AN: Does anyone know how to get the asterisk symbol, or the equals symbol to show up in the text once you submit a chapter to The formatting is driving me nuts and not letting me do it.
Discliamer: I don't onw FFVII.
Initiation Procedures
I came into the Turks as bright and cheery as could be, and, wouldn't you know it, that was the mood I was in when I got to hear about how the plate was going to be somewhat destroyed. Well…at least I hadn't started out in a depressed mood.
I was hired the day before the collapse of the Sector 7 plate column, and I got my first mission the very next day. They told me that my job would be to take over for one of the current Turks while he on vacation. Or at least, that was the simplified version of it…the official notice said something about extemporaneous circumstances, or something. I remember that the whole first day as kind of a buzz, but that I focused as much as I could on what Tseng said to me. I met Tseng, I met Rude, I got a suit, I got a gun, I got shades, and then I met Reno….
All Tseng had told me was 'He's on a mission; you probably won't meet him until…later.' Honestly, it didn't seem like he'd be that hard to replace.
Tseng had just been about to release me to go home for the night, when the doors were flung open and in came a mess on legs, with the same blue suit on as the brand new one I held in my hands, only his was…crumpled.
He came in and started raving to Tseng about what I presumed to be his last mission - which by the sounds of it - he failed.
"She's got a new toy, Tseng! I fuckin' blondie bodyguard!" He had yelled. I tried not to take the blondie thing to heart.
I don't remember the whole conversation, but I remember it was something about something ancient and a bodyguard. Whatever. It was only after their conversation that Reno actually noticed my presence. If I'm right - which knowing what I know about Reno now, I think I am - he had been muttering something along the lines of "…size of his sword…only overcompensation for the size of Oh, who are you?"
I believe my next statement was somewhat of a mistake, as the reaction I got from Tseng was simply silence and a bowed head, while the response from Reno was:
"Woman, I don't care who you are, but you're holding a blue suit. That makes you a Turk. Turk, you don't use the word 'replace' until one of us is either worm food or standing in front of a firing squad waiting for the whistle. And yes, I did just refer to you using a sexist feminine pronoun. Live with it."
Oops. Ya'know, I never did learn what got Reno all up in arms about me saying that I'd be replacing him. Maybe it was a blow to his ego or something.
The next time I saw Reno, we were in a helicopter. I was just a passenger, but I was still there when he was dropped off on the Sector 7 Pillar Column. He had looked deep in thought, so I stopped trying to lessen the mood with mindless chatter when I figured out that it wasn't working. I was also starting to realize what those extenuating circumstances were. A man was being paid to murder thousands of people - blame on him or no - and he didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. Yeah, I'd need a break after that too.
The pilot took me back to the Shin-Ra headquarters, and he dropped me off there. I was to wait to receive either a call for back-up from Reno, or a call of confirmation that Reno's mission had been a success. I dearly hoped for the latter. For some reason, I didn't feel as confident that night as I did that morning. When I thought about the consequences of what we were doing, my head started to hurt. It wasn't from confusion. It was guilt. And astonishment. And shame. It was then that I realized the job of a Turk. Turks can discard emotions faster than they can discard cards. They don't question motive, they don't question ethnics; they don't question why, they just do. That man was out there killing because he didn't have the backbone to say 'no'. Or perhaps he was killing because he was brave and strong enough to do it and be prepared to live with the guilt on his mind. When you think about it like that, it's still not really a valiant deed, but that man must be awfully strong to take on a burden like that. He was stronger than me, that was for sure. So yeah, maybe I could role-play as a Turk for a little bit, but to fully replace 'mass murderer Reno'? That was asking a lot.
I'm sure that over time I would have matured to the same level though, if I worked at it as long as Reno had. It must come with the job. Once you make your first hit, it gets easier, right? It's not as hard to sin once you've done it before, right? It's not as hard to sin when you do it without thinking, right?
When that plate fell, I was standing on the 68th floor of the Shin-Ra headquarters, staring out a window at it. I saw that giant mass of steel slowly go crashing down like a metal tidal wave. The sound was hideous, and the flames were unbelievably high. Right after the first explosion, I caught myself edging back from the Plexiglas window. I felt a little like a coward for being afraid of the aftermath, when my co-worker had been the one out there causing it.
Rude came up a few minutes later, and we just kind of…stood there. He was silent, and I wasn't sure what to say or what to think, so neither of us said anything at all. We just stood there watching Reno's mess burn itself out and ignite all over again. It was almost as if, anytime one fire went out, another appeared. I got a little self-conscious after a few minutes of standing there, and I started to wonder if I really did look any good in that blue suit. I almost got to wondering if I really had any right to be in that suit, but I was caught by Reno's entrance. Actually, I didn't really notice Reno's entrance that much, I was too busy staring at the blaze, but heard what he said when he walked up behind Rude and I.
He said that his apartment had been on the Sector 7 plate. He asked if he could room with one of us. Yes, Reno had imploded his own home. I don't know if he had been forbidden to go back before the mission, or if he had just never owned very much to begin with, but he didn't bring too much stuff when he moved in with me. That's right I said yes, that he could live with me until he found somewhere new, or at least until his wounds healed. When I asked him about his little amount of belongings, he just said that all the real important things he had left below the plate. Sometimes I think there're things that that guy doesn't tell the rest of us. I don't know what he meant when he said that, but I'm sure it meant something.
But about that night, right before I went home with Reno, and right after Reno limped off away from Rude and me, I had a conversation with Rude. It was…nearly the most I've ever heard him say, to this day.
I had thought it unfortunate that Reno would get so badly injured that he couldn't work, when he was to be given a break anyway. When I voiced my thoughts, Rude laughed. Well, really he just chuckled quietly to himself, before he replied. He was still looking out the window (he still had his shades down, but I got the feeling he was looking out over the gap in the city).
"They never would have given him a break just for finishing the job; that was a requirement. They only give us breaks every so many years…so you could say that we kind of…expected Reno to get a little bruised up." So that's it. That's why I was a temp. That was the extemporaneous need.
Reno had knowingly blown up his own home, massacred hundreds of innocent people, and put himself in harm's way, expecting to take a beating. No…there was no way in Hell that I would ever fully be able to replace the demon of a man that is Reno the Turk. Or maybe he was a Turk of a man. What's worse?
AN: Well, that's done, and I am having a wonderful Spring Break (all of five days of it…). I didn't add killing his sister to that list of accomplishments for Reno, but that story's already been told, so I don't have to worry. And Ducky, I hope you picked up my NOT-SO-SUBLIMINAL 'replacement' hints. I figure nobody but perhaps you has followed this whole thing out as far as it is, so I'm thinkingthat you may be the only one that really understood everything. -t-t
