She sat on the stone bench by the koi pond and drew her silk kimono closer to her body as the morning chill proved to be a colder than she'd thought it'd be when she first stepped out of her room earlier that morning. She had some fish food that they provided at the inn for guests and she threw the pellets in, one by one, into the pond. The big koi circled around each other in a slow monotonous motion, each trying to get to the food, but first they had to see it in front of them. They were all different colors and patterns and it created a kaleidoscope effect of harmony in the water.

So pretty.

She wondered what Tseng was thinking about right now. Their vacation was to end later on that morning, as they were to meet him back in Junon later that afternoon for further orders. He had said something about an ancient temple somewhere and that they needed to find a 'key' for it.

Their vacation had been short lived, and she was actually sad to see it go. That is why she came here, to the koi pond, to spend her last moments of vacation relaxing. She began to understand what Reno had said yesterday about living while you can. Maybe work wasn't all there was to life? But, it certainly seemed to engross hers. Maybe she should listen to them more often, and she hated to admit it, but she should especially listen to Reno more. He had been a Turk for much longer than she had, and perhaps he had adapted to juggling their demanding work and what little downtime they received. Maybe that's why they all drank so much? Even so, she thought that there must be a better solution than drinking all the time.

None of them seemed to have any family, or loved ones, and the thought saddened her. Would she turn out the same? Even if she was dedicated to her job, she still wanted that life – the kids and husband.

They spoke a lot of who liked whom and about their conquests, and Tseng was in love with a woman who hated the Shinra and who had sided with the enemy – Avalanche. She wondered how Tseng felt bout that. He was so dedicated to Shinra and to his job. But then again, the Avalanche members themselves weren't so bad. They came to her rescue yesterday, even if she was captured with an Avalanche member, they still didn't have to help the Turks, but they did.

She was so confused about how she should feel about things, but then again her job wasn't to think. It was to take orders.

"What'cha thinkin' 'bout, kiddo?" Reno plopped down beside her. He was in a man's rented kimono, provided by the inn. She had to admit, he looked good in it. It had a red and brown-checkered pattern and the colors suited him. The red could be seen as representing his fiery temperament, while the brown represented his earthy laid-back quality. The two mixed to create – him.

Elena sighed, she wanted to tell someone all she was thinking, but she didn't feel that close to him, not yet anyways. Although, she thought that he could understand her feelings, or at the very least be able to relate to them. He had been a Turk for so long and was still able to have an outside life – what little time they had outside of work. She then realized that she knew nothing about his life outside of work, or about where he was born and raised.

"Where are you from?" she then asked, all of the sudden becoming interested.

"Midgar," he responded and took a handful of fish pellets from her bag and threw them all into the pond. The koi swarmed around the food voraciously. He watched as they fought for the food. "It's a fish eat fish world," he then said and she saw a slight frown appear on his face as if he was thinking about something other than fish.

"How did you become a Turk," she asked. She'd never heard his story, or Rude's for that matter.

He shrugged his shoulders, "They found us on the street when we were teenagers and recruited us."

"Us?"

"Yeah, Rude and I," he looked over at her, "you didn't know?"

"No," Elena shook her head. She was so interested in Tseng's life that she never thought about her other teammates. No wonder he and Rude were so close. They grew up together.

"What about your family?" she asked.

Reno huffed and threw his hands down as if telling her to let it go. "Listen Elena, don't pry." He stood up, turning away from her. "We're leaving in an hour, get ready." He walked off to his room leaving her there.

Well, that's a first, she thought, Reno being defensive. He always pried so much into her life; she figured he didn't care about his own. Maybe he had issues like everyone else?

She reminded herself to look into Tseng's declassified files when she got back to Midgar but now she also wanted to find out more about Reno and Rude and about what happened before they were recruited into the Turks. For instance, did they even go to the Academy? Were they orphans? Did they have any family?

She knew it sounded nosey, but she just wanted to get to know them better, all of them. Perhaps she could be of some help. She then threw the food pellets in one by one again. The koi slowed their frenzied pace and began their dance once again.

Three days later …

He had asked her to dinner. It was spur of the moment. He saw the surprise in her eyes. She wasn't that easy to fool with her emotions. He had known for a while actually, even before the rumors spread. Maybe he was a monster. Yes, some would call him that. He asked her out for all the wrong reasons. She would find out his motives and hate him. That would be better, if she hated him. He deserved nothing less.

He saw Aerith together with that boy. Hands clasped, they sat together on that gondola ride. He resembled her first; maybe that's why she chose him as her saviour in the end. All the while, he was happy to intrude upon their lovely evening, but the look on her face as he caught the keystone from their little spy. That look tore him up the most. If she would've looked at him in anger or hatred, that he could stand, but that look of her's. It was a look of pure guilt and it meant that she knew what she was doing. If she could move on why couldn't he? Why couldn't he just forget about her? He laughed at himself. He was such a fool. He'd spent half his life chasing Aerith, in all ways possible.

The murals on the decrepit stonewalls portrayed an ancient civilization, the Cetra. They looked as if they lived in harmony with the world around them. What did Aerith know about the Planet? Did she know how to get to the Promised Land?

"Is this the Promised Land?" he then asked himself aloud. "No, it can't be…"

All of the sudden a strong force swept up on him, he almost fell and had to catch himself. What is this? He turned to look. A black figure knelt before him, then stood revealing himself and waving about a long deadly sword. "Sephiroth!" Damn! Of all his bad luck, this was the worst.

"So you opened the door," the silver devil smiled. "Well done." His Mako green eyes glowed wickedly in the dimly lit temple making him appear to be more demon or monster rather than human.

"This place … what is it?" Tseng asked, trying not to show his apprehension and growing fear.

"A lost treasure house of knowledge," the devil replied in perfect nonchalance, revealing years of aristocratic life, no matter what they said it was always matter-of-fact as if they were bored of everything but themselves. "The wisdom of the Ancients …" he hissed that last part.

Sephiroth raised his arms. He resembled a false deity or idol that the pagans used to worship in their huts before the great knowledge came about. "I'm becoming one with the Planet," the devil then said.

"One with the Planet?" Sephiroth had gone mad. It was all true.

Sephiroth lowered his arms and turned. "You stupid fools. You have never even thought about it. All the spirit energy of this Planet." He started to swing his giant sword around. It made an evil whooshing sound. " All its wisdom... knowledge...I will meld with it all. I will become one with it... It will become one with me."

What did he want to become, a God? Tseng was in disbelief. "You can do that?" he asked.

"The way... lies here." Sephiroth took a step closer to him. He readied his gun, not wanting to bring it out until the right time. Sephiroth was unstable and unpredictable, but he didn't want to provoke a fight with the war hero, especially alone as he was.

"Only death awaits you all. But do not fear." Shit! He was too fast. In one deft and precise movement the devil stabbed him through with his Masamune. Tseng fell to the ground. The last thing he could sense was the taste of blood and sand from the temple floor in his mouth.

When he came to he slowly made his way out of the temple, collapsing at the entrance. He sat leaning against one of the columns. Hopefully Elena would come back and find him, if not then maybe his life, everything he ever did, was all in vain. He felt that life drain away from him and pool around beneath him in bright red. He was cut down pretty bad, worse than that time before, but she was there. She healed his wounds, and his pride. If this was the end, then he regretted not being able to help her more.

The Slums of Midgar was no place for young innocent girls, and yet it was the place she had grown up in. He swore to Zack that he would look after her, but he actually had been doing that all along, ever since he first met her. He was just starting his career as a Turk and she was just a slip of the girl. She was eight and he had been twenty-two. He never thought about their age difference as being a problem, not until later on, when she blossomed into a young woman and his admiration of the little girl turned into … adoration over the woman she'd become.

Adoration: that was the perfect word for it. He adored her more than anything. No use living in denial. It was what it was and he was old enough to know. And know better. Veld told him that, to never get too attached. He wished he had taken the wise old man's advice, but then again if he had he would've never known her love - the only thing that brought happiness into his life.

He closed his eyes, wanting to live out his last moments in the memories. His thoughts floated back to those days when he was the happiest, when he found redemption in an alleyway and of the night the lights danced on her pale naked skin.