Penance
Elena stared at Tseng, who watched her with contemplating eyes. His mouth drawn in a thin line as he seemed to shuffle an array of thoughts that were fluttering behind those steely, brown eyes. He gaze fell to the floor, somehow, she felt dread. Dread of having to give the report on how the mission had gone. She didn't exactly like having to recall the experience. Nightmares plagued dreams, always waking, with the image of the man. Laying in the alley, a bullet hole seared between his eyes. Gazing at the monotonous brown carpet at her feet she recalled the events of the past few hours.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - Flashback
Elena followed Reno through the doors of the ShinRa executive building. Both nodding mechanically to the woman seated behind the desk, who paid them little notice. She hadn't said a word to Reno since the incident in the alley. But the mans final words rang ,in that horrible scream, in her mind. It had risen and fallen with a single word, 'Cirus'. Whomever it was, was obviously the man whom the employee had leaked information to.
She had stalked in silence to her room, collapsing thankfully onto her bed. She was exhausted, her muscles hurt from where she had stood. Frozen and tense, gazing with wide eyed shock at this new Reno. But perhaps she was being a bit melodramatic…that much she hoped for. Sleep engulfed her within moments, to weary to fight for consciousness she allowed the darkness to roll over her.
:She was back in the alley, gun raised in-front of her chest, pointed skyward. She was merely backup for this task. And so she had remained, gazing at the battered man before her. She almost took a step back as a hallow, foreign voice rang through the stifled dark of the alley. Reno was bent over the man, talking to him, she could hear the hiss of the his EMR, which rested casually in his hand.
She had flinched back, only to be called upon harshly when Reno had thrown the man against the wall. She knew that his nose was broken, his skull had to be cracked and at least a few ribs were broken.
Now the terrible, agonizing scream rose through the night, filling her ears with bellowing pain. Leaving her with a nauseated feeling, accompanied with the smell of burnt flesh and hair. Her redheaded companion stood gazing down at the man, writhing and convulsing in spasms as his muscles fled his control. She winced as gunfire rang out through the tense silence, a slight hiss emitting from the mans skull as the bullet ripped through bone and flesh. And that horrible face… eyes lolled back into his head, saliva and blood smearing his face. Mixing with sweat and tears, she swallowed.:
Elena bolted awake, sitting up in her bed. She found herself shaking slightly, sending a glance to her clock she sighed and rose. She had only been sleeping for an hour… but it had felt like eons. She straightened her suit and brushed her hair. Tseng would not appreciate her arriving at his office to state her report in such a state of chaos.
She found her steps slow and reluctant as she made her way up the hall. Her stomach squirmed in its place, she was not looking forward to this report. Her usual motivation to get everything done thoroughly seemed sucked from her being. She dreaded having to relay her report. Swallowing softly, she stood now outside of her boss' door. 'Too soon' she thought fleetingly before knocking. Upon being beckoned inside Elena passed through the door, approaching the desk that Tseng sat casually behind. He must have sensed her unease for he motioned for her to sit….
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -End Flashback
Elena was pulled from her thoughts as Tseng cleared his throat, an inquisitive brow raised. He seemed to have nothing to say about the events. He seemed tired, for some reason she had never pictured her boss as looking tired… but then again she had never had the courage to really be around him. She felt her stomach twist and knot up, her feelings for Tseng were no secret… among the Turks anyhow. Only he seemed oblivious to them. But then again you could never tell what those unreadable eyes held behind them, what they knew. After a few moments silence he cleared his throat, preparing to speak. "That is all, dismissed." He stated in a voice that was low, Tseng never yelled. He never had any need to, even the President seemed to silence completely at the sound of the mans hushed voice, giving the Turk his full attention. Giving a quick, stiff salute Elena turned on her heel and strolled from the office. Her thoughts again drifting back to their, not long past meeting.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Flashback
Elena looked at the seat, then to her boss one last time before taking her seat. He rested his hands before him on his desk, digits entwined with each other. Elena sighed before gathering her thoughts….
"It was late before we saw the man, he was walking down the street from the direction of a bar. Obviously drunk…."
And so her report started, recalling the events in vivid detail. She hadn't meant to, it just sort of came out like that. She needed, desperately to tell someone about the events. In hopes that maybe they could tell her what happened, and why it scared her so much. She didn't know, but something at the back of her mind, a memory she guessed that she couldn't recall. But lingered there all the same.
"The name, that the target gave to us," She paused, recalling the scream that had accompanied the name with a slight shiver, "was Cirus." She stopped looking into the eyes of her superior only briefly before settling to looked at the carpet instead.
"Cirus…" Tseng muttered to himself. He had heard the name, rumor that flew around Midgar about some terrorist organization that wanted to overthrow ShinRa. At the moment they were small, easily dealt with. The only needed to kill this 'Cirus' character and the little rebel fraction would probably disperse…
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -End Flashback
Elena walked down the hall, hands entwined behind her back. She looked up to see Reno and Rude walking down the hall. Reno had that lopsided grin on his face, describing in an overly dramatic manner…. Flailing arms and large gestures and emphasized sentences. The events of the mission, she shook her head slightly, somewhat glad that the old Reno was back. She stopped herself… 'What the HELL? Glad to have the old Reno back?' She mentally snorted at the thought. But it was better than whoever that was in the alley.
The two stopped as they noticed her watching them, Reno smirked "Hey rookie." He chirped in a sing-song voice that forewarned of some smartass remark that would annoy her to no end. "You know, you should have SEEN your face tonight. You looked scared shitless ya' know." He said in a matter-of-fact tone that made her want to cave his face in.
She huffed indignantly, whiskey eyes narrowing exceptionally as she fancied an image of her pounded the redheaded Turk's face in. She scowled at Reno as he and Rude resumed walking down the hall.
Rude, silent and quite intimidating made for quite the sight. Walking beside a hyper-active Reno who looked like a maniac walking down the hall. Rude merely shook his head at his friend's antics. Reno was Reno, there would never be any single word or combination of words ever invented to describe him. He was simply, Reno. Hyperactive, annoying a complete smartass. Yet a walking complexity of mystery and secrets. Rude knew nothing of his friends childhood, knew nothing of Tseng's either. It wasn't their job to know such things of each other. Just enough to be able to trust the other with their life…
Elena sighed as she closed the door to her room, allowing the cool darkness to envelope her. The first thing she did was find some sort of medicine for her headache. She was exhausted, but settled for taking a bath before crawling into bed. She turned the knobs of the porcelaine bath. Sighing she began to shed her suit, tossing them into a never-full laundry basket. She sat slowly into the steaming liquid, it soothed her sore muscles and eased her aching head. She sighed and leaned back, resting her head on the back of the bath…
She was five years old again, running along the beach. The sun beat down on the white sands of the Junon shore, the smell of machinery filling the air. She loved that smell, but she loved the smell of the sea more. Bright whiskey colored eyes, wide with childish innocence stared with awe as the ShinRa aircraft, the Highwind, rose from the air-station. Blonde hair hat fell past her shoulders was pulled back into braids that flew behind her as she ran. A toothy grin on her face, she was pulled from her day-dreaming awe at the light, warm voice calling out her name, 'Elena!'. The woman cried, walking at a quickened pace to catch up with her daughter. A mock scowl on her face, she had blonde hair and blue eyes. Elena's father had whiskey eyes. She smiled up into the face of her mother, reaching up one small hand. She wore a floral print sundress and sandals. Her mother smiled at her, taking the child's hand and turning to walk back down the beach….
Elena sat up with a start, looking down only to find herself still submerged in her bath. The water was cold now and with a sigh she stood and dried herself off. Pulling on a pair of lavender pajamas she crawled into bed. What was that about? She questioned the sudden appearance of the memory in the dream she had. But, it wasn't a significant memory… only she couldn't remember the rest of the day.
She slid into sleep, her thoughts cut short as the welcoming darkness beckoned her into its depths.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Reno
Reno stared at the ceiling of his room, not seeing its bland surface. He was sleepy, but sleep would be far coming. He stretched, looking much like a cat as he did so and shifted his position on his bed. 'The asshole got what he deserved. He was merely paying penance for leaking information.'
Disclaimer:I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or its characters. SquareEnix has full credit.
Author's Note:Ahh... I think this one went a little better. At least I hope that it went better than the last, but anyhow hope you enjoyed! I do not know, however how soon the next chapter will be up. Hopefully not too long. I am really starting to enjoy this one. It is going to be a little slow, right now. Since it is just the beginning an all.
