AN: This fic got started because I am playing the game (FFVII) and when I got to the scene where Reno and the Turks are introduced for the first time it hit me just how well Reno's reactions to the entire situation are when Before Crisis is taken into account. So, I decided to do a sortof novelization of the game from the Turks point of view. I call this a sortof novelization because it is really a collection of oneshots as I'm only doing the scenes where the Turks interact with Cloud and Co. This will be more then you think as I'm taking into account all the Turks in Before Crisis, not just the ones we see in FFVII. That said, there will be lots of references (spoilers!) to Before Crisis mentioned in passing.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1
You're Still Alive! ? !

Reno sighed as he walked down the junk-lined paths of the Sector 5 Slums. I really don't want to be here. But... he glanced over at the three troopers flanking him. When Tseng had informed him that Heidegger had given Reno three troopers for the job, the look on his face had said it all; the troopers were there not so much for Reno to use, but to make sure he followed his mission out to the letter. Reno winced. Me, Rude and Tseng don't have any chances left. And the President wants to make sure we know that. At least the Chief and the others got out fine. Reno couldn't stop himself from grinning at that. Nobody left Shin-Ra and got away with it. Nobody but the Turks that was. To bad the three of us had to stay behind to make sure nobody in Shin-Ra thought anything different, but hey! It was totally worth it.

Reno's good mood was ruined when the spire of the Sector 5 Church blocked out the florescent lighting. Sorry Aerith, he mentally apologized, I hate to do this to you, but it was either me or Tseng and I couldn't let Tseng screw this mission up because of past feelings. He stopped before the door of the church and looked back at the troopers. "Stay out here until I signal, 'kay?" Without giving the troopers a chance to answer, Reno walked into the church. The first thing he heard was voices.

"Me? I do a little bit of everything," said a male voice. It sounded young.

"Oh, a jack of all trades?" Aerith clarified. Reno grinned and leaned on the back pew. Aerith was clearly flirting.

"Yeah, I do whatever's needed," said the guy. Aerith laughed. "What's so funny? What are you laughing at?" the guy protested. Reno looked at him. The guy looked familiar. The guy had impossibly spiky blond hair and was wearing the uniform of a SOLDIER 1st Class and on his back... Reno gulped. On his back was the one and only Buster Sword. How the hell did he get that? Reno wondered. Zack Fair was the last person to have the Buster Sword and he had died in the Midgar Wastelands. The Buster Sword should be with his body. For another guy to have it... This is not good.

"Sorry..." Aerith made out. "I just..." She noticed Reno for the first time and she and the guy turned to face Reno. Reno saw the guy's face and felt liked he had been punched in the stomach. "Sorry bad timing on my part," Aerith whispered.

Definitely, most definitely, Reno thought. What the hell are you doing here Cloud Strife? And without mako poisoning to boot? If you made it, why didn't Zack... Right, Zack... Reno sighed. None of the Turks got it, but they all knew Zack protected those weaker then himself. Why am I not surprised you pulled something like this?

Cloud started walking towards him and Reno tensed. He was under no illusion he could win. Great, he thought, just great. Not only am I facing off with the kid who beat Sephiroth, but now he's been experimented on for four years. He's probably stronger then ever. He readied his Pyramid spell just in case a fight broke out. Fortunately, Aerith interrupted before anything could happen. "Cloud!" she called. "Don't let him get to you."

Cloud looked at Aerith and shrugged before walking back to her. "Say, Cloud?" Aerith asked. "Have you ever been a bodyguard? You DO do everything, right?" For his own sake, Reno hoped Cloud would say no.

Cloud scratched the back of his head in a Zack-like manner. "Yeah, that's right." Reno did not like where this was going. Aerith's next words confirmed it.

"Then get me out of here," she told Cloud. "Take me home." Reno grimaced. Damn. Now he was going to have to go through Strife. Not a pleasant thought. Unless... Reno internally grinned. Strife would be the perfect excuse to not complete the mission. Now if I can just get the troopers to blindly cooperate...

"Okay," Cloud agreed, "I'll do it... but it'll cost you."

"Well then, let's see..." Aerith was in full on flirting mode. Reno wondered how she could do that when she knew he was there for her. "How about if I go out with you once?"

Cloud nodded and turned to Reno. Reno smirked and walked down the aisle. He stopped in the middle of the church "I don't know who you are," Cloud began "but..." He stopped mid-sentance and slowly shook his head. "You don't know me...?" he faintly asked. He looked confused and seemed to be looking at something far away. After a moment he nodded his head and looked right at Reno. "Oh yeah... I know you." He boldly waked a few steps forward and Reno got a good look at his face for the first time. "That uniform..."

Reno's eyes narrowed. Looks like the mako poisoning isn't completely gone yet, Strife. Knew you couldn't be completely recovered yet. Good, you won't be at full capacity if we have to fight. The door burst open and the three troopers ran in. The skidded to a halt behind Reno. Right on time, he thought.

"Hey sis, this one's a little weird," one of the troopers called.

"Shut up you Shin-Ra spy,"Cloud shouted. The church fell silent.

Reno mentally laughed at Cloud's denial. Except you are Strife, he thought. You only beat Sephiroth with no enhancements and survived four years of Hojo's experimentation and recovered from the worst case of mako poisoning Cissnei's seen in less then a month. You're nothing but weird.

"Reno, want him taken out?" The trooper asked.

Reno shook himself and gave the trooper a glare. "I haven't decided yet." Uh, no, we're not. That'd be suicide.

Suddenly Aerith yelled out, "Don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!" before running to the door in the back of the church. Cloud followed her.

The troopers burst out laughing and Reno walked right through Aerith's flowers to the back door. He stopped when he realized something. "They were... mako eyes," he said to himself. It conformed what he had already guessed; Cloud Strife had been exposed to enough mako in the experiments to be considered a SOLDIER 1st Class. When he didn't sense anyone following him he turned around to find the troopers were still laughing. "Yeah, all right," he ordered. "Back to work, back to work." He turned from them and walked to the back door. Right before he went through it he turned around. "Oh, and... don't step on the flowers..." He smirked at them and went through the door, laughing off the troopers comments.

The tower in the back of the church was old, half-rotted and had an upside-down rocket rusting in the middle of it. It took a moment for Reno to find Cloud and Aerith and ginned when he saw them trapped on a second-story ledge. Perfect. Couldn't have planned it better myself. "There they are, over there!" He pointed to them.

"That guy!" Aerith shouted when she saw them. She and Cloud talked quietly for a few minutes and then Cloud jumped over the rocket onto another ledge.

"Aerith," Cloud called. "This way."

Aerith walked up the the edge and shook her head. Reno didn't get why she didn't jump; it wasn't that far. Nervous, eh? Let's see if we can wake you up to your situation. Reno grinned.

"All right, I'll hold them off." Cloud sounded almost board. Reno glanced at the troopers behind him. Now why do I get the feeling that you guys are the type that don't think about orders and have really bad aim?

Aerith nodded. "Right. Make sure they don't get through!"

Sure that Cloud wouldn't let Aerith get hurt and dying to see exactly how bad the troopers aim was, Reno ordered, "The Ancient is getting away! Attack! Attack! Attack!" Living up to their stereotype, the troopers shot at her and missed. Instead of jumping over the rocket like Reno thought she would, Aerith lost her footing on the ledge and slid down the rocket into the church basement.

"Aerith!" Cloud screamed.

Reno turned to the troopers and shrugged. At least they could now report that he had tried to stop her from escaping and succeed. "Think we killed 'em?" he bragged. "Shouldn't have even put up a fight!" The troopers grinned at him and raced down to the basement. Reno stayed on the ground floor.

"Cloud, help!" Aerith screamed as one of the troopers approached her. Reno wondered how Cloud would respond.

"Aerith! Hold on a minute!" Cloud called as he raced up a ladder to the beams. Reno looked up to see Cloud standing next to a barrel. What is he doing? A few minutes later, a barrel fell down from the ceiling and flattened the trooper. Well, he definitely gets points for originality, Reno thought. I'm definitely not getting involved.

Less then five minutes later, the other two troopers had also been flattened by barrels and Cloud and Aerith had escaped through the hole in the church roof. Reno leaned against one of the church walls and smirked. Now that there was no one there to watch him, he had no reason to go after Aerith. If anyone asked why, he would have the perfect excuse. No one in their right mind went after a SOLDIER 1st Class without SOLDIERs as backup. However, Tseng had to know what actually happened.

He pulled out his PHS and called Tseng.

"Tseng speaking," the smooth voice rolled out.

"Hey, is this a good time to talk about, you know, stuff?" Reno quickly asked. He hoped none of the executives were around.

There was a pause at the other end. "If by 'stuff' you mean certain events we don't know about then yes, we can."

Reno gave a sigh of relief. "All right. You know how I was supposed to bring in Aerith today?"

"Yes." The voice was carefully controlled.

"Well, I didn't. When I got there, there was someone else with her and you'll never believe who."

"Reno..." There was a light threat behind the voice.

"Okay boss," Reno instantly sobered. "It was Cloud Strife."

"Are you sure?" Tseng quickly asked.

"Positive. He had hair like a chocobo and the Buster Sword on his back." And he was a little off, but that can wait 'til later.

"What are you going to tell the executives?"

Reno shrugged. "Rouge SOLDIER with an inconvenient sense of honor, should be believable as more and more of them are deserting."

"Good." There was a pause on the end of the line. "Reno?" Tseng asked. He sounded almost reluctant.

"Yeah boss?" Something big was coming up, Reno could feel it.

"The President has a new mission for you and you're not going to like it..."

End

AN: Hope you liked it. Updates should be fairly regular as I've built up a backlog of chapters. I'm writing these as I encounter them in the story because I'm playing the game right now, so I will finish it. Thanks for reading!