Even though Elena knew what was going to happen, she was still nervous. Tseng had told her to meet him in the hospital outside of room 227. When she got there, he was already standing outside the room's window, hands clasped behind his back.

I'm not late, am I? she wondered, stealing a quick glance at the clock. Five minutes to eleven. She breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Good morning, Elena," he said, with a friendly, albeit formal nod. "I trust you know why I called you here."

"I think so, sir," she said, looking through the window. Reno was laying on the bed, sleeping. He had quite a few bruises from the encounter with AVALANCHE on the Sector 7 tower.

"You're being promoted," Tseng said and nodded towards the room. "With Reno out of commission, we need everyone, especially now."

Well, that was anticlimactic, she thought. But then again, Turks were more likely to be promoted in times of need with the promoter being the only witness. After all, a Turk's job was hardly cause for celebration.

He gave her a wry smile that sent a jolt through her stomach. "Congratulations."

"Thank you, sir," she said, looking away so that he wouldn't see the blush on her cheeks. "How's Reno doing?"

"He'll make it," said Tseng, his voice more austere than usual. "It seems Lady Luck decided to deal him one more winning hand. But none of know how long the generosity will last." He turned to look her in the eye. "Our skills are unmatched, Elena, but we're still mortal, with all the flaws that come with it."

-X-

3 days later

Sunlight shone through the slats of the blinds onto the wooden floors. The bright light belied the freezing temperatures outside at Icicle Inn, the nearest town to the Northern Crater. Vincent had found the two snuggled together at the bottom of the crater, no doubt trying to keep warm. They were both bloody messes, their once immaculate clothes ripped and dirty. He had done his best to tend to their injuries, but he was a gunman, not a doctor. However, there happened to be a nurse at Icicle Inn, and had it not been for her, he doubted the two Turks would have made it.

But he was most interested as to why they had been so badly hurt. Many people disliked the Turks, including himself, but not enough to kill them, especially when they had their own lives to rebuild. He searched the area. The lack of light and rocky terrain made it impossible to find any evidence of who had nearly killed the two Turks. When he looked them over, he found their IDs were missing, meaning that someone probably had it in for the Shinra company.

The first time Elena had woken up, she realized that her suit was gone, replaced by a simple long sleeved white shirt and sweatpants. An elderly woman walked into the room, carrying some fresh bandages. "You're awake."

"Where am I?" asked Elena, still groggy.

"Icicle Inn," she said. "You both were in horrible shape. Shall we change those bandages now?"

"Okay," groaned Elena, too tired and achy to argue. The woman helped her out of the shirt to put fresh bandages on the injuries. She felt a sharp stabbing pain in her leg and shoulder, and she felt as though she'd been hit by a truck.

There was a crisp knock at the door. "Come in," said the woman, taking the old bandages and leaving. Vincent entered the room, his cape billowing behind him. He leaned against the wall. Elena's eyes widened.

"Vincent Valentine?" she asked in disbelief. She didn't know him all that well, but he had joined with AVALANCHE two years ago and fought against Shinra and the Turks, despite having been one himself. His height and the way he held himself made him look rather imposing.

"Hmm?"

"Well…it's just that I wasn't expecting you," she said quietly.

"If I brought you back to Shinra, you likely would have been killed by whoever did this to you," he said quietly and firmly.

"Oh." Elena remembered that her ID had been stolen. "So you were the one who brought us back."

"You want something to eat? You're probably hungry," he said, standing straight up again. Elena wondered why he was so eager to leave the room. But when she thought about what had happened to him, she understood why he wouldn't be so eager to help out those working for Shinra.

"Yeah…" she replied sleepily. Vincent brought her some soup, then left again without a backward glance, leaving her alone with a sleeping Tseng as she ate her soup. It was a generous serving, and Elena hadn't realized how hungry she was.

She looked over at Tseng, his face stern and severe, even in his sleep. She set aside the tray and lay back down, but soon realized that she really had to use the bathroom. She was exhausted, but knew she wouldn't be able to sleep if she didn't get up and take care of it. With quite a bit of reluctance, she pulled herself into a sitting position and set her feet on the floor. She limped to the hallway, pain shooting up her leg. Thankfully, the bathroom was next door.

By the time she got back, her leg felt like it was on fire and the bed suddenly appeared miles away. She spotted a chair next to Teng's bed. She sat down and the pain subsided marginally. Strands of hair fell over his face. It's probably pretty itchy, she thought reasonably, reaching out with her good arm to brush aside his hair, letting her hand linger on his cheek.

His eyes opened. Her hand shot back and she felt her face redden considerably. He looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Something on my face?" he asked with a hint of amusement.

"…No," she mumbled, trying to keep from smiling. Given that he was so serious most of the time, she felt special to be the one to see him relaxed, if only for a moment. He gazed around the room for a moment.

"Where are we?" he asked, his voice returning to its usual businesslike tone.

"Icicle Inn. Vincent Valentine brought us here," she replied.

"Vincent, huh? Is he here now?"

"Yes."

"I should speak to him," said Tseng. He tried to sit up, and let out a hiss of pain.

"Are you alright, sir?" asked Elena, moving to help him.

"Could you give me a moment?" he asked, keeping his head down.

"Oh. Of course," she said, feeling a sting of pain that didn't come from her injuries. She slowly got up and limped to the doorway. She leaned against the wall, listening to Vincent talking on the phone and the nurse bustling around in the kitchen down the hallway. The room she'd left was silent, but Tseng's pained face was burned in her mind. Tseng, we're both in pain now…you don't have to go it alone, she thought.

You know, Kadaj, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she has feelings for this man.

The memory came unbidden to her and her eyes shot wide open. It was unlikely that Tseng would remember that fleeting comment. After all, he was probably in too much pain, and there were a lot more pressing things that had been said and done.

Right?

She had simply done as any Turk would have for the Director. They were loyal to the very end. It was not as though she could have gone climbing out of the crater; her wounds were bleeding out just like Tseng's were. Doing her best to dress Tseng's wounds had seemed like the only thing to do in desperate times. Tseng would have done the same for her if he'd been in her place.

Right?

It had been quiet in the room for some time, so Elena poked her head into the room only to barely miss running into Tseng.

"Careful, there," he said, placing a hand on her good shoulder briefly before walking down the hallway. His movement was stiff, though Elena could tell he was trying his best to hide it.

"What are you doing out of bed?" came the surprised nurse's voice.

"I just wanted to thank you for what you've done, but we should return to the president," said Tseng, his voice sounding strained, like he was having a hard time talking.

"He's got the other two, doesn't he?" asked Vincent, stepping forward. He had been standing against the kitchen wall, arms crossed.

"Well, I'm not allowing it," said the nurse firmly. "You could open up your wounds again and then what?"

"We dedicated our lives to the president and nothing you or anyone else says can change that. I just wanted to thank you for your troubles before we left," said Tseng, before nodding to them and turning back towards the room. After he was out of sight of the nurse and Vincent, he used the wall for support. Tseng took a deep breath and he gritted his teeth and moved forward.

"Sir-?"

"I'm fine," he said through his teeth. She hurried over as best she could, though it hurt her quite a bit as well.

No, you're not, thought Elena. She moved to take his good arm. He stiffened at first, but resigned himself to her help, but unable to look at her as they walked slowly back to the room.

"They're right," she said. "Rude and Reno are with the president, it's not like he's alone."

"I'm not just going to sit here, Elena, and wait. If they did this to us, then what chance do the other two have?"

"They're not incompetent." It took her a split second to clap a hand over her mouth, realizing what she had said. Tseng looked back at her, his eyes boring into hers, his expression hard.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it."

"No, you're right. I got caught off guard, and if Vincent hadn't found us, we would be dead," he said, his voice hard.

"We both were surprised," said Elena, realizing that he was blaming himself entirely.

"I said.- forget it," said Tseng, shaking his head. "I'm going to find some way to get back."

She bit her lip. Tseng, please.

Tseng looked at her and sighed. "Elena, we have to get back. It's our job."

"I know what our job is, sir," said Elena defensively. "I'm not a rookie anymore. But you didn't demand that Reno go back right after the sector 7 incident, did you? Why expect that from yourself?"

"I've been through worse, Elena."

Elena sighed, remembering the incident at the Temple of the Ancients. "You're right. But still-,"

"Enough!" exclaimed Tseng. His face softened when he saw her hurt expression. " I just can't stand waiting here doing nothing while the president is in danger," he said quietly.

"Neither can I. But we can't be there for him if we die, can we?" Her voice was quiet but insistent.

"No," Tseng relented, sitting down on the bed. He suddenly looked very tired and haggard.

"Please try to rest, Tseng," said Elena, giving him a tentative smile. She was unable to hold back a yawn. "The more rest we get now, the sooner we can be in a position to help the president." She went to her own bed and lay down. Tseng watched her for a moment, before going back to sleep himself.

Their suits were beyond repair, so the two had no choice but to travel back to Edge in the clothes they had woken up in. Vincent had told them the reports about three silver haired men that had been seen around Edge.

"We should stop by the office," said Elena. The office had plenty of weapons as well as spare suits.

"Right," said Tseng. If years of Turk training hadn't repressed it, he would have been fidgeting. As it was, he was blinking like he had something in his eye and his lips were drawn taught against clenched teeth. It was subtle, something that only Elena could catch.

Rude and Reno had been too busy watching out for the president, and the few other employees who knew Tseng and Elena had no idea where they were, so it was a civilian helicopter that ended up taking them back, though the pilot had no idea who they were.

"You both alright back there? I can turn up the heat if you want," said the pilot.

"We're fine," yelled Tseng over the roar of the helicopter. Elena knew that they were both cold, but heat would put them to sleep. Tseng was purposely keeping them on edge so they wouldn't be caught off guard this time. The flight was only a few hours long.

"Thank you very much," said Elena, flashing the pilot a grateful smile when they had touched down. Tseng gave the pilot little more than a brief nod before hurrying off the helicopter towards their unmarked office.

It was the weekend, so most of the employees weren't present. Tseng and Elena quickly changed into their familiar uniforms and then headed off together to weapons storage. The two stocked as many weapons as they could store, not knowing what they would need.

It was then that the tremors started. They were small vibrations at first, but it evolved quickly into a loud crash that sent Elena stumbling into Tseng. He grabbed her arms to steady her. Tiny bits of plaster fell off the ceiling.

"Umm…sir?" asked Elena.

"What?" he asked. She nodded towards his hands. He looked down as well, realizing that his hands still held Elena. He pulled his hands back and cleared his throat.

"Let's go," he said.

She nodded. Even after he had let go, Elena still felt his strong hands on her arms, warm and comforting. They ran out of the building and into streets only to find streets filled with masses of people running, knocking each other over, trying desperately to escape from the frightening dark monsters that chased after them.

Tseng and Elena exchanged grim looks and charged out into the fray.

A/N - Big thanks to chibipinkbunny for all her help in beta-ing and reviewing the chapter. Mistakes have been corrected as suggested by her. X3