Lost
Summary: Reeve is an absent-minded professor/engineer, especially when he is thinking of a new robot.
Characters: Reeve
Content and Rating: Teen. Hint of Male/Male relationships, mostly Reeve cursing at himself for getting lost.
Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy VII, just using for my own amusement. There is no profit from this endeavour.
Acknowledgements and Author's note: After Dirge and AC are all said and done. Thanks to ZiggyPasta for being a great Beta and friend. For the First Place winner in the Valenwind contest! Enjoy.
Reeve had been looking for this very specialized part for weeks, and now he had found it. It was within his grasp — well, an hour and a half away if he took a car. He had been working on a new robot—a mechanical spider—and was working on a solution with its legs. It needed the solenoids so that the legs would work in tight spaces, and he finally found them.
He figured that if he left immediately, he would be back in about two hours and would have time to test out the new features before the sun set. There were requirements for travel, and part of it was calling a driver. That was where the problem lied. If he called a driver, it would take three hours for someone to be assigned to him and would most likely another four for a trip that should only take two hours.
He looked at the plans, the parts of his new mechanical spider and the deconstructed legs that really needed the solenoids to work properly. Having the parts to complete his project within his grasp made the thought of leaving on his own very tempting.
After all, it was only a little package, he didn't need anyone to help him carry it and it wasn't that far; only a maximum of two hours away.
There was no point in bothering a driver or a guard.
Making up his mind, he gathered up his coat, phone, wallet and keys he had to the small truck that was reserved to move between the WRO headquarters and the shop. No one would notice if he was gone for a short while.
After all, it was only eight small solenoids and four hours round trip.
After three hours of driving, he realized that he must have missed a turnoff that he was supposed to take. Also, having the road turned into gravel was rather alarming. This was his cue to turn around and find the correct road. He thought he was on the right track until he found himself at a large chocobo ranch. He pondered his position and tried to remember if there was another road that he may have passed.
Backtracking further and finding a road that he must have missed, Reeve finally thought he was back on track and was certain that he was almost there.
Until the road he was driving on came to an end. The shop he was looking for should have been right in front of him, but there were no buildings around. There was a slow moving river, a few Mandragora dancing near the shore, and some trees.
He pulled out his phone and started to pull up the e-mail that had the address in it and get an update on the location. He was surprised that his phone was dead. He was certain that the battery was fully charged when he left his office. Pressing the on button and shaking it got it to turn on. He let out a sigh of relief, as he didn't have a charger in the small truck.
He got out of the truck and took a deep breath of the fresh air before he tried to get a signal. It was only a half a bar and the brief wash of relief disappeared when he leaned against the truck and the signal disappeared. He shuffled around until he finally got two bars and tried the search again.
If he had been paying attention to where he was standing as he waited for the GPS in his PHS to work, he would have noticed that he was close to the stream. A map finally showed up on the screen, but no lines showed. He shook the phone and was pleased to see that he finally knew where he was, but as he looked at the map, it showed that he was off course. It had to be wrong. He shook the phone again and tried to move to a spot where the signal was stronger, to hopefully get the right information.
Reeve didn't notice how precarious his footing was, as he had moved closer to the stream. The step that he took was on a rock that was not as sturdy as it looked. The loose rock caused him to lose his footing. He tried to stay standing by pin-wheeling his arms, but that only made him drop his phone in the opposite direction of where he was falling.
Which was ass-first in the river.
He was grateful that no one was there to hear him cursing and flailing in the thankfully shallow river. He was also thankful that the Mandragora scurried away so that he could scramble after his phone without worrying about getting attacked. He tried to grip his phone but it kept slipping out of his fingers. He gave up and watched it float by him in the river. It wasn't waterproof anyway.
Running his hand through his wet hair, he finally got out of the river and slogged over to the small truck. He shook and tried to wring out his clothes so that he wouldn't soak the seats in the truck, but he quickly found all that work had gone to waste.
He pulled the door handle three times before he looked inside and saw that he had left the keys in the ignition and the door was locked. Resting his head on the window, he wondered if he could break the glass with the rock that he had slipped on.
Walking to the river, he retrieved the rock that had toppled him in the river and tossed it at the window. He was not expecting it to bounce back at him. He was so stunned that he watched it bounce once off the road and smash into his toe.
His mother would have washed his mouth out with soap if she heard the curses that he was spouting, as he hopped around and nearly went into the river again. He forgot that the small truck used to be a field transport between camps during military action, so the glass was bulletproof and shatter-resistant.
What made it worse was that it was his idea to begin with.
He sat down on a tree stump and looked at his wet watch, which was thankfully still working. The sun was going to set soon and he had no idea where he was. Reeve became all the more aware that there were the sounds of monsters growling in the distance. He had no materia, gun, or even an electo-rod to protect himself.
And because he was thinking of his new invention instead of his surroundings.
Looking around and hoping to spot another option; he saw only one.
Reeve started to walk.
He knew that he should stay still when lost, but staying still was going to make him a monster snack. He was sure if he kept on the road, he would find another person travelling soon enough and hopefully before the sun set.
Reeve was ready to collapse, give up, and sit down in the middle of the road in the hopes that someone would run over him. The moon was high in the sky already and it felt like he had been walking forever. He was limping as he walked, but he didn't even want to think about the pain throbbing in his foot that the rock had hit.
But there was hope. He saw a truck with its headlights on up ahead at the bottom of the hill. He picked up his pace.
He already had a plan of action. He was going to call Cait to get a cab and drive out to pick him up. He couldn't call the head of security — aka, Tseng — without the threat of his glare and a lecture. He couldn't call Vincent or Cloud; both men were horrible at answering their phones. Tifa would yell at him for being silly and not thinking about his safety, so the only option was that he had to call Cait.
"Hello," he called as he got close enough to see a shadow of a man walking in front of the lights. "Hello? My truck broke down and I was wondering if I could get a lift to Junon?"
Two men stepped out and looked at him. "Ah, hello there, young man. I hate to bother you but it has been a rather horrible day and I need a little assistance."
One of the men, who Reeve realized was quite large and wore clothes that reminded him of the gangs that were in the slums and still found in the alleys of Edge. The other one was lanky, which reminded him of a smaller version of Reno.
Clearing his throat, he raised his voice, "Um ... Do any of you gentlemen happen to have a phone? I got a little lost and I ran out of gas a ways back."
"All the way out 'ere?" Reeve turned to see another man that he didn't see before. He was wearing a muscle shirt and baggy military pants than blended into the night. He walked out of the shadows and ran a hand through greasy hair.
Reeve was feeling really uncomfortable with the men, but he put on his best smile and tried not to stammer when he talked. "I was trying to get some parts and got lost. My GPS led me out here. I think I punched in the wrong directions," he quickly explained.
"What kind of parts?" asked the lanky one.
"Well, you see, I need a six twenty-eight transistor and a two-twenty three solenoid, and the only place that I can find it is at Dean's Market. I need twenty-eight of them and he currently only has twelve, but it will be good start for my project," Reeve said and he realized that he was babbling. The men were looking at him like he was speaking another language.
He was used to that.
"Anyway, do any of you have a phone? Could I bother you to borrow it?" Reeve said as he walked slowly forward. The men looked at each other for a moment.
The big man reached into his back pocket. "Have a phone, but there is no signal out here." He pressed the buttons a few times and the phone made a sound as if it was a dying crow.
"Do you think you can give me a ride to town then? I'm afraid I'm a little turned around." He didn't want to admit that he was cold, his feet hurt, and the pain in his toe was getting to the point where he was certain that he broke it and to top it all off he was starting to get hungry.
The lanky one sighed. The big one shook his head and looked at the stars. The man in the dark military clothes put a hand on his shoulder and started to lead him towards the back of the truck. "We got room in the back."
Reeve sat on the floor of the truck by a box that he knew that these gentlemen should not have. It had the WRO stamp on it, but it was not the official one. He had designed the stamp after all. Crossing his arms over his knees, he tried to keep what little warmth he had left close to him. Thankfully, the inside of the truck wasn't as cold as the air outside.
Unfortunately, he had no idea where the truck was going. He figured that it wasn't heading to Edge or Kalm because he knew he hadn't been that far off course for the truck ride to be so long.
And when he banged on the back of the truck and asked how much longer, he got a lot of laughter and the ominous words, "We will get there when we get there, Commissioner."
He heard other words that gave him the impression that this was not going to turn out well, such as; a couple thousand gil, basement, lucky and perfect for ransom. There was a lot of laughter and also the mention of getting some beers.
He knew that they weren't going to invite him into a bar for a relaxing drink after this stressful day. He sighed heavily as he organized himself in the warmest way possible. He wished for Cait and the mog that it rode on. They were always good for warmth.
And he also realized why he was supposed to have someone escort him and tell them where he was going. A few solenoids shouldn't be so much trouble.
The truck's engine gave a straining roar and started to slow down. He swallowed heavily and watched the door and was jostled around as the truck hit some horridly large bumps. He braced himself against the box and the wall only to have the truck toss him the other direction. He gave an incoherent shout as he was tossed about.
The sounds he was hearing changed. There was the sound of guns, men yelling and the hissing of materia being cast. The truck accelerated and the sounds died down, and Reeve's heart sank. If they had stayed in the ruckus, he was certain that he could have gotten out of this strange situation, but it sounded like the truck he was in was getting away. That was until there was a horrible roar and the driver of the truck swore loud enough that he could hear him clearly.
Reeve remembered everything turning over before it went to black.
"Reeve!"
There was a sharp slap across his face, and he was forced to open his eyes. His head hurt and so did everything else. "Don't yell," he mumbled and tried to move a hand to cover his eyes, but it was being held down by Tseng who was holding his wrist firmly.
"What the hell were you doing in that truck?" Tseng said and his hand continued to pat up his arm and then moved to his legs.
"Solenoids," he said as he hissed when Tseng hit a sensitive spot on his leg.
"Solenoids?" Tseng asked as he pulled out a knife. Reeve had the irrational thought that he was going to be stabbed and left for dead for not following the rules, but before he could react to that irrational thought, Tseng started to cut away at the pants to show a rather nasty-looking cut on his leg. He turned his head away.
He wasn't too fond of blood, especially his own.
"Is that some type of drug?" A deep gravelly voice asked. He was able to turn his head to see Vincent standing above him now. He was staring down at him with his arms crossed and his eyes looking brighter than they should have been.
"It's for my new spider," he said and hissed again. Tseng was prodding at his leg and he tried to move away from his offending touch.
Both men spoke at the same time. "Spider?"
Reeve started to talk about how it all happened. He tried to make it sound logical even though it was sounding like it was all wrong when he was saying it. Tseng continued to look at his wounds and Vincent stared down at him with eyes that were growing even brighter.
"You got lost on a trip that should have taken you two hours? A trip that should have been a straight line?" Vincent said. He had not moved from his stance but his head tilted slightly to hide more of his face in the cowl of his cape.
Reeve covered his face with his hands and groaned. "I don't even know how that happened."
Reeve didn't want to uncover his eyes because he was pretty sure he could feel Tseng laughing and the humour rolling off Vincent.
"You have that happen often," Tseng said and there was humour in his voice. Reeve knew it and it made him wish he could pass out again.
"I thought that was why we had that rule that you needed to be escorted when you left the WRO offices," Vincent spoke.
"That was indeed the reason that we have that rule," Tseng responded in an even tone and then with a yell, "Send that stretcher over here! The Commissioner needs medical attention."
Reeve groaned. "This is so embarrassing."
"You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by following the rules," Vincent said, and Reeve knew that tone. It was one that he heard too often from the normally stoic man.
"Don't be so smug," Reeve said as he peered through his fingers at him.
Vincent bent down and looked at him. His crimson eyes were nearly sparkling with amusement and his mouth was even twisted into a slight smirk. "You are lucky we stopped this smuggling group, and rescued you before you were injured further and ransomed."
"Again," Tseng added very unnecessarily.
"It was only once," Reeve defended.
"We will have to ensure you follow the protocols for an escort, and maybe teach you how to read a map." Vincent said as he took a step back to let two young WRO troopers step near with a stretcher.
Reeve groaned and covered his eyes again. He didn't want to see Tseng or Vincent smirking at his misery just because he got a little lost.