"…Harder."
         Reeve grunted an affirmative and did as he was told. To hear Reno gasp this single word, and then to hear him moan louder with each of his newly compliant thrusts, gave Reeve a euphoric burst of pleasure and sent even more of his blood racing to where he currently needed it most.
         They were on the 66th Floor of the ruined Shinra Building. This was the first time they had seen each other in the three months since the Turks had regrouped, and, needless to say, their precious time together was not going to waste. This impromptu tour of their old stomping grounds was Reeve's idea; what they did once they got there was, of course, Reno's. Hands now pressed against the chipped and scratched surface of the Shinra executives' old meeting table, Reno laughed through his panting as a thoroughly spent Reeve collapsed against the Turk's sweaty back.
         "First Scarlet's office, and now here," said Reeve, gently nuzzling Reno's neck. "Satisfied?"
         "For now. You?"
         "I could do with a trip to Heidegger's office later on," Reeve chuckled, "but I'm fine for the time being."
         "All right," Reno replied with a grin, as Reeve peeled himself away. The redhead picked up one of the towels they had found stored away in the 64th floor gym and wiped himself with it, looking down at the floor.
         "Geez, we sure made a mess this time, didn't we. Wonder who used to sit in this spot."
         "Rufus," replied Reeve as he buttoned his shirt. "Which is appropriate, since we can't get up to his old office."
         "Heh. So where to next?"
         "The windows on this floor should be accessible. I want to see how the view from them has changed."
         "All right. Ready when you are."

         These windows were completely devoid of glass, as they had been ever since the shockwave from the Sister Ray's firing had shattered them. Reeve stared out at the expanse below them, taking an occasional drag from his cigarette. Midgar's plates stood in ruination, with large gaping holes randomly poking through. Out of all the buildings he could see, only one or two of the taller ones still stood, while the rest were nothing more than rubble. Several times, Reeve caught himself shaking his head in resignation as he took in this bitter landscape.
         "Oh, by the way, Tseng sends his thanks for the WRO's help the other day—you know, with the salvage team," said Reno, who leaned against the wall behind Reeve. It was still strange to hear Reno talking about Tseng these days, even after meeting the resurrected Turk leader for himself.
         "Not a problem. Did Tseng and Rude find what they were looking for?"
         "A filing cabinet half-full of Jenova Project documents, about a dozen data disks, and one hard drive. Anything else that may have been useful was completely destroyed."
         "Well, should he need anything else, he can just let me know. If it's any more Shinra documents, however, my terms remain unchanged."
         "That you get duplicates of any documents found?"
         "Yes. Of course, that includes everything recovered during this most recent excursion of his."
         "No problem. I'll see to it personally."
         Reeve looked back at Reno and gave him a grateful smile. "If you insist."
         "I'll do anything for you, Reeve," said Reno, peeling himself away from the wall to approach his lover. "You must know that by now."
         Reaching over to stroke Reno's face, Reeve replied, "I do, and that's why I—"
         He found himself interrupted by a loud, long creaking sound.
         "What's that?" Reno asked, suddenly alert. "The building settling?"
         "I don't think so. We're not alone."
         "Who else could be here?" Reno whispered. "I thought this place was designated as off-limits to trespassers."
         "It is, and we should be the only ones here right now. Do you want to go check it out?"
         Reno unhooked the Electro-Prod from his belt and extended it. "Sure thing. Maybe you'll finally get a chance to use that fancy new gun of yours."
         "Heh," Reeve smirked. This "fancy new gun" was a custom-made compact sniper model nicknamed Asphodel. Not long after Reno had started working at the Healin Lodge, Reeve had finally managed to track down the gunsmith who had made Foxglove, the weapon which Rufus had used to kill the elder Tseng Kawaguchi. During a visit to Rocket Town, Reeve had asked the gunsmith to destroy Foxglove and make him a new weapon from it, which is how Asphodel was crafted. When he went to pick it up, Vincent, who was in town visiting Cid and Shera at the time, was so impressed by the results that he commissioned the same gunsmith to create a special rifle for himself. As Reeve drew out Asphodel, he wondered how the work on this new rifle, Cerberus, was coming along.
         "Let's go. And be careful."

         The 67th floor, which used to house part of Shinra's Science Department, was darker than most of the other floors they had seen that day, but neither of them dared to turn on their flashlights. Reeve, who knew the entire layout of this floor by heart, felt around for Reno's hand, then led him through debris-strewn hallways toward the main storage area, from which he believed the sound had come from. His eyes had grown accustomed to the dark by this point, and they constantly flitted from side to side, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly, just as they passed the caved-in Sample Maintenance office, he felt Reno tug him back.
         "What's wrong?" Reeve whispered.
         "Look ahead of you," Reno whispered back. Reeve did as Reno requested and saw two faint, but unmistakably humanoid shadows against a stack toppled wooden crates in the storage area ahead. Reeve got down on his haunches beside Reno, who had pressed himself up against the wall, and listened. For a moment, no sound came from the room other than a couple of slight rustles, as from shifting feet. Then, the owner of one of the shadows spoke.
         "So it seems that Mother was here at one point, but she is no longer."
         "That much was obvious from the start," the second sighed. "What I find surprising is that not even a tiny bit of her remains here."
         "And even a tiny bit would be enough?"
         "To begin our revenge, it would be plenty."
         Reeve pondered this conversation. He recalled that Sephiroth had usually referred to Jenova as his "Mother", and wondered if the two shadows now in the room where she was once contained had anything to do with him. Naturally, it was not a prospect that sat well with him, but at the same time…
         "Reno," he whispered, "we have to stop them. Now."
         "You know who they are?"
         "I only have a vague idea, and a bad feeling."
         "Yeah, same here. Let's do it."
         Cautiously, they crept into the storage area. Standing before Jenova's old stasis chamber, and lit from above by cracks in the ceiling, were two figures dressed entirely in black. The one on the left had long silver hair and carried some sort of rifle in one hand, while the other's shorter, but similarly colored, hair was spiked all over, like a porcupine's back. As Reeve and Reno settled into position, this second one suddenly said, "Yazoo, we have company."
         "I know, Ziv. They've been watching us for awhile, haven't they?"
         "Not like it would do them any good," Ziv said, suddenly whirling around and tossing a dagger toward Reeve's head. He ducked in the nick of time, and quickly fired off his gun in retaliation, but only managed to graze Ziv's arm. The dagger, which was attached to some sort of chain, snapped back into Ziv's hand.
         "You're the President's men," Ziv said. "Did he send you?"
         "No," Reeve replied, keeping Asphodel leveled at the two. "What are you doing here? This place is off-limits to unauthorized—"
         Two blades shot forward, each wedging themselves in the crate behind Reeve, one at each side. Reno froze where he was as Reeve did the same. Directly in front of the latter, Ziv stood, chains connecting the blades at each of his wrists. He retracted the knives once more.
         "We have no time to follow rules and regulations. We only wish to see our Mother again."
         "…Jenova?" Reeve asked.
         "That is what some have called her, yes," Yazoo replied, raising his rifle. "Now leave us alone."
         "Fuck no," said Reno, slipping forward and knocking Yazoo's rifle with his nightstick, causing the silver-haired man to fire into the ceiling. "You've gotta be crazy if you think we're letting you out of here alive."
         "Reno, behind you!" Reeve shouted as he noticed Ziv's advance upon the redhead. Reno managed to dodge the daggers as they snapped forward, and elbowed Yazoo in the jaw while he was at it. Yazoo shook off the attack and fired his rifle at Reno; Reeve met him with shots of his own, one of which found their mark. Ziv let loose his daggers, smashing the already precariously tilted pipes above them. Reeve and Reno scrambled away from the falling pipes, just managing to get clear of them.
         "What now?" Reno asked as he caught his breath.
         "63rd floor security armory," Reeve replied, panting a little himself as he briskly made his way toward the stairs. "There should be something there we can use. Our weapons alone aren't going to be sufficient to handle these guys."
         "Yeah."
         "Just tell me one thing. When Tseng and Rude carried out their investigations the other day, did they find any Jenova cells?"
         "Not that I know of."
         "All right." A feeling deep in Reeve's gut told him that this answer would be either a blessing or a curse. He shot a quick glance behind him; the two silver-haired men were nowhere to be seen.

         When Reeve and Reno made it down to the 63rd floor, they were met with a darkness that was as black and treacherous as the 67th. Broken up into several small storage rooms, the old Shinra Building security armory was an easy place for the average visitor to get lost in, but once again, Reeve found that he could navigate his way through the darkness with few concerns about bumping into walls. Running into other, more unexpected things, however, was a likelihood that didn't sit well with him. Finally, he found the door he wanted and pulled it open. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied a glint of silver, which then moved.
         "So this is where you've gone. Too bad you won't find anything useful."
         A gunshot rang out, and Reeve felt himself being yanked to one side. Reno's voice whispered, "Damn, if I knew we'd be fighting, I would've brought along some night vision goggles. Think we'll find any in storage?"
         "If we had the luxury of time, perhaps. The door at the end of this hall must be closed. If we can get it open, we should get some natural light from the windows."
         "Can we get there?"
         "Don't know."
         A second shot sounded, and once again, they scrambled out of the way. To his left, Reeve heard Yazoo's bullet graze the metal wall.
         "Sit tight," Reno said, and Reeve heard a slight rustling.
         "Reno!" he hissed under his breath. "I thought we agreed! No materia!"
         "Since when were bolt plumes 'materia'?"
         From further up the hall, Yazoo sighed audibly. "I hate wasting bullets like this. When are you two going to see the futility in attempting to stop us?"
         "Excuse me?" Reno shot back. The hallway suddenly flooded with harsh fluorescent light, and the surrounding steel walls crackled with electricity. Reno was kneeling next to Reeve, a rapidly disintegrating bolt plume between his hands, palms flat against the smooth floor. Not wasting any time, Reeve quickly pulled out his gun and fired twice: once at Yazoo, and once at the locking mechanism on the door at the far end of the hallway. Both shots met their mark, though the first was a bit further off than Reeve would've liked. Sunlight flooded the hallway as Yazoo clutched his injured left shoulder, loosening his grip on the silver rifle.
         "What happened to your partner?" Reeve asked as he started toward Yazoo, but got his answer before the latter said a word as a steel chain wound around his arms and torso. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed Ziv, locked blade-to-nightstick with Reno.
         Dammit, Reeve swore to himself, struggling to free himself from the tightly-wound chain. Then, from out of the corner of his eye, he saw a hint of a smirk on Ziv's face.
         Suddenly, Reeve was propelled past the injured Yazoo, through one of the already broken windows beyond. He told himself to stop struggling now that he was hanging in midair, but his body wouldn't listen. From above him, he could hear Reno demanding for Reeve's release.
         "Pull him back up and let him go, you bastard!"
         "What was that? Let him go?"
         "No, pull—"
         The chain suddenly retreated, and Reeve found himself free, and in free fall. From above him, he heard Reno's furious scream. Too terrified to do so himself, Reeve briefly eyed the detritus below him, wondering if there was any way he'd be able to spare himself, but not keeping his hopes up. He pinched his eyes shut, only to open them again when he felt himself no longer falling, but floating.
         Is this was the Lifestream feels like? he thought.
         "Reeve," he heard a familiar, gravely voice say, as something warm, furry, and slightly wet touched his palm, "are you all right?"
         He opened his eyes to see an old friend standing alongside him, nudging at his hand with his snout. "Nanaki?" he whispered. "You mean I'm not dead?"
         "I should hope not, otherwise we'd be in serious trouble."
         "But how…" Reeve replied, struggling to get to his feet but finding that he remained suspended about a foot off of the ground.
         Nanaki chuckled and tossed his head to reveal an unfamiliar green orb slotted on the headdress band beneath his shaggy mane; it was linked to a more recognizable All materia. "I found this 'Float' materia while traveling through the Corel Desert."
         "So I see, but I thought we all agreed that—"
         "Yes, well, we did test it out when we first found it, and today, there was nothing else I could do to save you."
         "'We'?"
         Nanaki nodded and looked past Reeve, who turned around. Standing there behind him was a tall young man dressed only in rough-hewn pants who bore a striking resemblance to Reno; standing on either side of this man was a grey beast with feathered headdresses, tattoos, and flames on the ends of their tails. Despite this strange sight, it was at that moment that he remembered the battle on the upper floors, and snapped back to attention, staring up at the Shinra Building. "Reno's up there. We were fighting two silver-haired men when I was trapped and flung outside. We have to get him out of there."
         "Easier said than done," Nanaki grumbled. "Scaling that height is going to be tricky."
         Just then, a figure clad in black and silver flew out of a window on the upper floors, but then it landed on its feet on a dome below and launched a chain back up towards the floor from which it had fallen. Reeve gritted his teeth, his hand moving toward the unslotted orb he had kept in his right trouser pocket ever since the night of Shinra's fall.
         "Well Nanaki, if you can cheat, then so can I."

*****

         Reno deftly blocked the rifle's bullets as Yazoo, now back on his feet, squinted hard at the Turk and fired continuously. Ziv had been flung outside a window, but Reno made sure he'd be prepared for that chain-monkey's return this time around. He was furious in such a way that he hadn't felt since during the war—except this time, there was no transformation into Bahamut-ZERO to show for it. These bastards would pay, even if it took him every ounce of strength he had. From behind him, he heard the rustle of chains; he slipped his free hand into his inner jacket pocket, hoping another bolt plume would be enough to shock Ziv into missing his target. However, before Reno had a chance to use the magical item, a monstrous roar ripped through the room, shattering what little glass still clung to the window frames. Reno took advantage of this break in fighting and pressed the bolt plume against Yazoo's rifle instead. Electric blue bolts rippled from the feather and through Yazoo's body. Once the silver-haired man had collapsed in a smoking heap, Reno glanced over his shoulder, only to turn around completely once he saw what was there.
         Ziv was gone, and in his place was a humanoid giant with long, pointy ears and glowing white eyes met his gaze. In each of this monster's arms were Nanaki and an apparently unharmed Reeve.
         "…Maduin?" Reno said, venturing a guess.
         "Yes. Now let's finish this," Reeve replied, gripping a shimmering red materia tight as he and Nanaki were set on the floor. Maduin approached Yazoo, his body glowing; meanwhile, Nanaki closed his eyes and concentrated. Green light surrounded him, Reno, and Reeve for a moment, followed by an even briefer burst of ghostly feathers. "Meanwhile," Reeve continued, "we should get out of here."
         Nanaki took a flying leap out of the window. As Reno watched dumbfounded, Reeve grabbed his hand and followed suit, pulling him along. Shortly after their leap, the 63rd Floor Security Armory erupted into blue, orange, and white flame. The fall down to the plate below was slower than Reno imagined it would be, and it was then that Reno realized that Nanaki had on his person a newly-discovered type of floatation materia. However, as they reached the ground, he saw that their battle was not yet over.
         Before them were his brother Serchiro, armed with a handmade spear, and two other members of the Zango Kapa'a tribe, and struggling to his feet before these three was Ziv, who appeared to be disintegrating but was still alive. As Ziv got to his feet, he broke into a peel of laughter.
         "You mortals honestly think that you can stop us? That you can stop Mother? So long as her legacy runs through mine and my brothers' bodies, we shall continue to serve her."
         He retracted the chained knives and stood silently for awhile. Serchiro and the grey Kapa'a got into defensive poses, while Reno watched the scene pensively.
         It was over in a matter of seconds.
         Before the Kapa'a could strike, Ziv launched the blades directly into their skulls, then collapsed and disintegrated in a stream of green particles. The two Kapa'a fell limply to the ground as black, festering boils bubbled up from the wound and worked their way across their entire bodies, apparently sucking them into the ground. Serchiro stepped back, wrinkling his nose.
         "That… stench. I've encountered it many times ever since we started this journey."
         To Reno, after many months of living in Edge, and a couple more after that spent in close proximity to Rufus Shinra, the smell was all too familiar. "It's geostigma. Never smelled this bad before, though."
         "What a horrible way to go," Nanaki said, as they all watched the two grey Kapa'a disintegrate into nothing. He bowed his head, joining a now-kneeling Serchiro at his side. "Farewell, my Zango brothers."
         As silence settled over the mourning party, Reno thought he saw a figure that resembled Tseng atop one of the massive pipes that flanked the Shinra Building. However, before Reno could make out any defining features, the figure left.

         Serchiro and Nanaki joined Reno and Reeve on their return trip to Edge. During that time, the latter two learned that Serchiro, having lived in relative isolation with his tribe for most of his life, wanted to see more of the world, and thus set out on a journey with Nanaki as his guide and two Zango scouts as escorts.
         "We just happened to be investigating Midgar's ruins when we saw you falling from the Shinra Building," Nanaki said to Reeve. "It was extremely fortunate that we arrived when we did."
         "Yes, though I'm sorry that your two tribesmates had to perish," Reeve replied.
         "They were prepared to give their lives to protect the Planet," Serchiro replied. "However, I fear that they have not returned to it."
         The others looked at Serchiro, but did not say anything. Reno knew that he could very well be right.
         "There was something about those strange men," Nanaki said, "A familiar coldness; that bleak, deadening aura."
         "That's not all," said Reeve. "Before you arrived, we heard them refer to Jenova as their mother."
         "Then… Sephiroth?"
         "This Sephiroth is the one who nearly destroyed all of the Planet's life, correct?" asked Serchiro.
         "Yes," Nanaki replied. "He is the one whom we undertook this journey to stop at all costs, but that was nearly two years ago."
         "Don't forget that Cloud killed Sephiroth five years before that," said Reeve. "We might not have to face him again, but…"
         Reno picked up where Reeve left off; "…but then exactly who—or what—were this Ziv and Yazoo?"

         The group arrived before Reeve and Reno's home, where they said their farewells. Nanaki had arranged for him and Serchiro to stay at Seventh Heaven that night, and told Reeve and Reno that they were welcome to come by while they were in Edge. Reeve said he would be busy those next few days but would try to make time for them, while Reno declined Nanaki's invitation entirely, simply saying that he would be leaving town early the next morning. He made note of Reeve's reaction once he announced this, knowing full well that it would be the first thing he'd ask about once they were inside and alone.
         "You're leaving tomorrow?" asked Reeve, right on cue after the front door had been closed behind them.
         "It's to see Tseng. I need to tell him about what happened, in person."
         "I understand, but you only just got here."
         "Yeah, but those guys we fought today… I've got a bad feeling about them."
         Reeve nodded. "Like I said, I understand. When you talk to Tseng, let him know that if there's anything I can do on my end, I'm willing to help."
         "Sure."
         As they wandered into the living room, Reeve struck up the conversation again. "So that was your long-lost older brother, eh?"
         "Yeah. He's nothing like me, though."
         Reeve glanced back at Reno. "How so?"
         "He's not human—at least, he doesn't think like one. He's lived with the Zango Ka'paa all of his life and tends to regard human civilization as one big festering weed."
         "Yes, well, I did get that impression during our conversation on our way back from Midgar. However, you both have a certain intensity about you. Of course, his hair and other physical features resemble yours, but it's that intensity which really reminds me of you."
         Reno pondered this observation of Reeve's. He hadn't quite thought of things this way before…
         "Despite your long separation, and your obviously tense relationship to him, he's still your brother. I'm sure you'll come to see him as such eventually."
         "Maybe, but not for a long time."

*****

         Cloud's eyes slowly opened, a faint burning smell having reached his nose and drawn him from sleep. He was in the rafters of the old church in what used to be the Sector Five slums, a place that had slowly become his second home over several months, and more recently, his first. His previous life in Edge's Seventh Heaven, with Tifa, Marlene, and a geostigma-afflicted orphan named Denzel that they'd "adopted" some time ago, was not one he could go back to. At least, not now, for this church was the only place he could relax and feel at ease.
         He wasn't sure why this was, though he suspected that it may have had something to do with the pink lily that had inexplicably sprouted up in the church's indoor flower patch one day. Like the others, it started as a simple green stalk poking up from the soil beneath the hole in the floorboards, but when it blossomed, large pink petals greeted Cloud, markedly different from the yellow and white ones that had blossomed in all the years before. Was this some sort of new hybrid, a genetic anomaly, evolution at work? Whatever it was, the pink lily was the most beautiful flower in the patch, and simply staring at it would soothe Cloud's tumultuous heart, even if only for a moment.
         It had been hard to live with his guilt, his inaction on that day when Sephiroth tended to the flowers' previous caretaker in his own, cruel manner. These flowers were the greatest tie to Aeris he had left, and perhaps it was his subconscious who first decided that he should live here and take care of them, to preserve her special place.
         Being careful to keep his balance, he stood up on the wooden beam and squinted at the giant hole in the roof. There was a pillar of smoke coming from the general direction of the Shinra Building. He sighed and shook his head, at that moment deciding that he wouldn't investigate, as it was none of his business. Instead, he carefully walked across the rafters and down the stairs to the altar. The flowers greeted him with their shining brilliance, as always, but this time, something was different. Cloud bent down near the flower patch to get a better look, and that's when he realized that the pink lily was gone. He ran his hands through the flowers, searching for some sort of clue, thinking that there must be a logical explanation for this, but somewhere deep inside of him, he knew better. The pink lily had simply vanished, and there was nothing he could do about it.