Chapter 2
"It's getting windy around here" Rude's voice said through the crackling in my headset.
"You heard him Ari, now sit your ass down" jabbed Eva who was turned around in the passenger seat as Reno and I were in the back. I was currently standing up to try and get a drink out of the over head compartment where we had stored our water bottles.
"Ya ya, just a second" I said but as I spoke, a ferocious wind attacked the side of the chopper, knocking my off my feet and sending me backwards. I let out a little yelp as I landed in Reno's lap, his slender hands instantly grabbing my sides as another wind dared to send me flying again. I looked up from my cringed position and saw Eva shake her head as she looked back at her Chocobo chick. I smiled as she turned around then felt Reno's hands shuffle against my sides. I turned my head slightly to look at him through my bangs as I blushed. I felt him chuckle.
"You should be more careful, babe" he joked and I laughed.
"Well now I know I can count on you to break my fall, Diablo" I said as I tucked my bangs behind my ear.
"I wish I would have caught you when you fell from Heaven, baby. Maybe then you wouldn't have hurt yourself." He joked and I laughed.
"The only thing I hurt was my knees when I crawled out of Hell." I said causing everyone in the chopper to laugh. As I laughed, I moved to get up off of his lap but his hands instantly tightened, holding onto my hips like iron. I looked over at him as he grinned and pulled my waist closer to his. I could feel my face heat up as I moved to get up again but his hands kept me firmly seated in his lap. I could feel his eyes on me, watching me as I struggled to get out of his grip.
"Come on Reno, let me go" I pleaded, having enough of his cruel teasing.
"I just don't want you to fall again" he smirked and I let out a sigh, giving up my struggle against him. I slowly let my body relax, coming to terms with my imprisonment to Reno's lap.
"Can I ask what the hell is going on back there?" Eva's voice said as it crackled over my headset. I looked at her as her face settled over with a deep scowl, a sign she was not impressed with the fiery redhead that had his hands on her baby Chocobo.
"What? I just didn't want her to fall again" Reno explained, deepening Eva's scowl more.
"She wouldn't fall if she was in one of the seats…" Eva huffed, "across the chopper" she added, expressing her internal intent to rip Reno in half when we landed. I couldn't help but smile at their little tiff, they hated each other but it was funny to watch them fight over my affection. I felt a bit loved.
"Just let her go and I promise I won't tear you a new one when we land." Eva threatened but all that did was make Reno tighten his grip on my waist.
"Since you said it so nicely…no." Reno said defiantly and jerked me back against his chest. I let out a squeak as I landed against Reno, my head falling on his shoulder and my hands instantly grabbing on to his already ruffled suit.
"You are so dead when we get out of here." Eva growled as she turned around in her seat. My heart raced as I still clung to Reno, unsure if he was going to make any more sudden movements. Slowly, I looked up just to see what Reno was going to do but the older man remained silent and looking forward. I was really curious now, Reno was never this quiet or still. As I continued to stare, Reno cast his eyes down at me and we stared at each other for a few minutes. Slowly but surely, Reno leaned down to me, continuing our prolonged session from the Briefing Room. The hot breath over my lips returned and I hesitantly closed my eyes, waiting to feel his lips over mine. Soon enough, I felt Reno's lips close over mine. They were surprisingly soft and warm but our kiss only lived for a small few seconds as we heard Eva's scorning voice in our headsets.
"Reno Sinclair, I'm gonna rip your head off and shove it up your ass when we get out of this chopper!" she yelled and Reno and I broke apart. I instantly glared at her as she glared at Reno who grinned away like nothing was wrong. I quickly got off of Reno's lap before he could protest and sat the furthest I could from him. I huddled myself up so that my knees reached just under my nose. I wrapped my arms around my shins and placed my head on my knees. I stared out the window as we passed over the ocean. All four of us sat in silence, nothing but the beating of the helicopter sounded around us. As I sat alone, I felt something move by my side and I looked up to see Reno. As I gave him a questioning look, he pointed to his headset then held up two fingers. He wanted me to switch over to channel 2. I did what he wanted.
"What do you want Diablo?" I asked and he grinned.
"I just wanted to talk to you alone, babe, without Miss High and Mighty gettin' all riled up." he joked and I laughed a little. I turned my attention back to the window, only to regret it. I felt a sudden warmth around my shoulders and from the corner of my eye I saw Reno's hand. I looked back at him as he grinned and literally pulled me closer to him all while snaking his arm down my back and clasping his fingers around my waist.
"Reno, what are you doing?" I asked as I squirmed away from him again.
"I'm tryna cuddle with my girlfriend" he said and I froze. What did he just say? I looked back at him very slowly, my eyes wide and my face red.
"Your what?" I asked quietly and the older man smiled happily, his face reddening a little.
"I'm not just gonna kiss ya without a good reason, I'm not that kinda guy. I wanna go out with ya" he said and I could feel his fingers nervously tighten around my side. I immediately blushed and looked away.
"Who don't you wanna go out with, Diablo?" I joked but Reno's face remained serious. I laughed nervously and began to fiddle with my fingernails, a bad habit I adopted when I was nervous.
"Well, what do ya say?" Reno finally asked and I balked.
"I don't know…I'm not the type of girl that all the guys fight over" I said and Reno smiled.
"Good, less competition for me" he said and laughed. I smiled, still uneasy about how Eva was gonna react if she found out about this.
"I would have to talk to Eva…" I said and Reno let out a sigh, "what?" I asked.
"Do you need to ask her about everything? She's not your mother ya know" it was my turn to sigh.
"Yeah, I know she's not but she still likes to think that she is." I said and Reno rolled his eyes. I smiled and looked back down at my fingernails which had sustained a few cuts from my constant fiddling. I sucked in a gulp of air as I accidentally touched one of the cuts and it began to bleed. I was about to wipe away the blood but Reno's hands covered mine as he pulled them towards him. He looked at my index finger that had the cut and he smiled up at me. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a light blue bandage that had little yellow ducks on it. I nearly burst out laughing as he wrapped the bandage around my finger. He smiled at me then kissed the bandage, then released my hand. I blushed as I pulled my hand back and ran my thumb over the bandage.
"Thank you" I said and Reno grinned. I looked at him as I bit my lip, "about your question…you wouldn't want someone like me, ok. It…it just wouldn't work." I said with a little smile. Reno looked at me with a saddened expression.
"Whatever, yo." he said sadly and I bit my lip and looked away.
"I'm sorry." I said and Reno nodded.
"Ya, I am too." he said and pulled his arm away from my waist. I looked down at my feet as Reno and I sat in silence again. Good job, fuck nut, I thought to myself, you scared off another one.
"Where the hell did they-oh hell no!" I heard Eva shout in my headset and I immediately stood up. Reno looked at me then at Eva as she crawled into the back of the chopper and stared at me and Reno. She glared at the red headed Turk and stormed over to him, grabbing him by the pony tail and giving it a firm yank.
"I told you, Sinclair. Stay. Away. From. Her." Said Eva, emphasizing the last four words with yanks on Reno's pony tail and with one last tug; she pulled Reno so hard that his head smashed off the metal door opposite me.
"Ow, yo. Ya don't need to be that rough ya hag." Reno said as he curled into a ball with his hands on the back of his head. Eva held her hands on her waist as she glared down at the curled up ball. She was about to say something but the sound of scrapping metal silenced her. She turned back to me and I stared at her then turned slowly. As I turned, the door behind me was ripped off and my body was forced backwards. A scream was ripped from my throat as my hands flailed for something to grab on to. I could feel my body slide over the edge of the chopper and I dared to look backwards. I could see the sun setting over the ocean as the chopper jerked left and right. 'I'm gonna die…' I thought as my body went numb and I stopped moving. All I could do was stare at the sunset, not caring if I died at that moment or not. As my elbow's past over the edge of the chopper I felt an iron grip on my wrist. My head snapped up and I looked into Reno's worried turquoise eyes as he held on to my arm, his fingers clasped around with enough pressure to cause me to bruise. I could feel myself being lifted back into the chopper as Reno hauled me in. As my knees were pulled back into the chopper, I sat motionless for a few seconds before Reno touched my shoulder.
"You ok, yo?" asked Reno into my headset, not giving a shit that Eva was still listening to us. I shook a little as Reno helped me to my feet then I looked at the door. The shredded metal was a clear sign that something had attacked our chopper and the screeching of claws on metal was a clear sign that whatever attacked us was still here. I pulled out my .45 magnum and slowed crept over to the door. There was a brief pause, like everything was waiting in suspense as I halted just a few inches from the door. Suddenly, a creature with large, scaly wings appeared in the door way, its rounded snout opening to reveal several rows of razor sharp fangs. I immediately lifted my gun, aimed for its head and pulled the trigger but the chopper jerked sideways again, throwing Eva, Reno and I off our feet and causing my finger to pull the trigger. Although I missed my intended target, I still managed to graze the creature on the shoulder with my stray bullet.
"God damn it! Where did they come from?" I heard Reno ask and I instinctively knew that there were more creatures on the opposite side of the chopper. One on this side and I assumed that there was two on the other. That made three, one for each of us. I raised my gun again and steadied myself as the chopper jostled to the right. I looked down the barrel of my gun which was aimed in the center of my creatures head. I pulled the trigger again and the creature immediately dropped off the side of the chopper. I sighed and let my guard drop but raised it once I heard the painful yelp in my headset. I whipped around to see Reno down on his back with three large gashes across his stomach. It felt like my heart tightened and I looked up to see which one had hurt him. One of the creatures looked at me and licked Reno's blood off its claws. My last restraint on my anger snapped and I raised my gun in my right hand only. I looked straight at the creature with the bloody claws and pulled the trigger, and pulled it again, and again, and again, and again. I pulled the trigger until I emptied the full magazine that I had put in before we left. I let the empty magazine fall to the floor as I pulled out a full clip and shoved it in the butt of my gun. I walked up to the other creature and gave it the same treatment I gave the other one. With the two creatures gone, the chopper finally leveled out and I was able to stand without my legs being braced.
"Are you guys okay back there?" said Rude as he looked over his shoulder.
"No, Reno's hurt." Said Eva and I snapped back to see Eva crouched down as Reno propped himself up on his elbow while his free hand held his midsection. My gun slipped from my fingers as I went to Reno's side, my heart sinking instantly.
"Damn, yo. This hurts like fuckin' hell." I heard Reno mumble over my headset. I grabbed his hand and moved his arm away from his wound which was issuing a worrisome amount of blood. I looked at Eva as she stood up and got the first aid kit from the overhead compartment. I turned back to Reno who had his head thrown back and clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles were turning whiter than their usual shade of paper white. I looked at Eva and she nodded, knowing that I could handle this wound by myself. As Eva went back up front, I unzipped Reno's jacket and began to un- button his shredded white shirt, which was already dyed red. I cringed as I looked down at the ripped open flesh on Reno's stomach. I could hear the red head suck in air as the cold wind hit the heated and torn flesh of his stomach.
"You don't happen to have any healing magic do ya?" asked Reno and I looked up at him. He obviously could tell by my expression that this wound was going to be a hard task to stitch up. I looked down at his wound again. I felt my heart beat beginning to race and my hands clutched the scraps of Reno's jacket. I couldn't take my eyes off Reno's blood; it was like I was in a trance. Slowly, as if something took over me, I leaned down to Reno's stomach; the smell of copper and iron getting stronger as I closed the gap between my face and his damaged skin.
"Ari, what the hell are you doing?!" asked Reno as he tried to squirm away from me.
"Shut up, Sinclair," said Eva from the front and the older Turk stopped moving, "I've seen her do this before; she's trying to help." And with that, Reno sat still as I ran my tongue over his wounds, his cooling blood seeping into my mouth as I cleaned the torn flesh. Soon, there was a small hissing noise coming from Reno's stomach and I could see his skin beginning to stitch itself back together. I pulled away and licked the blood from my lips, then looked at Reno as he stared at his stomach which was now fully healed.
"What the hell did you do, yo?" he asked but he got no reply as my vision began to fade to black and I collapsed on the floor of the chopper.