A/N: I've been thinking about this since I got word we would have to move at the end of April, and the very real fact that it usually takes six months or a year to find a rental place here. That's the reality of my situation, and I might not have Internet access for several months.
Then I realized last chapter would mark the end of "Part 2" before the shit hits the fan. I also realized that, as much as people love reading this story, you'd all hate it more if I have to stop posting for an extended time IN THE MIDDLE of the major events of "Part 3". While this leaves things hanging, it ISN'T a cliff hanger being left for an unidentified time, so I'm using this as the official breaking point between Parts 2 and 3.
On a side note (or two), it was accidental that Parts 1 and 2 were both exactly 40 chapters long... O.O ...No idea yet if Part 3 will follow the trend, too, though. Part 3 WILL be the last part of the story, regardless of how long it ends up being. It will be starting with chapter 81, or 83 (now) by FFN's numbering.
As for this...It's a parting gift before my enforced hiatus, and theoretically could happen at any point between the last set of chapters on the most recent day, which is around March or April in-story (how convenient, right! :D) and the end of October of that year (though I hope it won't BE October before I can get back to posting... O.O). By then, I should also know exactly where my timeline is sitting to clarify generally what dates are in play.
Omake: It's a Conspiracy!
Four small, dark forms slipped quietly through the building at night, one carrying a passenger on their shoulder. As they reached each locked room, the door was opened from inside, and they stole into the room, worked quickly, and left again for the next room. They only had the one night to set everything in place, after all, even if it was just the 'offices' and the residential rooms. In rooms where there were people, the "passenger" would either keep the occupant asleep if they already were, or would put the occupant to sleep if they weren't, allowing the others to work without being caught. Finally, with only an hour to spare, they finished and quietly disappeared...
Morning came...to the arrival of chaos.
Turks, SOLDIERs, and Academy students woke as usual, only to open their drawers and closets for changes of clothes—and found sparkles on absolutely everything (with the exception of undergarments, much to everyone's relief). Lots of sparkles. Some people had them in multitudes of mixed colors while others had them in only one color, but the result was essentially the same. Pets either had already gotten some in their fur or feathers, or ended up with some within minutes of their owner finding out what had been done to their clothes.
Everyone blinked stupidly at the sparkled clothing, and many never actually left that state as they realized everything they owned was that way; they'd have to show up to work in clothing now very inappropriate for the office. Some had very 'unusual' reactions.
Cloud instinctively wanted to sigh, "Marlene..." except that she hadn't even been born yet. He then diverted to wanting to sigh, "Yufi..." until he found out how many other people it had also been done to—including her. She was good, but not good enough to do that by herself in one night. And yet...
Seeing Tyra covered in multi-colored sparkles was amusing, though, especially since she kept sneezing them out of her nose after she'd gone sniffing around.
Lakis swore vividly, then had a temporary breakdown—going into the office covered in sparkles was not at all appropriate and absolutely not to be done.
Both Ansha and Verde found it highly amusing and quickly brushed it off with a grain of salt. Incidentally, that was also the first time people noticed Ghost, Verde's white Hound, as the dog was now covered in green sparkles.
Tifa, Reno, and Derin all just sighed tiredly about the sparkles their pets were tracking around. Reno, however, happened to realize Sly was already covered in sparkles when he found his sparkled clothes, so checked his hiding places in the apartment—and realized there were multi-colored sparkles almost piled in his bed.
After his initial shock at finding all his clothes covered in red and gold sparkles, Genesis began laughing happily and readily transferred the sparkles to his hair and face as well, much to Diva's joy and Kunzel's exasperation. Sierra ended up covered in mostly blue sparkles with pin-points of red and gold as a result—especially when she rolled around on the floor the way all 'cats' do, and picked up that many more in the process. That was the first time Kunzel was extremely glad Coerls didn't lick themselves clean, they found pools of shallow water to 'bathe' in.
In fact, every Turk and SOLDIER who had a pet had to sigh at the sparkles the pets were tracking around, including Rufus, who came in from outside the building—and Dark Nation had picked up various assortments of sparkles within minutes of their arrival. It got a lot worse when he met Tyra, though, and picked more of them up off her.
That was when everyone realized it wasn't just those who were 'in residence' who had been hit—every office and nearly every Department (with the notable exceptions of Weapons and Science—even Urban Development had gotten some, but none in their actual engineering rooms) in the building had been hit...Including the President's Office. As expected, he was furious and demanded the sparkles be cleaned up and the one who had done it be found and punished. Both of which were only going to be marginally successful at best.
In the case of the offices, no one had realized they'd also been hit until they'd sat down and begun handling things—only for their hands, backs, and rears to come away covered in sparkles. Someone had used Invis and Change spells to make the sparkles appear to not be there until directly disturbed. Hence the President suffering for it, too.
Of course, Zack found it all very amusing, and readily gave kudos to whoever had managed to pull that off, even as he happily picked purple sparkles out of Delta's fur. Until she picked up more, in different colors, off of Tyra, Halo, and Dark Nation. And Sierra.
Rosso, who was only around thirteen herself, found the sparkles fascinating, and like Genesis, opted to spread them through her hair and on her skin, but hers were plain silver. She also started asking around about where she could get more of them. The result was several people handing her various sizes of piles they had collected from their own living and working spaces, in all colors, much to her delight.
Most of the Academy students took the sparkles with a grain of salt, deciding to enjoy it—and their teachers' distinct discomfort at it—while it lasted, but some very die-hard academics threw highly amusing temper tantrums. Incidentally, those tantrums did more to spread the sparkles around the building than the perpetrator had actually done.
And then, the grand finale came: the vents turned on around mid-morning—
Clouds of sparkles exploded from absolutely every vent in the building, making everyone stop what they were doing and turn to stare in something like shocked horror. In that case, even places like Weapons and Science got some, but theirs was marginal and only really due to shifts in the air flow; it wasn't enough to disrupt anything vital in those Departments.
Now, all the halls and rooms were covered in a light dusting of multi-colored sparkles, and anyone who had managed to avoid most of the sparkles no longer could. On the up-side, the dreary gray metal of the majority of the building looked much brighter and more colorful.
It was going to be weeks before they could clean them all up now.
MB
Reno eyed Sly for a very long moment as the raccoon on top of his computer screen shook himself off, recognizing without doubt the fact that he'd been involved in this 'sparkle-bomb-on-steroids' prank. However, he also knew there was no way Sly could have done it on his own, not in one night. Also, he'd have needed help to get the sparkles—it wasn't like the furry creature could just go buy some from a craft store.
His gaze found the two giggling girls, Shelke and Claudia/Yufi, who both seemed to adore Sly and sometimes took him off Reno's hands for awhile, and who both spent a lot of time in the Turks' office. He knew Shelke did a lot of crafts which used sparkles, and Shalua had commented on one of her visits about how Shelke always had enough of them on hand that a full-grown man could take a bath in them. Obviously no one would think twice about her buying out all the sparkles in every craft store (and any other store which sold sparkles) in Midgar.
So, if he counted Sly, Shelke, and Claudia as partners in crime, he also had to include Kurosai. He wasn't sure what the bird's abilities were, which was unfortunate. He'd been assuming it didn't have any. The problem was still time—even with those four, the time it had taken them to do it was impossible. There had to be at least one more, and he knew who it wasn't—even prankster Zack had been busy last night and gotten back late, then crashed and slept, as Angeal could attest to.
Then he remembered Rufus saying the girls would drag Nero into any of their shenanigans. That not only added someone with SOLDIER strength, but a Shadow Monk—and by default, the Monk could spread the sparkles much faster than three children could, just by spinning and flipping its 'skirt'.
With Sly unlocking doors and getting the sparkles into the vents, that only left whatever Kurosai had done. What was left?
Then he remembered—someone had come into his room and he hadn't woken. The bloody bird could put people to sleep!
Now that he'd worked it out, should he tell anyone?
Looking around the room at how animated the Turks were, how freely they were expressing emotion they usually kept under strict control, he thought it may be better to keep his peace. This was good for everyone's psyche on a level most of them didn't realize was an issue—it was letting them vent so the pent-up feelings wouldn't get out of hand later. As long as the pranks the girls and Nero pulled were non-harmful, if annoying, he could leave them to it. His only regret was that he couldn't afford to join them.
So, he just sat back and enjoyed the show while it lasted.