"Transcending Reality" by: Emerald Eyes
Are you wondering what happened to Reno? Are you dying
to know what happened to Reno? Heh heh heh… read on, 'cuz I thoroughly enjoyed
creating this chapter. I don't own Final Fantasy
(Seifer: "No shit, bitch! You've said that every chapter so far!") {sweatdrop]
Uh… yeah… um… but I do however own Alex! (Alex: "Hey! I own myself,
thank you very much!") [sweatdrops again] Um… on with the story?
"I'm
not respectable, and never sensible, I've been incredible, so damned irascible
and I like the things I do so hooray for me… and fuck you!" –Bad Religion (if
this quote doesn't remind you of Reno, there's something wrong with you)
The television changed to a different channel whenever the ending credits for The X-Files flashed on the screen. On the new channel, the iconic opening theme for Star Wars could be heard.
Reno sat on the couch holding the channel changer in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other. His feet were carelessly propped up on the coffee table in front of him. His suit jacket was callously abandoned, now a rumpled heap on the floor. He reached for the box of leftover takeout food that he had earlier found in the refrigerator.
He had anticipated exploring this new world, though he had kept it to himself. He had remained indifferent whenever Alex had mentioned he would be staying, but behind that façade he could hardly contain his excitement.
He had spent most of the day wandering aimlessly around the small suburban town outside the apartment. Alex's dimension wasn't anything like he expected it to be. The differences between the two dimensions amazed him, even made him gape in unfeigned wonder at times, but it was the similarities that had interested him the most. He had walked down the street staring at almost-familiar buildings and cars. He had greeted people as they brushed past in a reminiscent, almost nostalgic, kind of way that reminded him of home. It brought a strong sense of irony to his mind every time he thought about it. In fact, it was more like home than he would ever want to admit.
In spite of what Alex had said about keeping a low profile, Reno had spent the majority of his time conversing with the locals and asking about as many curious questions as one from another dimension could ask. He had also discovered something that had become very important to him in the past day: the 7-Eleven.
Looking under couch cushions for spare change, and then finally finding Alex's wallet, the Turk had bought numerous amounts of junk food. And even in that aspect, things were still the same: Pepsi tasted like any other cola one could find in Midgar, chocolate chip cookies were still chocolate chip cookies, and popcorn was popcorn no matter where you went. Why, even the food he was eating at the moment reminded him of home. The box the food came in had said it was "Chinese," but to Reno, the food was obviously Wutaiian.
The only thing he hadn't experimented with was the alcohol, much to his dismay. Upon finding Alex's wallet, he had discovered from his driver's license that he was only 20 years old. That was probably the reason why there wasn't any alcohol in the fridge. Who would really blame him, Reno had thought, The kid's in college. He probably gets all the beer he needs at parties. So, trying to quench his insatiable need for alcohol he had found a local bar. There was only one problem with that: he was asked to show his identification. Reno had to stop himself from taking out his ShinRa ID card. Focused on the task at hand, he had almost forgotten where he was.
One event led to another, thus leading to the end of the day, where Reno currently had his lazy ass plopped on the couch, watching the television, drinking Pepsi, and eating Chinese food.
He had avoided every single protocol Alex had set for him… that is, all but one. Reno looked at his watch and promptly changed channels again, this time to something more informative about the world. A conservatively dressed woman appeared on the screen shuffling a bunch of papers. "Good evening, this is the ten o'clock news…."
The voice droned on as Reno only half listened. His wandering eyes drifted to the cabinet below the TV. Curiosity overruled a respect for someone else's personal things, and he soon found himself on the worn carpet prying through the various items.
Video tapes, books, CDs, video games… the list went on, most of the items callously forsaken on the floor behind him. But, ironically enough, Reno had stumbled across an item that had captured his fickle interest: the Final Fantasy games. He had to admit, he was quite surprised whenever he pulled out a disc case and found a computer-generated picture of Seifer and Squall on the front. And the disc after that, where he had been astonished to find a very erroneous picture of his archenemy, Cloud Strife.
His eyed the game system underneath the TV forlornly, curious as to how accurate Final Fantasy VII really was. Smiling mischievously, he popped the lid on the console, and inserted the disc.
The ten o'clock news was abandoned in a heartbeat.
^_^_^_^
"I'm leaving," he said impassively, trying to ignore Tifa's constant reprimands.
"Whoa! No way!" Tifa protested. They were in the ShinRa mansion. All of Avalanche was informed of the uncanny reappearance of Sephiroth, but only two members could make it to Nibelheim in time: Tifa being one, and Cloud the other. "I don't even know who the hell you are! You know almost everything about Cloud and you told Vincent to call me and tell me Sephiroth is alive. How did you know that anyhow? I thought only Cloud could tell."
"Someone I know had a little run-in with Hojo."
"Who the fuck are you!? Where do you come from!?" she screamed. The diatribe was growing in decibels, and was starting to disturb the other residents in the house.
The DC members, who were currently in another room, poked their heads out into the hallway to see what the matter was. Seifer, who was extremely enervated from his excursion the previous night, had sat down in the middle of the hallway with his back propped up against the wall. He had fallen asleep that way, and was now stirring uneasily at the cacophony of Tifa's irate voice.
Tired of Tifa's nagging chastising, Alex turned around and let loose an unexpected paroxysm. "My name is Alexander Sloan. I'm from a place called Earth. You don't know where it is because it's not on this planet. In fact, it's not in this dimension, so don't start pushing me around like I'm some novice who doesn't know what the fuck he's doing, girly."
As quickly as the outburst had started, it stopped, and Alex turned around once again. Tifa stood with her jaw agape, stunned into affronted silence.
Cloud walked up next to her, scrutinizing her and the man walking down the dingy halls ahead of her. He commented at the sour look on her face. "What's wrong with you?"
Tifa glowered at Alex's retreating form. "Asshole," she said acerbically and stormed off in the opposite direction.
Cloud stared at her for a moment, watching as she callously kicked Seifer's sleeping form.
"Ow! What the fuck, Lady?!" an angry gunblade specialist exclaimed.
The ex-SOLDIER sighed as Tifa ignored the blonde and continued down the hall towards the stairs. As he looked the opposite way, he discovered the conundrum known as Alex walking back through the halls, this time carrying the dimension-warping device.
The azure-eyed man stopped and looked at all who were present in the hallway. "Seifer!" he called out to the now-conscious blonde, "Call Squall and Eiko on the phone. Tell them to be ready for anything unexpected. We may need all the people we can get if we really do have to face Sephiroth."
The ex-knight nodded and got up to retrieve the cell phone, while Alex began to press buttons on the contraption that would soon take him home. He was going to go to Earth alone. After all, it would seem a little suspicious if a large group of people suddenly appeared out of nowhere. If there was any danger, the rest would follow. If there wasn't, then he would find Reno, wherever he was, and kick his ass.
Is going alone such a good idea? His mind kept on unconsciously musing sick possibilities: what if he ran into Sephiroth and couldn't escape in time? Who would warn the others? Would Earth be destroyed by Meteor? Who would they blame? Him?
He looked around the dusty, sunlit hallway of the top floor for the second time. Who could he take with him? He spent a scarce amount of time scrutinizing the people mentally. Vincent would be too conspicuous, with the claw and the red eyes. Seifer would be too stubborn, and if they ever did run into Sephiroth the ex-knight might end up getting them both killed. He didn't doubt Raijin's skills as a fighter, but his judgment wasn't the best. And Fujin: the girl was paranoid. She didn't trust anyone but Raijin and Seifer. Cloud would have been a good person to take along, but there was an exception: Sephiroth could manipulate him… and the results could be disastrous. Tifa…? Alex shook his head. It wouldn't work out. The girl didn't trust him. In fact, she almost seemed to blame him for the ex-general's reappearance. If he couldn't take any of those people, then who could he take?
He was distracted from his thoughts when a sound could be heard emanating from one of the bedrooms down the hall. A few minutes later Rufus emerged from the room. He looked like he had been caught in the middle of one of Pandemona's wind storms, and there was no better way to describe it. His jacket was gone, probably discarded on the dusty old carpet, or on the top of the bed he was sleeping on. His clothes were a mess: the long sleeved black shirt he was wearing wasn't tucked in anymore and his pants were wrinkled. His flaxen hair was disheveled so much that he was hardly recognizable as the same person.
Cloud turned towards the ex-president and glared. Rufus averted his gaze so he would not have to look in the ex-SOLDIER's direction.
Earlier, when the two Avalanche members first saw the blonde, they had engaged in a heated argument. Avalanche members wanting to know how he ended up surviving the Weapon's blast, and Rufus wanting to know why they still cared about such a thing if his company was destroyed. Lasting about ten minutes, the dispute had ended with Rufus's aloof words, "I'm not dead. Deal with it, Miss Lockheart." And then he had walked out of the foyer; Avalanche members still staring daggers into the back of his head.
As it turned out, the ex-president had found the least-dusty room in the mansion and had decided to catch up on some much needed sleep. Alex had almost expected it from him. The blonde had become so tired that he had been plagued with an onslaught of incompetence earlier in the day. Alex, on the other hand, hadn't gotten any sleep at all. But he was wide-awake. How could he sleep? His planet was about to be destroyed.
"What's going on?" Rufus said, bringing Alex's mind back into the present. "I heard someone yelling."
"Yeah," Alex responded dryly, "That was Tifa." The blonde's face involuntarily twisted into a scowl at the mention of the name.
He's going to snap if he stays here much longer, Alex thought as he observed Rufus's demeanor starting to crumble from the cold stares received by Avalanche. The whole planet thinks he's dead… it's as if he doesn't belong here anymore.
And suddenly Alex knew who would be the perfect person to take to Earth. But before any thoughts could be spoken, a distraught Seifer ran out from one of the rooms, the DC members following closely behind.
"There's some fucked up shit going on," he said, a hint of alarm detected in his voice.
"Yeah," Raijin added, "Bad news from both Squall and Eiko!"
"Well?!" he asked, for a moment becoming apprehensive, "what is it?"
"Hojo paid a visit to Balamb Garden," the blonde explained, "He showed up with a bunch of monsters and just started attacking everyone."
"He went postal, you know?" Raijin added again.
"IRVINE. GONE," the silver-haired Fujin informed.
"Yeah," Seifer said breathlessly, impatient to get the whole story told, "Hojo took him for some experiment. He said some shit about Jenova and that 'the project must continue'… whatever that means."
Cloud's eyes widened and stared in horror at the ex-knight. "Fuck!"
"The Jenova Project…" someone whispered from behind Alex.
The azure-eyed man spun around to face the person who had spoken. "Vincent…" he breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment he had thought it was Sephiroth or Hojo. Vincent, unlike anyone else, did not feel the least bit intimidated at the mention of the Project. His eyes only showed a deep hatred for the words.
"You can take me there, can't you?" the Vincent asked. It was hard to tell whom he was addressing. His dark crimson eyes beheld a far off, distant look, like he was being haunted by memories from long ago.
Alex wasn't too fond of the idea at first. He didn't want to just start sending people all over the place, but he remembered what the ex-Turk had been though. He didn't blame him for wanting revenge.
Absently, Alex nodded. "Yeah…" There were just so many tragic incidents lately that he doubted that even Aeris, if she were still alive, would have been optimistic about it.
"Wait!" Seifer's urgent voice could be heard again, "I'm not done yet!"
Everyone looked at him expectantly. The ex-knight hung his head in unfeigned apprehension. "Ultimecia attacked Lindblum, in Eiko's world."
"There's another lunatic out there too?" Cloud asked anxiously.
"SORCERESS," Fujin explained, "USES MAGIC. DOESN'T JUNCTION."
"Yeah, but here's the news" Raijin retaliated to Cloud's remark, "Ultimecia and that Jenova chick are the same person!"
This bit of information captured everyone's attention. "What?" Alex demanded.
Seifer sighed, quite uncomfortable about the Sorceress being the subject of conversation. "Squall told me that Hojo mentioned it. The SeeD wanted to know why it was any of his damned business getting involved in affairs from another dimension. The Professor simply told him that Ultimecia is Jenova and the Sorceress was most definitely his business."
"He could be lying," Tifa said from across the hall, her temporary brooding finally over.
"He wouldn't lie," Vincent informed.
"EXPLAIN," Fujin ordered.
"Vince's right," Cloud confirmed, "Hojo likes to fuck with your mind. He'll tell you bits and pieces of the truth, just enough to make you curious… to make you think. Then he'll shut up and leave you hanging with the unanswered questions and the mystery of his insanity."
"Fuck," Alex said, "He's not making this easy for us."
"Isn't there any good news?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah, actually there is" Seifer said, surprising everyone else. "Eiko found the rest of the Turks."
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. It was the first good news he'd heard since the start of the whole debacle.
There was a long moment of silence before anyone spoke. The first to say anything was Seifer.
"I want to go to Lindblum," he stated indifferently.
"I'm going with Vince," Cloud stated a few minutes later, "Hojo fucked up our lives. I think it's time we ruined his."
"I'm going with Cloud," Tifa chimed in, "Wherever he goes, I go."
"SEIFER?" Fujin asked her friend.
"Yeah," he authorized, taking a shaky breath. "You guys can come. And plus, we're posse! And…" he paused looking a little worried, then admitted, "besides, I think I'm going to need your help anyhow."
Ultimecia bothered him to no end. It had felt good being a Sorceress's Knight. It had felt good until he had learned that he was being used. And by then it was too late. She manipulated him and made him inflict damage on the world. And it all led up to Time Compression. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was now afraid of her: afraid of being brainwashed again.
"Um…" Tifa spoke up meekly, "the rest of Avalanche knows that Sephiroth is out there. If he comes here, I'm sure they could hold him off until we get back." She gave Alex a week smile, a sign that she was starting to warm up to him.
Alex nodded his head curtly to barmaid's information. "Then I guess we all know what we have to do."
^_^_^_^
Reno set down the controller and tried fruitlessly to work out the cramp in his thumb. He had been playing the Final Fantasy games almost nonstop.
On the television, the Lifestream and Holy flowed across the planet, purging it of Meteor. And then finally Aeris's face was shown silhouetted against glowing ashes of mako. One game successfully completed. And it was surprisingly accurate, too… assuming that all the parts of the game were as accurate as the miniscule cameos of the Turks.
He only had to finish two more games.
The Lunatic Pandora was confusing, and the overwhelming appearances by Seifer weren't helping his attitude towards the place much. The game was disturbingly accurate with the Sorceress's Knight's personality. Seifer was an asshole. But Reno had to admit to himself that he liked the blonde better than Squall. At least the knight had an opinion, unlike his indifferent enemy.
And the purple-haired girl: she was more bizarre than he had originally thought possible. She lived in some ruined town with a bunch of funny-looking mogs that talked, called moogles. Just recently he had watched a snazzy cut scene involving Kuja summoning Bahamut upon the black mages.
Reno took a sip of Pepsi as he contemplated his gaming adventure that took place over the past few days. It was hard to believe that it was completely real. Who would have thought it could be possible to use magic without materia, or to draw magic from your enemies? It seemed almost unimaginable… almost—well, for lack of a better word—fantasy-like. And this new environment that he was in? This place that was so similar to home, yet so different seemed even more unimaginable than the earlier mentioned.
That thought brought him back to the game he was playing. Reno nearly cracked up as he saw the image on the screen. Red XIII. With children. "Yeah," he said to himself amusedly, a smile gracing his lips, "the overgrown house pet has offspring. That's real believable. I thought he was the only one left?" He sighed and turned off the game. "I don't even want to know how that happened!"
But what he saw on the television after he shut off the game made him choke on the cola in his mouth. He spat out the carbonated soft drink and stared at the screen in disbelief. There sat the conservatively dressed woman that greeted him every night with the news that he so effectively tried to ignore. But this time his efforts to lose interest in the news proved futile.
On the TV the woman droned on while Reno's eyes were glued to the picture on the screen. It was a modified version, made to blend in to the society of Earth, but it was still the same. Although the hair was cut shorter, and the leather outfit forsaken for something a little more inconspicuous, the Turk could never forget the harsh mako glare in his cold aquamarine eyes. It was Sephiroth.
As he finally got around to listening to the actual details, he discovered that the General was terrorizing a small town not too far away: 'Blackwood, Pennsylvania,' from what the woman on the Ten O'clock News was telling him.
"Shit!" the redhead exclaimed, a panicked expression growing on his face. He looked around the tiny apartment for any items that might help him if he would happen to get in a battle.
He spotted the familiar green orb of his level 2 Cure materia on the coffee table next to the empty box of Chinese food. Grabbing it hastily, he ran towards the door, snatching his navy blue Turks jacket and nightstick on the way out.
Halfway out the door he realized that he wouldn't get to Blackwood anytime soon if he walked. I guess I'll just have to catch a ride from someone, he thought, wincing at the idea of being a hitchhiker.
"Damn, I need a beer," he said to himself as he closed the door behind him.
The lock clicked, and a frantic answering machine message resounded through the empty apartment with no one there to hear it.
^_^_^_^
Alex turned the key into the lock and opened the door. As he expected, there wasn't anyone present in the room beyond.
"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath, observing the apartment and all its disorderly glory. "Where the fuck did he go?" He began searching the trashed place for any clue as to where the Turk went.
Behind him, Rufus Shinra passively entered the room, observing the numerous piles of junk left disarrayed randomly on the floor. He laughed quietly to himself. "In the short time that I was President, I came close to firing him almost ten times."
"Oh, really?" Alex asked, momentarily distracted from the task at hand, "So why didn't you fire him?"
Rufus shrugged, "He may not have liked to follow orders much, but he was good at his job."
"…what's that?" Alex asked nonchalantly as he picked up a crumpled receipt off the floor, "You mean the assassinations?"
Rufus didn't get a chance to answer. Alex cut him off with a long strain of curses as he read the words on the now readable receipt. "Shit! He spent 60 dollars at a 7-godamned-Eleven!"
The ex-president looked at him quizzically for a moment before picking up a 20 oz. bottle of Pepsi from the couch. "Is that where this came from?" he asked, indicating the bottle.
The raven-haired man looked at the blonde and sighed, quite annoyed at the redheaded Turk at the moment.
Rufus, on a sudden surge of curiosity, unscrewed the cap and sampled the unidentifiable drink. "Hey!" he exclaimed, sapphire eyes sparkling with wonder, "This tastes like that cola I used to drink when I was a kid. I used to go to this one place in Sector 8 that sold it…"
Alex sent him a murderous look that clearly told him to shut up. "Here," he said in an aggravated voice. He threw a bundle of clothes in the general direction of the white-clad man. "Make yourself useful and change clothes. You'll really look suspicious if you go out in public wearing something like that." He indicated Rufus's sophisticated, white suit.
The blonde picked up the bundle and stared at it dubiously, silently questioning the other man's taste in clothing. After a few minutes he faltered under Alex's irate glare, and he reluctantly trudged off towards the door that he guessed led to the bathroom.
Alex cursed yet again when his search of the room proved fruitless. Tired and stressed, he slipped off his jacket, letting it fall to the floor. He plopped onto the couch, closed his eyes, and placed his head in his hands. Where can Reno be? Where's Sephiroth?
And all of a sudden it hit him. "I'm such a moron," he whispered to himself as a look of revelation crossed his face. He snatched the channel changer from the cushion next to him and hit the 'power' button.
The television flashed on revealing the local news. For a brief moment he couldn't move, he couldn't talk, he couldn't even think. The face on the screen kept him frozen in place. It was most definitely Sephiroth. "Rufus?" he tried to call. It barely came out as a whisper. "Hey, Rufus!" he called, more successful this time, "Looks like we've got trouble!"
"What was that?" Rufus asked as he came out of the bathroom. He was clad in khaki cargo pants and an oversized black t-shirt. His blonde hair was still ruffled and unruly being that he didn't have time to do anything with it before he left. His appearance radiated the illusion that he was younger than he actually was. Even Alex, in his old, baggy jeans and faded gray t-shirt, looked more sophisticated than he did at the moment. The sight would have been humorous if not for the seriousness of the situation.
"Look who got his 15 minutes of fame," Alex commented, staring coldly at the TV.
"Sephiroth," the other identified the picture, gaping at the television with interest. On the screen, a woman, without any hint of fear in her voice, droned on about what she so insignificantly labeled a 'disaster.'
They both listened intently to her voice: "…as of yet this man is unidentified. The culprit appears to be in his early thirties. He has white hair and green eyes. If you see him do not approach him. He is considered extremely dangerous…"
"'Extremely dangerous?'" Rufus mocked, "That's an understatement."
"Come on!" Alex scolded the woman, "Tell me where he is!"
As if the woman could hear his desperate pleas, she revealed the location of the catastrophe.
"Blackwood!" Alex said triumphantly.
"Stay here, Rufus. I have to get the rest of Avalanche." The raven-haired man once again pressed a few buttons on the dimension-warping device. However, this time, nothing happened.
"What?" He asked ambiguously as he repeated the procedure, again coming up with the same results. "It's not working!"
Rufus glanced askance at the device. "You mean we can't go back?" A panicked expression now painted his face.
"No, not at the moment," Alex sighed, "We'll just have to go to Blackwood ourselves."
"Wait a minute. I don't have my shotgun, and I'm sure someone like you don't have any weapons. I can't just go up to him and say 'Great Sephiroth, I'm the President of ShinRa Electric Power Company and I'm ordering you to stop destroying this town'" Rufus insisted, "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know," Alex shrugged, "I'll figure it out when we get there."
He dug his car keys out of his pocket and walked towards the door.
Rufus sighed and followed him out of the apartment. "Why do I get the feeling that we're all going to die?"
End Ch. 9 at 06.16.01.
Okay, that was long. I didn't want to cut it off
there, but I guess I had to or it wouldn't have gotten posted until forever. I
created the town 'Blackwood,' just in case you're curious. No, it's not a real
place. I put it in Pennsylvania because that's where I live ^_^ Anywho, look
for the next chapter within a month, probably less than that, where you can
expect to find out about Reno's hitchhiking adventure and (hopefully) get to
see His Evilness, Sephy.