"When kindness has left people, even for a few moments, we become afraid of them as if their reason had left them. When it has left a place where we have always found it, it is like shipwreck; we drop from security into something malevolent and bottomless."
Willa Cather

Reno, Elena, and Rude trudged through the desolate remains of Midgar. There was not much to see besides piles of ash. The streets were completely abandoned, and the remaining smoke made the air so unbearable bitter, that they had to walk with their arms over their mouths. Reno glanced back and forth between Rude's impassive face and Elena's confused one.

"What happened here?" he muttered.

Rude shrugged. Reno frowned and squinted his eyes through the dust and devastation, looking for someone who might be able to tell them what had happened.

"There's no one here..." Elena whispered. "You don't think everyone is..."

"They can't all be dead." Reno snapped.

Elena scowled at him. "Then where is everyone?"

"They were relocated." Reno said confidently.

Rude cast him a doubtful stare.

"What?" he asked. "Apparently meteor wrecked Midgar so badly, Scarlet and Heidegger cleared the area and burnt it down."

Elena looked sceptic. "You really think that Scarlet and her little lapdog would go through that much effort..."

"Are you suggesting that they burned it down with the people still inside?" Reno asked.

"Don't act like such an naive idiot!" Elena snarled. "You've worked at Shinra how long? Did they clear out the people of Sector Seven before you set the bomb that sent the plate crushing down on them?"

Reno glared at her in silence before turning away. Yes, he knew she was right. But sometimes, it was easy to forget that he worked for the kind of people that killed without second thought...though he rarely found it easy to forget that he, himself had become that kind of person.

"Point taken," he said grudgingly.

"But why..." Elena said. "I knew Scarlet was an evil bitch...but burn down an entire city...of innocent and probably severely hurt people?"

The trio stood in silence, pondering. Reno found himself dwelling on the Sector Seven mission. They had destroyed innocent people and then...blamed AVALANCHE. Tilting his head slightly, he recalled what had happened just after meteor was summoned. Shinra had...blamed AVALANCHE.

"I think I've found a pattern," he muttered sardonically.

"What?" barked Elena.

Reno raised his voice. "What does Shinra always do whenever they needed the public swayed towards them?"

Elena pondered this for a moment before her eyes widened in realization.

"They blame AVALANCHE." Rude grunted.

Reno nodded grimly. "Exactly."

Elena looked sad as she surveyed the chilling tragedy that had taken place here. So much death...she thought despairingly. After I get the money from Scarlet...I'm done with her...

"So we're still going to get Cloud for her?" she said, forcing a quaver out of her voice.

"Of course we are!" Reno growled. "This doesn't change anything!"

Elena observed his anger quietly. "You do know...that if we do this mission for her, she'll think that all she has to do to turn us into her little puppets, is offer us money. We'll be doing the same sort of things we were before."

I hate it when Elena makes good points...Reno thought grumpily. No...stop listening to her. You need this money...It's just this one last time. Do the dirty, get the money, and you're done.

"We need the money!" he shouted at her. "Just this one last time. Then we're through."

Elena sighed in defeat and then, again, Reno, Elena, and Rude were engulfed in silence. Reno felt a guilty lurch in his stomach. His parents had been alcoholics...and he had heard "just this one last time" enough to know what it really meant. Angrily, he crushed his guilt. Goddammit, we need this money! he thought with an accompanying curse.

"So..." Elena said quietly. "How are we going to do this."

Reno looked at Elena briefly, then Rude. "We're playing dirty."

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Tifa laid in her bed, only just awake, and wondered blearily what had awaken her. Pushing the covers off her body, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. An acrid scent filled her lungs and sent her into a coughing fit. Her mind buzzed with confusion and shock.

"Smoke?" she whispered petrified. "But...what's burning?"

The answer would be one that would terrify her for years to come. As she swung open her backdoor, it was almost as if it were day, the flames were so bright. And, oh, the pain...the pain of seeing 15 years worth of memories burnt to the ground. The pain of seeing the bodies of the people you grew up with, strewn across the ground carelessly. And the pain of crouching behind a bush, hiding like a helpless coward, as the home that she loved and knew was lit ablaze.

"Was that..Sephiroth?" Tifa asked herself.

But she stopped pondering the answer as she saw her father running towards the Nibel Mountains.

"Papa!" Tifa cried. "Where are you going? Wait for me! I'm coming!"

It was a like a bright ray of sunshine in the midst of a hurricane. Her hometown may have been destroyed...her neighbors and friends wrere dead...but her father was alive! As long as they had each other, they would make it through. That's what her father always told her...when she caught up with him, she would hug him, and he'd kiss her on the cheek and say "We'll make it through this together Tifa..." and she'd tell him she loved him and...and...

Tifa awoke with a sputtering gasp. She wondered for a moment why her face was damp with tears, and why she was covered in a cold sweat. Then, she remembered the nightmare. Why does it have to haunt me tonight...she thought, distressed. I always seem to have it when I need sleep the most. She rubbed her eyes furiously, trying to clear her mnd of the last time she saw her father alive. Amazing how it could still hit her like this after so many years.

She shook her head wearily and laid back down. I should try to get more sleep...she thought. But as she tossed and turned for a few moments, she realized that she would not be sleeping anymore. Sighing resignedly, she stood up. The room was windowless and dark, but she could make out the sleeping figures of Cloud, Barret, and Marlene. Silently, she tip-toed out the door and pushed it shut behind her.

The inside of Fort Condor was filled with orangish-pink sunlight. We must have slept all day, Tifa mused. Sunset already... Three men who were quietly discussing something at the table, snapped their heads up when they heard her enter the room. Tifa clasped her hands behind her back, and smiled shyly.

"Good morning!" one said cheerfully. "Or should I say, good evening?"

Tifa laughed softly. "Hello. Thank you for letting us rest here."

"Anytime!" another replied. "Are the others still asleep?"

"Yes...would it be okay if we let them sleep longer?" Tifa asked a bit anxiously.

The third man, the one who had let them in, nodded with a grin. "That's fine. I was surprised you all were still standing you looked so tired."

Tifa thanked him again, and then let them all return to their conversation. She was relieved they hadn't questioned her about the fire and why Shinra was after them. Of course they'd tell them eventually but...she didn't feel quite up to it right yet, especially after her nightmare. Absently, she stretched her arms out in front of her.

Seeing the soot on her arms, she shivered. All the sudden she felt an urgent need to bathe. It wasn't that she couldn't stand being dirty...it was the cinders that bothered her. Remembering the terrible fire in Midgar yesterday, and the terrible fire in Nibelheim five years ago, she couldn't tolerate feeling ashes on her skin. She gritted her teeth.

"Excuse me..." she said politely to the man closest to her. "Is there somewhere I can get cleaned up?"

The man nodded and led her to a bathroom. Tifa sighed in relief at the sight of the large bathtub. She wrinkled her nose as she striped off her clothes. Disgustedly, she realized she hadn't bathed since their final battle with Sephiroth. Her clothes were ripped, dirty, and bloodstained. Smiling sadly, she folded her clothes and gingerly placed her fighting gloves on top. I'm going to have to get new clothes...she thought as she sunk into the water.

The water became dirtied quickly. Tifa scrubbed roughly at her arms and legs, cleaning through layers of dirt. She gazed sadly at the ashes as they swirled in the bath water. To me...they were just ashes...but to someone else. She blinked tears out of her eyes. To someone else...they were once their whole world. Fingering the long scar that cut across her chest, and finally acknowlegding the scars that were below the surface, Tifa let the tears slide down her face, until they fell into the bath tub where they swirled with the ashes.