Yeah, I know it's been a long time. School's evil, you know? Just when you think you know something, you find out that you're going to have to work your ass off to get a program to run. Anyway, I've decided to update. The end is near and I'm going to try and continue on in the normal fashion (meaning, I'm gonna try and update more. Not making promises due to school, though.) Anyway, this takes us through Elena's funeral and the thoughts and events afterward, before they head to Wutai. Enjoy and R&R if you're still interested.
The gentle rain streamed down, silhouetting the simple elegance of the funeral procession taking place. Heads bowed, hands behind their back, the two Turks stood there as solemn as the slow and gray drizzle that was filtering down on their suit jackets. Rude peered down at the coffin through his sunglasses, as always. It wasn't as if he had an occasion not to wear them. It was his girlfriend being buried after all. Reno stood stock still next to him, his sunglasses over his face as well. That was something new to see. Usually, he simply wore them to get laughs from girls. He had a solemn occasion to wear them that day. Standing not too far away, Yuffie stared with her hands behind her back, just kind of feeling sorry for them all.
"She didn't live that long."
"Did you really expect her to? She worked with us. You expected her to live past the age of twenty nine?"
"Nah, I didn't really. Only reason I lived this long is cuz of friends takin' care of me, you know? I shoulda been dead months before if you know what I mean."
"Yeah, but we had a duty to take care of you. We couldn't lose another one. It would be a loss if we lost another Tseng."
Reno glanced up at him through the sunglasses, water beading and dripping down the shadowy lenses. "What do you mean another Tseng?"
"I mean… Well, you have some of the same qualities at Tseng; you're just a lot more extreme than he ever thought about being. It's something that comes with the work that you do, I guess. Is it a coping mechanism or do you do it just to be cute?"
"I don't know anymore. I guess I just do it to do something. You always have to have a way to cope in this business; else you're going to find a grave really fast. I mean, you cope in a different way. You humorless bastard. You don't think anything's funny, do you?"
He looked at Reno, a wan smile coming over his face. "Nah, buddy. I don't find today funny at all, nor have I found the last week or so funny. It's all been a huge nightmare that I can't wake up from. It's like everything is just crumbling down on me, and I can't escape from it. No matter where I go, things seem to lead to a dead end."
"That's how it feels most of the time, right? We've been through a lot of stuff together and we've always pulled through. Can we really do it this time? I mean, she was the life, she was there; she knew what she was doing. She kept us on track, Rude. It seems like everything isn't going to be alright this time, but we gotta move on. Wutai's waiting for us. If we make it to Wutai, maybe we can forget about the past. Isn't that what we wanna do? Forget the past and move on? I know I wanna."
"We can't leave Rufus here alone, Reno. We got clearance to go, but we gotta come back eventually. If we don't, we'd be lettin' Elena down and that's the last thing that I wanna do. I told her that I would look after things, no matter what." Tears came to his eyes behind the sunglasses, though Reno couldn't exactly tell. "We were going to have a family and we were going to move up in rank together. Heh. We were going to buy a nice little summer flat in Costa del Sol so that we could move into it when we got finished with all of our little gangster business. When we got enough money, we were gonna raise some kids, too. Gonna name you the godfather. Now it's gone."
"Nothin's ever completely gone. I don't think she'd want you to angst the way you're doin' right now, big guy."
"What else am I going to do?" Rude shifted, his polished black boots squishing in the grass that was under their feet, sweeping everywhere like a beautiful emerald carpet. They'd decided to bury Elena far away from Midgar, far away from the dank and desolate place. Rude had said he didn't want her to be lonely in the forgotten mire of the slums. Her spirit was probably grateful. "There's nothing else to do right now but move on and hope that I can pick up the pieces. If I don't make it, then I don't make it. I don't really care anymore, bud."
With those words said, the two turned back to watch the casket being lowered into the ground, their best friend lying inside clutching the necklace that Rude had bought her only a few weeks before.
The next day…
"So what do we do?" Reno was talking to Rude, trying to size up the situation. "Not like we can just stay here for you to grieve, bud. I know it's hard, but we're going to try and help you get through this. I'm really sorry it happened."
"…"
"Rude, you gotta talk to us." Reno frowned when Rude shoved him away and sort of turned to the wall. He had on his normal blue uniform as if he was going to be staying at work the entire day. "You even dressed in uniform? We're leaving today and you don't know what to dress in? Your mind ain't that dazed, is it?"
"Just lemme alone, Reno."
Yuffie blinked as she watched the two interact. "It'll be okay eventually, Rude. I know it seems really really hard right now, but I-"
"Shut up." Rude walked off to go get his final preparations done.
Glancing over at Yuffie, Reno shot her a look that clearly said he was irritated. "I know he's hurting and all, but we got things to do, things to protect, things to get away from. If he doesn't watch himself he might end up dead like Elena. I don't want Vincent taking the last friend that I have away from me, you know?"
"I know. I'm really sorry that this happened. I didn't think Vincent was going to go off the deep end, if you know what I mean." Andine was relaxed on Yuffie's lap, curled up and sleeping. She made soft snoring sounds as she nestled her head against the ninja's leg.
"Yeah, you can never really tell when they're going to go loony, can you? I mean, if the guy's so possessive of you that he's out for blood, there's something wrong upstairs."
"He used to say that he loved me no matter what, and he'd protect me and have me in the end. Reno… I'm scared he's going to kill you."
"I'm telling you, everything's going to be fine, Yuffs. We just gotta get away from him. If he follows us to Wutai, then everything is going to go south from there. Main idea is to keep him away from you so that he can't hurt you."
"What about you, Reno? He's not out to kill me yet. He's out to kill you and grind you into the dust like a cigarette butt. He wants to snuff the freakin' life out of you."
"Doesn't matter what he tries to do to me, I'm only worried about what he's going to do to you."
"How… I mean… Bah. We'll get there safe, right?"
"Sure will. You just have to keep up hope, even though ours was laid down in the ground yesterday."
Both were silent as they waited for Rude to make haste and get his things together, Reno staring out of the window, Yuffie stroking little Andine's pompom.