Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is the property of SquareEnix

Finally, Chapter 4 is up! Enjoy!

Chapter 4- Reminiscent days

The raven haired Turk began to stir as he slowly opened his eyes. "Where… am I?" he said, finally gaining consciousness. Sitting up, Tseng noticed that he no longer bore the wound he had received while attempting to escape from the sniper. Unfortunately, things were only about to become stranger by the second as he finally took note of his surroundings. One word could describe what he saw before his eyes, nothing. He was longer in the winding slums of Midgar, he was no longer fighting for ShinRa, he was nowhere…lost.

For what seemed to stretch for miles and miles on end, was nothing but a vast, empty, white space. As Tseng stepped forward, his footstep echoed around him sending chills up his spine. Not only was this place empty, but it was also very quiet. Any sound Tseng made seemed to threaten the very existence of this world. It was as if his every breath of this chilling air could tear through the whiteness.

"Did I die and move onto the lifestream?" he thought to himself. But what exactly did the life stream look like? Shaking his head to rid himself of his philosophical reasoning, Tseng began to walk. Where to? He had to idea, but anything was better than standing in one spot. His walk suddenly broke out into a run. He was panicking; even if there was nothing to physically harm him here, it was doing a pretty damn well job at attacking him mentally. "Come on Tseng, pull yourself together!" Finally slowing his pace, Tseng took a few deep breaths to calm his self down. "Strange…I… could have sworn I heard someone just now…"

Looking back and forth, the Wutian finally spotted a small speck in the distance. Deciding that he had nothing to lose, Tseng moved towards the stranger.

"Where are you going?"a soft voice asked from behind the Turk. Jumping on the spot, Tseng quickly turned around, startled to only to discover a small child. She was probably no older than 10 years of age, with long wavy brown hair tied with a red bow into a neat ponytail which interlaced its way down her back. Her face was fair, embedded with large emerald green eyes which sparkled. She wore a pink dress with a white trim and carried what appeared to be a basket full of freshly picked flowers.

"You are…" Tseng said, relieved that he wasn't the only person here. The child merely smiled and held out her basket. The scent of the flowers filled Tseng's nostrils. It had been a while since he had smelled anything so sweet.

"Would you like one?" her tone was sweet and innocent. "Here!" Reaching into the basket, she pulled out one of the flowers and handed it to Tseng.

"Er… thank you" Tseng replied. For whatever reason, he was speechless at the moment. "This girl…" he thought, "she seems so familiar…" Staring at the flower for a minute, Tseng finally managed to ask, "Have we met before?"

Closing her eyes, the girl merely smiled again and began to fade away. "W-wait! How do I get out of here!" Tseng cried out. As his hand reached out to touch her, she disappeared, leaving a trail of green sparkles floating around before they too, disappeared.

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Tseng opened his eyes once more, this time to a place more familiar. He was now lying in bed in a dimly lit room. Cobwebs hung in every crack and corner, thick layers of dust rested upon every surface, apparently this place hadn't been in use for a long time. The curtains had been drawn back, it was now dark outside. Struggling to get up, Tseng winced at the pain in his abdomen, it seemed as if he was finally back in reality. But what about that dream… or was it a dream? Removing the sheets, Tseng examined his wound. Someone had definitely patched it up, but had done a poor job in the long run.

"Looks like captain Tseng is finally up and running yo!" a familiar voice rang across the hall. Opening the door, Reno stood before his superior. "How you feeling?" the red headed Turk asked.

Smiling to himself, Tseng replied, "Never felt better, although I kind of wished you hadn't bandaged me up in the first place."

Reno frowned, not pleased at all with Tseng's remark, "So that's the thanks I get for helping you huh? Well, in that case, next time I'll gladly let you bleed to death yo!"

"I'd prefer that." Tseng said, attempting to get off the bed.

Reno watched as Tseng struggled to move about, "If that bullet had been 3mm more over to the right, it would have damaged one of his vital organs… in that case he would have---"

"---You shouldn't move around too much, you've already lost a lot of blood," came another familiar voice.

"Rude…" Tseng replied, a bit startled that not one, but two Turks would be here. The bald Turk came into view and stood next to Reno in between the doorway.

"Geez… was I that pathetic out there?" Tseng asked, putting on his shirt.

"Actually---" chimed Reno, Rude quickly stepped on top of his companion's foot. "OW! What was that for!" Reno screamed, jumping up and down in pain.

"Anyhow, we saw a flare in the distance when we were stalled on the freeway." Rude stated, trying not to display any form of emotion on his face while Reno pranced about holding onto his foot.

"Flare?" Tseng asked. "I must not have seen it due to all the dust that was floating around when the building collapsed…" Sitting back on the old mattress, Tseng asked in his usual serious tone, "What happened after I passed out? Explain."

Rude and Reno looked at each other, this wouldn't be easy to explain to Tseng. What happened was probably all due to pure chance…

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"Come on Rude! Can't you make this thing go any faster!" Reno yelled over the roar of the engine. The two Turks had been driving around for quite a while now, and with no doubt, the fuel was running low.

"I still don't see an entrance to this place." Rude replied, agitated that Reno wasn't helping him look for the gateway at all. The gunfire hadn't ceased since they had arrived on the outskirts of this slum, screams could be heard as locals attempted to shelter themselves from the violent outbreaks occurring throughout the area. Apparently, ShinRa had made no effort to evacuate citizens before they opened fire at the enemy. Finally spotting the entrance, Rude breathed a sigh of relief, "Finally" he thought to himself. Coincidentally, the motorcycle's engine stopped humming and the whole vehicle came to a stop.

"Already?" Reno asked. Hopping off, he swung his rod about, "Alright! Time for some action!" Without thinking, the red head ran forth.

"He doesn't think does he?" Rude mumbled. Setting the motorcycle aside, he ran after Reno.

As Reno approached the gate, he heard a sound that was all too familiar for him- the explosion of his favorite firework. "What the!" shifting his gaze to the right, he spotted the outline of an individual. As the person came closer and closer, Reno squinted in vain to see who it was.

"WATCH OUT!" the sound of a high pitched female voice cried out, finally coming into view.

Reno watched, horrified of what he saw coming before him at a remarkably high speed. "E-Elena!" he stuttered. "OOF!" it was too late, before Reno could move, she had collided into him. Rubbing his head in pain, Reno looked around him. "Where did she go?" he asked out loud smiling.

"Don't play stupid! Now get off of me before you really get it!" She threatened him. Somehow during the collision, Elena had ended up as the cushion, thereby receiving the majority of the injuries. Pushing Reno aside, the blonde Turk got up and dusted the dirt of her suit. "Ugh! I'm never doing that again!"

"But you did it so well!" Reno gleefully said. "I had no idea what a big influence I had on you!"

"You don't! Anyways, you're lucky I'm even alive!" she retorted in anger. In truth, she actually enjoyed that ride… just a little bit.

"I'm surprised you got here at the same time we did," Rude said, walking over.

"I took a shortcut." Elena replied. In an instant, Elena had her arm wrapped around Reno's neck in an attempt to choke him.

"Cu-ahh!-Cut-it- cough-cough out! R-rude!" the red head desperately cried out, tears soaking his eyes, Elena was definitely doing a good job at choking him to death.

"That's! For! Everything! Horrible! You've! Ever! Done! To! Me!" Elena screamed, pulling her prey into an even tighter head lock.

"Ahh! Can't…breathe!" Reno gagged.

Rude sighed, they were acting like children. Walking up to his two coworkers, Rude grabbed onto both of their shirt collars and pulled them apart. Arms still swinging wildly, Elena struggled to gouge out Reno's eyes now, while Reno merely stuck out his tongue at her.

"WHY YOU!" Elena screeched.

"If both of you don't cut this out, I'm going to personally deal with you…" Rude stated, his voice was calm and threatening. This was the Rude you wouldn't want to mess with.

A moment's silence and Rude let go of his two companions. "Let's get going. You can kill each other on your own time." With that, Rude led the way through the gate. "I hate this part of my job…" he contemplated.

Looking at each other for a split second, Reno and Elena hurried to catch up with the bald Turk.

As the three Turks entered the slum, it was in a condition beyond recognizable. As if this area was already struggling to sustain life, it was now in a state beyond imaginable. There was nothing left, shacks and trailers were torn down, bullet holes and blood smeared across every wall, and worst of all, dead bodies lying about.

"Horrible…" Elena shuddered as she made her way through the rubble. "Where do we go from here?"

"It seems that the gunfire has moved up ahead… over there" Rude pointed out.

"Another mako reactor?" Reno stated as he looked in the direction Rude's finger pointed to. "AVALANCHE must be having the time of their lives!"

"How would you know it's AVALANCHE?" Elena angrily retorted.

"It's common knowledge missy!" Reno replied. A vein began to twitch on Rude's forehead. Noticing this, Reno stopped talking and hurried forth to the mako reactor. Taking this hint, Elena followed his lead and marched after Reno, Rude following behind.

As the trio neared the reactor, something caught Reno's eye. "Hold on a minute." Reno whispered, something had caught his eye, but whether it was a friend or foe, he couldn't make it out. Dust still hung densely in the air, making it extremely hard to navigate.

"R-Reno, where are you?" Elena asked.

"Ouch, that's my foot!" the red head cried.

"Ah, sorry… er… what do you see?"

"I don't know, I thought I heard something… gunshot being fired, and then something falling…" As Reno, Elena, and Rude neared the scene, they saw a figure crouched over something.

"What's th--- mmph!" Elena said, as Reno covered her mouth with his hand and signaled for both of them to be quiet. As they hid amongst the shadows and watched, they heard a faint voice coming from the stranger.

"I would kill you instantly… but letting you die in agony would be much more amusing… Damn ShinRa, do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused for me and this slum! HUH!" The stranger began to kick the unconscious victim lying on the ground.

Elena inched closer, desperately curious to know what was happening. "Are you stupid! Come back here!" Reno waved his arms towards her.

Turning back to Reno, she merely gave the thumbs up. "It's okay!"

Unfortunately, they were spotted. "Who's there!" the stranger barked, stepping forward. His voice was rough.

"Uh oh…" was all Elena could say. A shadow loomed over her. Turning around, her eyes grew wide with fear as a gun was aimed at her face.

"Another one of you huh?" the stranger said, spit flying about. His face was covered in grime, his clothes torn and patched.

"I…" Elena stuttered.

"ELENA!" Reno and Rude yelled out in unison. They wouldn't make it in time.

BANG!

The stranger fell over. His mouth hung wide as blood spilled underneath him. He was dead.

Elena lowered her arm, "Wh-what happened?"

Reno and Rude ran over, "Hey! I told you to stay where you were, idiot!" Reno scolded the female Turk. "Are you listening? HEY! You could have been---"

"Reno…" Rude said, and pointed in the direction of where the victim was laying. Looking to where Rude was pointing once again, Reno's mouth hung agape.

"Tseng!" the red head said to himself. Tseng had somehow got up and was now leaning against a wall, one of his hands was clutching his abdomen, blood dripped onto the floor, while the other hand held firmly onto his gun. Tseng had shot the stranger. No longer able to bear the pain, the black haired commander collapsed onto the floor, his ponytail set loose.

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"And sooo---", continued Reno, "---we had to drag your heavy body out of that place. Luckily, we found this shack a little bit south on the outskirts of the slum… should be safe here for a while…"

"…." Tseng sat in silence.

"Hey! It's the truth! I'm not lying this time yo!" Reno quickly added seeing the look on the Wutian's face.

Tseng turned his head towards Rude, who nodded in reply, confirming Reno's story.

"I see…" Tseng said while getting up. "… by the way, what happened to Elena?" Tseng asked heading towards the door.

"Huh? Oh, she's downstairs on the sofa. Apparently she fainted when she saw her Tseng-chan all hurt and blood---OW!" Reno cried out. What was that for?

"Nothing," Tseng stated as he massaged his hand, he wasn't expecting Reno to be so hard headed.

"Let's go!" Tseng directed as he exited the room.

"Okay!" Reno grinned, while Rude silently walked after them.

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Gosh that was tiring. Next time, more characters to be incorporated! Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, Cid, Vincent, Cait Sith, Red XIII! Who knows, next up, Chapter 5! (Due to certain circumstances, Ch.5 proabably won't be uploaded for a little while as far as I know. But I'll try my best to update ASAP so stay tuned!)