I do not own FFVII characters – though I wish I did. lol
I do own my own character – Jalyne
Chapter 20 – The Don
Reno walked into the conference room, looking a mess, with his uniform wrinkled and hair disheveled. Tseng raised an eyebrow in surprise to see his second away from Jalyne.
"They're taking her for scans." Reno answered his look, all business. "What is happening?"
"Cloud and company are heading to Rocket Town." Tseng stated. "It seems our wayward SOLDIER has left Midgar and is on his way to join them. Reeve has been giving us intel on the journey."
"Hm." Reno commented sprawling out across the couch, crossing his arms behind his head.
"You need a vacation." Tseng commented.
"Like I would leave her, yo."
"If I ordered it?"
Reno snapped his head to the Director. "You wouldn't…would you?"
"Orders are orders, Reno." Tseng's eyes softened a bit. "She's in the best care."
"I know that, yo." He said, closing his eyes.
"We still have a job to do."
"I know that too."
"You need rest."
"I'm currently laying down."
Tseng sighed, not wanting to become frustrated with his second. The phone rang and the Director picked it up, knowing immediately it was Rufus. After a brief conversation, Tseng shut the phone down and addressed the red head.
"Rufus will be going to Rocket Town. Evidently, Sephiroth is heading towards the Temple of the Ancients and the Highwind is not ready."
His even breathing alerted Tseng that he was asleep. Elena and Rude came in a few minutes later, Tseng raising his finger to his lips, alerting them that Reno was sleeping.
"What do we do, Sir?" Elena whispered.
"For now, there is nothing we can do." He replied. "I will accompany Rufus to Rocket Town. The three of you can have a leave of absence but be on standby."
"Are you sure that wise?" Rude questioned.
"It may not be wise, but it is needed." Tseng glanced over at Reno. "Make sure he goes with you."
"I'm not going anywhere." Reno mumbled.
"Yes, you are." The Director pointed stated. "There is nothing more we can do. Jalyne is in the best medical care."
Reno swung his legs around and sat up, looking at each of them and then finally sighed. "Fine, yo." He paused. "As long as there is a lot to drink." And he stood and walked backed out, heading to the medical wing.
"That was quick." Elena commented.
"He knows Tseng is right." Rude replied. "We don't have a lot of time, better rest up."
"Wutai." Tseng stated. "Head there."
"Why?" Elena asked innocently.
"Because the Princess of Wutai is currently with Cloud's group." He answered. "We need to keep tabs on her also."
Both Turks nodded in agreement.
"Take him home later, Rude." Tseng advised. "You can leave in the morning."
Reno sat with Jalyne, holding her hand within his. He looked at her bandaged body and noticed it was getting time to change them, blood starting to seep through. Her heartbeat was weakened, and the ventilator was the only thing keeping her alive. He look at the emerald around her neck, glinting and pulsing from the lights in the room and thought of the night, he gave it to her. Reno sat there a long while before the door to her room opened, and Rude and Elena came in with a tray of food from the cafeteria.
"Any change?" Elena asked quietly.
"No." Reno replied. "Doctors say there isn't anything showing up on the scans." He paused. "She's getting weaker. She won't heal." Reno pointed at the pink tinged bandages. "She keeps bleeding through them. I'm not sure how long she has."
"She'll pull through." Rude asserted. "You need to rest."
Reno grabbed a sandwich from the tray, taking a bite and relaxing back in his seat. "And if I don't want to."
"You heard what Tseng said." Elena commented. "We'll leave in the morning. I'll stay with her. We'll have guards here also, while we're gone. The doctor has Tseng's number. He'll let us know if anything changes."
Reno sighed and stood up, dropping the sandwich back on the tray, resigned to leave Jalyne behind to go on leave. He walked past Rude and put a hand on his shoulder. "I promised her I'd take her on vacation." He turned and walked out the door, thoughts on how he could help her swirling in his mind.
Reno nightmares that night were severe, causing him not to sleep much at all. These dreams focused on events that occurred off world but with different twists and turns that while he was awake, assumed they were different possibilities of which could have happened. He rose slowly and dressed, packing a few extras for the trip to Wutai. He was still a Turk and knew he had to pull these feeling aside for the time being. He would have time on vacation to sort through the mess, hopefully with lots of alcohol to numb the pain.
Rude and Elena swung by shortly afterwards to pick him up and head to the chopper to begin their travels. Reno slid into the pilot's seat and started the engines to warm up. While they were waiting, he gazed at the building, wondering if there was any change with their otherworldly member of the Turks.
They lifted off and within a few hours, they landed in Wutai and made their way to the President's villa to settle in. as night began to fall, they made their way to the Turtle's Paradise for dinner and drinks. Reno watched idly all the patrons filing in for a night of debauchery. He watched several foreigners take their place at the bar not far from the trio and eyed them warily. Something about their demeanor but him on guard. The three of them chatted amongst themselves while eating and drinking.
A week had passed, Reno starting early at the bar most days, having his usual whiskey on the rocks. They were sitting around at midday, him and Rude, trying to enjoy themselves when Reno's phone buzzed. Taking a glance at it, he shook his head and put it back into his pocket, ignoring the message.
Elena barged into the bar moments later, evidence that the message went to all of them. Reno swirled his whiskey glass as she took a seat next to him at the bar. To her credit, she did wait a few minutes before speaking.
"Well? Are we just going to sit here?" she questioned, fire in her eyes.
"Yep." Reno replied.
"What do you mean?" Elena exclaimed, impatiently. "We have orders!"
"And it's my day off."
Elena looked to Rude for backup to no avail as Rude just shook his head in the negative.
"But the Don is here in Wutai!" she argued. "He's on our most wanted list!"
"And we're on vacation." Reno reinforced.
Elena bristled and stormed out of the bar, intent on investigation the Don herself. She rounded the corner and took a deep breath. Time to proof herself that she was a worthy Turk. She sent out feelers to some of the local townspeople to gather information, talking to assorted people in assorted places. Elena made her way to the Da-Chao statue only to round the corner and have a blanket thrown over her and knocked out.
Back at the bar, Reno continued to drink his whiskey, the afternoon wearing on, intent on forgetting the previous message from his superiors. Rude sat along side him, quietly surveying the surroundings, when a distinct group made their way into the establishment. It's leader promptly went to the bar and sat next to Reno, ordering nothing but water and waited. The others hung back a bit, pointedly looking at Rude for any signs of aggression.
"You're partner is being held by the Don." The blonde leader stated mildly, bracing for conflict slightly, resting his hand on his sword hilt. Reno sighed and looked directly at Cloud, waiting. "They're being held at the Da-Chao statue just outside of town."
"They?" Rude asked mildly.
"He also has the Princess of Wutai." Cloud set his glass down and turned to leave, placing a gil on the counter to cover the tabs of the Turks. "Just thought you should know." And walked out of the bar.
Rude waited until the group left before turning to his partner. "Well?"
Reno sighed and set his glass down, adding a few more gil, and turned towards the door. "Let's get to it. Wouldn't be good to tell the Director Elena's dead while we're here." He looked wryly at his partner. "It's still my damn day off, yo."
They walked out of the bar and headed to the inn to collect arms and munitions to retrieve Elena. Rude placed the silencer on his gun and slid it into its secure holster. The Turks made their way through the streets of Wutai, peering at the monument as they got closer. Its eyes looked strange to them, and as Reno and Rude went to the outskirts of the city, they noticed the Princess and Elena tied to the statue.
"Just great, yo." Reno commented taking the path to head towards the statue.
"Plan?"
"Get her and get out." He shrugged. As they made their way the path, Cloud and the others stepped out, blocking the path. Reno cocked an eyebrow to them but stopped. "What do you want?"
"Possibly to work together?" Tifa spoke, placing her hands on her hips. "We need to get Yuffie back, she stole all of our materia."
"We don't want any trouble." Aerith reiterated, stepping out from behind a tree. Cloud nodded in agreement, folding his arms across his chest.
"Tck." Reno shrugged. "Have it your way, yo."
"We'll circle around." Rude stated pointing to the back of the statue.
"We'll confront Don Corneo, then." Cloud stated, turning to continue up the path, with Tifa and Aerith following behind.
Reno and Rude made their way to the top and around the back side of the statue, Rude placing himself in an undercover spot with wide range eyesight of the Don and Avalanche. He pulled his gun from the holster and settled in to wait.
Cloud started to confront him with Tifa and Aerith. The Don rambled on and on about his plans while Yuffie and Elena struggled with their bonds on the eyes of the statue. Reno glanced at Rude and made a disgusted face when the underground Lord was commenting on how he had to choose who was going to be his bride for the evening. As Cloud started to advance on him, the Don stopped him with a sick grin and produced a trigger of sorts within his right hand.
"Pop quiz!" he stated exuberantly. "As everyone knows, villains only divulge their plans in certain situations! But what is that situation?"
"When their faced with certain death?" Tifa piped in, fists at the ready.
"Wrong!"
"When they've lost their minds?" Aerith commented, raising her staff.
"Nope!"
"When they think they've already won, jackass." Cloud stated, raising Twin Stinger in the ready position.
"Ding, Ding, Ding!" the Don exclaimed, as he made a move to press the trigger in his hand.
The silent shot came out of nowhere, ricocheting off the trigger and knocking the Don off guard, who stumbled and fell towards the cliff edge. He tumbled over, only grabbing the edge to loosely hang off of it. Reno came out of hiding to grace the edge and look down at the Don, mag rod tapping his left shoulder. A sneer crossed his features as he raised his foot to step on the Don's fingers, causing him to plummet over the side of the cliff. Reno looked over at Cloud and the others and nodded.
"Hey!" Elena screamed to get his attention. "Don't forget about us!"
"We ought to let you hang there, yo." Reno called up to her as Rude joined him.
"You wouldn't!"
"You disobeyed an order, yo." Reno stated though the corners of his mouth twitched upward. Rude silently looked on, his features not betraying any of the amusement he inwardly felt. Rude made his way to the side of the statue, following the trails of the ropes.
Cloud trailed Yuffie's roped and began to let her down with Barret, Vincent, Cid and Cait Sith coming to join the others. Vincent turned to Elena and waited with Reno for Rude to loosen the ropes. Elena dropped into their arms a moment later with the ex-Turk nodding in approval.
Reno turned to Avalanche with a quick nod. "We'll be going, yo."
"What?" Elena questioned. "We have orders to bring them in!."
Cloud and the others prepared for an attack, raising their weapons slightly.
"It's my day off, yo." Reno shrugged and turned to leave when Aerith moved forward.
"Reno?" Aerith questioned softly. Reno turned at the sound of his name and raised an eyebrow. "Where's Jalyne?"
His eyes widened, not expecting that question to come from the Ancient. He hesitated before answering. "She's in Midgar."
Aerith walked up to him, not afraid to stand toe to toe with him and looked inquiring at the flame-haired Turk. Rude and Elena started down the hill to make their way to the inn.
"Something happened." Aerith stated quietly for only him to hear, capturing Reno's eyes with hers. Her eyes grew distant for a moment and then focused back to the Turk. "It will be alright."
"Tck." Reno scoffed, though his turquoise eyes showed different.
"Don't bury it too deep, Reno." Aerith advised, mysteriously. "I know you're hurt by whatever happened."
Reno took a step backwards, raised two fingers to his temple in salute and turned to follow his partners to the inn.
Reno lounged on his bed at the inn after receiving notification that they were to return to Midgar in the morning. His mind was rapidly flowing with thoughts of not only Jalyne, but what the Ancient had stated before they parted ways. A week of separation and alcohol had him second guessing his feeling for the foreigner. He worried for her, laying in Midgar hooked up to ventilator, but thoughts of worse case scenarios played in his mind. What would happen should she return to the Lifestreams for good? Though usually lighthearted, Reno's thoughts verged on depression and he was questioning his feeling for Jalyne. Was it happening too fast? Was he rushing into things because of a deep-seated need on his part?
A slight knock on the door brought him out of his reverie as he looked at Rude and Elena enter his quarters and take seats within the room. Elena fumbled with her jacket button, not sure how to break the ice and apologize. Rude sat stoically as usual, contemplating events and thoughts.
"I'm sorry, Reno." Elena finally stated, hanging her head lightly. "For disobeying your orders." He gazed at her lightly, nodding in acceptance. "What do you think will happen once we return?"
"I don't know." He replied truthfully.
"You're thinking of her."
"In a way." He stated. Reno shifted into a sitting position. "We will see when we return. I'm sure Rufus has something planned."
They chatted idly for hours into the evening, going over plans for their return and possible tracks that Avalanche may be taking in the future. Reeve was still part of the group and feeding the Director and the President intel on their movements. The only option they could come up with was to wait until they returned tomorrow.
After everyone left, Reno showered and reclined in bed, staring at the ceiling. As he drifted off to sleep to combat the nightmares that would undoubtedly return, he thought of the snow-haired partner hanging on to her life, and wondered if it was all a dream.