Two Letters and a Number

Originally, this was going to be a simple interlude with the SG1 and Reeve, and well... *waves a hand* A friend made a comment that the muse like and here ya go....

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Jack scanned the interior of Seventh Heaven from the corner booth his group had been waved over to by Tifa before three beers were dropped off by the pretty barmaid. Then Tifa went back to serving the various customers that wandered in off the street, leaving the three of them alone with their thoughts.

Rufus Shinra had tried to dissuade them from this meeting using various means at his disposal, from casting suspicion on Reeve Tuesti’s character to offering, abet reluctantly, to answer any questions without the polite excuses given to the public. Whatever this Tuesti knows, it must be dangerous to Shinra for his sudden about face when it came to their questions.

‘But then, like Daniel said, Shinra’s a business. Not a government,’ mused Jack, his eyes making another circuit of the bar. ‘And no business likes their dirty laundry aired by an ex-employee who knows where the skeletons are hidden.’

Sam sighed as she glanced at her watch again, the nervous habit happening more often the longer they sat waiting. “When’s this Tuesti going to show up? We’ve been waiting for a half hour now,” she grumbled, her voice quiet as she twisted to look around the bar herself. “And how are we going to know it’s him if we don’t know what he looks like?”

“He said that we would know either him or his representative, CaitSith, when we saw them,” remarked Teal’c. “Considering that he is an acquaintance of those that normally frequent this place, they would also recognize him before we do and point him in our direction.”

Before Jack could add his feelings into the conversation, the front door opened to admit the strangest being the colonel had yet to see on this planet. It was the size of a large stuffed toy, not even three feet tall unless the large golden crown was being added into the height, and looked like a black and white cat reminiscent of Sylvester of Looney Toons fame with the addition of a red cape, brown boots, and white gloves. It padded over to the bar and casually hopped up onto the stool that was twice its height with little difficulty, and Tifa’s face broke into an honest smile when she saw it, replacing the polite one she wore for customers.

“I tawt I taw a puddy tat,” Jack muttered into his beer, unable to help the smirk that crossed his face as Sam and Teal’c both twisted to get a look at the new arrival. Either this was Tuesti, and Jack found it strange to believe that Shinra would hire a *cat* no matter how human it might appear in action, or it was the emissary, Cait Sith. “I did! I did tee a puddy tat.”

“Sir,” sighed Sam, a look of long suffering on her face and Jack blinked at her, the innocent expression on his face a match for the one he used when Hammond asked him if he knew who had short sheeted Anise’s bed the last time she had visited.

“It would appear the one we are to meet has arrived,” stated Teal’c as Tifa casually nodded in their direction before the strange cat came toddling over to push a chair up to the end of their table and hop on it like a little kid, eyes slitted shut even as it gave the impression of staring at them. There was a sound, like motors or gears that Jack swore he could hear, but that was ridiculous.

“So you are the Tau’ri that has questions Mr. Shinra’s not willing to answer,” greeted the cat, leaning on the table as it - no, he, Jack corrected mentally - stood on the chair. The voice was distinctly male if carrying an accent that Jack would have sworn was Scottish back on Earth. Jack nodded and the cat made a funny little bow. “Mr. Tuesti has been delayed for this meeting so he asked that I, Cait Sith, Showman Extraordinaire, come meet with you and answer any questions you might have.”

A slow grin stretched across Jack’s face as he regarded Cait Sith. “So how well do you know Cloud and his friends?”

That got a lazy shifting of eyes towards him. “Well enough, Colonel O’Neil, that I know there are a few questions I won’t be able to answer without betraying a confidence, and I only ask that you respect that.”

Jack nodded. They weren’t here to interrogate the people willing to help them. Just find out more about what Shinra was hiding from them now and what they might possibly hide in the future. “Fair enough. What happened to Zack Fair that made Shinra want to sweep him under the rug with a ‘classified’ answer on what was suppose to be a routine inspection of a generator plant?”

That got another sighed “Sir” from Sam, but Cait continued looking at him with those slitted eyes, as if trying to figure out if Jack already knew the answer and this was some sort of test. The seconds stretched on into minutes, and still the cat remained silent, staring at Jack who met the gaze with his own.

“Commander Zack Fair, General Sephiroth, and Privates Cloud Strife and Franklin Goheti were sent to Nibelheim to investigate reports of large monsters attacking the town,” Cait suddenly said, causing Jack to jump slightly. It was as if Cait had turned into a statue while he had been thinking and had returned to life upon his decision to speak. “Everything was going normally when the last report was filed, but something happened to twist the General’s mind into madness that turned him against the planet and all who inhabited it.”

Cait’s attention turned from Jack to glance at Sam and Teal’c before returning to the colonel, who was frowning a bit at the dramatics in Cait’s story. “This was a man who had no equal. He had been created by Professor Hojo, one of Shinra’s most brilliant and twisted minds, to be the perfect soldier and leader for Shinra’s army. Of course, Hojo had no intention of letting his little lab experiment out into the real world, but Old Man Shinra forced his hand with the invasion of Wutai.”

“What does that have to do with Commander Fair?” Sam asked, a puzzled frown on her face.

“To understand what happened, you need to understand a bit about the players of this particular show,” admonished Cait, wagging a finger at her before continuing with his story. “Commander Zack Fair, on the other hand, was a wide eyed country boy from the jungles of Gongaga who came to Midgar to become a SOLDIER like so many others. He quickly climbed the ranks to become Sephiroth’s Second in Command. But he also became much more to the Silver General. With his outgoing attitude and ready laugh, Zack made friends easily and could smooth ruffled feathers with a few words and a smile.”

“The kind of person who would see the man and not the title or rank,” Teal’c rumbled, his eyes widening slightly at the realization. “One who could take a man who was created only for battle and show him that there was more out there than fighting.”

Cait turned to grin at Teal’c. “You have had experience with such people then,” he agreed. “Zack always had a smile on his face wherever he went, and many of the department heads preferred to approach him about a problem than Sephiroth. They were less likely to be run through with a sword that way.”

“Why Cloud Strife? Was it because it was his home?” interrupted Sam, her blue eyes filled with excitement and a faint blush stained her cheeks. Jack snickered into his bottle as he realized that she had a slight crush on the young man with wild blond hair only to drowned it in a drink when she glared at him.

A faint sigh came from the cat. “Allow me to paint you another picture of another wide eyed country boy who came to become one of the SOLDIERs,” continued Cait, raising his hands like he was a stage magician about to perform a trick. “Someone who was an outcast at home, different from everyone else, painfully shy and almost innocent but with a streak of determination that would make a mother chocobo proud.”

Jack snorted as he thought of the image Cait was creating. “Someone like that would be chewed up by the others.”

Cait spread his hands as if presenting his cards. “He was. Until he was taken in and mentored by someone... rather higher on the food chain than those who would like to be doing the chewing.”

“And if the ones doing the chewing persisted, he could bite back harder,” Jack agreed, starting to see where this was going but still interested in Cait’s story. “Go on.”

“So, on one hand, you have a young and determined Cloud Strife. On the other, friendly and outgoing Zack Fair. And between them, General Sephiroth who wouldn’t know how normal people acted around each other even when he saw it. Still the perfect SOLDIER, cold and emotionless as a marble statue,” finished Cait, folding his hands on the table and staring at them expectantly, waiting for them to draw their own conclusions.

Jack frowned into his empty bottle before holding it up slightly to catch Tifa’s eye. She nodded and quickly arrived to exchange their empty bottles for full ones before vanishing. He stared at Cait for a few moments as he organized his thoughts. “Stop me if I get this wrong. Zack’s a guy who likes seeing those around him happy because that makes him happy, and when they’re not happy, he’d find someway to fix it by getting them to smile.”

Cait continued to stare at him, and Jack turned the bottle in his hands as he continued. “So, he sees Mr. I Have No Emotions Sephiroth and would want to show him what it was like to be normal instead of the Perfect General. But some things require an accomplice to do. Which is where young Cloud comes in. Young, naive, and probably as loyal as all get out if shown a bit of kindness. So, now there’s *two* people trying to turn the Perfect General into a human being again.” He shrugged and lifted his bottle, taking a long drink to wet his suddenly dry throat. “Now if I were this Hojo asshole, I’d want them both removed to keep the Perfect General a robot.”

“Sir?” Sam looked at him with wide eyes, and Jack met her stare with his own level one.

“Look at it from a scientist’s side of things,” he suggested, hating the ache in his chest at the very thought. “You’ve spent all this time and money to make the Perfect Soldier. He obeys orders exactly, leads troops into battle when needed, and doesn’t question decisions. Then, some back water yokel comes along and all of a sudden, your Perfect Soldier is starting to think for himself.”

There was a bit of movement from Cait, and Jack turned to find that the cat had hopped off the chair and was looking at them expectantly. “Aren’t you coming?” inquired Cait, hands clasped behind his back as he almost bounced on his toes like an excited kid.

“Coming? Where?” asked Sam as they stared at Cait.

“To meet with Mr. Tuesti of course.”

At that, Jack drained his bottle, placing it back on the table with a solid thunk and stood up, dragging his jacket off the seat next to him. “How far away is the meeting place?”

“About a dozen blocks away,” replied Cait. “We can take the truck Shinra’s loaning you if you don’t mind. I don’t think my moogle could hold everyone.”

“What’s a moogle?” Sam asked, standing up to follow them, and Jack shrugged. It sounded like a failed cow or something, maybe a moose call.

Cait giggled slightly as he seemed to almost dance out the door, reminding Jack of how Charlie would act when he was excited about something, and a subtle ache wrapped around his heart. Despite everything, it still hurt to think about his dead son and how it was his fault he had lost Charlie to begin with.

“A moogle is an interesting creature, white and round with wings and red nose,” chortled Cait, spinning around on one foot with his came swirling around him. “With a pom on his head to bounce as he goes.”

“It is hard to believe that someone like this could be trusted with the knowledge he has,” rumbled Teal’c, dark eyes fixed on the cat as he danced up to the truck parked next to the building. “He seems more like a child than a person of responsibility.”

Climbing into the truck was a tight squeeze, but Cait respectfully asked Sam if he might sit in her lap since she was in the middle. There was a faint blush on Sam’s cheeks as she agreed, and Cait perched closer to her knees, bracing himself against the dashboard as he gave directions. The slightly rough neighborhood they were in lasted for a few blocks before giving way to the ruined city that had greeted them upon their arrival.

“Where, exactly, are we going?” inquired Jack as the truck moved through the ruined landscape, their headlights the only source of light in the dark streets.

“There,” Cait said, pointing to what looked like a ruined church with a strange blue light spilling out of the shattered windows. Jack parked the truck across the street from the church, and Cait hopped out to toddle up to the badly hung doors before pausing to look back at them. “Coming? Mr. Tuesti’s waiting.”

“Right,” agreed Jack, slowly following the cat even as his eyes scanned their surroundings for a trap. The even footfalls of Sam and Teal’c at his back made him feel less vulnerable, but he was still wishing he had brought his gun with him.

The inside of the church looked just as bad as the outside, but there appeared to be some attempt at cleaning up the busted debris lying around. Pews were smashed and overturned, a couple of stone columns were knocked over, broken across the wooden floor, but in the middle of the chaos was a large pool of water that was the source of the strange blue light. The scent of some strange flower filled the air, adding a sense of peace to the destroyed surroundings, and Jack could just make out a figure sitting next to the pond, knees drawn up to the chest as the head was turned to stare into the water.

“Reeve! I brought them!” caroled Cait, dancing over the wooden floor and the figure turned to look at them as he slowly rose to his feet, revealing a second, brighter glow that came from the screen of a laptop computer. Reeve Tuesti bent down and scooped up the cat, holding him as if he was a stuffed doll, before Reeve smiled at the approaching people.

“I’m sorry about the unusual arrangements, but there have been at least three attempts on my life since WRO started,” Reeve apologized, shifting Cait to one arm as he held out his other hand. “Reeve Tuesti, CEO of WRO and ex-Department of Urban Development chairman for Shinra.”

“Colonel Jack O’Neil, Major Samantha Carter, and Teal’c,” introduced Jack, shaking the offered hand. There were calluses there from working with tools and the light was just enough to show some scars where Reeve had cut himself on sharp metal while working on something, testifying that while he might push papers, he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty in a garage. “Mr. Strife had some positive things to say about you. Including that you would be willing to answer questions that Shinra apparently wants to sweep under the rug.”

Reeve waved them towards the floor next to the pool. “Please have a seat.”

Grabbing a crate, Jack perched on it as Sam and Teal’c lowered themselves to the floor. “There have been attempts on your life?”

“I was part of Shinra, and despite changing my mind and side when Meteor was coming, many still see me as a viable target to make a statement out of,” remarked Reeve with a shrug. “And unlike Rufus, I don’t have armed bodyguards watching my back 24/7.”

“So, obviously meeting in the middle of an abandoned church is much safer than a populated bar.” Disbelief colored Jack’s words as he studied the man sitting before him. Reeve looked to be in his thirties with a beard and mustache, both neatly trimmed, with possibly tan skin and shoulder length dark hair, and he was wearing some sort of tunic jacket that looked vaguely Oriental in design.

A strange smile stretched across Reeve’s face as his eyes turned back to the pool. “She wouldn’t let anyone be hurt here. It’s a... sacred place.”

There was a touch of awe and reverence in Reeve’s tone, but before anyone could ask about his cryptic statement, there was a slight beep behind him. Twisting slightly, Reeve dragged the laptop onto his legs and frowned at whatever was on the screen, one arm still wrapped around Cait’s waist like a teddy bear. “Looks like one of your servers is going, my friend. I’m going to have to shut you down until I can get that repaired.”

His hand touched a few keys, and Cait suddenly went limp in his arm as if someone had thrown a switch and turned him off. Or turned off a remote control robot.

“To build and operate something that complicated, you must be either really good or get very bored easily,” drawled Jack, looking at Reeve with new eyes. He thought he had heard motors or gears back at Seventh Heaven, and it looked like he hadn’t been hearing things.

“Yes,” Reeve absently replied, his fingers poking at black and white fur for a few minutes before shaking his head and placing the cat aside to focus on them. “Sorry. When I find a problem, I have to work at it until it’s solved. One of the reasons I created WRO.”

“So what happened to Zack?” Jack asked, getting back to the original topic that had begun the conversation back at Seventh Heaven. “He’s not in the lab anymore ‘cause he got Cloud out. So where did he vanish to?”

A small smile twitched Reeve’s lips. “The official story at Shinra is that Commander Zack Fair died in the line of duty on a classified mission,” he said before shrugging his shoulders. “I’ve always hated official stories. The truth is if you head out of the Midgar Ruins about two hours thataway, you’ll find a cliff overlooking the ruins with a sword stuck in the ground. That’s as close to Midgar as Zack got when he was shot down as he protected Cloud. After getting both of them out of Nibelheim.” He gestured off to the side, and Jack frowned as the light from the pool seemed to flicker slightly.

“Is that where he is buried?” Teal’c inquired, and Jack swore as the light from the pool took on a purple glow before going almost completely out. A few seconds later, the light was back to its original blue but streaked with green now.

“That’s where he fell,” argued Reeve, shaking his head even as he reached out to trail his fingers through the water. “No one knows where he’s buried, if he even had a descent burial instead of being left to the animals.”

“But Cloud wouldn’t have left his friend just *lying* there!” protested Sam, her eyes large. “He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy. I mean, he walked out of a fight because one of his friends was saying things without thinking instead of arguing back.”

“Cloud doesn’t know what happened to Zack’s body.” The words were calmly delivered, but there was sympathy in dark eyes for Reeve’s friend. He took a deep breath before continuing. “What I’m going to tell you is for your ears only. Cloud has already given his permission for me to tell you, and he said that he was going to tell your Dr. Jackson as well.”

Jack nodded his agreement along with Sam and Teal’c even as they leaned closer to hear more. Reeve laced his fingers together in his lap and somehow met all three of their stares. “First, let me explain about something that I don’t think you have heard about before. There hasn’t been a reason before now to bring it up. On this world there exists a condition called mako poisoning which is where someone has been exposed to large amounts of mako, usually by being submerged in it. The person is not strong enough mentally to withstand the onslaught of memories being shoved into their heads, and usually end up losing their own memories in the process. Some times, it’s not that many, but there have been cases where someone’s entire history has been wiped from their memories.”

A faint breeze swept through the church, ruffling hair like a teasing hand before fading again. “Cloud has suffered mako poisoning at least twice,” continued Reeve, the look on his face indicating that he wish he didn’t have to air his friend’s secrets like this. “The first time was in Nibelheim with Zack. Hojo basically locked the two of them into mako tubes and kept them there until he wanted to play mad scientist. By the time Zack managed to get them out, Cloud was catatonic and no help in defending them against the troops Shinra sent after them. He didn’t start to come around until after Zack was killed. That saved Cloud’s life actually since the troops figured Cloud was monster food and didn’t bother putting a few bullets in him to make sure. Cloud’s memories, however, were fractured at worst or lost at best, so he built a new personality and past based on the stories Zack had told him about his own life. Cloud didn’t even know they weren’t really his memories until much later.”

“How much later?” Sam’s voice was respectfully quiet, not wanting to break the mood that Reeve had created with his story, and Jack twitched at the unexpected sound of her voice.

“Almost a year into the chase to stop Sephiroth from destroying the world.” Reeve shrugged a shoulder. “Cloud never questioned what he thought were his memories until a confrontation with Sephiroth forced him to, and soon after that, Cloud was dropped into a river of pure mako. Later, he washed up on a Mideel beach where the doctors took care of him until we tracked him down, but his memories have holes large enough to shove Meteor through.” Those dark eyes grew distant as Reeve stared at something only he could see. “He believes he’s regained most of them, but those five years as Hojo’s pet lab rat are still mostly gone. A mixed blessing at times.”

“Why would you say that? I mean, if I was some freaky scientist’s play thing, I’d want to know what happened to me during that time,” Jack protested.

“Would you want to know what your subconscious keeps from you except for twice a year when you experience night terrors so powerful that you fall into a catatonic state until a familiar and *trusted* voice brings you out of it?” Reeve demanded, his eyes glittering in the strange light. “Because that’s what Cloud experiences.”

“Why twice a year? What anniversaries are that influential on him?” Teal’c inquired, cocking his head slightly.

“The day Zack died protecting him, and the night Nibelheim burned,” stated Reeve. “Which is tonight actually. Your friend is in for a surprise no matter how well Cloud warned him.”

Resting his arms on his knees as he leaned forward, Jack firmly held his fist in his other hand to keep from doing something he might regret later. Like reaching out and strangling more answers out of Reeve. “Is there any way we can get there and help Daniel?”

He couldn’t believe his Geek was in trouble again, and this time, Daniel was far enough away to make Jack doubt if they’d be able to arrive in time to help him. He didn’t know what these night terrors Cloud suffered were, but Jack knew enough about Post Traumatic Stress to know when another person suffered it. Different people reacted to it in different way, and Jack was willing to bet his DHS that there were more to Cloud’s night terrors than simply falling catatonic.

“Don’t worry. Vincent’s been trailing them since they left,” Reeve said, brushing their concern aside with a wave of his hand, and that strange breeze blew through the church again, getting a smile from Reeve. This time, Jack thought he heard a female voice giggling, and he got to his feet, looking around for the source of the giggles.

“Sir?” Sam scrambled to her feet with Teal’c as they both started searching the ruined church with their eyes. “Did you hear... laughter?”

“Yep,” agreed Jack, his eyes sweeping the church before returning to Reeve, who was sitting there looking like this was a natural occurrence. “Wanna tell us what’s going on and who your girlfriend is?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” protested Reeve, setting Cait and his computer off to one side on another broken pew before kneeling next to the pond to stare into the water. “It’s Aeris Gainsborough, and she was just letting us know that she’s here. Zack was here earlier.”

“Suddenly, I’m understanding why it’s safer here than in a bar run by Wonder Woman,” sighed Jack, cradling his head in his hand. Snakes from the stars that think they’re gods, robots that want to destroy everything and take over, and a different group of snakes from the stars who a majority think the Tau’ri are children playing at being grownup, and now Jack had to deal with ghosts.

“But isn’t Aeris dead?” Sam frowned in confusion as she continued looking around. “Unless you have a sarcophagus or similar technology, the dead don’t come back to life.”

That laughter sounded again as the light breeze twirled around them, playfully, but this time, there was a male voice as well, one that almost seemed to invite them to share in the joke even if they didn’t know what it was. Jack spun in a circle, determined to find out where the ghosts were, only to be met with the empty church. He clenched his fists as he glared at the air around him. “Okay you guys. Knock it off and come out where everyone can see you!”

As if his words were a summoning of some sort, there were two shimmering lights above the surface of the water, one green and the other purple, before revealing a man and a woman standing on the surface of the water. The two looked at each other before the light faded completely, and they fell with a loud splash in the pond. There was a startled curse from Reeve as he dove into the water, and Jack swore as he followed the bearded man. He didn’t know what happened, but people don’t normally appear out of thin air like that. Not without an Asgard being responsible.

The water wasn’t that deep, only coming up to his waist, but it made Jack’s skin tingle in a strange way as he pushed his way through it. Reaching into the water, he flailed around, trying to find the man’s arm to haul him up, when his wrist was caught in a leather encased hand, and Jack pulled the man to the surface. Only, it wasn’t the man Jack had caught a brief glimpse of before. The hair was long and silver instead of spiky and black, and the skin was pale instead of tanned. But it was the cat-slitted green eyes that held power and knowledge that made Jack realize that this wasn’t the other guy, who had a face filled with good humor and friendship. This man had commanded men into battle and had seen the horror himself.

“Sephiroth,” breathed a voice behind Jack, and he turned to find Reeve standing there, staring at the silver haired man with a mix of respect, wariness, and determination as the two new arrivals dripped on the wooden floor behind him.

“Welcome to the party,” greeted the black haired man, a wide smile on his face. “Now how in Odin’s name are we suppose to help Spike when we’re in Edge and he’s in Nibelheim.”

The woman whapped the man on the arm, and he jumped in surprise. “Really Zack. We’re brought back from the Lifestream by someone, and you’re already making plans to leave instead of find out more about them,” she chided, reaching up to wring her hair out. “Besides, Vincent’s with Cloud and so is Daniel. They’ll be able to help him.”

Casually, Jack waded his way back through the water and hopped out to stand in front of the girl and Zack. Behind him, Sephiroth was strolling through the water, a long sword held in his hand. He gracefully climbed up next to Jack, moving off a few feet to start wringing out his own long, silver hair.

“What the hell just happened?” demanded Jack, ignoring the chill in the air as his soaked clothes stuck to his skin. “In my experience, people don’t normally appear out of thin air unless the Asgards are in town and that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms I don’t want to deal with right now.”

Zack glanced down at the young woman who was busying herself by wringing out her dress. “Well, doll. You know the most about things like this. Wanna answer the nice colonel?”

The young woman huffed and glared at Zack, but there wasn’t any heat in her eyes. “When Colonel O’Neil called for us to come out where everyone could see us, Gaia took that as a call for us to be brought back,” she replied, grinning brightly at Jack. “I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way, Cousin, but that’s what happened.”

“Cousin!?” yelped Sam, and Jack felt a slight headache building behind his eyes at the sight of the young woman’s bright smile and Zack’s slight smirk. It was going to be a *long* night.

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