"It's a pity Elena killed her torturer, I'd like to have done the job myself." Cloud remarked to Tifa after they had gotten to the hospital. Yuffie had only told them she'd been brutalized, but refused to go into specifics. She also told them that Barret would be there as soon as he got done helping tracking down a few Shadows who weren't at the hideout.
"Death was too good for him." was Tifa's only comment when she saw the nurse applying antibiotic cream to Marlene's back where Tomal had carved NEVER FORGET into her with his scalpel.
"She hasn't woken up since we found her. The doctor is taking her sweet time figuring out what's wrong with her." Reno said, in his vigil at Marlene's bedside. Tifa and Cloud were taken aback by how haggard Reno looked, and they wondered if he had slept at all in the 48 hours since he and the other Turks rescued Marlene with Vincent's help.
As if she had heard his complaint, the doctor showed up moments later. "I don't have good news, I'm afraid."
Marlene woke up then, forestalling the diagnosis. She constantly looked around at everyone there before speaking. "Who are you?" she asked, but her voice was slurred and hard to understand.
"I was afraid of this." The doctor said. "Please, introduce yourselves to her. I need to confirm her reaction."
"I'm Reno, your husband." he told her, worried about what the doctor would tell them.
Marlene started giggling. "Reno? That's a funny name." She giggled a few moments more, then her laughter suddenly turned to tears.
"What's wrong with her?" Tifa asked.
"If that blow to her skull had been harder, it would have left her a vegetable. As it is, it caused a stroke, and not only is her memory cortex damaged, she can't control her feelings anymore. Whoever attacked her knew exactly what they were doing." The doctor explained.
"What are you saying?" Cloud's voice had a slight tremor in it.
"She's essentially a perpetual child in a woman's body now. In some ways, it's a blessing…she's better off not knowing what was done to her. Not all monsters have fangs." The doctor left after giving them some recommendations for future care for Marlene.
The doctor had only been wrong about one thing, Marlene's subconscious memory suffered no damage. She frequently woke up in the middle of the night, crying out either for her lost baby or for Tomal to stop. Some days, Cloud and Tifa noticed that Marlene seemed to prefer Reno's presence to anyone else's. She would constantly try and play with him, tugging at his ponytail or starting a game of hide and seek, or she'd ask him to read her a book. Other days she would just sit around looking at everything, as if trying to have it make sense. Reno would try and care for her the best he could at first, but as the weeks since Marlene had come home from the hospital wore on, Reno started spending more and more of his time drinking and becoming increasingly moody and withdrawn. Barret wasn't doing well either, but at least he was out chasing any lead of a cure for Marlene.
Eventually Cid volunteered one of his smaller airships suitable for solo excursions for Reno to take a break, and he and Shera would help look after Marlene. Cloud and Tifa convinced him to take Cid up on his offer, hoping it would help him stop his downward spiral. So Reno packed a bag, and on what would have been his and Marlene's first anniversary, he found himself stopping at Aerith's church. He didn't know why he felt compelled to be there, but he walked in and sat down at a pew. Her flowers were still blooming beautifully, and it comforted Reno at the same time it rankled considerably. He didn't know how long he sat there, just drinking from his flask, but finally he started talking.
"Aerith? Can you hear me? You lied to me!" Reno felt himself getting angry. "You said you always looked after Marlene…where were you when she really needed you? You let her down…you let me down too…you pushed me to marry her. You let me think she'd be safe!" Reno stood up and kicked the pew in front of him, and once he started, he couldn't stop himself from wrecking more of the church furnishings. He punctuated his destruction with more ranting at Aerith, until he wore himself out and sat down in the midst of the rubble. "That's what you made of our lives!"
Feeling something digging into him, he reached under him and pulled out Marlene's wedding ring. He had been keeping it in his pocket, wondering if he should give it back to her or not. Reno was surprised it had fallen out, he kept it in a zippered pocket. Looking at the protection materia he had embedded in it, he vented the feelings he hadn't been able to express until now. "I…I was the one who couldn't protect her…I knew this would happen sooner or later. She didn't belong in my world." The guilt started to overwhelm him. "Maybe I don't belong here either. Marlene wouldn't be affected if I was dead, and if I had never been born, she'd be safe."
"You don't mean that." The spirit of Reno's grandmother materialized in front of him.