Author's note: Okay, We're into chapter 4, And it ended on short notice, what with Reno and Angel trapped by Tseng's SOLDIERs..Betrayal's in the air, and Angel's pissy.. Due to the lack of action in the last chapter I've decided to put up some more here, what with the big fight scene to come and all.. Some interesting twists are about to happen as well, what with the turk (Tseng), The President (Rufus) and the Scientist (Hojo) not to mention a pissy soceress who wants revenge (FF8's Ultimecia..heheheheh...*evil grin*) versus the turks (Rude, Reno, Angel, Elena) and AVALANCHE (You know who that is..) And this fic features some lyrics from various songs (Linkin Park - A Place for my Head, Aerosmith - Fly Away from Here, Celine Dion - Because you Loved me), All song lyrics will be placed by ~ ~ before and after the lyrics. This chapter also involves one of the best dance scenes I could think of.
Final Fantasy 7: My December
Chapter 4 - Past, Present, Future...
Angel's green eyes settled on her first target, A SOLDIER in red, his face's showing portion was pale white from fear, obviously the guy knew he was outdone fighting 2 turks, even though he had an entire set of Shin-ra SOLDIERs backing him up, he clutched his machine gun and took aim at Angel, but by the time he pulled the trigger it was too late. Reno whispered the word "go." And Angel launched herself in full force at the man, her blade not missing one single step as she hit him right dead center in the chest, and twisted the blade as blood poured freely over her hand. She yanked it out viciously and the man crumpled into a bleeding red uniformed heap on the ground, 2 of the lower ranked 1st class ran up behind her, she made a sharp spin and slammed one blade into each one's chest, then turned them to face each other and made a quick draw out of her blades, sheathing them then taking the two men's heads and slamming them into one another. This was when Angel noticed what Tseng was holding in his hand as a weapon...A gun.
Reno finished stunning another of the soldiers with his Electromag rod as he spun to look at Tseng, him and Angel unknowingly muttering the same word. "Fuck.." Angel bolted to the side as Tseng fired a round, watching as it embedded itself into a soldier's throat, convieniently where Angel's head was just a few seconds ago. Reno grabbed one of the stunned soldiers and used him for a human shield, after all, no turk was above saving his own ass, especially when the shooter was one of the ones with the best aim in the entire shinra building. Fortunatly, Angel was behind Tseng before he could turn his attention from Reno. "I'll take that.." Angel said quietly, one blade to Tseng's back while the other was to the back of his neck, both ready to sink into flesh and draw blood out of any wound.
Tseng dropped the gun, but while Angel's guard was down slightly he spun and grabbed her wrists, kicking her in the gut and forcing her to become a crumpled heap on the ground, Tseng went for his gun again but got thrown backwards by a bolt of electricity from Reno's weapon. Angel got up, wincing in pain from Tseng's sneak attack on her, but regained her composure quickly. "You know, that got me pissed off." Angel said. "....And?" Tseng said, looking at Angel with mock care. "Hey, Tseng?" Reno decided he would mouth off now. "Hm?" Tseng said, getting up and dusting off his jacket. "Blow me." Reno finished. "How about not??" After saying this, Tseng pulled out his extra gun and shot Reno in the gut, Angel's face turned from vicious to shocked as she ran to Reno's side after sheathing her blades and grabbing Tseng's other gun that was laying on the ground.
Tseng's eyes settled on Angel and seemed sad but he pulled the trigger, the bullet grazed Angel's shoulder, drawing blood onto her jacket and white shirt, she spun and shot at Tseng, who dodged it and yelled out the same second as those mako eyes landed on him again. "ANGEL STOP!" Tseng yelled as loud as he could. Angel lowered the gun, glaring at Tseng. "Run now, or I'll shoot you in the head asshole." Angel said viciously, turning and holdstering the gun. "...Turks don't run from a job.." Tseng replied, raising his gun again. This cued Angel to snap into her defense and heal Reno then help him up.
Another bullet flew past her head, this time making her hair rustle. "Let's get outta here!" Angel shouted over the gunfire. Reno nodded and bolted for the darkness in the back of the cave, Angel right behind him and bullets flying around him.
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'Junon..Such a beautiful place.' Angel thought to herself as she stared out at the ocean, which was roaring below. Wind blew her hair as she was once again in her adventuring outfit. Her eyes scanned the horizon and thought of the last time she was here, as a runaway from home..Trying to escape the parents she learned that she really did love.
~ Gotta find a way, yeah I can't wait another day, ain't nothin' gonna change, if we stay right here, gotta do what it takes~
Another breath escaped Angel's lips as she stared at the breathtaking sunset, her hair blowing freely, down in the back but braided in the front, a way of hair styling her sister had taught to her. Her glowing green eyes finally landed on a figure, Reno was waist deep in the water, 2 little kids teasing him. Angel knew that when they came here, the two 10 year old worshippers would bother him. It was cute in a way, watching Reno be people friendly and laugh. But in another way, it was foreign to her.
~'cause on our hands, we all make mistakes, but it's never too late, to start again, take another breath, and say another prayer.....~
Angel smiled slightly but then her facial expressions returned to a frown, it was great for Reno to be around the makeshift family that he had left, but in another way, it was worrysome, because they had to get as far away from Shinra as possible. She had thought back to earlier in the day, due to her annoyance at Reno, he had left outside to explore Junon again. On the trip he had encountered Elena, who was now in Angel's room, and walked out onto the deck behind the girl.
Angel spun around softly looking at Elena. "Yeah?" "...You look upset." "...No I don't." "Yes you do Angel." "Elena..I don't look upset, I'm just expressionless." "More like you're upset and something's bugging you." "...you win." Angel finished the conversation and started to walk back into her room, tossing a few pleasantries like clean towels and the such into her pack. Her eyes searched the pack, looking for something she might have forgotten. But she found no reason to prolong her stay in Junon and let Reno continue visiting his "family" as he called it. That was pretty much the only thing that he had as a family anyways.
~And fly, away from here, anywhere, yeah I don't care, we'll just fly, away from here, our hopes and dreams, are out there somewhere...~
Angel and Elena walked down the steps, Angel knowing she wanted to tell Elena everything that was bugging her, memories of Nibel and her family flashed through her head, then the fire, Sephiroth.. She shuddered quietly and Elena turned to look at her, but in all reality knew there was no point in asking Angel what was wrong, because she wouldn't tell her. Hell, she wouldn't even tell herself.
Reno looked at the two girls and stopped laughing, his blue eyes locking on Angel. "What's up?" "We're leaving." Angel replied stiffly. "Already?! Uncle Reno!!" Mikala, the girl of the 2 worshippers tugged at Reno's arm sadly. "Gotta split kids." Reno said, making a mock salute and smiling. "We wanna come too!" Andrew said. At this Angel smiled softly and laughed. "No, it's too dangerous, we don't want you getting hurt." Angel said, kneeling in front of Mikala and tapping the girl on the nose. Mikala whimpered, her eyes watering. Reno frowned and thought about Marlene, that little girl Aeris had with her when the pillar assault had begun. Something that the turks rarely had began to tug at the back of his mind, his concence.
Angel looked at Reno, who was frowing deeply. Mikala ran up and hugged Reno, her eyes watering. "Don't go, please?" Mikala said, sniffling. "..We have to go." Elena explained to the two children, who were known only as one thing..Orphans, thier parents had just discarded them onto the street like helpless scum, just like Reno's parents had done to him. Maybe that's why he could connect with these two up and coming warriors, Mikala's brown curled hair hung around her honey colored eyes, she took a hand and wiped away a tear, backing up and looking at Reno. Reno smiled at the child and rubbed her head, at this she got her defiant grin and slapped Reno's hand away. "Don't touch me!" Mikala said, then giggled. "You're picking up kiddo." Reno said, starting back towards the inn so he could change into some dry clothes.
~Won't let the time pass us by, we'll just fly, yeah.. Is this life, is it hard enough? It ain't no 'nevermind', you got me by your side.~
This was when Angel began to have a flashback, when she first had her run in with the turks. Reno, she was only a petty thief and had made the mistake of stealing his electromag rod. He had gotten rather pissed off at her, then again, who wouldn't if they were in the middle of a drink at the local bar and had thier favorite weapon stolen from them by a petty thief, and a girl nonetheless.
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~I watch how the moon sits in the sky on a dark night, shining with the light from the sun the sun doesn't give life to the moon assuming the moon's gonna owe it one~
The next thing she knew, she was laying in a shinra cell. Unfortunatly she was the latest guest of the turks, probably the next girl to be raped or something by one of the horny bastards. She hated all Shinra, including the turks. Because of the turks, Sephiroth had been created as a mix of a turk and a SOLDIER, Sephiroth had burnt down her hometown and led her into becoming a 3rd rate thief in the Midgar slums. Reno walked in, looking her over with his mako blue eyes, she could tell this was the same turk she had stolen off of, hell, the red hair was a dead giveaway. She heard a man's voice coming from the left blind side of the cell, groaning softly, she pushed herself up onto her feet and got ready to fight.
Reno looked at Tseng. "I'll sponsor her if she's good enough." Angel didn't fully comprehend this. 'Sponsor'? Did he mean send her to the slaughter house to get killed and dumped somewhere? Or maybe tortured.. 'Damn, this is great.' Angel thought sarcastically to herself as she glared up at the man with her green eyes. He locked eyes with her fearlessly and laughed. "Angel Lockheart?" Reno said, walking closer to the cell door. "...who wants to know?" Was Angel's venomous reply, she continued her glare and stood up, reaching through the bars with catlike reflexes and slamming Reno into them, then grabbing the keys and quickly unlocking the door.
~It makes me think of running back to me, It makes me think of how you act to me, you do favors and then rapidly~
Tseng bolted out of his hiding place and grabbed Angel, but met a fist to his face, followed up with a knee to the groin. Letting go of the angered girl, he dropped to the ground beside Reno, who was nursing not only a hurt pride, but a hurt nose and a busted lip due to the collision of the bars and his face. Angel ran as fast as she could to the elevator, but got grabbed by some SOLDIERs. Quickly grabbing the machine gun off of one man she slammed it into another's face and kicked two more in the stomach, followed by jabbing the butt of the machine gun into the last one's gut and dropping it on the ground.
Reno rubbed his nose irritably and stood up, looking at Tseng, who was still on the ground groaning in pain. "..Think she's good enough?" Reno asked the leader of the turks curiously, all he got back was a squeak that slightly resembled yes. Reno began to walk towards the elevator, which was when he encountered the injured guards. Pulling his PHS out of his pocket he dialed a number quickly. "Front desk? There should be a slum rat slash up and coming turk going to the exit, I want her stopped." Reno said into the phone before he shut it and stashed it back in his pocket.
Angel tapped the first floor button over and over again, like it would make the elevator go faster. 'Damn shinra, don't even have express elevators..' Angel thought to herself, tapping the button for what must have been the thousandth time. Finally the elevator gave a taletale ding and the doors opened, only to allow her to find about 6,000 SOLDIERs, fully armed, aiming at her, and blocking her exit.
"Shit, I hate this place." Angel groaned to herself as she ran and jumped up, grabbing a pipe overhead as gunfire began, this cued the elevator to shut and go back up, stopping on the 45th floor, the floor the turks were on. "DAMN YOU SHINRA!" Angel cursed out loud as she swung upwards so that she was flat against the ceiling, bullets making an outline nearly around her, with a few hitting her. The elevator gave another of the now hated dings and opened the door to reveal Reno, who gave the guards a signal to stop. "..Putting up the good fight, hm?" Reno said, looking up at Angel, who was suddenly caught off guard while taking in Reno's looks and realizing she thought he was kinda cute, unfortunatly, her guard being let down meant she went into a fall and hit the ground.
~You just turn around and start asking me, about things that you want back from me, I'm sick of the tension, sick of the hunger, sick of you acting like I owe you this~
Reno put a foot on the slum rat's stomach, looking at her. "I have a proposition for you." Reno said, grinning in pleasure. "..Get your foot off of me and we'll talk." Angel snapped at him. "No, I'm going to talk before I let you up, due to your ungainly escape habits." Reno replied. "..I'll pretend to listen." Angel snarled softly, rolling her eyes and making her voice that of mock respect. "Do you know who you're talking to?" Reno asked her, shocked at her attitude. "..A turk, wow, I'm scared." Angel said, making sure her voice had no fear in it at all, even though she was slightly afraid of what he might do.
"Congradulations Angel, you're sponsored to be a turk." Reno said to her, realizing what kind of pandora's box he had just opened the instant he let those words free. She was disrespectful, like he was when he had been in her position, but she could also survive well, the way she had taken on two turks proved that. This girl had potential, but her attitude was dangerous, if she dared disrespect any of the higherups, like Rufus or someone she might end up fired, and even worse, dead. Her eyes searched his for any reason to be pleased, sure, being on the same team as Reno might be pleasing, but the thought of becoming a shinra elite wasn't all that much to chew on.
"Do I get paid better?" Was all Angel said in response. "Yes." A short reply. "How much?" Curiousity. "More gil than you're worth." A vicious tone. "Oh, I'm hurt." Mock sadness. "Good." Satisfied. "You know I'm being sarcastic right?" Questioning. "Yes I do." Slightly unknowing. "Alright." Simple reply. "That attitude'll get you dead if you use it while in the turks." Slight worry. "Who said I was joining?" A simple question. "I did." A quick answer. "And I'm gonna suppose you're god." Sarcastic, not unusual in this conversation. "Damn straight." Irritated reply. "Oh, Great, can you give me anything I want?" Sarcastic. "Yeah, sure." More sarcasim. "I want one of those new flying cars and all the money in the world." Even more sarcasim. "Dream on." Reno said, finishing the conversation. Angel pushed Reno's foot off of her annoyed and dusted off her shirt, Reno helped her up.
~Find another place, to feed your greed, while I find a place to rest~
Angel walked into Rufus' suite, his blue eyes looked at her. "A fresh addition I see..in..rather..unbecoming attire." Rufus said, looking her up and down. "Yeah? It's all I could afford considering you and your father's dumb asses taking all of the slum's money." Angel snapped viciously, unafraid of the so called 'great' Rufus Shinra. "Hm, Interesting, are you another to plead for money in the slums?" Rufus replied. "Hell naw, I can take care of my self asswad." Angel glared at him icily. This cued the blonde to laugh at her attitude and smile. "Interesting..very...very interesting..." Rufus replied.
At this Angel pulled a gun she had stolen off of Tseng and pointed it square in between Rufus' eyes. "How'd you get in here with that?" Rufus asked questioningly, knowing Angel wouldn't kill him. "What's it matter, are you aware how many of the people in the world would love me for shooting your ass?" Angel replied viciously. "Don't know don't care, Several want me dead, I know." Rufus replied, looking at her. Dark nation just purred gently and walked towards Angel. "The hell?" Angel said, dropping the gun back into it's holdster and looking at the beast, then backing away slowly.
~I want to be in another place, I hate when you say you don't understand~
This cued another of Rufus' laughs. "It's just my pet, Dark nation." Rufus said to the shocked slum rat. "Oh..Um...hi...thingie.." Angel said, now against the door. Dark nation rubbed against her and Angel had a shocked expression as she suddenly fell backwards after the door opened, then landed on her butt. This cued laughter from Tseng as he saw the girl, Dark nation, and Rufus. Rufus smiled and shook his head. "Well, Angel, is it?" Rufus asked her as she stood up and dusted herself off, patting dark nation on the head. "mmhmm." Angel replied. "Welcome to the turks." Rufus said to her. "I expect you to wear a uniform from here on out." He finished. "...fancy things cramp my style." Angel said defiantly. "Fine, don't wear one. Not that I'll care. Just get something other than rags on. Ask Tseng for your 'allowance'. I'm sure Reno left it for you when he went onto the pillar assault mission." Rufus said to her.
"Yeah yeah whatever." Was Angel's reply as she stalked out of the room, but was stopped by Rufus' voice. "Oh, and Angel?" Rufus began. "What now?" Angel groaned, trying to hide her pleasure in having so much attention paid to her, it made her feel special for once in her life. She hadn't felt that in..in years. "Make sure you get at least 2 uniforms from the dry cleaner, and your security cards. You want to look slightly professional as you hang around here with the turks." Rufus said, smiling at the girl. He hadn't seen anyone with this much spirit since Reno had joined. Little did he know that very spirit would lead to his downfall.
~You'll see it's not meant to be, I want to be in the energy, not with the enemy, A place for my head~
Angel walked into the turk's lounge and made herself at home, kicking her feet up on the table and turning on the TV, where the pillar assault was live. Another of Shinra's jobs, take out everything then make it look like an accident. All over AVALANCHE. The idiots could have saved millions if they had just turned themselves in. That's what she didn't get, after working for millions of rebel groups as an undercover agent, message carrier, barmaid, bouncer, and numerous other occupations, they all knew when to turn themselves in to save the lives of others. AVALANCHE claimed to be trying to end the destruction of lives, but in the end only ended up wiping it out. She watched the live footage as Aeris was in the helicopter with Tseng, who had left about 30 minutes ago.
Reno laughed and jumped up, grabbing the helicopter's wing and pulling himself up into the chopper, then landing inside with Aeris, who was rather unpleasant about the entire thing. The reporter went off of the air, probably broadcasting from sector 7, after all, why wouldn't the news go off and the man be looking up otherwise? It was pathetic..all those lives wasted, over a few rebels.
Rufus walked into the turks lounge and took a seat next to Angel, who had her eyes locked onto the TV. "...what's that?" "...Your favorite thing, death." Angel replied sadly, looking at the TV screen with the picture of the collapsed sector. "Oh yeah, I'm just in love with dead things." Rufus replied sarcastically. He could tell that even if they weren't on the best of terms, him and Angel would get along. Angel turned to face Rufus and sadly looked into his blue eyes. "..Yeah..I know you are." This cued Angel to turn her head away to face the TV again and stand up.
~Maybe I'll be just like you, and step on people like you do and run away the people I thought I knew, I remember back then who you were~
Angel continued her deep thought while on the Junon beach, Reno beside her. Thinking back to that time, Angel remembered when she had engaged in conversation with the man almost everyone in the world hated, Rufus Shinra. His eyes were sad as she continued on talking about the deaths. "You refer to them as collateral damage..They're not collateral damage, they're real living breathing things, they aren't just buildings or trees..." Angel said sadly, a tear running down her face as she stared at the TV.
~You used to be calm, used to be strong, used to be generous, but you should've known that you'd wear out your welcome, now you see how quiet it is, all alone...~
"I refer to them only as my father would, after all, I cannot show being soft, being soft would make the company shatter, I've made myself a promise, I will rule through fear..But for some reason, you, you damned slum rat, you won't fear me at all." Rufus sighed, looking Angel in the eyes as she turned to face him. "What's to fear? I know that if it's my time to die, I'll die, if it's my time to live, I'll live, the only thing I fear is not knowing my place in the world." Angel replied softly. "..Why though? Why not fear me? Or the turks? Or anything for that matter?" Rufus asked. "..Because...As I said, there's only 2 things I fear, fear itself, and not knowing my place." Angel replied again. "Right..I might ask you a question, would you like to go to the Shinra ball tonight?" Rufus looked at the girl. "With?" Angel asked. "With whomever you may please, but if you might allow me to escort you?" Rufus grinned, making him look only about 15. Angel shrugged. "Going to a ball with my enemy...I'll think about it." Angel replied.
Rufus handed her a card and nodded to the exit. "Well, if you decide you'll go, take this to the 22nd floor, where the beauty salon and everything is, there's a girl named Shawna there who will pick out your entire outfit and make you look like you aren't a slum rat." Rufus said. "I'll take that as an insult to my clothing." Angel said, taking the card and gesturing to her patched jacket, torn jeans, and ripped T-shirt. "Good, because it is." Rufus replied, walking out of the room. Angel laughed and looked at the card. "I'm gonna make you pay Rufus Shinra, I'm gonna make you wish you were never born." Angel said to herself after the door closed, then began to walk down the stairs.
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Rufus looked at the door, clutching the wine glass in his left hand tightly, was she going to come? The door opened, a girl in a white dress that went down just past her upper thigh with white high heels, well groomed hair that was down over her shoulders, green eyes, blonde highlights in her hair. She was flanked by two turks, Tseng on the left and Reno on the right. Rufus lost his breath at the sight, was this the same slum rat that he had talked to in the turk's lounge?
Angel listened to the rhythmic click of her high heels and the two turks' shoes hitting the floor, Reno and her walking arm in arm, an act that her, Tseng and Reno had practiced for the past two hours. First she was just going to walk in, but that would take all the fun out of things for the two boys.
~For all those times you stood by me, For all the truth that you made me see, For all the joy you brought to my life, For all the wrong that you made right, For every dream you made come true, For all the love I found in you, I'll be forever thankful baby, You're the one who held me up, Never let me fall,
You're the one who saw me through through it all~
The slum rat..The same slum rat, she was so beautiful. Rufus just stood in awe as the girl and 2 men stopped in front of him, she slipped her arm from Reno's and smiled at Rufus, the music was playing gently in the background. "You came."
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End Note: Alright, that was a rather long chapter, filled with a mix of everything, including Angel's past and a nice fight scene, please read and review people, this is really demoralizing to know that this thing isn't getting that many reviews, if this keeps up I'm gonna stop period, for those of you who already reviewed, please refer this to your friends, I'd appreciate it alot. The more people who review, the better. I know that this chapter kinda was wierd, but bear with me, I'm making an attempt at integrating music into the story. And yes, I know, some songs were cut short, this is another thing I had to do to avoiding a super sized chapter. I had to cram all this in together. I was gonna make 4 & 5 one chapter but decided against it considering how big this thing is alone.. much less together on one chapter. The next one will be The Ball, and you'll see...not much except the true end of this chapter.
Final Fantasy 7: My December
Chapter 4 - Past, Present, Future...
Angel's green eyes settled on her first target, A SOLDIER in red, his face's showing portion was pale white from fear, obviously the guy knew he was outdone fighting 2 turks, even though he had an entire set of Shin-ra SOLDIERs backing him up, he clutched his machine gun and took aim at Angel, but by the time he pulled the trigger it was too late. Reno whispered the word "go." And Angel launched herself in full force at the man, her blade not missing one single step as she hit him right dead center in the chest, and twisted the blade as blood poured freely over her hand. She yanked it out viciously and the man crumpled into a bleeding red uniformed heap on the ground, 2 of the lower ranked 1st class ran up behind her, she made a sharp spin and slammed one blade into each one's chest, then turned them to face each other and made a quick draw out of her blades, sheathing them then taking the two men's heads and slamming them into one another. This was when Angel noticed what Tseng was holding in his hand as a weapon...A gun.
Reno finished stunning another of the soldiers with his Electromag rod as he spun to look at Tseng, him and Angel unknowingly muttering the same word. "Fuck.." Angel bolted to the side as Tseng fired a round, watching as it embedded itself into a soldier's throat, convieniently where Angel's head was just a few seconds ago. Reno grabbed one of the stunned soldiers and used him for a human shield, after all, no turk was above saving his own ass, especially when the shooter was one of the ones with the best aim in the entire shinra building. Fortunatly, Angel was behind Tseng before he could turn his attention from Reno. "I'll take that.." Angel said quietly, one blade to Tseng's back while the other was to the back of his neck, both ready to sink into flesh and draw blood out of any wound.
Tseng dropped the gun, but while Angel's guard was down slightly he spun and grabbed her wrists, kicking her in the gut and forcing her to become a crumpled heap on the ground, Tseng went for his gun again but got thrown backwards by a bolt of electricity from Reno's weapon. Angel got up, wincing in pain from Tseng's sneak attack on her, but regained her composure quickly. "You know, that got me pissed off." Angel said. "....And?" Tseng said, looking at Angel with mock care. "Hey, Tseng?" Reno decided he would mouth off now. "Hm?" Tseng said, getting up and dusting off his jacket. "Blow me." Reno finished. "How about not??" After saying this, Tseng pulled out his extra gun and shot Reno in the gut, Angel's face turned from vicious to shocked as she ran to Reno's side after sheathing her blades and grabbing Tseng's other gun that was laying on the ground.
Tseng's eyes settled on Angel and seemed sad but he pulled the trigger, the bullet grazed Angel's shoulder, drawing blood onto her jacket and white shirt, she spun and shot at Tseng, who dodged it and yelled out the same second as those mako eyes landed on him again. "ANGEL STOP!" Tseng yelled as loud as he could. Angel lowered the gun, glaring at Tseng. "Run now, or I'll shoot you in the head asshole." Angel said viciously, turning and holdstering the gun. "...Turks don't run from a job.." Tseng replied, raising his gun again. This cued Angel to snap into her defense and heal Reno then help him up.
Another bullet flew past her head, this time making her hair rustle. "Let's get outta here!" Angel shouted over the gunfire. Reno nodded and bolted for the darkness in the back of the cave, Angel right behind him and bullets flying around him.
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'Junon..Such a beautiful place.' Angel thought to herself as she stared out at the ocean, which was roaring below. Wind blew her hair as she was once again in her adventuring outfit. Her eyes scanned the horizon and thought of the last time she was here, as a runaway from home..Trying to escape the parents she learned that she really did love.
~ Gotta find a way, yeah I can't wait another day, ain't nothin' gonna change, if we stay right here, gotta do what it takes~
Another breath escaped Angel's lips as she stared at the breathtaking sunset, her hair blowing freely, down in the back but braided in the front, a way of hair styling her sister had taught to her. Her glowing green eyes finally landed on a figure, Reno was waist deep in the water, 2 little kids teasing him. Angel knew that when they came here, the two 10 year old worshippers would bother him. It was cute in a way, watching Reno be people friendly and laugh. But in another way, it was foreign to her.
~'cause on our hands, we all make mistakes, but it's never too late, to start again, take another breath, and say another prayer.....~
Angel smiled slightly but then her facial expressions returned to a frown, it was great for Reno to be around the makeshift family that he had left, but in another way, it was worrysome, because they had to get as far away from Shinra as possible. She had thought back to earlier in the day, due to her annoyance at Reno, he had left outside to explore Junon again. On the trip he had encountered Elena, who was now in Angel's room, and walked out onto the deck behind the girl.
Angel spun around softly looking at Elena. "Yeah?" "...You look upset." "...No I don't." "Yes you do Angel." "Elena..I don't look upset, I'm just expressionless." "More like you're upset and something's bugging you." "...you win." Angel finished the conversation and started to walk back into her room, tossing a few pleasantries like clean towels and the such into her pack. Her eyes searched the pack, looking for something she might have forgotten. But she found no reason to prolong her stay in Junon and let Reno continue visiting his "family" as he called it. That was pretty much the only thing that he had as a family anyways.
~And fly, away from here, anywhere, yeah I don't care, we'll just fly, away from here, our hopes and dreams, are out there somewhere...~
Angel and Elena walked down the steps, Angel knowing she wanted to tell Elena everything that was bugging her, memories of Nibel and her family flashed through her head, then the fire, Sephiroth.. She shuddered quietly and Elena turned to look at her, but in all reality knew there was no point in asking Angel what was wrong, because she wouldn't tell her. Hell, she wouldn't even tell herself.
Reno looked at the two girls and stopped laughing, his blue eyes locking on Angel. "What's up?" "We're leaving." Angel replied stiffly. "Already?! Uncle Reno!!" Mikala, the girl of the 2 worshippers tugged at Reno's arm sadly. "Gotta split kids." Reno said, making a mock salute and smiling. "We wanna come too!" Andrew said. At this Angel smiled softly and laughed. "No, it's too dangerous, we don't want you getting hurt." Angel said, kneeling in front of Mikala and tapping the girl on the nose. Mikala whimpered, her eyes watering. Reno frowned and thought about Marlene, that little girl Aeris had with her when the pillar assault had begun. Something that the turks rarely had began to tug at the back of his mind, his concence.
Angel looked at Reno, who was frowing deeply. Mikala ran up and hugged Reno, her eyes watering. "Don't go, please?" Mikala said, sniffling. "..We have to go." Elena explained to the two children, who were known only as one thing..Orphans, thier parents had just discarded them onto the street like helpless scum, just like Reno's parents had done to him. Maybe that's why he could connect with these two up and coming warriors, Mikala's brown curled hair hung around her honey colored eyes, she took a hand and wiped away a tear, backing up and looking at Reno. Reno smiled at the child and rubbed her head, at this she got her defiant grin and slapped Reno's hand away. "Don't touch me!" Mikala said, then giggled. "You're picking up kiddo." Reno said, starting back towards the inn so he could change into some dry clothes.
~Won't let the time pass us by, we'll just fly, yeah.. Is this life, is it hard enough? It ain't no 'nevermind', you got me by your side.~
This was when Angel began to have a flashback, when she first had her run in with the turks. Reno, she was only a petty thief and had made the mistake of stealing his electromag rod. He had gotten rather pissed off at her, then again, who wouldn't if they were in the middle of a drink at the local bar and had thier favorite weapon stolen from them by a petty thief, and a girl nonetheless.
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~I watch how the moon sits in the sky on a dark night, shining with the light from the sun the sun doesn't give life to the moon assuming the moon's gonna owe it one~
The next thing she knew, she was laying in a shinra cell. Unfortunatly she was the latest guest of the turks, probably the next girl to be raped or something by one of the horny bastards. She hated all Shinra, including the turks. Because of the turks, Sephiroth had been created as a mix of a turk and a SOLDIER, Sephiroth had burnt down her hometown and led her into becoming a 3rd rate thief in the Midgar slums. Reno walked in, looking her over with his mako blue eyes, she could tell this was the same turk she had stolen off of, hell, the red hair was a dead giveaway. She heard a man's voice coming from the left blind side of the cell, groaning softly, she pushed herself up onto her feet and got ready to fight.
Reno looked at Tseng. "I'll sponsor her if she's good enough." Angel didn't fully comprehend this. 'Sponsor'? Did he mean send her to the slaughter house to get killed and dumped somewhere? Or maybe tortured.. 'Damn, this is great.' Angel thought sarcastically to herself as she glared up at the man with her green eyes. He locked eyes with her fearlessly and laughed. "Angel Lockheart?" Reno said, walking closer to the cell door. "...who wants to know?" Was Angel's venomous reply, she continued her glare and stood up, reaching through the bars with catlike reflexes and slamming Reno into them, then grabbing the keys and quickly unlocking the door.
~It makes me think of running back to me, It makes me think of how you act to me, you do favors and then rapidly~
Tseng bolted out of his hiding place and grabbed Angel, but met a fist to his face, followed up with a knee to the groin. Letting go of the angered girl, he dropped to the ground beside Reno, who was nursing not only a hurt pride, but a hurt nose and a busted lip due to the collision of the bars and his face. Angel ran as fast as she could to the elevator, but got grabbed by some SOLDIERs. Quickly grabbing the machine gun off of one man she slammed it into another's face and kicked two more in the stomach, followed by jabbing the butt of the machine gun into the last one's gut and dropping it on the ground.
Reno rubbed his nose irritably and stood up, looking at Tseng, who was still on the ground groaning in pain. "..Think she's good enough?" Reno asked the leader of the turks curiously, all he got back was a squeak that slightly resembled yes. Reno began to walk towards the elevator, which was when he encountered the injured guards. Pulling his PHS out of his pocket he dialed a number quickly. "Front desk? There should be a slum rat slash up and coming turk going to the exit, I want her stopped." Reno said into the phone before he shut it and stashed it back in his pocket.
Angel tapped the first floor button over and over again, like it would make the elevator go faster. 'Damn shinra, don't even have express elevators..' Angel thought to herself, tapping the button for what must have been the thousandth time. Finally the elevator gave a taletale ding and the doors opened, only to allow her to find about 6,000 SOLDIERs, fully armed, aiming at her, and blocking her exit.
"Shit, I hate this place." Angel groaned to herself as she ran and jumped up, grabbing a pipe overhead as gunfire began, this cued the elevator to shut and go back up, stopping on the 45th floor, the floor the turks were on. "DAMN YOU SHINRA!" Angel cursed out loud as she swung upwards so that she was flat against the ceiling, bullets making an outline nearly around her, with a few hitting her. The elevator gave another of the now hated dings and opened the door to reveal Reno, who gave the guards a signal to stop. "..Putting up the good fight, hm?" Reno said, looking up at Angel, who was suddenly caught off guard while taking in Reno's looks and realizing she thought he was kinda cute, unfortunatly, her guard being let down meant she went into a fall and hit the ground.
~You just turn around and start asking me, about things that you want back from me, I'm sick of the tension, sick of the hunger, sick of you acting like I owe you this~
Reno put a foot on the slum rat's stomach, looking at her. "I have a proposition for you." Reno said, grinning in pleasure. "..Get your foot off of me and we'll talk." Angel snapped at him. "No, I'm going to talk before I let you up, due to your ungainly escape habits." Reno replied. "..I'll pretend to listen." Angel snarled softly, rolling her eyes and making her voice that of mock respect. "Do you know who you're talking to?" Reno asked her, shocked at her attitude. "..A turk, wow, I'm scared." Angel said, making sure her voice had no fear in it at all, even though she was slightly afraid of what he might do.
"Congradulations Angel, you're sponsored to be a turk." Reno said to her, realizing what kind of pandora's box he had just opened the instant he let those words free. She was disrespectful, like he was when he had been in her position, but she could also survive well, the way she had taken on two turks proved that. This girl had potential, but her attitude was dangerous, if she dared disrespect any of the higherups, like Rufus or someone she might end up fired, and even worse, dead. Her eyes searched his for any reason to be pleased, sure, being on the same team as Reno might be pleasing, but the thought of becoming a shinra elite wasn't all that much to chew on.
"Do I get paid better?" Was all Angel said in response. "Yes." A short reply. "How much?" Curiousity. "More gil than you're worth." A vicious tone. "Oh, I'm hurt." Mock sadness. "Good." Satisfied. "You know I'm being sarcastic right?" Questioning. "Yes I do." Slightly unknowing. "Alright." Simple reply. "That attitude'll get you dead if you use it while in the turks." Slight worry. "Who said I was joining?" A simple question. "I did." A quick answer. "And I'm gonna suppose you're god." Sarcastic, not unusual in this conversation. "Damn straight." Irritated reply. "Oh, Great, can you give me anything I want?" Sarcastic. "Yeah, sure." More sarcasim. "I want one of those new flying cars and all the money in the world." Even more sarcasim. "Dream on." Reno said, finishing the conversation. Angel pushed Reno's foot off of her annoyed and dusted off her shirt, Reno helped her up.
~Find another place, to feed your greed, while I find a place to rest~
Angel walked into Rufus' suite, his blue eyes looked at her. "A fresh addition I see..in..rather..unbecoming attire." Rufus said, looking her up and down. "Yeah? It's all I could afford considering you and your father's dumb asses taking all of the slum's money." Angel snapped viciously, unafraid of the so called 'great' Rufus Shinra. "Hm, Interesting, are you another to plead for money in the slums?" Rufus replied. "Hell naw, I can take care of my self asswad." Angel glared at him icily. This cued the blonde to laugh at her attitude and smile. "Interesting..very...very interesting..." Rufus replied.
At this Angel pulled a gun she had stolen off of Tseng and pointed it square in between Rufus' eyes. "How'd you get in here with that?" Rufus asked questioningly, knowing Angel wouldn't kill him. "What's it matter, are you aware how many of the people in the world would love me for shooting your ass?" Angel replied viciously. "Don't know don't care, Several want me dead, I know." Rufus replied, looking at her. Dark nation just purred gently and walked towards Angel. "The hell?" Angel said, dropping the gun back into it's holdster and looking at the beast, then backing away slowly.
~I want to be in another place, I hate when you say you don't understand~
This cued another of Rufus' laughs. "It's just my pet, Dark nation." Rufus said to the shocked slum rat. "Oh..Um...hi...thingie.." Angel said, now against the door. Dark nation rubbed against her and Angel had a shocked expression as she suddenly fell backwards after the door opened, then landed on her butt. This cued laughter from Tseng as he saw the girl, Dark nation, and Rufus. Rufus smiled and shook his head. "Well, Angel, is it?" Rufus asked her as she stood up and dusted herself off, patting dark nation on the head. "mmhmm." Angel replied. "Welcome to the turks." Rufus said to her. "I expect you to wear a uniform from here on out." He finished. "...fancy things cramp my style." Angel said defiantly. "Fine, don't wear one. Not that I'll care. Just get something other than rags on. Ask Tseng for your 'allowance'. I'm sure Reno left it for you when he went onto the pillar assault mission." Rufus said to her.
"Yeah yeah whatever." Was Angel's reply as she stalked out of the room, but was stopped by Rufus' voice. "Oh, and Angel?" Rufus began. "What now?" Angel groaned, trying to hide her pleasure in having so much attention paid to her, it made her feel special for once in her life. She hadn't felt that in..in years. "Make sure you get at least 2 uniforms from the dry cleaner, and your security cards. You want to look slightly professional as you hang around here with the turks." Rufus said, smiling at the girl. He hadn't seen anyone with this much spirit since Reno had joined. Little did he know that very spirit would lead to his downfall.
~You'll see it's not meant to be, I want to be in the energy, not with the enemy, A place for my head~
Angel walked into the turk's lounge and made herself at home, kicking her feet up on the table and turning on the TV, where the pillar assault was live. Another of Shinra's jobs, take out everything then make it look like an accident. All over AVALANCHE. The idiots could have saved millions if they had just turned themselves in. That's what she didn't get, after working for millions of rebel groups as an undercover agent, message carrier, barmaid, bouncer, and numerous other occupations, they all knew when to turn themselves in to save the lives of others. AVALANCHE claimed to be trying to end the destruction of lives, but in the end only ended up wiping it out. She watched the live footage as Aeris was in the helicopter with Tseng, who had left about 30 minutes ago.
Reno laughed and jumped up, grabbing the helicopter's wing and pulling himself up into the chopper, then landing inside with Aeris, who was rather unpleasant about the entire thing. The reporter went off of the air, probably broadcasting from sector 7, after all, why wouldn't the news go off and the man be looking up otherwise? It was pathetic..all those lives wasted, over a few rebels.
Rufus walked into the turks lounge and took a seat next to Angel, who had her eyes locked onto the TV. "...what's that?" "...Your favorite thing, death." Angel replied sadly, looking at the TV screen with the picture of the collapsed sector. "Oh yeah, I'm just in love with dead things." Rufus replied sarcastically. He could tell that even if they weren't on the best of terms, him and Angel would get along. Angel turned to face Rufus and sadly looked into his blue eyes. "..Yeah..I know you are." This cued Angel to turn her head away to face the TV again and stand up.
~Maybe I'll be just like you, and step on people like you do and run away the people I thought I knew, I remember back then who you were~
Angel continued her deep thought while on the Junon beach, Reno beside her. Thinking back to that time, Angel remembered when she had engaged in conversation with the man almost everyone in the world hated, Rufus Shinra. His eyes were sad as she continued on talking about the deaths. "You refer to them as collateral damage..They're not collateral damage, they're real living breathing things, they aren't just buildings or trees..." Angel said sadly, a tear running down her face as she stared at the TV.
~You used to be calm, used to be strong, used to be generous, but you should've known that you'd wear out your welcome, now you see how quiet it is, all alone...~
"I refer to them only as my father would, after all, I cannot show being soft, being soft would make the company shatter, I've made myself a promise, I will rule through fear..But for some reason, you, you damned slum rat, you won't fear me at all." Rufus sighed, looking Angel in the eyes as she turned to face him. "What's to fear? I know that if it's my time to die, I'll die, if it's my time to live, I'll live, the only thing I fear is not knowing my place in the world." Angel replied softly. "..Why though? Why not fear me? Or the turks? Or anything for that matter?" Rufus asked. "..Because...As I said, there's only 2 things I fear, fear itself, and not knowing my place." Angel replied again. "Right..I might ask you a question, would you like to go to the Shinra ball tonight?" Rufus looked at the girl. "With?" Angel asked. "With whomever you may please, but if you might allow me to escort you?" Rufus grinned, making him look only about 15. Angel shrugged. "Going to a ball with my enemy...I'll think about it." Angel replied.
Rufus handed her a card and nodded to the exit. "Well, if you decide you'll go, take this to the 22nd floor, where the beauty salon and everything is, there's a girl named Shawna there who will pick out your entire outfit and make you look like you aren't a slum rat." Rufus said. "I'll take that as an insult to my clothing." Angel said, taking the card and gesturing to her patched jacket, torn jeans, and ripped T-shirt. "Good, because it is." Rufus replied, walking out of the room. Angel laughed and looked at the card. "I'm gonna make you pay Rufus Shinra, I'm gonna make you wish you were never born." Angel said to herself after the door closed, then began to walk down the stairs.
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Rufus looked at the door, clutching the wine glass in his left hand tightly, was she going to come? The door opened, a girl in a white dress that went down just past her upper thigh with white high heels, well groomed hair that was down over her shoulders, green eyes, blonde highlights in her hair. She was flanked by two turks, Tseng on the left and Reno on the right. Rufus lost his breath at the sight, was this the same slum rat that he had talked to in the turk's lounge?
Angel listened to the rhythmic click of her high heels and the two turks' shoes hitting the floor, Reno and her walking arm in arm, an act that her, Tseng and Reno had practiced for the past two hours. First she was just going to walk in, but that would take all the fun out of things for the two boys.
~For all those times you stood by me, For all the truth that you made me see, For all the joy you brought to my life, For all the wrong that you made right, For every dream you made come true, For all the love I found in you, I'll be forever thankful baby, You're the one who held me up, Never let me fall,
You're the one who saw me through through it all~
The slum rat..The same slum rat, she was so beautiful. Rufus just stood in awe as the girl and 2 men stopped in front of him, she slipped her arm from Reno's and smiled at Rufus, the music was playing gently in the background. "You came."
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End Note: Alright, that was a rather long chapter, filled with a mix of everything, including Angel's past and a nice fight scene, please read and review people, this is really demoralizing to know that this thing isn't getting that many reviews, if this keeps up I'm gonna stop period, for those of you who already reviewed, please refer this to your friends, I'd appreciate it alot. The more people who review, the better. I know that this chapter kinda was wierd, but bear with me, I'm making an attempt at integrating music into the story. And yes, I know, some songs were cut short, this is another thing I had to do to avoiding a super sized chapter. I had to cram all this in together. I was gonna make 4 & 5 one chapter but decided against it considering how big this thing is alone.. much less together on one chapter. The next one will be The Ball, and you'll see...not much except the true end of this chapter.