Prologue-After
Time passes quicker than most of us give it credit for. When Reno mentioned something about how it was two years since the whole thing with Jenova and Sephiroth, I actually burst out laughing, wondering how so much time could possibly have lapsed. Then I saw that it was true and sobered quickly, realising the sad truth that life is slipping past all of us, and we've fallen too far to try and catch it.
My memories of that time are so vivid, I can taste them: Tseng's blood as we pulled him from the Temple of the Ancient's; the stifling flame of Meteor as it neared us; Reno's kiss, first when we thought our time was up, then we realised it was just beginning. It's funny, that was the scariest, most uncertain time of my life, and yet I'd almost rather be there than here, caught in limbo, unable to move forward.
Shinra is gone, and with it the Turks, though we are of course still together. The five of us, myself, Reno, Rude, Tseng and Rufus, live at Healin Lodge, near Edge. The name of our home is somewhat ironic, being that Rufus is slowly dying and there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it. He has Geostigma, like about a billion of the planet's population. He thinks it's a punishment for what Shinra did to the world, and in my darker moments I think I agree with him. Then I mentally slap myself, and remind myself that what happened isn't only due to Shinra: Sephiroth was the one who wanted to destroy the world, and even AVALANCHE weren't entirely blameless. But I still find myself cataloguing our misdemeanours, from the small things like assassinations of minor rebels, to the absolutely huge things like Reno dropping the plate on Sector 7. I wonder if the only way things can move forward is if we forgive ourselves, or if we'll wait til the end of time for the others to forgive us. What will it be?
A/N- Ok, this needs some explaining- this is a kind of Advent Children based sequel to the game, but one that assumes that Reno and Elena were together during FFVII. Confusing, I know :-p. However, all will become clearer as it goes on, as there are flashbacks. This is first person Elena, so won't actually include much of what was seen in the film- the fic also carries on after AC finishes. Don't shoot me, it'll all explain itself lol. Please review XD