Zack slid the PHS in his pocket, exchanged an uncomfortable look with Reno, and wished he'd never put the call on speaker.

"Wash cloths?" Sephiroth asked dryly, amusement tinting his tone.

"They were a present," Zack hedged. At least his fear of Sephiroth destroying them should they ever be discovered didn't seem to hold water. Those things were far too funny for him to want to get rid of. And if the general decided to search his quarters to find them, he would undoubtedly find all the other ridiculous things his fan club sold. Zack had collected everything all the fan clubs put out. They might be collectors items one day and he wanted to have originals.

Keen to change the subject, Zack turned to Tuesti, who was still fiddling with Sephiroth's PHS. "You figure out what's wrong with it yet?"

Tuesti shook his head. "It seems like it only shorted. A new power cell will fix it."

Eying Tuesti, Sephiroth asked, "You didn't hear anything of the conversation with CS Delivery?"

Tuesti shook his head.

Vice President Shinra said, "That's why your PHS was tapped. With the darkness from this storm, we don't even have clear enough images for lip reading."

"What did CS Delivery tell you general?" Tseng asked.

Sephiroth's expression gained a fair amount of chill. "He accepts the Vice President's overtures but refuses an equal partnership. He claims you're untrustworthy, sir," he said to Shinra. "He says he'll consider providing a reliable means of contacting him. He did indicate he may ask for our help with intelligence gathering in the future, but for now, his sources are better. He was quite belittling in that."

Unable to keep quiet, Zack asked, "Did he say anything about Cloud?"

"No," Sephiroth said. "He did, however, send his thanks for your spar in Junon."

"What did he have to say to you?" Shinra asked. The vice president slowly spun the unopened letter in his hands. "That he even asked for you specifically makes him seem quite insistent that you meet."

Sephiroth scowled in exasperation and folded his arms. "He reworded the letter he'd written me after the Nibelheim bombings. He specified that he would be shattering any illusions and reiterated all the people and sources I shouldn't trust. After our initial, more casual conversation, it was surprisingly dramatic. It sounded rehearsed." He paused, frowning. "And like he wanted to come across as condescending."

"I expected more," Tseng said vaguely.

"He did indicate that he knew what happened in Nibelheim regarding myself and would be divulging information piece by piece."

"Simple teasers then," Tseng said, nodding to himself. "What was the purpose of your fight?"

"I was testing his abilities and it seems he was testing mine. Both of us have enough skill that the only thing either of us managed to ascertain is that neither of us were willing to destroy buildings merely to see how proficient the other was at fighting."

"He's that skilled?" Shinra asked.

Sephiroth nodded. "He can wield those broadswords properly for immense power or one-handed with a blade in each for an unusually quick and relentless assault. Neither of the swords he used were as large as the one he fought with against Zack, but they still fit the broadsword class. With as serious as either of us were willing to be, we seemed equally matched."

Shinra said, "I presume he didn't indicate when we would next see him."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Tuesti," the general said, catching the executive's attention, "when you replace the power source in that PHS and verify that it won't short again, please bring it to me."

Tuesti stared for a moment before saying, "I understand." He headed for the briefing room exit. "I'll come by your office." Then the Head of Urban Development slipped through the door.

Shinra asked, "Did you garner anything of importance during that meeting?"

"That letter," the general said, nodding his head in the vice president's direction.

Shinra hummed thoughtfully and finally, in Zack's estimation, deigned to open the envelope. The vice president didn't look nearly as amused as he usually did on reading CS Delivery's letters.

"Rufus Shinra," he said, "This meeting begins a test. I'll let you know how everyone does if I feel like it. CS Delivery. P.S. Don't you think it's kind of paranoid to always pick the furthest point of a room for your bed?"

Zack covered his mouth to muffle the laugh that tried to burst out. Shinra's bed placement might not have had anything to do with paranoia before, but with CS Delivery throwing tidbits like that around, it was certainly a cause for concern now. Zack kind of had to wonder, though, why CS Delivery was choosing to spend his time stalking the vice president and commenting on his furniture arrangement.

At Shinra's darkening expression, Zack asked, "Doesn't a terrorist have better things to do than offer decorating commentary?"

The exasperated half-glare Sephiroth shot him declared that he didn't believe for one second that Zack was laughing at CS Delivery's hobbies. At least the vice president's expression turned neutrally professional again.

"I think," Sephiroth said, "from Zack's reaction, that this isn't the most serious of CS Delivery's communications. We already know he's testing the waters in working with us. He might be purposely trying to provoke us with something other than property damage. But if there's nothing else to discuss, I want to go over some of the details of the encounter, that the cameras didn't pick up, with Zack to compile a comparison of mannerisms between CS Delivery and Strife. I can provide the results but I don't know that everyone needs to be present for that meeting."

"Dismissed," Shinra said simply, with an airy wave.

Zack followed the general from the briefing room. "Just how long do you think it's going to take?" he asked Sephiroth. "It's not like I can help you with Cloud's sword technique. I'd have known if it was the same from Junon."

"We'll be talking mostly about the way Strife speaks. He phrased several things strangely and had odd reactions to some sections of our discussion."

"But how long is it going to take?"

Sephiroth eyed him sideways. "As long as it takes Zack." He paused. "I do, however, remember your meeting with Strife is in less than two hours. I won't detain you from going but if we aren't finished, when your outing with Strife is done, you'll come straight back to my office so we can complete the analysis."

Zack wasn't sure whether to perk up or feel let down after that. Sephiroth wasn't going to take away his "Cloud time" but was going to fill up the rest of his day with some philosophical debate on Cloud's mannerisms versus CS Delivery's.

In Sephiroth's office, the general made him sit across from his desk and told him to be quiet while he created a document to show everything they were going to talk about in a comparative way…or something. His mind sort of glazed over when Sephiroth started talking about spreadsheets. He was glad he wasn't the general. He was content filling out mission reports and thought he'd go mad if he had to handle analytical documentation too.

When his PHS vibrated, he pulled it from his pocket, secretly hoping it was Cloud. Waiting in Sephiroth's office was exceedingly boring. He cringed when he read the message. "Are you ignoring my texts Zack? Do you know why it stopped?"

He keyed a quick message back. "We had a visitor. I'll fill you in later. By the way, meet me in an hour. We've got a meeting with Cloud in about an hour and a half."

He didn't wait for Kunsel's confirmation before putting the device away. He'd tell the Second everything on their way below the plate.

At a soft knock on the door, Zack straightened. Sephiroth looked up from his computer and called, "Come in."

When he saw only Tuesti enter to room, he slouched again. Then Sephiroth shot a hard stare his way and Zack straightened again.

Tuesti closed the door and stepped up to Sephiroth's desk to place the PHS on top. The man looked like he was waiting for something and so did Sephiroth.

Tuesti spoke first. "I was under the impression you wished to speak with me alone."

Sephiroth said, "It's best if Zack is here so I don't need to brief him."

Zack frowned. Did he miss a meeting memo? He thought he was here to talk CS Delivery catch phrases.

Tuesti asked, "Was my impression that you wished any possible Turk surveillance disabled so we could speak in private incorrect also?"

"No," Sephiroth said. "Did they have anything on my office?"

"One sound bug."

"And you're sure they won't hear anything now?"

"Absolutely." The executive eyed Sephiroth speculatively. "May I assume this is about CS Delivery?"

"Partly." Instead of elaborating, Sephiroth turned his bright green eyes on Zack. "Do you trust me Zack?"

"Of course," he said, scowling. How could he not? He was the only one of the Soldier bigwigs that hadn't deserted.

"Then you'll swear to keep what we speak about here between the three of us?"

"If that's what you want. But what about Kunsel?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "We can't bring him in yet. The situation is too delicate. It's not that I don't trust Kunsel—he's one of my Soldiers after all—but he won't refrain from attempting to investigate for himself on my behalf, and we can't risk alerting the Turks or Vice President Shinra."

Tuesti nodded slowly. "I suspected as much."

"Why?" Sephiroth asked sharply.

"You didn't seem particularly perturbed when I informed you the surveillance in your PHS shorted. I thought it odd because vocal recordings would have been the best way for Fair to identify Strife's voice. At first, I wrote it off as my unfamiliarity with your reactions. But then you told the vice president that essentially nothing of importance was said and that CS Delivery didn't have anything new for you. I thought that was odd. Then I realized the PHS power cell was deliberately shorted. I didn't believe you would have done that so I wasn't sure why you requested a surveillance blackout. Then when I left and heard the vice president read CS Delivery's letter, I decided that CS Delivery is probably testing you. That would require him to have told you something specific and deliberately give you the chance not to share with the others."

Sephiroth nodded slowly. "I agree with your evaluation regarding CS Delivery. He didn't bother to tell me he'd shorted my PHS but it makes sense considering he used an extremely weak Thunder spell on me. I thought he might have been testing my perception level and chose not to react until he did something more significant. It made no sense when he simply stopped. Giving up doesn't seem like usual behavior."

"And he did tell you something of significance?" Tuesti asked.

"Given how much Vice President Shinra and Tseng withheld from me in the beginning, I'm apprehensive of simply sharing everything with them when CS Delivery so deliberately gave me the chance not to."

Zack's knee started bouncing. Why couldn't they just skip the boring stuff and tell him what CS Delivery thought was so important.

"And the reason you're telling me?" Tuesti asked.

"Because you prefer CS Delivery's agenda to either the president's or the vice president's. I can't say I'm entirely pleased with either of them at present, the president for Hojo's part and the vice president for withholding information concerning me. If anyone is going to keep secrets from them, it would be you and I don't have the resources to investigate what CS Delivery told me."

Tuesti's eyebrows shot up. "I take it this information is of extreme significance."

Sephiroth nodded.

The suspense was killing Zack and it must have started to show because the general stared him down with another half glare.

Sephiroth said, "CS Delivery told me that my mother's name is Lucrecia, not Jenova as I have always been told, and that Jenova is the experimental material used as the base for both the G-Project and the S-Project. This Jenova-Project was being run primarily out of Nibelheim when CS Delivery destroyed it."

Zack didn't think his eyes could get any bigger. Tuesti wasn't doing much better, his jaw was actually hanging open a little.

Zack asked, "He just told you your mom was someone else and that who you thought was your mom was actually some massive experiment before he blew it up?" Zack swung a hand through the air sharply, cutting off his own thought. "No wait, he told you what his primary objective was with the original bombings?"

Tuesti frowned. "I don't think we can say that blowing up this Jenova, whatever it was, is necessarily CS Delivery's primary objective."

"But that's what makes the most sense," Zack asserted.

"I agree with Zack," Sephiroth said.

Tuesti turned a somewhat disbelieving expression the general's direction. "But why? There could be any number of things in Nibelheim CS Delivery could have been after."

"Aside from Zack's odd affinity for CS Delivery's motivation," Sephiroth said, "numerous subtle things line up with the assessment. Nibelheim was the first target. The research and experiments belonged to Hojo and was endorsed by the president. Blowing up everything there was somehow meant to keep me from doing anything foolish. He's repeatedly told me not to believe anything Shinra Company puts in front of me and if he's right about this Lucrecia and Jenova then I truly can't trust anything I find."

"That's right," Zack interjected. "We don't know what Jenova is if it isn't Sephiroth's mom. What if Sephiroth ended up in Nibelheim and found it? What if Jenova is a blob of radioactive goo? What if she's a mutated tonberry?" Sephiroth scowled at him. "What?" he protested. "Tonberries carry knives relatively large compared to their bodies."

Zack shook his head sharply to refocus. "But no matter what it is, if it isn't Sephiroth's mom and he thinks it is, then he could decide to do something crazy like Genesis and Angeal. I mean, Hollander gave Genesis and Angeal parents so they grew up with people they thought were parents. Hojo is kind of twisted. What if Lucrecia is Sephiroth's mom, but Hojo didn't want Sephiroth to have anyone and so pretty much erased her existence from his life and set it all up to look like a gooey tonberry is his mom." He shook his head seriously. "I don't know about you two but if my mom turned out to be a gooey tonberry, I'd need some serious therapy."

"As unflatteringly as Zack put it," Sephiroth said dryly, "he has a point. First Class Soldiers aren't known for their stability and emotional shocks to our systems seem capable of wrecking an entire lifetime's principles and beliefs. Not to mention that I wouldn't put it past Hojo to do exactly what we're theorizing. It's well within his lack of moral boundaries."

Tuesti nodded. "I'll look for any trace of Lucrecia and Jenova then. Don't send me any messages about this search. The fewer tracks we have to cover, the easier it will be to hide our activities from the Turks. Besides, if CS Delivery can track our electronics somehow, I'm assuming you don't want him knowing offhand what you've decided to do with the information he supplied."

"That's exactly what I thought," Sephiroth said.

"Then I'll get to it," Tuesti said, then immediately headed for the door.

With the Head of Urban Development gone, Zack turned hopeful eyes on the general. "Does this mean we don't really have to sit here and talk about partial facial expressions and weird sayings?"

"No, Zack. We still need to do that? Do you not remember me telling the vice president and Tseng they would see the results?"

Zack's shoulders sagged as he realized they'd never finish before he had to leave to spend some time with Cloud and he would have to come back just like Sephiroth had threatened earlier.

Cloud hadn't expected Dio to be there early, and he wasn't disappointed, so he waited by the Hardy-Daytona motorcycle. It was kind of interesting seeing the old thing again. It had done him good until he'd acquired Fenrir.

He was debating between stealing this bike again or hunting down Fenrir's owner first. He wasn't sure what he could offer the guy this time. It wasn't like Tifa owned the 7th Heaven bar as a sixteen year old. Free food and drinks for a lifetime wasn't exactly an option. Perhaps he could just throw hundreds of thousands of gil at the man.

"You're into motorbikes, boy?" came the deep, resonating voice from beside him.

Cloud bit down a chuckle when, on turning to look at the bulky man, he realized that Dio wasn't wearing a shirt, his hairy chest on display for the other sightseers to gawk at, just like that little girl and her mother by the photo of the Highwind. Dio's mustache looked about ready to come to life and the only difference between this Dio and the Dio in Cloud's memories was that this Dio was wearing muscleman pants instead of tiny muscleman shorts. He supposed that was an improvement.

To answer the man's question, Cloud said, "Very much."

"What model is yours then?"

Smiling, he shrugged. "I'm between bikes at the moment, but my last one was like this. I've heard about one with an oval-piston twin cylinder engine with a hip based turning system and a non-returning dual throttle combination."

Dio's eyes widened. "That's top notch equipment you're talking about there. How's a guy like you supposed to afford something like that?"

"How do you think I'm going to financially back your Gold Saucer venture?"

Dio folded his arms, narrowing his eyes. "How did you hear what I wanted to call this resort?"

"I have my sources. So are you willing to go into business with me or not?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, boy. What makes you think I'll go into business with you at all? You look like you're trying to wear a disguise. I'm not starting a venture with a criminal."

"I obtained my gil quite legally," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "And if I was a criminal, don't you think Soldier would have pounced on me by now? This is their headquarters and there are cameras everywhere."

"What's in it for you?" Dio actually sounded curious.

"I don't need the investment," Cloud said. "If I did I wouldn't be backing you. I'll only rarely ask for gil, if at all. What I'm after is mostly items of interest. First is the Keystone. A man near Gongaga village has it and I want you to get it for me. I don't have time right now. The other things are the Omnislash Limit and the W-Summon materia. You find them, they're mine. After that, I want unlimited access to chocobo racing."

"You breed chocobos?" Dio asked, surprised brows lifting.

"Quite successfully," he said.

"Anything else you want?"

"Go negotiate with Lord Godo Kisaragi in Wutai for permission to build in Wutai."

"But that's so far out of the way. Something nearer Costa del Sol would be more convenient."

He was shaking his head before Dio even finished. "They've been trying to turn Wutai into a tourist spot ever since the end of the war when they had to agree to ban materia use. The tourist industry would greatly benefit from the Gold Saucer's existence. Think about it like a tourist. Not only would your resort be in an exotic place, it's got the draw of Wutai culture just around the corner."

"But won't they be cautious of someone coming from the Eastern continent? The war with Shinra is probably still fresh enough in their minds."

"Do you really think Shinra Company would try to take advantage of Wutai with a tourist resort? They could just send Sephiroth to destroy the pagoda again. But give the Wutai people an influx of gil and it will give them the ability to impose high taxes on any imports, then making it the best idea to go for local goods and services, further strengthening their economy."

Dio suddenly burst out laughing, startling Cloud and everyone else in the exhibit room. "I'm beginning to see how you might have gotten all your gil."

Cloud chuckled voicelessly. "I've never done something this large scale before. But trust me, Lord Kisaragi isn't going to refuse."

"My assistant said your name was Cloud Strife," Dio said, clapping Cloud hard on the shoulder.

Cloud nodded.

Dio extended his other hand. "It looks like we're going into business together. Let's talk initial investment gil."

When Cloud stepped through the door, the first thing he asked was, "Where's Aerith?" A quick glance in the kitchen revealed Elmyra's back at the sink, probably doing dishes. Vincent was sitting at the table with a cup of some steaming beverage, probably tea, and Nanaki appeared to be asleep curled up under the stairs.

"Upstairs…organizing," Vincent said.

He gave the man a nod and headed to the second floor. When he knocked on her bedroom door, he heard her answering call from the second room. He opened the second door to find all his swords neatly lined up against the wall and her own array of staffs that he'd been collecting for her lined up next to them. She was fiddling with the staffs' arrangement

He leaned against the open door frame and she smiled at him. He said, "I sent Dio to get the Keystone. As soon as he gets it for me I can pick up your Princess Guard."

She nodded. "It'll be nice to have it for a while." She left unsaid, instead of dying shortly after acquiring it.

"I'm heading out to meet Zack. He might want to come see you in the church afterward."

"I'll go there in a few hours. I imagine you boys will play around for at least that long."

He nodded. "Especially if Zack is trying to make me trust Kunsel." He huffed a laugh and shook his head. "At least with Zack around I won't have to do much talking and if Kunsel's conversations are anything like his messages to Zack, I'll certainly be entertained. But Dio kept making me explain things."

Aerith giggled, hiding her mouth with a hand. Abandoning the weapons, she stepped lightly across the room and patted his shoulder. "Poor Cloud. The big bad muscleman made you do a lot of talking."

"Hey," he said, attempting to scowl around his half smile, "I'm better than I used to be. I already explained everything to Vincent and Nanaki."

She nodded sagely. "And you don't screen all your calls anymore."

He rolled his eyes at her and stepped back into the hall.

"Bye Cloud," floated down the stairs after him.

Vincent merely watched him leave and Nanaki didn't wake. Outside, though, Cloud didn't get far before Elmyra called after him. Wisps of the woman's hair that had broken free of her bun fluttered around her face and she closed the house's door. It wouldn't really keep either Vincent or Nanaki from hearing their conversation but he didn't bother telling her that.

"Cloud," she said, his name like a hesitant plea. "You'll protect my girl…this time right?"

Ah, so Aerith had told her adoptive mother what happened.

"Yes. I don't make the same mistakes twice."

She offered a stern smile. "Good."

Cloud sat on a relatively sturdy crate near the south entrance of Wall Market, across the lane from the Item Shop and near the inn. He pulled out his PHS to check the time again. Zack and Kunsel were late. Going on ten minutes late. He fiddled with the PHS, debating on whether or not to call. He'd actually expected Zack to arrive before him, which was why he'd showed fifteen minutes early and had been waiting for almost a half hour.

He'd almost talked himself into calling when he heard Zack's voice yelling from well beyond the south entrance. He slid off the crate and peered around the corner. Further out in the slums, he could see Zack jogging toward him—clad in full Soldier gear, missing only the Buster Sword. Even from that distance, he could see a grin break out over the First's face when he was spotted. Then Zack picked up speed.

His eyes widened behind his goggles and he slipped immediately back around the corner. He was not going to have one Zack Fair barrel into him. He moved to the other side of the crate he'd been sitting on and waited.

Moments later, Zack streaked into view, panic written all over his face. Cloud screwed his expression up in confusion before Zack caught sight of him and relaxed. The Soldier put one angry hand on his hip and pointed accusingly at Cloud. "Don't scare me like that Spiky."

Defensively, he said, "You looked like you were going to run into me."

Zack froze for a moment, telling him he was right, but then immediately moved on. "Would I ever hurt you? Of course not. But more importantly," he strode around the crate to sling an arm around Cloud, "sorry I'm late. The train got stuck halfway down the plate and they wouldn't open the doors so I could come down myself. Kunsel wouldn't let me bust a window."

Cloud shook his head at his friend. "You should have just sent me a message. You have your PHS don't you?"

Zack chuckled weakly, scratching the back of his head. "I let Kunsel distract me."

"Don't blame me for your attention span," came a new, level voice from where Zack had come.

Assuming the newcomer was Kunsel, as he'd never actually seen the man, Cloud gave him a once over. The Second wasn't quite completely out of his Soldier uniform but he looked less official than Zack with only his fatigues, boots, and a sleeveless turtleneck. He didn't have his Soldier belt and had ditched his helmet for some goggles strikingly similar to Cloud's and a dark, blue black tuque that hid every single scrap of hair that might be on the man's head. Perhaps it was meant to be reassuring to Cloud that someone who wasn't hiding from Shinra scientists and their labs to be concealing their appearance too. It seemed like a weird way to relate but he brushed it off as possibly one of Zack's ideas.

What really had Cloud wondering though was the immobile Cait Sith dangling in Kunsel's arms. He eyed the cat speculatively, raising one eyebrow. Kunsel, apparently following the stare despite being unable to see Cloud's eyes, shoved the unmoving robot at Zack.

"I'm done carrying your shit, Zack."

"Hey," Zack said, whine edging around his voice, "be nicer to the little guy." He held the robot like it was fragile. "Here," he said, proffering Cait Sith to Cloud, "this is the present."

Cloud gingerly took the robot, noting a few minor cosmetic differences between this one and the ones he was used to. His boots were black instead of brown and he was missing the red cape. He stared at the robot's narrow, inanimate eyes, imagining Reeve, and possibly Sephiroth, Rufus, and all the Turks staring back at his face on one of the large monitors back in Shinra headquarters.

"Your special present is a stuffed animal?" Cloud asked Zack.

"Your special present," Zack said, smacking him in the back. "His name is Cait Sith. He can be your best friend when I'm not around."

"Thanks," Cloud said faintly. He looked at first one, then the other Soldier. "Why were you making Kunsel carry the present?" Cloud wasn't quite comfortable saying Cait Sith was his. It felt sort of like choosing to adopt Reeve.

"He wanted to hold it before I gave it away," Zack said, something akin to panic in his face.

Cloud turned to Kunsel, raising one brow in askance.

Kunsel said, "He tried to get some kid on the train to laugh by making it dance around and the kid started screaming and wouldn't stop. Then he shoved the cat at me and ran to the next car to get away from the kid's glaring mom."

Sheepishly, Zack said, "I think she was considering throwing her shopping bags at me."

Cloud couldn't help chuckling at that. He spun the cat around so it was facing Kunsel and held it with both arms. It couldn't hurt to look like the kid they thought he was. Besides, he could have some fun with whoever was on the other end of the camera.

AN: Any and all comments, disclaimers, and notes are on my profile page. If I get asked a question enough times, its answer is there too.