Dark World

Author's Note: With the recent release of the FF7 compilations, I've learned many things about FF7 that I didn't know before. With this in mind, I'm re-writing and editing Dark World to better suit the new cannon facts. This happens imediately at the end of FF7, before FF:AC happens and is an AU fic, since I haven't really read the novellas about what happened in those two years between game and movie. I'll do my best to set it up so it COULD be plausible to transition into AC though, hehe. Reviews appreciated! Enjoy the story.


Dark World was originally written in 2001.
Revised and rewritten for 2005.

DISCLAIMER: This is a fan fiction. As such, all characters and settings and the like are copyright their respective owners. I make no claim to own or have created the non-original aspects to this story and I stand to make absoloutely no profit off this story's existance.

-----

Dark World
Chapter 1:Into the Ruins
RENO

My name is Reno. Just reno, let's not fuss with last names here. We'll just leave that alone; my business. Got it? Good. I'm a Turk, y'know, but everyone knows who they are, so I'll not bother with explaining that one, either.

We work for Shinra But it seems that lately plans are changing. Ever since Cloud and his gang of merry little tree-huggers ran off to save the planet from the Big Bad Shinra then ended up getting distracted with Sephiroth, we've found ourselves at a rather... intresting crossroads of life.

So, Holy, Meteor, and Lifestream toasted Midgar in an oh-so overly bright lightshow in the sky, Rude, Elena, and I were holed up at an inn in Kalm. Let's go back over things now, shall we? Tseng's gone. When we went to retrieve his body from the Temple of the Ancients before it got wiped off the face of the map, it was nowhere to be found. And now we're down one president and several of our members are missing as well. So now we've gotta put our heads together and figure out what the Hell's coming next. Namely recovering the missing Turks. Why? We're a team, that's why. We're partners. You don't abandon your partners.

The three of us were at the bar in Kalm, discussing things over some nice alcohol. We'd escaped from Midgar in time; Cloud and his companions had run into us in the sewer system. We'd left soon after. We didn't fight. For the first time in a long time, we were civil to one another. We were only ever enemies because of orders. Well, now there isn't anyone to give us orders. Which, damn it all, is something we're going to fix!

"I don't know what to do..." that was Elena. She talks too much. That's a given, but the chick's got a brain and, if given time and proper coaxing, she can use it too. "What are we going to do...?" her question was rather piteous. Sure, hold on Elena; let me pull an answer out of my ass. It's up there somewhere.

Rude, of course, was no help. The guy hardly says more than one sentence most days. Therefore, I was left to assure Elena that things were going to be just peachy. "Elena, quit whining. This may come as a shock to you, babe, but you're not the only one with that problem." She pouted and frowned, cute, real cute, acting half her IQ on a good day.

Now pay attention folks, this is where things get intresting.

There was this shady guy at the bar. Yeah, I know, I'm shady too, so shoot me. Wait, don't even try, I'd get you first; they don't call me the fastest Turk Ace for nothing, afterall. Anyways, he was sitting at the bar, looking over at me. The guy had a smirk on his face the size of the Sister Ray. Seriously. He got up, walked over to our table, and put his hand on Elena's shoulder like he was her good friend or something. She turned her head back to him, surprised, a questioning look on her face.

"The Turks, I assume?" he asked, though it was more like a statement. He flashed a toothy grin. Yellow teeth, ugh, the guy ever heard of a toothbrush?

"Perhaps. What's it matter?" That was Rude. I'll admit I'm amazed that he spoke to the man at all.

"I've been looking for someone to do a job for me. You understand that during your employment with Shinra, you gained yourselves quiet a name." His hand was still on Elena's shoulder. He ran his thumb over her back, like he was rubbing her neck with one hand. Elena looked a bit uncomfortable; she started to fidget uneasily under his touch. Rookie to the end, I was sure that girl would never learn. Once again I was made to wonder how exactly she got into Turks - the backdoor? Fuck Heidegger? Oh God, ew. No way.

"A job?" I asked, leaning back into my chair. I crossed my arms over my chest, smirking. "Why would we do anything for you?" I put my foot on the table, bracing myself against the wall with my back, my other leg hooked around the table's leg. It wasn't like we had the time for a job, but Hell, we weren't coming up with any genious ideas at the moment, so we might as well hear the guy out, right?

The man removed his hand from Elena's shoulder, much to her relief, and took the empty seat at our table, across from myself. He put his elbows upon the table, placing his fingers together at the tips, his dark eyes watching at me over their pointed formation, almost a predatory look. "Because," he drawled, "with Shinra gone, you've got no employer, correct?"

I perked a brow. The building was destroyed, certainly... but the spirit of Shinra was well alive and kicking, thank you very much. And as soon as we found the President... I considered the options for a moment, then chose to play along "Could be." I drawled. The guy wanted something from us, which was typical. I wondered what it was this time. My face remained impassive as I awaited his response.

The man looked me over, and then shifted his gaze to Rude, and finally Elena. His gaze lingered a bit longer on her. I think he was sizing her up. Why look at Elena, that's what I'd like to know. The man must have been attracted to small, saggy breasts, because he sure couldn't seem to keep his eyes off Elena's - no offence to the lady or anything, but she really doesn't have much in the assets department. The guy was a pervert; even I have more decency than that. He looked back to me. "You're the leader?" he asked.

I glanced at my two companions, and then shrugged. "Something like that." Leader? Me? Tseng was our leader. After Veld, Tseng had fallen naturally to the part. I could never be that, never take his place, fill his shoes. I didn't want to, didn't dare. How could I? No, never, impossible! Tseng.. The man was almost a god to me, and the man was dead, dead and gone, we hadn't even recovered his body from the Temple of the Ancients...

He leaned forward, laying his arms flat on the table. "How about we play 'Let's make a deal'..."



Yeah, we'd played 'Let's make a deal'. He was pretty good at it, too. Which explains why the three of us were back in Midgar. It wasn't entirely because of the job, either....

"I would require that you three go into the ruins of Midgar." he'd said. I met eyes with Rude and Elena. It was right then that we knew that was likely where we'd find Rufus.

Ah, Midgar. It was Hell, to say the least. Yeah, I know, it was Hell before. But now we were constantly climbing over various piles of God-only-knows-what, and the recent rains had made footing treacherous. We were all soaked to the bone, our clothes feeling heavy and making the liklyhood of slipping greater.

Rude jumped off the mound of whatever it was, landing; he turned and offered Elena his hand. He helped her down, and then glanced questioningly at me. I scoffed, and jumped down to them. The landing threw me slightly off balance, so I took a moment to regain my equilibrium before I tossed soggy red hair from my eyes and looked around. I could hardly recognize the place. At least here the pillar hadn't fallen, and a good deal of the plate was still in its place. Having that ominous shadow overhead was a bit disorienting. I wondered what it would take to make it fall.

"How'll we get up there?" Elena asked, tilting backwards to glance above her, looking up at said plate. She almost fell over in doing so, yet another of her seemingly endless antics. Rude saved Elena from making a fool of herself, catching her in the nick of time.

I shrugged to her question. "How did Cloud do it? We've got a lot more to work with than he did." I glanced about, and grinned, catching sight of what we needed. "Over there," I motioned with my hand. "Let's go." I led them over to what can only be described as a miracle. Things had fallen just right to create a steep mountain we could use to scale up to the plate.

Placing my hands on a metal bar sticking out of the pile, I pulled myself up onto a ledge in the mound, offering my hand down to Elena, who I suspected would have difficulties. She surprised me, however, by executing an agile flip up, seemingly with no effort, from the bar I had used. I perked a brow to her, and she grinned as Rude clumsily joined us. Okay, so Elena and I had to haul his ass up. The guy couldn't climb worth shit.

It took us a while, but we managed it. Personally, I'd never want to go through that again. But, that's just me. We were standing in front of what was once the prestigious Shinra Tower, our old base of operations. It was in pretty bad shape, needed a bit more than some drapes hung up. Handy man's dream, I'd say.

I was looking around, my hands in my pockets my back slouched over, when I heard a sound. I quickly spun in the direction from which it had originated, my gun coming out instinctively. Rude and Elena had done likewise. There was no need to ask if they too had heard too. Was it a false alarm? I was wary, waiting. It could have been a monster, or another person digging around the ruins. Looking back on it, I wish it were just a monster.

A muffled sound, one that was all too familiar to one on my line of work. The sound of gunfire, the rapport echoed throughout the area. It was so sudden, one moment, open fire, the next dead silence. All was still for several moments, before Rude, standing behind me and slightly to the side, let out a quiet groan of pain, and began to slump forward. I quickly turned, catching the tall man on my shoulder. He slouched against me as Elena rushed to our side, her gun still in her hands, but pointed to the sky, her eyes darting all over the area, searching for whoever had opened fire on us. Rude's left arm was over my right shoulder, griping me tightly, his right arm hanging limp at his side, his head pressed against my shoulder. His shades slid from his face, down his nose and to the ground, where they landed in a puddle caused by the recent rains, mud splashing up onto their darkly reflective surfaces. His breathing was ragged, labored. I staggered under his weight and we hit the ground, crunching Rude's glasses. Elena was for once being quiet as she watched our backs, her brown eyes wide with disbelief and terror.

Blood stained the front of Rude's chest, and where the large man had been leaning on me, his blood had gotten onto my jacket, seeping into the black cloth. His eyes were squeezed shut in pain his breathing was slowing. My own eyes were wide, peering over my dark glasses to my best friend, lying in the mud. Numbly, I realized it. "He's been shot!" I pulled my head out of my ass right that instant and began to assess the damage.

Elena looked down to him, finally dropping her guard as she fell to the ground, the mud covering her knees. Mud on Elena's clothes. I almost could have laughed. Elena had this thing about keeping her Turks uniform clean. I couldn't laugh though. If I started to laugh, I wouldn't be able to stop. And if that happened, God only knows if I could keep from tears.

"Up!" Elena said to me, pushing me away and slamming a large green orb into her gun, "Guard us!" She snapped at me, clutching Rude's shoulders, the latino man drawing in ragged, painful breaths. "C'mon, work, work, Cure!" She cried, almost in a panic as she triggered the materia.

I jumped up and back as Elena worked on Rude. Shit; we only had low level materia on us. "Do your best, yo." I ordered, eyes tracking, searching for the source of the shot. Nothing. Shit. Sniper? "Fuck!"

Rude stirred, I could hear him moving, muttering... something. My back was to them. "Rude? Yes?" Elena asked, leaning in, listening intently as the power of the materia stableized the man.

"G..." he sputtered. I heard shifting, cloth. My eyes were darting all over the place, trying to listen for anything but the sounds of my comrades. "Glasses." Rude gasped. I winced. Fuck, tenth pair I owed him his week.

"Sorry." I muttered to Rude. My eyes caught sight of the Shinra Tower, traveled up it's ravaged height. It went no higher than the tenth floor. Something compelled me. It was almost as if my feet had gained a mind all their own, and began to carry me there. I saw Elena glance up, helping Rude to his feet as he put on a spare set.. I stopped before the entrance to what was once the lobby, my eyes gazing dully at the familiar place now lay to ruins. I stepped through the doorway, the glass, all shattered, crunched beneath my shoes, and perhaps stuck in the soles. I didn't care. The sound of crunching glass behind me let me know they were following. Rude was slow, coping with his injury.

Memory of that climb is dim, but eventually, Elena, Rude and I came out on the uppermost floor of the ruined tower. The desolate landscape lay down below us, open for us to see. My half narrowed eyes took it in, and dismissed it. Elena stood behind me, her attention mostly on Rude. My fists were clenched, I realized, clenched so tightly that my short, blunt, nails caused a sharp pain where they bit into my skin. I forced myself to relax. Blood covered my palms, my own and Rude's. God, Rude! I'd get the bastard who shot him. Then get Rude a drink.

With no idea who had fired at us or exactly why, we paused in the middle of the ravaged building's uppermost floor. Here we were, waiting at the highest point left in the whole city, waiting for the hunter to seek his prey. Waiting for the would-be killer to find us. I must have been fucking nuts.

At that point, things got strange. A rock, rather small, banged into the remains of a wall near my head, the dull thud seemed to echo through the nearly silent landscape. My eyes quickly darted to the source of the rock, and my blood ran cold.

Straight black hair, dully reflecting the light, fell to his shoulders, those calm, cool dark eyes stared back at me, and a smirk was upon his lips. The man, all too familiar, took a single step towards me, out of the shadows. Elena gasped, her eyes wide. "TSENG!" her high-pitched scream of jubilation rang out through the area as she leapt forward, her arms open wide, forgetting herself for a moment; she looked ready to embrace the man.

Three shots, clear and concise, one after the other, sounded. Blood spattering from exit wounds sprayed red splotches on my clothes, Elena fell. Her cry had turned to startled screams with each shot. My eyes were wide, the world moving in slow motion. Rude lunged out to catch Elena. My gaze fell upon the gun in Tseng's hand, then traveled up to his face, his eyes. Cold eyes, dark eyes, holding a certain glint I'd seen before, a glint much akin to that I'd seen in the eyes of rabid dogs, and men who'd lost their sanity.

He took a step towards me; my gun was aimed level at his chest in a half a heartbeat. I couldn't believe how steady my arms were. I'd expected them to shake. Tseng paused, only half lowering his firearm, that disgusting smirk still on his lips. Tseng? No! He's dead! Yet there he was, standing across from me. He spoke then, his voice level and calm as always. He sounded just like he always had, noting to indicate he'd just opened fire on one of his Turks. For all the attention he paid Elena she may as well have been a rug upon the floor. "You bastard!" I spat. Then, my arms did begin to shake, with my suppressed rage.

Rude cradled Elena's weakened form to his chest, searching hurriedly in her jacket, likely for the gun junctioned with healing materia. But I couldn't afford to pay attention to them. My attention was on the... the "Traitor!"

"Traitor? Perhaps.It does not matter now, though. I'm here to set you free." His deep voice was low; I had to strain my ears just to hear him. Free? What did he mean by that? My puzzlement must have shown on my face, Tseng elaborated on his point. "Free, from Shinra." Those dark eyes took on an even more heated glow. "I'll free you form them, too, Reno." He raised his gun. I stared right down the barrel, glaring death in the face.