FicWad

the scalpel dives into the skin
good doctors never leave a scar
no proof again
I'll take the myth, you take the blood
it's all the same to the world dreamer
it's all the same in the end
-Live, "Ghost"

Overture
The wind always came rustling down the mountains, whistling through all the valleys and eroded crevasses in the hard rock. The sound was as eerie as the mountain gales were cold. Tifa shivered as she approached the edge of her old village. The town had always been dwarfed by the mountains surrounding it, but on this day, it seemed especially tiny.

"Do you notice anything unusual?" Vincent cocked his head to the side.

She shook her head. "No. The wind seems louder than I remember, but the last time we were here, winter wasn't coming on, either."

"I don't know that the wind is all that different. No, I think my hunch just might be correct." He continued onto the main street and entered the village, Tifa at his heels.

"Wait, what hunch?" she demanded. He ignored her, and they made their way into the town square. He held up a finger to make sure she kept silent. The gesture was unnecessary, as she had already began to notice something was a bit off about Nibelheim. More off than usual.

The streets were dead. The only sound aside from the wind was the harsh clatter of their footfalls against the old, worn cobblestones. Save for the climate, a tumbleweed wouldn't have been out of place, had it been rolling about the well.

Nibelheim was a ghost town, both literally and figuratively.



"Where is everyone?" Tifa's voice seemed to drop off and die right in front of her.

"Why do you think anyone would be here?" Vincent cocked an eyebrow.

A perplexed look worked its way across her face.

"Shinra paid people to pretend to be residents. Between the company being utterly destroyed, and the Planet nearly suffering the same fate, I don't doubt the employees fled to wherever home really is."

She softly stepped over to the well, trailing a hand over the worn brick and mortar of its base. "This...is really my home."

"The real Nibelheim was destroyed over five years ago."

Shaking her head, she tapped her temple. "The real Nibelheim is still in here. And the fake one matched it, people and everything. I didn't think to mourn, before, seeing it like this. It's not like I remember the charred mess I left behind."

He stood there, watching her fidget over the replica town centerpiece. The wind picked up, whipping his hair and cape behind him. "Don't mourn too long. Things that are cursed are better off dead," said Vincent.

She pushed past him, towards the copy of her old house. Gazing up at it incredulously, she brushed back a tear. "It's just so hard to look at, knowing everything is a copy."

"This isn't new to you."

"Of course it isn't. But when we were here before, enough craziness was going on to where I thought...just maybe, I was losing my mind. Between Cloud's alteration of what happened five years ago, and Nibelheim standing in perfect condition, I was starting to doubt my own memory."

"...really. You?"

Tifa smiled bitterly. "I was unconscious for days after Zangan rescued me. I don't even remember him doing it. I don't remember how I made it to Midgar, exactly. Suffice it to say, most of my memories of Sephiroth's bonfire bonanza are a little hazy." She walked in the front door, Vincent behind her.

He paused tactfully at the doorway to her old bedroom. "Do you need to go in there alone?"

"I'd rather not. I'm half-afraid I'll find a clone in a cloak, made from a girl named Tifa."

"Now you're getting a little dark, even for my tastes."

"We're not exactly living a 'happily ever after,' Vincent." She paused in front of the bed. God, it seemed like Mama's handmade quilt, down to the very last stitch.

He swallowed. "It must be harder for you, having expected one."

"I thought Meteor was the hard part. I was a fool." She leaned down, closed her eyes, and reached under the bed. As expected, she found a long wooden storage box. It smelled of cedar and her Mama's sachet. Startled by the scent, she leaned back. Her senses were overwhelmed. "Oh god..."

"Just keep Marlene in mind, remember." He put his good hand on her shoulder.

"Those sadistic Shinra bastards!" The words burst from her lips. "How the hell does this benefit them? Why did the copy need to be so perfect? How can it be so perfect? This makes no sense..." She forced herself to unlatch the box. As she opened it and sifted through the contents, she sobbed. Finally, she found the small pewter box. On the outside, a small key for winding. She knew there was a dancing moogle and a space for jewelry in the inside.

"Is that it?"

She nodded, grabbing it and jumping to her feet. It was beginning to feel like if she stayed in the room much longer, she'd vomit. "I don't understand..." Her voice was almost a moan.

"Let's get out of here." His hand slid down to her elbow and he guided her through the door, down the stairs, and back outside.



Tifa stumbled back into the town square. The blank gray sky seemed to surround her. Her shoulders heaved and she choked back tears. Clutching the music box, she buried her face in Vincent's chest and cried.

He stood there silently, holding her enough so she stayed upright. His face remained as expressionless as the town was unnaturally silent. He was a stiff, yet solid support as his companion slowly regained her composure.

"It's more than just empty. There's something wrong here."

"I smelled it as we walked in. I'm sorry I didn't say anything. It's partly just...how Nibelheim smells. It was stronger than I remember, but I thought it was a fault of my memory. Seems we're all distrusting ourselves."

"Maybe there was always something wrong here. At least, since the reactor and the mansion were built. Maybe we just didn't pay enough attention to notice." She slid the music box into the knapsack she had on her back. "I don't think I'll be coming back. Memories are hard enough, sad enough, without losing your mind on top of it."

"Funny you'd say that. You're the only one left who'd call this place home, right?"

She looked puzzled. "Well, Cloud might...but his memories of childhood apparently aren't particularly fond ones." She winced, recalling the scenes she'd seen replayed in his subconscious. "I certainly know he's not come back, and that he doesn't intend to."

"Then," continued Vincent slowly, "you won't be too angry at me when I inform you of the business that I came here to take care of."

"What would that be?"

"I intend to destroy the Shinra Mansion, after removing the files on Hojo's experimentation on Sephiroth, Cloud, and myself. From the looks of things, continuing on with the rest of the village would be a positive."

Tifa gasped. "Destroy it?"

He grimaced and nodded. "And I cannot think of a more fitting method than purging it with fire."
*
"Dollface, the only thing I see in here is books." Reno absentmindedly swatted at a stack of the tomes. The pile collapsed, sending up years' worth of dust and mildew into the air.

Yuffie choked, hanging onto herself. For a few brief seconds, it seemed like her lungs would explode. "...asshole..." She brushed a tear from her eye. "Dammit, Reno, do you really think that we could just stumble on the Classified Center in here easily?"

"It worked last time."

She glared. "Well, got anything of yours I can throw in anger?" She shook her head. "Man, this is pretty annoying, though. The lab in the other room is just about as bare bones as I remember it. There's the creepy tubes that Cloud and his buddy were in, and then there's the creepy table where our pal Vincent was de- and reconstructed."

"Which makes this..."

"Um, a library? Note the books." She plunked down in the desk chair and spun herself around, raising up another cloud of dust.

Coughing, Reno stepped over and grabbed the back of the chair. "Stop that. Man, this whole thing was a waste of time."

"It's not like yours is valuable, anyway," she muttered, getting up dejectedly.

"You were excited, though. You were almost the same annoying, hyperactive Yuffie that I know and loathe too well." He offered her a small smile.

"Felt good." She turned to the blank brick wall. "Dammit, though. I hate this stupid secretive Shinra shit." She pulled her foot back and kicked it as hard as she could. With a cry of pain, she hopped back. "...I'm--ow--such a--ow--moron."

No response.

"Reno?" she whined. "I hurt."

"I can't fucking believe it."

"Yes, sometimes I'm almost as stupid as you. Will you help me see if I broke anything?" She balanced on one foot, holding up the injured one and peering at it.

"Hon, you moved the damn wall. If it'd been your head that'd rammed into it, I could understand, but..." He walked up to examine the area of bricks that had shifted. "I bet the entrance to the Classified Center would be pretty tough to break into, but since it is an entrance, wouldn't be as solid as a wall."

Yuffie forgot her swollen foot for a second and hopped over. "It did move...and just a rectangle piece. Ohmygawd."

He felt along the wall for some sort of irregularity. "Damn, this brick wiggles a bit, but I can't find a panel."

"Dumbass." She shoved him aside, and pulled out the loose brick. "Voila?"

"If I'd just kicked a goddamn brick wall and started whining about the pain, I'd be watching just who I called dumbass," he muttered. He dutifully glanced inside the space and, sure enough, there was another pass-pad. Complete with stylus for punching in the numbers, as no one could actually reach in there with a hand and expect to hit anything they intended to.

"Ooh, this is so exciting." Yuffie limped back a little to give him some breathing room. She heard the sound of footsteps behind her. "Oh crap," she whispered. "Shut up."

"God, I hope it's not another one of those fucking siamese-twin monster shits. Should we hide?" His voice remained low.



"That really won't be necessary." The male voice came from the lab. "Just keep your hands in the air where we can see them." Two figures stepped in from the next room.

"Vince!" Yuffie clapped her hands, immediately forgetting the order to keep them high. "And Tifa. What are you guys doing here?"

"Nostalgia trip."

She ignored the sarcasm dripping from her friend's voice. "Coolness."

Tifa was forced to smile at that. "So what brings you here? Hell, what possessed you to bring /him/?" She glanced at Reno warily.

"We founda boulder and it was Shinra's and it said there was materia here and I said 'Well, Reno, you're such a loser that I'm sure you won't mind going with me to go look for the materia and you're the only one I know who has the pass-code to get into the boulder, so you can get into the Nibelheim thing and--'" She paused to take a breath.

"...what?" Tifa shot Vincent a look of disbelief at her ramblings.

"Ha, she hasn't been like that in the longest time." Reno grinned.

Yuffie noticed that no one was taking her seriously, so she took a couple more breaths and gained some composure. "We found a lab in Wutai, and it said there was something here in Nibelheim called 'base materia,' and that it tempo-ra-ri-ly simulated the effects of Mako. I thought if we found it, we could help everyone over in Midgar."

"And you wanted to burn this place to the ground, Vincent." Tifa shook her head.

"What?" Yuffie squawked at him. "You /can't/. We have to find the materia and then what if there's more stuff in the Classified Center--"

"I think I possess the self-control to hold off on my plans," he said dryly. "Besides, what is a Classified Center here? We've all seen the laboratory and the library. And there's not a piece of materia in either of them."

"Watch this." Reno grabbed the stylus and jabbed several times into the hole in the wall. Suddenly, a rectangular portion of the brick wall swung back, away from the room. Through the opening, they could all see a corridor. Lit by bluish lights.

Level C employee confirmed. Agent Jack Reno, Turk second-class. Security level red. Please enter the number of individuals entering this classified center, and hit Enter.

Tifa gasped at the voice. "What the--"

"That should be four, right?" Reno smirked.



"Make it six." A voice came from the doorway. "I'm sure Lane could get in herself, but I don't want to freak you all out by sneaking up from behind."

Tifa smiled. "What do you call this, Reeve?"

He grinned and opened his mouth to answer her. "I--"

"You fucking rat!" Elena stormed into the room, past everyone. "I can't believe I find you here. We've been calling you for weeks. What the hell have you been doing, Reno?"

"Investigation. I'll have you know there's something important to your cause right inside this doorway." He punched at the keypad.

"I call bullshit!" chirped Yuffie. "He only found the first place because I threw his radio and it hit it," she said to the blonde. "And when I say he found it, of course, I actually mean me."

The portal will be unlocked for the entrance of /6 individuals. The portal will then be sealed. A security access code is required for exit from the classified center. Press 1 to proceed./

"Of course you do," Elena replied. "Besides, Reeve and I already know there's something in there we need." She glanced around. "We are eventually going to hear why everybody and their brother is down here in the Shinra mansion, right?"

"I'd rather hurry inside now and play catch-up later," Reeve said, pushing through to the corridor. Tifa and Vincent filed in behind him, then Elena, shrugging.

Reno turned to go inside, but Yuffie protested.

"Hey, whatever happened to ladies first?"

"Sweetheart, you're a 'Lady' in title only. And that pagoda ain't that great, anyhow--" His voice trailed off as she shoved him through the doorway. She stepped in right after, and the faux brick façade slid back into place behind them.
*
"This place is bigger than the other," said Yuffie softly. "I don't even know where to start looking."

"They've gotta be keeping the materia someplace relatively secure, so no one drops it on the ground or anything."

"But Reno...I don't know the first thing about scientific experiments, so I'm still at a loss." She took a step back and studied the large pieces of equipment. "I wonder why Reeve was so interested in the specimen room. I thought he'd jump at the chance to look for this stuff."

"He and Elena had their own reasons for comin' all the way out here. I think they need to satisfy their own curiosity. 'Sides, it had to be some pretty powerful evidence they found to get them to abandon Midgar for awhile and start searching for an unknown specimen."

She walked over to one of the larger machines and began to pry it apart, looking inside. "I just thought that maybe I could do something important for once, and they've got something even better. I'll be happy if they find the thing that's a cure, of course--"

"Of course," he chimed, smirking.

"--but...I had to find the info on a /materia/, of all things, so I still look all greedy and gil-hungry." She sighed. This particular gadget was full of plenty of electronics, but no materia. "Why aren't you with them, where the action's bound to be?" She plopped down on the floor, trying to get over her disappointment. The search had to continue. Later.

"In for a penny, in for a pound, right?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind." He crouched down next to her. "I think I need to be here. We have to find this materia. Even if they find exactly what they thought they would, they'll probably need all the extra info and equipment they can find to develop it into something useful. Including this base materia. We didn't come out here for nothing." He patted her shoulder. "Besides, if I were to go into a room with Lane right now, she'd kill me."

"You hate me. Wouldn't death be better?" Yuffie stuck out her tongue.

"Maybe in the short-term." He leaned back, dodging her attempt at a slap. "Stop it. Maybe seeing her made me feel guilty about avoiding everything. Avoiding everyone. Sure, everyone always thinks I'm a good-for-nothing. I give 'em a reason to. They assume the worst."

"Yeah, but...it's cause of what you do. People assume the worst of me, and I didn't do all that much. Sure, maybe I stole all of their materia once, but I'm young and have no impulse control." She scowled, altering her overall look from dejected to miserable.

"At least you're trying to make up for it, trying to do some good. You're improving Wutai, and the instant you see something you can do to help, you go for it."

"I should be over in the other room, instead of pouting in here, huh?" Rolling her eyes, she dutifully hopped to her feet.

"Hold on, I didn't say /that/," Reno stood up, blocking her path. "This base materia thing is important. Besides, I don't know if that tiny little specimen room should really have the four people in it that's there now, let alone a fifth."

"You're right." She reached to the next piece of equipment and began to see if it could hold what she was looking for.

"Also..."

"...hmm?" Yuffie looked up and met his eyes.

"...I think I'd get a little lonely if you left me in this place by myself."

"Right." She rolled her eyes. "Shut up and look in that one." She gestured to another piece of machinery.

He laughed. "Whatever you say, Lady Kisarageeee."

"Let's try to be quick. Something about this lab, this whole village, it's starting to creep me out."
*
Tifa glanced between her companions. Reeve was searching through various catalogue cards, trying to find a specimen that matched the description he'd read. In turn, he was being watched by Vincent, who seemed puzzled by the situation. Elena was sitting on a desk chair, filing her fingernails with an emery board. "You're here 'cause of a note?"

"Yep," replied Elena, moving on to the next nail. "One tiny little note to Hojo from a secretary. One that didn't even make it out of the building. I assume the whole Northern Crater thing and Hojo dying sorta took care of sending out any of his mail."

"Must've been pretty explicit to get the two of you out of Midgar and all the way out here?" Vincent leaned against a cabinet.

"You can read it if you want." Reeve reached into his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper. "But it basically says that there was once a specimen here that was resistant to Mako poisoning. I figure it's some monster that they captured, maybe even tested with Yuffie's little bit of materia she's investigating, and...it's resistant. That's all I need to know. There's something natural that can fight it." He smiled. "There's hope."

Tifa pulled out a catalogue drawer of her own and began to glance through it. "I can't believe the computer database here is down. So that's what we're looking for? Mako poisoning resistant?"

"Yep."

Vincent looked up from the note. "I don't think that's going to be it. I think you need to be looking for this 'Soldier Double-X' project."

"The what?" Reeve looked up.

"In amongst her other pointless rambles, Yuffie mentioned that the Center in Wutai said the base materia was used for the Soldier Double-X project. If you think that this specimen is the product of that...then it's probably labeled by that, before its results."

"Alpha G," Tifa said aloud.

The others looked at her, puzzled.

"Sorry, I found a card." She began to read from it again. "Specimen Alpha G. Location: Gongaga. Classification: Soldier Double-X. Condition: Cryostorage. Codename: Caelian." She flipped through the next few cards. "I see specimens labeled Beta G, Gamma G, Kappa G, lots of weird things and a G..." Her voice trailed off. "But this Alpha G is the only one that doesn't have the condition of 'eliminated.'"

"Looks like we might be taking a little trip over to Gongaga. Wonder if the Classified Center there was in the reactor that exploded?" Elena was never the most tactful.

Reeve began to read from a card he'd found. "Specimen Alpha N. Location: Nibelheim. Classification: Jenova Meld. Condition: Stasis. Codename: Valentine." He held it out to Vincent. "Would you like this?"

He took it, silently.

"It looks like all the hard copies of the files are here. We should definitely pull them out before we head anywhere else. There's no way of knowing what might happen here after we leave."

"That's a good idea, Reeve," Tifa said. She looked down at the gibberish of numbers near the bottom of her card. "I'm guessing this is the filing system?"

Vincent turned and glanced at the cabinet he'd been reclining against. It ran from floor to ceiling, a sturdy contraption of stainless steel. He reached for the latch and pulled it open, revealing rows of file boxes stacked neatly on its shelves.

She laughed a little and searched for the box that matched the first half of her numbers. "Here we go. Why don't I just take the whole thing? It seems to be the box that they used for all these 'G' specimens. Part of the same project. Will probably help whoever ends up working with Alpha G."

After spending a few moments internally debating, Vincent reached in himself and grabbed the box notated at the bottom of his own catalogue card. "I'm not sure that I even want to know. But I think it should be my decision whether or not anyone ever knows."

"That's understandable." She turned to Reeve and Elena. "So, you said you two flew in?"

"That's right," Reeve said. "On helicopter. As long as you know where to fuel up, you can make it across the ocean easily that way. And it helps that Elena knows how to fly one."

"We should get over there sooner, rather than later, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah you guys should gather up the info from here that we need, and then we'll head over there." He walked to the door.

"Where you going?" Elena demanded. "You need a passcode to get out, but I can do that myself. I was a Turk, too."

"I thought it polite to inform Reno and Yuffie where we were headed. And encourage them to keep looking for that materia." Reeve left.

She snorted. "Yeah, he's going to encourage the guy that abandoned him. Reeve can be a class act, but I swear, he's such a pushover."

Tifa smiled. "That's what makes Reeve 'Reeve.'"



"Ow!" A feminine voice rose out of the room and into the hallway. "That hurts, you jerk!"

"You asked me to look at it. Don't start whining now that I'm too rough."

Reeve warily stepped inside the lab. "Do I want to know what's going on here?" Yuffie was sitting on an examination table, with one of her legs across Reno's lap. Her sneaker and sock were lying on the floor.

"Remember how I said I found that Center in Wutai by throwing a radio at it?" asked Yuffie.

He nodded.

"Well I found this one by kicking the damn brick wall in the mansion basement--ow! Stop messing with it!"

"How am I supposed to tell you if it's broken or not if I don't move it? Every time I asked you to move it, you started crying about /pain/." Reno tossed her foot off of him, and she screeched in response. "It just looks bruised, anyhow. I cast a Cure spell on it, that should help keep it from swelling any more. Doesn't it feel at least a little better?"

She crossed her arms and refused to look at him.

"Admit it."

She threw him a withering glance. "Fine. Okay. Maybe it stopped throbbing. Slightly."

"We can get back to work?"

She nodded.

"Good." He glanced at Reeve. "So, what's up? Find anything interesting?"

"We think the specimen was in cryostorage in Gongaga."

"What's that mean?" Yuffie asked.

"It means that it was frozen. Hopefully, using a method where we can revive it so it's alive again. But we don't know if the Classified Center in Gongaga still exists. The reactor did explode and all. We're all going to fly out there in the chopper and search for ourselves."

"You're leaving. And we're not invited." She frowned.

"It's not that at all! No, of course not. You can come if you want." Reeve shrugged. "I just thought you'd want to stay and look for that base materia. I don't know if extra people will help us out there, but..." His voice trailed off. "If you're sick of searching for it, I understand."

"I didn't mean it like that! It's just everyone's always trying to leave me!"

Reno made a big show of clapping her on the shoulder. "Don't worry Yuffie, I'll stick around." He grinned and added in a loud whisper: "Don't worry either, bud, I'll make sure she doesn't run off with the base materia if she finds it."

"Hey!" She poked him in the ribs.

"Cool. We'll be out in Gongaga, then, I guess. See you guys soon, I hope." Reeve went to leave.

"Wait!" Yuffie called.

"Hmm?"

"If you...happen to find something like the base materia over in Gongaga..." She bit her lip and held up her phone. "PHS me, 'kay? I don't want you to leave me over here stuck on a wild goose chase."

He laughed. "You betcha."
*
They touched down about a half mile out of the town limits. It'd only been six months since Gongaga's own disaster, and the residents were still wary of outsiders. So the group decided to walk the rest of the way in. Tifa wasn't especially looking forward to dealing with any of them, anyway. "Maybe if we're careful and approach from the right direction, we won't really see anybody."

"You still think the best bet for the Classified Center is near the reactor itself?" asked Reeve. "Or at least, where it used to be?"

"I'm not sure. The last was inside of something of Shinra's. I'm sure the Wutai one was only in an elaborate disguise because it was on hostile territory and also used as a place to spy." She shrugged. "I hope we find it in there, because it's a little bit separate from the town, and I just don't want to...see anyone again."

"What's the big deal?" Elena gave her a weird look. "Look, it's not like you were ever with Shinra, and the rest of us certainly don't have to admit to it, and I'm sure that's the only people that they'd run out of town."

"The last time I was here, we ran into a couple who said they were the parents of a First-Class Soldier who disappeared. His name was Zack. He died with Nibelheim. I'd like to go for at least a little while today without having to think about that mess."

"Come on, guys. We're almost there, and all we need to focus on is finding this Classified Center." Reeve walked ahead of them, anxious to find out if what they were looking for still even existed.



"I don't know."

"C'mon Elena, what's the big deal?" Reeve prodded.

"The big deal is that you want me to crawl into what is basically a glorified hole in the ground!"

"That's what the others were. There wasn't anything good for cover near here besides the reactor, so they were stuck putting it below." Vincent glanced at her. "You should be thankful it's underground, else it'd not even be here."

"Fine." She carefully lowered herself through the hatch in the ground and began to descend the ladder, followed by the two men.
Tifa was there to greet them as they reached the bottom. "I looked on ahead, a little. It seems that this place is smaller than the last one. There's only one room."

She was correct, and the end of the corridor opened up into a pristine lab. It was rather large compared to the station in Wutai, but none of them knew that. Several desks lined one side of the room, while the other supported several mechanical pods. Scattered elsewhere around were various pieces of equipment and computers. A fine layer of dust lay over everything, indicating that the place probably hadn't been touched since the Mako reactor located directly above had exploded.

"This place is kinda creepy." Elena winced and sat down on one of the desk chairs.

"I'm inclined to agree, Lane." Reeve walked over to one of the computers and began to fiddle with it. "I'm gonna look and see if I can find out where this 'Alpha G' thing is."

"I bet it's on that wall." Tifa pointed to the pods. "Those all looks like smaller versions of this thing inside of the Shinra building science lab. It's where they kept Jenova. Until Sephiroth busted her out."

"So that's where I've seen those..." He turned back to the computer.

Vincent sat at one of the desks and began to leaf through the files they'd removed from the center in Nibelheim.

The four of them remained in silence for the next few moments, all busy with something or other. Tifa was studying the equipment, figuring out how to access the specimen they were going to remove. The two men were engrossed in the information in front of them.

Elena had taken out the emery board again. It's not that she was lazy, or even that she was apathetic about the situation. She'd merely given up hope at this point that anyone who'd gotten poisoned could be saved. This made everything easier for her to deal with.

"I've found it!" Reeve turned to them and grinned. "Pod 6-B. The numbers are rows, and the letters are columns."

"I think this keypad over here releases the pods from where they are locked on the wall," said Tifa. "I still don't know how to get into the pod once it's freed, but maybe we don't want to immediately do that, anyway."

"Well, let's get to it!"

"I'll try to release it. You get that stepladder, so you can remove it."

Reeve gave her a mock salute and started to climb up to the pod. With a whoosh of air, the pod slid smoothly from its docking. He grabbed it and slowly made his way back down.

"I'm curious."

He set the pod down on the table. There was a window atop the pod, but it was frosted over from the temperature change.

"Don't you want see, Vincent?" Tifa glanced at him. She noticed his odd expression. "What is it?"

"I know what's inside," he answered. "I saw in the file."

"I thought you were reading your own?" The two of them watched Reeve cleaning off the frost.

"I /was/," he said.



Reeve gasped. His voice came out, barely a whisper. "My god..."

Tifa leaned over the table and looked in the window. She put her hand to her mouth. "It's human?!"

Vincent set down the file. "It's a baby. All the products of the Soldier Double-X project were human. Meant to be the next generation of Soldier." He slammed his fist on the table. "And they were all made from me."

"Clones?" Tifa was horrified.

"No, worse."

"How could it be wors--"

"They were made from cells stolen from Lucrecia and...me. This project, of which this is the only survivor..." Vincent swallowed. "...was composed entirely of my children."