Leaning on You(FF7)

11

~Tifa's POV~

If things weren't disturbing enough outside, inside there was no wind to carry the stench of torn flesh and blood. At least there are fewer dead bodies here. Rufus must've gone all out on commanding Sephiroth's death. That or his army is going out of control. I'm not sure which I'd prefer. The sound of Yuffie gagging echoes off the cave walls. I try to ignore the urge to vomit too as we keep moving through the tight space, mythril ore on the walls sparkling in what light is let in from outside.

Vincent sweeps one long arm out in front of me, stopping me from running into Barret's back. Everyone seems to be listening to something. And then I hear it, faint voices, echoes, arguing in the distance. Cloud then continues walking in the direction of the voices, weapon drawn. I take a deep breath and ready myself for a fight, just in case. The noise gets louder as we get closer and my whole body goes rigid when I catch sight of a long red ponytail and a spiky mess on top of his head. Then the shine of a tanned bald head follows, pursued by short blonde hair and a black ponytail. The Turks. Cloud is calmly sheathes his sword and walks briskly toward Reno. The man notices him as he gets nearer, his lovely green eyes widening.

"Oh shoot.." His head snaps back as a fist connects to his jaw, making him fall back. Oh great, cranky Cloud next to a traitor is not nice at all. Good thing he wasn't all that cranky when Cait Sith handed over the key to the temple of ancients.

"Ouch! What was that for!?" The red head whines and whips out his electro rod.

"For keeping Rufus's life a secret from us," Cloud replies calmly.

"It's not like I had a choice!"

"Still," Blondie shrugs and backs away toward us. Reno snarls and moves forward with his rod raised.

"Leave it, Reno," Tseng sighs boredly. Somehow this guy survived that awful stab he got at the Temple of Ancients. He groans and puts his weapon back up on his shoulder where he always keeps it.

"Why're all those SOLDIERS out there dead?" Cloud demands but the leader just shrugs.

"Beats me. We just got here. Looks like a Sephiroth things, I'm not a big fan of clunky swords, you know."

"We found a survivor though!" Elena chirps.

"Elena," Reno groans. I smile to myself and then continue to pay attention.

"Second Class SOLDIER," Rude says calmly, stone faced as usual. Beneath his shades, his dark eyes flicker to mine and the tiniest bit of pink spreads across his cheekbones before disappearing.

"And proud of it!" A person I didn't notice before dressed in deep red adds. A metal helmet conceals his face, all except for his mouth, which is widespread into a grin.

"Oh shut up already," Tseng shakes his head disapprovingly. "It's hard to believe that you could've been accepted into First Class."

"First Class?" Cloud cocks his head to the side.

"Yeah, you know. Top of the thing you never made it into, Cloud?" Reno sneers, his own way of revenge dialing miserably as Cloud completely ignores him.

"Yeah. Well, I could've made it, but I said no," the SOLDIER shrugs.

"We don't have any use for this man, he's got no information. Says he left Shinra but they made him come back because of everything he knew," Elena speaks up again. Rude face palms and Reno groans.

"I really need a drink right now," he grumbles.

"Just... Take him," Tseng pinches the bridge of his nose and waves the masked man to us.