Reno leaned back in his chair, and put his feet up
on the table, blowing out a breath and grinning halfheartedly. "Morning all,"
he said, watching a drowsy Elena coming down from her room, and collapsing into
a chair across from him. "Unhhh," she muttered, and promptly fell asleep on the
table. Reno shook his head. "Shame on you, young lady, you shouldn't have
stayed up drinking last night with two rowdy men." Elena raised her head to
glare balefully at him. "Hate…you," she muttered, before falling onto the table
again. But Reno already had his attention on other things. Namely, the fact
that Rude was wearing…an apron.
"Uh, Rude? What-?" Rude turned around.
"…Making breakfast," he said, and then lapsed into one of his usual silences.
Reno shook his head. "Rude's got aspirations to become a housewife, and Elena
has a hangover. What am I going to do with you all?" Elena turned her head to
look at him. "You're…in a good mood this morning," she muttered. "Damn
straight," agreed Reno amiably, knocking aside a broom resting against the door
and opening it to let in the sunlight. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"
Elena turned towards Rude. "He's
preparing us for one of his extremely depressing announcements, now, isn't he?
Trying to lighten the mood?" She asked tiredly. Rude looked at the ground.
"…Probably." "We," said Reno, "have entirely run out of gil."
There was a long silence, and then
Elena sat up, sighing. "I figured it was going to be something like that," she
said. "…Gotta move?" Asked Rude. Reno scratched the back of his head, his air
of confident playfulness gone. "Yeah…well, we're kind of supposed to be gone
already. We don't own the house anymore…and their gonna come to kick us out in
about an hour." Rude blinked, and Elena groaned. "Again?"
She sighed. "Can't believe we've
survived this long on our own anyway. After Shinra collapsed, wasn't sure where
we'd go. Can't believe it's been three whole years." "…3 and ½," contradicted
Rude. Elena waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah, 3 ½, whatever." Reno paced back and
forth across the room. Then he turned suddenly and looked at Elena. "Can't
believe I'm hearing you say that. We're the Turks!" "Ex-Turks," mumbled Elena.
Reno ignored her. "We're survivors. We're fighters. We're the elite! We're-!"
"…Broke," finished Rude, seating himself next to Elena.
Reno collapsed into a sitting
position by the door, and bit his lip. "Yeah," he said quietly. "We're broke."
He stood up again. "And we'd better get out of here before we're both broke,
and in trouble with the law. Go pack up." Rude turned, and walked upstairs.
Elena lingered by the table a bit longer, staring into the scratched wooden
surface, looking thoughtful. Then she followed Rude upstairs.
Reno stood and stared out the
doorway. The mighty Turks, he thought, reduced to a trio of shabby
downhearted people, being kicked out of their own home for lack of means to
pay for it. How Rufus Shinra would laugh if he saw us now. He shook his
head to clear it, and turned to watch Rude and Elena coming down with a small
suitcase each. Pretty lacking in belongings, too, he thought, and then, Yes,
he would laugh if he saw us now. And it was a bitter thought, of a past
thrown away when put in the hands of the wrong man.
Elena put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey," she said, "Let's go." He nodded, and followed them out of the tiny
two-floored house, in which they'd lived for about a year. It was the second
time they'd been kicked out of their house, but the first time it had been for
monetary reasons. That time, they'd still been fighting for a living.
They sat on the lawn outside their
modest home and ate the eggs that apron-clad Rude had cooked for them. They
weren't good, but they weren't bad either, and they'd all gotten used to Rude's
home cooking. They'd sampled Elena's once, but didn't care to try it again, and
Reno didn't volunteer his own. No one asked. This was the best they were going
to get.
They'd all gotten used to settling
for worse. Lord, Reno thought, it's been so long. Elena
broke into his thoughts with the question they'd all been avoiding. "So," she
said, staring at the ground, "Where now?" No one spoke, and Rude eventually
remarked, "…Nowhere else to go." Reno shook his head, hearing the finality in
Rude's few words. "No…there's that chocobo ranch near Kalm…we could try to get
employment there, fighting off monsters or something…" He trailed off, and
shook his head.
"We…could
do that," Elena said, not wanting to admit that that was their only option.
Rude nodded. "…Yeah." "Alright then," Reno said, expelling a breath. "When we
finish breakfast, we'll catch a helitaxi, and-." "…No gil," Rude reminded him.
Reno sighed. "Aight, then we'll walk out." Elena nodded slowly, then suddenly
threw down her eggs into the grass, surged up. "Damn, she exclaimed, and
wandered off into the woods nearby. Rude rose to follow, but Reno pulled him
back. "Let her go. She needs some time alone. She'll come back in a minute."
He
was right. Elena returned, slouching down on the grass again. "Sorry," she
muttered. Reno waved the apology away, and didn't say anything. Neither did
Rude. In fact, no one said anything for a long time, they just sat on their
property, which wasn't theirs, and thought their own private, and entirely
dismal, thoughts. Then Reno stood up, and jerked his head at the others. "Let's
go," He said.
