About four hours later, they were walking through a forest, near where they knew the chocobo ranch must be

About four hours later, they were walking through a forest, near where they knew the chocobo ranch must be. Reno collapsed to sit on a rock, and waved the others to stop. "Gimme a rest," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "We've been walking for hours." Elena and Rude gratefully seated themselves beside him, and Rude commented "…Not far now." "Mmmm," agreed Elena. But Reeve wasn't listening. "Hey, shut up a minute," he murmured. Instant silence. Elena and Rude turned in the direction he was looking.

Then they heard it too. A sort of shuffling sound, coming from nearby, accompanied by snorting and all kinds of other strange noises. Silently, Reno pulled aside a large leave, and looked into the direction of the sound. Elena opened her mouth to say something, but Rude covered it with his hand, and she subsided irritably. Reno stood perfectly still and stared at the thing that was making the noises.

It was hideous. Hideous like nothing he had seen before. It was a deep shade of sickly green, with huge red eyes that seemed to bulge from it's head. Slowly, it turned those red eyes on him, and stared for a long moment. Then it fired.

A blast of some kind of powerful energy came sailing at Reno, who ducked, barely missing the blast, and darted behind a rock. "C'mon," yelled Elena, grabbing Reno and Rude and pulling them off, away from the thing. The thing followed them, gaining speed until Elena knew they couldn't outrun it. "Damn," she muttered, fumbling in her belt for her gun. She fired 3 shots, not bothering to look behind her to see if it was dead before running in the other direction.

Only after they were sure that they were far enough away did the three ex-Turks stop and turn around. "What…was that thing?" Panted Elena. Reno shook his head. "Dunno…never seen anything like that before, and in all truth, hope I never see one again." "Amen," said Elena, stretching out on the grass. "Where are we?" Can't believe we just ran from that, she thought. The day the Turks run from something instead of fighting…

Rude looked around. "…" He commented. "Yeah, that's basically what I thought," agreed Elena. She sighed. "We went the wrong way. We're lost." Reno cocked his head at her. "Yeah, well, anyone want to go back the way we came?" Silence. "'S what I thought." He looked around. "Hey…you know what's around here?" He stepped a ways forward and frowned. Rude nodded. "…That observatory." Elena nodded slowly. "Yeah…that one we helped build a year or so back?" She shook her head. "Crazy old lunatics with their heads in the stars. Reminds me of Hojo." No one said anything to that.

"Well," Reno said slowly. "Guess we should go there or something…get directions to the ranch…or…" He trailed off, shook his head. "Let's just go there for the night. Maybe we can get some work repairing stuff or something." Elena nodded, and Rude said nothing. Reno stood for a moment, then headed off in the direction he knew the observatory to be.

Was about a year ago, wasn't it? He thought to himself as they trudged on. Needed somewhere to stay, somewhere to earn some solid gil…helped build the accursed thing. He shook his head. Don't need any more people wasting their time staring into the sky, got enough of that already. Ah well. It's a job. Rude put a hand on his shoulder. "…You ok?" Reno nodded. "Yeah, 'm alright. As alright as anyone can be on this god damned planet." He spoke bitterly, spitting out the words as he looked around at what he and his comrades in arms had been reduced to. Shaking his head, he shut up, and trudged onward. Maybe if I'm lucky, he thought angrily, someone will shoot me before I get there.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

But Reno was still perfectly intact when they reached the intimidatingly large iron observatory; with it's tightly locked doors and guards. Guards? Thought Elena. There weren't any guards there before…were there? She frowned, and voiced this thought to Reno. He shrugged. "Everyone's big on lots of security these days. Dunno why, world isn't any scarier than it used to be. Maybe we can get employment as guards, be optimistic."

They walked up to the guards, and Reno suddenly stepped back, startled. He knew one of the faces well enough. It was Reeve, another ex-Shinra, but who had never really gotten along with the Turks, for the simple and rather easily explainable reason that he had betrayed them all. Reno jerked his head at the others, who all got battle ready, drawing their weapons. Reeve shook his head.

"This isn't the time for fighting, you guys." He smiled sadly. "C'mon in. We'll save our quarrel for later." He opened the door, and a scene was exposed to them, a scene of many people with scared expressions on their faces crammed into the observatory, holding each other and continually gazing up at the ceiling. Elena dropped her gun in confusion. "Wha-what? What's going on here?" Reeve shook his head. "C'mon. I'll show you."

He gestured for another inside to take his place, and she nodded, stepping into his vacated spot. "Why all the security?" Reno asked warily, still not really trusting this person. "We're gonna need it when they get here," said Reeve cryptically. "Huh? When who get here?" Elena asked. Reeve just shook his head, and led them forward. Elena grumbled, and Reno put a hand on hers to silence her.

They finished climbing the stairs to the top of the observatory, coming through a door into a large room with a huge telescope in the center. Reno stopped dead, staring at the people gathered around him in the room. "Well whaddaya know," he muttered. "A room full of old friends." He put a hand on his electro-mag rod, ready to use it if necessary.

Standing by the telescope was Cloud Strife, flanked by Tifa Lockheart and Barret Wallace. Yuffie Kisaragi sat on a bench and tossed a materia up and down in her hands. Even she looked worried. There was an air of tension all around them, and Reno felt Elena and Rude relax and leave their weapons alone. No one was going to fight them here. Everyone was preoccupied…with what?

Cloud turned around and looked at him, nodding slowly. "Wondered how long it was going to be before you three showed up. Are you here to enlist?" Barret spat, and turned away. Cloud ignored him. Reno stared. "Enlist in what?" Reeve spoke up. "They don't even know." Cloud raised his eyebrows. "Where have you been?" He shook his head, and sat down in a chair, and spun it around to face them. "Where do I begin?"