Author's Note: Holy crap its been a long time! Fortunately, work seems to be better spaced this coming week, and I don't have anything to do at college except study for mid-terms, so you should be getting plenty of Mad World.

Speaking of which, here is Chapter 16, in which The fate of the Crater Part 2 victims is discovered. I know, its a tad Deus ex Machina...ok it REEKS of Deus ex Machina...hopefully it works.

Also, there is FORSEEABLE PAY OFF! I predict several reveals between chapters 20 and 30, and I know for a fact that I set up for one at the very end of Chapter 18. So, to those of you who still read, I'm not keeping you in the dark forever!

Chapter 16

Selphie woke up and patted herself down to make sure she was still in one piece. She then noticed that she was actually on a bed. Slowly, she opened her eyes, wondering what had happened. Had she dreamed the whole thing?

The room was completely unfamiliar to her. There was little on the walls, not even a window, and she felt uncomfortable in such a situation. It was almost like a prison, yet it was certainly the most comfortable one she had ever heard of. She looked beside her and noticed that on a table was a full chicken dinner. Realizing how hungry she was, she immediately began to devour it.

As she was eating, she noticed a small note next to her plate. She opened it slowly, curious to what it said, yet at the same time more cautious than she had been with her food.

"Hope you enjoy your food," the note said. She sighed. It wasn't signed or anything.

"I see you're up, lass!" a bright voice suddenly chirped.

Selphie jumped off her bed, looking everywhere for the source of the voice. To her surprise, there was no visible source for the voice, or at least she thought so. A small black toy leapt onto her bed and waved at her. Selphie blinked at it, wondering if she was going insane.

"Glad to see ya made it oot alright!" he chirped. This thing was far too happy for Selphie's liking. She was cheery. This was creepy. "I'm Cait Sith, and I'll be your host for a while!"

"Um…no offence, Mr. Sith, but is there a person I can talk to?"

The cat doll laughed heartily and walked towards the door. "I'll send him in soon, lass!" he called as he left.

Selphie had still not fully grasped what had happened as a tall man walked into the room. "Hello," he said politely. "My name is Reeve."

"I'm Selphie," she said slowly, as if in a daze. "That thing…"

"Ah, you've met my animatronic puppet Cait Sith," he chuckled. "I suppose that he could be a bit unusual to encounter until you're used to him. Would you like to follow me, please? I'm sure the others would be more than happy to see you."

Selphie nodded. "But only if you tell me what's going on!"

Reeve nodded, then motioned her out the door. "I suppose I should start from the beginning. I used to work for Shinra Inc. before the worlds merged. When Cloud fought with Sephiroth, I helped him using Cait Sith. However, the Shinra building was destroyed, more or less, and I found myself out of work and wanting to help people. Hence, I formed the WRO, the World Restoration Organization. However, around the time the worlds merged, Rufus resurrected Shinra, the power company turned military power, and he forced the WRO out of commission. I've taken a job with Shinra again, just to stay on the inside, but my loyalties remain to the WRO, and several of Shinra's employees and even a few SOLDIERs hold my sentiments."

"Alright, but where are we?" Selphie asked. "What happened to Sephiroth?"

"I'm getting there. You see, loyal members of the WRO have kept it going as an underground organization, quite literally. Recently, however, we have had new sources of information who have encouraged us to have a working base of operations in and around the Crater. It seems they thought that something would happen, and indeed it did! We've been monitoring activity in the Crater, so we realize that Sephiroth has indeed come back from the dead once again. We saw the ambush coming long before you did, and so we sent operatives in there to rescue you."

"And how exactly did you manage that?" Selphie asked, thoroughly curious.

"Magic," Reeve said simply, a slight chuckle when he realized that he wouldn't be taken seriously.

Selphie, however, understood the concept better than Reeve seemed to think. "Only a sorceress could possibly have strong enough magic to teleport us out of the crater like that."

"That's what we thought, too," Reeve admitted. "We don't know much about it at all, really. One of our anonymous sources arrived to make sure we would save you from the ambush, and they insisted on going along with the rescue mission."

"And you don't know anything about them?"

"Only that they use exceptional magic. Everytime they show up, they're in a black cloak that completely hides all of their features. Their voice is distorted, too; we can't tell if this person is male or female, the distortion is so bad!

"Back to the subject however, Sephiroth and his Remnants were too focused on you to notice us, so we managed to evacuate you while only losing three men. We fear that Sephiroth may have picked up on a connection between our men and your disappearance, but we can't think of any way for him to find us."

Selphie thought for a moment. "You mentioned the others…did everybody make it back alright?"

Reeve nodded. "Everyone is present except for one…I believe Squall called him 'Seifer'. He was furious that we had taken him from the battle and demanded that we let him out. We tried to calm him down, but he managed to escape."

Selphie sighed. "Reckless as always," she muttered.

They entered a lobby, and immediately she felt Rakunya give her a one-armed hug. "Glad to see you're awake," he told her.

The two of them moved back to the couch where Rakunya had been sitting with Yuffie, and there was a brief moment of silence. "Reeve," Cloud finally said. "What do you know about Sephiroth?"

"About as much as you at this point," he sighed. "Unlike the Remnants, who we noticed following you in the Crater, Sephiroth just seems to appear out of nowhere. It's a mystery to us how he avoids us, where he goes when he's not there, how he came back…"

"Well, then what are we just sitting around for?" Zell demanded.

Irvine nodded in agreement. "Just sitting here isn't going to get us any information."

There seemed to be a general murmur of agreement, or at least a lack of dissension, until a new voice spoke up. "Leaving now is certain death. Without a general knowledge of the situation, your opponent has a great advantage over you, and Sephiroth needs no more advantages."

Vincent nodded. "Shelke, what have you discovered?"

"I've spoken with our new intelligence sources," Shelke told him. Her tone almost made it seem as though she was ignoring all others who were present. "They are looking into the possibility that Sephiroth has a partner. They have also stated that they have seen the remnants near Midgar. Can you think of anything that Sephiroth might want from Midgar, Vincent?"

"Revenge?" Squall answered.

Cloud shook his head. "If that was the case, he would attack Midgar directly. He sent a Remnant, though, which means that he's looking for something."

"Or someone," Red added bitterly, nodding at Cloud.

There was a brief pause before Rakunya decided to change the subject. "You said Sephiroth might have a partner?"

"He hasn't always appeared alone in the crater," Shelke admitted. "There have been instances where he was accompanied by another, but we have no idea who it might be. We can't get a clear reading on him, as if something was distorting our sensors."

"So we wait for both of them to show up and pummel them together!" Zell shouted enthusiastically.

"And then what?" Rakunya demanded. "I'm avoiding that crater for now. Something strange happens every time we go in there. We've been able to survive it twice, but you know what they say about the third time…"

"What about a reconnaissance mission?" Squall asked. Everyone turned their attention to him. "Surely we must have someone who is quick enough to spy on Sephiroth and his partner and escape without getting caught. Then, perhaps we'll have more insight on what exactly he's up to."

There was a long pause as everyone contemplated what had been said. Finally, Rinoa spoke up. "I'll do it," she said. "Even if they notice me, I'll be able to defend myself with magic."

Squall, of course, immediately refused, but it was Cloud who came up with the reasoning. "We don't need someone who can protect themselves, we need someone who we know is going to get away and be able to report to us."

Selphie thought for a moment. "In other words, the further away we can be, the better, right?"

Tifa nodded. "We can't do this lightly. We have to think for a long time and make sure we're picking the best people for the job."

Rakunya nodded. "I can only think of two people here who would be able to see and hear everything that was going on from a distance." He nodded towards Irvine and Red.

"I suppose it makes sense," Irvine sighed. "I'd rather be sniping him than listening to him, though."

Red thought carefully, then nodded. "I accept. However, if I go, I must insist that Vincent comes along." He turned towards Vincent with an approving look. "I'd like to have somebody who I know I can trust. You'll find that he also meets your qualifications."

Vincent nodded, then left the room.

"I suppose that's decided, then," Reeve chuckled as Vincent left. "I'll alert you when the two of them are in the crater. Good luck."

Next Time on Mad World: The assassin is given an entire chapter, yet another loose end I realized needed tieing up. Join him in his daring escape attmept!