"Boy, sure is cold as hell here, huh Rude?" Reno said as he trudged through the snow.

"Yeah." Rude replied simply. The two Turks had been searching through the icy town for hours now with no sign of Tifa or Marlene yet.

"So...what do ya think made her blessed ass freak out all of a sudden?" Reno asked.

Rude shrugged "I don't know, menopause?" He said, causing Reno to raise an eyebrow and stare at him in confusion.

"Uh...Rude...you know when chicks are supposed to hit menopause right?"

Rude simply nodded.

"Right...cause ya know Tifa ain't that old right?" Reno asked.

Rude nodded once more. Reno became terribly confused.

"Wait, so then why'd you say that if ya know that's probably not the case?"

Rude simply shook his head, "I dunno. I just did." He uttered. Reno sighed and shook his head, not wanting to continue the strange subject.

Meanwhile at the Inn, the one place Reno and Rude hadn't checked yet, Tifa and Marlene walked into the room Tifa had rented for a night and sat. Marlene looked up at Tifa.

"Tifa...what are we gonna do?" The small girl asked. Tifa shook her head and sighed.

"I dunno Marlene, but we can't go back to Edge if we wanna stay together." Tifa responded. As Tifa sat on the bed, she winced. Marlene quickly ran over to her and was shocked to see blood trickling down Tifa's side from underneath her shirt. In their panic, Marlene hadn't noticed that Tifa had in fact been shit when Tseng opened fire.

"Tifa! You're hurt!" Marlene shouted frantically. Tifa held the wound and shook her head, placing her hand on Marlene's cheek reassuringly.

"It's okay Marlene, it didn't hit anywhere vital, it just...hurts." Tifa said as confidently as she could manage. Marlene simply frowned and knocked Tifa's hand away before tugging Tifa's shirt off to see the wound.

"Marlene what are you doing? I'm fine, really!" Tifa said trying to comfort her. Marlene ignored her and found the bullet wound on Tifa's side. Thankfully it had only grazed her, albeit a bit deeply. Marlene promptly began treating the wound, first cleaning and sanitizing it, much to Tifa's discomfort, and then bandaging it.

"There." Marlene said as she finally sat next to Tifa.

"Well it does feel a lot better Marlene, thanks." Tifa said as she stretched and flexed her body to test out the bandage. Marlene smiled and kissed Tifa. The feel of Marlene's lips on her own caused Tifa to be reminded of their current predicament once more.

Marlene could see Tifa deep in thought, and clearly not pleasant ones. She huffed and put her hands on her hips.

"Tifa, don't think about it right now, okay?" Marlene said in an attempt to cheer her up.

"Right...yeah I'm fine, I just need something to distract myself..." Tifa muttered. Suddenly she noticed Marlene smile almost evilly.

"Well...we ARE alone in a hotel room...maybe we both could use a reminder of what we're trying to save!" Marlene said seductively as she sat on Tifa's lap, straddling her.

Tifa giggled and pulled her close, "Oooh you naughty girl you..." She said as she flipped Marlene over so Tifa was on top of her before proceeding to dive into her once more.

Reno and Rude nobly continued their search, still with no results. As they waded through the snow, Reno sighed and sat in it.

"Sheesh we've searched all around Icicle Inn, and still nothing! Where the hell could they be hiding!?" Reno complained.

Rude sat next to him and shook his head. "Lotta help you are..." Reno muttered. The two of them sat for some time until Reno stood up one more.

"Wait!" Reno shouted, "I know where else to look!" Rude tilted his head in question.

"The Inn?" Rude responded.

"No! Why the hell would we look there!? I was talking about down that huge ass hill and into the snowfield!" Reno continued.

There was silence between the two men for another minute.

"Or well...I guess we could do your plan first..." Reno admitted. Rude nodded and they left immediately.

Before too long the two Turks arrived at the Inn. They walked straight to the front desk where they could see the shape of a person bent down beneath the counter. Reno leaned on the counter to speak.

"Sup toots, my friend here and I have a question for ya." Reno said. The figure stood straight to reveal a bearded man of at least forty years of age. Reno yelped in surprise and fell backwards where Rude's sturdy arms awaited to catch him as if he was prepared to.

"Whatya want?" The man asked.

Reno recomposed himself and spoke, "Right! Uh...well we wanted to know if a lady had checked in recently."

The man nodded, "We get a lot of ladies, gonna have to be more specific."

Reno chuckled, "Oh believe me my man, you couldn't mistake this chick for ANY other. You ever heard of a G cup?"

The man shook his head.

"Ha! Well that good sir is my best guess at her voluptuous cup size! Oh and she probably had an eight year old hooker with her too." Reno continued. The man gave Reno a strange look before nodding slowly.

"Yes I uh...believe I know who you're talking about...and they checked in about an hour ago." The man replied.

"Perfect! Let's go Rude." Reno said. Rude thanked the man and followed Reno. As the two walked into the hallway, Rude stopped suddenly.

"What!?" Reno asked impatiently.

"Do we know which room?" Rude asked.

Reno held a finger up as if he was about to say something, and then quickly dropped it.

"Damn it!" He yelled.

Tifa rolled off of Marlene and onto her back on the bed, now sweaty. She pulled the covers up to shield her and Marlene's naked bodies from the cold. Marlene, who was also tired and sweaty from their freshly completed love making, cuddled up close to Tifa, resting her head on one of Tifa's breasts.

"I love you Tifa." Marlene uttered.

Tifa smiled, "And I love you my naughty little angel." She said with a giggle. Their loving stares were interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

"Oh! I'll get it!" Marlene said as she tugged on her clothes. Tifa grabbed her before she could reach the door however. Tifa pulled Marlene away from the door and slowly crept towards it herself. She peeked through the eyehole to see Reno picking his nose and inconspicuously wiping it on Rude's jacket while Rude was straightening his sunglasses. Tifa immediately turned back towards Marlene.

"We've gotta go!" Tifa whispered. Marlene nodded, not sure why, but trusting Tifa enough to simply do as she says. The two girls quickly grabbed their things with the intention of crawling out the window.

"So you think they're in there?" Rude asked Reno.

"Well yeah, unless that guy lied to us, but he doesn't have a reason to lie to us." Reno responded. Rude suddenly shushed Reno and held a finger out in front of him.

"Did you hear that?" Rude whispered. Reno listened closely and heard shuffling inside the room.

"Aw gross did we catch them in the act!?" Reno complained. Without hesitation Rude kicked the door in and ran inside just in time to see Marlene slip out the window into Tifa's arms.

Reno follwed him in, "Rude! Circle around to the front!" He shouted. Rude nodded and ran towards the entrance to the Inn while Reno slif himself through the window as well. Tifa had since picked Marlene up and was running full speed through the snow, unable to believe the Turks had tracked them there and unwilling to let them tear her apart from her newfound flame. Reno and Rude gave chase.

"Should we shoot em?" Rude yelled to Reno. Reno groaned.

"I don't know damn it! What if we hit the little one!?" Reno responded.

"Good point. We just keep running then?" Rude asked frantically.

"Just catch them!" Reno yelled back.

Reno and Rude chased Tifa all the down the hill near the town, nearly losing their footing multiple times. Getting frustrated, Reno unsheathed his gun and fired a few warning shots over Tifa's head. The loud gunshots however, didn't serve to scare Tifa at all, but rather caused the ground to start shaking. Reno and Rude stopped and looked around them, questioning what was going on.

"The hell did you do, Reno!?" Rude shouted.

"Me? I say it was you!" Reno shouted back.

Reno looked upwards and his expression changed to one of terror. Rude follwed suit and looked up as well to see that the snow from the nearby mountain was cascading down towards them at an alarming speed.

"Ho...ly...SHIIIIIIT!" Reno screamed as he sprinted in the opposite direction, Rude following quickly behind.

Tifa also noticed the avalanche threatening to swallow her and cursed not only that fact, but also the irony of it. Was this it? After supporting AVALANCHE for so long she was to die as a result of a disaster of the same name? As the wall of snow and rock was finally catching up to them she heard Reno cuss and Rude scream as they disappeared into the white cloud. Marlene looked at Tifa with a terrified look. Tifa smiled back reassuringly, trying to comfort her. Realizing she had no where else to run, Tifa kneeled down, shielding Marlene the best she could, and braced herself.

The next thing she felt was the impact as it threw her off her feet. It felt as if she was being thrown into something by Loz all over again. She then felt the cold envelope her skin. It stung to the touch. She held Marlene close, desperately trying to ignore her screams and focus on something much more pleasant in her mind. She figured if she was going to die, she didn't want the last thing on her mind to be the screams of her true love.

Tifa and Marlene, along with Reno and Rude disappeared into the white sheet that now covered the ground outside Icicle Inn.