10

Ayle

He woke up slowly, thinking how strange it was to not have a headache and a feeling of nausea; that was the advantage of not filling his body of alcohol the night before. He groaned and snuggled further into the duvet, remembering what he had been up to that had prevented him from drinking. When he remembered, he wished he had a hangover rather than this empty feeling inside of him.

Rather than spend the rest of the day wallowing in bed he thought it best if he get back to being his old self and sort out whatever mess the mission must have fallen into that had resulted in Cloud Strife needing to be called out. He pushed the covers back, sighing. 'Actually, maybe bed is better…' He got up anyway, keen to see Rude again. He quickly dressed into his severely crumpled uniform and sauntered downstairs with a wide yawn.

The brunette receptionist who had been giving him black looks ever since the first day was not there, no one was. The bar was livelier, but only with those annoying AVALANCHE members, none of the usual staff that seemed to out number the guests.

Sat around a table were Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockheart, Yuffie Kiseragi and Vincent Valentine. He did not know it but Barret was also at the hotel, upstairs with Jasper. Elena sat beside Rude on a table beside it, eating lunch. He didn't need to ponder over which table he should sit at.

"Alright Rude?" Rude gave him a sharp nod and small smile. Reno couldn't understand how his friend could see with those dark shades on all the time.

"What about you Reno?" Elena asked as he sat himself between them, stealing the sandwich off Elena's plate and taking a large bite. She scowled, crossing her arms angrily. "Or need I ask. You look fine and are acting as obnoxious as usual." A grin rippled across his lips

"Why thank you." He took a few more large mouthfuls before asking through a mouth filled of food; "So, what's going on?"

"The Indigo Children have gone somewhere to do what they did in Mideel to the whole planet. The people of Mideel are recovering from the 'test', most are in hospital though.

"We're leaving for the Mt Corel area. That's where Jasper can sense them heading towards." Reno furrowed his brows,

"Two questions: One; who is Jasper? Two: I don't get the Indigo Children. Jennin was more than annoyed at me for the Sector Seven Slums yet she's going to cull millions of people… what's that about?" He doubted he'd ever understand the minds of women.

"Cloud and Tifa have to talk to you about Jasper. As for the culling of millions, Jasper says that the leaders of what they called the 'committed' Indigo Children are not of sound mind. Dale, the one at the top, has been brainwashing them into following him and unpicking the threads of sanity that run within them. Jasper also mentioned that Jennin has complicated issues that have affected her judgement over things. Also, they talk about 'The Great One' sometimes, not even Jasper knows who this is, but maybe the answer to who this 'Great One' is might help clear up the motivations of the elders who are leading the committed Children to this genocide." Elena said. This Jasper bloke sounded like he knew a hell of a lot, Reno shuffled in his chair as he took another bite and asked Elena to elaborate for him.

"What's that about Cloud and Tifa and 'Jasper.'?" Elena shook her head with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Ask them about it." Reno licked the crumbs off his lips and looked over to Cloud and Tifa, curiosity filling him.

"Oh-Kay then…"

"Reno, what happened with Jennin? The last I knew you two looked just about ready to settle into marriage." Rude raised a brow and turned his head to take a bemused look at Reno, who shrugged

"I wouldn't say that Elena, I also don't want to talk about it, except to say that it's over." He had stood up, looking over to the AVALANCHE members. "Be back in a tick."

Cloud and Tifa both stood when Reno appeared beside them, he didn't even have to ask them about what he wanted to know, he opened his mouth to ask what all this secrecy over 'Jasper' was, but Tifa beat him to it.

"Come with us Reno, We have to ask you some important questions." She and Cloud walked off towards the lobby, Reno jogged to catch up with them to ask about who Jasper was

"We'll get to Jasper after we've cleared a few things up." They led him upstairs, into the room besides Yuffie's, Cloud sat on one of the chairs and Tifa perched on the end of the bed. It seemed it was Clouds room as the buster sword leant up against the wardrobe. Reno sighed and scanned the room with his eyes, a sudden rush of annoyance hit him;

"Shit, your room has a mini bar too! No fair, I'm beginning to think that bitch gave me the absolute worst room they have…" He collapsed into the other chair, slouching back and yawning.

"Reno, what do you know about the Ayle?" Tifa asked him, his eyes widened slightly, he had never, ever been asked about the Ayle before, but he knew enough about them. He was one.

"What do you wanna know about the Ayle for? No one cares or even knows of them outside of Cosmo Canyon, how do you know about them?"

"Nanaki." That was all Cloud had to say. Well, yes Nanaki would know about the Ayle. Nanaki's hometown was in the Canyon. He sighed and answered, there was nothing secret about them and he was keen to get to the point of this; who was this 'Jasper'.

"The Ayle are a sort of tribe of people who live in the Cosmo Canyon. They are self sufficient and live in a similar way to pack animals like lions. Obviously, if you know about the Ayle, you can see I descend from them. They all have red hair and these red birthmark things I have." Reno had a curved red line beside each eye running from half an inch away from his eyes, curving down the top of his cheeks half an inch below his eyes. The mark of the Ayle. He had never seen another Ayle besides his own mother in his entire life. She had said to him she was the only Ayle to move away from the Canyon. She had left when Reno was barely a foetus; wanting a better life for her baby and for herself. She never found a better life, just a different one.

"You wear your hair in the traditional Ayle style, feathered and shortish except a tail of long hair tied up. You also wear sand-goggles. These are both important things to the Ayle. Why is that Reno?" Reno shrugged, not looking at her. Why were they asking him about the Ayle? He didn't like these questions.

"My mother wore her hair this way, and the goggles were hers…I guess that's why. Look, what's this all about? I may descend from The Ayle, but I am not an Ayle, I have lived in Midgar my entire life."

"Exactly. No other Ayle lives outside the Cosmo Canyon, is that right? You are the only living Ayle to not live in the Canyon?" Reno nodded vaguely "And there certainly are no other Ayle in Midgar, yes?"

"As far as I know yes. These questions are the dumbest questions I have ever been asked, and I've been asked a few. What have the Ayle got to do with the Indigo Children?" He had clenched his fists now, Rude always said he had a temper, but if they were going to ask him dumb questions like this, who could blame him for getting angry? He met Tifa's eye for a moment before looking away again. If she wasn't such a righteous little know-it-all she might be pretty hot. But all he could see was a little goody-two shoes who thought the world of herself for all her good causes. He hated people like that.

"Nothing much. It's what you have to do with the Ayle that interests us. But enough about them for now. The next questions are rather personal I'm afraid, but it's important, we'll fill you in after you've answered, we need unbiased answers." Tifa had pulled a file out of her bag that had been lying on the floor; she began looking through it, not looking up to the perplexed redhead.

"At what age did you loose your virginity?" She asked coldly as if she was not enjoying having to ask.

"What? What the hell are you asking me that for?"

"Just answer the question Turk." Cloud snapped impatiently. Reno paused before answering

"Oh, I dunno, fourteen I think." Yes. He remembered, fourteen, nearly fifteen. Tracey Fosters.

"And have you led an active sex life since?" Reno rolled his eyes but nodded anyway, it wasn't a secret. He was more surprised that they had to ask.

"When did you join the Turks?" Talk about random questions, he also recognised the file Tifa was holding as a Shinra employee file. She already knew the answers to these questions, it was his file she was holding.

"Seventeen. I started my training age fifteen, nearly sixteen." He answered with a bored tone of voice ignoring Tifa as she raised a brow, pushing her lips together in disapproval.

"Surely that's illegal, taking a kid in and training him as a Turk! Surely!" Cloud looked over to her and shook his head

"Tifa, stay on track with the questions." She shook her head again, staring at the file trying to concentrate on the questions rather than her outrage at the young age Reno had been taken in by the Turks.

"Okay. Last question: Reno, have you ever had unprotected sex?" He flushed red. He knew how far back that file went; he remembered the first general medic tests and the results. So yeah, he had been riddled with more STD's than you could count on your fingers, but he had been young and ignorant.

"You do know that you should always be protected Reno, you're lucky HIV is not on this list of diseases, it's gross, seriously."

"Skip to the point." He snapped, the red glow in his face not subsiding by much.

"According to this report at every medic check up you came in with more diseases, in the end they issued you with free protection. The steady stream of diseases did not subside until you were eighteen." He gritted his teeth in anger, clenching his fists, he hated being humiliated.

"If you've called me here for your own personal entertainment, I suggest you equip yourselves with armour before I get really angry." Tifa stared at him intensely, shaking her head like he was a naughty child.

"You know what else condom's protect you from Reno, other than STD's? Pregnancy."

"In case you didn't realise, I'm not a woman and not pregnant." He slouched back down, anger written on his face.

"You have an eight year old son Reno." The words didn't register at first. What? What? No.

"I thought of you the first time I saw Jasper, when he came into 7th Heaven. The shock of reddy-brown hair, the Ayle birthmarks. I didn't know about the Ayle, but when Red saw him he told me all about The Ayle and about how you were Ayle, the only Ayle not living in Cosmo Canyon. We asked Jasper about his father. His father had been a one-night stand that caused his mother and her husband to divorce. Someone who worked with her at Shinra. Well, on all the Shinra employee records you're the only one who is Ayle. You also led a varied sex life rarely using protection. You would have been seventeen at the time of conception." She said this with only a small amount of sympathy in her voice. "For Gaia's sake Reno, why do you look so shocked? I expect there's plenty of little Reno's running about that you don't know about!"

"Shit!…no you've made a mistake." He had jumped up and headed towards Cloud's mini bar, to which Tifa grimaced.

"I wish we had, you're not fit to be a father…" She sighed, as much as she hated Reno, he had to know the full truth sooner rather than later, "Reno… the biggest problem is that Jasper's mother recently died. He has no other adult relations. You're his only kin. There's a big chance you may have to be fully responsible for his upbringing." Reno almost tripped over as he leant down to the mini bar, he steadied himself and just stared straight ahead, crouching at the mini bar fridge as if he were indecisive over which drink to pick. Ok, he could accept that he had fathered a child. Tifa was right, he had been an idiot when he was younger and preferred unprotected sex. But this was too much; he couldn't even contemplate having to actually be the sole carer for a child, or a carer at all to a child. He was Reno of the Turks, ruthless killer and as far as he was concerned, respected ladies man.

He slumped back into the chair, pulling the top off his beer with his teeth, spitting it out and gulping the cold liquid down. Cloud stood and left the room, only to return with a small boy. Jasper's hair wasn't quite as red as his fathers, it had hints of brown in it, but those twin red birthmarks were identical to Reno's, as were the blue-green of his bright eyes. His features almost exactly matched those of Reno's when he had been that age. He closed his eyes upon seeing the boy standing there, staring at him. He couldn't deny it now.

"He's also a very powerful Indigo Child.

"Jasper. This is Reno; we will double check when we get back to Midgar with blood checks, but you can see he's most likely your father." Cloud gestured to Tifa to come over to him, she smiled down to Jasper and tried her hardest not to smirk at Reno as she went over to Cloud.

"We'll leave you two alone for a moment." With that the two AVALANCHE members left. Jasper walked over to the bed, staring at Reno's slumped posture and the way he was gulping that beer like he hadn't drunk liquid for weeks. Reno cautiously got up and took another beer from the mini bar.

"…Beer?" He offered to Jasper with a weak voice. The boy shook his head, sitting on the edge of the bed. Reno nodded vaguely "Right…yeah, kids don't like beer do they?" He collapsed back into the chair, wanting to wake up from this horrible nightmare.

---

"Reno's gone!" Yuffie came into the bar flustered, she had gone to see how he was after Jasper had returned to working on keeping a telepathic link on the Indigo Children. Reno had said he needed some rest after the Petrify spell and in light of recent discoveries that he had to think over. But his room was empty of the red haired Turk and his belongings.

Tifa stood, pummelling her fist into her open hand with a large frown.

"The jerk! I knew it, I knew he'd run…Oh, poor Jasper, your father is just.."

"I knew perfectly well that that poor excuse for a father would be likely to run from his responsibilities. I'd rather brave it bringing myself up than have that try and drag me up into adulthood." Everyone stared at the boy with open mouths, his Indigo Child intelligence was a little freaky sometimes, he stared back at everyone with a scowl upon his face.

"I never expected my father to be a great man, he slept with my mother, let her get pregnant and never saw her again, she never spoke about him, I know it was because she wasn't proud of her miss spent night with him."

"Marlene never says stuff in such long words, you're like a pint sized professor or somethin'!" Barret said in wonder, although Tifa could tell he preferred the cute innocence of his own daughter. Barret had been looking after Jasper since he came to 7th Heaven; he was rather taken with him, as was Marlene, who had stayed in Midgar with Red XIII. Until now he and Jasper had stayed in Cloud's hotel room puzzling over the route the Indigo Children had been taking towards Mt Corel.

"Anyway, he's not far away. I sensed him slip out and go all the way to the airfield where the plane and highwind are. He stayed there a while, but came back again. He's somewhere across town, I think it's a bar." Jasper muttered, looking at the map in front of him that had little polished stones on them representing the path of the Children he could sense.

"It's Reno; it's going to be a bar." Elena laughed softly, trying to hide her concern for him. "I'll go and see if he's ok." She stood and walked over to the door. Tifa called out;

"Elena, we will be ready to go in an hour. If he's coming with us then make sure he's at the airfield by three ok?" Elena nodded and slipped away.

The town was quiet after the test; most of the bars were closed. She was just about to give up hope when she came across a pub with the door open and a rickety OPEN sign hung in the window. Elena straightened her hair and went in, looking about for signs of Reno. It wasn't difficult to spot him. He was the only customer in there. He was sat at the bar, slumped over it with a glass of whisky in his hand. She sat next to him, saying nothing until the bar man came over to take her order.

"I'll have a cola please." Reno looked up for a moment, before burying his head into the bar and left arm again. "Are you ok Reno?" She asked after paying for the cola.

"Everything's SHIT!" She raised her brows and took a sip of cola.

"That bad huh? We were worried when we found you gone. Jasper said you went all the way to the planes, but came back." Reno shook his head, still not looking up.

"Reno. It's not so bad."

"What? What do you mean 'it's not so bad'? I have an eight year old son and it's my responsibility to look after him Elena!" She bit her lower lip, looking down into her cola. Reno rarely sounded so serious, so upset. All she could do was shrug. He sat up a little, looking downwards.

"His mother died of cancer. I don't remember her, I've slept with most of the many Shinra secretaries they've had in the time I've worked there. I…shit 'Lena, I can't even look after myself, let alone a kid." She placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, he was right, he was not fit to be a father, she felt for him in some ways. But he had got into this mess himself.

"I was just gunna leave, in the long run he'd be better off without me than with me. But I couldn't. Don't ask me why, I just couldn't." He looked miserable, he felt miserable.

"Something will come up. For now there's the Indigo Children to contend with. You're still on this mission Reno. They are leaving in less than an hour. You're still coming with us aren't you?" He thought about it for a while, downing his whisky and asking for another.

"I suppose I may as well finish it, I don't wanna end up not getting paid after everything that I've gone through for this damned mission. But that kid…I…Geez, I just dunno…Elena, kids are weird. They don't like beer." Elena shot him a despairing look

"No. No Reno, they don't. Maybe we can find him a good home when we return to Midgar." She gently took his arm and pulled him up; he came with her, out of the pub and back to the hotel.

TBC….

Authors note: For all those who've read Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time' (or some of the books, there are loads!), I thought I should make reference to the striking similarities between the Aiel and Reno's looks, so there you have it, FF7 Cosmo Canyon Ayle.

If you've not read 'Wheel of Time' you probably don't know what I'm talking about. I recommend it if you have the stamina to read a 10 book story…shish! (the Aiel have red hair styled in the exact same way as Reno, (and they live in a Canyon), it came way before FF7 so I guess the creator either thinks like Robert Jordan, or stole the idea)

Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! I hope people aren't too miffed by the Jasper/Reno thing, don't worry; it won't really change the personality of our lovable rouge! He'll probably carry on being as irresponsible as ever.