Well hello there again to all, all nicely satisfied by the last chapter? We hope you were, and we also hope this next dosage will satisfy you just as much =D.

-Chapter Eighteen-

The Informant

"No sighting of him since the Wall, our best hope is that he suffered the same kind of fate Yuffie did, will keep him neutral for a while." Reeve informed Alex. They were talking over the phone. "She is a lot better now though, healing magic still has no effect. Tell Shaun I will give that back to him when I see him next."

"Will do, we will have to be more careful from now on. Has it affected Savina at all?" Alex asked.

"Surprisingly no, it must only affect parasites…" Reeve speculated, "…we must stay vigilant though, things are constantly changing all the time."

"Agreed, anyway I'm nearly at college Reeve, give me a text if anything changes."

"Will do," Reeve assured her, "bye Alex."

"Bye Reeve." She snapped her phone shut and put it in her pocked.

"Any news?" Shaun was walking beside her.

"She is on the mend, Reeve says he will give back restore soon cause it isn't working." They had reached college.

"Didn't think it would." Shaun told her, "…didn't work then saw no reason for it to work now."

The two of them walked towards the café. Alex was supposed to be meeting Josh in there in five minutes. There was still plenty of time before her first lesson of the day, photography. Upon entering the busy café however, she noticed that Josh wasn't there. She thought nothing of this, he was frequently late, so her and Shaun decided to go get a drink and wait for him.

"You know…" Shaun began as they took a seat, "…this shit really is unreal! Do you think anyone would actually believe us if we came clean and told them?"

Alex laughed. "Do be serious…" She took a long draught of her drink, "…do you want to spend the rest of your life in a padded cell being asked ridiculous questions?"

Shaun laughed as well. "I think I would have gone mad by now if it were just me like this here…nobody to talk to about it and all. What do you think?"

"I was near enough insane before I found out you were the same…" Alex replied, and then something Josh said suddenly popped into her head; "Are you two dating or something cause you are spending a lot of time together…"

"Oh don't let it get to you…" Tifa said to her. Alex forgot that she thought shared, "…perhaps he is jealous."

"Oh do shut up!" Alex joked, then looked back at Shaun who was looking at her intently.

"Talking?" Shaun asked, a grin on his face, "Don't let me bother you."

"Nothing important…" Alex lied, now remembering Josh still hadn't appeared, "…he isn't coming, we should just head to class."

They took their drinks with them and headed towards the photography block, Tifa still shouting annoying suggestions in her head. "I mean it would be a little awkward because you two would never get any alone time, so perhaps you should leave it until you're rid of us…"

"Tifa put a sock in it won't you? I do NOT fancy him!" This had to be one of the most annoying traits of having someone in your head, constant advice and no privacy.

Noticing that they had now reached the classroom door, the two of them went in and sat down at their usual seats. Their teacher Adrian was already standing in front of the white board writing something on it. When all of them were present, he began.

"Ok…" He started, "…so as you all know you have got your practical exam coming up soon and we need to be sure you are all prepared for it."

Alex looked at Shaun, "Damn! All this crap that is going on I forgot about our exams…" She muttered quietly.

"Tell me about it…" He agreed, "…doesn't matter, if we fail we could always just become first class illusionists?" He waved the arm containing his materia. Alex chuckled.

The description for the exam was simple, nothing that Shaun and Alex thought they couldn't handle. As the lesson ended however, Adrian held Alex behind.

"I just wanted to talk to you about your collage you did for unit one…" He began, "…you aren't in trouble over it, by all means it is mostly brilliant, there is just one photo I don't understand…"

"Which one?" Alex asked, wondering if he had the collage with him, "That one that has nothing of interest in it, it's just the back wall of the drama department…"

Alex had to think for a moment, thinking deeply she could not remember taking any photo's that didn't have anyone in them.

"I'm not going to mark you down for it it's just a photo I don't understand, was wondering if you could shed some light on it?"

"Erm…I would need to see which one you were referring to sir." Alex replied, utterly bewildered.

"I'll bring it in when the exams are all over." Adrian replied, "You still got a very good mark, not that I told you that." He winked at her, and then walked off.

"What did he want?" Shaun asked as Alex joined him.

"Nothing much," She began, "just something about unit one."

X

"Come on! You have to take her on again." One of Alex's fencing friends said. "Tell her to not go easy on you this time, bet you can still beat her."

Alex privately thought she could, though nobody knew the unfair advantage she had. "You know what fine, if it will shut you up!" She teased.

The fencing lesson which she was currently in went just as all the frequent ones had been going, Alex beating absolutely everyone she came up against. This was mainly from the Speed materia in her arm, though Alex couldn't help but notice that the more she used it the more effective it became.

"And you thought it was rubbish when we found it!" Tifa reminded her, Alex smiled.

"Sophie…" Alex began, "…can I fight against you again?"

"Now Alex…" Sophie replied, "…I told you last time I went easy on you."

"I know I know but, if I win this time…could you enter me for the nationals?" Everybody was looking at them now, it took a lot to impress their teacher enough to recommend them for the nationals.

"Alright…you're on." Sophie put her mask on and got into position, as did Alex.

The fight which followed was quite incredible to watch. It was by no means one sided, though this was only because Tifa suggested she let her teacher win a few points so as not to draw suspicion. The match was best of seven and lasted about fifteen minutes, Alex winning four to three.

"Alex I have to admit…" Sophie began, "…you are possibly the best student I have ever seen. I'll get you in the qualifiers for the nationals no problem."

Leaving the sports hall on an all-time high, she got changed and started walking towards Josh's house. She had decided later on in the day when he had still not shown to just pay him a surprise visit at home.

She knocked on his front door when she reached his house. A tall skinny boy answered it, he had long brown hair which covered most of his face. "Hey Seth…" Alex greeted Josh's brother, "…long time no see. Is Josh about?"

"Yo! You haven't heard!" Seth replied in a grunt, "Alex man…he is in hospital, taken ill yesterday."

Alex's eyes widened slightly in shock. "The local hospital?"

"Yeah, mum and dad are with him at the moment." He informed her.

Without another word she turned and ran as fast as she could towards town. How could she have not known this? Any normal person would have got tired very quickly, but her speed materia was giving her the stamina to keep running with apparently no shortage of breath.

She reached the hospital in record time, then ran straight up to reception. "Josh Adams?" The receptionist checked the computer.

"He's just been moved to D ward, straight up the stairs and on the left." The woman replied.

Not wasting any more time she ran up the stairs three a go and found D ward. It did not take long to find Josh, sound asleep, his mother and father on either side. "Erm… hi…" She said sheepishly.

"Hello Alex…" His mum replied, "…sorry we didn't tell you about this but we haven't left him since he was taken ill."

Alex pulled up a chair and sat at the base of his bed. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nobody really knows, whatever it is he seems to be getting better though." She informed her, "he was brought in here and we got the phone-call, not much more we can say. Don't know where he was or what he was doing, at least he is ok…"

She looked fondly at her son for a moment. At that point he stirred slightly, his eyes drifting slowly open and fixing immediately on Alex. She smiled weakly at him "How you doing mate?"

"Been better…" He replied, "…but hey been a lot worse too so who am I to complain?"

"Well I bet I can cheer you up…" He seemed intrigued, "we have exams coming up soon." She laughed.

"Brilliant…" He chuckled slightly too.

"What did you do to yourself then?" She asked, Josh rolled his eyes.

"I keep telling everyone I don't know…" Alex assumed he must have had amnesia or concussion.

"Which is what you will keep saying…" Sephiroth spoke to him, "…why has this not affected me at all? If it weren't for you being in this condition we could continue our search!"

There was more small talk, Josh seemingly unable to give any satisfactory answers to anyone. This was something his parents assured Alex that had happened since he regained consciousness. After ten minutes however Alex's phone began to ring.

"Sorry I forgot to turn it off…" She looked down at it and saw it was Charles. For the first time ever though, she chose to ignore it.

He did not ring again, instead he sent her a text message;

Charles Daniels

Alex, need to speak to you ASAP. The informant on the Shinra building tip off has contacted me again requesting a meet at midnight tonight at the Variantes casino in Paris, France. This looks like the window of opportunity we need, please reply to me as soon as possible, I have the Jet standing by at a local airfield. Charles.

"I don't mean to be rude everyone but something rather important has just come up…" Tifa had taken control of Alex's voice, "…I'll come visit you tomorrow mate, you take care of yourself!"

"I will try my best." Josh winked.

Alex involuntarily took her leave. "What the hell did you do that for, I don't care about some bloody informant!"

"Alex you have to look at the bigger picture. He is fine and we need to get as much information as possible, I know he is your best friend but seriously…he can wait." Tifa replied, trying to sound sympathetic.

She dialled Charles' number. "Right we are ready…"

"Good, I have already sent a car to pick up Shaun, where are you so I can tell them where to go?"

"The local hospital." Alex replied bluntly.

"Not hurt are you?" Reeve replied, slightly concerned.

"No no, it's just my friend that's why I didn't answer."

"Sorry to hear that…anyways it should be at the entrance in five minutes, see you soon." He hung up without another word.

X

Paris, France. Charles, Alex and Shaun were walking down the bustling streets of the city. It was amazing just how busy it was for so late at night.

"A city that never sleeps…" Shaun said out loud, "…have always wanted to come here. Just a question though Charles…" He turned to look at him, "…how do you plan on getting me and Alex in? We are only seventeen…"

Charles held up his arm. "I borrowed manipulate off of Yuffie…which wasn't easy considering how much she loves materia…" He smiled slightly, "…once we are inside there shouldn't be a problem. The informant said they would find us, and if it was a trap they wouldn't have picked such a busy location."

"So we just wander round until they find us?" Alex asked, sounding a little sceptical.

"Well I can get you both some chips to play with, might help bring them out." Suddenly the evening sounded a lot more fun.

They turned the corner of the street they were on and saw the Casino on the right hand side of the next street. The 'Variantes' stood out quite clearly against all the other buildings.

They approached the entrance where there were two doormen. "ID please." One of them said.

Charles put his hand into his pocket and extracted his ID, handing it over to the doorman. Just as he did so, his hand glowed a feint yellow. He handed the ID back to Charles and beckoned them all in.

"You didn't ID them?" The other doorman pointed out in his thick French accent.

"They've been here before, don't worry." He replied, this seemed to satisfy the other doorman.

Charles walked up to the Cashier and exchanges for some chips. He divided some between the three of them. "Right we should split up whilst we are inside, if you find them just give me a call and we can regroup."

They entered the Casino. Alex looked down at the large stack of chips Charles had given her and gasped slightly. He had given her twenty five thousand Euros to 'Play' with. This threw into sharp realisation once more just how rich this man was.

"If you could use your instinct Tifa that would be greatly appreciated." Alex said, looking around at the packed Casino. There had to be more than a thousand people in the huge room.

"I will try my best, really can't promise anything though…" She sounded extremely doubtful in her abilities.

Alex walked lazily round the room for a few minutes, spotting that Shaun had sat down at a blackjack table and was apparently doing very well. She couldn't help but wonder if he was card counting whilst slowing down time…

Deciding that it was pointless to keep walking round doing nothing, and considering the informant was going to find them, Alex decided to play one of the games. The only card game which she could claim to be any good at however was Poker, Texas Hold 'Em.

She sat down at the nearest one, handing over five thousand Euros for a chip exchange. Everybody looked at her rather suspiciously, as though wondering how someone who looked as young as her had acquired so much money.

The first hand was dealt. Nothing special for Alex this time, a two and a 6 of different suits. She folded at the first bet, there was nothing to be gained this time round.

Luck however soon smiled down upon her. Several hands later she was dealt a pair of kings and managed to secure a full house, kings full of threes. A few more good hands came Alex's way, and before she knew it she had won two and a half thousand euros.

She made a mental note to ask Charles if she could keep any winnings just as two more people sat down at the table, a man and a woman. The woman looked around at everyone else and their piles of chips.

"Nice to see you have all brought lots of money for me…" She said rather arrogantly in a French accent.

The next few hands however did not go Alex's way at all. Whenever she was dealt what she thought was a winning pair of cards, the flop would always work in the woman's favour. She was a short woman with vibrant red hair and green eyes which stood out against it, there was something rather hypnotic about them.

Alex had just been dealt a pair of aces, surely a winning hand. She put down a generous raise before the flop had even come up, which only the woman called. The flop was dealt, an ace king and four, all of same suit. Alex raised again, which the woman again called. The turn was dealt, a ten of the same suit. Alex checked this time, as did the woman. The river was dealt, another ten, this gave Alex a full house, Ace's full of tens, she bet handsomely, and to her surprise the woman called it.

"Madame you have been called, showdown please." Alex flipped her cards over to reveal her hand, the woman looked at her, a frown creeping onto her face, it looked oddly fake however. "Full house, aces full of tens, and yourself Madame?" The dealer turned towards the woman.

The woman revealed her cards, the jack and queen of spades. "Royal flush, Madame Cassini wins."

"She must be cheating…" Tifa said as Alex picked up her cards.

All of a sudden involuntarily the cards burst into flame. Alex dropped them quickly, and the gentlemen sitting next to her took his jacket and patted them out. There were worried cries of French coming from nearby, and the woman eyed Alex suspiciously.

"Tell me…" She began, addressing Alex, "…I hear China is good this time of year?"

Alex looked at her. "Perfect for a hike along the Great Wall…" She replied, everybody looked at them as though they were a little barmy.

"I was always thinking of going…" The woman continued, handing over her chips for a chip exchange and getting up, "…perhaps with all this money I can."

Alex took her remaining stack of chips which was now relatively few and got up, following the woman over to the bar where Charles already stood. "Francesca Cassini, pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand and offered it to Alex.

"Alex West…" She replied taking it, "…and this is Charles Daniels." She grabbed Charles and brought him over, he seemed to twig what was going on. "Charles, Francesca here was just asking me about China."

"Oh I see…" He began, taking in her appearance, "…lovely climate this time of year."

"So I heard." She replied.

Charles got out his phone and dialled, obviously calling Shaun. "Meet us at the bar." He hung up. "Perhaps we should go somewhere more private?"

"The casino 'comped' me a suite, we can go there." Francesca agreed.

Shaun made it over to them and brief introductions were made before the four of them headed off towards the hotel section of the casino.

X

"First things first…" Francesca began, "…shall we all get to know who we really are?"

One by one they all morphed into their parasite forms. Red, Reeve and Tifa stood in front of her now. She smiled slightly before closing her eyes and allowing her parasite to take control.

It did not look as swift a process as the others had made it, but within moments none other than Elena of the Turks was standing before them. They kept silent for a moment, wondering whether or not the whole thing was a trick.

"Why help us?" Reeve asked. "You have worked for Rufus Shinra up until now, why change sides?"

"Let's just say we didn't agree towards the end back on Gaia…" Elena replied in a posh accent, "…not that he knows that of course, otherwise the information I am giving you would be rather useless."

"And what information have you got for us now?" Tifa asked, walking over to the nearby sofa and sitting down. The suite itself was huge, a window was in place of the back wall which showed the Eiffel Tower in all its glory.

"I can tell you exactly what Rufus is up to…" She replied, "…or as much as I know. You will be saddened to know he has found all of his Turks now, and has established bases worldwide. He is after one thing alone…"

"And what is that?" Red asked.

"So far as I can tell the same thing you are after and the same thing 'he' is after. The black materia. He is hell bent on finding it and destroying it to prevent Armageddon."

"Then why was he torturing me?" Red asked, growling slightly.

"It is not the only thing on his mind, just the main thing. Once the black materia is destroyed he intends to have an all-out offensive against Sephiroth, destroy him so to speak. You are very lucky he did not kill you, that is his goal for when Sephiroth is down…"

"But why? We all have a common goal!" Reeve replied.

"It doesn't matter to him, he wants to rebuild Shinra when…if we get back home. I think disposing of you all would be the icing on his cake…"

The three of them looked at each other. "So he is gathering materia for an offensive…destroying the black materia for a defensive…and killing us for an encore?" Tifa sarcastically remarked.

"Correct." Elena replied. "As far as your friend the ninja is concerned though, I don't think Shinra is the problem, Sephiroth has shown aptitude with summoning and magic in this world I would not have thought possible. I will try and convince Rufus of an alliance when the time is right, can't make any promises there though…"

"No…" Reeve agreed, "…Rufus seems to have retained the arrogance and stubbornness he was renowned for in Midgar…"

A/N- Hope you like it guys, things to begin to get fairly nitty gritty soon...one chapter in particular coming up in the next few weeks we have considered up'ing the rating of the book for, but hopefully this shouldn't be necessary =). Reviews and con crit...or both if they coincide, until saturday!

R&A