The little Cait Sith prototype sat in the empty hot tub in the Lover's Room of the Honeybee Inn, not paying much attention to its elderly roommates. They were the grandparents of some Shinra department manager who had apparently deluded them into thinking that the Inn was a high-class hotel. Keeping to themselves, the old couple didn't think anything of the toy's presence; they just accepted it as one of the quirkier aspects of the room's decor.
         Suddenly, the dim yellow light that streamed through the keyhole was cut off. The toy's optical lenses zoomed in at the keyhole and saw an eye on the other side. It was a stern, serious-looking eye, with a blue iris tinged with mako green. The prototype started bouncing in place to get a better look from over the side of the hot tub.
         A few miles away, in a nondescript apartment building on the Sector Five plate, Tseng sat at his home computer, examining the stills he had captured with the prototype's camera. After using an iris identification program to compare these images to the security camera stills of Cloud, he found that the eyes matched. For some reason, Cloud was in the Honeybee Inn and had happened to take a peek inside this room. Tseng keyed in the command that turned off the Cait Sith prototype, then shut down his computer. He started walking toward the front door, picking up his coat from the back of the couch along the way. He sighed as he left his apartment; finally, it was time for him to carry out his assigned mission. Having spied on Aeris' home earlier that night, he happened to see Cloud's silhouette in one of the windows. Knowing Aeris, he thought, she took him in for the night because she didn't want him traveling home by himself. Tseng glanced at his watch. It was 1:32 AM. It looked like Cloud had sneaked out.
         Tseng took the train down to the Sector Six slums, watchful for the rogue SOLDIER. He had to establish that Cloud was alone before continuing on to Aeris' house. Then, he spotted Cloud coming out of the materia shop and hid between two nearby shacks. As Cloud passed, Tseng noticed that the blond's face was made up with lipstick, mascara, and eye shadow, but what was even more shocking was seeing Aeris following him from behind, quietly chuckling to herself.
         "Damn," Tseng exclaimed under his breath. In order to bring Aeris to Hojo, he had to get that spiky-haired kid out of the way. But how? Tseng decided to trail them and wait for an opportunity.

         A few hours later, Tseng had wandered into Sector Seven, having lost Cloud's trail once he and Aeris entered Don Corneo's mansion. Doubtless they'd learn there what would happen to the plate, and would come to this sector to warn everyone. The streets were quiet and dark, save for the soft neon glow of the sign over the Seventh Heaven bar. At first surprised that even a place like this was open so late, Tseng walked inside and sat at a table. The only other person in the room was a girl with light brown hair, who was standing behind the counter. She paused in her work upon seeing the lone customer. After a moment, she approached Tseng's table carrying a small pad of paper and a pen and asked, "Can I get you anything?"
         "Coffee."
         "Sir, I'm afraid we don't serve—"
         Tseng looked her straight in the eye, giving her his best murderous glare. "Coffee."
         "…Cream, milk, sugar?"
         "Black."
         Tseng rested an elbow on the table and followed her with narrowed eyes, well aware of whom she was: Jessie Kaufman, former Shinra technician turned terrorist bomb builder. So, he wondered, is this AVALANCHE's hideout? Suddenly, as if on cue, the bar's pinball machine descended into the floor. Tseng raised an eyebrow and looked over to Jessie, who had anxiety written all over her face. A large black man with a gun-arm and two others popped up from the hole in the floor where the pinball machine used to be. Just as the black man began to speak, Jessie pointed out the Turk.
         "Just got a call from Tifa, we gotta head out to—What th'—Shinra!"
         Tseng's face remained stoic. "Barret Wallace, I presume?"
         "How do you—"
         "Know your name? It's simple, really. Just did a bit of research once I'd gotten security images of you and your AVALANCHE friends, including Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, here. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any records of the others—Cloud and that girl with the dark hair."
         Barret clenched his hand into a fist and shook it at the Turk. "I just found out what you Shinra got planned, and we're gonna put a stop to it!"
         "Is that so. Well, I suppose I should let you all go, though your efforts will be in vain."
         "Why you goddamn motherfuckin'…"
         Tseng looked pointedly at his watch and smiled. "You're running out of time. My associate Reno should already be at the top of the pillar."
         Barret looked toward the door, then Tseng, then back at the door. "Shit. We gotta go." He fired a few rounds from his gun-arm at Tseng's feet. "You get the hell outta here. Now!"
         Tseng deftly jumped out of the bullets' way, his lips twisting up into a snide curl. "As you wish." He strode over to the saloon doors and pushed them open, calmly walking out into the streets as Barret and his friends raced past him, toward the Sector Seven pillar.

         As Tseng left Sector Seven, he glanced at his watch; if all went according to plan, the charge would go off at 7 AM, a little less than two hours from then. He returned to Sector Six and idled in the playground to kill time. Just as he was about to leave, Aeris walked out from the Sector Seven entrance, struggling with a sleeping toddler in her arms. Tseng strode up to her.
         "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
         Bowing her head, she said nothing and continued walking.
         "Aeris, what's going on?"
         "You know about it, don't you," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "The plate…"
         Tseng shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yes… I know. Who's this child?"
         "A friend's daughter."
         "Here, let me help you with her," he said, taking the little girl from Aeris.
         "Thanks Tseng."
         Tseng felt a sharp pang in his chest upon seeing Aeris' grateful smile. Turning away from his friend, he started to walk toward Wall Market. "Hojo knew I couldn't catch you. I just hope that this girl will be a suitable substitute."
         "What?"
         He swiveled back to face Aeris. "I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be. Either you come with me to the lab, or I take this girl in your place." Quietly, he added, "I wasn't given much of a choice… I must not fail this time."
         Aeris nodded solemnly. "All right. I'll go with you. But first, I promised that I'd take Marlene somewhere safe."
         "We can leave her with your mother, just as long as you come with me to the lab. Agreed?"
         Aeris hesitated. "He… Hojo isn't going to do anything to me, will he?"
         Tseng whispered. "I'll do my best to see to it that he doesn't. Now let's get going. We're short on time as it is."

         Tseng and Aeris returned to Sector Seven a little while later, after leaving Marlene with Elmyra, Aeris' foster mother. They heard the sound of gunfire reverberating from up above as they reached Reno's helicopter, which was parked just outside the fence surrounding the Sector Seven pillar. Tseng climbed into the pilot's seat, telling Aeris to get in. Without another word, she did so, and the helicopter took off.
         As it was rising, Tseng spotted Reno jumping over the side of the railing of the pillar's uppermost platform, only to catch on to the staircase railing with one arm, over which he unsuccessfully struggled to pull himself. Tseng maneuvered the helicopter toward his second-in-command and called out to him.
         "Get in, or you won't make it out of this sector in time!"
         Reno grunted an affirmative and leaped onto the small metal platform that was attached to the side of the helicopter. He struggled to stand, yelling over the whirring blades, "What the hell'd you go and take my chopper for?"
         Tseng yelled back, "Just get in here! I want you to pilot this thing!"
         Reno started moving toward the cockpit door. It was then that Tseng noticed for the first time that Reno was clutching one side of his body, where his coat was stained dark with blood. "Tseng, I don't know if I can…"
         "It will only be for a minute. There's something I need to do."
         Reno nodded and climbed into the pilot's seat. Tseng moved out onto the helicopter's platform, dragging Aeris along with him. Still putting pressure on his wound with one hand, Reno pulled the collective stick with the other and the chopper ascended. He stopped it when it was just above the pillar's uppermost platform, leaving it to hover. Tseng looked down on the AVALANCHE members who had fought Reno. He quickly thought up a brief speech, secretly hoping that it would motivate them to do the one thing he was no longer able to do: save Aeris from Hojo.

         Tseng watched the angered and stunned looks on the AVALANCHE members' faces as the helicopter flew off toward the outermost edge of Sector Seven. He smiled thinly as he escorted Aeris inside the chopper.
         "Don't worry. I'm sure they'll come to rescue you."
         "Is that why you presented me to them as a hostage?"
         "Ahh, you know me too well."
         As the helicopter left the sector, Tseng could hear the sound of an explosion, followed by creaking metal above them; sitting in the back seat next to him, Aeris' skin had paled, and she wore a blank expression on her face. As they came out from under the plate's shadow, shortly before it fell to the ground in an ear-splitting boom, Reno's wavering voice broke in from the cockpit. "Excuse me Tseng, when are you gonna take over the piloting? That kid Cloud cut me pretty deeply."
         "Land over there," Tseng said, pointing to a bare, rocky plain just outside of Midgar, "and I'll take a look at you."
         Reno did as Tseng instructed, enabling him to take his left hand off of the controls to join his bloodstained right, still clutching his wounded side. Tseng went outside and opened the pilot's door, activating a Cure Materia slotted onto his Dragon Armlet. He gently pulled Reno's hands away, then placed his own, glowing with green curative magic, over Reno's wound. The redheaded Turk closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles, taking deep, slow breaths as the bleeding stopped. However, once the spell's effects had ended, Reno howled and gripped his side even tighter than before. His blood resumed its slow trickle from between his fingers.
         "Oh goddamn it, it hurts!"
         "I know, I know…" Tseng said, his forehead breaking out into a sweat. "I'm doing the best I can. It's a pretty bad gash…"
         "Maybe Aeris can help?"
         "I'd rather she didn't. If any evidence of her particular healing magic is found on you—"
         At that moment, Tseng noticed Aeris out of the corner of his eye. She was standing next to the helicopter with her arms at her sides, eyes fixed upon the huge dust cloud where Sector Seven once was. Reno twisted his head to get a look at the city himself, joining Aeris in her silent staring; likewise, Tseng followed their lead. After several minutes had passed, Tseng broke his gaze from the ruined sector and motioned to Reno that he should climb out of the pilot's seat.
         "We have to get back, and more importantly, get you to the military hospital."
         Reno nodded and carefully climbed into the back seat, where he was soon joined by Aeris. Doing his best to ignore the small puddle of blood that had collected onto the pilot's seat, Tseng took the controls and lifted off, guiding the helicopter back toward Midgar.
         After placing a quick call to the hospital, he heard Reno ask Aeris, "When Tseng gave his whole spiel to AVALANCHE… he didn't really slap you, did he?"
         "Yes, but it was very slight. He just made it look worse than it actually was."
         "A stage combat technique I learned a long time ago," Tseng cut in, "back when I was studying acting."
         "Oh… that's cool… never knew that you were an actor," Reno replied, his voice growing heavier. "Hey man… I think I'm gonna pass out."
         Tseng tried to keep focused on his driving, pushing back all thoughts of what would happen to Aeris if AVALANCHE hadn't escaped from Sector Seven in time, and fighting the urge to look into the back seat to make sure that Reno didn't die on him. As Shinra's military hospital came into view, Tseng guided the helicopter toward the rooftop's landing platform, where a stretcher and a team of paramedics were waiting for them.

*****

         It was Reeve who had told her about Reno's injury. He was calling from the hospital, having rushed there since receiving the news from Tseng. She replied that she'd stop by in a few minutes, after wrapping up her report for Heidegger.
         Elena walked out of the Shinra Building and toward the military hospital, which was only a few blocks away in Sector Four. The receptionist gave her directions to the room, adding that Reno had just gotten out of surgery only a couple of hours ago. Tseng, sitting in a chair across from Reno's bed, gave her a welcoming nod as she came into the room. Rude leaned against the wall next to the bed, and Reeve was busy staring out the window. Both men turned and said hello.
         She returned their greetings and looked at the pale figure of Reno in the hospital bed. An IV was connected to one arm, and his torso was wrapped in bloodstained bandages. He opened his eyes partway as she came to the side of his bed.
         "Hey Elena… glad you could make it."
         Her eyes wide with shock and worry, she replied, "Are you all right? What happened?"
         "Looks pretty bad, eh? It's a wound from a Buster sword, courtesy of that renegade SOLDIER who's in AVALANCHE."
         Tseng explained, "Reno was on a top-secret mission and ran into some trouble with them."
         Elena nodded. "Did it have anything to do with the Sector Seven plate? I heard that AVALANCHE destroyed the pillar that held it up."
         Reeve turned away from the window to glance at Reno, but didn't say a word. Reno watched him for a moment, then replied, "Yeah… it had something to do with that. Fortunately I got out in time."
         "Well, as long as you're going to be all right."
         "I'll be fine. Just give it a few weeks and this sucker'll be healed right up."
         "Bet it'll leave a nasty scar, though."
         Reno's eyes traveled back to Reeve, who had resumed gazing out of the window. "Yeah, well… doesn't make much of a difference to me. I already have some old scars in that area."
         "Reno's a tough one," Tseng cut in. "I anticipate he'll be back at work within a month." Rude nodded in agreement. Reeve shifted his weight to his other foot and let out a tired sigh, not taking his eyes from the window once.
         Tseng stood up and addressed the other Turks. "Rude and I should get back to the Shinra building. Reno, I'll give your proposal some consideration."
         Reno nodded a reply as Elena pondered the meaning behind Tseng's words. Tseng turned to Elena.
         "Will you be coming with us?"
         "I think I'll stick around here a little longer."
         "Are you sure?" Rude asked.
         Elena nodded hesitantly, wondering if there was something strange about her staying. "Yeah, I'm sure."
         After a moment, Tseng replied, "Very well. See you around."
         Tseng and Rude left the room. When Elena turned back to face Reno, she was startled to see that Reeve had moved away from the window, and was now in a chair beside Reno's bed. The two men talked to each other in low tones. Reno's eyes shifted toward Elena, causing Reeve's head to do the same. After an awkward moment of silence, Elena said, "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"
         Reeve shook his head. "No, not at all. To tell you the truth, I was just about to leave myself. Reno's been up all night on this AVALANCHE business, and has barely had any sleep."
         Reno confirmed this with a small yawn.
         "You should get going as well," Reeve told Elena.
         "I guess so. Still, I can't help but feel bad for you, Reno. You're going to be left all alone!"
         Reno replied, "Ahh, don't worry about it. I'll be all right by myself."
         Reeve stood up and walked toward the door, mouthing some sort of message to Reno as he stood in the doorframe. He then turned to Elena.
         "C'mon. We should let Reno get some rest."
         Elena nodded and followed Reeve out of the room. The executive closed the door behind them.

         "You hungry at all?"
         "A little. I haven't had lunch yet."
         "Neither have I," Reeve replied. He and Elena were walking through Sector Four, toward the Shinra Building. "There's a diner on the next block… haven't been there in awhile. Would you be up for something like that?"
         Elena shrugged. "Sure, sounds fine to me. Is it good?"
         "Yes, it's a nice place. The food is all right—better than what they have in the company cafeteria, anyway."
         They reached the restaurant, Burman's Diner, a few minutes later. After being seated, Reeve lit himself a cigarette and scanned the menu. Elena turned to her own menu, and after making up her mind as to what she wanted, set it back down, only to notice that Reeve was now staring at her from across the booth with his weary, reddened eyes. She raised her eyebrows.
         "Hmm?" Reeve replied.
         "Nothing. Don't worry about it."
         "I see." Reeve took a long drag and knocked the resulting ashes into a glass ashtray. "Got a lot on my mind these days…"
         "I can imagine."
         "I'm not sure if you can. I'm really stressed out."
         Elena just nodded.
         "I mean," Reeve continued, "it's bad enough with all this shit happening to Midgar, but now Reno gets hurt, and who knows if AVALANCHE got away again. Maybe President Shinra was right… maybe I do need to take a few days off and get away from this mess, if only to clear my mind a little."
         "Are you going to?"
         "I don't know. I've got a lot to do here." Reeve shrugged. "I'll think about it."
         At that moment, the waitress came and took their orders. Elena stared out the window at the drab streets.
         "Hey, Reeve?" she asked tentatively. "Tseng mentioned something to Reno about a proposal. What was that about?"
         The executive smirked at her. "You're being awfully nosy."
         "I'm just curious!"
         Reeve's expression grew dark as he murmured, "Curiosity can be dangerous."
         "Really."
         "But anyway, the Turks were discussing the possibility of a temporary replacement for Reno while he's in the hospital. Tseng doesn't see a real need for it right now, but he said he'd give the idea some consideration regardless."
         Elena broke out into a small smile as she felt the anticipation welling up inside of her. Reeve pressed out the end of his spent cigarette.
         "Don't get too excited. Tseng hasn't decided anything yet."
         Elena nodded. "That's true. Is this what you mean by curiosity being dangerous?"
         "Sort of. Still, I can't blame you that you couldn't help yourself. Like any other being on this planet, you have to harbor at least a little bit of curiosity…"
         At that moment, Elena felt one of Reeve's leather shoes brush up against her foot. She froze. Reeve looked her straight in the eye and continued, his voice having taken on a considerably different tone.
         "Curiosity can be dangerous, but depending on the circumstances, it can also be beneficial." His foot lightly caressed her ankle. He smiled; a little nervously, she thought. "Know what I mean?"
         Without a word, Elena stared down at the table for a couple of minutes, mulling over Reeve's words and actions. Finally, she shifted further into the booth, away from Reeve's wandering foot. She felt a slight warmth in her cheeks; from embarrassment or something else, she wasn't sure.
         She felt the presence of his foot recede as he took out another cigarette. "My apologies. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."
         "No, no… that's all right. It wasn't—" Elena paused.
         "It wasn't what?"
         "…Nothing." She raised her head to face Reeve once more. The kind expression on his face only filled her with more confusion. She found him to be a generally nice guy, but there was something about him that rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it had to do with the wedding band on his right ring finger, or the fact that he was about ten years older than her, or something else entirely. All she knew was that there was this tiny little voice in the back of her mind, filled with doubt, and next to it was another, whispering Tseng's name.

*****

         Zack slowly walked toward the massive expanse of Midgar, still feeling a bit disoriented on account of his recent resurrection. He pushed away all thoughts of the mysterious voice who had summoned him and dug into his memories, in an attempt to recall how he got here. He remembered that he was in a coma for a few years, and that once his friend Cloud had awakened, they started planning their escape. They broke out of two large tubes in the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim, and had managed to get pretty far away. They even made plans to become mercenaries once they arrived in Midgar. However, upon reaching the city's outskirts, they were attacked by MPs, and Zack was shot. He fell unconscious and somehow, his Buster sword went missing. He had no idea what had become of it, or of Cloud.
         But the real question was, why was he in a coma to begin with? He knew that he had been traveling to Nibelheim for some mission, but couldn't remember any details of the trip. Zack concentrated, digging into his memories even further. He had been stationed in the Midgar region throughout much of the Wutai War. While there, he met a pretty girl named Aeris Gainsborough. He dated her for a while before being promoted to First Class and receiving orders to go to Nibelheim with Commander Sephiroth and a couple of MPs. He remembered the trip on the ferry from Junon, where he befriended one of the MPs, a kid named Cloud who desperately wanted to be accepted into the ranks of SOLDIER. He couldn't recall a damn thing that happened after that.
         There was something about this gap in his memory that troubled him. He was certain that this was not mere amnesia. He felt that he ought to know even the most vague details of what happened in Nibelheim all those years ago, that whatever happened there was something of extreme importance, the kind of experience that one would never forget. So why couldn't he remember?
         Zack stopped mulling over his memories and looked up; he now stood before the Sector Five gate. Digging around in his pocket for his standard-issue gate key, the thought struck him that perhaps these memories were being shielded from him on purpose. Or maybe someone physically took these memories away from him, like they might have taken his Buster sword. He shook his head, realizing how ridiculous this last theory sounded, and unlocked the Sector Five gate.

         Midgar had changed a lot from the last time Zack had been here, back when half of the plates and reactors were still under construction. He thought of the tales he and Cloud had heard from various Easterners while they were on the road, about how the metropolis was near completion. Now he was seeing it for himself; with the exception of the urban infrastructure of Sector Six's Upper Plate, Midgar was now a full circle of eight sectors.
         He walked past the old abandoned church, trying to remember the way to Aeris' house, when the wind picked up and that familiar voice whistled in his ears.
         "The one you are looking for… she is not there."
         Trying not to draw attention to himself, Zack whispered back, "Are you sure? I should at least see her mother."
         "There is no time. Besides, I know where she is."
         "And where would that be?"
         "Men from Shinra have her held captive. She is in their headquarters."
         Zack was startled by these words. He knew that the Shinra had long been after Aeris, for reasons unknown to him. However, he never thought that they would actually catch her. "What? How?"
         "The one named Yoshiro, son of Tseng, who has appropriated his father's name and inherited his position."
         This was getting to be too much. It was through Aeris that Zack first met Yoshiro, whom she introduced as her oldest friend. He couldn't believe that Yoshiro would ever betray her, not even if he did become a Turk like his father wished.
         "How can I be sure you're telling the truth?"
         The voice on the wind whispered, "I know all, and see all, even in my current state of confinement. Penetrate the headquarters of Shinra and you will find that I do not lie."
         "You'll guide me to her?"
         After a brief pause, the voice answered, "Yes… I will show you the way."
         Zack walked on. By this time, he had reached a densely populated part of the Sector Five slums. As he passed a large drainage pipe, he thought he saw someone sitting inside. Upon walking closer, Zack saw that it was a man, and he was nodding as though he had severe Mako sickness; the pipe appeared to be his home. As Zack's eyes adjusted to the dim light, he examined the man. There was something familiar about him, but Zack couldn't remember where he'd seen him before. Maybe, he thought cynically, he's a part of that lost gap in my memory. Zack was about to turn and leave, when he caught a glimpse of the man's right hand. Tattooed on the back of it was a large Roman numeral II.
         Suddenly, Zack felt a sharp stabbing pain strike his skull, while a high-pitched tone filled his ears. He gripped the side of his head and pinched his eyes shut. A blurry vision filled his mind: there was something large… sculptural… pipes… wings…
         The vision disappeared as abruptly as the pain did. Zack opened his eyes and scanned the man's living quarters. He needed to conceal his identity if he was going to sneak into Shinra's headquarters. He found a roll of black canvas in a pile of junk behind the man's television and tore off a large sheet with little effort. After wrapping the canvas over his head and shoulders as an impromptu cloak, Zack left the pipe and followed the direction of the wind to Sector Six, where he would find an accessible route to the upper plate, and the Shinra Building.