Hero of the Day

***

"Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be…
…Now they will see what will be, blinded eyes to see."

--Metallica, "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

***

Part VII

***

The Turks had been having a bad day.

Elena tripped over her feet for the seventh time in ten minutes. It was starting to become extremely annoying. Scowling, she came to a halt, hastily pulling off her sleek black high-heeled boots, chucking them off into the darkness with overdue glee.

And that was the *highlight* of her day.

The petite blonde shuddered as she thought back to where she stood a mere twenty-four hours prior. She and her comrades were standing in the middle of the slums of Midgar, as it was quite literally being ripped apart around their very feet. She was a Turk; she'd been used to being put in dangerous situations, but dodging jagged pieces of shrapnel the size of a car and trying to find some sort of cover, all while fighting not to be sucked up by the harsh tornados of fire was beyond anything she'd ever been trained for. If Reno and Rude hadn't been there, she probably would've gone completely hysterical.

Then again, their attitude about the whole thing didn't exactly help much, either.

"You guys wouldn't have a drink, would you?" Reno shouted over the raging winds, hanging onto a bent lamppost, his blue jacket long since turned into ashes by the towering inferno that seemingly surrounded them.

Her jaw dropped, stray bits of dust and mortar flying into her open mouth. Spitting them out with a hack, she howled, "The city's disintegrating around us, and you're worried about your *liquor supply*?!"

He attempted to shrug, and nearly lost his grip on the buckling steel for his efforts. "Hey, if I'm gonna die," he retorted, an almost psychotic lopsided grin on his face, "I at least wanna go down with a buzz!"

She shuddered again, shoving the thoughts out of her head. It was times like that that made her wonder why she ever trusted them at all.

The Turk twisted her head over her shoulder, past her torn white shirt, her bright blue eyes wandering aimlessly about the night that hovered around them. She'd always hated Midgar, for some reason. She couldn't necessarily help it; she was used to more humane surroundings, spending most of her younger years living in the quiet country town of Kalm. Why her parents decided to move to a city with a reputation like *Midgar*, she'd never know. When she'd first arrived to the 'big city', it frightened her for a reason she couldn't quite fathom.

The petite blonde soon found out she was right to fear it.

Her small family hadn't even been there three weeks when they were robbed blind, beaten, and left to rot in their run down house. Luckily, though, a nearby police officer was nice enough to at least cordon their tiny little home off before any stray rapist from the slums could get a hold of her. That incident led the wiry teen to go to regular self-defense classes. Which led her to meeting Tseng, a sort of apprentice to the instructor. She never learned anything beyond that about their relationship, and after accompanying Tseng on one of his hits, the lithe woman never wanted to again.

The next few years passed as a blur of pain, despair, and frustration. She knew her parents died somehow, somewhere, but for the life of her, Elena couldn't pinpoint the specifics. The next thing in her life she clearly remembered was begging Tseng to become a Turk; again, the true reason escaping her at the moment.

She blinked wearily, convincing herself that her sudden apathy for everything that should have mattered to her was due to exhaustion.

"Hey, Elena, stop dragging your feet and get up here," Reno murmured huskily, his long red mane disheveled and matted down.

Frowning, she tiredly stomped up next to the tall Turk, earning a scowl in her direction. "What? What'd I do now?"

"Could you walk a little quieter?" he hissed, his azure eyes narrowed in barley-concealed contempt. "I thought heard something."

"So?" she squawked, her frown degenerating into a scowl.

"Could be people," he replied quickly, his bright blue eyes scanning the darkness. "We can get food easily enough; most of the monsters around here are easy enough to kill and cook. It's water we have to worry about."

She harrumphed in bitter amusement, her blonde brow quirking up slightly. "And here I thought you lived on liquor."

He glowered down at her, his sculpted face strangely serious. "I'm not joking Elena. We can't go on for much longer without some sort of water supply." He paused, licking his dry lips. "And, besides, I need a drink," he muttered, his eyes glazed over.

The Turk rolled her eyes at his far-off expression; no doubt he was imagining the joy of getting piss drunk in some dive off the coast of Junon. She wouldn't have been surprised; the whole area was littered with them. Then again, when she actually looked at the city, she couldn't blame them. Damn Reno for mentioning water; now all she could think about was how long it had been since she'd drank anything.

"Elena," he huffed, "you're zoning."

Elena blinked, forcing herself back to reality. "Uh, sorry, Reno," she answered hastily, covering her embarrassment by clearing her dry throat. "So, where to?"

Reno's face twisted in thought for a moment, his fatigue becoming evident for barely a second. She quickly had to remind herself that he'd been up for over a day and a half, too. "Well," he spoke; his tone hushed, "the marshlands have plenty of fresh water—"

She turned up her lips in disgust. "*Marsh* water? Ew!"

He stared at her, his expression blank. "Don't knock marsh water; it's a lot cleaner than you think. Marshes act as a sort of natural filter, so the water you'll find there will probably be some of the purest water you can find." The redhead shrugged impishly. "Outside of a water bottle, anyway."

She actually found herself surprised at Reno; the only thing she thought he knew was how to get drunk.

He sighed heavily, digging his hands into his pockets. "Problem with that is, the marsh is a long walk from here, and we need some *now*."

For the first time since they'd managed to escape the hell that was Midgar, Rude spoke up. "The sounds," he whispered, nodding his bald head forward slightly, his unusually pale eyes focused on an unseen point in the blanket of darkness. "There's someone nearby."

Reno grinned happily, patting the slightly taller Turk on the head appreciatively, although the latter didn't seem to think the same way. "Ah, Rude, my main man," he chuckled happily, his eyes searching the darkness. "I always said you had ears like a bat."

Rude sighed tiredly, his face suddenly appearing worn and haggard. "Great," he replied unenthusiastically under his breath, lines forming around his frowning lips. Elena had never seen the man look so old before. She shook her head, telling herself he was just tired like she was.

Blinking out the sudden heaviness in her eyes, she pressed her lips into a thin line, eyeing her leader skeptically. "Okay, so what do you want us to do?"

He frowned in thought, his perfectly sculpted red brows furrowing in effort to get his energy-depleted brain to work in the fashion he wanted. From her point of view, it looked like he was so far unsuccessful. No surprise there.

She opened her mouth, hopefully to offer something of use, when she noted that both Reno and Rude's body went rigid, their eyes focused directly over her shoulders. Her mouth snapped shut, gulping in anxiety. She knew that nothing good could possibly be behind her, judging from her partners' wide-eyed, almost fearful look on their paled faces. Against her better judgment, she shifted her weight and began to turn around.

Then she felt the hot, steamy breath on the back of her neck, followed closely by a low, menacing growl.

Elena gulped again.

Nothing good. Nothing good at all.

Her eyes wide as saucers, she glared silently at Reno. His cerulean eyes darted between her and whatever was behind her wildly, his boyish features twisted in indecision. The moment passed quickly, though, and his face once again became impassive as he shrugged at her, smirking weakly.

Elena's eyes, if possible, became wider, gaping at him incredulously. The thing behind her huffed in impatience, a plume of scorching air pelting her neck, her cropped blonde her swiping angrily at her chin. Despite herself, she began trembling at the foreboding presence behind her, closing her eyes from the fear and nausea it brought with it. Her breathing became shallow, quick, her heart racing in her chest.

She wasn't sure if she imagined it, but she felt it loom closer to the nape of her neck, as if testing her resolve, to see if she were to suddenly dart off and run. Even though she wanted to run, dash as far away from this nightmare of an existence as possible, she was rooted in place, unable to even do the simplest—and the most prudent—of things; check her holster for any weapon.

Straining her senses, the blonde tried to will herself to see this creature that was behind her, just to know entirely what she was facing. (Or, not facing, as the case may have been.) Judging from the angle at which the breath hit her neck, the monster was definitely taller than her, and by a good foot, at least. Without her authorization, her imagination immediately took over, her mind's eye making it to out to be a behemoth of a monster; complete with glowing red eyes, long, curling horns, and blood-stained fangs.

She heard a heavy sniffing, a gust of cold air brushing against the reddened skin of her neck, a chill running down the length of her spine. The situation was quickly becoming too intense to take; her finely honed senses were now on overload, her body visibly quaking with unbidden terror as she kept her eyes steadfastly closed. She wanted to scream, run around like a maniac, do anything but stand there and wait for some monster to decide whether it was going to make her dinner or not.

It exhaled one last time, shivering slightly in response, before its terrorizing presence disappeared altogether. The strangely distant echo of grass crunching beneath its large, heavy foot wafted through the silent night. Carefully, she strained her senses to their maximum, honing in on that single sound until all was quiet again.

"I think it's gone," Reno whispered, breaking the silence that seemingly reigned for so long in the darkness.

Slowly coming out of her self-induced state of shock, she opened her eyes to be greeted by a heavy blanket of darkness. Despite the fact that the blonde was aware of standing in the middle of a huge field, her heart continued to thump in her chest as the feeling of claustrophobia began to descend upon her. Shaking her head, her short hair swaying in her face, she took a deep breath, willing her body to stop shaking. "Well, that went well," she muttered, her voice wavering from the fear that lingered in her veins.

Sluggishly, the outlines of Reno and Rude began to take shape amid the veil of night, much to her relief. That relief soon melted into annoyance, and then anger. Seething at the tall redhead, she stalked through the cool grass, stopping inches from him. "And, when exactly were you planning on helping me out?" she hissed, her eyes flaring. "I could've been killed, you know!"

The lanky Turk pursed his thin lips thoughtfully, nodding. "Yeah," he replied, deadpan. "But, then, it didn't really seem to be doing anything. I decided to wait until I was sure it was going to eat you."

"Nice to see you were worried about me," she retorted angrily, her manicured finger jabbing into the soft cloth of his shirt. "I would've been *dead* by then."

Reno shook his head, forming a slight grin. "Hey, it's nothing personal, Elena," he stated dully. "It's just a matter of priorities. Attacking it wouldn't have been worth it the risk."

Her sapphire eyes widened, stepping back as if she'd been slapped. Even though half of her wanted to throw him to the beast, Elena still struggled not to take offense to his comment, hoping against hope that there was a rational reason for his rudeness. "Oh?" she questioned, feigning disinterest in his answer.

"Yeah," he stated, sounding non-plussed. "I couldn't have gone after you without provoking it, and then you would've been dead for sure." He glared down at her, suddenly appearing much taller than normal. "So, don't go flying off the handle for no reason."

She bared her teeth in rage. "No reason?! Reno—"

Her comment died in her throat when a fearsome howl shattered the overwhelming silence, an all too familiar chill running up her spine. The control she was holding over her lithe body vanished, and her limbs once again shook in primal fear.

The lanky redhead noticed her reaction, and smirked halfheartedly. "Don't worry, Elena," he chided, "I don't think it's coming back for you." His light eyes rose to a point somewhere in the darkness, his face disinterested as the strangled cries and startled orders echoed across the plains. "Looks like whatever it was just found a new meal."

The lithe woman stared on as Reno turned his back on her, idly strolling away. For a split second, she was shocked at his blatant callousness, before reminding herself of his 'I don't give a shit' mantra. The sounds of battle were carried through the slight wind, reaching her ears in a sickening cacophony of fear and determination. Despite the fact that was trained as an assassin, Elena was torn. She wanted to believe that there was a part of her that had managed to remain human, and that diminishing voice told her to help the others in danger, to hell with the risks.

"Don't even think about it," Reno chastised impassively, without breaking his pace. "The only thing you'll do is get yourself killed."

She pressed her rose lips into a thin line, sighing dejectedly as the voice was instantly squelched into silence. The redhead was right, as always. In the end, it all boiled down to what they could do to survive. And, risking life and limb with nothing to gain most definitely wasn't worth it.

Another shriek split through the night, followed by a roar of anger. She shuddered again, glancing momentarily at Rude, whom hadn't moved since the creature first appeared behind her.

Then, she watched with increasingly wide eyes as he darted off behind her, towards the raging battle. "Rude!" she exclaimed, more out of shock than to get his attention. Out of the corner of her eye, the Turk noticed as Reno whipped around in surprise, his lips curling down unnaturally into a frown.

Frowning herself, she decided to give chase, forcing her cold and half-numb legs to move her body into the impossibly thick darkness. Ignoring the fact that her lanky superior was ordering her to stop, she raced on after Rude, determined to see that he wasn't going to get himself killed. After all, Turks looked out for each other. She closed in on his position, shadows and silhouettes forming with increasing clarity as she neared.

Elena stopped in her tracks, her eyes riveted on one mammoth form. "My God."

Her imagination didn't do a bad job, she reasoned as her assassin skills instantly took over. It was a huge, hulking beast, over six feet tall on all fours. Its legs were long and thick, but weren't bulky enough to get in the way. It had tiny ridges over its spine, trailing down its back and diminishing to nothing at the end of its long, bulb-shaped tail. It almost reminded her of the mutt that AVALANCHE hung out with, but larger and way more deadly looking.

The monster's face appeared slightly shrunken in comparison to the stature of the rest of its body, its large horn-like ears flattened against its head, but the lion-like snout and overhanging brow gave it the appearance of an ancient predator, long since vanished from the plant. There was no doubt in her mind; this thing was strong.

The predator shifted its weight, lowering its body closer to the ground, poised to strike. Suddenly, its eyes then darted in her direction, glinting dangerously in the minimal light. Almost wistfully, it sniffed in the biting night air, still glaring at her.

"Elena," Reno growled lowly, his gaze shifting warily between her and the overgrown dog, "what the hell are you looking at?"

She shook her head absent-mindedly, rooted in place. "There's something…strange about its eyes—" Suddenly, her back went ramrod straight, her bright blue eyes fixated on the glimmering eyes before her. "This thing's more than strong," she stated, not bothering to keep the shock from her voice, "it's *intelligent*."

It snarled at her, growling lowly.

"Uh, I don't think it appreciated that, Elena," Reno said, the sarcasm in his voice strangely muted.

Somehow, the blonde doubted that. It had every opportunity to rip her to shreds in the past ten minutes, and yet it didn't move from its spot. It seemed more focused on trying to scare her rather than harming her. Her lips curled unnaturally for a moment. The beast even looked like it was *enjoying*—

Elena blinked, her entire body going rigid. It wasn't snarling, she realized, a cold, aching horror slowly gnawing at her bones.

It was smiling.

---

A thousand thoughts whirred through the pain-addled mind of Cloud Strife.

The first of which was, how the hell could something that big possibly be so quiet?

It came quite literally out of nowhere, charging towards him with eerily familiar eyes, wide with what he could only have assumed was animal fury. "Over here! Flank me!" he ordered quickly, sparing one precious second to glance behind him. Without thought, he struck out with his gloved fist, attempting to slow the beast down while Cid and Tifa closed in on his position. It slammed right into the beast's wide nose, a slight crunching noise echoing through the otherwise still night.

It jumped back a few feet, howling in pain, a sort of shock on his furred face. It looked as if, for all its intent to cause harm, it was about to turn tail and run. He hid his satisfaction. However, the animal snorted quickly and met his eyes, whatever fury he thought he'd seen earlier replaced with something far worse.

He didn't bother hiding his frown. The only thing he actually achieved in doing, it seemed, was pissing it off.

It huffed angrily, leaping forward with a cat-like grace that didn't suit its large size. Under normal circumstances, he would've even been able to track its movement, maybe even dodge out of the way a dazzling display of his skills. But, in his current condition, the only thing the spiky-haired mercenary witnessed was a blur that materialized directly to his right, a fearsome snarl upon its face. In the split second that the monster stayed still, he caught a glance at its expression, his frown deepening. Yup, he definitely pissed it off.

Without so much as a grunt of effort, the creature batted its head in his direction, harmlessly swatting him away like a fly into the tall grass. He landed with a dull thud, his entire back on fire, moaning lowly in his throat. Dragging himself to his feet, the scrawny blond glowered at the blanketing darkness.

Cursing silently for losing their position, he strained his ears, hearing noises to his immediate right. Pivoting towards the sounds, he hid his surprise when his Mako-tinted eyes caught sight of a clearly fatigued Cid Highwind charging forward with his miraculously intact spear in hand mere yards from where he stood. Seconds later, he watched as the gruff pilot was tossed away like a rag doll, his spear being the ironic tool of choice the beast chose to use in doing so.

Concerned for the injured man, he took a step forward, but was halted when he'd heard Cid's heated swearing. Cloud smirked faintly, projecting his enhanced vision back upon where the monster last stood, it—not surprisingly—being nowhere in sight.

And, upon closer inspection, neither was Tifa.

Sighing, he shook the sudden fear from his psyche in disgust. It was almost impossible to see, he told himself. Besides, she was the only out of the three that hadn't been severely injured in the crash, so she could certainly take care of herself.

But against something like *that*? On her own?

He started off towards Cid, and was surprised for the second time in less than a minute—something he was not happy with at all, a part of him noted—Tifa melting from the shadows. "Down!" she ordered frantically, diving on top of him with what felt like all the weight she could muster. Slamming into the cold ground with much more force that he would have liked, he stifled the groan of pain as his childhood friend shifted to cover him with her own body.

If this had been almost any other moment in his adult life, he would've given anything for her—or any woman with a body like hers, for that matter, but he wouldn't have dared said that to Tifa—to clamber on top of him the way she was doing. But, he noted with more than a bit of bitter amusement, she was doing it to save his life, all because some idiotic monster with a bad case of gingivitis wanted to bear a bunch of really nasty looking claws and slice her back into bite-size morsels—

He blinked in shock, and growled to himself. He couldn't start zoning out now, not when so much was at stake—

The heavy paw slashed down.

Tifa shrieked in pain, and from the sudden clenching of every muscle that was touching his body, she was hiding more pain than she was showing.

He blinked, reality slapping him squarely in the jaw. Hard.

Then he saw red.

He didn't notice the creature's sudden movement backward, its tail curled inward in a look reminiscent of remorse. But, he did notice the creature's sudden lack of any defensive stance, and took his chance. Without wondering how or when Cid had gotten next to him, he wrenched the homemade weapon from his gloved fingers, roaring in fury as he barreled forward with all the strength his weakened legs could possibly give him.

Angrily, he swung the steel spear in a wide arc, hoping the sharp point would gouge out one of its eyes. The monster saw his wild attack and countered, catching the scarred metal shaft in its powerful jaws, tugging it mercilessly from his hand and hurling it off into the night. The movement caught Cloud off guard, and he tumbled to the ground painfully, skidding to a halt on his skewered back.

The mercenary clumsily rose to his feet, snarling audibly. The monster perched itself on its front legs, opening its giant maw and roared, the fur on its long neck sticking straight up. For a split second, he was frozen in place, a tendril of strange recognition curling its way through his mind. It had the cat-like grace of a lion, but the hackles and canines of a dog…

He shook the sensation off, preparing to charge when a blur detached itself from the velvety darkness, slamming into the beast with enough force to snap its head sideways. The shadow gracefully bounded away from its still open mouth, landing mere feet away from him. His Mako-enhanced eyes traveled over the silhouette, slowly recognizing its tall, lanky figure, and large, bald head— "Rude?" he asked, blinking. "How did you…?"

Shouts wafted through the night air, quick footsteps coming to a halt across from the monster, which was now facing away from him and his bald companion. He instantly recognized the features as belonging to Elena, the newest—and ditziest—member of the Turks. No doubt, the other pair of footsteps he heard tromping through the grass belonged to the leader, Reno. He snorted, shaking his head in amazement. The last he saw them, they were stuck in Midgar as Meteor began to enter the atmosphere. Yet, they were still alive, and looking in better shape than any of AVALANCHE.

What the hell did it take to *kill* those guys?

The blond huffed angrily, blinking. He was zoning out again. And, apparently, he'd missed part of a conversation.

"…It's *intelligent*," Elena said, shocked.

The beast growled; its eyes focused keenly on her. Narrowing his eyes, he fruitlessly scanned the area for any sign of Cid's spear.

"Uh, I don't think it appreciated that, Elena," he heard Reno reply, sounding slightly unnerved.

Cloud scowled darkly, deciding to just attack it now while its attention was drawn elsewhere. Luckily, Rude made no move to stop, instead focusing on the commotion in front of them.

"It's *smiling*!" Elena exclaimed, her voice hovering between awe and horror.

He bent his knees slightly, poising his body to strike—

Faster than his eye could travel, the monstrous creature howled in delight launching itself away from them, landing and circling around gracefully. It hopped twice more, the strange grin still on its furred face. Cloud froze in place, watching the animal prance around happily as if it were a dog playing catch.

He blinked, his jaw slack.

"What the hell did *I* miss?" Cid snapped roughly, speaking for everyone.

"You got me," Reno replied, dumbfounded.

The beast hopped again, raising and shaking its head in the air. Seeing that no one was moving, it scampered over to Elena, quickly clamping down on her white blouse, tugging her forward.

Reno chuckled lightly, a smirk upon his face. "Looks like you made a friend, Elena."

She didn't share in his mirth. "Great," she muttered darkly, begrudgingly snatching her arm back to her side, at the cost of her sleeve. Snarling loudly, the Turk began to follow the towering creature, which was already several feet ahead of her and still smiling. Belatedly, Rude and Reno followed, exchanging amused looks with each other.

Cloud blinked again, snapping out of his flabbergasted stupor. He noticed Cid rise to his feet shakily, frowning down into the tall grass which surrounded them.

Tifa was injured.

The lanky mercenary swore, hiking over next to her. Kneeling down next to her, he touched her shoulder lightly, noticing that Cid's tattered flight jacket was now wrapped underneath her. Frowning, he glanced up to the crabby pilot, his pallid face easily betraying the man's failing condition. They needed to get to Kalm, and the sooner, the better.

Rising to his feet, he met the blond's gaze. "Stay with her," he ordered, turning on his heel and starting off. He stopped several feet later and swore again, straining his sensitive ears to hear the telltale signs of movement before he wound up getting himself lost. Usually this wouldn't have been an issue, but he'd only minutes ago awakened, and in the middle of nowhere, at that. The last thing he wanted to do was screw himself worse than he already was.

He frowned. He was spending too much time around Cid.

Belatedly, his ears pricked up at the sounds of a heated argument. Or, rather, a heated one-sided screaming session. Judging by the shrillness and intensity, it was most likely Elena. Either that, or Rude had a very feminine voice. Cloud shook his head, tearing himself away from his rambling thoughts as he trotted forward into the night to catch up with the Turks.

"C'mon Elena," he heard Reno say, "it was funny."

"It was *not*!" she retorted angrily, her voice a full octave above her normal voice. "I've never seen *you* dragged around by some overgrown dog!"

The beast growled dejectedly.

"No offense," she muttered quickly.

Coming to a halt behind the blonde, he peeked over her shoulder, his enhanced eyes slicing through the night to the source of the creature's excitement. Four people lie among the grass, their bodies huddled together and unmoving. From the stench that mingled with the sweet scent of nature, the mercenary guessed they'd been dead for around a day. "They were from uptown Midgar," he stated blandly.

The others stopped, turning to face him. "What?" Elena squawked, furrowing her brows. "How can you tell that?"

He pushed past her, kneeling down to the carcasses, a sneer adorning his face. "Good quality tailoring," he answered, tugging at the top body's bloodied jacket. His eyes flitting downward, he caught sight of a large knapsack, and hastily pulled it free. "Leather knapsack," he continued, inspecting it carefully. "Something like this would cost thousands of gil. No slummer could have possibly gotten this; legally, anyway." Unhooking the intricate silver clasp, he looked inside to see its contents.

He pressed his lips into a thin line, digging his hand in. "I see why your friend brought us here, Elena," Cloud said, clasping a large water bottle and handing it to the Turk next to him.

Elena frowned, snatching the bottle away. "It's *not* my friend," she hissed, unscrewing the cap. The furred creature growled again, its furred head bowing down. "No offense," she mumbled, taking a long drink.

Handing the bag to Elena as well, he pulled the first body down, patting him down for any valuables. "Reno, Rude, check the others in case they have anything of use."

"Wouldn't have pegged you as a grave-robber," Reno huffed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Do you see a grave here?" Cloud retorted, padding down the man's arms.

"Damn, Strife," the redhead huffed, "you're a callous bastard when you want to be."

The blond snorted in response, plucking out a small flashlight from the dead man's jacket pocket. "It's a little late to become self-righteous, Reno," he answered, inspecting the man's pockets. "Besides, you're acting like you've never done it before." He glimpsed to his side, noting that Rude was already checking a young woman's purse. At least someone was helping. He wasn't sure whether or not to be happy.

"I *haven't*," Reno snapped. "At least…when I wasn't ordered to." He turned, calmly sauntering away. "And you can't give me any incentive to, either."

Out the corner of his eye, he noted Elena had discarded the leather sack, yelling for Cid and Tifa to come over. He saw the white box in her hand, and immediately knew why. He hid the grin; she was going to have fun treating Cid's wounds. Sighing, he propped his arms on his knees, twisting to face Reno. "I'll make you richer than God."

He stopped, casting a quarter-glance over his narrow shoulder, his eyebrow arched in interest. "I'm listening."

The spiky-haired soldier hid his smirk. "I thought you would." Ignoring the pain of his back, he stood, casually pivoting on his boot and starting over towards the taller Turk. "I'm willing to pay," he stated simply, his hand moving to the wallet full of money hidden in his belt, "if you're willing to help me when I ask."

"Ten thousand per job," Reno said, turning fully around and crossing his arms.

Cloud's lip curled unnaturally, giving the lanky man a sour look. "I said I'm willing, Reno, not easy." Pausing, he pursed his lips in thought. "I'll pay you according to the difficulty of each assignment."

"Fine. Eight thousand minimum," Reno proposed, his face impassive.

The mercenary's face became stern, his eyes narrowing. "*Two* thousand."

The redhead harrumphed indignantly, his arms falling to his sides. "Oh please, that wouldn't even pay some of my bar tabs."

"Then whose fault is that?" he demanded, his brows tilting downward.

The lanky Turk slipped his hands into his pockets, sighing deeply. "Alright, alright…six thousand."

He shook his head curtly, standing his ground. "Four thousand."

Reno raised his chin slightly, jutting it out defiantly. "*Five* thousand."

"Deal." Cloud's tugged up into a tight grin, and quickly held out his hand. Reno accepted the handshake, a smile upon his own pale face.

"For each of us," the Turk added.

He yanked his hand back, turning on his heel. "Too late."

The taller Turk huffed, crossing his arms. "Fine; then we won't help you."

Cloud shrugged, kneeling back down towards the body. "Then you won't get paid." He paused, his Mako-blue eyes flitting over his bare shoulder. "Your choice."

"Damn," Reno muttered to himself. "Oh, well, it was worth a shot." Straightening, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, shivering slightly from the icy winds. "I'm still not helping you pick through those bodies like some vulture, though."

He harrumphed, looking flatly at the corpse. Contrary to what Reno was insinuating he didn't enjoy 'picking through bodies like some vulture'. In fact, he was somewhat disgusted with himself for it. But, pragmatism won out over his conscience, and he forced back his revulsion to search for anything that could be of use while they were out there.

Peeking behind him, he saw Reno nodding to himself, his aquamarine eyes dancing with greed. "How do I get in touch with you guys?" the blond asked suddenly, moving towards the next body, a young man no older than he.

His head popped up, his daydream interrupted. "Huh? Oh," he quickly pulled out a small rectangular object, "I have my cell."

Cloud knitted his brows. "Cell phone's still work? Midgar was destroyed, though."

"Yeah," Reno replied absent-mindedly, twirling the silver phone in his fingers, "but most of the satellite uplinks were run through Junon."

"I assumed most of the satellites were destroyed, though," he replied, turning his attention back to the body before him. "Meteor was pretty big."

"Some were destroyed, but not all of them," Reno answered, tapping the phone flat against his palm. "It would be near impossible to send a link from here to, say, Gold Saucer, but as long as we're on the same continent, we should be able to get a signal."

He blinked, his face etched in surprise. He didn't know Reno was…well, smart. The Turk caught the look, and hurriedly shrugged, clearing his throat. "At least, that's what I think Tseng was trying to say to me."

He paused for a split second, quickly padding his pants for the location of his PHS, disheartened to realize it was no longer inside his pocket. "I lost my PHS," he voiced, his shoulders slumping. "It probably was destroyed in the crash." Twisting his head over the blades of grass, he scanned the velvety blanket of night, his eyes coming to rest on Cid. "Cid, do you still have your PHS?"

"Nope," he muttered groggily, snatching his arm away as Elena tried to grab it. "Got flattened."

The lanky ex-SOLDIER scowled, running his hand through his hair. "And Tifa didn't have one. Great."

Rude, for the first time since they'd met, spoke. "I'll go," he said impassively.

Everyone stopped, turning their gazes to him. "What?" Cloud asked, careful to keep the uncertainty out of his voice.

"I'll go with you," the Turk clarified, his strangely light eyes focused upon him. He squirmed slightly, Rude's unwavering stare unnerving him.

"Why?" Reno demanded, sounding slightly betrayed. "Turks are supposed to stick together."

"We're not Turks anymore," Rude retorted, his mask of ice breaking away to reveal the weariness of the man underneath it. "We have no reason to 'stick together'." His intense gaze fell upon Cloud again, and again, Cloud felt his skin crawling at the attention. "I'm going with you."

The redhead's face darkened, his eyes narrowing, his lips twisting into a snarl. "*Fine*. Go with them." His eyes flashed over to Elena, whom was just as certainly just as betrayed as Reno, but more silent in her reproach. "What about *you*, Elena? Are you going to ditch me too?"

Her eyes wildly darted about the scenery, going from Reno, to Rude, to Cloud, and back to Reno. Slowly, silently, she shook her head. "No," she started, her voice wavering, "I'll stay with you."

With the closest thing to approval he'd ever seen on the Turk's face, Reno nodded, his icy composure sliding back into place. "Good."

Shaking his head, he went back to searching the poor dead soul in front of him. A gust of cold wind blew from the west, sending an involuntary shiver down his spine. His clothing wasn't exactly practical for a cool April night. Yet, the people lying in front of him had ample clothing and gear. With what they had on them, they should've at least survived until Chocobo Billy's ranch, if not farther. Why did they die?

His glove brushed against something wet, and he looked down to see the source. Bringing his hand out from under the young man's body, he found it was covered with a bright green, watery substance. He tensed his muscles, and swiftly moved his fingers to pry the corpse's eyes open, savagely hiding his nausea at the permeating stench.

The man's eyes were an unearthly shade of green.

"Mako-poisoning," he whispered, cringing. Haltingly, he stood, stepping away from the body, his hands clenched into fists. "That's enough, Rude," he said simply.

Surprisingly, Rude obeyed, pushing himself away from the last corpse and standing. Elena, whom was still in the process of getting Cid to sit down, turned to him, her eyes wide with confusion. "Huh? How could they die of Mako-poisoning all the way out here?" she questioned as she all but dragged the somewhat dazed pilot to the ground.

"When Holy wasn't enough to stop Meteor," he began matter-of-factly, his eyes turning skyward, "the Lifrestream started coming up from the ground."

Reno chuckled. "Sounds pretty cool."

"Not really," Cloud corrected blandly, sighing. "If you'd been out here when it happened, you most likely would've been caught by it." His eyes slowly fell from the sky, staring blankly at the four people lying motionless in the tall grass. "Like they did." His thin lips curled downward, a stab of pity welling from inside him. "They wouldn't have died instantly…"

He shook his head to cover the shudder. He vividly remembered what it felt like to suffer from Mako-poisoning. Pain. Lots of it.

"*Ow*!" Cid growled angrily, his voice slicing through the lingering memories. "Goddammit, woman, what the hell're ya doin' to me?!"

"I'm cleaning your wounds, you idiot," Elena berated heatedly, struggling to hold him still while she applied a wet cloth over it. "And if you actually used your brain, you'd see that. Now stop moving so I can stitch this up."

"Ain't no way in hell I'm lettin' you sew me up!" he bellowed, his eyes going wide as he futilely tried to scamper to his feet. "I'd rather chew off my own arm!"

"Reno," she huffed. "A little help?"

The lanky Turk quickly closed the distance between himself and Cid, gracelessly shoving the man's shoulders into the ground. "Do it," he ordered, his face emotionless.

Despite the fact that Cid was obviously not going anywhere, he still fought the Turk's iron grip. The petite woman gritted her teeth in frustration as she held out the curved needle threateningly. "Cid, you better hold still before I stick this thing in your eye!"

Begrudgingly, the gruff pilot stopped moving, his jaw working in anger. "This better not hurt," he muttered.

Without a word, she inserted the needle.

Cid growled, his body tensing up as a frenzied line of obscenities flowed from his mouth as she continued to patch up the gash in his side.

Cloud watched for a moment, morbidly fascinated, before his eyes belatedly caught another woman lying at his feet. Turning, he saw Rude stand, a similar white kit clutched in his fingers. "Here," he huffed, shoving the kit into his grasp.

"Uh, thanks," he said awkwardly, kneeling down to the unconscious woman, gingerly pulling the blue fabric off of her back, watching with disgust as blood began to freely roll down her soft skin, soaking the tattered white cloth a deep red. A frown still adorning his otherwise flawless face, he opened the case up, plucking out the gauze and the antiseptic. Softly, he patted at her wounds, ignoring her body as it writhed from the sudden stinging.

As he grabbed a clean cloth from the sterile kit, his sharp eyes caught the mammoth silhouette of the creature that had brought all of this on. Warily, he continued to clean her wounds, careful to keep an eye on the furred monstrosity that stood mere feet from him. Slowly, it began to near him, its eyes locked upon the buxom woman that lie at his feet.

His eyes narrowing, the mercenary placed the cleaning agents on top of the kit, holding his blood-soaked gloves defensively in front of him. It crept forward slowly, stopping within arms reach of him. Preparing for anything, Cloud clenched his hands into fists, waiting for the monster to strike.

It bowed its head down, licking Tifa's exposed shoulder once, and whimpered sadly.

He stared at the beast, partly surprised, and completely confused. "What, is that supposed to mean 'I'm sorry'?" he asked the furred creature, frowning. It looked up at him, its large golden-flecked eyes filled with remorse. His frown deepened, determined not to go soft on it. "Are you trying to say you apologize?" It rumbled in its throat, closing its eyes. "I guess you want me to forgive you."

It lowered his head, displaying its thickly furred crown. He was tempted to smack the thing, just because he was having a bad day and felt like taking it out on someone, but refrained. Instead, much to his shock, he raised his hand, patting it gruffly on the head twice. "Yeah, well, you're forgiven." It looked at him, cocking its head to the side slightly. "Her wounds aren't very deep, and…I guess I did hit you first." He sighed wearily, noting the creature's confused look, realizing for the first time that it looked strangely like Red. "Look, the next time you want to get a person's attention, don't act like you're about to kill them, alright?"

It huffed, shaking its head as if nodding. Its bright eyes then shot up to a point over his shoulder. Curious, he turned, watching as Cid shot up from the grass, holding his side tightly and backing away from the kneeling Turks.

"I didn't finish taping up the gauze!" Elena exclaimed, holding the roll of white surgical tape in the air. Softly, the sound of Reno's voice moaning what sounded like magical curses wafted through the chilled night air.

"It's close enough!" he snarled, scruffily tucking his shirt back in. "Ya got a really crappy beside manner, ya know that?"

"I'll have you know I have a very *good* bedside manner," she chastised him, waving the needle back and forth tauntingly as she replaced it in the kit. She stood, gaping at the caked bloodstain that marred his shirt. "I just don't like you." Her dainty hand shot out, lightly swatting his side as she passed him.

He howled in pain, his face contorted in a mixture of pain and hellish fury. "You did that on purpose!" he seethed through clenched teeth, his cool eyes wide with rage.

She glanced over her shoulder, her lips quirked up into a devilish smirk. "Well, duh. Where have you been?"

The pilot began assaulting them with every obscenity he'd ever heard, and a few Cloud wasn't sure were actual words but sounded close enough to the real thing. Sighing, he shook his head and returned to cleaning Tifa's back. "You think he's angry?" he asked sarcastically, his eyes flitting up in the direction of the creature's face.

It sniffed, growling low in its throat. "I'll take that as a yes," he stated flatly, pulling out the gauze. "I feel like I'm playing charades with an overgrown dog."

It growled, sniffing the air disdainfully.

He looked up, shrugging impishly. "No offense."

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