Twilight Perfect Chapter 18: Picking up the pieces, now where to begin? The hardest part of ending is starting again.

Reeve blinked his eyes open and looked around sleepily, trying to figure out why he'd woken up in a room that was clearly not his own.

What was going on in his life? Why did he feel a strange tension in his chest in place of the soul deadening malaise that he'd gotten used to waking up with… who honestly knew how long ago?

Luckily, his mind soon began to fill in everything that had happened over the last few days: saving over sixty thousand lives, getting kidnapped by Avalanche, hearing how in addition to the existential threat to all life on the planet that he'd already known about, Shinra had also been experimenting with some sort of mind warping alien life form….

So, what did he plan to do about it? Well, what could he possibly do about it? Really, wasn't that the story of Reeve's life: sitting around feeling utterly powerless to actually change anything while everything fell apart around him? If he couldn't do anything while he was incredibly rich and in charge of a major Shinra Department, what chance did he have as a hostage?

Speaking of being a hostage, Reeve looked over at his "jailor".

Given a zip tie, and instructions to make sure that Reeve didn't leave Avalanche's suite without him, Kadaj had decided to zip tie his own right arm to the door knob and fell asleep.

It was an interesting approach to hostage detention.

So… that was what it was like to be one of Sephiroth's young SOLDIERS. To feel that your own arms were a lever that could move the Planet. It wasn't that surprising, in retrospect; children enhanced with Mako and Jenova cells, but armed with little more than pointy bits of metal had established Shinra's uncontested hegemony over the Planet… and then stood passively in line for the old men for whom they'd won wealth beyond measure to give them medals.

When he thought about it like that, it was almost astounding that being betrayed by its own SOLDIERS required grand personal tragedies like those of Genesis and Sephiroth; simple economics alone should have enough. Why had the most powerful people on the Planet allowed themselves to be yoked like beasts of burden?

The longer Reeve thought about it, the more obvious the answer became.

Because Shinra had created a culture where those SOLDIERs were taught only to use their strength for the purpose of furthering Shinra's aims. Taught not to wonder what they might be capable of doing in any other context. Taught to keep their heads down, do their jobs, and just accept the world as it was. Taught to accept a paycheck from people whose bones they could break like chalk. Taught to believe that whatever Shinra had given them, surely they could take it away just as easily…

Taught that while they were SOLDIERs, even raw superhuman strength was meaningless next to the power of economics and finance. Taught that it didn't matter how powerful you were, you couldn't use that power to make a difference.

Yet… roughly 60,000 people were still alive in Sector Seven because of what Reeve had done. For one single infinitesimally short instance in time… Reeve Tuesti had accomplished something that even General Sephiroth couldn't. He'd thrown himself astride the tracks of Shinra's path to complete uncontested global domination… and the process of crushing his old life into paste, he had forced it to slow down.

Maybe that was why Sephiroth and his young revolutionaries could prevail over an army of trained men and an arsenal of military machines, why Shinra had seemed to be stuck going in circles for the last five years: if General Sephiroth was invincible, whatever cause he supported must surely be likewise invincible.

Reeve had spent much of his adult life drinking in moderation to help deal with the stress of his life… but now, for the first time… for the first time he finally understood what his drinking companion meant when he talked about 'The Thirst'.

For the first time in his life, Reeve hadn't felt powerless… and looking back on it, that single moment of shining euphoria… had left him with a thirst for more. Reeve had insisted that Shinra had made him just a dealer, but no- the sensation of not just opposing Shinra, but succeeding at opposing Shinra... it had done what no amount of liquor ever could: made him an addict.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way?

Well the time had come for Reeve to follow the footsteps of countless addicts before him, by destroying his life for the sake of another hit….

XXX XXX XXX

Sephiroth was rather surprised when shortly after breakfast, Avalanche's hostage decided to unprompted strike up a conversation..

"I'd like to speak with you about finances, if that's acceptable…?" The erstwhile executive's words were deferential, but his voice was tight and the look in his eyes was one Sephiroth most associated with men who'd resolved to charge a machine gun.

His only response was an arched brow. "Speak, then."

"Your bank account is completely shut down at the moment. As for my account, they either have a small army ready to go at the first hard data related to someone using it, or they simply froze the accounts of EVERYONE in Urban Development since they lack the correct security passwords to target mine in particular. However, I've still got enough access to Shinra's payroll system that a certain amount of chicanery might be possible."

In a simple man, he might have taken this for the zeal of a fresh convert, but while Reeve registered as 'not a threat' to every metric Sephiroth bothered with, that did not make him by any means 'simple.'

"It was one thing to allow us to make clandestine contact with our loved ones, but now you're going to bankroll Avalanche? What's your angle?"

Reeve shrugged.

"Don't mistake this for more than it is; in another situation, if I was talking to a different member of Avalanche, I'm sure I'd feel more hesitant about the possibility of funding my very own terrorist cell. But... you're Sephiroth.

"What exactly should I be afraid of that you might do with the money?

"Sephiroth is going to buy explosives… except he can create fireballs that destroy tanks!

"Sephiroth is going to buy guns… let's just forget how he can mow down his foes with bolts of lighting!

"Sephiroth is going to buy materia… oh wait, I bet he's figured out a way to use magic without them!" Reeve grew increasingly animated as he recounted hypotheticals, culminating in a slightly crazed expression that suggested that he knew he was pushing the bounds of plausibility, but that that was a sacrifice he was willing to make to get his point across.

"I have."

"...Because of course you have. Circling back to my initial point, you're Sephiroth. You're a force multiplier the likes of which Avalanche's past iteration could only have dreamed of. If I were to somehow empty out my entire account, what could you do with my money that would actually make you more of a threat to Shinra? Buy Number 26 from Rocket Town, and launch it at Midgar as the world's largest ICBM? Buy the Mako Cannon and airlift it somewhere where it can shoot at something actually important?

"In full disclosure, I also rather desperately don't want to spend another night being half crushed between you and Mr. Wallace. Thus, I make this offer with the expectation that if I can finagle a few thousand gil into your coffers, tents will be among the items you end up purchasing. I'd also dearly love for you to buy your compatriots laptops, or at least tablets, so I can work with buttons that are larger than my fingers again."

Sephiroth pondered the offer for a few moments; not needing to spend time hunting for food or inevitably getting rained on while trying to sleep did have a certain appeal…

"Assuming I agree to this plan, how exactly are we going to get the money?"

"Despite all the protections Shinra set up around our accounts, I'd be willing to bet that even if they closed and locked every door, there are still a few windows ajar. I can create a new account in one of the departments I had technological oversight of, siphon money into it from a legitimate source, reset my charge card to be drawn from that account, and just like that Shinra will be none the wiser."

"You still have your charge card on you?" Sephiroth's own was currently floating somewhere in the Lifestream.

"It was in my wallet, which was in my pants when I was told to go to President Shinra's office." Reeve admitted with a shrug.

"Of course to do this, I'd need to know the PIN of someone else who works for Shinra, and the more highly placed they are the easier it will be. The problem is that the system will start setting off alarms after three failed login attempts... I don't suppose any of your fellow Firsts ever disclosed theirs?"

"Shinra corporate policy is still that a PIN needs to be six to eight digits?"

"Correct."

"Head of Science and Research, Simon Hojo, PIN is going to be either 10071980 or 07101980."

A short conversation to borrow Tifa's PHS later, Reeve started typing. Eventually the machine emitted a cheerful chime.

"It was the first one; dare I ask how you knew?"

"It was the day of his greatest scientific achievement; he's too egotistical to use anything else."

It was Sephiroth's birthday.

"You know, when I first suggested this plan, I felt a certain amount of regret, since it might have ended up implicating an innocent third party but..." Reeve began.

"Hojo." Sephiroth finished with a sardonic shrug.

"Exactly. Congratulations Mr. G. Gavin Gunhold on your employment by the Science and Research Department. Your payment will be coming out of the brand new STA-TF project…"

"Staff? "

"Show Them All- Those Fools.' If literally anyone but Hojo himself looks at it, it won't seem a bit out of place. That ought to buy us at least till the end of the quarter. Now let's just get Mr. Gunhold's first paycheck deposited, his first of many surprisingly generous paychecks…."

XXX XXX XXX

"Do you know what the best thing about a Class J containment breach is?" Reno pondered aloud as he walked the halls of Shinra HQ's 67th floor.

"Not having to fight Sephiroth twice in 24 hours?" Rude answered.

"Nope! Well, yes, but you're thinking too small. For me, this… this, right here, is perfection. You see, proper procedure for a Class J containment breach calls for the entire floor to be scrubbed clean on an almost microscopic level. Forget just eating off of it, this is a floor that you could do surgery on!"

"If you're about to do what I think you are, they might need to." Sure enough, even as the taciturn Turk watched, Reno was starting to wiggle his feet free from his shoes.

"Thus begins your glorious 108th attempt..."

"That's right, Rude old buddy, I'm going to slide on this slippery floor all the way from Hojo's Office to the elevator."

"The FFS isn't humanly possible."

"Maybe not for a normal human, but I'm Reno the Turk; and I'm going to go down in history as the first person to achieve the Full Floor Slide!"

"Let me rephrase; the FFS isn't physically possible. You look down this hallway, you don't see the elevator, you see a wall. To pull this off you'll need to perform a ninety degree turn. If you attempted this 108 more times today you might eventually break through the wall, but you'll never make that turn."

"Ye of little faith." Scoffed Reno.

"You're going to do this without the helmet?"

"And deny the people of this department the chance to see my glorious red locks flaring out behind me like a victory banner as I go sliding down the halls? Rude, they work for Hojo, haven't they already suffered enough?"

"Break a leg, and hopefully not something more important."

Reno carefully took a few steps back, getting a proper feel traversing the floor in his socks.

Then, he pumped his arms and started racing down the hallway, taking roughly two dozen paces before throwing his right arm out to the side to help balance as he shifted to a surfer like pose, the other raised in a dramatic "thumbs up" to anyone who was watching.

He sailed down the hallway, his feet sliding frictionlessly across the floor. This attempt was off to a good start, despite Rude mocking him about the wall, nine times out of ten he didn't even reach it.

The impossible turn loomed ever closer, but this time Reno didn't wait for it to arrive. His partner had been right about the difficulties of pulling off a 90 degree turn during a slide, which was why Reno didn't plan to.

Instead, he shifted his weight and slid toward the wall to his right, and as it drew near shoved off against it. That sent him careening toward the far wall, with the turn roughly ten feet ahead of him. Another carefully angled shove off that wall left him approaching what had once been a 90 degree turn at something now approaching 45 degrees.

Once more well-placed shove shifted him back to the center of the hallway.

This, this was what made life worthwhile; it was a victory Sephiroth would never be able to take away from him.

For the first time he'd actually managed to make it through the turn, nothing was gonna stop him now, especially since bribed and or threatened all the office drones to stay out of the hallway to make sure he didn't have to dodge lab-coated obstacles.

Reno was going to make it, he was less than twenty feet from the elevator now….

The elevator whose doors were starting to open… revealing a raven haired man in a blue suit.

XXX XXX XXX

Tseng didn't even flinch when Reno slid into the elevator and bumped into him.

"Reno."

"Boss."

"Full Floor Slide?"

"Full Floor Slide."

"Congratulations on finally pulling it off." Tseng's praise was aloof, yet sincere.

It was only after taking a moment to drink in that rare compliment, when Tseng's second in command noticed the elevator's other occupant.

"New girl who I have not yet been formally introduced to..."

"Reno, this is Elena."

"Nice to meet you, Elena."

The brown eyed blond just stared at Reno's stocking clad feet in silence.

"She's the newest member of the Shinra Electric Power Company's General Affairs Auditing Department."

"Ah, in that case how did your parents bite it? Rock climbing accident, car accident, stray bullet, accurate bullet, mako poisoning or just the ever popular mysterious circumstances?"

"My father's a dentist, and my mother is an accountant."

"Oh. Good for you I guess. If you give me his number I can promise him some extra business the next time I lose a tooth."

"I appreciate the offer, but if you've already had your wisdom teeth removed, the odds of a fully mature adult losing any more teeth are pretty low."

"First, I take offense at being called 'fully mature'. Secondly, would you like to bet on how likely I am to lose a tooth in the next month or so?"

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation outside the elevator?" Tseng interjected.

XXX XXX XXX

Life was, all things considered, pretty boring for Stanley- and that was exactly how he liked it. He came into work every day, did a few little things to make life better for various people, collected his own little paycheck and went home.

He did what he could to make sure that every person who asked for his opinion ended up leaving the store with the right pet for them, or do what he could to help people find out how best to care for the pets they already had.

He was a little surprised by the sight of his newest prospective customer. He took one long look at the brown haired woman in the pink dress and felt his brow furrow.

Having spent years working at Kalm's biggest pet store he had a finely tuned instinct for what type of animal a person was likely to gravitate towards, and this woman said "cat person" to him, despite the fact that she was accompanied by a dog.

Then he took a moment and realized what he was actually seeing.

The woman had walked into the store with a dog. Actually describing it as "a dog" was rather underselling it. Other people had come into his store with dogs before, but they were typically small breeds, the kind that you could fit in your handbag and could only come anywhere close to being dangerous because of how ill-tempered they were.

This dog looked like it could rip his guts open with a single swipe of its claws or crush his throat between its teeth with ease. Not to mention, its tail was on fire… Stanley's eyes gazed upwards towards the smoke detector, waiting for it to go off. The device remained stubbornly silent and Stanley was left with no choice but to turn his eyes back towards his new arrival and her big red dog.

"I'm sorry miss, but I really can't let you bring that animal in here…." Stanley braced himself for a tirade about how this woman insisted on 'speaking to his manager' at any moment.

"You can call me Jane, and yeah, my dad went a little overboard." The girl sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

The last thing Stanley had been expecting was for the customer to agree with him, and suddenly found himself completely wrong footed.

"I have these fainting spells… so my dad insisted I get a service dog. Then because he's a bigwig at Shinra, he insisted that Science and Research had to give me something special..."

Special was undoubtedly a good way to describe the dog in question. Stanley couldn't remember ever seeing a dog with... tattoos, for lack of a better word.

"What breed is he?"

The woman went down on her knees and gently began to rub her service animal's head.

"Dad said something about it doesn't really count as a breed if there's only one like him in the world. His name is Stargazer, if that helps. Want to see something cool?"

Stanley found himself nodding before he'd really processed the question.

The woman faux swooned and collapsed against the side of her service animal, her body laying limp against its steadily rising and lowering flanks.

In an instant Stargazer went from examining various parts of the store at random to locking his one remaining eye on Stanley's with a gaze so penetrating it almost made him want to flinch away from it.

"My owner has fallen unconscious please call 911. I repeat, my owner has fallen unconscious please call 911. I repeat, my owner..."

Stargazer only stopped when Jane opened up her eyes and began to softly rub his throat.

"Good boy Stargazer, good boy." She reassured him.

Stanley was incredibly impressed, at least until a thought struck him.

"So your father was able to force Shinra's scientists to make a dog that talks for you… but they never thought to provide a harness?"

"Stargazer was made by the Science and Research Division, but his harness was supposed to be provided by the consumer goods division and those two aren't getting along right now. Dad said he could explain why… but then he'd have to have the Turks' kidnap me to make sure I didn't tell anyone else; he was kidding, I think."

Stanley abruptly remembered the rules he'd promised himself to follow whenever dealing with people affiliated with Shinra: shut up, smile, take the money, and the fewer questions he asked, the happier he'd be when all was said and done.

XXX XXX XXX

"Will I truly have to wear this whenever we go among your people?" huffed Stargazer as he pawed at his new harness.

"I think it makes you look quite distinguished." Aerith reassured him.

"I'd rather earn my renown through deeds than accessories."

XXX XXX XXX

"Sir, I have to ask, why aren't you punishing Reno for that reckless behavior?" Elena protested once she was alone with Tseng.

"Do you know why the best chocobos never get whipped?"

Elena felt an icy spike of fear in her stomach, she thought she'd prepared for everything, but brushing up on how best to treat racing animals hadn't seemed especially necessary at the time.

"Because they're too expensive to risk injuring?" she timidly answered after a painfully protracted silence.

"Because the best chocobos never need to be told when to start running, only when to stop. Reno is the same way. I may need to keep a tight grip on the reins, but he was born to run. Do you have any idea how much coordination it takes to be able to slide from Hojo's office to the elevator?"

"No..." Elena's eyes turned towards the floor in shame.

"Now, I could assign Reno five hours of combat drills and watch over his shoulder for each and every single moment of it to make sure that he doesn't start slacking off... or I can let him have fun, and he'll spend ten hours amusing himself in ways that make him more combat capable without even realizing it. That is why I am not going to punish him for what he did.

"That does make sense..." She reluctantly agreed.

"I'm glad that you understand. I hope I won't have to have another discussion with you on how best to train my subordinates. The other lesson you need to take away from this is that in the heat of battle, a 'wrong' solution embraced quickly and with determination can often yield better results than a 'right' one that takes you too long to arrive at and is enacted with hesitancy.

"Do you know why I believe that, Elena?"

"Because you've seen it first hand?" This time the answer all but sprung from her lips now that she was no longer being quizzed on matters of jockey etiquette.

"Because you, Elena, are my 'wrong' solution embraced quickly and with determination. I could keep trying to shout myself hoarse until Shinra finally let me bring a genuine Turk into this organization, or I was given the option to hire someone like you… an actual accountant for the General Affairs Auditing Department."

"As opposed to my co-workers, who Shinra deploys for tasks SOLDIERs aren't subtle enough to handle."

"Correct."

"Thank you for giving me this chance sir, I won't let you down."

"Yes you will. You already did when you insisted on second guessing my handling of Reno and thus believed you knew my subordinates better than I did. What matters is if you keep trying afterwards."

Elena promised herself that if Tseng wanted to see her 'keep trying' then that was exactly what he'd get!

Without further comment she bent her head down against his desk and began to undo the laces on her shoes.

"Sir, if I might requisition some of your second in command's time, I have a training exercise that I would like to attempt…"

Tseng mulled over the matter briefly while Elena undid knots.

"I'm afraid that there are more important tasks that you'll need to take care of first, like getting acquainted with the last member of our team."

Elena's face fell and she began to retie her shows.

"You'll be needing to borrow a helmet from him, after all."

XXX XXX XXX

Tifa was taking a moment to inspect her reflection when she heard the distinctive sound of Barret's prosthetic against the door. He started talking the moment the door opened, but seemed to almost stumble over the words.

"Hey... I know we ain't talked about it much, but… I get what it feels like to have Shinra turn your life upside down in the space of a day. I know it's no fun to relive, so... thanks."

"You needed to know what we're up against. I trust Sephiroth to come up with the right plan; I trust you to make sure we're all OK."

Tifa knew that for all his bluster, Barret had always put the survival of his people ahead of anything else when planning operations.

An awkward silence drifted through the air, both of them ruminating on memories that they would rather forget.

"Your arm looks better." She eventually offered, just to fill the silence.

Barret's prosthetic arm had ended up acquiring a fair amount of wear and tear over his time in Avalanche, with its repairs growing ever more slapdash and obvious over time. Now however, it looked factory fresh.

"It needed the tune up. I'm honestly still a little amazed it managed to make it through that shitshow at the Plate without overheating or jamming. I see you went shopping" he noted in turn.

It was true; now that Tifa was going to be doing more cross country travel and less bartending, she'd exchanged her old outfit for one that wouldn't leave her as exposed to the elements.

She'd exchanged her skirt and shorts for cargo pants, and picked up a black leather jacket for protection from the elements. And pockets. Mostly pockets.

Barret's brow had begun to furrow and his eyes wander slightly; there was clearly something else on his mind. He responded to her raised eyebrow with a short shake of his head..

"Just… still not sure how I feel about buying this stuff with a Shinra exec's gil. We're supposed to be fighting those bastards, not taking handouts from them."

"Well, it isn't like we're drawing a salary; he's stealing it from the company. Would it feel like we were being funded by Shinra if we just kept grabbing loose change out of the pockets of dead SOLDIERs?"

"I think if you wear a suit to work, it's called 'embezzling.' What can I say, just cause I'm not in charge anymore doesn't mean I'm not trying to figure out all the angles. I mean, it's pretty convenient how when we're done cleaning out the rest of Shinra's higher ups, he's gonna be the last man standing."

"So you think his plan is to obliquely use us to kill off everyone who stands between him and becoming Shinra's newest CEO?"

"I'm just saying, it's not impossible."

Barret and Tifa held each other's gazes for a solid second… and then both broke into shared uproarious laughter.

"He can try, but even if he's the only one left standing, who's gonna care? Remember the dart boards?"

In the hidden basements of Sector Seven there were a series of dart boards with pictures of Shinra executives for the Avalanche members to practice their aim on. The late president, Professor Hojo, General Heidegger, Head of Weapons Development Scarlet, and even Palmer were all present and perforated, but somehow Reeve's likeness had never gone up against the wall.

"What, you think maybe he's telling the truth about saving Sector Seven?" Barret inquired.

Tifa's neck twitched, the gesture falling somewhere between a vertical shake and a horizontal nod.

"It's awfully convenient for him to be the one higher up at Shinra who can claim to still have something of a soul. Still, making a call like this, all I know for sure is that I don't know enough; I only really studied Shinra's corporate ladder to try and figure out how best to rip out its rungs..."

"Urban Development… they're the table scraps that Shinra gives people so that they'll starve over the course of years rather than weeks. Not sure if that makes them the best Shinra has to offer or the worst. Hopefully it'll take more than a few kind words and a few thousand gil to make Sephiroth let his guard down."

"Far as I can tell, Sephiroth never lets his guard down. You're not going to regret letting him be our leader." Tifa reassured him. "Besides, I have to admit, a girl could get used to some of this new gear."

"Really? You getting sweet on that Shinra suit? What happened to the girl I knew who got sulky every time she missed out on a combat mission?" Barret taunted her playfully.

"I guess… as hard as I try… I can't bring myself to hate the suits as much as I do their soldiers. I mean, my dad, like I told you, he was Mayor of Nibelheim, he was the one who talked to Midgar when things went wrong, does that mean he was a 'Shinra Suit' also?" Tifa's eyes flicked down towards the floor, her body gripped by a rare moment of indecision.

"That's the god damn worst part about Shinra isn't it? It's all over the world, sticking their fingers in every pie… making everyone have to dance to their tune…"

"That… doesn't actually answer the question, does it?" Tifa gave a short shake of her head and fell silent for a long moment. "Hey… the others, they're all still fine, right? They're gonna be waiting for us when we get back to Midgar..."

The moment she brought up the topic of their absent comrades she saw a flicker of pain in Barret's eyes and she offered him the most reassuring smile she could manage.

"You're not still kicking yourself over telling them to hold down the fort, are you?"

"Nah. I mean… not much. Leavin' 'em at Seventh Heaven was the right call. But part of being in charge is that even when you make the right call, you still blame yourself for every little thing that goes wrong. Why do you think I was so eager to let Sephiroth take over?"

"An Avalanche's strength isn't in the first rock in the slide, it isn't in the biggest rock, it is in all the rocks moving together. Sephiroth is good at smashing aside anything that gets in our way, but you're good at getting other rocks rolling; you're the reason that the five of us are still alive."

"Well, Biggs isn't gonna be running marathons any time soon, but they're a lot more alive than they would have been if we hadn't managed to stop Operation Damocles…" Barret spat the word with complete and utter disdain.

"When we meet up again, we're gonna have a lot of new stories to tell, and we're gonna be the most important cell of Avalanche on the Planet. When people talk about Avalanche, we're gonna be all that anyone thinks of... Heh, remember when the Old Men in the Canyon sent us that strongly worded letter about how if we continued with our reckless pursuit of violence, they would have no choice but to withdraw their support and insist that we henceforth sever all ties with their organization, including calling ourselves Avalanche?" Tifa giggled, that particular memory always bringing a smile to her lips.

"The five of us got together and burned that stupid thing to ashes." Barret's deep rumbling laugh always helped put her at ease for some reason.

"Considering we started out with Biggs, Wedge and Jessie and now have Sephiroth, his little brother, a lion wolf and an Ancient… I guess we have sorta moved up in the world.

"Heh, Biggs would have loved to get a chance to spend all the money on weapons we just did."

"Wedge woulda loved to get to know a cat that could actually talk back..."

"And Jessie may never forgive us for 'going on an adventure' without her!"

"You ever get the feeling… the three of them were braver than either of us? I mean, they had a lot more to lose and a lot less to fight with. They could have backed out when we got that letter, and instead nobody cheered louder than Wedge when I got out a lighter. That letter was the first thing I burned as a member of Avalanche, but it won't be the last. Shinra's dug into the Lifestream tight as a tick, and you don't can't talk, pull, or yank a tick free… you gotta burn it till it lets go."

End Chapter

AN: To start with, yes, I am completely dropping the idea that Elena had an older sister in the Turks. I'm sorry, but given how incredibly loose lipped she is in the original game I refuse to believe that she comes from a family of spies/secret police officers.

Anyway, there's no set date for Sephiroth's birth, so I'm placing him when I am because it makes him smack dab in the middle of being a Scorpio which is doubtlessly the astrological sign that best describes Sephiroth's personality.

Not that I believe in astrology/horoscopes of course, I mean if Kadaj is only a few months old he's most likely a Libra, Virgo or Leo, when it should be obvious to you guys by now that he has the personality of a Pisces.

Tifa's new outfit draws from multiple sources, mainly from her including her Advent Children outfit, with the jacket she's wearing being the only original contribution on my part. I decided that in a situation where changing outfits doesn't require hundreds of man hours of coding work, having Tifa switch outfits once she leaves Midgar just makes sense for the reasons she states in-story.

Oh, according to the official FF7 timeline, Barret didn't find the old Avalanche base/officially start up his group until October of '07 with the game starting December of '07, but that seems slightly compact in my opinion.