Fantastic
Fantasy 10: Snow and Turks
The air was very cold as small snowflakes began to fall. It was winter and the skies were gray signaling the coming of more snow. "Drop it," Elena could see her breath when she spoke.
Reno looked at her. At this distance if she decided to fire her weapon he would be a goner for sure. "You're not gonna do it." Reno spoke with a certainty that made his partner wonder if he knew what kind of situation they were dealing with.
The Turks were divided. This was the final battle between Tseng and Elena against Reno and Rude. It had all started because of Reno. He began the argument with Tseng and the leader defended his point to no end, until Reno lost his patience and went for the attack. Elena remembered it clearly. She tried to warn Tseng but it was too late. Tseng was quick to recover and although he was injured he fought back. The teams were decided then as the other two Turks quickly chose sides. Elena rushed to aid Tseng while Rude prepared to help Reno.
"You can be sure I'll do it!" Elena threatened. She gripped her weapon noticing something. There was a problem.
"Didn't notice that little detail did you? You would have gotten me good with that one but you hesitated. That was your problem." Reno then attacked Tseng. Tseng moved out of the way at the last moment leaving Reno to miss by a hair. "We need more ammunition partner!"
"I'm working on it," Rude answered as he prepared the weapons to be used. Of course, there was plenty of fire power to go around or should I say ice.
"Now I wish I had fired when I had the chance." Deep down Elena knew she didn't mean it. This had to end as peacefully as possible, not with someone gravely injured or dead. But then there was Tseng. Reno attacked him by surprise. Maybe she really should have paid him back the same way. Elena shook her head. No, though Reno had injured Tseng, it wasn't the same kind of injury she would have given him had she taken the opportunity. This would have been real.
"Good to know I'll watch my back," Reno joked. That tone indicated that he had a plan. Rude had everything set up.
"Ready," the man who always has sunglasses called.
"Begin fire!" Reno joined Rude in the battle position.
"Tseng!" Elena called. She suddenly froze up. What could she do? How could they get the best weapons? Rude and Reno had the clear advantage.
"Get ready Elena! If we must go we'll go together," Tseng hugged her protecting her from the ammunition directed at them.
"Tseng!" He was gone. "You'll pay for this!" In rage Elena ran past Reno and Rude. She was hit several times but didn't stop. Rolling on the ground she managed to trip Reno and grab the weapon he guarded.
"Don't do it Elena!" Rude held his weapon ready.
"If I go, I'm taking Reno with me to avenge Tseng!" Both fired at the same time and it all ended. This time Rude was the only survivor.
"This fight has ended," Rude declared victoriously.
Reno jumped to his feet. "I'm freezing!"
"I have snow in my hair!" Elena tried to brush it off.
"It's only snow so I'm not complaining," Tseng added.
"You know Elena, in a real battle you can't go rushing in like that. I was able to shoot you seven times. You would have been killed before you reached the bomb which by the way was freezing," Reno complained.
"It's a snow ball fight not a water balloon fight," Elena clarified, for the guns of the Turks were snow balls all along. No real injuries happened; they just got a little wet and cold from the snow balls. "You cheated with that water balloon." Reno's bomb, a water balloon, was his secret weapon for the snow ball fight. "You also cheated before that by attacking Tseng before the battle officially began." That is why Tseng had to be 'injured' during the entire fight but he sill played along.
"At least I proved my point that a snow ball fight was a good idea." Reno would rethink his words soon after when Tseng showered him with snow.
"That's for attacking me too soon," Tseng took his revenge.
"No fair! I'm going to turn into a cherry popsicle!" Reno complained shivering. The other Turks only laughed. "Hey Elena do you really wish you left that rock inside your snow ball?"
"I won't sink to your level and cheat. I didn't know the rock was there until you told me," Elena explained.
"Hey it's not like I threw any rocks. In fact, I didn't get to use my water balloon because you stole it. How could I be killed by my own secret weapon?" Reno dramatized.
"Let's head back inside before we all catch colds. You know how that can get," Tseng reminded them. "If one of us catches a cold and someone else always gets it. Then by the time the first is cured, the second still has the cold and has given it to a third person who gives it so someone else. Then by the time the second is cured the third and forth still have a cold. There's always at least one of us with a cold to spread."
The Turks nodded in agreement. "That's just how we are. We're best friends who share everything, even colds." Reno thought it was amusing now, but it wouldn't be so funny if they really did get sick.
The four headed back inside the mountain cabin they were vacationing in. It had four rooms, a living room, a kitchen and two bathrooms. Elena had claimed a bathroom to herself saying it was only fair to have one bathroom for women and one for men. That left Tseng, Reno and Rude to share a bathroom.
"Me first!" Reno ran in an attempt to reach the bathroom first but he tripped on something.
Soon the something moved while Reno was still on the snowy ground. "Get off me." A voice came from under the snow.
"Rude give me a hand. There's someone here!" Reno called.
Rude quickly helped his partner stand up and assisted him in digging in the snow to see who was buried there. "Who are you?" Rude asked the figure covered in snow.
"Maybe he's a snow angel" Elena said half joking and half hopeful. Even if she liked Tseng she had to admit whoever it was would certainly make a handsome snow angel.
"I am Vincent Valentine." He shook off the snow to reveal his true self.
"What were you doing there? Taking a nap?" Reno inquired.
"Yes," Vincent spoke as if it was the most normal thing ever.
"You were taking a nap under the snow?" Rude asked.
"Yes," Vincent replied just as casually as before.
"Why?" Elena asked.
"Everyone needs to sleep," Vincent answered as a matter of fact.
"Not everyone sleeps under snow," Tseng pointed out.
Vincent nodded. "True but where a man takes his naps is up to him to decide and no one else." After saying those words of wisdom Vincent left.
A few moments passed in silence until Reno remembered something. "The bathroom!" The race was on, ending with Tseng as the winner, Rude arrived in second place and Reno slipped and got there last.
Elena smiled. She didn't have to childishly run because she had a bathroom all to herself or so she thought. By the time she got to the cabin she found the door to her bathroom was locked. The sound of a shower and singing could be heard coming from inside. Elena knocked. "What are you doing in there?"
"Watching movies and eating popcorn what do you think I'm doing?" Reno answered from inside the bathroom.
"This is the women's bathroom and I'm the only woman here so get out!" Elena yelled but Reno only sang louder.
Rude stood to the side waiting for one of the bathrooms to become free for use. Frustrated with knocking on the door and being ignored Elena turned to face him. "Tell him to come out of there!"
Rude felt that he had no choice. "Reno, Elena wants me to tell you to come out of there."
"Tell her that I'll come out when I'm good and ready." Reno answered from inside the bathroom.
Rude tried to communicate the message. "Reno says that he'll come out when he's-"
"I heard him!" Elena interrupted. "Reno, come out of there right now!" She screamed as she punched the door.
"Now I'll stay even longer!" Reno was easily amused.
Rude only shook his head. A few moments later Tseng opened the other bathroom's door only a little bit. "Rude, could you hand me my-"
"Mine!" Elena said as she rushed to the bathroom, assuming Tseng was done. She threw the door open and slipped on a little bathroom carpet. Trying desperately to regain her balance before falling, Elena grabbed the doorknob unintentionally closing the door and falling forward.
Seeing that she would inevitably fall, Tseng caught Elena. But in order to do so he had to let go of the towel he was holding to make sure it stayed around his waist. A scream shortly followed. You see Tseng had forgotten to bring a change of clothes and was about to ask Rude to go get some clothes from his room so he wouldn't have to go out in only a towel in case Elena saw him and felt uncomfortable.
"Ok I'm done!" Reno cheerfully announced coming out of the bathroom. "Hey partner what did I miss?"
"I'm not certain," Rude replied honestly.
"I thought I heard Elena scream." When Reno, as if on cue, the door to the other bathroom was opened.
Elena came out staring at her feet with her face a bright red color that rivaled the color of Reno's hair. Tseng's face was a matching color as he stood there with only a towel. Reno opened his mouth to say something but before any sound came out Elena gave him a deadly glare. "Don't you dare ask." She stomped towards the other bathroom silently promising herself that later she would either take revenge on Reno or thank him since none of that would have happened if he stayed out of her bathroom.
Tseng rushed to his room leaving a certain red haired Turks very confused. "What did I miss?"
"I told you I'm not certain. My theory is that he dropped the towel on accident at some point in time while Elena was alone with him in the bathroom. There's no way to know since the door was closed," Rude explained. He knew Reno wouldn't stop asking until he satisfied his curiosity.
"I knew a lot of interesting things would happen on this vacation!" Reno laughed.
Despite Tseng and Elena's embarrassing moment the Turks, at Reno's request, decided to involve themselves in activities 'proper of the Christmas season'. To everyone's surprise Rude suggested baking cookies. When the initial surprise died down, Reno happily accepted the idea. Tseng and Elena, who were too embarrassed to speak, only nodded.
But alas the cookie baking process turned into a battle once again started by Reno. The Turks ended up covered in cookie dough. "Don't ever try this again or you'll be spending the rest of the weekend sleeping out in the cold." Tseng wasn't amused. He accepted the snow ball fight and played along but he wasn't in the best of moods at the moment. He wondered if he would ever be able to look at Elena in the face without reliving that awkward moment and if she would ever speak to him again. Besides, it would take ages to clean out the cookie dough off his hair. Elena had shorter hair, Rude was bald and Reno didn't really care.
"It was just a little joke. It was fun," Reno was still in a good mood. He had been more playful than usual during their little vacation trip. "Besides, Lena can lick it off for you."
"It's Elena not Lena," Elena corrected sounding annoyed.
"Funny how you corrected your name but didn't comment on the part about licking the cookie dough off Tseng," Reno whispered as he passed by, meaning for only Elena and Rude to hear. Tseng also heard and gave him a warning glare. Reno wisely decided to choose that moment to go get cleaned up and left the kitchen in a hurry.
Rude felt the tension in the atmosphere and decided to leave as well. He would wait until Reno was done cleaning himself up. The earlier drama started because both bathrooms were occupied at the same time so now he would make sure to leave one free in case Elena wanted to clean off the cookie dough.
"I'm sorry, sir." Elena spoke softly while staring at the floor as soon as she was alone with Tseng.
"It was an accident," Tseng didn't say anything about it, but he wasn't happy that she was calling him sir again like when she first joined the Turks.
She nodded as they drowned in an uncomfortable silence.
"We should clean ourselves up," Tseng finally said.
"Right," Elena agreed. But the silence was longer than they thought as they tried to wait each other out. By then Reno had sang quite the concert while he took another shower, much to Rude's annoyance who was waiting outside the door. He certainly wished someone would get the bright idea to make bathrooms sound proof.
By the time night fell, the awkwardness appeared to have evaporated inexplicably quickly. Maybe it's because Reno had stopped his jokes, a wise decision, and nothing had happened to fuel it. The four Turks sat in front of a fire drinking hot chocolate as the wind howled outside and the snow fell around the cabin. All was silence save for Reno.
"Reno, drink your hot chocolate quietly!" Elena scolded.
Reno was about to reply with something along the lines of 'yes, mother' but he came up with something more clever. "You'd think she'd be in a better mood after having an affair," Reno saw the look Tseng was giving him and added, "with a delicious cup of hot chocolate." Then the silence returned.
"We should put up a Christmas tree." Elena suddenly suggested. "I used to put one up every year when there was no one home and I decorated it all by myself. I always liked putting up the tree alone but it might be even better if all the Turks participate." She didn't particularly enjoy her sister's presence, not even in the holydays which is why she decorated the tree by herself. Besides, she didn't need Gun's criticism.
"Do I get to put the star on the tree?" Reno asked.
"No," Elena firmly decided.
"Do we even have a tree?" Rude brought up an important point.
"Probably not," Elena realized. "Maybe we could get one. I saw some trees not too far from here."
"We'll choose a tree tomorrow," Tseng agreed.
The night passed rather uneventfully and soon the next morning came. It was only a weekend vacation but they might as well do something Christmasy before it ended. Of course finding a tree to decorate didn't go without incident.
Reno climbed a tree. Rude tried to climb after him but encountered some difficulties with a bird that had a nest in the tree and didn't like unknown humans. Oddly enough the bird had no complaints about Reno. Rude assumed the bird must have thought Reno was a squirrel neighbor or something. After he was done climbing, Reno came back to the ground and claimed that he wanted to decorate that tree which was of course too big.
Elena found a tree of suitable size but soon Rude brought up another interesting point. They didn't really have any decorations. Tseng decided to rest sitting on a rock. Elena sat on another rock not too far away. Reno was no where to be found and Rude went to look for him.
When Reno retuned he started putting improvised decorations on the tree even if the wind would probably blow them away. Rude started helping with the decorations. Elena wondered where Reno got all that paper but didn't give it much thought and started putting paper stars on the tree as well. Finally Tseng joined them. He never found out that Reno had cut some reports he found in his room to make decorations.
Another snow ball fight took place that day in which surprisingly all the rules were followed. That time Tseng and Elena claimed a victory.
The day passed quickly and surprisingly peacefully as all four Turks got along perfectly. "Remember last year when we got snowed in?" Reno recalled.
The Turks were still outside enjoying their free time building snowmen after their snow ball fight ended. It was their time to play in the snow as much as they wanted now that no one would find out. "I said you weren't coming this year. I must have forgotten," Tseng remembered.
Elena wasn't a Turk yet at the time. "He must have been annoying."
"No I wasn't. Besides you weren't there." Reno stuck out his tongue.
"Lucky me," Elena retorted.
"Reno with cabin fever is not a good thing," Rude agreed.
"You have to admit these little Turks vacations aren't the same without me!" The others certainly didn't argue with Reno on that.
Soon the weekend ended and it was back to Shinra with them. Things drifted back into normality but one thing was for sure. They would do this again next year and the year after that and the year after that and so on.
As Reno arrived at work the next day, the first words the other Turks heard from him that day were: "I can't wait for summer vacation!" Watching Tseng and Elena discuss something related to their work Reno whispered to Rude. "I bet those two will get together soon."
"Probably," Rude agreed.
"I say... February," Reno guessed.
"March," Rude deduced.
"You're on!" Reno accepted the bet a little too loudly. Tseng and Elena looked in their direction but didn't figure out what it was about. In the end they both lost the bet, since Tseng and Elena actually got together on New Year's Eve.
End of Fantasy 10
Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Why am I posting a Christmas story in the middle of the summer? Because now is when the plot bunnies poke and I don't feel like waiting until Christmas.