Reno sat back in the swivel chair, his feet propped up on the desk, as he held a black permanent marker and balanced a magazine in his lap. On the cover of it was the face of the overnight president Rufus Shinra, who now had crossed eyes, a unibrow, and three teeth.
"Heheheheh..." Reno's shoulders heaved with every insidious chuckle as he scribbled a crude mullet hairdo on Rufus' head.
It really didn't need to be said -- although he'd readily admit it -- he hated the rich little punk! Thinking he was all that and a bag of chips just because his old man died and made him president... he was even younger than Reno was! Well, only by a... couple months or so, but it was the principle of the thing. Earlier that day, he'd seen Rufus wink at a Shinra secretary, who looked so lovestruck she could have just fainted, and Reno felt so nauseated he could have just projectile vomited in Rufus' pretty-boy face. You could call it envy if you wanted to(although Reno would never admit to that), but he hated him nonetheless.
He repeatedly stabbed at Rufus' face with the marker tip, then held it up and admired the atrocious picture as if it were an artistic masterpiece. "Who's the most eligible bachelor now?" he triumphantly asked Rufus, who now looked like a disoriented hick with a horrid acne problem. Reno couldn't draw any better than a 6 year old, but that only seemed to enhance the overall grotesqueness of the Shinra president's face. Reno tossed his head back and laughed out loud.
Childish, it was, yet also terribly satisfying. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't just walk up to Rufus and mess up his face without costing him his job, so this was the next best thing.
Reno admired his work a little longer, then looked up, only to see Tseng in the doorway of the office. Immediately he hid the magazine and his attitude sobered up; he didn't allow himself to look surprised to see him. And Tseng, looking mildly bothered, glanced around his office. "What did you do in here?"
Reno did not answer him directly. His voice reduced to a lazy drawl. "You kept me waiting here forever."
Tseng didn't apologize. "I had an hour-long emergency meeting..." he witnessed a very bored Reno lethargically spin around in the swivel chair, then added, "You know, you can always do this stuff in your own office."
Reno stopped to face him, and frowned and crossed his arms. "They wouldn't give me my own office," he mumbled.
Tseng looked at the empty pencil cup on his desk, then up at the pencils that were all stuck in the ceiling. "I can see why," he observed.
"What did you want me in here for, anyway?" Reno asked, sounding like he could really care less. He attempted to balance his nightstick on his nose, and carefully leaned back and put his feet up on Tseng's desk again.
Tseng blinked at him, his expression somewhat blank. "Actually, I was going to talk to you about your childish antics and pranks you've been playing around the company."
Caught off guard, Reno swiftly brought his head down to look at him, nightstick crashing to the floor. "...'childish antics?'" he repeated, looking at Tseng in disbelief.
He nodded. "Palmer's inbox was suspiciously flooded with weight-loss emails..." he said slowly. "You wouldn't happen to know who did that, would you?"
Reluctant to reply, Reno stared at him blankly, wondering if Tseng was just asking him if he knew, or was really suspecting that he did it. (Sometimes he could swear that dot on Tseng's forehead changes colors when he gets angry... but then again, that might be because Reno could become simple-minded, easily amused, and very imaginative in the incredibly boring times between missions, when there is nothing to do around the Shinra HQ.) Then Tseng gave him a don't-play-stupid look, and Reno's expression fell, annoyed with the fact that they had made such a big deal out of it.
"Come on," he said defensively. "I was doing the guy a favor. Just by looking at him, you can tell he abuses the privilege to put lard in his tea. I thought he'd be interested in some weight-loss newsletters." Reno looked at Tseng innocently, having neglected to tell him that he and Rude(while laughing maniacally) had signed Palmer up for about a dozen weight-loss accounts the other day.
Tseng glared at him, not buying his story.
Reno pretended to look baffled. "What, you're implying that he doesn't appreciate them?" When Tseng's expression did not change, Reno sighed and acquiescently slumped forward. "Oh, you people have no sense of humor."
The head Turk shook his head and exhaled deeply, sounding as if there was alot more on his mind than what they were just discussing. "No, it's not that... it's not that at all. You really shouldn't be doing this now. They're cross with us as it is."
Actually beginning to show concern, Reno slowly cocked his head to one side. "Why?"
"We failed our last mission..."
"...oh, yeah." Frowning, Reno acknowledged his bitter resentment for AVALANCHE, recalling the very recent events concerning the Sector 7 plate, which failed to take them out, and only turned out to be a waste of money.
"We actually had them under our custody," Tseng continued, staring off, it seemed, at nothing in particular. "and we failed yet again; they escaped. In spite of all the reinforcements, in spite of everything we threw at them, we failed to keep them in this building. That might not have been our fault, considering the circumstances... mainly, Sephiroth. But still, our reputation has suffered because of these failures. We can no longer afford to be incompetent. This time," he said, determination clear in his voice. "we will get the Ancient back, and we will kill AVALANCHE, once and for all."
Ironic that they never did. It was the only mission they never accomplished: the annihilation of AVALANCHE, and permanent custody of the only remaining Ancient.
*~*~*~*~*He emerged at the top of the hill as the wind whipped around him, a little more than just a light zephyr; it parted his hair in a thousand places, concealing his eyes. Annoyed with it, he shook his head and brushed his hair from his face. Squinting in the sun, he looked over Kalm, the homely little town practically in the middle of nowhere. It looked like an ideal place to raise kids, like those sunny little pleasant towns you'd see on TV, or something like that. It didn't surprise him at all that tree-hugging AVALANCHE would reside here.
The wind let up for a moment, leaving a tousled strand of hair in Reno's face. He stood there for a second, making no movement, still looking out over the town, then raised his chin, parted his lips and blew it out of the way. Feeling apprehension resurface, he tried to shake it off, logically reasoning with himself. Regardless of everything he told himself, he didn't want to do this. But he'd come this far; it wasn't as if he could turn back now, anyway.
With that conclusion, Reno began his descent down the hill, but not without hesitating.
*~*~*~*~*"Tell me again why you're leaving?"
Tifa closed her eyes and sighed, thinking to herself that she'd already told him why about a hundred times already. She then looked up at a very sad-looking Johnny, who had a look on his face that clearly told her that he didn't want her to go.
She didn't really want to leave, either.
"I've already told you why," she replied gently. "We have to." When she realized from his expression that that didn't make for much consolation, she reasoned, "But it's not like we're going to be gone permanently... we will come back, you know..."
Since meteor, the members of AVALANCHE had gone their separate ways. Tifa and Cloud, however, didn't have any place to go back to, and they weren't about to go back to Nibelheim... for some obvious reasons. And they weren't about to detach themselves from each other, either. So they went back to Kalm, and Tifa bought the old bar there and reopened 7th Heaven, just for old time's sake. About six months ago, they'd crossed paths with their old friend Johnny (yet again), hired him, and here they were, right in this bar. This would be Tifa's last time in a while to clean it up, or even set foot in it. Johnny would be watching the place while they were gone.
"...I know." he sounded more reassured, yet still not completely. "I'm just worried--"
Tifa shook her head. "Don't be! Besides, your birthday is coming up soon, you shouldn't have to worry about anything."
Johnny twisted his face wryly. "That's not completely true." Having just finished sweeping the floor, he went over to the closet in the back room to put the broom away.
"What?" Tifa asked. "What's the problem?"
He came back into the room, and looked at her, a smile cracking on his face in anticipation of what he was going to say. "...pajamas." he replied simply.
Tifa laughed, hardly believing her ears. "Pajamas?"
"Yes! I know, it sounds ridiculous." he sat on one of the stools in front of the bar counter that Tifa was wiping off. "But my family must always insist on buying me pajamas for my birthday, and on the holidays, too. It's too much, really. I mean, thank you, they're lovely pajamas, but--" he reached over and helped her wipe off an area of the counter she couldn't quite reach. "--really, I don't know why they're so concerned about my nighttime apparel."
He knew it. He was rambling about something insignificantly stupid and inane. But it made her laugh, which was really what he'd sought to do. The past few days she'd seemed uptight, anxious. It felt good to finally relieve some of that stress, and Johnny could see that. And in turn, it made him feel a little better himself. "Hey, childhood friend," he'd remembered telling Cloud once before. "take care of Tifa."
That was Johnny, always looking out for her.
*~*~*~*~*Since he'd entered the town, Reno took his sweet time walking slowly, and mumbling and grumbling and cursing under his breath. More than ever he wished that Elena hadn't talked him into joining them so they could work for that stupid dorky energy corporation. But then of course, if he hadn't, he would still be in Junon at this moment, waking up to a nasty hangover on the puke-colored carpet in his crummy apartment. If not the apartment, he'd be waking up in a ditch. He'd done that a few times before, too.
Reno grimaced, realizing what a loser he'd become since he'd lost his job. But he felt like an even bigger loser doing what he was doing now.
Stupid tree-hugging energy corporation.
Stupid Elena and her logic.
Stupid AVALANCHE.
He hoped they weren't famous... but considering that they saved the world, that was a good possibility. But he wouldn't believe it. Not until they day they start making fruit snacks resembling the members of AVALANCHE would Reno believe that they were famous.
His nihilistic train of thought was shattered when he was hit in the ear with a soccer ball. He gritted his teeth, looked over and saw some kids laughing at him. It took Reno everything in his power to resist pulling out his nightstick and and frying the little punks. He glared daggers at them, though, and that shut them up.
Reno turned and bitterly walked on, dragging his feet on the brick ground.
*~*~*~*~*"I should get going..." Johnny said, looking up at the clock on the wall. "Later, Tif'."
"...bye." She watched as he closed the door behind him.
Tifa took one long, last look around the bar. Cloud would be here soon. And so would... you-know-who.
She had no idea why they decided to stick her and Cloud with... with... him! Everyone in AVALANCHE had gone their own ways; back home, to right the wrongs in their personal lives and set things straight. And then not too long ago, they'd all agreed to work together again, and they saw the new energy corporation as a good way to do that, so they all signed up. But it made no sense to her that they weren't put with anyone else from AVALANCHE. Maybe their employers just weren't aware of the past between AVALANCHE and the Turks.
That had to be it.
Tifa went over to the window and looked through it, still deep in thought. Then she heard the door open, and her head turned quickly, her heart skipping a beat in anticipation and fear of who it might be.
Relieved, she exhaled. "Cloud...!"
"Tifa." he said, noticing her anxiety. He walked over and stood next to her, and followed her gaze through the window, at nothing in particular. "...you ready to do this?" he asked, after a short silence.
She looked down, fidgeting with her gloved hands. "Well, I'm certainly not excited about it, but I guess I'm as ready as I can be."
He nodded solemnly. "Me too."
They lapsed back into silence. But this wasn't the awkward kind of silence, where you're uneasy and fumbling for words; rather, it was the kind that said more than words... calming, rather than unsettling; cherished, rather than dreaded. They found comfort in each other this way. Tifa could never have this kind of connection with anyone else, but it was during moments like these that she'd have to remind herself that after all they'd been through, after all this time... she sighed inwardly... they were still only friends.
Then she looked up at him, the early afternoon sunlight touching her black hair with gold, fringing her eyelashes, outlining the soft contours of her face. "I'd better go put these away." she said quietly, dangling the keys to the bar in front of her.
Cloud looked down at her, the light having the same effect on him. He nodded and let her go.
After she was out the door, Cloud strode over the the bar counter, the heavy scuff of his boots making the only noise in the empty room. Then he sat up on the counter and waited.
When someone did come through the door, he looked up, expecting to see the warm, friendly gaze of Tifa. But instead his eyes met with a flickering cold, narrow gaze; adamantine and spiteful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Note: My goodness, that was a cheesy chapter. And I know, we didn't get very far. I think all I covered in this installment was a flashback, and, like, 15 minutes of the present time, which pretty much consisted of random harangue-ing about pajamas, and another about fruit snacks(man, that sounds really jacked up). And the rest of it was filling in the reader about what they were up to and why, and then at the very end something actually happened. I know, not much....just stick it out! You just wait for the NEXT chapter! *has devious plot twist(s) in mind*
But I ain't postin nothin', not until you REVIEW !!!