Part III Chapter I - The Calm

To most, the day was nothing more than a luke-warm day—nothing special. However, for at least one person in the entire ShinRa Company the sight of the increasing date was the subject of much pacings and mutterings. Sixty-eight floors above the ground level, a small, hunch-backed man slowly, and methodically paced the length of his lab, coal black eyes—hidden behind thick, reflecting lenses—flicking incessantly to the readouts on the screen before him. The vital signs displayed on the screen were somewhat worrying, even as the patient was half-way around The Planet. Jenova's strength was building; she was readying to pull her flesh and blood to her. It would be a matter of weeks now—a month at most, Hojo figured—before she released the call and he would have a chance to confirm his most interesting theory.

That of Jenova's Reunion.

However, there was a slight problem, one that Hojo had been working on off and on for the past five years since his original plan had become unusable. The books beneath the ShinRa Mansion—all those years of scientific research!—had fallen prey to a strange fire some years ago, and with the books gone, Hojo's well laid plans were somewhat in jeopardy. Luckily for the scientist, the Professor had plenty of time to construct contingency plans. The main issue wasn't the information—he had most of it in his computer files anyway. He just wasn't sure if the strength of Jenova's telepathic call would be able to reach Sephiroth if he didn't have his barriers opened by the information contained in those covers. Hojo'd considered recopying the texts and replacing them, but the survey team had deemed the mansion completely obliterated, and he couldn't find any other place in that tiny village—more of a settlement really—to stash them where he knew Sephiroth would find them.

The reactor was the only one he could think of, but the professor knew that finding newly printed books in the corner of some old reactor, obviously containing sensitive information, would scream a set-up and lead Sephiroth to be less-inclined to trust the information. Hojo had known the man since his birth—he was not an idiot.

And while he was at it, he never did find out why the mansion had been burned down. Or destroyed, which was the course of action that seemed more likely. The villagers hadn't been very forthcoming with the facts when the investigation team had been sent to look into the matter. It'd been a stormy night they said—and the common consensus was lightning. Fire wouldn't be able to obliterate the lower level as well and when pressed a few of the weaker willed ones had claimed that a dragon destroyed the remains. Of course Hojo didn't believe that for a moment. A DRAGON? Please, they were obviously covering for someone. Someone they either cared an awful lot for to lie to ShinRa, or they were utterly afraid of them. Either way, that road was a dead end, since razing the village to the ground for their insolence would bring the company bad press.

He was on a strict time schedule. Jenova's life-force had been slowly, but steadily failing ever since he'd started observing the ancient life-form, and it would only be a matter of time before she was forced to shift hosts. The only compatible body would be that of General Sephiroth, and Hojo dearly wanted to see the union of Jenova's power and knowledge and Sephiroth's genetically enhanced strength. However, he knew that she had only enough to energy to subvert the powerful Sephiroth once. If it failed, and she did not manage to secure herself a new host (ie Sephiroth) she would be critically weakened, and would require intense medical observation and treatment before she could try again. Hojo didn't want to have to wait another five years to see his Reunion theory in action, so he could not afford to miss this chance. He needed Sephiroth to be there, in that reactor, in one month, and with his barriers considerably weakened.

Need. That was it!

Hojo cackled to himself, congratulating himself on yet another brilliant idea. It'd only take him a couple hours to create the desired drug, and he could always mix it with some others in order to get the desired outcome… It was a good thing tonight was Sephiroth's regular check-up. He had plenty of time.

And for insurance…he had one more idea. A little note to Heidegger and it would be done.

--

Gun. Check.

Extra ammo. Check.

Supplies. Check.

Vincent ran over the list in his mind, continuing to inspect every piece of materia as he got ready for the outing. He wasn't necessarily going out hunting this time, but it never hurt to be prepared. Random encounters could fell even the sharpest of shooters if he didn't have any ammo. Satisfied, Vincent returned his gun to its holster, the bangle to his arm, and set the small bag onto the bed beside him, so he wouldn't forget it when he got up to leave.

Recently, he'd been finding it more and more difficult to stay in the city. He couldn't quite understand why, usually his issues with the air quality and the state of…non-cleanliness went away after a few months. Here it was, nearly two years after he'd arrived in Midgar, and it only seemed to be getting worse, not better. The air made his nose itch, his eyes burn, and dried his throat at least twice a week now, probably because the reactors spewed off more mako-contaminated waste as time went on, the reason for which was most likely because ShinRa didn't care enough to repair the (in his humble opinion) failing filters in the exhaust systems. They'd been originally set up to protect the average citizen's health, but why should the Company care anyway? There was enough ventilation (the open sky) above the plate to keep the executives and anyone with money happy, and as long as the Reactors still functioned ShinRa was still making money.

The pollution wasn't that quite noticeable yet to normal people, Vincent had received curious looks from Elmyra whenever he chanced to mention it. Aeris was much the same, so neither truly understood the constant need to be out of the filth, and the relish with which he enjoyed his now weekly out-of-Midgar trips. Due to his history with a certain mad scientist, the ex-Turk had a lower tolerance for the mako. It wasn't so much physical—he could handle mako-poisoning for far above the level an average human would die from—but psychological. He absolutely hated the smell. He hated the feel. He just…didn't like it. If it was this bad now, he couldn't quite imagine what it would be like in five years. Hopefully he'd manage to get out of Midgar before then.

Vincent pulled on his boots, ignoring the irritation in his throat as he thought of the open sky of the surrounding plains. He needed to get out, needed some fresh air. The reactor's exhaust was still present in the area directly surrounding Midgar, but if he went far enough away he could find somewhat clean air again.

Something in the back of his mind told him that he was being selfish, putting his own wants ahead of his job, which was protecting Aeris and keeping an eye on Cloud. However, he shot that argument down due to the fact that he was actually taking Aeris on the trip with him (she'd been utterly delighted when he broached the idea, and Elmyra had agreed that it would be good for Aeris to get out more, as long as they were both back by dark and were careful) and that Cloud was likely to be on sick leave for the next couple days. His young ward had called Vincent's PHS a few hours earlier, informing him that he'd finally gotten finished with his mako-treatments, and that he would be sleeping as soon as he hung up the phone and that he would not appreciate any interruptions. His lips quirked into a thin smile as he remembered the tone of voice in which the message had been delivered—exhausted, but with an unmistakable threat should his sleep be disturbed for anything less than someone dying.

Annoying, duty obsessed voice taken care of, Vincent rose to his feet, absently adjusting the red-cloak wrapped around his shoulders—his preferred outfit for out-of-city expeditions. He liked the concealment it gave his clawed arm, but it was far too memorable for daily use. People he interacted with regularly often gave his over-long and oddly shaped sweater sleeve an extended cursory glance, and Zack had even asked about it quite a number of times, but so far, no one but Cloud, Aeris, and Elmyra knew about his claw. The way he kept it hidden was uncomfortable, and restricting (due to the tightness of the sleeve, and he was forced to use his right hand all the time), but the golden gauntlet would be far more memorable than even his bright red cape.

Vincent picked up the white bag containing his supplies and slung it over his right shoulder, reviewing his checklist one last time before he exited the room he'd been given on the second floor of the Gainsborough house in return for his body-guard services. He gave the room opposite his a thoughtful look, but judging by the lack of noise coming from it the occupant was not in. She was probably out in the paddock, prepping SpitFyre for her first journey outside the city walls.

True to his threat all those months ago, Zack had indeed named the baby black chicabo once it'd hatched. The SOLDIER had even managed to drag Cloud down for the hatching, and had completely ignored any advice anyone gave him for the name. As soon as the hatchling had tumbled out of the hard shell he'd declared her name to be SpitFyre, and when asked to explain his reasoning he simply stated that it matched her personality.

Sure enough, Fyre (for short) was a feisty little bird, and one that had an unhealthy attachment to Zack. Aeris was her second favorite person, but whenever Zack was around the bird would get all possessive and demand all of his attention. Cloud had often joked that it was because his hair, which vaguely resembled black chocobo feathers (although not as much as Cloud's hairstyle, as Zack was quick to retort, excluding the black part)

Those two…Vincent had never before seen two people who were more unsure about where they stood with each other. Sometimes they would dance around each other, others they were mere acquaintances (friend of a friend type thing), student and teacher, closer than brothers…the relationship changed so many times, so often, and completely without a warning. He knew that Zack was trying his hardest to stabilize the classification around the 'friend' area, but Cloud couldn't seem to decide.

Deciding to quit thinking about his ward and his friend's tangled relations, Vincent found that he'd automatically headed for the gardens, stopping in the entry to the part of maze that housed the chocobo stall that he, Aeris, and Zack had built right before the SMEs. They'd had to add a fence after Fyre had hatched, the little thing loved to wander, but as the chicabo grew it seemed to realize just where home was and was content to remain there.

The gate to the fence was open, and within the clear space that served as SpitFyre's home he could see his other charge fitting a second-hand saddle to the black-feathered back. Vincent noted absently that Fyre seemed a little nervous, warking quietly when Aeris tightened the leather strap holding it in place. The flower-girl whispered soft reassurances, one hand petting the stone-grey beak in an attempt to keep the bird calm. Aeris had it under control, she just had a calming air to her, and even the chocobo noticed it. SpitFyre had only recently reached ridable-size, and they hadn't tried to take her out yet, so it was understandable for her to be nervous.

"You ready?" His voice drew the girl's attention, leaf-green eyes sparkling as she glanced his way. "Almost!" She answered, continuing her one-handed petting as she grabbed the bridle from where it was hanging on the stall door. Fyre started in alarm when Aeris tried to slip the leather bridle over her beak, shifting backwards a few steps and ruffling her feathers nervously.

"It's not going to hurt you, you silly thing." Aeris cooed to the bird, shifting her hand to rub the chocobo's eye-ridges. The motion seemed to fulfill its purpose, the wide, brown eyes closing slightly as Fyre leaned into the flower-girl's touch. With a quick motion, the leather straps wound around the bird's beak, and by the time Fyre would react Aeris was already tightening the bridle so it lay snuggly around the chocobo's head, the reigns hanging limply near the black feathered neck.

"Wark!" The bird responded indignantly, scooting away from the girl as if she'd been betrayed. Aeris laughed, putting a hand on her hip and brought the other one to wag her finger at the chocobo, "See? It's not so bad."

As amusing as the scene was, Vincent wasn't in the mood to watch the girl and the bird dance around the issue. Since SpitFyre was readied (except for her whole nervous attitude) he wanted to get moving. "Let's get going."

Aeris nodded, snatching up the dangling reigns and after a bit of prodding had the bird moving slowly after the ex-Turk. After Fyre seemed to realize that they were actually leaving the small enclosed garden that had been her entire world, she was far more agreeable. The universal curiosity kept the black-feathered head swaying left and right, and every now and then (to Aeris's annoyance) she would see something interesting and try to wander off.

Due to the fact that it was against the law to keep a chocobo in the city, they had a little trouble moving from Aeris' house in Sector Six to the stables where Vincent went to pick up Sol. They had to travel the back-streets, avoiding most people except those who cared little for ShinRa's laws. A flash of Vincent's gun, his mako-bright red eyes, and the sight of Aeris' staff strapped to her back kept the trouble at bay—Vincent was well known in the area for his aim, and there weren't many petty thugs who would bother him. He'd had to make plenty of them into examples since he'd arrived, but eventually they got the point and stopped harassing him.

Aeris waited outside the stables while Vincent talked to the manager and readied his chocobo for the ride. Sol was delighted to see him, as always, and nipped affectionately at a lock of his hair. Again. He didn't really understand the bird's fixation on his hair, but had gotten used to it over the years. He tolerated it as Sol's method of greeting. It seemed to be different with every chocobo—Zero shifted in place, warking a greeting whenever he saw Cloud, and SpitFyre would bump Zack and Aeris with her head whenever they came to see her.

Vincent chuckled a little as he settled into Sol's saddle, taking up the reigns and leading the antsy chocobo out into the street. Aeris was waiting outside on Fyre—who was looking rather put-out about having the girl on her back and out of her immediate sight, and was constantly craning her neck to look back at her—and it was only a couple strides before he pulled Sol even with them. The yellow chocobo regarded the black curiously, and Fyre seemed fascinated to see another chocobo, so Vincent turned his attention to Aeris. "Kalm, or the ocean?"

He hadn't had a destination in mind, he just wanted to get out of the city, so he figured he might as well let Aeris choose. She had a difficulty choosing, but eventually settled on one. "How about the ocean? I don't remember seeing it before."

The ex-turk nodded, nudging Sol's sides with his heels and directing her toward the gate. Aeris coaxed Fyre in line behind them.

To the ocean, then.

--

Humming. The sound filled the room, bouncing off the off-white walls of the empty office. Its source was located, not at the desk, but on the floor, off to one side of the room. With his back to the door, sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor, one Zachary Fair filled up the silence as he methodically filed paper after paper. The mindless work was boring, he had to admit, but it was one of the few times that he'd actually been able to stop and think recently. The office had been hectic as of late, and while Zack basked in the activity, no, thrived in it, even he enjoyed some time to just unwind and relax.

In the past few weeks Sephiroth's office had been the source of much planning, all leading up to the source of all the commotion. The SOLDIER field exams had been last week, where all the lower ranked SOLDIERs were assessed and their abilities reevaluated. Those with a high enough score were promoted, and those who didn't were assigned extra training or given to different squads. Zack, at the moment, was actually cleaning up the results of those exams. The sheets proclaiming the advancing SOLDIERs were finally sent back from Hojo, who'd just completed the Mako treatments that were mandatory with a class change.

The SOLDIER First paused, thinking back with a shudder at his experience with those things. The amount and length of the treatment increased by five times from 3rd to 2nd class, and from 2nd to 1st it was inhumane. At least ten times the last dosage. It was enough concentrated mako to kill a normal human being, and the only reason First Classes were able to survive was because their bodies had adapted to large quantities. Also, the shots were given over a longer period of time in small dosages. But that didn't help the pain too much, just prolonged it. It was three weeks of unending pain; both the prick of the injection needle and the burn of the mako as it ran through his system…Zack hated even thinking about it.

This was the reason why he quickly searched for something to distract him. He soon found it, when he recognized the name on the file he had been holding when he'd taken the painful trip down memory lane.

That was right, Cloud had taken the test. He'd done pretty well on the exam, not quite passing it as easily as he had the first test, but he'd gotten through it. Zack opened the folder quickly, flicking through the reports written by both the examiners and Hojo's assistants that had monitored the mako treatments. "Hm? Unusually responsive?"

The words were scrawled on the last sheet of paper, detailing the comments from the science staff. Apparently the examinees had been released earlier this day, and had the rest of the day off to become accustomed to the increased concentration of mako in their systems. Zack made a mental note to drop by his former student's dorm-room, check in and make sure he was handling the mako alright, 'Unusually responsive' didn't sound like it boded well for Cloud.

"You do realize that you are snooping, right?"

Like a child who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Zack closed the file quickly, sheepish mako-bright eyes rising slowly to meet with amused green ones. Sephiroth shook his head at the action, and at the way the SOLDIER discretely slipped the incriminating file into its place. Zack quickly turned his attention to the rest of the pile, pointedly ignoring his superior as Sephiroth settled into the large, leather chair behind the desk.

"Since you're so interested in Strife, I have an errand for you." Zack looked up, just in time to catch a manila folder that Sephiroth had lobbed across the room. The SOLDIER glanced at it, before frowning. It just wasn't right. A mission folder? To a boy who had spent the last couple days undergoing an extremely painful process that often left the body adjusting for at least a few days afterward? It wasn't just his protectiveness telling him that this wasn't right, nor was it just concern for his friend. It was just pure, common sense. "He just got out of the treatments. Can't you give the mission to someone else?"

Sephiroth shook his head, "This one isn't from me; it's from Heidegger. Apparently Strife's size makes him perfect for the mission."

Zack sighed, placing the folder on top of the filing cabinet so he wouldn't forget it later. Ever since Cloud had first made it into SOLDIER, he'd often been assigned many different missions based on his size alone. Zack had gone through something similar himself, back when he was lesser known. Undercover missions especially, who would suspect a wiry, black-haired teenager of being a SOLDIER anyway? Most people thought all SOLDIERs were like Sephiroth; since he was the only member of SOLDIER that was publicly seen. When on any type of mission, the rest of the SOLDIERs were required to wear those annoying, stuffy helmets. The official reasoning was for protection, but Zack knew that it was to heighten the intimidation factor. Recently the rule had been revised, and First Classes were allowed to go without the head-gear, but only when the mission was a non-combat type.

Everyone else…the helmets were mandatory as long as they were in uniform.

Anyway, his thought had strayed just a wee bit from the topic. Because of the anonymity afforded by the SOLDIER uniform, the small, unassuming ones were usually sent to do the under-cover work. The Turks handled most of the stuff requiring actual subterfuge, but reconnaissance…the scouting out of a soon-to-be battle field, now that was where the smaller built, and younger SOLDIERs were deployed. After all, who would expect a SOLDIER's strength from someone who looked like they wouldn't be able to handle a dog?

Unfortunately Cloud fell into that category pretty easily.

Eventually the seemingly endless pile of papers dwindled away to nothing, and Zack could no longer justify the putting-off of the delivery to Sephiroth's satisfaction. The silver-haired man nearly threw him out of the door when Zack began to bug him for more work—anything to delay giving Cloud the mission. He knew Cloud, knew his habits better that almost anyone (excluding his two best-buddies, Sephi and Vinnie) and he knew that the boy would, upon receiving the folder, ignore all common sense when it came to his body and get to work on mission prep right away. Zack wanted to give the blonde as much time as possible to sleep off the mako injections.

As such, it was almost night-fall before the black-haired SOLDIER moseyed up to the dorm that Cloud shared with two others, his knuckles rapping on the door and sending an echo into the hallway. An empty echo.

There was silence behind the wooden frame, and Zack vaguely entertained the idea that Cloud was asleep, and he could hold onto the envelope until morning. After all, it wasn't a good idea to just leave confidential mission reports lying around unattended, especially in a shared room. Nope. No sir-y Zack Fair was not one to risk a security leak—he'd just have to come back tomorrow.

The idea bounced around in his mind as Zack turned to leave, and he'd made it a step down the hallway before a sleep-clogged voice called him out, heavy with the tranquilizing effect of mako, "Zack? What are you doing here?"

Drat. He should have not knocked, and said he did. Then again, Seph would probably know that he hadn't knocked, and would get on his case in the morning. The silver haired man often had to get after Zack for making things easy for the three former members of his squad, and had even gone so far as to pull Zack's name off the instructor's list. Apparently he got too attached to them. Bah.

Once again feeling like a guilty child (that was twice in one day!) he turned around and violet eyes locked with half-lidded blue-green. Eyes were funny; they were really the only part of the body that ever shown any visible change based on mako-presence and concentration. Take Cloudie's eyes here; about a year ago he'd had the purest blue eyes ever seen, but the mako had stained them and shifted the color a little, allowing them to rest somewhere between blue and green. Zack's own eyes had changed, starting at a cobalt blue and finally ending up a violet after bazillion mako treatments later.

Absently he wondered what color eyes Seph had originally, although green was usually a color that was left alone. Green and black generally. Zack didn't know why—he wasn't a scientist!

"Hello? Cloud to Zachary. Do you copy?"

"Don't call me that." Was the automatic reaction, but the use of his full name dragged the spacey-SOLDIER back to solid ground. At Cloud's expectant look (although it lacked its usual intensity due to the half-dazed air around the SOLDIER) Zack sheepishly handed over the folder—with much reluctance on his part. If he could have gotten away without giving it to Cloud until tomorrow he would have. Unfortunately, Sephiroth seemed to have a knack for knowing when Zack shirked on his duties, and he didn't really want to have to deal with the General's…unique brand of punishment.

"…This was supposed to be here hours ago, Zack." Cloud reprimanded, apparently not appreciating the other man's actions even though they had been taken with the blonde in mind. As the time wound on Cloud was looking better—even the dark circles under his eyes (probably caused by the mako.) were fading, but Zack was still rather miffed that his thoughtful acts had been turned down.

"And how would you know that?"

"One, I know you." And here was interrupted by a large yawn, "and two, General Sephiroth called a little while ago to make sure you turned it in."

Damn. Oh well, at least Cloud got that much more sleep, judging by his mussed up appearance and inclination toward yawning. He said as much to his former student, which resulted in a sleepy laugh and a dismissing wave of his hand, "I'm fine Zack. It looks like simple monster elimination. They probably took into account my…condition."

Zack hadn't looked into the contents of the folder, but he was a bit surprised at the objective. What would monster elimination have to do with Cloud's size, anyway? Seph had said that Cloud was directly specified for the mission for that reason. As he said goodnight to the SOLDIER Zack headed back down the hall, keeping the musings to himself as he made his way back to his own quarters. Sephiroth would probably have left for his 'appointment' by now, so there was no point in going back to the office. The least he could do is get things ready for the General's visit that night.

Unfortunately, Sephiroth wouldn't show up that night.

Nor would he be in the office the next day.

--

A/N: First chappie of Part III. It's roughly a year (maybe a little more) after the end of the last chapter, and Cloud just tested and completed the 2nd Class promotion. The exams are held roughly every year, although most people don't take and pass them a year after being promoted. Zack did though, if you remember. He met Sephy as a newly promoted 3rd, went up to 2nd after a year, and then 1st was a year later. Course, Zack was training with Sephy at that time…

Anyway, hope you like the chapter. It's sort of a set-up chapter—this part will have a lot more stuff going on than the last one.

If there's anything confusing/unclear just let me know, okay? I'll do my best to clarify either in the next chapter or via review reply.

TBC