By Ktrenal
Chapter Two - Where's It Gone?
A low, rumbling sound, almost like vast quantities of water moving powerfully at the bidding of some unseen force, punctuated by the sound of stones rolling, hitting against each other softly and without much in the way of energy behind it. It was almost peaceful, the sound washing over his mind in the manner of waves washing calmly over the chipped gravel of a stony beach. It was the kind of sound he'd always enjoyed, perhaps because he'd never encountered the ocean until a fairly recent date; the first time he'd ever left Midgar had been a mere two years before, and even then the sight, sound and smell of the sea had fascinated and intrigued him.
He took a long, slow breath, reflecting how he could almost smell the watery salt on the air, accompanying the sound of the waves rolling up the beach. There were other sounds, ones he couldn't identify, and all he could narrow it down to was some kind of bird. Such things were rare, he knew, especially innocent birds that didn't try to kill you or eat you or both. Mako pollution from the Reactors had taken their toll on the world it seemed, killing off or mutating much of the natural wildlife.
Not that he'd ever worried about such things; wildlife was not something he'd ever been overly concerned about, since he was a city man at heart. Take him away from the concrete streets and buildings of a city, and he felt a bit lost and out of place. Wildlife, as far as he was concerned, was things like rats in the sewers, and the strange monsters that leapt out at him from alleyways. Although, did a living house really count as wildlife, or even a monster? That had scared the shit out of him though, being jumped by a house. You expected the big rats and various mutants, but you didn't expect a house to come to life and try to kill you. He'd actually been forced to have therapy from that incident.
Wildlife, therefore, was like monsters; kill or be killed. And by the feel of his head, whatever was making those birdy sounds had attacked him. It clearly had a hard beak or whatever piece of its anatomy it used to beat people over the head with. Sometimes, it seemed that maybe Avalanche had done the world a favour by getting rid of Shinra, and killing so many monsters in the process of their travels.
He forced himself to stir, beginning to feel the light, warm breeze on his face as he swam slowly and almost awkwardly towards consciousness, feeling a little dazed. What had happened? He'd been attacked by a bird thing maybe? Or... no, wait. There'd been a storm, he remembered that. A lot of wind and rain, a very powerful contrast to the warm sunshine beating down on him now, and the soft gentle breeze moving almost idly through his hair.
So there'd been a storm, and he'd gone to work. Cans of beans seemed to figure largely in his memory, and then the three SOLDIERs. Right, so they'd knocked him out with a can of beans and... then what? That wasn't quite right either. There'd definitely been a fight though, and he'd been doing well until his opponents started using magic. That was right.
And some weird magic had sucked him into a big black hole, and then dropped him here, wherever here was. Somewhere warm and really quite pleasant. He shifted position again, and forced his eyes to open, snapping them closed almost immediately as the glare of the sun virtually blinded him. So he was somewhere sunny, and by the sea. Costa Del Sol perhaps?
He pushed himself up into a sitting position, one hand propping him up as he opened his eyes again, this time met with a far better view, or at least one that wasn't hazardous to his continued vision. He was at the edge of a narrow beach comprised mostly of shingle rather than sand, the ocean waves rising a short distance up the beach, and in the distance crashing against cliffs that seemed oddly familiar, yet somewhat out of place too. At the edge of the beach a small harbour had been constructed out of rough, jagged stones cut into approximately cuboid pieces. Stretching from this harbour along the edge of the coastline towards him were small, simply constructed buildings of wood and stone. 'Quaint' was the word that came instantly to mind, and as his gaze drifted back to the harbour and out a little into the bay, he wasn't surprised to see a few small fishing boats bobbing up and down in the crystal clear waters.
A call came from overhead, and he looked up, his eyes coming to rest on a white bored cruising effortlessly through the sky above him. Some kind of seabird perhaps? He wasn't really sure, since all the coastal towns he knew of had long since ceased to have birds. This really was a strange place, with its untouched and unspoilt village, air that both felt and smelled clean, and actual birds in the clear blue skies.
"Where the fuck am I?" he asked, the question seeming more than a little justified, given the circumstances. He could only assume the black pit thing had transported him somewhere, but where?
After a moment or two of contemplation, Reno hauled himself up to his feet, feeling a wave of dizziness passing over him for a few seconds, before clearing when he concentrated on not allowing the dizziness to affect him. Pain and discomfort were all states of mind after all, and if he didn't want to be dizzy, he wasn't going to let his body tell him otherwise.
His eyes settled on the ground at his feet, and he laughed lightly as he spotted a can of beans resting on the ground nearby. It had a distinct dent in the side of it, probably from where it had impacted with his head. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about going hungry for a while, he reflected as he crouched to lift the can in his hands, quickly noticing others nearby. The black hole had clearly consumed more than just its human target, providing him with a food source too.
And after his complaints about never wanting to see a can of beans again too. And assuming he could find a way to open the cans. But, it wasn't like he was out in the middle of nowhere. There was that quaint looking little village over there after all. They'd have a can opener, hell, they'd probably even have something better to eat than tinned beans. Like... fish and crabs and lobsters and things. Since it was a fishing village and all.
He wondered idly if fish and beans would go well together in a meal; it was one of those ideas that seemed so weird and disgusting that it would probably work quite well. He'd never been a fussy eater after all, and always ready to try new combinations, much to Elena's frequent disgust. But even she'd had to admit that the beer flavoured milkshake had been an inspired idea.
Aware that he might look a little silly wandering into the village carrying a can of beans, Reno dropped it, watching it land and then roll down onto the shingle beach. Still feeling a little disorientated, he began to walk along the top of the beach towards the line of buildings nearby, staying above the edge as the small rounded stones tended to slide under his feet, which he imagined would be detrimental to his health at the moment.
There was still something oddly familiar about the coastline around here, although the young red-head couldn't quite determine what it was. He was fairly certain that he'd never been here before, and yet still the place felt like he had. He shook the feeling off, deciding it was the residual effects of being attacked by a can of beans. That kind of thing affected a guy's thought processes, he was certain of that.
As he entered the village, the word 'quaint' came to mind once again, the small buildings clustered around the pincer formation of the two granite piers that formed the harbour, and the people nearby seemed to be mostly women and children. The men were out fishing perhaps? While the women sat outside their homes, mending nets or gutting fish, while the children ran around the streets, soon pausing in their games to stare at the darkly clad stranger that was the disorientated and lost former Turk.
The stench of fish seemed to permeate the air, the scent pushing right into back of his nose and making him almost feel sick for a moment; raw fish was something that never smelled nice, although cooked fish was another matter altogether. With all these thoughts about food, Reno wondered idly if he hadn't missed too many meals recently.
He paused in his steps, snagging the nearest child with his hand. "Hey kid. What is this place?" he asked, deciding to at least find out where he was, if not why he was here.
"What you mean?" the child, a boy of around five or six asked, staring at the red-head like he'd lost his mind.
"I just wanna know what this place is called. This village does have a name right?" he asked, quickly clarifying his question.
"Yeah, it does. This is Junon, and you're weird," the kid said, pulling away from Reno's grip on his arm and bounding away to rejoin his friends.
Junon? What the fuck? The name had caught him so unawares that he barely even noticed the boy run off. How in hell could this be Junon? Reno knew that Junon was a bustling, busy city that seemed only to have blossomed since Shinra's destruction, increasing in size to rival Midgar in only a few months; likely caused by the influx of refugees from Midgar that hadn't been able to find refuge in Kalm. Junon was a very far cry from a tiny little fishing village with no more than a dozen houses clustered around a small harbour.
At least it explained the familiar scenery, and now that he really looked at it, he could easily identify the line of the cliff where the rest of Junon was supposed to be. But evidently wasn't any longer. How could one simple spell destroy an entire city, leaving nothing but a quaint, picturesque little village? It simply didn't make any real sense, and for the life of him, Reno couldn't think of anything that could have done this.
He paused for a moment in hesitation, for the first time in more than a little while feeling uncertain of what to do. Something, clearly, was very wrong, and he had no idea how to deal with it, and that in itself was terrifying. He hated feeling like there was nothing he could do, and that a situation was beyond his control. And yet here he was stranded in a place that most certainly was not the Junon he'd come to know and... know. It was impossible to love Junon, even for a natural city-dweller like Reno.
But right now, he'd have welcomed the sight of the dirty city, if only because it was familiar and a known element. This place was just too alien, too strange. It was like Junon but not, and so far more threatening than simply being a new location he'd never seen before.
He shook his head, and ran a hand through his hair to relieve a little of the tension, before loping over to one of the women that sat in a chair on her doorstep, carefully and thoroughly repairing holes in a large net that rested in her lap, flowing down to pool on the ground about her feet. "Hey... this is Junon right?" Reno asked her, seeking confirmation. The kid might have been simply messing with his mind after all, trying to confuse him.
"That's right," the woman confirmed. "This is our little village. Say, are you alright? You don't look very well..."
He shook his head. "I'm fine... just a bit lost is all," he said, although in truth he felt sick. Not physically ill, but sick right in the pit of his stomach, something he took a moment to recognise as a dull sense of fear. The fear of the unknown, of being completely and totally lost. He'd never been lost before, at least not really. Sure, he'd become misplaced once or twice, but never lost in what seemed to be something so totally foreign. This wasn't just a miscellaneous part of wilderness. This seemed more like an entirely different world.
"Maybe you should go sit for a while. You're pale as anything," the woman said, pushing the net to one side to provide space for Reno to settle on the doorstep.
He did so, a little too confused to actually argue with the woman. "Where's it gone? There's supposed to be a city here... a big one. Shops and offices, big ships in the port. My friends. Where's it all gone?"
"Oh, there's never been a city here, not as long as my family's lived here. There's a city to the north though, but no one ever bothers us here," the woman told him. "Stay right here, and I'll get you a drink."
He wasn't sure he wanted one, but she seemed fairly insistent, and he did need to find out what was going on. When she returned, she pressed a mug of warm liquid into his hands, and he took a sip, recognising the dark drink as a heavy black coffee. He'd likely be bouncing off the walls after drinking all of this, he reflected with a light laugh. Again the woman seemed determined and forceful however, so he obediently drank the coffee.
After he'd drank his way through half the mug, Reno noticed the coffee wasn't having quite the effect on him that he'd been anticipating. Instead of entering a state of hyperactive sensitivity and awareness, he felt only increasingly tired and sleepy, until even keeping his eyes open was an increasing struggle. Perhaps that can had hit his head harder than he'd originally thought; he'd always been prone to suffering excessively from even minor blows to the cranium, with concussions being the most common injury he received.
"You look tired. Come inside and rest," the woman told him, and he felt certain he could catch something odd about her tone of voice, although he couldn't quite work out what it was. If he'd been able to wake up a little, maybe he could figure it out, since he'd been trained to detect a person's true meaning by the way they spoke. But it was increasingly difficult to remain focused, to the point where he only just managed to discern her words at all.
Reno felt her pull him to his feet, and he staggered slightly, soon coming to lean against her as she half lead and half dragged him into her home. He could hear her murmuring about how he'd been looking so sickly, and being so scrawny couldn't be good for him, and what he needed was some rest.
Again, he couldn't resist as she escorted him into the bedroom and pushed him onto the bed. This was far too strange, even in this state the red-head could sense that. He'd been feeling fine, if a little sick with something he knew was fear and fear alone. And healthy concern for his situation didn't cause this, he knew that. There was only one other option, one word that dominated his mind as he lost consciousness. Drugged.
Disclaimer - Reno and Final Fantasy VII still don't belong to me; I'm just borrowing. The standard really... I mean no harm.
Author's Notes - I know this chapter is shorter than the last. This is how long the first chapter was supposed to be. Well maybe a little longer than this. And this one wanted to be shorter really, but I got hit by inspiration, so here it is. I'm mean, I know, ending a second chapter with a kind of cliffhanger. I like cliffhangers.
Thanks to Tijuana Pirate and WrexSoul for the reviews. I would mention the meaning of Ouroboros, but it would somewhat ruin my plot, so you'll have to bear with me on this. It will come up in later chapters, when it's time to explain a little of what's going on. And for Reno's optimism, I guess I just like him as a happy guy; nearly everyone writes him being darker and more depressed, but I think the lighter side of him works just as well.
Again, my thanks to Phoenix for the beta-reading and the poking me to write, which is how an update happened so quickly. Well, that and the reviews; they are an incredible motivator, so please feel free to provide more reviews. Again, I promise not to leave the cliffhanger too long. Actually the next chapter is one I'm really looking forward to writing...