Chapter 21

"It's been such a nice day." Aeris said with a sigh of happiness. She pushed open the church doors and stepped inside with Reno. Their footsteps echoed loudly, and some dust rose from the floor. The church was usually a rather uneventful and morbid place, but Aeris found the colours seemed more vibrant now. There seemed to be an air of normality back since Reno had returned. It'd been a few days now, and they had spent most of their time together. Mostly doing the usual activities such as shopping, cleaning or cooking. Reno wanted to be with her and talk to her during all of these things and never appeared to be bored. She often told him if he wished to leave for a little while and go have some fun he could, but he refused every time. They had, however, decided that tomorrow they would venture to Wall market to have some fun.

There was always plenty to do there. There were usually stalls set up all along the strip of land a little way from Sector 7. Sector 6 wasn't a particularly large place, and Wall Market's stretch of land took up a large chunk of it. When you first entered the market there was a hotel, a sushi bar, and to the far right a rather unsavoury club that Aeris would never go anywhere near. There were bars, clothes shops, music stores and even weapons stores further up, and at the very top lied the Don's mansion.

Don Corneo was a big gun at wall Market, maybe the most important person in the place. He essentially ran the market and funded it largely. He was a man who had only gotten rich from inheriting his parent's hard-earned money. He had used this by funding the Market, and paying men to serve him and women to come to bed with him. All in all, the Don lived the complete bachelor's life and wasn't going to be giving it up any time soon.

"Wall Market tomorrow. It's about time you had some rest from all this working." Reno said jokingly, nudging her. She smiled back at him and moved over to the kitchen area to begin getting dinner ready. It was past six o'clock and she assumed Jerad would be hungry by this point. He usually began asking for food at around five… so she thought he'd be waiting and in an extremely bad mood when they arrived, but she was yet to see him. He usually greeted her when she got home regardless of whether he was hungry or not.

"Reno, call Jerad for me will you?" She asked, reaching down to gather some pots and pans. Reno walked over to the stairs and called Jerad, but received no reply.

"He's not here, it seems." He told her, walking back over and sitting down on a slab of stone coming out of the wall. He stretched and laid back on it, staring up at the dark ceiling and beginning to daydream. He thought of how his life here might turn out, and how he may actually begin to enjoy life a bit more than recently. True, he was happy being a Turk and was rapidly adjusting to the requirements of the job, but he still felt a certain void inside that threatened to engulf him without Aeris there. The months he'd spent away from her had been some of the hardest of his life. He wasn't sure he could go through that again. Yet, he knew it was likely one day the job would require him to leave her again, as they moved their operations to a sector on the other side of the city, or even to a location outside Midgcar. They'd been told all operations had been moved inside Midgcar for the time being, but that certainly didn't mean it would be that way permanently.

"I'm worried." Aeris walked over to the stairs and turned to Reno. "I'll be back in a second."

"Alright." He said, already half-asleep. She made her way up the stairs and knocked quietly on Jerad's door. There was no answer. She turned the doorknob, it was unlocked. She hesitantly opened the door and peered inside.

"Jerad? Her voice was soft, she didn't want to startle him, yet it appeared there was nobody in the room. The curtains were drawn shut, and it was almost pitch black inside. Aeris stumbled over the mess of clothes and other indiscernible objects, reaching over Jerad's bed and pulling the curtains open. Light flooded into the room and made her blink and cover her eyes for a few seconds. When she took another look around, she gasped. The objects on the floor were not toys, or books, or anything similar to that. They were guns, swords and knives. Jerad was seemingly starting a weapon collection of some sort, and the revelation scared her. Jerad never collected things unless he planned to do something with them. The bed was unmade and no attempt had been made to tidy it. Jerad was certainly no longer in the church, but now Aeris wondered just where he was… and what he had taken out with him. She descended back down the stairs and walked over to Reno, whose eyes were closed, a slight smile was on his face. She didn't want to wake him from whatever light sleep he had dozed off into, but maybe he knew more about this kind of behaviour than she.

"Reno?" She shook his shoulder gently, one of his eyes opened lazily and he gazed at her.

"Yeah?"

"Jerad's gone… he's not here."

"So?" Reno sat up, yawning. "I'm sure he'll be back soon. He can take care of himself."

"I know that… but… come with me." She took his hand as he got up, looking confused. She took him over to the stairs and started ascending.

"Hey… where are we going?" Reno asked with a grin.

"To his room…" Aeris looked back at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course." He laughed nervously, but she paid no heed and continued pulling him up the stairs and into Jerad's room. Reno looked around at the various weaponry scattered on the floor and scratched his head. "Wow… quite a collection he's got, huh?"

"I didn't know he had these…" Aeris looked at him worriedly, picking up a sword from the ground. It was a large blade, and extremely sharp. The ones sold in shops were nearly always blunt, and the designs were far less intricate than this one. Reno picked up a gun next to his foot, examining it closely.

"How could he have gotten this? It's an ALIEN prototype… not even released yet to their own soldiers!"

"How do you know about it?" Aeris asked, putting down the sword and looking fearfully at the gun in his hand.

"I'm a Turk, this kind of information comes to me naturally." Reno carefully placed the gun on a desk to the side of him and swept his vision over the other weapons. There were plenty of weapons that seemed impossible for a boy Jerad's age to get his hands on. Many of the weapons were used by ALIEN Guards and other, even high-ranking security personnel. Reno was suddenly no longer comfortable or relaxed. His eyes had taken a darker look and a scowl was beginning to come onto his face. Aeris squeezed his hand tighter.

"Reno… I'm scared."

"So am I. Let's hope Jerad has a good explanation for us when he returns." Reno let go of Aeris's hand and exited the room hastily, leaving Aeris alone, confused, and scared.