"…And I hung around on the beach a lot, visited some of my relatives, and not much else really." Tseng finished.
"How come your holidays are always so boring?" Reno grumbled.
"Because my job is so interesting."
"Then tell us about your job." Reno commanded. The Turks, plus Yuffie, had dragged Tseng into 'the cave', their name for the end room that held the TV and board games, and demanded he tell them all about his holiday.
"Ok then, fine. There was this one time when one of the Turks were ordered to find a man who had tried to kill the president. The Turk we sent after him followed him into a nightclub…" Tseng didn't get any further, as Reno had leapt forwards and clamped his hand over his mouth.
"Not this story, 'kay Boss?"
Tseng smiled. He knew exactly what stories to start in order to get out of storytelling.
Chapter Four: Hard Learned Lessons-No more if onlys-
The ceiling wasn't very interesting. Not one bit. But Sakura was staring at it as if it was. Reeve half wanted to wave his hand in front of her face, but he resisted the temptation.
"How long has she been like this Marlene?"
"Ages! I woke up and left for food, and when I came back, she was just like that. She wouldn't answer me when I talked to her, so I came and got an adult, like Papa says to do if something's wrong. Reeve, is Sakura going to die? I should have come and found someone sooner!" The little girl's eyes started filling with tears.
"No Marlene. It's ok, you did good."
Marlene sniffled and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "What's wrong with her then?"
"I think she's depressed. Sakura, are you listening?"
Sakura didn't even move.
"Marlene, can you go get Tifa or Elena?"
She nodded and scampered out the room.
Reeve knelt down beside Sakura's bed. "Sakura, listen to me. What's wrong?"
Sakura breathed out heavily and rolled her head slowly to look at him. "It didn't work out how it should have. I got it wrong. I could have stopped that from happening…"
"The Cosmo Candle? Is that what this is about?"
She nodded. "And you shouldn't have told Tseng."
"I had to. And he didn't look at me like I was insane, either."
"The Candle wasn't put out by some stupid traitor ninja for another two months. Why did it happen differently? It doesn't make sense."
"Traitor ninja?"
"A Wutain ninja went turncoat and sneaked into Cosmo Canyon with a bucket of some kind of powder that smothers fires. Can't remember what it was called. Eventually he was caught, but not for another two years or so."
"Oh."
"I don't get it! How could the past change?"
"Sakura… You changed something very big. Maybe whoever is behind it all is doing things differently because we all survived. Speeding things up."
Reeve could practically see the woman's thoughts passing over her face. Annoyance, surprise, anger, fear, horror. "No way. But- but then I'd be… useless. If that's what's happened… I can't help anymore. I- I came back to help you all and now I can't help anymore…"
"That's not true. You can still be helpful, considering you managed to get passed security at the old ShinRa building. And you may not know when and what events are going to happen anymore, but you still have a rough idea of what's happening."
"Really?"
"Sure. Come on. You need food. You're all pale."
"Thanks…"
"Reeve! I got Tifa!" Marlene yelled, bursting through the door, the tall brown haired woman not far behind.
"Thank you Marlene, although I'm not sure we need her anymore." He looked up at Tifa. "Thank you for coming, I thought Sakura was upset over something, and you're better at that sort of thing than me, but she's ok now."
"I was just tired. Sorry for worrying you."
"No harm done, and it's better safe than sorry, right?" Tifa grinned at her. "Although you look like you could definitely use some food."
"Heh, that's what he said. I suppose I am kinda hungry." Sakura sighed and stood up from her bed. "Thanks…"
oOo
In truth, Sakura still didn't feel much better. She'd only gotten through Reeve's security because she had figured out the best way through it weeks ago- or fourteen years in the future, depending on how you looked at it.
And while she did have a rather well covered knowledge of many martial arts and how to use a number of weapons, she really just wasn't a natural at fighting. Ok, she could beat up your average street thug, but up against a real fighter she was doomed.
About the only things she was good at without months and months of training and practice was cooking, a totally useless skill when you were in a resistance, and riding motorbikes.
Ok, maybe riding was useful. She could get around quickly. But she wasn't near as good as Cloud. She'd seen him fighting someone while both were riding full speed along some back road near Kalm on their motorbikes. That was impressive.
She sighed and put her head down on the table beside her food tray. Maybe she should tell Marlene to ask Yuffie to train her in some form of fighting now, so she doesn't have to learn when she's fifteen like I did. She wished she'd thought of that when she was the young one. Gods knew she needed the head start.
And then people started filing into the dining room for morning tea, mostly so intent on getting their food that they failed to notice Sakura hurriedly sitting up and pulling her tray of food towards her.
oOo
It was foolish to leave the bunker on his own and without telling anyone that he was going, and Reno knew that, but then, Reno was a very foolish person sometimes. Anyway, his trip to the store was mostly uneventful, except for this nagging feeling that someone was watching him.
The trip back was different though. As he walked past one of the many alleyways on the way back to the bunker, a six pack of beer swinging from one hand, he heard someone calling his name. It sounded like… "Cloud?" He asked, peering into the darkness.
There was no reply. Frowning, Reno stepped into the alley… and something hit him hard on the back of the head. He stumbled forwards then regained his footing, reaching into his jacket for his gun, and spun…
"Cloud!" he gasped. He knew Cloud didn't like him, but… "That's not funny man. You made me drop my beer."
The man grinned nastily at him, and Reno suddenly realized the only way out the alley was through him. "Come on man, move, I want to get back."
And then Cloud rushed at him, pulling a tazer out of his pocket. Reno yelled and dodged to the side, sticking his foot out to trip the man as he went past. He fell with a heavy thud, and Reno trod heavily on the back of his knee to slow him down. Then he ran.
He didn't stop or look back until he made it to the bunker, not even stopping to pick his discarded beer up on his way out the alley.
oOo
"Where the bloody hell is Cloud?"
Three startled faces looked up at Reno, who was standing, gasping for breath, in the doorway.
"He went out a while ago to talk to Cid." Tifa said eventually.
"The bastard!" Reno exclaimed, before turning and running back out of the small kitchen.
"What's wrong with him?" Tifa asked.
Elena shrugged. "You know they don't like each other. Probably just some stupid argument."
"Yeah." Tifa looked down at Marlene, who had demanded the two women help her make cookies. "Don't you go around repeating that word Reno called Cloud, either."
"Alright Tifa."
oOo
"Boss! Cloud's gone mental!"
Reeve spun his chair around to face Reno. "I highly doubt it."
"He has! I went out to get some beer, and he jumped me in an alley! He tried to kill me!"
Reeve frowned. "Reno, think about what you're saying. These are serious accusations and, quite frankly, I don't think Cloud would do that."
"He did! I'm not lying Boss, you've gotta believe me! He had a tazer!"
"Where would he get a tazer?"
"I… I don't know."
They both jumped when the door suddenly burst open again. "It wasn't Cloud!"
"Sakura?" Reeve asked. "What do you mean?"
"Yeah! What the hell is going on?" Reno demanded.
"It wasn't Cloud." She repeated, gulping down air, trying to get her breath back.
"You said that already." Snapped Reno.
"Yeah, sorry, um. Hang on a moment." She flopped down in the couch and shut her eyes for a few seconds. "Tifa told me you'd been looking for Cloud earlier, so I figured you must have been attacked."
"Yeah."
"It wasn't Cloud who attacked you, it was a… a…" she waved her hands around vaguely, trying to think of the word Vincent had used to describe them when they'd finally figured it out themselves, "A clone, I guess. There's a scientific term for them, but I can't remember it."
Reeve's eyebrows shot up.
"A clone? Yeah, right." Reno said.
"See? This is why I didn't want to tell you what you were up against. You'd never believe me if I had said 'yourselves'."
"Wait, there are more of them then?"
"So you do believe me?"
"We've seen clones before." Reno said.
"Although they weren't very good ones." Reeve added.
"Well these are very good clones. Except they aren't actually good. They do whatever they're told."
"By whom?"
"Well… we never actually found out. All we know is that there's someone pulling the strings."
"Wait, wait," Reno interrupted, "if we're up against clones… is there a Reno clone?"
"Yes. I've seen him a couple of times."
"Oh no," he moaned, "What if I end up fighting him? Would I win?"
"I don't know. You were dead last time we went through this."
And then Reno paused. "What did you say? And for that matter, how exactly do you know all this?"
Sakura and Reeve looked at each other. "I suppose I'd better tell him," she said.
"What? Tell me what?"
So Sakura explained to him where she'd come from and who she was.
It took a long time.
oOo
"Cloud, you're back! Reno was looking for you. Have you done anything to upset him?"
Cloud looked puzzled at Tifa's question. "Not that I know of. Why?"
"He was using some rather colorful language."
"More so than usual, you mean?"
"Yeah."
The man sighed and ran his hand through his spiky blonde hair. "I'll go find out what's wrong."
When he found Reno, however, the Turk was staring into space with a strange expression on his face. "Reno?" There was no reply. "Reno!"
Reno jerked out of his reverie and spun around. Cloud suddenly found himself staring down at the business end of Reno's EMR. "Hey, hey!" he held his hands up in a gesture of peace.
Reno sighed and lowered his arm. "Sorry man, you scared me."
"I scared you?"
"Uh… no, I wasn't scared." Reno said hurriedly.
"Whatever. Tifa said you were looking for me?"
"Was I? Oh yeah! I was. Never mind, it doesn't matter."
"Tifa said you sounded pretty angry."
"Er, yeah… mistaken identity, 'kay? Now piss off, I'm busy."
"With what? Counting the tiles on the ceiling?" Cloud asked scathingly.
Reno scowled. "I'm trying to work something out."
Cloud shrugged and started to walk away, then he paused. He'd always hated Reno, but after being stuck in this bunker with him for the past few days he was starting to realize that he was mostly a nice person. Maybe he should try setting their differences aside and get to know him better…
Reno was surprised when Cloud came back and sat down beside him. "Can I help? I'm good at puzzles." He paused. "Well, some puzzles."
The Turk considered his offer for a few seconds, then said, "Nah." Cloud suddenly looked hurt, and Reno realized he had been trying to be nice. "Er, it's nothing personal, it's just that if I told you, you'd laugh."
"Oh, ok." Cloud tapped his fingers on the table for a few seconds uncomfortably, then stopped. "It's not that word game that Denzel and Marlene found on that cereal box this morning is it?"
"No! It's not really a puzzle, ok? If you want to know, ask Sakura."
At the mention of Sakura's name, Cloud's face closed up and went expressionless.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I don't like her."
For some reason Reno found this hilarious. "Oh man, that's rich."
Cloud scowled at Reno. "I don't see anything funny about it. She knows too much and won't tell us how. There's something fishy about her."
Reno managed to stop laughing for long enough to say, "She's more trustworthy than I am… trust me on this." Then started laughing again.
"…Right…" Cloud got up and left, looking over his shoulder a couple of times, perhaps to make sure Reno wasn't following him.
oOo
A/N: Sorry this chapter took me so long to write! I've started about fifty other things and now I'm trying desperately to keep up with them all xD
Please review!