Familiar.
Author's note: I don't own anything from Final Fantasy VII. All rights belong to Square Enix.
Mideel was, in Reno's oppenion, a dump. A small town with a small hospital that could only fit five people, grouchy old people, lack of enviroment, and the strong smell of the Mako lake near the shore was making his head spin. Why was he and his partner Rude here again?
Oh, that's right. They were gonna speak with the Mayor of the town about the technical problems in the mako reactor nearby. Not that he'll do anything. As they walked on, Reno and Rude both noticed the weird looks some people were giving them, or, more simplily, Reno, who gave them a 'What-are-you-looking-at?' look in return. On top of everything else, they seemed to be whispering amongest each other after seeing him.
"Why are these old geezers looking at me like that?" asked Reno to his partner.
Rude looked back at him and asked, "How should I know? It's not like you've been here before."
"I haven't." Reno replied, "It's my first time here, and I don't plan on coming back unless I have to. Besides, the mako lake is giving me dizzy."
"It is pretty strong." Rude agreed, "No wonder there's a mako reactor here."
Reno then inquired, "It was built about 20 years ago, right?"
Before his partner could answer, an unfamiliar voice spoke behind them, "Excuse me, young man?" causing the two Turks to turn around and saw that another elderly man who had brown gray hair and the wrinkles which told them that he was well into hs eighties.
The two younger men glanced at each other, before glancing at the man again and Reno asked, "Uh, how can we help you?"
"What is your name, young man?" The old man spoke directly to Reno who was taken back by the serious tone in the old guy's voice.
He was silent for a moment, before Reno replied, "Reno, of the Turks."
"Reno...Are you...familiar with Richard Sinclair?" The old man questioned.
Reno's eyes widened, before nodding, "Y-yeah. He was my dad before he died about 8 years ago. I was 8 years old at the time." which was true since he's sixteen now.
Next thing he knew, the old man wrapped his arms around him and gave him a bone crushing hug, crying. Reno, while trapped, managed to glance at Rude who was staring at the scene, just as confused as the redhead was.
"Uh, partner? A little help?" Reno spoke up awkwardly.
"Master Sinclair, please, you must come with me quickly." The old man begged, before beginning to pull Reno by the arm to drag him to somewhere. But Reno pulled away, exclaiming, "Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute, man. I'm a Turk and my partner and I have a job to do. We're meeting with the mayor."
"He can wait." urged the old man, grabbing Reno's wrist again and pulled him down the road, despite the redhead's protests, leaving Rude no choice but to follow them to who knows where.
"Hey, seriously!" Reno cried out again, "Where are we goin'?"
He and his partner were both lead into a crammy old house and the old man led Reno inside, practically pushing him in, while stopping Rude from entering, saying, "You stay outside, Mr." then walked in himself and slammed the door shut in the taller Turk's face. Rude just stood there, not sure of what to do. His partner was stuck inside, and he was getting a bad feeling about the entire thing.
Meanwhile, inside the old house, Reno looked around, trying to hold in his look of disgust of how old fashioned whoever lived here was. The wall papers looked like dead trees all cramped together, the furniture looked severally uncomfortable and the overwhelmingly smell of lavender airfreshener was making him more dizzy than the mako lake outside.
As he looked around, he noticed a small cabinate, and froze as his eyes sealed at a photoframe with a photo inside it. He walked closer to examine it, and his eyes widened in surprised confusion. In the photo, was a young boy about ten years old, bright red hair much like his own, with a young girl who looked about two years younger, with matching red hair, and their parents, their mother's red hair, while their father's hair was brown, all smiling at him. Reno picked up the frame and looking at the young boy inside it, if comfirmed his supicions.
"Dad?" he whispered, wondering if the young boy was Reno's father in his younger years. If this was true, and if Richard was from Mideel, why did he move away to Midgar, and not tell Reno about this before he died? Suddenly Reno realised something else.
He was part of this place. Part of Mideel. Geez, no wonder everyone looked weirdly at him as he and Rude first arrived earlier. Reno's redhair came from his grandmother's side of the family, a grandmother Reno never knew about. He also concluded that this place was his father's childhood home.
"He was such a good boy." the man who brought Reno here spoke behind him. "It was tragic that he left without a word."
Reno looked at him and asked, "Why did he just ran off to Midgar?"
"Midgar? That's were he was before he died?" The old man asked, shocked.
"He met my mom and got married there, before they both ended up living in the slums. I was born there." Reno answered. He then continued with growing sadness, "When I was eight, some gang decided to burn my house into crisp with ma and dad inside. I was out playing at the time. When I came home...everything was gone."
He looked at the photo again, admitting, "Dad never told me that he came from Mideel."
"Master Sinclair." the old man spoke, feeling sorry for the young Turk, "Please, you must show your grandmother that your father's legacy lives on inside you. She wants to meet her son's child."
"My grandma's still alive?" Reno asked.
The old man's expression now turned to despair, as he said in a urge of crying, "She's in the bedroom, dying."
Reno's eyes widened in horror, and while he never met his grandmother, he immediately asked, "Which room is it?"
The old man led Reno into the second bedroom and in the room, are four people. An elderly woman, having lost her redhair which turned gray over the years, lying in bed and barely breathing. On the one side, was a young woman about in her thirties, with long red hair that matched Reno's, and standing next to her was a young girl about twelve years old, both of them on the urge of crying, until they heard someone walk into the room, and all three females were surprised to see a young man similiar to them enter the room.
"Who are you?" The thirty year old woman demanded, also recongising the uniform.
"I'm Reno." Reno replied, "The, uh, son of Richard."
The woman's eyes widened, "You're...my big brother's son? Then that means...you're my nephew." she realised.
Reno cringed as he realised he also had an aunt who was a continent away from Midgar. "Sure seems like it, Aunt...uh..."
"Renee," Renee introduced herself, before looking at her daughter and added, "And this is my daugther, Rena. Your cousin."
Rena looked at Reno who looked just as comfortable as she felt, and waved shyly, "Hi."
"Hey." Reno waved back with an awkward look, before slowly stepping over towards his dying grandmother and knelt down to the floor while leaning on his arms to be close to the old woman.
The old woman, named Rebecca, looked at the young man, realising who he is immediately. "Are you...my baby boy's son?" she asked, softly gasping. Her time was running out.
Reno nodded, "My name's Reno, grandma." immediately wanting to be close to his grandmother, feeling the urge to cry himself, despite this short meeting, but he didn't care.
"You're...a Turk." Rebecca whispered.
"...Yeah." Reno nodded, feeling more uncomfortable. How could he explain everything in one go if his grandmother didn't have much time left? Would his long-lost family hate him for being a Turk?
Obviously not, because Rebecca gently placed her winkled old hand onto Reno's soft and smooth young one, causing the young Turk to look up at her again. "But you came." The old woman said.
Reno sighed, "Only...on a mission with my partner to meet with the mayor. I...I never knew about all this until now. Dad never mentioned this to me." he admitted.
"Where...where is your father?" she asked.
He was silent for few moments, until finally admitting, "He died along with my mom eight years ago, in a house fire in Midgar. I'm sorry."
Renee softly gasped at the news, Rena looked at her mother, grandmother and cousin in shocked confusion, and Rebecca's aged eyes formed tears, but then said, "Then...I will see him...in the Lifestream...soon, along with...your grandfather."
"What happened to grandpa?" Reno couldn't help but ask.
"He went fishing with a friend of his when your dad and I were both ten years old, but a monster attacked and capsized the boat...they drowned shortly afterwards." Renee answered, "Richard couldn't handle it and blamed himself for your grandfather's death, and ran away to Midgar to forget everything and redeem himself."
Reno was now positive that he could cry shortly, as he pointed out, "He never mentioned anything like that, but at the same time...I can't really blame him. I mean, it wasn't anybody's fault that the boat sunk because of some monster living in the water."
"I said the same thing to him, but he wouldn't listen." Renee shook her head.
"Reno..." Rebecca spoke again, this time slowly succumbing to her death. "Will you...take Renee and little Rena somewhere away from here?"
The redhaired Turk was shocked at this request, before looking at aunt and cousin who were just as shocked as he was. What was he gonna do? How can he afford to move his family to somewhere else? Then he remembered the Turks can help if he asked. Besides, they helped Rude with his problem with his mother in Costa Del Sol when the money was gravely low before the taller guy joined the Turks.
With this in mind, Reno nodded to his grandmother, saying, "I'll try and do my best."
"I...may have never met your mother...but I can tell you look exactly like her, but with your father's hair." Rebecca smiled. "A beautiful...combination...you're...a very...handsome young man, my grandson."
Reno blushed at this, replying, "Thanks, grandma, but I ain't that good lookin'. I've seen a couple of guys more handsome than me. Even my cousin is prettier than me."
"I'm not really pretty." Rena admitted.
"Nah, are you kiddin'?" Reno smirked as he looked at his younger cousin, "You're pretty just like your ma."
The four of them shared a chuckle, before Rebecca gasped, causing fear and concern grow on the other three. Her time was running out.
"Grandma?" Reno asked.
"Reno...take care of...our family..." Rebecca sighed, looking at him, before looking at her daughter and granddaughter, with a smile, then closed her eyes as she leaned back, breathed her last breath, and then went limp. Her chest no longer moved. No up or down.
Reno, Renee and Rena all gasped in horror. "Grandma? Grandma!" Reno cried out, but he got no response. Realization slowly dawned on the three of them, Reno now feeling tears form in his eyes, and the heartache in his chest.
Rebecca Sinclair was dead.
Rena began to cry, and hugged her mother who held her close, allowing her daughter to cry.
Reno was speechless, having memories of his parents' deaths, now certain that he was close to crying himself. He stayed in the room until the few remaining members of his family headed into the living room to let Rena try and calm down, before Reno himself left the room, and excused himself to go out for fresh air.
The redhaired Turk stepped out, where Rude was still waiting. When the taller Turk noticed the miserable look on his partner's face, he immediately approached him. Reno, wanting comfort of his own, threw himself into Rude's chest and cried. Surprised yet realising that he was right about his gut feeling earlier, Rude wrapped his arms around Reno's skinny body, and allowed his friend to cry.
Once Reno told his partner and the other Turks about the situation, and after the mission in Mideel, Veld and Tseng helped him in moving his aunt and cousin to Midgar in Sector 8 where Reno knew that his family would be safer. He didn't want them to live in the slums like he did with his parents. He also promised to visit his family when he had the time and during a few days during the holidays.
However, 8 years later, during Meteorfall, Reno had to evacuate them to Costa Del Sol where he knew that they would be safer with Rude's mother, and after Meteorfall, Renee and Rena moved to Edge without anyone else knowing, with Reno secretly visiting them, until Renee passed away due to Geostigma, so Reno helped in getting Rena a job so she could try and recover from her mother's death. Thankfully neither of the two remaining Sinclair's had the stigma, but had to be careful.
Now, another two years later, in the Healen Lodge, Reno was relaxing outside before his mission with Tseng, Elena and Rude to the Northern Cave to retrieve the remains of Jenova's head, which, to him and his friends, was pretty much the most disgusting thing to collect.
Suddenly a car drove up before stopping, and when Reno looked up, he formed a small smile as a young woman, 22 years old with red hair that matched his own, step out and walk up to him.
"Hey, Reno." the young woman greeted.
"Yo, Rena." Reno waved in greeting to his cousin. "What brings you here?"
Rena held out a small bag, replying, "I brought you lunch in case you don't have time for you own, today. Just had a feeling."
The older redhead smiled in graditude and took the bag, "Thanks, and you're right, I won't have time today. In a hour, I'm gonna head out for another mission with Rude, Tseng and 'Lena." he said.
"Where to?" Rena asked.
"Sorry. Classified info." Reno apologuised. He then asked, "How's your job goin'?"
The youngest redhead smiled, "Business is booming, despite the Stigma. I love healing other people."
"Your job's better than mine." Reno sighed, "Just one question; Are you angry at me due to what happened two years ago?"
Rena paused, before replying, "Only for some parts, but I can't blame you, because you were just doing your job, right?" she knew about the Sector 7 incident, but when she went to confront Reno, he was trying his best not to cry.
"Still," Reno muttered, "I wish it never happened. Though it's mainly the science department's fault-especially Hojo. He's the one who caused this mess before any of us were born."
"Well, I say good riddence that he's dead." Rena smirked, "I heard from Reeve that his friends, Cloud and the others killed him."
It was Reno's turn to smirk. "You got that right! Besides, they had a grudge over Proffessor Creep-Show anyway."
"Reno!" came another young woman's voice. Both redheads looked to see Elena waving at Reno from the balcony, calling out, "Tseng wants you to get the chopper ready before we leave."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be there in a minute." Reno called back. He then turned back to his cousin and said, "I gotta go. I'll be back later, okay?"
Rena smiled, then gave her cousin a gentle kiss on the cheek, whispering, "Be careful." before smiling, and then left to return to her car, and after a goodbyes, she drove off, while Reno, smiling and relieved that he still has a family member, walked away to join the other Turks on a mission that will lead them and their former enemies into another Sephiroth incident.
I decided to write this because a year ago in July(2013), my Grandmother passed away with a Heart-Attack while doing the Laundry, and I cried after my mother heard the news from my aunt.
And let me tell you, last year was the worst year in my entire life, apart from my first Cruise in the beginning of the year(went and came back in March), to the South Pacific(Nomea, Lifu, Mystery Island and the Isle of Pines*my favorite islands*).
Please review and tell me what you think.