*****

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - RECALLED

'Back in black … I hit the sack … I've been too long I'm glad to be back … Yes, I'm let loose From the noose … That's kept me hanging about … I've been looking at the sky … 'Cause it's gettin' me high … Forget the hearse 'cause I never die … I got nine lives … Cat's eyes … Abusin' every one of them and running wild … 'Cause I'm back … Yes, I'm back … Well, I'm back … Yes, I'm back … Yes, I'm back in black … Back in the back … Of a Cadillac … Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack … I'm in a bang … With a gang … They've got to catch me if they want me to hang … Cause I'm back on the track … And I'm beatin' the flack … Nobody's gonna get me on another rap … So look at me now … I'm just makin' my play … Don't try to push your luck, just get out of my way … (AC/DC: 'Back in Black')'

Mythril Mines. Evening.

The sharp crack of electricity being discharged resounded from behind her and she jumped out of the way to avoid the bolt that passed by her and turned the Madouge they had been battling into a smoldering, charred mess.

Tifa was momentarily confused as to what had caused that as none of the creatures they had encountered in the mines used any sort of electrical charge nor were any of the members of her current team equipped with any bolt spells. Fire and Ice were the stronger elementals to use here.

She spun around and was met with the smirking visage of Reno who had turned off the Electro-Mag rod and was in the process of restoring it to its customary spot on his shoulder.

"Reno." She muttered. "I should have known." She glared at him as she stormed down the mine's narrow passageway. "Trying to get someone killed?"

"If I'd wanted to kill someone, you wouldn't be standing here." Reno stated bluntly, his eyes looking down the passageway towards the group of young Soldier Thirds that were busily cleaning up the creature he had just fried into oblivion. They were whispering amongst themselves, speculating on why the leader of the Turks had suddenly appeared. "Nice group you've got there. You running a mission or a daycare?"

Tifa ignored the insult, unwilling to walk into the trap he was trying to lay for her. "What are you doing here?" She demanded instead, angry to have her turf overrun.

"Reeve sent me to help you out." He lied, that trademark lazy smirk remaining firmly planted on his lips as he slouched against a rock outcropping, the nightstick now resting casually against his shoulder.

Reeve had sent him to the mines, that much was true, but it wasn't to help her out. It was to recall her for the trip to North Corel. Reports had shown that the monster population wasn't the threat that they'd originally believed it to be, and Reeve felt fairly confident that another week with the Solder 3rds that had been assigned would make the mines safe to reopen. That plan left Tifa free to accompany them on the important trip to North Corel.

Reeve had assigned him to bodyguard duty, but from what threats Reno wasn't quite certain. Something told him that Elena, the eyes and ears of the mayor, had something to do with his sudden assignment back to "Turk" duties, but he wasn't going to complain. Anything was better than cleaning up Sector Seven. Well, almost anything.

While the thought of being a "Turk" again made the adrenaline rush through his veins, the thought of returning to North Corel with her filled him with dread. He wasn't sure if he was ready to confront the memories that were sure to surface. He frowned, not realizing that he had.

Tifa noticed the frown immediately. "You're lying, Reno." She stood there waiting for him to disclose the real reason for his sudden appearance.

"We're going to North Corel." She saw the quick flash of emotion surge through his eyes as he spoke.

Her own face clouded over as a deluge of memories surged to the forefront. She hastily pushed them away, but not quite well enough as her hesitation appeared in her voice. Then again, he'd had a lifetime of practice hiding his pain.

"Why?"

"Midgar needs power, and Wallace controls the coal mines." His voice was amazingly level, and he was proud of himself for retaining his cool exterior when it was plainly obvious to him that hers was beginning to crack at the thought of returning to the dirty wreck of a mining town with him.

"What's that got to do with me?"

"Wallace is your rebel friend. Why do you think it has to do with you?" Reno scoffed as he pushed himself off the wall. "Ironic, isn't it? You destroyed Shinra, but it's Avalanche that ends up controlling the power after it's all over."

Tifa ground her teeth as she realized Reno had pushed whatever memories had momentarily snuck through his cold unemotional guard back inside. She knew he was baiting her, trying to get her to react. Refusing to play his game, she simply asked, "When do we leave?"

"We leave for Junon in the morning. Reeve will meet us there." Reno turned and walked away, nimbly twirling the nightstick in his fingers.

Tifa groaned as he departed, not looking forward to the upcoming trip. The only highlight that she could see was that she would get to visit Barrett and Marlene again.

"Come on!" She called to the Soldiers who had just finished another battle with the creatures in the mines. "Let's call it a day."

*****

Tifa sat silently warming herself at the fire as Reno held the rest of the young men and women enthralled with stories of his days in Soldier. Behind the cold, flippant exterior lurked a master storyteller, and as he regaled the rest of the group she allowed her mind to wander.

North Corel. She'd been there several times in her lifetime, most of them with Avalanche when Cloud had decided to take yet another trip to the pleasure palace that reached towards the heavens in Dio's own monument to self-proclaimed godhood. Even though she had felt a sharp pang of anger and a small pang of regret at Reno's deception each time they had passed through the town, there was nothing remarkable about those visits. But this trip would be different.

She looked up and met Reno's eyes momentarily before pulling them quickly away, afraid that her eyes would betray her thoughts and trepidation at returning to the place where it had all come crashing down nearly five years earlier.

They stepped off the Ropeway from Gold Saucer, on the return leg of their vacation together, their fingers intertwined like vines of ivy, long allowed to grow together. She was smiling and he was smiling. He'd stopped her just out of the way of the other people stepping off the Ropeway behind them.

Embracing her, he kissed her lips gently, seemingly savoring every stolen moment he could find before their trip ended and they were back in Midgar. He whispered against her ear. "I'll never forget this trip."

She smiled as she kissed him back without the hesitation she had felt around him before their vacation. "Nor will I."

They walked together down the stairs from the Ropeway's platform and were met by a handful of Shinra guards. Behind the guardsmen she could see the unmistakable smoke and lapping flames of an inferno… or of a town going up in smoke.

The heat. The death. The destruction. It was Nibelheim all over again. She closed her eyes to block out the images of the burning mining town, but her mind conjured up the images of her own hometown, ablaze while Sephiroth stood watch, consumed by his madness. She clutched Nathan's arm, and he instinctively wrapped his arm around her, holding her close.

"Reno," The Shinra guard greeted him by a name she had only heard spoken in hushed whispers in the slums. "The others are over there." The guard motioned to the men standing on the crest of a hill nearby.

She looked where the guard was pointing and saw the two men standing, silent and ramrod straight. One had his hands clasped neatly behind his back; long dark hair rustling only slightly in the breeze as though it didn't dare anger the owner by moving out of place. The other stood perfectly still, sunglasses covering his eyes, his face completely expressionless. She recognized them from the wedding she had attended a short time before, but she also recognized the blue suits. Turks.

"Reno." She spoke the name softly, challenging him, hoping that he would deny that was his name.

"Tifa… I wasn't trying to hide it from you." His eyes showed sadness and pain as she let her eyes meet his for one last time.

"You said your name was Nathan."

"It is. Nathan Reno."

"You're a Turk." She ran from him, across the burning town, tears of shame pouring down her face. She'd let him take the last of her innocence, but she hadn't even known his last name.

"Here, I'll demonstrate." Reno spoke from right above her and she hadn't realized that he'd gotten up. Furthermore, she had no idea what he wanted to demonstrate. "Tifa?" His eyes looked at her questioningly, knowing that she hadn't been paying attention.

He held out his hand for her. "A little sparring practice? Show the troops here what you're really made of?" Reno smirked at her, challenging her to a fight he knew she wouldn't back away from.

She ignored his offered hand and pulled herself nimbly to her feet. "Are you sure you can handle it, Reno? I know how you feel about being bested by a girl."

Reno smirked and shrugged as he readied his stance, removing his jacket and tossing the nightstick away. "I'll make it easy on you. No weapons. Just a good old-fashioned fight." He leered at her as he continued. "Your body, my body. To their limits."

She charged at him, ready to deliver a series of punches for his lecherous remarks, momentarily forgetting Zangan's first rule of fighting. 'Always keep a clear mind, Tifa.' She grunted as she hit the ground, one of Reno's strong hands gripping her ankle. 'Never let your opponent talk you into a fight. Fight with your head. Then with your body.'

He flipped her over, easily pinning her to the ground to the cheering of the Soldiers gathered around the campfire. "I could kill you right now and you couldn't do anything about it." He whispered to her, leering down at her, the thought of killing her the last thing on his lust-filled mind.

Her nearness alone was intoxicating, more than any bottle of booze had ever been. He knew he'd made a grave mistake in challenging her. His thoughts had become clouded the moment that he'd pinned her. A part of him wanted nothing more than to pick her up and carry her off to his tent for the night, despite that she was still, in his mind at least, the enemy, and despite that he knew he'd be sporting a few broken bones if he tried that tactic with her.

"Don't be so certain of that, Reno." Her chocolate-cherry eyes flashed in challenge as, in a move learned from years of training with the fighting master Zangan, she twisted her body beneath his grasp and, pushing up with her legs, she freed herself from the constraints of his body. The crowd that had gathered was cheering her on as she flipped to her feet, reading herself once again in the fighter's stance.

"Now, are you going to fight or not?" She asked as he too flipped to his feet, his lean muscles allowing him to move almost as gracefully as she.

He watched her challenge him to continue, knowing that the only way to win this argument that he'd started out of some crazy notion of male pride was to put on a good show of it and let her win. Well, not so much let her win since he knew that she was the stronger and more skilled of the two of them. He'd be lucky to get out of this with all of his bones intact.

The stunt he'd pulled of knocking her off her feet a few minutes before was nothing more than a dirty trick that he had used to take advantage of the momentary lapse in her fighter's guard caused by his goading words. Besides, he had no intention of actually doing anything to either hurt her or give the appearance of hurting her.

Instead of continuing the impromptu scuffle, he gracefully took her hand and turned to their audience. Taking a deep bow full of mock grace, he announced. "And that was a demonstration of how to gain the upper hand in a fight." Smirking, he released her hand and walked towards his tent.

'What in Meteor was that all about?!'' Tifa ground her teeth as she watched him walk away. He was so arrogant! Anger welled up inside as she balled her fists and held her position, fighting the nearly overwhelming urge to run after him and pummel his scrawny ass into the ground.