Chapter 42: Time and Again

"How the hell can he still be alive?" Barret demanded. "I watched him die."

"We all did," Red XIII added. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Barret, Jessie, Red XIII, Cid, Shera, Reeve, Parker, Reno, Rude and Tseng were gathered in the safest way possible: outdoors in Nibelheim's town square, six feet apart, masked up.

"Could he have survived the fall?" Jessie inquired.

"Impossible," Cid dismissed. "They had to scrape his remains off the pavement and identify him by his dental records."

"He's obviously not a zombie," Shera said. "So my only guess is he's an impersonator."

"But then," Reeve began, "that doesn't answer the other question. How can Reno, Rude, Elena, and Tseng be in two places at once?"

"God only knows," Parker replied. "The only person I've known to do that is Bestla Heidegger."

"She doesn't count," Jessie dismissed. "She was only in two places at once because she…."

She stopped. Her eyes widened. She realized, all of a sudden, the possibility.

"….time traveled."

There was silence at the table for a few moments.

"Are you going to tell me what I think you're going to tell me?" Barret inquired.

Jessie nodded.

"This isn't the Rufus Tifa knocked out of the elevator," she replied. "This is the prime Rufus. From the original timeline."

MEANWHILE…

Yuffie quietly entered the Sector Five Church in the slums as Sage cautiously followed behind. She scanned the facilities; the seats were empty, and the confessional door was open with nobody inside. The building was all but deserted.

She then spotted the flowers.

"I don't believe it," Yuffie sighed. "Your mother's flowers are still growing."

"She wasn't my mother," Sage corrected, without making eye-contact. "I'm just from one of her eggs. Reeve and Parker are my parents."

"Didn't she give birth to you?" Yuffie asked.

"No, she made that up if she said it," Sage replied. "They had a surrogate. Too many pregnancies supposedly can kill a Cetra."

"I didn't know that," Yuffie admitted. "I guess that means the Downings aren't Cetra."

"Very funny," sighed Sage sarcastically.

Yuffie scanned the church once more.

Zack had definitely been there.

"Does Zack live here?" Sage asked.

"I sure hope not," Yuffie replied. "It would mean he's probably becoming abstinent and I wouldn't be getting any because of it."

"Ew!" Sage exclaimed. "That's gross!"

"I thought you knew about sex since you were nine!" Yuffie pointed out.

"I did," Sage said. "But it's still gross."

"I guess that means you're too young for Romina Ronkin's Restroom Rampage," the older girl pointed out.

"I didn't say that," Sage defended. "But sex sounds gross and messy."

"Sex is a natural part of dating, trust me," Yuffie insisted. "And Zack has unlimited access to my box."

"Speaking of boxes," Sage continued, naive to what the term meant, "what's that over there?"

Yuffie eyed the box. It likely contained materia, but she decided to humor her.

"I dunno," she replied. "Probably coke, weed, or something worse."

And then, they spotted it. A white bandage with dried black pus on it.

Yuffie placed her hands on her heart in shock.

"Zack has Geostigma?!" Sage exclaimed.

"Why would he keep it from me?" Yuffie asked aloud. "I'm his girlfriend."

"Did he leave because he's sick?" Sage suggested.

"I think Zack likes to fight alone," Yuffie replied.

"What do you mean, 'fight?'" Sage asked.

"Never mind," Yuffie sighed. Forget it.

"Yuffie?" Sage asked. "What's wrong? Something's eating you."

"Let's get our butts home, Sage," Yuffie insisted.

"But Zack hasn't come back!" Sage protested. "I'm getting nervous."

"I know," Yuffie said as she turned around and began to lead Sage out of the church. "And I'm really getting nervous, too."

"Tell me about it," Sage said.

"And when he's back?" Yuffie continued. "Guess what?"

"We can go home?" Sage guessed.

"I'll kick his ass first," Yuffie giggled. "Then we'll go home."

"He'll be in pain during your makeup sex," Sage suggested.

"Sucks for him!" Yuffie giggled.

MEANWHILE…

"The prime Rufus?" Cid inquired. "From the originally timeline where everyone was killed?"

"You got it," Jessie clarified. "This is the Rufus that didn't die. The Rude and Reno who never reformed. The Tseng and Elena who never got together."

"I'm going to guess the Turks we saw on the news were their prime versions as well."

"Elena had to be," Shera said. "Since we all know her condition."

"But wait a minute," Red XIII began. "If Tifa killed Rufus, shouldn't the one Zack met….you know….go poof?"

"If I had to guess," Shera began as she pressed her glasses against her face, "Rufus traveling through time freed him from the constraints of time and thus protected him from any paradoxes."

"This is getting too fucking complicated," Cid sighed.