The scent of brewed coffee and freshly baked breads filled the Nibelheim inn where Cloud and the others stayed. Most of them, especially Cid, Yuffie and Barret, who seemed to enjoy the party too much were drunk and still asleep on their beds. Vincent who was miraculously able to sleep through Baret and Cid's snores was now downstairs with Cloud and Tifa eating breakfast, courtesy of Marduke Racoon.

Tifa looked at her companions, both were silent. She looked at Vincent who was just staring blankly throught the window while drinking coffee, then to Cloud who whas also staring blankly at his coffee. She tapped her fork on the plate hoping to annoy anyone of them and start a conversation, but to no avail.

Then, the PHS Comm. unit rang. Cloud picked it up and pushed a button, "Yeah?" Finnaly there was life on the breakfast table. Tifa thought to herself. She watched Cloud, his face was still blank, no way of knowing what or who he was talking to. When he put the unit down, she crossed her arms and leaned towards him in anticipation.

"Well, who was it?" She asked Cloud.

"It was Red, he said that Marduke Racoon left to visit an excavation site." Cloud looked at Tifa, then returned to his coffee staring, in deep thought. "I wonder if he took the Black Materia with him....I feel strange." Cloud babbled and then silence fell apon them again.

"Should I wake up the others, Cloud?" Vincent said. He was hoping that in this silence Cloud was thinking of a plan, and not staring blankly because he was falling asleep on them too.

"Later. Let them rest for now. Hopefully, if Racoon doesn't return by tonight, we'll make our move." Cloud picked up the comm unit and walked to the window. "I wasn't satisfied with what I've learned about Racoon so far." Cloud related to them the information he found on Reeve's disk and all of Racoon's credentials were either about artifacts or photography.

"What's wrong with that, Cloud?" Tifa said while munching on a jam covered piece of bread. cloud turned around and faced her and Vincent, his expression was serious and his eyes were fixed on the space between them.

"Racoon has a whole photo gallery dedicated to..."He paused and let out a sigh, "...Aerith. He's obsessed with her, that's why he invited Avalanche because, he wanted to meet her." Cloud folded his arms across his chest, he remembered the pain he felt when he entered that room and saw her images on the wall.

"Aerith?" Vincent and Tifa said in unison, then both fell silent again. Tifa felt a pang in her chest apon hearing that name again. 'Is that why he was so upset this morning? Why can't he...just let go of her?' Tifa closed her eyes, not denying the fct that she was jealous oll of a sudden. 'Jealous, of a dead person?' she almost laughed at that thought when Cloud started talking about his suspicions again.

"I've been thinking about it all night, and honestly, I'm afraid that he might do something stupid again. I told him where Aerith's body was buried...I'm afraid that he's gone to Ancient's City not just to pay his respects to Aerith." Cloud stared at the floor, he cursed himself for revealing anything about Aerith to that strange man.

"I don't see anything wrong, Cloud. Besides, the Ancient's keep their secrets well...what could he possobly find out there?" Tifa was getting more and more annoyed with all the talk about Aerith. With the way Cloud spoke, it was clear that he was still holding on to her, in some way, Aerith's memories were still oppressing Cloud.

Cloud shook his head, "Marduke Racoon has the Black Materia...who knows if he's also searching for the White Materia."

Vincent looked at Cloud, he was right. Maybe he did miss something when he searched for the library in the mansion. He was too overcome by painful memories that evening that he retreated to the party instead of continuing his search. "What's your plan?"

"I dunno." Cloud said, feeling a little sheepish since he's been saying that phrase a lot since he received Racoon's invitation to view the Black Materia. Vincent let out a small laugh, he was thinking the same way too. Cloud looked at Tifa, who was tapping her fork impatiently on the plate, he smiled and sat back on his chair. "I have a plan..." he whispered. Vincent and Tifa leaned closer to him. "Tonight, I'm going back in that mansion to look for anything. The secret library may still be there...I'm sure he's keeping everything."

"I'll go with you." Vincent said, he knew one way to get in without being detected, it would lead them straight to the library, if it still exsisted. Cloud smiled. "We don't want any trouble, just clues. I'm beginning to think that Racoon invited us so he could squeeze out information form us."

"Okay, I'm going with you two."Tifa said, she wanted to see the photo room for herself. She respected Aerith, althoug she hated the fact that she always stood in between her and Cloud. she leaned back on her chair and started on another sweet bread.

"Alright, it's settled then." Cloud nodded and went upstairs. He was smiling, his mood sure changed after he was able to tell his plan. Vincent silently excused himself from the breakfast table and marched outside. Tifa sighed and packed in a few biscuits for Red XIII and headed for the highwind.

The highwind was soaring smoothly under the harsh afternoon sun. The search in Marduke's mansion was futile, the path which Vincent spoke of was sealed. Cloud and Tifa had no luck inside the mansion as well. The photo room was open but the pictures of Aerith were already gone.

After Cloud related to the other's what happened during breakfast and the masion search, they all agreed that they should pay a visit to the Ancient's City.

Suddenly, there was an explosion then the highwind started to shake violently.

"What the @#$# is goin' on!!!!" cried Cid. Everybody was holding on to somehting steady, while Cloud was holding Yuffie against a trash can in anticipation of her infamous air-sickness.

"Sir, one of the engine's dead...and the other one's beginning to overheat....we're also very low in fuel.."a pilot said through an inter-comm. The following words were all curses from Cid, and a few gasps from Yuffie. "Sir, we have to land."

It was a rough landing, but they made it in one piece. They were in the mountain range near the northern crater, it was terribly cold. The group unpacked and started hiking to the nearest town, Icicle Lodge.

"This ain't no @#$%ing accident...."Cid said after he inspected the damage. "This is a @#$#ing setup!!!"