Now we get to the good stuff. Interaction between the two groups.

Also, I've changed the FFVII magic levels(Fire, Fire 2, Fire 3, etc.) and used the more standard versions from the other games(Fire, Fira, Firaga, etc.)

As much as I'd love to, I don't own ME2 or FFVII.

Chapter Three

Know Thy Enemy

Yuffie tilted her head at the robot standing by the door. "So, what are you?"

The robot tilted his head, the flaps on the sides of its flashlight head shifted. "This geth mobile platform is designated as Legion. We serve Shepard-Commander in the battle with the Old Machines."

"Uh-huh." She looked over to where Vincent leaned against the wall. "Hey, Vinnie. I actually found someone who has less personality than you."

Vincent only slightly raised his head. "My name is Vincent, not Vinnie. Do not call me that again."

Cid walked up behind Yuffie and popped her on the back of the head. "Be nice or we'll make you wait outside, little girl."

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at Cid, and went to sit by Nanaki.

Garrus shook his head at their interaction and looked over to Mordin. "And I thought our group was weird. Compared to them, we're downright normal."

Mordin rubbed his chin with his finger. "Unique indeed. Normalcy, however, is in the eye of the beholder. To them, we may be just as unusual." But his head turned slightly to look at Nanaki. "That one, however, I would like the chance to study. Might learn something new."

The sound of the door opening drew their attention, and in walked Shepard, being supported by Tali, and followed by Cloud. Tali eased Shepard into a chair, and sat next to him while the others took the remaining seats around the Normandy's conference table.

"Alright, now that we have everyone's together, we can discuss what we fought on Horizon." He turned to Cloud, who typed some commands into the computer, and produced an image of Sephiroth, floating above the table.

"This is Sephiroth. In our world, he was part of a military group called SOLDIER. They were humans that were infused with the cells of a being called Jenova, and a special kind of energy in our world called mako.

"Once, he was a hero. Then when he learned what was done to him, he snapped. He burned my home village, and disappeared for a few years. Eventually, he started causing trouble, and led us on a chase around our world until we found him in a place called the Northern Crater. After awakening, he enacted his ultimate plan."

Miranda leaned forward on her elbows. "What was this plan?"

"He planned to use something called Black Materia to call forth the ultimate destructive magic, Meteor."

Legion spoke up. "The word materia is not in our database. Please define."

Cloud pulled a small green orb off of his sword, and held it up. "This is materia. Mako energy condenses into a solidified form, and it allows us to use various form of magic."

"The enemy, Sephiroth," Tali interjected. "When he sent a blast of fire at us, he used the word firaga."

"Firaga is the most powerful fire spell a materia can produce," Vincent said softly.

Cloud returned the materia to his sword, and continued his story. "Eventually, we returned to the crater, and were able to defeat him. But apparently it wasn't enough. Now he's here, and we have to stop him for good."

Shepard nodded as he took in everything Cloud had said. "Alright. Joker, take us out of the Citadel for now. We need to start the search for Sephiroth. EDI, can you assign quarters to all of our new guests?"

"Of course, Shepard."

The assembled heroes filed out one by one, leaving only four people in the room.

Tali put Shepard's arm around her shoulder, and helped him out of his chair. "Alright, John. The doctor said you need to rest. Let's get you to bed." Shepard grunted as he turned with Tali, and walked out of the room, leaving Cloud with the girl in the pink dress.

"Aeris. How is it you're here? Alive?"

Aeris shook her head. "I honestly don't know, Cloud. I thought I was to stay in the Crosstides and wait for you, but apparently I have another role to fulfill here. I just don't know what it is."

Without thinking, Cloud stumbled forward and embraced Aeris, so glad he could feel her again. Aeris lightly hugged him back.

Cloud heard a sound behind him, and turned to see Tifa staring at them, her hands on her hips, and an eyebrow raised.

Aeris laughed nervously, slipped around Cloud, and left the room. Tifa watched her go, then turned to look back at Cloud. "Uh..."

Tifa raised one finger. "I'm going to make the wildly unfounded assumption that you were just happy to see her. This just had better not become a habit with you."

Cloud walked up and put his hands on Tifa's hips. "I promise you, you are the only one I love."

Tifa sighed. "Fine. Let's go find a place to put our stuff, then maybe explore the ship."

Aeris opened the door to the starboard observation deck, but pulled up short as she saw Samara sitting on the floor, obviously in deep meditation.

She was about to back out when Samara spoke. "Do you require something, young one?"

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I just wanted to see the stars."

Samara shifted to the side, silently inviting Aeris to sit down next to her. Aeris slowly walked up and sat down. "Thank you."

"You have a most interesting air about you, child. It is as if you have seen all sides of this life and the next."

Aeris chuckled nervously. "I guess you could say that. I made a great sacrifice for my friends. One that only I could make."

Samara nodded in understanding. "I too made a sacrifice for my mission. Only mine was all that I had ever had."

Samara looked at Aeris, then back out the window. "I find such comfort in the stars. In the everlasting flow of the universe. Do you understand?"

Aeris breathed deep as she looked out the window as well. "Yes. In our world, there is a power known as the Lifestream. It is the flow of life of our planet. When something dies, it enters the stream, and then reincarnates elsewhere in another form."

"It must be nice to understand the flow of the world so well." Samara turned to face Aeris. "If you do not mind, perhaps you could explain more of this cycle of life."

Aeris smiled. "It would be my honor."

Yuffie was sneaking around the mess hall looking for some extra food when a voice behind her made her jump. "You know it isn't time for the meal, right?"

Yuffie whirled, but didn't see anyone. "Who's there?"

Someone laughed, and pushed her from behind. Yuffie turned, but there was still no one there.

So she focused on her ninja training, and listened for the footsteps around her.

Then when she heard them behind her again, she turned and tackled whoever it was.

With a laugh and a shimmer, Kasumi materialized under her. "You've got some good senses there."

Then she cleared her throat. "Are you going to get off me? We don't want to start talk, do we?"

"Oh, yeah." Yuffie got up, and Kasumi flipped up to her feet. "So what are you doing over here?"

Kasumi smirked and adjusted her hood. "Food, of course."

A mischievous smile spread on Yuffie's face. "Well then, shall we?"

A few minutes later in the port observation deck, Yuffie and Kasumi were laughing and sharing their spoils between each other.

"Oh. Before I forget," Kasumi reached into her pocket and pulled out a green glowing orb, "I wanted to give this back to you."

Shocked, Yuffie patted her back pocket and found her materia missing. "You're good. I didn't even notice it was gone." She took the materia back, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of grenades. "I think these are yours."

Kasumi's eyes widened, and she silently took back her flashbangs. "You've got some skills yourself." Kasumi raised her glass, and clinked it against Yuffie's. "To honor among thieves."

"And to the victors go the spoils."

Kenneth and Gabby were working over their consoles when Gabby looked over at Tali on the other side of the room. Her hands were on her console, but her head was pointed to the side, apparently lost in thought.

"I'm sure he's going to be fine, Tali. Shepard's more resilient than anyone else in the galaxy."

"Aye, that's true." Kenneth added in his Scottish accent. "There's no one tougher than the commander."

Tali sighed and nodded. "I know. I just worry. In the end, John's still only human."

"But we humans are capable of amazing things, Tali."

Tali turned as Cloud and Tifa walked through the door and into the engineering deck. "Touring the ship?"

Tifa nodded. "It puts the Highwind to shame. I'm just worried what Cid's going to do when we get home. Knowing him, he'll probably try to build his own."

Tali looked around. "It really is a beautiful ship. Both of them were in fact."

"Is it all the same crew?" Cloud asked.

"No. There's just me, Shepard, Garrus, Joker, and Doctor Chakwas. Although, for a little while our old teammate Liara was..."

Tali's voice trailed off as she suddenly looked up. Then she smacked her helmet. "Of course!" She pushed through Cloud and Tifa, and headed for the elevator.

Shepard's wonderful dream was interrupted as his door opened and someone leapt onto his bed.

"John! John, wake up!" Tali's voice pierced his sleep-muddled mind as she shook his shoulder.

"Why?"

"I know how to find Sephiroth. I can't believe we didn't think of this sooner."

Shepard rolled over and looked up at Tali. "What?"

"Liara."

It took a moment for that to sink in, then Shepard sat straight up, surprising Tali. Why hadn't he thought of that?

Shortly after they had beaten the Collectors, Shepard had helped Liara track down and defeat the Shadow Broker, allowing Liara to take over his information network. If there was anyone who could find one person in an entire galaxy, it was her.

Shepard got out of bed, his sternum still hurting slightly. He put on his robe and went to the intercom. "Shepard to Joker."

"Joker here," came back out of the comm.

"Set a course for Hagalaz. We're going to see Liara."

We're almost done with the main exposition, so bear with me.

Next Time:Planning the Plan

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