By Word of Mouth,
By Ealinesse
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DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of the Final Fantasy series - characters, items, ideas, nothing. I do
not claim to. I do own Carlos, and his little goonies, however, even though I may not like them much at times...
WARNINGS: Maybe a little language.
FEEDBACK: Yes please! Reviews are always welcome ^_^
(very short) AUTHOR'S NOTES: ... at end of chapter.
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Chapter Eleven: It All Comes Tumbling Down...
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'Uh oh,' were two very disjointed words that Reno managed to voice inside his head with overachieved, intelligent vigour as he felt Yuffie stiffen beside him. "What is it?"
Yuffie seemed to face him in slow motion, her eyes wide as she shook her head as if to clear it. It was as if a light had been turned on inside her head and he visibly saw her shudder. He couldn't see the expression on her face, but one thing was clear: by the set of her lips, it was not of joy.
"What?" he repeated, but she only turned away and lifted her arm to point to an object at the unfolding scene below. He frowned, eyeing the objects with curiosity. "The bags?" She nodded and Reno's frown only deepened as she moved her arms in a large circle. She mouthed one over-emphasised word, which he knew all-too well, and his expression changed into a grimace.
"Boom? You've got explosives in there?"
The ninja visibly winced. Instead of replying she turned to watch, gesturing with her head for him to do the same. He obliged and felt his own resolve break, but turned back to her when the idea ran itself with disturbing clarity through his mind.
"Are you nuts?"
She just raised an eyebrow, and muttered, "I would have been down there watching them, but you had to..." But her words trailed off into silence as Reno pointed. The blood drained from the ninja's face as she saw the bags brought out, and she wrung nervous hands together as she watched a man step back, selected to open the twin weapons. She stared blankly in blind shock as he did so, his lips drawn back in a thin line, a frown cast upon his face in the dim light...
But that expression lasted for only a second. A sudden explosion of bright red light bloomed outward in the alley, followed by a vicious roar. They both simultaneously ducked downward as a plume of hot, charcoal smoke drifted overhead, and Yuffie muffled a rough cough as she inhaled a reflex mouthful of the rotten carbon. The old building they were resting on groaned under the sudden pressure, and she felt a strong grip on her arm to prevent them from separating.
Then, all of a sudden it was over, and the alley was quiet again. The hazy smoke began to clear, but it was obvious by the way it was rising that the area wasn't going to be as light as it was before for quite a while. Peeking out from under her arms Yuffie winced as she took an experimental breath. The air was thick and dank, cold again. She closed her eyes and opened her ears, but heard nothing. Hope flared in her chest as she remembered the yell she had heard upon the large ruckus, and the crash.
But it was not meant to be. She looked up just in time to clearly see four figures stand shakily in the clearing, and she pressed herself low against the cool concrete. A larger one stood out and Yuffie clearly recognised the form of her father's kidnapper.Her heart sunk and her worst fears were realised. He looked larger somehow, more dangerous covered in the soot that cloaked him in a satanic layer of black. He stood taller, more menacing, his eyes glinting ebony in the night.
Yuffie couldn't help but jump when the man's gaze drifted over them before passing on, but her fright was even worse as a gloved hand landed on her shoulder. Gathering her wits about her Yuffie offered a scowl at Reno for giving her such a fright, but stopped cold when a loud, crumbling sound right in front of them disturbed the recovering silence. She looked forward just in time to see the cover they had been hiding behind shudder, then corrode before their eyes. She only managed a brief gasp before a voice yelled through the night, frosty and cruel, and she met eyes with the man for the first time that night.
"After them!"
It took her a second to react, but that was one too late as she realised they were now exposed to the scene below. Yuffie saw the man spare only a brief glance at the mutilated corpse before her hand was gripped fiercely and she was pulled roughly to her feet. Instantaneously a wall of solid gunfire erupted around them as they fled across the rooftops. She followed her silent saviour numbly into the darkness, too bewildered to truly register the implications of what had just evolved.
"Don't let them get away! Kill them!"
'No,' she thought, 'They won't only kill us.'
"Father..."
How could you fail…* * * * *
It took fifteen minutes to divert the attention of their followers, another five after that for them to even get anywhere near Reno's room at the Inn, which was closer than her own home. For the entirety of that time Yuffie was in an unbreakable daze. As they scaled the steps to his room she was led closely by Reno, who said nothing until they were safe inside.
The Turk closed the door quickly with wary glance into the hallway before he double-checked the lock. He turned, expecting to see her as mellow as she had been before, but all that he registered was the deep-seated anger in her eyes, traced lividly with fear. But fear of what? He followed with unperturbed eyes as she sat down on the solo chair opposite the door, then stood up again, unsure of herself, and it was then that he suddenly understood. She was going to blame this on him.
He watched as the rage continued to burn in her eyes, and suddenly she was diving at him, her fists struggling to find purchase on his body. She pounded at him, and although he knew she felt he deserved hit, he still blamed her. It wasn't his fault he'd decided it wasn't worthwhile enough for him to save her life. Was it his fault that they'd planned this?
He winced as an especially forceful blow rained down on his tender shoulder, and then another, and another. He cursed as it began to throb but he didn't stop her. In an odd way he felt he deserved it, and he knew he shouldn't have, but any action he may have taken was stopped by the look in Yuffie's eyes. He'd seen it before at Sector Seven in Lockhart's own eyes when he'd brought down the plate. Somehow, though almost entirely different, he felt as if it were the same. She wasn't the only one who had lost out from that.
"Reno, you jerk! You shouldn't have stopped me from going down there!"
It took him a while to notice that she was crying, and another couple of minutes to realise that she had stopped hitting him. Opening eyes he hadn't realised he'd closed Reno looked down to see Yuffie standing stock still, her breath hitching in her throat occasionally as she bit back sobs, her shoulders rising and fall unevenly as she struggled to get herself under control. For a moment he was unsure of what to do, but for what she needed he quickly realised that acting like anyone but himself would only get him into more trouble. He could see she was trying to hide her tears, although it wasn't really succeeding.
He smirked unenthusiastically, rubbing at his shoulder as she sank down onto the bed. "You know, you would have to be the most ungrateful person I have met in my life. I think you're the first person who has actually insulted me for saving their life. You wonder why I didn't thank you for the antidote."
Silence, then, "You make it sound as if you save damsels in distress almost everyday."
He snorted. At least she wasn't hitting him anymore. "Whose to say I don't?"
There was a snort then a short pause. "Hey, Reno?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"For standing still long enough to let me kick your ass. I've been waiting to do that for a long time."
Reno's jaw dropped and he looked up, spotting the small smirk on her face just fast enough to see it sink back into a frown. He watched as she stood suddenly then began walking to the door, wiping at her eyes to try to hide the tears.
Reno narrowed his eyes. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I've got to tell Staniv what's happened."
"Right now?"
"No, tomorrow."
He stood and darted over to the door before she could open it, effectively removing it from her view. He looked her in the eye, only to have her turn her head. He frowned, shaking his head. "You can't go yet."
"And why not?"
"You really think they've stopped searching for us? Better to wait until later when they've given up. If they were going to kill you before, what do you think they're going to do to you now?"
Reno watched as Yuffie blanched, then bit her lip. She made no move to leave, but then she made no move to turn around either. "You know you can't leave yet," he added.
"But I have to tell them what's going on. I'm not an invalid, Reno, I can take care of myself."
"I know you're not, but you're certainly not in your right mind, either."
Yuffie glowered up at him through foggy eyes and remained stuck in the spot.
Reno scowled. "Christ, will you think! I know you're no invalid, you just did a fine job of smacking me over, but that's not the point. There were at least four of them in that alleyway, not including Carlos. How many others do you think are after you? The odds seem just a tad unfair, don't you think?"
Yuffie began tapping her foot impatiently, though he could almost see his words ticking over in her mind. After a moment she shook her head and folded her arms. "No," she said. "What is unfair is that I'm getting lectured on common sense by a Turk!"
Reno winced, knowing that his next action was going to bring him a lot of suffering… But not nearly as much suffering as he'd go through if Reeve were to find out he'd let Yuffie get hurt because he'd let her go - or worse.
As Yuffie tried to push past him Reno put a hand on his hip, pulling his handcuffs out of his jacket pocket with the other. He'd intended to use them on her earlier if she didn't comply with his request to follow him, but he was glad at least they had come in handy. Before she could so much as react he snapped the cuffs around her wrists and pulled her over to the only object that would stay still under the pressure of struggling (not to mention muffle it): the bed. He almost smirked at the sight, but forgot any ideas as he watched her begin to struggle with the cuffs.
"Hey!"
Yuffie continued her struggle.
Reno walked over to her and grabbed her wrist. "Enough. The last thing I want to have to do is pay damages for the bed because you've turned into a behemoth and wrecked it!"
Yuffie scowled. "I thought you'd be used to that." But she ceased her struggle. Instead she began twisting herself around, rearranging herself into a less vulnerable position. One where she could place the full effect of her glare on Reno.
Reno watched all of this with a rather amused smirk, although he couldn't help but wonder how it had come to this. If she had of just listened in the first place! "You finished?" he asked, as she tried unsuccessfully to cross her arms with one tied to the bedpost.
"Not exactly," she said. Reno didn't like the complacent sneer on her face. "If I have to sit here and put up with your presence, then you're going to have to put up with my questions… the ones you didn't answer before. Those, in case you're wondering, are directly related to why you're even here in the first place!"
Reno winced. This was going to be a long night.
"Well?"
"All right, where do you want me to start?"
There was a brief snort, followed by a rather fake yawn as Yuffie stretched languidly, hampered only a little by the cuff around her wrist. "Oh, the beginning would be nice. Seems like we've got all night."
* * * * *
"So you're saying that this Carlos guy – he's my father's kidnapper?"
"Yes."
"What about the other men in the alley?"
"Working for him, I'm afraid. I'm not sure under what circumstances."
"Is he paying them?"
"Most probably."
A scowl played across Yuffie's face. "And you're here to keep an eye on Carlos, and you knew he had my father all along!"
Reno put his hands palm-up in the air in a gesture of surrender. "Woah, hold up, I'm not saying that at all."
"Well what are you saying?"
"We've had reason to believe that Carlos has been escaped for some while. He was on parole and during the course of his probation he was under house arrest, though the parole officer thought something funny was going on. Carlos's tag seemed to fluctuate on and off, and he thought that it was faulty. Three weeks ago his signal disappeared completely, and we were notified by the parole board that he'd gone missing. We weren't sure whether Carlos actually knew he was off the radar or not, so I was assigned to keep an eye on him until Elena and Rude arrive and we can take action. Apparently, he knew. When I got to Wutai three days ago I heard a ruckus while administering the Antidote, and looked out the window. Carlos was there, beating the living shit out of some poor bastard. I figured I may as well have started following him then, to make things a lot easier, so I left through the window and began following him."
Reno watched as Yuffie digested the information. She was a lot quieter now, though whether it was because she'd finally got what she wanted, or whether she had finished being angry with him. Somehow he greatly doubted the latter explanation.
"So when you left through the alleyway…"
Reno smirked. "I was after Carlos, I wasn't ditching you, brat."
There was silence for a moment, where Reno wondered why she looked so relieved. For a moment Yuffie's expression borderlined, then she got herself under control, her face carefully neutral.
"So Carlos – how did you know where I was meeting him"
Reno frowned. "While I was watching out for Carlos in the town centre I bumped into this guy. It took me a while to realise who he was, and I ended up having to chase him down to get some info out of him. Turned out the reason he looked familiar was because he was the guy I cured – the one Carlos was beating the shit out of in the alley. He was reluctant to give me anything so much as his name, and before I could stop him he ran off. He seemed afraid that Carlos would kill him for interacting with me."
"So… "
"So, I didn't think anything of it. I left, searched for Carlos some more, and turned up no results. When I got back here someone had slipped a note under my door, telling me to be at the 4th back alley at a specific time. I got the same note last night, and tonight."
Yuffie paled. "You mean to say Carlos was inviting you there?"
"No. The note wouldn't have been from Carlos. I've been there every night but the first, and I had no idea that it was you he was with until tonight. He, in turn, had no idea I was there. I made well sure of that. The note said 'keep well hidden', and I wasn't inclined to disagree."
"So you mean that whoever that man was is selling Carlos out?"
"He was frightened for his life."
"And that note…"
Reno slipped the two small squares of paper out of his pocket and placed them on the bed in front of the ninja. He watched as Yuffie pulled hers out and placed held them firmly in her hand, examining both sets closely.
"They're not written by the same people," she murmured eventually. "It can't be from Carlos. Carlos can spell. This guy can't."
"Correct."
"So we're safe here?"
Reno shrugged. "Safer than your place, apparently, if Godo was stolen out of the night without so much as a sign of forced entry."
Yuffie ignored the comment. She tugged at her lip thoughtfully. "Wait a minute," she said. "You said that it was three weeks ago you last heard from the psyche and parole officers."
"Ah." He offered a rueful smile, which quickly twisted into an expression of distaste. "Another reason I'm here, though I figured that part out pretty easily. It's not hard to figure out why someone hasn't contacted you for three weeks when you walk into their office and find them lying in offices painted with their own blood."
Yuffie paled. "T-they're dead? Both of them?"
Reno nodded. "Apparently in all of the current upheaval they forgot to check up on them every now and then."
"Oh gods."
"Yep."
"How long have they been…"
"Dead? I can't say, but by the way their office smells of rot, no more than two or so weeks."
"The police? Do they know?"
"Never mind that, I left a note on their desk with info about that among other things."
"So…"
"So they've got a nice pretty investigation to follow up this week."
Yuffie sighed. She went quiet for a moment, then when she next spoke, her voice was but a whisper. "Why my father?"
Reno shrugged, massaging feeling into his legs as they began to fall asleep. "Why not? He has money and people who'd do anything to ensure his safety. He was also part of the alliance that enforced the new immigration rule, and the one with the most money at that."
"The new immigration rule?"
"Carlos and his family were from Midgar. They were poor and had to scratch for money and food. Not an unusual story, I assure you. It ended up that Carlos somehow got his family to Wutai, hoping for a new start seeing as there was little use for him in Midgar. To cut a long story short he got caught, his family got deported, and he was arrested, jailed and trialed. His wife committed suicide a couple of years later, and his children were shipped off to an orphanage. No surprise he blames the Alliance for all of it."
"But it's not the Alliance's fault he had no money!"
"It's just the way it goes, Yuff."
They fell into silence, one where Yuffie continued to pick at her cuffs, and where he tried as hard as he could to keep himself from yawning, to keep his eyes open. It had been a long, sleepless three days. He sat back in his seat, closing his eyes for what he thought was only a moment before letting a small sigh escape his lips. He opened his eyes, noting that Yuffie had rolled over, her back to him. He could hear her breath coming slowly, caught deep within her own slumber. Perhaps he had fallen asleep?
He wasn't sure how long he sat there, wasn't sure how long he'd been staring into space, but he was rudely jolted out of it as a sudden noise made him jump to his feet. He spun, trying to find the source, his gun drawn. It wasn't until the sound came again that he realised it was coming from Yuffie.
Reno took a cautious step forward. If this was some trick…
"Brat?"
She didn't so much as move, and as Reno made his way around the bed to where he could see her face, she let go another whimper and curled into a small ball, her arms wrapping around her body as she shivered. Reno frowned. Was she having a nightmare? He crouched beside her bed and reholstered his gun, his hand reaching out to tap her on the shoulder.
"Yuffie, wake up."
Her only reply as his hand made contact with her shoulder was to curl up tighter.
"Yuff?" He shook her gently, about to give up on even trying to wake her when a small hand snaked out to hold his. It was followed soon by another, and before he could so much as blink, his hand was swallowed up in a deathgrip powerful enough to rival even Rude's. Her whimpering ceased, and she stilled. For a moment Reno was unsure of what to do. Did he risk waking her and facing her wrath, or should he wait until she wakes up by herself and let her go?
Reno sat down by the bed, wincing as the grip tightened on his hand. He struggled to flex his fingers as they began to cramp up. He only hoped she would wake up soon, before he lost all feeling in his arm completely. He'd hate to have to chew his arm off just to be free of the brat.
After a while Reno allowed his eyes to slip closed and his breathing to slow. He tipped his head back and rested it against the small bedside cabinet, yawning ever so slightly. If he had to sit down here then he may as well get some sleep, one way or the other.
* * * * *
Reno awoke a lot earlier than he'd have liked to the sound of Yuffie's voice coming from just beside him. He couldn't quite make out the words, though he could tell they were distressed by the sheer tone of them. Cracking open an eye the Turk looked up to his right, noting that his arm that had long-since fallen asleep had been released. He pulled the limb back possessively, just in case she decided to reach out and grab it again, and began flexing the fingers gingerly in hopes of effectively restoring the feeling as fast as he could.
As he felt the painful rush of blood begin to flow back into his hand, Reno stretched quietly. When he was done he turned to Yuffie, a slow frown creeping across his face as he watched her lips move with the smallest of sounds, half-forming words that were barely so much as a whisper. He cocked his head to the side, confused. Her eyes were closed, was she sleep talking?
Reno found himself leaning closer, straining to catch the sentences spilling from her lips. When he couldn't, he leaned even further forward, stopping when the words finally reached his ears.
"…why did I fail…?"
'Fail what? Is she just dreaming?' Reno sat back, shaking his head. He looked at his watch, trying to distract himself. He was reading way too much into this. This was getting too close "Three-oh-seven," he whispered, standing. Could they afford to head back now? Could he wake her and take her home? It had been over six hours since Carlos had begun searching for them, perhaps they had a better chance now.
"Yuffie? Oi, brat." Reno stood and tapped at her shoulder, shaking her quickly before retrieving his hand quickly. The last thing he wanted was a repetition of before.
There was a small groan from the bed, then a muffled, "Go 'way. Le'me sleep."
Reno snorted and tapped her shoulder again, a little harder this time. "Come on, wake up. You want to go home or not?"
Yuffie sat up instantly, her hands flying to her eyes even as her arm was snapped back sharply by the small chain. Reno winced as she let out a small yelp, and rubbed his fist unconsciously as he began to flex his fingers again. The feeling had returned, but the pins and needles hadn't quite receded.
A moment later Yuffie was focussing bleary eyes on him. Reno searched her eyes for any recognition of what she'd done, but found nothing. He almost sighed in relief. He could almost imagine her blaming him for that.
"We're going?"
Reno pulled the key to the handcuffs from his pocket. "Can I trust you not to do anything?"
Yuffie smirked. "Can I trust you?"
Reno threw his gaze skyward, rubbing his temples as he felt the beginning of a very powerful headache brewing. "Very funny."
"I wasn't joking."
"I know." He bent down and unlocked the chain attached to her wrist, then pocketed both items. "Better?"
"Much." Yuffie stood, rubbing her wrist absently as she headed toward the door. She didn't bother to ask whether Reno was coming with her, he hadn't listened to her when she'd told him to go away before, and she couldn't imagine him beginning now.
* * * * *
Yuffie watched Reno out of the corner of her eye as he watched her out of the corner of his eye for any reaction. They stood at the very entrance to the pagoda, making no move to enter as the warm lamplight bathed them in an eerie glow. She nearly growled in frustration. Why couldn't he just tell her intention instead of standing here!
"What?" Reno asked when she didn't turn away. They had met no resistance, and hadn't seen so much as a street rat on their way here.
Yuffie scowled, her eyes hidden as she turned away. "We're here."
"And?"
"That's it."
He shrugged absently. "So why the weird look?"
"What weird look?"
Yuffie could see the Turk clearly roll his glowing eyes in the dark. "Forget it."
They stood there awkwardly for a few more minutes until the growing cold got to them, and Yuffie began chafing her arms with the palms of her hands. Quite suddenly the ninja turned to face the redheaded Turk, and he appraised her with a steadfast look when she said nothing. What did you say to someone who had saved your life, but annoyed the hell out of you while doing so… not to mention spoiled any hope she'd ever had of avenging her father.
"You can go back now." It came out a lot colder than she'd hoped, but the Turk wasn't phased. She watched as Reno snorted and shoved his gloved hands into his jacket pockets.
"Thanks for making that decision for me, brat."
"I - You're not going back to the hotel yet?"
"Why should I?" Reno raised an eyebrow.
"I... Whatever, Reno." She began to walk up the steps when uncertainty bit at her. What was she going to say to Staniv? "… How do I tell them what happens?"
They already doubted you…
"Miss Yuffie!"
The ninja looked up, startled as two men clad in traditional Wutaian dress robes ran out onto the Pagoda's entrace. Staniv, Shake. Yuffie immediately noted the concern plastered on their worn, tired faces, and felt an immense wave of guilt fall on her. They'd been waiting all night for an outcome… and now she had to break it to them that she'd failed. How could she tell them that it had all gone horribly wrong?
She didn't have to. As the two men reached her they spotted the look of anguish on her face and stopped in their tracks. Staniv took a cautious step forward.
"What happened, Miss Yuffie?"
"I… It went bad, Staniv." She ducked her head, suddenly feeling the warmth of the tears she'd been trying to hold back trailing down her face. "I'm so sorry."
And before she could stop herself, she pushed past Reno, Staniv and Shake before rational thought could deduce otherwise, into the warm and intricate webbing that was her home without comfort, as a torrent of tears streamed from her eyes...
How could I fail again…?
* * * * *
Of course, upon seeing Yuffie's tear-streaked face, Staniv did what any decently loyal aide would have done given the situation. Forgetting the few years of peace he drew back into the habit of concluding that the words Shinra, Reno, and trouble were inexplicably glued together. He did not comment on the Turk's presence, but instead focussed his attention on Shake, who looked as though his anger was going to make him burst should he not be able to vent it.
Staniv stepped forward, his gaze flickering imperceptibly to Reno, who stood motionless and calm before them. "Shake?"
"Yes, Master Staniv."
"Dismiss Reno from our grounds, if you please."
The words came out harsher than he'd actually intended, though he had no time to rectify them as the shorter man stepped forward eagerly, years of accumulated hate and bias causing him to sneer. The Shinra may not be their enemies anymore, but he wasn't particularly sure that Reno counted.
Feeling that he'd dealt with the situation perhaps a little inadequately, Staniv merely turned and left. He had greater priorities right now, and it was all he could do to keep from tripping up the stairs as he scaled the stairs after his charge. He could apologise to Reno later, should the need arise.
TBC...
* * * * *
Author's notes: Okay, just an apology about lateness - but getting it up now is better than not getting it up at all, I suppose, and I've been quite busy. Also, I know the end of this chapter is a bit dodgy as far as where it is stopped, but I thought if I added the next scene the chapter would get a little too long, and I'm trying to keep my chapter lengths even. But hey, I'm nearly done with the other one, so that should .