Smoke and Shattered Mirrors,
By Ealinesse
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Final Fantasy, just the plot to this story, and a couple of painfully annoying original characters. And a rusty truck that, apparently, Reno and Yuffie don't want any more… Woohoo.
Summary: A stakeout doesn't go as planned, and the two people least happy about it are the same two who have to drop everything and work together to keep themselves alive… and sane.
Warnings: Language, (Kiwi Spelling), More Language, a little Violence.
Category: Action/Adventure, Bad Humour, Angst, Reno and Yuffie being prats… Reno and Yuffie being prats… Reno and Yuffie Arguing… Nothing too unusual, really.
Chapter Seven... Who Needs Sleep Anyway?
I am so screwed. Screw-ed… Screwed! Oh, shit…shit, shit… Don't turn around here. No! I mean it… Shit! Shit, shit shit…
Yuffie allowed her mental chant to run rampant in her mind as she watched with horrified eyes the two men rounding the corner where she was hiding. The area around the open window that she hadn't been fast enough to close of course would be the first thing to be searched, and since she was only a short ways off the street it was entirely possible that she was going to be seen upon first glance, shadows or not. Hell, it was a great deal more than just 'possible'.
She had to move, and she had to move now, otherwise she would be between a rock and an impossible place; freedom. The only answer was pointing her in the face. She dropped the bag of junk from her grip and with a surge of will, Yuffie readied her shuriken and held it back, prepared to strike. As the first thug rounded the corner and recognized the glint of metal basking in the shadows for what it was, his eyes widened and his gun raised. But it was already too late for him; with a cold smirk that she reserved for those too stupid to have faster reflexes, she flicked her wrist and let loose the star-shaped weapon. A second later the man slumped to the ground, clutching his hands to his throat in a last desperate attempt to dislodge the weapon that had embedded itself there.
Sparing the falling imbecile a final glance, Yuffie moved onto the second man who had just appeared. The smirk that had plastered her face only seconds ago now mirrored his perfectly, and imperfect teeth glimmered a pasty yellow in the faint moonlight.
"Ya don't think I'm going to go down just that easily, do ya, love? Especially now that you're without that purty weapon of yours," he drawled callously, his rusty voice penetrating the silence with the painstaking ease of fingernails raking down a chalkboard.
Yuffie merely took another step forward, keeping one eye on his two, and the other on the gun he was trying to sneak out of the holster in his jacket. "I don't know, love," she retorted, fingering the two throwing stars she always had on her that were now strapped to the back waistband of her pants. "Are you?"
The man leered and lunged forward, spinning sideways as if that were going to save him from something. Yuffie shrugged as he flipped out the gun, and hurriedly did a roll of her own, after which they somehow both ended up standing directly in front of each other. Though the little use that had done for him. She looked down at the small throwing star that had knocked the gun out of the man's hand before he'd had the chance to so much as pull the trigger, then to the one that had been embedded with equal succession into his throat.
With a snort of disgust, Yuffie watched the man's eyes grow dim even as his words of would-be protest came out in no more than an incessant gurgle. Her smirk deepening, Yuffie grimly plucked the soiled stars from their various locations and rolled her eyes. "Yep," she muttered under her breath. "I'd say you did go down just as easily."
She had just turned around to retrieve her shuriken when a loud bang echoed through the streets, accompanied by a burning sting that ran the length of her cheek before dissipating slightly. Yuffie allowed herself the quickest of glances through the window that had just been fired through, and had it not been for the imposing danger of a not-so badly aimed second gunshot, she would have allowed herself to rip the fingers. As it was, though, the shot was nowhere near as fatal as it could have been, and she didn't doubt for a second that it had been unintentional.
Her fingers traced her cheekbone, feeling the now slightly widened gash in the previous cut's place; a reminder of who was in charge, her thoughts spun out amiably.
With a snarl of contempt, Yuffie sprinted out of the inky shadows of the side lot, forgotten bag now in hand, and into the next ones she could find, all the while listening to the sound of gunshots ringing after her. Reaching a dead end – a tall, imposing fence that no doubt led to the endless trees beyond - Yuffie slowed and whipped her head around frantically. Curse small towns, she thought desperately, knowing that there was no way she was going out into the forest alone – at least, not without warning Reno first.
Spotting a ladder in the distance, Yuffie couldn't help but be reminded of the event three – four? five? – nights ago when she'd first encountered Reno again. Hugging the building and eyeing up the ladder across the other side of the street, Yuffie made the mad dash before she could hesitate, and darted over to the ladder with all the speed that had been given to her – and then some. Grabbing the rungs and climbing them with equal haste, Yuffie only allowed herself the barest of glimpses in the direction of the man with the gun before scurrying out over the low rooftop and away into the night.
And just from that one glance she understood; just one fleeting look into those soulless, cold, unrelenting eyes allowed her to comprehend the reason why this man haunted even Reno's sleeping moments.
He wasn't going to give up until one of them was dead and gone, and from the looks of things, this guy seriously doubted it was going to be him.
Reno clasped the metal bars appearing in front of him with a white-knuckled grip, knowing without actually being able to feel the icy cool that separated him from the rest of the world where he was; when he was. Why his mind had decided to dredge it up now, though, was another story. He'd never dreamt of this part before, not that it had been any less horrible by any means…
Footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, and the guard posted outside his room jerked to attention. Reno scowled. After the initial beating, he'd had to endure a series of insults brought upon by the fool. That coupled with the fact that his favourite set of lock picks – not to mention nightstick - had been snatched by the bastard, had put him in a sour mood. Sure, the beating had hurt like all hell, but the series of Mako injections he'd received before this had allowed him to recover to a bearable level fairly quickly. And since there had been no major harm done, there had been little need to worry. But that snot had actually stolen his weapons, and in the moments before he'd blacked out the first time he'd heard the guy call imminent shotgun on them.
That was when he decided; that asshole was dying second. Just as soon as he found Donovan and rung his neck for what he'd done.
The steps grew closer, the sound of familiar steel-capped boots began to echo louder in the dingy chamber. Reno looked up and cooled off his expression as he spotted the three men heading toward him. He had eyes for only one.
"I trust you're well rested, Reno?"
Letting go of the bars, Reno pulled his aching body to his feet, not allowing Donovan the satisfaction of seeing him in pain. "Never been better."
Reno saw the all-too familiar glint of amusement enter Donovan's eyes at his words as he unlocked and entered the cell, the two brutes entering before him. "I'm glad. We need you at your full… aptitude… if we're going to see if this works."
"Aptitude? Why, Donovan, partner. I see you've learnt a new word."
"Shut up fool!"
Reno's head snapped backward as a vicious right hook caught him in the temple – the same spot that had been hit with the butt of a rifle earlier - and he fell back into the arms of the other nameless traitor. Stars began to dance a crazy little jig in front of his eyes, and when his vision cleared he reserved a patented glare for the man that had just punched him. "You're third," he growled.
Donovan, who had up until then been standing behind the two, took a curt step forward. "Enough! Don't damage him, we need to see if this works!"
"Didn't know you cared, buddy," Reno spat, his dulled eyes lifting and meeting ones identical to his own.
"I don't," Donovan responded slowly, raising a callous eyebrow in an expression that Reno knew him all too well for. "I'd just rather try this on you, if I could – since you're already classed as MIA, after all. And of course, with your tolerances built up because of Mako treatments, we'll see just how successful this will be on not only Turks, but SOLDIER as well."
Reno felt his arms suddenly restrained by the two large men that had accompanied Donovan. He almost laughed at the stupidity of it all. Not two days ago he'd been beaten to within an inch of his life. On top of that, he'd been deprived of food and water for twice that time, and was really beginning to see the end of his patience. And while he felt that he couldn't have even beaten one of them right now, let alone two, he they still seemed to think otherwise.
But then again, he mused, ever since he'd pulled that trick with the handcuffs, he doubted they were going to use something so simple as that on him again.
"Where do you want him?" snorted the man on his left.
"Just there'll do. He won't put up much of a struggle. If he was going to kill you, he'd have done it already. He's too tired, and a little more roughed up that he's willing to admit. Relax, he is just a man after all. Right, partner?"
Just a man…
Those words echoed in his mind; played slower, faster, taunted him over and over again. It was what Donovan had said when he'd found the bastard out, when he'd been brought in and captured by his own partner… when he hadn't even seen it coming…
Reno looked up, and scowled. "Asshole."
"I know. Now stay still," Donovan said negligently, as he opened a suitcase that Reno hadn't noticed until then. With an expression of schooled calm and the utmost patience, Reno watched as the case was opened, and a series of small vials were retrieved. But it wasn't that which worried him. No sir. It was the last thing that was removed that he was concerned about.
In his moment of distraction, Reno realized, his eyes must have widened fractionally, for as his ex-partner turned around, spinning the gleaming, wicked-looking knife in his grip, the cynical, grievous smile returned to his face.
"Oh, don't worry, partner," Donovan drawled, picking up a small vial he'd set out on the table and injecting the contents into a small apparatus attached to the hilt of the knife. "This won't hurt. Much."
And then there was nothing but burning, torturous pain as the knifed flicked out in the blink of an eye, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Nothing.
Her lungs were burning, she was sure of that. Yuffie gasped for breath, running as fast as her agile legs could carry her, only hoping that this round-about way over the rooftops and through infinite shadows would eventually lead her back to Reno – and away from that man. She suppressed a shiver, mentally trying to block out the view of those icy eyes, so similar and yet so different from the Turk she was now so urgently trying to get back to.
Darting around another corner, the sound of gunshots long-faded, Yuffie spotted the sign for the inn that they'd previously stayed at, knowing it would only be a matter of time before they were found. She took a quick glance around, not seeing anything threatening in her immediate area, and sprinted inside, not bothering to pay any attention to the bumbling boy behind the counter. Things had to be bad when the man after you so desperately had confidence enough to walk while he was hunting them down.
… Were they really in a hole that deep? This time, she did shudder.
She sped down the hallway, the bag slung over her shoulder bouncing painfully against her back as the objects inside rattled around with all the kindness of a caged rattlesnake. Once at the end, she slammed open the room's door, withholding her surprise that it wasn't locked, and struggled in through the narrow doorway with the sack of gear. Inside now, Yuffie dumped the bag to the ground, closed the door, proceeded to lean against it, and concentrated just for a second on teaching herself how to breathe again.
But that all changed when she caught sight of Reno.
Forcing her mind to work around the obstacle of a towel-clothed, half-naked Turk, Yuffie gathered her thoughts and made herself focus on the more important things. Like the fact that Reno was asleep. Again. And it looked like he was dreaming. Again. Yuffie's eyes widened as a low growl of something that sounded like pain emitted from the Turk's barely parted lips, and she hurried over to the bed, hoping that it was in fact just another dream, and not something slightly more serious – like the wound to his side. But then again… just a dream? She frowned, knowing that was hardly the case, and searched around, relieved to find the gun on the side table and not in his immediate possession. She grabbed it, and pocketed it.
Not wanting to touch him in case a repeat of last time happened anyway, Yuffie picked up a spare pillow from the bed and walked over to somewhere she could run from more easily – like by the door. With a quick intake of breath, she aimed the rather unorthodox weapon, and biffed it at the dreaming Turk. With a dull thud reminiscent of the pillow fight they'd had earlier, it bounced off Reno's face and slid to the floor.
Reno's only reaction was to mumble something under his breath, and clutch at the scars on his cheeks with more fervency and desperation.
With a resolute sigh, Yuffie leaned back against the door, apprehension gripping her hard and threatening to tear her to pieces. They didn't have time for this. Torn between a growing worry for the injured man on the bed, and the fear of being caught, she began looking around the room for ideas, but too soon realized that she was out of them. Slamming the door before hadn't woken him up, and besides, making any more noise would just attract unwanted attention.
Damn it! she thought. Reno, why do you have to be so fucking difficult!
She stood there for another two seconds, unsure of what to do. It was but another three before she realized that there was nothing for it – she was just going to have to take her chances, and if later on Reno woke up and realized that he'd snapped her neck or something equally stupid… well… then at least she would have to deal with the wrath of her father.
Making it over to the bed in five quick strides, Yuffie blew a stray, frustrating strand of hair out of her eyes and looked down at Reno, trying not to notice the distressed, painful, tormented expression on his face. Looking back at the door, she clenched and unclenched her fists, bit her lip, then took another deep breath – for all the bloody good they were doing her. With nothing more to distract her, she reached out a suddenly shaking hand, and gripped Reno's shoulder lightly, hoping like hell that she didn't get splattered against the wall again.
It was happening again, he realized. He was losing control, and now he was going to get someone else hurt because of it. Again.
Reno rolled onto his side, knowing it wouldn't do him any good anyway. This wavering, half-consciousness that Donovan had induced wasn't amounting to anything. But then again, that was the point, wasn't it? This was just a reminder that he would amount to nothing in the end, and this was just the start; that despite his dreams and aspirations for one day making it past the usual ranks, breaking away from the middle of the crowd - to be something - that he never was.
He should have known then, when Donovan and himself had had that conversation years ago, that the other man's pride and need for control even when in the slums had been overwhelming. But now… now it was hopeless. What were you supposed to do when your partner – your friend – turned against you - and everyone - and you were the first one chosen to fall? Should he have known?
… You're only human, after all…
Reno groaned, the voice echoing in his head taunting him for his failure, reminding him of just how blind he'd been. He rolled onto his other side in the dingy cell, feeling the filth embedded into his navy suit grow deeper and sink in even further. With the slight movement, of course, came the pain, as one of the cuts on his cheeks grazed the icy ground. He gasped, feeling the burning return, and knowing that it was only a matter of time before Donovan came back with his knife, and that drug…
And it was like this he lay there, until the man did eventually again return, with his vial, and with his knife, assuring him that it would all be over soon, and that if one day things did work out as Donovan had planned, then he, Reno, would have a place at his side. But he knew, that it wouldn't be over… not until he'd managed to escape, to warn the others at Shinra just what was going on… that he wasn't missing with Donovan, and that the mission that had supposedly gone awry had all been a jack-up…
But who was he kidding? There was no hope in hell of him getting out of here without consequence… he knew it even as he watched it play over in his mind, trapped inside his own body with another consciousness that had no idea what was going to happen. But he knew… knew that he couldn't stop what was going to unfold. Couldn't stop himself from seeing his chance to escape when at last he was given food, and at last he was given the opportunity to allow himself to think that it was going to be easy.
And so it was with dread he allowed himself to be deceived, and when at last that other person came along with the food, and with the smile that reeked of freedom, his other self saw the chance to get out; to warn the others, without thinking of what would happen to the person on the middle ground if he was caught. But he knew, and saw only death. And so when that hand landed on his shoulder, the pain didn't lesson, but returned tenfold, as it was unfolding exactly as he remembered it, and he had no desire to see it happen all over again…
Yuffie's muscles relaxed slowly – not in relief, but defeat. With a slow shake of her head she offered one more shake of his shoulder, not expecting a reaction, as none had been issued prior to this. However, once again, it proved that her expectations were not to be trusted, and all manner of tenseness returned to her frame as Reno finally outwardly reacted…
Though not as she'd thought again, either.
For what must have been a full minute Yuffie stood three, watching the ice blue eyes that had just opened, hoping that last shake of hers had rattled more than just Reno's eyesight back into the waking world. What she hadn't thought to hope against, however, was that his voice would return before his common sense, and Yuffie could only stare on in abject horror as the Turk's hands, before tightly embedded in the tangled sheets of the bed, flew to his face and clutched at the twins scars located there as a scream so inhuman as she would never think to expect from him tore through the night air. And the scream held a name.
Yuffie felt all the blood drain from her face, and in her moment of shock she recoiled her hand and her body from the bed, stepping back and watching Reno's again badly-timed reaction to her attempts to wake him. Soon enough, though, she realized that she couldn't let him go on like this any longer. Trent was a quiet town, and as far as she'd seen her and Donovan's goons were the only ones that had been out and about. A violent, piercing scream shattering the illusion of peace in the town was not going to help either the sleeping citizens, or their current situation.
With a desperation that stopped her from thinking of her own failing credibility, Yuffie bit her lip to keep from yelling the various obscenities that wanted to escape, and scrambled onto the bed, trying to fight away Reno's own frantic hands from his face so she could clamp her hands over his mouth long enough to shut him up. But even in the hold of a dream he was strong, and several times she found herself ass-up on the floor before she finally managed to keep his hands away long enough to achieve her objective. The muffled yell, previously amplified by the large room and corridor just beyond, gradually faded out, and Yuffie gradually watched as some semblance of recognition faded back into his eyes.
Not bothering to remove her hands from his face, she cocked her head to the side and let out a weary sigh. "You finished yelling yet, or do you want to continue calling that man to us?" she hissed tersely. At her words, Reno's eyes first widened slightly, then narrowed, and something was mumbled against her hand. Taking that as a mark of assent, Yuffie slowly lifted her hands free, but for some reason couldn't manage to tear her eyes from the scars he had so desperately been trying to reach for in his dream. What the hell was happening to him? This was not the time to be having nightmares. It really wasn't…
"Oi… uh, brat?"
She jumped, raised her eyes to take in the whole of his face, and noted the somewhat amused expression there, choosing to ignore the flecks of shadow he was obviously still trying to shake free. "What?"
"… Get off me, ay? I kind of enjoy the ability to breathe and move my arms, despite whatever you might think."
Yuffie's head whipped down, and with an increasing blush and a somewhat mumbled apology she realized that in all the confusion she had in fact been sitting on Reno, so as to pin his hands and stop his struggling.
Stop his half-naked struggling…
Yuffie felt her already mortally-wounding blush deepen as the immature part of her mind informed her of that already known fact, showing her without seeing a second glimpse of that well-toned chest. With a clumsy kind of grace that she was sure only she could manage given the current situation, Yuffie slid off the Turk's body and scrambled off the bed, turning away from him in order to regain her failing composure. "I… ah… sorry."
The silence that followed could only mean that Reno was smirking, and Yuffie turned around on her heel to silence him again, only to find a completely different expression on his face. She watched for a moment without speaking as he slowly sat up, his hand running over one of the scars on his cheeks in deep thought. But what really got to her was the haunted expression flickering in his downcast eyes, as his damp hair fell across his face, and she couldn't help but think that this was the second time in a few hours she'd seen beneath his callous mask. She shivered and took a step back, not sure of what to do in the aftermath. It was so much easier to think of him as a monster… that under different circumstances he could affect human emotion from her of all people was unreasonable.
Was he really only human after all?
With a quick, instinctively pulsing clench of her fist, Yuffie spun around again in order to find something to focus on. Her eyes landed on the bag of gear she'd stolen, and she resolutely went and gathered it, sorted through the various accumulated junk, and returned to the bed with the clothing she'd found for Reno.
"Here," she mumbled, careful to keep her eyes on his face and not elsewhere, holding out the garments. "I got these for you when I was out."
Reno looked up at her, and she noted that once again his expression was carefully neutral. It briefly occurred to her that he'd obviously had situations like this before, where he'd accidentally let too much about himself slip. And by the sound of the name that had been held in that scream, she could gather that this was one of those times.
She watched as the Turk's eyes roamed over the gear she eventually got sick of holding out, and placed on the bed. She saw even as he did what the clothing was, and what it meant to him. She watched, even as his hands reached out and turned through the starched white shirt, the navy pants, and the matching jacket, and then the rest. "Well?" she asked after a moment. "It was the best I could find. Personally, I couldn't see you wandering around in a flannel shirt and moleskin pants, amusing as it might have been."
The familiar smirk returned, and Yuffie received it with grateful relief. She got up from the bed and went over to the bathroom door, facing away from him in order to allow him to get changed in privacy. "Don't worry, I have no desire in peek – what!" Yuffie felt her jaw practically drop to the floor as she caught sight of the shattered glass that covered the floor of the bathroom. "What the hell did you do?"
There was a brief snort. "I got angry."
"So you punched the glass wall!"
"… I thought you were trying to stop me from yelling before?"
Yuffie took the hint that the subject was closed for discussion, and snapped her mouth closed. Her eyes roamed over the sparkling droplets of mixed glass shards and water, and she raised a delicate eyebrow. When she'd finished assessing the damage, she took a quick glance at a watch she'd also taken care of stealing from the small department store. She looked at the face of it without really seeing it, and suddenly she found herself thrown back into the fear of being found. "Are you nearly done?" she asked impatiently. "We've got to get out of here!"
"Done, you impatient git" Reno replied, and she turned around, noting on the side that the suit fitted rather well for something that she had only guessed at. However it only gave her a moment's relief as she realized that with his hair back in a ponytail, and the suit worn scruffy as always, he looked much more like the Turk she knew. The Turk she wanted to keep her somewhat biased perception of.
"And what are you so worried about?" Reno asked, a frown painting itself across his face. "What did you find?"
"Donovan… Donovan and his men!"
Reno stepped forward. "What about them. Are you saying-"
"They're here!" she all-but shouted. "In Trent! I saw them!"
"You saw them?" Reno's tone wasn't so much startled, as it was dripping with a cold that made her wish the other Reno was back again. "Where!"
"When I was out just before. I was in a grocery shop, and I heard noises so I climbed out the window, only they must have heard me and I killed two of them and-"
"How many were there?" Reno demanded tersely.
"Three."
"Was Donovan there himself? Did you kill him?"
Yuffie frowned. "Yes, he was there. But, no… I – he ordered the men after me – I killed them, retrieved my weapons, and bolted."
"Did he chase you?"
"He-"
"Did he chase you! Does he know we're here?"
"I – yes. I think so. Well, he chased me – walked after me while I ran, more like. But he doesn't know we're here, I don't think."
"… Yet."
"Yet," she repeated.
Yuffie watched as Reno let this soak in, as he began to pace. She saw his eyes drift to the bedside table, and she pulled the gun out of her pocket. "Looking for this?"
Reno retrieved the weapon from her hand without a word, then checked the barrel for bullets. Yuffie saw without the need for conversation that what he saw was wasn't pleasing. "No bullets?"
"Did you get any while you were out?"
"… No."
"Then no. None."
"Shit!"
"My sentiments exactly, but that doesn't mean we hang around and sulk. We have to leave. It's only a matter of time before he finds us, and I'd rather be on home turf when he does."
Yuffie didn't like the sound of that, but nodded in agreement. Those eyes… She clenched her jaw, finding herself unable to meet even Reno's until the image was gone. "What do we do?" She felt more than saw Reno turn toward the bag.
"What else is in there?"
Yuffie walked over and gripped the handles, slinging it over her back with an audible grunt of effort. "Stuff for the road. Food. Materia. Things that we can get sorted once we leave."
"Okay. So once again, all we need is a car."
Yuffie groaned and resisted rolling her eyes. Despite it not being the time for immature actions, it didn't mean she reveled in the idea of going to all that trouble again.
Yuffie leapt into the car with more enthusiasm than she felt, dumping the bag in the backseat for a later time. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Reno took a second look around the immediate area, and then pulled the plastic cover out from under the steering wheel, exposing a tangled web of coloured wires. She frowned, and turned her head to eye the scene more directly, when a glint of metal just beyond the steering wheel attracted her attention.
"Uh, Reno?" Yuffie said, leaning over the seat and the crouched Turk to jingle the keys that were hanging out of the ignition. "You needn't bother, yeah?"
From his awkward position along the floor of the car, Reno looked first at her and then the keys. Yuffie raised an eyebrow as she caught the look he directed at the object, before too-calmly putting the panel back into place and seating himself on the driver's side once again. He didn't say anything, but instead closed the door with equal cool and turned the key. The engine started without a hitch.
Yuffie affected a look of surprise, and found the expression mirrored in Reno's own face. "Well that was a little too easy," she said slowly.
"We've gotta get a break sometime, brat, and I'm sure as hell not complaining that it's now. Mind you, I'd put my money on the fact that we're going to pay for it later."
"You know, Turk, you're real comforting when you want to be."
"I aim to displease."
Yuffie snorted, ignoring Reno's blatantly typical comment as they pulled out of the driveway. She felt herself relax slightly for the first time in a while, however crass Reno had just been, grateful that they weren't receiving any attention as they slid by the thin, unmarked roads. The fact that the car had been unlocked had been a godsend, the owners assuring that it was just begging to be stolen, but the keys in the ignition? Yuffie felt herself shaking her head. What was it with small towns?
"What's wrong?"
Yuffie shrugged. "Just thinking about how stupid people are in little places like that. Leaving the key in the car."
"Makes our job a hell of a lot easier. I'll bet they've never heard of alarms, either. But had they known we were stealing it I doubt they'd have hesitated to rip out their shotguns."
She snickered, affecting a country-like accent. "Ma, rip out the shotgun!" Unable to help herself, she dissolved into a fit of laughter, hand covering her mouth in order to stop any noise from coming out. The look she saw Reno cast her out of the corner of her eye didn't help matters, either. "… What?" she finally asked, when she'd gathered herself under some semblance of control. "Didn't think I had a sense of humour?"
Reno snorted, but kept his eyes on the road, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Didn't know you were so familiar with the life of a hick. But then again… you're from Wutai."
"Hey!" she retorted indignantly. "Midgar isn't exactly the centerpiece of the world anymore, you know!"
"What about Junon?"
Point taken. Wisely, she stayed silent, and they drove without a word for the better space of ten minutes. The noise – or lack thereof – seemed pensive to Yuffie, and though she was kept anxious by the way in which Reno kept looking in the rear-view mirror every few seconds, she couldn't help but let her own thoughts wonder back to the events in the hotel room earlier. Despite pulling into the small inn to get rest, it seemed that they'd managed everything but, and that their luck had, after a brief lull, ran away from them again.
Yuffie sighed, leaning back more comfortably against the plush headrest, thankful at least that the car they'd stolen, however old, wasn't exactly a deathtrap. Reno was right for once, after all, they did deserve a break. It no longer mattered that the vehicle stunk of stale smoke, that there were scraps of paper and food wrappings on the floor. It was the little things now, that counted…
Like the fact that the hair on the back of her neck suddenly chose that moment to defy gravity. Yuffie halted her inspection of the vehicle and turned to Reno. His eyes weren't fixed on the road, or on her eyes, but the gash on her cheek. Yuffie frowned, and with the special attention it was getting, it of course, began to sting. With a light hiss she lifted her hand to touch the graze, and consequently hid it from the Turk's sight.
"What?" she asked after a second, when he didn't look away. "You saw it before, remember?"
"It's different somehow… why?"
"What are you talking about?" Yuffie retorted, exasperated. "It's exactly the same as before. Stop looking at me like I've grown a second head!"
"I would if you'd be honest!"
She sighed, and ran a finger lightly over the raw graze. "When I was in the alley, that guy – Donovan – he was shooting after me, and got a lucky one in. It scraped my cheek. Okay? Happy now?"
The set to Reno's jaw indicated otherwise, but he stayed silent. Whatever he had to say, she decided, had probably been nasty. "What does it matter, anyway?" she asked when Reno's glare didn't waver. "It's a little graze. Sure, it could have been worse had I not been careful, but I'm not an invalid, Reno!"
"Then what are you, brat? Because you're sure as hell not tagging along for the fun of the ride!"
Yuffie blinked. That had been unexpected. But then again, the pressure that Reno had been under for the past few days was obviously trying to find an outlet… whatever that may be. "What do you mean? You wouldn't have even made it through that forest without my help! You'd be lucky if you even woke up! Stop being so arrogant for a change, and explain it to me. You're not the only one at risk here. When you were in Wutai, you weren't even so nagging, but now…" Yuffie let her voice trail off, but her barrage of words received no reply.
Yuffie turned in her seat to face the redhead, watching as the faint moonlight peeking into the car's interior glinted coldly off his eyes, illuminating the steely blue of the Mako and making his expression seem all the more foreboding. "Are you going to answer?" she said a little more quietly. "Don't I deserve some answers?"
Reno sighed, and Yuffie swore she saw his knuckles clench tighter on the steering wheel. "No."
"And why not?"
"Because this doesn't involve you, and you'd do well enough to stay as much out of it as you can."
"I think it's a little late for that now, don't you?"
"And whose fault is that?" Reno snapped back. "I remember clearly telling you to get the hell out of the alleyway, and you didn't listen!"
"And you would have been dead if I hadn't!"
"And what do you care about that! I'm a Turk, remember!"
"An ungrateful one at that, too! You never listen! You-"
"Hypocrite."
Yuffie stopped short in her next argument. "What?"
"I said, you're a hypocrite. If I told you not to jump into a pit of molten Mako because it'd kill you, you'd probably do it just to spite me!"
Yuffie fell silent. After thinking about Reno's last reply, the corner of her mouth twitched, and her frown began to disappear. She opened her mouth to make another point, but found herself entirely amused by the idea. She shook her head slowly, knowing just how stubborn she could be. "You're right," she concluded. "But you're no different."
Reno didn't say anything, but the crease between his brows grew smaller, and they'd been driving for only a couple more minutes when the cut on Yuffie's cheek twinged. With a wince, she ran her hand over it again, just then realizing that the entire argument that they'd just had had done a one-eighty. That idiot Turk had successfully dragged her from the more personal point, and onto another, without her even realising. She scowled, and was about to say something when she was bet to it.
"All right."
Yuffie cocked her head to the side a little, her face expressing confusion. "What do you mean, 'all right'?"
"All right, I'll explain."
"Everything?"
"What you need to know."
Yuffie had no idea what that consisted of, but she wasn't going to complain… yet. "Okay," she said after a second. "Explain away."
There was a brief pause, and it became imminently clear that this was a topic that brooked little negotiation with him. Just when she began to think he had no idea when to begin, he spoke.
"The cut on your cheek – the one that knifed you in the forest – did you get a clear sight of him?"
Yuffie frowned. This was not how she'd been expecting it to being. "Why is this important?" But her question was met with nothing but an air of expectation. "Okay," she said. "No, I didn't. It was dark, you know."
"Are you sure it was just a normal knife that he grazed you with?"
"What else could it be?"
"Something a lot worse, if they wanted."
"What's that supposed to mean? This isn't explaining, Reno."
"Yes it is. You just don't know what to listen for."
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Continue."
"Donovan has a drug that he likes to use occasionally – something he stole from Hojo before a more tempting offer made him a turncoat. I'm not even sure on how he got his hands on it, but this prototype that Hojo was working on, was ruthless. That old coot went absolutely mad trying to find it after it suddenly went missing, and it wasn't even apparent Donovan had it until the end, when-"
"The end?"
Reno stopped, looked at her strangely for a second, then frowned. "The end of the last mission we worked on together. We'd known there was a leak in the system for quite a while, but until then, again, we had no idea it was him."
"He was your partner?"
A nod. "Anyway, without giving you all the boring little details, when we'd supposedly reached our target… it… the power for the grid of the reactor we were scouting for resistance went out. Not just the centerfold, but all of it. When it came back on, our target suspect had escaped, and everyone in the room had fallen except Donovan and me."
"What happened then?"
"I was offered in on his little scheme to overthrow it all, and when I refused he called in those who'd found the temptation of unlimited power too much, and I was captured. After that… well… I don't know… "
"How can you not know?"
"That drug I mentioned… the one he stole from Hojo? Well, I'd had no idea what it was capable of. Not until the morning Donovan came into my cell with it. After that… I don't remember a lot. But that's not what matters. The fact that it worked so fast… and so powerfully against someone who'd been infused with Mako was a worry. And in the wrong hands… with Donovan, who would do anything he could put his mind to if he wanted… it could be duplicated, dispersed, and used against anyone."
"Donovan was going to… "
"Take down Shinra."
Yuffie frowned. "Would that have been a bad thing?"
"President Shinra's life revolved around making things better for himself at the expense of others. Rufus's term was intended to revolve around making things better for himself at the fear of others. Donovan… " Reno shook his head, his eyes cold. "Donovan's life revolved around making everyone suffer the way he did. And if he'd managed to infiltrate the Shinra system with that drug by lacing his weapons with it, taking hostage or killing everyone in power, then who knows how much worse it would have been."
Yuffie allowed herself a minute to soak the information up. "Then this drug… He tested it on you… ?"
There was a bitter laugh. "His partner," he replied ruefully.
She didn't know what to think. But as she raised her hand to her cheek yet again, Yuffie frowned, catching Reno's expression as she did so. "My cheek," she said slowly, "and this gash… " She looked up at him, only to find he'd taken his eyes momentarily off the road and was looking at her. "Then, does... "
Reno lifted a hand off the wheel and traced one of the crimson scars on his own cheek. "To test the drug on me, Donovan laced his knife with it."
"Donovan did that with the drug? Your scars there… "
"Are from him."
Yuffie nodded slowly, filing all that away for future reference. She sat there, staring at the dashboard for a moment, unsure of what to do or say. After a moment, she frowned. "So why are you worried about this little gash if you said the drug worked fast?"
"Why do you think we're after him now of all times? Donovan has gained enough knowledge in the area to know what's going to work, and when. Somehow he's managed to develop a strain of the drug that works more slowly, and can be ingested not only into the bloodstream, but any way."
"What would be the point in that?"
Reno shrugged. "Take the old Shinra quarters, for example. You've been into the Shinra headquarters? The mess hall?"
Yuffie had the good grace to look abashed. "When we were… uh… infiltrating it to get Tifa and Barrett out… "
"Of course," Reno snickered snidely. "How could I forget."
Yuffie had no answer for that, and let Reno continue.
"Well imagine if someone – one of Donovan's underlings, little-known and no apparent threat – managed to slip a sample of the drug into the mass food? Back into some of the Mako-infusion tanks in Hojo's lab? Some of this would require little to no effort, even now, since most citizen's records went up in smoke when Midgar was taken out. And if it did happen, all the effort required after it had been done would be for Donovan to walk into the offices and sit at a desk."
"… Oh. I see."
"Now do you understand? If something like that happened in Junon life would be a living hell for everyone all over again."
Yuffie bit her lip. From Reno's tone it sounded like the topic was closed, and granted, she'd received most of the answers she'd wanted. Most. But there was one other thing burning in her mind… and it had been ever since that last time she'd woken Reno up in the hotel room, and he'd yelled his lungs out until she'd shut him up. Was it bad timing? She supposed they were on the topic… And for some reason beyond her own reasoning… she just had to know.
"Reno?"
Silence.
"Oi, Reno!"
"What?"
"You know, before, when I woke you up in the hotel room?"
"When I woke up to find you sitting on me while I was wrapped only in a towel? Yeah."
"Well… do you remember what you were yelling?"
"I… " Reno frowned, squaring his jaw. "No."
"You're sure?"
"Positive."
That answer just wasn't going to do. With a courage and a stupidity that she had been known to possess on occasion, Yuffie took a proverbial step in what she assumed was a forward direction. "Reno, who's Ashley?"
Reno didn't look at her, but he flinched visibly and she swore that the car swerved ever-so slightly. She flicked her gaze briefly to the road; it was smooth and unobstructed.
"You know when I said I'd tell you what you needed to know?"
"… Yeah."
"Well that is something that is of no concern to you. At all."
"Why, was she your girlfriend?"
The laugh that came out of Reno's mouth was not only bitter and scornful, but completely mocking. "Was she what?"
Yuffie nearly gulped, but held it back. "… Your girlfriend."
"Was."
"Was your girlfriend?"
"No. Just was."
"Was?" Yuffie queried slowly. "As in… "
"As in was. And as in, is no longer."
Yuffie nearly growled in frustration. "What!"
"Ashley is dead, brat. And by the way, if you're going to go and pry into the charming little details of my life that I've been trying to fucking forget, then you'd better know that Ashley isn't a she. He's a he."
"… Oh." Then, "Who was he?"
"Someone I got involved in the whole mess, and that I shouldn't have."
"What do you mean?"
Reno sighed. "Ashley – the kid was working for Donovan for some reason. A labour slave, more like. His gofer."
Yuffie watched as Reno rubbed a tired hand over his face, and even through the veil of darkness in the interior she could see the dark circles under his eyes. Sleep had obviously gotten him nowhere. "He was just a kid?" she asked quietly. "What happened?"
"Ashley was the first one to bring me food and water since I'd been locked away nearly a week before. It seemed odd; the kid would talk and talk, as if he wasn't scared. I think Donovan was actually taking care of him. Good care of him. He seemed like he had nothing to fear. Hell, I don't think he was supposed to be anywhere near me. And then… then I screwed up; eventually saw a way to escape and get word back to Shinra by getting information from him and getting him involved in something that didn't concern him. And then… "
"What?"
"Donovan found out."
"Oh. Then-"
"No more, brat. I'm not talking about it anymore."
This was the time to stop, Yuffie realized, if ever there was any. She bit her lip and wrung her hands together nervously. She had perhaps pushed it a little too far – had not only crossed the line, but driven straight over it (several times) – but had come out with the information she had needed.
And now she was feeling guilty, and sorry.
Though she didn't know the whole of it, doubted she ever would, Yuffie couldn't help but feel bad for prying so far. Sure, it was Reno, a Turk, but she was beginning to think that there was a lot more to him than met the eye. Whatever had happened, she guessed, it had molded him into the person he now was, and somehow she doubted that it was all by choice. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, appraising his seemingly laid-back exterior. Was it just the situation, or was her sudden ability to read his expressions more readily something to do with her sudden knowledge.
She sighed, feeling like she should apologise. What harm would it do just this once. She opened her mouth and sucked in a breath, but again, Reno seemed to be quicker off the mark.
"Just don't, Yuff. I'm the last person in the world you want to pity."
She frowned. "I don't pity you."
"No?"
"Not exactly, no."
"Then what?"
"I-"
"Fuck!"
The car, previously motoring along at a reasonable pace sped up suddenly, and Yuffie looked over at the speedometer as she felt herself momentarily pressed back against the seat from the acceleration; it was still climbing. "What the hell!"
"We let ourselves be distracted," Reno's low voice bit out between visibly clenched teeth, "and now the shit's hitting the fan."
There came another curse as Reno's eyes flickered in the dim lighting; him turning his gaze to the rear-view mirror. Yuffie's eyes widened, and even as she hoped she was wrong, she looked into her side mirror, feeling her heart sink. The words reserved for an apology came out in a full-fledged string of obscenities as she found her eyes riveted to the set of yellow lights crawling steadily up behind them.
She turned to Reno. "Don't tell me that's who I think it is?"
"Then don't phrase it liking a fucking question and I won't have to!"
Yuffie let her forehead crease in growing apprehension. "Are you sure?"
"Who else would drive this fast on a shingle road unless they were desperate to catch us!"
"Will they?"
"Will they what?"
"Catch us?"
Reno snorted derisively and Yuffie felt the car accelerate a little more, the engine revving loudly in an effort to cope with the growing strain. "I hate to burst your bubble, Yuff, but this car ain't nothing special, and Donovan always had this thing for speed."
And as she sat, feeling hopeless and out of her league in the passenger seat of a car traveling at deathly-fast speeds down a narrow shingle road, Yuffie once again realized that she just should have stayed home in bed.
… Tbc…
Author's notes: Well hi there, everyone! I know it's been just over a month and a half since my last update, but I'm truly sorry! I won't make any excuses but to say that life has been a little hectic lately, and I've just finished a load of exams and have had to face a sudden proposal of career choice, so I've had little time. Because of that however, and just for you all and your wonderful reviews and excessive patience, this chapter is a little longer than usual. I hope you guys are happy that some of the answers have finally come about, however obscure! Oh, and did I mention there aren't many chapters to go? No? Well, there aren't. Anyway, I've got to go and post some mail, so I'll see you all next update. Thank you once again for your excellent reviews, and I hope I haven't disappointed you all with this post.
Cheers!
Ealinesse!