By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Vincent found himself alone in his room preparing for the trip while Tifa had gone up into town to do some much needed shopping. He had opted not to go in true male fashion, believing that anything was better than clothes shopping.

He sat on the end of the bed, the various pieces of his Death Penalty laying out on the bedspread in an orderly fashion. It had been, in his opinion, far too long since he had last thoroughly cleaned the weapon. His well-trained hands easily reassembled the gun despite the fact that his mind was far from the task.

He kept envisioning Hojo hanging from him on that catwalk, disbelieving that Jaras had shown up in time to prevent him from falling with the madman into the Mako well. Vincent couldn’t help but wonder if the scientist’s body would ever be recovered. In his heart he knew that Hojo was gone but without a body there would always be that sliver of doubt. Then his mind wandered to the memories of Tifa’s reaction after Jaras terminated the Project. He had felt so helpless in that moment and hoped that he would never feel that way again.

The door to the room opened just as he slipped the magazine back into his gun and he looked up to see that Tifa had returned. In her hands were two shopping bags. She came over and sat next to him while setting the bags on the floor before her. "Hey."

He smiled at her as he laid the gun down on the bed next to him. "Did you get anything interesting?"

"Yeah." She picked back up one of the two bags and set it in his lap. "I got you some clothes. I don’t know how long I’m gonna be able to keep looking at you in that outfit Reno got you."

He made the gesture of looking inside, not at all surprised to see yet more pairs of jeans and various colored shirts. Even if he wasn’t the biggest fan of her tastes he was grateful to have more to wear. "Thanks."

Tifa crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. "You don’t like them do you?"

"Sure I do." Vincent looked over at her and frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"Well," Tifa smiled despite herself, "I seem to want to get you into some color and I don’t think you like it."

He shrugged. "I used to wear normal clothes you know before I was a Turk. From then on it was all suits, and then when I awoke from stasis I found myself in that black outfit I had been put in. It just sort of seemed to fit I guess, plus as an assassin, black was a good choice. I’ll wear this stuff, it might just take me a while to get used to dressing like this again."

"Okay." Tifa rested her head on his shoulder. "But you know, if you don’t like what I pick, you don’t have to wear it."

"Which means that I would have to go do my own shopping, and that isn’t going to be something I’ll look forward to." He placed an arm around her. "These will do just fine."

A knock came to the door and Vincent got up an answered. He found his brother on the other side. "Tseng."

He walked in a few paces, nodding in acknowledgement of Tifa. "Hello, I’ve come to let you two know that the air ship is ready. It will take you to Rocket first and then carry on to get Jaras home. I have told Dr. Arlin of this and she has already contacted Brandon to tell him that Jaras is coming back to Mideel. From what she said, he is excited to have him back, although worried slightly. I have told her to call Brandon back and let him know that we will be stationing a few ASRIO agents in Mideel to keep and eye out for anyone who might pose a threat to him. I think that will put all of our minds at rest a little."

Vincent seemed pleased to hear this. Having some of his brother’s men looking out for his son was comforting. "Good, that is a wonderful idea and I thank you."

"Certainly." Tseng smiled. "It’s the least I can do for him. He told me about his encounter with Hojo and yourself in the reactor. I know that he saved your life."

Vincent glanced away, not wishing to address that event but he was intrigued that Jaras had volunteered that information. "He told you about that?"

"Well, in truth I had to drag it out of him." Tseng laughed. "He wasn’t extremely forthcoming with any information regarding the mission. But I was able to gather that."

"It’s true, he did save my life." Vincent looked over at Tifa whom he had already told the story to. "It didn’t seem like him to willingly discuss it."

"Yes, he remains drawn into himself and I’m surprised that he acted as he did on the mission." Tseng sighed.

"I think he was Sephiroth on that mission, not Jaras." Vincent admitted in a saddened tone.

"Very possible." Tseng turned to walk back out the door. "In any event, the airship is ready and will leave once you board. I hope that you have a pleasant trip. Call me on my phone when you are ready to come back, all right?"

"All right." Vincent moved to close the door once he brother had stepped out.

Tifa got up from where she was sitting and ran to Tseng before he exited. "Thank you for letting us go to Rocket."

"Think nothing of it." Tseng grinned widely at her. "I know Cid needs you and you have earned a break from this place. Have a good time."

"Okay, thanks again." Tifa gave him a brief hug before stepping back so Vincent could shut the door.

After a few more moments of preparation, they were ready to head up to the airship.