Two Letters and a Number

Thanks to all who reviewed my stories. THis time, you get a double upload....

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Reeve sighed, a mixture of relief and frustration, as the door finally closed behind the doctor, and he turned to face the other people that were crowded in his board room. The Tau’ri were sitting off to the side, eyeing Aeris who had decided that Sephiroth’s lap was a perfectly acceptable place to sit while Zack leaned against the table near the pair. A pile of towels were dumped near the door while an empty plate and coffee cups was the only indication of the late night raid on the all night café a few blocks away.

“So, now that we’ve been looked over by your doc of choice, when do we get to see Spike?” asked Zack, and Reeve looked at the man to find that cheerful smile on his face that never seemed to leave his expression. The dark haired man jerked a thumb at Jack who was still staring at the trio as if expecting them to start doing tricks. “He was able to pull us back for some reason, and Gaia isn’t really known for giving the dead back.” He shook his head. “We had to sneak Spike back out of the Lifestream when he got blown up.”

“I’m still trying to figure out how to explain Sephiroth without causing a panic among the population,” Reeve sighed, collapsing in a chair and holding his head in his hands. Cait Sith sat on the table nearby, deactivated, and he wanted to hug the little robot to him like a stuffed toy. Another sigh as he reached out and dragged Cait over, wrapping both arms around it as he buried his face in the artificial fur. It was a small comfort that helped ease some of the tightness in his shoulders.

That got a small sniff from Aeris. “It’s simple, silly. Sephiroth owes Gaia a life debt, so She sent him back to collect it. I was sent back to act in Her place as one of the last Cetra, and Zack came back because I needed an extra guard for when Cloud couldn’t be there.”
Raising his head, Reeve watched as Aeris deftly braided the silver strands together before shaking his head and shoving his face back into the white fur. “It was only suppose to be a meeting with possible allies to tell them the truth that I know, air a few skeletons from Shinra’s closet if asked. Not have the skeletons come dancing out with a jig and a smile.”

Strong fingers dug into his shoulder with just enough strength to relax the tense muscles there, and he groaned as he felt the stress ooze out of him. “Relax, Reeve. None of us knew what was going to happen, probably not even the Great Allfather, but what’s done is done. Now we just make the best of it and take care of various problems as they crop up.”

“Exactly who are you people?” O’Neill asked, rising to his feet to stare at the trio with his arms crossed. “Names have been mentioned but no introductions.”

Reeve didn’t raise his head as he gestured to the newly returned people. “Aeris Gainsborough. General Sephiroth, and his SiC, Commander Zack Fair.” At the startled hisses, he raised his head to grin at them. “You wanted to know about Shinra’s skeletons. Meet three of them.”

Zack grinned, a large friendly smile that had worked on soothing ruffled feathers or making friends out of enemies in the past. “Three rather large ones at that.”

“Right,” drawled O’Neill, and Zack backed up, letting Reeve sit back in the chair with a relaxed sigh. “So the dead often wander back whenever they feel like it?” He turned to stare at Sephiroth. “And last I heard, you went crazy and started slaughtering people. What’s stopping you now?”

Sephiroth turned cool, cat-slitted eyes on the Tau’ri, and Reeve gave him points for not backing away under that alien gaze. The minutes stretched on as Sephiroth continued to just stare at O’Neill, neither one saying a word and neither one backing down.

“I don’t feel like it,” stated Sephiroth, causing more than one person to jump as his voice broke through the tense silence that had descended on the room. “Besides, there is no pressing need for me to start slaughtering people.”

“Seph, what do you mean ‘no pressing need’?” Zack’s casual question belied the faint shadow of concern in glowing violet eyes.

The silver haired man hesitated, a thoughtful look on his face as if he was picking his words carefully. “It was when the manmade creature was discovered in the Mount Nibel reactor. It started a strange need in me to find out the answers to questions I had not bothered with before, such as the events surrounding my origins.” Materia green eyes grew distant, as if staring into the past. “It was easy locating Hojo’s laboratory beneath the mansion, almost as if I had been there before, and the work of seconds to gain access to his office. As I poured over the records he had there, priorities began shifting until what had been important before was minor irritation now.”

Reeve watched as Sephiroth rubbed the back of his one hand in an unconscious gesture before Zack reached down and wrapped his own hands around Sephiroth’s, stopping the nervous action. “You can relax now. Hojo's gone, and between Aeris, Spike and myself, you've got your own little army standing between you and the rest of the world.”

Instead of replying, Sephiroth’s eyes seemed to unfocus even more, and a foreboding chill ran down Reeve’s spine at the faint frown on that pale face. Sephiroth’s head turned towards the west and stare off into the distance. West, towards Nibelheim.

The cold chill grew even larger to settle in his stomach as Aeris’ face grew distant, and she too looked towards Nibelheim. But instead of a frown, her look was one of sorrow. “We have to help. Can you reach him?”

Sephiroth nodded, once. “We will both need to be there.”

“Babe? Seph? What’s going on?” Reeve glanced over at Zack, grateful that he had been able to voice the question that had been hovering on all their lips.

Instead of replying, Aeris shook her head. “Boys, no patience what so ever,” she huffed, folding her arms. “Make sure Seph and I get there.” With that, she plopped herself in Sephiroth’s lap, tucked her head under his chin as his arms were loosely wrapped around her, and dropped off with Sephiroth following close behind.

Just then, Reeve’s phone rang, and he picked it up with a surprisingly steady hand, bracing himself for whatever news he was about to receive. “Reeve here.”

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Shaking his head, Zack folded his arms across his chest and rested a hip on the large conference table as he listened with half an ear to Reeve’s conversation. He didn’t know what was going on with Aeris and Sephiroth, but he'd never seen either of them fall asleep that quickly. Granted, he was pretty sure it wasn't actual slumber, but something more along the lines of a trance. And that, along with Aeris's previous statement, meant that something was going on with Cloud.

Again.

“Hey, Vincent,” began Reeve only for him to stop with a hissed breath, and Zack straightened to look at the man who was pale beneath his tan. “Are you sure? But why? Yeah, that’s like him. Yeah, I’ll get Donahue and Chang to come with us.” Dark eyes flickered over to Zack before a small smile spread across Reeve’s face. “Also have a few surprises for everyone.”

Reeve hummed before snagging a sheet of paper and scribbled on it while cradling the receiver on his shoulder. “Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem. Can you trust Tseng and Elena not to go blabbing to Shinra about this?”

Zack snorted and rolled his eyes. He’d be willing to bet Gil to glass that if Elena wasn’t on her PHS to Rufus Shinra then Tseng would be the minute he got out of visual range. He strolled over to the door and opened it to grin at the SOLDIER on the other side, a Second by his eyes. “Hey, can you get Donahue and Chang up here? Reeve needs ‘em.”

The Second nodded, eyes large as he started at Zack before he turned briefly away to mutter into his PHS before straightening again. “They’re on their way, sir,” he began, and he looked like he wanted to say something more but was restraining himself.

“Was there something you wanted to ask?” inquired Zack, a friendly, curious look on his face. Demanding answers didn’t help anything and often only made people clam up tighter than they already were.

“Are you really Zack Fair or just his clone, sir?” blurted out the other man, and Zack grinned, somehow keeping the laughter that wanted to spill out of him contained.

“Does it really matter?” he countered before closing the door on the surprised man’s face. Returning to the table, he looked at Reeve who was hanging up the phone. “What’s Spike done this time?”

Dark eyes looked up at him as a wry smile appeared on Reeve's face. "Just being himself."

Zack nodded knowingly. "Ah, he's busy protecting others, right?"

Reeve looked moderately amused, even through the worry. "Indeed. It seems Dr. Jackson fell into and activated one of the tubes Hojo used to bring normals to First Class status within days."

“Daniel did *what*?” yelped a voice, and Zack looked over to find Jack on his feet with the other two right behind him, determined looks on all their faces as if just waiting for a target to be pointed out to them.

Reeve sighed, rising to his feet. “I’ll be happy to explain everything to you on the way to Nibelheim,” he stated, tapping a few keys on his computer, and Cait Sith straightened up, looking around. “Cait, can you go down to the Medical office and ask Dr. Hope Takajira to come up here? Tell her to have a full medical kit ready to go, and that one or possibly both of her patients might be suffering from mako poisoning.”

The robotic cat nodded and scampered out of the room as Reeve reached for the phone again. “Cid, it’s Reeve. I need to use the Shera to transport myself and nine others to Nibelheim. No, don’t alert the others, it’s not serious like that. Cloud’s being Cloud and Vincent’s already there. We’re going as back up and trouble shooters.”

Reeve snorted in amusement. “All right. We’ll meet you on the roof in fifteen minutes.”

Just then, the door opened to admit three people following Cait Sith. The two men were definitely Firsts by their eyes, one large enough to be Thor’s dark haired twin while the other was a delicate looking Wutanese man. The woman with them, however, wasn't just small but absolutely *tiny*. In one hand she clutched a large bag, her eyes dancing around the room until they landed on Sephiroth's apparently sleeping form, widening briefly before she moved on to the others.

“Dr. Takajira, thank you for coming so quicky,” greeted Reeve, rising to his feet to greet the doctor. Zack looked at her, trying to figure out why she looked vaguely familiar before shrugging and brushing the feeling off. He had probably seen her around Shinra at one time. “I realize that you have questions, but I ask that they wait until we’re aboard the Shera. Cid’s landing her on the roof in fifteen minutes.”

Zack chuckled as he moved over to the chair and managed to maneuver Aeris and Sephiroth over his shoulders. “And if we’re not waiting for him, then he’ll make sure we hear about it for the whole trip.”

Turning, he started from the room with the others right behind him, unconcerned about the looks that followed him. It was an old trick that worked every time. Just act like nothing was wrong and people would eventually believe that there wasn’t. It took three trips for the elevator to deposit everyone on the roof, just in time for the Shera to land.

The side door opened for the group to go rushing aboard as the engine blew dust everywhere. There was some couching behind him, but Zack simply tucked his head and ran, memories of desert training fresh in his head. He didn’t stop until his boots were ringing on metal instead of thumping on stone, and then he moved to the side to let the others in.

“Damn idjit! Don’t just stand there! Get outta the way!” bellowed a voice. Zack raised his head to smirk at the blond man who was glaring at the large black man with the gold brand. Teal’c, he thought the man’s name was.

“Best do what the Captain says or he’ll never get this rust bucket into the air,” remarked Zack, his voice teasing, and Cid whirled on him, blue eyes flashing angrily.

“Bastard! Who asked you!” he growled, raising a clenched fist. “If you don’t like my Shera, you can just walk to Nibelheim!”

Zack laughed as the door closed behind the last person. “Nice to see you again, Captain Highwind,” he greeted, shrugging his shoulder to get Sephiroth more firmly seated again. “Where can I stash these two for the trip?”

The blond shook his head, muttering about morons with twenty lives as he gestured down a hallway. “Find a room and stash ‘em. But if the General comes up swinging, I won’t hesitate to put him down again.”

Grinning, Zack wandered down the hallway, Cid’s snarling threats following him. It was good to be back.

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