By Ktrenal
Chapter Twelve - The Journey
As the sun rose higher into the sky, warming the chill air that flowed from the nearby mountains, the mist gradually dissipated, as Reno had expected it would. Even so, the air remained cold, blown about by a breeze that seemed almost wintery in the way it cut so effortlessly through his clothes, causing him to shiver almost uncontrollably despite the bright, yet watery sunshine. Glances towards the mountains from which he'd come revealed some snow on the highest peaks, and it was from this direction the wind came from.
On the whole, Reno was beginning to feel sick of being cold, hurt and tired. Injuries he could tolerate, on their own; he'd broken his ribs on more than one occasion, albeit never in a situation that didn't promise healing in the near future. Exhaustion, he could deal with, when encountered in isolation; this wouldn't be the first time he'd overstretched himself and burned out, and there had always been something oddly pleasant about resting after heavy exertion. He could even tolerate being cold, although he'd never particularly enjoyed it; the world beneath the Plates of Midgar had always remained a constant temperature, and any deviations from that often left Reno miserable.
But the injuries, exhaustion and constant cold all stacked up to become a little more than the Turk really wanted to put up with. If it hadn't been for the fact that Butterfly's running gait paused him only increasing amounts of pain, he'd have increased the pace so as to end the journey more quickly. There were feelings he wasn't entirely accustomed too, longings to be in familiar, or at least more pleasant surroundings.
And this irritated him. It was with a dull sense of realisation that the thought occurred that he'd become entirely too acclimatised to the luxuries of life, something that had started years before when he'd joined Shinra and the Turks. There had been times, many, many years ago, when he'd been used to unsatisfactory conditions and the rougher edges of life. But Shinra, while teaching him how to fight, kill and survive, had taken away his tolerance of situations not going his way.
The Turks had never had to be concerned with even the smallest of inconveniences. If they didn't like something, it inevitably came down to shooting people until the problem was fixed, at least with the more extreme cases. Clearly killing the maintenance workers because the thermostat in the office was broken wasn't acceptable. Oddly enough, however, no one had raised any comments when it happened.
But that was the point, wasn't it? Nobody questioned a Turk, and nobody did anything that stood a chance of pissing one off. Not that Reno particularly believed in shooting people that upset him, or believed in not shooting people that upset him, for that matter. It was simply one of those facts of life. I'm a Turk, I have a gun, I call the shots.
So that lead Reno to the ultimate problem of being so used to having his own way all the time that this current scenario was getting on his already somewhat frayed nerves. There were certain limits to which even his laid-back attitude couldn't reach. He'd been thrown back in time, knocked unconscious by a can of beans, drugged, burned by materia during his escape, pestered by biting insects, shot with a crossbow, deafened by an alarm, killed by a dark dragon, forced to sleep outside in the freezing cold, and chased by a Midgar Zolom. On the whole, this caused even the most relaxed of people to begin to feel somewhat persecuted.
Of course, he easily recognised the fact that his increasingly despondent mood was caused solely by his injuries and exhaustion, and being so far from home for that matter, and so therefore reaching Midgar would fix all of these problems. Until then, he felt entitled to be rather depressed. Entitled, but not really able to achieve it to the fullest extent that he'd have liked to.
It was a long-standing philosophy of Reno's that he would never allow life to get on top of him, and a few moments of mental ranting seemed to ease his temper. His own experiences with life and, of course, his Turk training, left him largely in control of his emotions, although many believed otherwise. It was a trait common to all Turks, in some way or other, but Reno's approach had always been somewhat unique.
Tseng, and especially Rude, had controlled their emotions by rejecting them or repressing them, at least the way the red-head's eyes viewed it. He, on the other hand, had simply decided that he was never going to be able to ignore his emotions and become stoic or controlled like his colleagues. Instead, he let himself feel the emotions, but forced the positive ones to overwhelm the negative ones.
In this manner, he could find some good in almost any situation. Take the current, for example, since it was the one that was foremost in his mind. He may be injured, tired, cold and so forth, but on the plus side, he was well on his way home. He also had the destruction of a dark dragon on his hands to show off about, something which Rude and Elena at least would find impressive. Hell, this entire adventure was going to be one seriously cool story to relate when he got home.
Reno's active imagination continued to consider the possibilities for a few moments, resulting in the rather absurd idea of a movie. As if anyone but his friends would care about this little excursion. It was amusing to think about, especially since his mind visualised the special effects that could be used for his glorious battle with the dragon, but ultimately, no one cared about the activities of a Turk.
He allowed a somewhat derisive snort, reflecting with a moment of arrogance that his adventure was far more interesting than anything Avalanche had done. Anyone could topple a world-dominating multi-national corporation, end the life of an insane, deranged, psychotic megalomaniac with delusions of godhood and prevent a huge chunk of rock colliding with the planet, thus destroying all living things on it. But very few had the intelligence and resources to survive time travel, journey as far as Reno had using solely his wits and kill a dark dragon, which the Turk privately believed had been way tougher than Sephiroth.
Definitely, Reno's achievements on this particular adventure were far more noteworthy than Strife's. When he got home, he'd make sure that anyone who would listen heard all about it, too. Of course, that meant only Rude and Elena, and they'd agree with him anyway, if only because they knew better than to disagree with him, at least on matters like this. But they would appreciate the skill involved in killing the dragon.
All the more reason to get home as quickly as possible, Reno decided, and drawing his attention back to the world around him, he realised how far north they had come in what seemed like a relatively short space of time. But with that said, the cold and the pain were slowing his thought processes somewhat, causing him to have difficulty concentrating for too long. At least his thoughts, slow as they had been, had provided him with a suitable distraction from the cause of his problems.
Maybe that was why he never managed to stay depressed for too long, no matter how dire the situation became; he was too easily distracted, his thoughts too content to run rampant around his mind and offering insights deep, strange, or just plain silly. Or sometimes all three at once. It definitely made it difficult to remain unhappy while his mind was ready to point out to him just how well he'd done so far.
Because he had pretty much kicked serious ass every step of the way thus far. Yeah, he was definitely better at this adventure thing than the likes of Strife. So what was there to get all upset about? It wasn't like he was going to die, not now anyway. He wasn't all that far away from Midgar, and was by nature far too stubborn to die on the easiest stretch of the journey so far.
With this in mind, he pulled Butterfly to a stop, receiving a curious wark in response. Reaching into his pocket for the compass, Reno checked their heading once again, knowing it was about time to head in a westerly direction. It didn't look it from this distance, but the mountains in that direction were coming to an end, and there would be the narrow pass through which they had to travel in order to reach the city. There were some distance away, however, having followed a directly north path, to save getting lost in the foothills at the base of the mountains. In the distance there was a soft haze, so he couldn't quite make out the line of the pass, but he knew it was there.
"Not far now," he commented to Butterfly, who gave an impatient pull at the reins. It seemed Reno wasn't the only one who wanted to get out of the wilderness as soon as possible. "I don't see why you're so impatient. I'm the one who's dying here."
The large bird answered this with another wark, and turned her head to regard Reno with one big blue eye.
"What, you don't believe me? That is just so like you! I could just collapse and die, and you'd keep on walking, wouldn't you?" the Turk asked, his voice indignant and filled with mock offense.
Again, Butterfly warbled at him, most likely more upset by his tone of voice than his actual words; the chances of her actually understanding were minimal.
"Aww, come on. You know I don't mean that. How about we get moving to Midgar, and then you can go home. Or come home with me," he suggested, nudging the yellow chocobo into a walk once again, this time in the direction of the distant mountain pass. The temptation to take Butterfly back into the future with him was quite strong; the effect of the isolation he'd experienced most of the way through his journey had left him feeling more than a little attached to this chocobo, who practically counted as a friend now. And it wasn't like Daverrison could do anything about it if Reno did steal the chocobo and disappear off into the distant future with her.
Now that just sounded weird, didn't it? Like he was eloping with his chocobo, or something. He let out a soft laugh as the thought occurred to him, combined with the odd image of him and Butterfly in the registry office at the Gold Saucer, him in a suit and her with a lacey veil.
It was quite obvious the pain was going to his head, because he really should not have been thinking of marrying his chocobo. That was just too bizarre, even for Reno. It was one of those things he could only think of when his mind was a little warped by exhaustion and injuries. He would never even consider marriage to a large yellow bird if it wasn't for the fact that he felt about to pass out every time he took even the most shallow of breaths.
Well, alright, maybe he'd joke about it, just to freak people out. That had always been amusing, and his prime reason for doing anything in the slightest bit strange. Sometimes it really was just fun to make people wonder about his sanity. Of course, considering he was wandering through the wilderness, talking to his chocobo, it did beg a few questions about mental stability. It was, on the whole, one of those roads he didn't particularly want to travel, since he might not like what he found at the end of the journey.
And wasn't that just wonderfully philosophical and such? All analogy and metaphor. He usually came out with stuff like that while under the influence of alcohol, or occasionally other things, for that matter. Perhaps pain and cold and exhaustion had its uses, assuming that thoughts like those were actually a good thing. He'd have to get back to that, when he wasn't half out of his own head.
That was a whole other line of thought there which he didn't even dare pursue, because there were some things that someone of his nature really shouldn't spend too much time considering. It was how a religion involving butterflies taking over the world had started, after all. His own strange trains of thought while in a fair amount of pain and only semi-conscious.
Reno let his thoughts lapse into a quiet daze as Butterfly walked onwards, soon entering the dark, narrow passage that lay between the mountains to the left and the rising plateau of rocks to the right. A little way along, if his memory was correct, there would be a path leading up to the top of the plateau, which would allow him to see for miles in all directions, should he choose to go that way. But there was no reason to do so, not when he was already as certain as he could be of his course.
The passage was shadowed, the cliffs rising to each side cutting out most of the sunshine, and so the breeze that blew through its winding, twisting lengths seemed to have an unnatural chill. Reno pulled his jacket more tightly around him, and leaned forward against Butterfly's broad, yellow feathered back, feeling the warmth radiating out from the large bird's form.
And once again his mind drifted as he slipped into a semi-conscious doze with his cheek pressed against the brilliant yellow feathers of Butterfly's back. This was a fairly inspired drifting of thoughts too, and he considered it one of his best. It was always said about travelling into the past that all efforts should be made to not accidentally kill one's own grandfather. But why not try to kill someone else's grandfather?
For example, just off the top of his head, perhaps a trip out to Nibelheim to find someone with the name Strife might be in order. No Grandfather Strife meant no Cloud Strife. He really should have thought of that earlier. He could take the effort to kill off a few others, too. Wallace's father, if he remembered the ages correctly, Highwind's father too. While he was in Nibelheim he could check out the Lockhart family line. Valentine's father, or possibly even Valentine himself, depending on how far back he'd actually come. Quite possibly the red canine thing had already be born too, although Reno wasn't completely sure of this. Removing the current Lord Kisaragi would be a little more of a challenge, though. Reeve's family could live though, because Reno didn't hold anything personally against the executive, despite his traitorous actions.
Yeah, that was a great idea. No Avalanche meant that Shinra would still exist, and he'd still have a proper job. Well, assuming Sephiroth didn't destroy the world. But the Turks could take out that nutcase, in theory. Or they'd die trying and not be around to see the world destroyed. It beat working in a supermarket, right?
Alright, probably not. The Turk had to admit that without Avalanche the world probably would have been destroyed, and everyone dead. But that didn't excuse them from losing Reno's job by destroying Shinra. Technically speaking, if he didn't kill their grandparents while he was here, they would owe him a favour. He'd have to chase that up when he got home, although he doubted any of them would appreciate the humour of it.
Simply wandering over to Strife at his villa in Costa Del Sol, or wherever he'd gone, and telling him that during a brief adventure into the past he'd decided against murdering said hero's grandfather probably wouldn't get him much beyond stabbed with an oversized butcher knife. Reno very much doubted any of them would see the funny side. That was the trouble with heroes; absolutely no sense of humour.
All in all, the concept of killing Strife's grandfather was a nice one to consider, but like the concept of a movie about his adventures out here, completely unfeasible. On the other hand, he could destroy Avalanche's family, but if he also killed Hojo's parents, that might prove effective. That would result in no Avalanche and no Sephiroth, which would therefore lead to a much happier world back in the future.
Happier for the likes of Reno, at least. The ones who'd benefited from Shinra's dominion over the world. Yes, on the whole this seemed like a good option. Deal with all the problems of the world before they actually arose in the first place, albeit at the risk of leaving the potential for far worse to happen.
With that said, what could possibly be worse than the combined effects of Avalanche and Sephiroth? Very little, even as far as Reno's highly active imagination would stretch. It was practically his duty to follow up on these ideas, therefore. He'd have to take care not to kill anyone else though, in case he accidentally prevented someone good from being born. Like, for example, the ancestors of Tseng, Rude or Elena.
But, what if he was meant to kill someone here? It could be that his journey back through time had been fated, and so it might be part of his purpose to destroy someone, if only by accident. There might be some insane demented maniac in the future that wandered the world killing butterflies, someone who would never exist because Reno prevented his birth by slaughtering his grandfather.
It was the kind of paradox he could continue thinking around in his head for hours, and when he finally pulled himself from his semi-conscious state to check his location, he realised that perhaps he had in fact been considering the concept for some time. They had passed beyond the narrow passage between the mountains and the plateau, and were now travelling west through the plains to the south of Kalm, or the place the village was located in his time, at least. It was possible it didn't exist here, as Reno's memories suggested that the small town had been founded to act as overflow for a surging population of Midgar.
It was within easy commuting distance, after all, and had it not been for the fact that Reno had been unable to even consider not living in the city, he might have considered living in Kalm himself. A few of the richer executives had chosen to do so, and they were the ones who were benefiting now that Midgar had been destroyed; their homes and belongings had remained safe away from the city, after all. Everyone still hated them for their association with Shinra, but at least they had a nice house to hide in.
Reno forced himself to sit up, turning his gaze around the nearby landscape, and then altering Butterfly's course towards the southwest. Hopefully they would come across Midgar without too much trouble, or at least find a road that would lead them to the city. The last thing he wanted was to be wandering aimlessly around terrain that was both familiar and undeniably foreign, especially while injured as he was. If he fell off Butterfly's back, it didn't seem likely he'd be able to climb back on again, and if he lost consciousness, it was entirely possible that he wouldn't wake up.
Semi-conscious dozing didn't count as being unconscious, as he was still vaguely aware of his surroundings in that state, if not in much condition to actually respond to them. Awareness was the key factor here. The ability to remain attentive to the world around him meant that he'd realise when he reached the city. Unconscious people generally didn't have a clue where they were, or where they were going.
Awareness aside, it was still a few moments before Reno actually realised when Butterfly had stopped walking, her soft warks drawing him only very slowly from his dozing state. He blinked, forcing his eyes to focus enough so he could identify the reason for the chocobo's halt. The reason, he recognised after a moment of staring, was that they had reached a road. This was good, because roads lead somewhere, always.
It had been an old saying that all roads lead to Midgar, and assuming this was correct, following this road would take him to his destination without difficulty. A few moments of consultation with the compass, and Reno turned Butterfly in the direction that undoubtedly lead to Midgar.
"Keeping walking this way, until you can't go any further," he told the chocobo, before nudging her once more into a gentle walk. Reno couldn't help but feel a brief spark of elation, as much as he could find energy to achieve; he was nearly home! Everything would be fine as soon as he got to Midgar, and he guessed there couldn't be much more than a few hours left to his journey.
It was these thoughts that plagued his mind as Butterfly walked, although it was a plague Reno couldn't help but enjoy. Having his mind drawn to a pleasing subject, and one that was fully feasible, was a nice change from the wild ideas and the marginally depressing thoughts that had dominated his mind until now. And so, when a few hours of steady walking later, the pair came within sight of Midgar, the young man's optimism surged, and he gave Butterfly's neck an affectionate pat.
"Not long now, Butterfly. Onward to Midgar!"
Disclaimer - Reno and all concepts of Final Fantasy VII don't belong to me, but to Square. The plot, however, is mine. Mwahahaha!
Author's Notes - Well, I promised we'd get to Midgar, and I have delivered. I never said we'd actually go inside, or do anything. So therefore none of Phoenix's 'bad things' are allowed to happen to me. Actually, I couldn't resist doing this, so I had to force the chapter to cover the entire journey from the marshes to Midgar, and it was incredibly difficult to write at first. The latter parts of the chapter were easier though, and so reaching something near my usual chapter length wasn't too difficult. Chapter length is important, like commas are important.
Next chapter will, of course, actually take us inside Midgar. Unfortunately, this is one of the few blank spots I have remaining in the grand scheme of the entire story, so things may be a little random for the next few chapters until I figure out just how I'm getting from here to the next significant event for the story. Of course, no one gets to know what the significant event is, unless Phoenix happens to remember from my original summary of my plans.
WrexSoul: Again, I hope there's no horrific grammar errors in here. Last chapter actually had Word's grammar check doing some work, although it didn't flag up very much. So I've written it off as useless, not to mention annoying, and haven't used it this chapter. There's probably some commas in here that need to die, though... I was on schedule for updates, very briefly, but that kinda died again. I had hoped to get a lot done this week, too, since I'm having a week off from work.
Sabriel: Wow, many reviews. It brought me such joy, receiving all those practically all at once. I did toy with having Reno avoid the fight with the dragon, but I figured it wouldn't be in character for him, and I also had so many plans for that fight. Although sorta killing Reno wasn't one of them. It was an accident, hence 'ooops'. For Daverrison, just consider the fact that he's an honest guy, and Reno's lied to him at least twice about his name... Even the thought of fangirls sends shivers up my spine, however, especially in relation to Reno snack foods. You're going to give me nightmares now.
Tijuana Pirate: I have the dream stuff all completely planned out now, as well as the whole plotline. I had some blank places before, but I had a sudden spark of inspiration, and now I know exactly where everything is going to lead. However, I will never tell! As always my plans remain my own. I somehow doubt this chapter turned out as interesting as you predicted however. Next chapter, the inside of Midgar, should be better.
RaisingHavok & Lady Spork: Thank you both for the reviews, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
Long author's notes, by the look of it. That's gonna be doing something to the word count, isn't it? Not that I'm obsessing over word counts or anything... Anyway, onwards to chapter thirteen! And I originally thought I might have the entire story done in ten chapters... I haven't even begun to make Reno miserable yet! Ooops, did I say that out loud?