Chapter 14: Back to Normalcy

Vincent awoke.

He realized he was immersed in fluid, fully clothed, and was in some sort of facility.

He could also see a familiar face on the outside.

She was missing a hand.

And an eye.

"Well, look who's awake," Shalua greeted.

Vincent began to move.

"Hold on," she assured him. "I'll release you."

MINUTES LATER….

Shalua had emptied the tube, released Vincent, and dried him off with a heat fan.

"Where am I?" Vincent inquired.

"Safe inside the WRO headquarters," Shalua replied. "You girlfriend and I carried you back here from Midgar after Captain Mast shot you. I must say you almost didn't make it."

"It didn't happen," Vincent muttered.

"It most definitely did," Shalua insisted. "Just because we're girls doesn't mean we can't carry you."

"I didn't mean that," Vincent dismissed. "Chaos didn't happen."

"Chaos?" Shalua replied skeptically. "Your body harbors the Chaos gene?"

"It's supposed to," Vincent replied. "But it didn't happen. I should have killed Captain Mast. But it almost became the other way around. Maybe being dipped had something to do with it."

"Dipped?" she asked.

"Long story," he informed her.

"Why don't you ask your girlfriend?" she suggested. "In her research thesis, The Planet's Pulse, she refers to Chaos as one of the sentient xenoforms residing among us. However, the theories that she presented in her work were so abstract and complex, nobody took her seriously."

Just then, the sliding doors opened, and Reeve entered the room.

"Vincent!" he exclaimed. "Have you recovered already?"

"How long has it been?" Vincent asked.

"A week," Reeve answered.

"What did I miss?"

"A nine-year-old girl broke into the National Museum and stole the Chronus Wand," Reeve answered. "Other than that, nothing."

"Has Tifa done anything about it?" Vincent asked.

"I can't reach her," Reeve answered.

The doors opened again, and in walked another familiar face.

"Sage!" Reeve exclaimed. "How did you get here?"

"I'm happy to see you, too, dad," Sage replied sarcastically.

"And why are you wearing a crop top and skinny jeans?" he demanded.

"I'm a teenage girl," she replied.

"You were hoping to get to Midgar and see Zack, weren't you?" Reeve accused. "And get into his pants?"

"That wasn't the plan," Sage replied. "But if it happens, it happens."

"Over my dead body," Reeve snapped. "He's twenty-seven, you're fourteen. And how did you get here?"

He got his answer when the door opened again.

"Reeve!" Parker exclaimed.

"Parker!" Reeve exclaimed in similar fashion as he ran over to his husband and kissed him. "What brought you here?"

"Downings," Parker replied. "Again."

"Did they threaten you?" Reeve asked.

"Nah," Sage replied. "But they protested outside our house again."

The door opened again, and, this time, Vincent saw the person he had been waiting to see.

"Vincent!" Lucrecia squealed before running into his arms.

THAT NIGHT…

"You know what's funny?" Lucrecia asked as rested her head on Vincent's bare chest. "I kind of like the underground base better."

"This is basically a luxury penthouse they put us in," he pointed out.

The WRO Headquarters was a five-story building between Kalm and New Junon. It was a former Shinra field office building; the "luxury penthouse" they were staying in was actually the former president's office; a painted picture of Rufus still hung on the wall.

"I know," she agreed as she kissed his bare chest. "But the other place felt more secure."

It was now late at night, and both Vincent and Lucrecia had wanted some alone time. They had both stripped to their underwear; Vincent was in his boxers, while Lucrecia was braless and in a pair of very cheeky panties.

And yet, Vincent was staring at the ceiling.

"What's on your mind?" she inquired as she stroked his hair.

"Chaos," he replied.

"Chaos?" Lucrecia asked skeptically.

"You did a research thesis," Vincent said. "What did you find?"

"We're half naked and you're thinking about my thesis?" Lucrecia asked. "I knew chicks with brains were a turn-on."

"I spent a week in that tube because Chaos didn't happen," he clarified. "And I need to know why."

"Oh," she said, in a somewhat disappointed tone of voice.

"Did it say anything about being dipped in the Lifestream?" Vincent asked.

"I didn't know that was possible when I wrote it," she replied. "But if I had to guess, you still have the genes, though your body might be a little more resistant. Give it time, and Chaos could break out of its shell."

"I knew I was smart to fall for a science geek," he sighed.

"Did you just call me a geek?" she inquired.

"Yes," he replied sheepishly.

"So you are attracted to my brain!" Lucrecia announced with a smile.

"Yes," Vincent admitted.

"Goodbye, panties!" she announced.

MEANWHILE…

At their home in Rocket Town, Cid and Shera were sitting out back, writing out the wedding invitations.

Cid picked up one, and his eyes widened.

It read: Mr. Barret Wallace and Mrs. Jessica Raspberry Wallace.

"So we're inviting Jessie?" Cid asked.

"Of course," Shera replied. "We can't invite Barret without her. Besides, we want her to have one last good time before she spends the rest of her life in jail."

"Are you sure she's guilty?" Cid asked.

"One hundred and ten percent," Shera replied. "You?"

"I wouldn't say a hundred and ten percent," Cid answered. "But I'm sure as I'm sure of anything else."

For a while, there was silence as they sealed envelope after envelope, writing address after address, licking stamp after stamp.

"She may get arrested at the wedding," Cid sighed.

"I'm aware," Shera replied as she wrote another address down. "It would be a memorable end to it, don't you think?"

"Don't you think that's bad?" Cid sighed.

Shera stopped writing the address. She looked up at the sky, and hesitated.

Then she spoke.

"I think I have to go to the bathroom," she replied. "Bad."

Cid groaned; his fiancée had a habit of holding conversations with him while using the toilet; much like Rufus Shinra.

Not again! he thought.

TWO MINUTES LATER…

Cid stood with his back turned to his fiancée, facing the bathroom door.

Shera sat on the toilet with her pants and panties at her ankles, facing her fiancé.

"I suppose this means I'll need to invite her to the bachelorette party," she sighed.

"Oh yeah," Cid groaned. "The bachelorette party."

Shera slightly smacked her bare knees. Cid had been wary of the bachelorette party ever since she announced it. Her idea was not something he had expected from her.

"Who's coming, anyway?" he asked.

"Elena's a yes," Shera replied. "Our Elena, that is. Cissnei's a maybe. Lucrecia's a maybe. Tifa's a definite no."

"I'm not surprised," Cid replied. "Given the nature of said party."

"Okay, so it's hedonistic," Shera admitted. "But I'm only getting married once!"

"Getting naked with other women on a nude beach and fooling around with tentacle sex toys in front of each other?"

He was baffled where Shera could come up with an idea like that; she was usually the geeky clean girl.

"We won't be kissing each other!" Shera insisted. "We might hold each others' hands, but we won't kiss!"

"I still don't like it," Cid admitted.

"It's sharing a personal intimate moment with your best gal pals!" Shera protested. "One last hurrah before I'm married."

"It's borderline cheating," Cid sighed.

"And yet it's okay for men to go to strip clubs and fondle the dancers for bachelor parties?" Shera retorted. "At least I won't be touching any men, or even getting a lap dance!"

"You have a point," he said. "But can you please not bring that up again? I'm trying to put it out of my mind."

"Suit yourself," Shera agreed in a monotone.

She then looked at the ceiling.

I know he'll go to a strip club at his bachelor party and get a lapdance, and possibly touch another woman's areolas, she thought. If he's allowed to do that without having coitus...

"Didn't Jeri Lyons have her fiancé leave her over something like that?" Cid asked, referring to the pop star.

"Jeri Lyons totally rules!" Shera replied enthusiastically.

Cid's ears were then filled with an overtly loud flatulence sound (causing Shera's face to display a surprised look at the sound she had made) before he heard a splash.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Cid muttered as he lit a joint. "What the fuck did you eat?!"

"Okay, we'll start by including Jessie, Shera stated. "We'll try to keep her from getting arrested until the reception's almost over. Has Cissnei determined it was indeed one of us who freed Sephiroth?"

"Not yet," Cid replied as he turned around to face his fiancée. "But I'm expecting she will any day now. And when she does-"

"Cid?" requested Shera. "A little privacy, please?"

Cid sighed again as he turned around again.