her Lucrecia Crescent, forever incased in Mako. He paused for a second….something was wrong. Vincent's eyes scanned the floor there were unfamiliar footprints. He walked over to Lucrecia and examined her Mako crystal. Small holes had been drilled into the crystal leading all the way to Lucrecia's body. Vincent noticed something stuck in one of the holes, he spent a few moments digging it out of the hole. It was a broken piece of a needle, someone had obviously extracted something her but who our what?

"Someone's got some explaining to do!" stated Vincent as he turned toward the Cavern exit with determination.