A/N: Sorry about the long wait for this one, it was really difficult to write for some reason... =/ Anyway, Thanks for being so patient and I hope you really enjoy reading this chapter! Also... I almost have 100 reviews on this story! How exciting is that? Hehe. OH YEAH! And I now have 150 pages in total for this story! Gosh it's long. Haha.

Alright well thanks for reading guys! And thanks to everyone who's been with me from the start! 30 seems like such a milestone...

Cloud blinked wearily as he fumbled for the glass of water which he knew had been on the table beside his bed the last time he checked. For some reason he couldn't find it anymore and he wondered if it had been taken away while he slept.

Groaning and giving up, he dropped his arm down again and closed his eyes, trying to battle away the headache which threatened to increase its intensity. He also didn't want to have to look around and see the green tinge over everything which was an effect of the mako he had been given. It wasn't an incredibly obvious green covering his vision, but it was definitely there when he concentrated – which, amazingly, he could do exceedingly well in his current state.

Apart from the headache, slight tingling in his limbs and the inability to move quickly, Cloud was okay. He hadn't tried to talk yet since the medical staff never allowed him to, always hurriedly shushing him if he tried to, and his small number of visitors who had come in didn't say anything worth answering.

But as Cloud shifted sluggishly around on the bed to find a comfortable position so that he could drift back to sleep and wait for the effects of the mako to wear off, the door opened and someone walked in.

"Cloud?"

The blond opened his eyes again with a sigh and looked up to see Jinx. Why was the green-haired boy coming to visit him? They'd never really spoken much at all. But wait... it suddenly dawned on Cloud that that meant they were all back from Wutai!

"J-J-" Cloud growled in his head, annoyed at his new discovery that he couldn't speak properly yet either. He could make perfectly clear sentences in his head, so why couldn't he say them aloud?

"They say you should be up and about tomorrow," Jinx said. "Good as new."

Cloud closed his eyes and concentrated intensely on his vocal chords. He needed to ask Jinx about the others and he would succeed. "Th'others. W-Wutai. They okay?"

He opened his eyes again, tired from the strain, and was pleased to see that Jinx did not look confused at all.

"I was hoping you'd ask about that!"

On the contrary, Jinx looked unnaturally excited. Cloud began to wonder if it had been a good idea to ask as the green-haired boy pulled up a chair and sat down, beaming as he leant towards Cloud and rubbed his hands together as if he was scheming evilly.

"See, when we got in Wutai, we were immediately under attack! There were Wutai soldiers all around – like, millions – and we had to fight our absolute hardest just to stay alive! We were so outnumbered that there was no way we were going to win the fight! I still can't believe I-"

Jinx stopped, most definitely because he had just noticed Cloud's eyes were closed in disinterest and there was no longer a captive audience to tell his story to.

"Alright, alright," he sighed and succeeded in making Cloud open his eyes again. "I'll tell the truth this time. No exaggerations... well I don't actually promise that. But I'll be more serious."

Cloud swallowed and looked around for his glass of water again but quickly returned his gaze to Jinx, giving him his attention to let him know he could begin telling the story again.

"The short version is that when we got into Wutai, they knew we were there. Interestingly, there weren't too many Wutai soldiers at all, but they were really skilled. Injuries were varied from minor to major. Of course, I hardly got injured at all. Others... weren't so lucky." Jinx frowned, leaning back in his chair and preparing to tell the bad news bluntly. He wasn't good at sugar coating things. "Camon was murdered. Jensen is blind in one eye and Rex lost his left arm."

"W-what?" Cloud gasped, his breathing becoming erratic. "Rex? His arm?"

"Yeah. He was also shot in the stomach... we didn't know if he'd make it at first but he pulled through, thank goodness." Jinx ran a hand across the top of his Mohawk briefly. "The only other thing there is to tell is that Roy was captured by the Wutai soldiers. But don't worry, Sephiroth took a team in to get him out again and he's resting a few doors down from you right now."

"Wh-" Cloud couldn't believe it. So much had happened! "Why was..."

"Why was he captured?" Cloud nodded. "Dunno. But one of the Wutai soldiers looked so much like him they could be related. D'you think they are? Wow, that would be weird. But don't worry, once you're all better you can ask him for yourself."

Jinx continued to ramble on about anything and everything for a while until he realised Cloud had fallen asleep and made his way out of the room. Heading down to the room where he knew Roy was staying, he opened the door and stepped in.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked. Davis was sitting on a chair beside Roy's bed, his eyes tired.

"Not too bad," Roy shrugged, looking down at his hands. Jinx nodded slowly to show he understood and then he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Cloud's doing okay," he said then, not liking the silence. He needed to keep talking. "He should be up and about tomorrow, but he still can't really talk or move right now. Gosh, that stuff must've really reacted badly with his system. I can't believe he's not allowed to be a SOLDIER because of something as stupid as that."

"Does he know, yet?" Davis asked quietly.

Jinx frowned as he looked over at him. "Know that he can't be a SOLDIER? I didn't ask."

Another silence took the room and Jinx shifted awkwardly, not knowing what to say. He briefly wondered whether he'd interrupted something as he glanced from Davis to Roy, but he definitely knew now was not the time to start asking about Roy's secret again. Besides, he'd find out in time.

"Well, get better soon Roy." Jinx said finally, deciding to leave in case he wasn't wanted. Why anyone wouldn't want him around was a mystery to him, but apparently it was possible.

"Thanks," Roy said. "Hopefully I'll be up again soon."

Jinx nodded with a grin and then turned, leaving the room and skipping down the corridor outside. He needed to find someone who wasn't sick to terrorise.

Reno was in the foyer of the ShinRa building, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as his fingers worked meticulously over the buttons of his PHS. Occasionally his tongue would peek out from the corner of his mouth but mostly it kept hidden. As a sudden sharp hiss left his mouth, he tipped the PHS to the side and tilted his head as well.

"C'mon, yo!" he grumbled under his breath. He forced himself not to blink for the next few seconds despite the sting since he felt that he really needed to concentrate and watch what he was doing. If he could just get the last virtual chocobo into the enclosure...

"Yo, Reno, yo!"

"Ahh!" Reno jumped a foot high and dropped his PHS on the floor, effectively losing his game as he spun around to face the constantly-annoying grunt Jinx. He should have expected no less.

"Hey, yo! So you doing anything right now? We could totally go crash a party and pick up some chicks, yo!" Jinx rambled on excitedly. It wasn't often that he got to speak to the redhead without being thrown across the room.

"Stop pretending to be like me!" Reno yelled.

"I'm not, yo!" Jinx retorted instantly.

"Oh yeah? You never say 'yo' around your friends, do you? Do you think it's cool or something, hey? 'Cause it's not, yo!" Reno snapped.

"Then why do you say it?" Jinx asked, folding his arms and now glaring.

"I just... I mean, it-" Reno's face went so red with anger that Jinx actually wondered if the older man would punch him. "It's not something I think about! It just comes out, yo!"

"So? Who cares? I think it's cool!" Jinx said.

"Okay, seriously? You need to get out of here before I decide your face looks better smashed up, yo." Reno said. The whole stalker-issue with Jinx was getting out of hand. "I am going to go help the lovely people who just walked in now and you have ten seconds to leave or I'm going to make a scene."

Turning on his heel, Reno pasted a smile onto his face and walked over to the group of five who had entered the building. He was completely oblivious to the fact that Jinx had sneakingly picked his PHS off the floor and run off with it.

"How may I help you, yo?"

The man at the front of the group looked up at him with a concerned expression on his face. Reno assumed the woman right beside him was his wife and also guessed the other two adults were married. The girl standing there with her head down in shame? She looked like she belonged with the second couple.

"I was wondering," the man said then. "Would you be able to tell me where to find a-a-"

The girl stepped forward as the man was unable to complete his sentence. She looked like she was going to cry any second but held her chin up and looked Reno right in the eyes bravely.

"We're here to visit Roy Peters. He's a grunt." Her lip quivered and then she hurriedly swiped at her eye with the back of her hand.

"All of you?" Reno asked with a raised eyebrow. The name sounded vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't remember where he'd heard it before.

"Yes." the girl nodded firmly.

"Well... you're gonna have to talk to the girl at the desk about that, yo. Don't know if it'll happen, see," Reno scratched his head. "A lot of the grunts are wounded from being in Wutai."

"Wutai?" the woman at the front exclaimed before slapping a hand over her mouth in disbelief.

"...Yeah." Reno confirmed awkwardly.

"Did-" the girl paused. "Did anyone die?"

"Yeah, I heard there was a death." Reno nodded solemnly. "Think it was one of the SOLDIERs though, so it wouldn't have been whoever you're here to visit, yo."

"Right well," the man glanced at his wife briefly. "We'll go speak to the woman at the desk then."

"Sure, go ahead. You might have to wait a few days though remember, just warning you, yo." Reno let his eyes wash over the group one last time before shoving his hands into his pockets and walking off.

It was when he had turned four corners that he realised he didn't have his phone on him and that Jinx had probably stolen it from him. Then he promptly made his way to the floor the grunts were staying on as fast as possible so that he could try and get it back.

Most of the rooms that he barged into were empty, but finally he reached one with a grunt inside, who jumped back in shock as the Turk burst in.

"Name?" Reno snapped.

"Alec Freshstone!" the grunt said at once.

"Tell me where I can find Jay Inks!"

There was a pause and Reno could tell the grunt was struggling to think of something to say. In fact, he looked confused.

"I'm really sorry Sir," Alec finally spoke. "I don't know anyone by the name Jay Inks."

"Oh for goodness sake! He calls himself Jinx, yo." Reno said with a sigh.

"Okay... sorry, I have no idea where he would be. Maybe... maybe he's in the infirmary with the others?"

"You grunts are so useless." Reno groaned, turning and leaving the room.

Once he finally reached the infirmary and spoke to the staff to see whether they'd seen a kid with a green Mohawk, he discovered that Jinx was lurking somewhere nearby. Since he had no idea who Jinx was friends with and would be visiting, he spent his time going past every patient and into each separate room.

Was Jinx hiding in a cupboard waiting to jump out or something?

The final door he reached was slightly open and he sighed before pushing it open and stepping inside. There were two people inside and it was then that Reno remembered where he'd heard the name Roy Peters. It was the boy with a secret worth Sephiroth's attention. The girl.

So her parents had come to take her home, had they?

"Sorry for interrupting," Reno said as he glanced from Kayli to Davis. "I'm looking for Jinx. Have you seen him?"

"He was in here about ten minutes ago." Davis shrugged.

"And you haven't seen him since?" Reno asked just to make sure. When Davis shook his head he nodded. "Thanks anyway. Oh and Peters, how's your leg?"

Kayli glanced momentarily at her bandaged leg before back up at Reno. The look in his eyes made her think he was hiding something from her but she shrugged it off, thinking she was analysing too much and he was probably only looking at her differently since he knew she was a girl now – she assumed he did, anyway, after what Sephiroth had said about talking to him.

"It's okay. It doesn't hurt as much as it did before."

"When do you think you'll be up and about again?" Reno asked nonchalantly.

"I don't know yet, but not for a while. I've been told I have to get friends to bring me my work so I don't fall behind in classes."

"Wow, you must be over the moon, yo." Reno chuckled.

"Yeah." Kayli muttered, smiling slightly at his sarcasm.

"Okay well, if you see Jinx tell him I'm planning his death." Reno said, lifting his hand slightly to wave before slipping out of the room again and leaving them alone.

Kayli slowly sunk back down against her pillow and closed her eyes, wishing she didn't feel so horrible. She just couldn't get him out of her head. He had been so close to her! He had hurt her so badly and yet told her that he cared about her. She had always thought there was something wrong with him, but to act so bipolar? Did he actually have a medical condition?

"Stop thinking about it."

Kayli looked over at Davis, startled out of her thoughts, and sighed. She was so glad he was there to keep her from dwelling on what had happened too much. Although sometimes... she needed to be a girl and let her emotions show.

"Can you go check on Rex for me?" she asked quietly.

"Of course." Davis said, a slight frown on his face as he stood from his chair. "You'll be alright?"

"I'll be fine. Rex needs company too, you know." Kayli said with a smile.

"I know... but he's not the one who just got back from being kidnapped by his psychotic brother who tried to kill him." Davis said quietly. Kayli hadn't told him everything that had happened yet and she didn't particularly want to, but Davis knew enough of her past now to guess that it hadn't been a vacation in the slightest.

"Just go. He's your best friend since way before we even met." Kayli urged him with a smile. She didn't want him to worry about her.

"Fine, but I'll be back soon." Davis said reluctantly, stretching slightly as he walked over to the door and left.

Kayli closed her eyes again, her mind wandering almost immediately. She could see his face again. But this time he was smiling kindly at her as if he really did care... though she knew that wasn't possible as she thought of Roy.

A quiet, trembling sigh passed through her lips and Kayli felt a tear slip out from under her eyelid. She missed Roy so much.

Sergei stared defiantly at Sephiroth. The long-haired SOLDIER had returned as promised and now stood opposite the prisoner with his arms folded in order to appear threatening. Whether it was working or not, Sergei would not allow his face to show.

"My men reported seeing six Wutai soldiers the day of the attack," Sephiroth said slowly. "Is that how many men there are in your group or are there more?"

"I don't know." Sergei said swiftly and stubbornly. He sat back in his chair and tilted his head innocently.

Sephiroth took a step forward and let his arms fall to his sides, glaring down at Sergei.

"How much have you told them about ShinRa?" he asked in a hiss.

"Who?" Sergei asked, feigning ignorance.

"Your men. How much of the things you learnt here at ShinRa have you taught them?" Sephiroth clarified, playing along with Sergei's game for now.

"What do you think?"

"I think you taught them everything you knew. You said last time that you were training them since you formed a group so you must have ended up imparting all of your knowledge to them." Sephiroth said smugly. Sergei didn't respond, not even shifting in his seat as he continued to stare.

Sephiroth grabbed the chair opposite Sergei and sat down in it, his eyes narrowing curiously.

"I never had you pinned as a background man," he said slowly. "I thought you would have wanted to be the obvious leader rather than the secret one."

"Sometimes people are more willing to do what you want when they don't think you're actually in charge of them." Sergei said indifferently.

"You admit you have a position of authority then? Even if the other 'leader' may not know it?" Sephiroth asked. Sergei was silent again. "Are you the one in charge of where to go next and where to make camp?"

"You actually expect me to answer any of your questions seriously?" Sergei asked with a slight scoff.

Sephiroth sighed and looked down at the table, his face showing a glimpse of his inner turmoil.

"I was hoping you would be more cooperative than this." he admitted softly.

"You were wrong."

"Don't blame me for what happens next." Sephiroth said, looking up at him once more. There was disgust and disappointment in his eyes and somehow Sergei knew that only the disappointment was directed at him.

"You mean you're going to torture me?" Sergei asked in a mocking tone.

"No," Sephiroth shook his head, standing up. Sergei frowned as he watched the General begin walking towards the door. It was over just like that? What had happened to make everyone at ShinRa go soft while he was gone? "I'm not going to do anything to you."

Sephiroth opened the door then and stepped out.

In his place, two Turks entered. One was carrying a briefcase which was then placed on the table and the other securely closed and locked the door to the room. The clasps on the briefcase were clicked open and it was opened with the contents still hidden from Sergei.

He didn't have to look to know what it was, though. Everyone knew Turks were in charge of ShinRa's dirty work so there was really only one thing they could have brought with them into the interrogation room.

Preparing himself for a lot of pain soon to come, Sergei clenched his teeth and concentrated on keeping his expression entirely neutral.

In the corridor outside, Sephiroth cursed his once-friend for being so stubborn.