Wow, I lost any and all muse or interest in this site for the second half of summer. I'm sorry I've neglected you all! You can go ahead and blame me, but unfortunately for you I have discovered Kpop, which is filled with cute smexy Korean men with amazing voices and bodies who take up most of my free time now. Good thing is, school might have brought my muse back. Bad thing is, I haven't checked my email associated with this account for a couple months and Jesus Christ I have a shitload to catch up on.

Ah, well, here ya go, a shitload of plot thrown in your face to get things started again.

-xXXXx-

Zack hummed, rocking back on his heels as he watched Aerith tend to her flowers. After much pestering on Fair's part (though honestly Zack hadn't been reluctant at all to come visit Aerith- quite the opposite, actually- it was rather a matter of telling Fair that he would kind of get fired for leaving his job all of a sudden), Zack had finally made his way below the plate- via train, instead of, you know, falling through a figurative meat grinder. Not thinking, he had brought a bouquet of imported flowers from the plate, and only realized his mistake when he saw Aerith's raised eyebrows and heard Fair, who had been mischievously silent, laughing at him.

After watching her coo softly to a rather beautiful white flower, he placed his hand on his chin in thought. "I bet you could sell those."

"Sell them?" Aerith smiled.

Zack grinned. "Yea! I mean, look at those," Zack gestured to the bouquet he had brought, which were noticeably of lesser quality than the ones in the middle of the church. "I paid way too much for such crappy flowers. Imagine what people would pay to get actual good ones."

"They're pretty," Aerith weakly tried to defend his gift to her, and when Zack merely rose an eyebrow she cracked a smile. "Okay, I guess they could have used a little more love..."

And sun, Fair put in. And soil. And, you know, water every so often kinda helps.

Aerith laughed, but her smile dimmed when she glanced towards the door. Zack followed her eyes and groaned.

"Does that bother you?" he asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the shock of red hair that had disappeared through the cracked doors.

Aerith sighed, shrugging. "I'm used to it. They must just not like you..."

"Well, we're friends and all, but still..." Zack turned around and glared at the door. "Reno! Stop being a creeper!"

Said Turk's head popped through the door and shouted back, "If I'm getting paid, I'll be fucking Slenderman. Besides, I don't want you corrupting our sweet little Aerith!"

His hair's too red, Fair objected.

"That coming from a Turk?" Zack scoffed. "You're rich!"

"Compared to you!" Reno taunted.

"Why do you always have to rub your money in my face?" Zack snapped. Aerith was giggling behind her hand.

"Because it's fun, SOLDIER boy!"

"Who are you calling a boy, dude, you're only like three years older than me!"

"Key words, "older than" you."

"Do you want me to beat you?"

"I'd like to see you try, SOLDIER boy."

Aerith smiled and turned to Reno when Zack opened his mouth to shout something back.

"Reno, could you back off a little, please?" she asked politely, and Reno shrugged helplessly.

"Trust me babe, I've got other stuff to do, but orders are orders."

"Oh, well," she sighed sadly. "I guess I'll just have to tell Zack about that time with the old woman in Wall Market..."

Zack grinned with interest when Reno paled. "And you're scarier than my boss, so I'ma go find a place to chill for a few!"

"Thank you, Reno!" she called after him.

"Wait, I wanna know!" Zack said said as the door shutting echoed throughout the church, but Aerith grinned and shook her head.

"Maybe some other time. That's the best blackmail I have on him and I want to save it."

"Aww." Zack pouted.

"I can make it up to you by letting you buy me lunch after I'm finished," Aerith said slyly with a sideways glance.

Zack cracked a grin and shook his head fondly. "Oh, it would be a pleasure."

Aerith giggled and went back to her flowers while Zack watched and somewhat kept an ear out for Reno's return.

I wonder why other people don't try to grow flowers, Fair suddenly wondered. Zack frowned and shrugged, knowing the action was safe with Aerith's back to him.

"Because they have it stuck in their head that they can't, and so they don't try," Aerith said somberly.

Zack blinked. "Try what?"

Aerith glanced at him. "Growing flowers?"

Zack tilted his head, his brow furrowing. "I didn't say anything about growing flowers."

Aerith frowned in confusion, "Yea, you just did."

"No, I didn't..."

I did, Fair said slowly.

Aerith, who's eyes were now on Zack's face, paled in shock when she saw that Zack's mouth didn't match the words spoken, and Zack's mouth fell open.

"Wait, she can hear you?"

-xXx-

A file was slapped onto the table.

"That's all I found."

A fine eyebrow arched above glasses perched on a sharp nose. The seated figure, with his knees neatly crossed, picked up the file and briefly thumbed through it, eyes scanning each page quickly.

His lips pursed irritably and he set the folder back down. "Nothing of what I want is in there."

The taller, notably more muscular figure crossed his arms imperiously, his lip curling in disdain. "There was nothing. So I took matters into my own hands."

The seated figure lightly glared. "Our agreement doesn't involve you taking matters into your own hands."

The taller man sneered. "I don't follow orders easily. The last one had to figure it out the hard way. I suggest you don't do the same."

"Shears was a barbaric fool. It doesn't surprise me he lost his temper and ended up getting killed," the seated man said flippantly. "However, I do not put up with insubordination."

"Remind me when we agreed I was your subordinate," the standing man said dangerously. "And you won't be run through."

"You're the one who needs my help."

"And you're the one who's following a dead trail. If AVALANCHE uses the WEAPONs correctly the same effect can be achieved."

Fuhito sat back, arms crossed, lips pursed thoughtfully. "... Then how do you suppose we make them cooperate?"

Weiss smirked. "Does the name JENOVA mean anything to you?" And Fuhito's eyes gleamed with interest.

-xXx-

Sephiroth's eyes, the normally green color reflecting the blue of the computer, narrowed in confusion. "What...?"

Cloud, standing with his back against the door and watching through a crack, hissed, "Hojo's coming back."

"How long?" Sephiroth demanded, beginning to type furiously.

Cloud eyed the man's pace and distance from the door. "Twenty-three seconds, give or take a few."

"Those few matter," Sephiroth warned darkly.

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Eighteen seconds now, sir."

"I'll be done by then, get away from the door."

Cloud went and stood by the chair Sephiroth was expected to be in for his "check up," and the General jammed a flashdrive into the computer, copying and pasting the file "Project: DeepGround," and was back in his chair 4.3 seconds before Hojo opened the door.

-xXx-

Genesis perched at the top of the Shinra Tower, looking over the gray city with unimpressed eyes.

He tilted his head when the wind gusted particularly hard for a moment before settling, and hummed.

Angeal, sitting a few feet away, glanced over from his phone. "What?"

"The arrow has left the bow of the goddess," he murmured softly, and Angeal wouldn't have caught it if he wasn't enhanced.

"What are you on about now?" he asked.

Genesis narrowed his eyes in confusion, his wounded shoulder throbbing strangely. "I wonder..."

-xXXXx-

Yea, it seems short, but it's only because I skip characters like fifty times and really the chapter's about the same length as previous ones. But hey, I'm totally dedicating this chapter to my friend Danizaraki in hopes of cheering her up because she hasn't been feeling too good lately and that's not cool.

I need to sleep. Or stop procrastinating and do my homework like I said I would and just get a red bull before I go to school :D Sleeping is a waste of time!

But ooh, hey, look at all the changes to the site I haven't been around to notice~