Disclaimer: we all know I don't own anything from FF7. No characters. No locations. No vehicles. No Chocobo. All I own is myself, and I'm not even sure about that one.

Oh well, at least this story's mine. See, I can see the silver lining to every Cloud ...:-p

Sorry, couldn't help that one :-p

Don't upset the Lifestream... I want to share the fun too. Wait for meeeeeeeeeee!

Part 1: Bonds of old.

"Holy SHIT…!"

The carmine-haired man gaped at the scene in front of him, repeating that single sentence like a mantra. His partner simply gaped in characteristic silence.

Tifa's hand had the edge of her seat in a death grip. She remembered that area quite well. She remembered the mad race her companions and herself had waged to reach and save the last Cetra… Cloud's frantic, desperate need to reach the Ajit. But however they raced, however they tried, they had been powerless to stop the hand of Fate; they had come too late. When they left the forgotten city, she had lost a sister and more of her heart than she could spare; the woods here had been the silent witnesses of her hidden, helpless grief.

But present disaster overruled past heartbreak; as far as she could see, a sea of black clouds marred the sky, creating an artificial night in which the flames below could dance even more wildly. They were far above the inferno, yet they could still feel the angry heat of the flames. What could have caused this?

'Cloud… Marlene… Denzel… please don't be here'

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"Where do you think you're going?" Reno was casually standing in the doorway, barring her exit.

Tifa shouldered her travelling bag. "Cloud needs help"

"How d'you know that?"

"Vincent was here earlier." She did not add that she was unsure whether the sombre man would help his one-time companion.

"Well, we didn't see him. Sorry, you can't go, cupcake. See, we're to keep an eye on you. Can't do that if you go gallivanting after Spikey ". Reno flashed her his signature cocky grin and leaned against the doorjamb.

"You can't? Don't tell me you've been grounded again?"

With that last, Tifa smiled wryly and pushed past him.

"She's got you here". The tall, well-built suit-clad figure of Rude emerged from the shadowy corner he had appropriated. He noticed that his partner's smug air had all but completely vanished to be replaced by open-mouthed disbelief. A man of few words, Rude readjusted his omnipresent shades and made for the door. He stopped by the younger man, snapped his gaping mouth shut, and followed the young woman out in the streets.

"Tifa!"

"You can't stop me."

"We don't intend to. The helicopter will bring us sooner to the Ajit"

Reno shot out of the bar, almost slipping over the wet steps, his EMR in hand.

"He--hey! What do you think you're doin? Strife told us to look after her! Not take her around!"

"He told us to look after her; not hold her hostage."

"Bullshit! You, you're doin this because you have this thnff-"

Reno gagged as Rude clamped his hand over his mouth.

"I am doing this because Strife needs help."

"MMMMmmFffGGHhh!"

Tifa's eyebrows raised as the older man pulled his partner in front of him and clamped both of his hands over the latter's mouth tight.

"And that's ALL!"

Reno yelped as Rude pushed him away, whacking him on the head at the same time. Tifa could not help a smile this time; it was like watching siblings squabble.

The red-haired young man glared at the older man and muttered something incomprehensible under his breath whilst rubbing his injured cranium. Ever his impassive self, Rude turned to Tifa as if nothing had happened and said:

"Are you sure you're OK enough to go?"

Still smiling, Tifa nodded and followed a silent Rude and a harrumphing Reno to the 'copter. They might just come in time to help Cloud out of this one.

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Tifa pressed her forehead against the window, watching anxiously for any sign of life down there. The helicopter bucked under the turbulences caused by the heat.

"I can't go any further, it's too risky!", shouted Reno in the headset, "We have to go back!"

"No!"

"So what do you propose princess? They might not be here after all!"

"…"

She knew that this was the result of a fight. They all knew it. Such a fire was not caused by any kind of natural occurrences, save the end of the world and they had already gone through that. The only people in this area who were powerful enough to cause this were either Cloud, or Vincent if the latter had decided to go and help out after all. The silence stretched as Tifa tried to find a way, any way, to continue their search. And once again, Rude came to her rescue.

"Reno, take us down over there."

The young man looked over at the impassive profile seated beside him.

'Duh. I thought he had learnt his lesson with Chelsea. Pfffft…'

"O-Kay people, here we go!"

Reno veered sharply to the right towards the edge of the inferno. Tifa kept her eyes glued to the window, watching for any sign of life. But she was slowly coming to face to face with the fact that nothing could survive such heat. Her eyes slowly welled with tears but she did not cry. She had to keep on hoping!

And there, on the edge of that drop-off almost at the epicentre of the inferno… fluttering in the wind…

"RUDE!"

"I see it. Reno."

"Almost there boss!"

Rude reached in his pocket and fished out an Ice materia. Leaning back, he handed it to Tifa wordlessly. The young woman took it gratefully and voiced her thanks; she had none on her because she had entrusted her whole stock to Cloud.

"There you go, sis!"

Tifa caught the Cure materia that a winking Reno had pitched towards her and smiled back weakly. The cheeky young man was trying to cheer her up, but the worry was eating her up inside. Her hand balled on the cold orb of solidified Mako.

Reno had not even completed the landing when both Rude and Tifa jumped off the craft. Once a safe distance away from the rotating blades, they looked over the sea of fire lying some way in front of them and the devastation therein. Tifa's skin heated up as she came nearer to the flames and colour suffused her cheeks, neck and ears in delicate shades of pink. Her long black hair stuck to her sweaty skin in sweet tendrils and she ardently wished that she had something to hold them back as she pushed the dark mass out of her face.

This was not going to be a piece of cake.

Reno came up behind them and observed Rude discreetly watching Tifa. He mentally sighed; man, that guy was impossible. Two years and he was still trying not to make calf-eyes at her. His partner's amorous skills were decidedly rusted, if they existed at all, and although he had promised not to take this aspect of Rude's life in his hands anymore, he decided that the old boy was never going to come to anything if this continued on like that. He was almost twice his age, but he needed help, like, BAD. He had grabbed his chance just before Sector Seven fell, and boy, had it been a handful…

"Reno!"

Rude's voice shook him out of his fond reminiscences and brought him back to the present. Reno had the distinct feeling that the older Turk knew what he had been thinking of. How embarrassing for him. Smirking, he shouted back:

"Keep your hair on, I'm comin'! "

Tifa vaguely heard the two Turks converse but her attention was focused on that piece of fabric she had glimpsed on that cliff, fluttering like a pennant. She could not ascertain of its colour because of the red glow that the fire cast over everything in a mile-wide range. It could be Vincent as well as Cloud, or maybe both or maybe even nothing at all. She prayed that it was the latter; just a random piece of fabric.

Who was she fooling? Tifa dreaded what she would find up there; the fear and worry dried up her throat, made her forget every physical hurt and discomfort she was suffering.

Reno reached them and took out his Ice materia.

"C'mon, let's get this show on the road!"

And a blast of freezing energy shot out from his outstretched hand, evaporating and drenching the burning land as it hit the flames. Tifa and Rude followed suit, and slowly, they made their way to the cliff, Rude regularly tossing at them Ether vials to replenish their energy. It was hard work, and it took the better part of an hour. During all that time, they worked silently, concentrating on the task at hand, each preoccupied with their own thoughts.

Tifa was remembering Nibelheim as it burned to the ground along with most of the people who had constituted her world then.

Rude was remembering another fire, in what had been another life before this one. That fire had orphaned him, made him homeless. Shin-Ra had found him days later living in the forest that had then surrounded Kalm.

Reno was asking himself how long they would have to keep this up. He was simply dying in that suit…

At long last, his wishes were answered and they reached the foot of the cliff. Rude looked at them; he was notoriously bad at climbing. He would stay down to keep the fire at bay and the way clear. Tifa on the other hand had already started to climb up, and was surprisingly good at it. Belatedly, Reno remembered that she had been a mountain guide; climbing must be something pretty natural to her then. And typically, as he looked up, he deeply regretted the fact that she no longer wore that killer miniskirt. With a sigh full of regret, he started to climb up after her, mimicking her movements. Five minutes later, Tifa had reached the ledge. There was only one person here, a full-grown man. The man lying sprawled on the ground was not Cloud but-

"Vincent!"

The young woman rushed to his side; she pushed back his dark hair and noted his unusually low temperature, his dry lips. His pale face was deathly white now, except for the dark dried-up blood coating its left side. She tentatively tried to pull him up in a sitting position against her but stopped in her tracks when she felt something; in the flickering lights, she was horrified to see that her entire arm was drenched in dark red blood. Too much blood… but this time it was not a sword… not Masamune.

Her former comrade in arms did not appear to be breathing. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing this impression to be false.

'Please Vincent… Don't die out on me too.'

That was when she felt him move, weakly, in her arms… His chest barely lifted upwards as he struggled to draw some air into his lungs. What with his injuries and blood loss, the fire was belching out columns of hot smoke, rarefying the oxygen in the air and they right in the middle of it. It was a miracle he still had a breath of life left in him.

Tifa was about to try her luck with a Cure spell when she heard Reno scramble up the ledge, complaining loudly about something or other. She got a better idea.

"Reno! Do you have any Phoenix Down on you?"

"What- Who…? Wow! Did coffin-boy do this?" Reno's eyes swept over the downed man and the flames below. Admiration glimmered in his eyes. "And yeah. Allow me."

The Turk fished in his pockets for some moment before finding the desired item. With a strange little smile on his lips, Reno tossed it at the gravely injured man.

'Our debt is repaid, big brother. Now we can get back at kicking your sorry old butt.'

Vincent's eyes shot open.

Author's notes:

So Vincent is back from another NDE ;-) (he should write a book about this; he'd make a mint. like "How to best and befuddle death: the Vincent Valentine guidebook to coming back from the other side.")

Reno and Rude as their AC comic-relief selves here. nothing earth-shattering except that it was harder to write than chapter9; i kept adding things, views, etc. they were all like screaming for a line in my head, lol. who ever said comedy was a piece of cake?

ah, and you'd be wondering who the heck is Chelsea (no, it's not a cousin of mine who's been nagging me to get a line in here). she's a character in an official ff7 game ;-) i'll expand upon her character and role later on... or you might want to do some diggin on your side too.

Rude as a former resident of Kalm is purely my presumption here. i dunno how old he is exactly, but he looks older than everyone else in the Turks (Tseng included) so he'd be around his mid to late thirties. that would match the time around which Veld accidentally killed most of its inhabitants.

Part 1 of this story should be over soon. i plan to transit to part 2 in about 5 more chapters, but that may be wishful thinking...

Lord Makura, Uchiha Aywin and Moonshine's Guide: thank you for your reviews! they're water to my mill, sunshine to my soul, food to my fickle muse ;-p

may the gods of reviewers bless you...

Celeste