Sephiroth- Moving On


Morning came, and I woke to find my arms empty and my bedroll still smelling like Aerith's hair. The camp was empty, though I could hear her delighted laughter some short distance behind me. She didn't sound like she was in any trouble, so I re-rolled the blanket and stretched before going quietly in the direction of her voice.

It hit me again, a wave of jealousy as I came upon her and Reno, sitting side by side by the cliff. They were watching the sun rise—something I'd meant to do and forgotten, now for the second time. They didn't seem to notice me yet, but I could hear their conversation.

"…and I figured, he said to follow orders to the letter, so I did. No one could blame me." Reno's grin split his face. "Thirty-six hours I stood there, and didn't move 'til Seph came and ordered me to." At Aerith's peal of laughter, he shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, it was a General who issued the order, shouldn't be anyone less than a General who told me to stand down. I was only following orders."

"I wish I could have seen his face," said Aerith, "Poor Seph. You were so hard on him."

"Hey, remember, he was hard on us." Reno sounded defensive. Good. He knew I was simply doing my job. It wasn't my fault that he'd made things difficult for himself.

Aerith sobered. "Reno, please…do me a favor?" She looked away from him and out at the bright horizon. "Try to get along with him? It's not the old days where he was your commanding officer. You both just gave up on ShinRa, and there are no ranks out here. But he knows what he's doing." I could see her eyes turn to him again, wide and pleading.

She'd turned that look on me in the past. I knew from experience that it was hard to resist. For a moment, however, I thought Reno might. Then he scowled at her, his former good mood gone "I'll get along with him when he understands just that, Aerith. You're right. There are no ranks now, but I also have a good idea of what I am doing. I didn't come out of ShinRa to be bullied around again. I have enough issues with this trip as it is."

"At least try. That's all I ask."

He scoffed without much heat and stood. If I was going to avoid looking like an eavesdropper, I realized that I needed to move. I stepped forward.

For once, I got to enjoy the rare sight of Reno's surprise, though he recovered admirably. "Seph."

"Reno," I nodded, brushing past him. Reno snorted at me and stalked off to the camp.

Aerith patted the ground beside her and beamed at me. "Come sit down, Seph. The sun was so pretty this morning!" I settled myself next to her and she leaned her head on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I meant to get up and watch the sunrise with you."

She shook her head. "It's okay. You were tired, and I gave you a lot to think about last night." Her fingers toyed with a lock of her hair as she gazed out over the plains below. "You heard me talking to Reno, didn't you?"

I nodded. I thought about dissembling for a moment, but it wouldn't serve any purpose here. "Why is it so important that he stays, Miss Change-of-opinion?"

"The Planet wants him," she said simply. "We need his help."

"We?"

She pulled away and knelt to face me. "I've been thinking. What if we went after ShinRa?"

That hadn't been what I expected her to say. This was a new side to the woman I thought I knew. "Went after them, how? Why?"

"To take them down, of course." The way she said it was so matter-of-fact, as if it was plain. "To free everyone."

I took her hands in mine and chose my words. "Sweetheart, there are only four of us. All of us—no matter what the reports say—ALL of us are wanted. We need to run as far away as we can before they find us again."

"No, no, no!" She frowned. "We'd need to plan, of course, but we could do it! Stop the reactors, stop the experiments. Let the people in the slums know there's a whole world out here."

"They don't care about the world out here," I said flatly.

Aerith wouldn't accept that. "They would if they knew it existed. I did. Reno did, too."

"Back to Reno?" I shook my head. "He has no loyalty to us, no reason to stay. Frankly, I wouldn't mind if he took off on his own, after hearing that report."

"Yes, you would." She looked away. "We need him, and he needs us."

Jealousy rose up in me. "If you want him to stay so badly, why not go after him and tell him so?"

She looked startled, then indignant. "This is not about me. I did change my opinion of him. I admit that I misjudged him." Something sank in, and I watched her expression change again. "Wait, you think that he and I—oh, for heaven's sake."

With a sound of disdain, she yanked her hands away and started to climb to her feet. I stopped her, barely, and pulled her back down to wrap her in my arms.

"I'm sorry. It's not that I really thought that; I'm just on edge about everything."

"Then you'll think of my idea? About ShinRa?" She relaxed a little.

I sighed. "Bloodthirsty little thing, aren't you?"

"Sephiroth," she admonished, "no one should go their entire lives without seeing the sun rise."

There wasn't anything I could say to that.

We lapsed into silence, listening to the birds and the wind blowing around us. The cliff was in a lightly wooded area, its rough-hewn face overlooking the road to Kalm. I had to admit that Reno had done a good job by landing us here. We would have made a fine target out on the plains.

Finally, I had to admit that Aerith was probably right. Despite his irreverence, Reno was an excellent fighter. Hell, he was a Turk, wasn't he? Tseng always praised his skill, and even I knew he had the potential to be great. If it hadn't been for his defiant nature, Reno might have even been able to rise in rank. I mentioned this to Aerith.

"He doesn't want that," she said matter-of-factly. "He told me he never wanted to be part of it in the first place."

There were too many similarities between Reno and me for my comfort. "It doesn't mean I have to like him."

"Yes, it does!" Aerith shifted. "You have to learn to trust each other, and not like this. You have to be like friends, or brothers."

"Brothers fight," I reminded her, but she merely hmph-ed.

"Brothers who fight will also defend each other against an outside enemy." She glanced shrewedly up at me. "Would you do that for him? Would you put yourself in harm's way to keep him safe? Probably not, not yet. And neither would he."

I had no answer to that. She sighed and stood. "Seph, he respects you, and I know you respect him. But respect isn't enough, sometimes." She scooped up her jacket and pulled it on. "I'm going to see if they need help packing up."

She bent to kiss the top of my head, then went back toward the camp with her careful walk. I stayed where I was, thinking.

What did she mean, that respect wasn't enough? Was I actually supposed to treat Reno like a brother? I coughed with laughter at the idea, but quickly suppressed it when I remembered something. A commander in SOLDIER, one of the few who saw through ShinRa.

He had died in Wutai, leading his men in a charge. That in itself was not as uncommon as it may seem; I have said before that Wutai was a slaughterhouse. We lost many good men on both sides to that thrice-damned war. I had liked this officer, though, and he bore me no ill will for being almost twenty years his junior and a General to boot. I learned much from watching him with his men. Save for Zax and a few of the third class SOLDIERS, I had no unit of my own.

Many commanders were able to inspire their men; that was what made them good leaders. But this man…I remember that his men loved him. He genuinely cared about the men who served under him. He ignored the rules against the fraternization of officers and enlisted men. He diced with them, drank with them, but meted out discipline when it was due. Then, when it was time for that last charge, three of them threw themselves in front of him to deflect attacks meant for him.

I saw him weep as the third one was cut down, then he called his remaining men to regroup.

After that, I had to defend my own life against the tide of Wutaian foot-soldiers, and I saw him no more. Later, when they bore his body from the battlefield, the three or four men who were left wept for him. I saw to it that they were given leave to go home if they wished, but they all elected to stay until the end.

Was that what Aerith wanted for Reno and me? That kind of bond of loyalty and devotion? I couldn't help but wonder if she'd set me an impossible task.

But then it was time to go.

I reached the camp just in time to see Nanaki pulling zipper on a bag with his teeth. He had amazing dexterity for a creature without opposable thumbs. At my approach, he spoke around the metal tab. "Reno suggested we leave soon." He let the bag go and rested a paw on top of it. "He said ShinRa will be able to track the helicopter."

"All right," I replied, then turned to Reno. "You have a plan?"

He appeared as though he was reading my face, the same way I knew Tseng did. When he responded, it was dismissive, as if he felt that where we should go would be obvious. "We should go to the chocobo farm that's east of here. Can't cross the swamp otherwise."

"And after that?"

He took a breath. "Hellif I know, I'm just along fer the ride."

This was exactly what drove me crazy about him. No accountability, no planning. "So we're just going to run around the countryside, looking for two people who may or may not be Zax and Cloud? That's your problem, Reno, you don't think about the next step. You're always just 'along for the ride'. It makes me so angry to see such potential wasted."

"And your problem is that you somehow think that I care about your opinion or that you have any authority over me one way or the other," Reno hissed. I was surprised that he would mouth off at such an important moment. He knew we needed to move.

I hefted a bag and tossed the other at him. "Someone needs to be in charge here, and I have the most experience. Just carry something and let's get moving." I helped Aerith up from where she sat lacing up her boots. "We'll have to travel as fast as we can; if we can get chocobos at the farm, we'll be able to cross the swamp. From there, we have to pass through the mountains, and from then on we'll be out of ShinRa's immediate reach."

As I moved away, the others following, I noticed Reno standing with the bag at his feet. "Something wrong, Reno? Or are you coming?"

"You runnin' to ShinRa or away from 'em?" He flicked the butt of the cigarette away. I think he finished it in four drags.

"Seph—" Aerith murmured, but I had stopped listening. "What the hell was that supposed to mean?" I closed the distance to him in six strides. Just like our old SOLDIER days—me yelling in Reno's face, him with that insolent glare. "Turk?"

He looked at me as though I'd called him a racial slur. There looked to be a moment where he really wanted to fight with me, and I was more then ready to oblige at this point. We weren't exactly nose to nose yet, though tension crackled enough. "Take yer head outta yer ass. You want me ta get shit clear? What's that? Yer the boss? Bullshit. News flash: we aren't in Midgar anymore."

"What do you want me to do?" I cried. "What? Salute you and ask you nicely what you'd like to do next? It doesn't work like that, Reno, and you never seemed to understand that. We are out in the middle of nowhere, running for our lives from the most powerful corporation in the world. Not only that, but we have with us one person who's never been out of the city in her life, who's wanted by them more than both of us combined. I am responsible for her safety, and dammit, if that means I take charge, then by the gods, I take charge. You either get in line or get lost."

I heard Aerith and Nanaki gasp a half-second before I saw him move. Reno was fast; the Turk reflexes certainly weren't wasted on him. A Death Penalty—probably the one from the helicopter—had appeared a centimeter from my eye. I didn't dare breathe. Turks don't draw their weapons unless they're prepared to use them. There are few times I can honestly say I was afraid for my own life. This was one of them.

We stood like that for hours, years, the barrel of the gun so close I could almost feel how cold the steel was. Reno's chest rose and fell raggedly, but the gun never wavered. Aerith whimpered from behind me. Nanaki cautiously approached and cleared his throat.

"We can go to Cosmo Canyon," he said in a reasonable, even tone, "I want to let my family know I'm all right. They'll want to thank you. Both of you." Under his breath, he added, "If you both live that long."

Reno took one last deep breath. "Just—get out of my face," he said wearily. "Just fucking get out of my face." The gun disappeared, smoothly returned to somewhere on his body. Then he picked up the pack again and brushed past me.

"Come on, Nanaki," he called back, not looking at me. "I always wanted to see the desert."

Nanaki gave me a sympathetic look, then followed Reno down the hill. My own gaze found Aerith standing near the remains of the campfire, knuckles white. She was trembling.

I would have done anything for a drink right then. Instead, I put my arm around her and we walked together.

"Brothers," I said softly.

"You can do it," she murmured.

I wasn't so sure, but we had a long walk ahead of us. I could think about it on the way.