Breath
As soon as Rude left Seventh Heaven he was practically running. The kid had said Tifa was at the church looking for Cloud and they had heard not long ago that a remnant was seen in the area prowling around. Reno jogged to catch up with his partner.
"Hey man why the rush?"
"It's dangerous" His curt reply was nothing unusual but Reno swore he heard a hint of concern rarely shown. He knew of the crush the other had on Tifa and humoured him over it. It was no different to Tseng's fascination with that cetra girl back then. Maybe Turk men had a thing for those they couldn't have. Reno himself harboured feelings for someone he knew would never share them.
"She's kick ass Rude. We'll find that freaky silver guy came off worse if there has been a fight."
"He's bigger than the one who attacked us"
"Yeah and Strife is living in the church right? Who's ever beaten him?"
Rude was silent running now a few yards ahead of him dodging between the startled residents who yelled out angrily at their backs as they passed. "Hey…Hey Rude man we're not planning on running from here to the slums are we?" Reno didn't want to even start to guess how far it was from Edge to the slums.
Rude skidded to a halt whipping his phone out shouting an order for a copter to meet them on the outskirts.
The copter dropped them off on the plate and at the speed Rude was running they were outside the church panting heavily in no time.
"Sounds like no ones home yo"
"There's been a disturbance" Hanging back in the doorway he watched as Rude walked down the aisle to the large patch of flowers in the front of the church. "Strife is here too. They're both out cold"
That got Reno's attention. Cloud was unbeatable. He'd faced much worse than some guy with mother issues. Why was he out cold? Walking over he crouched down next to Cloud watching Rude as he carefully lifted Tifa up into his arms.
"Are they breathing?"
"Yeah. She's injured but it's not serious. There are no marks on Strife though."
Tilting his head Reno looked at the flowers around Cloud noticing black marks on the leaves and petals.
"Oh man…" Tugging lightly on the cloth over Cloud's arm he whistled "That sucks"
"What is it?"
"Nothing man. Let's get them out of here before that freak returns. I don't fancy another kicking from them"
Rude walked out of the church with Tifa in his arms leaving Reno to heft Cloud up.
"Woah you're heavier than you look"