Alright, sorry for how long it's been guys.... the little glitch with ff. net sucked...couldn't log in, all that jazz. This is the last "emotional"chapter for a while, we'll be getting in to the action real soon. I'll keep posting if you keep reviewing....I'm a review nazi...so if you haven't reviewed yet, do so!

I am really thankful for all of the favorites adds this story has been getting. It's an honor to know that you guys like the story as much as I do.

The next few days passed relatively quietly. There were no more attacks by the brothers, no random disappearances. The biggest conflict was between Tifa and Valena. The two had spent the time since the assassins had arrived in argument after argument. Tifa was always very defensive when it came to strategizing, planning or even gathering supplies. It was as if her role as the den mother was being challenged by the two new females. Vincent laughed to himself during each of their "tiffs," finding Tifa's behavior more like a pissed off cat than her normal self. Valena used her instability as an outlet for her own worry about the fight ahead.

Everyone was on pins and needles already, and the added drama between the two girls was starting to grate on everyone's nerves. At the slightest sound (a knock at the door, wind blowing over scrap metal, someone dropping something) the group would jump to attention, fearing that the brothers had just caught them unawares. Each time, their nerves would plateau a bit higher than before the incident.

Reno was quietly watching everyone milling around the bar. It was a humorous sight. Everyone had taken up their own spots: some at the bar itself, others at tables. Valena was crashed out on the floor, flipping through a graphic novel she'd found upstairs. He heard snippets of a conversation between Yuki and Cloud, the words growing slightly louder and the hand gestures more extravagant. Just as he saw Yuki reach forward to fist her hand in Cloud's collar, Reno sharply kicked the table leg, causing everyone to fall immediately silent and hunch down a bit. As the realization sank in that it was indeed the redhead that had made the noise, glares made their way to Reno, who tried to sink into his seat.

Sighing, Yuki dropped her hand from Cloud's shirt and made her way over to the embarrassed man. She grabbed his upper arm roughly and drug him from the room. She didn't release him until they were outside, the sunset making everything come alive with an orange fire.

After the two had left (Yuki with her powerful stride and Reno being drug unceremoniously by the lapels) Valena pulled herself from the floor and made her way over to Vincent. The older man was lounging in a darkened corner, his hands pulled into his cloak, his head hunkered down into his oversized collar. Valena smirked at the mental image of him hissing at her and baring his fangs as she approached. In reality, the man only glanced at the girl as she walked up and sat next to him, tossing her feet up onto the table.

"So I saw that hand action today with you and Yuki. Care to tell me about that?" Valena asked casually.

"There is nothing to tell." He replied simply. He didn't like where this was going. He'd heard the stories about overprotective friends and their threats they made in hopes of keeping said friend safe. Usually these threats were empty, made by scrawny girls to much larger men. But the girl that sat in front of him seemed as capable as anyone would dream to be.

"I will kill you." Valena said, her voice eerily calm. Vincent was taken aback for a moment. "No one will suspect me, you will merely cease to exist." She said all of this with a smile on her face, apparently an attempt to mask her true intentions if anyone else in the bar decided to look over.

"I won't hurt her."

"Well according to the gossip around here, you're not too keen on keeping others' well being on the forefront of your mind." She accused, her eyes darting to the side.

"My life and my intentions are my own to worry about." He hooked a finger into his collar, pulling it down and looking fully into Valena's eyes. "I will not hurt her."

The silence was deafening. Reno could clearly hear his heart in his ears while he waiting for the pale girl before him to say something.

Just as he was about to ask why she'd brought him out, only to be silent, she began to talk. "I want to thank you for that..." She wasn't specific, but Reno knew she was implying his strategy to stop her attack on Cloud. "I was caught up in the moment and something just snapped." She explained as she sat on a steel drum, her feet beating a hollow cadence into the side.

"I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to be roughing up the poster child anyway." He said with a shrug. "Tifa already has something against Val... We don't need her hating you, too." He leaned against a light pole.

"Valena…" Yuki said with a sigh. "She has a lot going on. She's always so carefree, you'd never guess she was empty." Reno's face was instantly veiled with worry.

Silence fell between them. Yuki was silently berating herself for saying such a thing. Something that would definitely leave questions in Reno's mind. Questions that she would have to answer, unless she wanted Valena to know how she was gossiping to Reno. Reno on the other hand was jumping to conclusions about just what it was that was wrong with Valena.

"Is she dying?" Reno blurted out, causing Yuki's drum beat to falter. She stared blankly at him, as if trying to remember what the red head was talking about.

"No…" Yuki said after a while. "She had a very strange childhood."

"How so?"

"I couldn't tell you."

Reno turned to head inside, presumably to talk to Valena about her "strange childhood."

"She couldn't tell you either." Yuki said, leaning forward on her perch, hoping to catch him before he got too far. The expression on Reno's face as he turned to look at the albino girl made her instantly regret the way she phrased her words. "It's not that she won't tell you. She can't. She doesn't…remember."

"Well well, Brother. It seems we've found them."