It wasn't long before the ship prepared to dock at Costa Del Sol, formerly a rich, Shinra-executive-laden vacationer's paradise. Tseng found himself standing on the deck in the early hours of the mourning, leaned up against one of the cargo crates that he'd found himself strewn amongst only a few days before. Biting his lip, he let himself admit that the sounds of the departing helicopter he'd heard the night before hadn't boded well for his chances of finding Scarlet this morning.
There was nothing to be said about it, he decided after a while, trying to quiet the rising bile in his throat at the thought of what a sap he'd been to stand there arguing for the bonds of brotherhood in front of the others. He left the deck, returning through the corridors to the cabin, resolving not to say anything to Elena. She'd never liked Scarlet anyway, not that he didn't know why. Jealousy ran deep with those women. But that was long ago and far away, and nothing to carry over to the present.
"Hey," called Reno, catching sight of Tseng coming down the hall towards them through an open cabin door, "Get your shit, we're leaving." He pulled himself back in around the frame of the cabin door, and Tseng followed him inside to the sight of Elena sitting on top of the sack in which they'd been carrying around Rude's provisions.
"Well?" She asked, as Tseng stepped around her towards his bunk, "Where'd she get to?" Tseng ignored her, trying to avoid her eyes, and Elena snorted, getting to her feet. "Well," she said, not bothering to face him, "while you were searching, Rude and I put your journals away for you, and whatever pants you came with, although if you don't wash them soon we're going to throw them into the ocean once we hit the beach. I wanted to do it already, but we couldn't have you walking around with no clothes on, now could we?" With that, she stepped around Reno, and left the room, snapping the door closed behind her.
Tseng looked at Reno, who whistled, and shrugged. "Happens to all of them at some point, you know," he said. "That time of the month, I guess."
"I heard that!" Elena yelled through the door. "Get your damn bags or I'll really throw them over the side."
Three hours later, the four of them were at the counter of the Costa del Sol Inn, checking in with only two suitcases between them, one of them having been wrathfully abandoned on the sands outside by Elena. Reno approached the somewhat scantily clad woman working behind the counter, while Rude made an embarrassed face and turned away, appearing to admire the carpet.
"Two rooms, please, for three nights," Reno started, but Elena stepped in to cut him off.
"Three rooms," she corrected. Reno sighed.
"Look," he said, "I know that sharing a bed with me is far too hot to handle, but we can't afford three rooms."
Elena bristled, but Tseng shook his head before she had a chance to interrupt again. "He's right," he started, "We really don't have the cash on hand. It's one room per two people, you can share with whomever you like." Turning to Reno, he raised an eyebrow. "Stop antagonizing Elena," he muttered, "Or we'll lose more of our luggage."
"Sure," the woman behind the counter replied, bending down a little farther to reach a sheaf of papers below her desk. Rude reddened, and blinked unhappily at Reno, who snorted at him without sympathy, and stepped out of his line of sight, just to make the point. "You can go right up, it's number 105, it'll be a white door on your left." She handed a key over the counter, and Reno took it, dangling it in front of Rude to try and snap his attention away from the tanned beach-beauty that he was now intently fixated on.
"So," Tseng asked, one hand on his hip, turning to Elena, "as our token woman, take your pick." Elena glowered at him, and Tseng shrugged. "Or don't," he added. "You can just see how rooms get parceled out instead. I'll put you with Reno again, I like being able to sleep at night, personally."
To everyone's surprise, Elena didn't say a word about that, but turned on her heel and marched up the stairs. Tseng grinned to himself, deciding that Elena's silence just proved what he'd known all along – she had a tendency to snore, and wasn't about to let him know it. "Fine then," he said. "Rude, you're with me."
"Cheers," Rude muttered, as they started up the stairs together, leaving Reno to pay the bill. Behind them, they heard him rifling through his provisions bag, cursing to himself. "Hey, look," he said, "I've got um…I'm a little hard up for cash…hey, what are you doing on Saturday night, huh?" Tseng laughed to himself as Reno's voice faded below them, and they entered the white door that Elena had left lying open for them, leading into their assigned room.
Beneath their window, there was a sound of wheels rolling against the grainy white beach sand, and Rude peered out to try and catch side of what had made the offending noises. Reno pulled him back in by his collar. "Don't fall out," he laughed, "We went through all the trouble of saving your ass for a reason." Rude grumbled good naturedly at him, and Reno grinned. "I'm going down for some long-earned sunbathing," he announced. "And Rude's coming, too." He linked his arm with Rude's, and marched him out of the room, the door shutting behind them before Tseng's protest could carry to them across the room.
"That's a really risky idea," Tseng called after them in frustration. "We're supposed to be lying low." He watched the lose door unhappily, then started forward, only to be stopped by Elena crossing sharply in front of him in the direction that the others had gone. "Where are you going?" He asked, and Elena shrugged.
"I'm going sunbathing," she said, and left him standing there, feeling like an idiot in the middle of an empty room, on an incredibly beautiful, sun-kissed afternoon.
Elena met up with Rude and Reno as they emerged out of the awning of the hotel on to the beach. The sand itself was jam-packed with sunbathers, swimmers, and old men who no one, under any circumstances, had any desire to see in their tiny swimsuits. Rude stopped under a green beach umbrella, and waited for Elena to catch up to them. Shielding his eyes from the sun, Reno glared over at Rude.
"Always prepared huh," he muttered. "Wish I'd brought some sunglasses." He glanced at Elena, who was blinking unhappily , trying to avert her eyes from the glare off of Rude's shades. "Or maybe not." In one fluid motion, he pulled his shirt over his head, and made a running dive for the waves lapping at the edge of the beach.
Elena and Rude watched him go, Rude chuckling to himself. "Sunburned," he noted, pointing at Reno's bare back for Elena's benefit. Elena squinted at it, smiling despite herself.
"What, already? He's only been in the sun for what, five minutes?" Stepping closer, Elena made as if to join Reno in the water, and then stopped, her smile vanishing. "That's not a sunburn," she said, shaking her head sadly. "That's the angriest looking battle scar I've ever seen." A little bit closer, now, the red mark on Reno's back was undeniably a war wound, and not one that had been recently sustained, either. There was obvious scarring around the edges, and yet the cut was deep enough to still be red and glaring. Elena saw him wince as he dunked himself underwater, and started towards him again, reaching the edge of the waves as Reno's head emerged from underwater.
"Come on in, the water's fine," he called, beckoning for Elena to join him. She stood there, shaking her head, and then sat down, folding her legs underneath her on the sand. "What?" He asked. "Come on, don't be a prude, we've all seen it before." He grinned maliciously, but Elena didn't take the bait. Bored with her, he called back to Rude, "Well? You just gonna stand there all day or what?"
"Reno," Elena insisted, leaning forward and resting her chin in her hands, trying to catch his eyes, "What's that?"
"What's what?" Reno asked, leaning back to dunk his bright red hair back into the water. Elena frowned. "What?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What's what, huh?" Leaning forward, he flipped his hair over his shoulders and sprayed Elena with a barrage of salt-water, forcing her to throw herself back on the sand, shaking her head, little droplets covering her blouse.
"Oh for the love of," she muttered, "Now you're in some shit." Ripping her blouse over her head, Elena wriggled out of her pants, and, clad only in her underwear, threw herself into the waves at Reno, who let out of a little bark of laughter, and dove under again.
Rude was only the one left to notice the sound of several pairs of boots, too formal and businesslike for proper beach attire, approaching from the direction of the Inn.