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Chapter Text

It was supposed to be another 'SOLDIER recruitment drive' but the jerk they were after was armed to the teeth and more, with a whole gang backing him up. In the end, they went to a Reactor and decided to barricade themselves there. Veld was not happy at all. He had to report it and call in SOLDIER to nip it fast without more attention and losses to the company (as in ZERO DAMAGE TO THE REACTOR).

Well, that's that. The kill team arrived, they had shock bots going in first before the 2nd Classes and Genesis went in. It was pretty quiet if not the drone of the reactor. There wasn’t even rustle of leaves or any sound of wildlife. It was eerily peaceful as Reno and Rude waited for them to finish.

"How deep do you think they went?" Reno asked absentmindedly as he stared. Rude shrugged as he exhaled the smoke from his cigarette. Both were leaning on the truck they’ll be using for cleanup.

"Do you think those bots can clean too?" Rude asked.

Reno did a double take at that. "Did you just asked me if the bots does cleaning, too?" He asked, just in case he heard it wrong.

Rude nodded.

Reno tilted his head a bit on whether there were such bots. They were small enough to look like one. It would be really nice to have one at his apartment. Or will it make his missing socks issue a bigger one.

Rude tapped him twice on his shoulder as he snuffed out his cigarette. "They're finished." 

Up ahead, Genesis approached them as the four Second class SOLDIER lackies came with body bags. The moment when they said to be careful of spilling the contents, Rude and Reno internally sighed at the future hassle for cleanup.

"Mission completed. RTB within 30 mins." He merely said, barely addressing them before turning back to the helicopter he came in.

Both Rude and Reno didn’t appreciate the attitude but he’s one person no one wants to piss off…unless you have high fire resistance. The Second class SOLDIERs helped to load it to the truck, warning each other to “not spill the contents.”

One of the Second class SOLDIERs waved at them with a familiar big grin and came to them once his bags were loaded on to the truck.

"Hey, Reno. Don't wanna say hi?” The Second said mischievously.

Reno looked wary for a few seconds before he realised who it was and gave an equally bright grin. “Whatsup?”

Rude watched them as they did a very complicated handshake and the Second pulls off the helmet to reveal a familiar face with spiky black hair and Mako eyes.

“How the hell did you get all the way here?” He asked in pure astonishment.

Reno chuckled. “You know the rules.” He added with wiggling eyebrows, earning a roll of his eyes.

“You going back by truck?” The SOLDIER asked, patting the thing.

“Oh no, we’re walking-Of course, we are. Have you seen the luggage?” Reno responded incredulously.

Zack laughed at the obvious fact. “Alright-alright. Heads up, there’s a lot of phantom type monsters here.” He warned them seriously as he went over his materia bracer. Suddenly, Zack did an imitation of a shaky old man as he held out the materia he unequipped. “There be danger there, young traveller. Take this.” He said in a sage like tone.

Both of them giggled helplessly at the stereotypical quest master reference as Reno accepted it. Rude watched the interaction in slight confusion.

“ZACK!” They heard someone shouted for him from the helicopter, another Second Class.

“Gotta go!” He hurried, putting his helmet back on.

They both watched as the helicopter went up and away. “Costa del Sol mansion?” Rude asked as he finally remembered who it was.

“Yeah, the guy I outdrank.” Reno said smugly.

Rude shook his head at the memory of the hide-and-seek as he turned to get to the driver’s seat. They both ended up at the hospital for alcohol poisoning that day.

Reno carelessly chucked the Fire materia with the rest of the unused support materias in the dashboard compartment. As it is, the materia set they have is working just fine for their fights.

o-o

They reached disposal site soon enough. It was a landfill but it still had enough land to bury things…like dead bodies.

“I dig, you haul?” The red head asked his partner as the engine was turned off. Rude looked thoughtful for a second before nodding.

“Ok, pard’ner.” He said as they both got out. It was dark and they had to keep it that way to avoid attention.

The shovel was easy enough to find as Rude tested the weight of the bags and checked for any leaks. They need to minimize evidence after all. As matter of fact, he still had the earlier cigarette butt in his pocket.

Reno went ahead to find a spot. It needed to be somewhere where they can just cover it with junk on top of the soil itself. Seeing the nearest, tallest pile, he went there.

The silence suddenly became deafening as he thought of how deep he should dig. Trying to counter it, he began whistling the chocobo song. It wasn’t tinnitus because his ears wasn’t being messed with so it was something else.

It was then things were shifting. He jumped at the sound and immediately stepped away from the nearby junk pile in case it fell on him. It won’t be the first time but it’s better not to have a repeat.

There’s skittering. Probably wererats. He was ready to cast Thunder on the motherfucker. Then, there was tittering. It raised his hair on end. The fear was so palpable he was ready to strike anything that came near. He held tight to the shovel as he thought of Zack’s warning. Phantom types. Hide-and-seek fuckers. Shit.

“RUDE-“ He tried to call out, to warn him but ghostly dirty rags from beneath his feet swallowed him.

o-o

Rude heard his partner’s shout and the ominous clang of a shovel in the distance. He was so busy with the bodybags, he barely noticed the greenish glowing line that seemed to create a barrier around the junkyard. Mako?

He suddenly remembered the Second class’s warning about phantom type monsters. Groaning in frustration, he wondered if it was possible for him to get back into the truck without touching the ground.

The back of the truck had a glass panel. They were going to scrap the truck anyway. Taking off his jacket, he used it to cover his fist as the broke the glass and got in. Taking out his HP+ materia from his belt, he slotted the level 1 Fire materia.

Without the Fire materia, there’s no way he’s going to win this fight. They can be immune to melee attacks and that’s what Rude specialises. With the Fire materia, he’ll have a better chance.

Thankfully, Reno had chucked it into the dashboard. Had he taken it with him, Rude knew it might be too late to save the red head. Thank Gaia for that much.

He took off shirt and tore whatever he can to cover his fist for when he lights it on fire. Improvising was a Turk’s most valuable skill.

Outside, he contemplated on what he can actually do. Opening the door, he gingerly stepped out of it. But the floor outside the line didn’t seem to have a problem. No ghost jumping him yet.

He went near the line. Stepping over it didn’t seem to be a problem. With that he entered the junkyard. Had it been any other time, being shirtless meant vulnerability but in this case, it wouldn’t have mattered unless it was bracer for the materias. Spectre types tears muscles without ever touching the fabric.

He recalled where his partner’s voice came from. It wasn’t far. Finding the shovel and he cautiously went close to it. Nothing yet. It was warmer for some reason. Whether is was his fighter instinct riling him up or the place had suddenly got warm, he had no time to think about it.

Remembering that Reno whistled, he tried whistling like Reno did, hoping for it to show itself. Finishing one whole part of the Chocobo song, he stopped. Still nothing happened.

He thought hard while keeping himself on his toes. They were in the more traditionalist part of Gaia. Not close enough to adopt Wutai tradition but enough to be alien from Midgar. How does one upset a ghost?

He saw phantom flickers from the junks. But it seems to keep a distance from him, as if assessing him. He waited. For some reason, it didn’t feel hostile. He wiped his sweating eyebrow since the sweat was getting into his eyes.

It was then he heard something stepping forth. There was no tangible corporation but Rude tensed. Maybe this is it.

It got closer and closer, Rude's heart pumped hard and his fight or flight senses were peaking. He was able to detect how far was the steps.

10 feet, 9 feet, 8 feet.

Rude clenched his fists. A funny thought crossed his mind about how he was sweating so much, the rags won’t lit if he cast fire over it.

7 feet, 6 feet, 5 feet...

It stopped. It took the ghost a whole minute to manifest into a visible form. It was a man in frayed, blood red, knee length pants with a head tie. He had bullet holes littered over him, blood leaked in rivulets.

A sharp sound of an oriental flute went into the air and percussion joined soon after. Rude fidgeted at the sound but he heard it before. He stared at the ghost as it gestured to come to him. But it wasn't hostile, as far as Rude is being…told? 

At least his face was spared. If it was half crushed or in bits because of gunshot, Rude is going to have a harder time following through.

He had an idea of what to do when this song is up. It was a warm up dance for a certain martial art he hasn't seen since his days at the illegal fight ring. Refugees were a common face on the ring. Stepping forth, he racked his memories for the steps.

Thankfully, his guts were right as the ghost stood next to him rather than attacked him. Following the ghost, they sat on their legs and started with doing a large swipe over the ground. The song followed them, continuing as they did their dance, following the tempo.

He finally remembered the name. It was wai kru ram muay.

He partly wished that he had torn his trousers by the knees. The slacks he had wasn’t flexible enough for some of the positions.

Chapter Text

Reno was floating? 

It was pitch black...cool but not uncomfortably so. 

He tried moving around. He wasn't restricted or anything. So that's good.

"Hey!" He shouted. It didn’t echo or seemingly so. He clapped hard. He heard it so it wasn't vacuum and he was very much corporeal...for the moment. Testing his floatiness, he spun like one would in water and found he really was floating.

He tried using his materia but it's...not responding? He could feel the sphere but he can't see it. He can't even tell which way he was facing. Was he blind? He felt around for his bottle of remedy and used it. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

He huffed before relaxing himself. Sensory deprivation was an interesting concept but as torture, it was as valid as electrocution.

He absentmindedly hoped his warning reached his partner. The last few times he was caught in this kind of predicament, one of them had more ghosts inside and he would have been beaten to a pulp if not for his partners getting him out. This must be one funky motherfucker. He hasn't found one where he was entirely floating.

In retrospect, he should have taken Zack's warning more seriously.

Sighing, he wondered how long before he was able to go back to the Lifestream or get rescued...or get killed by boredom first. He snickered at that.

His mind wandered as he wadded. Supposedly, on his back, he was wadding. But if he was really floating, then he's actually flapping. He chuckled again at that.

It was then his stomach grumbled. Stopping, he sighed. "Starving to death, huh?"

He wondered how his rescue was going to proceed. Rude and the former Turk, female martial artist, Fae were rescued by.... Well, the solution at the time stopped their hearts and had to resuscitate but hey, they're alive.  A wry smile tugged his lips as he thought about it.

-2 years ago-

"There's a mine up north." Their former mercenary partner said as she set their drinks. "Not too far from here. It can be a potential site for them."

None of them dared to drink anything hard but Legend, and none of them dared say anything to him.

"Or a deathtrap." Reno huffed. 

"Monster nest." Rude offered.

Legend laughed. "Or just a mine." He said as he took a drink. "Ah, this really hits the spot."

"So are we going or are we not going?" Fae, codename Female Martial Artist, asked.

They all shared glances but it was Legend who finally spoke. "Well, this is our job. Might as well, go there." He said as he scratched his beard with a shrug.

With that they went. They had scoured the town the day before and they only have until tomorrow to wrap up their investigation. It was noon by the time they were ready.

Muggy and hot, they went into the mine. Legend had chuckled fondly before they got in and Reno knew he should have paid attention to that.

As they got deeper, the mine became cooler. The map they had was accurate. There were wererats and bugs but other than that it was boring.

"You think there's anything else down here?" Reno asked, yawning. It was dark and cool. Other than their Shinra issued pocket lights, there wasn't much light.

"If I'm right, we'll be stumbling on some treasure." Legend said.

The other three stared at him. The silence became deafening.

Realizing the other three's discomfort he huffed. "There's some weapons contraband from back in the day. If we take it and-slash- destroy it, no one else will be able to use it." He said as if reciting from a mission dossier.

"Is that why we're sent here?" Fae asked seriously.

"Partly. They wouldn't have bothered if not for the Costa del Sol escape incident." He explained in a tone that indicated he had told too much.

Honestly, if Legend decided to take them all out, even with three of them together, it's going to be a nightmare with the Death God of the Battlefield. Plus, it’s his field.

A moment of silence passed. "Is it any farther?" Reno asked, very much bored.

Just like that, the strained silence broke. Legend chuckled lightly as he brought up their map. "There should be at least three stockpiles. The two dead ends supposed to have them unless they moved it somewhere else. We passed them and it was empty. The last one is here." He pointed as they all stopped for a moment to refer to the map again. There was a dead end coming up.

They didn't manage to get to the last dead end. Apparently, there was offshoot from the current tunnel that opened to another one. It wasn’t on the map.

They managed to see cages or jail cells and few armed grunts sleeping there on old camping cots. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was going to be a hostile situation.

One of the grunts was startled awake by their flashlight before they could shut it off. "Who's there?!" They heard the gun cocking long before they dodged out of the way.

Legend immediately cast a full power Thundaga at them. But that caused their ammunition to blow up and shook the mine.

Unlike the rest of the mine, that part of the mine wasn't reinforced properly and the ceiling fell.

Reno and Legend ended up on the free side of the mine while Shotgun and Rude were on the other side.

"RUDE! FAE!" Reno shouted as soon he regained his senses, getting back on his legs, he saw the mount of rubble. "GUYS!!!" He shouted again, the dread was messing with his adrenaline rush.

"We're ok!" He heard Rude.

Legend gave him a heavy pat on the shoulder, the red head didn't realised he had Legend on his side of the mine until then.

"Are you under the rubble?" Legend asked seriously.

There was a moment of silence. "Yeah." Fae said as they heard shifting stones. "We both are." Came Rude’s answer.

"Hold on, we'll get to ya." Reno said almost frantically and was about to get to the stones when Legend shook his head.

"We need to be careful. Wrong stone and they'll be crushed to death." Legend said gravely, voice low enough not to be heard by the other two Turks

With that, he sobered up. "Yeah." He nodded as the two of them started.

"Tell us if you need a Cure. I got hit. Not sure if any of you got it." Legend said louder this time.

o-o

Rude had shielded Fae with his body when the roof collapsed.

Right now, they managed to shift so that they were side by side. Bits of the mine support had given them space to move and probably saved them from being crushed. But it's not enough to move their hands overhead. With each shift of their legs, they felt the rock shifted, too, narrowing their already cramped space.

At Legend's instruction, the two had no choice but depend on each other to check for their injuries.

"Apologies," Rude muttered as he felt up over her back and down to her butt. Fae simply shook her head as she was doing the same, not caring if he couldn't see it. Somewhat appreciating what she found until Rude prodded something that made her give a full body jolt.

“Sir, Fae got hit!" Rude bellowed as he puts his hands away. Fae was gritting her teeth, her touch became clawing as she tried to withstand her familiar pain of getting a burst shot.

"Shit, I didn't feel that until now." Fae cursed under her breath once Rude was done. 

"You got hit bad." Rude stated the obvious as he gingerly prodded lower.

"Curaga coming up!" Legend called after a moment of silence, probably fiddling with the materia bracer.

They were hit with the Curaga. 

"Rude, could you check if it's closed?" Fae asked. Rude went back to running his hand gingerly over the area earlier. Both of them had to keep it professional being trapped as they were. No wet opening or gashes.

"I think you're good." Rude concluded.

"We’re good!" Fae replied.

"Right-o. Hang in there!" Reno said.

They could hear them shuffling rocks....by hand... and they sounded pretty far off.

"Ugh, this is gonna take ages." Fae groused.

She felt Rude do his shrug. "We're alive."

Fae realised that is indeed a good thing despite the situation.

o-o

Exhausted and heating up, both Reno and Legend were shirtless. Reno was quiet in his dread as he took out the stones. There was a problematic boulder so they dug around it. But because of it, one person could fit through the gap until they found more space.

If there's another one as big as this, they'll need help. Help they may or may not get.

He had a clean mission record so far and now he has a high probability of losing two of his partners. This is not cool.  

"Hey kid." Legend regarded him as he lugged out the rock he dug out. "Will you stop for a sec?"

He rounded him, barely able to suppress an annoyed look as he panted.

Legend gave him a patient grimace before casting cure on him.

It was then he realised his fingertips were bleeding. It was dim with the flashlights on the floor. He didn't realise it. 

"Carry on. Just remember we need our full strength." Legend said before putting it away and shifting the stones so that it wouldn't block their way out.

Reno couldn't find words to say anything to him and just continued to dig more rocks.

o-o

At first, Rude thought the pain was from the stone that hit him as he shielded Fae but it got worse as time progressed. Eventually he recognized it as the familiar pain pangs of Poison. How did he get that? “I think I got poisoned.” He said curtly, careful not to keep his arm away so that he didn't crush Fae.

Fae was quiet. "Shit." She said wearily.

"I don't know how I got it." He said almost apologetically

"No, I meant 'Shit' as in I got it, too." Fae told him. "I thought it was just a headache."

He could feel Fae tense before another pang made him suck an almost inaudible gasp.

"How bad is it?" Fae asked, her concern obvious. It wasn't panic and Rude appreciated that. A trademark of a seasoned mercernary.

"I think an hour." He told her. 

"Guys! Give Rude a Cure now!" Fae shifted a bit angled her shout away from Rude.

"What? Why?" Reno asked.

"Coming up!" Legend answered a bit farther away.

Rude sagged in relief as the magic engulfed him.

"We both got poisoned!" Fae answered.

"How?!" Came the dual surprise.

"Don't know." Rude answered back.

"Maybe there was a trap we didn't see." Fae answered. "I don't have anything on me except for adrenaline."

They heard frustrated groans on the other side.

"Hey, Fae, don't you need it too?" Rude asked.

"The Curaga helped earlier. I have at least 3 hours with me before it gets bad." Fae explained. "Of all times to go without Esuna."

Rude couldn't help but smile and was grateful for the darkness. No one except Emma and the Nunchucks user, Alex likes to carry it.

"Fae." He began gravely. "If I don't make it out, make sure to give my pothos to Tseng."

Once again he felt Fae tensed. "Excuse me?"

Rude suddenly felt self-conscious. "I know it's just a plant pot but it was a present." He explained himself.  It was his first present as a Turk. Reno bought it as a prank gift but it was thriving on his desk.

Fae gave him a sharp slap on the ass, making him splutter. 

"Don't go dying on me just yet." She said in annoyance. "Plus, if I died first, I don't think you can help me with my wishes and that's unfair."

Rude was...bewildered.

"I'm betting we both survive this. If both of us make it out, you owe me one date." Fae continued with a bit of mirth in her voice.

Rude was not one to take chances even if it's basically doing just that as a Turk. Knowing how stubborn Fae could get, he relented. 

o-o

Both Reno and Legend had a plan.

It was dangerous one and there's a very small time frame to fix everything. Not that different from their usual mission, really.

"So, do you understand the plan?" Legend said.

"Yeah. Do an MP powered super punch that'll crush most rocks into dust and  the shockwave is gonna stop human hearts and knock you out cold." Reno concluded with exasperation. "I'll go phoenix down on them as soon as I find them.

Legend looked dismayed at the simplistic conclusion but nodded. "We should go tell them."

Legend was the first one to stand and lead as Reno trailed along.  Man, he wished he had a hard drink right now, they didn't have a lot of options.

"Fae, Rude." Legend began. "Can you hear me?" 

"Yes." Fae answered for the two of them.

"With everything we've seen, it's going to take too long to get you out and even lesser resources to get there." Legend told them. “ And backup is going to take time.” It took them days to get to the small defunct mining town. It’s going to take longer for backup if they did get it.

"It can be sped up but it involves crushing everything to sand. Your hearts will stop from shockwave." He took a moment before pushing on. "Even then, there's a chance there might be more cave-in and you guys are going to be crushed."

"I'll be with the Phoenix down." Reno piped in. "My job is to revive the both of ya."

The silence was deafening as they let Fae and Rude absorb what they heard.

Both of them realized they don't have much of a choice. Literally, it was either this or die trying.

"Ok." Rude responded once a moment passed.

"Same for me." Fae answered astutely.

"Alright." Legend said with a self-steeling huff. "Good luck, kids." He wished them. Only Reno could see the wry smile he had.

Reno stepped several feet away as Legend instructed him. He was curious but Legend warned that the back blow is going to bring a lot of sand flying towards their direction.

Tying the flashlights to his belt. He waited and faced away.

He heard Legend shuffled few steps before there was an almighty roar of wind before the force from that and the flying sand sent him flat on his face.

He should have braced it like it was an explosion he dazedly thought as the wind stopped and the sound of panting was the only thing there.

Reno got up in time to see Legend getting on his hands and knees before laying gently on the ground. Just like they planned, he immediately searched for the buried partners.

The path ahead was miraculously clear, few feet of new sand was in its.

Thankfully there were no more cave ins as he ran, running his finger through the sand trying to find his partners. This was when his speed was important. This was when he needed his speed to work.

He finally snagged on something firm, hoping on everything Gaia's free land that it's them and not some debris or the other guys. There was only three minutes for him to work the phoenix down or else they'll go vegetable.

Digging through the sand with both hands like a dog, he manages to unearth both Rude and Fae. He just worked fast, no time to think or even hesitate. He doesn't know how much time had passed. He just had to go fast. If he went fast, he could save them.

He made sure their torsos weren't compressed and their faces as free of sand as much as he could manage before giving them both the phoenix down.

As they coughed, Fae shot her hands towards the flashlight on his pants, too close to his jewels as he dodged with a yelp.

Moving away, Reno couldn't help the relieved laugh that came after.

"Shut up will ya?" Fae snapped as she sat up, looking as if she's suffering from a hangover, coughing from the dust.

Rude had to wiggle a bit to get himself up.

"I don't know, man. I'm just glad you're alive." He said almost hysterically.

They were late for their return transport and Veld demanded a report or else none of them were on active duty.

Legend recovered with good nap while Fae and Rude went on a dinner date. But it was more, hanging out with the guys than a romantic one. Reno still teased Rude like it was.

-Present-

It started with a giggle. The report he made back then was so half arsed he wasn't sure it's even called a report if not for his partners’ portion of his report. When he thought of Tseng reading it and probably trashing it as it gave him a migraine made him giggled in glee.

Recovering his breath, he wondered if Tseng was going to have an aneurysm with this one.  Veld is totally going to ask for a report when they get back.

o-o

Rude knew the full story now.

The Mourner Eater, the phantom he’s dealing right now, is one hell of a bastard. It’s like a Marlboro’s ghost decided that its tentacle was unghost-like and replaced it with strip of gauzes and bandages.

He’s been dodging its status effect sprays with Somchai’s help.

Once the wai kru ram muay was completed, the ghost, Somchai possessed him, not for the intent of body possession but it was faster to show him what happened there. Who he was and why he’s still there and what that phantom monster is. Of all messes they got involved, this was by far, the most dramatic.

Chapter Text

-One hour ago-

Rude and the mysterious warrior ended their dance. The song ended just as they did. He was panting lightly and barely noticed that the warrior had moved close and entered him.

It didn't feel much. If it wasn't for the visual part, he wouldn't even know.

Suddenly, he was transferred to a time when the landfill was actually a town. The warrior, Somchai, his mind supplied, was going somewhere with two more elderly men, bidding goodbye to the people he passed. All three dressed in Wutaian traditional clothes but there different patterns and less usage of the woven button.

Then it skipped to a graveyard, the silence was deafening as they got there. Soon they saw the target. It looked like a whole hospital worth of dirty bandages and rags were animated into a humanoid form and emitted green smokes and black particles as it hovered over the graves.

"It's early this year." Said the oldest of them, he was bald. "This is a bad omen." He said gravely as he started to strip just outside the drawn lines. The same line he saw earlier.

"We better be careful then." Said the slightly younger man, his short hair was white. He was trying to keep the mood light. "I've gotten everything ready." He said, showing his gloves set with materia.

The oldest one looked unamused but carried on. Soon, the oldest one started his wai kru while Somchai and the other man cast manawalls upon themselves, acting as his replacements should he need a backup during the fight.

It was fast forwarded and suddenly it was just Somchai, bleeding from his wounds he had in his ghostly form. He was running, he was wearing his elders glove.

He knew he wouldn't make it and casted a manawall over himself just to buy more time. He just needed to make his way to the graveyard.

Behind him he heard shouts in Wutai and armed Wutai soldiers came into view.

Even without prompting, Rude knew he was banking on the phantom monster to kill off the soldiers.

Right like rain, it came. The Wutai soldiers screamed as the thing grabbed their comrades.

Somchai didn’t have long, he only managed to hear more shots before he passed.

Fast forwarded in time, Somchai fought it time and time again, protecting all the lost stragglers and the workers that wandered there. But his range was limited. There were times where the victims were dead before he could reach them or the sun had come out before he could save the ones it took. Once dawn breaks, the monster disappears with its victim and there was no way to get them back.

Eventually, it was present time. He heard Reno’s whistling. Somchai cursed and tried to reach Reno but it was too late as he watched it swallowed Reno from his feet up.

He then turned to the remaining person there, a stern looking Rude. Immediately, he casted manawall on Rude as the Turk busied himself to break the back of the truck’s glass to get into it.

And then he was back where he was.

"It is called the Mourner Eater. The culmination of the dead in the graveyard." He explained almost hurriedly. "The land was so giving that the wronged dead couldn't rest. It haunts its graves, it had taken our mourners and those who lingered too long." He said in his head. "I wish to save your friend but we'll have to be quick." Somchai told him.

“How are we going to do this?” Rude asked, still sweating like a dog as he looked to the sky. The cleanup was already late. Whatever hour it is now, he knew it's shorter than he was comfortable with.

“Once I remove the manawall, it’ll come.” He told him. “Once it does, I will help you to see.” He said as the mental image of the ghost in different conditions and its weaknesses. An Assess materia data. Just like he suspected, it had times where it was impervious to physical attack and weak against fire elements.

Rude nodded, signalling he was ready.

"Careful of its clutches. I don't have the means to fix it." 

Rude grunted his acknowledgement as he felt the manawall dispersed. He carried a Remedy but only that. 

He heard the silence began to ring when it was just deafening before. 

"Here it comes!" Somchai warned, helping him to face in the direction of the Mourner Eater.

It screeched as it came into existence, as if it recognized them as threats and not as prey.

-Present-

Rude was thankful he didn't need to burn his fists as often as he thought. He can only realistically use the Fire materia like that for three times at best. Anymore and he'll be hurting himself more than actually fighting. Between him and Somchai, they both had Fire materia. 

Somchai died with three of his materia. A barrier, fire and time materia. Among those, only the barrier was fully mastered.

Half of the landfill was being burnt down. Both him and Somchai had worked together to trap the ghost before collapsing firey trash on it or flanking it to land an attack. Somchai was able to serve as a decoy but his hits were lesser than Rude's. Only the Fire magic was at par. They managed to take out a huge chunk of it by now but they were running out of time.

The core of the ghost is already exposed but the instances where it's immune to magic was getting more often to the point it's hard to cast one without missing it. Getting close is almost impossible without getting caught in the toxic smoke it was leaking. 

Without arms it looked like a wringling bunch of worms with a bad engine problem and spewing greenish black smoke. But the core, a glowing red orb where the chest was supposed to be, can be seen.

He was panting, covered in soot and his eyes were bloodshot after getting caught with blind and smoke a couple of times when he overestimated the ghost's responses. His sweat had created streaks of skin among the soot. 

He saw what Somchai did when it got to this point. The ghostly fighter would go for a divekick to stun it before casting a Fire directly before it wriggles away. Somchai'll repeat it until it shatters, which is why it took so long. That'll kill it off for the time being and release whoever he caught at the moment. Unlike Somchai, he was susceptible to status effects. He'll probably won't be able to cast Fire while he was silenced and stunned.

"Som, if you cast the manawall on me now, would it disappear?" He asked as he kept his distance between the ghost and the fires he made, stopping on a high pile of construction material.

He felt Somchai's confusion. "Never tried it before." He said as the ghost disappeared again. Rude jumped off his perch and ran. Once Somchai detected where the ghost would reappear, he changed his course to keep the distance.

Rude grimaced. It was too much of a risk now if the ghost decided that it had enough and disappeared for the night.

They were running out of options until his gaze landed on the shovel they were using earlier. It was blackened from the surrounding fires but still functional.

Grabbing it, he watched as the ghost reappeared, shrieking again. 

"If this works, you are one of the craziest fighters I've ever seen." Somchai said as he picked up on the plan.

Rude smirked. His partner was rubbing off of him. "Ready, Som?" Rude asked as he exited him as a reply.

Som casted haste on himself as Rude wielded the shovel like a sword and waited for the shrieking to stop.

As it died down, they both ran towards the ghost.

Rude jumped high as Som distracted it with Fire.

Rude put all his strength in the downward strike. It cut through the head, plunging him into all the toxic gasses and he felt he hit something hard. He was getting disoriented as the status effect started to affect him but he pushed through until it all stopped and it was dark.

o-o

Reno was almost asleep when there was fire, smoke and the sharp scent of Mako jolted him awake.

He felt like he was sucked out and stood on his feet. Coughing, he frantically scanned the area when he saw Rude and some guy was trying to wake his partner.

Reno got into action and turned him over as he assessed the situation.  He looked as if he was hit by a Marlboro and dying fast. Reno cursed as he used up his Remedy already and quickly rummaged his partner's pockets for his Remedy.

He thanked everything in Gaia as he found it only to find it was empty. 

"Fuck!" He shouted in frustration as he got to his feet to find the truck but it was all flames and smoke where he was.

"Reno!" The man he saw earlier called. He looked like a local. But when Reno looked closer, he froze. There's no way the guy was alive. He was a ghost.

"Tell Rude, he's the craziest fighter I've had the pleasure of fighting with." He said with a comforting smile as he started to glow. He put his hands together in front of him and bowed. 

Reno had never seen a Materia be made and he imagined that this is how it happens. The ground around him glowed as Mako was concentrated into the ghost and Reno had to shield his eyes as the brightness became too much.  A great gust of wind blew him off his feet. He thought he was going to die for real time. Via Mako explosion too, how ironic.

He expected pain but next thing he knew was a wail. Daring to look, he saw a Phoenix. It was a Summon. Reno felt his jaw dropped as it shed its downs on Rude before spreading its magnificent wings and flapped it to gain lift.

He watched it go as it took the fires with it and disappeared towards the rising sun.

He gawked into empty air for a whole moment as Rude sat up with a groan and a confused look. He gave his partner an enquiring raised eyebrow.

"You won't believe me." The red head told him before lying back again. He heard Rude getting to his feet. 

"You shouldn't lie around here." Rude told him as he gave a hand for him to get up.

Reno chuckled. "After everything, that's the first thing you asked?"

Rude gave an amused grimace and a shrug.

"Well, partner." Reno began as they began to scan the surrounding. It was black all over and there was still trash smoking. They'll have to go out of it to find the truck again. "Someone wanted me to tell you that you're the craziest fighter he had the pleasure of fighting with."

The soot covered man gave a booming laugh as Reno joined. "Damn, how much did I miss?" He asked all curious and bewildered.

"You'll have to read the report." Rude said as both of them laughed harder. 

o-o

Reno and Rude returned to HQ about a week ago and with their report was a recommendation for a Mako reactor.

Tseng shouldn't be surprised but he was. From his reports, the site was probably a natural Summon materia maker and all the "Mourner Eater" was a result of a summon materia gaining a form. It was a pity they didn't get the Phoenix materia then but he knew it'll be in their possessions soon, by SOLDIER or otherwise.

When he submitted the report to Veld, he was vaguely amused at the report summary. "This would probably be an unforgettable occasion for them." He commented in an almost fatherly tone.

Tseng had seen his fair share of 'memorable events' and nodded.

Veld took out the mako reactor proposal and signed it. "If it's possible, expedite this. Summons are hard enough to control and, in this case, the body count will rise. Do you understand?" He regarded Tseng carefully as he passed the proposal back to Tseng.

Tseng understood it perfectly. This way, there won't be a repeat of the Mourner Eater monster. "Yes sir."

o-o

Reno and Rude was at their bar. Other than him, Darius, the other martial artist in their group, Alex, the nunchaku wielder and Emma, the single gun wielder, all had their day off.

Alex was looking at them in wonder while Emma looked vaguely in disbelief while Darius looked...approving? 

"The fighters from that region had deep traditions." Dave commented solemnly.

"But the Summon. You guys didn't find the Summon materia anywhere?" Alex asked. It's kind of disturbing how baby faced he was. Right now, you wouldn't suspect he was an assassin and a honey pot operative, too.

"Nope and I ain't going back there. I'm still reeling from the Mako." Reno told him with a beer in his hand.

"Sounds like you guys were hallucinating from the Mako." Emma said dismissively.

Reno laughed. "I wished it was. But the burns are kinda hard to explain away, Em." He countered. 

Emma was still in disbelief but let it go.

"If Somchai became the Phoenix, does it mean we're able to be Summons too, though?" Alex said thoughtfully, more excited than curious.

Rude shrugged. "He could have summoned one if there was a summon materia buried there." Rude answered. "Maybe the ghost were all revived because an incomplete summoning."

They all look thoughtful. All of them knew Mako had a weird effect on most thing. It’s probably possible.

"That aside, I think Somchai deserves a toast to saving your lives." Darius concluded. "To Somchai!"

"Somchai" They all uttered as they held their cups up for the toast.