The file you are reading is not meant for your eyes; put it down and walk away or I Tseng Director of the Turks, or my successor, will find you and silently and effectively remove you from society, to then slowly starve and torture you to your breaking point. It is as this point that we will bring you do the absolute middle of nowhere where you will be given your freedom of choosing how you would like to die. Should you ever make it back to society the Turks will take this is as you rejecting our kindness of letting you choose your own death, and will be subject to a death at either my, or my successor's, discretion. This is the record of six of my most extraordinary Turks. They came from another world, a world where Final Fantasy 7 is owned by Square Enix but this is their story and theirs alone. For the sake of the future I left a record of their adventures locked deep in the Turk Archives but only if the fate of the world is threatened should this file be opened. You have been warned. Read at your own risk.

-Tseng Akira, Director of the General Affairs Department, Shinra Electric Power Company

Chapter Nineteen: VR Room Challenge

The week went by rather quietly, considering the fight that was coming at the end of it. The SOLDIERs and TURKs avoided each other to prevent premature bloodshed, and their doppelgangers were able to plan for the upcoming chaos in relative peace.

"You do know that they're going to slaughter us, right?" Matti asked, from where he was curled up on the couch with Piper, who was sleeping. Ryu and Alanna were standing by the giant whiteboard that they had somehow gotten a hold of, and stuck to one wall. They were scribbling in runes, notes about AVALANCHE, Hojo, Hollander, Mako, Jenova, Deepground, and the remnants. Ryu turned to look at him.

"You mean in the VR room?" She asked. He nodded his head. Alanna scowled.

"They will if you keep that attitude up." She snapped.

"And we have some advantages." Ryu added. She came over and rapped her knuckles on the top of his head.

"Use your brain, Matti." She teased. He pushed her wrist away. Morgan, who was sprawled on the floor in front of the T.V. playing a video game, while Mary scowled at him; turned his head to look at them.

"Like what? They're better than us at fighting, and Materia." He said. Ryu grinned.

"True, but they're all used to working solo, except for Reno and Rude. None of them work in large teams. We are used to working together." She said.

"That won't help us much." Mary snapped.

"On its own no." Alanna agreed, "But we also know these guys, we know their strengths, and their weaknesses. Combine that with us working as a team, plus the fact that we can influence some of them, and we stand a chance." Matti sat up straighter, jostling Piper, who sighed and readjusted herself without waking.

"Oh, I see what you two are thinking." He said, "I think." He added, when he saw their evil grins.

"If either side wins, it will just add fuel to the whole division thing. But if we win, it'll prove that they are best when they work together." Ryu said softly, she grinned evilly.

"Wake Piper up, here's what we think will happen." Ryu said. Matti shook Piper into wakefulness. Once she was conscious, Morgan and Mary stood and moved next to the white board.

"Here's what will probably happen." Alanna began, "We know that Tseng will pick five Turks that have some advantage against a SOLDIER, and then pair them against them. We need to do the same thing, but we'll have to work together, since we have ten of them to take down."

Tseng looked at Reno, Rude, Vincent, and Chloe, a knife specialist Turk. The VR room was set to the city of Midgar.

"We all know what to do." He said softly, after the gong sounded. The others nodded their heads and melted into the shadows. Tseng took to the roofs.

Seph nodded to the other 1sts. The gong had sounded. It was time to prove that SOLDIERs were the best. They were all wearing the basic 1st uniform. Seph and Genesis had set aside their special uniforms, to blend in better. Zack and Cloud took off down opposite roads. With a leap Genesis landed on a roof. Seph and Angeal split off and headed in the remaining unguarded directions.

Matti grinned at the other doppelgangers. Each team had been brought in to the room blindfolded, so they had no idea how the others were dressed, but they had all decided to listen to the three Turks in the group and go for stealth. They also had no idea what the Turks would use for weapons, as they had been equipped from a selection of VR room weapons, since they weren't trying to kill each other. Each of them was wearing a paralysis materia that would be triggered by a death in the VR room, preventing them from continuing to fight.

Ryu had ditched the traditional Turk's uniform for black cargo pants, her black minimalist sneakers, a tight fitting long sleeve medium gray hooded shirt, with her weapons belt buckled over it, and a dusky gray scarf tied around her hips. Her goggles were already up over her eyes.

Morgan was dressed in a pair of urban camouflage pants, with a light gray shirt under the matching camouflage jacket. The hilt of a knife stuck out of the top his left black boot. His gun was slung over his shoulder, and a waist pack contained explosives. As he waited impatiently for game start, he pushed his glasses back up his nose.

Alanna, Piper and Mary were all wearing 1st uniforms, rather than their bright blue ones, and they were wearing their corsets. They knew that this was going to be recorded. The other Turks at the very least would see to that. It wouldn't be at all surprising to them if all of the SOLDIERs were watching as well. Alanna had a scarf similar to Ryu's tied around her hips. All of them with long hair had pulled it back and braided, to keep it out of the way, even Matti.

Matti was dressed similarly to Ryu, except he chose to wear standard black sneakers and a black tee shirt under a bulkier sweatshirt, to hide the weapons belt around his waist. He also had a pair of glasses on, that acted as another screen for his PHS.

A gong sounded, signaling the start of the game. Matti nodded to the others, and as a group they moved to where Ryu and Morgan had designated as the tallest building in the area, which also happened to be in front of a square.

Once they'd settled Morgan on the top of the clock tower, they split off according to their plan.

The first twenty minutes had been very quiet, as all three groups searched for the others in silence. Even the SOLDIERs had chosen to start out with stealth. With everyone searching for their particular targets, and avoiding detection, it took quite a while before there was any open conflict.

Alanna peered over the edge of roof of the building she was hiding out on. Below her, she watched as a lovely attack chain formed over the span of a few moments. Chloe was crouched on a low shop, peering over the edge, watching Angeal as he carefully quartered the square in front of the buildings. He had been going for a while now and was almost at Chloe's position. She watched as Chloe tightened her white gloves and readied one of her distinctive knives, to take Angeal out at the proper moment.

Genesis was also watching Chloe's careful, silent, preparation. He was crouched on a lower balcony of Alanna's building, waiting to leap onto Chloe right before she could attack, giving her no time to react. When Angeal was on the far side of the square, Genesis slowly stood and drew Rapier. Without a sound, he leaped down, impaling Chloe on his blade. Genesis stood over her with a smirk, as she looked up at him.

"My friend the fates are cruel, there are no dreams, no honor remains." He said smugly.

"The arrow has left the bow of the Goddess." Chloe's eyes widened, as two blades emerged from Genesis's chest, driving him down onto the roof next to her. Alanna was perched on his back, her two rune blades hilt deep in his back. She had waited until the moment Chloe was "killed" to draw her own weapons and use the same attack he had just a moment before. Chloe's eyes crinkled with suppressed mirth. Due to her "death", she couldn't laugh, but she very badly wanted too.

"My soul, corrupted by vengeance, Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey. In my own salvation, And your eternal slumber." She whispered to him, leaning forward to give him a kiss on his cheek. Genesis flushed red, the materia not preventing the blush. Alana straightened and pulled her blades free. Sheathing them, she bent down to grab his collar and hauled him to his feet. Mary appeared by her side, bending down to pick up Chloe and slung her over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. Neither of them could keep the wide grins off their faces. The sight of "dead" Genesis held upright by his collar only added to the amusement of the three girls.

Alanna yanked up on Genesis' collar, nearly throwing him into the air. At the same time, she stooped slightly and put her shoulder in Genesis's stomach and straightened, neatly folding him over her shoulder. When he started to slide off, she quickly reached up and grabbed what happened to be his butt to keep him steady. The thought briefly crossed her mind to adjust her grip, but she decided it was not worth the effort, and might be fun to watch him blush. Genesis tried to hang his head so his hair covered his face, so as to hide the bright red spreading across his cheeks.

Mary and Alanna carried their bodies to a building opposite the clock tower, which had a wonderful view from the roof of the square. It also had a screen, showing what was happening in the VR room.

"How did you manage that?" Chloe asked. The materia had worn off enough to allow conversation.

"SOLDIER-Turk secrets. If I told you, I would have to kill you." Alanna said, in a dramatic hushed voice.

"Sorry about the butt grab, Genesis." Alanna told him, still smirking a little. He sighed.

"Just go away." He muttered still fighting his blush.

"Alanna, go back to the tower and wait for orders." Matti called over the earpieces the six of them were wearing. Alanna turned away from Chloe and Genesis, back in fight mode.

"Will do, Genesis and Chloe are both down and secured." She replied, already moving back out to her assigned position.

"Good."

"I'm going back to tailing Angeal." Mary reported.

"Remember the plan."

"Of course. It's a good plan." Chloe and Genesis eyed the two who had evil grins on their faces.

Matti kept behind Tseng, as he prowled the rooftops along the streets. The VR room had been set to late afternoon originally, but a good hour had gone by and the setting had changed to match the flow of time. Now it was dusk, and the Turks blended in well. On top of that, the city was their domain, making them incredibly hard to spot unless you knew where to look.

In the week before the match, Ryu and Morgan had stayed late helping him learn the layout of the city in the VR room. They'd also obliged him by popping out at odd intervals and attacking him. It had left them all exhausted every night, but now he was very glad they had done it. Tseng paused and crouched on the roof, and Matti froze. They had all tested their ability to make their half immune to their presence, and the presence of others, but Matti didn't trust it completely. While Tseng scanned the area around him, Matti checked the map on his glasses, showing the locations of the others, as well as little icons for the remaining players on all teams.

Matti secured a perch on the edge of the building as Cloud appeared out of nowhere to tackle Tseng. He knew that his only chance was to remain unnoticed while the two fought each other. This fight was going to take a while. It was a fight of strength versus skill. He'd have to be careful to keep Tseng alive; they needed him to handle Sephiroth.

Ryu followed her inner sense of direction to find Reno. All of the doppelgangers had started to notice that they could tell roughly where their Gaian half was if they concentrated on them enough. Ryu's link with Reno seemed to be the strongest though. She could almost pinpoint him from within one floor of him in the building, unless he was trying to hide or be sneaky. The redheaded turk was definitely trying to be sneaky. She was having trouble pining down exactly where he was. Ryu emerged onto the main road in Sector 1, and skidded to a halt. Reno was emerging from a side road as well and had spotted her, and Zack was hot on his heels. She gave the boys one frightened look before turning tail, and took off running.

"Holy Scnickies and a kitty cat." She muttered, under her breath.

"What's your status?" Matti asked.

"Running for my life." Ryu muttered. She didn't want Zack to hear her.

"Can you make it to the ambush point?"

"Yes."

"Piper, Ryu's bringing both Reno and Zack to you."

"Understood." Piper said, with a note of excitement in her voice. She was probably bouncing on her toes, waiting for them now. Ryu leaped up on to a dumpster and vaulted onto a catwalk, and then onto a roof; Reno and Zack right behind her. It was going to take all of her skill to keep ahead of them.

Reno grinned as he closed in on Ryu. She was trying to out run them. She'd probably been hoping to ambush him, not run into him head on. She jumped and tumbled onto the road, and she made a quick turn into an alley. Reno sprinted into the alley, Zack still hot on his heels, and didn't see Ryu anywhere. He gasped as he felt the paralyzing materia take effect. He looked down, and saw Piper's sword blocking his path. He'd run right into it.

"Damn." He whispered, as he dropped to the ground. Zack plowed to a stop as he saw Reno drop to the ground. He recognized Piper's sword.

"That trick won't work on me Piper." He said. He turned his head, as he caught the barest hint of a whisper of a shoe scraping against the ground. Ryu's EMR, with a charged thunder, hit him in the small of his back. He pitched forward, muscles twitching. Piper emerged from behind her dumpster, and drove her sword through his chest.

"Bet you didn't see that one coming." Ryu commented, as she stood up from behind the trash can she'd taken refuge behind. Both Zack and Reno looked up at them from where they lay on the ground.

"Reno and Zack are done. We're bringing them to the collection point." Ryu said.

"Good, did you see Seph or Vincent?"

"No." Matti sighed. They both bent down, and heaved the Turk and the SOLDIER up over their shoulders. Ryu giggled at the comical sight Piper made with Zack slung over her shoulder.

"If we can take them down, the rest will be fairly easy. Tseng just took Cloud down."

"Zack's feet are dragging on the ground." Ryu told Piper. Piper laughed.

"He's too tall."

"Tell me about it. I'm just glad niisan's such a twig, or I'd never be able to carry him."

"Would you two get moving?" Matti asked. Ryu and Piper grinned.

"Who's my next target?" Ryu asked.

"We don't have anyone to bait just yet. Hang out at the base of the clock tower to protect Morgan, after you deliver those two."

"Alrighty. Can do, Bossman."

Genesis and Chloe looked up as Piper and Ryu appeared, depositing Zack and Reno next to them.

"Company." Ryu said, as she unceremoniously dropped Reno next to Chloe.

"Ouch, Ryu!" He protested. Piper set Zack down by Genesis, a little more nicely, but not by much. Zack, still a little numb from the materia, leaned against Genesis.

"I 'ongue 'eels 'unny." He muttered. Genesis pushed Zack away until he curled up on the roof.

"That would be the EMR combined with thunder Zack." Ryu said.

"Plus the paralysis material." Reno muttered. Mary appeared, with Cloud slung over her shoulder. She deposited him leaning against Zack. Cloud let himself flop forward over Zack's legs.

"I had him." He muttered.

"All three packages have arrived." Ryu said, grinning. Reno scowled at her.

"I'll package you." He muttered. Ryu grinned at him and blew him a raspberry, before she hopped over the edge of the building. Mary and Piper left, leaving by the stairs.

Everyone paused, as the sky lit up with white light and, a concussion wave blew through the area.

"I think that's where Seph and Vincent are." Ryu said, as she climbed back on to her feet.

"I agree. Alanna, Piper, go check it out." Matti said.

"On it." They chorused, and sprinted off.

"When do I get to shoot something?" Morgan asked. Ryu, who was still rubbing her ears from the concussion waves force, didn't see as Rude came around the corner. He spotted her and grinned. Ryu turned, half a second to late, as his fist slammed into her side.

"Ooof." She gasped, as she landed on her butt, and rolled to the side to dodge his kick.

The air was split by the sound of a high powered rifle. Ryu propped herself up, just in time to have Rude fall on top of her.

"Ouch." She wheezed, as his landing knocked the wind out of her. She managed to wiggle out from under him, and dragged him to the stairs of the building. With much effort, she hauled him up the stairs and deposited him at the top.

"When you can move, you can move yourself."

"Rude is down and secured." Morgan reported.

"So, that leaves Vincent and Tseng for the Turks, and Sephiroth and Angeal for the SOLDIERs. And all of us are still alive." Matti said, quite pleased.

"Make that only Tseng and Angeal are left. That blast wiped out both Vincent and Sephy." Alanna reported.

"Ryu, rendezvous with me to bait Tseng." Matti said, "Mary, you keep tailing Angeal. And Alanna, when you get back to the courtyard set up the bait."

"Got it." Ryu and Alanna said. Ryu waved to the group of "dead" SOLDIERs and Turks, and scampered down the stairs.

Tseng sighed, as he spotted Ryu; she emerged from an alley and stood looking around. She suddenly whipped her head around to look at him. He knew her eyes widened behind her goggles. He took half a step toward her and she ran. Tseng sighed and gave chase.

"Dead Ryu, dead Ryu, dead Ryu…" She sang, in the familiar tune of the pink panther theme. She heard the others chuckle.

"Just keep coming this way." Matti told her. Matti had herded Tseng toward the courtyard. Ryu approached the straight away into the courtyard and applied the steam. She knew Tseng could be fast over open ground. She stepped over the trip wire set up in front of the arch leading into the courtyard and slowed to a halt drawing her EMR. Tseng saw the trip wire, and sneering, stepped over it. While his eyes quartered the ground looking for more traps, Matti came up behind him. Tseng spun around and punched Matti hard in the kidney. Matti backed away, as a shot rang out. Tseng crumpled to the ground, "dead". Piper ran over and picked him up, and sprinted off to deposit him with the others. Ryu headed towards an alley while Matti, hand to his side, walked towards the clock tower.

Ryu looked around the dead end alley. Zack, re-paralyzed courtesy of Piper; lay on the ground in the center.

"Well here goes." She muttered, and pulled her gun free. She aimed at the opposite wall, at about Zack's heart and fired. She ducked behind a dumpster, popped out again and fired into the air before ducking again. They had hacked the other team's sensors to show that Zack had just died, rather than earlier in the game.

As expected, Angeal came sprinting into the alley. He stopped just shy of Zack. Zack looked up at him and tried to tell him with his eyes.

A low, creepy laugh sounded from all around the two SOLDIERs, as four shadow figures emerged. One was on the roof, one crouched on a balcony, one hidden in a doorway, and one from behind the nearest dumpster.

"We see you." Rang out, in a high pitched creepy childlike voice.

Alanna and Mary jumped down from their perches, as Piper and Ryu emerged from the shadows. Each of them had a blade drawn. Angeal drew his buster sword.

The four girls lunged forward, their blades all simultaneously stabbing him. He was hit once through the heart from Mary, both kidneys from Ryu and Piper, and through both lungs from Alanna.

The VR room setting faded from around them, and they all stood staring at each other.

"So who won?"Cloud asked.

"We did." The doppelgangers chorused.

"They're right." Cissinei agreed from over the intercom.

"Go to the lounge and we'll show you." She added.

"So how many people watched?" Genesis asked.

"All of SOLDIER did." Another Turk replied.

"Cissinei set it up on the big screens, so they'd stop trying to crowd into the observation room with us." He added. Cissinei wrinkled her nose.

"They smelled." She complained.

"This is going to be embarrassing." Tseng muttered.

"Not as embarrassing as you as for me." Genesis commiserated, as the movie reel one of the Turks had managed to smash together started. They'd even started out with video of the participants, like it was some reality TV show.

Then came Gen and Chloe's embarrassment. Tseng looked at her.

"How did you not realize all three of them were there?" He asked gesturing to Genesis, Alanna and Mary. Chloe hung her head.

"I was overeager." She admitted. The SOLDIERs laughed, as Alanna kissed Gen and grabbed his butt. Gen turned to look at her.

"You and I are going to have words about that." He said. Alanna grinned.

"About which part, that the rest of the SOLDIERs think you're gay, or that I grabbed your butt?" She asked sweetly. Gen flushed.

"Oh shit." He muttered, realizing it was true. Alanna patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault, they don't know I am a girl." Gen glared at her.

Next, the video cut to the fight between Cloud and Tseng. Cloud made good use of his Parkour skills, but in the end Tseng got him.

"I almost had you, if you hadn't twisted out of the way at the last second…" Cloud muttered. Behind them, Matti grinned. It had been his doing that Tseng had avoided impalement on the hidden blade Cloud carried. Tseng reached out and ruffled Cloud's hair.

"It was a good fight; I see training with Reno and Ryu has produced some Turk like qualities in you." He said. Cloud flushed. Tseng let his arm rest on Cloud's shoulders. Ryu and Alanna grinned as they both saw it. They flashed each other a knowing smile, agreeing that something would have to be done about that.

Next it showed the chase between Reno and Zack, and someone had set it to some upbeat, fast paced song.

"Oh no." Reno groaned. Zack, standing next to him, bounced lightly the heels of his feet in time with the song.

"It's really catchy, but who had the time to do this?" He asked. The Turks grinned.

"We all worked on bits of it as you fought." Cissinei said casually. The song faded as Ryu appeared and the mic picked up her comment.

"What does that even mean?" Zack asked. Alanna and Ryu grinned.

"Holy scnickies, doesn't mean much of anything." Alanna said.

"And the kitty cat part?" Reno asked. Piper giggled.

"I am a cat, I'm a kitty cat, and I dance, dance, dance…" She sang. The others grinned.

"Do I even want to know?" Tseng asked. Ryu shrugged.

"We needed codes for everyone."

"Hush, Zack dies soon." Genesis said gleefully. Zack pouted.

"That's mean, Genesis" He protested.

"I am beginning to see a pattern in how they won." Tseng said.

"What pattern. It's abnormally good luck." Genesis muttered. Alanna grinned, and decided to snuggle right up to his side.

"No it wasn't." She disagreed. Genesis, lifted his arm out of her way, and then stood there looking very confused. They all winced as Reno and Zack "died".

"My tongue still feels a little weird." Zack said. Ryu grinned at him over shoulder.

"Sorry about that Puppy. I forgot to set it to the puppy stun setting." He crinkled his nose at her.

"Wait, Zack died fourth? Then why did my counter say he was still active until the very end?" Angeal asked, confused. Ryu, Matti and Morgan all smiled mysteriously. The other Turks in the room laughed.

"Turk secret, Angeal" Tseng said, but he frowned at the trio. Ryu smiled slyly.

"You're the one who taught us to use all of our tools." She said sweetly. Tseng scowled.

"I know that."

"Shhh, we're about to see what happened between Seph and Vincent."

"The duel of father and son." Alanna muttered.

"Huh?" Seph said surprised, "Dr. Hojo is my father." Ryu sighed and facepalmed.

"Why can't you keep your big mouth shut 'Lanna?" She asked.

"Ooops, forget I said anything." Alanna muttered. All the SOLDIERs and Turks turned to look at Ryu and Alanna.

"What do you mean? Vincent is Sephiroth's father?" Tseng asked surprised.

"Well, Vincent was a Turk during part of the Wutai War, he was a very good Turk." Ryu started, she turned to look at Vincent, he was watching them with narrowed red eyes.

"And he fell in love with Seph's mom, but she had a bit of a guilt complex, so when she found out she was pregnant with Vincent's child she married Hojo and convinced him the child was his." Alanna continued. She looked at Seph.

"Vincent is your dad, and Dr. Crescent is your mother. When Hojo shot Vincent, she saved his life by doing…" Ryu trailed off and waved her hand at Vincent, "Well you know." She said to him. Vincent looked thoughtful.

"Not even I knew this. I only knew that one day I awoke in Shinra Mansion." He said. The duo nodded their heads.

"My mother's name was Jenova." Seph said, shaking his head. Ryu sighed.

"That's what Hojo wanted you to believe." She said, "He lies to accomplish what he wants."

Seph turned his eyes to look at Vincent, who was already staring at him. Zack tilted his head to the side.

"I can see some resemblances, now that you mention it." He said, a little perplexed. Seph hesitantly stood in front of Vincent. The two stared at each other.

"Now that I look at you, I can't believe I didn't see it. You look like her, your mother." Vincent whispered. Seph bit his lip, and then hugged Vincent.

"Oh poop, we missed the fight." Ryu muttered, looking at the screen. Vincent and Seph stopped hugging, but Vincent kept his arm around Seph, his cloak partly covering him.

They watched as Rude attacked Ryu, and was shot by Morgan. Vincent eyed the young man.

"You're too slow, but you are skilled. I'll have to train you myself." He decided. Morgan swallowed. Personal training by the undead turk was one of the last things he wanted. Vincent still creeped him out. His voice was shaky and a little worried as he replied.

"Ok."

"How did you not notice Matti following you?" Cloud asked Tseng, as the camera showed Matti hovering within range of Tseng. Tseng shrugged.

"I don't know, perhaps I need to do more training." He said.

"Shooting the Director was the only way to take him down." Matti commented. Reno turned to look at Tseng.

"I've never seen you get owned before." He said. Tseng shrugged.

"I must be getting old, having had to chase you around for fourteen years." Tseng told him. Cloud frowned.

"You're not old Director." He said as Reno laughed.

"Yeah bossman, cuz chasing a five year old was so difficult for you back then." He chortled.

"Huh?" Alanna said confused. Ryu smiled.

"Tseng raised Reno from the time he was five." She said casually.

"No wonder he's second in command. He's probably been training since then." Morgan commented. Reno grinned and took a bow.

"Guilty as charged." He agreed. Angeal sighed, his death was coming up. They all watched as Angeal walked right into the trap.

"You were too easy to trick." Mary told him. Angeal shook his head.

"I had no reason to think I would be tricked." He told her. Matti grinned.

"You were up against Turks, you should have expected it."

"You are creepy when you do that." Zack told Piper, as the evil laugh had come from her. She grinned.

"Five year old zombie." Ryu muttered. Piper grinned.

"That was fun." She protested.

"Yeah, but we were all too creeped out to go on campus, cuz we were afraid to run into you." Ryu said, she grinned at Mary.

"Mary in particular." Mary shuddered.

"It's just wrong." She said.

"Well," Ryu said, stretching, "I think we had a fun day, but I want a shower now, and possibly some pain meds." She added, rubbing ribs." She scowled at Rude, "You hit hard." The silent Turk smiled faintly.

"Hit hard, or don't bother hitting at all." He said. Ryu scowled at him. She turned to head back to the apartment. Vincent moved to stand in front of her.

"Thank you." He said. Ryu shrugged.

"Blame 'Lanna. I wasn't going to say anything." She said. Alanna sighed.

"I did mess up majorly." She admitted. They all turned back to look at her. She frowned and rubbed her forehead.

"We agreed it was best to not tell you anything that we know that you don't, because it could change the future." She explained. The other five nodded their heads.

"She's right." Matti said, meeting Tseng's silent stare. "Who knows how the divulgence of the future might change it, for the worse." he added. Tseng sighed.

"I can understand that, even respect the decision." Tseng said, finally. The others looked at him.

"You can?" Reno asked surprised. Tseng nodded his head.

"We keep secrets from people all the time. We're really no different." He said. No one noticed the tensing in Matti's shoulders, or the fact that he'd ducked his head to hide the look of concentration on his face.

"I suppose you're right." Chloe agreed. "And they were only trying to be responsible with their knowledge, something a lot of people don't even attempt." Seph grinned at her, liking her comment. He nodded his head.

"She's right, it's not like they set out to hurt us. In fact they were trying to protect us." He added. Zack traded a confused look with Cloud.

"What, are they on trial?" He asked. Seph and Tseng shook their heads.

"No, we were just agreeing why they aren't in trouble." Tseng explained. Zack relaxed.

"Oh, good." Cloud nodded his head. Tseng smiled and gently squeezed Cloud's shoulders.

"Were you afraid we'd get them in trouble?" he asked. Cloud nodded his head blushing.

"Yeah." He admitted. Reno grinned and jostled Cloud from the other side.

"Aw, Tseng looks mean, but really he's a softy at heart, yo." He added. Laughing he ducked Tseng's playful swing at him. Tseng let go of Cloud and caught Reno in a head lock and mussed his hair.

"Ah stop it!"Reno protested pushing at Tseng's arm.

"Then take it back."

"Never, yo!" Still laughing Reno managed to pull his head free and scampered behind Ryu. She stood with her fists propped on her hips.

"Are you nine or nineteen?" She asked him.

"Woah." Zack gasped staring at Reno, "You're only nineteen?"

"Thanks for spilling the beans, neesan." Reno muttered, as he nodded his head, "Yep that's me, yo, the nineteen year old second in command." He gave Zack a mock salute.

"Then you're a year older than me, and two years older than Cloud."

"And three years younger than Ryu, Alanna, Mary, Piper, and Matti. And four years younger than Morgan." Reno agreed, sticking his tongue out at Ryu.

"You're twenty-two!?" Zack said surprised to Piper. She nodded grinning.

"Yeppers." Genesis eyed Alanna.

"I could have sworn you were Zack's age." He said. Alanna grinned.

"That's because we act his age." She told him.

"In fact, we're only two years younger than you and Angeal, and a year older than Seph." Mary said. Angeal and Genesis looked thoughtful, as Ryu smirked at them. Zack shook his head.

"There are too many revelations going on today." He said.

"I agree." Rude said. At about that time, a gurgle rose from the stomach's of the SOLDIERs.

"I'm hungry." Cloud said sheepishly. Tseng smiled at him.

"Of course you are. You fought well today, and SOLDEIRs are hungry when they do nothing at all, let alone work." He said.

"Who's cooking tonight?" Reno asked.

"You certainly aren't." Ryu muttered, jabbing him with her elbow.

"You wound me, neesan." He protested.

"You're not the least bit upset that you're off the cooking list." She told him.

"I am a little bit; it's not as gross as some of the other chores."

"Are you afraid to clean bathrooms?" Ryu asked, as they all filed out of the room.

"You would be too if you knew what happens in bathrooms."

"Yes, people take craps in them, generally speaking." Ryu said. Genesis shuddered.

"Can you not talk about that?" He asked.

"Sure, I can talk about the probable reaction the SOLDIERs had to Alanna's kiss, or I could ask Cissinei, since they all think her name is Alan." Ryu replied. Genesis shuddered.

"The repercussions come Monday morning…" He muttered. Alanna grinned.

"And what will the Red Leather Club say? I am sure Kunsel will tattle." Ryu mused.

"Oh crap… I forgot about them." Alanna muttered. Tseng sighed.

"We'll have to do damage control tonight." He said.

"Goody, I love damage control." Ryu and Reno chorused gleefully.

"Not that kind of damage control." Tseng said sighing.

"AWWW."

"Blood thirsty Turks." Genesis muttered. He looked at Rude.

"How do you put up with him?" He asked. Rude shrugged.

"The same way I put up with Ryu." Morgan said, "You join in on the craziness." Genesis shuddered.

"You're all insane." He decided.

"Or geniuses." Ryu called over her shoulder. "Because there is a fine line between genius and insanity."

"You've crossed that line." Gen said.

"Even Alanna?" Ryu asked slyly.

"I meant you and Reno" He said. Ryu laughed.

"You have no idea, Gen." She said. Reno grinned.

"We're crazy!" He said, in comical voice.

A/N: Sorry this one took so long to put up. Combination of the internet connection going down at the house and me trying to bulk the chapter up a little. Sadly, my attempts were in vain. Most of the work I wanted to do did not come to pass.

So, a couple little notes on this chapter. First off, this chapter was largely inspired by an event occurring in Lord Shinta's "Snow Day". If you are enjoying this story and have not read her work, we highly encourage you to do so. It is wonderful. Secondly, I am not sure if the ages of all of the characters have come up before, but for the purposes of this story they are as follows (if you are wondering why, it helps with flow later on in the story): Gen & Angeal- 23 (24th birthday year) , Seph – 21, Reno – 19, Cloud – 17, Zack – 18

Also, this has come up before and I just want to make sure that the issue is clear, we are well aware that Reno and Ryu are calling each other big brother and big sister. I know it does not seem to make sense, but there are several reasons for it, and many of them will be understood later. As usual, we would love to hear from you guys. Suggestions, complaints, praise, anything Enjoy!

Final Note: If you are enjoying this story, you should go to s/8902301/1/Undisclosed-Files-Marilyn-A-Fitzgerald These are stories that will give you more of what goes on in the background, from Mary's point of view :)