Final Fantasy VII is not mine, it is copyrighted by Squaresoft and the title of this story "The Drowning Man" is actually a title of a song by U2. And again, that is not mine- as I am not a member of U2 (wouldn’t complain though if I were:p) You’ll also notice, I rip a few song titles, so remember, they're not mine. With this out of the way, please send all comments (good, bad, other) to: ghost_inthe_threads@hotmail.com

The green hills of the central continent rolled on endlessly and into the horizon as a low grade military plane with the large letters SHIN-RA labeled on the side flew silently over her soil towards the town Nibelheim. The warm, late August air heated the internals of the plane to an uncomfortable temperature that caused Vincent Valentine to begin to sweat ever so slightly. He pulled on his tight shirt collar and swore. He never understood why Shin-Ra never had air conditioning installed in all its transport planes. He could swear the only one that had it was the Presidents personal own. But he was thankful enough it wasn’t early July during another ‘deadly’ heat wave this area always seemed to experience. He drew his focus away from the window and turned back around into his seat to face Calyena who greeted him with a lazy grin.

"Hang in there." She said quietly "We’re almost there- only another hour or so. And again, I’m really sorry about the ‘conditions’ of our flight."

Vincent looked a moment around the cramped cargo bay of the plane.

"It’s not so bad." He mumbled. Vincent was never really one for conversation. He was closest to the one who sat across from him- Cal, and even then, she didn’t know that much about him. He mostly kept to himself and his dark thoughts. It might be that fact that she can be so sociable at times that he ever bothers to say anything to her. Or maybe it was the fact that she was his superior and he had to. Either way, she was one of the few that he could call a friend. It was a rare occurrence in his line of work. He worked for Shin-Ra; a member of the elite Turks to be exacts. There were rarely more than five at a time as the requirements were grueling, yet members were replaced frequently due to injury or death. This branch of Shin-Ra wasn’t even public knowledge, as some of the things they’re required to do weren’t exactly ‘law abiding’.

"We’re Turks." She continued, "We don’t deserve such treatment. I’m going to have to have a little discussion with the Head of the Project when we get to Nibelheim."

"Why do I have the sinking feeling this ‘discussion’ is going to turn into a full blown argument that requires the army to break it up?"

"No can do- they're in Wutai, remember?"

"Ya… man, when is that going to end? It’s been what, about a year now?"

"Well, if the town would just let Shin-Ra build the Mako Reactor in Da-Chao, this would-"

"It’s sacred to the town. They’re not going to sell out a 1000 years of tradition just so they can earn a few extra bucks. Some people can’t be sold as easily as Shin-Ra can."

"None the less, this wouldn’t be happening if they had given in to begin with. Normally, it wouldn’t have even lasted this long- if it weren’t for all the damn Samurai and Shinobi."

"Who would have thought Shin-Ra would meet its match in Wutai." Vincent thought aloud.

"Hey, watch your words." Cal cut in. "We work for them, remember? Besides, you never know when they may be listening." She motioned in the direction of the cockpit.

Vincent shrugged.

"You really don’t care do you?" She asked, leaning forward towards him.

"All I’ll say is I’ll be happy when we’re done with this assignment."

"What’s wrong with it?"

"I don’t call spending 18 months in an out-of-the way place called Nibelheim, babysitting a bunch of scientists fun."

"Nobody ever said being a Turk would be fun, if anything, it’s the opposite. You should be glad we’re stationed here; the only Mako Reactor is there- how many people can say they’ve seen it. Besides, Quentin was sent to Wutai and the way things are going there, he’ll most likely be dead by the end of the week."

"I suppose it is nice not to be in the line of fire for once."

"And besides Vincent, you never know, Nibelheim may change your life forever. Never underestimate the power of things already judged."

"Gee, Cal, with words like that you could make head of the department." He shot back, almost taunting her. Calyena narrowed her eyes a moment, acting as though he had hurt her.

"I’m second in charge; and, as I said before Quentin was sent to Wutai and the way things are going there, I’ll be in command by the end of the month. Watch your words, they may be truth."

"I really doubt you’d complain any if they were-"

"Will you two shut up." Came the muffled complaint of Knox, who lay huddled up in a corner trying to sleep on the unbelievably uncomfortable, makeshift chair that held his form. He had taken off his jacket, balled it up and wedged it between his head and the wall in a vain attempt to make something that resembled a bed. It didn’t work very well. Cal shot him a look.

"Sorry…" Knox muttered at the realization of what he told his superior, "It’s just that this damn trip to Nibelheim will be the death of me. And I still don’t even understand why we’re going there. Shin-Ra has hardly told us anything."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t know anything more than either of you. Some of the citizens of Nibelheim aren’t taking to kindly to Shin-Ra’s dominating, yet secretive presence there. The project the Professor is working on, the JENOVA Project seems to be affecting them a little more than they’d like. Anyway, to cut to the chase, we’re there to protect the team members… remember now?"

Knox nodded slowly. "They never told us what the JENOVA Project was, did they …or maybe I just dozed off during that bit?"

"You really have to stop doing that." Vincent said, running his hand through is sticky hair. Following Knox’s trend, he loosened his tie a little -so much for staying in uniform.

Cal continued. "No, we were never informed. I suppose it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s none of our business. All we have to worry about is that nothing happens to team members. That’s our job. It’s best not to get involved, the moment that happens you might as well stick a target on your back. The trend Shin-Ra has been taking lately isn’t the most public appeasing one if you get my drift."

"Something still doesn’t seem right about this assignment… it almost seems to ‘simple’. Well, like Vincent said, I’ll be glad when it’s over."

"I think we all will be." Cal added after a moment. She looked down at her feet and sighed before leaning back up against the wall. She put her hands behind her head and stretched out her long legs. Calyena K. Wattakkar was a tall and angular woman. Though only 31, she looked much younger. She had long, thin legs; a well built upper body and shoulder length red hair that she wore parted, gelled and tied back most of the time. She was rather tall for a female- she stood at almost 5 foot 8 and didn’t even wear heels in uniform. Vincent wasn’t too sure what she had done before becoming a Turk, he had heard from others that she was formerly in SOLDIER, 2nd class to be exact. He supposed it didn’t matter all that much anyway. Cal was also a two-sided person. At first glance, you saw a clean cut, well mannered lackey to Shin-Ra who followed orders to precision that exceeded perfection, but on the inside she a lot more out going and laid back. Vincent also noticed that recently she tended to complain a lot more than she normally did.

Knox, on the other hand was the exact opposite. What you see is what you got. He was Cal’s senior by about 6 years and had been a member of the Turks longer than himself or Calyena combined. Normally, anyone would have made Head of the branch by now, but laziness was Knox’s specialty and because of that, had seen more promotions fly by than Shin-Ra fighters over Wutai. Stranger still, he didn’t mind, or could care less. Sometimes Vincent wondered if Knox even wanted a promotion, or to remain a Turk for that matter. Like Cal, he was a lot younger looking than his age, and, unlike Cal, every day he looked as though he had come to work straight from bed. His jacket sleeves were constantly rolled up, his white shirt looked as though it had never been ironed; his tie always crooked and had a permanent black shading of stubble pasted to his tanned face. Whenever Knox wasn’t required to work, you could find him on the beach in Costa de Sol sleeping. Vincent was grateful though that Knox had short hair. It sometimes caused him to shudder at the thought of Knox with longer hair (like his own chin length black hair,) who knows what ungodly things could get caught in it.

Vincent looked back out of the window; he could now see the highest peaks of Mt. Nibel rising in the distance. Only another half-hour or so and he could get off this damned plane and back on the earth where he belonged. He sighed heavily and resumed his mindless stare. No matter what kind of encouraging words Cal tried to say, this assignment was going to be one of the longest ones ever. The prospect of sitting around, babysitting of bunch of scientists from the locals filled him with dread. He needed the kind of assignment that had him waking up every morning wondering if he were going to live through the day; not wondering on how many ways he could end his life. Well, in the end, he was a Turk and paid to do whatever the Shin-Ra Corporation told him to, regardless of if he enjoyed it or not. What still never made any sense to him was as to why high-income Shin-Ra scientists had to be protected from a dozen peasants. Couldn’t SOLDIER just do that? The Turks could be wasted on better. But in the end Vincent reminded himself that he didn’t care because he never did. This was just another mission…

‘Better than sitting around all day in an office anyway.’ He decided.