Chapter 4 – I thought I heard you say you loved me

For Kya Lorne, Tigerofthewind, Krystalclear and um -  "…" the anony. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou for letting me know not to stop!! xD

Well I guess she closed her eyes

And just imagined everything was alright.

But she could not hide her tears.

Because they were sent to wash away those years.

"Wash away those years" -Creed

"Whoa! Slow down Barret! What happened?"

Cloud heard only harsh breathing on the other line for a few moments. Then, Barret began to speak.

"We was goin' for a walk. Den alla da sudden, this big blue – naw, wait – green, yeah, some green thing came outta da ground, and it got Marlene, and den – I couldn't getter back, Cloud, dammit!"

Cloud felt his stomach tighten up as Barret finished.

"Cloud?"

At Barret's voice, he realized he hadn't spoken a reply.

"Barret, the same thing happened to us. It got Reno and Elena."

"The hell were they there for?"

Cloud found himself irritated by Barret's reply and shouted. "Does it matter?" He calmed himself, and then added. "I'm sorry, just a little stressed. Damn…what are we gonna do?"

"Hey, you da boss."

"I know I know. You at Corel? I'll get Cid to pick you, Red and Reeve up, and we should think of a plan then."

"A'ight, but hurry."

Cloud turned off the phone with a beep and sighed, holding a hand to his head and closing his eyes for a moment. He leaned against a wall. "This is not my idea of a friendly visit."

"So who'm I picking up an' why?" Cid asked.

"Barret." Cloud said. "The thing got Marlene."

He heard Tifa try to conceal a gasp, and Yuffie's jaw dropped. "What? When? Where?"

Cloud frowned, "Corel, just now."

"The green thing, it wasn't just a random monster than." Vincent said slowly.

"Then what was it, smartboy?" Yuffie demanded. Her big eyes fixed on the ebony-haired man, and he shrugged, his amber eyes cool and thoughtful.

"It was too much of a coincidence that Reno, Elena and Marlene were all taken at the same time. But if it was planned by someone, why only them?"

"You mean you think others were taken too?" Cloud asked.

"Precisely."

"Hmmm…" Rude muttered, more in a discontented voice than a curious one. "You guys have no reason to help. I'm going after them."

"You joking?" Yuffie asked.

"They took Marlene!" Cid added fiercely.

"I'll bring her back too." Rude began to walk away.

"Hey, don't get cocky, Turk! You think you gonna take who-or-whatever it was by yourself?"

"If that's what it takes."

"How do you know where to go?" Cloud asked, suddenly curious.

"When the green thing attacked us, someone was watching in the shadows. When he got away, he left this."

Rude held up a piece of cloth for them to see. It was the dark green of evergreen trees, and bore a strange symbol that seemed to be a blue crystal rose in front of the full moon.

"That was the ruin of the Cetra, in ancient times." Vincent observed tonelessly.

"Yeah." Rude put it back in his pocket.

"What does that mean?" Tifa asked, and she fixed an inquisitive stare on Rude, with her big, optimistic eyes wide and shimmering in the multiple yellow lights hung in the Highwinds roof.

As it sunk into Cloud's brain, an immense feeling of sorrow and pain entered his mind. It couldn't be. The Final resting place of a creature of so much purity and elegance couldn't be their destination. The place he swore he would never return to. The words fell slowly from his lips with the agony of a reopened wound best left alone: "We have to go to the Ancient's City."

Tifa watched the ground coming closer and closer as the Highwind approached the desert city of North Corel. It hadn't taken long to get there from Nibelheim, and she was glad.

Beside her, Cloud was lost in thought, and she knew what he was thinking.

Aeris. She'd had been one of Tifa's closest friends, right from the start. She was so sweet, so pure, so – angelic. And even after two years since the fall of the Cetra angel, the thoughts of her brought unshed tears to Tifa's eyes. The memory of her, praying on the altar, trying to save the Earth from Meteor and carrying her fate as a private burden no one could have known about, it was too much. And then, the sudden rip of clothing and flesh, and the briefest whisper as she fell back to Earth and died at the hands of Sephiroth, at the embrace of the Masamune.

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help feeling jealous. She would have been the perfect love for Cloud, Tifa couldn't compete with her. But now that the competition was gone, did she feel any better?

Cid was at the wheel of the Highwind, seeming happy to be in the air. She could tell in the glimmer of his sky-blue eyes. Shera and him were discussing something, though Tifa couldn't make it out.

Yuffie was sitting in a chair and trying not to throw up, Tifa assumed. She still looked green, but she was getting better at flying. That was good.

Vincent was sitting beside her with his arms folded across his chest, deep in thought as he so often did in flight. Perhaps the steady rhythm of the airship soaring through the air made it impossible for him not to think about whatever it was that seemed to hurt him so much.

Rude was leaning against a wall, saying and doing nothing. Tifa understood, he was worried about his friends. She had done the same thing many times, just sitting staring lifelessly at things and hardly even breathing, let alone engaging in thought or speech. She still felt pity for him, the almost photographic memory of the look on his face earlier staying with her. The anger, fear, and raw emotion was so amazing, especially on his solemn face.

She turned and gazed out of the glass of the Highwind at the clouds as they passed by, thinking about many things. The Turks were one thing. Aeris was another. But soon thought was too hard, she was just thinking in circles. Giving up, she walked over to Cid. She waited until Cid and Shera finished talking about something or other, then asked:

"Hey, how long until we get to Corel?"

"A few minutes. Why?"

"I don't know. I'm just – worried about Marlene I suppose."

Cid nodded, his eyes taking on the pale shade of blue that seemed to be associated with the flashes of Cid-wisdom he adopted every once in awhile, usually when his mind wasn't full of nicotine. "Barret'll be crushed if we don't get'er back. I ain't sayin' we won't, but, y'know, stay on the lookout, eh?"

Tifa nodded, sensing there was more to his words than she expected.

"There's Corel." Shera said, pointing.

Cid nodded, and began to steer the Highwind lower, towards the barren deserts of Corel.

 Elena felt her legs tightening and seizing up as she trekked ever onward after her companion in the sunless world. Her weakness angered her; she hated looking like such a rookie.

Tseng. He had never been like the other Turks; he had never treated her like a rookie Turk. Like some stupid wannabe.

The memory of his face stayed hidden behind her eyes with the clarity of a crystal dream. Everything about him had been so perfect; his beautiful eyes, his calm expression, his pale face alight with competence and strength and compassion. The melodious sound of his voice would stay fresh in her ears forever.

She remembered the day in the Tower in Midgar when Rufus had approached them. To Tseng, he asked to go to the Temple of the Ancients and find Sephiroth. To Elena, he said nothing.

She had felt angry, discouraged, violent and heartbroken all at once. The one chance she thought she'd be able to go with Tseng and prove her worth, and Rufus had basically told her to stay outta the way while the real professionals worked. Reeve, bless him, had tried to console her and tell her that it was okay, but she had just snapped something best left unrepeated at him and stalked off.

As the leader of the Turks left, he did speak to her. Even now, more than two years later, the words still echoed in her mind.

"Visit me, okay? I'll need a little cheerfulness in that temple."

Then he told her to tell Rufus it was a "Report on her progress," and he left. All at once, her spirit soared with intense joy. Cheerfulness? He actually liked having her around? It boggled the mind.

Four days later, she did visit him at the temple. And he asked her to dinner when he came back.

The joy was unexplainable. She had spent the whole time until their supposed dinner trying desperately to look good, with various Shinra people teasing or encouraging her. Scarlet seemed to think she got lucky. Reeve told her to relax and enjoy herself. Rude, surprisingly enough, had told her how nice she looked, and that Tseng had wanted to ask her out for a while. Elena, overcome with sudden happiness, had wrapped her arms around his neck and told him how wonderful he was. She was sure that had surprised him, but she didn't care. She was on top of the world, everything else was pitiful.

She waited for him for an hour and a half, all the while feeling more and more humiliated and jerked that he could be so cruel as to cancel, especially without telling her. Finally, she went up to her temporary residence within the Tower and cried until her chest hurt.

And then, the next day, her and Rude had trekked up to the Temple, curious at the reports that their ebony-haired leader hadn't been seen since he went up there.

The sight of him, sitting against a wall with his eyes closed in death and his skin pale and covered in crimson flow put her into hysterics. At first, she hadn't believed it, thinking that it had to be untrue. It was someone else, or she was having a nightmare, or he was just sleeping, though the blood told otherwise. And then, she was angry. Angry at herself, at Rude, and at Tseng even, for getting himself killed. She ran over to him, tears streaming down her cheeks though she didn't care.

"Tseng! Tseng, god no! Wake up!"

She barely heard as Rude walked up beside her, saying nothing, fearing to do anything lest he hurt her. She reached down and touched the overly pale face, willing with all her heart that he would wake up. Why couldn't he see how much she wanted him to wake up?

She closed her eyes and hugged him close to her, wishing for all the world not to be here, but not having the heart to leave him there. After a few minutes, Rude put a hand on her shoulder and said, "I'm sorry, Lena."

As he had most likely expected, she turned on him angrily and shouted. "Get away from me!"

He stayed by her side, with his hand on her shoulder, not moving. His face was sympathetic, but she knew he was bleeding internally, just like her. Bleeding and hating.

"Cloud!" She said suddenly. "It was Cloud and his goddamn friends! THAT BASTARD!!"

Rude, as usual, said nothing. And she stood, slowly, and turned on him again.

"THAT STUPID SHIT!! I'LL KILL HIM!"

And to illustrate her point, she turned and kicked the wall, ignoring the pain. What did it matter? It was nothing compared to the pain in her heart and soul.

She heard a moan, and through a brief moment of instable sanity, she thought it was Cloud and growled, her eyes roving the darkness like a predator, like a tigress.

And then Rude dove to the ground, and the moment was gone. She looked down, and saw twin Wutainese eyes staring up at her, half-closed and in a pain she would never know.

"Elena…" Tseng muttered, and coughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound.

"Tseng!" Elena and Rude cried as one.

An undisurnable sound erupted from his throat, and he coughed again. His side was split in a huge, thin wound horrifically, one that only could have been done by a very large blade. Cloud's blade.

"You're alive! Hold on, we're gonna help you!"

Tseng shook his head and grunted, obviously trying not to let them know his pain. How kind. How stupid and how kind.

"Rude…" Cough. "Take care'a Reno."

Rude nodded. He'd seen lots of death before; he knew that Tseng was past saving. Elena wouldn't believe that, not until the end.

She briefly thought he had forgotten her, until the eyes turned on her, and locked with her own. She felt tears rise again, but hardly noticed.

"I'm sorry…about last night." Tseng's voice was so slow, so pained. How could he still be alive?

"No. Don't be." Elena heard a heavy sob fall from her throat and she tried to smile despite herself. How kind. How stupid and how kind.

He smiled too, and she saw blood at the side of his mouth.

"Can't – help it. I was looking f-forward to it." He sighed. "I wish I coulda looked after you better. Ahh…"

He closed his eyes tightly, and with them still closed, she watched him sink away. Farther and farther away…

Through his final breaths, she thought she heard him say he loved her…

Authors Note: (cries) Tseng and Elena are perhaps the best couple (waits for the Sephiroth/Aeris fans to kill her) This chapter was a bit pointless, but I can't help it, I just started typing about the death scene and couldn't stop. Hope you liked it though.