here's the next of the fics that take place in my special AU that i'm going to call my GPW universe. you'll catch the refrence pretty quickly after reading this fic, once its finished. anyway, here's the first chapter. it features our favorite Turk, Reno!

We met in a bar that night. Her name was Mysty, and she was a red-head too.

God, I sound like one of those crappy detective novels that I catch 'Lena reading sometimes. But dammit, we did meet in a bar, and she is a red-head. In fact, that night, I saved her life.

But that's a little ahead of the story.

Let me tell you. Don't worry, it won't take long. Here, let me get you a drink to go with it…

It was cold and raining—and the three of us didn't have any place to stay. Like a lot of the people from Midgar, me, Elena and Rude had become refugees. We'd been wandering the continent, looking for someplace to stay after that rancher quit letting us stay in the chocobo stables wile we looked for jobs.

And we weren't doin' so good findin' 'em either. Too many places had been demolished and too many other people were lookin' for work for three former bad-ass secret police to find work.

It might have helped if we weren't so damn intimidating to most people, being Turks and all.

Anyway, it was cold and raining when we stumbled into Upper Junon, hoping to find someplace to sack out for the night. And we'd have settled for a cardboard box, if we had to—we were that far down.

We lucked out when we saw a sign in a bar window. It said something like "will give rooms for honest days work" I think. Anyway, it promised shelter for a job, and that was all we wanted. So we went in.

The bartender would have been a hottie if she wasn't a red-head. I've just never found women who have my hair color to be attractive. Guess its just an ego thing.

Don't ever tell her I said that. She'll get my wife to kick my ass.

So anyway, we walk up to the bar, all soggy and desperate. And the bitch actually starts laughing at us. Guess we looked that pathetic.

So, she's laughing, and 'Lena starts crying, cause damn has she had enough of this shit. And Rude gets pissed cause 'Lena's crying. So, what's a team leader to do?

Dunno, cause when I started laughing too, it was the wrong answer. Elena kicked me in the groin.

And damn if Tseng's training with that girl wasn't good, cause I don't remember hitting the floor. Or the trip upstairs. But I woke up in a little dorm sized bed with 'Lena hovering over me.

"God, Reno, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

"S'okay. Long as everything still works." It didn't, but I wouldn't find that out 'til a lot later. Like after the wedding later. And I guess I forgive her anyway. We probably wouldn't have ever had Fae if not for her, so it all works out.

But back to me and 'Lena.

"Can you move?"

"Dunno. Not sure I want to know." But I sat up anyway. Was a little uncomfortable, but not painful.

"Oh good. Rude used that Cure materia we have left on you, but he wasn't sure how well it would work."

"I think it worked fine. Did we get jobs?"

She looked sad then. "No. But she's going to let us stay the night anyway, cause she feels bad for us."

Better than nothin'.