Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy or any other reference that I put in here. I only own the things that I make up!

How do you prove that you exist? Vivi-FF9

Ch. 6 Existence

The two doctors hovered over the computers while Elle or rather the new inhabitant watched them wondering when she would be able to leave. The straps firmly held her down and at this point they had yet to say anything more to her. Outside she heard sobbing and a man talking angrily to the nurse. She had gone outside to try and diffuse the situation. They had heard their daughter's voice and wanted to see her, but neither knew the truth. Elle was not there.

What now? Don't really know where I am. Don't even know if they're all out there or not. No one is telling me anything! Guess I should calm down though. We were in Calm. How long has it been? What are they doing now? She thought over and over about what to do and her friends. The straps holding her down were annoying her and she had repeatedly asked them to be removed. She found herself growling in her anger and frustration.

"Forgive us for the wait. We had a few things to check before we got started." Ardet said. She frowned at them both and Itaku started to remove the straps. "That should make you more comfortable." He said trying to smile.

"Let's start with the basics. Name, age, and place of birth." Itaku said grabbing a recorder holding it out.

"Um...Tifa Lockheart, 20, and Nibelheim." She said. At the same time Ardet typed the info into the computer to do a search later. Itaku continued to ask her questions hoping that this information would help them in finding Elle, but at the same time he could see that it was causing her some concern too.

"You mentioned friends. Tell me about them." Itaku said. He was hoping that by doing this she would reveal something they could use. She talked for a little bit and then became silent for a moment. She seemed to be thinking.

"Tell me something. You were calling me...Elle. Who is she?"

"She's the girl we built this body for. She was very young at the time. A woman was driving and lost control of her car. Elle barely survived that long enough to reach the hospital. She was not going to survive though and we made a decision to use prosthetic and cybernetic technology to save her. It was our first attempt and one that was under great scrutiny. This will probably be no exception." Ardet answered.

"Yes. She has gone under a few prosthetic remodeling since the first operation and each time we re-examined her brain. Your data is very different from hers. All I can think is that your data must have gotten scrambled with hers, but when or where that occurred is unknown. As is the how." Itaku rubbed his chin thinking. The possibilities here bothered him. How is it possible that their data was switched? Did she also have the operation done? Was she hospitalized at the time? These were all questions he wanted to ask, but he felt that the answer would lead to more questions.

"That's why we need you to tell us everything you remember. If we can fit the pieces together then perhaps we can put you and her back where you belong." Ardet finished. "Could you please tell us the very last thing you remember doing before waking up here." She looked at them and then nodded.

"My friends and I were listening to a story. We were hearing a story about the past. Something that happened to my friend years ago that we hoped would shed some light on what was going on. He had just gotten to the part I was in, where we gathered to take a picture. I remembered it too and while I was thinking about that it suddenly got dark. It was strange. It was the middle of the day." She said pausing trying to put what happened into words that made sense. "There were strange lights around me and my body started to change. I don't know how to explain what that was like. I was afraid I was disappearing." She shuddered at the thought. "Then it was dark and I felt heavy. I could hear voices that I assume were you two talking before I woke up."

"Where were you at the time this happened?"

"We were at an Inn in Calm at the time. That's why it was a shock. I guess I shouldn't have reacted the way I was but I was confused and worried. I wonder if they know yet?"

"Was there a storm at the time? Or anything unusual?" Itaku asked. She just shook her head. "I see. So perhaps it isn't connected then."

"I don't know." Ardet paused. He was wondering about the other patient they had heard about. This storm seemed to be causing a lot of trouble and then after hitting land like a hurricane would it would simply disappear. Shortly after that it would appear off the coast of some other town or country. So far this had happened twice. It made him wonder how many people it affected and if they would find more people like Elle in this condition. The storm itself was massive and so far the IWC had yet to make a statement on this. "Something about that storm is strange. I think there is a connection, but it might be a while before we know what." He said.

"Until we hear back from them I guess we won't know." Tifa listened, but she was still trying to understand all of this.

"So I take it there was a storm when this happened to her?" They both nodded. "So you thought that's what did it?"

"Not exactly. It's a factor and in order to understand we must know the common factor. However, you say that it was a nice sunny day where you were. That means that the storm is not the common factor between the two of you." Tifa just nodded. She was having a hard time understanding. Not because it was too hard, but because this is something she never expected. How could something like this happen? Besides that some of the things they talked about were beyond her and/or things she had never even heard of.

President of the IWC Robert Shaver, was becoming perplexed. He had been hearing the reports about the storm wreaking havoc and of course he was the one they would blame along with the company. He was the president, but he wasn't even the face of the company. All day for the last few days he received emails, phone calls, texts, and reports about the situation and of course, various concerns and/or threats. Everyone was worried, but it seemed that so far there was not much of a panic. Of course, with this rogue storm going around the globe their job, one that he had taken pride in, was now more difficult and for some, was at stake.

"Their calling this the blunder of the IWC. There are so many different theories as to what the storm is everyone is settling upon shaming us!" He was reading the papers. Around the world people were reading reports of the storm and their inability to control it. There are some that even go so far as to say that the IWC created this storm as some sort of publicity or political stunt. As if we would do that! He did have to wonder though. Was there someone in the company that would benefit from doing this kind of thing? Did someone have a grudge against the company or even him? "If someone did do this that means I have to have an internal investigation into the equipment and personnel. If there is something wrong with the equipment...wouldn't we have found it?" He had so many things to do it was overwhelming.

"Sir, so far the storm has been sited over three countries. It's caused a few million dollars in damages in each city it's gone over and we still haven't been able to get a full image of the storm. Every scan window is too brief to cover the entire storm and several drones sent inside have lost contact with the tower. We don't know if they were destroyed, but that is the assumption."

"So basically we're nowhere." He said frustrated. "Listen I've been thinking and I believe we need to launch an internal investigation or two." He said trying to calm himself. She listened and nodded. They needed to exclude themselves if they could. "I want one team investigating all of the equipment for malfunctions, bugs, tampering, the whole nine yards." He said. Again she nodded. "The other will need to investigate the employees. We need to know if it is even remotely possible that someone did this. We should look into previous employees, any with complaints about anything. I know it's a lot to go through, but we need to do what we can to recover our credibility. This storm is slowly killing us. Meanwhile, until this storm is dealt with no one is requesting our services for fear that we are going to send it their way if they show hostility. They think we are trying to gain power or something."

"I will get the investigations started and tell them it is a top priority and to try and keep things as quiet as possible so as not to distress anyone. I do understand that there are still requests that we have not fulfilled yet and some of them may have requested a stay or cancellation on those." She told him. He put his head in his hands and groaned. One more thing he didn't need to hear. "Don't worry sir, we'll make it through this. I honestly do not believe anyone at this company would do something like this. We are very careful."

He just sighed and waved her off dismissing her. "I knew that eventually we would have a problem, but this is too much." He said. They had had malfunctions in the past, but nothing on this scale. It was unheard of, and something that was supposed to be impossible. Their system could do many things, however, it seemed that this was the only anomaly. Everything else was going as scheduled. He flipped through the many reports on his desk that had been piling up in the last few days. Most of them said the same thing. There was no system error when the storm first appeared.

The storm was massive and apparently impenetrable. Even satellite images could only tell them so much. Mainly they showed that there was no eye of the storm like most hurricanes. It swirled around and when visible moved rather quickly from sea to land. What happened to it after it dissipated was a mystery. The latest scan showed only a few miles inside of the storm. Times like this made him glad that they had invested in some of the things they had even though they didn't need them. He had done it to essentially remove it from others usage. Much of it was obsolete due to their taking over the weather and having little need to study storms now. However, on occasion they would still send small planes or drones to examine the storms they made to make sure that they were as they should be. Something like this should be impossible. But there was still so much about the new technology developed over the last 10 years that they did not fully understand.

He leaned back in his chair and stared out the window wondering if this whole incident would ruin them. When will this end? How many people will be affected? What about the casualties? So far no one had died, but there were injuries reported and a few more serious occurrences among a few children had been reported. He was not even sure if these were all related to the storm or evacuations or some other factor. "All of this is giving me a migraine." He told himself. He reached into the desk and pulled out some pills to alleviate it, but he knew that no amount of medicine was going to fix this.

Elle found herself waiting. What Henry had said weighed heavily on her mind. She couldn't stop thinking about the possibility that he was right. It did make sense. She just didn't want to accept it. She wanted to believe that her family wouldn't lie to her like that. It was hard for her to accept. The reality of the situation made her realize that what he said had to be true. If she had cybernetics then it was possible that this could have happened to her after receiving that shock from the storm. She looked at her hands and noticed that there were no visible marks of it. She had so many questions she wanted to ask. She wanted to know what happened to her that forced them to do this. Her thoughts raced and she eventually had to force herself to stop thinking about that. I have to think about something else. Like what are we going to do? How will we be able to return to our bodies? She also thought of something else though in her mind it seemed impossible. Could the way the characters they inhabit acting empty mean that there is more going on here. She hoped that with the addition of a third person they would learn more about the situation, but she held little hope of it.

She had noticed it when yet another person stopped moving altogether. This time Aeris. She knew that meant a girl this time. Part of her was glad for that. Though at the same time she felt bad for them. This was not something she wanted to endure forever and though the small breaks where she can participate in the game help eventually there is an ending and she had to wonder what that really meant for her. Would she have to repeat things over and over forever? There were a lot of things about this that concerned her. She knew that the others might be thinking the same thing. And there was still the question of what was happening in the "real" world. Since they were stuck there they had no idea what was going on. All they knew was that the storm was still moving and that eventually more of them would appear.

Author: Finally got this one ready and I've started on the next chapter too.