Schala—Edge

Dreadful dreams at last released me to a silent, confused waking consciousness. I sat up and gasped when I spotted the blond man sitting in a chair against the wall. His chin lifted from his chest, intense blue eyes flicking at mine.

I cocked my head at him, slid and braced my back against the wall, pushing a pillow up to soften my rest. His arms were folded across his chest.

"I dreamed about you," I said. "I don't know what I dreamed, but you were there and I felt safe. Were you guarding my sleep?"

He nodded.

"Thank you." I folded my arms around my knees and set my chin on them. "There are a lot of people outside with Geostigma, and even more throughout the city. I was unprepared for the intensity of need."

He released his grasp, hands falling in his lap. "Is that why you came here? To heal the stigma?"

I nodded.

"Do you know what it is?" he said.

I frowned, looking down at the faded plaid pattern of the dingy covers. "I think so. But it's hard to put into words. …Mostly there are feelings."

He shifted with a frown. "What kind of feelings?"

I shut my eyes and set my head on one side. "That… something… it's like a histamine response, but not really, or as a function of something that isn't in our bodies."

"A what?"

I cast about for more universally applicable words. This world's science was different to mine. "An allergic reaction. When the body's immune system thinks that there's something it needs to fight off, overreacts, and starts attacking parts of the body itself by mistake. Like getting a rash, or sneezing constantly. But worse, much worse." I looked up at him. "You know about allergic reactions?"

He nodded. "But… what is the overreaction in response to?"

I shook my head. "No idea."

His eyes unfocused and he leaned his head back, considering.

"Cloud?" I said.

He came out of his fog. "Yeah?"

"Got a last name?"

"…Strife. Why?"

I shook my head. "Just asking. Why did you stay?"

He frowned. "You're here to help, right?"

"Didn't I say that already?"

"Well, so am I."

I grinned. "You're sweet."

He didn't reply.

I slid my legs out of bed. "Would it be possible for me to take a shower before I start to work again?"

He nodded and stood up. "Bathroom's across the hall," he said as he left.

A woman came upstairs as I was dressing after my perfunctory shower and introduced herself as Tifa.

"I want to help," said Tifa. "What can I do?"

"I can only heal people one at a time," I said. "I'd like to see the sickest first. Is there some way you can arrange that?"

She nodded. "I can send people in individually in order of need, and the Turks and soldiers can make sure no one else gets in."

My head whipped up. "Turks? Are Reno and Rude still here?"

She shook her head. "They left shortly after you collapsed. The ones downstairs are called Twyla and Godfrey."

"Oh. Yeah, of course." I pulled on my boots. "I didn't get to say goodbye," I murmured to myself. I felt empty. My only two friends in the world—not even that—and they were gone. The job was over, for them.

I looked up at Tifa, who smiled at me.

…Maybe not my only friends.

Reno—Healen

I perched on the edge of Tseng's desk, pinching the bridge of my nose, a massive headache pounding in my temples. I listened to abysmal progress reports from conference-calling survey team leads at North Corel's newfound oil fields.

The mess of the normally-pristine director's office had exploded in the three days since I got there. Faxes and folders lay everywhere—floor, desk, all the same to me. Keeping the nonsense straight stretched my brain like taffy and taxed the constraints of horizontal filing space. Drifts of paper piled against the walls.

I had failed to appreciate how much the president relied on the director. I'd felt run over by troop trucks just flying around the planet on missions, falling asleep before my head hit the pillow each night. Now those days seemed carefree, by comparison. I ached for sleep that lasted more than two hours. I craved a shower without taking my PHS with me to hop out and answer, stinging conditioner running in my eyes, halfway through.

I shook my head hopelessly at the mess I'd gotten myself into. How do you do it, Tseng? And, for the love of god, when are you going to show up?

I wanted to tell everyone to go hang, but that would just prove my father was right when he'd told me as a kid I'd never amount to anything. So I gritted my teeth and tried harder to be what I'd so carefully convinced everyone I was: bloody Reno of the goddamn Turks.

The call-waiting tone sounded. I glanced down at my caller ID. I groaned inwardly—it was the president's extension again.

"Hold on," I said, interrupting the droning of the chief engineer at site number four. I tapped the flash button on the telephone base unit. "Yes, sir?"

"Reno, I need you to get in touch with Cloud Strife and inform him you have a job for him," said the president. "Have him come up here for a meeting to discuss business. Don't mention my name."

My mind raced. "Now?"

"Immediately." The president hung up.

I scowled. Doesn't that just take the cake! I gotta call off the only competent person looking after Schala to come here. Fuck. I ground my teeth as I dialed Seventh Heaven, leaving Corel on hold. Oh well, I guess as long as the director and Elena are missing, and those silver-haired weirdos that attacked them are at large, we've got bigger problems than whether or not one girl who can't take care of herself remains… unmolested.

My stomach churned at the thought. "Shit," I hissed aloud. "Shitshitshit."

Tifa answered the phone. "Strife Delivery Service. You name it, we deliver…"

"Tifa, it's Reno," I said. "Cloud there?"

"He's downstairs with Schala," said Tifa. "Want me to get him?"

"Yeah," I said. "Hey, how are those morons I left holding up? Are they keeping the riffraff at bay?"

Her voice was icy when she responded. "Those 'riffraff' are sick people, Reno. They need help, not punishment."

"Yeah, yeah, just so long as they don't hurt the person there to help. Just get Cloud, wouldya?"

She clunked the phone down and I heard her footsteps depart. I realized in my agitation I was banging my heels against the fine lacquered wood of Tseng's desk. I kicked harder in childish irritation. A few moments later I heard a rustle on the line.

"Yes?" Cloud's impassive voice came through.

"It's Reno. I've got work for you," I said. "How soon can you get up here?"

He didn't answer for a moment. "Couple of hours. What about Schala?"

"Eh, Twyla and Godfrey can handle that." It felt like a bald-faced lie. "C'mon, I know you're hurting for work. I just wanna help you out."

"Right." He sounded almost sarcastic, for someone so repressed. "I'll be there." He hung up.

I rolled my eyes and switched the line back to the oil miners. Didn't even have time to sigh. My boots took out all my frustration on the director's precious desk, uncaring what Tseng's reaction to all the dents would be.

"When Cloud arrives, test him," the president ordered me and Rude, shortly before the famous blonde was due to arrive.

"Test him?" I couldn't help my incredulity, it was all too much. Especially on top of almost no sleep.

"Yes," said Rufus. "I want to know he retains his fighting abilities before I detail him to go after dangerous people who threaten our way of life. If he isn't up to the task we should be aware of that."

I mentally prepared myself for the ridiculousness of taking him on, fingering my EMR, waiting behind the door. I almost danced with impatience, bobbing on the balls of my feet, experimenting with different ready stances.

I liked the idea of marring that pretty face of his. Not that I hated him. I just resented how much of a hero he was to people in comparison to me, how great everyone thought he was, and what a moody little bitch I privately thought he was.

Then there was the too-fresh memory of the church I was trying desperately to drown in the bathtub of my unconscious, helped along by the sake in the director's office. I refused to bring that into what I was about to do. I heard a motorcycle engine over the sound of the waterfall outside. The engine shut off. Moments later, footsteps clomped on the stairs beyond the door.

Finally! I thought, bracing. The steps stopped. As the handle turned I swung my rod, and up came that damn great sword, clanging into my weapon.

Infuriated, I charged him. He stepped aside and my momentum carried me out the door. As I spun round, it slammed in my face.

I opened it, my pride smarting, and covered with a smug, "Okay, so you're good." He slammed the door again without so much as meeting my eye and I heard the lock click. I sagged back against the rail behind me.

On the other side of the door, I heard deliberate, familiar footsteps. I grinned to myself, imagining my partner preparing for a bare-knuckle display of strength. I called encouragement: "Yeah, Rude! Lookin' sharp!"

I heard nothing for a moment, then the president's voice. "Good. You fight like the SOLDIER you once claimed to be."

"Rufus Shinra?" said Cloud. "Do I feel sorry for you."

I tapped my foot, listening to the president's song and dance. I wished I could curl up in the sun and take a nap. The day had been long already, starting for me before dawn, and this nonsense wasn't helping my headache.

"I'm still out here!" I called at a break in the conversation, and unsurprisingly got ignored.

Cloud sounded noncommittal. I felt impatient and unsympathetic. He opened the door and paused. Rufus made a last-ditch appeal to the guy's emotions, a 'think of the children, let's save the world' moment. It was pretty weak, all things considered. I gave the president a boost.

"Come on, Cloud, think about it!" I piped up. "Together, we could rebuild Shinra."

Cloud threw the door wide and stomped out past me, again not meeting my eyes. "Not interested!"

"Reno!" Rude and Rufus admonished in unison. I glanced over my shoulder at them sheepishly as the door swung shut once more.

Schala—Edge

Tifa had put me down for a nap early in the afternoon when she found me shivering so badly I couldn't sit up straight. I woke with Denzel and Marlene on either side of me in the biggest bed in the house.

The kids had been keeping me warm like this every night. The first time I woke with them there I freaked out very quietly. I do not like people invading my boundaries, even children. But they were so sweet and well-behaved I'd quickly warmed to them.

Everything seemed still, though I felt the tug of sickness outside waiting for me. Something stronger had pulled me out of dreams, though. Something sinister. Something nearby. What I'd felt in the north every night was now very close at hand. Something in me was reacting, just as it had to guide me to those that needed healing, and in a stronger way to Cloud.

I slowly, carefully slid up and out from between the two kids. Inch by inch I got out of bed with barely a stir from either one. I crept to the window and glanced outside. The room was only on the second floor.

I unlatched and lifted the sash, then leaned out a little to look down. I saw Twyla's brown hair and dark suit from above as she paced the alley below. She reached the corner and looked left and right around the edges of buildings. She stepped out of sight.

Now or never.

I swung over the sill, lowering my weight onto my arms as I slid down the building. When they reached their fullest stretch I let go and dropped. I felt an unbelievably light landing, bounced up and ran for it, in the other direction from Twyla, toward the danger I felt.


My pace quickened as I approached that same church, with a bike that wasn't Cloud's parked out front. Whoever or whatever was inside there, I knew I had to stop it by any means necessary. I felt chilliness like healing energy inside me, but with a curious edge to it. The hunger in me to heal now wanted to take life away, and I felt more certain than anything in the world that it needed to be done. It was something I knew I'd once been capable of, albeit under the control of a larger and more sinister force. I could still taste the lingering darkness in my soul, even though it sickened me. I would do what needed doing to protect and heal a world I now yearned to be a part of.

This must be how psychopaths feel, I thought, alarmed but unable to stop myself bursting through the doors.

All hesitancy washed away as the silver-haired man in black form-fitting leather turned to face me. His lip curled in a sneer. Evil just radiated off him and poured out of those dead blue-green eyes. He looked at me as though I was an insect.

"Wanna play?" he said.

I strode forward, breathless, hands clenching into fists.

He snorted, striking a ready stance. "This'll be fun."

I sprang at him.

He was beyond good. Even Reno would have been vexed by this guy. I felt fortunate for all my training, it was taxed to the limit as I sweated buckets and took a pounding. I slammed into walls, pews, pillars and bounced back at him, working my butt off for every strike that connected.

His electric hand apparatus rammed into me. He carried me all the way across the church into a stone pillar that knocked the wind out of me. He engaged it, smashing the pillar to rubble behind me, filling my body with waves of hot electric pain, and then tossed me aside.

As I struck the flowers I rolled. Green curled around and through me, allowing me to regain my feet and replace pain with freezing, urgent cold. He ran for an open box as I stood up, snatched a red-glowing orb out of it, and slammed it into his arm. It dissolved with a puff of black. In his distraction I managed to slam into him and bear him to the ground, pinning him.

I shut my eyes and held on tight, hoping I could force the green to work faster. He groaned in pain, but rather than try to throw me, he moved the arm he'd just shoved that ball into.

Thunder crackled overhead. It sounded as though the sky was ripping. I felt the ground tremble. Something pounded in the air, so loud my ears reverberated.

It felt as though an entire wall slammed into me, bodily separating me from my victim, hurling me across the room. I felt the ground hit me and go on hitting me as I rolled bonelessly. It happened so fast I couldn't even react. Soothing green rolled over me. I managed to get to my feet in time to watch the man carrying the shut case out the doors at a dead run.

Breathless, I still chased after him. I reached the entrance just as his bike roared to life and he peeled out. The gap between me and him widened, dust swirling into my eyes in his wake. Then he was gone. I sensed his horrible energy speeding off beyond sight.

That must have been that stuff they call materia, I thought, remembering the sight of the case earlier when I'd come to heal Cloud.That asshole stole Cloud's materia! Hell.

I wiped my smarting dirt-filled eyes and headed back toward Seventh Heaven, dejected and ashamed. I had failed to defeat the threat that had burned in my mind for weeks. I'd failed to do right by Reno's teaching. I'd failed to keep Cloud from getting ripped off.

I'd failed.

Reno—Healen

I hit the ground, trying to cling to consciousness. My ears rang, my whole body consumed with the pain of the thrashing I'd just received.

How can one little pipsqueak beat the crap out of Rude and Reno of the Turks? I thought weakly, distantly aware of my partner groaning on the floor across from me. I was just conscious enough to feel humiliated and disgusted with myself. I couldn't even move. It hurt to breathe.

I heard the president talking to the little creep who'd trounced us, but individual words were too fleeting to be understood. My PHS rang, buzzing against my chest, but there was nothing I could do.

The door banged open. I managed to peel my eyes open and saw blurs of people pouring into the room, shouting, weapons drawn. I was carefully stepped over, which meant Shinra-friendlies, but this meant I was being seen at my less-than-finest hour by allies.

Cure magic surged through me and my sight cleared. I rolled up to my feet and turned to see Hilo taking to the president by the window. Shinra troops in full gear were pouring out into the sunshine, calling to each other. Rude was dusting off his jacket. I stepped up to the president, who glanced at me.

"Nice timing," I said to Hilo, masking my shame. "But what are you doing here?"

Hilo swiveled on his heel. I followed his gaze. Sun through the doorway was blocked by two soldiers carrying in a blood- and dirt-covered blonde woman on a stretcher.

"Elena!" I said, darting forward and skipping out of the way as they double-timed it with her down the hall. I watched, heartsick. Another stretcher came in, and this one disturbed me even more—Tseng looked like hell. His wrecked face looked like it had been half shot off. His eyes were barely open, brows drawn in pain. Rufus and Hilo went after them down to the medical bays. I trailed, frowning in alarm, and Rude followed.

The president leaned over the director, talking lowly, as doctors converged on the patients. My phone rang again. I snatched it out, looking in through the doorway at my fallen comrades.

"Reno," I said into the receiver.

"Sir, it's Twyla," was the response.

"Report," I said.

She hesitated. "Sir… we… we lost Schala."

This got my attention. I turned away from the distracting situation unfolding through the door. "You what?!"

"I'm sorry, sir, we thought she was sleeping and when we went up she was gone… no one's got any idea where she is…"

I snarled and punched the wall with the phone. It hurt like a motherfucker, and the plastic and metal disintegrated in the force of my fury. Bits of PHS rained on the floor. I looked up at Rude's raised eyebrows.

"Why am I surrounded by morons and incompetents?!" I demanded of him.

Rude's lips quirked. "If they were competent, would you be in charge?"

"Don't start with me, Rude! I do not need this today!" I yelled.

"Reno," the president's voice interrupted.

I whirled to face the boss, still seething, and attempted to wipe the glare off.

"Tseng reports that the rest of the group led by our visitor has gone to Edge," said Rufus. "I believe they may be looking for what we retrieved from the Northern Cave. Take a detail to the city and discover what you can about the people involved. It is imperative we learn what they know and what they think we know."

"Yes, sir," I said crisply, and whirled on Rude, who backed off a step. "Spin up the chopper and grab a couple of those soldiers lazing around outside."

Rude nodded, all too eager to get out of my way. I stalked into the director's office and slammed the door so hard I heard something fall and smash outside. I ground the heels of my palms into my weary eyes, fingers dug into my hair.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!