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Chapter III – The Reeve Special

Crackling met Tifa's ears and she blinked away her lethargy, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Sizzling suddenly burst from downstairs with jubilance and she recognised the sound immediately. Something had been added to a hot frying pan. Eggs, perhaps. A delicious smell waft its way to her nose and watered her mouth, persuading her mind and her stomach to sit up. She gazed around in a daze, not quite recalling when she'd succumb to slumber.

Gathering her bearings with sleepy resignation, a realisation dawned that instantly made all of her lethargy disappear.

'Barret never uses a frying pan – he can barely cook. Which means...'

Tifa leapt to her feet at the thought and immediately sought her shoes. Quickly realising they were already on her feet after having slept in her clothes last night, she tumbled out the bedroom door and near tore down the stairs with baited breath. Turning the corner hard, she dashed past the bar and burst through the kitchen door, prepared to meet a certain blonde, spiky-haired ex-SOLDIER.

"Cloud! I–!"

Her voice died in her throat.

Instead she was met with a bewildered Reeve Tuesti, clad in his standard red tie and matching navy suit with pressed trousers. This time however, he wore a white apron over the top of his attire adorned with a trim of bright pink frills. He stood frozen over a frying pan, spatula hovering mid-air primed and ready to flip an egg.

"Oh..." Tifa finished, tone quickly taking on a jovial note to disguise her true feelings. "Hello, Reeve! I wasn't expecting you." She smiled, but it was a fake one he could see right through.

"I can see that," Reeve said in a kind tone as he raised the corner of his lips into a small smile. He resumed in flipping the egg, rearranging the sausage and bacon neatly around the pan. "I called in on business, but it does involve you as well. Not just Barret."

This certainly caught Tifa's interest. She knew Reeve would occasionally call on Barret given he was in charge of finding new energy sources for the Planet. He'd spent the last three years looking for oil fields, or other fossil fuels people could use, after all.

Fossil fuel was a long way away from Mako in terms of power, which caused many problems of its own. Mainly that a lot of machinery was now redundant and had to be completely redesigned to make use of the new fuel they were using. However, the people accepted this gratefully; a fuel that didn't rely on the Planet's very life was truly a blessing right now. So, Barret would report any oil field findings to the World Regenesis Organisation. Then the head of this, which was Reeve, would use the information to drill and gather up the fuel to help the refugees. She failed to see how she fit into all this.

"So, what do you need me for?" Tifa spoke up. Reeve grinned and rubbed at his thin black beard and moustache.

"I need you to take a seat and wait for me to finish cooking your breakfast. No use speaking to everyone on empty stomachs." He flipped a rash of bacon, causing a fresh burst of sizzling to erupt from the pan. Tifa smiled and shook her head, thinking to herself, 'Typical Reeve, always so quick-witted.' She decided to humour him and left the kitchen to find Barret and the children, letting the kitchen door swing long after her departure. Reeve couldn't help but look up from his cooking. He shook his head in the direction the fighter had disappeared in with his own found empathy, a few black strands falling dislodged from his groomed cut of hair.

"I'm sorry, Tifa," he apologised under breath before his attention returned to the noisy pan. It was then he noticed he may have slightly overdone one of the sausages. "Oh dear. Well, guess I'm having that one!" He laughed to himself and began to whistle for the remaining time he was cooking.

It was past the bar and following staircase where Tifa found the others, in the little adjoining room that was mainly used as a dining area. And it was truly a sight to behold. Marlene and Denzel were playing with Cait Sith by tossing him up in the air, his little cat-like body being tossed this way and that. She was amazed the tiny gold crown didn't fall from his head as he almost touched the ceiling, red cape flailing alongside white-gloved hands.

"Put me doon! I shouldn't be played with by wee bairns!"

His distress was ended when Denzel caught him soundly, the cat puppet's slender black tail coiling around the young boy's arm in relief. "Ahhh, aye... that's bettah. Noo, how aboot ye put me doon an' we can all–"

As the robotic cat continued his drone, Denzel and Marlene both shared an equally cheeky glance between them.

"–have a nice ti-yii-YIII-YAAAAAAAH!" Cait Sith screamed as Denzel threw him up once more to his dismay while Marlene laughed and clapped her hands. Barret reclined on the deep-red padded corner seats and smiled when he caught Tifa's eye.

"How'd ya sleep, girl? You look kinda rough," Barret voiced his concern as she plopped down beside him. While most people may have taken offence to his words, Tifa knew Barret long enough to know that while he was brash, he was also honest and meant no harm. Besides, Tifa just wasn't that kind of girl.

That didn't mean she couldn't tease him a little though.

She put on a tone of pretend hurt as Cait Sith continued his wail in the background. "You sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself."

She fought down her smile at the guilty look that flickered across his face and as Barret scratched the back of his neck, she could no longer mask it. On realising the teasing for what it was, he grinned back in relief and chuckled; a deep, throaty sound. He was about to speak when at that moment Reeve chose to carefully stride through the doorway, minus one effeminate, frilly apron. Two plates balanced precariously on his right arm while the left bore napkins draped across like a strung up pair of ghosts. His hands gripped two cups of steaming coffee.

"Here we are," Reeve declared, sliding the meals from his arm and onto the table with surprising grace, followed up by the two mugs and napkins. "Two Reeve Specials. Bon Appétit."

"Special? Don't gimme that shi–" Barret was abruptly cut off by Tifa's elbow in his side.

"Thank you, Reeve, it smells wonderful." She cast Barret a sideways glance which to him looked more like a glare. Reeve just chuckled and began to set down the cutlery Tifa wasn't even aware he carried.

'Where on earth did he have the room?' Her thoughts were answered when the WRO leader pulled a fork from his left suit sleeve and placed it on the table. She must have been openly gaping because when Reeve glanced at her, a laugh burst from his lips.

"Don't worry, they're clean," he smiled kindly, mirth reaching his eyes with a mischievous sparkle. Tifa just shook her head. They all knew Reeve to be a magician of sorts, in more ways than one with how he was able to control Cait Sith remotely. Now, however, she was almost expecting him to pull a series of knotted, coloured rags from his mouth.

"Helloooo, a LIL' HELP OVER HERE!"

The trio of adults all looked over to find a screaming Cait Sith hanging on to the ceiling pipes for dear life, Denzel and Marlene now both near crippled with laughter. Reeve quickly left the table and walked under the dangling cat puppet. As if understanding, Cait Sith let go and fell, tumbling towards Reeve. Suddenly and with a near cat-like grace, the feline snatched the sleeve of Reeve's suit, circling around his arm to hoist himself up onto the groomed man's shoulders. The children were left gaping in surprise, Marlene in awe while Denzel with impressed wonder.

"Noo then." The cat brushed the imaginary dust from his shoulders before reaching up to adjust the small crown on his head, despite the fact it hadn't appeared to have moved even the slightest inch. "You two bettae finish off yer breakfast, we have a lot o' work tae do." Reeve strode back to the table and graciously took a seat, taking note of Barret already devouring his breakfast: the ex-AVALANCHE leader stuffing bacon and eggs into his mouth with the eagerness of a half-starved man. Tifa smiled with polite reservation and unfolded her napkin to rest on her lap, gently picking up her knife and fork. She stopped just as she was about to cut into the crisp sausage.

"Wait, have Denzel and Marlene eaten yet?" she asked both Barret and Reeve at the same time. Barret looked stunned, as if he were trying to figure out how he was meant to answer with half of the plate's contents in his mouth. Thankfully, Reeve answered for him.

"Don't worry, Tifa, they both had cereal earlier."

Visibly relieved by this, Tifa finally cut into the food on her plate and popped it eagerly into her mouth. Reeve took a moment to observe her.

'Always thinking of others before herself. One day it's going to get her hurt, as much as I hate to admit.' Reeve's shoulders sank at the thought which drew Cait Sith's questioning gaze from his left shoulder.

"Come on, Marlene, let's go play hide and seek," Denzel offered and as Marlene smiled in way of agreement, the pair dashed off into the bar area. This would have given Barret a headache if he were playing with them. The bar definitely held the most cunning of hiding places. Like behind the dishwasher. Or the wine rack. Or to Barret's dismay, what he liked to call, 'The goddamn motherf***in' air vent.'

"Mmm, this is beautiful, Reeve!" Tifa praised her friend with fervence before beginning to cut into her fried egg. Barret had already finished his plate and was roughly using a napkin to brush bits of food from his coarse beard. He grabbed his coffee mug in one of his giant hands and took a mighty swig. Once finished, he looked at Reeve expectantly.

"Awright," he began with his standard, gruff boom. "What 'ave ya got fer, apparently," he gestured between himself and Tifa here, "the two of us?"

Reeve turned to the woman in question and hesitated. "I feel I should wait for you to finish before I begin. Do you mind?" he asked politely, manners impeccable. Tifa was caught in the middle of taking another bite of bacon from her fork, the utensil stuck firmly between her lips. She blinked twice before shaking her head to allow Reeve to continue.

"Very well then." He smiled a mysterious smile and leaned forward, interlocking his fingers together as he did so and resting his elbows on the table in front of him. "I've been thinking–"

Cait Sith was quick to cut in.

"Ooh, thinkin'! Thair noo, that's whit he needs ya foor!" Reeve sharply jerked the shoulder the puppet was resting on in response, causing him to crash to the floor with an ungracious, "Ooomph!"

Tifa bit back a laugh.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," he glared down at Cait Sith here where nothing could be seen of the cat apart from his pointy brown boots twitching in the air. "I've been thinking that it's time for us to really clean things up."

Barret studied him quizzically, giant hand curved around his coffee mug. "What'd ya mean?" he questioned. "I've been sendin' ya oil field locations, you're sendin' fuel and Midgar scraps to tha people of Edge to rebuild. I'd say we're cleanin' up pretty fine as is."

Reeve nodded his agreement and continued as Tifa finished the last morsel of food from her plate and began to neatly align her cutlery. "I agree, the process is going swimmingly. The people are really beginning to regain hope as well as trust back in organisations such as the WRO. But the idea I speak of isn't just regarding the area around Edge or Midgar Ruins. I'm talking on a global scale."

Reeve watched as both Barret and Tifa reacted to this: Barret by arching a colossal eyebrow while Tifa paused mid-sip of her coffee.

"Sounds dangerous," Tifa began after recovering, setting her white blend to the side and providing her full attention, russet eyes near sparkling in the sunlight that spilled in from the rear window. Now it was Reeve's turn to be taken off-guard by her figure bathed in a deep orange, hair set to burn shimmering strands of ember. The spell only lasted a moment before it was broken when she continued. "We all know the Planet is recovering, slowly but surely. You sound like you know a way to speed up the process."

Reeve mentally shook himself and focused back on the subject at hand. "I do. Or at least, theoretically." He paused for a moment, but it was a moment too long for Barret to bear, patience lost.

"Come on, Reeve, jes' spill whatever it is and let's all continue ta live already!" His gaze bore down on the man but the president of the WRO never lost his elegant composure.

"The Lifestream is still disrupted."

Barret lost his anger to confusion, but before he could ask any further questions, Reeve elaborated. "The Planet is healing the more the Lifestream is restored to its former balance. It's a delicate one that we need to monitor. I believe the complete disregard people had for this balance is what previously caused the calamity of Meteorfall. Shinra's abuse of the Lifestream was definitely a major factor, alongside Sephiroth using the Black Materia to sap its energy even further. However, this time we can prevent any similar disasters. That is, if we take care of this balance." He peered over his hands at the two ex-AVALANCHE members sitting across from him to ensure his words were sinking in.

"So, basically," Tifa paused to gather her understanding, then gave voice to it. "You want us to regulate the Lifestream and bring it back to its former balance years and years ago. So that the Planet can fully heal. Then monitor this balance to ensure nothing like Meteorfall ever happens again. … Is that right?" Tifa looked to Reeve for a sign she was correct in her understanding of it all. The well-groomed man blinked back at her with two smooth, raised brows.

"Well done, Tifa! I'm impressed you grasped it so quickly. That's exactly right."

Before Reeve could say anything else, Barret cut in, voice laced with annoyance. "Well when Tif' here explains it I understand perfectly, not from yer mouth I don't!"

Reeve uncharacteristically rubbed the back of his neck, but quickly regained his composure. "I suppose I could have explained it a little more... eloquently," he admitted.

"So this still raises the question of how we're meant ta do this. An' don't go ramblin' on me, dammit..." Barret seemed to grumble at the whole situation. Reeve nodded and made a conscious note to try and explain things more clearly.

"First of all, we need to bring the Lifestream back to its former balance. To allow the Planet to heal fully," the WRO leader continued. "Now, from what I can gather, the Lifestream can go either one of two ways to become unbalanced. It can either increase in an unusually large amount, or decrease." He quickly went on to explain further before Barret once more lost his very volatile temper. "So basically, it can have too many spirits, or souls if that's what you'd prefer to call them, or too little. From what I can tell from the Planet's scars, it has too little from all the energy we abused from it in the past."

Barret crossed his arms and leaned back, eyes narrowed in thought. "Okay, I getcha. You're sayin' it needs more souls to return ta it. So what, you're expectin' us to like..." he abruptly jumped to his feet at the thought. "Go around killin' people or summit?!"

Reeve immediately raised his hands, partly in defence and partly to calm Barret down.

"No no no, not at all! You misunderstand me!" After Barret eventually lowered himself back into his seat, Reeve let out a discreet sigh of relief. "Not people, no. We've been missing something else..."

Reeve let the unspoken answer hang in the air which Barret was in no mood for. He stamped his heavy boots on the floorboards which caused the breakfast plates to rattle and Cait Sith to fall once more. The cat wasn't seen tumbling from his chair, but he was heard with another, "Oww," followed by a, "Sometimes ah hate me life."

"Monsters."

Barret and Reeve both looked at Tifa in surprise when she suddenly spoke up.

She peered down into her coffee in contemplation. "What we've been missing is the monsters. How they increased Before Crisis and especially during Meteorfall. So..." She hesitated, but Reeve waited for her to continue with a smile while Barret looked on in disbelief that she appeared to be following the whole thing. "We need to return the souls of the monsters back to the Planet. So that will restore the balance."

She looked up once finishing and, realising they were both staring at her in rather an odd fashion, rubbed her left arm self-consciously.

"... What?" she said.

"Nothing at all, Tifa," Reeve replied, clearly delighted. "Quite the contrary. Indeed, bravo."

Barret, on the other hand, looked lost, running a hand over his black cornrow-styled hair. He took a moment to digest all of the information before finally turning to Tifa.

"So," Barret began. "Kill monsters?"

"Kill monsters," Tifa confirmed.

Barret liked straight answers.