Obligatory Disclaimer:

I don't own any characters (or anything else, for that matter) you recognize from Final Fantasy VII, they are all the property of Tetsuya Nomura and/or Square-Enix.

Author's Note: And here's another. Enjoy!

"Why do I feel like we've been here before?" Yetta said, throwing herself down on the grass.

"Because we have been here before, dolt." Oedipus replied, running an armored hand through his hair. "This is the very same plain we traveled through to get from the Gold Saucer to Cosmo Canyon."

"Are we going to have to go through those same mountains again?" Yetta asked, her hand going to her ribs unconsciously.

"No." Rude said quietly. "Just the edge of them."

"Thank Holy for that." Cyrene said, helping Yetta up. Vincent nodded in agreement.

"Come on, everyone, we've still got another three hours before we can break, yo." Reno said, holding Alcestis' hand with a jovial smile. She too, was smiling a bit.

"Why can't we break now?" Yetta whined a little.

"We want to make it to the mountain edge by nightfall, idiot." Elena said bitingly. "Unless, of course, you'd rather we stay in the middle of the plains again."

The entirety of the party groaned. They had been attacked by ninjas every single night. Tseng had a broken arm from the incident, which Cyrene was slowly but surely healing. Evidently, his elbow had shattered.

Nereid trotted ahead of the group idly. Suddenly, she stopped, perfectly still.

"Nereid? What is it?" Alcestis asked, her heart rate increasing.

"I smell… something… it's coming… with malicious intent."

"Well, shit." Reno said, pulling out his rod. He glanced at Alcestis, who was clutching her staff rather tightly, her right eye-tooth biting the edge of her lower lip.

"Everyone, look around! We're in the middle of the plains, they can hardly sneak up on us." Tseng ordered, pulling out a gun with his good arm.

"Alcestis, no magic." Cyrene ordered, bringing her scepter up.

"Why? It's been a week since Gongaga."

"Because I want to make absolutely sure nothing else happens. No magic until the next settlement, hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah." Alcestis muttered. "Staff-only combat it is."

Oedipus put a hand to the ground. "Whatever it is, it's big. The vibrations it's causing are massive."

Tersely, the group continued to look about, mystified.

"There is nothin-AAAAGH!" Yetta screamed as the ground beneath her began to collapse. Rude grabbed her arm and yanked, tossing her. Oedipus deftly caught her and set her down as a gigantic snake emerged from the ground. Elena screamed.

"What the hell is that thing?" She shouted.

"It's a Subterranean Zolom. A relative of the Midgar Zolom, except that it typically lives in caves or underground." Cyrene shouted, backpeddling swiftly. "They usually live over on the continent and island chain of Mideel. I have no idea why it would be over here." The party watched, panicked, as more and more of the creature's body emerged from the ground.

"It couldn't possibly have been sent after us by our enemies, could it?" Elena shouted sarcastically.

"Look at the symbol on its underside, just below its head." Nereid shouted over the roar of the ground shifting.

"It's the same square within a circle thing that was on Ajax's armor!" Alcestis screeched.

"Well, shit!" Reno shouted again. "Has it got a weakness, yo?"

"It did." Cyrene said, continuing to backpeddle. "Its throat under its head where that symbol is."

"What do you mean did?" Elena said. She shot her gun – the bullet bounced off the snake's throat with such force that Yetta shrieked as it whizzed past her ear.

"That symbol is obviously protecting its one weak point." Cyrene answered. "And I'm afraid its skin is otherwise totally impenetrable."

"Cyrene, you've got to let me use magic."

"Sadly, Alcestis, it would not help." She responded, leaping spectacularly out of the way as the beast lunged for her.

"Well we've got to do something!" Yetta shouted, frustrated. "I can't believe we're having to fight this motherfucking snake on this motherfucking plain!"

"Yetta! Language!" Tseng shouted.

"Shut the hell up, Tseng, like you've any room," Oedipus said scathingly.

"We do not have time to argue about this, we've got to do something!" Alcestis said. Being snake food was not her idea of an honorable death.

"I've got an idea, yo." Reno said, running forward. "Hey you! Big ugly serpent! Come and get some nice, red meat! Over here, yo! OVER HERE!"

"RENO!" Alcestis screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Just trust me, yo." He turned and gave her a winning smile as the Zolom struck, swallowing Reno whole.

Alcestis' eyes were wide with horror, and the top of her staff began to glow, her voice raw from the screams she could not hold back.

The beast writhed above her, its jaws snapping this way and that. It went down for Oedipus, who managed to smack it away with the force of the blow from his lance.

And all of a sudden, the beast's throat exploded, and a large figure came spinning out. Reno landed on his feet in a crouch as the snake collapsed behind him.

Covered in blood, snake skin, and venom, Reno was not the most appealing sight in the world. Alcestis threw her arms around him anyway. She then stepped back, now covered in uck, and slapped him as hard as she could.

"Don't you dare ever do anything like that to me ever again. I thought you were dead, Reno Ferren, and I almost lost my temper."

"What the hell, Kess? It worked, didn't it?."

"Be careful. You don't want to see me lose my temper." She said coldly, stalking off.

-~-*Å*-~-

By nightfall they'd reached the edge of the mountains. Yetta would touch the side of her ear every once in a while, certain that Elena's bullet had grazed her though there had been no mark.

Alcestis laid out a blanket, sat on it, and began to organize her materia, her jaw set, her eyes determinedly not looking at anyone. Cyrene pulled at her collar, feeling uncomfortable with being anywhere near the mountains. Oedipus sharpened his cutlass with materials that he had pulled from nowhere. Tseng and Elena sat together a little ways off, discussing something privately. Rude and Vincent sat next to one another, both characteristically silent, and Nereid had wandered off again, presumably to find yet more materia.

Reno sat down next to Alcestis gingerly, getting the feeling that he wasn't going to like what she would say.

"I'm sorry, yo."

She brought her head up enough to look at him, an eyebrow raised. "What for?"

"I…" He twisted his lips. He wasn't sure. All he knew was that she was upset, and it was somehow his fault.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Reno, but if you don't even know what you're sorry for, then it doesn't mean very much."

"Damnit, Kess, what did I do? I killed the snake, yo. Is that a problem? Do you have a special fondness for large serpents that like to eat people?"

"No, Reno." Her eyes flashed as she sat up straight. "You gave me a goddamn heart attack. I've never felt so much fear in my entire life. I've lost damn near everyone I ever really cared about. You are all I have, and I thought I was about to lose you, too."

Reno realized his mouth was hanging open, so he closed it. "I'm sorry, Kess. I didn't mean to cause you fear, but somebody had to do something. I usually know what I'm doing, yo, you don't need to worry."

"But I do." She sighed. "Look, I'll… I'll try to trust in your abilities more, I guess. But please, warn me that it's not what it looks like before you go charging into the mouth of an abnormally large snake next time, okay?"

He chuckled. "It's cool, yo."

"GODDAMN HOLY MOTHERFU-" Rude jumped, and Vincent leaped away as well.

"What, what?" The party was up and moving, weapons drawn, pointed at the source of the disturbance.

Nereid's head stuck conspicuously out of the ground, and her cheeks appeared bloated. "Don shoof. I haf a mouf ful of maferia."

She dug herself the rest of the way out, and opened her jaws, the little glowing balls bouncing slightly as they hit the ground. "Nereid, don't do that ever again." Tseng said, rubbing his forehead. "Never."

"Yes, sir." She said, very tongue-in-cheek.

They each laid themselves down to rest, Vincent offering to stand watch, unable to sleep near the mountains anyway.

Reno put his hands behind his head, surveying the stars, noticing clouds drifting overhead at a staggeringly slow pace. He gently chewed the inside of his cheek, thinking. Kess and I… what are we now? We're not just buddies anymore, yo. She wants me to start taking her feelings into consideration with what I do. Are we in a… Holy, what is the friggin' word… relationship? I told myself I wouldn't get inta one o' those. But here I am, yo.

He looked over at Alcestis, who was on her side, facing away from him, but breathing too heavily to be asleep.

"Hey Kess?"

"Yes, Reno?"

"When we get back to Midgar, you want to go out and get dinner or somethin'?"

Alcestis remained silent, and did not move.

Reno furrowed his brow, concerned. "H'lo?"

Alcestis rolled over to face him, a look of amused bewilderment dancing across her features. "Reno, did you just ask me on a date?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so, yo."

She smiled, laughed a little, and said "Yeah, sure. It'll be a change from me making dinner."

He grinned. "All right."

She rolled back over into her more comfortable position, sighing contentedly, and Reno smirked. I always knew she wanted me, yo. Heexamined her back, its delicate shoulder blades curving down. He thought about wiggling over behind her, fitting his body in behind hers, dragging his lips down the side of her neck, feeling her involuntary shiver…

Reno turned his face back towards the sky, allowing his eyes to droop, a small smile on his face.