Tifa exhaled a rather potent blast of misty breath as she reached the front door of the Seventh Heaven. It may have been winter, but she was hot and sweating after her morning run. She always was. The sun was just starting to come over the horizon now. When she had started, it was practically still night outside. But that was done, and now the day was officially beginning. It would be time to start breakfast soon before the kids and man of the house woke up…

Tifa couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. I may not be one yet, but I sure feel like a housewife…

The woman reached into the pocket of her sweatclothes and came out with the key. She went to the doorlock, fumbled a moment, and then opened it up. The door swung open wide and she stepped inside.

She stopped almost instantly as an unexpected sight greeted her.

Food was already cooking. She could hear it frying on the stove, and could smell its odor coming all the way to the front. The odor wasn't exactly as pleasant as her own cooking, however…and some of it she could already tell was burning. The lights were on downstairs, because the sun hadn't yet risen enough to give adequate illumination for the bar and the kitchen. Seated at the table already were none other than Denzel and Marlene. Denzel was somber as always, but he was a bit more energetic this morning, it seemed. Marlene, on her part, turned as soon as she heard the door open, and greeted the woman with a smile.

"Hi Tifa!"

The young woman looked around for a moment, still a bit befuddled by this scene, but then stepped in a bit more. The door was closed behind her. "…Hi, Marlene." She answered after a pause, looking around. After a moment, she turned her attention back to the two kids. "What are you guys doing up so early?"

"Cloud asked us if we wanted to come watch." Denzel answered. "He said if we did, we had to get up right now. He said he'd make breakfast this morning."

Tifa crooked her eyebrows at this. "Watch? Come watch what-" However, here the woman abruptly cut herself off as she realized what Denzel had said. "Wait…Cloud's making breakfast?"

Marlene nodded. "Yeah. It's taking him longer than it takes you, though…"

"And he's been saying a lot of bad words too." Denzel threw in.

Tifa felt a wave of both imminent worry and genuine amusement come over her. As her body shuddered for fear of her kitchen, her face began to break out into a smile as she started to walk forward. "I think I better go check on him then, and see how he's doing…"

As Tifa walked around the table and toward the kitchen, the burning smell grew more distinct. She could look through the window and catch a few glimpses of blond hair and a man's body moving around erratically, and she heard a few whispered obscenities as well. She suppressed a laugh. Cloud making breakfast? Cloud hadn't cooked a meal for himself in eight years at least, ever since he showed up at the Sector Five station. Before that, with his military career and living with his mother, she had little reason to believe he had ever made anything more sophisticated than a grilled cheese sandwich, if even that. She somewhat dreaded what she would find as she pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The burning odor was stronger here, as was the sound of sizzling and cursing. Sure enough, hunched over the stove, already dressed and frantically moving around, was Cloud. However…he wasn't moving as he normally did… He appeared to be a bit stiff and jerky… He was also clearly struggling with everything in the kitchen. At the moment, he looked like he was trying to simultaneously scoop something out of one pan while he stirred things in another.

Tifa snickered again, unheard over the hissing, and then ran forward toward the man. As soon as she was up at his side, she took the utensil he was using to stir the pan out of his hand and went to it herself. Cloud, of course, was surprised at this sudden action, but after turning and seeing her do it, he immediately recognized who it was and left her to it.

"Oh…good morning." He said as he went about his work, instantly cutting back on the swearing.

Tifa laughed as she looked and saw what she was doing. To her surprise, she saw it was bacon. And Cloud hadn't even been using a metal spatula. He had been using one of the rubber spatulas she used to scrape batter or the like out of pans. She immediately put it to one side, hoping he hadn't burned it, and took up a real one as she began to get the bacon out. It was extra-crispy at this point.

"The kids told me you were making breakfast." Tifa mentioned as she did this. "What's on the menu?"

"Nothing fancy. Eggs and bacon." Cloud responded as he finished scraping out his own pan.

Tifa leaned forward and sneaked a peek into the bowl Cloud was putting the pan's contents. She saw a rather flat pile of brown and yellow egg material inside. The brown was obviously from being overcooked. She tried not to laugh again at the thought of how they were going to eat this.

"What kind of eggs?" She ventured.

"Scrambled." Cloud answered.

"Should have said 'fried'. I might have believed that." She teased.

Cloud cracked a bit of a smile himself at that. "Ha-ha." He sarcastically answered. "This is the thanks I get for trying to do something nice for a change and get us out of here earlier. I should make you cook every day for the next ten years for this insult."

Tifa snickered a bit, but then calmed down a little. "And why would we be getting out of here earlier again?" She asked as she finished with the bacon and began to take the pan over to the sink.

Cloud hesitated here for a moment. Tifa didn't look at him long, but she did notice something was on his mind, and he was hesitant to talk about it. He moved to put his own pan in the sink first. As he did…she saw him wince. He appeared to be holding his arms close to his body, and not lowering them. He was stiff too. Tifa was a bit intrigued by this.

"…Why are you acting like that this morning?" She asked, clearly referring to his mannerisms. "Are you in pain? Did you pull a muscle sparring yesterday?"

Cloud shook his head as he came to the sink and put it in. "He cancelled. I decided to try something new for a change. I went weightlifting."

Tifa gave Cloud an incredulous look. "…Weight lifting? Are you serious?"

Cloud was silent a moment, but then began to wipe his hands off on his pants and gave a shrug. "…Yeah. I thought I'd try it out for a change. Thought it might help. You should have seen the guys in there…" He said as he turned and began to go for the eggs. "I was skinnier than the wimpiest guy, yet I bench-pressed 125 kilos. I shocked them. But I'm sore as hell this morning…"

Tifa continued to look at Cloud, still puzzled. She never thought she would have heard about him weightlifting before. He hardly needed to, as his statement had just made clear. He may have looked skinny, but with his past "treatments" he was stronger than most men alive. Of course, what brought this on was still puzzling her…

"Anyway…" He started again. "I was kind of thinking… I thought I might come up with you to the training center for once… Maybe…" He paused here, and froze where he was, with his back turned and his hands on the bowl. Then, he managed to turn around and look to Tifa. "I don't know… Maybe you could…kind of show me what you do. You know…to limber up or something. Maybe we could even…spar a little."

This, naturally, made Tifa even more incredulous.

"…Are you feeling alright?" Tifa asked aloud.

Cloud shrugged yet again. "…Aside from being sore, yeah, I'm fine."

"Can I ask what brought this on?"

The ex-mercenary paused here. His fingers tightened and loosened around the bowl in his hands. He licked his lips and shifted a bit. In the end, he let out a deep exhale and looked back to the woman. His tone dropped considerably when he spoke again.

"…Tifa, I'm not stupid. After what I heard from Ragnar and what I've been through, I know that Sephiroth is worse than before. When we fought him, I was behind him in almost every way. Last time I fought him, it was only because he got too confident I was able to use Omnislash. I might be able to pull it off again this time around…but I'd be an idiot if I didn't try to prepare a bit more. I can't just go into it this time. I'm going to have to be at my absolute best. And I don't know if sparring alone is going to cut it. I want to try a bit harder…try something new. And I know that you're pretty strong and fast and you don't have any special adapations. So I thought maybe I should try and follow your example."

Tifa hesitated again. Once more, that man was figuring into their lives. It upset her. A part of her wished that they could all just team together and do this, like they used to. But she knew they couldn't. Some of them were far too out of practice…and even if they weren't she didn't know if it would make much difference. Cloud was, quite honestly, beyond them all. And if she had been flattened so easily by Loz back in the Church…then she knew that she couldn't really help against the bigger opponent.

She supposed what he said made sense. He had been working mostly on heart and determination this long. If he actually tried to "work out", in a sense, he might get a lot better and be able to do more with what he had. It was definitely worth a shot, if for no other reason than to make sure that the next meeting ended up with a win. It was a bit unconventional for her…and it did bring a lot of fears to mind that she rather would have pushed aside. But it might actually be for the best.

At last, the woman let out a slow sigh.

"Alright…but don't expect me to go easy on you."

I hope I'm not getting myself in over my head…

Cloud tried not to grimace as he looked down at himself. He had changed clothes for his first "exercise". Now he was wearing shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt, along with more athletic gripping shoes. It wasn't just that, however. It was also the fact he was wearing boxing gloves, a face pad, a mouthpiece, and was standing in the middle of a canvas ring.

This place smelled of even more human sweat than the weight room that Cloud had been in last night. This was one of the upper level training centers in the Planet Protector Army, where Tifa "horse whipped" her own recruits into peak physical condition. It was mostly combat orientated, which explained why most of it was dominated with mats where privates were sparring in hand-to-hand combat. It also explained why there were a lot more punching bags and the like devoted toward increasing one's speed and power when hitting. There were a couple of boxing rings too…which was where Cloud found himself right now. At least, inside one of them.

Marlene and Denzel were seated in foldout chairs nearby at the edge. Denzel was quiet as always, but he seemed to be at least paying eager attention to what was going on. As for Marlene, she looked uneasily at the imminent spar. Cloud was a bit uncomfortable about bringing them to see this…but he figured this kind of fighting was the mildest they could watch; in a controlled environment. Besides, there was nothing for it. By dragging Tifa out here to give him special lessons, no one would be left at home to watch them for the first part of the day. Tifa herself was opposite Cloud, similarly dressed and padded with her hair tied back behind her.

"Don't hurt Tifa, Cloud!" Marlene warned.

To this, Tifa, who was already springing up and down, turned and gave a grin. "Hey!" She ribbed. "You should be asking me to go easy on Cloud! He doesn't have his sword with him now."

That was true. Cloud knew he was stronger and faster than most people…but he wasn't as flexible or conditioned to fighting hand to hand. Swords and guns had been his forte. He didn't know how he would do now.

Tifa turned back to him, and then approached a bit. "Ok, let's go." She said. "We touch gloves and then we're off until one of us hits the canvas."

Cloud gave a nod…although he was a bit unsettled at how eager Tifa was. She was in her element now, after all. He breathed in and out a few times, tried to ignore the soreness he was still acutely experiencing, and then reached out with his own gloves. Tifa gave them a smack a second later.

Immediately, the woman put up her gloves to guard herself, and seemed to get twice as spry. She began to bounce around on her legs as easily as if they were springs, and started to circle Cloud. The ex-mercenary started to wonder how he got into this as he tried to stretch out his legs into a balanced posture and jump around a bit like Tifa was doing. He haphazardly guarded his own face, and tried Tifa in front of him.

"Come on." She said with a smile. "You get first strike."

Cloud winced a bit. "I'm afraid I'll hurt you."

"Who said you're going to hit me with it?" Tifa grinned back.

Cloud sighed and shook his head. He kept up with Tifa a bit longer.

"Come on. I'm getting bored waiting." She chided.

The ex-mercenary paused a moment more, and then inhaled. He gave out a weak jab. Tifa didn't even bother dodging. She simply smacked it away.

"What was that?" She asked with a smile. "Are you trying to swat a fly?"

Cloud grimaced and threw another. Tifa smacked this one away too.

"Whoa…" She sarcastically taunted. "I almost felt the breeze on that one."

"I don't want to hurt you." Cloud simply answered.

"All of my new recruits say that when I get them in the ring the first time." Tifa answered back. "You know what I tell them?"

"What?"

"This."

Cloud barely had time to see the pair of blows that Tifa gave him. First she smashed him in the face with a jab, and then gave him a hook to follow it up. Pain and blows rocked his head and face. He pulled back immediately afterward, feeling his face turn hot and sore as he raised his gloves to cover it. He was amazed. Weren't these gloves supposed to keep you from feeling hurt?

"Now come on!" She encouraged. "You're supposed to be faster and stronger than me! Show me!"

The ex-mercenary slowly lowered his fists. He still had a bit of a nervous grin on his face, but then came out of his pose. Sighing again, he began to come forward once more. Tifa continued to spring up and down and wait for him. Once he was in range, he sighed again, and then lashed out with a moderately stronger blow.

Tifa dodged this one, and gave him a powerful blow to his abdomen. Cloud's eyes bulged. He didn't expect that kind of force, and a sickened and painful feeling began to travel through his legs and torso. While he was still disorientated, Tifa smashed his face with another right hook, sending him sprawling back. To his surprise, he was staggering on his feet, and began to trip up back toward the ropes. It was only because he was caught against them that he didn't touch the canvas right there. Quickly, he pulled himself back up.

"You're on the ropes, Cloud." Tifa warned/taunted. "You better show me what you got pretty soon."

Cloud stared at her a bit longer. He wasn't nervously breathing now, now that he felt his brain rocked and his body sore. A bit of a frown was growing on his face. At last…he decided that she asked for it. He leaned fully back up, smacked his gloves together, and then began to approach Tifa once again. This time, she smiled wider, knowing he was finally going to do it.

The ex-mercenary didn't hold back anymore. Now…he fully lashed out at Tifa with a right hook. It was fast…faster than most boxers could punch. However…Tifa dodged it just the same. Cloud didn't let up, but gave another cross with his left hand. Again he hit nothing. Immediately, he swung out two more times, one with either hand. Tifa backed up from each one, both of them hitting air. She was pushed back further, however, and Cloud noticed it. She was going into a corner. She wouldn't be able to dodge him much longer if she kept up. Seeing this, he continued to approach, letting her dodge backward into it. In moments, she backed up a bit more and touched rope. There she stopped, though she didn't turn around. He had her caught in the angle. With this in mind, Cloud shot forward and lashed out for her face again.

Slippery as an eel…Tifa ducked and stepped forward, sliding right under the punch and coming out of the trap. Cloud barely had time to appreciate this before she gave him another punch in his sore side. He cried out and twisted at this, exposing his face. She answered by giving him three more lightning punches across it, sending him coming out of the corner and stumbling over his own feet as he did so.

Somehow, Cloud managed to recover from this barrage, although he was a bit dizzy and even sorer now. He tried giving another blow, this time to Tifa's stomach. Yet she blocked it again, despite how fast it was. He went for her face next…but that was blocked as well. No sooner did Tifa stop this one, however, than she ducked in and gave him a fist to the gut. That doubled him over…long enough for her to give him an uppercut. It was powerful and aimed right…and as it connected with Cloud's face he felt a powerful jolt knock his head up, and stars flooded his vision. His body loosely snapped back and hit the ropes.

The elasticity, however, sprung him back up the way he came, and for a moment he was back on his feet and seeing Tifa in front of him. But he was too dazzled, and couldn't keep his balance. So instead, he tried to lash out one last time to take Tifa with him as he spilled forward.

The woman merely dodged to one side, and his fist hit nothing. A moment later, his body's sprung momentum carried him forward and all the way down. He fell face flat on the canvas, and let out a massive groan as his body slowly came to a rest.

Cloud lay there a moment as his head cleared and the pain subsided. His senses were a bit of a wash at first. But as they came to, he became conscious of hearing a clapping sound. He grunted a bit, blinked, and then began to put his arms underneath him. As he pushed up from the floor of the ring, he got a better view around him. Throwing a taunting victory dance, Tifa had her gloves in the air and was prancing around his fallen body. She had a fan too, it appeared. Marlene was applauding her from outside of the ring.

Cloud frowned at her. "Traitor." He stated.

Marlene merely grinned in reply.

Tifa concluded her self cheering, and then turned back to Cloud. Leaning over, she offered him a hand up. He paused for a moment, but then took it and let her help him to his feet. "As good as I did against you…maybe I should let you handle Sephiroth." He murmured aloud in a sulking undertone.

"No you shouldn't." Tifa answered. "You're still much faster and stronger than me. And any of those punches I hit you with would have made my average cadet drink through a straw for the rest of the year. I had to hit you almost ten times before it did anything."

"Then why did I lose?" Cloud asked as he stood up.

Tifa crossed her arms at that. "Normally, that's what I ask my students to tell me. For one thing, you're too heavy on your feet. You probably used to need that to move your sword around or try to get more power behind it, but you should move faster if you're not going to just try using raw power. I'd try calthestenics myself."

Cloud frowned a bit at the thought of that. He had done that back in training. They were a good fast way to get a cup of sweat out of your body. "...Anything else?"

"You have good reaction time, but you didn't pick up on me fast enough. You have to train yourself to recognize moves and respond. On the other hand, I was only able to dodge you because I saw your blows coming. You need better power control so you don't telegraph so much. You were more than fast enough to outdo me in speed if you didn't telegraph it, and one of your jabs probably would have been enough to flatten me at only half power."

Cloud gave his frown to the woman. "I was trying to cut back. You told me not to."

"I told you that so you'd be faster. You waste too much energy when you punch. You're too unfocused. You need to learn to fight more efficiently. You'll last longer and your opponent will feel it more."

Cloud bowed his head for a moment and took this all in. He supposed he could see it. He had a lot of hardware, but he wasn't using it in the best way. Most of his techniques were improvised or learned from experience. But he could do a lot better, he reasoned, if he knew how to properly fight. After all, he only took a basic training course in the stuff, and that hadn't prepared him much. He needed to work on improving what he had without wasting it.

With that in mind, Cloud exhaled again, and then looked to Tifa's face.

"Alright…what first?"

"I'm telling you, she whooped up on him. He was on the ground in less than a minute."

"I've seen this guy in battle. There's no way she could beat him."

"Heh…whatever. All I know is you better not say that to the Commander's fa-"

The two privates halted in their dialogue and came to a stop at what was in front of them. They saw that their spot had already been taken up ahead.

These two particular soldiers were in Tifa's unit. One of them had served for several months and was well aware of just how tough she was. The other was fairly new, and had a hard time believing that such a pleasant, mild looking woman would be so devastating on the battlefield. The former, a rather large man himself, had been trying to set the record straight as this private arrived to begin his first training session with the commander. Within the hour, the latter would not doubt her ability again.

The former had been doing some early morning training before it was time for his session to start. As such, he was one of the soldiers who got to see both his Commander and General Cloud Strife in action in the same arena. It was obvious to him now that she had him licked in some departments, but that might have been because he was biased toward her. After all, in her full fury she was terrifying to behold. Yet eventually they left off the sparring and went to less physical things, and he saw his own time drawing near to get started. As such, he had been off exercising when the rookie came in, and through one thing leading to another they got into this argument. They were still engaged as they made their way to the punching bags.

Yet as they approached, they noticed someone else who was unscheduled was already there.

A young boy…probably not even ten yet, was beating away at one of the white full body punching bags. He didn't have much in the way of form or technique, but he nevertheless had his hands balled into fists and was smashing away at it. Despite how young he looked…he was pretty strong. He actually made it shift with each one of his blows, and he was doing it at a pace and strength that would tire most people out. His brow was dripping with sweat, and it was soaking into his clothing, but still he was pounding away at it.

The former soldier looked at him a moment before recognizing him. He was one of the kids who had come in with the Commander and General. He must have gotten bored and tried some of this stuff out himself. However, he looked like he wasn't that bad at it. If he was a bit older and this mean, he'd probably mess him up pretty bad…

His companion, however, didn't know either way.

"Hey kid!" He shouted.

The boy didn't seem to hear at first, but continued to punch.

"Kid! You! At the punching bag!"

Only here did the boy stop, and turn and look to the man.

"What're you doing in here?" He called out to him. "This stuff is for army personnel use only. Are you in the army?"

The boy shook his head.

"Then get lost."

The former soldier turned to his colleague and frowned, and then looked back to the kid. "Forget him." He apologized, waving a hand at his companion as he did so. "He's just sore because he's about to get his ass whooped. That wasn't bad, kid. You're really digging into that thing. Got a bully you're wanting to give a bloody nose to?"

The boy didn't respond at first. He seemed to be a bit embarrassed and shy even to have been accosted in the middle of doing this. He crossed his arms behind him, and bowed his head to the ground.

"…Kind of."

Then, without another word, the boy turned and ran off.

"Why the hell are they letting these street kids come in here and wander around?" The newer recruit griped. "He's gonna get himself hurt if he hangs around here too long."

"You better shut up next time before you know whose kid that is." The other soldier responded, suddenly snapping around to the man and sounding more upset. "That kid came in with the Commander! It might be hers! I wouldn't be surprised, as hard as he was hitting…"

The other recruit snorted, but then walked forward toward the bag. He began to crack his neck, getting ready to pound into it himself. However, as he came up to it and looked down…he stopped. His gaze focused on the punching bag.

"…Damn…that kid was serious."

The former soldier looked down at the punching bag at this. He too soon paused in amazement.

One of the reasons a boy that young wouldn't go around beating a punching bag that hard was because, without gloves, a punching bag would quickly murder your hands if you beat it too long. A boy close to nine wouldn't normally be carrying boxing gloves on him, as this one wasn't, and as such couldn't beat a bag too long too hard. But apparently…that's what this one did.

Bloody knuckle prints were all over the lower bag.

"Rise and shine everyone! Time to move it out!"

As predicted, a groan arose from Elena's tent. She obviously still hated this entire setup. To be perfectly honest, Reno wasn't that happy about it himself. But complaining wasn't going to do any good, and so he lived with it. After all, things were going alright so far.

The plan had gone smoothly. As expected, the general hadn't the foresight to anticipate anyone crazy enough to flee on foot in the middle of winter. As such, the Turks, who already had pretty free reign throughout the Dome, had no trouble getting the stock cold weather gear and camping equipment they needed. After that, it was just a question of going out on a hike. Seeing as they were dressed like most of the outdoor troops, it was hard to differentiate between the two, and they went through fairly easily. They were stopped once or twice by patrols, but after seeing who they were cleared without incident.

As Reno had hoped, patrols ceased before they got out of range of the Dome due to a coming storm. That was both good and bad for them, as Elena had pointed out. Hiking through the Icicle Inn area in winter through a snowstorm was fairly crazy. The only dumber thing would be going on Great Glacier, where you would most certainly die under these conditions. Night, of course, didn't help. Yet all of them were rather tough. Elena needed help a few times...not from lack of strength but lack of pounds. The winds got pretty fierce, and they would push down a lightweight.

Krystea, on the other hand, didn't even appear to shield herself the entire walk.

Reno forced them on until they reached a certain minimum distance. He wanted to make sure the hard part was over for tomorrow. And he managed to. They had reached the point where the valley went downhill until the City of the Ancients. They still had to hike a bit, but from here on in it was much easier. That was where they broke camp for the night. Two tents, typically, with Rude and Reno in one and Elena and Krystea in another. Reno did have to give Elena a look when she expressed her unease nonverbally, but in the end she went with it.

It was a rough night. There was a chance they'd get windswept or buried, but luck seemed to be on their side. Just the same, even after turning in to his own insulated sleeping bag, Reno tried to keep "one eye open" so to speak, to make sure nothing came over them. He wasn't so worried about Shinra units by now. They'd never find them in this weather. But he did listen for anything else, like the tent caving in.

It was odd. More than once last night, he had in fact been awakened… But it wasn't by the storm or snow accumulation. It was by…some sort of strange sound. It was like something was moving around outside their two tents. It was weird… He reassured himself that it was just a wild animal, rare as it was up here. And yet…he didn't seem to believe that. Something inside him told him it wasn't. He didn't know if he was half asleep or getting superstitious again…

He had a dream too last night.

He dreamt something had come into his tent…and it had seemed real…

Yet with the morning light, Reno had dismissed this. After all, there were no signs that anyone had been there. Rude was snoring away, and he had a pain in his back from a rock that had been under him last night. The storm was over and the sun was out. They were in clear conditions for the rest of the day. Things seemed great. And so, the dream went out of his mind.

Reno was up first, already dressed and ready to roll. Rude was a bit slower, and was still rummaging around their own tent getting their things together. Once they were all prepared and equipped, they would strike their tents and bury them. They wouldn't be needing them again, and they were just extra weight. He had stepped out for a cigarette, but also to call over to the girls to get up and get moving too. As expected, their own flap was still closed.

After making his initial statement, a groan came from within the tent. "…Good riddance. One thing I'm not going to miss is living on this ice cube…"

Reno snickered as he flicked some ash from his cigarette. He moved to take another drag.

As he did, however, he heard an unzipping. He looked to the source, and found himself looking back at the women's tent. The opening spread wide, and a moment later…likewise dressed and ready, was Krystea. She seemed perfectly alert and prepared. She ran back her smooth silver hair with a gloved hand, and then pulled her stocking cap over it.

"About time you boys woke up." She teased, giving them a strange sly smile as she did so. "I've been ready for two hours. I've just been crashing in the tent. No sense in waiting out in the cold."

"Hey! Shut that flap!" A voice from within the tent called. "I'm not dressed yet!"

Reno cracked a grin and finished his drag…perfectly masking his unease. Yet another unusual thing from Krystea. It wasn't just that she was ready early, which was unusual. She was upright and dutiful when it came to things like this…but not this much. Two hours was pushing it, and somehow he knew she was telling the truth about it. Yet that wasn't all.

That smile… She had never smiled like that before.

It was…unsettling.

A moment later, his own tent unzipped. He turned back, and saw Rude quickly shoving his own cap and hood over his own head. After all, being bald wasn't a good way to retain heat. At any rate, he came out, and immediately turned to begin striking the tent. Reno gave a grin, and then turned back to the women's tent. "We're all waiting on you, Elena."

"Up yours!" She yelled back. "Cold weather makes me sleep in! I'm going as fast as I can! Shut the flap already!"

Reno snickered again, and turned away back to his cigarette. He was about to puff again…when he noticed something. The wind and cold had put it out. He frowned in response. Giving a sigh, he began to reach into his coat pocket for his lighter.

After fishing around a moment, however, he felt something unexpected. The lighter was there, but so was some sort of wrinkled paper. His eyebrows crooked at this. He hadn't felt this before because he had used the lighter in his backpack (He always carried more than one; any good chain smoker does). Normally, a person would have assumed that this was a bit of trash he had picked up somewhere, or maybe a note he forgot about. But Reno had a good attention to detail. He was a Turk, after all. He didn't remember putting any paper in his coat pocket.

The Turk looked up and over to Rude, Krystea, and the other tents. Rude was halfway through striking their own. Krystea was shutting the flap again as Elena scrambled through hers. No one was paying attention to him. Seeing this…he turned somewhat away from them, so as to put his back between them and him. Once that was done, he turned ahead again, and pulled out the piece of paper along with his lighter. He held it in front of him to get a good look.

It didn't look like much. It was wrinkled from sweat and usage, indicating that it had been in some person's pocket a while if not his. It had a few numbers and sizes on it, indicating that it was probably the tag from some stock good back in the New Shinra surplus. It looked honestly like a piece of trash, and one that could have come from his own coat. He realized he just might have missed it. Frowning a bit, he flipped it over and was about to put it away if not simply throw it out in the snow.

Immediately, he froze.

There was something unusual about it. A message had been hastily and jerkily scrawled on the other side, as if someone had been in great pain and spasms while writing it.

HELP ME.

Knock-knock.

"Come in."

There was a pause on the other side of the door. While it happened, Rufus leaned back and calmly folded his hands in front of him. A moment later, the door was unlocked, and then opened from the other side. As it swung open, it revealed that Reeve was the one who was opening it. As it continued to open, it eventually revealed the person of the hour to Rufus. Likewise, at the same time, he was revealed to her.

Dressed in little more than a white t-shirt, boots, and dirty overalls was a strange woman. Rufus raised his eyebrows for a moment, and the thought immediately went through his head that this was a mistake. But then…he started to see the outline of her face, the way her eyes were set, and remembered pictures from the earlier days of Shinra's science division.

General Ragnar wasn't kidding…

"Well surprise, surprise…" Maritza announced, her own eyes likewise expanding as she saw who was seated there. "Chank my ass and call me Sparley. And the General thought it was so unusual that I'd want to work for him. Aren't you supposed to be in about 73 bloody bits?"

Rufus answered by simply gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. "Have a seat, Commander Maritza."

"I don't work for Shinra, old or new, your ex-Presidentness." Maritza answered as she walked forward. "Titles mean nothing to me until General Ragnar gives me one. I don't suppose you've got Heideggar, Scarlett, and…dare I say…Crazy McCrazy shoved somewhere in this building too, do you?"

Rufus ignored this, and looked back up to the door. He gave a nod to Reeve. "Thanks for bringing her, Reeve. Sorry to take time out of your schedule."

"No problem." The man answered. "I'll leave you two alone, but keep in mind this conversation is being recorded, and I'll have to review it later." Without another word, he stepped back and shut the door behind him.

Rufus turned back down to Maritza. "No, I'm afraid that my old staff, with the exception of Mr. Reeve, is quite deceased."

"Glad to hear it." Maritza answered with a grin. "Where is ol' Hojo's grave, anyway? I need to relieve myself…"

"General Ragnar wants me to evaluate you and determine whether or not you're genuine about changing sides." Rufus continued, still unmiffed but unresponsive as well. "He figures since you used to work for my company, that for some reason that makes me ideally suited at looking you over."

Maritza gave a shrug and leaned back. "Fire away, Cutie. Speaking of which…" Maritza hesitated here, and then gave a grin. "How are you about older women?"

Fine, so long as you can't tell the difference. Rufus found running through his mind. Maritza looked younger than him at this point…though there was a time the thought of what she had just said would have revolted him.

"I think we'll start with the most obvious question." Rufus began. "Why exactly do you want to join up with the Planet Protector Army?"

Maritza gave a shrug. "Same answer I gave the General. It'll work out better for the people in the New Shinra as well as in the PPA if I come over here. The war can be ended far more painlessly if I devote my talents to you guys."

"How very noble of you." Rufus answered in a tone that indicated he thought her story was a load of crap. "You seem to be very altruistic. That begs the question why such a saintly woman as yourself would have been picked for a high position of killing people quickly and efficiently by General Leers. And your record shows that you are, indeed, very good at that. Did you simply tire of killing PPA and WGN, and wanted to take a shot at NSA?"

"I did what I was paid to do, same as you, Mr. Ex-President." Maritza answered, in a bit dimmer tone. "But for what it's worth…you could say that I've had a change of attitude over the past few months. A crisis of conscience or even a mid-life crisis."

"This crisis of conscience wouldn't happen to stem in part from your recent fall in favor with Admiral Ashiah and General Leers, would it?" Rufus calmly answered.

"First of all, I've never had favor with Admiral Ashiah." Maritza responded. "Second…I'd be lying if I said I was not a killer. I'd be lying even more if I said I wasn't good at killing. And in a war situation, you don't have many opportunities to consider the morality of your position or your opponent's point of view. Any military person will tell you that. I was in the NSA to win a war. So I got up every morning and went to work with that mindset. But you might say that thanks to my sudden 'mid-life' crisis that I woke up one morning and started looking at things a bit differently. Perhaps I saw myself in the mirror and wondered if I was as demented as the rest of the homicidal nutty nutbars in the NSA. The point is that when you ordered me and my unit to go up north to invade the Great Northern Crater, I was going to save lives. To me, the Gauntlet of Zeus is going to destroy far too many. Whoever has that weapon or the ability to build one is going to sentence the rest of humanity to an era of living in fear of instant annihilation. Now it's in the hands of a ruthless, amoral psycho. I'd align against anything that has that. Rest assured, if you were the ones who had built that weapon, I'd still be with the NSA trying to figure out how to blow you up before you used it."

"Duly noted." Rufus replied, unchanged. However, he had noticed something come over Maritza. A change away from being carefree and wacky and being more mature and serious had happened while she spoke. An air of sudden seriousness had swept over her. She seemed to be telling the truth about this…or at least wanting Rufus to seriously believe she was telling the truth.

"I don't suppose you'd like to outline for me a bit more what this 'crisis' consisted of, would you?" Rufus continued.

Maritza smiled plainly in response.

"Would you like me to poke around your personal life and experiences?"

"I'm not the one whose loyalty is in question." Rufus simply answered.

"And I was not aware that I would have to treat enlistment in the PPA as a confessional, where I'd have to expose every deepest, darkest secret I hold." Maritza calmly replied. "I discovered something. That's all I'll say."

"So what's your take on her?"

"She's telling the truth, at least as far as I can see."

Ragnar frowned and let out a sigh at this. He turned a bit on his rotating chair and drummed his fingers against his desk. He had hoped for something a bit more definite than that, but that was hardly possible. He should feel lucky he heard this much.

"I need to know your absolute, foremost opinion on this." Ragnar said after a moment into the phone at the side of his head. "She's supposedly wanting to help us with the invasion, which means I'm going to be letting her in on our meetings. We're starting planning for the next big invasion this afternoon. If she's a double agent…"

"I think you'll be alright. After all, you'll have her watched 24/7."

"But why is she turning? Did she say anything more about that?"

"Not directly." Rufus responded. "But I'd say she has a personal reason. It's obviously one she's sensitive about. I'd say it has nothing to do with the PPA or NSA. If that is the case, then you shouldn't worry about what it is, so long as it keeps her loyal."

Ragnar frowned in response. Somehow that didn't make him feel that much better. He almost wished she did suddenly profess an undying affection and belief in the PPA and its causes, to keep it simple. But if that was the case, he realized he'd never believe it. He would feel a lot better if he knew what she was thinking and what her motivation was. Until then, he wasn't sure how much security would be good enough.

"You wanted my opinion of her." Rufus replied after the long pause. "That's it. I can't give you any better."

Ragnar sighed. "…I guess it will have to do. She's not divulging anything else to us unless she becomes an officer, so we can't try and work around her. In the meantime, she's starting to get huge things delivered from out of town, not just from your company. I don't want to sit on her much longer."

"Then do as she says and get some people to watch her. That's your best bet right now."

"Fine. Thanks for the review. I'll talk to you as soon as we get our next order."

"Very well. Goodbye."

To be continued...