Chapter 2 – Nightmare's beginning

Why's it feel like night today?

Somehow everything's not right today.

Why am I so uptight today?

Like the paranoia's all I got left.

I don't know how it struck me first,

Or how the pressure was fed.

But I know just what it feels like…

To have a voice in the back of my head…

"Papercut" –Linkin Park

Tifa couldn't sleep. For some reason, the same feelings of fear assailed her mind. Perhaps not fear as much as – dread. She just couldn't shake the thought that something was going to happen, something horrible. She felt tense and fidgety, and her eyes felt abnormally wide. She tried to console herself, to convince herself that she was being paranoid, but it wasn't happening.

She listened to the loud snoring coming from downstairs, probably from Cid, who was sleeping on the pulled out couch-bed with Shera. Beside her, Cloud made hardly a sound as he slept peacefully. With a sigh, Tifa stood up and got dressed, trying her hardest to be quiet with it. Careful not to make the floor creak, she walked out of her room and downstairs, passing the room that Yuffie was sleeping in, and then Vincent's. Once downstairs, she was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to notice that only two chairs were inhabited by sleeping Turks. She walked over to the kitchen like a zombie, and opened the fridge, pulling out a pitcher of water. Still deep in thought, she reached into the cupboard and took out a glass. Drinking her water and placing the pitcher back in the fridge, she sat down at the kitchen table and stared into the glass with a thoughtful gaze.

"Hey."

The voice startled her so bad she nearly dropped the water onto the floor. She jerked her head up and saw Elena watching her.

"Whoa, you startled me!" Tifa said, her voice a hushed whisper.

Elena bit her lip. "Sorry. I thought you saw me."

"You can't sleep?"

"No." Elena shrugged. "I don't know, I just feel really tense for some reason."

"Me too." Tifa admitted.

"Yeah…" Elena looked down at the table nervously. The room was perfectly silent for a while, minus Cid's snoring. For what seemed an eternity, Tifa fought for something to say, but found nothing. Finally, Elena spoke,

"Listen, I'm sorry." Her big brown eyes fixed on Tifa.

"For what?"

"Just…everything. Causing you guys trouble way back when, and being such a pain in the ass and everything."

Tifa nodded, realizing it had been nearly two years since she'd seen the female Turk. "It was your job, don't worry about it."

"I know, but I still feel bad. I should have quit as soon as I learned what the Turks really do, but – I felt so accomplished, like I was doing something really useful for once. I guess that's why I stayed, I finally felt like a success."

"It's not your fault, I – we fully forgive you, I promise. We can't blame you for liking what you do."

"I know, but I just feel bad about it. I just want to think that for once, something I'm doing has a point to it, like I won't die not having done anything."

Tifa nodded again. "I understand. That's how I feel, like if I don't do something, I'll die not having accomplished anything."

"Reno says that I'm too obsessed with it. He seems to like his job – well, as much as you can like being a Turk – but he also acts like its just his means of feeding his family."

"Family?" Tifa had never actually considered the motives behind Reno before.

"Yeah, his mom and his little sister live in the slums. He's trying really hard to get enough money to move them somewhere safer, but Heidigger wasn't really huge on pay checks."

"That's horrible. I would never have thought it…"

Elena looked over at the sleepy form of the Turk, his thin lips closed in a frown of restful contentment. It was strange, but he actually looked kind of innocent when he slept. She smiled wryly. "Yeah, he doesn't seem the type, but he really loves his family. He's always telling Rude and me about them, especially Ceres. She's his five-year-old stepsister, and he adores her. Hehe, but usually it's Rude he talks to, I'm just the Rookie."

"I don't know. If you could handle all that time with Reno – without coming out of it in a straightjacket, that is – I think you deserve the Metal for Bravery." Tifa smiled, and Elena laughed.

"Ain't that the truth?"

She almost screamed as Reno was suddenly behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

"You guys aren't very nice, talking about me while I sleep."

Tifa felt her cheeks flair at that, and she looked away.

"How long were you listening to us?" Elena's voice whooshed out of her body anxiously, loosing the casual tone she had wanted.

Reno shrugged, "Sometime between Ceres and straightjacket. Why, was there more?" His icy eyes turned on her, but they seemed oddly amused. Maybe there really was a human down there somewhere.

"No, of course not. I was just wondering." Elena said, laughing uncertainly.

"Relax." His fiercely blue, iridescent eyes flickered from amusement to a kind of cunning compassion of some sort. "I'm not going to yell at you or something. You gotta learn to be more casual, Elena."

Tifa watched the too, and felt strangely pleasant around them. As a whole they weren't all that bad, even if Reno kind of made her edgy with his viciously controlled emotions shining only through his bright aqua eyes.

"So, are you guys gonna meet with Reeve?" Elena asked Tifa suddenly, breaking an incoming silence.

She nodded. "I think so, yeah. Yuffie and Vincent didn't mention it, but Cloud and Cid seemed more than happy at the chance to see him. Its been awhile…"

"Nearly two years, you mean? Trust me, he's missed ya." Reno's eyes were eerily gentle. "That guy – he's one in a million. Jesus Christ he confuses me, but he's a good guy."

"Ya, he talks about you a lot. It's kinda – you know – weird at times, hearing about the enemy from one of the guys who was supposed to be part of the enemy. But, it keeps his mind off the troubles." Elena's voice sounded almost like it was trailing off, even though she wasn't, which made Tifa curious.

"Troubles?"

"Damn Neo-Shinra rebels. They were the guys that were high-ranking and crap like that, and lost a lot when Shinra broke up. Naturally, instead of getting a new job, they just pummel at us. And their ain't a lot of people willing to join us, whether their too cowardly or they feel like it isn't worth it. Some even think we're gonna repeat what Shinra did before." Reno fairly spat the words out in anger. "Idiots. Stupid goddam idiots."

"I see. Well, I'm going to go to bed. Tomorrow we can get to Midgar and sort it all out with Reeve." Tifa nodded to the two of them and walked upstairs.

Reno watched her go and looked at Elena. "Heh, poor Rude. She's just spooked of the prospect of going with us I betcha."

"Why poor Rude?" Elena asked suspiciously.

"Oh, no reason." Reno said, looking skyward innocently.

Elena rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I just don't get you Reno."

"Yeah, I know."

The next day, the winds rose up from the East, slamming past Kalm in short, powerful gasps of power, the true strength of nature. As the Turks struggled their way into the helicopter, Cid was cursing and trying to get the Highwind in the air.

"Goddamn sonuva…get your scrawny ass of the ground, now! Come ooon!"

The airship responded with a metallic click and a hiss.

"Oh, whaddya know? Heh heh, I forgot about that lever, didn' I?"

In response, the Highwind leapt to the air with a harsh, metal groan. Cid began to pull levers and push button furiously, his cigarette once again present in his mouth. Soon, they were following the copter on their way to Midgar.

Tifa watched Cloud's blond hair fly into his cerulean eyes wildly, as if locked in some chaotic dance of golden tresses. For a while she stood stock-still, watching him with a look of admiration ever-present on her face. She absent-mindedly flicked a lock of brunette hair from her matching eyes, thinking only of how much she wished she could only express in words her happiness in that moment, surrounded by friends, by love and a feeling of completion. She could lie down right there and sleep, and even the greatest dream would be a disappointment. Was it possible to be this happy so suddenly? She didn't even have that often-present feeling like it could all be taken away, because she was free now, and her destiny was fulfilled.

And then, she heard the words that froze her heart and brought forth a fear she would never be able to explain.

"Jesus Christ! Something just hit the copter!"

She looked through the window of the airship, and yelped out a almost whispered scream.

In the copter, Elena mirrored that scream as the aircraft began to spiral downward faster and faster. Rude was locked in a phase of complete concentration, trying desperately to steer the helicopter as it fell earthwards, and Reno was swearing and digging around for something, probably a weapon.

"What in hells name was that?" Reno demanded.

"I don't know." Rude murmured, barely seeming to be thinking about what he was saying.

Elena turned to him, her face contorted with fear. "Tentacles, or tendrils or something! How did anything reach us up here?"

With a jolt, a searing pain shot up her shoulder, and she screamed again. Clutching her shoulder, she realized that the copter'd hit ground and bashed into the dashboard. She'd done better than Reno, at least, who'd smashed his face into Rude's seat in front of him. His lip was bleeding, and there was now an ugly bruise on his cheek.

"God @%#& me! What in #%@#&%# hell was that for, Rude?"

Rude grunted and ignored him. "Get out of the copter! Now!"

Elena opened the door and obeyed fearfully, with Reno following and licking his split lip and Rude watching the ground. As they watched, something – some greenish beam of something or other, reached out and overtook the helicopter, crushing it.

Then, it began to sink into the earth, with the tendril of whatever dragging it into the depths of the planet. Within moments, it was gone.

With a start, Elena realized that whatever that had been had come from deep under the soil, and swallowed the copter down a seemingly endless pit.

"Oh my god." Reno murmured.

"Look out, it's growing!"

Rude's sudden shout sent Elena's brown eyes to the pit, which was growing, pieces of earth falling in and increasing its size. With a squeal, she felt her strong legs begin to pull her away. She tried to look back at it, and tripped over a root.

"Oof." She swore, and scrambled to her feet, but suddenly the hair on her neck rose as she felt ground shifting under her feet.

"Elena!" Reno cried. Suddenly, she was falling…falling…

With pure instinct, she reached out to the edge of the hole, trying to no avail to pull herself up. The ground was beginning to crumble.

And then, two warm, black-gloved hands grabbed hers, and she felt the muscles in the palm and wrist writhe as she was pulled slightly upwards.

"Reno, help!" She cried to her savoir. Her heart was beating painfully in her chest, and she felt light-headed from screaming and breathing at a seeming double speed.

"I'm – trying!" Reno gritted his teeth and she saw him close his eyes and pull backwards. With a yelp, the ground broke under his feet, and he fell to his stomach. Elena felt herself swing out and hit the wall of the hole hard. Her shoulder hurt like hell breaking loose, but she hardly noticed.

"Let go, you're gonna fall!" She said suddenly, realizing that Reno was sliding farther and farther over the edge.

Reno suddenly fell down a ways, and Elena felt herself slide sharply downward and hit the wall again. And then, she was falling down much farther. With a gasp, she saw that with the sudden weight and crumbling ground, Reno had been jerked over the side.

With Reno struggling to hold the edge and her hand, and her swinging half-hazardously, she tried to scream and nothing escaped her thin, ruby-red lips. And then, something struck her between her shoulder blades with a burning pain like that of the poke of a branding iron, and she saw that the greenish mass of energy was slamming into her, threatening to pull her down the pit.

"Oh crap."

At the sudden sound of Reno's voice, the two of them were suddenly falling, deeper and deeper into the heart of the planet…

Authors note: Well, it's quarter after midnight (which I've discovered is somehow my favourite time to write) and the stories finally getting somewhere. I hope you like it at least a little, and please stay tuned for the next chapter, it would mean a lot to me! Adios!

Oh, PS: If you're wondering about the name of the chapter, I think "Nightmares beginning" is the name of one of the FF7 soundtrack songs, though I'm not positive. Anyway, I heard it somewhere, if you recognize it ;)