Scars of the Past

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes I get so weird - I even freak myself out - I laugh myself to sleep - It's my lullaby - Sometimes I drive so fast - Just to feel danger - I wanna scream - It makes me feel alive - Is it enough to love - Is it enough to breathe - Somebody rip my heart out - And leave me here to bleed - Is it enough to die - Somebody save my life - I'd rather be anything but ordinary please (Avril Lavigne – Anything but Ordinary)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 3 - Sephiroth Appears

"You two know each other then?" Tseng asked while exchanging glances between the two. Reno totally ignored the question being asked and kept staring at the blonde. After he finally picked his jaw up from the floor, he decided to speak.

"Rude has Callum then?" The red head asked moving his gaze to look at the astonishingly white bed sheets.

"Erm..... yeah well Sarah has him" Elena started to fiddle with the bottom of her new navy suit.

"Hey El, don't look so nervous. You'll do fine" Reno smiled at her. He turned his attention back to the Turk leader. "I know her through Adrienne" Reno whispered, dropping his gaze to the sheets yet again. Tseng looked almost guilt after the red head answered him. He continued looking to the blonde, who was still fiddling with the jacket, as well as looking how pretty her shiny black boots were. "Seriously though El, you'll do ok" The black haired Turks' PHS ringing interrupted Reno. Tseng answered it and began muttering away.

"I don't want to take her place you know?" Elena whispered.

"I know you don't Elly, no one gets picked for the Turks. It's not like you had a choice." Reno smiled slightly. Elena began to feel more comfortable with the situation.

The Turk Leader's PHS finally shut off. "Shit shit shit, now Avalanche are roaming the building looking for their precious Ancient." He spat. "Come on Elena we'll go and find Rude."

"If you can hit the spiky haired blonde for me that would be great, thanks" Reno mumbled before they both left the room. Tseng chuckled.

"I'll see what I can do."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Reeve walked out the late night meeting and sighed. So what if they weren't rebuilding Sector seven, it wasn't his problem right? He shook his head. At least he had the Neo Midgar plan to work on.

"Why does the President have to be such a jackass sometimes?" He muttered to himself.

"Tut tut tut Reeve, don't let someone hear you say that." Reeve didn't need to turn round to know who it was. Rufus was leant against the corridor wall, using one foot, he pushed himself off and sauntered up to the Shinra Executive.

"I thought you was still in Junon?"

"I was until...." The blonde looked at his watch "About five hours ago. The old man wanted me to come and look at something. I'm due back in Junon later tonight" Reeve nodded.

"You heard about sector seven then?" The black haired man asked as he turned and walked towards the elevator.

"Yeah..... pretty big mess from what I could see from the copter. I heard they sent Reno to do it?" They both entered the lift, and the doors fasten shut. Reeve didn't answer. The life went up a few levels then stopped. Both men looked at each other confusedly. As the doors opened, they both gaped at the silver haired man, fully clad in a black trench coat, that was walking down the hallway towards them. Rufus snapped out of his daze and pressed the first number his finger reached. The door fasten shut once more. "Whoa. Now this just gets more and more fucked up by the minute." The blonde Vice President managed to spit out as soon as he was able to make himself talk again. He slid down the glass elevator wall.

"I couldn't have said that better myself." Reeve added as he wiped his hand over his face. The lift doors opened once again. The two men jumped half a mile into the air.

"You two look like you've seen a ghost." The Wutian Turk asked as he glanced at Reeve and Rufus. His expression changed to a serious one. "You haven't seen Avalanche have you?" Rufus shook his head as he got up and walked out the lift, Reeve followed.

"Maybe we look like we've seen a ghost because we have." Tseng looked at Reeve with a questioning glare. "We saw Sephiroth." The Turk's face nearly paled at the name.

"This just gets fucking worse first Avalanche are running around the building and now this."

"Avalanche are here?" Rufus whispered. He gazed over Tseng shoulder to see a nervous looking blonde fiddling with her jacket again. "Who's this?" The Shinra Executive also spotted her.

"Elena?" He looked her over "They made you a Turk?" Elena just nodded, gazing at the floor.

"Is Sephiroth really alive?" She asked in a near whisper, her voice shaking a little.

"You chose the worst time to become a Turk deary." The blonde said as he took a cigarette out of his top pocket and lit it. Tseng gave him a puzzled look. "Don't look at me like that it's Reno's influence"

"It's not like I had a choice in the matter." Elena replied.

"Does everyone know you Elena?" The Turk Leader asked her. She smiled a bit.

"No you just happen to introduce me to the only 2 people in the building who know me." The look in Tseng face was urging her to go on. "Reeve is my cousin. Our surnames are the same if you didn't notice."

"So they are." The Wutian muttered after thinking it over for a few seconds.

"Well I don't know about you Reeve, but I'm getting the fuck out of here. I don't want Sephy boy's sword running through me. I'm gonna get in a copter and hover around for a bit. Coming?" Rufus asked stubbing out his cigarette on the wall. Reeve nodded. "We'll see you two later." Rufus started towards the elevator but stopped. "I think I'll take the stairs" He spun around and walked the other way. Everyone else chuckled.

"I'll see you later El. Be careful alright?" Reeve told her as he went after a fleeing Vice President.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The bald headed Turk was sat in the CCTV room. One of the guards had mentioned to him that he saw Avalanche enter the building via the fire escape stairs. He watched as the terrorists kept on climbing the tower in hope of finding the Ancient. Rude shook his head. How does a group of three people, four if you included the Ancient, try and defeat Shinra? The answer is they don't.

He chuckled a little as he saw the Mayor of Midgar give his key card to the spiky haired blonde. Everyone knew how the man detested everything President Shinra did. Who could blame him? Shinra virtually took away all the privileges Domino ever had. All him and Hart ever did was look after Shinra's extensive library that was full of useless information. Not a too glamorous job for a Mayor and his assistant to do. Rude knew Tseng had entered the room but didn't turn round.

"Now how did I know you'd be in here?" The Turk strolled over to an empty chair and sat in it.

"One of the guards told me he saw Avalanche so I came in and had a look. They're on the 65th floor now." Tseng nodded and made a once over on all the monitors before spotting the three on one of them.

"Rude this is Elena, the new Turk I've requesting for ages."

"Hi again" Elena whispered from the doorway.

"Hi........ I had a feeling that's what Heidegger wanted earlier." Tseng looked puzzled not for the first time tonight. Rude glanced over. "Reno asked me to pick Callum up from Elena, while I was there Heidegger phoned her."

"I have no idea why he made me a Turk, I wasn't even at work half the time." Elena dared to take another step into the room. "Reeve always used to bail me out" She began to get nervous and Tseng turned slowly and looked at her. "Reno and.... Adrienne's fault. They always made me look after the kid when they were on a mission" Whispering her friend's name. The Turk Leader then nodded at her. Elena sighed in relief.

On one of the CCTV monitors, the Turks watched as Cloud, Tifa and Barret fought whatever creations Professor Hojo had dispatched to destroy them. The instant the last creature died, Tseng stood up.

"Elena, you stay here and watch what Avalanche are doing. Rude, you and I are going to pay a nice visit to our neighbourhood terrorists." Elena nodded, while the other two Turks left the room.

"I'm so glad I'm not going." The blonde mumbled to herself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(A couple of hours later)

"We've still got be on guard, so I guess it's an all-nighter." The Wutian said slumping down on the couch in the Turks' Office. Rude took off his sunglasses and popped them in his top pocket.

"That's something we haven't done in a long time." The stoic Turk grabbed a cup from his desk and filled it with steaming hot coffee. Elena still stood out the doorway, unsure of what to do. Tseng noticed her.

"Elena you can sit down you know. We don't bite, only on Sundays." The blonde smiled a little. She went over and sat timidly on the sofa. The Turk leader glanced over for a second. "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself? I mean it's going to be a long night, might as well do something to pass the time."

"Erm ok. I've been a SOLDIER first class for about 6 years........" She started to say nervously. "I'm not that interesting." The blonde whispered while trying to clean the dirt from under her finger nails. Tseng studied her for a moment.

"You was close to Adrienne then?"

"How did you........" The black haired Turk cut of the blonde before she finished

"You're as nervous as hell. I'm gathering it is because you know it's her place you're taking."

"Got it in one. I'd known her since we were kids, we got into SOLDIER together, we shared a room together. I just miss her......." Elena trailed off, took a deep breath then continued. "Heh....... I can remember when we met Reno. Me and Addy were sat in the canteen, being the woman fanatic Reno is, and us being the only girls in SOLDIER, he came over, draped his arms around us both and said something cocky. I think it was something along the lines of, 'How 'bout you two gorgeous looking ladies escort a fine looking man like myself to dinner.'" Elena smiled a bit more.

"Sounds just like Reno." Rude muttered from the other side of the room, sipping from his cup.

"Rude, did you know that cup has teddy bears dressed in pink bows on it?" Tseng asked trying to hide his smile.

"I know. It's the only cup I have left. Reno broke the other one while throwing it across the room. He was muttering about fat ass giving him overtime again. He's broke many cups like that, they just all happened to be mine."

"I'm sure you had another cup apart from that?" Elena asked nearly bursting into laughter.

"Yeah, but I thought this one added more character." Rude said, trying to stop himself from grinning, when Elena burst out laughing.

"Pity..... You.... Don't.... Have.... A.... Cup... With.... Little.... Teddies.... In.... Blue.... Suits.... With.... Sunglasses... On." The blonde tried to get out while still laughing. This made the other two Turks grin some more. The phone started ringing, which made Elena stop laughing. Tseng picked it up.

"Turks Office......" The blonde Turk zoned out so as not to listen to the telephone conversation. She looked around the room to see a desk, which looked like a bomb had hit it. There was paper everywhere, most of it screwed up into balls, while some of them resembled paper aeroplanes. Rude noticed her looking.

"Reno's desk" He smiled at her

"Ah, that explains everything then." Tseng put the phone down around five minutes later.

"We have major problems. Avalanche got away, with the Ancient. None of the stupid guards could catch them...." He muttered towards the end.

"There's something else isn't there?" Elena asked. Tseng began to answer her, without the slightest bit of remorse.

"Yes. The President is dead......... killed by Sephiroth."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------