Finally, I bring you another chapter! Nothing fancy, but a chapter nontheless. I hope it's not getting boring or too repedative for you guys. It's all part of the plot. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Square.


I silently cursed Tseng as I folded my arms tightly over my chest and shivered lightly. Sure, lets send two Turks to the mountains without warning, whenever we feel like it! I wished I had at least grabbed a jacket. It wasn't even snowing, but the sun had just set and the night air was cold. So cold I felt like I was going to shatter if someone were to poke me.

Rude walked beside me in the same manner. His sunglasses were put away in his pocket so he could see in the dark, and his eyes had the usual very dull glow of mako against the blackness around us. He was silent as we walked, but I could tell he was also anything but happy with this mission. I felt sorry for him since he had no hair, and his bald head must have been freezing cold.

He walked on for what seemed like hours, stumbling in the dark, and freezing in the cold, until we can upon an unfortunately familiar sight. I looked up at the old Mako reactor, which seemed to glow a little in the darkness. I stopped and stared at it for a long time from behind the misty puffs of breath that came from between my partially open lips. I had been in there before, the place where the great General Sephiroth begun his slow descent into madness. I myself had seen the horrible things within those tanks, all victims of ShinRa's twisted experiments. Rude must have sensed my anxiety, because his hand was placed on my shoulder and begun to pull me into walking again. I however, stayed still.

"Can we look inside?" I asked quietly, my voice barely audible over the sounds of the wind that whipped my hair around in sharp gusts. "Just for a minute?"

"Reno…" Rude's voice was full of concern. "C'mon, we have to keep moving."

"Please." I didn't take my eyes off the reactor as I everything but begged him. I heard him sigh and he removed his hand from my shoulder.

"Alright."

We walked up the cold steel steps and pushed the door open, which took a great amount of force. We walked in and felt a rush of warmth, but at the same time the place felt so cold. I walked ahead towards the core of the reactor, feeling my nerves jump at every sound of the harsh winds blowing outside. I heard Rude walk behind me, but I was focused on what was ahead. I stepped into the main chamber where I was greeted with the bitter sight of rows and rows of tanks. Some were cracked and leaking, a couple were even open and empty. At the top of the tall staircase was the remains of the Jenova tank, which Sephiroth had almost completely destroyed. I felt a shudder creep down my spine, and my head started throbbing. I massaged my temples with my fingers lightly in an attempt to dull it down.

"You okay?" Rude asked quietly from beside me. I nodded.

"Fine, I think my body's not liking all the Mako and chemicals in here." I replied before stepping over to one of the tanks. I peered in for a moment before wrinkling my nose and looking away. It was the freakiest thing I was ever seen. Well, second to the file I had stolen from Hojo. In the tank was a glowing blue liquid and a human-shaped beast. Perhaps comparing it to a human would be off, it looked so distorted and mutated that I felt sick to my stomach. I had seen it before, but it still disturbed me. I dared another look into the tank out of pure morbid fascination, but I looked away in the same manner as before.

"They were human once, weren't they?"

"…yes." Rude said hesitantly. I looked over the rows and rows of tanks. They were human, but changed into these…thingsby Mako. I felt a heavy feeling in my chest. Mako was put into my body, in both natural and Materia form. It took all of my self-control not to throw up. I leaned against the railing and held my head, which I thought was going to cave in on itself.

"God…" I coughed dryly, closing my eyes. "Is this gonna be what I turn into?" I asked out loud, not really to anyone. At the same time, my voice demanded an answer. I felt arms pull me away from the railing gently and away from the tanks. "I'm going to be THAT!" I almost whimpered, finding that I was shaking all over. My eyes were still closed tightly. I felt strong hands on my shoulders start to shake me roughly.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Rude hissed, sounding firm but very concerned. The shaking stopped, and I forced my eyes open and looked at him. I turned my head to look at the tanks, but he used a hand to turn my head back to face him. "You're not going to end up like that." he told me seriously. "Stop telling yourself these things."

"But… all the Mako, the injections…"

"I promise you, it wont end up being like that." he voice and grip on my shoulder lightened. I looked at him and sensed the deep amount of worry he had in him. I wanted to apologize, but my throat was too dry. There was a long silence before he nodded his head towards the exit. "Let's go, we're here on a mission, remember?"

We walked out in silence, but it took several minutes because I kept hesitating and wanting to go back. I didn't know why, but something drew me to that place. Rude would have to turn me around and lightly push me to get me to start walking again. Eventually we got outside, back into the cold. I suddenly had a sense of understanding as to how Sephiroth felt upon looking into those tanks. He could have been angry, upset, insulted, or maybe even scared. I felt all of those emotions in increasing amounts.

He trudged our way to the entranceof a cave, but stopped when we heard voices inside. I recognised two of them as Strife's and that Lion-beast. I heard another man talking, but it was unfamiliar. His voice was deep and quiet. I looked at Rude and he motioned for me to follow. We slipped into the cave and behind a tall stalagmite. There was a large bonfire nearby, with three people sitting around it. The smoke from the flames rose up through a small opening in the top of the cave. I looked at the group of people and saw Spike-head facing away from us. The beast called Red XIII was laying down nearby, on the verge of falling asleep. Across the fire, a dark-haired man sat, completely silent. In the fire's like I could see a dark crimson cape around him, and a similar-coloured headband that kept his long hair out of his eyes. I couldn't put a name to him, so he must have been a new member in the rebel group. They were all unaware of us.

"What should we do?" Rude whispered very quietly. "Just go in and attack?"

I thought for a long moment, watching the group with attentive eyes. I looked at the flames, and decided we should attack in a way that would be to our advantage. I signalled for Rude to wait. For a moment I was temporarily grateful for the powers I had been unwillingly given. Concentrating on the fire, I felt my blood run hot and my muscles twitch lightly. I could even see a faint yellow glow against the rocks that emitted from my eyes. My heart pounded hard against my ribs. With a light twitch of the eyelid, Ice was cast on the fire, which made it go out completely. I heard a surprised curse from Strife, and the group scrambling to their feet. In the very faint light of the cave, Rude and I pounced in to attack.


There you have it! Hope you liked it, and sorry there wasn't any fighting this time, next time, I PROMISE!

Reviews! Holy bejesus I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Flying-Bronco: Wow, favourite? That means SO much to me! This review made me smile all day. I'm glad you liked the relationship between Reno and Rude, I keep worrying that it's all messed up. I'm gonna update as often as possible, wish me luck. Thank you for the review!

Orphen27: XD I had a feeling you'd prefer Reno and Rude as just friends. Everyone does. Don't worry, no Yaoi here. And like you mentioned, there definatly WILL be Vincent and Reno interaction, I've been planning it for a while now. And I agree, RenoElena and RudeElena is good too. But I doubt there will be any pairings in this fic. Thanks for the review!

Thymine: Oh yes, Advent Children was awesome. Ialso loved how Reno was totally oblivious to Rude getting hurt over and over again. The best was when he smacked Rude in the face with his EMR, and had NO clue, then seconds later almost did it again! XD priceless. Thanks for the review!

Nando the RPS King: Thanks, I'm glad you liked that chapter. This one is also a little event-less, but I hope you like the interaction. And thanks for clearing up that Kefka thing.I havent played FF6, and I think I'll give it a try! Thanks again!

TruebornChaos: But the other kind ofReno/Rude goodyness is nice too -cough- -gets shot- X.X Anywhoo, yes, you were almost dead on with the materia-blood thingy. Good job! (Maybe my writing is just predictable) Thanks for clearing up the Kefka thingy. I love that laugh, too XD thank you!

Dav J: Nope! No battle yet! XD sorry! I hopeyou like the chapter anyway. Thanks for the review!

Delusion48: Aw, thank you so much. Yes, it will get darker later on, so beware! -evil laughter- ahem... thanks!

WrexSoul: Wow, your reviews always make me so much happier with my work! I'm so happy you liked that last chapter, even though it was just the two talking. Making Reno all upset and vulnerable makes me sad! Poor guy, I feel back for doing all this to him. And it'll only get worse! anywhoo, I agree on what you said about couples, there probably wont be any in this story. Thanks for the review!