After the Storm
Chapter 13
"How could he. . . How could he do that to him. . . to us. . .!?"
"Reno. . . It was a long time ago. It's over. Rufus is dead."
Reno sat hunched forward, his hands locked tightly around the back of his head. His eyes were closed tightly and his face was pale.
"Dead!? That bastard can rot in his grave for all I care, but it won't turn back time and change what he did!"
Yuffie drew back. She'd never seen him like this before. He'd always been the one to be calm and collected when things got too bad for her to handle. Now he was loosing hold because of a tape that was three years old? To Yuffie's mind, it just didn't make sense.
"You can't understand! Tseng raised that damn kid. And he just sent him knowingly to his death!"
"You. . . Really cared about Tseng, huh?"
"He was the best man I ever knew. The only person I ever wanted to be like."
"You make him sound so glorified. He was the enemy!"
"So!? Goddammit Yuffie, so was I!"
Yuffie hung her head. She knew what he said was true although she wanted to block it out. She tried to remember that getting out of here was the only thing that mattered. Somehow it just didn't seem to be happening.
What was she doing? This wasn't like Yuffie Kisaragi at all! If no one else was going to do it, then she was going to take charge. She was the inexorable Lady of Wutai, no matter what happened. Nothing could stand in her way if she decided to go ahead. Yuffie drew a breath and smiled. She had been nicknamed "Brat" in the AVALANCHE days, and she didn't suppose she'd lost any of her charm since.
"Come on, Turk."
Reno actually glanced up. It was something about the tone of voice.
"Turkey, if you wanna stick around until you get found, that's FINE with me. However, I don't intend to get caught again today; I don't have as much experience as you, and get tired after only once. You can stay, or you can come. I'm not going to wait."
For a second, Yuffie could have sworn that Reno's eyes shone with almost pure hatred, but then it was gone. Along with it went all resistance.
"You're. . . right. We should go."
"Thank you. At least somebody recognizes genius when they see it!"
Reno stood up. To Yuffie's greatest relief there was nothing in his face at all except exhaustion and the faintest hint of annoyance.
"Genius, huh? And may I remind you who waltzed straight into this damn place in the first place?"
"And look, now we're getting out! Sheer genius!"
Yuffie shot him a conspiratory grin before haughtily turning her back and marching out of the room. Reno let the faintest of smiles cross his face before following her out of the room.
But to his surprise, Yuffie wasn't striding on ahead. She was standing stock still in the middle of the corridor, the dark corridor. Reno looked up. All the strange lights were gone, and only the faintest of glows gave this place any visibility at all. He too stopped and waited while his eyes adjusted to the gloom. He heard Yuffie turn slightly.
"Reno. . . ?"
He wanted to answer, but now he could finally see why Yuffie had stopped. Blocking the hallway just ahead was a row of dark figures. At the front of them stood a man with long dark hair and vaguely definable Wutain features. The only thing Reno noticed was the horrible smile on the man's face.
"Going so soon Turk? I thought you and I could get together after the main show."
". . .Hwen. Nice to see you again too."
"Now, there's no need to go around exchanging thinly veiled threats, now is there. Let's just be civilized about this. You come with us, and we'll avoid killing you where you stand. Deal?"
"That's what you call CIVILIZED!?"
Yuffie was slowly walking backwards towards Reno, trying to get some distance from the enemy she had almost walked straight into. In case of an attack, without some space Yuffie was sure to be overwhelmed. Casting for more time, she tried on her best impudent grin.
"Is that the best you've got to offer? I've heard better sales pitches from crocodiles."
"Ah, Yuffie. Still the same spirited girl as ever. I'd been hoping that your little encounter with the boss had taken care of that, but I see I was wrong."
"I guess I must have gotten attached to it while you weren't looking."
"This bantering is giving me headache. Be quite, girl, and hand yourselves over to us."
"You know, every time someone says that I can't help but wonder if it's actually physically possible. I mean, with the possible exception of Cloud, who can pick themselves up by the scruff of the neck?"
Reno was staring bewilderedly at Yuffie. What was she doing!? They had no weapons and any type of skirmish in these closed corridors would be sure to end in tragedy. Maybe her mind was elsewhere. Maybe she'd lost her mind.
Meanwhile, Yuffie had just about reached Reno. As she finally reached his side, he heard her voice whisper near his ear, the warning almost too late.
"Close your eyes!"
Without thinking, Reno obeyed. Not a second too soon because as he did so, Yuffie's hand slipped into one of her front pockets and suddenly whipped the tiny object at the floor. The result was a moment of blinding light. Grabbing Reno's hand, Yuffie pulled him down a random corridor to the right. To his surprise however, they stopped.
"What are you doing!? We have to get away from here!"
"Maybe, but there's no way in hell I'm leaving that Conformer behind. It was a present."
Before waiting for an answer, Yuffie handily pulled a vent grill from the wall.
"Hurry, get in! We don't have long before they stop falling over themselves!"
"Are you crazy!? They found you in there once already! What's to stop them doing so again?"
"Experience. They know we're smarter than to crawl back into a hiding place they've already found."
As she pulled herself in, she thought she heard someone mutter the words "Wish we did." She smiled and kept going.
Reno reluctantly followed Yuffie through the small opening. He could only barely get in, but was surprised to discover the vent was bigger inside. Sheesh. You'd think badguys would learn from their mistakes. A certain incident at Shinra headquarters would never be forgotten.
Reno quickly became completely disoriented by the complex system of metal tunnels leading in every direction. Although he'd been in many tight situations before, this one was certainly new to him. He'd always been perfectly happy to leave the vent crawling to Strife and his buddies. Unfortunately, it seemed the Universe had a sense of humor.
Yuffie took a left, presumably leading back the way they'd just come. Reno frowned, but dared not ask knowing fully well how far echoes can travel in such a closed in space. He heard faint sounds coming from below as they neared whatever it was they were looking for.
Yuffie stopped without warning, leaving Reno to almost run into her. She pulled herself forward over something rough, and then forced her away around. She carefully held up a finger for silence and gestured to an area of the vent she had just crossed. Reno had to look at it for a moment before realizing it was another grate, but this time pointing down. He peered through it curiously to see what lay below.
The shadow figures seemed to have finished running aimlessly around. As their eyes adjusted once again, the hot whiteness gradually stopped searing the back of their eyelids. It seemed Hwen too was recovering from the unexpected turn of events. Reno shot Yuffie a questioning glance.
"How many more of those have you got?" He whispered.
"None."
He nodded grimly and looked back down.
Hwen was taking stock of the situation, and didn't seem to be taking it well. Accurately maybe, but not well.
"They're gone!? GONE!?"
His shouts bounced off every corridor in every direction. Yuffie couldn't help but wonder how stupid the man was being. Anyone trying to hide would know exactly where you were at any time. But then again, that was also just what Yuffie wanted.
"Get up and find them!! They can't have gone far!!"
A sibilant hissing filled the air.
"But whhhere can they hhhave gone? Thhhere isss no whhhere to go. . ."
For a second there was complete silence. But then, Hwen exploded.
"The weapons! They're after the weapons! Hurry, we must stop them!"
A second later, the group of seven shadow creatures and the horrible, twisted man were merely departing shapes. Reno gave Yuffie an approving, if tight, smile.
"Smart."
And then they too were off, in hot pursuit of those who believed they were the ones giving chase. For some reason, Yuffie found this immensely funny. Still, she judged, it may not be a great idea to laugh out loud at this particular moment. It was hard moving fast on all fours, not to mention quietly in an all-metal structure built to resound with every creak. Still, to two people driven by unwavering determination and absolute desperation, it was a difficult task, but not impossible.
Although they couldn't possibly keep up with the running creatures without giving themselves away, there were always alternatives. In this endless maze, tunnels branched off everywhere. Using only her intuition, Yuffie led the way down countless shortcuts she had no possible way of knowing existed. It was downright creepy, but this was no time to complain.
They twisted and turned, and although they were soon both lost they never lost sight for long of the creatures and the man leading them. They were still speeding down the hallways at an incredible speed, so Yuffie dared to hope the weapons were not being kept far from here.
Hwen took a left, and then a right, and then another right. Down in the white corridors that repeated themselves until eternity, how was it possible to know where you were going? They could only wonder - and hope.
Another right. Yuffie careened around the corner, stumbled, almost hit the side but then recovered and kept going. Into the darkness and then - stop. Dead end.
Although panic fluttered in Yuffie's stomach for a moment, she took a deep breath and felt the grate beneath her fingers. End, maybe. Dead? No.
She heard Reno curse pants without kneepads behind her, but ignored him and set to work on the grate. It was one thing opening it from the outside, but quite another to do it from within. A shout below made her freeze in the motion of pulling up the grate.
"Damn it, they're not here!"
"Thhhey shhhould bee hhhhere."
"Thhhey could bee anywhhhere."
Loud swearing to match Reno's own joined the snakelike voices.
"Damn! And damn! We're going to have search the whole bloody place!" There were murmurs of dissent. "Come on, come on! If they're not here then they won't be coming here. They've got no way of finding this place! Now come ON and get out!"
Footsteps could be heard and then silence. Yuffie held her breath and then counted to twenty. Sure enough, after a few moments had passed, some more angry cursing ensued and the sound of a door being visciously slammed. On cue, Yuffie immediately attacked the grating once more.
Although Reno could see nothing, from the creaks that could be heard, he gathered the grate was putting up a valiant fight. But it was no match for Yuffie's skill. Although she came out of the spat with a bleeding finger, she managed to get it done. With a heave, the grate fell inwards.
Reno winced as it clattered noisily to the floor, but then again the alternative was to stay up here forever. There was simply no helping it. Yuffie slid fluidly down into the empty room, and Reno followed shortly after, glad to be out. It wasn't something he was going to do again anytime soon if he had any say in the matter.
The room was as dark as the hallways if not darker. There was no light at all to see by, and neither Reno nor Yuffie dared more around for fear of tripping over something. Reno thought hard. There had to be something he could do to let them see. . .
That's when he remembered the matches. How long had Yuffie spent laughing at the small pack of matches he'd hopefully taken from the cabin and the drenched cigarettes that had washed up on the beach the next day? Of course! He felt his pockets, and fished around for the small bundle.
He pulled out what he hoped like hell were matches and pulled one of them off the packet. The next part - actually lighting it - was a lot harder. The first time he missed completely, and the second time he scorched his fingers. The third time, however, he managed to get one going successfully.
Yuffie gave him a quiet nod of appreciation, and Reno lifted the match up higher so they could see around the room. Whatever they'd expected, this was not it. Secretly, Yuffie had expected to find the gun, the electro-mag rod and the conformer all laid out on individual pillows or something. Instead, here they were, thrown on the floor as if they didn't matter at all. Somehow that bothered Yuffie's sense of the dramatic.
There was a lot of other stuff in the room, but none of it seemed highly useful. Some broken furniture, at one end a small furnace, and some miscellaneous junk. Nothing was particularly attention grabbing, so Yuffie bent down and picked up her conformer. She held it almost fondly; one old warrior to another. Reno took his weapons as well, and he too paused to examine the gun in the faint light of the match.
He'd only asked for three things. Light, his gun, and outta here. Well, two out of three wasn't bad, even if the last one WAS the most important. Still, the first two could be used to get the last and that was what really mattered. Yuffie held up her conformer and watched it glint in the red light. It was time to get even.
For Wutai.
~*
Chapter 13
"How could he. . . How could he do that to him. . . to us. . .!?"
"Reno. . . It was a long time ago. It's over. Rufus is dead."
Reno sat hunched forward, his hands locked tightly around the back of his head. His eyes were closed tightly and his face was pale.
"Dead!? That bastard can rot in his grave for all I care, but it won't turn back time and change what he did!"
Yuffie drew back. She'd never seen him like this before. He'd always been the one to be calm and collected when things got too bad for her to handle. Now he was loosing hold because of a tape that was three years old? To Yuffie's mind, it just didn't make sense.
"You can't understand! Tseng raised that damn kid. And he just sent him knowingly to his death!"
"You. . . Really cared about Tseng, huh?"
"He was the best man I ever knew. The only person I ever wanted to be like."
"You make him sound so glorified. He was the enemy!"
"So!? Goddammit Yuffie, so was I!"
Yuffie hung her head. She knew what he said was true although she wanted to block it out. She tried to remember that getting out of here was the only thing that mattered. Somehow it just didn't seem to be happening.
What was she doing? This wasn't like Yuffie Kisaragi at all! If no one else was going to do it, then she was going to take charge. She was the inexorable Lady of Wutai, no matter what happened. Nothing could stand in her way if she decided to go ahead. Yuffie drew a breath and smiled. She had been nicknamed "Brat" in the AVALANCHE days, and she didn't suppose she'd lost any of her charm since.
"Come on, Turk."
Reno actually glanced up. It was something about the tone of voice.
"Turkey, if you wanna stick around until you get found, that's FINE with me. However, I don't intend to get caught again today; I don't have as much experience as you, and get tired after only once. You can stay, or you can come. I'm not going to wait."
For a second, Yuffie could have sworn that Reno's eyes shone with almost pure hatred, but then it was gone. Along with it went all resistance.
"You're. . . right. We should go."
"Thank you. At least somebody recognizes genius when they see it!"
Reno stood up. To Yuffie's greatest relief there was nothing in his face at all except exhaustion and the faintest hint of annoyance.
"Genius, huh? And may I remind you who waltzed straight into this damn place in the first place?"
"And look, now we're getting out! Sheer genius!"
Yuffie shot him a conspiratory grin before haughtily turning her back and marching out of the room. Reno let the faintest of smiles cross his face before following her out of the room.
But to his surprise, Yuffie wasn't striding on ahead. She was standing stock still in the middle of the corridor, the dark corridor. Reno looked up. All the strange lights were gone, and only the faintest of glows gave this place any visibility at all. He too stopped and waited while his eyes adjusted to the gloom. He heard Yuffie turn slightly.
"Reno. . . ?"
He wanted to answer, but now he could finally see why Yuffie had stopped. Blocking the hallway just ahead was a row of dark figures. At the front of them stood a man with long dark hair and vaguely definable Wutain features. The only thing Reno noticed was the horrible smile on the man's face.
"Going so soon Turk? I thought you and I could get together after the main show."
". . .Hwen. Nice to see you again too."
"Now, there's no need to go around exchanging thinly veiled threats, now is there. Let's just be civilized about this. You come with us, and we'll avoid killing you where you stand. Deal?"
"That's what you call CIVILIZED!?"
Yuffie was slowly walking backwards towards Reno, trying to get some distance from the enemy she had almost walked straight into. In case of an attack, without some space Yuffie was sure to be overwhelmed. Casting for more time, she tried on her best impudent grin.
"Is that the best you've got to offer? I've heard better sales pitches from crocodiles."
"Ah, Yuffie. Still the same spirited girl as ever. I'd been hoping that your little encounter with the boss had taken care of that, but I see I was wrong."
"I guess I must have gotten attached to it while you weren't looking."
"This bantering is giving me headache. Be quite, girl, and hand yourselves over to us."
"You know, every time someone says that I can't help but wonder if it's actually physically possible. I mean, with the possible exception of Cloud, who can pick themselves up by the scruff of the neck?"
Reno was staring bewilderedly at Yuffie. What was she doing!? They had no weapons and any type of skirmish in these closed corridors would be sure to end in tragedy. Maybe her mind was elsewhere. Maybe she'd lost her mind.
Meanwhile, Yuffie had just about reached Reno. As she finally reached his side, he heard her voice whisper near his ear, the warning almost too late.
"Close your eyes!"
Without thinking, Reno obeyed. Not a second too soon because as he did so, Yuffie's hand slipped into one of her front pockets and suddenly whipped the tiny object at the floor. The result was a moment of blinding light. Grabbing Reno's hand, Yuffie pulled him down a random corridor to the right. To his surprise however, they stopped.
"What are you doing!? We have to get away from here!"
"Maybe, but there's no way in hell I'm leaving that Conformer behind. It was a present."
Before waiting for an answer, Yuffie handily pulled a vent grill from the wall.
"Hurry, get in! We don't have long before they stop falling over themselves!"
"Are you crazy!? They found you in there once already! What's to stop them doing so again?"
"Experience. They know we're smarter than to crawl back into a hiding place they've already found."
As she pulled herself in, she thought she heard someone mutter the words "Wish we did." She smiled and kept going.
Reno reluctantly followed Yuffie through the small opening. He could only barely get in, but was surprised to discover the vent was bigger inside. Sheesh. You'd think badguys would learn from their mistakes. A certain incident at Shinra headquarters would never be forgotten.
Reno quickly became completely disoriented by the complex system of metal tunnels leading in every direction. Although he'd been in many tight situations before, this one was certainly new to him. He'd always been perfectly happy to leave the vent crawling to Strife and his buddies. Unfortunately, it seemed the Universe had a sense of humor.
Yuffie took a left, presumably leading back the way they'd just come. Reno frowned, but dared not ask knowing fully well how far echoes can travel in such a closed in space. He heard faint sounds coming from below as they neared whatever it was they were looking for.
Yuffie stopped without warning, leaving Reno to almost run into her. She pulled herself forward over something rough, and then forced her away around. She carefully held up a finger for silence and gestured to an area of the vent she had just crossed. Reno had to look at it for a moment before realizing it was another grate, but this time pointing down. He peered through it curiously to see what lay below.
The shadow figures seemed to have finished running aimlessly around. As their eyes adjusted once again, the hot whiteness gradually stopped searing the back of their eyelids. It seemed Hwen too was recovering from the unexpected turn of events. Reno shot Yuffie a questioning glance.
"How many more of those have you got?" He whispered.
"None."
He nodded grimly and looked back down.
Hwen was taking stock of the situation, and didn't seem to be taking it well. Accurately maybe, but not well.
"They're gone!? GONE!?"
His shouts bounced off every corridor in every direction. Yuffie couldn't help but wonder how stupid the man was being. Anyone trying to hide would know exactly where you were at any time. But then again, that was also just what Yuffie wanted.
"Get up and find them!! They can't have gone far!!"
A sibilant hissing filled the air.
"But whhhere can they hhhave gone? Thhhere isss no whhhere to go. . ."
For a second there was complete silence. But then, Hwen exploded.
"The weapons! They're after the weapons! Hurry, we must stop them!"
A second later, the group of seven shadow creatures and the horrible, twisted man were merely departing shapes. Reno gave Yuffie an approving, if tight, smile.
"Smart."
And then they too were off, in hot pursuit of those who believed they were the ones giving chase. For some reason, Yuffie found this immensely funny. Still, she judged, it may not be a great idea to laugh out loud at this particular moment. It was hard moving fast on all fours, not to mention quietly in an all-metal structure built to resound with every creak. Still, to two people driven by unwavering determination and absolute desperation, it was a difficult task, but not impossible.
Although they couldn't possibly keep up with the running creatures without giving themselves away, there were always alternatives. In this endless maze, tunnels branched off everywhere. Using only her intuition, Yuffie led the way down countless shortcuts she had no possible way of knowing existed. It was downright creepy, but this was no time to complain.
They twisted and turned, and although they were soon both lost they never lost sight for long of the creatures and the man leading them. They were still speeding down the hallways at an incredible speed, so Yuffie dared to hope the weapons were not being kept far from here.
Hwen took a left, and then a right, and then another right. Down in the white corridors that repeated themselves until eternity, how was it possible to know where you were going? They could only wonder - and hope.
Another right. Yuffie careened around the corner, stumbled, almost hit the side but then recovered and kept going. Into the darkness and then - stop. Dead end.
Although panic fluttered in Yuffie's stomach for a moment, she took a deep breath and felt the grate beneath her fingers. End, maybe. Dead? No.
She heard Reno curse pants without kneepads behind her, but ignored him and set to work on the grate. It was one thing opening it from the outside, but quite another to do it from within. A shout below made her freeze in the motion of pulling up the grate.
"Damn it, they're not here!"
"Thhhey shhhould bee hhhhere."
"Thhhey could bee anywhhhere."
Loud swearing to match Reno's own joined the snakelike voices.
"Damn! And damn! We're going to have search the whole bloody place!" There were murmurs of dissent. "Come on, come on! If they're not here then they won't be coming here. They've got no way of finding this place! Now come ON and get out!"
Footsteps could be heard and then silence. Yuffie held her breath and then counted to twenty. Sure enough, after a few moments had passed, some more angry cursing ensued and the sound of a door being visciously slammed. On cue, Yuffie immediately attacked the grating once more.
Although Reno could see nothing, from the creaks that could be heard, he gathered the grate was putting up a valiant fight. But it was no match for Yuffie's skill. Although she came out of the spat with a bleeding finger, she managed to get it done. With a heave, the grate fell inwards.
Reno winced as it clattered noisily to the floor, but then again the alternative was to stay up here forever. There was simply no helping it. Yuffie slid fluidly down into the empty room, and Reno followed shortly after, glad to be out. It wasn't something he was going to do again anytime soon if he had any say in the matter.
The room was as dark as the hallways if not darker. There was no light at all to see by, and neither Reno nor Yuffie dared more around for fear of tripping over something. Reno thought hard. There had to be something he could do to let them see. . .
That's when he remembered the matches. How long had Yuffie spent laughing at the small pack of matches he'd hopefully taken from the cabin and the drenched cigarettes that had washed up on the beach the next day? Of course! He felt his pockets, and fished around for the small bundle.
He pulled out what he hoped like hell were matches and pulled one of them off the packet. The next part - actually lighting it - was a lot harder. The first time he missed completely, and the second time he scorched his fingers. The third time, however, he managed to get one going successfully.
Yuffie gave him a quiet nod of appreciation, and Reno lifted the match up higher so they could see around the room. Whatever they'd expected, this was not it. Secretly, Yuffie had expected to find the gun, the electro-mag rod and the conformer all laid out on individual pillows or something. Instead, here they were, thrown on the floor as if they didn't matter at all. Somehow that bothered Yuffie's sense of the dramatic.
There was a lot of other stuff in the room, but none of it seemed highly useful. Some broken furniture, at one end a small furnace, and some miscellaneous junk. Nothing was particularly attention grabbing, so Yuffie bent down and picked up her conformer. She held it almost fondly; one old warrior to another. Reno took his weapons as well, and he too paused to examine the gun in the faint light of the match.
He'd only asked for three things. Light, his gun, and outta here. Well, two out of three wasn't bad, even if the last one WAS the most important. Still, the first two could be used to get the last and that was what really mattered. Yuffie held up her conformer and watched it glint in the red light. It was time to get even.
For Wutai.
~*