Author's Note:

Reno: Brrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiins...

Reeve: We've already done this joke.

Reno: ... But... it's funny!

Reeve: No, it's not. Just stop now.

Reno: Okay. I have a joke to tell you then.

Reeve: No. Because I just know it's going to be that stupid one about Turks changing light bulbs again.

Reno: ... Crap. Okay, I got it! Knock knock!

Reeve: I made that joke, remember?

Reno: No seriously. It's funny. I swear, you've never heard it.

BANG

Reno: You... you shot me... again! You bastard!

BANG BANG BANG

Reeve: Just die already.

Reno: Working on it. Doing a lot of bleeding.

Reeve: Splendid. In the mean time, Tyramir doesn't own the rights to Final Fantasy.

Reno: ... Cast... cure!

Reeve: Son of a ...

Chapter Nineteen

Picnic

Tifa lay back on the grass, taking in the sight of the sky, smiling contently. The past couple days had gone... well, they'd gone perfectly. Which she had been desperately afraid that they wouldn't. So many things had haunted her for so long... Sephiroth, Shinra, Nibelheim, Cloud... all of it. She had nearly forgotten what it was like to be truly happy. And yet, here she was, happy. And with a Turk, no less! But not just any Turk. Her Turk.

She grinned foolishly, and rolled slightly, flopping into Rude. His chest was bare save a gold necklace hanging loosely around his neck, a small silver ring hanging off it. She had been meaning to ask him about it, but as always, refrained from doing so. It was probably one of those personal things that he liked to keep to himself, and he would tell her when the time came. And come it would, eventually. He just needed that time to prepare himself.

Rude glanced down at her through his sunglasses, his face straight showing no expression to the average person. But Tifa was getting to know him, and saw the little twitch in his chin. He was smiling. Heavily resisting it, but smiling. He was happy, too. She snuggled into his side.

"I'm ready to tell you."

She lifted her head immediately, looking Rude in the eye as much as possible. But with his eyes hidden behind those sunglasses, she had little success. She nodded to him, but made sure to make her look as supportive as possible. He slowly sat up, making sure she rose with him, so he didn't accidently knock her off of him by accident.

"I... I'm no good at this kind of thing," he started. "I don't like to talk often. I've never... been good with words. Reno used to say that I do my talking with my fists, and I guess that's true. But it makes me look more like a thug than anything."

"You're not a thug. You do care."

"Do I? I'm not so sure. I care about you, so I'm with you, doing what you guys do. But I don't really believe in it. I don't believe in Shinra, either. Haven't believed in much of anything in some time."

She took one of his hands and held it in both of hers, trying to reassure him. The words didn't surprise her. She wasn't naive enough to think that he believed in Avalanche or its cause. She knew he'd never run around the world trying to save it if not for her.

He continued, "I guess what I'm trying to say is... Soldier. I was in it, you know that much. But I wasn't in it for long. I was a member of the Turks first, and as a Turk, part of our job was to look for Soldier candidates. I asked that Tseng recommend me for the job. I liked to fight, and the war was the perfect chance to prove my skills.

"Tseng asked if I knew what I was doing, and at the time, I thought I did. So he put in the recommendation, and I got accepted. That's where I met Lucrecia Hargun. She'd just come out of hiding to work for Shinra again, thinking maybe everything would be fine if she just tried to live a normal life again. Or maybe she just wanted to work for them because she wanted to be near her son. I don't know. But she was... odd. She did the tests on me, determined I was good enough to be in Soldier, and then set me up with the Mako process."

Tifa nodded, knowing now how he had known Lucrecia in the past. It made some sense now. She hadn't known that Lucrecia had returned to Shinra for a brief time after Sephiroth's birth. She had always just assumed that the woman had gone into hiding, like she was when Tifa had first met her.

Rude continued, "Took me a while to get used to the Mako enhancements. I was stronger than before... quicker, too. When I perfected my Grand Spark technique, Shinra got excited, and set me up for additional training. They thought I'd be something. They promised me I wouldn't just be on the front lines, I'd be doing Covert Ops stuff. I was really excited.

"Joke was on me. As soon as my training was finished, the war was over. Sephiroth had defeated Lord Godo in battle, and Wutai had surrendered. I felt robbed. Like I should have been the one to beat Godo. But suddenly, Shinra didn't have a use for me, or most of the other Soldiers. A lot of us were released, or turned into glorified security guards. It was almost considered a stain on your record to have been in Soldier.

"I put in a transfer to be put back into the Turks. Tseng wanted me back, but Shinra wouldn't have it. They wanted me, one of their best, to stay as an operative. But there was no work for me. Nothing to do. I had joined Soldier to fight, and got turned into an ornament."

Rude's fist began to clench, and Tifa made a noise as pain filled her hands. She made a small noise, and Rude abruptly stopped, coming out of the momentary anger. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay. You can go on."

"I... uh... I've never told anyone this. Only Tseng knew, and he's dead. You can't ever tell anyone. If this gets back to Shinra..."

She nodded, "I understand. I won't tell anyone."

He smiled. For that one instant, for a full second, a smile touched his lips. Then it flickered away, as if he remembered himself, and his normal stoic expression returned. "I asked Tseng for help. I told him I wanted back into the Turks desperately. That I'd do anything. He asked me if I was certain. I said yes.

"So he helped me die."

Tifa felt a chill go down her spine, and she involuntarily shivered. The way he said the words, with such lack of emotion, as if his voice was something of unlife, made her feel almost ill. "What do you mean, Tseng 'helped you die'?"

"I wasn't born 'Rude Seirath.' My birth name was 'Abner Owen.' I used to look quite a bit different, too. No goatee, full head of hair, no piercings. Face was different, too. Tseng helped Abner Owen in an explosion. Not just any, though. Remember Avalanche's first attack?"

"The reactor explosion?"

Rude shook his head. "No... this was before then. Avalanche's very first attack. Or, so it was publicized. A bomb in a guardhouse, killed one member of Soldier, and wounded several Shinra guards."

"That wasn't us. The media always said... you did it. And you were the Soldier that died, weren't you?"

"Yeah. I don't know where Tseng got the body from, but it was my size, and he switched the dental records around to make it look like it was me. I laid low for a few months, then joined the Turks again as Rude Seirath. Tseng got his favourite man back, I got to fight again. It was a fair deal. The only difficulty was keeping my identity a secret. So, Tseng had sunglasses issued as standard Turk wear, so I could hide my eyes. After a while, it got to be a habit."

"So that's why you always wear them, and put them back on as soon as someone sees you with them off."

"Yeah."

She let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He relaxed into her, almost melting away at her touch.

"We should probably call the others. See if they need us back yet," he said.

She sighed, then letting him go, retrieved her PHS from the picnic basket that had been left lying to the side, and dialed the number for Cloud. No ring sounded as she waited. Frowning, she looked over the PHS, and checked the battery power.

"Something wrong?" Rude asked.

"Yeah... the PHS isn't working for some reason. It's not sending its signal. Oh well. I guess they'll just have to do without us for another day."

"I guess so. What shall we do in the mean time, Ms. Lockheart?"

"I'm sure we can think of something, Mr. Owen. I mean, Mr. Seirath," she let out a giggle as she said it, then leaned over to kiss him.