Entwined Destiny

Chapter Six

Reno had finally found something to wipe the blood away from his nose, and he hadn't said a word to Elena. Then, he realized, she still hadn't told him what a Garden was. He dared voice his question, "Tseng, he told you to tell me what a Garden is."

Elena shot him a glare as they rode across the ocean, but responded, "A Garden is a military camp where they train SeeDs, or special service solider or something like that. I'm not explaining everything to you, so shut up." Elena growled as they drew closer to the land.

"Why are you so mad at me?" Reno whined. He looked around him, finding nothing to do but just sit there. "If it's about Tseng, I'm sorry." Elena turned look at him, her eyes wide with horror. "What?" Reno asked her, confused.

"Oh my gosh! You said you were sorry! Reno, are you sick?" Elena gasped in shock.

Reno blinked and then narrowed his eyes at the insult. He glared at her and did not answer her. Instead, he pulled the string on the engine and made it go faster. Within a few moments, they had reached the land, Elena still staring at Reno as if something were wrong with him. Reno shook his head and got out of the boat. Elena followed and then she seemed to become her usual calm self.

When they got out, Reno realized that this was not a beach, but a town. And he was at a harbor. He looked around, seeing three people and a familiar looking hybrid dog that reminded Reno of a cat. He looked at the three people.

He recognized the ex-Turk because Vincent was the only person he knew with a ripped up red cape like that. Then he noticed Cloud, the one with the SOLDIER outfit on, and then Tifa wearing the leather. The dog hybrid was Red XIII or Nanaki. Cloud was sitting down, leaning forward, he looked sick or something.

The four companions must have heard the motor boat because they all turned around to look at Elena and Reno. "Long time no see?" Reno greeted, leaving Elena in the boat as he walked over to them. That was when he noticed all the blood on the stone ground. "What happened here?" he asked.

Elena got out of the boat, "Wow…Looks like something went on…" She had taken out her gun and had it held at her side with her finger on the trigger.

"Reno, Elena, what are you doing here?" Vincent growled, glaring at them. The Turks were the enemy. Vincent, who still had his gun out, raised it up to Reno's head. His finger rested on the trigger; his face was emotionless.

"That's none of your business. The real question is, is what are you doing here?" Reno growled, holding his electric rod in his hand. His green eyes looked down at Cloud, who, he noticed, was holding his chest, blood seeping through his fingers. His eyes were shut and his face scrunched tight with pain. Reno pointed his weapon at Cloud, and looked at Vincent, "What happened to him?"

Vincent didn't respond, instead, he moved his gun to Reno's feet and fired. Three bullets collided with the stone just at Reno's shoes. Reno jumped back in surprise, "What was that for! We haven't done anything-yet!" Reno added.

Elena, who had come up beside Reno, growled at Vincent, "That's my job!"

Reno looked at Elena with confusion, "What! You are not going to shoot at me!" Reno snapped. Elena turned to glare at him, but she put her gun away.

"Forget being enemies for now. We have an order and that does not involve killing you three. Reno, come on, Tseng will be wanting us back soon." Elena said icily.

"Tseng? He's here? Who else is here?" Cloud asked, opening his Mako blue eyes and looking up at Reno and Elena. He removed his body hand to reveal a rip in his clothes. Reno could tell that Cloud had been stabbed; by who, he didn't have the slightest idea.

"Rude, we don't know who else. And now that we have told you, tell us who's here that you know of." Reno demanded.

"All of AVALANCHE and…someone else." Tifa responded.

"That many? Well that's nice to know. Come on Reno, let's go." Elena ordered, grabbing Reno's sleeve and dragging him along with her. Reno tried to jerk away, but this woman was strong! He growled and glared at her, but followed. After a few moments, Elena let go and wiped her hand on her pants, "Ugh! Reno germs!" she muttered to herself.

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"Hey guys, we have to go find Barret and Selphie now, come on." Squall ordered, turning around. "Unless you have seen them anywhere." he added.

Ivrine and Yuffie shook their heads and followed Squall and Rinoa. Rinoa's troubled expression had vanished and was replaced by an emotionless one. Squall wondered what was wrong with her. She was usually a carefree person who was always determined to go with what she thought was right, but at the moment, something was wrong. Could be about Cloud and all his friends? Squall was unsure, but he didn't think about it as they came past the boy again.

He had to turn his head, unable to look at it. The only living person of Balamb that he knew was that little girl, and she didn't even know if she was alive still. Squall looked around him, searching for his missing friends. "Barret! Selphie!" he called out. He didn't get an answer at first, but then he heard one. It was faint, but not far. "They're this way, come on."

Squall headed off towards the spot where he had heard the response. The others followed at they found themselves standing in front of the gas station. Barret and Selphie were standing there, looking at them expectantly. "Did you find the killer?" Barret asked.

"Yes, it was Sephiroth." Yuffie responded quickly. Barret blinked, about to ask something else when the sound of a gunshot filled the air.

Squall spun around to look at the direction of the harbor. "Either Vincent just shot at something, or someone else is down there." Squall muttered to himself. Then he turned to the others, "Come on, let's go see what that was about."

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Rufus ShinRa looked around him, wondering where the hell he was. Nothing looked familiar and no one was around that he knew. All that Rufus knew was that he was in a city and was standing in front of a mansion. He wondered who lived there, maybe they could help-everyone else seemed to just ignore him. That really annoyed Rufus, but he'd get over it.

Rufus went up to the mansion and knocked on the door. He wondered if anyone would hear that…oh well. Almost at once, the doors opened to reveal and man wearing a General suit. He had a stern look on his face and he looked agitated about something. The man stood as tall as Rufus and when he spoke, it was as if he were speaking to a soldier or something, "What do you want?"

Rufus blinked, "I'm trying to find out where I am."

"You're in Galbadain. Who are you?" the man demanded.

"Rufus ShinRa," Rufus was only half-surprised the man didn't know who he was. He had never heard of 'Galbadain' before. No one seemed to know him anyway.

"Never heard of you. Why are you dressed so formally?" the general asked him.

Rufus blinked again, unsure whether the man was prying, or kidding. "Because I'm the president of ShinRa. Who are you?" Rufus asked, his voice had an edge to it.

"General Caraway, never heard of ShinRa. But now that you know where you are, get out unless you need something else." General Caraway growled.

"Well…actually I do." Rufus responded. "I'm looking for five people. Their names are Tseng, Elena, Rude, Reno, and Hojo."

"Try the hotel, they might be down there. Go that way, and then turn left." General Caraway pointed out a direction. "Then you can't miss it."

Rufus said thanks to the general. Why, he didn't know, he never said thanks to anyone! Oh well…he took the direction there and found it. He entered it and found some stairs that led down to a bar. If he were looking for Reno or Tseng, that's where they would be! He went over to the stairs and walked down them. Sure enough he found Tseng and Rude sitting there, Tseng was sipping on something.

Rufus went over to them. They hadn't noticed him yet and so he sat down. Tseng glanced at him and then shouted, "Sir! There you are!"

"Yeah, here I am. Where's Reno and Elena?" Rufus asked, noticing they were no where to be seen.

Tseng blinked and sighed, taking another sip of his drink before answering, "They're going to Balamb Garden for some information."

"And that is where?" Rufus asked.

"In the country of Balamb." Tseng responded

"Oh." Rufus replied bluntly.

"They should be getting back soon enough." Rude commented, feeling bored.

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Vincent looked down at Red, "Is that girl okay?" he asked.

Red nodded, "Nurse Janie said she'd be okay, but there was still a big chance of infection setting in from her wounds. If they keep them clean, yeah, she'll be fine, but if not…well you know…" Red spoke, his voice calm.

Vincent blinked, "Yeah…" he sighed, "Where are the others?"

He looked back down at Red, who shook his head, indicating that he hadn't seen any of them when he was coming back. "I don't know, Vincent, but they should be getting back soon, I hope. Oh, and have you guys figured out what's up with Cloud yet?"

"No, we only know that aspirin isn't going to work and that he seems to be getting sicker." Vincent responded, but as they spoke about Cloud's condition, they heard Tifa speak up in an urgent voice, "Vincent, Red, we need to get Cloud back to the Garden now! He's blacking out again."

Things couldn't get any worse…Vincent turned around to look at Cloud, whose eyes were dilated and he was groaning from the pain. The blood from the stab in his chest wasn't flowing as badly anymore, but Vincent could tell Cloud was in a great deal of pain.

He walked over to Cloud with Red following. With Tifa's help, they lifted him up, one arm over Vincent's shoulder, and one over Tifa's shoulder. Then, with Red's guidance, they drug Cloud out of the harbor and towards the Garden. Vincent could still here the pain in Cloud's voice.

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Just as Squall reached the harbor, he found Vincent and Tifa dragging Cloud up the steps. Red was in front of them. He stopped, wondering what was up. Cloud seemed to be half conscious and was groaning. "What's wrong?' Yuffie asked, looking at Cloud with worry.

Tifa looked up at them and motioned for them to move, "He's sick with something. And being stabbed isn't helping him at all. Squall, take us back to the Garden." Tifa ordered.

Squall blinked and nodded. Rinoa took one glance at Cloud's condition was turned to Squall, "They're right, he's sick with something. And from the looks of it, Cloud is in a great deal of pain, let's take him back to Nurse Janie."

Okay! Well, I hope you liked this chapter! Okay, I'm giving you chapter seven and eight!