Reno stood in the ruins of Midgar on a large piece of what looked like used to be a convenience store. Rude was poking around in the rubble of the surrounding area, looking frustrated at the fact his partner was merely standing there watching him.
"You know," the bald Turk began, taking off his sunglasses and rubbing off the dust that had gathered on the lenses, "I would think you'd be a little bit more enthusiastic about this. She was after all, your girlfriend."
Reno glared at the man. "She wasn't. We were…. We were nothing." The redhead then began beating away the nonexistent dust on his jacket. "Besides, she's gone."
Rude sighed and walked toward the young man. "We might still find her."
Reno looked up once again. "It's been six months Rude. Six damn months. She's long gone. Who knows where. We haven't been able to find her, not even her damn family can find her. She's gone."
"That's not the spirit man!" Alexander said walking up behind Reno and slapping him on the shoulder, his face glowing with its ever present smile.
The redhead looked over his shoulder at Storm's twin and her cousin Shawn. The brown haired boy did not look happy. He looked exhausted. His usually pristine clothes were covered in dust and mud from crawling around what used to be the sector seven slums.
"Where do you suggest we look?" Shawn asked, frowning at his mud encrusted shoes and picking up a nearby rock to attempt to scrape the mud off.
Alexander thought for a minute. "Where haven't we looked?" He asked to no one in particular.
"We're looked ever where." Rude said, walking over to Shawn and handing him a handkerchief from his suit jacket pocket.
Shawn nodded his thanks and began furiously scrubbing at his shoes.
"Drew and Riley haven't had any luck either. I just talked to them. Neither has Vincent."
Riley had come to Shinra headquarters the day after they had blown up Heidegger's headquarters. She at first had been angry at Drew, for not telling her he was alive and letting her cry for days, but she was a levelheaded girl and understood the need for secrecy. Their reunion had been a tearful one. It had made Reno slightly nauseous. Since then, they had been scouring the Western Continent searching for Storm and Heidegger, who had appeared to disappear from the face of the earth. And Vincent had been searching Wutai and all of the small islands off of the continents. He had said he had his own score to settle with Heidegger.
"This is hopeless." Reno muttered, watching as Shawn tried in vain to get his shoes up to their usual standard of cleanliness.
The four men stood in a crooked circle quietly for a while, and then Alexander laughed.
"Hey, Shawn, remember when we were little and we would play hide-and-seek? Liz was always so good at it. We would spend hours trying to find her, only to find her in the most obvious places."
Shawn looked up from his shoes, a slight smile on his face. "Yeah remember we would find her in like, her room, or even in our room?"
Alexander grinned wider. "She would always tell us, 'Obviously, the best place to hide is the most obvious place. No one ever thinks to look there.'"
Reno thought about this. The most obvious place.
"I know where she is." He said suddenly, a small smile gracing his place for the first time in months.
Drew and Riley stood a couple miles from the old dilapidated Shinra building outside of Junon.
"Seriously?" Riley said, her eyebrow raised.
"That's what Reno says."
Thud Thud Thud Thud
The two turned around to see the Shinra helicopter approaching, Reno in the pilot seat. They waited for him to land, then approached them.
"You really think she'll be HERE?" Riley asked.
"Well, would we look here?" The Turk asked, running a hand through his hair.
A look of understanding dawned across Drew's face. "Hide-and-seek." He said glancing over at the grinning Alexander.
"Yes, sir!" he said. "Pretty clever of Reno actually. This is where he, Rude, and Elena caught Storm. He said it's a labyrinth. Exactly the place we would never look,and exactly the place Lizzy would hide. It's perfect."
"Well, let's go." Shawn sighed, and made his way toward the building.
When the group arrived at the building, Alexander split them into groups.
"Shawn, you find Heidegger, take him out. Rude, Riley, lure Storm away from Heidegger. Reno, Drew, you're with me."
"Who put you in charge?" Reno asked bitterly, glaring at the man.
"You got a better idea?" Rude asked him, frowning.
"His plans always work." Shawn said, pulling out his handguns and making sure they were fully loaded.
"Let's go!" Alexander said ignoring their bickering and making his way inside the building.
"FUCK!" Heidegger cursed as he watched the intruders enter the building on his security feed.
"Sir?" Storm said from the corner of the room.
"Find them. Kill them." Heidegger hissed, spittle flying from his mouth and splattering on the screen.
Storm hesitated. "Yes, sir."
Shawn crept through the building, carefully avoiding the security cameras he had noticed were at the entrance of almost every room. It had been tricky, but he was succeeding.
Tap Tap Tap Tap
Shawn froze. Someone was coming. He quickly looked around the hallway for a place to hide. The nearest door, was 30 feet away.
"Shit." He cursed quietly. Then he noticed a vent a few feet ahead, missing its cover. He shrugged. It would work.
He took a running jump and pulled himself up into the vent, and lay down. He looked into the hallway.
It was Storm.
She looked even more gaunt than six months ago. Her hair was stringy, and her face. Six months ago, when Reno had talked to her, a dark green substance had oozed from her left eye. There was what looked like a stain till present on her cheek. She looked awful.
Shawn held his breath as she walked by. He had to get Heidegger back for this.
Rude and Riley ran down the halls of the building, searching for Storm. They looked in every room they passed, but so far hadn't found her.
"Maaan! Where is she?" Riley whined, her legs tired from the breakneck pace Rude was leading her about at.
"We need to get her to the central training room. There is only one entrance to it. That is how we caught her." Rude said quickly, closing another door.
"Yeah, yeah." She mutter, glancing down a hallway. "Maybe- Oh! There she is!" Storm was coming around a corner.
"STORM!" Rude shouted to her.
Her head whipped towards him, and Riley gasped at her ragged looks, and the stains on her face. She began to run towards them.
Rude grabbed Riley and took off toward the Central Training room. "Come on!" he shouted.
They ran down several long corridors, Storm close behind, until they finally came to the training room. When they entered the room, Drew slammed the door shut and locked it.
Storm once again fought at the grey haze obstructing her vision, fighting the excruciating pain trying to stop her.
"No!" The Voice screeched. "We have our orders! We must fulfill our orders!"
"No!" Storm gasped, "I won't let you kill them!"
"There there!" The Voice said soothingly. "Once they're gone, you and I will get along just fine!"
Storm stopped fighting. "No." she said calmly. Something big had just occurred to her. "You cannot survive without me."
Storm felt a chill come over her.
"What does that mean?" The voice said, deadly cold.
"You know what." Storm said. She took a deep breath.
"NO!" The Voice scream.
Reno, Alexander, and Drew stood in front of Storm, waiting for her attack. But it never came. She stood deathly still, her dirty face contorting with pain, then becoming frantic, and then, nothing. Her face went blank, and she collapsed.
"Storm!" Reno said, rushing to her side, brushing her limp hair from her face and shaking her. "STORM!" he shouted again.
Alexander rushed to his side, looking nervous. "Let me see her."
Reno reluctantly let go of Storm, letting Alexander examine her. After a few moments, Alexander looked up, his face pale.
"S-she went comatose." He said, confused.
Shawn crept down the hallway towards the lighted room, to find Heidegger waiting for him.
"You always were a clever boy." He said, lighting up his cigar.
Shawn drew his gun and pointed it at the large bearded man. "You die now." Shawn said coldly, his finger on the trigger.
Heidegger continued to smoke his cigar.
"Do that and you'll never find out how to save that little cousin of yours." He said cruelly.
Shawn hesitated.
You know it's true. I can fix her. Just let me live." Heidegger said, his voice silky smooth.
A look of determination came across Shawn's face.
"You're a liar." He said coldly, and pulled the trigger.
Woo! Finally got my laptop! I would have uploaded sooner, but I went to a friend's house and we were watching Harry Potter! Haha It was awesome!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! I very much recommend you check out I Want To Be A Turk! By aichioluv and The Life Of Cissnei by The Writing Artist. Doooo iiit! =]
Also, as usual, I did little to no editing. So, apologies for typos!
And Review!