I'm done with my exams. YEEEEEY!

Sorry, short thank youDevil-Angel - We shall see. Arien has a little secret in this chapter. Heh heh. Three cookies for anyone who can guess what's wrong with her (apart from geostigma). This story's getting convoluted...

ODST girl058 - So do I, so I won't make them fight. I mean, legendary Turk against not-so-legendary? Kind of obvious who the victor is... dunno. Rufus might be able to take out Vincent, though. No? Anyways, please read on...

MAD WORLD - hahaha. Yup yup, Arie looks like Lucrecia. They're related, after all. Which will trigger even larger of a plot. Though, I always wondered why the heck Lucrecia went to some geezer who can't even raise his head from the floor.

Raspberry Polar Bear - I love Vincent. You can make him really cool and "I'm too cool for this shit" kind, or really really cute. I saw an illustration of a chibi-Vincent once, and he was adorable... (drools) and he's sexy. And he's a vampire. What more can a girl ask?

NarcissisticRiceBall - I decided to make my own explanation of how Elena and Tseng came back. I really couldn;'t see Vincent wearing a nurse's outfit and nursing Tseng and Elena back to health, even though since he might like the Turks, it's possible...

Reality - Arien isn't really an anti-sue. If you read carefully, she really isn't bad looking - in fact, Reno thought she was gorgeous. She just has a temper sometimes, and she is semi-popular with men. She's a cynic, because her personality was based on me, and I'm a cynical person. Oui?


Chapter 12 - Turks' Problems, Rufus' Troubles

Arien was kneeling down, examining her fellow Turks. She could not move them into her car and drive away; it was good enough that they were knocked out cold, waking them up and making them walk was another torture. And she was not going to be able to carry them; she was used to physical combat, but pure strength was not her forte. So, emergency treatment was due.

Vincent watched the young woman examine Tseng's wounds. Her raven hair was now bound with a piece of elastic, and she was in a Turks uniform… the same kind that he had worn so many years ago. But her face was so like Lucrecia's. It was not the same, no, but there were many similarities. The nose, the mouth…

Vincent was a type of a person who decidedly dedicated his life to one woman and one woman only, namely Lucrecia Crescent. Even after her rejection in the cave, he still loved her from the bottom of his heart, and often blamed himself for everything that had transpired. Yet, Lucrecia had forgiven him. Her son and her husband – although it was difficult for him to admit that the crazed quack was her husband – died, pretty much by his own hands. Yet Lucrecia had forgiven him, had even helped him when he was lost and angry. She had all the right to blame her woe onto him. And yet she did not.

Lucrecia… where did we go wrong? Would we have had a different story, a happy story, if we were together?

Watching the young woman brought pain and a small tinge of relief, both at once. Pain, because Lucrecia would have not killed like this Turk had probably done; because she reminded him of himself; because she was not Lucrecia, and never would be. But relief because, well, she looked like Lucrecia, and while her hands were used often to terminate people's lives, they were now tending to her fellows' wounds, trying to lengthen their lives.

She looked exhausted, but she was working tirelessly. Green glow of Cure flashed over them more than once, and he realized that she was curing everyone's wounds as well. He felt slightly better, for one thing, and his slash wound on his left arm was now gone. Another green sparkle, and then she sat down on the ground, her hands on her face. Her bracelet sported green and yellow orbs – materia.

"Are…" he really did not know what to say. "Are you alright now?" Arien looked up at him, and he saw that unlike Lucrecia's, her eyes were vividly blue-green.

"I will be, in a moment." She paused. "Thank you."

"Good."

"I uh…" the woman stumbled over the words, and the moonlight cast a pale light on her face, making the fatigue obvious. "Would you do me a favor?"

Vincent nodded, slowly, once.

"Elena and Tseng can't be moved tonight, and nor can I, so I was wondering if…" she made a vague gesture with her hand. "if we could stay here."

Another nod.

"Thank you."

Never in his life had he ever heard these words from a Turk's mouth this many times.

Arien had started a fire – without the aid of fire materia – and she had brought a blanket for bandaged Tseng and Elena, who were still lying comatose. She had telephoned somewhere – he could not discern to whom she was talking to – and then she sat down again. Her uniform was more than mussed now, and she seemed to try not to think about it. Turks' obsession with their uniforms used to be well-known in the building. Apparently some things never changed.

"Are you really Vincent Valentine?" she asked suddenly. Vincent, who was sitting with knees up and his arms crossed, the fire flickering in his crimson eyes, looked at her in surprise.

"I am," he replied. "Did you think I was lying?"

"No, it's just that, well, you're a legend among us. And I really didn't expect to meet a legend." She was blunt.

"I'm among the living," Vincent replied shortly. A sudden breeze blew, and the fire wavered. Two sets of raven hair blew in the same direction as well.

They sat quietly, Arien occasionally prodding the fire to keep it going. Soft breezes and the branches rustling were the only sounds that were heard.

Elena was the first one to stir. One eye opened, framed with thin golden lashes, then the other. Then both eyes blinked slowly, then the head turned. She had a pretty face, with small mouth and a delicate nose and large eyes. She looked around, then found the Turk. "Arien…?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Painful." Her voice was cracked. Arien checked the bandage, then whispered, "Don't talk too much, Elena. I'm not a physician, and what I did was an emergency treatment. I'll get you two back to the Edge as soon as possible, okay?"

"Okay." She coughed. "Tseng…?"

"He's not fine, but he will be. You had heavier injuries, but I cast Regen on both of you. Are you hungry?"

Elena shook her head no.

"Then go to sleep, if you can. We have to stay here for a day or two."

Elena nodded, then closed her eyes. Vincent watched Arien check on Tseng, then as she sat down by the fire he asked, "What, do you think, had happened?"

"Torture, I think," she replied. She sounded quiet, like she was not very used to speaking loudly. She hugged her knees. "Although they must have been pretty bad… something worse than the torture training we get."

"I've never seen those… kind of burns before," Vincent agreed.

"I thought our torture training was bad enough," she said, shuddering. Tseng's nose, which was broken and the nose cartilage shattered, was mending; she could see the hint of Tseng's former nose again. Elena was doing better as well; her facial burns were almost gone, and her nails were growing again, womanly nails that were shaped properly. Soon, they should be able to get up. Then they'd go back to the Edge, and properly hospitalized. She had already gotten a call from Rufus to return as soon as possible. Most likely, Reno had set his bedsheets on fire, Rude had fallen on his head, or Rufus was missing his unhealthy delicacies. Couldn't Shinra run without women? And if it couldn't, why were women in the Turks still the "underdogs"? She deserved more than being the cook.

The cell phone vibrated in her pocket, and she nearly jumped. She fumbled for it, then flipped it open. "Who is this?"

"You're having your blonde moment, Arie, and you ain't even Elena. Is Elena around? Cuz then the blonde might be rubbing off."

She scowled. "What is it, Reno? Bedsheets on fire?"

"Haha, funny, nah." Reno chuckled; again he reminded her of a cat. "Get Tseng and Elena and your ass back to the Edge ASAP, we had three silver-haired kids attack us in the street."

"Who got attacked?"

"Rude n' me."

She sighed. "Elena and Tseng have to be hospitalized, Reno."

"What?"

"They were tortured. By the said trio." She expected Reno to cackle, but he didn't. "They sustained pretty bad injuries. I'm doing emergency treatment, but just enough to get them back to the Edge. Then they're going straight to the hospital, no arguments. Tell Rufus that."

"Okay, okay, no need to be snippy, yo." She heard male voices in the back. "Oh, Rude asked you to come back ASAP too. He doesn't like my cooking."

"I didn't know you could cook."

"I can't." Then he was gone.

She returned the cell phone, deep in thought. Were they the same silver-haired trio who brought Tseng and Elena? Or were there many silver-haired men? Who was the leader of the group? And what did they have against the Turks?

"…rien."

She awoke from her thought, and recognized Tseng's voice. He sounded tired, but she could see that his nose had reformed. His voice was still weak, but he no longer had that deathly pallor she had seen when he was unconscious.

"Yes, sir?"

"Where are we?" he inquired. He still looked dazed a little.

"We're in the forest a little off from the City of the Ancients, sir."

"Why?"

"I found you here, sir. You really must sleep if you want to go back to the Edge sooner."

Tseng closed his eyes obediently. Arien felt tired; she nearly dozed off sitting in front of the fire. The fire was warm, and she had moved around all day.

"Sleep," Vincent said quietly. "I assume you have a long day tomorrow."

"I do," she said, hardly able to keep her head up. "I do…"


Elena, Tseng and Arien returned to the Edge three days later. Arien had thanked Vincent, who just shrugged. She smiled at him faintly – she couldn't be too long, Tseng and Elena were waiting, and said, "thank you, Vincent."

"Go," he whispered.

"Thank you," she said again. And then, she whispered, "it's not a crime to cry once in a while, Vincent."

Then she was gone.Upon return, the three immediately marched to their bedrooms and refused to come out. Elena and Tseng were forbidden to get a bed in the hospital; Rufus said absolutely not, after hearing from their mouths that they were tortured.

"We want to keep our activities low-profile," he said. "You may recuperate in Healin, but not out of it."

Arien had other concerns. She was dead tired, and what was even worse, her times of the month had not come for at least two months now. It was not like she was an almanac type, but this still worried her. She reasoned that it was Geostigma's fault, but she was not entirely sure; she could have asked Rufus, but Rufus was a male, and thus he probably had no idea. Going to the doctor meant great risks of Reno sniffing it out, which meant that he'll notice before she wanted him to.

Rufus was getting annoyed. The silver-haired trio was bothering him. Somehow they had tracked down that Tseng and Elena were in possession of Jenova's head – or what was left of it. That was why they had assaulted the two. And now they were bugging Rufus. Not openly, but by phone calls and messages. The young president was getting tired of the annoying brats.

The Turks and Rufus were crowding the table at breakfast for the first time in few months when Rufus dropped the bomb. It was a regular breakfast scene, with eggs and toast and butter and milk and whatever one might find on a breakfast table. Rufus made it a habit to eat with his bodyguards for a reason no one really knew.

"Pass the eggs," Reno mumbled through the constant crunch of Frosted Flakes in his mouth. Elena handed the egg basket over to him while she buttered the toast.

"Pepper, please." Rude reached over for the pepper and handed it to Arien, who was sitting next to Reno. Reno inhaled the pepper and sneezed loudly.

"Reno, can't you eat quietly?" Tseng asked, exasperated. "Reno, pass me the juice."

"Arien, please pass me the marmalade." Arien slid the octagonal marmalade jar toward Rufus, who caught it smoothly, unscrewed the lid, and smeared its orange contents onto the bread.

"Milk."

"Rude, you're drinking all the milk in the house," Reno complained, while he finished his cereal. "I know you need to be macho and stuff, but that doesn't mean you can drink all the milk."

"Reno, I thought you hated milk," Elena noted. "That's what you told me at the bar when Tseng flipped you over on the bar stool."

"Well, milk-loving isn't very manly…"

The table roared in laughter, and minutes later they transformed into coughs as they choked on the food. Reno looked at them as if they were strange creatures.

"What? You can't act cool and manly when you're guzzling milk, yo."

"Tseng," Rufus said calmly, "I want you to take Elena, Reno and Arien and scout around Gold Saucer and Wutai for the silver-haired trio. They're becoming quite bothersome."

The table silenced at once. Tseng's expression did not change, but Elena paled slightly. Reno stopped eating; Arien put the fork down on her plate.

"Where in Wutai, sir?" Arien asked.

"In the temple crypt," Rufus replied coolly. "I don't want you four to separate. You are to stay together."

"Yes, sir." Tseng replied.

The rest of the meal was silent. Rude was not a talkative person, and the four were two preoccupied with the coming mission to really talk. As soon as they were done, the table was cleared, plates were carried into the dishwasher. Tseng returned to his room, and Rude went out for a work-out. Rufus retreated to the office he had; the rest of the Turks were in the common lounge. But none of them looked at the recreational equipment.

"Elena."

No response was heard.

"'Laney!"

The blonde woman awoke from her reverie. "What?" she asked.

"Are you okay, yo? You keep dazing."

Elena shook her head. "I'm fine. You should care about your girlfriend, not me. Arien? Arie?"

She made no response.

"Yo, Arie!" Reno yelled in her ear. "Yo! Yoohoo! Wake up."

Arien looked at him. She was alert, and her blueish eyes showed startling alacrity. And something else.

Reno shut his mouth.

He saw fear in her eyes.