Chapter 68

Striding away from where he'd placed the fifth explosive, Reno held the detonator loosely in his hand. He'd found the shipment of the false cure, and he'd waited until everybody had left the warehouse for the night as he had scoped the place out. The structure was mostly wooden, and he knew it would go up easily once started, he also knew exactly where he would place the charges to best advantage. It hadn't taken Reno long at all to place the explosives, and now all he needed to do was get out so that he could set it off and then get himself back to Edge.

Jumping down onto the narrow wooden bridge over the water below, Reno ran quickly across. He made it most of the way, pulling himself up quickly when someone stepped into the middle of the bridge and blocked his way. Swearing softly to himself, Reno resisted rolling his eyes. He knew it was Cadan without closer inspection required.

"Why am I not surprised?" Cadan's bored drone reached Reno who continued to move toward him.

"Fuckface." He greeted, trying to sound casual.

"So what is it that you think you're trying to do?"

Reno eyed the bridge behind the man. He needed to get to the other side in order to get out of here, and of course this dipshit was directly in the way. "… What do you suppose I'm doing?"

"Following me…"

"Don't flatter yourself." Reno edged to the side, but Cadan moved to mirror him.

"I don't think so." The man said, grinning at Reno. "You'll have to get through me…"

"That wont be hard, yo."

"Oh, you think so?"

"I've bested you before," Reno couldn't help the smirk that followed his words, and he looked directly at Cadan to see the reaction the words caused.

"Ahh… Perhaps I'll have to pay pretty Aura a visit when I return to Edge…" Cadan gave a light shrug, "I'd like to finish what we started when she and that other slut were… visiting…"

"Visiting?" Reno echoed, disbelief clear in his voice.

"Have you ever fucked her while she's crying?" Caden took a step toward him, "I have asked you this before… but you've never answered me…"

"Imagine that." Reno moved to the side again, trying to keep the detonator hidden in his hand.

"Oh, I do." Cadan remarked, "I often imagine what it would feel like… moving inside of her while she cried… So tell me… what's it like?"

"She's only ever been screaming my name." Reno spat, unable to keep the disgust off of his face or out of his voice.

Cadan laughed at that. "You think you're a good fuck?"

"Aura seems to think so."

"I'll have to show her what's she's been missing." Cadan said, and Reno knew that the man was trying to get under his skin. He knew that he had to keep his temper. "See how she likes a proper fuck from a real man, and not some quick rut with a slum rat…"

Reno shook his head, unable to help himself as thoughts of Rufus raping Aura on his desk pushed their way into his mind. "I think you'll find she prefers slum rats." His voice was cold.

"She won't when I'm through with her."

Reno looked away, his lip curling. It seemed that Cadan thought that was his chance, as the man threw himself at Reno then. Surprised by the sudden movement, Reno barely had the chance to get out of the way. He stepped back, but Cadan swung nearly as quickly, grabbing at him.

"You're not getting out of here!" the man snarled, "Not with that detonator."

"You reckon?" Reno glanced at the water beneath the bridge. Then, looking back to Cadan with a grin, he pressed the button on the detonator and, as the first blast sounded overhead, he dove off the bridge and into the water beneath as heat exploded around him.

Reno swam down. He knew that he had only moments before the warehouse would come burning and crashing down around him, and he knew that he needed to get out from under it. He could hold his breath for a few minutes, so he tried to get a little deeper to avoid debris, before heading in the direction the opening toward the ocean had been. Once he found it, Reno surfaced out under the sky for a moment, before heading back down again and aiming for a distance further down the coast where he would be able to come ashore well away from the dramatics of the burning warehouse.

By the time he dragged himself ashore, the warehouse in the distance appeared to be burning rubble, and Reno watched with satisfaction as the flames cast an eerie glow onto the smoke filling the sky. There was no way their shit fake cure would survive under that. For a second, Reno wondered what had happened to Cadan, and if he'd gotten out, although he highly doubted it, and then decided that he didn't care anyway.

Sitting on a rock, Reno watched the fire in the distance as he took his phone out of his pocket, supposing that he should let Tseng know what had happened. "Ugh…" It wasn't until his phone was in his hand that Reno realised that his dive into the water had completely killed it. "Well, shit." He kicked at a stone and slipped his jacket off to squeeze it out. Without his phone, he had no way of contacting Tseng to report. ShinRa's elaborate communications networks were no more these days, and he figured that he would just have to get back to Edge to report in person.

Aura stared at the flames on the screen. Quickly turning her television up, she sank onto her couch, listening to the report. There had been an explosion at the docks in Junon, and one of the warehouses had burned to the ground. It had to have been Reno, though there was no evidence of him in the report. According to the television, no bodies had been found. They didn't know what had happened, and no arrests had been made. Still, she knew.

When the report had finished, Aura turned the television off. Supposing that Reno would probably be home by morning, she smiled to herself before heading off to her bedroom. She would, she had no doubt, sleep far more soundly tonight than she had since he'd left.

She awoke not long after the sun had risen, and noticed immediately that Reno had not come to her. That was fine, she figured. Perhaps he had gone straight to Healen Lodge to make his report to Tseng and Rufus. As she got dressed, Aura wondered if Reno had been completely successful in what he had gone to Junon to do. He had clearly burned down that warehouse she had seen on the television, and she supposed that had been where that false cure had been. She wondered if that had been all of it, if he'd managed to destroy it completely. Maybe it hadn't been. Maybe he wasn't even on his way back yet. She didn't know. Figuring that it was best to avoid making assumptions, Aura got dressed and decided that she would wait to ask Tseng for whatever updates they had when she'd gone to Healen herself that morning. Still, she turned her television on as she moved about the house getting ready. There was a brief update on the smouldering remains of the warehouse, and the fact that still nobody had been arrested. There was also no mention of ShinRa involvement, so it seemed that Reno hadn't been spotted by anyone, which she figured was a good thing.

By the time she got to Healen, Aura had just about convinced herself that Reno would be there. She had imagined walking up to his desk, just as he came out of Rufus Shinra's office. Everybody would be smiling and pleased that the false cure had been destroyed, and nobody would come hunting for them over it. When she did arrive at Reno's desk, smiling faces were not what she was faced with. Aura frowned when she saw Elena and Rude engaged in a hushed conversation that came to an abrupt end when they spotted her, and Aura tilted her head as she approached them.

"What?" she asked.

"What?" Elena asked in response.

"What's happening?" Aura pressed as Rude got to his feet and hurried out a nearby door.

"Nothing?"

"Is it about Reno?" Aura watched as Elena ran a hand through her blonde hair.

"No… well…"

"Is he alright, yo?"

"We…" Elena sighed and gave a shrug, "We don't know…"

"What do you mean?" Aura asked, her frown deepening, "What's he said? I know you guys always report back…"

"We haven't heard from him…" Elena's voice was soft, and her eyes moved around the room before settling back on Aura. "Tseng got a message from him that he'd arrived and was checking things out… but… that's it."

"There was an explosion." Aura said, "I saw it on the news…"

"Yeah… so did we."

"Wha-" Aura just blinked at her.

"We don't even know for sure if Reno did that…"

"Of course he did."

"…Then why haven't we heard from him? If he set the charge, and his plan worked, he would have let Tseng know."

"What are you saying?" Aura tried to fight panic rising in her. Elena shook her head.

"I'm not saying anything… other than we haven't heard from Reno."

"Where's Tseng?" Aura asked, unable to help the panicked tone creeping into her voice.

"In Edge…"

"Where's Rufus?" before Elena could stop her, Aura had turned and was striding up the hallway to the President's office. She heard Elena let out a squeak and hurry after her.

"No, Aura…"

"Shh." Aura ignored the woman's protests, and shoved the heavy doors to the office open as she stalked inside.

Rufus Shinra looked up in surprise as Aura walked toward him, Elena following behind her. Aura didn't stop however until she was at his desk.

"Aura?" his blue eyes went to Elena, "Do you ladies need something?"

"Where is Reno?" Aura wasn't going to act like she wasn't in here for one reason only.

"I assume he's in Junon, as that is where I sent him…" Rufus' voice was steady, but Aura heard the steel behind his tone.

"But he should be returning." Aura said, "After he destroyed that warehouse…"

She watched his blue eyes flick to Elena again before returning to meet hers. "I'm assuming Elena has told you that we have not heard from him…"

"Yes."

"Then…" Rufus got to his feet and slowly moved around from behind the desk. "… I don't know what you want from me?"

"I want you to tell me that he's on his way home. That you didn't send him to die…" Aura stared at him. "I want you to actually be concerned that you haven't heard from him…"

Rufus shook his head slowly. "Unnecessary worry is not productive…"

Aura slapped him across the face. She supposed that she had probably startled herself as much as she had Rufus as she hadn't so much as had the thought when her hand was moving. Rufus was silent, and Aura barely breathed for several moments after she had hit him. But Elena gasped loudly enough that a rush of fear flooded Aura and she took an unsteady step away from Rufus, her eyes wide.

"Sweet Shiva…" Elena murmured, pushing Aura further back and actually stepping between her and Rufus. "Sir, she didn't mean it… she's just freaking out because she's worried… she didn't know what she was doing… she didn't mean it…"

Rufus still hadn't moved, but Aura watched as he slowly turned his head, his blue eyes finding her and pinning her to the spot in which she stood.

"I…I…"Aura fell silent, not knowing what she could say that would make it better.

Rufus took two steps toward her, moving around Elena with ease as the blonde woman watched helplessly. When he had reached Aura, he looked down at her, one of his hands coming up to take hold of her face. "I have killed people for less than that…" his voice was dark, and Aura just nodded as best she could with his hand still tightly holding her.

"I know."