A/N: The texts written in italics can be identified as flashbacks.

All But One

Of Photos and Materia

It was raining. It wasn't like the black grime that fell from the sky these days, but normal, drizzling rain. She was running home from the grocery shopping she'd just finished, but she hadn't been expecting the sudden rain. She grasped the paper bags tightly in each hand and darted through the streets, carving a path through the crowded sidewalk and trying hard not to slip from the wet pavement. The grocery store was too far from the bar. She'd usually just take her time and enjoy the walk, but the rain had ruined such possibilities. She accidentally rammed into an aged man, and dropped one of her grocery bags.

"Goodness! Watch where you're going, girl!" he yelled, stomping off. She lowered her head apologetically, and reached down for the bag when she saw another hand grab it. She looked up to see Cloud.

"Need a hand with these?" he asked, taking the bags from her hand and opening an umbrella to shield her from the downpour. She smiled.

"Thanks Cloud."

-xXx-

Tifa remained frozen, her ruby eyes just gazing down at the photos scattered across the bed. Her mind was disoriented, her thoughts scrambled and confused. She was staring at pictures of herself as well as Cloud and Barret; they were all taken in the bar, capturing daily scenes that went on around the busy pub. There were photos of Tifa washing dishes, serving drinks, giggling with the patrons, as well as stealing a glance at the preoccupied Cloud. Others showed Cloud walking in from his deliveries, idly slouching over the couch, or just enjoying a chat with Tifa. But the ones that tickled Tifa's mind were those of Barret; he hadn't been in the bar in two years.

"I'm guessing it's safe to say that our targets once occupied this house," Tseng said, breaking the silence of the dark children's room. Tifa remained quiet, as she was too busy organizing thoughts in her mind. She held up a photo of Barret, examining it carefully. He was situated near one of the wooden tables, grasping a glass of wine and grinning happily at the patron he was seated with.

"Tell me what's on your mind," Tseng said again.

"These pictures…" Tifa began to dig through the pile, as if she was searching for one in particular.

"They were all taken two years ago…" Tifa stopped. She had found it. Her eyes widened, and she felt a shiver go up her spine as she held the photo up to her view. It was the picture they had taken as a group after the Bahamut attack in Edge two years ago. It showed Yuffie kneeling on the left, smiling brightly; Cid waving behind her and Vincent next to him, emotionless. Nanaki was grinning on the bottom right, and Marlene and Denzel were smiling in the center; Marlene was holding Cait Sith.

But the thing that bothered Tifa was the fact that she, Cloud and Barret had been circled on the photo.

"You've seen that picture before?" Tseng asked with a puzzled look.

Tifa realized her hand was shaking, and dropped the photo back onto the pile. "We took that picture two years ago…after all the fighting in Edge."

Tseng remained silent.

"The man who took this picture…" Tifa started, her hands still trembling. "I think he's the one who has Cloud."

-xXx-

Elena wiped the sweat from her forehead, twisting the cap off her water bottle and guzzling it down quickly. She and Vincent had uncovered eight more materia from the ruined site, and she was exhausted. Her favorite suit jacket was now stained with dust, and the tips of her fingernails were cracked and dull.

"Let's take a breather," she sighed, sitting down on a large boulder.

Vincent glanced at her with a blank face, but nodded.

He knelt down next to the pile of materia that had found. Two of them emitted a yellow glow, three of them blue, one red, and two greens.

"Can you decipher their powers?" Elena asked, drinking more water.

Vincent shook his head. "Cloud is the materia expert. I just try them out to see what they do, but considering we don't even know where these materia came from, I think it would be wise to leave these alone."

Elena nodded, but she was still confused about something. "I was taught that materia is condensed from the Lifestream…but…doesn't that take a long time?"

"Yes."

Vincent picked up the red one, gazing it at suspiciously. "But think about the power of the Lifestream that gushed out during Meteorfall. It's possible that some of the Lifestream was rapidly compressed into new materia."

Elena nodded, "I see."

Vincent continued to study the red materia, as if there was something strange about it.

"Is something wrong?" Elena asked.

"No, it's nothing."

He returned to stand up, and glanced over at the blonde Turk. "We'd better get going."

"Right," she answered.

They gathered the materia and Elena had agreed to carry them in her arms, as they moved deeper into the wrecked vicinity of Sector Four.

-xXx-

"I don't understand why you guys are even looking for him. Like, shouldn't you be happy that Rufus is gone?"

Rude grimaced. "He's our boss," he said plainly.

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Well believe it or not, your boss happens to be a psycho who helped piss off the frikkin planet four years ago! On top of that, he's pretty much out of business now that Shinra's done for, and his name rhymes with doofus!"

Reno shrugged. "Once a Turk, always a Turk. Not all of us end up like Valentine. And plus, it ain't matter what the boss's intentions are. We stick with him no matter what happens."

Rude nodded.

"Whatever," Yuffie sighed. "I'm just hoping we'll hurry up and find Cloud so I can get the hell away from you." She was looking at Reno.

The trio had scavenged the toppled ruins of Sector Three, but had found nothing relevant to Cloud's disappearance. Other than that, they spent most of their time insulting each other's mothers as well as competing in two rounds of arm wrestling. Yuffie, refusing to lose, had used both hands to cheat every time she came close to defeat.

They walked in silence for a while, which was quite a surprise to Rude, who had been a helpless spectator to Yuffie and Reno's endless verbal wars since the start of their so-called "investigation."

Yuffie's shoulders were blistering from the leather straps that carried her enormous shuriken. However, she'd gotten used to such bothers long ago, so she ignored the itches. She was now twenty years old, and Cid often commented on how immature she was compared to Tifa when she was twenty. Yuffie mostly just spat back at him with a comeback, but this truth caused more hurt to her heart than most people knew. Nevertheless, Yuffie never showed her sensitivity in public, and she especially wouldn't allow this jerk Reno to see through her.

Most of the gang (Cloud and the others) always frowned upon her as "the kid," and never really acknowledged her skills as "the greatest ninja materia hunter in existence." Having helped save the world at only sixteen years in age, Yuffie was hungry for attention, but she rarely received any.

That's why she was determined to be the one who found Cloud.