Reno remembered the airship from his days with Shinra, but Cid had made some changes since then. The Avalanche crew commented on what a good job the pilot had done in rebuilding it, so he guessed that it had sustained some damage earlier, probably from when Holy had blasted out of the Northern Crater.
A rope ladder led the way up to the deck, and Cid was the first up, grinning from the praise of his friends. The rest of the Avalanche crew went up after him. Reno tried to climb up after Tifa, but Rude put a restraining hand on his shoulder and shook his head. The redhead wondered if he still had that insane crush on Tifa. Sure, she was hot, but she was way out of his league! That, and she was married. To Cloud. Which made her damn near impossible to get.
Reno ended up bringing up the rear, and the only ones still out on deck were Elena and and anxious-looking Yuffie who stood gripping the railing so tightly her knuckles were white.
"Are you sure it's better out here?" she was asking Elena, looking a bit green already.
"Yeah, I'm sure," the blond answered. "I have ridden the Highwind before, you know."
Shaking his head, Reno continued on to the bridge of the ship, where the rest of their odd party had assembled. He had to admit, he felt uncomfortable here among so many people who had been his enemies. Reeve and Rude had both taken refuge near an unoccupied control panel, but Reno wasn't sure he wanted to join them just yet. Surely there was something he could learn from the Avalanche crew.
At last he noticed Vincent in the most isolated corner of the bridge, and he made his way over to him. The guy was a fellow Turk--well, ex-Turk--so Reno figured he wouldn't be as spiteful as the others. Although he had to admit he looked kinda intimidating, with the vampire-wannabe getup and the red eyes. Actually, the red eyes were pretty cool, he amended.
"So," he began amiably, "I guess you're coming along for your girlfriend, huh?"
Vincent glanced at him with a look that would probably have unnerved most people, but Reno was used to worse. "'Girlfriend'?"
"You know, Sephiroth's mom. Aeris said she was your 'lost love,' so I figure that's what she meant."
The man's gaze left him. "I am doing this for many reasons," he said.
"Uh-huh," Reno said, eyeing him curiously. "Is he really sane again?" he asked. "Sephiroth, I mean."
"He is," Vincent replied. "Aeris's word is not enough for you?"
The redhead shrugged. "I guess I shouldn't doubt it. I mean, he killed her, so she oughta be pretty unbiased. Still, Aeris is Aeris. She doesn't always think like other people."
"So you came for my opinion?"
"You're the only one here who's seen him, aren't you?"
The man did not reply.
"Well, whatever." He leaned back against the wall, putting his hands behind his head. "So, Aeris is single now, huh?"
"She won't take to you," Vincent stated.
Reno looked at him in surprise. "Oh? And how would you know?"
"It's obvious her heart is elsewhere."
"Yeah, yeah, Cloud and all that. But I hear he's a married man now. She'll have to get over him, and what better way than to get a new guy?"
Vincent scoffed quietly and closed his eyes.
"What's it to you, anyway? You've already got a girl. Unless... don't tell me she doesn't like you back."
"You don't know what you are talking about," the ex-Turk said, a warning in his voice.
"Man, unrequited love," Reno commented, shaking his head. "That's gotta suck."
Vincent opened his eyes to fix the redhead with a glare. Okay, so maybe he wasn't used to worse looks than those Vincent could give.
"Well, uh, don't give up on her," the Turk advised. "I'll be shutting up now and going over thataway." A nod from Vincent showed his appreciation for the silence, and Reno headed over to join Rude.
Following his friend's gaze towards the front of the ship, he shook his head. "Jeez, Rude, you still pining after her?" he asked, keeping his voice low.
Reeve glanced at them, and Rude only closed his eyes.
"You gotta get over it," Reno told him. "She's hot and all, but hell, she's married now."
"I know," Rude acknowledged quietly.
The redhead shrugged and folded his arms. "I guess that doesn't mean you can't enjoy looking," he conceded, taking a moment to admire Tifa for himself. Unfortunately, she had taken up wearing pants, which, while they were close-fitting, did not offer the same view of her long legs or the prospect of panty-flashing. She still wore a tank top, though, and he guessed there wasn't really any way to cover those kind of curves.
Why did pretty girls always go for the shy, quiet types? he wondered. Elena, who he had to admit was pretty (even if he would never dream of going out with her), had liked Tseng. Tseng, who barely had said anything outside of his duty. Even now, she definitely liked Rude better than the loud redhead. Aeris had fallen in love with Cloud. Tifa had ended up married to the guy.
Well, Cloud could go screw himself, Reno decided. He didn't want to think about him screwing Tifa, because that was just unfair.
Pushing off from the wall, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and wandered out to the deck, leaning back against the railing some distance from Elena and Yuffie. The blond glanced at him, a frown coming to her face, and he grinned widely in reply, only making her frown deepen.
It took Yuffie a moment to notice him. She looked pretty miserable, but she managed to grin slightly and even let go her strangle-hold of the railing for a moment to wave. "Hi, Reno."
She motioned for him to join them, and he did, surprised by the ninja's openness. After all, the last time he had seen her, they had been enemies. Had their battles not made much of an impression on her because she had been so young? Or maybe she remembered that time in Wutai when he'd saved her from Don Corneo. Elena had never forgiven him for that incident, but in maybe in Yuffie's mind, it balanced out the things he'd done while on duty.
"How you doin'?" he asked her, ignoring Elena entirely.
She shrugged as she gripped the railing again. "Well, I haven't thrown up yet..." She swallowed and managed a sheepish grin. "How 'bout you?"
"Well, I don't have a girl at the moment, but other than that I'm fine."
Elena rolled her eyes at him, and he stuck out his tongue.
"Hmm," Yuffie pondered, suppressing a smirk. "Any crushes?"
"Not really," Reno answered honestly.
"I heard you were flirting with Aeris," the ninja prompted.
He only shrugged. "So what if I was? She's a pretty girl, and we're old friends."
"All the more reason you'd like her," Elena put in. "With you, when you're friends with a girl for this long, that means you really like her, and it's not just a one-night deal."
"I've stuck around with you, and I definitely don't have a crush on you," Reno pointed out.
She frowned. "Since when were we friends?"
"I dunno. Seems like we should be, considering we live together and all."
Yuffie perked up. "You two live together?"
Both Turks looked at her in alarm.
"No," Elena said quickly. "I mean..."
"Yeah," Reno interrupted, "but, um, Rude lives there, too."
Elena nodded in agreement, as if this was supposed to make everything clear to the mischievous Yuffie.
"So what if he lives there?" she asked, her grin broadening. "I'll bet you two share a room!"
"Ah! We don't!" Elena exclaimed defensively.
"Only because Rude can't stand her snoring!" Reno blurted at the same time.
She turned to glare at him, fists on hips. "I do NOT snore!"
"Like hell you do!"
Yuffie was cracking up, her airsickness forgotten. "Listen to you two!" she managed through her laughs. "You... you could be--brother and sister!"
"What?" they both cried in unison.
"What's all this commotion about?"
All three turned to look at Reeve as he stepped out onto the deck, closing the door behind him. They exchanged glances.
"Um," Elena said eloquently.
"Yuffie was--" Reno began.
"Sibling rivalry!" the ninja declared, still grinning.
Reeve shook his head. "Figures. These two have never gotten along." He joined the three of them at the railing, looking out at the view. "There's Gold Saucer," he commented.
Yuffie immediately turned to look. "I wish we could stop there," she said, sobering a little. "It was really fun there."
"Yeah," Reeve agreed. "I went there once."
The ninja looked at him in confusion. "Weren't you... I mean... when you were Cait Sith?"
"That's different," he said. "It's not the same as actually being there." He shook his head as he watched the tree-like structure pass by. "Maybe we'll go there to celebrate when this is finally over."
"Tired already, Reeve?" Reno asked with a smirk.
Reeve shook his head, his tone serious. "No. I mean, it isn't like this just started. You guys weren't even born yet when the whole thing began. Come to think of it, none of us were."
"Um," Elena said, "exactly where is the beginning, and exactly what is it?"
"I was thinking when Shinra discovered Jenova, but no, it would've been back when Jenova first came here. That was when the Planet was wounded, and that's when its presence started screwing things up. And then, once Hojo got involved, things got worse that much faster."
"You put it that way, and it seems like a hell of a long time," Reno commented.
Reeve nodded, and the four of them remained silent for most of the trip. Only when they were approaching Midgar did they make any real attempts at conversation.
"So, Reno," Yuffie was saying, "I never really got it on whether or not you like Aeris."
"Huh? I thought I told you I didn't."
"No," Elena told him, "you just changed the subject."
"I thought it was Tseng who liked Aeris," Reeve said in confusion.
Reno had found his way out. "What about you? You're the one who made a deal to go out with her if you read her fortune."
"I, uh... that was only..." Reeve faltered, looking around for an escape route. "Look," he said suddenly, pointing. "We're almost there."
They all turned to look at Midgar, falling silent immediately. Most of the debris had been cleared from Sectors 5 and 6, and a few new buildings had sprung up there, built from scrap metal. The other parts of the city, however, remained a tangle of jagged metal plating, huge chunks of broken concrete, and mangled office buildings. The once reliable train system had simply disappeared, buried beneath the rubble. It was as if someone had stuffed Midgar into a blender and dumped it back out again.
In short, it looked terrible.
The four stood silent, staring soberly at the city's carcass. At length, desperately needing to lighten the mood, Yuffie spoke up, "So," she said to Elena in a faltering voice, "what is it, all your friends have crushes on Aeris?"
"I do not have a crush on Aeris," Reno stated flatly. "That's Reeve you're thinking of."
Reeve shot him a look as Elena turned to him. "That's right," she said. "Care to explain that deal you made?"
He scratched his head. "Maybe I had a crush on her back then," he admitted, "but it was more a spur of the moment kind of thing. Reno's the one who was always chasing after her," he pointed out, returning the favor.
"That was my job!" Reno protested.
"Off-duty, too," Reeve added.
"So?" the redhead queried. "She's cute, all right?"
"Are you gonna try to hook up with her then?" Yuffie wondered.
Reno shrugged.
Elena snorted. "Nah, he knows he doesn't have a chance."
He glared at her blackly, but he knew she was probably right. Maybe Cloud was out of the picture, but that didn't mean she'd be willing to start dating a Turk. He had to admit, though, she'd be one hell of a catch, so maybe it was worth a try, even if he'd just get shot down again.
Yuffie let out a sudden yelp as the airship began to descend and clutched the railing even more tightly.
"Jeez," Reno remarked. "Is it really that bad?"
"Yes," she clipped.
Soon enough, the Highwind was hovering just above the ground, and Reno took the liberty of tossing the rope ladder back over the side. Cloud an Tifa were the first to come out onto the deck, followed by Rude, then Cid, and finally Vincent, trailing quietly behind.
Reno gestured to the ladder, grinning at Elena and Yuffie. "Ladies first."
Yuffie practically bolted for the ladder, eager to get off the airship and stand on solid ground again, no matter how unpleasant the ground actually was. The others followed her down with less enthusiasm, and the motley group assembled on the ground.
Cloud automatically assumed the position of leader, and no matter how much Reno resented it, he realized the Avalanche crew outnumbered his Turks; more of them would listen to Cloud, and the rest would just have to deal with it.
"We should split up," Cloud said. "It may not be the Number 8 reactor, so we ought to check the Number 1 and 7, too." His eyes scanned over his companions, weighing their strengths and weaknesses and determining who would work best together... and considering how much he trusted the Turks.
"Tifa, Reno, you're with me," he decided. "Vincent, you've got Yuffie and Elena, and Cid, you take Reeve and Rude." He nodded to himself, as though satisfied with the grouping, though Cid cursed under his breath, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. Reno wondered if he was only complaining for the sake of complaining; getting stuck with Rude and Reeve couldn't be that bad. Reno figured Vincent had it the worst, though he guessed he was the only one who could tolerate both Yuffie and Elena.
"Don't trust us, huh?" Reno asked Cloud, noticing that he had split up the three Turks. "Guess I can't blame you. Oh, well. At least I get to be in the group with Tifa."
The brunette shot him a glare, but he only grinned back at her.
"Where're we headed?" Cid asked, leaning on his spear as he took a drag from his cigarette.
"You take your group to check out the Number 1. Vincent, you head for Sector 7, and we'll check out the Number 8 reactor. If anyone finds anything, check in with me, and we'll go from there."
They all nodded and went their separate ways. Reno followed Cloud and Tifa into Sector 8, trailing behind with his nightstick in hand. He knew he wasn't wanted here, but that was hardly news to him. Few people liked Turks, even this long after Shinra's fall, and these two were no exceptions.
After walking a while in silence, Cloud glanced at him over his shoulder, frowning. "Reno, I have to ask--why are you even helping us?"
The Turk shrugged. "Hey, I've got no love for Hojo either. Besides, Aeris was the one who told me about this."
Cloud arched an eyebrow. "What does Aeris matter to you?"
"So I'm not madly in love with her like you are. She's still my friend."
"Friend?" the blond scoffed. "Hojo had you chasing after her so she could be one of his lab specimens. What kind of friend is that?"
"You may remember it was Tseng who caught her," Reno pointed out. "There's a reason I never did, and if you think it's because she was just that strong, you're an idiot."
"But how could you've been friends in the first place?" Tifa wondered, sounding genuinely curious, unlike Cloud.
"That's what off-duty time is for," was all Reno said.
Cloud and Tifa exchanged looks, not sure what to make of this.
"Why did you think I was doing this?" the redhead asked them. "To help Sephiroth?" he scoffed. "We're here for the same reasons, like it or not."
Cloud grunted, but made no other reply. Reno hadn't expected one, so that was all right. None of them made any further attempts at conversation as they started up the pile of rubble to the Number 8 reactor.
She could've gotten stuck with a better group, Yuffie decided. Well, Elena seemed pretty nice, but she'd rather have Red along. Despite having picked on him all the time, she had really admired his strength, his intelligence, and his sense of duty. He had been so mature for his age, which had also served to make her feel younger than she had been, and maybe a little envious.
She had been sixteen then, but everyone had thought of her as a child, a brat, a little kid in need of a spanking. Probably, they still thought that. Though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, one of her reasons for coming to help was to prove to them that she had changed since then. She didn't want the friends she respected most to think of her as a kid anymore.
Yuffie lifted her head to study her companions, glad for the moment that she was at the back of the group; that way, they would neither notice her scrutiny, nor the expressions playing across her face.
She wondered how Vincent felt, faced with the opposite problem from hers: he acted older than he looked. But then, she guessed he really was a lot older.
He didn't look half as scary from behind, she realized, studying his back. In fact, he looked kind of cool with that cape flowing behind him. What bothered her were his freaky red eyes and sickly pale skin. But, at the same time, that frightening visage also fascinated her. Because, of course, those red eyes had a subtle slant to them, and his straight black hair had that same shine as her own. She had always wondered if he was Wutain. Had he seen her homeland before the war, before its downfall?
Yuffie hated the way it was now, with everyone so docile and inactive. After Shinra's fall, she had gone back to her father to ask him again to do something, but he was just as lazy as ever, so she'd been forced to do what she could on her own.
Which was hard, considering most of the townspeople had never been impressed with her. Never knowing or understanding her reasons, they had always thought her a silly little girl for running away from home. Still, she had at least managed to recruit some Wutains, the stronger ones, to help her out, and they had returned to the remains of an old harbor town not far from Wutai and set to work rebuilding. That way, there was a place for merchant ships to land, and Wutai's long stagnant trade could start to pick up.
Sighing, the ninja admitted to herself that it would take many more years before Wutai finally reawakened. Until then, it would never be as lively as it had been in her mother's stories.
At last they reached the wall of debris that would lead them up to the Number 7 reactor. Yuffie did her best to avoid the sharp edges of metal that stuck out every which way, but by the time they reached the top of the wall, her arms and legs were streaked with slashes of red. She took a moment to cast Cure on herself, and Elena did likewise, muttering under her breath as she inspected several tears in her clothing. Vincent stood waiting for them, looking completely unharmed.
Yuffie turned to look out at the remains of Sector 7, which, according to the Shinra, had been destroyed by Avalanche. "So, who really destroyed the pillar?" she asked, turning to her companions.
Elena blinked, looking at her with some surprise. "You mean you didn't know?" When Yuffie shook her head, the blond shifted uncomfortably, looking out at the ruins. "It was Reno, actually."
"Reno? Why?"
"The order came down from the President," Elena explained. "Avalanche's base was somewhere in there, so he said, 'crush it.'"
"Shinra destroyed an entire sector just to get rid of a few terrorists?" Yuffie asked skeptically.
The Turk shrugged. "It was before I got promoted, really, so I'm not sure why they went to such lengths. I do know that it was one of the few orders Reno ever protested, but he had to go through with it anyway."
Vincent turned and moved on, paying no mind to his companions. They hurried to follow.
"How can you accept that kind of job?" Yuffie asked as they walked. "Having to do all those terrible things...?"
Elena's gaze was on the debris beneath her feet. "It paid well..."
"And all you cared about was the money?" the ninja demanded, suddenly disgusted with her two companions.
"You are not one to talk, Yuffie," Vincent said quietly from his place at the lead.
She flushed in embarrassment but shook her head. "That's different! I never killed anyone!"
"You try not to think about what you're doing," Elena said soberly, "and then it doesn't feel so wrong. I wasn't a Turk long enough to get into any of that, but I've talked about it with Reno and Rude. Reno says he didn't drink half so much before he joined the Turks."
Yuffie was still shaking her head. "But, I still don't see how anyone could go into that willingly."
"People will do a lot of things for money," Vincent said, not looking back when he spoke, "and those of us with the least compassion became Turks."
The ninja fell silent, her uneasiness about being near Vincent only intensifying. No one spoke after that, and Vincent quickened his pace, forcing the two following to speed up as well. Yuffie stared at the back of Elena's head for a while, willing her to talk, but the woman did not even seem to notice. The ninja didn't want to end the conversation there, but it seemed her companions weren't willing to say anything more on the subject.
Being a Turk, she decided, just screwed people up, and maybe she had better leave this line of conversation for another day. They were approaching the reactor, and if Hojo was hiding there, then she would need all her concentration for fighting, not for analyzing the many problems hounding her companions.
In any other surroundings, Yuffie considered, she would have described the reactor as a pile of junk, but here it stood far stronger than the crumpled homes or collapsed office buildings around it. Meteor had bent it severely out of shape, but had not toppled it, and the Shinra logo still stood on its front, faded yet bold in comparison to everything else. Rust covered the metal frame, and much of the plating that had once covered its sides had gone missing, tossed elsewhere. Underground pipes and wires that had once directed Mako power to various parts of the city had been uprooted and lay bare and naked and broken across their path.
Vincent led them to the reactor's entrance, a gaping black hole in the already-wounded building, the door completely torn off. The ex-Turk walked inside without any hesitation, but Elena hung back uncertainly. Gathering her wits, Yuffie glanced at the blond, and then followed Vincent inside.
Cid nearly breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached the Number 1 reactor. His two companions hadn't said a word the entire time, and, while he wasn't a big conversationalist, this kind of silence bothered him. He had expected Rude to keep his mouth shut because, really, he had only ever heard the guy say three or four words.
Reeve, on the other hand, he had expected to at least make some attempt. If Cait Sith was any example of his personality, then he liked being around people, and yet, so far, he'd barely said anything to anyone besides Aeris. Maybe the guy was shy, but why the hell would he be timid around Cid? He could understand being shy around women, but this? And hell, he already knew Rude, didn't he? What, was he afraid of getting cussed out?
The pilot could only shake his head as they reached the entrance to the reactor, finding it blocked by fallen pipelines and sheets of metal. "Hey, Reeve, could you gimme a hand with this?" he asked. "Rude, you, too."
This didn't even get a 'sure' out of either of them. They just came over to help him pull the debris away from the entrance. It took them a fair amount of sweating and grunting, but they finally made an opening wide enough for even Rude to fit through. Cid led the way into the dark reactor, finding a few paces inside that he could not see a damn thing. Feeling smart, he pulled out his lighter and flipped it open, rewarded with a limited circle of vision. The structure's innards seemed largely unharmed, he noted as he led his group along the dark walkways.
After crossing a long bridge, they found their way blocked by a thick metal security door. "Damn," he muttered, holding his lighter closer in hopes of revealing some way to open it.
Reeve stepped forward. "The doors are battery-powered, so the controls might still work."
"Huh? Why not just tie them into the rest of the system?"
The man shrugged as he took Cid's lighter and held it up to the keypad beside the door. "If the power grid cut out, the employees wouldn't have been able to get out. Shinra had the doors put on a different power source for security reasons." He frowned at the numbers a moment longer. "Ah! Now I remember." He punched in a series of numbers, and the door slid open with little complaint.
Cid let Reeve lead them through the reactor, as he'd only been inside the one in Corel, and eventually they reached the Mako depository. The pilot wrinkled up his nose; even though the pit was empty, the place still reeked of Mako.
Turning away from the abyss, he followed Reeve down the walkway to the reactor's control room so that they could check to make sure nothing was running. Cid already knew, though, that whoever they were looking for wasn't here. He hoped that whichever of the other groups chanced upon them were well-prepared.
Author's Notes
Not too much has changed in this part, although I do like the brief exchange between Reno and Vincent a lot better in this version. It seems a lot more natural, and it makes me laugh. I've always considered dialogue to be my strong point, but a lot of the conversations in the original just seem strained in retrospect, as if I'd shoved Reno in Vincent's direction and told him "Here, you are going to say this" instead of getting him on the Highwind and seeing how he reacted. Um. If that makes any sense at all. >>