I Tried – Chapter 27
Revelations of the Fool

All of it, from the fuckin' beginning.

Reeve took a deep breath then. Reno could tell that the other man didn't really want to tell him everything, and that maybe this would be difficult to hear. But Reno needed it. He had his whole life riding on this, everything that he had he was going to toss away and put in danger IF- and only if- what Reeve had to say was as bad as he thought it was.

I can't tell you everything. But I'll do my best.

In a cloud of smoke Reeve began to outline everything that he knew. At first, it was pretty typical. Vincent Valentine became a Turk for the money. Mostly to help his sister, Lucrecia, to finish school and maybe it was a little bit for himself. Even thirty years before Reno and Reeve were sitting in that graveyard, over the Valentines' last stand, the slums were just as they had always been.

Lucrecia was awarded a huge grant, just before she graduated. On top of that, she garnished the affections of one Dr. Peter Hojo.

Wait… Hojo! That guy is a sick, sick, fuck. How could ANYONE fall in love with him?

Reno, sometimes with a brilliant mind, it warps a person. Hojo wasn't always like he is now, but the lack of his own goals, the decrease in his projects, everything that he's put himself through, it changed him. Still, as Turks, we never liked him. He always had a gift for dehumanizing people. Lucrecia just… I don't know, she saw past that and found something. It didn't last.

Vincent and Hojo never got along. Hojo refused to refer to Vincent as anything but a specimen number and Vincent refused to call him anything at all. It didn't turn out any better, from Vincent's point of view, when Lucrecia showed up on his doorstep in tears with a red headed woman.

What! Wait… wait wait wait… please, please Reeve, don't tell me this. Don't tell me what I think you are going to tell me.

Do you want the truth, Reno? Or do you want me to make something up?

…

Well?

Just… gods fucking damnit. God, I hate him.

She said that the specimen was harmless, that Hojo wanted her destroyed, but Lucricea, for some reason, couldn't do it. Vincent, because he knew what sort of risk it would be to harbor something Hojo wanted dead, took the woman in. They named her Suzanna, because she liked that name best out of the ones they tossed out. It was a few years later, when Vincent and Suzanna fell in some sort of love. One could say it was more of a deep understanding. They got along too well to be apart and they were married.

Fucking hells… Gods fucking-

Reno, are you alright?

No. I'm not fucking alright. But don't stop now.

Vincent had hated Hojo before then. After hearing what Suzanna went through, he loathed the man. Lucrecia couldn't keep the peace as often as she'd have liked to. Maybe that's what made her so blind to what he was doing. When you are trying to make someone a saint, it makes you blind to their evils. Even in Nibelheim, when Vincent showed her the wedding ring that Hojo had "lost" at the Honeybee in, she wasn't going to leave him.

She was pregnant with Sephiroth then, wasn't she?

Yeah, she was.

Months later, Lucrecia gave birth to Sephiroth, but she was told that the baby died in childbirth. She was never even allowed to hold him. While still ill from mako poisoning, she was also informed that she lost her position in the labs. They worried about her stability

They lied.

Basically.

Heartbroken over the loss of her son, Lucecia moved in with her brother and his wife. It wasn't too long after that when Suzanna became pregnant.

With me.

You know where this is going to go?

I have a bad feeling.

When Renald Vickalor Valentine was born, the happiness it brought his parents only reminded Lucricea of her own loss. She was determined to seek out Hojo and get proof that her baby had died. She was ready to do just about anything to take Sephiroth to some form of safety, no matter what it meant she would have to go through. However, she never came back.

Weeks later, Vincent himself went to find out where his sister and nephew were. He did return, with a bullet in his stomach and a useless arm.

It was chaos, plain, simple, chaos. Cassio, one of the other Turks, was killed. By the time Vincent had come back from wherever he left you and your mother, it was over. I woke up with this bad leg, and I don't know what happened to Vincent.

You… you don't know anything?

Nothing else, I'm sorry, Reno.

S- sorry! You just tell me all of this shit and all you can fucking tell me is "I'm SORRY?"

What do you want me to DO about it, Reno? Have the same thing happen? Have them track you to wherever you leave Tifa and Trigger? You don't HAVE the freedom to run away.

I'm not running.

What do you mean?

Reeve, I can't let it happen anymore.

Reno had known that the moment those words left his mouth that he was taking a very dangerous step. Reeve hadn't been happy when Reno brought it up after their talk about Reno's family. He hadn't been happy, but he hadn't threatened to stop anything. He didn't say anything for a long time, as a matter of fact. When he did, there was something almost respectful in his tone, though his words were admonishing.

You just told me, a ShinRa executive, that you are going to try to ruin ShinRa itself.

Reno only nodded.

Alright then. Just, for the love of everything worth believing in, you'd better come through with this one, Reno. You know very well what will happen to all of us if we aren't smart.

Reno didn't care how foolish he was being. It was over; this was going to end somehow. Reno couldn't just sit back anymore. Tifa was right, and if the other Turks weren't against them, they'd have to be with him. So now it was the six of them and Tifa's band of terrorists against the largest super power the planet had ever known.

The odds be damned, it had to work.

Months later, there was no turning back. Reno, or Johnny, as Tifa had called him, was pacing on the roof of the bar. This was the first time he would be meeting with AVALANCHE, and so far, it was doing nothing to make Reno feel very safe about their chances.

"I don't fuckin' understand why you can't march yo happy ass down here." A deep voice, it had to belong to Barret, the leader. "You scared of the slums, suit?"

Reno clenched his teeth. "Aiight, first, getcher head right outta yer ass. I got my own reasons fer not wanting ya'll to know what I look like. Mostly, I don't fucking trust you. We got that clear?"

Barret let out a string of curse words, but it was obvious that was not the reaction he'd expected from "Johnny".

"Uhm, I thought that the reason we were all here is that you wanted to help and that you did trust us." Another woman's voice, that meant that this was Jessie. She cleared her throat. "I mean, you sound like you understand…"

"I do understand, miss." Reno interjected. "I trust TIFA, and I trust her judgment. However, you have to realize that this is dangerous. I don't think ANY of you grasp that."

And another voice, deep, yet rather timid. "Ah, where, where did you say you were from, Johnny?"

"Sector Seven." Reno responded, lighting a cigarette. "Look, let's get this started before I'm missed."

Barret cursed some more, but then sighed. "Fine, I don't fucking like you, you know that?"

"Feeln' is mutual, Barret." Reno smirked at the response. Barret's heart was in the right place, and at least he seemed to understand the severity of the situation. Biggs (the guy with the timid voice), Wedge and Jessie were what worried him.

"Uhm, this is Wedge." Came the third male voice. "What is it that you don't trust? I mean, you've already done a lot, looking at these files and the access codes."

"I've got my own reasons." Reno responded. "If you think ShinRa is above killing innocents to get to you, you better think again. They've got a team of assassins, and to be quite frank, they'd kill one of their own if they had to. What I'm doing has a high amount of physical risk for myself and anyone I care about. If you don't know who I am, then you can't finger me when they question you."

"Who's saying that we will be caught?" Biggs sounded as though he'd swallowed something sour.

Reno took a long drag on his cigarette. He didn't want to terrify them, but they couldn't go in blind. "Odds are saying that. This year alone, ShinRa's ruined three rival corporations and killed over six of their own for ASSUMPTIONS of insubordination."

"Wait, wait. They fuck'n kill their own people?" Barret asked.

"All the time. And trust me, if they want you to talk, you'll talk. It's not something I want you guys to be unprepared for."

There was an uncomfortable silence. "Ah, Johnny? What is it exactly that you do?" Jessie queried.

"That's none of your damned business." Reno responded harshly.

"Sorry…" Jessie mumbled.

"Look, you need to can the high and mighty attitude." Barret snapped. "We are the ones risking our asses, and if you aren't going to at least appreciate that then you can go fuck off. Letting your woman do the-"

"- Tifa, is not my property, I cannot LET her do anything. She does as she pleases." Reno jumped back to his feet, pacing the roof. "I don't think you guys get this. People are going to die. YOU are likely going to die. Innocent people, just trying to do their jobs are GOING to die. Do you get this?"

"But even if we hit the reactors at night?" Wedge asked.

"Yes, even at night there's a full crew. A full crew of people with kids, parents, friends, and lovers that YOU are going to kill. You are going to damage lives for this. You could loose your own. You HAVE to understand this. I cannot with good conscious just… " he made a frustrated noise. "You think this is easy watching her risk her life with you yahoos? I swear, if you guys don't get this basic point, you'd better back out NOW."

"Johnny, please, I think that they understand as much as they can. We are ready for the risks, you know that." Tifa interjected.

"I know, I know you are." Reno sighed. "So, what are your plans thus far? Did you get the bomb components?"

Once again it was Jessie who spoke, but she seemed much more excited than she had been. "Oh yes, you had great directions. And that ID system… it's amazing!"

"Yeah, ShinRa is very proud of it." He found himself smiling. At least their tech person knew her shit.

Tifa spoke up; her tone said quite clearly she thought Reno was being too mean to her companions. "And we know exactly where to place the charges, all that's left is the timing and, as you said, hopefully the company will put itself into financial troubles with the repairs, the people will get fed up and then changes can start."

Even though no one could see him, Reno nodded. "Jus keep yer head down, alright?"

There was a snort, so Reno wasn't as good at hiding his emotions as he thought he was.

"I'll be careful, hon." Tifa responded.

It was hours later when Tifa left AVALANCHE. Jessie walked with her a while. The other woman was also young; she had wide roving eyes that reminded Tifa of a scared rabbit. At least she was more level headed than she looked.

"You're boyfriend doesn't like us, does he?"

Tifa bit her bottom lip and thought. "It isn't that Johnny doesn't like you. He's scared. There's a lot riding on this and he knows exactly how ugly ShinRa can be." She looked up and made a disgusted face at the plate. "He's sorta made protecting me his job, and now, well, he can't. And he's helping us because of me."

Jessie turned to head down her block, away from Tifa. "So you trust him?"

Tifa nodded without hesitation. "Never in a million years would he hurt me. I know that for a fact."

Jessie smiled brightly before leaving Tifa to walk alone the rest of the way to the train. Reno was there waiting for her, hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans, shoulders slouched and scowling. She didn't like it when he looked like that, but they were going to change this. The slums were going to be gone and hopefully, by the time that Trigger was their age, she'd have a simple life. One that didn't involve espionage, one that's greatest risk was getting caught staying out to late or sneaking to a party.

After all, she thought, sliding under his arm and enjoying a rare smile. Trigger was who they wanted to change the future for.

It was late, the diner offered sparse comforts, but Reno and Reeve were only there for coffee. They had half an hour left to drive before they reached Midgar. The sun would be rising, and they both wanted to be home before their respective others. The waitress left them coffee cups, walking away without a word. Though he wouldn't be eating, Reeve studied the menu.

Reno looked up from dumping sugar into his coffee cup. "So, Marc Antony, how goes fair Cleopatra this evening?"

The menu dropped to the table, Reeve blinking and his hands still positioned as if he still had it in his grip. He studied Reno for a moment, then arched an eyebrow.

"Betraying Caesar will cause a war, not very bright now." Reno sat the sugar shaker down and shrugged. "I suppose I've been philosophical lately."

Reeve snorted. "Marc Antony, was a man of honor."

"He was but in the face of what morals? He let a woman's love blind him to the truth of his own position. And, if you don't remember, he died in the end. Caesar always seems to win." Reno took a sip of coffee, pulled a face and reached for the sugar shaker again. "You should think about that."

"I guess I don't care if Caesar finds out anymore..." Reeve started digging in his pockets for his cigarettes. "

"So I'm Marc Antony, who does that make you? You may be speaking the truth, but you're not exactly sitting pretty. I'm sleeping with the president's woman; you're sleeping with a terrorist."

Reno's tone was not offended, but slightly corrective. "I'm not sleeping with her." Reno leaned on the table and thought, his clever analogy thrown back at him. He thought for a moment. "Touchstone was smarter than I am, but I think I'm playing the fool."