A/N: I'm trying to catch up now, but half my usual reviewers appeared to have disappeared... I hope the same thing doesn't happen that did with my Kingdom Hearts fic. don't leave me everyone :(

Anymoo, I finally got onto the last part of this story, so I'm being extra careful about how I write it. please REVIEW

Enjoy

Chapter 34

'Where is it… the materia?'

'Who are you?'

There were many questions Elena could have asked Phoenix, but she decided to keep them to herself. She didn't want to raise anything because at the end of the day, if Phoenix distanced himself from her, she wouldn't have any help going to Sector 6, and she didn't think she could do it on her own.

'Why are you torturing me like this…?'

"'Laney?"

Elena felt her heart leap as she heard that quiet voice call out to her. She knew it was nobody but Phoenix, but she treasured that nickname every time he said it. Then her mind caught up with her…

"W-what are you doing here?" she asked as she heard Phoenix's soft footsteps approaching her. It was only then that she realized how dark it had become while she had been sitting in Reno's apartment.

"I asked Tseng where you'd be… he told me to come here." Phoenix said. His tone was subtle, and unlike anything she had ever heard from him. "I have to talk to you…"

"You… do?" Elena looked at him as he sat down beside her. From the darkness in the room all she could see clearly were his eyes, shining with some unexplained sadness.

"I… I need your help." He said solemnly.

"Go on…"

"I… I thought I could manage." He shook his head. "When I first came here, everything was fine, but every time I talk to you… the thoughts goin' through my head… I swear they aren't mine…"

"I don't…"

"Sometimes…" Phoenix interrupted softly. "… I feel like I have a duty… to be Reno. I don't even know who he was, but I just…"

Elena said nothing, just nodded gently. She had sensed that Phoenix was becoming more and more agitated everyday… the Phoenix that she had fought with all that time ago; the one that had reminded her so much of Reno had gone. But she knew it was still there, it just needed finding again.

"I want to end this. I can't take it… It's as though I'm fighting with myself, and I think… I think I'm hurting you, and Rihanna."

"I understand."

"I want it to stop."

Elena put her hand on Phoenix's arm comfortingly. That was what he needed after all… it was strange, and somehow satisfying to comfort someone else, and it wasn't until that moment that she realized how few times in her life she had needed to do anything like this. The day when Reno's memories of Rihanna had been brought up was one of the only times she had had to help anyone else. Was she really that weak to always lean on other people, rather than the other way around? Now that Reno was gone, she had realized her pillar of strength had vanished, and she had had to stand on her own two legs more and more.

'Why has this happened?'

"I think… the time's right, what do you think?" Elena said, breaking an awkward, yet emotional silence.

"To go back?" Phoenix said. His voice was unfaltering, but Elena could hear the sadness within it.

"Yeah."

"You mean-?"

"Now, yeah. Darkness it better and it won't make much difference when we're inside." Elena said. The last thing she wanted to do was to go there, but she really didn't have much choice; now it wasn't just her that was affected by this.

"Okay." Phoenix said after a pause. "I'll do it."

"You realize what could happen though?" Elena asked him

"Yeah, I could be killed… but at the moment, I've not got a whole lot to live for."