OMG… I am so sorry for not having posted… Been through a really rough patch up until now, including moving a state down back to my mothers, getting a new job that, believe you me, doesn't leave me much time to do anything other than sleep. But I swear I'll try to keep writing… I didn't really think anyone was still reading this silly thing… lol and I know it's really short, I'm sorry, but I wanted to at least get something up tonight.. –Risikaa

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Chapter 11, Introductions.

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Vincent followed Ranisa into the bedroom, red eyes locked onto the odd creature Psy skeptically. Marlene shut the door and locked it and then turned to grab Vincent's gloved hand and peered up at him. Feeling her small hands, he looked down at her and she smiled.

"Vincent! You have to meet our new friend! He tells the best stories." She nodded as though this was widely known fact and let go of his hand but was stopped when Vincent put his hand on her shoulder and knelt.

"Marlene… Wait a moment; it's clear these two have not seen each other in a while, alright?" Marlene nodded with a smile and a look of determination. Rising back to his full height, Vincent watched the two before him, noting Denzel, who was still quietly seated on the bed.

Psy was smiling at Ranisa who was staring at the snake in shock. "Psy? What happened?" She spoke softly, taking a hesitant step forward and then another until she was within arm's reach from Psy. The snake did not hesitate to lean forward and wrap his arms around her and pull her to his chest.

"It does not matter what happened. You're safe." He buried his face into her hair and sighed. However, Ranisa was still confused, too much going through her head at once. She pushed against him and he reluctantly let her go.

"Yes, I'm safe, for now Psy… That's not the point. I'm not even sure how I knew it was you… The last time I saw you, you were … just a snake… A pet and a friend." Her voice had blanked out all emotions and Psy held her at arm's length, his brow furrowed at he looked into golden eyes. Vincent saw a flash of fear buried deep in the snake man's eyes… as though he were afraid of or for Ranisa.

"The same that happened to you, Ranisa… Rydell. But that's not the point … The point is I've been looking for you. I managed to escape because of a stupid mistake by one of his assistants. Rydell is having that man, the one in red, look for you as payment for whatever it is he's doing for him…." Psy trailed off, confusion replaced with the dawning of comprehension. "You don't remember do you… You don't remember anything.."

Ranisa frowned and shook her head. Psy let go of her shoulders and began to 'pace' from one end of the room to the other. Stopping he looked up at Vincent and tilted his head. Red eyes narrowed slightly but Vincent remained silent. He had no right to judge Psy on appearance and from what he had gathered so far, it was as Cloud said... Harmless, at least to allies.

"I suppose I have you to thank for her being here… So Thank you friend." Vincent gave a small nod, not bothering to speak. Ranisa however, had turned to Psy with a frown.

"Psy… you're mostly right... I don't remember much. But here, in front of children is no place to talk about it." Before either could say anything else, Vincent whirled to face the door, his hand dropping to Cerberus. Three solid knocks followed and Marlene bolted to open the door, recognizing it to be Cloud's knock. The door opened and Cloud stood, a rather disgruntled look on his face.

"Bring Psy down." Then he turned on his heal and stormed silently back downstairs. Frowning into his coat, Vincent led the way, followed by Ranisa and then Psy. Marlene waved and shut the door behind them, knowing she and Denzel were better off staying in their room.

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XxXxX

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"What do you mean, it failed?" Genesis was practically seething in anger at the so called 'doctor'. "You managed to bring him back didn't you?" He snarled, jabbing a finger in the direction of Weiss.

Rydell resisted the urge to roll his eyes like a juvenile and instead, looked at Genesis with obvious disdain.

"The difference is obvious. He still had a corporeal form. It's a little different when you bring me a shred of DNA and then order me to turn that into a person! I'm a scientist and a doctor… Not a magician. I'm pleased and you should be too that I've managed to get as far as I have with them, considering!" Rydell threw his hands up in the air and sighed. Bringing a hand up, he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

"What I expect, Rydell… Is for you to do what you should be able to do. Clearly, you're not as good as you thought." Taking one last look at the mako tank in front of him, something flickering across his eyes, something that seemed like pain, he turned on his heal and stormed out of the room. Weiss lifted an eyebrow before walking slowly over to Rydell and crossing his arms.

"I suggest that you find a way to do what he wants… I am grateful that you brought me back without the influence of Hojo; however, I will stand by Genesis, in whatever my brother wishes to do..." Smirking lightly, Weiss turned and followed Genesis. It was clear that the man was still having a bit of difficulty with motor functions, as he wasn't walking very fast… though he pulled it off well enough that it almost looked purposeful. As soon as the door hissed shut behind the white haired youth, Rydell sighed. Running a hand over his hair, he sighed again.

"If only that stupid girl hadn't managed to get out…" He growled as he turned back to the computer terminal.

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XxXxX

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"HOLY MOTHER GAIA, WHAT THE HELL IS THAAAAT!" Reno's voice pierced the silence that followed as Psy had managed to get down the stairs without sliding. Copper and black eyes looked at the red head with certain distaste for that tone. It seemed to be a recurring theme, though he knew it was only to be expected. Cloud sat with his arms crossed as he watched Rufus.

The presidents eyes had widened slightly, but other than that, he showed no obvious reactions. Tseng was much in the same. Reno, however, had yelled and come up out of his seat, EMR in hand and ready to leap over the table and across the bar to protect the president… Rude however, simply grabbed Reno by the back of his suit and yanked him back into his seat, nearly throwing him under the table in the process. Cait squealed and dove under their table, his voice as clear as day.

"Oh my! Don't let that thing eat meh!"

"Cait, he's not going to eat you, now get back in your seat. Rufus, this is Psy. Psy, this is Rufus Shin'ra." Cloud's voice held an edge of annoyance in it; however, he was still fairly calm. Yuffie was still giving Psy looks of terror since she hated snakes, but everyone else seemed rather calm collectively. Psy turned his gaze to Rufus and moved further away from the stairs, towards the table. He did, however, note that the closer he got the more tense the blonde girl by the door was. He stopped a respectable distance away… a good ten feet.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I would offer to shake your hand, but I feel that if I get too close, I may be forfeit of my life." The snake smiled, an eerie look to be sure, however Rufus laughed at his words.

"Indeed, Psy. My Turks are loyal and they tend to overreact at times to things they perceive as threats to me. However, I do believe they have nothing to worry about. Reno on the other hand, judging by the look on Ranisa's face, might fear for his life at the moment." Psy glanced to Ranisa and nearly laughed. Golden eyes were cold and hard, glaring at the red head for his comment earlier and she looked ready to tear him apart. Reno, to his credit, was ignoring her look and gawking openly at Psy.

Cloud ignored Reno and Ranisa in favor of turning towards Rufus.

"We're hoping that Psy has more to tell than Ranisa. He doesn't seem to have any impairment to his memory." Having said that, Cloud looked at Psy. Ignoring the fact that the Turks really didn't seem to like him so close to Rufus, he made his way over until he was situated between Tseng and Cloud. The dark haired Turk was watching him from the corner of his eye and Psy could tell that he was uncomfortable with him, but tolerant. Cloud hadn't even tensed or looked away and for that, Psy was thankful. Settling back against the coils of his tail, he turned his gaze to Rufus.

"What exactly are you trying to find out?"

"Well, perhaps, we can start with where you and Ranisa came from." No one had told Rufus that the two of them had come from the same place, or even knew each other… Rufus was however a very observant person and Cloud had mentioned that where Ranisa had no memory, Psy did.

"Where we came from…" Psy seemed to think for a moment before turning his eerie gaze to Rufus, "I was hatched as a normal Constrictor… Small, helpless and unintelligent in the way of human thinking. Ranisa was the one who fed me, cared for me and I recognized her smell as something… 'Safe'." He paused and then after a moment, continued.

"Then they tampered with me… experimented I suppose… until a few years later, I was what you see before you. However, never in that time did I forget the scent of the one who had cared for me. The doctor… or scientist or whatever it is you call those people, forbade her to see me. Told her I had died. I frequently saw her, through small window in the door of my … cage. I knew it was the same person. Later I found her name was Ranisa. So, I believe, for myself at least, I can safely say I was created in a lab." He fell silent, glancing around to the faces closest to him and then to Ranisa, whose golden orbs swirled in confusion and the attempt to remember. He returned copper and black eyes to Rufus.

Rufus seemed to take all of this in without emotion, waiting for a moment to see if the snake man would continue and, finally, he spoke when Psy did not.

"I see… and Have you seen Genesis Rhapsodos, Ranisa seems to recall seeing him there. Auburn hair, red leather coat… " Rufus trailed off and Reno, never taking his eyes off of Psy, grinned.

"He's always, ya know, spouting off terrible poety from a play called loveless, yo." Psy glanced to the redhead, who to his credit only flinched a little.

"Yes I have." Cloud recalled something as Psy answered and his brows knit in tension for a moment.

"Psy. Was there… well did he have white or gray streaks in his hair?" Psy looked at him curiously and shook his head. "Not at all Cloud, he looked as young as you, why do you ask?" Cloud did not respond, but Cait's voice took on an odd quality. The cat doll listed slightly and the voice sounded like Reeve's.

"So Genesis isn't showing signs of degradation… this is bad. As I recall, Fair had a hard time overcoming a Genesis who was near to the end of his degradation. If it comes to a fight, we have no idea how strong he's gotten. He may have even passed –"

"We don't know that." Cloud's clipped voice was hard as he cut off what Reeve had to say. Cold mako eyes seized Ranisa's golden gaze and her eyes widened slightly.

"Why is Genesis working with this … Prof. Rydell?" His gaze flicked from Ranisa to Psy and back again, clearly letting them both know he wanted an answer. Psy lifted his hands, palm outwards and a look of befuddlement on his face. He had no clear Idea. Ranisa shook her head slowly.

"I'm sorry Cloud, I really don't know… I don't know if it's because I can't remember, or if it's because I never knew…" To her credit she didn't flinch when Reno's hand slammed into the table top.

"Well how fucking useless the two o' you are, yo! Damn." Ranisa's eyes narrowed and she slowly turned to look at Reno… However, she saw something in his expression, something in that glare he was giving the table… something that told her he didn't mean it to be insulting, but rather was frustrated and she calmed… it struck her as odd then, that she could tell small things like this out of even the most closed facial expressions on people she did not know. But the thought passed and she returned to looking closely at her gloved hands.

Rufus chose then to interrupt them all from their thoughts. "Well then. I think the best course of action is for us to leave tomorrow." There was that slimy smile again.

"Leave?" Ranisa sounded confused and when those pale blue eyes met hers she frowned at the look of disdain that flickered under their glass hard surface.

"Yes, leave. Clearly the best course of action to find out what's going on and possibly put a stop to it, would be for the 'group' to leave tomorrow morning and investigate… and surely since this Doctor of your will be missing you, we should take you along as well. To keep you … safe, of course." He smiled and to an ignorant, that smile was handsome and charming… but to Ranisa it spoke of words unsaid. Golden eyes seemed to freeze suddenly, seeming harder that before. A slow smile crept up her lips, one that told him she knew he was leaving something out.

"For my protection, of course I'll go with you…" Silence reigned for a moment before Vincent rose from his seat and with a silent look to Cloud, who gave an almost imperceptible nod, he swept towards the door. Screw causing widespread panic. "Ranisa, come with me. Psy, you may also." Then he was out the door in a swirl of red fabric. Ranisa did not hesitate, but rose to her feet, eyes sweeping over Rufus and the Turks and then the allies of Cloud and Vincent before her eyes made very brief contact with Tseng and returned to Rufus… She bowed ever so slightly and smiled softly.

"Until tomorrow." Then she followed Vincent out the door. Psy looked from Cloud to the door as though unsure if he should go that way… He looked nervous. Tseng chose that moment to speak and Psy's copper gaze snapped to the man.

"Go on Psy. I'm sure that by tomorrow, the citizens of this town will have assumed that were you a threat, you would have been eliminated by now." That cold and bleak tone was almost reassuring in a way and Psy nodded.

"Thank you Cloud, Tifa. It was a pleasure to meet the children and your friends." It went unspoken that it had been a pleasure to meet them as well. Psy was not stupid… he did not know how much Cloud wanted this Rufus character to know. Then he was out the door, following the scents of Ranisa and Vincent.