Chapter Twenty-Five: Somehow She Always Finds Us

Bouncing up and down as Reno carries her down the street, Ryiah tries to keep her cool.

"Reno, where are we going?" she demands. "This is the least productive mode of transportation imaginable, especially since you have 24/7 helicopter access!"

"Just...getting away, yo. You're right, though. A helicopter would have been better…" Reno responds, completely out of breath; he sets her down and they look at each other. "Ryiah...we need to talk."

"Sure we do, Reno."

"I've played your little games, yo. I've stuck through them because I care about you. Where is that blond kid now, huh? Ryiah, let's give it another shot. What is there to lose? We know we can live without each other. We've done it in the past. So if we fail again, it's no big deal, am I right?"

"That is horrible logic, but it's just what I needed to hear...I think."

"So what does that mean? You'll do it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I will give us another shot-"

Reno lunges for a hug, but she puts up a hand to stop him.

"-But it's time limited. You've got two weeks to show me that it would hurt to lose you again and that we truly are ready to be together."

Reno nods. "Alright, yo. I can do that."

He tries again for a hug, this time with success.

"You're all a bunch of cheaters," Cloud says, angrily throwing down his cards. "There's no way I'm playing with you guys! You all owe me 10,000 gill!"

Zack looks at the cards Cloud threw down. "Cloud…"

"All the same suit is good, right?" Tsiang asks.

"All the same suit and king, queen, and three jacks!" Zack exclaims.

"How does he have three jacks in the same suit?" Valentine asks.

Everyone pauses to think for a moment.

Tsiang jumps up and points at Cloud. "He's the cheater! He just didn't want to get caught!"

"Settle down, little Tsiang, it will be alright," Ryiah says. "And Cloud, I'm disappointed in you. Turk Lesson Number 433: How to cheat at Poker. Never show them your cards."

"How can you cheat if you never show them your cards?" Zack asks. "You'd never win. Besides, were we even playing Poker?"

"When did you two get here?" Cloud asks, eyeing Reno and Ryiah who have materialized in the room.

"The dinner was a bust, Ryiah and Rude broke off their engagement," Reno explains. "It was a real mess, yo."

"Technically we're still engaged…" Ryiah says quietly, earning her a glare from Reno.

"That's always good, keep him around until you're completely sure it'll work out with someone else," Levei praises with a nod. "Back ups are always a good idea."

"You don't have a back up...do you?" Zack asks.

Levei coolly sips her wine glass.

"Levei…?"

"Did you guys just leave Rude at the restaurant?" Tsiang asks.

"I'm sure he'll catch up in no time, yo," Reno says.

"So how was dinner?" Cloud asks casually.

"It was nice, even though we didn't actually eat," Ryiah reports. "Reno bought me a lobster, and Rude and I got matching tattoos! Tsiang got one, too!"

Tsiang wipes away the tears in his eyes. "They made me. Don't make me show it."

"Well now we have to see it!" Zack says.

"N-no!"

"It's a tramp stamp," Ryiah continues with a proud smile. "Of a butterfly...with Tseng's face as the head."

"I didn't think Turks allowed tattoos," Levei says.

"They don't…" Tsiang sobs.

"But we figure if it has Tseng's face on it, he'll be so flattered he won't fire Tsiang on the spot," Ryiah says.

Tsiang continues sobbing.

"So what happens now?" Cloud asks. "That game show didn't solve anything like it was supposed to, Tsiang's mission is another failure… Should we all just go our separate ways?"

Levei nods.

"But...friendship…" Zack whines.

"We can't stay together forever, Zack," Levei says. "Eventually someone has to do work. Otherwise Shinra will turn into a giant corporation of washed up heroes, and the Turks will be nothing more than a group of lazy people with too much useless training...wait a second."

"I guess so...but it doesn't have to be goodbye forever, right?"

Cloud shrugs.

"As much as I'd love to say yes," Levei says. "It doesn't seem we'll all be away from each other forever. Somehow she always finds us."

They all look at Ryiah.

"In the future, if you receive a homing pigeon, return the f-ing letter!" she exclaims with a salute.

Reno looks at his phone. "Rude is calling, babe. We'd better get going. We just got issued another chase mission."

"'Babe'?" Cloud repeats.

Reno grins at him. "Oh, did we forget to mention? Ryiah and I are officially back together."

"For two weeks," Ryiah adds.

"At least. Probably more. Probably forever, yo."

"This day just keeps getting better and better...I think a bit of solitude will do me some good," Cloud grumbles.

"What do you say, Levei? I know you're all rogue now, but…" Zack scratches the back of his head nervously. "Maybe you can assist me with my mission? I can give you a cut of my pay."

Levei crosses her arms and looks away. "I mean, I guess it can't hurt to stick around you for a bit longer. I don't have any missions right now, anyway. Unless...going with you is my secret mission."

She turns to him with a smile, which he happily returns with one of his own and a hug.

"What...about me?" Tsiang asks, holding his arms open.

"You gotta man up, Tsiang," Levei replies.

He pouts and slowly lowers his arms.

"You know what's really been bothering me?" Levei suddenly says.

"I bet I can guess…" Cloud mutters.

"We haven't seen Valentine in a while…"

"Wasn't he just here playing cards with us…?" Zack asks, looking around.

"I'll go find him," Cloud says, standing up. "Maybe we can work on being alone together. I guess this is goodbye."

He looks at Ryiah, who gives him a half-hearted smile.

"Bye Cloud-y. This was fun, catching up. I'll...I'll see you again soon, yeah?"

"Yeah, we'll see."

With that, he walks out of the hotel room.

Reno puts a possessive arm around around Ryiah's shoulders as they follow suit and walk out.

"Keep in touch, guys," Zack says, waving at them.

Some months pass, and everyone adjusts to their new schedules, away from the group they had gotten so used to being around 24/7…

Speeding on his motorcycle in the slums, Cloud glances behind to see if he's being followed. He pulls up to the edge of town overlooking a cliff and walks inside a nearby abandoned house.

"This should do for the night," he mutters to himself, setting his stuff on the floor.

Before he's able to take more than five steps inside, two Turks crash through the ceiling.

Reno points his taser at Cloud as a familiar battle music begins to play in the background. "You're under arrest, Cloud Strife!"

"I was wondering when you would show up," he replies, pulling out his sword.

"Hey Cloud, how's it going?" Rude says, walking in from the front door, holding his gun out. "Sorry about all this."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm not letting you arrest me."

"Cloud, please come with us," a female voice says from behind. "Don't put up a fight."

He turns slowly. "Ryiah…?"

She smiles at him. "I told you we'd see each other again, you dork. I was hoping I'd break into your mansion and doves would fly across your enormous pool while a waiter came over to offer me a tropical drink." She shrugs. "But this house is nice, too. You're uh, doing well for yourself…"

She watches as bats fly through the broken window, causing small pockets of dust to rise.

"This isn't my house…"

"Enough talk, put your hands up, Strife," Reno interjects.

"Don't interrupt, Reno!" Ryiah exclaims. "Gosh, you're always getting in my way. I was having a conversation! Don't be rude!"

"I wouldn't do that," Rude defends. "He wasn't acting anything like me."

"This is my mission, Ryiah," Reno says. "You shouldn't have come in the first place."

"He's my friend, I wanted to see him."

"You can see him when he's behind bars."

"No one is putting me behind bars," Cloud says.

"I wouldn't bet on that, yo."

"And he's a pretty good betting man," Rude adds.

"I always make the right calls."

"I think you're getting a little off track here," Cloud points out.

"You don't get it, huh? Well, let me explain-"

Before he's able to finish his sentence, Cloud jumps out the window.

"You shouldn't have gone on a monologue, Reno," Rude scolds.

"We'll improvise. Shoot him in the kneecaps if you have to, Rude. We're bringing him in this time, yo."

"You will not!" Ryiah exclaims. "He's my friend, you can't hurt him!"

"He's a mission, Ryiah. Don't get involved. This is why we didn't work out in the past," Reno says, pointing his taser at her. "Because you were incapable of working with me. You always worked against me."

"Yeah, you're right. And that's exactly why we're not going to work out this time. We're done, Reno. This was a nice shot. It lasted longer than I thought. Way longer."

"Hey! Ryiah, don't do this…"

"I have a friend to save! See ya, Rude. Text me later~!"

She jumps out the window, leaving a moment of silence for the two remaining Turks.

Rude pulls out his phone.

"Rude!"

Then he slowly puts it back into his pocket.

"Cloud, Cloud wait!" Ryiah exclaims, waving after his motorcycle. "It's just me! I left them, Cloud!"

Cloud slows down and comes to a hesitant stop. Ryiah runs up and climbs on the back of his bike.

"You left the Turks?" Cloud asks.

"Yeah...wait, not the organization, but...I left Reno, Cloud."

Cloud starts his bike and the two zip off into the sunset.

In the halls at Shinra HQ, Zack hums a pleasant tune to himself. He turns the corner and enters his room, finding Levei sitting on his bed.

"Oh, hey Levei. I was just about to call you. Where have you been?" He smiles, and leans over to kiss her cheek.

"Zack, sit down," Levei says, patting next to her on his bed.

He cautiously lowers himself. "I don't know if I like that look…"

"I got a mission…"

"Uh-huh…"

"And it's pretty far from here…"

"Oh…"

"And I turned it down."

"I understand… Wait, what?! You turned down a mission?"

She punches him in the arm. "Of course I did!"

"I just...I wasn't expecting it… Why?"

"For you! ...well, us. I decided to take a more permanent job around here, so we could, you know, stay together."

"Oh, that's great, Levei!"

"There are some conditions, though. First off, we need to get our own place. I'm tired of walking around trying to defend your honor all the time to these lower class soldiers. I just want to come home and relax."

"Alright, done. Anything else?"

"Our own place has to come with a tiny ranch for Junior."

"Where is that little fella, anyway?"

A tiny chocobo pops up from under a pile of clothes on the floor, and cries happily.

"Done and done."

"Alright, that's everything."

Zack fist pumps. "I couldn't be happier."

"Because fist pumping is a normal thing to do at a time like this… Then again, you are Zack Fair."

Zack laughs and kisses her.

Cloud pulls over in the next town, Ryiah still in tow. The two get off the bike.

"Good thinking, Cloud, they'll never find you here in the nearest town with your bike parked outside the hotel."

Cloud narrows his eyes at Ryiah. "Why are you here? Why are you abandoning the mission? Wait, how do I ever know you've abandoned the mission? You could still be after me!"

"Cloud...I'm not after you. Well, not in that sense. I...I made a mistake with Reno. It didn't work out at all before and I'm sorry it took me so long to remember why. But with you...we didn't even get started and...I guess seeing you again made me realize how wrong I was."

"I'm not going to be your second choice, Ryiah," Cloud replies. "You chose wrong, that's not my problem."

Ryiah crosses her arms. "Don't you dare reject me, Blondie."

"I'll tell you what. If you can catch me, I'll give you another chance."

"Catch you-"

Before she can react, he kisses her, and jumps on his bike, zipping off.

"Cloud! I will catch you! Just you wait! You will be my abandoned puppy that I mold and shape into the perfect obedient dog!" She smiles to herself as she brings her phone to her ear. "Tseng, baby? Yes, I need a helicopter."

Sitting on a throne of flames, Tsiang smiles evilly. "I've completed my training, Ryiah. Now it's my turn to give you a little taste of my training."

He throws his head back and laughs. Suddenly Valentine turns on the light in the room, illuminating Tsiang sitting in front of a gas fireplace controlled by a remote.

"What are you doing?" he asks the young Turk.

"I...uh...I found that floppy player you were looking for," little Tsiang replies, holding it out. "Don't tell anyone what you just saw."

"Finally." Valentine pulls the floppy out from his pocket and puts it in the player.

He turns off the light and exits the room, leaving Tsiang to do...whatever it is he's doing.

THE END

A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading this sequel. We hope you enjoyed it!