Chapter 15

Brad was out working late on his helicopter. He was just about done for the day when he heard something that sounded like a gunshot. Wondering what had just happened, he jogged out of the hanger and looked around. Possessing no real idea of where the sound had originated, thanks the acoustics of the massive metal buildings around him, he searched the darkness. A flash of red caught his eye to the left, between two other hangers and he went that way.

As he came around the corner, he saw the form of someone lying on the ground and he began to run faster. Once at the fallen man’s side, he recognized who it was and fell to his knees. "Oh shit! Reno?"

Reno had ended up face down on the ground, and there was already a considerable pool of blood soaking the asphalt. Brad reached out and rolled the ASRIO leader over and then caught his breath.

Where Reno’s right eye had been there was nothing now, and the bones beside it that had made up the side of his face had been shattered and lain open.

Being a hardened military veteran, Brad was able to put aside his emotional reaction for a moment and do what he had to. He took Reno up into his arms and ran toward the base’s entrance as fast as he could manage.

-----------------------

Janice had gotten the sample that she needed for the lab from Spencer’s body, and sat at her desk filling out the request form to send along with it.

"Doctor!"

She came to attention upon hearing someone yell for her. Janice ran out of her office and into the infirmary, finding Brad standing beside a bed where he’d placed someone down. Seeing that Brad’s work clothes were soaked with blood, she quickly came over, seeing Reno lain out upon the gurney. The source of the bleeding was obvious and she ran and hit the intercom. "I need all available medical staff to the infirmary at once!"

She then ran over and got the emergency cart, pulling it over. Janice got to work, knowing that Reno was fighting for his life. As she began to work on him feverishly, she asked, "What in the hell happened?"

Kyle and two female nurses ran in and got to assisting the doctor.

Brad wiped his bloodied hands upon his pants. "I was out in the hanger and I heard a gunshot. I just ran out and found him layin’ on the ground. I don’t know who did it."

"Damn it, I do," Janice shot back, sliding an endotracheal tube down Reno’s throat. "Okay, let’s get him in to surgery. Bring the portable x-ray unit."

Brad quickly found himself abandoned as everyone disappeared into the surgical suite. He realized that he needed to go tell Angel.

-----------------------

Angel had just put Dana to bed and was getting ready to go take a shower when the phone rang. "Hello?"

Brad swallowed hard. Now that he was away from the situation, his emotions were catching up with him. "Angel, it’s Brad."

She knew that something was wrong by his tone, besides, Brad never called. "What’s going on?"

He cut to the chase. "Reno’s been shot, Angel."

Vincent’s daughter couldn’t believe what she had just heard. "Shot?"

"Yeah…I think you better get down here, Angel." Brad rubbed his eyes with his free hand.

She was unable to respond right away as it sank in. "Okay, uh, I’ll…I’ll drop Dana off at Jessie’s house and I’ll get there as quick as I can. Brad?"

"Yeah?"

"Is…is he dead? Just tell me that much." Angel braced herself for the reply.

"I don’t know, Angel. Janice took him into surgery already. He was shot in the face." Brad cringed to hear himself say it.

"Oh dear God." Angel let the phone fall from her hand. Her stomach instantly knotted painfully, and she ran to Dana’s room to get her daughter.

The little girl wasn’t asleep yet, and squinted when her mother turned on the light. "Mommy?"

"Come on, Baby." Angel came over to her bedside. "I need to take you to Jessie’s house."

Dana, a typical seven-year-old, was oblivious to the anguish that surrounded her mother at the moment, being too excited about going to her friend’s house. "Why am I going there now, Mommy?"

Angel forced herself not to cry. She would have to see how Reno was going to be before she destroyed her daughter’s innocent world. "Mommy has to go to work."

She accepted this answer at face value and slid from her bed. Angel took her and quickly left the house.

-----------------------

Word had spread through the base quickly, and the infirmary was full of people by the time Angel arrived, as everyone awaited word of their leader’s fate. When Angel walked in, a hush fell over the crowd. All eyes turned to her.

Angel would have felt self-conscious about this had she not been so distraught at the moment. Her compulsion was to scrub up and go join the others in the surgical suite, but she realized that in her present mental state that she would only be in the way.

Upon seeing Angel, Rayna and Porter came to her side. Rayna embraced the other woman, as they had grown close over the years.

"Angel, are you okay?" Rayna asked when she finally stepped back.

She wiped the tears from her cheeks and hung her head. "I…I don’t know. If he dies…"

Rayna took Angel back into her arms as she broke down again.

Porter placed his hands upon Angel’s back as she remained in his wife’s arms. "I’m so sorry."

After a few minutes, Angel got herself back together and pulled out of Rayna’s embrace. She looked at them, searching for answers. "What happened?"

"We’re not really sure." Porter pointed over toward Brad. "He was out in the hanger and he heard a gunshot and went running. He found Reno just lying on the ground."

"So we don’t have any idea who did this?" Angel asked, needing answers.

Brad, having noticed that he was being motioned to had gotten up and come over. He’d heard Angel’s question. "Before Janice took him into surgery, she said that she knew, but she didn’t say who."

Angel was shaking badly. "I…I want my dad."

That’s when they all noticed the glaringly obvious. Vincent wasn’t here.

"Didn’t anyone tell him?" Angel scanned the scene.

"There was a general announcement made over the intercom. He should have heard." Porter put his arm around his wife’s shoulders.

Angel looked at him. "Can you do me a favor and just go check his room?"

Porter gave her a smile. He would do anything she asked. "Sure. I’ll be back in a minute."

"Thanks." Angel went and landed in a chair. She was too stressed at the moment to think.

When Porter got to Vincent’s room, he found the door slightly ajar and he pushed it open. There was no one inside. He heard a sound behind him and he turned, seeing Jaras standing in the doorway to his own room across the hall. "Jaras, have you seen Vincent?"

He hung his head and shrugged. Sephiroth had heard about Reno, and knew full well that his father was to blame. Yet, he wasn’t compelled to volunteer anything. He’d been playing dumb thus far for Jeanine, and he wasn’t ready to ruin the act for Porter. "No."

Porter gave a shallow nod. "Well, if you see him, can you tell him to get to the infirmary? Angel really wants him."

Jaras forced a smile. "I will."

Porter turned and went back to the infirmary.

-----------------------

Janice pulled off her surgical gloves and let them fall to the bloodstained floor. She had done all she could, Reno would have to do the rest. After pulling the radiograph films from the view box in the surgery suite, she walked out, leaving the nurses to clean up and move Reno out when it was time.

As she walked out into the main room of the infirmary, everyone went silent. Janice spotted Angel, and waved her over. She led her to her office and closed the door.

Angel stood there as the doctor put the x-ray films up onto the light box in her office.

Before Janice turned on the light within the view box, she turned to Angel. "It’s bad, Angel."

She felt a few tears fall down her cheeks. "How bad is it?"

Janice turned on the light box, illuminating the x-ray films. "The bullet struck him in the right eye, and shattered all of the orbital bones. The bulk of the projectile seems to have exited out of the side of his face, taking more bone and tissue with it. However, the bullet did fragment on the way through, and as you can see, there are about a half dozen pieces of it still in his head. These three here are in his brain. I would do more damage trying to retrieve them than has already been done."

Angel’s trained eye followed along easily enough. The fact that Reno hadn’t just instantly died from this wound was a miracle and she knew it. "Dear God…"

"At the very least, he’s lost an eye, Angel. Most likely, if he lives, though, he’s going to have some cognitive or motor function issues." Janice went and landed heavily in her chair, exhausted. "So…you’ve--"

Angel raised her hands, she didn’t want Janice to say the inevitable. "Dr. Arlin, please don’t say it."

"I’m sorry, Angel, but you’ve been promoted."

The new ASRIO leader felt her knees go weak and she collapsed back into one of the chairs sitting before Janice’s desk. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed for a moment. "No… This can’t be happening! He wasn’t even on a mission!"

Janice needed to get Angel to pull herself together. As the person in control, she had to be told the rest of the story. "Angel, look at me."

She turned her pale blue eyes up to the doctor.

"Right before this happened, Reno walked in on Vincent shooting up ferium. He came and told me about it, and then left. I know that he needed to throw Vincent out of the base in light of this, and--"

Angel shot up to her feet. "Don’t you dare, Janice! Don’t accuse my father of doing this!"

"Sit down, Angel." Dr. Arlin was far too tired and stressed to deal with any of this. "Vincent did this, I know that for a fact. He was hooked on that God forsaken drug just like Spencer. Since we know that the two of them came back like that, I’m going to tell you right now that you need to have your brother placed under arrest until we can be sure that he isn’t involved in whatever Shinra was trying to pull by manipulating Vincent and Spencer."

Angel’s whole world had just been blown apart. Her husband was on the verge of death, her father was accused of the shooting, and now she was being told to be suspicious of her brother. This was all too much. "Why would my father let things get this bad?"

Janice realized that Reno had been sheltering Angel from all that Vincent had disclosed since arriving. It was up to her to get Angel caught up with the truth. "When Vincent arrived here, he was under a huge amount of stress, and he was very unhappy, Angel."

She knit her brow. This was all news to her. "What are you talking about?"

"Your father admitted to being an alcoholic, and from what I understand, Tifa was having an affair." Janice placed her hands upon her desk and leaned forward.

Angel’s jaw dropped. This was beyond belief.

Janice continued. "With all of that going on, when he was supposedly killed on the mission, Shinra probably didn’t have that hard of a time manipulating him emotionally. He was hooked on ferium obviously for some purpose. Although he’s been hiding it well, those of us that have been around him have noticed that he was acting a little different. When Spencer died, I asked Vincent about what he knew regarding ferium, and he denied even knowing what that drug was. He lied, he flat out lied, because he was on it, too. Reno stumbled in on him getting a fix on accident, but knowing what that drug does to people, he undoubtedly realized that he couldn’t trust Vincent anymore and he must have gone to escort Vincent out of the base. Along the way, Vincent shot him, obviously with the intention of killing him."

Angel shook her head. "I can’t believe that, Janice. My father? He’s not like that!"

"He wasn’t like that, but with ferium in his blood, there’s no telling what he was really doing. We’re just lucky that he left before something worse happened." Dr. Arlin slumped back into her chair.

"Worse? Before something worse happened?" Angel scoffed. "If Vincent really did this, then he’s either killed my husband or made him a vegetable! How could things be any worse?"

"We could all be dead, Angel." Janice sighed. "But like I said, so far we know that two of the three of them that came back from that lab did so on ferium. You need to lock up Jaras until we can establish that he’s not on it, too."

It all sank in and Angel nodded her head. She knew that she had to do it. "Okay. I’m going to go give the order, and then I’m coming back. I want to see my husband."

"All right." Janice rose from her seat. "I’ll make sure he’s cleaned up by the time you get back."

Angel got up from her chair unsteadily and went out into the main room of the infirmary. She saw Porter now standing over with Ericson and went to them. "I need the two of you to come with me."

They looked at her, and Porter spoke up. "How’s Reno?"

"He’s alive for the moment, but that’s about all. We have to go arrest Jaras." Angel couldn’t look them in the eyes as she gave the order.

"Jaras?" Ericson cocked an eyebrow. "You think Jaras did this?"

"No, no one suspects Jaras of this, but we need to confine him for the time being nonetheless." Angel glanced at Porter. "Just come with me and let’s get this over with."

They nodded and followed her down the hall.

-----------------------

Sephiroth was in his room sitting on the couch, holding Jeanine in his arms. She was shaken up by the news of Reno’s situation, and he was doing his best to comfort her. He wanted to crack and tell her the entire truth, but part of him feared that she would become angry that he hadn’t come clean about this before, possibly preventing what had happened.

When the knock came to the door, he gently let go of her and went to answer. Upon seeing Angel, he smiled. "How’s he doing?"

She immediately looked regretful and stepped aside, revealing Porter and Ericson standing with their side arms drawn and aimed at him.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "What’s going on? I didn’t have anything to do with this, Angel!"

"I don’t think that you did." She had a job to do and couldn’t let her own feelings get in the way. "I need to detain you just for a little while, until this all clears up."

Jeanine got up from the couch, terrified. "Jaras? What are they doing?"

He glanced back over at her. Sephiroth resolved that he would comply with his sister’s request. Doing anything to fight for his freedom would result in someone getting hurt, and he had promised Jeanine that he wouldn’t harm anyone. "It’s all right. They just need to make sure that everything is okay."

Jeanine was speechless.

"Turn around and put your hands behind your back," Angel requested, her tone making it obvious that she wasn’t joking.

Sephiroth hung his head and obeyed. There was no doubt in his mind that he could take both Ericson and Porter if he wanted to, and a faint smile came to his lips. Whether they knew it or not, he was really in control of this situation, and it made it easier for him to remain still as Porter stepped forward and placed him in cuffs.

With that done, they led him to the detention block and placed him within a cell. Jeanine had followed along, and she went to the bars, reaching through them to her husband. Sephiroth went over and reached back to her, and they stood there in an embrace with the bars between them.

Angel, seeing that Jaras was caged securely for the moment, looked at the two men who’d escorted her here. "I want a guard at the entrance to this room, but leave Jeanine and Jaras some privacy. They deserve that much."

"All right. I’ll take the first watch," Ericson volunteered.

"Thank you." Angel turned and jogged back to the infirmary. She wanted to see Reno.

Once back in the infirmary, Angel went to Janice’s office, finding her inside, writing in Reno’s medical record. "I’m ready to see him."

Janice nodded. "He’s still in the surgical suite right now. You can go see him. We’ll probably keep him there for a while, until I’m confident that he’s stable."

Angel gave her a curt nod and then exited, going back to the surgical suite. She parted the doors and stepped in, slowly making her way to her husband’s bedside.

Reno was lying there, hooked up to a ventilator. The right side of his head was bandaged, concealing his grievous injury for the time being, but the dressing was already soaked through with blood. His left eye was closed, but thanks to the trauma he’d suffered, the skin around it appeared bruised. Dried blood had trailed from his nostrils because his sinuses had been broken into by some of the bullet fragments. In summery, he looked like hell.

Angel felt tears in her eyes and picked up one of his hands. "Reno…"

It finally sank in. Reno had never been seriously injured when he’d felt like he was in danger, because he was always on guard. This had to have happened in a moment when his defenses were down, meaning that this had been done by someone he liked. Vincent had shot him. It was the only explanation.

She reached out with a trembling hand and placed it upon his one exposed cheek. "If you don’t pull through this, I don’t know what I’m going to do. You were the first person that ever showed me kindness… I love you so much. Please get better, Reno."

He seemed to stir slightly, as if in response to her words.

Angel bent down and placed a gentle kiss upon his cheek. It was eerily cold. "I’m going to stay with you until you wake up. Dana’s at Jessie’s. They said they would watch her as long as needed. I won’t leave you here alone, Reno."

-----------------------

The morning light was streaming in Tifa’s hospital window and it fell upon her, rousing her from her sleep. She looked over, seeing that the baby wasn’t there. Anxiety washed over her and she sat up. There was a nurse in the room, setting down Tifa’s breakfast tray.

Tifa needed to know. "Where’s Charlotte?"

The nurse knit her brow and then turned to her. "We’re running some blood tests on her right now."

"Why?" Tifa asked, thinking that everything with her daughter had been fine so far.

"One of the preliminary tests we took yesterday came back indicating that we needed to check one more thing." The nurse pulled Tifa’s bed table closer.

"What’s wrong with my baby?" She was growing afraid.

"Probably nothing, Mrs. Vatatsi. The doctors just like to be cautious."

This didn’t comfort Tifa at all. "When will they bring her back?"

"It shouldn’t be long. I bet she’s back by the time you finish your breakfast. Now, eat, Mrs. Vatatsi." The nurse gave her a smile.

Tifa began to pick at her food, not really having an appetite.

-----------------------

Vincent was exhausted. He’d run for a long time after shooting Reno, needing to get out of Costa del Sol before anyone got on his trail. Now, he was slumped down into a seat on a train, making his way toward the nearest airship port. Having just given himself another injection of ferium while locked in the train’s bathroom, he was relaxed and wanting to get some sleep since the train wouldn’t arrive at its destination for another three hours. Vincent pulled his cloak around him tighter and closed his eyes.

Instantly, he flashed back to the moment when he’d presumably killed Reno. The confused look on the red head’s face as he had turned around to look at Vincent burned in his mind. "Vinny?"

Vincent opened his eyes and scowled. Rest would not be easy, not now.

Knock it off, Vincent, Chaos growled. He had it coming. You hated him-- don’t act like you’re remorseful now. I know you’ve thought about killing him before.

I may have, Chaos, and I even came close to doing so once long ago, but that was your work, not mine. I haven’t hated Reno in a long time. He wasn’t my favorite person in the world, but I didn’t hate him. Vincent turned his gaze to the dreary winter scenery outside. I didn’t hate him at all.

Well, it’s too late to have regrets anyway, besides, you’re not supposed to be capable of regret now. Chaos climbed a little closer to the surface, wanting to get to the bottom of what was wrong with his master.

Vincent narrowed his eyes. I’m getting more dependent on the ferium. My feelings are coming up like this because I need to increase my dose, but I don’t know by how much. You’re with me when I shoot up. You’ve seen that I’m increasing the amount each time, little by little. I’ll get it right soon, and these annoying and meaningless feelings will go away. Right now, I’m just tired. I’m sure Peirte will know what to do for me, and he’ll owe me for the information I’m about to turn over to him come tonight.

I hope for our sakes that you’re right. Like I said before, I have no intention of letting us die. Chaos wasn’t pleased with the way things were going at the moment. Vincent was feeling too much, and it made him fear what he would do next.

-----------------------

Cid was sitting in the kitchen reading the morning paper. He was absorbed in the story he was presently reading, and hadn’t been aware that the boys had left the family room, making their way out into the front yard.

Aaron and L.C. went about flipping over various rocks and pieces of wood, looking for any interesting insects to sacrifice to Tifa’s flock of chickens.

L.C. sighed and sat upon the wet grass, suddenly looking down. "Spaz?"

The dark haired boy glanced over at his friend. "Yes?"

"Why do you think your mom and my dad…did it?" L.C. asked, knowing that his companion was far more savvy about things than he.

Aaron cocked an eyebrow. "Because your father is trying to replace my dad."

The blond scoffed. "Naw, that’s not it, Spaz."

"Yes, it is, and now that they have this baby between them, I’m going to be pushed out completely. Cid hates me. He’s going to make me go away just like my dad had to." His red eyes seemed to flash with some dark emotion. "It will be you, the baby, Cid, and my mom."

"My dad’s not making you go anywhere!" L.C. wasn’t really all that pleased with the way Aaron was spitting out his father’s name.

Do it, Aaron. Show this little brat what you’re made of. Maybe it will scare Cid off if you do it, urged the voice within him.

Aaron reached back, feeling the piece of metal that he had secured beneath the waist to his pants, hiding beneath his coat. Cracking the combination to his father’s gun case had been simple enough for him. The combination had been the same series of numbers that he’d watched his father input into the ATM, and it was the same number he used for his password on the computer.

"Don’t you remember the way he almost hit me the other night in the car?" Aaron asked, the gun at his back making him braver than the demon alone could.

"You were being mean to him, Spaz!" L.C. got up, clenching his fists. He was almost angry enough to fight.

"Mean to him? I’m the one that actually belongs here! Not you, not your God damned father! Me!" Aaron wrapped his small hand around the grip on the Death Penalty and pulled it forward. The gun was so heavy that he couldn’t manage to hold it up before him-- that was, he couldn’t hold it up on his own.

This present wave of anger was finally enough to push the demon within the boy into overdrive. The skin on Aaron’s right arm began to darken and the muscles within it suddenly became more than capable of wielding the massive gun and he brought the muzzle up, aiming it squarely at L.C.

L.C. screamed at the top of his lungs. "Dad!"

Cid, hearing his boy’s cry for help, leapt up and ran out onto the front porch. He froze in place when he saw his boy at the end of a gun. "Aaron! What are you doing?"

Vincent’s son slowly turned his gaze toward Cid, a sneer coming to his lips. "What am I doing, Cid?"

Cid’s eyes grew wide as Aaron moved the gun to point at him instead of his boy. He put up his hands in a weak gesture. "Come on, kid. You don’t know what you’re doing. Put the fucking gun down!"

Aaron shook his head. The demon had almost complete control of him. "Leave."

"I can’t just bail, Aaron." Cid was forcing himself to remain calm. At least L.C. wasn’t presently the target of the boy’s aim. "Look, just come here and give me the gun."

Aaron felt an ache in his shoulders and he struggled to keep the weapon aimed at the pilot. He didn’t understand what was happening to his body as the pain in his back worsened.

Cid saw Aaron’s eyes go wide and noticed how he seemed to stoop forward. He’d seen this plenty of times and knew exactly what was happening. The pilot looked over at his son. "L.C., run, as fast and as far as you can!"

The boy hesitated, his blue eyes filled with tears. "Dad!"

"Go!" Cid yelled out to him, not wanting his boy to be around.

After looking at Aaron one last time, L.C. took off, running toward the road. There was a house about a half-mile down the street, and he hoped he could make it there to call for help.

Aaron grit his teeth as the tension behind his shoulders finally erupted. Wings came forth from his back, tearing his coat and shirt away. The force of this happening caused him to drop the gun.

Cid saw his chance and he raced forward. He didn’t really want to get into a physical altercation with this miniature version of Vincent, but he saw no other option. The pilot plowed into Aaron, taking him to the ground.

Aaron submitted completely to the demon, and the rest of his body quickly changed, taking on the same form that his father had once been capable of, only half the size. He was on his back with Cid trying to pin him down. He managed to wrangle one of his arms free, and he slashed Cid across the chest with one of his taloned hands.

"You little mother fucker!" Cid growled out, as he managed to finally restrain both of the demon’s wrists. The small demon was incredibly strong, but Cid managed to keep a hold of him.

Aaron whipped the tail he had around, lashing his captor in the back painfully, and then he let it wrap around Cid’s neck and began to tighten it as best he could.

Being choked, Cid had no choice but to let go of Aaron’s arms as he tried to loosen the tail from around his neck.

With Cid having let go, Aaron was able to push the pilot off of him. Cid reeled backward and the tail slipped from his neck. He landed on his back hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

Aaron hopped to his feet, folding his wings behind him. His tail whipped back and forth and he smiled, exposing the vicious fangs that now filled his mouth. "I’m going to tear you apart, Cid."

Managing to catch his breath, Cid actually laughed. "Yeah, your fucking dad said the same thing to me about a hundred times, kid. He never managed to follow through."

"Maybe I will." Aaron prepared to lunge.

Cid braced himself for the attack, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to get up and out of the way fast enough.

Not being accustomed to transforming into the demon and therein not having much stamina for doing so, as Aaron charged Cid, the demon slipped out of control, giving the boy back his own form.

Cid easily caught Aaron in his arms and held him tightly, no longer fearing him. "You little fucker! What in the hell was that all about?"

Aaron was extraordinarily confused and tired after what had happened. He stared blankly into the pilot’s eyes, his fear over his actions becoming obvious, although he remembered nothing that had happened after transforming.

Cid, in his profound anger and frustration, threw Aaron back and to the ground before getting up.

Aaron hit the ground hard, suddenly appreciating how truly strong Cid really was. The demon, for the moment, was completely dormant, and Aaron found himself faced with the pilot alone-- and he was afraid.

Cid loomed over him, his hands on his hips. The front of his shirt was tattered, and his chest was bleeding from the three serious gashes across it that he’d gotten from Aaron during the fight.

An awkward silence fell over them as they stared back at one another. Cid was at a loss for what to do. Demon or not, this was just a kid, moreover, it was Tifa’s kid, and he couldn’t kill him. Then again, the boy was clearly far too dangerous to have running loose. "What in the hell am I supposed to do?"

Aaron just remained on the ground, gazing back up at him. He had no real understanding of what had just happened to him. "I…I want my mom…"

"Yeah, well, they’re supposed to let her come home today, but if you’re pullin’ this shit, you can’t be around her or the baby." Cid knit his brow.

The boy’s eyes went wide. "Are you…are you going to send me away?"

Cid could see the terror behind the boy’s eyes and it pained him on some level, but he didn’t see any alternative. "I don’t know."

Aaron was now mortified. Everything the demon had told him seemed to be true.

Cid, not wanting to give Aaron another chance to manifest the demon, reached down and grabbed Aaron’s arm, jerking him to his feet. He pulled the boy into the house and to the guest bathroom. There were no windows in here, so Aaron wouldn’t be able to escape. Cid threw him inside and then closed the door, before pulling a large side table in the hall in front of it so the door couldn’t be opened from the inside. Aaron was, for the moment, contained.

That done, Cid went outside and picked up Vincent’s gun off of the lawn and hid it beneath his shirt. Afterward, he began to jog in the direction L.C. had taken off running. Half way to the neighbor’s house, he spotted his son on his knees at the side of the road.

As he’d tried to run away, L.C. had gotten a terrible side pain from his exertion, and he’d collapsed and never finished his intended trip to the nearest house. When he heard his dad running up behind him, he turned his pained and frightened eyes toward him. "Dad?"

Cid knelt at his boy’s side, overcome with concern. "You okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, just got that pain in my side right here," he said, pointing to the left side of his rib cage.

Familiar with his son’s trouble with these pains when running, Cid sympathized and helped his boy up. "Well, things are all right, let’s go."

L.C.’s eyes were instantly drawn to the rips and blood upon his father’s shirt. "You’re hurt!"

Cid shrugged it off. He’d get his injuries looked at when he went to the hospital to pick up Tifa and the baby later. "It’s nothing, kid. I just got scratched up. Let’s go home."

"I don’t want to go back!" He was terrified at being near Aaron again. "He’s gonna kill me, Dad!"

"No, he ain’t ‘cause I locked his ass in the bathroom for now. I’m gonna call someone to come and get him so they can help him." Cid took his son’s hand and began walking toward the house.

L.C. gasped, realizing that Aaron had been right. "You’re gonna send him away?"

"What choice do I have, L.C.?" Cid asked, shaking his head. How Tifa was going to handle this news was beyond him.

-----------------------

Angel sat next to Reno. He had now been moved into the main room of the infirmary. A constant stream of well-wishers had been drifting through the infirmary all night and morning, but there was currently a lull in the action, and Angel was alone with her husband.

He was now at least breathing on his own, and the endotracheal tube had been pulled from his throat. When Dr. Arlin had changed the bandages on Reno’s head a few hours earlier, Angel hadn’t been able to look. She wasn’t ready to see what had truly become of Reno’s appearance.

Now, she sat in the quietness, holding his right hand, watching him closely for any sign.

When the cell phone lying atop the pile of Reno’s clothes beside the bed rang, Angel was startled out of her state. She reached down and picked it up, knowing that whoever was calling was now calling for her. Angel answered. "Hello?"

Cid instantly thought she sounded tired. "Angel?"

In her present frame of mind, she was slow to recognize the caller. "Who is this?"

"It’s Cid…Highwind."

Having just learned of the affair between he and Tifa, Angel wasn’t too thrilled to speak with him. "Oh, hey."

"Is something wrong?" Cid asked, hearing the depression in her voice.

"Reno got shot last night."

Cid fell back into a kitchen chair. "No shit?"

"No."

"Is he alive?" Cid leaned onto the table, not pleased with this news.

"Yeah, but that’s about it." Angel stared at her husband. "He was hit in the head. It’s bad."

Cid suddenly felt worse about the reason for his call. "God damn, Angel, I’m really sorry to hear that."

Wanting to change the subject, Angel got to the point. "Thanks. What can I help you with, Cid?"

"Well, I don’t know if Reno said anything or not, but yesterday I called to tell him that we’re havin’ some trouble with Aaron." Cid felt that this was an understatement.

Angel pictured her much younger brother and became concerned. "What do you mean?"

Realizing that Reno hadn’t said anything to her, he sighed, "Aaron’s got that Chaos thing Vincent used to."

"Oh no!" Angel felt like this was the last thing in the world she could deal with right now. "Has he hurt anyone?"

"Well, he flipped out this morning and pulled his dad’s gun on L.C., and then he changed into that…thing and attacked me. I’m a little scratched up, but all right. Aaron couldn’t hold onto that form very long, and I’ve got him locked in the bathroom for now. I was sorta hoping that your guys could just come out here and get him. I figured he could be kept secure in that base and then he wouldn’t be a threat to my boy, Tifa, or our baby." It was only after this last line that Cid realized he’d probably given over too much information.

"Wait, your baby?" Angel was struck by Cid’s apparent admittal of parentage, and by the fact that Tifa had given birth and no one had told her. Angel actually grew angry that she’d been kept in the dark about so much. "So you’re saying that you and Tifa not only had an affair, but you’re the baby’s father?"

Cid hung his head. This had been destined to get out sooner or later. "Yeah, that’s what it’s looking like."

"I don’t know what to say." Angel figured she’d give Cid a little shocker of her own. "By the way, it was Vincent that shot Reno."

The pilot’s eyes went wide. "Are you serious?"

"Yes."

He thought about how angry Vincent had been, but he was still surprised to hear this. "Why did he do that? You guys have him locked up, right?"

"We don’t know why he did it, other than he’s on ferium."

"Ferium?" Cid was familiar enough with this drug thanks to the evening news. "That’s fucked up."

"Yes, and as for having him locked up, we don’t because he’s run away." Angel reached over and picked up Reno’s hand again.

"Oh." Cid fell silent for a moment. "Well, uh, still, do you think there’s any chance one of your guys could come out here and take Aaron off my hands for a while? He’s just too dangerous right now."

"Fine, Cid." Angel knew that she had to help her little brother. "I’ll send someone out as soon as I can."

"All right, thanks." Cid prepared to hang up. "And I’m sorry about Reno."

"Yeah, me too. Bye." Angel flipped the phone closed and set it on Reno’s bedside table.

-----------------------

Sephiroth sat in his prison cell. He had told Jeanine to go ahead and return to their room to get some rest. She’d spent all night beside his cell, consoling him, but it had been clear to him that she wasn’t feeling well this morning. His wife had reluctantly agreed to go to their room and rest.

He heard someone approaching and looked up from the book in his hands. He spotted his sister. "Angel."

The expression she wore betrayed her complete misery at the moment. She neared the bars and sat down upon the floor, keeping her gaze fixed on her brother. "Tell me everything, and tell it to me now. I’ve had enough."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. Angel had never spoken to him in the tone she was using. "What do you think it is that I know?"

"You tell me." She sighed heavily. "There’s no way that you were in that lab and escaped with both Spencer and Vincent without knowing that something was up with them. And quite frankly, at this point, I’m wondering if the whole story about the Jenova they injected you with dying off was a load of shit."

It was a rare thing for Angel to curse, and he realized that she was at the end of her rope. "There’s nothing I can really tell you."

She was smart enough to know that he was lying. Jaras had possessed certain mannerisms that she’d become familiar with over the years, and the man she was watching now lacked some of them. Angel was far more perceptive than most. "Stop trying to hide the truth, Sephiroth."

He narrowed his eyes at being called out.

"At least tell me if you’re on that God damned ferium too or not." Angel scowled at him.

Sephiroth got up from where he was sitting and came over before her. He knelt down on his side of the bars and upturned his arms, showing his veins to his sister. "Does it look like I’ve been doing such a thing?"

There were no track marks to be found upon his arms. "You could be injecting yourself elsewhere."

Sephiroth outright laughed. "I have far too much respect for myself to become a worthless junkie, Angel. Besides, I’ve been in this cell for well over twelve hours now. If I was on ferium, I would already be suffering withdrawals from being denied it this long."

He had a point, and a very good one. "That’s true. Still, I believe you did know that Spencer and our father were on it. Tell me what you know. Shinra wouldn’t have hooked them on it and let them go just for the hell of it, Sephiroth."

"That’s a correct assumption."

Angel was finally getting down to the truth. "Then let’s have it."

"I do not want what I’m about to tell you to get back to Jeanine. She knows that I still have the Jenova in me, but that is all I’ve told her." He locked into his sister’s blue eyes, wanting her to see his sincerity. "If she hears what I’m about to tell you, she may never want to see me again. I can’t live with that thought."

"Sephiroth doesn’t care about other people in the least. Drop the act." Angel leaned a little closer to the bars.

"I don’t care about other people, except for her, Angel. Everything I felt for her as Jaras is still in my heart." He reached out and grabbed the bars with his hands. "I can’t stand the thought of losing her."

Angel now had an advantage over him. "Well, if you would like to be allowed to see her anymore, you’ll tell me everything right now, otherwise I will ban her from the detention block completely."

His cat like eyes dilated wide upon hearing this threat. "You would deny me the company of my own wife?"

"I’m afraid we’re all embroiled in some cruel little Shinra game right now, Sephiroth, and I will do what I need to in order to make sure that this organization survives whatever they are trying to do." Angel felt tears in her eyes. "I will not let anyone, you, my father, or otherwise destroy all that my uncle and husband built here. Do you understand me?"

"You need not fear a thing." Sephiroth hung his head. "Shinra did have a plan, one that I was to be a part of, but after realizing that I still loved Jeanine, I lost my resolve to help Shinra in order to gain back my power. If their plan had gone through, her life would have been in danger, and I couldn’t allow it."

"What was their plan?" Angel could tell that he was being honest.

Sephiroth smiled weakly. "After restoring Vincent and Spencer to life, they were hooked on ferium. Vincent was then manipulated by Dr. Peirte Methius to turn him against his family and friends. The threat of being denied more ferium was enough after that for Shinra to be able to keep him on a leash, as it were."

Angel nodded. "And?"

"And Methius set us loose, to come back to ASRIO, infiltrate the organization, and pirate out the names of everyone involved with it. Shinra’s plan then was to kill everyone associated with ASIRO." Sephiroth tossed his hair back over his shoulder, thinking back to their supposed escape.

"So, you guys didn’t really fight your way out of the Shinra building? You were just let go? What really happened to Derek, then?" Angel asked.

Sephiroth met her gaze again. "Peirte Methius was told that Derek was a ASIRO plant, by me after I received the Jenova injection. As Vincent’s first test of controllability and loyalty, Dr. Methius ordered him to execute Derek, which he did without hesitation."

Angel gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Our father killed Derek?"

"I wouldn’t expect that to be such a surprise in light of the fact that he just tried to kill Reno, Angel." Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow at his sister.

"I’m having a little trouble getting used to the fact that our father’s a murderer, Sephiroth." Once more, she felt tears in her eyes.

"He was a Turk, Angel. Killing for him was nothing new, with or without the ferium in his blood. Vincent worked for Shinra for years, I don’t see why you’re having such a hard time grasping the concept that he’s doing so again." He felt a small flicker of annoyance within. Her crying wasn’t something he was enjoying.

"But what of the plan, then?" Angel knew she needed to press on with the questioning.

"Well, we got back here and settled in. Like I said, I realized that Jeanine was going to be put in danger by the plan, and I decided that I was going to have to stop it somehow. The Jenova preservation drive within me made me unable to kill Vincent, otherwise I would have. But, shortly after getting here, Spencer was found out to be on ferium. Once he was taken into the infirmary to detox, it’s a fair bet that had he lived he would have revealed the plan to you once the ferium was out of his system. I find it no surprise at all that he died, and that he did so in Vincent’s presence." Sephiroth smiled again, although it was inappropriate to do so.

This was all tearing Angel apart. Vincent was now up to two deaths, and one attempted murder. "Dear God…"

"Your husband, being the trusting fool that he is…or was, offered to let Vincent remain here after it became obvious that Tifa was with Cid. I believe that the story you were to be told was that he was remaining her to keep an eye on me, correct?" he asked.

Angel just nodded.

"Yes, well, Vincent further took advantage of Reno by asking him if he could have some sort of job here to keep him occupied. Again, Reno, ever trusting Reno, gave your father a job, and complete clearance to get into the computer system, thus granting him access to the information he needed to get back to Dr. Methius." Sephiroth stopped for a moment.

"Wait," Angel raised one of her hands. "If you didn’t want Vincent to go through with all of this, why didn’t you just tell Reno the truth?"

"If I had done that, it would have turned out to be a case of my word against Vincent’s." Sephiroth raised his eyebrows. "Since Reno had seen me in all my glory in the lab, willing to try an hold Vincent hostage, he would have believed Vincent over me in a heartbeat, and you know it."

He was right about this. "Yes."

"And knowing that, I didn’t say a thing, since it would have done no more than result in me being thrown in this cell earlier, making it impossible for me to stop our father." He offered another faint smile.

"Did you stop him, or is he out there with the information on his way to Shinra?" Angel asked, needing to know.

"He came by my room last night, with the information on a CD. I took it from him, saying that I was going to make a copy of it for myself to carry." Sephiroth hung his head again, hurt by his betrayal of his father. "When he came by a short time later after Reno had caught him shooting ferium, he asked for the disc back, knowing that he was inevitably going to be kicked out of the base. I gave him back a CD, but it wasn’t the one that he’d given me. He has no idea that the information that he’s undoubtedly carrying back to Shinra is nothing more than a simple line of text, expressing my apologies to him."

Angel’s eyes went wide. "So Sephiroth actually played the hero in this?"

He shrugged. "Like I said, I only did it to protect Jeanine."

"So, Reno was escorting our father out and he shot him…" It all made far more sense now. If Vincent was intending to sell out ASRIO to Shinra, then killing Reno along the way would have just been one more credit to him in the eyes of the company.

"That’s all I can tell you." Sephiroth got back up and looked down upon her. Whether he wasn’t supposed to feel for others or not, his heart did ache for the fate about to befall his father. "When Vincent shows up to Peirte without the information he was supposed to bring, I imagine he will be killed, and that will be that."

Angel shook her head and picked herself up from the floor. "I would think so."

Another feeling crept up in Sephiroth’s heart as he watched his sister begin to cry once more. He stepped closer to the bars and put his arms though them, reaching out toward her.

She saw the expression on his face and went over, letting him embrace her. Angel needed any comfort she could get right now, even if it was from Sephiroth. "My entire world just fell apart over the last few days…"

Holding her as best he was able with the bars between them, he closed his eyes. "I know. I’m sorry, Angel. You’ve been caught in the middle of this whole thing and it’s not fair."

Angel just cried against him. Her father, murderer or not, was on his way to his death. "Sephiroth?"

"Yes?"

She backed away from him. "I’m going to let you out."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well, if the people we thought we could trust have turned out to be on the wrong side, then maybe it’s time to trust those that we shouldn’t." Angel reached into her pocket and pulled out Reno’s keys. "Just promise me that you’ll stay here."

Sephiroth would make that promise. He had no where safe to go and take Jeanine. "I will."

Angel opened his cell door. "I won’t tell Jeanine what you’ve told me."

"Thank you." Sephiroth stepped beyond the cell door.

"I’m going back to Reno. Go back to your room and stay there, all right?" Angel put the keys back into her pocket.

"All right." Sephiroth took a few steps away before stopping and looking back over his shoulder. "I am truly sorry."

Angel flashed him a weak smile. "I owe you for getting the information from our father. But if you give me any reason to doubt you, Seph, you know what I will have to do."

He gave her a nod and a smile. "I’m done with betrayal. You have nothing to fear. The only thing that I’m going to seek now is a way to get this Jenova out of me once and for all. I want my life back."

"I’ll have someone look into that." Angel then walked past him and out of the room. She needed to go back to her husband’s side.