"Huh?"
"Why I'm here today. What if there was a reason?"
She felt cold then. Like a wind had rushed up suddenly behind her and sucked all the warmth out of the air. The playful expression he'd worn before was gone entirely; in its place was a somber mask.
"What is it?" She whispered.
"Your pass card has expired," He said simply, his voice gone soft with the gravity of the situation, "Got the orders today."
"Oh." She said, quietly nodding her head as she took it all in, "So...it begins, again."
"Yeah. So it does."
He looked at her, his lips thinning as he lost himself in thought. Thinking wasn't something he was known for, but on occasion he did it when warranted. This was one of those times. For once, his face was entirely unreadable and even though he was looking right at her, his eyes were very far away. If it were Tseng or Rude sitting in front of her, she wouldn't have been fazed. They were known for their sudden quiet contemplation. Reno was another story. It unnerved her. She opened her mouth to say something, anything to break the silence but was cut off. He dug something out of his suit jacket and shoved it in her hands. Her brow furrowed as she looked down. Fingers skimmed the edge of a thick manila envelope that had been overstuffed to the point where its adhesive no longer worked. The lip of the envelope had been taped many times to keep the contents in and even then, it didn't work very well as far as patches go.
"What is this?" She asked, holding it out in one hand as suspicion boiled beneath her skin.
"Open it and find out."
She stared out into space, fisting the envelope in her hand. Looking up at him, she glared.
"It's money, isn't it?"
He didn't answer right away, fidgeting in his seat a little as he carelessly gestured at it, "Just open it already..."
Her face lost all expression becoming as humorless and cold as her face could become. She threw the envelope back in his face and stood up abruptly.
"I don't need your charity."
Kicking the chair she'd sat on away from her, she was about to storm off before he caught her arm and dragged her back. This earned him a glare angry enough to make him wince.
"It's not charity, Aeris...You..."
She tugged out of his grasp, whirling on him, a finger held up in warning when he tried to interject, "No. I will NOT take your blood money and I will NOT be pitied for what I don't have. I tolerate a meal or two from you here and there...but that..." She said, pointing at the offending envelope, "...is an insult. I've said my peace. Don't ever do something like this again."
Aeris angrily stalked off, knowing that the ass would follow her, which just aggravated her all the more. Despite his job description, he'd never really gotten physical with her, not counting the occasional inappropriate touching. The point being, that he'd never roughed her up for real. So it was a great surprise to her when he grabbed her by her waist and hauled her, kicking and screaming, into the nearest empty alleyway.
He set her on her feet roughly and jammed the envelope back in her hand, clamping his own over hers. She was seething, her anger was so great that she couldn't begin to form words. So terrible it brought tears to her eyes. Shaking with rage, she refused to look up at him, for fear of completely losing her temper. The urge to claw his eyes out was already hard to resist. It wouldn't help matters if she had actual targets.
"Aeris, look at me."
Her lips thinned to a white line and she bit her lip. She wouldn't. She'd die before she'd do anything he said.
"Aeris."
"No."
He shook her.
"Aeris!"
She stubbornly kept her head down, daring him to make her.
"Dammit, Aeris! Just for once do what I ask!" He shouted, shaking the hand he still held with his own. "Why do you always have to be so god damned fucking stubborn?"
It was the cracked voice passion in his words that caused her to finally look up. He wasn't exactly crying, but she could see it there. His normally calm blue eyes were watery and wide with fear, something she was unaccustomed to seeing in him.
"Reno?" She breathed the question like it was air, her body becoming numb and rubbery as it left her lips.
"You have to take this money."
"No..."
"Take it." he stated firmly, squeezing her hand painfully to get his point across.
In his eyes was a deadly finality. He wouldn't be questioned on this matter any further. The subject was closed. She'd take the money, one way or the other. For a moment, she was a bit scared of him. Aeris looked up at him like he was a stranger, nodding dumbly as her fingers wrapped around the now mutilated envelope.
"Why?" She asked, her lips trembling, tears threatening.
He was quiet for a long time. Too long. And when he answered, it was far too slowly.
"They don't trust us anymore, Aeris. Shinra doesn't think we can get the job done...unsupervised. They think me and Tseng are too close, but they don't got anyone else." Reno went quiet again before speaking more gently than she thought he was capable of, "It's serious this time, Aeris. I can't hold back anymore. Not with two first class soldiers watching me the whole time. If I don't get the job done, they will..."
Aeris paled, clutching the envelope a little closer to her chest. Her mind went blank, unwilling to comprehend the danger behind his words. A long, uncomfortable silence reigned as she clumsily opened up the mangled envelope in an effort to redirect her thoughts. Tearing the flap open, her fingers brushed against the bills stuffed inside. She shook her head slowly, gazing up at Reno with eyebrows creased in confusion. It was clear she didn't understand. She didn't even try to, as if she'd never ever contemplated her own safety. Her eyes asked so much of him. Why he was doing this? That question summed up so many things and if he had an answer, he would have given it to her.
Instead, he just stuck his hands in his pockets, seeking out the comfort of his lighter. He really needed a cigarette right now, but last year he promised not to smoke around her anymore. His eyes dimmed as he watched her fingers thumb the money.
"There's about four thousand gil there. More than enough to hire a decent bodyguard. Make sure whoever you hire knows what he's up against. Don't let 'em go in blind, you know? Try and find yourself a swordsman." He paused, before adding almost absently, "Someone who can handle materia would be a plus as well...God knows what those soldiers are hopped up on now--"
"Wait," She interrupted, "This is all over my head. I wouldn't know the first thing about any of--I don't even know where to go to find a bodyguard. It's not like you just stop someone on the street and say, 'Hey, wanna be my bodyguard?' I mean...there are places where you go and find people like that. And I don't go to those places, Reno. I wouldn't even know if there ARE places..."
She looked up at him, lost. He dug inside one of his pockets and pulled out a very worn looking business card. It looked to have been stuffed in that pocket and forgotten, only to be remembered now.
He held it out and she took it, reading the embossed letters out loud, "Seventh Heaven... Food & Spirits. Finest pub under the plate..." Aeris paused and gave him a long, hard, glare of pure disbelief, "A bar...in Sector Seven? Are you trying to get me killed or is this your idea of a sick joke?"
"What, no! Don't be..." He sputtered, floundering for ground in his argument, "Sector Seven isn't that bad..."
"Yes it is. Do you even watch the news? The police raid Sector Seven, like, once a day. Just yesterday they found a body burning in a dumpster! A DUMPSTER! See! This is what I mean by places! I don't want to go to places like that...with danger and the possibly that I might end up dead and on fire in a dumpster!"
He rolled his eyes, "Oh please. Don't give me that! You live a sector away from it. And EVERYTHING under the plate is filled with danger and possible dumpster flammage. So quit being a nit."
She grumbled, trying her best to look put out, "I just don't like dark, scary places like bars, with all the icky people and the drinking. And I'm not a nit."
"Yes, you really are. You have nothing to worry about. Honestly! You'd think after all these years, you'd trust me."
"Fine, fine. I'll go to your stupid bar. Don't know how it's going to help me though."
"The chick that owns the place knows some people who know some people. Her name is Tifa, and she's a stand up broad..." He said, adding 'with a pretty mean right hook' to the end of that sentence in his head. Shaking his head, he continued, "Anyway. Show her the card and she'll do you right. Point you in the right direction and all that jazz. Hell, you might even be able to save yourself some money if you give her a real good sob story. You know, some kind of father with gambling debt thing and they're gonna kill him if you don't pay up or whatever. Squirt out a few tears and she'd probably work for free..."
Aeris gave him a warning look, her eyes narrowing in displeasure, "Reno..."
"What! I'm just saying. You know, if you wanted to use that money for something else. Oh, don't look at me like that!" Reno said, stumbling over his words as the look on her face darkened. He quickly changed the subject, "Uh..aaaaaaaaanyway... She knows some people and she's really nice, so don't be afraid to ask for her help if you're not sure about who to hire. Just don't tell her that I sent you. In fact, it'd be better not to mention name at all. If she asks how you found out about her, just say a friend sent you or something."
"Wow. You and the truth. It's just a wacky idea for you, isn't it...the not lying. So, what did you do? Did your reputation precede you or didja just make a bad first impression?"
He grinned wickedly again, taking her veiled insult as a compliment, "A little of both, actually."
She laughed lightly, though it was clearly forced, "Everything's going to change, isn't it?"
He nodded solemnly, not trusting his voice and unable to look her in the eyes.
"This is it, isn't it? This is the end." She whispered, "Reno?"
He looked up, startled by the direct address and the edge of tears in her voice. In front of him stood a frightened little girl, not the headstrong young woman he was accustomed to. She was scared. Really, truly scared. In her eyes, he could see her thinking about the long road of her life and where it stretched out to its very end. Her eyes, they spoke volumes and he wondered if he looked long enough, if he'd be able to write a book about her or if she'd be just as mysterious as she always was. There was something else. Something he didn't want to think about.
He remembered that night when she told him about a nightmare she had. She had said she'd dreamed her own death and he knew she believed it. He hadn't. Predestination was comfort food for people who still believed something awaited you after death other than nothingness. Looking at her now, he began to wonder if he'd been wrong all these years. It was the look in her eyes that made him wonder. Her eyes spoke of a beginning and reflected her end, an end she didn't want but knew that her life or fate or something was driving her towards. And when that end came, it wasn't going to be pretty and painless. It would be hard and cruel and unfair. She accepted it, but at the same time, she was still just a child who wanted to live. Who wanted to just for once, be selfish, but couldn't. If he were capable of crying anymore, he would but he'd left his tears behind eons ago.
She said his name again and it jolted him out of his memories. Looking down at her, he nodded to acknowledge he was indeed listening to her this time.
"I just..." she began, finding it hard to pluck the words from the tree in her mind, "I...Things...might change but I just wanted you to know that no matter what, you guys...you'll always be my friends. I know it's corny, it's just...You, Tseng, Rude...you all put yourselves on the line for me." She paused, a knot forming in her throat, "It...it means a lot to me, what you did. So...Thank you. I'm sorry I--"
"No, don't. We're not so great, okay? I'm not so great. We don't need no thanks, no apologies. We're not good people, Aeris. Not like you. If we were, we'd just say no, but we didn't...I didn't. I'm not a good person, Aeris." He said, looking her straight in the eye, "I'm not your friend and I'm sorry for that. I'm just a shit heel who saw somebody nice and though he could save her and do his job at the same time. And I was wrong. I'm an asshole. We all are." he paused again, watching a single tear as it meandered down her cheek. He kind of envied how easy it was for her to cry, "You're the best of all of us, you know that? You find yourself a real good bodyguard and make sure he kicks the shit out of me..."
"Don't..d-don't say that..."She whispered, her voice constricted by her tears.
"Why not? It's the truth..." He said, with a dry chuckle.
"That's not funny."
"Yeah, actually, it is."
She wiped away her tears, glaring at him with a look that spoke of regret, anger and a world of sorrow.
"I don't care what you say. I'm your friend and you're still my friend, even though you're stupid and a jerk."
He smiled very softly, restraining the desire to ruffle her hair. Sometimes, she acted like such a little kid it amazed him.
"I should..." he said, gesturing towards the street with a flick of his head.
"Yeah."
"Well, see ya later..." He said, trailing off as he waved lamely.
He felt awkward and strange in his own body as he left. His eyes staring straight ahead at the dwindling crowd and he wondered how it had gotten so late. Time always seemed to slip faster when he was with her.
"Wait!"
The tinkling sound of her voice stopped him and though he didn't want to, Reno looked back. She jogged up to him and smiled brilliantly. Standing on tip-toe, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before hugging him. How was it that she existed here of all places? Sometimes he felt like he hardly knew her, and yet he did. He didn't deserve to, but he knew her and no matter what he said, what he felt or what he had to do, she was his friend and he hers. It was as simple as that. Aeris could make friends with her most bitter enemy, he knew this about her. Didn't know how she did it, but he knew...she'd always forgive. Always forget. Always love. No matter who it was or what they'd done.
After a moment of hesitation, he hugged her back and distantly remembered a time, not so long ago, when he hugged his dead sister the same way. The day she died, she'd hugged him like this and just like back then, he felt like someone close to him was saying goodbye. That this was the last time they'd ever be like this. That this might even be the last time he ever got to hug her, the last time he'd ever see her again and it terrified him for one brief, horrible moment. He hugged her a bit tighter, not wanting it to be true but he felt, somewhere deep in his soul, that it was the truth. She was fated for a terrible journey, one she wouldn't come back from and she wanted to say goodbye. He didn't want to say that word and he didn't want her to but they were saying it all the same. Goodbye was a word he'd said one too many times in his short life.
Eventually, they parted and there were several seconds where neither of them really knew what they ought to say. Reno couldn't stand the silence and shifted in place, scratching the back of his head as he wracked his brain for something, anything he could say to crush this new and weird quiet between them.
"Well, I guess this is it..."
She smiled and it seemed a little brittle to him, "Yeah. Take care of yourself. Say hi to Rude and Tseng for me."
"Sure, you be safe, okay? Good luck..."
"You too."
He gave her a cocksure grin and winked, saluting her, "Yo."
She laughed, saluting him back, "Yo to you too, jackass."
"You know you love me..." He stated, his voice sounding very far away as he melted into the crowd, "Ciao, baby."
She watched his retreat, shouting at his back, "DO NOT!" The smile that seemed so sure a minute ago fell and she raised her hand, even though he was long gone, "...bye.."
Aeris gazed at the street and the people that still thickly lined it as they made their way home. It was nearly six o'clock and though the city was still teeming and alive, it wasn't quite as crowded. Most of the commuters had taken their trains and gone home. The only people left were like her, stragglers who had no fear of the city at night and who wanted a leisurely ride home.
Something sad and broken inside of her ached and she longed to break down into tears. Contrary to what Reno believed it wasn't so easy to cry, especially for her. She felt like a small part of her soul died every time she did it. To her, there was something ultimately selfish in crying, selfish but sometimes necessary, though in the last few years she hadn't done it as much as she had before. Too much of her energy had been wasted in crying and so she'd tried to limit herself. Crying for others, rather than herself. She'd slowly come to accept her part in all this, even though sometimes it still seemed unfair. But she couldn't be so weak. The stakes were too high and what she had to do too difficult. Yet right now, she felt like just being a little bit selfish and she asked herself if it would be so wrong...so weak...to just this once break down and feel sorry for herself again.
And the answer was always yes, it would be wrong.
Soldiering on, she took a deep breath and tamped down her feelings. She had no time for this, and she had to save all her energy. Her task hadn't begun yet. She was still waiting, after all. Standing in the alley, watching all the people, Aeris smiled. They really were lucky. She was just about to strike out and leave when a gentle green light drew her attention. Surprised, she spotted a hole in the wall of a nearby building. The pipes that fed the building mako were visible through the hole and leaking. There was no mistaking the bright green glow of pure, undiluted mako as it oozed from a pipe.
Absently, she realized the danger but at the same time, she had no fear. Mako was the planet's life blood and she was of the planet. Approaching the breech in the wall, she knelt down and looked it, her eyes glimmering in the unnatural light. She could just hear the planet's song seeping through the layers of dirt and dust, working its way past all the wiring and machinery that separated it from her. It was so soft that it was very hard to hear, but the sorrowful pang of its melody was easy to recognize if you knew what to listen for.
The song had no words, no form, but she understood it all the same. It was warm and welcoming, if a bit weary, and it told her it was time. Her wait was over and her heart leaped. If there was one word it could sing, it would be 'Soon'. All her fears and worries, her melancholic tears melted away to nothing. Tonight, tonight would be the beginning. She wasn't looking forward to the end of the road, but the journey itself...that was another story. If she were to do this...if she were to die, she wanted no regrets or as few as she could manage. The adventure ahead would fill her full of life and hope and purpose. It'd give her the edge to do what she had to, she just knew it. Besides, life was always about the journey, rather than the end. And anyway, death wasn't really an end, just another journey and another road to take. She had nothing to fear.
Smiling serenely, she closed her eyes and for the first time in six years, she felt truly at peace. Motes of light separated themselves from the confines of the pipe, lightly touching the last cetra's face. She basked in the planet's light, finally feeling as if her purpose on this earth had a point. Joy suffused her being and when she opened her bright green eyes, they glinted vividly and she smiled just a bit wider. She was life and she would counter death, and set this world in balance as it was meant to be.
Tucking Reno's envelope deep into her basket, she clutched it close and stood up, walking out into the street with a spring in her step. She meandered towards the train station that'd take her home. It was an unusually quiet night in late spring, and it was already getting warmer. Summer was on its way and the cold chill of winter had been left far behind, and so it would be for her. She looked at the sky, streaked with brilliant reds and oranges. The city was in silhouette all around her, with only the fading glint from the high rise windows to give form to the buildings all around her. It was strangely beautiful, a word she rarely associated with Midgar. Sometimes she really envied those lucky enough to live on the upper plate. They had quite the view.
She wondered if they knew how lucky they were. No, they didn't. Most humans rarely reflected on the things they were fortunate to have. They only saw the things they didn't. Oddly, such a thought didn't bother her. They might not see all that they have right now, but sooner or later, they would. She'd make sure this world would be around for everyone to see that day.
Her reverie was broken apart by a tremendous explosion. Dimly, she realized it had to be one of the mako reactors as her body was carried away by the shockwave. Everything seemed to move so slowly as she hurtled through the air. This abruptly ended as her body hit the ground hard, leaving her momentarily breathless and stunned. She was pelted by debris, smoke swirling around her prone form in belching waves. Coughing and hacking, Aeris picked herself up slowly, wincing in pain as the first of her injuries made themselves apparent. Her elbows were scuffed and abraded. There were several cuts crisscrossing her arms and her right palm was a pulpy mess, her left had escaped with nothing more serious than a few scratches. All together, she was pretty much okay, though she'd probably be a bit sore and bruised tomorrow, it was nothing to worry about.
Her eyes widened as she suddenly remembered her basket and the large wad of cash in it. Before she could even manage to stand a pair of booted feet entered her line of vision. She tilted her head up, squinting as the fire light burned behind the figure that stood before her. For a moment, she confused the figure for another as one name came to mind, Zack and she almost said it. The figure moved forward, so his face was visible...and it was clearly not Zack but for a moment...
She stared at him in confusion, her basket forgotten.
He was young and dressed in a SOLDIER's uniform, with bright blue eyes and a mop of unruly blonde hair. The young man in question held out his hand and without hesitation, she took it. He tugged her to her feet and she stared dumbly at him, completely at a loss for words. When their hands had met, an electric current ran through her body and the planet hummed beneath her. Guardian, it whispered and she knew she was meant to meet him.
She smiled and whispered dreamily, "Thank you...What happened?"
The blue in his eyes shifted, darkening as he peered at her. He considered the question for a moment before answering slowly in a voice that was gentle and deep, "I don't know. Are you all right?"
"Yeah. Just a little dazed."
He nodded and let go of her hand.
"You dropped your basket."
Her eyes widened as she took it and she smiled once more.
"Thanks...again..."
"Don't worry about it...You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah."
"Well then..." He said, and with a curt nod, he turned to leave.
She didn't know his name. Didn't know who he was. She knew he was leaving now, but somehow she knew they'd meet again. On impulse, she decided to call out to him.
"Hey...would you like to buy a flower?"
Note--This is not the end, there will be an epilogue.