You know, I recently finished a Writer's Craft course, I've still been getting favourites and follows on this story here and there so I wasn't allowed to forget it existed, and….Well, I just felt an urge to write the next chapter. Of course, I had to reread my entire story again to remember where exactly I was going with it, but I remembered most of it. I hope my writing is still decent and hasn't changed too much, but otherwise I just felt like writing this again. It was pretty fun, getting back into the swing of things.

One thing you guys should know: I'm going to have all the fun with this story that I can get out of it. That includes as many jokes, awkward situations, coincidences, irony, unexpected events, and the like that I can shove in it, ignoring plot inaccuracies (like forgetting that stupid war). If you can't stand plot inaccuracies, then I apologize in advance, but I can't keep up with all the details and it's what put me off this story in the first place, so even though a lot of things might not add up, roll with me! Just roll with me! I promise you guys I'll give you a good ride :)

Enjoy it! And thanks to all of you who have followed me and put up with me for so, so very long. I love you all. Really. 3

The wind blew gently, ever so gently, flitting blond strands of hair left and right across Cloud's dirt-ridden face. He gazed up at the sky, his back flat on the rough terrain, watching the clouds drift slowly behind the mountains that towered between the Corel and Nibelheim regions. The sun was just beginning its descent from the peak of the day, so the sun continued to relentlessly bake Cloud's blood-smeared First uniform. He closed his eyes, feeling the warmth from the rips in his pants to his outstretched, open palms.

You know, this wasn't a bad way to spend his time.

After hours of climbing, Cloud finally gave in to his frustration and fatigue and decided to plop down on the ground to stare up at the ceiling of the earth. Before this, a few unfortunate monsters had entered his path, which he had quickly cut down, but so far not enough to fully satisfy him. Anger and blood thirst quickly turned to fatigue and now here he was, flat on his back, doing absolutely nothing about his situation. He was planning to just give up for a bit, perhaps wait until nightfall to gaze at the many stars that flitted across the landscape.

The blond smiled weakly at a memory that resurfaced, of stargazing during travels between towns on the grassy plains with Red XIII, whose plethora of knowledge on the stars never ceased to interest him. They would lay down, both awake for a night shift to keep a fire going or watch out for enemies or even because neither of them could sleep, and bask in the midnight glow, the silence stretching out between them anything but silent.

Cloud slowly rose from his position on the ground to settle into one with his hand draped over one knee, eyes fixated on the dirt-covered ground but unfocused, remembering. Boy, did he miss Red XIII. And did he miss his group! The sting of Barret's rejection hit him again and the blond winced, then quickly shook his head. He had spent enough time brooding over that…it couldn't be helped, he supposed.

Still, he couldn't help but feel like he should have somebody by his side, especially before entering Nibelheim. After all, could he really trust himself with the task of eliminating JENOVA? That sure didn't work out very well in the past. Although Tifa and Vincent were both in Nibelheim, he couldn't rely on either of them to watch his back. He would need someone else, anyone else, he didn't care who, even if it was another random he met on his journey.

The warrior got up, dusting his pants off as he did so. Placing his hands on his hips, he gazed up at the mountains again, lips pressed into a thin line.

How far did he even get, with such minimal supplies?

Not very far, he mused. He couldn't have, especially not with him taking so many goddamn breaks in between. Perhaps he really shouldn't go to Nibelheim right now. The blond looked around then, upon laying eyes on a relatively nice stick, went to pick it up, breaking off a few excess branches attached to it. He drew out a super rough map – he was no artist – and attempted to gauge the proportions correctly enough to decide his next move.

Cloud really didn't want to cross Nibelheim. The effects of JENOVA could be unpredictable, not to mention somebody from the town might come across and recognize him. Too risky. The mountains were pretty hard to cross as well, especially without adequate supplies and a team. The longer route might actually have been better instead, he mused. Transportation seemed almost impossible now that he was so used to the Highwind and his motorbike, neither of which he had. Not even a chocobo in sight.

"Oh!" Cloud's eyes widened slightly at the idea, and fumbled in his – er, Genesis's – pockets for any change. He had picked some up from the few monsters he had killed as well, and though it wasn't much, it was maybe enough to buy a few greens…

He recalled there being an area nearby – was it the Gold Saucer area? – that had pretty decent chocobos around he could use to travel faster across the land, though of course not as quickly as he would like. It was better than nothing, though; however, it required him to go back to Corel.

Corel. Back to Corel. The thought itself made him want to lay down again and never get up, but he had to suck in his feelings and get a move on. He didn't exactly know how much time he had on his hands, anyways, before everything started to go to hell. That is, if it went to hell, which it wouldn't, if he had anything to do about it.

But before he did anything else, first he had to get out of these damn mountains.

He'd been climbing for almost a full day over the mountains, and his HP was fairly low. He still had some MP left as well as a Restore material on his First Tsurugi, and though he was reluctant to use it now, the blond wouldn't last on the trip back if he decided against it. He picked up his sword, the tip scraping on the ground slightly with the movement, and placed it horizontally in front of him. Closing his eyes, he recited a deep chant and made a few hand movements, causing the sword to hover in front of him. A gentle green light washed over him. The warrior relished in the feeling of his wounds closing, but it was at the cost of the fatigue felt with the loss of the last of his MP. Yes, he would have to pick up an Ether when he went back to Corel. Hopefully there would be better supplies there than there were in his time.

Man, was he broke. The blond hadn't been in this bad of a situation since…well, since Yuffie had stolen all their materia and they were left with two Elixirs, one Phoenix Down, and a packet of tissues from the Gold Saucer.

He missed his Master Materia. He would have to concoct some sort of scheme to get it back. Unfortunately, there it lie in the lion's den, smack dab in the lion's mouth.

For trying to be Gaia's hero, he was making some very bad decisions.

Well, might as well not stall any longer, he figured. Slinging his sword over his back, he began to make his way back towards Corel, hoping to buy some supplies with the minimal money he had and hitch a ride towards the grass lands near the Sandy Badlands, where the chocobos roamed.

Just as long as he didn't see a black chocobo, he thought he'd be perfectly fine.

"Well, what do you think?"

Angeal finally broke the contemplative silence that had stretched for so long between the two Firsts after their talk with Genesis. The two had gone to get the doctor and, after making sure Genesis would agree to be cooperative with the doctor for a bit, retreated to Sephiroth's office to mull over the situation. Currently, Sephiroth sat behind his desk with Angeal directly across from him, each reflecting on the information that Genesis had provided them with.

At least, that's what Angeal had been thinking about. Sephiroth didn't exactly have a particularly, well, expressive expression, so the dark-haired First wasn't quite sure what was exactly on his mind. Whatever it was, it was keeping him just as occupied as Angeal felt himself.

Sephiroth didn't respond for so long that Angeal began to doubt he had heard him at all, but eventually the General turned to him.

"I really would like to investigate this Nibelheim." His gaze met Angeal's. "With such a…unique case, it is best to know your enemy than to proceed without further information."

Angeal frowned. "But to go all the way to Nibelheim? Investigation is a Turk's job, Seph. You know that."

Sephiroth frowned as well. "Yes, I do, but…"

"But?"

"I am not comfortable leaving this with the Turks."

"Are we ever comfortable leaving anything with them?"

"Exactly."

Angeal sighed at Sephiroth's stubbornness, causing the other to almost innocently squint his eyes in confusion. "Seph, even if I agreed that it was a relatively reasonable idea to go, we would have to get through the Director first. There's no way he would –"

"You do not have to worry about that," Sephiroth interrupted knowingly. "I am quite sure we will be called to clean up Gen's…little mess," he finished with a slightly teasing tone. Angeal opened his mouth to counter when, as if on cue, an announcement came through the intercom.

"Would Angeal Hewely and Zack Fair please come to Director Lazard's office. Hewely and Fair to Lazard's office. Thank you."

Both Firsts looked upwards in unison, faces expressions of surprise, confusion and, in Sephiroth's case, extreme irritation.

"Only me…? And Zack too, for that matter," Angeal said, his eyes squinted. He shared a glance with Sephiroth and shrugged, getting up to respond to the call. The silver-haired First followed suit, causing Angeal to inwardly sigh. Sephiroth certainly wasn't going to let this go. Knowing that trying to stop him would be useless, he instead remained silent and allowed the General to follow him to the Director's office.

The two walked quickly through the halls, Sephiroth's annoyance clearly visible in his brisk footsteps and set expression. His long hair swayed with the movement. Angeal himself was a little surprised Zack was called as well, but upon further thought it wasn't very startling. After all, it was a small mission gone wrong at the hands of a First, so naturally they would send another First to see to it…quickly. Zack's presence would be good for the pup as well, he thought. He could take advantage of this opportunity as training for the boy. After all, as far as he knew there was nothing glaringly dangerous about the situation.

Aside from the Genesis thing, but that was a separate issue.

Sephiroth was now well ahead of Angeal, and reached Lazard's office first. He strolled right in as if he owned the place, clearly eager to discuss the matter. Angeal could hear the Director's voice coming from inside as he neared the room.

"Oh, Sephiroth. Have you seen Angeal by any…oh, there you are. Come in, come in." The Director waved the dark-haired First in, and looked expectantly behind him.

He scratched his head. "Say…where did that Zack of yours go? He's normally following you, isn't he?"

Angeal held up a hand, fingers spread. "Give it five seconds…four…three…"

"Angeal! You made it here before me!"

"And here he is."

All heads in the room turned to look at the Second Class, causing him to freeze in the doorway for a few seconds. He then came to his senses and slowly walked into the room, looking confusedly at everyone.

"Uh, Sephiroth," Zack began, looking to the General in a bit of trepidation. He then shuffled closer to Angeal's side.

The Director coughed lightly. "You might have already guessed, Angeal, but I'm sending you and Fair to the Gold Saucer to deal with those…monsters." He adjusted himself on his chair and swiveled to face the computer, blinking open a tab. The mentor-mentee pair leaned in while Sephiroth, arms crossed, listened from his position at the back of the room. The computer screen showed a plethora of reports that had been sent in regarding the events at the Gold Saucer, and clicking on one revealed blurry images taken from a cellphone.

Zack leaned in further, squinting. Angeal grabbed the back collar of his shirt before he fell into the computer screen. "What is this? I can't really make anything out," he said, still dangling from Angeal's grip. The dark-haired First stood his pup upright again.

Lazard turned back to them. "Unfortunately, these are the best images we have. If you step back a bit, though, the ghosts are quite apparent."

Angeal was dumbfounded. "Ghosts? How are we supposed to eliminate ghosts?"

"Now, eliminate isn't the word I would use."

"I've been trained to use swords. From my knowledge, a sword cannot cut through a non-physical being." He then seemed to realize something, and put a hand to his chin. "Unless we use materia. We can eliminate them quite easily then, can we not? Though I don't know why Gen had a hard time. After all, ghosts are weak to fire…"

"No eliminating," Lazard said sternly.

Zack began doing squats, apparently restless. "Man oh man, this is sounding like one interesting mission, right Angeal?" Pause. More squats. "I've never been to the Gold Saucer before, but I've always seen those advertisements – you know, the ones with the chocobos and that annoying music?"

Angeal's only acknowledgement of Zack's statement was a glance in his direction before he turned his attention back to Lazard. "No eliminating? Then?"

Lazard swiveled in his chair again (he really liked doing that) and glanced at the images on the computer. "Herding. You are tasked with gathering these ghosts and bringing them back to the haunted house. They've been causing some trouble, but no lower class SOLDIER's or infantry can deal with them. They're quite finicky, you know."

"Is that all?" Angeal asked, crossing his arms in anticipation of Lazard's order.

"You'll be leaving tomorrow evening. According to the information Genesis gave us, it seems they're more active at night, and therefore easier to spot. Tseng will drop you off at Corel. From there you'll enter the Gold Saucer, finish up the job, and come back. After what happened with Genesis, I'm not taking any chances. You are not allowed to stay over, just finish the job and come right back.

You are dismissed."

The mentor and mentee pair stood at attention and nodded, beginning to leave the room. Angeal shot Sephiroth a glance, not forgetting that he had some business he wanted to discuss as well, and right on cue the silver-haired SOLDIER got up from his almost motionless position at the back of the room and walked by Lazard's desk.

The blonde rotated himself to face the General. "Ah, yes. Was there something you wanted to discuss as well?"

Sephiroth cut to the chase. "I will be going with them." He left no room for argument. Unfortunately for him, Lazard found some, and frowned.

"For what reason? They're definitely enough."

"You've been transferring enough of your paperwork on me as it was. The mission would be good for...a breather, once in a while."

"Now, although I'm guilty about the paperwork part, surely you don't need a break?"

Although outwardly the General was as cool and composed as ever, from the twitch of his thin brow Angeal could tell that he was losing patience. Quickly. "It's not a long mission, I will be back shortly anyways. In addition," here he looked at Angeal's puppy, who jolted a little, "SOLDIER Fair can get a little out of control. It would be safer if I went, anyways."
"Ah…hey!"

Lazard sighed. "You're not going to give this up, are you?"

"No." The General crossed his arms casually, though it was faintly reminiscent of a stubborn child. For all he was strong and mature, he did have his quirks.

"Then you heard the briefing. Tomorrow evening."

Satisfied, the General nodded at both Lazard and Angeal and began to leave the room along with the other two. Once they finally left, the Director gave another swivel of his chair and, sighing at his paperwork – he was trying to stop dumping it on other people—began working again.

Navy blue suits strode through the halls, faces of slight annoyance – at least, Reno's was. Rude usually favoured the poker face. The two Turks really hated making messes; unfortunately for them, someone saw them kill Kolter and they had to go back to deal with them.

"Man, what's worse than going back was Tseng's disapproval. He can be pretty scary sometimes, eh?" Reno's long ponytail swished back and forth as he walked through the halls, his hand holding his baton over his shoulder. Rude nodded in response, the ever-silent one.

Rude flipped through the papers in his hands, scanning them. "Sehk Johnston usually trains solo around this time."

"Where?"

"Cadet training room."

"To the cadet training room, then." The redhead laughed suddenly, tossing his head back slightly. "Ah, good times." He wiped away a fake tear. "I remember failing those classes, right before I got selected to join the Turks. Swords just ain't my thing."

Rude smirked. "Neither mine."

The Turks didn't usually cross paths with SOLDIER or any branch military group – the two groups seldom interacted, aside from missions where they were forced to work together. On an ordinary day, Turks stayed with Turks and SOLDIERS hung with SOLDIERS, but on a case like this they walked right into their "territory," so to speak. It wasn't the most uncomfortable thing, but Reno preferred not to be around the military men.

Though they didn't enter this side often, being Turks they knew the layout of Shin-Ra through-and-through, and therefore walked directly to the cadet training room without hesitation. One glance inside the door window, and Rude had to hold Reno back from frying the poor door.

"Where is he? Why isn't he here!? I don't want to go cadet-scavenging," he growled, irritation increasing. He preferred it when his mistakes were easy clean-ups.

Rude flipped through the papers again. "It says here that he's here every day."

"Are you sure you're reading it right?"

"Do Turks ever read things wrong?"

Reno scratched his head. "Where is the little runt, yo…causing us more trouble than we need, seriously."

Rude simply shrugged. "Mission?"

Grunting, Reno shot another look into the training room, turning away annoyed when his efforts came back fruitless.

The two decided that lulling around the cadet training room wasn't going to help, so they did what Turks did best: hunt people down. Discreetly. To do this, they needed to get a hold of Johnston's recent records and locations, and to do that, they needed to head back to the Turk's branch.

The journey was a silent one, but not exactly a long one, and they eventually reached the Turk's branch and entered confidently, Reno first, followed by Rude. They both settled behind one of the main computers of the area, turning it on and sifting through it with ease.

"His file should be under," Rude flipped through Johnston's report, "Sargent Jackson."

"Jackson? What a plain name."

"It does sound rather strict, though."

A small sound escaped Reno's mouth. "Still plain, yo."

They didn't search for long until they found Johnston's mission file, showing his current status. Upon reading his status, the two leaned back, confused.

"…Deployed? At the Gold Saucer?" Reno scratched his head, then turned to Rude. "Didn't they come back from that mission?"

Rude frowned. "Yes…"

"So either his file didn't update yet, he forgot to sign in, or they left him there."

File screw-ups happened all the time. It was unlikely any cadets remained behind after a mission. However, after what occurred at the Gold Saucer…

In the chaos, could they seriously have left him behind?

Reno leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his unkempt hair. "Yo, I guess it's back to the…ugh." He leaned back further.

Rude looked back at the screen. "Gold Saucer."

Well, Cloud is headed to Corel (by the Gold Saucer). Sephiroth, Angeal and Zack are headed to the Gold Saucer. The Turks are headed to the Gold Saucer. Whatever will occur? I wonder!

I hope my writing didn't change too much, and I sure hope you enjoyed it. :)

Though sorry if the chapter was a little short. Seemed like a good place to end it.

Despite that, finally updating after two years feels pretty damn good!