Pardon the typos--I'm very tired right now. I'll edit this tomorrow.
Chapter Seventeen
Sephiroth and Angel were sitting together in the cafeteria a while later.
She noticed that her brother's entire demeanor suddenly changed. "Seph?"
He knit his brow and stared down at the table's surface. "I can't take this."
"What?" Angel reached over and picked up one of his hands. "You prevented things from being a lot worse than they could have been. You should be proud."
Sephiroth or not, his emotions were coming back and he was riddled with guilt. "No, I have no right to be proud at all. Dr. Methius got the notion to send Vincent, Spencer, and I here to carry out that mission from me, Angel. I came up with the idea since at the time, I didn't care about this place or anyone here, and I saw it as a way to get out of that damn lab. But I was eager for more power after my first injection with Jenova, so I agreed not to run away and return. I didn't think that I'd see Jeanine and still feel the same way for her, and now, the longer I'm here…"
Angel tightened her grip on his hand. "What?"
He made a fist with his other hand and slammed it down onto the table's surface. "God damn it! I'm Sephiroth! I'm fucking Sephiroth! I don't feel these things! I'm above all of these petty emotions! I'm not supposed to care, but…"
"But what?" If Angel hadn't known better, she might have thought he was about to cry.
"But I do…I care." He met her gaze. "I'm feeling more and more…"
Angel couldn't help but wonder. "That story that you made up about the Jenova that had been injected into you dying because of the Mako levels in your body…you don't suppose that it may have been a valid theory, do you?"
"I don't know. Look at me." Sephiroth pulled off the shirt he was wearing. His muscles were now all clearly defined-- he was cut. "If the Jenova was dying off and thus letting my feelings come back, then why do I look like this? I'm still getting stronger physically, my body's changing."
He had a point. "I don't know what to tell you, then. Quigley could run a test on you, I suppose, to check the level of Jenova in you, just to see."
Sephiroth put his shirt back on. "You can have whatever tests you like run on me. I don't care."
"We'll do everything that we can to help you, Seph." Angel gave him a smile.
"Have you told anyone about me?" he asked, wondering.
"Yes." She shrugged. "But not anyone that's going to say anything to Jeanine. I told Janice today, as she asked why I'd let you out. She had her doubts, but she trusts my judgement when it comes to you, I guess."
"That's fine." He just wasn't keen on everyone finding out that he wasn't the same old Jaras, although he was starting to feel more and more like it by the hour.
Angel got up from the table, feeling better than she had before. "Well, I need to go make a call and then get back to Reno, I suppose."
He got up and came around the table, embracing her. "All right. Jeanine and I will come by to see you in the morning."
"Okay, and our little brother should be arriving shortly." Angel backed away from him. "He's apparently developed the Chaos demon somehow, and we're going to look after him for a while until he can be treated."
This was news to him. "Really? I haven't seen Aaron in a long time. I wonder how he's handling all of this?"
"I guess we'll find out soon enough." Angel turned and walked from the room.
-----------------------
Rude was standing next to the President's limo, waiting for the man to emerge from the brothel he'd vanished into several hours ago. Whenever the man opted to submit to his vices, poor Rude found himself the one that had to take Harwin where he so chose. Rude was growing tired of waiting, as he'd finished the comic book he'd brought along over an hour earlier.
When his cell phone rang, he eagerly answered, wanting any diversion from his boredom. "Yeah?"
"Rude?" asked a woman's voice.
"Yes."
"This is Angel."
He had to think for a moment, he'd never spoken to her himself. "Reno's wife?"
"Yes." She smiled at being recognized.
"How can I help you, Mrs. Sparks?" Rude moved to sit on the hood of the car.
"ASRIO needs to call in a favor." Angel kept her eyes trained upon Reno, as she was presently at his bedside.
Reno always made the ASRIO calls to him, and Rude found this highly unusual. "Isn't it your man's job to call me?"
"Unfortunately, I was promoted." Angel reached out and picked up Reno's hand.
Rude felt a sweat break across his skin. Reno was one of his few friends, and he knew what this phrase generally meant. "He's dead?"
"Not quite." She sighed. "He was shot in the face. His injuries are severe, we just don't know how he's going to do, yet."
"I'm really sorry to hear that, Mrs. Sparks." Rude didn't outwardly show how much this news hurt him. However, he knew that there must be business to be tended to. "So, what can I do for you?"
"I need a plant put into the Junon building, and I need them in there now. Time isn't a luxury and I can't wait to get one in there via the traditional routes." Angel hoped that somehow, Rude would be able to help with this.
"Which department?" he asked, wracking his brain for ideas.
"The lab. Someone close to Dr. Methius. I know that's asking a lot but--" She found her words cut off.
"Dr. Methius?" His eyes narrowed behind his dark lenses.
"Yes."
"Do you have someone in Junon now who I can contact?" Rude asked, having a plan.
"Yes, Derek's handler, Amy. We can use her." Angel was pleased to hear the hint of thought in his voice.
"All right, I'll get her in, and I'll do it under the guise of her being Dr. Methius' new personal Turk." Rude actually smiled.
Angel was speechless. This was more than she could have ever hoped for. "Really? You can do that?"
"I can do anything, Mrs. Sparks. I'm the head of the Turks and Harwin's right hand man." Rude was proud of the power he wielded. "Give me her contact information and I can get her to Dr. Methius' side immediately."
"Rude, I may not know you, but I love you." Angel pulled out a piece of paper with Amy's number on it so she could read it to him.
Again, Rude smiled. "Glad to be of use, Mrs. Sparks."
-----------------------
Amy was had just gotten out of the shower, intending to go to bed when her phone rang. "Hello?"
"Is this Amy Veller?"
"This is she."
"Ms. Veller, I'm calling you on behalf of Mrs. Sparks. My name is Rude, I suppose you've heard of me?" He was still sitting upon the hood of the limo.
She was speechless for a moment. Being in her line of business, she was always suspicious, but if this was really Rude, she knew that he was her elder in ASRIO and she had to act accordingly. "How can I help you, Sir?"
"You're being reassigned from a handler to a plant, Ms. Veller." Rude kept his eyes trained on the door to the brothel, fearing that his boss would emerge before he'd finished this call.
"Oh." She fell back onto her couch. "And what's my supposed job and how am I getting into the company?" Amy knew that she didn't possess any skills that would make her a convincing plant in the Junon facility. It was full of lab personnel and executives, and she wasn't material for either of those.
"You're Dr. Peirte Methius' new personal Turk. He's been lacking one for a short time, and I've not been able to get a new one transferred to him, until tonight, it would seem." He pushed his glasses up.
"A Turk?" She knit her brow. "I'm not really Turk material."
"It's not like you're going to be a field Turk that actually does anything. It's just a babysitting position for the most part. Mrs. Sparks just needs some eyes in the lab, it would seem, and you have been elected." Rude slid off of the hood of the car and stood up. "You're to keep an eye out for Vincent Valentine, but not let him know that you're with ASRIO in any way."
"How do I get in?" she asked, intrigued with this assignment.
"Go into the building and to the receptionist up front. I've already called to tell them that one Marie Abran is coming in tonight from the Farm." Rude ran his free hand over his clean-shaven head. 'The Farm' was the causal term for the Turk training facility in Midgar. "I informed them that they need to get you to Dr. Methius immediately since he may be in danger, and to have a suit and a gun waiting for you at the front desk. No questions asked, Ms. Veller."
He was good, and she was impressed. "All right. I'll get dressed and get down there in about half an hour."
"Excellent. I'll be in contact." Rude hung up, the President had finally emerged.
-----------------------
The helicopter set down, and Tifa roused Aaron from his sleep. "Wake up, we're here."
He blinked up at her with his crimson eyes. "Okay."
With the baby carrier in her right hand, and with her left arm draped around Aaron's shoulders, Tifa took her children down into the ASRIO base. Porter led her directly to the room that Vincent had just vacated the night before. Tifa walked in, and Porter followed.
The former Turk crossed his arms over his chest. "Tifa, you and the baby can stay in here, but Aaron needs to be confined."
The thought of her son being thrown into a prison cell didn't sit right with her. "Porter, he'll be all right for tonight. Don't put him in lock down until morning, I'm begging you."
"I'm sorry, Tifa, but that was the entire purpose for picking you up and getting you here." Porter felt sorry for her, but orders were orders.
"All right, if he's going into the prison block, then so am I. Have a crib placed into the cell adjacent to his. I'll sleep down there with the baby, too. That way, he can be locked up but not out of my sight." There was no way she was going to leave her son down there alone.
Porter knew that there would be no arguing with her and he smiled. "Sure thing. They've placed a television down there, too. Angel wanted him to have something to do. I think they were going to bring down some games and things as well."
"Good." Tifa smiled at him. Before we go down there, though, can I just have a moment with him alone?"
He was reluctant, but gave in. "I'll be right on the other side of the door."
"Thanks." She watched as he walked out.
Tifa looked around the room for a moment. Vincent's belongings that he'd abandoned were still here. He'd left a shirt draped across one of the chairs, and the bed had gone unmade. Small signs of his recent presence were all around her. She went and sat on the edge of the bed. "Aaron?"
The boy's expression betrayed his trepidation over what was going to happen, but that was momentarily surpassed by the fact that he could see the same thing about the room that his mother could. "He was here, wasn't he?"
Tifa smiled, looking over to where Vincent's shirt was tossed. "Yes, I guess he was."
"I miss him, Mom." He went and sat beside her, his two small hands still chained together.
"I know, Sweetie, I miss him, too." She stared down at her infant daughter, still asleep in her carrier at the foot of the bed. "Once they get you taken care of, we'll go back home, okay?"
Aaron seemed rather indifferent to this news. "What's the point? My dad's not there. I don't care where I am anymore. I'm just afraid that I'm gonna lose you somehow and be completely alone."
"I'm never going anywhere, Aaron." Tifa placed an arm around his shoulders. "You, Charlotte, and I will always be together. Don't ever be afraid that you're going to be alone. And even though your father's gone, always know that he loves you. He told me to tell you that when I spoke with him last."
Aaron closed his eyes and hung his head.
Seeing the sadness around him broke her heart. "Aaron?"
He glanced over at her. "Yeah?"
Tifa swallowed hard. "Are…are you upset with me?"
The boy shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe. I just wish that you and Dad were still together, but not fighting. Maybe this will be better. I'm confused, Mom."
She kissed the top of his head. "I know, and I'm sorry. This has just been one nightmare after another for you, and I haven't been thinking about your needs more than my own since this whole mess started. But I'm going to put you and Charlotte first from now on."
"So no more Cid?" he asked, again flashing her a glance.
"No more Cid, no more anybody." Tifa smiled to herself. "Until you and Charlotte are old enough to take care of yourselves, I won't get involved with anyone else…unless by some miracle, your father and I can be together again somehow."
The thought of not having to watch his mother date appealed to the boy and he seemed a little happier. "Promise?"
She locked into his crimson eyes. "I promise, Aaron."
Porter opened the door and looked in. "Tifa?"
"Yes?"
"Jaras and Angel are out here." He stepped aside and opened the door all of the way.
Vincent's two eldest children entered. Aaron stood up and went over to them.
Angel put her arms around her younger brother, knowing that he couldn't hug her back since he was in cuffs. "Hey Aaron. Are you doing okay?"
He smiled up at her. "I guess so."
Sephiroth knelt down to be on his level. "Little brother."
Aaron's grin widened. Jaras was damn near his favorite person in the world other than his parents. He thought that his big brother was the apex of cool. "Jaras!"
Sephiroth gave into his urge and took his brother into his arms for a moment. "It's good to see you."
"Yeah." Aaron stepped back. For the moment, his troubles were forgotten.
As Sephiroth and Aaron began to talk, Angel went over and sat next to Tifa, looking down into the baby carrier. "So, this is your daughter?"
Tifa realized that the true identity of the baby was still unknown to everyone here. "It's your sister, Angel."
"But, I thought Cid was the father…that's what father told Seph--" Angel caught herself. "Jaras. That's what he told Jaras."
Tifa cocked an eyebrow. "You just almost called him Sephiroth."
She tried to get the conversation back on track. "I've been under some stress, Tifa. It was just a mistake. But still, we thought that Cid was the father."
"That's what I thought, too, but thanks to the fact that this baby has thalassemia, we know better." Tifa reached down and unstrapped the infant from the carrier seat and took her into her arms.
Angel's eyes went wide. "She…she has it, too? I've got it. I figured that it had to come from my father, since he's half Wutain."
Tifa cocked her head to the side. "You have it?"
"Yes. Luckily, I didn't pass it on to Dana. Then again, it's never caused me any problems, other than a few bouts of anemia when I was pregnant." Angel held her arms out. "Can I hold her?"
Comforted to hear that the disease hadn't impacted Angel's life negatively, she eagerly handed the baby over to her older sister. "Her name's Charlotte Cidelle Vatatsi."
Angel got up from the bed and went over to where Sephiroth was still talking to Aaron. She got on her knees next to Sephiroth, and showed him the baby. "They were wrong, I guess. She is our sister."
Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow. Vincent's attempted suicide had been for naught. "Really?"
Angel grinned. "Yes. Now there's four of us. Two girls and two boys. The odds have been evened."
Sephiroth looked down into his infant sister's face. "Welcome to the most confusing family on the planet, little one."
Tifa remained on the bed. Seeing the four siblings there together, with such extreme age differences between them, touched something within her. Jaras was right. This was the most confusing family on the planet. If only it were complete and Vincent were here, she thought sadly.
-----------------------
Amy walked up to the doors of the Shinra building and entered. The frank boldness of impersonating a Turk amused her. She went up to the night receptionist and leaned against the counter, trying to appear casual.
The woman behind the counter looked up with tired eyes. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah. I'm Marie Abran. I believe I'm expected."
The receptionist immediately sat up straight. "Oh, yes, I received word that you were coming." She bent down and picked up a bag from beside her seat and handed it to Amy. "Those are the items that Rude requested be ready for you upon your arrival. There is a bathroom over there, if you would like to go get changed before heading up to the lab, Ms. Abran. In the coat pocket is your pass card and a note containing your password. Memorize it and destroy it, please."
Amy looked into the bag. Inside was a folded suit, with a gun, holster, and security badge resting atop it. "Good. I'll go do that."
"Once you're ready, just head on up. Security was told that you were coming as well, and with that badge around your neck, they won't delay you, Ma'am." The receptionist was clearly nervous.
Amy decided to live it up. "Fine. Thanks. Oh, and what's your name?"
"Sara."
"Sara, next time a new Turk comes into town, let's not just shove their suit into a bag, okay? Hangers were made for a reason." Amy turned and walked toward the bathroom.
The receptionist dropped her gaze away. "Yes, Ms. Abran."
After getting into the bathroom, Amy locked the door and quickly changed into the clothes that had been provided to her. Mercifully, the suit actually fit properly. She donned the shoulder holster and placed the gun into it before putting on her suit coat and zipping it up. In the coat pocket, she found the pass card as promised along with her password. Finally, she dropped the security badge around her neck. She was now Marie Abran, Turk.
After exiting the bathroom, she made her way over toward the elevators. Security seemed to give her little regard as they were presently arguing with someone else.
"Dr. Methius is expecting me," the man being delayed said, clearly agitated.
She stopped momentarily and watched the scene unfold.
"Until you give me your name, you're not going anywhere." The security guard crossed his arms over his chest.
The man flipped his long, black hair over the back of his red cloak and turned to the side, his frustration obvious. "Just tell him that someone's down here for him."
The would-be Turk's eyes went wide. It was Vincent Valentine. She stepped closer, deciding to try getting away with something. "I'm going up to the lab. I'll escort him. The doctor is expecting him."
The security guards were not about to argue with a Turk. They waved Vincent off to go with her.
Satisfied that he was going to get his way, Vincent walked over past Amy and toward the elevators. He hit the call button.
She got to his side and examined him for a moment. Although she'd never met him before in person, he was easily recognizable nonetheless. "Mr. Valentine, is it?"
He gave her an emotionless glance. "Yes."
"I see." She extended her hand toward him. "I'm Marie Abran. I just got assigned here as Dr. Methius' personal Turk."
"Good luck living for more than a short time," he shot back coldly, refusing to accept her handshake.
God, he's a real jerk, she thought to herself as her hand fell back to her side. "I'll see what I can do about that."
The elevator doors parted and they stepped on. Vincent quickly jabbed the button to the fifth floor. He studied the supposed Turk out of the corner of his eye. She was fairly young and on the side of overweight. Someone straight out of the Farm shouldn't have been in this bad a shape. "I assume you're new?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Their standards have slipped." Vincent stared straight ahead at the doors before them.
Although aware that she didn't fit the general physical requirements for new Turk enlistees, she was still hurt by his blatantly heartless comment. Obviously, he was an angry individual. "Sometimes they over look certain physical attributes when someone has exceptional skills, Sir."
He almost seemed to laugh. "Not in my day."
Mercifully, the elevator stopped and they found themselves before the lab doors. Amy went over and slid the pass card she'd been provided with through the lock and entered the code. The doors unlocked and she pushed them open, Vincent quickly making his way past her.
Dr. Methius looked over from the microscope he was sitting before. "Mr. Valentine? Back so soon? Where, may I ask, are Sephiroth and Spencer?"
Vincent went over and sat on an exam table, his physical and mental exhaustion clear. "I had to kill Spencer due to his addiction to ferium being discovered, and Sephiroth is following me here, with a back up copy of the information that I've brought. He thought it would be better if we traveled separately."
Peirte seemed more than pleased. "Excellent, an excellent performance, indeed." His eyes then landed on the female Turk. "And you are?"
"Marie Abran. I was just assigned to you, Dr. Methius." She folded her hands behind her back.
He didn't seem impressed. Obviously, Rude had scrapped the bottom of the barrel to get him an escort. "I see. I suppose they can't all be like Toskin."
Amy had to hide her negative reaction to the less than warm welcome. "Yes, Sir."
Peirte opted to ignore the woman for now and got up from his seat, walking over toward Vincent. "Well, let's have it."
Vincent reached beneath his cloak and pulled out the CD, holding it out toward the scientist. "The complete contact list of ASRIO, and I killed Reno on my way out of the base."
Amy's eyes went wide. She felt that she was watching a disaster in the making, yet her orders had been to not let on to anyone that she was with ASRIO. She kept her expression blank. The thought of Reno being dead made her want to cry.
Methius literally squealed with pleasure as he took the disc into his hands. "You are a wonder! Killing Reno is the icing on the cake! Come with me, Mr. Valentine! Let's go see what we've got here!"
You've impressed him, Vincent. Chaos was delighted.
Vincent hopped off the table and walked behind Peirte and into his office.
Amy attempted to follow, but Peirte slammed the door in her face, locking himself and Vincent inside. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. So far, being a Turk wasn't proving to be all that fun.
Peirte hurried around his desk and landed in his chair. Vincent went to stand behind him, looking over his shoulder. The scientist opened the drive to his computer and slipped the disc in.
After searching the disc for a moment, the computer opened a window, showing a file labeled Complete Contact List. He clicked it and it opened.
Only one line of text appeared on the screen.
Dad, I'm sorry, I couldn't go through with it-- Sephiroth
Peirte quit breathing and his eyes went wide. Slowly, he turned his chair around.
Vincent's eyes were also wide. This betrayal by his son was something he hadn't seen coming. He felt sick, but strangely, he was also relieved. That son of a bitch…he saved them, every fucking one of them. Thank you, dear God, thank you.
"Mr. Valentine, is this some sort of a joke?" Peirte got up from his desk.
Vincent closed his eyes and hung his head for a moment.
"Answer me!" Dr. Methius shouted, flushing red in anger.
Vincent laughed quietly to himself. Good side or bad, life never was going to give him a break. It was all par for the course. "I don't make a habit of joking."
"What does that mean?" Peirte clenched his fists.
Vincent continued to laugh, but felt tears in his eyes at the same time. His emotions were a complete mess now, the ferium doing nothing to conceal them at this point. "The betrayer has been betrayed, by his own son, and you know what?"
Peirte was actually shaking in his rage. "What is that, Mr. Valentine?"
"I've never been more proud of him in my life." Vincent looked up and met Peirte's cold stare. "It's time for you to kill me, if you don't mind."
"You ungrateful fuck!" Dr. Methius swung wide and decked Vincent with his right fist for all he was worth.
Lab dwelling geek or not, Peirte proved to be very strong, and Vincent's head swam as he reeled back and hit the wall. He made no effort to defend himself. Hopefully, everything was finally going to end.
"I brought you back from the dead!" Peirte went to where Vincent was bracing himself against the wall. "And you laugh at me?"
"I didn't ask you to." Vincent had no choice in the matter, his emotions were completely beyond his control, thanks to the damage the ferium had done. He broke out in another bout of giggling.
"Stop it, God damn it!" Peirte struck Vincent again, this time knocking him to the floor.
Vincent hit the ground and found himself staring up at the ceiling. "I guess you shouldn't go around trying to play God. Next time you order someone dead, maybe you should keep them that way."
Dr. Methius came unglued. He pulled his new gun from beneath his lab coat and aimed it at Vincent. "God? I am God, as far as you need be concerned!"
Vincent gaze up at the barrel trained upon him, realizing that when Peirte pulled the trigger, it would hit him in the face, probably in his right eye.
An eye for an eye, is it? Chaos pushed his way through Vincent's shattered mind. Wouldn't that be just so poetic? But we're not going to let that happen now, are we?
Vincent smiled. I'm not going to fight. Throw me into a seizure if you will. I don't care anymore.
I'm getting really fucking tired of having to save your ass, Vincent. Chaos reared up for one more pathetic grab at power. The result was the same as it had been for the last several years.
Dr. Methius noticed something seeming to change within Vincent, and he lowered his gun. He watched as Vincent began to convulse. "Oh well isn't this just lovely. You're fucked, Mr. Valentine."
Had he been conscious, Vincent would have agreed.
-----------------------
Cid sat with Jin on the couch in front of the fireplace. He'd put his son to bed a few hours earlier, and he'd been here talking with the mechanic since then.
She stared into the flames resting her head on his shoulder. "I've missed this."
"Yeah, me too." Cid closed his eyes. "I hated being alone. I was miserable."
"I did, too." She sighed. "I stayed on the airship the whole time, either working or locked in my room. Every time you left a message on my machine, I'd listen to it over and over again, wanting to call you, but too afraid to actually do it. I saved all of those messages until my machine was damn near full, but then you quit calling."
He laughed quietly. Thinking of her doing something so sentimental as saving his messages was somehow humorous. "I quit calling because I figured you weren't interested."
"God we're a mess." Jin smiled.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." She pulled back from him a short way so she could look into his eyes.
"What made you call me? Was it finding out that I was dyin' or was it that I was with Tifa?" He was honestly curious.
"Both." She shrugged. "I'd thought that eventually we'd somehow end up together again, but when I realized that there was only a finite amount of time, well, what could I do? And yeah, when I heard about Tifa, well, that was just wrong and I had to see that a stop was put to that."
"I'd already put a stop to it." Cid pulled her to him again. "I figured out that she was still too attached to Vincent. That was sort of a deal breaker. I thought I'd stick it out, just to be there for that baby, but then when I found out that it wasn't actually mine, well…"
"So, should we get it over with tomorrow, then?" she asked.
He knew what was on her mind. "Yeah. Tomorrow."
-----------------------
Angel had helped Tifa get settled down in the prison cell next to the one Aaron had been put it. The bed in her cell was against the one in Aaron's, and Tifa had sat upon hers, her hand though the bars, and holding onto Aaron's arm as he lay on his own bed. Convinced that Aaron was all right with the arrangement and that Tifa and the baby were safe, she'd decided to go back to the infirmary.
When she'd walked in, it was well after midnight, but Dr. Arlin was standing at Reno's bedside, staring at him.
Angel came over quickly. "Janice? What are you doing here?"
Dr. Arlin realized that Angel hadn't yet paid any attention to Reno and she motioned down at him. "He's decerebrate posturing."
Angel's heart jumped and she looked down at her husband, seeing that both of his arms were rigid at his sides, with his wrists twisted so his hands were angled away from his body, his fingers flexed. His head seemed to be thrown back, pushing down into his pillow. She knew what it meant. His brain was suffering more damage, his body contorting itself involuntarily in response. "No…"
Janice walked around the bed and put her arm around Angel's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Angel."
She frowned for a moment. There was a good chance that Reno was close to death. "Janice, can I be alone with him?"
Dr. Arlin had done all she could for Reno for the time being, and knew that Angel needed a chance to say what she had to. "Okay."
After Janice had gone and shut herself into her office, Angel sat on the edge of Reno's bed and placed her hands upon his shoulders. "You've gotten a little worse, but that's okay. I'll do whatever I have to in order to take care of you, Reno, no matter how you come out of this. No matter how bad you get, I won't send you away to be put into some sort of care facility. I'll take care of you myself, okay? Just don't die…"
Reno crossed his legs as he sat in the chair on the opposite side of the bed from where Angel was with his body. How in the hell he could be over here and yet in the bed at the same time confused him, but that's how it was. As he watched her crying over him, he felt horrible about everything. He realized that there was a hand on his shoulder and he looked up, seeing Tseng standing next to him. "Hey, Boss!"
Tseng gave him a smile and pointed to the bed. "Angel's not taking this so well."
"Yeah. So, am I dead then or what?" Reno asked, thinking that he must be if he was out of his body and talking to Tseng.
"No, your body's still trying to live. You are very badly hurt, though." Tseng took a few steps toward the side of the bed.
Reno got up and went with him, until he was staring down at himself. "Man, I look like shit right now, huh?"
"You've looked better," Tseng said quietly.
"She was sayin' that no matter how bad I get, that she'd take care of me herself." Reno shook his head. "Angel can't do that, I mean, it wouldn't be fair to her or Dana. I'd just be best if I died, wouldn't it?"
Tseng looked over at him. "Maybe. At this point, the choice is honestly yours, Reno."
"Shit." Reno hated having to make important decisions. "What will I be like if I live?"
"I don't really know," Tseng sighed.
"Well, did you have a choice? If you did, what was the deal breaker that made you die?" Reno asked, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at his old friend.
"Well, I had a choice, and I opted for death. I was hurt, I had that heart condition, and I was tired. Since my brother was there to be with me at that moment, I chose to go. I wouldn't have done it if I'd been alone. I'd waited there on the surgical table for him to come in for a while. When he finally did, I just let go." Tseng smiled. His death hadn't really been all that bad. He had been able to go with someone who loved him at his side. "I guess the question you need to ask yourself, Reno, is are you tired or not?"
"Tired?"
"Yes. Have you gotten enough out of life, or is there more for you? Are you tired yet?" Tseng turned to face him square on. "It's a simple question, really."
Reno smiled. "Naw, I ain't tired."
Tseng put his hand out onto Reno's shoulder again. "Then get back in there and start fighting."
"Yeah, I think that sound's pretty good." He gave Tseng a wide grin. "And, uh, thanks for all your help with things over the years. I know a lot of the little things that happened haven't just been coincidence."
Tseng smiled shyly and shrugged. "I couldn't just leave this all to you and not stick around to do what I can. It would have been like setting the proverbial bull loose in the china shop."
"Yeah, ha ha, very funny." Reno tried to force an annoyed look, but it melted back into a smile.
"Reno, get serious and tell your wife that you're going to make it through this, one way or another, then get in your body and live." Tseng let his hand fall away from Reno. "I'll be back to check on you later."
"Okay. See ya, Boss." Reno turned back to his wife and put his hand upon her shoulder as she still sat beside his body. He bent down and put his lips close to her ear. "It's all right, Babe. I ain't goin' nowhere."
Angel hurriedly got off of the bed. A chill had just run down her spine and it had felt like someone had touched her. In her mind, she could have sworn that she'd heard Reno's voice, but her logical side couldn't believe it to have been anymore than a slight hallucination brought on by her fatigue. Still, she didn't completely write it off and she whispered back, "You better not. I love you, Reno."
To hear her answer, even if she looked frightened, made Reno laugh. If he had to fight, then fight he would. "Yeah, I know. All the ladies do."
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Aaron had finally fallen asleep, and Tifa retracted her hand through the bars. Charlotte was also out for the time being, and Tifa realized that she wanted a better pillow than the one that was on the prison bed. Silently, she slipped out of the prison block for a moment and went to her room.
Upon entering, she went over to the bed. It had been left unmade, and Tifa saw that Vincent had been sleeping on the right side of it, just as he had at home. Knowing this, she picked up the pillow he'd been using and brought it up to her face. Sure enough, his scent was clearly upon it and she smiled faintly. Then, she went over to the chair where one of his shirts was lying, and she picked it up as well. It was a button up one, and she just slipped it on over the tee shirt she was wearing, leaving it open. With the pillow hugged up against her, Tifa made her way back to the prison cell and went to sleep.