What you recognize I don't own. Another time travel story (I seem to be doing that a lot lately for some reason). Nanaki was chosen to go back in time while Yuffie the little sneak got past Reeve's security and went back in time along with Nanaki. Things aren't going well and Vincent is MIA currently presumed KIA after investigating something at the Northern Crater in connection to the fallout from Deepground about two years before the time travel happened. Nanaki and Yuffie are their ages as of two years after Deepground. Veld will be told about Vincent, but not immediately, just don't know when that will happen is all

Veld was not having a good day, first of all, early in the morning he'd been called in on his bi-annual day off, a day that his Turks knew meant he was unavailable since it was the anniversary of his partner's death and he took that off every two years just to properly grieve, mourn and remember his deceased partner. The other, primary reason he wasn't having a good day was the reason why he'd been called in on his day off, first Hojo and then the President were discovered murdered and as the Director of the Turks he had higher authority than most people did in these situations, plus they were now looking for Palmer, Heidegger, Scarlet and Tuesti to see if they were still alive or not, and there was the fact that he'd been informed that the President's wife and son were also dead in a murder/suicide that the Turks had witnessed and been unable to prevent

"Okay who's alive and who's not or is unknown at this moment?"

"Tuesti's alive, just got confirmation regarding that, Palmer is unknown still, as are Heidegger and Scarlet, we've searched their offices and usual off duty places, their residences are also empty since that was the first place we checked"

"Find them, no matter how long it takes"

"Yes sir"

It would ultimately take the rest of the day but eventually it was confirmed that of the old board only Reeve and Veld had survived the strange bloodbath of Shinra executives. Meanwhile two people were looking (and secretly listening) to the going on's inside the tower and one of them spoke up

"Hey Nanaki, I know you said it was for the best right now, but why aren't we telling Veld about Vinnie being alive, if albiet sleeping in a coffin of his own free will right now?"

"For a couple of reasons Yuffie, for one Veld wouldn't trust a message from either of us regarding Vincent right now, he's too suspicious after what just happened, add in what Vincent told us himself regarding his old partner after Deepground and..."

"Oh, I forgot about that actually, what's the other reason?"

"Well a second reason is something that Vincent told me in confidence but I feel you should know, it wasn't just guilt keeping him in the coffin Yuffie, he was afraid of losing control of Chaos or his other limit breaks during the initial decade after he'd been experimented on and had that materia put inside of him, he's still afraid and adjusting to his four headmates at this point in time"

"Oh, how long does that adjustment and fear last?"

"The adjustment lasts about fifteen years, the fear...the fear lasts until we force him out of his coffin and join up with the rest of us"

"But still, he needs out Nanaki, he needs to be with his fellow Turks, even if he no longer considers himself a Turk"

"That may be true Yuffie, but not yet, it isn't time, in the future we'll let Veld know and have Veld deal with him, but for now it's best to leave Vince in the coffin"

Yuffie lets out an aggravated sigh before speaking up again

"Fine, though that doesn't mean I have to like it"

"I know Yuffie, I know"

"Still what's next?"

"That I'm not sure, by the way, I thought we were agreed that I was the only person to come to the past, so why did you sneak past Reeve's security and join me?"

"I decided you needed backup, so...how long before the Turks are onto us?"

"Not sure, but considering how...bloody we made it with Hojo and the President it might not be very long, by the way nice work on poisoning Heidegger and Scarlet"

"Thanks, though since I did use Wutaian poison I think I'd best stay in Wutai for a bit in case some of the new board decides to go to war with us because of that"

"Probably best then, I have a few things I need to do too, including helping my grandfather and past self if at all possible"

"Then I guess we have our marching orders"

"Indeed we do"

The next few years weren't easy for Nanaki and Yuffie because the Turks did come after them due to how bloody they'd made Hojo's and the President's deaths, they also figured out it was a Wutai poison that had killed Heidegger and Scarlet, as for Palmer his death had been explained in a very, very weird way early on, he'd had a heart attack and it was discovered that the heart attack was due to something he'd been shown, though the Turks weren't sure why what he'd been shown had induced a heart attack (they were unaware that Nanaki had given Yuffie a poison from Cosmo Canyon to put in his drink that reacted to fear or excitement and caused death via heart attack)

"So...there's not many places we can hide you know, and we can't stay in Cosmo Canyon forever, not if we want to check on our friends in their younger years"

"I know, we also need to keep an eye on Sephiroth too, though so far Veld and Reeve seem to be doing okay, though the new board is trying to wage war on Wutai due to the poison"

"Maybe...maybe it's time to tell Veld about Vincent, I know...I know, you told me he took around a decade to adjust and whatnot, and that we brought him out of his fear ultimately by forcing him out of his coffin, but Sephiroth's almost fifteen now and going to be heading to war soon, I think he needs a connection with his past sooner rather than later, especially since the old board got him back onto Jenova injections"

"And just how do you know about that Yuffie?"

"I...may have used future technology to hack into Shinra records, Reeve and Veld were outvoted, though they put up a good fight"

"How good?"

"Seven years, Sephiroth had seven years without that shot, if they'd only manage to last until he was fifteen then there wouldn't have been the risk we now face"

"I see, at least he had a partly normal childhood, in any case though like you said we can't stay here forever and we need to figure out how to help Wutai and Sephiroth at the same time. We also do need to make a decision regarding Vincent"

"At least...at least we were able to prevent the Kalm tragedy"

"True"

"Still, what's the plan now?"

"We head to Corel for now, see how things are there and then...then we head to Midgar"

"Right, oh and now that I think about it part of the seven years was the new board adjusting to things so I guess it was really about four or five years of fighting by those two, still, seven years without Jenova influence is something at least"

"And fighting for four or so years is impressive for those two to have lasted that long against the majority vote"

"Yes, but in any case we have to deal with Jenova, and hopefully Vincent being woken up early might help with that"

"Yeah, or at least give Sephiroth someone to connect to other than his friends who leave him, by the way I knew Zack, and..."

"I get it that's part of the plan trust me"

"So, I guess it's letter writing time"

"Indeed, and since I'm the only one who can write out of the two of us I'll do it, but I think you should help me dictate what it says so that I don't goof it up too badly"

And so the two think things through and finally a few days later Veld was told that he had mail that had been marked urgent and when he opens it he discovered the shock of his life

Dear Veld Dragoon, we can't tell you who we are or how we know this yet, but someday we hope to explain everything, though I guess you already know us to a degree since you've been chasing us since the majority of the old board was discovered murdered. But that's not why we're writing to you today, we know you're probably going to send other Turks to verify this, but your partner Vincent Valentine is alive. If you go to the Nibelheim manor and go to the basement (location written down) you'll reach a locked door, which the key inside will open, there's a coffin where your partner sleeps. He'll tell you his circumstances himself but he had his reasons, tell him about Sephiroth and he'll come willingly and hopefully with his information will be able to help Sephiroth accept who he is. We'll write to you again when we feel it's time to surrender ourselves, in the meantime stop searching for us, you'll just keep getting the same results in regards to your Turks winding back up at Shinra HQ wrapped up nicely like a present with no memories of the past few days so save yourself further aggravation

While Veld didn't completely trust the letter he decided that it was worth the effort to check the manor anyways and did indeed find Vincent. With his help, and Vincent learning that Hojo was dead but that Sephiroth was alive and doing okay all things considered, the new board ultimately stopped giving Sephiroth Jenova shots due to what they had learned about it through Vincent. Wutai would ultimately never been invaded or war brought to them since it was decided that whoever had killed the old board members, even if they'd made Hojo and the President bloodier, was in the right and that Wutai earned their trust to a degree, though Wutai never found out just why Shinra wanted trade agreements instead of a war with them over mako reactors. Eventually Nanaki and Yuffie revealed themselves to the Turks and revealed everything including the fact that they were time travelers doing what they could to make the future better than what they remembered, including saving Vincent's life if at all possible, explaining that he was MIA possibly KIA in their timeline

"So, you came back to change that future?"

"Yeah, it...it wasn't good, and to be honest there's still one loose thread that we can't handle on our own because we can't find it"

"Oh?"

"Deepground, we can't find any of them and to be honest if it emerges again it could wind up badly, even with four Firsts, a Second and a Turk as strong as the Firsts"

"Actually, it's five Firsts, he doesn't know it yet but Cloud Strife has officially been promoted to First as of yesterday morning"

"Oh, how come he doesn't know it?"

"He's currently asleep in medical due to overexhaustion"

"Yeah, in our timeline he'd do that too"

"By the way Yuffie, I'm curious about something just how are you here and yet your younger self isn't affected? I mean...you visit your home regularly right?"

"It's complicated but I visit in disguise so that I'm not recognized somehow despite my age making me look different"

"I see, still I guess it's time to try and deal with Deepground"

And so that's exactly what happens, and when Deepground was dealt with Nanaki and Yuffie disappeared from the past, but reappeared to a better future where Vincent was never missing and the world was a much healthier place to live in, and they were actually friends with Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal and Zack. Eventually they did die without anyone but Reeve remembering the alternate future where things had gone wrong, but that was okay in their minds because this future was better