Salkas entered the unkempt office of the mayor of Corel. Yuffie and Vincent had decided to stay behind and talk with the man
who had saved them at the outskirts of town. He had no interest in such things, so he had told them he would just go someplace
to be alone with his thoughts. They had agreed, citing that he would probably not understand the nature of their conversations.

He hadn’t told them he was coming here. He’d tagged one of the mayor’s assistants, always staying a little behind so as not to
give himself away. It surprised him that the man who saved them was actually the mayor of the town. He sensed a kind of anger
in many of the townspeople towards him, an anger that for some reason had not abated.

The creak of a door alarmed him, and he looked around as he shuddered to think what might happen if he was found. His fear
disappeared when all he saw was a young girl, no older than six, cross the hall and enter a restroom. He uttered a sigh of relief
and stirred from the rigid position he had been in.

As he shifted his weight he heard a floorboard creak underneath his foot and froze again. The girl spun around and looked
straight at him. She cocked her head to the side and looked confused.

“What are you doing in my daddy’s office?” she inquired. She didn’t scream, didn’t sound angry in any way. She just had the
same curious air that any small child would have.

“Uh…” Salkas couldn’t think of anything to say.

The girl proffered him the excuse, “You must be one of my father’s new assistants.”

“Ah, yes,” he was relieved.

“Well, my name is Marlene,” she gave him a curt nod, “May I ask yours?”

She was obviously well mannered for having been raised by the brute of the man he saw earlier. But then, she obviously wasn’t
the man’s daughter, that he saw right off. There was no family resemblance that he could see. The most obvious indication of
this was the blatant difference in complexion. Salkas decided not to make any mention of it, however, for fear of hurting the
young girl’s feelings.

“My name is Salkas,” he finally answered.

She didn’t answer, but instead approached Salkas more directly, “You seem like someone I know… she noted vaguely.

“Oh,” he cocked an eyebrow, “who would that be?” he sounded slightly amused.

“I don’t know…” then her eyes lit up, “I know! I know!”

“What? What is it?”

“The flower lady! That’s who you remind me of! The flower lady!”

“The flower lady? I don’t know whether I should be flattered or offended.”

Marlene ignored him, “Daddy says the flower lady saved us all! And, and…” she paused for a minute, “He said that she went
to someplace far away and won’t be coming back. I’m only six and I still know what that means…”

Salkas tried to change the subject, “So, what makes me remind you of her?”

“I don’t know. You don’t look like her. She had different colored eyes and hair, and she was happy all of the time. You just
have the same feeling coming from you, a warm feeling, just like she did. Even though you don’t show it, I think you are like her
somehow.”

Salkas smiled. “Thank you, Marlene. Now I have some pressing matters to attend to with your father, so will you please go
back to bed?”

“Ok, Mr. Salkas.”

“Just Salkas.”

“Ok. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Marlene.”

As soon as she left, he began to feel relieved again. Thoughts raced through his head. Why was this girl so nice? Some trauma
must have happened to her in the past for her to end up with the man that she called her father. And at a young age too, those
were the formative years… Who knows, maybe she was adopted. But somehow, that didn’t seem likely—

But as he glanced across the room all thought stopped.

Oh my God. He thought to himself.

He walked over to the desk and picked up the object that had grabbed his attention It was a panoramic photograph. It showed
nine people, well, seven, he didn’t know if he should call the giant mog with a cat perched on it’s shoulder or the red lion-like
beast people. But out of those seven, only one grabbed his eye.

The girl. The girl in pink robes. The girl with long auburn hair, braided in the back and forming bangs in the shape of two
inverted ‘Vs’ in the front. And, most importantly, the girl with green eyes.

Salkas looked up from the photo at a mirror that was off to his side in the office. He saw a young muscular man, a man with
much heartache in his eyes. His blonde, almost white hair that was nearly shaven to his head contrasted slightly with his dark
blue eyes. Salkas was a man with a troubled past, and he knew that the time had come to talk about it with someone. He would
have a talk with Yuffie, Vincent, and Barret. He would tell them everything. He looked at the girl in the picture once more and
knew that he was not alone. As his gaze drifted back to the mirror, he decided to take the first step in his oath. Without word,
he cupped his eyes, and executed the practiced half-blink and felt the contact lenses drop into his palm. He closed his hand
over the two convex circles of blue plastic and put them in his pocket. He looked back at the mirror and saw his own green
eyes staring back at him.

He was silently angry for his deception. The lies ended here!

Silently, he picked up the photograph and exited the office.

                    _______________________________________________________

The man sat at the stool at the bar; he had been there for quite some time. He held the same shot of whiskey that had been
given him nearly an hour ago. Staring into the glass he thought of the way his life had turned out. The bartender finally said
something.

“Mr. Heidegger, are you going to drink that or what?”

He spun the glass slowly in his hand and decided to take the first step in his quest for inebriation. He raised the glass to his lips
when he heard a voice.

“Heidi, Heidi, Heidi, what have we become?” the sardonic, seductive voice mused. Antov Heidegger only knew one person
who would call him Heidi.

“Scarlet.”

He turned and saw the young woman, sitting at a table, nursing a beer. Heidegger stood and walked over to her table and took
the seat opposite her.

“So, how are ya Scarlet?”

She took another swig of her beer. Heidegger again thought of how lucky they were. Climbing through the wreckage of the
Proud Clod had been no easy task; his own hand had been wedged between to jagged pieces of metal. He looked at the
claw-like mechanical hand extending from his right hand. These days, losing a limb was no big deal, losing several major organs
and half of your face was another matter, however. This prompted his next question.

“So, how is Rufus doing?”

Scarlet and Heidegger were the only two people, besides those involved in the actual process, which knew of the plan to revive
Rufus. They’d found him after Diamond Weapon’s attack on the tower, broken and bleeding, lying on his right side. From what
they saw, his left arm was completely gone, as was most of his left foot. The real horror came as they turned him over. From
what they saw, the entire right side of his head was gone, his skull was barely intact and leaking cranial fluid. There was a
gaping hole in his stomach. He would have died had one of the medics not injected him with Mako and thus forced him into
suspended animation. He was now much like the members of SOLDIER, which had once protected him.

“…ing remarkably good,” He heard her say.

“Huh?” Heidegger had been too lost in thought to pay attention.

Scarlet looked slightly annoyed, “I said ‘He is looking remarkably good.’”

Heidegger nodded, “That’s good.”

“Yes, he’s almost completed.”

“Must you use the word ‘completed?’ He’s a human being for crying out loud!”

“We don’t know that. He may be a vegetable. You saw the extent of his injuries.”

Heidegger sighed. What Scarlet was saying could very well be true.

“Why do we even bother? Shinra is done with; we should just let him die.”

“You see, Heidi, that’s where you’re wrong. The old air base just down the street could very well function as a new
headquarters. Lot’s of people will still be suffering from post-Meteor stress. Chaos was fine when we all thought we were going
to die, but it carries over. So now, we have an awkward period on our hands. The people need someone to lead them, and
why not someone who is familiar to them? Within weeks, maybe even days, the glory days of Shinra could be rekindled!”

Heidegger scratched his head, “But why Rufus? Why don’t we take the power for ourselves? You don’t want to be a
subordinate all of your life do you?”

Scarlet’s response was almost immediate, “Rufus is our escape clause. If, and let me stress if this undertaking doesn’t go
according to plan, we lay the blame on Rufus and let him take the fall. It’s a foolproof plan.”

“I must admit, Katrina, you have this all worked out.”

Heidegger turned back to his beer and began drinking again.

“So why the long look? Aren’t you excited?”

“Yes, I’m excited, but I wasn’t worried about that.”

“Oh? What were you worrying about?”

“The specimen. You know the one that Hojo produced sixteen years ago? The one that we trained to become our ultimate
weapon?” he was becoming even angrier with each sentence, now he was on the verge of shouting, “The one that that son of a
bitch Reeve told his past to? The one that is probably out for our blood?”

“The Ancient? I wouldn’t worry about him. He could never have survived that. And besides, what’s one man?”

Heidegger cast her a glare, “One man? One man can do a lot? Remember how Strife, a man who failed the qualifying for
SOLDIER, defeated SOLDIER’s best? Remember how one man nearly summoned the Apocalypse for this planet? Cloud
Strife and Sephiroth were both men. They may have been infused with Jenova, but they were men nonetheless. We have no
idea what a male Cetra is capable of. All the preliminary test showed was that he was able to use magic without materia, and
that should be enough to make you worry in itself.”

Scarlet reached out and grabbed his hand, “Antov, you worry too much. Even if he were alive, he probably wouldn’t even
know that you existed. And Hojo is dead, so he has no one to vent his anger on.”

“Now that’s where you’re wrong. Fifteen years ago, I was the assistant to Hojo in the science division. The specimen has been
alive for sixteen years.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll remember that far back.”

“Don’t joke around. He may. Remember, even though he is half human, we don’t know what the other half is capable of.”

Scarlet couldn’t take Heidegger’s complaints any longer, “Listen, will you quit being so fucking paranoid? It’s really giving me a
headache.”

“Maybe you should take some pills along with that quart of alcohol you’re drinking”

“Hey. I know how to manage my liquor. You, on the other hand, are completely shitfaced.”

“I am most certainly not! I am sober as a saint!”

“Athhh soba athh a thhaint?”

That broke the tension, both of them broke out laughing.

“Okay, okay, maybe I had a little to much.”

“Don’t blame ya. Now if you want to get drunk, let’s do this right. Bartender! Another round!”

The bartender was a short, balding man in his middle ages, “Sorry. We’re closed.”

“Wha? At least give us another bottle for the road.”

“Sorry. Can’t do that.”

Scarlet pointed her finger at him, “You know what…”

“What?”

Scarlet lowered her arm and grabbed her purse, “Ah forget it, I got better shit at home. Let’s go, Heidi. You’re staying the
night.”

A grin spread across his face, “Oh, Scarlet. And on our first date?”

“Don’t be an ass. I know you don’t have a place here, so I’m trying to be nice, you can sleep on the couch.”

“Okay, honey.”

As the two of them left, the bartender shook his head and went back to cleaning his glasses.

“What a strange pair….”

                    _______________________________________________________

“And you didn’t see that he had any fire materia?” Vincent asked.

“No. I’m telling you he didn’t have any materia!” Yuffie stated.

“Ok, we saw him with that insect use fire. You claim to have seen him use it against Lucrecia,” she could tell it pained him to
say that, “And there is one other thing.”

“What?”

“After the mantis got the jump on us, I noticed a wind blowing through the valley. Immediately all of us got up. Doesn’t that
remind you of anything?”

She didn’t have time to answer, because right then, Salkas burst into the room, holding what looked like a photograph. “Who is
she?” he said gesturing to the picture.

He was greeted with what looked like angry stares. “You’re not telling us everything, Salkas,” Vincent pointed out.

Salkas’ response was almost immediate, “Yes, I know, and I tell you just as soon as you tell me who the woman in the pink
robes is. Tell me about the Cetra!”

All of them were silent, the didn’t expect him to know of the Cetra.

Yuffie was the first to speak, “How could you tell, just from looking?”

“Nevermind that, at least tell me her name.”

“Her name is Aeris, but Salkas…”

“Aeris. And I never even met her. Not in her whole life, and now she’s gone. She probably never even knew I existed.”

“Salkas… how did you know that she’s gone?”

“Marlene told me.”

“Marlene?!” Barret yelled, “The hell you doin’ runnin’ ‘round with Marlene?”

“Where do you think I got that picture? I was sneaking around your office, your daughter kind of ‘caught’ me.”

“What the hell were you doing in my office?”

“I was looking for clues to your past, to see if you were trustworthy. And I found it. Obviously if you people were with my
sister, you must me good people.”

Vincent raised an eyebrow, “Sister?”

Salkas sighed, “Yes. You remember. The fire, the healing, the curing my poisoned foot without using an antidote…”

“But we gave you an antidote.”

“I poured it out. That was a Jenova inflicted wound, it couldn’t be cured by normal means.”

Vincent changed the subject, “So Aeris is your sister?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re an Ancient?”

Salkas hesitated, “Yes.”

“Well, that explains a lot. But how could you use fire? Aeris could only use spells of healing…”

“Maybe if she was tampered with by the Shinra for her entire life, she would be able to use offensive magic too.”

“The Shinra?”

“Yes, I was their prize possession. The product of Gast and Ifalna, I was never told their full names. Reeve didn’t seem to
know them.”

“What does Reeve have to do with this?” Barret asked.

“Well, he told me a lot about my past. It was only in a short amount of time, though. He said something about Diamond
Weapon approaching and that we all had to evacuate. I asked him to free me, but he said that if he did, his life would be over.
My life was hell already; I was ready for it to end. I let him leave.”

“How optimistic…” Barret muttered.

Salkas’ eyes glowed with a fire, “You have no idea what it’s like do you? Being experimented on since birth really sucks.”

“That is an understatement. I was experimented on for a week at the most. And it was pure torture. I can imagine…”

“No! You can’t! But enough of this. I should probably hear about you guys before I tell you all about me. So you guys start.”

Salkas sat down in a nearby chair as Barret began to recount the tale, starting when he and a man named Cloud raided a Shinra
reactor…

To Chapter 7