"Who the fuck is she?"

"Kat, this—"

"I'm Elena." The blonde's voice is all too excited as she sticks her hand out for me to shake. "Here to replace Reno!"

"Replace Reno?" I repeat, looking to Tseng for an explanation. He shakes his head.

"Not permanently, just while he's incapacitated."

"So she's leaving after he—"

"Well, no—"

"Then what the—"

"Kat." Tseng sighs, closing his eyes to regain his composure. I scoff, eyeing the woman across from me, irritated by the life in her eyes and that eager-to-please smile. "She's more than qualified." I roll my eyes, understanding the implications he's making. More qualified than me.

"Fine."

With that, Tseng turns back heads back into his office, pinching the bridge of his nose. I sigh, slumping in a lobby couch and staring far, far away from Elena as I sip on my paper cup of black coffee. Instead of taking the hint, she sits down next to me, face flushed.

"Okay, I can't be the only one here who thinks he's cute."

I snort, choking on my coffee. Gods. Ew. When I finish coughing the hot drink from my lungs, I wipe the tears from my eyes and look at her. She raises her eyebrows, both confused and concerned.

"Wait, Tseng?" I ask, though I know what she's going to say.

"Well, yeah." She laughs, hanging her head and tucking her short hair behind her ear. "He's become something of a legend to trainees."

"For his looks?"

"No, no." She looks up sharply, brown eyes wide. "That's just me. Unless you agree?"

"Uh—"

"Oh, gods." She buries her face in her hands and peeks at me through her fingers, horrified. "Someone said something to me about you. Like, he let you in with practically no training and—" She shivers. "I didn't think he was into redheads."

"What?" I can't help but laugh, utterly confused by the twists and turns of this conversation. "I'm sorry, but what are you implying?"

"Well, I thought you two, y'know…?" Her face goes redder than before. "Did I misread that, too?"

"Elena…" I sigh, rubbing my face. Shaking my head, I stand. "Don't worry about it. Tseng and I will never be something."

I head toward the elevator, following whatever direction the person before me entered. Taking a deep breath, I wander down an unfamiliar hallway, lost in my head. It's harder than I thought, working here with him. Everything's so different. When he used to come home, everything was okay. We could forget my parents' mistakes for a while as we begged Uncle Tseng for stories from his work at Shinra's Headquarters or when it was just the two of us sitting outside on the porch. What did we use to talk about? I can't remember. I do know that for a long time, he hated me. Hated my guts. So why did he change his mind about Taavi?

"It seems I run into more than I expect to lately."

"And you seem to take more walks than I expected," I retort, looking up to see Rufus passing by. He pauses and I turn, offering to walk with him. He doesn't say no if that means anything.

"Sitting still gives me a headache," he admits, eyeing my uniform. "Decided not to follow the dress code?"

"I'm off duty," I shrug, swinging my loosened tie absently. "At least I'm wearing the damn thing."

"If that's an accomplishment, I'm not sure why you're here."

"Hey, that makes two of us." Before he can comment on that little remark, I nod toward the empty space by his side. "Where's Dark Nation?"

"Sleeping, I assume. I don't keep him with me at all times."

"Right." His eyes go cold when they meet mine; I shiver, starting to back off and head in the direction I was wandering before. "I, uh, have to go check on Reno. See if he's holding up okay."

"You do that," he mutters, turning back to the hallway.

Shuddering, I shake my head and hurry to the elevator once more. Fuckin' weirdo. When I reach the infirmary, Reno's already going stir crazy, ranting and raving about all the bad things he's gonna do to Cloud's man-parts when he sees him again. When he notices a few healing cuts on my cheek, he goes off on Tifa, too, threatening to rip her boobs off. I sigh, shaking my head and sending the doctor an apologetic look.

"Y'know, I think my doc's into me," Reno continues, eyeing the doctor from his seat at the counter. "Just can't stay away from me, touchin' me all over, takin' off my pants…"

"And here I am, obeying my orders to never leave you unsupervised," he grumbles, shaking his head tiredly.

"Hey, no need to be embarrassed." Reno yawns. "I attract 'em all."

"I'm sure you do." The doctor stands. "It's my anniversary and I'm stuck here with this goon until my replacement comes."

"Anniversary?" I repeat, smacking Reno's hand when he reaches up and tugs on my hair.

"Yeah. Been married fourteen years."

"Well, congrats." I shoot a scolding glare, but Reno grins back. "Got any kids?"

"A daughter in secondary school. Painted me and my wife some pictures as gifts. Sweet girl."

"Wish I was that good of a kid," I murmur. "Though, you're probably a better father than mine."

"Yes, well, I'm sure all you Turks have had your share of hardship. Otherwise, I'm not sure you could do your jobs as well as you do." The doctor stands, antsy, and touches his glasses. "Do you mind keeping an eye on him until his new caretaker arrives?"

"I can try." He leaves without another word, desperate to go home after a night of listening to Reno ramble. Can't say I blame him.

"Never told me about your dad," Reno points out, raising an eyebrow. I shrug.

"Never came up."

"He a dick?"

"Yeah." I laugh, trying to ignore that niggling feeling that reminds me how many pieces of my past I'm missing. "How about yours?"

"Never knew 'im," Reno shrugs, closing his eyes. "Hey, what did Rude have to tell you the other day that I couldn't know about?"

"It's nothing," I sigh, shaking my head. "Just stupid drama, that's all."

"Really? Rude doesn't do drama, Princess," he murmurs, toying with a strand of my hair as he thinks.

"Yeah, well…" I shrug. Before he can lecture me about keeping secrets, my phone rings. Sighing, I stand and pick up the call.

"What?"

"Avalanche is advancing in their ascent of the Shinra Building!"

"Elena?" I frown, glancing down at Reno. He opens his eyes, waiting for me to explain.

"Tseng's putting you and Rude on stopping them."

"Why isn't Tseng telling me this himself?"

"He's busy."

"Okay…" I take a deep breath, rolling my eyes. Reno snickers.

"They were last seen with the mayor. I can make sure Reno isn't—"

"No, do what Tseng told you to do. Reno isn't going anywhere." I shoot him a stern look for emphasis. "And tell Rude I'll be there in a sec." With that, I hang up.

"Who's that?"

"Your temporary replacement. Somehow, she's even more irritating than you."

"Huh. You're one lucky gal. What's Tseng need you for?"

"Avalanche is here."

"What?" He sits up sharply, grimacing as he tries to get up. I shove him back down.

"Reno, just stay here. We're not killing them." He groans, eyes screwed shut with defeat.

"Shit."

"Just stay here. I promise we won't finish them without you."

"Fuck off."

The elevator takes an eternity to get to my floor, but I'm not sure taking the stairs would make things much faster. I thought only important people were allowed on the executive elevators. Huffing, I step inside and mash the button for my destination. Look at me calling myself important. When the door opens again, Rude's waiting.

"Seriously? You just stood here?"

"Rufus's orders."

"To do what, stare at the wall?" I scoff, hurrying into the hallway. I've seen what this clown crew can do; I know for a fact that we have to be careful.

"To make sure you weren't alone."

"He doesn't trust me," I mutter, loading my gun.

"You're new."

"Where are these guys that we're supposed to be looking for?"

"Hojo reported them in his lab. We can cut them off via the elevators on the other side of the floor."

"How's that?"

"Wait for them to get inside and follow."

"Sounds like a plan."

We take the elevator to the research floor, backs pressed to the wall. It's not long before I hear the thudding of hurried footsteps heading toward the elevators. Upon hearing the doors hiss closed, we make a run for it. Rude jams his foot in the doors and steps inside, calm. The enormous gunman from the plate curses under his breath.

"We'd like to go up," Rude says, voice stern. Cloud scowls, eyeing the keypad.

"C'mon," I prod, gesturing toward the numbers with my gun. "You don't want to make this hard."

"Where's Reno?" he demands.

"Keeping an eye on Hojo. Up."

Heaving a sigh, he presses a keycard to the panel and selects the option that brings us as far up as we can go. I shoot Rude a look and he nods, pulling his restraints from his back pocket.

"Come quietly and you have nothing to worry about."

"Nothing?" Tifa asks, frowning. I jerk her arms behind her back and cuff them together.

"Nothing from us."

"Fuckin' Turks," the gunman growls.

Cloud's eyes flit about the small space and I know he's searching for an exit. It's Tifa, though, that makes a move once we're leaving the lift. She swings her elbow back, hitting me square in the mouth, but I get a good grip on her obnoxiously long hair and shove my foot into the back of her knees, forcing her to the ground.

"Don't make this harder," I hiss in her ear, spitting coppery blood onto the floor. Rude grunts, dragging the gunman away.

"Tifa!" he bellows.

"Chill," I snap, jerking her to her feet. "Did it to herself."

"Shinra bitches…" he huffs.

I nod toward the second elevator and Rude heads inside, bringing back the Ancient and strange feline-like creature whose legs he bound together on short ropes.

"All I had," is his only explanation.

"Let's get this show on the road," I huff, looking up to see Tseng heading toward us. "Coming to lend a hand?"

"Yes."

We guide them up to President Shinra's office, gun raised and eyes on the lookout for any sudden movements or silent communication. Tseng pulls Aerith away, handing her off to a soldier that he mutters his commands to before falling back into line with us. A pair of guards lets us into the President's office. After lining them up, we step back, waiting. Like clockwork.

"Where's Aerith?" Cloud demands, clearly ticked off by the circumstances.

"In a safe place," President Shinra replies, standing and making his way around the front of his desk just like he did for me. "She's the last surviving Ancient… Don't you know? They called themselves the Cetra and lived thousands of years ago. Now, they are just a forgotten page in history."

"Cetra…" the strange beast murmurs. I frown at Rude. It talks? "That girl is a survivor of the Cetra?" President Shinra chuckles, spreading his arms wide to the sides.

"Cetra, or the Ancients, will show us the way to the Promised Land. I'm expecting a lot out of her."

"The Promised Land? Isn't that just a legend?"

"Even so, it's too appealing not to pursue. It's been said the Promised Land is very fertile. If the land is so—"

"There's gotta be mako!" the gunman shouts, cutting Shinra off. Tseng remains stonefaced even when I raise an eyebrow at him, demanding to know when this speech is going to be over. Elena think's he's cute? I crinkle my nose, turning back to the President. Ew.

"Exactly. That's why our money-sucking mako reactor is necessary. The abundant mako will just come out on its own. That is where Neo-Midgar will be built. Shinra's new glory…." He chuckles, though his smile fades when the gunman spits at him, missing by mere centimeters.

"Bastard! Quit dreamin'!"

"Oh, don't you know? All it takes for dreams to come true these days is money and power." The President shrugs, heading back for his seat. "Well, that concludes our meeting." Rude nods toward me and I raise my gun, jerking it toward the door.

"C'mon, get outta his way!"

Slowly, the comply—all but one. The gunman strains against his bindings and rushes toward President Shinra.

"Hold it! I got more I wanna say to you!"

Rude steps in front of him, and with a forceful shove, turns him around to follow the others. The big man wrestles Rude and Tseng all the way out the door, where I point the gun at his head, a silent threat. He narrows his dark eyes.

"You wouldn't. Gotta make a show of us, doncha?"

"No, I wouldn't kill you. You don't think it would make the people feel better if we incapacitated such a big, bad man, though?"

"Fuckin' Turks," is all he can muster before letting Rude lead him to the front of the single-file line.