4

Attacked from both sides!

A knock came at his door the next morning; he sat up, running his fingers through his hair, messed up with sleep.

"Myeah?" The door opened, he had forgotten to lock it. Elena came in and sat on the bed beside him. He lay back down feeling surprisingly good considering the quantity of alcohol he had consumed the night before. She reached out to his collarbone area and took the pendant of the necklace Jennin had given him into her fingers. He snatched it back, holding onto it and frowning.

"Get off it!" Elena recoiled at his over reaction to her gesture.

"All right! Don't get so testy!"

He realised his naked torso was showing and drew the covers up high around him. "That looked like Independent materia to me, do you know what it is?" She was right; it did look somewhat like Independent materia, very small, but still resembled materia. He didn't know what it was though; it definitely was not one he'd come across before.

"It's just a necklace!" He snapped, still clutching it. Elena shrugged and stood up.

"We're having breakfast then going to find out if the lifestream is close enough to cause Mako poisoning." He nodded and waited for her to close the door behind her as she left until climbing out of bed and getting changed into his Turk uniform.

He whistled a song as he went down to the bar where breakfast was being served, and sat next to Elena, bopping up and down to the song in his head, happier than he'd been in a long time. Yuffie frowned and asked Elena what was up with him, to which Elena shrugged and dug into her cereal. Reno helped himself to cornflakes, coca pops and Lucky Stars all in one bowl, ignoring his colleagues glares and he shovelled spoon loads into his mouth and let stray milk drip down his chin.

"So…did anyone find out anything last night?" He asked through a mouthful of cereal. Only Yuffie understood what he'd said, as she too was someone who talked whether her mouth was full or not.

"Yeah, no thanks to you!"

"What did you find out then?" He asked when she didn't elaborate. This time his mouth had less filling it so both Cid and Elena also understood what he said.

"Your newest girlfriend seems to be a member of a group called 'The Indigo Children'. Town-folk have been saying that things go missing whenever they come into the town, and people die mysteriously or slip into comas." Elena said, brushing her fingers through her short blonde hair as she had forgotten to bring a hairbrush with her.

"Well, they said that happens when the Children aren't in Mideel as well." Yuffie added.

"So they don't live in Mideel then?" Reno asked, his brows pushed together, and song in his head forgotten for now. Cid shook his head in disbelief

"You son of a bitch! You were dancing hip on hip with one of 'em for a good four hours yesterday and you didn't even find out where they live?"

"What did the girl say to her friends before she left?" Yuffie asked between mouthfuls of Lucky Stars. Reno thought on it for a while before answering.

"They didn't actually say anything… it was weird, but I guess I didn't notice it at the time, being drunk and all…but yeah. They sort of looked at each other like something was being said even though not even their lips moved. Jennin nodded like she was responding to something that the boy said and told me she had to go." He took another mouthful of cereal.

"Yeah right Reno, you were pissed out of your skull last night. You must have just not heard what they said in your drunken stupor." Elena rebuked, angry at Reno's persistent drinking always getting in the way of the job in hand. Reno opened his mouth in annoyance, a little hurt by her words. He quickly snapped his mouth closed again as half chewed cereal started to escape from his open mouth. 'I wasn't that drunk.' He thought to himself, not bothering to waste energy on arguing with his blonde-headed fellow Turk.

"Whatever! So Turkey found nothing out then. Great! Well, that 'Child', or whatever it is she claims to be, gave you a trinket last night. What was that all about?" Yuffie asked, pushing her empty bowl away from her and sitting back, her hands clasped together and placed at the back of her head as she lazily leant back in the chair. Reno clasped his thin fingers around the pendant defensively and snapped;

"Nothing! Mind your own business brat." Cid had also finished his breakfast; he stood up with a glare in his eye that let everyone know how pissed off he was beginning to get with them.

"I'll meet you outside in five minutes." He growled, spinning on his heel and storming out of the bar.

"Ooo-eee! Who got outta the wrong side of the bed this morning then?" Reno joked once Cid was out of earshot. Yuffie punched his arm and stood to go as well.

"Oh Yuf, babe, don't get mad at me. I know I've probably just gone and shattered your dreams of one day getting with me, but my heart is set on one woman now; get used to it!" He snickered as she narrowed her eyes and left in the same vain as Cid had done. Elena just glared at him for a moment before leaving. He shrugged and finished up his cereal.

It took twenty minutes to walk to the lifestream most of the way through muggy forest, by which time Reno had managed to wind Yuffie up beyond reasonable levels.

"I'd beat you in a fight any day, you red-headed JERK!" She screamed at him, to which he only sniggered in response. Cid looked daggers at them and growled

"How old are you Yuffie?" Her Reno-induced bad mood lifted for a moment as she tried to figure out why in hell he was asking that question.

"You know how old I am Cid!" When he glowered at her harder for not answering the question she muttered,

"Nineteen." Cid nodded

"And at what age does one get promoted into adulthood?"

"Eighteen." She mumbled, looking down at the forest floor, already guessing his point.

"Reno, how old are you?" Reno felt he was old enough not be spoken to like a child so chose not to respond.

"He's twenty five." Reno shot Elena a dark look for that, to which she stuck out her tongue, she was as fed up with Yuffie and Reno as Cid was.

"ACT LIKE YOUR FUCKING AGE'S THEN!" Yuffie did not take kindly to being shouted at, or wound up; she'd had enough. One minute she was there, walking as far from Reno as she could, the next moment she was totally gone.

"Er… where's the brat?" Reno dared to ask. Elena looked 'round and could not see her either. She ran over to Cid and told him that the ninja was missing. He stopped and looked around them, staring through the trees for any movement before shrugging and continuing to walk.

"She's just admitted she's an adult, she can do as she pleases. If you ask me I reckon she's off materia hunting."

Suddenly they came to a clearing, littered ruins of the old Mideel were scattered about in the bushes and on the overgrown paths. The pool of glowing green shone an odd light onto the group's faces. Even Reno could not help but inhale in wonder. It was beautiful. Birds chattered not far away, other than this it was silent, and totally peaceful. Reno sat down a few metres away from the pool and sat back, enjoying the warm feeling pulsating from the pool and the peace and quiet here.

"Well.." Elena sighed, sitting next to Reno. "I think it's too far from the new Mideel to cause Mako poisoning." It was at least a mile away from the town, maybe more, it would have been unlikely Mako poisoning would have set in after only three years living close to the lifestream. She watched as Cid nosed about looking for signs of unusual activity, she didn't know what he was expecting to find.

A bang rose up from the forest near by and Cid suddenly cried out, clutching his upper arm with a pained grimace on his face. Reno sat up straight, looking around to see where the sound had come from; Elena went over to Cid to see what was wrong. Trickles of dark red blood found their way past Cid's hand held at the wound.

"I got shot! Get down you fools! Take cover!" Reno unclasped his Electro-Mag rod from the hoop on his belt and took the mid-length leather strap attached to the end of the rod. The strap had a hook-clasp, which he attached to a custom-made black leather band around his wrist with a hoop fastened upon it. This meant that even if he accidentally dropped the rod, it would be easily retrievable as its leather strap was secured to his wristband.

Dark shapes were moving through the forest, he gulped and threw Elena one of his Restore materia's he had taken with him, it was a weak one, but it would have to do. He gripped the handle of his Electro rod tightly and stalked in the direction the sound had come from while Elena sorted Cid out.

"Ummpff" He doubled over as a long wooden staff had been whacked into his chest, he stumbled to his knees as the staff was swung round and pummelled into the back of his legs.

"This place is not for apes. It is for the superior's; for us." He looked up to see the face of a boy not much older than sixteen with a sly smile on his lips. Reno got to his feet and jabbed the Rod into the boys flesh in one quick movement, having set the setting at strong-stun. The boy's body convulsed as it hit, he stumbled backwards, the smile replaced by a look of surprise. More gunshots echoed around the hollowed out area, he quickly ran in the direction it had come from, keen to not have another of his friends shot at. More children emerged from the forest, clutching assorted weapons. It seemed that the only thing that the weapons had in common was the large number of materia slots, all being used to their full capacity. The children wore those green orbs everywhere, in among clothes and makeshift armour, on pendants, in rings, everywhere. 'If the ninja brat hadn't ran off, she'd have a field day with all this materia around.' He thought to himself grimly as a burly young man with a sword swiped at him, he had to dodge it fast and jab back with the electro-rod even quicker, running passed his fallen form to avoid having to dodge the sword again.

A little girl suddenly came into his path, he screeched to a halt and stared at her. She was smiling broadly, her black hair tied neatly back in pigtails. He didn't know what to do, he wasn't about to electrocute such a small and cute little kid and she seemed to lack any weapon. A glow suddenly formed around her, the kind of glow someone has when casting a spell, he cursed and ran in the opposite direction, but it was too late, the spell hit him, pushing him to the ground. A loud sound reverberated around his ears, this was a very powerful spell, but he felt nothing of it, it just swirled around him, the worst it did had been knocking him to the ground. When the spell finally came to a stop (she had a W-Magic materia on, so it cast twice) the girl looked more than annoyed that Reno was fine. She came up close to him and took a good look, her eyes falling onto the pendant Jennin have given him. She yelped and ran off once she saw it.

Scratching his head, he stood, 'what was that all about?' he asked himself as he continued to jog towards the direction the gunshots had come from.

The shots had stopped, he could hear sounds of commotion coming from the clearing where the lifestream was, but other than that all was silent.

The silence was broken with another gunshot, this time frighteningly close; a hot, sharp pain erupted through his side, making him want to throw up. He doubled over and clutched his side, feeling warm liquid ooze over his hands.

"Shit!" He muttered as he forced himself to look down at the wound and see how bad it really was. "SHIT!" It was bad. He stumbled to his feet and pushed his way through the trees towards the clearings to his friends and, more importantly, the Restore materia he had given Elena. Pain throbbed at his side and nausea swept over him in waves. He finally stumbled into the clearing where ten or more of the Children were gathered, Elena was casting a fire spell, her cheek was cut and clothes bloodied, Cid was fighting five of the children with a worrying limp and uncharacteristic lack of accuracy that screamed out that Cid was badly hurt.

Elena's fire spell was simply absorbed by the four children she had cast it on, all four began glowing as Elena desperately searched her pockets for more materia. Another gunshot echoed in the air, Reno fell to his knees as his white shirt was drenched in his own blood. The bullet had gone straight through his other side, entering through the back and almost re-appearing at his front. From the ground where he was desperately trying to get up he could see Elena being completely consumed by the four spells the children had cast on her before she had located her other materia. Two ice spells; a fire and a bolt had hit her almost at the same time. She was slumped on the ground, totally out.

"Cid!" Reno had meant to shout, but the words came out almost as a whisper as his vision blurred and another bullet soared through his skin, this time hitting his shoulder. He collapsed fully, only just aware of distant shouts and the ceasing of the gunfire. A metallic taste frothed up in his mouth, he was dying, and he knew it; the blood spilled out from the corner of his mouth and dripped down his chin. Something was going on around him; he could barely make anything out anymore. He was cold, so cold; sleep beckoned him, sleep he knew he'd never wake from. Darkness washed over him as he lay on the floor, lying unconscious in a puddle of his own blood, a puddle that was fast becoming a pool.

TBC...