Chapter 4
"So, that's what you think, do you Reeve?" Reeve stared out his bay window; the storm clouds were flying directly over his office.
"That is indeed what I think" Reeve spun his chair around to face the voice; the chair emitted a terrible shriek as its base twisted. Even with the lights off and the dark clouds above, Reeve could make out the two figures sitting across from him.
"Well, what if you're wrong" It was not a question; it was a statement. The man to Reeve's left shifter a bit; his deep red hair the only color standing out in the room.
"It's not like it could be any worse for me, no?" Reeve questioned. The other man cracked his knuckles; any light coming into the room bounced of his clean, bald head.
"Perhaps" Reeve glanced at bald man while he spoke, to see if any more words would come. None did. The bald man craned his neck to the left; the cracking sound filled the room even more than his knuckles' cracking had. When the echo of the cracking died down, Reeve turned his attention to the other man. This man merely shrugged as he tossed some kind of stick from hand to hand; without a good deal more light what the stick was could not be made out. Reeve spun around again, despite the protests of his chair. He messed his hands together and tried to find a comfortable way to lock his fingers together. He stared down at his hands, hoping they could give him an answer. Then suddenly, for the second day in a row, something smashed into his door. And for the second day in a row, it was a human being. Although this time, it was not him. And this time, the person went through the door. By the time Reeve had sprung to his feet and gotten his eyes focused on the door, the other two men were out of there seats, glaring at the doorway.
"Damnit Elena, what's going on?" Reno kicked his chair over. His nightstick was on; the ends flickering with electricity. Rude, while keeping his eyes focused on the doorway, knelt down next to Elena.
"Elena, get up. Turks never show weakness" Rude stood up and dropped into his boxing stance, looking at the doorway. Then, a familiar silver glow began to fill the area. It broke open the darkness which had been in the room. Across the hallway stood Phoenix, his silver energy flowing from him with a certain amount of grace.
"What the hell is that?" Reno spat out. Reeve ran in front of his desk, waving his arms frantically.
"Stop it Phoenix; they're on our side!" Reeve quickly screamed out. Rude watched as the light formed around a figure.
"No matter who this is; no one disrespects a Turk" Rude's tone was all together calm and fierce at once. Phoenix tilted his head slightly.
"I believe that it just happened" Phoenix's voice held a touch of taunt in it. Reno let out a snort.
"Kid, you just tangled with a rookie. Now you gotta deal with two real Turks!" Reno spun his nightstick around in his hand. Elena let out a few deep coughs, then got to her feet.
"Stop calling me a rookie! Besides, he snuck up on me" Elena dropped into a defensive position. Reeve pushed Elena aside and stood in front of the Turks, looking at Phoenix.
"They're here to help me, not fight me! Trust me here, ok?" Reeve pleaded, his arms waving around at his sides like two windmills. Rude took a step up next to Reeve, his body still in a boxing stance.
"And this is the guy who fought those amateurs?" Rude kept his eyes dead-locked on the boy. Reeve looked behind him at the other two Turks; he knew from their expressions that anything less than a fight would not be reasonable to them. He looked over at Rude.
"Rude, look, he's helped me out in the past. Plus he can be useful" Reeve mentioned. He noticed that the room was getting darker; Phoenix had powered down slightly.
"Explain how. He looks like a decent athlete, but no more than a teenager" Rude kept his posture up. Reno spit to the side and grinned.
"He's a kid; we'll chew him up and spit him up" Reno spun his nightstick around a bit faster now, nearly avoiding shocking himself each time it neared him. Reeve let out a chuckle.
"You guys know...this is that kid, who was causing all that trouble" Reeve mentioned with caution. His body was shaking; he did not know if those words would trigger a small war or end the threat of a fight.
"The person who burnt Kalm, attacked AVALANCHE in broad daylight here...how'd you end up with him Reeve" Rude felt his jaw look in place.
"Look, just everyone cool it! We got enough problems with other people!" Reeve screamed. He spun around in circles, looking at everyone in a vain attempt to keep the peace.
"You're the one with problems Reeve" Reno mentioned harshly. Phoenix let out a tense breath.
"Very well. I will not attack" Phoenix kept his face straight; his body not moving a single inch. Rude calmly turned to the other Turks.
"Drop your guard...for now" Rude's voice was colder than a mountain top's breeze. Despite his order, no one dropped their guard. Reeve's body began to tremble; he felt his stomach doing more twists and turns than an acrobat.
"Come on guys! Look, it was a misunderstanding! He didn't know who Elena was! And I'm sure if he did, he would not have attacked her!" Reeve screamed out. Phoenix nodded his head once in a very slow and deliberate manner.
"Indeed. It took a great effort to do it. I had to wait until she yawned" Phoenix spoke calmly. Reno made a face.
"He caught you on a yawn?" Reno turned to Elena, whose face was showered in deep red.
"He's fast, ok? Really fast!" Elena screamed out. Reno howled with laughter.
"You got punked by some kid?" Reno forced out before his laughing went into overdrive. Rude finally moved; his neck twisted slightly to turn to look at Reno. Then, he felt something against the side of his face. Rude tried to move his face, but he could not. Phoenix held his staff against his face firmly. Reeve felt his heart about to rip free from his body. Phoenix smirked coldly.
"If I meant to fight you, I'd have won by now" Phoenix explained. Rude pushed the staff out of his face.
"Not a mere teenager, I see" Rude hissed. Reno spun his nightstick around, a sneer on his face.
"I'd like to see you try that shit on me!" Reno screamed. Phoenix hesitated not in the least; he sprinted at Reno, his staff at his side. As he approached, Reno went to attack with his nickstick. In a heartbeat, Phoenix stopped dead and back-flipped away. Before either could make another move, Reeve jumped into between them.
"That's enough!" Reeve's words were forced; they carried his nervousness with them. Reeve turned to Reno first, sensing his ambitions to start a battle. Reno let out a quick laugh.
"Yeah, he got some skill. We won't beat him to a pulp...now" Reno kept spinning his nightstick around. Satisfied with his answer, Reeve turned to Phoenix. Phoenix shrugged and nodded backwards.
"The bald one was about to attack me. They are skilled" He mentioned. Rude, despite himself, smiled the world's smallest smile.
"This punk may be worthwhile"
"The others may all be dead" Tifa looked up at Cloud. A deep fog had covered the city of Kalm. Mixed together with the night sky, the fog made it nearly impossible to see anything. Cloud ran a hand over his spiked-hair.
"I'm aware of that. We know...Aeris tried her best" Cloud remarked. Tifa closed her eyes and nodded.
"She did; she did. We know something fishy is going on in Midgar...well, what's left of Midgar..." Tifa opened her eyes and looked through the dense fog into Cloud's blue eyes. She knew what he wanted to say. Anyone could. Tifa held her hand up.
"I know Cloud...you wanna call Cid or should I?" Tifa asked. Cloud shook his head. He let out a deep breath and crossed his arms.
"We got to leave soon. The others...we can't afford to wait for them to get here. We need to get into the city as soon as possible. Plus, really...between us, we can handle a monster or two. I mean, it's not like Weapon" Cloud explained calmly. Tifa watched a grin grow on his face. Tifa sighed and nodded, feeling a smile grow on her face as well.
"Alright then. We leave tomorrow...what about Aeris?" Tifa asked. Cloud shrugged his patented shrug.
"If she wants to come, sure. We can use her. She may be able to pick up the bad vibes from the monster too" Cloud explained. Tifa nodded and let out a sigh.
"I hope she feels better...I mean, she could only do so much" Tifa put her hands under her chin. Cloud kneeled down.
"Maybe you should go talk to her" Cloud spoke in a low voice. Tifa tilted her head; the fog seemed to thicken around his features.
"Why me...why don't you go talk to her?" Tifa took her head off her hands. She pushed her hands together and knotted her fingers up. Cloud reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I can't...I'm not good at that stuff. Plus you two are obviously close" Cloud mentioned, gripping her shoulder with his hand. Tifa closed her eyes.
"Sure Cloud, I'll go talk to her now. That way, we can head out early tomorrow morning. You wanna go find us some chocobos to get there?" Tifa commented. Cloud smacked her shoulder and straightened out.
"Yeah, I'll go ask around. People are freaked about the monster-stories. They're gonna beg us to go if we don't" Cloud stretched a moment, then held his hand down to Tifa.
"Thanks" Tifa muttered as she grabbed his hand and let herself be pulled up. Cloud grinned and waved to her.
"I'll see you back at the tent" Cloud walked off into the fog; the mixture of fog and darkness covering him. After a few moments, he disappeared from her view. Tifa turned towards the hillside she suspected Aeris was still sitting. She took a few steps before stopping. She jabbed her toe in the ground.
"What the hell..." With that, she turned around and headed back towards their tent.
"So they came back?" Reeve asked. His body was still shaking but not as badly as before. He glanced out at the room. In the two chairs in front of his desk sat Rude and Reno. Reno was still messing with his nightstick. Rude sat motionless; if he was grey he'd be a statue. In the back of the room, near the doorway, Elena leaned on the doorway. Reeve twisted his chair to the left and looked at Phoenix, who was leaning against the wall right next to the window. Elena leaned off the doorframe and glanced out the cracked window.
"Shouldn't someone be watching for people?" Elena interrupted. Reno snorted and tapped his nightstick on the desk.
"I'd like to see some dumbasses come in here. Between us and that punk, that's last about ten seconds" Reno declared, stretching outwards. Reeve spun his chair back around to face the Turks.
"He got a point Elena. Anyways Phoenix, do you think they'll come here?" Reeve asked Phoenix without turning to him. Phoenix tapped his foot off the wall; his eyes looking out at the streets of Junon.
"I doubt it. They realize I'm around. And they realize I can stop them. If they have common sense, they'd cease attacking you" Phoenix explained.
"Money will delete all common sense. Besides, if they need money bad enough to assassinate a public figure...they'll come back" Rude spoke; his lips were the only part of his mouth that moved.
"So you saw them, right Phoenix...that's your name, right?" Elena commented. Phoenix glanced over at Elena and nodded once.
"Yes, but only briefly" Phoenix turned his attention back to the window. Reno slammed his nightstick on the desk.
"Why don't we just send silver-boy there out of town and catch them when they come for Reeve? Then we ask them questions, Turk-style" Reno suggested.
"Easier said then done. It's not like we can tell them he's gone" Rude stated calmly. Everyone grew quiet in the room, as if a teacher had scolded a classroom. Reeve leaned back in his chair and spun around to face Phoenix.
"Perhaps we can" Reeve said to Phoenix. Phoenix crossed his arms, his gaze still set outside.
"How is that?" Phoenix questioned. Reeve smirked and spun his chair around slowly as he spoke.
"It's simple. See, we got to pick people to go research Midgar. You know, a small group. So all I gotta do is suggest they send Phoenix here. Face it, we all know about that problem history. They'll love to get rid of him. And if I mention that he's helped me fight off those attackers, it will clue in whoever is really doing this that Phoenix will be gone. And naturally....they'll send there goons again" Reeve explained, finally stopping his chair, facing the Turks.
"That's rather brilliant Reeve" Rude stated. He finally moved; his arms moved with great ease across his chest. Reno smacked his nightstick on the desk once more; this time even harder.
"Now we're cooking!" Reno screamed loudly. Elena just shook her head.
"If you think it'll work..." She spoke in a soft, broken voice. Grinning, Reeve spun around to face Phoenix.
"And once you get there, you can find more data on yourself" Reeve told him. Phoenix leaned off the wall and glared at all of them. He felt all four sets of eyes on him.
"Very well"
"You're going to get a cold out here" Aeris peeled her face away from her wet jacket. She let out a small gasp and looked to her left; Tifa stood there with her arms crossed behind her back.
"Probably..." Aeris let her word trail off her tongue; the sound could barely be heard above the soft hum of the raindrops. The dampness had not left Kalm yet, but it was dying down. Tifa took the blanket from one of her hands and draped it over Aeris' wet shoulders.
"Don't this to yourself. Don't you dare" Tifa murmured. Aeris grabbed the blanket and wrapped herself in it.
"I could have-"
"No, you couldn't have. Or you would have. You're too good to mess up" Tifa interrupted harshly. Aeris' body shook as the words entered her brain and bounces around. Aeris gripped the blanket even tighter now; shielding away the rain and coldness that was trying to cover her.
"It was the first time I tried to heal someone that damaged...well, no it wasn't" Aeris suddenly remembered. Tifa blinked a few times.
"I don't recall any of us being that badly injured" Tifa mentioned. Aeris shook her head once. Only the occasional raindrop hit either of them now. Aeris felt a faint smile blossom on her face.
"After I came back...I found Phoenix laying, near dead, outside Icicle Inn. Sephiroth had tried to kill him, I suppose. I healed him though" Aeris stated. Tifa looked down at her mud-splattered legs.
"Why did we let him go? He is dangerous. He did some terrible things" Tifa felt her heart beating faster at the thought of the boy. Aeris gulped hard.
"I know you may not care...he had no idea what he was really doing. Deep down, he's got a good heart. That's why he stopped Sephiroth" Aeris explained with a twinge of nervousness. Tifa flicked a piece of dry mud of her leg.
"If he didn't show up, we'd have never had to deal with Sephiroth again" Tifa then flicked another piece of dry mud off her leg. Aeris felt a cold rain-sting hit her.
"I'd still be dead" Aeris calmly stated. Tifa looked over at her and sighed sadly.
"I know Aeris. It's wonderful having you back, really..." Tifa trailed off. She turned away and went back to flicking pieces of mud of her legs. Aeris watched her flick a few pieces of mud off before grabbing her wrist.
"I'm the princess. And you're the hooker" Aeris forced out. Tifa twisted her wrist free and looked into her eyes.
"It's not just that...you're a good person. No, a great person. You died to save this planet before. But what if we hadn't stopped Sephiroth? Getting you back for a day would not have been worth the whole planet dying" Tifa explained. Aeris leaned back away from her.
"I agree...that is in the past now, though. I'd like to not dwell on it. But I know you're right" Aeris looked up at the cloud-filled sky and winced when a lone raindrop splashed her nose.
"So you think Phoenix is gonna cause more trouble?" Tifa asked as she went back to her attack on the mud. Aeris shook her head without delay.
"No. I don't think he ever meant to. You gotta realize, he had no understanding of basic stuff. He had no idea why killing was wrong. Deep down, all he wanted was a family" Aeris claimed. Tifa stopped in mid-flick and looked at Aeris.
"So he burnt this whole town down, killed materia dealers, nearly killed Yuffie and nearly burnt that town down, brought back Sephiroth, and you're saying all he wanted was family?" Tifa's eyes were wide; they held a mixture of disbelief and anger. Aeris took a deep breathe.
"I told you, he had no real idea the damage he was doing...trust me Tifa, please..." Aeris' voice was beginning to catch. Tifa felt the anger drain from her eyes.
"You really think of him as your brother" Tifa tilted her hair slightly. Aeris coughed twice, covering her mouth with her hands. After she cleared her voice, her eyes narrowed and lips curled together.
"He is my brother" Aeris stated with a clear voice. Tifa stood up and smacked Aeris' shoulder gently.
"I got something else for you" Tifa walked off a few steps, going down the hill. She stopped near a tree and lifted what appeared to be a branch off the side of the tree. But then a small bit of moonlight bounced of the metal of the staff, catching Aeris' eye.
"So you kept it" Aeris felt a smile growing on her face. Tifa tossed the staff through the air; Aeris snatched it from mid-air with ease with one hand.
"Well...we couldn't bear to get rid of it. You seemed so happy when you found it...didn't get to keep it long. So yeah, we kept it" Tifa explained. Aeris gripped the staff tightly in her two hands. She pushed it away from her, looking it all over. The smile grew on her face; her eyes lighting up like fireflies.
"You even kept my materia in there. My Cure, my Fire, my Ice, my Lightning, my Barrier, plus the few All Materia I had" Aeris kept examining the staff. Tifa let out a chuckle.
"I'm glad we did now...thanks to Sephiroth, not much materia left" Tifa commented after her chuckle ended. Aeris nodded her head and looked up at her.
"Maybe that's for the best. The planet was growing weaker. With the materia back in it, maybe it will grow stronger" Aeris noted. Tifa felt a few solemn drops of rain hit her again.
"We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We better get some rest" Tifa mentioned, turning back away from Aeris and beginning to go down the hillside.
"You never liked being thanked" Aeris called out as her eyes went back to the staff. Tifa stopped at the bottom of the hill and glanced over her shoulder at her friend. Aeris smiled gratefully at her.
"Your welcome" Tifa waved at her and jogged back towards the tent. Aeris let out a content sigh and stood up. She dusted her legs off with a few quick swats of her hands. She wrapped the blanket around her body and jogged down the hillside herself.
"You're sure you wanna do this?" Reeve asked. Phoenix craned his neck around and glared at Reeve.
"For the sixth time, yes. I want to go to Midgar. You suggested it. I agreed. Why would I not want to go?" Phoenix questioned in an annoyed tone. He turned back to his backpack and zipped it closed. Reeve tapped his foot off the runway.
"I just kinda backed you into it. That's all" Reeve explained. Phoenix rose his eyebrows but kept looking at his backpack.
"I require more information about myself. You say it is in Midgar. Plus, then you can get the Turks to find your enemies. It works out for all parties involved" Phoenix explained. Reeve looked at the two helicopters on the runway. The bright morning sun shining off the motionless metal blades. A group of eleven men, all dressed in military fatigues, were gathered around the helicopters, sipping on cups of coffee.
"I'm assuming you know, you have to pretend to be on the mission with the others until you get there" Reeve crossed his arms. Phoenix put his backpack on his shoulders, his eyes on the group. After a moment, he spun on his heel and faced Reeve.
"I have fought, in clear daylight, in Junon. How did you get clearance for me to go on this mission?" Phoenix's eyes narrowed at him. Reeve took a deep breathe as he took a long step backwards. He felt a chill run down his spine, despite the warm breeze rolling over his body.
"I took care of it, ok? Let's just say that, in my position, I can call in favors" Reeve explained. Phoenix shook his head then turned to the helicopters. He began to march towards them, his steps echoing off the runway.
"This will be easy. I was in that city a few weeks ago. There was nothing left but dust and debris" Reeve heard before the helicopters' blades starting to move around; the motors grinding away on both vehicles. Reeve watched the boy march towards the group; then watched as the group parted to the sides, not wanting to get in his way. The group of scouts, all trained soldiers, watched this boy as if a time bomb walked past them. A few sighs of relief filled the air when the boy entered a helicopter. Reeve let out a sigh too.
"Thank god he just sat down" Reeve muttered. He turned and walked away from the helipad. Phoenix dropped his back-pack on the ground and stoically sat down.
"Back to the dead city" He murmured to himself.
