Chapter Six

Then

Two weeks had passed since the Sector Seven Plate had fallen. Elena didn't think she'd had chance to breathe that whole time. The following evening, AVALANCHE had invaded the building... and then so had Sephiroth. Elena had been in the infirmary keeping Reno company yet again when they'd found out that the bizarre, frightening General had been, killing countless people... including the President. To her shock, when Reno found out he was dead, he snorted with laughter.

'Reno!' She smacked him on the head, eiciting a yelp. It was funny, she mused, how quickly one became comfortable with Reno. She would never be able to whack Rude, and Tseng, well... it didn't bear thinking of. But Reno she had no qualms about hitting.

'Ow! I'm injured, yo!'

'The President is dead and you just laugh! That's awful.'

He rolled his eyes. 'You never met the guy, did you?'

Elena shook her head. 'No, but...'

'He was an asshole. A bigoted, selfish asshole. He's really no loss. Now, all the other people that died, I'm very sorry for them. But truly, I couldn't care less about the guy.'

Elena bit her lip, unsure what to say to that. 'At least the other Turks are okay,' she offered in a small voice.

Reno smiled at her. 'Exactly,' he said approvingly.

Elena shuddered. 'I can't believe Sephiroth was here... in the building...'

Reno became serious for a moment. 'I know. It's freaky shit.' He shook his head. 'Almost makes me glad to be stuck in here, out of the action. I'm definitely glad you were in here with me.'

She flushed. 'Th,thank you,' she said.

'Don't be so weak,' teased Reno. 'You're a Turk. Act like one.'

'What, drunk?' she joked.

He threw a bunch of grapes at her. 'Ha ha.' His expression darkened. 'Man, I could do with a drink.'

Rolling her eyes, Elena grumbled 'Wait a second.' She went over to her jacket, which was lying over a silver bag. From the bag she withdrew a bottle of vodka, the posh crap that had a blade of grass in it.

'It was a gift from the other cadets,' she said. 'You know, for becoming a Turk.'

There was look of purest joy on Reno's face. 'Lena, you're a goddess!'

'Don't have too much!' she cautioned him.

He opened the bottle, taking a swig. He closed his eyes, a blissful expression on his face. He then passed the bottle to her. She shook her head, but he pressed it into her hands.

'We've had a stressful experience,' he insisted. 'Come on, rookie...'

She glared at him, the forced down a mouthful of the aromatic drink. Reno shrieked with laughter at her face.

'Aw, man, was that the first time you've had a drink?'

'No!' snapped Elena, red faced. 'I just don't like vodka much.'

'Lena, honey. This isn't vodka. This is nectar.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Shitty tasting nectar,' she muttered. He just laughed, downing more. 'So... what happens next?' Elena asked him.

He shrugged, frowning thoughtfully. 'Rufus'll take over, I imagine.' He made a face. 'Man, Rufus is just as bad as his old man, in his way.'

Elena bit her lip. 'What do you mean?' she asked, worriedly.

'Well,' Reno seemed to consider, swallowing the vodka as though it was water. 'Well. Rufus is pretty cold. You know the shtick about him not bleeding and crying, right? He's also majorly antisocial- he just hangs round with that freakin' cat the whole time.'

'Dark Nation is a panther,' Elena pointed out mockingly.

Reno stuck his tongue out at her. 'Nyah. But... I dunno. I can't say I'm too fond of Ruf. The Prez tried to make us buddies, when I first became a Turk. We're almost exactly the same age, so the Prez thought I could, I dunno, make Rufus more normal or something.' He shivered. 'I think Rufus thought I was coming onto him when I invited him for a drink.'

'Wait,' Elena shook her head. 'Didn't you become a Turk when you were, like, fifteen?'

Reno nodded. 'Yeah. Why?'

'I didn't touch booze til I was, like, nineteen!'

Reno burst out laughing. 'Lena, you're nineteen now. That totally was your first drink!'

She glared at him, cheeks crimson with embarassment. 'Shut up!'

Reno smiled at her, ruffling her hair surprisingly gently. 'I'm teasing, yo.'

She blushed harder. 'Whatever,' she mumbled.

A devilish grin spread over his face. 'Aw, Lena... smile, or I'll...' He threw himself on her suddenly, tickling her mercilessly.

'Reno!' she shrieked. But she couldn't stop giggling. 'Reno... please... stop...' He shook his head, grabbing her hands with one of his, pinning her. 'RENO!!!'

The door opened, revealing a very angry looking nurse. 'There was a massacre here earlier!' she hissed. 'Would you please show some respect to the dead and stop flirting?!' She caught sight of the vodka, and her eyes narrowed. 'For gods sake, Reno. You're on painkillers.' Shaking her head, she picked the bottle up, then left, glaring the whole way.

Red faced, hair a mess, Elena sat up, then promptly hit Reno. He just laughed.

xoxoxoxo

And so, two weeks after the massacre, Elena received her first real mission- to intercept AVALANCHE, before continuing to Junon where they would hopefully dispose of Sephiroth in time for Rufus' inauguration ceremony. Reno was travelling on with Rufus, to act as some kind of protection, though his injuries weren't entirely healed. He was in a vile mood when they set off, bitching and whining for all he was worth.

'We're not bodyguards,' he moaned. He gazed at Tseng, trying to look beseeching. 'Lemme go after AVALANCHE. I wanna settle the score.'

Tseng rolled his eyes. 'Reno, you barely made a mark on them when at full strength, let alone when you can barely move your arm. Be patient.'

Reno pouted. 'But Tseeeng...'

'No. You're going to Junon with Rufus. We're not going to fight them, anyway. Our main concern right now is Sephiroth.'

'But...'

'Reno.' Rude rarely spoke, but when he did, he meant it. Reno sighed theatrically, and crossed his arms, but he shut up.

Finally, thought Elena, leaning back in her seat a bit. She was fond of Reno, very fond. But she'd spent so much time with him over the last few weeks, and he was so... full on. Always chattering, and joking and trying to pull pranks. Sometimes she just wanted to knock him out, or gag him or, when he was being particularly annoying, give him to Hojo for a while. The main problem with him, was that he didn't seem to have any idea when to shut up, as he was displaying now.

'Stupid dumb mission... stupid dumb Junon,' he was muttering under his breath.

'RENO!' Tseng finally snapped. 'Shut the hell up!'

Elena hid a smile as Reno slumped down in his seat, glaring like a toddler. He didn't say another word 'til they landed near the Mythril Mines, where Sephiroth was apparently headed. They stopped outside for a moment, just staring. The Midgar Zolom, a serpent-esque creature that lived in the marshes outside the mines, was impaled on a huge spike, bloo, pouring down it's side, jaws frozen in a noiseless cry. Elena felt her stomach twist. Beside her, Rude laughed slightly.

'Go on in,' said Tseng. 'Check the area. I'll contact HQ.'

Elena and Rude nodded, heading into the caves. After a moment, Rude grunted. 'Wait,' he said, softly.

Elena looked down. Cloud, that was his name, wasn't it? was there with two young women. They were talking. She turned to Rude, but he was gone. She looked down. He was there now, standing in front of them.

'Just a second,' he said.

One of the women jumped. 'Who are you?' She stepped back a bit, her long dark hair stirring in the breeze.

'From the Turks,' said Cloud, understanding on his face.

'Well if you know, this won't take long,' said Rude, business-like as usual. 'It's difficult to explain what the Turks do...'

'Kidnapping, right?' siad Cloud, sneeringly.

Rude shrugged. 'To put it negatively... you could say that...But, that's not all there is to it, anymore.' He looked at the floor. Elena realised this was her time.

'Sir! It's all right, Rude! I know you don't like speeches, so don't force it!"

Rude looked almost amused. 'Then Elena, explain.'

'I'm the newest member of the Turks. Thanks to what you did to Reno, we're short of people.' She thought for a second. 'Though, because of that I got promoted...' Elena, come on! 'Our job is to find out where Sephiroth is headed, and stop you every step of the way!' Wait, that sounds like they're ahead of us... 'No. You're the ones that are getting in our way!'

Tseng came in, rolling his eyes. 'Elena, you talk too much.'

'Tseng?!' Aw crap...

'No need to tell them our orders,' he said, smoothly.

'Sorry, Tseng.'

'Go,' he instructed them.

'Right!' Elena was desperated to redeem herself. 'Rude and I will go to Junon, where Sephiroth is headed!' Are you terminally stupid?!

Tseng glared at her. 'Elena,' he said pointedly. 'You don't seem to understand.'

She turned crimson. 'I'm sorry,' she squeaked.

'Go. Don't let Sephiroth get away.'

She nodded, then ran to the exit, feeling like an idiot. Behind her, she heard Rude telling them how much Reno was looking forward to getting his revenge, but her ears were pounding so much she didn't hear their response. She'd made fools of them on her very first mission. Nice going, idiot.

xoxoxoxo

'It's not that bad,' said Reno later, as they sat on the balcony of one of Rufus' ships. Reno's arm had been hurting, and Elena had been given an extended lunch break, (Turk speak for the fact she was too useless to do anything except sit in the sun, twiddling her thumbs) so they were just sitting around, doing very little. Reno had been complaining about how he was going to get sunburn, ehrn he'd noticed how down Elena looked, and made it his personal mission to cheer her up.

'Really,' she said, glumly.

'My first mission was way worse. I nearly caused an international incident!'

She gave him a Look. 'Whatever, Reno.'

'S'true!' he said, looking wounded. 'I was crap! I insulted the Midean Ambassador to Midgar, got drunk off one glass of saké, then insulted Wutai right in front of Tseng- who wasn't amused, lemme tell you. Then I passed out, next to the President's limo. So nyah. I beat you.'

Elena rolled her eyes, trying not to laugh. 'Fine. You win. But my first mission was till pretty awful.'

He shrugged. 'You'll do better next time. And it really doesn't sound so bad. Really.'

She sighed. 'I guess...'

'Don't worry. Tseng'll get over it pretty quick. He's never stayed mad at anyone before, and I doubt he'll start with you.'

Elena began to feel cheered. Renon was right. It hadn't been that bad. Embarassing more than anything. For now, she may as well try and stop thinking about it. 'It's a nice day,' she remarked. Then she caught sight of his face, and burst into laughter. 'Aw, Reno, you're freckling!' she squealed. That cheered her no end.

'What?! Tell me you're kidding,' he pleaded.

She shook her head, grinning. 'Nuh uh. You got 'em here, here,' she pointed out all the little freckles that had appeared on his pale skin. 'They're cute,' she told him, knowing it would annoy him.

'Lena!' He glared at her. 'Come on, we're going in.' He shook his head. 'Damn freckles.'

She rolled her eyes, but followed him inside, into the tiny room that was the only one on the ship they were allowed into. It was dim and cool, a nice tonic to Junon's hot sun. Reno threw himself onto the couch. She sat beside him, rather more sedately. There was comfortable silence for a while, as Elena read a weapons magazine that had been left on the floor, and Reno sat with his eyes closed, apparently dosing. After a while though, he looked at her.

'I'm bored,' he announced.

'Mm hm.' She didn't look up from her magazine. Reno was like a child- ignore him, and eventually he'll shut up. Or at least, you really hope he will.

'You know what we should do?'

'Mm?' She was reading an article about bullet weight, and didn't care what he thought they should do.

'Have sex,' he said.

She dropped the magazine. 'What?!'

He nodded, apparently serious. 'We've got a while to kill, nothing to do...' he winked at her. 'Plus, there's all this sexual tension in the room...'

Elena blushed. He was joking, she thought he was joking, but that last statement was a little too close to the truth. It seemed that whenever she was with Reno, there was this... atmosphere. She was sure it was just on her part, after all, what would Reno want with someone like her, when he was so good-looking and charming he could get anyone? But... the thought that he might have sensed her crush on him was... embarassing. She rolled her eyes, willed her voice to sound normal.

'No, Reno,' she said, sighing.

'Aw, come on. It'd be fun!'

She picked up her magazine. 'No.' He fluttered his eyelids at her. 'NO!'

Reno sighed. 'Fine,' he said petulantly. After a minute, he stretched out across the couch, laying his feet in Elena's lap. 'Wake me up if anyone comes in,' he instructed her. He was alseep in seconds.

She glared down at his feet, but couldn't help the little smile that crossed her face. Being a Turk was great- a dream come true. But she had to admit, the best thing about it so far, was most definitely meeting Reno.

A/N- I think this was less angsty lol. The next couple of flashback chapters will be. The pther chapters, erm, won't be lol. Please review XD