AN: First Final Fantasy story. I've been reading a lot of them lately and thought to write one of my own. Things between Avalanche and the Turks are going to be a little tense because I don't think that after all the things that went down (like Reno dropping the plate and killing Barret's friends and Rufus shooting down Cid's dream and Tiny Bronco) that after Advent Children they would be all friendly and stuff.
"Oi Tif!" The busty brunette bartender turned to the lazy call knowing even before seeing him who it was. Only Reno called her 'Tif'. She eyed the red-head suspiciously. Things never went well when he was around. Reno just shrugged off the look and continued- he was use to it, "Where's blondie?"
"Out," Tifa simply replied. She knew that if Reno wanted to know where Cloud was then that meant Shin-ra wanted to know where Cloud was and that was never good.
"Out where, mommy? You gotta be more specific than that."
"Out working," Tifa said pulling the Turks strings even more.
Sighing, Reno sat down with a wave of his hand, a signal that Tifa knew well. It meant 'the usual' and Reno only needed his Bourbon no ice when he was trying to pace himself and not lose his head. Tifa was somewhat glad that she caused this much upset within the usually loud, nonchalant man. It felt good to turn the tables.
After receiving his drink, Reno took a slow sip, slouching down in his seat a little. Now with a new patience to deal with this crap, he tried again, "Working where, Ma?"
"Where ever his delivery job takes him."
"Tif," Reno replied roughly, sitting up firm in his chair, "I ain't got time for dis shit, man. Where the hell is Cloud?"
"And I don't time for Shin-ra's shit," Tifa fired back slamming the glass she was once cleaning on the counter.
"What makes ya think this is 'Shin-ra shit'," Reno asked as he leaned back once more, slight amusement in his eyes.
"What else could it be?"
"Who knows," Reno said, shrugging his shoulders in such a Reno fashion, "Maybe I just wanna have a drink with the guy."
"Bull" Tifa deadpanned, "Since when did you Turks want to get touchy-feely with us?"
"Tiiiiif," Reno eased out almost in a teasing manner, "That shit was three years ago."
"And?"
"It was nothing personal, mommy. Just followin' orders."
"And how do I know that you're not following orders now," Tifa asked, a hand on her narrow waist.
"Who said I wasn't?"
Tifa rolled her eyes. "And you say you came to drink with him, please," she mumbled.
Reno laughed, hearing the girl's smart remark loud and clear, "Yeah but followin' orders is a lil' easier now. The man givin' 'em had a change of heart."
"Please, men like Rufus don't have 'change of hearts'."
"Shiiiit," Reno said stretching the word out to show his disagreement, "I didn't believe that shit either. Not at first. But I guess if ya almost lose ya life enough times you'll soon find out the shit ya been doing ain't right. After almost dying twice, I guess the Prez decided to change it up a bit."
"Sad it took him to almost die twice to figure that out."
"I agree wit ya," Reno said sipping his drink once more, "But I almost died more times than I can count and I still haven't figured out a damn thing."
Tifa let a small chuckle fall through, "Why did you become a Turk, Reno? It doesn't seem like you're passionate about it. So why did you do it in the first place?"
"Why you're a bartender Tifa," Reno asked returning the question, "It's doesn't seem ya passionate 'bout it. So why didcha do it in the first place?"
Smiling Tifa let both of their questions go unanswered. So she and Reno was more alike than she thought. She came to Midgar running from her shattered past and looking for revenge on the company that caused it, but until that dream came to light, she needed money. She also knew that drunken men loved to stare at a huge rack and pay high tips to do so. So she took what she had and made money from it, becoming a bartender. Looking at Reno, she could tell he did the exact same thing. He was fast, sneaky and his idea of morals is probably non-existent, becoming a Turk was his version of her becoming a bartender. He took what he had and made money from it. It didn't matter if it involved the lost of other's lives; just like it didn't matter if she degraded herself... money was money.
"More alike than ya think," Reno asked teasingly, letting his sly smile show.
"That still doesn't let you off my hook."
"Understandable," Reno said, shrugging once more, "But it's not your good graces that I need to stay in. Shinra signs my checks, sweetheart. Now tell me where good ol' Cloudy-boy is."
"Sorry but I-"
Tifa was cut off as the doors to her Seventh-Heaven flew apart showing Barret carrying the topic of their conversation. "Tifa," Barret's raspy voice echoed over the walls, "Ready a room. Spiky ain't doing so well!"
"What happened," Tifa asked as followed the big man upstairs.
"I don know." The two finally reached one of Tifa's extra rooms. Whizzing past Barret, Tifa hurriedly readied a bed as the big man dropped the unconscious man on top. "I just found him on the outside of Edge just like this.
"So there the answer to my question." Both Tifa and Barret turned to see the forgotten Turk standing in the doorway. Wearing one of his sly smiles he leaned against the frame, nonchalantly watching the others scamper to help their friend.
"What cha doin' here, scum," Barret snarled as he exchanged looks of concern for his friend between looks of hatred for the red-head.
"Don't ya think that's a lil' harsh for someone that helped ya save the world."
"Nothing's too harsh for the man that killed some of my best friends."
"Ump," Reno snorted, "You taking dat shit from three years ago too personally. Your men knew what they were gettin' into when they were following your orders and I knew what I was gettin' into when I was following Shinra's. Business is business.
Barret growled at the man, ready to pounce before Tifa grabbed his arm. Shaking her head she motioned to Cloud, silently telling them both that now is not the time or the place for this. Both nodded in agreement, letting the potential fight fall to the side. Making sure Cloud was ok was the main priority for all of them at the moment.
"You got something to do with this, Turk," Barret asked, spitting the other man's occupation like it was used chewing tobacco.
"Naw," Reno replied completely blowing the other man's anger off, "I was just looking for the chocobo-head when ya'll brought 'em in. So what happened?"As if to answer his question Tifa leaned over the unconscious Cloud, looking for any cuts or bruises. Two graced his head, just above his temple as more littered his arms and neck. Some, if just a little deeper would have killed the man but somehow he lived. Reno, also seeing the wombs, wonder who in the hell would almost kill Cloud, one of the strongest men still alive, and leave him alive. 'Shit like that just don't make no sense. Who would almost kill a man that can more than likely kill 'em back?'"So who wanted Cloudy here almost dead?"
"Why do you care," Barret asked or more of demanded.
"Because someone that's stupid enough to attack Cloud is dumb enough to attack Shin-ra," Reno responded uncaringly but still reaching anxiously for his EMR, then shrugging he added, "But knowin' Cloudy-boy he could have just done this to himself."
"You don't know Cloud enough to say things like that about him," Tifa said through gritted teeth, eyes shooting certain death if the other man continued.
Being Reno, he did, "Hell, any man that have visions of their dead gal and even more dead best friend have every right in the world to be cuttin' 'emselves."
"Get out," Tifa responded sharply. The words must have taken Reno by surprise because he didn't budge. No, it was her tone that caught the man off guard. Tifa never talked to him like that. Matter of fact her and Rude was about the only people that didn't talk to him like he was some kind of burden, so coldly, even Tseng did it every once in awhile, but not Tifa. Well another friend lost due to Shin-ra. "Get out," she repeated again, this time tugging on her gloves to show the consequences if he didn't comply. Giving a lazy two-finger salute, he did what he was told and left them.
He found out where Cloud was and (kind of) notified Tifa of Cloud's suicidal tendencies, just like his mission required him to. No matter what they truly believe, Rufus really did have a change of heart and was only looking out for the man that saved his life on more than one occasion. 'Maybe we can save him for once,' thought Reno as he stepped through the threshold of Seventh Heaven, 'First step was to find out if his friends knew what he was up to and if not, then inform them. That's done. Now we just wait for them to get the hint and help. I'll do it myself but I got my own suicidal habits I gotta take care of."
Five Days Earlier
"Tseng, I need you to investigate something." The two sat alone in the room that they shared, Rufus staring profoundly out of the two story window. His gaze moved from the ruins of Midgar as he spoke, landing directly on Tseng. Tseng searched the blue gaze of the young man, looking for what was troubling him. Tseng did this a lot, but Rufus was so good at hiding his emotions not even the seasoned Turk could figure out what was wrong with his President. Now, however, Rufus hid nothing. Something was terribly wrong and it had something to do with the remains of Midgar. The young President spoke once again, breaking the silence that the two seem to be born within, "I need you to search the remains of Midgar."
"What am I searching for, Sir," Tseng asked, finding Rufus's request a little odd. There was nothing left in Midgar for him to search, nothing to even be found.
"Sephiroth." The word hung dry in the quiet room. The name held too many unwanted memories.
But that was just it, he was a memory. There was nothing left of the man - but they all thought the same before the Remnants came, bringing the man from the dead. Now, however, nothing of Jenova remained – at least that was what they all hoped. "What do you mean, Sir," Tseng asked, getting up from his seat on his twin size bed on his side of the large room and joining Rufus at the window.
"Can't you see it Tseng," Rufus said in a spacey voice, a tone that Tseng knew well. It meant the cogs in Rufus's head were turning and he was about to stumble upon something ingenious. However, the man's point still eluded him. What was he suppose to see, exactly? "The glow," Rufus added after picking up Tseng's blank look.
Following Rufus' finger, he found the glow that the man was talking about. It was coming from various places in Old Midgar... where the old reactors used to be. "We closed the openings for the reactors right after Meteor fall," Tseng said, an uncommon confusion found in his normally assured voice.
"Correct," Rufus said.
"Then what is that glow?"
"Count them," Rufus said, pointing again. Once again following Rufus' finger, Tseng counted the various areas which the glow seemed to originate from. He counted eight.
"But how," Tseng questioned once more.
"I don't know," Rufus replied, also confused, "That's why I'm sending you. To find out."
Tseng nodded, "Right, I'll bring Elena with me."
"No," Rufus said, forcefully shaking his head, "This has to stay between us. I don't want to alarm anyone. It'll just draw bad media our way. Keep this discussion between us. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sir."
Tseng silently moved to the closet the two men shared, grabbing various weapons for his mission when Rufus's hand stopped him, "You don't have to call me 'Sir'. Rufus is just fine."
"Yes S-"
"Rufus," he said quickly correcting the Wutainian.
"Yes Rufus."
"We live together. We should at least be on first name bases," Rufus said teasingly, "Don't you agree?" The two men shared a smile, something rare for them, as Tseng continued to equip himself and embark on his journey.
"What the hell is this?" Gigantic green crystal hills surrounded Tseng, each giving off its own glow. Tseng pulled out a small knife and chiseled a small section of the glowing crystal, watching it dissolve into dust, "I should bring this to Rufus. The science lab would love to see this," Tseng said as he put the contents in a bag, "It looks like dried Mako, but that's impossible. We sealed these reactors completely shut. Nothing should be able to get through, unless someone decided to reopen them, but how?"
AN: Review and let me know what you think. I want to know if I should continue this or not because I'm not sure. If you're interested and want more review and let me know and I'll continue. If I don't get any reviews then I'll let this one go and finish my other story.