Kat looked at the floor, her golden eyes fogging over. What had happened to her mother in the time since she'd left for school? Terry McFadden had occasionally sent a letter to her daughter at the school, but those letters had long since stopped coming. Had she finally slipped completely away into that horrible bottle of wine she'd become addicted to before Kat was sent away? And what of her brother Timothy? He'd been sent to a military academy, but Kat knew since they were sent their separate ways they wouldn't have any contact. It simply wasn't fair.
Sometimes Kat wished she wasn't born into the lap of luxury. Life was fine until Father was killed. The family outtings, expensive trips, and wonderful gifts stopped. Mother sank into a depressive mood and sought her escape in expensive bottles of alcohol. Mother couldn't deal with her children and her husband's death, so she sent them away. Whether she got better, died or drank herself into bankruptcy Kat would never know.
Kat was about to flop back and fall asleep when a knock came at her door. Thanking the Planet for an excuse to leave this dull room, she rose and answered it.
Striker stood in its frame, a smile on his face.
"Is the meeting gonna start again?" Kat asked.
Striker shook his head. "Cloud still hasn't come out his room. Anyway, Yuffie invited me to get some breakfast with her in the kitchen, and I thougt I'd ask you to come along."
Kat smiled and nodded her head, not aware that her eyes had again drifted to the muscles of his arms. "Sure."
Striker put his cute grin on full blast, linking his arm with hers. "Let's go."
The two slices popped up and Yuffie grabbed them, tossing them onto the two plates that had already been set up with scrambled eggs and sausages on the small table that was lacking chairs in the Highwind's kitchen. Yuffie leaned against the sink. Why had she wasted so much time with Reno? Sure, it had been nice to be a Turk for a few days, but it had all been a plot under that rat Rufus' command. What a fool she'd been! Did she really think she loved Reno? What a disturbing thought.
Yuffie straightened up when she heard Striker's heavy footsteps near the door. He stepped in... with Kat. Yuffie's eyes nearly popped out her head.
"Hey Yuffie!" he beamed at her. "I brought Kat along... hey! No chairs? Guess we have to eat standing up."
Yuffie's facial expression turned dangerously close to a sneer. "I only fixed two plates," she said, pointing at the obvious.
Striker went for the fridge and opened it. "That's alright," he said, pulling out another egg, two more sausages and a slice of bread. "Cook these for Kat and I'll toast the bread. We'll wait to eat when its finished."
Yuffie wanted to stick her tounge out at Striker, nearly snatching the egg and sausages from him. She started the fire up again under the pan as Striker pushed the bread into the toaster. Yuffie had her back to Kat and Striker, and concentrated on cooking the food.
"So, while we wait tell me about yourself," Striker said behind her, leaning against the counter. "We haven't had much time to talk since we've met."
Kat shrugged. "What would you like to know?"
"I dunno, just tell me about your life."
Yuffie smashed the egg against the side of the bowl with a great deal more force than neccessary. She half hazzardly dumped the egg's yolk and white into the bowl, and beat it violently with her spoon.
"Well, I grew up in Junon with my parents and my little brother. Father owned some sort of lawfirm. When I was eleven, someone shot him."
"I'm sorry, Kat. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want."
"It's alright. My mother started drinking too much, and she got really depressed. We all were... but I think she took it the worst. She sent me to a boarding school in Midgar and my nine year old brother to a military academy in Junon when I was 12."
"That's terrible, Kat. I know you must miss them."
Yuffie splashed the beaten egg into the hot pan, grease splattering as it sizzled. Striker never bothered to ask her about her life. She put the sausages in the pan as well to warm them. Why was she making Kat's breakfast anyway? The spoiled wench was well enough able to do it her damn self.
"What was the boarding school like?"
"I didn't make very many friends. All the girls there were extremely snotty, and although I was well to do, my parents always taught me that type of attitude and behavior wasn't acceptable. Apparently these girls hadn't gotten the lesson."
"That why you ran away?"
"Amoung other things, yes. I didn't like that place to begin with. It was too strict and had too many rules. Then again, it was awfully easy to break those rules and get into mischeif. The few friends I managed to make were always sneaking out and going to wild parties in Midgar. Some of them were even bold enough to go down into the slums."
Yuffie rolled her eyes, using her spatula to make sure the sausages didn't slide down into the cooking scramble eggs. Kat certainly was running her mouth off.
The toast popped, and Striker lept for it, catching it in his hands. "Got it!" he cheered.
Yuffie shook her head, scooping the finished eggs and sausage onto Kat's plate. She ought to stop thinking this way. After all, Kat was her friend. She'd only met her yesterday, but Kat trusted her more now than probably anyone else. Wasn't her fault if Striker was a natural flirt.
Yuffie turned and watched as Kat giggled, batting her eyelashes. Or was it? She threw the plate on the table.
"It's ready."
Kat looked at her and smiled. "Thanks."
Striker gave Yuffie a thumbs up as he grabbed his fork and speared his food.
Yuffie buttered her toast. "So," she began, her voice hinting pending sarcasm. "Why don't you spend the next fifteen minutes telling *your* life story, Striker?"
Striker swallowed his food and grinned at her. "Nah, I'd much rather hear about you."
Yuffie was caught off guard. She nearly choked on a piece of toast but caught herself. "Yeah... um..."
Kat moved a bit closer to Striker. She smilled up at him.
Yuffie gritted her teeth. She saw she was going to have a bit of trouble getting Striker.
Especially Aeris. Yes, that green eyed bitch would suffer the worst. Her torture would be absolutely unreal! After summoning Holy and nearly ruining her plans, then having the nerve to return the life, she'd have to pay. Jenova always hated her.
Jenova turned her sight to Aeris, who was in her room with a black haired SOLDIER that also contained her cells. She wondered if she could bring him to some sort of use as well. She had been unaware of his presence until recently. He certainly seemed strong enough. She'd find a use for him.
She turned back to Sephiroth. That awful Wutain Cetra crossbreed was now facing Sephiroth, gently touching his face. Jenova made a face. Why did it seem like these potentially powerful men with her cells were after these wretched Cetra! She wondered if she hated Cetra and Human hybrids worse then full blooded Cetras. Both races were horribly repulsive to her.
Jenova continued to watch Sephiroth with her mind. She'd never really taken the time to notice his outer beauty before. So handsome, tall, regal... powerful muscles, long silver hair... and those gorgeous, bright, mako green eyes. Jenova wished she'd find a mate as wonderful as he....
Jenova snapped her fingers.
Hojo stopped what he was doing and turned to her. "What is it, Beautiful One?"
Jenova had missed the nickname she'd ordinarily label disgusting and turned to Hojo, her eyes bright and inventive. "I've got it," She said. "I've got my plan. Why did I never think of this before?"
"What?" Hojo asked. "What are you going to do?"
Jenova ran her hand through her soft brown hair and smiled. "I'm going to mate with Sephiroth."
"Pretty, isn't it? Been a while since I've taken the time to look out the window for something other than a target."
Vincent turned to see Tseng standing next to him, his hands folded behind his back. He kept his eyes foward and didn't look back at Vincent, just continued to stare out the window. "A long while."
Vincent studied the Turk for a moment longer before looking back out the window. "I wasn't looking at anything out there," he finally said.
Tseng looked at him. "What do you mean? You've been staring out that window probably since we left that room."
Vincent continued looking out the window. "No. I've been staring in that direction, but that doesn't mean I've been admiring the scenery."
Tseng had enough of Vincent's games. "Then what are you doing," he asked.
Vincent's breath didn't seem to exsist. "I was looking at a lot of other things," he said. "When you've sinned as much as I, you see alot of things in your mind..."
Tseng bristled inside. "I've sinned quite alot as well," he said. "But I can still see the sky out there."
Vincent looked at Tseng, his blood red eyes boring into Tseng's black ones. "You've sinned by killing people," he said. "So who hasn't? I've sinned by failing the one I loved..."
Tseng just looked at him.
"All I see is her face," Vincent said quietly. "Maybe one day I'll find her...."
Tseng was tired of Vincent's dark and confusing talk. Obviously attempting to make conversation with this guy had been a mistake.
"I beileve I'll go to the deck now," he said, turning to leave. He recieved not farewell from Vincent.
Tseng made his way up the steps to the deck opening the door only to find Tayeko and Sephiroth holding each other close. They immediately fell apart and Tseng turned around.
"Perhaps I should come up here later," he said.
Tayeko laughed. "No, no, come over here Tseng. It's alright."
Tseng shrugged and walked over to the rail, ignoring the smoldering look he recieved from Sephiroth. He stood next to Tayeko.
"How long has it been?" he asked.
"Almost eleven years," she said.
Tseng looked at Sephiroth. "Then how old does that make you?"
"Twenty eight and Twenty four," Tayeko answered when it was obvious Sephiroth was not going to.
Tseng nodded. "Sephiroth is pushing thirty."
Tayeko laughed, but Sephiroth did not.
Tseng shrugged. "I still don't understand. How did you survive... both of you?"
Tayeko felt Sephiroth stiffen next to her at the mention of their deaths, but she decided to answer the question anyway.
"Well, the Planet brought us, and Aeris as well back to life. She said she needed us to help her fight a coming evil, though we don't know what it is yet."
Tseng shrugged. "I don't know anything about all this Planet talk."
Tayeko laughed. "Neither do I, really." She smiled. "So, Mr. Tseng, how old does this make YOU?"
Tseng's face grew serious. "Well, I don't see how that matters..."
Tayeko pushed a finger in his chest. "Come on! You made Sephiroth of all people cough up his age. You have to tell!"
"Well, I didn't really make Sephiroth tell his age, you sort of volunteered that information for him..."
"Tseng!"
"Fine fine!" Tseng kept his voice barely a shout. "I'm 35."
Sephiroth's eyebrows went up unimpressed.
"Gee," Tayeko said. "I always thought you wer much older."
Tseng ignored the playful insult hidden in that comment. "I started training for the Turks at seventeen and I was officially in at eighteen. I was nineteen when I got placed with you."
Tayeko smiled. "When I was younger, Sephiroth always seemed so much older than me too," Tayeko said. "I guess that's how it is with kids. When we were teens, the age gap didn't exsist."
Tseng snickered in a way that made Sephiroth wish Tayeko would've rephrased that.
"I mean, Sephiroth was almost twelve when I was brought to Shin-Ra," Tayeko continued. "But, four years really isn't a big difference."
Tseng was staring out at the sky. "Neither is seventeen years," he said.
"Huh?"
Tseng shook his head and looked at her. "Oh... nothing."
Tayeko cocked an eyebrow. "Really. Have you got a crush on a younger woman, Tseng?"
Tseng thought quickly about Aeris, who he was referring to. He'd started going after her shortly after he brought Tayeko to Shin-Ra. Aeris was only about six at the time, but years later things became much different.
"No, no..." he sighed. No point in griping over Aeris. She was too young for him and she was in love with Zack anyway.
Tayeko shrugged and looked back at the sky. "Sephiroth, think of all the girls you know that are seventeen years younger than Tseng."
Sephiroth was brooding, not sure how much longer he wanted Tseng out here. His presence was becoming a nuisance.
He was saved when Cid burst through the door, smoke traveling with him.
"Get in the conference room, goddamnit!" He shouted. "Cloud finally got up off his sorry ass and decided to hold the goddamned meeting. Let's go!"
Tayeko sighed and the three quietly followed Cid inside to the conference room, unsure of what to expect.
"Hojo, this plan could never work better. I've already activated my cells which lay in the "failure's" mind. And why do you label him a failure? When you learn what he is going to do, you will be more than amazed. I'm slowly taking Strife's mind. I'm going to make him take over this filthy Planet. I'm going to use him to bring that bitch to her knees!"
Hojo's eyes were bright. "Then what?"
Jenova licked her lips. "Cloud's going to turn on his friends. He's going to do almost exactly what he hates Sephiroth for doing five years ago. I'm going to make him set up a terrible, tyrannical rule on this Planet!"
"Continue."
Jenova danced around the room as if she were on a high. "Then you can breed your your Sephiroth/Cetra army. Use the green eyed bitch to find your Promised Land, and do it fast, because I'm going to kill her myself this time.
"When Aeris gives up the Promised Land, you and Cloud will rule the earth. But I've got another plan of my own. One that will give me more power than you'd ever believe."
"What, what?"
"I'm going to mate with Sephiroth," she said.
Hojo looked at her strangly. "You said that before. Don't you consider him your son?"
"Ha, only when it's convient," she said. "He's really *your* son, but I only say he's mine. He's got my cells, but so what?"
"Right," Hojo agreed.
"Anyway, I'm going to mate with him," Jenova said. "I'm going to create my own children. Imagine having me creating offspring with Sephiroth! How powerful they would be! I'd take over this entire universe!"
"Aren't you going a bit far with this?" Hojo pointed out. "How do you propose to rule an entire universe?"
Jenova pressed her hands together. "I'll start here. The rule you and Strife will establish will make all these worthless humans slaves. We'll link to other planets through wormholes. I'll control all of them! I'll rule all of them! If my people on my home planet only knew what I am to become! My parents would roll over in their graves!"
Hojo stared at her. "Parents? Home planet?"
Jenova snickered. "I'll explain some other time."
"Alright," he said, getting the group's attention. "First thing's first. Tifa's pregnant. Zack's the father. I don't want to hear anyone talking about it. You know all you need to know."
Silence.
"Right. Now, We've got a problem. We've been made aware that Jenova and Hojo are alive and its obvious they're up to something. Jenova's seemed to have taken on some sort of human form, but I didn't get more than a two second glance at her before she vanished from the room. She must've taken up sorcery.
"Anyway, we've got to find them. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that she's ane extremely large threat to the Planet. I just don't know where to start."
"Can't you, or maybe Sephiroth or Zack feel anything from her?" Aeris asked. "You all have her cells."
"I don't feel a damn thing," Zack said. "Never did. I don't know a thing about all this Jenova jargon."
"I only feel her when she is in close promixity, when she's in my head or when she's trying to talk to me," Sephiroth said.
Cloud glowered at Sephiroth. "Whatever. I don't feel anything either."
"She's got the upper hand because she can feel you, but you can't feel her," Vincent said. "She probably knows right now where this airship is, just because Cloud, Sephiroth, and Zack are on it. Yet you three have no idea of where she is."
"Goddamnit," Cid said, pulling out another cigarette.
"What if we searched high and low for her?" Tseng suggested. "We can split up."
"That's too dangerous right now," Striker said. "She'll kill off those of us she doesn't need."
"You're right," Cloud said. "I honestly don't know what to do."
"What if we wait?" Sephiroth said.
Barret stared at him. "Wait for what?"
"Wait for her to come to us. She's bound to do it. Only, we'll be ready for her."
Cloud touched his chin and looked at his former enemy. "I guess that's a decent idea."
"Well, where are we gonna wait?" Yuffie asked. "I'm sick of flying in this junky airship."
Cid gave her a dirty look.
Cloud thought for a moment. "The beach house in Costa Del Sol?"
"The beach house was bombed," Tifa reminded him in a miserable voice.
"Right..." Cloud mumbled. "Um... We can all stay at Elmyra's in Kalm."
"I don't know that Elmyra will have enough room for all of us," Aeris pointed out.
"Well damnit, we'll have to figure something out then!" Cloud snapped. "Cid, go tell your pilot we're going to Kalm."
Cid shrugged then nodded. "To Kalm we go!"
Cloud turned away from the group. "Dismissed."
Everyone began filing out of the conference room save Tifa. She lingered behind until the last left, then stared at Cloud's back.
Cloud instinctively turned around and faced her. He looked into her eyes with something Tifa just couldn't understand.
"Cloud...?"
Cloud sighed and looked at the floor.
"Cloud... please hold me."
Cloud looked back at Tifa and shook his head. Her eyes filled with tears.
"Please, Cloud. I love you."
Cloud looked back at the floor. "Tifa... we're going to Kalm, and we'll be there pretty damn soon considering we took off from Midgar. You'd better get ready."
Tifa shook her head almost horrorfully and ran out the conference room, tears spilling from her eyes. When she got to her room, she couldn't pack her things until she spent twenty minutes crying on her bed.
Rufus punched the mirror so hard the glass shattered, and Dark Nation jumped up and growled. Rufus frowned as the glass fell all over the vanity's desk. He'd have to pay for it when he left.
The phone rang, and Rufus snatched if off the hook. "Yes?!"
"Mr. President," SOLDIER's General Mitchell came. "I have a report for you."
"Get on with it!" Rufus screamed.
"Sir, the building is still completely inaccessible. There seems to be some strange, extremely violent and powerful monsters lurking inside and around the building, preventing SOLDIER from getting in. It's also apparent that everyone that was still inside the building after you left is dead."
Rufus bristled for a moment. "Damnit! Have you heard from the the Turks?"
"No, Sir."
"Goddamnit!" Rufus slammed the receiver down, only to have it ring again a few seconds later. He snatched the phone up.
"What the hell now?!"
The hotel clerk was scared. "S,sir... a, a, M,miss S-s-scarlet is here to s,see you."
Rufus rolled his eyes. "Send her up!" He hung the phone up.
A few minutes later a bellhop escorted Scarlet to Rufus' room. She rushed in out of breath and frantic.
"What the hell's the matter with you?" Rufus demanded. "You look a fucking mess."
Scarlet held back the urge to spit on the pompous pretty boy. "Rufus, AVALANCHE got away. They destroyed the Proud Clod 2 and Heideggar is dead. Not that I care about him, but they destroyed the Proud Clod 2. I barely escaped Cloud's choke hold. They got away!"
"What?!" Rufus screamed. He lept up from his chair, his silk robe flowing behind him as he paced about the room. "They got away?! How could you let this happen?!"
"Look at me, you fool!" Scarlet shouted. "They were too strong, too many of them! I nearly died!"
"You should have!" Rufus yelled. "Spare me of one less idiot around here."
Scarlet lifted a vase that was sitting on the vanity, prepared to launch it at Rufus' head, but he whirled around and waved his finger in her face.
"I wouldn't do that, Scarlet." Rufus warned. "If you don't put that damned thing down right now, you *will* be dead."
Scarlet gave him a look that would have withered flowers and slowly replaced the vase. She headed for the door.
"I'm going to check myself into a hospital, since I'm nearly dying from my wounds anyway," she said. "I'll be in touch."
Rufus merely gave her a wave of his hand as she left. He had more important things to worry about now. For one, not only was Hojo and Jenova killing his employees and ruining his company, but now AVALANCHE, with their crew now doubled in size, were out on the loose, probably looking for him.
Yes, he had trouble.
"So we left Shin-Ra for good."
"I guess its for the best," Rude said from where he sat on his bed, Elena sitting next to him. "Things were getting out hand."
"Yeah..." Reno agreed drunkily.
"Reno, why'd you do it?"
Reno lolled his head to the side to look at Rude. "What do ya mean, buddy?"
"I mean, why did you leave Shin-Ra? It wasn't really our decision. I kinda figured Tseng wasn't gonna stay with us much longer, I could tell by the way he was acting. But you kinda just sprang it on us when you announced it to Rufus and drove off."
"Yeah, I bet he's pretty pissed."
"Why'd you do it?"
Reno shrugged. "I dunno."
"Come on Reno, I know you're not that drunk," Rude said. "I know part of it was because of the Jenova and Hojo thing, but I knew even that wouldn't ordinarily pull you away from Rufus' salary."
"Hey, Turks aren't stupid, Rude-"
"Don't give me that crap, Reno. You did it because of Yuffie."
Reno blinked. He hadn't known Rude was that smart. His heart felt a twinge at the thought of Yuffie.
"Nah..."
"Whatever, Reno. You really did care about her, didn't you? You didn't realize it until it was too late."
"Oh!" Elena squealed. This is just like that movie, She's All That!"
Reno ignored Elena. "Well... Yuffie's one of the good guys. And we talked... I told her I only did the bad stuff cause we were getting paid the most for it. I told her we weren't part of Shin-Ra. I even told her we'd work for AVALANCHE if they paid more."
Rude's eyebrow shot up above his sunglasses. "So is that what you've got planned? You're going to make us work for AVALANCHE?"
Reno laughed, the drunkness showing again. "Not unless they pay us a shitload of gil."
Rude shook his head and chuckled.
Elena looked down. "I wonder what Tseng's doing now," she thought aloud.
"Oh, brother," Reno muttered. "Not this Tseng stuff again. You're sprung on him."
Rude looked at Reno. "Just like you're sprung on Yuffie?"
"And like you're sprung on Tifa," Reno shot back. "Now shut up. I'm going to sleep." He rolled over with his back to them.
"I guess I'll go to sleep too," Elena said, getting up and walking to her bed. "Maybe I'll see Tseng in my dreams."
Rude shook his head as he fell back and lay in bed. Was he the only one of this team with any sense?