Chapter Three

Pain

My god, I was in so much pain. Every time I tried to move, my body screamed. Eventually, I cried out, as much in frustration as anything. We'd been taken down so easily by these... these children. They could only be eighteen, nineteen years old. We, the Turks, with our years of experience, had been humiliated by them. And I hated it.

'Elena?' Tseng's voice, tired and worried, cut through the cave.

I sniffed. 'I'm okay,' I told him, unconvincingly.

He snorted. 'Yeah, I believe that. I-' He stopped when footsteps sounded nearby. I squeezed my eyes shut. Fuck... they were back.

'I don't like you,' a voice told us, matter of factly. It was the ringleader, the one with the stupid name. Oh, no, wait. They all had stupid names. God, the Turks had been defeated by someone called Yazoo? Humiliating.

I tensed, wondering what this kid, Kadaj, was going to do to us. I heard him approach Tseng, and kick him, hard, in the ribs. Tseng grunted in pain, and I felt a pang of worry. That was the first sign of pain he had allowed any of them to see... Was Tseng weakening?

Kadaj laughed and came over to me. 'Now... you,' he said. 'You're awfully pretty, you know that?'

Ha. That was a joke. I'm my day, I'm not bad looking, I guess. I mean, I'm small and blonde and kinda innocent looking, which I know does it for a lot of people. But right now? I was 

covered in blood and sweat, my hair was caked in dirt from the ground, and I probably wasn't smelling too fresh. Not exactly what I'd call pretty.

I didn't reply, which didn't bother Kadaj. 'I like pretty girls,' he told me.

I had a horrible feeling then that he was going to force himself on me, with Tseng, the closest thing I'd ever had to a big brother, watching. God, what a particularly horrific thing to do, to both of us. Stripping me of any dignity I'd maintained, showing Tseng how powerless he was... I shuddered.

Kadaj kicked me in the mouth. I gagged as hot, tangy blood spilled over my lips, onto the dusty floor of the cave. He kicked me again, in the gut, and I vomited. I could feel it on my cheek as my face flopped forward. He repeated the action until all I could bring up was blood, and then he seemed satisfied.

'I think you know what you have to do,' he said softly. 'To make it stop...'

With an inner strength I didn't even know I had, I pulled myself up, so I could look him in the eyes. His eyes widened and he stepped back a bit.

'I will never tell you,' I hissed, forcing him to look at me. For a second our eyes were locked- mine bloodshot and desperate, but resolute, his narrowed and emotionless. He broke the contact, and I collapsed back to the floor, barely even noticing when he struck me over the head, nudging me into unconsciousness.

xoxoxoxoxox



I don't know how long I was out, but when I awoke I felt oddly... numb. It was a sensation that would usually alarm me, not being able to feel any part of my body, but compared to the pain of earlier, it was rather pleasant.

The next thing I was aware of was that I was no longer in the cave. I blinked, trying to work out how that had happened. It was funny, I didn't feel relieved to possibly be away from the brothers grim. Instead, I was rather put out that things had been happening without me knowing.

I tried to drag myself up, feeling the ground below me as I did so. It was softer than before- not quite bed soft, but quite nice. I could feel fabric, and the word 'tent' popped into my head. Yes, I was in a tent, I decided.

I looked around, blinking to clear my slightly hazy vision. I could see shadows through the flimsy walls, and I could hear voices. My heart leapt.

'Tseng...'

Ow. It hurt to talk. The rawness of my throat was an unpleasant reminder of the injuries I must be carrying. I lifted my hands, making a face at my purple, blood filled fingernails. No manicure would be helping that, I thought, sighing.

I let myself flop down again. I didn't know where I was, or indeed who besides Tseng was here as well, but for some stupid reason I felt safe. I was probably kidding myself, and any second now Kazoo or whatever his name was would come running in and kick the living daylights out of me again. But until that happened, I was going to take a nap.



A warm hand was wrapped around mine. The pressure of their skin was hurting my nails slightly, but the touch was so comforting I didn't say anything. I just opened my eyes and looked up.

'Tseng,' I said, smiling a bit. Shit, forgot how sore my throat was.

He smiled at me, tiredly. 'Elena.'

I tried to look around, to see where we were, but my body felt like lead.

'We're on a plane,' Tseng told me, seeing this. 'Cid Highwind is taking us to Midgar.'

I snorted, humorlessly. 'Wow. We must be in a pretty shitty way if AVALANCHE have taken pity.' It was a lot to say, considering how dry my throat was. I also could feel that I was pretty close to passing out again, so I quickly asked Tseng 'Cid saved us?'

He shook his head. 'No. Vincent Valentine.' He squeezed my hand, gently. 'Turk loyalty never dies, I suppose.'

My eyes drifted shut.

Ugh. I didn't want to wake up, but someone was shaking me gently, saying my name. I struggled to keep my eyes shut and ignore whoever the fuck it was. But my god they were persistent.

'Fine. I'm awake,' I grumbled. Ooh, my voice felt better, less like someone was scraping the skin inside with a razor. Tseng's face was above me, and I marvelled for a second at how 

much better he looked. The bruises had faded nearly entirely, leaving him just as handsome as before. He was smiling slightly.

'You're lazy,' he told me.

I glared at him. 'I'm injured.'

'You're nearly better, thanks to Valentine. Come on, try and sit up.'

I did as he told me to, looking around the room. I blinked. 'We're at Healin?'

He nodded. 'Yes. How do you feel.'

'Better,' I said, absently. 'Wait, where's Reno?'

'With Rufus. '

I rolled my eyes. Had he not even been worried about me?

'He doesn't know we're back,' Tseng informed me, as though reading my mind.

'Oh.' I frowned. 'They're not here, then?'

He shook his head. 'No.' He placed a pile of clothes on the bed beside me. 'Get dressed.'

I saw that it was my uniform, and that he was wearing his. Stiffly, I stood and pulled of the battered clothing I had on. 'Can I take a shower?'

Tseng blushed a bit. 'I cleaned you,' he told me, quietly.

I nodded at him. 'Thank you.' I stepped into my dress pants and shirt, doing up my tie with sore fingers, then sliding the jacket on. There was a pair of loafers on the floor that I shoved 

my feet into. 'I'm ready,' I told him. Tseng nodded, and we left the lodge, heading for the city.

A/N- lol, forgot about this story, and then I went on holiday. I didn't write in Vincent's part, because frankly, I've never really understood the character :p. He will come into it again later though... Please review XD