And so the plot now sickens…uh, I mean thickens ^_^;; ghost_inthe_threads@hotmail.com

Quentin pulled on his suit jacked hurriedly, and then a thick wool trench coat over that. He grabbed some money and his cell phone off the dressed and rammed them into his pocket. He momentarily paused to check his gun- it was loaded. He re-holstered it and was out the door in another second.

Light snowflakes began to fall gently through the cold air, and down onto the frozen world below. Snow began to dust his short brown hair.

It was nearly midnight right now and the month barely November. It was unseasonably cold, especially for this area.

He pulled the phone out of his pockets and fumbled with his numbing fingers. He struggled to press the buttons.

He had to call someone. Anyone.

He finally got the right one to turn it on.

No service it read.

Quentin swore.

These phones were supposed to receive anywhere. Heidegger was a liar.

That wasn’t the only thing he was lying about either.

Quentin’s dark eyes scanned the forest next to him. Deciding it was a better route; he cut off the main path and into a thin forest next to him. He had to leave now.

Heidegger was also lying about Wutai. There had been a cease-fire there for over five months. Quentin had been sitting around there for about three of those. The generals and commanders and special operations people had all thought up some lame excuse for Quentin as to why there was nothing going on.

“Oh we’re not attacking right now because we’re preparing for a large strike in the coming days…”

“The fighting isn’t near us. Shin-Ra isn’t dumb enough to stick people like us right in the line of fire…”

And the list went on.

At first Quentin had actually believed them, but after a week or so, he completely knew what was going on, he just never let them know until tonight.

And now he had to leave before they killed him.

He dashed through the tangled underbrush and dead leaves that littered the forest floor. He was approaching a large stone temple that lay in ruins. It looked to be at least 200 years old.

He ran past it quickly, rounded a corner and came face to face with the barrel of a gun.

Quentin swallowed slowly.

“Mr. Kelley.” The man said.

“Who are you?” Quentin asked calmly. “I’d at least like to see the face of my killer before I die.”

The man stepped closer, He had a thin goatee and stubble from shaving dotted his head. His eyes sparked and he grinned a toothy grin. The young man reeked of inexperience.

“Rude… I never would have guessed.”

Rude smiled. “I’m moving up the ranks Quentin, and sadly, your not.”

“Come on, you don’t want to do this.”

“But that’s the funny thing, I do.”

“Then why… why do I have to be killed.”

“Think about how damaging it would be to Shin-Ra to have the populous know that we’ve been faking a war for the past five months in order to boost our revenue and public opinion.”

“People are very understanding Rude.”

Rude laughed. “No, there not that understanding… but I hope you are.”

And he pulled the trigger.

****

Calyena leaned against the cold, stone wall in the lab underneath the Shin-Ra mansion. She watched the scientists’ pitter about their work, mixing substances, working out calculations, reading files intently.

She eyed Lucretia with interest.

The woman was beautiful, and also fiercely intelligent. A kind of intelligence Calyena would never experience or understand, and she was rather smart herself. She found it interesting how Lucretia was entertained by such simple things, how she could look at something she had seen thousands of times like she was seeing it for the first time.

It was truly intriguing. Maybe it was because as a child, she had never been able to be a child, she had, instead had to work and learn things.

Either way, she understood what Vincent saw in her.

Adam backed through the door cradling a large parcel in his arms, and a number of letters on top of it.

“Professor Gast,” He announced. “I believe those documents from headquarters you requested are here.”

Professor Gast look up and nodded to him. “Set them down next to the bookcase Adam.”

Adam followed instructions and set it down, he handed all but one letter to the Doctor, then approached Calyena, arm extended.

“This one is for you. It’s from headquarters as well.”

Calyena grabbed it from his hands and looked at the front.

The Shin-Ra logo was stamped in the top left-hand corner, and on the front it was addressed to her in full name and rank.

This couldn’t be good.

She ripped open the letter, scanned it quickly, and gasped, her hand running slowly over her mouth.

“Oh God…” She muttered quietly.

“Is everything okay Ms. Wattakkar?” Adam asked, looking at her strangely.

“Professor Gast, I have to speak with the other Turks for a moment- it should only take about twenty minutes if that’s alright.”

Professor Gast nodded. “Is everything alright Cal?”

She smiled nervously. “Oh just some information that concerns the three of us is all, it’s really nothing you should worry about.”

He nodded again, and she slipped out of the room quickly. She dashed up the stairs, through the mansion, across the yard and into the hotel room all within minutes.

She swung the room door open so hard Vincent jumped from the work he was doing at his desk.

“What is it Cal?” He asked, still clutching the paper he had accidentally crumpled seconds ago.

“We have to talk… all of us.” She said eyeing the sleeping Knox, tucked comfortably in bed.

“Good luck waking him.” Vincent said standing up.

Cal walked over to Knox’s bed.

“Get up Knox.” She said pushing on his shoulders.

He didn’t budge.

“I said get up!”

He still lay unmoved.

Frustrated she yanked off the sheets and pulled him halfway out of the bed. Gravity did the rest. He landed squarely on his head, swearing loudly and frequently the second the impact awoke him.

“Get up Knox!” She yelled again. Knox rubbed his eyes groggily and swore again when he say Calyena in full uniform, and Vincent in about half of his.

“Shit! Did I oversleep my rotation again?”

“Again?” She asked.

“We’ll discuss that later.” Vincent cut in. Slowly Knox rose to his feet, straightening out his white tank top and blue striped boxers as he did. He ran a hand through his hair trying to fix that as well. Feeling a little underdressed; he wrapped the comforter around his waist.

“What is it?” He asked finally. Calyena held out the letter to the two of them. Vincent grabbed it first. It read:

“I guess this means that Quentin…” He trailed off.

“Sorry Cal.” Vincent said, ramming his hands in his pockets.

“Well, we all knew this was going to happen sooner or later…right?” Calyena asked quietly.

Vincent and Knox looked between themselves unsure.

****

Calyena looked out the large bay window of the room and sighed.

“You know Vincent, I never thought I’d actually miss this town.”

Vincent walked up behind her, squinting from the suns’ glare.

“It’s not time to leave yet-“

“But they’ll be here any minute. The Shin-Ra is never late. Especially on something like this.” She said, fumbling nervously with the tie in her hands. She had packed, but hadn’t even finished changing.

“Come on Cal, if they’re going to be here any minute, you’d better finish getting dressed.” Vincent said, grabbing her shoulders and turning her around to face him.

He gently pulled the black tie from her hands, pulled up her shirt collar, did up the top button and began tying the tie for her.

She looked to the ground absently, and with sad eyes.

He smoothed out her tie and the top of her shirt.

“It’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

She nodded as she stepped into her black loafers. Vincent held out her navy blazer, and helped her into it. Vincent gathered her bags and set them by the door while she fixed her hair in the mirror.

A loud rumbling could be heard in the distance, the sound of a Helicopter.

“They’re here.” She said weakly.

“Here, I’ll go down with you. Nothing else to do on my day off, I suppose.” He said laughing. He unrolled his shirtsleeves and did up the top few buttons. He pulled on his suit jacket, and then a dark trench coat over that. November had just begun, but it had brought cold weather with her- mostly from Mt. Nibel though.

He threw on his sunglasses and picked up Cal’s bags. She followed him silently downstairs, past the courtyard outside and down to the gate entrance of Nibelheim.

“It’s a shame Hojo couldn’t let Knox go to say good-bye.” Vincent said, breaking the silence between the two.

“It’s better if he didn’t. I know how he feels, and you know how the both of us get with good-bye’s.”

“Ya.”

“You know, Knox was promoted Vincent.”

“Really, I never would have figured that with his track record and all.”

“The Shin-Ra operates in mysterious ways. If it’s any consolation, if I’d had a say in it, it would have been you.”

“Thanks.”

The two stood silently as they watched the helicopter circle, looking for a safe place to land.

“You understand why we’re really here Vincent?”

“What do you mean?”

“It has nothing to do with the restless locals.”

“I can guess that much.” He said, turning to her.

“We’re here to watch over the Project- mainly Hojo. He and Professor Gast are sitting on something big… really big. That’s why Knox can’t leave. He’s under strict orders not to let Hojo out of his site. Shin-Ra doesn’t trust the good doctor enough not to think that he might try and pull something. And he knows it too.”

“That’s why he walks around the place like he owns it.”

Calyena nodded.

The helicopter landed and a man jumped out the side door and held it open for Cal.

“Well Calyena, I guess this is good-bye.” Vincent said, turning to her. He held open his arms to hug her one last time.

“No Vincent,” She said, looking at her feet. “I don’t want to miss you. Can we just pretend we’re still upset at each other?”

Vincent nodded, though he doubted she saw him.

“Asshole!” She spat glaring at him, before snapping up her bag and walking brusquely away towards the helicopter.

“Dumb bitch.” He called back after her. She shoved her bags into the man’s arms and vaulted into the helicopter. The man frowned, but followed shortly. The blades began spinning and the helicopter was lifted from the ground with ease and flew towards the distant horizon of Wutai.

Vincent was really going to miss Calyena. He was going to miss her a lot.

Then there was also what went unspoken between them.

Vincent knew she was going to suffer the same fate as Quentin… and she knew that too, talking about it wouldn’t have made a difference.

Shin-Ra was going to have her killed.

Vincent was really going to miss her.