This story belongs to me and my creative mind. However, many of the characters, names, and places all belong to their respective companies, so don't yell at me for copyright infringements! Remember, italics represent a person's thoughts or the telling of past events.

Enjoy...

: : The Past RE-Concluded : :

Today was a test of my resolve unlike any other. It tried my beliefs, my faith in myself and in my comrades, and in my abilities as a leader and a Soldier. It threw at me everything that a soldier fears, and nothing in my experience could have prepared me for the things I saw and did. The strange thing is that none of those events are what frightened me the most. The worst was seeing how my actions in the past made everything I am meaningless, how I already betrayed myself long before this trial arrived at my feet. When I sent her away, I broke all my promises as well. Seeing her return, pursued by that nightmare come true, it unraveled my willpower.

I don't know what she meant to me, even now. We didn't have much in common, didn't proclaim love to one another, didn't think of ourselves as soul mates or as a couple. We were comrades, even friends. We shared our burdens and our job, shared ourselves in bed for those nights, but nothing more. It couldn't have been enough to call it love. But when she came back, it stirred something in me I hadn't felt before. It might not have been love, but it was more than simple camaraderie, and I know I'll miss her until we meet again.

-Yukio

Somewhere in Sector Two

Lari rested against the wall of the ruined house, legs spread across the tattered carpet. Her hair lay in wet lengths down the sides of her face and shoulders. Every breath was an agony that ran across her spine, made her lungs seize in weak gasps. Her legs were still weak, barely able to support her weight, yet somehow she had stood after that fall and shuffled away from that place. Walked as though nothing was wrong. Walked until something in her broke. She cried in great heaving sobs, kneeling in the middle of the dirt street, until some part of her took over and walked her to this tiny shack. She had passed out, then woke in near darkness of the evening. Woke to a world still broken.

Tears still fell down her cheeks.

"Why'd you do it you fuckin' bastard," she moaned. "Why'd you do it you great bloody ass..."

'We work together!'

"Why..."

'You have to go.'

"W-Why..."

'I'm sorry.'

"Why'd you do it god damn you!" she yelled, tears fresh in her eyes.

She waited there for some time, trying to reign in her emotions and let her body rest. She didn't think she'd broken anything, but she knew that her body was badly burned. Her arms were welted with blisters, many of them broken and leaking blood. Worst of all was a headache and nausea, bad enough that it could very well be a concussion. She didn't have anything that could help it, so there was little choice about what to do. She'd have to move on, find some first aid or even a materia to speed her recovery along. There was no sense in staying there any longer. Slowly, gingerly, she stood up and walked outside. The night was dark, only just illuminated by the moon above the cover of clouds and meager rain. Her eyes adjusted quick enough to see properly, to notice the movement. It was enough to tell that there were people in the street and alley where she came from. When recognition struck her, she sighed in defeat.

She didn't expect to see a police van and an entire company of officers.

They reacted to her appearance almost immediately, and they quickly took cover and raised their weapons to fire. Lari lifted her arms outwards, ignoring the pain the best she could, and opened her mouth to tell them she wasn't going to attack. Hurt as she was, even her pride and her anger weren't enough to overcome logic. A sob made her hiccup, her voice suddenly gone. They waited and shouted for her surrender, not moved by her gestures. They shone torches into her face, making her squint. After nearly a minute of yelling, the policemen approached slowly, never lowering their firearms as they circled and closed the noose to trap her in place.

"Get on your knees!" one man demanded.

Lari nodded, slowly obeying as to not hurt herself further.

"Hands on your head!"

She did as ordered.

The speaker holstered his gun in favor of handcuffs, and he walked behind her and grabbed an arm and twisted it behind her back. Lari bit her tongue to stop from crying out, but when he yanked her other arm down the pain was too much to hold in. Her cry sounded pathetic, but didn't elict any mercy from the policeman. They quickly confiscated all her blades, patting her down roughly for anything else. One of the men even fondled her breasts but she was too weak to care.

"Get up!" The arresting officer pulled her up when she didn't move fast enough, earning another pained groan. "Get up!"

Lari tried to do as they asked, but her strength was falling away from her. She couldn't do much more than whimper as she was marched to a van and thrown inside like so much dead weight. A man and woman stepped inside after her, sitting on the opposing bench that she lay on. The man looked at something in his hand, then down at her like some caged animal. When she met his glare, it only made him frown. That didn't concern her as much as his dead gray eyes.

"Soldier, right?" he said evenly. "Answer me."

"Y-Yes." Lari barely choked the word out.

"You look pretty banged up, bitch."

"Varik, I should-" The woman leaned closer, but the man snapped an arm out to stop her. "She's hurt."

"I know." He reached into his coat and took out a slot bracelet, a single orb snapped into it like a prize diamond. "See this? I could heal your injuries with this, make the pain go away. You want that, right?"

"Yes," Lari said, eyes glued to the orb.

"You answer a few questions and I'll do that, okay?" He leaned closer to her. "Like who the serial killer is."

The question didn't make sense to her. "W-What?"

"The serial murderer who's been killing people for the past three weeks. He's Soldier, just like you. Where is he?"

"I don't-"

The officer grabbed her arm suddenly and dragged her to an upright position. Lari yelped out in pain, unable to stop herself her limb was in such agony. He put the bracelet in front of her face, taunting her with it and the relief it meant. "Don't lie to me you little bitch. You're both Soldiers, so you look out for one another, so you know where he's hiding. Now tell me!"

"I don't know-"

He slapped her backhanded, knocking her back down across the metal bench. He stood in the confines of the van and dragged her back up, put his face right against hers. "Where the fuck is he?!"

The woman officer stood, placing a hand on Varik's shoulder. "Varik, don't-"

He looked back only long enough to glare at her, his expression enough to make her back down. "Shut up, Zera!" His attention returned to Lari. "Answer me, dammit!"

"I-"

He pounded her against the wall of the van, her head bouncing off the metal. "Where is he?!"

When she didn't reply he rammed her against the wall of the van over and over, each time spitting out the question like a mantra. For nearly a minute he shook her and screamed, face red and neck taught. She tried to answer, realizing who he meant, but the officer was shaking her so hard she couldn't catch her breath. Suddenly he let her go and wrapped his hands around her neck, constricting her throat until it was almost impossible to breathe. Lari tried to fight him off, but her arms could only paw at him like a child. He squeezed harder for a defining moment, eyes burning with the proof that he wasn't bluffing with his threat. He held her there until she met his eyes.

"Where is he?" the officer asked for the last time.

"He fought us!" Lari had to scream to get the words past her mouth.

He let off only slightly. "What?"

"He fought my comrades!"

"Your comrades?" he parroted.

"Yes!" she wheezed out, tears running down her cheeks once more. "Followed me...to the apartment," she continued between shallow breaths, "killed everyone! Even Farrah!"

"Wait, did he burn your apartment down?"

"Yes!" she gasped.

He finally relented and let her go. She nearly fell forward but the officer shoved her back up, his hand pinning her by her sternum. "Why did he do it?"

"He..." She took a deep breath but couldn't catch it. "He was going to kill me. Like he did the others. I ran back to the apartment. To Yukio." She wheezed in a breath between each phrase. "I thought we could fight. Fight together. But he burned everything, and Yukio fought him alone. Told me to go. Threw me out a window."

"And did he blow the apartment up?"

"No, he...summoned."

The officer actually gasped. "S-Summoned!? Which monster was it? Tell me!"

"I-Ifrit..."

He was quiet for several seconds, wide eyed, and Lari spent them trying to catch her breath. It felt like her lungs were barely working, her whole face was hot and stuffy. She glanced at the female officer and started, seeing her almost to the point of tears herself. Before she could think about it the man grabbed her jaw and directed her sight back to his. All his anger was gone, replaced with a grim stoicism.

"You're positive it was the killer."

"Yeah."

"That he was a Soldier?"

"Yeah."

"And this Yukio summoned Ifrit to fight him?"

"Yeah."

"Did he win?"

"Don't know. I escaped...while they fought."

"Do you think he won?"

"I..." She wanted to believe it so badly, that he would have won out and come for her, but her mind couldn't see how. "I don't think so."

The officer finally released her and sat back down. Lari kept gasping for air, wheezing violently. Spots danced in her eyes, her whole body felt like it was numb and on fire again. The officer looked at the woman and talked to her, but her reply got him shouting and gesticulating wildly. She could barely hear anything they said, as if someone had plugged her ears with cotton. After a long shouting match the woman stormed out of the van with tears in her eyes. The officer took a radio from his belt and spoke into it, then stood and grabbed her by the arm and dragged her outside. He threw her down to the concrete street and stood there as she curled in pain, watching her shake like some twisted voyeur. He spoke to her, she knew because his mouth moved, but couldn't hear a word of it. He smiled, clearly amused with something, then turned away and left her there. She looked out and saw the other officers all leaving the place, the van going into gear and driving off. In less than a minute they abandoned her.

Lari screamed, then, and broke down completely. She lay there, alone in the night, and cried until exhaustion won her over and she slipped into oblivion.

"Why the fuck did you leave her there?!" Zera demanded of her superior as they drove for the precinct.

"Because she's Soldier and worth shit," he replied nonchalantly.

"But she's still human!"

"Not to me she isn't."

"You motherfucking-"

"Zera, don't go there," Varik warned her. "No one is to go back there to help her. No one. Let her comrades save her if they care."

Zera wiped fresh tears from her eyes, feeling so hurt at his malice. "You're a bastard, Varik. A real fucking bastard."

"Yes I am." He pounded his hand on the van wall. "How much farther?"

"Four blocks, chief," the driver replied.

He grunted in affirmation, sitting back down. He looked at Zera, noting how she was trying so desperately to hold herself in check and failing. This wasn't like her at all. She was more by the book than most of the other officers he worked with, but he never saw her react this badly to an interrogation. Was it because that Soldier was a woman? He didn't want to think Zera's private life was bleeding into her job, but it was a possibility.

"Why do you feel sympathy for a monster like that?" he finally asked.

"She wasn't a monster!" she snapped.

"No, just a bloodthirsty Soldier who's probably killed more innocents than our serial killer. Funny how they sound the same, though."

"You can't know that!"

"No, but I can make a pretty good guess."

"God damn you, Varik, you're just as bad as him!" she snarled, hands chenched in fists in her lap. "You can't just treat innocent people like that!"

"Who said anything about Soldiers being innocent, huh?" he snorted in distain at her accusations. "Besides, I don't kill innocent people, only shitheels who deserve it."

"And who made you judge, jury, and executioner?"

He grinned. "I did."

Zera looked away from him, not even bothering to hide her tears. Varik rolled his eyes, wondering how long he'd have to put up with it. But what upset him more was that the Soldier said that her and a whole bunch of her friends had tried to stop the killer and failed. That her leader, even with Ifrit on his side, wouldn't have beaten him. It made him think, to consider the dark truths that were rising up from there. The serial killer was a confirmed Soldier. Not just a Soldier, but one strong enough to take on a squad of others and come out on top. There weren't any bodies found in the wrecked apartment, so it could mean that the killer incinerated them all and walked off. It was frightening to admit. Either that her Yukio and Ifrit blew away the serial killer, or the killer blew them all away instead. A weakling or a monster, and the sour feeling in his stomach told him the truth of which it was.

Pretty Birdy Bar and Grill

The Pretty Birdy was as crowded and boisterous as it was the first time that Reeve was there. He was thankful for the positive energy that the patrons and the environment exuded. After a full day of reviewing notes and reports at the sector police headquarters, he craved anything that would take his mind off the horrors of the serial killings. Rude's return didn't do much to help his mood, either; he wasn't able to convince anyone to return with him. Reno, not needing an excuse to start an evening of drinking, offered to take him and the others out to the restaurant on him, flashing a thick wad of gil. He accepted, of course, as did Elena and Rude, but Atma declined and said she was going to continue her investigation into the killer's territory. He ordered a bottle of expensive Gongagan whiskey to start and had been serving them round after round with intent to initiate Reeve into their drinking circle. By the time they had gotten around to ordering appetizers, each of them were well on their way to inebriation.

"Another round!" Reno said cheerily, interrupting himself from his train of though storytelling.

"Dude, we just had one five minutes ago," Reeve argued, "can't you wait?"

"Nope. Besides, you're gonna get sloshed before the night's done if you wanna be part of our little group, reaver boy. A good leader's gotta be sociable with his teammates, right?"

Reeve shrugged after a second. "I s'pose."

"No supposin', Reeve! It's a rule!"

"Alright, fine, another round, why not," he whined, shaking his head in dismay.

"That's the idea! No sense in only gettin' halfway tipsy, better t' go all the way!" Reno poured them all two fingers apiece, then lifted his shotglass. "Yo Rude, your turn."

"To friends and sanity," Rude said carefully after a moment of consideration, "so we never forget how normal people live."

"To friends!" they repeated, tossing the liquor back.

"So how you feelin', Reeve?" the redhead asked, seemingly unaffected by his fourth drink.

"Doing alright. A little drunk, but alright." Reeve reached out and took a swig of soda water, expecting to be scolded again for being weak. Reno didn't call him on it.

"So, that's a what? Five out of ten? Six?" he pressed.

"Seven's more like it. Why?"

"Gotta see how much liquor you can hold. Duh. 'Lena and Rude both can't match me shot for shot, so I wanna know how far you'll make it."

Reeve shook his head in horror. "Oh man, I don't think I can take much more."

"We'll see. Oh, missie!" Reno leaned out as a waitress passed by, getting her attention. "You still got any coconut rum?"

"I think so, sir."

"Bring a bottle 'round, then. Either that or some Shirido." He took out a fifty bill and slid it into her skirt pocket with a lewd grin. "An' here's a little something for your trouble."

"Why rum?" Elena asked.

"'Cause we're almost out of whiskey, girlie, and I don't wanna end up dry so soon."

"No, I mean why rum?" she emphasized. "Why not this stuff?"

"Hell, you know why. Gotta expand your horizons 'n all. Besides, I'm in the mood for somethin' sweeter."

"Oh."

Reno laughed at her flat answer. "Jeez, 'Lena, you must be sloshed already."

"I'm fine."

"Sure you are."

"Said I'm fine, Reno," she insisted, taking up the bottle. "Let's have another."

"Another?" Reeve said exasperated.

"Yes, another." She waggled a finger at Reno intently. "I swear, one of these days I'm gonna find a way to get him smashed fer once instead of the other way around."

The redhead sat up at that. "Izzat a challenge I hear?"

"Maybe." Elena hesitated a moment, and her lips curled to a racy grin. "Yeah! Yeah, why not?"

Reno looked almost pained from how wide he smiled and laughed. "A contest! Hot damn, girlie, it's been a long ass time since someone's tried t' put me under!"

"Then let's get started! Rude, you wanna try?" He waved a hand at the offered bottle. Elena didn't miss a beat in offering it to Reeve. "How 'bout you, Reeve?"

"Oh no, I couldn't-"

"Yeah you could," she teased.

"No way I could! No thanks, I mean, I'm already at my limit, an', well, aren't we gonna order somethin' to eat?"

Both Reno and Elena looked at him with wide eyes, surprised. Reeve felt a blush color his cheeks, wondering if he'd either said something wrong or if they forgot about ordering food as well. The redhead took the bottle from Elena's hand and poured three fingers into Reeve's shotglass and scooted it towards him. "Drink."

"Dude, I've already-"

"Drink!" Reno repeated jovially. "It's all the nutrition you'll get tonight!"

"Ugh." He grimaced and took the shot in two gulps, winced as it roared into in his gut. "Oh man..."

Reno grinned, then returned to the business of his contest with Elena. "Alrighty then, now here's mine, and here's yours, and let's drink to health and good looks!"

"To health!"

The two Turks both slugged their shots in one motion, and after Reno continued on with his nonsense rambling about past missions and adventures. When the waitress returned with the promised bottle of rum he paid her again with a fifty and opened that bottle for his use against Elena. Once their appetizers arrived the rest of the evening was spent snacking while talking and pausing as the two would psyche themselves up for their shots. The crowd in the eatery dwindled as the night wore on, eventually down to the barflys and the hustle of the barhops to clean the floor. Soon the bar emptied out, and only they remained inside as the place closed down for the night. The manager himself came and wished them a good evening as they made their way out. He even offered them a room at a local hostel he was buddies with, but they explained they were close enough to home anyways but thank you very much though. The struck out into the streets for sector three, oblivious to the world with only themselves as company.

Reno and Elena were both falling down drunk. They had matched themselves shot for shot until the whiskey and rum were both gone and neither had the capacity to order more. Reeve was glad that they didn't, it was hard work to help Elena stay on her feet as they walked to their apartment. He was still dizzy from when he first stood up, and thinking hard to recall the last time he had been this drunk. Clearly what he thought of as drunk was just tipsy compared to how these two handled their liquor.

"I still say I won," Reno said again, taking each step carefully without help.

"It was a tie," Elena slurred again.

"You both win," Reeve commented again. "I've never seen two people drink that much."

"S'pretty much normal, I think, yeah. Right, Rude?"

"Nearly," the stoic man replied from his side. "You both had more than usual."

"'Cause you didn't have nearly enough!" Reno chided his comrade. "Had t' make up the difference atop a' the contest."

"It would have been tough for Reeve to carry all of us home."

"Well he could'a...oh! No, no he couldn't've. No taxis. Sorry, guy."

"That's alright," Rude and Reeve both said.

Reno patted Rude's shoulder lightly. "Next time you'll drink, 'kay? Next time."

"Next time."

"Yo 'Lena!" he blurted out. "How you doin' over there?"

Elena barely turned her head to look at Reno, concentrating more on moving a foot at a time with an arm slumped over Reeve's shoulder. "Said I'm fine, Reno."

"What about you, reaver boy?"

He nodded. "I'm fine too."

"Feelin' good?" he pressed. "Still feelin' sociable like I said you oughta be?"

The architect chuckled. "Yeah. It's been a while since I've been drunk this...had this drunk...ergh." He giggled and shook his head, grinning. "Shit, you know..."

The redhead smiled wide as the moon as he laughed. "Ahahaha! Say no more, say no more!"