Vincent Valentine was never an easy man to get a hold of when he chose to make himself scarce. Few blamed him, though; considering the horrific experiments performed on him by the now deceased Professor Hojo, it was surprising that anyone ever saw the former Turk.

Of course, that all changed when a group of travelers happened across him in the depths of Shinra Manor. Since that fateful day, Vincent had become something of a tragic hero of the Planet, and there were few that had not heard of him…especially after the Battle of Midgar and the clash between his Chaos form and Omega Weapon. Still, Vincent preferred to keep out the public eye as much as possible and only kept in contact with his former AVALANCHE teammates and, on rare occasion, with Reeve Tuesti and the WRO. Even then, messages from Vincent Valentine were few and far between.

So when Cloud received that phone call from Vincent two days ago, he knew it had to be important business. So, he and Tifa arranged for Marlene and Denzel to stay with Elmyra Gainsborough in Kalm as they rode to meet Vincent. Fortunately, they were of a handful of people who knew where Vincent Valentine could be found, and if he wasn't cooped up in Nibelheim, there was only one other place.

After traversing the rough terrain of the Corel Mountains, Cloud and Tifa finally managed to reach their destination: a cavern concealed by a waterfall near the center of the Western Continent. After dismounting Fenrir and sheathing First Tsurugi on his back, Cloud led Tifa behind the waterfall into the cavern. They didn't need any flashlights or candles, as the natural crystal formations in the cavern glowed bright enough to show them the way to the inner chamber.

There, sitting on the ground with his back against one of the crystal formations, was Vincent Valentine. As expected, his attention was directed to the largest of the crystals, silently pondering as Cloud and Tifa approached him.

"Still can't let her go, can you?" Cloud said as he sat down next to Vincent.

Vincent let out a bit of a chuckle as he replied in his usually gravelly voice, "You're one to talk. I doubt you came here to talk about that."

"Actually, we don't know what we came here to talk about," Tifa interjected as she sat down in front of the two men. "All we know is that you called us because you apparently have a problem you couldn't handle by yourself, something we both had a hard time believing."

"Hmph. I didn't know both of you would come. I suppose it doesn't really matter. And it's not really a problem…more like an observation."

"An observation?" Cloud asked. "What observation?"

Vincent cleared his throat and continued, "A strange group of people recently moved into Nibelheim. They seem to be setting up a sort of command center in the town. On top of that, they seem to be taking an interest in the documents stored beneath Shinra Manor."

Vincent paused a bit. He wasn't used to saying so much at any given time. "I don't know what it is they're up to, but so far they don't appear to be up to anything dangerous. Still, I thought it was something you might want to know."

"Nibelheim…" Cloud said as he pondered what that town symbolized for him and Tifa. "Have you told anyone else about this?"

"Reeve. I figured if those strangers were up to something, the WRO would be best-equipped to handle it. He said he'd investigate it, but…"

"I see," Tifa said. "So, Vincent…where are you going to go? You obviously can't go back to Shinra Manor."

Vincent waved his hand as if to say he'd be staying right where he was.

"Oh, no you don't!" Tifa said in a huff. "You're staying with one of our friends until this gets sorted out and that's that!"

Vincent lowered his head and looked to Cloud for some possible backup. Cloud shook his head and simply stated, "I'm not disagreeing with Tifa. It'll just mean more trouble for me."

Vincent, despite being irritated at Tifa's demands and Cloud's indifference, had to smile underneath his cowl. "It seems she has you trained rather well, Cloud. Fine, I'll make some calls."

"Good," Tifa stated in approval. "Cloud, since we're in the area, why don't we pay a visit to Barret? He might know something about what's going on in Nibelheim."

Cloud nodded and grunted his approval as both he and Tifa stood up and walked towards the mouth of the cave. Cloud thought he could hear Vincent talking to someone, though he couldn't be sure if it was someone on the phone or "her." He quickly dismissed this, knowing full well that Vincent was capable of taking care of himself. After exiting the cave and re-sheathing First Tsurugi into the specialized compartment on Fenrir, both Cloud and Tifa headed back down the mountain toward the Corel Mining Camp.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As his helicopter descended on the outskirts of the former ghost town of Nibelheim, Reeve Tuesti had to wonder what it was he was hoping to accomplish. The World Regenesis Organization's work already took too much of his attention, and now this? Reeve knew that the WRO needed years, maybe decades to reverse the damage done by Shinra, and with events and occurrences like this happening every year or two…

"Director! We've landed. It's safe for you to exit the helicopter!"

The shouting of the WRO infantryman broke Reeve's thinking. Reeve shook his head and decided that it was too soon to judge what, if any, problems this group would pose to the Planet and the WRO. With that in mind, he and two WRO troopers left the helicopter and headed toward Nibelheim's southern gate.

As they got closer to the hamlet's entrance, Reeve noticed that there was a welcoming committee awaiting his arrival.

A three-person committee, as it appeared.

One was a giant of a man, close to seven feet tall and looking like he was chiseled out of pure mythril ore. He wore a sleeveless black shirt with matching pants, both looking like they may have been a size or two too small for his massive frame. A pair of perpendicular yellow lines met at his left pectoral. This mammoth had a long and prickly mane of blonde hair that descended past his shoulders. His grey eyes looked almost lifeless; and yet, Reeve noticed those eyes never stop peering at him and his troopers.

Standing next to that mountain of a man was a woman with reddish-brown hair and midnight blue eyes. She was of average height, and wore an outfit similar to her associate. Reeve admitted to himself that she was a very attractive woman, her curves all well-defined and sculpted like a champion athlete. He also noticed the scars that ran down the side of her right cheek. From the scars and the way she stood like a viper ready to strike, Reeve had a feeling that this woman was no stranger to death and killing.

Unlike her much larger counterpart, the woman's gaze never left the third member of this trio. This man was as tall as Reeve and had long black hair with a stripe of white that ended at his shoulders. And like the other two, he wore the same uniform with the yellow lines intersecting. He also wore a grey overcoat that was tattered at the bottom, suggesting that this coat had gone through quite a bit of traveling. In the man's left hand, he held a cane that looked like it had been fashioned out of a piece of driftwood. The cane was close to a meter in length and was bent at a right angle at the top, forming the handgrip.

This man, however, rarely held it like that. Instead, he preferred to hold it halfway up the shaft and rest it left shoulder, the grip sitting on the back of his neck. It all seemed a bit strange to Reeve, but he had little time to ponder it as the man with the cane walked down to greet him.

"Mr. Reeve Tuesti, correct? Welcome to Nibelheim. My name is Cyrus Thresher."

The man who called himself Cyrus extended his hand, and Reeve almost instantly took it in his own to shake. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Thresher. And please, just call me Reeve."

"Likewise, please call me Cyrus. It is an honor to meet the director of the World Regenesis Organization, but I am curious as to what you are doing out here."

"It's funny. I was about to ask you the same question," Reeve replied. "Few people have shown an interest in Nibelheim since Meteorfall, especially considering this town's history."

"Ah, yes. I assume you are referring to the Nibelheim Incident and the subsequent Shinra cover-up. My comrades and I are well aware of this town's sordid past. Even so, we wanted to settle here and make it our home. After all, it would be a shame to waste the millions Shinra spent reconstructing the village…don't you agree?"

"A valid point," Reeve conceded, "but it is strange that no one has ever heard or seen you and your associates until just recently. And there is the issue of a certain friend of mine…"

"…Vincent Valentine," Cyrus said, finishing Reeve's sentence. "We know of his connection to this place, but I was unaware that Mr. Valentine chose to dwell in Nibelheim, and we had no evidence to suggest that he had been here in some time. Of course, if it is not the case, we don't want to evict a man from his home. If Mr. Valentine wishes it, we can make arrangements for him. I hope we can find a solution to this issue before things get unnecessarily complicated."

"As do I. But you still haven't explained why people are just hearing about you and your group."

"It pains me to admit, but my people are somewhat xenophobic. Shinra had done terrible things to us in the past and it had left many of us incapable of trust in anyone but each other. It is my hope is that we can change that, given time."

Something about this Cyrus didn't sit too well with Reeve. It wasn't so much his speech as it was the look in his eyes. Plus, everything about this group seemed to suggest that they were more like a military unit than a group of immigrants. This man was hiding something, but what? "So I see. Well, Nibelheim technically doesn't belong to anyone since Shinra's collapse, so I see no reason not to let you and your group reside here if you so choose. However…"

Cyrus stopped Reeve before he could finish with a wave of his hand. "I know where you're going with this, but you have nothing to worry about. We have no desire to inflict any future harm onto the Planet, and wish only for what's best for this world. If anything, you and I share a similar desire."

"Oh?" Reeve asked as he cocked an eyebrow. "And what might that be?"

Cyrus lowered his head and slyly smiled, "The Planet's forgiveness, of course."

That statement shook Reeve up a little. "The Planet's forgiveness?" he thought. "What could he mean by that?"

"Well, Mr. Reeve, unless you have any other questions for me, I do have some pressing matters that need my attention," Cyrus stated, breaking Reeve's train of thought whilst readjusting his glasses.

"Oh, yes I think that will suffice for now. And I also have pressing WRO issues that must be taken care of," Reeve replied. "However, I may have some other things to discuss with you in the future."

"Of course. Please, feel free to visit anytime. I did enjoy our meeting today."

"And I as well. Men, let's return to headquarters. Mr. Cyrus, until next we meet."

Reeve and his two WRO men turned back towards the helicopter and, after a few minutes, took off into the sky. Reeve took one last glance at the three people who greeted him at Nibelheim's gate…in particular, the man who called himself Cyrus, who now was waving goodbye from the ground.

Even though he had just met Cyrus Thresher, Reeve immediately decided he did not like the man. Something sinister was lurking behind his hazel eyes, and Reeve swore that he would use whatever resources he had to find out what it was. Until then, he had other fires to put out.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to have a set of eyes in the area just to be safe.

Despite the feeling of dread, Reeve couldn't help but chuckle. Cid would probably hate it, but what else was new? Reeve decided to go ahead with his idea as soon as he reached HQ. In the meantime, he decided to take a quick nap. After all, who knows when he'll get a chance to sleep again?