Chapter 7

"C'mon Jim… we gotta get going." Danny had surprisingly landed with the grace of a cat, despite originally hobbling he now seemed top be in no physical pain. Jim, on the other hand, felt like he had broken his ankle. He looked up at Danny curiously.

"I don't remember being trained to land from high distances…" He grumbled.

"We weren't… guess I got lucky." Danny extended his hand, Jim took it and slowly lifted himself up, wincing.

"It isn't so bad, I'll be alright."

"I'd dispute that." The voice of Reno came from behind Jim, who swivelled round sharply, causing him to cry out from the abrupt pain in his ankle. Danny stepped next to Jim, glaring at the Turks. Tseng was not anywhere in sight. Rude and Elena held the machine guns up at them, Reno had a new weapon, some kind of black stick that was making a strange humming sound. He currently had it pointing to the ground, both Danny and Jim hoped it stayed there. At least for the time being.

"Stay away from us…" Danny drew his sword carefully, looking for any reaction from the Turks.

"I would advise against that." Reno said calmly. "Mr. Rude is known to have a bit of a short fuse. He especially dislikes it when people try to point weapons at him."

Rude growled, cracking his knuckles and then rolling his head from side to side, emphasising Reno's point.

"I think you'll find I don't care." Danny replied, wondering whether an escape would present itself this time. They could run backwards, but it led to a small alleyway with a rather high wall. Danny figured he could jump it without a problem but with Jim in the condition he was in it was unlikely he'd be able to do the same. Looked like he'd have to stay and fight the Turks alone, somehow.

'This sure doesn't look good. Why can't the odds be in my favour for once?' Danny thought to himself dismally. His sword gleamed slightly in the sunlight as he held it at the Turks. It was a nice day, quite hot, and Danny found it didn't seem like the right conditions for him to die. Not that it mattered, on the other hand.

"Danny… what the hell are we going to do now?" Jim whispered.

"There's not much you can do." Reno chuckled, aiming his new weapon at the both of them. "My suggestion is immediate surrender. I would say I don't want any unnecessary pain to be caused… but that would be a lie."

"No chance!" Danny kept his sword held high, if he was going to be captured, he would go down fighting, just like he had outside Kalm and when they'd been ambushed in Midgcar, but, both of those times luck had come upon he and Jim just in time. He figured by now his luck had pretty much ran out. Reno stepped forward, a smirk on his face. His dark red hair fell in wisps in front of his dark eyes. He was dressed in such a way that you'd think he'd been in a rush. Indeed, it was a very untidy look, but in a way it personified him. Everything about him suggested a lack of care or patience, from the tone of his voice to the untidiness of his appearance. Danny found himself wondering why Aeris would have wanted to be with him. Women sure were strange.

"The hard way it is, then." Reno aimed his weapon and a stream of electricity shot out, hitting Danny in the chest and causing him to stagger backwards, crying out.

"What the hell is that?" Danny growled, clutching his chest where he had been hit.

"This?" Reno held up the black stick, grinning. "It's a prototype weapon developed by our friends at the ALIEN Military Division. I believe it's been aptly named an electrostick. It's quite handy when dealing with pests like you."

Danny knew to stand any chance of defeating Reno he'd need to disable the electrostick somehow, but how could he get that close to him? As soon as he moved Reno would just fire another electrical stream at him…

"Do you surrender?" Reno pointed the stick at Danny again. Getting no reply, he shook his head and fired another stream of electricity. Danny fell to one knee, his breaths short and ragged.

"Stop it! Jim stared at Reno intently, trying to find a sign of weakness or compassion within the Turk's dark brown eyes. There was none.

"And ruin my fun?" Reno grinned sadistically, getting ready to fire another shot. Danny would not be able to take many more. His chest was burning painfully already from the first two shots, he didn't know or want to know what damage had been caused at this point. As Reno prepared to fire another stream, there was a rustling sound, and from above a figure swooped down, literally out of nowhere. It landed on one-knee, and drew itself up slowly. The Turks faces took on a look of sheer amazement, they were stunned. Danny crawled backwards a little, so he was next to Jim.

"Who the hell is that?" Jim said, louder than he'd intended to. Neither the Turks nor the mysterious man answered. Danny looked at Jim with confusion, getting to his feet shakily, clutching his chest and breathing quickly.

"It can't be…" Reno's voice was now quiet, barely above a whisper, and held a slight shake. The complete opposite of his tone previously. "Sephiroth…"

The figure, male, did not move. He did not speak nor did his facial expression change. He stared at Reno, an unreadable look upon his features. Reno slowly advanced towards Sephiroth.

"Is it really you, Sephiroth? We all thought you were dead… where the hell have you been? What have you been doing? Why didn't you tell us? It's been so long since we last saw you…"

Sephiroth still did not speak. His face changed to a scowl. Reno stopped advancing and backed away, raising his eyebrow and looking back at his fellow Turks. Rude's mouth was hanging open, and Elena was visibly shaking.

"You haven't changed one bit." Reno said, a little quieter. His voice held a slight sense of suspicion now. "We're currently dealing with these two rebels. You can either assist us or step aside, then we can have a longer talk. The job is nearly done."

"You shall not touch them." Sephiroth's first words were icy and somewhat frightening, he drew his blade.

"Sephiroth!" Reno stepped back, his eyes wide. "Wait! What are you doing?"

Not replying, Sephiroth sprinted forward at an inhuman pace, past Reno and drove his sword into Elena's chest. The female Turk gasped in surprise, a shocked expression on her face.

"No!" Rude cried, but was rooted to the spot in fear. Sephiroth retracted the bloodied blade and turned to Reno as Elena collapsed to the floor, bleeding heavily.

"Leave them, or you will be next." His voice was toneless, as if he had done nothing at all.

"Oh God…" Reno's breathing was erratic, he ran to Elena and picked her up gently. "You'll regret this, Sephiroth!" His voice lacked any conviction, and his facial expression certainly didn't portray the anger he was trying to impose. A flicker of a grin passed across Sephiroth's face, but he did not attack Reno. With a final glance, Reno ran for his life, followed closely by Rude. All that remained of the Turks was the large abundance Elena's dark-red blood.

Danny and Jim could not believe what they had seen. They simply stared. Sephiroth did not turn to them, instead he wiped his sword, re-sheathed it, and disappeared.

"What? Where did he go?" Jim questioned, looking around wildly.

"Who was that guy?" Danny said absent-mindedly, still staring at the spot where Sephiroth had been standing.

"They said he was Sephiroth…" Jim also turned to face the spot Sephiroth had been standing.

"The insane soldier? I doubt it… but if it is… what is he? Did you see how fast he moved?"

"Quicker than Jerad, that's for sure."

"Whoa!" Danny leapt up. "Tseng is in there with Aeris and Jerad!"

"Oh crap…" Jim turned to the church. "Let's go!"

Both sprinted towards the church entrance, and entered, but were confused to find no Tseng in sight. Aeris was crying, Jerad holding her and trying to calm her down. He saw the two rebels and a dark look came over his face.

"You two, out! We can't handle this!"

"Alright." Danny answered immediately, nodding. "Just tell me… where did Tseng go?"

"Reno came in screaming something about Sephiroth…" Jerad stroked Aeris's hair gently. "Tseng left immediately. What happened out there?"

"Sephiroth saved us." The disbelief on Jerad's face was mimicked by the tone Danny had used when saying the sentence. "I don't understand it either… but it was him." Danny turned to Jim, who nodded confirmation.

"I think he killed one of the Turks." Jim said.

"Killed?" Jerad echoed, his disbelief giving way to confusion. He shook his head, sighing. "I don't know… and I don't care. You have an hour to pack."

"Pack what?" Jim shrugged. "We came here with only our swords. We may as well go now."

Danny nodded, looking at Aeris briefly. "Yeah. Sorry for all the trouble we caused you. We didn't want to get innocent people involved." He waved and exited the church with Jim, his footsteps echoing ominously. He suddenly had a very bad feeling.