Asneed: I'm sorry for being evil! I hope you forgive me!
Kei: hehe, you're so on to me! Do you mean the ''Are you cursed?'' part? :P Keep reading, your question will be answered soon ;)
Chapter 184
I could hear the pop of gunshots over the roaring of the flames. Tseng and Rude were already chasing down the hill, so we quickly followed. Elena took the time to shoot me a nasty glare, no doubt having put two and two together, but I didn't care.
Bullets whizzed at us from the dark, one passing just by my face, nicking the tip of my ear. I dropped to my knees when another came at me, sliding down the wet grass. Without slowing, I got back to my feet and ran into the chaos. At the crossroads we were met by a group of soldiers, spread out all over the road, hiding between the trees, and all that stood between them and us were two lonely figures, Vincent and...
"Ollie?" I said, freezing in my tracks.
What the hell was he doing here? He was supposed to be in Edge. Did he have any idea that Edge was under attack at this very moment?
There was no way he had heard me, but at the sound of Tseng and Elena already firing their guns into the trees, he looked up. He waved at me with a cheeky grin.
Rude was fist-fighting one of the troopers, simply yanking the gun from his hands and hurling it at Reno, who caught it deftly and sprung into action. There was suddenly nothing clumsy or casual about him anymore. In the blink of an eye, he became a trained fighter.
The Turks had easily set up a perimeter, a circle of threat around the enemy. They were one hell of a team to have positioned themselves to perfectly without specific instruction. However, I, wasn't part of the team. I bolted and joined the frenzy. Instead of hiding behind a tree, like Ollie was doing, I just ran right into the fight, as always.
"Fox, get back here!" Tseng ordered me when I ran onto the crossroads, into open terrain.
But I didn't. I was SOLDIER First Class, and these sad individuals, sneaking up on us in the middle of the night, would know it. They had just ruined what probably would have been the best night of my life. What actually already had been the best night of my life, but would have gotten much better, had they not interfered.
I rolled across the road when more bullets came flying my way from the dark trees, dodging them this way and that, while the Turks opened fire on the troopers full throttle.
"Fox!" Tseng ordered again.
I never slowed when I met the first one in the middle of the road, slamming into him shoulder first, bringing us both down. Rolling and twisting, I kicked him in the face while he tried to get up. But he was no ordinary trooper and wouldn't simply stay down. I slammed my fist into his jaw, knocking out some teeth. He reached out to snag me, but I slid out of the way and caught onto his arm. I twisted my body around it, and cracked it at the elbow, his scream audible over the continued sound of gunshots. I swung my leg backwards around his neck and snapped it. I had no time for this.
I saw Vincent soaring over the trees carrying Tseng away towards Edge. I had no doubt I would hear about my disobedience later.
The next one was on me, gun pointed at me and I was only just able to roll out of the way, bullets impacting the ground where I had been a mere second ago. He went down with two shots from my own gun.
A quick shadow came running at us from the dark, this one, small. It didn't take me long to see it was a young auburn haired girl, very early teens by the looks of it, if even. What was she doing here? In my confusion I lost track of my surroundings. I heard something thud behind me, and I spun around, seeing another soldier crumple to the ground. Rude nodded at me from across the road. I just got really lucky there. When I looked back, the girl had disappeared.
Soon, there were no more soldiers on the road, and they retreated into the trees, hiding in the foliage.
"You better run, bitches!" Ollie roared from somewhere behind me.
Some things would never change.
I tore into the trees after them, ignoring Reno's calls for me to stay in sight. "Dammit, Foxy!" I heard him curse when my behind disappeared into the forest.
The gunshots ceased, silence fell as the soldiers hid from me. The Turks would have no more visual, and neither would Ollie. Though I hoped he'd brought his scope with him.
I heard someone laugh in the darkness, coming from somewhere to my right, the sound echoing among the trees. I strained my ears to pick up any other sounds.
"Eden, get back here!" Reno's voice cut through the eerie silence, muted by the thick growth.
The screams on the air made my flesh crawl.
"Hush," I whispered softly to myself, hoping he would remain silent, and snuck on.
The silence of the night and the mountainsides magnified every sound outside the trees, but here, in the forest, sounds were muffled, distorted and eerie.
"Never mind, man," I heard Ollie reply. "Can't tell her what to do."
"Yeah, tell me 'bout it." Reno replied moodily, though he'd cut down the volume.
"What does she think she's doing?" Elena asked, anger evident in her voice.
I rolled my eyes, biting my tongue to keep from screaming at them. Stupid idiots. Slowly and silently I stalked through the undergrowth, still listening hard. Another laugh, this time from my left. Were they on to me?
"Hold position," I heard Reno order. "Eyes on the trees."
Sometimes I forgot he was second in command, goofy as he was. Now that Tseng wasn't here, he was in charge.
Suddenly, a shot was fired from my right. I dropped my body to the ground and heard Ollie scream my name in worry. I looked around from my position on the forest floor, keeping still.
"Eden!" Ollie called again. "You okay? Answer me dammit!"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up." I chimed softly, still not seeing where the shot had come from.
"Eden, goddammit, this isn't funny!" Ollie was getting upset at my lack of response, probably fearing the worst. "Aight, that's it, I'm going in after her."
"Hold position, Ollie." Reno repeated firmly, though there was also worry in his voice.
I crawled across the forest floor, keeping my body as low as possible.
"Let her be." Elena said. "Threat's over. I say we go see if Tseng needs assistance."
"We stay here." Reno said.
"Your judgment's clouded." I heard her say harshly. "You shouldn't be making the call."
"We stay here," Reno said again, sounding final. "That's an order."
Suddenly a dark shape emerged from the trees ahead, moving straight at me.
"Shit," I cursed and jumped to my feet. As I did, I felt a sudden push from behind and I realized someone had snuck up on me, and had kicked me in the back. I moved onto my back, and booted the assailant in the chest, pushing him back a few feet. By his silhouette in the dark, I could see it was a giant of a man. At least eight feet tall, and broad as bear. He was clearly not fully human. I flipped myself to my feet, flying at him, punching him in the gut, four times in a row. It was like punching a rock. A second later, I was backhanded so hard I got thrown into a tree, before crumpling to the ground in a heap. I shook my head, trying to clear it, but was soon grabbed by the cuff of the neck and lifted three feet into the air, my legs flailing.
This man holding me was huge, I had never seen anything like it. I wrapped a leg around his arm to hoist my body up and kicked him in the face with the other. His head snapped back, but he seemed otherwise unphazed. Deciding on extreme measures, I took a sais from my back and stuck it into his arm. This did the trick. He dropped me with a grunt. A grunt? Seriously?
I fell to the hard ground, flattening my palms in the dirt to catch myself. He yanked out the weapon and before I could even comprehend, it went blade first through the middle of my hand, sinking five inches into the cold ground. I screamed, hard, silencing myself with a sob.
"Eden!" Ollie shouted. "Screw this!"
"Ollie, get back here, dammit!" Reno ordered him."Stay there!" He then added, probably to Elena and Rude, because I heard both men come crashing into the foliage.
"Is that Vermont I hear?" A voice asked me.
I looked up, seeing the other man had now joined us, but I couldn't see his face in the dark. His voice, however, sounded familiar, though I couldn't place it. I felt a huge foot on my back, holding me down. The man with the familiar voice bent down and yanked the blade from my hand, freeing it. I pushed out another groan of pain.
"I remember this," He said as he held it up to his face. "Always thought you were a weirdo using these things."
"Who are you?" I whispered, while hearing Ollie and Reno come closer to us, crashing through the trees.
The man looked up at his large friend and nodded. "Azul,"
"Fire," I heard him rumble in a deep voice and immediately, guns went off from every direction, aimed at Ollie and Reno. I screamed again, this time for them to get back, but it was inaudible over the salvo. Seconds after the assault, all went silent again, and felt hugely relieved when I heard Ollie and Reno talking among the trees.
"You aight, my man?" I heard Reno ask, still some distance away from us.
"Awesome," Ollie replied. "You?"
"I'm good. See anything?"
"Dude, I only have one eye, what are you expecting?"
"Stay back!" I shouted for them best I could with the weight on my back. He pushed the boot even further into me, trying to shut me up.
"Eden?!" Ollie called, and by the sound of it he doubted having actually heard me.
I couldn't manage to say any more, I felt I was being crushed. My fingers dug into the rotting leaves around me, trying to get away to get some air into my lungs. Suddenly, the weight was gone and I was lifted to my feet, my knees buckling in effort to stay up. Then my eyes fell on the man before me. The moon had emerged from behind the clouds and before me stood...
"Max?" I asked out loud, my voice raspy from lack of fresh air.
"Very good, Eden." He smiled.
He was still the handsome boy I remembered, gray eyes and soft brown hair, but there was something sinister about him now. He was pale in the moonlight, his eyes sunken and sorrowful.
"Eden, what's going on?" Ollie asked, raising his voice to be heard.
"Shut up, Vermont!" Max snapped into the dark before turning back to me. "Here, let me give this back to you." He placed the sais back into my harness, making me frown at what he was doing.
As if on queue, an engine roared from down the road, headlights illuminating the forest, casting shadows over us.
"That's our ride," Max said. "See you soon, Eden." With that, they crashed away, back to the road.
For a few seconds, I was too shocked to act. Max? But, they had executed him, right? Had they said so and instead locked him up in the labs? Reno's shouts forced me into action, and I bolted after them. They were running at great speed, making it difficult for me to keep up with them. My hand was still bleeding, throbbing painfully.
Over on the road, I heard the vehicle screeching to a halt, followed by more gunfire and response fire from Elena and Rude, who still stood set up along the mountainside. As I chased the dark shadows, two more shapes emerged from the trees on either side of me and I crashed into Ollie, sending us both down to the forest floor. Reno ran on, but stumbled to a halt once he noticed us.
"Go!" I shouted at him, knowing there was no time to waste, or they would make their escape.
He didn't hesitate for a second, leaving us behind on the ground. I climbed to my feet, pulling Ollie up with me and we followed after him. When we reached the road, Max and his cohort were just slipping into a large army truck. They drove off, sand blasting up from the tires, bullets ricocheting off the sides. Reno stood in the middle of the road, having just missed them, panting, just like we were.
"Dammit!" He cursed, kicking at a dead trooper lying in the dirt, just to release some frustration.
"Tseng just texted," Elena said stiffly. "Edge is safe. I'm gonna call him and give him the report. Unless you wanna do it?" She asked Reno, but made it sound as if she already knew the answer. He just stood staring at her, unresponsive. Then he turned and walked over to me.
"You okay?" His voice was strained, as if he were battling himself. Was he angry with me for having run off? He probably was.
"Got stabbed in the hand, no biggie."
"Lemme see." He took my dripping hand into his, his fingers gentle not to hurt me. "We had some materia in the chopper, but, ya know, since you were near it, it's gone up in flames."
I chortled at his joke, meanwhile looking him over for injuries. He seemed all right. "It'll be fine, I've had worse." I replied.
Now it was his time to laugh, thought darkly. "Yeah, I know. What happened in there?"
"It was Max," Even after seeing him with my own eyes, it was difficult to believe.
"What?! Retard?!" Ollie exclaimed in astonishment. "That's impossible, Max was-" He fell silent and his face turned dark. "Damn Shinra."
"My guess exactly." I agreed, before explaining to Reno. "He was our friend back when I was in SOLDIER. He was Second class, supposedly executed by Shinra for helping me escape. Guess they didn't did they? They took him into custody and sent him to the labs."
"I don't know anything about that, Foxy. I remember arresting him, but after that... I told you the science department is a whole different thing. But it makes sense, yeah. Sounds like something they would do." I noticed he was still holding on to my hand. Did this mean anything?
"You saw the big guy," I said. "But there was also a little girl. Early teens, very early. Maybe ten. She just disappeared into the darkness. Guess she left with the rest of the soldiers that were hiding in there."
"I don't get this." Reno wrinkled his brow, deep in thought. "We gotta figure out what they want. I gotta deal with this mess, the two of you head back and take care of that hand, huh? We'll talk about this later."
There was no point in breaking our heads over it until Vincent got back. He was the one with all the answers, it seemed. "Alright," I said, noting the silent promise of a rebuke coming up later. "Good luck."
He let my hand slip from his as I walked off with Ollie.
I tore a strip off my tank top and wrapped it around my hand, trying to stop the bleeding. Ollie and I walked back up the hill together, leaving the Turks to do their thing. Which was having more people swarm the place and rid of the bodies. In other words, rid of the evidence.
"Mind telling me what you're doing here?" I asked Ollie while I bound the fabric around my hand. "I thought you were staying in Edge?"
"Eva and I had a fight." He replied honestly. "This attack..It brought out something in me I thought I had lost. It sparked a fire I didn't know had dimmed, I-"
"You're seriously starting to sound like an old fart, you know that?" I stated dryly, and thereby agreeing with him.
"Yes!" He cheered, making me think only Ollie would cheer over an insult. "Exactly! So, I told her I missed doing this. I've tried, so hard, to just have a normal job, but it's just not for me. She wants kids, and she thinks it's too much of a risk for me to be in this line of work. She's right, obviously, but I just..."
Last time we spoke about this, I had already gotten the feeling it was Eva who had asked him to quit his job as a merc. Before, I had always been under the impression it had been his own decision. I thought for a moment, knowing I had to be careful with what I said. "Look, I like Eva, I really do, but you can't let her decide how to live your life. Does she want you to be miserable? If she can't accept your choice, then maybe she's not the right girl for you."
"That's a little harsh." He said, sounding sad. "I'm not you."
"I know that," I said, feeling bad for having said it like that. "Which is why I'm not the best person to advise you in this, I suppose."
"I just need some time to think about it. All I want is to live my life the way I want to, but she just doesn't get it. I needed to get out of there for a moment."
"If you get yourself killed, she'll kill me, you know that, right?" Ollie had always been like my little brother and I felt responsible or him. On the other hand, had he not been here tonight with his expert eagle eye, things may have turned out very differently. The truth was, I missed him. I missed working with him, I missed having him around me. I was aware that this was a very selfish thing to think, which is why I never confronted him about my hunch that Eva was behind his change of career. What happened between them is their business, but I couldn't help but feel a little jolt of hope over his sudden change of heart.
Ollie and I walked into the kitchen, tired but victorious. I spent some time holding my hand under the tap and wrapped it with a fresh bandage. Having materia would have been better, but since I never got around to buying any, I was just going to have to deal with it and ask Cloud or Vincent for help later.
Ollie fell asleep at the kitchen table while I looked out at the still burning trees through my kitchen window.
Ten minutes later, the door was flung open and Elena stormed in, nearly unhinging it. Ollie shot up with a yell, throwing his chair back with such aggression it broke apart. Reno and Rude entered a few seconds later, looking worried about Elena's wrath.
"What is wrong with you?!" She yelled, stalking over to me threateningly, her fists clenched at her sides.
"Back off, will you?" Ollie warned her, stepping up and in between us. "This is our way of way working, you do things differently, and that's fine." This was one of the reasons I missed him. We were a team, him and I. Nothing could ever get between us.
"She jeopardized the operation. It was completely reckless." Elena said to him, fuming at him too, as if it was his fault.
"Reckless is my middle name," I said, drawing her attention back to me. "I don't see the problem."
"The problem is, that there is no reason to take unnecessary risks. It gets you nowhere."
"I didn't make it to SOLDIER First Class without taking risks."
"No, you made it to SOLDIER First Class by screwing your superiors." She snapped at me, making me raise both eyebrows in disbelief of her audacity.
"Excuse me?" I asked, just as Reno said, "Elena, what the hell?"
"Oh come on, we've all heard the rumors. And we all know they are true." She pressed.
Since when were rumors and truth the same thing?
"What rumors? What are you on about?" I asked, oblivious. One would think, having actually been there, I would've known about any rumors.
For a moment she stood there, sizing me up, wondering whether she dared. And she dared. "There was no way you should even have been in SOLDIER in the first place, being a girl."
"Meaning?" I knew where this was going, and I still needed to hear it.
"You slept with Lazard to be admitted!" She said it so fast it was as if she were afraid to change her mind half-way.
"Oh, Gods..." I rolled my eyes at the ceiling before getting really angry. "You weren't even there yet! You were probably still playing with your fucking dolls! What could you possibly know about it?!"
"Others told me! Everybody knew. And not just Lazard. Genesis too, and eventually Sephiroth to work your way up. Who knows who else then and since."
"Poor Angeal," I stated dryly. "He must have felt pretty lonely being left out." I was amazed by my own sudden capacity to restrain myself. Only a year ago, I would have ripped her hair out of her skull. It seemed I was finally growing up. My temper hadn't changed, though.
"Elena, come on!" Ollie exclaimed, shaking his head at her in disbelief. "This is totally uncalled for."
"No, I'm curious." I said, pretending calmness. "I wanna hear this. Come on, let me have it. Who else?"
"Vincent," She blurted out, making Ollie snort so loud he choked on it.
"What?!" I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that myself. "Vincent?! Where would you get such a stupid idea?"
"Reno told me."
I snapped my mouth shut, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "Oh, did he?"
"That was years ago when I said that, Elena." He said to her moodily, trying to save his own ass. "Shut the hell up, will ya?"
"You know, you and I have a problem." I said to her, knowing she was trying to drive a wedge between Reno and myself. It made me want to have him even more, just to step on her toes. "Even if it were true, it's none of your goddamn business who I sleep with. And let's not forget you're screwing your boss too. Is that how you made it on the team? Did you start at the bottom?"
She was about to retort when Rude held up a hand. "Let's just calm down, both of you. We have business to discuss."
We both fell silent, but I felt her glaring at me from across the table when she moved to sit down. Rude fell down beside her.
"So, what do we do now?" I asked no one in particular after some time, leaning my hands on the kitchen island, looking at them.
"We wait for Tseng to come back." Reno said, sounding relieved the argument was over and we got back to business at hand. "And then we pursue and kill. The time for capture is over. These guys are too dangerous." He stood beside me, arms and ankles crossed, leaning back against the island.
"I told you there was child among them." I argued. Only then did I notice I was still bleeding, leaving a large smear on the wooden polished counter top.
"And?" Elena piped up, unable to keep her mouth shut.
"And..? And it's immoral." My eyes searched their faces, waiting for someone to say something. Ollie was looking at me with a pained eye. I knew he had my back on this one. "Please tell me you're not seriously considering killing a little girl." I looked at the others in question before I scoffed. "That's insane."
"What's the problem?" Elena challenged, something she seemed to be doing every chance she got. "Few hours ago you were all about killing them."
"That was before I knew there was a ten year old involved."
"This is what we do, it's our job." She replied stubbornly.
"It's not my job."
"Then leave, why don't you?"
"Guys, seriously?" Ollie asked, addressing Elena. "What's up with you? What is this?"
Reno was squeezing the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed as if silently praying for patience. He must be growing real tired of these arguments. Especially since they seemed to be about him, underneath it all. I was sure he knew that.
"I thought you people had changed." I stated.
"We did," Reno pushed himself off the counter suddenly, straightening up and facing his team. "I ain't killin' no kid."
"You mean to say you've changed," Elena shot at him, pointing at me. "When she entered the picture, you went rogue."
"I did not go rogue, Elena!" Reno exclaimed. "Yo, what's your problem?"
"Eden's my problem. You used to be all about your job, and then she shows up and suddenly you were disobeying direct orders, going easy on her, even helping her. You just made a very bad call back there, just so you could save her, again, while she's the one making stupid and dangerous decisions all the time. You're not the Turk you used to be."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." I sneered at her, earning me another foul look.
She remained quiet this time, however, and set her eyes on Reno, waiting for him to say something.
I felt bad for him. She was wrong about him, he always had his teams' best interest at heart and I didn't think he had made a bad call at all. He had just known that Deepground had still been hiding in the trees. No one was more loyal than Reno. It pissed me off that she treated him like this. He didn't deserve this.
I could tell he was conflicted between friendship for her and being her superior. He remained silent for a moment has he considered, something I hadn't seen him do often. I could already tell he was very different while focused on a job. More driven and professional. He wasn't afraid to make hard decisions. He could be sincere and a dangerous killer. He just never had been that way with me. This was a whole other side to him, a side I had seen once, three years ago in Wutai, when he'd dumped Don Corneo off a cliff. And I respected him for it. I respected him for everything he was.
"I didn't make a bad call." He started. "There's a reason I'm second in command, and you're not. I don't expect you to understand operational tactics the way I do."
Elena opened her mouth indignantly. "You let her go time and time again, and you know it!"
"Sounds to me like I made him a better man." I shrugged, standing up for him.
"Like you made Sephiroth a better man?" She spat and I visibly flinched at the mental slap to the face.
"Hey!" Ollie exclaimed. "I don't care if you're a chick, I will hit you."
"We don't have to take this shit from you!" I said, deciding I didn't care about self control anymore. "You stuck up little brat."
"I'll have a word with Tseng about this, see what he thinks." Elena grumbled, probably feeling unsupported by her team. "I say she goes, I'm sick of-"
"That's enough!" Rude slammed his fist on the table, shocking us all. I had never seen him act on anger before. It was intimidating to say the least. "Reno did what he had to do to salvage the situation best he could. Tseng ordered us to handle it, and we did."
"Right," Reno agreed, but Elena just huffed and crossed her arms in frustration.
"I know you don't want me here, Elena." I addressed her. Bbut Vincent asked me for a favor and I'm going to help him wherever I can. That means you have two options right now. You either suck it up, or you do something about it. I'm right here if you wanna have a go."
"Nobody's fightin' anyone." Reno said, sounding final. "We're in this together, and we'll work together. I ain't denying anything you just said, Elena, but you're wrong about one thing, I'm still all for the job. You know that. That don't mean I ain't allowed to think for myself. It's about time we started taking some responsibility for the things we've done. Eden's staying, she's never done anythin' to you."
"Yeah, obviously, since it's my house." I mumbled, but looked away when he shot me a warning look.
"Fine! Then we don't kill the girl, I don't care." Elena threw up her hands before pointing a finger at me again. "But she's done enough. She singlehandedly caused the entire company's downfall. She ruins everything she comes into contact with, and you should stay far away from her. Like you said you would."
I'd known she wanted me to stay away from Reno, but I still didn't see how it was any of her concern. And what was that she said about the company's downfall? Is she even for real? I had had enough. I vaulted around the island, ready to have her throat, but Reno had anticipated. Fast as he was, he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, holding me back before I had even taken two steps in her direction. At the same time, Ollie flung himself at her, but it was Rude who held him back, without much difficulty. I growled and fought Reno's hold on me, but only half heartedly. He was right to stop me, or there would have been some blood on the walls. And it wouldn't have been mine. He maneuvered me back around the island and placed me on his other side, holding out an arm to block me. He was probably worried I would fly at her first chance I got. He must have agreed I had reason to, or just knew me well enough.
"I'm not having this discussion with you, Elena." He addressed her. "You have no idea what you're talking about. I'm not goin' to explain myself to you. This is something between me and her. Putting her in her place for the choices she makes during an operation ain't for you to do either. That's for Tseng, or in this case, me. And I will, don't worry."
Elena took the reprimand, seemingly a little victorious that I would be receiving one too.
"Fox, outside." He said to me, inclining his head and walking out. I followed after him, feeling Elena's accusing eyes burn into my form.