Hey there, here is another installment of this fanfic. Sadly I don't have much to say for this note, besides to thank all of those who read the first chapter.
Special Thanks To:
Cursed Bunny-It gets pretty interesting, just keep reading, your reviews make my day XD
Disclaimer: Same as before I do not own FFVII or any characters besides Melody.
Warnings: Possible OOCness and possibly some mild language.
Enjoy~
Looking out of the chopper's front window with fear and awe, as she clutched the seat with a death grip. Through the entire ride to their destination Reno showed absolutely no signs that he wasn't an expert pilot, instead he was quite expertly guiding the helicopter to its destination.
Once the chopper was firmly on the ground Melody hopped out the sense of dread that had been creeping into her stomach had vanished. However Reno instead of taking off again hopped off the chopper and followed her. The amethyst eyed teen turned upon sensing that she was being followed. Blinking in mild surprise as she spotted Reno, a hand stilled on the doorknob of her home.
"Is there something you wanted?" the brunette asked.
"Do you have a cell phone?" the Turk answered her question with another question.
"Yeah, why?" Melody replied suspiciously.
"I got ordered to keep an eye on you," the redhead responded nonchalantly.
"Oh, its inside I'll go get it," the amethyst eyed teen said.
Melody opened the door of her home and stepped inside, it was a two story home in a more peaceful part of Edge. When she was a few steps inside, she paused and turned around. Reno hadn't moved an inch and was still standing out on the porch.
"You can come in if you want Reno," the brunette said cheerily.
The Turk nodded slightly and stepped inside closing the door behind him, as the girl went upstairs to where he assumed was her room.
The house itself lacked a woman's touch, besides for the vases filled with flowers scattered throughout every room, filling the house with a pleasant odor. Reno gave a slight frown and began to wonder where the girl's mother had disappeared to, he's only seen her once in Midgar before Meteorfall, and hadn't seen her again ever since.
The Turk picked up a picture frame from where it lay in the shelves of a bookcase, and examined the picture behind the glass.
In it where three people, one he recognized as Melody when she was younger holding hands with her father Bradley, who was a strong-looking and fairly competent fighter. With blue eyes and light brown almost blond hair. The Melody in the picture was also holding hands with a woman whom he recognized to be her mother from that time he saw her. She was slightly shorter than Bradley and looked delicate. Her hair was long, but a darker shade of brown than Melody's and her eyes were the exact same amethyst color as Melody's.
As Reno placed the picture down on the shelf, Melody came back downstairs, with a cell phone in one hand and a piece of paper on another. Apparently she'd also changed clothing as well, and was now wearing long black pajama pants and a black tank-top. Her waist length hair was also pulled back into a semi-neat ponytail.
"What happened to your mom?" the redheaded Turk asked, as he turned on his heels to face her.
A pained expression crossed over the brunette's face, and she lowered her gaze to his shoes. Reno watched her change in mood carefully, wondering if it has been a good idea to bring up the subject.
"You don't…" the Turk began, but fell silent when Melody began to speak.
"My mom…was a fool, she was killed during Meteorfall, because she didn't listen to my dad," the amethyst eyed teen spoke softly.
Stepping towards Reno she held out her cell phone to him with a solemn expression on her face.
"Sorry to hear that," the green eyed man murmured, taking the phone from her.
Melody shook her head sadly and after a while she raised her gaze from his shoes to his face.
"It was her own fault," the brunette mumbled, sounding like she was close to crying.
"Why's that?" Reno asked, fiddling around on her phone and adding some new contacts on her phone.
"My mother…she never really supported my dad's job, she was one of those anti-Shinra people, she hated Shinra. So when the time came, she wanted to die rather than listen to a Turk," the girl explained in a sullen tone.
"Gotta head back yo," the Turk said. "I'll catch you around."
"Oh, Reno can you do me a favor before you go?" Melody asked.
"What is it?" Reno responded.
"I'm running low on food and other supplies, so I was wondering if you could have everything in my list delivered to me. You don't have to worry about paying, but I just really don't want to go out there right now," the brunette said, holding the piece of paper out to Reno.
With a sharp nod and a wave Reno took the paper from her and left. When the door closed Melody took a seat on the couch and turned on the television, listening as the chopper started up until the hum of the blades faded away into the distance. Staring blankly at the screen, seeing and yet not seeing the screen, feeling several tears roll down her cheek.
Dad where are you? I need you here, please be okay. She thought desperately, as her father was the only person she had left.
Eventually she cried herself to sleep on the couch, foregoing her pride just to let her pent up emotions flow out, with the television still on.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
The next morning Melody was woken up by incessant knocking on her door. Groggily she sat up and turned off the TV, before she went to answer the door as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. When she opened the door she saw a man outside with a clipboard in his hands, and a pile of boxes behind him.
"Are you Melody Evans?" the man asked.
"Yes, how may I help you?" the amethyst teen replied, voice heavy with sleep.
"I have a delivery for you," the man said, holding the clipboard out to her.
Melody signed the paper and gave the man the required amount of gil after going to fetch her wallet. Then the delivery man helped her get all the boxes inside before leaving.
"Thank you Reno," she said to no one in particular, once the delivery man had left.
Halfway through her unpacking the stuff from the boxes her cell phone rang, with hope that it would be her father, she scrambled to answer it. She flipped open her phone and was dismayed when she read the name on the screen, it wasn't her father but Reno. Feeling disheartened she answered anyway, as she wanted to thank him for the favor.
"Hi." Melody greeted, disappointment was evident in her voice.
Everything okay? Reno asked from the other side of the line.
"Yeah, just dandy," she replied, not really sounding believable.
You get your stuff? The Turk asked, not pursuing the matter further.
"Yes, thank you," the amethyst eyed teen answered.
Gotta go now, I was just checking on you. Talk you later yo Reno said, then hung up.
Melody listened to the dial tone for a while, before she closed the phone and set it on the coffee table with a sigh and a shake of her head.
She spent half the day unpacking boxes and setting things into place, the brunette thought with mild amusement that Reno had gone a bit overboard. At least she wouldn't have to go grocery shopping for a while.
Once everything was unpacked and settled, Melody changed out of her pajamas and put on a pair of comfy dark green pants, a plain brown shirt and sneakers. She didn't grab her house keys because she could just use the spare hidden outside of her home. Grabbing her cell phone and putting gil in her wallet she headed out of her home.
The brunette went straight to a motorcycle shop with the intent on buying one. Knowing that her father wasn't there to stop her she'd decided to get one in his absence. The amethyst eyed teen had slowly been saving a sizable amount of gil to get the best bike she could. Then at least she wouldn't need a ride on Reno's damned helicopter.
Once her transaction was completed she went to buy a lantern and some snacks, and then headed with her brand new monstrosity of a motorcycle towards the ruins of Midgar. She's wanted to find some peace and solace away from the bustling city and anyone who tried to hurt her.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Melody settled down on a pile of debris that she assumed was a wall, well inside of the ruins with her lantern and snacks by her side. After a while of gloomy silence the sound of the phone cut through it, she went to answer it however once she saw Reno's name and not her father she ignored the call. So it went for about half an hour, before Reno stopped calling and leaving threatening voicemails on her phone. Still the brunette chose to ignore him, hoping that her father would call her in her solace.
She turned the lantern on as the sun disappeared into the horizon, casting dark shadows over the ruined city which covered the land in an inky blanket as the sun was replaced by the moon. In the darkness she heard debris crunching under someone's shoes.
"I knew I'd find you here," a familiar voice said, unpleased as its owner stepped into the radius of light.
Melody raised her head from munching on her sugary snacks and raised the lantern towards Reno making the Turk squint against the light. She looked at the redhead with sullen amethyst eyes, as she placed the lantern back down.
"Hey Reno," the brunette greeted softly, as she moved aside to make room for Reno to sit.
The redheaded Turk started hard at her before giving a defeated sigh and took a seat next to her.
"You know, you're a handful. Rufus will have my head if he found out I lost you," the redhead said.
"I was….just trying to get away from everything," the amethyst eyed teen said lowering her head.
Reno looked out at the inky darkness that had settled over the land beyond the light radius of the lantern. At the edge of the light radius he spotted a brand new motorcycle glowing dimly in what light reached it. He gave it a questioning glance; Melody caught the look and laughed good naturedly giving the goggles atop his forehead a light tap. In turn that made the redhead bat her hands away.
"Just a little land based transportation, speaking of transportation where's your chopper?" the brunette questioned.
"One of my colleagues dropped me of at your house, when I found out you weren't there I walked here," the redhead said.
"You need a ride?" the amethyst eyed teen offered.
"In that thing? I don't know about that." Reno joked.
Melody gave him a pleasant smile and rose from her seat and walked towards the motorcycle.
"I'm going to leave you here then," the brunette said, mounting the bike.
She extinguished the lantern as she ignited the motorcycle. The bike roared to life, casting a sharp beam of light from its single headlight.
"Coming?" she asked, turning her head to Reno.
The Turk remained indecisive for a second as he looked from the monstrosity of a vehicle to the girl.
"Your dad's gonna throw a fit isn't he?" Reno asked, giving up and mounting the bike behind her.
"I'm more mature than people give me credit for. I'm not one of those stupid teenage girls you find in the streets. I can handle this little bike without any problems." Melody told him, an underlying tone of pride in her voice.
"If you say so," the redhead sighed.
In Reno's opinion the motorcycle that she'd gotten was anything but little, in fact it was a little too much for a teenager. Melody felt the Turk wrap his arms loosely around her waist, so he wouldn't topple off the bike when she drove. She remained un-phased and completely calm at the situation, her father had drilled it into her mind that's it was un-prideful to freak out like a girl in every possible situation. With her father being a Turk after all she really expected no less of him, and what he taught her.
Without a word the motorcycle lurched forwards, the start of the ride was a bit rocky, but then again she was relatively new at riding motorcycles, yet she didn't have any major problems with the beast of a motorcycle. For a while as they rode through the ruins, there was silence between them and only the sharp roar of the bike was heard. The brunette's amethyst irises were focused on the path illuminated by the beam of light from the single headlight, that cut through the veil of inky darkness surrounding the Midgar ruins.
"Do you want me to take you to Healen?" the girl questioned.
"If it's no trouble," the redhead replied.
"Will I have to spend the night?" Melody asked.
"Most likely, and Rufus will want to speak with you." Reno answered.
"Hm," the brunette murmured, and let her voice fade into silence.
From the ruins until they arrived at Healen the only sounds that filled the night was the monotone roar of Melody's bike, and her occasional humming. Neither of the two paid much attention to each other, besides to make casual conversations to alleviate their lack of words.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
The motorcycle lurked to a stop in front of the lodge she knew was Rufus's, and Reno couldn't be more relieved.
"Well here we are," she said, covering her mouth as she gave a small yawn.
Reno was the first one off the motorcycle, followed by the increasingly tired Melody. It was late and she needed sleep.
"No too shabby," the Turk complimented.
The brunette nodded in thanks, and they both entered the lodge. Reno went on ahead to knock twice on the door in the side of the room, and entered leaving the tired teen alone on her feet. At some point Reno reappeared with Rufus in tow, Melody straightened up as they came out, but the tired look still remained on her face.
"What is your dream?" the President asked, seemingly out of nowhere, she got the feeling that he'd been expecting her.
The amethyst eyed teen was slightly taken aback by his question, and looked at Reno who gave a shrug. It made her suddenly wonder what he father had been telling Rufus about her, since she was sure that the question wasn't random. Rufus was probably aware of her admiration and idolization for Shinra from her father.
"Well Sir, it has always been to help and/or work for Shinra." Melody replied, seemingly pleased with herself.
"I see, then I thought that you should know that my employees have recently spotted your father," the man said.
The brunette's eyes lit up at the news, and she looked at Rufus and Reno with bright hopeful eyes.
"Where is he? Is he safe?" the amethyst eyed teen questioned excitedly.
"I am afraid that your father has been captured, that's why he hasn't come back or called. We recently spotted him and his captors making their way to Edge." Rufus replied.
The excited look on her face faltered and was replaced by one of shocked horror.
"What can I do?" the brunette asked in a small voice.
"I would like you to work alongside my Turks to free your father, it is your right after all," the President said, in a voice that promised everything.
"Boss, you aren't planning to use her as bait?" Reno questioned, already suspicious of Rufus's motives.
"Nonsense," Rufus replied carefully. "Melody be ready tomorrow."
The amethyst eyed teen nodded and sat down heavily on the leather couch, noticing that Reno had become a little suspicious of the President but she at the moment didn't care. She struggled to sort out what had just happened, but deep down inside she was secretly cheering about the fact that Rufus, the President, had asked her to help him free her father. However this side of her was hidden by an overwhelming feeling of anxiety and fear for her father's wellbeing.
Rufus headed back into the adjoining room followed by Reno, in an attempt to give her some privacy. The amethyst eyed teen appreciated the gesture and laid down on the couch, closing her eyes she let the weariness overtake her and fight her inner turmoil into the peaceful oblivion of sleep. Soon enough she fell into a deep restless and dreamless sleep, taking no further notice of anything that happened around her.
That's it for this chapter, wasn't it amazing XD hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading. Don't forget to give some wonderful feedback, it makes my day. See ya in the next chapter!