Chapter 21 - Bonds
The job was easy enough. Escort Scarlet to her meeting in Junon, wait for the meeting to be over and then escort her back to Midgar. The problem was the waiting, Rude could sit still for hours and patiently wait for his charge to do what they needed to do. Reno was not blessed with the same patients. Figuring they had some time on their hands Rude took them to the top of the ShinRa building. From this vantage point Reno would be able to look out over Junon and to the ocean. To Rude's satisfaction Reno was thrilled to stand at the top of the building and look out the glass window and gazed out to sea. He had toured a lot of the East island in his short time with the Turks, but he was yet to see the west.
'You can see the sky here.' Reno said. 'I have stood at the top of ShinRa tower but all I can see is smog.'
'You should see Costa Del Sol.' Rude adjusted his glasses, he leaned back against the window. He was more interested in watching Reno react to seeing the sky.
'I've never being to a beach.'
'Doesn't surprise me.' Rude glanced at his watch. 'We should go back down. Scarlet's meeting will be over soon.'
Reno gave the ocean one last look before he followed Rude back down the hall towards the elevator. As they stood in the small elevator Reno was grinning from ear to ear.'
The rest of the mission went along smoothly. Upon arrival back in Midgar Scarlet departed leaving the two Turks on the roof.
'You did well.' Rude nodded in approval. 'What say you come back to my apartment and we have a drink? There is a spare bed there and you can stay for the night if you want.' Turk or not Rude could not take the underage Reno into a bar for a drink.
'A drink sounds fantastic.' He said as they headed towards the stairs to go back down to the Turk office. They would need to report into Veld and sign out for the night. Rude only hoped that nothing had come up to prevent them from clocking off early.
The office was quiet, though it always felt too quiet to Rude. Too many empty desks. Very little of the chatter and banter that he remembered from when he had joined the Turks. He glanced at Reno, he supposed the young man had a lot to do with the quiet office. To his credit Reno could be loud enough to make up for the rest. But they were still gone. Tseng looked up from his desk as the two Turks walked passed and Rude gave him a nod of acknowledgement before entering Veld's office with Reno in tow. With the mission having gone perfectly there was little to report to Veld and, after promising they would write the report for Veld first thing in the morning, they were allowed to clock out early.
Rude's car was black, shiny but non-descript. It would not draw much attention on the upper plates of Midgar that was how he liked it.
'I should really look into getting a car.' Reno commented as he climbed into the Rude's car.
'You will need to get you license first.'
'How do I get that?'
'Talk nicely to Veld and he will arrange a learner's permit for you. Then you speak really nicely to some of us and we will teach you how to drive.' Rude started the car and headed out from the ShinRa garage.
'Sounds too easy.'
'Heh, well you will have to learn to drive a stick. And you will only get your license when Veld and the rest of us agree you're ready.'
'So, I'm never going to get it.' Reno concluded.
'It depends how well you behave.' Rude knew Reno struggled to behave in the conventional sense. The redhead found too much amusement in pushing people's buttons. Rude mused if Tseng would have the patience to teach Reno how to drive or if the Wutain would find that one challenge he was not willing to face. 'I am sure you can use your charisma to convince someone.' Jessie would be needing lessons in driving soon, Rude wondered if she would accept his help. Rude drove into the garage under his apartment block.
Rude's apartment was rather basic, there was a lounge, with a small coffee table and a Television. The kitchen had a fridge, Reno opened it to find it was mostly beer with a few bits of food. Reno helped himself to the beer cracking one open for the other man too.
'Please make yourself at home.' Rude's voice had an edge to it, Reno almost thought it was sarcasm coming from the older man. The redhead grinned brightly at him as he kicked off his shoes and sprawled out on the lounge.
Shaking his head Rude took his own bottle of beer and sat beside two were silent for a time just drinking their beers and unwinding from the day. Reno's eyes wandered around the room and soon fell on the small wall of pictures. In the center there was an image of a far younger Rude with a beautiful bronze woman, they stood on a beach together. There were images of his daughter including a recent one of her in her ShinRa academy uniform.
'That's Jessie?' He asked, nodding towards the photos.
'Yeah.' Rude let a fond smile form on his lips. 'Love of my life.'
Reno stood up with his beer in hand and walked over to the wall to inspect the photos more closely. Jessie's face plastered the walls and Reno examined each photo. 'She is a cheerleader?'
'She also plays netball and does gymnastics.' Rude said standing up and walking over to Reno. He pointed at one of the photos. 'That's when she won the Gymnastic championships last year. She is going again this year. I have arranged for the time off, hopefully nothing will come up.'
'Hey, isn't the President going to that?'
"He always does, He hands out the awards.'
'Well, I was assigned to him!' Reno said eagerly.'Maybe I can finally meet your daughter?'
'Perhaps.' It was not something Rude wanted, his daughter had not met nor seen any of the other Turks and he wanted to keep it that way. 'Come on, why don't we put on some television?' He led Reno back to the lounge.
Rude wondered how much trouble he would be in if he beat Reno senseless. He figured it would amuse Tseng. Veld, on the other hand had a fondness for the redhead and might get upset no matter how justified Rude felt his actions were. Taking a calming breath Rude shifted gears. The gymnastics competition would have started by now, maybe Jessie had already taken to the floor and Rude had missed it. The ShinRa academy came into sight and Rude sped up. He was almost there. He took one of the ShinRa executive car spaces deciding that he would take whatever punishment that would warrant. Grabbing the keys he climbed out of the car.
The Earth shook and the building exploded. Rude went flying across the parking lot. He landed against a van, he groaned slowly standing up in a daze. The building was on fire, half of it had collapsed. Rude shook his head trying to get his bearings as he stumbled back towards the building.
'Jessie.' He whispered.
People were screaming, they were running from every direction, Rude desperately tried to look for Jessie among the people running and screaming all the while making his way closer to the building. He pushed against the tide of people and through the doors. The gymnasium was half collapsed, the collapsed area was on fire.
'Rude!' the Turk jerked as Jaden grabbed his arm. 'Come on. We have to get out of here! The place is going to collapse.'
'Jessie. I need to find Jessie.'
Jaden said nothing as he began to wrestle Rude back out of the building as another part collapsed. Rude stumbled along beside Jaden and back out into the parking lot.
'Where is the President?' Jaden demanded as they found Tseng.
'Veld is taking him back to the tower. We're on crowd control.' Tseng replied. 'Rude, I could use you.'
'I need to find Jessie.'
Tseng paused to take a careful look at the Costan, he was in shock. The Wutain shook his head. 'I am sure she is fine.'
Ambulances and police were starting to arrive along with ShinRa infantrymen. Tseng could linger no longer. 'Jaden, get Rude looked at for shock.' He jogged away to take control of the infantrymen.
'Come on buddy.' Jaden led Rude towards the paramedics.
'Other people need them more than I do. I need to find Jessie.'
'She is fine, I'm sure of it.'
Rude was unsure when Jaden was replaced with Reno. The redhead stayed beside him as he waited in line to be attended to. Rude was sure that Tseng could have found something more productive for the young man to do rather than sit with him.
'Could you see Jessie when it happened?' he finally asked Reno.
'Yeah, well I saw her just before. But when everything happened I was focused on the Prez.'
'Was she near the explosion?' Reno did not answer. "Reno, was she near the explosion?'
'I don't know.'
The paramedic came and began to look Rude over. The Costan sat through the examination. They gave him a potion and moved on.
'I'm not on duty. You report back to Tseng, I am going to find Jessie.' Rude knew Reno would not stop him.
Rude moved through the crowds in a daze searching for Jessie. He ignored the other Turks as they called him to help out or asked what he was doing. He just wanted to find his daughter and make sure she was alright. The sun was starting to set and he still had not being able to find Jessie.
'Rude.' It was Veld. 'She's not here. I'll have Tseng and Jaden do a sweep and see if she has been admitted. There were a lot of minor injuries that went in.'
'What about deaths...'
'Don't talk like that Rude. I'm sure she was admitted, probably with something minor.' The Director gently guided his man towards the car. 'Come. We'll find her.'
A day.
Two days.
A week.
No sign of Jessie. No body, no admittance to hospital. She had not gone back home. Rude tried not to give up hope, there was no body so there was hope. But it was hard. His mother had stopped talking to him, like it was his fault and perhaps it was.
Rude sat on his lounge. The television was on but he had muted it. In his hand was a beer and on his lap a photo of himself, his wife and Jessie taken mere weeks before everything had gone so wrong. The door knob began to turn, the Turk leapt to his feet grabbing his gun as Reno walked in.
'Wow, don't shoot.' Reno said raising his hands.
'What are you doing here Reno?' Rude sat back down. He did not have the energy to deal with the redhead.
'I wanted to check on you. Tseng dropped me off.' He closed the door and swaggered into the room. He sat on the lounge next to Rude. 'You okay?'
'My daughter is still missing.' Rude replied coldly. 'I promised I would always protect her and I can't do anything.'
'I'm sure she'll turn up.'
'That's what everyone keeps telling me. But we all know she is probably dead. She was on the floor when the bomb went off. She was performing. The blast would have killed her. She is probably in pieces in the morgue.'
Reno said nothing, he knew that what Rude said was the most likely scenario. But he was not going to say that out loud. Instead the redhead reached out and rested a hand on Rude's shoulder.
'I'm sorry.' It was the most sincere Reno had ever sounded.
A/N: Please review =)