Business As Usual
Chapter 28: The Last Days of Relative Peace
By Miyamashi
Miya's Note: Okay, so I took forever again…blah, blah, blah…this time I have a valid excuse. I've been insanely busy with college things, especially with trying to get transferred. Still, I'm sorry for making you all wait, but for all of your patience, this is the longest chapter yet, with the most actual FF7 content. Hope you guys like it.
Remember my 30-chapter estimate? Well, I was pretty close. This story will most likely end with this chapter, two more regular chapters, and the epilogue, unless something drastic changes my mind. Then, P3 will begin. Also, the contest from Ch. 27 will continue until the prologue of P3 is posted, so feel free to keep trying until then. (If you sent me a PM and didn't get a reply, that means it didn't go through. In fact, I haven't gotten anything as far as PMs go in a very, very long time. If you want, you can e-mail me directly, instead. My mail is miyamashi(at)msn(dot)com, with the appropriate symbols in place of the words in parentheses.)
Chapter 28 Hint: The secondary protagonist has been mentioned only briefly, once in WF, a couple of times in Chapter 1, and once in Chapter 23. The name of this character has been said only twice before now. As far as this chapter goes, I won't tell.
Also, I gave most of you this hint already, but remember that P3 takes place after the events in White Flag. That's important. Also, if you know where to look, I actually gave the answer away somewhere else (meaning not on this site), and using that to your advantage is perfectly acceptable.
I'm so excited. The ending to this story is something I've been wanting to share with you all for a VERY long time.
Re-Disclaimer: I should have done this earlier, but now that I'm quoting actual text from the game, I feel it's pertinent to re-establish that any content from the original game is not mine, but is the property of Square-Enix. All that I own is my interpretation of what goes on around the actual scenes, the thoughts of the characters during them, and any content and ideas not present in the game or any of its various sequels, prequels, and spin-offs. (Advent Children and Before Crisis will come in more in P3. Yes, I do have a plan for working them in, as well as a bit of Dirge of Cerberus.)
As much as the both of us always tried and tried again to continue on as if there had never been any time when we were apart, joking like we had eight years prior, it started to become really, painfully obvious that time had passed. It was a lot harder to notice it with myself. Of course, I'd had to live with myself and watch as all the changes started occurring slowly.
With Rufus, it was a lot like it is with a child's height. It seems like one day, a kid is shorter than you. Then, you see him again and he's grown a good foot and a half and you suddenly have to look up to talk to him. It's a lot more sudden. With Rufus, it wasn't his height that had changed, but his stamina.
And, no, I don't mean that in the sexual sense, you sick bastard.
Sorry. I couldn't help that one.
Rufus was tired, when he'd been almost tireless before. It almost made him seem…old, like he was just shutting down. Looking over at him in the helicopter really made me realize it. He wasn't sleeping in that peaceful kind of way. No, it looked almost painful with the way his face was kind of scrunched up and his shoulders were drawn up next to the sides of his head. He was slouched over in this kind of odd way that looked almost like he was trying to keep warm.
I tried not to watch him too much. I sure as hell didn't want us to crash and die with him like that. It just wouldn't have been right.
When I really started staring forward, I began to see Junon in the distance. It looked just like it had when I'd gone there on my mission to save Rufus when this all had started. It sent knots into my stomach just like it had then. Landing the helicopter, I began to have flashbacks of that time, and I looked over at Rufus to find him still asleep.
Reno leaned over and moved the headset from one of Rufus' ears. The blonde stirred, his shoulders relaxing and his eyes cracking open slowly and drowsily.
"Hey. We're here, sleepy," said Reno, leaning in with a half-forced smile.
Rufus groaned, and when ice-eyes opened, they met a worried aquamarine gaze.
"What time is it?" asked Rufus.
"About 1300 hours."
"Still early," murmured the blonde, dread and tired aggravation edging his voice.
"Yeah," Reno agreed solemnly to both the spoken and unspoken.
Rufus sat up straight, pushing the headset off of him. It clinked to the floorboard of the helicopter. Then, he simply sat there for a long while. Neither he nor Reno moved, and the silence didn't even allow for the drawing of breath.
When Reno finally broke that silence, the new President of Shinra Incorporated twitched just barely in shock.
"I have something for you," said Reno.
"Oh?"
"Well, I say it's for you, but it's kind of for me, too."
Rufus cocked an eyebrow tiredly in Reno's direction.
"I at least figured it might help keep you calm while you have to deal with all of this, or at least give you a good laugh before the ceremony." The Turk pulled a small box from his pocket, handing it to the blonde.
Rufus glared when he saw what it was. "Cigarettes?"
"For the fashion statement."
Rufus tried to hold back an uncharacteristic snort of laughter. Reno was rather happy to see that the blonde already looked a bit more lively.
Then, Rufus read the box. "Shiva Slims: The cigarettes for women, by women, with that cool menthol taste that women love."
Reno's face betrayed his attempt to hide his own hysterics.
"You really think you're ever going to catch me smoking one of these disgusting things?" Rufus asked as he held the box up and shook it slightly like a mother with a bad report card, dropping back into a more usual tone of voice; the one that made Reno cringe like a struck dog.
"It's proven that nicotine helps calm the nerves."
"But women's cigarettes, of all things? Are you implying something here?"
Reno rolled his eyes innocently. "They're thin, they're long…"
"They're phallic."
"I was gonna say elegant, but whatever floats your boat."
"No," said Rufus with a glare, dropping back into a tired sigh.
Reno felt the need to resort to petty begging. "Just one drag?"
"No."
"One little puff?"
"Why are you so fucking…"
"Annoying?" the redhead piped in.
"I was going to say insistent, but that works, too."
Reno tried to make his most pathetically endearing face, which came out looking simply pathetic.
"You're not helping your cause. You just look stupid."
"But why not?"
"I don't want to smell like smoke, like you do every day. Hell, I get enough of it rubbed off on me as is."
Reno pouted. "That's low. I just want to see you smoke. Just once. Call it a fetish, okay?" The Turk flailed his hands in the space around his head. "I mean, it's sexy. I want a memory to keep me occupied while you're out doing all your presidential things."
Rufus looked over the other man for a too-long moment, and then shrugged, a smirk gracing his features. "You're so lucky that I have a soft spot for you." He butted in before Reno could say anything. "And I'm tired."
"Of dealing with me?"
"Yes."
"…So, you're gonna do it?"
"Just this once."
"Oh, how wonderful! Rufus is giving into peer pressure." The blonde could have sworn that Reno had almost squealed.
Rufus flicked the Turk off before he pulled the wrapper from the carton. "You're such a fairy."
Reno decided to ignore that statement, knowing full well that Rufus was pushing his buttons on purpose, and instead handed the blonde a lighter, pulling his own Malboros from his pocket.
"Hold on. What do you think you're doing?" said the blonde tauntingly.
"Having a smoke with you?"
Rufus shook his head. "I have one condition."
"Aw, fuck."
"I don't even have to say it. You know what's coming."
"Yeah." Reno put his cigarette back in its pack and held out his hand. "I should have figured."
"Yes, you should have."
"Just give it here," grumbled the redhead annoyedly.
"Oh, you really do want this," the blonde mocked, waving a Shiva Slim in front of Reno's nose.
The Turk took it quickly with a grunt. "Yeah, or else I'd never smoke one of those girly things."
"But you expect me to?"
"You're girlier than me. You don't have a masculinity to protect."
Rufus' eyes shot daggers.
Reno laughed.
Rufus smirked.
The two men rested the cigarettes between their lips and lit them with the same flame.
"You're a natural," said Reno, noting how easily Rufus sank into the smoker's role.
"You, on the other hand, look rather uncomfortable."
"Do I look gay with this cigarette?"
"Yes."
"How gay?"
"Very. Flamingly so." Rufus took a drag and blew the smoke into Reno's face.
"Whatever. I don't care anymore."
"That's good."
After a pause, Reno added, "But I'm not gay."
"I know."
"I'm straight."
"You just happen to be fucking a guy."
"Exactly."
Rufus and Reno leaned against the side of the helicopter, simply trying to stop time at that moment. But, as the smoke drifted upwards, time visibly went on, their cigarettes grew short, and the knots in their stomachs grew tighter. Soon--too soon--Rufus stood fully, put out the cigarette, and disappeared into the helicopter.
Reno watched, still smoking slowly, as Rufus came back out with his single, small suitcase. The two looked at each other for a short while, and then the blonde moved toward his partner, thought better of it, and turned around.
"Wait, Rufus."
The new President shook his head and felt a hand clasp around his.
The Turk leaned up as Rufus' lips brushed briefly over his, the smell and taste of smoke etching the air between them.
And Rufus walked away.
The ceremony was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but Reno was simply irked. From the top floor of a Junon motel, he stared down at the parade through his room window. Though he couldn't see Rufus' face from his perch, Reno could distinguish him easily in the crowd, and knew the man well enough to imagine what was going on.
Rufus would be sitting in the convertible, smiling politely as he waved to the crowds of people gathered around the streets, but his eyes, if one looked closely enough, would betray his hatred for the common people and their mindless worship. When Rufus passed, a few select troops of SOLDIERs filed by, marching with weapons in tow, sporting off some moves that looked flashy, but would do nothing for them in the heat of battle.
Reno always had to laugh at that, the way SOLDIER spent days and weeks training for shows, when they could have been using that time to train to fight.
At one point, the Turk really had to laugh as one of the troop members seemed to be stumbling very visibly with his gun.
When the parade had passed Reno completely, Rufus was already at the route's end, waiting for the ceremony to finish. The same SOLDIER brigade that Reno had seen earlier gave the new President a performance, ending with an odd twirling move that made the blonde smile inwardly as he recognized it.
Rufus stared intently at one man standing in the back line, who seemed to be having trouble following the sequence up until that finishing move, when he suddenly gained the confidence that he needed to pull that trick off better than the rest of the platoon combined. After all, this wasn't a common-practice maneuver, and Rufus remarked at how easily the young "cadet" had blown his cover.
Despite the shoddy performance, Rufus gave the group a high review. After all, it was nice to meet up with Cloud Strife again, who had used that same move as Rufus had begun to fly away on his helicopter after their fight. The blonde suspected that the rest of the rag-tag group was around as well, and hoped that they would join him on his coming boat ride to Costa Del Sol. After all, stowaways always seemed to add interest to otherwise monotonous days.
When Reno arrived much later with the helicopter in Costa Del Sol, he heard news of General Sephiroth's appearance on Rufus' ship, as well as the arrival of the same AVALANCHE group that he himself had encountered in Sector 7. This information put the redhead on edge until the ship docked, Rufus in tow.
"Are you going to let them get away?" asked Reno as the President climbed into the helicopter.
"AVALANCHE? Of course. We can't go getting our front line against the General killed just yet, can we?"
"Eh?"
"Let them go after Sephiroth. We have more important matters."
"Oh." Reno shrugged, apathetic.
"I scared the fuck out of Heidegger, though, when he found out about the group's 'escape'. He probably thought I was going to shoot him there on the dock."
The Turk snickered.
Rufus sat back in his seat as the helicopter took off. "Yes, let them take care of Sephiroth. I just want the Promised Land."
"What?" yelled Reno over the rotors.
Rufus picked up his headset and spoke into the microphone attached to it so that Reno could hear. "I want the Promised Land."
"That's more Cetra stuff, right? I think I remember that part."
"Yes. The Promised Land is what the Cetra view as where they go after death. It's a land where the Lifestream flows freely." Rufus settled into his chair, a light, dreamlike smile etching his features.
"Okay, so how the hell are you planning to…get…the…thing if it's where they go after they die? I'm a bit lost, and I don't like the sound of where this is going."
"Think about it. If the Promised Land is where the Lifestream flows freely, that means that it's somewhere on the planet. Lifestream equals Mako. Now that my father's dead…Midgar's tapping the planet dry. We need a new source. If that Promised Land is real…"
Reno sighed, keeping his eyes on the sky ahead of him. "Then, we'll just tap it dry, too, just like every other source of Mako, and it'll kill the planet faster. Rufus, you're rambling."
"If it's real, we may be able to leave Midgar. Make a new Midgar. A Neo-Midgar, if you will. It can spread out instead of up. We can find a different way to use the Mako…without burning it…Abandon my father's Midgar and let it rot. No more slums, no more tower…"
"Rufus…"
"I'm so tired…" Reno could hear the trembling in the blonde's voice. "…Of my father's world."
"And you hope your mother's would be better?"
"Yeah."
"But there's one problem."
"What's that?"
"That's not her world. It's the Cetra's."
"Then I'll have to make it mine instead."
Reno laughed, taking his own headphones off, ending the conversation.
The name "Sephiroth" grew akin to that of "Hell" in the weeks that were to follow, especially to Reno. Where Sephiroth was sighted, Rufus followed, suddenly consumed by his urges to find the Promised Land, hoping that the equally, if not more, crazed and dangerous General would be able to find some clue as to where the key to Rufus' dream-utopia lay.
Reno hadn't seen Rufus in too long for his liking, promoted back to official on-duty Turk when word got to the others about his act as chauffer.
He was worried. That Sephiroth was bad news. If the General could kill one man who thought himself a god, what little chore would it be for him to kill another?
Reno swatted that thought forcefully away.
On his own missions, Reno tried to block the General's name from his mind. Oh, how he hated that name.
It was when that name snuffed out a second life, however, that Reno was finally reunited with the blonde President, even if only for a little while.
Before that moment, however, Reno and Rufus lived different stories again, like they had for far too long while the blonde had been away.
Reno's story during this time began in the small, half-destroyed village of Gongaga. Reno felt out-of-place there--though he wouldn't admit it to the world--as Gongaga's destruction had come as a result of a Shinra-Inc. Mako reactor's sudden and unexpected explosion. It was there, in Gongaga, as Reno looked around at the villagers' both saddened and angry faces that he began to re-think what Rufus had been saying in the helicopter.
Rude was standing with him. Reno had tried to convince the bald Turk that they should wait on the outside edges of the city, but Rude had objected, preferring to remain in the middle of things to avoid their targets coming in from a different direction from the one where they were stationed. Reno stared at his partner for a bit, and then went back to thinking.
This was no utopia. This was the basest, lowest part of the world. It was a slum, just like the one in Midgar. The Cetra, like in the book that Reno had been given, described paradise. They described a "Promised Land".
Reno suddenly envied the Cetra, and Rufus. How could they have so much damn hope when places like this were always staring them in the face? How, especially, could a man like Rufus who sometimes seemed little more than a suicidal time-bomb, still carry that tiny grain of optimism?
Was it optimism at all, or was it sheer despair at things like what Reno stood in the middle of at that moment that caused them to have to believe to live with their own pain?
Did that make Reno weaker than Rufus, or stronger? Than the Cetra?
Reno was interrupted from his thoughts by the saliva of a teenager--who was near-impossibly more lanky than he himself was--being hurled into his eye with an odd "pth-yu" sound.
Reno wiped his face, had a silent (and practically one-eyed) stare-down against Rude's sunglasses, and then walked out of the main city, stopping with a pout on a path in the outskirts.
Rude followed soon after, silent, as a couple of people hurled insults instead of spit.
"I told you we should have stayed out here," grumbled Reno. "I said it wasn't a good idea to head into the actual city."
"Where's Elena?" asked Rude. "Aren't we supposed to be watching her to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble?"
"Don't change the subject!"
"I think this is more important. She is our responsibility, after what happened in the Mythril Mine."
"I wasn't even there for that, although it's a big I-told-you-so on that one, too," Reno scoffed. "The freakin' newbie opening her big mouth and gave everything away. It ain't my fault! Why the hell do I have to baby-sit her?"
"Because you're still a Turk."
The redhead crossed his arms in front of his chest, and then thought better of it, rubbing some residual spit out of his eye.
"You're just pissy because Tseng put you back on duty, and that means you can't see…"
"Shut up," Reno interrupted, before Rude could go on further. "Hey, at least I have someone. What the hell do you have? Your hand? Some gil and a street corner?"
Rude ignored his partner.
"Unless you liiiike somebody…" taunted the redhead.
Rude turned away rather quickly.
"Oh, so Rude does like somebody!" Reno came up behind and began to prod the bald Turk, earning a light smack on the head as Rude turned around to give his best shaded death-glare.
Reno was not deterred. "Hey, Rude, who do you like?" He raised his eyebrows as if to say "Huh? Huh?"
Rude turned away again. Blushing was not behavior generally accepted in the unwritten laws of Turk-dom (not to mention manliness), and he preferred Reno not to see him doing just that. But--and Rude slapped himself internally for it, and almost wished he could spit in his own eye--in the most meek, pitiful voice that you could imagine to come out of a man formally named Gertrude, he finally squeaked out, "………..Tifa."
There was a slight rustling in the brush a ways away, but Reno and Rude payed it no heed.
Reno looked thoughtful. "Hmmm…that's a tough one," he said with a knowing look, remembering full well when this crush had originally developed. "But, poor Elena. She…you…"
Rude snapped back into his regular tone of voice, whipping around to face his best friend. "No, she likes Tseng."
Reno gasped slightly, surprised. Then, as he tried to compose himself, oddly giddy, he blurted out, "I never knew that! But Tseng, he likes that Ancient."
More rustling, this time a bit louder. Elena, at this very same moment, just coming back from a walk around the town's border, came up on the source of that rustling, but not before overhearing a bit of her superiors' gossip. Luckily for her, she completely missed the last part.
"It's so stupid," she mused annoyedly. "They always talk about who they like or don't like, but Tseng…he's different."
Said source of the rustling turned around at the sound of the voice.
The rustling gasped. Elena gasped.
Elena ran over to Reno and Rude, forgetting about her angers. "There here, they're really here!"
In response to that, Reno and Rude noticed the presence of Cloud and his group, including a slightly flustered Tifa Lockheart and a seemingly unfazed half-Cetran Aeris Gainsborough in tow, among the others.
Reno stepped forward, and Rude noticed that the redhead took an oddly guarding stance in between Elena and the enemy. "Hmm, then it's time. Rude, don't go easy on them, even though they're girls."
Cloud glared at this, noting the slight innuendo.
Rude simply replied, "…Don't worry. I'll do my job," though he stared at Tifa as he said it.
"Then, we're counting on you!" chirped Elena. "I'll report to Tseng!"
She ran off before Reno could respond, leaving the two facing a group that far outnumbered them.
The redhead gathered himself, letting anger fuel his adrenaline. "It's been a while. Payback time for what you did in Sector 7."
Cloud took the forefront and responded, "Sector 7? Out of our way."
Rude cracked his knuckles in the background as Reno hissed back, "That's sad. I don't like being taken for a fool," running at the group and drawing his electro mag-rod, hoping to catch the foes off-guard.
When Rude joined with a yell of "That's as far as you go," the fight became a flurry of dancing fists, weapons, and magic. Sheer numbers soon overtook the two Turks, and they were forced to withdraw before they sustained any serious injuries or worse.
Reno and Rude both bowed their heads in shame when they had to face Tseng afterward, but Elena's embarrassment was the strongest.
"So, they're in the city?" said Tseng, stoic.
"Yessir. We couldn't take them all," returned Reno, his voice dark.
Elena was silent.
"Reno, Rude, there is nothing we can do here, especially not with the both of you in this state. I am sending you on leave in Wutai. Elena will remain on duty, and will be slated as your bodyguard as you rest, in retribution for her leaving you behind in a time of need."
All three of the lower-class Turks noticed that Tseng was avoiding looking at Elena, and was talking around her. Reno actually felt kind of sorry for her.
"I must go and report this progress to General Heidegger," said Tseng.
The Turks saluted, and went their separate ways.
Rufus' part of the story while he and Reno were apart took place in Rocket Town.
Frankly, Rufus was not a happy man. In fact, after having to travel with Palmer for an entire trip, in the enclosed space of the helicopter, he was just about fed up.
Every few minutes, Palmer would whine about something new. The seats are too small, the rotors are too loud, the ride's too bumpy, and why isn't there any food? Rufus was just about ready to shoot him and throw his body out the door, and hope that the lard-filled fucker wouldn't crush somebody or their pet on the way down.
Thinking of pets, Rufus was even more angry. He still needed to make Cloud pay.
Wow, he hadn't realized he'd been so attached to Dark Nation.
Palmer stared with his big, bulging eyes as Rufus sighed, cracked his knuckles and his neck, and clenched his fist so hard that, had he not been wearing leather gloves, his nails probably would have drawn blood.
As it were, the gloves would probably have some lovely dents.
Palmer was still staring at him. Rufus glared back and cracked his neck again for good measure. The bulging eyes bulged farther.
"Sir, what's wrong? Are you hungry, too?" squealed Palmer into his headset's microphone.
Rufus flung his headset across the helicopter. The engine noise was deafening, just enough to block the other man's high-pitched, wheezy voice. It was such a welcome change, that the blonde felt that the racket was rather like music. Rufus suddenly appreciated Reno's heavy metal.
The blonde stared at the floor, and was able to find it rather interesting in comparison to his company.
He felt a tap on his shoulder.
He screamed "What the fuck do you want?" but the noise mostly drowned him out.
Palmer seemed to get the idea, though, and squished as far into the side of his seat away from Rufus as he could, and meekly pointed at his ears as if to warn his boss of potential hearing damage.
The President of the New Era leaned back and closed his eyes, and wasn't bothered again until landing, though his annoyance didn't cease.
Every little thing Palmer did when they hit ground, every word he said (as much as it was muffled by the ringing in Rufus' ears), every move he made that caused his fat to jiggle, drove Rufus closer and closer to the edge of what little sanity he may have had left.
Ohhh, that fat. It wasn't as if Palmer had an excuse, either. Heidegger's entire family had been big, some people had medical issues, even the blonde's own (thankfully) dead father had gained weight because of stress-induced binge-eating from the burdens of having been President.. Palmer was just fat for the sake of being fat.
And it was all because of lard.
The very same lard, in fact, that Howard Palmer was jiggling around musing if the town carried in their markets.
One of Rufus' cheeks twitched as bile crept up the back of his throat.
Palmer turned to him. Rufus' eyes were shooting daggers, and the head of Shinra's Space Exploration cringed into his own blubber.
"Go do what we came here to do. Now," growled the blonde.
Palmer ran into the city, and disappeared into a small house in the back. Rufus sighed, and his head fell back as he stared into the sky, at least partly relieved for the moment.
"Rufus!" came a gruff voice from the doorway of the small house where Palmer had gone.
"Cid Highwind," Rufus returned dully, composing himself.
"So, I assume yer here to start the fundin' back up, eh?" said Cid, eagerness tinting his voice as he pointed to an old and rusty, precariously leaning rocket in the center of the town. The rocket, though falling over, was still the tallest structure in the area.
Rufus chuckled internally about that fact, still unused to expansive rural life. He felt an odd pull in his stomach.
When the blonde opened his mouth to speak, his voice was cold and cruel as ever, and he could see Highwind's resolve crack. "No, I am not here for that. Do not hang on to futile hopes. The space program is dead."
Rufus allowed himself no remorse for the anger in Cid's voice. "What the..…? You got me all excited for nothing!? Then, what'd you come here for?"
"I want to borrow the Tiny Bronco," said the blonde, mentally noting the way these words seemed to pull at Cid's heart from the inside out. "We're going after Sephiroth, but it seems like we've been going in the wrong direction. But now, we think we know where he's headed, but we have to cross the ocean. That's why we need your plane."
Cid almost burst at the proverbial seams. "Fuck! First the Airship, then the Rocket, and now, the Tiny Bronco. Shinra took outer space from me and now you want to take the sky away from me, too?"
Rufus forced his voice to grow colder, even though the same wires that had ripped Cid's dreams from him were tugging at the blonde President's own un-admittedly long-shattered hope of paradise. "Oh my. You seem to forget that it was because of Shinra Inc. that you were able to fly in the first place."
"What?" At the hatred in Cid's eyes, Rufus was reminded of his Father's angry stares and harsh words that had taken Rufus' childhood aspirations of a normal life away from him. Cid reminded him of a child there, too, but with anger replacing tears in a way that only adults would think to use to cover up their despair.
Rufus closed his eyes for a long moment, turned his back to Cid Highwind and his enraged sadness, and walked away.
He heard Cid's yells, but drowned out their meaning.
When he turned again, the grounded Captain had gone back into his house, but Cloud's group, unsurprisingly enough, was outside the front door. They were fighting with Palmer, who was battling in a sickening display of flashy weaponry from Scarlet (which Rufus hoped would backfire and kill the dumb bastard) and taunts. Rufus looked around him and found something with which to ease his annoyance.
Palmer was losing, and badly, and when Aeris Gainsborough landed a surprisingly painful smack on the side of his head with her metal staff, he decided to run before someone with a slightly more pointy weapon decided they'd like to take a whack.
Palmer ran, screaming, and Cloud and Co. didn't bother to follow.
Rufus, on the other hand, hit Palmer with a truck.
Cloud and Co. used the spare time to turn tail and steal the Tiny Bronco for themselves.
And as Rufus climbed out of his commandeered vehicle, he couldn't help but smile for the first time that day when he looked at Palmer's rather battered form, and he pulled out his favorite shotgun and fired at the plane with a giddy, manic zeal that set the Soldiers whose fleet of helicopters had accompanied his on edge.
Perfect. Rufus grinned, his teeth bared as the group faded into the distance, smoke trailing behind them. He'd let them find Sephiroth first, as he had always done. When either they or Sephiroth were dead, he would reap the bounty, and then kill the other party himself.
He hoped, inside, that Cloud would win so he could strangle the life out of him.
The second part of Reno's story before death brought him and Rufus together again happened in Tseng's hometown of Wutai. Elena's duty as bodyguard had left her on edge and panicky, and she had her hand in her jacket, on her gun. Her arms were shaking slightly, and her eyes were puffy with unshed tears.
Reno had to laugh at the cruel irony of the fact that Elena had gotten scolded by the man that she spent all of her energy trying to impress, although he had to admit that he was a little sorry for her. Rude receded to the pub to buy drinks for the both of them, while Reno stayed outside to comfort their newest member, which surprised the woman tremendously.
"Aren't you mad at me?" asked Elena, scuffing her toe in the dirt and wringing her hands slightly as she finally relaxed from her fight-ready (or paranoid, as Reno saw it) stance.
"A little, but I still think Tseng was a bit harsh back there."
"I thought you hated me."
"Nah. I was just afraid, I guess, of getting replaced. Jealous, maybe," Reno threw a lopsided grin in Elena's direction.
"I'm a terrible Turk."
"Just new. You'll get used to it soon enough. Plus, I've watched you in the training area before. Did you know that?"
"What?" Elena screeched.
"Whoa, whoa, it's not like I was stalking you or anything! Don't freak out on me. I sure as hell don't need another kick in the nuts." The younger Turk had to smirk slightly at that, with a bit of a blush tinging her cheeks as the redhead continued. "I was just checking on my little protégé. You're pretty good with a gun, you know. Way better than me, and about a thousand times better than I used to be."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you just need some real-world experience, and, you know, I just don't think it's fair for you to have to get it so fast and in such hard times, what with Sephiroth running around. Can make a rookie nervous, you know. You should have seen my first mission. I was a wreck after that one, for sure."
Elena practically glowed, hearing something positive after so much had gone wrong, from the source she least expected it.
"Elena," said Reno.
"Yeah."
"Remember that, no matter what, Turks gotta stick together. We're the only family we have, anymore, and we come with all the benefits and all the troubles that every dysfunctional family has, from the teasing to the arguing about dating troubles." This last part was said with a wink.
"What…what are you talking about?"
"I know how you feel for Tseng. Rude told me."
Elena didn't say anything to that.
"I think you should call him. Apologize, try to make him understand. Use that womanly charm to your advantage. Get him to soften up."
"N-no! I couldn't do that!"
"Why not? Here, I'll call him for you…"
Elena tried to stop Reno as he pulled out his PHS and dialed Tseng, but the older Turk held the phone out of her grasp. As the connection clicked and Tseng picked up, Elena receded, defeated.
"Yo, Dot-man…"
"I can't believe you're doing this…" Elena grumbled, slumping up against the wall.
"…Yeah, I was just calling to talk about Elena. I think you were a bit hard on her, man."
"Okay…it doesn't seem to be going too bad so far…" the blonde woman reassured herself.
"Yeah, you were really harsh back there. Elena was really hurt…Why do I care? Hey, I'm not completely heartless!"
Elena looked up hopefully, pleading for Reno not to get her into more trouble.
"Listen, Tseng." Reno said, serious. "All I'm saying is that you should apologize, and maybe do something to make it up to her, since she, you know, likes you and everything."
Elena almost did kick Reno in the balls for the second time since she met him, but decided against it and kicked the back of his leg instead.
"Ow!" Reno yelled, causing a startled cry to some from the other side of the line. Then, a pause. "Yeah, she's right here, boss. You wanna talk to her?"
Elena shook her head in an obvious "No!"
"Yeah, here she is." Reno handed the PHS to his younger partner.
Elena took the small phone nervously, and didn't say anything into it, her eyes wide.
"Elena? Elena, are you there? Reno? Hello?" came Tseng's voice.
"…Uhm…Hi, Sir…" squeaked Elena.
"Oh, there you are. I was wondering if we'd lost connection. Well, I guess I should apologize for my words earlier…"
Reno smiled, mimed a message for Elena to bring his phone in when she was done, and went into the bar.
Rude looked up from his drink puzzledly.
"Gods, I just played friggin' matchmaker for Elena."
One of Rude's eyebrows arched above the cover of his sunglasses, and he pushed a glass of scotch at his partner.
"Thanks. Man, all this relationship shit is making me soft."
Rude's posture visibly slackened, his shoulders slumping over the counter.
"Oh, that's right. You got totally rejected by that Tifa girl, huh?"
"Shut the fuck up."
"Whoa, man. Don't get so touchy. It would have never worked out anyway. She's on their side, we're on ours. All that shit about enemies in love doesn't fly in the real world."
Rude grunted.
"When all of this is over, we'll go out and find you a nice girl on the plate. She'll be smart and pretty, with those big-ass boobs you like so much, and you two will fall in love right away. Rufus'll make the world all better, and you and her can get married and start a happy little family without having to worry about fucking up your job, because, you know, the world will be better, and…"
"Reno, again, shut the fuck up. That's not realistic, either."
"I'm just trying to help."
"You're making things worse, because you're telling me everything that I'll never have."
Reno sighed, swigged some of his drink, and rested his chin on the table. "It's not like I have it much better."
"Yeah, I know."
"Cheers to a life of crap?"
"Cheers."
The partners' glasses clanked together as Elena walked in.
"Don't tell us how happy you are." Grumbled Reno. "We feel like shit."
"You don't wanna know what happened?"
"You can tell us," grumbled Rude about as eagerly as Reno had moments before, "just act upset about it whether it's good news or not."
"Tseng asked me out to dinner," grunted Elena as huffily as she could manage.
Reno laughed as Elena tried not to crack, making a very odd face as she attempted to look sad and angry, despite the elation that filled her.
"Heeey," said the female Turk. "Reno, aren't you with someone, or did you break up?"
Rude ordered another two drinks, and gave one to Elena, while he started on the other himself.
Reno scoffed. "Oh, we're still together, but one of the things I didn't tell you before is that our relationship is…awkward at times, to say the least. Besides, being on duty, it's really hard to get any time with a significant other, good relationship or not, and that can be pretty annoying."
"Oh," was Elena's short reply, and she turned to her drink and sipped at it tenderly.
The three Turks sat, unusually silent, and drank, until the door to the bar opened and Elena turned to see Cloud Strife, followed by the usual group.
Rude and Reno turned as their partner jumped up, her earlier state of unease reestablished. "Y…you! How did you get here?" she screeched. "Never mind that. I guess it's fate that brought us together. Get ready to die!"
AVALANCHE and Elena stood in battle stances, but Reno and Rude remained sitting. "…Elena, you talk too much." Said Reno casually, taking another sip from his drink.
"Wh…what?" Elena stuttered. Cloud's group lowered their weapons slightly.
"What are we doing way out here in the middle of nowhere?" Reno asked to his only female comrade.
"We're taking our vacation and resting up from our work," Elena answered questioningly.
Reno nodded. "Now our vacation is ruined." Elena could tell that this was aimed more at her then it was at the enemy.
"B…but…" she stuttered again.
"…Even the booze tastes bad now," remarked Rude rather bluntly, glaring down into his cup.
Elena apologized and sat back down.
Cloud and Co. looked around, slightly thrown off.
Reno and Rude ignored the other party, deciding instead to talk to each other. "Drink, Rude!" drawled Reno. "How long have we been a team? There have been hard times being a Turk, but all in all, I'm glad I did it. I even got to meet a bunch of wing nuts like you."
Elena stood again, angry. "You're lucky all right," she hissed at AVALANCHE, her alcohol already beginning to hit her system. "Now get out of my sight! The next time we meet I won't be so nice."
Rude turned slightly to his partner and held up his glass. "To the Turks…to Reno…cheers!"
Reno and Rude clinked their glasses as the other group simply turned and left, not quite sure what to think.
Too soon for the Turks' liking, a group of Soldiers set to investigate Wutai for a man known as Don Corneo, a once-ally of Shinra, turned traitor when he leaked a very valuable bit of company information, rushed into the tavern where Reno, Rude and Elena were attempting to relax.
Before this story continues, it would be rather pertinent to note that the Turks, save for Elena, knew about the mission that these Soldiers were on, and were doing everything in their power to ignore it. Don Corneo was the only person in the world that Reno could have even come close to hating as much as Rufus hated Palmer. The Don was the self-appointed leader of a section of Midgar's Sector 6 slums known as Wall Market, also known as the city's biggest hotspot for sin. Though Wall Markets bars and whore-houses, mainly its infamous Honeybee Inn, were known as some of the most top-notch down-class getaways in all Gaia, Reno preferred the lesser-known Ma' and Pa' type of places that littered the corners of the back areas of town, like the now-destroyed Seventh Heaven in his equally now-destroyed ex-home, Sector 7. Wall Market was flashy, crowded, and loud, and the Don's rule involved more indecency to women than even Reno would dare to try, and the redhead had gotten enough of the man from his times as a both a slum-rat and a Turk to last him a few lifetimes.
Rude just wanted to have his drinks in peace.
Reno's first words as the Soldiers filed in, spouting off their newfound information on Corneo's whereabouts , were, "What a drag."
The Soldiers were confused.
Reno continued. "Right now we're off-duty and can't run off to save your butts."
The apparent leader of the troupe spoke up. "We know you're off-duty, but…"
"If you knew that, then don't bother us," Reno retorted angrily. "Lookin' at you is makin' me sober."
Blah, blah, blah. Some shit about orders from Shinra HQ for the Turks to help. Despite, said Turks didn't move, except for Elena, who was fidgeting nervously in her seat.
"And don't think that headquarters isn't going to hear about this!" shouted the Soldier. Elena cringed. Reno and Rude shrugged noncommittally.
The Soldiers left. Elena jumped from her chair. "Reno, do you think that was really such a good idea? I mean, is that the way a professional, a Turk would act?"
The redhead turned. "Elena, don't misunderstand. A professional isn't someone who sacrifices himself for his job. That's just a fool."
Elena turned to Rude questioningly. Rude turned back, unresponsive.
"Well, I don't buy that! Goodbye!" And with that, Elena ran out of the tavern.
Rude tensed.
"Relax," said Reno to his partner. "She's not a child. Let her have her way."
Rude didn't relax.
A few minutes later, when Rude still hadn't relaxed, Reno turned to him. "What's wrong with you? Just enjoy your fucking drink, man!"
"You know him, don't you? Corneo?"
"What's it to you?"
"Elena's a…well, she's a girl."
"She'd probably kick you…hard, if she heard you say that. I know from experience."
Rude dropped his head into one hand, the other swirling his drink annoyedly. "Reno, Don Corneo and girls don't mix."
Reno stopped mid-sip of his glass of scotch, almost choking on the alcohol.
Both men suddenly got up, threw a fairly large amount of gil on the counter, and rushed out into the city of Wutai.
"Hey, I'm sure she'll be okay, right?" asked Reno, unsure. "She's not just any girl. She's a Turk."
Rude grunted.
Elena's rather good day had suddenly turned to shit. On one hand, though, she suddenly understood what it was like to be abandoned in a tight situation by her partners. This, she thought to herself, had to be a grand hit by the world in retribution for her own mishap in Gongaga. She was, as it turned out, tied rather precariously by Don Corneo and his goons to a giant stone face carved into the cliff wall of Wutai's famous Da Chao mountain.
What Elena didn't realize at the time was that the world, other than driving her karma back at her, was bringing her down slowly from her earlier euphoria, rather than hitting her directly in the face with the upcoming and unavoidable fact that Tseng was, invariably, going to die. This predicament served a third purpose, as well, of forcefully showing her that her Turk partners that were going to be her only support when the news of Tseng's quickly nearing death did eventually reach her did, in fact, care for her.
Elena turned to the other woman that Corneo had captured, a skinny Wutaian teenager that she would later find out was one Yuffie Kisaragi, daughter of Lord Godo Kisaragi and the newest member of AVALANCHE. The blonde woman would have tried to hold a conversation with her company had Yuffie not been flailing so madly.
Oh, gods, Corneo was rubbing one meaty hand up the inside of her leg. Elena shivered in disgust.
Elena's aforementioned Turk partners, with AVALANCHE in tow (she presumed to help Yuffie), came running up the carvings of Da Chao, though the Turks hung behind a bit to allow Cloud's group direct access to the Don as they planned, while Corneo scrutinized his hostages in a manner comparable to someone searching through a buffet dinner for something to eat. He was, it was obvious, looking for a woman to sleep with.
As he checked Elena out, she screamed at him, finally fed up, "He…hey, I'm one of the Turks! Don't you think you can get away with this!"
Elena was growing faint. The way Corneo had her tied up was not only digging into her wrists and ankles, but holding them in an awkward enough position that the pain of her entire body was starting to make her mind fuzzy. She could just make out what Corneo was ranting to Cloud's group about.
He wanted a fight. The Don seemed to have a few tricks up his sleeve, and summoned a strange beast, which quickly got absorbed into battle with AVALANCHE, the latter of who quickly came out victorious.
Corneo had no choice, it seemed, but to give up, but he continued to the group. "Why do you think a bad guy like me would swallow his pride and beg for his life?" Then, he proceeded to list a few answers, in multiple choice format. Elena missed the answers and Cloud's response, because her head suddenly became even more fuzzy as she was flipped upside-down on the stone face by some mechanism.
'Man,' she mused, 'this day sucks.'
Reno was understandably pissed. He was mad about Elena. He was mad about having his vacation interrupted. He was especially angry that he had to deal with the lecher again.
"That's enough," said Rude bluntly to his partner.
Don Corneo's laughs were echoing down Da Chao.
"Yeah," returned the redhead. "Let's just get rid of this asshole and go back to the tavern."
"I guess I'm the one laughing last!" echoed the Don's squealing voice.
"No, that would be us," returned Reno as he and Rude walked up the mountainside's carvings.
All Elena could see of any of this through her fuzzy, upturned vision was Reno's hair and a silhouette of Corneo stumbling and nearly falling to his death as something hit him in the chest.
Reno moved to where Corneo was hanging onto the carvings and stood on the man's fingers. Rude put the rest of his throwing daggers in his jacket.
Reno grimaced down at the Don of Wall Market and wanted to spit. "All right Corneo, this'll be over quick, so listen up. Why do you think we went to all the trouble of teaming up with those guys," he gestured to Cloud's group, "to get you?" He smiled, echoing the Don's earlier multiple-choice answers back at him. "One: Because we were ready to die. Two: Because we were sure of victory. Three: Because we were clueless."
He didn't even listen to the Don's answer, but stepped harder on his fingers, wiggled his foot, and then stepped back. Corneo fell hundreds of feet, to certain death.
"Wrong, all wrong. The correct answer was: Because it's our job."
Elena chose that moment to slur as best she could, "Oh, thank you so much. I never expected you to come help…" which only succeeded in causing the world around her head to spin faster.
Reno retorted with something about being a Turk and being weak, she responded in an appropriately professional manner, for her position, and blacked out until later, after she had been untied.
"You okay?" Reno asked Elena when she had come to.
"Yeah. My head hurts."
Rude had his sunglasses off and was looking at her, a faint smile on his face.
"Where are we?" asked Elena.
"The Inn at Wutai," answered Rude.
"We let AVALANCHE go, for today, since they sorta did help out. Besides, they're still after Sephiroth, which is bad for them and good for us. We managed to pry some info out of them before they left, though. The General's heading for this place called the Temple of the Ancients. From what I know, it's basically a Cetran burial ground. Supposed to be way haunted, and the ghosts there are supposed to be guarding some kind of nasty magic. We called the Company and gave them the info. They're supposed to be sending some people to check it out," said Reno. "Hey, did you know that that girl Corneo had tied up with you is a Kisaragi? Small world, eh?"
Elena didn't know what was so special about this.
"The girl's father, Godo, had a younger brother named Tai who married Liu Takawa-Li, Tseng's sister."
Elena sat up quickly. "Tseng's sister?"
"Yeah, she's dead now." Reno was quick to change the subject. "Listen, I don't want you to run off on your own like that anymore, okay? You almost scared Rude to death, and we can't have him, or you for that matter, dying on us, okay?"
Rude grunted.
"Do you know who all was sent to the Temple?" asked Elena.
"Yeah, and you ain't gonna like it," was Reno's reply. "I don't like it, either. He was adamant about going, though. Said he wanted to prove that he was worthy of his position."
Elena was hesitant. "Reno…'he', who?"
"Tseng," Rude butted in. "He normally doesn't go on missions like this, but we couldn't stop him."
The female Turk's stomach sank. "Oh, no. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Yeah, me too. I couldn't sleep, thinkin' about it," said Reno.
"How long was I out?" shrieked Elena. "You couldn't possibly have had time to sleep, could you?"
"Elena, you've been unconscious for almost ten hours," stated Rude dryly.
"Yeah, the alcohol and your little predicament didn't seem to mix."
"I don't believe this. I'm so weak…I can't…I have to go help Tseng."
The redhead stood up. "Nuh-uh. You're not going anywhere. Tseng got the Keystone, an artifact that unlocks the Temple, from a robotic spy that Reeve made. It'll be dangerous in there--too dangerous for a newbie--and I don't even know if you'd be able to get in, much less find Tseng if you did."
"Reno, what do you know about this place? What does Sephiroth want there?"
"Well, if I've got my Cetra legends straight, he's gonna be wanting that magic, and that could be really, really bad. See, the legends say that there was a well of Lifestream somewhere in the world, from when Jenova came, that formed two different types of Materia, which were both stored in different places in the world. The Cetra, you see, believe that the world's supposed to be in a complete balance, so one half of that Materia's supposed to be good, and the other one's supposed to be evil. One black, and one white. One can heal the world, and one can destroy it. If the Cetra holed up one of the materia in a friggin' temple that you have to go through all of these ceremonies to unlock and that the ghosts of the Cetra are guarding, my guess is that it sure as hell isn't the good one that's in there, if there's anything there anymore."
Elena shivered. "I'm liking this less and less by the moment. Reno, how do you know all of this."
"I did some reading. The book was a gift."
"Does it say anything else?"
"Dunno. It's been a bit since I read it, and it's back at HQ."
Rude stood and walked up next to his partners. "Elena, you're shaking. You okay?"
"No." She looked up, her eyes unsure. "What if he finds it? The magic? Tseng's gonna be in danger. I don't want him going near that place!"
Reno turned to the other Turks. "You know what? We're on vacation, so we can do whatever the hell we want. How about we take a little trip? At least we can try to find the place, and then we'll go from there."
Elena actually hugged him for that.
By the time the Turks had located the Temple, it was too late. They arrived only in time to see the place, a huge pyramidal structure, cave in upon itself to form a gigantic hole in the ground. Reno got a call from Tseng moments before it happened, as the three watched the Temple of the Ancients' destruction from their helicopter a ways away.
Reno put the PHS on speaker Tseng's voice was soft and shaky, and he could occasionally being heard drawing in sharp breaths.
"Reno, I want you to take over my position. Rude asked me to give it to you instead of him if anything were to ever happen to me. Tell Elena I'm sorry I didn't ever get to take her out, like I promised. I couldn't get out, I'm sorry. I'm badly hurt, but it'll all be over soon…Oh, gods…the walls…it's like they're melting…please…"
And the signal cut short.
Elena screamed.
Miya's Note: Well, how's that for a chapter? I hope you all enjoyed. Did I make up for the lack of action in the past couple? And, yes, Tseng's dead, despite Advent Children. Just wait until P3. It'll all make sense eventually.
Oy, writing the Wutai section was a nightmare. I didn't want to do too much re-writing of the game, because there's no point in that when you can just play, but I wanted to include enough to be a bit nostalgic, if nothing else.
Oh, and Rufus+Truck+PalmerLOVE.