You'll never know the way your words have haunted me,

I can't believe you'd ask these things of me.

You don't know me, now or ever.

-Snow White Queen, Evanescence

"Behind you!" Biggs called. Cissnei didn't know why he thought it was neccesary - she could hardly have missed the giant robot scorpion backing into the room. Great. I knew there had to be some kind of security. She took out her revolver and tensed, eyes narrowed. It had no weak spots currently exposed, and there was no point in wasting shots. She only had six, and then she'd have to reload. And I need to get used to fighting without my shuriken.

Cloud ran forwards, twirling his sword at head level. I know mako counts for a lot, but seriously, how is that physically possible? He jumped into the air and slashed at the scorpion. The sword clanged against its armor. Barret rushed in to help. The scorpion raised one of its machine-gun claws and fired back at Cloud, who dodged just in time and slashed again, a little more wildly. Barret was firing blindly. Their fighting styles didn't match; they both used too much brute force.

Think!

Cloud took a hit and Cissnei winced. He'll be fine. He has mako. That part of his lie about being in SOLDIER was true, at least.

He fights just like Zack. Maybe she couldn't understand that, but that didn't mean she couldn't use it. You've fought with Zack on missions before.

Cloud kept fighting, but his stances were beginning to weaken. When the scorpion lashed out with its tail, he barely managed to duck away. But it was weak too now, and Cloud was still fighting like... like a real former SOLDIER First Class.

Zack would distract the monster and weaken it, and you would get in close and strike hard and quick to finish it off. They'd matched each other perfectly; after a while Lazard had started pairing them for more and more missions, until Zack had been sent to Nibelheim without her...

Focus! Cloud fumbled and failed to do any significant damage; the scorpion advanced.

Now! She fired a shot at its chest, where Cloud had damaged its plate, and jumped aside just as it fired at the place where she'd been. One.

Cloud took the cue to attack again, drawing its attention back towards him. It stumbled backwards, too slow, and his sword hacked through metal. Cissnei aimed the next shot at its head. Two. Before it could react she ran forwards until she was too close for it to use its machine-gun or laser attacks on her. It was bearing down on Cloud with all its force. She aimed her revolver upwards. Three, four.

Cloud's on his knees.

The scorpions neck was exposed. Five, six! Damn, I'm out of shots. Cloud was back on his feet.

Come on, Cloud!

He jumped again and swung. The sword pierced through the scorpion's neck and its head dropped down at his feet. Cloud raised his sword, spun it, and struck a victory pose. Cissnei shook her head in amusement. Completely unneccesary. Such a SOLDIER thing to do.

Just like Zack...

"Not bad, ex-SOLDIER," Barret admitted grudgingly. "And well done, Cissnei. I'm certainly glad you decided to join us."

Cissnei flushed at the praise. "Yeah." Cloud turned to her. "Good job. Have you had practice fighting with SOLDIERs before?"

Cissnei winced and looked away. ...Yes. Ones just like you.

"It was almost like you knew exactly what I was going to do."

Cissnei ignored him and turned to walk towards the exit.

"Hey, Cissnei -"

Ten minutes to detonatation.

"Better get out of here," she called over her shoulder, a touch coldly.

"We're splitting up," Barret declared. "Meet at Sector 8 train station! Cissnei, with Biggs."

"This way!" Cissnei used the sound of Biggs' voice to locate him. She had to scramble to avoid losing sight of him as people ran left and right. Behind her, the reactor had turned to rubble.

The sight gave her far less satisfaction than she'd hoped. Why was she doing this? Ruined mako reactors wouldn't bring Zack back. She didn't want revenge. Revenge was just part of an endless cycle of blood and hurt and pain. The only people who wanted revenge were those who let their anger get the better of them, and being a Turk had taught Cissnei to think with her head.

When they got to the station, Jessie, Barret, and the other guy - what was his name again? He was the one who'd tried to flirt with her last night - were waiting. "Where's Cloud?" Cissnei asked.

"Dunno," Barret replied. "We don't have time to wait. He'll have to find his own way back. Get into the baggage car!"

"Cloud should be here by now..."

"He'll be fine," Barret attempted to reassure Cissnei. "Heh, didn't you see how he fought back there? And you weren't half bad either. A real good pair, you two are."

Cissnei sighed. Yes, of course she'd seen Cloud fight. She doubted she'd forget it any time soon. It was inexplicable - and what was inexplicable was also unreliable. What if he got into trouble and whatever strange and mysterious skills he had suddenly deserted him, leaving him as helpless as the cadet he was?

Why do you care, anyways? Cloud means nothing to you. Cloud should mean nothing to you... "I know. I won't - I'm not worried." Tapping noises on the roof of the carriage. Cissnei leant back against the wall. She was exhausted, though she didn't know why. She hadn't done that much fighting.

The tapping became banging, and Cissnei tensed. She'd never gotten a chance to reload after fighting the scorpion.

The door swung open and Cloud dropped down, grinning. Cissnei let out a breath of relief. Careful. You're starting to care too much about him. "Looks like I'm a little late."

"That's right, you are!" Barret exclaimed "Makin' a big scene..."

"It's no big deal, just what I always do..." Cissnei couldn't help a small smile of amusement and Cloud faltered. "... what?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering if all SOLDIERs are show-offs, or if it's specific to the spiky haired ones." Instinctively, Cloud reached up to fix his hair and Cissnei's smile turned into outright laughter that she tried vainly to stifle.

"...Oh," Cloud said, and Cissnei sighed. How am I supposed to stop drawing comparisons when they can be so alike?

It doesn't matter. I have to stop.

"Um, is everything okay?" Cloud asked hesitantly, seeing that Cissnei had stopped laughing.

"Yeah... you just remind me of a friend." Cissnei settled down onto a wooden crate, and Cloud took a seat next to her.

"Oh. Um... you know, if he was in SOLDIER, then I might know him."

Thinking back to the disastrous conversation from the night before, Cissnei winced inwardly. You should, but I think we've already established that you don't. "Don't think so."

"Oh," Cloud said and Cissnei wondered if he was thinking of the previous night as well.

The train sped forwards. The car had no windows, but she could imagine streets, houses, people rushing past. She felt a little surreal, almost like she was floating. How did I end up here? Until recently, she'd thought the Turks would be her entire life. Without them she felt like she'd been cut loose and cast adrift, floating through the world as things just happened to her. Avalanche was... pleasant, in a way, but so different it was almost like a cultural shock to her. When the Turks trusted, it was only ever each other, and only out of neccessity and because they were so tightly bond together that there should have been no escape. Even at their most relaxed - a state which usually involved Reno somehow - there was always a sense of urgency and tension. Barret was mildly suspicious of Cloud, but with Cloud's background and standoffishness that was more than natural.

She glanced back at Cloud. The silence was stretching out again, becoming unbearable.

"So, what did you think of the things Barret was saying about Shinra?"

"About saving the planet? Not really interested." Cissnei couldn't say she was interested either, but then what did Cloud care about?

"...You're working for AVALANCHE, though."

"Yeah. Like I said, I'm a mercenary. I'll leave as soon as I get the money."

Cissnei sighed. She'd joined AVALANCHE because of Cloud; what would she do when he left? She wasn't really interested in fighting Shinra, but she wasn't sure she wanted to leave either. And what if Cloud didn't want her with him?

It would be nice to stay, maybe. Jessie and Biggs were nice and even Barret was starting to warm up to her. But the thought of fighting her former comrades was painful. I'm hurting myself again, amn't I, Tseng?

"Why did you leave SOLDIER?" Cissnei asked, changing tack. She knew the real answer, of course - he'd never actually been in SOLDIER and he'd left - well, escaped - Shinra because Hojo had experimented on him. But confronting him directly about what had really happened hadn't worked and the answer he gave might still give her some insight. At this point, she'd take whatever she could get.

"...Personal reasons," Cloud answered. Code for 'I don't want to answer your question'. She wondered if he hadn't thought of an answer to that or was just annoyed by her questions. It was a pretty big hole in an otherwise perfectly crafted cover story.

Last train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23AM, Midgar Standard Time.

"Yo, lovebirds! We're goin'," Barret called

Lovebirds? Cissnei snorted. He's worse than Reno.

Thank you for the reviews! Keep them coming, please :). Sdphantom10, so far I haven't included much of other characters because so far Cissnei has only really interacted with Barret, Cloud, Biggs and Jessie and Biggs and Jessie aren't really important anyways, but next chapter should have quite a lot of Tifa init. Irish-Brigid, yeah, I did think of that... patience :). Qwq qweqq, I hope I've fixed the spelling, thanks for pointing that out. As for the style... let's just say that action sequences are not my strong point. Also, I think a part of that is just Cissnei - she's rather introspective, at least by my interpretation of her. I'm glad people are interested!