Two Letters and a Number

The sound of multiple footsteps brought Vincent out of the light doze he had slipped into. It had been a week since he had called Reeve to let him know what was happening in Nibelheim and he had been taking turns standing guard with the two Turks to make sure nothing else happened during that time. Reeve had called to inform him that some dangerous storms had forced the Shera to land at Costa del Sol or risk going down in the raging storm. Those same storms were also preventing them from continuing the voyage over land due to the hazardous conditions. During that time, he had watched as a ghostly figure had appeared in the mako, wrapping itself around Cloud as if protecting the blond. When he had asked Tseng about the shadow, the Turk had given him a blank look before saying that he only saw Cloud in the tank..

Rising to his feet, Vincent rested his hand on Cerberus, ready for anything. He was under no illusions that neither Turk had not contacted Rufus the second they were able to, and he only had to determine if the new arrivals were Shinra’s men or Reeve’s.

The first person that came in the room was a stranger to Vincent, dressed in the familiar uniform of a SOLDIER First class. His long, black hair was almost as spiky as Cloud’s, and the glowing violet eyes showed that the uniform matched the man. The SOLDIER smirked at Tseng, who had paled under his tan, and nodded hello to Vincent as he walked over in front of the tank containing Cloud. Behind him came Reeve with the three Tau’ri and the personnel Cloud had requested.

“Damn it, Daniel! Alien technology is right up there with weird rocks,” grumbled the older man - Jack, Vincent thought his name was, as he waled over and stared at the man floating in mako.

“Relax, Cloud’s watching over him,” drawled the dark haired SOLDIER with a familiar grin, one the gunman had seen before but not on the dark haired stranger’s face. Reaching out, he placed a hand on the glass. “How long until the cycle’s ended, Tseng?”

Vincent watched as the Turk glanced down at the computer before returning his stunned gaze to the SOLDIER. “There’s seventeen minutes left on the cycle, Commander Fair.”

Red eyes narrowed with suspicion at Commander Fair. He was suppose to be dead, gone to the Lifestream, yet he apparently was standing here before tank containing Cloud as if he had simply stepped out for a trip to the corner market. Vincent glanced briefly at Reeve before returning his attention to Fair. “Clone?”

A small chuckle slipped out of Reeve as he walked over to stand next to Vincent. “The real one," he murmured, his voice carrying no farther than the two of them. "For some reason, when Jack asked Gaia gave him back, along with Aeris and Sephiroth.”

That got a slight look of disbelief from Vincent before he glanced at the woman setting up a cot. “We won’t be staying here,” he stated, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Once they are out of the tanks, we’ll return to the Shera.” There was no room for argument in his voice, causing her to roll her eyes and grumble at men who thought they knew everything.

“I will still need to verify their condition before we move them any farther than this lab,” she argued, pointing a finger at him. “You don’t tell me how to do my job and I won’t tell you how to clean that monstrosity of a weapon of yours.”

A small chuckle from Reeve drew his attention back to the man. “Dr. Takajira is a force to be reckoned with now that she no longer has to hide her actions from Hojo,” he remarked, before dropping his voice again. “Did you recover everything that needs to be recovered from here?”

Meaning had Vincent liberated the various records that Hojo had kept in this place. He nodded, once. “What I could without interference.”

Reeve nodded his understanding just as the computers beeped and the mako started draining out of Jackson’s tank. They watched as Jackson found his feet again and blearily looked around at everyone, a hand against the glass before the hiss of hydraulics proceeded the opening of the tank. He stumbled out, looking around with glowing blue eyes before his gaze fell on the Tau’ri and he held his hands up. “It’s not my fault.”

Jack snorted and folded his arms. “You realize Janet’s going to have a field day when you show up,” he drawled, glaring at the man who flinched slightly before covering his ears.

Swearing in Wutainese dragged Vincent’s attention back to the other tank to find Fair tugging at the door seam. “It’s not cycling out! He’s slipping!”

Snarling, Vincent glared at Tseng and Elena who were just standing at the computers with stunned looks on their faces before storming over to the tank. He dug his clawed fingers into the seam around the door and started pulling with Fair, determined to get his friend out. The two of them clawed at the door, trying to get a more firm grip that would let them pry it off but each time they tried, their fingers would slip. Finally, he snarled and shoved Fair aside as he released his hold on the one being that could help him.

Leather wings explode from his back as the white light faded to reveal Chaos. He snarled, sinking claws deep into the metal and pulling. His muscles bulge as he strained against the device keeping it shut, but it would not win. Not against him. Snarling, Chaos planted his feet even more firmly as he forced his claws in deeper, the metal groaning in protest, before he *heaved*. The tortured metal screamed in defiance before finally surrendering to the inevitable, releasing a wave of mako that swept across the floor, twisting metal as it went.

There were startled cries and gasps as people danced out of the way of the mako, but Chaos ignored them, casually tossing the door to one side as he stared at the interior of the tank, wings flexing against his back. A figure of silver and black stood there, the limp body of Cloud draped over one arm as if the man had caught him when he had collapsed. There was a familiar feeling from the figure that the host had labeled an enemy, one that was nearly drowned out by the itchy feel of corruption from the Calamity’s taint.

Slowly the Child of the Calamity emerged from the tank, the expected raven wing flaring slightly. Chaos tensed at the unexpected sight of a dove-white wing mirroring the action. Only the Ancient Ones had white wings, proof of their favor from Gaia. Yet, the Child had one of each.. “Why do you bear the favor of Gaia, Child of the Calamity?”

There was a soft growl from behind him, before Fair was pushing his way past Chaos, bending slightly to slap his hand in a puddle of mako. Reaching the Child’s side, Fair placed his mako covered hand against Cloud’s face as he closed his eyes in concentration. The Child gazed at Chaos, a brow raised in surprise and irritation. “I would have thought that you would be more concerned about your ally’s state instead of mine.”

“When a known Enemy of Gaia suddenly appears bearing Her Favor, it is more important than the Ally who is lost to the voices,” rumbled Chaos, amber eyes meeting mako green. “Especially when that Ally is being held by the Enemy.”

“Argue later. Let me see my patient now!” growled a female voice before the small woman was pushing past all of them to get at Cloud. Chaos growled at her, but she simply glared at him, expecting him to back down before turning her full attention to Cloud. The Child had shifted Cloud until the blond was cradled in his arms, but the usual mako blue eyes had been replaced with slitted green.

The same eyes that the Child had.

Fair shifted to give the woman room to move closer to Cloud, and Chaos shook his head, relinquishing control back to the Host. Vincent blinked, reorienting himself on his surroundings and process the information that Chaos was passing along about the white wing Sephiroth was now in possession of.

“Damn it,” swore the woman, and Vincent’s head snapped up to find her backing away from Cloud with a startled look on her face and her hand cradled against her chest as if it was burnt. “What the fuck was that?”

“Easy Spike, you just startled her,” soothed Fair, his voice almost distracted as he leaned down to rest his forehead against Cloud’s. There was what sounded like a questioning hum from Cloud, and Fair chuckled, opening his eyes to reveal vacant violet. It was as if all his attention was turned inward, unlike Cloud, whose vacant stare meant that he was lost in his own mind. “She’s a good one, Spike. No, she wasn’t here with Hojo. I would have remembered her.”

The woman huffed and glared at the trio. “If anything, I’m the reason why so many of his so-called experiments escaped,” she retorted, hands on her hips before swinging her glare around to focus on Tseng. “And if you start going on about ‘corporate espionage’, ask Reno who slipped him out of the lab one night.”

“None of my Turks have ever been in the lab other than as guards,” stated Tseng, his eyes flashing at that thought. It was all Vincent could do not to laugh at that statement. If Hojo wanted a Turk in the lab, he got them. No matter who claimed them previously. Vincent himself was proof of that.

The woman waves his irritation aside as she turns her full attention on Cloud. “Is there any way to wash the mako off of him? Continued exposure can’t be good for him.”

“Sure, but then how do you explain to him that he’s not being abandoned?” drawled Fair, eyes sharpening to focus on her before he glanced back at Jackson. Vincent followed his gaze to find the man squinting as he pressed his hands over his ears. “Right now, we need to get Dr. Jackson and Cloud back to the Shera where you can look them over to your heart’s content.”

It looked like the woman was going to protest until she took a closer look at Jackson and hurried over as she dug in her pocket. Apparently, she had been so focused on the patient that had collapsed that she had forgotten the patient that had remained standing. Fair placed a small kiss on Cloud’s forehead before walking over to Jackson, peeling his shirt off as he went. Vincent returned his attention to Sephiroth now that Jackson was in capable hands. He watched as the feathered wings folded against Sephiroth’s back only to vanish in a familiar swirl of green light.

Well, that was certainly unusual.

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